Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on April 29, 2020

For the first time in Israeli history, Yom HazikaronRemembrance Day for the Fallen Soldiers of Israel and Victims of Israeldid not see bereaved family members and friends of the fallen gather across the country at cemeteries to remember and honor those who sacrificed their lives for the countrys existence.

This was a big source of distress for bereaved families, Lt. Col. Shai Abramson, Israel Defense Forces Chief Cantor and Representative Cantor for the State of Israel, told JNS. It has created new suffering for them on top of their existing suffering.

As a result, he said, the time has come to seek out new, creative solutions.

Driven by the goal of turning the crisis into alternative initiatives to reach people, Abramson said adopting technological tools enabled him to connect to the bereaved families and to others. I broadcast on video my recitation of the prayer, God full of Mercy, [El Male Rahamim], pause, and let the family members say the name of the fallen soldier, before continuing, he said. I broadcast to all families of fallen soldiers via a Zoom group and share the prayers with them. This way, I could read the relevant Psalms passages.

Abramson seeks inspiration from the tendency of the Jewish people to use crises to create new possibilities. We are in a challenging period, especially for the world of culture and events, where I am active also as a civilian. I am a civilian employee of IDF, but I am also an Israeli artist who performs, and the stages are now empty, he said. It will apparently take a long time for things to recover.

He has been inspired by seeing how other sections of the military seized on the crisis to find new ways to support the war against the coronavirus. This is the uniqueness of this nationits ability to reinvent itself and adapt, he said. As chief IDF cantor, I am thinking of this. It is happening in the civilian world as well. The challenge extends to the entire world of culture and events.

An Israeli soldier pays her respects at the Kiryat Shaul Military Cemetery as Israel marks Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror on April 28, 2020. Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90.

The public in Israel, he said, is crying out for cultural content, even more so when it comes from IDF soldiers in uniform. Other IDF cultural units, such as military bands, received approval from the Personnel Directorate to broadcast performances from a truck complete with amplifiers. For his part, Abramson also filmed as part of other events with organizations ahead of Independence Day.

I felt that we made the adjustment. This was the first time in my life that I have appeared on Holocaust Remembrance Day in six times simultaneously [in video events to mark the day]. I could not do this in the past. The exposure has grown. People are consuming more content because they are at home, he said.

It comes at a time when the world of cantorship is, unfortunately, going extinct, he said. The young generation does have the patience and does not connect to it.

But now, he added, with young people at home, they could chance upon this content. This is the time to give the option, at least, to people to consume culture of this kind. We have to be creative and reinvent ourselves.

It ignited something in them

Abramsons journey to his current position is a highly unusual story, and one that he feels with firm inner conviction signifies Divine providence.

For religious people, we believe there is such a thing, he affirms. Until it does not happen to you, you dont feel it.

Previously a career officer in the IDFs Logistics and Telecommunications Branch, in 2007 Abramson was asked to recite melodic prayers for an event held in honor of Benny Gantz, who was about to begin his term as IDF attach in Washington, D.C. The IDF chief of staff at the time, Gabi Ashkenazi, and the general staff were all present at the event.

Gantz, who is fond of cantorship, and the rest of the audience listened with intent as Abramson, who had been singing since his youth, recited a prayer. The listeners were moved.

Before he knew it, Abramson saw Ashkenazi go up on stage and hold an impromptu consultation with the head of the IDFs Personnel Directorate, before making a public announcement: Abramson was the new IDF chief cantor.

Israel Defense Forces Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir at Kiryat Shaul Military Cemetery in Tel Aviv on Yom Hazikaron, Israels Memorial Day, on April 28, 2020. Due to coronavirus outbreak, all cemeteries were closed to the public. Photo by Gili Yaari/Flash90.

For the next few months, as he took on his new role, Abramson had to also conduct his older role and juggled the two positions. As I entered the world of cantorship, feedback started coming in from bereaved families and from the Israeli general public. At that stage, Abramson knew he was on the right track.

On more than one occasion, young Jews abroad who had seen his appearances actually moved to Israel after their exposure to Jewish melodies and prayer sparked a new determination to create new lives in the Jewish state. Im sure its not because I sang nicely, but because it ignited something in them, he said.

Abramson feels that he is fulfilling a designated role to reach others using his voice, which he says he received as a gift

I have to use this gift and fulfill my role. If dont do thisif I dont try to break down barriers and go beyond, during memorial ceremonies, during funerals, then I am missing my role, he said. This also includes Israeli and international music. Ultimately, music and melody is the common denominator that touches people. It reaches everyone, no matter who you are, and it creates connections.

The melodies and the texts are relevant to every Jew, he added. Hearing the Shema Yisrael [Hear O Israel] prayer is relevant to every Jew, irrespective of whether one is Orthodox or not, or Sephardic or Ashkenazi.

The post Accompanying families of fallen soldiers, albeit by their sides online appeared first on JNS.org.

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Accompanying families of fallen soldiers, albeit by their sides online - Cleveland Jewish News

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Posted By admin on April 29, 2020

When Prof. Vered Noam, 59, was in high school in Jerusalem, her school did not teach girls Talmud. So twice a week, she snuck out of school and went to the newly opened Pelech school for girls in Jerusalem to study Talmud. Today she is the first woman to win the Israel Prize for Talmud. She is the chair of the Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies and Archaeology at Tel Aviv University. When she talks about Talmud, her face lights up. She spoke with The Jerusalem Post on Zoom.How did you get interested in Talmud?I cant remember a time I wasnt interested in Talmud. I grew up in a house filled with Torah conversations at the table. As a child I felt that Talmud is a conversation that links people and creates joy and also has something different from everyday life, something higher and beautiful, so it was very clear to me that I wanted to be part of that.Tell me about your family growing up.I grew up in Jerusalem, in Rechavia. My father was a Bible scholar at Bar Ilan University Prof. Yehuda Elitzur, and my mother, Rivka Elitzur, was a childrens book author. She wrote several books that went on to become iconic, at least within the religious community. For example, Shalom Lach Orachat (Welcome, Guest) is a book that everyone who grew up around here knows. Every religious home and every religious preschool has a copy. I grew up with four siblings. I have an older sister and three brothers; one of my brothers, Uri Elitzur, a shrewd thinker and journalist and the founder of the Makor Rishon newspaper, passed away five years ago. I was the youngest, by far, so maybe part of my desire to study was to join in, to be part of the conversation. It was really a beautiful, happy religious-Zionist home with an emphasis on the importance of life in Israel and in Jerusalem and being thankful we have a state of our own.Passover Seder was a very formative experience for me. I was thinking recently that most of my choices in life come from that experience. Seder was very central for my father. He used to say every part of Jewish history corresponds to one of the holidays. You could say those living in exile, who were hunted and lived in harsh conditions, were living out the High Holidays, whereas we living in an era of redemption, as he believed are experiencing Passover. The Seder is the only religious ceremony we perform at home, with our families, not in synagogue. Seder isnt in fact a dramatization of leaving Egypt, but rather a revival of sorts of the Tannaitic Beit Midrash, (the Study Hall of the sages of the Mishna, compiled in 200 CE). So I think part of my love for that world of the Talmud was born there, at the Seder table, which, as I intuitively felt as a child, connected me to my parents and siblings on one hand and back to the sages and Jewish history on the other.Where did you study?I went to high school at Evelina de Rothchild and then did all three of my degrees including my doctorate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Then I moved to Tel Aviv University and started teaching at the Department of Jewish Philosophy and Talmud. What is your research focused on?Im most curious about the world of the sages (of the Mishnah and Talmud), because its such a different world than the Biblical world which preceded it. The sages make major changes that seem so far from the literal interpretation of the text. The central Jewish values of studying Torah, the creation of a huge multifaceted halachic edifice and a new, fascinating hermeneutical system are among the rabbinic phenomena that dont exist in the actual Bible. In many ways, the sages constructed a whole new religious culture which molded Jewish practice, values and unique identity to this very day. One can say that where the prophets failed; the sages succeeded. I am curious about how this world came to be and I think the missing link between the Bible and the sages is the Second Temple period. We dont know enough about this period in these regards, but we do have Josephuss writings, Philo, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament. So my work connects the edges of the ends of Second Temple times on one side and the beginning of the Sages period on the other side. My first book dealt with (the Talmudic tractate) Taanit, which is a semi-historical text, written in Aramaic during the Second Temple period, but later adopted and interpreted by the sages. Another study of mine dealt with trying to follow the development of halacha from its ancient inceptions in the Dead Sea Scrolls, through the test case of certain aspects of purity and impurity. I recently published a book with Tal Ilan and others about the literary relationship between Josephuss writings and the rabbinic literature. Now Im working on a new critical edition of a Qumran scroll named Some Precepts of the Torah, which deals with halachic disputes between the Judaean Desert sectarians and their rivals, probably the Pharisees, who were most likely the progenitors of the rabbis. Trying to understand this debate, you essentially go back in time to when halacha was being shaped. Does your research influence your own religious practice?I really try to keep it purely academic. That is, Im sure that every scholar who studies a certain field in the humanities does so because it is somehow connected to what Kabbalists would name the roots of his soul. It is impossible to sever ones intellectual interest from ones biography and social circumstances. Still, I think its crucial that when you deal with research you do it for researchs sake, as pure as possible. Do you define yourself as Orthodox?I grew up in an Orthodox world and I consider myself committed to halacha. On the other hand, I think the labels Orthodox, Conservative [and] Reform are anachronistic. They arent intra-Jewish definitions, but rather arose in the 19th century, based on changes in the Christian world. So, I think it would be best if we abandoned them entirely, and instead looked at halachic challenges on a case-by-case basis, according to the intrinsic rules of halacha. For example, if a woman wears a tallit (prayer shawl), we shouldnt react with alarm simply because it reminds us of Reform politics, but we should debate the question on its own halachic merits.In my private rather than scholarly life, Im very interested in the questions of the extent of freedom the halachic framework enables. I believe we have a lot more options of change and renewal than what is granted by the religious establishment today. Tell me about your family.Im married to Elhanan, and everything Ive done is thanks to him. We have six children; three boys and three girls. Five are married, and we are waiting for our 12th grandchild. Elhanan has a financial consulting firm for companies and businesses. During these difficult times hes very busy. Do you think women learn Talmud differently than men?My inclination is to simply say no. At least I hope not. If they still do, its because theres still strong discrimination in terms of the rabbinical education available to women, so sometimes when women encounter Talmud and its idiosyncratic way of reasoning, they express an outsiders point of view. Sometimes these reactions are useful, sometimes we need to step back and ask the fundamental questions, and thats fine. It doesnt need to be womens questions, and as they receive a more Talmudic education, the learning will become everyones. Just like womens study of math or biology or medicine is not different than mens, it should not be different with regard to Talmudic learning either. Human intellect is human intellect.What do you think of the Daf Yomi movement which has lately become more popular among women? (Note: It takes 7.5 years to complete the entire Talmud studying one folio a day)At first I thought it was better for a person to sit and study a tractate in depth. Daf Yomi is very demanding, its hard to stick to and by definition its pretty superficial; but later, at some point when they started (the tractate) Baba Kama in the previous cycle, I decided to join and I found it meaningful. Its encouraging that so many people all over the world are studying the same thing at the same time. That got me thinking that there may also be a way to deepen the learning, if occasionally, when something on the page catches your eye you look into it and share your findings. If theres a large enough group and everyone shares something, then you end up delving a lot deeper into the text. I started doing this on my personal Facebook page, when I had an idea I posted there and then I wondered, why not open a group? So, halfway through Baba Kama in the last cycle I opened a page called Yomi on Facebook, just as a personal initiative, and it now has more than 2,000 members.How did you find out that you had won the Israel Prize for Talmud?It was Tu Bishvat (in February) and I was at Tel Aviv University. It was a cold, rainy evening and I was on my home to Kfar Adumim. Its a long trip and I was exhausted. Halfway through the trip my husband called and said he was with our daughter, who lives in [Jerusalems] Ein Kerem. He said, Come join us, just turn around and drive to Ein Kerem. I debated, I was tired and didnt know whether to go to my daughters or go straight home. Then I decided, OK, Ill go to her house. I went there and got the call, happily, with my husband and daughter, which was much better than getting the call driving alone in the dark. A lot has been made of the fact that youre the first woman to win the Israel Prize in Talmud.Im a bit torn on the matter. Its very important to me that there be egalitarian Talmudic education, from the age of six through places that give women the equivalent of smicha (Rabbinic ordination). Once that happens, women will be a full part of the religious world; I think thats a very important goal. On the other hand, its very important that this progression be natural and I dislike the emphasis on women being women. I want to be part of the learning community. So on the one hand I disliked the focus on my gender, but on the other hand when I saw the joy it brought some communities and how excited some of my friends got I was moved. If it gives a push and opens the Talmudic world to women who deserve it and who want it then Im grateful for the opportunity, and happy about it.How has coronavirus affected your work?Being cut off from the university and from the campus is not easy. Im trying to teach through Zoom and keep running the School of Jewish Studies and Archeology from afar, so I also have a lot of administrative work and responsibilities. Teaching on Zoom is difficult and requires more effort than teaching in the classroom, since interaction with students is limited. You cover more material, but it feels strange and exhausting. I think we all share the burden of being cooped up. Im lucky to live in a rural area.

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Meet Prof. Noam Vered, the 1st woman to win the Israel Prize for Talmud - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on April 29, 2020

By Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb

Iam proud of my large library of Jewish books. My collection, which my wife half-jokingly refers to as my addiction, began on my 11th birthday with a gift from my maternal grandparents, may they rest in peace. They bought me the then recently published Shulzinger edition of the Five Books of Moses surrounded by numerous traditional commentaries. Those volumes became the cornerstone of my personal library of many hundreds of Judaic works on the Bible, the Talmud, philosophy, history, and codes of law.

These books line the walls of my private study from floor to ceiling.

Over the years, I have had many visitors who were struck by the overwhelming number of books and who reacted with awe and curiosity. Some, particularly non-Jews, would ask, Have you read all of these? When I confessed that I hadnt read more than very few of them, they often proceeded with yet another question:

What are they all about? Why are so many books necessary just to explain one religion? They could not fathom why so much commentary was written on just a few basic biblical texts.

Often, as I responded to their inquiries, I found myself resorting to an old story of one of our greatest sages, Hillel. To most of you, this story is probably well-known, perhaps even trite. But for many of my visitors, the story was novel, instructive, and almost revelatory.

In this story, Hillel, known for his scholarship and commitment to Torah study but particularly famous for his patience, is provocatively challenged by a heathen who demands to be taught the entire Torah while standing on one foot. Hillel accepts the challenge and says, What is hateful to you do not do unto others. That is the entire Torah, the rest is but commentary. Now go out and study the commentary.

I would then explain to my visitors that Hillels remark was based upon a verse in this weeks double Torah portion, Acharei Mot-Kedoshim. There, in Leviticus 19:18, we read, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

Now, I would continue, loving ones neighbor as oneself is no easy task. We are likely to have numerous and diverse neighbors in the course of a lifetime, and myriad circumstances arise which pose great barriers to our love for them. And so, Jewish scholars throughout the ages have recorded their advice, suggestions, and guidelines for just how to love ones neighbor in every conceivable context and condition. Thats what all these books are about, and thats why we need so many of them.

Note that Hillel himself does not choose to use the Torahs original phrase to explain the essence of Judaism to the heathen. He does not say, Love your neighbor. Rather, he says, Do not harm your neighbor. Perhaps this is because, as the medieval commentator Ramban suggests, loving ones neighbor as oneself is an exaggerated expectation, just too tall an order, and the most Hillel could do was to urge the heathen to do no harm.

Whether one uses the biblical formulation commanding us to love our neighbor, or chooses Hillels version which asks us to refrain from harming him or her in a way in which we ourselves would not want to be harmed, the essence of our Torah is this ethical imperative. And the many hundreds of volumes in my personal library, and the hundreds of thousands of similar tomes written throughout the centuries, can all be understood as the constant and perpetual struggle of our sages to develop a database sufficient to enable us to realize this ethical imperative.

One such commentary deserves mention in our age and culture, which has been diagnosed as narcissistic, as overly self-loving.

This commentary takes the form of a story about a disciple of Rabbi Mendel of Kotzk who eavesdropped upon his master as the latter was reviewing this weeks Torah portion aloud. Rabbi Mendel read, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as yourself? Yes, as yourself! First as a question, and then as a forceful declaration.

The disciple was puzzled by the manner in which his master read the passage. He asked the masters chief disciple, Reb Hershel, for an explanation. This was his answer:

The master first asked a question. Can it be that we are asked to love our neighbor as ourselves? Are we to understand that it is permissible to love oneself? Is it not a basic teaching here in Kotzk that one dare not love oneself, lest he thereby become blind to his own faults? In our terminology, Rabbi Mendel could not accept the slightest suggestion that narcissism was acceptable.

Then the master realized a deeper meaning of the verse. Namely, we ought to love our neighbor to the same extent that we are critical of ourselves. The mitzvah is that we put in as much effort loving our neighbor as the effort that we should be investing in our own personal spiritual and moral perfection.

In an age of me first, it is even more important that we direct love outwards towards the other, not inward toward ourselves. We must, at all costs, avoid self-adulation and self-worship.

That is one sample of the vast treasure of commentary that is in our Jewish library. No wonder that our Sages refer to the ocean of the Talmud, and to our Torah as deeper than the sea.

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Loving our neighbors. It's all commentary. - The Jewish Star

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Posted By admin on April 29, 2020

A call went out for volunteers, and I answered. I wrote this on Friday, the day after my first shift at Boston Hope, a 1,000-bed field hospital built this month at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center to treat COVID-19 patients.

Ive been asked, Why would you do that? Youre turning 60, you live in beautiful Maine, with a loving family. Are you scared youre going to get infected? You bet Im scared, just like everyone else. But my answer remains simple. Its a calling, something I signed up for a long time ago. As the Talmud asks: If not you, then who? If not now, then when?

I was concerned that when I arrived to work, I would smell this deadly contagious virus, but it was just the opposite. Like the anxiety that crept up the night before my first shift, the virus is insidious.

But those infected are not. What I witnessed was patients who are survivors and who cherished those who treated them.

Lets celebrate and give thanks to all of those on the front line: health care workers, police and firefighters, supermarket workers, and those who clean the hospital rooms and empty the trash. My hat goes off to them. These workers are the angels, the heroes, not me. They do it day in and day out.

They dont complain. They remind me that this will pass. But, as the military slogan, which is strung up outside the Boston Hope command center, says, they just keep pounding.

Dr. Gary Perlmutter

Cumberland, Maine

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Maine doctor answered the call to help at Boston field hospital - The Boston Globe

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Posted By admin on April 29, 2020

A large crowd of Hasidim clashed with police in Beit Shemesh on Tuesday, three days into a government-mandated closure of two of the citys ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods.

Dozens of black-clad men screamed Nazis as law enforcement officers attempted to shut down Ateret Yehoshua Talmud Torah, an Orthodox elementary school in the Hasidic enclave of Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet, which had remained open in violation of Health Ministry directives intended to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last week, data released by the Health Ministry showed that Beit Shemesh, with its population of just over 120,000, was one of three cities with significant ultra-Orthodox populations that had more active coronavirus cases than Tel Aviv, the countrys second-largest population center.

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In fact, according to the ministry, cases there had spiked by around 50 percent in a week. Media reports linked this increase to the hard core of ultra-Orthodox extremists in the city, many of whom reject the governments authority and refuse to practice social distancing.

According to the Health Ministry, the number of verified coronavirus cases discovered in Beit Shemesh had increased to 436 as of Sunday.

In response, the government approved closures of the Kirya Haredit and Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet neighborhoods. The lockdowns, which went into effect at 6 a.m. Sunday and are set to last until Friday, effectively sealed off the neighborhoods in a manner similar to restrictions previously placed on the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, where a ban on movement was imposed to prevent the spread of the pandemic.

Tuesdays confrontation followed clashes on Monday afternoon, apparently sparked by the arrest of a member of the insular community.

In one video of that incident, posted to YouTube by local photojournalist Yaakov Lederman, crowds of children could be seen screaming Nazi and hurling objects at uniformed policemen.

Other residents, however, have welcomed the police and soldiers.

In an interview with The Times of Israel on Monday, Stuart Schnee, an American resident of the city, said he went to Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet on an errand and encountered a Hasidic man introducing his children to the troops.

I wouldnt believe if I hadnt seen it, he said. A Hasidic father walked up to a soldier with his little boys and pointed to the soldier and said, See, this gun wont hurt anybody, and then said in Yiddish, Say thanks. And all three little boys looked at the soldier and said thanks. The soldier smiled behind his mask.

In one video circulating on local WhatsApp groups, a group of Hasidim could be seen setting up a barbecue for soldiers manning one of the checkpoints cutting off their neighborhood from the rest of the city.

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Hasidim clash with police in quarantined Beit Shemesh neighborhood - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on April 29, 2020

Not many online cooking classes start with a plea to give tzedakah. But then, not many online cooking classes are taught by a Chabad rabbi.

Rabbi Yosef Levin, director of Chabad of the Greater South Bay, is the latest to jump into this now-crowded field. He asks those watching his class not only to give tzedakah, but to do so several times a day, just as we now must wash our hands numerous times a day. Giving charity also brings blessing upon the food, he says.

Levin has a professional chef give him step-by-step instructions, as he is not a professional chef himself and he sees that as a point of pride.

I want to show others that they dont need to be either to make great-tasting food, he said.

On April 21, Levin debuted his series with shakshuka (a stewed tomato and egg dish brought to Israel by Tunisian or Yemenite immigrants), while his friend and congregant Shimon Abrahami, who was a restaurateur in Israel before coming to the U.S., talked him through it from his home in Redwood City.

The April 28 episode featured guest Margarita Peretz, who with her husband, Meni, owns the glatt kosher company Yes Catering. She taught Levin how to make arroz con pollo y platanos, a classic Dominican dish of chicken with rice and plantains.

Levin is planning to use the same format in each episode, with a guest sharing a favorite recipe and then instructing Levin on how to make it. Viewers can buy the ingredients in advance and cook along with Levin if they wish.

Levin said several Jewish sources stress the importance of food and cooking. In the Bible, Abraham and Sarah always offered food to guests as a sign of hospitality, and the idea that communal eating and drinking brings people closer together comes directly from the Talmud.

Levin also has had personal experiences connecting him to food and cooking, starting when he was a child in England. He remembers his family hosting many guests, who upon arrival were immediately offered something to eat and drink.

Later, when the family moved to France, Levins mother catered meals for schools and his father opened a butcher shop, where Levin helped out. And when he was at yeshiva, he and a few other students who knew about food were chosen to work as mashgichim (kosher certifiers). They often stepped in to help cook, too.

In the 1980s, when his wife was pregnant with twins, she couldnt stand the smell of food for much of her pregnancy. The couple talked it over and didnt want to stop having guests for Shabbos dinner, which is one of the essential functions of a Chabad house. So Levin took on all the cooking duties himself.

On Thursday nights, shed go to bed, and from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. Id cook myself and wash dishes and clean from 3 to 4 a.m., he said. I was doing a full Shabbos dinner for many guests every single week.

Levin and his wife have 13 children and were empty nesters until their 17-year-old son was sent home from yeshiva in France due to the coronavirus. My life is dedicated to teaching Torah and social services and raising my family, Levin said. Professionally, food is not a big part of my life. However, cooking is something that he enjoys. I use it very much as a relief. I like to encourage hospitality and bring people closer. Ive always loved the creativity of cooking. You get into the kitchen and take some ingredients and turn it into something. Its like a work of art.

Levins assistant, who runs Zoom for him remotely while the rabbi cooks, suggested that he set up two cameras the one on his laptop and one on his phone so viewers could watch from two different angles, which gives the show a bit more of a professional look.

But any other attempts to try and professionalize his operation will most likely be rejected. He himself likes to pochke (play) in the kitchen experimenting, adding a bit of this, a bit of that, and not doing things the same way twice. When his sister recommended that he chop ingredients in advance, he said no, he wanted to make the food in real time.

Levin allows viewers to unmute themselves at will, interrupt and ask questions or offer comments, leading to some unintentionally funny unscripted moments. When Abrahami suggested swapping fish for the eggs in the shakshuka, a viewer weighed in, sounding aghast: Fish? In the shakshuka? Thats terrible, it will make gas!

The result is totally haimish; Levins interest in his guest and that persons story is genuine, and their banter is part of the fun. Levin intends to keep inviting kosher chefs from the Bay Area, and sometimes further afield. The May 5 guest chef will be Wendy Kleckner, a kosher catering consultant who ran Too Caterers for almost two decades. She will be teaching Levin how to make her famous lima bean hummus.

Look for him on Facebook Live on the Chabad of Greater South Bay Facebook pageat 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays.

Simmer beans, garlic, salt and water in a 3-quart saucepan, covered, until beans are tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in cilantro and parsley and let stand, uncovered, 5 minutes.

Drain bean mixture in a sieve and transfer to a food processor. Now add the cumin, 4 Tbs. lemon juice, 5 Tbs. olive oil, 3 Tbs. tahini and pure until smooth. You will most likely need to scrape down sides of the bowl a couple of times during the pureing. Taste and see if the mixture needs more salt or possibly pepper and maybe more lemon juice. Also you might want to add another tablespoon of tahini.

Place in your serving dish and drizzle with a little olive oil.

If made ahead of serving time, this spread can be covered and chilled for up to 3 days. Best served at room temperature.

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Rabbi's online cooking classes served with a side of Yiddishkeit - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on April 29, 2020

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu confirmed on Monday evening that a decision has been made to re-open schools on Sunday in a limited fashion, beginning with children in kindergarten and 1st through 3rd grades.

The decision is subject to change if infection rates begin to increase before then, with a situational assessment to take place on Friday.

Kindergarten classes will be divided into two groups of 15 children each. Each group will attend school for half a week on separate days and be divided into two smaller groups of about 7-8 children each in separate classrooms in the kindergarten.

Children in 1st-3rd grades will also be divided into two groups of about 15 students each. Each group will learn in separate classrooms with studies taking place from Sunday through Thursday. The groups will alternate breaking for recess to minimize contact between the children.

Students in 4th through 12 grades will continue learning remotely for the time being.

Daycares will also be re-opened in a similar fashion, with smaller groups and children attending on alternating days of the week.

Teachers who are in a high-risk category cannot return to work and students with family members at risk will not be able to attend school. The schools must also adhere to social distancing regulations and maintain stringent hygiene.

The Boston Talmud Torah in Bnei Brak already prepared a pilot classroom with partitions separating each child from one another:

(YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem)

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PM Netanyahu Confirms: Schools To Re-Open On Sunday - Yeshiva World News

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Posted By admin on April 29, 2020

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The Israeli flag flies over the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalems Old City.

Israelis and Zionists around the world will mark Yom HaZikaron, this year starting on the evening of April 27. Yom HaZikaron LeHalalei Maarakhot Israel ulNifgeei Peulot HaEivah, literally: Memorial Day for the Fallen Soldiers of Israel and Victims of Terrorism. This is Israels Memorial Day, and it is not celebrated with barbecues but with tears of ultimate grief. Yet as so many Israelis mourn for their precious fallen fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, and friends and comrades, it is not the same for Jews outside of Israel.

We may all mourn together on Tisha BAv and at Yizkor on Yom Kippur but, tragically, it is not the same observing Yom HaZikaron inside the Jewish State as it is anywhere else.

It is our task in the Diaspora to bridge the miles and differences, and to mourn along with our fellow Jews in Israel. We need to work to gain insight into the depth of the loss that so many Israelis feel on Yom HaZikaron. One book that may help is Letters to Talia.

Even though the words in Letters to Talia were penned decades ago, starting in 1971, it is a must-read human document. The Hebrew edition of the book was originally published in 2005 and became hugely popular, but somehow the book never achieved the same status outside of Israel.

Letters to Talia is eerily reminiscent of Self-Portrait of a Hero: From the Letters of Jonathan Netanyahu 19631976. Both reveal the tragic loss that Israel has suffered by sacrificing its best and brightest on the fields of battle for generations; nearly 24,000 soldiers will be remembered on Yom Hazikaron this year. Letters to Talia is a collection of correspondence between a kibbutz-born, secular Israeli high school girl and a religious Israeli soldier named Dov Indig, one of Israels fallen heroes.

Indig fell in combat in the Yom Kippur War on October 7, 1973, 11 Tishrei 5734, fighting the Syrian army in the Golan Heights. Indig was a dedicated yeshiva student and part of the Religious Zionist movement. Dov attended the hesder yeshiva program at Yeshivat Kerem BYavneh, near Ashdod, in which soldiers combine Israels requirement for military service with advanced yeshiva based Talmud/Torah study. Kerem BYavneh was the first hesder program; today there are nearly 70 such yeshivot.

In early October 2012, a book release event was held in the Knesset for the English edition; Prime Minister Netanyahu and other notables attended. Hagi Ben-Artzi, Sara Netanyahus brother, edited the book and figures prominently in numerous letters from both writers.

Many of the letters center around Talias desire to put the Jewish religion in context in her life as a modern, thinking young woman and Dovs answers to her questions, plus descriptions of his army experiences.

What makes the book so moving is not just the emotion that each writer attaches to their search for truth, but the commitment they demonstrate to the Jewish People, their love of the Land of Israel and their faith in the State of Israel.

The topics tackled encompass an entire range of issues, from a then-potential Israeli surrender of Sinai to womens rights, and from Israeli emigration to the Diaspora to a critique of Western culture. The lands liberated in the Six-Day War feature prominently in the book. Deeply moving trips to these areas are discussed. The reader is left to ponder how these young people developed such a profound closeness to these regions so quickly, gaining a better understanding of the pain these withdrawals have caused many Israelis.

Subjects such as religious coercion and the importance of Israeli settlements are discussed at length. The depiction of their visits to Sinai are vivid and leave the reader with a better sense of what Israel lost when this vast area was surrendered to Egypt at Camp David.

Here are a few random quotes that give a sense of the patriotism of these young Israelis:

Dov: I am happy to hear from you that most of the kids hold that it is forbidden to give up Sinai and it is forbidden to be tempted by the promises of the Arabs, who until today have broken all of them.

Talia: I really envy you that you were on the Golan Heights. I love hiking there more than anywhere else in Israel.

Dov: How fortunate we are that we are privileged to be soldiers in the IDF [Israel Defense Forces], which defends the lives of Jews in Israel and throughout the world.

Talia: We thought that our amazing victory in the Six-Day War would put an end to wars, and that the Arabs would resign themselves to our existence, but it turns out that we made a mistake.

Read the book for yourself you will be moved by the experience. Grow close to Israel and thank G-d for the blessing of Israeli soldiers.

Moshe Phillips is national director of Herut North Americas U.S. division. Herut is an international movement for Zionist pride and education and is dedicated to the ideals of pre-World War Two Zionist leader Zeev Jabotinsky. Find Heruts website here.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward.

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On Yom HaZikaron, a glimpse into the tragedy and patriotism of Israels fallen soldiers - Forward

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Posted By admin on April 28, 2020

A Message from Temple Sinai about COVID-19Temple Sinai is a Kehillah Shel Hesed, a Community of Lovingkindness & Caring.Even as the coronavirus pandemic requires that we not hold any in-person gatherings, Temple Sinai is committed to being a Kehillah shel Hesed, a caring community based on loving-kindness. We are shifting most programs, including Shabbat services, to videoconferencing technology. We are adapting to this new situation and are finding new ways of being a caring community. Click here to learn how you can connect to the Temple Sinai synagogue-community. Meanwhile, our hearts are filled with prayers for health and safety for everyone in our community, and we urge everyone to take health precautions during this time.

Temple Sinai is complying with the state-wide order in Massachusetts that all non-essential businesses be closed, and our building and offices will be closed until the order is lifted. However, Temple staff members and clergy are working from home and are available to talk to you by telephone, email and video. Please be in touch! Please contact us and we will respond to you as quickly as possible.Click here to reach the Temple Sinai staff.

Live Streaming ServicesJoin us for live web streaming Shabbat services led by Rabbi Andy VogelClick here to join us!

Temple Sinai is a warm and vibrant community. In the midst of the bustle of Coolidge Corner, visitors find a relaxed and informal atmosphere in which people of all ages, backgrounds and orientations come to worship, learn, enjoy music, explore Judaism, and find new friends.

Learning Life-long Jewish learning has always been acore value of Temple Sinai.

Prayer & Ritual Providinga comfortable environment to meditate, sing and pray.

Caring for & Repairing the World Working for social justice, consistent with the Jewish mandate of Tikkun Olam.

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Temple Sinai - A Reform Jewish Synagogue and Congregation in ...

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Posted By admin on April 28, 2020

GARDNER Where Congregation Ohave Shalom synagogue once stood is now a small park next to the Pleasant Street entrance to Workers Credit Union.

The credit union bought the building at 152 Pleasant St. in 2017, and had it demolished. There is a memorial in the park honoring the synagogue and the contributions to the city by its Jewish community.

When the building was torn down, it had long since ceased to be a synagogue. For a time it served as a venue for local bands as the Gardner Music Hall, but the building had fallen into disrepair.

Ohave Shalom was the city's first and only synagogue. It was built in 1912, just a few blocks from Gardner City Hall to serve the community's growing Jewish population.

The first families to arrive in the city chose to build lives in Gardner, rather than moving there for a job. The Cohens, Romes, Rosenbergs, Roses and others founded businesses and became major contributors to the community.

The early families came from Lithuania and Poland. In 1932, Rabbi Israel Silverstein was hired as the synagogue's first English-speaking ordained rabbi.

In 1958, Rabbi Samuel Freilich arrived in Gardner. He and his wife, Ella, were both survivors of the Holocaust. He was from Hungary and was held by the Nazis in slave labor and concentration camps, until he escaped to Austria in 1945. His wife was a survivor of the Auschwitz and Dachau death camps.

Rabbi Freilich served the synagogue from 1950 to 1958. After serving in Florida for three years, he returned to Gardner in 1961, and was rabbi there until his retirement in 1978.

The Freilich's daughter, Hadassah, married Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, who served for many years in the U.S. Senate. When he was Al Gore's running mate for vice president in 2000, Hadassah visited Gardner with Tipper Gore, stopping by the synagogue.

The success of the city's Jewish residents and their children helped bring about the end of the synagogue. With many young people moving away to work in professional jobs elsewhere, the population dwindled to a few families.

When the synagogue was torn down, the large stained glass Star of David window was among several items removed and donated to the Gardner Historical Museum.

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Then & Now: Congregation Ohave Shalom synagogue in Gardner - The Gardner News

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