Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on December 27, 2019

The holiday of Chanukah is mentioned only briefly in the Mishnah and the Talmud. In fact, the names of the sons of Matityahu are not mentioned. How do we know the background to this holiday? The purpose of this article is to describe three of the main sources that we have and to understand the differences between them. These sources are I Maccabees, II Maccabees and Megillat Antiochus.

I Maccabees spans the period from the beginning of the reign of Antiochus IV (the Antiochus who persecuted the Jews) until the death of Shimon, son of Matityahu. These are the years 175-134 B.C.E. (The persecution by Antiochus took place during the years 167-164 B.C.E.)

The author of I Maccabees is unknown, but it is evident that he was a Jew who was an admirer of Matityahu and his sons. I Maccabees was probably composed sometime after the death of John Hyrcanus (son of Shimon) in 104 B.C.E.

The work was originally composed in Hebrew, but what has survived is only the Greek translation. The church father Jerome (4th cent.) reports that he saw the original Hebrew.

Another early church father refers to the First Book of Maccabees by the title sarbthsabanaiel. But what does this garbled title mean? Probably, it is connected to the nickname for the priestly order Yehoyariv, the order that Matityahu came from. The nickname for this order was something like MSRBYY. See J. Talmud, Taanit 4:5. Probably, the original title was something like Sefer Beit Sarbanei El = the Book of the Dynasty of Gods Resisters.

II Maccabees is an entirely different work. It was composed in Greek, likely in the Diaspora (perhaps in Alexandria). The unknown author tells us that his work is an abridgement of the work of Jason of Cyrene. (Cyrene is a city on the northern coast of Libya.) Unfortunately, this Jason is unknown. But it is widely agreed that Jason wrote very close in time to the events he described.

II Maccabees covers a shorter time period than I Maccabees. It begins in the years before the reign of Antiochus IV and ends with Judahs victory over the general Nicanor in 161 B.C.E.

Both I and II Maccabees were preserved because they were incorporated into the canon of the early church. Probably, the books were canonized by the early church because they modeled steadfastness in the defense of God, and because the persecuted Jews were seen as forerunners of Christian martyrs.

With regard to why I Maccabees is not included in Tanach, probably the Biblical canon was considered closed by Jewry even before I Maccabees was composed. For example, Sid Z. Leiman, in his authoritative work The Canonization of Hebrew Scripture, takes the position that the Jewish Biblical canon was already closed in the middle of the second century B.C.E. But even if this canon was still open at the time I Maccabees was composed (see, e.g., L.H. Schiffman, Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, pp. 162-169), I Maccabees was probably never a candidate for canonization since it did not claim to be a book composed before the period of prophecy ended. With regard to II Maccabees, it would never have been a candidate for canonization since it was composed in Greek.

The third work that I mentioned at the outset is Megillat Antiochus. This work is familiar to many in modern times because a Hebrew text of this work was included in the Birnbaum Siddur. But this work was originally composed in Aramaic, and the Aramaic text has been recovered. There are several important contradictions between this work and I and II Maccabees, and the work is generally viewed as very unreliable. See, e.g., Encyclopaedia Judaica 14:1046-47. Most likely, it was composed in the Geonic period. See A. Kasher, The Historical Background of Megillath Antiochus, PAAJR (1981), pp. 207-30, and Z. Safrais article in The Literature of the Sages, vol. 2, eds. S. Safrai, et al, pp. 238-241. According to the latter, linguistic analysis of the Aramaic indicates that the scroll dates from sometime between the sixth and eighth centuries.

Interestingly, in some communities in the time of the Rishonim and even later, Megillat Antiochus was read on Chanukah. See the article in D. Sperbers Minhagey Yisrael, vol. 5, pp. 102-113, for some references. The earliest reference to a practice of reading Megillat Antiochus on Chanukah is a statement by R. Saadiah Gaon (10th century). In his introduction to Megillat Antiochus, R. Saadiah writes that most of the nation read it. R. Saadiah does not state that it was read as part of a Chanukah ritual, but that would be a reasonable interpretation of the passage.

One interesting example of a difference between I Maccabees, II Maccabees, and Megillat Antiochus is with regard to their understanding of what motivated Antiochus to issue his decrees against the Jews. According to I Macc. (1:41-42), Antiochus had a grand plan to unify his empire through Hellenism and the Jews resisted his plan. But II Macc. does not mention any such grand plan of Antiochus. Rather, according to this work, the decrees were merely a response by Antiochus to what he erroneously perceived as a revolt by the Jews of Judea. See II Macc. 5:11. Finally, according to Megillat Antiochus, Antiochus announces to his ministers, without any particular provocation, that the Jews need to be eliminated, and that the rituals of Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh and milah must be abolished. The kings complaint was that the Jews do not sacrifice to his gods or follow his laws, and someday hope to rule the world. (In my book Esther Unmasked, pp. 94-117, I extensively discuss the issue of what motivated Antiochus decrees. Almost certainly, the approach taken by II Macc. is the correct one.)

Another ancient source that discusses the background to Chanukkah is Josephus. But he is largely relying on I Macc. (It seems that he did not have II Macc.) With regard to non-Jewish sources, Antiochus persecution of the Jews is mentioned in ancient sources such as Diodorus and Tacitus but the references are very brief. They are collected in M. Stern, Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism.

It is only through sources like I and II Macc. that we can determine the probable original Hebrew spelling of the term Maccabee (the nickname for Judah), a term not found in the Mishnah or Talmud or classical midrashim. The Greek letter used in Maccabee in I and II Macc. is kappa, a letter usually used to transliterate kof. Also, the best manuscripts of Megillat Antiochus spell Maccabee with a kof. The Hebrew spelling with a caf is a later erroneous spelling. It was first used by Yosippon in the 10th century, and then influenced all who came after him. (Yosippon is not Josephus; it is a much later work based on Josephus.) With the kof spelling, we now understand that the word means hammer. See, e.g., Judges 4:21.

Mitchell First can be reached at [emailprotected] (The above article is adapted from his Roots and Rituals, 2018.)

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Chanukah: A Survey of the Ancient Sources - Jewish Link of New Jersey

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Posted By admin on December 27, 2019

During this time, we Jews have been enjoying our holiday of Chanukah, the festival of lights.

As most people know (indeed the public schools tell the children about it now), the menorah candelabra is lit with one additional candle each night, culminating with eight candles burning on the last, eighth evening. It harks back to 165 B.C., when, after the Maccabean victory over the Greek Syrians, the small jar of oil in the Jerusalem Temple miraculously burned for eight days.

However, few know that in the Talmud, one of our holy books filled with laws and history, there is recorded a debate among two famous rabbis on how the menorah should be kindled over the eight nights. Rabbi Shammai said start with eight candles lit, and proceed down to one; Rabbi Hillel said the opposite: increase from one burning to eight. Of course, Hillel"s view increasing the light, a powerful image was accepted by the Sanhedrin, the Jewish court.

Actually, Hillel and Shammai had many debates in the Talmud, as did other rabbis, about ritual, religious law, laws of living, and other subjects. The debates are conducted in a totally civil and dignified manner, with the prevailing view accepted by the others with kindness and respect. This is how debate should be.

Influenced somewhat by this, our country also has a tradition of lofty civil debate. The founders of our nation, seen in the Federalist Papers, reflected this in developing the Constitution.

Later, in 1858, the legendary Lincoln-Douglas debates proceeded in a high, basically respectful, intellectual level.

I recall as a young student watching the Nixon-Kennedy presidential debates in l960 and later the tapes. While they strongly disagreed on issues, they treated each other with civility.

And, we might remember the presidential debate of 2008. When an attendee from the audience meanly questioned Barack Obama's lineage and patriotism, the late JohnMcCain politely stood up for his opponent: "No, ma-am, that is NOT true."

So, our nation having a tradition of civil debate, what has happened to us now? The whole tenor of debate has descended into downright rudeness and hostility. Recently, I was watching a political exchange on television, when one official said to the other: "Shut up, moron!" Then, in another instance, also on TV, I heard an elected official, referring to an opponent, say: "It must suck to be so stupid!" How on Earth did we come to this?

In the Talmud it says: "Who is honorable? One who honors his fellows (in speaking). In this New Year 2020, let us pray for a return to civil discussion in our country. Let us urge our elected officials to do this, in any way we can. We can do no less.

Rabbi Ronald Gerson is rabbi emeritus of Congregation Children of Israel in Athens.

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Gerson: We must return to civil debate in this country - Online Athens

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Posted By admin on December 27, 2019

Rabbi Reines' 'Ohr Hadash al Tzion' manuscript

National Library of Israel

Rabbi Isaac Jacob Reines (1839-1915) was one of the first rabbis to give wholehearted support to the Zionist movement. He corresponded regularly with Theodor Herzl and founded the Mizrachi movement, the international Religious Zionist organization that is globally active until today.

Descendants of Rabbi Reines recently learned of the existence of 88 of his manuscripts, purchased them, and donated them to the National Library of Israel (NLI) in memory of Rabbanit Elka Cyperstein. The vast majority of the writings were never published. NLI has now completed digitizing about 25,000 pages from the collection, making them available to scholars and the general public for the first time, more than a century after Reines' death.

Rabbi Reines was a brilliant scholar with wide-ranging interests and impacts. He founded and stood at the head of the Torah Vodaas yeshiva in Lida, Belarus, which radically combined traditional intense Talmud study with secular studies and a broader Jewish studies curriculum including Jewish history and literature. He promoted Zionism and praised the secular Herzl in the yeshiva's study halls, and even supported the controversial Uganda Plan to temporarily set up a Jewish state in Africa.

The eleven books that Rabbi Reines published during his lifetime were only a tiny fraction of his writings. After his passing, Rabbi Reines' son published an additional book from his writings and prepared a large number of his manuscripts for publication. However, the publisher did not print the manuscripts as promised, and they remained hidden from public view and largely forgotten for decades.

The collection spans a wide range of topics, including Talmud and Jewish law, Aggadah, Zionism, and philosophy and Jewish thought.

The digitized manuscripts are available online via "Ktiv: The International Collection of Digitized Hebrew Manuscripts," the groundbreaking initiative to digitally preserve and make accessible all of the world's Hebrew manuscripts. In total, some 78,000 manuscripts (9 million images) from 578 collections around the world are already accessible through Ktiv, a joint venture of the National Library of Israel and the Friedberg Jewish Manuscript Society, with the support of the Israel Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage's Landmarks Project.

According to National Library of Israel Judaica expert Channa Lockshin Bob: "In his approaches to Zionism, to education, and to Jewish scholarship, Rabbi Reines presents an innovative approach that brings together the religious and the secular. His voice of moderation, mutual respect, and unity is just as relevant for Religious Zionism today as it was during his lifetime."

A special event "A New Light: Celebrating the Arrival of the Rabbi Isaac Jacob Reines Manuscript Collection at the National Library of Israel" will be held at the National Library in Jerusalem on January 8, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. Family members and scholars, including Naomi (Nechama) Gordon, Prof. Ze'ev Harvey, Rabbi Haim Sabato, and Prof. Yosef Salmon, will discuss the legacy of one of the founding fathers of religious Zionism.

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Religious Zionism's founding father's manuscripts donated to National Library - Arutz Sheva

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Posted By admin on December 27, 2019

One of the most trenchant observers of the American Jewish scene, Professor Chaim I. Waxman, the distinguished sociologist, has written a wide-ranging, engaging and comprehensive analysis that examines changes in conduct as well as halachic behavior in Orthodox Judaism in America, from a social and psychological perspective. Waxman, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Rutgers University, has lived in Israel since 2006, and currently serves as chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences at Hadassah Academic College.Waxman first introduces readers to the two main groupings by which Orthodox Jews in America are usually categorized ultra-Orthodox and Modern Orthodox Jews and traces the practice of Judaism in the United States until the end of the 19th century. In 1902, the Agudat HaRabanim, the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada, was formed, which represented the ultra-Orthodox sector of the community. Around the same time, writes Waxman, the seeds of Modern Orthodoxy began to sprout, with the founding of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, the rabbinical seminary of Yeshiva University. Any analysis of the development of Modern Orthodoxy in America, he adds, must consider the importance of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, who was the movements intellectual and spiritual leader. Waxman discusses how his reputation grew through his Talmud lectures and classes at Yeshiva University, as well as to the general public, and via his articles, notably Confrontation, which was published in 1964, and The Lonely Man of Faith, which appeared in 1965. Waxman cites several other key events which were significant in the development of Orthodox Judaism in the United States in the 20th century the arrival of Rabbi Aharon Kotler from Europe in 1941, who founded Beth Medrash Govohah in Lakewood, New Jersey, the arrival of Rabbi Yitzchak Schneerson, the sixth rabbi of the Chabad movement one year earlier, who was succeeded by his son-in-law, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson in 1950, and the founding of Torah Umesorah, the national day school movement, in 1944, by Rabbi Kotler and Rabbi Feivel Mendelowitz. In the years following World War II, approximately 140,000 Jewish refugees arrived in the United States, many of whom were Orthodox, and belonged to various hassidic groups. The hasidim, writes Waxman, perhaps even more than the others, were determined to retain their traditional way of life, even within the modern metropolis, and they were largely successful in achieving that goal. At that time, Modern Orthodoxy was widely viewed as the wave of the future in American Orthodox life. Today, he writes, the situation has changed dramatically, as the ultra-Orthodox comprise the majority of the American Orthodox population, with the Modern Orthodox numbering less than one third. Waxman notes that during the first half of the 20th century, Orthodox Jews in America tended to be more supportive of Modern Orthodox belief and reaching an accommodation with modernity. Yeshiva University, which combines secular studies with religious studies, was widely hailed among American Orthodox Jews. However, by the 1970s, a pattern had emerged that Waxman calls the haredization of American Orthodox Jewry. Waxman posits that this pattern emerged due to a number of factors, among them the higher birth rate among the ultra-Orthodox population, the more organized character of their communities, and the weaker institutional base of Modern Orthodoxy. The change in Orthodox Jewish behavior in the United States, writes Waxman, also reflected a pattern in the wider world, of a broader turn to the right and the rise of fundamentalism in a variety of different countries and continents. The turn to the right in Orthodox Jewish behavior in America, Waxman explains, was accompanied by a growing self-confidence that manifested itself in different ways. Religious outreach, for example, which heretofore had been the province of the Modern Orthodox and later of Chabad, became an area of interest to right-wing Orthodoxy, which became actively involved in organizations such as NCSY and the National Jewish Outreach Program. Agudath Israel became active in the public sphere with increased lobbying efforts, and English-language Orthodox publishing was popularized by Artscroll. Waxman writes that the most conspicuous indicator of the haredization of American Orthodox Jewry is a greater punctiliousness, perceived by many to be excessive. He traces the history of adoption of accepting additional stringencies in Jewish law, citing different authorities throughout the ages, including some medieval authorities who were opposed to this type of behavior. Waxman distinguishes between the type of stringencies practiced in medieval Ashkenaz and those of today, expressing the idea that today, there is a conscious, almost ideological drive to be highly discriminating in certain areas of Halacha. He posits that the world of the yeshiva, which has grown significantly in the United States over the past 50 years, has played a significant role in the shift to the right within Orthodoxy. Whereas in the past, writes Waxman, the tradition of the family and the local community played a central role in setting the standard of behavior within the religious realm, today the rosh yeshiva (head of the yeshiva) plays a far greater and more influential role. Waxman explains some of the reasons why Modern Orthodoxy has ceded control to the ultra-Orthodox from a sociological standpoint.The very fact that Modern Orthodoxy is more open than ultra-Orthodoxy severely limits its attractiveness for most people, he writes. Most people prefer black and white concepts that can easily be differentiated from others.One of the most sensitive issues within Modern Orthodoxy today the role of women is discussed by the author in a chapter entitled Tensions within Modern Orthodoxy. Waxman provides a history of womens tefila groups, partnership minyanim, and womens Talmud study, and he discusses opposition to these movements within American Orthodoxy today. In discussing the role of Israel within modern Orthodoxy, he notes that Israeli Orthodoxy is more open and tolerant of diversity than American Orthodoxy. Social Change and Halakhic Evolution in American Orthodoxy, well-written, thought-provoking and engaging, is a valuable addition to anyone interested in understanding the past, present, and future directions of Orthodox Judaism in America.SOCIAL CHANGE AND HALAKHIC EVOLUTION IN AMERICAN ORTHODOXYBy Chaim I. WaxmanThe Littman Library of Jewish Civilization in association with Liverpool University Press234 pages; $29.95

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Haredi-Modern Orthodox tug-of-war in 20th century US - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on December 27, 2019

The Divisive Decade: When The Center Couldnt Hold

The 2010s meant a lot of things to a lot of people, but weve chosen to label the past 10 years The Divisive Decade. The bitter battle over the Iran nuclear deal was a Jewish communal watershed, and the election of Donald Trump has cleaved the community in ways that sometimes feel unfixable.

Even the decades terrifying rise of anti-Semitism, a call for unity if there ever was one, has divided Jews along ideological lines. Below is a timeline of some defining moments, and here is a special collection of essays where we asked writers to examine the key Jewish trends of the past 10 years, and ask how we might overcome this polarization.

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) introduces Solicitor General Elena Kagan as his choice to be the nations 112th Supreme Court justice during an event in the East Room of the White House May 10, 2010 in Washington, DC. Kagan was selected by Obama to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. Getty Images

Rabbi Sholom Rubashkin is sentenced to 27 years in prison in connection with multiple charges at the now-defunct Agriprocessors kosher slaughtering plant.

The expanded National Museum of American Jewish History opens in Philadelphia.

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Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz completes his massive translation of the Babylonian Talmud into modern Hebrew.

Elana Kagan becomes the third Jewish justice on the current Supreme Court.

In this handout photo provided by the Israeli Defense Force, freed Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit (2nd R) walks with Defence Minister Ehud Barak (L), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2nd, L) and IDF Chief of General Staff Benny Gantz (R) at Tel Nof Airbase on October 18, 2011 in central Israel. Shalit was freed after being held captive for five years in Gaza by Hamas militants, in a deal which saw Israel releasing more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. (Photo by IDF via Getty Images)

Gilad Shalit, is releasedafter being held captive by Hamas in Gaza for five years in exchange for releasing 1,027 prisoners in what is the largest prisoner exchange agreement Israel ever made.

Leiby Kletzky. Wikimedia Commons

Lieby Kletzky, an 8-year-old chasidic boy, is murdered by an emotionally disturbed Orthodox man in Borough Park.

Debbie Friedman, Jewish singing superstar, dies at 59.

A fire destroys the building of Kehilath Jeshurun, a landmark Orthodox congregation on the Upper East Side.

Matisyahu, one-time Chasidic reggae singer and rapper, posts a beardless picture of himself, igniting discussions about his religious metamorphosis.

Former Israeli President Moshe Katsav begins a prison sentence for rape.

Aly Raisman of the United States on the Vault during training sessions for Artistic Gymnastics ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games at Greenwich Training Academy on July 26, 2012 in London, England. Getty Images

Gymnast Aly Raisman wins two gold medals at the Summer Olympics in London.

Superstorm Sandy floods Greater New York, inflicting countless damage on institutions in the Jewish community.

Major fighting breaks out in Gaza between Israel and Hamas forces.

The 12th Siyum HaShas completion of the Talmud-reading cycle takes place throughout the world.

Gal Mekel during his stint on the Dallas Mavericks. Via Times Of Israel

Gal Mekel becomes the second Israeli basketball player signed by an NBA team, the Dallas Mavericks, but his pro career in the States is short.

Production starts at the massive Tamar natural gas field off of Israels Mediterranean coast.

A Pew Research Center study finds that a growing number of Jews in this country define themselves as nones, without a religious belief or affiliation.

U.S. and other world powers reach an interim deal to curb Irans nuclear program.

Pope Francis declares that a true Christian cannot be anti-Semitic.

At the scene of an attack, by two Palestinians, on Israeli worshippers at a synagogue in the Har Nof neighborhood in Jerusalem on November 18, 2014. Two Palestinians armed with a gun and axes burst into a Jerusalem synagogue and killed four Israelis before being shot dead, in the deadliest attack in the city in years. Getty Images

Following the kidnap-murder of three Israeli teenagers, serious fighting flares up between Israel and Hamas forces in Gaza.

Six men including five Jewish worshippers and a Druze officer are killed during a terrorist attack at a synagogue in the Har Nof section of Jerusalem.

David Blatt, a veteran of pro basketball in Israel, is named head coach of the NBAs Cleveland Cavaliers.

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg awarded first Genesis Prize.

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is sentenced to prison on bribery charges.

Former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver arriving at the courthouse in New York, Nov. 24, 2015. JTA

Convicted spy Jonathan Pollard is released from federal prison.

Benjamin Netanyahu is re-elected prime minister of Israel.

Power broker Sheldon Silver, a longtime member of the New York State Assembly, is arrested on federal corruption charges.

A revival of Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway, stars Danny Burstein as Tevye.

A biography of Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg cements her reputation as The Notorious R.B.G.

The controversial Iran nuclear deal goes into effect, widening the divide between the Obama administration and parts of the US Jewish community.

Abe Foxman ends a 50-year run at the Anti-Defamation League, 27 of which were as national director.

Eli Wisel in his study. Courtesy

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel dies at 87.

Israeli elder statesman Shimon Peres dies at 93.

The political chasm among Jews in the U.S. widens when Donald Trump is elected president. Seven in 10 Jews vote for Hillary Clinton.

Vermont Sen. (and native Brooklynite) Bernie Sanders becomes the first Jewish candidate in history to win a major party presidential primary when he wins in New Hampshire.

Israeli actress Gal Gadot in the 2017 film Wonder Woman. JTA

Film producer Harvey Weinstein becomes the public face of the #MeToo sex abuse movement.

Israeli actress Gal Gadot achieves superstardom as Wonder Woman.

Yona Metzger, former chief Ashkenazic rabbi of Israel, enters prison on a corruption charge.

Bowing to Orthodox pressure, Netanyahu freezes an agreement to allow non-Orthodox worship at the Western Wall.

Shouting Jews will not replace us, white nationalists rally in Charlottesville, Va.

Marking a return to the Manhattan neighborhood, the JCC Harlem opens.

A boy places flowers on October 28, 2018 outside of the Tree of Life Synagogue. Getty Images

The Orthodox Union announces that it will enforce its ban against woman rabbis in member congregations.

Eleven people are killed during a terrorist shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.

The Mossad steals a half-ton of nuclear files from an Iran nuclear facility.

Keeping a campaign promise, President Trump moves the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Actress Natalie Portman declines to attend the Genesis Prize award ceremony in Jerusalem, as a protest against Israeli political actions.

Serious fighting between Israel and Hamas forces flares up in Gaza.

Israeli singer Netta Barzilai wins the Eurovision Song Contest.

The sisters: Raquel Nobile, Rosie Jo Neddy, Rachel Zatcoff, Stephanie Lynne Mason, Samantha Hahn sing Matchmaker. Courtesy of Victor Nechay/ProperPix

Shtisel, the Netflix series about a charedi family in Israel, becomes a hit in the United States.

A Yiddish revival of Fiddler on the Roof opens Off Broadway.

National elections in Israel twice fail to elect a party that can form a government coalition. Another vote is set for March 2020.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is indicted on corruption charges.

J. Levine Books and Judaica, the century-old firm with Lower East Side roots, closes its midtown location.

After a decade in the National Basketball Association, Omri Casspi, the NBAs first Israeli player, returns to Maccabi Tel Aviv.

More essays from The Decade In Review: 2010- 2019 and snapshots from our editorial team on the last ten years in Jewish journalism, including the big issues they covered locally and nationally.

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A Timeline Of The Decade That Was - The Australian Jewish News

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Posted By admin on December 27, 2019

Photo Credit: Jewish Press

One of the main mitzvos of Chanukah is publicizing the great miracle Hashem performed for our forefathers.

But what makes this miracle different from the many other miracles weve experienced throughout the generations? Our very existence as Jews is a miracle. The walls of Yericho sank into the ground. The mighty warriors of Siseras army fled in all directions when Hashem threw confusion in their ranks. Overnight, the Angel of Death killed every man in Sancherivs army. None of these miracles, however, are commemorated today.

The Talmud (Megillah 14a) states that more than 1.2 million prophets existed in Jewish history, but the prophecies of only 48 of them are recorded in Tanach. Why? Because only their prophecies contained messages that were pertinent to all future generations. In a similar vein, our yamim tovim were established on the basis of the relevance of their message for all time.

The miracle of Chanukah is remembered because its message is eternal. The Jews had lived under the oppressive reign of the Greeks for 180 years. Matisyahu, advanced in age, rose up with a very small group of men to fight against the well-trained and well-organized Greek army. Rationally, the Chashmonaim didnt have a chance. They were badly outnumbered. Elifornus had 120,000 soldiers and 22,000 archers while Guskalgas was accompanied by 80,000 soldiers. Matisyahu, however, persevered maintaining that he must do whatever was possible and the rest was in the hands of Hashem.

The Chashmonaim exhibited the same attitude when they found just one small flask of pure oil in the Holy Temple. It was only supposed to burn for one day, and producing more oil took eight days, so they could have easily abandoned the idea of lighting it until seven days had passed. But they were unwavering in their commitment, and Hashem helped them. Chanukah reminds us of this inspiring devotion every year, and thats why it was established as a yom tov for all generations.

The Medrash Rabbah says that when Moshe saw the wondrous vision of a burning thorn bush that wasnt consumed while tending to the flocks of Yisro, he took five steps to more closely observe the sight (the Medrash Tanchuma says he took three steps and Reish Lakish says he merely turned his head). In response, Hashem said, Since you troubled yourself to see this, I will reveal Myself to you. Hashem proceeded to call to him from amid the burning bush. The Medrash says that if Moshe had not made an effort to inspect the bush, he would have lost everything.

A person must give serious consideration to what he can lose if he doesnt make even the slightest effort to accomplish a task. The Zohar tells us that Bisya, the daughter of Pharaoh, has a special chamber in Gan Eden where Moshe Rabbeinu visits her every day to inquire after her wellbeing. Why does she receive such an honor? Because, our sages relate, when she saw Moshes bassinet in the river, she stretched out her hand toward it despite the fact that it was well beyond her reach. She made the effort.

Two elderly dayanim once made a pact that whoever departed this world first would return to his friend to reveal what happens in the next world.

One of them was soon niftar and revealed himself to his fellow dayan. He related that he had been brought before the Heavenly Court to be judged. The good angels brought a large pile of his mitzvos and placed it on one side of the scale, and then angels of destruction came with piles of aveiros he had committed and loaded them on the other side of the scale. It looked like the mitzvos would outweigh the aveiros, but then an angel came running in with the aveirah of bribery, and the scale tipped the other way.

The dayan painfully recalled the sin. It had taken place years earlier when he was very poor. The plaintiff was a very wealthy individual and, right before his court appearance, he tucked a large amount of money into the dayans pocket. The dayan was overcome by temptation and allowed the matter to pass because he rationalized that he had not taken a bribe as the Torah forbids; he had merely not returned a bribe that was given to him.

The judge was sentenced to Gehenom, and the angels of destruction immediately began to lead him there. As the intense heat of Gehenoms fire assailed him, the judge began to cry and begged for a reconsideration of his sentence. His plea was accepted, and he received a different punishment. He was given a small hammer and told to destroy the huge towers that suddenly appeared before him.

As he looked at the towers, he realized the futility of his assignment. Even if he worked for years, there was no way he would be able to destroy the towers with a small hammer. But he decided to forge ahead, telling himself: In Olam Hazeh I studied Torah and prayed in fulfillment of Hashems will. I wish to do His will in this world, too, so if He asks me to destroy these towers, I will try to do it with the tools I have. He went up to the top of one of the towers and began to bang with his hammer. As soon as he did so, the towers magically disappeared. Two good angels then instantly appeared and escorted him to Gan Eden.

We often go through life thinking we dont have the wherewithal, or the proper tools, to overcome the challenges the yetzer hara throws our way. All we see in front of us are tall towers. The truth is, though, that if we strengthen our emunah in Hashem, the towers will turn out to be mere apparitions, even if it seems like we dont have the right tools. Bitachon can nullify all physical powers in the world and elevate an individual to a supernatural state.

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Take The First Step - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

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Posted By admin on December 27, 2019

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On the second night of Chanukah my wife and I visited our son Dovis family to play dreidel. Its a long-standing family tradition that goes back many years from the time we were married in Johannesburg to play dreidel with all of our children and grandchildren. Each family having one night that Zaidy and Safta comes to play dreidel with them.

I have always had this fascination with the dreidel but for some reason, when we learned about it in Minneapolis Talmud Torah, it was really just a picture in my mind of this little four sided toy that we would spin on Chanukah. We never really went deeply into the meaning of the dreidel; only what each of the four letters appearing on it stood for.

Dovis wife Devorah was born in Moscow and when she was 6 months old her whole family made Aliyah. I can imagine the Russians also had very little knowledge of what the dreidel was or what it represented when Devorah made Aliyah.

Devorah came up with a very interesting observation when we were there. She said that in Israel, since the letter Peh stands for the Hebrew word meaning Here, it also could suggest the English word meaning Put which beings with the same sounding Hebrew letter. That makes sense when actually playing the game of dreidel because when the dreidel lands on Peh it means that the person who spins it must Put something into the middle from where the reward for those who land on Gimel and Hay is taken.

But Devorah asked -What about the dreidel that has a Shin on it, which is made outside of Israel because it stands for the Hebrew word meaning There. How does one know that means to Put something into the middle? She is not aware of any Hebrew word starting with the letter Shin meaning something similar. I thought about this for a while and I could not come up with an answer.

I continued to dwell on the subject long after we had left Dovis house and it occurred to me that there must be a hidden message there somewhere taking into account Devorahs observation. This is what I came up with-

While living in South Africa, there are many words that took on a different meaning than what I was used to growing up in Minnesota. For instance, when I came there to live, I was warned to beware of the Robots on the road. After being picked up at the airport in Johannesburg, five days before our wedding, I was informed that the first Robot was approaching. I got somewhat of a fright, thinking that we were suddenly being invaded by a group, possibly from outer space. As we came to a complete stop, I was introduced to my first South African Robot; which for all of you out there who have no idea what I am talking about, the translation of a Robot is a Traffic Light.

The word Shame is what I want to focus on for this Blog. Shame can have many meanings, but it seems to be the number one word used when South Africans want to express the feeling of disappointment. That is the look I see on my children and grandchildrens faces when they land on a Peh, and if we were living outside of Israel, that letter would be Shin.

But lets look a bit deeper. The Shin is also a letter that stands for Shalom , which of course means Peace, Hello and GoodBye in Hebrew. One Word with Three meanings.

This is the Third Time in History that a President has been voted by the House to be Impeached. Now it has to go to the Senate. Will the Senate agree? It does not look very promising for those wanting to see President Trump being Impeached, and by the looks of it, the dreidel would agree. Especially if the game of dreidel was being played in South Africa.

Because if someone lands on Shin, the whole group of South Africans would most likely shout SHAME.

In a previous Blog, I suggested that if you take away the letter E and tip it on its side, with the spikes pointing upward, it resembles the Hebrew letter of Shin the first letter of the Hebrew word Shalom.

The Shin also looks like a three pronged menorah.

So if you now began with the word SHAME and take away the E, you end up with-

SHAM EXACTLY HOW TO LABEL THIS IMPEACHMENT TRIAL

In other words, President Trump will continue to remain in office, and support the State Of Israel.

At this time of rising Anti-Semitism worldwide, the Impeachment vote must die in the Senate.

Chag Chanukah Sameach Happy Chanukah

Born and raised in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park. Married to a South African, we lived in Johannesburg from 1979 to 1996.Made Aliyah with our seven children on Parshat Lech Lecha.BSB Accounting Degree from the University of Minnesota.Investment Portfolio Manager and Analyst. Served in the US Army ReservesSemi Retired spending quality time with my wife, children, grandchildren and attend Kollel while analyzing current events as they relate to Torah and Mitzvahs.

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A Peace Plan In Progress Section Seven The Impeachment Verdict: The Dreidel Has The Answer - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on December 27, 2019

The bad news is that hostility towards Jews as Jews, otherwise known as antisemitism, exists. The good news is that there are attempts made, at highest places, to combat it. The curious news is that these attempts are very critically received by some Jews. President Trumps executive order on combating antisemitism was issued on December 11, 2019 and on December 21, 2019 a fiercely critical feature about the order, authored by Professor Judith Butler, a renown philosopher and gender theorist, was published in Foreign Policy.

What does the executive order say? It is a document written in a legalistic style, certainly not a work in history and sociology of Jews. In this succinct legalistic manner, the order states that Title VI of the American Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, colour, and national origin, could be used against discrimination rooted in antisemitism. It is that simple. The executive order does not define Jews in any way. A visitor from Mars, unaware of any human political debates and lacking any of the existing political biases, would only be able to see clearly that there is some difficulty with applying Title VI to Jews or antisemitism, specifically because Title VI does not cover discrimination based on religion. It is that difficulty that the executive order seeks to relieve or remove. On this basis, a visitor from Mars could reasonably conclude that either Jews are a religious group for the sake of which Title VI is extended or there is some well-known and hardly-controversial, simply because unstated, ambiguity about who Jews actually are: a religious group (uncovered by Title VI) or a group defined by race, colour, and national origin (covered by Title VI).

Professor Judith Butler is not a visitor from Mars, and so the essay authored by Butler is different from what such a visitor could have written. Trumps executive order Butler tells us seeks to put the slur of dual loyalty into law and attempts to appeal to Jews and to combat anti-Semitism on campuses by denying the vast history of Jewish cultures, practices, and forms of belonging that precede the emergence of the State of Israel and continue to proliferate outside of that framework for understanding Jewish life. To put it differently, there is some problem with the executive orders portrayal of Jewishness as related toor originating from Israel. To be sure, Professor Butler does not tell us exactly how Jewishness is defined. Rather, the argument is that there are other forms of belonging that the executive order denies. These forms of belonging, the reader learns, are numerous; not being too specific about them, Professor Butler gives their labels as secular, religious and post-national. The main thing, according to Butler, is that these forms have nothing to do with common origin in Israel. How comes, and is this true?, I hear you ask.

In the following few paragraphs I will do my best to let you know what the scientific study of Jews has to say on the matter of Jewish forms of belonging. I will not come back to Trumps executive order and Professor Butlers view of it. But you are welcome to do so.

So, who are Jews? A religious group people sharing a system of faith? An ethnic group people with common ancestry? A cultural group people sharing a language and customs? In short, Jews are all these things, and this has never been a subject of a major lasting controversy. People who study Jews scientifically demographers, for example are often required to define Jews in one way or another. This is not a theoretical but a highly practical matter for them. This happens when national censuses or large-scale surveys are launched, and when there is an intention to identify Jews in them. Without such censuses and surveys, we would never know how many Jews exist, let alone what they do, where they live and how they compare to others. Yet to find all this out, one needs to ask the right thing at the right time, namely, the category Jewish should be included in ALL questions asking about religion, ethnicity, or ancestry. This is the best practice from the scientific point of view. None of the opportunities to identify Jews should be spared for fullest count. Calling Jews a religious group works. Calling Jews a nation, an ethnicity, or such like, works as well. All are correct; none is wrong; the more options are offered to Jews the better. The experience proves that, given several such opportunities to identify themselves, many Jews would use all of them, without seeing the multiplicity of ways as problematic, confusing, or inappropriate. The experience also proves that some Jews, a minority, would strongly prefer one way over the other. Typically, these would be non-religious Jews who feel that defining Jews as an ethnic group, rather than as a religious group, is preferable. Yet, their preference does not extend as far as opposition to other Jews identifying in religious terms.

But enough of words, let us move onto numbers. In a survey of Jews in the USA, conducted in 2013, Pew Research Center found that over 50% of American Jews think that being Jewish involves common ancestry. For comparison: only 15% of American Jews think that being Jewish is mainly a matter of religion and 26% think that it is mainly a matter of culture. The American Jewish pattern of forms of belonging is not unique. The emphasis on common ancestry is equally heavy among Jews in Canada, Russia and Israel, where similar questions regarding the essence of Jewishness were asked in the surveys of Jewish populations in these places. Between them, Canada, Israel, Russia and the USA house close to 90% of the global Jewish population. Thus, the forms of belonging of vast majority of Jews today are well mapped and, it seems, a very significant share of Jews stick to the story of common ancestry.

Does this mean that Jews believe in some sort of fairy tale? Ancient, honourable, breathtakingly beautiful but a fairy tale, nevertheless? Not at all. Common ancestry of Jews is a fact. Jews, as a tribe, a nation, originated in the Middle East about 4,000 years ago, give or take a few. Midway through their existence they started spreading into Europe, mainly via Italy and Greece. As they moved into Europe and established new communities, they mixed with non-Jews. Mixing with non-Jews happened pretty much everywhere and was moderate in scope; nowhere it led to the erasure of the Middle Eastern ancestry at a communal level. In the net outcome, in each Jewish community, most members continued to share ancestry rooted in the Middle East. Who says? The modern studies in population genetics! And even those with the most superficial knowledge of the independent historical account of Jewish origins, contained in the Torah, would be able to notice how well they sync with the findings of population genetics.

Genetic ancestry testing is the forefront of todays population science and, progressively, historical science as well. Its activities and methods are better known today thanks to the burgeoning commercial ancestry testing in the US and Europe. MyHeritage and Ancestry are examples of the well-known trademarks in this area. They rose in response to the existential curiosity: many people across the globe, Jews and non-Jews alike, consider questions of ancestry foundational to who they are. MyHeritage, Ancestry and other companies operating in this area offer their clients a diagnosis of ethnic ancestry in exchange for a modest fee. How is this done? By providing a client with a kit containing two small glass tubes and detailed instructions. Two small tubes are containers where a client is asked to deposit two samples of their saliva. Then the kit is sealed and sent to the lab. The results are typically ready in two months or so. You are 90% Ashkenazi Jewish, 5% Middle Eastern and 5% Baltic is the style in which results are reported. It is important not to overinterpret the results when one receives them. Large percentages (e.g. 90% Ashkenazi Jewish, or 50% Ashkenazi Jewish/40% Balkan) give a firm indication of ancestry; small percentages (e.g. 5% Baltic) may or may not indicate the presence of some Baltic ancestors, they could represent noise, the fact that testing is still imperfect and cannot classify all parts of the individual genome in an absolutely meaningful way.

None of this would be possible without prior knowledge of distinct genetic profiles that different groups of people, often calling themselves nations, possess. To put it differently, there is such a thing as an Italian genetic profile, a Greek genetic profile, a Balkan genetic profile. And there is such a thing as a Jewish genetic profile, and, in truth, there are several versions of it. Ashkenazi Jewish is one of them, Sephardi Jewish is another, and there are others. This Jewish genetic profile is the concrete, rock solid, scientific manifestation of what is conversationally labelled as ancestry. Genetically, people identifying as Jews are more similar to each other than they are to others, on average. Different subgroups of Jews, e.g. Ashkenazi and Sephardi, separated by geography and centuries of lack of contact, are genetically closer to each other than to the respective non-Jewish populations that had been hosting them for centuries. Genetically, Jews are closer to some nations of Europe (e.g. Italians) than they are to others (e.g. Nordic nations) simply because they dwelled on the Italian territory for longer and mixed with Italians more intensely. Genetically, Jews are also rather close to the contemporary nations of the Levant. That genetic closeness could arise from one thing only common ancestry.

Questions of blood are the most intractable of all humorously noted Mikhail Bulgakov, the author of The Master and Margarita, a masterpiece of the Russian literature. He wrote this in the early 20th century. Much has changed since then. In the meantime, population geneticists mapped the humanity creating ethnic genetic profiles. They are not completely done yet, the work is still in progress, but one thing is clear already now: in a short while we will have full understanding of how right or wrong were sociologists and historians insisting on the invented or constructed national identities. The concept of invented fictional, artificial, fanciful identities is something that numerous cohorts of university-educated individuals all over the globe were schooled in. It was completely mainstream in the 1980s and 1990s and anyone educated in social sciences in the West at that time would have had a generous helping of this. It is easy to talk when nobody can prove you wrong. But when genetic science can expose physical foundations of ethnicities and nations-that is something else. My prophetic soul foretells that many tomes in history and sociology will have to be re-written pretty soon.

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Jewishness: Written in the Body | Daniel Staetsky - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on December 27, 2019

As the December 11 deadline approached for the Knesset to come up with a candidate to form a government with the backing of 61 MKs, it appeared that a fresh election early next year was almost inevitable.The election that no one wanted, Israels third in a year, will likely take place on March 2.President Reuven Rivlin granted the Knesset 21 days to come up with a consensus candidate after both Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz had failed to cobble together a working coalition, after being granted the mandate following the deadlocked election in September.But the Knesset failed to find such a candidate. Likud and Blue and White failed to bridge the gaps over the terms of a unity government, and attempts to establish a narrow right-wing coalition led by the Likud or a centrist-left coalition led by Blue and White also failed to gain traction.Netanyahu refused to abandon his right-wing and religious coalition partners, and Gantz refused to allow Netanyahu to serve as prime minister in a unity government unless he clears his name after being charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three separate graft cases.On the weekend before the December 11 deadline, Likud sources said that Netanyahu was standing behind his proposal to serve as prime minister in the first six months of a unity government, and the remaining 18 months of his term would be completed after Benny Gantzs 18-month term.The prime minister told journalists accompanying him on a trip to Portugal that he would continue to attempt to avert a third election, but that this was not up to him. He stressed that his willingness to initially serve six months as prime minister was a major concession on his part in order to avert another election.I dont want to serve half a year, I want to serve two years, Netanyahu said. I will now make a supreme effort, despite Blue and Whites opposition, to avert this unnecessary election, but there are two people who have the answer: Benny Gantz, if he overcomes Lapid, and Avigdor Liberman, if he gets over himself.Netanyahu explained that it was important to him to serve for the first six months for the sake of continuity, and for the opportunity at this juncture to promote a defense pact with the US and the possibility to apply sovereignty over the Jordan Valley.These things can only be achieved by the prime minister, not by others, he said. I have a unique relationship with the US president and with the public in the US.In an interview with Yedioth Ahronoth, Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman, the key figure behind efforts to form a unity government, dispelled the fog for the first time and announced that despite his previous declarations, he did not intend to join a narrow government, on either the right or the left.A narrow government is a complete failure, said Liberman. Netanyahu and Gantz were playing a blame game. I tried to apply real pressure on them, but unfortunately both of them have made a strategic decision not to go to unity, so both parties bear responsibility for another election.The die for a new election was cast, it appears, at a meeting on the night of December 3 between Netanyahu and Gantz, eight days before the deadline. The 45-minute meeting failed to break the deadlock. Gantz accused Netanyahu of being focused on his own legal problems and his desire to secure parliamentary immunity from prosecution; Netanyahu accused Gantz of succumbing to pressure by his fellow party member, Yair Lapid, who opposes sitting in a government with Netanyahu.Prior to the meeting, the leadership of Blue and White, Lapid and Gantz, and the two other former IDF chiefs of staff, Moshe Yaalon and Gabi Ashkenazi collectively known as the Cockpit had been split. Whereas Gantz had been willing to explore a possible rotation agreement with Netanyahu, Lapid and Yaalon, who have both served in governments under Netanyahu, argued that he cannot be trusted, and whenever it suited him he would find an excuse to break up the unity government before Gantz could assume the premiership.Gabi Ashkenazi reportedly fell somewhere in the middle, suspicious of Netanyahu but willing to examine his proposals for avoiding another election.But the meeting on December 3 convinced Gantz that Netanyahu was not serious.Days ahead of the deadline, Netanyahu called for a direct election of the prime minister as a way of averting another election.There is one more thing that can be done to avert an unnecessary election to hold a direct election for prime minister between Benny Gantz and me, said Netanyahu. Blue and White says that it knows what the people want, so I am in favor of the people deciding and no one else including the media.However, Blue and White dismissed the proposal as another spin from the prime minister.Changing the election system in a snap proceeding is liable to put us back in the exact same place that we are today, and this is therefore a hollow proposal whose only goal is to divert the fire from Netanyahu, the defendant in three major corruption cases, who is the only person responsible for dragging Israel to an election for a third time, Blue and White responded.With an election looming, the internal battle in the Likud heated up with Netanyahu loyalists turning on the challenger, former education minister Gideon Saar, who was labeled a traitor for demanding a primary to elect the Likud leader.If Netanyahu continues to lead the Likud, either the country will remain stuck and nobody will be able to form a government, or we will hand over power to our political rivals, Saar warned. The incitement against me, to an extent never seen before in the country, comes directly from the prime minister.Several Knesset members and others were reportedly examining the possibility of securing clemency for Netanyahu in exchange for his consent to leave politics a development that if it fell before the December 11 deadline would allow a unity government to be formed and would avert another election.It is entirely possible that the election next year will also result in a political stalemate. The decision by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to indict the prime minister failed to produce a dramatic shift in voting intentions, according to the polls. The Likud is down slightly and Blue and White is up, but if the right-wing and religious bloc remains firm, it still appears that Benny Gantz will have an uphill task to form a stable coalition.Netanyahu believes that all is not lost, and the Likud, along with the New Right led by Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, and Bayit Yehudi, led by Rabbi Rafi Peretz and Bezalel Smotrich, running separately, will be able to ensure that no potential right-wing votes go to waste.However, an increasing number of Likud members fear that a third election is liable to jeopardize the right wings hold on power, even though the only person who has dared to go public has been Gideon Saar.Beware the Ides of March, said Julius Caesars soothsayers a warning the Likud may also want to take on board.

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Will the election no-one wanted prove third time lucky? - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on December 26, 2019

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{Originally posted to the JNS website}

Some messages are simply too important to ignore. One such message, I believe, emerges from two words in the Talmuds short discussion of the Hanukkah festival. While overwhelmingly vital and powerful, however, this communication is easily missed. We have to be sensitive enough and honest enough to note it.

After briefly describing the Hasmonean victory over the Syrian Greeks and the miracle of the sole remaining cruse of oil, the Talmud states: Lshana acheret, to another year, [the rabbis] established and rendered [these eight days] permanent festival days with praise and thanksgiving.

The talmudic record is clear. Hanukkah is not established immediately as a festival, but only in conjunction with another year. Faced with this assertion, many commentaries render the phrase lshana acheret as to the next year. Hanukkah is established as an ongoing festival, these scholars maintain, one full year after the Hasmonean victory and the rededication of the Temple; once the rabbinic authorities recognize the full significance of the events that have transpired under their watch.

If this is the case, however, why doesnt the Talmud use the specific language lshana habaa, literally, to the coming year? Even if Hanukkah is established only a year later, might the rabbis be teaching us a lesson through their use of the broader phrase lshana acheret?

A potential answer can be gleaned from the powerful observations of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik (the Rav) concerning Judaisms approach to time. This great scholar identifies three dimensions of time awareness as essential to the life of each Jew: retrospection, anticipation and appreciation.

Retrospection refers to mans ability to re-experience the past in the present. What for others is only a memory, the Rav maintains, must become for the Jew a creative living experience. To lead meaningful Jewish lives, our personal journeys must be actively shaped by the events and populated by the personalities of our peoples past.

Anticipation, according to the Rav, speaks of mans projection of visions and aspirations into the future. Within this dimension, the Jew enters the realm of foresight and expectation. He recognizes the need to act now, in order to propel his dreams and his peoples dreams, forward.

The third and final dimension of time awareness, appreciation, is the most crucial of all. Here, the challenge is to recognize the unique nature of the here and now. So central is the dimension of appreciation, according to the Rav, that it lends meaning to the other two dimensions. Retrospection and anticipation are significant only insofar as they transform the present. The past and future are valueless to the Jew, the Rav maintains, unless they affect the way he/she acts now.

To go one step further, we might argue that appreciation is not only the most central of the three dimensions of time awareness, but also the most difficult one to enter.

To fully appreciate our times, we must learn to view our lives through the lens of history. The stipulations of appreciation thus form a fundamental imbalance: we must judge ourselves as we will be judged in the future; but we must render that judgment now. We are challenged to ask ourselves: One hundred, two hundred, five hundred years from now; how will our generations story and our generations contributions to Jewish life, be measured? Clearly, these are difficult questions to answer. Lessons from the past are easily accessed through hindsight. Visions of a glorious future are readily imagined. A true assessment of present opportunity, challenge and performance, however, can remain elusive. Such appraisal often seems to need the perspective granted by a shana acheret, another year. And waiting for a shana acheret is a luxury that we can generally ill afford.

In our day, few within the committed Jewish community would argue with the fact that the establishment and development of the State of Israel has been a transformative event, unequaled in thousands of years of Jewish history. We are privileged to be part of a continuing grand experiment replete with innumerable, ever-shifting facets: the ongoing return of a dispersed people from across the globe to its ancestral homeland; the cobbling together of disparate populations, vastly different from one another, into a working, functioning, governable democracy; the blending of Jewish tradition with democratic principle; the unaccustomed use of power by a people powerless for centuries; the forging of an ever-changing relationship between Diaspora Jewry and Israeli citizenry; the rapid rise of the new-born nation-state into an economic powerhouse; the development, by necessity, of an ever-adapting, world-class, powerful military and security apparatus; the positive changes wrought in the psyche of Jews across the globe because of the very existence of a Jewish state; and so much more . . .

And yet, a full appreciation of the extraordinary realities that mark our days can be difficult to maintain. Day to day, caught up in our own personal concerns and challenges; frustrated by the bureaucracy that confronts us; disappointed in the politics that seem to govern our government; it is easy to lose historical perspective. It is easy to lose sight of the miracle that greets us every time we walk through the streets of our homeland. It is easy to forget that, as an acquaintance recently observed: If any Jew who lived between 70 CE and 1945 CE miraculously came back to life today on the streets of Yerushalayim; he/she would not ask, When will Moshiach come? He/she would ask, When did Moshiach come?

Dont get me wrong. Moshiach is not fully here quite yet. In fact, I firmly believe, the verdict is still out. Whether or not these miraculous days will turn out to be Reishit Semichat Geulateinu (the beginning of the flowering of our redemption) will be up to us. Hashem is granting us an opportunityone that had been unimaginable for thousands of years. What we do with that opportunity will ultimately determine its significance. Will we learn to live and work together towards the common good? Will we find a way to move forward as one, as we confront the many challenges that face us? Will we put aside the petty differences that too often mark our religious and political discourse? Will we succeed in creating a truly sanctified society? While, as mentioned above, the verdict is still out on these issues, one thing is clear. As a first step, we must arrive at a full awareness and appreciation of our time. Only if we recognize the historic potential that marks our day, can we hope to realize that potential.

Centuries ago, the Hasmoneans saved Judaism, only to ultimately fall victim to their own excesses and lost perspective. Could the Talmud be hinting at one of the reasons? Perhaps the rabbis are teaching us that: Had our ancestors recognized the true significance of the Hanukkah victories immediatelyand not lshana acheretthey would have successfully retained their footing in a turbulent world.

If we learn to fully appreciate the gifts Divinely granted to us in our day, perhaps, this time, we will also learn to appreciate the challenges they bear. And, just perhaps, we will rise to meet those challenges together while there is still time, lshana hazot, to this year.

(Rabbi Shmuel Goldin israbbi emeritus of Congregation Ahavath Torah in Englewood, N.J., and past president of the Rabbinical Council of America. He currently lives in Jerusalem)

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A Hanukkah contemplation: 'To Another Year' - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

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