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Stricken Pittsburgh synagogue calls for art to cover fencing

Posted By on April 16, 2019

PITTSBURGH (AP) A Pittsburgh synagogue where 11 people were killed in a mass shooting last year is inviting young people worldwide to submit artwork to cover the fencing surrounding the still-shuttered building.

The art project is called #HeartsTogether: The Art of Rebuilding. Organizers said that Tree of Life synagogue is looking for original, uplifting images and graphics to be printed on windscreens that will cover the temporary perimeter fencing. The project is open to artists age 13 to 17.

It is our way of saying thank you to our first responders and local and global neighbors who showed us so much love in the wake of the assault on our synagogue building, according to a news release.

The projects goal, organizers said, is to transform the temporarily vacant and dismal site into a thing of beauty. It will reflect the strength and positivity that well-wishers shared with us in our darkest days.

Digital submissions are being accepted through May 31. Appropriate submissions that dont make it onto the fencing will be displayed in a gallery on the synagogues website.

A truck driver who authorities say expressed hatred of Jews has been charged in the Oct. 27 rampage. Hes pleaded not guilty. Three congregations were worshipping at Tree of Life at the time of the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history, which also left seven wounded.

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Hasidism | modern Jewish religious movement | Britannica.com

Posted By on April 15, 2019

modern Jewish religious movement

THIS IS A DIRECTORY PAGE. Britannica does not currently have an article on this topic.

Alternative Title:Chasidism

18th-century Pietistic movement known as asidism, the Jewish religious leader (tzaddiq) was viewed as a mediator between man and God. Because the tzaddiqs life was expected to be a living expression of the Torah, his behaviour was even more important than his doctrine. Rabbi Leib, a disciple of Dov Baer

started the modern movement called Hasidism. As opposed to the Orthodox Israelite religion with its emphasis on rationalism, cultic piety, and legalism, Baal Shem ov stood for a more mystically oriented form of Judaism.

Prompted at first by Hasidism, a mystical movement of the 18th and 19th centuries, and spurred later by other social, educational, and political movements, Yiddish was carried to all the worlds continents by massive emigration from eastern Europe, extending its traditional role as the Jewish lingua franca. The Yiddishist

1750) of asidism, a Jewish spiritual movement characterized by mysticism and opposition to secular studies and Jewish rationalism. He aroused controversy by mixing with ordinary people, renouncing mortification of the flesh, and insisting on the holiness of ordinary bodily existence. He was also responsible for divesting Kabbala

was the son of a Hasidic rabbi. His teenage marriage was broken off when his enraged father-in-law discovered that he was secretly studying works of the Haskala (Enlightenment), a movement advocating that Jews integrate themselves into modern secular society. Berdichevsky studied for a time at the yeshiva at Volozhin (now

took up the study of asidism. His Chassidischen Bcher (1927) made the legacy of this popular 18th-century eastern European Jewish pietistic movement a part of Western literature. In asidism Buber saw a healing power for the malaise of Judaism and mankind in an age of alienation that had shaken three

the first scholars to subject asidism to systematic and unbiased study based upon laboriously collected source materials from both the asidim and their various opponents. This work appeared in Geschichte des Chassidismus (1931; History of asidism). The mature fruit of Dubnows historical studies is his monumental Die Weltgeschichte des jdischen

the pietistic mystical movement of asidism from 1772 until his death. He condemned asidism as a superstitious and antischolarly movement and ordered the excommunication of its adherents and the burning of their books. He became the leader of the Mitnaggedim (opponents of Hasidism) and was temporarily able to check the

that arose in his generation: asidism (Pious Ones) and Haskala (Enlightenment). asidism, a mystical movement that valued joy and devotion in the service of God over learning, he opposed as sinfully ignorant; Haskala, a movement that encouraged assimilation as a means of ending prejudice and gaining civil rights for the

Although the messianic movement centred around Shabbetai Tzevi produced only disillusionment and could have led to the destruction of Judaism, it answered both the theosophic aspirations of a small number of visionary scholars and the affective need of the Jewish masses that was left

influenced the doctrines of modern asidism, a social and religious movement that began in the 18th century and still flourishes today in small but significant Jewish communities.

century and in the popular asidic (mystical-pietistic) movement a century later.

religious and social movement called asidism, for, in its lower, or minor, stage, devequt found expression in the social sphere and was, in principle, open to every asid. Maimonides, the great 12th-century codifier of Jewish law, classified devequt as a commandment.

level with the development of Hasidism (pietism) by Israel Baal Shem Tov (c. 170060) in the mid-18th century. Hasidism contained elements of social protest, being at least in part a movement of the poor against the wealthy communal leadership and of the unlearned against the learnedthough many of its leaders,

the Baal Shem ov, produced asidism. His teaching, like that of his successors, was oral and, of course, in Yiddish; but it was noted by disciples in a simple, colloquially flavoured Hebrew. Since they taught mainly through parables, this may be considered to mark the beginning of the Hebrew short

The rise of the Hasidic sect in eastern Europe at the end of the 18th century engendered a host of legends (circulated mainly through chapbooks) concerning the lives, wise sayings, and miracles of tzaddiqim, or masters, such as Israel ben Eliezer, the Besht

During the 18th century, the Enlightenment exerted a profound influence on Jewish life in western Europe by encouraging the Jews to modernize and assimilate. In Berlin the Haskala (Jewish Enlightenment), led by the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, fought for the modernization of Jewish customs. While

A further illustration of the idea that dietary rules and customs are inextricably associated with the maintenance of group separateness is provided by the sect of Jews in the United States whose members refer to themselves as Hasidim (Pious Ones). The extremity of Hasidic

In asidism, a social and religious movement that emphasizes piety, kavvanah plays more an emotional than an intellectual role in religious life. There is consequently greater preoccupation with the spiritual well-being of the individual asid and less concern for the upper worlds.

asidic Jews as a means of elevating the soul to God. Because they lacked words, the nigunim were felt to move the singer beyond the sensual and rational toward the mystic. Such songs were spontaneously extemporized by a rabbi or one of his disciples, the

and social movement known as asidism; its name derives from the initial letters of three Hebrew words that distinguish and characterize the movement: okhma (wisdom), bina (intelligence), and daat (knowledge). abad follows the common asidic themes of devequt (attachment), itlahavut (enthusiasm), and kawwana (devotion), but it elevates the importance of

fought rabbinic orthodoxy and especially asidism, the mystical and pietistic tendencies of which were attacked bitterly. In Russia, some followers of Haskala hoped to achieve improvement of the Jews by collaborating with the government plan for educational reform, but the increasingly reactionary and anti-Semitic policies of the tsarist regime drove

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Hasidism | modern Jewish religious movement | Britannica.com

Antisemitic incidents in US soar to highest level in two …

Posted By on April 14, 2019

Antisemitic incidents in the US surged 57% in 2017, the Anti-Defamation League said on Tuesday, the largest year-on-year increase since the Jewish civil rights group began collecting data in 1979.

Close to 2,000 cases of harassment, vandalism and physical assault were recorded, the highest number of antisemitic incidents since 1994, it said.

The rise comes amid a climate of rising incivility, the emboldening of hate groups and widening divisions in American society, according to ADLs national director, Jonathan Greenblatt.

A confluence of events in 2017 led to a surge in attacks on our community from bomb threats, cemetery desecrations, white supremacists marching in Charlottesville, and children harassing children at school, he said.

Rising numbers were in part attributed to the fact that more people were reporting incidents than ever before, the ADL said, adding that its staff independently verify the credibility of each claim.

Incidents were reported in all 50 US states for the first time since 2010, with higher numbers reported in areas with large Jewish populations.

Donald Trumps administration has been accused of failing to condemn religious bigotry. Jewish groups scolded the president last year for not mentioning Jews or antisemitism in a statement about the Holocaust.

Following August violence at a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white supremacists waved insignia from Nazi Germany and yelled Jews will not replace us, Trump was slammed for suggesting a moral equivalency between members of the far right and counterdemonstrators. You had people that were very fine people on both sides, he said.

The ADLs report said US schools and colleges were particularly affected, with antisemitic incidents nearly doubling since 2016, often including swastikas drawn on school facilities or Jewish students notebooks. Sometimes vandalism included phrases such as: Hitler was not wrong or white power.

There were 204 incidents on university campuses in 2017, compared with 108 in 2016. A separate ADL study released last month found a more than 250% increase in white supremacist activity, such as distributing neo-Nazi fliers, on college campuses in the current academic year.

Jewish graves or cemeteries were desecrated seven times in 2017, the group said, contributing to a sense that the American Jewish community was under siege.

One bright spot in this was the response of members of the Muslim and Christian faiths, who raised thousands of dollars to help repair the damaged tombstones, it said.

Last years surge bucks a trend in which numbers have mostly declined over the past two decades, although there were moderate increases in 2014 and 2015. In 2016 the numbers started to rise significantly.

Jews and Muslims were the most targeted groups in the US for religious-motivated hate crimes in 2016, according to the FBI, accounting for 54% and 24% of offences respectively.

The ADLs report included 163 bomb threats in 2017, the vast majority of which were made by an Israeli-American teenager who was later arrested and faces accusations of making threats for financial gain. The teenagers calls stoked fears of rising antisemitism.

The ADL said it included the bomb threats in the total count because, regardless of the motivation of any specific perpetrator, Jewish communities were repeatedly traumatised by these assaults on their institutions and threats to their safety.

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Zionism’s beginnings: ‘Redemptive Paralysis’ – Israel News …

Posted By on April 13, 2019

THE BAR Kochba Revolt, Arthur Szyk, 1927.. (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

One of the questions that should guide our study of Zionism is the question Why didnt Zionism happen earlier? In other words, why didnt Zionism happen in the 5th century, or the 15th century? And as a corollary to that question, Why were secular Jews the ones who came up with Zionism, and not religious Jews who pray thrice daily for a return to Zion?

I believe that the answer to these questions is what I call Redemptive Paralysis. Let me explain:Shortly before Judea was captured and her Temple in Jerusalem was razed to the ground, a man named Jeremiah roamed the streets of Jerusalem warning the people to repent of their evil ways. If the people did not repent, Jeremiah warned, God would destroy His own house and exile His people.

When Judea was finally destroyed in 586 BCE and the Jews were sent into exile in Babylon, Jeremiah was turned from a prophet of doom and gloom to a prophet of redemption. In the face of the utter destruction, when it seemed that all was lost and God had forsaken his people, Jeremiah prophesied that there would yet be heard in the cities of Judea and streets of Jerusalem, the sounds of gladness and Joy, the voices of groom and bride.

Yet, 70 years later, when the prophecies are realized and the Temple is rebuilt, it is done by human agency. There were no miracles from on high. No prophets, no manna from heaven or water from rocks. In fact, Cyrus, the pagan king of Persia, is the one who gives the mandate to the Jews to rebuild their Temple and is the instrument of their salvation.

During the Hasmonean revolt, after centuries of prophetic silence, the Jews took up arms against an enemy greater than them in numbers and strength to fight for their Judaism. They no doubt relied upon the God of their fathers to see them through this nightmare and with their faith, they endured and prevailed. This is story of Hanukkah.

When the Second Temple was destroyed in the year 70 CE, the Jews were still without prophets and had to rely on previous experiences to help them navigate an uncertain future.

In the year 117 CE, the Jews in the Diaspora rebelled against their Roman oppressors. We know very little about this revolt except that it was called the Kitos revolt, (a corruption of the name of the Roman General Quietus) and it left many Jewish communities in the Roman Empire in ruin. This is an example of a failed redemption.

In 132 CE, when the 70-year anniversary of the destruction of the Temple grows near, the Bar Kochba Revolt breaks out.There can be little doubt that Bar Kochba and his armies looked to Judah the Maccabee for inspiration in the belief that the same God who saved them in the past would bring His salvation in the present.

The Bar Kochba revolt was so successful in scope that none other than the famous sage Rabbi Akiva declared Bar Kochba to be the Messiah. Bar Kochba successfully raised an army, threw Rome out of Judea, established the third Jewish Commonwealth and made plans to build the third Temple. He even minted coins with the faade of the Temple on them.

The Romans, on the other hand, came back with a vengeance and completely destroyed Bar Kochba and his army. They razed Jerusalem and caused havoc and destruction to the towns and villages left from the destruction of 70 CE. Historians report that more one million Jews were killed, many of them women and children. This number constituted one tenth of the entire Jewish population of the world. We were literally decimated in Hadrians genocide. The rabbis, using rabbinic hyperbole, tell us that there was so much blood spilled that it was up to the horses noses. Rabbinic literature preserved countless stories of the starvation and destitution of the period. It was at this time that the Temple Mount was plowed over and we hear the stories about the martyrs of Judaism.

The failure of the Bar Kochba revolt was a turning point in the Jewish understanding of redemption. So scarred were the rabbis from this utter failure of Jews taking the redemption in their own hands yet again (The Great Revolt was the first, Kitos the second and Bar Kochba the third) that the rabbis developed a theology of the Messiah as a supernatural redemption instead of the natural redemption that it had been previously conceived of.

This is Redemptive Paralysis. By pushing off the redemption as something supernatural, it paralyzed the Jews from taking redemption in their own hands. Having to sit and wait for the Messiah gave rise to fantastical myths about the Messiah and the messianic age, further pushing the Messiah out of the realm of the real into fantasy. Redemption was to come from God alone and the best we can do is wait, pray and keep the commandments.

This was the situation of the Jew until the 19th century. When the Jews emerged from the ghettos of Europe after their emancipation, many tried to assimilate. But antisemitism continued. If in the past, antisemitism was religious in nature, in the post-enlightenment age, it became cultural and later racial.

European Jewrys failure to assimilate is the seed that brings forth the harvest Zionism. Having failed to become fully European, the Jews had to seek their own solution to the Jewish Question. Zionism was the result.

This answers both of our original questions. The reason Zionism happened in the 19th century and was created by secular Jews was that emancipation and the failure of assimilation freed some Jews from their Redemptive Paralysis.

The writer holds a doctorate in Jewish philosophy and teaches in post-high-school yeshivot and midrashot in Jerusalem.

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The end of liberal Zionism Mondoweiss

Posted By on April 13, 2019

If you can count to 61, and can read the Israeli polls, then the broad outline of the 2019 elections was clear to you even as they were declared. 61 is the magic number: a majority out of 120. Whoever manages to get the support of 61 and more Members of Knesset, will be Prime Minister. The rest is noise.

Not a single poll put Netanyahus coalition under 61 seats. Generally, the polls gave him 64 to 67 seats. The results as they are now (with full counting of all polls, but not including the soldiers vote, and historically they lean right) give Netanuahu a steady coalition of 65 seats. This may not the coalition he wishes he had, but hell use. The rest, again, is noise.

As the result was pretty much preordained, the interesting story coming out of this election is the wiping out of the democratic bloc. Labor has six seats, Hadash-Taal have six, Meretz has four, and Balad also four. Total: 20. One-sixth of the Knesset.

One should not consider Gantzs party a part of the democratic bloc, since it is technically a soft-right party (with some hardline rightwingers included, such as Moshe Bogie Yaalon). Blue and White is not a party, technically: it is a bloc of three parties (Gantzs section, Yair Lapids Yesh Atid, and Yaalons Telem). Of the three factions, only Yesh Atid has any experience as a bona fide party.

Blue and White, and to a certain extent Labor as well, showed their true colors by bending over backwards to the right-wingers: They repeatedly said they will not accept the Israeli Palestinian parties as partners. Avi Gabbay, leader of Labor, tried to tone it down in the last few weeks, but few paid attention as everyone remembered how he hounded Zouheir Bahloul, a moderate Israeli Palestinian MK, out of the party. Labor and Blue and White mimicked Netanyahus performance in 2015: they didnt want anything to do with Israeli Palestinians.

And then they panicked, when they realized Israeli Palestinians had little incentive to go to the polls in order to be treated as pariahs. Possibly the most disgusting sight of the last days of the elections was Zionists begging Palestinians to go and vote, and then condemning those benighted savages, half devil and half child, of not knowing what was good for them, as their good masters did.

The result of the Nationality Law, dismay with the endless quarrels within the Joint List of Palestinian parties, and the attitude of the Gantzians and Labor convinced most of the Palestinian voters to stay home. Only 43% voted and most of the votes came in the late hours, after a massive get out the vote effort following the news that by 16:00 only 15% voted.

So much for the good news. The bad news is that the soldiers vote may yet sink the Palestinian bloc, Raam Balad, and bring in Naftali Bennetts party, the New Right. This will bring the democratic bloc down to 16 votes.

There are a few conclusions following the vote:

1. Israels democracy is deeply flawed. This is Netanyahus best result ever, and he received it even when going to the polls under the shade of three indictments. A third of the public simply doesnt care, at best, or lost all belief in Israels justice institutes, at worst. Any would-be tinpot dictator could use these people.

2. Liberal Zionism is dead. At best it has 10 seats in the Knesset (Labor and Meretz). Anyone who still thinks Israel shares values with the West ought to wake up and smell the coffee.

3. We are all Jewish Supremacists now, but you knew that already.

While the results were a forgone conclusion, and while we had some pleasant surprises (foot and Temple fetishist Moshe Feiglin is out, and in all likelihood so is Naftali Bennett), it still feels like a kick in the stomach. Waking up, you realize the coming years are going to be even harder for the remnants of the liberal camp in Israel. You realize that another round of violence with the occupied Palestinians is almost a certainty, and that rivers of blood are going to flow. You realize you represent, at best, some 8% of Israelis. You realize youre now in the illegitimate, borderline-dissident side of politics.

You look for the silver lining: The understanding among liberal activists that they wont be able to ever win elections, or at least lose them with a respectful margin, without working with Israeli Palestinians. The next few years will show whether this understanding can be translated into political action.

I wont lie and say Im optimistic. We are moving through a strong illiberal period, and a black International is on the rise, from Russia through the US and here. The wheel will turn, at one point history loves cycles but there is no telling who might be squashed under it as it turns.

Then again, we dont have the luxury of giving up, or the privilege of despairing. Stiff upper lip, then. It will be a long slog.

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The end of liberal Zionism Mondoweiss

How the Great Leftist Thinkers of the 20th Century Contended …

Posted By on April 13, 2019

Arendt, the most famous and influential of the six, was converted to Zionism by Hitlers takeover in 1933. Fleeing across Europe, twice escaping Nazi detention, she landed in New York in 1941 and began her long writing career. Initially a militant Zionist, she became less attached after Israeli independence in 1948, suspicious of nation-states and their abuses of power. Her book The Origins of Totalitarianism in 1951 established her worldwide reputation as a political philosopher. All of her contradictions came together in 1961 when she covered the Eichmann trial for The New Yorker, describing it as a show trial rather than a judicial exercise. Her version remains controversial to this day.

Other profiles are no less dramatic. Deutscher, a Talmud prodigy during his childhood in a Polish shtetl, went on to become a translator of Hebrew and Yiddish poetry, then a communist, then a follower of Leon Trotskys heterodox communism and finally a globe-trotting British journalist. He abandoned his doctrinaire anti-Zionism following the Holocaust, was charmed during a 1954 visit by Israels revived Hebrew culture and kibbutz socialism, then turned bitterly hostile following Israels six-day victory in June 1967, even somehow forgetting his Hebrew and Yiddish. He died that August, unreconciled. I. F. Stone, the fabled Washington journalist, underwent a nearly identical reversal in 1967. Linfield claims uncertainty about how large a role the 1967 war and occupation play in leftists antagonism toward Israel. But these individual stories suggest that the legacy of 1967 cannot be overstated.

Linfield is an associate professor of journalism at New York University and her writing combines the storytelling of a journalist with a scholars analysis of ideas. She repeatedly jumps in and argues with her subjects, point by point, giving each chapter the feel at times of a Meet the Press-type interview occurring across time.

If the book has one problem its Linfields inability to recognize the significance of the document that she herself has produced. She tries to present it, particularly in her tacked-on introduction and conclusion, as foreshadowing and illuminating the tragic deadlock in Israeli-Palestinian coexistence. To be blunt, it doesnt work.

In fact, its success is in foreshadowing and illuminating a different conflict that has been simmering under the surface for a decade and has exploded into the headlines just in the early months of this year. The Lions Den illustrates the individual struggles of Jewish leftists in the World War II generation to reconcile their conflicting impulses, the particularist pull of Zionism and the universalist pull of socialism. Their stories precisely anticipate the tension todays Jewish liberals experience trying to reconcile their own pro-Israel particularism and their social-justice universalism.

Linfield could not have foreseen, even a year ago as she was writing, the current predicament of Democrats caught between support of Israel and sympathy for the Palestinians, or dare we say it? between the affections of Americas well-established Jewish community and fast-rising Muslim community. Unexpectedly, her book appears just as its stories and lessons become urgent.

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YIVO | Apt Hasidic Dynasty

Posted By on April 13, 2019

Hasidic dynasty of the Heshel family, originating in the nineteenth century. Its main influence was in Podolia, Bucovina, Moldavia, and Bessarabia. The founder of the Apt dynasty was Avraham Yehoshua Heshel (ca. 17481825), a disciple of Elimelekh of Lizhensk. Heshel was born in migrd Nowy in Galicia to a distinguished rabbinical family. By about 1786 he was rabbi of Kolbuszowa, where he first became acquainted with Hasidism and began to function as a rebbe. In 1800, Heshel went to serve as the rabbi of Apt (Opatw), and, as the Apter Rebbe, was known by the name of that town for the rest of his life, even when he became rabbi of Jassy (Iai; 1809) and, later, of Mezhbizh (Midzybo, Medzhibizh; from 1814 until his death).

Heshels Hasidic leadership was characterized by a firmness that sometimes led to friction, both with members of the communities in which he lived and with other Hasidic leaders. Nevertheless, he supported pluralism and did not claim exclusivity or preference with regard to Hasidic leadership. He was respected by the tsadikim of his generation, especially later in his life, when he was regarded as the eldest tsadik. His activities included appointing and discharging ritual slaughterers and other religious functionaries, collecting money for the Land of Israel, and resolving disputes within the Hasidic community.

Heshels influence transcended the boundaries of his communities, extending to the southern Pale of Settlement and even outside Russia. For example, he issued a proclamation calling for a public fast in all Jewish towns, in response to plans of Russian authorities to forbid Jews to earn a livelihood by leasing and to expel them from villages (1823). He was known to be a hearty eater and was famous for telling tall stories, which even his admirers regarded with jocular skepticism. Still, these traits were regarded by his followers as concealing profound secrets.

Heshels teachings are typical of the spirit of the period: he gave extensive attention to the doctrine of the tsadik, and treated exile and redemption as spiritual concepts related to individual experience. He apparently had reservations about the desire of several contemporary tsadikim to popularize the study of Kabbalah, although he did not refrain from writing approbations to kabbalistic texts or from including such contents in his own books. His letters are collected in Igrot ha-ohev Yisrael (Letters of a Lover of Israel; 1999), and his teachings appear in Torat emet (Torah of Truth; 1854) and Ohev Yisrael (Lover of Israel; 1863; an expanded edition, Ohev Yisrael ha-shalem, was published in Jerusalem in 1980). Ohev Yisrael became another of Heshels sobriquets.

Only one of Heshels two sons, Yitsak Meir (ca. 17761855) of Zinkev, Podolia, became a Hasidic rebbe, and during his fathers lifetime he administered Heshels court while serving as a rabbi in several communities. He increased the power of Apt Hasidism and established it as a dynasty. After Yitsak Meirs death, his son, Meshulam Zusya of Zinkev (ca. 18131864), took his place.

In the generation of Meshulam Zusyas sons, the dynasty split into three main branches. The main branch was founded by Avraham Yehoshua (ca. 18321880), the rebbe of Mezhbizh. His sons Yisrael Shalom Yosef (18521919) and Meshulam Zusya (ca. 18711920) were rebbes there as well. Another son, Yitsak Meir (18611935), was the rebbe of Kopitshinits in Galicia. After the outbreak of World War I, Yitsak Meir fled to Vienna with his children, where he attracted followers and was active in community affairs, especially during the war. He also participated in aredi organizations and was a member of Agudas Yisroel. This branch of the Kopitshinits dynasty remains active today in Jerusalem. Another son, Mosheh Mordekhai (18731916), was a rebbe in Warsaw. His son was the theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel (19071972), who studied in Berlin before immigrating to the United States, and was renowned as a scholar and teacher of Judaism at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.

The second branch of the dynasty was headed by ayim Menaem (ca. 18371893), whose sons Pinas (ca. 18721916) and Mosheh (ca. 18791923) served as rebbes in Zinkev. A third branch was led by Shemuel (ca. 18401862), the rebbe of Murovanye Kurilovtsy in Podolia, and who was succeeded, after his early death, by his brother Yeiel (ca. 18431916).

Yitsak Alfasi, Ha-Rav me-Apta: Baal Ohev Yisrael (Jerusalem, 1980/81); Israel Halpern, Yehudim ve-yahadut be-Mizra Eropah: Mekarim be-toldotehem (Jerusalem, 1968/69), pp. 348354; Gershon Kitzis, Rabi Avraham Yehoshua Heshel: Ohev Yisrael me-Apta, Sinai 92.34 (1983): 153171; Mendel Piekarz, Ha-Hanhagah ha-asidit (Jerusalem, 1999), pp. 228231.

Translated from Hebrew by Jeffrey Green

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YIVO | Apt Hasidic Dynasty

Jewish American Heritage Month – Councilmember David Ryu

Posted By on April 13, 2019

Please Join the City of Los Angeles and Jewish Leaders from across Southern California for a celebration of Jewish life and culture during Jewish American Heritage Month.

This year's celebration - "Being Deborah" - will celebrate the historyof Jewish Women creating change in Los Angeles. Enjoy performances by the Jewish Women's Theatre and The Shalhevet ChoirHawks and a special reception in City Hall.

The event is free and open to all. For parking, please RSVP in the link below.

Questions? Call (213) 473-7004

With special thanks to our event Co-Chairs and Sponsors:

Mayor Eric Garcetti

Controller Ron Galperin

Councilmember David Ryu

Councilmember Bob Blumenfield

Councilmember Paul Koretz

Councilmember Paul Krekorian

Councilmember Greig Smith

The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles

The Jewish HistoricalSociety of Southern California

The UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies

The Jewish Museum of the American West

WIZO

May 29, 2019 at 10am - 1pm

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Jewish American Heritage Month - Councilmember David Ryu

B’nai B’rith honors Ynet’s Attila Somfalvi for series on US Jewry

Posted By on April 12, 2019

Ynet's senior anchor Attila Somfalvi has been awarded a certificate of merit by B'nai B'rith International for his coverage of the relationship between Israel and the American Jewish community.

His series "Near Far," which examined the ties between Israel and US Jews, was published last year on Ynet's Hebrew edition.

Attila Somfalvi

Somfalvi was honored alongside two other Israeli journalists, Antonia Yamin of KAN (Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation) and Zvika Klein of Makor Rishon, who both won the annual Bnai Brith World Center-Jerusalem Award for Journalism Recognizing Excellence in Diaspora Reportage.

Somfalvi, 40, began his career at Ynet almost 20 years ago, as a police correspondent. He was later the political party beat, and since the establishment of the Ynet studio, has been its chief anchor, political commentator and senior writer.

The recipient thanked the jury for his award, and highlighted the importance of ties between Israel and the US Jewish community.

"I am proud and moved to stand beside such professional and profound journalists as Antonia Yemin and Zvika Klein, and I thank the B'nai B'rith judges for mentioning my work on American Jewry," Somfalvi said.

"I write about the Jewish people with great pride and great concern, and will continue to do my best to increase interest in our relationship with our brethren."

Attila Somfalvi and Yon Feder with then-president Shimon Peres in 2014 (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

"I am proud of the tribute that Attila Somfalvi has received from B'nai B'rith," said Yon Feder, editor-in-chief of Ynet. "Attila explores the complex issue of Israeli-American relations with sensitivity and resolution.

"The connection between Israel and the Diaspora has undergone a profound change in recent years, some say a dangerous one, and coverage of this is of primary journalistic importance and a clear manifestation of our responsibility to the public."

Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog also congratulated Somfalvi on the award for an issue "that is vital to the future of the entire nation. It's important that you put the issue on the agenda of the (Israeli) media."

The chairman of Bnai Brith World Center-Jerusalem, Haim Katz, and its director, Alan Schneider, said: "The interest and insightfulness shown by these fine young journalists in the lives of Diaspora Jewish communities and in their relationship with Israel is heartening and proves once again that this issue continues to fascinate the media and general population in Israel. Through this award, we seek to continue to encourage fine journalism in this field and urge editorial boards to invest more attention and means in it.

The jury for the prize includes Bar Ilan University's Professor Yehudith Auerback; Professor Sergio DellaPergola of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and Sallai Meridor, international chairman of the Jerusalem Foundation, former Israeli ambassador to the US and former chairman of the Jewish Agency.

The awards ceremony will be held on July 3, and will feature Prof. Deborah Lipstadt as keynote speaker

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B'nai B'rith honors Ynet's Attila Somfalvi for series on US Jewry

What is the Talmud? | CARM.org

Posted By on April 9, 2019

by Matt Slick

The Talmud is a Jewish literary collection of teachings, laws, and interpretations based on the Old Testament Torah. It has two parts, the Mishnah and that Gemara. The Mishnah, written in Hebrew, is the literary form of the Jewish oral tradition that many Jews considered to be equal to the Old Testament Scripture. The Gemara, written in Hebrew and Aramaic, is the analysis of the Mishnah. The topics covered are multitudinous, and the work itself is immense. Writing the Talmud took around 600 years, from the first century before Christ to about the fifth century after Christ. The main topics covered are history, laws, sabbaths, marriage, divorce, sacrifices, culture, and rules for interpreting the Torah. The Mishnah is arranged as follows:

The Jews believed that the Torah, the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), which is also called the Pentateuch, were authored by Moses. However, along with the written Torah, the Jews also believe that Moses was also given oral tradition. This Oral Tradition was passed down to Joshua and then to the Prophets. It has thus been transmitted from person to person over the centuries.

There are two Talmuds: the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud. The Jerusalem Talmud was compiled in Israel in the third century. The Babylonian Talmud was put together a couple of centuries later. The Babylonian Talmud covers more topics, is more prevalent, and normally when the word "Talmud" is used, the Babylonian Talmud is assumed to be the one referenced.

The Talmud has played a huge influence on Jewish thought and culture. Its discussions, which often lasted many many years, consist of a detailed analysis of biblical concepts aimed at answering various questions dealing with the law of Moses.

"The Talmuds discussions are recorded in a consistent format. A law from the Mishnah is cited, followed by rabbinic deliberations on its meaning (i.e., the Gemara)."

As Judaism expanded geographically and different schools of thought emerged, the Talmud became increasingly dominant in conservative Judaism but not in reformed Judaism.

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What is the Talmud? | CARM.org


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