Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on July 27, 2022

Rarely a week goes by when United States Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-MO) isnt featured in the news.

Whether getting arrested at an abortion rights protest outside the Supreme Court or facing questions about her privately-funded security while simultaneously campaigning to defund the police, it seems that American media outlets cannot get enough of Bushs headline-grabbing antics.

Therefore, its a genuine mystery why the mainstream media was so quiet when it was recently revealed that Bush had accepted fundraising assistance from a woman who has a well-documented history of advocating for the genocide of Jews and Israelis.

According to the watchdog group Canary Mission, Naveen Ayesh, who is the Government Relations Coordinator for the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) chapter in St. Louis, Missouri, is not only a supporter of burning every Israeli alive, but is also a big fan of Congresswoman Bush, who she has worked alongside since 2017.

In 2014, Ayesh tweeted: I want to set Israel on fire with my own hands & watch it burn to ashes along with every Israeli in it. Call it what you want to call it idc [I dont care].

This came hot on the heels of other posts in which she announced how she would love to spit in the faces of every Jew Israeli she came across, as well as throwing stones at them.

In 2011, Ayesh used the hashtagcrimes worthy of the rope to announce her belief that being a Jew merits this particular death sentence.

She is also an admirer of Palestinian terror group Hamas, having previously praised the organizations armed wing Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and revealing that she would love to be the first female to join their group alongside the acronym lol laugh out loud.

Such a history of antisemitic incitement, however, did not prevent Bush from working with Ayesh over the years. In 2017 and again in 2020, they were pictured during fundraisers together. As recently as July 16, Ayesh invited people to attend a reception with Bush and the St. Louis Muslim community.

Bush, a member of a small branch of the Democrat Party collectively dubbed the Squad, has never hidden her animus towards the Jewish state.

In addition to being an outspoken proponent of the controversialBoycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, whose ultimate goal is to dismantle the Jewish state, she was last year one of just nine US representatives to vote against funding for Israels life-saving Iron Dome technology.

Defending her decision, she declared: Palestinians deserve freedom from militarized violence too, before accusing Israel of being an apartheid state.

We can only assume Bush was blithely unaware that the Iron Dome is a missile defense system designed to prevent rockets from landing on the homes of Israeli civilians.

Just months before the 2020 fundraiser, where Ayesh and Bush were photographed together, Ayesh was publicly censured by Missouri lawmakers after she had given testimony against a bill that sought to prevent companies from engaging in economic boycotts against Israel.

Video shows that members of the Missouri State House of Representatives read out several of Ayeshs most hateful tweets to highlight the discrepancy between her testimony that asserted the BDS campaign is a peaceful movement and her views as stated on her social media account.

Bushs inability or unwillingness to call out Ayeshs incendiary views on Israel seemingly dovetails with the group that the latter represents, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP).

AMP is a charity that effectively comprises an A to Z of antisemites, including its chairman Hatem Bazian, who, among other things, has called for an intifada in the United States; discussed a Palestinian Holocaust while likening Gaza to a concentration camp; accused Israelis of raping, murdering, and harvesting the organs of Palestinians, and posted antisemitic cartoons, including one of an Orthodox Jew labeled an Ashke-Nazi.

Meanwhile, AMPs Associate Director of Outreach & Grassroots Organizing, Taher Herzalleh, who, worryingly, was invited to speak to students at the University of California San Diego in May, has sought to justify Hamas rocket attacks and praised the killing of Israeli soldiers as the most beautiful sight.

It could be that Cori Bush was until recently blissfully unaware of Ayeshs chilling comments, or indeed the antisemitism that has been espoused by her colleagues at American Muslims for Palestine.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, will she now go on record to condemn her past association with Ayesh and unequivocally denounce her anti-Jewish hatred?

More importantly, will American news outlets publicize any mea culpa and report on the events that led to it?

More here:

Why Are Cori Bush's Ties to Palestinian Activist Who Tweeted About 'Burning Israelis Alive' Generating Zero Media Coverage? - Algemeiner

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Posted By admin on July 27, 2022

TALMUD (tl'md). A collection of Jewish writings of the early Christian centuries. There is a Palestinian Talmud and a later, more authoritative, much longer Babylonian Talmud. Each consists of Mishnah and Gemara. Mishnah grew out of oral tradition, whose origin is obscure. The Mosaic Law did not cover all the needs of a developing society, and the defect was supplied by oral rabbinical decisions. When the Jewish leaders felt the need to preserve them, they wrote them down; later they felt a need for a commentary on them. This function the Gemara fulfills. The scope of the Talmud may be seen in the titles of the six parts of the Mishnah: Seeds, Relating to Agriculture; Feasts; Women and Marriage; Civil and Criminal Law; Sacrifices; Clean and Unclean Things and Their Purification.

The message of the great prophets of the 8th cent. b.c. made very clear that the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel to the heathen Gentile nations and the impending captivity of Judah were the direct result of idolatry. The promised return of the children of Abraham to the land of the covenant was upon the condition that they seek Jehovah with their whole heart and repudiate the gods of the Canaanites (Jer 29:13). The gradual cessation of prophecy and the development of new and more complex social relationships both within and without Israel called for continuing progressive elaboration of the pentateuchal laws. The leaders and the generation which returned from Babylon in 538 b.c. were acutely aware of the necessity of assuring the continuation of Israels national obedience to the law of Moses. Ezra himself is styled as a scribe versed in the Law of Moses (Ezra 7:6 JPS). The popular desire to study and learn the law as expressed in Nehemiah 8:1-18, was such that the Great Synagogue as it was subsequently called, was thus founded. This historic development brought forth a new social institution among the Jews, the office and service of the Teacher of the Law, the rabbinate. In effect, the local synagogue was nothing more than a Torah study. In recent decades the general acceptance of elaborate fragmentary, literary, and documentary hypotheses concerning the origin and development of the OT, have been adopted by some Jewish scholars to explain the rise of the Talmud, but there is little evidence to support this construction. No doubt there were commentaries, legends and sagas about the patriarchs, some parts of which appeared in the later Apoc. and Pseudep. The notion that there had been a long-standing oral tradition handed down fr om generation to generation throughout the millennia of Jewish history only to be written down in the era of the Great Synagogue is without foundation. It is necessary to observe that there were many customs, rites and procedures which grew up among the Jews which are mentioned occasionally in the NT, and specifically enjoined in the DSS but not directly or definitely commanded in the OT. The Talmud itself assumes its early origin from great antiquity and Pirke Abhoth, I, 1 states that it is to be attributed to Moses at Sinai. Most important is the Talmudic position as a hedge about the sacred canon revealed by God. This maxim is supposed to have been stated by the scholars of the Great Synagogue to render sufficient insulation about the revealed moral and ceremonial commandments that Israel would never again lapse into ignorance and idolatry.

There is no doubt that the rise of the sect of the Pharisees (q.v.) initiated the writing and study of the Jewish traditions which led to the production of the Talmud. Josephus mentions that the Pharisees had passed on to the people certain regulations handed down by former generations and not recorded in the Laws of Moses (Jos. Antiq. XIII, 297, Loeb Lib. tr.). However this does not suggest that written records were involved. On the other hand, the elaborate rituals demanded by the Qumran sects Manual of Discipline (1QS), and the precise layout of the ceremonial bathing pool at Masada, tend to support the notion that it was during this period of the last cent. b.c. that the initial categories of the Talmud were being formed. The collection took two distinctive literary forms:

msh n, Heb. , derived from the verbal form, , H9101, to repeat, it is the oral conversation of the rabbis as they discussed the proper interpretation and course of action requisite upon Jews in regard to the Mosaic law. There is no presentation of evidence but a continual appeal to authority hallowed by age or scriptural foundation. Essentially then, the Mishna is a complex, verbal and continuous commentary, explaining but objective to the Torah of Moses. If the commentary produces legal instruction it is known as Halachah. Although the Mishnaic presentation of laws became dominant in Jewish teaching and its teachers or Tannaim (derived from Aram. , Those who hand down) were greatly reverenced, it grew up after the older and more specifically commentary mode had become established.

The Talmud or, more strictly speaking, the Mishna and Talmud, is divided into six major divisions or Orders (Aram. ), which are subdivided into Tractates (Aram. ), sixty-three in number, each of which is divided in turn into chapters (Aram. ), of varying length. Following are analyses of the major and minor divisions. Order Zeraiym (Aram. ), seeds.

(1) Tractate Beraoth (Aram. , Blessings). Chapters: 1. Time of recitation of the Sema prayer (Deut 6:4), position of the suppliant and benedictions. 2. The divisions of the Sema prayer and the praying voice. 3. Exemptions from praying the Sema. 4. Time of prayer and additional prayers. 5. Positions, specific and congregational prayers. 6. Blessings for vegetable foods and fruits. 7. Groups of people, types and numbers saying prayers and the prayers to be said. 8. Washing of hands and blessings at meals, the differences between Shammai and Hillel. 9. Miscellaneous occasions of prayers.

(2) Tractate Peah (Aram. , Corner of a field). Chapters: 1. The size of field corners, exemption from tithes. 2. Field corners and trees. 3. The size of fields necessary for field corners. 4. How the produce of field corners must be yielded. 5. Rights of the poor and forgotten produce. 6. Distinction of forgotten produce. 7. Olive trees and the rights of the poor in vineyards. 8. Determination of the poor and the length of their rights.

(3) Tractate Demaiy (Aram. , Uncertain [fruits]). Chapters: 1. The Demaiy tithe. 2. The strict Jew and who pays the Demaiy. 3. Who may reserve Demaiy. 4. Statements by individuals about Demaiy and how paid. 5. Rented fields, fields under certain exceptions. 6. Separating specific cases of tithes.

(4) Tractate Kilaiym (Aram. , Mixtures). Chapters: 1. Kilaiym defined. 2. The case of mixed grains. 3. Divisions of garden beds. 4. Kilaiym of vineyards. 5. Types of vines. 6. Extent of vines. 7. Kilaiym and animals. 8. Kilaiym in textiles.

(5) Tractate Sheviith (Aram. , The Sabbatical Year). Chapters: 1. Cultivation in the sixth year. 2. The seventh year and fallow fields. 3. Work about the fields. 4. Seventh year pruning. 5. Figs, leeks, and farm equipment. 6. The seventh year in various countries. 7. Seventh year rights. 8. Self productive fruits. 9. Sale and storage of fruits. 10. Release of debts.

(6) Tractate Terwuwmoth (Aram. , Heave Offering Oblation). Chapters: 1. Teruwmoth. 2. Substitution for anothers Teruwmoth. 3. Second Teruwmoth. 4. Quantity. 5. Restitution of Teruwmoth. 6. Intentional consumption of Teruwmoth. 7. Preparing. 8. Sowing the Teruwmoth. 9. Tasting. 10. Using the oil from Teruwmoth.

(7) Tractate Masserowth (Aram. , Tithes). Chapters: 1. Tithes of fruit, when due. 2. Exceptions. 3. Location of fruit for tithes. 4. Exemptions. 5. Untithable plants and seed.

(8) Tractate Maaser Sheniy (Aram. , Second Tithe). Chapters: 1. Disposal of the Maaser Sheniy. 2. Proceeds of the Maaser Sheniy. 3. Fruits in Jerusalem. 4. Proceeds and price. 5. Fourth year vineyards.

(9) Tractate allah (Aram. , H2705, Dough). Chapters: 1. Fruits. 2. Special cases. 3. Quantity. 4. Variations in allah.

(10) Tractate Orlah (Aram. , H6889, Forbidden). Chapters: 1. Subject trees. 2. Mixed fruits. 3. Colors and Fires.

(11) Tractate Bikuwriym (Aram. , H1137, First Fruits). Chapters: 1. Exceptions. 2. Differentiations. 3. Ceremonies. 4. Exceptional cases. Order Seder Moed (Aram. , High Holidays).

(12) Tractate Sabbath (Aram. , H8701, Sabbath Day). Chapters: 1. Work to be shunned, differences between Shammai and Hillel. 2. Lighting Sabbath evening lamp. 3. Ovens and cooking. 4. Covering of pots. 5. Leading of beasts. 6. Departure of men and women and dress. 7. Responsibility for breaking the Sabbath, thirty-nine types of work. 8. Measures of portable objects. 9. Impurity through carrying. 10. Throwing of objects. 11. Building, pruning, and writing. 12. Weaving, washing. 13. Miscellaneous labors. 14. Actions in fires. 15. Moving of containers. 16. Moving objects, people out of the way. 17. Circumcision. 18. Straining, cleaning and pressing. 19. Miscellaneous carrying. 20. Miscellaneous necessities. 21. Business arrangements and burials. 22. Those overtaken by darkness on a journey, actions permitted on the Sabbath.

(13) Tractate Eruwbiyn (Aram. , Incorporating). Chapters: 1. Entry ways. 2. Holiday or its evening. 3. Going beyond the Eruwbiyn (incorporated or extended), Sabbath limit. 4. Expanding the Eruwbiyn. 5. Further sub-divisons. 6. Still further subdivisions. 7. A yard. 8. Roofs. 9. Miscellaneous Sabbath laws.

(14) Tractate Pesaiym (Aram. , Passovers). Chapters: 1. Searching for leaven. 2. Disposal of leaven. 3. Leaven in its various forms passover cake and bitter herbs. 4. Work beforehand. 5. Killing and butchering the paschal lamb. 6. Passover labors supersede Sabbath prohibitions. 7. Methods for cooking the passover. 8. Persons permitted to partake. 9. Communities and persons unable to partake. 10. Unusual circumstances. 11. Order for eating the passover.

(15) Tractate Sheqaliym (Aram. , Shekels). Chapters: 1. Seating of moneychangers. 2. Exchanging money. 3. Removal of coins from the cache. 4. Spending the Temple tax. 5. Ecclesiastical offices. 6. Numerology of the number thirteen. 7. Possessions of unknown owners. 8. Miscellaneous difficulties.

(16) Tractate Yowma (Aram. , Day of Atonement). Chapters: 1. High priestly preparations. 2. Offerings and lot casting. 3. Preparing for the Atonement services. 4. The scapegoat. 5. Holy of Holies. 6. Expulsion of the scapegoat. 7. The high priests duties. 8. Fasting and forgivness.

(17) Tractate Suwkkah (Aram. , Feast of Booths/Tabernacles). Chapters: 1. Dimensions of the booths. 2. Exemptions. 3. Boughs to use as coverings. 4. Duration. 5. Division of offerings.

(18) Tractate Yowm owv (Aram. , Good Day, also known as Beyah, Egg). Chapters: 1. Partaking of eggs on holidays. 2. Sabbath meals. 3. Prohibited activities. 4. Time of the feasts. 5. Flute playing.

(19) Tractate Rosh ha-shanah (Aram. , New Year). Chapters: 1. When four New Years occur. 2. Questioning the witnesses to the new moon. 3. Groups of witnesses. 4. New Years falling on Sabbaths.

(20) Tractate Taaniyth (Aram. , Fasting). Chapters: 1. Prayers for rain. 2. Festival prayers. 3. Miscellaneous fasting regulations. 4. The twenty-four elders, their fastings.

(21) Tractate Megiyllah (Aram. , Scroll [of Esther]). Chapters: 1-4. The reading of Esther at Purim.

(22) Tractate Mowed Qaon (Aram. , Lesser Holidays). Chapters: 1-3. Halfdays or lesser feasts and their regulation.

(23) Tractate agiyga (Aram. , Festival Offering). Chapters: 1-3. Miscellaneous decisions about offerings. Order Seder Nashiym (Aram. , Women).

(24) Tractate Yebamowth (Aram. , Levirate Obligations). Chapters: 1-16. Acceptance and refusal of levirate obligation.

(25) Tractate Ketuwbowth (Aram. , Marriage Contracts). Chapters: 1-13. Marriage contracts and marriage duties.

(26) Tractate Nedariym (Aram. , Vows). Chapters: 1-11. Vows and annulments.

(27) Tractate Naziyr (Aram. , H5687, Nazirite Vow). Chapters: 1-9. Laws of the Nazirite vows.

(28) Tractate Sowah (Aram. , Defiled Woman). Chapters: 1-9. Expansions of Numbers 5:12-31.

(29) Tractate Giyiyn (Aram. , Bills of Divorce). Chapters: 1-9. Writing of bills of divorce.

(30) Tractate Qidduwshiyn (Aram. , Engagements). Chapters: 1-4. Manner of engagements. Order Seder Neziyqiyn (Aram. , Damages).

(31) Tractate Baba Qama (Aram. , First Gate). Chapters: 1-10. Damages, injuries, and indemnities.

(32) Tractate Baba Meiy' (Aram. , Middle Gate). Chapters: 1-10. Claims from trusts, buying, and selling.

(33) Tractate Baba Batra (Aram. , Last Gate). Chapters: 1-10. Real estate laws and regulations.

(34) Tractate Sanhedriyn (Aram. , Courts).

(35) Tractate Makkowth (Aram. , Lashes). Chapters: 1-3. Corporal punishment.

(36) Tractate Shebuwowth (Aram. , Oaths). Chapters: 1-8. Various types of oaths.

(37) Tractate Eduyowth (Aram. , Witnesses). Chapters: 1-8. Traditional legal sayings.

(38) Tractate Abowdah Zorah (Aram. , Idolatrous Worship). Chapters: 1-5. Idols and idol worshipers.

(39) Tractate Abowth (Aram. , Fathers). Chapters: 1-6. The sayings of the elders.

(40) Tractate Howrayowth (Aram. , Judgments). Chapters: 1-3. Rules for the making of judges decisions. Order Seder Qodoshiym (Aram. , Consecrated Things).

(41) Tractate Zebaiym (Aram. , Sacrifices). Chapters: 1-14. Sacrifices, offerings, and sprinklings.

(42) Tractate Menaowth (Aram. , Offerings [Mincha]). Chapters: 1-13. Cereal, meat, and drink offerings.

(43) Tractate uwliyn (Aram. , Unconsecrated Things). Chapters: 1-12. Unlawful animals, slaughtering.

(44) Tractate Bekowrowth (Aram. , First-born). Chapters: 1-9. Regulations of first-born animals and men.

(45) Tractate Erakiyn (Aram. , Estimates). Chapters: 1-9. Estimation of objects dedicated by vow.

(46) Tractate Temuwra (Aram. , H9455, Exchanges). Chapters: 1-7. Exchanges of dedicated objects.

(47) Tractate Keriytuwth (Aram. , Outcastings). Chapters: 1-7. Excommunication of sinners from the congregation.

(48) Tractate Meiylah (Aram. , Trespasses). Chapters: 1-6. Sacrilegious objects.

(49) Tractate Tamiyd (Aram. , H9458, Daily Offerings). Chapters: 1-7. Morning and evening sacrifices.

(50) Tractate Middowth (Aram. , Measurations). Chapters: 1-5. Descriptions of the Temple and its servants.

(51) Tractate Qenniym (Aram. , Nests [Birds]). Order Seder aharowth (Aram. , Purifications).

(52) Tractate Keliym (Aram. , Containers). Chapters: 1-30. The containers which convey impurity.

(53) Tractate Ohalowth (Aram. , Tents). Chapters: 1-18. Retention of impurity in dwellings.

(54) Tractate Negaiym (Aram. , Leprosies). Chapters: 1-14. Leprous men, garments, and dwellings.

(55) Tractate Parah (Aram. , Heifer). Chapters: 1-12. Red heifers for sacrifice.

(56) Tractate aharowth (Aram. , Purifications). Chapters: 1-10. Methods of purifications.

(57) Tractate Miqvoawth (Aram. , Ceremonial Waters). Chapters: 1-10. The ritual purification of the water.

(58) Tractate Niddah (Aram. , H5614, Separation of Women in Menstruation). Chapters: 1-10. Cleanliness of women before and after childbirth.

(59) Tractate Makshiyriyn (Aram. , Preparations). Chapters: 1-6. Liquids used for purification.

(60) Tractate Zabiym (Aram. , Excretions). Chapters: 1-5. Exudates of the body and their purification.

(61) Tractate ebuwl Yowm (Aram. , Dipping on [the Day]). Chapters: 1-4. Immersion on the day of impurity.

(62) Tractate Yadaiym (Aram. , Hands). Chapters: 1-4. Ritual washings.

(63) Tractate Uwqiyn (Aram. , Stalks of Fruit). Chapters: 1-3. Stalks of fruit conveying impurity.

The above outline follows that of H. Silverstone, A Guide to the Talmud (1942), which excludes the details of the minor tractates and their subdivisions. Any given section contains the earlier Mishna and the longer and much later Gemara. This organization gives the whole an elaborate and very complicated appearance which has necessitated the formulation of extensive indices and helps to locate similar passages.

Although frequently referred to as the Talmud Yerushalmi (Heb. ), this VS was the product of the Northern towns of Israel and their rabbinical schools and sages. It was hastily assembled and edited during the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Christian centuries and is about a third of the length of the Babylonian ed. From the original only, the Gemara of the first four Orders is extant. The language is a dialect known as Western Aram. and demonstrates the peculiarities of orthography and lexica clearly separating it from the Babylonian. The antiquity of its Halachah and the great age and Palestinian origin of the even more extensive Haggadic material render it invaluable for the study of the Rabbinate and the history of exegesis in the Judaism of this period. It is supposed to have been ed. by the Amoraim, Johanan ben Nappaha (c. a.d. 270), but material from later periods was incorporated and the closing date is set at c. a.d. 425 when the Tiberian School ended. The Babylonian Talmud developed in the areas under relative Jewish control in Mesopotamia. Its origins were partly Palestinian as many of its progenitors had studied in the schools of the Amoraim. The initiator of the Babylonian VS was Rab Abba Arika, the founder and head of the great Sura Academy. Following him in the 3rd Christian cent. were such eminent scholars and jurists as Mer Samuel, a member of the first group of Babylonian Amoraim. The third generation boasted such authorities as Abbaye (c. a.d. 300) and Raba (c. 340). In the time of Rabina bar Huna (c. a.d. 495) the period of Talmudic expansion came to a close. The work of the next group of scholars, the Saboraim, Aram. , redactors, brought the work to its full and extant form. The dialect of the Babylonian VS was an Eastern Aram. more fully in fluenced by Akkado-Babylonian and written with its own peculiarities of orthography and lexica. Of the sixty-three tracts, twenty-six lack the Babylonian Gemara. The initial mention of the whole of the written Babylonian Talmud was made in the 8th Christian cent. It is necessary to note that the completion of this vast amountnearly fifty volumesof detailed and succinct legal commentary at the beginning of the Dark Ages when the Rom. empire was dissolving into the inflexible discreteness of feudalism, gave to the Jews an intellectual treasure which helped them endure the Medieval period and survive to attend the coming of the Renaissance. Even under the spread and domination of Islam, the Talmud survived. In the W, however, the mystical frenzy which shook Europe after the collapse of the crusading spirit vented the wrath of Christendom upon the Jewish writings and there were numerous destructions of the Talmud and proscriptions against its study and publication. The Talmud became in the Late Middle Ages one of the few accurate sources of information about antiquity, and such scholars as Petaia of Ratisbon (a.d. 1140-1200) rediscovered the lost cities of antiquity through their intimate knowledge of the Talmud.

Soon after the compilation of a full Talmudic corpus, divergences in textual families must have appeared. Saadia ben Joseph (Gaon) who flourished in the 10th cent. a.d. stated frequent disagreements in the textual traditions. Unfortunately the Talmud is not presently represented by many truly ancient MSS. The only extant MSS of the whole of the Babylonian Talmud is that produced in a.d. 1343, presently in Munich. It was edited by H. L. Strack, Talmud Bab. codicis Hep. Monacensis 95 phototypice depictus (1912). The first printed ed. of both Palestinian and Babylonian Talmud were published by the Christian printerscholar, D. Bomberg, in Venice, 1523 and 1524 respectively. The only complete Palestinian Talmud MS is that in Leiden which has been edited by L. Ginsberg (1909). Numerous difficulties have beset the preparation of any complete variorum edd. as numerous censored portions were omitted during the periods of intense persecution of the Jews so as not to include anything which might be interpreted as anti-Christian. However, the most extensive edd. were those produced in Vilna beginning in 1886, and frequently reproduced with a large number of additional commentaries such as the additions of the Medieval French rabbis. Commentaries, introductions and special studies have appeared in vast numbers particularly from the large and erudite Jewish communities of E Germany, Poland and European Russia. With the tragic destruction of these centers of Hebraic scholarship, the centers of Jewish learning moved to the New World and thence to Israel. The mastery of the language, meaning, detail and sweep of the Talmud is a lifetime avocation. However, it is the most compact and continuous set of documents revealing the piety of a people extant in modern times.

Among the schools of European Jewry the Talmud represented the highest and most complete mastery and challenge to which the pious Jew could apply. The knowledge of the Talmud was held in higher esteem than that of the Scripture itself, which had become in the 19th cent. the special province of thoroughly anti-Jewish scholars. While the reconstruction of the rise of the OT text according to the theories of Graf-Kuenen-Wellhausen were eroding away confidence in the historicity of the OT orthodox and conservative Judaism found refuge in the Talmud. The age of romanticism found little to attract it in the bewildering rationalism and endless casuistry of the Talmud. In its place an overwhelmingly Kantian philosophy of Judaism has been developed. With the rise of the Jewish state of Israel, a new renaissance of Talmudic studies may be at hand. For the Christian scholar the Talmud offers first-hand insights into the state of Jewish religion and life in the 1st cent. and the development of that world view in later ages. Almost every mention and allusion to Jewish custom and culture found in the Gospel narratives can be discovered in detail in the Talmudic tradition or one of its manifold explanations. Of major importance in this last regard is the work of Strack and Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrash. The recovery of many new Talmudic fragments from excavations and the archeological reconstruction of many previously obscure eras of Israels history has necessitated fresh studies of both Mishnaic and Talmudic texts.

The bibliography of works on and about the Talmud is vast and involved. There are several good bibliographies available. The following are general works, editions, and helps: J. Levy, Neuhebrisches und chaldisches Wrterbuch, 4 vols. (1876-1889); M. Schwab, Le Talmud de Jrusalem traduit pour la premire fois (French tr.), 11 vols. (1878-1890); M. Jastrow, Dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi and Midrashic Literature, 2 vols. (1886-1903); L. Goldschmidt, Der Babylonische Talmud, 15 vols. (German tr.) (1897-1909); S. Krauss, Talmudische Archaeologie, 3 vols. (1910-1912); G. F. Dalman, Aramaisch-Neuhebrisches Handwrterbuch zu Targum, Talmud und Midrasch, 2nd. ed. (1933); G. F. Moore, Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era. Vol. I (1927); H. Malter, The Treatise Taanit of the Babylonian Talmud (1928); S. Zeitlin, Critical Edition of the Talmud, JQR XXI, Nos. 1 and 2 (1930), and numerous other articles in the same journal. H. L. Strack, Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash (1931); H. Danby, The Mishnah (1933); J. Kaplan, The Redaction of the Babylonian Talmud (1933); ed. I. Epstein, The Babylonian Talmud, Soncino Edition 36 vols. (1935-1948), a new edition of this standard Eng. tr. is appearing with facing page Aram. and Eng. texts; I. Herzog, Main Institutions of Jewish Law, 2 vols. (1936-1939); I. Epstein, Judaism (1939); H. L. Strack, Talmud, ISBE vol. V (1939), 2904-2907, with excellent bibliography of the older sources; L. Ginzberg, Commentary on the Palestinian Talmud, 3 vols. (1941).

(talmudh):

I. PRELIMINARY REMARKS AND VERBAL EXPLANATIONS

II. IMPORTANCE OF THE TALMUD

III. THE TRADITIONAL LAW UNTIL THE COMPOSITION OF THE MISHNA

IV. DIVISION AND CONTENTS OF THE MISHNA (AND THE TALMUD)

1. Zera`im, "Seeds"

2. Mo`edh, "Feasts"

3. Nashim, "Women"

4. Neziqin, "Damages"

5. Kodhashim, "Sacred Things"

6. Teharoth, "Clean Things"

V. THE PALESTINIAN TALMUD

VI. THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD

VII. THE NON-CANONICAL LITTLE TREATISES AND THE TOSEPHTA1. Treatises after the 4th Cedher

2. Seven Little Treatises

LITERATURE

The present writer is, for brevitys sake, under necessity to refer to his Einleitung in den Talmud, 4th edition, Leipzig, 1908. It is quoted here as Introduction.

There are very few books which are mentioned so often and yet are so little known as the Talmud. It is perhaps true that nobody can now be found, who, as did the Capuchin monk Henricus Seynensis, thinks that "Talmud" is the name of a rabbi. Yet a great deal of ignorance on this subject still prevails in many circles. Many are afraid to inform themselves, as this may be too difficult or too tedious; others (the anti-Semites) do not want correct information to be spread on this subject, because this would interfere seriously with their use of the Talmud as a means for their agitation against the Jews.

I. Preliminary Remarks and Verbal Explanations.

(1) Mishnah, "the oral doctrine and the study of it" (from shanah, "to repeat," "to learn," "to teach"), especially

(a) the whole of the oral law which had come into existence up to the end of the 2nd century AD;

(b) the whole of the teaching of one of the rabbis living during the first two centuries AD (tanna, plural tannaim);

(c) a single tenet;

(d) a collection of such tenets;

(e) above all, the collection made by Rabbi Jehudah (or Judah) ha-Nasi.

(2) Gemara, "the matter that is leaned" (from gemar, "to accomplish," "to learn"), denotes since the 9th century the collection of the discussions of the Amoraim, i.e. of the rabbis teaching from about 200 to 500 AD.

(3) Talmudh, "the studying" or "the teaching," was in older times used for the discussions of the Amoraim; now it means the Mishna with the discussions thereupon.

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Free Online Bible Library | Talmud - BiblicalTraining.org

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Posted By admin on July 27, 2022

I met a friend for coffee the other day in Tel Aviv. We hadnt seen each other since before the pandemic, so it was especially nice to be together. He grew up in Jerusalem but recently moved to Zichron Yaakov, a beautiful town overlooking the Mediterranean. My friend is a doctor who worked at Hadassah Hospital for many years and now is at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.

We caught up on each others lives, talked about our families and our work, and shared how we each navigated the shutdowns, quarantines and disruptions of COVID. I asked him how he liked working in Haifa. He surprised me a bit by how he contrasted it with Jerusalem, a city in his words that was built on hatred (bnuyah bsinah) between Arabs and Jews, secular and religious, Ashkenazim and Mizrachim, the political right and the political left. So much tension every group hating the other. By comparison, he continued, Haifa has the same communitiespeople from all the same groups but we get along so much better. The hatred just isnt t8here.

Our conversation was especially timely for this moment in the Jewish year, as we find ourselves in the period known as the Three Weeks. We commemorate the destruction of the Second Temple, which, according to the rabbis of the Talmud, was brought about by senseless hatred (sinat chinam). Jews during that time were split into a number of factions whose antipathy toward one another, the rabbis taught, led to the destruction of Jerusalem.

Almost two millennia have passed since the Temple was destroyed. Weve experienced destruction and loss the likes of which our ancestors could hardly have imagined: inquisitions, pogroms and the ultimate darkness of the Shoah. After what weve been through together, after everything weve seen, one would hope that wed finally learned our lesson, that wed figured out how to get along, to embrace and even celebrate our differences so that we might love one another fully.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about an incident at the Kotel that illustrates painfully how little has changed, how much more work must be done.

The classic teaching in our tradition about how to overcome senseless hatred was best articulated by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935), the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Mandatory Palestine. He wrote, If senseless hatred is what destroyed us, we must rebuild the world through senseless love.

For Rabbi Kook, senseless love or love without reason, was the act of caring for and loving our fellow Jews not because they did something special to deserve it, or because of some reward or recompense, but simply because they exist, because they are part of our extended family, part of Am Yisraelour people. Our love is born of a common history, the chapters of the human story that are uniquely ours. And, to be sure, our love is connected to a shared destiny. Whatever the world has in store for the Jewish People the good and the bad, the ridiculous and the sublime we all will be touched by it, and we all will benefit or suffer from it, whether we like it or not, together.

We grew up speaking different languages, eating different foods, and learning different nursery rhymes. Now we are friends. His story is part of my story and my life is richer because of him.

My friend and I are about the same age but there is much that would seem to divide us. He grew up in Jerusalem. I was raised in Omaha. His family emigrated to Israel in the early-20th century from Morocco. Mine came to America around the same time from various parts of Eastern Europe. We grew up speaking different languages, eating different foods, and learning different nursery rhymes. Now we are friends. His story is part of my story and my life is richer because of him.

I dont know, my friend said with a smile, maybe part of the reason we get along in Haifa is the sea. You look out over the water and you feel a sense of peace, a sense of calm.

Im not sure how we get there, but these days remind me that we had better find ways to love each other more, accept each other more, and embrace our differences so that we can rebuild our world together.

Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback is the Senior Rabbi of Stephen Wise Temple in Los Angeles, California.

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Rebuilding Together - Jewish Journal

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So, take a good look at my face

When I rose from a deep sleep I hadnt slept for more than several hours, if that, a night for the past five days on a Newark to San Diego flight everyone, it seemed, was staring at me. My row mate, an attractive woman in her late twenties, put her hand on my arm and quietly said, You were sobbing in your sleep we couldnt wake you. As I stumbled to the lavatory with a weak, embarrassed smile, a young priest commented, as if lecturing to the passengers, He is a rabbi, and he is surely mourning for the Temple that has burned down in flames. I blurted out If only In the washroom, I got a look at my ravaged red face. During those post days, I probably zogt (chanted) the whole Book of Tehilim (Psalms) at least twice, but the only psalm I could remember was sung by The Miracles in the late sixties:

So take a good look at my faceyoull see my smile looks out of placeIf you are closer, its easy to tracethe tracks of my tears

This was during my tragic trek from Jerusalem to bury my students Marla Bennett and Ben Blustein, murdered in the terrorist bombing of the Frank Sinatra Cafeteria of Hebrew University on July 31, 2002. That day, when the staff at Pardes, especially Joanne and Trudy, tried to account for our students whereabouts. As director, I had initiated a joint program with Hebrew University to create Jewish educators well rooted in traditional Jewish learning and the best of pedagogy; and our students were studying there that day. I headed out with David, for his wife Jamie was found with minor injuries, which were later upgraded to moderate by the time we got there. Moderate? I remember wishing out loud that the arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat should merit to receive such moderate injuries. Jamie was not left alone for a moment by David, and in the next weeks by our circle, with many, including my wife Sheryl, sleeping on the crowded ward floor by her bed.

But where was Marla and where was Ben? All three were at the same table in the cafeteria, but when the bomb went off, Jamie had bent under the table which ended up affording her some protection to get a folder to show her colleagues. At first, racing around the hospital with senior staff members David Bernstein and Aryeh Ben David, we hoped we would not find them, hoped they had somehow avoided getting hurt, but soon we prayed that even if they were hurt, they would be well enough to be in treatment. I was called to identify a young woman who was terribly injured and was found in a Minnie Mouse t-shirt, gear that Marla favored. But it wasnt Marla. Eventually, some of us straggled back to our office.

Dear reader, let me tell you about Ben and Marla so that you can understand the urgency which we would feel for any student, but they each had their own individual specialness.

Ben was a large man, who was tough. He had a rough veneer and a salty tongue. He called things as he saw them, sparing no one. And it came out hard because as a recovering alcoholic and being really bright, he saw things as they were and didnt hesitate to say so. But he had a heart of gold with kindness, especially for the overlooked and forgotten also expressed in a tough manner. He was a popular DJ in the Israeli clubs late at night, but always came to my senior Talmud shiur the next morning exactly on time prepared a condition of acceptance. I dont spin on Shabbos was his signature mantra that secular and senior music colleagues loved to repeat. And at the Shabbos table, he would sing the entire songbook with a unique and real beat the only way. He made me dance with him for real on holidays.

Marla, it was her smile that just made you feel terrific. I have never met anyone who had so many people tell me, Dont tell anyone so they wont feel bad, but I was Marlas best friend. And that included not only the intellectuals and impassioned activists but the ancient bent-over lady I met randomly that Marla helped shop with and actually paid for much of her groceries. Marla illustrated her Talmud with colored pencils indicating questions, answers, counter questions, proofs, and the rest. All in different colors. In the beit midrash (study hall) her page dazzled, and when I grumbled in class, Just give me the old black and white, she protested, But the Talmud just makes me happy! A brilliant student, she became a fervent committed Zionist at Berkeley!

When the terrible news arrived, I resolved to first call the parents and tell them that we had little hope and then to call them back soon after with the actual news. I first called Michael and Linda in San Diego. Linda beseeched, Marla loves you, Danny, and says you can do anything. Fix it! When I called back with the fact that I couldnt fix it, they were despondent. At that time, I had a strong intuition that in their inconsolable grief, they would not be burdened by any concern of how their relationship with Marla was. They always knew that they had a remarkable treasure and acted accordingly.

There was only one call to Richard and Katherine, Bens loving parents. Being respectively Harrisburgs beloved pediatrician and a renowned bacteriologist, they told me that they figured I was bearing just terrible tidings.

I expected that they would be buried in Jerusalem, but both sets of parents wanted them home. I accompanied Ben to Harrisburg. We started at El Al where, in the hangar, comedian Yisrael Campbell, Bens AA sponsor, recited psalms for hours by the crated casket, to JFK, and then in the hearse with police motorcycle guards that Friday afternoon. It was a grieving small-town funeral. The hearse passed the fire station where all the trucks revolved their emergency lights and the firemen stood at attention, saluting Ben, their hometown boy felled in Jerusalem.

Despite my show of strength as rabbi at the funeral, eulogizing a beloved student, I could hardly stand upright after helping to fill the dirt on Bens grave. Then I was given strength. A student, Aaron Bisman, who had come in from somewhere came up to me and said with quiet determination, We wont just leave Ben and Marla. We will do something big in New York and in Jerusalem. I knew he would, and that year he had amazing jazz memorials (Bens medium was percussion; along with Saskia on guitar and vocals; and Rebecca and Courtney were the dancers in the jazz group, Women, Slaves, and Minors) at the Knitting Factory in lower Manhattan and on the Tayelet (Promenade) in Jerusalem. The second was a young woman with many piercings and a hippyish garb, who very much wanted to tell me this: I would not have the close relationship today with Torah and Yiddishkeit if it wasnt for Ben. I knew she spoke the truth.

A number of students had come to the funeral, and we were taken in by the community by Rabbi Ron Muroff of the Conservative synagogue who knew Ben and his family well, and by Rabbi Chaim Schertz of the Orthodox shul. Community members soon understood that some students wanted to travel to Marlas funeral in San Diego but lacked the resources. They took up a collection and passed it on to the students with love. We began the Blusteins shivah with them; and we felt privileged.

Motzai Shabbat was an emotional Havdalah ceremony. Very hard to separate. I was picked up by a driver to take me to New Jersey for the wedding of a dear member of this group Andy Katz and his bride Emily Shapiro. Andy called me with a sheilah (question) before I left. He asked if it was not more correct to delay the wedding, given the catastrophe. I thought of my Tosafist forebears who answered the exact same questions during the murderous violence of the Crusaders. I channeled their response: Now more than ever, your wedding must continue. I arrived at the hotel in the middle of the night the driver was falling asleep at the wheel, and I forced him to take a two-hour nap. At the wedding, we were joined by more students and some who had been in Harrisburg.

The couple were an extraordinarily handsome pair (made in Heaven), but they were very sober. At the tisch, when the chatan (groom) was away for a moment, I suddenly had a vision of my late teacher, my grandfather the Menachem Tziyon the Comforter of Zion leaning over me and saying, Remember what I taught you regarding the famous section in Kohelet (Ecclesiastes). To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose unto Heaven. It is followed by a series of opposing couplets in the infinitive, starting a time to be born / a time to die but then that structure is broken up by a pair in the continuous present a time of mourning / a time of dancing! You will see that there will be a time that you must mourn, and you must dance simultaneously.

I told this over to my students as now my grandfather had left my side and was standing at the exit. I finished: If you want to celebrate, dance! If you must mourn, dance! And they did. Under the chuppah (wedding canopy), the very beautiful bride said that she wanted to say a few words about their murdered friends that she had written. I told them both that she did not need to, but she persisted and said words of true meaning.

The dancing was intense. In the middle, I was taken away and told to eat my main course before everyone. As I finished, my driver was at the door to get me to Newark International. Eventually, I made my way down to the plane and to sleep. And thats where I began the story.

Arriving in San Diego, I somehow crawled to the baggage claim. Grabbing at my suitcase, I couldnt lift it. Hub nisht koiach, I screamed in Yiddish I have no strength. Then, smoothly, a hand appeared and lifted the bag. Tom Barad, a Hollywood director and producer who had studied with me at Wexner and then joined our Board had come down to fetch me. He placed me in his fancy sports car, raced me to the funeral and, at the same time, put me together for this next role. He was used to actors arriving at The Set all strung out. Marlas funeral was the opposite of Bens very large, everyone looked glamorous, and many highfalutin civic leaders were present. But one thing was the same the tears were copious and real. I spoke of Marla as an etz chayim (tree of life), so full of life and the Torah of life, as well as protecting those who sought her shading presence.

The internment was in a mausoleum and its cold stone could not have been starker in telling the alternate reality. Marlas real best friend from Pardes was there. The two often played off their seemingly opposite personalities. Indeed, the previous Purim [a holiday known for its topsy-turvy view of reality] they came as the Yeitzer (Inclination) twins, except it was Amanda Pogany (who often displayed attitude) dressed in white with a halo, dispensing sweet compliments and Marla as the Evil Inclination in black with horns displaying a real talent for some sharp zingers (but, being Marla, they were more hilarious than nasty).

Everyone finally left, but by this time Amanda sank to the floor, leaning on the stone. Aleyn vi a shteyn (alone like a stone) is the Yiddish description. And it fit; she would not budge. I also fell against the stone, saying after a while, I cant get up unless you do. We both rose. That night, the many students who were there camped out at the beautiful La Jolla home of Julie Potiker (also my Wexner student who became chairperson of the board) and her husband Lowell. A constant stream of food, drink, and comfort, as we had, as it were an all-night shivah of stories, reflection, and tears. All through the process, our attention and love were drawn to Michael Simon, a classmate of Marlas. We had all been awaiting their engagement. Michael, seemingly a congenital optimist, as I once had called him, was shattered by the event. He accepted comfort, but it was to no avail. In the morning, people began to make their ways back home in the USA and me back to Jerusalem.

Back in Jerusalem, I was anxious for our surviving students due to their emotional turmoil, and I feared for our institutions future. The staff and faculty, from the top down, could not have been more compassionate and realistic. And they were carrying their own emotional freight from these losses and others they had been close to, living in Israel. We were also fortunate to have new students, Aaron Katchen and Robby Grossman, who had significant Hillel expertise as directors to immediately become part of the mourning and healing process. Everyones efforts made a difference, but nonetheless, that year we were a beit shivah (shivah house).

I saw the Educators Program ending. Why should anyone come? It wasnt fair, but I knew that I needed to get our student leader back. I wrote to Amanda Pogany and said I was coming to visit her at her parents home in New Jersey. Two weeks after the bombing, I flew at Sabbaths end. I arrived in a buckets downpour without a raincoat or umbrella (I came, after all, from summer in Jerusalem) and then got the last car on the lot, a Chevy Impala, which I immediately smashed up in the front, slipping on the ramp. I was whisked to the angry managers office. He asked why I was here. I started to tell him, and then I saw that he had the Jerusalem Post article on the bombing on his desk. He, without a word, tore up my contract, handed me the keys to his own car, and sent me on my way.

Amandas parents let me in the house late Sunday morning with worried looks. Assertaining that I hadnt eaten, they whipped up a serious breakfast, somehow all the foodstuffs had their kashrut certificates displayed. Their first real comment: I dont know what you intend to do, but she is not going back to Israel. She hardly leaves her room. Amanda at last showed up to breakfast looking worse, if possible, than me. As I ate, the parents launched into a discussion of how Amanda would not be returning (impossible!) to Israel; then to how Israel and this program could not be abandoned; and finally, that Amanda would be coming back (she had to!). Amanda conveyed her assent. I hadnt said anything except, Pass the blueberry pancakes.

The students returned. The night before Hebrew U reopened, we all went together to the site of the cafeteria. Hardly a word was said we all understood and stood close to one another. The next day, they went to class.

Every year, as the Three Weeks commence, I dream dreams of Marla and Ben. This year seems to be the same. I have a dream of leaving the schools building and Marla running up to me from a table with her multicolored Talmud, saying with anticipation, I think I can correct such-and-such a reading you gave us in shiur (class), and we return to the Study Hall, but now the door is stuck. With Ben, its also always a variation of the same we are dancing at a simchah (joyous event) with Bens eyes shut, singing rapturously I shout out over the music: Is this your wedding? He opens his eyes, gives me his Ben you cant be serious look, mouths the word, No, and then closes them and we continue dancing.

These dreams no longer frighten me, but they cause me to connect to a deep sense of guilt. A guilt, I hasten to add, that I would dismiss if coming from staff or faculty. I am feeling guilty for bringing them into a dangerous situation. There was real opposition to allowing Ben into our Educators Program due to his rough nature. I saw something that was gold for his future students and overruled the nays. And Marla, I vigorously wooed her to learn with us, dismissing the offers of other institutions for superior educational training as mere training like you do with a puppy here, we learn. It worked, but the result was tragic. I think: What leaders they would have made!

I have long wondered what pathology or at least quirk has led me to embrace this guilt, which I know, deep down, really does not belong to me. But if you have been my student, then you know this: learning is not the real thing unless it brings understanding and it is not worth anything if the understanding does not lead to commitment; and commitment has a price for those who learn and for those who teach.

Ben and Marla, each in their own unique way, certainly had understanding and fulfilled commitment. Remembering each of them is a blessing.

And me? Im surrounded by a wife who keeps me existentially and morally focused, love from my children, nachas (happiness) from old students, and real challenges from the new. And Im still pushing peshat (plain textual understanding) and projects; and sometimes plotzin (collapsing in defeat); nonetheless giving it, I hope, my all. But during the Three Weeks I return to the Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, as they sing:

People say Im the life of the partyCause I tell a joke or twoAlthough I might be laughing loud and hardDeep inside Im blueSo take a good look

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Twenty years after Ben and Marla and the Hebrew University bombing - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on July 27, 2022

Is it really necessary? Is it worth the cost? The time? The effort?

As the directors of Rikmah, Yeshivat Chovevei Torahs (YCT) Beit Midrash for Rabbinic Leadership in Israel, we have spent countless hours educating Israeli rabbis during weekly cohort meetings and summer chaplaincy intensives. We recently oversaw our third cohorts visit to the United States. Having now brought together 40 rabbis through this program, we are confident that the answer to the above questions is a resounding yes.

Here are five lessons weve learned so far, as we reflect on our first three cohorts.

Israeli communal leadership benefits from witnessing American communal leadership.

In meeting with their American colleagues, Israeli rabbis begin to reflect on the opportunities they have to lead their own communities in different and more exciting ways. In fact, the very realization that synagogues, schools, Hillels and camps are at the heart of American Jewish communal life, is in itself a chiddush (or innovative notion) for many Israelis, and one that they only realize as they spend time in the Diaspora. As Israelis watch their American counterparts in action, they see the power they have to better organize and convene individuals back at home, uniting people around shared values, celebrations and opportunities for activism and growth. This experience is particularly powerful as they witness their Orthodox colleagues, be they from Chabad, YCT, Maharat, YU, or other institutions, who are challenged every day to take Jewish tradition, learning and ritual and apply them to the modern American scene.

Women and men are equal partners in this holy work.

The past few decades have witnessed an explosion of womens study of Talmud and halacha, in Israel, the U.S., and beyond. These individuals have taken on roles in communities, schools and other Jewish institutions, where their voices provide Torah leadership, knowledge and wisdom. As we built our third cohort, we were privileged to partner with Maharat, and we included female participants for the first time. Our learning has been greatly enhanced by the presence of women and men together, delving deeper into questions of rabbinic identity, inclusion and the structures of communal leadership. All of our participants gain from being in a mixed group, enhancing each others experiences, challenging each others assumptions and more accurately mirroring their own communal realities.

More connection = less stigma.

The U.S. visit centers around meeting rabbis from within and beyond Orthodoxy. Our meetings with clergy representing other denominations are always honest and sometimes very challenging. They also remind us of our shared Torah, goals and work. We are grateful to those who volunteer their time for our group, including Rabbi Rachel Ain of the Conservative movement, Rabbi Angela Buchdahl of the Reform movement, and Rabbi David Ingber of Renewal Judaism, three community builders and leaders, steeped in Jewish tradition and values. Our group remains inspired by these and other rabbis tenacious battle to draw people into Jewish communal life, learning and practice.

U.S. communities benefit, too.

Over the course of two weekends, our rabbis learned with and taught in congregations across the United States, from New York City, to Berkeley and Chicago, to Nashville and Atlanta. These communities benefited from their learning with these rabbis, and perhaps most profoundly, from the realization that they, as Diaspora Jews in Diaspora Jewish communities, serve as models and inspiration for stronger communal life in Israel. By bringing outsiders into communal institutions, we both celebrate our own accomplishments and become more introspective about all that we must continue to build.

There is much more to do.

The presence of women, many of whom lack the same level of access to Orthodox rabbinic organizations that their male colleagues enjoy, has further motivated us to continue to build our rabbinic network in Israel. We already have a built-in group of over 50 rabbanim and rabbaniyot in Israel, counting our Rikmah graduates along with YCT alumni and Maharat alumni who have made aliyah. These Israelis and Americans alike work in Israeli schools, hospitals and synagogues. They serve in the IDF and as advisors and leaders in various levels of the government. It is now up to us to foster their nascent rabbinic network and continue to build it by adding new members, and deepening the connections between those already involved.

As Rikmah begins recruiting its fourth cohort, we are confident in our graduates, proud of their work, and excited to see this programs continued development and contribution to am yisrael in Medinat Yisrael, North America and throughout the world.

The authors, Rabbi Yonah Berman with Rabbanit Yafit Clymer, and Rabbi Ilay Ofran serve as U.S. and Israeli directors of Rikmah: the YCT Beit Midrash for Rabbinic Leadership in Israel. They dedicate this article to Rikmahs first 40 rabbinic fellows, whose commitment to building a professional rabbinate in Israel inspires so many every single day.

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Woven together: Lessons from bringing Israeli rabbis to the U.S. - eJewish Philanthropy

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Posted By admin on July 27, 2022

Q: In your recent column, Are there many paths to heavenly salvation?, you discussed the differences in worshiping God. As you pointed out, non-Christians have perhaps the most difficulty with John 14:6: Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh to the father but by me. Yes, this verse serves as a divide between Christians and many other religions. Yes, Jesus said: I am the way; but let us interpret the way as love. Isnt it possible that love is the way? Isnt it more meaningful? Will it not serve as a stepping stone to harmony among all religions?

John 4:7 reads: Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. Perhaps, more Christians should become aware of the beauty of this verse. J

A: I love your compassionate solution to one of the most vexing texts in the Christian Testament. However, Jesus was a person not a synonym for love. Jesus loved but Jesus was not love. If the Beatles were right and Love is all you need, then the need for Jesus atoning death and resurrection would evaporate.

Christianity is not just love and only love. Christianity is a religion that saves believers from sin. Love may be enough dear God I wish you were right but there is much more that is needed for salvation than just love. To quote the prophet Micah chapter 6 we need to do justice. love mercy and walk humbly with our God. Whatever those commandments mean, they surely mean more than just being a loving person. I am not insulted by John 14:6 but I cannot find myself in that verse. Still, I do wish you were John and that you could go back and edit that difficult verse.

Q: In the Jewish faith is there a belief in an afterlife? G in West Haven, CT

A: Yes--but--not until the arrival of post-biblical Judaism called rabbinic Judaism, which added the Talmud to the list of Jewish sacred texts after the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in the first century of the common era. In the Bible, there is no belief in life after death. For example, Jobs comforters never mention Heaven as an answer to him because they did not have it. Then, in the year 331, before the common era, Greek ideas of matter and form began to be accepted by teachers who would later be called rabbis. They taught that our bodies (matter) die and decompose but our souls (form) live on with God in the World To Come (Heb: olam habah).

This teaching was adopted by the early Christians and later by the Muslim faith and called Heaven. However, it all began with Judaism. Many rabbis do not speak about this luminous teaching of Judaism and this troubles me greatly.

Q: Can God forgive someone who has talked to spirits in the cause of good and to help people? If they decide to stop doing it because God doesnt like it, can they then be forgiven? Thanks. Looking for a true bible answer her. P

A: Talking to spirits or using psychics to communicate with the dead is expressly forbidden by Judaism and Christianity.

The reason for this prohibition is that their powers, even if they are real, draw us away from Gods words and seduce us into following the words of human beings. These mediums also can have a financial motivation to create their predictions. I have also seen that such psychics can block a mourners grief work by convincing them that death is not a real final barrier between the living and the dead. Father Tom Hartman, my pal, did not agree with me. He was much more open to what he believed to be the healing powers of psychics. I came to believe that such dialogues with the dead ought to be a surprise not an appointment, and that they should happen without any professional assistance. However, I am definitely going to check this out again with Tommy when we meet up in Heaven.

As to your question there is no doubt that God can and will forgive a brief and mistaken dalliance into the spirit world. The Christian Testament affirms this in a true Bible answer, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men (Matthew 12:31). Sitting in while some person you pay rings up grandma Mary may be a sin but it is not an unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit. So dont worry, but try to keep your conversations limited to people who have an area code.

Send ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS to The God Squad via email at godsquadquestion@aol.com. Rabbi Gellman is the author of several books, including Religion for Dummies, co-written with Fr. Tom Hartman. Also, the new God Squad podcast is now available.

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The God Squad: From the mailbag | Opinion Columns | union-bulletin.com - Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

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Posted By admin on July 27, 2022

In 1972, Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair opened SARM Studios the first 24-track recording studio in Europe where Queen mixed Bohemian Rhapsody. His music publishing company, Druidcrest Music published the music for The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1973) and as a record producer, he co-produced the quadruple-platinum debut album by American band Foreigner (1976). American Top ten singles from this album included, Feels Like The First Time, Cold as Ice and Long, Long Way from Home. Other production work included The Enid In the Region of the Summer Stars, The Curves, and Nutz as well as singles based on The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy with Douglas Adams and Richard OBrien. Other artists who used SARM included: ABC, Alison Moyet, Art of Noise, Brian May, The Buggles, The Clash, Dina Carroll, Dollar, Flintlock, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Grace Jones, It Bites, Malcolm McLaren, Nik Kershaw, Propaganda, Rush, Rik Mayall, Stephen Duffy, and Yes.In 1987, he settled in Jerusalem to immerse himself in the study of Torah. His two Torah books The Color of Heaven, on the weekly Torah portion, and Seasons of the Moon met with great critical acclaim. Seasons of the Moon, a unique fine-art black-and-white photography book combining poetry and Torah essays, has now sold out and is much sought as a collectors item fetching up to $250 for a mint copy.He is much in demand as an inspirational speaker both in Israel, Great Britain and the United States. He was Plenary Keynote Speaker at the Agudas Yisrael Convention, and Keynote Speaker at Project Inspire in 2018. Rabbi Sinclair lectures in Talmud and Jewish Philosophy at Ohr Somayach/Tannenbaum College of Judaic studies in Jerusalem and is a senior staff writer of the Torah internet publications Ohrnet and Torah Weekly. His articles have been published in The Jewish Observer, American Jewish Spirit, AJOP Newsletter, Zurichs Die Jdische Zeitung, South African Jewish Report and many others.Rabbi Sinclair was born in London, and lives with his family in Jerusalem.He was educated at St. Anthonys Preparatory School in Hampstead, Clifton College, and Bristol University.

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Respect Yourself - Respect Others - aish.com The Color of Heaven - Aish.com

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Posted By admin on July 27, 2022

As questions about healthcare and religious freedom spur protests around the country, Rabbi Rachael Pass says her abortion was a sacred choice one she is faithfully fighting to help protect for others.

In 2017, as a rabbinical student in her second year, Rabbi Pass accidentally conceived on the second night of Rosh Hashanah. She took a pregnancy test to confirm her suspicions weeks later on Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, a Jewish holiday that occurs at the beginning of every month in the Hebrew calendar, marked by the new moon.

"The very first thing that I thought to do after reading the positive pregnancy test was to say the blessing that you say after using the bathroom," Pass told Insider, describing a prayer of gratitude for good health, asher yatzar. "Like, everything about my decision was Jewish."

Pass said her religious study and rituals were central to her pregnancy, the decision to terminate, and finally her decision to have anabortion: She prayed. She consulted her own rabbi. She studied the religious texts of the Torah, Mishnah, and Talmud for any reference to abortion.

The Torah, also called Jewish Written Law, contains the five books of the Hebrew Bible and is known more commonly to non-Jews as the "Old Testament." The Mishnah is the first major work of Jewish literature and contains oral traditions and commentaries known as the "Oral Torah." The Talmud is the primary source of Jewish religious law and Jewish theology.

Jewish law does not hold the belief shared by many abortion opponents that life begins at conception. A 2015 Pew Research survey found that 83 percent of American Jews believe abortion "should be legal in all/most cases" more than any other religious group. Even in conservative readings of Jewish texts, the faith largely protects and in some cases, requires abortion. As such, many Jewish organizations have argued that extreme abortion bans are violations of their First Amendment rights to practice their religion freely.

"Bodily autonomy is extraordinarily important and is extraordinarily valued in all walks of Judaism," Pass said. "And so the fact that the Dobbs decision limits access to abortion, it really does affect Jews' First Amendment right to freedom of religion."

After much consideration, as she held four misoprostol pills in the corners of her mouth to induce her abortion, she hummed along to a liturgy streamed by Central Synagogue Services, a reform congregation in Manhattan.

After her abortion, Pass visited a cleansing Jewish ritual bath, usually visited by observant women seven days after their period, called the mikvah, and ate challah and honey a symbol of sweeter times ahead.

"The challah and honey was sort of the last piece of that ritual. I mean, really, everything about it was Jewish and it was progressive Judaism in some sense," Pass said. "But also, the more I learned and studied, the more I discovered that it was like, my decision was in line with more conservative Judaism as well."

Though Pass said Jewish people may face a unique violation of their religious freedom by the overturning of Roe v. Wade, removing choices for reproductive care concerns all people.

"My concern for Jews is the same concern that I have for every person with a uterus living in America."

Without access to abortion, Pass said, her life would look totally different. She worries about people who have lost choices for reproductive care and those whose physical and mental health will suffer under new laws.

Despite being raised in a pro-choice household and feeling both sure of her decision and believing it was the right one for her, Pass said she experienced some feelings of secrecy and shame following her abortion that she traced, in part, to a sense of pressure and internalized "Christian hegemony" from growing up in Kentucky, which is 76% Christian.

It was when she began feeling like she was keeping her abortion a secret, rather than just a private matter, that she decided it was important to begin sharing her story and wrote an essay about abortion rights for a Jewish publication.

As Pass began to share her experience, in sermons and at community events, she said the feelingsof shame were replaced by ones of purpose. She had originally been inspired to go to rabbinical school after her own rabbi counseled her in a time of need, and found she was able to pay that support forward while counseling people about abortion and faith as they make their own choices around pregnancy.

"My abortion was deeply Jewish and I'm certainly not the only one [who has had one]," Pass said. "I know plenty of other Jews who I talk to, both in my research and in my writing of my articles, and just by people I know, who have had deeply Jewish abortions as well."

Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, she has felt more compelled to organize, fundraise and share her perspective that abortion can be a blessing and a choice born of great faith with others.

"I think it's really important for people to hear a rabbinic voice who chose to have an abortion," Pass said. "Not because ofa horrible medical reason, but because pregnancy wasn't right for me for a lot of other reasons."

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Abortion is a Jewish right and a rabbi says hers was a blessing - Business Insider

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Posted By admin on July 27, 2022

Important Questions

Upon reading the Old Testament,Christians and non-Christians alike may come to the following conclusion:

Yahweh sure can have a temper.

The Flood, Canaan, dealings with Israel, the Egyptians, the judgment of Assyria, the Hittites, and Babylon; all of these point to the idea that God can, in fact, have a temper. Yet, something that I notice is that when one comes to these passages they come to the conclusion that God is a moral monster, instead of asking the question: Why is God angry?

In the first article of this series, I presented the idea that how we view God should affect how we view everything in our lives, and we began to take a look at the moment where Yahweh describes His character.

In Exodus 34:6-9, scripture reads:

The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands,[a] forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the childrens children, to the third and the fourth generation. And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. And he said, If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.

The first traits that we discussed were Gods mercy and grace. I will point you to theprevious articlefor commentary on that. But I will say that if God is merciful and gracious, then how much more should we as Christ followers be to fellow Christians and non-Christians? The mercy and grace shown by Christ followers should be ever pointing to Jesus who died on a cross to atone for our sins and who rose from the dead on the third day. We understand that we were shown mercy, and thus should show mercy to others.

The main trait that we are to discuss today is the slow-to-anger trait of Yahweh. When we read the passage, we get the sense that God does, in fact, become angry. I would say that the idea that God is angry is essential to our understanding of God.

If God had no anger or wrath, evil would go unpunished, sin would remain, Israel wouldnt have reached the Promised Land, Jesus sacrifice on the cross would lose its purpose, and the Gospel would mean nothing.

Gods wrath, in one sense, is a part of our hope, where He wipes away the tears from our eyes and when sin and death are finally washed away into a Lake of Fire at the end of this age. Thats an essential part of the Good News.

Yet, God is slow to become angry. He is patient. He is long-suffering. Have we seen this long-suffering play out in scripture? I would venture to argue yes.

The story of the Old Testament Flood is one of Gods faithfulness to mankind, and to Noah and His family. But it is often pointed to as a horrific story of God throwing a tantrum and wiping out all of mankind because He wanted to.

Lets check out the passage leading up to The Flood.

The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. And the Lord said, I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thingall the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them. But Noah found favor with the Lord . Genesis 6:5-8

Here we see right off the bat that Yahweh saw the wickedness of mankind. Every thought was always evil. While we see the extent of human evil today, imagine what it was like then.We also see that that sin breaks Gods heart. This is a part of Christianity that sets it apart from the rest. God loves us and is pained when we mess up. After-all, as God of the universe, He knows what is truly the best way for us to live.

Just like a parent whose heart breaks when their child gets in trouble with the law, commits murders, or abuses fellow humans, Gods heart breaks at the sight of His children submitting to their evil desires.

Evil angers God. I think the reason why we get mad at this concept is because we identify with the evil people swept away more than the righteous one chosen by Yahweh.

Was there substantial time to get things right for the human race? I would venture to answer yes.

If youre not familiar with the story of Cain and Abel, you should know that theirs is a recording of the first murder on Earth. After this, we see the descendants of Adam not only living extremely long lives (perhaps a topic for another article down the line), but also enough time to get things right:

I am not going to type out all of the people that lived and died, because you can simply go to Genesis 5:3-32 and see it for yourself. However, adding up all the ages gives us a sense of Gods patience.

Based on the passage, the amount of years that passed from Adam and Eves exit out of the Garden to the Flood is 1656 years. To make the claim that God just woke up on the wrong side of the bed one day and decided to flood the Earth because He was randomly angry and grieved would be to ignore the significant amount of time that passed while His created image bearers continued to soil the family name.

For 1,656 years, God watched post-fall mankind descend into evil, debauchery, lustful passions, and murder. Yahweh waited so long for human beings to come back to Him and waited for the longest possible time before flexing His muscle.

When we come across the story of The Flood, we should not ask: Why did God wipe out the human race? We should instead be asking:

Why didnt He do it sooner?

We are familiar with the conquest of Canaan. This is another example of Gods faithfulness to His people Israel. He is going before them Himself, to help drive the people from the Land, and is personally guiding Joshua and his people in battle. This account is also cited as another example of Yahwehs random tantrums at the expense of entire people groups . Ive heard someone say that God committed genocide against these people and have even heard charges of xenophobia. A couple of important questions may help us navigate this text:

To answer the first question we must look again to the book of Genesis.

In Genesis Ch. 15, we see Gods covenant with Abraham. Within this covenant, we see that God wishes to bless all nations through the descendants of Abraham. Following this covenant, God promises Abraham that his descendants will return to the land in four generations. Why?

After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction. Genesis 15:16

The Amorites were among the people living in Canaan at the time. There would be 4 generations that would pass (roughly 400 years) before the descendants of Abraham would return and live in the land.

Why?

Simply put, one of the reasons why God brought Abrahams descendants back when He did was in an act of judgement against the evil atrocities committed by the Amorites and other inhabitants living in the land. God wasnt being petty. God was being just.

We see that God is not simply acting out of a random lust for power or dominance. He isnt bored nor does he simply wanting to toy with whole people groups. So why did Yahweh command the removal of the people of Canaan from the land? What did the people do to deserve such punishment?

Here is the simple answer to the question: Moloch.

You are probably wondering Who is Moloch?

In the twelfth century, Rabbi Schlomo Yitzchaki wrote this in his commentary on the Talmud:

Moloch, which was made of brass; and they heated him from his lower parts; and his hands being stretched out, and made hot, they put the child between his hands, and it was burnt; when it vehemently cried out; but the priests beat a drum, that the father might not hear the voice of his son, and his heart might not be moved.

In case you did not read that correctly, Moloch was an idol made of brass. The statue had his hands stretched out in order to act as a cradle for babies. In this fertility ritual, the brass god was heated up to the point to where the statue was piping hot. Then a baby was placed in the arms of the molten god and cooked alive. In order to drown out the cries of the dying children, the priests would beat on the drum loudly so the parents could not hear their child.

Oh. Thats why God was angry at them

Can you imagine a world where God would not be angry at child sacrifice?

If God wasnt angry at evil, then actions such as child sacrifice and murder would go unpunished and unpaid for. Gods justice demands that evil is taken care of. Why didnt God punish the Canaanites sooner? Because His patience allowed their evil to continue for a period of time out of His desire for repentance and restoration.

Gods first goal is always repentance and restoration, regardless on if we believe it is warranted or not.

It is easy to take stories such as The Flood and the removal of the Canaanites and make a case for a God who is a bully that acts upon senseless rage. But when we understand that God gives ample time for repentance and reconciliation, the narrative of a Morally Atrocious God falls apart.

As Christians, we should have the same patience wherever we are, no matter how hard it is.

At the same time, we know that Gods patience with humanity in this post-cross era will not last forever. There will be a time that will be like the days of Noah, and the wicked will be taken away (Matthew 24: 37).

Remember that we [Christians] too were owed such anger. We were under the wrath of God because of our rebellion towards Him. But God took the consequence of our sins and put them upon the person of Jesus. Now we are saved for eternity by placing our faith in Christ.

And so, to the Christians reading this:

We were under such anger too, but have been redeemed by the blood of the cross. Lets share that redemption with others in action and in deed, being patient and gracious along the way.

Read more from the original source:

The Flood and Canaan: God's Patience Revealed - Patheos

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Posted By admin on July 27, 2022

I have heard the following story using the name of many different thinkers, including Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan (also known as the Chofetz Chaim):

When he was young and idealistic, he wanted to change the whole world. When he got a little older and wiser, he realized that he could not do that, so he refocused his goal and aimed at changing his country. Later, he again restricted his focus and narrowed it to changing his city. When he could not do that, he tried to change his family. Finally, he decided to improve himself. By doing so, he managed to have an influence on his family, on his community, his city and beyond.

The story rings true for many of us. It reflects our youthful idealism and concludes that one person can indeed change the world by beginning with oneself.

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I like reading biographies of historical figures for this reason. From humble origins, many are able to take their G-d-given abilities and, through hard work, achieve great things. It amazes me the difference that one person can make.

Pinchas, in this weeks Torah portion, achieved this distinction by his clear insight and bold action. In the aftermath of the Balak/Bilaam episode, he saw the Jewish nation falling prey to the temptations of the Moabites and acted in accordance with G-ds will. He was a powerful role model and stood up for what was right.

G-d therefore said: I give him my covenant of peace (briti shalom). Numbers 25:12. The Talmud (Kiddushin 66b) notes that the letter vav in the word shalom is broken. Normally, if a letter is cracked or broken in the Torah scroll, that scroll cannot be used until it is corrected. But this letter is the exception, and is deliberately written this way.

Although Pinchas was correct in his leadership, and was rewarded by Hashem, nevertheless this broken vav teaches us a valuable lesson: Peace is a fragile thing, and difficult to maintain. Often we must go to great lengths to preserve it, through sacrifice and compromise.

From the fast of 17th of Tammuz until we commemorate the destruction of the Temples on Tisha BAv, we reflect on how our behavior led to the loss of our holiest place and our Holy Land. This is a time to rededicate ourselves to Hashem and to His Torah. Most importantly, like Pinchas and his grandfather Aaron, we must also always love peace and pursue peace.

A person can change him or herself and the course of history however, not at the expense of the fact that preserving peace is one of our greatest blessings.

Shabbat shalom. PJC

Rabbi Eli Seidman is the former director of pastoral care at the Jewish Association on Aging. This column is a service of the Greater Pittsburgh Rabbinic Association.

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Pinchas and the broken vav | The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle - thejewishchronicle.net

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