Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on February 12, 2021

By: Meyer Harroch

Among my favorite stopovers in Morocco is this artsy, blue-washed mountain village of 45,000 people. It is a uniquely beautiful small city in the northwest part and set against the backdrop of the Rif Mountains. This quirky town is probably one of the prettiest I have seen in Morocco because of its gorgeous blue alleyways and blue-washed streets and buildings. Thats why it is nicknamed the Blue Pearl of Morocco. Chefchaouens medina is certainly one of the loveliest in all of Morocco, small, uncrowded and easy to explore. Its a popular town in Morocco that is often considered one of the best places to visit in the country.

Chefchaouen was founded in 1471 in the Rif Mountains by Jews and Moors fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. There are a lot of different theories about why Chefchaouen is blue. One is that the Sephardic Jewish community that escaped the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century settled in and brought along their tradition of painting buildings blue. Some say it was painted blue by Jewish refugees in the 1930s fleeing Germany and others say it was to keep the mosquitos away and to prevent malaria, while others just said it represented the color of the sea. In Judaism, blue represents the sky and heaven, reminding all to live a life of spiritual awareness.

There is a strong tradition among the Sephardic communities of painting things blue and blue walls spread outward from the citys Jewish quarter until the entire city was aglow in blue. And another version is that one of the Jewish men fell in love with a Spanish woman but could not be together with her; her house was blue, so as a reminder of her he painted the entire city in that hue. Whatever the true reason for the blue color, even today the locals still apply a fresh coat of paint on their houses twice a year and a month before Ramadan.

Some houses were painted in blue and some in white, while others were half painted. Yousef, our guide explained that while Jews and Muslims were living in the same neighborhood, to distinguish each others homes the Jews painted half the wall in blue and the Muslims painted theirs white. The Jews believed that the color blue represented the power of God and for the Muslims the color of white and green. He added, Jews painted the bottom blue because they couldnt reach the top and the same with Muslims. The joke is that they could only paint half because they were too short!

The narrow street of the city was built in stone steps marching straight up the slope, giving your legs a good workout. But when you get to an open street in a public square, look above the city and toward the nearby Rif Mountains. The mountains above give the appearance of two horns, and its believed this is where the name Chefchaouen comes from (literally meaning watch the horns in a local Arabic dialect). Be aware of the different door shapes: The square doors are for shops and the round ones are for houses. If someone wants to make changes to these doors, they need permission from the city architecture office, Youssef, a local tour guide, said.

He pointed out that these front door house keys have been kept for more than seven generations of residents and were brought by their ancestors from Andalusia in the hope that one day they will return to their birthplace. The old medina is a delight of Moroccan and Andalusian influence with red-tiled roofs, bright-blue buildings, and narrow lanes converging on busy Plaza Uta El Hammam and its restored kasbah.

Chefchaouen has a total of 150 hotels, including guest houses or about 2,000 rooms, and it is not enough for the growing tourist population. There is a large Chinese community that operates five Chinese restaurants and hotels. Chefchaouen is a popular destination for Chinese tourists because of the popularity of social media sites such as Instagram; it is a very picturesque destination and a photographers paradise. Visitors come to produce music videos and commercials but also to explore the other parts of the town and activities such as hiking and viewing the national parks and waterfalls. It offers many native handicrafts that are not available elsewhere in Morocco, such as wool garments and woven blankets. According to the Ministry of Tourism, the number of visitors coming to Chefchaouen is approximately 500,000 each year and is now the second most popular day-trip destination for the Chinese after Marrakesh.

In 1918 there were 22 Jewish families or 200 people out of a total population of 7000. Today, the population is 50,000 inhabitants and no Jews. You will find in each neighborhood for jews and Muslins five common elements: Mosque or a Synagogue, Fountain, School, Public Oven, and Hamman (similar to a Turkish bath). The last Jewish family emigrated to Israel in 1968. We visited the former Jewish Mellah where we met an artisan who had worked with the Jewish families for centuries and where he had learned his trade in making donkey saddles and baskets. He told NYJTG life was good living with the Jewish families and even now the families descendants come back to visit us at the shop, from England, France, and Israel. these families emigrated to Israel for a better life as well as the Christians left for the same reason. he added.

(New York Jewish Travel Guide)

Read the original:

Chefchaouen: Exploring the Blue Pearl of Morocco & its Jewish Heritage - The Jewish Voice

Category: Sephardic | Comments Off on Chefchaouen: Exploring the Blue Pearl of Morocco & its Jewish Heritage – The Jewish Voice
Tags:

Posted By admin on February 12, 2021

After several years of teaching, I became a pulpit rabbi. Since I had really only seen my father in the pulpit, I decided to ask some notable rabbis how they ran their synagogues. I had a series of lunches and learned of the differences in the way a variety of rabbis thought about the institutions they lead. One was broadly inspirational and philosophical. He spoke of the synagogue as a sacred community that thirsted for the principles of Torah. Another rabbi explained to me that education was the key; I needed to teach and create a community of learners. At the next lunch I sat with a rabbi who began, David, it is all about the budget. It doesnt matter what they say they care about or even what they claim to know, just look at how they spend.In those exchanges you have the key to the first of two mysteries in this weeks parasha. We have just concluded the great revelation at Sinai. Israel is surrounded by the thunder and lightning, the majesty of Gods presence. Now suddenly we are talking about how to treat donkeys and whether you can charge interest. The narrative flow is broken. It feels to the reader as though in the midst of an epochal, enthralling saga youve stopped to look at a shopping receipt. We went from philosophy to the budget.

This difference is reflected in the opening words These are the laws. Stories and moments of inspiration can be motivational and help guide us into the future. Sooner or later however, we will need to translate those inspirational currents into action. In the somewhat cynical but not entirely inaccurate words of poet Charles Peguy, Everything begins in mysticism and ends in politics.

MISHPATIM REMINDS us that every grand scheme must find reality in the details. When Judaism is characterized as a religion of law, some see that in a negative light. Should not religion be about higher things? Remember that Christianity grew up in the Roman Empire, so law already existed and was set for the inhabitants. Therefore it became an internalized religion. Judaism was created in the desert and needed to add to the inspiration the practical means of regulating society. For Judaism, the spirit and the letter are not separate but intimately intertwined. How you treat one another, settle disputes, place boundaries and establish economic life should be impelled by and consistent with your spiritual principles. Thus the Talmud explains that the Torah was given with both general laws and specific details (Hagiga 8b).

Mishpatim contains another truth about life inside and outside a synagogue, which is that the visions of the rabbis I consulted converge. There is spirituality in prayer, but also in committee meetings. Sacred work is not only in teaching the Torah but planning the Purim carnival and serving Shabbat lunch. It may not always feel that way, but to do the hard work of boundary setting, law, planning, fussing and creating the conditions for harmony between people is also doing Gods work.

When we read the admonitions of Mishpatim, we find economic rules to ensure the dignity of the poor and the prosperity of the community. One may not withhold wages, because strict justice must be mixed with compassion. When the rabbis declare that The Holy One, Blessed be He, has no [place] in this world but the four cubits of halacha, it is another way of expressing the essential convergence of the spirit and the letter, the soul and the law. You may feel Gods presence in sunsets and starlight, but Gods enacted presence in the world is in how we treat one another, human behavior moderated by law.

Soon we will celebrate the holiday of Purim. The Megillah portrays a society in which the whims of one man, Ahasuerus, constitute the law. When his desires change, the law changes. The Megillah contains many messages, but surely one is to remind us that a society of law is our protection against the whims of tyrants. No matter how attractive the principles or inspiring the idea, Mishpatim must follow the daily, difficult task of creating a society both sacred and secure.

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

The writer is Max Webb Senior Rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles and the author of David the Divided Heart. On Twitter: @rabbiwolpe

View post:

Parashat Mishpatim: The soul and the law - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Talmud | Comments Off on Parashat Mishpatim: The soul and the law – The Jerusalem Post
Tags:

Posted By admin on February 12, 2021

By Rabbi Gregory MarxParshat Mishpatim

My wife and I have not been able to travel, go out for dinner, see friends, even be with our own children and family members. I suspect that each of us have experienced the same painful isolation. When I go through my photos on the computer, I realize that so many of the big events have just been put on hold.

This is, of course, a minor pain when compared to the massive unemployment, economic downturn and increase of suicides in recent months. COVID takes life both directly and indirectly.So how do we deal with all this emotional pain? What wisdom does out tradition offer to those who just cant take it anymore?

The solution is doing things small. In our home, to cope with the new reality, we have created mini vacations, set up special dinners in our home and, of course, set up virtual gatherings. It is small in comparison to the big events of last year, but in celebrating the small stuff we learn a critical lesson of Torah. Little things are more important than the big things.

Consider that last weeks Torah portion described the most decisive events in Jewish history, that shining movement when our ancestors stood at the foot of a quaking and smoking Mount Sinai and heard the majestic Ten Commandments proclaimed amidst thunder and lightning. The moment is grand in tone and content.From Sinai, we learned fundamental teachings of our faith, absolute monotheism, uncompromising opposition to idolatry, the holiness of Shabbat, the sanctity of human life and marriage, and the inviolable rights of our neighbors.

By contrast, so many of the laws, which are proclaimed in this Torah portion, appear almost trivial, small in comparison. They deal with wounds inflicted during arguments, the treatment of slaves, oxen that gore, livestock which graze in a neighbors field, gossiping.

Our sages wisely comment that these laws are just as holy as the Ten Commandments. They are no less significant, no less sacred.The rabbis decreed this to counter two prevailing trends in the ancient world.

First, in the Temple in Jerusalem, the order of daily worship included the recitation of the Ten Commandments (Mishnah Tamid 5:1). However, after the rise of Christianity, the reading of the Ten Commandments at daily worship services was discontinued. The early Christians contended that only these commandments were given at Sinai and none other.

Therefore, the other laws had no divine sanction (Palestinian Talmud, Berakkhot 3c). To deemphasize the Ten Commandments, the sages removed them from the regular order of worship, and then augmented the authority of the little laws by explicitly claiming for them Sinaitic origin. All of the mitzvot are binding, not just the big and lofty.

Second, our sages knew what we have learned again in COVID. The little things are what make life meaningful. Life is lived around the kitchen table, on walks with our children in the beauty and splendor of nature, and, of course, in the honest conversations between life partners. When we cant enjoy the big moments of life, like flying to a romantic destination, then make the little things big. Find intimacy wherever you are. Live and love and laugh because we dont need to go to New York for a great night out. We can find joy in our own homes, enjoying the simple pleasures we used to take for granted.

George Eliot in Middlemarch wrote about the power of little people doing little things: But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

The little act, the little task performed regularly and faithfully by little people, this is what gives tone, content and character to a society.

In her darkness, Helen Keller saw a shining truth: I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty and joy to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble For the world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker.

In doing little things may we find both greatness and joy.

Rabbi Gregory Marx is the senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Or in Maple Glen. The Board of Rabbis is proud to provide diverse perspectives on Torah commentary for the Jewish Exponent. The opinions expressed in this column are the authors own and do not reflect the view of the Board of Rabbis.

Read the original here:

The Bigness of Little Things - Jewish Exponent

Category: Talmud | Comments Off on The Bigness of Little Things – Jewish Exponent
Tags:

Posted By admin on February 12, 2021

In the Talmud (Bava Batra 7b) theres a disagreement about whether or not a group can compel individuals within it to build certain kinds of structures. The mishna says that a group of people who share a courtyard can collectively compel the individual members to build a gatehouse and a door to the courtyard. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel dissents, asserting: not all courtyards need a gatehouse. The mishna returns to say that a city may compel its residents to build a wall, doors and a bar for the doors. Again, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel dissents: not all towns require walls.

The Gemara challenges the assumption that building a gatehouse is a laudable action: what about the pious man with whom the prophet Elijah was accustomed to speak, who built a gatehouse, and afterward Elijah did not speak with him again?

Rashi explains that the reason that Elijah no longer spoke with him is because the gatehouse blocks off the poor who are crying out (tzoakin) and their voices are not heard. Rashi repeats this explanation twice, saying again that the door to the courtyard is locked and the poor person cries out and the gatehouse between them blocks the voice.

The pious man cant hear the voice of the poor; neither will he hear the voice of Elijah anymore.

Don't miss our top stories. Get The Jewish Week in your inbox. FREE SIGN UP

My friend and teacher Rabbi Aryeh Cohen points out in his book, Justice in the City, that there is almost universal agreement with Rashi among the medieval commentators that the wrongdoing of that pious man was that his building a gatehouse blocked out the voices of the poor, and that this understanding, despite lacking any overt clue in the text, is being presented as obvious by Rashi in his use of the word tzaakah outcry, the same word that the Torah uses in our parsha this week in regards to strangers, widows, and orphans (Shemot 22:20-22) Do not immiserate or oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt; do not afflict any widow or orphan. If you do afflict them, and they cry out (tzaok yitzak) to Me, I will surely hear their cry (tzaakato)

Parshat Mishpatim is constructed to emphasize the obligation to hear the voice of the oppressed.

It begins with a slave who refuses his freedom being brought to the door and having his ear bored through with an awl; a gesture widely taken as symbolic: the slave is marked in the ear because he closes himself off to Gods voice, setting a human instead as his master over himself. The parshah ends (24:7) with the entire nation of Israel affirming naaseh vnishmah: we will do and we will hear. In between, the verb for hearing appears five times.

Hearing is more than listening it is actually to allow a piece of someone else inside you, to remain there, in your head as part of you. When the widow or the orphan cries out and God hears, it is God against whom the offense has been dealt.

When Israel accepts Torah with naaseh vnishmah, we are promising to bring into ourselves that piece of God which speaks, and let it reside in us.

And when we build the gatehouse, which blocks out the voice of the immigrant, or the poor, we are breaking our word, the promise to take God mitzvot into us, and hear.

In the gemara, Elijah represents God. When that pious man builds the gatehouse, the reason Elijah no longer speaks with him is a merging of the literal and spiritual metaphor he can no longer be heard, because the gate keeps him out.

Those of us committed to Jewish life try to live in the four amot of halacha. We care deeply about trying to find the Way to God through discerning the obligations that God has set out for us. But unless we both do and hear, God cannot enter us. And the ones whom we must hear are the very people we often think we can or even must cut ourselves off from in order to live halachic lives.

We are living through an era in which so many of us are building gatehouses in our courtyards, and walls around our cities. This is literally true, as groups gather and isolate ourselves according to our assorted communal norms, and it is true metaphorically as we subject those unlike us in our orbits on an individual scale to gatekeeping; shunning; constant, cutting little comments; questioning and on a macro-scale, when we allow our governments to implement policies against immigrants and refugees.

In the mishna, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel warns: not every courtyard needs a gatehouse; not every city needs walls.

That is each of us: we are the courtyard that needs no gatehouse; we are the city that needs no walls. In building these literal or metaphorical walls, in failing to hear, we are breaking the brit. In Parshat Mishpatim, we are reminded that we must hear the voices of those clamoring to enter, even if when they enter they are strange to us.

To bring God inside, we must be open to allowing the strange to reside within and to hear each and every voice.

Elijah is trying to speak to us we cant hear him because of the gatehouses we have erected. God and the poor are trying to tell us something we need to take our gatehouses down so we can hear it.

Rabbi Alana Suskin is an educator, activist, and writer. She holds BAs in Philosophy and Russian, an MA in Philosophy, a graduate certificate in Womens Studies, and an MA in rabbinic studies and ordination from the Ziegler School in California. She is senior editor of the progressive blog Jewschool.com. She has served on the boards of Truah, Jews United for Justice, and Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington and is a founding fellow of CLALs project, Rabbis Without Borders. Rabbi Alana is co-founder and co-director of The Pomegranate Initiative, a non-profit fighting anti-Semitism and Islamophobia through education and relationship-building.

Posts are contributed by third parties. The opinions and facts in them are presented solely by the authors and JOFA assumes no responsibility for them.

Read the rest here:

Parshat Mishpatim: Voices in the Gates - Jewish Week

Category: Talmud | Comments Off on Parshat Mishpatim: Voices in the Gates – Jewish Week
Tags:

Posted By admin on February 12, 2021

(Courtesy of Hershey Felder)

Most of the world knows Sholem Aleichem primarily as the Yiddish writer whose most famous character was Tevye the Dairyman the Russian Jew who eked out the barest of livings, supported a wife and many daughters of marital age, faced the ever-present threat of pogroms, bemoaned his fate in playfully sardonic conversations with God, and who, based on stories published in 1894, was ultimately transformed into the beloved central figure of Fiddler on the Roof, the landmark musical that opened on Broadway in 1964.

As for the fiddler in that show, he is little more than a musical icon perched precariously on the rooftop of Tevyes house in Anatevka, a fictional shtetl in the Pale of Settlement. But with the irresistible sound of klezmer music no doubt spinning in his head, in 1888 Aleichem (the pen name of Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich), wrote Stempenyu: A Jewish Romance, a novel about a bravura fiddler who started out as a prodigy and became the in-demand musician at every wedding and other important event in his region of the world.

In Aleichems tale, Stempenyus spellbinding music also instantly cast a spell over vulnerable young women, all of whom he quickly entranced and then left behind as he ran off to his next gig. But as things turned out, he was trapped into marriage by Freidal, a controlling shrew of a woman with a notable flair for making money. Along the way he also set aflame the heart of Rochelle, a beautiful but unhappy young bride whose husband, Moshe-Mendel, a seemingly emotionless man, buried himself in the study of the Talmud.

A scene from Before Fiddler: Hershey Felder as Sholem Aleichem. (Courtesy of Hershey Felder)

It is that fictional work, along with the real-life story of Aleichem himself, that is now being brought to vivid life in Before Fiddler: Hershey Felder as Sholem Aleichem, the latest of the many remarkable feats of musical storytelling created, performed and designed by the multitalented writer, actor, pianist and producer renowned for his solo shows about composers ranging from George Gershwin and Irving Berlin to Beethoven and Debussy.

But Before Fiddler (streaming through Feb. 14), in which Felder seamlessly interweaves the stories of both Stempenyu and Aleichems own final years (born in 1859, the writer died in New York in 1916, where his funeral attracted more than 200,000 mourners), is quite a departure from Felders solo shows. It also is nothing short of a grand-scale theatrical/cinematic miracle given that it was realized during this pandemic year, involves a grand-scale cast of actors, musicians, designers and technicians (as well as a medical advisor), and was played out in several locations, from Florence, Italy, where Felder lives (and where a beautiful historic synagogue is used as a backdrop), to the Italian Riviera town of Nervi where, as luck would have it, Aleichem spent time recovering from a serious case of tuberculosis between 1908 and 1912, and where he took great care writing his will.

Throughout the 70-minute production winningly filmed by Stefano Decarli, and co-directed by Felder and Trevor Hay the musicians of the Klezmerata Fiorentina (all classical masters who are principal players in the renowned Maggio Musicale Fiorentino) give bravura performances of the thrilling Yiddish folk tunes that are a kind of Old Country jazz. Leading the quartet and playing the role of Stempenyu is Igor Polesitsky, the Ukrainian-born violinist, with Riccardo Crocilla on clarinet, Francesco Furlanich on accordion and Riccardo Donati on double bass. (Felder joins them on piano for the shows volcanic finale. He also plays a couple of cameo roles that I will not divulge here.)

A scene from Before Fiddler: Hershey Felder as Sholem Aleichem. (Courtesy of Hershey Felder)

The Italian actress Federica Montagni brings a soulful beauty and yearning to Rochelle. She also plays Aleichems devoted wife in a scene with Felder that puts a lovely little real-life spin on Do You Love Me? the comic song between husband and wife in Fiddler on the Roof. And Hay, Felders longtime collaborator, brings a convincing emotional chill to the role of Moshe-Mendel.

Felder, who dedicated his show about Debussy to his mother, has dedicated Before Fiddler to his Polish-born father, Jacob Yankel Felder, a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to Canada. And he also pays homage to the Yiddish theater in Montreal, Quebec, where he performed as a child.

It also should be noted that just as the forever financially strapped Aleichem clearly made provisions in his will to have a portion of whatever royalties his work might generate given to the support of Yiddish writers and the world they represented, the feverishly creative Felder, who has spent many years performing on this countrys regional stages, is making them (including Chicagos Porchlight Music Theatre) and the artists struggling with the fallout of COVID-19, the partial beneficiaries of his earnings.

For tickets to Before Fiddler, which streams through Feb. 14, plus information about Felders upcoming world premieres of Puccini (starting March 14), and Anna & Sergei, with Felder as Rachmaninoff (starting May 16), and the videos of all Felders previous productions (about George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky and Debussy), visit hersheyfelder.net.

Follow Hedy Weiss on Twitter:@HedyWeissCritic

Originally posted here:

Hershey Felder Creates a Grand Celebration of Sholem Aleichem and a Seductive Fiddler - WTTW News

Category: Talmud | Comments Off on Hershey Felder Creates a Grand Celebration of Sholem Aleichem and a Seductive Fiddler – WTTW News
Tags:

Posted By admin on February 12, 2021

Rabbinic Judaism began its development during the Babylonian Captivity. Away from Jerusalem with no temple to offer sacrifices, the Jewish people began to develop ways around the direct requirements of the Law of Moses so that they could practice their religion. Jacob Neusner, in a book entitled An Invitation to the Talmud, states that with the development of the oral traditions, the Jews succeeded in removing themselves from history so that, wherever they found themselves, that could continue the practice of the Jewish faith.

One example of what these oral traditions did involves the sacrifice. Without the temple, there was no way to sacrifice and therefore no way to absolve sin. The Rabbis answered this need by calling the dinner table the altar and the evening meal the sacrifice. They were thus symbolically fulfilling the requirements of the law in a place where the actual sacrifice had become impossible.

In short, these Jewish captives were erecting protective fences around the Law to keep people from transgressing. By Jesus day there were 714 volumes of traditions designed to keep people from transgressing the Law of God. But in the process, the traditions became more important than the Law, and like many today, most devout Jews read and studied the traditions, gave lip service to the Torah the book of the Law but few actually read it! The result is, the traditions became so heavy and burdensome that no one could possibly master it, yet the more burdensome and complex it became, the more zealously the Jewish legalists revered and propagated it. That is why Jesus accused them, They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. (Matthew 23:4, NLT) and then says, You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! (Mark 7:9, NIV84).

Sadly, in the Christian church we continue this propensity of substituting traditions for truth. One person, who should have known better, complained that Christianity in America kept women down. She is wrong. From its inception, the Christian faith elevated the position of women, but sadly, many times our Christian traditions do not follow the same path. Make no mistake about it, however, it is not Christianity that is the problem; rather it is some of our traditions that we have elevated to the place of revered truth.

This Stacker slideshow showcases some of the most prominent African American writers in history whove had impacts that reached far beyond the page. Some of the esteemed authors include James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, Frederick Douglass, Maya Angelou, and others. Click for more.

Even the Apostle Paul warned of this dangerous practice when he wrote, See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. . . Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. (Colossians 2:8 & 23, NIV).

The church has a sad history of this well-meaning but wrong-headed practice. In our attempt to stay pure and unspotted we have erected fences that have kept people from reaching the core of our message: the cross and resurrection. People are so put off with our traditions that they dont bother to discover our truth.

The church today is in desperate need of recapturing a high view of Scripture. As we make that journey, it is imperative that we avoid the pitfalls on either side of the path. To the left is the pitfall of liberalism, which basically has set itself to the task of deconstructing Scripture and putting in its place a kinder, gentler, more inclusive version of the Bible. One man used to say, I only believe the things in the Bible that are written in red. And while that sounded good to those who followed him, those who knew him quickly realized that he didnt even believe many of the things written in red. In fact, he reconstructed a view of Scripture devoid of the Divinity claims of Christ and devoid of a bodily resurrection, the cornerstone of our faith.

On the right side of the path is the danger of Pharisaism. That is, elevating certain traditions to the place of Biblical truth. May we come back to the place where the Bible is our authority and not some mans opinion of it.

Read the rest here:

PEARRELL: Stay true to the core of Christianity - Rockdale Newton Citizen

Category: Talmud | Comments Off on PEARRELL: Stay true to the core of Christianity – Rockdale Newton Citizen
Tags:

Posted By admin on February 12, 2021

Do you remember your Rebbe from 1st grade?

Harav Naftoli Berenstein zl was the beloved Kitta Alef Rebbe of Talmud Torah Beis Eliyohu in Ramat Bet Shemesh Alef for the past 11 years.

Last Friday, at the young age of 47, he succumbed to covid-19, bereaving a widow and 10 orphans. Rebbe Naftoli zl was ill for only 3 weeks before his holy neshama went up to shamayim.

Always smiling and constantly encouraging, Rebbe Naftoli zl devoted his life to teaching our boys loveand appreciation forTorah and mitzvos.

R Naftolis demise was sudden and shocking. On the first school-day after his infection, he exerted himself to deliver one last lesson remotely. He managed a mere seven minutes before his energy was expended. Less than three weeks later, he was niftar. His family couldnt even go in to see him. Mrs Berenstein stood weeping outside the hospital with her 10 children.

With six children still unmarried,how will R Naftolis widow support her family? The financial burden is too great to bear.

LETS HELP THIS FAMILY

We, the parents and the staff of the cheder, will forever bear the sweet memories of Rebbe Naftolis smile and his calm demeanor instilling joy and confidence into everyone he met. We have lost not only a first-class rebbe, whose love for teaching has set the foundation for the lives of hundreds of Talmidim, but also a friend, a role model, and a treasured acquaintance.

WE HAVE NO CHOICE NOW BUT TO STEP UP AND MINIMIZE THE PAIN AND SUFFERING OF OUR R NAFTOLIS WIDOW AND ORPHANED CHILDREN. JOIN US BY ADDING YOUR CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS THE TARGET OF 2,000,000 SHEKEL.

PLEASE DONATE NOWand be sure to forward this impassioned plea to all your family members, colleagues and contacts.

May Hashem repayYouforyour generosity in this important mitzvah and sendyouan abundance of brocha and simcha.

See the rest here:

The Rebbe Everyone Is Talking About! - Yeshiva World News

Category: Talmud | Comments Off on The Rebbe Everyone Is Talking About! – Yeshiva World News
Tags:

Posted By admin on February 12, 2021

BNEI BRAK, Israel -- Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, 93, can't use a phone. He rarely leaves his house. His family says he has never been successful in making a cup of tea. His closest aides think he doesn't know the name of Israel's prime minister. He studies the Torah for, give or take, 17 hours a day.

Yet despite his seeming detachment from worldly life, Kanievsky has become one of the most consequential and controversial people in Israel today.

The spiritual leader of hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews, Kanievsky has landed at the center of tensions over the coronavirus between the Israeli mainstream and its growing ultra-Orthodox minority.

Throughout the pandemic, authorities have clashed with the ultra-Orthodox over their resistance to anti-virus protocols, particularly their early refusal to close schools or limit crowds at religious events. Similar conflicts have played out in the New York area.

RABBI AT THE FORE

Kanievsky, issuing pronouncements from a book-filled study in his cramped apartment in an ultra-Orthodox suburb of Tel Aviv, has often been at the fore of that resistance. Twice, during the first and second waves of the pandemic in Israel, he rejected state-imposed anti-virus protocols and would not order his followers to close their yeshivas, independent religious schools where students gather in close quarters to study Jewish scripture.

"God forbid!" he exclaimed. If anything, he said, the pandemic made prayer and study even more essential.

Both times he eventually relented, and it is unlikely that he played as big a role in spreading the virus as he was accused of, but the damage was done.

Many public health experts say that the ultra-Orthodox -- who account for about 12% of the population but 28% of the coronavirus infections, according to Israeli government statistics -- have undermined the national effort against the coronavirus.

REACTION HAS BEEN FIERCE

The reaction has been fierce, much of it centered on Kanievsky.

The rabbi "must be arrested for spreading a disease," blared a column last week in Haaretz, a liberal newspaper. "This rabbi dictates the scandalous conduct in the ultra-Orthodox sector," said an article in Yedioth Ahronoth, a centrist news outlet.

The backlash exaggerates the rabbi's role and that of the ultra-Orthodox in general. Ultra-Orthodox society is not monolithic, and other prominent leaders were far quicker to comply with anti-virus regulations. Ultra-Orthodox leaders say the majority of their followers have obeyed the rules although their typically large families, living in tight quarters under what is now the third national lockdown, have inevitably contributed to the spread of the contagion.

Born in what is now Belarus in 1928, Kanievsky immigrated to what was then Palestine before World War II. He has spent most of his subsequent waking life studying Jewish texts, gradually building a following among the so-called Lithuanian Jews, a non-Hasidic sect of ultra-Orthodox Jews with eastern European roots who form roughly a third of the Haredim in Israel.

FILLED THE VACUUM

When the sect's previous leader died in 2017, Kanievsky was one of two senior rabbis who filled the vacuum, which gave him considerable authority over the sect as well as an ultra-Orthodox political party that now forms part of the government.

His pedigree adds to his prestige: his father and uncle were legendary spiritual leaders. But it is his relentless Torah study that gives the rabbi his authority -- his followers believe his encyclopedic knowledge of Jewish teachings endows him with a near-mystical ability to offer religious guidance.

"They see him as a holy man," said Eli Paley, chairman of the Haredi Institute for Public Affairs, a Jerusalem research group. "They see their existence as relying on Rabbi Chaim and his Torah learning."

On a recent afternoon in his apartment in the ultra-Orthodox enclave of Bnei Brak, Kanievsky appeared oblivious to the controversy raging around him. He sat silently at a small wooden table covered in a silvery tablecloth, surrounded by religious books. His wrinkled and reddened hands gripped a white book of scripture. Since rising before dawn, he had been studying the Chullin, a rabbinical text on the laws of ritual slaughter, and would continue to study late into the night.

'SUSTAINS THE WORLD'

"He believes the Torah sustains the world," said Yaakov Kanievsky, his 31-year-old grandson and the rabbi's main mediator with the outside world. "Without Torah learning, we don't have any reason to live. It's written in the Bible -- if you stop learning, the world will collapse."

For a few hours each day, Rabbi Kanievsky stops studying to take questions from his followers, who either put their requests in writing or pose them in person during visiting hours. Since the rabbi is hard of hearing, the questions are relayed by his grandsons, who shout them in the rabbi's ear and, when necessary, contextualize the questions and clarify their grandfather's terse, mumbled answers.

A few such exchanges at the start of the pandemic quickly gained national notoriety.

"There is now a great epidemic in the world, a disease called corona, and it affects many people," one grandson shouted in the rabbi's ear last year, after a question from a visitor, according to a video of the conversation. "He asks what they should take upon themselves so this disease does not get to them and there are no problems."

'LEARN TALMUD'

"They should learn Talmud," the rabbi whispered in response.

"The question is," Yaakov asked his grandfather on a separate occasion, "if grandfather thinks that they should close the schools because of this?"

"God forbid!" the rabbi replied.

In an interview, Yaakov Kanievsky, better known as Yanki, said that these brief clips don't tell the whole story. The rabbi, he said, has long complied with government policy.

"There are things that get misunderstood," Yanki Kanievsky said. "He takes [covid-19] very seriously, and he takes the patients very seriously."

Several weeks into the pandemic, the rabbi ordered his followers to obey social-distancing guidelines, even equating scofflaws to murderers. In June, he said masks were a religious obligation. In December, he gave his blessing to the vaccine, not long after recovering from the virus himself. In recent days he condemned a group of Haredi young people who clashed with police officers trying to enforce coronavirus regulations.

HE REVERSED HIMSELF

And he ultimately reversed himself on closing the yeshivas, which remain closed or under quarantine during the current lockdown.

"If you look at the news tonight, there will be one Haredi school open, and people will say, 'Oh, it's all Rabbi Kanievsky's fault,' " Yanki Kanievsky said. "But it's really not."

Yanki Kanievsky's dominant role in his grandfather's life has led to questions about who is really in charge, and whether Rabbi Kanievsky is alert enough to judge matters of national importance. Critics say the grandson controls who can and can't reach the grandfather -- even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not been granted the privilege of speaking with Rabbi Kanievsky directly.

The younger Kanievsky said that his grandfather is entirely his own man and that it would be impossible to influence him even if he tried. Everyone has the right to ask him anything -- they just have to line up and wait their turn.

"I can't tell the rabbi what to say," Yanki Kanievsky said. "If he thinks I'm trying to manipulate him, I am finished."

But without speaking to the rabbi directly, it is hard to know exactly what he thinks. As the interview with Yanki Kanievsky drew to close, we asked for a final audience with the rabbi.

Yanki Kanievsky shook his head. Rabbi Kanievsky was taking a nap.

The home of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, whose pronouncements have made him one of the most controversial figures in Israel today, in Bnei Brak, Israel, Jan. 24, 2021. Kanievsky is the spiritual authority for hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews, but his pronouncements on the coronavirus have made him a villain to many. (Dan Balilty/The New York Times)

Yaakov Kanievsky, left, listens to a familys request for a blessing before repeating it to his grandfather, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, at his home in Bnei Brak, Israel, Jan. 24, 2021. Rabbi Kanievsky is the spiritual authority for hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews, but his pronouncements on the coronavirus have made him a villain to many. (Dan Balilty/The New York Times)

Followers of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky line up at his home to receive a blessing or to ask questions, which he answers for a few hours a day, in Bnei Brak, Israel, Jan. 24, 2021. Kanievsky is the spiritual authority for hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews, but his pronouncements on the coronavirus have made him a villain to many. (Dan Balilty/The New York Times)

Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, center, whose pronouncements have made him one of the most controversial figures in Israel today, with his grandson Yaakov Kanievsky, at the rabbi's home in Bnei Brak, Israel, Jan. 24, 2021. Kanievsky is the spiritual authority for hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews, but his pronouncements on the coronavirus have made him a villain to many. (Dan Balilty/The New York Times)

Visit link:

Prince of the Torah - Arkansas Online

Category: Talmud | Comments Off on Prince of the Torah – Arkansas Online
Tags:

Posted By admin on February 12, 2021

(February 9, 2021 / JNS) Reading a biography about a friend is a mixed experience. On the one hand, the protagonist is familiar. On the other, hes a complete stranger, whose story unfolds like that of a fictional character being introduced in a novel.

This is the sense of duality that I had while curled up with Lone Voice: The Wars of Isi Leibler, a tome by renowned Australian-Jewish historian Suzanne D. Rutland.

Before meeting Leibler in person 20 years ago, I knew about the human-rights activist from Australia and his long-standing fight on behalf of Soviet Jewry, his tireless battle against global anti-Semitism and his connection to the World Jewish Congressan organization from which he subsequently resigned as vice president and whose financial corruption he would launch a campaign to expose.

I was also aware that he possessed one of the worlds largest privatelibraries of Jewish books, certainly the most extensive in Israel. Visions of a dimly lit room covered floor-to-ceiling in volumes of bibles bound in leather and gold, alongside works of the sages and interpretations of the Talmud, came to mind.

Subscribe to The JNS Daily Syndicateby email and never missour top stories

Judging by his aptly named Candidly Speaking columns in The Jerusalem Postall brutally honest and hard-hittingI imagined the man himself to be a daunting, scholarly figure around whom I would do well to watch my intellectual step.

As subsequently became apparent, however, Leibler would be the first to smile, if not emit his infectious laugh, at the above descriptions. Indeed, neither his library nor his demeanor in any way resembles the picture or conclusions that I had drawn prior to visiting his Jerusalem home and being given a tour of the famous athenaeum.

Though it does contain the ancient manuscripts that Id conjured, theyand the many thousands of other works by Jewish authors as diverse as Natan Sharansky and Philip Rothare housed in anything but a dim, antique setting. Instead, theyre lined up in rows of modern, moveable stacks.

As striking as this was at first sight, it was nothing compared to the discovery that not only had Leibler read all of the 40,000 books in his home, but could locate any one of them, within seconds, on demand.

To this daytwo decades and many additional titles laterhe knows exactly where to find a certain hardcover or paperback, no matter how obscure, among the collection. Of all Leiblers points of laser focus, this is the one that still makes my jaw drop.

But his biblio-savantism is not what makes him stand out in the public arena. No, its the courage to speak his pieceorally and in print, even when doing so ruffles illustrious feathersfor which he is best known.

A religious Zionist, hes never shied away from criticizing rabbis in that community whom he considers having moved too far in the direction of ultra-Orthodoxy and radicalism.

Nor has he hesitated to express his displeasure with Israeli politicians, including after praising them, when he feels that they have betrayed their mandate or put petty politics ahead of the interests of the state.

Both issues are especially relevant today, in the lead-up to the March 23 Knesset elections, with Israels societal divisions heightened as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. These schisms can be seen most vividly in attitudes among and towards the countrys haredi communities, as well as in the split between members of the public supporting the continued leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and those, on the left and the right, in the anybody but Bibi camp.

The 86-year-old Leibler, who moved to Israel from Australia in 1999, has always had strong opinions on each of these topics.

As Rutland writes: Beyond any overarching battle in which he is engaged at any particular moment, Isi [Leibler] has never stopped thinking or writing about theological and political developments in the Orthodox world into which he was born. The trends worry him particularly. The first is that inward-looking rabbis (mostly non-Zionist, sometimes anti-Zionist) in the haredi camp, for whom insularity and ultra-Orthodox stringency are integral to their lifestyle, have achieved political control of Israels official Rabbinate, the institution that oversees conversion to Judaism, kosher certification, ritual baths, marriage, divorce, and burial. Isi views the display of haredi power as antithetical to the Zionist ethos and fears that these rabbis are negatively redefining the image of Jewish mores in the eyes of Israels non-Orthodox but traditional-leaning majority.

Where his stance on Netanyahu is concerned, Rutland explains that just as realpolitikand not unshakeable ideologyhas guided the tactical policies he has advocated, the same pragmatism is behind Leiblers positions on the Israeli premier, whom he has known personally for many years.

Rutland describes Leiblers admiration for Netanyahus capacity and talents as a leader, [which] surpass those of his rivals as the basis for numerous op-eds promoting the prime minister.

At the same time, she adds, he is never obsequious and has no hesitation about criticizing Netanyahu when it is warranted. In fact, in the aftermath of two failed elections, Isi was the first commentator on the right who openly called for Netanyahu to step down for the good of the country.

Nevertheless, this was before the defeat on Nov. 3 of Donald Trumpwhom Leibler has called the most pro-Israel president since the state was establishedby Democratic Party contender Joe Biden. It was also prior to the U.S. Congresss turning blue.

Its not clear whether the advent of such an administration in Washingtonaided by liberal and progressive American Jews who, in Leiblers words, seem to be acting like lemmings on a suicide marchis causing him to harbor second thoughts about the alternatives to a Netanyahu-led government in Jerusalem.

But if it is, hell be the first to admit it.

Ruthie Blum is an Israel-based journalist and author of To Hell in a Handbasket: Carter, Obama, and the Arab Spring.

Visit link:

Soldiering on for the Jews and Israel - JNS.org

Category: Talmud | Comments Off on Soldiering on for the Jews and Israel – JNS.org
Tags:

Posted By admin on February 12, 2021

A decade after the founding of the State of Israel, the countrys first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, approached some 50 of the worlds most renowned Jewish leaders and asked their opinion on one seemingly simple question: Who is a Jew?

Among those he asked were scholars and the wisest students, all over the world. He asked them because he believed that the commitment to maintain Jewish continuation throughout the ages, from generation to generation, was not beholden solely upon the residents of the Land of Israel, nor was it exclusively theirs to dictate.

Ben-Gurion foresaw that just as the Jewish people had risen from the ashes of Europe, the task of keeping the Jewish embers glowing and shining was in the hands of all the Jews of the world: every man, every woman, in their own communities, with their own traditions, in their own way.

My offices recent initiative to nurture the commitment of Jewish leaders in Israel and the Diaspora, the Declaration of our Common Destiny a project weve undertaken alongside Genesis Philanthropy Group and the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs places Ben Gurions question before us once more. But we aim to revisit it in the most Jewish of manners, by encouraging debate and dialogue.

A culture of to-and-fro is not only respected in Jewish custom, it is positively sanctified. It makes up the very narrative of the Talmud. It thrives through the commentary accompanying our holy texts. Its roots go back to the struggle that our forefather Jacob had with the angel, and to the deliberation that his grandfather Abraham held with God himself over the fate of the people of Sodom. We have learned to champion the ability to agree not to agree. We know we are not weakened by debate; we are strengthened by it.

Today, however, I fear this is a lesson we need to learn afresh.

It is a lesson we need to once more internalize, and work to leave as a legacy to our children and grandchildren. The Jewish people today are vastly varied and diverse, which is an asset. But we have let rifts come between us: offense, intentionally and unintentionally caused, is taken on all sides. The pain is real, and it is far from the sole property of one side or another.

From Jerusalem to Canberra, from Seattle to Shanghai, from Abu Dhabi to Moscow, whether we are Reform, orthodox, secular, Conservative or traditional, we are all also just Jews. We must work to shape a common future that is based on more than the disasters that have befallen us in that past. We are bound together by more than barbed wire and broken glass.

Not for a moment should we forget or fail to hold high the beacon of the memory of the past. But today, when the Jewish people have a sovereign state, and the majority of Jews in the world are equal citizens in their countries, we must understand not only our common denominator, but also define what we share as part of a common destiny.

We have to delve deep into the question of what truly makes our mutual bond, and our mutual responsibility, one for each other. We must decide on what basis we will continue to walk together as brothers, as sisters, as family.

We are now in the weeks between the celebrations of Hanukkah and the joyousness of Purim. Two tragedies-turned-festivals that still, centuries later define our national, cultural and religious pride as Jews. Both tell the story of overcoming in the face of all the odds and in both stories, the Jewish people emerge stronger. We emerge as a free people.

So as we once again must overcome dark times. It is never more pertinent that from Jerusalem, the heart of our nation, I call upon all our brothers and sisters, in Israel and around the world, to respond to our new call for unity, dialogue and mutual responsibility. Following in the footsteps of David Ben-Gurion, the Genesis Philanthropy Group and the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs , together with Our Common Destiny scholars, leaders of 100 Jewish organizations and more than 130,000 Jews from all over the world, have placed before us all the Declaration of our Common Destiny. It is not an opportunity that we can afford to miss.

Reuven Rivlin is the president of Israel.

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

Read this article:

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin: In an era of divisons, Jews must emphasize our ties to one another - Forward

Category: Talmud | Comments Off on Israeli President Reuven Rivlin: In an era of divisons, Jews must emphasize our ties to one another – Forward
Tags: