The New Year!

Image via Wikipedia//What we have to eat and pray

Two days ago, when thinking about the new year I got very tensed: a lot of chores to be finished, cooking, preparing menus, inviting friends and family, establishing the special schedule for children, running up and fro for the shopping, finishing the unfinishing projects and books, the yeshiva classes.

Overall, not too much time to think and evaluate as I was expecting to. In my projection, I was thinking about one hour or two when in the silence I can map my past successes and failures and future plans and wishes. Given the overloaded schedule and the highly intesive social life I was almost stucked in spending time with lots of people, but myself.

Yesterday, at the end of the cooking marathon I realized how wrong I was. I was already clear with the past and I know very well what do I want to accomplish in the future. The last year was one of the most amazing and spiritually and personally rich from my life and it's only up to me to continue the progress. Was I am missing is the sound of the shofar announcing that it is the right time for the new start.

Shana Tova!

Academia at the beach

Fed up with the so-called sophisticated analysis of the Middle East, failing to address the minimum logical concerns of a kindergarten presentation? Confused that there it is not only one single place in the "civilized world" to be considered fully reliable and honest when it deals with Israel? And you ask yourself continously WHY?

I have these questions for a long time and also felt how complicate - if not really impossible - is to go beyond the narrow minds procrastinating about the region and unanimously scapegoating Israel. (I am sure this is not the unanimity of thoughts, but when it is about going publicly, a pich of salt of criticism against Israel is heartly recommended by the media and popular academic trends).

Ivory Towers of Sand, by Martin Kramer is putting some good light into the issue, deconstructing the history of the Middle Eastern studies in the US and their ideological roots. This explains many things. I remember when I was at the university, Edward Said was considered a supreme reference and the slightest critique was categorized as a clear symptom of being fully unfit for the academic career. "How comes, you wrote an article omitting mention Orientalism? What a terrible mistake!" and so on and so forth. This ridiculous situation is clearly reflected in the ways in which are drafted Western policies regarding the Middle East. Partisan, in full denial of the realities on the ground, following third-world patterns, shortly: wrong.

How you can feel about this? As you know, the first stage of solving a problem is to know the main data and parameters.

Bibi N. at the UN

Image via Wikipedia//UN General Assembly isn't a friendly place for the state of Israel

Very good and smart discourse of Bibi Netanyahu at the UN General Assembly explaining plainly and in a relaxed American way the desperate efforts of Palestinians to avoid peace, to deny Israel's right to exist, to prefer their propaganda instead of taking particular steps for ending the conflict - loved this remark "we have to stop negotiating about negotiations". In the same time, showing the will of the Jewish state to discuss and (re)establish good relations with countries as Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and all those interested in democratic developments. He also mentioned the possibility to do some painful compromises - what is he talking about - while outlining that Judea is and always be Jewish - "we are called Jews because coming from Judea". Worthy to mention the references to the Lubavitch Rebbe - as usual, I can't stop admiring the energy of Chabad's ambassadors for supporting their cause: in the deep darkness, one single candle is enough to light the true far away, the note in which he ended the UN discourse. Other aspects introduced in his discourse were the need for a global action against militant Islam - in the front of an assembly that watched one day ago the Iranian president elucubrations about 9/11 as an "American conspiration" - and the need to never forget the fate of Gilad Shalit.

From the part of the "peaceful" Palestinians, it was present only a young guy, expressionless and taking lots of notes.

It was a good show, but I don't see what it could be happen next!

Related articles

• The Man Behind Bibi (andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com)

Sephardim in Bosnia

Sarajevo is one of the places on the top list of places I would like to visit in Europe, a city whose present and recent past I am very curious to discover. Preparing this moment, I spent a couple of hours lately reading a book by the former chief rabbi Dr. Moritz Levy, one of the many victims of the Germans in the Balkans, published first in 1911.

Illustrated with pictures presenting Jews and their costumes at the beginning of the 20 century, the book is offering a couple of information about the history of a community we didn't have too much time to know. Landing in the Balkans from Spain at the end of the 16th century, the Jews from Bosnia established mostly in Sarajevo. Silent until the 18th century, they count among them names as R' Samuel Baruch or the first European-educated doctor in Bosnia, Isak Salom. The Jewish quarter has been built in 1851 and the inhabitants adopted many of the vestments and culinary customs from the Turkish majority, although the Ottomans required them - as to the Christians - to differentiate their ways of dressing. They were mostly traders, going regularly to Belgrade to sell their products, but from the 19th century, Sarajevo turned also into an important printing centre of the "Orient". The book is documented with financial and historical documents from the archives, pictures and analysis of responsa, written in an academic style but still attracting the reader by the rich information not too much known nowadays.

Although very much aware that the Sephardim in Bosnia are rather history, I am still curious to go there to discover with my own eyes their traces. Let's make a wish.

Browsing my bookshelf

Image via Wikipedia//Give me a library and take me out in 100-year timeIt was the last Shabbat of the year, not too busy and with a lot of books around. Not all of them very good, but interesting enough to mention them shortly:

On the gray side of the bookshelf:

Lev Raphael, The German Money - A spectacular ending, not necessarily worth to read the whole long story about too long - and sometimes boring - personal discoveries following the sudden heritage of almost 1 million $ representing reparations from the German state. The sudden death of the mother is leading to a well hidden and unexpected secret, but the way in which the story is built is sinous and too much focused on confession and soliloquia of only one character, not always in communication or coordination with the other participant at the plot.

Amos Oz, The Hill of Evil Counsel - Three novellas with nice words, but very badly put together to create good stories. Or maybe I fall on the wrong translation. Another incentive to improve my literary Hebrew.

On the light side of the bookshelf:

Soma Morgenstern, with a book about the post-Shoah life in Sereth, a Romanian locality important in the geography of Hasidism. A moving story about life, death, betrayal and hate.

The best choice of this Shabbat is Sami Michael's book about the disappearance of Jewish life in Baghdad, a history we are forgetting too easily.

Let's say it's enough for today - more books are waiting and will be soon mentioned here. Stay tunned, please!

On (better) praying

Image via Wikipedia//A Yemenite Jew at the morning prayer

In Judaism, every word and movement is having a specific sense. The prayer is our best way to communicate with HaShem and by doing it we are not simply ennumerating words but we are (re)creating a special world of devotion through a specific conduct.

For those looking to understand and correct the prayer behavior, they should not miss this book: Gateway to Heaven. Guide to Better Praying. The books is a detailed and careful guide of what we have to do and avoid during prayers, separate on genders, time, with a devoted attention given to words and inner building of the kavanah. It reminded me a lot of a discussion I had about Halakha: it doesn't matter what do you feel about a certain situation, it is important to follow the rationality of the Halakha.

An useful book for all those looking for guidance of their praying life.

Shabbat at the shul

For the first time in months I had a full Shabbat for myself: no guests or visits to honor, a very quiet family life and any other social obligations or worries. Add to this a wonderful weather outside and you'll have the perfect combination - for a barbecue or a trip outside the city you might think? not at all - and motivation for spending more time at the shul. For erev Shabbat and today I spent a lot of time coming and going from and to the synagogue. A great opportunity to think a lot about what do I have to do for the New Year.

There were lots of people in the shul: from new borns to respectable elders, nicely dressed girls not tall enough to touch the mezuzah, new and old observers, from different corners of the world and different social habits and siddurs. I tried as much as possible to pray but also to observe the variety of people. With a bit of attention and imagination it was easy to create stories of life, survival and family journeys. Yesterday I attended a bat mitzvah and I add to my observation dish also some remarks about the new generational trends among modern Jewish girls.

Diversity is always the spice of life and I am always happy to enjoy the differences. One of the things I love a lot during the high holidays is how people from different and sometimes antagonistic backgrounds are turning back to their roots by attending the ceremonies, in the synagogues or in private meetings, at the reform, modern, orthodox or chassidic synagogues or gatherings. In such moments, we realize how important is to be together and to find the community that fits you, and to have around your family and all those sharing your love.

Shavua tov to you all!

Obama just checked at the UN

Without too much enthusiasm I watched Obama's discourse at the UN General Assembly. More interesting than to follow his sayings - and his successful for the masses body language - was to take the full advantage of the views from the meeting room: the self-sufficient skeptical faces of some delegations from the Middle East, the self-sufficient - and nothing else - gestures of the Palestinians and the tensed face of Mr. Avigdor Lieberman while listening to the translated discourse.

What was the essence of his sayings, after all? Some common truths that any bat-mitzvah-ed kid will tell it more artfully: the high security risks faced by the state of Israel because of the Palestinian terrorists, the religion of hate they imbue their children from an early age, the daily rocket rain from Hamas and their acolytes, the obvious right to exist of the state of Israel. That peace should be achieved through negotiations and dialogue between the two parts not by unilateral anarchic declarations.

Better late than never! Again, it is no secret message or fantastic change of position from the part of the White House but rather a return to common sense. Reading the daily media, the main line in most part of the American and international media in general was the pressure of the Jewish vote, following the old conspirationist patterns. I don't care about any elections or politicians, but for my friends facing daily rockets in many localities in Israel, I care about my children to be able to freely travel by bus without being scarred all the time, and about my husband too because I want to stop being worried when he's driving around the country. There are many common things that in the West people accept to ignore, but because of the blindness, indoctrination and hate against Israel and the Jews they continue to widespread lies and to support terrorism. But I am sure people could change, be better persons and read more! We'll see what the UN will bring in the following hours and days.

Rosh Hashanah 1944

A wonderful story of survival and remembrance, the perfect memory for a period of teshuva and evaluation.

One year ago, one week before

Image via Wikipedia//The blow of shofar will have a different meaning for me this year

I can clearly see myself, one week from now, in the middle of the final preparations for Rosh Hashanah: the last cooking, preparing to welcome the guests, maybe resting a bit, ending up the last bits of work before the holidays.

Looking back I see myself at the end of a wonderful cycle of changes of discovering new meanings and reconsidering old values. A year when I had around me persons who dramatically changed my life for good. I couldn't be more thankful every single second of my life!

In the same time, I see myself before a long road that could last one year or more of new achievements and spiritual evaluations. A year when I want to learn to give back what I was given, when I see my spiritual growth as a way to double my contribution to the world.

I will maintain this blog as the trace of my daily steps.

In cell with the enemy

BBC: Jewish US Army translator who get close to the Nazis.

Book Review: Academics against Israel and the Jews

For a long time, for various reasons and from different angles I was watching the academic perspectives on the Middle East. As usual, I was expecting from the intellectuals a more delicate and subtle analysis than the usual street noise. But in most part of the cases, I was disappointed to observe a lot of passion and failures - at least - in identifiying the logical consequences of a very complicate situation.

Reading this collection of articles coordinated by Manfred Gerstenfeld I had first a very deep feeling of sadness: famous academic centers from US, UK or France are deeply infused with hate and narrow anti-Semitic mind settings, students - whatever their ethnic and national backgrounds - are preparing for a career in rather throwing stones than in building arguments respecting at least the possibility that in a conflict there are no doves. But there are so many examples offering inspiration for coordinate and focused intervention and Internet offers the possibility for coordinating people all over the world in countering the shameful attempts to shout us up.

In my opinion, this is not exclusively a question that should preoccupy Jews but all those close to the ideas of democracy and freedom of thinking. Those putting fire on flags and boycotting open discussions are against all those who represent open societies and the discussion should involve all those with a trace of responsibility towards the future.

After reading this book I am starting to think differently on the Israeli anti-boycott law.

Book Review: Creators and Disturbers. Reminiscences by Jewish Intellectuals of New York

At the beginning of the 80s, when this book was published, Jewish intellectuals continued to be an interesting topic. Nowadays, I would rather say that they might be interesting from the point of view of their specialization: writers, scientists, artists in various domains. Or not interesting at all.

The interest at the time was understandable: after long decades of fight with a system not so friendly with the Jews, the new Jewish elites were taken into consideration by the establishment.

New York was and continues to be an important hot potato for the main intellectual mainstream, hence the focus of the articles. The authors are covering many perspectives, geographical areas - Bronx, Harlem, Brooklyn - and denominations. Their origins - Russian, German - are diverse as well. Some are writing about their literary adventures (I.B.Singer) or about their stages of the assumed assimilation (Hans Morgenthau), about their connection with the other minorities (Dan Morgenstern, on the Jewish-Black connection) or the return to Jewish values after facing the precarious situation of the Soviet Jewry (Ted Solotaroff).

Overall, it was an extremely interesting intellectual trip.

Old Yiddish story

A traveler came into a hotel late at night and asked for a room. He was told there was only one vacant roam. And this was next to the room of a very nervous man. He was therefore cautioned against making any noise.The traveler agreed. While undressing, however, he forgot the admonition and tossed one shoe on the floor with a loud thud. Then, suddenly, remembering his promise, he gently set down the other one. About three hours later there was a thump on the wall and his neighbor called in anxiously: 'men are you going to drop the second shoe?"

from Judaism as a Religion, by Rabbi Leon Stitskin, Bloch Publishing House 1937, p. 46

Bird-Shaped Challah Holds Special Holiday Meaning – Forward.com

Preparing the menu for Rosh HaShanah: Bird-Shaped Challah Holds Special Holiday Meaning – Forward.com

Where did the millions go? - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Where did the millions go? - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Book Review: Messiah of Stockholm, by Cynthia Ozick

How much I was missing the distopic ambiance of the Central-European literature! Jewish refugees after the war are sharing their broken identities and aborted new beginnings as well as memories of forgotten cultures in the Scandinavian neutral city of Stockholm.

A group of Polish Jews, trying more or less successfully to hide their real identity, are following, not without an obvious mark of craziness, varius idols: an absent and incertain father (Bruno Schulz), an unknown manuscript (by the same Bruno Schulz), their origins, their memories. Dislocated souls with conflictual memories, lost countries and past, but not without humour. The author successfully depicted a typical literary ambiance for the Central European sour-sweet sadeness, easy to be found in many real time memories of the post-Shoah first generation of survivals. We were sad, but at the end we went through all!

Ozick dedicated the book to Philip Roth who edited two of Bruno Schulz books: "The street of Crocodiles" and "Sanatorium under the sign of the Hourglass".

A book to read and think about!

Book Review: Jews without Money

Cover of Jews Without Money

The Jewish-American literature from the beginning of the last century is having a strong social profile. Running the pogroms of Eastern Europe they arrived on the shores of the new World feeling dislocated, alienated and fighting poverty and another forms of anti-Semitism.

Jews without money, by Michael Gold - the pen name of Itzok Isaac Ganish, after the name of the Jewish veteran of the US civil war - is one of the best social fresco I've read lately. The fictionalized autobiography is describing with a deep realism the hard life of the Jewish immigrants in the 20s, their poverty, broken dreams and daily life of survival and aspirations and sacrifices for the well-being of their children.

Gold's family moved in the United States from Romania (in the book, his father is given the name Hermann, a name rarely used by the Romanian Jews) and he will became one of the representative proletarian writer. The last lines of the book are announcing a Marxist revolution as the hope for a new world to come for the poor Jewish crowds. This revolution didn't occur in the terms predicted by the Marxists, and the Nord-American Jews succeeded in living a better world. But we will never forget those hard beginnings.

Sports and Geopolitics - Maccabi Tel Aviv in Turkey

Maccabi Tel Aviv players serving in IDF barred from Turkey soccer game - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

High security measures in Istanbul

Turkish team asked fans to avoid violence

Related articles

• Maccabi Loses 5-1 (israelnationalnews.com)
• Maccabi Tel Aviv feels wrath of protesting Turkish fans (theglobeandmail.com)
• Turkey: Protest Outside Israeli Soccer Players' Hotel (israelnationalnews.com)

A trip to Neve Tzedek

If you are in Tel Aviv, you shoudn't miss a visit - or two - to Neve Tzedek.

(While reading this, I realized how lazy I was in uploading news and photos from the daily life in Israel. Shame on me!)

Politics round-up and down and up and down...

Given the expected protests in the front of the Embassy of Israel in Jordan, most part of the embassy staff was brought home. Stock markets in Egypt took a fall after the protests against Israel. Good luck!

Erdogan landed in Cairo. Is it any competition between him and Ahmadinejad in respect to the state of Israel?

NYTimes published yesterday an article accusing Netanyahu of isolating Israel. The autumn trends in Washington DC...Israel sent the flotilla in Gaza, also attacked its embassy in Egypt and Erdogan is in fact Netanyahu's alter ego. The same for Ahmadinejad, the Muslim Brothers and other anarchist brothers all over the world. The ridiculous glorious left...

Book Review: Ladies Auxiliary, by Tova Mirvis

Before reading this book I didn't have any idea about how it is to be Jew in Memphis. Now, I have the impression that it is similar to any other remote areas - from the point of view of the symbolical center of New York City: women are always busy with the kids and the preparations for Shabbos or the high holidays, praying or working men are almost absent and very tired, children are trying to challenge the rules. Traditional islands in the middle of the modern world, a world not always understood or accepted.

Batsheva - whose name means "daughter of oath" - and his daughter Ayala are moving to Memphis. She is a convert whose late man - we supposed they were married - Benjamin is originally from here. Shortly after they are starting their new life, the ladies are mobilizing to find any single detail of their life and only the conciliatory and wise Rebbetzin Mimi could stop their unstoppable curiosity and gossips (various stages of lashon hara). Trying to be friendly at the beginning, they are offering to Batsheva the opportunity to teach arts at the girls school and she is doing her job very well, becoming a confessor for the rebel girls. But as the tensions are arising between the girls and their mothers - the men, husbands and fathers are rarely present or involved in the action of the book - including the departure of one of the girls, Shira, with a Gentile man, Batsheva is considered the scape-goat and the funding for her class is cut. We have also the shadows of a love story, between Yossef, the rabbi's only son who decided to leave yeshiva and Batsheva, another matter of conversation and worries for the ladies.

All the characters from the book are very well portrayed and we can easily represent them in the real world. Actually, I was almost (not fully, because I don't like this type of activities) laughing when reading about the underground surveillance of Batsheva's move by the vigilant ladies: I saw often such guardians of the faith. Batsheva is very open (close to naivety) and doesn't want to hide nothing from her past: she used to be a rebel, had sex at 14, got a tattoo. Had a revelation that her place is in Judaism and while following her path met Benjamin. She wanted to offer her daughter, Ayala, a Jewish past, but in comparison with the ladies from Memphis, the traditions she is offering to her daughter are freshly interpreted. This is not the routine of repeating over and over again - too mechanically sometimes - what she was taught in the family, but offering a new light of the old tradition.

Whoever grieves the convert transgresses three prohibitions (Baba Metzia 59b and Rambam, Hilchot Deot 6:4) and we are commanded several times to accept the convert but in reality there are situations when the community is overreacting because of too much observance of every step and move of the convert. Either she/he is too strict or too relaxed, there it might be never enough. But I am convinced that if the person made the choice of Judaism for the beauty of the religion and thinking will not stop being a Jew: there are always challenges and pressures and if your faith is strong enough, you go further, whatever the circumstances

Often, we focus too much on cooking dozen of dishes for Shabbos or high holidays, the size of the skirt and the set up of the hair-cover but omit to teach our children the joy of praying or the living sense of the tradition. The choice might be difficult and we need to keep some limits of the innovation, but a fresh air should be let enter our spirituality rooms. And the whole discussion in the book made me think over and over again about something I've recently approached with my yeshiva acquaintances: you don't have to hide from modernity and civilization, but to make the good choices on the basis of halachic options. We should dare to talk and address issues and continue discussing. Our minds need the fresh air of thinking.

The book is entertaining and a bit mysterious: the story is told by supposedly a woman, part of the "we" group of surveillance and vigilance. The explanation in the text of various holidays and traditions was a bit uninspired and partially stereotypical, but it's enough action for easily going beyond those death paragraphs.

I fully recommend this book for Shabbos or as a choice for a Jewish women book club. You will have a lot of food for thought.

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West Bank Blues

West Bank Blues-A different view on the settlers

Testimony: Molested children

In a way, I was very impressed reading this testimony. But was overcome by anger, thinking about the need to stop a phenomenon that affects deeply the heart of many communities in Israel and abroad.

The curse of discord

Image via Wikipedia//Waiting for Yom Kippur

We are living in difficult time, again. We don't know what will happen and how prepared we are to face the hate against us. All we need is unity and a common dialogue within us, but the gap is getting bigger. Jews against Jews, Jews against the Defense Force where young people are giving up their youth year to defend us. It's unbearable and we should stop somehow, before it's too late.

Shin Bet: Israel's extreme rightists organizing into terror groups - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Interventions in Migron: the decision-making process, the mistakes, the revenge and the official reactions and a good evaluation of the price tag actions.

Book Review: The World to Come, by Dara Horn

Thanks to this book, I reconsidered and reconfirmed many of my ideas about writing. Actually, the World to Come is what I call a good book.

As in a Chagall's painting, you are flying over time, countries, doubts and misunderstandings. The whole book it's a spiritual mystery you don't grasp always the sense or the meanings. As in real life: do we understand always the chains or are we always able to find the missing links? Life is art and art is life and sometimes there is not an obvious meaning in what we are doing or what it's happening to us.

The story is based on a real fact: Chagall's Study for Over Vitebsk was stolen from a gallery in NYC during a cocktail. The study represents a bearded man moving over the houses of a snowy street. He looks like a shadow flying and hurrying up. Where is he going to? Where is he coming from? What can we do in this respect abour ourselves?

In the book, Ben Ziskind, the former wonder-kid, recently divorced and currently making quizzes for a TV show, stole the 1 million-dollar painting during a cocktail for singles at the Museum of Hebraic Art from New Jersey. The painting belonged to his family, his Russian grand-father Boris Kulback being a former pupil of Chagall during his teaching time in an orphanage for Jewish children. There, Chagall befriended the Yiddish writer Pinkhas Kahanovich called the Nister (The Hidden One) writing Hasidic stories with a hidden key. Some of his stories were hidden on the back of some of the paintings.

Ben's mother, an illustrator and writer of children book, sold the painting after the death of her husband - former Vietnam veteran - for offering to Ben and his twin sister Sara a good education. Doubts are surviving regarding the authenticity of the painting and till the end of the book we gather a bunch of unanswered questions most of them built around the painting: how the painting was brought to Europe from Russia, was it faked in Russia by the expert that used to be Kulback's neighbor?

The key for all our answers is in the world to come, a Chagall-tailored world where the old souls are together with the new ones, the only moments when we can have authentic answers to our overwhelming questions.

From a generation to another, the parents are always missing: Kulback was orphan, his daughter will survive alone after he is imprisoned by the Soviets and Ben and Sara should overcome the death of their father and after, their mother's. The parents are transmitting to their children mysteries to solve and the mystery if the world to come. As in Chagall paintings, we are flying from the Soviet Russia and its revolution, to the Vietnam War and the daily American East Coast life.

From the beginning to the end, the pieces of the kaleidoscope are rearranging over and over again. In the middle of the stories, we are transposed to dreams about singing paradises with colourful butterflies or fluid universe of the world as it is before we are landing on Earth.

What it is all about? Each moment, we are the making our present and future: we are taking decisions and actions. The world to come is the world we are building carefully while waiting for the world to come.

A wonderful story, perfectly fitting the special time before Rosh HaShana.

Amos Oz in Iraq

Israeli author Amos Oz, now in an Iraqi bookstore near you - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

WikiLeaks Document Sheds Light on Iraqi Jews - Jewish World - News - Israel National News

WikiLeaks Document Sheds Light on Iraqi Jews - Jewish World - News - Israel National News

The blessing of asher yatzar

Asher yatzar (Hebrew: "Who [has] formed [man(kind)]") is a blessing thanking G-d for the good functioning of the human body, included in many Jewish prayer books as a part of daily prayer prior to Birkat HaShachar.

Though recited normally by fully observant Jews are using the bathroom, but also recited during the Shacharit.

After leaving the restroom, the person washes their hands. According to Jewish etiquette, this should be done outside the bathroom, but if there is no source of water available outside the bathroom, it is permissible to wash one's hands inside the bathroom, and then dry them outside.

The blessing it’s mentioned in the Talmud (Berachot 60b) as one of the blessings compiled by the men of the Great Assembly.

Following the washing and drying of one's hands, the asher yatzar blessing is recited:

"Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who formed man with wisdom and created within him many openings and many hollows. It is obvious and known before Your Throne of Glory that if even one of them ruptures, or if even one of them becomes blocked, it would be impossible to survive and to stand before You (even for a short period). Blessed are You, Hashem, Who heals all flesh and acts wondrously."

Source:

http://www.torahzone.com/AsherYatzar.htm

'Torah archaeology' sheds light on ancient Talmudic dispute - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

'Torah archaeology' sheds light on ancient Talmudic dispute - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Remembering 9/11

Before blaming Israel for being a barrier against the (imaginary) peace in the Middle East, we should never forget the reaction of the peaceful Palestinians after the release of the first images with the fall of the twin towers on 9/11.

Similar reactions were registered all over the area, in the streets where people burned the American - and sometimes Israeli - flags. We should only try to imagine how many years we would need to get rid of the enormous brainwashing those people are exposed to 24/7.

Ten years after the terrific events, nothing changed significantly in the good direction. But maybe we still have 2-3 chances to avoid the worse. Maybe.

Back in the news: two-three lines about the "spring"

I am trying to avoid as much as possible to address here too many political issues. Purposively avoiding the news, I am tying to focus rather on literature, history, books, daily practice, cooking. Anything but news.

But when a couple of minutes after the entering the new week I started reading the news, I couldn't believe it's true: the embassy of the state of Israel was attacked and its personnel humiliated by a herd of aggressive protesters - they weren't protesting for more education or democracy or the end of corruption practices, but against a democratic and independent state. It is not the first incident since the events leading to the fall of Mubarak's regime. During and after the events the local media and the social networks of various Egyptian activists incited for a "stronger" position against the state of Israel, accused of being interested in maintaining Mubarak's power.

This is not the first time in history when incompetent regimes are finding very fast an imaginary scapegoat whose transferred the incapacity of change or general failures. What happened in the last days represents a serious warning and doesn't concern only the state of Israel, but any country who claims belonging to the family of democracies. Most probably, the provocations of any kinds will continue this week, as Turkey's Erdogan is incoherently making various waves in his sink.

Selfishly thinking, maybe my quiet time dedicated to books and learning will significantly diminish. Still, dreaming of a "shavua tov".

Candidly Speaking: The depraved UN

Candidly Speaking: The depraved U... JPost - Opinion - Columnists

Manipulation of fears

I can easily imagine the face of a self-sufficient idiot reading in the morning the news about the scientist working in USA pledging guilty for spying for the state of Israel. "A Jew can't be trusted", "a Jew is always having a double allegiance", are only the most polite remarks associated with such news that you could read on public forums or hear in the media or at the bar's corner. Most part of them are an eternal example of the plain anti-semitism.

The media exposure devoted to Pollard's case makes us ignore that, normally, US is spying on Israel too. And China is spying on everybody, and Russia even more, why not Iran then or France or Australia or...? As long as they have foreign intelligence services be sure that such actions will take place, more or less successfully.

The discussions - eternal as the history of man - about "a purge" of the military, diplomacy or secret services - the country doesn't matter as it could take place anywhere - are again on the agenda. Remember, for example, the hysteria during the Cold War, whose victims were also scientists of Jewish origin who worked to various sensitive military projects, as Oppenheimer.

Shortly after 9/11, Fox News released a four series report about the "Israeli who spies on the USA" and didn't share information that would have helped to stop the terrorist attacks, quoting reports mentioning that "Israeli are oriented by strong survival feelings". A couple of years after, youtube was invaded by the outrageous conspirationist idiocies.

Playing with such messages is a bad taste game and Europe and the world in general, US included, should learn a lot at least from the tragic lessons of the WWII.

Of course, never believe this story about the freedom of the media and most probably many of those media reports aren't published now, at mid-September, only for the sake of informing the public. The fact that the Palestinians officially - as unoficially it's an operation-in-process for a couple of months, maybe years - launched their PR campaign for recognition of their "state" might not be accidental. As for the idea of a PR campaign for a state as you launch a new line of shoes...I prefer to have my professional objections.

Shabbat Shalom and let's hope about wisdom and peace!

FaceGlat vs. Facebook

A haredi Facebook? Why not?

(The French media dedicated some space to this issue).

I don't know exactly how it's working, I am curious to take a look around but I deeply hope it is clean and intelligence. Facebook, and Twitter and Google + and whatever it is and would be are becoming a little bit boring, which could be a clear advantage for more learning.

Reading about Safed

Image via Wikipedia//The citadel of Safed

One day before Shabbat, on a very busy day, I opened and couldn't stop finishing this book about the city of Safed. Lots of interesting cultural and historical facts, written in a simple and modest way, with many explanatory pictures. I've been several times there, as well as in Meron, but now I wish I can go again and think more about what I've found out.

A symbolical competitor to Jerusalem, Safed is mentioned in Zohar as the place where the dead will arise and assemble at the time of the resurrection. One of the most populated cities at the end of the 16th century, it played continously an important role in the process of Torah dissemination.

Victim of earthquakes, pandemics or Arab riots, the city of Safed was a city of refuge for various Sephardim groups and since the 18th century, of Hasidim escaping the Europe of pogroms, but also for great names of Judaism, as Baba Sali, R' Shlomo Eliezer Elfandan, R'Chaim of Czernovitz.

The same force of spiritual attraction was represented by Meron, another important point on the map of Zohar scholars. Two are the moment considered appropriate to visit Meron if a lover of Zohar: ten days before Shavuos and ten days before Rosh HaShanah.

An interesting journey in a very inspiring place, although only mental for the moment.

The importance of the Jewish names

Names are very important in Judaism, the Hebrew names being required for certain rituals and prayers, for calling to the Torah, for legal documents as the marriage contracts (ketubah). The Midrash (Genesis Raba 17:4) tells us that the first man, Adam, looked into the essence of every creature and named it accordingly and King David wrote in Psalms (147:4): "He counts the numbers of the stars; He gives a name to each of them."

Orthodox Jews and Israelis often give their children a Hebrew name, and that name is used for both daily and specifically religious purposes. Elsewhere it has become customary for Jewish parents to give their children two names - a secular name for use in the gentile world and a Hebrew name for religious purposes. Sometimes the secular name is an interpretation of the Hebrew name, like Jonah for Yonah and Eva for Chava. Similarly, the names might share meaning, like Justin and Daniel.

The Midrash (Bamidbar Raba 20:21) says that the Jewish people were redeemed from Egypt partly in the merit of having kept their Jewish names.

The Sages say that naming a baby is a statement of the character, specialness, and path in life, as at the beginning of life we are given a name, and at the end of life a "good name" is all we take with us. (Talmud - Brachot 7b; Arizal - Sha'ar HaGilgulim 24b) Talmud tells us that parents receive one-sixtieth of prophecy when picking a name: an angel comes to the parents and whispers the Jewish name that the new baby will embody. It is important to choose a name that will have a positive effect, since every time it is used the person is reminded of its meaning. (Midrash Tanchuma - Ha'Azinu 7)

Ashkenazi Jews have the custom of naming a child after a relative who has passed away. This keeps the name and memory alive, and in a metaphysical way forms a bond between the soul of the baby and the deceased relative. This is a great honor to the deceased, because its soul can achieve an elevation based on the good deeds of the namesake. The child, meanwhile, can be inspired by the good qualities of the deceased -- and make a deep connection to the past. (Noam Elimelech - Bamidbar) There are some reserves to use the name of a person who died at a young age, or suffered an unnatural death. The reluctance stems from the fear that the misfortune may, in a spiritual manner, be carried over to the new bearer of the name. If a person died a natural death and left children, this is not considered "bad fortune" which would preclude the use of the name. Both the prophet Samuel and King Solomon died at the "young" age of 52, yet traditionally their names have always been used by Jews.

Sephardi Jews name children after relatives who are still alive. This source is from the Talmud, which records a child named after Rabbi Natan while he was still alive (Shabbat 134a).

Some customarily choose a name based on the Jewish holiday coinciding with the birth. For example, a baby born at Purim-time might be named Esther or Mordechai. A girl born on Shavuot might be named Ruth, and a child born on Tisha B'Av, the Jewish day of mourning, might be named Menachem or Nechamah.

Similarly, names are sometimes chosen from the Torah portion corresponding to the week of the birth. Many names and events are mentioned in each Torah portion, offering a spiritual connection between the baby and that particular biblical figure.

Contrary to popular perception, it is not forbidden to announce the name of a baby before his Bris. In a metaphysical sense, however, the child does not actually "receive" his name until the Bris. This is based on the fact that G-d changed Abraham's name in conjunction with his Bris -- at age 99 (Genesis 17:15). Also, the boy only receives the full measure of his soul at the Bris, and a person cannot truly be "named" until attaining that completion. (Zohar - Lech Lecha 93a, Ta'amei Minhagim 929)

Sources:

http://judaism.about.com/od/hebrewname1/a/namesfaq.htm

http://www.aish.com/jl/l/b/48961326.html

R' Cordovero on meditation and prayer

Pardes Rimonim, Shaar HaKavanna, ch. 1, p. 78b:

"The prayers of one who utters his words without kavanna, deep meditative concentration, are not heeded by the King from within His palace. Instead, it is like a mortal king who hears the incoherent cries of one of his subjects standing outside the palace walls and making noise. The king can respond only indirectly. He will forbid the man entry to his palace, preferring to send one of his servants to attend to such a one's needs. Similarly, prayer without kavanna simply cannot ascend into the palace of the King of Kings. Prayer without kavanna lacks wings to fly through pure and holy air, and cannot break through the refined firmament and heavenly hosts.

One who prays with kavanna, however, affixes wings to his prayers and they will be guided heavenward. His prayers will ascend all the way to the palace of the King. There they will be received within the palace, and their ascending influence will be answered by the King Himself with a reciprocal descending influence, earthward from Heaven".

Book Review: Tough Jews

As it is not for the first time I hear about the "Jewish gangsters" I was not excited at all by the topic of Rich Cohen's book: Tough Jews. Father, sons and gangsters. Originary from a family with connections with this world, I was expecting a detailed account of the mechanisms and motivations of the individual members of the group.

Although using academic research, the book includes many personal accounts and memories of his father, Herb Cohen, - whose best friend was Larry King, and this could be considered the weak point of the book as they lived in Chicago for a long time and the heart of the gangsters was New York. Also, I didn't like at all the writing style - too abrupt and not captivating at all.

But, at the end of the more than 200 pages, there are some good memories to keep in mind - and explore through other books. One of the most important is the idea of the Jews with guns and wealthy - not the sad and depressive accounts of the immigrants coming to America and fighting to survive. "Jews were bullied in America, but in America Jews could fight back" (p.42), in comparison with the Jews from Europe and far Russia victims of sheer anti-Semitism.

This is an explanation suggested by the author too, that I would like to believe, but for which I didn't find too many convincing, academic explanations in the book.

The fate of the gangsters was sealed and they didn't survive the Second World War. Names as Louis Lepke, Abe Riles, Mendy Weiss, Greenie Greenberg or Buggsy Goldstein remains sources of inspiration for movies or thriller books. And in a way it's good like this. The world Jewry was having other important things to do.

EcoNegev takes 7 visiting jou... JPost - Environment & Technology

EcoNegev takes 7 visiting jou... JPost - Environment & Technology

Rabbi's wife weighs in on financial feud - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Rabbi's wife weighs in on financial feud - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

The mitzvot of wearing Tzitzit

Image via Wikipedia//Blue and white is the Sephardic style

Tzitzit are attached to the four corners of the tallit (prayer shawl) and tallit khatan.

Wearing tzitzit is a biblical commandment. The Torah states in Numbers 15:38: "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, that they shall make themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and they shall put on the corner fringe a blue (tekhelet) thread”. Wearing the tzitzit is also commanded in Deuteronomy 22:12: "You shall make yourself twisted threads, on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself." Once a boy is old enough to understand how to wear tzitzit, meaning to keep two corners of the garment in front and two behind, and to hold the strings when reciting Shema, we are obligated to acquire a pair of tzitzit for him, and train him.(Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 17:3) In addition, it serves as a reminder of the Exodus from Egypt (Numbers 15:40). The Talmud equates its observance with that of all the mitzvot. Rambam (Pirkei Avot 2:1) includes it as a major mitzvah along with brit milah.

The fringe on each corner is made of five strands, each of which is made of eight fine threads (known as kaful shemoneh). The five strands are passed through a hole (or according to some: two holes) 1-2 inches (25 to 50 mm) away from the corner of the cloth. There are numerous customs as to how to tie the fringe. The Talmud explains that the Bible requires an upper knot (kesher elyon) and one wrapping of three winds (hulya). The Talmud enjoined that between 7 to 13 hulyot be tied, and that "one must start and end with the color of the garment." As for the making of knots in between the hulyot, the Talmud is inconclusive, and as such poskim have varyingly interpreted this requirement. The Talmud described tying assuming the use of tekhelet dye, however, following the loss of the source of the dye, various customs of tying were introduced to compensate for the lack of this primary element.

Though many methods exist, the one that gained the widest acceptance can be described as follows:

The five strands of the tzitzit are passed through holes near the four corners of the garment (Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 11:9-11,15) that are farthest apart (10:1). Four tzitzyot are passed through each hole (11:12-13), and the two groups of four ends are double-knotted to each other at the edge of the garment near the hole (11:14,15). One of the tzitzit is made longer than the others (11:4); the long end of that one is wound around the other seven ends and double-knotted; this is done repeatedly so as to make a total of five double knots separated by four sections of winding, with a total length of at least four inches, leaving free-hanging ends that are twice that long (11:14).

Before tying begins, a Hebrew blessing is said (it's more of a "declaration of intent"): L'Shem Mitzvat Tzitzit (For the sake of the commandment of tzitzit).

The two sets of stands are knotted together twice, and then the shamash (a longer strand) is wound around the remaining seven strands a number of times . The two sets are then knotted again twice. This procedure is repeated three times, such that there are a total of five knots, the four intervening spaces being taken up by windings numbering 7-8-11-13, respectively. The total number of winds comes to 39, which is the same number of winds if one were to tie according to the Talmud's instruction of 13 hulyot of 3 winds each. Furthermore, the number 39 is found to be significant in that it is the gematria (numerical equivalent) of the words: "G-d is One" Deuteronomy 6:4). Others, especially Sephardi Jews, use 10-5-6-5 as the number of windings, a combination that represents directly the spelling of the Tetragrammaton (one of G-d's names).

Rashi bases the number of knots on a gematria: the word tzitzit (in its Mishnaic spelling) has the value 600. Each tassel has eight threads (when doubled over) and five sets of knots, totalling 13. The sum of all numbers is 613, traditionally the number of mitzvot. This reflects the concept that donning a garment with tzitzyot reminds its wearer of commandments. Nachmanides disagrees with Rashi, pointing out that the Biblical spelling of the word tzitzit has only one yod rather than two (giving it a gematria of 590 plus 13), thus adding up to the total number of 603 rather than 613. He points out that in the Biblical quote "you shall see it and remember them", the singular form "it" can refer only to the "p'til" ("thread") of tekhelet. The tekhelet strand serves this purpose, explains the Talmud, for the blue color of tekhelet resembles the ocean, which in turn resembles the sky, which in turn is said to resemble God's holy throne - thus reminding all of the divine mission to fulfill His commandments.

Colours

Tekhelet (תכלת) is color dye which the Hebrew Bible commands the Jews to use for one, two, or four of the eight half-strings hanging down. At some point in Jewish history, the source of the dye was lost and since then, Jews have worn plain white tzitzyot without any dyes. Tekhelet, which appears 48 times in the Tanakh is a specific blue dye produced from a creature referred to as a chilazon, other blue dyes being unacceptable (Tosefta). Some explain the black stripes found on many traditional prayer shawls as representing the loss of this dye.

Where tekhelet is used, only one thread in each fringe is dyed with it, the rest being left white or self-coloured. The dyed thread is always made of wool, regardless of the material of the garment or the other threads.

The other threads in the tzitzit (all the threads, where tekhelet is not used) are described as "white". This may be interpreted either literally (by Rama) or as meaning the same colour as the main garment (Rambam). Normally, the garment itself is white so that the divergence does not arise.

Similarly the threads may be made either of wool or of the same fabric as the garment; again many authorities recommend using a woollen garment so that all views are satisfied.

Book Review: Limassol

When you are an Israeli writer - former information officer for the IDF - and you address in your book various issues involving secret agents and Palestinians, you should expect to be read with the attention dedicated to daily newspapers. It's what happened with Yishai Sarid's book in Germany - but probably in other countries as well - when after 2010 Dubai killing newspapers as Suddeutsche Zeitung and Spiegel did their possible journalistic best to find some hints in the narrative of the story.

"Israel is not Switzerland" said Sarid in one of his interviews with the German media and this could be a message line strong enough for trying to evaluate the book according to literary standards.

Written in the first person, the book is the story about the action of a Shabak agent - Israel's home agency whose motto is "Defender that shall not be seen" - in mission to help the assassination of a terrorist Palestinian activist. In order to tempt him to go to Limassol - Cyprus' second city and a good summer destination for many Israelis - he's befriending Daphna, a beautiful lady with a drug-addicted son, whose best friend, the dying Palestinian Hani is the father of the terrorist. He addressed Daphna as a beginner writer, trying to get professional advice for advancing a story about a Jewish trader of etrog and step-by-step he's helping her to bring the son back from a drug resort in Caesarea and is helping Hani to be treated at a good hospital outside Gaza. In parallel, his personal life is succombing - his wife's decision to move to Boston with her job is the beginning of their separation - and his professional life is going under a high improbability, after failing to the mission of interrogating Palestinians suspects of terrorist connections, confessing that: "I'm also turning into a butcher. I don't have time any more to be sophisticated swith them. You've got to work with force from the first moment".

From time to time, we are introduced to the moral and personal dilemma of our hero: between family and profession, between profession and friendship, between duty and human sensibilities. Such questions are normal and understandable and most likely to be encoutered in the real life. When we are talking intelligence it prevails the survival of the fittest.

The future of the Jewish media?

About the chances of survival of the "Global News Agency of the Jewish People" and other challenges of the Jewish media. On the other hand, one important part of the "Jewish media" nowadays is represented by social media and the so many blogs dealing with almost every possible issue. Some of them are professionally written and offering interesting perspectives, with the potential of creating opinions and influencing decision makers.

Book Review: Once upon a shtetl

The world of shtetl is becoming more and more an issue we find rather in the old stories than in the real life. The older inhabitants are disappearing one by one and sooner or later everything will be only history in the page of the books.

Testimonies as those collected by Chaim Shapiro represent a passionate journey through the world of shtetls. Without pretending to be a work of high academic value, we are transmitted important information of anthropological, cultural and historical value: the daily life, the cultural and educational institutions, the social structure and stratifications, the old histories and traditions. Through the pictures we can imagine the limits and the daily life in those communities.

A world quietly destroyed by wars and pogroms and by Shoah, but not completely erased from memory as long as we have books and testimonies reminding us - or at least some of us - from where are we coming from.

Two Israeli universities in the top 200 QS World University Rankings

This is a very good news: a small country fighting on various fronts and with a significant brain drain is represented with the two most important universities in the Top 200 QS World Universities. Hebrew University of Jerusalem is on position 123 and Tel Aviv University on 173, in the neighborhood of top names in the world of education as University of Cambridge, Harvard University, Massachisetts Institute of Technology, Princeton or John Hopkins University to name only a few. The QS World University Rankings are a ranking of world's top 500 universities, using per review data collected from 15,050 scholars and academics.

On Net, Virtual Mayors Stake Claim to Famed Jewish Spots – Forward.com

On Net, Virtual Mayors Stake Claim to Famed Jewish Spots – Forward.com

More Israelis Choose Religious Schools - Jewish World - News - Israel National News

More Israelis Choose Religious Schools - Jewish World - News - Israel National News

40 Israelis detained, questioned ... JPost - Diplomacy & Politics

Turkey's new style diplomacy: 40 Israelis detained, questioned ... JPost - Diplomacy & Politics

I was surprised to see this summer adds on buses in Tel Aviv and elsewhere offering holidays trips - at very low prices - in Turkey. The Turkish Airlines office in Tel Aviv was deserted but many Israelis continued to find Antalya and Istanbul. A very small groups of Jews are living nowadays in Turkey where the Jewish tradition is longer than the reign of Erdogans and his fellows.

Traditions of the selichot

The sense and history

Basic questions and answers

The Chabad perspective and the prayers

Selichot for iPhone

Jewish Studies in Decline?

An insight of the situation in Israel and America.

Book review: Running away the temptation: The Fugitive

Published in 1904 by Ezra Brudno, whose great great father studied with the Gaon of Vilna, The Fugitive could be considered a good study of the influence of Haskala (translated here as "culture") in literature, or a sociological testimony or a pro-assimilation pledge. Otherwise - or because of the aforementioned traits - the literary value is very limited. After the first 100 pages of the book you easily realize that the whole construction is aimed to reach a lecturing ending: life is possible also outside the shtetl.

Israel - a name symbolic for the whole community - is condemned to wonder from a place (the Russia of pogroms) to another (till America) and from a country to another after his father was accused on Pesah - the celebration of the freedom - of the blood label. From the cruel world of the yeshivas - from where he is expelled after being found reading Spinoza - to the bloody reality of the pogroms and the hard work of the immigrant in the United States, Israel will be driven by his love for the Christian woman and the final meditation about the equal indifference against all religions. At the end of his long and adventurous sentimental journey, he will achieve what her lover ask him to do when he was a poor orphan: to achieve the same intellectual status with writers as Pushkin or Lermontov. The whole story is written at the first person as a way probably to create the image of more authenticity.

Although it was written before Shoah, the ending is echoing in our 21st century ears the saying of Elie Wiesel according to which the children of the criminals aren't criminals. At the end, Israel will marry the daughter of the man directly involved in the murder of his father. Symbolically, Israel accepts the communion with those who murdered his community. The symbolism is relatively cheap and our hero doesn't develop too much about his choice(s), although given his exposure to Haskala and modern literature and philosophy, more tension and complex thinking would have enriched the story.

Reading recommendation: only if you are a lot of free time, you are working permanently to improve your English and writing skills and experience.

Book review: The rise of David Levinsky

David Levinsky is a young and talented orphan Talmud student escaping an Eastern Europe tormented by pogroms and hate. Lucky enough to find a benefactor (a young lady from an "enlightened" Jewish family called Mathilda) to give him the money helping him to touch upon the American dream from the native and aggressive Antomir.

The long years of study dedicated to the Torah helped him to adjust relatively fast to the language and the customs. Add to this a relative easiness in fully respecting ethical rules and you will have at the end of the day a successful business career, where the fat bank account matters and loneliness is the only friend left.

You will find in this book a lot of sociological insights regarding the generations of Jewish immigrants in America: you will find descriptions about the transmission of tradition from a generation to another, the relations between the German and Russian Jews, the booming business of real estate in Brooklyn, the increase of socialist ideas in the Jewish communities from the US. The story in itself is entertaining, with a bit of suspense and tension, focused mostly on the autobiographical account. The influences could be both from social authors as Dickens as from the Russian literature of Tolstoi and Gogol.

The author himself, Abraham Cahan, could be considered an example of success story in America and maybe some of the traits of Levinsky are shared from his own experience as a successful first editor-in-chief of Forverts. At the end of a full life, with outstanding professional achievements in the clothing industry - but a failed academic journey, Levinsky is longing after the "David, the poor lad swingering over a Talmud volume at the Preacher's Synagogue".

In comparison with other characters of the novels dealing with Jewish immigrants in America, Levinsky isn't tempted to baptize although his practice of Judaism is becoming almost symbolical. He is looking - from time to time - for a Jewish wife and will offer free day to his workers on Sabbath, and will always remember the yahrzeit of his mother - killed by mushiks in Antomir after an altercation with those who were aggressive against David - but the joy of the mitzvot left him.

What I liked very much about this book - in addition to the sociological background, is the realism of the character. I met many David Levinsky in America: some of them looking for a better economic achievements, for fun or for something else than what they called a boring life in a small country. Some realized that they could be the next Levinskis and returned, others are still looking for their luck, maybe in Beverly Hills. In comparison with the poor orphan Levinsky, they have more than a foggy Antomir.