The parable of the forest, the fire and the prayer

"When the great Rabbi Israel Baal Shem-Tov saw misfortune threatening the Jews it was his custom to go into a certain part of the forest to meditate. There he would light a fire, say a special prayer, and the miracle would be accomplished and the misfortune averted.

Later, when his disciple, the celebrated Magid of Mezritch, had occasion, for the same reason, to intercede with heaven, he would go to the same place in the forest and say: "Master of the Universe, listen! I do not know how to light the fire, but I am still able to say the prayer." And again the miracle would be accomplished.

Still later, Rabbi Moshe-Leib of Sasov, in order to save his people once more, would go into the forest and say: "I do not know how to light the fire, I do not know the prayer, but I know the place and this must be sufficient." It was sufficient and the miracle was accomplished.

Then it fell to Rabbi Israel of Rizhyn to overcome misfortune. Sitting in his armchair, his head in his hands, he spoke to G-d: "I am unable to light the fire and I do not know the prayer; I cannot even find the place in the forest. All I can do is to tell the story, and this must be sufficient." And it was sufficient.

G-d made man because he loves stories".

Elie Wiesel, Prologue to The Gates of the Forest.

Thoughts before Elul

Image via Wikipedia//Time to think about the past and the future

Tonight we are entering the last month of the Jewish year, Elul, a month of evaluation, consideration, teshuva but also joy.

Life is always with ups and downs, tears and smiles. Happiness and unhappiness aren't permanent status and we are lucky enough to be able to alternate and becoming wise enough to find the proper solutions for sometimes difficult problems.

Recently, I was faced with a complicate situation: I found out that somebody very close to my heart did something wrong and I went extremely angry - without being disappointed. Crying and making a scene are not a solution but on the spot I didn't see any other easy possibilities for overcoming this difficult situation without a direct effect on me. Fortunately enough, I was alone without the possibility to contact the person for the next hours. I decided to make a big mug of coffee, watch a movie (a bit strange, but dark enough to annihilate my dark thoughts), think about the lunch, go to the library to pick up new books. I got some fresh air, saw different persons and the tension was decreasing.

This change of ambiance helped me to take a decision: I should tell the person that I know about the whole incident because I need to prevent a repetition. I have to create a very relaxed and neutral narrative, outlining the hilarious aspects - not lecturing but making a terrible fun of the attitude, actors and other aspects. I am talking about a person with a simple sense of humour for whom my opinion matters a lot and who will never do something to hurt me. With a smiling face and a sweet voice, we had a wonderful and relaxed dialogue about human mistakes without openly recognizing the mistakes or accusing each other - one persons knows too much, the other is too naive. The whole setting worked admirably, although at the end of the experiment I was feeling extremely exhausted psychically because of the pressure of finding the best diplomatic solution without creating tensions or conflict.

And this could be a good beginning for thinking about life, relationships and human appreciation.

Chodesh tov!

Journalists are fired, don't they?

Image via Wikipedia//Protest for Gilad Shalit

Social media and blogging challenged seriously journalism in the last years, but when it comes to professionals, rules didn't change too much. We still need to respect the rule of - at least - three sources, the accuracy and balance of affirmations, the separation between opinion and facts.

Although "thanks" to citizen journalism anyone with a computer and basic literacy can produce information worthy to be called news, a journalist is professionally qualified to publish the articles for the use of the public opinion. As an authorized source of information, he or she can turn into an opinion maker influencing the power brokers and the decisions of the readers or listeners.

The conflict from the Middle East is a considerable source of inflammatory opinions displayed on blogs, newspapers or anonymously, on the Internet forums dealing with the situation from the region. One latest example is Larry Derfner, senior reporter for the Jerusalem Post, who together with Richard Silverstein are writing a blog called Israel Reconsidered. Following the Palestinian attacks in recent weeks, killing eight civilians, Derfner wrote a blog post - later removed - where he expressed the opinion that "they have the right to use terrorism against us", because of the "occupation". And as a victory of the normality, he got fired by JPost. In an apology published on his blog, Derfner is trying to explain his words, as in fact the failure to go beyond the partisanship need any further translation of such an obvious Hamas-like discourse.

Long time ago, after reading and watching the news about terrorist attacks I was waiting for an insightful explanation and analysis from the part of the left: what kind a state could be offered by such terrorist organizations - for example, what kind of diplomats will a Hamas-led statehood will provide etc. Many of them simply prefer to be silent instead of condemning the terror. After the latest attacks from Eilat I heard the idiotic "explanation" that they attacked the bus because they "knew" that must be soldiers in not because they have something against peaceful civilians (and, by the way, in those buses are travelling fellow Arabs too because in Israel they are allowed to do so). Probably they wanted to kidnap some of them, as they did with Gilad Shalit captured for six years by the Hamas terrorists and lacking any proper human conditions. (Derfner and the others from his camp didn't use the same aggressivity to defend the fate of Gilad.) Gaza is occupied by Hamas who's killing other fellows Palestinians and brainwash them to kill other fellow humans.

Left or righ, deeply self-hating or in a friendly relationship with themselves and their past and present, journalist should tell the truth. And by excusing criminals and killers they offer the dimension of the denial. Sometimes it's so sad...

Jerusalem by light rail

The next time I am in Jerusalem I can't wait to go with the light rail and one of the main reason is that I never had enough time to see the whole area from the West - Mount Herzl - to the East - including the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Hanina and Shuafat.

Before starting to write the article I read a lot of news and information and media reports following the public inauguration of the line, two weeks ago - on August 18, following the terrorist attacks from Eilat. I found the arguments that in this way Israel is outlining its "right" over East Jerusalem - no need to outline anything - but also the high dangers of terrorists attacks - security measures were tested several times in advance and security personnel was provided at each station and inside each car.

Theoretically, the distance from one end to another should take 42 minutes, but during the first days, it took around 65 minutes. The tram was on trial for almost eight month: a modern machine through the old buildings from Jaffa street, running empty - with the exception of some VIPs visiting Jerusalem invited to take a ride - almost every 10 minutes. Actually, when I arrived in the city after a couple of months of absence, it took me a couple of trams to realize that waiting for the ride could be a matter of months.

The operations took a long time: the plans were disclosed in 1995, when Ehud Olmert was mayor. Optimistically, he announced that the city will enjoy the pleasures of the light train in five years. But meanwhile, there were some technical, political and religious problems delaying the advancement in the desired pace. The costs increased - but also the prices of the properties situated across the rail line - including the Arab properties - and the discovery of an ancient bath house and of a monastery from the 6th century imposed modifications of the original plans.

After the inauguration day, there were several problems still creating difficulties: the ticketing system (operated by the French company Alstom), the stoplight programming system and the communications system. But during the first day of operation, Orthodox and Secular Jews, Arabs and Jews, tourists and locals, all together hurried to see how it works.

And, at the end of the day it will be an occasion to better know and understand each other.

Optimism was never my strong point, but probably it's the influence of the coming month of Elul.

Browsing my bookshelf

In my busy life, books are playing always one of the most important role. Reading all the time is my dreamlife and sometimes I have the feeling that I am living my dreams. Mostly in the last weeks, I had the time and the energy to read a lot of good - or not so good - books.

Following, is the latest selection - from the last Thursday on:

For a long time I wanted to find out more about the Bulgarian Jews and to go into details regarding the attitude of the Bulgarian majority during World War II. Years ago, I visited Rusciuk, Elias Canetti's hometown, but there were no traces of Jewish life and I didn't find Jewish memories in the city of Sofia. Thus, I was curious to read Michal Bar-Zohar's (himself a Bulgarian Jew) book. Beyond a deep sense of pride of and loyalty to the Bulgarian origin, I discovered an interesting story. The sentimental bias is diminishing considerably the academic value of the book. The Bulgarian Jews were saved in 1943 by being send to death, but 12,000 Jews from Thracia and Macedonia, territories added to Bulgaria as a consequence for the good behavior towards Germany were not spared. As in many other places, anti-semitism pervaded the Bulgarian establishment, but in comparison with other countries from the region, there were more individuals keen to help the Jews. There were humiliations and racial laws and discrimination and rightist political parties, but the population - and some institution as it was the case of the Bulgarian church - didn't acquiesce with the general policies. As a first contact, the book was interesting and I should continue probably further researches and lectures on this issue.

My latest lectures put also a new subject on the research list: the Jewish life in Albania, after reading an Albanian-English book dedicated to this subject. The English version is unbearable and confusing and the critical balance is completely lacking. But at least it opened some windows into my mind as I never thought about Jewish life in Albania and I don't have an answer why. The book could be interesting for researchers in Holocaust studies, as is providing an extensive list of people who helped Jews during the fascist occupation. As in the Bulgarian case, we are told that Albania "was the only country in Europe where Jewish population increased during the war", a statement I should check. Some of the many things I didn't know about Albania is that it is supposed that Sabbatai Zvi's tomb is located on the territory of nowadays Albania. Or that at the beginning of the 20th century, in Kosova/Kosovo there were more than 3,000 Jews. This is an advantage though in reading bad written books, isn't it?

The other book I had on my desk addressed an issue I am familiar with and had the occasion to discuss several times, including "on the ground": Jewish life in China. The book is covering the communities created in Harbin, Shanghai and Tientsin, many created by Russian Jews refugees from the pogrom-torned Russia, but also by Jews who moved from Iraq (as the Sassoon family) or India in the 19th century. Before and during the WWII, they created strong communities, with cultural and religious centers, including a branch of the Betar Youth Movement, counting among founders Mordechai Olmert, the father of Ehud Olmert. Connected with Europe only through the immigrants escaping the terror, the Jews from China and Asia in general, weren't affected directly by the war, but continued to keep their hearts for Israel where many of them moved before and after the creation of the state. And the traces of this presence continue to be seen nowadays in a big city as Shanghai.

I don't know how many studies were made regarding the adaptation of the Asian Jews to the daily Israeli life, but the topic of Russian/Soviet immigration continue to represent a matter of concern and curiosity. Through extensive interviews and ground research, Allan S. Galper is trying to understand and describe the challenges undertook by the immigrants from the Russian-speaking space. Deciding to move mostly for economic reason than for identity needs, many faced cultural dislocation and identity crisis. Many returned to Europe or moved to the United States, but there were also a couple of them who continued to live there and succeeded. The end of the Cold War changed significantly the motivational structure of the aliya waves and I am sure that more and more people are taking the decision of moving to Israel following the wise conclusion that Israel is the only country of the Jewish people.

A bon entendeur, salut!

Bringing the many faces of Judaism to Israel - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Bringing the many faces of Judaism to Israel - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Good signs for the Jewish life in Croatia

Little by little, from a person to another, the personal example is very important for making a difference and creating leadership. Very often, we know a lot about the past, but nothing about the present and the future. I don't know too much about the present of the Croatian Jewish community, but this article gave me the hope that the Jews there have a future.

Mission statement

As in the last days and weeks I reached a certain level of coherence and regularity in my writing, despite a very busy schedule, it is about time to clarify a couple of things about this modest blog.

Shortly, as I am running out of time and should prepare other posts:

You will find here as many as possible information about Jewish life:

- book reviews, more or less recent history, galut and aliyah, Israel and its enemies, customs and modernity, photo-blogging and travel features, learning and studying.

I don't (want to) have one and only issue to address and although the level of diversity might be high, this is the usual pace I am used with.

What you will not find here:

- gossips (is harder to give up lashon hara than smoking) and self-hate, intellectual considerations only to show off and drop names, very personal stories about what my kids and husband and relatives and etc. are doing every day - if they really want to they should open their own blog, appreciations about "mirror mirror on the wall who's the most observant from the Western Wall".

Most probably a version in Hebrew will be available soon.

Oh, and maybe I should work a bit on a design lifting, but shavua haba'a.

The rabbi who didn't save any Torah

Rabbi Menachem Youlus was arrested for fraud and accused of fabricating stories about saving Torah scrolls from communist countries.

I am very curious to find out more about this story. It is embarassing, indeed, but we need to understand the reasons behind such a hoax.

A political comeback for Aryeh Deri?

I watched in the last two months lots of discussion in the French-speaking media from Israel about the risks and advantages of the political comeback of Aryeh Deri. Charismatic, young, highly appreciated in the Moroccan environments and supported by Rav Ovadia Yosef and accordingly, benefiting of a large support of the Sephardim. He took bribes 155,000$ worth as minister of Interior, but many would say that in comparison with other corrupt politicians he went into prison and paid for this.

Accepted or not, loved or hated, Deri will continue to play an important role in the Israeli politics in the coming months. Some even say that he could be the only one that could topple Bibi and offer an alternative to Tzipi. Wait and see.

Social movements in Israel in the 1980s

From a generation to another, if we don't read we would think that we invented everything. Although we have Internet and other fancy communication tools our hunger for reading or having enough information for proper conclusions is at the same low level.

When I watched the protests in Israel extensively covered in the media of all colors and languages I wanted to find out more about how everything started. Or if it is a model of action to rely upon. And I found some of the answers in a book - as usual - fully dedicated to the urban social movements in Israel.

In the year 2011, people were asking the state to give them the chance to have a decent housing and low costs of living. A justified demand, given the outrageous sometimes prices you must pay for rents, the food, schooling, mostly in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. But, of course, on the other hand, unless you don't want living in a tent until the next elections - if some political parties used the opportunity to advertise themselves is normal, but don't take us for naives - you should realize that such issues can't be solved from a week to another.

In the 1980s, in Jerusalem, the protests were rooted in ethnic and social disparities (pp.10-11), deepened after the 1967 unification of the city. Youngsters of Mizrahi and Sephardi background reunited in movements as the Black Panters, Dai, Shahak or Tsalash asking the state to solve their problems. I think their demands were more realistic than the demands of the current protesters. At the time, the social structures weren't yet set and the mobility continued to be high. Nowadays, it's becoming more difficult to challenge the order already set. But not impossible, of course, on the long term.

Now, the underpriviledged were mostly students and youngsters at the beginning of their professional life. In the 1980s, there were the olim all over the world, but mostly from the Middle East, struggling against the predominantly Askenazim establishment, some of them with certified criminal record. Decades after, they were followed by the strong waves of olim from the Soviet Union and the Ethiopians. Thinking about those waves, I can't stop smiling when thinking about the new olim: moving to Israel because they want to, with a good economic status (among others, affording to buy a house for 2 million euro) and making aliyah because they want to, not because they are forced to. And this is very good.

In the 1980s, at the end of the protest period some of the participants decided to enter politics. Maybe some of the current protesters (I know they were evacuated from their tents - a way of protest used also in the 1980s) will join political parties too. Otherwise, living on the street could be fancy, but not with significant results.

I am curious what will be next and what's the next turn of the social struggle in Israel.

On Teshuva process

According to Rabbi Soloveitchik, teshuva:

"It is a precept whose essence is not in the performance of certain acts or deeds, but rather in a process that at times extends over a whole lifetime, a process that begins with remorse, with a sense of guilt, with man's increasing awareness that there is no purpose to his life, with a feeling of isolation, of being lost and adrift in a vacuum, of spiritual bankruptcy, of frustration and failure - and the road one travels is very long, until the goal of repetance is actually achieved. Repentance is not a function of single, decisive act, but grows and gains in size slowly and gradually, until the pertinent undergoes a complete metamorphosis, after becoming a new person, and only then, does repetance take place".

The tax on Shabbat candles

This tax was introduced by the Austrian authorities in 1797 in Galicia stating that "every Jewish woman was required to pay the candle tax of 10 kreutzees (...) before the Shabbat began, whether or not she had any money to buy candles".

In order to secure the application of the law, "agents of the Jewish leaseholder would enter homes on Shabbat eve to check who paid and who had not, and if the homeowners could not present a receipt for payment of the tax (...) agents would extinguish the candles".

Source: Israel Bartal, The Jews of Eastern Europe 1772-1881, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005

History of Jewish communities: Pale of Settlement

History Crash Course: Pale of Settlement, via Aish

Counting the rockets

Over hundred rockets were hit into Southern Israel from Gaza in the last three days. A man was killed, many injured. They are hitting schools, synagogues, public spaces. The rockets are continue to fall. I rhetorically wonder ever and ever again: how will US or France or Germany react when faced with this daily reality - because we don't have to forget Sderot where rockets are part of the "normality"? Would they apologize and be sorry for defending their citizens?

Egypt is pressing Israel to apologize and apologize and investigate the death of five security personnel. The fact that Egypt wasn't able to defend its borders and to prevent the infiltration of terrorist isn't a reality deem of the high attention of the media and its analysts of all colors. Another strange thing happened at the UN, where the Security Council failed to condemn the attack from Eilat because the proud member Lebanon who's almost a feud of the Iran-sponsored Hizbollah opposed.

There are many questions to be asked, of course. One regards the famous almost invisible Hasbara. But I'm afraid that now it's too late. You can't build in times of crisis but to use the symbolic resources built in between crisis. It was a well-known reality that close to September and there after we should expect various difficult situations and attacks of all sorts. It wasn't any surprise at all. A surprise would be a unite and coherent answer from the mishpacha. Now, I couldn't care less who did you vote with at the last elections, where are you coming from, how many books did you read or if you are secular or religious. It's more important to act together and nothing else.

The good news from the South is that the Eilat Red Sea International Jazz Festival will be held as scheduled, although some artists cancelled their presence. Somehow, we can dream about a certain normality.

In the North, business as usual, for the moment. People are going out, enjoying the life and falling in love.

Lectures for Shabbat: Chumash

Image via Wikipedia//Sefer Torah scrolls

The word "chumash" (חומש) comes from the Hebrew word meaning five (Hamesh), and refers to the five books of the Torah. Sometimes, a chumash is simply refers to a collection of the five books of the Torah, but according to the daily practice, it contains the entire first five books, divided up by the weekly parshiyot, with the haftarah portion inserted after each week's parshah. A more formal term is Ḥamishah Ḥumshei Torah, "five fifths of the Law".

In early scribal practice there was a distinction between a Sefer Torah, containing the entire Pentateuch on a parchment scroll, and a copy of one of the five books on its own, which was generally bound in codex form, like a modern book, and had a lesser degree of sanctity.

In the legal codes, such as Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, it is laid down that any copy of the Pentateuch which does not comply with the strict rules for a Sefer Torah, for example because it is not a parchment scroll or contains vowel signs, has only the same sanctity as a copy of an individual book (ḥomesh). In this way, the word ḥomesh (or ḥumash) came to have the extended sense of any copy of the Pentateuch other than a Sefer Torah.

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Our home

I didn't want to talk too much about what everybody it's expecting to happen in September, when various Arab groups and factions in and outside Israel warned they would proclaim a "Palestinian state". I was extensively trying to figure out how this so-called state will look like, what the political parties will be, the ruling elites, the educational plans, the diplomatic representatives, the budget and how the money will be used (maybe for roads, schools, education). I watched years ago how new states in former Yugoslavia, for instance, were created and how difficult is to create functional states although it was provided the local infrastructure.

Nothing by far in this particular case. Instead, the "leaders" (read it the supporters of various degrees of terrorism) are preaching terror and accusing Israel of their incapacity and, why not, to but it bluntly, idiocy.

Yesterday, they fully showed what they are offering to the world: terror, by killing innocent people - children and civilians - by using all their energies to plan terrorist attacks (dear CNN or WSJ or BBC, there were terrorist without brackets and not militants or other names you called those murders, ok?).

I watched for a while the comments on the online forums: people with various mental troubles and basic education, but free access to Internet, puke their hate against Jews and Israel. Isn't something new and it is how many people are thinking in private. They chew and chew and chew the same nonsensical propagandistic messages refusing to think.

We don't have to expect too much, but to be sure that the perpetrators of all the attacks of the last days will pay the highest price. Yesterday, shortly after the news of the attacks was on air, I've been asked "what's going on there?" I answer calmly that NYC or LA or London could be as or more dangerous than the state of Israel, but that in that case I trust that the situation will be under control and will not last too long.

And if this is how they will prepare to launch their "state", I am convinced that sooner or later the world will realize how fake do they are and how dangerous is to continue supporting them. And how much they depend of their sponsors - Iran and Syria among others - for playing the permanent tension against Israel. I wish that the fine intellectuals crying for the fate of the 5 stars hotels in Gaza will wake up to the reality realizing that the Palestinians aren't welcomed in any other country but in Israel where they could work and go to school and benefit of medical treatment.

Through history, we learned how to remain united and stronger. After the lessons of Tisha B'Av is time to forgot what divide us and be united. The fundings and sponsorships will always be limited, we can't live only with hating each other and we need to reflect upon who we are. And to hurry up going back home. It's about time.

Read also:

Haarets - Palestinians ultimate goal is to make Israel disappear

Judith Levy - The day two of the new war

The Hebron Massacre of 1929

Image via Wikipedia//The Maghen David reminding the Jewish victims in Hebron

On the night of 17 Av (23 August), the apparent peace between the 800 Jews of Hebron and their tens of thousands of Arab neighbors ended and after three days of confrontations 67 Jews were killed and the survivors relocated to Jerusalem. After the pogrom, the historical city hosting the Cave of the Patriarchs – where the Jews weren’t allowed to pray – was left without the Jews. The tragic event intervened in the context of a series of confrontations between Arabs and Jews, many instigated by the mufti in Jerusalem - who claimed that Jews were endangering Muslim holy sites on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem - and other religious leaders. The tragedy is known as Tarpat, an acronym for its date in the Hebrew calendar.

According to the tradition, in Hebron, Abraham purchased the cave of Machpelah to bury Sarah. It was the first parcel of land owned by the Jewish people in their promised land. Ever since, religious Jews revered Hebron as the burial site of their matriarchs and patriarchs. Conquered, massacred and expelled over the centuries, Jews always returned to this sacred place. After 1267, under Muslim rule, no Jews were permitted to pray inside the magnificent enclosure, built by King Herod in the 1st century, that still surrounds the burial caves. But following the expulsion of Jews from Spain at the end of the 15th century, a small group of religious Jews rebuilt a community of study and prayer in Hebron.

Jewish immigrants, many of them Askenazim, were arriving in Palestine and were considered a threat for the Arab communities. Sephardi Jewish community in Hebron had lived quietly with its Arab neighbors for centuries. In 1925, the Slobodka Yeshiva, officially the Yeshiva of Hebron was opened. Yeshiva students lived separately from the Sephardi community, and from the Arab population. Due to this isolation, the Arabs viewed them with suspicion and hatred, and identified them as Zionist immigrants. Despite the general suspicion, however, one yeshiva student, Dov Cohen, still recalled being on "very good" terms with the Arab neighbors. He remembered yeshiva boys taking long walks late at night on the outskirts of the city, and not feeling afraid, even though only one British policeman guarded the entire city.

On a Friday, before Shabbat, Arab youths started throwing rocks at the yeshiva students, the first victim being Shmuel Rosenholtz on his road to the yeshiva. Friday night, Rabbi Ya’acov Slonim’s son invited any fearful Jews to stay in his house. The rabbi was highly regarded in the community, and he had a gun. Many Jews took him up on this offer, and many Jews were eventually murdered there. As early as 8:00 a.m. on Shabbat, Arabs began to gather en masse. They came in mobs, armed with clubs, knives and axes. While the women and children threw stones, the men ransacked Jewish houses and destroyed Jewish property. With only a single police officer in Hebron, the Arabs entered Jewish courtyards with no opposition.

Rabbi Slonim, who had tried to shelter the Jewish population, was approached by the rioters and offered a deal. If all the Ashkenazi yeshiva students were given over to the Arabs, the rioters would spare the lives of the Sephardi community. Rabbi Slonim refused to turn over the students and was killed on the spot. In the end, 12 Sephardi Jews and 55 Ashkenazi Jews were murdered.

A few Arabs did try to help the Jews. Nineteen Arab families saved dozens, maybe even hundreds of Jews. Zmira Mani wrote about an Arab named Abu Id Zaitoun who brought his brother and son to rescue her and her family. The Arab family protected the Manis with their swords, hid them in a cellar along with other Jews who they had saved, and found a policeman to escort them safely to the police station at Beit Romano.

The police station turned into a shelter for the Jews that morning of 18 Av. It also became a synagogue as the Orthodox Jews gathered there and said their morning prayers. As they finished praying, they began to hear noises outside the building. Thousands of Arabs descended from Har Hebron, shouting "Kill the Jews!" in Arabic. They even tried to break down the doors of the station.

The Jews were besieged in Beit Romano for three days. Each night, ten men were allowed to leave to attend a funeral in Hebron’s ancient Jewish cemetery for the murdered Jews of the day. Teenage girls, their mothers and grandmothers were raped and killed. Rabbis and their students were castrated before they were slain. A surviving yeshiva student recounted that he "had seen greater horrors than Dante in hell." The butchery in Hebron, Zionist and religious officials alleged, was "without equal in the history of the country since the destruction of the Temple." Sir Walter Shaw, chairman of an exhaustive British royal investigation, concluded that "unspeakable atrocities" had occurred.

When the massacre finally ended, the surviving Jews - 484 survivors, including 153 children - were forced to leave their home city and resettled in Jerusalem. A couple of days later, in Safed – one of Judaism four holy cities, together with Jerusalem, Hebron and Tiberias - another massacre took place, with 18 Jews killed and 80 wounded. The events prompted the need for the creation of a Jewish defense force, and shortly after it was created the paramilitary organisaiton of Haganah, the nucleus of the Israel Defense Force.

Some Jewish families tried to move back to Hebron, but were removed by the British authorities in 1936 at the start of the Arab revolt. In 1948, the War of Independence granted Israel statehood, but further cut the Jews off from Hebron, a city that was captured by King Abdullah's Arab Legion and ultimately annexed to Jordan.

When Jews finally gained control of the city in 1967, a small number of massacre survivors again tried to reclaim their old houses. Then defense minister Moshe Dayan supposedly told the survivors that if they returned, they would be arrested, and that they should be patient while the government worked out a solution to get their houses back. Years later, settlers moved to parts of Hebron without the permission of the government, but for those massacre survivors still seeking their original homes, that solution never came.

Sources: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/hebron29.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203946904574300241762121888.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8AjYHgSquU

A Woman called Golda

If you would ask me which is my first ever model of woman politician I heard about and found inspiring the answer will be: Golda Meir. If you ask me now, after many years of observing, reading and thinking by myself the first answer continue to be Golda Meir, definitely when it is about the Israeli political scene.

The book dedicated to her by Elinor Burkett reminded me of anything I liked and appreciated about Golda Meir. Although not a critical approach and not a monumental academic piece (the lack of a serious section of bibliographical references is notes is frustrating sometimes) - I was curious to find some serious critical analysis, but my curiosity wasn't satisfied - the book is a fair account of the life of one of the most important woman who contributed at the creation of Erez Israel. First and foremost, by her stubborn decision to leave the relatively calm America for almost nothing. Growing up in the Russia of the pogroms she continued her evolution in the United States (she is quoted - p.25 - as saying: "The America that I knew was a place that a men could ride on a horse to protect marching workers; the Russia I knew was a place that men on horses butchered Jews and young socialists") and dedicated her life to Israel. With an impossible family life and without high education credentials, she was a person of action, the first woman Foreign Minister and higher-profiled politician in the aftermath of the WWII, sometimes difficult, sometimes weeping, but always dedicated to her country. Speaking her mind, fighting loneliness, making humanly political mistakes, but hardly giving up. It is how the country was built.

A popular politician beyond Israel's borders, she was played by Ingrid Bergman (her last movie) in the TV series "A woman called Golda" released at the beginning of 80s. I wasn't very convinced of Bergman's play - showing maybe too much weakness in some situations - and in many fragments I felt as there were full quotes from the book. As the book, isn't too much criticism, but is interesting to observe the appreciation Golda Meir enjoyed for being the character of a movie aimed for wide distribution outside Israel.

Thinking at all those moving back to Israel those days, this quote from Golda's letters (p.48) might give the dimension of a new phenomenon: "We don't know what will it be, but there is only one way. Whoever calls himself a Zionist and hasn't found comfort in his soul in exile must immigrate to the land of Israel...Of course, this is not America, and one may have to suffer a lot economically. There may even be pogroms again, but if one wants one's own land, and if one wants it with one's whole heart, one must be ready for this".

Who will be the next Golda?

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What is a Parashah?

Image via Wikipedia//Torah scroll

A parashah (פָּרָשָׁה "portion," plural: parashot or parashiyyot) formally means a section of a biblical book in the Masoretic text of the Tanakh. In the Masoretic text, parashah sections are designated by various types of spacing between them, as found in Torah scrolls, scrolls of the books of Nevi'im or Ketuvim (especially megillot), Masoretic codices from the Middle Ages and printed editions of the Masoretic text.

The division of the text into parashot is independent of chapter and verse numbers, which are not part of the Masoretic tradition. Parashot are not numbered, but some have special titles. According to Maimonides Laws of Tefillin, Mezuzah and Torah Scrolls 10:1), incorrect division of the text into parashot, either by indicating a parashah in the wrong place or by using the wrong spacing technique, halakhically invalidates a Torah scroll according to Maimonides.

The division of parashot found in the modern-day Torah scrolls of all Jewish communities (Ashkenazic, Sephardic, and Yemenite) is based upon the systematic list provided by Maimonides in Mishneh Torah, Laws of Tefillin, Mezuzah and Torah Scrolls, chapter 8. Maimonides based his division of the parashot for the Torah on the Aleppo Codex - http://www.aleppocodex.org/.

The order

A parashah break creates a textual pause, roughly analogous to a modern paragraph break. Such a pause usually has one of the following purposes:

- In most cases, a new parashah begins where a new topic or a new thought is clearly indicated in the text.

- In many places, however, the parashah divisions are used even in places where it is clear that no new topic begins, in order to highlight a special verse by creating a textual pause before it or after it (or both).

- A special example of #2 is for lists: The individual elements in many biblical lists are separated by parashah spacing of one type or another.

- To decide exactly where a new topic or thought begins within a biblical text involves a degree of subjectivity on the part of the reader. This subjective element may help explain differences amongst the various masoretic codices in some details of the section divisions (however, their degree of conformity is high). It may also sometimes explain why certain verses that might seem like introductions to a new topic lack a section division, or why such divisions appear in places where no new topic is indicated.

In most modern Torah scrolls and Jewish editions of the Tanakh, there are two types of parashot: "open portion" (parashah petuhah), often abbreviated with the Hebrew letter "פ" (respectively “P”, in English) – roughly similar to a modern paragraph - and a "closed portion" (parashah setumah), abbreviated with the Hebrew letter "ס" (samekh), respectively “S”, in English. A "closed portion” leaves a space in the middle of the line of text, where the previous portion ends before the space, and the next portion starts after it, towards the end of the line of text.

When a section of the Torah is read in public from a scroll as part of the synagogue service, the sections are often divided in ways that take the parashah divisions into account, but there is no hard and fast rule for this.

One basic halakhic rule for public reading is that no fewer than three verses at a time be read. As a corollary to this, there is a specific rule regarding parashot: One may not leave off reading less than three verses before the end of a parashah, nor may one end off reading by starting a new parashah but leaving off less than three verses from its beginning.

The sections from Nevi'im that are read as haftarot are based on custom. At times, some of these customs choose the exact beginning or end of a haftarah because it coincides with a parashah division.

What is Masorah

It refers to the system of critical notes on the external form of the Tanakh. This system of notes represents the literary labors of innumerable scholars, of which the beginning falls probably in pre-Maccabean times and the end reaches to the year 1425. The language of the Masoretic notes is partly Hebrew and partly Aramaic and it took centuries to produce a tolerable uniformity among all the circulating copies. The history of the Masorah may be divided into three periods: (1) creative period, from its beginning to the introduction of vowel-signs; (2) reproductive period, from the introduction of vowel-signs to the printing of the Masorah (1425); (3) critical period, from 1425 to the present time.

Sources:

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=246&letter=M

Tu B'Av

A very short history of the celebration and an inspiring video about finding your soul mate. For those who already did it, today could be a day to rediscover and appreciate what we are given.

Book Review: A new interpretation of Affaire Dreyfus

In a very stereotypical way, we - me included - use to consider Dreyfus' affair as the birth of the public intellectual, with doves on the one side, definitely against Anti-Semitism and any kind of obscurantism, and the black sheep - the representatives of the conservative and clerical mainstream condemning cpt. Dreyfus.

Ruth Harris, in his exhaustively documented book The Man on Devil's Island: Alfred Dreyfus and the affair that divided France is admirabily broking those myths, offering a nuanced picture of the intellectual ambiance of the France of the time. "During the Affair, intellectuals and anti-intellectuals struggled over the uses and abuses of history and science, and the place of religion in contemporary society. The national crisis also provoked a refinement of nationalist thinking that was one of its most significant legacies to French political culture" (p.201). In a similar way with the German Jewry at the beginning of the WWII, the French Jews were and wanted to be assimilated to the greater French culture, but more assimilated they pretended to be more counter-reaction from the part of the "traditional" elites.

The author discernes very carefully the deep roots of the pro- and counter-Dreyfus through the manifestations of popular pietisme, religiosity, psychological, sociological and historical basis of the intellectual roots of the local culture. Sometimes overcharged with data and information, the book represents a fascinating adventure of the mind through the hidden labyrinth of the history.

Exploring the sense of Gaon

Image via Wikipedia//Painting of the Vilna Gaon

The term means honorable sage (גאון, גאונים) and was given to the heads of the two Babylonian academies of Sura and Pumbedita. There are no data whatever to show when the title "gaon" originated. Sherira, who is the source for the exact sequence of the Geonim, apparently considers "gaon" an ancient title of the head of the academy, for he says that the Amora Ashi was gaon at Mata Meḥasya (Sura). But Sherira himself begins to use the title consistently only toward the close of the sixth century, "at the end of the Persian rule," when the schools of Sura and Pumbedita resumed their parallel activity after a period of interruption. One is justified, therefore, in assigning to that date the beginning of the period of the Geonim—all the more so as the period of the Saboraim cannot be extended down to the year 689, as Abraham ibn Daud assumes in his historical work, "Sefer ha-Ḳabbalah." According to an old, well-authenticated statement, 'Ena and Simuna, who flourished in the first third of the sixth century, were the last saboraim. The interval between this date and that of the reopening of the schools referred to above, may be included in the period of the Saboraim, and the period of the Geonim may be said to begin with the year 589, when Mar Rab Ḥanan of Isḳiya became gaon of Pumbedita. The first gaon of Sura, according to Sherira, was Mar Rab Mar, who assumed office in 609. The last gaon of Sura was Samuel b. Ḥofni, who died in 1034; the last gaon of Pumbedita was Hai, who died in 1038; hence the activity of the Geonim covers a period of nearly 450 years.

Functions

The Geonim officiated, in the first place, as directors of the academies, continuing as such the educational activity of the Amoraim and Saboraim. For while the Amoraim, through their interpretation of the Mishnah, gave rise to the Talmud, and while the Saboraim definitively edited it, the Geonim's task was to interpret it; for them it became the subject of study and instruction, and they gave religio-legal decisions in agreement with its teachings.

As the academies of Sura and Pumbedita were also invested with judicial authority, the gaon officiated at the same time as supreme judge. The organization of the Babylonian academies recalled the ancient sanhedrin. In many responsa of the Geonim, members of the schools are mentioned who belonged to the "great sanhedrin," and others who belonged to the "small sanhedrin." As may be gathered from the statements of Nathan ha-Babli (tenth century), and from various references in the geonic responsa, the following customs connected with the organization of the academies were observed in the two "kallah" months, Adar and Elul, during which (as in the time of the Amoraim) foreign students assembled in the academy for common study. In front of the presiding gaon and facing him were seated seventy members of the academy in seven rows of ten persons each, each person in the seat assigned to him, and the whole forming, with the gaon, the so-called "great sanhedrin." Gaon Amram calls them in a responsum ("Responsa der Geonim," ed. Lyck, No. 65) the "ordained scholars who take the place of the great sanhedrin."

During the kallah which took place in the month of Adar the gaon laid before the assembly every day a certain number of the questions that had been sent in during the year from all parts of the Diaspora. The requisite answers were discussed, and were finally recorded by the secretary of the academy according to the directions of the gaon. At the end of the kallah month the questions, together with the answers, were read to the assembly, and the answers were signed by the gaon. A large number of the geonic responsa originated in this way; but many of them were written by the respective geonim without consulting the kallah assemblies convened in the spring.

Nathan ha-Babli's account, from which the foregoing statements have been taken, refers only to the kallah months. The remaining months of the year passed more quietly at the academies. Many of the members, including those of the college designated as "sanhedrin," lived scattered in the different provinces, and appeared before the gaon only at the time of the kallah. Nathan designates the permanent students of the academy by the Talmudic term "bene be-rab" (sons of the schoolhouse), in contradistinction to the "other students" that gathered at the kallah. These two classes of students numbered together about 400 at the time when Nathan wrote his account (tenth century). When a resh kallah or any other member of the college died and left a son who was worthy to occupy his father's seat, the son inherited it. The students coming to the academy during the kallah months received support from a fund which was maintained by gifts sent to the academy during the year, and which was in charge of a trust-worthy man. The members sitting in the front rows seem to have drawn a salary.

Two courts were connected with each of the two Babylonian academies. The higher court ("bet din gadol") was presided over by the gaon. It appointed the judges for the districts within the jurisdiction of the respective academies, and was empowered to set aside the verdicts of the several judges and to render new ones. The other court belonging to the academy was under the direction of the ab bet din, and judged minor cases.

Judicial Functions

The geonim occasionally transcended the Talmudic laws and issued new decrees. At the time of the gaons Mar R. Huna at Sura and Mar R. Rabba at Pumbedita (c. 670), for instance, the measures taken in relation to a refractory wife were different from those prescribed in the Talmud. Toward 785 the geonim decreed that debts and the ketubah might be levied on the movable property of orphans. Decrees of this kind were issued jointly by both academies; and they also made common cause in the controversy with Ben Meïr regarding a uniform Jewish calendar.

The gaon was generally elected by the academy, although he was occasionally appointed by the exilarch. The gaon was entirely independent of the exilarch, although the geonim of both academies, together with their prominent members, went every year to render homage to the exilarch. The assembly at which this homage took place was called the "great kallah."

The gaon of Sura ranked above the gaon of Pumbedita, and a sort of court etiquette was developed in which this fact found expression. The gaon of Sura sat at the right hand of the exilarch, while the gaon of Pumbedita sat at the left. When both were present at a banquet, the former pronounced the blessing before and after the meal. The gaon of Sura always had precedence, even if he was much younger than his colleague, and, in writing a letter to him, did not refer to him as gaon, but addressed merely "the Scholars of Pumbedita"; the gaon of Pumbedita, on the other hand, addressed his letters to "the Gaon and the Scholars of Sura." During the solemn installation of the exilarch the gaon of Sura read the Targum to the Pentateuch sections which had been read by the exilarch On the death of the exilarch the gaon of Sura had the exclusive claimto his official income until the election of a new exilarch.

The gaon of Sura evidently owed his superior rank to the ancient reputation of the academy over which he presided; for Sura had been the leading academy of the Babylonian Jews during the period of the Amoraim, first under its founder Rab and his pupil Huna (third century), and then under Ashi (d. 427).

But it was Saadia's activity that lent to this academy unusual luster and an epoch-making importance for Jewish science and its literature. Then, after a long period of decadence, another worthy occupant of the office arose in the person of Samuel b. Ḥofni, the last gaon of Sura.

Significance

The importance of the Geonim in Jewish history is due, in the first place, to the fact that for a number of centuries they occupied a unique position as the heads of their respective schools and as the recognized authorities of Judaism. Their influence probably extended chiefly to the Mohammedan countries, especially northern Africa and Spain; but in the course of time the Jews of Christian. Europe also came under the influence of the Babylonian schools. It was for this reason that the Babylonian Talmud came to be recognized as the basis for religio-legal decisions throughout Jewry and as the principal object of study. Even the facilities offered for such study to the Diaspora were due to the Geonim, since the geonic exposition of the Talmud, with regard to both text and contents, was directly or indirectly the chief aid in comprehending the Talmud. The importance of the period of the Geonim for the history of Judaism is further enhanced by the fact that the new Jewish science, which steadily developed side by side with Talmudic studies, was created by a gaon, and that the same gaon, Saadia, effectively opposed the disintegrating influences of Karaism. The activity of the Geonim may be seen most clearly in their responsa, in which they appear as the teachers of the entire Diaspora, covering in their religio-legal decisions a wide field of instruction.

In the course of the tenth century, however, even before the Babylonian schools ceased with the death of the last gaon, other centers arose in the West from which went forth the teachings and decisions which superseded those of the Geonim. The fixed gifts which the Jews of Spain, the Maghreb, North Africa, Egypt, and Palestine had contributed to the support of the Babylonian schools were discontinued long before and the decadence of these schools was hastened thereby as much as by the internal conflicts to which they were subjected.

Sources:

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=68&letter=G&search=geon

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/115539/jewish/The-Age-of-Scholarship.htm

Wonder-rabbis...

I wanted to address the issue of the new and active phenomenon of "wonder-rabbis" for a couple of days, mostly after reading the extensive report about R. Yoshiyahu Pinto. The publishing of the feature coincided with the murder of the well-respected Elazar Abuhatzeira by a mentally troubled man unhappy with the counsel he got for his marital problems.

The phenomenon isn't new in the Jewish world and if the latest patterns are manifesting mostly within the Sephardi world, the beginning belongs to the Eastern European shtetls and the hassidims' exotic - sometimes - courts.

In times of economic and spiritual instability, people are driven to find advice and daily orientation from people considered as the owners of a special knowledge and spiritual powers. But the danger of idolatry is high and we need counter-weights and our own reasoning and critical thinking. But we need to he wise enough and modest enough to realize what our limits are and where we should prefer the silence to the facile answers.

The history of Djerban Jews

Image via Wikipedia//Beit Knesset on Djerba

From their first documented appearance in 2nd century Carthage to their current status as a tolerated minority, Tunisian Jews have been subject to shifts in regional and international politics that have dictated the relative security of their community.

A special center of Jewish spirituality

Today, the island of Djerba, ten hours from Tunis off the southeast of the country, is a particular center of Jewish spirituality, one of the few places where scribes still hand print the Torah and community elders chant the words of the Zohar. Most of the Djerban Jews still live as they have for centuries being active in metal working and jewelry-making, maintaining strict and spiritual Jewish practices. Some children still dress in a blusa under which they wear a small, mauve vest to protect them from the cold and belgha, goatskin slippers. Some women wear brightly colored jumpers in red, green or bronze – in public the young women wear futa, striped silk or cotton dresses. They keep their hair covered, in formal occasions, with a gold-embroidered coffia (headdress). In their long prayer robes and dark skullcaps, Djerban men appear to come from a time long past. Though contact with the secular West has begun to influence the younger generation’s dress and observances, the Djerban Jewish community is what some would describe as a living museum to the Judaism of their ancestors.

The Jewish community of Tunisia originated as home to scholars exiled from Palestine, from Talmudic sages of the 2nd to the 4th centuries to today’s Torah scribes. During the Byzantine period, Emperor Justinian excluded Jews from public life, prohibited their practice and ordering synagogues to become churches. Many Tunisian Jews fled into the mountains and the desert, joining secluded Berber communities there, and most remained there even after the Arabs conquered Tunisia in the 7th century, allowing Jews to practice again. Jews lived openly in Tunisia, albeit as second-class citizens, until the Spanish invasions of 1535-1574 chased Jews inland once again. The Jewish community returned to the coast under Ottoman and thrived under French rule until 1940, when Vichy subjected them to anti-Semitic laws. In 1942 Germans overran Tunisia, deported much of the Jewish population to labor camps and seized their property. The Tunisian Jewish community rebuilt itself through a decade of Allied rule until the country achieved independence in 1956. The new Muslim government eliminated the Jewish Rabbinical tribunal and Jewish community councils, destroying the Jewish quarter of Tunis. After the Six-Day War in 1967, Muslims laid waste to the Great Synagogue of Tunis; much of the Jewish population fled to Israel throughout the 1970’s and ‘80’s, leaving a dedicated community of about 2000 Jews, primarily in Tunis and on the island of Djerba in the towns of Hara Keriba and Hara Sghira, where Jews have been worshipping at the El Ghirba Synagogue for almost 1900 years.

Today, the Tunisian government does appoint a committee which heads the community and manages most of its non-religious functions. There are five rabbis in Tunisia and several kosher restaurants in Tunis and on Djerba, which has been an active, practicing Jewish community for over two millennia, where most of the community members observe kashrut.

The seven hundred Jews who live on the island of Djerba have found themselves in the middle of the tourism industry. The main town of Houmt Souk isn’t on the beach, but it does see its share of tourists who fill its streets to purchase colorful Djerban pottery and locally made jewelry. Most Jews in Djerba live in Hara Kebira, a small town that sits about a kilometer south of Houmt Souk. Hara Kebira is a compact village filled by a labyrinth of narrow streets lined by white, square houses with turquoise doors and window shutters

Sephardic tradition and North African culture

Sephardic tradition met North African culture in Tunisia. Djerban Jewry shows this mix in much of its folklore and latent superstitions. Like many other North Africans, Djerban Jews venerate scholars from their community, paying homage to them by peppering their synagogue with photos of the learned, and by making “pilgrimage” to their graves on certain holidays, or on particular days of the year. Each family has its favorite departed sages; when a family member is facing a difficult time s/he may ask the sage for guidance.

Most Jews on the island of Djerba are middle-class merchants, jewelers or shop-owners. Some, like Alex Haddad, operate in the tourist economy, selling handmade jewelry to visiting Europeans in little shops on the Houmt Souk street, Rue du Bizertes (the street of jewlers). Other Djerbans cater their business to the local community, such as Dolly Haddad, who runs the kosher Comlombe Blanc restaurant, and her husband Danny who owns an electronics business.

Secular life in Djerba is becoming more and more modern. Djerban youth may buy fresh herbs for their mothers each day from a cart drawn by a donkey, but they also have motor bikes, carry cell phones and are fluent in several languages. Most Djerban youth have the opportunity to travel and/or study abroad. Some have moved away for good to places like Israel or France. Other remain but have as much in common with the globe-trotting Northern European tourists who frequent the resorts on the coast as they do with their more traditional parents and grandparents.

Sources:

http://www.mindspring.com/~jaypsand/tunisia4.htm

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/regions-places/africa-northwestern/tunisia_djerbaisland.html

Something about Responsa

In rabbinic literature, Responsa are known as She'elot ve-Teshuvot (שאלות ותשובות "questions and answers") and comprise the body of written decisions and rulings given by poskim ("decisors of Jewish law"). The responsa constitute a special class of rabbinic literature, to be distinguished from the commentaries (meforshim)—devoted to the exegesis of the Tanakh, the Mishnah, the Talmud—and from the codes of law which delineate the rules for ordinary incidents of life.

The responsa literature covers a period of 1,700 years—the mode, style and subject matter have changed as a function of the travels of the Jewish people and of the development of other halakhic literature, particularly the codes. Responsa contain valuable information about the culture of the Jews and the people among whom they lived. Information may also be gleaned about the moral and social relations of the times, occupations, the household, customs, expressions of joy and of sorrow, and recreations and even games. Older responsa are also important for readings and emendations of the Mishnah and the Talmud.

This category plays a particularly important role in Jewish law. The questions forwarded are usually practical, and often concerned with new contingencies for which no provision has been made in the codes of law, and the responsa thus supplement the codes. They therefore function as a source of law, almost as legal precedent, in that they are consulted by later decisors in their rulings; they are also, in turn, incorporated into subsequent codes.

In addition to requests for Halakhic rulings, many of the questions addressed were theoretical in character, particularly amongst the earlier responsa. The responsa accordingly contain rulings on ethics, business ethics, the philosophy of religion, astronomy, mathematics, history, geography, as well as interpretations of passages in the Tanakh, the Mishnah, the Talmud and the Midrash. Thus, while early Jewish literature has few historical works, many notes on the history of Judaism have been introduced into the responsa.

Sources:

Bar Ilan University Responsa - http://www.biu.ac.il/jh/Responsa/

The Jewish Encyclopedia http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=576&letter=S