'Your word is fire'

I should confess that for me, one of the most difficult parts of my BT life was praying. Due to my long history of reading, I was able to read the words of the prayer as any other reading: no kavanah, no emotional involvement at all. I gave up very often, but I tried to go beyond the rational barriers even more often and now I can say that in 3 out of 10 cases I can achieve a satisfactory level of concentration. I tried to follow both the encouragement of Vilna Gaon that the exercise of reading the prayer would help you to reach the kavanah, but also the emotional support of the Hasidic masters.

This Shabbat, I went through the lecture of various prayers of Hasidic Masters and I realized how powerful the lecture of the words could be to transport us beyond the rational meaning of the words.

Here are a couple of examples that impressed my heart:

'It is possible to be so humble

that your very humility

keeps you far from G-d.

A humble person may not belive that his own

prayer

can cause the Presence

to flow through all the worlds.

But how then can you believe

that even angels are nourished

by your words?

Know the power of your prayer

and serve your G-d in fullness!' (p.23)

'Enter into prayer slowly.

Do not exhaust your strength,

but proceed step by step.

Even if you are not aroused as your prayer begins,

give close attention to the words you speak.

As you grow in strength

and G-d helps you to draw near,

you can even say the words more quickly

and remain in His Presence'. (p.35)

'Think that the letters of prayer

are the garments of G-d.

What a joy to be making a garment

for your greatest of kings!

Enter into every letter with all your strength.

G-d dwells with each letter;

as you enter it, you become one with Him'. (p. 42)

'There are times when the love of G-d

burns so powerfully within your heart

that the words of prayer seem to rush forth,

quickly and without deliberation.

At such times it is not you yourself who speak;

rather it is through you

that the words are spoken'.

'One who reads the words of prayer with great

devotion

may come to see the lights within the letters,

even though one does not understand

the meaning of the words one speaks.

Such prayer has great power;

Mistakes in reading are of no importance.

A father has a young child whom he greatly loves.

Even though the child has hardly learned to speak,

his father takes pleasure

in listening to his words'. (p.102)

Shavua Tov!

The pity of us all

I have a pocket full of delayed blog posts, but I do not want to hurry up and write them all at once, only a couple of hours before Shabbat. As the experience of the last months taught me, I better focus on the essential and let the things flow in their own rhythm - sometimes even against my disciplined will.

I want to finish this week and start the Shabbos with a couple of thoughts about a very good and documented book that made me very sad: The Pity of It All, by Amos Alon. It is a long and detailed story of the Germany Jewry from the arrival of Moses Mendelssohn in Berlin till the departure of Hannah Arendt from the beloved country of the German Jews. Two moments important for the past and future of the Jews in Germany. In-between you have a strong fight for not surviving and not resisting the assimilation. Rather the opposite, in many cases the German culture offered the identity basis that will not be denied even in the middle of the persecutions. Very often, it is said that if you want to evaluate the degree of anti-Semitism in a society you should check the percentage of intermarriages. It was - and still is - the case in France, Germany and almost all the Eastern European countries, but also in America. Of course, the manifestations are different and the reasons may differ from a couple of another. Very often, when you accept to intermarry, the simple message delivered to the worried audience is 'So what, G-d is the same everywhere' or 'It is not G-d at all'. And you will end up educating your children that Hanukka is, in fact, a Jewish Xmas. I am sure there are many intermarried couples that could be very happy even after and so could be their children. 

But you cannot live without roots and sooner or later, you will want to return, even though you might deny it. Many people simply prefer to avoid looking back because they know it is not easy. Fighting the habits, including the cultural ones it is not easy and trying to ignore and deny and even despise your religion and culture and identity. 

Does it matter what the others are saying about you? Very often, the encouragement to assimilation starts with the following message: "How do you expect to integrate, to be part of the society and at the end of the process, to be an outperforming individual as long as you keep yourself blocked in a 'Middle Age' mentality"? Long time ago, I was very enthusiastic after reading Moses Mendelssohn's works, as I considered that he found the golden path that could offer the chance of keeping your identity while interacting with the culture in the middle of whom you are living. But the problem that I had from a certain moment on was what is the advantage of this interaction, as long as what I was ready to share was completely disregarded. I gave up the wonderful chance of being the humble acculturated subject of the big cultures I flirted with. French culture is impressive, and German literature might be interesting - even though I do not taste at all the sweet Romanticism that stole the heart of so many German Jews, and so is the Russian culture or the Anglo-American culture or any other culture of the world. But, I have my own identity and culture and a lot to share with the world. 

The Pity of It All succeeded to show the whole diversity of denial and assimilation. It is a defeat of the reason and the wonderful world of culture that did not stop the same fine intellectuals to accept or ignore the slaughtering the next door. Haskala was an ugly illusion and the variety of situations described in the book made me very sad. It was like watching a sad movie when everything is wrong and you know the ending but you cannot do anything to help them to see where it is the biggest mistake.


For me, the weakest part of the book was the lack of a personal insight. The facts selected by the author are talking by themselves and it is not the role of the historian to lecture but still I was craving for some strong conclusion. Or maybe we should start thinking about ourselves and refuse the sweet song of the mermaids whispering successful recipes of assimilation.

The life of Hasidic Rebels

As I dedicated a lot of time lately to stories about returning to faith, I did not hurry up to finish very fast the story of Unchosen. Plus, I had the bad idea to buy the book at the same time with Unorthodox and thus, I kept the bad taste of the clumsy Satmar story.

But, beyond those subjective aspects, the book is authentic and well written, with good stories and real characters, with their own stories. Each rebel has his or her story that impresses the reader and makes you think why and how things turned bad. And, this is what I consider a good writing: when long after you finish the book, you still recount vividly all the details of the story.

If it would be to make a short list of the main transgressions made by those who did not want to follow the Hassidic way of life, there are: eating treif, dressing non-tsniut, entering into contact with the opposite gender for casual or intimate relationships. Not a few of the rebels belong to the Satmar - which could actually explain why they cannot stand any more the strict version of Hasidism, but in general their personal stories lack the kindness of a family and friends and a rabbi that could give the support and comfort when needed. The 'Unchosen' do not want to convert to another religion or to become an Atheist, but simply try to find a middle road and a personal interpretation of Judaism, beyond the strict following of the rules required by the community and the family . 

I was very much surprised by the loneliness of many heroes of the stories, despite living for a long time within such close communities. Very often, they are left even lonelier after they run away and thus, they try to find other people that went through similar experiences of working together and helping the others. The connection to Judaism remains, regardless of the degree of daily observance. It is something that I always feel that it is very important, regardless of the garb or of the length of the skirt: first and foremost, you should have the heart open and the rest will come. If you start by saying and thinking and living according to the belief that you simply ought to follow a certain routine and ignore the human diversity, most likely you will run as far as possible without understanding what you left behind. 

The Pittsburgh Hasidic Community

Pittsburgh Hasidic Dynasty was created in 1924 in the US, by Rabbi Yosef Leifer. He was originary from Hungary, being a descendant of Rav Mordechai of Nadvorna. 

Since 1970, the headquarters of the dynasty were moved to Ashdod, with groups of Hasidim living in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem. 

One of the specificities of these Hasidim is the beautiful niggunim.

Here is a short video about the dynasty, one of the five Hassidic groups created in the US - Boston, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Philadelphia.  

New offer of books from Gefen Publishing House

An amazing selection of new books published recently by Gefen Publishing House. 

Hard to say which one I would NOT like to buy and read right now. 

I included most books on my shopping priority list and getting ready to work more to earn more and invest even more in books.

Anti-Semitic graffiti sprayed at Yad Vashem | The Times of Israel

It sounds as an unbelievable news coming from Israel: Anti-Semitic graffiti sprayed at Yad Vashem | The Times of Israel. It is something new that we should learn from this while preparing for this week Parasha Shelach?

Let's wait and see the results of the police investigation. However, regardless of the results, it is still a sad reading for today.

How ignorant could someone be to praise the name of a criminal in this country? What do children learn in the school about the terrible time? How it is possible that some groups continue to spread hate against Eretz Israel in the very heart of Eretz Israel?

Maybe I ask too many questions for this early morning.

Update: The reaction of Yad Vashem officials

Who owns the land?

An interesting observation, by A.B.Yehoshua, which can be connected with the old and new discussion about Ulpana – and not only:

“But even the land bought and paid for in full does not compromise the nation’s sovereignty over it. Land is not only a commodity, but also a basis of an identity. Even if wealthy Saudi Arabians buy up all the land and buildings in London, the British people will still retain sovereign over it”.

Simon Wiesenthal Center to the Euro 2012 football fans

If you do not want that your money is going to anti-Semitic thugs in Lviv, you better listen to what the words of Simon Wiesenthal Center: Do not patronize restaurants featuring anti-Semitic themes.

I am still wondering why these two countries were considered for this European Championship...

Introducing Davka

I discovered the website of Davka accidentally, but I was surprised how it was possible to do not know more about this software before. Created in 1982, this company offers a couple of educational programs and applications for building up Jewish texts. For instance, you can create dedicated Daf Yomi texts and docs for educational use. Also, you can use various software programs for translating Haggadah, creating a transliterated Machzor or Siddur. You can find games for children, images for the holidays and resources of pictures from Israel. A special category is represented by the programs dedicated to learning or update various levels of the Hebrew language.

The programs are fit for both Mac and PC and the average price of the purchase goes around $20.

Learning tasks with the new Koren Bavli

First, I could not move my eyes from the cover, displaying one of the most mysterious fruits: the pomegranate. Second, I started to check what is the price and how much I should extra work for being able to afford all the volumes: around $2, 000, the usual price for a holiday overseas. Third, I was considering that maybe it is too simple for me and that in fact I probably need a very serious and deep learning program. But, in fact, I realized in the fourth stage of thinking about Koren Talmud Bavli that I can also order the black-and-white edition which is even cheaper. But what about the children, they will be happy to study the colourful edition, the fifth thought said. The iPad application is not ready, but I wish I can buy an iPad to study more regardless of the place I am as I can discretely go into a corner and spend an idle hour studying. But the inconvenience with the iPad is that I cannot study during Shabbos. And I ended up watching once again the video displaying a sneak peak of the edition. As I know quite well myself, I am more than sure that sooner or later I will end up by ordering the first volume and waiting for the other 40 more. I should have the Koren Talmud Bavli, I wish I had it, I must have the Koren Talmud Bavli.

Ulpana-a pawn on the political chessboard?

Will the situation from Ulpana change the political configuration? If all the outposts and settlements will be legalized by law it is a danger that the entire issue of settlements will be put under question and will start a global campaign of a new wave of contestation of the state of Israel? 

Till I will prepare a post about settlements and Ulpana, here is a YouTube video I watched today. 

Understanding in the process...

Meanwhile, in my dear Europe

After half an hour online, I gathered the following disgusting news:

A clash of neo-Nazi in Hamburg - I am too naive to wonder why such a gathering was allowed?

Jews attacked in France

The memory of Far-right Anti-Semitic politicians is carefully cultivated in Hungary

Poland and Ukraine, future hosts of the Football World Championships, are the old-time hosts of hate. If you are Jewish, Black and gay you better keep your money for charity than to spend for buying a ticket to those events.

The enlightened Europe is playing black games again...

Reading adventures: Giving up the Romance Reader

I started my discovery of Pear Abraham's books with the Romance Reader that, due to the frequent mentions in relation with Unorthodox did not impress me at the first sight. Later, I discover by myself how much the author of Unorthodox tried to copy some ideas from this book even though she is centuries of style behind. The story in itself it is not very sophisticated: Rachel Benjamin, the daughter of a Hasidic rabbi, grows up and wants to build her independence. As the oldest daughter she is supposed to be a role model and to marry first, but her hunger for knowledge and curiosity creates conflicts between her reality and the religious duties and her imaginary world. Abraham, with a background of Hasidic rebel herself, gathered in Rachel the seeds of many free-by-heart girls of the 20-21st centuries fighting with the various pressures of the religious life.

The story of Deena and Daniel from Giving Up America was more interesting for me. There are not too many characters here and the intensity of the interior conflict is different: Deena married Daniel against the warnings of his father, a Hasid from Jerusalem. Daniel cheats on her and the simple American style - 'I kissed her, so what?' - but she cannot go further, even though they decided recently to have a house of their own. The colors chosen by Deena to paint the house are telling a story about her universe and her longing for a different life. However, what does this difference mean could be the subject of another book. She does not say she would like her Hasidic life back, but more than one thing from Daniel's behaviour alienates her. She is a gentle person that still looks for herself, and the ups and downs of her inner tensions are more interesting than taking a decision as such. The talent of the author made an interesting story from a relatively simple fact and this made me look soon for other books by Pearl Abraham.

Being Proud

This article is a reminder of the story that maybe we forget about when faced with bashing from inside and outside. This moral excellence is part of our power as a community, to face any historical storms with hope and a smile on our faces. Did they realize that they can write history without us?

Shabbat Shalom!