Searching for the remains of Eli Cohen

'Israel searching for remains of Eli Cohen... JPost - Middle East

What I don't want to hear and see at shul

It does not matter in what part of the Globe I am spending Shabbos or how focused I am on davening, there are a couple of small little things that will make my life a little bit bitter when I see or hear.

1. Phone ringing on Shabbos. During the shul or during the dvar Torah moments. Loud ringing that will not stop even if the owner does not answer - by shame or because not sure that it is his/her phone. And it is even a step further: when people do answer their phones as loudly or even more loudly as it sounded before.

2. People talking during davening. I don't care what do they want to say and in what language, but I can't understand why the very important ideas should be shared loudly when at least some of us look busy doing other things. There is always enough space outside when you can even clap your hands listening to so many gossips.

3. People writing notes, memories, books whatever they want to. At shul. Writing with such a frenesy that it seems that tomorrow is the end of the world and they need to leave to posterity their precious memories. 

4. People fighting. Beating their children or admonishing their spouses. You have 6 days the week to do it at home. Please, take a break. Please.

5. People stealing food from the kiddush table, hiding in a very professional way under napkins and then, slowly slowly till the bagel arrives in the bag. It is not depressing for me whom I see, but also humiliating for the person doing it. Rather one should talk to the rav and try to find a decent solution than steal professionally my piece of food from my plate when I am too much interested in the dvar Torah.

6. Discussions about the way one daven, dress, wig, the lenght of the skirt, the last shidduch and how the husband looks like. Nobody's perfect and this is why I wear my best Shabbes clothes and go to the shul to daven once the week, for 5-6 hours. Can you be so kind and leave my alone in my corner without wondering how and why I am so frum overnight. Please.

Shavua Tov!

Forgotten authors of Hebrew short stories

As this Shabbos I finally had enough time to read some Hebrew short stories, I realized that outside the libraries, there it is not too much known about the Hebrew authors, except big names as Bialik and Agnon. Hence, my interest for a post presenting the biographies of a couple of them.

Micha Yosef Berichevsky was born in Ukraine, in a Hasidic rabbinical family. His father was the rabbi of Medzhybizh, from Western Ukraine. He started to study in the Volozhin Yeshiva, but ended up being more attracted by the Haskala movement. Berichevsky, who later will adopt the surname Bin Gurion - that is inscribed on his tomb in Berlin Weisensee Jewish cemetery - studied in Berlin, Breslau and Bern philosophy, and published dozen of books, articles and short stories. In many cases he supported the ideas of 'emancipation' seen as the liberation from the 'yoke' of religion. His PhD in philosophy is focused on the relation between ethics and aesthetics, with a special focus on works of Nietzsche and Hegel.

Another Jewish writer who died in Berlin is David Frischmann. Born in Poland in 1859, he is considered one of the most proeminent satirists and journalists of his time. His formative years were spent in Lodz where he published in the local Jewish publications essays and articles outlining the conflict between tradition and modernity in the Jewish culture. Between 1886 and 1888 he was assistant editor of the first Hebrew daily Ha-Yom. He graduated in the field of the history of art, at the University of Breslau. In 1911 and 1912 he visited Eretz Israel. Besides a rich editorial activity, he also translated into Hebrew scientific works by Lippert and Bernstein, as well as works by Oscar Wilde, Goethe, Tagore, Andersen, Grimm Brothers etc. 

An almost forgotten writer is Simhah Ben-Zion, the pseudonym of Simhah Alter Gutmann. Born in Bessarabia of a traditional family, he write in Yiddish and Hebrew. As an author and teacher, he was influenced by Tolstoy's works on morality. He started his teaching career in Odessa, being one of the first to inrtoduce the 'Hebrew in Hebrew' method. Since 1905, he settled in Eretz Israel and continued both his editorial work but also started to get involved into public affairs. His early stories describe the small-town Jewish life in Bessarabia at the end of 19th century, but later on his work got a lyrical visionary perspective. 

Born in Orsha, situatd in the nowadays Belarus, Gershom Shofman fought a difficult childhood and poverty, as an orphan. His primary education was acquired in the heder and several yeshivot, but he also got in touch with the local Russian and Hebrew literature. Before settling in Eretz-Israel in 1938, he edited various journals in Poland and Austria and spent three years in the Tzarist Army. His first collection of stories was published in 1902 in Warsaw, under the title 'Stories and Sketches' ('Sipurim ve-tsiyurim'). His later short stories describe realistically the Jewish life of the time, the brothels and the hard times in Europe between the two world wars.

The English-speaking references do not offer too much space to the novelist  Uri Nissan Gnessin, a pioneer of Hebrew literature. He was born in Starodub, in the then White Russia in a rabbinic family. He sturdied for a while in his father's yeshiva while self-educating in the domain of secular studies ending up by being attracted by the ideas of the Haskala. His long-time friendship with the Hebrew modernist Yosef Haim Brenner involved him in several projects aimed to support the birth of Hebrew literature. In 1904, he co-founded the Hebrew language publishing house 'Nisyoniot' ('Attempts'). He later moved to London in order to work together with Brenner at the project of the Hebrew periodical Ha'Meorer. He had a life of wandering, that included a short time spent in Eretz-Israel, his return to Russia, in 1908, and his stay in Warsaw, where he died of a heart attack. 

Haim Hazaz wondered several years across the world before settling down in Jerusalem, in 1931, where he died in 1970. He was born in Sidorovich, the Kiev Governorate, and witnessed many of the pogroms of the time. His main stops before Eretz-Israel were Kiev, Harkiv, Moscow, Istanbul, Paris and Berlin. He married poet Yocheved Bat-Miriam, and their only son Nachum died in the Independence war in 1948. Awarded several Israeli prizes for literature, his stories are depicting the local life in the Jewish shtetl in Ukraine, but also the Yemenite tradition in Israel, the absorption problems in the new state of Israel and the fight for independence in the 'British Mandate of Palestine'. 

Yaakov Rabinowitz wrote his works in Hebrew, Yiddish and German, not few of them being dedicated to the Zionist project. Born in Volkovysk, the then White Russia, he studied first in the yeshiva, but acquired as well a secular education. He taught in Vitebsk, before dedicating most of his time and energy to the Zionism. He visited Eretz-Israel several times, in 1905 and 1908 and decided to settle there in 1910. He was one of the editors of the literary periodical 'Hedim'. His articles present the struggle for building the state of Israel, while his novels are often dedicated to the life of Jewish intellectuals, some of them with intimate descriptions. He also translated into Hebrew works by Hermann Bang, Flaubert or Selma Lagerloef. 

I promise to dedicate more space to the Sephardi writers, but for this post I want to focus on one of them. Shemi Yitzhak was born in Hebron, of a Sephardi family. He taught also in Damascus and Bulgaria, as well as in Haifa and Hebron. He is one of the first who decribed the life of Sephardi Jews and bedouins in Eretz-Israel, one of his most significant works being 'Revenge of the Fathers'. 

Reading and travel advisory

Two important warnings I've stumbled upon in the last 24 hours:

- If you don't have what to read, you better buy yourself a nice book than the NYTimes. It used to be a serious source of information decades ago and I built up my passion for English-speaking journalism reading with the highest consideration their news, feature reports and editorials. Gone are the days and especially for someone interested in foreign affairs, you will find a lot of anti-semitic garbage. Again, you better buy a good book instead. 

- Planning to travel in the old Europe? As an observant Jew, you should avoid Copenhagen and Denmark. In case that you like taking risks, you must avoid speaking in Hebrew and displaying Jewish symbols. Honestly, do you think that it is worth to give your money for such an adventure? There are so many beautiful places in the world instead.

New UK Chief Rabbi

After many months of discussions and considerations, the name of the next UK Chief Rabbi was released: Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis. Originally from South Africa, he has a long experience and knowledge of the Jewish affairs in galut and was very active in supporting Israel. 

He will fully replace Lord Sacks September next year. 

Rabbi Mirvis was counted as a serious competitor since a couple of months.

Shabbos reading

The weather was very bad, some members of the family sick and me very tired after a very exhausting week and thus, we decided to spend more time indoors, with books and some boarding games.

The menu of lectures for this Shabbos included:

- Besides the usual Chumash for the parasha and haftarah, I included the lecture of the Rashi's commentaries on Bereishis. The children are starting with Rashi in school but it does not mean that it is so ridiculously simple to be read in only a couple of minutes. I started slowly with Noah and it took me some good hours to get to the end.

I continued with an interesting lecture of a book written by Joseph Carlebach, the father of Rav Shlomo Carlebach z''l and the last chief rabbi of Hamburg, killed in Riga, in 1942. The book is an interesting historical and theological introduction into the life of three big prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. A lecture that I continued with the latest chapters from Joshua and Judges, also from Artscroll. As usual, this is only the introductory lecture, as I need to start to study it seriously, eventually with chevruta.

The rest of the reading time I was spent reading another book by Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, One People?, addressing many of the topics that I am thinking about very often: What are we supposed to do faced with the challenges of the diversity of Jewish movements? How far are we from each other and how even far our paths will go in the next decades? The final words are quite encouraging, but in practice, we need to do a lot each and every day: "The primal scene of Jewish history is of the Israelites in the wilderness, fractious, rebellious, engaged in endless diversions, yet none the less slowly journeying towards the fulfilment of the covenantal promise. No image seems to me more descriptive of the contemporary returning: some to a faith, others to a way of life, some to a place, others to a sense of peoplehood. for eighteen hundred years of dispersion, Jews prayed for freedom, for ingathering of exiles, the restoration of sovereignty, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Today they have them. If faith implies anything - faith in G-d, or in the Jewish people, or the covenant that bids one to the other as a 'kingdom of priests and a holy nation' - it implies this: that Jews having come thus far will not now disintegrate, so advanced along the journey which Abraham began nearly four thousand years ago. The inclusivist faith is that Jews, dividede by where they stand are united by what they are travelling towards, the destination which alone gives meaning to Jewish history: the promised union of Torah, the JEwish people, the land of Israel, and G-d".

Don't trust a BBC Guide

I am not naive enough to believe that BBC is very sympathetic to Jews and especially to Orthodox Jews, but not cynical enough to believe fully the logic of 'they' vs. 'us'. Of course that we belong to different world and one of the most obvious example has to do with the 'laws' of marriage, but my conclusion after watching so-called 'documentaries' is that many producers and journalists simply do not do their job correctly. Another topic that you will find often featured in the media is related to nidah laws.

Take, for instance, the BBC Two documentary A Hasidic Guide to Love, Marriage and Finding a Bride. The topic is very interesting and there are a lot of things to be said about, especially when you address the London Jewish community. The author is featuring some marginal Jews or people situated somehow in a countercultural paradigm - who else would accept being called 'Orthodox' and answer about intimate life choices ? - and thus, the meaning is diminished. True is that it is not easy to marry your children, especially in London - when you went into prison, but I suppose that it is not available in the case of London Haredi, but it operates similarly in the case of any high-end family. To take an extreme example, the Queen Mother will not jump of happiness to find out that one of her nephews is entering a family with a splitted family with a bad reputation. Plus, I suppose that people are getting more or less drunk to any wedding, not necessarily at a Hasidic one. 

What did you expect, some may say? I think it is a huge potential to try to explain a lot of things about Judaism that the mainstream media fails to do it. Obviously, there are enough talented people around that are able to do it, including among the Jewish Brits.

Shabbos reading

When you have a full week of 6 full working days, Shabbat is the only day when I really can focus on serious reading on Judaism-related topics. I can also read more than 3-4 pages in a row in Hebrew and clean my mind from everything that during the week do not let me clearly consider more serious topics.

Thus, no business planning, no thoughts about the next trip to the other end of the town and any ideas about what I will do in the next hours after Shabbat will end. Just leaving the moment and let the future be on hold for a while, as being too busy with the present spiritual building.

As the Internet is offline for 25 hours, it is the only day of the week when I can read 1 book the day without interruption. No need to check my e-mails or to immediately look for some news on the web that will keep me busy online for couple of good hours. 

My choice of books was the following:

Shabbat and electricity, by Rabbi L.Y. Halperin, an authority in this very sophisticated halakhic domain. It addresses a couple of interesting aspects related to electrical and electronic devices on Shabbat: closing and opening circuits on Shabbat, the Shabbat telephone, why, when and how to use an elevator, dishwashers on Shabbat, air conditioning and automatic doors or alarm systems. The book is a translation from a Hebrew version published by the prestigious Institute for Science and Halacha and this is perhaps the reason why there are some shortages in terms of fluency of the English version. However, it is a must have and most read kind of book for anyone interested in getting more practical insights about various chellenges of the modern life to the old rules of Shabbat. 

Following the same line, my next book was Halachah and Medicine Today an interesting translation of excerpts of articles published on this topic in Halacha U'Refuah. The translations are good and you can have a full picture of all the opinions on a certain topic. There are articles signes by respectable rabbis, such as R. Ovadia Yosef shlita, R. Moshe Feinstein, R. Halperin from the previous collection of articles, R. Yehoshua Neuwirth, or the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The titles of some of the articles: blood tests on Shabbat for neonatal jaundice, taking blookd and giving injections on Shabbat, accompanying a patient to hospital on Shabbat, the observant physician and Shabbat. 

Just in order to be encouraged to continue my diversified menu of books, I ended up with One thing I ask, by Rabbi Hillel Fendel. Most probably, any well trained bochur know the answers to most of the questions - for instance, 'Where do we find complete passages from the Torah in the tefilah?', 'Which verse from Psalms do we recite the most often in our prayers?' or 'Which passages must be repeated if not said with the proper intention and devotion?'. However, it was not my case in over 98% of the cases. The book is organized with a section of questions, followed by the detailed answers, written in a very simple and concise way. The main topics are: hallel and rosh chodesh, Torah reading, blessings, morning prayers, Shmoneh Esrei, Halakhah, numbers. 

A good start for a week of light!

'The silent Jews who lived double lives'

When I saw first the news about the decision of the Spanish Government to allow automatically Spanish citizenship to the descendants of the Spanish Jews I was impressed, thinking that maybe other countries that did the same to their Jewish citizens will follow the example.

However, the law does not include the hidden Jews and all those who were forced to convert or that used to have a double life. Those may need to prove somehow their affiliation or to go through the classical conversion process. For the descendants of those who suffered the expulsions and the frustrations of the double life, it is a sad reality. On the other hand, this is what happens in general with anyone with a hidden identity. True is that once born a Jew always a Jew, but the conversions and the alienation from Judaism left traces in the identity of many of those 'anusim'. Probably there should be a case-by-case basis decision, but still, the precautions are in line with some of the previsions of the Law of return. 

The spark is always there, it is up to us to bring it back to light.

The force of the stories

Regardless of our level of intellectual sophistication or of our high spiritual needs, we will always need good and simple stories. It is part of our human background to wait and listen to beautiful stories.

If you are looking for a good collection of stories, that will equally make you smile and cry, you should try to find out this beautiful book by Hanoch Teller, Once Upon a Soul. Either he writes about spectacular rescues of the Jewish soul or of strong personalities, he will always bring a new beam of light into the life of the reader. Without being judgemental and with the help of the art of a good writer you will always have great stories. No one is looking to be lectures, but to feel the human touch of the story and the force of the example. Our soul is thirsty for it and Hanoch Teller's stories are waiting for us.

Lena Gorelik's box of memories

Long time ago, what I knew about Russian Jews in Germany what the result of some articles published in various publications, whose main treat was the sadness of being poor, often refused - as it was not enough to be a refusenik once - and marginalized by both the Germans and the local Jewish organizations. My big question - not yet fully answered - was why to decide going to Germany instead of using your free ticket to Israel.

Little by little, I learned not only to appreciate them - especially after reading many interesting books about the hard resistance to keep Yiddishkeit alive - but to simply understand their specificities and their specific cases. I met many BT in their early 40s, with secular background but a desire to grow permanently and to learn more and more about Judaism. And last but not least, who are very proud that their children are the first generation of frum Russian Jews, with ahavat Yisroel and desire to learn in yeshiva and create Jewish homes. Somehow, their generation made the transition to a new generation a better Jews. 

There are not too many young Russian Jewish authors in Germany more active than Lena Gorelik. She writes book after book, in German, with a lot of humour and creative inspiration. I've read at least four of her books and even though some of the subjects may repeat and the main topic is always the same, I never got bored. She can be funny, serious, engaged and informtive at the same time. Her books are not only good documentaries about the life of Jews in Germany in the last decades, but also about the identity of Russian Jews and their interesting background and the normality of their struggle to recognition and acception of what they are. Understanding is the first step towards tolerance, and Lena Gorelik is doing a good job of using her talent of creative writing in this direction. She has the simplicity of her personal stories and a strong voice that brings to light children stories and more recent memories. 

I am not sure if she is much known outside Germany or if her books were translated, but she represents a new wave of strong voices of the Russian Jews in Germany. And, of the Jewish literary life.

Women mashgiach?

I recognize that I do not like the tone of the article and the passion of some declarations quoted, but on the other hand, I do not see many any difficulties in allowing women being mashgiach. And I am thinking only at the following aspect: most part of the time, the women are in charge 98% with the preparation of meals and the kashrut standards in the kitchen. Following a course for preparing as professional mashgiach and eventually extending their supervision outside the home will not be an impossible mission and in full line with the daily tasks of any devoted yiddische mother. 

An interesting issue to be followed in the near future.

19 Kislev

Chabad celebrates today the liberation from the Tzarist prison of the founder of their Hasidic group, Rav Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812). He was arrested following accusation of teaching dangerous concepts for the stability of the Russian Empire. This day it is also called the 'Rosh Hashanah of Hasidism' and it marks the beginning of the cycle of study of Tanya, Chabad's major work.