My friend Albert supplied me with this cute opening to relax the
mind to learn Torah: I got
invited to a party and was told to dress to kill. Apparently a turban, beard
and a backpack wasn't what they had in mind.
A
little miracle in a big way that brought medical doctors to tears please listen
and watch: http://on.aol.com/video/medical-superglue-saves-olathe--kan--baby-with-rare-condition-517811589?hp=1&playlist=127155&icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl19%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D326118
Parsha Chukkas
The following is a whole series
of thoughts on the Parsha: I found no better way to start out this week’s
Drasha but to quote the Medrash. 19:2 This is the statute of the law etc. It
bears on the text Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Is it not
one? (Iyob 16:4) For example Avraham out of Terach, Hezekiah out of Achaz,
etc. Who did this? Who commanded this? Who decreed this? Was it not the world’s
only ONE? We have learned elsewhere in the case of a woman whose infant has
(G-D forbid) died in the womb if the midwife puts out her hand and touches it,
the midwife is unclean for seven days and the woman is clean until the embryo
comes out. (I know somebody who suffers in silence after 11 misaborts.) After
that the house becomes unclean etc. Who did this? Who commanded this? Who
decreed this? Was it not the world’s only ONE? A person who engaged in any
preparation of the Parah Aduma (Red Heifer) becomes unclean. The Holy One
Blessed be HE says “I have laid down a statute; I have issued a decree! You
cannot transgress my decree.” If you can’t find rhyme or reason for the law of
the Parah Aduma, you are in good company as Melech Shlomo, the wisest of all
men could not figure it out.
Again I write to you as a first
Sergeant Paramedic. I was a corporal or sergeant at the time when my command
Rami Levy HY”D (not to be confused with the Baal Teshuva Rav Rami Levy) and I
had to watch a tank exercise. I got to see the regiment driving and exercising
at night through night vision goggles. Lieutenant Shai’s tank had a back light
that was not shielded and even with the unaided eye one could see the red
light, with night goggles it was a homing device for every bazooka and RPG. It
gave me proper perspective about the army and also about how HASHEM Yisborach
runs the world. I can imagine HASHEM on his Merkavah (Chariot – Throne)
watching the world with the ministering angels there silently serving him.
(According to the Medrash regarding the Satan and also gifts to Moshe given in
heaven, they are free thinkers and can speak their minds.) The point of view
from there is different from the point of view from here. One gets to see the
whole picture.
A Chuk is sort of the
Constitution of the Torah. Mishpat is
law/judgement and Torah is like a defining law command. A British reader should
look at a Chuk like the Magna Carta and an American reader as the ‘Freedom of
Speech’. So the Parah Aduma will have no blemish yoke etc. It shall be slain
outside the camp/city and the blood sprinkled with the fingers etc. [See the
process below]
This Parsha starts out with dying
and purification from Tuma. Of course without a Temple and without a Parah
Aduma (Red Heifer) we are all Tumay today. In fact I took my visiting son,
Asher to see the graves of my step-father and mother. I found no better a place
to write about death and illness except in perhaps with Avraham after the Bris
and then after the death of Sara.
About 4 years ago in the OU
Spring Issue of Action was mostly about visiting the ill and stories of dying
from a point of Chezuk of a dying woman and her efforts to make the world a
better place person by person to a Rav telling an elderly frum man that it is
OK to be angry at G-D for giving him cancer. But talk to G-D and tell HIM why
you are angry as HE has shoulders wide enough to vent one’s anger.
The Talmud tells us that a visit
to an ill person takes away 1/60th of the disease. However, 60 or even
600 visitors will not cure the disease. The articles brought down that humor
not only helps the patient live longer but also speeds up their cures. In an
article by Steve Lipman, he brought down how Eliyahu was walking through the
Shuk (bazaar/market place) with Rabbi Broka. The last asked the Prophet, “Is
there anybody in the Shuk who has a place in HaOlam Haba?” Eliyahu replied,
“These two men!” And Rabbi Broka inquires, “What was their great merit?” The
Novi replied, “These men are jokesters and their humor cheers up many.” All the
more so for clowns and humorists who cheer up cancer and other ill patients and
relieve their pain and prolong their lives will have a place in the next world.
Rabbi Dr. Zev Shostak Shlita
writes about the stages of what happens to a person suffering from a fatal
disease. In 1969 on her book “Death and Dying” Elizabeth Kubler-Ross writes
five stages in the dying process.
1)
Denial (this can’t be happening to me.)
2)
Anger (Why is this happening to me?)
3)
Bargaining (I promise I’ll be a better person
if …)
4)
Digression (I don’t care anymore. I can’t go
on this way.)
5)
Acceptance (I’m ready for whatever comes.)
These stages when they occur
don’t necessarily follow the same order. They involve family members too. An
only unmarried son may want a Rabbi or friend to talk to his mother to let go
of her apron strings.
I had no answer when the late
Esther bas Chana came to me and said, “Why me? How come not Achmed Amijenadad
or Nasrallah? I told her that it was not in my power to known and understand
all the ways of HASHEM. I know HIS ways are perfect but from down here we
cannot see them. Rabbi Shostak told his patient that it was OK to be angry with
HASHEM but tell HASHEM why you are angry. Both approaches are correct and
perhaps the good Dr. Rabbi’s idea of HASHEM is big enough to understand your
anger is a better approach than mine. The product of the conversation is
listening to and relieving the angry.
My late cousin Rebbitzen Chedva
Silberfarb Z”L bargained that she would no longer speak Lashon HaRa and fight
the phenomena known as Lashon HaRa. Her bargaining paid off from ten days of
life to three years of life. Both with her and the late Yacov Glicksman Z”L, I
did not notice either stage two or four as perhaps their fundamental trust and
honest belief in the straightness of HASHEM’s path that they could not be angry
at HASHEM nor at their relatively young ages with young children (and a
aircraft radar defense system for Am Yisrael and the west in Yacov’s case) did
either digress and stop caring. They wanted to live. Yacov wanted to finish his
book because he had a DEAD LINE. And Chedva wanted to see her children grow up.
Yacov left 8 orphans and Chedva 3. Having been orphaned at 21.5 years old, it
was hard on me to see baby Nissim there through teenage Aryeh say Kaddish for
their father. Nothing pleased me more this past year but to photograph Chana
bas Chedva with her daughter named after Chedva. I don’t want to go into the
devastation of parents and spouses of cancer or heart victims.
However besides death and
purification in our Parsha are two rebellions against Moshe. The time period
regarding the purification appears to be either before or at the time of the
death of Nadav and Avihu. However, the rebellions mentioned in our Parsha
appear to be at different times and dates where they appear perhaps close to
the end of 40 years or at the time of the spies.
Meribah appears to be at an early
date as the tribes must have had water and route scouts or there is a possibility
that it was on the other side of the Yarden. The rebellion about not having
been brought into Eretz Yisrael appears to be after the spies as then the
people had an excuse about not entering the land and the mitzvah of the first
fruits. Again a plague again the incense and this time a brazen snake and the
plague is stayed when the people turn their eyes towards heaven they are saved.
Up until this time, nobody knew that because of the merit of Miriam the Congregation received water. Once she died the mythical well of Miriam dried up.
2 And there was no water for the congregation; and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 3 And the people strove with Moses, and spoke, saying: 'Would that we had perished when our brethren perished before the LORD! 4 And why have ye brought the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness, to die there, we and our cattle? 5 And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.' 6 And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tent of meeting, and fell upon their faces; and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them. ….
Again Moshe and Aaron fall on their faces because of the mutterings of the people. This for us is a weekly occurrence lately but part of the complaints that these great leaders had to deal with.
22 And they journeyed from Kadesh; and the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came unto mount Hor. 23 And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying: 24 'Aaron shall be gathered unto his people; for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against My word at the waters of Meribah.
His death is described in the Zohar as a form of a kiss by G-D.
Think of the death as follows – Moshe helps undress Aaron. He puts the Priestly
Robes on Eleazar and on his head the Tzitz (Mitre) with the words Kodesh Le
HASHEM. Aaron lies down on a flat rock in the cave as to go asleep. Imagine the
bright light of the Shechina coming down from heaven and giving him a kiss
sucking out his soul and then the soul and the Shechina lifting upwards as
Moshe and Eleazar push a rock over the entrance to the cave or a Dead Sea
earthquake moving the rock and more stones over the cave to close the entrance.
Aaron was famous for making peace between husband and wife and making Shalom
Beis (peace in the home) or in this case tents of Israel in the desert. It was
more than the mourning for a great Torah scholar. It was the mourning for a
loving fatherly figure who would soothe things over in every household in
Yisrael.
25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up unto mount Hor. 26 And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there.' 27 And Moses did as the LORD commanded; and they went up into mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28 And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount; and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount. 29 And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they wept for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel
I mentioned how Aaron removed his garments except for his pants and gave them all to Elazar. He then was left alone in the cave and the Shechina came and gave Aaron a kiss and too his Neshama out. Because of the Incense and Shalom between husbands and wives that Aaron did; Samael, the angel of death had no power over him. As Hillel said, “Be a student of Aaron – love Shalom and pursue (stalk) Shalom. The peace process of Aaron was not “peace now” which could lead to appeasement at any price and war tomorrow but peace for life or eternity. It is no wonder that the Holy Spirit of the Shechina would kiss Aaron and withdraw his soul. In fact in all our reincarnation stories, we see Zimri, Cozbi, Moshe Rabbaynu, Pinchas, David HaMelech reincarnating but I have never ever heard of a reincarnation of Aaron HaCohain if you have please e-mail me at my AOL address Rachamim47.
Moshe has lost his elder siblings and family partners. He is basically alone in leading Am Yisrael until his own death. From now on until the pairs of scholars mentioned in Perkei Avos, there will be only one leader in Yisrael and he will take care of all functions.
This is exactly stage three of a person with a fatal disease but in this case an attack on Am Yisrael by Arad. To get a military idea of the area, one has to be on Shochat Junction to Arad road. Between the Nevatim Air Base on the right side of the road and the buildings of the town of modern Arad ahead to the left side of the horizon there is on the left a road running 90 degrees to the main road going directly north. This road rises to the top of the Arad plateau. At the area of the summit is Tel Arad the ruins of this walled city with a giant well for drinking water (sort of a pool about 6 to 10 meters in diameter and 20 or more meters deep – from my memory inside the wall. There was also a stone quarry for catapulting on the enemy without the walls. The walls of the city were about 6 to 8 meters high making it difficult to scale but not impossible for young strong soldiers to do so.
3 And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities; and the name of the place was called Hormah.
This may have occurred before the death of Aaron because Tel Arad is on the western side of the Dead Sea and Har Hor is on the eastern side. It would be with sheep, cattle, camels and children a journey of at least a few days. It appears to me to be a combination of a number of things here.
1) The King of Arad was the
ruler in charge of defending Eretz Canaan from an attack from the South. He
therefore went to battle against a massive immigration of people coming out of
the African Continent. His object to take a few slaves and out of fear drive
the refugees away.
2) The Kings Sichon and Og
seemed to be the north eastern flank of Eretz Canaan and to defend this area
from invaders. They too are wiped out.
3) The Plishtim were to guard
the sea side and they were not in the attacks nor were they really one of the
Canaanite tribes – Hittites, Hivites, Jebushi, etc. – so they were never
official at war with Am Yisrael until the time of Judges and Samuel. Finally
David and Shlomo take care of them. The whole name Palestine was invented by a
Roman Emperor who knew this history to embarrass and belittle the Jews
remaining in Eretz Yisrael after the second destruction of the Beis HaMikdash
and Yerushalayim by Hadrian and Hesperian.
4 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became impatient because of the way. 5 And the people spoke against God, and against Moses: 'Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.'
Hur, Miriam, Aaron were gone and the replacement generation to those who died at the time of the desire for quail have now arisen and forgotten the history of the past 40 years.
6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses, and said: 'We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that He take away the serpents from us.' And Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live.' 9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the pole; and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived.
Many school children in Israel know the song in Hebrew which goes: “Does Moshe’s staff make war (on Amalek)….? Does Moshe’s pole with the serpent (doctor’s symbol nowadays) revive the dead or kill people? However, when the people turned their heads and looked upwards to their father in heaven only then did they get saved!” – The Talmud Bavli.
10 And the children of Israel journeyed, and pitched in Oboth. 11 And they journeyed from Oboth, and pitched at Ije-abarim, in the wilderness which is in front of Moab, toward the sun-rising. 12 From thence they journeyed, and pitched in the valley of Zered. 13 From thence they journeyed, and pitched on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness, that cometh out of the border of the Amorites.--For Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites; 14 wherefore it is said in the book of the Wars of the LORD: Vaheb in Suphah, and the valleys of Arnon, 15 And the slope of the valleys that inclines toward the seat of Ar, and leans upon the border of Moab.-- 16 And from thence to Beer; that is the well whereof the LORD said unto Moses: 'Gather the people together, and I will give them water.' 17 Then sang Israel this song: Spring up, O well--sing ye unto it-- 18 The well, which the princes dug, which the nobles of the people delved, with the sceptre, and with their staves. And from the wilderness to Mattanah; 19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth; 20 and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the field of Moab, by the top of Pisgah, which looks down upon the desert.
21 And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, saying: 22 'Let me pass through thy land; we will not turn aside into field, or into vineyard; we will not drink of the water of the wells; we will go by the king's highway, until we have passed thy border.' 23 And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border; but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and came to Jahaz; and he fought against Israel. 24 And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from the Arnon unto the Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon; for the border of the children of Ammon was strong. 25 And Israel took all these cities; and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the towns thereof. 26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto the Arnon. 27 Wherefore they that speak in parables say: Come ye to Heshbon! let the city of Sihon be built and established! 28 For a fire is gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it hath devoured Ar of Moab, the lords of the high places of Arnon. 29 Woe to thee, Moab! thou art undone, O people of Chemosh; he hath given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, unto Sihon king of the Amorites. 30 We have shot at them--Heshbon is perished--even unto Dibon, and we have laid waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba. 31 Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. 32 And Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they took the towns thereof, and drove out the Amorites that were there. 33 And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan; and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 34 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Fear him not; for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.' 35 So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him remaining; and they possessed his land.
22:1 And the children of Israel journeyed,
and pitched in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho
As I wrote at the end of the Parsha last week, I have a few
personal and family things to clear up so I began reviewing past commentaries for
ideas. I came across this from 5767 which is not news today and B”H things have
quieted down but with approximately 11,000 plus rockets and mortars from Gaza
over the last number of years it is a good reminder of the intervention of
HASHEM.
Miracle of the Month
The following miracle should have gone out last week in fact it
occurred Thursday two weeks ago. Our lovely friends from Gaza sent a Kassam that penetrated a
classroom with a teacher and 23 students inside. Nobody was injured. Now if
that isn’t a miracle, I don’t know what is. Unfortunately after that a woman
was killed and her daughter injured by a subsequent Kassam.
Miracle of the Week
Motzei Shabbos a couple who went to Ashkelon for the Shabbos had
just finished saying Havdallah when they got a phone call from a neighbor, a
Kassam hit their home and destroyed a good chunk of it. The man said that he
was going to bench Gomel.
Tied for Miracle of the week another Kassam hit a house while the people were
out.
Personal double
Miracles
Mrs. Hagbi’s house was hit on one side so for the next Kassam
attack she went to the other side which had a portion of the house (multi-apts)
protected. This time the Kassams fell on the other side. More and more people
are leaving Sderot as the army is doing nothing to protect the people. The
simple fact is that Hamas is winning and making Sderot into a ghost town. Heute
Deutschland Morgen Die Welt – Adolph or in Hamas terms Today Sderot, tomorrow
Ashkelon then Ashdod
and Beer Sheva. Nu wake up Government Of Israel or GOI for short. Fortunately, the people
did not leave but the place has become more or less a big bunker with some open
areas that is no way to live!
I believe that this was brought down by me before. Miracle Denial in SAFED by Yerachmiel Tilles http://ascentofsafed.com/cgi-bin/ascent.cgi?Name=810-39
His wife had been in labor for many hours, and the doctors had begun to suspect that things were not going well. Her blood pressure had risen to a dangerously high level, and they told him that unless there were some drastic changes, both she and the baby were not going to make it.
The panic-stricken Pinchas begged the Rebbe to pray for him and his family. He could hardly control his emotions. The Rebbe looked at Pinchas and tried to calm him. Finally, he declared, "Pinchas, everything will be all right. I promise you. Everything will be fine!"
Although Pinchas was startled by the Rebbe's optimistic proclamation, he was not about to question it. He thanked the Rebbe and ran back to the hospital to be with his wife.
Moments after he arrived, the doctors told him that they could not explain precisely what had happened, but that his wife's blood pressure was once again normal and she and the baby would be fine. Sure enough, an hour later his wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
The Chasidim informed the Rebbe of the wonderful news, and the Rebbe wished them all "Mazel tov." One of the braver Chasidim wondered aloud how the Rebbe could have possibly guaranteed that the mother and baby were going to be all right.
While some declared it a miracle, the Rebbe himself brushed this thought off as nonsense. Then, as the Chasidim gathered around, the Rebbe began to explain how he knew that all would be well. It was a lesson they would never forget.
"You see, a few days ago I was sitting in the front of the Beis Midrash when I noticed a poor person come into the room. Pinchas was sitting in the back of the room, preparing for Mincha, the Afternoon Prayer. We removed prayerbooks from the shelves, put on our prayer sashes, and began to recite [Psalm 145, the start of the Prayer] Ashrei.
The beggar walked around the room, collecting. His face was an image of brooding and discontent. He obviously had a very difficult life. One by one, the men each placed a coin in his hand.
As soon as Pinchas placed a coin in the beggar's hand, however, there was a huge clattering of coins as they dropped to the floor, causing a commotion in the Schul. Everyone thought that the beggar had dropped the coins, but one quick look revealed otherwise. He had not dropped the coins, but had thrown the entire handful at Pinchas.
Besides the fact that the coins had hurt Pinchas, now everyone was staring at him. The man stared harshly at Pinchas; it seemed as if his gaze would bore a hole right through him. None of the others said a word; they were hoping that the distraught man would just leave them alone. But it was not meant to be.
Suddenly, he lashed out at Pinchas with a verbal assault the likes of which is unheard of in a Schul. It seemed clear he was directing his anger at Pinchas only because he had been the last one to give a 'mere' coin.
The tirade lasted for a few minutes, with everyone looking on in horror. As the Schul began to fill with more people, each individual who entered was treated to a whole new diatribe aimed at Pinchas. The man would ask them if Pinchas was always so cheap and despicable or if it was just this time. His invective tore through Pinchas' heart.
At this point, many tried to stop the beggar's unfair and unwarranted criticism. Everyone knew that Pinchas was one of the nicest and sweetest people in town. However, that day he demonstrated that he was more than just nice. He was a gibor - a man of true might - and thus able to control himself in an extraordinary fashion. While everyone else was trying to get the man to stop, Pinchas sat there quietly."
The Rebbe continued telling the story to the large crowd. The next detail was the most amazing one.
"Then, Pinchas pulled out his checkbook and walked over to the beggar!
"'I am so sorry you felt that I was slighting you ... what amount should I give you that would help?'
"Now, Pinchas is not a wealthy man by any stretch of the imagination, but he felt the pain of another Jew in a real way. He knew that this man lived a pathetic life and was terribly embarrassed after the scene he had created. He also understood that the yelling was not directed at him personally. Rather, the poor man was lamenting his own sad situation.
Pinchas wrote him a check for a significant sum and wished him well, and then escorted him on his way, while the beggar himself was speechless in shock."
The Rebbe concluded, "The Gemara in Tractate Chullin (89a) tells us that the world is upheld in the merit of those who 'bolem (seal)' their lips at the time of a quarrel, as the verse in Job (26:7) states, 'Toleh eretz al blimah' - 'He suspends the earth on nothingness'. I reasoned that if the entire world is upheld in the merit of these great individuals, then most certainly Pinchas' restraint would be able to save his wife and child."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: Adapted and supplemented by Yerachmiel Tilles from A Touch of Warmth by Yechiel Spero, as submitted by Daniel Keren in his weekly mailing.
Connection: Weekly Reading - Korach - the danger of quarreling.
Biographical note:
Rabbi Aharon Yechiel Leifer [?- 1 Sivan, 2000], was born in Bania, Rumania, where his father, Dovid, served as Rebbe, a descendent of the famous Galitzean dynasty of Nodvorna rebbes. As a young man he served as the Rabbi of Shatz, his wife's birthplace, also in Rumania. He arrived in Israel shortly after the war of Liberation in 1948. Previously he had lost an entire family in the Holocaust, but had married his deceased wife's sister and started a whole new family. Legendary in Zefat for his hospitality and kindness to those in need, his home and shul were a center for Jews of all stripes for fifty-two years. Beloved equally by Chasidim, Sephardim and Ashkenazim, by Europeans, Israelis and Americans, his death a little before (or after!) the age of ninety marked the end of an era in Zefat.
The Pittsburgher Rebbe is from this line of Chassidim but recently has made a greater name for himself since the passing of his father and the Rabbi in our story.
Long lost diary of
Reich Minister Alfred Rosenberg http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/09/alfred-rosenberg-diary-top-nazi-leader-hitler-aide_n_3412671.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl36%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D326209
By John Shiffman
WASHINGTON, June 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. government has recovered 400 pages from the long-lost diary of Alfred Rosenberg, a confidant of Adolf Hitler who played a central role in the extermination of millions of Jews and others during World War Two.
A preliminary U.S. government assessment reviewed by Reuters asserts the diary could offer new insight into meetings Rosenberg had with Hitler and other top Nazi leaders, including Heinrich Himmler and Herman Goering. It also includes details about the German occupation of the Soviet Union, including plans for mass killings of Jews and other Eastern Europeans.
"The documentation is of considerable importance for the study of the Nazi era, including the history of the Holocaust," according to the assessment, prepared by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. "A cursory content analysis indicates that the material sheds new light on a number of important issues relating to the Third Reich's policy. The diary will be an important source of information to historians that complements, and in part contradicts, already known documentation."
How the writings of Rosenberg, a Nazi Reich minister who was convicted at Nuremberg and hanged in 1946, might contradict what historians believe to be true is unclear. Further details about the diary's contents could not be learned, and a U.S. government official stressed that the museum's analysis remains preliminary.
But the diary does include details about tensions within the German high-command - in particular, the crisis caused by the flight of Rudolf Hess to Britain in 1941, and the looting of art throughout Europe, according to the preliminary analysis.
The recovery is expected to be announced this week at a news conference in Delaware held jointly by officials from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Justice and Holocaust museum.
The diary offers a loose collection of Rosenberg's recollections from spring 1936 to winter 1944, according to the museum's analysis. Most entries are written in Rosenberg's looping cursive, some on paper torn from a ledger book and others on the back of official Nazi stationery, the analysis said.
Rosenberg was an early and powerful Nazi ideologue, particularly on racial issues. He directed the Nazi party's foreign affairs department and edited the Nazi newspaper. Several of his memos to Hitler were cited as evidence during the post-war Nuremberg trials.
Rosenberg also directed the systematic Nazi looting of Jewish art, cultural and religious property throughout Europe. The Nazi unit created to seize such artifacts was called Task Force Reichsleiter Rosenberg.
He was convicted of crimes against humanity and was one of a dozen senior Nazi officials executed in October 1946. His diary, once held by Nuremberg prosecutors as evidence, vanished after the trial.
A Nuremberg prosecutor, Robert Kempner, was long suspected by U.S. officials of smuggling the diary back to the United States.
Born in Germany, Kempner had fled to America in the 1930s to escape the Nazis, only to return for post-war trials. He is credited with helping reveal the existence of the Wannsee Protocol, the 1942 conference during which Nazi officials met to coordinate the genocide against the Jews, which they termed "The Final Solution."
Kempner cited a few Rosenberg diary excerpts in his memoir, and in 1956 a German historian published entries from 1939 and 1940. But the bulk of the diary never surfaced.
When Kempner died in 1993 at age 93, legal disputes about his papers raged for nearly a decade between his children, his former secretary, a local debris removal contractor and the Holocaust museum. The children agreed to give their father's papers to the Holocaust museum, but when officials arrived to retrieve them from his home in 1999, they discovered that many thousands of pages were missing.
After the 1999 incident, the FBI opened a criminal investigation into the missing documents. No charges were filed in the case.
But the Holocaust museum has gone on to recover more than 150,000 documents, including a trove held by Kempner's former secretary, who by then had moved into the New York state home of an academic named Herbert Richardson.
The Rosenberg diary, however, remained missing.
Early this year, the Holocaust museum and an agent from Homeland Security Investigations tried to locate the missing diary pages. They tracked the diary to Richardson, who was living near Buffalo.
Richardson declined to comment. A government official said more details will be announced at the news conference. (Reporting by John Shiffman in Washington and Kristina R. Cooke in San Francisco; Editing by Blake Morrison and Leslie Gevirtz)
Also on Huff Post:
From
Devorah L. From Honenu
Wednesday, June 5, 14:12 Two high school yeshiva
students on a moped trip in the north of Israel attacked by an Arab mob ended
up in remand on suspicion of conspiring to carry out a “price tag” incident. On
the morning of Wednesday, June 5 the two detainees were released after spending
a night in remand. Honenu states: The political echelons and the police have
lost all proportions.
On the evening of Tuesday, June 4 two youths, both
minors and students at the K’far Hassidim Yeshiva, set off on a moped ride in
the area of the yeshiva. At five minutes to eight as they passed the entrance
to the village of Ibtin, located on the road the youths were traveling, a group
of Arabs who had arrived in two cars stopped them. Dozens of Arabs gathered,
beat the youths and damaged their mopeds. According to the youths older Arabs
who were on the scene prevented the Arab youth from injuring them more
seriously. The Arabs, who choked, kicked and shoved the yeshiva students,
claimed that the latter had come to burn down the village mosque.
The students phoned the emergency police number and
reported the assault. Only after half an hour and five phone calls did a police
car from the Zevulun Police arrive at the scene. To the surprise of the
students the policemen brought them into the police station and kept them in
remand overnight. Other policemen remained on the scene to question the Arab
assailants, none of whom were detained.
The students were taken to the police station where
they were separated until two in the morning. They were not informed of why
they were detained. At two in the morning GSS interrogators arrived and
questioned the detainees for 45 minutes about their actions in the area of
Itbin. From the manner in which the detainees were interrogated they realized
that they were suspected of conspiring to commit a crime; the interrogators
also claimed that their hands smelled of gasoline. Following that interrogators
from the Zevulun Police furthur interrogated the detainees. In response to the
detainees’ request to speak to an attorney from Honenu one of the interrogators
replied with vulgar and humiliating insults. It should be noted that a short
time after the detention Honenu attorney Adi Kedar attempted to speak to the
detainees on his own initiative and was refused by the police interrogators.
In the end the detainees were allowed to speak to
Honenu attorney Kedar, and then were interrogated for several more hours. In
the morning the policemen at the station informed them that they would be
released on condition of several days of house arrest and a restraining order
banning them from all Arab villages in the area for a month. The detainees were
forced to accept the conditions and were released to their homes.
The students’ parents, who arrived at the police
station in order to be with their sons, were extremely agitated. “I am
absolutely shocked by the conduct of the police. The youths, who were in a
crisis situation and in definite danger, regarded the police as the correct
address for receiving assistance and instead their innocent trip turned into a
situation in which they were treated as criminals, in handcuffs and in remand
conditions which didn’t even allow their parents to enter the interrogation
with them because of a police claim of security classification,” said the
mother of one of the youths. She added, “This is simply a scandal. They
confused who the criminal is and who the victim is. It is really incredible
that this happened in our country.”
Honenu, which handled the students’ case, strongly
criticizes the police conduct. “The political echelons and the police have lost
all proportions in dealing with “price tag” incidents. The persecution by
politicians and police in conjunction with the incitement by the media turns
the attacked into assailants and victims into criminals. The policy of the
police, on one hand ignoring daily murder attempts by Arabs and on the other
operating with a heavy hand against youths about whom there is a great doubt
concerning their involvement with vandalism, leads to confusion which has
taken, and will take, its toll in Jewish blood.”
Rabbi Neuwirth has Passed
Away Author of Shemirath Shabbath
Kehilchathah was 85. Funeral is at 11:30 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/168807#.UbbHhlffrIU
Rabbi Yehoshua Neuwirth passed away
last night at age 85 in Jerusalem. He was the author of seminal, monumental,
yet practical and user-friendly books on halakhot of Shabbat.
His book, Shemirath Shabbath
Kehilchathah, has assisted countless Jewish homes in applying the laws of the
Sabbath to modern life.
Rabbi Neuwirth was born in Germany. In
World War 2, he escaped with his parents, two brothers and sister to Holland,
where they hid for three years in a single room.
He was the expert on Halacha for
Shaarei Tzedek Hospital. The rabbi was hospitalized in Shaarei Tzedek and his
situation worsened in the past few days.
His funeral will leave Bayit Vegan to
Har Hazeitim at 11:30 Tuesday.
Mount
Sinai – for the last 1600 or more years it has been Jabil Musa aka the mount of
Moshe. The rocks found there match the description in the Talmud that if you
break them in two they show the bush inside of them and break in two again the
same. I had the privilege of doing such at the house of the late Rabbi Shlomo
Goren who was at that time Rosh Yeshiva of my son. However, scholars dispute
that as the Mt. Sinai with the tradition is a relatively high mountain and the
commentary says it is the lowest of mountains. There is a scholarly research
out that B. Levy posted and just click the link inside for the word document. http://www.simchajtv.com/mount-sinai-found/
A film about miracles 1 hr and 41 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=i70CHHIW_Co#!
One of the biggest dangers to Israel’s security exposed in this
new book: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/168692#.UbQrxVffrIU
Google
buys the best application for navigation of smare phones. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4390181,00.html
Helping
teen girls and young women in trouble: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/168722#.UbWCVVffrIU
Leftist
Police Officers do not let men pray at the Kotel for this group of rabble
rousers while Orthodox Women hold a counter rally and prayer: http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-jews-hope-for-an-equitable-solution-to-kotel-strife/
The
first time they touched was on their wedding night not news for Orthodox Jews
but in this generation it makes waves: http://on.aol.com/video/orthodox-jewish-couple-touches-first-time-at-wedding-517809598?hp=1&playlist=127155&icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl33%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D326001
Note
disclaimer, I do not encourage or support what is written on this Kipa in fact
discourage but the IDF has not right telling this man what Yarmulke to wear and
then they wonder why the religious Torah fellows don’t want to serve. In fact
more films about immodest girl soldiers also disgust the Rabbis and make the
female soldiers of which 90% are OK look like extra moral boosters instead of
weapon inspectors, tank and aircraft technicians, intelligence gathering, etc. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/168830#.UbgAmVffrIU
Inyanay
Diyoma
Iran
can now start shaking in their boots for a mere $10 to $30,000,000 in bombs
they can kiss their nuclear program good-bye.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4389481,00.html
I
wrote about this last week but more and more details are coming out: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/06/03/192895/us-publishes-details-of-missile.html#.UbOSw5z_qB6
Russia
may face off against Israel or the marines: http://debka.com/article/23030/Putin-acts-to-override-Israeli-UN-objections-to-Russian-troops-on-the-Golan
It
is not clear what really is going on and where Israel really stands? http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4389814,00.html
Arabs
have a stabbing sport which was thwarted: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/168727#.UbQuPVffrIU
After
a trillion dollars in Iraq and 4000 dead US Soldiers, they use their oil money
to help the Shia Islam: http://debka.com/article/23032/First-clash-between-Syrian-rebels-and-Iraqi-soldiers-Baghdad-bankrolls-Assad’s-war
Russia
or Rusha (wicked) are too active in Syria: http://debka.com/article/23034/Moscow-sets-up-Russian-Golan-brigade-warns-Israel-Sunnis-plus-al-Qaeda-are-bigger-threat-than-Assad
Right
now the unrest in Turkey is neither changing or preventing Turkey’s behavior in
the war of Gog and Magog and it has the 2nd largest army in NATO but
a good deal of the force has to deal with internal unrest like we see now and
the Kurds. Therefore you will not read too much about it here.
Yehuda
and the Shomron: BY ALLOWING THESE ATTACKS TO
CONTINUE WITHOUT CLAMPING DOWN, THE IDF IS ENCOURAGING TERRORISM AND THE NEXT OR
CURRENT INTIFADA. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4391103,00.html
Now for M. Wolfberg’s story: “A good Name”
Good Shabbos Everybody. In the Haftorah this week, we read a very inspirational
line, "For Hashem will not abandon His people." (Shmuel I,
12:22). Even though we have suffered greatly at the hands of the Nations,
Hashem will never forsake the Jewish People. The following Chassidic tale
illustrates the great yearning that the Jewish people has had for the
redemption, when we will be able finally to live in peace in the land that
Hashem has promised us.
Before making the long voyage to Eretz Yisrael, Reb Wolf (Ze'ev) Kitzis called on the Baal Shem Tov to receive his farewell blessings. As they parted, the tzaddik told him: "Reb Wolff! Be careful with your words, and know what to answer!"
The chassid Reb Wolf set out, and on the way his ship dropped anchor near an island in order to have its provisions replenished. While the crew was thus occupied, he found himself a quiet spot on the island where he could commune alone with his Maker.
But so rapt was he in his holy thoughts that he quite forgot about his ship, and when he came out of his inspired trance he found that it was already quite out of sight. He was in very serious trouble.
As he turned around he stumbled upon a path and followed it, until he reached a house, where an old man greeted him, and asked: "Reb Wolff, why are you so worried?" "How should I not worry," he said, "when my ship has gone, and I am left alone?"
"Relax, Reb Wolff," the old man reassured him. "Stay with me for Shabbos, and then next week you can travel from here with one of the ships that pass by. We have a minyan here for prayer, and a mikveh for immersion." When the time came for him to board the ship a week later, the old man turned to him and asked: "Reb Wolff, I forgot to ask you something. How are the Jews making out where you come from?"
The chassid was preoccupied with his imminent departure, so he replied briefly: "The good G-d does not abandon them."
And he boarded ship, and sailed on his way. When he had time to think things over, the old man's question came to mind. He could not forgive himself, and tormented himself with accusations: "What did I answer him? Did the Baal Shem Tov not tell me that I should know what to answer? Why, then did I not tell the old man how wretched is the plight of our persecuted brothers?"
So overcome was he with remorse that he decided to change his direction at the first opportunity, return to Europe and go speak with the Baal Shem Tov. As soon as he walked into the Baal Shem Tov's room, the tzaddik greeted him and said:
"Day after day Avrohom Avinu presents himself before the Almighty and says, 'Master of the Universe! My children — how are they?' and the Almighty assures the Avrohom Avinu saying 'I do not forsake them.'
And look, Hashem tells Avrohom Avinu, "here you see Reb Wolf on his way to Eretz Yisroel. Now there is a fine Jew. Go down and ask Reb Wolf how the Jews are faring!'"
The Baal Shem Tov concluded: "Now if you had told Avrohom Avinu how intense is the suffering of the Children of Israel throughout this long exile, then the Messianic Redeemer would have come! But you did not heed my warning!" (A Treasury of Chassidic Tales, p. 428, Reb S.Y. Zevin) Good Shabbos Everyone. M. Wolfberg is sponsored by: In memory of R' Yaakov ben Naftoly, of blessed memory In Memory of Reb Yitzchok ben Reb Shimon (Friedman) of blessed memory Refuah Shleima to Reb Mordechai Mendel ben Tziporah Yitta Refuah Shleima to Leah bas Tziporah
Before making the long voyage to Eretz Yisrael, Reb Wolf (Ze'ev) Kitzis called on the Baal Shem Tov to receive his farewell blessings. As they parted, the tzaddik told him: "Reb Wolff! Be careful with your words, and know what to answer!"
The chassid Reb Wolf set out, and on the way his ship dropped anchor near an island in order to have its provisions replenished. While the crew was thus occupied, he found himself a quiet spot on the island where he could commune alone with his Maker.
But so rapt was he in his holy thoughts that he quite forgot about his ship, and when he came out of his inspired trance he found that it was already quite out of sight. He was in very serious trouble.
As he turned around he stumbled upon a path and followed it, until he reached a house, where an old man greeted him, and asked: "Reb Wolff, why are you so worried?" "How should I not worry," he said, "when my ship has gone, and I am left alone?"
"Relax, Reb Wolff," the old man reassured him. "Stay with me for Shabbos, and then next week you can travel from here with one of the ships that pass by. We have a minyan here for prayer, and a mikveh for immersion." When the time came for him to board the ship a week later, the old man turned to him and asked: "Reb Wolff, I forgot to ask you something. How are the Jews making out where you come from?"
The chassid was preoccupied with his imminent departure, so he replied briefly: "The good G-d does not abandon them."
And he boarded ship, and sailed on his way. When he had time to think things over, the old man's question came to mind. He could not forgive himself, and tormented himself with accusations: "What did I answer him? Did the Baal Shem Tov not tell me that I should know what to answer? Why, then did I not tell the old man how wretched is the plight of our persecuted brothers?"
So overcome was he with remorse that he decided to change his direction at the first opportunity, return to Europe and go speak with the Baal Shem Tov. As soon as he walked into the Baal Shem Tov's room, the tzaddik greeted him and said:
"Day after day Avrohom Avinu presents himself before the Almighty and says, 'Master of the Universe! My children — how are they?' and the Almighty assures the Avrohom Avinu saying 'I do not forsake them.'
And look, Hashem tells Avrohom Avinu, "here you see Reb Wolf on his way to Eretz Yisroel. Now there is a fine Jew. Go down and ask Reb Wolf how the Jews are faring!'"
The Baal Shem Tov concluded: "Now if you had told Avrohom Avinu how intense is the suffering of the Children of Israel throughout this long exile, then the Messianic Redeemer would have come! But you did not heed my warning!" (A Treasury of Chassidic Tales, p. 428, Reb S.Y. Zevin) Good Shabbos Everyone. M. Wolfberg is sponsored by: In memory of R' Yaakov ben Naftoly, of blessed memory In Memory of Reb Yitzchok ben Reb Shimon (Friedman) of blessed memory Refuah Shleima to Reb Mordechai Mendel ben Tziporah Yitta Refuah Shleima to Leah bas Tziporah
A good Shabbos to all,
Rachamim Pauli
