I
made a time error last week. I was busy with some personal matters and wrote
things by heart from this week’s Parsha in my summary of last week’s Parsha so I
will expand on them slightly.
Rabbi
A. L. asked me to pray for Yitzchak Ben Chaya Sara. Then he sent me this urgent
one: Yeshayahu
Emes Ben Shula Leah
Smartphone
application – write Orayta and download 729 Seforim Kodesh for free. The whole
Tanach, Talmud, Mussar, Shulchan Aruch, Rambam etc. How does all that fit in the
little itty bitty chip on that thin little phone if you don’t know don’t worry
just download and enjoy.
Parshiyos
Matos – Massei
We
start off with the rules about cancelling a vow of a woman by the father or
husband. However, if she is 12 years and 1 day old, divorced or widowed, she is
a free adult and her vows hold true unless cancelled by a Rabbi or Beis Din. The
leaders of the tribes who will take place conquering the land of Eretz Yisrael
are named in our Parsha. There is a whole section on warfare, koshering utensils
and how 33.3% of the army are fighters, 33.3% support and logistics and 33.3%
engaged in prayer and a backup force for the other
soldiers.
30:2 And Moses spoke unto the heads of
the tribes of the children of Israel, saying: This is the thing which the LORD
hath commanded.
The
heads of the tribes were elected or appointed by the tribes or the elders of the
tribes each from his own tribe.
3
When a man vows a vow unto the LORD, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a
bond, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds
out of his mouth.
Many
moons ago there lived a G-D fearing people called the Bnei Yisrael and they
happily followed Torah and Mitzvos. They were honest, simple and pure and their
word and a good name was better than perfume, gold or platinum. These folks did
not blabber around like politicians but meant what they said and said what they
meant faithfully one hundred percent. Perhaps these naïve folks were prone to
vow to show and prove their honesty. Our Parsha starts out that the husband can
control his wife’s vows yet ends with women as land owners. How does this make
sense? To understand this, let us take this in context. A woman goes into
perhaps 16 hours of painful labor and vows no more children or no more marital
relations with the husband. Upon learning this, the husband understanding that
she say this under extreme duress can nullify the vow otherwise they would need
a divorce or have to have a Chacham nullify it. However, a female from 12 years
and 1 day until she is married is a free agent and can vow and observe what she
wants prior to Shalom Beis complications.
Vows: The Power of Speech
This week’s Parsha begins with a topic that probably is not too interesting for the average reader: Nedarim, or Vows. After all, most people don’t even make them, or worse, don’t know that they make them.In the Torah world, it is very common for people to say “blee (bli) Neder,” which means “without vow,” when talking about doing something that could constitute a mitzvah. Though it may be out of habit, the underlying meaning is, “I’ll try and do this good thing, but if I don’t, it should not be as if I broke my word.”
The point of a vow is obvious. By invoking the Name of God, as is usually done with vows, one creates obligation where it otherwise would not exist. A vow can turn what could easily have been a non-mitzvah situation into a mitzvah-situation, since by not fulfilling the vow one violates the mitzvah to not take the Name of God in vain.
For example, one could, theoretically, use a vow to diet. For a person who has difficulty following through with a commitment to eat less food, or only certain types of food, one could use a vow to make food that is otherwise permitted to him, but undesirable for a weight-related reason, actually forbidden to him, like treif itself. He may not be afraid to break his diet and eat fattening food, but if he has any fear of God, then he will certainly fear taking God’s Name in vain.
Taking a vow is tricky business from a Torah perspective, particularly because God’s Name is involved. Every sin profanes the Name of God, but the violation of an oath or vow that was made using the Name of God is even more severe, to such an extent that punishment for such a sin is immediate. With most other sins, God holds back from punishing a person to allow time for a person to do Teshuva and avoid punishment, but not for someone who has taken His Name in vain.
On the other hand, the Talmud says that someone who makes a vow is like one who has built an altar to God, and if he fulfills his vow, then it is as if he has offered a sacrifice to God. From this it would seem that, as risky as taking a vow might be, still, the fulfillment of a proper vow is meritorious.
It is the power of speech that Nedarim harnesses, something that we tend to take for granted. Eisav was of the firm belief that it is physical work that makes the physical world go around and did mostly that. Ya’akov understood that man’s greatest gift and strength is his power of speech, given to him the moment God breathed Adam’s soul into his body:
God
formed man from dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils a living soul,
and the man became a living spirit. (Beresheis 2:7)
A living spirit: A speaking spirit. (Onkeles)
Hence, the Talmud’s surprising conclusion while discussing the purpose of
life:
Rebbe Elazar said: Every man was created to toil, as it says, “Because
man was made to toil …” (Iyov 5:7). Now, I do not know if that means to toil
through speech, or in actual labor; however, once it says, “A toiling soul toils
for him, for his mouth compels him” (Mishlei 16:26), I know that a person was
created to toil with his mouth. I do not know, though, if this means to toil in
Torah or just in regular conversation. However, once it says, “This Torah should
not leave your mouth” (Yehoshua 1:8), I know that man was created to toil in
Torah [through speech]. (Sanhedrin 99b)
Speech is powerful. One word, or even the omission of a single word, can
change the entire destiny of a person and even the world. There are plenty of
examples of this, and we are watching one right now every day in the news. It is
the story of Eric Snowden, who has chosen to leak to the world classified
information about how the American government spies on its own people.
He has dropped a bomb for sure, but not in the physically explosive sense of the term. He has said things that have triggered a Senate commission which began investigating the matter by calling in some of the top U.S. security people for questioning. Hero or traitor, he has triggered high-level reactions that are sure to impact how organizations like the NSA handle their responsibilities from this point onward.
And, he has created international tension amongst the greatest of world powers today. He has caused the Vice President of the United States to get on the phone with the President of Ecuador offering greater trade benefits if he will deny Snowden asylum, just as the Ecuadorian Embassy in London did for Julian Assange of Wikileaks fame.
It’s not only about what you know. It is also about your ability to talk about it.
I don’t need to go into whole centrality of speech, because I did that in my book, Redemption to Redemption: The Very Deep & Intricate Connection Between the Holidays of Purim and Pesach. However, we do need to be reminded each year of just how powerful speech can be to create or change realities, as we learn from the laws of vows in this week’s Parsha.
And, it is not something to be abused. Indeed, for trying to curse the Jewish people, the Arizal revealed, Bilaam reincarnated as a rock. There are four levels of existence: Domeim, which means “silent,” and which corresponds to the mineral world, is the lowest of the four. That is the level on which Bilaam’s soul resided for a while for having abused his power of speech.
As Rashi points out in Parshas Emor , it was Shlomis bas Divri (literally, Shlomis daughter of my word), the wife of Dasan, whose constant chattering caused her to have a child through an Egyptian taskmaster. It was that child who later, at the end of Parshas Emor, blasphemed God and received the death penalty for doing so.
Hence, the Talmud points out, evil people tend to say much while doing little that is meaningful. For righteous people, the opposite is true: They say little and do much. They don’t have to talk that much, because they weigh every word they speak, to make sure it is worth speaking and will do the job it must to make the world a better place.
Having done a little public speaking, I can say first hand that you can often see the power of speech when giving a compelling Dvar Torah. A single speaker can stand at the podium and with the right information and a good delivery, captivate hundreds of people, unifying all of them with each word he says and every idea he expresses.
Hitler, ysv”z, understood the power of speech, and harnessed it to motivate millions of people to either become murderers or to at least not interfere with those who did. He used the power of speech extremely effectively, albeit it for terrible evil. Surely we should harness and use the power of speech for incredible good.
…
33:50
And the LORD spoke unto Moses in the
plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying: 51 'Speak unto the children of Israel,
and say unto them: When ye pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 then ye shall drive out all the
inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones,
and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places.
From
this point onwards Moshe is about to finish his task in this world he is
preparing the people to conquer the land of Eretz Yisrael and to learn the
Mitzvos required for the land. We shall see this theme in Parshiyos Ki Tzeitzei,
Ki Savo, etc.
53
And ye shall drive out the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein; for unto
you have I given the land to possess it. 54 And ye shall inherit the land by
lot according to your families--to the more ye shall give the more inheritance,
and to the fewer thou shalt give the less inheritance; wheresoever the lot falls
to any man, that shall be his; according to the tribes of your fathers shall ye
inherit.
The
original parceling of the land of Eretz Yisrael until 600,000 sections of
workable ground gave a person a large area for crops, cattle, sheep, goats and
other domestic animals or modes of transportation (horses, donkeys, oxen,
camels, etc.).
55
But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then
shall those that ye let remain of them be as thorns in your eyes, and as pricks
in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land wherein ye dwell. 56 And it shall come
to pass, that as I thought to do unto them, so will I do unto
you.
In
1967 most of the Arabs in Yehuda and the Shomron wanted to flee. Moshe Dayan
thinking of cheap labor for the Kibbutzim stopped them and even gave them the
keys to the Temple and Machpelah Cave. Well he at pork and Tamay Milt-tam-tem
(unclean causes one to be stupid).
34:1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses,
saying: 2 'Command the children
of Israel, and say unto them: When ye come into the land of Canaan, this shall
be the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan
according to the borders thereof. 3 Thus your south side shall be from
the wilderness of Zin close by the side of Edom, and your south border shall
begin at the end of the Salt Sea eastward;
This
seems to be the Arava Border of today
4
and your border shall turn about southward of the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass
along to Zin; and the goings out thereof shall be southward of Kadesh-barnea;
and it shall go forth to Hazar-addar, and pass along to Azmon; 5 and the border shall turn about from
Azmon unto the Brook of Egypt, and the goings out thereof shall be at the Sea.
There
is a dispute among scholars if the brook of Egypt is Nahal El Arish of today or
a long dried up arm of the Nile River that crossed into Sinai slightly north of
part of the Suez Canal. One thing for sure is that our southern border is being
occupied by Egypt now.
6
And for the western border, ye shall have the Great Sea for a border; this shall
be your west border. 7 And this
shall be your north border: from the Great Sea ye shall mark out your line unto
mount Hor;
Scholars
believe that this is a mountain in Turkey today or at worst a mountain in
northern Lebanon.
8
from mount Hor ye shall mark out a line unto the entrance to Hamath; and the
goings out of the border shall be at Zedad;
Hamat
Geder is the area where Syria, Israel and Yarden meet together.
9
and the border shall go forth to Ziphron, and the goings out thereof shall be at
Hazar-enan; this shall be your north border. 10 And ye shall mark out your line for
the east border from Hazar-enan to Shepham; 11 and the border shall go down from
Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain; and the border shall go down, and
shall strike upon the slope of the sea of Chinnereth eastward;
Ain
means spring and could be the Banās (Dan), The source of the Dan River or one of
the sources of a river in Lebanon. What appears to be a future border is all of
Lebanon and Syria. I would recommend at that time having the Kurds inducted in
the army to guard the border there and allow them autonomy as the land up to the
Euphrates would need co-operation with the locals as HASHEM writes to drive the
non-Bnei Yisrael out slowly.
12
and the border shall go down to the Jordan, and the goings out thereof shall be
at the Salt Sea; this shall be your land according to the borders thereof round
about.' 13 And Moses commanded
the children of Israel, saying: 'This is the land wherein ye shall receive
inheritance by lot, which the LORD hath commanded to give unto the nine tribes,
and to the half-tribe; 14 for
the tribe of the children of Reuben according to their fathers' houses, and the
tribe of the children of Gad according to their fathers' houses, have received,
and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received, their inheritance; 15 the two tribes and the half-tribe
have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward, toward
the sun-rising.'
This
allows for even larger parcels of land.
…
36:10 Even as the LORD commanded
Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad. 11 For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and
Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto their father's
brothers' sons. 12 They were
married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their
inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father. 13 These are the commandments and the
ordinances, which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of
Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.
The
whole of Sefer Devarim will take place in a week’s time opposite Yericho with
the assembled tribes.
Chazak
– Chazak v’ nit Chazak
Reminder
from Rosh Chodesh Av the Ashkenazi Custom is not to eat meat until the afternoon
on the 10th of Av. The Sephardim start the week that Tisha B’Av falls
and the Yemenite the day before Tisha B’Av.
Rosh Chodesh falls on July 8th this coming week.
Karma Happens: There is a concept, not unique to Judaism that "what goes
around comes around". Some call it Karma, others Poetic Justice, Fate or
Destiny; we define it in Judaism as Mida K'neged Mida - Measure for
Measure. However you wish to call it, there seems to be something built into the
fabric of Creation that once a reality is created through word or action, it has
a funny way of becoming part of your life in ways that you may have never
intended. And so while you may have enjoyed the benefits of said reality, it can
equally come back to haunt you as well.
This
dynamic seems to arise in both the more meaningful and less so aspects of life.
So for instance, not long ago my beloved Toronto Maple Leafs experienced a
unique meltdown in Game 7 of their Stanley Cup first-round hockey series against
the Boston Bruins. Despite having a very solid lead of 4-1 with about 10 minutes
left in the game they gave up a goal to make it 4-2. And then the unthinkable
happened: With just a minute and change to go, Boston pulled their goalie to get
another attacker on offense and they scored a goal now making it 4-3. And then
just 31 seconds later they did it again and tied the game - the odds of that
happening being about nil. They then went on to win it in overtime to complete
their stunning upset. The (ironically named) TD Garden was a rocking and frantic
place and I had a hole in my heart.
Fast
forward about six weeks and now these Bruins are playing the Chicago Blackhawks
in the Stanley Cup final in the same building. They trail the series 3 games to
2 but are up 2-1 with just a minute and change to play. Chicago pulls its goalie
and scores to tie the game and now everyone is thinking that the game will go
into overtime. But then, just 17 seconds later, Chicago scores again to take the
lead that they will not relinquish, thus knocking Boston out and winning the
Cup. The TD Garden is somber and morgue-like.
What
Boston did to Toronto ended up back on its head as they became the victims of a
very similar scenario that they had perpetrated. As my future son-in-law, Avi -
a fellow Torontonian - texted me when it happened, "I have never felt this much
joy from another person's loss." My sentiments exactly.
On
a more serious note, this week in an editorial by the NY Times entitled,
Dangerous Divisions in the Arab World, the final words caught my
attention. Writing about the numerous conflicts presently going on in Syria,
Egypt, Iraq, etc., they note, "... that nurturing hatreds, for whatever reason,
inevitably backfires and makes stable societies impossible."
Although
the Times was not speaking at all about Israel in the piece, nor was
there any intention to include them, the truth of that statement speaks volumes.
The hatred that Arab societies have nurtured for Israel is starting to come back
and bite them in their proverbial butt. Once you open the bottle and let the
genie out, it is impossible to put it back in. So when Arab leaders, clerics,
and street spew hatred for Israel for decades and act on that hatred with
suicide bombs, rock-throwing, terrorism and every other imaginable form of
mayhem, they thereby legitimize it as an acceptable and praiseworthy form of
behavior. However, it is only a matter of time before it is visited upon their
own heads. That time is now.
If
the Arab world teaches that you are a hero for killing innocents and children,
for disrupting society with mass protests and rock-throwing, then how do you
suddenly turn that switch off when it starts to migrate from being a mechanism
of resistance against Israel to one against Assad, Morsi, Shi'ites, Sunnis,
etc.? You don't. You can't. Pandora's Box has been opened and once it is, it
remains so forever.
And
this is how it always is with us Jews, being the so-called canary in the mine.
What starts as an anti-Jewish ploy spills over to become much bigger than that
and engulfs the world. It happened with Nazism, with Communism and it continues
with Terrorism and Islamism.
For
years the Arab world used Israel as its convenient scapegoat for all its ills.
"Solve the Palestinian problem and you solve all the problems of the Mideast",
was what we were told. Well, that has now been shown to be a complete myth and,
judging by the frequent trips Secretary of State John Kerry has recently made,
he may be the only one left believing it.
Now
that the truth starts to seep out - and it always does - it's time to pay the
piper, reap what you have sown; the chicken has come home to roost - and every
other cliché that expresses this simple and unavoidable reality: What goes
around comes around.
The
Arab world is exploding and imploding today before our very eyes - but the fuse
was set long ago, way back even before 1948. And here is the kicker - they were
the ones that lit it.
Rabbi
Tzvi Nightingale
Aish
South Florida
The Mystery of 1964
A child's shocking discovery of his father's painful past. By Rabbi Yacov Solomon: http://www.aish.com/sp/so/The-Mystery-of-1964.html
The
year was 1964. The World's Fair opened in Flushing Park. "I Wanna Hold Your
Hand," by some long-haired kids from Liverpool, was #1. Some far-out
location called Vietnam dominated the news. The Mets played their first game at
Shea Stadium. And Dallas' "grassy knoll" was becoming a familiar term in the
American lexicon. Those were the headlines that danced in the mind of a
12-year-old New York City boy. That boy was me.
Life
was good, I recall. Lots of friends, loving parents, Leave it to Beaver,
my trusty Vada Pinson black outfielder's glove, and an older brother to show me
the ropes. What could be bad?
I
suppose that in my own naive way, I was decidedly unaware that there was
anything special or distinctive about being a child of Holocaust survivors.
Everything seemed so very normal. In fact, it was.
As
it turns out, many of my baby boomer friends were of similar ilk. Their parents
had also either spent years in concentration camps or had barely escaped the
clutches of catastrophe on more than one occasion, and lived to tell about it.
But looking back, I find it odd that we were all so oblivious to our unique
lineage. We never compared notes, never wondered if we were "different," never
discussed how our parents' suffering and deprivation may have affected us, never
seemed to even notice that we were members of this proud yet sad club. Not in
class, not in the synagogue, not even during sleepovers when the darkness
sheltered our fragility. Never.
And
I guess that's how our folks really wanted it to be. "Blend in, be normal,
forget the past, look ahead…" read their unspoken banner of post-war
parenting. I suppose that they had had quite enough of being part of an
exclusive grouping of any kind. Being special does have its disadvantages, you
know. No. Now was the time to de-emphasize our distinctions and hope for a
brighter, or at least, normal tomorrow.
And
if this society of kids of survivors was, in fact, bent on changing its moniker
to "Club Inconspicuous," then surely I was prime candidate for President.
Despite having spent over 3 years in the torture cavities of Puskow, Mielec,
Wieliczka, Flossenberg, Leitmeritz, Dachau, and Kaufering, my father, of blessed
memory, never ever uttered a single word to us about the butchery and carnage he
witnessed there daily. It was as if life on this planet somehow began in 1947 --
when he arrived on Ellis Island.
It's
not like we didn't know that "something" dreadful had happened. We saw the "KL"
that had been eternalized on his wrist, we knew about the huge bump he carried
beneath his black, shiny yarmulke, and we cried when we were awoken by his
terrifying nocturnal screams and tremors. Oh, we knew. But the horror was just
too ghastly to verbalize. The "pink elephant" could not be spoken about. The
children had to be protected.
The
only exception to this pact of silence was when Daddy took me to Riverside Park
just about every Shabbos afternoon. It was there that Paul and Danny and Joey
and the rest of my fellow club members would join me for a weekly Freeze-tag or
Ring-o-leevio game. But it wasn't long before I noticed that while we were busy
darting and leaping on and off base, and releasing our pre-adolescent tensions,
our fathers formed an enclave of their own.
The
spirit and animation of their discussions always seemed a trifle inappropriate;
until one day I happened by within earshot and discovered that it was there that
they swapped horror stories, never to be forgotten. It seems every week for 2
hours or more, these valiant heroes turned the clock back 20 plus years and
compared their dreaded experiences, to re-live and recount what their eyes had
witnessed and their hearts had endured. It was a support group of the most
therapeutic kind.
THE
MYSTERIOUS TRIP
The
mystery unfolded that summer. Like every year, I was safely ensconced in my home
away from home -- my summer camp near New Paltz, New York -- when I received a
letter from home. This itself was a rather common occurrence in the pre-email
decade of the 60's. Preposterous as it sounds, people (especially parents with
kids in camp) would actually sit down at a table or a desk, pick up a ball point
pen and some blank paper (ruled or unruled), and communicate news from home and
abroad. The paper would subsequently be inserted in an envelope (#7 or 10),
which was then addressed, sealed, stamped and brought to a mailing receptacle.
Days later, the letter invariably arrived.
After
the usual maternal exhortations to wear a sweater at night, learn how to swim,
and eat my veggies, Daddy would customarily add a few obligatory greetings in
his forced, but loving, broken English. But this letter was different. No
message from Daddy. He would never say very much anyway, but I always looked for
his unfinished, yet ever so sincere message of missing me and loving me. It
wasn't there. At 12 years old, that struck a chord.
When
I couldn't speak to Daddy on my weekly call home, an explanation had to be
tendered. "Oh," Mom stumbled, "he went to Israel to attend your cousin's
wedding."
Plausible
enough. But not for 1964…and not for my father…and not without months of
preparatory excitement and anticipation. I knew it didn't smell right, but hey,
I was only 12 and heavily involved in Color War and batting leadoff. Priorities,
you know. I let it slide.
And
so it remained -- a minor mystery -- tempered somewhat by Daddy's return home
two weeks later, armed with wedding pictures, a silver candelabra for Mommy and
Jerusalem trinkets for the boys. Perhaps I was wrong.
Fast
forward nearly 40 years. Daddy is with us but in spirit and memory now, and big
brother Izzy has grown fascinated with Daddy's earlier years in particular and
our family genealogy in general. In frenetic fashion, Izzy assumes the identity
of an impassioned world class detective, gripped with the unyielding
determination to shed light on the questions we never dared
ask.
- What were Daddy's formative years like?
- Where did the family come from?
- What were they known for?
- Where were they before and during the war?
- How many were killed?
- Who else, if any, survived?
- How?
- Did Daddy begin a family before the war?
- What happened to them?
- What horrors did he witness?
- How did he stay alive?
- …and where did he go in July of 1964?
Izzy
traveled…to Poland, to Israel…and he asked questions. He read. He surfed. He
called. He wrote. He wondered. He dreamed. He interviewed. He cried. He
uncovered. He discovered. He was stymied, exhausted, confused, elated,
obstructed, and jubilant. Sometimes all at the same time. But most of all, he
was driven. Driven by a passion to know, to understand, and to
connect.
And
he found answers -- at least some of them -- that help to fill part of the void
we grappled with for so many years. The "research" is ongoing and more answers
may be forthcoming. Some questions will never be answered and perhaps that is
how it should be, but the mystery of 1964 is no longer. A short time ago he
received a correspondence from the Provincial Court of Bochum, Germany. In it
was a transcript dated July 21, 1964. It was Daddy's verbatim testimony at a
trial for Nazi War Criminals.
"In
April of 1942 I was arrested by the Jewish police. I had heard that the Gestapo
ordered the Jewish police to arrest young, strong, able-bodied boys and men. The
police had a list of about 100 names, and I was one of them."
Daddy
then identified Nazis, unfamiliar to most: Johann, Labitzke, Rouenhoff,
Bornhold, Brock. It seems that all of them must have been on trial. I trembled
as I read on. I can hear his gentle voice speaking.
"The
prison cell was so overcrowded that we had no room to stretch out at
night.
Before
shipping out we were assembled in the prison courtyard and had to line up in
three rows. I stood in the middle row. About 8 to 10 Jews stepped forward and
declared themselves sick. One Jew, for example, had bloody
feet."
It
was incredible to read the words my father had said, describing events that I
never could have heard him say directly. It was a glimpse into a corridor that
had been closed off to all of us as long as he lived. His next words merged the
unspeakable with staggering historical irony.
"A
second Jew dropped his pants and showed his hernia. These sick people were told
to step aside. Hamann pointed to the wall, and they went there.
I
saw these SS people from Puskow approach the sick Jews and stand near them. Then
I heard Hamann calling out "fire," and the SS men fired. The 8 to 10 sick Jews
were shot to death."
My
face dropped. Reading the eyewitness account of my very own, tender, loving
father bearing witness to watching Jews being shot to death is an experience
that defies description. But learning that the Nazi in charge of this particular
bloodbath was Heinrich Hamann, the namesake of the villainous protagonist of the
Purim story, whose intent was to exterminate masses of Jews, was truly
mind-boggling.
"I
am the only survivor of those sent to the Puskow Labor Camp."
And
with that, Daddy's testimony ended.
My
understanding is that these Gestapo thugs all received sentences of life
imprisonment. Whether they actually served them full term is unknown to
me.
Daddy,
I have spent many adult years wondering what really happened to you before 1947.
I believe it is something that all children of survivors would do well to look
into. But looking back now, and knowing that I am now privy to but a speck of
the terror you lived through, I say thank you. Thank you for making me President
of Club Inconspicuous. Your loving shield was a blanket of normalcy for
two little boys who love you now, even more than we ever
did.
Life
was good, I recall. You made it that way.
Unfortunately
this starts with how the Arabs occupying Israel hurt the Jews in their pockets
English subtitles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKkQZ-v8mk0
Chip Cantor, 23, was detained for over 9 hours – apparently due to customs agent's anti-Semitism. By Gil Ronen
First Publish: 7/1/2013, 10:29 AM
British police
Flash 90A Jewish student from Kansas was denied entry into Britain for a summer job several weeks ago – apparently due to a customs agent's anti-Semitism.
After being detained for more than nine hours, he was put back on a plane to the United States by customs officials. During that time he was never told why he was being denied entry.
According to the the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle, the British man who had offered Louis “Chip” Cantor summer work experience, Kevin Shilling, said the British border agent he spoke to in his attempt to get Cantor admitted into Britian made more than one anti-Semitic comment to him during the telephone conversation they had.
Chip Cantor told his story to two local television stations last month. On June 4, he told KMBC he was traveling to Britain to visit and gain summer work experience, and to participate in a fundraiser for a child who has cancer. He left Kansas City on Wednesday, May 29, landed in Britain after 10 p.m. London time and waited in line to go through customs.
When he got to the front of the line, a female customs agent began looking at his passport. Chip’s father, Chuck Cantor, said his son told him the customs agent was very pleasant toward him until she saw the Israel stamps in his passport. Then she simply walked away with his passport without speaking a word to him. Chip told his father he estimates she was gone 45 minutes to an hour. He never saw her again.
“He has a lot of Israel stamps,” Chuck said. Chip has been to Israel several times including two programs sponsored by Young Judea — the six-week Machon program and a gap-year program. Chip Cantor graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School in 2009 and will be a senior in the fall at Florida Gulf Coast University.
Finally, according to Chuck, a different, uniformed customs agent came to see him and told him the agents would be taking his bags and detaining him for questioning. He was not told why.
Once in the interview room Chip told his father that he was told if he changed any of his answers to any questions, he was going to go to prison.
“He said, ‘Why would I change my answers? I told you the truth,’ ” Chuck said.
According to the Chronicle, Chip wasn’t allowed to be in sight of his luggage and eventually was put into what he described to his father as a detention cell.
“At some point a woman who was wearing a burka came to the cell to photograph him,” Chuck said. At that point he was fingerprinted as well.
As she was doing this, she said to him, “We’re putting your name and fingerprints and photos into a database. From now on it is going to be very difficult for you to ever travel in the United Kingdom or anywhere in the E.U. It will be up to each individual country to decide if they want toadmit you.”
Chuck said Chip kept telling the customs agents he had not committed any crimes or done anything wrong. Eventually another agent came to tell Chip he was being deported.
Now several hours after he was detained, Chip was given the opportunity to call his father. Chuck asked to speak directly to the customs agent involved and was connected with Philip G. Yeomans.
After Chuck spoke to Yeomans, he contacted Kevin Shilling, his managing director and owner of Shilling Communications, the British company where Chip was supposed to be employed for the summer. It was about 3 a.m., London time. Shilling, who is not Jewish, called Yeomans.
Shilling noted that while the conversation didn’t accomplish anything, Yeomans made several anti-Semitic comments. At one point, Shilling recounted, when Shilling was explaining the reason Chip was in the country, the customs agent told Shilling that Chip should have lied to the customs agent, adding, “A Jewish kid would find that easy.”
Yeomans, the custom agent, also told Shilling any additional attempts to aid Cantor would be useless and “the little Jew will be on his way back to his rich daddy,” in a matter of hours.
Chip said he was given only a half of a sandwich and very little water throughout the nine hours of detention. In the morning, Chip was escorted to the plane by another customs agent for a flight back to the United States. “The guy walks him onto the plane and in front of everyone, like a prisoner, he says here is this man’s passport. Do not give him his passport until you land in the United States,” Chuck said he was told. The American Airlines purser told Chip that, in 17 years flying internationally, he had never seen anything like it.
When contacted by the Chronicle, Shilling said, “I’m really so sorry for Chip and the way he was treated. I want to reassure all your readers that if they plan a visit to the U.K., once they get past the U.K. Border Agency they will find friendly, welcoming people, without prejudice.”
"Why
anyone would want to go the country of bad manners, bad teeth, and bad food
escapes me" thanks to Dr. Harry
It
was Alfred Hitchcock that revealed the horrors of the holocaust while the Jews
in Hollywood played Haus-Yid Kapo for the Nazis: http://www.aish.com/jw/s/Hollywood-and-the-Holocaust.html
From
Col H: The Reform Rabbis admit failure
in their education: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0713/johnny_cant_pray.php3#.UdUi320g67p
Rapper
D-Black is now an Orthodox Jew thanks to Shuli at the Kosher Culture Group:
http://www.jta.org/2013/06/20/life-religion/double-wedding-in-seattle-caps-rappers-transformation
Tabernacle
(Mishkan) of Shiloh found! http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/169512#.UdJ8x5wg67p
Why
did they throw a rock at my head asks the Arab Girl whose life was saved by and
IDF soldier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TWzSVZ-I0-c
Most
of my neighborhood is really a triple A rating but there is always the other
side of the Yeshuv: http://www.yourjewishnews.com/2013/07/n28011.html
OK
don’t keep kosher and if you don’t get mad cow disease or something else enjoy
your meat: http://www.yourjewishnews.com/2013/06/n27959.html
Since
Yosef honors Shabbos I have not heard a Jewish tale of a fish like
this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/02/henry-liebman-giant-fish-200-years-old_n_3535103.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl15%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D339753
This
non-religious lawyer killed his parents for his gambling debt then tried to
blame his twin brother when DNA was discovered then plays a religious pedophile
etc. http://www.jewishpress.com/news/justice-defeats-sick-mind-using-internet-tips-to-kill-parents/2013/07/02/
Inyanay
Diyoma
An
American Jew killed in Egypt – what was he thinking going to Egypt at all?
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/169411#.Uc8jalffrIU
Netanyahu
puts economics above the real Syrian threat and pooh-poohing the situation but
it will not make it go away. http://debka.com/article/23082/Israeli-leaders-rebut-criticism-of-under-reacting-to-threats-from-Syria-by-hinting-at-covert-operations-
22,134,000
sign a petition in Egypt against Morsi as things get hot: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4398346,00.html
Assad
is slowly regaining control as it is a bit little and late for the west.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/06/29/syrian-fighter-jets-hit-central-city-homs/?test=latestnews
I
want to thank Mr. Obama for bringing about anti-US sentiment in Egypt:
http://debka.com/article/23086/Nasserist-nationalist-anti-US-slogans-unexpectedly-dominate-anti-Morsi-protests-in-Cairo
Honorable
families: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4399155,00.html
How
to fight autism: http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/06/30/boy-recovers-from-autism-by-removing-dairy-gluten-strong-evidence-links-vaccines-to-autism/
King
George III vs. the Modern Constitutional Republic. http://allenwestrepublic.com/2013/07/01/allen-west-the-time-draws-near-to-teach-this-usurper-and-charlatan-the-lesson-our-forefathers-taught-king-george-iii/
Canadians
have brains: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/169530#.UdMXN1ffrIU
Egypt
is one big mess and headache where it goes nobody knows: http://debka.com/article/23088/Egyptian-army-chief-to-Morsi-You-must-step-down-to-save-a-bloodbath
There
was a regular newspaper story about the Kansas Jew banned from the UK but this
goes into more detail: http://www.barenakedislam.com/2013/07/02/is-the-uk-now-banning-all-jews-from-entry-because-muslims-find-jews-offensive/
Sodom
re-awakens in Europe. In Denmark, Norway and Germany the Homosexual behavior has
started boring people. This week Facebook was filled with stories about Animal
Brothels. It is the last stand of the Yetzer before Moshiach so be wary and
prepared for Moshiach real soon.
In
the USA 19 firefighters die and in Greece they have little money to pay for
their firefighters and equipment as the world plunges into Gog and
Magog.
Paula
Dean used the N word but she did not blame the Jews for firing her as some posts
reported she might not be a saint but she is not Haman HaRasha: http://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/deenfired.asp
Arabs
are problematic even for their own good. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/169516#.UdPE51ffrIU
Recent
protests in Egypt have also been against Hamas because of the Muslim
Brotherhood. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4399896,00.html
Israel
is back to the old bragging days and I don’t like it one bit.
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Netanyahu-There-is-no-place-Israels-long-arm-cant-reach-318459
Funny
writing on July 4th about Uncle Sap the bully for the left: Yes
causes like Hamas, the PLO, the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda meets with McCain
and other stupid things from Bosnia and Yugoslavia onwards. The horrible thing
that John Pollard did in revealing the extent of the Nuclear Program of Saddam
Hussein endangered all Americas so he must rot in jail while Saddam’s henchmen
supplied Timothy with explosives and knowledge for the OKC bombing:
http://debka.com/article/23090/Saudis-Gulf-emirates-actively-aided-Egypt’s-military-coup-settling-score-for-Mubarak-ouster
Brotherhood
to go into terrorist mode:
http://www.wnd.com/2013/07/muslim-brotherhood-plotting-to-form-new-terror-group/?cat_orig=world
Women’s
rights in Islam the religion of peace: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4400527,00.html
One
Israeli reporter did not use the word masses of people during the Egyptian
revolution but swarms there were so many: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4400765,00.html
I
am hoping that the army and people who are sick of Hamas and Al Qaeda will
prevent Sinai terror but this article worries: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/169577#.UdVTmVffrIU
Tehillim
127:1 Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it; except
the LORD keep the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.
Assassination with technology just a
matter of time: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4400750,00.html
Attack
from Sinai: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/169599#.UdZvFlffrIU
Attack
in Sinai:
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Egyptian-state-TV-Islamist-gunmen-attack-Sinai-airport-318832
Remember the nine days of serious mourning for the loss of the
Temple starts on Rosh Chodesh. Be well all and have a wonderful restful
Shabbos,
Rachamim Pauli
