Devorah
Rosa bas Frieda Leah is undergoing surgery next week so please pray for her
this Shabbos and the next.
Parsha Chayei Sarah
As last week’s Parsha ended Rashi
had a big question regarding the Pshat vs. the Drush. For we see in the Pshat
that Avraham was returning to Beer Sheva. Avraham had many animals grazing and
needed areas with green grass and other supplies and a water source for
them.
22:19 So
Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to
Beer-Sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-Sheba. 19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and
went together to Beer-Sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-Sheba.
and Abraham remained
in Beer-Sheba: This does not mean permanently dwelling, for he was living in
Hebron. Twelve years prior to the binding of Isaac, he left Beer-Sheba and went
to Hebron, as it is said (above 21:34): “And Abraham dwelt in the land of the
Philistines for many days,” [meaning] more numerous than the first [years] in
Hebron, which were twenty-six years, as we explained above. — [from Seder Olam Ch.
1]
The distance between Beer Sheva
and Chevron is 45 km or about 30 miles. For a man with a flock and herd it is
about 2 days travel but by donkey it is about half a day. So if Sarah was in
Chevron and Avraham was in Beer Sheva if a messenger came by horse or camel to
fetch him it would not take too long for him to leave the tending of the
animals to his servants or Eliezer and hurry back. The Medrash tells us that
Sara died in Chevron and Avraham buried her there in our Parsha. So Rashi had
to reconcile the Pshat which say Beer Sheva with the Medrash that says Chevron
as she died as soon as she heard of the Akayda of Yitzchak to be slaughtered.
Her only child was too much for her to bear.
23:1 And
the life of Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years; these were the
years of the life of Sarah.
And the life of Sarah
was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years: The reason that the word
“years” was written after every digit is to tell you that every digit is to be
expounded upon individually: when she was one hundred years old, she was like a
twenty-year-old regarding sin. Just as a twenty-year-old has not sinned,
because she is not liable to punishment, so too when she was one hundred years
old, she was without sin. And when she was twenty, she was like a
seven-year-old as regards to beauty. — from Gen. Rabbah 58:1]
2 And
Sarah died in Kiriatharba--the same is Hebron--in the land of Canaan; and
Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. 3 And Abraham rose up from before his dead, and spoke unto the
children of Heth, saying: 4 'I
am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burying-place
with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.' … 20 And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure
unto Abraham for a possession of a burying-place by the children of Heth.
The whole story here teaches us not to trust the words of our
allies for we see Ephron saying take it and then demands a tremendous sum the
equivalent in today’s terms of millions of dollars. The reason for the purchase
is that Avraham wanted proof for the future that is was his lock, stock and
barrel but it did not help. In fact every place where land was purchased in the
past only let to a dispute in the future and every place conquered becomes part
of Israel and is not challenged.
24:1 And
Abraham was old, well stricken in age; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all
things.
Had blessed Abraham
with everything: [The word] בַּכֹּל is numerically equal to בֵּן [son]. Since
he had a son, he had to find him a wife.
The Talmud states also with a daughter.
2 And
Abraham said unto his servant, the elder of his house, that ruled over all that
he had: 'Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh.
This whole ceremony is swearing on the holy Bris Mila which is
quite contrary to the way we view in the west that part of the body. For
Avraham and Yacov who did everything in a holy-manner for the sake of heaven
this was the highest vow likened unto wearing on a Sefer Torah or in court the
Holy Scriptures today. It was as if to say that anything that comes out of the
seed will avenge himself on you if you go against this vow.
This section is the basis also for the formulating of our laws
written in Shulchan Aruch Eben HaEzer Simanim 2 to 6 on how to check family
background and who is fit to marry. Yitzchak for all intents and purposes was
more than a Cohain as he was a perfect sacrifice. He therefore needed at
minimum the requirements of the Cohain Gadol and marry a virgin (while an
ordinary Cohain could marry a widow or the wife of his childless brother
[Yebum].
3 And I
will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of the earth,
that thou shalt not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites,
among whom I dwell.
Eliezer was essentially a Canaanite Slave and it was said that he
had two beautiful daughters. However, grace is false and beauty is vanity
(which fades) but a woman who fears G-D she shall be praised. (Mishlei)
4 But
thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son,
even for Isaac.'
The emphasis is on a good family from a monotheistic culture for
Terach had repented and the family no longer had anything to do with idols. Nahor
the father of Rivka was still pure but the environment had made Lavan into a
bit of a con-artist. Do not be surprised if the son of a Tzaddik can go astray
for Yishmael and Esav are good examples despite the purity and righteousness of
their fathers. So too Lavan and become corrupt and Yacov would not entrust his
sons to marry into that family any more than the daughters of Yishmael or Esav.
[This last note should be a warning against intermarriage – again the exception
is a convert to Judaism as he/she is considered a full Jew without family
background like the souls that Avraham made in Parsha Lech Lecha].
5 And
the servant said unto him: 'Peradventure the woman will not be willing to
follow me unto this land; must I needs bring thy son back unto the land from
whence thou came?'
This is a possibility so Avraham is asked by his servant. We see
in the times a the Mishnah a similar servant as mentioned in Berachos and
Sukkos called Tabi the slave/servant of Rabban Gamliel who was a very big
Talmud Chacham and contrary to the custom was mourned by the Rabbi for he was
kosher. {This is not a Halacha and when I married my wife, I had a 5 room apt
in a 4 family building and my wife had a smaller 4 room apt in an apartment
building but it was closer to her family and I had nobody in Israel at the time
except some very-very distant adopted children of my great-grandfather’s sister
all the way down in Beer Sheva. So I moved to Petach Tikva even though I added
an hour each way travelling time to work and a change of schools for my
children. However, I gained a woman of valor and my children gained more of a
friend and guide in their step-mother.}
6 And
Abraham said unto him: 'Beware thou that thou bring not my son back thither. 7 The LORD, the God of heaven, who
took me from my father's house, and from the land of my nativity, and who spoke
unto me, and who swore unto me, saying: Unto thy seed will I give this land; He
will send His angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife for my son from
thence.
The Lord, God of the
heavens, Who took me from my father’s house: But he did not say, “and the God
of the earth,” whereas above (verse 3) he said, “And I will adjure you [by the
Lord, the God of the heaven and the God of the earth].” He said to him, “Now He
is the God of the heaven and the God of the earth, because I have made Him
familiar in the mouths of the people, but when He took me from my father’s
house, He was the God of the heavens but not the God of the earth, because
mankind did not acknowledge Him, and His name was not familiar on the earth.1”
from my father’s house: from Haran. 2 and from the land of my birth: from Ur of
the Chaldees.
It was this double
language in the Pshat where Rabbi Shatz Shlita told me that he
deduced the age of 70 years for Avraham in the war of the 4 vs 5 kings and
then then 75 for leaving is father's house in Parsha Lech Lecha.
and Who spoke about
me: [Here לִי means]“concerning me,” like אֲשֶׁר דִבֵּר, “who spoke concerning
me.” Similarly, every לִי, לוֹ, and לָהֶם used in conjunction with the verb דבר
-speak-is to be interpreted in the sense of עַל,“concerning,” and their Aramaic
translation is עִלֵי, עִלוֹהִי, עִלֵיהוֹן. For in conjunction with דִּבּוּר,
the use of the terms לִי, לוֹ, and לָהֶם is inappropriate, but rather אֵלַי,
אֵלָיו and אִלֵיהֶם [are to be used], and their Aramaic translation is עִמִּי,
עִמֵּיהּ, עִמְּהוֹן However, following the expression אִמִירה [saying], the
terms לִי, לוֹ, and לָהֶם are appropriate. and Who swore to me: At the Covenant
Between the Parts.
We see at this point that Avraham has faith that HASHEM will keep
HIS promise and guide everything for the best.
8 And if
the woman be not willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my
oath; only thou shalt not bring my son back thither.'
you will be absolved
of this, my oath: And take him a wife from the daughters of Aner, Eshkol, and
Mamre. — [From Gen. Rabbah 49:8] only…my son: “Only” is restrictive. My son
will not return, but Jacob, my grandson, will ultimately return.
There are two points here. 1) Yitzchak the Korban is too holy to
leave Eretz Yisrael aka Eretz Canaan. 2) I was promised this land and not that
land and Yitzchak shall not return to that land. An aside note that the
Shidduch was hinted at the end of Vayeira where Rivka is mentioned. (It is very
rare that a woman is mentioned in the Chumash, if I am not mistaken about 17
women starting Chava, the Tubal Cain, wife of Noach, the four mothers of Am
Yisrael, the daughter of Yisrael, the wife of Yosef, wife and daughter-in-law of Yehuda, mother,
sister, wife and sister-in-law of Moshe and Cozbi.)
9 And
the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to
him concerning this matter. 10
And the servant took ten camels, of the camels of his master, and departed;
having all goodly things of his master's in his hand; and he arose, and went to
Aram-naharaim, unto the city of Nahor.
Avraham sends Eliezer with a fortune to Nahor for he wanted to
show what wealth Yitzchak’s bride will gain. (Something today like a
Billionaire Family known in Forbes today)
of his master’s
camels: (Gen. Rabbah 59:11). They were distinguishable from other camels by the
fact that they would go out muzzled to prevent robbery, that they should not
graze in strangers’ fields.
11 And he
made the camels to kneel down without the city by the well of water at the time
of evening, the time that women go out to draw water. 12 And he said: 'O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, send me, I
pray Thee, good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham. 13 Behold, I stand by the fountain of
water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water. 14 So let it come to pass, that the
damsel to whom I shall say: Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may
drink; and she shall say: Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also; let the
same be she that Thou hast appointed for Thy servant, even for Isaac; and
thereby shall I know that Thou hast shown kindness unto my master.' now whether
the LORD had made his journey prosperous or not. nd they blessed Rebekah, and
said unto her: 'Our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of ten thousands,
and let thy seed possess the gate of those that hate them.' … 61 And Rebekah arose, and her
damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man. And the servant
took Rebekah, and went his way. 62 And Isaac came from the way of Beer-lahai-roi; for he dwelt in
the land of the South. 63
And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide; and he lifted up
his eyes, and saw, and, behold, there were camels coming. 64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and
when she saw Isaac, she alighted from the camel. 65 And she said unto the servant:
'What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us?' And the servant said:
'It is my master.' And she took her veil, and covered herself. 66 And the servant told Isaac all the
things that he had done. 67
And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she
became his wife; and he loved her. And Isaac was comforted for his mother.
According to the Medrash, Rivka was three years old when she
married Yitzchak and their marriage continued 130 years but according to
Ibn Ezra, she was 14 and the marriage
lasted 114 years here is an article
about a couple together 80 years finally getting a religious ceremony. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/17/eldery-couple-marries_n_4116838.html?1382034181&icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl12%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D393706
25:1 And Abraham took another wife, and
her name was Keturah. 2 And she
bore him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 And Jokshan begot Sheba, and Dedan.
And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim. 4 And the sons of Midian: Ephah, and
Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of
Keturah. 5 And Abraham gave all
that he had unto Isaac. 6 But
unto the sons of the concubines, that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts; and he
sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east
country. 7 And these are the
days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, a hundred threescore and
fifteen years. 8 And Abraham expired,
and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to
his people. 9 And Isaac and
Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron
the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre; 10 the field which Abraham purchased of the children of Heth;
there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife. 11 And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God
blessed Isaac his son; and Isaac dwelt by Beer-lahai-roi.
While many sources equate Ketura with Hagar it
would be 54 years after Hagar gave birth to Yishmael and with Sara a miracle
happened but twice for childbirth I question this. Rather it appears to me that
Ketura was a different person and the children were sent to the east and
Avraham became A-Brahm or Brahmans for some of their customs with Tuma and Taharos
to be similar but I have no proof on this only a theory of David Isaac from
Burma who worked with me.
12 Now these are the generations of
Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, bore unto
Abraham. 13 And these are the
names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations:
the first-born of Ishmael, Nebaioth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, 14 and Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa; 15 Hadad, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish,
and Kedem; 16 these are the sons
of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their
encampments; twelve princes according to their nations. 17 And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, a hundred and
thirty and seven years; and he expired and died; and was gathered unto his
people. 18 And they dwelt from
Havilah unto Shur that is before Egypt, as thou goes toward Asshur: over
against all his brethren he did settle.
All these last Pasukim for the fact that the
daughter of Yishmael would marry Esav.
Miracle Alert Rabbi saved with his family from being stoned to
death and they tell me there is no intifada: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/173092#.UmZ8LFffrIU
Shalom on the Range: In search of the American Crypto-Jew Part 3
Thanks to Devorah L. Taken
from: http://harpers.org/archive/2009/12/shalom-on-the-range/3/
III.
Sonya
Loya couldn’t meet until after her shift making cappuccinos at a coffee shop,
so it was past ten in the evening when I followed her pickup along the tourist
drag in Ruidoso, New Mexico, a dumpy, down-market ski town whose locals had
settled on a half-baked Alpine design theme in the hopes of luring some trade
away from Taos. Shuttered and dark at this hour, it resembled a remaindered set
from the Swiss Family Robinson movie.
When
we arrived at Sonya’s art studio and retail store, Hosanna’s Glass Works, she
turned on the lights, illuminating the slightly pricey glass jewelry and the
fancy candles she sold to the tourists. She then directed me to a pair of
French doors near the back of the shop, through which lay her other business,
the Bat-Tzion Hebrew Learning Center.
The
shelves in this little cinder-block room were filled with all manner of
tchotchkes: menorahs, dreidels, mezuzot, Hanukkah gelt, shofars
small and large, prayer books, language primers in Hebrew, English, and Spanish
(¡Hebrew! ¡Tan Simple!), and general interest titles such as 26
Reasons Why Jews Don’t Believe in Jesus, which Sonya said was a bestseller.
“I’m
out of tallits,” she said. “Just sold the last one when I was in
Israel.”
Sonya
was in her forties, with rounded features, olive skin, and black eyes that
could read enthusiastic or manic depending on your feelings about her. She
hosted Torah-study classes here and, simultaneously, via the Internet, on an
aging computer set up on a desk behind an old couch. A whiteboard covered with
Hebrew alphabet lessons stood in one corner of the room, next to a poster with
instructions on “How to Wash Hands Before Eating Bread.” Several Ruidosans
attended the lessons, she said, linked in with other students in Texas and
California. They studied the parsha, the weekly Torah portion, with a
man named Juan Mejía, a Colombian from a prominent Catholic family in Bogotá,
who as a teen had discovered a hidden Jewish background and was now a
rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
“You
have a dog-friendly Judaica store,” I said, pointing to the sacks of kibble
beneath the whiteboard.
“Listen,
we have Shabbat dogs here. People always say, ‘Can I bring Belle? She’ll be
upset if I don’t bring her for Shabbat.’ Belle, she sees us doing the berakhah
for the challah,” Sonya said, not at all shy with the “ch” sounds, “and she
goes and sits right there by the challah.”
Sonya
had little choice but to accept these unorthodox (for lack of a better word)
Sabbath requests, given the difficulties of forming and maintaining a Jewish
community in Ruidoso.
“I’m
a female. I’m Hispanic. I’m an artist living in a tourist town. I close on
Shabbat, the busiest time of the week.” Tears came to her eyes. “It’s so hard
to be a Jew here. It’s even harder when you grew up Catholic, because basically
people treat you like you have the Black Plague.” She caught herself, wiped
away a tear, and smiled. “Honey, people here still believe that Jews have
horns.”
Her
biggest problem, however, was not lapdogs or devils but Jesus. Many of the
people Sonya brought to the Learning Center had left Catholicism but hadn’t
committed fully to Judaism. They often belonged to evangelical Christian sects
that worked Jewish ritual into their worship, such as the Seventh-day
Adventists, the Church of God, or the Iglesia de Dios. Still others were
“Messianic Jews,” members of a Christian religious movement whose adherents
keep the Sabbath and Kashrut, celebrate the Pesach, wear yarmulkes, and support
Israel but also believe that Jesus, whom they call Yeshuah, was the Son
of God. Among those who have embraced Judaism (and many haven’t; they remain
Catholic and view their being Jewish as a genealogical oddity), there is a
genuine eagerness to learn the context of Jewish practices, but things grow
complicated when Sonya explains that they will have to disavow Jesus as the
Christ. “Verbalizing that you no longer believe in the Big Lie,” as she put it,
caused many of them to quit.
Before
I left that night, Sonya told me it had become so difficult to find recruits in
Ruidoso for her proposed minyan that she was considering moving to El
Paso, where there was a more established Jewish community, or perhaps even to
Israel.
“I
love living here,” she said. “This is where I grew up. My parents are here. My
brother is here. At the same time, I wouldn’t be the first one that’s abandoned
the familiar. Abraham left his family, too.”
I
returned to Sonya’s store the next morning. I noticed that she kept the double
doors to Bat-Tzion closed, not wanting to disconcert any out-of-town goyim
unaware of her religious pursuits. While Sonya helped an elderly couple, I
loitered at the cash register, chatting with her assistant, Carl, a former
Pentecostal minister whom Sonya had helped convert to Judaism.
“I
had several God encounters,” Carl told me as he wrestled with a pile of
credit-card receipts on the counter. “I didn’t know if they were real, but who
was I to argue with the word of God? I was a real Bible basher.”
Unlike
with Daniel and Perry, there wasn’t a whisper of Judaism in Sonya’s family
growing up—no tall tales, no raving mad tía whispering deathbed secrets.
She was raised Catholic and went to church every Sunday. She had a troubled
youth and dropped out of high school at seventeen. She left Ruidoso the following
year and fell in with an evangelical Christian man she met while hitchhiking
through Arizona. They married, had a daughter, divorced. She was born again
somewhere along the way, baptized in a white dress in a back-road Pentecostal
church. Even then, though, she always felt “the strangest connection to Jewish
people. All my friends called me the ‘Jew magnet.’”
She
often had “awakenings” in the middle of the night, during which a Voice came to
her intoning passages from the Bible. They reminded her of dreams she had had
as a child, of cobblestone streets that she said she now knew to be Israel. In
1999 she went with a friend to a “Jewish conference” in the desert outside
Santa Fe. It was actually a gathering of Messianic Jews, but for Sonya it was a
revelation. A Sabbath service was held during the conference, and when the
Messianic rabbis—Hispanic men in yarmulkes and tallits—read the prayers
aloud in Hebrew, a language she didn’t then understand, she found she was
somehow able to follow along. She devoted herself to Judaism and, after several
years of study, formally converted. She was now a member of a Conservative
congregation in El Paso.
Sonya
joined me after the old couple left.
“Have
you seen my Crypto-Ware?” she asked.
We
moved to a small display case filled with a selection of rings, necklaces, and
earrings. Each one was made with glass that had undergone a special glazing
process to lend it certain unique characteristics in different levels of light.
Sonya
had come to Judaism with nothing. She wasn’t unusual in this respect. As
attention paid to Crypto-Judaism increased over the years, a very American
thing began to happen: staking a claim to history’s most persecuted religion
became a mark of cultural distinction. People in New Mexico “came out” as Jewish;
they spoke of reclaiming their “compromised identities”; they professed a link
to Judaism because they “looked Jewish,” or because, like Sonya, they had an
unusual number of Jewish friends. Stranger still, some saw their Judaism
through a convex lens of unflattering stereotypes, such as the one echoed in
this old Crypto-Judaic saying: Muy judíos . . . _muy codo. “Very
Jewish . . . very tight.”
Sonya
handed me a pair of black earrings decorated with red and green colored glass
bands. “Go outside and hold them to the light.”
It
was still morning in Ruidoso, the sun filtering through the evergreens on the
mountains. I felt somewhat silly, but I knew that Sonya was watching me from
the store. I raised the earrings and looked at them. At first there was nothing
but the colored bands on the black, but when I pivoted the earrings directly
into the sun’s glow a hazy image of the Star of David emerged. I moved the
earrings again and it disappeared.
I
went back inside and asked Sonya to box up the earrings for me. They would look
nice on my wife for Passover.
I grew up the only Jew or JU on the block
when I was a kid. Simply the Dr.’s daughter did not play outside.
I saw this post from “D” that it reminded me so much of my early
life at least elementary school I had Jewish friends and teachers that this
person did not have. It is perhaps typical of more or less assimilated Jews
living and growing up in a non-Jewish neighborhood. The story of Sonya above
that of myself and the woman below seems to be a pattern.
I have fought for Israel my entire
life, since I was small, and experienced the prejudiced of being one of 19
families in A. in 1958. It was originally a German town. It became filled with
KKK and Birchers when my father moved us there. He wanted the GI bill. Our home
cost $,9,000. Today the neighborhood is all Muslim and CAIR has its
headquarters there.
I went to Elementary. There were no Jews then. When we moved to another city, I
was one of 6 Jews in my high school/. My name was L. the Hebe. HAHAHAH
I read books as a young girl about Zionism. My beloved did the same. When we
met, it was our love of Israel that attracted us, as well as a very high sexual
attraction.
To make it short, I am very disappointed in Israel.
I see liars, hypocrites, and racism. This is not what I expected when I began
to visit. I have spent enough time there to say that I love the land, but not
the people. I have been scammed, hit up for money so many times I cannot count.
I gave my all, and I was rejected, for being a
whore, an American and not good enough. That is okay, you know why. Because I
have been blessed with it all.
I was called a patsy for coming to Eretz Yisrael because I had the land of the free and one was not free in those days to walk down the streets of NY after dark except certain exclusive neighborhoods where the rich liberals lived. I had not been out west or to FL then my knowledge was limited but I was always a lone Jew with faith. Eventually, I became so integrated into Israeli Society by the army and my second wife that I am comfortable in Israel and even am turned off by certain behavior.
On my block is a neighbor whom I say good morning to everyday and
have a small conversation with at least once a week. They threw a Bar Mitzvah
Kiddush in their back yard for about 200 people from their Schul. What would
have hurt if like an Israeli they would have said come over for a drink of
LeChaim = nothing. Integrated Israelis with the inbound Avraham Avinu
hospitality would have invited by mouth earlier in the week “come for Kiddush”.
Well it was not Derech Eretz that I can say. So when people don’t like the
Americans it might not be your fault. In Canada or the USA you were the
stinking Jew and in Israel you are the ugly American. On the other hand there
are less closed neighbors who are quite friendly and want to integrate into
Israeli Life.
From Albert: Regarding the days of yesteryear. Where was the antibiotics and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed! Everybody knew for bee sting you put mud on it or mix dirt with water over it!
From Albert: Regarding the days of yesteryear. Where was the antibiotics and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed! Everybody knew for bee sting you put mud on it or mix dirt with water over it!
We played 'King of the
Hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant building sites and when we got hurt,
mum pulled out the 2/6p bottle of iodine and then we got our backside spanked.
Now it's a trip to the
emergency room, followed by a 10 day dose of antibiotics and then mum calls the
lawyer to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel
where it was such a threat.
To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that
they were from a dysfunctional family. How could we possibly have known that? The majority of us did not turn out neurotic we
control our anger in public and often in private too and we were not whippy or
sissies.
We never needed to get into group therapy and/or anger management
classes.
This is
not Mosair to call the police to protect innocent children. http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Bnei-Brak-man-suspected-of-raping-young-boys-in-haredi-town-of-Modiin-Ilit-329041
This is
not the first Druze General but the first in the Golani Brigade: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4445216,00.html
3.5 Earthquake in Israel http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4442285,00.html and 3.6 http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4442529,00.html
By Tuesday the number of quakes had risen to
6 then one hit in Eilat http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/173142#.UmhXxlffrIV
Why
should this go to Iraq and not Israel? http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/archives-readies-a-schoolgirls-records-and-a-trove-of-jewish-treasures-for-return-to-iraq/2013/08/13/8b23c7a0-f9ec-11e2-8752-b41d7ed1f685_story.html
The banks are run by women in Israel. Poalim bank is owned by a
woman who appoints the managers, Leumi, First Intl Bank and IDB are run by
women. Now finally the Bank of Israel has a new governor. http://www.jpost.com/Business/Business-News/Karnit-Flug-appointed-Bank-of-Israel-Governor-329225
Inyanay Diyoma
Yet
another terror attack: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4442238,00.html
The
message from the Washington Post is more ominous that Turkey it is Barak
Hussein Obama: http://debka.com/article/23362/How-Turkey-shopped-Mossad-spies-to-Iran-A-story-leaked-by-Washington-to-caution-Netanyahu
Ed-OP: Over the past year, Iran
has installed a thousand sophisticated centrifuges at its nuclear installation
at Natanz. These new centrifuges allow Iran to transform 3.5% enriched uranium
to bomb-grade material (enriched to 90%) as quickly as its old centrifuges were
capable of transforming 20% enriched uranium to weapons-grade levels. So today,
3.5% enrichment is as comfortable a jumping-off point for the Iranian weapons
program as 20% enrichment was a few years ago. Iran’s “serious proposal” is a
joke.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Column-one-Israel-and-the-new-Munich-329046
Intifada
in full force and the IDF and GOI (gov’t of Israel) is in denial http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/173003#.UmPlelffrIU
They
get it that the enemy is Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood even though they
are fighting each other. However, the US
State Dept. and 1600 Penn. Ave. don’t get it. http://debka.com/article/23374/Syrian-rebel-factions-in-deals-with-local-army-commanders---both-under-Al-Qaeda-assault-
Russia
expanding ties with Iran with a week USA http://debka.com/article/23376/Russia-and-Iran-expanding-military-cooperation-and-arms-trade
This is
not a surprise to most Israelis and Kerry is a pipe dreamer: http://debka.com/article/23379/Abbas-set-to-slam-door-on-talks-with-Israel-resuscitates-“revolving-door”-for-terrorists and http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4444308,00.html
Assad
wanted to pay his buddies an anti-Israel strategic debt but B”H the IDF did not
let it pan out. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/173129#.UmeSDFffrIU
From
Miriam at least he did not suicide bomb his own packed bus. http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/veteran-egged-bus-driver-was-hezbollah-agent/2013/10/22/
Draft
Dodging ring gets busted. I am glad my grandson did well on the psychometric
test and did not try any tricks to dodge the draft. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4444742,00.html
For a
50 year period Turkey was friendly to Israel then came Obama and his pro-Muslim
Brotherhood philosophy. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/173146#.UmhW91ffrIU
Bibi
and the King who Obama bowed to fail to be convinced: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4444979,00.html
The man
who got his PhD in Holocaust Denial signs a pact with Assad: http://debka.com/article/23382/DEBKAfile-Exclusive-Palestinian-Mahmoud-Abbas-signs-cooperation-accord-with-Bashar-Assad
Why one
should learn Yiddish or Hebrew http://on.aol.com/video/monks-smart-action-foils-nc-buddhist-center-robbery-517984481?hp=1&playlist=127164&icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl17%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D395584
Iran
and the bomb. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4445347,00.html
Stealth
Technology was secret once upon a time: http://debka.com/article/23389/The-Big-Fraud-Tehran’s-ScanEagle-gift-to-Russia-covered-handover-of-secret-US-R170-drone-technology-
Why don’t
we hold them for Pollard for bugs mean physical spies? http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/173197#.Umo1E1ffrIU
Iran
does not yet have the missile technology to deploy the bomb but to make one
they are close enough: http://www.jpost.com/Iranian-Threat/News/ISIS-estimates-Iran-could-build-a-nuclear-bomb-within-a-month-329718
Now for Matis Wolfberg’s Good Shabbos Story “That’s not a knife”
Good Shabbos
Everyone. The following
story was told by Rabbi Yisroel Spira, the Rebbe of Bluzhov, who witnessed it
in the Janowska Concentration Camp: Each morning at dawn, the Germans would
lead us out of the camp for a day of hard labor that ended only at nightfall.
Each pair of workers was given a huge saw and expected to cut its quota of
logs.
Because of the horrendous conditions in the camp and the starvation rations on which we were supposed to subsist, most of us could barely stand on our feet. But we sawed away, knowing that our lives depended upon it; anyone collapsing on the job or failing to meet his daily quota was killed on the spot, Hashem forbid.
One day, as I pulled and pushed the heavy saw with my partner, I was approached by a young woman from our work detail. The pallor of her face showed her to be in an extremely weak physical state.
"Rebbe," she whispered to me, "do you have a knife?" I immediately understood her intention and felt the great responsibility that rested upon me. "My daughter," I begged, concentrating all the love and conviction in my heart in the effort to dissuade her from her intended deed. "Do not take your own life. I know that your life is now a living hell, from which death seems a blessed release. But we must never lose hope. With Hashem's help, we will survive this ordeal and see better days."
But the woman seemed oblivious to my words. "A knife," she repeated. "I must have a knife. Now. Before it is too late." At that moment, one of the German guards noticed our whispered conversation and approached us.
"What did she say to you?" He demanded of me. We both froze. Conversing during work was a grave transgression. Many a camp inmate had been shot on the spot for far lesser crimes.
The woman was first to recover. "I asked him for a knife," she said. To my horror, she then addressed her request to the guard: "Give me a knife!" The German, too, guessed her intention, and a devilish smile flickered on his lips. Doubtless he had seen the bodies of those who, out of desperation, threw themselves during the night on the electrified fence that surrounded the camp; but this would be a novel sight for him.
Still smiling, he reached into his pocket and handed her a small knife. Taking the knife, she hurried back to her work station and bent over a small bundle of rags that she had placed on a log. Quickly unraveling the bundle, she took out a tiny infant. Before our astonished eyes, she swiftly and skillfully circumcised the week-old boy. "Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the Universe," she recited in a clear voice, "Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to enter him into the covenant of Avroham our Father."
Cradling the child in her arms, she soothed his cries. Then, she addressed the heavens: "Master of the Universe! Eight days ago you gave me a child. I know that neither I nor he will long survive in this accursed place. But now, when you take him back, you will receive him as a complete Jew." "Here is your knife," she said, handing the holy object back to the German. "Thank you."
In this week's parsha, we read about the after-effects of the mesirus nefesh - the self sacrifice of Avrohom Avinu who circumcised himself at the age of 99. Jews throughout the centuries have showed tremendous self sacrifice for the mitzvah of bris milah.
Unfortunately in America many children are "circumcised" in the hospital soon after they are born, rather than on the eighth day as prescribed by halacha. Therefore, and due to other reasons, a bris milah done in the hospital is most likely not a kosher bris. Thus, there are sadly hundreds of thousands of Jews in America who are technically uncircumcised. Thankfully, there is a relatively simple way to fix a non-kosher bris. (Anyone reading these words who is interested in more information on this topic may contact us.) Through fulfilling the mitzvah of bris milah properly, a Jew officially becomes a member of Avrohom Avinu's family! Good Shabbos Everyone. M. Wolfberg is sponsored by: In Memory of CHAYA CHAVA BAS REB MOSHE YAKOV 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
Because of the horrendous conditions in the camp and the starvation rations on which we were supposed to subsist, most of us could barely stand on our feet. But we sawed away, knowing that our lives depended upon it; anyone collapsing on the job or failing to meet his daily quota was killed on the spot, Hashem forbid.
One day, as I pulled and pushed the heavy saw with my partner, I was approached by a young woman from our work detail. The pallor of her face showed her to be in an extremely weak physical state.
"Rebbe," she whispered to me, "do you have a knife?" I immediately understood her intention and felt the great responsibility that rested upon me. "My daughter," I begged, concentrating all the love and conviction in my heart in the effort to dissuade her from her intended deed. "Do not take your own life. I know that your life is now a living hell, from which death seems a blessed release. But we must never lose hope. With Hashem's help, we will survive this ordeal and see better days."
But the woman seemed oblivious to my words. "A knife," she repeated. "I must have a knife. Now. Before it is too late." At that moment, one of the German guards noticed our whispered conversation and approached us.
"What did she say to you?" He demanded of me. We both froze. Conversing during work was a grave transgression. Many a camp inmate had been shot on the spot for far lesser crimes.
The woman was first to recover. "I asked him for a knife," she said. To my horror, she then addressed her request to the guard: "Give me a knife!" The German, too, guessed her intention, and a devilish smile flickered on his lips. Doubtless he had seen the bodies of those who, out of desperation, threw themselves during the night on the electrified fence that surrounded the camp; but this would be a novel sight for him.
Still smiling, he reached into his pocket and handed her a small knife. Taking the knife, she hurried back to her work station and bent over a small bundle of rags that she had placed on a log. Quickly unraveling the bundle, she took out a tiny infant. Before our astonished eyes, she swiftly and skillfully circumcised the week-old boy. "Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the Universe," she recited in a clear voice, "Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to enter him into the covenant of Avroham our Father."
Cradling the child in her arms, she soothed his cries. Then, she addressed the heavens: "Master of the Universe! Eight days ago you gave me a child. I know that neither I nor he will long survive in this accursed place. But now, when you take him back, you will receive him as a complete Jew." "Here is your knife," she said, handing the holy object back to the German. "Thank you."
In this week's parsha, we read about the after-effects of the mesirus nefesh - the self sacrifice of Avrohom Avinu who circumcised himself at the age of 99. Jews throughout the centuries have showed tremendous self sacrifice for the mitzvah of bris milah.
Unfortunately in America many children are "circumcised" in the hospital soon after they are born, rather than on the eighth day as prescribed by halacha. Therefore, and due to other reasons, a bris milah done in the hospital is most likely not a kosher bris. Thus, there are sadly hundreds of thousands of Jews in America who are technically uncircumcised. Thankfully, there is a relatively simple way to fix a non-kosher bris. (Anyone reading these words who is interested in more information on this topic may contact us.) Through fulfilling the mitzvah of bris milah properly, a Jew officially becomes a member of Avrohom Avinu's family! Good Shabbos Everyone. M. Wolfberg is sponsored by: In Memory of CHAYA CHAVA BAS REB MOSHE YAKOV 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
Footnote at the end of the story above. My brother and I were
circumcised in the hospital by the gentile delivery doctor and I underwent a
quiet bloodletting ceremony. This is part of the tragedy of Reform Judaism.
A healthy, happy and wonderful Shabbos and hopefully we all will be
well,
Rachamim Pauli
