Parsha Vayera
This
whole Parsha takes place in a span of 38 years from the Bris of Avraham to the
Akeida of Yitzchak. It starts right where the last Parsha left off.
18:1 And the LORD appeared unto him by the
terebinths of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;
Avraham is in the middle of a conversation with
G-D but is about to break it off to make a Kiddush HASHEM. Putting his own
pleasure aside of talking or praying to HASHEM, he is about to tell the wonders
of HASHEM to 3 idol worshippers whom he sees from afar.
2 and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo,
three men stood over against him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them
from the tent door, and bowed down to the earth,
Avraham is 99 years old and right after a bris.
He loves to show hospitality so that people will bless G-D and hear about HIS
works of creation, miracles and wonders.
3 and said: 'My lord, if now I have found favor
in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. 4 Let now a little water be fetched,
and wash your feet, and recline yourselves under the tree.
The idol worshippers used to bow down to the
dust of the earth and worship it.
5 And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and stay
ye your heart; after that ye shall pass on; forasmuch as ye are come to your
servant.' And they said: 'So do, as thou hast said.'
Avraham wanting to be a good host promises a
morsel of bread but in reality he is preparing a meal better than at the table
of Melech Shlomo.
6 And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah,
and said: 'Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make
cakes.'
Fine flour like that of a Korban no coarse
grains on the level of fine farina. It is a far cry from a morsel of bread and
now a cake!
7 And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a
calf tender and good, and gave it unto the servant; and he hastened to dress
it.
Avraham is now supplying with the bread milk,
yoghourt and butter. This is the beginning of the meal.
8 And he took curd, and milk, and the calf which
he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree,
and they did eat.
He gave them tongue and according to the
Medrash used three calves and three tongues. There was of course time between
the beginning of the meal and the cooking of tongue which takes a while. Things
were simpler then. Time was not money and nobody had to punch a clock or check
their what’s app six times an hour.
9 And they said unto him: 'Where is Sarah thy
wife?' And he said: 'Behold, in the tent.'
At this point Avraham see three Arabs in front
of him. Now they are inquiring about his wife. It is a custom not to ask an
Arab about his wife he might kill you over her. Not only do they inquire of
Avraham’s wife but by name!
10 And He said: 'I will certainly return unto
thee when the season cometh round; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.'
And Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.
Season the sundial (sun rise – sun set points)
at this season of the year, Sara will give birth to a son.
11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, and well stricken
in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
She no longer had the hormones and ways of a
young woman but on that day after the Angels visited she broke out in impurity
like a young woman.
12 And Sarah laughed within herself, saying:
'After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?'
I have passed menopause and the old 99-year-old
man is also in male menopause. You surely are joking.
13 And the LORD said unto Abraham: 'Wherefore did
Sarah laugh, saying: Shall I of a surety bear a child, who am old?
The Angels for peace at home mention that Sara
laughs as she is old and not what she said about the old man.
14 Is anything too hard for the LORD. At the set
time I will return unto thee, when the season comes round, and Sarah shall have
a son.' 15 Then Sarah denied,
saying: 'I laughed not'; for she was afraid. And He said: 'Nay; but thou didst
laugh.' 16 And the men rose up
from thence, and looked out toward Sodom; and Abraham went with them to bring
them on the way.
Rashi points out that each Angel is given only
one mission. Three came one was to heal Avraham and make Sara like a young
child-bearing woman. So nothing is hard for the L-RD.
17 And the LORD said: 'Shall I hide from Abraham
that which I am doing;
The two remaining angels now are to reveal to
Avraham their mission. One is the destroyer of Sodom and one is the savior of
Lot and if be, his greater family.
18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a
great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in
him?
Because of your merits, the planet was not
destroyed at the time of Migdal Bavel (Tower of Babel) for it occurred during
the life of Avram when he was 48 years old.
19 For I have known him, to the end that he may command
his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the
LORD, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that the LORD may bring upon
Abraham that which He hath spoken of him.' 20 And the LORD said: 'Verily, the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is
great, and, verily, their sin is exceeding grievous.
Many of the sins of Sodom are mentioned in the
Medrash some involve stretching short people, others involved chopping limbs of
tall people and the infamous abuses of both males and females.
21 I will go down now, and see whether they have
done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto Me; and if not,
I will know.'
G-D’s time is not our time. For the idolatry of
Am Yisrael occurred for some generations before the first Mikdash and Gallus
Bavel occurred. The people of Sodom moved there 52 years previously when the
nations were split at Migdal Bavel. Now it was time in the 52nd year
to deal with them. Their merits had run out.
22 And the men turned from thence, and went toward
Sodom; but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. 23 And Abraham drew near, and said: 'Wilt Thou indeed sweep away
the righteous with the wicked? 24
Peradventure there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt Thou indeed sweep
away and not forgive the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? 25 That be far from Thee to do after
this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous
should be as the wicked; that be far from Thee; shall not the Judge of all the
earth do justly?' 26 And the
LORD said: 'If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will
forgive all the place for their sake.'
Sodom is a well populated city at the time and
Avraham pleads for the righteous that might be there.
27 And Abraham answered and said: 'Behold now, I
have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, who am but dust and ashes. 28 Peradventure there shall lack five
of the fifty righteous; wilt Thou destroy all the city for lack of five?' And
He said: 'I will not destroy it, if I find there forty and five.'
May I be so bold as to pray for 45 righteous
individuals.
29 And he spoke unto Him yet again, and said:
'Peradventure there shall be forty found there.' … And He said: 'I will not do
it, if I find thirty there.' … twenty there. 32 And he said: 'Oh, let
not the LORD be angry, and I will speak yet but this once. Peradventure ten
shall be found there.' And He said: 'I will not destroy it for the ten's sake.'
33 And the LORD
went His way, as soon as He had left off speaking to Abraham; and Abraham
returned unto his place.
If there is not a Minyan of righteous people,
there is really nothing more to beg for but to be glad that by his merit Lot is
going to be saved. We did not see these prayers with Noach so I don’t know if
there was or wasn’t but Avraham was going to do his best to pray for the
survival of Sodom.
19:1 And the two angels came to Sodom at even; and
Lot sat in the gate of Sodom; and Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them; and
he fell down on his face to the earth;
He was hospitable like Avraham. He also wanted
to save them from the perverted ways of the city.
2 and he said: 'Behold now, my lords, turn
aside, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash
your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your way.' And they said:
'Nay; but we will abide in the broad place all night.'
The Angels did not need either his protection
from the town’s people or his hospitality but it shows that he had some of the
good qualities of Avraham still despite the corrupt people of the town.
3 And he urged them greatly; and they turned in
unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake
unleavened bread, and they did eat.
Rashi reminds us that this was Pessach but Lot
was at this time a Goy in Sodom and 401 years prior to the Yitzias Mitzrayim. This
is probably the current Lafa Bread which is prepared quickly by heating an oven
and round stone or pottery mixing and baking. The restaurant where I go weekly
prepares this on the spot. It is known also as Iraqi Pita or Iraqi Bread in
Israel.
4 But before they lay down, the men of the city,
even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both young and old, all the
people from every quarter. 5 And
they called unto Lot, and said unto him: 'Where are the men that came in to
thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.' 6 And Lot went out unto them to the
door, and shut the door after him. 7
And he said: 'I pray you, my brethren, do not so wickedly.
These disgusting individuals want to gang rape
the two Angels. So much for 50 or 10 Tzaddikim in the city.
8 Behold now, I have two daughters that have not
known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is
good in your eyes; only unto these men do nothing; forasmuch as they are come
under the shadow of my roof.'
He knows that these “men” are holy. But what
was he thinking to be willing to subject his two virgin daughters to such
abuse. The fact that he offered this puts his thought process as dysfunctional.
Also why did he leave Avraham or choose Sodom in the first place. I am sure
that he could have ordered his servants to behave properly towards Avraham. His
fear of heaven is partially there from his education and family background but
it is quite weak.
9 And they said: 'Stand back.' And they said:
'This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs play the judge; now will
we deal worse with thee, than with them.' And they pressed sore upon the man,
even Lot, and drew near to break the door. 10 But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the
house to them, and the door they shut.
The light that came out of their hands towards
the wicked people of Sodom was perhaps like that of a supernova.
11 And they smote the men that were at the door
of the house with blindness, both small and great; so that they wearied
themselves to find the door. 12
And the men said unto Lot: 'Hast thou here any besides? son-in-law, and thy
sons, and thy daughters, and whomsoever thou hast in the city; bring them out
of the place; 13 for we will
destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxed great before the LORD; and
the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.' 14
And Lot went out, and spoke unto his sons-in-law, who married his daughters, and
said: 'Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy the city.' But
he seemed unto his sons-in-law as one that jested.
The sons-in-law did not grow up with Avram.
Remember Lot was there 29 years prior with the war mentioned in Parsha Lech
Lecha. He probably had the older daughters in Sodom and kept his property there
for his return. They were educated along with their husbands in the perverse
and wicked ways of the town.
15 And when the morning arose, then the angels
hastened Lot, saying: 'Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters that are
here; lest thou be swept away in the iniquity of the city.' 16 But he lingered; and the men laid
hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two
daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him. And they brought him forth, and set
him without the city.
Like many Jews in Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Nazi
Germany they did not want to abandon their property or livelihood so they
tarried. For many it became too late or in places like Iran became hostages.
17 And it came to pass, when they had brought
them forth abroad, that he said: 'Escape for thy life; look not behind thee,
neither stay thou in all the Plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be swept
away.' 18 And Lot said unto them:
'Oh, not so, my lord; 19 behold
now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy
mercy, which thou hast shown unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to
the mountain, lest the evil overtake me, and I die. 20 Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little
one; oh, let me escape thither--is it not a little one? --and my soul shall
live.'
The word Lot uses Nun Aleph which is in
Gematria 51 or in its 51st year and not like Sodom that has more
sins in its 52nd year.
21 And he said unto him: 'See, I have accepted
thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which
thou hast spoken. 22 Hasten
thou, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou come
thither.'--Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
There are ruins at the foot of the road from
Arad to the Dead Sea junction. I am not sure that this is the town as it
appears quite small and the children of Lot went to raise their families on the
modern Jordanian side of the Dead Sea and mountains. There are also more
springs of water there and it would appear to me that Sodom would have been
more on that side.
23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot came
unto Zoar. 24 Then the LORD
caused to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD
out of heaven; 25 and He
overthrow those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the
cities, and that which grew upon the ground. 26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a
pillar of salt.
Lot and the girls hid in a cave and my father
told me that he thought that the people of Sodom collect glowing rocks (there
is Uranium in the area) and he explained the blindness as the critical mass
approached producing light and then finally the next day collecting more rocks
and boom. The hot stand stuck to the skin of Mrs. Lot and then the heat of the
blast melted it around her form. It is a nice theory.
27 And Abraham got up early in the morning to the
place where he had stood before the LORD. 28 And he looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the
land of the Plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the land went up as the
smoke of a furnace. 29 And it
came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, that God remembered
Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the
cities in which Lot dwelt. 30
And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters
with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar; and he dwelt in a cave, he and his
two daughters.
There is a spring of water with an aged tree
between the road towards Eilat and this junction a few miles south. This was probably
their water source if not some reservoir around the town. I assume that Lot did
travel with pack animals containing supplies and jewelry that he could manage
his affairs.
31 And the first-born said unto the younger: 'Our
father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the
manner of all the earth.
Were they born after Lot split from Avram? Did
they not think that he might be alive? After all it was customary for an uncle
or cousin to marry somebody from good stock.
32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and
we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.' 33 And they made their father drink
wine that night. And the first-born went in, and lay with her father; and he
knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose. 34 And it came to pass on the morrow,
that the first-born said unto the younger: 'Behold, I lay yesternight with my
father. Let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie
with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.' 36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot
with child by their father. 37 And the first-born bore a son, and called his name Moab--the
same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.
She is so brazen as to call the child “from my
father”.
38 And the younger, she also bore a son, and
called his name Ben-ammi--the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto
this day.
From
my people. All this story is for the root of the Moshiach and the end of days.
The Parsha then returns to Avraham.
Righteous Nation! Rather this was the custom of kings to have the first night with a woman. In Europe this continued well into the middle-ages and sometime past. In their eyes they could be good Christians and blessed by the Pope and enjoy all the young women in their district once while their unfortunate wife and future husbands of these females suffered in silence.
5 Said he not himself unto me: She is my sister? and she, even she herself said: He is my brother. In the simplicity of my heart and the innocency of my hands have I done this.' 6 And God said unto him in the dream: 'Yea, I know that in the simplicity of thy heart thou hast done this, and I also withheld thee from sinning against Me. Therefore, suffered I thee not to touch her. 7 Now therefore restore the man's wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live; and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.' 8 And Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears; and the men were sore afraid. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him: 'What hast thou done unto us? and wherein have I sinned against thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.' 10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham: 'What saw thou, that thou hast done this thing?' 11 And Abraham said: 'Because I thought: Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake.
In the incident in Egypt it was not clear the reason Avram (at that time) said that she is my sister but now Avraham makes it clear that the people there are not G-D fearing.
12 And moreover she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and so she became my wife.
I have lived and worked among Jews and the Bnei Yisrael from India. It is a custom to call a cousin a brother or sister and she might not have been really a sister.
13 And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her: This is thy kindness which thou shalt show unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me: He is my brother.' 14 And Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and men-servants and women-servants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. 15 And Abimelech said: 'Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleases thee.' 16 And unto Sarah he said: 'Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is for thee a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee; and before all men thou art righted.' 17 And Abraham prayed unto God; and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maid-servants; and they bore children. 18 For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.
And after this incident Sara became pregnant and rumors about who sired Yitzchak circulated until Yitzchak looked just like Avraham and that put all the rumors to rest.
21:1 And the LORD remembered Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as He had spoken. 2 And Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.
The name could have come about from Sara laughing or Avraham grinning with joy when the news of the future birth was announced.
5 And Abraham was a hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. 6 And Sarah said: 'God hath made laughter for me; every one that hears will laugh on account of me.' 7 And she said: 'Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should give children suck? for I have borne him a son in his old age.' 8 And the child grew, and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
Yitzchak was a viable child and at this age could walk and talk. It was something to celebrate. It may well be that such parties were as common as a Bar or Bas Mitzvah today.
9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne unto Abraham, making sport.
Trying to get Yitzchak to do bad things then laughing at him. Rashi says idolatry. She was furious and saw this as a bad influence on his education.
10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham: 'Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.' 11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight on account of his son.
Avraham loved his oldest son Yishmael.
12 And God said unto Abraham: 'Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah says unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall seed be called to thee. 13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.'
Since Yishmael came from Avraham, he too will be a great nation but not like Yitzchak who shall inherit your spiritual properties.
14 And Abraham arose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away; and she departed, and strayed in the wilderness of Beersheva. 15 And the water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bow-shot; for she said: 'Let me not look upon the death of the child.' And she sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her: 'What ails thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
Just like his name. G-D heard his cries and that of Hagar.
18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him fast by thy hand; for I will make him a great nation.' 19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. 20 And God was with the lad, and he grew; and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. 21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
She took him a wife like herself that she could live and like her daughter-in-law.
22
And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his
host spoke unto Abraham, saying: 'God is with thee in all that thou does. 23 Now therefore swear unto me here by
God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's
son; but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do
unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned.'
Similar to all the nations that kicked out
the Jews, their blessings left them. So he made a pact with Avraham in order to
have his blessings restored. The expulsion of Jews from
Prague by Maria Theresa of Austria in 1745 led to such poverty and lack of
trade that after requesting a large sum of money reopened the ghetto in 1748.
England kicked out the Jews and brought them back and Spain became poor unto
this day because of the Inquisition.
24
And Abraham said: 'I will swear.' … 30
And he said: 'Verily, these seven ewe-lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that it
may be a witness unto me, that I have dug this well.' 31 Wherefore that place was called Beersheva; because there they
swore both of them. 32
o they made a covenant at Beersheva; and
Abimelech rose up, and Phicol the captain of his host, and they returned into
the land of the Philistines. 33
And Abraham planted a tamarisk-tree in Beersheva, and called there on the name
of the LORD, the Everlasting God. 34
And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.
22:1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove Abraham, and
said unto him: 'Abraham'; and he said: 'Here am I.' 2 And He said: 'Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou love,
even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a
burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.' Which son Yishmael or Yitzchak was the question. After that, Avraham rose predawn and zestfully went to fulfill this Mitzvah even if it meant losing Yitzchak.
… 9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.
Tradition has this as Har HaBeis.
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said: 'Abraham, Abraham.' And he said: 'Here am I.' 12 And he said: 'Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him; for now, I know that thou art a God-fearing man, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from Me.' …17 that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18 and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast hearkened to My voice.' 19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheva; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheva.
20
And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying:
'Behold, Milcah, she also hath borne children unto thy brother Nahor: … 23 And Bethuel begot Rebekah; these
eight did Milcah bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother. …
Like the section with
Lot and his daughters, we need this section only for the birth of Rivka.
Milestone: The man who prevented the
Nazis getting the Atomic Bomb dies at 99.
Joachim Roenneberg,
serving behind enemy lines in 1943, blew up a plant producing material needed
to create an atomic bomb; He and his friends, who then felt they were being
sent on a suicide mission, parachuted onto a snow-covered mountain, glided to
their destination, and blew up the facility; Norway’s Prime Minister: 'One of
our great heroes.'
The leader of a daring World
War Two raid to thwart Nazi Germany’s nuclear ambitions has died aged 99,
Norwegian government officials said on Sunday.
Joachim Roenneberg, serving
behind enemy lines in his native Norway during the German occupation, in 1943
blew up a plant producing heavy water, or D2O, a hydrogen-rich substance that
was key to the later development of atomic bombs.
Picked by Britain’s war-time Special
Operations Executive to lead the raid when he was only 23 years old, Roenneberg
was the youngest member of Operation Gunnerside, which penetrated and destroyed
key parts of the heavily guarded Norsk Hydro plant.
The subject of books and documentaries
as well as movies and a TV drama series, the attack took place without a single
shot fired. To Roenneberg’s team, however, the stakes could not have been
higher. An earlier raid failed to even reach the site, with dozens of attackers
captured and killed, and Gunnerside members later described their own assault
as a near-suicide mission.
Parachuting onto a snow-covered mountain
plateau, the small group teamed up with a handful of other commando soldiers
before skiing to their destination, penetrating the plant on foot and blowing
up the heavy water production line.
Describing a pivotal moment, Roenneberg
later said he made a last-minute decision to cut the length of his fuse from
several minutes to seconds, ensuring the explosion would take place but making
it more difficult to escape.
While a manhunt ensued, the group fled
hundreds of kilometers across the mountains, with Roenneberg skiing to
neighboring Sweden, a neutral country in the war, two weeks later.
While historians doubt that Adolf
Hitler’s Germany would have been able to produce a nuclear weapon in time to
stave off defeat, they also recognize that the risks were much harder to
quantify in 1943.
For the Gunnerside crew, this hardly
mattered at the time; only much later did they learn the true purpose of the
attack they were asked to carry out.
Born in 1919 in the town of Aalesund,
Roenneberg fled to Britain after the German invasion of Norway in 1940,
receiving military training before returning home for several missions during
the war.
After the 1945 liberation he became a
radio reporter but rarely spoke of his wartime achievements. Later in life he
gave speeches and lectures well into his nineties, warning against the
destructive force of totalitarianism.
Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg on
Sunday praised Roenneberg for his work both during and after the war. “He is
one of our great heroes,” she told news agency NTB.
Last
night a group of 22 Orthodox Jews were travelling on a bus from Monsey to
Montreal and at 2:30 in the morning the bus broke down.
Police
and a towing company were contacted, and the bus driver announced that
passengers would have to wait for another bus that would be driven down from
Montreal to pick them up. It would take hours for the new bus to arrive.
Stuck
at a gas station near exit 18 on the New York State Thruway, a passenger
decided to call Chaverim of Kiryas Joel.
25
minutes later a 15 passenger van and a 7 passenger van arrived at the gas
station, with volunteer drivers who drove all passengers and their luggage to
Montréal at no charge.
The
passengers arrived in Montréal at 9:30 AM, before the bus company had even sent
the new bus.
The
driver of the bus that had broken down couldn’t believe that one phone call had
mobilized the Satmar community in Kiryas Joel to help a group of 22 strangers.
“I’ve been driving busses along the 87 route for 30 years and have experienced
numerous breakdowns,” he said. “I have never seen such a quick response.”
By
Zvi Hershcovich
it
was this morning's Torah reading where we read the direction to all Jews to
"be a blessing". Here is one great example. of many…
Holocaust
Survivor finds long lost relatives.
Circulated to tens of thousands, 300th issue of “Here’s My Story” is published
Dovid
MargolinOctober 15,
2018 4:26 PM https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/4164615/jewish/Holocaust-Survivor-Finds-Lost-Relatives-The-Impact-of-a-Weekly-Story.htm#utm_medium=email&utm_source=1_chabad.org_magazine_en&utm_campaign=en&utm_content=content
Two relatives meet: Dale
Citron opened “My Story”—a compilation of interviews from the “Here's My Story”
series—and read about Holocaust-survivor Bernard Cytryn's encounter with the
Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory. “I [said], look at
this guy, he looks like a Citron!” Indeed, Cytryn was a long-lost relative of
her husband's, Albert Citron.
Pamphlets, unbound sheets of
paper written in language that anyone can understand, have circulated for
centuries, their power lying in their wide reach and accessibility to all. Six
years ago, Jewish Educational Media (JEM) began issuing Here’s My Story,
a weekly pamphlet featuring personal meetings and interactions with the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M.
Schneerson, of righteous memory, distributed via print and email to tens
of thousands of recipients who have been inspired and motivated by the
encounters in myriad ways.The impact has often been unexpected.
About a year ago, JEM released a book titled My Story, highlighting 41 such encounters. Many of them were new stories, and some had already been featured in Here’s My Story. In the book these stories were slightly expanded, with more pictures, but in the same spirit as the weekly pamphlet.
Around the same time, Rabbi Chaim Levi and Yehudis Cohen were scouting out northern Virginia’s Loudoun County to see whether the area was a good fit for a new Chabad center. An area Chabad rabbi introduced them to Albert and Dale Citron, a recently retired couple who agreed to host a Chanukah party in their new Ashburn home where the Cohens could meet more community members.
“I was cajoled into making the party,” Dale laughs. “We were heading to Florida the next day, but I decided OK, we should really have this party.”
Some 50 local Jews showed up. “It was a big success,” says Rabbi Cohen, who together with his family has since permanently moved to Ashburn and established Chabad of Loudoun County. At the end of the party, as a token of appreciation to the Citrons, the Cohens presented Dale and her husband with the My Story book.
Cytryn survived the Kielce
ghetto, Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Sachsenhausen, Oranienburg, Mauthausen, Dachau,
Gross-Rosen and other Nazi camps before making it to America after the war and
growing up in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., around the
corner from the Rebbe's synagogue. He met the Rebbe before going off to fight
in Korea.
“That night I opened the book,
and I see this story about someone named Bernard Cytryn,” she says. “He’s from Kielce [Poland], a Holocaust survivor
who made it to America and fought in Korea, and I say, look at this guy, he
looks like a Citron!”Her husband, Albert’s father, had been born in the town of Checiny, about 13 kilometers away from Kielce, and had come to the United States in the early 1920s. The two siblings he left behind, as well as much of his extended family, had been destroyed by the Germans. In the My Story interview Bernard Cytryn explains that he had survived the Kielce ghetto, Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Sachsenhausen, Oranienburg, Mauthausen, Dachau, Gross-Rosen and other Nazi camps.
Cytryn’s own story continues. After the war he made it to America, where HIAS located an aunt whom he came to live with in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn—around the corner from the Rebbe’s synagogue at 770 Eastern Parkway. In the early 1950s, he had a momentous private audience with the Rebbe prior to shipping off to Korea. The book included the Yiddish letter the Rebbe sent to Bernard while he was at the front, where the Rebbe inquires of him.
Yehudis Cohen and her
husband, Rabbi Chaim Levi Cohen, were meeting theJewish community of Loudoun
County, Va., last year when Albert and Dale Citron hosted a Chanukah party for
their friends and neighbors. As a token of appreciation, they gave the Citrons
the “My Story” book.
“Please write to me about your
health, and also about your donning tefillin
and other Jewish activities . . . Please write to me how Passover was, and whether the Seder was conducted by a rabbi or a chaplain. Did you
have a minyan for the holiday prayers?”It was the Rebbe’s letter, testifies Bernard, that had given him the hope and courage to endure. While he made it through both the Holocaust and war, his family had not. “Though my family perished, somehow I survived,” he says in the interview.
But reading the names, the towns and seeing the pictures, Dale knew Bernard had to be related to her husband. “He looks exactly like my late brother-in-law,” she says.
Albert Citron and Bernard
Cytryn meeting in Florida for the first time. Both had thought the
Citron/Cytryn family was lost.
The couple flew down to Florida
the next day, and through the Cohens, the team at JEM, and finally Rabbi Avraham Bekhor, Cytryn’s local Chabad rabbi in
Randolph, N.J., they discovered that Bernard now lived in Florida. They called
him up and met for coffee at Bernard’s development.“They immediately embraced and we sat for hours,” says Dale. “He had lost touch with all Citron/Cytryns, he did not know any existed.”
The two were undoubtedly family, and when the extended Citron family gathered in Florida a short while later to celebrate Albert’s 75th birthday, Cousin Bernard was the guest of honor, surrounded by a family he never knew he had.
“He told his story in front of the family, everyone, the youngest children, were quiet,” says Albert, who has kept up with Bernard every week ever since. “This was not a coincidence. He was crying for joy, and I can’t say it didn’t affect me either.”
An interview, a book, a young Chabad couple and the hosts of a northern Virginia Chanukah party came together to reconnect relatives thought to have been forever lost.
The “My Story” book
compiled 41 personal encounters with the Rebbe.
The interviews showcased in Here’s
My Story—which just released its 300th pamphlet last week—all come from
JEM’s My Encounter with the Rebbe oral history project, which has conducted
1,500 interviews with a wide range of individuals to date. Packed into 1,200
words and printed on two sides of a single page, they are also available and archived on TheRebbe.org, a joint project of Chabad.org and JEM.The real life stories they feature vary; one might be the assurance the Rebbe gave to an unconvinced father that his son would live following a horrific accident, another the advice he gave to a successful British accountant that he could do more for his brethren in Israel from his vantage point in the UK than by emigrating, and a third encouraging a young woman to begin teaching Torah classes to other women while her husband led a men’s study group. But each one contains an experience that changed the life-trajectory of the interviewee, and communicates a lesson to the reader.
The Here’s My Story title draws on the ubiquitous phrase uttered by the countless individuals who met, corresponded, or even simply witnessed the Rebbe: Each has a story to share. Indeed, many of the leads the team at JEM receive come from people who might randomly bump into a fellow Jew in an airport, at a wedding, or at the workplace. “Here’s my story with the Rebbe,” is the common refrain.
Some 3,000 copies are printed in the New York area, and more than double that sent via email. The email is in turn shared by rabbis and communal leaders with their communities, many of whom also print it locally for the benefit of their community, so while it is difficult to pin down an exact number, the reach is in the tens of thousands. Rabbi Moshe Herson, the dean of the Rabbinical College of America (RCA) in Morristown, N.J, and head Chabad emissary to the state, has been sharing the stories with thousands of people on his email list on a weekly basis for the last two years.
“The comments I receive, mostly verbally, are that the Rebbe’s conversations with people of all walks of life are a very meaningful breath of fresh air, especially in today’s society,” Herson says. “The Rebbe’s unselfish, caring, wise counsel to people powerfully elevates the reader to a higher, pure plain. At least temporarily, the reader is catapulted into a sphere of light and hope.”
One of those on Herson’s list is Herb Jaffe, a writer in Las Vegas who previously served as op-ed columnist and investigative reporter at the Star-Ledger in Newark for 39 years.
“As you well know, my wife Fran and I had a personal experience with the Rebbe. And he remembered us several years later when we were both having serious health issues,” Jaffe recently wrote to Herson. “He told us, through you, that we would both continue to live fruitful lives for years to come… Well, here we are in Las Vegas, just as the Rebbe said. So, yes I can identify with the stories of so many others. Each of those stories is fabulous.”
Raw inspiration needs to be channeled, and Here’s My Story has in more than one instance served as a catalyst for more. For example, in the fall of 2015, Rabbi Yossi Groner, executive director of Chabad-Lubavitch of North Carolina, was embarking on a much-needed new building project for his Chabad center in Charlotte. Building expansion means fundraising, and Groner was busy approaching local supporters and philanthropists. There was one donor he knew he wanted to present the plans to, but he didn’t feel comfortable.
“I knew I’d go to this individual, but I didn’t feel I could ask him full force,” recalls Groner.
That week he got the Here’s My Story pamphlet in his email. It was an interview with Montreal businessman Elimelech Leiman, who had gone together with his Ukraine-born father—a menswear businessman in Montreal—to see the Rebbe in the early 1950s. Leiman’s father owned an old building in Montreal, and after a series of fires started by a tenant, his insurance company demanded he either install a sprinkler system, a prohibitively costly enterprise at the time, or build a new building altogether. Architectural plans were drawn up for a new construction, but the senior Leiman didn’t have the money for it. Appearing to be, in his son’s words, “the picture of depression,” he came to New York, plans in hand, to see the Rebbe.
Elimelech Leiman being
interviewed by Jewish Educational Media (JEM) for the “My Encounter with the
Rebbe” oral-history project in 2011. When Rabbi Yossi Groner, executive
director of Chabad of North Carolina, read about the encounter four years
later, he was inspired to think out of the box.
“The Rebbe heard him out and then
motioned to my brother, who was holding the plans for the new building …,” says
Leiman in his JEM interview. “‘Show me the plans,’ the Rebbe directed, and we
unrolled the blueprints for him. He looked at them and began asking questions
as if he were an architect.”The Rebbe wanted to know why the basement ceiling was so low. Leiman replied that the foundation was rock, and it was expensive to dig deeper. Why are you only building three stories, why not more? the Rebbe wanted to know. He didn’t have enough money for more.
“The Rebbe thought about it and said, ‘You should make the basement ceiling higher and you should make the foundations sturdy enough to add more stories afterwards, even if you don’t have the financing to invest now.’ He added that the bigger the container, the more blessings the Almighty can put into it.”
Leiman recalls his father walking out of the meeting a changed man. He returned to Montreal, convinced his bank to give him a mortgage at half the going rate, and indeed built a brand-new building.
Groner and members of the
Charlotte Jewish community at the groundbreaking for a new Chabad center.
Sitting in North Carolina, Groner
felt himself inspired. “Inspiration has to lead to action,” he says. “I read
the story, and I felt the Rebbe was telling them to think outside of their
limited box. The bigger the container, the bigger the blessing.”He approached the supporter and laid out two separate plans Chabad had, one for a larger scale project, the other more stripped down, and asked the donor for his thoughts. “He said no question, go with the bigger one.”
“Not only was I not rejected, I was given a very sizeable commitment with a promise that there would be more as the project unfolds,” the rabbi explains. Over time the plans evolved into two separate buildings on Chabad’s campus. Stage one has already been built, stage two will begin in two weeks.
“The story gave me the resolve to think bigger and ask for more,”,” he says.
For most of its lifetime, the primary sponsor of Here’s My Story has been the Chicago-based Crain-Maling Foundation. Its director, Dr. Michael Maling, had seen a couple of issues and became enthused about supporting the project.
“I read it every week,” says Maling. “It’s had a lot of impact on my life, personally, but most importantly, these are shining examples of how the Rebbe positively impacted whole lives that people are living.”
These examples, says Maling, are needed now more than ever. “We’re all looking to heal the world in an active way, and this is a very positive influence on our culture.”
Groner says that members of his synagogue print out a number of copies of Here’s My Story, as well as its Hebrew-language sister publication, Hasipur Sheli, and make it available to the congregation. “For people to read a personal experience like this, it can often penetrate much deeper than a teaching.”
Maling agrees. “All the stories are different, they’re all good. I’m not an Orthodox Jew, I don’t read Hebrew, but these stories, fused together, they’ve helped solidify my Jewish path in a way that I can understand. I find it thrilling that this has been such a hit.”
To subscribe to Here’s My Story, email MyStory@jemedia.org
Having the wrong viewpoint and in my opinion it is
also the wrong Synagogue as we only had two Temples or Mikdashim and the rest
are Synagogues or liken unto a small Mikdash. https://www.facebook.com/sofia.manolesco/videos/10217580780261878/?t=54
Milestone:
Ruth Matar co-founder of women in green. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253524
French
Nazi kicks the bucket at 89. https://www.algemeiner.com/2018/10/22/one-less-holocaust-denier-on-this-earth-robert-faurisson-notorious-french-nazi-apologist-dead-at-89/?utm_content=news1&utm_medium=daily_email&utm_campaign=email&utm_source=internal/
Investigations
into Netanyahu reach conclusions to be given to the Attorney General in a few
months. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253680
IAI
to supply the Indian Defense Force Barak Missiles. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253714
Public
Opinion Poll. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253810
Inyanay Diyoma
Balloon terrorists struck. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5375605,00.html
Unreasonable
ruling by Ben Dror Yemeni. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5375228,00.html
The
cost of Gaza restraint by Yehoshua. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5374533,00.html
10,000
Arabs Friday on the fence. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253512
Russian
charged with mid-term interference. https://www.wnd.com/2018/10/russian-national-charged-with-conspiracy-to-meddle-in-midterms/?cat_orig=politics
Future
of non-Orthodox Jewry in doubt. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253505
Kushner’s
leftist brother marries a leftist who converted via liberal Judaism aka she is
a non-Jew. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253506
Undercover
soldiers capture terror accomplice. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253518
Saudi
Journalist murder analyzed. https://www.debka.com/saudi-admission-of-khashoggi-death-leaves-turmoil-in-riyadh-fallout-on-saudi-us-relations/
Iran’s
guided missile plants in Lebanon. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5376450,00.html
150,000
Hezballah Rockets and Missiles. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253558
Is
Netanyahu better than Obama? Hezballah views Israel’s empty threats. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5376272,00.html
Jordan
wants to cancel parts of the peace agreement. I want to cancel the part that we
supply them with water. https://www.timesofisrael.com/jordan-says-it-wont-renew-peace-treaty-annexes-leasing-border-lands-to-israel/
Israel
saved his sorry kingdom a few times next time we might forget to save him. https://www.debka.com/abdullah-cuts-down-jordans-peace-treaty-with-israel-while-reorienting-his-policy-on-detente-with-turkey-syria-qatar/
Religious
Zionist Rabbi blames Bennett towards Reform Judaism. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253554
He
is so anti-Semitic that the left complained. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253564
Anti-Semitism
as big as TX. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253563
Soldier
lightly wounded at the Machpelah Cave. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253588
Another
shield of the terrorist shooter caught. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253701
Ed-Op
lack of indecision in Gaza. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5377430,00.html
Turkish
Pres. Imperial Positioning. https://www.debka.com/erdogans-khashoggi-speech-is-meant-to-boost-his-muslim-credentials-and-turkish-lira/
Israel
must make a decision regarding Gaza. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253679
Israel
will not accept a one-sided Jordanian exit. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253676
Netanyahu
becoming paranoiac. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253697 https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5379006,00.html
Bombs
sent to Democrats – who is behind this? A right-wing nut job? Or a leftist burn
the Reichstag to effect the mid-terms? https://www.debka.com/single-unknown-hand-or-group-seen-behind-explosive-packages-to-us-democratic-figures/
Rocket
and reply. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253737 1
rocket = 8 targets. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253743
First
security then cease fire. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253726
Terrorist
stopped on way to Yerushalayim. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253706
Bat-Zion
Sachs on Nationalism. https://wingnsonawildflight.blogspot.com/2018/10/trump-and-nationalism.html?fbclid=IwAR0_vQYmQ2FVco4iftpPHGPBJLOHuOt-ohQb1VXeBmZ3kn4CMyLG1umX89g
Enemies
of the USA developing EMP weapons to knock out the electrical grid. https://americanmilitarynews.com/2018/10/russia-china-iran-and-north-korea-working-on-emp-weapons-for-devastating-attack-on-us/?fbclid=IwAR3Qf3kvM4VYWhXgAo1e8w59CQHuHUlZ9U4jEX3CNUx0naYMaVyLY9mkRoc
12
ISIS terrorists killed in Syria. https://americanmilitarynews.com/2018/10/us-coalition-airstrikes-kill-12-isis-terrorists-operating-secretly-in-syrian-mosques/?fbclid=IwAR02J8gXlsgXznGU-9t2t4ODy2eFQ7UAV3UTZNSTo4CT84HjqZ-RJF1_GD8
IDF
revamps forces to combat cyber terrorism https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5379441,00.html
Why
are the houses of 102 terrorists still standing? http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253773
Journalist’s
murder premeditated. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253769
Dr.
Martin Sherman on the sustaining of the enemy in Gaza. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/22913
Israeli
Police incarcerated the wront man. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5379790,00.html
Satmar
Rebbe’s grandson is an IDF officer. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253796
Will
the King is misbehaving, the Jordanians ask Israel for help in rescue of
children who hiked in a Wadi multiple weather deaths. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253783
Have
a peaceful and healthy Shabbos,
Rachamim
Pauli
