Parsha Tetzaveh
This
week, we continue with requirements for the building and operating the Mishkan.
We now move on to the fuel for burning the lamps and the clothing needed for
the service of the Cohain. For a proper uniform is needed for administration
just like the army, navy, police, fire, etc. have their uniforms.
27:20
And thou shalt
command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure olive oil beaten
for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually.
Rashi says with no murky residue.
The olives had to be crushed and the juice squeezed out. The Rabbis say this is
like Am Yisrael. When we are crushed then we produce better Torah but if like
at the end of the Torah and we wax fat and lazy then we do not produce anything
of value.
(I
found this from 5768) Devorah pointed out to the Torah Forum in the name of
Rabbi Lazer Gurkow that the word
for command can also mean to bind. The beaten olive oil that is purest extra
virgin oil is used in the Temple. It is the cream of the cream of the olive.
What binds the olive oil to the nation of Yisrael is that it anoints the Cohain
Gadol, Cohain Meshuach L’Milchama (priest that leads the nation into war) and
the Melech (king) of Yisrael together. The oil is used for the poor man’s flour
Korban (sacrifice) on the Mizbayach (altar). Other properties of the oil are
that it gives light to the Menorah in the Beis HaMikdash and to the homes of
the Bnei Yisrael for Shalom Beis. When one has peace in the home and peace
within his tribe he is more bound to them. We are all one nation and one heart
to continue the chain of generations. When the heart goes astray and does not
observe Shabbos, Taharos Hamishpacha or Kashrus we get a dispute or if the
heart desires something that does not belong to person. Olive oil is used for
cooking and salads and has much health benefits. {In fact all the 5 fruits and
2 grains of Eretz Yisrael have beneficial powers.}
Another
aspect of our Pasha is the clothing of the Cohanim. The Cohain had to be Kadosh
(holy) in mind and body. He had pants for modesty so even the stones of the
altar could not view his nakedness during the service. His garments as Rav B.
Wein Shlita points out in the name of Rabbi S. R. Hirsh TzZal this week were
for honor and glory not only for the Kahuna but for Am Yisrael to obtain honor
and glory by the presence of the ALL MIGHTY. Each garment had its special
powers. The Katones (tunic) had the power to atone for sins with blood such as
causing people to bleed, injuring a person, killing an animal on Shabbos and
accidental manslaughter perhaps also accidental relations when the wellsprings
of Niddah opened up. This came from the blood on the Katones of Yosef
HaTzaddik. The Tzitz of the Cohain Gadol did atonement for most sins especially
on Yom Kippur. The bells on the garment of the Cohain Gadol with their noise
nullified and voided idle talk, Lashon Hara, tale bearing, rumor spreading,
general falsehoods, etc. In past years I mentioned the healing of the stones on
the breast plate and the Onyx Stones uniting the tribes together. The modesty
of the belt separating the heart from the body atoned for immodest behavior and
even lewd gestures. Each piece of the holy garments on the purified and holy
Cohain made up for raising the spiritual level of Am Yisrael.
21 In the tent of meeting,
without the veil which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall set it
in order, to burn from evening to morning before the LORD; it shall be a
statute forever throughout their generations on the behalf of the children of
Israel.
An eternal light which is not
to go out.
28:1 And bring thou near unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him,
from among the children of Israel, that they may minister unto Me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadav and Avihu, Eleazar and
Ithamar, Aaron's sons. 2 And
thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for splendor and for beauty.
The Bigdei (garments)
Kahuna must be splendid for the ceremony and beautiful. The white tunic of the
regular Cohain had to be clean. Thus if he was the Cohain who dealt with the
slaughter of the Korban, and the cleaning of the animal, he had to change his
garments for other ceremonies. He could not appear like a blood stained member
of Hezballah, Hamas or Fatach.
For
the splendor of the glory of the garments will radiate the holiness. Here we
have a nation dressed in drab working garments and covering garments. One does
not send his flocks out to pasture or milk his cows dress in tuxedos but rather
drab working clothes. So in contrast every morning at Shachris and every
evening at Mincha the nation in the wilderness of Sinai would see the Cohanim
is these splendid garments and their glory would remind the people of G-D’s
eternal glory.
3 And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled
with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron's garments to sanctify him,
that he may minister unto Me in the priest's office.
Unlike the plain white
garments of the Cohain Hedios (simple or regular Priest) he had to have the
special garments of the Cohain Gadol.
Who
is wise? – one who sees the birth or end result. These women and male tailors
had Ruach HaKodesh within themselves to see the design. Just like Betzalel with
the making of the engraved sections and the rest of the Mishkan (including the
joining of the tabernacle boards and the way they were to be raised to their
final height and anchored in place). If one knows a little about metal and wood
work and the engineering of raising and lowering these giant planks of the
Mishkan one needs great skills and coordination. The weaving of the garments
which is beyond the knowledge and skills of most males not to mention Rabbis
needed wisdom. How many of us have ever followed the conversion of flax unto
linen or the shearing of the sheep into making wool just ready for the loom.
Then comes the other skills designs and measurements. All we do is go into some
store and buy a shirt and a pair of pants and shoes for a small amount of cash
ignoring the raising of the flax or animal for the wool or leather for the
shoe.
4 And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, and an
ephod, and
a robe, and a tunic of checker work, a mitre, and a girdle; and they shall make holy garments for
Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto Me in the priest's
office.
His garments contained additional color
right below, the checker work, the mitre, special wide belt or girdle the
jeweled breastplate on the Ephod (apron). Ephod was a vest/apron for the Cohain over his
checkered tunic. Each Cohain was to have a pair of pants to separate his
nudeness from the altar. When the Americans captured Iraq the Israeli
Television did not censor an Arab lifting up his robe and yelling this is what
I have for you Saddam and exposing himself as it was the custom not to wear
anything under the robe. Having pants was modesty and the girdle or belt to
separate the heart from the nudeness.
Halacha:
When one prayers, he needs to have a belt or an elastic band separating his
lower body part from the upper body part. Also while on the subject the minimum
of the minimum dress for praying (let us say one fell asleep at the beach) is a
bathing suit, tee shirt and sandals with some head covering. However, one
should dress as one would meet a king or president. Just as one does not appear
before the president in a bathing suit or scruffy work clothes so one should
appear in descent dress or minimum everyday dress before appearing before the
L-RD. The minimum is called B’De’evad (or because it would be lost otherwise –
extenuating circumstances) and the second is called Le Chathilla or from the
start
5 And they shall take the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the
scarlet, and the fine linen.
Just as the gold is
rare so was the special Techeles blue, the purple, scarlet and the production
of fire linen. Linen was harder to make than we produce it today. The growing,
processing and weaving was all by hand. Will it still be by hand or can we use
robots by giving the command: “I am ready and prepared to do the Mitzvah or
producing the garment(s) for the Cohain Gadol therefore I programed this robot
or machine to do so as I press the start button or throw the switch. Baruch
Atah …”
6 And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and purple, scarlet,
and fine twined linen, the work of the skillful workman.
And they shall make the ephod: If I would try to explain the making of the ephod and the choshen according to the order of the verses, their explanation would be fragmentary and the reader would err in combining them. Therefore, I am writing [first] how they were made, as it was [i.e., in its entirety], so that the reader will be able to run through it [quickly]. Afterwards, I will explain it [how they were made] according to the sequence of the verses. The ephod was designed like a sort of apron worn by women who ride horseback [see Rashi on verse 4], and he [the Kohen Gadol] would gird [himself with] it from behind, opposite his heart, below his elbows, its width equaling the width of a man’s back and more, and it [the ephod] would reach his ankles. The belt was attached to the top of it across its width, [it was] the work of a weaver, and it extended on both sides in order to wrap [the Kohen Gadol] and gird [him] with it. The shoulder straps were attached to the belt-one to the right and one to the left from behind the Kohen [Gadol], at the two ends of the width of the apron. When he held them [i.e., the shoulder straps] upright, they stood [i.e., lay flat] on his two shoulders. They were like two straps made from the same material as the ephod [and they were] long enough to place them upright alongside his neck on either side. They were folded in front of him slightly below his shoulders. The shoham stones were set in them-one on the right shoulder strap and one on the left shoulder strap. The settings were placed at their ends in front of his shoulders, and the two golden chains were inserted into the two rings of the choshen at the two ends of its upper width-one on the right and one on the left. The two ends of the [right] chains were inserted into the settings on the right, and similarly the two ends of the left chains were inserted into the settings on the left shoulder strap. Thus, the choshen was suspended on the settings of the ephod in front of him [the Kohen Gadol] over his heart. There were two more rings on the two ends of the choshen, on the bottom of it. Opposite them [there were] two rings on the two shoulder straps from below, at its bottom end, which was attached to the belt. The rings of the choshen [were] opposite the rings of the ephod, lying on each other. He would fasten them [the rings] with a blue cord, inserted through the rings of the ephod and the choshen, attached to the band of the ephod, so that the bottom of the choshen would be attached to the band of the ephod, and it would not swing back and forth. Of gold, blue, purple, and crimson wool, and twisted fine linen: These five kinds [of substances] were twisted into each thread. They [the workers] flattened the gold into a sort of thin plate and cut cords out of them [the plates] and spun them, one thread of gold with six threads of blue wool, and one thread of gold with six threads of purple wool, and similarly with the crimson wool, and similarly with the linen, for the threads of all the kinds were doubled six fold, and one thread of gold was [twisted] with each one [kind of thread]. Afterwards, he would twist them all together. Thus, their threads were doubled into twenty-eight strands. This is explained in tractate Yoma (72a), and it is derived from the following verse (Exod. 39:3): “They flattened out the sheets of gold and he cut cords [out of them], to work (the gold cords) into the blue wool, into the purple wool, etc.” We learn that a thread of gold was twisted with every kind [of thread]. The work of a master weaver: Heb. מַעִשֵׂה חוֹשֵׁב. I have already explained (Exod. 26:1) that this is the weaving of two “walls,” [and] that the figures of its two sides are unlike one another.
An extraordinary garment needs not just any weaver but a master weaver. Just as the chief brain surgeon does the most complicated operations and does not leave it to an ordinary surgeon so here for the work of the garment of the Cohain Gadol a master weaver was needed.
7 It shall have two shoulder-pieces joined to the two ends thereof, that
it may be joined together. 8 And
the skillfully woven band, which is upon it, wherewith to gird it on, shall be
like the work thereof and of the same piece: of gold, of blue, and purple, and
scarlet, and fine twined linen.
This all appears to be
handmade but what if a robot that I program and command can do it finer, better
and more accurate?
9 And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the
children of Israel: 10 six of
their names on the one stone, and the names of the six that remain on the other
stone, according to their birth.
The engraving was done
either by the fabled Shamir, special radioactive copper spread like a worm on
the surface, or acid engraving. Today we could do this by Laser Engraving.
11 With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet,
shalt thou engrave the two stones, according to the names of the children of
Israel; thou shalt make them to be enclosed in settings of gold.
The engraved stones are
placed in gold settings and placed on the shoulder pieces afterwards.
12 And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulder-pieces of the
ephod, to be stones of memorial for the children of Israel; and Aaron shall
bear their names before the LORD upon his two shoulders for a memorial.
The Rabbis wondered if
there were six names of tribes on one side and six on the other or based on the
number of letters of the names have one tribe be named half on one and half on
the other so that the number of letters are the same. I tend to prefer the
first but the Rabbis had their reasons for this way or that way.
13 And thou shalt make settings of gold; 14 and two chains of pure gold; of plaited thread shalt thou make
them, of wreathen work; and thou shalt put the wreathen chains on the settings.
The chains and settings
would have to thick and of such quality to last centuries.
15 And thou shalt make a breastplate of judgment, the work of the skillful
workman; like the work of the ephod thou shalt make it: of gold, of blue, and
purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, shalt thou make it.
The colors especially
the elusive Techeles were rare and hard to obtain.
16 Four-square it shall be and double: a span shall be the length thereof,
and a span the breadth thereof.
A span is half an Amos
aka half a cubit or 22.5 cm or 9 inches.
The following I brought down twice in the blogspot. This one was copy and pasted from my writing in 5775 for I forgot about this a long time ago.
Hebrew: אֹדֶם פִּטְדָה וּבָרֶקֶת Now the Carnelian or Odem is on the top right corner per the model that I have before me and is colored more pink than red but the Wikipedia calls it: Carnelian (also spelled cornelian) is a reddish-brown mineral which is commonly used as a semi-precious gemstone. Similar to carnelian is sard, which is generally harder and darker. (The difference is not rigidly defined, and the two names are often used interchangeably.) Both carnelian and sard are varieties of the silica mineral chalcedony colored by impurities of iron oxide. The color can vary greatly, ranging from pale orange to an intense almost-black coloration. Rashi comments later on every one according to his name: According to the order of their [the progenitors of the tribes] births shall be the order of the stones, Odem for Reuben, pitdah for Simeon, and similarly for all of them. The stone can be clear, blue or even an orange-red hue. The Medrash indicates that on the Odem was also the names of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yacov but most commentaries I have seen seem to hold the same way as Rashi. Shimon’s stone was white in nature. And Levy bareket was green and the Hebrew Wikipedia calls it in English an Emerald as it appears to me.
18 and the second row a carbuncle, a sapphire, and an emerald;
Hebrew: נֹפֶךְ סַפִּיר, וְיָהֲלֹם Nofach is for Yehuda and a Yellow Diamond. Yissachar is the sapphire they have is not the dark blue but purple in hue so I am not a gem expert but am uncertain to the little model that I have at home and certainly my model has the wrong order of things because the Yaalom or clear Diamond is way down in the wrong row clear cut diamond. I went and googled the Sapphire for example and got this: Sapphire (Greek: sappheiros) refers to gem varieties of the mineral corundum, an aluminium oxide (Al2O3), when it is a color other than red, in which case the gem would instead be a ruby. Trace amounts of other elements such as iron, titanium, or chromium can give corundum blue, yellow, pink, purple, orange, or greenish color. Pink-orange corundum are also sapphires, but are instead called padparadscha.
19 and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst;
Hebrew: לֶשֶׁם שְׁבוֹ, וְאַחְלָמָה The Leshem or jacinth is light sky blue in color and is of the tribe of Yosef, the Shavu is very orange brown in color and is used as a Camaya (charm) for pregnant women that they should not have a natural miss abort and the tribe of Benyamin where Rachel died in childbirth hence the Camaya. Achlamach is a darker purple than the sapphire and is of the tribe of Dan.
20 and the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper; they shall be enclosed in gold in their settings.
Hebrew: תַּרְשִׁישׁ וְשֹׁהַם, וְיָשְׁפֵה Tarshis is ivory white and the tribe of Naphtali. Onyx or Shoham is jet black like the shoulder pieces and is the tribe of Gad. Yispah or Jasper was a darkish brown and the tribe of Asher.
After the enclosure in
gold they were then later mounted upon the Choshen (breast plate).
21 And the stones shall be according to the names of the children of
Israel, twelve, according to their names; like the engravings of a signet,
every one according to his name, they shall be for the twelve tribes.
I mentioned in passing that
each stone has a spiritual quality about it. For when HASHEM created the world,
HE created the four forms of incarnation. In animate, plant, animal and talking
(aka mankind). Each stone was created with such internal atomic frequencies,
chemicals and spiritual properties. In fact there is a woman in Yerushalayim
that has a store with a different gem for each and every birthday. For example:
in Sefer Yetzirah a Kabbalistic work it uses tribes for the various months of
the year and various stones for each tribe etc. So if your birth month was a
ruby or topaz so the woman would have a ruby color of one shade for the start
of the month to the middle of the month to finally the end of the month.
I have a lot of Kabbalistic
questions in my head such as why this material and these colors? Is it because
in the times of the Exodus they were rare and costly or because when their
atomic frequencies are put together with the Aron and the other materials like
the belt and breastplate (Avnet V’ Ephod) they produced an atmosphere for the
Shechina to rest there? Of all the rare stones in the world why these? Why did
the Ephod have such and such an order both the top row and then the stone/tribe
underneath? Besides the special power of the frequencies of the stones, was
there more Kabbalistic significance to the order and what is/was it? However,
with my stage of learning and various duties, these questions may always remain
unanswered for me in my lifetime and only after 120 years will I know.
Stephanie L. posted this
which is one of many pictures of what the garment looked like. You could also
look it up on the Temple Institute site: http://ravkooktorah.org/TETZAVEH59.htm
22 And thou shalt make upon the breastplate plaited chains of wreathen
work of pure gold. 23 And thou
shalt make upon the breastplate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings
on the two ends of the breastplate. 24
And thou shalt put the two wreathen chains of gold on the two rings at the ends
of the breastplate. 25 And the
other two ends of the two wreathen chains thou shalt put on the two settings,
and put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, in the forepart thereof. 26 And thou shalt make two rings of
gold, and thou shalt put them upon the two ends of the breastplate, upon the
edge thereof, which is toward the side of the ephod inward. 27 And thou shalt make two rings of
gold, and shalt put them on the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod underneath, in
the forepart thereof, close by the coupling thereof, above the skillfully woven
band of the ephod. 28 And they
shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof unto the rings of the ephod with
a thread of blue, that it may be upon the skillfully woven band of the ephod,
and that the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod. 29 And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the
breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goes in unto the holy place,
for a memorial before the LORD continually. 30 And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and
the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goes in before the
LORD; and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his
heart before the LORD continually.
Due to the length of
this commentary I am skipping over the bells that tingled before he entered the
Kodoshei Kodeshim (Holy of Holies) on Yom Kippur and the Mitre.
… 30:1 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon; of acacia-wood shalt
thou make it. 2 A cubit shall be
the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be;
and two cubits shall be the height thereof; the horns thereof shall be of one
piece with it. 3 And thou shalt
overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about,
and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about.
4 And two golden rings shalt
thou make for it under the crown thereof, upon the two ribs thereof, upon the
two sides of it shalt thou make them; and they shall be for places for staves
wherewith to bear it.
Similar to the brass or bronze Mizbayach, the golden Mizbayach was there
for the burning of the fragrant Ketores (insense).
5 And thou shalt make
the staves of acacia-wood, and overlay them with gold. 6 And thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the
testimony, before the ark-cover that is over the testimony, where I will meet
with thee. 7 And Aaron shall
burn thereon incense of sweet spices; every morning, when he dresses the lamps,
he shall burn it. 8 And when
Aaron lights the lamps at dusk, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before
the LORD throughout your generations.
Ner Tamid an eternal light. The light did not go out until either the capture
of the Mishkan or destruction of the first Mikdash. The dedication was in 2449
and lasted until 3338 and the Beis Sheni lasted only 420 years after which we
have been almost 2000 years in darkness.
9 Ye shall offer no
strange incense thereon, nor burnt-offering, nor meal-offering; and ye shall
pour no drink-offering thereon. 10
And Aaron shall make atonement upon the horns of it once in the year; with the
blood of the sin-offering of atonement once in the year shall he make atonement
for it throughout your generations; it is most holy unto the LORD.'
From 5776: The Hebrews by
Alan Magill thanks to Judith
In retrospect,
what a beautiful French Canadian woman said to me on the Atlantic City
Boardwalk many, many, many Summers ago should have made perfect sense.
But at the time, it threw me for a loop. “Alan, what religion...you?” she
asked, with fractured syntax but clear intent.
Only hours before I was
unattached, living the dream of a writer in that city by the sea, thrilled by
what I was discovering by my words on paper and less than happy by my failure
to make connections with people in the real world. I certainly wasn’t
thinking about religion. Yes, I was Jewish, but since my Bar Mitzvah a
decade ago I had rarely stepped inside a synagogue.
Only hours before that
question about religion, I was sitting in the lobby of a fancy hotel watching a
baseball game on a television that my small boarding house type establishment
didn’t provide.
Suddenly, the play by play
man’s voice was drowned out by the sweet sound of young ladies laughing,
speaking French words hurriedly. I looked up and saw these ladies walking
through the lobby and out the door, no doubt excited by what awaited
them. I was surprised to see that one of them had stayed behind, and she
looked so lonely...like the rest of the ladies had abandoned her.
That wasn’t nice. I
would do something about that. No one deserves to be alone.
I was painfully aware of that myself.
I walked over to her
smiling, and she smiled back. Ahhhhhh!!!!! A connection, that I so
very much wanted, appeared to be in the offing.
“Are you new to Atlantic
City?” I asked. Her face screwed up in consternation. She was
struggling to make some sense of what I had said.
“Knew,” she said, in her
strong French accent “I know, he knows, he knew?.”
“No,” I said, smiling.
“Never mind.”
Through a lot of back and
forth I learned that she was from a tour group from Quebec and that she
understood English by conjugating verbs into a form that she understood, and
that she was from a small farm and that the other girls in the group, from the
bigger cities, had nothing in common with her and wanted nothing to do with
her. I certainly wanted something to do with her...I wanted to help
her...I wanted to make her feel at home...wanted her to feel that she belonged.
I motioned with my arm that
she should come with me out the door and that I would show her around.
“Please,” I said smiling, and her smile met mine in the sweetest connection I
had known since I had come to Atlantic City a month ago.
As I showed her the sights,
we got to know each other a little better. I asked her name and when she
said it was Joanne, I told her that I had a friend named Joanne back home and
that I had bought her flowers for her birthday.
“Bought?,” she said, concentrating
hard. “I buy. He buys. He bought.”
“Yes!” I said.
“Yes!” she said.
We laughed.
And that’s the way the whole
night went. Me talking and her conjugating all my verbs. I was
flattered. Unlike everyone else who seemed to be in a rush, she took the
time to listen and cared about every word I said.
I took her on rides at
amusement piers, we played games of chance, I bought her an ice cream, I helped
her pick our postcards and we did all the things that people do in the
excitement of having first met.
By now, it was late at night
and there was a full moon. I led her to a bench looking out at the
ocean. We listened to the waves gently lapping to the nearby shore.
From a distance I heard a radio playing a Frank Sinatra song, “Strangers in the
Night.” I was at peace and I felt so connected to her.
I looked in her eyes and she
into mine. If ever two strangers had met, this was it.
I imagined us friends and even more than friends. I moved
closer to her and she held her gaze on me. This was one of the happiest
moments of my life. We were in total sync.
Then she asked THAT
QUESTION. “Alan, what religion...you?”
I was stunned. Where
did that come from? Just when everything was going so well.
What scared me was that I had to think – only a half second to be
sure – before I could come up with the answer.
“Jewish,” I said.
Gone was her smile.
Her face screwed up in consternation.
“Ooooooooish?,” she asked.
“No...Jewish,” I said.
“No understand,” she
replied.
And then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Here I was feeling so connected to her and she didn’t even know the slightest thing about who I was. And what’s worse, I didn’t appear to know that much about it either.
Suddenly my connection to my
Jewishness became very important to me. Here was a young lady from a
distant small farm who had never heard of us and I was going to make sure that
before we parted she would know who we were. I remembered something about
how we’re supposed to be “A light unto the nations.” Well, now it was
time for me to shine some of that light on her.
I conjured up every bit of
learning that I could recall from my after-school rabbi who I went to for one
year to learn my Bar Mitzvah Parsha and whatever else he could get in.
I was telling Joanne, “You
know, the people from Abraham, Issac and Jacob!”
“No...no...no,” she said.
“We were slaves in
Egypt. G-d sent Moses to lead us out. G-d brought ten plagues upon
the Egyptians...you must have heard about us!”
“I’m sorry...No!”
I told her about the parting
of the Red Sea, how we were saved and how the Egyptians drowned. I told
her, with great joy in my heart, how G-d led us to Mount Sinai where we got the
Ten Commandments.
Joanne just looked at
me like I was speaking a foreign language, which of course I was.
“Oh well,” I said, conceding
defeat. “I guess everyone hasn’t heard of us Hebrews.”
A flash of recognition in
her eyes. “Hebrews,” she said.
“It’s familiar?” I asked.
“Yes, Hebrews!” she said
with great emotion.
“This is great. You’ve
heard of us.”
Bubbly, she stated,
“Hebrews, and then added, “He bring. He brung. He brew.”
I wanted to laugh very hard,
but I knew that wouldn’t be fair to her.
I just smiled and she smiled
back.
And now looking back at this
many decades later, I see that Joanne’s non-sequitur question about religion
made perfect sense. "He bring, He brung, He brew"...
Through all of the verb tenses -- past, present and future -- I am a Jew.
Now, married, religious and committed to Yiddishkeit I see that on that
night and many other nights that Hashem was watching over me, and leading me
away from connections that were not in my best interests toward those
connections that are truly part and parcel of who I am.
From
Beth Sarafraz: Lola Lieber Queen Esther of the Holocaust
When Lola
Lieber’s husband, Mechel, was arrested by
the Nazis during the Holocaust, she did the unthinkable. Posing as a gentile,
she walked into the Gestapo headquarters and asked to speak to whoever was in
charge.
She told the receptionist that she had an appointment with
SS Lieutenant-Colonel Adolf Eichmann, Gestapo Chief and overseer of Hitler’s Final Solution — the extermination
of European Jewry. She was dressed to kill and the clerk probably thought that
Eichmann had an interest in seeing her.
Confronting the infamous number two Nazi — whom she later
said looked like a mild-mannered accountant — she told him her husband was not
a Jew and had been picked up by accident, arrested by mistake. Eichmann picked
up the phone to call the jail where Mechel was being held; it became obvious
the ploy would not work. All the jailers would have to do to determine if a man
was Jewish was check if he was circumcised.
Hearing Eichmann on the phone, she understood how badly
things would play out. Lola turned and, as calmly as possible, began to stroll
out the door, keeping up her pretense of innocence even while expecting a
bullet in the back.
Miraculously, no one stopped her. Lola had displayed the
truest love of all, vanquishing fear, when put to the harshest test. Soon
after, Mechel successfully escaped and miraculously reunited with his beloved
bride.
I met Lola in 2011, at a Yom HaShoah commemoration
held at Brooklyn’s Yeshivah of Flatbush. She and her son, Hershel, seated on
the stage, had a back-and-forth conversation under the spotlights about her
years in Europe, running from the Nazis. The segments selected to discuss on
that stage totally stunned the audience, myself included.
She was only 15 when the Nazis burst into the apartment
building in Krakow, Poland, where she lived at that time, with her family.
Going door to door, the uniformed jack-booted German soldiers terrorized
families. At one point in the terrifying episode, Lola watched as one Nazi
picked up an infant by its feet and swung it into a door, whereupon its head
was smashed open.
Yet, Lola was a fearless woman who survived the Holocaust.
At the time of her death in 2014 at the age of 91, she was the mother of three,
grandmother of 12, great-grandmother of 50, great-great-grandmother of four, a
successful artist, and author of A World After This: A Memoir of Loss and Redemption.
The book’s title came from something her husband told her
on their wedding day. She was barely 18 when she married Mechel Lieber in a
wartime, low-key, poor bride wedding. The 1941 ceremony was held in a rabbi’s
backyard, in a little Polish town called Niepolomice.
A bed sheet covered the table; there was no wedding gown
for the bride. The family gave money to a peasant to purchase duck for the
wedding dinner, but he spent it all getting drunk in a bar. The family then
paid a fishmonger to obtain the main course, but instead of purchasing fish for
the feast, he disappeared — likely under the bar stool next to the duck dealer.
In the end, a relative cooked up sour eggs for a main course.
Even more depressing — for an Orthodox Jewish girl — the
wartime setting of utter destitution meant she had to marry without a minyan,
outside of a shul. After the wedding, the bride wept until her young
husband answered her in a way that proved him wise, tender, and compassionate
beyond his years.
“We will survive this era. It is temporary. There will be a
world after this,” said Mechel Lieber. “And, if we don’t survive — G-d forbid —
but if we do not, at least, Lola, at least we have been married.”
The Nazis were savage predators fixated on hunting down
unarmed innocents who ran and hid in homemade bunkers, like Mechel's family.
After one particularly vicious hide-and-seek raid, Lola and Mechel found them
all shot to death in the bunker where they had been hiding from the Nazis.
Risking discovery and certain death, the couple loaded the
bodies into a wheelbarrow and transported them to the town’s Jewish cemetery.
There, the young couple dug out the frozen earth until
their hands bled, in order to bury them together. One of the victims, a little
girl who was her husband’s sister, died holding a doll in her hand. Lola buried
the child still clutching the doll. They paused to whisper the Kaddish prayer
for the dead, while also praying the soldiers of the Reich would not discover
them performing this “illegal” final act of decency and holiness. Miraculously,
they were not caught.
Years later, Lola painted two horrifying pictures of that
event: “Bochnia: On the Way to the Cemetery” and “Bochnia: Burying the Dead.”
In the first, a grief-stricken Mechel with head hanging pushes a wheelbarrow
piled with bodies, lifeless arms hanging off the sides, with Lola trying to
keep them from falling out.
In the second, like the next frame in a film, the bodies of
murdered family members are lying face up in a homemade grave. Mechel is frozen
in time holding up a shovelful of earth to cover them over. Lola sits on the
frozen ground covering her mouth, silencing a scream.
No photograph of that tragic scene exists, but the
paintings suggest that Lola went outside herself that day — spiritually — to
view herself, Mechel, and the corpses of beloved family members under a bleak,
gray, freezing Polish sky.
Lola went on to save the esteemed Bobover Rebbe Halberstam and his entire family
from imminent death at the hand of the Nazis in Poland’s Bochnia ghetto. There,
the German Commander Schomburg offered her safe passage out of the killing zone
because she was able to convince him, by chatting about goulash, pastries and a
popular Hungarian song, that she was from Munkach in Hungary and thus not
subject to Nazi decrees in Bochnia.
However, instead of seizing this gift of life and running
with it, she requested permission to take all of her relatives with her,
assuring the Nazi that every last one of them was from Hungary and therefore,
also exempt. Miraculously, he gave permission for all of them to leave. That
night, Lola forged birth certificates for her entire family, plus “extended”
members — the Bobover Rebbe and his family, insuring their safe passage out of
doomed Bochnia. For this selfless act, the Rebbe was grateful to the core of
his being, calling Lola a “modern day Queen Esther.”
In Budapest, with Russians soldiers pouring into that city,
the war was supposed to be over, or so Mechel and Lola thought. In the days
leading up to Liberation, Lola was starving and very ill. Someone who had
found precious noodles and boiled them in water, offered the leftover water to
Lola. She drank it and was grateful. She did not curse the person who withheld
the noodles from her. Even at the point of death, the essence of her being
whispered, “Gam zu l’tova (this too is for the good).”
But the Russians had scores to settle with their enemies.
Conquering Russian soldiers mistakenly thought that Lola and Mechel were German
spies and forced the couple up against a wall, ordering them to put their hands
up, and trained their machine guns on them.
A moment before the firing began, Lola and Mechel looked up
to Heaven. “We started to scream Shema Yisrael and waited for the shots,” said
Lola. But then a miracle occurred. At that very moment, another Russian soldier
— who understood Hebrew and who was “coincidentally” passing by — screamed even
louder, “Don’t kill them! They’re Jews!”
Thus, the Liebers survived the war. In January 1946, Lola
gave birth to their first child, Hershel, in a Munich hospital. “I was a
celebrity,” says Hershel about the circumstances of his birth — a Jewish baby
born on German soil. He had a brit milah
(circumcision) and a pidyon haben
(redemption of the first-born) attended by American Jewish soldiers stationed
in Germany.
Meanwhile they waited for their visas. Luckily, Mechel had
family members in Williamsburg, Brooklyn — the American Liebers, who ran a
well-known chocolate manufacturing company. These good people pledged to be
financially responsible for their surviving family members who arrived in New
York in 1947, leaving Munich on the military-type cargo ship, the S.S. Ernie
Pyle.
Mechel went to work as a hosiery salesman, selling nylon
stockings instead of the pre-war silk ones. Two more children, Yossi and Mati,
were born. Hershel remembers these as happy years, especially at their Passover
seders. “Of course we read the Haggadah, recalling the Jewish Exodus out
of bondage in Egypt. But over the dinner, my mother and father told the stories
of their own flight to freedom,” from the blood-soaked graveyard of Nazi Europe
to America, home of liberty and justice for all — including Jews.
Happily ever after ended in 1966, when Mechel died of
cancer. With the heroic young husband of her dreams gone, Lola mourned greatly,
but then she did what survivors do — she remarried. Twice.
She also painted fast and furiously — “over 1,500
paintings” according to Hershel. “About 10-12 of them were Holocaust themes and
of these, four went to Yad Vashem in Israel.” She also painted
flower-filled landscapes. “But her specialty,” says Hershel, “was doing
portraits. She painted all the rebbes – the Bobover, the Belzer, the Gerer, the
Lubavitcher, and both Satmar rebbes.”
Then Hershel talked her into writing a book. “I grew up
hearing her stories and my father’s stories at the seders — about
pre-war, during-war, after-war. I encouraged her to set down these stories in
writing. She began recording them and we found an editor to pull it all
together into a book, published in 2010.”
Lola was 87 years old when the book came out. “It was the
harbinger of a whole new thing — going to schools to speak about the
Holocaust,” recalls Hershel. Lola gave these talks at Bais Yaakov schools in
Los Angeles, Miami, and Brooklyn, at Brooklyn’s Yeshiva of Flatbush, and at
Kingsborough College — the latter with its student body comprised of gentiles
and Jews.
At first Hershel recalls “she was petrified.” But then,
seeing all those young people rapt with attention hanging on her every word she
relaxed, understanding she was handing over the history of a generation,
speaking for all those murdered Jews who could not speak for themselves. She
was bearing witness.
Lola passed away on the ninth of Cheshvan, the same yahrzeit
as Mechel — on the 48th anniversary of his death. “The chances for that to
happen are one in about 350, going by the Jewish calendar,” says Hershel.
Her daughter, Manti Jacobovits, explained to me the hidden
meaning behind such an unlikely occurrence. “They say your neshama, your
soul, comes down to the world on your yahrzeit. Friday morning, my
mother was ill in the hospital, but the rest of us went to the cemetery to pray
at my father’s grave. We knew he was ‘in the neighborhood’ because his yahrzeit
was the next day. We asked him to help our mother, because she was
suffering. We left and went home to make Shabbos. Our mother died motzei
Shabbos,” Mati said, with a catch in her voice. “I think my father — her
beloved husband — decided she’d had 91 years and maybe that was enough; maybe
it was time to come home with him.”
“Her legacy,” says her oldest son, “is not only about her
Holocaust experiences, nor her talent as an accomplished artist. She was a
loving, giving, caring woman. There wasn’t a person who met her who didn’t fall
in love with her.”
She was someone “who saw that everything comes from G-d,”
her daughter-in-law, Pesi Lieber, had told me after the 2011 Yom HaShoah
presentation. She was a survivor who believed it was important to speak out
about the Holocaust “to make sure it won’t happen again,” her other
daughter-in-law, Idii Lieber, added.
In summing up her thoughts after completing the unique,
compelling, emotionally wrenching presentation that night, Lola had said:
“Cherish your parents and siblings and children. It’s terrible to lose
everybody.”
Watching the stunned, tearful men and women in the audience
file out that night, slowly processing in their minds the unspeakable horrors
spoken of by a mother and son, on that specially designated day for remembering
the murder of six million Jews, the last thing Lola Lieber said to me was,
“Let’s hope it will never happen again.”
Beth Sarafraz is a freelance published writer living in Brooklyn, New
York. Click here to read more of this writer’s work in
The Jerusalem Herald.
When
Lincoln fought for the Jews by Steven J. Kessler http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/258959
During Black History Month, we recognize the historical importance of President Abraham Lincoln as the foremost figure in the battle to abolish slavery. But even as Lincoln, whose 210th birthday we mark on Feb. 12, is widely known for his role fighting for equality, he may still be underappreciated. In fact, as a moral compass and a role model for liberty, his influence extends far beyond the specific events for which he is most well-known.
In Lincoln’s time, like today, the issue
of equality was relevant to many minority groups. While Jews had been living in
America for centuries by the time of Lincoln’s presidency, anti-Semitism was
widespread, even among the abolitionists.
While the Civil War raged in late 1862,
Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant wanted to stop the trade of Southern cotton. A number
of Jews were involved in the cotton trade, including some in black market
activity, and on Dec. 17, Grant issued a shocking order calling for the
expulsion of all Jews from a wide swath of the South.
Fortunately, the order had little impact
because of faulty army communications – and to President Lincoln. When Lincoln
heard that Grant was attempting to banish Jews, he quickly reversed the order.
“To condemn a class is, to say the
least, to wrong the good with the bad,” Lincoln said. “I do not like to hear a
class or nationality condemned on account of a few sinners.”
To Lincoln, prejudice was abhorrent, and
expelling one minority while fighting for the rights of another was
unthinkable. It’s noteworthy that Grant, who made the order banishing Jews from
the area he commanded, regretted his actions later in life. In fact, when he
served as president, Grant actively worked to promote Jewish interests in the
United States and abroad, bringing Jews into the federal government at an
unprecedented rate. Grant later indicated that he had issued the order without
fully thinking it through, but his pro-Jewish actions later in life can perhaps
be attributed in part to the moral leadership Lincoln displayed in rejecting
the order.
On a deeper level, Lincoln can also be
seen as the man who truly deserves credit for upholding the idea that “all men
are created equal.” While Thomas Jefferson first expressed the sentiment in the
Declaration of Independence in 1776, for some 90 years the principle was
selectively applied at best. But Lincoln didn’t just speak this value, he
practiced it.
In the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates of
1858, Lincoln emphasized how applying exceptions to the phrase “all men are
created equal” is a logical fallacy.
“If one man says it does not mean a negro,
why not another say it does not mean some other man? If that declaration is not
the truth, let us get the Statute book in which we find it and tear it out!” he
said.
The notion of limiting equality was, to
Lincoln, a clear rejection of the phrase’s keyword: “all.”
The message of equality that Lincoln
fought for was instrumental in abolishing slavery. But it was also a major
factor in shaping America into a country that held freedom as a value worth
fighting for.
And over the following decades, generations
of Americans absorbed the values that Lincoln championed and Grant came to
appreciate: That oppression against minorities was intolerable, regardless of
the minority.
The fight to defeat the Axis powers in
World War II is often called “The Good War” because of the atrocities committed
by the Nazis and the widespread understanding that the war was a battle for
justice. While it’s true that the America of the 1940s was far from reaching
true equality, the underlying values Lincoln stood for were embedded in the
hearts of American soldiers.
Take the story of Leon Bass, an
African-American native of Philadelphia, who served in a segregated unit during
World War II. He was conflicted about being asked to risk his life for a
country where he only held second-class status. But when Bass liberated the
Buchenwald concentration camp with the American troops, he felt compassion for
the prisoners he encountered.
“I began to realize,” Bass later said,
“that human suffering is not relegated just to me and mine. Human suffering
touches everybody.”
Meeting victims of Nazism transformed
Leon Bass from a man who was understandably conflicted about his situation to a
leader who advocated for social justice for all oppressed people. After the
war, Bass spent decades lecturing to audiences about his experiences in the war
and the importance of defeating tyranny and hatred.
When the Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust
Memorial Plaza – a new public plaza devoted to Holocaust remembrance – opened
in Philadelphia several months ago, Bass’ story was included on its Six
Pillars, which contrast themes of the Holocaust with American constitutional
protections and values.
Just one foot away from the pillar
devoted to Leon Bass and “Liberation” stands another pillar, which is inscribed
with the Declaration of Independence’s powerful statement that “all men are
created equal.” In the 1850s and 1860s, President Lincoln served as a bridge
between the Declaration and Americans who fought the Nazis in the 1940s. In the
19th century, Lincoln underscored the 18th-century Declaration’s call for
equality, giving 20th-century American soldiers the passion to fight to
liberate the oppressed.
While many Holocaust survivors may not
have heard of President Lincoln when the war ended in 1945, there is no doubt that
they benefited from the great strides he took in the cause for liberty.
Lincoln may already have his place on
Mount Rushmore, but we should also be sure to include him in the pantheon of
global leaders who persisted in the cause of freedom. Because if we embrace the
spirit of Lincoln, we can hold out hope that government of the people, by the
people, for all people, will not perish from the earth.
A
little plug for Yad LeAchim. Today they have become famous for rescuing girls
that married Arabs and cannot escape. Sometimes with their children and
sometimes just the young woman.
Yad
LeAchim gave me a backbone when I was in the Absorption Center and
anti-religious Mapam wanted to send me back to the USA "we made a mistake
with your Aliyah". I stuck it out as I knew that there were normal human
beings in Israel.
I
want to tell you that I worked with them and an extra-fund that supported more
activities (eye-glasses, summer camps so that youngsters would not be
influenced by the poor neighborhoods etc.) It was called Keren L'Ezra Yeledim.
Between
the both organizations we managed to save a girl from Shikun HaTikvah who had
two brothers that murdered her grandmother for less than $180. She could not
get a Shidduch in Israel afterwards and Rabbi Yerachmiel Kram Shlita arranged
for a Shidduch with a Chassid in Brooklyn.
Why
the summer camps. We had a girl who one year dressed like a Rebbetzin after we
helped her. She came back to Ezor Vav in Ashdod and was hanging out with
no-goodniks after the summer dressed very disgustingly for the same person. The
peer pressure had finished her.
Rabbi
Kram and Rabbi Fein Shlita drove to Sinai at the time to save a fellow who had
run away from Yeshiva with a bunch of hippies.
Do
to my employment, I left them about 35 years ago but still donate my Kaporos
gelt to them.
Video Rabbi Gold hears a good story 38 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxLGa7SnRr4
New
Israeli public opinion poll. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/258791
Report
on blockage of religious right merger false? http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/258751
Ganz
claims Netanyahu spreading lies (Hmmm also Gideon Saar said that) http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/258801
Not
only Yemenite Babies disappeared in the late 40’s in the 80’s the same thing
happened to Ethiopians. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5459106,00.html
Reform
and Conservative Movements want recognition but they are making things harder
for converts. And yes the bureaucrats at the Rabbinate do bother me. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5458400,00.html
Refuser
who beat wife with either divorce or be fired from his job. Give her a Get or
get on the unemployment line with your unemployment pay having a lean on it. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/258850
New
public opinion poll shows lack of a united right which 6 or 7 seats being lost.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/258967
From
Stephen: Ambassador Friedman and Gov. Huckabee jam session. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/258998
Deputy
Min. accused of helping Charedi female sexually who abused girls. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/259078
Two
of the three right wing parties unite: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/259095
Third
asked to ditch picture or run alone. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/259069
Inyanay Diyoma
Off
the regular channels because of the political censor: Four Arabs gang rape and
behead young woman. https://www.debka.com/first-suspect-in-assault-and-murder-of-young-israeli-woman-arrested-in-el-bireh/
Moscow
supports Hezballah ahead of Netanyahu visit. https://www.debka.com/moscow-backs-hizballah-ahead-of-netanyahu-visit-eyes-lebanons-gas/
8000
Gazans riot two Shachidim. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/258795
Trump
nominates 44 Judges six appeals courts. https://www.wnd.com/2019/02/44-trump-judicial-nominees-advance-to-full-senate/?cat_orig=politics
Report
China forces Muslims to have pork & wine. https://www.wnd.com/2019/02/china-forcing-muslims-to-eat-pork-and-drink-alcohol/?cat_orig=faith
Dems
2020 hopefuls jump to embrace 32.2 Trillion deal despite their using private
jets. Some green energy huh! https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2020-democrats-jump-to-endorse-green-new-deal-despite-spending-hundreds-of-thousands-on-air-travel-including-private-jets
NM
house approves radical abortion bill. https://www.wnd.com/2019/02/new-mexico-house-passes-most-extreme-abortion-bill-in-u-s/?cat_orig=health
From
Stephen: https://worldisraelnews.com/watch-anti-semites-burn-down-new-york-yeshiva-paint-swastikas/#disqus_thread
Bus #304
overturns in an accident dear Beit Horon 41 injured 2 fatalities. My grandson
was on bus #310 a few minutes behind that one. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5461036,00.html
Private
Miracle Alert. Lady delayed by nurse (actually with the help of HASHEM) misses
bus 304 but after the accident returns with a box of Chocolates apologizes for
her grumbling. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/258854
The
story of the smuggled nuclear technician. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5461094,00.html
Netanyahu
had this law but only implements it for election. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5461179,00.html
Down
Under antisemitism. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5461039,00.html
Parisian
antisemitism. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/258845
Will
the Likud votes be recounted? Reminds me of the time that Allen West lost his
bid for reelection in Palm Beach. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/258859
Dr.
Martin Sherman cautions on unilateral concessions. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/23429
Refuser
who beat wife with either divorce or be fired from his job. Give her a Get or
get on the unemployment line with your unemployment pay having a lean on it. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/258850
Iranians
move too close to our border. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/258912
Iranians
– Russians plan to arm Hezballah. https://www.debka.com/moscow-tehran-prepare-to-arm-hizballah-including-iranian-air-defense-missiles/
I
guess a few people woke up Nancy P. https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/02/11/apologizes-for-offensive-aipac-tweet-yet-maintains-criticism-of-lobbyists/?utm_content=news1&utm_medium=daily_email&utm_campaign=email&utm_source=internal/
Montana
receives antisemitic propaganda. https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/02/11/antisemitic-flyers-accusing-jews-of-attacking-first-amendment-found-at-university-of-montana/?utm_content=news1&utm_medium=daily_email&utm_campaign=email&utm_source=internal/
On
Iran-Hezballah, Gen. Kochavi is more pro-active. https://www.debka.com/tehrans-planned-two-border-offensive-prompts-israeli-attack-on-al-qods-hizballah-at-quneitra/
Are
Israeli Soldiers operating in Islamic Republics with permission or fiction? https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5462336,00.html
President
and Dems blast antisemitic Rep: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/258981
Despite that they send terrorist, Europe helps
Iran. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/258971
Time
for Israel to stop playing the Hamas tune by Alex Fishman. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5461667,00.html
Ben
Dror Yemeni: Occupation did not kill Ori. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5461518,00.html Since the start of
2019, 712 people have been murdered, while 2018 saw some 11,769 jihadist
killings.
The
Likud does not need Netanyahu to survive Ed-Op: https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5459817,00.html
New public opinion poll shows lack of a united
right which 6 or 7 seats being lost. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/258967
CA
abandons high-speed rail due to cost. https://ktla.com/2019/02/12/gov-newsom-abandons-plan-for-high-speed-train-from-l-a-to-san-francisco-cites-cost/?fbclid=IwAR0kE2ZKlRcUXY3y1p_lUDK5QSvONqH6O2EUvIaUN5QcakykkBgrLymYIzU
Warsaw
Conference good for the world. https://www.debka.com/at-warsaw-parley-israels-anti-iran-front-is-stretched-to-yemen-iraq/
Socialists
scare off 25,000 Jobs in NYC. https://www.foxnews.com/tech/cuomo-slams-ocasio-cortez-others-as-amazon-ditches-new-york
Charged
with murdering bomb maker who murdered US Soldiers. https://www.foxnews.com/us/green-beret-matt-golsteyn-wants-charges-in-suspected-taliban-bombmakers-death-dropped-because-of-investigators-stolen-valor
When
your enemies like what you are doing think twice. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/259095
Dr.
Martin Sherman Ed-Op on Gaza. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/23454
Saudi
“peace” initiative made clear to Israel. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/259093
New
Foreign Minister to take over next week: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/259072
VP
Pence rips certain European Allies on Iran. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/259062
This
Ben Dror Yemeni Ed-Op reflects on the failure of the Transport Minister. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5461119,00.html
Yossi
Yehoshua Ed-Op on Hezballah on the Golan. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5462852,00.html
Ed-Op
on Netanyahu grandstanding in Warsaw. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5463671,00.html
The
truth is that the Arab Leaders don’t care about the Palestinians. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5463921,00.html
Woman’s
right activist flees Iran. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5463660,00.html
Have
a wonderful Shabbos and stay well,
Rachamim
Pauli
