SHABBOS KODESH
This
Shabbos there was an article of a 70year old pensioner who discovered Shabbos.
All his life he was given a miserable salary. To support his wife and children
like a slave 7 days a week with a lot of over-time. Finally, he retired and
began to sit and relax on Shabbos until he discovered the meaning of not doing
any work on Shabbos. He had found his heaven on earth.
Parsha Lech Lecha Part 1
Last
week, we established that Avram did not participate in the Migdal in Bavel and
the Medrash says he was thrown into a furnace by Nimrod. Haran hesitated and
was burnt on a Kiddush HASHEM and his son Lot will be brought up by Avram until
he parts ways. Below we shall see that “Written Torah” is not enough to explain
everything happening in our story and “Oral Torah” has to be used to fill in
the missing data.
12:1 Now the LORD said unto Abram: 'Get thee out of thy country,
and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will
show thee. 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and
make thy name great; and be thou a blessing.
Rashi comments that a man who travels has no time to settle down
for a family and to amass wealth or make his name famous. But with G-D things
can go against the natural course of events.
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curses thee
will I curse; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.'
You and yours shall be blessed and those who curse you will fall
with their own curses.
4 So Abram went, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went
with him; and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of
Haran.
There is reason to believe that Avram was traveling previously as
we shall see below. All the cities at this time are relatively young. Remember
Avram was 48 when the nations split up by the tower. Having retained the original
language and remaining in the proximity of where the split took place trading
with familiar dried fruits and spices was his trade. Lot set out at first to
live in Sodom according to commentators. After the battle with the 4 kings vs.
the 5 kings he returned to live with Avram.
5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and
all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten
in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land
of Canaan they came.
It appears to me that both Avraham and Lot knew the trade routes
and area well. So they traveled in the direction of Canaan. Certainly, they did
not want the area of Bavel and Nimrod nor the area to the north and cold of
Europe. For after the flood, ice began forming on the mountains. The climate of
Canaan and perhaps Africa was also more to their liking.
6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Shechem,
unto the terebinth of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. 7 And the
LORD appeared unto Abram, and said: 'Unto thy seed will I give this land'; and
he built there an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.
Shechem is very centralized in Eretz Canaan (Yisrael). It is the
peak when traveling from the Syrian-African Rift on one side and one can see
the Mediterrean off in the distance on the other. It is also about half way
between northern Eretz Yisrael and Beer Sheva (the Negev).
8 And he removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of
Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Ai on the east;
and he built there an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the
LORD.
He had prophecy that Beis-El would become a religious center not
only for Yacov but for the Mishkan.
9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South. 10 And
there was a famine in the land; and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn
there; for the famine was sore in the land.
Physically he was in an area closer to Egypt via El Arish trade
route and journeyed in that direction to escape the famine in the land as he
had no wells and was more nomadic at this point. Sojourn means for a relative
short time until the famine would end.
11 And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt,
that he said unto Sarai his wife: 'Behold now, I know that thou art a fair
woman to look upon.
The Medrash states that in those days, it was not modest to
complement a woman on her looks even from her husband. But at this point,
Avraham had no choice but to tell her why she was being hidden. The reason was
that she was white and fair and the Egyptians are quite dark and her beauty
would stand out.
12 And it will come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee,
that they will say: This is his wife; and they will kill me, but thee they will
keep alive.
This barbaric practice of killing the husband and taking the wife
was not just at that time. Saddam Hussein did it to wives of his generals and
other military men.
13 Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister; that it may be well with
me for thy sake, and that my soul may live because of thee.'
It was customary for the brother to bargain for his sister.
However, when a Pharaoh who is a god or Avimelech demands then the soldiers
take her.
14 And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the
Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. 15 And the princes of
Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into
Pharaoh's house.
Avram had no word in the process as he expected and when a bunch
of armed soldiers come in the super-power kingdom of your day and take your
wife you are powerless.
16 And he dealt well with Abram for her sake; and he had sheep,
and oxen, and he-asses, and men-servants, and maid-servants, and she-asses, and
camels.
Avram did not want the neither sheep, oxen, camels and donkeys nor
the servants he was a spiritual man not a fellow with desires of wealth.
17 And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues
because of Sarai Abram's wife.
The Pshat does not specify what the plagues were. Wives of Pharaoh
and servants could not give birth with a long labor. Others were affected with
problems of the womb and organs. Now if I recall, Pharaoh had a dream that
explained the situation to him.
18 And Pharaoh called Abram, and said: 'What is this that thou
hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
When HASHEM comes to you in a dream and threatens your life and
kingdom because of Sarah you don’t fool around. You don’t harm the woman and
return her to her husband without harming anybody.
19 Why did you say: She is my sister? so that I took her to be my
wife; now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.'
Like with Avimelech, Avram explains how he was sore afraid of the
soldiers and did not want to oppose them and die. He may have mentioned that
Egypt, the center for witchcraft, astrology, idols and spirits that he felt
that there was no fear of the true G-D who created heaven and earth and all
things upon it.
20 And Pharaoh gave men charge concerning him; and they brought
him on the way, and his wife, and all that he had.
Avram, nephew and wives were escorted out of Egypt with all the
wealth and given notification go and do not return.
13:1 And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and
all that he had, and Lot with him, into the South. 2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in
gold. 3 And he went on his journeys from
the South even to Beth-el, unto the place where his tent had been at the
beginning, between Beth-el and Ai; 4 unto
the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first; and Abram called
there on the name of the LORD.
Avram had wealth now but he never ever planned to
be wealthy in the way that he had gained it. It was part of G-D’s promise at
the opening of our Sedra.
5 And Lot also, who went with
Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. 6
And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together; for
their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. 7 And there was a strife between the herdsmen of
Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle.
Oral Torah says that their dispute was traveling
in areas that appeared to have owners and Avram’s herdsmen muzzled the sheep
while Lot’s did not.
And the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in
the land. 8 And Abram said unto
Lot: 'Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my
herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we are brethren. 9 Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from
me; if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou
take the right hand, then I will go to the left.' 10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain
of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the LORD destroyed
Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as
thou go unto Zoar. 11 So Lot chose him
all the plain of the Jordan; and Lot journeyed east; and they separated
themselves the one from the other.
According to some, Sodom was on today’s Jordanian
side and he encamped there. According to the calculations of 430 years from the
Bris between the pieces it would have to have been when Avraham was 70 and Lot
had lived in and like Sodom where he was a prestigious judge.
12 Abram dwelt in the land of
Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the Plain, and moved his tent as far as
Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were
wicked and sinners against the LORD exceedingly.
THIS IS THE THING THAT BOTHERS ME THE MOST. JEWS
THAT CHOOSE TO LIVE IN RICH NEIGHBORHOODS WITH LITTLE TORAH OR CHOOSE SECULAR
EDUCATION AT THE EXPENSE OF TEACHING THEIR CHILDREN YERAS SHEMAYIM AND AHAVAS
CHESSED. Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are. Tell me
who are the close friends of your children and I will tell you what they can
become.
14 And the LORD said unto Abram,
after that Lot was separated from him: 'Lift up now thine eyes, and look from
the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and westward; 15 for all the land which thou see, to thee will I give
it, and to thy seed forever. 16 And I
will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can number the
dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. 17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and
in the breadth of it; for unto thee will I give it.' 18 And Abram moved his tent, and came and dwelt by the
terebinths of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the
LORD.
This would probably be either Alon
Moreh of today or Har Gerizim where one has a very clear view of the north,
south, east and the sea on the west.
14: 1 And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of
Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of
Goiim, 2 that they made war with Bera
king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and
Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela--the same is Zoar. 3 All these came as allies unto the vale of Siddim--the
same is the Salt Sea. 4 Twelve years they
served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5 And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer and the
kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the
Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,
Based on the commentaries that this occurred when
Avram was 70 let us calculate. The Nations were dispersed when Avram was 48. If
we add 14 years mentioned above that would make Avraham 62. We therefore have
to calculate that these little city-nation-states took 8 years to build, select
a leader-major-king and be conquered or 22 years. Sodom and their wickedness
would be destroyed 30 years hence.
6 and the Horites in their mount
Seir, unto El-paran, which is by the wilderness. 7 And they turned back, and came to En-mishpat--the
same is Kadesh--and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the
Amorites, that dwelt in Hazazon-tamar.
Amalek country would not be until after Esav
became a grandfather or four generations after Avram who was childless at this
time. The conclusion is that Amalek and Kadesh is mentioned as references in
the Chumash for the readers at the time of the Tanach. The battles that ensued
are a precursor of Gog and Magog per the Medrash.
…11 And they took all the goods of
Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. 12 And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt
in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.
The narrative of the story places these battles a
while after Avram is 75years old but this appears to be tied into the Bris between
the pieces that occurred 430 years before the Exodus or 30 years before
Yitzchak was born.
13 And there came one that had
escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew--now he dwelt by the terebinths of Mamre the
Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner; and these were confederate
with Abram.
The Medrash says this was Og (See Bamidbar and
Devarim). He had a fantasy for Sarah and wanted to send Avram into battle or to
chase after the kings and be either killed or captured so that he could get
Sara. We need another Medrash here to say that the aging process came only
after Avraham prayed that he be distinguished in his older age from Yitzchak
for after his prayer he turned aged to distinguish between them.
14 And when Abram heard that his
brother was taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house,
three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan. 15 And he divided himself against them by night, he and
his servants, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left
hand of Damascus.
There are two schools of thought. One says it was
Avraham with 318 men and another only Avraham and Eliezer. One Medrash says
that 318 blowing Shofars for attack scared the sleeping army. The story of
Rabbi Akiva has Eliyahu going to the Emperor in Rome as the Rabbis delivered
dirt instead of jewels (story in itself) and they were put in confinement. Then
the dirt as Eliyahu said turned to “arrows” and scared the Germans with a
victorious Rome. The Emperor returned as Germanicus and he removed the evil
decree on the Jews and filled up the box with more jewels than they had
originally brought and were stolen by their innkeeper.
16 And he brought back all the
goods, and also brought back his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women
also, and the people. 17 And the king of
Sodom went out to meet him, after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer
and the kings that were with him, at the vale of Shaveh--the same is the King's
Vale. 18 And Melchizedek king of Salem
brought forth bread and wine; and he was priest of God the Most High.
Salem according to the Medrash is Yerushalayim
and the king or high priest was Shem.
19 And he blessed him, and said:
'Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth; 20 and blessed be God the Most High, who hath delivered
thine enemies into thy hand.' And he gave him a tenth of all.
One tenth of all the captured and recaptured
goods went to charity.
21 And the king of Sodom said unto
Abram: 'Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.' 22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom: 'I have lifted
up my hand unto the LORD, God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth, 23 that I will not take a thread nor a shoe-latchet nor
aught that is thine, lest thou should say: I have made Abram rich;
And Avraham did not take a thread or a shoe-lace
making his action a Kiddush HASHEM.
24 save only that which the young
men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol,
and Mamre, let them take their portion.'
So only the members of the army would receive
payment for their services.
To be continued:
The
Respectable Looking Thief by Rabbi Tilles
Once a merchant from the
town of Whitfield returned from a buying trip with a wagon piled high with
merchandise. He arrived late at night and was too tired to open up his store
and unload the wagon. Instead, he un-harnessed the horses and left the wagon
outside his store, planning to unload it the next morning. After all, he
thought, "Who would steal such a large wagon?"
The next morning, the
merchant rose early and rushed to his store to unload. To his shock, the wagon
with its precious load was no longer there. He was beside himself with fear and
pain at the loss of almost all his wealth. A number of his friends joined him
in his frantic search through the town. But there was no sign of the wagon. He
realized that a thief must have seen the unattended treasure the night before,
harnessed other horses to the wagon, and stole it together with all the
merchandise.
The merchant sent a letter
with a friend to the Baal Shem Tov, advising him of his loss and requesting a
blessing that the wagon and his merchandise be returned. When the messenger
arrived in Medzibush, he found the Baal Shem Tov kissing the mezuzah of his
house, as he was leaving to attend a Brit Mila (circumcision ceremony)
in the Jewish community of Derzane.
The Baal Shem Tov took the letter from the messenger and quickly read through it. He then instructed the messenger, "Please wait here until I return." The messenger agreed and took lodging at the local inn.
The Baal Shem Tov left in his wagon for the long trip to the city of Derzane accompanied by Reb Zev his scribe and Alexei his gentile wagon driver. As they were entering the city, the Baal Shem Tov saw a wagon loaded with merchandise in the distance. He turned to his scribe and asked, "Reb Zev, do you see that loaded wagon over there pulled by two horses?"
The Baal Shem Tov took the letter from the messenger and quickly read through it. He then instructed the messenger, "Please wait here until I return." The messenger agreed and took lodging at the local inn.
The Baal Shem Tov left in his wagon for the long trip to the city of Derzane accompanied by Reb Zev his scribe and Alexei his gentile wagon driver. As they were entering the city, the Baal Shem Tov saw a wagon loaded with merchandise in the distance. He turned to his scribe and asked, "Reb Zev, do you see that loaded wagon over there pulled by two horses?"
"Yes," answered
Reb Zev.
"And do you remember
the man that spoke to me just before we left?" inquired the Baal Shem Tov.
Reb Zev nodded yes.
"That man,"
continued the Baal Shem Tov, "was sent by a merchant from Whitfield whose
wagon full of merchandise was stolen. He requested my blessing that the wagon
and the merchandise would be found and returned; it represented nearly all of
the merchant's wealth. Well, that very wagon full of merchandise is the one
that was stolen.
"When we get to town, I want you to immediately ask around and find out at which inn the supposed owner of the wagon is staying. Then, go to that inn, find the wagon owner and tell him that you know the wagon was stolen from Whitfield. Tell him to give it to you to return to the merchant. Meanwhile, I'll go to the Bris."
"When we get to town, I want you to immediately ask around and find out at which inn the supposed owner of the wagon is staying. Then, go to that inn, find the wagon owner and tell him that you know the wagon was stolen from Whitfield. Tell him to give it to you to return to the merchant. Meanwhile, I'll go to the Bris."
Immediately upon arriving
in town, Reb Zev inquired and found that the man driving the wagon was staying
at a certain inn. He went to that inn and found the man praying in his tallit
(prayer shawl) and tefillin ('Phylacteries'). Reb Zev was reluctant to
call the man a thief since he appeared innocent, as he prayed like any honest
Jewish man.
Reb Zev rushed to the Baal
Shem Tov and told him what he had seen.
The Baal Shem Tov responded
forcefully. "Return immediately and tell that thief as I instructed you.
Otherwise he will soon leave town and the wagon and merchandise will be
lost."
Reb Zev ran back to the inn
where the thief was staying. This time he found the man eating breakfast. He questioned
the man about the wagon and the merchandise. The man responded with a credible
story. When the man stepped out for a minute, Reb Zev questioned the innkeeper.
"Did that man drink a lot of whiskey like some kind of thief?"
"Oh no," answered
the inn keeper, "He just had one drink like many do after the morning
prayers."
Reb Zev left again without
directly confronting the man. He returned to the Baal Shem Tov and reported all
that had happened. He concluded with frustration in his voice, "Rebbe, you
must be mistaken. He is an upstanding Jewish merchant and can't be a
thief."
This time the Baal Shem Tov
stood up and pushed Reb Zev to the door saying, "He is not an upstanding
Jewish merchant, he is a Jewish thief. Now go and confront him and call him a thief.
Then prove your accusation with the following signs." After Reb Zev heard
the signs, he rushed back to the inn.
As soon as he entered the
inn, he walked up to the man and said that the Baal Shem Tov had sent him. He
then told him that the Baal Shem Tov knew he was a thief and had stolen the
wagon and the merchandise. Further, he offered to prove it with the signs the
Baal Shem Tov told him.
"After the wagon was stolen, you hid for three nights in the forest until the owner gave up looking. During that time, you slept in an abandoned cabin near the river. Then you stayed at two inns until you arrived here in the city of Derzene." After Reb Zev related the signs, he warned the thief, "You had better return the wagon and merchandise to the Baal Shem Tov. He'll take it back to the merchant. Otherwise, I don't even want to think about what might happen to you."
"After the wagon was stolen, you hid for three nights in the forest until the owner gave up looking. During that time, you slept in an abandoned cabin near the river. Then you stayed at two inns until you arrived here in the city of Derzene." After Reb Zev related the signs, he warned the thief, "You had better return the wagon and merchandise to the Baal Shem Tov. He'll take it back to the merchant. Otherwise, I don't even want to think about what might happen to you."
The thief was overwhelmed
by the Baal Shem Tov's knowledge. "You're right," he said, "I
confess; I stole it. Take the wagon with the merchandise."
Reb Zev asked the innkeeper
to guard the wagon and merchandise because he was going to the Bris with
the Baal Shem Tov.
When the thief heard
Reb Zev speak with the inn keeper, he thought, "Now that I'm a poor man
again, I might as well go to the Bris and eat with the other
beggars." During the meal after the Bris, the thief approached the Baal
Shem Tov and asked, "Rabbi, I have a question to ask you. Since you know
how thieves steal and where they sleep, you must be able to see better things
than this. Why do you bother to pay attention to bad things? Why don't you look
at good things instead?"
The Baal Shem Tov
answered: "That is a very profound question." He began to expound
words of Torah on this topic until the time of Mincha (the afternoon prayers)
arrived, and still he had not finished.
As soon as the
Mincha prayer was completed, the Baal Shem Tov turned to Reb Zev and said,
"We should be going. That messenger is still waiting for us to return with
the merchant's wagon and merchandise."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M. Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story in Shivchei HaBesht and translated in In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov by Ben-Amos and Mintz. Cohn also is the founder and director of //baalshemtov.com .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Freely adapted by Tzvi Meir HaCohane (Howard M. Cohn, Patent Attorney) from a story in Shivchei HaBesht and translated in In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov by Ben-Amos and Mintz. Cohn also is the founder and director of //baalshemtov.com .
Biographic note:
Rabbi Yisrael ben Eliezer [of blessed memory: 18 Elul 5458- 6 Sivan 5520 (Aug. 1698 - May 1760 C.E.)], the Baal Shem Tov ["Master of the Good Name"-often referred to as "the Besht" for short], a unique and seminal figure in Jewish history, revealed his identity as an exceptionally holy person, on his 36th birthday, 18 Elul 5494 (1734 C.E.), and made the until-then underground Chasidic movement public. He wrote no books, although many works claim to contain his teachings. One available in English is the excellent annotated translation of Tzava'at Harivash, published by Kehos.
Rabbi Yisrael ben Eliezer [of blessed memory: 18 Elul 5458- 6 Sivan 5520 (Aug. 1698 - May 1760 C.E.)], the Baal Shem Tov ["Master of the Good Name"-often referred to as "the Besht" for short], a unique and seminal figure in Jewish history, revealed his identity as an exceptionally holy person, on his 36th birthday, 18 Elul 5494 (1734 C.E.), and made the until-then underground Chasidic movement public. He wrote no books, although many works claim to contain his teachings. One available in English is the excellent annotated translation of Tzava'at Harivash, published by Kehos.
Connection: Weekly reading of Lech
Lecha - the first mention of the mitzvah of circumcision.
The Jewish Conductor of the Underground
Railroad. By Dr. Yvette Miller
August and Henrietta Bondi used their
home as a stop for fleeing slaves.
The
stirring new movie Harriet brings the incredible bravery and heroism of
Harriet Tubman to life. Born a slave in Maryland in the year 1822, she escaped
to freedom in 1849, then returned to the South 19 times to help other slaves
escape, ultimately shepherding over 300 slaves to freedom.
In 1863,
while the Civil War raged, Tubman became one of the only women in US history to
lead an armed military raid. She guided three boats full of Union soldiers
along the Combahee River in South Carolina, attacking Confederate soldiers and
freeing 750 slaves who worked in plantations along the river.
One of
the most moving scenes in the film is when Harriet is led to a top-secret
cellar where she is inducted into Underground Railroad and named a “Conductor”
who guided slaves to freedom. It’s unclear whether this moving scene is
accurate; historians disagree about just how organized the “Underground
Railroad” was. What we do know is that as far back as the 1700s, a loose
network of individuals – both Black and White – worked together to help hide
runaway slaves and guide them to safety.
Historians
estimate that 100,000 slaves escaped this way between 1800 and 1850, primarily
from border states such as Maryland, as Harriet Tubman did. In the 1830s, as
railroads crossed America, people began using the language of trains to describe
this network, calling it the Underground Railroad, labeling hiding spots
“depots” or “stops”, and dubbing people who risked their lives and freedom to
help runaway slaves “Conductors”.
August
Bondi
One
important stop on the Underground Railroad was the home of a Jewish couple,
August and Henrietta Bondi, in Greeley, Kansas. Their home became a refuge for
an unknown number of slaves, and the Bondis worked tirelessly, as Jews, to
oppose the horror of slavery.
August
Bondi was born Anshl Mendel Bondi in Vienna in 1833 into a Yiddish-speaking
family which was involved in radical politics. The family moved to St. Louis in
1848 and August worked various jobs throughout the Midwest where the treatment
of slaves shocked him. Working on a riverboat, August travelled through Texas
and later recorded his horror at the cruel outrages of American slavery:
“During my stay in Texas I gathered a great deal of information on Southern
life,” he wrote. “When in Galveston the howlings of the slaves receiving their
morning ration of cowhiding waked me at 4 o’clock….”
August
went duck hunting with a group of white ship captains and their children. When
one enslaved oarsman accidentally dropped his oar and scared the ducks away,
the teenage son of a ship captain shot the slave in the shoulder. August yelled
at the teenager, and was shocked when all the white captains turned on him,
chiding him and calling him an abolitionist for protesting this appalling
cruelty. August later recalled that whereas he’d once felt indifferent to the
plight of America’s slaves, he began to appreciate just how evil the
institution of slavery was. He began to understand that his only option as a
moral human being was to oppose it.
August
Bondi fighting in the Civil War
When
Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, allowing the residents of
Kansas to decide whether they would be a slave state or a free state once they
were admitted to the Union, August moved to the Kansas Territory to work for
the Free State Movement. It seemed that anti-slavery activists would win the
election, but on election day thousands of heavily armed pro-slavery “Border
Ruffians” poured into the territory from Missouri, seized control of polling
places and ballot boxes, and declared that the Kansas territory had elected a
pro-slavery legislature.
As
pro-slavery zealots attacked anti-slavery activists, August joined with other
anti-slavery activists in the Battle of Black Jack, on June 2, 1856.
Anti-slavery forces captured 48 “Border Ruffians” who’d been menacing and
attacking anti-slavery Kansans. (August fought alongside the notorious
anti-slavery figure John Brown, though he later declined to participate in
Brown’s most infamous adventure, the 1859 raid on an arsenal in Harper’s Ferry,
West Virginia, in order to obtain arms for anti-slavery fighters. Brown was
captured and executed for treason.)
At the
Battle of Black Jack, August fought alongside at least two other Jews: Theodore
Wiener, an immigrant from Poland, and Jacob Benjamin, from Bohemia. August
later described the battle: “We walked with bent backs, nearly crawled, that
the tall dead grass of the year before might somewhat hide us from the Border
Ruffian marksmen, yet the bullets kept whistling.” Theodore Wiener was right
behind him and August asked him in Yiddish, "Nu, was meinen Sie jetzt?
Now, what do you think of this?" In the thick of battle, Wiener respond in
Yiddish-accented Hebrew: "Sof adom mavis – the end of the man is
death."
Harriet
Tubman
All
three Jewish fighters survived the battle and August went on to work tirelessly
against slavery. He married Henrietta Einstein in 1860 and the couple moved to
Greeley, Kansas. Their home became a stop on the Underground Railroad. Runaway
slaves knew that they could find a place to shelter there, receive food and
rest for a time.
The film
Harriet can help give us a clue what their home might have been like. In
the movie, Harriet Tubman walks for days, following the directions that a
member of the Underground Railroad gave her, until she arrives at the home of a
sympathetic Quaker who lets her stay in his home and gives her food, a change
of clothes, and treats her with the dignity that every human being deserves.
When the
American Civil War broke out in 1861, August Bondi volunteered for the Union
Army. He was still fighting on January 1, 1863, when President Lincoln issued
the Emancipation Proclamation, abolishing slavery in areas controlled by Union
forces. A joyous August recorded in his diary: “No more Pharaohs and no more
slaves.”
August
continued to fight and was lightly wounded several times. In 1864, he was
seriously wounded and left for dead by Confederate soldiers. He survived, and
after the war, attended law school, eventually working as a lawyer, a farmer
and a judge in the small town of Salina, Kansas.
Though
he lived far from established Jewish communities, he always lived his life as a
proud Jew. When his daughter got married, August insisted that her wedding be
held in Leavenworth, Kansas, where there was a Jewish community and a rabbi
could officiate. August died in 1907; a rabbi travelled from Kansas City to
officiate at his funeral.
Faced
with unfettered evil, August Bondi had the moral clarity not to explain away
the horrors of slavery as so many Americans once did. Bondi was willing to risk
his life and freedom to help others. We’ll never know the exact number of
slaves he and Henrietta helped, but their shining example should continue to
inspire us today.
Story I told a while back video 2 minutes. The girl
who was saved by Shabbos. https://www.aish.com/sp/so/How-Shabbat-Saved-a-Girl-from-the-Triangle-Factory-Fire.html?s=sh1
Rabbi Chaim’s Advice
In his weekly column in the Yad Ne'eman
newspaper, Rabbi Shmuel Baruch Genut recounts the following: A Jew approached
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky Shlita and told him that a student in his
yeshiva has two older sisters who have not yet found their soulmates. He
asked Rabbi Kanievsky to bless the sisters to finally find their other
half.
Rabbi Kanievsky answered at great length, unlike the usual. He said to the questioner as follows: "Here are some tips. Take a pen and paper and write down:
A. Take upon yourself to be extremely careful of speaking or hearing gossip.
B. Don't criticize anyone.
C. Don't be particular (Makpid) on anyone. (Don’t be or judge people too strictly)
D. It is also very important that nobody is Makpid on them. So if there is a suspicion that they caused somebody pain - they should appease them, ask for forgiveness and ask them not to be Makpid.
E. They should pray for friends who are searching for a Shidduch.
This is the advice of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky Shlita for finding a match.
Rabbi Kanievsky answered at great length, unlike the usual. He said to the questioner as follows: "Here are some tips. Take a pen and paper and write down:
A. Take upon yourself to be extremely careful of speaking or hearing gossip.
B. Don't criticize anyone.
C. Don't be particular (Makpid) on anyone. (Don’t be or judge people too strictly)
D. It is also very important that nobody is Makpid on them. So if there is a suspicion that they caused somebody pain - they should appease them, ask for forgiveness and ask them not to be Makpid.
E. They should pray for friends who are searching for a Shidduch.
This is the advice of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky Shlita for finding a match.
Attempt
to deal with prostate cancer. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3772959,00.html
Amazon
Israel off to a slow start. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5621088,00.html
Hitchhiker
injured in the Shomron. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/271227
Inyanay Diyoma
The
real terrorist get off scot free. https://www.debka.com/palestinian-islamic-jihad-in-gaza-lebanese-hizballah-escape-scot-free-from-idf-retaliation/
Taliban
kicked squabbling Jews out of jail. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/270884
Annexation
bill submitted. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/271000
Iran
nears weapons grade plutonium. https://www.debka.com/iran-reactivates-fordow-uranium-enrichment-plant-nears-nuclear-weapon-capacity/
S-400
quietly deactivated. https://www.debka.com/russia-deactivates-its-s-400-batteries-at-the-khmeimim-air-base-and-all-syria/
Iraqis
protest Iranians. https://www.debka.com/mivzak/furious-iraqi-protesters-storm-iranian-consulate-in-karbala/
US
sets up new bases in NE Syria as they awoke Russian by the pull out of 40
troops that precipitated the vacuum. https://www.debka.com/__trashed-9/
Iran
could have the bomb within a year. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/271322
False
Security as they rise against us to destroy us. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/271263
ABC
hushed up the Epstein story and his friends. https://newsradiowrva.radio.com/blogs/jeff-katz/abc-anchor-bosses-squashed-epstein-story
Anyone
can make an honest mistake. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/271223
Yemeni
can’t allow calls for destruction. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5620441,00.html
Israel
can tackle threats w/o military. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5618351,00.html
Yarden
takes over enclave will compensate farmers as agreement ends.
Iranian
quake 5 dead 120 injured. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/271311
Financial
Minister proposes no holiday. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/271308
Election
and Gaza violence. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5619789,00.html
Have
a good, healthy and peaceful Shabbos,
Rachamim
Pauli
