The soul of Rachel bas Chana has
found eternal rest and no more prayers needed.
Parsha Vayehi
The first 2,255 years of
the world from Creation to the passing of the Avos is ending. According to the
Chabad time line, Yosef died in the year 2309 and that is the year Sefer
Beresheis Ends. Sefer Shemos starts with the death of all the fathers of the
Tribes in the year 2332 and after that the slavery begins
47:28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt
seventeen years; so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred
forty and seven years.
Another Vayehi and another tragedy this time Yacov's death
bed.
29 And the time drew near that Israel must die; and he
called his son Joseph, and said unto him: 'If now I have found favor in thy
sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly
with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt. 30 But when I sleep with
my fathers, thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their
burying-place.' And he said: 'I will do as thou hast said.'
Avraham had Eliezer swear by the Bris in Parsha Chayei Sara.
Yacov is doing the same here. My generation grew up on a man's word and
handshake. The world before Moshiach is different. Sotah 49B "and the
truth is absent". It is a world full of liars. BUT THE STORY OF REBBE MEIR
BAAL HANES IN LUZ shows that the truth keeps the angel of death away.
As I write about the sad story of losing Yacov a drama is
playing behind the scenes with my wife and her mother in Belinson Hospital. The
atmosphere is similar to that of tribes at this time. A good hospital and some
of the best doctors – Yosef had the best of Egypt and Israel has top notch
doctors. The drama going on with the brothers is the drama I am feeling in the
background this week.
31 And he said: 'Swear unto me.' And he swore unto him.
And Israel bowed down upon the bed's head.
Yacov was tense would he be buried next to his fathers
and would he be buried next to his beloved Leah. We also see Leah as being the
hated wife. We see this wrong. Rachel was one big infatuation from the moment
Yacov saw her to her death. Leah and Rachel he consulted with regarding Lavan.
Leah was a help mate to him in every sense of the word. He was never infatuated
by her beauty but she would lie next to him in eternity while Mama Rachel would
guard the children unto Moshiach.
48:1 And it came to pass after these
things, that one said to Joseph: 'Behold, thy father is sick.' And he took with
him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2 And one told Jacob, and
said: 'Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee.' And Israel strengthened
himself, and sat upon the bed. 3 And Jacob said unto Joseph: 'God
Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed
me, 4 and said unto me: Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and
multiply thee, and I will make of thee a company of peoples; and will give this
land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. 5 And now
thy two sons, who were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto
thee into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon,
shall be mine.
Yacov wanted only Rachel as his wife, she is the woman he
worked for. Her son deserved the inheritance of a Bechor or double portion.
Yosef splits into two tribes Ephraim and Menashe. They are considered full
tribes like each of my other children.
6 And thy issue, that thou beget after them, shall be
thine; they shall be called after the name of their brethren in their
inheritance.
If you and your wife/wives have other children, they shall be
called by their brother's names.
7 And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died
unto me in the land of Canaan in the way, when there was still some way to come
unto Ephrath; and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath--the same is
Bethlehem.' 8 And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said: 'Who are
these?' 9 And Joseph said unto his father: 'They are my sons, whom
God hath given me here.' And he said: 'Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I
will bless them.' 10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that
he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and
embraced them.
Similar to Yitzchak working out in the sun for years affected
his eyes besides the age both seem to have developed cataracts.
11 And Israel said unto Joseph: 'I had not thought to
see thy face; and, lo, God hath let me see thy seed also.' 12 And
Joseph brought them out from between his knees; and he fell down on his face to
the earth. 13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand
toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right
hand, and brought them near unto him. 14 And Israel stretched out his
right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left
hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the
first-born. 15 And he blessed Joseph, and said: 'The God before whom
my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who hath been my shepherd all my
life long unto this day, 16 the angel who hath redeemed me from all
evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named in them, and the name of my
fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of
the earth.' 17 And when Joseph saw that his father was laying his
right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he held up his
father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's
head. 18 And Joseph said unto his father: 'Not so, my father, for
this is the first-born; put thy right hand upon his head.'
Yosef wanted his elder son blessed first by his father.
19 And his father refused, and said: 'I know it, my son,
I know it; he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; howbeit
his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a
multitude of nations.'
Yisrael purposely put Ephraim before Menashe.
20 And he blessed them that day, saying: 'By thee shall
Israel bless, saying: God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh.' And he set
Ephraim before Manasseh.
We shall see this with Yoshua and the tribe leading the 10
tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Yisrael.
21 And Israel said unto Joseph: 'Behold, I die; but God
will be with you, and bring you back unto the land of your
fathers. 22 Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy
brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my
bow.'
When I fought in Schem at the age of 97, I still had
strength to fight battles but after 50 more years, I can barely hold up myself
on my bed.
49:1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: 'Gather
yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the end
of days. 2 Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and
hearken unto Israel your father. 3 Reuben, thou art my first-born, my
might, and the first-fruits of my strength; the excellency of dignity, and the
excellency of power. 4 Unstable as water, have not thou the
excellency; because thou went up to thy father's bed; then defiled thou it--he
went up to my couch.
You might have been jealous for your mother to move my
couch from a different tent to hers but you had no right to do so. With going
down unto Egypt the second time for food you foolishly would have given up two
sons. You are unstable like water seeking its own level.
5 Simeon and Levi are
brethren; weapons of violence their kinship. 6 Let my soul not come
into their council; unto their assembly let my glory not be united; for in
their anger they slew men, and in their self-will they houghed
oxen. 7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath,
for it was cruel; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
Their anger was crushed. Shimon got swallowed up by
Yehuda and Levi was scattered in 24 cities.
8 Judah, thee shall thy
brethren praise; thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; thy father's
sons shall bow down before thee. 9 Judah is a lion's whelp; from the
prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as a
lioness; who shall rouse him up? 10 The sceptre shall not depart from
Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, as long as men come to
Shiloh; and unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.
From Yehuda will come the king and Moshiach.
11 Binding his foal unto the
vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washes his garments in wine,
and his vesture in the blood of grapes; 12 His eyes shall be red with
wine, and his teeth white with milk.
His land will be good for cattle and vineyards.
13 Zebulun shall dwell at the
shore of the sea, and he shall be a shore for ships, and his flank shall be upon
Zidon.
He shall grow and expand even further north and trade
by sea.
14 Issachar is a large-boned
ass, couching down between the sheep-folds. 15 For he saw a
resting-place that it was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and he bowed
his shoulder to bear, and became a servant under task-work.
His work is learning and preserving Torah.
16 Dan shall judge his people,
as one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan shall be a serpent in the way,
a horned snake in the path, that bites the horse's heels, so that his rider
falls backward. 18 I wait for Thy salvation, O LORD.
Shimshon the Judge came from Dan.
19 Gad, a troop shall troop
upon him; but he shall troop upon their heel.
The translation is correct but it is a play on words
with the name Gad.
20 As for Asher, his bread
shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. 21 Naphtali is a hind let
loose: he giveth goodly words. 22 Joseph is a fruitful vine, a
fruitful vine by a fountain; its branches run over the wall. 23 The
archers have dealt bitterly with him, and shot at him, and hated
him; 24 But his bow abode firm, and the arms of his hands were made
supple, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, from thence, from the
Shepherd, the Stone of Israel,
This is a hint on the story of the wife of Potiphar
where a young man gave his Yetzer over to the All Mighty as he remembered the
teachings of his father.
25 Even by the God of thy
father, who shall help thee, and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee, with
blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that couches beneath,
blessings of the breasts, and of the womb. 26 The blessings of thy
father are mighty beyond the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound
of the everlasting hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown
of the head of the prince among his brethren. 27 Benjamin is a wolf
that ravens; in the morning he devours the prey, and at even he divides the
spoil.' 28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is it
that their father spoke unto them and blessed them; every one according to his
blessing he blessed them. 29 And he charged them, and said unto them:
'I am to be gathered unto my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that
is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 in the cave that is in the
field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham
bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a
burying-place. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there
they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried
Leah. 32 The field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased
from the children of Heth.' 33 And when Jacob made an end of charging
his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and expired, and was gathered
unto his people.
This week my mother-in-law called for her father and my
wife said 'I am by your side' and the old lady replied 'let me go". Yacov finished
his blessings and was ready to be gathered unto his people.
50:1 And Joseph fell upon his father's
face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his
servants the physicians to embalm his father. And the physicians embalmed
Israel. 3 And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled
the days of embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him threescore and ten
days. 4 And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke
unto the house of Pharaoh, saying: 'If now I have found favor in your eyes,
speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying: 5 My father made
me swear, saying: Lo, I die; in my grave which I have dug for me in the land of
Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and
bury my father, and I will come back.' 6 And Pharaoh said: 'Go up,
and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.' 7 And Joseph
went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh,
the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of
Egypt, 8 and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his
father's house; only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they
left in the land of Goshen. 9 And there went up with him both
chariots and horsemen; and it was a very great company.
The honor guard served two purposes, to make sure the
mourners were safe and to make sure that Yosef would return to Pharaoh.
It is a matter of honoring a person but also being careful
with that person.
10 And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which
is beyond the Jordan, and there they wailed with a very great and sore wailing;
and he made a mourning for his father seven days. 11 And when the
inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad,
they said: 'This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians.' Wherefore the name
of it was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
The mourning began outside of the land of idolatry in
the land that would become Eretz Yisrael in the future.
12 And his sons did unto him according as he commanded
them. 13 For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried
him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field,
for a possession of a burying-place, of Ephron the Hittite, in front of
Mamre. 14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and
all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his
father. 15 And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead,
they said: 'It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully requite us all
the evil which we did unto him.' 16 And they sent a message unto
Joseph, saying: 'Thy father did command before he died, saying: 17 So
shall ye say unto Joseph: Forgive, I pray thee now, the transgression of thy
brethren, and their sin, for that they did unto thee evil. And now, we pray
thee, forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of thy father.' And
Joseph wept when they spoke unto him.
Yosef just lost his beloved father and his brothers did
not know him well enough to trust him.
18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his
face; and they said: 'Behold, we are thy bondmen.' 19 And Joseph said
unto them: 'Fear not; for am I in the place of God? 20 And as for
you, ye meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as
it is this day, to save much people alive. 21 Now therefore fear ye
not; I will sustain you, and your little ones.' And he comforted them, and
spoke kindly unto them.
You unwittingly did HASHEM's will.
22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's
house; and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years. 23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's
children of the third generation; the children also of Machir the son of
Manasseh were born upon Joseph's knees.
He had the pleasure of being a great grandfather in his
old age.
24 And Joseph said unto his brethren: 'I die; but God
will surely remember you, and bring you up out of this land unto the land which
He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.' 25 And Joseph took an
oath of the children of Israel, saying: 'God will surely remember you, and ye
shall carry up my bones from hence.'
It would be Moshe using the DIVINE NAME to find the bones
and keep the oath.
26 So
Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old. And they embalmed him, and he
was put in a coffin in Egypt.
He was buried in Mitzrayim as a V.I.P. but to keep his
body there, a river was diverted over the coffin and burial chamber.
Chazak – Chazak v’ nit
Chazak
Short film subtitles how Artist and Writer aka the
Rey Family escaped the Nazis and the French Fifi became the American Curious
George. https://www.aish.com/jw/s/Curious-Georges-Daring-Escape-from-the-Nazis.html?s=shl
Pope Leo X and the printing of the Talmud in 1519. https://www.aish.com/jw/s/The-Pope-who-Printed-the-Talmud.html?s=hp2
From the One in a Million Mako 12 TV Series by Nes-Li
Do I have it in me to be a pilot
There are
dozens of Charedi Soldiers in the IDF. Some are sort of modern Charedim like
myself that don't wear the hat and suit. Others like my son and the pilot in
our story look perhaps so Charedi that nobody could believe they served on a
front line position.
Our story
begins in Haifa. Nadav Ephrat is in his upper High School years. On weekends –
generally synonymous with Friday afternoons and Saturdays he is learning to fly
a piper aircraft from IAF pilot Aaron Sagi in his spare time. Nadav loves the
idea of flying and dreams of becoming a pilot but he is a Sephardic boy and
most pilots in the IAF are Ashkenazim. One day Aaron gets an assignment to a
Phantom Base a good distance from Haifa. He bids farewell to his students.
Nadav asks him do you think I have what it takes to be an IAF Pilot. Aaron
tells him that he should try his luck. They part ways.
Nadav
graduates High School and asks to be an IAF pilot. He passes the first test and
with close to 500 other soldiers goes through the first part of the training
course. He then goes into the next stage the pilot survival course where there
are about 100 soldiers. If he passes this, then he goes on to the third stage
which is advanced survival and flight school. Some of the cadets will be
trained in flying refueling planes, transport planes, troop planes, others in
helicopters and a few will go on to become fighter pilots or navigators. Despite
the difficult nature of the course, Nadav thinks about Aaron's words and
continues onwards in his training and learning.
Nadav is
chosen to be a helicopter pilot. Helicopter pilots can be support helicopters
for battle, troop carriers or rescue helicopters.
On Oct. 6
1973, the Yom Kippur War breaks out. Most of the Skyhawk planes are
knocked out by surface to air missiles among them is the pilot who will become
a Baal Teshuva, Noach Hertz who loses a leg. I wrote about his story and
captivity a number of years ago and perhaps worth repeating for a few hundred
readers that I did not have back then.
Most of the
Phantom Planes survive as their motors contain Tungsten that is strong enough
to resist the Surface to Air Missile Blast. However, Aaron Sagi is not that
lucky. His plane takes a direct hit. He manages to parachute to safety behind
enemy lines. It is a matter of time before he is swept up and captured,
tortured like Noach Hertz was.
Aaron can't
seem to find his radio signal devise that acts like a GPS homing signal.
Fate is
about to take a Mida Kneged Mida (measure for measure) turn. Out of all the
pilots in the Helicopter Rescue, Aaron's former student Nadav is sent to rescue
him. Nadav has no night vision googles like the Syrians. He must rely on the
approximate area where Aaron went down. He circles a few times but there is no
signal. Nadav too is in danger of being hit by the Syrians. He makes one last
try. Aaron hears the helicopter but he is far away. Somehow, Aaron finds and
deploys the radio signal that is caught at the very time that Nadav was about
to give up.
Nadav
rescues Aaron and transports him to a hospital for a check-up teacher and
student are temporarily united. Nadav recognizes the miracle of Mida Kneged
Mida and how Aaron helped him in is effort to become a pilot. Nadav becomes
Charedi as does Noach Hertz. Others like Aaron are not moved to become
religious.
How a Jewish Mother smashed the glass ceiling at a prestigious
Wall Street Law Firm by Faygie Holt
When one thinks of a high-powered, Wall Street attorney, they
are not likely to picture Lydia Kess. Yet 50 years ago, Kess, an Orthodox
Jewish mother from Brooklyn, N.Y., shattered gender and religious stereotypes,
smashing the glass ceiling for women along the way by becoming the first female
and first Orthodox partner at the major Manhattan law firm Davis Polk &
Wardwell. All of which she did without compromising on her Jewish values.
“I was always driven to succeed,” Lydia says in an exclusive
Aish.com interview. “I wasn’t pushing hard for the gleam of dollars dancing in
my head. I was pushing hard for professional success the same way I did when I
played basketball or volleyball as a girl; I wanted to win the game.”
Born in 1935, Lydia Esrog grew up in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Her
mother, Marion, was a schoolteacher and her father, Shimshon, would sit and
learn Torah. Lydia, who admits she was quite the tomboy growing up and always
corralling other girls to play sports, was smart beyond her years. She
repeatedly skipped grades in elementary school, graduating from what was then
Pace College with a degree in accounting when she was just 18.
As a student, Lydia began to challenge the male hierarchy,
though she didn’t do so with a bullhorn or a platform. She did so by just going
about her daily life. One of only three girls in her college class, she chose
not to eat in the designated “women’s cafeteria.” Instead, she simply sat down
in the regular dining hall one day and that was that. "After that, they
closed up the women’s cafeteria,” she recalls. “I didn’t have to do anything
else, I just sat down.”
She also graduated at the top of her class, besting all her male
counterparts.
But while she may have had a head start on life, she didn’t have
a head’s up on her classmates when it came to finding a job, despite her class
ranking. “I went to Pace College on a full scholarship at a time when it was
the premier school for accounting. No one in my class had trouble getting a
job.” No one, but Lydia herself.
“One firm offered me an office job, but I wanted to work in
auditing. Finally, Price Waterhouse had a small-business department, which was
out of the mainstream of their usual activities, and they offered me a job.
I’ll never forget my first day on the job. My co-worker, Richard Armstrong, was
the first person to greet me and he said, ‘Lydia, we’ve been saving all the
lousy jobs for you.’ It was 1954, not 2021, there was no point in answering back
because it was the reality and he was just saying aloud what others thought. “I
was lucky I even had a job.”
Not content to sit still, Lydia was driven to dream bigger and
take on new academic challenges. Though employees at the firm in those days were
not allowed to go to night school – it was grounds for dismal – Lydia secretly
enrolled in Brooklyn Law School in 1956.
A year later, at the age of 22, Lydia became a certified public
accountant and got married. Despite the CPA designation, Lydia’s career
aspirations took a back seat to motherhood as she gave birth to three girls in
three years. Her only son was born quite a few years later.
It was during this time that Lydia’s thirst for more knowledge
dovetailed with her return to her Jewish roots. She was pushing her two very
young children in a carriage down a busy street in Brooklyn when she saw a sign
in a store window announcing Rosh Hashanah services. It had been years since
she’d celebrated the Jewish New Year, but there was something about that sign
that called out to her.
“I had dropped out of Jewish observance,” she readily admits.
“It was a slow process that started in high school and accelerated in college
and in post-graduate school. I hadn’t been thinking about and wasn’t focused on
celebrating Rosh Hashanah in any way, shape or form. But there was the sign, so
I signed up to attend and hoped my kids would stay quiet during services. It
was one of the miracles of my life.
“I wasn’t looking for something to occupy my time. I was busy
all day with the children and I was going to law school at night. But I was
seeking an inspiring structure to inform my life; to know what it’s really all
about.”
After attending the High Holiday services, she began going to
the Young Israel of Prospect Park for Shabbat services. She credits Rabbi Naftali, zt’l, and Rebbitzen Aviva Langsam,
the congregation’s leaders, with
being very welcoming and letting her and her children into their home. “They
held my hand as I made progress, religiously, slowly but continually.” The two
families remain friends to this day.
Lydia finished Brooklyn Law School’s night program in 1962, and
at that point she was fully Shabbat observant. “I knew that would an issue with
respect to finding employment, but it turned out it wasn’t as significant as
the fact that I had three children. That blew the minds of people who were
interviewing me,” she recalls, adding that at that time, “there were few, if
any, Shabbat-observant men working at Wall Street law firms. It was the epitome
of waspy America and the fact that I was a night-school graduate from Brooklyn
Law was not helpful.”
Though she had few, or no, prospects, Lydia was determined to
find a job with only the best of the best firms. She sent out letter after
letter, but no one answered. “So I took my resume and went up and down the
elevators at all the major office buildings with law firms, they were all
located in the same area, and I would go in and ask for an interview.”
Lydia
became an attorney with one of the best Wall Street law firms in New York City,
stepping into the epitome of the upper-class American, male-dominated corporate
world.
When she entered the offices of Davis Polk & Wardwell, the
receptionist thought she was looking for an office job. Eventually, she was directed
to someone who could interview her as a lawyer. She underwent two days of
interviewing, because as she says with a chuckle, “I was an oddball.” Her
gamble paid off and after months of searching in January 1964, Lydia became an
attorney with one of the best Wall Street law firms in New York City, stepping
into the epitome of the upper-class American, male-dominated corporate world.
Her work ethic shined through. Lydia never complained about her
workload. She would schedule her vacation days around the Jewish holidays. As
for being out for Shabbat, “there was no precedent for that. I was very
fortunate that the partners at Davis Polk were devoutly Protestant and very
active in their churches, so they respected religion. As long as you delivered
the work product on a timely basis, that was all they expected. When there were
meetings on Friday afternoon or Shabbat, I would have to find someone to
substitute for me. It’s a great credit to the people that I worked with that
they would step in and cover for me.
“The incident which stands out most vividly in my mind was
during the great merger acquisition craze of the 1980s. We had to give an
opinion on a deal. Billions of dollars were at stake and the whole department
had to agree to the conclusion because so much was riding on it. It was a
transatlantic sale, and we had to give our response by the opening of work on
Monday, London time.” That meant they would need to meet on Saturday, but it
was the middle of July and Shabbat didn’t end until well after 9pm.
To accommodate Lydia, all of the tax partners came into the
office very late that Saturday night. “They didn’t come with a grouchy,
antagonistic attitude,” Lydia says. “They took it all in stride and we stayed
there until 4 in the morning.”
As an observant Jew, she was determined to never use religion as
an excuse, and even went so far as to go into the office on days her colleagues
were home celebrating their holidays. “You shouldn’t take their holidays and
your holidays. That’s not the way to proceed.” As she counsels young observant
women who are going into corporate America, “You have to be beyond reproach.”
If
God doesn’t give you the physical and mental strength there is nothing to feel
guilty about, you just have to find a different way to express your talents and
abilities.
She also got by with very little sleep and warns women in her
community who are pursuing a high-pressure job that they will need to be “sharp
on very few hours of sleep. You can’t make mistakes. You can’t take shortcuts.
If God doesn’t give you the physical and mental strength there is nothing to
feel guilty about, you just have to find a different way to express your
talents and abilities.”
Lydia had to overcome challenges professionally as a woman in
what was then truly a man’s world. For instance, when she became pregnant with
her son, she tried to hide it because the culture was still one where women
primarily didn’t work after having a child. After collapsing in an office
elevator one afternoon, Lydia was forced to come clean with her colleagues at
Davis Polk. Then she asked for the moon – paid maternity leave – and got it,
becoming the first woman at the firm to do so, thus changing the trajectory for
many other women.
“I wasn’t anxious to be a trailblazer, I just wanted to get a
job and be promoted.” And promoted she was, all the way to becoming partner in
1971. It was a position no other woman had ever occupied at Davis Polk &
Wardwell or for the most part at any Wall Street law firm.
But just because her name was on the letterhead at the firm, the
only woman among a list of the 23 male partners and another nine counsels at
the time, doesn’t mean it was all smooth sailing. She had been planning to
attend the firm’s black-tie dinner after being made partner and had even bought
a gown to wear to the event.
“The dinner was at the Yale Club and women were not allowed past
the front desk,” she recalls. “The managing partner called me into his office
and said, ‘I’m sorry but you can’t come this year, but this is the last time it
will happen.’”
She also had to circumvent entry rules at a posh Park Avenue
private club to attend a board meeting at Pace University that was being held
there instead of the university where most meetings were held. Despite being a
member of the Board of Trustees, Lydia was not allowed to ride in the “regular
elevator.”
“I had to take the freight elevator up, but on the way down, I
just got in with everyone else. This was all very normal throughout the 1970s.”
Barnard College clearly recognized the trailblazer that Lydia
was, referring to her in an internal memo in November 1971 as “the top woman
lawyer at Davis, Polk & Wardell.” Just a few weeks later, they invited
Lydia to a meeting of the Barnard Lawyers’ Committee, made up of mostly Barnard
alumni who were working as lawyers, and decided as a “public service” to take
on “selected cases of job discrimination.”
In the 1978 Esquire article titled “Queen of
the WASPS,” the author wrote that corporate firm Morgan Stanley relies on a
42-year-old partner at Davis Polk for tax advice before making
multimillion-dollar decisions. “There’s nothing terribly unusual about that.
The Morgan/Davis Polk relationship is just another of the marriages of great
male-WASP institutions that have been part of the culture of American high
finance since the turn of the century. Except that the lawyer whose tax advice
the people at Morgan are addicted to is a far cry from the pinstriped WASPs who
fill the offices… She’s Lydia Kess an Orthodox Jew and mother of three who takes
the subway in from Brooklyn every morning.”
She was, the article said, “widely considered to be one of the
two or three of the best corporate tax lawyers in New York and is treated that
way.”
On the home front, Lydia’s marriage ended in divorce and she and
her children moved to Boro Park, Brooklyn. She remarried in 1983 in a match
that Lydia says was “truly made in heaven.”
“On paper it was the most bizarre combination – a high-powered
Wall Street attorney and someone who was sitting and learning Torah all day,
who had survived the Auschwitz death camp during the Holocaust.” In reality,
though, it was “absolute joy and fulfillment.” Lydia and Rabbi Sholom Alter
Mark were married for 33 years until his passing in March of 2016. She loved
that her income allowed her husband to devote himself to Jewish learning and
outreach, learning with college students and young Russian emigres.
She is also determined to give back. She has served on numerous
boards including as the first woman member of the Board of Trustees at Columbia
Presbyterian Hospital and her alma mater, Pace University, where she also
endowed a scholarship for students in financial need.
Lydia, who goes by her English name professionally and uses her
Jewish name “Leah,” for most things now, finally retired in 2002. She has 13
grandchildren and a number of young great-grandchildren and loves spending time
with all of them. Looking back on her life, Lydia says that without a doubt,
God was helping to drive the events of her life.
“God is not my partner; He’s my propulsion engine into all these
things. He opened the door and raised me up.”
Milestone: Henry Orenstein, 98, transformer toys. https://www.timesofisrael.com/holocaust-survivor-henry-orenstein-transformers-toys-inventor-dies-aged-98/
Milestone: Rabbi Gideon Perl, 81 Alon Shvut. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318646
Inyanay Diyoma
Trump "I did more for Israel. Israel would have been destroyed
by now and the first thing Bibi does is congratulate Biden before anybody
else." https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318418
Posthumous Medal of Honor to brave Jewish Army Ranger. https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/12/09/jewish-army-ranger-killed-in-afghanistan-to-receive-posthumous-medal-of-honor-for-heroic-2018-rescue/
Holland, Mosques replacing Catholic Churches. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318289
After knife attack, Jewish youths stone Arab Cars. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318422
Maine discriminates against Orthodox Jews. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318420
Latest Nuclear talks over within an hour. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318390
Israeli Conservative runs of NV Attn. Gen. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318419
Federal Appeals Court rejects Trump Exec. Privilege. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318410
Brawl in Turkish Parliament. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318411
Biden wanted to divide Yerushalayim. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318405
Guilty of a fake MAGA attack. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318398
Left - Netanyahu's reign is over. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318401
53 dead in truck overturning in Mexico. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318408
New Zeeland eventually will ban cigarettes. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318399
Russia to return Greek Jewish Achieves. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318379
Restrictions on air travel to continue 10 more days. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318385
Israeli Biotech gets a huge grant. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3924482,00.html
5 step plan to end lone wolf terror
attacks. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bkf00bl15f
Iran is playing poker with a bad
hand. https://www.timesofisrael.com/gantz-meets-us-defense-chief-warns-of-irans-hegemonic-aspirations/
If talks fail, the US has other
plans. https://www.timesofisrael.com/biden-orders-to-prepare-additional-measures-in-case-iran-nuclear-diplomacy-fails/
Bennett considered lockdown of
non-vaccinated. https://www.timesofisrael.com/pm-sought-lockdown-flight-ban-for-unvaccinated-health-minister-opposed-reports/
84 dead in KY tornadoes. https://www.timesofisrael.com/at-least-50-feared-dead-in-kentucky-tornadoes-as-deadly-storms-rip-across-us/
Italy ignored warning before 1982
Rome Synagogue attack. https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-documents-show-italy-ignored-warnings-of-1982-terror-attack-on-rome-synagogue/
Ganz - Iran seeks to destroy Israel, I won't allow
it. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318445
Chile's right wing Presidential
Candidate likely son of Nazi. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318455
Bill to prevent Islamophobia passes
first hurdle. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318454
SUNY Buffalo hit by antisemitic
posters. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318446
Ganz to meet Abu Abbas again. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318374
2 stabbed in Druze sector. https://www.timesofisrael.com/2-men-stabbed-seriously-injured-in-northern-town-of-maghar/
Armed Arab infiltrators cocked
weapons at IDF soldiers and not stopped. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318429
Iran may have hacked IAEA Cameras.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318452
Omicron cases rise to 35. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318435
Deaf MK gives birth to baby girl. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318425
Israel fails to draw US action on
Iran. Grrr Blinkidy Blink. https://www.debka.com/israel-fails-in-its-bid-to-draw-us-backing-for-direct-action-against-a-nuclear-armed-iran/ NOTE
ROBERT MALLEY is a follower of George Tsoros.
Migrating Crane Birds opt to stay in
Israel. https://www.ynetnews.com/environment/article/sjzxblsff#autoplay
From IDF to LA Producer. https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/h1t9ultut
Explosions in Lebanon Hamas Mosque
in Refugee Camp kills 12. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sj4g3a119t
Unruly passenger causes unscheduled stop.
https://www.aol.com/news/delta-flight-diverted-passenger-assaults-063314542.html
Cable Nazi Network and their PLO
bias. https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/12/09/cnn-downplays-wave-of-palestinian-terrorism-with-bizarre-comparison-to-attacks-by-jewish-settlers/
Bennett visits the UAE. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318491
Bennett's misinformation or fib. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/flashes/560704
TX man & girlfriend arrested
attempting to blow-up, blind and kill Chabad leaders. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318496
Israeli takes gold in para taekwondo
Olympics. https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-who-lost-both-hands-aged-13-takes-gold-at-world-para-taekwondo-championships/
No egalitarian plaza for Kotel. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sjew2rq9f
5 hurt in crash in Woodmere LI. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318488
Aliyah grows from western countries.
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/syevi775y
Out dated meat and fish found in
warehouse. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/flashes/560702
2 Bedouins tried to shoot
17year-old. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/flashes/560697
3500 reservists called up in drill in Southern
Israel. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318459
3rd
time this semester Mt. Holyoke College has antisemitic attack. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318450
Palestinian
Text Books encourage violence. https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/12/10/palestinian-authority-textbooks-encouraging-violence-found-on-teenage-girl-arrested-in-jerusalem-stabbing/
Melbourne
antisemitism. https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/12/10/no-let-up-to-epidemic-of-antisemitism-in-australian-city-of-melbourne/
Bennett's visit to the UAE. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318523
Terrorist eliminated in Shechem. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318520
Glick – Israel stands alone. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318507
On the world stage there is an
intermarriage crisis but even among the Orthodox the Covid 19 has brought about
a Shidduch Crises. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318432
Charedim stop missionaries from
getting tax exempt status. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318508
Mossad commander that save top Hamas
leader. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318438
Ms. India becomes Ms. Universe. https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-beauty-on-full-display-as-india-takes-the-crown-at-miss-universe-in-eilat/
Mida kneged Mida. Netanyahu pulled
security from former Defense Minister now gets a taste of his own medicine. https://www.timesofisrael.com/ministerial-committee-pulls-security-chauffeurs-from-netanyahus-family/
Liberman says people in tourism
should find a new line of work. https://www.timesofisrael.com/liberman-says-tourism-workers-should-find-a-new-job-amid-ongoing-travel-restrictions/
Deadly clashes break out in refugee
camp. https://www.timesofisrael.com/deadly-clashes-break-out-during-funeral-for-hamas-member-in-lebanon-refugee-camp/
2nd Synagogue found in
Migdal during Temple Period. https://www.timesofisrael.com/second-ancient-synagogue-found-in-migdal-alters-ideas-of-jewish-life-2000-years-ago/
Chris Wallace leaves Fox after
18years. https://www.timesofisrael.com/fox-news-anchor-chris-wallace-leaving-network-after-18-years-for-cnn/
Is Israel fighting the last war with
Iran? https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sj6ype2fy
Israeli start-up eliminates risk of
AI. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3924649,00.html
Israel starting to ban travel to
European Countries. https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/h14cqjm5f
Omicron cases in Israel rise. https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/sydzq0x9f
Omicron is here. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sjvgqhmqk
First death from Omicron in UK. https://www.aol.com/news/britain-says-omicron-spreading-phenomenal-072142584-144629957.html
Refueling
planes only in 4 to 5 years. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318546
The
Iranian Missile Program may be able to take a nuke 2000km. https://www.debka.com/tehran-prepares-to-launch-space-satellite-maybe-can-mount-effective-warhead-on-a-2000-km-range-icbm/
Mayor
may have had a hand in cold murder case. https://www.timesofisrael.com/beitar-illit-mayor-named-as-suspect-detained-then-released-over-cold-case-murder/
Israel
bombed Syrian Chemical Weapons Plant. https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-jets-bombed-chemical-weapon-sites-in-syria-report/\
Netanyahu caught Trump off guard. https://www.timesofisrael.com/what-the-hell-was-that-netanyahu-annexation-announcement-caught-trump-off-guard/
Tel Aviv U. Microconidia Research
about ALS. https://www.timesofisrael.com/tel-aviv-university-breakthrough-touted-as-key-to-reversing-als/
Atomic Chief we are dealing with a
different Iran. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318666
Police Min. blames sector PM tells
him off. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318658
Beer Sheva Bedouin wave toy guns
cause panic. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318664
Parker probe touches Sun's Corona. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318662
Hamas says Israel deterred from war.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318659
Because of Chinese Technology 5G –
UAE may not get F-35. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318645
Antisemite of the year competition. The competition's first vote ran until December
5, and a day later, the group announced the three finalists picked by the users
— Ben & Jerry’s board of directors chair Anuradha Mittal, British pop star
Dua Lipa, and U.S. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bjpjdk85t
I personally know of 4
or 5 Democratic Congresswomen whom I would name.
Evangelicals warn Trump over Israel.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/dont-make-us-choose-between-you-and-israel-evangelical-warns-trump-over-bibi-rift/
Elbit unveils AI assault Rifle. https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/sjni111l9t
Earthquake in Indonesia. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318626
Ganz violates quarantine. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318601
Antivaxxers threaten Rabbi &
Family. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318614
USAF discharges 27 servicemen. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318603
Pfizer Vax prevents 70%
hospitalizations. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318624
Bennett & Company in quarantine
after flight. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318622
The fastest modern conversion in
history done by the Chief Rabbi. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318589
Syria reports that Hezballah
supplies attacked. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318712
HASHEM YERACHEM 4 children die in
bouncing castle. https://www.mymcmurray.com/2021/12/16/4-children-die-in-bouncy-castle-accident-in-australia/
Abbas has proof that Likud offered
partnership. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318718
I am disgusted the opposition forcing a deaf woman
6 days after birth to come with infant to the Knesset. https://www.timesofisrael.com/mk-comes-to-knesset-with-newborn-after-opposition-refuses-to-offset-vote/
Israel to supply 1,000,000 vaccines
to Africa. https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/sy511spdct
Pandemic sheds light on how bad the
education system is. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/syhwg4wqk
First 11months of 2021 Israeli
Start-ups raise $25.1Billion. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3924868,00.html
Mayor Elect Eric Adams in gesture to
Jews ingurgitation Motzei Shabbos. https://www.timesofisrael.com/mayor-elect-of-new-york-city-eric-adams-moves-inauguration-to-after-shabbat/
Suspected car stopped with
archeological artifacts. https://www.timesofisrael.com/stopping-a-suspect-car-police-find-ancient-items-bar-kochba-rebels-took-from-romans/
Crypto-money laundering. https://www.timesofisrael.com/celsius-suspends-official-under-probe-2nd-staffer-founded-firm-with-money-launderer/
In this year, housing prices surged
10%. https://www.timesofisrael.com/housing-prices-surged-over-10-in-past-year-the-biggest-spike-in-a-decade/
AIPAC and Israel hold off US
Consulate. https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-freezes-bid-to-reopen-jerusalem-consulate-amid-strong-pushback-from-israel/
Nazis used Prep Schools to
propagandize. https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-nazi-germany-used-student-exchanges-with-us-prep-schools-to-promote-propaganda/
200 Jewish Orgs. Ask Biden to help
Uyghurs. https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/12/15/over-200-jewish-organizations-rabbis-ask-biden-to-act-now-against-chinese-persecution-of-uyghurs/
Blind Woman regains sight with
artificial cornea. https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/12/15/blind-woman-regains-eyesight-at-israeli-hospital-using-artificial-cornea-carved-from-her-shin-bone/
New simulators to help recruits. https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-turns-to-training-simulators-in-quest-to-level-up-new-recruits/
Iranian hackers exploit coding flaw.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/iranian-hackers-targeting-israel-using-ultra-exploitable-coding-flaw-experts/
Israel updates 'red' countries and
US and Canada in the pipeline. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318711
French Consulate refuses to register
couples married in Yehuda and Shomron. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318716
Arabs uproot Israeli Olives. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318692
IDF estimates enough time to prevent
Iranian Nuclear Bomb. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318684
Terrorist came by sea to stab and
hide in Mosque. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318654
Netanyahu refused IDF budget request
on Iran for 2years. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318611
Secret deal Apple-China very
troubling. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318500
Merry-Xmas from venomous Boomslang
Snake. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318701
3 Jews shot in Ambush by terrorists,
one dies. The man killed in the shooting in Samaria was Yehudah
Diamantman. He leaves behind a wife and four children. Aviha Entman and Neirah
Shlomo Feldman were injured in the attack and are being taken for treatment in
Meir Hospital Kfar Saba. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318767
PM – we will get the terrorist murderers. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318769
Danger of TIK TOK for teens. https://chabadinfo.com/news/13-year-old-jewish-girl-rescued-from-muslim-home-in-bolivia-after-tiktok-exchange/
9year old kidnapped and dumped in London by teen gang. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318768
4 Israeli firms black listed by Facebook but this site has F Israel
and India. https://www.facebook.com/Pakistanlovechina
Firms blacklisted: https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/hko277y5k
Vienna Nuke talks almost collapsed. https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/12/16/with-vienna-talks-on-cusp-of-collapse-little-reason-seen-for-iran-to-rejoin-nuclear-deal/
Duke University faces lawsuit over discrimination. https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/12/16/legal-advocacy-group-urges-duke-university-to-recognize-pro-israel-students-or-risk-legal-consequences/
Indiana U. 6th swastika. https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/12/16/indiana-university-jewish-community-decries-hatred-after-sixth-swastika-in-weeks-found-in-bloomington/
Nobody mentions Pally Textbooks also in Kuwait. https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/12/16/school-textbooks-in-kuwait-rife-with-antisemitism-new-adl-report-reveals/
Jerusalem is the
eternal and undivided capital of Israel, not Tel Aviv. After HonestReporting
Canada notified Radio-Canada of its error, corrective action was taken to
remove this reference and to set an important precedent.
Covid-Omicron. Analysis about fighting fatigue from the disease. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/symv5msct
Herr Rand Paul blocks Iron Dome Funding again. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318783
Ukraine to open up a diplomatic office in Yerushalayim. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318788
Have a healthy, peaceful
and wonderful Shabbos Rest.
Rachamim Pauli
