Parsha Va’etchanan Part 1
We continue this week with
the first of three lectures by Moshe. In our Parsha Moshe tells of his own
pleas to HASHEM to enter the land and he was told no! Even worse cease and
desist from your prayers.
So, Moshe will die across
the Yarden. Before he does he reviews the Asser Dibros and Shema changing the wording
of the former from the original.
3:23 And I besought the LORD at that time, saying: 24 'O Lord GOD, Thou hast begun to show Thy servant Thy
greatness, and Thy strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth,
that can do according to Thy works, and according to Thy mighty acts? 25 Let me go over, I pray Thee, and see the good land that is
beyond the Jordan, that goodly hill-country, and Lebanon.' 26 But
the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and hearkened not unto me; and the
LORD said unto me: 'Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto Me of this
matter.
Moshe knew the L-RD
better than we will ever know. When he is told basically enough is enough. He
stops as sad as it is for him.
27 Get thee up into the top of
Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and
eastward, and behold with thine eyes; for thou shalt not go over this
Jordan. 28 But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and
strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause
them to inherit the land which thou shalt see.'
Moshe goes up the
mountain and views the promised land. The day is clear and perhaps as a lens
like ability or imagination projection into the land.
29 So we abode in the valley over
against Beth-Peor. 4:1 And now, O
Israel, hearken unto the statutes and unto the ordinances, which I teach you,
to do them; that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD,
the God of your fathers, giveth you. 2 Ye shall not add unto the word
which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the
commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
Once the Torah is given
one cannot add or subtract from it. We can put a fence around the Torah such as
not touching the opposite sex so as to avoid licentiousness. Thus we lower the
possibility of violating the laws of Family Purity and Adultery.
3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did in Baal-Peor; for all
the men that followed the Baal of Peor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them
from the midst of thee. 4 But ye that did cleave unto
the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day.
Those who cleaved unto
G-D are alive while others are now dead and buried.
5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as
the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the midst of the land
whither ye go in to possess it. 6 Observe therefore and
do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the
peoples, that, when they hear all these statutes, shall say: 'Surely this great
nation is a wise and understanding people.'
When one follows the
Torah, he will be respected by G-D fearing people.
7 For what great nation is there, that hath God so nigh unto
them, as the LORD our God is whensoever we call upon Him?
We do not have an intermediary
we are “Banim atem le HASHEM” (Children unto the L-RD)
8 And what great nation is there, that hath statutes and
ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? 9 Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest
thou forget the things which thine eyes saw, and lest they depart from thy
heart all the days of thy life; but make them known unto thy children and thy
children's children; 10 the day that thou stood before
the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me: 'Assemble Me the people,
and I will make them hear My words that they may learn to fear Me all the days
that they live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.'
There were people still
alive who were under 20 at the time of the spies who had witnessed first hand
the giving of Torah at Sinai. This is similar to we who can still hear from the
remaining survivors of World War II the horrors of the Shoah first hand.
11 And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the
mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and
thick darkness. 12 And the LORD spoke unto you out of
the midst of the fire; ye heard the voice of words, but ye saw no form; only a
voice. 13 And He declared unto you His covenant, which
He commanded you to perform, even the ten words; and He wrote them upon two
tables of stone. 14 And the LORD commanded me at that
time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that ye might do them in the land
whither ye go over to possess it. 15 Take ye therefore
good heed unto yourselves--for ye saw no manner of form on the day that the
LORD spoke unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire--
Two of the 613
commandments the nation heard directly.
16 lest ye deal corruptly, and make you a graven image, even
the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the
likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that
flies in the heaven, 18 the likeness of anything that
creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the
earth; 19 and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto
heaven, and when thou see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host
of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which the LORD
thy God hath allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven. 20 But you hath the LORD taken and brought forth out of the
iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be unto Him a people of inheritance, as ye are
this day.
The L-RD fought and defeated
the super-power of their day for the sake of Am Yisrael.
21 Now the LORD was angered with me for your sakes, and swore
that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that
good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance; 22 but I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan;
but ye are to go over, and possess that good land.
If he was angry with me
his like slave-servant all the more so with you if you misbehave.
23 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of
the LORD your God, which He made with you, and make you a graven image, even
the likeness of an thing which the LORD thy God hath forbidden
thee. 24 For the LORD thy God is a devouring fire, a jealous
God.
G-D created stone and
wood so why follow these things. (Stone hints at Mecca and Wood used by the Romans
for crucifying.) Or making other idols to follow.
25 When thou shalt beget children, and children's children,
and ye shall have been long in the land, and shall deal corruptly, and make a
graven image, even the form of anything, and shall do that which is evil in the
sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke Him; 26 I call heaven and earth
to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the
land whereunto ye go over the Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your
days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. 27 And the LORD shall
scatter you among the peoples, and ye shall be left few in number among the
nations, whither the LORD shall lead you away.
It does not matter what
idol you follow it can be WOKE, WEF, TRANS, BISEXUALITY, tattoos and other
crazes it will lead to your end.
28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hand, wood
and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29 But
from thence ye will seek the LORD thy God; and thou shalt find Him, if thou
search after Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. 30 In
thy distress, when all these things are come upon thee, in the end of days,
thou wilt return to the LORD thy God, and hearken unto His voice; 31 for the LORD thy God is a merciful God; He will not fail
thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He
swore unto them.
Someone from Am Yisrael
will survive and return. Many Baalei Teshuva throughout the centuries will save
the nation from going under.
32 For ask now of the days past, which were before thee, since
the day that God created man upon the earth, and from the one end of heaven
unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is,
or hath been heard like it? 33 Did ever a people hear
the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and
live? 34 Or hath God assayed to go and take Him a
nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders,
and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great
terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before
thine eyes? 35 Unto thee it was shown, that thou might
know that the LORD, He is God; there is none else beside Him. 36 Out
of heaven He made thee to hear His voice, that He might instruct thee; and upon
earth He made thee to see His great fire; and thou didst hear His words out of
the midst of the fire. 37 And because He loved thy
fathers, and chose their seed after them, and brought thee out with His
presence, with His great power, out of Egypt, 38 to
drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou, to bring
thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day;
THERE IS NOTHING ELSE
BUT THE L-RD.
39 know this day, and lay it to thy heart, that the LORD, He
is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath; there is none else. 40 And thou shalt keep His statutes, and His commandments,
which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy
children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the land, which
the LORD thy God giveth thee, forever.
Therefore keep the commandments
and teach them to your children.
41 Then Moses separated three cities beyond the Jordan toward
the sunrising; 42 that the manslayer might flee thither,
that slays his neighbor unawares, and hated him not in time past; and that
fleeing unto one of these cities he might live: 43 Bezer
in the wilderness, in the table-land, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead,
for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites. 44 And
this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel; 45 these
are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spoke
unto the children of Israel, when they came forth out of Egypt; 46 beyond the Jordan, in the valley over against Beth-Peor, in
the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and
the children of Israel smote, when they came forth out of Egypt; 47 and they took his land in possession, and the land of Og king
of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan toward the
sunrising; 48 from Aroer, which is on the edge of the
valley of Arnon, even unto mount Sion--the same is Hermon-- 49 and
all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the Arabah,
under the slopes of Pisgah. 5:1 And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them: Hear, O
Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears this day,
that ye may learn them, and observe to do them. 2 The LORD our God
made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 The LORD made not this covenant
with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this
day. 4 The LORD spoke with you face to face in the mount out of the
midst of the fire-- 5 I stood between the LORD and you at that time,
to declare unto you the word of the LORD; for ye were afraid because of the
fire, and went not up into the mount--saying:
At this point Moshe paraphrases
the original ten commandments.
6 I am the LORD thy God, who
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt
have no other gods before Me. 7 Thou shalt not make unto thee a
graven image, even any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the
earth. 8 Thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them; for I the
LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the
children, and upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate
Me, 9 and showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that
love Me and keep My commandments. 10 Thou shalt not take the name of
the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh
His name in vain. 11 Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD
thy God commanded thee.
The first time, we were told
to remember the Shabbos. Now we are to observe/guard the Shabbos. Holiness is
not to be taken lightly.
12 Six days shalt thou labor, and
do all thy work; 13 but the seventh day is a sabbath unto the LORD
thy God, in it thou shalt not do any manner of work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy
daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine
ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy
man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou.
In the original the Ger
is given rest last and here before one’s servant. The conclusion is that the
original is upon the Ger Toshav as he is last and this one is on the Ger Tzedek
as the first is still a non-Jew and not obliged on Shabbos and here the Ger is
a full Ben/Bas Yisrael.
14 And thou shalt remember that
thou was a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God brought thee out
thence by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD thy God
commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
You and the Ger Tzedek are
equal. Both of you must keep the Shabbos but a non-Jewish servant has no such
obligation. The reminder of where you were in Egypt is not to be snobby.
15 Honor thy father and thy
mother, as the LORD thy God commanded thee; that thy days may be long, and that
it may go well with thee, upon the land which the LORD thy God gives
thee.
This seems to be what
goes around comes around. If you stab your parents in the back eventually your
brats will do the same to you.
16 Thou shalt not murder. Neither
shalt thou commit adultery. Neither shalt thou steal.
The Shabbos should be a
natural law like these three but is not following Shabbos is what it appears to
be out of the ordinary. For the curse of Adam we have to work for our bread. He
saw Shabbos as being natural from creation but not having been in Gan Eden we
cannot see Melacha as a curse. The stealing here is capturing somebody and
selling him into slavery. Today there are cartels that entrap poor people
wanting a better life into slavery which they ‘volunteered’ for and cannot
escape afterwards.
Neither shalt thou bear false witness
against thy neighbor.
One of the laws of
Lashon HaRa is lying and when things become a he said – she said situation, a
judge cannot tell.
17 Neither shalt thou covet thy
neighbor's wife; neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's house, his
field, or his man-servant, or his maid-servant, his ox, or his ass, or anything
that is thy neighbor's.
The grass is always
greener on the other side until one sees the truth but the illusion of
misconception brings about all these desires.
18 These
words the LORD spoke unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of
the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice, and it
went on no more. And He wrote them upon two tables of stone, and gave them unto
me. 19 And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst
of the darkness, while the mountain did burn with fire, that ye came near unto
me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; 20 and ye
said: 'Behold, the LORD our God hath shown us His glory and His greatness, and
we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire; we have seen this day
that God doth speak with man, and he lives. 21 Now therefore why
should we die? for this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the
LORD our God any more, then we shall die. 22 For who is there of all
flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of
the fire, as we have, and lived? 23 Go thou near, and hear all that
the LORD our God may say; and thou shalt speak unto us all that the LORD our
God may speak unto thee; and we will hear it and do it.' … 28 Ye
shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you; ye shall
not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 29 Ye shall walk in
all the way which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and
that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land
which ye shall possess.
6:1 Now
this is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances, which the LORD your
God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go
over to possess it-- 2 that thou might fear the LORD thy God, to keep
all His statutes and His commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son,
and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be
prolonged. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it
may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD, the God
of thy fathers, hath promised unto thee--a land flowing with milk and
honey.
I have run out of my own
time and energy this week will continue with more commentary on the Shema etc.
next week ble Neder.
4 Hear, O Israel: the LORD our
God, the LORD is one. 5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these
words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart; 7 and
thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when
thou sit in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou lie
down, and when thou rise up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign
upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine
eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house,
and upon thy gates. {S} 10 And it shall be, when the LORD thy
God shall bring thee into the land which He swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham,
to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee--great and goodly cities, which thou didst
not build, 11 and houses full of all good things, which thou didst
not fill, and cisterns hewn out, which thou didst not hew, vineyards and
olive-trees, which thou didst not plant, and thou shalt eat and be
satisfied-- 12 then beware lest thou forget the LORD, who brought
thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage. 13 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; and Him shalt thou
serve, and by His name shalt thou swear. 14 Ye shall not go after
other gods, of the gods of the peoples that are round about
you; 15 for a jealous God, even the LORD thy God, is in the midst of
thee; lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and He
destroy thee from off the face of the earth. 16 Ye shall not try the
LORD your God, as ye tried Him in Massah. 17 Ye shall diligently keep
the commandments of the LORD your God, and His testimonies, and His statutes,
which He hath commanded thee. 18 And thou shalt do that which is
right and good in the sight of the LORD; that it may be well with thee, and
that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD swore unto thy
fathers, 19 to thrust out all thine enemies from before thee, as the
LORD hath spoken. 20 When thy son askes thee in time to come, saying:
'What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which the
LORD our God hath commanded you? 21 then thou shalt say unto thy son:
'We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with
a mighty hand. 22 And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and
sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his house, before our
eyes. 23 And He brought us out from thence, that He might bring us
in, to give us the land which He swore unto our fathers. 24 And the
LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our
good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is at this
day. 25 And it shall be righteousness unto us, if we observe to do
all this commandment before the LORD our God, as He hath commanded us.'
7:1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither
thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before thee, the
Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the
Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier
than thou; 2 and when the LORD thy God shall deliver them up before
thee, and thou shalt smite them; then thou shalt utterly destroy them; thou
shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them; 3 neither
shalt thou make marriages with them: thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his
son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. 4 For he will
turn away thy son from following Me, that they may serve other gods; so will
the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and He will destroy thee
quickly. 5 But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break down
their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and
burn their graven images with fire. 6 For thou art a holy people unto
the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be His own treasure, out
of all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. 7 The LORD did
not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than
any people--for ye were the fewest of all peoples-- 8 but because the
LORD loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore unto your
fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out
of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of
Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, He is God; the
faithful God, who keeps covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His
commandments to a thousand generations; 10 and repays them that hate
Him to their face, to destroy them; He will not be slack to him that hates Him,
He will repay him to his face. 11 Thou shalt therefore keep the
commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command thee this
day, to do them.
The Power of Prayer
In or around August/Av
5781 Denise Esther bas Leah was sent home from the hospital with the following
notice. “We have done all that we could do in your fight against Cancer. It is
now time to go home and say good-bye to your family members.”
A similar thing happened
to Hodaya Nirit and she lived between 10 to 15 years and even got married. She
eventually passed away young but instead of in her early to mid-30’s at 47.
Denise Esther was in
charge of a woman’s Tehillim Group each Shabbos. The Prayer Warriors stormed
the heavens even during the week and on What’s App my wife usually ended taking
Psalm 119. They also prayed for Nirit.
Erev Tisha B’Av she
succumbed close to a year or over what she was expected to live. Her husband
got Corona and nearly died last Sukkos and he passed it on to her but she
survived. She attended a Bris of a grandson and was even shopping a few weeks
ago weighing about 35kg or about 80+lbs.
Her case is not the only
one. Rebbetzin Hedva Silberfarb “Hedva’s Bridge” or in Hebrew “Gesher shel
Hedva” was given 3 days to live by the doctors in Tel HaShomer. Her father was
one of the people who learned with Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach TzZal. Prayer
was organized at the Kotel and she lived 3 years coming to an early conclusion
that her disease came from speaking Lashon HaRa. She went to battle women’s
Gossip both in Israel and the States.
On her last day Denise
felt better looked towards the ceiling and waved. She said that she wanted to
go home. The family interpreted going to her house but as the ambulance pulled
up in her husband’s eyes her Oxygen level dropped from 85 to 0 and he closed
her eyes as a whoosh came out of her mouth. She too was a Baal Teshuva who came
from nothing to religious via Chabad.
Another case of Prayers
was Adam Levinson. He was in the hospital at the same time prayers were
organized for him at the Kotel. He was the only child of two MD’s and I heard
it straight from them. The doctors thought they would lose him on the night
that the prayers started at the Kotel. He was going quickly but before he was
gone, the prayers started suddenly his vital signs returned to the monitors. He
lived long enough to be treated two or three times in E. B. Anderson in TX. In
between treatments and recovering strength, he managed to sit in on a Beis Din of
Giyur (And although officially TX does not have one, having a Rabbi from Kiriat
Sefer gave them recognition). He left a widow and 5orphans which the
congregation looked after.
I also had some
experiences with prayer when I was a child and especially during my early days
of being a Baal Teshuva. Pray purely for the sake of heaven and not for more
than honest income with honor for praying or wishing for the lottery can have
ruinous results. We do have needs such as healing or honest and honorable
income or for our friends, neighbors or a fellow human being that is what
special prayers are meant for.
Once upon a time a
poor couple came to the Chofetz Chaim asking for a blessing to win the lottery.
He was famous but still relatively young and blessed them. They succeeded in
winning the top prize. With their new-found wealth the spent frivolously. In
the end, they squandered their wealth and ended up poorer than at the start having
to work harder at an older age.
A number of years
passed by and another couple came to the Chofetz Chaim asking for a blessing to
win the lottery. This time, he was older and wiser and knew what happened to
the first couple. He blessed them with a steady and sufficient income.
Even in
Auschwitz Choosing the Possible. By Judy Gruen
https://aish.com/even-in-auschwitz/
click or copy/paste for pictures
Like many Holocaust survivors, Dr. Edith Eger could not speak to anyone of
the nightmare she had endured at the hands of the Nazis. Against all odds, she
and her older sister Magda survived nearly one year in Auschwitz, another month
in Mauthausen, and a death march to an outpost of Mauthausen called Gunskirchen.
By the time the Allies entered these unspeakable killing fields, Edith was
close to death. Her disease-riddled body weighed only seventy pounds. Her back
was broken. She was left for dead in a pile of corpses.
When the Americans arrived at the camp, one of the shocked GIs called out
to the hundreds of slack bodies and asked, “Raise your hand if you can hear
me.” Summoning her last jot of strength, Edith, then seventeen, managed to
raise her hand a few inches, imagining she was performing an arabesque from her
former days as a ballet dancer. A silent declaration that she was, if only
barely, among the living.
Even in Auschwitz, there were choices: to be a giver or a taker, to be
kind and ethical, or to only look out for oneself.
Edith and Magda knew that their parents had been killed on their first day
at Auschwitz. With a flick of Mengele’s finger, the parents were sent to the
left; the girls to the right. Their eldest sister, Klara, had stayed in
Budapest when she heard rumors that the Nazis were about to round up the Jews
in their town of Kassa, Hungary. Had Klara survived the war? Edith and Magda
had no idea.
Bereaved, frail, and penniless, the sisters began to try to build a new
life. They were overjoyed to discover that Klara had in fact survived the war.
Still, flashbacks, panic attacks, and acute survivor’s guilt kept them both
imprisoned in their nightmarish past. Today, more than seventy years later, Dr.
Eger is still triggered by the sound of sirens.
It took decades before Edith Eger realized she had to face the rage and
grief that had roiled her emotionally since the war, taking a toll on her
closest relationships, including her marriage. By the time she chose to stop
hiding her secrets, she was already a successful clinical psychologist, having
earned her Ph.D. at the age of fifty. Her education, insights, skill and
personal experience with trauma have made this petite Hungarian grandmother a
nationally renowned expert in both post-traumatic stress disorder and
resiliency training. Branches of the U.S. military have brought her in as a
clinical expert to treat soldiers, including Special Operations Forces,
suffering from PTSD and traumatic brain injuries. At ninety-one, Dr. Eger
maintains an active clinical practice in San Diego, California.
She has also written a riveting and extraordinary book about her riveting
and extraordinary life, The Choice: Embrace the Possible. The
memoir recalls her traditional Jewish family life in Hungary, and its abrupt
end when the Nazis stormed through their doors during Pesach in 1944. Her
recollections of life in Auschwitz are chilling, yet they are also inspiring
because of Edith’s realization that even in Auschwitz she had choices: to be a
giver or a taker, to be kind and ethical, or to only look out for oneself. She
and Magda remained inseparable, protecting one another and taking risks for one
another from their first day as prisoners to their last.
The last section of the book includes case studies from her practice,
where readers can appreciate Dr. Eger’s style of total, compassionate
acceptance for patients struggling with many types of issues. The “sneak peek”
into these sessions poignantly demonstrates the combination of empathy and
prompting so that patients realize they must take responsibility for their
lives.
“We can find meaning in suffering and turn it into an opportunity to
discover something within us that we never thought possible,” Dr. Eger said in
an interview with Oprah Winfrey. “I am not a victim. It’s not my identity. I’m
a whole person who can have joy and passion today instead of living as a
hostage of the past.”
After their liberation, Edith and Magda required months of physical
healing. Magda was physically weak but full of rage, wanting to exact revenge
on any German she could. Edith didn’t share that rage, but knew she was in a
psychological limbo:
“I will have to find my own way to live with what has happened,” she
writes. “I don’t know what it is yet. We’re free from the
death camps, but we also must be free to—free to create, to make a
life, to choose. And until we find our freedom to, we’re just
spinning around in the same endless darkness.”
Edith married another survivor, Bela Eger, whom she met in a hospital in
Austria where both were being treated for tuberculosis. Edith was nineteen,
Bela a decade older. Her post-war life went from rags to riches to rags again
in very short order. The Egers were an extremely wealthy family, living a
mansion with many servants, but the Communists had taken control of post-war
Hungary and arrested Bela without warning. At only twenty, with a baby in her
arms, Edith bribed the prison guard with a glittering diamond ring. Moments
later, she and Bela walked out of the prison and directly to the train station,
escaping from Hungary with only the clothes on their backs. In the United
States, where they had been granted refugee status, they performed menial labor
to survive the early years.
“We can choose to be our own jailors, or we can choose to be free.”
The Egers slowly gained their footing. Bela eventually became an
accountant, and he and Edith eventually had three children. Edith enrolled in
college and became a schoolteacher, yet despite her success in the classroom,
she didn’t feel she had found her professional calling. In 1966, when she was
nearly forty, she began another degree program in psychology. One day, a young
student who had guessed that Edith was a survivor offered her a copy of Viktor
Frankel’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning. Holding the slim book in
her hand filled her with dread. She writes, “Why would I willingly return to
hell, even through the filter of someone else’s experience?” The book’s
presence in her book bag at home unnerved her, and after midnight she opened it
and began to read.
It was a transformative moment. In reading Frankel’s account, Edith
realized, “I am staring directly at the thing I have sought to hide. And as I
read, I find I don’t feel shut down or trapped, locked back in that place. . .
For every page I read, I want to write ten. What if telling my story could
lighten its grip instead of tightening it? What if speaking about the past
could heal it instead of calcify it? What if silence and denial aren’t the only
choices to make in the wake of catastrophic loss?”
She and Frankel began a correspondence, and he remained a mentor
throughout her education and career. For her Ph.D. dissertation, she conducted
interviews with other Holocaust survivors, “laying a foundation for my own
healing to come,” and discovering her own “personal conviction and clinical
touchstone: we can choose to be our own jailors, or we can choose to be free.”
Dr. Frankel’s famous statement that we cannot choose what happens to us,
but we can choose how we respond to it, resonated strongly with Dr. Eger. On
their first day in Auschwitz, Edith and Magda were stripped naked and their
heads shaved. Magda, who had always prized her looks and ability to capture the
attention of admiring males, turned to Edith and asked, “How do I look? Tell me
the truth.”
Edith could not tell her sister the truth, that she looked like “a mangy
stranger,” so she searched for “the impossible answer, a truth that doesn’t
wound. I gaze into the fierce blue of her eyes and think that even for her to
ask the question, ‘How do I look? Is the bravest thing I’ve ever heard. She is
asking me to help her find and face herself. And so, I tell her the one true
thing that’s mine to say.
“Your eyes, they’re so beautiful. I never noticed them when they were
covered up by all that hair.’ It’s the first time I see that we have a choice:
to pay attention to what we’ve lost or to pay attention to what we still have.”
Dr. Eger’s personal survival as a prisoner of war gives her an added
authority when she speaks in front of audiences of Navy SEALs, combat soldiers
recently returned from battle, and others who deal with life and death issues,
such as oncologists and cancer patients, others facing end-of-life issues, and
even at-risk youth. At each gathering, she repeats what her mother told her the
day they were taken by the Nazis: “We don’t know where we’re going, we don’t
know what’s going to happen, but no one can take away from you what you put in
your own mind.”
Dr. Eger used to ask herself, “Why me? Why did I survive?” But over the
years she has learned to ask a different question: “Why not me?
What is mine to do with the life I’ve been given?”
The Choice: Embrace the Possible, is Dr. Edith Eger’s latest achievement in a life dedicated to healing.
NEW BOOK THE PROPHET OF THE ANDES AND THE JOURNEY TO THE PROMISED
LAND. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357794
Milestone: Olivia Newton John, 73, singer star of ‘Grease’ and song
writer. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357860 In a recent celebrity memoir,
the author writes, “In 1933, my Jewish grandfather fled from Germany with his
wife, Hedwig, to escape Hitler’s regime. He was not only a brilliant mind but
also a humanitarian who helped Jews escape Germany. I’m extremely proud of
my peace-loving grandfather.” The grandfather was Nobel Prize-winning physicist
Max Born, one of the founders of quantum mechanics and a longtime friend of
Albert Einstein. The granddaughter, which might come as a surprise to some, is
Olivia Newton-John.
Inyanay Diyoma
Israel goes to war. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/h1mtes5p5
Lapid Terrorist will not dictate our
lives. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357705
Paratroop and Givati Brigades
heading south.
On Friday Afternoon at approximately
4:15 PM, Israel opened up with an attack on the military leader of the Jihad’s
Northern Gaza Command and he died with an assistant or two. Approximately 25
Jihadis die including 6 anti-tank stations.
Deep bombs hit a tunnel and from 9PM
on Friday aka Shabbos Kodesh by us until 9PM Motzei Shabbos 400 rockets were
fired. At around 6PM the Jihadi General of Southern Gaza was verified with his
top commanders in a secret building. All were taken out either killed or badly
injured.
At 9:30-10 a Jihadi rocket filed
does not take off well with all the explosives and pellets landing like 73
others in Gaza but this one injures a family of 30 killing 6 children.
In Yehuda and Shomron 22 arrests on
Friday Night and 16 Motzei Shabbos.
From Israel’s standpoint the 3 top
military officials of Jihad arrested in Shomron or killed in Gaza.
In Israel a family was saved by
running into the Shelter room.
Film-Failed Jihad Rocket killed 6
children. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357759
The Temple Mount opened to Jews at
8. About 8:10 AM rockets fired towards Yerushalayim. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357756
More than 200 rockets since last
count and as I write the TV alert for near Gaza is going off. Iron Dome now
takes out 92 to 95% of all rockets.
Example of warning to Gaza Residents
to evacuate areas near Jihad Concentrations. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357768
Israel wanted to prevent a humanitarian
crisis in Gaza. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357770
Watch terror tunnel blown up. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357753
Homes take direct hit. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rkvfslt6c
Raam Arab Party holds primaries more
moderate. https://www.timesofisrael.com/mansour-abbas-holds-onto-raams-top-spot-in-primary-fills-out-slate-with-loyalists/
The Miracle that did not
make the papers: Last night while we were waiting between Mincha and Maariv
Prayers. I saw my red alert app. Beer Yacov, Ramla, etc. I mentioned to my
neighbor they are trying to hit the airport. A very short pause and we here a
distant boom-boom. The news broadcasters were live and reported that a rocket
was heading right into the path of an in bound plane. The article seems to
indicate that it was still over the sea and told to circle. The control tower
diverted the plane away. The last few seconds, Iron Dome managed to take out
the incoming rocket(s). People were evacuated from take-off flights on the
tarmac. https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/during-final-rocket-barrage-ben-gurion-passengers-were-rushed-back-into-terminal/
United Airline Flight delayed -
pilot refused to fly to Israel. https://www.timesofisrael.com/flight-from-us-delayed-when-pilot-refused-to-fly-to-israel-over-security-situation/
Shachid went down fighting. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357871
New Military 3D imaging. https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/08/07/israeli-firm-pioneers-3d-imaging-for-military-rescue-teams-to-see-through-walls/
Rare endangered fish spotted in
Eilat. https://www.timesofisrael.com/rare-guitarfish-in-danger-of-extinction-spotted-in-eilat/
US Judge skeptical about Unilever
plus Ben & Jerry. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357867
New Iranian Satellite a threat. https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-iran-satellite-presents-significant-challenge-to-israel-us-and-allies-experts/
United Torah Judaism will go with
Netanyahu. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357865
Mar Largo raided in what should have
been a subpoena. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357863
Lapid thanks Egypt and others. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357859
Hamas emerges stronger and operation
was very effective. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357823
Turkey blasts Israel over Jihadists.
https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/08/08/no-excuse-for-killing-children-turkey-condemns-israeli-military-action-against-islamists-in-gaza/
More civilians killed by Jihad
Rockets than all killed by Israel. 44 dead by rockets including 15 children and
two Hamas officers. 360 wounded. https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/08/08/more-gaza-civilians-killed-by-pij-rockets-than-by-military-strikes-israeli-army/
Saudi Arabia opts for futuristic
city and winter sports. https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/08/08/saudi-arabia-plans-winter-sports-destination-and-massive-surveillance-state/
Moderate almost defeated Ilhan Omar.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/moderate-rival-nearly-upsets-ilhan-omar-in-primary-race-pro-israel-groups-sat-out/
Beitar Owner pleads for buyer. https://www.timesofisrael.com/beitar-owner-pleads-for-publics-help-to-save-team-after-expected-sale-falls-through/
Alina Fernández, the daughter of long-time
Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, has defended the choice of non-Latino James Franco
to play her father in an upcoming move about her life. https://www.timesofisrael.com/fidel-castros-daughter-says-kosher-for-james-franco-to-play-her-father/
Oy vey is Mir Turkey helping Russian
Banks. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-06/turkish-banks-are-adopting-russian-payments-system-erdogan-says thanks
to Monique.
97% success rate – Iron Dome. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357784
Dem’s line up to support Cheney. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357794
About an hour before the ceasefire,
Arab worker from Chevron was injured. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/syg000btpc#autoplay
Netanyahu met with Lapid received
briefing. https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-attends-1st-security-briefing-with-lapid-gives-full-backing-to-gaza-op/
Tisha B’Av and the Temple Mount. https://www.timesofisrael.com/far-right-mk-ben-gvir-to-visit-temple-mount-for-tisha-bav-sunday-as-tensions-boil/
Nightmare of a mayor. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357925
Pence and Trump no love lost but is
concerned. https://www.aol.com/news/pence-expresses-deep-concern-over-170451664.html
Herzog-Putin Phone Call. https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/08/09/israeli-and-russian-presidents-discuss-threat-to-close-jewish-agency/
Hezballah warns against targeting
terrorist. https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/08/09/hezbollah-warns-israel-against-targeting-palestinian-terrorists-in-lebanon/
Rep. Scott Perry has found
impounded. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357923
Biden see no evil, speak no evil,
hear no evil. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357919
Accident one of two in Yerushalayim.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357915
Twice Convicted, court bars
candidate for Likud. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357909
No more foreign medical students.
https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/sk1s006l0q
With Hamas almost legal a three
State Solution. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rjobj21cq
War with Jihad cursor for what is
next. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/h1rcwwct5
There is no doubt that the Operation Breaking Dawn was an outright Israeli triumph in
all aspects: military, political, and financial.
Israel was caught off guard but …
Islamic Jihad attempt to put in an equation failed. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hy3lmiatq
Mass held outside of Auschwitz for a
Jew who Converted. https://www.timesofisrael.com/mass-held-outside-auschwitz-for-jewish-convert-killed-there-80-years-ago/
Eurovision Song Contest: https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-hesitation-noa-kirel-said-to-agree-to-represent-israel-at-eurovision-2023/
New born found in box came from Schem.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/baby-found-in-box-on-street-in-acre-was-smuggled-from-nablus-in-west-bank-report/
Backlogged news: Operation Break
Dawn Ends. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357793
Delayed taking out of bad guy(s) due
to children running around. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357799
Jihad claims about prisoners. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357798
Ukraine nuclear energy: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357807
Faulty Security at Airport. According to the report, the burglars attempted to
steal weapons. The fence was neutralized prior to the break-in, and the
possibility that the burglars had cooperation from a source within the airport
staff is being investigated.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357809
Dead and buried cat returns home. https://www.timesofisrael.com/dead-cat-given-funeral-after-gaza-rocket-attack-comes-home/
ANOTHER VIRUS FROM
CHINA! https://www.aol.com/news/langya-virus-infects-dozens-china-194021463.html
How much BS can an FBI throw. (How many
people hide nuclear weapons weighing tons in their multimillion-dollar villa?) Presidents don’t pack papers and
they could have been easily placed there by non-scrupulous folks. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/358053
Planting evidence? https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357986
Former Amb. And others back Lee
Zeldin. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/358049
Military Court acquits Arab with
loaded gun on terrorism. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/358032
Gulf States may be obliterated by Iran. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/358040
Hate killing of Muslims. https://www.aol.com/news/islamic-communities-fearful-4-killings-041411937-162443026.html
Foolish woman allegedly spied tries
suicide. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/358038
Iranian assassin in the USA: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357983
Second bus crash this week in Yerushalayim.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/358037
In total 13 die in traffic accidents
in 2 days. https://www.timesofisrael.com/two-killed-while-crossing-highway-to-help-motorists-in-separate-crash/
Petach Tikva Mayor bribery plus. https://www.timesofisrael.com/mayor-arrested-on-suspicion-of-bribery-fraud-and-breach-of-trust/
Facebook turns in abortion law
violations. https://www.timesofisrael.com/facebook-turned-over-messages-to-nebraska-cops-ahead-of-teen-mom-abortion-charges/
Israel working on immunotherapy
pill for cancer. Antisemites go for BDS. https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-scientists-racing-to-deliver-worlds-1st-pill-form-immunotherapy-for-cancer/
Witch hunt brings on the 5th.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-says-he-invoked-fifth-amendment-in-ny-civil-probe-due-to-witch-hunt/
Ukraine - Rusty rowboat the main
supply route to town. https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-ukrainian-village-cut-off-by-river-and-russians-deliverance-is-a-rusty-rowboat/
Hamas benefitted from conflict with
Jihad. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/skh7kpc69
Ali-Express to set up warehouses in
Israel. https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/byuzrk11rq
Antisemitic threats at judge who issued
Mar Largo warrant. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/r1iswggr5
TX woman rescued before car
swallowed by sink hole. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357975
Shaked will not pass threshold. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357966
Hamas again hints soldiers MIA
alive. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357985
Plan needed to protect Yehuda and
Shomron. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357976
Bederman WEF sends Jiminy Cricket into
hiding. https://dianebederman.com/jiminy-cricket-may-have-to-go-into-hiding/
More Iranian Money into Jihad. https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/08/11/violent-iranian-proxy-tehran-funneling-millions-to-islamic-jihad-says-gantz/
Winter Fuel Crises may make for
antisemitism. https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/08/11/coming-winter-fuel-crisis-triggered-by-ukraine-war-will-boost-antisemitism-in-germany-jewish-leader-warns/
$1,422,000 paid to terrorists for
Sbarro. https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/08/11/the-pa-has-already-paid-1421940-to-the-terrorists-who-blew-up-the-sbarro-pizza-shop/
Bibi has to Jan. to change Visa Law.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357979
Abbas sends condolences & money
to Shachidim. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357988
Justin Bieber’s Nazi Salute. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357954
ISIS leader self-destructs. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/357989
Next security threat the gas fields.
https://www.debka.com/next-security-challenge-for-lapid-gantz-duo-tapping-karish-gas-field-on-sept-1-under-hizballah-threat/
Art works hidden in Iran. https://www.timesofisrael.com/tehran-unveils-western-art-masterpieces-hidden-for-decades-after-islamic-revolution/
Yeshivos are on vacation
try to learn more Torah for safety and health of your family. Have a restful
and peaceful Shabbos,
Rachamim Pauli
