Parsha Tetzaveh
Moshe is still
on Har Sinai within the forty days and nights. This
week, we continue with requirements for the building and operating the Mishkan.
We now move on to the fuel for burning the lamps and the clothing needed for
the service of the Cohain. For a proper uniform is needed for administration
just like the army, navy, police, fire, etc. have their uniforms.
27:20 And thou shalt command the children of
Israel, that they bring unto thee pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause
a lamp to burn continually.
Pure: Without sediment, as we learned
in Men. (86a): “He allows it to ripen at the top of the olive tree, etc.” C rushed: He must crush the olives in a
mortar, but he may not grind them in a mill, so that they will not contain
sediment. After he has extracted the first drop [of oil], he places them [the
olives] into a mill and grinds them. The [resulting] second oil is unfit for
the menorah but is fit for meal offerings, as it is said: “crushed for
lighting,” but not crushed for meal offerings. -[from Men. 86a] To kindle the lamps
continually: Heb. לְהַעִלֹת, lit., to cause to
rise. [The kohen] shall light it until the flame rises by itself. -[from Shab.
21a] C ontinually: Heb. תָּמִיד. [Since it burns]
every night, it is called תָּמִיד, as you say: “a
continual burnt offering” (עֹלַת תָּמִיד)” (Exod. 29:42, Num. 28:6), [which is called “continual”]
although it is [offered up] only from day to day. Similarly, concerning the
flat pan meal offering [of the Kohen Gadol, the word] תָּמִיד is mentioned although it is
[offered up] only half in the morning and [the other] half in the evening. [The
word] תָּמִיד mentioned concerning the
showbread (Exod. 25:30), however, [literally] means from Sabbath to Sabbath [i.e.,
continually].
As I mentioned last week, the extra-virgin olive
oil the top of the highest quality oil.
(I
found this from 5768) Devorah pointed out to the Torah Forum in the name of
Rabbi Lazer Gurkow that the word
for command can also mean to bind. The beaten olive oil that is purest extra
virgin oil is used in the Temple. It is the cream of the cream of the olive.
What binds the olive oil to the nation of Yisrael is that it anoints the Cohain
Gadol, Cohain Meshulach L’Milchama (priest that leads the nation into war) and
the Melech (king) of Yisrael together. The oil is used for the poor man’s flour
Korban (sacrifice) on the Mizbayach (altar). Other properties of the oil are
that it gives light to the Menorah in the Beis HaMikdash and to the homes of
the Bnei Yisrael for Shalom Beis. When one has peace in the home and peace
within his tribe he is more bound to them. We are all one nation and one heart
to continue the chain of generations. When the heart goes astray and does not
observe Shabbos, Taharos HaMishpacha or Kashrus we get a dispute or if the
heart desires something that does not belong to person. Olive oil is used for
cooking and salads and has much health benefits. {In fact all the 5 fruits and
2 grains of Eretz Yisrael have beneficial powers.}
Another
aspect of our Pasha is the clothing of the Cohanim. The Cohain had to be Kadosh
(holy) in mind and body. He had pants for modesty so even the stones of the
altar could not view his nakedness during the service. His garments as Rav B.
Wein Shlita points out in the name of Rabbi S. R. Hirsh TzZal this week were
for honor and glory not only for the Kahuna but for Am Yisrael to obtain honor
and glory by the presence of the ALL MIGHTY. Each garment had its special
powers. The Katones (tunic) had the power to atone for sins with blood such as
causing people to bleed, injuring a person, killing an animal on Shabbos and
accidental manslaughter perhaps also accidental relations when the wellsprings
of Niddah opened up. This came from the blood on the Katones of Yosef HaTzadik.
The Tzitz of the Cohain Gadol did atonement for most sins especially on Yom
Kippur. The bells on the garment of the Cohain Gadol with their noise nullified
and voided idle talk, Lashon Hara, tale bearing, rumor spreading, general
falsehoods, etc. In past years I mentioned the healing of the stones on the
breast plate and the Onyx Stones uniting the tribes together. The modesty of
the belt separating the heart from the body atoned for immodest behavior and
even lewd gestures. Each piece of the holy garments on the purified and holy
Cohain made up for raising the spiritual level of Am Yisrael.
21 In the tent of meeting,
without the veil which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall set it
in order, to burn from evening to morning before the LORD; it shall be a
statute forever throughout their generations on the behalf of the children of
Israel.
Only the Cohain HaGadol
could enter into the veil on Yom Kippur. Therefore, in the Mishkan prior to the
Mikdash, the appropriate handling was done by the Cohain Gadol. In the Mikdash
expert Leviim with special masks to limited looking towards the Teva and would
maintain the walls of the housing of the Kodesh Kodeshim.
28:1 And
bring thou near unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among
the children of Israel, that they may minister unto Me in the priest's office,
even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. 2 And
thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for splendor and for
beauty.
The Bigdei (garments)
Kahuna must be splendid for the ceremony and beautiful. The white tunic of the
regular Cohain had to be clean. Thus, if he was the Cohain who dealt with the
slaughter of the Korban, and the cleaning of the animal, he had to change his
garments for other ceremonies. He could not appear like a blood-stained member
of Hezballah, Hamas or Fatach.
For
the splendor of the glory of the garments will radiate the holiness. Here we
have a nation dressed in drab working garments and covering garments. One does
not send his flocks out to pasture or milk his cows dress in tuxedos but rather
drab working clothes. So, in contrast every morning at Shachris and every
evening at Mincha the nation in the wilderness of Sinai would see the Cohanim
is these splendid garments and their glory would remind the people of G-D’s
eternal glory.
3 And
thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the
spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron's garments to sanctify him, that he may
minister unto Me in the priest's office.
Unlike the plain white
garments of the Cohain Hedios (simple or regular Priest) he had to have the
special garments of the Cohain Gadol.
Who
is wise? – one who sees the birth or end result. These women and male tailors
had Ruach HaKodesh within themselves to see the design. Just like Betzalel with
the making of the engraved sections and the rest of the Mishkan (including the
joining of the tabernacle boards and the way they were to be raised to their
final height and anchored in place). If one knows a little about metal and wood
work and the engineering of raising and lowering these giant planks of the
Mishkan one needs great skills and coordination. The weaving of the garments
which is beyond the knowledge and skills of most males not to mention Rabbis
needed wisdom. How many of us have ever followed the conversion of flax unto
linen or the shearing of the sheep into making wool just ready for the loom.
Then comes the other skills designs and measurements. All we do is go into some
store and buy a shirt and a pair of pants and shoes for a small amount of cash
ignoring the raising of the flax or animal for the wool or leather for the shoe.
4 And
these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and
a robe, and a tunic of chequer work, a mitre, and a girdle; and they shall make
holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto Me
in the priest's office. 5 And they shall take the gold, and the blue,
and the purple, and the scarlet, and the fine linen.
Last week these
materials were requested as a donation and this week we see that they shall be
used in the garment of the Cohain Gadol. Just as the gold is rare so was the
special Techeles blue, the purple, scarlet and the production of fire linen.
Linen was harder to make than we produce it today. The growing, processing and
weaving was all by hand. Will it still be by hand or can we use robots by
giving the command: “I am ready and prepared to do the Mitzvah or producing the
garment(s) for the Cohain Gadol therefore I programed this robot or machine to
do so as I press the start button or throw the switch. Baruch Atah …”
G-D
as planner has just given a general description of the materials involved in
the making of the garments. Also the name and type of garments were described
above. The girdle was more like a very wide type of sash. I would assume that
it was at least
6 And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue,
and purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the skillful
workman. 7 It shall have two shoulder-pieces joined to the two ends
thereof, that it may be joined together.
The Ephod was a combination
of weaving and handling precious Jewels, Gold, Colored Material fine fabrics
and joining them together in metal work and weaving combined.
And they shall make the ephod: If I would try to explain the making of the ephod and the Choshen
according to the order of the verses, their explanation would be fragmentary
and the reader would err in combining them. Therefore, I am writing [first] how
they were made, as it was [i.e., in its entirety], so that the reader will be
able to run through it [quickly]. Afterwards, I will explain it [how they were
made] according to the sequence of the verses. The ephod was designed like a
sort of apron worn by women who ride horseback [see Rashi on verse 4], and he
[the Kohen Gadol] would gird [himself with] it from behind, opposite his heart,
below his elbows, its width equaling the width of a man’s back and more, and it
[the ephod] would reach his ankles. The belt was attached to the top of it
across its width, [it was] the work of a weaver, and it extended on both sides
in order to wrap [the Kohen Gadol] and gird [him] with it. The shoulder straps
were attached to the belt-one to the right and one to the left from behind the
Kohen [Gadol], at the two ends of the width of the apron. When he held them
[i.e., the shoulder straps] upright, they stood [i.e., lay flat] on his two
shoulders. They were like two straps made from the same material as the ephod
[and they were] long enough to place them upright alongside his neck on either
side. They were folded in front of him slightly below his shoulders. The shoham
stones were set in them-one on the right shoulder strap and one on the left
shoulder strap. The settings were placed at their ends in front of his
shoulders, and the two golden chains were inserted into the two rings of the
choshen at the two ends of its upper width-one on the right and one on the
left. The two ends of the [right] chains were inserted into the settings on the
right, and similarly the two ends of the left chains were inserted into the
settings on the left shoulder strap. Thus, the choshen was suspended on the
settings of the ephod in front of him [the Kohen Gadol] over his heart. There
were two more rings on the two ends of the choshen, on the bottom of it.
Opposite them [there were] two rings on the two shoulder straps from below, at
its bottom end, which was attached to the belt. The rings of the choshen [were]
opposite the rings of the ephod, lying on each other. He would fasten them [the
rings] with a blue cord, inserted through the rings of the ephod and the
choshen, attached to the band of the ephod, so that the bottom of the choshen
would be attached to the band of the ephod, and it would not swing back and
forth. Of gold, blue, purple, and
crimson wool, and twisted fine linen: These five kinds [of substances] were twisted into each thread.
They [the workers] flattened the gold into a sort of thin plate and cut cords
out of them [the plates] and spun them, one thread of gold with six threads of
blue wool, and one thread of gold with six threads of purple wool, and
similarly with the crimson wool, and similarly with the linen, for the threads
of all the kinds were doubled six fold, and one thread of gold was [twisted]
with each one [kind of thread]. Afterwards, he would twist them all together.
Thus, their threads were doubled into twenty-eight strands. This is explained
in tractate Yoma (72a), and it is derived from the following verse (Exod.
39:3): “They flattened out the sheets of gold and he cut cords [out of them],
to work (the gold cords) into the blue wool, into the purple wool, etc.” We
learn that a thread of gold was twisted with every kind [of thread]. The work of a master weaver: Heb. מַעִשֵׂה חוֹשֵׁב. I have already
explained (Exod. 26:1) that this is the weaving of two “walls,” [and] that the
figures of its two sides are unlike one another.
8 And the skillfully woven band, which is upon it,
wherewith to gird it on, shall be like the work thereof and of the same piece:
of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined
linen. 9 And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the
names of the children of Israel: 10 six of their names on the one
stone, and the names of the six that remain on the other stone, according to
their birth.
The engraving was done
either by the fabled Shamir, special radioactive copper spread like a worm on
the surface, or acid engraving. Today we could do this by Laser Engraving.
11 With the work of an engraver in stone, like the
engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave the two stones, according to the
names of the children of Israel; thou shalt make them to be inclosed in settings
of gold.
The engraved stones are
placed in gold settings and placed on the shoulder pieces afterwards.
12 And thou shalt put the two stones upon
the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the children of
Israel; and Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD upon his two shoulders
for a memorial.
The Rabbis wondered if
there were six names of tribes on one side and six on the other or based on the
number of letters of the names have one tribe be named half on one and half on
the other so that the number of letters are the same. I tend to prefer the
first but the Rabbis had their reasons for this way or that way.
13 And thou shalt make settings of
gold; 14 and two chains of pure gold; of plaited thread shalt thou
make them, of wreathen work; and thou shalt put the wreathen chains on the
settings.
The chains and settings
would have to thick and of such quality to last centuries.
15 And thou shalt make a breastplate of judgment,
the work of the skillful workman; like the work of the ephod thou shalt make
it: of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, shalt
thou make it.
The colors especially the elusive Techeles
were rare and hard to obtain.
16 Four-square it shall be and double: a span
shall be the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof.
A span is half an Amos
aka half a cubit or 22.5 cm or 9 inches.
17 And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, four rows of stones: a row
of carnelian (rusty brown stone), topaz, and smaragd (type of emerald) shall be the first row;
The
following I brought down twice in the blogspot. This one was copy and pasted
from my writing in 5775 for I forgot about this a long time ago.
Hebrew:
אֹדֶם פִּטְדָה וּבָרֶקֶת Now the Carnelian or
Odem is on the top right corner per the model that I have before me and is
colored more pink than red but the Wikipedia calls it: Carnelian
(also spelled cornelian) is a reddish-brown mineral which is commonly used as a
semi-precious gemstone. Similar
to carnelian is sard, which is generally harder and darker. (The difference is
not rigidly defined, and the two names are often used interchangeably.) Both
carnelian and sard are varieties of the silica mineral chalcedony colored
by impurities of iron oxide. The
color can vary greatly, ranging from pale orange to an intense almost-black coloration. Rashi comments later on every one
according to his name: According
to the order of their [the progenitors of the tribes] births shall be the order
of the stones, Odem for Reuben, pitdah for Simeon, and similarly for all of
them. The stone can be clear, blue or
even an orange-red hue. The Medrash indicates that on the Odem was also the
names of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yacov but most commentaries I have seen seem to
hold the same way as Rashi. Shimon’s stone was white in nature. And Levy
bareket was green and the Hebrew Wikipedia calls it in English an Emerald as it
appears to me.
18 and the
second row a carbuncle, a sapphire, and an emerald;
Hebrew:
נֹפֶךְ סַפִּיר, וְיָהֲלֹם Nofach is for Yehuda
and a Yellow Diamond. Yissachar is the sapphire they have is not the dark blue
but purple in hue so I am not a gem expert but am uncertain to the little model
that I have at home and certainly my model has the wrong order of things
because the Yaalom or clear Diamond is way down in the wrong row clear cut
diamond. I went and googled the Sapphire for example and got this: Sapphire (Greek: sappheiros) refers to gem varieties of the mineral corundum, an aluminium oxide (Al2O3), when it is a color other
than red, in which case the gem would instead be a ruby. Trace amounts of other elements such as iron, titanium, or chromium can give corundum blue,
yellow, pink, purple, orange, or greenish color. Pink-orange corundum are also
sapphires, but are instead called padparadscha.
19 and the
third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst;
Hebrew:
לֶשֶׁם שְׁבוֹ, וְאַחְלָמָה The Leshem or jacinth
is light sky blue in color and is of the tribe of Yosef, the Shavu is very
orange brown in color and is used as a Camaya (charm) for pregnant women that
they should not have a natural miss abort and the tribe of Benyamin where Rachel
died in childbirth hence the Camaya.
Achlamach is a darker purple than the sapphire and is of the tribe of
Dan.
20 and the
fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper; they shall be enclosed in gold
in their settings.
Hebrew:
תַּרְשִׁישׁ וְשֹׁהַם, וְיָשְׁפֵה Tarshis is ivory
white and the tribe of Naphtali. Onyx or Shoham is jet black like the shoulder
pieces and is the tribe of Gad. Yispah or Jasper was a darkish brown and the
tribe of Asher.
After the enclosure in
gold they were then later mounted upon the Choshen (breast plate).
21 And the stones shall be according to the names of the children of
Israel, twelve, according to their names; like the engravings of a signet,
every one according to his name, they shall be for the twelve tribes.
I mentioned in passing that
each stone has a spiritual quality about it. For when HASHEM created the world,
HE created the four forms of incarnation. In animate, plant, animal and talking
(aka mankind). Each stone was created with such internal atomic frequencies,
chemicals and spiritual properties. In fact there is a woman in Yerushalayim
that has a store with a different gem for each and every birthday. For example:
in Sefer Yetzirah a Kabbalistic work it uses tribes for the various months of
the year and various stones for each tribe etc. So, if your birth month was a
ruby or topaz so the woman would have a ruby color of one shade for the start
of the month to the middle of the month to finally the end of the month.
21 And the stones shall be according to the names
of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names; like the
engravings of a signet, every one according to his name, they shall be for the
twelve tribes.
I mentioned in passing that
each stone has a spiritual quality about it. For when HASHEM created the world,
HE created the four forms of incarnation. In animate, plant, animal and talking
(aka mankind). Each stone was created with such internal atomic frequencies,
chemicals and spiritual properties. In fact there is a woman in Yerushalayim
that has a store with a different gem for each and every birthday. For example:
in Sefer Yetzirah a Kabbalistic work it uses tribes for the various months of
the year and various stones for each tribe etc. So if your birth month was a
ruby or topaz so the woman would have a ruby color of one shade for the start
of the month to the middle of the month to finally the end of the month.
I have a lot of Kabbalistic
questions in my head such as why this material and these colors? Is it because
in the times of the Exodus they were rare and costly or because when their
atomic frequencies are put together with the Aron and the other materials like
the belt and breastplate (Avnet V’ Ephod) they produced an atmosphere for the
Shechina to rest there? Of all the rare stones in the world why these? Why did
the Ephod have such and such an order both the top row and then the stone/tribe
underneath? Besides the special power of the frequencies of the stones, was
there more Kabbalistic significance to the order and what is/was it? However,
with my stage of learning and various duties, these questions may always remain
unanswered for me in my lifetime and only after 120 years will I know.
Stephanie
L. posted this which is one of many pictures of what the garment looked like.
You could also look it up on the Temple Institute site: http://ravkooktorah.org/TETZAVEH59.htm
22 And thou shalt make upon the breastplate
plaited chains of wreathen work of pure gold. 23 And thou shalt make
upon the breastplate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings on the two
ends of the breastplate. 24 And thou shalt put the two wreathen
chains of gold on the two rings at the ends of the breastplate.
Each stone on the Breast
Plate had a name of a tribe engraved and the entire garment from Mitre with “Holy
unto HASHEM” and the bells on the bottom was an astonishing sight to see.
25 And the other two ends of the two wreathen
chains thou shalt put on the two settings, and put them on the shoulder-pieces
of the ephod, in the forepart thereof. 26 And thou shalt make two
rings of gold, and thou shalt put them upon the two ends of the breastplate,
upon the edge thereof, which is toward the side of the ephod inward.
These Pasukim and the
ones afterwards have help the Temple Institute reconstruct the Ephod.
27 And thou shalt make two rings of gold, and shalt
put them on the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod underneath, in the forepart
thereof, close by the coupling thereof, above the skillfully woven band of the
ephod. 28 And they shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof
unto the rings of the ephod with a thread of blue, that it may be upon the skillfully
woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed from the
ephod. 29 And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in
the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goes in unto the holy
place, for a memorial before the LORD continually. 30 And thou shalt
put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be
upon Aaron's heart, when he goes in before the LORD; and Aaron shall bear the
judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the LORD
continually.
Aaron or Aharon meaning
the Cohain Gadol and not your average Priest. How he judged was the holy use of
the Urim and Thummim whish has been lost to us until the days of Moshiach.
31 And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all
of blue. 32 And it shall have a hole for the head in the midst thereof;
it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were
the hole of a coat of mail that it be not rent. 33 And upon the
skirts of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of
scarlet, round about the skirts thereof; and bells of gold between them round
about: 34 a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a
pomegranate, upon the skirts of the robe round about. 35 And it shall
be upon Aaron to minister; and the sound thereof shall be heard when he goes in
unto the holy place before the LORD, and when he cometh out, that he dies
not.
When the Shechina heard
the bells, it lowered the level of glorified brightness and perhaps holy song
that the Cohain Gadol could go in and out and live on Yom Kippur.
On Yom Kippur there is
song that describes the joy of the Cohain Gadol entitle in HEB. MAR-EH COHAIN. The
song is about the gleam or glow from the face of the Cohain.
36 And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and
engrave upon it, like the engravings of a signet: HOLY TO THE LORD.
Once the NAME OF HASHEM
was engraved on the Mitre, the Cohanim could not lift their arms higher that
the head of the Cohain Gadol because of the name.
37 And thou shalt put it on a thread of blue, and it
shall be upon the mitre; upon the forefront of the mitre it shall
be. 38 And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, and Aaron shall bear
the iniquity committed in the holy things, which the children of Israel shall
hallow, even in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead,
that they may be accepted before the LORD. 39 And thou shalt weave
the tunic in chequer work of fine linen, and thou shalt make a mitre of fine
linen, and thou shalt make a girdle, the work of the weaver in colors.
If you have not googled
the Mishkan, Temple Institute, Garments of High Priest then do so.
40 And for Aaron's sons thou shalt make tunics,
and thou shalt make for them girdles, and head-tires shalt thou make for them,
for splendor and for beauty. 41 And thou shalt put them upon Aaron
thy brother, and upon his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate
them, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto Me in the priest's
office.
Plain white tunics with
pants underneath and a belt.
42 And thou shalt make them linen breeches to
cover the flesh of their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they
shall reach.
This is not like the
Scots in Kilts, Arabs in their Galabia.
43 And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his
sons, when they go in unto the tent of meeting, or when they come near unto the
altar to minister in the holy place; that they bear not iniquity, and die; it
shall be a statute forever unto him and unto his seed after him. 29:1 And this is the thing that thou shalt
do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto Me in the priest's office: take
one young bullock and two rams without blemish,
2 and unleavened bread, and cakes
unleavened mingled with oil, and wafers unleavened spread with oil; of fine
wheaten flour shalt thou make them. 3 And thou shalt put them into
one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bullock and the two
rams.
This is the consecration
of Aharon and his sons for eternal Kahuna.
4 And Aaron and his sons thou
shalt bring unto the door of the tent of meeting, and shalt wash them with
water. 5 And thou shalt take the garments, and put-upon Aaron the
tunic, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird
him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod. 6 And thou shalt set
the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre.
The first section was
how to dedicate now it is how to consecrate the Cohanim and Mizbaychim.
7 Then shalt thou take the
anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him. 8 And thou
shalt bring his sons, and put tunics upon them. 9 And thou shalt gird
them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and bind head-tires on them; and they
shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute; and thou shalt consecrate
Aaron and his sons. 10 And thou shalt bring the bullock before the
tent of meeting; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of
the bullock. 11 And thou shalt (kill) not kill but ritually slaughter the bullock before the LORD, at the
door of the tent of meeting. 12 And thou shalt take of the blood of
the bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger; and thou
shalt pour out all the remaining blood at the base of the altar.
13 And thou shalt take all the
fat that covers the inwards, and the lobe above the liver, and the two kidneys,
and the fat that is upon them, and make them smoke upon the altar. 14 But
the flesh of the bullock, and its skin, and its dung, shalt thou burn with fire
without the camp; it is a sin-offering. 15 Thou shalt also take the
one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of the
ram. 16 And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take its blood,
and dash it roundabout against the altar. 17 And thou shalt cut the
ram into its pieces, and wash its inwards, and its legs, and put them with its
pieces, and with its head. 18 And thou shalt make the whole ram smoke
upon the altar; it is a burnt-offering unto the LORD; it is a sweet savor, an
offering made by fire unto the LORD.
That is the first half
of the dedication of the various altars and now for Dedication of the Cohain
using the right side.
19 And thou shalt take the other
ram; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of the
ram. 20 Then shalt thou slaughter the ram, and take of its blood, and put it upon the tip of
the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon
the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and
dash the blood against the altar round about. 21 And thou shalt take
of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it
upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of
his sons with him; and he and his garments shall be hallowed, and his sons and
his sons' garments with him. ... 24 And thou shalt put the whole upon
the hands of Aaron, and upon the hands of his sons; and shalt wave them for a
wave-offering before the LORD. 25 And thou shalt take them from their
hands, and make them smoke on the altar upon the burnt-offering, for a sweet
savor before the LORD; it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD. 26 And
thou shalt take the breast of Aaron's ram of consecration, and wave it for a
wave-offering before the LORD; and it shall be thy portion. 27 And
thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave-offering, and the thigh of the
heave-offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of
consecration, even of that which is Aaron's, and of that which is his
sons'.
This complete Moshe dedicating
Aaron and children.
28 And it shall be for Aaron and
his sons as a due for ever from the children of Israel; for it is a
heave-offering; and it shall be a heave-offering from the children of Israel of
their sacrifices of peace-offerings, even their heave-offering unto the
LORD.
From now on.
29 And the holy garments of Aaron
shall be for his sons after him, to be anointed in them, and to be consecrated
in them. 30 Seven days shall the son that is priest in his stead put
them on, even he who cometh into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy
place.
It takes 7 days to
dedicate this eternal Kahuna.
31 And thou shalt take the ram of
consecration, and seethe its flesh in a holy place. 32 And Aaron and
his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket,
at the door of the tent of meeting. … 36 And every day shalt thou
offer the bullock of sin-offering, beside the other offerings of atonement; and
thou shalt do the purification upon the altar when thou make atonement for it;
and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it. 37 Seven days thou shalt
make atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; thus, shall the altar be most
holy; whatsoever touches the altar shall be holy.
This concludes dedication
of altars and priests.
38 Now this is that which thou
shalt offer upon the altar: two lambs of the first-year day by day
continually. 39 The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the
other lamb thou shalt offer at dusk. 40 And with the one lamb a tenth
part of an ephah of fine flour mingled with the fourth part of a hin of beaten
oil; and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a
drink-offering. 41 And the other lamb thou shalt offer at dusk, and
shalt do thereto according to the meal-offering of the morning, and according
to the drink-offering thereof, for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire unto
the LORD.
This is the daily
offering called the Korban Tamid.
42 It shall be a continual
burnt-offering throughout your generations at the door of the tent of meeting
before the LORD, where I will meet with you, to speak there unto thee.
43 And there I will meet with the
children of Israel; and [the Tent] shall be sanctified by My
glory. 44 And I will sanctify the tent of meeting, and the altar;
Aaron also and his sons will I sanctify, to minister to Me in the priest's
office. 45 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be
their God. 46 And they shall know that I am the LORD
their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell
among them. I am the LORD their God.
The LRD will dwell among
us.
30:1 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon; of
acacia-wood shalt thou make it. 2 A cubit shall be the length
thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be; and two
cubits shall be the height thereof; the horns thereof shall be of one piece
with it. 3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof,
and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make
unto it a crown of gold round about.
This is the golden
Mizbayach and how it is transported.
4 And two golden rings shalt thou
make for it under the crown thereof, upon the two ribs thereof, upon the two
sides of it shalt thou make them; and they shall be for places for staves
wherewith to bear it. 5 And thou shalt make the staves of
acacia-wood, and overlay them with gold. 6 And thou shalt put it
before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the ark-cover that
is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.
7 And Aaron shall burn thereon
incense of sweet spices; every morning, when he dresses the lamps, he shall
burn it. 8 And when Aaron light the lamps at dusk, he shall burn it,
a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.
Ner Tamid an eternal light. The light did not go out until either the
capture of the Mishkan or destruction of the first Mikdash. The dedication was
in 2449 and lasted until 3338 and the Beis Sheni lasted only 420 years after
which we have been almost 2000 years in darkness.
9 Ye shall offer no strange
incense thereon, nor burnt-offering, nor meal-offering; and ye shall pour no
drink-offering thereon.
This was mentioned
before two young sons of Aharon would drink wine and get consumed.
10 And Aaron shall make atonement
upon the horns of it once in the year; with the blood of the sin-offering of
atonement once in the year shall he make atonement for it throughout your
generations; it is most holy unto the LORD.'
Only the Cohain Gadol
could make this pouring on Yom Kippur.
Parsha Zachor
The wicked Haman was
from Amalek and we read this Remembrance of him and all Amalek before Purim.
Devarim 25:17 17 Remember what Amalek did unto
thee by the way as ye came forth out of Egypt; 18 how he met thee by
the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, all that were enfeebled in thy rear,
when thou were faint and weary; and he feared not God. 19 Therefore
it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given you rest from all thine enemies
round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance
to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under
heaven; thou shalt not forget.
The following three
stories were previous published in my Blogspot in 5779.
From 5776: The Hebrews by
Alan Magill thanks to Judith
In retrospect,
what a beautiful French Canadian woman said to me on the Atlantic City
Boardwalk many, many, many Summers ago should have made perfect sense.
But at the time, it threw me for a loop. “Alan, what religion...you?” she
asked, with fractured syntax but clear intent.
Only hours before I was
unattached, living the dream of a writer in that city by the sea, thrilled by
what I was discovering by my words on paper and less than happy by my failure
to make connections with people in the real world. I certainly wasn’t
thinking about religion. Yes, I was Jewish, but since my Bar Mitzvah a
decade ago I had rarely stepped inside a synagogue.
Only hours before that
question about religion, I was sitting in the lobby of a fancy hotel watching a
baseball game on a television that my small boarding house type establishment
didn’t provide.
Suddenly, the play by play
man’s voice was drowned out by the sweet sound of young ladies laughing,
speaking French words hurriedly. I looked up and saw these ladies walking
through the lobby and out the door, no doubt excited by what awaited
them. I was surprised to see that one of them had stayed behind, and she
looked so lonely...like the rest of the ladies had abandoned her.
That wasn’t nice. I
would do something about that. No one deserves to be alone.
I was painfully aware of that myself.
I walked over to her
smiling, and she smiled back. Ahhhhhh!!!!! A connection, that I so
very much wanted, appeared to be in the offing.
“Are you new to Atlantic
City?” I asked. Her face screwed up in consternation. She was
struggling to make some sense of what I had said.
“Knew,” she said, in her
strong French accent “I know, he knows, he knew?.”
“No,” I said, smiling.
“Never mind.”
Through a lot of back and
forth I learned that she was from a tour group from Quebec and that she
understood English by conjugating verbs into a form that she understood, and
that she was from a small farm and that the other girls in the group, from the
bigger cities, had nothing in common with her and wanted nothing to do with
her. I certainly wanted something to do with her...I wanted to help
her...I wanted to make her feel at home...wanted her to feel that she belonged.
I motioned with my arm that
she should come with me out the door and that I would show her around.
“Please,” I said smiling, and her smile met mine in the sweetest connection I
had known since I had come to Atlantic City a month ago.
As I showed her the sights,
we got to know each other a little better. I asked her name and when she
said it was Joanne, I told her that I had a friend named Joanne back home and
that I had bought her flowers for her birthday.
“Bought?,” she said,
concentrating hard. “I buy. He buys. He bought.”
“Yes!” I said.
“Yes!” she said.
We laughed.
And that’s the way the whole
night went. Me talking and her conjugating all my verbs. I was
flattered. Unlike everyone else who seemed to be in a rush, she took the
time to listen and cared about every word I said.
I took her on rides at
amusement piers, we played games of chance, I bought her an ice cream, I helped
her pick our postcards and we did all the things that people do in the excitement
of having first met.
By now, it was late at night
and there was a full moon. I led her to a bench looking out at the
ocean. We listened to the waves gently lapping to the nearby shore.
From a distance I heard a radio playing a Frank Sinatra song, “Strangers in the
Night.” I was at peace and I felt so connected to her.
I looked in her eyes and she
into mine. If ever two strangers had met, this was it.
I imagined us friends and even more than friends. I moved
closer to her and she held her gaze on me. This was one of the happiest
moments of my life. We were in total sync.
Then she asked THAT
QUESTION. “Alan, what religion...you?”
I was stunned. Where
did that come from? Just when everything was going so well.
What scared me was that I had to think – only a half second to be
sure – before I could come up with the answer.
“Jewish,” I said.
Gone was her smile.
Her face screwed up in consternation.
“Ooooooooish?,” she asked.
“No...Jewish,” I said.
“No understand,” she replied.
And then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Here I was feeling so connected
to her and she didn’t even know the slightest thing about who I was. And
what’s worse, I didn’t appear to know that much about it either.
Suddenly my connection to my
Jewishness became very important to me. Here was a young lady from a
distant small farm who had never heard of us and I was going to make sure that
before we parted she would know who we were. I remembered something about
how we’re supposed to be “A light unto the nations.” Well, now it was
time for me to shine some of that light on her.
I conjured up every bit of
learning that I could recall from my after-school rabbi who I went to for one
year to learn my Bar Mitzvah Parsha and whatever else he could get in.
I was telling Joanne, “You
know, the people from Abraham, Issac and Jacob!”
“No...no...no,” she said.
“We were slaves in
Egypt. G-d sent Moses to lead us out. G-d brought ten plagues upon
the Egyptians...you must have heard about us!”
“I’m sorry...No!”
I told her about the parting
of the Red Sea, how we were saved and how the Egyptians drowned. I told
her, with great joy in my heart, how G-d led us to Mount Sinai where we got the
Ten Commandments.
Joanne just looked at
me like I was speaking a foreign language, which of course I was.
“Oh well,” I said, conceding
defeat. “I guess everyone hasn’t heard of us Hebrews.”
A flash of recognition in
her eyes. “Hebrews,” she said.
“It’s familiar?” I asked.
“Yes, Hebrews!” she said
with great emotion.
“This is great. You’ve
heard of us.”
Bubbly, she stated,
“Hebrews, and then added, “He bring. He brung. He brew.”
I wanted to laugh very hard,
but I knew that wouldn’t be fair to her.
I just smiled and she smiled
back.
And now looking back at this
many decades later, I see that Joanne’s non-sequitur question about religion
made perfect sense. "He bring, He brung, He brew"...
Through all of the verb tenses -- past, present and future -- I am a
Jew. Now, married, religious and committed to Yiddishkeit I
see that on that night and many other nights that Hashem was watching over me,
and leading me away from connections that were not in my best interests toward
those connections that are truly part and parcel of who I am.
From
Beth Sarafraz: Lola Lieber Queen Esther of the Holocaust
When Lola
Lieber’s husband, Mechel, was arrested by
the Nazis during the Holocaust, she did the unthinkable. Posing as a gentile,
she walked into the Gestapo headquarters and asked to speak to whoever was in
charge.
She told the receptionist that she had an appointment with
SS Lieutenant-Colonel Adolf Eichmann, Gestapo Chief and overseer of Hitler’s Final Solution — the extermination
of European Jewry. She was dressed to kill and the clerk probably thought that
Eichmann had an interest in seeing her.
Confronting the infamous number two Nazi — whom she later
said looked like a mild-mannered accountant — she told him her husband was not
a Jew and had been picked up by accident, arrested by mistake. Eichmann picked
up the phone to call the jail where Mechel was being held; it became obvious
the ploy would not work. All the jailers would have to do to determine if a man
was Jewish was check if he was circumcised.
Hearing Eichmann on the phone, she understood how badly
things would play out. Lola turned and, as calmly as possible, began to stroll
out the door, keeping up her pretense of innocence even while expecting a
bullet in the back.
Miraculously, no one stopped her. Lola had displayed the truest
love of all, vanquishing fear, when put to the harshest test. Soon after,
Mechel successfully escaped and miraculously reunited with his beloved bride.
I met Lola in 2011, at a Yom HaShoah commemoration
held at Brooklyn’s Yeshivah of Flatbush. She and her son, Hershel, seated on
the stage, had a back-and-forth conversation under the spotlights about her
years in Europe, running from the Nazis. The segments selected to discuss on that
stage totally stunned the audience, myself included.
She was only 15 when the Nazis burst into the apartment
building in Krakow, Poland, where she lived at that time, with her family.
Going door to door, the uniformed jack-booted German soldiers terrorized
families. At one point in the terrifying episode, Lola watched as one Nazi
picked up an infant by its feet and swung it into a door, whereupon its head
was smashed open.
Yet, Lola was a fearless woman who survived the Holocaust.
At the time of her death in 2014 at the age of 91, she was the mother of three,
grandmother of 12, great-grandmother of 50, great-great-grandmother of four, a
successful artist, and author of A World After This: A Memoir of Loss and Redemption.
The book’s title came from something her husband told her
on their wedding day. She was barely 18 when she married Mechel Lieber in a
wartime, low-key, poor bride wedding. The 1941 ceremony was held in a rabbi’s
backyard, in a little Polish town called Niepolomice.
A bed sheet covered the table; there was no wedding gown
for the bride. The family gave money to a peasant to purchase duck for the
wedding dinner, but he spent it all getting drunk in a bar. The family then
paid a fishmonger to obtain the main course, but instead of purchasing fish for
the feast, he disappeared — likely under the bar stool next to the duck dealer.
In the end, a relative cooked up sour eggs for a main course.
Even more depressing — for an Orthodox Jewish girl — the
wartime setting of utter destitution meant she had to marry without a minyan,
outside of a shul. After the wedding, the bride wept until her young
husband answered her in a way that proved him wise, tender, and compassionate
beyond his years.
“We will survive this era. It is temporary. There will be a
world after this,” said Mechel Lieber. “And, if we don’t survive — G-d forbid —
but if we do not, at least, Lola, at least we have been married.”
The Nazis were savage predators fixated on hunting down
unarmed innocents who ran and hid in homemade bunkers, like Mechel's family.
After one particularly vicious hide-and-seek raid, Lola and Mechel found them
all shot to death in the bunker where they had been hiding from the Nazis.
Risking discovery and certain death, the couple loaded the
bodies into a wheelbarrow and transported them to the town’s Jewish cemetery.
There, the young couple dug out the frozen earth until
their hands bled, in order to bury them together. One of the victims, a little
girl who was her husband’s sister, died holding a doll in her hand. Lola buried
the child still clutching the doll. They paused to whisper the Kaddish prayer
for the dead, while also praying the soldiers of the Reich would not discover
them performing this “illegal” final act of decency and holiness. Miraculously,
they were not caught.
Years later, Lola painted two horrifying pictures of that
event: “Bochnia: On the Way to the Cemetery” and “Bochnia: Burying the Dead.”
In the first, a grief-stricken Mechel with head hanging pushes a wheelbarrow
piled with bodies, lifeless arms hanging off the sides, with Lola trying to
keep them from falling out.
In the second, like the next frame in a film, the bodies of
murdered family members are lying face up in a homemade grave. Mechel is frozen
in time holding up a shovelful of earth to cover them over. Lola sits on the
frozen ground covering her mouth, silencing a scream.
No photograph of that tragic scene exists, but the
paintings suggest that Lola went outside herself that day — spiritually — to
view herself, Mechel, and the corpses of beloved family members under a bleak,
gray, freezing Polish sky.
Lola went on to save the esteemed Bobover Rebbe Halberstam and his entire family
from imminent death at the hand of the Nazis in Poland’s Bochnia ghetto. There,
the German Commander Schomburg offered her safe passage out of the killing zone
because she was able to convince him, by chatting about goulash, pastries and a
popular Hungarian song, that she was from Munkach in Hungary and thus not
subject to Nazi decrees in Bochnia.
However, instead of seizing this gift of life and running
with it, she requested permission to take all of her relatives with her,
assuring the Nazi that every last one of them was from Hungary and therefore,
also exempt. Miraculously, he gave permission for all of them to leave. That
night, Lola forged birth certificates for her entire family, plus “extended”
members — the Bobover Rebbe and his family, insuring their safe passage out of
doomed Bochnia. For this selfless act, the Rebbe was grateful to the core of
his being, calling Lola a “modern day Queen Esther.”
In Budapest, with Russians soldiers pouring into that city,
the war was supposed to be over, or so Mechel and Lola thought. In the days
leading up to Liberation, Lola was starving and very ill. Someone who had
found precious noodles and boiled them in water, offered the leftover water to
Lola. She drank it and was grateful. She did not curse the person who withheld
the noodles from her. Even at the point of death, the essence of her being
whispered, “Gam zu l’tova (this too is for the good).”
But the Russians had scores to settle with their enemies.
Conquering Russian soldiers mistakenly thought that Lola and Mechel were German
spies and forced the couple up against a wall, ordering them to put their hands
up, and trained their machine guns on them.
A moment before the firing began, Lola and Mechel looked up
to Heaven. “We started to scream Shema Yisrael and waited for the
shots,” said Lola. But then a miracle occurred. At that very moment, another
Russian soldier — who understood Hebrew and who was “coincidentally” passing by
— screamed even louder, “Don’t kill them! They’re Jews!”
Thus, the Liebers survived the war. In January 1946, Lola
gave birth to their first child, Hershel, in a Munich hospital. “I was a
celebrity,” says Hershel about the circumstances of his birth — a Jewish baby
born on German soil. He had a brit milah
(circumcision) and a pidyon haben
(redemption of the first-born) attended by American Jewish soldiers stationed
in Germany.
Meanwhile they waited for their visas. Luckily, Mechel had
family members in Williamsburg, Brooklyn — the American Liebers, who ran a
well-known chocolate manufacturing company. These good people pledged to be
financially responsible for their surviving family members who arrived in New
York in 1947, leaving Munich on the military-type cargo ship, the S.S. Ernie
Pyle.
Mechel went to work as a hosiery salesman, selling nylon
stockings instead of the pre-war silk ones. Two more children, Yossi and Mati,
were born. Hershel remembers these as happy years, especially at their Passover
seders. “Of course we read the Haggadah, recalling the Jewish Exodus out
of bondage in Egypt. But over the dinner, my mother and father told the stories
of their own flight to freedom,” from the blood-soaked graveyard of Nazi Europe
to America, home of liberty and justice for all — including Jews.
Happily ever after ended in 1966, when Mechel died of
cancer. With the heroic young husband of her dreams gone, Lola mourned greatly,
but then she did what survivors do — she remarried. Twice.
She also painted fast and furiously — “over 1,500
paintings” according to Hershel. “About 10-12 of them were Holocaust themes and
of these, four went to Yad Vashem in Israel.” She also painted
flower-filled landscapes. “But her specialty,” says Hershel, “was doing
portraits. She painted all the rebbes – the Bobover, the Belzer, the Gerer, the
Lubavitcher, and both Satmar rebbes.”
Then Hershel talked her into writing a book. “I grew up
hearing her stories and my father’s stories at the seders — about
pre-war, during-war, after-war. I encouraged her to set down these stories in
writing. She began recording them and we found an editor to pull it all
together into a book, published in 2010.”
Lola was 87 years old when the book came out. “It was the
harbinger of a whole new thing — going to schools to speak about the
Holocaust,” recalls Hershel. Lola gave these talks at Bais Yaakov schools in
Los Angeles, Miami, and Brooklyn, at Brooklyn’s Yeshiva of Flatbush, and at
Kingsborough College — the latter with its student body comprised of gentiles
and Jews.
At first Hershel recalls “she was petrified.” But then,
seeing all those young people rapt with attention hanging on her every word she
relaxed, understanding she was handing over the history of a generation,
speaking for all those murdered Jews who could not speak for themselves. She
was bearing witness.
Lola passed away on the ninth of Cheshvan, the same yahrzeit
as Mechel — on the 48th anniversary of his death. “The chances for that to
happen are one in about 350, going by the Jewish calendar,” says Hershel.
Her daughter, Manti Jacobovits, explained to me the hidden
meaning behind such an unlikely occurrence. “They say your neshama, your
soul, comes down to the world on your yahrzeit. Friday morning, my
mother was ill in the hospital, but the rest of us went to the cemetery to pray
at my father’s grave. We knew he was ‘in the neighborhood’ because his yahrzeit
was the next day. We asked him to help our mother, because she was
suffering. We left and went home to make Shabbos. Our mother died motzei
Shabbos,” Mati said, with a catch in her voice. “I think my father — her
beloved husband — decided she’d had 91 years and maybe that was enough; maybe
it was time to come home with him.”
“Her legacy,” says her oldest son, “is not only about her
Holocaust experiences, nor her talent as an accomplished artist. She was a
loving, giving, caring woman. There wasn’t a person who met her who didn’t fall
in love with her.”
She was someone “who saw that everything comes from G-d,”
her daughter-in-law, Pesi Lieber, had told me after the 2011 Yom HaShoah
presentation. She was a survivor who believed it was important to speak out
about the Holocaust “to make sure it won’t happen again,” her other
daughter-in-law, Idii Lieber, added.
In summing up her thoughts after completing the unique,
compelling, emotionally wrenching presentation that night, Lola had said:
“Cherish your parents and siblings and children. It’s terrible to lose
everybody.”
Watching the stunned, tearful men and women in the audience
file out that night, slowly processing in their minds the unspeakable horrors
spoken of by a mother and son, on that specially designated day for remembering
the murder of six million Jews, the last thing Lola Lieber said to me was,
“Let’s hope it will never happen again.”
Beth Sarafraz is a freelance published writer living in Brooklyn, New
York. Click here to read more of this writer’s
work in The
Jerusalem Herald.
When
Lincoln fought for the Jews by Steven J. Kessler http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/258959
During
Black History Month, we recognize the historical importance of President
Abraham Lincoln as the foremost figure in the battle to abolish slavery. But
even as Lincoln, whose 210th birthday we mark on Feb. 12, is widely known for
his role fighting for equality, he may still be underappreciated. In fact, as a
moral compass and a role model for liberty, his influence extends far beyond
the specific events for which he is most well-known.
In Lincoln’s time, like today, the issue
of equality was relevant to many minority groups. While Jews had been living in
America for centuries by the time of Lincoln’s presidency, anti-Semitism was
widespread, even among the abolitionists.
While the Civil War raged in late 1862,
Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant wanted to stop the trade of Southern cotton. A
number of Jews were involved in the cotton trade, including some in black
market activity, and on Dec. 17, Grant issued a shocking order calling for the
expulsion of all Jews from a wide swath of the South.
Fortunately, the order had little impact
because of faulty army communications – and to President Lincoln. When Lincoln
heard that Grant was attempting to banish Jews, he quickly reversed the order.
“To condemn a class is, to say the
least, to wrong the good with the bad,” Lincoln said. “I do not like to hear a
class or nationality condemned on account of a few sinners.”
To Lincoln, prejudice was abhorrent, and
expelling one minority while fighting for the rights of another was
unthinkable. It’s noteworthy that Grant, who made the order banishing Jews from
the area he commanded, regretted his actions later in life. In fact, when he
served as president, Grant actively worked to promote Jewish interests in the
United States and abroad, bringing Jews into the federal government at an
unprecedented rate. Grant later indicated that he had issued the order without
fully thinking it through, but his pro-Jewish actions later in life can perhaps
be attributed in part to the moral leadership Lincoln displayed in rejecting
the order.
On a deeper level, Lincoln can also be
seen as the man who truly deserves credit for upholding the idea that “all men
are created equal.” While Thomas Jefferson first expressed the sentiment in the
Declaration of Independence in 1776, for some 90 years the principle was
selectively applied at best. But Lincoln didn’t just speak this value, he
practiced it.
In the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates of
1858, Lincoln emphasized how applying exceptions to the phrase “all men are
created equal” is a logical fallacy.
“If one man says it does not mean a
negro, why not another say it does not mean some other man? If that declaration
is not the truth, let us get the Statute book in which we find it and tear it
out!” he said.
The notion of limiting equality was, to
Lincoln, a clear rejection of the phrase’s keyword: “all.”
The message of equality that Lincoln
fought for was instrumental in abolishing slavery. But it was also a major
factor in shaping America into a country that held freedom as a value worth
fighting for.
And over the following decades,
generations of Americans absorbed the values that Lincoln championed and Grant
came to appreciate: That oppression against minorities was intolerable,
regardless of the minority.
The fight to defeat the Axis powers in
World War II is often called “The Good War” because of the atrocities committed
by the Nazis and the widespread understanding that the war was a battle for
justice. While it’s true that the America of the 1940s was far from reaching
true equality, the underlying values Lincoln stood for were embedded in the
hearts of American soldiers.
Take the story of Leon Bass, an
African-American native of Philadelphia, who served in a segregated unit during
World War II. He was conflicted about being asked to risk his life for a
country where he only held second-class status. But when Bass liberated the
Buchenwald concentration camp with the American troops, he felt compassion for
the prisoners he encountered.
“I began to realize,” Bass later said,
“that human suffering is not relegated just to me and mine. Human suffering
touches everybody.”
Meeting victims of Nazism transformed
Leon Bass from a man who was understandably conflicted about his situation to a
leader who advocated for social justice for all oppressed people. After the
war, Bass spent decades lecturing to audiences about his experiences in the war
and the importance of defeating tyranny and hatred.
When the Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust
Memorial Plaza – a new public plaza devoted to Holocaust remembrance – opened
in Philadelphia several months ago, Bass’ story was included on its Six
Pillars, which contrast themes of the Holocaust with American constitutional
protections and values.
Just one foot away from the pillar
devoted to Leon Bass and “Liberation” stands another pillar, which is inscribed
with the Declaration of Independence’s powerful statement that “all men are
created equal.” In the 1850s and 1860s, President Lincoln served as a bridge
between the Declaration and Americans who fought the Nazis in the 1940s. In the
19th century, Lincoln underscored the 18th-century Declaration’s call for
equality, giving 20th-century American soldiers the passion to fight to
liberate the oppressed.
While many Holocaust survivors may not
have heard of President Lincoln when the war ended in 1945, there is no doubt
that they benefited from the great strides he took in the cause for liberty.
Lincoln may already have his place on
Mount Rushmore, but we should also be sure to include him in the pantheon of
global leaders who persisted in the cause of freedom. Because if we embrace the
spirit of Lincoln, we can hold out hope that government of the people, by the
people, for all people, will not perish from the earth.
Rabbi Amar on the cause of
earthquakes take it or leave it. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-732914
Milestone: Walter Mirisch, 101,
producer of “West Side Story”, “Some Like It Hot”, “Fidler on
the Roof”. https://www.timesofisrael.com/walter-mirisch-oscar-winning-filmmaker-who-produced-west-side-story-dies-at-101/
Inyanay Diyoma
With all the left and newspapers and
main TV Channels aligned as in the States (NYT, Washington Post, CNN, CNBC,
etc.) like a happening party 160,000 top estimate rally in Tel Aviv and
elsewhere a big boy meet girl teen party. https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-february-25-2023/
Shooting from and detention of
terrorist. https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-palestinian-man-detained-for-allegedly-firing-at-outpost/
VA health study on preventing vision
loss. https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-732700
Turkish Probe into the death of
50,000 quake victims. https://www.jpost.com/international/article-732710
Russia closes oil pipeline to
Poland. https://www.jpost.com/international/article-732705
Schumer and McConnell meet with PM. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-732675
New model shows Unlike
“junk email” that is automatically deleted from the email box, “junk DNA”
continues to exist in living creatures like as bacteria, insects, mammals and
even us humans, alongside the original genome – thus the genome grows
throughout evolution. https://www.jpost.com/science/article-732614
Key Financer of Hezballah arrested. https://www.timesofisrael.com/key-hezbollah-financier-global-terrorist-arrested-in-bucharest/
Iran still wants to murder Trump and
Pompeo has new cruise missile. https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-unveils-new-paveh-cruise-missile-that-can-reach-israel/
5th Fleet watching naval
vessels and Iran. With all the left and newspapers and main TV Channels aligned
as in the States (NYT, Washington Post, CNN, CNBC, etc.) like a happening party
160,000 top estimate rally in Tel Aviv and elsewhere a big boy meet girl teen
party. https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-february-25-2023/
2 Jews murdered transversing Huwara.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367980
The previous headline was reducing
counter terrorism. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367976
Summit meeting with PLO. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367967
Illegal Arab Take-over of former
settlements. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367978
After the murders this headline
reversed as death penalty will be legislated. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367972
Satmar Beis Medrash burns down. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367975
Radio said that demonstration and
riot in Tel Aviv was with 130,000 per police.
Jewish Democratic Candidate turns
into J Street. https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/02/jewish-democratic-council-of-america-attacks-israeli-government
Desecration of Polish Jewish
Cemetery. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/s1k51jurj
Proposed law: PM can only be removed
for health reasons. https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-february-26-2023/
Rebuilding the “Tower of David”. https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-experts-removed-rebuilt-top-of-iconic-tower-of-david-amid-fears-of-collapse/
Sports Exec suffered antisemitism
when Red Socks did poorly. https://www.timesofisrael.com/red-sox-exec-chaim-bloom-says-hes-suffered-antisemitism-over-baseball-teams-woes/
Iran frees Spanish Woman. https://www.timesofisrael.com/spain-announces-woman-detained-by-iran-has-been-freed/
Antisemite uninvited to sing in
German City. https://www.jpost.com/j-spot/article-732677
Russia launches craft to rescue
Astronaut and Cosmonaut. https://www.jpost.com/international/article-732650
Drug smuggling the from Lebanon 2nd
time in a week. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367943
We must increase our efforts against
Iran. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367944
Intern Dr. killed by Elephant in
Nepal Park. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367947
DeSantis leads against Trump in
poll. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367937
Poll Lapid gains Likud loses seats. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367915
Mossad will let employees protest under
conditions. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367939
The night the Jews went crazy after
murders. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367997
We must now take the law into our
hands. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368000
More IDF in Yehuda and Shomron. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367998
VA adopts IHRA definition of
antisemitism. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368006
Papua New Guinea to open up Jeru.
Embassy. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368007
IDF again evacuates Evyatar. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368013
Somebody is lying to someone. https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-rushes-to-deny-settlement-freeze-announced-after-aqaba-summit/
Knesset to modify law in favor of
Judges. https://www.timesofisrael.com/rothman-proposes-12-or-13-on-high-court-instead-of-unanimous-15-to-nullify-a-law/
More Arab Mafia Murders. https://www.timesofisrael.com/2-shot-dead-in-suspected-gangland-killing-in-north/
Ed-Op: Neither side can win on
Judicial Reform. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bk2d6wmci
PLO waste fires are toxic. https://www.ynetnews.com/environment/article/sk9folhco
Ed-Op Intifada may have stared. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hk86o2ecs
Victims of Terror sue Biden Admin. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367059
Molten rock allows tectonic plates
to move but does not cause earthquakes. https://www.jpost.com/science/article-730821
Taiwan learns from Ukraine-Russia
War speeds up Drone Production. https://www.jpost.com/international/article-730817
Cancers would starve without this
protein. https://www.jpost.com/science/article-730638
Famous Matzo factory may not produce
this Pesach. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367245
Nord Steam Explosions likely US
doing. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367189
A few days ago explosions in Iran
was it a drill or attack? https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367897
BDE family dies in Kiriat Yoel Fire.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367865
Last week Crown Heights man
viciously beaten after accident. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367875
Bio-Astrophysics limits for the time
being 5 stars that might have life. So far, five planets
have met the new criteria: Kepler-452- b, Kepler-1638 b, Kepler 1544 b,
Kepler-62 e and Kepler-62 f. https://www.jpost.com/science/article-732811
Avraham Noach ben Yehudit wakes up
from terror attack needs prayers. https://www.timesofisrael.com/injured-father-of-boys-killed-in-jerusalem-terror-ramming-wakes-up-from-coma/
Hunt continues for terrorists. https://www.timesofisrael.com/hunt-for-terrorists-who-killed-3-continues-8-detained-in-overnight-west-bank-raids/
Rare Earth Metals to be mined from
Asteroids? https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/are-we-finally-on-the-cusp-of-commercial-asteroid-mining/
Asteroid that fell to earth. https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/small-asteroid-spotted-hours-before-demise/
Puah Institute & Mexican Rabbis
establish Halacha for women in Spanish. https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-732882
Debka English site back and running.
https://www.debka.com/palestinian-serial-drive-by-shooting-leaves-israeli-critically-injured-north-of-dead-sea/
I did not make this up: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/democrat-blames-fox-news-for-baltimore-s-failing-schools/ar-AA180F04
America what we legislate is none of
your business. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368099
Poll Likud weaker Labor out. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368103
Greek train crash 26 dead. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368102
3.5 quake near Tiberias. https://www.timesofisrael.com/2nd-minor-earthquake-within-hours-rattles-northern-israel-some-buildings-evacuated/
Day of Judicial Protest. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368110
https://www.debka.com/mivzak/belarusian-opposition-activists-blow-up-russian-spy-plane/
Students to unlock secret of drought
survival wheat. https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/tech-and-start-ups/article-732757
Peru antisemitism. https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-732906
Iranian Girls poisoned at school. https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-732840
Deputy Min. quits government over
broken promises. https://www.timesofisrael.com/far-right-anti-lgbtq-avi-maoz-quits-government-citing-ignored-coalition-deal/
Rabbi Amar on the cause of quakes. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-732914
Better terrorist die in the Ukraine
than fight us. https://www.jpost.com/international/article-732932
I saw about 50 to 60 people blocking
the Shelat Junction on 443 towards Yerushalayim the Tel Aviv demonstration
turned just before a riot. https://www.timesofisrael.com/roads-trains-blocked-as-thousands-march-in-day-of-disruption-against-overhaul/
Iran tried 2 drone strikes in
Arabian Sea. https://www.timesofisrael.com/senior-idf-officer-iran-tried-to-drone-strike-two-vessels-in-arabian-sea-last-month/
More quakes in Turkey. https://www.timesofisrael.com/one-killed-as-new-quake-hits-turkey-toppling-more-buildings/
Female soldier who developed PTSD
from Terrorist’s sexual abuse went AWOL. https://www.timesofisrael.com/soldier-who-developed-ptsd-after-sex-abuse-during-service-is-charged-with-going-awol/
Receipt from King Darius found. https://www.timesofisrael.com/hiker-discovers-2500-year-old-ancient-receipt-from-reign-of-purim-kings-father/
To produce fighters, ISIS women
exploiting young teen boys. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sjcynvias
Biden’s first challenger. https://www.timesofisrael.com/2020-democratic-candidate-marianne-williamson-announces-primary-challenge-to-biden/
Left censoring books and of course
rewriting history. https://www.timesofisrael.com/racist-wording-will-be-edited-out-of-reissued-james-bond-books/
Israeli Influencer got early cancer
detection from a follower. https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/h1to0esro
Ed-Op things just got harder for PM.
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/h1brxijaj
Crown Heights Fire. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368035
Now direct flights to the far east. https://www.algemeiner.com/2023/02/23/rejectionism-is-starting-to-recede-oman-opens-airspace-to-israel-and-plays-mediator-to-iran-in-nuclear-talks/
https://www.algemeiner.com/2023/02/22/speculation-grows-over-possible-netanyahu-visit-to-ukraine/
https://www.algemeiner.com/2023/02/17/new-al-qaeda-leader-is-based-in-iran-say-un-and-us/
Return of the Antisemite. https://www.algemeiner.com/2023/02/22/rights-groups-send-open-letter-demanding-re-nomination-of-axed-israel-apartheid-activist/
Republicans say no interference in
Israeli Internal Affairs. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368209
Attempted lynching of Sara
Netanyahu. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368148
Arabs shooting fireworks at Israelis
come under fire. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368202
GIVE US BACK OUR SECURITY begs sister
of murdered brothers. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368198
Royal Navy foils Iranian Arms
Delivery. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368163
Hungary to relocate Embassy to
Yerushalayim. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368223
Antisemitism in Orlando, FL. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368201
Murderer of RFK denied parole. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368155
Housing Minister we will ensure that
Yehuda and Shomron will be settled. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368153
Police Detail IDF Reservists on their
way to base. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368153
Police detain more over Huwara Rampage.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/police-detain-six-more-suspects-over-extremist-settler-rampage-in-huwara/
Al Qaeda Yemen Leader killed. https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-733095
MI murder plot of Jews foiled. https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-733136
Comptroller says Israel is losing
the space race. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-732953
Russia grows Nuke Sub fleet near
Ukraine. https://www.jpost.com/international/article-732949
TX Goy pretends to be Chassidic
adopts 9 boys and sexually abused them. https://www.timesofisrael.com/texan-who-posed-as-hasidic-jew-and-adopted-9-boys-charged-with-sexually-abusing-kids/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/three-more-children-diagnosed-with-polio-virus-in-northern-outbreak/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/osem-recalls-some-packages-of-bamba-warning-of-foreign-body/
More Terrorist captured. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368066
Problem with death to terrorist and
Halacha. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368070
MDA refuses to restore questionnaire.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368067
Poll not good for left or right. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368052
Iran to receive S-400 system from
Russia. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368052
Space X crew docks with Space
Station. https://www.jpost.com/international/article-733281
Syrian Spy was indicted. https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-733233
A healthy, restful, peaceful
and pleasant Shabbos,
Rachamim Pauli
