The oldest practicing MD. By R Pauli Op-Ed
Dr. Howard Tucker 100,
MD, in Austin, TX is the oldest doctor still practicing. He keeps busy writing
and teaching Neurology. His 89year old wife is still a practicing Psychologist.
He was more active in sports into his 80’s and takes walks every day. He is up
to date did not remain in the days of lobotomy but has continued onwards.
Another article I read was that of a 93year old Ukrainian Holocaust and war
survivor who thanks G-D each week that she has been granted another week of
life.
Enjoy have a good Chodesh Iyar.
Parshiyos Tazria – Metzora
This week starts a
period of double Parshiyos with the exception of Emor and only returns to one
Parsha for Bamidbar. Israel then continues with Naso after Shavuos. But the
Gallus only catches up on Matos-Massa.
12:1 And the
LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 2 Speak unto the children of Israel,
saying: If a woman be delivered, and bear a man-child, then she shall be
unclean seven days; as in the days of the impurity of her sickness shall she be
unclean.
The state of Niddah or
Menstruation is not an illness or sickness it is sort of a taste of death as
egg from the previous month has not fertilized and ‘dies’ but nothing more than
this and Judaism does not treat the woman as sick here is the Chabad
Translation:
Speak to the children of Israel, saying: If a woman conceives and gives
birth to a male, she shall be unclean for seven days; as [in] the days of her
menstrual flow, she shall be unclean.
Due to the fact that
Chabad English only is very hard to copy and paste and this newer JPS
translation format is a hassle, I will continue below.
3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall
be circumcised. 4 And she shall continue in the blood of purification
three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the
sanctuary, until the days of her purification be fulfilled.
She is clean enough on
the eight day to hand the infant to the young couple who brings the baby into
the Synagogue or place of the Bris.
5 But if she bear a maid-child, then she shall be unclean
two weeks, as in her impurity; and she shall continue in the blood of
purification threescore and six days.
She has to wait longer
for a girl as psychologically the husband may be angry at her for not bearing
him a son and the longer time makes things better as he begins to long for her.
6 And when the days of her purification are fulfilled,
for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a
burnt-offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtle-dove, for a sin-offering, unto
the door of the tent of meeting, unto the priest.
This is the Korban of
the average person.
7 And he shall offer it before the LORD, and make
atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the fountain of her blood.
This is the law for her that bears, whether a male or a female. 8 And if her means suffice not for a lamb, then she shall
take two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons: the one for a burnt-offering, and
the other for a sin-offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her, and
she shall be clean.
A very poor couple, only
has to bring two pigeons.
13:1 And the
LORD spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying: 2 When a man shall have
in the skin of his flesh a rising, or a scab, or a bright spot, and it become
in the skin of his flesh the plague of leprosy, then he shall be brought unto
Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests.
They were given the
knowledge and power to be a skin doctor and Posek on this issue.
3 And the priest shall look upon the plague
in the skin of the flesh; and if the hair in the plague be turned white, and
the appearance of the plague be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is the
plague of leprosy; and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him
unclean. 4 And if the bright spot be white in the skin of his flesh,
and the appearance thereof be not deeper than the skin, and the hair thereof be
not turned white, then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague seven
days.
At this point the man is
still ritually pure. The plague has not been declared it is not deep into the
skin and the white but not in depth then he is still Tahor.
5 And the priest shall look on him the
seventh day; and, behold, if the plague stay in its appearance, and the plague
be not spread in the skin, then the priest shall shut him up seven days
more. 6 And the priest shall look on him again the seventh day; and,
behold, if the plague be dim, and the plague be not spread in the skin, then
the priest shall pronounce him clean: it is a scab; and he shall wash his
clothes, and be clean.
Right now, the man is
pure and the plague if it were so has stopped spreading any further so he is
pure if there is not further movement, then at the third inspection of the same
status, he is pure.
7 But if the scab spread abroad in the skin,
after that he hath shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he shall show
himself to the priest again. 8 And the priest shall look, and,
behold, if the scab be spread in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him
unclean: it is leprosy. 9 When the plague of leprosy is in a man,
then he shall be brought unto the priest. 10 And the priest shall
look, and, behold, if there be a white rising in the skin, and it have turned
the hair white, and there be quick raw flesh in the rising, 11 it is
an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him
unclean; he shall not shut him up; for he is unclean.
The spreading indicates
impurity and Nega Tsoras is declared.
12 And if the leprosy break out abroad in
the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the plague from
his head even to his feet, as far as appears to the priest; 13 then
the priest shall look; and, behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh,
he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague; it is all turned white: he
is clean.
The strange thing about
this disease is that once a person is engulfed in the Tsoras, it can not get
worse so he becomes pure.
14 But whensoever raw flesh appears in him,
he shall be unclean. 15 And the priest shall look on the raw flesh,
and pronounce him unclean; the raw flesh is unclean: it is
leprosy. 16 But if the raw flesh again be turned into white, then he
shall come unto the priest; 17 and the priest shall look on him; and,
behold, if the plague be turned into white, then the priest shall pronounce him
clean that hath the plague: he is clean.
As in our last case, raw
flesh is bad. But if the flesh turn white as in our first case above and now
not spreading, the man is Tahor.
18 And when the flesh hath in the skin
thereof a boil, and it is healed, 19 and in the place of the boil
there is a white rising, or a bright spot, reddish-white, then it shall be
shown to the priest.
Another skin condition
is a white rising or reddish white then it could be Tsoras and the Cohain shall
find it impure or nothing but it needs attention.
20 And the priest shall look; and, behold,
if the appearance thereof be lower than the skin, and the hair thereof be
turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of
leprosy, it hath broken out in the boil. 21 But if the priest look on
it, and, behold, there be no white hairs therein, and it be not lower than the
skin, but be dim, then the priest shall shut him up seven days.
If the Cohain does not
declare him unclean, then he has to be locked away another week to see if or if
not something develops, spreads or declines in size and this will determine if
he is pure or impure.
22 And if it spread abroad in the skin, then
the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague. 23 But if the
bright spot stay in its place, and be not spread, it is the scar of the boil;
and the priest shall pronounce him clean. 24 Or when the flesh hath
in the skin thereof a burning by fire, and the quick flesh of the burning
become a bright spot, reddish-white, or white; 25 then the priest
shall look upon it; and, behold, if the hair in the bright spot be turned
white, and the appearance thereof be deeper than the skin, it is leprosy, it
hath broken out in the burning; and the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it
is the plague of leprosy.
This is if the skin
disease has stabilized he is clean but if it spread he is impure.
26 But if the priest look on it, and,
behold, there be no white hair in the bright spot, and i be no lower than the
skin, but be dim; then the priest shall shut him up seven
days. 27 And the priest shall look upon him the seventh day; if it
spread abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is
the plague of leprosy. 28 And if the bright spot stay in its place,
and be not spread in the skin, but be dim, it is the rising of the burning, and
the priest shall pronounce him clean; for it is the scar of the burning,
If it has not gone lower
than the skin nor spread after another week the implication is that the man remains
clean but if deeper down and spread, then a per becomes unclean.
29 And when a man or woman hath a plague
upon the head or upon the beard, 30 then the priest shall look on the
plague; and, behold, if the appearance thereof be deeper than the skin, and
there be in it yellow thin hair, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean:
it is a scall, it is leprosy of the head or of the beard.
The hair turning yellow
and thinner is an implication uncleanliness.
31 And if the priest look on the plague of
the scall, and, behold, the appearance thereof be not deeper than the skin, and
there be no black hair in it, then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague
of the scall seven days. 32 And in the seventh day the priest shall
look on the plague; and, behold, if the scall be not spread, and there be in it
no yellow hair, and the appearance of the scall be not deeper than the
skin, 33 then he shall be shaven, but the scall shall he not shave;
and the priest shall shut up him that hath the scall seven days more.
The lack of yellow hair
and no spreading then the area is pure and clean.
34 And in the seventh day the priest shall
look on the scall; and, behold, if the scall be not spread in the skin, and the
appearance thereof be not deeper than the skin, then the priest shall pronounce
him clean; and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean. 35 But if the
scall spread abroad in the skin after his cleansing, 36 then the
priest shall look on him; and, behold, if the scall be spread in the skin, the
priest shall not seek for the yellow hair: he is unclean. 37 But if
the scall stay in its appearance, and black hair be grown up therein; the scall
is healed, he is clean; and the priest shall pronounce him clean.
There is a general theme
within the various coloration of skin and hair. Original color remains and the
depth and color of the scall/scab/mark has not growing the main scab is clean.
38 And if a man or a woman have in the skin
of their flesh bright spots, even white bright spots; 39 then the
priest shall look; and, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh
be of a dull white, it is a tetter, it hath broken out in the skin: he is clean.
The return of the bright
white area to dull indicates the end of Tsoras.
40 And if a man's hair be fallen off his
head, he is bald; yet is he clean. 41 And if his hair be fallen off
from the front part of his head, he is forehead-bald; yet is he
clean. 42 But if there be in the bald head, or the bald forehead, a
reddish-white plague, it is leprosy breaking out in his bald head, or his bald
forehead. 43 Then the priest shall look upon him; and, behold, if the
rising of the plague be reddish-white in his bald head, or in his bald
forehead, as the appearance of leprosy in the skin of the
flesh, 44 he is a leprous man, he is unclean; the priest shall surely
pronounce him unclean: his plague is in his head.
Bald people can also get the plague but it is
easier to discern if it is or isn’t spreading and if there is an examination
unto size and olor.
45 And the leper in whom the plague is, his
clothes shall be rent, and the hair of his head shall go loose, and he shall
cover his upper lip, and shall cry: 'Unclean, unclean.' 46 All the
days wherein the plague is in him he shall be unclean; he is unclean; he shall
dwell alone; without the camp shall his dwelling be.
“Unclean-unclean” so nobody will come around and hear/speak
Lashon HaRa.
47 And when the plague of leprosy is in a
garment, whether it be a woolen garment, or a linen garment; 48 or
in the warp, or in the woof, whether they be of linen, or of wool; or in a
skin, or in any thing made of skin. 49 If the plague
be greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin, or in the warp, or in
the woof, or in any thing of skin, it is the plague of leprosy, and shall be
shown unto the priest. 50 And the priest shall look
upon the plague, and shut up that which hath the plague seven days. 51 And he shall look on the plague on the seventh day: if the
plague be spread in the garment, or in the warp, or in the woof, or in the
skin, whatever service skin is used for, the plague is a malignant leprosy: it
is unclean.
This greenish-red mold
usual to appear in mold forming areas where there is dampness. It is a special
mold that attacks woolen garments and not necessarily dry aerated non-woolen
garments.
52 And he shall burn the garment, or the
warp, or the woof, whether it be of wool or of linen, or anything of skin,
wherein the plague is; for it is a malignant leprosy; it shall be burnt in the
fire. 53 And if the priest shall look, and, behold,
the plague be not spread in the garment, or in the warp, or in the woof, or in
any thing of skin; 54 then the priest shall command
that they wash the thing wherein the plague is, and he shall shut it up seven
days more. 55 And the priest shall look, after that
the plague is washed; and, behold, if the plague have not changed its color,
and the plague be not spread, it is unclean; thou shalt burn it in the fire; it
is a fret, whether the bareness be within or without.
It is the best thing to
destroy completely the garment with the plague.
56 And if the priest look, and, behold, the
plague be dim after the washing thereof, then he shall rend it out of the
garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of the woof. 57 And if it appear still in the garment, or in the warp, or
in the woof, or in any thing of skin, it is breaking out, thou shalt burn that
wherein the plague is with fire.
If you can clean the
garment and that is fine but if some plague remains, one must burn it.
58 And the garment, or the warp, or the
woof, or whatsoever thing of skin it be, which thou shalt wash, if the plague
be departed from them, then it shall be washed the second time, and shall be
clean. 59 This is the law of the plague of leprosy in
a garment of wool or linen, or in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of
skin, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.
This takes care of the
individual and his clothing.
14:1 And the LORD
spoke unto Moses, saying: 2 This shall be the law of the leper in the
day of his cleansing: he shall be brought unto the priest. 3 And the
priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold,
if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper; 4 then shall the
priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two living clean birds,
and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. 5 And the priest shall
command to kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running
water. 6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the
cedar-wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living
bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water.
These are the laws the
Tsoras and the purification there of with pigeons/doves, cedar wood, hyssop, etc.
for an atonement and purification.
7 And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the
leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let go the living
bird into the open field.
The process requires two
birds one for a Korban and one to be free. I heard from Dr. (also Rabbi) Zev
Vilna of one twin with jaundice following the doctors and the other brother
having a pigeon killed and freed. Guess who got better first so he noted that
there is something special with this ritual.
8 And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave
off all his hair, and bathe himself in water, and he shall be clean; and after
that he may come into the camp, but shall dwell outside his tent seven
days.
According to many
authorities it is because he talked Lashon HaRa now he is outside of the camp
so that he or she cannot hear or spread any more Gossip.
9 And it shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his
hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall
shave off; and he shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in
water, and he shall be clean. 10 And on the eighth day he shall take
two he-lambs without blemish, and one ewe-lamb of the first year without
blemish, and three tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour for a meal-offering,
mingled with oil, and one log of oil.
This procedure of no
eye-brows etc. further pushes the people away from the Tsoras and keeps the
Lashon HaRa away.
11 And the priest that cleanse him shall set the man that is to be
cleansed, and those things, before the LORD, at the door of the tent of
meeting. 12 And the priest shall take one of the he-lambs, and offer
him for a guilt-offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave-offering
before the LORD. 13 And he shall kill the he-lamb in the place where
they kill the sin-offering and the burnt-offering, in the place of the
sanctuary; for as the sin-offering is the priest's, so is the guilt-offering;
it is most holy.
Despite all the criticism
of Lashon HaRa or not, the Korban. Has a very high level of holiness.
14 And the priest shall take of the blood of the guilt-offering,
and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be
cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his
right foot. 15 And the priest shall take of the log of oil, and pour
it into the palm of his own left hand. 16 And the priest shall dip
his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the
oil with his finger seven times before the LORD.
Recommitting the body by
sprinkling the right side of the organs but because the Cohain faces the other,
the oil goes into the Priest’s left hand.
17 And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest
put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the
thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the
blood of the guilt-offering. 18 And the rest of the oil that is in
the priest's hand he shall put upon the head of him that is to be cleansed; and
the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD. 19 And the
priest shall offer the sin-offering, and make atonement for him that is to be
cleansed because of his uncleanness; and afterward he shall kill RITUALLY
SLAUGHTER the burnt-offering. 20 And the priest
shall offer the burnt-offering and the meal-offering upon the altar; and the
priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.
This means that the man
is now atoned completely for Lashon HaRa.
21 And if he be poor, and his means suffice not, then he shall take
one he-lamb for a guilt-offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, and
one tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal-offering,
and a log of oil; 22 and two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, such
as his means suffice for; and the one shall be a sin-offering, and the other a
burnt-offering. 23 And on the eighth day he shall bring them for his
cleansing unto the priest, unto the door of the tent of meeting, before the
LORD. 24 And the priest shall take the lamb of the guilt-offering,
and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave-offering before
the LORD.
The poorest get to give
a much cheaper Korban.
… 33 And the LORD spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron,
saying: 34 When ye are come into the land of Canaan, which I give to
you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of
your possession; 35 then he that owns the house shall come and tell
the priest, saying: 'There seems to me to be as it were a plague in the
house.'
Pre-settling in Canaan the Tsoras would go on the skin or garment. Now
living in Eretz Yisrael in a permanent house:
36 And the priest shall command that they empty the house, before
the priest go in to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made
unclean; and afterward the priest shall go in to see the
house. 37 And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague
be in the walls of the house with hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, and the
appearance thereof be lower than the wall; 38 then the priest shall
go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven
days.
Similar to the garment
the house has to be cleaned, purified or broken.
39 And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look;
and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the
house; 40 then the priest shall command that they take out the stones
in which the plague is, and cast them into an unclean place without the
city. 41 And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round
about, and they shall pour out the mortar that they scrape off without the city
into an unclean place. 42 And they shall take other stones, and put
them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar, and shall
plaster the house. 43 And if the plague come again, and break out in
the house, after that the stones have been taken out, and after the house hath
been scraped, and after it is plastered;
Sometimes it worked well
for the current owner as there was a hidden treasure in the walls otherwise it
turns into an expensive punishment.
44 then the priest shall come in and look; and, behold, if the
plague be spread in the house, it is a malignant leprosy in the house: it is
unclean. 45 And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and
the timber thereof, and all the mortar of the house; and he shall carry them
forth out of the city into an unclean place. 46 Moreover he that goes
into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the
even. 47 And he that lies in the house shall wash his clothes; and he
that eats in the house shall wash his clothes. 48 And if the priest
shall come in, and look, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house,
after the house was plastered; then the priest shall pronounce the house clean,
because the plague is healed. 49 And he shall take to cleanse the
house two birds, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.
Another type of
atonement this time harder financially.
50 And he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over
running water. 51 And he shall take the cedar-wood, and the hyssop,
and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain
bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times.
Water flowing from a spring is needed for this atonement. It is not ‘running’
water but a natural spring or river water that is in constant movement ‘living’
waters.
52 And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and
with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar-wood, and
with the hyssop, and with the scarlet. 53 But he shall let go the
living bird out of the city into the open field; so shall he make atonement for
the house; and it shall be clean. 54 This is the law for all manner
of plague of leprosy, and for a scall; 55 and for the leprosy of a
garment, and for a house;
56 and for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright
spot; 57 to teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean; this is
the law of leprosy.
The next section deals
with a condition of Tuma called a Zav or Zava (female)
15:1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses and to Aaron,
saying: 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When
any man hath an issue out of his flesh, his issue is unclean. 3 And
this shall be his uncleanness in his issue: whether his flesh run with his
issue, or his flesh be stopped from his issue, it is his
uncleanness. 4 Every bed whereon he that hath the issue lieth shall
be unclean; and everything whereon he sits shall be unclean. 5 And
whosoever touches his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water,
and be unclean until the even.
This is an involuntary
issue of seed but not a person who for some reason has relations time after
time with his wife or has three wives on the same day but an involuntary flux. The
same will be for a women with a never-ending Period.
6 And he that sits on anything whereon he that hath the issue sat
shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the
even. 7 And he that touches the flesh of him that hath the issue
shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the
even. 8 And if he that hath the issue spit upon him that is clean, then
he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the
even. 9 And what saddle soever he that hath the issue rides upon
shall be unclean. 10 And whosoever touches anything that was under
him shall be unclean until the even; and he that bears those things shall wash
his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. ... 18 The
woman also with whom a man shall lie carnally, they shall both bathe themselves
in water, and be unclean until the even. 19 And if a woman have an
issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be in her impurity seven
days; and whosoever touches her shall be unclean until the
even. 20 And everything that she lieth upon in her impurity shall be
unclean; everything also that she sits upon shall be unclean. 21 And
whosoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water,
and be unclean until the even. 22 And whosoever touches anything that
she sits upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be
unclean until the even. 23 And if he be on the bed, or on any thing
whereon she sits, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until the even. 24 And
if any man lie with her, and her impurity be upon him, he shall be unclean
seven days; and every bed whereon he lies shall be unclean. 25 And if
a woman have an issue of her blood many days not in the time of her impurity,
or if she have an issue beyond the time of her impurity; all the days of the
issue of her uncleanness she shall be as in the days of her impurity: she is
unclean.
The poor lady is having a nightmarish never ending period.
26 Every bed whereon she lies all the days of her issue shall be
unto her as the bed of her impurity; and everything whereon she sits shall be
unclean, as the uncleanness of her impurity. 27 And whosoever touches
those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in
water, and be unclean until the even. 28 But if she be cleansed of
her issue, then she shall number to herself seven days, and after that she
shall be clean. 29 And on the eighth day she shall take unto her two
turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, and bring them unto the priest, to the door
of the tent of meeting.
And in the end, both the Zav and Zava become clean.
30 And the priest shall offer the one for a sin-offering, and the
other for a burnt-offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her before
the LORD for the issue of her uncleanness. 31 Thus shall ye separate
the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their
uncleanness, when they defile My tabernacle that is in the midst of
them. 32 This is the law of him that hath an issue, and of him from
whom the flow of seed goes out, so that he is unclean thereby; 33 and
of her that is sick with her impurity, and of them that have an issue, whether
it be a man, or a woman; and of him that lieth with her that is unclean.
To Russia
With Love by Rabbi Yerachmiel Tilles
http://ascentofsafed.com/cgi-bin/ascent.cgi?Name=1323-30
I [Eliezer Danziger] am from Canada originally, and never had any
connection to Russia growing up. When I look back at what brought me here, it's
almost amusing. I was in yeshiva in Israel, and my roommate
was planning on spending his summer volunteering at a camp in Russia. At first,
I had no interest in going - I already had my plans in place to spend my summer
in California. But after much cajoling on my roommate's end, I gave in and
agreed to join him.
It was 1998. We landed in Crimea - and neither of us spoke even a word of
Russian. Just two 18-year-old boys, planning to run a camp for kids with whom
we couldn't even communicate.
We had a bit of a rocky start, but eventually we found our groove. I
remember a week into camp, a young boy came to me and asked for a bris milah
(circumcision ceremony). Naturally, I was taken aback.
"Go... play some basketball," I said. "Your friends are all
on the court."
A couple of days later, he came back with the same request. Again, I
panicked. "There's candy, over there in the dining room!" I told him.
"Go get some before it's all gone!"
But when he came back a third time, I realized this was something I
couldn't ignore. So, later that night, I brought up the issue at a staff
meeting. The head counselor wasn't surprised.
"We have a Mohel (a trained circumciser) come every
year," he said. "Whoever wants a bris milah gets one
on the last day of camp."
I was shocked. I couldn't imagine what that would look like. Groups of
young boys, most of whom have never even heard of matzah or menorahs,
all getting circumcised? I couldn't imagine someone developing such a strong
connection to something they barely understood. But, lo and behold, on one of
the last days of camp came, the Mohel arrived and performed a
bris milah on many of the boys right there in camp.
That summer was my first real experience with Shlichus (Chabad
missions). I watched young men completely abandon the lives they came from for
a much more spiritual one. I felt attached to these kids. I felt responsible
for them. I called them up every week before Shabbos to ask about their
journeys. I felt I was their only connection to Torah Judaism, and I couldn't
imagine walking away.
I tried to return to my life in Canada, but I found that those boys were
always on my mind. It was then that I made the decision to return the following
year. But, somehow, that still didn't feel like enough. I was watching them
turn their backs on 70 years of communism; on their parents' and their grandparents'
lives. I watched them learn about Torah and Tanach (the 24
books of Jewish scripture) with such joy - it was inspirational.
These kids were gaining so much, after only getting a little jumpstart
from camp. I wondered what things would be like if we made them a camp similar
to the caliber of Jewish camps in the States. It was this thought that inspired
me to start Camp Yeka.
'Yeka' was modeled to enrich the lives of Jewish children, both
spiritually as well as physically. We planned fun adventures, daytime trips,
and overnights, as well as Torah lessons and prayer. I gathered the best staff
I could and poured my soul into this project.
It was never easy, but I know it was worth it. Yeka changed the lives of
these children. Every summer was spent planning new ways to inspire and
enlighten these young minds.
I truly felt these children were my calling - however, when I got married,
my wife didn't feel the same. She preferred to settle down somewhere a little
more stable, with a Jewish community and plenty of kosher food.
My wife and I spent a few years in California, had a baby, and settled
into our traditional lives. But I wasn't really happy. I knew there was more
for me out there.
One day, I got a call that there was no Rabbi in Rostov and the Jewish
community was looking for someone desperately. My wife and I discussed it and
she agreed to go visit and see what it was like.
We spent Shabbos there and davened (prayed) in the
communities 150-year-old shul. The shul was built by Cantonist soldiers who
felt rejected by the Jewish community after returning from 25 years in military
service that started when they were young boys. The community found them
ignorant and disconnected, due to their large gap in Torah background and
knowledge. But these men felt passionately about serving Hashem and decided to
build a shul of their own. At one time Rostov had 12 synagogues but sadly they
were all confiscated or destroyed. Interestingly, the Cantonist Shul is now the
last one standing.
The few days we spent visiting Rostov were inspiring. We encountered
countless individuals desperate for connection to Judaism. They felt so blessed
to have us join them and begged us to stay long-term. When my wife and I
eventually left for Israel (where we were continuing to after Russia) we both
knew we had to go back.
"This is an incredible opportunity to really do something
great," she said. "We need to go back to Russia. It is our
calling."
That week, we sold our belongings in Pasadena, drove across the country to
JFK, and boarded a plane to Russia. It's been 13 years since then - and we've
never looked back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: Excerpted and edited by Yerachmiel Tilles from "IllumiNations" #11
[a weekly publication of DollarDaily.org, dedicated to publicizing
the breath-taking work and sacrifices of Chabad emissaries around the world.
Connection: The fifth verse of the first half of this week's Torah reading,
Tazria, presents the Torah commandment for circumcision (in contrast to G-d's
personal instruction to Abraham in the Torah section of Lech Lecha, 500 years
earlier).
For me it is easy to understand
that the Cantonist Synagogue survived. For these men were Jewish for the sake
of heaven despite being enslaved for 25years in the Russian Army with all the
Trafe, Shabbos violations and other horrors. The standard Synagogues not built
100% for the sake of heaven, could not survive both the Nazis and Communists.
Jewish Women who fought against the Nazis by Dr.
Yvette Alt Miller
https://aish.com/untold-story-of-jewish-women-resisting-nazis/
Growing up in Montreal, Judy Batalion was surrounded by vibrant
Jewish culture and role models. “I come from such a robust heritage,” she
explained in a recent Aish.com interview.
She attended Jewish school where she learned Yiddish, and was
particularly close with her Bubbe Zelda, a Holocaust survivor from Poland.
Bubbe Zelda babysat Judy every day after school and would tell her about her
family’s painful history, describing the tragic fate of many relatives with
tears in her eyes.
Bubbe Zelda had escaped Nazi-occupied Warsaw and made her way
east to the Soviet Union where she was imprisoned in Siberian work camps and
saved from death in Nazi hands. Bubbe Zelda’s parents and three of her four
sisters remained in Warsaw where they all perished.
Judy considered herself well educated about the Holocaust, yet she discovered how little she knew about Jewish resistance. “I didn’t know anything about the scope of the resistance, including details about the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.”
After studying at Harvard, then moving to London to earn a Ph.D.
in art history, she also worked as a performer, and in 2007 decided to research
heroic Jewish women for a potential show. Researching the Jewish partisan
Hannah Senesh at the British Library changed her life.
The starting point for Judy’s historical journey was Hannah
Senesh. Born in 1921 in Budapest, Hannah was a brilliant writer and an ardent
Zionist. When she was 18, in 1939, she moved to Israel where she worked on a
kibbutz and wrote beautiful poetry and accounts about life in Israel. In 1943,
with the Jews of Europe facing annihilation, Hannah volunteered for a daring
spy mission for the British Army. Along with 32 other volunteers, she
parachuted into Nazi-occupied Europe with the goal of instituting contact with
resistance fighters and helping Jewish communities.
After three months fighting with Yugoslavian partisans, Hannah
smuggled herself over the border into her native Hungary. The date was June 7
1944, and the Nazis’ deportation of Hungarian Jews to death camps was at its
height.
Hannah Senesh was soon arrested by Hungarian police and turned
over the Nazi authorities, who tortured her brutally for months. Senesh refused
to reveal any details of the British Army’s spying plan, and she was sentenced
to death by firing squad. On November 7, 1944 Senesh was executed. She refused
a blindfold, looking straight at her executioners as they shot her.
Judy Batalion found that despite her fame, there were relatively
few books about Hannah Senesh in the British Library. She ordered several books
that mentioned Senesh’s name. When the books arrived at the front desk, Judy
noticed that one of them was written in Yiddish. She almost put it back.
Instead, she began to use the Yiddish she’d learned as a child
to read the volume. It was an old book, published in 1946, called Freuen
in di Ghettos – “Women in the Ghettos”. This 185-page book described
dozens of heroic Jewish women who fought Nazis as part of resistance movements.
Their stories were incredible. Women smuggled arms into Jewish Ghettos. They
assassinated Nazi officials. They spied for the Soviet Union, helped smuggle
Jews out of Nazi Ghettos to safety, looked after the sick and taught Jewish
children. Some fought with armed partisans while others acted alone. Why had
she never heard of these stories, Judy wondered? She decided to research some
of these phenomenal stories.
Her project took a dozen years. Judy discovered that thousands
of Jewish women fought in the Jewish resistance against Nazis during the
Holocaust. Realizing that she had enough material to write a book, -- there
were so many incredible stories that Judy had to make hard decisions about whom
to research and include – Judy decided to focus on Polish Jewish women who
helped Jewish resistance fighters in the ghettos. “There was so much material
out there,” Judy explains, “and the story had never been brought together in
one narrative.”
The result is The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s
Ghettos, to be published on April 6, 2021.
When Germany conquered Poland in 1939, over two million Polish
Jews came under Nazi control. (Several million more Jews were subject to Nazi
dictates after Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.) To subdue this vast
population, the Nazis set aside over 1,000 “Ghettos” in towns and cities in
lands they conquered. The largest of these were in Poland: nearly half a
million Jews were forced into the notorious Warsaw Ghetto. The Lodz Ghetto
housed over 200,000 Jews.
The Jewish Ghettos were established in the oldest, shabbiest
parts of towns and were surrounded by barbed wire and patrolled by Nazi guards.
Jews were transported to the Ghettos from across Nazi-occupied Europe. Romas
were also interred in some of the Ghettos. Residents were forced to remain
indoors at night and couldn’t leave the Ghettos without express permission.
Starvation and disease were rife and thousands of Jews died in the Ghettos from
hunger and overwork. Nazis routinely rounded up and deported Jews from Ghettos
to death camps, often to make more room for new Jewish residents who were
shipped in from newly-conquered areas.
There was a significant uprising of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto in
April 1943, and Judy discovered that over 90 other Ghettos had armed Jewish
resistance units too. “Approximately 30,000 European Jews joined the
partisans,” Judy wrote. “Rescue networks supported
about 12,000 Jews in hiding in Warsaw alone. All this alongside daily acts of
resilience – smuggling food, writing diaries, telling a joke to relieve fear,
hugging a barrack mate to keep her warm. Women, aged 16 to 25, were at the helm
of many of these efforts. I learned their names: Tosia Altman, Gusta Davidson,
Frumka Plotnicka. Hundreds of others.”
One of the many women Judy Batalion writes about is Tosia
Altman. Born in 1919 in Poland, Tosia grew up in the town of Wloclawek, where
her family was cultured and stalwarts of the local Jewish community.
Judy’s prose helps readers conjure this remarkable young woman.
“Tosia was considered a fashionable Polish type… a well-educated, well-spoken
young woman who wore sporty outfits.” She was frightened of dogs and of the
dark. Instead of giving in to these fears, she forced herself to deal with
them: one night during a pogrom, when Jews were being attacked and the sounds
of screams and barking dogs filled the air, she forced herself to walk outside
in order to subdue her terrors.
Tosia was a passionate Zionist and worked as a youth leader for
the Ha-Shomer ha-Za’ir Zionist youth movement, eventually
rising to leadership of the local branch. After attending the Fourth World
Convention of Ha-Shomer ha-Za’ir when she was sixteen, Tosia
made the momentous decision to move to the Land of Israel, and joined a
training kibbutz in Poland to learn how to farm. Instead of moving to the
future state of Israel, Tosia was appointed leader of youth education in Warsaw,
and moved there in 1938. She had no way of knowing then that moving to Poland
instead of Mandatory Palestine would prove to be her death warrant – and that
in the next few years she would be inspired to show incredible bravery and
strength.
When World War II broke out, Tosia and other Zionist youth group
leaders made their way – partially on foot, and at times through fighting and
bombing – to Vilna, Lithuania, where they hoped to regroup and leave Europe for
the Land of Israel. When that proved impossible, Tosia was given a daunting
mission. Since she was blonde, pretty and outgoing, would Tosia return to
German-occupied Poland and organize Jewish youth group members to resist the
Nazis?
Jews weren’t allowed to travel on trains, but Tosia disguised
herself as a non-Jewish Polish woman and travelled between the Jewish Ghettos
that were being established. In Warsaw, she and other youth group leaders set
up educational programs and a newspaper to help sustain the spirit of the
Jewish imprisoned there.
As Ziva Shalev, author of Tosia Altman: From the
Leadership of Ha-Shomer ha-Za’ir to the Leadership of the Uprising, wrote,
once Warsaw’s Jews were confined in the Warsaw Ghetto in November 1940, Tosia’s
“blonde hair and fluent Polish were no longer enough; with every trip, she
risked death. Forged papers, outdated documents and stamps, and the danger of
Polish informants who ‘sniffed out’ Jews were all a constant peri. But Altman
continued to travel (throughout the region), her visits serving as a source of strength
and encouragement to the young people.”
When news of the systematic murder of Jews began to reach the
youth group leadership, Tosia’s mission changed: she traveled throughout
Poland, warning Jews that the Nazis were carrying out genocide. Nothing less
than the complete elimination of the Jewish community seemed to be their goal.
In 1942, when the first large-scale deportations of Jews began from the Warsaw
Ghetto, Tosia and other youth group leaders helped start the Zydowska
Organizacja Bojowa (ZOB), the “Jewish Fighting Organization” to
facilitate armed resistance to Nazi.
Once again, relying on her non-Jewish looks and her charismatic
personality, Tosia smuggled herself in and out of the Warsaw Ghetto,
coordinating with the two main Polish resistance organizations, the
nationalist Armia Krajowa (AK) and the Communist group Armia
Ludowa. Her goal was to obtain donations of arms to help Jews fight within
the Warsaw Ghetto. She managed to smuggle guns and grenades through the Polish
countryside, hiding the arms in her clothes, and smuggle them into the Warsaw
and Krakow Ghettos. At one point, in 1943, Tosia was arrested but managed to
escape her Nazi prison and continue to fight.
When the Warsaw Ghetto uprising broke out on April 18, 1943,
Tosia was in the thick of the fighting. Her job was to relay information within
the Ghetto and also to the outside world. She also helped smuggle Jews out of
the Ghetto through sewers. After three weeks of fighting, Altman and a few
other survivors managed to leave the Ghetto through sewers. Her hiding place
caught fire on May 24, 1943, and a badly injured Tosia was arrested by Polish
officers who promptly turned the Jewish resistance hero over to Nazi officials.
Tosia was tortured, denied medical treatment, and died two days later.
Another woman investigated by Judy Batalion is Gusta Davidson
(also spelled Dawidson). Born into a Chassidic Jewish family in Krakow in 1917,
Gusta joined the religious youth movements B’nos Ya’akov and Akiva where she
worked as a teacher and writer. She eventually became the editor of Zeirimi,
the newspaper of the Akiva youth movement in Cracow.
By the time World War II broke out, 22-year-old Gusta was one of
the leaders of the Akiva group. She and a handful of others remained in Krakow
to help rally the Jewish community and keep up morale. Gusta fell in love with
a fellow Jewish newspaper editor, Shimshon Draenger. They made a pact that if
one of them would be arrested, the other would join them in jail. When he was
arrested by the Nazis for running anti-Nazi articles, Gusta turned herself in
to the Gestapo so she could be with him in prison.
The pair were freed in 1940, though they remained under intense
surveillance. Gusta and Shimshon married, and despite the grave danger it put
them in, they continued their youth group activities, forging documents,
printing underground newspapers, and taking part in armed resistance. Akiva
merged with other Zionist youth groups to form a more potent resistance force.
Gusta was charged with searching for safe houses for these underground
activities.
In her book, Judy Batalion poignantly describes the change that
came over Gusta and Shimshon, as well as a whole generation of Jewish youth
pioneers. Their idealism of building a Jewish state slowly turned into the
cynical realization that they had to fight their Nazi oppressors, and that
European Jewry faced total annihilation. “We want to survive as a generation of
avengers,” Shimon said at a youth group meeting. “If we survive, it has got to
be as a group, and with weapons in our hands.”
Writing of Gusta’s transformation from bookish intellectual to
ruthless fighter, Judy Batalion quotes Gusta after her father and sister were
murdered by Nazis: “Hands, now caked with fertile loam, would soon be soaked in
blood” as she and other Jews engaged in armed battle.
In December 1942, Jewish youth group fighters carried out the
Cyganeria operation: the bombing of a cafe that was popular with senior Nazi
and Gestapo officials. Shimshon was arrested in the aftermath of the attack,
and soon after Gusta was arrested too; she was sent to the fearsome Helzlaw
women’s prison where she was brutally tortured.
Gusta secretly wrote a book about her activities while in prison, painstakingly
recording her testimony in tiny letters on toilet paper. Miraculously, her
account survived the war and was published in 1946. It’s one of the most
complete and moving accounts of Polish Jewish resistance fighters during the
Holocaust. “From this prison cell that we will never leave alive,” Gusta wrote,
“we young fighters who are about to die salute you. We offer our lives
willingly for our holy cause, asking only that our deeds be inscribed in the
book of eternal memory. May the memories preserved on these scattered bits of
paper be gathered together to compose a picture of our unwavering resolve in
the face of death.”
At one point, Shimshon was taken to see Gusta. The Nazi guards
apparently thought that after seeing how brutally his wife had been tortured,
Shimshon would give in and reveal all his secrets. Instead, as Shimshon and his
guards walked into Gusta’s cell, Gusta announced “Yes, it is true. I organized
groups of Jewish fighters and I promise that if we are saved from you, we will
do it again.” Neither Gusta nor Shimshon revealed their youth group’s secrets
to the Nazis.
In April 1943, Gusta and Shimshon took part in a prison break.
Gusta was the only woman in the group of prisoners to survive. She and Shimshon
travelled to a secret resistance hideout in the Polish countryside near Krakow,
where they continued to take part in resistance missions. Each Friday, they
distributed 250 copies of a ten-page underground newspaper to Jews in the
Krakow, Bochnia and Tarnow Ghettos.
By August 1943, with fascist forces closing in, Shimshon and
Gusta tried to get themselves smuggled over the border into Hungary. They were
betrayed, and executed by Nazis that month. Gusta’s final words are lost to
history, but the account of her underground activities that she wrote in prison
lives on:
“History will never forgive us for not having thought about it.
What normal, thinking person would suffer all this in silence? Future
generations will want to know what overwhelming motive could have restrained us
from acting heroically. If we don’t act now, history will condemn us forever.
Whatever we do we’re doomed, but we can still save our souls. The least we can
do now is leave a legacy of human dignity that will be honored by someone, some
day.”
The stories of these women are just some of the incredible tales
of resistance and bravery that have yet to be discovered and retold. In
researching her remarkable new book, Judy Batalion has grappled with the
question of why so many Jewish women resistance fighters were overlooked. “For
many female survivors, silence was a means of coping,” she has found.
One of the most incredible women she profiles in her book is
Renia Kukielka, who worked as a courier in and around the Polish town of Bedzin
during the Holocaust. Evading Nazis, she managed to link Jewish undergrounds.
She was arrested and tortured, and eventually escaped and made it first to
Hungary, and eventually to Mandatory Palestine. Though she wrote a Hebrew
language book about her experiences in Poland during the War – one of the first
full length accounts of the Holocaust – Battalion notes that Renia’s “family
home after the war was not filled with stories of the resistance, but with
music, art and tango nights; she was known for her fashionable tastes, and for
her sharp sense of humor. Like so many refugees, the resisters wanted to start
afresh, to blend into their new worlds.”
“I don’t think any of this has been covered by typical World War
Two histories,” Judy explains to Aish.com. “This is a story of young Jewish
women that were incredibly daring – this is part of our legacy and our heritage
as Jews.” Her book is an attempt to remedy this absence in our history books.
Teaching the next generation is crucial, and Judy wants the
stories of the Jewish women resistance fighters she’s documented to be part of
the legacy we leave our children. Judy has already started telling these
stories to her daughter, and a youth edition of The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women
Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos is also being published on
April 6, so that younger readers can start learning this history.
“I want people to read this story and to be inspired by their
courage and bravery,” Judy notes. “I want people to understand that our history
is multifaceted and complex.”
The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women
Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos (Harper Collins) is
being published April 6, 2021.
Milestone: Hedda Kleinfeld, 99,
Holocaust Survivor went from furs to wedding gowns. https://www.timesofisrael.com/hedda-kleinfeld-schachter-mogul-of-say-yes-to-the-dress-bridal-empire-dies-at-99/
Milestone: Lipa Schmeltzer, 45,
Chassidic Singer. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370043
Milestone: Yonatan Gefen, 76,
writer, singer, actor nephew of Moshe Dayan. https://www.timesofisrael.com/musical-and-literary-icon-yehonatan-geffen-dies-at-76/
Milestone: Moshe Stern, 87, Cantor. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370251
Inyanay Diyoma
Meteor streaks though Israel. I
heard the sonic Boom on Shabbos and thought it was a defense alert at 17:20 on
Shabbos. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/369996
Search for April 8th
meteorite in Maine. https://www.aol.com/news/space-race-meteorites-hit-maine-135150060.html
One station had 115,000 protestors
against in Tel Aviv while the other counted 162,000. In Netanya there was a
pro-Reform Group. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370000
Apr. 16-18
https://www.timesofisrael.com/antisemitic-graffiti-scrawled-on-barcelonas-largest-synagogue/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/end-of-an-era-germany-shuts-down-its-last-3-nuclear-reactors/
https://www.debka.com/what-other-secrets-do-us-spy-agencies-hold-over-israel-after-pentagon-leak/
Stabbing attack in Chevron. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370096
Jewish boy caught in Chevron Fence. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370041
The left is betraying us. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370004
Mike Pompeo is wise and won’t run. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370007
According to Nasrallah, the Israeli attack in response to the
heaviest rocket barrage from Lebanon since the Second Lebanon War was
"ridiculous", and included, among other things, damage to banana
plantations. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/369980
Incitement on Har HaBeis. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/369975
Major Compromise on Judicial Reform:
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370012
Medical Miracle regains use of legs.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370015
https://www.timesofisrael.com/death-toll-rises-as-rival-forces-press-battle-for-control-of-sudan/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/woman-crushed-to-death-by-her-own-car-in-ashdod/ https://www.debka.com/irans-al-qods-chief-qaani-combines-sunni-shiite-multiple-front-line-against-israel/
Spyware Company shutting down. https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-739390
Russian Advisor says end Ukrainian
Fighting. https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-739390
4 die in AL birthday party. https://www.jpost.com/international/article-739365
Alzheimer treatment. https://www.jpost.com/science/article-739262
Apr. 19
Knifing Attack in German Gym. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370175
El Al Pilot attacks government in
flight get reprimanded. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370159
Danny Danon: He noted that Israel faces such a threat in Iran, which is
trying to build an arsenal of nuclear weapons, adding that the Biden
administration is not doing an effective job in neutralizing Tehran's
ambitions. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370177
French MP parts of Paris can’t wear
Kipa. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370178
NYC Parking Garage Collapses. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370174
Polecats return to Israel. https://www.ynetnews.com/environment/article/hko2i00nmn
https://www.timesofisrael.com/185-killed-1800-wounded-as-sudans-generals-battle-for-third-day/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/man-shot-dead-at-northern-gas-station/
Golani Soldier Walk-out. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-739582
Strange creature or gills of a fish
washes up in TX. https://www.jpost.com/omg/article-739480
Moscow authorities are using the Russian
capital's vast system of facial recognition cameras to track down young men
eligible for military service, the state-owned news agency TASS
reported on Tuesday, citing the city's chief enlistment officer.
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-739549
Less metals in stars, the higher the
probability of life. https://www.jpost.com/science/article-739583
Apr. 20, 21
Netanyahu cautions Saudis. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370240
Shooting at bus in the Shomron. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370226
Stampede kills 85 in Yemen. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370235
Swiss Bank impeding Nazi Probe: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370246
3 Jihads arrested. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/370147
Podcast Bederman – The Bullies of
Woke. https://dianebederman.com/diane-bederman-on-the-steve-hook-show-18-april-2023/
Have a good Chodesh and
a good Shabbos,
Rachamim Pauli
