My spell checker caught this error.
Last week I wrote in 29:30 of the Urim and the Thummim. What I should have written: We don’t know what these were and only when the Moshiach
comes, will they reappear.
Also I caught a typo instead of day 514 I mailed out 214.
Parsha Ki Sisa
We encountered the first few
Pasukim in Parsha Shekelim. Now Moshe was shown by Prophecy what a half Shekel
was and what it looked like and we continue on with the Mishkan. Unfortunately,
down at the bottom of the mountain, the natives are growing restless without a
leader present. At the time when Moshe gets the two Luchos (tablets) written in
the hand of G-D, the people are making an Egel Zahav (calf of gold).
30:11
And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 12 'When thou take the sum of the
children of Israel, according to their number, then shall they give every man a
ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou number them; that there be no
plague among them, when thou number them.
The nature of the Yetzer is fight
the people that one cannot count like the stars in all the galaxies in the
universe. So too, the Bnei Yisrael can only be counted ‘by the way’ so we count
half a shekel and add up the sum and it comes out to so and so and we then
divide the full number by half to obtain the number of Am Yisrael.
13
This they shall give, every one that passes among them that are numbered, half
a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary--the shekel is twenty gerahs--half a
shekel for an offering to the LORD. 14 Every one that passes among them that
are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering of the
LORD. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than
the half shekel, when they give the offering of the LORD, to make atonement for
your souls.
This is yearly and it wards off the
evil eye of the Satan for accusing so and so many for not properly observing
Shabbos, Kashrus, Family Purity (Tahara Mishpacha), or other Mitzvos.
16
And thou shalt take the atonement money from the children of Israel, and shalt
appoint it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may be a memorial
for the children of Israel before the LORD, to make atonement for your souls.'
The half coin was an atonement for
all sins. This is one of the three atoning things that are repentance (Teshuva),
prayer (Tephilla) and charity (Tzeduka).
17
And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 18 'Thou shalt also make a laver of
brass, and the base thereof of brass, whereat to wash; and thou shalt put it
between the tent of meeting and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. 19
And Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat; 20 when
they go into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, that they die
not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to cause an offering made
by fire to smoke unto the LORD;
This was made from the mirrors of
the righteous women who put on make-up and combed their hair to attract their
husbands during the time of the throwing of the male babies into the river.
21 so they shall wash their hands and their
feet, that they die not; and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to
him and to his seed throughout their generations.'
The Cohanim had to purify
themselves twice daily for the Korban Tamid and priestly blessing.
22
Moreover the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 23 'Take thou also unto thee the
chief spices, of flowing myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half
so much, even two hundred and fifty, and of sweet calamus two hundred and
fifty, 24 and of cassia five hundred, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of
olive oil a hin. 25 And thou shalt make it a holy anointing oil, a perfume
compounded after the art of the perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil. 26
And thou shalt anoint therewith the tent of meeting, and the ark of the
testimony, 27 and the table and all the vessels thereof, and the candlestick
and the vessels thereof, and the altar of incense, 28 and the altar of
burnt-offering with all the vessels thereof, and the laver and the base
thereof. 29 And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy;
whatsoever touches them shall be holy.
Incense has been duplicated by
non-Jews and sold all over. But for a modern Jew aka non-Cohain, it is
forbidden to make, use, enjoy but if the area of a public place is filled with
it and one is walking normally through that area it not like the person wanted
to profane incense. In Pasuk 38 below one deserves Kares for profane use.
30
And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may
minister unto Me in the priest's office.
Although they have been declared to
become Cohanim, they must be anointed for the first time.
31
And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying: This shall be a holy
anointing oil unto Me throughout your generations. 32 Upon the flesh of man
shall it not be poured, neither shall ye make any like it, according to the
composition thereof; it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you. 33 Whosoever
compounds any like it, or whosoever puts any of it upon a stranger, he shall be
cut off from his people.'
A stranger here is anybody who is
not a Cohain. Meaning a Levi, regular Jew or full convert and of course all
non-Jews.
34
And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha,
and galbanum; sweet spices with pure frankincense; of each shall there be a
like weight. 35 And thou shalt make of it incense, a perfume after the art of
the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. 36 And thou shalt beat some of
it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where
I will meet with thee; it shall be unto you most holy.
Incense was not to be used by
non-Cohanim and even Cohanim outside of the Mishkan/Mikdash.
37
And the incense which thou shalt make, according to the composition thereof ye
shall not make for yourselves; it shall be unto thee holy for the LORD. 38
Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereof, he shall be cut off from
his people.'
As mentioned in Pasukim 29 and 37
above, it is holy and therefore profane use involves Kares.
31:1
And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 2 'See, I have called by name Bezalel
the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; 3 and I have filled him
with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and
in all manner of workmanship, 4 to devise skilful works, to work in gold, and
in silver, and in brass, 5 and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving
of wood, to work in all manner of workmanship.
Betzalel was a craftsman skilled in
hammering, shaping, sculpting gold silver and brass. He also could set stones
in gold and knew ‘all manner of workmanship’ in carving wood and it also
implies carpentry.
6
And I, behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the
tribe of Dan; and in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom,
that they may make all that I have commanded thee: 7 the tent of meeting, and
the ark of the testimony, and the ark-cover that is thereupon, and all the
furniture of the Tent;
Oholiav was a master weaver. He
also knew molding of gold, plaiting and carpentry. It appears that the
administration and finishing touches for the job was too much for one master
craftsman to handle and both were needed to get the project of the Mishkan from
Aleph to Tav. They saw the vision that Moshe saw and brought it into sketches
for engineering and working.
8
and the table and its vessels, and the pure candlestick with all its vessels,
and the altar of incense; 9 and the altar of burnt-offering with all its
vessels, and the laver and its base; 10 and the plaited garments, and the holy
garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the
priest's office;
Oholiav was in charge of this
portion of the project.
11
and the anointing oil, and the incense of sweet spices for the holy place;
according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do.'
It appears that the oil and the
incense they alternately supervised.
12
And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 13 'Speak thou also unto the children of
Israel, saying: Verily ye shall keep My sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me
and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the LORD who
sanctify you.
Since it is a sign or covenant
between G-D and Yisrael even a potential convert is forbidden to observe
Shabbos according to Halacha until after the Beit Din and Mikvah ritual purification.
Shabbos is “our thing” with G-D.
14
Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore, for it is holy unto you; every one that
profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whosoever does any work therein,
that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
Again this is Melacha Avoda and not
physical Avoda. My grandson, working in catering on Shabbos does a lot of force
times distance Avoda putting out the soda or water bottle to drink, salads,
etc. This is permissible for Oneg (enjoyment) Shabbos for a Bar Mitzvah, Bris
or Wedding Blessings during the first week of marriage. But writing two letters
or erasing two letters or numbers could merit the death penalty but if one
forgot it was Shabbos or writing/erasing were Melachos, then one would have to
bring a sin offering (Korban Chatas).
15
Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn
rest, holy to the LORD; whosoever does any work in the sabbath day, he shall
surely be put to death.
If the L-RD rested on Shabbos so
too we must. Even the souls in being repurified in hell and Limbo rest on
Shabbos.
16
Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath
throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
The holy Shabbos applies in
Auschwitz, tunnels in Gaza, on the land, air, train and sea. Escaping Russia
for the Gurwitz Family in about 1947 (5707-8) involved being in a train car and
they lit candles with other Jews that Shabbos. On a plane, boat or in a
hospital one lights an electric light and blesses.
17
It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the
LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He ceased from work and
rested.'
Shabbos is an eternal Bris and set
of Halachos with the L-RD G-D and Israel. It is one of the hardest Mitzvos to
follow. It has 39 Melachos that are forbidden and each may have a few
derivatives. Of the 10 Sayings on Sinai (Ten Commandments) only Shabbos is
singled out here before Moshe receives the two tablets. Since HASHEM ceased all
Melacha and rested on Shabbos so too as the highest beings of creation, we too
must not perform any Melachos.
18
And He gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of speaking with him upon mount
Sinai, the two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written with the
finger of God.
Some of the letters with spaces in
the middle were physically suspended in air. The original Dalet was similar to
a Delta aka a cut out triangle with the middle suspended in air.
32:1
And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, the
people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him: 'Up, make us
a god who shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up
out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.'
Hur opposed them and was murdered
on the spot.
2
And Aaron said unto them: 'Break off the golden rings, which are in the ears of
your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.'
Aharon wanted to delay them as
Moshe was delayed according their accounting and with Hur murdered, he was the
only person standing between them and anarchy.
3
And all the people broke off the golden rings which were in their ears, and
brought them unto Aaron. 4 And he received it at their hand, and fashioned it
with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said: 'This is thy
god, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.'
Why a calf? See Chapter one of
Yechezkel and the Divine Chariot was held up by beings have a foot like that of
a calf.
5
And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made
proclamation, and said: 'To-morrow shall be a feast to the LORD.' 6 And they
rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt-offerings, and brought
peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to
make merry.
They ate a lot and drank too much
wine which led to immodest merriment with members of the opposite sex.
7
And the LORD spoke unto Moses: 'Go, get thee down; for thy people, that thou
brought up out of the land of Egypt, have dealt corruptly;
One is responsible for his neighbor
for he is his brother’s keeper contrary to the wicked Kayn. We see that 3,000
participated in the Egel. Was it 3000 men or half a percent of the men 20years
to 60years or was it 3000 people and a quarter of a percent or eight of a
percent. Yet the sin reflects on all for not stopping the wicked.
8
they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have
made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed unto it,
and said: This is thy god, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of
Egypt.'
Moshe has a problem envisioning
things. He cannot envision all the things in the Mishkan even though he has
been shown them. Here too, the full realization of what is going on below has
not fully registered in his mind.
9
And the LORD said unto Moses: 'I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a
stiffnecked people. 10 Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot
against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of thee a great
nation.'
I will destroy them all and you
shall replace them as a great nation.
11
And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said: 'LORD, why doth Thy wrath wax
hot against Thy people, that Thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt
with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak,
saying: For evil did He bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to
consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from Thy fierce wrath, and repent
of this evil against Thy people.
You will make a Chillul HASHEM towards Mitzrayim and they will
talk against you. Please do not destroy all your people.
13
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou didst swear by
Thine own self, and said unto them: I will multiply your seed as the stars of
heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and
they shall inherit it forever.'
If you only let me live, your
promise to Avraham, Yitzchak, Yacov and the tribes such as Yosef or Yehuda will
not come true.
14
And the LORD repented of the evil which He said He would do unto His people.
Moshe succeeds in calming down
HASHEM.
15
And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, with the two tables of the
testimony in his hand; tables that were written on both their sides; on the one
side and on the other were they written. 16 And the tables were the work of
God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. 17 And
when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses:
'There is a noise of war in the camp.'
Yehoshua is waiting and camping out
at the entrance to the mountain. He is keeping people out and waiting to serve
Moshe, his teacher and master. He hears the noise and believes that there is
war in the camp.
18
And he said: 'It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it
the voice of them that cry for being overcome, but the noise of them that sing
do I hear.'
I don’t hear shouts of victory or
panic but I hear singing and perhaps bawdiness.
19
And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the
calf and the dancing; and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of
his hands, and broke them beneath the mount.
Moshe, when he hears that HASHEM
was angry, calmed him down. However, he loses it. They have just hear 40 days
ago. “I am the L-RD thy G-D” and “You shall not a make an imagine of heaven or
earth” and the rest I told them. We shall listen and we shall do but now look
what has happened. He lost his temper at this point. It is like with his
shepherding the sheep are running towards the wolves or lions.
20
And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it
to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink
of it. 21 And Moses said unto Aaron: 'What did this people unto thee, that thou
hast brought a great sin upon them?' 22 And Aaron said: 'Let not the anger of
my lord wax hot; thou know the people, that they are set on evil.
Evert time the mob begins to take
over, Aharon, known by all as a man of peace found a way to calm down the riot
or appease them. He had to stall for time until Moshe returned. Moshe was a
prophet and could not compromise especially since they had made a graven image.
23
So they said unto me: Make us a god, which shall go before us; for as for this
Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is
become of him.
They want like in Egypt a physical
image of G-D for they cannot accept an unlimited mysterious unknown infinite
BEING concept.
24
And I said unto them: Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off; so they
gave it me; and I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.' 25 And
when Moses saw that the people were broken loose--for Aaron had let them loose
for a derision among their enemies--
From the first story, the calf was
sharpened but Aharon is telling Moshe and implying that the Satan made it so
that the imagine of an Egel came into being.
26
then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said: 'Whoso is on the LORD'S side,
let him come unto me.' And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together
unto him. 27 And he said unto them: 'Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Put
ye every man his sword upon his thigh, and go to and fro from gate to gate
throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his
companion, and every man his neighbor.'
Moshe has now a military force of
well over 10,000 as we shall see in Parsha Naso to deal with the either 3,000
men or a total of 3,000 people.
28
And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the
people that day about three thousand men. 29 And Moses said: 'Consecrate
yourselves to-day to the LORD, for every man hath been against his son and
against his brother; that He may also bestow upon you a blessing this day.' 30
And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people: 'Ye have
sinned a great sin; and now I will go up unto the LORD, peradventure I shall
make atonement for your sin.'
I have to go up the mountain again
to atone for your sin.
31
And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said: 'Oh, this people have sinned a
great sin, and have made them a god of gold. 32 Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive
their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast
written.'
So the L-RD will listen to him and
next week, the name Moshe will not exist in the Parsha aka blotted out of the
book.
33
And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I
blot out of My book. 34 And now go, lead the people unto the place of which I
have spoken unto thee; behold, Mine angel shall go before thee; nevertheless in
the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.'
The rest of the people besides the
3,000 wicked ones that did not organize to oppose the Egel HaZahav (golden
calf).
35
And the LORD smote the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.
They were hit with a plague. Rashi writes:וַיִּגֹּף ה' אֶת־הָעָם - God
struck the people with a plague - i.e., death penalty by direct Divine act, for those whose sin was witnessed but had not been legally warned. For Beis Din (Sanhedrin) to give the death penalty,
witnesses and a warning against “images and besides G-D” had to have been
warned.
33:1
And the LORD spoke unto Moses: 'Depart, go up hence, thou and the people that
thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land of which I swore
unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying: Unto thy seed will I give it--
No go into the land as I have
promised so.
2
and I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the
Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite--
My Angel will help drive out these
peoples.
3
unto a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in the midst of
thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people; lest I consume thee in the way.'
Because the people are brutish,
boorish and stubborn, it is best that the Angel go following MY orders than I
go with you.
4
And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned; and no man did put
on him his ornaments. 5 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Say unto the children of
Israel: Ye are a stiffnecked people; if I go up into the midst of thee for one
moment, I shall consume thee; therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee,
that I may know what to do unto thee.' 6 And the children of Israel stripped
themselves of their ornaments from mount Horeb onward.
They abstained from worldly luxuries and beautifying their
physical appearance as an act of Teshuva.
7 Now
Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it without the camp, afar off from the
camp; and he called it the tent of meeting. And it came to pass, that every one
that sought the LORD went out unto the tent of meeting, which was without the
camp. 8 And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the Tent, that all the
people rose up, and stood, every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses,
until he was gone into the Tent. 9 And it came to pass, when Moses entered into
the Tent, the pillar of cloud descended, and stood at the door of the Tent; and
[the LORD] spoke with Moses. 10 And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud
stand at the door of the Tent, all the people rose up and worshipped, every man
at his tent door.
One could see the cloud of glory descending onto the Tent and this
was sufficient to introduce fear of G-D.
11
And the LORD spoke unto Moses face to face, as a man speaks unto his friend.
And he would return into the camp; but his minister Joshua, the son of Nun, a
young man, departed not out of the Tent.
Yoshua was a Talmud close to Moshe
and he would serve him and watch his movements and obtain Kedusha that way.
Yoshua was not privy to both sides of the dialogue.
12
And Moses said unto the LORD: 'See, Thou say unto me: Bring up this people; and
Thou hast not let me know whom Thou wilt send with me. Yet Thou hast said: I
know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in My sight. 13 Now
therefore, I pray Thee, if I have found grace in Thy sight, show me now Thy
ways, that I may know Thee, to the end that I may find grace in Thy sight; and
consider that this nation is Thy people.' 14 And He said: 'My presence shall go
with thee, and I will give thee rest.' 15 And he said unto Him: 'If Thy
presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. 16 For wherein now shall it be
known that I have found grace in Thy sight, I and Thy people? is it not in that
Thou go with us, so that we are distinguished, I and Thy people, from all the
people that are upon the face of the earth?'
How will Am Yisrael know? Am Yisrael
Goy Ehad B’ Aretz. The Nation of Yisrael is one Nation on the earth
distinguished from all others. Rashi brings down that the L-RD previously made
a distinction between the cattle of Yisrael and the cattle of the Egyptians.
17
And the LORD said unto Moses: 'I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken,
for thou hast found grace in My sight, and I know thee by name.'
גַּם אֶת־הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה - Also this thing - that I no longer manifest My Presence among the nations of the
world, I will do. And although we find that Balaam, a non-Jew, received
prophecy, his words of prophecy were not received through the Divine
Presence resting upon him, but as: “lying down with open eyes,” such as we find: “and a word was conveyed
to me stealthily,” Bamidbar (Num) 24:4 i.e., the non-Jewish prophets hear the word of God only through an intermediary (Iyob 4:12).
18
And he said: 'Show me, I pray Thee, Thy glory.' 19 And He said: 'I will make
all My goodness pass before thee, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before
thee; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on
whom I will show mercy.' 20 And He said: 'Thou canst not see My face, for man
shall not see Me and live.' 21 And the LORD said: 'Behold, there is a place by
Me, and thou shalt stand upon the rock. 22 And it shall come to pass, while My
glory passes by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover
thee with My hand until I have passed by. 23 And I will take away My hand, and
thou shalt see My back; but My face shall not be seen.'
He only saw the place of the
Tephillin.
34:1
And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the
first; and I will write upon the tables the words that were on the first
tables, which thou didst break.
Moshe needed the DIVINE NAME to
conjure up sapphire tablets and cut the letters therein some suspended in air.
2
And be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and
present thyself there to Me on the top of the mount. 3 And no man shall come up
with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let
the flocks nor herds feed before that mount.' 4 And he hewed two tables of
stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up
unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand two
tables of stone. 5 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him
there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 And the LORD passed by before
him, and proclaimed: 'The LORD, the LORD, God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; 7 keeping mercy unto the
thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that
will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and unto the
fourth generation.'
These are the 13 Principles of Faith. (For us 13 is a lucky number.
Even Jewish Yeshu was with his 12 disciples but since the Romans murdered him
on Pesach, for the Christians 13 became a bad luck omen.)
8
And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. 9
And he said: 'If now I have found grace in Thy sight, O Lord, let the Lord, I
pray Thee, go in the midst of us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon
our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Thine inheritance.' 10 And He said:
'Behold, I make a covenant; before all thy people I will do marvels, such as
have not been wrought in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people
among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD that I am about to do with
thee, that it is tremendous. 11 Observe thou that which I am commanding thee
this day; behold, I am driving out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite,
and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 12 Take
heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land
whither thou goes, lest they be for a snare in the midst of thee. 13 But ye
shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and ye shall
cut down their Asherim.
Asherim were magnificently old trees with a source of water in the
desert or barren area. The tree is outstanding there and become an object of
wordship.
14
For thou shalt bow down to no other god; for the LORD, whose name is Jealous,
is a jealous God; 15 lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the
land, and they go astray after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods,
and they call thee, and thou eat of their sacrifice; 16 and thou take of their
daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go astray after their gods, and
make thy sons go astray after their gods. 17 Thou shalt make thee no molten
gods.
You shall not think that the people lived for hundreds of years in
the land that these gods protected them. Neither as with the golden calf should
one make an imagine of the holding up of the foot stool of the DIVINE Chariot.
18
The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat
unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, at the time appointed in the month Abib,
for in the month Abib thou came out from Egypt.
This is an extra warning about the observance of Pesach.
19 All
that opens the womb is Mine; and of all thy cattle thou shalt sanctify the
males, the firstlings of ox and sheep.
Humans you shall redeem and the cattle and herds shall have their
first born given to a Cohain. Nowadays, that we do not have a Mizbayach for the
sacrifice of the Bechor by a Cohain so they are sent out into an area with
thorns and rocks so that they will develop a blemish to be eating as Chulin
(non-holy or profane).
20
And the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not
redeem it, then thou shalt break its neck. All the first-born of thy sons thou
shalt redeem. And none shall appear before Me empty.
Every once in a while a righteous Sephardic Jew will buy a
pregnant donkey to fulfil this Mitzvah.
21
Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest; in plowing
time and in harvest thou shalt rest.
Harvest time in an agricultural society was the most pressing time
for the people and yet they had to observe Shabbos. This place is the one
exception that Shabbos does not come before Pesach and the other holidays.
22
And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, even of the first-fruits of wheat
harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the turn of the year.
This is Chag Shavuos.
23
Three times in the year shall all thy males appear before the Lord GOD, the God
of Israel. 24 For I will cast out nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders;
neither shall any man covet thy land, when thou go up to appear before the LORD
thy God three times in the year.
Sukkos is not mentioned but only hinted at.
25
Thou shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; neither
shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left unto the morning.
The prohibition of meat and blood was given to Noach but here it
is repeated for Am Yisrael.
26
The choicest first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the
LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk.'
Again this Halacha of forbidden
mixtures.
27
And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Write thou these words, for after the tenor of
these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.' 28 And he was
there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor
drink water.
Moshe is doing two writings. One of
Torah and one writing on the new Tablets (Luchos HaBris).
And
he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten words. 29 And it
came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of the
testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses knew not
that the skin of his face sent forth beams while He talked with him.
His skin glowed from holiness and like
laser beams shot out from his face. He was like one looking at the sun.
30
And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of
his face sent forth beams; and they were afraid to come nigh him.
Light rays in dust or just plain
glowing.
31
And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation
returned unto him; and Moses spoke to them. 32 And afterward all the children
of Israel came nigh, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had
spoken with him in mount Sinai. 33 And when Moses had done speaking with them,
he put a veil on his face.
He had to put a veil on his face to
cover up the light.
34
But when Moses went in before the LORD that He might speak with him, he took
the veil off, until he came out; and he came out; and spoke unto the children
of Israel that which he was commanded.
Since G-D exists in stars, vacuum
of space and the nothingness prior to the Big Bang Moshe had no need for a
veil.
35
And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face
sent forth beams; and Moses put the veil back upon his face, until he went in
to speak with Him.
This was a gift that HASHEM gave to
Moshe.
This year Purim falls on Friday. We give out our gifts to the poor or friends earlier in the day and the meal starts before noon. From Rabbi Manis Friedman Shlita Chabad. purim-booklet-2025-4.pdf
This was posted by
Jonah sent to me by Thomas: Dan
B: "I am from Jordan and I support Israel, and here is why. I am from a
city called Jerash, today it is insignificant, a forgotten, decaying place.
But
once, it was great. It was Jarasa, a thriving city of the Greco-Roman world, a
beacon of culture, knowledge, and civilization.
Then,
Islamic conquest arrived.
My
ancestors were forced to convert, their heritage erased, and their land
stripped of its brilliance.
What
was once a center of civilization became a ruin, another casualty of Islam’s relentless
march.
This
wasn’t just Jerash. It was Lebanon. It was Syria. It was Iraq. It was Egypt.
These lands weren’t always the Islamic backwaters they are today.
They
were hubs of knowledge, trade, philosophy, and empire.
Then
Islam came.
It
deformed them, crushed their identities, and plunged them into centuries of
regression.
Egypt,
the land of the Pharaohs, of towering pyramids, of an empire that shaped
history, was swallowed by an ideology that replaced its greatness with
religious stagnation.
Islam
was the greatest colonial project in history.
It
expanded by force, erasing entire civilizations and replacing them with
submission to an Arab warlord from the 7th century.
And
yet, the stupid Western left, the so-called defenders of “decolonization,” bend
over backward to give Islam a pass.
They
scream about colonialism when it comes to the West but ignore the Islamic
colonization of entire peoples, cultures, and lands.
They
want to hand the West over to the very force that already destroyed the East.
Israel,
on the other hand, is the greatest decolonization project in history.
It
is a people reclaiming their land, reviving what was stolen from them, and
standing against the very ideology that wrecked the Middle East.
Europe wake up. They are taking
over your demographics. A child and a dog or cat for a Christian vs. many
children for Muslims.
Amalek and irrational hate by Lord Rabbi J. Sachs Zal
https://aish.com/amalek-and-irrational-hate/
Unconditional,
irrational hatred cannot be reasoned with.
It is by
any standards a strange, almost incomprehensible law. The Torah writes:
Remember
what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When
you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who
were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. When the Lord your God gives you
rest from all the enemies around you in the land He is giving you to possess as
an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek from under the heaven. Do
not forget. (Deut. 25:17-19)
The
Israelites had two enemies in the days of Moses: the Egyptians and the
Amalekites. The Egyptians enslaved the Israelites. They turned them into a
forced labor colony. They oppressed them. Pharaoh commanded them to drown every
male Israelite child. It was attempted genocide. Yet about them, Moses
commands: Do not despise an Egyptian, because you were strangers in his
land. (Deut. 23:8) The Amalekites did no more than attack the
Israelites once, an attack that they successfully repelled (Ex. 17:13).
Yet Moses commands, "Remember." "Do not forget." "Blot
out the name." In Exodus the Torah says that "God shall be at war
with Amalek for all generations" (Deut. 17:16). Why the difference?
Why did Moses tell the Israelites, in effect, to forgive the Egyptians but not
the Amalekites?
The answer
is to be found as a corollary of teaching in the Mishna:
Whenever
love depends on a cause and the cause passes away, then the love passes away
too. But if love does not depend on a cause then the love will never pass away.
What is an example of the love which depended upon a cause? That of Amnon for
Tamar. And what is an example of the love which did not depend on a cause? That
of David and Jonathan. (Ethics of the Fathers, 5:19)
When love
is conditional, it lasts as long as the condition lasts but no longer. Amnon
loved, or rather lusted, for Tamar because she was forbidden to him. She was
his half-sister. Once he had had his way with her, "Then Amnon hated her
with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved
her." (2 Sam. 13:15). But when love is unconditional and irrational,
it never ceases. In the words of Dylan Thomas: "Though lovers be lost,
love shall not, and death shall have no dominion."
The same
applies to hate. When hate is rational, based on some fear or disapproval that
- justified or not - has some logic to it, then it can be reasoned with and
brought to an end. But unconditional, irrational hatred cannot be reasoned
with. There is nothing one can do to address it and end it. It persists.
That was
the difference between the Amalekites and the Egyptians. The Egyptians' hatred
and fear of the Israelites was not irrational. Pharaoh said to his people: “The
Israelites are becoming too numerous and strong for us. We must deal wisely
with them. Otherwise, they may increase so much, that if there is war, they
will join our enemies and fight against us, driving [us] from the
land” (Ex. 1:9-10).
The
Egyptians feared the Israelites because they were numerous. They constituted a
potential threat to the native population. Historians tell us that this was not
groundless. Egypt had already suffered from one invasion of outsiders, the
Hyksos, an Asiatic people with Canaanite names and beliefs, who took over the
Nile Delta during the Second Intermediate Period of the Egypt of the pharaohs.
Eventually they were expelled from Egypt and all traces of their occupation
were erased. But the memory persisted. It was not irrational for the Egyptians
to fear that the Hebrews were another such population. They feared the
Israelites because they were strong.
(Note that
there is a difference between "rational" and "justified".
The Egyptians' fear was in this case certainly unjustified. The Israelites did
not want to take over Egypt. To the contrary, they would have preferred to
leave. Not every rational emotion is justified. It is not irrational to feel
fear of flying after the report of a major air disaster, despite the fact that
statistically it is more dangerous to drive a car than to be a passenger in a
plane. The point is simply that rational but unjustified emotion can, in
principle, be cured through reasoning.)
Irrational
hate lasts "for all generations" and never goes away. All one can do
is to remember and not forget, to be constantly vigilant, and to fight it
whenever and wherever it appears.
Precisely
the opposite was true of the Amalekites. They attacked the Israelites when they
were "weary and weak". They focused their assault on those who were
"lagging behind." Those who are weak and lagging behind pose no
danger. This was irrational, groundless hate.
With
rational hate it is possible to reason. Besides, there was no reason for the
Egyptians to fear the Israelites any more. They had left. They were no longer a
threat. But with irrational hate it is impossible to reason. It has no cause,
no logic. Therefore it may never go away. Irrational hate is as durable and
persistent as irrational love. The hatred symbolized by Amalek lasts "for
all generations." All one can do is to remember and not forget, to be
constantly vigilant, and to fight it whenever and wherever it appears.
There is
such a thing as rational xenophobia: fear and hate of the foreigner, the
stranger, the one not like us. In the hunter-gatherer stage of humanity, it was
vital to distinguish between members of your tribe and those of another tribe.
There was competition for food and territory. It was not an age of liberalism
and tolerance. The other tribe was likely to kill you or oust you, given the
chance.
The ancient
Greeks were xenophobic, regarding all non-Greeks as barbarians. So still are
many native populations. Even people as tolerant as the British and Americans
were historically distrustful of immigrants, be they Jews, Irish, Italian or
Puerto Rican. What happens, though, is that within two or three generations the
newcomers acculturate and integrate. They are seen as contributing to the
national economy and adding richness and variety to its culture. When an
emotion like fear of immigrants is rational but unjustified, eventually it
declines and disappears.
Antisemitism
is different from xenophobia. It is the paradigm case of irrational hatred. In
the Middle Ages Jews were accused of poisoning wells, spreading the plague, and
in one of the most absurd claims ever - the Blood Libel - they were suspected
of killing Christian children to use their blood to make matzah for Passover.
This was self-evidently impossible, but that did not stop people believing it.
Antisemitism
was the supreme irrationality of the age of reason.
The
European Enlightenment, with its worship of science and reason, was expected to
end all such hatred. Instead it gave rise to a new version of it, racial
antisemitism. In the nineteenth century Jews were hated because they were rich
and because they were poor; because they were capitalists and because they were
communists; because they were exclusive and kept to themselves and because they
infiltrated everywhere; because they were believers in an ancient,
superstitious faith and because they were rootless cosmopolitans who believed
nothing.
Antisemitism
was the supreme irrationality of the age of reason.
It gave
rise to a new myth, The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a literary forgery produced by
members of the Czarist Russia secret police toward the end of the nineteenth
century. It held that Jews had power over the whole of Europe - this at the
time of the Russian pogroms of 1881 and the antisemitic May Laws of 1882, which
sent some three million Jews, powerless and impoverished, into flight from
Russia to the West.
The
situation in which Jews found themselves at the end of what was supposed to be
the century of Enlightenment and emancipation was stated eloquently by Theodor
Herzl, in 1897:
We have
sincerely tried everywhere to merge with the national communities in which we
live, seeking only to preserve the faith of our fathers. It is not permitted
us. In vain are we loyal patriots, sometimes super loyal; in vain do we make
the same sacrifices of life and property as our fellow citizens; in vain do we
strive to enhance the fame of our native lands in the arts and sciences, or her
wealth by trade and commerce. In our native lands where we have lived for
centuries we are still decried as aliens, often by men whose ancestors had not
yet come at a time when Jewish sighs had long been heard in the country ... If
we were left in peace ... But I think we shall not be left in peace.
This was
deeply shocking to Herzl. No less shocking has been the return of antisemitism
to parts of the Middle East and even Europe today, within living memory of the
Holocaust. Yet the Torah intimates why. Irrational hate does not die.
Not all
hostility to Jews, or to Israel as a Jewish state, is irrational, and where it
is not, it can be reasoned with. But some of it is irrational. Some of it, even
today, is a repeat of the myths of the past, from the Blood Libel to the
Protocols. All we can do is remember and not forget, confront it and defend
ourselves against it.
Amalek does
not die. But neither does the Jewish people. Attacked so many times over the
centuries, it still lives, giving testimony to the victory of the God of love
over the myths and madness of hate.
The Dressmakers of Auschwitz by Dan Rich
https://aish.com/the-dressmakers-of-auschwitz/
{On of the 25 dressmakers is/was
the late mother of a cousin of mine and I met her briefly. It was her husband,
Franz Zal, who lectured for years high school students in the San Francisco –
Silicon Valley area of the horrors of Auschwitz.}
At the height of the
Holocaust, 25 women tailored and crafted exquisite garments for the wives of SS
guards and high-ranking Nazi officers in an exclusive salon the Nazis called
the “Upper Tailoring Studio,” located within the Auschwitz-Birkenau
concentration camp.
Magda Goebbels, wife of
Hitler’s propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, was one of their clients.
Founded by Hedwig Höss, the wife of the camp commandant, their work was in such
high demand that there was a six-month backlog of orders. The youngest worker
was just 14, and the oldest were in their early twenties. Most of them grew up
in tailoring families and were familiar with fashion trade that would save
their lives.
In early 1942 Slovakia
was plastered with posters and handbills ordering unmarried Jewish girls to
report to work camps for service. Some were deported immediately, some went
into hiding, thousands of them headed east on German transport trains to
concentration camps in occupied Poland.
Female prisoners were
mainly assigned to work outdoors, dredging swamps and ponds, digging ditches,
strengthening riverbanks, and using pickaxes and hand tools to demolish houses
left behind as Poles fled their homes. Once bricks were chipped away from
walls, they were loaded onto a cart where women instead of horses would deliver
the load to a construction site.
Some luckier women ended
up as servants and attendants to the camp officers. One was Marta Fuchs, a
dressmaker who became a general domestic servant for Hedwig Höss and her
family. Hedwig was married to Rudolf Höss, the Commandant of Auschwitz. Marta
was assigned to maintain their garden and swimming pool and entertain the Höss
children with sleigh rides or playing on the garden swings at the Höss’s villa.
One day, Hedwig lamented
that she needed someone to repurpose some scrap fur pieces into a coat. Marta
assured her that she could easily do that. Hedwig was so pleased with the
result that Marta became Hedwig’s in-house dressmaker and tailor. The villa’s
attic was reconfigured as a sewing room where dresses and female finery
pillaged from Auschwitz prisoners were reconditioned and Marta crafted formal
outfits for the Hoss children and dresses for Hedwig, who insisted that Marta
replace any buttons from the prisoner’s confiscated clothing because she didn’t
want contact with anything “that Jewish hands had touched.” (Quoted from The
Dressmakers of Auschwitz, by Lucy Adington)
By this time, Hedwig had
hired some seamstresses to work with Marta. Climbing up to the attic one day,
Hedwig was impressed by the quality and speed she saw in Marta and another
Jewish woman’s sewing. Hedwig was perplexed by what she saw and said “You work
quickly and well. How is that possible? After all, Jews are parasites and con
artists, and…do nothing but sit around in cafes? Where did you learn to work
like this?” (ibid.)
Soon, Hedwig’s fancy
clothing became the envy of jealous Nazi officers’ wives. Hedwig saw the
possibility to grow her attic workshop into a high-end fashion salon dedicated
to the Nazi elite within the confines of the Auschwitz concentration camp. This
was the genesis of the studio with Marta at the helm.
By 1944, women who were
identified as “dressmakers” were selected to join an elite group of stitchers
and textile workers in a new fashion salon called the Obere Nähstube,
Upper Tailoring Studio. Requests for relatives to join the studio were funneled
through Marta and the number of workers grew as friends and sisters were added
to the group. Marta saw the new dressmaking studio as a refuge to provide
rescue for as many women as possible.
The studio was set up in
the upper basement of the Stabsgebaude, or staff building. It had
amenities such as running water, flush toilets, and working showers. The women
worked around the clock and slept in shifts in double decker wooden bunk beds
with straw mattresses. They wore better quality clothing, confiscated by the SS
from the new arrivals to the camp, than the second-rate fare they wore before
their assignment to the Stabsgebaude.
Meals consisted of tea
and coffee substitutes, turnip soup, potato peelings, and sometimes margarine
or sausage with bread. Some sympathetic guards would occasionally dole out
sugar cubes and chocolate bars.
Sisters Bracha and Katka
Berkovic who were part of the team of dressmakers
The 25 dressmakers were
from Slovakia, Hungary, France, Poland, Russia, and Germany. When SS clients
arrived for a consultation, they would leaf through the many fashion magazines
on hand, chose fabrics, trim and accessories that would best fit the design,
and Marta’s team would create patterns, cut the fabric into the required
pieces, and fabricate beautiful lingerie, suits, dresses and gowns.
Working with satins,
silks, cotton, and linens, the women were expected to produce two dresses every
week. Customers eventually included high ranking Nazi clients from Berlin.
Marta wanted to save as
many women as she could. She started with the workers themselves who now had
clean clothes, the opportunity to wash, and the satisfaction and self-esteem of
having civilized meaningful work.
Some resistance was
measured in small doses, like fabricating forbidden items such as a prayer book
for holidays or a Sabbath candle.
In the larger scheme,
resistance included secretly helping the underground resistance
movements to communicate with people outside the camp and smuggle messages
out through a courier network. Coded letters and postcards were sent by the
dressmakers, trying to convey the genocide of Auschwitz.
Fruits and vegetables
smuggled in from Hedwig Höss’s garden were shared among the women. They
collected and distributed any medicines they could find.
Whenever a dressmaker
got sick, they rallied to surreptitiously nurse each other back to health,
risking a beating or worse by the guards for their acts of kindness and mercy.
A highly valued smuggled item was any newspaper, to learn what was happening
beyond their prison walls.
When their guards fell
asleep, they would softly tune in BBC radio for news of the Allied war effort.
It was through such a clandestine news broadcast they learned of the Allied
landing in France on D-Day. The newspapers and radio broadcasts raised morale
and gave them hope that the tide of the war was turning.
In late 1944 and early
1945, Allied bombs began to fall, and the Germans frantically began to destroy
the records documenting the Auschwitz genocide. There were so many files,
ledger books, and detailed records targeted for destruction, the Germans built
bonfires to destroy them.
January 17, 1945, was
the women’s last day of work. The dressmakers, along with tens of thousands of
prisoners, were forced to march in the winter snow to other camps in the west
and northwest as Auschwitz was evacuated and virtually abandoned. Ten days
later, the advancing Russian army arrived and liberated the remaining sick and
infirm prisoners that were left behind.
By May, American,
British and Russian troops were converging and Germany surrendered on May 2,
1945.
Marta was born in 1918
in present-day Hungary. She became an artist and dressmaker and was a rising
star in the fashion and haute couture circles of Prague. She might have ended
up as a fashion icon in Paris if her path in life had been different. Instead,
she ended up in Auschwitz and became the “kapo” or leader of the Upper
Tailoring Studio.
When Auschwitz was
abandoned, Marta and five others broke away from the Death March in an escape
effort. They made it as far as the Slovak/Polish border before they were met by
gunfire from German troops. Four of the escapees were shot to death, but Marta
and a Polish friend escaped. Marta was saved when the German bullets struck
books in her knapsack while she was running into the woods.
After the war, she
opened her own business in Prague. “Salon Marta” produced reasonably priced
good quality women’s clothing.
Edna Hedwig Höss was 21
when she married Rudolf Höss upon his release from prison on a murder sentence in 1929. They
lived in a garden villa within the Auschwitz property that was adorned with
roses from her rose garden. (Their family was featured in the film, The Zone of
Interest.) She hosted parties to entertain high level Nazis including Adolf
Eichmann, Dr Josef Mengele, and Heinrich Himmler, whom her children
affectionately called “Uncle Heini”.
Toward the end of the
war, Edna, Rudolf, and their five children evaded authorities and settled in
northern Germany under false names. Heinrich was discovered by a team of
British Nazi hunters in March 1946, arrested and handed over to the Americans
to testify at Nuremburg and then stand trial in Poland.
Hoss’ autobiography was
written in jail. He denied any guilt for his war crimes because he had only
“followed orders”. One year later, the former Commander of the Auschwitz
concentration and extermination camp was found guilty and his death sentence by
hanging was carried out on April 16, 1947. His execution took place in a
courtyard near the grounds of the former Auschwitz crematorium, where 1.1
million people, the vast majority of them Jews, were murdered.
Edna Hedwig Hoss passed
away in September 1989 while visiting her daughter and granddaughter in
Virginia. She was 81.
The story of the Upper Tailoring Studio was largely
unknown until British author and clothing historian Lucy Adlington published
her bestselling book The Dressmakers of Auschwitz in September 2021. The
New York Times Best Seller has been translated into 22 languages, highlighting
its global impact and themes of friendship, loyalty, and female heroism.
P.S. from my cousin Vivian: The author Lucy Adlington stayed in my house while she was
interviewing my mother-in-law Betka Kohut for her book, Dressmakers of
Auschwitz. She has written a new book called Four Red Sweaters. Sadly my MIL
died before the book was published. My father's movie Avenue of The Giants has
been showing around the country at the film festivals and is so well received.
Soon it should be in big theaters. If you google the movie you can find
articles about it and my father Herbert Heller. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXU-x4cYvck
The Cairo Purim by
Yehudis Litvak
https://aish.com/cairo-purim-when-cairos-jews-were-saved-from-an-evil-ruler-in-the-16th-century/
Like Jews
of Persia in the Purim story, the Jews of Cairo were under the threat of
annihilation. Their prayers were answered and the evil schemer was punished.
Jews
from Cairo, Egypt celebrate a unique holiday called Cairo Purim. The holiday
commemorates the salvation of Cairo Jews from their enemies in 1524. These
events are described in the Scroll of Egypt, very similar in style to the
Scroll of Esther, written by a contemporary rabbi.
These
events took place during the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. One of
the sultan’s generals was Ahmed Shaitan, a greedy and cruel man. As a reward
for Ahmed’s military accomplishments Sultan Suleiman appointed him governor of
Egypt.
The
Scroll of Egypt tell us2, “On that day, at the
time when Ahmed Shaitan went into the citadel, his whole force made him king
over them… [T]hey proclaimed in streets of Cairo, and in all the neighboring
cities, that Ahmed Shaitan was made king.”
At
the time, Cairo, the capital of Egypt, was the home of a large Jewish
community. One of the community’s prominent members was Abraham de Castro, who
had been appointed by the previous sultan as the head minter. His job was to
mint coins in the local currency.
In
those days, coins, in addition to their monetary value, served as a symbol of
power. Each coin depicted or named the ruler under whose jurisdiction the coin
was minted. Thus, the Scroll of Egypt relates that one of the instructions that
Sultan Suleiman had given Ahmed was “the coinage shalt thou issue in my name3.”
After
proclaiming himself king, Ahmed summoned de Castro and ordered him to mint
coins in his, Ahmed Shaitan’s, name instead of the sultan’s.
De
Castro found himself in a precarious position. With his life on the line, he
agreed to fulfill Ahmed’s command. But he remained loyal to the sultan and did
not trust Ahmed. In the middle of the night, under the cover of darkness, he
escaped from Cairo. Eventually, he made his way to Constantinople and reported
Ahmed’s rebellion to Suleiman the Magnificent4.
Meanwhile,
in Cairo, Ahmed realized that de Castro had tricked him. Furious, he decided to
take revenge on the whole Jewish community.
Apparently,
Ahmed’s supporters were even more antisemitic than him. The Scroll of Egypt’s
depiction is reminiscent of Haman in the Scroll of Esther5:
And
Ahmed Shaitan's forces came and said unto him, Thou know, O our lord the king,
what thy servants have done unto thee, and that we have made thee king in
Egypt. And now, if thy servants have found favor in thine eyes and if it please
the king, let a decree be given to destroy, to kill, to cause to perish, all
Jews, both young and old, little children and women, and to take the spoil of
them for a prey, and to take vengeance of them, for they are our enemies and
adversaries.
And
just like Ahasuerus in the days of Purim, Ahmed replied6, “The
Jews are given unto you, and do unto them as is pleasing in your eyes.”
The
Chief Rabbi of Cairo at the time was Rabbi David ben Zimra, also known as the
Radbaz. Exiled from Spain at age 13, the Radbaz studied in Safed and Jerusalem
and gained a reputation of a promising scholar. Later, he moved to Fez, Morocco
and served on the rabbinical court.
In
1517, the Radbaz moved to Cairo, where he served as the Chief Rabbi for 40
years. He was known for his integrity and generosity. In addition to his
community responsibilities, the Radbaz was a prolific writer and Torah teacher.
His books are studied to this day.
Another
prominent rabbi in Cairo at the time was Rabbi Samuel Sirillo, or Sidillo in
other sources. Also Spanish-born, Rabbi Sirillo also authored Torah literature.
Some believe him to be the author of the Scroll of Egypt7.
When
the rabbis found out about Ahmed’s and his associates’ plans, they immediately
organized public fasting and prayers. Just like in the days of Esther, the Jews
“proclaimed a fast, and they wept, and they put earth upon their heads, and
they put on sackcloth, from the least amongst them even unto the greatest, and
the land mourned, and all the inhabitants thereof languished. And they continued
fasting and crying every day until their weeping rose up to heaven8.”
Ahmed’s
soldiers wasted no time. They went on a rampage in the Jewish quarter,
plundering Jews’ property and murdering those Jews who got in their way. Five
Jews were murdered in this pogrom. Many others managed to flee.
The
salvation, just like in the times of Purim, came from the palace itself, or
rather, the citadel, which Ahmed had taken over. A Jew in a high-ranking
government position appealed to Ahmed and his warriors. He begged them to leave
the Jews alone, promising in return to deliver all of Cairo’s Jewish
community’s gold and silver to Ahmed.
Never one
to refuse gold and silver, Ahmed agreed, and the Jews were saved from further
violence, though left impoverished.
But
Ahmed’s greed was insatiable. Now that he saw that the Jews were willing to
part with their wealth in exchange for safety, he attempted a repeat of the
same tactic.
The
Scroll of Egypt tells us9, “After
these things, Ahmed Shaitan desired of the Jews a hundred and fifty thousand
great gold pieces, and he also said, If ye bring them not quickly, I shall kill
you with the sword.”
The
amount Ahmed demanded would have been difficult to collect even during peaceful
times. After the extensive plunder, the chances that the Jewish community would
be able to come up with such an amount were nil.
But
Ahmed was not interested in facts. He refused to listen to the representatives
of the Jewish community who “fell down to the ground10” before
him and begged him to reconsider.
Instead,
Ahmed sought to put more pressure on the Jewish community by keeping twelve of
its prominent members hostage until the money was received11. Among
the hostages was the Radbaz, who especially aroused Ahmed’s ire because he had
been independently wealthy.
The
Radbaz describes this episode12, “I am
imprisoned… The heart is oppressed; the thought is confused. The mind is
diverted from study and fears for the future and is frightened for the
present.”
Ahmed
gave the Jews a deadline: the 19th of Adar. If the money was not
handed over by then, “Ahmed sought to destroy all the Jews that were in Cairo,
both young and old, little children and women, and to take the spoil of them
for a prey13.”
Again,
the Jews came together to pray. On the 18th of Adar, the day before
the deadline, “the Jews assembled themselves to stand for their life in prayer
and supplication, and great crying, and in fasting and weeping; and sackcloth
and ashes were spread under many14.”
Contemporary
sources mention that Rabbi Sirillo gathered the young children of Cairo in his
synagogue and led the prayers.
The
sincere prayers of Cairo’s Jews were answered. The Scroll of Egypt tells us15:
And
the cry of the children of Israel went up to the Holy One, and He heard their
groaning, and remembered His covenant with them. And God saw their works, and
their fasting, and their sackcloth, and He did not despise their humiliation,
and He sent them help suddenly, and He saved them from the hands of their enemies
and of those who sought their hurt.
Unbeknownst
to the Jews, several survivors of Sultan Suleiman’s forces had been planning to
overthrow the tyrannical Ahmed. On that very day, as the Jews were begging for
their lives, the sultan’s soldiers sprang into action. They took over the
citadel and searched for Ahmed in order to execute him.
Ahmed,
however, had been taking a bath. Somehow, he heard the commotion and managed to
escape.
Nevertheless,
Sultan Suleiman’s soldiers declared a victory: “When Sultan Soliman's chiefs
saw that Ahmed Shaitan had fled, that they went up into the citadel, and dwelt
therein. And they hastened, and proclaimed in all the streets of Cairo: Peace
and quietness be unto you, and be ye not afraid… May our lord, the King Soliman,
live forever; and there was very much joy, and Cairo rejoiced and was glad. The
Jews had light and gladness, and joy and honor16.”
The
hostages were released, and the Jews celebrated.
Sultan
Suleiman’s forces pursued Ahmed for over a week. Finally, on the 28th
of Adar, they captured and executed him.
The
Scroll of Egypt relates17:
When
the Jews saw the salvation of the Holy One, and the wonders done to them, as in
the days of Haman… the Jews were assembled, and agreed to fast on the
twenty-seventh day of the month Adar and to make the twenty-eighth day a feast
and rejoicing, and for sending portions one to another and gifts to the poor.
Because the Holy One had done to them marvels and wonderful things, and had
helped them out of the hands of those who had sought their life.
Since
then, Cairo Purim became a yearly holiday, celebrated similarly to the original
Purim by the Jewish community of Cairo. The celebration includes reading the
Scroll of Egypt in the synagogue.
After
the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, most Jews were forced to
leave Egypt due to persecution. Very few Jews remain in Cairo today. However,
some descendants of Cairo Jews living in Israel still celebrate Cairo Purim18.
1.
G. Margoliouth. Megillath
Missraim, or the Scroll of the Egyptian Purim. University of Pennsylvania
Press. The Jewish Quarterly Review, Jan., 1896, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Jan., 1896), pp.
274-288.
2.
Ibid.
3.
Ibid.
4.
The Scroll of Egypt does
not mention de Castro and Ahmed’s order. However, this episode is mentioned in
other contemporary sources, as cited in G. Margoliouth. Megillath Missraim,
or the Scroll of the Egyptian Purim. University of Pennsylvania Press. The
Jewish Quarterly Review, Jan., 1896, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Jan., 1896), pp. 274-288.
5.
Ibid.
6.
Ibid.
7.
Jacob R. Marcus. The Jew
in the Medieval World: A Sourcebook. Hebrew Union College Press, 1999. Page 70.
8.
G. Margoliouth. Megillath
Missraim, or the Scroll of the Egyptian Purim. University of Pennsylvania
Press. The Jewish Quarterly Review, Jan., 1896, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Jan., 1896), pp.
274-288.
9.
Ibid.
10.
Ibid.
11.
The Scroll of Egypt
doesn’t mention the hostages explicitly, though it does mention that Ahmed’s
soldiers came to seize the Jews. Ibid.
12.
Israel Goldman. The
life and times of Rabbi David Ibn Abi Zimra; a social, economic and cultural
study of Jewish life in the Ottoman Empire in the 15th and 16th centuries as
reflected in the Responsa of the RDBZ. Jewish Theological Seminary of
America, New York, 1970. Page 13.
13.
G. Margoliouth. Megillath
Missraim, or the Scroll of the Egyptian Purim. University of Pennsylvania
Press. The Jewish Quarterly Review, Jan., 1896, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Jan., 1896), pp.
274-288.
14.
Ibid.
15.
Ibid.
16.
Ibid.
17.
Ibid.
18.
Purim Mitzrayim.
Available at https://www.hsje.org/Holidays/Purim/purim_misrayim.htm, retrieved on January
7, 2025.
Milestone: Rabbi Nosson Nota Schiller, 88, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Ohr
Sameach and a founder of the Teshuva movement, passed away Friday night at
Shaare Tzedek Hospital in Israel at the age of 88 after a short illness. Born
in 1937 in Brooklyn, he was a key figure in founding Shma Yisrael Yeshiva in
1972, which later became Ohr Sameach.
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/israel-news/2373321/bde-hagaon-harav-nosson-nota-schiller-ztl-rosh-yeshivas-ohr-somayach.html
Milestone: Rabbi Shalom Dayan, 82, Chief Rabbi
of Dimona. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405058
Inyanay Diyoma
Mar. 8th and Mar. 9th
Day 519 & Day 520 start of week 75 as the
war heads to one year and six months. Part 1
This week most likely no news on Friday or just
one or two headlines due to Purim.
The Arab Mafia injured more Israeli Arabs and
killed two more this weekend within a few hours.
It was reported that one of the anti-Judicial
Reform Leaders by the name of Breslav with millions of followers and a public
figure is suing for defamation a semi-anonymous Facebook account with less than
a 1,000 followers for calling her whatever. Really!
In general, Purim can be rainy, snowy or cold
and windy but this drought year we are expecting a warm temperature inversion.
Oh yes, on Thursday the news was delayed by a
very important sixth birthday of my oldest great-grandson. Mazel Tov Yair. I
bought him a Lego set that he almost said wow but my daughter, Safta = Granny
came with a game she uses for children that age with pictures and how to make
them with colored plastic triangles. I can’t compete with one of the best
Kindergarten Teachers in Israel.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/irans-khamenei-says-tehran-will-not-negotiate-under-us-bully-pressure/
Israel
confirmed that some progress has been made in the direct talks that the US held
with the Hamas terrorist organization on the continuation of the hostage deal. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405076
5 Americans for 250 terrorists. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405086
Southern Police Commander responds to a call
about a tipped over bus and finds that the only one killed with 20 injured was
his son. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405085
AZ: The "Kahal Hasidim" Jewish Community
Center was set ablaze at about 2 am last Monday morning. The fire spread to the
entire building, causing extensive damage throughout the structure and the
destruction of much of what was inside. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405084
Secret
Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi wrote on X, “Secret Service personnel
were involved in a shooting following an armed encounter with a person of
interest shortly after midnight on March 9 at 17th and G Streets NW.” https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405090
Pelosi’s husband, Paul, made a large investment
in AI before Congress passed something for chip manufacturing and Diane
Feinstein’s husband also made bundles. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/meet-sandra-whitehouse-whose-husbands-votes-funneled-millions-ngo-pays-her
Israel is a major AI user-developer. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405089
COS getting the IDF on their feet with a
surprise exercise. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405075
Meah
Shaarim: Medical teams from Magen David Adom (MDA) were shocked to discover
that swastikas were drawn on the Israeli flags on their ambulances while they
were treating a patient. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405079
No Draft Law no budget. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-845296
The
IDF struck terrorists who attempted to plant an explosive device near IDF
troops in the northern Gaza Strip, the military said on Sunday.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/2025-03-09/live-updates-845241
It is now late afternoon in Israel. The
agreement Hamas-US has broken down. It appears that we are cutting off the
electricity to Gaza. The IDF has 400,000 men under arms if not at this moment
within hours. We may shut off the water to Gaza soon. When the electricity goes
off so will the Houthi Missiles it is just a matter of time.
In the meantime there was an explosion on a
major highway right near rush hour of the former mayor of Bat Yam who has done
some hanky-panky. https://www.ynetnews.com/category/3083
Minister
of Energy and Infrastructure Eli Cohen (Likud) signed an order on Sunday
instructing the Electric Company to stop supplying electricity to the Gaza
Strip immediately. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405100
Syrian Druze working in the Golan. https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-845315
Aspirin could help fight cancer. https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/bjthoksiyl
Hezballah targeted: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405034
Qatar the leading Islamist sponsor of terrorism
behind Iran wants to stop Israeli Nuclear Research. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/b1jym39sjx
IDF
spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari on Friday bid farewell to his
subordinates, after reaching an agreement with IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir
that he will leave office in the coming weeks. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405020
Gazan terror leader poses as a migrant to get
into the UK. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405093
No
Child Spared (in Hebrew, “Ha’Heder”) is a powerful and disturbing documentary
currently available on Hot VOD and Next TV about what its director, Meni
Philip, describes as the widespread use of corporal punishment in ultra-Orthodox (haredi)
schools and yeshivot. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/article-845021
Private smuggling of animals smashed. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-845262
Something is going to happen to Iran soon. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405031
Eli Sharabi meets at 10 Downing. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405026
Jewish woman murdered in home in Argentina. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405063
Mar. 10th
Day 521
https://www.timesofisrael.com/former-head-of-idfs-foreign-liaison-unit-named-new-military-spokesman/
Scotland: Trump’s golf course vandalized. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405069
North
Korea has revealed for the first time a nuclear-powered submarine under
construction. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405071
Israel
is preparing a plan for returning to its war in Gaza if Hamas continues to
refuse to release the 59 hostages which it still holds.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405038
Denmark is the new April Fool – Hamlet. The Copenhagen
City Council has voted in favor of renaming a public space "Palestine
Square," with 29 out of 55 members supporting the decision. The new name
is set to take effect on April 1. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405037
A
bomb went off in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Monday morning as tensions
between Ahmed al-Sharaa's interim government and supporters of deposed
President Bashar al-Assad reached their highest point since the rebels took
power at the end of last year. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405133
Dr. Kedar: The Trump Plan: "The plan
is not restricted to Gaza. It is part of a big plan named the Peace Corridor,
which starts in India, goes to the harbor of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and from
there through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, to the Mediterranean Sea, Europe,
and maybe to America as well. It is meant to circumvent the Houthis, the Suez
Canal, and Iran. It needs a Mediterranean harbor. Haifa is too urban and Ashdod
is too small - but Gaza is 40 kilometers of open coast, with whole cities worth
of rubble we can use as a seawall." https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405111
As
part of a joint and complex investigation, the Judea and Samaria Division of
the Israel Police, in cooperation with the Shin Bet, exposed a terror financing
business, in which two Arab suspects, residents of Nablus, received monies from
the Hamas terror organization through bank transfers. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405132
A
resident of Jerusalem called the police hotline on Sunday morning and reported
that she found a bag containing weapons in the attic of her home. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405134
https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-says-us-has-just-about-ended-pause-on-ukraine-intel-sharing/
Mar. 11th
Day 522
The US and west have brokered a truce-peace
deal between the Syria Kurds and Damascus.
COS to commanders prepare for war. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405165
https://www.timesofisrael.com/kremlin-says-iran-making-its-own-decisions-on-nuclear-talks-with-us/
Police
officers from the Central District in Ramla arrested a resident of Jenin who
was in Israeli territory illegally and fled from police after stealing a car
from the Tel Aviv area. He crashes into IDF Base. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405186
The
Philippine police arrested former President Rodrigo Duterte last night
(Tuesday) after an arrest warrant was issued against him by the International
Criminal Court in the Hague. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405185
Anti-Israel
activists on Monday protested outside the Nefesh B’Nefesh Aliyah fair taking
place in New Jersey. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405170
One
person was killed in Moscow, and three others were injured as a result of a
Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian capital, state news agencies in the
country reported. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405182
Two
Men Face US Trial Over Iran-Backed Plot to Kill Dissident - Algemeiner.com
Connecticut
Men Charged With Hate Crime for Vandalizing Menorah - Algemeiner.com
Third
Suspect Arrested in Gang Rape of Israeli Tourist in India - Algemeiner.com
Sunlight disinfectant. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fbi-director-patel-working-aggressively-comply-congressional-record-requests-ahead-deadlines
Musk hit with cyberattack from the Ukraine. https://www.foxbusiness.com/video/6369856260112
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-strikes-former-assad-regime-bases-in-southern-syria/
Earlier
today (Monday), several terrorists were identified operating near IDF troops in
the area of Shejaiya and attempting to plant explosive devices in the ground. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405158
Mar. 12th
Day 523
The schools and kindergartens are dressing up
today for Purim. The Houthis are preparing to attack. But wait Trump is not
Biden and he sent via a few bombers a message to them last night.
Yesterday explosive device layers in Gaza were
bombed into the world of truth. As Lebanon and Jenin see below.
Had a friend from Belgistan-named. https://www.timesofisrael.com/writer-who-wanted-to-ram-a-knife-down-jews-throats-acquitted-by-belgian-court/
Iran Win a free trip to hell. https://www.timesofisrael.com/irans-pezeshkian-rejects-trumps-offer-of-talks-do-whatever-the-hell-you-want/
President
Donald Trump’s Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Adam Boehler, traveled to Iraq
last month in a bid to secure the release of Israeli-Russian researcher
Elizabeth Tsurkov, who was kidnapped in Iraq nearly two years ago, sources
familiar with the matter revealed on Tuesday, according to Reuters. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405228
Evangelical
leader and curriculum expert Laurie Cardoza-Moore has blasted Tucker Carlson
for his recent interview with the Prime Minister of Qatar and what she called
his "sudden pro-Iranian advocacy."
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405222
The
security forces located two booby-trapped vehicles in Jenin that were intended
to be used for terrorist attacks. The vehicles were destroyed on the spot by
the forces. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405226
Israeli security forces operated overnight throughout Judea and
Samaria to thwart terrorism. The forces eliminated three terrorists, arrested
35 wanted persons, including several Hamas terrorists, and confiscated weapons.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405213
3 Shachidim in Jenin. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405192
Hezballah leader eliminated. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405192
Cracking down on infiltrators in Yerushalayim. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405195
After decades of searching and historical research, the grave of
Rabbi Yehuda Bibas has been located in the ancient cemetery in Hebron. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405201
A passenger train carrying hundreds of people was attacked by armed
militants in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, forcing it to halt. The Baloch
Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for the assault on the Jaffar
Express, which was en route from Quetta to Peshawar.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405202
Would you fly Air Canada after this? https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405209
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-strikes-former-assad-regime-bases-in-southern-syria/
Syrians
Riot in Front of Jewish Museum in Munich Amid Rise in Antisemitic Incidents -
Algemeiner.com
Trump
Administration Announces New Antisemitism Investigations Into 55 Universities -
Algemeiner.com
Mar. 13th
Day 524 Tanis Esther (Fast Day)
A radio announcer said that she was fasting
today for the release of the hostages. Many non-observant Jews have come a step
closer to Torah Judaism.
REMINDER TOMORROW, DAY 525 STARTS
THE TRIPPLE PURIM BETWEEN THE REGULAR ONE WHICH HAPPENS TO BE FOR US THE END OF
75 WEEKS OF WAR AND SHUSHAN PURIM IN YERUSHALAYIM, LOD AND OTHER CITIES THAT
HAD WALLS DURING YOSHUA’S CONQUEST. IF I PUT OUT THE NEWS IT WILL COME OUT LATE
IN THE DAY AS I WILL BE GIVING OUT GIFTS EARLIER IN THE DAY AND THE MEAL STARTS
AT 11AM PLUS.
The IDF confirmed on Thursday that the IAF conducted an
intelligence-based strike on a terrorist command center belonging to the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organization in Damascus. https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-845919
Police in Yehuda and Shomron raid a fake
factory and warehouse of US Products run not by Head and Shoulders, Colgate, Palmolive,
Gillet, etc. but diluted soap or other things.
$10,000,000 The Palestinian
Health Ministry in Ramallah has accused Gazan influencer Saleh Al Jafarawi
-- known on the internet as 'Mr. FAFO' – of
embezzling funds intended for rebuilding Al-Nasr Children's Hospital. https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-845887
Israel
Seeking to Normalize Ties With Lebanon in New Border Talks: Reports -
Algemeiner.com
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-civilian-moderately-wounded-in-west-bank-shooting-attack/
Agam Berger calls for protesters to publicly hear
Megillah for hostages. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405284
Mahmoud
Khalil, the Columbia University student who is facing deportation from the U.S.
over allegations of supporting Hamas, previously held a senior role at the
British Embassy in Beirut, according to The Telegraph. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405297
Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence, decided
against appointing a critic of Israel’s war in Gaza to a key position
responsible for managing presidential briefings, after the proposed appointment
caused concern within President Trump's coalition, The New York Times reported
on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405290
IDF forces on Tuesday identified a four-year-old Gazan boy nearing
an Israeli military post in the Gaza security zone. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405254
The State of Israel on Wednesday evening submitted
its response to a petition being heard in the Supreme Court concerning the
continued provision of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, amid ongoing
fighting and international pressure to reduce harm to the civilian population.
25,200
humanitarian aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405291
Hamas's
Internal Security Force known as al-Haris (the watchmen) which is charged with
foiling Israeli espionage attempts in the Gaza Strip, published a warning to
Gazans regarding "the increased enemy intelligence efforts in the Gaza
Strip." https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405276
MG
Yaniv Asor has assumed command of the Southern Command, replacing MG Yaron
Finkelman, who served in this position for the past year and eight months. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405270
Largest terrorist weapons cache. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405278
40 Assad military sites struck. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405273
https://www.foxnews.com/world/russia-presents-us-demands-need-met-before-ending-ukraine-war-report
Shabbos Times: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/shabat
Have a happy Purim, healthy and restful
Shabbos,
Rachamim Pauli
