Orthodox Jews will do just about anything to pray on time and with a quorum of at least ten other Jews (minyan).
Here’s a great photo gallery and review (in Hebrew) of the now ‘famous’ train minyan that runs weekday mornings from Bet Shemesh to Tel Aviv. They even have their own Torah and Ark (Aron Kodesh). How many of the faces do you recognize? Great photos.
The purpose of this minyan is to enable Ramat Bet Shemesh and Bet Shemesh residents who work in Tel Aviv to have Shacharit with a minyan and get to work on time in Tel Aviv. The train ride is about 45 minutes, so they have to get started immediately on days that the Torah is read!
Shiva House Guide – Making a Condolence Call to a Mourner’s House
Unfortunately, my father passed away this month. For the first time, I was a mourner.
Little did I know there’s a whole sub-culture to the mourning process. Here’s some advice from a recent mourner on what to do and what not to do at a Shiva house.
1. Don’t ask how old the deceased was or how did he die. Get that info from someone else if you must know.
2. Don’t say “well at least he lived a long life”.
3. Do offer to tell nice stories about the deceased.
4. Do offer to help serve, take out garbage, etc…
Rabbi Azouelos, Head of the Maskiot Pre-Army Mechina, said these very inspiring words at last night’s closing ceremony for this year’s students.
(Translated and paraphrased from Hebrew)
Israel has two seas. The Kineret and the Dead Sea.
The Kineret is a sea that only gives. It gives water, and fish, and provides for its tributaries. It gives, but it does not take. It is a sea of life.
The Dead Sea only takes. It takes but it does not give. It’s name in every language (other than Hebrew) is the Dead Sea.
In life, when we give, there is purpose. When all we do is take, there is no purpose.
– end of Rabbi Azoules’ words.
The gemara (Jewish Talmud) says, “He who hates gifts will live.”
Rabbi Desler z”l, says in Michtav Meliyahu (???? ??????) that the one who gives emulates the Creator, and the one who only takes is on the path of evil.
We need to emulate the actions of givers, not takers. Give to your family. Give to your community. Give to your country, our State of Israel, give to humanity.
This weekend’s Haaretz reports (in Hebrew) that the Haredi population in Israel, the fastest growing segment, now has an average of 7.2 births per family. Obviously, since this is an ‘average’, there are B”H many families who are having as much as 13 or 14 children each.
Tear Down the wall says Roger Waters, former band member of Pink Floyd. Mr Waters visited Israel in 2006 and played a single concert to a sold out makeshift open air stadium of 50,000 (paying) Israeli Jews. He also found time on his whirlwind visit to hop over the fence (or over the big bad wall, as he would put it) and spray paint some graffiti on the Palestinian side.
Roger Waters of Pink Floyd at the Israel Security Fence
Three years later, at 65, Roger Waters is ambivalent about his having visited Israel (and taking in millions of dollars spent by adoring Israeli fans). Mr Waters thinks that the wall is actually a colonialist action by Israel. Never mind that this wall was put up to help prevent terror attacks and bus bombings of innocent civilians. Never mind that the wall has essentially stopped terrorism from the areas in where it was erected. Never mind that the US has a longer and bigger wall with it’s Mexican border in several high-trafficked areas (and Mexico is not at war with the USA!).
What would I say to him if I had the chance to sit him down and explain the whole thing. Would I tell him how the wall has given Jewish families in Neve Yaakov and Gush Etziyon, to name a few, the chance to leave for work in the morning without wondering if their kids would be burying them that night? How much Jewish blood can be spilled for Mr. Waters to acquiesce to Israel attempting to prevent further savage acts. How many children living in the southern Jerusalem neighbourhood of Gilo should be forsaken?
These questions may remain unsolved to many, but to me it’s pretty clear. As Israel’s government spokesman, Mark Regev put it ever so bluntly, “We don’t need no education about suicide bombers coming into Israel and murdering innocent people, and how the security barrier has prevented that by more than 95 percent”.
According to the Jewish Agency, Hungary today has a population of approximately 50,000 Jews. In 1910, one hundred years ago, there were nearly one million Jews living there. The Nazis killed many, some emigrated to America, some to Israel, and others assimilated during the Soviet regime.
Hungary has a total population of just over 9 million. So with Jews totalling 1/2 percent of the population, you wouldn’t figure for them to a major force in that country. Therefore, I found it odd to see today’s headline in Haaretz: “Proud Hungarians must prepare for war against the Jews.”
This is not a headline from some blogger world or an offbeat political commentator. This is a headline taken from Hungary’s leading Police union newspaper. Here’s another example:
After the recent resignation of prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsány, one of the candidates for the post was Gyorgy Suranyi, formerly the governor of the Hungarian Central Bank, a brilliant economist, and a Jew.
The center-right party Democratic Hungarian Forum published on the front page of its newsletter a picture of Suranyi’s face inside a yellow star of David (reminiscent of the yellow patch from the days of Fascism) with the following caption: “Suranyi is actually the candidate backed by the elderly [Israeli President] Shimon Peres.”
The frightening and chilling tones of pre-WWII Eastern Europe are rearing their ugly heads yet again. This time, there are practically little Jews left there, and yet they still pipe the same headlines – “Given our current situation, anti-Semitism is not just our right, but it is the duty of every Hungarian homeland lover, and we must prepare for armed battle against the Jews.”
Jews of the diaspora today should pop open the history books and read what are the warning signs of anti-semitism so they can draw their own conclusions on appropriate action plans to keep their families safe from the ordeals our recent and past ancestors endured. One book that I can specifically recommend is The War Against the Jews: 1933-1945 by Lucy S. Dawidowicz.
“A United Nations team headed by a veteran war crimes prosecutor has begun its probe into possible war crimes by Israel and Hamas militants during Operation Cast Lead. ”
Israel has not accepted this probe and questions the validity of a UN-led team, with its known anti-Israel bias.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yigal Palmor said “This committee has been instructed to find Israel guilty no matter what and there is no point in cooperating with such a masquerade.”
Goldstone in Gaza to Probe Possible Israel Warcrimes - Source: Haaretz
The commission is headed by a Jew, Richard Goldstone, a South African judge. The irony is not lost on this author that even in this day and age a Jew and non-Israeli would be willing to lead a commission that investigates Israel in a world forum.
Israel said last week that it will not cooperate with the UN team.
I went to the local electronics store yesterday to pick up a new bread machine. The owner keeps the store open in the late afternoon and early evening hours. He learns Torah during the day and then opens the store to sell appliances to locals.
This is Ramat Bet Shemesh in 2009. The owner of this shop is a young man, late 20′s at most. He answers all questions and even offers extra information honestly, even when it leads you not to buy his merchandise.
So as I’m paying for the bread machine, (which he tried to talk me out of buying until we’d baked a loaf or two with a neighbor’s machine to make sure we were really going to use it), I asked him if the economy has affected his sales. He asked me what I was refering to. I told him about the economy and stock market in the USA and the world downturn, etc… He had no idea what I was talking about. No TV, no radio, no newspapers. He doesn’t listen to or read the news.
However, he’s very knowledgeable about all his products. He knows the appliances industry. You want to buy a stove or a refrigerator? He’ll tell you what importer is unloading stock they couldn’t sell in France, and what products have the best repair record. He doesn’t go by the adage that you must sit and learn Torah and do nothing else. Part of his service to the community is to sell quality products at a fair price, and then back them with solid service should something go wrong.
He learns Torah by day and night, and sells appliances by afternoon so that he can continue learning Torah.
For a second, I thought he was kidding about not knowing the news. But then it became apparent that not only was he serious, but truly the happier one. Quite refreshing.
The Stock Market, Economy, and the Jewish Blessing on the Sun.
The Jewish religion has a tradition that the sun rotates on a 28 year cycle that corresponds with the creation of the world. At the end of each 28 years, on the precise day, the sun returns to the position it first appeared at the beginning of creation 5769 years ago.
This 28 year cycle comes to completion on ?”? ????? ?’???”? which corresponds to April 8, 2009.
Here’s the Wikipedia article on this subject HebrewEnglish
What does all this have to do with the world economy and stock market?
In the 20th Century, the Blessing on the Sun was made in 1925, 1953, and 1981. On January 2, 1929 the Dow Jones Index reached its peak of 307 before the crash. It took all the way until 1953 to regain the peak after the depression of the 1930′s. The market returned to its pre-crash high in 1953 after the 28 year sun-cycle completed. Is this the ultimate market cycle?
An old joke waiting to be told:
How many Jews does it take to open the Ark and take out the Torah? Normally, the answer is one. Ok, I’ve seen in some synagouges two. How about three?
Background: The synagouge service on days were the Torah includes an honor called “peticha” which litterally means “opening”. The honor is bestowed on a member or guest to go an open the Ark where the Torah scrolls are kept. He then takes out one of the Torahs and hands it to the Chazan (cantor) who brings the Torah to the bimah where it is unwound and read.
Three beats one: I was visiting a synagogue in Chicago. This is a typical modern-orthodox American model. Here, the ceremony is as important as the actual prayers. Spotted as a guest, I was asked by the gabbai to go and take out the Torah and hand it to the chazan.
I walked up to the Ark and I saw two other men standing there as well. I turned back to the gabbai and asked what gives. He said each of the men would open one of the doors of the Ark and I would then take out the Torah.
Punchline: I said, “if you need three guys to open the Ark, how many men does it take to do Hagbah (lifting the Torah after the reading)?”
In case it wasn’t already clear, in Israel we are used to brass-tacks prayers. No time for ceremony. Just like the Israeli people. We are an open and warm people, and we don’t stand on ceremony.
Share your experiences What have you noticed different in your experiences in the Diaspora than what you are used to in Israel? Likewise, if you are from the Diaspora, what do you notice different when you visit the Holy Land?
Israel has worked hard to shed its old image of producing cheesy ethnic insider, one or no-joke movies.
Today’s Israeli movie scene has produced some very creative, critically acclaimed on an international level. There are many dozens of quality films that have been produced in Israel in the past decade.
Highlighted here are five of the top modern movies filmed here in Israel in recent years. All of these films are must-sees.
1. The Band’s Visit – 2007 ????? ??????? IMDB Listing
This movie won Best Picture in 2007 in Israel’s equivalent of the Academy Awards. Starring popular and acclaimed Israeli actor Sasson Gabai, (The Impossible Spy, Rambo III, Made in Israel).
Synopsis: An Egyptian Police Force band come to Israel to play at the inaugural ceremony of an Arab arts center, yet end up lost in the wrong town with a similar sounding name.
Film critic Roger Ebert gave this film four stars and sums it up well:
They are in the middle of the Israeli desert, having taken the wrong bus to the wrong destination. Another bus will not come until tomorrow. “The Band’s Visit” begins with this premise, which could supply the makings of a comedy, and turns into a quiet, sympathetic film about the loneliness that surrounds us. Oh, and there is some comedy, after all.
2. Beaufort (2007) – This Oscar nominated film for Best Foreign Picture is the story of a group of Israeli soldiers stationed at an outpost prior to the withdrawal of forces from Lebanon in 2000. This movie cuts into the pathos of Israelis and their understanding about war, life in the Middle East, and obligation to country. New York Times review aptly remarks that this is not so much a war movie as a study on human nature and inner feelings.
The men spend most of their time inside its heavily fortified walls, trundling down coffin-shaped corridors in spacesuitlike combat gear and bracing for the next round of attacks from an invisible enemy. Their lives are governed by tedium, claustrophobia and anxiety, and yet they clearly feel something like affection for the bleak, isolated place that has become their home.
Beaufort Part 1:
Beaufort Part 2:
Beaufort Part 3:
3. Ushpizin (2004) – IMDB Listing Starring Shuli Rand and Michal Bat Sheva Rand (who are married in real life).
“Ushpizin” is groundbreaking on more than one count. It is a rare collaboration between secular and ultra-Orthodox Israelis and one of the first movies filmed in the insular Jerusalem neighborhood Mea Shearim with ultra-Orthodox actors.
Shuli Rand won the Israeli Academy Award for Best Actor in this film. This film also has an excellent musical score, including the popular “Atah Kadosh” from Israeli Religious Rocker Adi Ran.
4. The Syrian Bride (2004) – Clara Khoury stars in this semi-political, semi-humanitarian, semi-comedic film of a young Druze woman (Arab, but not muslim) who lives in a Druze village in the outermost portion of the Golan Heights, on the Syrian border, who travels to Syria to marry a Soap Opera star there. This tragic comedy touches on the heart strings as she says goodbye for good to her family, since she will be leaving Israel for Syria, to live with her new husband, in a country that Israel is at war with. Syrian Bride was nominated for 7 Israeli Academy Awards.
5. Medurat Hashevet (Campfire) (2004) – Set in 1981 in the early days of Israeli settling (occupation) of Judea and Samaria (The West Bank). Directed by Joseph Cedar (Beaufort), drew fire from the right-wing settler movement as the film portrays them as opportunists looking for good real estate deals rather than being motivated by political and religious beliefs. The Israeli secular crowd loved this film.
Its broader political implications within Israel notwithstanding, “Campfire” offers an outsider an intimate portrait of family members living in uncomfortably close proximity and straining against one another during a difficult period of transition. Rachel, a tough, attractive woman whose husband died of cancer a year earlier, is tugged this way and that by conflicting desires. She longs for the security and companionship of the community. But because her first marriage was unhappy, she is unwilling to settle for another husband who won’t deliver the romantic fireworks the first one didn’t provide.
Winner of 7 Israeli Academy Awards, and nominated for another 8.
Honorable Mention: Etz Limon (Lemon Tree) (2008) – Directed by Eran Riklis (Syrian Bride). This year’s most popular film. Based on a true story, a Palestinian widow cultivates a lemon tree grove next to her house. Her new next door neighbor, Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Navon, threatens to have the tree grove uprooted because of security concerns. This is another tragic-comedy-tear jerker-veilied left-of-center-political film. The acting is very emotional, but the message is a bit over-the-top left wing borderline propaganda siding with the Palestinians.
This film was nominated for 7 awards at Israel’s Academy Awards, and won at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival.
The crowds, the energy, the excitement. Those of us who are fortunate to live in Israel and live in or close enough to Jerusalem, know that this coming week of Sukkot is perhaps the best time of the year.
Just like in ancient times when the Temples stood, throngs of Israelis visit Jerusalem from all over the country, along with Jewish tourists from the Diaspora. The electricity in the air is truly amazing.
Sukkot is one of the three Festivals which include Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot that Jews are commanded to literally go up with their feet (“aliyat regel”) to Jerusalem. It is a positive commandment described in the Torah that all of Israel should rise up to Jerusalem and be seen by His Temple. Today, we are not commanded to go Jerusalem on these three festivals as the Temple no longer stands, however, it is customary, particularly for observant Jews, to visit Jerusalem at least once during the 7 day Festival (the 8th day, Simchat Torah/Shemini Hag Ha’atzeret, is actually a different holiday that G_d gave to the Jews as an extra show of His appreciation for the Chosen People.
In this photo, throngs of visitors to Jerusalem’s Old City push their way to the Western Wall on the day of the renewed ceremony “Birkat Kohanim”, where thousands of Kohanim bless the nation as was done in ancient times.
Blessing the four species at the Western Wall
A central part of the Festival of Sukkot is to take four species from the land, an Etrog, Hadas, Arava, and Lulav (Citron, Myrtle, Willow, and Palm Branch) and to make a blessing on them. The reason is not given in the Torah, however it is a positive commandment for all of Israel.
A Very Large Lulav and Etrog
Jews are commanded on Sukkot to live 7 days in a Sukkah, which reminds us of the Children of Israel who lived forty years in sukkot (temporary dwellings) ‘booths’ in the desert on their journey from Exodus of Egypt into conquering the Land of Israel.
Today, many strictly observant Jews still abide by this commandment and dwell in their sukkot for all seven days. Others prefer to sleep in their houses.
One of the truly amazing sites in Israel during the Sukkot holiday is to see so many sukkot attached to homes, apartments, businesses, schools, shopping malls, restaraunts, and every where else (even on the beach!). We wish all Israel a happy and enjoyable Sukkot Holiday!
Is it Awe or the Atonement that gets us nervous? Either way, this Thursday is the most special day of the year. It’s the day above all others when G_d is listening and expecting you to fess up. What better way to prepare for this day than with a visit to the holy sites in Jerusalem?
I visited the Kotel yesterday. The Western Wall is on the top five list of the Jewish people’s holiest places.
This wall was built over 2,000 years ago towards the end of the 2nd Temple era. It was one of the retaining walls that surrounded the Temple which sat atop what is today the Al-Aqsa Mosque (with the golden dome).
A well-known Jewish custom is to place notes to G_d in the cracks between the bricks. This man decided to go mobile and phone in his prayers
Western Wall - Jewish custom - notes to G_d are placed in the cracks.
