Kol Hai News is reporting on an interesting psak issued by Rav Shmuel Rabinovitch, rav of the Kotel and other Holy Sites regarding Purim in Kever Rochel.

The executive board of UNESCO just passed 2 resolutions declaring that the Mearat Hamachpela in Hebron and Kever Rachel in Bethlehem are Palestinian sites and are integral parts of Occupied Palestine. In addition they express various condemnations of Israel in the resolutions. The resolution was passed within minutes of being raised, ensuring that a full discussion had been held arguing and presenting all the various facts and details and arguments from both sides of the issue.
source: JPost

This is not the first time UNESCO, or any part of the United Nations, has done this or things like it. It seems despite Nikki Haley's great work, there is still a lot more to be done, and hopefully whoever replaces her will continue in the same vein with a similar approach.

No, this is not an old picture from Sukkos. This is from yesterday, February 26, 2016, 26 Adar1, 5774. Maybe they are dressed up, at a pre-Purim event? Nope. This is a rain dance ceremony of sorts that was conducted at Kever Rochel yesterday due to the drought. You can see the lulav is pretty dried out, though the Esrog looks pretty fresh...

One of the great things about living in Eretz Yisrael, the modern State of Israel, in this generation:

this past Friday I was able to daven at the Kotel, at Me'aras HaMachpela in Hebron and at Kever Rochel all on the same day!

In the morning I joined a group of runners from Bet Shemesh and we did our annual run to the Kotel and davened at sunrise. Then in the early afternoon I joined a group of families from my community and we went  (by car, not foot) to Hebron and Kever Rochel!

Through most of our history, I think it is safe to say, the very suggestion of that would have been mind boggling.

IDF Chief of Staff  Benny Gantz went to Kever Rachel to daven, and said the tefilla for the IDF soldiers...

Two different articles, on two different news media websites, making a very similar point, offer something very interesting to consider.

Basically, two journalists, Tali Farkash of Ynet and David Newman of the JPost, have both pointed to the recent yahrtzeits of Rachel Imeinu and PM Yitzchak Rabin and have commented on how the two are so close together, and share a yahrtzeit, yet are worlds apart from the perspective of who paid visits to those graves.

When we talk about one land for two people, it is generally referring to the Israelis and the Palestinians. But perhaps it is just as appropriate to be referring to the secular and the religious like that, as practically two separate nations...Newman even suggests that integrating some more haredim into the army, and some more into the workforce, might do good for them and their communities, but it wont bring the two sides closer together...

Do the visitors of one, care at all about the other, or about the visitors to the other? Is it symbolic of our seeming inability to live side by side with some sense of a live and let live philosophy? mutual respect despite our differences?

It is an interesting observation to consider..




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In honor of the yahstzeit of Rachel Imeinu, masses of people have been goin to pray at kever Rachel since Thursday night, to the point that Egged was not able to deal with the crowds and people gave up on the bus system and marched from Tzomet Gilo to Kever Rachel.




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And in the story that just won't go away, here is an interview with a soldier who witnessed, and spoke to, Rachel Imeinu, during the Gaza Operation Cast Lead.

Listen to it yourself (audio only) and come to your own conclusions.

He describes the whole thing, though he cannot say where in gaza he was and what unit he is in. From what he says it sounds like she was not really simply an old woman walking by. Rather, she was some spiritual, or ghostly, form. he says she was not set on the ground, was more of a figure, did not seem to have arms or legs, and he could not see her face. The poor guy says he has not been able to sleep a restful night since he saw her. He went to many rabbonim, including Rav Ovadya Yosef, who told him that the time has come to tell the story, as he witnessed a miracle. She told the soldier she came because of the prayers of so many jews, so from above they sent her down to save them.

The soldier refuses to say whether others saw her or not in other such instances. He says he saw her, but was not at the other sightings, so he cannot say what happened there.

As they say, "You asked for it, you got it"... Here is the full sicha. All 8 pages. Enjoy.

If you have not yet had enough of the Rachel Imeinu story, this post is for you. If you have had enough of it, this post is still for you. I really was not going to write about it anymore, after my last post on the subject. I just could not help it when I saw this.

Rav Elya Weintraub, a baal mussar and mekubal in Yerushalayim, gave a sicha on how the yeshiva bachurim should be looking at the recent events.

He spoke about a number of things, but concentrated mostly on two aspects - The "Adopt a Soldier" program, in which people in the haredi community would get the name of a soldier and daven and do mitzvos specifically for his merit, and the Rachel Imeinu story.

(obviously I am only going to be quoting the parts that I found exceptional and/or upsetting - the whole sicha is 8 pages long)

I am going to begin with the Adopt a Soldier issue.

Rav Weintraub said "we have never seen anything like this before, in any of the previous wars, by our rabbonim. This is treif! .... Somebody who is tamim (simple? naive? innocent?) will respond saying what is wrong with it? They are giving up their lives for us, so why not? what is wrong with this?... The fact that every Monday and Thursday people can sell things to the public, things that our anscestors never did, and it can become so easily accepted so quickly indicates a lack of stability and a damaged haskafa. only somebody who is not settled in his hashkafa will can you put into his head whatever you want.
But what is wrong with it? .... Davening for a salvation is what we need to do... The problem is with the approach - that the yeshiva bochurim say "they are moser nefesh for us, so this is what we do for them" To make a partnership? To act as if there is a connection between our camp and the hiloni camp? That is treif! This type of a partnership means the haredi looks as if what he is doing is worth less than what the hiloni soldier is doing. And this denegrates the Torah.
You can daven for their salvation - they are tinok she'nishba and not evil, but to make a partnership? This is what is treif about Adopt a Soldier.

Another problem with Adopt a Soldier is that they say "they are being moser nefesh for us." That is not true! If you would go to the soldiers, not during war, and ask for 20 shekels for the yeshiva and for those learning torah in poverty, would they run to give it to you like they are running to fight in Gaza? For sure not! So 20 shekels they won't give you, but their lives they will!!?? Of course they are giving themselves up and being moser nefesh, but it is not for us! ....

And now for the part on Rachel Imeinu....

"There are rumors spreading about a story in which the soldiers were going into a house... If we have gotten to the point that we believe these types of stories, where is our stability in hashkafa? ... If they would tell us that Rachel Imeinu appeared to the Rambam or the Ramban, we could definitely accept that. Their whole lives were for increasing the glory of Hashem, and nothing else. They were worthy for such divine inspiration and could have seen Rachel imeinu appear before them. But that she never appeared to them (as we don't have any such stories recounted) , but to the officer with all his sins and his secular life, to him she does appear??!! Whoever believes this, is either an idiot or completely messed up!

But they were saved, so why not believe there was a hashgacha pratis to save them? The answer is that is there no other way for Hashem to save them other than to send Rachel Imeinu? ... It could be there was a salvation, but it was definitely not Rachel Imeinu appearing to a secular officer with all his sins. At best it would have been a demon (a shaid in disguise). We are not saying it happened or did not happened. We are coming to say that Rachel Imeinu would never appear like that to a sinning secular officer...."

There is more, a lot more, but these excerpts are the most exciting parts of it...

In the story that just won't die, until now I have pretty much just brought reports of other people saying it is true or not. Rachel Imeinu appeared and saved our troops, or she did not (I generally brought those saying it is true, because that side is much more interesting).

A number of people have asked me if I believe the story or not, and if it happened or not. When answering the question at different times, a couple of different points and questions were brought up. So I have decided to make a post out of the answer.

Did it happen? Did Rachel Imeinu really show up and save our troops?

The truth is that I have no idea. If I did not witness it, all I know is what others tell me. The story spread. Truthfully, the story is one of those that are not really believable, or at least it has various explanations as to how it happened. A good Arab woman, perhaps. A Jewish woman living in Gaza married to an Arab but still wanted to help the IDF. It never happened at all.

But to say it did not happen, it could not have happened - to dismiss it out of hand - disturbs me.

We have all grown up, if you grew up religious, hearing the stories of miracles. We all heard how Eliyahu Ha'Navi appeared to this person or that person. How Eliyahu helped make a minyan in this forsaken village or learned b'chavrusa wuth that secret talmid chochom. We all grew up on the chassidishe maaslech of this or that spirit of some long dead gadol appearing to someone and direcing him how to proceed successfully to maneuver through some problem.

If all those stories could have happened, and I at least grew up believing them to be true, then there is no reason to think the story of Rachel Imeinu could not have happened. Did it happen? I don't know. Could it have happened? I see no reason why it could not have happened. And if you are going to dismiss this story with a wave of the hand, you also have to dismiss all those stories the same way.

Another point I would like to mnetion is the machlokes between various rabbis on whether we should or should not believe it, on whether it did or did not happen.

I noticed that the rabbis who said it happened are the great rabbis Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu and Rav Ovadia Yosef. The ones who prominently say it did not happen are the younger rabbis Rabbi Aviner, Rabbi Cherlow and some others.

I noticed that the ones claiming it did, are older rabbis. Rabbis who are involved in the world of kabbala. Rabbi Eliyahu is one of the greatest mekubalim alive today. Rabbi Yosef is as well.

The younger rabbis, I would hesitate to call them "second tier rabbis" out of respect to them, but in relation to Rabbis Yosef and Eliyahu, I think it is reasonable, are younger, more rationalists, less involved (at least publicly) in kabbala. Perhaps because of that they insist it did not happen - they are younger, closer connected to the modern way of thought that rejects these types of stories - our level of emuna in miracles is not nearly at the level of the simple Jew of the previous generations, and the younger rabbis and their way of thought could very well be a product of our lower level of emuna.

I am not knocking Rabbis Cherlow and Aviner and saying they are no good - I am just saying they are younger, less involved in kabbala, have a more "rationalist" and perhaps scientific approach. While Rabbis Yosef and Eliyahu are more involved in the esoteric and kabbalistic worlds. Perhaps that is why we see a "machlokes" between them on thi sissue.

What do you think?

In the continuing saga of the debate whether the Rachel Imeinu really happened or not, Rav Ovadia Yosef has now weighed in during his weekly shiur. Rav Ovadia says it happend and it was Rachel Imeinu.

The money quote is Rav Ovadia saying, "They all called here there saying she should go save her sons. How Hashem saves His children! He sends angels to save The Jewish people! How we have to praise Hashem!"

(source: Ynet)

Today is the day considered Mamma Rachel's yahrtzeit. Thousands are going to Kever Rachel to daven by her kever. Akiva went last night and posted a video...

We were heading toward Jerusalem for Shabbos. It was late Friday afternoon, and we did something that three weeks ago would not have been possible. We decided that on the way to Jerusalem we would stop off for a few minutes to daven at Kever Rachel. And we did. We stopped, literally, for a few minutes. We got to Jerusalem, made the turn towards Kever Rachel, the army opened the gate for us, we drove right in and parked, went in and davened for a few minutes, and left. It was that simple. We made what turned to be a ten minute detour, instead of what would have been impossible if not for the new arrangements, and even if we could have gone would have taken upwards of two hours, aside from planning.

Kever Rachel used to be very difficult to go to. You could not go by car, only by organized bus. Either Egged or a private group that made arrangements with the security services. It was very inconvenient. You could not go when you wanted, you had to hope the army did not change their mind once you got there, the whole process took a very long time as you had to go by bus and wait by the checkpoint for the army to allow you in, and wait for an army jeep escort, then you had to be ready to leave when they told you it was time. Basically you had to block out a lot fo time if you wanted to go to Kever Rachel, and the whole thing was very inconvenient.

The month of Elul has been a trial month. Due to the efforts of many, especially Meier Porush (candidate in the Jerusalem mayoral elections), the army has agreed to open Kever Rachel to the general public. They have opened it for the month of Elul as a trial month, to see how safe it is, and to see how much public interest there really is.

When we were there, late Friday afternoon, it was far from crowded. However, people were coming and going the whole time. That is the way it should be. It should be easy for people to go when they want and for how long they want.

It is still not like it was 15 years ago, when you just drove right through Bethlehem, parked on the road, went into Kever Rachel and maybe even went into a couple of the arab shops across the street before you left. But the situation is getting better again. Hopefully the trial period will be deemed a success and Kever Rachel will be accessible to all easily once again.