I just heard the following expression and thought it was very fitting for the current days we are experiencing..

Back when I was a teenager I rememebr reading about a theory that Christopher Columbus was a Jew. The theory was that he was a Marrano and he used the guise of being an explorer and exploring the New World and searching for what he supposedly thought was India as a way of getting to safety out of Portugal where as a Jew he was in danger. 

Wow. What a find! Buried treasure, at least in historical value if not monetary value. 

Well, for good or for bad, history has just been made in Israel. And it might be made again in about an hour and a half or so.

Assuming the announcements made this afternoon stick and are not changed at the last minute, we are witnessing history being made.

The new government, seemingly to be sworn in on Sunday instead of tonight, will make history by including the following:
 - the first ever Ethiopian-born minister, as Penina Tamno Shata will be appointed to the post of Minister of Immigration and Absorption
 - the first ever Haredi female minister, as Omer Yankelevitch will be appointed to the post of the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs
 - the first minister from Bet Shemesh (not sure this counts as historic, but it is significant for residents of Bet Shemesh) as Omer Yankelevitch, a resident of Bet Shemesh (RBS) will be appointed to the post of Ministry of Diaspora Affairs

there are others as well, but I am less proud of them so won't include them in the list, such as it slated to being the largest government in Israeli history, PM Benjamin Netanyahu being the longest serving Prime Minister (increasing daily), etc

Make history and serve Israel well!

The Israeli Foreign Ministry earlier put out a call to Israelis to come home now or be stuck and Israel will be unable to save them should there be a need. The issue is the CoronaVirus and the cancellation of most flights, combined with Israel shutting down its borders and points of entry.

This is the first time, as far as I know, in history since the foundation of the State of Israel in which it will not let Jews come to Israel. Return of Law or not, until this crisis will have passed, Israel will not eb open to Jews from around the world, in distressed situations or not.

This crisis is causing a lot of firsts...

The Vilna Gaon, Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman, was born in 1720. To commemorate 300 years since his birth, the Bank of Lithuania is going to be issuing a commemorative coin in 2020.

The commemorative coin will bear an inscription that is a play on words of "Vilna Gaon" - that is vil nor gaon, meaning if you will it you can become a gaon, a genius.

The back side of the coin will bear an image of the Hebrew letter "shin", whose gematriya is 300. As well, the shin is symbolic of the famous picture of the Vilna Gaon wearing tefillin with the shin on the head tefillin standing out. I did not know this, but that significance of that image is that the Jewish year has 300 days devoted to prayer, not including Shabbos.
source: Lithuanian Jewish Community website

1. very cool
2. It seems Europe does an awful lot to commemorate its rich Jewish history. They do little to cultivate the current Jewish presence and its future...which is probably not a bad thing..

According to a Turkish newspaper, Hurriyet Daily, a Turkish academic is claiming that Noah, of Great Flood fame, had a cellphone and used it to communicate with his son shortly before the flood began.
(disclaimer: I have no idea as to the veracity of the story or the quality of this online publication or news source. But I like the story)

To Quote:

Speaking on state-run channel TRT 1 on Jan. 6, Yavuz Örnek, a lecturer at the Marine Sciences Faculty of Istanbul University, said Noah communicated with his son via cell phone as they were a long way from each other.
“There were huge 300 to 400-meter high waves and his [the Prophet Noah’s] son was many kilometers away. The Quran says Noah spoke with his son. But how did they manage to communicate? Was it a miracle? It could be. But we believe he communicated with his son via cell phone,” Örnek said.
He also claimed that Noah himself built the ship made of steel plates and this ship used nuclear energy.
“I am a scientist, I speak for science” Örnek added.

This reminds me of the joke that after digging deep into the ground archaeologists have determined that the lack of ancient cabling is proof that hundreds and thousands of years ago they already had cellphones and wireless technology.

I wonder if his cellphone worked during the flood or if he had trouble getting reception. Anyways I guess he would have had nobody to call, except the others on his family plan inside the Ark.

If Al Gore only invented the Internet in the 1980s and 1990s (a claim that Snopes says was never actually made), how would the cellphone have helped Noah pass the time in the Ark? Unless maybe they had Intenet back then as well!

Anyways, even if Noah did have a cellphone, surely it would only have been a kosher phone. I can envision Noah as the star of an upcoming marketing campaign...

The reversal of the Kotel agreement has led to a lot of anger, along with what seems to be shock and surprise.

While criticism leveled at PM Netanyahu for this might be fair, the anger, and at least most of the platitudes, directed at the Haredi parties is disingenuous, as is the seeming shock and surprise at the reversal.

Nearly the entire response of the public seems to have expected the Haredi parties to be considerate of other people's desires to worship differently. It manifests itself as if this is an entirely new issue and conflict never before having been raised, and thus the move to seal Orthodox tradition as the only valid one at the Kotel, or in Israel, is surprising, unfair and inconsiderate.

The conflict between the Orthodox and Reform organizations have been going on for over 150 years, since Reform Judaism was founded. The Orthodox clergy always refused to recognized the Reform as being legitimate and always did whatever they could to not give any hint at legitimacy tot he Reform as a stream of Judaism. What just happened in Israel, at least what was done by the Haredi political parties, is nothing new. And the Reform organization and clergy, over the past 150 years, has fought its position against the Orthodox just as vociferously.

Why everyone seems surprised and shocked as if they expected differently makes no sense and is taking this battle out of its historical context.

And pointing to a few pre-State pictures of how there was mixed prayer at the Kotel is just silly, as the Jewish people in Israel (then called Palestine) did not have the ability to put up a mechitza, or have formal services, under British and Ottoman rule. Flashing those pictures and saying this is proof even Orthodox Jews did not care about mechitza just 100 years ago is ridiculous.

Whether you or I would have done differently, or would have wanted this to play out differently, is irrelevant. The Haredi MKs, as representatives of the Haredi rabbonim and the Haredi public, would not, could not, have done anything to give the Reform legitimacy, including giving them control of part of the Kotel. The fact that they have enough political power to get their way on this is a different issue and it says that the Reform and its supporters need to work more in the political arena in gaining more political influence - not just with money but with votes and actual political power.

Say what you want about what you think should have been or could have been - but what the Haredi parties actually did is basically consistent with the history of the fight between Orthodox and Reform.

If you are like me you have probably been wondering how much the glasses of the Hazon Ish sold for at auction. I checked back on the auction site a few times but did not see any updates, so it seems the bidding was kept offline, leaving us curious onlookers high and dry for information.

It turns out the winning bid was submitted by a group of 3 optometrists, 2 from the USA and 1 from Israel,  for the grand total of $17,000. According to the report, the glasses will be on display at each of the shops of these optometrists, on some sort of rotation.
source: Behadrei

I just discovered an online auction site for rare Judaica items that I had not heard of before. It is called Jerusalem of Gold and most of the items on their website up for auction are rare manuscripts or letters from Rabbis of previous generations, but I did spot a few other items that are interesting.

The site came to my attention from an article on NRG about a pair of glasses worn by the Chazon Ish - his "Shabbos glasses". Once I went to the site, I looked around and found a few other interesting items, the pocket-watch of Rav Elya Lopian, among other things such as artwork, silverware owned by the Rebbe of Boyan, a dollar and matza given by the Lubavitcher Rebbe (starting bid $770), and more.

The story of these Shabbos glasses is that they were made to fit very tightly on the face of the Chazon Ish so that he would not have any concerns about walking outside while wearing them. It seems they considered, and his talmidim still do, the bending of the earpiece to surround the ear tighter to turn the eyeglasses into something considered a "begged" - a garment - and thus wearable on Shabbos for even the most stringent opinions..

Supposedly the person selling them received them from his father who received them from the Chazon Ish himself. He was a poor person and needed glasses. The Chazon Ish offered him these glasses saying that "today is only Wednesday and I have a few days to get new glasses for Shabbos, which is plenty of time. Take these Shabbos glasses as a present and I'll be fine"

The starting bid on the glasses is $2000.

We read a lot of stories from Jewish chaplains in the US army and how they served, and what they did, the Jewish soldiers they encountered, in all sorts of parts of the world...

I was not previously aware of this, but I just discovered, according to a book I am reading, that until Abraham Lincoln came along, only Christians could be chaplains in the US army.

Abraham Lincoln is known for bringing about an end to slavery and the emancipation of blacks, now known as African Americans. In reality, Lincoln was about emancipation of everybody from racial discrimination.

Upon encouragement from a Rabbi Arnold Fischel, President Abraham Lincoln was made aware of the law allowing only Christians as chaplains in the US Army. When Lincoln found out about this law, he moved immediately to have it changed, and was successful. This process began in 1861 ad was completed in 1862.

Due to Lincoln's involvement, and Rabbi Fischel's raising of the issue, the law was changed and now Jewish servicemen are able to get the religious leadership and direction they were not able to at one time. And it was not just Jews, but anybody besides Christians were in the same situation, until Lincoln.

And since then, we have Jewish chaplains who provide a tremendous service, to Jewish servicemen, but also to the US Army, as stories tell of the heroism and their dedication to the troops.

I was not aware of this until now, so I thought I'd share this piece of history.

The 29th of November is a historical date in Israel. Streets and monuments are named for this date.

In 1947, on the 29th of November, the United Nations adopted a resolution calling for the implementation of the Partition Plan of Palestine. Israel agreed to the plan, while the Arabs rejected it. The rest is history.

So, when PA President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) declared that he is going to the United Nations and requesting an upgrading of the status of the Palestinian people from that of "observer" to the status of a non-member state on November 29, it is significant. Abbas did say that he chose that date because the 29th of November is the "International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People".

Interestingly, the UN page explaining the official day of solidarity says the date was chosen because of the historic significance of the day to the Palestinian people, and that of that decision so far only one state, Israel, has so far emerged, yet it makes no mention of why the Palestinian State did not emerge at the time - because of their own rejection of the plan.

I was surprised, when I read the article in Ynet, that it gives no explanation of the date and its significance. While the newspaper is not meant to be a history lesson, a few brief words for background is not out of its mandate.

This is the ultimate attempt at an historic "do-over", almost a rewriting of history.

The calendar of zmanim in Israel has a nice feature. It might be in others as well, I don't know, but I am referring specificially to the calendar called itim L'Binah which has become fairly standard in many places for people who want the halachic times relevant during the day (e.g. mid-day, midnight, sunrise, sunset, day break, etc...).

The nice feature they have in this calendar is that on the side of the week, they have each day of the week with special notes of what happened historically on that day to make it special. often the day is tagged with the yahrtzeit of a famous Jewish rabbi, but sometimes there are historical events listed as well.

I was looking at my calendar recently and noticed something strange. First, an example of a special historical event noted in the calendar:
on the 6th of [Mar] Cheshvan, the following events are listed:

• [year 3340] The eyes of Tzidkiyahu were blinded and his children were slaughtered, the day is worthy of a fast.
• [year 3427] The Jews of Beit She'an were slaughtered by the Greeks
• [year 4574] the jews of Alexandria were exiled from  the city
• [year 5461] Rav Yehuda HaChassid established a shul in his name in Jerusalem

Now, if the author had not said anything about the Rambam and Hebron on the 9th, I would not have noticed the omission on the 6th. The calendar obviously cannot, and does not, write every single historical event that happened on any given day. But having written about the Rambam and Hebron on the 9th, the omission of the Rambam's visit to Har HaBayit on the 6th was glaring.

The omission is almost as if an attempt to rewrite history because it does not fit someone's idea of what should be...

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There is a story told of what has become the famous meeting between Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and the Chazon Ish, Rav Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz.

The story I always heard is that Ben-Gurion went to Bnei Braq to talk to the Chazon Ish about the serious matters that were diving the Israeli government and the Haredi community, specifically about the yeshiva students and army service. Ben-Gurion asked the Chazon Ish how the two communities could find a way to live together. the Chazon Ish responded, by quoting from the the gemara in Sanhedrin: “If two camels met each other while on the ascent to Beth-Horon … How then should they act? If one is laden and the other unladen, the latter should give way to the former.”, and went on to say that the haredi community has a camel (or wagon, in some versions) that is burdened down with a full package of tradition and customs while the camel of the secular community is bearing no package, no burden, and therefore preference should be given to the haredi community.

That is all I ever heard of the story relating the conversation. That and that when Ben-Gurion left the house of the Chazon Ish he was asked his impression of the rav and Ben Gurion responded that he was impressed with the Chazon Ish's wisdom, and that he had never met anyone as wise as he. That is it. That was the story, as I always heard it, though it always seemed strange to me that the meeting was so short..

Interestingly, there is really more to the story than that. Former President of Israel Yitzchak Navon was also present at the famous meeting between the two giants. He is supposedly the last person alive who was there.

Navon was recently interviewed about his recollection of the meeting, and he describes the conversation vividly. You can listen to the audio of the interview on Ladaat. I found it fascinating.

The story goes, as recounted by Yitzchak Navon, that they went into the house and it was a small house with a lot of books. He describes the conversation as the story above, but that is only the beginning of the conversation. After the Chazon Ish made his comment about the camels and the burden of tradition of the haredi community, Ben Gurion responded by saying "You think this camel, tapping himself on the shoulder referring to the secular community, has no burden? Settling the land, absorbing immigrants, etc. that is nothing? These are not mitzvot?

The Chazon Ish then responded that all that is in the merit of us learnign torah. Because of us, you can do everything that you are doing.

Ben Gurion then asked, those who sit on the borders and guard over you, that is not a mitzva? The Chazon Ish responded that they exist because we are here learning Torah. Ben Gurion said that without them the enemy would slaughter you if those soldiers would not be there protecting you, to which the Chazon Ish responded that it is in the merit of our learning Torah that they are able to work and guard the borders. Ben Gurion then said that he does not denigrate the value of learning torah, but if nobody would be alive [RG: ostensibly because the enemy would invade and kill everyone, if everyone was busy learning torah and not defending the borders], who would be able to learn torah? The Chazon Ish responded that torah is the source of life - etz chaim hee.

They went on to talk about the rampant desecration of Shabbos. the Chazon ish said that he sees chillul shabbos everywhere. People travel to the sea instead of learning torah. It is shocking and upsetting to see in the holy land this type of chillul shabbos. Ben Gurion responded that he himself does not travel to the sea on Shabbos but laborers, who work all week, they shouldn't be allowed to go to the beach on shabbos? We cannot force them if they do not want to learn torah, but they too are Jews. If they do not go to the beach, do you think they will go to shul? The Chazon Ish responded saying that he believes the day will come when everyone [in Israel] will keep Shabbos and daven. Ben Gurion then said that if they want to, he is not opposed to it, but there should not be religious coercion and there should not be anti-religious coercion.

They then parted ways with a warm handshake, and after they left Ben Gurion is quoted commenting on the Chazon Ish's wisdom, and the Chazon ish is quoted commenting that Ben Gurion is person with a neshama gedola.

Navon also says that while some say the discussion took place in yiddish, that is incorrect, and the entire discussion took place in Hebrew.

The rest of the story, beyond what is normally related, is just as fascinating as the beginning of the story.





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Today, the 20th of Sivan, is a day that is prone to very bad things happening. So much so that the date, the 20th of Sivan, has been declared more than once as a fast day.

The first time the 20th of Sivan was declared a fast day, that time by Rabbeinu Tam, was for a blood libel in which 37 men and 17 women were burned at the stake, in Blois, France in 1171.

The 20th of Sivan was again declared a fast day, first by the Shach and later by the Vaad Arba Aratzos, and then was again confirmed by the Shela HaKadosh, Tosafos Yom Tov, Magen Avraham and others, after the Cossaks destroyed the Jewish community of Nemirov on that day, killing about 6000 Jews during the Chelminiski massacres (gzeirot Tach v'Tat).

Some say that an event we read about in this past week's parsha, B'haaloscha, also occurred on the 20th of Sivan - the incident in which a group of Jews complained about wanting meat in the desert and were killed in a plague and buried in Kivros HaTaava.

The Torah Tidbits listed an additional tragedy that happened, in more recent years, on the 20th of Sivan - the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in 1982. The Battle of Sultan Yacoub, of course, is the battle in the Lebanon War in which 3 Israeli soldiers (Zachary Baumel, Yehuda Katz and Zvi Feldman) fell as longtime MIAs, as well as 30 soldiers who died in battle.

While over the years the fast days faded from our observation, it is still a day that is historically marked by tragedy.

Interestingly, someone went to Rav Nissim Karelitz, as he was meant to be marrying off his son today, and asked Rav Karelitz if perhaps today should be observed as a day of mourning and not have the wedding as scheduled?

Rav Nissim Karelitz responded that we no longer observe the fast and commemorate the day. However, because "you already came and asked about it", it would be worthy and appropriate to not have the chuppa on the 20th, but to delay it until after sunset and then have the chuppa on the 21st of Sivan. (source: bechadrei)

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The Land of Israel In 1913



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