Korach Portion

In this week's Torah Portion is the shocking story of Korach and his followers, who rebelled against Moses and Aaron, with envy in their hearts. They so wanted to be the first, the highest ranking, the most important people in the Nation. It ended when G-d made the earth open its mouth and swallow the rebels. They wanted to climb too high, and found themselves at the lowest place one could get. In Psychology there is the concept of ego inflation, and I think it was Jung who said that a person who lets his ego inflate, risks a total collapse later on. We've seen it is true with Korach and his group. The Book of Proverbs says: "Pride comes before destruction" (16:18), and we can see it often time in life.

There is one expression that repeats itself in both the weekly Torah Portion and the Weekly Prophet Portion (HafTorah). In the Torah, Moses says to G-d: "I have not taken one donkey from them, neither have I hurt one of them." (Numbers 16:15)
In the Prophet Portion, Samuel says to the People: "Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defraud? Or whom have I oppressed? Or of whose hand have I taken a ransom to blind my eyes with?" (I Samuel 12:3).
The Hebrew word for donkey, חמור, has the same letters as the word for "material", חומר. So donkey in ancient times was a symbol of materialism, and in Torah commentary it is often used as such. We are souls who are temporarily living in a physical bodies in a material world, but not for ever. We go through lessons and tests here, and without the physical dimension, this would not have been possible. In order to survive, we must eat. In order to eat, we must work and serve humanity in one way or the other. In return, they give us money, and we buy our food with this. Once I wondered why we are born with a body that needs to eat. Why didn't G-d plan the world so that we won't have to eat. But then I thought - if we didn't have to eat, we didn't have to work, we wouldn't have made the world a better place for other people, we would not have depended on other people. Every person would have lived for his own sake, doing nothing, or led by boredom to do bad things. Material in this world is used by G-d to test us: to test our integrity, to test our honesty, to test our capability of giving, to test our faith in Him. Material is a means with which we can perform acts of chessed (kindness) to others and by doing this we perfect our souls - and it is one of the hardest thing for most people to do. Both leaders, Moshe and Samuel, stress the fact that they did not sell their souls for material gains, that their hands are clean, that for them there are values that are above the material dimension of the world. Sadly, not everyone is like this. Money is one of the hardest tests for people. Someone once told me that if someone is clean and "kosher" with money matters, then you can probably trust them with other things as well, because money is such a tough test for most people. That person used to be my student. He was surprised that I give receipts and pay taxes for private lessons - I think most tutors in the world do not give receipts, and do not pay taxes from this money. I could easily drop it and no body would care, but I feel that this is a test that I have to succeed in, time after time, after time. When I started teaching, I opened it as a legal small business with the Israeli tax authorities, and people were shocked. For every class that I teach, the State gets a very generous percentage of this as tax. It hurts me, because I need the money, I need to be able to buy a house one day, and it is far from being feasible - and yet I pay the taxes. It's doubly sad to then learn what is being done with my tax money (reelections in just a few month - something that is going to cost the government billiards of shekels). In addition, I also give away tithes - 10 percent of my net income, and give it to people who need it. I don't think of it as my money. I think of it as G-d's money, and He entrusted this money for me to handle it for Him and give it to whoever I think is deserved of it. These are not easy tests. Nobody forces me to do it, and I can easily stop and no one would notice or care, and my bank account will grow very fast. But this is part of my relationship with G-d: He gives me what I need for my sustenance, and I need to show Him that I know it's from Him, that I care for His other children, those in a greater need than me, and that I participate in the building of the State of Israel through my taxes, even though the sums I pay are not even a speck of dust in the total budget of the State of Israel. Again, so sad it goes on non-worthy goals, but it doesn't make me change my mind. I do it because it builds my character and makes me a better person, more trustworthy and honest in my own eyes, and I hope in G-d's eyes as well. This week's Portion speaks about the importance of tithing - what a merit to be able to do that, and I so admire people like Bill Gates who give most of their fortune to charitable causes! I often think, I wish I had all this money to give away - I would buy homes to all the homeless, and pay social workers to be with them, make sure they're well. I would give all the money needed to families with a sick parent, who need every shekel. What I give now is a lot for me, but it is not a lot objectively. Then again, I think that as a test, mine is greater than the test of people like Bill Gates. For him it is easy to give 90% of his fortune for charity, billions of dollars, because he would still have more than he needs left. But a small person who gives 10% when they can't own their own place, etc., is much harder, and I'm happy to go through this test. I hope I pass it.

I'll end with a quote from Sivan Rahav Meir's daily Torah:
Wise, famous people can make mistakes, big time. Some time in the middle of life, Korach voiced publicly a statement that sounded very appealing: "The whole congregation is holy", he yelled at Moshe and Aharon, "And why should you raise yourselves above them?" So much demagogy, so much populism. Of course everyone is holy, but Korach decided that he leaves the constant self improvement and self correction track that leads to holiness. Everyone is holy, therefore he himself is on the level of Moshe and Aharon. Everyone is holy, therefore there is no point at all in the practical Mitzvot and in learning the Torah, which he started mocking. In contrast to the statement "everyone is holy", Moshe Rabbenu presents a completely different way: "You shall be holy", he says to the People, and gives them 613 tasks on their way to holiness.
Korach speaks in the present tense ("everyone is holy!"), as if we have already reached the destination. Moshe speaks in the future tense ("You shall be holy!"), because one has to toil to get there. One speaks about rights, and the other about obligations. One flutters the masses, and the other demands from the People and challenges them. According to Korach, the Torah brought down to the world an automatic form of holiness, whereas according to Moshe, the Torah brought down to the world the potential for holiness, and one needs to toil to achieve it.
Rabbi Kook writes that in our generation as well we must be wary of people who mock the Torah of Moshe like this and who do not understand that life is one long, thorough workshop for building our personality, step by step.

Shabbat Shalom!

The Magic of Israel - Shavuot 5779

Israel has such an attraction power on people of all nations, and it is so exciting and moving to see this! What makes the founder and chairman of Vanke, China's largest real-estate company leave his base in China and come to Israel as a simple student of Hebrew and Bible studies at the Hebrew University on Mt. Scopus? Wang Shi, 68 years old, whose company's worth is estimated at 200 billion dollar, with about 80,000 employees, came here for a few years to study the culture that, according to him, influenced the whole world, and the Book through which it did that.
Wang Shi, who climbed the seven highest mountains in the world, including the Kilimanjaro in Africa and Mt. Everest (twice! The second time at age 60!), says in an interview to the Hebrew University student newspaper that learning Hebrew is a harder task for him than climbing the Everest. It is a mental mountain, that in order to climb it, he gave up the desire to climb other, physical mountains.

Wang Shi with his Hebrew University Student Card

Wang Shi says that his acquaintance with the Jewish culture has been an eye opening experience. "The Jews believe in one G-d", he says, "while the Chinese used to believe in many gods, and today they believe in a different god: communism. That is, the Chinese believe in blind obedience, whereas the Jews believe in constantly asking 'Why?'. Asking questions has a great importance these days for entrepreneurship and HiTech - an integral part of which is asking questions and not just obeying. In addition, the Chinese must learn from the Jews how to rest. In the Chinese culture, from the traditional agricultural era until the industrial era of our days, there is no set time for rest, and accordingly, people do not appreciate rest, and this is very different than the Jews, who have the Shabbat. I think that we, the Chinese culture, can learn from the Jewish rest."

At the Hebrew University Library on Mt. Scopus

Wang Shi lead the Chinese delegation to the UN Climate Change Conference four times already, and at the beginning of the year he won the Asia Game Changer award for his activities in the areas of environmentalism and climate. From this perspective, he says: "The Shabbat is also important for the land, which needs rest". Indeed, the Land in Israel gets rest once every seven days, and also once every seven years for a whole year - by religious Jews who observe the divine laws of the Torah. So much wisdom in these laws, wisdom that is above what any human being can come up with.

This weekend is a special one. Right after Shabbat starts a very important holiday, the Holiday of Shavuot, also known as the Holiday of the Giving of the Torah. We celebrate receiving the Torah: the Torah that so changed the world, the Torah that the wisdom of its laws slowly and gradually becomes apparent to all residents of this world, the Torah that defines us as a nation which is dedicated to the promulgation of G-d's name in the world. It is thanks to the Torah, and G-d's will which is expressed in it, that we survived as a nation for almost 2000 years in exile; it is thanks to the Torah that other nations started learning about G-d and turning to Him; it is thanks to the Torah that divine moral laws such as the Ten Commandments have become the basis and foundation of the judicial system of great world powers, such as the United States of America. To celebrate this great divine gift and our special role in keeping it for the whole world - we celebrate this weekend the Holiday of Shavuot, in which we will stand up on our feet in synagogues that are decorated with flowers and hear the reading of the Ten Commandments from a Kosher Torah Scroll. We will then also read one of my favorite stories in the Bible, that of Ruth. I will spend it in the holy city of Hebron, the place of burial of Ruth and Yishai (Jesse; father of King David), and also of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, Leah and Avner ben Ner.

Shabbat Shalom, and Happy Shavuot!

Jerusalem Shabbat

Today, the 26th of the Hebrew month of Iyar, is the first day of the miraculous Six Day War, in which the Jewish people liberated the City of Jerusalem and returned to it as a sovereign after almost 2,000 years. People who were adults at that time, in 1967, and are here with us today to tell the stories of that time, say that before the war broke, people were SURE that this was going to be the end of the Jewish State. There was a sense of doom all over the country. There were bitter utterances of people saying 'let the last one who survives and remain here turn off the lights at Ben Gurion Airport'. The government of Israel prepared 70,000 (!!!) coffins and dug thousands of graves for soldiers, anticipating numerous casualties. In reality, at the end of the war, there were about 780 dead Jewish soldiers, each of them precious, each of them indispensable, but it means that numerous other precious lives were spared. The tiny state of Israel, only 19 years old at the time, who managed to build itself under constant hostilities from neighboring countries and Arab residents of Israel - this little David had to face a whole out war with no less than 4 great, established Arab armies that aim to destroy it, the armies of Jordan, Syria, Egypt and Iraq. Some of the readers of this blog have lived as young adults during that time, and can probably tell of their own impressions of those days. The whole world was in a state of shock to find out that Israel, who was destined for destruction in that war, emerged victorious, and did it in SIX DAYS!! Who could have ever imagined? It was a proof to many in the world that G-d does exist, and that He has not forsaken His people. This war was like another chapter in the Bible - a sequel of the great miracles of the Splitting of the Red Sea, the Manna from Heaven, the Pillars of Fire and Cloud.
In fact, every day that the State of Israel, even to this day, exists in the hostile Middle East, is a miracle. How could this be? With so many millions of Muslims who are hostile to our presence here, and with so many wars and terror attacks against this little State, we not only survive, we also thrive and prosper, against all odds, against human reason, and countries from the far flung corners of the world come here to establish Innovation Centers - to employ Israelis to think and develop new ideas for them. Three Japanese technology giants have already opened Development Centers here, including Mitsui and Hitachi, and Mitsubishi declared a few days ago that it is going to do the same soon. In synagogues this coming Shabbat, after reading from the Torah, we will also read from the Prophet Hosea: "And it shall come to pass that, instead of that which was said unto them: 'You are not My people', it shall be said unto them: 'You are the children of the living G-d'." (Hosea 2:1 - in Christian translations it appears in Hosea 1:10). It is SO fitting!!

Yesterday I was privileged to attend a very special event. It started with a WhatsApp message that was posted in one of the groups. It said: "Rene Zlotkin, an Auschwitz survivor and one of the Mengele twins, is coming from New York to Jerusalem today with his daughter, to bury his twin sister. They don't have much family in Israel, so anyone who can, please come to be there with them." The funeral was at Mt. of Olives. I debated whether to go or not because it was such a hot day yesterday (36 Celsius...), but I decided to go. When I arrived, I realized it was the right thing to do. Other people came too, which made me happy, but there were not that many of us, so every person who was there made a difference.
We walked from the "7 Arches Hotel" to the back of the mountain in the east - a stunning, gorgeous area that I've never visited before. When we reached the family plot, they opened the car where Irene's body was, and her brother, husband and daughter said their eulogies, without reading, just speaking from their heart, crying while they did so. After coming back from the funeral, I wrote the following, and I share it with you:

Rene Zlotkin and his sister Irene were inseparable throughout their lives. Together they were born in Czechoslovakia on the same day in 1937, together they were deported by the Nazis with their mother to Theresienstadt, then to Auschwitz, and together they were taken to the notorious clinics of Dr. Mengele, where they were subjected to inhumane experiments. Though they lost their mother in the war, they both managed to survive, rebuild their lives and start beautiful, thriving Jewish families.

Irene, who suffered tremendously due to the experiments done on her body, passed away yesterday in America at the age of 82. Her family in America chose to bring her to burial in Jerusalem, in the family plot on Mt. of Olives today. Since they do not have a lot of family and acquaintances in Israel, Israelis who have heard about it came to the funeral to accompany Irene on her last journey.

Rene, who eulogized his sister before the burial, said: “We were together since we were born. We were in Auschwitz together, we came out of there together, we were in New York together, we went to the same schools, but yesterday morning, when we found out that she was no longer here – for me the whole world wasn’t the same, the whole world was different, changed.” Later, he added to a small circle of people around him: “When we came to Jerusalem today, and I was looking around me, I realized that we are part of an ancient chain, that we are the continuation of this chain, and seeing the rebuilt Jerusalem made it clear to me. It moved me a lot. I’ve looked at Jerusalem today and seen it like I’ve never seen it before. Not just with my eyes. With my heart”.

One of Irene’s daughters told the crowd that her mother’s favorite song was Naomi Shemer’s Yerushalayim shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold). After the burial was over and the prayers were said, the crowd stayed standing around her grave and sang for her the song that she so loved, on the backdrop of the beautiful golden hills of Jerusalem, the city of her final rest.

In Memory of Irene Hizme, Rivka Yocheved bat Zvi Meir. 

Here is a short video from a couple of years back in which Rene tells a bit about his holocaust experiences, in a very bright, faithful attitude:

https://unitedwithisrael.org/watch-a-survivors-deep-faith-in-divine-providence/

Shabbat Shalom!

R. 

Weekly Torah Portion: BeHar + Jeremiah 32

It is so hot in Israel these days, it is hard to think, and it is harder to write. My Yiddish speaking next door neighbors moved away two weeks ago, and in their place an older couple moved in. They are Americans, they are religious, they are new comers to the Land (only a few weeks here!), they don't speak any Hebrew at all. I'm pretty sure they are converts. I haven't asked them if it is so or not, but with names like Ruth and Boaz and the unmistakable beautiful Arian look, I don't think they can be anything else. Anyway, it makes me very happy. I love converts and I feel it is a great privilege for me to be able to help them, which I hope to do as much as I can. When the wife came here so I'll help her with some bureaucratic staff, she told me joyfully that they had prayed so much to have good neighbors. Well, I hope to be that for them, for sure.

Two days ago people in my new neighborhood posted that they found a baby bird in their garden, and since they are older, they can't take care of it, would anyone take it? I went there and saw the bird. It was a Laughing Dove. It was scared and frightened. They said it doesn't eat or drink and doesn't even poop. I was afraid to take it, fearing it would die in my custody. But no one else offered himself, so I had no choice. They gave me some seeds for her and I took her. I called her Yonah, which means "dove" in Hebrew. I'm not sure whether it is a male or a female, but since in Hebrew a dove is a feminine noun, I refer to it as 'her'. I placed her beak in water, and she took one or two sips and that's it. She didn't want to eat anything. When it was getting dark, she found a quiet, hidden corner in my living room and sat there, very quietly. When I woke up in the morning I found her in the same place, and realized she must have eaten something, because her poop was all around her. It was nice to have her, but my fear that she might die kept nagging me. Happily, I found adequate people who are bird lovers and have a lot of experience with birds, to take her and take care of her. I feel relief on the one hand that she is in more adequate hands right now, but also a bit sad that I didn't take care of her myself until she is old enough to be in nature on her own. Still, I think it was the best thing for her. There is a lot of symbolism in this story for me, but most of it is very private, so I won't share it here.

This week's Torah Portion is BeHar (Leviticus 25:1- 26:2) and the Haftorah is from Jeremiah 32. The Portion talks about the commandment of observing a Shemitah year - a seventh year of rest for the land, in which we are supposed to not work the land at all, to let it rest. This commandment takes place only on the land of Israel, so Jews who live in other countries can keep working the land there. Many religious farmers in Israel observe this commandment, and report amazing miracles following it. This is a very hard commandment to perform - a farmer is supposed to stop working for a whole year, to let others eat freely from whatever grows that year in his field, without getting money from the government for that. The farmer must trust that his livelihood will come from HaShem, and according to the stories told by farmers who observe it - their livelihood indeed comes in amazing, unexpected ways. During those Shemitah years, we, religious consumers, try not to purchase vegetables and fruits from farmers who do not keep this commandment. It is not easy, but it is a great merit for us to do that. Instead, we buy carrots from Holland, oranges from Spain, etc. It is challenging, but we do it.

In the Torah Portion it is said: "You shall do my commandments and keep my ordinances and do them, and you shall dwell in the land in safety" - our safe dwelling in the Land is dependent on our fulfilling of the Law. The connection between the Land and our moral and religious behavior is constantly reiterated in the Torah. If we do G-d's will, we will have the Land and live safely in it. If we don't observe His Law, we will live here unsafely and lose the Land eventually.

In the Prophets portion (Haftorah) of this week, we read the exact same thing, in different words, about the Land and us: "And they came in, and possessed it, but they did not listen to Your voice nor did they walk in Your law. They have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do, therefore you caused all this evil to befall on them". (Jeremiah 32:23). If we behave properly, we get the land. If not, we suffer and might lose it.

One of my favorite quotes in the whole Bible appears in this week's Prophet Portion, Jeremiah 32:15:
"For thus said the Lord of hosts, the G-d of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall yet again be bought in this land". Isn't it amazing that we live in an era in which this ancient prophecy, this divine promise, comes true? Thank G-d! It is this kind of prophesies that opened my eyes to the truth of the Torah and the Prophet's words.

Shabbat Shalom!

Weekly Torah Portion: Kedoshim (Leviticus 19 - 20)

This week's Torah Portion is one of those that are most about the essence of the Torah: lots of moral edicts that differentiate between people who love G-d and follow Him and those who don't (like the Nazis). It is a beautiful portion, and I really recommend reading it and thinking about it. In it we are commanded to fear our parents (unlike the Eichmanns of the world who say: "If I was ordered to shoot my father, I would"), not to steal, not to lie, to leave some of the fruit of our fields (or our salaries today) to the poor, not to gossip or speak evil things against other people, not even to hate others in our hearts - a commandment that is inner, and only G-d can know whether we fulfill it or not. Not surprisingly, many times during this Portion, the verse "I am the Lord your G-d" appear, telling us that some of these commandments that we perform cannot be witnessed or judged by others around us. They can be witnessed and judged only by G-d. He is the only one who knows our heart and our thoughts, even much better than we do. We can lie to ourselves about our true feelings or intentions. But we cannot lie to G-d. He asks us to purify our hearts and be holy. If He asks, it means that it is possible. Perhaps not in a moment, but in a process that takes a life time to better ourselves, to purify ourselves, to improve our ways, to change, to be good. It is possible, and this is the work we do in this world.
I'm under the impression of the holocaust stories we heard everywhere on the Holocaust Memorial Day that took place this week in Israel. I have just finished Haim Guri's book about the Eichmann trial, and some stories that appear there haunt me. My thoughts are that people who cling to the Bible - Jews, Christians - usually keep their morality. People who leave the Bible, even if they talk about G-d, they lose their morality and step by step might slip to very dark places. The Nazis talked about G-d. Hitler thought he was G-d's messenger, kind of a Messiah in this world. He talked often about G-d, but it didn't bother him to instruct his people to burn the Bible, all the copies of the Bible they could get their hands on. He didn't believe in the validity of the Torah as G-d's word. Eichmann too talked about G-d and believed in Him, but he despised the Bible. His beloved wife was a devout catholic woman, and Eichmann ripped her Bible apart twice. In the end, he allowed her to keep the torn copies and read from them. So strange, when the Israeli Mossad caught him in Argentina and brought him to trial here, she sent him a letter telling him that she is praying to G-d to get him released. She was praying for a person who boasted of being in charge of killing 6 million Jews (he bragged about it to his Nazi friend in the infamous Sassen Interviews, before he was caught). She was praying for the release of a man who was disappointed that he couldn't complete the original plan of killing 11 million Jews. Did she really think that the G-d of mercy should have mercy on her husband? Bringing Eichmann to justice was a merciful act for the victims and their families, for all the people of Israel. To feel that the evil ones are not sent free to celebrate their lives while their victims suffer forever. Justice is an act of mercy. Had Eichmann achieved his original goal of killing 11 million Jews worldwide, I would probably have not been sitting here today writing to you.
By the way, Guri's book about the Eichmann trial is not the best choice of book for someone like me who reads it after the fact. As I was reading, I was feeling like he was talking to people of his generation, who experienced the trial together with him and know what he was talking about. He referred to many things as known facts - they were indeed known to people of that time, but not to people of our time. When I reached the end of the book, I realized my feeling was right. This was not really a 'book', but a collection of newspaper articles that he wrote about the trial as it was going on. So if you're thinking of reading about the trial, another book might be a better start. Anyway, I did get a picture of what was going on then, so I do not regret reading it.

One of the commandments that repeats in the Torah Portion this week is about the Shabbat: "You shall keep My Shabbats and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord." (Leviticus 19:30). It appears in other parts of the Bible, such as: "You shall sanctify my Shabbats, and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your G-d". (Ezekiel 20:20).
Keeping the Shabbat is A SIGN between G-d and Israel: a sign for all of humanity to know that the world was created in six days - therefore we rest on the seventh (and all the Darwins of the world are wrong); a sign that the Torah is true and that there is a moral code that man should follow; a sign that G-d exists, and that He is the one and only G-d. We haven't forsaken the Shabbat since the time we received the Torah. There is a famous saying: "More than the Jews kept the Shabbat, the Shabbat kept the Jews" - keeping Shabbat helped us survive spiritually and physically. People who know me know what it means to keep Shabbat - the peace, the tranquility, the spirituality, the time to pray, to think, to reflect on things, to be with G-d completely, to thank Him, to learn His Torah, without the hassles of everyday life. It is a day, that if observed properly, increases one's wisdom. It is a day that frees people - frees them from the need to work and make a living, frees them from the need to be available online or on the phone constantly, frees them from thoughts about business and mundane things and allows them to lift their eyes and hearts high up, to life their thinking up, to get close to G-d. Without this day, it would be very hard to look at the world with spiritual eyes. It is no coincidence that many of the abuses that the Nazis inflicted upon the Jews were deliberately done on Shabbat and on the religious holidays. They wanted to annihilate what the Shabbat and the Torah symbolize in this world.

Anyway, I think I need a break from reading Holocaust books, it is not easy and it brings me down. I read them because I'm trying to fathom the psychology of the perpetrators, to know what went through their minds when they did what they did. But I guess it's impossible. I will never understand. And maybe it's not something to regret. We'll leave it at this.

I wish you all Shabbat Shalom, and have a restful, beautiful weekend,
R.

Seventh Day of Passover

Tonight we celebrate the Seventh Day of Passover, which is a holiday in its own right - the ending day of the holiday of Passover. I don't have much time to write now, so just a few short words about the whole holiday of Passover.

1. A true story: There is a big, successful, famous bakery in Israel, in the city of Jaffa near Tel Aviv, owned and managed by an Arab owner, Said Abulafia. Every year, they kept the bakery open during the seven days of the holiday of Passover, and sold Chametz (unleavened bread) to non-observant Jews. Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Stauber, who saw this, felt a lot of pain. He turned to the owner and told him that he will pay him the entire sum of money that the bakery makes during that week, if the owner promises to close the bakery during the whole week of Passover. The owner had nothing to lose from this deal, so he agreed. He closed the bakery for the whole week of Passover, and enjoyed some free time to do his own things and to do some renovations in the bakery. The same story repeated itself the following year. Rabbi Stauber paid for a whole week of revenues, and the bakery was closed during Passover. After a few years of doing this, Mr. Abulafia turned down the rabbi's offer. He said: "I do not need to take money away from you". "Why?", asked Rabbi Stauber, sure that the owner of the bakery wants to open it on Passover. But the answer shocked him - Mr. Abulafia told him that since they started with this deal, the revenues of the bakery throughout the year became so great, he felt the blessing of G-d, and he didn't need the money incentive from the Rabbi to close the bakery on Passover. It's wonderful. I checked it with them before posting it here, just to be sure I'm giving the correct information. And the pictures speak for themselves (see below). This is how peace will come to the world. On the outside of their bakery, during the week of Passover, there is the a sign (you can see in the picture), which tells the whole story and is written by the bakery owner. The message of this is: If you help the Jews fulfill their mission in the world - help them observe their G-d given commandments, G-d will bless you.

Rabbi Stauber with Mr. Abulafia

2. I was impressed to see that at the entrance to the Hadassah Hospital, the guard doesn't look only for weapons, but also for Chametz. All chametz products that he finds are kept outside of the hospital gates.

3. I visited an older lady who had a stroke. Because of her situation, she had to do the Seder night of Passover at the hospital. She said that religious volunteers came to the hospital, set the tables with white table clothes, brought Kosher food and led the Seder in such an impressive, festive way. I am so impressed. There are good things done in this country. 

Shabbat shalom, and Chag Sameach!

R.

Passover 5779

I finished reading the traumatic book, "PuppenHouse" ("House of Dolls") by Ka-Tzetnick 135633 (AKA. K. Tzetnick), a strange name for an author. This name actually means "A prisoner in concentration camp" (short for Konzentrationslager). He was a holocaust survivor, and survived the worst. His book describes some of the horrors he and others have been through. I'm still shaking and feeling a deep sense of revulsion, as if my body wishes to purge itself of all that I had read. It is a harsh reminder to the evil that still exists in the world, to the fact that cultured people, who have free choice, can choose to use all their high intelligence, all their creativity and sophistication, to inflict the worst kinds of suffering and humiliation upon other human beings like themselves. It is something that is hard to grasp, the heart refuses to believe it can be. Yet, we know it can be, unfortunately. People, who have been endowed with so many gifts - instead of using these gifts to make this world a better place for themselves and for others, use their gifts to degrade themselves by degrading others. It is unfathomable, but this book is a reminder that this kind of reality exists. The Germans, who are considered to be of the highest culture in terms of music, literature, art, made themselves into the worst satanic beasts the world has ever known, using all their talents to ruin the world and endless numbers of lives in it. I just can't understand it.
Yet, the wheels of justice keep rolling, and even if it sometimes takes time, justice is being done. It is no coincidence that recent historic events made it so that all the Muslim refugees flood into Europe. And - mostly to Germany. The beginning of the end has started for Europe, and for Germany most of all. Sad, but true.
Similarly, the Notre-Dam in Paris was the place in which some 700 years ago they burned all copies of the Talmud they could put their hands on. And now, 700 years later, the same thing happened to the structure itself. Sad, but true. G-d is a G-d of justice and His hand in History shows this. At least the Germans recognize their responsibility and guilt and some of them try to make it better by volunteering in hospitals here, etc.. It's one thing I give them. One other thing that I give them is a neighbor of mine - she is a tall, beautiful ultra-orthodox woman, a doctor. She was born to a non-Jewish German family. She met a secular Israeli man in Berlin, they fell in love and moved in together. One day, she asked him to take her to a synagogue, to see what it was like. He wasn't enthusiastic about it, but they went anyway. And from there started her love story with Judaism. She converted orthodox conversion, and her secular boyfriend became very religious following this, and now they are ultra-orthodox, living in a huge, beautiful villa down my new street, raising 6 beautiful religious children who are bilingual, and doing a lot of Kiddush HaShem (sanctifying G-d's name by their way of living). Their home is always open for guests, and they are just beautiful. If Germany can produce people like her, then maybe Germany has hope after all.
So I went to the library to return this book today, and took three other books. One of them is about a topic that I wanted to read about long ago - the Eichmann trial. I didn't plan to look for the book this time, but the book just found me. My eyes fell on it, "accidentally", and I took it. It's a book by Haim Guri, a famous Israeli poet who was a reporter in the trial back then. I had a few minutes before my class, so I sat there at the Bet HaAm library and started reading. First of all, my eyes fell on this sentence by Guri: "I know now that I will remember this day all the days of my life. I'm writing it in my notebook: April 17th, 1961". I shuddered. April 17th. It's today. What are the odds... And then I keep reading, and it says that the trial took place in Jerusalem at... not other than BET HAAM! Where I was just sitting and reading the book... What are the odds? Same place, same time, just 58 years later... I've been to Bet HaAm many times before. I've never known that the trial took place there! What are the odds of finding it out this way, as I was accidentally sitting and reading the book there, at this time, at this place? I feel it is meaningful and that I should really read the book. Don't know why, but perhaps I'll know when I finish it. One thing that struck me there was that Eichmann kept saying he was not guilty. He didn't deny what he did, he just attributed the guilt to his commanders. He was just an obedient clerk, he said. Since he was a child he was trained for obedience, and even if they had ordered him to shoot his own father to death, he would have done so. What a horrible thing for a human being to say! As if he has no free choice, no moral reasoning that can help him choose when to obey and when to disobey. As if obedience for the devil is as praiseworthy as obedience to G-d. Horrible. I thought to myself that perhaps it is good that the Torah was not given to the Germans, because they would have fulfilled it with obedience to the letter - but not for the right reasons, just for the sake of blind obedience. The Torah, instead, was given to a stiff-necked people - a nation that chooses to choose, that chooses to exercise its own free will, and when such a nation observes G-d's commandments, it's not out of blind obedience to whomever. It's because they want to obey G-d. I must admit that I have the deepest respect for those of the Germans who were righteous and did exercise their right to choose, and chose right by saving innocent lives, often at the risk of their own lives and that of their families. I admire them because I know it is probably harder for them to overcome their childhood indoctrination to blindly obey authority and power. And there were many like them. Yes, perhaps Germany does have hope, after all. Still, when I tried to learn their language after my military service, I stopped short. I couldn't stand hearing those sounds coming out of my own mouth. It was too chilling for me to bear. My neighbors next door are ultra-orthodox - they and their children speak Yiddish. It's a much softer version of German, and it doesn't make me feel bad at all. To the contrary.

Yesterday, after a whole day of working and studying, I went to the Hadassah hospital to visit Esther, the woman I wrote about at an earlier post, from the hospice. I didn't plan to go, but something inside me urged me to. When I got to her room, I saw that it was empty. I rushed up to ask the nurse to which room they moved her. The nurse asked me what I was for her. I told her that I was just an acquaintance. She asked me to sit and brought me a cup of water. She said she was sorry. I was so shocked to hear it. I wasn't prepared at all. I thought she had at least a few good months to live. I felt so bad, and sorry. Yes, I feel relief for her. She was under a lot of suffering. I wanted to tell her that there will be a Seder at the hospital, and that she could join it, but this year she will look at us from above and see the Seder from there, without doing it herself. I'm sad for her family. But I think she must feel relief. She is an example of someone who observed the Torah to the last moment, even under very strong pain, exercising her right to choose by choosing the right way.

Passover is just around the corner, and in it we will tell the story of another holocaust we had, the Egyptian one, in which all the baby boys were killed and our fathers were enslaved in Egyptian arbeitslager, work camps. How sweet it is to lift my eyes from the horrible holocaust stories, look around me and see Jerusalem all around me... to realize we are a free nation in Zion, in the Promised Land, in the Land of Israel. What a gift, what a blessing. Even though our troubles haven't ended yet, our situation now is better than any we have ever had as a nation - even better than in King David's and King Solomon's time, and I'm thankful to have been born at such a time in history, when all the promises of G-d are being fulfilled - on me, and on all my neighbors, colleagues, friends, family.

There are so many places I wanted to be this coming Passover, and so many things I wanted to do, but I promised my mother that I will go there and be with the family this year, and I cannot let her down. She is working hard to make the house glatt-Kosher for Passover, for me, as she says. All the guests will be instructed not to turn on the TV, not to talk on the phone, not to discuss politics, etc., just to give me the right holiday spirit. And still, I'm apprehensive, as I'm going to be the only religious person there. All the others, while they believe in G-d, are not very observant, and I'm afraid it would ruin the holiday atmosphere for me. But I feel it's important for me to be there - to give the next generation a proper holiday experience in the hope that it would inspire them when they grow up to live a more observant life. Amen. Last Shabbat was Shabbat HaGadol, the birthday of my father of blessed memory. I hope it would make him happy, wherever he is in heaven, that the whole family will do the Seder together this year.

Anyway, for those of you who celebrate a real Seder or a model seder of some sort - have a good Pesach and keep writing to me! Your emails keep this blog going!

R.

Weekly Torah Portion: Metzora

What a blessed day for the people of Israel. To wake up to such good news - the leadership of our country is given to parties that will not give away our sacred land to other nations, parties that will preserve the integrity of the land of Israel, parties that are for the People of Israel, the Torah of Israel and the Land of Israel. With all my sympathy and appreciation to Benny Gantz and his fellows on the political left (and I do have a lot of respect for them, personally) - I am so happy that it is not them who are going to be sitting in the coalition and leading us towards another Oslo disaster. Our prayers were answered, and a coalition made of parties who love the land and the people will be ruling once again. Hallelujah!
I must admit - I did not vote for Netanyahu, because he is not fully observant (an acquaintance of mine is a close friend of his wife, and she told me that he does try to observe Shabbat, but he is not yet really observant, and I do not want to vote for a non-observant person). However, I think that overall he is a good Prime Minister, he knows the job and he's doing a good job under the given circumstances, and it seems like G-d is behind him as well, for whatever reason. And as to all the claims against him by the left and the super-leftist media - I won't have an opinion, until things are clarified in court. The media gives him an unfair field-trial - when we do not know all the facts. I'm not suggesting he is righteous, but I'm not sure he is so corrupt as they try to make of him. Time will tell and we will all be wiser then.
Yesterday was a wonderful day, with great beautiful spring weather, and a festive atmosphere all around. I voted for the first time in my new neighborhood. Voting in Israel takes place mostly in schools, and I was impressed by the schools I saw in this neighborhood (I saw two of them, because I wasn't sure in which one I'm supposed to vote). A lot of light, colors, motivational messages on the walls, works of art by the students. So different than the urban school I went to for the second half of my school years (the first half was gorgeous, but it wasn't in a city).
After voting, I took a walk in Nahal Tzofim (The Tzofim Wadi) below the neighborhood of Ramat Eshkol. They made it into a park now, with a bicycle trail. There were not that many people there. The few whom I did see were all ultra-orthodox, Hassidish man, each on his own, each walking around alone in a different part of the park, between the trees, talking to G-d. In Hasidism it is called "Hitbodedut" - talking to G-d alone, in your own language, in your own words, usually in nature. From time to time you could hear a cry "Oy, Tate!" (Oh, Daddy!), when they call G-d and turn to Him as a father. I wish I had the courage to do that, but I do my own Hitbodedut at home, silently, spontaneously, every day. Thankfully, thanks to my ceiling window, I can also look to the skies while doing so. I spill my heart to Him, talk to Him like the best, most loyal, most faithful friend. He is a person's best friend - the only fully trusted friend from whom we do not have to hide anything.
When I saw those Hassidish guys, it reminded me of a popular TV drama in Israel (I do not have TV at home, but I watched it online for work - long story...): Shtisel. This TV series is about a Haredi family in Jerusalem. To watch it, I need subtitles, because half of it is not even in Hebrew, it's in Yiddish! The actors are completely secular, but with some of them, it is hard to believe that they are not Haredi-born. To train themselves for the job, they had to live for a few good weeks in the ultra-orthodox neighborhoods of Jerusalem, to learn how to behave, how to say the blessings, how to talk, how to walk, how to speak Yiddish with the proper pronunciation, etc. The father in the show, Shulem Shtisel (Dova'le Glickman), used to be a very popular comedian when I was a little girl, so it's quite astonishing to see him playing a serious Haredi man. And he does such a good job at it!! And to think that in real life he is a super secular. Unbelievable. In short, yesterday I felt I was witnessing a scene from Shtisel, and it was very nice! You can see a trailer for the show here: https://vimeo.com/105325576

This coming Shabbat in synagogues, after reading the weekly Torah Portion, we will read a part from the Prophets. Because this is the Shabbat just before Passover, a Shabbat we call Shabbat HaGadol ("The Great Shabbat"), there is a special part of the Prophets: Malachi 3: 4-24. One of my favorite verses in the whole Bible is there. It is a verse that ten years ago, when I was living in Tel Aviv but yearning to move to Jerusalem - when I was traveling in the morning to Jerusalem a few times - I saw this verse sprayed on one of the closed doors of one of the shops on King George street: "שובו אליי ואשובה אליכם" - return to Me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. Wow, what a powerful sentence. Back then, this verse gave me power to keep praying to move to Jerusalem - to find work and a place to live here, and I did manage to do that. I remember the hope and inspiration that I got from these words, and the motivation it gave me to keep praying.
Another favorite verse is there as well - when G-d tells us that we can test Him with only one thing: if we give tithes, He will open the treasures of heaven for us. "Bring the whole tithe into the store-house, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now with this, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour unto you a blessing with no ending". I love this, and I found it is true on my own flesh, in my own life! When I moved to Jerusalem, I didn't have a regular job, and my income was very very small, sometimes less than my rent. But I started giving tithes to the poor - trusting G-d to take care of me - and slowly, gradually, my situation got better - I found a stable job, with a salary that is enough to pay the rent and more, and to do other things that I want. Baruch HaShem! It is so good to be Jewish!
I love hearing stories of faith, and I love to tell of my own stories of faith. Such stories give us so much strength, hope and inspiration. They show us the way. In our lives we all face times of hunger, different kinds of hunger, different things we're missing - and faith is the only remedy, the only solution. I'm trying to post messages of hope and inspiration in my Facebook page, "Jewish Inspiration". Make sure you give it a Like and follow us daily: https://www.facebook.com/JewishInspiration5773/

12.4.19:
I wasn't near a big screen when the first Israeli spaceship, Bereshit ("In the beginning" or "Genesis"), made history and landed on the moon  (landed, just not in one piece 😅) . I was walking the long walk home from the city center to my new neighborhood, but I was listening to the live news from the event on my smartphone as I was walking home. I was so impressed with the vision of the young people who decided to start this project, and even more impressed with everyone's reactions to the 'failure': instead of lamenting and crying and feeling sad or disappointed, or worst - trying to find people to blame, everyone took it with a positive spirit and decided to emphasize the achievement part of it and to look for the future, saying: 'if we failed now, we will succeed next time'. The big donor for the project was present and already promised to undertake the next project of an Israeli spaceship. Such a positive spirit, of vision, of looking forward, of daring, of getting up after falling. Such a healthy, dynamic spirit!
The last time we had a connection with the spaceship was when it was 150 meters above the surface of the moon. Shortly before crashing, the spaceship managed to take two 'selfie' pictures of itself approaching the moon. On the spaceship there was a tiny sign in Hebrew: "עם ישראל חי" (The Nation of Israel is Alive), together with an English scripture: "Small Country, Big Dreams". So moving!
As I was walking and listening to the broadcast, I looked up to the sky, trying to find the shattered pieces of the spaceship Bereshit 😅   I didn't see them, but the moon was so beautiful!

One spiritual message we can learn from the spaceship Bereshit (except for the fact that it is OK to fail as long as you know to get up and try again) is the following: Each of us have a moon in our lives to which we are striving - a big, distant goal we want to reach. In order to do that, we have to keep our eyes on the goal, and keep moving, mentally and otherwise, in its direction. The spaceship Bereshit didn't go to the moon in one direct line. Rather, it had to get closer and closer, in orbits that were closer and closer to the moon, until eventually it crossed a critical point and was pulled by the moon's energy to its inner orbit. Similarly, if we invest spiritual effort (prayer, yearning, etc.) in trying to achieve our goals, in many cases we will reach a critical point in which reality will pull us in the desired direction. Not always - after all, G-d doesn't work for us and He is not obliged to give us all we want (some of the things we want are not even good for us) - but in many cases it would help take us in the desired direction. The important thing is to keep pushing forward, to do our own spiritual effort, let go of the past so that it won't pull us in the wrong direction, and hopefully we will be attracted by the inner orbit of our own personal moon. Letting go of the past can be very hard to do. It's like trying to disconnect from planet Earth, with its huge gravitational field, and breaking free from it. It's hard, but it's possible... It must be possible! Keep our eyes on our moon.



Thank you, and Shabbat Shalom!
R.

Weekly Torah Portion: Tazri'a (Leviticus 12:1 - 13:59)

I was supposed to go to a special Hebron tour this Friday morning, but had to cancel, since I developed a cold. Earlier this week I started feeling off, with a congested throat and chills of cold all over my body. I hoped it would be better by today, but it is actually getting worse, so I decided to cancel and stay home. So the good news is that now I have time to sit here and write.

This week I saw the nation of Israel in its greatness. There were two occasions that made me feel this way.

Alex Sasaki Z"L

One, Alex Sasaki, a young new Oleh (new Jewish immigrant) who served in the IDF as a lone soldier (a soldier whose family lives abroad) died last week. His bereaved parents came from the USA to Israel for the funeral of their son, who was buried on Mt. Herzl. They stayed at the Crown Plaza hotel and sat "Shiv'ah" there (Shiv'ah means the customary seven days of mourning, in which the bereaved family of a deceased person sits and mourns, and friends and neighbors come to comfort them). They do not know anyone here, but during the seven days of the Shiv'ah, their room was filled with people. People of all walks of life came to visit them, to hear from them about Alex, to be there for them, to comfort them. It was SO moving to see. Someone placed an empty notebook there, and people were writing messages of consolation to the family, in English, in Hebrew. I saw there religious people, from all the variety that exists - from the ultra-orthodox to the "religious-lite" as we say, and then secular people, traditional people, everyone, of every age. They all came to be with the family, without knowing them, without having known their son. I must admit I was so impressed with the parents. In the face of this tragedy, they didn't stop smiling, talking with people, expressing their feelings, being strong and positive. Alex's father said that he has faith, and that he knows that Alex's life had meaning in Israel, and that he was supposed to be here, despite the bitter end. I was so encouraged to hear him talk like this. I sat there for an hour or so, but really wanted to stay much longer, but people kept streaming in and I had to go and teach. It was very moving to be there. I don't know of any other place on earth in which something like this could happen this way . I think the parents feel now that they have a big warm family in Israel - the people of Israel.
The second moving thing was that Zecharia Baumel - a name I remember since I was a little child as a synonym for someone who went to battle and never returned - was finally brought to his final place of rest and merited to have a Jewish burial in Israel, in Jerusalem, on Mt. Herzl. I couldn't believe it when I heard that - they found Zecharia Baumel's body and it is being brought back to Israel! I was so impressed and proud of the whole nation - of our leaders for actually managing to do this, and of the rest of us - that we haven't forgotten Zecharia, even though it's been 37 years since he was gone, and that we didn't give up hope. Zecharia's father, Yonah, did everything in his power to find his son and waited for him for 27 years, but passed away some ten years ago without meriting to see his son's body being brought to burial in Israel. Zecharia's other family members were there at the funeral, as well as our Prime Minister and other top officials in Israel. What a nation!

Yonah Z"L and Miriam Baumel, holding the picture of their missing son, Zecharia.

This Shabbat is special - it is both a Shabbat and a Rosh Chodesh (the first day of the new month of Nissan), and since it's Nissan, everybody is starting to get ready for Passover: cleaning the houses more meticulously than usual, getting rid of unneeded clothes and items in the house, finishing all the pasta and other foods that are Chametz (unleavened bread) and therefore are not Kosher for eating (or even keeping at home) during Passover.

The Torah Portion of this week is that of Tazria (Leviticus 12:1 - 13:59). It talks about laws of purity for women after birth (laws that don't apply today because the Temple is not in place), and about the laws of Tzara'at, a mysterious skin disease (that can also affect house walls and clothes), and that is diagnosed not by a doctor, but by a Kohen, a Jewish priest from the descendants of Aaron (Moses' brother). The fact that it is diagnosed by a Kohen shows us that it has a spiritual origin, not a medical one. The connection between mind and body is stressed here with this form of mysterious disease. It is translated as Leprosy in English, but it is not the Leprosy we know from recent centuries, it is another form of disease that we are not familiar with today. The cure for this disease is for the affected person to sit in isolation outside the camp, not to come in contact with people for seven days, and after a week - the disease is cured.

Every week, after reading from the Torah (five books of Moses) we also read a portion from the Prophets and Scriptures. This week we read from II Kings 4:42 - 5:19 - the story about Na'aman, the Syrian (Aramean general who had this Tzara'at disease). A little Israeli girl, who was a captive at his home, said that he should go to the Land of Israel and meet the prophet, the man of G-d there, so that he would be cured of his disease. The general listened to her advice and went. He did as the prophet told him, and was cured. He then exclaimed: "Behold now, I know there is no G-d in all the earth, but in Israel." Of course, we know that G-d is everywhere - not just here - and He is the G-d of all people and of all nations, but this exclamation means, I think, that there is a special connection to G-d here, and within this people, and this connection nourishes and strengthens the connection of the whole world to G-d. 

The portion doesn't explicitly specify what causes this disease, but elsewhere in the Torah it is mentioned in relation to Miriam, sister of Moses and Aaron, when she spoke not-nicely about Moses and his wife, and was punished for it with this disease, and in order to be cured from it she was asked to sit outside the camp in isolation (Book of Numbers, chapter 12). From this, our sages infer that the cause for this disease is bad use of language, or simply: evil tongue. The evil tongue includes a few categories of immoral use of speech, but they all come down to saying bad things about other people behind their backs: disgracing others, putting them down, mentioning their flaws, exposing things that violate their privacy (and privacy is sacred!), telling lies about them and also telling bad things that are true about them. Some think that if we say bad things about someone, but those bad things are true, then it's OK for us to tell these things. But this kind of gossip is forbidden and can cause a lot of harm to three parties: to the speaker, to the one spoken about and to the listener. It diminishes the level of love in society and the social glue that keeps people together and causes disdain towards the person spoken about and a feeling of superiority for the speaker and the listener. There won't be love there the next time they see this person. This is the reason why the cure for the Tzara'at disease is to sit in isolation outside the camp: it's like saying - if you want to weaken the social glue between people in your community, if you want to make someone else be treated with disdain, you should taste your own medicine (literally) and be isolated (and put to shame) yourself. It is no big honor to sit outside the camp alone for a week because of this spiritual-physical disease. 

Only in specific cases is one allowed (and even encouraged) to say bad things that are true about another person (for example: if you know that Dana is going to marry or get into business with Danny, who is a dishonest person, you must warn her, but make sure your motives are to help her, not to bite Danny). 

Words can heal and words can kill. Speech is what distinguishes us humans from other animals, and it is such a lofty gift we humans got, that we just must use it responsibly and with discretion. With speech we can change someone's world, or even change the world (and there have been quite a few examples for this in human history). A tender word for someone in distress can sometimes save their lives, and a bitter word said to someone or about someone behind their back can ruin their lives.

Words have power, and every word we say leaves an impression in this world. We can truly heal the world with positive speech (and also positive inner speech, directed towards ourselves!). And it costs us nothing. It is a free gift we got, and we can give good words to others and lift them up without any cost to us at all. 

So this Shabbat (and this month, and just generally), let us find ways to use our speech in a constructive way towards ourselves and towards others and truthfully make this world a better place.

Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov! 

Revital

Purim 5779 - at Hadassah Mt. Scopus

Purim this year was spent partly at the hospital, and partly at my old neighborhood.
The more meaningful part for me was, of course, at the hospital, even though it was NOT easy, I must admit. It started when Thursday day time, which was Purim all over Israel except in Jerusalem, I took my little recorder and went to visit a few patients who already know me. I played some soothing music without any other players with me, and was surprised how much they liked it. In one of the rooms, I visited an older woman, who used to be a tough bus driver. Her bed was hidden by a curtain, but she welcomed me in happily. We talked for a long while, and then I took my recorder and played. At that moment, a woman in the nearby bed asked who is playing, and asked for permission to open the curtain, to be part of this too. We opened the curtain, and she listened with a smile on her face. I didn't know if this had any meaningful effect or not, but when I finished the first song, she showered me with good words and told me that it lifted her up. I suggested that she "order" songs, if there are any songs she likes. She asked me to play Eli Eli by Hannah Senesh. When I did, she closed her eyes, and when I finished, she told me that it was like a prayer for her. She is secular, so hearing these words from her had an added meaning for me. I then played my favorite Jerusalem song: "From the top of Mt. Scopus, Shalom to you, Jerusalem". It is doubly moving to play it and for the patients to hear it, from the Mt. Scopus hospital.
I bought a few "Mishlochei Manot" (bags with candies that we give each other on Purim) and gave it to some of them. I was sorry that I didn't have more, because there was a nurse who wanted one too. It was so cute. I'll go and give her next week. I stayed at the hospital until night, and brought certain patients to the hospital synagogue, to hear the reading of the Book of Esther. It was good - but emotionally tough. After I finished the day, I felt that I needed a break from visiting the hospital for at least one week, to regain my emotional strength, but Saturday night I felt an urge to go again, to visit one specific patient who is in the hospice.
A hospice, for those of you who do not know, is the place to which patients are sent to end their lives peacefully. It is the most beautiful part of the hospital, but also the toughest of them all. Terminally ill patients, who have no hope of recovering (according to the doctors), are sent there to spend the last days of their lives there. Very ironically, it is situated right in front of the delivery rooms - so in one end of the corridor people are being born, and on the other end of it, people die. Very symbolic - a closing of a circle.
A few weeks ago I met a middle-aged woman there, who suffers from cancer. Her belly is very big, and not because of fat... It is very hard to see, and when I visit her, I try hard not to see it. She is constantly crying and feeling sorry for herself, and it is not easy to be around her. Saturday night I felt that I had to go visit her. When I arrived, after she stopped crying, she told me that she felt so alone and prayed to G-d to send someone to visit her, and very shortly after that, I arrived. I did feel as if G-d sent me. I didn't plan to go to the hospital for another week, but something inside urged me to go, specifically to see her. I spent three hours with her, and it calmed her down, but I know that it's not much, because it won't have a lasting effect on her. Soon she will start crying again and feeling sorry for herself again.
I told her that there are no mistakes in G-d's plans, and that if this is the experience that He gives her now, then it means she has a mission to accomplish in this specific situation. First and foremost, when her secular family hears her talking about G-d even though she is in such a situation, it gives more validity to her faith in G-d. It is very easy to talk about G-d when everything is good. But when you do that when things are not good and there is no medical hope, it gives your faith in G-d more value in the eyes of others. At that moment, I told myself that it's probably very easy to say, and very hard to do, but my answer to myself was that G-d forbid, if I'm ever in that situation, I will truly think this way and try to accomplish this mission rather than feel sorry for myself. The question should always be What can I give rather than Why don't I get what I want. Second, her family comes to visit her sometimes for parts of the Shabbat. Not every week. But when her sister comes, for example, both of them go down to have a festive Shabbat meal with other patients and their family members. Her sister told me that she hasn't experienced a real Shabbat meal in her life and that she so enjoys it, so this is her chance of experiencing some Jewish life, hear words of Torah on the table and sing Shabbat songs.
There is a generous donor who gives a lot of money every Shabbat to allow big, festive Shabbat meals, with salads, fish, meat, desserts - what not. Every week. He does this anonymously, no one knows who he is, but it allows patients and their families to enjoy Shabbat together. It is so amazing. The hospital gives a special hall for this purpose, and there are volunteers who serve the food. Those patients who cannot go down to the hall and eat there, can enjoy packed Shabbat food in their beds. Their family members can go down and take a nice Shabbat meal and give them. It is so nice. I have never seen anything like this anywhere in the world except here. Very moving. The first time I saw it, I couldn't believe it. It was so nice and generous and the atmosphere was so good and festive. I don't eat there (I did it twice when I spent a whole Shabbat at the hospital for bed-ridden patients who needed someone to be with them). But just knowing that something like this happens here - warms my heart.
In short, I'm grateful for having moved here and that now I can walk to the hospital and give something to the patients, give them strength and alleviate their suffering a bit. Baruch HaShem.

Weekly Torah Portion - VaYikra (Leviticus 1:1 - 5:26)

This coming Shabbat, Jews all over the world will read in synagogue the VaYikra Torah portion (Leviticus 1:1-5:26). This is the first portion of the book of Leviticus - the third book out of the five books of Moses, and a book with a lot of technical details about the service of the Jewish Priests (Levites: people from the tribe of Levy; and Kohanites: Aaron and his children). But in the Torah, even in the most technical portions, there are always deep ethical, philosophical and psychological lessons and messages for all of humanity to learn and for all generations. Let's try to delve in. If you have any ideas of your own that you would like to share with me, I would love to hear them. Knut - thank you for commenting, it's nice to know you're reading this! Comments from other people are welcome as well! 

Our portion starts with the Hebrew word VaYikra (ויקרא), meaning: "and (G-d) called..." G-d calls Moses, and only then He speaks to him. G-d calls man and seeks him out actively. He doesn't just let us be or speaks vaguely in the hope that we will hear Him. He calls to us and seeks us out actively, and we in return have to try to heed the call, each of us with our own calling, and engage in a life sustaining dialogue with G-d.

If you look closely at the Hebrew text, the word ויקרא is spelled with a smaller "Aleph" (א), as follows: ויקרא. Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew Alphabet, and also the first letter in G-d's name: אלקים. Our sages teach that in His calling to us, humans, G-d has somewhat shrunk Himself, so to speak, made Himself smaller, in order to "make room" for us to act, to manifest our talents and gifts, to utilize our G-d given gifts (which each of us is endowed with) to benefit our fellow men and the entire world. In G-d's calling to Moses (and to all of us), G-d is asking that we act to the best of our ability using whatever we have to benefit the world and beautify it, to make it a better, more goodly place to live in - each of us to the best of our abilities, in our own small corner of the world.
To be happy people we have to believe that we have an intrinsic value, that we didn't come to the world for nothing - that we have something that is uniquely ours to do here, to give to the world, and only we can find out what it is and do it. If we lose this sense of self worth, we won't do anything and we will sink into melancholy and depression. The way to prevent it (and to spring out of it if we had already sunk in it) is to realize what we can do for others, and to actually do it. Some of us are gifted artistically, some of us have charisma and magnetic power, some of us are gifted musically or linguistically - each of us should take whatever talent we have, and make use of it to make the world a better place.  

This week's portion deals with five kinds of offerings that people can bring to atone for their sins: burnt offering, cereal offering, peace offering, purification offering, reparation offering. Each offering has its own set of rules and instructions for bringing it. Reading about such offerings in our day and age, when the Tabernacle and the Temple are no longer in place and haven't been for more than 2000 years now, makes us, modern readers, feel alienated: what value is there for us in such teachings? What can we learn from them? And why did people in ancient times have to sacrifice those poor animals? Does G-d really want such offerings? 

First, let's consider the Hebrew word for offering: Korban (קורבן). This word has an additional meaning: sacrifice. When we look at its root letters,  ק.ר.ב, we can see that these are the same root letters of the Hebrew word Karov (קרוב), which means "close" (as in closeness). So there is a semantic connection between the words offering/sacrifice and the word for closeness. The idea in bringing offerings is to give up something big in order to get closer to G-d. In ancient time, people's wealth was measured in terms of how much cattle they had, how many cows, sheep, goats, and how many fields and produce they had. A bull was a very expensive piece of property, perhaps like a Mercedes in our time. Giving up a bull, bringing it to the priests and seeing this expensive property being burnt on the altar and then eaten, was not an easy thing to do. People did it usually in order to show how deeply sorry they felt about certain sins that they have committed. By giving up a very expensive piece of property (and seeing it killed and burnt in front of one's very eyes), the sinner tried to ask for G-d's forgiveness and in the process become closer to G-d after feeling alienated from Him because of sin. A poor person, who did not own bulls, could bring a vegetarian offering or a pigeon instead. The important thing is that the offering would be something that is very expensive for that person's means.

Today, when the Temple is no longer in place (its giant stones can be seen scattered around the place where the Temple used to stand, next to the Western Wall), and no one knows where the Holy Ark is (probably buried somewhere below the Al-Aqsa mosque in the Temple Mount in Jerusalem), we don't have the custom to bring offerings. Our modern day sensibilities makes most of us shudder to the thought of slaughtering animals and dealing with their blood. This job is spared today to people who work in slaughter houses. The rest of us buy clean, nicely packed meat in the supermarket and don't have to deal with blood. How can we understand the relevance of sacrificing to our own lives today?

The great rabbi, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook of blessed memory said that when the Temple will be (peacefully) rebuilt in the future, all the offerings will be vegetarian, for the consumption of the Kohanites. 

So, does G-d really need our offerings? In contrast to idol-worshiping cultures, in which their idols are believed to be "eating" the offerings, in Judaism the sacrifice is meant as an act with a psychological impact on the individual, something that helps man attain forgiveness by showing one's true sorrow for one's sins and by showing one's readiness to pay heavily for one's sins. G-d does not need our offerings. We need our offerings to be and feel clean of sin and therefore worthy of being close to G-d. 

What do we do now, when there are no offerings instituted? We can still implement the same principle and translate it to our world view. We can give something expensive that we own (doesn't have to be our Mercedes) in favor of a cause that serves to make up for our sins. It can come in the form of a generous donation to a cause we believe in and want to strengthen, or giving some money to a less fortunate individual who can really use some extra funds. It can come in the form of investing a portion of our time and energy in acting to promote a cause we believe in or in helping an individual in need, any kind of need. We can give of our time to the needy - visiting lonely elderly people at their homes or visiting the sick at hospital, giving of our time to help young mothers who have many kids, anything that would benefit someone else and would make this world a better place.The important thing is that once we sacrifice something of our own, it has to be something big enough for us to feel it's meaningful. 

The leaders of the nation - the president of each tribe - are also to bring their own offerings to G-d, to show their submission to the one Leader that is above the rest of us. If sacrifices were instituted today, we would have expected to see PM Netanyahu walking the relatively short walk from his official residence to the Temple and sacrificing his own offerings.

This Shabbat is called Shabbat Zachor (the Shabbat just before Purim). So we will also read the Zachor portion ("remember what Amalek did to you..."; Deuteronomy 25:17-19). Halacha (Jewish Law) requires each Jew to hear the reading of that portion. Amalek symbolizes the world view in which there is no G-d, and everything that happens in the world is just the result of coincidence. Judaism stands in total opposition to this world view. In Jewish thought and belief, everything is meaningful, and nothing is left to chance, because G-d is one, an omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent G-d. To attest for this, there is a special meaning in reading and hearing the Zachor portion. Amalek attacked us in the desert just when we started losing faith. To eradicate Amalek and the amalekite world view, all we have to do is strengthen our faith in G-d.

Shabbat Shalom to you all! 

With love from Jerusalem,

Revital

Weekly Torah Portion - Pkudei (EXODUS 38:21 - 40:38)

Today is the first day of the Hebrew month of Adar. It is the month in which, according to our tradition, Moses was born and died. It is the month in which we celebrate the holiday of Purim to celebrate the salvation that we have attained from the Persian Hitler Haman many hundreds of years ago (see the Book of Esther for details, and I'll try to write a special post about it). Unlike the international calendar, in which you get a 29th day of February every few years, in the Hebrew calendar we have something different: every few years we get another month! We call a year with an extra month a "pregnant year". So this year is a "pregnant" year. The first Adar has ended, and yesterday started the second month of Adar.
Jews all over the world will read tomorrow, Shabbat, in synagogue the "Pkudei" Torah Portion (Exodus  38:21 - 40:38). This is the last portion in the book of Exodus, and starting next week we will read the Portions from the book of Leviticus. The book of Exodus tells the story of the slavery and exodus from Egypt and the first few months in the desert. It ends with a few Portions concerning the Mishkan (tabernacle; sanctuary; portable Temple), in which the instructions to build the Mishkan are given in detail.
The word Mishkan (משכן) shares the same root as the word Shkhina (holy spirit; שכינה). So the Mishkan is the focus point of G-d's holy spirit. Why do we need a physical place for the Shkhina to dwell in? If we read back, we realize that G-d commanded us to build the Mishkan only after we sinned by making for ourselves a golden calf, a foreign idol, to worship. It could be that G-d wanted to channel our need for a physical item to focus our spiritual energies on in a proper way. Instead of worshiping golden calves, we will have a sanctuary to commune with G-d.
The Mishkan is a place of sanctity. The Shabbat day is a time of sanctity. Since the commandment to observe Shabbat appears twice during the episodes of the Mishkan, we understand that the Shabbat's importance is much greater than that of the Mishkan. On Shabbat we are commanded to stop from making any kind of work, even from building the Mishkan.

This week's portion starts with a list of all the expensive materials that were used to build the Mishkan. Our rabbis teach that a person's true richness and assets are only those things that he gave to others. If you have $1,000,000 in your physical bank account but gave very little to others, you are considered poor, poor in the only currency that matters: poor in good deeds. If you have very little money in your bank account, but you gave a lot to people in real need, then you are considered rich: rich in good deeds. Good deeds are the only currency that matters - in this world and in the next. People don't take their material riches with them to the grave or to the next world. But their good deeds will always have a ripple effect.

Readers who read the portion superficially might think that it is just a technical description of architecture and items of service. But the Torah ALWAYS conveys a deeper meaning. Beyond the surface level there are always deeper levels of meaning that can teach us moral, psychological and philosophical lessons that we can learn from in our day and age as well.

The description of the Mishkan and all the vessels in it is repeated again and again for about 15 chapters! First, the details appear in G-d's instructions to Moses, then they appear in Moses' instructions to the people, then they appear again in the performance of the job, then they appear in the conclusion of the job, and then they appear again when G-d instructs Moses what to do with those items. Why all the repetition? Why all the technicalities? When someone repeats the same details again and again in speech or writing, we know that those details are important to him. When someone says the same things again and again, it shows that he wants the listeners to really hear and internalize what he is saying and not take it lightly. In fact, there are people, Torah scholars, who sit and study these details of the Mishkan and its vessels in depth in order to construct the exact same vessels to be used in the Holy Temple, when it will be peacefully built in the future.

One more repetition that calls our attention is the fact that every time that an instruction was performed in our portion, the phrase: "...as G-d commanded Moses" appears. Again and again. If you count these repetitions, you find that this phrase appears 18 times in the story of the Mishkan. Eighteen is a number with a special meaning in Judaism. If we convert its digits to letters, we get the word חי (chai, or: alive) in Hebrew. So the number 18 symbolizes life. For example, when Jews give money to charity, they like to give money in multiples of 18 (180 sheqels, 360 dollars, 540 euros, etc). And hence the important lesson: if we really want a life that is good and meaningful, we have to do things as G-d commanded Moses... The Torah is our guide book to life. In it you can find values and morals that are eternal and good. If you read a verse in it and it looks outdated and irrelevant for us today, it is because you stay on the surface level. A good advice would be to read deep commentaries about it by our Sages, explaining how things are truly eternal and meaningful for all ages.
Each of us should build a Mishkan, a tabernacle, within our hearts. We should do it by adhering to divine morality, by thinking of G-d's commandments and follow them even when it's hard. Especially when it's hard. Wherever there is hardship, there is also a tremendous gift to glean from it. Hardships are what makes us close to G-d, because it's usually when we are down that we look up and seek Him, and in the process we become much better people.

The person in charge of the construction of the Mishkan was Bezalel. In Hebrew, his name means: "in the shade of the Lord". Bezalel is the prototype of an especially gifted artist. It is no coincidence that his name means "in the shade of the Lord". Every true and honest artist (unlike many so-called artists today) is truly in the shade of the Lord, receiving inspiration from the master of the universe, Who is truly the greatest artist of all.

The book of Exodus ends with this verse: "... the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and there was fire therein by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys". I like this verse a lot, because it shows how even when everything in our lives is clouded and dark and we see no way out, the fire of G-d is bound to appear and show us the way to our promised land. If we only open our eyes and see it.

Shabbat Shalom!
Revital

Weekly Torah Portion: VaYakhel 5779 (Exodus 35:1- 38:20)

We experience a BIG storm today: lots of rain, wind, and hail. It started yesterday. It was so nice to go to bed and hear the hail on my ceiling windows. When I woke up this morning, I could not only hear it, but also see it - it was magical!
The Jerusalem neighborhood in which I live now is full of almond trees and lemon trees. Until this week, the almond trees were in full bloom, and reminded me a lot of the Japanese cherry blossom. It was just so beautiful! My new apartment has some nice, big windows, and it is nice to look out of them and see blossoming almond trees, and lemon trees full of ripe, yellow lemons. What a blessing!
I've been wanting to write here for so long, but got caught with other things. So if any of you out there read this, it would be nice if you make yourselves felt a bit, it will give me the energy to continue.

I'm so happy with the move. I like my new apartment, and I like the change in mindset that it brings with it. I've declined many new Hebrew students who were referred to me by other students recently, because I want to focus more on my professional career as a neurotherapist, and less on Hebrew teaching. Baruch HaShem, just after the move, I started treating two different women for depression and anxiety. Both of them come here, so I don't have to go out to them like I do with my Hebrew students. All of my students meet me in the city center, and it's sometimes tiring to go there every day, and run from place to place to meet them while I'm there. I'd like to gradually bring more of my business closer to home - to treat children and women in my place. I figured that if I move again, I will try to think of having an extra room that would serve as my clinic. We'll see. Big dreams, and I'm just starting, doing the first few steps. I've done this as an employee before, but now it's my first time as a self-employed therapist.
Moving here gave me courage and strengthened my faith. I've realized that I am not attached to my place of living - I will be fine anywhere, as long as I walk with G-d. And I know His plans for me are good.

Something sweet happened recently, and made me smile, even laugh. Three or so weeks ago I walked from my area the long walk to Rechavia, my old neighborhood, to have a Shabbat meal with my old friends in the neighborhood. I prayed at the Great Synagogue. It was so nice being there again, feeling like I'm home again, and it made me sad for a split of a second. I thought to myself: "Did I do the right thing leaving? I could have stayed in this area". Just as I was thinking this, the cantor (a young one, not the regular, fabulous Cantor Adler), who was reciting Psalm 98 (which is part of the Shabbat evening services), changed his tune for only one of the verses in the Psalm, verse 6: "With trumpets and sound of the horn shout ye before the King, the LORD". He sang this verse with the tune of the BEAUTIFUL Hebrew song titled "From the summit of Mt. Scopus, Shalom to you, oh Jerusalem". It made me shudder, and then laugh. This was such a clear, beautiful, symbolic message for me. Just earlier that week I was at the hospital of Hassasah Mt. Scopus, playing music to sick people there. My partners in playing suddenly played that song, which I hadn't heard in a long long time, and it was so moving to hear it, and play it, in that special place. I joined them with my recorder. Then, on Shabbat at the Great Synagogue, the verse that talks about serving G-d with wind instruments was suddenly (and for the first time ever in my experience) sang with that tune, I felt it was as if HaShem was telling me: "I need you there, close to the Hospital, to serve me there by brightening the days of sick people." I was moved. And whenever I feel like it's too much for me to travel to the city center without having a place of my own there, and run from place to place to meet my students, I remember this episode, and I smile. I know I'm in the right place and HaShem wants me here. The fact that He gave me two patients to treat here, and another student who lives in my neighborhood, says a lot too. I'm very happy and content. And grateful.

One more thing which made me feel encouraged to continue my volunteering at the hospital was this: I happened to see in a local library a book titled "Dream New Dreams" by a woman named Jai Pausch. I took it and read it in one breath. The book is the story of how she and her beloved husband, Prof. Randy Pausch, lived through the hardest times in their lives, when Randy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It was a very honest book, and an important reading for everyone who once in a while works with sick people or their families. The only thing I didn't like about the book is that the word "G-d" appeared in it only once, and that too not in a form of prayer or acknowledgement. But later, when I saw an interview with Jai and her husband online, and they were asked about faith, they said it's private and they didn't want to talk about it. They did go to church, so I'm sure they had faith. Towards the end of the book, Jai told the following anecdote, which made me realize how much visiting the sick in hospitals is important: when she and her husband used to wait in line to see a doctor or for chemotherapy or whatever, in hospitals, some volunteers used to come and offer them coffee and snacks, and a smile. She said it was such a bright point of the day, that when her husband died, she decided she would volunteer doing the same thing. It was another reinforcement for my decision to dedicate more of my time for such activities. Living a walking distance from the hospital on Mt. Scopus makes is easier, and I think this is the main reason why G-d wanted me to move here.

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And now I want to say a few words about this week's Torah Portion (Exodus 35:1 - 38:20). This is just one of many Portions and many chapters in the Torah that are dedicated to the building of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). The Portion and chapters describe in the most minutest details the commandment to build a Mishkan, with the precise instructions as how to do everything, including everything - the structure, the utensils, the materials, everything, and then the actual building of it. It makes one wonder - why does the Torah, which is usually so succinct and (like a poem) uses very few words to describe much deeper and more complex layers of meaning - why does it "waste" so much "real estate area", so many words, chapters and Portions, on something so technical, when the Creation of the whole world is described in less than 30 verses? And - even more perplexing -  why does it "waste" so many words on something that WE WOULD NEVER BUILD AGAIN?! After all, the Mishkan was a once in a life time occurrence. We are not planning to build it again. We do hope (and plan!) to build the Mikdash (the Holy Temple), but not the Mishkan!  The answer is that below the surface meaning of these verses lies another, deeper, symbolic meaning. Our Sages along the centuries researched hard, using special words in the text to find parallels in other parts of the Torah, to uncover some of these secret, encoded messages. I encourage you to try to read about it yourselves. My own interpretation is that the Mishkan is an allegory to the human mind, the human heart. Elsewhere in the Torah G-d says: "And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell within them". G-d doesn't say that they should make a sanctuary so that He would dwell within IT, but rather, that He should dwell within THEM - within the people. I think this is a big clue that can help us understand the hidden meaning of the detailed description of the building of the Mishkan.

The Mishkan is to be built from the BEST, most expensive materials such as gold, copper, leather, etc. But this is not the most important things. It is to be built from materials that the people DONATED from the generosity of their heart. The root letters of generosity, נ.ד.ב. appear a few times (at least five) in our Portion as a lead word. We build a Mishkan to G-d in our hearts and minds by the things we are willing to GIVE: our charitable acts, our monetary donations, our efforts at building our personalities to be holier people. And we are to give of our very best, and of our own will. It is a free choice that we are given, and if we choose to give, and give of our best, not just materially, but in any other way as well, we will build a beautiful Mishkan within us, and it would be a proper place for G-d to "dwell" in.
Israel is probably the place with the most charity organizations per-capita ever, and within Israel - Jerusalem is the city with the most charity organizations, formal and non-formal, with lots and lots of people being busy doing good in the world. It is true that many other people from other cities in Israel and from other countries do amazing, beautiful things - but I've never known any other city like Jerusalem. It is exponentially more charitable and holy than any other city in the world, and I think that for this reason, it is a good place for G-d to dwell in. So many charitable projects are taking place here, and people are constantly helping each other and helping total strangers. It's so beautiful to see, and I wish this model of a Mishkan-like city will spread to the rest of the world in much greater intensities, so that the light and goodness of Jerusalem will encompass the whole world. Speedily in our days. Amen!