So glad to be here now and write in this blog again.
It is raining today, and it is WONDERFUL!! So happy to see the streets clean and shining, and the grayness of winter when the sky is covered with clouds. It's also a real delight when the sun manages to break through the blanket of clouds and light up everything. It happened twice today and it was so gladdening!
On Monday I gave a lecture about a country far away in which I lived and studied for a long time. I do it for fun from time to time, but often I feel emptied after it, wondering in my heart what value it has except for giving some good time and some non-essential education to the listeners. It's not like talking about Torah or G-d, which are eternal values for which it is worth living. For some reason, this time I felt less emptied after the talk. I try to figure out why, but I'm not sure. Perhaps I came more full to begin with.
On the way there I looked at the sky and saw the gorgeous colors of sunset upon the Jerusalem hills. I felt so blessed to be able to behold this. It was beautiful. When I waited for the green light to turn on so that I could cross the street, I saw a tiny group of birds flying together in an amazing harmony and coordination. They seemed black against the setting sun, but when they were right above my head I saw that their color was bright green. It was such a surprise, and it brought joy to my heart. It was a matter of two or three seconds before they were gone and out of my sight. The little joys of life.
Before I talk about this week's Torah portion, I want to say something that I heard about last week's portion. Yaacov blesses Yosef's children. He blesses Ephraim the younger before Menashe the first born. The great sage Rashi says that this blessing has indeed materialize later on in history: from Ephraim came Joshua the son of Nun who was the successor of Moses, and he managed to stop the sun in its tracks, while from Menashe came Gideon, who was great, but not as great as Joshua. In fact, the ten lost tribes, the Kingdom of Israel that separated from the Kingdom of Judaea and was then lost in the Assyrian exile, is often called Ephraim throughout the Bible. It is prophesied that in the End of Days, Ephraim will join Judaea again and the nation of Israel will become one. I wait for them to return. Who are they today, I wonder. I guess they are scattered all over the nations, and are slowly returning to us by feeling attraction to Judaism and then converting, not knowing that the roots of their souls are from Israel originally. I love reading the sages commentaries, because they bring to my attention things that I wouldn't be able to notice alone, and often these are real pearls and diamonds of wisdom.
This week's Torah Portion is that of Shmot ("These are the names of..."), which is the first portion in the book of Exodus. I feel a heavy feeling in my stomach whenever I think of all the troubles and tribulations we are going to go through in the next few weeks - the slavery, the cruelty of Pharaoh and his servants, the obstacles in the way to freedom, etc. But some good things are also awaiting us: the receiving of the Torah in the Sinai Desert, the manna and the different miracles.
Pharaoh enslaves the Children of Israel and asks Shifra and Puah the midwives to kill every newborn son. They fear G-d more than they fear Pharaoh, and they save the baby boys. When confronted about it by Pharaoh, they manage to go by unhurt. G-d was with them. I think we often find ourselves in such situations, just on a much smaller scales, in our daily lives: we have to decide whether to fear G-d or whether to fear the people around us, their opinions and expectations of us, etc. Whenever we choose G-d over people, G-d chooses us back, supports us and lets us know He is with us. I come in contact with many leftist, liberal, secular people, for whom religious people seem stupid, primitive or even cruel. But they are wrong and I know it, therefore I am not afraid to face them and stand for the truth. The world has lost its values, and if we continue this way, we will fall into anarchy, so it's important to stand for what is right.
Later we hear of Moses for the first time. He is a newly born child and his mother can hide him no longer. She puts him in an ark in the Nile, and the daughter of Pharaoh sees him and takes him in. Moses' sister suggests to her that she will bring her an Israelite woman to nurse him, and Moses is taken to his mother for nursing, but when he is weaned, he is sent to the palace.
He grows up, he sees the suffering of his people, and when he sees an Egyptian man beating a Hebrew man, he kills the Egyptian. I always feel bad when I read this. Moses starts his "career" and adult life when he kills a man. With our modern day sensibilities, this is unbearable. But if I try to compare it to what happens in France, and how when they see a terrorist trying to kill someone they kill him without thinking twice about it, it makes it more understandable.
Moses runs away when he realizes this has become known. He runs away to Midyan and marries Zipporah, the daughter of the Midianite priest. He is a shepherd of their flock. There in Horev one day he sees a supra-natural sight: a bush burning with fire, but not consumed by it. G-d appears to him from the bush stating: "I come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of tha land unto a good land and large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite" (Exodus 3:8). Here the famous equation for Israel is stated again: Land = Redemption, Redemption = Land. G-d sees our suffering, and wants to redeem us. How? By taking us to our land, no matter that it is now populated by the Canaanite nations. The land is not promised to them, but to us.
G-d then tells Moses that He wants him to go to Pharaoh and talk to him and to the Children of Israel. Moses is humble and meek. He is afraid that the people won't believe him. He asks G-d what is His name. G-d says: "Ehyeh asher Ehyeh", or: I am that I am (in the original Hebrew the future tense is used). G-d also says that His ETERNAL name is THE G-D OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB. G-d then gives Moses two signs - his stick becomes a snake and his hand becomes leprous. If these two signs won't be enough for the Israelites to believe Moses, he can also take water from the Nile, pour them on the ground and turn them into blood.
Moses is still not sure. "Oh, Lord, I am not a man of words, neither heretofore, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and of slow tongue" (ibid 4:10). G-d reassures Moses that He will help him, but it's not enough for Moses. G-d is angry with him. He then promises Moses the help of his brother Aharon.
Moses leaves Midyan with his wife and sons. He is commanded by G-d to tell Pharaoh: "Thus said the Lord: Israel is My son, My firstborn" (ibid 22). I think that the fact that we are G-d's first-born children causes much hatred against us throughout the world. People sense it in some subconscious way and resent us, because they are afraid that it means that G-d doesn't love them. But it's not true. G-d loves those who love Him, those who fear Him, those who walk in His ways, no matter which nation they come from. And there are those of the nations who don't suffice with just being loved by G-d. They want to be His first born, and they convert to Judaism. Here is a link to one such story of a Muslim Arab man from the PA who was jailed for murder in an Israeli prison and was exposed to Torah there, and then decided to convert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXCXQb_RQew (in Hebrew, couldn't find it with English subtitles).
Moses does the signs and wonders in front of the Israelites, and they believe him. Moses goes to Pharaoh and tells him the famous words: Let my people go! But Pharaoh doesn't, as G-d had told Moses.
Pharaoh makes things harder for the Israelites as a consequence, and the following verses sound like descriptions of Nazi behavior in the third Reich. He doesn't give them straw to make bricks, yet demands the same amount of bricks as before, and those who don't succeed in achieving this goal are beaten severely. The Egyptians, like the Nazis, appointed Jewish "Kapo"s to force their brethren to work and fulfill the required quotas. The Israelites complain to Moses and Aharon, and Moses complains to G-d. But G-d reassures him.
I feel like we're starting to sink when I read this - to sink into a dark time in our history, until the redemption that came with the actual Exodus finally took place. After this great darkness came a great light - the receiving of Torah and 40 years later the return to our land. And in modern time - after the dark abyss of the Holocaust, the great light of the establishment of the State of Israel came (a huge miracle that we tend to take for granted now) and the miraculous Ingathering of the Exiles, that were prophesied by all the prophets long long ago. Whenever I'm faced with secular arguments against the Torah, I just remind myself that all of us, me and the people around me, are part of a living wonder - the fact that we live here in Israel, after almost 2000 years of violent exile, and more than that - the fact that we are even alive, that we are still a nation. It's nothing but a HUGE, incredible miracle. What other nation survived as a nation without a country or a common language for even 200 years, not to mention 2000 years? and then returned to its land, revived its almost dead language, and all this is accordance with the Biblical prophecies? None. Only Israel, the first born of G-d. Not thanks to us. Thanks to Him.
It's pouring outside. The minimum temperature tonight is going to be 4 degrees (celsius) while the maximum temperature tomorrow daytime is going to be 4 degrees too. So who knows, we might even have snow. So now, a few minutes before I join friends of mine for dinner tonight, it's time to give you the recipe for the wonderful rich winter soup I cooked last week for Shabbat, and which turned out great.
Rich, nutritious Soup for a Winter Shabbat:
In a big pot, put the following ingredients: 2 zucchini (cut to cubes or pieces), a few cloves of garlic, two onions (cut to long pieces), many shallot onions (I love them! but they are not necessary if you don't have them), lots of big, thick mushrooms (cut to pieces), one big sweet-potato (cut to pieces), two or three small-medium size potatoes (cut to cubes), 2 carrots (cut to pieces), 3-4 spoons of brown rice, cubes of fresh beef (try to purchase organic if you have organic beef in your area). Cook everything with water (no need to fry anything, no need to add oil). Add salt, hot paprika, cumin and turmeric to suit your taste.
Serve boiling hot with a side dish of home made Tehini dip. I like to eat soup and throw a spoonful or two of Tehini into my bowl just before I eat it. It makes it thicker and richer, and the tastes blend nicely.
Possible additions for future trials: natural corn seeds, chicken instead of beef, tofu cubes to those who like it, celery and/or other green leaves, etc. I've tried this soup for the first time, so haven't tried all these additions yet. If you try it, let me know how it turned out. Taste it first without the Tehini. Then try to add a small amount of Tehini while serving, just to see if you like this combination.
To make home made Tehini dip:
Buy Sesame paste from a nature store or a supermarket. Fill a regular size soup bowl with sesame paste until it fills one third of the volume of the bowl. Add water to cover the paste in about one centimeter at first, add a little bit of salt, juice from half a lemon or more, then mix it all together. At first it's hard to mix it, but soon it becomes smoother and whiter. Add more water if you need to. Taste and add more lemon or salt if you need. You can make it thick or thin, but better not make it too liquid. Tehini is full of calcium and iron and I eat it almost daily with almost everything - especially potato based dishes and soups. I love the lemony taste of the Tehini and the texture of it.
I have an idea for a totally new soup for this coming Shabbat. If it turns out good, I'll share it here next week.
Shabbat Shalom!
Revital
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Monday, October 5, 2015
The Annual Jerusalem International Parade 2015
What other city in the world has an international parade, with people from all over the world coming to celebrate it, to show love and support for it? Is there a New York Parade with New York loving people coming yearly from all over the world, singing its praise? Or a Berlin Parade? Perhaps a London Parade? No. The Jerusalem International Parade is the only parade in the world to which Israel loving people from all over the world come to show their love and support to this nation.
Watching this parade makes one feel as if it is a scene taken from Isaiah’s End-Time Vision:
Watching this parade makes one feel as if it is a scene taken from Isaiah’s End-Time Vision:
“And it shall come to pass in the end of days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established as the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many peoples shall go and say: 'Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem
Other prophetic verses come to mind too: "Many peoples and mighty nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favour of the Lord. Thus said the Lord of hosts: in those days it shall come to pass that ten men out of all the languages of the nations shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying: We will go with you, for we have heard that G-d is with you" (Zecharia 8:22-23). "And it shall come to pass that every one that is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles" (Zecharia 14:16).
Other prophetic verses come to mind too: "Many peoples and mighty nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favour of the Lord. Thus said the Lord of hosts: in those days it shall come to pass that ten men out of all the languages of the nations shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying: We will go with you, for we have heard that G-d is with you" (Zecharia 8:22-23). "And it shall come to pass that every one that is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles" (Zecharia 14:16).
It happens every year during the Jewish holiday of Succot (tabernacles). The streets of Jerusalem fill-up with tens of thousands of people of all colors, nations and tongues, gathered in the city for the Annual Jerusalem Parade. This year we had around 50,000 people who came from all four corners of the world especially for this parade. Grouped according to their nationality, they paraded the streets of Jerusalem under their countries’ flags, wearing shirts with printed slogans such as “thy people shall be my people, and thy G-d my G-d" (Ruth 1:16), singing songs of love of Jerusalem and of Israel , and voicing their emotional support vocally and enthusiastically.
It was a colorful procession. Flags of great many countries were flown up high coloring the streets of Jerusalem with myriad colors and patterns. They came from countries as far away as Australia , New Zealand , Indonesia, China, South Korea, South Africa , Kongo, South Africa, the Philippines , Brazil , Norway , Finland , Britain , Switzerland , Holland , Argentina, Bolivia, Panama , Canada , the USA and many many more, including a group from EGYPT! Their flags were waved up high and were then given gladly as souvenirs to the Israeli crowds that were standing on the sidelines, cheering with gratitude. Local children collecting dozens of mini flags were seen everywhere excited at the festive international atmosphere and at the handful of exotic colorful souvenirs they were receiving. To the onlooker it seemed as though this extremely varied crowd is united by one emotion: infallible love strengthened by unshakable faith.
Not only tourists from abroad participated in the Parade. Groups of Israelis from different parts of the country, from different walks of life, participated too and enjoyed a day of good sports and high spirit, a day of visiting their capital city and showing their love and support for it and for its residents. Many of them were reserve soldiers of different IDF units; others were from big companies (such as Israel ’s Electricity Company), different banks, the Israeli motorcyclists club, police units.
One of the groups that caught my attention most the first time I watched this parade, as I was standing on the roadside, cheering the paraders along with the crowds, was a group of a few dozen young soldiers dressed in the IDF olive colored uniform, belonging to the Nativ Course of the Jewish Agency and the IDF education corps. This course enables those soldiers who are not Jewish by Halachic (Jewish) Law, to study and learn topics related to Jewish law, to convert to Judaism in the framework of their military service and become Israeli Jews. It was moving to see those young men and women parading proudly in the IDF uniforms and stating their loyalty to this people and to this land.
The Parade itself has a few different courses: a family oriented one and longer ones. The paraders who choose the longer course enjoy a walking tour of the city enlisting a varied assortment of sites laden with historical meaning. Among them throughout the years were the following famous sites:
· The Ammunition Hill on the northern part of town, a site of an important battle during the 1967 Six Day War, serving today as a memorial site.
· Mt. Scopus , where one of the campuses of the Hebrew University is located, as well as the Hadassah Mt. Scopus Hospital Jordan
· The Tzurim Valley National Park at the foothills of Mt. Olives , where a lot of archaeological findings have been found dating as back as the First Temple
· The Valley of Hinnom
· The Sultan’s pool, a dry water reservoir constructed in the 16th century by an Ottoman sultan. It serves today as an arena for musical performances, among other things.
· Mishkenot Sh’ananim, the first Jewish neighborhood built outside the walls of the old city of Jerusalem
· Talabiyeh, one of the most prestigious residential neighborhoods in town hosting the formal presidential and the formal prime minister’s residence.
· Rehavia, a neighborhood designed by the Jewish German architect Richard Kauffman in the spirit of the garden city movement.
· The Valley of the Cross, where the Monastery of the Cross is situated. According to Christian tradition, in that monastery grew the tree from which the Romans made the cross on which Jesus was crucified.
· And finally, the Sacher Park , a green lung in the midst of Jerusalem
After the Sacher Park happening and after enjoying some rest, all participants walked in groups one after the other in a ceremonious parade to the final point of the Jerusalem International Parade. Thousands of locals gathered at the sides of the road, supporting and encouraging the paraders.
As they approach the finish line, the announcer announced ceremoniously each of the many groups that approached the line, which in turn received enthusiastic applause from the crowds gathered at the sides. Hugs given, photographs taken, small flags and other souvenirs given as good will gestures to the locals on the sides, all make the whole parade feel like a very festive and exciting event, a special event, an event that one doesn’t get to experience every day.
Here is a short video showing a glimpse of the parade this year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KcH-L8XKDc
Here is a short video showing a glimpse of the parade this year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KcH-L8XKDc
Jews all over the world used to pray for two millennia during exile L’shanah Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim, for next year in Jerusalem . So let all of us lovers of Jerusalem pray for next year in Jerusalem
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Torah Portion: Nitzavim (Deut. 29:9 - 30:20)
This week's Torah Portion, which will be read this Shabbat in synagogues around the Jewish world is that of Nitzavim. This is one of the four last Portions before the end of the book of Deuteronomy, which is the last book of the Pentateuch (the five books of Moses). When we finish these five books, in about a month from now, we will go back to reading them from the start, from the book of Genesis. Every year we read the entire five books in synagogue, from the Holiday of Simchat Torah of one year till the same holiday of the following year.
Of course, we also read the Prophets. This is done every Shabbat in synagogues after the Torah Reading. There is just so much to say about the Torah portions that I don't write here about the prophet's portions, but it doesn't mean that we don't read them too. The four last Portions of the year are very short, compared to the other ones, but there is so much to say about them.
In our portion, Moses stresses the fact that the covenant that G-d sealed with us on Mt. Sinai is for ALL generations and not with just the people who stood there physically. All of us, including those of us who were not yet born at the time of Mt. Sinai, are obliged by this covenant: "Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, but with him who stands here with us today before the Lord our G-d and also with him who is not here with us today" (Deut. 29: 13-14). The covenant sealed between G-d and the Jewish people (and those of the nations who join them) is for ALL generations and we are all obliged by it.
And if we don't perform our part of the covenant, G-d will not annihilate us altogether and won't break the covenant with us. Instead, He will fulfill the negative side of this covenant, all the threats we read about in last week's portion (and in so many other places throughout the Torah and the Prophets): the exile, the pogroms, the constant fear, the exile from our land, the desolation of our beloved Land. The difference between a covenant and a regular agreement is that agreements can be cancelled and modified, but a covenant with G-d cannot ever change, and whoever says it can change is lying to himself.
When I read the following verses, I think of the condition in which the Land of Israel was until the beginning of the 19th century:
"And the generation to come, your children that shall rise up after you and the foreigner that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick; and the whole land there is brimstone and salt and a burning, that it is not sown, nor bears, nor any grass grows there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah... which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath. And all the nations shall say: why has the Lord done thus to this land? what means the heat of this anger? Then men shall say: 'because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, the G-d of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them forth out of the land of Egypt" (Deut. 29:21-24).
I recommend reading Mark Twain's book, The Innocents Abroad, which was translated to many languages. It is often quoted, and sometimes misquoted. Read for yourself, especially the eleven chapters (chapters 46 to 56) dealing with the Holy Land, and make up your mind. This is Mark Twain's account of his visit to the Holy Land in the middle of the 19th century, not too long ago. In so many places around these chapters he repeats his impressions of how ugly, desolate and cursed the land seemed to him.
I'll quote here just some short quotes out of many, where he describes the land as:
"...sitting in sackcloth and ashes. Over it broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies... It is a hopeless, dreary, heartbroken land, a desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds, a silent, mournful expanse... a desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action... There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of the worthless soil, had almost deserted the country".
Chilling, isn't it? Especially when it is read in conjunction with the verses from Deuteronomy above.
But still, G-d in His infinite mercy, has shown us favor and did an unbelievable miracle of bringing us back to our land, as we can all see today (I'm writing to you from Jerusalem, not from any other country), and as is promised, if we repent and return to our G-d: "then the Lord your G-d will bring back your captivity and have compassion upon you and will return and gather you from all the nations where the Lord your G-d has scattered you. If any of you will be dispersed in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there will the Lord your G-d gather you, and from there He will fetch you. And the Lord your G-d will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it..." (Deut. 30: 3-4). So here I am now, a descendant of my forefathers, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, sitting, as promised, in the Holy Land, in the land of my forefathers, and possessing it, being a sovereign in my land after almost 2000 years of desolation, and with me are Jews from every corner of the world... In Jerusalem you can hear so many languages spoken: English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Amharic, Arabic, what not? Most spoken by people who left their rich diaspora countries and came here, to this little oasis in the desert, surrounded by so many enemy countries. This in itself is a miracle. Whenever I see someone who left the USA or Canada or England or Australia or France to come here, to the Middle East, I know it's a miracle. The hand of G-d is evident in it.
But even now, when the beginning of our redemption has started to manifest, the covenant is obliging, we are obliged to fulfill our part in it:
"If you shall hearken to the voice of the Lord your G-d to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn unto the Lord your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul". (ibid. 10)
And again, as in so many other places around the Torah and Prophets, the connection between our keeping the commandments and sitting in our land is stressed: "...to love the Lord your G-d, to hearken to His voice and to cleave unto Him, for that is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord SWORE to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, to give them" (ibid. 20). Or, to put it simply, we will get to sit in our sworn, promised land only IF we obey G-d's commandments. And this brings me to the beginning of what I wrote today: the covenant is eternal, and is done with all future generations of Jews and those of the nations who join the Jewish covenant with G-d in earnest, to forsake all foreign gods and to observe Shabbat and do all the other commandments.
Those who claim that G-d has forsaken us and broken the covenant with us don't open their eyes to see history in a divine light. Don't they see that all the promises, good and bad, have come true? Why would G-d bother to do it if He has already forsaken us?
I have to bring a quote here from the prophet Amos, describing how the cursed, desolate land, will bring forth its trees and fruit for us when we return to it. And this too has chillingly come true in our days (remember Mark Twain's description of the land, then compare it to what Israel looks like today, 150 years later, and only then read the following verses): "Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills, and I will bring My people Israel back from exile, and they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens and eat their fruit. And I will plant them upon their land and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, says the Lord your G-d" (Amos 9: 13-15).
They shall no more be plucked up out of their land, which I have given them. I hope our loving neighbors on all sides, and the ayatollahs in Iran, hear and understand this. They will understand that there is no point in trying to drive us out of this land, or out of this world.
How could anyone read these verses and not realize what is going on? What else should happen for people to finally open their eyes?
The process of the final redemption has started with us coming back to our land a century ago. It will take a few more years, maybe dozens, maybe hundreds, I don't know how many, but sure enough, the final redemption has already started and its finalization is just around the corner.
To end with a quote from this Shabbat prophet reading, Isaiah: "And they shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, and you (Jerusalem) will be called sought after, the city no longer deserted" (Isaiah 62: 12). This is here and now.
Shabbat shalom! (And see you again Sunday morning, with a post about Rosh Hashana).
Of course, we also read the Prophets. This is done every Shabbat in synagogues after the Torah Reading. There is just so much to say about the Torah portions that I don't write here about the prophet's portions, but it doesn't mean that we don't read them too. The four last Portions of the year are very short, compared to the other ones, but there is so much to say about them.
In our portion, Moses stresses the fact that the covenant that G-d sealed with us on Mt. Sinai is for ALL generations and not with just the people who stood there physically. All of us, including those of us who were not yet born at the time of Mt. Sinai, are obliged by this covenant: "Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, but with him who stands here with us today before the Lord our G-d and also with him who is not here with us today" (Deut. 29: 13-14). The covenant sealed between G-d and the Jewish people (and those of the nations who join them) is for ALL generations and we are all obliged by it.
And if we don't perform our part of the covenant, G-d will not annihilate us altogether and won't break the covenant with us. Instead, He will fulfill the negative side of this covenant, all the threats we read about in last week's portion (and in so many other places throughout the Torah and the Prophets): the exile, the pogroms, the constant fear, the exile from our land, the desolation of our beloved Land. The difference between a covenant and a regular agreement is that agreements can be cancelled and modified, but a covenant with G-d cannot ever change, and whoever says it can change is lying to himself.
When I read the following verses, I think of the condition in which the Land of Israel was until the beginning of the 19th century:
"And the generation to come, your children that shall rise up after you and the foreigner that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick; and the whole land there is brimstone and salt and a burning, that it is not sown, nor bears, nor any grass grows there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah... which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath. And all the nations shall say: why has the Lord done thus to this land? what means the heat of this anger? Then men shall say: 'because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, the G-d of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them forth out of the land of Egypt" (Deut. 29:21-24).
I recommend reading Mark Twain's book, The Innocents Abroad, which was translated to many languages. It is often quoted, and sometimes misquoted. Read for yourself, especially the eleven chapters (chapters 46 to 56) dealing with the Holy Land, and make up your mind. This is Mark Twain's account of his visit to the Holy Land in the middle of the 19th century, not too long ago. In so many places around these chapters he repeats his impressions of how ugly, desolate and cursed the land seemed to him.
I'll quote here just some short quotes out of many, where he describes the land as:
"...sitting in sackcloth and ashes. Over it broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies... It is a hopeless, dreary, heartbroken land, a desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds, a silent, mournful expanse... a desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action... There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of the worthless soil, had almost deserted the country".
Chilling, isn't it? Especially when it is read in conjunction with the verses from Deuteronomy above.
But still, G-d in His infinite mercy, has shown us favor and did an unbelievable miracle of bringing us back to our land, as we can all see today (I'm writing to you from Jerusalem, not from any other country), and as is promised, if we repent and return to our G-d: "then the Lord your G-d will bring back your captivity and have compassion upon you and will return and gather you from all the nations where the Lord your G-d has scattered you. If any of you will be dispersed in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there will the Lord your G-d gather you, and from there He will fetch you. And the Lord your G-d will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it..." (Deut. 30: 3-4). So here I am now, a descendant of my forefathers, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, sitting, as promised, in the Holy Land, in the land of my forefathers, and possessing it, being a sovereign in my land after almost 2000 years of desolation, and with me are Jews from every corner of the world... In Jerusalem you can hear so many languages spoken: English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Amharic, Arabic, what not? Most spoken by people who left their rich diaspora countries and came here, to this little oasis in the desert, surrounded by so many enemy countries. This in itself is a miracle. Whenever I see someone who left the USA or Canada or England or Australia or France to come here, to the Middle East, I know it's a miracle. The hand of G-d is evident in it.
But even now, when the beginning of our redemption has started to manifest, the covenant is obliging, we are obliged to fulfill our part in it:
"If you shall hearken to the voice of the Lord your G-d to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn unto the Lord your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul". (ibid. 10)
And again, as in so many other places around the Torah and Prophets, the connection between our keeping the commandments and sitting in our land is stressed: "...to love the Lord your G-d, to hearken to His voice and to cleave unto Him, for that is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord SWORE to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, to give them" (ibid. 20). Or, to put it simply, we will get to sit in our sworn, promised land only IF we obey G-d's commandments. And this brings me to the beginning of what I wrote today: the covenant is eternal, and is done with all future generations of Jews and those of the nations who join the Jewish covenant with G-d in earnest, to forsake all foreign gods and to observe Shabbat and do all the other commandments.
Those who claim that G-d has forsaken us and broken the covenant with us don't open their eyes to see history in a divine light. Don't they see that all the promises, good and bad, have come true? Why would G-d bother to do it if He has already forsaken us?
I have to bring a quote here from the prophet Amos, describing how the cursed, desolate land, will bring forth its trees and fruit for us when we return to it. And this too has chillingly come true in our days (remember Mark Twain's description of the land, then compare it to what Israel looks like today, 150 years later, and only then read the following verses): "Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills, and I will bring My people Israel back from exile, and they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens and eat their fruit. And I will plant them upon their land and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, says the Lord your G-d" (Amos 9: 13-15).
They shall no more be plucked up out of their land, which I have given them. I hope our loving neighbors on all sides, and the ayatollahs in Iran, hear and understand this. They will understand that there is no point in trying to drive us out of this land, or out of this world.
How could anyone read these verses and not realize what is going on? What else should happen for people to finally open their eyes?
The process of the final redemption has started with us coming back to our land a century ago. It will take a few more years, maybe dozens, maybe hundreds, I don't know how many, but sure enough, the final redemption has already started and its finalization is just around the corner.
To end with a quote from this Shabbat prophet reading, Isaiah: "And they shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, and you (Jerusalem) will be called sought after, the city no longer deserted" (Isaiah 62: 12). This is here and now.
Shabbat shalom! (And see you again Sunday morning, with a post about Rosh Hashana).
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Torah Portion of the Week
What is Torah Portion of the week?
Torah is the word denoting the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, the books attributed to Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The word Torah means teachings and it refers also to the myriad laws in Jewish Halachah (Law), which are rabbinical interpretations of the five books of Moses and of other rabbinic sources.
The Torah is believed by people of faith to be the Word of G-d, given to mankind through the Israelites by G-d’s servant, Moses. The core essence of the Jewish people revolves around the Torah. In it Israel’s ancient history is outlined: the covenant between G-d and the descendants of Jacob (later named Israel); the exodus from Egypt; the pledge of the Promised Land and the settling of that land; the outlining of the commandments for Israel and for all of mankind to follow, etc.
In fact, it is by the Torah that the Jewish People is defined as a nation. It is probably the only nation in the world that its nationhood is based on its faith (for other nations, it is their geographic location, their language, their ethnicity and shared history and culture, but not their faith; many nations are Christian, but this is not what defines the Swedish people as Swedish or the French people as French).
Even secular Jews in Israel find that their life is affected tremendously by these scriptures, written thousands of years ago. Baby boys at the age of eight days go through a brith – the ritual circumcision, a continuation of a custom from the days of Abraham, whether they are born to secular people or religious ones; adults and kids have the Sabbath day (Saturday) as a day off work or school, even if some don't observe it religiously; everybody celebrates the Jewish holidays with their families in the biblically prescribed time and manner and many people keep Kosher by eating only foods that are permitted in the Torah.
The Torah is the beginning, the foundation of the people of Israel. Despite almost two thousand years of exile and dispersion among the nations (more often than not accompanied by harsh persecution and discriminatory legislature against them), the Jews have managed to preserve their nationhood and faith. Jews in places as remote as Yemen, Persia, North Africa, Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, etc., have all kept their core identity as the Jewish people, as Israel, intact.
Differences in looks, race, color, language and culture abound among the different exiles, with black Jews in Ethiopia, white Jews in Russia, brown/yellow Jews in the Middle East, etc. On the surface, it looks like they couldn’t possibly be ethnically related, but in fact, what they have in common is their Torah based faith and the shared fate that results from it.
It is often said that more than the Jews have kept the Torah, the Torah has kept the Jews. By adhering to the Torah, the founding document of their nationhood, the Jews have been able to keep their identity as a nation and survive everything that has come their way.
In the days of the Assyrian exile, the first major exile the Israelites have experienced, the sacred text was long forgotten and life in exile became devoid of Torah. It might well be because of this detachment from their founding faith that the ten lost tribes of Israel assimilated into the gentiles around them into oblivion. Their biological genes are still in this world, to be sure, but no one knows who their descendants are today.
The remaining tribes, those of Judea and parts of Benjamin and Levy (and a few from every tribe who joined them in faith) survived with their ethnic and religious identity intact and are the Jews of today (the word Jew comes from the word Judea, the main tribe that has survived). Their leaders, Ezra and Nehemia, two scribes, decided to enact a custom by which each week on Shabbat, the Sabbath day, a consecutive portion of the Torah is read in congregation.
To do that, our sages divided the five books of Moses to 54 portions, two more than the 52 weeks in a given year, so that the whole five books are read from beginning to end every year (some weeks two portions are read on the same Sabbath day). This custom continues to our day, and the beauty of it is that in every synagogue around the world, be it orthodox, reform, conservative or other, everyone reads the exact same portion, learns and discusses it in depth.
The circle of reading the Torah starts in the fall, after the holidays of Sukkot (Tabernacles) and Simchat Torah (the Joy of Torah). Each of the 54 portions is named after the first word or phrase appearing in it.
In this weekly blog we will discuss each torah portion in its respective week, the week it is read in synagogues around the world. After 52 blog entries, we will finish a full circle of Torah portions, on Simchat Torah of next year. So if you are in for the ride, you are very welcome to join me.
Torah is the word denoting the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, the books attributed to Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The word Torah means teachings and it refers also to the myriad laws in Jewish Halachah (Law), which are rabbinical interpretations of the five books of Moses and of other rabbinic sources.
The Torah is believed by people of faith to be the Word of G-d, given to mankind through the Israelites by G-d’s servant, Moses. The core essence of the Jewish people revolves around the Torah. In it Israel’s ancient history is outlined: the covenant between G-d and the descendants of Jacob (later named Israel); the exodus from Egypt; the pledge of the Promised Land and the settling of that land; the outlining of the commandments for Israel and for all of mankind to follow, etc.
In fact, it is by the Torah that the Jewish People is defined as a nation. It is probably the only nation in the world that its nationhood is based on its faith (for other nations, it is their geographic location, their language, their ethnicity and shared history and culture, but not their faith; many nations are Christian, but this is not what defines the Swedish people as Swedish or the French people as French).
Even secular Jews in Israel find that their life is affected tremendously by these scriptures, written thousands of years ago. Baby boys at the age of eight days go through a brith – the ritual circumcision, a continuation of a custom from the days of Abraham, whether they are born to secular people or religious ones; adults and kids have the Sabbath day (Saturday) as a day off work or school, even if some don't observe it religiously; everybody celebrates the Jewish holidays with their families in the biblically prescribed time and manner and many people keep Kosher by eating only foods that are permitted in the Torah.
The Torah is the beginning, the foundation of the people of Israel. Despite almost two thousand years of exile and dispersion among the nations (more often than not accompanied by harsh persecution and discriminatory legislature against them), the Jews have managed to preserve their nationhood and faith. Jews in places as remote as Yemen, Persia, North Africa, Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, etc., have all kept their core identity as the Jewish people, as Israel, intact.
Differences in looks, race, color, language and culture abound among the different exiles, with black Jews in Ethiopia, white Jews in Russia, brown/yellow Jews in the Middle East, etc. On the surface, it looks like they couldn’t possibly be ethnically related, but in fact, what they have in common is their Torah based faith and the shared fate that results from it.
It is often said that more than the Jews have kept the Torah, the Torah has kept the Jews. By adhering to the Torah, the founding document of their nationhood, the Jews have been able to keep their identity as a nation and survive everything that has come their way.
In the days of the Assyrian exile, the first major exile the Israelites have experienced, the sacred text was long forgotten and life in exile became devoid of Torah. It might well be because of this detachment from their founding faith that the ten lost tribes of Israel assimilated into the gentiles around them into oblivion. Their biological genes are still in this world, to be sure, but no one knows who their descendants are today.
The remaining tribes, those of Judea and parts of Benjamin and Levy (and a few from every tribe who joined them in faith) survived with their ethnic and religious identity intact and are the Jews of today (the word Jew comes from the word Judea, the main tribe that has survived). Their leaders, Ezra and Nehemia, two scribes, decided to enact a custom by which each week on Shabbat, the Sabbath day, a consecutive portion of the Torah is read in congregation.
To do that, our sages divided the five books of Moses to 54 portions, two more than the 52 weeks in a given year, so that the whole five books are read from beginning to end every year (some weeks two portions are read on the same Sabbath day). This custom continues to our day, and the beauty of it is that in every synagogue around the world, be it orthodox, reform, conservative or other, everyone reads the exact same portion, learns and discusses it in depth.
The circle of reading the Torah starts in the fall, after the holidays of Sukkot (Tabernacles) and Simchat Torah (the Joy of Torah). Each of the 54 portions is named after the first word or phrase appearing in it.
In this weekly blog we will discuss each torah portion in its respective week, the week it is read in synagogues around the world. After 52 blog entries, we will finish a full circle of Torah portions, on Simchat Torah of next year. So if you are in for the ride, you are very welcome to join me.
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