Latest news on : Jerusalem Diaries:In Tense Times

 

Wikio alerts   Anti-Freeze.... Tens of thousands gathered in central Jerusalem tonight for a rousing start to the anti-freeze movement. Almost everyone there was from the national religious camp and those of us who've been around for a while experienced a quiet sense of deja vu..Still, some of the newer leaders from different communities in Judea and Samaria took to the podium as well as new MKs like the popular Tzipi Hotovely. Best sign of the demo: Most Paranoid pre-demo info: Came from the American Consulate in Jerusalem, which disseminated the following message to US citizens in Jerusalem this morning: According to police reports, 10,000 to 15,000 people are expected to participate in a demonstration in West Jerusalem on Wednesday, December 9, between 6:30 P.M. and 10:30 P.M. in support of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The Consulate General is directing its staff to avoid the demonstration and any gatherings related to it and recommends the same precautions for U.S. citizens residing in or visiting Jerusalem. We remind U.S. citizens that even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence. U.S. citizens are therefore urged to avoid the areas of demonstrations if possible and to exercise caution if within the vicinity of any demonstrations. U.S. citizens should stay current with media coverage of local events and be aware of their surroundings at all times. Site Feed Find all these articles and much more on Wikio, your news portal  !

Aish.com Daily - Kislev 16

 

16 Kislev 5770 / December 3, 2009 Torah Reading: Vayishlach

• DAILY LIFT
• TODAY IN JEWISH HISTORY
• GROWING EACH DAY

#727   Just Do It

There are many things that we should do, but we procrastinate. We delay taking action. Doing nothing is often much easier then taking action. What can you say to get yourself moving? You can say, "Just do it."

Sometimes we really have a good reason or reasons for hesitating. Deep down we may feel that it's better for us not to take the action we're postponing. But we aren't yet clear about the entire matter. If you have an intuitive feeling that it might be unwise to take action, then wait. Think it over some more. Consult others.

But when you know that you or others will benefit if you take action and you don't have a valid reason for procrastinating, tell yourself, "Just do it."

(from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin's book: "Conversations With Yourself", p.141) [Artscroll.com])

See Rabbi Pliskin's new book "Life Is Now"

16 Kislev

In 1946, the 22nd World Zionist Congress met in Basle, Switzerland. In the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust, Zionist leaders had lost all patience with British stonewalling about the creation of a Jewish state. Thus the Zionists decided to forcibly resist British policy, and Jewish underground movements redoubled their campaign to damage British installations such as rail lines, police stations and army bases. In one night in 1946, Ben Gurion's Hagana blew up 12 critical bridges. The efforts were largely successful, and by 1947 Britain declared its intention to withdraw, thus leading to the UN Partition Plan of November 1947.

16 Kislev

A smooth mouth makes for a slippery course (Proverbs 26:28).

The ethical Torah writings such as the Book of Proverbs vehemently condemn flattering people to obtain their favor. When we do so, we may not care whether the object of our praise deserves it. Praising people who do not merit it has at least two harmful effects. First, it reinforces that person's behavior. Second, it delivers a dangerous message, particularly to young people who like to emulate recipients of honor.

We should instead rebuke wrongdoers, and if we cannot reprimand them, we can at least refrain from praising them.

The key is to avoid becoming dependent on those whom we do not respect. We should not seek any prestige they can offer, nor place our livelihood in their hands. Flattery may cause us to compromise ourselves, reinforce wrong behavior, and teach our children that we respect wrongdoing.

Furthermore, we gain nothing from our sycophancy. The Sages observed that those who flatter to obtain favors may end up disgraced (Avos De'R' Nosson 29:4).

Today I shall ...
... try to avoid giving false praise to those who do not deserve it. I will not allow ulterior motives to compromise my principles.


See more books by Rabbi Abraham Twerski at Artscroll.com
 

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Aish.com: Jewish History Series (Part 3 of 68) -The World of Abraham

	http://www.aish.com/literacy/jewishhistory/Crash_Course_in_Jewish_History_Part_3_The_World_of_Abraham.asp

Jewish History Series (Part 3 of 68)
The World of Abraham
by Rabbi Ken Spiro
By understanding the character of Abraham, the "proto-Jew", one can understand what Jews are all about.

Jewish history doesn't happen in a vacuum. No people's history happens in a vacuum. So first we have to zoom out and get a little understanding of where Abraham fits in the world of his time.

Abraham appears at a period of time called the Middle Bronze period, around the 18^th century BCE. (Early civilization is characterized by the metals they predominantly used and the Middle Bronze period includes the period of time from 2200 BCE until 1550 BCE.)

Whereas most anthropologists believe that hominids, forerunners of human beings physically, originated in Africa, human civilization begins in the Middle East in the Fertile Crescent, which is where Abraham was born.

When we say civilization, we are talking about sophisticated arrangements of people living together, not just simple agrarian settlements, not just a few people living in a few huts. About 5,500 years ago in the Middle East, there occurred an evolution of humanity from hunter/gatherers -- people who spend their whole day looking for food -- to people who were able to domesticate livestock. This meant they could raise animals to eat them or to use them for their milk and their hides, and to plow the land to grow crops.

Once this occurred, there was a surplus of food, which led to population growth and people started specializing in types of labor -- you had craftsmen, scholars, priests and warriors. That, in turn, led to the growth of cities.

The earliest civilizations in the world, according to most opinions, began in the area called the Fertile Crescent.

THE FERTILE CRESCENT

The Fertile Crescent encompasses the area flowed by the Nile in Egypt, the Levant (the middle section where Israel is located), and the area flowed by the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers.

The three great rivers contribute mightily to the fertility, and consequent desirability, of this area. The Nile is an incredible river, the largest river in the world. Without the Nile, Egypt would be a desert. In ancient times, 3% of Egypt was arable land, 97% was desert. Also the Euphrates and the Tigris Rivers are two tremendous rivers; they run through what is today basically Iraq and into Turkey, but what historians have dubbed Mesopotamia, which is Greek for "in the middle of two rivers."

There is some debate whether the first civilization sprang up in Egypt or in Mesopotamia (specifically in the section of Mesopotamia called Sumer) but we can be fairly sure that the first hallmark of civilization -- writing -- originated in the Fertile Crescent.

Writing was a tremendous invention though we take it for granted today. It began with pictographs. You drew a stick figure and that stood for "man." Later those pictures evolved into more abstract symbols which stood for phonetic sounds, until eventually there came about a system of three "letters," each representing a sound and combining together to make a word that conveyed an idea. (To this day, Hebrew is based on a three-consonant root system.)

Writing was the single greatest human invention. All the technology of today depends on the collective accumulation of accurately transmitted information, which now comes so fast we can't keep up with it.

"A SPEAKING SOUL"

From the Jewish perspective the ability to express oneself -- whether through writing or speech -- personifies what human beings are all about. We learn that when God created the first human being -- Adam -- He "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7) The Hebrew phrase l'nefesh chayah, "living soul," can also be translated as "a speaking soul." (Targum Onkelos)

Of the two earliest civilizations that developed, Egypt is unusual because it's surrounded by desert and so it is virtually unapproachable. Egypt as a civilization survived for close to 3,000 years. This is an incredibly long period of time for civilization to survive. Why did Egypt survive for so long? Because no-one could invade it. It took the Greeks -- specifically Alexander, the Great -- to finish Egypt off, and then it becomes a Greek colony.

Mesopotamia had no such natural defenses. It was a giant flood plain sitting in the middle of the great migration pattern of all ancient peoples. Whatever conqueror came out of Asia or out of Europe set foot here. It had no natural defenses -- no mountains, no deserts -- and it was a very desirable fertile land.

We see the land changing hands many times and a huge number of civilizations in this part of the world -- Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans and then, of course, the Islamic invaders.

AT THE CROSSROADS

In this tumultuous place is where Jewish history begins -- at the bottom of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, in the cradle of civilization. This was the logical place for civilization to begin in terms of the development of agriculture and culture. And it's also a logical place for Abraham to appear, because if Abraham is going to affect the world, he has to be at the crossroads of the ancient migration pathways. If he were born an Eskimo or an American Indian, all of human history would have been different.

But Abraham was born in Mesopotamia, in particular in a bustling place called Ur Kasdim, or Ur of the Chaldees, which has been excavated by archeologists in today's Iraq.

This was then the center of earliest human civilization, a cosmopolitan center. And it is from here that Abraham's journey begins.

NEXT: ABRAHAM'S JOURNEY

Author Biography:
Rabbi Ken Spiro is originally from New Rochelle, NY. He graduated from Vassar College with a BAin Russian Language and Literature and didgraduate studies at the Pushkin Institute inMoscow. He has Rabbinical ordination fromYeshiva Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem and a Masters Degree in History from The Vermont College of Norwich University. Rabbi Spiro is also a licensed tour guide by the Israel Ministry of Tourism. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife and five children where he works as a senior lecturer and researcher on Aish HaTorah outreach programs.

ORDER KEN SPIRO'S BOOK
"WORLDPERFECT: THE JEWISH IMPACT ON CIVILIZATION"

What it would take to constitute a perfect world? Ken Spiro questioned more than 1,500 people of various backgrounds, revealing six core elements: respect for human life; peace and harmony; justice and equality; education; family; and, social responsibility. A highly readable and well-documented book about the origins of values and virtues in Western civilization as influenced by the Greeks, Romans, Christians, Muslims and, most significantly, the Jews.




"This is a book that everyone in the world should read"
Kirk Douglas-Actor and author

---

This article can also be read at:http://www.aish.com/literacy/jewishhistory/Crash_Course_in_Jewish_History_Part_3_The_World_of_Abraham.asp

Like the Jewish History Series? As a non-profit organization, Aish.com relies on readers like you to enable us to provide meaningful and relevant articles. Join Aish.com and help us continue to give daily inspiration to people like you around the world. Make a secure donation at: http://www.aish.com/membership or mail a check to Aish.com, 400 South Lake Drive, Lakewood, NJ 08701

What do you think of this email? Help us make these personalized newsletters — and our site — better. Send us your questions and comments to tellus@aish.com. • Ifyou have any questions or suggestions, email to: tellus@aish.com. Aish.com Aish.com One Western Wall Plaza PO Box 14149 Jerusalem 91141 Israel Tel - 972-2-628-5666 Fax - 972-2-627-3172 © 2009 Aish.com

Aish.com: Kabbala Series (Part 3 of 24) - The Ten Sefirot

	http://www.aish.com/spirituality/kabbala101/Kabbala_3_-_The_Ten_Sefirot.asp

Kabbala Series (Part 3 of 24)
The Ten Sefirot
by Rabbi Shimon Leiberman
A Kabbalistic concept explaining the multiplicity of God's manifestations in the world helps us see how God is truly One.

The building blocks of Kabbalistic terminology are the Ten Sefirot. These are the ten emanations or "lights" through which God interacts with, and relates to, His world.

When Kabbalah looks at various events that have transpired in the world, or various Divine commandments in the Torah, it classifies and describes them in terms of these various modes of interaction.

Before we describe these Ten Sefirot and their use, we must deal with a fundamental problem.

ONENESS OF GOD VS. THE TEN SEFIROT

Judaism has placed at its masthead the principle of the Oneness of God.

A Jew proclaims twice a day, "Hear, O Israel, God is our Lord, God is One."

When we speak of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives on behalf of the Almighty -- especially those who were being forced to convert to Christianity -- we speak of people who were martyred on behalf of God's unity.

How do we now dilute this most important of beliefs with the idea of "Ten Emanations" that seems to imply God is more than one?

This question was posed to the Rivash (14th century): "Do you Kabbalists not also believe in many Gods, as you postulate the Ten Sefirot?" We will paraphrase his reply.

God's unity vis-a-vis the Ten Sefirot may be likened to a ray of sun passing through a prism. On one side, we have a single ray of light, while, on the other side, we perceive a radiation of seven colors. The person sitting on the other side perceives this as if it were many lamps radiating many hues, while in reality it is one lamp. The multi-hued rainbow is a "distortion" created by the prism that the light passed through.

Let us be a little more specific in this illustration of "Ten" versus "One" as regards Divine interaction with the world.

Imagine a child who hugs his mother, beats up his brother and cheats on a test. For the layman each one of these behaviors is a separate event, which has its own rational and dynamic. However, the professional psychologist looks at all these events and after analyzing them states, "These are all symptoms of one underlying problem. The child desires his mother's love and attention. He therefore hugs her, hits his younger brother who is stealing away so much of her attention, and cheats on his test so that he will be showered with her love and attention for having done well." Thus a whole slew of events -- some of them entirely contradictory -- takes on a unified meaning.

THE APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS

This is true of our understanding of God's interaction with mankind. We perceive such a wide variety of events, so overwhelmingly diffuse and so oddly contradictory.

There is the God Who breathes a breath of life into a newborn baby's mouth, and extracts the last labored breath of a dying man. There is the God Who has wrought the Holocaust, and the God Who has preserved a tiny, fragile Jewish nation for over three millennium. There is the God Who gives some people beautiful bodies, and the God Who seemingly condemns the congenitally defective to a lifetime of suffering.

From our side of the prism, each and every one of these events is disparate. Yet we recognize them as being the work of One God, with one purpose, with unified plan of action for the world.

Thus the Ten Sefirot are the various ways we perceive God through His action within the world, while we firmly believe in the Unity of God.

The following is a literal translation of these ten modes. It is advised that not much be read into these terms, since most of them are highly metaphorical and their content bears little resemblance to their literal terms. We will explore their meaning in upcoming articles.

The Ten Sefirot are:

Keter - crown,
Chochmah - wisdom,
Binah - understanding,
Chessed - kindness,
Gevura - strength,
Tiferet - beauty,
Netzach - victory,
Hod - awe,
Yesod - foundation,
Malchut - monarchy.
Sometimes the Sefirot are listed without Keter, and then Da'at -wisdom, is included between Bina and Chesed.

---

This article can also be read at:http://www.aish.com/spirituality/kabbala101/Kabbala_3_-_The_Ten_Sefirot.asp

Like the Kabbala Series? As a non-profit organization, Aish.com relies on readers like you to enable us to provide meaningful and relevant articles. Join Aish.com and help us continue to give daily inspiration to people like you around the world. Make a secure donation at: http://www.aish.com/membership or mail a check to Aish.com, 400 South Lake Drive, Lakewood, NJ 08701

What do you think of this email? Help us make these personalized newsletters — and our site — better. Send us your questions and comments to tellus@aish.com.   • Ifyou have any questions or suggestions, email to: tellus@aish.com. Aish.com Aish.com One Western Wall Plaza PO Box 14149 Jerusalem 91141 Israel Tel - 972-2-628-5666 Fax - 972-2-627-3172 © 2009 Aish.com

Aish.com: Jewish History Series (Part 2 of 68) The Bible as History

	http://www.aish.com/literacy/jewishhistory/Crash_Course_in_Jewish_History_Part_2_The_Bible_as_History.asp

Jewish History Series (Part 2 of 68)
The Bible as History
by Rabbi Ken Spiro
An enormous amount of information in the Bible has been borne out by archeology. There is not much direct evidence, but there is a huge amount of indirect or circumstantial evidence.

We assume that people throughout human history always studied history, but that's not true. As a matter of fact, if you go back more than a couple of thousand years you'll find people had no interest in history. The first historian in the West is Herodotus, a Greek who lived in the 5^th century BCE. And he's given the title: Father of History.

Columbia University historian, Joseph Yerushalmi, who wrote an excellent, highly-praised book called Zahor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory, says that "If Herodotus was the father of history, the father of meaning in history was the Jews."

This is a profound idea.

First, not only were Jews recording history well before Herodotus, but while Herodotus might record the events, the Jews were looking at the deeper meaning, and that deeper meaning can be found most importantly and most significantly within the Bible itself.

The first of these stories that we will examine in the future installments of this series pre-dates Herodotus by about 1,300 years. It is the story of Abraham and it is takes place around the 18^th century BCE, or 3,700 years ago.

Now don't make the mistake of thinking the Bible is a history book. For example, Abraham, when he appears in the Book of Genesis is already 75 years old. He's one of the most significant figures in Jewish history and the Torah doesn't tell us about him as a child or as a young adult -- we pick up his story when he is an old man already.

The Bible is not concerned with giving us all the details of Abraham's life. It is interested only in history as a means of teaching us the important lessons of life -- it's a book of theology in Jewish worldview first and foremost. Therefore, it focuses on the basic information that we need to know.

HOW ACCURATE IS THE BIBLE?

An article was published recently in the Israeli newspaper Ha'Aretz, smashing the Bible, and in the same week, an article was published in US News and World Report -- a cover story, no less -- supporting the accuracy of the Bible vis-a-vis archeology.

Why such diametrically opposed views? Because archeology is a very complicated field. So a few words of caution are in order.

The definition of archeology is "the discovery and interpretation of the physical remains of previous civilizations and peoples." Note that within the definition of archeology is the word "interpretation". How one archeologist interprets the meaning of a particular find can be very different from how another archeologist interprets the meaning of the same find.

Archeology is not a hard science. When an archeologist finds a piece of rock, a vessel, or a piece of a building, he tries to decide what it means. The find has no label on it, unless it's a written document, and even written documents are open to interpretation.

So when people make definitive statements about what archeology does or doesn't say, you have to be very careful, because the bias of the archeologist affects how he interprets the information.

As the early books of the Bible are concerned, there is little direct evidence for the characters in the Bible. There is, however, a huge amount of indirect or circumstantial evidence -- names, places, business contracts, marriage contracts, migratory patterns. An enormous amount of information in the Bible has been borne out by archeology.

That is as far as the early books of the Bible are concerned, but once we get to later books, like the Book of Kings, for example, there is excellent direct evidence, written records of other emperors, etc. But the early events exist more or less in a historical vacuum and, unfortunately also in an archeological vacuum.

Keep in mind that the same thing that applies in a court of law applies to archeology: Lack of evidence is no evidence of lack. The fact that I haven't found Abraham's camel saddle doesn't mean Abraham didn't have a camel or a saddle. And, indeed, there is a huge amount of circumstantial evidence supporting the basic historicity of the Bible.

Archeology doesn't definitively prove the Bible, and it certainly doesn't discredit it. In fact the more we find, the more we see that there's a tremendous amount of historicity in the text.

In summary, the Bible is not a book of history, yet it contains history and culture, which is more or less borne out by archeology. It's a book of teachings, and it's the ideal way to learn the patterns of history. And if we understand that the reason why we're learning history is to learn lessons, then we have to pay extra special attention to what is going on in the Bible.

PATTERNS IN JEWISH HISTORY

The actions of the fathers are assigned to the children. (Nachmanides)

This is a very famous Jewish saying and Nachmanides was not the only one to say it. What does it mean?

On the microcosmic level, within the stories of Genesis in the Bible, we're going to see that what happens to the ancients will be repeated by their children.

On a macrocosmic level, the personalities and interactions of the early forefathers -- the patriarchs and matriarchs -- are going to be a model for all of Jewish history, and all of human history. This is why we have to pay extra special attention to what's going on at this early phase of the Bible, because here is where the patterns are set.

Additionally, we must remember that the Jewish people are arguably the oldest surviving people on the Planet Earth, and because they have been spread out throughout the world, when we learn Jewish history we have to pay attention to all of human history. It's a great framework. To understand Jewish history means to build a great deal of general knowledge of the history of the world at large.

We can't appreciate Jewish history (or the history of any people for that matter) without understanding the larger context in which it takes place.

In the next installment we are going to zoom out and take a macro look at the world into which the first Jew, Abraham, was born.

NEXT: THE WORLD OF ABRAHAM

Author Biography:
Rabbi Ken Spiro is originally from New Rochelle,NY. He graduated from Vassar College with a BAin Russian Language and Literature and didgraduate studies at the Pushkin Institute inMoscow. He has Rabbinical ordination fromYeshiva Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem and a Masters Degree in History from The Vermont College of Norwich University. Rabbi Spiro is also a licensed tour guide by the Israel Ministry of Tourism. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife and five children where he works as a senior lecturer and researcher on Aish HaTorah outreach programs.

ORDER KEN SPIRO'S BOOK
"WORLDPERFECT: THE JEWISH IMPACT ON CIVILIZATION"

What it would take to constitute a perfect world? Ken Spiro questioned more than 1,500 people of various backgrounds, revealing six core elements: respect for human life; peace and harmony; justice and equality; education; family; and, social responsibility. A highly readable and well-documented book about the origins of values and virtues in Western civilization as influenced by the Greeks, Romans, Christians, Muslims and, most significantly, the Jews.





"This is a book that everyone in the world should read"
Kirk Douglas-Actor and author

---

This article can also be read at:http://www.aish.com/literacy/jewishhistory/Crash_Course_in_Jewish_History_Part_2_The_Bible_as_History.asp

Like the Jewish History Series? As a non-profit organization, Aish.com relies on readers like you to enable us to provide meaningful and relevant articles. Join Aish.com and help us continue to give daily inspiration to people like you around the world. Make a secure donation at: http://www.aish.com/membership or mail a check to Aish.com, 400 South Lake Drive, Lakewood, NJ 08701

• Ifyou have any questions or suggestions, email to: tellus@aish.com. Aish.com Aish.com One Western Wall Plaza PO Box 14149 Jerusalem 91141 Israel Tel - 972-2-628-5666 Fax - 972-2-627-3172 © 2009 Aish.com

Aish.comSpirituality - The Jew from Kuwait

I had missed passing this on but believe it is well worth the read. There are some eye opening things here as well as lessons to learn.

B'H that I should ever judge so harsh again.

Casey

See this article online: http://www.aish.com/sp/so/70138567.html

$artAuthor

My Muslim background left me unprepared for this shocking discovery.

Growing up in Kuwait, I had the best of everything. My father owned a successful construction company, and provided us five children with amenities like piano lessons, swimming, calligraphy and trips all over the world. Although we were Muslims like everyone else, we were totally secular and my father always aimed to shield us from religious people whom he described as crazies.
I grew up being told that Israelis and Jews were the lowest type of creature in existence, put on Earth only to kill us Arabs. In math class the teacher would say, "If one rocket killed X number of Jews, how many would six rockets kill?"
My father was rabidly anti-Israel. He was a product of Nasser's school of thought: secular from a Muslim point of view, yet deeply dedicated to the idea of pan-Arab unity. Israel, he believed, was an American proxy in the post-colonial Middle East.
My father was a supporter of the PLO since the 1960s when Yasser Arafat (who founded the PLO while living in Kuwait) was raising money from wealthy Palestinians working in Gulf States. As an engineer, my father participated in a program where the engineering association in Kuwait would deduct money from his monthly salary to be sent directly to the PLO. He insisted that war and resistance was the only way to deal with Israel.
In the summer of 1990, when I was 12 years old, our lives changed completely. We were on vacation when Saddam Hussein invaded and annexed Kuwait. My father's business -- along with much of the country -- was ravaged. Our savings became worthless pieces of paper. We could not go back to Kuwait, so we immigrated to Canada. My father did manage to sneak back in for a few days to retrieve important business documents that would later be useful in recovering compensation from a United Nations fund.
Praying in the Dark
Of my family, I'm the only one who stayed in Canada. My father never really adjusted to life in the New World, and he had good business contacts back in Jordan, so my parents returned there. All my siblings also moved back to the Middle East. One brother runs a successful company in Jordan, two brothers are studying in Egypt (one dentistry and the other business), and my sister lives in Dubai where she works in the banking industry.
One evening in 2003, I was studying at the university library in London, Ontario, when I happened to notice an older man. From his chassidic garb, he looked like a religious Jew. My curiosity was aroused, so I approached him and asked, "Are you Jewish?"
With a gentle smile on his face, he said, "No, but I like to dress this way." I didn't know whether he was joking or not. All the religious people I had come across in the past were pretty scary. Are Jews supposed to be funny?
His name was Dr. Yitzhak Block, a retired professor of philosophy. We exchanged a few words and then he asked about my background. My family history is pretty complex, and I get a headache every time I have to explain it all. So I simply told him that I'm an Arab from Kuwait, and mentioned that my grandmother from my mother's side is Jewish.
My mother's parents met in Jerusalem when my grandfather, an Arab from the West Bank, was serving in the Jordanian army fighting the Zionists. He was 18 years old and my grandmother was 16. Her father ran a school in Jerusalem -- the same school where she would jump off the wall to meet my handsome, uniformed grandfather. They fell in love, got married, and lived for a number of years in Shechem (Nablus).
After my grandfather was discharged from the Jordanian army, the family moved to Kuwait, where oil profits were fueling huge business and construction projects. That's where my mother met my father and got married.

Knowing about my grandmother's Jewish background always made me curious about Jews. Whenever we were on vacation in Amman, Jordan, I used to constantly watch the Israeli channel -- when my parents weren't around. My favorite was the Israeli national anthem, and I would stay up late waiting to hear them play it at the end of the TV transmission.
Standing there in the university library, this religious Jew, Dr. Block, looked at me and said, "In Muslim law, you're considered Muslim, since the religion goes by the father. But according to Jewish law, you're Jewish, since Jewish identity is transmitted by the mother."
My head started to spin and memories of my childhood in Kuwait began to surface. I recalled how my grandmother had a funny name on her documents, Mizrachi, which I never heard before. She also had a small prayer book with Hebrew letters, and she prayed in the dark crying. (I thought the Wailing Wall was so named because crying was a part of prayer.)
Aside from a vague family legend, my grandmother never mentioned anything about being Jewish -- but now the pieces were fitting into place. I thanked Dr. Block for the conversation, and ran home to tell my roommate what I heard. He smiled and said, "So you're a Mus-Jew!" I was not amused.
I went to my room and called my mother. She rebuffed the story, saying, "Don't listen to people like that. We are Muslims and that's that."
I decided to call my grandmother myself and bring up the subject.
I beat around the bush a bit -- after all, she'd been denying it for the past 50 years -- and then finally blurted out, "Grandma, are you Jewish?"
She didn't answer the question directly, but she started crying and spoke about the years of Arab-Israeli conflict. She told me how her brother Zaki had been killed in Jerusalem before the rebirth of the State. To me that was sufficient confirmation of her Jewishness and I decided to leave it at that.
Over the next few months, I avoided the whole issue of Judaism, mainly for the sake of not upsetting my mother. Besides, I was just finishing university, and career was my main priority. I was content with telling myself that I belonged to a mixed-faith family.
Streaming Tears
About a year later, I was rollerblading one day in my neighborhood when I took a hard fall and badly sprained my wrist. The road was smooth so I couldn't figure out why I had fallen. I couldn't stop thinking that it seemed like a push from Above. These thoughts caught me by surprise, since I wasn't into spirituality and I never had any religious connection. I was a bodybuilder, had tons of friends, and was on the heels of a successful career as a foreign exchange trader. So why had this happened?
Because my wrist was heavily bandaged, I was forced to take off work for a few days. Dr. Block had mentioned the name of his synagogue, so that Saturday morning, I decided to go check out the scene. I was hesitant at the thought of everyone being from European background and me the only Middle Easterner, but I decided to go anyway.
I called a cab and got dropped off at the synagogue. As I walked in, the first person I saw looked Indian. He shook my hand, said "Shabbat Shalom," and handed me a kippah. Then I saw a black man which really surprised me. And Dr. Block was there, too.
I was handed a prayer book, shown the proper page, and before I knew it everyone was singing, V'Shamru:

"And the Children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to make the Sabbath an eternal covenant for their generations. Between Me and the Children of Israel, it is a sign forever that in six days God made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed."

Something hit me and I felt as though I knew this song. I just stood there taking in the sounds, the smells and the sights. Everything felt whole and perfect. It was the opposite of everything I'd ever heard about Jews or Judaism. At this point my tears were streaming in freefall.

It was the opposite of everything I'd heard about Jews.

After the services finished, I met everyone over Kiddush. I spoke with an Egyptian couple and we shared our personal stories. Jews from all backgrounds were gathered together and I was another piece of this puzzle.
After Kiddush, I accepted Dr. Block's invitation to join him for lunch. I told him: "I can't believe I'm here, singing and praying in Hebrew. I could never have imagined it."
He smiled and said, "It's not so hard to believe. Every Jew is born with a little Torah and a little Menorah inside." He then pressed his shoulder up against mine and said, "All it takes is for another Jew to bump into him and light it up."
Dreams of Peace
My interest grew from there, and I began studying Torah and keeping Shabbat. Last year I spent a month in Israel touring and studying on Aish HaTorah's Jerusalem Fellowships program. It was a great "homecoming."
I still keep in close contact with my family and old friends. They're wonderful people and I love them very much. Yet it's hard to relate to them on many levels. In the Arab world there are tons of misconceptions and misinformation regarding Israel. So I am working to develop a program to educate Arabs about Jews and Judaism, to dissolve the stereotypes propagated by the Muslim media and schools. I hope that my unique background can help bridge some of that divide.
Another way I hope to achieve this is to help establish economic relations between Israel and Arab countries. That would create trust and shared experience, which could be directed toward the goal of a genuine and lasting peace.
Another issue I'm trying to address is how the Arab world is filled with Holocaust denial. This past summer I went to Auschwitz, and I am working to produce the first-ever Arabic documentary about the Holocaust. I want to explain to Muslims in their own language exactly what happened.
It often seems like the Arab-Israeli conflict is intractable. Yet I believe in today's world, there is a real opportunity for a breakthrough. Arabs today have a more universal education, which makes them more open and curious. Also they are meeting Israelis and Jews in their travels around the world, which breaks down misconceptions. And as we saw during the recent protests in Iran, many young people in the Muslim world are yearning for reform. On top of all this, they have high-speed Internet access which opens up all kinds of new avenues of communication, and the possibility of forming new friendships unrestricted by borders or political agendas. Perhaps this can be the basis of a grassroots movement to mend relations and hopefully one day achieve peace.

My Jewish cousins are all living as Muslims in the Middle East.

The other issue that needs urgent attention is intermarriage in Israel. Unfortunately, a story like my grandmother's is not so rare. Many young Jewish women are wooed by Arab men and brought back to live in their villages. The children and grandchildren are never told the truth, especially with political tensions and the emotional unrest this would cause a family. As a result, many Jews are lost to our people. My mother has five sisters, and from there I have a few dozen cousins who are all Jewish -- all living as Muslims in the Middle East. I recently met a seventh-generation Israeli, whose cousin married a Palestinian and went to live in Saudi Arabia; her descendents are Jews living in Saudi Arabia.
All my relatives know that I'm practicing Judaism, and for the most part they're accepting. I can talk to them about Judaism and they're politely interested. We love and respect each other. My father is resistant, however, given that secularism and war against Israel are the two ideological pillars of his life. When I first became interested in Judaism, I didn't tell him straight out. We were having a political discussion and I mentioned that I support the State of Israel. That ignited a big clash and I've learned to only discuss these matters with him in an indirect way. I always know when I've crossed the line; he gets angry and calls me a "Zionist."
The other big exception -- not surprisingly -- is my grandmother. I've asked her a number of times for more information about her family background, but she refuses to talk about it. Maybe one day I will find the key to opening her up.
Growing up, I was taught that Jews were the source of all evil, descended from monkeys and pigs. On the other hand, I had the image of my grandmother holding her small prayer book with the Hebrew letters, praying with tender devotion. She is the sweetest person I know and there's no way she came from a bloodthirsty gang of murderers. She gave me a Jewish soul, and in her own way, it was she who kept my Jewish spark alive.

Click on a player below to hear Mark speak about his experience.


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Women in Judaism - Men and Women in Judaism, Part III

Women in Judaism         by Mrs. Leah Kohn         Print Version
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Men and Women in Judaism, Part III Understanding Our Purpose; Understanding Our Role Adapted from a lecture by Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller Our previous class explored the connection between internal power in women, and the creation of Eve from Adam's rib. To summarize, in the same way the rib is a source of hidden strength for the entire body, the Jewish woman supports the Jewish nation from a seat of power that may be considered more "behind the scenes" than out front. While contemporary society tends to value the opposite type of power - that is, power of a more public type -Judaism assigns the same value to both internal and external power, and connects each of them to women and men, respectively. This gender-based type of assignment reflects ineradicable differences between the sexes, and is intended to bring out the unique potential of man and woman as both individuals and as a team. Our current class will explore the nature of feminine power and influence, as well as several aspects of how male/female role differentiation plays out in Jewish life and in Jewish law. Jewish law can be broken down into two categories - positive commandments, which entail things to which we are obliged (such as prayer and charity), and negative commandments, which involve restraint or abstention from certain forbidden activities ("don't steal, don't kill," and the like). Both men and women are bound to observance of the negative commandments in exactly the same way. The positive commandments are where men and women have different obligations. Some of the positive commandments must be performed at a specific time, and this group is referred to as "time-bound". Judaism considers the "time-bound" framework necessary for a man's spiritual growth. Thus, men alone must observe these commandments. On the other hand, Jewish women are not obligated to time-bound commandments, because Torah does not see these laws as important for their spiritual development. A woman has her own inner time clock, established at birth, and this is one reason she does not need to use time-bound parameters in her quest for personal growth. Thus, her own internal sense of time is considered one of the most effective devices in her quest for personal growth. A few examples of the time-bound obligations from which women are exempt include the commandment to wear tefillin and to pray three times a day. (It is worth noting that "exempt" does not mean, "forbidden." A woman may choose to take on certain commandments to which she is not legally obliged). Women are in fact obligated to pray, but not three times per day in a minyan, as are men. A woman is to pray once a day, at a time of her choice. In contrast to the laws of prayer which obligate men more than women, Jewish law obligates women further than men in the highly misunderstood area of "modesty" or, "tsniut." This fundamental aspect of traditional Jewish life expresses itself in dress, in the physical separation of men and women in synagogue, in places of study and at social gatherings. While modesty has a questionable reputation in contemporary society, Judaism views it as a virtue and as a critical aspect of a Jew's relationship with God. Modesty according to Torah is based on an inner connection to, rather than an outward show of who one is and what one does. Physical modesty, separation between the sexes and dress provide an environment in which the Jew is directed more towards the internal than the external. People often ask why men in Judaism do not have the same modesty laws as women. In the real world, the fact is that percentage-wise, men exploit women more than women exploit men. This is an expression of the inherent external focus of men and internal focus of women. An example from today's world would be the tremendous budgets that advertising agencies have for researching which types of ads appeal to men versus women. If you want to sell a man a car, add a beautiful young woman to the ad. Ad agencies put thousands of dollars into campaigns of this sort, precisely because this approach works. On the other hand, one of the most efficient ways to sell a product to women is to include a role model. The role model woman will differ according to the product. A computer ad in Ms. Magazine, for instance, will feature an important looking executive. The feminine message is, "I want to be her," whereas the masculine car ad would provoke a man to feel, "I want to have her" - two completely different approaches, which reflect the different fundamental natures of men and women. The Torah acknowledges these G-d given differences. They are the origin of the separate laws that Jewish men and women follow in their quest for spiritual growth.     Women in Judaism, Copyright &copy 2009 by Mrs. Leah Kohn and Torah.org. Rebbetzin Leah Kohn, editor of Women in Judaism, is the Director of the Jewish Renaissance Center , a learning institute for women located in New York City. Please note that the current series of classes is an updated version of the previous Women in Judaism series. These past classes are available on Torah.org and each class will be replaced with the new version as it is released. Questions or comments? Email feedback@torah.org. Join the Jewish Learning Revolution! Torah.org: The Judaism Site brings this and a host of other classes to you every week. Visit http://torah.org or email learn@torah.org to get your own free copy of this mailing. Permission is granted to redistribute, but please give proper attribution and copyright to the author and Torah.org. Both the author and Torah.org reserve certain rights. Email copyrights@torah.org for full information.

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Aish.com Daily - Kislev 15-Joyful for Being Alive

15 Kislev 5770 / December 2, 2009 Torah Reading: Vayishlach

• DAILY LIFT
  
• TODAY IN JEWISH HISTORY
  
• GROWING EACH DAY

#726   Joyful For Being Alive
When I suggest that people choose to be joyful in any present moment, some people argue, "If nothing special is happening, how can I just choose to be joyful? It won't be real joy." People who win a major lottery prize are able to celebrate because they think this prize will give them happiness. Being alive is the ultimate thing to celebrate. As long as you are alive, so many options are open to you. Developing the ability to choose to be joyful just because you are alive is a skill like any other skill. When you practice enough times, you will experience it on a biochemical and neurological level.
(from Rabbi Pliskin's new book, Life is Now: Creating moments of joy, courage, kindness, and serenity, p. 122)

See Rabbi Pliskin's new book "Life Is Now"

15 Kislev
Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi (135 - ca. 220 CE), also known as Rabbi Judah the Prince. He was leader of the Jewish people during the period following the destruction of the Second Temple. Rabbi Yehudah developed a close friendship with the ruling Roman authorities, and was able to secure various benefits for the Jewish community. His greatest achievement was to compile the Mishnah, the Jewish legal teachings which until then had been taught orally, from teacher to student. But with persecutions and exile threatening to break down that chain of transmission, Rabbi Yehudah took the bold step of writing the Mishnah in its final form. He is credited with the wise and humble saying: "I learned much from my teachers, more from my colleagues, but most of all I learned from my students."
Also on this date, in 1987, more than 200,000 American Jews marched on Washington to demand that Soviet Jews be allowed to emigrate and practice their faith. The rally was timed to coincide with a meeting between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Russian Jews like Natan Sharansky, Yosef Mendelovich and hundreds of others were imprisoned for the mere act of applying for an exit visa. Their plight, met with indifference by much of the Western world, spawned a massive activist effort on behalf of Soviet Jewry. In the 1970s, when the Soviet Bolshoi Ballet performed in the U.S., they were greeted by Jewish pickets demanding rights for Soviet Jews. In 1974, the U.S. Congress passed the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which linked trade with Russia to freedom of emigration for Soviet Jews. The struggle for Soviet Jewry continued throughout the 1980s, and it was not until the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1991, that the gates opened to the emigration of some one million Jews.

15 Kislev
Enlighten our eyes in Your Torah (Siddur).
This prayer is not only for an understanding of Torah, but also that Torah may help us perceive the truth in everything.
The Torah tells the story of Hagar and Ishmael, who were stranded in the desert without water. Hagar abandoned her son and fled, saying that she could not bear to see him die of thirst. God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water (Genesis 21:19). God did not create a well where none had existed, but "opened her eyes" so that she could see an already-existing well, which she had not seen because of her state of panic.
Many opportunities may be right before our eyes, but if we become desperate and panicky, we may fail to see them, and the result may be a misfortune that could have been averted. Hagar almost lost Ishmael, not because there was no water, but because she could not see it. What was necessary was not a miracle, but just a correct perception of reality.
Torah teachings can provide guidance that can assist in avoiding distortions of reality.
Today I shall ... ... try to avoid panic and any other emotion that clouds my ability to see what is truly before me. See more books by Rabbi Abraham Twerski at Artscroll.com

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New Aish Center at the Western Wall

See this article online: http://www.aish.com/ci/s/78061807.html

by Rabbi Shraga Simmons

Premier educational programs amidst an architectural marvel.

This week, philanthropists, government officials and dignitaries will be gathering from around the world to celebrate the dedication of Aish HaTorah's spectacular new educational center directly across from the Western Wall. The building, named the Aish World Center Dan Family of Canada Building in honor of Leslie & Anna Dan and Stuart & Andrea Hytman, boasts a breathtaking view – directly overlooking the Temple Mount and rising seven stories above the Western Wall Plaza.
The new Aish Center expects to host thousands of visitors annually to a variety of educational programs including the world-famous Discovery Seminar, the Jerusalem Fellowships leadership program for college-age students, the Hasbara Fellowships for Israel activism training, the Executive Learning Center and the Essentials program. As well, private individuals and organizations can arrange for events like bar mitzvahs, weddings and Shabbat dinners in the beautiful dining room or on the spectacular rooftop terrace.
Nearly 3 million people visit the Western Wall annually. Standing at the Wall is the moment when people are most open to exploring the meaning of Jewish identity and the role each individual plays in Jewish destiny. This provides an extraordinary opportunity for Aish HaTorah, whose mission statement is "to urgently awaken and empower the Jewish people to end assimilation and to fulfill their destiny of Tikkun Olam (perfecting the world)." For as they say in real estate, the most essential ingredient is "Location, location, location!"
How did this coveted piece of land – comprising 40 percent of the frontage facing the Western Wall – come into Aish HaTorah's possession?
In 1967 when Israel recaptured the Old City of Jerusalem, the Israeli government – knowing this was the most precious piece of real estate in the country – felt compelled to use it for something very special and important. But they weren't sure for what. Aish HaTorah then proposed a Jewish educational center designed to give every person who visits the Western Wall a greater understanding of Judaism's holiest site, and what that means in the larger context of Jewish destiny. Hearing this, the Israeli government said, "That's the perfect concept. Here, take the whole thing."
Chihuly Glass Sculpture
The building itself is an architectural and historical marvel, with elements dating back to the Second Temple period. For example, running through an exterior wall of the building is an actual aqueduct that was used to bring water to the Holy Temple. As well, the building features beautiful reconstructed archways from the Crusader period.
Beyond this, the building is a striking combination of old and new. A glorious atrium is punctuated by a modern glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly, the most successful and talented glass artist in the world. Entitled, "Fire and Water," the multi-dimensional, two-story-tall sculpture was described by one critic as "appearing to be a frozen gaseous explosion hanging before one's eyes" that "has the power to leave its spectators in awe."
The sculpture is a contemporary representation of the talmudic story from which Aish HaTorah gets its name. Aish HaTorah, literally "Fire of Torah," was inspired by Rebbe Akiva, a 40-year-old shepherd who could not even read the Aleph-Bet. One day, he came across a stone that had been holed out by a constant drip of water. He concluded: If something as soft as water could carve a hole in solid rock, then how much more so can Torah – which is fire – make an indelible impression on my heart. Rebbe Akiva thus committed himself to Torah study, and went on to become the greatest sage of his generation, with 24,000 students learning under him at one time.
This story encapsulates the Aish HaTorah philosophy: First, every drop of Jewish involvement has a profound impact. And second, when it comes to Torah study, it's never too late to start.
Brian Blondy described the Chihuly sculpture in the Jerusalem Post: "Sizing up the piece from top to bottom, it does indeed seem to metaphorically represent Rabbi Akiva's upward spiral, from his former life as a shepherd to his latter incarnation as a rabbinic scholar… although, it just might represent something more. Could the installation also be a poignant metaphor for the Jewish people, a bright rising of the Israeli present and an abstract revelation with a respectful reference to the historical Jewish past?"
The sculpture, a gift from Lillian and Elliot Hahn of Miami, took four months to create in Chihuly's Seattle studio, and was delivered to Jerusalem in hundreds of boxes. The sculpture hangs beneath a domed skylight, which naturally illuminates it in an explosion of vibrant color. Its message, beauty and impact is so great that critics have likened it to the iconic Chagall Windows installed at Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital, with the Jerusalem Post calling it "one of the most significant works of glass art to be permanently exhibited in Jerusalem."
Model of the Holy Temple
Another unique attraction at the new Aish HaTorah building is a 1.2-ton model of the Holy Temple – which sits on the awe-inspiring rooftop terrace overlooking the site where the real Temple stood for 1,000 years before being destroyed by the Romans.
The Temple model is the largest of its kind in the world. It is constructed at a scale of 1:60, incorporating authentic materials like gold, silver, wood and Jerusalem stone. It features a remote-controlled hydraulic system that raises the sanctuary section of the Temple, offering an internal view of key elements such as the Holy of Holies, the Menorah and the Ark of the Covenant.
"The Jewish people have contributed revolutionary ideas to the world, like justice for all, monotheism, love your neighbor and universal education," said Rabbi Hillel Weinberg, dean of Aish HaTorah. "These ideas were nurtured, studied and exported to all of humanity from the Temple, the center of our spiritual world. This model helps people envision what it was like to be here at the time of the Temple."
Exploratorium of Jewish History
Also slated for the new building is the Exploratorium of Jewish History, a major attraction spanning three floors that takes visitors through a virtual tour of all of Jewish history – from Abraham until the present day – in a highly interactive, hi-tech environment. Designed to accommodate 300,000 people annually, the Exploratorium gives individuals and tour groups the opportunity to make their experience at the Western Wall much deeper and more meaningful. The Exploratorium is expected to be completed in two years.
The focus of the Exploratorium is the Kirk Douglas Theater, named after the famous actor who was an active student at Aish HaTorah in Los Angeles for many years. Around the time Kirk began to rediscover his Jewish heritage, he was sitting at the Western Wall, feeling very emotional, yet perplexed at exactly what caused him to feel this way. At that moment, he thought, There ought to be a facility here that explains the meaning and importance of this site. This, of all places in the world, is where people are inspired to ask the questions, "What does it mean to be Jewish? What is our historical mission? In what ways have we impacted the world, and what yet remains to be achieved?" So something needs to be at this spot to provide good answers.
When Kirk realized that was precisely Aish HaTorah's concept, he made a major commitment to construct a giant-screen theater as the centerpiece of the Exploratorium.
"The miraculous epic of the Jewish people is human history's most amazing story, and the Exploratorium allows people to relive this story," said Rabbi Ephraim Shore, executive director of Aish HaTorah Jerusalem. "Between the unparalleled location, the advanced multi-media technologies, and Aish HaTorah's educational expertise, these factors all merge together to make this is an incomparably unique experience."
Unique Construction Project
The dedication of the new Aish HaTorah building is a highly-anticipated event in the Jewish world; for years, visitors to the Western Wall would look up to see the huge banner unfurled, "Future Site of Aish HaTorah."
Construction was painstakingly slow for a variety of reasons. First, the building was essentially sitting on the side of a hill, but Aish HaTorah tripled the size of the building by digging down five floors into bedrock.
Second, due to its unique status as a historical site, Aish was obligated to preserve the original facade of the building. This meant that rather than demolish the site and build from the ground up, they had to gut the building and work from the inside-out. This was complicated by the fact that the original facade was centuries old and very delicate.
Third, due to its location adjacent to the Temple Mount, the entire building site was essentially one large archeological excavation; the entire process had to be supervised by the Antiquities Authority.
Rabbi Noah Weinberg, the founder and dean of Aish HaTorah, always saw it as a personal miracle that Aish HaTorah was awarded this precious site. When people would visit his office overlooking the Western Wall, they would often ask, "How did you get such a great office?" To which Rabbi Weinberg would reply, "I work for the right Boss!"
In his last years, Rabbi Weinberg made the new educational center one of his highest priorities. He took an active role in crafting the educational curriculum, brilliantly articulating the development of the Jewish people's partnership with God to fulfill human destiny. Rabbi Weinberg, who passed away this year, unfortunately did not live to see this dream realized. The new building exhibits a "Rabbi Weinberg Tribute Wall," which features short films of Rabbi Weinberg's wisdom and touch-screen access to all his teachings.
"Aish HaTorah has spent the past four decades educating Jews about the beauty and power of their heritage, and this building is a culmination of those efforts," says Rabbi Eric Coopersmith, CEO of Aish HaTorah International. "We have poured all of our combined know-how and creativity to produce an educational facility – in the world's most inspiring location, and utilizing the most advanced multi-media technologies – that can impact hundreds of thousands of individuals, and consequently the collective Jewish world."
The dedication of the new Aish HaTorah building takes place this Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 4:45 pm at the Western Wall. The public is invited.
This article can also be read at: "http://www.aish.com/ci/s/78061807.html"

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Author Biography:

Rabbi Shraga Simmons spent his childhood trekking through snow in Buffalo, New York. He holds a degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and rabbinic ordination from the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. He is the senior editor of Aish.com and the director of JewishPathways.com. He is also regarded as an expert on media bias relating to the Middle East conflict, and was the founding editor of HonestReporting.com. Rabbi Simmons lives with his wife and children in the Modi''in region of Israel.

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JWR TODAY: J. Ethicist; Rascal rationalist is "inadvertently" set straight by a "naive" mystical master; Lowry, Greenberg, Gaffney + much more --- Tuesday, December 1, 2009

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Tuesday, December 1, 2009
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WHO SAYS ENTERTAINMENT CAN'T ALSO BE ENLIGHTENING?

The story of how a rascal rationalist is "inadvertently" set straight by a
"naive" mystical master
Our newest contributor wants your feedback --- as do we!
LENGTH: 6 minutes
http://www.jwisdom.com/shows/642/
~~~~
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint you can at it."
--- Danny Kaye

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[ J E W I S H L I V I N G ]
---> outlook
The Jewish Ethicist
By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir
Q. I notice many people living beyond their means, racking up credit card
debt or overdrafts. Does Judaism have anything to say about this
phenomenon?
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/jewish/ethicst_overdraft.php3

---> JWisdom.com
He didn't have a Prayer
with Rabbi Yehoshua Karsh
A rascal rationalist is "inadvertently" set straight by a "naive" mystical
master. Who says entertainment can't also be enlightening?
LENGTH: 6 minutes
http://www.jwisdom.com/shows/642/

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[ D A I L Y I N S P I R A T I O N ]
NEW SERIES!
"Building Your Self-Image and the self-image of others"
This series can change your life. And the life of your spouse, your
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Every success story begins with a positive attitude. This series will show
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improve your life; physically, emotionally and spiritually.
For decades, Rabbi Zelig Pliskin has been motivating people to believe in
themselves and to realize their potential. As a counselor, he has
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failures, this series has it all.
TODAY: 'I Am My Choices'
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[ PoliticalMavens.com H I G H L I G H T S ]
* Patrick Hurley: Hey Tiger . . . what HAPPENED?
http://politicalmavens.com/index.php/2009/11/27/hey-tigerwhat-happened/
* Curt Smith: 'RINO' A Recipe for GOP Defeat
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* John J. Pitney,Jr.: Palestine and Polo
http://politicalmavens.com/index.php/2009/11/28/palestine-and-polo/

<^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^>

[ T O D A Y I N H I S T O R Y ]

On this day in . . .

* 1824, since no candidate had received a majority of the total electoral
college votes in the election, the United States House of Representatives
is given the task of deciding the winner in accordance with the Twelfth
Amendment to the United States Constitution
* 1864, in his State of the Union Address President Abraham Lincoln
reaffirms the necessity of ending slavery as ordered ten weeks earlier in
the Emancipation Proclamation
* 1904, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis closed after seven
months and some 20 million visitors
* 1913, the Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving assembly line.
ALSO: The first drive-in automobile service station, built by Gulf Refining
Company, opened in Pittsburgh

* 1959, opening date for signature of the Antarctic Treaty, which sets
aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the
continent
* 1964, during the Vietnam War: President Lyndon B. Johnson and his
top-ranking advisers meet to discuss plans to bomb North Vietnam

* 1969, during the Vietnam War: The first draft lottery in the United
States is held since World War II
* 1982, at the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to
receive a permanent artificial heart

* 1990, Channel Tunnel sections started from the United Kingdom and France
meet 40 metres beneath the seabed
* 1992, in Mineola, New York, Amy Fisher was sentenced to five to 15 years
in prison for shooting and seriously wounding Mary Jo Buttafuoco. (Fisher
served seven years.)
* 1998, Exxon announces a $73.7 billion deal to buy Mobil, thus creating
Exxon-Mobil, the world's largest company
* 2000, Vicente Fox was sworn in as president of Mexico, ending 71 years of
ruling-party domination

<^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^>

[ L I F E S T Y L E S ]
* How 2 . . .: Use your smart phone to get best holiday deal
http://jewishworldreview.com/1209/how2.php3
* Strenuous exercise may help slow aging process, study says
http://jewishworldreview.com/1209/slow_aging_process.php3
* Dr. Peter H. Gott: Reader finds success with nonstatin
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/gott1.asp
* Frugal Living by Sara Noel: Stay fit on a budget
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/frugal_living.php3
* Bruce Williams on JWR: Ensuring my daughter gets it all; designated
beneficiary in will, not policy; more
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/bruce1.asp

<^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^>
[ I N S I G H T ]

* Rich Lowry: Barack Obama, conflicted Commander in Chief
http://jewishworldreview.com/1209/lowry120109.php3
* Argus Hamilton skewers politics and contemporary "culture"
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* Gene Weingarten: The Chromosomolympics
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* Paul Greenberg: The War on the Book (SPOT ON!)
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/greenberg120109.php3
* Wesley Pruden: More Dr. Bureaucrat horrors
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/pruden120109.php3
* Jack Kelly: Our incurious media
http://jewishworldreview.com/1209/jkelly120109.php3
* Dennis Prager: Left Destroys More than It Creates
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1209/prager120109.php3
* David Limbaugh: They Call It Fiscal Responsibility; We Call It Socialism
http://jewishworldreview.com/david/limbaugh120109.php3
* Mona Charen: Why Won't We Face Iran's Evil?
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/charen120109.php3
* Debra J. Saunders: The Inquisition of Global Warming
http://jewishworldreview.com/1209/saunders120109.php3
* Frank Gaffney, Jr.: The speech we need (BINGO!)
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/gaffney120109.php3
* Cal Thomas: Debatable Health Care Bill
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/thomas120109.php3
* Thomas Sowell: Random Thoughts
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell120109.php3
~~
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Aish.com Parsha - Vayishlach

13 Kislev 5770 / November 30, 2009

Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43)

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  Yaakov's Fear
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  Conflict and Balance
  by Rabbi Max Weiman
  
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  Temper Our Temper
  by Nesanel Yoel Safran
  
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  The Path of Most Resistance
  by Rabbi Shaul Rosenblatt
  
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  True Wealth
  by Adam Lieberman
  
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  Call My Bluff
  by Rabbi Shraga Simmons
  
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• 
  
  The Value of Life
  by Rabbi Shraga Simmons
  
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• 
  
  The Angel With No Name
  by Rabbi Shraga Simmons
  
  read entire article print version
  
  
  
  

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• 
  
  Jacob returns to his roots
  by Rabbi Yehuda Appel
  
  read entire article print version
  
  
  
  

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• 
  
  Adventures of Jacob's return to the Land of Israel
  by Rabbi Avi Geller
  
  read entire article print version
  
  
  
  

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• 
  
  Worry Makes The World Go Round
  by Rabbi Stephen Baars
  
  read entire article print version
  
  
  
  

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• 
  
  Vayishlach 5770
  by Rabbi Kalman Packouz
  
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Jewlarious - December 1, 2009-The BDP Handbook; Bernie Madoff in Heaven?

November 30 - December 5 2009

The BDP Handbook

by Eileen Rosenbloom Advice for dealing with Beloved Difficult Persons ("BDPs") – aka the people who drive you crazy.

Jewish Celebrity Thanksgivings

by Mark Miller Behind the scenes at some Jewish celebrity Thanksgiving dinners.

The Larry Sanders Show

by Jewlarious.com Staff Should Jews ever hide their Jewishness in the workplace?

Newest Jokes:

A Healthy Breakfast

Submitted by David Minikoff

Moshe was taking to his psychiatrist. "I had a weird dream recently," he says. "I saw my mother but then I noticed she had your face. I found this so worrying that I immediately awoke and couldn't get back to sleep. I just stayed there thinking ...

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Go to Heaven

Father Murphy walks into a book store in Brooklyn and approaches the first man he meets, "Do you want to go to heaven?"
The man says, "I do Father."
The priest says, "Then come with me."
Then ...

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Bernie Madoff in Heaven?

One day at the entrance to heaven, the angels greet Bernie Madoff and his associates.
As this was somewhat unexpected the angels run to God and say, "God, Bernie Madoff and his associates have arrived at the Gates of Heaven. What ...

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Jewish Weightlifting

This weeks Torah reading: Vayishlach

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Aish.com Daily - Kislev 14-Treat All Human Beings with Respect;Today in Jewish History;Growing Each Day

14 Kislev 5770 / December 1, 2009 Torah Reading: Vayishlach

• DAILY LIFT
  
• TODAY IN JEWISH HISTORY
  
• GROWING EACH DAY

#725   Treat All Human Beings With Respect
We have an obligation to treat all human beings with the highest level of respect. Our politeness should spring from an awareness that we are all created in the image of God.
Today, think of someone you don't treat with the respect that you know you should. The next time you interact with that person, go out of your way to treat him or her with the respect due to someone created in the image of God.
(see Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler - Michtav MaiEliyahu, vol.4, pp.246-7; Rabbi Pliskin's "Consulting the Wise")

See Rabbi Pliskin's new book "Life Is Now"

14 Kislev
Birth of Reuven, Jacob's first son and the first of the Twelve Tribes of Israel (Genesis 29:32). Jacob had originally worked for seven years in order to marry Rachel, but at the last minute Leah appeared under the chuppah instead. On their wedding night, Reuven was conceived. Though he was first-born, he eventually lost his leadership role, due to a reputation for impetuousness.

14 Kislev
And if not now, then when? (Ethics of the Fathers 1:14).
Hillel's famous statement is a bit enigmatic. The simple answer is, "Later." Why can't we take care of whatever it is some other time? Granted that procrastination is not a virtue, why does Hillel imply that if not now, then it will never be?
The Rabbi of Gur explained that if I do something later, it may indeed get done, but I will have missed the current "now." The present "now" has but a momentary existence, and whether used or not, it will never return. Later will be a different "now."
King Solomon dedicates seven famous verses of Ecclesiastes to his principle that everything has its specific time. His point comes across clearly: I can put off doing a good deed for someone until tomorrow, but will that deed, done exactly as I would have done it today, carry the same impact?
The wisdom that I learn at this moment belongs to this moment. The good deed that I do at this moment belongs to this moment. Of course I can do them later, but they will belong to the later moments. What I can do that belongs to this moment is only that which I do now.
Today I shall ... ... try to value each moment. I must realize that my mission is not only to get something done, but to get things done in their proper time, and the proper time may be now. See more books by Rabbi Abraham Twerski at Artscroll.com

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'My Kotel Arrest' * Jacob Neusner: Reform Returnee * Eli Valley's 'Metamorphosis'

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Agri Workers in Limbo After Rubashkin's 2nd Trial is Dropped By Nathaniel Popper For the past year, nearly 40 undocumented immigrants from Latin America have been kept in the United States to testify against their former bosses at the Agriprocessors kosher meat plant. On November 19, prosecutors announced that the charges against top boss Sholom Rubashkin, were being dropped.  Read more The 'Crime' of Praying with a Tallit, and a Plea for Tolerance By Nofrat Frenkel Medical student Nofrat Frenkel was recently arrested for wearing a tallit at the Kotel. Authorities said she was "performing a religious act that offends the feelings of others." In this essay, Frenkel writes about her arrest.  Read more What's Behind the FBI's Hate Crime Report? By Nathan Guttman The latest report by the FBI contained alarming news: There were 1,013 cases of hate crimes motivated by anti-Jewish bias in 2008. But analyzing the report's numbers demands a heavy dose of perspective.  Read more A Year After Massacre, a Little Boy Celebrates By Nathan Jeffay Moshe Holzberg, a son of the two Chabad emissaries murdered in last November's Mumbai terror attacks, turned three in November. His recent upshiren, or traditional Jewish haircutting ceremony, brought thousands to Kfar Chabad, Israel.   Read more In Kennedy Race, Jewish Vote Divided By Matthew E. Berger The Jewish community of Massachusetts is large and known as one of the most politically active in the country. So, as the state's Democrats get ready to select their replacement for the late senator Edward Kennedy, why is the Jewish voice barely heard?  Read more The Gitthith and Uggav Play Again in Tulsa By Beth Schwartzapfel Beth Schwartzapfel looks at the work of Moshe Frumin, an Israeli sculptor and musician who recreates biblical instruments with clues from the Tanach and archeology. His work is currently on display at the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art in Tulsa, Okla.  Read more Returning to Reform By Jacob Neusner Renowned Judaic scholar Jacob Neusner, who was educated at the Conservative-affiliated Jewish Theological Seminary and raised his children in the Cosnervative movement, explains why he has returned to the Reform Judaism of his youth. "After a half-century of apostasy, I affirm Reform Judaism as the American Judaism both of my personal choice and of our communal necessity," he writes.  Read more Metamorphosis By Eli Valley What if Kafka had been hip? Eli Valley's latest comic delves into the world of cool Jews in the Habsburg Empire circa 1903.  Read more Talmud for Today By Lawrence Grossman Penguin Classic's imprint began in 1946 and it has since published more than 1,300 titles, under the motto: "The best books ever written." The inclusion of a volume of selections from the Talmud in a series of world classics is long overdue.  Read more Was it Pushed or Did it Fall? By Gal Beckerman What if the story of 1989 is not one of popular uprising but a tale of a corrupt order collapsing after a light shove rather than being demolished by a stampede? Two books offer new views of the Berlin Wall's fall.  Read more Madoff in Pop Culture By Gordon Haber A recent "Curb Your Enthusiasm" show-within-a-show plot-line hinged on Bernard Madoff's scam. The Forward has dug up some other notable examples of how the Ponzi schemer has seeped into pop culture.   Read more Giving the Gift of Kitsch By Lisa Alcalay Klug With Hanukkah approaching, the Forward has a guide to kitschy holiday gifts. Among the offbeat items to make our list: "Jewish Mother" chewing gum, a dreidel-poker hybrid, a latke spatula, and a stack of "Plotz" magazines.  Read more The Forward on Facebook Become a fan of the Jewish Daily Forward on Facebook. 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We're trying. But her mystifying views on the expansion of Jewish settlements make it difficult.  More Read more in Editorial Blogs Sisterhood Blog Modesty and Obscenity at Wal-Mart; Between Baalat Teshuva and Britney Spears J.J. Goldberg Settlements Aren't the Problem? Tell the Troops Bintel Blog Carla Bruni: Working for Woody Allen; Unlikely Arguments for Tsnius Web Exclusives Podcast Thelonius Monk's Muse Slideshow Performance Art From Behind The Iron Curtain Joan Nathan: The Bintel Brief Holiday Cooking, and Other Domestic Matters Siegelmania Future Rabbi Is Welterweight Champ The Weekly Parsha: Vayetze What's Worth the Wait Forward Forum Leonard Fein: When We Were the Vanguard Danya Ruttenberg: Adults Who Happen To Be Young(er) J.J. Goldberg: The People's Army or the Rabbis' Army Read more in Forward Forum Arts & Culture Sami Rohr Finalists Announced Memories of the Fall Driving Home a Reality Check Philologos: Hi, Harvey! How's It Going? Bible: New, Improved Read more in Arts & Culture Fast Forward Holiday Baking Gets a Makeover Read more in Fast Forward The Shmooze 'Jeopardy' Does Jews' Clues In the Holy Land Read more in The Shmooze News Despite Protests, Mainstream Haredi Leaders Talk About Sabbath Work Deal Mayer Kirshenblatt, 93, Merchant Who Became an Artist of Memory Read more in News Recently in the Forward: Most Read Articles • An American Yom Tov • Hasidic Village's Neighbors Have Slaughterhouse Blues • Were Israelis Banned From Komen's Egyptian Cancer Meeting? •Yuri Foreman: Future Rabbi, Present World Champion • Woman of the Wall Arrest: A First-Hand Account Know someone who is interested in this email? Forward it to a friend.

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The Talmud: A Selection (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

The Talmud: A Selection

Selected, translated and edited by Norman Solomon

Penguin Classics, 896 pages, $16.00

By Lawrence Grossman

The distinguished Penguin Classics imprint began in 1946 with a translation of “The Odyssey,” and it has published more than 1,300 titles since, under the motto: “The best books ever written.”





The inclusion of a volume of selections from the Talmud in a series of world classics is long overdue, since the Talmud is, in the words of Norman Solomon, editor of this anthology, “the classic text of Judaism, second only to the Bible.” The fact that it was never finally edited, Solomon explains, in no way diminishes its significance, since “Talmud is essentially an activity, not a book,” whose purpose is “to facilitate a discourse in progress” about how to apply Scripture — and hence the will of God — to every aspect of daily life. One would hardly guess from such a benign description that the Talmud has been vilified more bitterly and over a longer period of time than any other Jewish literary production. In the Middle Ages, Christian spokesmen accused it of mocking the fundamentals of their faith, teaching contempt for Christians and delaying the conversion of the Jews by setting up a legalistic smokescreen that prevented them from seeing how the New Testament fulfilled the teachings of the Old. Copies of the Talmud were censored, confiscated and destroyed, largely explaining why the earliest extant manuscript of the entire Talmud dates back to only 1343. The Talmud has not fared much better in modern times.


Antisemites ascribed to it every vice they associated with Jews: xenophobia, materialism, aspirations to world domination and more. August Rohling titled his classic 19th-century work of Jew hatred “Der Talmudjude” (“The Talmud Jew”). The 19th century also saw many Jews turn against the Talmud. As ghetto walls fell and Enlightenment liberalism began opening up Western society to Jewish participation, Jews eager for acceptance were embarrassed by a Talmudic legacy that presupposed an autonomous Jewish community closed off from broader cultural trends, posited a system of Jewish law separate from that of the host nation and, for good measure, operated according to a system of reasoning seemingly alien to modern modes of inquiry. Far more congenial for such Jews were the prophetic books of the Bible, with their universalistic message of ethics, social justice and peace. Zionist thinkers also denigrated the Talmud, but from the opposite standpoint: Unlike the Bible — the inspiring record of ancient Jewish political sovereignty — the Talmud reeked of exilic powerlessness and meek submission to the gentile. Those eager to retrieve the Talmud’s good name were reduced to cherry-picking quotations from the work that they deemed wise or charming and passing them off as the Talmud, much as many Jews identify Sholom Aleichem’s character Tevye with prewar Eastern European Judaism. Emanuel Deutsch, the scholar who tutored novelist George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) in rabbinics, noticed this as early as 1867, when he criticized those who “have torn a few pieces off that gigantic living body.” A good example is “The Talmudic Anthology,” a very popular book, published in 1945, whose title page announces the real content: “Parables, Folk-tales, Fables, Aphorisms, Epigrams, Sayings, Anecdotes, Proverbs and Exegetical Interpretations.” One would never know that the Talmud is primarily concerned with the legal analysis that is the basis for living a Jewish life. The publication of “The Talmud: A Selection” suggests that we have entered a new era in which the Talmud can be discussed objectively, without Jewish defensiveness or fear of antisemitism. By presenting meaty selections from every one of the 63 Talmudic tractates in English translation, the book conveys something of the real feel of the Talmud as a whole, interspersing complex legal discussions with stories, practical rulings and wide-ranging biblical commentary. Solomon’s introduction, which covers the history and literary character of the Talmud, and his erudite footnotes to the selections themselves, admirably convey the insights of both traditional and modern authorities, ranging from the classic Medieval commentary of Rashi to 20th-century figures like Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. “The Talmud: A Selection” is so instructive and well crafted — as well as accessible to the educated reader who has never before studied Talmud — that it seems ungrateful to ask for more. But in truth, it could have used a short epilogue that would step back from the texts and examine the Talmud’s formative role in shaping the Jewish people, a long-range influence that takes the work out of the category of ancient literary curiosity and renders it a true “classic.” The reader ought to be told, even in summary form, how the centuries that Jews spent steeped in the Talmud laid the basis for the contributions that their secularized descendants would make to world culture. The penchant for studying godly law and lore, for example, engendered the interests and habits that sparked later Jewish intellectual achievement; the open-ended Talmudic debates set the stage for some Jews to think “outside the box” and chart new paths in science and mathematics; the stress on rationality and quantification sharpened Jewish business acumen, and the wordplay, irony and whimsicality encountered in the Talmud bred a distinctive Jewish humor — no Talmud, no Woody Allen and no Seinfeld. The publication of this impeccably scholarly and nonpolemical book of extensive selections from the Talmud comes at a time when serious Talmud study and the determination to live by the light of its teachings are almost exclusively confined to Orthodox Jews. If secular Jewish high achievers have been living largely off the cultural capital of their Talmudic progenitors, how many more generations will it take before the legacy of the Talmud fades out completely for them, leaving such Jews with… what? Lawrence Grossman is editor of the American Jewish Year Book. *********************************************************************************************************************************************************

The most important text in Judaism after the Old Testament- available for the first time in Penguin Classics

One of the most significant religious texts in the world, The Talmud is a compilation of the teachings of major Jewish scholars from the classic period of rabbinic Judaism. In a range of styles, including commentary, parables, proverbs, and anecdotes, it provides guidance on all aspects of everyday life. This selection of its most illuminating passages makes accessible to modern readers the centuries of Jewish thought contained within. Norman Solomon's lucid translation from the Bavli (Babylonian) is accompanied by an introduction on The Talmud's arrangement, social and historical background, reception, and authors.

About the Author

Norman Solomon is a fellow in Modern Jewish Thought at the Oxford Center for Hebrew and Jewish Studies.

Product Details

* Paperback: 896 pages

* Publisher: Penguin Classics; 1 edition (June 30, 2009)

* Language: English

* ISBN-10: 014144178X

* ISBN-13: 978-0141441788

* Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1.8 inches

* Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)