Rabi Kalman Packouz
I.
Recently, Reb Aryeh received a $5,000 check from someone he didn't know. When he called to thank the man and clarify, the man told him, "Rabbi, my wife and I have been in marriage counseling for over 10 years; we attended your session, started doing what you taught, got rid of the therapist and have the most wonderful and amazing marriage. Believe me, I owe you more than $5,000, so please keep the $5,000 with my eternal thanks!"
Teaches Rabbi Pamensky: Men and women are different, not just physically and emotionally. Perhaps the biggest difference is that women are relationship beings ... and men are not. At one seminar he divided the men and women into two groups to come up with descriptions of the ideal husband, wife and marriage. When they reassembled, he called upon a woman. However, before asking her for the descriptions, he asked her the name of a woman who was in her group. "How many children? Boys? Girls?" He then asked her the same questions about 2 other women at random. The woman knew about each woman in the group.
Rabbi Pamensky then called upon a man and asked him to name ANY man in the group. He couldn't do it. None of them could. They had worked out excellent descriptions of the ideal husband, wife and marriage, but it just wasn't important to know each other's names or about their families. Says Rabbi Pamensky, "When do they learn the names of the other men? When their wives introduce them!"
What do men need to be successful with a relationship being? They need a job description to know what to do! Here is a husband's job description: Your job is to make your wife happy all the time! If one told women that their job was to make their husband happy - then the husband would be happy. However, if the husband makes his wife happy, she'll return it multifold ... because she is a relationship being! Make her happy and she'll make the relationship happy and filled with intimacy, connection, closeness, passion and growth.
How does one make his wife happy? Rabbi Pamensky quotes Rabbi Moshe Aharon Stern, of blessed memory, who once advised, "All you have to do are the 3 A's - Attention, Affection and Appreciation. A woman needs attention, craves affection and so rightly deserves appreciation!" (When Rabbi Pamensky once asked a group if they knew what the "3 A's" are that one should give his wife, one cynical pundit said, "Yes! American Express, Apology and Alimony...)
Advises Rabbi Pamensky, "The relationship is not about thinking. The language of a relationship is feelings. Feelings have nothing to do with logic. A man has to make his wife feel that she is the most important part of his life, the absolute first priority!"
How does one give attention? Put down the newspaper, stop typing on the computer, turn off the music ... turn around, face your wife, look her in the eyes ... and listen. Why does a woman interrupt at the last moment of a football or basketball game in overtime? She wants to know that she is more important than the game. Give her attention and she'll give you space.
How does one give his wife affection? A man tends to compartmentalize life: business tones, parenting tones, walking the dog tones ... for his wife he needs to all the time speak to her with affectionate tones of love and respect.
What does Rabbi Pamensky advise women to know in order to make their husbands happy? Two things:
All men are giant egos with legs - and egos need stroking all the time, especially when your husband does his job of making you happy! He has to feel that if you were the only woman alive and you had 3 billion resumes of men wanting to marry you, that you'd pick him! You mean the most to him. You know him best. Therefore, your ego stroke is the only real ego stroke he gets in life.
The second thing a woman has to know in order to make her husband happy is to give her husband a break - especially when he does NOT do his job of making his wife happy! Do not nag, harp or criticize him when he slips up. It doesn't help. It makes everything worse! Men weigh effort versus benefit. They'd rather do their job and get an ego stroke than get a break!
II.
Torah Portion of the WeekMikeitz
Pharaoh dreams of cows and sheaves and demands for someone to interpret his dreams. The wine butler remembers Joseph's ability to interpret dreams. They bring Joseph from the jail. Pharaoh acknowledges the truth of Joseph's interpretation (that there would be seven good years followed by seven years of famine) and raises Joseph to second-in-command of the whole country with the mandate to prepare for the famine.
Ten of Joseph's brothers come to Egypt to buy food; Joseph recognizes them, but they don't recognize him. Joseph accuses them of being spies and puts them through a series of machinations in order to get them to bring his brother Benjamin to Egypt. Then Joseph frames Benjamin for stealing his special wine goblet.
Next week ... the denouement!
Dvar Torah based on based on
Growth Through Torah
Rabbi Zelig Pliskin
The Torah sets forth Pharaoh's prophetic dream:
"And behold from the Nile rose up seven cows, which looked good and healthy of flesh and they grazed in the pasture." (Genesis 41:2)
What does it mean that the cows "looked good"?
Rashi comments that their looking good was a sign of the years of plenty, for then people look good to one another and are not envious of each other.
The idea that Rashi expresses is important for happiness in life. When you allow what someone else has to rob you of your own happiness, you will frequently suffer. However, if you learn to appreciate what you have to its fullest, you will be so filled with good feelings yourself that you will not be disturbed by what anyone else has. The more you focus on the good in your life, the less it will make a difference to you if anyone has more than you. When you master this attribute of feeling joy for what you have, your whole life is a life of plenty!
.......................
Shabat Shalom
AV
Friday, December 30, 2005
Sabia Que?
"Siddur" - (pl. Siddurim); Jewish Prayer Book used on Shabbat and weekdays throughout the year. It contains the prayers created by the Jewish People over the ages beginning with the Avot (Avraham instituted "Shacharis," the Morning Prayer, Yitzchak taught the idea of "Minchah," the Afternoon Prayer, and Yaakov began the practice of reciting "Maariv," the Evening Prayer).
Ph.D em Judaísmo...
Ph.D em Judaísmo Contemporâneo promove palestra sobre a desconexão de Gaza no Colégio Bialik
O argentino Yossi Goldstein, Ph.D. em Judaísmo Contemporâneo pela Universidade Hebraica de Jerusalém, com especialização em judaísmo Sul Americano, esteve no Colégio Bialik para ministrar a palestra "A desconexão de Gaza a partir de uma visão de pensamento sionista: Am (povo), Eretz (terra), Torá (Bíblia) ve-Mediná (e Estado)".Com extensa vida comunitária judaica na Argentina, Brasil e Uruguai, Yossi Goldstein, é docente do Centro Melton de Educação Judaica da Universidade Hebraica, diretor da unidade de projetos de formação e desenvolvimento profissional de educadores judeus da Agência Judaica e responsável pelos projetos conjuntos com universidades e institutos acadêmicos.Ele expôs de maneira clara e objetiva, as perspectivas históricas e sociológicas, bem como os diversos ângulos que envolvem o conflito israelo-palestino e a retirada dos territórios ocupados por Israel. Goldstein também abordou as diferenças entre Estado Judeu e Estado para os Judeus e falou sobre a importância da legitimidade de Eretz Israel.Segundo Gerson Herszkowicz, diretor geral do Bialik, "nossa escola sempre procurou trazer aos alunos e ao corpo docente a vivência com a cultura judaica e com seus eventos históricos marcantes. Assim sendo, considero de grande importância trazer para dentro da escola um debate tão atual como o da desconexão de Gaza".“Em nome da Agência Judaica, agradeço ao Bialik por abrir as portas para um tema tão importante e sério, e por receber esse grande sociólogo, historiador e educador”, declarou Ilana Schmukler, diretora de educação da Agência Judaica.
O argentino Yossi Goldstein, Ph.D. em Judaísmo Contemporâneo pela Universidade Hebraica de Jerusalém, com especialização em judaísmo Sul Americano, esteve no Colégio Bialik para ministrar a palestra "A desconexão de Gaza a partir de uma visão de pensamento sionista: Am (povo), Eretz (terra), Torá (Bíblia) ve-Mediná (e Estado)".Com extensa vida comunitária judaica na Argentina, Brasil e Uruguai, Yossi Goldstein, é docente do Centro Melton de Educação Judaica da Universidade Hebraica, diretor da unidade de projetos de formação e desenvolvimento profissional de educadores judeus da Agência Judaica e responsável pelos projetos conjuntos com universidades e institutos acadêmicos.Ele expôs de maneira clara e objetiva, as perspectivas históricas e sociológicas, bem como os diversos ângulos que envolvem o conflito israelo-palestino e a retirada dos territórios ocupados por Israel. Goldstein também abordou as diferenças entre Estado Judeu e Estado para os Judeus e falou sobre a importância da legitimidade de Eretz Israel.Segundo Gerson Herszkowicz, diretor geral do Bialik, "nossa escola sempre procurou trazer aos alunos e ao corpo docente a vivência com a cultura judaica e com seus eventos históricos marcantes. Assim sendo, considero de grande importância trazer para dentro da escola um debate tão atual como o da desconexão de Gaza".“Em nome da Agência Judaica, agradeço ao Bialik por abrir as portas para um tema tão importante e sério, e por receber esse grande sociólogo, historiador e educador”, declarou Ilana Schmukler, diretora de educação da Agência Judaica.
Uma Luz muito Certa
Ponto de vista Marrano !
Pensamentos de meu pai Elias - Potiguar de 73 anos.
Talvez seja a história de muitos.
Quem é o marrano ?
Alguns dizem que o marrano é um herege que tem preguiça de ir a igreja, aí inventa a “estória” que descende de judeus e que por isso não deve ir a igreja. É considerado um cristão assim dizendo de segunda categoria, se não de terceira, principalmente se ele não for bem escolarizado, nordestino e pobre. Veja só, o Brasil é um país católico, mas santo brasileiro não tem não! O marrano que se cansa de ser enganado pelo padre, opta por ser evangélico. Logo ele precisa ser batizado de novo, pelo pseudo e poderoso sacerdote do novo pacto “ o Pastor” e tem de pagar o dízimo até do coentro, em algumas denominações não pode ter televisão, e se pisar um pouquinho na bola, é punido é até pode ser excomungado, e receber a tarja “ Filho do diabo”. Aí o marrano entra na sinagoga messiânica, lá finalmente ele se sente judeu, mas não tem contato com a comunidade judaica, o “ rabino” ‘( Ex. Pastor) lhe batiza de novo (Até agora três batismos), mas agora não se chama batismo e sim imersão no mikve, ele diz mi... o que, e deixa para lá, mas se batiza de novo, recebe um certificado de conversão, e ele sente vontade de saber como é Jerusalém, mas não tem dinheiro. Descobre uma facilidade para Judeus, que podem tomar contato com a terra Santa, através da Agencia judaica, só que chegando lá ele percebe que não é judeu, e nem sequer querem falar com ele. Então ele decide procurar uma sinagoga verdadeira, e encontra uma Massoti-Olami, com muito custo fala com o rabino, e ele o rejeita por duas vezes, mas por sua insistência ele aceita-o, e inicia-se um curso de um ano nas coisas judaicas, ele logo cobra uma taxa para documentos e uma mitzva, e o marrano paga, faz todo o processo e logo ser convertido como Goy, um não judeu, é batizado de novo ( quarta vez ) e vem a nascer judeu. Começa a freqüentar e sinagoga, mas ninguém se aproxima, pois ele é um convertido. Mas amargando a desconfiança e desdém ele continua. Volta-lhe a vontade de ir a Jerusalém, pois ele vê alguns do ishuv, que são sabidamente filhos de mãe judia, mesmo sendo liberais conseguirem ir a Jerusalém. Ele então vai a agencia judaica e dizem você não e judeu, isto é para judeus e convertidos segundo o judaísmo ortodoxo.
Come é que fica agora? Quero ser judeu, mas descobri que a possibilidade do sangue e resto de costumes ancestrais não me tornam um judeu, como é que faço?
O Marrano diz:
Não acredito na igreja !
O judaísmo reformado não vale!
E o ortodoxo não me aceita com judeu !
Logo eu não sou judeu! E nada vale ser descendente de Ya’kov !
O que é o marrano ? Quem acredita nele?
Ele é ninguém! nem judeu , nem cristão nem português.
Ele é uma alma atormentada como um cego sendo guiado por outo cego no meio da caatinga em busca de uma nascente de águas.
Não seria melhor para ele o Kidush HaShem de seus antepassados.
Ou será esta condenação o próprio Kidush HaShem. ( Eternamente separado da comunidade)
Pobre marrano, Jerusalém inacessível.
Nasce e morre muitas vezes,
A língua se apega ao paladar,
Mas não veras Jerusalém.
Baseado no pensamento de meu querido pai Elias.
Ele ainda reza uma raza católica , ensinada por minha avó, que diz :
Com Deus me deito..
Com Deus me levanto...
Com Deus me acompanhe o sue divino Espírito Santo...
Etc...
-Me arrepiei quando li um livro sobre os marranos em Portugal (Arnold Desendruck ) e existia uma página sobre as raza de uma localidade chamada , não me falhe a memória IDANHA, era igual ao que o meu pai rezava todas as noites.
Magnos Elias
Bnei Anusim en la actualidad
BNEI ANUSIM
INFORME SOBRE BEN-ANUSIM EN SEVILLA
Jose Palma
Sobre el número de judíos que forzados por la violencia y las presiones constantes sobre sus vidas optaron por la conversión antes que por la expulsión y el exilio en 1492, hay variedad de opiniones de los investigadores acerca de las cifras. En referencia a la zona geográfica del sur-oeste español, es decir, los territorios más o menos coincidentes con las actuales provincias de Huelva, Sevilla y Cádiz, era de alta densidad de población judía. La judería de Sevilla estaba entre las mayores, si no la mayor, de España hasta 1482 y la ciudad hispalense era en aquella época una de las mayores del Occidente. Ya existía por aquellos tiempos un número de anusim importante tras la violencia y la devastación –de cuatro mil muertos habla la crónica de Ayala- de 1391. De esto cabría deducir que Sevilla, y los territorios aludidos de España deben tener una significativa población de ascendencia anusim, comparada con el resto del país. La dispersión de muchos de ellos por las antiguas colonias debió hacerse en gran medida desde los puertos de Sevilla y Cádiz, y en general desde el litoral occidental andaluz y portugués (Faro, en el Algarve).
El tristemente célebre arcediano de Écija no hizo sino incendiar en las calles el espíritu de un sector numeroso e importante de la jerarquía eclesiástica, que a finales del siglo XIV no quería otra cosa que la destrucción física y la total desaparición del judío, no sólo su marginación. Un número importante de la población afectada, con el objetivo de salvar sus vidas y las de los suyos tuvieron que hacer profesión de la fe que se les imponía con violencia extrema, entre ellos muchos se dispersaron por pueblos y aldeas, enclaves en zonas marginales, fronterizas o de paso. Las prédicas, la permanente manifestación de un odio insaciable, fueron calando en la población y comenzó a incorporarse a la cultura popular manifestándose en leyendas, proverbios, expresiones coloquiales, costumbres, etc. En tierras andaluzas era notable, como decíamos, la presencia de anusim, particularmente Sevilla. Con la llegada a la ciudad a finales de 1480 de los primeros inquisidores, auténticos heraldos del terror, se anuncia una etapa de persecuciones brutales que se extendieron al resto de la región. Andrés Bernáldez, que fue testigo de esta espiral vertiginosa, cuantifica en 8.000 los anusim que tienen que huir de Sevilla. La siembra de este odio y la cosecha de sus amargos frutos llegaron como el eco terrible de una catástrofe a los rincones más apartados del país, dejando una herida profunda cuya cicatriz imborrable portaron en sus vidas y sus memorias las generaciones futuras. Entre el Atlántico, Portugal, Extremadura y Sevilla, en Puebla de Guzmán, provincia de Huelva, donde nací, aún daba los últimos coletazos en los últimos cincuenta y primeros años sesenta, cuando aún era un chiquillo, la costumbre bárbara de “matar a los judas” el domingo llamado “de resurrección”, colofón de la semana que conmemora la pasión y muerte de Jesús de Galilea. Y aún recuerdo el ánimo de mi madre, entre el disgusto y el miedo, cuando al intentar corregir las rebeldías de mi adolescencia y de mi primera juventud me reprendía con la expresión “hijo, con la iglesia y la inquisición, chitón.” El silencio y la ocultación amasados en un latente miedo ha sido la materia que ha conformado las vidas de muchos españoles a lo largo del tiempo.
El trasiego de judíos y anusim entre España y Portugal, en ambas direcciones, originó situaciones de gran complejidad que suscitaron nuevas y redobladas tensiones en las zonas de refugio. Con el paso del tiempo la presencia del cristiano nuevo, del converso, del anusim, siempre sospechoso de herejía judaizante, en rebeliones como la que se produjo en Valladolid, en 1516, contra el cardenal Cisneros, según lo explicó Gutiérrez Nieto, o la de la guerra de las Comunidades en tiempos del rey y emperador Carlos I, fue patente. El autoritarismo despiadado y la crueldad de la inquisición no consumieron la hoguera del odio a los judíos y a los anusim. En estas circunstancias, la práctica secreta desgajada de su fuente, fue desfigurando y desdibujando la fe de nuestros antepasados, resuelta en un empobrecimiento progresivo y paralelo a la exposición contaminante de las concepciones cristianas. Para Israel S. Revàh aquella fe secreta a la que llamó “judaísmo potencial” se sostenía sobre el rechazo del catolicismo, el sentimiento de pertenencia a la misma Ley y a la esperanza puesta en el Mesías. Manifestación, pues, de una voluntad decidida de ser y pertenecer a una comunidad más amplia, a un pueblo.
Bien, pues desde los Abolafia o Abulafia, pasando por los Abcassis, Acevedo, Adam o Adame, Ayerbe, Badía, Bon, Bosque, Bueno, Bejarano, Caro, Castellano, Castillo, Centeno, Cepeda, hasta los Macías, Palma, Pereira, Ponce, Prado, Santos, o Úbeda, Vera, Vida, Zambrano, Zaragoza, Zarco, Zayas, etc. El listín de teléfonos sólo de la capital sevillana abunda en apellidos que el periodista e investigador chueta Pere Bonnín recogió en su libro “Sangre judía” (1998), sacados de las listas de penitenciados por la inquisición, de los censos de las juderías y de otras fuentes documentales. Por tanto, todos estos apellidos eran llevados por personas judías u obligadas y forzadas a la conversión por temor a las consecuencias de su negativa y posteriormente encausadas por la inquisición bajo la acusación de judaizantes.
En este discurrir hasta la actualidad, la conciencia histórica sobre estas cuestiones es muy desigual entre la población e igualmente entre los representantes públicos, mientras algunos, sobre todo desde las corporaciones locales, apoyan de forma más abierta y decidida iniciativas de tipo histórico y cultural como el desarrollo de la Red de Juderías, incluyendo a las propias ciudades y poblaciones en la misma, alentando propuestas acerca de la recuperación para la memoria de barrios, zonas urbanas o edificios de raigambre judía, promoviendo semanas culturales, ciclos de conferencias, y un largo etcétera, otros parecen impermeables a estas inquietudes. En Andalucía, tenemos actitudes positivas reflejadas en Córdoba, Jaén, Santa Olalla del Cala (Huelva), … y, paradójicamente, menos –por no decir nada- en Sevilla, ciudad que como sabemos no sólo fue un gran centro de la vida judía de España, sino también, una vez destruida esta, de -en la terminología de la época- “cristianos nuevos” tanto de origen español como portugués. Es difícil en consecuencia determinar el número de ben-anusim, y sólo un estudio exhaustivo y pormenorizado de las genealogías familiares nos podrían llevar a través del Registro Civil, los registros parroquiales y diferentes archivos a acercarnos a los avatares de la pequeña historia de tantas y tantas personas anónimas que soportaron con su sufrimiento el peso de la historia que se escribe con mayúsculas en la narración de los grandes acontecimientos. Hay grandes trabajos de investigación muy documentados para Sevilla, como el de Juan Gil “Los conversos y la inquisición sevillana” publicado por la Universidad de Sevilla y la Fundación El Monte en el año 2000.
No hay según todo lo anterior en la ciudad de Sevilla ninguna asociación específica de ben-anusim de la que se tenga conocimiento. Sin embargo, tenemos la Fundación Legado Sefardí-Asociación Sevilla-Sefarad dirigida por Uriel Valls (www.legadosefardi.org) que es una “asociación cultural, sin ánimo de lucro, legalmente constituida, que trabaja por fomentar las relaciones entre las culturas española y judía, por recuperar y mantener vivo el legado Sefardí en Andalucía, especialmente en Sevilla, y darlo a conocer al mundo entero.” La referida asociación tiene muy buenos amigos en el periodismo local, entre algunos escritores y los departamentos de historia medieval y moderna y contemporánea de España de la Universidad Hispalense. Dedica sus esfuerzos y su tiempo a la celebración de ciclos de conferencias y a la presentación de libros, eventos como una exposición sobre la Shoáh, a la visita guiada por los actuales barrios de San Bartolomé y Santa Cruz que ocupaba la antigua judería sevillana para grupos de personas interesadas, al diálogo con colegios e institutos de enseñanza media para establecer puentes de colaboración y cooperación entre alumnos españoles e israelíes, a la cooperación con otras asociaciones y organismos públicos y privados en la difusión de la historia y la cultura de la España sefardí, y a la apelación, con constancia y sin desmayo, a las autoridades municipales para que la rica herencia de la Sevilla judía no se pierda para las actuales y venideras generaciones. Sería una gran alegría que al calor de la Asociación nuevas conciencias ben-anusim se despertaran y se abrieran a la luz de la Toráh y encararan su propia historia como una parte cercenada que debe integrarse al corazón del pueblo judío, pero tendremos que ser pacientes, pues siglos de ominosa propaganda y de encarnizadas persecuciones judeófobas movidas por un odio oscuro e irracional en España no son tinieblas fáciles de disipar. No obstante, aquí estamos dispuestos y con ánimo, y en esa tarea nos van a encontrar.
INFORME SOBRE BEN-ANUSIM EN SEVILLA
Jose Palma
Sobre el número de judíos que forzados por la violencia y las presiones constantes sobre sus vidas optaron por la conversión antes que por la expulsión y el exilio en 1492, hay variedad de opiniones de los investigadores acerca de las cifras. En referencia a la zona geográfica del sur-oeste español, es decir, los territorios más o menos coincidentes con las actuales provincias de Huelva, Sevilla y Cádiz, era de alta densidad de población judía. La judería de Sevilla estaba entre las mayores, si no la mayor, de España hasta 1482 y la ciudad hispalense era en aquella época una de las mayores del Occidente. Ya existía por aquellos tiempos un número de anusim importante tras la violencia y la devastación –de cuatro mil muertos habla la crónica de Ayala- de 1391. De esto cabría deducir que Sevilla, y los territorios aludidos de España deben tener una significativa población de ascendencia anusim, comparada con el resto del país. La dispersión de muchos de ellos por las antiguas colonias debió hacerse en gran medida desde los puertos de Sevilla y Cádiz, y en general desde el litoral occidental andaluz y portugués (Faro, en el Algarve).
El tristemente célebre arcediano de Écija no hizo sino incendiar en las calles el espíritu de un sector numeroso e importante de la jerarquía eclesiástica, que a finales del siglo XIV no quería otra cosa que la destrucción física y la total desaparición del judío, no sólo su marginación. Un número importante de la población afectada, con el objetivo de salvar sus vidas y las de los suyos tuvieron que hacer profesión de la fe que se les imponía con violencia extrema, entre ellos muchos se dispersaron por pueblos y aldeas, enclaves en zonas marginales, fronterizas o de paso. Las prédicas, la permanente manifestación de un odio insaciable, fueron calando en la población y comenzó a incorporarse a la cultura popular manifestándose en leyendas, proverbios, expresiones coloquiales, costumbres, etc. En tierras andaluzas era notable, como decíamos, la presencia de anusim, particularmente Sevilla. Con la llegada a la ciudad a finales de 1480 de los primeros inquisidores, auténticos heraldos del terror, se anuncia una etapa de persecuciones brutales que se extendieron al resto de la región. Andrés Bernáldez, que fue testigo de esta espiral vertiginosa, cuantifica en 8.000 los anusim que tienen que huir de Sevilla. La siembra de este odio y la cosecha de sus amargos frutos llegaron como el eco terrible de una catástrofe a los rincones más apartados del país, dejando una herida profunda cuya cicatriz imborrable portaron en sus vidas y sus memorias las generaciones futuras. Entre el Atlántico, Portugal, Extremadura y Sevilla, en Puebla de Guzmán, provincia de Huelva, donde nací, aún daba los últimos coletazos en los últimos cincuenta y primeros años sesenta, cuando aún era un chiquillo, la costumbre bárbara de “matar a los judas” el domingo llamado “de resurrección”, colofón de la semana que conmemora la pasión y muerte de Jesús de Galilea. Y aún recuerdo el ánimo de mi madre, entre el disgusto y el miedo, cuando al intentar corregir las rebeldías de mi adolescencia y de mi primera juventud me reprendía con la expresión “hijo, con la iglesia y la inquisición, chitón.” El silencio y la ocultación amasados en un latente miedo ha sido la materia que ha conformado las vidas de muchos españoles a lo largo del tiempo.
El trasiego de judíos y anusim entre España y Portugal, en ambas direcciones, originó situaciones de gran complejidad que suscitaron nuevas y redobladas tensiones en las zonas de refugio. Con el paso del tiempo la presencia del cristiano nuevo, del converso, del anusim, siempre sospechoso de herejía judaizante, en rebeliones como la que se produjo en Valladolid, en 1516, contra el cardenal Cisneros, según lo explicó Gutiérrez Nieto, o la de la guerra de las Comunidades en tiempos del rey y emperador Carlos I, fue patente. El autoritarismo despiadado y la crueldad de la inquisición no consumieron la hoguera del odio a los judíos y a los anusim. En estas circunstancias, la práctica secreta desgajada de su fuente, fue desfigurando y desdibujando la fe de nuestros antepasados, resuelta en un empobrecimiento progresivo y paralelo a la exposición contaminante de las concepciones cristianas. Para Israel S. Revàh aquella fe secreta a la que llamó “judaísmo potencial” se sostenía sobre el rechazo del catolicismo, el sentimiento de pertenencia a la misma Ley y a la esperanza puesta en el Mesías. Manifestación, pues, de una voluntad decidida de ser y pertenecer a una comunidad más amplia, a un pueblo.
Bien, pues desde los Abolafia o Abulafia, pasando por los Abcassis, Acevedo, Adam o Adame, Ayerbe, Badía, Bon, Bosque, Bueno, Bejarano, Caro, Castellano, Castillo, Centeno, Cepeda, hasta los Macías, Palma, Pereira, Ponce, Prado, Santos, o Úbeda, Vera, Vida, Zambrano, Zaragoza, Zarco, Zayas, etc. El listín de teléfonos sólo de la capital sevillana abunda en apellidos que el periodista e investigador chueta Pere Bonnín recogió en su libro “Sangre judía” (1998), sacados de las listas de penitenciados por la inquisición, de los censos de las juderías y de otras fuentes documentales. Por tanto, todos estos apellidos eran llevados por personas judías u obligadas y forzadas a la conversión por temor a las consecuencias de su negativa y posteriormente encausadas por la inquisición bajo la acusación de judaizantes.
En este discurrir hasta la actualidad, la conciencia histórica sobre estas cuestiones es muy desigual entre la población e igualmente entre los representantes públicos, mientras algunos, sobre todo desde las corporaciones locales, apoyan de forma más abierta y decidida iniciativas de tipo histórico y cultural como el desarrollo de la Red de Juderías, incluyendo a las propias ciudades y poblaciones en la misma, alentando propuestas acerca de la recuperación para la memoria de barrios, zonas urbanas o edificios de raigambre judía, promoviendo semanas culturales, ciclos de conferencias, y un largo etcétera, otros parecen impermeables a estas inquietudes. En Andalucía, tenemos actitudes positivas reflejadas en Córdoba, Jaén, Santa Olalla del Cala (Huelva), … y, paradójicamente, menos –por no decir nada- en Sevilla, ciudad que como sabemos no sólo fue un gran centro de la vida judía de España, sino también, una vez destruida esta, de -en la terminología de la época- “cristianos nuevos” tanto de origen español como portugués. Es difícil en consecuencia determinar el número de ben-anusim, y sólo un estudio exhaustivo y pormenorizado de las genealogías familiares nos podrían llevar a través del Registro Civil, los registros parroquiales y diferentes archivos a acercarnos a los avatares de la pequeña historia de tantas y tantas personas anónimas que soportaron con su sufrimiento el peso de la historia que se escribe con mayúsculas en la narración de los grandes acontecimientos. Hay grandes trabajos de investigación muy documentados para Sevilla, como el de Juan Gil “Los conversos y la inquisición sevillana” publicado por la Universidad de Sevilla y la Fundación El Monte en el año 2000.
No hay según todo lo anterior en la ciudad de Sevilla ninguna asociación específica de ben-anusim de la que se tenga conocimiento. Sin embargo, tenemos la Fundación Legado Sefardí-Asociación Sevilla-Sefarad dirigida por Uriel Valls (www.legadosefardi.org) que es una “asociación cultural, sin ánimo de lucro, legalmente constituida, que trabaja por fomentar las relaciones entre las culturas española y judía, por recuperar y mantener vivo el legado Sefardí en Andalucía, especialmente en Sevilla, y darlo a conocer al mundo entero.” La referida asociación tiene muy buenos amigos en el periodismo local, entre algunos escritores y los departamentos de historia medieval y moderna y contemporánea de España de la Universidad Hispalense. Dedica sus esfuerzos y su tiempo a la celebración de ciclos de conferencias y a la presentación de libros, eventos como una exposición sobre la Shoáh, a la visita guiada por los actuales barrios de San Bartolomé y Santa Cruz que ocupaba la antigua judería sevillana para grupos de personas interesadas, al diálogo con colegios e institutos de enseñanza media para establecer puentes de colaboración y cooperación entre alumnos españoles e israelíes, a la cooperación con otras asociaciones y organismos públicos y privados en la difusión de la historia y la cultura de la España sefardí, y a la apelación, con constancia y sin desmayo, a las autoridades municipales para que la rica herencia de la Sevilla judía no se pierda para las actuales y venideras generaciones. Sería una gran alegría que al calor de la Asociación nuevas conciencias ben-anusim se despertaran y se abrieran a la luz de la Toráh y encararan su propia historia como una parte cercenada que debe integrarse al corazón del pueblo judío, pero tendremos que ser pacientes, pues siglos de ominosa propaganda y de encarnizadas persecuciones judeófobas movidas por un odio oscuro e irracional en España no son tinieblas fáciles de disipar. No obstante, aquí estamos dispuestos y con ánimo, y en esa tarea nos van a encontrar.
Cinco Centúrias depois: O Retorno....
After Five Centuries, Bnai Anousim Visit Israel
September 02, 2005
Twenty Bnai Anousim hailing from Spain, Portugal and Brazil have been touring Israel this week on a solidarity visit.
The tour was arranged by the Jerusalem-based Shavei Israel organization, which assists “lost Jews” seeking to return to the Jewish people.
Bnai Anousim is the Hebrew term for people whose ancestors were forcibly converted to Catholicism over five centuries ago, during the time of the Spanish Inquisition. Historians have often referred to them by the derogatory term "Marranos."
The group, which includes a professor, three doctors, a psychiatrist and two psychologists, saw the sights in Tiberias, Haifa, the Golan and Tel Aviv, and spent the Sabbath in Jerusalem, where they paid an emotional visit to the Western Wall.
They also took part in the opening of a new museum-style exhibition organized by Shavei Israel at Heichal Shlomo in Jerusalem which outlines the past, present and future of the Bnai Anousim. Arrangements are already being made for the exhibition to be displayed next year at various universities, community centers and museums across Europe.
“There is a real awakening taking place among the Bnai Anousim, many of whom feel a strong and enduring connection to their Jewish heritage,” said Shavei Israel founder and Chairman Michael Freund. “I believe it is our responsibility to reach out to them, embrace them, and welcome them back home.”
For Sarah Quinones, aged 16 from Barcelona, spending time in the land of her forefathers was a profoundly moving experience. “It is difficult for me to explain, but my visiting Israel has helped me to better understand my Jewish identity. Now, I would like to continue on this spiritual search that I have begun.”
Shavei Israel does not proselytize to descendants of Jews, rather the organization responds to personal expressions of desire to return to Judaism. The initial spark may result from a desire to recover a lost heritage, or from an intense need to understand various inherited customs and family traditions.
According to Freund, Shavei Israel supports, guides and provides assistance for these personal journeys however varied they may be. The group's work is in complete accordance with Jewish Law and under the ongoing supervision of the Chief Rabbinate of the State of Israel.
September 02, 2005
Twenty Bnai Anousim hailing from Spain, Portugal and Brazil have been touring Israel this week on a solidarity visit.
The tour was arranged by the Jerusalem-based Shavei Israel organization, which assists “lost Jews” seeking to return to the Jewish people.
Bnai Anousim is the Hebrew term for people whose ancestors were forcibly converted to Catholicism over five centuries ago, during the time of the Spanish Inquisition. Historians have often referred to them by the derogatory term "Marranos."
The group, which includes a professor, three doctors, a psychiatrist and two psychologists, saw the sights in Tiberias, Haifa, the Golan and Tel Aviv, and spent the Sabbath in Jerusalem, where they paid an emotional visit to the Western Wall.
They also took part in the opening of a new museum-style exhibition organized by Shavei Israel at Heichal Shlomo in Jerusalem which outlines the past, present and future of the Bnai Anousim. Arrangements are already being made for the exhibition to be displayed next year at various universities, community centers and museums across Europe.
“There is a real awakening taking place among the Bnai Anousim, many of whom feel a strong and enduring connection to their Jewish heritage,” said Shavei Israel founder and Chairman Michael Freund. “I believe it is our responsibility to reach out to them, embrace them, and welcome them back home.”
For Sarah Quinones, aged 16 from Barcelona, spending time in the land of her forefathers was a profoundly moving experience. “It is difficult for me to explain, but my visiting Israel has helped me to better understand my Jewish identity. Now, I would like to continue on this spiritual search that I have begun.”
Shavei Israel does not proselytize to descendants of Jews, rather the organization responds to personal expressions of desire to return to Judaism. The initial spark may result from a desire to recover a lost heritage, or from an intense need to understand various inherited customs and family traditions.
According to Freund, Shavei Israel supports, guides and provides assistance for these personal journeys however varied they may be. The group's work is in complete accordance with Jewish Law and under the ongoing supervision of the Chief Rabbinate of the State of Israel.
Shavei Israel
Shavei Israel
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The Holocaust · Modern Israel · Conflict
Persecution of Jews
Anti-Semitism: (History / "New")
Shavei Israel , "Israel returns" in Hebrew, is an Israeli-based Jewish organization that was founded by Michael Freund in 2004. It is comprised of a team of academics, educators and rabbinical figures. Its main goal is to locate "lost Jews" and assist them in returning (Hebrew "teshuva" תשובה) to Judaism. It is the only group devoted to this purpose.
Shavei Israel was formerly known as Amishav, which was founded by Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail.
Goals
Shavei Israel is mostly known for its activities around the world in search for the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, most notably for its work with the Bnei Menashe.
The group is also extensively involved with emerging communities in Spain, Portugal, South and Central America and Mexico, seeking people whose Sephardic ancestors were forced to convert to Catholicism during the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions in those lands. The descendents of these forced converts were known as Marranos, they are also known as crypto-Jews if they maintained their Jewish faith in secrecy, or as Anusim if later generations eventually embraced Catholicism and lost all connection with their Jewish roots.
Shavei Israel also helps people whose Judaism was lost through cultural assimilation, to reconnect with or return to Judaism.
Shavei Israel insists that it is not a missionary organization, but simply a group trying to reconnect people to their Jewish roots.
Activities
Shavei Israel sponsors rabbis and teachers to work with various groups of "lost Jews" in places as far afield as India and the Iberian Peninsula. Shavei Israel rabbis are currently posted in Palma de Majorca, Spain, Oporto in northern Portugal, Brazil, and at the Shavei Israel Hebrew Centers in Mizoram and Manipur, North-East India.
It offers various educational options in Israel, including Machon Miriam, the only Spanish-language conversion and return institute in Jerusalem. Dozens of Spanish and Portuguese crypto-Jews graduate from Machon Miriam each year, and proceed to undergo formal conversion by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate.
They also help people who have converted to Judaism make Aliyah (immigrate to Israel) The organization has also published a series of books on Judaism in a dozen languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Mizo, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian and German.
Shavei Israel is largely responsible for the Israeli government's recognition of the Bnei Menashe as Jews in March 2005.
Temas e Informações:
Jews
Etymology of "Jew" · Who is a Jew?
Jewish leadership · Jewish culture
Judaism
Principles · Holidays · Prayer · Tanakh
Halakha · Talmud · Mitzvot (list) · Kabalah
Jewish ethnic divisions
Ashkenazi · Sephardi · Mizrahi · Temani
Bene Israel · Beta Israel · Samaritans
Jewish populations
Israel · United States · Russia/USSR
Canada · Germany · France · England
Latin America · Poland · China · Full list
Famous Jews by country · Full list
Jewish denominations
Orthodox · Conservative · Reform
Reconstructionist · Liberal · Karaite · Other
Jewish languages
Hebrew · Yiddish · Ladino · Dzhidi
Judeo-Aramaic · Judeo-Arabic
Jewish political movements
Zionism: (Labor / General / Revisionist)
Timeline · The Bund Union · Kibbutzim
Jewish history
Jewish history timeline · Schisms
Ancient Israel and Judah · Israel, Judah
Temples · Babylonian captivity
Hasmoneans and Greece · Sanhedrin
Jewish-Roman wars · Era of Pharisees
Diaspora · Middle Ages · Muslim Lands
Enlightenment/Haskalah · Hasidism · Aliyah
The Holocaust · Modern Israel · Conflict
Persecution of Jews
Anti-Semitism: (History / "New")
Shavei Israel , "Israel returns" in Hebrew, is an Israeli-based Jewish organization that was founded by Michael Freund in 2004. It is comprised of a team of academics, educators and rabbinical figures. Its main goal is to locate "lost Jews" and assist them in returning (Hebrew "teshuva" תשובה) to Judaism. It is the only group devoted to this purpose.
Shavei Israel was formerly known as Amishav, which was founded by Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail.
Goals
Shavei Israel is mostly known for its activities around the world in search for the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, most notably for its work with the Bnei Menashe.
The group is also extensively involved with emerging communities in Spain, Portugal, South and Central America and Mexico, seeking people whose Sephardic ancestors were forced to convert to Catholicism during the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions in those lands. The descendents of these forced converts were known as Marranos, they are also known as crypto-Jews if they maintained their Jewish faith in secrecy, or as Anusim if later generations eventually embraced Catholicism and lost all connection with their Jewish roots.
Shavei Israel also helps people whose Judaism was lost through cultural assimilation, to reconnect with or return to Judaism.
Shavei Israel insists that it is not a missionary organization, but simply a group trying to reconnect people to their Jewish roots.
Activities
Shavei Israel sponsors rabbis and teachers to work with various groups of "lost Jews" in places as far afield as India and the Iberian Peninsula. Shavei Israel rabbis are currently posted in Palma de Majorca, Spain, Oporto in northern Portugal, Brazil, and at the Shavei Israel Hebrew Centers in Mizoram and Manipur, North-East India.
It offers various educational options in Israel, including Machon Miriam, the only Spanish-language conversion and return institute in Jerusalem. Dozens of Spanish and Portuguese crypto-Jews graduate from Machon Miriam each year, and proceed to undergo formal conversion by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate.
They also help people who have converted to Judaism make Aliyah (immigrate to Israel) The organization has also published a series of books on Judaism in a dozen languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Mizo, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian and German.
Shavei Israel is largely responsible for the Israeli government's recognition of the Bnei Menashe as Jews in March 2005.
Chanukah's uncomfortable message
Rabbi Avi Shafran
Recent events -- like the president of Iran's call for Israel's destruction (and then, apparently in a more kindly mood, for its relocation to Europe); the United Nations secretary-general's participation in a UN-sponsored "Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People" next to a map showing "Palestine" in place of Israel; the sudden appearance of anti-Semitism in one country (Peru) and the refusal of another (Syria) to permit a Jewish journalist (WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein) entry because of his ethnicity -- are timely things to ponder as we head toward Chanukah.
Nor should we leave out the ugly underbelly of even some recent "good news," the International Red Cross's vote (after years of haggling, and with only 27 nays and 10 abstentions) to add a new official symbol to the cross and the crescent, entitling Israel's volunteer emergency services to be protected from attack outside the borders of the Jewish State.
Good news, yes. But the new symbol is not the all-too-familiar-to-Israelis "Red Magen David" but rather a red square standing on one corner. A star may be added to the square, but so can a unicorn or a turnip; the stand-alone star of Israel's emergency responders will continue to afford no international protection to vehicles or personnel displaying it. Even, it seems, when Jews are let in the club, they must check their identities at the door.
To understand what all the above "spirit of the season" has to do with the Jewish time of year, one has to move beyond bemoaning anti-Semitism, toward understanding it.
It's not an easy task. Irrational Jew-hatred's astounding resiliency and its purveyors' impressive creativity are baffling. And anti-Semitism has been around for centuries, indeed millennia. So, too, though, has been Jewish tradition's take on the matter.
Classical Jewish thought's approach to the question of anti-Semitism may have been most pithily rendered by the renowned Rabbi Yosef Ber Soloveitchik of Brisk (1820-1892), who wrote: "Know that the more that Jews minimize the 'apartness' that the Torah mandates through Torah study and the observance of the commandments, the more God allows hatred [within others] to bring about the necessary outcome -- that the Jewish people remain a people apart."
It says much about how far we Jews have drifted from the fundamentals of our spiritual heritage that such a thought strikes so many as outrageous. How, they ask, could our attempt to blend harmoniously into larger society and to jettison religious observances increase anti-Semitism?
Much as we may squirm, we Jews are meant to be "a people apart."
Yet that is precisely what the Torah itself repeatedly and explicitly predicts (as in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28), what authentic Jewish religious leaders have always maintained, and what alone explains the reality around us. Once our initial umbrage at the idea subsides, what remains are the troubling but telling facts: Despite the Holocaust, and compulsory education in liberal values, and interfaith efforts, and Jews' hearty embrace of the cultures in which they live -- we are as hated as ever. Perhaps more than ever.
That is the point. Much as we may squirm, we Jews are meant to be "a people apart." And if we try to be "just like all the nations," in the Torah's disapproving words, God allows others to remind us of our role.
Which brings us to Chanukah.
Some contemporary Jewish writers -- even, sadly, some clergy -- seem intent on minimizing the significance of the Jewish holiday of lights, claiming it is but a minor affair, artificially magnified by its proximity in the calendar to non-Jewish celebratory days. Nothing could be more misleading. Chanukah, to be sure, is not a Biblical holiday; it is based on an historical occurrence that took place after Biblical times. But it is the focus of a substantial amount of Jewish thought and lore, particularly in the mystical tradition.
What motivates the would-be Chanukah-diminishers, I suspect, is their discomfort with Chanukah's elemental message.
Because according to Jewish tradition, the victory celebrated on Chanukah was only superficially about the routing of the Greek-Syrian Seleucid Empire's forces from Judea. More essentially, it was about the routing of the Greek assimilationist inroads into Jewish life. To the rabbis who established the holiday, a greater enemy than the flesh-and-blood forces that had defiled the Holy Temple was the adoption by Jews of Hellenistic ideals.
For the Seleucids not only forbade observance of the Sabbath, circumcision, Jewish modesty and the study of Torah, they convinced some Jews to embrace their world-view. They installed not only a statue of Zeus in the Temple, but an assimilationist attitude in Jewish hearts. And Chanukah stands for the uprooting of that attitude, for the recognition that Jews are, and must be, different.
Which is why Chanukah's observance does not involve a special feast -- as does Purim's, when the threat against us was physical -- but rather only the lighting, and gazing at, the ethereal light of candles. The battle of Chanukah was, in its essence, a spiritual one. Light represents Torah. And Torah -- its study and its observance -- is the essence of the Jewish people. "A bit of light," as the rabbis of the Talmud put it, "banishes much darkness."
And so, as we light the Chanukah candles, watch their flames and consider events both ancient and current -- "in those days, at this time" -- we might give some thought, too, to both the spiritual state of the Jewish world today and to how widely, insanely we are hated.
And ponder the message of the lights that flicker before us.
Recent events -- like the president of Iran's call for Israel's destruction (and then, apparently in a more kindly mood, for its relocation to Europe); the United Nations secretary-general's participation in a UN-sponsored "Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People" next to a map showing "Palestine" in place of Israel; the sudden appearance of anti-Semitism in one country (Peru) and the refusal of another (Syria) to permit a Jewish journalist (WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein) entry because of his ethnicity -- are timely things to ponder as we head toward Chanukah.
Nor should we leave out the ugly underbelly of even some recent "good news," the International Red Cross's vote (after years of haggling, and with only 27 nays and 10 abstentions) to add a new official symbol to the cross and the crescent, entitling Israel's volunteer emergency services to be protected from attack outside the borders of the Jewish State.
Good news, yes. But the new symbol is not the all-too-familiar-to-Israelis "Red Magen David" but rather a red square standing on one corner. A star may be added to the square, but so can a unicorn or a turnip; the stand-alone star of Israel's emergency responders will continue to afford no international protection to vehicles or personnel displaying it. Even, it seems, when Jews are let in the club, they must check their identities at the door.
To understand what all the above "spirit of the season" has to do with the Jewish time of year, one has to move beyond bemoaning anti-Semitism, toward understanding it.
It's not an easy task. Irrational Jew-hatred's astounding resiliency and its purveyors' impressive creativity are baffling. And anti-Semitism has been around for centuries, indeed millennia. So, too, though, has been Jewish tradition's take on the matter.
Classical Jewish thought's approach to the question of anti-Semitism may have been most pithily rendered by the renowned Rabbi Yosef Ber Soloveitchik of Brisk (1820-1892), who wrote: "Know that the more that Jews minimize the 'apartness' that the Torah mandates through Torah study and the observance of the commandments, the more God allows hatred [within others] to bring about the necessary outcome -- that the Jewish people remain a people apart."
It says much about how far we Jews have drifted from the fundamentals of our spiritual heritage that such a thought strikes so many as outrageous. How, they ask, could our attempt to blend harmoniously into larger society and to jettison religious observances increase anti-Semitism?
Much as we may squirm, we Jews are meant to be "a people apart."
Yet that is precisely what the Torah itself repeatedly and explicitly predicts (as in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28), what authentic Jewish religious leaders have always maintained, and what alone explains the reality around us. Once our initial umbrage at the idea subsides, what remains are the troubling but telling facts: Despite the Holocaust, and compulsory education in liberal values, and interfaith efforts, and Jews' hearty embrace of the cultures in which they live -- we are as hated as ever. Perhaps more than ever.
That is the point. Much as we may squirm, we Jews are meant to be "a people apart." And if we try to be "just like all the nations," in the Torah's disapproving words, God allows others to remind us of our role.
Which brings us to Chanukah.
Some contemporary Jewish writers -- even, sadly, some clergy -- seem intent on minimizing the significance of the Jewish holiday of lights, claiming it is but a minor affair, artificially magnified by its proximity in the calendar to non-Jewish celebratory days. Nothing could be more misleading. Chanukah, to be sure, is not a Biblical holiday; it is based on an historical occurrence that took place after Biblical times. But it is the focus of a substantial amount of Jewish thought and lore, particularly in the mystical tradition.
What motivates the would-be Chanukah-diminishers, I suspect, is their discomfort with Chanukah's elemental message.
Because according to Jewish tradition, the victory celebrated on Chanukah was only superficially about the routing of the Greek-Syrian Seleucid Empire's forces from Judea. More essentially, it was about the routing of the Greek assimilationist inroads into Jewish life. To the rabbis who established the holiday, a greater enemy than the flesh-and-blood forces that had defiled the Holy Temple was the adoption by Jews of Hellenistic ideals.
For the Seleucids not only forbade observance of the Sabbath, circumcision, Jewish modesty and the study of Torah, they convinced some Jews to embrace their world-view. They installed not only a statue of Zeus in the Temple, but an assimilationist attitude in Jewish hearts. And Chanukah stands for the uprooting of that attitude, for the recognition that Jews are, and must be, different.
Which is why Chanukah's observance does not involve a special feast -- as does Purim's, when the threat against us was physical -- but rather only the lighting, and gazing at, the ethereal light of candles. The battle of Chanukah was, in its essence, a spiritual one. Light represents Torah. And Torah -- its study and its observance -- is the essence of the Jewish people. "A bit of light," as the rabbis of the Talmud put it, "banishes much darkness."
And so, as we light the Chanukah candles, watch their flames and consider events both ancient and current -- "in those days, at this time" -- we might give some thought, too, to both the spiritual state of the Jewish world today and to how widely, insanely we are hated.
And ponder the message of the lights that flicker before us.
Uma Carta
Dear Andre Pereira,
As the conclusion of 2005 draws near, I would like to thank you for your support of ADL. Whether the backing is moral or financial, we couldn’t undertake the work that we do without you.
ADL’s Annual Appeal is the most important campaign of the year. It’s the one that determines how much funding we can call on in the coming months to sustain our fight against anti-Semitism and hate and to challenge bias and prejudice wherever it is found.
Over the last year - because tens of thousands of individuals like you have spoken up and spoken out -world leaders, especially in Europe, have heard our concerns and have begun responding more vigorously to anti-Semitism both in their own countries and around the world. That said, I sometimes feel that for every step forward, we have to fight harder and harder to prevent ourselves being driven two steps back. As you well know, in places such as the Middle East, significant areas of Europe and specific countries like Ukraine, the disease of anti-Semitism is spreading at an alarming rate. We need your support more than ever to fight this epidemic.
You can be sure of one thing. In the face of these new threats, ADL will not back down. Whether the challenge is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his threat to destroy Israel and kill millions, or a swastika on an American synagogue in your neighborhood, we will:
Investigate hate crime
Expose extremists
Educate and engage the public
Advocate and intervene with leaders worldwide
In all these efforts, we depend on people like you who are willing to stand up for your principles and beliefs by funding our work.
Sincerely,
Abraham H. Foxman
As the conclusion of 2005 draws near, I would like to thank you for your support of ADL. Whether the backing is moral or financial, we couldn’t undertake the work that we do without you.
ADL’s Annual Appeal is the most important campaign of the year. It’s the one that determines how much funding we can call on in the coming months to sustain our fight against anti-Semitism and hate and to challenge bias and prejudice wherever it is found.
Over the last year - because tens of thousands of individuals like you have spoken up and spoken out -world leaders, especially in Europe, have heard our concerns and have begun responding more vigorously to anti-Semitism both in their own countries and around the world. That said, I sometimes feel that for every step forward, we have to fight harder and harder to prevent ourselves being driven two steps back. As you well know, in places such as the Middle East, significant areas of Europe and specific countries like Ukraine, the disease of anti-Semitism is spreading at an alarming rate. We need your support more than ever to fight this epidemic.
You can be sure of one thing. In the face of these new threats, ADL will not back down. Whether the challenge is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his threat to destroy Israel and kill millions, or a swastika on an American synagogue in your neighborhood, we will:
Investigate hate crime
Expose extremists
Educate and engage the public
Advocate and intervene with leaders worldwide
In all these efforts, we depend on people like you who are willing to stand up for your principles and beliefs by funding our work.
Sincerely,
Abraham H. Foxman
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Diversos
Chanukah Sameah,
A nossa querida amiga Rivka Landauer Guerra está em Bet-Yizhak, Netanya à qual agradecemos gentilmente o apoio prestado e integração da nossa kehillah no movimento associativo judaico internacional. Um beijinho muito carinhoso das 7 crianças nossas e em especial das amigas da nossa já grande Kehillah Or Ahayim. SbL
A nossa querida amiga Rivka Landauer Guerra está em Bet-Yizhak, Netanya à qual agradecemos gentilmente o apoio prestado e integração da nossa kehillah no movimento associativo judaico internacional. Um beijinho muito carinhoso das 7 crianças nossas e em especial das amigas da nossa já grande Kehillah Or Ahayim. SbL
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
O Nascimento do Estado de Israel
Rabbi Ken Spiro
After the British brutally turned away Holocaust survivors from Israel, the UN voted to partition the land.
The British broke promise after promise to the Jews while they created new Arab countries out of the land of the former Ottoman Empire. In addition, because of Arab revolts and pressure, the British even barred entry to the land of Israel to Jews fleeing the Holocaust. (See Part 64.)
Even when the full scope of the Holocaust was known, and thousands of Holocaust survivors were stranded in refugee camps (DP camps), the British refused to relent.
One of the most egregious of the British actions involved the refugee ship, Exodus.
One of the most egregious of the British actions involved the refugee ship, Exodus, which the Royal Navy intercepted in 1947 in the Mediterranean Sea with 4,500 Jews aboard. The ship was brought into Haifa port under British escort; there the Holocaust survivors were forcibly transferred to another ship and returned back to Germany via France.
Abba Eban, who was then the Jewish liason to a special UN committee -- called Special Commmitte On Palestine or UNSCOP -- persuaded four UN representatives to go to Haifa to witness the brutality of the British against the Jews.
Historian Martin Gilbert includes Eban's account of what happened there in Israel: A History (p. 145):
"[In Haifa] the four members watched a 'gruesome operation.' The Jewish refugees had decided 'not to accept banishment with docility. If anyone had wanted to know what Churchill meant by a "squalid war," he would have found out by watching British soldier using rifle butts, hose pipes and tear gas against the survivors of the death camps. Men, women and children were forcibly taken off to prison ships, locked in cages below decks and set out of Palestine waters.'
"When the four members of UNSCOP came back to Jerusalem, Eban recalled, 'they were pale with shock. I could see that they were pre-occupied with one point alone: if this was the only way that the British Mandate could continue, it would be better not to continue it at all.'"
UN PARTITION OF PALESTINE
The British also wanted out of the problem. They had 100,000 soldiers/police trying to maintain control with a total population of about 600,000 Jews and 1.2 million Arabs. (Interestingly, they had the same size force controlling India with a population of over 350 million!)
And so it came to pass that the British turned the matter over to the UN which decided to end the British Mandate over what was left of "Palestine" (after the creation of the country of Jordan) and to divide the remaining land among the Arabs and Jews. The proposal called for the Jews to get:
a narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean coast, including Tel Aviv and Haifa
a piece of land surrounding the Kineret (Sea of Galilee), including the Golan Heights
a large piece in the south, which was the uninhabitable Negev Desert
The Arabs were to get:
the Gaza Strip
a chunk of the north, including the city of Tzfat (Safed) and western Galilee
the entire West Bank of the River Jordan and the hills of Judea and Samaria
Jerusalem was to be under international control.
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations voted for this partition plan. Of those voting, 33 nations voted yes, including USA and USSR; 13 mostly-Arab nations voted no; 11 nations abstained.
Hard-hearted to the end, the British did not vote yes; they abstained.
As disappointed as the Jews were with the portion allotted for the Jewish state, they felt that something was better than nothing after all the waiting and the pain.
However, the Arabs, always maximalist in their demands, rejected the UN resolution. The next day Arab rioting began, and two weeks later soldiers from surrounding Arab countries began arriving into Palestine.
The British, happy to be out of the situation, were packing up to go and turned their backs on what was going on. Writes David Ben Gurion in his Israel: A Personal History (p. 65):
"The British did not lift a finger to stop this military invasion. They also refused to cooperate with the UN committee charged with supervising implementation of the General Assembly resolution. At the same time, the Arabs living in the district destined to become part of the Jewish state began evacuating their homes and moving to the Arab states neighboring Palestine at the orders of the Arab High Committee."
In the midst of confusion, the rioting continued with almost 1,000 Jews murdered by Arabs in the ensuing four months.
One of the worst incidents occurred on April 13, 1948. A convoy of 70 doctors and nurses making their way to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus was ambushed by Arabs. This happened 200 yards of a British police station. After a seven-hour shoot-out, during which the British did nothing, all the doctors and nurses were killed. Afterwards, the Arabs mutilated their bodies.
JERUSALEM UNDER SIEGE
In all of this, the British encouraged the King of Jordan, Abdullah, to invade and annex the Arab sections to his kingdom. To Abdullah this was not enough. He wanted Jerusalem too.
As a result Jerusalem came under siege.
The focus of the struggle during April and May 1948 was the road to Jerusalem which passes through the mountains. The vehicles on that road are completely exposed to gunmen up above. It was on this road that all supplies to the Jews of the city had to come. But they could not get through.
The focus of the struggle during April and May 1948 was the road to Jerusalem.
Hunger reigned. The residents of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City were completely cut off.
And then an amazing incident happened. A young Yemenite Jew, who was not known for his shooting skills, almost accidentally killed three Arab men in the hills. One of these men was the Arab leader, Abdul Khader el Husseini. Demoralized, the Arab forces abandoned their positions to attend his funeral.
As a result a huge convoy of 250 trucks of food was able to re-supply the city. Writes Berel Wein in Triumph of Survival (p. 397):
"[On Shabbat, April 17, 1948] Jews left their synagogues and, with their prayer shawls still draping their shoulders, helped unload the convoy. The siege of Jerusalem was broken for the moment. The Arabs, however, mounted a strong counter-attack, and by the end of April once again cut the Jerusalem road... for the next seven weeks Jewish Jerusalem was isolated."
A NEW STATE IS BORN
The official date given by the United Nations in their partition vote for the creation of the two new entities was May 15th, 1948.
Thus, May 14th was to be the last day of the British Mandate. At 4 p.m., the British lowered their flag and immediately the Jews raised their own.
It was a flag designed in 1897 by the First Zionist Congress. It was white (the color of newness and purity), and it had two blue stripes (the color of heaven) like the stripes of a tallit, the prayer shawl, which symbolized the transmission of Jewish tradition. In its center was the Star of David.
Thus on May 14, 1948 at 4:00 p.m., Hay Iyar, the 5th of Iyar, Israel declared itself a state.
After 2,000 years, the land of Israel was once more in the hands of the Jews.
David Ben Gurion read the Declaration of Independence over the radio:
"The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here the spiritual, religious and national identity was formed. Here they achieved independence and created a culture of national and universal significance. Here they wrote and gave the Bible to the world...
"Exiled from Palestine, the Jewish people remained faithful to it in all the countries of the dispersion, never ceasing to pray and hope for their return and restoration of their national freedom.
"Accordingly we, the members of the National Council met together in solemn assembly today and by virtue of the natural and historic right of the Jewish people and with the support of the resolution of the General of the United Nations, hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine to be called Israel...
"We offer peace and amity to all neighboring states and their peoples and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all...
"With trust in the Rock of Israel, we set our hands to this declaration at this session of the Provisional State Council in the city of Tel Aviv on Sabbath Eve, 5th Iyar 5708, 14th day of May 1948."
(Note that the Declaration of Independence of Israel -- unlike the American Declaration of Independence -- does not mention God. This is because the hard-line secularists that dominated the Jewish Agency opposed any such thing. "Rock of Israel" became a compromise.)
Everyone was dancing in the streets. But not for long.
Almost immediately five Arab countries declared war and Egypt bombed Tel Aviv.
O Impacto da Bíblia
Rabbi Ken Spiro
The Bible is the best selling book in human history. Its moral, spiritual and even political impact has been profound and unmistakable. How did that come to be?
There is no question that the Bible has been the most influential book in human history as well as the best and biggest seller. While we may appreciate the profound impact the Bible has had on the moral, spiritual and even political development of the West, few of us appreciate the process whereby this came to be so.
In this first of series of articles on the impact of the Bible on civilization I would like to talk about the historical process which led to the mass spread of the Bible.
Today virtually every household in the West has at least one, if not more, copies of the Bible. It has been translated into over 1,000 languages, and in only 150 years (from 1800 to 1950) more than 1.5 billion copies were sold. (1)
Although the Bible is a ubiquitous product in virtually every Western home today this was no means the case 500 years ago. The story of the spread of the Bible is one of the lesser-known, but fascinating aspects of the Jewish impact on civilization.
Our story begins with the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire. In the 4th century, especially during the reign of the Emperor Constantine (306-337 CE), Christianity made the dramatic switch from persecuted splinter sect of Judaism to major world religion. During the following centuries the Christian faith spread throughout Europe and the Middle East gathering millions of new adherents who were formally pagans.
The Bible spreads outward from Zion, until the Church stands as a bulwark against its dissemination to the masses.
As the church spread, it grew into a tremendous political and physical power. With the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, the church took over the reigns of authority within former empire boundaries.(2)
At the same time, the collapse of Rome led to a precipitous decline in culture, literacy and general quality of life in the region. Out of this relative chaos emerged the feudal system which would serve as the main political and economic structure of Medieval Europe.Within this feudal system, the church, with its vast network of dioceses, huge land-holdings and relatively literate clergy, emerged as the most powerful institution. The church's power grew to such an extent that by the 11th century Pope Innocent III was more powerful than any monarch in Europe and church revenues from feudal taxation far exceeded the revenues collected by local nobility and even kings.(3)
Besides physically controlling much of Europe the church also controlled the spiritual destiny of the Western Christian world, and the soul of every Christian -- it could grant pardons and offer salvation or punish with excommunication or eternal damnation.
The church also had an almost complete monopoly on both literacy and books in Medieval Europe, as the only people who were educated to read were clergy, with very few exceptions. (One such exception were the Jews, who had a near 100 percent literacy among them.) The reason for this was partly economic -- before the development of the printing press in the 15th century, all books had to be copied by hand, a very time consuming and expensive process. The few libraries that existed were virtually all in the hands of the church and the vast majority of people could neither afford a book nor read one.
The feudal system was a primitive and harsh system. The vast majority of people were peasant farmers who led a subsistence level existence, slaving away on farms and paying most of their meager harvest in taxes to the nobility or the church. The church reaped huge economic benefit from this feudal system yet as it grew in wealth and power it found itself in an uncomfortable moral position.
In theory, Christianity was based on both the teachings of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Gospels and Writings. The Hebrew Bible constantly speaks about the notions of equality, charity, social responsibility and spirituality. The Christian Gospels and Writings echo many of the same sentiments and also stress the idea of the meek inheriting the earth. These ethical ideals were in sharp contrast to realities of the very materialistic and powerful medieval church. This hypocrisy did not escape the church's awareness and thus we have one of the great ironies of history -- the Roman Catholic Church which drew its legitimacy directly from the Bible was more afraid of the Bible than any other book in its library!
The church embarked on a deliberate policy to deny the common people access to the Bible. (4) This policy forbid a member of the clergy from owning or publicly reading from the Bible without special permission from higher church officials. Even if a local parish priest was given permission to read the Bible to his flock, every copy was written in Latin, so virtually no peasants would understand what he or she was hearing.
So threatened was the church by the Bible that in 1408 Bishop Arundel of England decreed that anyone making or using an unlicensed translation of the Bible was liable to be put to death. (5)
Persecution of the Bible carried on for centuries but the "Book of Books," could not be suppressed forever. Disgust with the decadence of the church combined with humanity's desire to hear the word of God would lead to dramatic political and religious changes in Europe and the mass translation and dissemination of the Bible.
How that happened will be covered in the next installment in this series.
SOURCES:
1.Goldberg, M. Hirsh, "Jewish Connection," Maryland: Scarborough House, 1993, pp. 6-130.
2.Johnson, Paul, "A History of Christianity," New York: Simon & Schuster, 1976, p. 104.
3.Dillenberger, John and Welch, Claude, "Protestant Christianity: Interpreted Through Its Development," New York: Charles Scribner and Sons, 1954, p. 11.
4.Phelps-Brown, Henry, "Egalitarianism and the Generation of Inequality," Oxford:Oxford University Press, 1988, p. 68.
5.Tuchman, Barbara, "The Bible and the Sword," New York: New York University Press, 1956, p.85.
The Bible is the best selling book in human history. Its moral, spiritual and even political impact has been profound and unmistakable. How did that come to be?
There is no question that the Bible has been the most influential book in human history as well as the best and biggest seller. While we may appreciate the profound impact the Bible has had on the moral, spiritual and even political development of the West, few of us appreciate the process whereby this came to be so.
In this first of series of articles on the impact of the Bible on civilization I would like to talk about the historical process which led to the mass spread of the Bible.
Today virtually every household in the West has at least one, if not more, copies of the Bible. It has been translated into over 1,000 languages, and in only 150 years (from 1800 to 1950) more than 1.5 billion copies were sold. (1)
Although the Bible is a ubiquitous product in virtually every Western home today this was no means the case 500 years ago. The story of the spread of the Bible is one of the lesser-known, but fascinating aspects of the Jewish impact on civilization.
Our story begins with the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire. In the 4th century, especially during the reign of the Emperor Constantine (306-337 CE), Christianity made the dramatic switch from persecuted splinter sect of Judaism to major world religion. During the following centuries the Christian faith spread throughout Europe and the Middle East gathering millions of new adherents who were formally pagans.
The Bible spreads outward from Zion, until the Church stands as a bulwark against its dissemination to the masses.
As the church spread, it grew into a tremendous political and physical power. With the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, the church took over the reigns of authority within former empire boundaries.(2)
At the same time, the collapse of Rome led to a precipitous decline in culture, literacy and general quality of life in the region. Out of this relative chaos emerged the feudal system which would serve as the main political and economic structure of Medieval Europe.Within this feudal system, the church, with its vast network of dioceses, huge land-holdings and relatively literate clergy, emerged as the most powerful institution. The church's power grew to such an extent that by the 11th century Pope Innocent III was more powerful than any monarch in Europe and church revenues from feudal taxation far exceeded the revenues collected by local nobility and even kings.(3)
Besides physically controlling much of Europe the church also controlled the spiritual destiny of the Western Christian world, and the soul of every Christian -- it could grant pardons and offer salvation or punish with excommunication or eternal damnation.
The church also had an almost complete monopoly on both literacy and books in Medieval Europe, as the only people who were educated to read were clergy, with very few exceptions. (One such exception were the Jews, who had a near 100 percent literacy among them.) The reason for this was partly economic -- before the development of the printing press in the 15th century, all books had to be copied by hand, a very time consuming and expensive process. The few libraries that existed were virtually all in the hands of the church and the vast majority of people could neither afford a book nor read one.
The feudal system was a primitive and harsh system. The vast majority of people were peasant farmers who led a subsistence level existence, slaving away on farms and paying most of their meager harvest in taxes to the nobility or the church. The church reaped huge economic benefit from this feudal system yet as it grew in wealth and power it found itself in an uncomfortable moral position.
In theory, Christianity was based on both the teachings of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Gospels and Writings. The Hebrew Bible constantly speaks about the notions of equality, charity, social responsibility and spirituality. The Christian Gospels and Writings echo many of the same sentiments and also stress the idea of the meek inheriting the earth. These ethical ideals were in sharp contrast to realities of the very materialistic and powerful medieval church. This hypocrisy did not escape the church's awareness and thus we have one of the great ironies of history -- the Roman Catholic Church which drew its legitimacy directly from the Bible was more afraid of the Bible than any other book in its library!
The church embarked on a deliberate policy to deny the common people access to the Bible. (4) This policy forbid a member of the clergy from owning or publicly reading from the Bible without special permission from higher church officials. Even if a local parish priest was given permission to read the Bible to his flock, every copy was written in Latin, so virtually no peasants would understand what he or she was hearing.
So threatened was the church by the Bible that in 1408 Bishop Arundel of England decreed that anyone making or using an unlicensed translation of the Bible was liable to be put to death. (5)
Persecution of the Bible carried on for centuries but the "Book of Books," could not be suppressed forever. Disgust with the decadence of the church combined with humanity's desire to hear the word of God would lead to dramatic political and religious changes in Europe and the mass translation and dissemination of the Bible.
How that happened will be covered in the next installment in this series.
SOURCES:
1.Goldberg, M. Hirsh, "Jewish Connection," Maryland: Scarborough House, 1993, pp. 6-130.
2.Johnson, Paul, "A History of Christianity," New York: Simon & Schuster, 1976, p. 104.
3.Dillenberger, John and Welch, Claude, "Protestant Christianity: Interpreted Through Its Development," New York: Charles Scribner and Sons, 1954, p. 11.
4.Phelps-Brown, Henry, "Egalitarianism and the Generation of Inequality," Oxford:Oxford University Press, 1988, p. 68.
5.Tuchman, Barbara, "The Bible and the Sword," New York: New York University Press, 1956, p.85.
Friday, December 23, 2005
Vários acontecimentos contra o nosso povo
Several urgent events arose during the year in which your help was key to our success. Among them:
American Neo-Nazis: In Cadillac, MI, when the National Socialist Movement usurped a community clean-up day and received a certificate of appreciation signed by the mayor, ADL helped outraged residents form a task force to combat hate, and provided anti-bias training for the community.
British Boycott of Israeli Universities: When the British Association of University Teachers (AUT) voted on the evening before Passover to boycott Israel's Haifa and Bar-Ilan Universities, ADL sprang into action. We delivered a petition signed by over 10,000 of you, forcing the AUT to rescind its ban.
Iranian Aggression: When Iranian president
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be "wiped off the map," ADL put pressure on the international community to hold Iran accountable, spurring UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to cancel a trip to Tehran. Just last week, Ahmadinejad renewed his threat and sunk to a new low by calling the Holocaust a "myth." We increased the pressure on world leaders, and the Swedish Parliament was the first to respond by cutting off all contact with the Iranian regime.This fight is not over!\nThanks to your generosity, in 2005 we also trained key first responders to stop terror before it happened, assisted federal officials in tracking extremists worldwide and taught tens of thousands of children how to deal with hate before they could be poisoned by it.\nAs December 31st approaches, make the world a better place by supporting ADL with your tax-deductible contribution. Help us keep up the fight for a safer and more secure 2006.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be "wiped off the map," ADL put pressure on the international community to hold Iran accountable, spurring UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to cancel a trip to Tehran. Just last week, Ahmadinejad renewed his threat and sunk to a new low by calling the Holocaust a "myth." We increased the pressure on world leaders, and the Swedish Parliament was the first to respond by cutting off all contact with the Iranian regime.This fight is not over!
Thanks to your generosity, in 2005 we also trained key first responders to stop terror before it happened, assisted federal officials in tracking extremists worldwide and taught tens of thousands of children how to deal with hate before they could be poisoned by it.
As December 31st approaches, make the world a better place by supporting ADL with your tax-deductible contribution. Help us keep up the fight for a safer and more secure 2006.
American Neo-Nazis: In Cadillac, MI, when the National Socialist Movement usurped a community clean-up day and received a certificate of appreciation signed by the mayor, ADL helped outraged residents form a task force to combat hate, and provided anti-bias training for the community.
British Boycott of Israeli Universities: When the British Association of University Teachers (AUT) voted on the evening before Passover to boycott Israel's Haifa and Bar-Ilan Universities, ADL sprang into action. We delivered a petition signed by over 10,000 of you, forcing the AUT to rescind its ban.
Iranian Aggression: When Iranian president
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be "wiped off the map," ADL put pressure on the international community to hold Iran accountable, spurring UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to cancel a trip to Tehran. Just last week, Ahmadinejad renewed his threat and sunk to a new low by calling the Holocaust a "myth." We increased the pressure on world leaders, and the Swedish Parliament was the first to respond by cutting off all contact with the Iranian regime.This fight is not over!\nThanks to your generosity, in 2005 we also trained key first responders to stop terror before it happened, assisted federal officials in tracking extremists worldwide and taught tens of thousands of children how to deal with hate before they could be poisoned by it.\nAs December 31st approaches, make the world a better place by supporting ADL with your tax-deductible contribution. Help us keep up the fight for a safer and more secure 2006.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be "wiped off the map," ADL put pressure on the international community to hold Iran accountable, spurring UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to cancel a trip to Tehran. Just last week, Ahmadinejad renewed his threat and sunk to a new low by calling the Holocaust a "myth." We increased the pressure on world leaders, and the Swedish Parliament was the first to respond by cutting off all contact with the Iranian regime.This fight is not over!
Thanks to your generosity, in 2005 we also trained key first responders to stop terror before it happened, assisted federal officials in tracking extremists worldwide and taught tens of thousands of children how to deal with hate before they could be poisoned by it.
As December 31st approaches, make the world a better place by supporting ADL with your tax-deductible contribution. Help us keep up the fight for a safer and more secure 2006.
Feliz Chanukah
Shabat Shalom e Chanukah sameah, hibuk,
Andre Moshe Pereira
( Presidente da Direcção da Koah)
WUPJ
O World Union of Progressive Judaism tem como uma das suas principais missões assegurar a continuidade de uma vida judaica autêntica não apenas em Israel e nos Estados Unidos, bem como no restante do mundo. Para que este objectivo seja cumprido, o WUPJ desenvolve diferentes programas destinados a áreas específicas de actuação na América Latina incluindo países como Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Uruguai e a região das Caraíbas.
Em 2002 após uma visita à América Latina, foi criado o grupo Yad B’Yad Task Force, liderado por Jerry Tenenbaum. Nesta época a crise económica na região agravava-se, especialmente na Argentina, atingindo boa parte da comunidade judaica pertencente à classe média.
No princípio, o grupo providenciou alimentos, roupas e remédios para as famílias que passavam por dificuldades. Desde então fundos são arrecadados e investidos em projectos sociais e educacionais da Fundación Judaica, com sede em Buenos Aires.
A iniciativa mais recente da Yad B’Yad Task Force, através da representante para o Brasil, Lenore Mass, é o apoio financeiro para o Projecto AVIV da CIM Congregação Israelita Mineira, em Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
O rabino Joel Oseran, Vice-Presidente da WUPJ enfatiza a importância da educação judaica. Cita como exemplo o apoio ao projecto da Escola Arle Fern, que atende cerca de 600 jovens estudantes da comunidade judaica de Buenos Aires. O WUPJ, através do Yad B’Yad Task Force e do Judaísmo Progressista da América do Norte, assumiu o compromisso de prover fundos para bolsas de estudos, programas de alimentação e ajuda financeira para profissionais da área de educação especial.
Em 2002 após uma visita à América Latina, foi criado o grupo Yad B’Yad Task Force, liderado por Jerry Tenenbaum. Nesta época a crise económica na região agravava-se, especialmente na Argentina, atingindo boa parte da comunidade judaica pertencente à classe média.
No princípio, o grupo providenciou alimentos, roupas e remédios para as famílias que passavam por dificuldades. Desde então fundos são arrecadados e investidos em projectos sociais e educacionais da Fundación Judaica, com sede em Buenos Aires.
A iniciativa mais recente da Yad B’Yad Task Force, através da representante para o Brasil, Lenore Mass, é o apoio financeiro para o Projecto AVIV da CIM Congregação Israelita Mineira, em Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
O rabino Joel Oseran, Vice-Presidente da WUPJ enfatiza a importância da educação judaica. Cita como exemplo o apoio ao projecto da Escola Arle Fern, que atende cerca de 600 jovens estudantes da comunidade judaica de Buenos Aires. O WUPJ, através do Yad B’Yad Task Force e do Judaísmo Progressista da América do Norte, assumiu o compromisso de prover fundos para bolsas de estudos, programas de alimentação e ajuda financeira para profissionais da área de educação especial.
Parashá Vayeshev (Genesis 37-40)
Vayeshev (Genesis 37-40) Vayeshev 5766
GOOD MORNING! It has been said that every Jew thinks that he is at the perfect level of religiosity and observance - anyone more religious and observant is a fanatic, anyone less is a disbeliever. However, one thing for sure, underneath the perhaps displeasure and even disbelief that everyone can't have the same intelligence to be on one's own level, there is a love and warmth towards the rest of the tribe.
Hanukah is coming. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to touch the lives of those who don't have your love and appreciation of our heritage? The eternal question - how do you share with others without turning them off? Well, in addition to subscribing them to the Shabbat Shalom Weekly email at http://www.ShabbatShalom.org
Last week I left you with the following question: If enough oil was found to burn in the Temple menorah for one day and the oil lasted for eight days, then the miracle was really only for the seven additional days of lighting. Why then do we celebrate Chanukah for eight days and not seven?
Here are a few answers mentioned in the Book of Our Heritage (available at your local Jewish bookstore, at judaicaenterprises.com or by calling toll-free to 877-758-3242):
The first day commemorates the military victory.
The discovery of the one remaining jar of oil marked with the Cohen Gadol's seal was a miracle. One day is celebrated for this.
The discovered oil was divided into eight portions to last the eight days required for the production of new oil. Until new oil could be produced, the Menorah would be lit only briefly each night. Miraculously, the small portion of oil burned the entire day. Thus, each of the eight days was a miracle.
All the oil was emptied into the Menorah, but after the lamps had burned all night, they were found the next morning still filled with oil. Therefore, each day was a miracle.
The very fact that our ancestors did not despair from lighting the lamps the first day, though they knew that they would not be able to light again until new pure oil could be produced in eight days' time, was a great miracle. It is this optimism which enables the Jewish people to endure through all generations and every exile!
It is fascinating that most of what Western Culture holds dear - sports, art, music - comes from the Hellenistic influence. Hanukah was not a nationalistic battle for political independence. It was a war for values. Ever wonder what the world would have lost had the Jews not beat the Greeks?
All of the values that we hold dear for an utopian society come from our Torah heritage: (a) Respect for Life, (b) World Peace,(c) Justice and Equality, (d) Universal Education, (e) Family Values, (f) Social Responsibility. If you are intrigued, then check out the free downloadable Aish Hanukah movie at .
For more on "Hanukah" go to ShabbatShalomAudio.com!
Hear classes on... HANUKAH Download to Go or Listen FREE On-Line
Torah Portion of the WeekVayeshev
This week's portion includes four stories:
The selling of Yosef (Joseph) as a slave by his brothers - which eventually positioned Yosef to be second in command in Egypt and enabled him to save the known world from famine.
The indiscretion of Yehuda (Judah) with Tamar (Tamar)...
The attempted seduction of Yosef by Potifar's wife, which ends with her framing Yosef and having him imprisoned.
Yosef interprets the dreams of his fellow prisoners, the wine steward (who was reinstated and forgot to put in a good word for Yosef) and the baker (who was hanged).
Dvar Torah based on Growth Through Torah by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin
When the brothers saw Joseph approaching them in Dotan, they plotted to kill him. The Torah states:
"And Reuven heard and he saved him from their hands. And he said, 'Let us not hit a mortal blow.' And Reuven said to them, 'Do not shed blood.' " (Genesis 37:21-22)
What can we learn from Reuven that will develop our skills of convincing others?
Rabainu Bachya comments that Reuven wanted to save his brother, Joseph. If he were to have said, "Let us not hit him," he would have shown his brothers that his motivation was compassion for Joseph and they would not have listened to him. Therefore, Reuven added the word nefesh, a mortal blow. Reuven was saying, "I don't want you to commit murder regardless of who the person is." Similarly, in verse 22 he said to them, "Do not shed blood." He did not say "his blood." This implied, "I, too, hate him and it is not his blood that I am concerned about. Rather, I am concerned that you should not become murderers."
From this observation of Rabainu Bachya we see a very important principle when it comes to influencing someone. The focus of your arguments should be on points that the listener will accept even though your own focus might center on a different aspect of the situation. Reuven's goal was to prevent the shedding of blood. He wanted to save Joseph. If he would have told them to have mercy on Joseph, they would have disregarded his pleas. He wisely showed them that their behavior was not in their own best interests since they would lower themselves by their actions.
A person will only do what he or she perceives is in his or her best interest. Therefore, it is always more effective to present ideas and suggestions from that point of view.
* * *
Dvar Torah based on based on From Living Each Day by Rabbi Dr. A. Twersky
Hillel, the great Jewish rabbi, taught that on the first night of Chanukah we light one candle and each successive night we add an additional candle until on the eighth night there are eight candles.
Why did Hillel prescribe this method for commemorating the eight days of Chanukah? Wouldn't it have been more impressive to light eight candles each night?
There are two important lessons for us to learn:
We must always strive to grow and increase our spirituality. One never stays in the same place -you either improve or you fall behind.
It is a mistake to grasp too much too fast. Growing spiritually is like climbing a ladder. If you try to climb too many rungs in one step, you're likely to fall. That is why we increase the Chanukah lights one candle at a time!
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Um momento de poesia
Starry starry night paint your palette blue and grey
Starry starry night paint your palette blue and grey
look out on a summer's day with eyes that know the darkness in my soul. Shadows on the hills sketch the trees and the daffodils
catch the breeze and the winter chills
in colors on the snowy linen land. And now I understand what you tried to say to me
how you suffered for your sanity how you tried to set them free. They would not listen they did not know how
perhaps they'll listen now.
Starry starry night flaming flo'rs that brightly blaze
swirling clouds in violet haze reflect in Vincent's eyes of China blue. Colors changing hue morning fields of amber grain
weathered faces lined in pain are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand. And now I understand what you tried to say to me
how you suffered for your sanity how you tried to set them free. perhaps they'll listen now.
For they could not love you but still your love was true
and when no hope was left in sight on that starry starry night. You took your life as lovers often do; But I could have told you Vincent this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.
Starry starry night portraits hung in empty halls
frameless heads on nameless walls with eyes that watch the world and can't forget. Like the stranger that you've met
the ragged men in ragged clothes
the silver thorn of bloddy rose lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow. And now I think I know what you tried to say to me
how you suffered for your sanity
how you tried to set them free. They would not listen they're not list'ning still perhaps they never will.
O fundamentalismo islâmico
Shalom Chaverim,
Walel Bastos
Publicado na Zero Hora, de Porto Alegre, sobre o título rumores de guerra, onde um jornal britânico especula, a meu ver um disparate, a possibilidade de Israel atacar, em Março do próximo ano, o Irão. Dentro desse contexto é bom lembrar que, recentemente, a Europa, os Estados Unidos, a ONU e Israel ficaram escandalizados pela audácia das declarações do presidente iraniano, Mahmud Ajmadinejad, sugerindo que a Alemanha e a Áustria deveriam receber o Estado israelita em seu território e negando o Holocausto sofrido pelos judeus durante a II Guerra Mundial.O Estado de Israel, que foi qualificado "tumor" pelo presidente iraniano, considera cada vez mais o Irão como uma ameaça directa para sua segurança e o acusa de querer ter acesso a armas nucleares sob a cobertura de um programa nuclear civil.
Mas as preocupações de Israel mostram também, a verdadeira face do Islamismo, em relação ao Ocidente. Recentemente, a deputada Pilar Rahola, do Parlamento Espanhol e do Parlamento Europeu advertiu: "A Europa pensa que se Israel não existisse o mundo seria mais seguro. Não vê que as mesmas redes de tráfico de armas, dinheiro e terrorismo usados contra Israel atingem também outros países ocidentais. Agora, graças à hipocrisia, a Europa deixa o fundamentalismo islâmico reinar no continente". A parlamentar está certa, se observarmos, atentamente, para os ataques, mortes e destruição de propriedades, por grupos muçulmanos na Inglaterra, França e Alemanha, além da continuação do terrorismo em Israel, apesar da devolução dos territórios e do empenho de Ariel Sharon, Shimon Peres e do líder palestino Mahamoud Abbas, em favor da paz. Este último, sem sustentação política e apoio dos países muçulmanos, é até considerado traidor. Pela audácia, o novo presidente iraniano, parece querer ocupar o lugar de Saddam Hussein no mundo islâmico para liderar a revolução fundamentalista contra os infiéis ocidentais.Estes temores estão reavivados desde Outubro pela afirmação de Ajmadinejad de que Israel devia ser "varrido do mapa".
As afirmações de Ajmadinejad demonstram que o regime iraniano, além de ser extremista e de querer erradicar o Estado de Israel, é um regime racista e anti-semita. O mundo não apenas deve condenar estas afirmações, mas redobrar os esforços contra a corrida iraniana rumo ao armamento nuclear. Estas declarações do chefe de Estado iraniano são um "sinal de alarme" que deve fazer com que o mundo compreenda o que deve ser feito. É preciso levar estas declarações a sério e fazer todo o possível para impedir o Irão de possuir uma capacidade nuclear. Se obtiver uma arma nuclear, fará todo o possível para destruir Israel e os países europeus e à Rússia devem seguir os Estados Unidos para apresentar urgentemente a questão do programa nuclear iraniano ante o Conselho de Segurança das Nações Unidas. O presidente iraniano, eleito em Junho, escandalizo o mundo ocidental ao sugerir que "Alemanha e Áustria entreguem duas ou três de suas províncias para o regime sionista e o problema será solucionado na raiz"."Os países europeus insistem no fato de que cometeram um genocídio judeu durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial e que, portanto, devem apoiar o regime de ocupação de Al-Qods (Jerusalém). Nós não aceitaremos", acrescentou em tom de desafio aos países ocidentais. Há algum tempo, a Assembleia-geral da ONU adoptou por unanimidade uma resolução condenando aqueles que negam a Shoah (o genocídio cometido pelos nazistas).
Da História tiramos muitas lições. Em 1938, a pacífica e democrática Checoslováquia foi a primeira vítima de Hitler. Quando o Fuhrer ameaçava, França e Inglaterra a apontavam como culpada pela tensão pré-guerra. Hoje é Israel?
- Esse país insolente deve ceder a paz - dizia o premier inglês Neville Chamberlain, em relação à pacífica Checoslováquia. No Tratado de Munique(Alemanha) as potências europeias de então claudicaram, Praga Cedeu, a Checoslováquia foi invadida e ocupada e o que seguiu não foi a paz mas a pior guerra já vista envolvendo o mundo todo. Convencido da debilidade de seus adversários, Hitler avançou sobre Varsóvia, Amesterdão e Londres.
Esta lógica de Munique está revivida hoje na Europa e a vítima é Israel.Frente ao terror os europeus pregam: Israel deve ceder para salvar a paz. É falácia, o fundamentalismo islâmico não está atrás de territórios, mas da destruição de Israel e do mundo ocidental. A Europa e o Ocidente estão cegos. Se como Praga, Israel cai, o que virá na França, com milhões de muçulmanos e fundamentalistas ganhando poder também na Inglaterra, Alemanha, Espanha e Portugal? Israel é o campo de batalha onde o Ocidente lança seu futuro, na opinião correcta de Rahola Pilar.
Magen David Adom
ADL Hails Landmark Vote Enabling Israel's Magen David Adom to Join IRC
New York, NY, December 8, 2005 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today hailed the landmark vote in Geneva enabling Israel's emergency medical service, Magen David Adom (MDA), to become a full member in the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Anti-Israel bias long kept MDA out of the ICRC, with the Red Star of David not recognized as an official symbol.
A diplomatic conference convened the 191 signatories to the Geneva Conventions to approve a "Third Additional Protocol" that would establish a new "neutral emblem" – the "Red Crystal" – which Israel can display with its Red Star of David in international operations. The vote was 98 in favor and 27 against, with 10 abstentions.
In Israel, MDA will continue to use the Red Star of David exclusively as it has always done.
"We wholeheartedly welcome the approval of an officially recognized neutral emblem that will finally enable Magen David Adom to join the International Red Cross," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "This historic step on the road to full MDA membership and partnership in the ICRC has been too long in coming. Since 1949, Israel has been denied membership in this important humanitarian body, and for most of the intervening decades since little effort was made to resolve this unfair exclusion."
ADL praised the American Red Cross for its "steadfast advocacy and delicate diplomacy" in pressing the issue with the International Red Cross, and commended Switzerland, the depository of the Geneva Conventions, for rounding up support for the diplomatic conference.
This vote does not automatically lead to MDA's membership in the ICRC. A number of organizational bodies must adopt the changes and vote to officially recognize MDA, including the 181-member International General Assembly, which must approve the changes with a two-thirds vote.
A insustentável negação do Holocausto
U.N. Should Sanction Iran Following Ahmadinejad's Denying The Holocaust And Call To "Move" Israel
New York, NY, December 9, 2005 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called on the United Nations Security Council to impose punitive measures against Iran, including sanctions, following the Iranian President's latest anti-Israel tirade in which he denied the Holocaust and suggested that Israel should be moved to Europe.
"Once again, the Iranian regime has shown the world that it is a nation controlled by extremists and is a pariah in the international community of nations," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "It is time for the Security Council to act. Iran has thumbed its nose at the world by repeatedly violating the United Nations charter in calling for the destruction of a member state, while continuing on its destructive path toward the acquisition of nuclear weapons and supporting terrorism abroad. Its actions are disgraceful, particularly for a U.N. member."
Speaking to reporters at an Islamic summit in Mecca, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, "Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces.... Although we don't accept this claim, if we suppose it is true, our question for the Europeans is: Is the killing of innocent Jewish people by Hitler the reason for their support to the occupiers of Jerusalem? If the Europeans are honest they should give some of their provinces in Europe -- like in Germany, Austria or other countries -- to the Zionists and the Zionists can establish their state in Europe."
In October, Mr. Ahmadinejad said Israel is "a disgraceful blot" that should be "wiped off the map."
ADL commended Secretary General Kofi Annan's condemnation of Mr. Ahmadinejad's comments. In a statement, Mr. Annan noted that the General Assembly last month approved a resolution that "rejects any denial of the Holocaust as an historical event, either in full or in part." He urged all countries to educate their people about the "well-established facts" of the Holocaust.
The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.
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Friday, December 09, 2005
Parasha Toldot
Dec. 1, 2005 8:50
Parasha Toldot: When 'wrong' is right
By SHLOMO RISKIN
"And Jacob said to his father, 'I am Esau your firstborn…'" (Genesis 27:18).
How can we understand Jacob's deceit, and his mother's encouragement of this deception? The Bible certainly believes this act deserved punishment.
After all, uncle Laban goes on to deceive Jacob by giving him the elder in place of the younger daughter as his wife, and Jacob's own sons cruelly deceive their father by telling him Joseph was torn apart by wild beasts. Jacob is certainly being punished "measure for measure."
Rebekah too suffers grievously for her part in the treachery. She "loses" her beloved son Jacob when he is forced to leave home lest Esau kill him. Esau himself can hardly be a loving son to a mother who has conspired to take away his birthright. There is even a hint that Jacob likewise resents the parent who initiated his act of deception. How else can we understand the biblical account informing us of the death of Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, but never mentioning the death of Rebekah herself (Genesis 25:8)? Perhaps it was easier for Jacob to mourn the death of his nanny, the woman who gave him much love but didn't implicate him in the most treacherous deed of his life.
It seems to me that it is this very tragic solitude of Rebekah, bereft of both sons, which causes the Bible to say: "And Isaac sent away Jacob; and he went to Padan-Aram to Laban… the brother of Rebekah, Jacob and Esau's mother" (Genesis 28:5).
This last part of the description, which seems superfluous at first reading, may well have been dripping with tragic irony.
Despite the obvious nature of their transgression against Isaac, Jacob still received the birthright, and there is no word of remorse from his mouth or from the mouth of Rebekah, not even after much time has passed. If the sin was so great, how can it be that neither Jacob nor Rebekah seeks forgiveness for it?
We have already suggested that Isaac initially chose Esau for the birthright because of his disappointment in himself, with his lack of aggressiveness vis-a-vis Abimelech's total disregard of their peace treaty, Abimelech's stopping up of Abraham's wells and his banishing Isaac from Gaza. Isaac understands that the torch carrier of the Abrahamic mission must be able to defend the family rights, even if it means using "the hands of Esau" to protect the message of ethical monotheism. In a world which is not yet perfect, one must often employ less-than-perfect means to achieve the desirable end.
LET US review the history of the family before the deceptions of Jacob and Rebekah. Rebekah stood by as her eldest son Esau married Hittite wives - a blatant act of intermarriage. Indeed, the Bible itself records that "this was a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and Rebekah" (Genesis 26:35). Jacob must have been filled with dismay when his elder brother agreed to sell his birthright for a bowl of soup. He certainly understood that this impetuous and undisciplined hunter was hardly a fitting heir for the legacy of Abraham and Isaac; Isaac was making a tragic mistake by bestowing the birthright on the son who could not carry it. Jewish history could not be allowed to end before it really began.
The vision of Abraham and the "covenant between the pieces" had to be realized. Rebekah and Jacob must certainly have felt an awesome responsibility to forestall an imminent tragedy.
In subsequent generations our sages ruled that armaments are not an adornment - which may be worn on the Sabbath with impunity - but are rather a burden which may not be carried on the Sabbath unless a human life is at stake. After all, teaches the Mishna at the conclusion of tractate Shabbat, our prophets exhort: "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift sword against nation, and humanity ought not learn war any more" (Isaiah 2, Micah).
But nevertheless the Bible and the Talmud call for obligatory warfare whenever the Jewish people are threatened; such war is termed a mitzva (blessed commandment)!
Fascinatingly enough, a priest/kohen who kills a human being even in such a war may not rise to bless the congregation "with love." Nevertheless, even priests must go out and do battle in such a war (B.T. Kiddushin 20). Imminent danger to our people necessitates the death and brutality which is warfare.
Yes, the ends do not justify the means, but they often necessitate the means. The choices that we make are not always between black and white; they are often between what we see as shades of gray, with each decision being both right and wrong. There are times when the situation demands that we commit sinful acts in order to prevent even greater tragedy. When this happens, we must accept punishment for our actions, but we must commit them nonetheless. Rebekah and Jacob did what they had to do.
At the same time, they had to bear the bitter consequences of their act.
Perhaps this is the price leaders must pay in a world which is not yet redeemed.
Shabbat shalom.
The writer is the founder and chancellor of Ohr Torah Stone Colleges and Graduate Programs, and chief rabbi of Efrat.
Parasha Toldot: When 'wrong' is right
By SHLOMO RISKIN
"And Jacob said to his father, 'I am Esau your firstborn…'" (Genesis 27:18).
How can we understand Jacob's deceit, and his mother's encouragement of this deception? The Bible certainly believes this act deserved punishment.
After all, uncle Laban goes on to deceive Jacob by giving him the elder in place of the younger daughter as his wife, and Jacob's own sons cruelly deceive their father by telling him Joseph was torn apart by wild beasts. Jacob is certainly being punished "measure for measure."
Rebekah too suffers grievously for her part in the treachery. She "loses" her beloved son Jacob when he is forced to leave home lest Esau kill him. Esau himself can hardly be a loving son to a mother who has conspired to take away his birthright. There is even a hint that Jacob likewise resents the parent who initiated his act of deception. How else can we understand the biblical account informing us of the death of Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, but never mentioning the death of Rebekah herself (Genesis 25:8)? Perhaps it was easier for Jacob to mourn the death of his nanny, the woman who gave him much love but didn't implicate him in the most treacherous deed of his life.
It seems to me that it is this very tragic solitude of Rebekah, bereft of both sons, which causes the Bible to say: "And Isaac sent away Jacob; and he went to Padan-Aram to Laban… the brother of Rebekah, Jacob and Esau's mother" (Genesis 28:5).
This last part of the description, which seems superfluous at first reading, may well have been dripping with tragic irony.
Despite the obvious nature of their transgression against Isaac, Jacob still received the birthright, and there is no word of remorse from his mouth or from the mouth of Rebekah, not even after much time has passed. If the sin was so great, how can it be that neither Jacob nor Rebekah seeks forgiveness for it?
We have already suggested that Isaac initially chose Esau for the birthright because of his disappointment in himself, with his lack of aggressiveness vis-a-vis Abimelech's total disregard of their peace treaty, Abimelech's stopping up of Abraham's wells and his banishing Isaac from Gaza. Isaac understands that the torch carrier of the Abrahamic mission must be able to defend the family rights, even if it means using "the hands of Esau" to protect the message of ethical monotheism. In a world which is not yet perfect, one must often employ less-than-perfect means to achieve the desirable end.
LET US review the history of the family before the deceptions of Jacob and Rebekah. Rebekah stood by as her eldest son Esau married Hittite wives - a blatant act of intermarriage. Indeed, the Bible itself records that "this was a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and Rebekah" (Genesis 26:35). Jacob must have been filled with dismay when his elder brother agreed to sell his birthright for a bowl of soup. He certainly understood that this impetuous and undisciplined hunter was hardly a fitting heir for the legacy of Abraham and Isaac; Isaac was making a tragic mistake by bestowing the birthright on the son who could not carry it. Jewish history could not be allowed to end before it really began.
The vision of Abraham and the "covenant between the pieces" had to be realized. Rebekah and Jacob must certainly have felt an awesome responsibility to forestall an imminent tragedy.
In subsequent generations our sages ruled that armaments are not an adornment - which may be worn on the Sabbath with impunity - but are rather a burden which may not be carried on the Sabbath unless a human life is at stake. After all, teaches the Mishna at the conclusion of tractate Shabbat, our prophets exhort: "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift sword against nation, and humanity ought not learn war any more" (Isaiah 2, Micah).
But nevertheless the Bible and the Talmud call for obligatory warfare whenever the Jewish people are threatened; such war is termed a mitzva (blessed commandment)!
Fascinatingly enough, a priest/kohen who kills a human being even in such a war may not rise to bless the congregation "with love." Nevertheless, even priests must go out and do battle in such a war (B.T. Kiddushin 20). Imminent danger to our people necessitates the death and brutality which is warfare.
Yes, the ends do not justify the means, but they often necessitate the means. The choices that we make are not always between black and white; they are often between what we see as shades of gray, with each decision being both right and wrong. There are times when the situation demands that we commit sinful acts in order to prevent even greater tragedy. When this happens, we must accept punishment for our actions, but we must commit them nonetheless. Rebekah and Jacob did what they had to do.
At the same time, they had to bear the bitter consequences of their act.
Perhaps this is the price leaders must pay in a world which is not yet redeemed.
Shabbat shalom.
The writer is the founder and chancellor of Ohr Torah Stone Colleges and Graduate Programs, and chief rabbi of Efrat.
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Tel AvivArachim Torah lecturesAdmission freeSun. and Wed.The Grand Devora HotelBen Yehuda 87, 3rd floor0522 875 774
MaTaN Tel Aviv (Ramat Aviv)Torah study for WomenAll ages and backgroundsAdult education, bat mitzva programsEnglish and HebrewK. C. Litner, (03) 544 2101
Mystical Insights into the Kabbala Lectures Discussion on the ParshaMon, 8:30 p.m.Chanan Brill, (09) 740 3969Michelle, (03) 602 4181
Tanach Hug BereshitAn ongoing, in-depth study of Genesis"The Origins of the Jewish People"With Rabbi Avraham Fischer of Yad YaakovNIS 35, ESRAcards NIS 30Noah, (03) 648 5575
Weekly Parsha StudiesMidreshet Iyun of the Masorti MovementParsha according to the Zoharand additional sourcesby Ariel Attad,recognized as gmul hishtalmutby the Ministry of EducationNIS 300 for the yearStarts September 5, Tue. 8 to 10 pm.Bograshov 88(03) 525 3907
Windows into the ChumashStudy of Parshat Vayera with Rashiby Prof. Susan RothsteinIn EnglishNIS 25Every other Wed., 8:45 p.m.Kehillat Sinai, Bograshov 88(03) 525 3907
Zichron YaakovMaTaN Zichron YaakovTorah study for WomenAll ages and backgroundsAdult education, bat mitzva programsEnglish and HebrewElisheva Rapoport, (04) 621 0534Oshra Koren, (09) 742 0077
YESHIVAS AND SEMINARIES
JerusalemAish HatorahFor MenEnglish speakersLink to websiteEmail: webmaster@aish.comJewish Quarter, Old City(02) 628 5666
Ateret Cohanim For MenMidreshet AteretLink to websiteMoslem Quarter, Old CityEmail:mailto:ateret@ateret.org.il(02) 628 4101
Birkas HaTorahFor MenCaters to an older clienteleEnglish speakersRosh Yeshiva Rabbi Shimmy GreenJewish Quarter Road 87 Old CityEmail: mailto:bircas@netmedia.net.il(02) 627 3097
Diaspora YeshivaFor MenEnglish speakersRun by the Goldstein familyLink to websiteMount ZionEmail: mailto:diaspora@zahav.net.il(02) 671 6841
Dvar Yerushalayim For MenEnglish speakersDaily Torah classes and ulpanSun. to Wed., 4 to 7 p.m.Katzenelebogen 53, Har NofEmail: dvar@dvar.org.il0525 670 916(02) 652 2817, fax (02) 652-2827
EYAHTAish HaTorah College of Jewish Studies for WomenEnglish speakersLink to websiteAlthough many of the studentsspend a semester or yearin the program, EYAHTaccommodates those who are ableto come for shorter periods(a day, week or month)Imrei Bina 22Email: rwolf@aish.com (02) 538 2522
Machon RoniFor WomenEnglish and Hebrew speakers A division of the Diaspora YeshivaNext to the Beit El SynagogueOffers classes to the publicLink to websiteEmail: mailto:machonrn@zahav.net.il(02) 993 4469
Messilat TorahFor MenSpanish Yeshiva ProgramMisgav Ladach 56(02) 627 3554
The Sephardi CenterPrepares rabbis to serve in Sephardic communitiesthroughout the worldGaled 26 Jewish Quarter, Old CityRabbi Sammy Kassin, (02) 627 3231
Netiv AryehFor Men Rav Aaron Bina(formerly of Yeshivat Hakotel)Offers a one-year programfor post high school studentsfrom overseasHa'idra Bldg., Western Wall PlazaHakotel 1, Jewish Quarter, Old CityLink to websiteEmail: mailto:dina@yna.edu(02) 626 6333
Neve YerushalayimFor WomenEnglish and Hebrew speakersLink to website(02) 654 4555
Nishmat, The Jerusalem Center for Advanced Jewish Study for WomenMichlin 27Link to websiteEmail: nishmat@netvision.net.il(02) 642 1051
Ohr Somayach InstitutionsFor MenEnglish speakersLink to websiteShimon Hatzadik 22POB 18103Jerusalem 91180Email: mailto:office@ohr.israel.net(02) 581 0315, fax (02) 581 2890
Pardes Institute of Jewish StudiesLink to websitePierre Koenig 29 (corner Rivka)Email: info@pardes.org.il(02) 673 5210
Yeshivat HaKotelFor MenA hesder (army-Yeshiva) Yeshiva with Rav Mordechai Elon as the Rosh YeshivaAlso offers a program for post high school students interested in learning in an Israeli environment Link to websiteEmail: mailto:office@hakotel.org.il(02) 628 8175 , (02) 628 8833
Yeshivat HamekubalimFor MenIn HebrewLocated in the Beit El SynagogueKabbalistic studiesLink to website
Ramat Beit ShemeshBnei SimchaNew program for special-needs menAccepting students for 2005/2006.Suitable for English-speaking,independent, high-functioning, special needs men, Ages 18-30, with Autism Spectrum Disorders, such as Asperger or PDD, requiring special care not given in other programs in Israel. Also accepting mainstream students seeking personal attention and an opportunity to be trained to work with special needs men.We offer Judaic studies, physical training, computer training, trips, healthy meals, much personal attention, private tutoring, therapy, social-workers and mental health experts on staff.Full program with dormitory facilities, also half day program.Link to websiteRosh Yeshiva Rabbi LeponUS line (561) 910 4098Israel 0547 471 188
SafedAscent of SafedInner Dimensions of Jewish LifeClasses on a variety of Jewish subjectsMostly with an emphasis on Jewish mysticismInformal classes, mornings and eveningsDaily, all year, free to the publicAccomodation available for small feeShabbat hospitalityFree tours and hikes in the summerLink to website(04) 692 1364Sharei Bina, Women's Center of Jewish StudiesLink to websiteEmail: shrshlom@netvision.net.il Tova Weingot, (04) 697 3172
Livnot Ulehibanot Ongoing Jewish/Israel experience programs.Free trips to Israelfor young Jewish adults,ages 21 to 26Multifaceted Jewish-awarenessprogram with campusesin Jerusalem and Safed Email: livnot@livnot.org.il(02) 679 3491
RABBINICAL COUNCIL ASSISTANCECouncil of Young Israel Rabbis A Jewish Agency-funded projectRabbinical Court ProceduresFree rabbinic and professional counseling,both procedural and emotional.Marriage, divorce, conversion, personal status and other issues. Link to websiteSun. to Thu., 9 am to 3 p.m.Beit KiachAgripas 42, Suite 203, Jerusalem Email: mailto:yirabbis@netvision.net.ilCall for appointment, (02) 625 4983
RABBINICAL COUNCIL HISTORY
Religious InstitutionsLink to website
The Establishment of the Orthodox Rabbinate in IsraelLink to website
MINISTRY OF RELIGIOUS AFFAIRSInformation about the Ministry of Religious AffairsLink to website
Ministry of Religious AffairsLink to website (in Hebrew)Yaffo 236PO Box 13059Jerusalem 91130 (02) 538 8605
RESOURCES FOR CONVERSION TO JUDAISM
ITIMThe Jewish Life Information CenterLink to website
Conversion to Judaism Home PageLink to website
Conversion to Orthodox JudaismLink to website
Conversion in the Spirit of Progressive JudaismThe Movement for Progressive JudaismLink to website
Conversion Law Neeman ReportLink to website
STUDY COURSES FOR CONVERSION TO JUDAISM
AradThe WUJS InstituteFor WUJS studentsfrom interfaith families born to a non-Jewish mother,or those converted through non-Orthodoxauspices and now seeking to acquirea conversion recognised by the Orthodox rabbinate.Link to website
Emek Beit Se'anUlpan Kibbutz Sde EliyahuAnnual course for potential converts to JudaismPrepararation for the requirements of orthodox conversionFor Israeli citizensNon-citizens can apply after a year in Israel and must obtain permission from the Ministry of InteriorIn HebrewEight month conversion ulpanBegins two weeks before Rosh Hashana(August-September).The course is recognized and sponsored by The Jewish Agency, The Education Ministry, The Aliya Ministry and The Chief RabbinateShimon Soreq, (04) 609 6527fax, (04) 609 6909Email: yeutz@seliyahu.org.il
RehovotUlpan Kevutzat YavnehBi-annual course for potential converts to JudaismPreparation for the requirements of orthodox conversionFor Israeli citizensNon-citizens can apply after a year in Israel and must obtain permission from the Ministry of InteriorIn EnglishFive-month conversion ulpanTwo sessionsOne begins August-SeptemberThe other in February-MarchMeshulam Shvat, (08) 854 8311Fax (08) 854 8323
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