Year: 2019

האמונה היא למעלה מהדעת או שמא *למטה* מהדעת? – ביאור יחסי אמונה ושכל

מתוך ספר מדרש שמואל על ברייתא קנין תורה:

[הקנין] הכ”ג באמונת חכמים…

וגם אפשר שרמז שענין האמונה בו יתברך שלא יכניס האדם את עצמו להשיגה בדרך חקירת השכל כי בזה ילאה למצא הפתח רק האמנתו תהיה כדרך אמונת החכמים שהיא אמונת אומן מקובלת איש מפי איש עד למשה מסיני ובזה תהיה האמונה שקועה בלבו כי בדרך השגה מחקריית אי אפשר לו להשיגה כמאמר החכם אלו ידעתיו הייתיו וכו’.

אך מדוע אי אפשר להשיגה בחקירה שכלית? וא”כ, האם אין זה מגרע את החקירה השכלית או את האמונה בעצמה? לתשובה תמציתית ומתומצתת על השאלות הללו ודומיהם, אני ממליץ ליהודים טובים להרשם לרשימת התפוצה במייל, ולבקש את “המדריך” הקצר נגד אתאיזם ומחשבות כפירה.

ניתן גם לשלוח שאלות בהמשך על מה שקראתם.

Zionism Is Nothing New! Following Are Some Examples…

From the introduction of Vayoel Moshe 20#, English translation from “True Torah Jews” (with additional footnotes):

Why the Three Oaths are not brought or explained at length in the poskim

The central idea of the Three Oaths prohibition is not covered in Jewish legal works in as much detail as other laws that apply to everyday life and in every generation. It is similar to the laws of produce that must be left for the poor during the harvest, regarding which the Tur (Yoreh Deah 332) writes that he decided not to include them in his code since they do not apply nowadays in countries with a majority non-Jewish population. Although it was certainly possible that at some point in time there would be places where Jews own fields and most of the population is Jewish, as it is the case now in many places in Eretz Yisroel, since this situation did not exist in the Tur’s time, he did not wish to write at length about these laws. The Tur goes a step further at the beginning of Yoreh Deah 331, regarding Terumos and Maasros, and says that since these laws do not apply outside Eretz Yisroel, he did not wish to write about them at length, even though in that case the laws certainly applied in Eretz Yisroel at the time of the Tur. For that is the general rule: the poskim found it necessary to discuss only laws that applied in their time and place.

…

It appears to me that this is the reason why the poskim made it their practice to discuss only the laws that applied in their time and place. For while the holy Torah is longer than the earth, people’s minds are limited, and cannot grasp the level of complete knowledge needed even in the areas that are applicable at all times. The poskim, therefore, chose not to emphasize things that were not practically applicable in their times, in order not to fall short in the subjects that were necessary to know in that era.

Similarly, we find in Bava Metzia 114b that Rabba bar Avuha said to Eliyahu Hanavi: “I don’t even know four orders of the Mishnah well, and you expect me to know all six?” Rashi explains that Rabba bar Avuha did not put time into studying Zeraim and Taharos, since they do not apply outside of Eretz Yisroel.

Furthermore, the Responsa Lechem Rav says that in places where the government does not allow Jews to rule their own civil disputes, even great Torah scholars cannot display expertise in the Torah’s monetary laws, as they do not study them for practical purposes.

The concept of the awakening of a movement to violate the Oaths is something that did not occur from the time of Ben Koziva until the Rambam’s time, a period of about one thousand years. After that it did not surface until the time of Shabbesai Tzvi, and from the time of Shabbesai Tzvi until our time it did not emerge and become relevant. Consequently, many centuries have passed during which it never occurred to anyone to violate these oaths; due to practical considerations, it effectively became a non-issue. Because of this, it was categorized among the halachos that are not applicable to the times, and the poskim throughout these generations saw no need to elaborate on the laws of the Three Oaths.

However, one who carefully studies the words of those poskim, the Rishonim and the leading Acharonim, who do discuss these halachos, will find these ideas presented in a clear and unequivocal manner.

Not to address the halacha yet, let’s first talk about the facts. While he is not entitled to his own halacha (see here regarding the “Elu Va’elu” misquote), he is most certainly not entitled to his own facts.

Anyone even casually conversant in Jewish history knows this is false. Sophomoric Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum never heard of Mar Zutra… Sefer “Aloh Na’aleh” edited by Mordechai Tzion goes into a few blatant examples on p. 15.

And there’s a whole book about this: “The Other Zions – The Lost Histories of Jewish Nations” by Eric Maroney.

Here’s a review by “Channeling Jewish History“:

“Few people realize that Jews have had politically independent states outside of the land traditionally associated with Jewish political independence, or the area roughly equivalent to the State of Israel”.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2017

So begins Eric Maroney’s ever fascinating book The Other Zions.
Maroney provides an important overview of Jewish history in various locations and time periods, focusing on Jews who formed their own autonomous or independent entities throughout history.
This is a refreshing read for one who wants to a break from the emotionally taxing and towering literature about Jewish persecution.
Maroney’s book is about tough Jews, clever Jews, the heroes, the rogues and all those in between.
As a young boy I remember reading Monroe Rosenthal and Isaac Mozeson’s Wars of the Jews and how it fired my imagination at the time. Maroney’s book is aptly subtitled “the lost histories of jewish nations”, because many of the stories recounted within are virtually unknown.
Attending school and reading the required literature familiarized me with the classic stories of Jewish loss and bravery; Hanukkah, Purim etc. but who knew that in the early part of the 6th century, a Jewish King named Yosef Dhu Nuwas ruled what is today Saudi Arabia. Who would have imagined that this Jewish king, upon hearing of the persecution of Jews in Christian-dominated lands appointed himself the Jewish avenger and destroyed Churches and persecuted Christians (ironically, it was Dhu Nuwas’s massacre of Christians at Najran that would seal his fate and would nearly erase the Jewish presence in Arabia replacing it with Christianity before both were subsumed by the rising tide of Islam).
It is instructive to note that virtually all of the entities discussed in Maroney’s work were founded by people who were not ethnically Jewish, but rather proselytes to Judaism (perhaps forms of Judaisms in the plural would a more proper way to put it).
The first such state was the Aramaic-speaking land of Adiabene. Its Jewish character was taken on shortly before the destruction of the Second Jewish Commonwealth (to which Adiebene sent supplies and fighters).
This is followed by a description of the enduring myth of the Ten Lost Tribes and their possible locations.
Maroney seems to prefer working with material and sources that are as provenanced as possible. This seems to be why he neglects to discuss the Pashtun tribesman of Afghanistan. This fiercely independent ethnic population has long been rumored to be of Israelite descent (see here).
Chapter 3 discusses the fascinating and complicated history of the Beta Israel- Jews of Ethiopia.
Chapter 4 discusses the kingdom of the Khazars and the various truths and myths surrounding this very controversial subject. Recently a Hebrew University professor named Shaul Stampfer claimed that the entire story is a myth see here.
However, Maroney provides a sober and concise history of this mysterious kingdom citing various documents and traditions that leave the reader with little doubt as to the actual existence of such an entity.
This is followed in Chapter 5 by a fascinating look into Medieval Arabia and the Jewish Himyarite Kingdom that once existed there.
In Chapter 6 Maroney discusses the Kingdom of Adiebene in detail.
Chapter 7 deals with the North African Berber Jews and their semi-legendary leader Qahina.
In this chapter, Maroney as his scholarly manner does not engage in the citation of folklore that may be legendary in nature. One such tradition from North Africa comes to mind.
Rabbi Ya’akov Toledano was an Israeli Rabbi of North African extraction who wrote various works including a book called Ner Ha-ma’arav (Light of the Maghreb) on the history of Moroccan Jewry. The book can be read in its entirety online here. It is worth citing one interesting passage from the book.
Toledano cites an ancient tradition namely that the first Jews of North Africa were members of the “Ten Lost Tribes”. It was members of the tribe of Efraim who settled in the town of Ifrane (allegedly named after/by the Ephraimites) on the Atlas mountain range in southern Morocco. According to this tradition they grew in numbers and in power until they ruled over other non-Jewish tribes in the area. Their first king, according to this tradition, was named Abraham Ha-efrati (literally, from the tribe of Ephraim) and the mantle of kingship was passed on to his descendants for many generations afterward. The legend continues that when Ezra the scribe summoned the Jews of this region to join him in reconstructing the Second Jewish Commonwealth, they refused and they were punished as a result with the gradual loss of their power and prestige (interestingly, similar legends regarding refusal and punishment are recounted in the stories of other Jewish Diasporas, most famously among the Jews of Yemen and medieval Ashkenaz). Their final downfall came when they were vanquished by one of their long time foes who forced the royal family to change their royal moniker from “Efrati” to “Afariat”. This surname is common among many Jews who stem from that area.
Maroney also omits any mention of the fascinating Zenobia, queen of Palmyra. This audacious woman who defied the might of Rome may have been a proselyte or of Jewish extraction, see here.
Surprisingly, no mention is made of the Edomites either. The Edomites are an ancient people that dwelled in Transjordan. During the Hellenic period they are referred to as Idumeans. The Hasmonean monarch, John Hyrcanus famously forcibly converted this nation to Judaism (some scholars claim that the Idumeans were in fact descendants of the Israelite settlers; the tribes of Reuben, Gad and part of Manasseh that had famously petitioned Moses for permission to settle there) and they continued to dwell in their ancestral lands under some sort of autonomous arrangement. This fierce people would eventually aid the Jewish zealots in their revolt against Rome sending, according to Josephus, 20,000 troops under the leadership of commanders bearing typical Jewish biblical names.
And finally, in chapter 8, we get to the somewhat bizarre former Jewish Autonomous Republic of Birobidzhan.
Birobidzhan was a Stalinist experiment to offset the attraction of the Zionists and provide those Jews who wanted to exercise their right of self-determination to do that within the parameters of the “soviet paradise”.
Chapter 9 is entitled “Who is a Jew” and it raises important and interesting points regarding who is was and even who ought to be a Jew. The people who made up the other Zions long ceased to exist (with the exception of the Beta Israel), however their memory endures and it is of little doubt that it was the existence of these other Zions that provided inspiration to scores of Jews living in far-flung corners of the world from ancient times until the founding of the State of Israel.

Israel: Where Bareheaded Blue-Collar Jews Correct Your Halacha Observance…

Haaretz Hatovah: Chaya Taub – Home at Last

Real Life Stories and Experiences of Yidden Settling in Eretz Yisroel

Until 2006, at the great pleading of good friends of ours, who had made Aliyah a few years back, my husband Dovid had never been to Eretz Yisroel and I had only come once before as a teenager on a sponsored trip. The entire trip was a total of three weeks. But those three weeks were our turning point.  We went home knowing we were coming back, for good. We just didn’t know when.

Dovid and I spent more than the last 40 years teaching, bringing up our 7 children, and involved with our Jewish community. Quebec, Canada had been our home from even before we got married. I taught Chumash, Navi, history to 4th graders in the day girls’ school and my husband taught 3rd graders and special Ed in the boys’ school.

Aliyah had never been a discussion, thought and certainly not in our plans for retirement. Between our fears of not being able to manage financially, heeding warnings of taking teenagers on Aliyah and caring for our elderly parents, besides not being fluent in the language making Aliya wasn’t on the radar.

But after that trip, my husband couldn’t stay away. He would visit every summer for a few weeks to breathe in the special kedusha of E.Y. He would ask yearly ‘should I start looking for a place?’  One year, I finally answered yes. Our (same) friend showed him a location on a beautiful hill top that was still undeveloped with the planned blueprints in his hands.  That was it. It seemed to fit everything we were looking for. We bought our new home on paper. It took a few years before it was done and we were ready to move in.

On the night President Trump won, our youngest daughter got married. As soon as we got home we started packing. A year later we moved into Ramat Beit Shemesh.  We were finally home.

I recently wrote a book about my grandfather, which I presented to the family on the occasion of my grandson’s bar mitzvah who is named after him.  And now I am writing for the family my father’s story.

My grandfather had come from Poland and moved to Frankfurt when my father was born. As Germany became more and more dangerous, they escaped and spent 9 years in Shanghai. When they finally were able to leave they landed in Quebec, Canada.  There they were tired of running. So they stayed.

Quebec has never really been friendly to Jews. And today it is getting worse. People are openly anti-Semitic more than before and a large influx of Moslems have settled there. Just like in New York and England, Canada’s educational boards are mixing into the Jewish schools’ curriculum.  The only difference is Canada has been doing longer, way ahead of other countries. It is truly a scary time in history. Only Israel is safe for Jews. Our family has been running, running for a long time. From Poland to Germany to Shanghai to Canada. We are done running. That is why we jumped to Israel. We are finally home.

Not that it is all easy. The hardest part is leaving our children.  Baruch Hashem, they are all married, have jobs and are doing well, but I don’t see them coming to live here anytime soon.  One couple is still in Canada and the other 6 couples are in the United States. I do see other olim, especially the older crowd, make Aliyah as they follow their children. We, however, welcome the grandchildren and nieces and nephews who come for their gap years. I don’t think they are going to make Aliyah so soon either. Recently BH, I went for three months for six different simichos in America.  It is definitely hard to be so far from our children.  Yet as the plane lands, I know we are home. This is home.

We have always been aware of Hashgacha pratis while we lived in Canada, yet it doesn’t compare to our daily awareness here.  It is in the air, it is part of our daily living, it with us all the time. I am so aware of how Hashem provides everything for us. Looking at the beautiful view I have from my back porch, I can’t get over how Hashem is so part of our lives. And it is not just us. Everyone knows it.  The taxi driver talks about it. The storekeeper gets it. Even the non-religious handyman understands. People here are different about it; they talk about it. Naturally. Normally.

I once had a Jewish worker who didn’t wear a kipa fixing something in our house when he started to yell at us. He had noticed that we hadn’t yet put up our mezuzahs. In chutz laretz, one has a leniency of putting up mezuzahs up in a month. In E.Y. the halacha is different. One needs to put them up immediately. The regular maintenance guy knew better than us.  And he cared. Like family.

We do believe it is important to come to Israel prepared. Whether it is with a job, money, friends, family, and a place to live.  Yet, one needs to be flexible and see what works. We were lucky that Ramat Beit Shemesh seems to fit us perfectly.

In Eretz Yisroel, we are all family.  The grocery stocker, the plumber, and the policeman.  We’re glad to be home.

Written By Tziyona Kantrowitz

This article is part of our Haaretz Hatovah series featuring Yidden living in, settling, and building up Eretz Yisroel. For more info please contact info@naavakodesh.org or visit naavakodesh.org/haaretz-hatovah

From Naava Kodesh, here.

Feiglin: Pols, Cronies, and Wonks Getting Paid to Stop ‘Working for Us’ – SMILE!

Not to interfere

The impasse that has paralyzed the Israeli regime is producing a feeling of despondency. Whether you support the government or oppose it – you want there to be one.

Stable national leadership is one of the cornerstones of one’s self-confidence.

Just as one should know where his next meal will come from, just as he needs a roof over his head, he also needs to know that there’s someone managing the basic national interests – that is, protecting the national structure from external enemies and from internal disintegration.

Something about this impasse is disturbing to us – regardless of which side of the dispute we’re on.

So allow me to shine a positive side on all of this chaotic mess, and even if it may sound funny, it’s very serious.

For almost a full year, every Knesset member, along with their assistants and those working for the Knesset and its systems, have received a salary for doing nothing. Worth every penny…

I actually think this is a worthwhile investment because for a whole year, they’ve done no harm.

No – I’m not writing a satirical post – I don’t think Knesset members are useless, on the contrary, they are very talented people, which is how they managed to insert themselves into this so sought-after role.

Nor do I think they don’t want to be of benefit and make a difference.

So why am I willing to pay them to continue their vacation?

The thing is, in Israeli political culture, an MK’s success is measured by the number of private member bills he passes – or at least files.

Israel’s parliament passes more laws than its counterpart in any other legislature in the world.

I used to call this disease “legislative fever”. It seems that even if the Knesset were to continue to sit actionless for another two years, the number of private bills that will be tabled in the coming decade will still be greater than any other parliament in the world.

And why is that so awful?

Because every law, even if it’s perfect for the purpose for which it was filed, constitutes another limitation within the system as a whole. The more laws there are, the less liberty we all have.

No – I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be any laws at all, and we clearly require a legislative process.

But look at the general picture during the-almost a-year when this process hasn’t been taking place.

Israeli GDP figures continue to rise, the Israeli shekel insists on strengthening, a young person’s chances of obtaining an apartment remain the same… The Tel Aviv skyline (among others) continues to climb, the number of rockets we’ve been attacked with is rising at the same rate (no higher…), schools are teaching at the same level, we’re getting the same services at hospitals, and from the police as well. Bottom line, for better or for worse, everything’s staying more or less the same.

For those who imagined that the state functions because of the dedicated people behind the national steering wheel – I suggest considering another possibility. That it doesn’t happen *because* of their existence but *despite* their existence… it happens because they don’t interfere too much.

“What is the first law you want to pass?” – I was once asked on the Knesset channel. “That for every bill submitted, two previous laws need to be repealed,” I replied.

Whenever they asked me what I plan to do when I get to the Knesset – I answered, I mostly plan not to interfere.

  • Not to interfere with patients being cured as they wish.
  • Not to interfere with parents educating their children.
  • Not to interfere with entrepreneurs opening businesses.
  • Not to interfere with contractors building.

And after many more such instances of “not to interfere” to get to the main thing –

Not to interfere with the citizens of Israel choosing their own way in faith and culture. Allow them to examine one another without fear of coercion, to enrich ourselves one from the other, and also to let our Jewish/Israeli identity shoot up to new heights instead of getting stuck in years of endless wrangling.

Smile, friends. As of now, at least they aren’t interfering.

From Zehut, here.