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ח”כ אייכלר במליאת הכנסת: הפכנו למדינת תקשורת

מאתר יוטיוב, כאן.

Text Treasures: Cairo Geniza

300,000 documents found in an attic storeroom

The Cairo Geniza refers to the cache of about 300,000 documents found in the attic storeroom of the Ben Ezra Synagogue, located in Fustat (in Old Cairo), the capital city of Egypt during the seventh–tenth centuries C.E. The creation and preservation of the Cairo Geniza owes to the long-lived Jewish habit of consigning disused texts in Hebrew script to a slow decay in dignified limbo, safe from profanation, rather than casually destroying them through dumping. Not a curated collection or archive arranged for storage and retrieval, the Cairo Geniza is thus an accidental mass of dead writings piled up much like archaeological strata. The Hebrew word geniza signifies “hiding place.”

The storeroom—accessible only by ladder from the women’s balcony of the synagogue—was never really forgotten, so we are perhaps unjustified in talking about its discovery. Starting in the 1880s, however, scholars from Jerusalem, England, and elsewhere learned of the existence of the documents and thus began to empty the storeroom of some of its contents. Among the early visitors were the Scottish twin sisters Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson, who upon their return to Cambridge, in 1896, showed their documents to the great scholar of Jewish studies, Solomon Schechter. The documents included a page of the Hebrew original of the book of Ben Sira and inspired Schechter to travel to Cairo. With permission of the rabbi of the synagogue, Refael Aharon Ben-Shimon, himself an important scholar, Schechter was able to remove the remaining contents of the Cairo Geniza.^a

Built between 1025 and 1041, the Ben Ezra Synagogue served the local community for more than 900 years—thus explaining the enormous volume of accumulated writings—until it was decommissioned during the 1960s. The survival of the documents owes to the fortunate confluence of multiple factors, including favorable climate with stable humidity levels; the omnipresent dust from local limestone containing high levels of calcium carbonate, which naturally aids the preservation of paper, parchment, and ink; and the fact that the storeroom was apparently large enough that it never needed to be emptied.

The text treasures of the Cairo Geniza cover more than a millennium of history. While the latest documents date from the 19th century, the earliest recovered writings predate the founding of the synagogue by centuries. This is due to the practice of repurposing old documents (often as palimpsests) and because sturdy parchment Torah scrolls may be used for centuries and, in the present instance, clearly were transferred from an older synagogue to the then newly built Ben Ezra. Dating as far back as the fifth or sixth century, the earliest writings in the geniza survived because they were reused as scrap paper to record new texts.

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From BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY, here.

In the keynote address at the Mir Yeshiva dinner in New York, a major event attended by all the leading, prominent roshei yeshiva.

Watch him say it here:

Wow…

Hear Cries of Silent Heroes

Friday, June 3, 2022

BS”D

Hear the Cries of the Silent Heroes of Israel

3 Sivan, 5782 / Bamidbar /  Le’Ilui Nishmas Dinah Bas Itta Libah A”H / June 2, ’22

The crisis of female Israeli teenagers being routinely bullied, hounded, persecuted, arrested, and incarcerated over their refusal to submit to Israeli Army Draft Office dictates remains an ongoing threat, one of monumental proportions, to the long-term survival of Jews as Jews in Israeli society. Israel, unlike the vast majority of countries, drafts 18- year-old girls into the military. They generally allow girls to apply for a “religious exemption.”  If the Army wants to challenge that application for a religious exemption, they do so, in a multitude of ways, some of them officially legal.

Our primary objection here is against the very drafting of women altogether – of any level of religiosity, of any background, color, or ethnicity – Jewish or otherwise.  The level of religiosity of a girl is irrelevant here. Forcing women into military service has no place in any society – especially one that claims to civilized. This is all the more so in the modern era of mixed-gender units, fallout of ascendant “Dequality” Dogma.

The very fact that – at just about any given time – there are girls sitting in Israeli Military Prison over their refusal to enlist in the Army is an outrage and kitrug. It’s also the zenith of hypocrisy, when perpetrated as official policy by a country claiming to be the “Jewish” state. I can think of few things more antithetical to Judaism than forcing young women, the future mothers of the Jewish People, into the morally corrosive, exploitive military milieu – especially given all of the depravity ensuing from that policy, including the devastating abortion rate. If you insist on calling yourself a Jewish State, then at least pretend to “walk the walk,” on this and other foundational issues. Otherwise, don’t just “talk the talk.”

This is something we all must clarify, unrelentingly: The Israeli law that mandates the drafting of “non-religious” girls is itself an outrage. No Torah leader ever agreed to such a barbarian law. In fact, the world-renowned Brisker Rov, OB”M, was even more adamantly opposed to drafting non-Torah-observant girls than drafting Torah-observant girls – the latter also being absolutely prohibited – “Yai’horaig V’al Ya’avor” (see Sefer Yeled Sha’ashu’im, p. 350).  At most, some Torah leaders of previous decades may have deemed it impossible to fight the female military draft per se. That apparently prompted some of them (but NOT the Brisker Rov – see Sefer Yeled Sha’ashu’im, p. 348-9) to acquiesce to focus on saving whom they could from an Israeli government hellbent on drafting girls, namely “religious and traditional” girls.

However, things have changed. In recent years, the very policies put in place to ostensibly shield religious and traditional girls from being drafted into the military are being regularly exploited to persecute and draft the “easy targets” among them. “Easy targets” for the Israeli Army Draft Office include traditional (Mesorati) girls, Ba’alot Teshuva, Ethiopian girls, immigrants and their daughters, girls from divorced families, and girls who have a very ill immediate family member. They also include girls who, for whatever reason, studied in a non-religious school.

° Consider the irony of the latter: much of the secularist Israeli establishment relentlessly complain how so many of the Torah-observant population shun secular education. These secularist critics mockingly dismiss legitimate religious objections to many secular educational venues. However, when a religious girl does enroll in a non-religious school, even if its with religious safeguards, this same secularist cast of characters brands her as irreligious, and therefore unqualified for a religious exemption from military service.

° Another phenomenon accentuates the raw corruption of the escalating crusade against religious and traditional girls. Israel is fond of flaunting its Hi-Tech credentials and accomplishments. In marked contrast to its ability to shoot down drones with lasers, they can’t seem to deliver critical mail to their own Army Draft Office.  The Israeli Postal Service is able to deliver mail to everywhere in the country. Yet, it very frequently “fails to deliver” military exemption certification from Israeli girls to the Draft Office – located right in Jerusalem, on Rechov Rashi.  This coincidental “quirk” in mail delivery helps the Draft Office persecute girls for ostensibly failing to submit requisite paperwork. Thereby, the Israeli postal service plays an important role in what some see as a trafficking scheme, seeking to force teenage girls into enlisting in the Israeli Army.  All of this absurdity is clearly on orders from “on high.”

The predictable results of drafting 18-year-old females into an immoral military milieu have been apparent for decades. One of these is widespread abortion. Abortion, according to Rav Moshe Feinstein OB”M (d. 1985), is murder for Jews and non-Jews alike (Iggros Moshe, Choshen Mishpat, Vol. 2, e.g. 73:8, p.310).

Those seeking to stop the unrelenting abortion of Jewish babies, which has killed over two million (!!) Israelis, would be advised to seek ways to end Israel’s female military draft. That one policy shift – one which could definitely gain unusually broad public support – would reduce abortion dramatically over time.

~~~

On Abortion, according to Rav Moshe Feinstein, a premier, world renowned authority in Jewish Law, [from The Jewish Press, slightly edited]:

“Abortion in Jewish Law:  DID YOU KNOW….?

That Reb Moshe Feinstein, OB”M, a premier authority in Jewish Law, writes in a responsa (Iggros Moshe, Choshen Mishpat 2:73:8 p. 310) that not only are Jews prohibited from committing abortion (except in the most extreme circumstances, specifically danger to the Mother’s life -BF) but we are also prohibited from assisting even non-Jewish people in committing abortion. Abortion is prohibited for non-Jews too, as a capital crime. Even if refusing to perform an abortion would result in “Aivoh” (antipathy towards Jews), it remains prohibited for Jewish doctors [to even participate in].”

~~~

Interestingly, that responsa was penned on the 16th day of the Hebrew month Iyyar, 5742, being exactly 40 years – to the day – prior the Jewish protest in Washington DC, on Tues. May 17, ’22, against the NCJW faux “Jewish” demonstration for abortion legalization. [One week earlier, he had written a responsa (CM 2:70, p.300), clarifying some errors that led some to lenient positions on abortion.]

It’s not the only responsa he wrote decrying abortion as murder – for all Mankind, Jew and non-Jew alike (see ibid., 2:69, p.294). Cf. ibid., 2:69 (p.294); 2:71, p.302 (regarding the Rambam in MT, Hil. Rotzaiach 1:9; Noda BeYehuda); p. 303 (para. 1-3).

~~~

Promiscuity and rampant abortion in IDF, sample reports:

1)  https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/40-cases-of-rape-reported-in-the-IDF-signifying-rise-in-complaints-561765

2) https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Dramatic-rise-in-number-of-IDF-soldiers-reporting-sexual-assault-572369

3) https://www.israelhayom.com/2018/12/12/idf-sees-spike-in-sexual-harassment-complaints-in-2018/

4) https://www.1202.org.il/en/union/info/statistics/arcci-statistics

5) https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/culture/.premium.MAGAZINE-israeli-choreographer-takes-on-routine-sexual-harassment-in-idf-1.6717980

6) https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/IDF-to-offer-day-after-pills-to-soldiers-570107

7) https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-to-provide-morning-after-pills-in-effort-to-decrease-abortions/

8)  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16146146/

9) https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-shhh-don-t-tell-evangelical-supporters-of-israel-about-the-country-s-abortion-laws-1.7274968

~~~

Ostensibly Orthodox advocacy organizations ought to be focusing on these burning issues, rather than issuing absurd statements trepidating or obfuscating over the U.S. Supreme Court possibly alleviating Roe, in the wake of the bloody legacy of the 63 Million. However, they are not. And that itself says much more than we ever could.

On the opposite side of the moral spectrum, those who stand with the aforementioned female refusenik heroes of Klal Yisroel will share in their monumental merit. Those young women, refusing to enlist in the Army, despite Army Draft Office terror and antireligious persecution, endure so much – and thereby secure the continuity of the Jewish People, whose identity is inherently connected to our fidelity to the Torah – as it was given to us on Har Sinai – just over 3333 years ago.

Wishing the readers an uplifting Shavuos,

Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter,

Executive Director,

Help Rescue Our Children

USA: 845-642-1679* «» 

* for calls and texts, but not WhatsApp

Israeli Helpline: 03-721-3337

From Daas Torah, here.