Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor | | | | Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement | | The World is a Constant Gift The Torah viewpoint is that the Almighty constantly creates the entire world and everything in it for each individual. This concept has the potential to give a person immense pleasure. Think about it for a moment. The Almighty -- Creator and Sustainer of the universe -- is constantly creating for you the sun, the moon, and all the other worldly phenomena. He is constantly bestowing upon you life, and every single second He supplies you with your needs. Love Yehuda Lave | | Wurzburg Germany, the central place for deportation Würzburg is a city in Germany's Bavaria region. It's known for lavish baroque and rococo architecture, particularly the 18th-century Residenz palace, with ornate rooms, a huge fresco by Venetian artist Tiepolo and an elaborate staircase. Home to numerous wine bars, cellars and wineries, Würzburg is the center of the Franconian wine country, with its distinctive bocksbeutel (bottles with flattened round shapes). Würzburg (/ˈvɜːrtsbɜːrɡ, ˈwɜːrts-/;[2] German: [ˈvʏɐ̯tsbʊɐ̯k] (listen); Main-Franconian: Wörtzburch) is a city in the region of Franconia, northern Bavaria, Germany. Located on the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is East Franconian. Würzburg lies about equidistant from Frankfurt am Main and Nuremberg (each about 120 kilometers or 75 miles away). Although the city of Würzburg is not part of the Landkreis Würzburg, (i.e., district of Würzburg), it is the seat of the district's administration. The city has a population of around 130,000 people[3]. Contents HistorySee also: Timeline of Würzburg Early and medieval history Impression of the city seal of 1319 Woodcut depicting Würzburg from the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493) Panorama of Würzburg with castle Marienberg. Matthäus Merian in Cornelis Danckerts, "Historis", 1642. A Bronze Age (Urnfield culture) refuge castle stood on the site of the present Fortress Marienberg. The former Celtic territory was settled by the Alamanni in the 4th or 5th century, and by the Franks in the 6th to 7th. Würzburg was the seat of a Merovingian duke from about 650. It was Christianized in 686 by Irish missionaries Kilian, Kolonat and Totnan. The city is mentioned in a donation by Duke Hedan II to bishop Willibrord, dated 1 May 704, in castellum Virteburch. The Ravenna Cosmography lists the city as Uburzis at about the same time.[4] The name is presumably of Celtic origin, but based on a folk etymological connection to the German word Würze "herb, spice", the name was Latinized as Herbipolis in the medieval period.[5] Beginning in 1237, the city seal depicted the cathedral and a portrait of Saint Kilian, with the inscription SIGILLVM CIVITATIS HERBIPOLENSIS. It shows a banner on a tilted lance, formerly in a blue field, with the banner quarterly argent and gules (1532), later or and gules (1550). This coat of arms replaced the older seal of the city, showing Saint Kilian, from 1570.[6] The first diocese was founded by Saint Boniface in 742 when he appointed the first bishop of Würzburg, Saint Burkhard. The bishops eventually created a duchy with its center in the city, which extended in the 12th century to Eastern Franconia. The city was the seat of several Imperial Diets, including the one of 1180, in which Henry the Lion was banned from the Empire and his duchy was handed over to Otto of Wittelsbach. Massacres of Jews took place in 1147 and 1298. The first church on the site of the present Würzburg Cathedral was built as early as 788, and consecrated that same year by Charlemagne; the current building was constructed from 1040 to 1225 in Romanesque style. The University of Würzburg was founded in 1402 and re-founded in 1582. The citizens of the city revolted several times against the prince-bishop. In 1397, King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia had visited the city and promised its people the status of a free Imperial City. However, the German ruling princes forced him to withdraw these promises. In 1400, the citizenry was decisively defeated by the troops of the bishop in the Schlacht von Bergtheim [de], and the city fell under his control permanently until the dissolution of the fiefdom.[7]:41 Modern history The Würzburg witch trials, which occurred between 1626 and 1631, are one of the largest peace-time mass trials. In Würzburg, under Bishop Philip Adolf an estimated number between 600 and 900 alleged witches were burnt.[8] In 1631, Swedish King Gustaf Adolf invaded the town and plundered the castle. In 1720, the foundations of the Würzburg Residence were laid. In 1796, the Battle of Würzburg between Habsburg Austria and the First French Republic took place. The city passed to the Electorate of Bavaria in 1803, but two years later, in the course of the Napoleonic Wars, it became the seat of the Electorate of Würzburg (until September 1806), the later Grand Duchy of Würzburg. In 1814, the town became part of the Kingdom of Bavaria and a new bishopric was created seven years later, as the former one had been secularized in 1803 (see also Reichsdeputationshauptschluss). In 1817, Friedrich Koenig and Andreas Bauer founded Schnellpressenfabrik Koenig & Bauer (the world's first steam-driven printing press manufacturer). In the early 1930s, around 2,000 Jews had lived in Würzburg, which was also a rabbinic center. Between November 1941 and June 1943 Jews from the city were sent to the Nazi concentration camps in Eastern Europe.[9] On 16 March 1945, about 90% of the city was destroyed in 17 minutes by fire bombing from 225 British Lancaster bombers during a World War II air raid. Würzburg became a target for its role as a traffic hub and to break the spirit of the population.[7]:19 All of the city's churches, cathedrals, and other monuments were heavily damaged or destroyed. The city center, which mostly dated from medieval times, was totally destroyed in a firestorm in which 5,000 people perished. Main article: Bombing of Würzburg in World War II Over the next 20 years, the buildings of historical importance were painstakingly and accurately reconstructed. The citizens who rebuilt the city immediately after the end of the war were mostly women – Trümmerfrauen ("rubble women") – because the men were either dead or still prisoners of war. On a relative scale, Würzburg was destroyed to a larger extent than was Dresden in a firebombing the previous month. On 3 April 1945, Würzburg was occupied by the U.S. 12th Armored Division and U.S. 42nd Infantry Division in a series of frontal assaults masked by smokescreens. The battle continued until the final Wehrmacht resistance was defeated on 5 April 1945.[10][11] The 2016 Würzburg train attack took place at the Würzburg-Heidingsfeld railway station on 18 July. Geography Würzburg with Fortress Marienberg Würzburg is located on both banks of the river Main in the region of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. The main body of the town is on the eastern (right) bank of the river. The town is completely enclosed by the Landkreis Würzburg, but is not a part of it. Würzburg covers an area of 87.6 square-kilometres and lies at an altitude of around 177 metres. [12] Of the total municipal area, in 2007, building area accounted for 30%, followed by agricultural land (27.9%), forestry/wood (15.5%), green spaces (12.7%), traffic (5.4%), water (1.2%) and others (7.3%).[13] The centre of Würzburg is surrounded by hills. To the west lies the 266 metre Marienberg and the Nikolausberg (359 m) to the south of it. The Main flows through Würzburg from the south-east to the north-west. City structureWürzburg is divided into 13 Stadtbezirke which are additionally structured into 25 boroughs. In the following overview, the boroughs and their numbers are allocated to the 13 municipals. | | The story of the Jewish Community in Wurzburg https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/communities/wurzburg/1939-1943.asp Würzburg During the Holocaust The Jews of Würzburg 1939 – 1943 Würzburg, 25 April 1942. Jews concentrated in Platz'schen-Garten, awaiting deportation to the Lublin district. From the deportation album of the Jews of Mainfranken (part of Lower Franconia).
24 March 1942, Jews in Kitzingen being led to the train station. Jews from Würzburg were among those deported. From the deportation album of the Jews of Mainfranken (part of Lower Franconia).
24 March 1942, Items belonging to the Jews at the Kitzingen train station prior to the Jews deportation. Jews from Würzburg were among those deported. From the deportation album of the Jews of Mainfranken (part of Lower Franconia).
24 March 1942, Items belonging to the Jews at the Kitzingen train station prior to the Jews deportation. Jews from Würzburg were among those deported. From the deportation album of the Jews of Mainfranken (part of Lower Franconia).
25 April 1942, Jews being led through the streets of Würzburg by German policemen, en route to the train station. In January 1939 the authorities forced the district rabbi of Würzburg, Rabbi Dr. Sigmund (Shimon) Hanover, who had meanwhile been detained in a concentration camp, to leave Germany. He was succeeded in office by Rabbi Dr. Magnus (Menachem) Weinberg, who was to be the last rabbi of the community in Würzburg before its destruction. In September 1941 the Jews of Germany were made to wear the "yellow badge" on their clothes; all Jews from the age of six were to wear a yellow star on their outer garments. In October 1941 Jews were prohibited from crossing the Reich borders, and November 1941 was the first occasion on which Jews from Würzburg were deported to Riga. At the beginning of 1942 the authorities dictated that all Jewish apartments in Würzburg be vacated. Their owners were concentrated in the buildings of the Jewish cemetery, under extremely crowded conditions and without any privacy: families were quartered in the mourning room, the eulogy chamber, the prayer room and the guard room, and several families were also placed on the second floor. Jews who had been sent to Würzburg from other communities in Franconia were concentrated in the Jewish hospital. Older Jews, both men and women, were conscripted to serve as force laborers in factories, street cleaning, loading and unloading trains, and other similar tasks. Strict regulations controlled the movement of Jews in the city. Between 1933, when the Nazi party came to power, and 1942, some 2,300 Jews left Würzburg, among them Jews who had immigrated to the city or been deported to it from other communities in Germany. A quarter of the emigrants from Würzburg resettled elsewhere Germany; the rest left the country, most of them for the United States, Eretz Israel, and Great Britain. According to a Gestapo report from Würzburg, between November 1941 and June 1943, 2,063 Jews were deported. From Lower Franconia in six transports, among them the Jews of Würzburg. Before boarding the transports the deportees were required to hand in all their valuables, the keys to their apartments, and a document detailing their property, including their bank account details. They were only allowed to take a few belongings with them on the trains. Before boarding the transports they were registered and meticulously searched for contraband objects and other goods which were not allowed to be taken. The deportees were routed to Nuremberg, from where about a third of them were transported to Theresienstadt and the rest – "to the East". Michael Völkl, the Gestapo officer in charge of the deportations from Würzburg, assigned German policemen the task of documenting three of the transports. Other photography of the deportation process was strictly forbidden. The Deportations from Lower Franconia - 27 November 1941, 202 Jews from Würzburg were deported to Riga.
- 24 March 1942, 208 Jews were deported from Kitzingen to Izbica, Poland, among them 24 Jews from Würzburg.
- 25 April 1942, 850 Jews were deported from Würzburg to Krasnystaw; 78 of the deportees were from Würzburg, and the remaining deportees came from some 80 different communities.
- 10 September 1942, 177 Jews were deported from Würzburg to Theresienstadt.
- 23 September 1942, 562 Jews were deported from Würzburg to Theresienstadt.
- 17 June 1943, seven Jews were deported from Würzburg to Theresienstadt, and 57 Jews were deported to Auschwitz.
The community was officially liquidated on September 22, 1943. Several days before this date, the remaining Jews brought a wooden crate containing 25 Torah scrolls to the Jewish cemetery, where they buried it in the ground. A tombstone was placed over the grave, with the marking "The Mosaic Torah". The incident went unnoticed by the authorities, as at the time there were many deaths and suicides among the Jews in Würzburg. Following the final deportation 29 Jews remained in Würzburg, of them 14 were originally residents of the city; the rest were Jews who had been brought in from surrounding communities. Five of the Jews were the children of mixed marriages, considered Jews according to Nazi racial law (Geltungsjuden); the others were Jews married to Germans. | | Splitting the sea is like a match between two people There is a famous statement from Chazal (in Midrash Raba and Masechet Sota and other places) that teaches that the the forming of a match between two people is as difficult as the splitting of the sea. And indeed we look around and see not only many single people looking for their other half but many marriages that are struggling or worse mamash falling apart. | | Theodor Herzl: The Zionist Dream of a Jewish State What is Zionism, and why is it so controversial? And how (and why) did Theodor Herzl, a secular writer, who didn't know anything about Judaism, transform an ancient longing into a modern political movement that resulted in the establishment of the State of Israel? Short answer - antisemitism. Herzl was present at one of the most explosive trials of the day, which came to be known as the Dreyfus Affair. In the case, Alfred Dreyfus, a high ranking Jewish officer in the French army, was falsely accused of espionage and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island (he was later exonerated). It wasn't just the trial that got Herzl started on his journey towards Zionism. The cries of "Death for the Jew" that were casually hurled around on the streets of Paris made him understand that a Jewish state was necessary to remove the problem of anti-semitism entirely. Herzl was seen as a crazy man in his time, and he certainly had some offbeat ideas, such as the idea for a mass conversion to Christianity (which was swiftly despatched), but his vision for a Jewish state became reality. A modern day Moses, Herzl never saw the country he envisaged, but due to his actions, and the actions of the Zionist leaders that followed, in 1948 the State of Israel came into being. Sources: - Daniel Gordis, Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn - Adam Kirsch, The People and the Books, Chapter 13 - Gil Troy, The Zionist Ideas, Part One: Pioneers Founding the State https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkBYF... ----------- Photo/Video Credit: GPO Israel, GPO Israel/David Wolfson Executive Producers: - Shevi Peters - Adam Milstein This series would not be possible without the generous support of: - Kam and Lily Babaoff - The Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation - Shevi Peters ----------- Subscribe and check out more awesome JerusalemU videos! https://www.youtube.com/subscription_... GET SOCIAL @ JERUSALEM U https://www.jerusalemu.org/ https://www.facebook.com/JerusalemU http://instagram.com/Jerusalem_U http://twitter.com/Jerusalem_U ----------- #Israel #History #Zionism Theodor Herzl: The Zionist Dream of a Jewish StateCategory | | Nahal Prod Rivers in Israel during the winter | | The David Moment Tells The Inside Story Of David The Shepherd To Christian Tourists After a long day on the road and dinner at six, most Holy Land pilgrims return to their rooms to nod off for the night or, with their pastors, stay up to schmooze and pray or, even, head for Jerusalem's Old City walls and the Sound and Light spectacle on David the King. But in those wide-open spaces of Biblical hills far from the city's center, a more modest look at the younger David draws attention for its appeal beyond the eye and the ear to the mind and heart with an inside story most readers miss. There, a stone's throw from the Biblical Zoo, at the Hotel Yehuda, a 50-minute one-man show, "The David Moment," begins three thousand years ago when an eager shepherd shows up to see King Saul and says he'll slay the giant. Written and acted by Shlomo Gewirtz, a new American immigrant who sees in David's job interview not only a source of entertainment, but wisdom and insight for anyone today who has ambition, drive, stamina and faith, Shlomo sets the stage by opening with, "David saw no ad: Position Available. Giant-Slayer Wanted. Must have previous experience. Had no resumé with his last job in the killing business or references in his field who, anyway, would never bleat anything bad. But if he knew this was his 'calling' and, with God's help he'd make history if the meeting went well, how did he almost blow it —rejected at first and nearly sent back to sheep?! The sling, the stone, the giant's fall we all recall, but how David turned this upside-down interview right-side up and got this killer job is what you'll now learn and remember especially when one day you're desperate to change fields or look for your dream job only to hear them tell you, 'you've got no experience.'" Way back when in America, Shlomo had been among last of the MADMEN creatives to run the New York advertising world "at the end of the glory days," he recalls, "when the bosses could no longer fit into their sharkskin suits, had their fill of office romps, and half were already dying of lung cancer." He got the idea for the show years after he dropped out of selling products and services to find his calling in helping people sell themselves. "Everybody looks for their dream job. They hire me to make it happen," he maintains. While working in New York as an executive competition coach, he stumbled onto Solly Soloveitchik's short magnum opus, "God and War," which, he says, gave him "the scoop as to how David became king." During the show, now, he asks his audience: "How do we succeed when everything's stacked against us? How do we choose our calling? David shows us the way." No stranger to selling himself, Shlomo achieved celebrity status several years ago in Israel when, to hone his Hebrew-speaking skills, he sat in the Central Bus Station with a platter of pastries, pointed to his sign that asked travelers to sit for a minute to help a new immigrant try out his Hebrew and then, when someone posted his picture, quickly garnered over 35,000 Facebook Likes, a contract for a book in Hebrew, and another offer to mount the TED stage at Tel Aviv's next White City show. He recalls: "Family and friends wrestled with me over what caused those Likes, Shares and Comments. Do we Israelis feel pride in a photo we can't imagine in any land but ours? Do young Sabras like to see older Americans reveal their vulnerability? And especially in times of war and sadness, it may remind us in some way of why we are special — a Zionist story? Or perhaps from a universal perspective, when we're tethered to smartphones controlling our lives and every thought and feeling tapped out on glass, maybe it's 'cool' to see someone say, 'Talk to me!' and then give up WHAT'S APP for the sake of what's human. A soul-talk with a flesh-and-blood creature who invites you to 'Sit down with me for a moment. Let's chat.'" To help him tailor the David story to an audience of tourists, Shlomo turned early on to the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation and its head, David Nekrutman who, he says, "straightaway helped me season the script enough to complement a tour's Christian flavor." He says his theater piece, which was directed by Jessica Schechter, often surprises the crowd with its detail, color, and Israeli perspective. Show times and audiences vary, he adds. "Whenever there's an English-speaking group at the hotel, I go up to guests at dinner time, hold up my sign, 'Big Show Tonight!,' and say, 'Sorry to interrupt. I'm Shlomo, Hebrew for Solomon, and your After-Dinner Show at 8. Free. And guaranteed. Don't like it? I'll give you back your money.' They laugh when I make my joke. Like, 'Hey, Solomon, you're funny.' But then I get serious. I make my pitch. I drum up a crowd. But it's not only show-biz here. With David's story the way I tell it, people learn how to take home with them more choices for themselves. Near the end, I cite for them Solly's great-uncle, J.B. Soloveitchik, the rabbi who said, 'the greatness of man―his dignity and his creativity―is expressed in his freedom of will and his ability to choose.' Isn't that about what life is – or with God's help should be?" # For further information and show times, call: 052.306.1783 or write TheDavidMoment@gmail.com | | Nachlaot Is Finally Getting Its Streets Repaved Some of the alleys of Nahlaot will be upgraded, and will be paved for the first time since their establishment, reports Mynet Jerusalem. Among others, these include the streets of Bibas, Shiva, Dia, and Shevet Tzedek.
The work that began this week includes paving of alleys, and is expected to improve the appearance of the public space and on the road, and improve the accessibility of these streets to people with disabilities.
As part of the preparations for the work, the residents were asked to vacate the belongings they left in alleys, such as old sofas and potted plants. They also have to disconnect gas cylinders that have been placed irregularly on the facades of the houses and transfer them to the courtyards. | | See you tomorrow Love Yehuda Lave | | | |
