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 | | Humble to a Fault Even humility, the crown prince of all traits, can be transformed into a negative trait. If a person is excessively submissive, he will be influenced by immoral people to do evil. Love Yehuda Lave | | These British Isles Were Occupied By The Nazis By Deborah Katz Seventy-nine years ago – June 30, 1940 – the Nazis invaded the Channel Islands, the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by Germany during World War II. By the time of the invasion, only a handful of Jews (approximately 40) remained on this archipelago – whose main islands are Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark – but approximately 10,000 other Jews were sent to labor and concentration camps on the islands over the course of the war. As many as 1,000 of them may have been killed. After the Nazis invaded France on June 10, 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill hastily withdrew all military personnel and equipment from the Channel Islands to England. Approximately 25,000 people left the islands for England while roughly 65,000 remained. Soon after the Nazis occupied the Channel Islands in June 1940, they introduced German legislation throughout the islands, disconnected phone lines to England, affixed Nazi flags to buildings, ordered cars to drive on the right side of the road as per German custom, introduced German into schools, imposed curfews and restrictions on public gatherings, and confiscated radios, among other objects. Later, the Nuremberg Laws were adopted and Jews were required to register with the police. In April 1942, three Jewish women of Polish and Austrian background living on Guernsey were handed over to the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz where they were killed. Also in 1942, the Organization Todt (OT) – a German civil and military engineering organization – built four camps on Alderney: Norderney, Sylt, Borkum, and Helgoland. "In September 1943, my father was summoned by the French police to be deported to Alderney," said Albert Garih, who shared his father's story with The Jewish Press. His father, Benjamin Garih, was born in 1903 in Constantinople, Turkey, and immigrated to Paris when he was 20. "He arrived at Camp Norderney on October 11, 1943." The Nazis treated inmates in Norderney and Sylt much worse than inmates elsewhere on the Channel Islands. The Nazis regularly subjected them to heavy physical labor, beatings, and starvation rations. Breakfast consisted of a cup of tea; lunch, a thin cabbage soup with one slice of bread; and dinner, cabbage soup with a piece of bread. Inmates slept on three-tiered wooden bunks covered with pallets of flea- and lice-infested straw. The occupants of these camps were forced to build tunnels, air raid shelters, gun casements, hundreds of bunkers, armored turrets, and railway lines. Some of these were part of the "Atlantic Wall," a series of coastal fortifications designed to withstand an Allied invasion of Europe. By November 1943, the number of foreign workers was down to 8,959, and by 1944 only 817 prisoners were working under the watchful eyes of 3,200 German soldiers. "While interned in Alderney, my father was carrying a trough of cement on his head on a scaffolding when he stepped on a loose board. The board hit him on the head and he fell off a cliff. He lay on the ground at the base of the cliff with blood oozing from him. A couple of hours later, a soup truck found him and took him back to the camp. My father had permanent deep scars embedded on his scalp." The exact number of people killed in the Channel Islands' camps is hard to know since many of the relevant records were destroyed. Conservative estimates run less than 1,000. A controversial 2017 article in the Daily Mail, however, put the number as high as 40,000-70,000 and argued that the Nazis in Alderney were actually constructing a secret launching site V1 missiles tipped with chemical warheads. Mainstream historians, however, slammed the article as inaccurate, dismissing its theories as nonsense. In May 1945, the Channel Islands were liberated. (Garih's father survived. He had been shipped by the Nazis to another camp in mid-1944 and was liberated in Belgium later that year.) | | Part of the Nazis' fortifications against an Allied invasion on the Channel Islands. | | What's New At The Jerusalem Biblical Zoo By Rosally Saltsman What kind of key opens a banana? A mon-key. But enough monkeying around. If you think only people make aliyah, you're mistaken. Animals at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo come from all over the world, and it has recently welcomed an international roster of animals. Why, last month alone, the zoo opened its habitats to a new mandrill named Yaroo from Amsterdam. He will be the new alpha male alongside 10 female mandrills, replacing the late Doron, who passed away last year. He will also be the surrogate father to one young male. A new howler monkey also arrived from the Dudley Zoo, located on the grounds of an 11th century castle in West Midlands, England. If you want to pick him out when you visit the Jerusalem Zoo, he's the black one. Adult males are black while adult females and juveniles of both genders are blond-gold. A Red Knob Sea Star, also known as the Red Spine Star or the African Sea Star, recently arrived from Kenya. This large sea star has five conical, short thick arms. It is found in both shallow tidal pools and in reefs up to 100 meters deep in the Indian Ocean and feeds on mollusks, worms, detritus, and sponges. In other aquatic news at the zoo, a jellyfish aquarium was sponsored by Helen and Robert Levine of Teaneck, NJ, as a "gift to the children of Israel." Bob Levine is the vice president for education of the Jewish National Fund, and the dedication took place during his 100th(!) visit to Israel. The zoo also recently celebrated the birth of a new Negev Tortoise. One of the smallest species of tortoises in the world, the Negev Tortoise (Testudo werneri), is a sub-species of the Egyptian Tortoise and is critically endangered. Its habitat range is very small, limited to the sandy deserts of northern Egypt and Israel's Negev desert. The zoo is running a long-term conservation program for the tortoise. The main threats to the species are the destruction of its habitat because of the construction of military training sites, all-terrain vehicle tourism, livestock over-grazing, invasive species, and unrestricted sand removal. Finally, we close with "Good Night Giraffes," "Sunset with the Elephants," and "Sleepover at the Zoo." These might sound like new children's books, but they are actually names of night tours given at the zoo during the summer. You might like Sleepover at the Zoo if you're having trouble finding a hotel room during the high season! | | 10 Facts About the Month of Tammuz Every Jew Should Know By Menachem Posner 1. Tammuz is the Fourth Month Tammuz is the fourth month, counting from the springtime month of Nisan when our nation left Egypt. Read: 20 Exodus Facts Every Jew Should Know 2. It Always Has 29 Days The Hebrew months (with the exception of Cheshvan and Kislev) alternate in length. One has 29 days, the next has 30, etc. Sandwiched between Sivan and Av, both with 30 days, the month of Tammuz always has 29. Read: 10 Sivan Facts Every Jew Should Know 3. Tammuz Means "Heating" Rashi explains that Tammuz means "heating," like a glowing furnace—an appropriate name for the month which occurs at the height of summer (in the Northern Hemisphere), roughly coinciding with July.1 Read: Who Controls the Weather? 4. It Shares a Name With an Idol Mentioned in Ezekiel Ezekiel tells us that G‑d showed him the troubling vision of women in the Holy Temple "sitting, making the Tammuz weep."2 Rashi explains that Tammuz was an idol that could be heated from the inside. Its eyes, which were plugged with soft lead, would melt from the heat and appear to be weeping. When this happened, the people claimed that it was begging for an offering. Read: Why Tammuz Is Named for an Idol 5. It's Associated with Esau The Zohar tells us that the first three months are associated with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Tammuz and Av, the fourth and fifth months, were taken by Jacob's evil twin brother, Esau.3 Not surprisingly, both Holy Temples were destroyed during this time (one by the Romans, heirs of Esau). Read: Esau's Autobiography 6. The Zodiac of this Month is Cancer Cancer is a crab, which grows in water. The Midrash links this to Moses, who was hidden in the water by his mother. For this reason, G‑d deferred the final destruction of the Temple until the following month of Av, when Moses' protection was no longer dominant.4 Read: Moses, the Man of G‑d 7. Five Tragic Things Happened on Tammuz 17 - Moses broke the Tablets when he saw the Jewish people worshipping the Golden Calf.
- During the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, the Jews were forced to cease offering daily sacrifices due to the lack of sheep.
- Apostomos burned the holy Torah.
- An idol was placed in the Holy Temple.
- The walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans in 69 CE, after a lengthy siege.5
Read: History, Laws, and Customs of 17 Tammuz 8. Tammuz 17 Is a Fast Day---this year it is on Sunday the 18th, beacuse the 17th is Shabbat The sages declared Tammuz 17 a day of fasting and mourning for the terrible events that happened on this day. Referred to by the prophet as "the fourth [month] fast," this is one of the four fasts that will be converted to a day of joy and feasting with the arrival of Moshiach. May it happen soon.6 Read: 15 Moshiach Facts Every Jew Should Know 9. The Final Part of the Month is Mournful Tammuz 17 starts three weeks of mourning (known as "The Three Weeks" or "Between the Straits"), during which joy is tempered and spiritual sensitivity is heightened, as we recall the tragedies of the past. As we anticipate its rebuilding, this is an especially opportune time to study the intricate details of the Holy Temple. Read: 9 Little-Known Facts About the Holy Temples 10. It Also Has Happy Times Tammuz is not entirely without good. The 3rd day of the month is when G‑d miraculously stopped the sun in its tracks, allowing Joshua and his armies to deal a decisive blow to their enemies (it is also the day of passing of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory). On the same date in 1927, the death sentence that had been issued by the Soviets for the Sixth Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of righteous memory, was lifted. Ten days later, on the 12th and 13th of Tammuz, his subsequent sentence to exile was cleared and he was released from prison. Read: Why Isn't the Day G‑d Stopped the Sun for Joshua a Holiday? Footnotes 1. Rashi to Ezekiel 8:14. 2. Ezekiel 8:14. 3. Zohar II 78b. 4. Pesikta Rabbati 28:8. 5. The day the walls were breached when the First Temple was destroyed is subject to debate, but all maintain that it was during the month of Tammuz 6. Zechariah 8:19. By Menachem Posner | | Miller Shechitah Knives By Israel Mizrahi From the estate of a deceased shochet of many decades, I acquired several shechitah knives manufactured in the early 1900s by "J. & D. Miller," the most sought after manufacturer in this field. The brothers Joseph Miller (1887-1972) and David Miller (about 1883-1943) were born in Western Russia, near Minsk. As young boys, they were sent as apprentices to an uncle, who had a factory where knives were manufactured. Escaping the military conscription, Joseph escaped Russia, followed by his brother several years later. By 1909 the brothers had escaped military conscription in Russia and resided in the Lower East Side of New York. Joseph opened a shop on Canal Street that manufactured knives and tools for a variety of uses. Each product was marked "J. & D. Miller, N.Y., Guaranteed," and the brothers were well known for repairing or sharpening their products as needed, even years after their purchase. Miller shechitah knives are of the highest quality, and many ritual slaughterers still use them today, decades after the last Miller knives were made. They are known to be rust-resistant and extraordinarily sharp. | | The Opening of the Academy Awards in 1956 Jerry Lewis's opening monologue at the 28th Academy Awards®, held at the RKO Pantages Theatre on Wednesday, March 21, 1956. Featuring an introduction by Academy President George Seaton and appearances by New York hosts Claudette Colbert and Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Eleanor Parker presents the Oscars for Documentary Short Subject to Walt Disney for "Men against the Arctic," and for Documentary Feature to Nancy Hamilton for "Helen Keller in Her Story." Sal Mineo presents the Oscar for Sound Recording to Fred Hynes for "Oklahoma!" | | ARCHAEOLOGY SHOWS PHILISTINES, ENEMY OF ISRAELITES, CAME FROM EUROPE We found infants that were too young to travel... so they were born on site. And their DNA revealed [that] their parents' heritage was not from the local population."BY MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN New evidence has revealed that the ancient people most known for their biblical conflict with the Israelites were immigrants to the region in the 12th century BCE.
"For 30 years, we excavated at Ashkelon, uncovering Canaanites, early Philistines and later Philistines – and now we can begin to understand the story that these bones tell," said Daniel M. Master, director of the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon, who headed the excavations. The team used state-of-the-art DNA technologies on ancient bone samples unearthed during the excavation from 1985-2016. Analyzing for the first time genome-wide data retrieved from people who lived in Ashkelon during the Bronze and Iron ages (around 3,600 to 2,800 years ago), the team found that a substantial proportion of their ancestry was derived from a European population. This European-derived ancestry was introduced into Ashkelon around the time of the Philistines' estimated arrival in the 12th century BCE.
The findings of the study were published Wednesday in Science Advances.
According to the Book of Joshua, the land of the Philistines was in the southwestern Levant comprising the five city-states of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath, from Wadi Gaza in the south to the Yarkon River in the north. It was from this designation that the whole of the country was later called Palestine by the Greeks.
The Israelites' conflict with the Philistines is well attested to in the Bible. Samson slays 1,000 Philistines in Judges 15, and David battles Philistine Goliath in 1 Samuel 17, among other examples.
Dr. Adam A. Aja, assistant curator of collections at the Harvard Semitic Museum and one of the Ashkelon Philistine cemetery archaeologists, said that people today often want to know, "who are we, where did we come from?
"When we found the infants – infants that were too young to travel... these infants couldn't march or sail to get to the land around Ashkelon, so they were born on site. And their DNA revealed [that] their parents' heritage was not from the local population," Aja explained, referring to the new genetic input from the direction of Southern Europe that was found in bone samples taken from infants buried under the floors of Philistine homes, as was the custom during that period.Most Recent Videos from the Jerusalem Post TOP ARTICLES1/5READ MOREDemocrats Abroad: Barak's 'Israel Democratic Party' namemisleading
"All the work of previous scholarship was pointing in that direction," said Aja. "The DNA answered that definitively for us… The DNA gave us the opportunity to let these people speak for themselves."
MICHAEL FELDMAN of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, leading author of the study, explained that the genetic distinction is due to European-related gene flow that is known to have been introduced in Ashkelon during either the end of the Bronze Age or the beginning of the Iron Age.
"This timing is in accord with estimates of the Philistines' arrival to the coast of the Levant, based on archaeological and textual records," he said.
"Not only do we have radio-carbon dating that demonstrates the antiquity of the samples, but we also have stratigraphic evidence," Masters said. "These samples come from carefully-excavated contexts, connected to artifacts that can be precisely dated."
archaeologists uncovered the first Philistine cemetery. From those graves, researchers successfully recovered genomic data from the remains of 10 individuals who lived in Ashkelon during the Bronze and Iron ages. This data allowed the team to compare the DNA of the Bronze and Iron Age people of Ashkelon to determine how they were related. The researchers found that individuals across all time periods derived most of their ancestry from the local Levantine gene pool, but that individuals who lived in early Iron Age Ashkelon had a European-derived ancestral component that was not present in their Bronze Age predecessors.
The researchers also found that the European-related component could no longer be traced in later Iron Age individuals from Ashkelon.
In other words, within two centuries or less, the genetic footprint introduced during the early Iron Age is no longer detectable and seems to be diluted by the local Levantine gene pool, which researchers say suggests intensive admixture between local and foreign populations. Yet, there was continuity in their ethnicity.
"The Philistines stayed Philistines," explained Masters. "Later people who called themselves Philistines looked very much like the people around them. Their ethnicity did not change even though, as we look at their genome, we see a lot [more] of Levantine influence than we did before.
"It is an interesting way of looking at how genetics and ethnicity operate in different ways under different principles," Masters concluded.
Aja said that additional work still needs to be done.
"We need more genetic samples from this region to pinpoint more precisely where this population is from," he said.
However, he noted that the latest findings help complete the picture more than ever before.
Aja said that archaeology is almost akin to having a jigsaw puzzle with most of the pieces missing, and the picture itself missing – "and we are trying to make the joins that work. When we found the cemetery and could get DNA evidence from this, it was as if someone handed us a picture.
"And now, we can see that the puzzle we are putting together actually matches what we thought it was going to be," he said. | | See you tomorrow Love Yehuda Lave | | | |
