Friday, April 3, 2020

Does the book of Leviticus speak to us today and The Rock and Bill Cosby and Kahane and South Ramparts and Arab MK Spreads Lie that IDF Soldiers Spit on Palestinians to Spread Virus and Israeli unemployment exceeds one million: 24.1% of workforce and Chief Rabbis: Don’t leave home to burn chametz for Passover

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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. Now also a Blogger on the Times of Israel. Look for my column

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My cleaning lady just emailed that for now she'll be working from home.She'll text us instructions.

Why I am a Jew" by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

  "The deepest question any of us can ask is: Who am I? To answer it we have to go deeper than, Where do I live? or What do I do? The most fateful moment in my life came when I asked myself that question and knew the answer had to be: I am a Jew. This is why." In this new whiteboard animation, Rabbi Sacks explains why he is proud to be a Jew and what it is about Judaism that makes it so unique. This passionate appeal calls on Jews around the world, from across the political and religious spectrum, to connect to their people, heritage and faith. This video includes subtitles in French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Please click on the Subtitle option on the YouTube video. This video was produced by whiteanimation.com / silueta.co.il for The Office of Rabbi Sacks. Learn more about Rabbi Sacks' work at www.rabbisacks.org / @RabbiSacks.

1. GERMAN MEASLES 2. Ebola: is a west African River3. Marburg Virus. German version of Ebola4. The Spanish Flu5. MERS : MIDDLE EAST RESPIRATORY SYNDROME 6. CHINA CORONAVIRUS Viruses are named after where they begin or get spreading and identified. For generations. This Snowflake fake news attempt to make The President racist is stupid and extremely disingenuous.

Chief Rabbis: Don't leave home to burn chametz for Passover

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Chief-Rabbis-Dont-leave-home-to-burn-chametz-for-Passover-623072

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A Child's Education Began with Leviticus

Imagine sending your little darling Rachel to a traditional boys Yeshiva. Transitionally the first place for study is the sacrifice of animals in Leviticus

Why did young children begin their Jewish studies with Leviticus? The traditional answer is "Children are pure; therefore let them study laws of purity"  (Leviticus Rabbah 7:3).

 It also has been suggested that Jewish learning began here to teach from the outset that life involves sacrifice. One contemporary writer suggests, "In sacrifice, we could for a fleeting moment imagine our own death and yet go on living… No other form of worship can so effectively liberate a person from the fear of living in the shadow of death." 

This Midrash reflects the importance ascribed by the Sages to studying sacrificial rites in the era after the destruction of the Temple. By continuing to delve into this topic, they hoped to allay the sorrow caused by destruction of the Temple and alleviate the sense of spiritual helplessness that ensued from the disappearance of the rituals that had bound Jews to their Father in Heaven.

 

Making the subject of sacrifice the first topic in the curriculum of young children was intended to impress upon them the importance of sacrificial worship and to channel hopes for rebuilding the Temple into constructive activity.

 

Nevertheless, study of laws of the Temple and sacrificial worship did not fare well over the years. Quite the contrary, by the beginning of the Middle Ages the world of Jewish learning showed a clear trend towards what one might call "pragmatism." This was the beginning of the current Conservative Judaism practices of taking out entire parts of the Holy Torah.

 

The subjects of study shrunk to those commandments in current practice. Entire orders of Mishnah--Zeraim, Kodashim, and Toharot --were neglected. This is reflected in the Halakhot of Rabbi Isaac Alfasi (1013-1103), whose summary of Talmudic law skips over all subjects that were thought to be "Halakhot for the times of the Messiah." Alfasi's book (known as Talmud Katan) to a large extent determined the direction that study would take in subsequent generations (at least in the Jewish communities of Spain and Provence).

 

Things reached such an extreme that Rabbi Menahem Ha-Meiri (southern France, early 14th century) complained bitterly that "the three latter [orders of Mishnah] have become totally neglected."

 

Not everyone viewed this development as negative. Many Jewish rabbis in the Middle Ages (again, primarily in Spain) feared that if too much attention were given to theoretical subjects, including the three above-mentioned sedarim, it would adversely affect a person's spiritual strength.

 

 For example, Rabbenu Bahya ibn Pakuda had the following to say on this matter:

 

One of the hakhamim was asked an esoteric question in the realm of divorce law, to which he responded: You, Sir, are asking about something that would in no way harm us if we did not know the answer; but do you know all that you should regarding the commandments that you are not entitled to ignore, and concerning which it is unbefitting for you to sin, that you turn to other questions that will bring you no improvement in your knowledge of Torah and faith, and will in no way amend that which is crooked in your soul?

 

The response by Rabbi Bahya, a dayan from Saragossa, is extremely significant. Note especially that he was critical not only of studying commandments that were not in current practice, but also of being overly speculative in the study of subjects that were indeed relevant to the times (such as Jewish divorce law).

 

In other words, this dayan from Saragossa came out against the very sort of Jewish "study for its own sake" that in the 19th and 20th centuries would take over the entire world of the Yeshivot. His main argument was that study of the Halakhah that does not go hand in hand with spiritual development is not of enduring value. Therefore, even though it is obligatory to study those sections of the Talmud that pertain to commandments in current practice, one is not to exert intellectual and spiritual energy delving into the above-mentioned kind of questions.

 

Rather one should put time and energy into commandments of faith, which are the "duties of the heart" (and the name of Bahya's book). This appeal by Rabbenu Bahya fell on willing and supportive ears especially among philosophers and kabbalists, who sought a balance between halakhic and Talmudic studies on the one hand and spiritual matters on the other.

 

There were, however, those who thought otherwise and not only advocated theoretical Talmudic studies, but actually emphasized study of those parts of the Halakhah that are not current. The leading spokesman on this subject, as on almost all other subjects, was Maimonides, who strenuously objected to making an artificial distinction between commandments that were practiced when the Temple stood and those current in his day. Therefore, in his magnum opus, Mishneh Torah, he included all the commandments found in the Torah.]His particular attitude to the commandments in Seder Kodashim is voiced in his commentary on the Mishnah.

 

The Sages who deal with the halakhot of sacrificial worship are considered as if the Temple were built in their day; therefore it behooves a person to delve into the details of sacrifice, and let it not be said that these are unnecessary matters in our time, as most people say.

 

The Primary Message

Two concepts embody the primary message of Leviticus. First, the Israelites are one community (edah), united by a common destiny and by a holy way of life as commanded by the Lord Himself. They are forbidden to worship any other deity or follow the impure ways of other nations (19:4, 20:13,6), Second, the Israelites were granted the Promised Land as an eternal estate (ahuzzah) on condition that they follow the laws of God and remain faithful to His covenant. In Leviticus, the priests of Israel are instructed in the ways of holiness, and the Israelites are told what the Lord requires of them

Leviticus and the Modern World: The Importance of Ritual

Leviticus is a difficult book for a modern person to read with reverence and appreciation. Its main subject matter–animal offerings and ritual impurity–seems remote from contemporary concerns. Yet almost half of the 613 mitzvot of the Torah

are found in this book, the text with which young children traditionally began their Jewish education.

Our concern in reading Leviticus should be more than historical ("this is what our ancestors used to believe and practice"). It should be an effort to understand the religious needs that were met by these practices in ancient times, needs that we still confront today, and the religious ideas that were taught in the process.

The modern temper tends to discount prescribed ritual in favor of spontaneous religious expression. Yet something in the human soul responds to ritual, whether it be the formality of a traditional wedding or the rituals of a sporting event or a public meeting. There is something comforting about the familiar, the recognizable, the predictable. There is something deeply moving about performing a rite that is older than we are, one that goes back beyond the time of our parents and grandparents.

At crucial times, it is important for us to know that we are "doing it right." There is power in the knowledge that we are doing what generations of people before us have done in similar situations, something that other people in other places are doing at the same time and in the same way.

And rituals, including prescribed prayers, tell us what to do and say at times where we cannot rely on our own powers of inspiration to know what to do or say. "Ritual is way of giving voice to ultimate values. Each of us needs a sense of holiness to navigate the relentless secularity of our lives". For the Israelites of biblical times, it must have been gratifying to know what to do when they wanted to approach God at crucial moments of their lives, in need or in gratitude.

Bill Cosby American comedian

William Henry Cosby Jr. is an American stand-up comedian, actor, musician, author, and now a convicted sex offender.

Cosby began his career as a stand-up comic at the hungry I in San Francisco during the 1960s.

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.

Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it.

Every closed eye is not sleeping, and every open eye is not seeing.

The past is a ghost, the future a dream, and all we ever have is now.

Gray hair is God's graffiti.

A word to the wise isn't necessary, it is the stupid ones who need all the advice.

Raising children is an incredibly hard and risky business in which no cumulative wisdom is gained: each generation repeats the mistakes the previous one made.

Immortality is a long shot, I admit. But somebody has to be first.

Let us now set forth one of the fundamental truths about marriage: the wife is in charge.

Ramparts of Old City Southern Section 110320

On Sushon Purim, the lovers finish the trip around the Old City of Jerusalem with the Southern Ramparts. It ends at the Kotel with all of its spirituality

THE ONLY HOPE - THE NATIONAL REFERENDUM (Excerpts)

"K A H A N E"The magazine of the authentic Jewish Idea

Nissan -5737   April-1977

 

THE ONLY HOPE - THE NATIONAL REFERENDUM (Excerpts)

 

The election of a national emergency government for four full years, consisting of one party (rather than the impossible coalition of today) that will be obliged and have full power to implement the following program:

 

A)   Putting an end to the Arab uprising with all means that the army

deems necessary.  This will include automatic and compulsory expulsions of law-violators and their families, the free use of weapons against stone-throwers and other attackers of Israelis, as well as permission for Jewish civilians traveling in the territories and under attack, to use their weapons freely in the same manner as soldiers.

 

B)   The annexation of the liberated areas (Judea, Samaria, Gaza) by incorporating them into the State of Israel.  Full Jewish sovereignty over the land of Israel, including the Temple Mount, and free Jewish settlement throughout the land.

 

C)   Offering both the Arabs of the territories and those within the

pre-1967 Israel the choice of: 1) remaining in the land with full individual rights (cultural, social, religious, economic) but no national ones (they will not be citizens, will not vote, nor sit in the Knesset) as they recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people, 2) leaving the country willingly with compensation for property or, 3) refusing both of the above and being removed from the land.

 

D)   Dismantling the country's present bureaucratic, government-

bobbled economy and introducing a free economy with private initiative, incentives to investors, and freedom from obsessive regulation and red tape.  The opportunity to make Israel an economic super-power lies down the road of free enterprise.

 

E)   A total overhaul of the country's educational system to put an end

 to the disastrous ideological bankruptcy of the young Israeli who has little if any knowledge and emotional links with Zionism, Judaism, or Jewishness.  A curriculum that will include large doses of Jewish values and Jewish sources as well as Jewish national pride and Zionism, taught by ideologically competent teachers.

 

F)    The creation of a new state television and radio authority with

 positive values toward Judaism and Jewish nationalism.  An end to the deliberate distortions of the news and the undermining of national morale and values.

 

G)   The compulsory learning by every Jewish youngster of a manual

trade so as to recreate the Jewish worker that was the dream of Zionism and is the basis of any normal national economy and state. 

 At the end of four years, another referendum will be held to see if the people agree that the aims of the national emergency government have been achieved or if another four years will be needed.

 

The referendum will declare and mandate that, if approved the Knesset will be dissolved and a free election held within 30 days to elect one party with full and absolute powers and obligations to implement the program mandated by the referendum.  Any party or list will be eligible to run and be elected on condition that it pledge to full accept and fully implement the above program.

 

This will be the reply to the enemies of Israel who dream of its destruction.  This will be the reply to those within the State whose policies would destroy the Jewish body and eliminate the Jewish soul.

 

As World War II struck Great Britain with all the frightening implications of defeat, British democracy froze the democratic political system, suspended elections and major political rights.  It did so because Great Britain faced a threat to all that was dear to it.  How much more should Israel, faced with a threat to its very existence, not shrink from this.

 

And one can fairly taste the reaction of the demagogues of democracy to the above. On every high hill and under every leafy tree the declaimers of democracy cry out in well-rehearsed fury: This is a threat to democracy!

 

Ah, how shrill the squeal of the stuck, the bowl of the hypocrites of political history. They bemoan the threat to democracy. They warn against the treat to democracy.  The democracy that does not exist and that never really did in the state of heartbreak.  Israel.

 

Holding on to the Rock

An uplifting, strengthening message for the challenges of 2020.

A Difference of Opinion

 

A congregant asks his rabbi, "Rabbi, you're a man of God. So why is it that you are always talking about business, when I, a businessman, am always talking about spiritual matters?"

"You have discovered one of the principles of human nature," the rabbi replies.

"And what's that Rabbi?"

"People like to discuss things they know nothing about."

Arab MK Spreads Lie that IDF Soldiers Spit on Palestinians to Spread Virus

Despite Israel's aid to the Palestinian Authority, an Arab member of the Israeli parliament slandered the nation's military by repeating the lies of the Palestinian prime minister.

By TPS

The Palestinian Authority (PA) and Arab-Israeli politicians are using the Coronavirus pandemic to attack Israel, claiming that "Israel and IDF soldiers have become agents of the Coronavirus for the deliberate infection of the Palestinians" and that Israel is conducting "biological warfare against the Palestinians."

Arab-Israel Member of Knesset (MK) Ahmed Tibi on Monday condemned the phenomenon of "IDF soldiers spitting on every Palestinian vehicle" with the intention of infecting Palestinians with corona. Tibi based his accusations on a statement supposedly made by PA Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh.

In response, Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Danny Danon has urged the UN to condemn claims by PA leadership that Israel is spreading the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

"Despite Israel's aid to the Palestinian Authority, we hear inciting comments coming from the Palestinian prime minister, who accuses IDF soldiers of spreading coronavirus to the PA," Danon stated, adding that "there is no place for such senseless statements by the leadership of the PA. The UN must condemn these remarks."

Danon spoke after a meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC), the first one to be held virtually via a video conference platform due to the spread of the novel coronavirus and the catastrophic situation in New York.

In the meeting, Nickolay Mladenov, the UN's Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO), had praised Israel and the PA for "excellent" joint efforts and credited the "close and constructive" cooperation with containing the level of disease in the region so far.

Tibi's comments revealed a widespread Palestinian campaign against Israel and the IDF, which is being conducted despite Israel's efforts to assist the PA's health system in its fight against coronavirus.

Despite the direct and daily coordination between Israel and the PA on the issue, the PA falsely claims that Israel "through IDF soldiers and settlers, is deliberately propagating the coronavirus among Palestinians on racial grounds."

Waleed Assaf, head of the PA office to combat the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, has blamed Israel for "biological warfare" against the Palestinians, after failing to stop the virus.

Israeli unemployment exceeds one million: 24.1% of workforce

Unemployment benefit claimants exceeded one million for the first time on Wednesday, amounting to 24.1% of Israel's entire workforce.

While the unemployment rate stood at just 4% prior to the coronavirus outbreak, almost 844,000 individuals have applied for unemployment benefits since the start of March. The vast majority - some 89.7% - are employees placed on unpaid leave. A further 6.4% have been made redundant.


"Unfortunately, our forecasts materialized - we reached one million jobseekers in March alone," said Israeli Employment Service director-general Rami Garor. "We are working to create the conditions so that next month can begin with lower unemployment, with the gradual return of the economy

See you Sunday bli neder after another quiet public Shabbat

We need Moshiach now!

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Rabbi Yehuda Lave

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