Breaking news: Rabbi Prof Avraham Steinberg states -you have a halakhic duty to be vaccinated, like the halakhic duty to keep Passover, and In the latest news, neither Netanyahu nor opposition has a clear path to a majority but Lukid has the largest # of seats and Now that the election is over, In 2021, the first Passover seder is on Saturday, March 27, and The Mysterious Life and Death of Hur By Levi Avtzon and Jews And Chess By Saul Jay Singer and Engraved versus Written in the Torah and Do We Still Have the Will To Continue as a Free Society? by Ethan Yang
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.
In the latest news, neither Netanyahu nor the opposition has a clear path to a majority but Lukid has the largest # of seats
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party held a lead in Israel's fourth election in two years, exit polls projected Wednesday, but neither his right-wing alliance nor a diverse bloc of opposition parties had a clear path to a majority coalition, creating a stalemate that could extend Israel's political deadlock for weeks if not months.
Two of the three polls by Israeli broadcasters gave Mr. Netanyahu's conservative Likud party and his wider right-wing and religious bloc 53 seats in Israel's Parliament — 60 when adding seven seats he might get from an independent candidate. That still fell short of the 61 needed to form a majority in the 120-seat Parliament.
The third poll gave the anti-Netanyahu bloc of parties an edge of 61 seats, potentially blocking Mr. Netanyahu's path to victory and making the election too close to call.
The anti-Netanyahu camp is made up of ideologically disparate parties, which will hinder their attempts to replace him. Some have already rejected the possibility of cooperating with others.
The muddy result could extend the period of political uncertainty and polarization that has sent Israel reeling from election to election to election, failing each time to return a stable government.
And it could lead to a fifth election.
"The path to power for the next prime minister is very difficult," said Mitchell Barak, a Jerusalem-based pollster and political analyst. "It's not just the numbers but the self-constraints that each party has placed on who they can sit with. They have painted themselves into a corner."
Final results are not expected until the end of the week, and could easily change the outcome.
In 2021, the first Passover seder is on Saturday, March 27.
Passover 2021 begins at sundown on March 27 and ends Sunday evening, April 4. The first Passover seder is on the evening of March 27, and the second Passover seder takes place on the evening of March 28. (THIS IS OUT OF ISRAEL)
It commemorates the Israelites' Exodus from Egypt, and their transition from slavery to freedom. The main ritual of Passover is the seder, which occurs on the first two night (in Israel just the first night) of the holiday — a festive meal that involves the re-telling of the Exodus through stories and song and the consumption of ritual foods, including matzah and maror (bitter herbs). The seder's rituals and other readings are outlined in the Haggadah — today, many different versions of this Passover guide are available in print and online, and you can also create your own.
What are some Passover practices?
The central Passover practice is a set of intense dietary changes, mainly the absence of hametz, or foods with leaven. (Ashkenazi Jews also avoid kitniyot, a category of food that includes legumes.) In recent years, many Jews have compensated for the lack of grain by cooking with quinoa, although not all recognize it as kosher for Passover. The ecstatic cycle of psalms called Hallel is recited both at night and day (during the seder and morning prayers). Additionally, Passover commences a 49-day period called the Omer, which recalls the count between offerings brought to the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. This count culminates in the holiday of Shavuot, the anniversary of the receiving of the Torah at Sinai.
What foods do we eat on Passover?
Matzah, or unleavened bread, is the main food of Passover. You can purchase it in numerous stores, or you can make your own. But the holiday has many traditional, popular foods, from haroset (a mixture of fruit, nuts, wine, and cinnamon) to matzah ball soup — and the absence of leavening calls upon a cook to employ all of his/her culinary creativity.
The Three Musketeers at the Kotel
Rabbi Prof Avraham Steinberg-you have a halakhic duty to be vaccinated, like keeping Passover, full document at the end of the blog because of the length
Do We Still Have the Will To Continue as a Free Society?
To paraphrase the Soviet dissident and human rights activist, Natan Sharansky, what it meant to be a loyal Soviet citizen was to say what you're supposed to say, to read what you're permitted to read, and to vote the way you're supposed to vote, and to know it was all a lie.
That chilling sentiment contrasts sharply with what it means to be a citizen of the free world, be it in America, Europe, or our liberal democratic friends across the world. Sharansky's line echoes the way in which the debate regarding Covid-19 and lockdowns has transpired primarily in the United States but certainly across the Western World. Just look at the way Oxford epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta has been treated for critiquing lockdowns.
The other day I was revisiting former President Trump's Poland speech, which is widely regarded as one of his finest orations. As someone who hasn't been the biggest fan of the former president and his bombastic and often reckless statements, that speech struck me as unexpectedly inspiring. I think what made it great was its existential nature. He spoke about how Poland, a nation that has been torn apart and carved into pieces by war and conquest, always found a way to keep coming back together. In the past hundred years alone, Poland was split in two by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union leading into World War II. Then, after the war, Poland became a Soviet satellite state and its people were once again subject to domination. Trump noted,
"[t]hrough four decades of communist rule, Poland and the other captive nations of Europe endured a brutal campaign to demolish freedom, your faith, your laws, your history, your identity — indeed the very essence of your culture and your humanity. Yet, through it all, you never lost that spirit. Your oppressors tried to break you, but Poland could not be broken."
The Polish nation survived because of the sheer will of the Polish people to exist as a civilization. A civilization with a proud history and great figures like the astronomer Copernicus and the composer Chopin. Trump noted that the Polish will to endure was seen as an inspiration for the NATO alliance and the Western World more generally. He hoped that the free world would continue to have the will to defend itself, both militarily and ideologically. Although we certainly have our problems, Trump's speech put our civilization in context to the alternatives: Nazi Germany, Communism, the illiberal, authoritarian regimes of modern-day Russia and China, as well as the repressive regime created under ISIS. When speaking about Western civilization and the free world more generally, he noted,
"[w]e write symphonies. We pursue innovation. We celebrate our ancient heroes, embrace our timeless traditions and customs, and always seek to explore and discover brand-new frontiers.
We reward brilliance. We strive for excellence, and cherish inspiring works of art that honor God. We treasure the rule of law and protect the right to free speech and free expression."
These are some of the hallmarks of Western civilization, its allies, and the free society it fostered. Yes, we have our problems, and we should strive to correct them, but the core of what we have is worth defending. This is also what has been taken from us by lockdowns.
America as a Civilization
America, unlike Poland, is not an ethnostate, nor should nationality have anything to do with being an American. America, as the old saying goes, is an idea. Being an American is not about the color of your skin, the creed of your religion, or any other immutable characteristic. It's about sharing a common commitment to the ideal of freedom, individual autonomy, and our institutions which further these aspirations. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch included the following excerpt of a speech in his book which was given to a group of immigrants who just became US citizens:
"It seems to me that one thing that's so unusual about the oath you've taken and the country you've joined is the fact that we are a nation of immigrants. The United States does not have a shared common culture in the classic sense. We do not have many centuries of shared heritage that exist in, say, China or England. Instead, America is largely bound together by ideas. And the truth is, some of those ideas are hard and entail real challenges to us."
Some of those difficult ideas include upholding a government, of, by, and for the people. A liberal democracy centered around self-government requires many virtues; personal responsibility is chief amongst them. Upholding core liberties like free speech and due process, which matter most not when it is easiest to do so, but when it is hard. We strive to treat each other with respect and to be tolerant of different views. As John Milton articulated in the 17th century, "Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?" Finally, among many other values, we treasure and uphold the rule of law, not a single personality or the will of the mob. Such values were given to us by our intellectual forefathers such as Aristotle, Tocqueville, and Bastiat.
America as a civilization is not tied to an ethnic group but a shared experience in self-government and the maintenance of liberty. The moment those ideas are eschewed, so too is our civilization.
America and Lockdown
America under lockdown may be the most critical threat the nation has ever seen. It has long been known that America's size and location combined with its military might leaves it almost impervious to conquest. Furthermore, if occupied by a foreign power, it is likely that much like Poland, the American people would fight to reclaim their country. But what happens when subjugation is imposed by our own leaders to the approval of many of our fellow citizens? That is a true threat. Stacy Rudin noted that the United States and much of the Western World copied China on virus control. AIER has noted time and time again how lockdowns are an unprecedented policy with no proof to be found in history for their efficacy. Yet intellectuals across the world continue to hint at their admiration for the authoritarian Chinese response and their distrust in the institutions of liberal democracy to keep us safe. Lord Sumption writes for the Telegraph when he notes that aside from all the business closures and personal damage lockdowns have caused, our institutions of democracy will be the biggest loss.
Two weeks to flatten the curve is now approaching a year under lockdown. Some politicians are pushing the usage of masks and social distancing policies well into the next year. What started out as an experiment in public health policy is now unraveling what it means to live in a free society. Trump noted in his Poland speech that
"The West became great not because of paperwork and regulations but because people were allowed to chase their dreams and pursue their destinies.
Americans, Poles, and the nations of Europe value individual freedom and sovereignty. We must work together to confront forces, whether they come from inside or out, from the South or the East, that threaten over time to undermine these values and to erase the bonds of culture, faith and tradition that make us who we are. If left unchecked, these forces will undermine our courage, sap our spirit, and weaken our will to defend ourselves and our societies."
Today, America and Europe find themselves under brutal lockdown measures that, in addition to not actually stopping the virus, have completely subdued our societies economically, socially, culturally, and spiritually. Although many people support lockdowns because they believe they will help control the virus, others genuinely see them as a means to fundamentally change American society out of spite for our individualistic values. Look no further than the common narrative that selfish Americans won't wear their masks and that's why the virus is spreading. Not only are masks ineffective at stopping Covid-19 in the way they are advertised, but the United States actually has some of the highest reported mask wearing rates in North America and Europe. An article published by Forbes warned against "doing your own research" when it comes to Covid-19 and parroted the tired "listen to the experts line." Not only is this an attack on the very notion of the scientific method as well as an informed citizenry, but such a strategy would have clearly led us down the road to technocracy, and a misinformed one at that.
Such uninformed hysteria around Covid sounds less like a concern for stopping the virus and more of a cultural wedge against traditional American ideas of individual liberty. Sadly, it seems that many members of the public are either afraid or apathetic when it comes to preserving and reclaiming the free society that is our birthright.
Poland is a shining example of a raw desire to exist as a coherent civilization after being dismembered time and time again. Today that same question exists for America and the rest of the Western World more generally.
Do we have the will to continue to exist as a free and polite society, steeped in the ideas of liberty, reason, and justice? Or have we succumbed to a tragic case of civilizational fatigue where we are now disinterested in holding onto what we used to be? Without a serious commitment to reclaiming our freedom and prosperity, we put ourselves on the path towards becoming a washed-up, has-been civilization, weighed down by an authoritarian boot of our own design.
In the Torah portion, we learn about the ten divine commandments engraved on Moses's two stone tablets.
And He gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of speaking with him upon mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. (Exodus 31: 18)
Almost everyone in the world is aware of the ten commandments handed by God to Moses. These ten commandments engraved in stone preceded the handing of the written Torah and are also included in it.
The ten commandments are part of a much larger array of the commandments included in the Torah.
The Torah includes 613 commandments altogether.
These 613 divine commandments are referred by several synonyms: mitzvah – מצווה (commandment), dibbur - דיבור (word), mishpat - משפט (law), edut - עדות (testimonial), and khok – חוק (decree), and more.
Khok implies a supra-rational decree — a law observed in submission to an authority which we have neither the right nor capacity to question.
Thus, khok is also the name of a particular class of mitzvot —khukim - חוקים, which the human mind cannot rationalize, such as the prohibition to mix meat with milk.
In fact, the more basic state of Torah: Torah not as written law but as engraved law. The Kabbalah speaks of a level on which the Torah exists as the genesis of the divine will, engraved in the supernal purity.
In its transmission to the People of Israel, the written Torah was also preceded by an engraved Torah (the two tablets): the entirety of the divine law was first given to us encapsulated in the Ten Commandments, which were etched by the hand of G‑d in two tablets of stone.
The full five books of Torah were given to us in writing: Moses wrote it in physical ink on physical parchment, giving us The Five Books of Moses - The Written Torah.
The Torah is described by the Midrash as written in black fire on white fire—the supernal equivalent of ink on parchment.
When something is written, the substance of the letters that express it (the ink) remains a separate entity from the substance upon which they have been set (the parchment).
Thus it becomes an entity that consists of two things: the ink and the parchment - the message and the medium.
In contrast, letters engraved in stone are not added to their medium but are forged in it: the words are stone and the stone is words.
Thus, the rational commandments – מצוות (MITZVOT), are observed with an understanding and appreciation of their function, for it is to this end that they were garbed in garments of reason—are as ink is written upon the parchment of our souls.
This is a metaphor of something that has been added to our self, appended to our psyche with the adhesive of reason and emotion. One can perform the commandment only to the extent that his intellect and feelings are "himself", ie - to the extent that ink and parchment become one in the document.
The khok, however, is an engraved decree. One obeys it for no reason other than the innate obedience to The Almighty.
According to the sages, our obedience to The Almighty is not something we acquire or develop. It is something that is of our very essence, something impressed in the spark of Godliness at the core of every soul.
Regarding the two tablets that embodied the Ten Commandments, we are told that they were inscribed from end to end. Each letter was a complete hollow, bored front to back; every inch of stone was both the medium and the substance of the letters.
This represents a state of being in which also the externalities of the soul—the elements of self, usually associated with writing—are part and parcel of the engraving of the divine desire in the human essence.
The story of Hur is one of heroism, tragedy and, ultimately, redemption.
Let us start from the beginning.
According to tradition, Moses' older sister, Miriam, married Caleb, son of Yefuneh.1 Miriam and Caleb had a son, whose name was Hur.
The first time we meet Hur is during the war with Amalek. It was very soon after the Exodus, and the nation of Amalek aimed to poke a hole in the invincibility of this newborn nation:
Moses said to Joshua, "Pick men for us, and go out and fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of G‑d in my hand." Joshua did as Moses had told him, to fight against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur ascended to the top of the hill.
It came to pass that when Moses would raise his hand, Israel would prevail, and when he would lay down his hand, Amalek would prevail. Now, Moses' hands were heavy; so they took a stone and placed it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one from this [side], and one from that [side]; so he was with his hands in faith until sunset . . .2
Hur, one of the three people who went up the hill to pray for salvation, was obviously a man of stature who was close to his venerated uncle Moses.
The next time we meet him is when Moses is climbing Mount Sinai for a 40-day learning session with the Divine, and tells the elders, "Wait for us here until we return to you, and here Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a case, let him go to them."
At the most important junctures of Jewish life in the desert, Hur was there, together with his uncle Aaron.
The subsequent—and final—time we meet Hur is just a few weeks later. Moses had told the Jews that he would ascend the mountain and remain up there for 40 days. The Jews miscalculated, and when Moses did not descend the mountain by the deadline, they decided to create a Golden Calf.
Just 40 days after hearing the words "Thou shall have no other god," they danced and celebrated before a Calf of Gold. And just twoscore after saying yes to "Don't commit adultery," they broke that cardinal rule as well.3
Idolatry, adultery—and murder. They also committed murder at the scene of the Golden Calf.
The sixth hour of the day arrived, and Moses had not descended from the heaven . . . They immediately gathered around Aaron. At that time Satan took advantage of the opportunity and made an image of Moses visible suspended lifeless between heaven and earth. The Jews pointed to the image with their fingers and said, "For this is the man Moses . . ."5
At that moment, Hur arose against them and said, "You severed necks! Do you not remember the miracle that our G‑d did for you?" Immediately, they arose against him and killed him.
You read that right. It was six weeks after "Thou shall not murder," and there they were, murdering Moses' own nephew!
At the foot of Sinai, the Jews committed the three cardinal prohibitions. Moses would break the Tablets and beseech G‑d for mercy, and history would be changed forever in many ways as a consequence of this one morning.
You might think that Hur, who had just helped save the Jews from a terrible enemy a few weeks prior, and was now murdered for standing up for the honor of G‑d and His servant Moses, would end his story here at this all-time low.
But there is a postscript to Hur's story. The Torah tells us that when it came time to build the Tabernacle, G‑d told Moses to appoint an architect for this endeavor. The name of this young architect? Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur.6 The honor to build the home for G‑d was given to the grandson of he who stood up to sanctify G‑d's name.
Meaning of the Name
The Ohr Hachaim7 offers an insight into the name Hur. Hur (Chur) shares the same root word as chorin, "freedom." He explains that it was only through building the Tabernacle that the Jews were finally freed from the blemish of their sins at the Golden Calf. Building a home for G‑d was their rectification of the sinful behavior that pushed G‑d away from them.
In other words, Betzalel, grandson of Hur, provided the Jews with the freedom from their sins that included killing his grandfather.
Hur, the lover of Jews8 and defender of the faith, must have been deeply proud that the honor of G‑d and the unity of His people has been restored, thanks to his own grandson.
Thus, Hur's story ends not with tragedy, but with forgiveness and redemption.
The origins of chess are lost to antiquity. One of the more interesting sources for the genesis of the game is the Midrash, which teaches that King Solomon played chess with Benayahu Ben Yehoyada, his military chief of staff and chief counsel, and there are a number of apocryphal texts that discuss King Solomon's obsession with the game.
One such text, Beis HaMedrash (cheder 6, maasiyot 3), tells the story of an undefeated King Solomon losing a game to Benayahu after the latter surreptitiously changed the position of a knight when the king had to temporarily leave the room to address a state matter and went on to "win" the game. However, using his celebrated wisdom and ingenuity, Solomon was able to trick Benayahu into confessing his misdeed.
Most academics claim there is no evidence that chess was known to Jews during the Talmudic period (which ended circa the mid-7 thcentury). However, such evidence exists in the Gemara itself – specifically Ketubot61b, where Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, concerned that idleness leads to sin, suggests that a woman who delegates her chores to her servants should at least occupy herself by playing nardeshir, which Rashi explains is ishkukei, a word linguistically akin to the French échecs(chess).
Intriguingly, ishkukei is the same word used by Yehuda Halevi in his renowned Kuzari, where he characterizes the game as "an intellectual exercise" and uses chess as a metaphor for explaining free will.
Moritz Steinschneider (1816-1907) – a Bohemian bibliographer, Orientalist, Hebraist, and general polymath – suggests in his Schach bei den Juden ("Chess with the Jews," 1873) that Jews first became acquainted with chess in the 10th century and cites a work by Moses Sephardi (b. 1062), who describes chess as "a knightly virtue."
It is generally recognized that Arabs introduced the game – which they called Shatranj – into Europe via Spain, and by the 11th century, it was widely played by Spanish Jews. Avraham Ibn Ezra, a 12th-century poet, wrote the earliest extant rules for chess in his poem "Charuzim," in which he analogizes chess to war, designates the two opposing armies as "Kushim" (Ethiopians, the black pieces) vs. "Edomin" (Europeans, the white pieces), and characterizes the game as "the wars of the mind."
Ibn Ezra also wrote an interesting poetic riddle about chess (the meter and rhyme in the original Hebrew is quite beautiful, as is all his work):
A land without earth, her kings and officers go about without souls. If the king is destroyed, not a soul shall live.
The Sefer Chassidim strongly recommends playing chess, and Spanish rabbanim not only sanctioned playing the game, but urged Jews to play it to the exclusion of all other games. The Life of Elchanon or Elchonon (1753) records that Rav Shimon ben Elchanan HaGadol, the author of the Yalkut Shimoni and a renowned 10th-century paytan, was a "great master of chess" but always lost when he played the pope.
The Rema in Shulchan Aruch specifically allows chess to be played on Shabbat, and a famous picture shows the sixth and seventh Lubavitcher Rebbes – Rav Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn and Rav Menachem Mendel Schneerson, respectively – playing chess together.
However, the Rambam declares in Mishneh Torah that a professional chess player is not kosher l'edut (his testimony is not credited in courts of law), and other halachic authorities characterize chess as "bittul Torah" (a waste of time that should be spent on studying Torah).
Whether or not Jews invented chess, it is indisputable that they have historically dominated the game. Much has been written about the reasons for this, but the usual explanations include the Jewish love of learning and a demonstrated ability over time to persevere in the face of adversity. As early as January 1891, the Chess Player's Chronicle commented that it "seems strange that the chess championship of the world should be again fought out between two Jews."
Strange, indeed. William Steinitz, the first Jewish Chess Champion, broke onto the scene in 1866 and remained undefeated for 27 years before losing the title to another Jew, Emanuel Lasker, who also retained it for 27 years. After Lasker lost to Cuban Jose Raul Capablanca (1921), there was a Jewish dry spell until 1948, when Mikhail Botvinnik of the USSR won the title and kept it, with two brief interruptions, until 1963. The two Soviets who temporarily interrupted Botvinnik's reign were half-Jew Vasily Smyslov (1957-1958) and fellow Jew Mikhail Tal (1960-1961).
In 1963, Armenian Tigran Petrosian took the title, which he held until 1969, when the Jewish Boris Spassky took the crown. Bobby Fisher, another Jew, took the title from Spassky in 1972 and held it until he was defeated by Anatoly Karpov who, while his roots are generally unknown, may have had Jewish ancestry. Karpov lost the title to the Jewish Gary Kasparov (1985) who later lost to Vladimir Kramnik (2000), who may or may not have been Jewish (a number of his family members have made aliyah).
Jewish dominance of the chess championship is a true statistical anomaly. Jews have retained the title over 50 percent of the time since Steinitz was formally crowned in 1886 and Jews, who comprise an estimated 0.2 percent of the world's population, comprise over 50 percent of virtually every list of the greatest chess players of all time – an astounding 250-fold over-representation.
This article in not about any particular chess champion or grandmaster but, rather revolves around some favorite miscellaneous items from my collection on the theme of "Jews and Chess."
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Rav Yisrael Abba Citron plays chess against Sir Ronald Storrs.
Displayed here is a photocard of the famous chess game between Rav Yisrael Abba Citron and Sir Ronald Storrs, the governor of Jerusalem under the British Mandate and recognized as a world-class chess player. Sir Storrs (1881-1955) served as military governor of Jerusalem in the wake of Allenby's conquest (1917) and then, after the British acceptance of the Mandate, as its regular governor.
Though keenly aware of the unique and special status that his position as the first governor of Jerusalem since biblical times conferred on him, he nonetheless proved to be a great enemy of the Zionist movement and the Yishuv. He publicly pronounced strong support for the odious Palestine White Paper (1939); he favored dramatic reductions in Jewish immigration levels into Eretz Yisrael; and he argued that revising the White Paper would be "caving in to the Zionists."
The Yishuv leadership held him largely responsible for the British authorities' incompetent handling of anti-Jewish riots and pogroms, including specifically the Jerusalem Easter riots of 1920 and the November riots of 1921. Chaim Weizmann, who viewed him with distrust and animosity, recorded multiple diary entries for the years of Storrs' Governorship that consistently call into question Storrs' support for a Jewish National Home.
When the Russian authorities forced the appointment of "puppet rabbis" with a secular education, some Jewish communities sought authentic rabbanim who were also well-versed in secular subjects. One such Rav was R. Yisrael Abba Citron (1881-1927) who, after receiving semicha and marrying the daughter of the Rogotchover Rebbe, took an external matriculation exam, studied Russian, and became an expert in eight languages.
Commemorative postal cover of the first chess tournament held at the Maccabiah in Israel (Ramat Gan, July 2009), signed by Gelfand and the other major players in the tournament.
Rav Citron was supported in his educational efforts by Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk (the author of Or Samayach), but not by his own father-in-law, with whom he also disagreed on the issue of Zionism. He later accepted an invitation to serve as the Chief Rabbi of Petach Tikvah (1910).
His influence was instrumental in the establishment of the Lomzha Yeshiva Petach Tikvah, headed by Rav Yechezkel Michael Gordon – which may well have been the first yeshiva in the new settlements in Eretz Yisrael – and he also served as one of the founding leaders of Mizrachi (1918).
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Israel is home to an incredible 212 chess Grandmasters, and Beer Sheva boasts the highest percentage of Grandmasters in the world with one for every 23,000 residents.
The popularity of chess in Eretz Yisrael was such that though the population of the Yishuv ranged from only about 25,000 in the 1880s to 600,000 when Israel was born in 1948, chess clubs were established throughout the land, even in the smallest villages, chess publications were immensely popular, and public chess exhibitions were well-attended.
The Palestine Chess Federation was established in 1934 (it later became the Israel Chess Federation when Israel gained its independence). Just a year later, evidencing the popularity of chess in the early Yishuv, a sports delegation under the flag of Eretz Yisrael participated in an international competition: the Warsaw Chess Olympic Games (1935). The first official sports competition between Israel and an Arab country took place at the Chess Olympic Games in Varna when Israel's national team defeated Tunisia (1962).
Exhibited here is an exceedingly rare invitation to the very first Palestine Chess Championship, held in 1934 during Chol HaMoed Sukkot:
Invitation to the first annual chess championship in Eretz Yisrael (1934).
The Department of Chess (named for Emanuel Lasker) of the 'Menorah' Members Club, together with the Tel Aviv branch of the Eretz Yisrael Chess Federation, hereby invites you to attend the Chess Competition for the Eretz Yisrael Championship.
The national interest in chess grew even greater when over a million Russians, for whom chess was the national pastime, made aliyah when the Iron Curtain opened in the 1990s, particularly when Boris Gelfand, a Russian Jew, ranked among the world's top 10 grandmasters, made aliyah (1998). There was excitement bordering on mass hysteria in 2012 when Gelfand played for the World Championship in Israel (he took a lead, but ultimately lost).
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Prime ministers playing chess.
Many of Israel's prime ministers were active chess players. Ben-Gurion is known to have played chess by himself during boring Knesset meetings and, as exhibited here, Shimon Peres (shown playing with Israeli Grandmaster Alik Gershon) and Benjamin Netanyahu (shown playing with his father) were/are aficionados.
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Displayed below is Joseph Steinhardt's Chess Players (ca. 1924), signed and titled by the artist. One of the 20th century's preeminent artists, Steinhardt (1887-1968) was a German Expressionist whose graphic works, especially woodcuts and etchings, are masterpieces of the medium.
Steinhardt's Chess Players.
Recognized today as one of the most prominent woodcut artists using a neo-Gothic or Biblical style, he is credited with refining the technique of block printing. As a teacher of graphics and later director of the Bezalel Art School in Jerusalem, he influenced a whole generation of Israeli artists.
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Gur Arie's Trouble with the Queen.
Exhibited here is a rare postcard featuring Meir Gur-Arie's Trouble with the Queen, issued by Bney Bezalel in Jerusalem (1933). Born Meir Horodetsky, Gur-Arie (1891-1951) studied at the Lodz Art School before emigrating from Russia to Eretz Yisrael (1909), where he became a leading Bezalel artist. His work, which remains highly popular, is exhibited worldwide, including at the Israeli Museum in Jerusalem.
After studying at the Bezalel School of Art (1909-1911), he taught painting and ivory carving there (1911-29). A member of the Menorah group, he, together with Zev Raban, opened the Menora workshop (1913) and later established the "Workshop for Industrial Design" (1923). A participant in the famous "Tower of David" Exhibition, he was a founder of the Union for Hebrew Art (1920).
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Finally, shown here are four of my favorite postcards featuring Jews playing chess.
See you tomorrow bli neder
There will be no blog on Sunday as it is the religious holiday of Passover. On Monday in Israel, it is Chul Hamoed a working holiday, so there be a blog but out of Israel, it is a non-working holiday like Shabbat on Monday as well.
Also, the following week the holiday ends on Saturday night in Israel but lasts until the following Sunday night (April 4) out of Israel. That Sunday (no coincidence-because Easter is based on Passover) also happens to be Easter
We need Moshiach now!
Love Yehuda Lave
The Duty of Vaccination
Israel Prize Laureate in Medical Ethics and M.D. on Halakhic and ethical factors in vaccinating against corona and the issue of sanctions for vaccine refusers. Rabbi Prof. Avraham Steinberg
Fundamental background facts:
1. COVID-19 is an international epidemic that has caused innumerable deaths the world over, including several thousands of our brothers in Israel. In addition, the epidemic has caused severe illness and ongoing health problems, even among those who have recovered. The epidemic has also caused psychological damage, and extensive damage economically, in the world of education, and in many social spheres
2. To date, all of the methods employed to contain the epidemic have failed. The disease continues to spread and to bring about widespread death and illness
3. The vaccinations manufactured to provide protection against the Coronavirus, and which have passed the accepted stages of research, and which have received the accreditation of the most authorized regulatory agencies in the world, have proven to be extremely effective, not only during the experimental trial, but also during actual implementation millions of people in various countries around the world, and especially in Israel. Furthermore, they have proven to be very safe, with only mild and passing negative after-effect
4. All the claims of conspiracy, and the alarmist fake news surrounding the vaccines, are unfounded, fake news, and a person should not take them into account. While there do remain several open questions, they don't carry enough weight to avoid vaccination
5. The people who refuse to be vaccinated cause damage to themselves, since they are liable to become very sick and even to die. In addition, they cause damage to others, because they are likely to infect many people, both a very small percentage amongst those who have already been vaccinated and amongst those who were not allowed to be vaccinated, whether because of some existing medical problem or because they lacked permission, such as children under the age of 16 (note: the vaccine has not been tested for under 16-year-olds).
Hence, halakhically it is an obligation upon everyone to be vaccinated based on the commandment, "You shall safeguard yourselves exceedingly," (Devarim, 4.15), DODUO Tin omnul and based on the imperative to avoid harm to others
In light of these factors, the Halakhic and ethical conclusions regarding people who refuse vaccination are as follows:
1. Regarding vaccination refusers - the matter must be judged in light of its criminal aspect, and in the sphere of damages/torts. Firstly, if it is permissible, or necessary, to force them to be vaccinated against their will, or to punish them for their refusal, as a consequence of the criminal aspect of their refusal. Secondly, it is permissible or necessary to impose sanctions upon them, or to deny them benefits, or interaction with the public, as a consequence of the aspect of damage caused by their refusal.
In regard to forced vaccination or punishments, it seems that from the principle of the law (lkar HaDin) in the realm of Halakha, there is room for compulsion based on whether the condition is such that the epidemic is severe with grave mortality and sickness involved, this stemming both from the commandment to carefully guard one's health, and in order to prevent them from spreading the disease to others, thereby endangering lives.
In practice, it seems this approach will not be implemented in democratic states which respect the autonomy of the individual, even at the price of personal injury to himself. Nonetheless, the leaders of these countries, and those who determine the law, are obligated to make a great educational effort to explain the vital importance of the matter, medically, ethically, and in light of the Halakha - to persuade people to be vaccinated, and to negate the various false rumors opposing vaccination.
2. Regarding sanctions and restrictions on interacting with the public, and concerning the incentive of benefits, it seems clear that this is permissible, and even an obligation of the government to enact such measures
That is to say, it is permissible to prevent vaccination refusers to enter places that are not vital to life, and to grant entry permits to public places (such as hotels, restaurants, places of entertainment, and the like, and even to synagogues and schools), only to those who have been vaccinated, or to
those who were infected and recovered. It is also permissible to prevent vaccination refusers from interacting with the public, including teachers, policemen, store owners, and the like.
And it is certainly permitted for private companies and private businesses to allow entry to their premises exclusively to those who can prove that they have been vaccinated, or have recovered from coronavirus.
3. It also must be noted that in the realm of damages/torts, a vaccination refuser, during a spreading and uncontained epidemic, can be legally sued placed under legal obligation if a person is infected and becomes ill because of the said person who refused to be vaccinated, and the person who became ill can bring a damage suit against the person who infected him.
4. However, it must be noted that one cannot withhold medical treatment to a vaccination refuser if he becomes ill with Corona, even if he could have prevented himself from getting sick. This is the customary way of relating to any sick person who caused his or her own illness, such as chronic smokers, alcoholics, and the like. In the sphere of Halakha, we do not withhold treatment from someone who was injured while desecrating the Sabbath in public, or in similar situations.
Translation from Hebrew: Tzvi Fishman
Rabbi Professor Avraham Steinberg serves as Director of the Medical Ethics Unit & Chairman, IRB Committee, and is Senior Child Neurologist at Shaare Zedek Hospital, Chief Editor of the 27 volume Head of the Talmudic Encyclopedia, and author of the Encyclopedia of Jewish Medical Ethics. He is an Israel Prize laureate.
