Fast of Esther today (explanation yesterday) and Regular Purim starts tonight with a little Jewish Rap and The Judaism And Zionism Of Tuvia Finkelstein (Aka Peter Max) and One Hundred Years Ago By Irwin Cohen and ‘Magic’ bowls among trove of ancient artifacts seized in raid on Jerusalem home and Lapid prays at grave of Chatam Sofer
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.
Fast of Esther today (explanation yesterday) and Regular Purim starts tonight with a little Jewish Rap (Ari Lesser - Purim 2020 - L'chaim!
Purim 2022
In 2022, Purim begins at sunset on Wednesday, March 16. (in walled cities at the time of Joshua like Jerusalem-the following night Thursday and Friday)
The story of the joyous holiday of Purim might appear somber at first glance: It tells of the near-destruction of the Jewish people as decreed by Haman, an adviser to the Persian King Ahasuerus.
However, Ahasuerus' newly crowned queen, Esther — who replaced Vashti when she was thrown out of the kingdom — is secretly a Jew.
Many people dress up in costume, following the theme of Purim as a holiday of disguise where nothing is quite as it seems. Synagogues and communities hold plays and festivals specifically for the day. Traditionally, a noisemaker or gragger is sounded when Haman's name is said aloud during the megillah reading; today some people have instituted a new practice of waving a celebratory flag when Esther's name is recited.
Three 1,500-year-old 'magic' incantation bowls created in the 5th-7th centuries in present day Iraq that were seized from an alleged illegal antiquities' dealer's home in Jerusalem (Yoli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority)
Artifacts that were seized from an alleged illegal antiquities' dealer's home in Jerusalem (Yoli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority)
Ancient coins that were seized from an alleged illegal antiquities' dealer's home in Jerusalem (Yoli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority)
One of three 1,500-year-old 'magic' incantation bowls created in the 5th-7th centuries in present day Iraq that were seized from an alleged illegal antiquities' dealer's home in Jerusalem (Yoli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority)
Artifacts that were seized from an alleged illegal antiquities' dealer's home in Jerusalem (Yoli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority
Three 1,500-year-old "magic" incantation bowls and hundreds of other rare artifacts — some dating to the biblical period — were seized from an apartment in an ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood under suspicion of illegal antiquities trade, according to an Israel Antiquities Authority press release Monday.
Trading in stolen artifacts is a criminal offense, for which the statutory penalty is up to three years in prison.
During a joint search of a Ramat Shlomo home, the IAA's theft prevention unit in cooperation with Jerusalem district police recovered hundreds of antique coins, glassware and weaponry, said the IAA. Documents found at the Jerusalem home brought the investigators to a central Israel auction house where further suspected illegal antiquities were seized.
State of Jerusalem: The MaqdasyinKeep Watching
Additional rare finds discovered in the Jerusalem home include rare and valuable ivory furniture inlays that were common in the 9th and 8th centuries BCE and have been uncovered at sites including Tel Megiddo and in Samaria. According to the press release, the IAA believes the artifacts were illegally excavated in Samaria or northern Israel.
The three "magic" bowls were created in the 5th-7th centuries in present-day Iraq. They are among some 3,000 that have been discovered to date, which were used by Jews and non-Jews alike during this era.
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Tel Aviv University Prof. Matthew Morgenstern, an expert in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic and Classical Mandaic who has photographed hundreds of incantation bowls and has published academic articles on them extensively, told The Times of Israel that such bowls were written in several Babylonian Aramaic dialects and placed protectively around the house for its protection, upside down to trap the demons or evil entities. Some even have "addresses" on the back telling the owner where to put them, he said.
"The Jewish bowls draw heavily on Jewish tradition, cite verses, and even contain the earliest written attestations we have for Jewish texts like the Mishnah or benedictions," said Morgenstern.
One of three 1,500-year-old 'magic' incantation bowls created in the 5th-7th centuries in present-day Iraq that were seized from an alleged illegal antiquities' dealer's home in Jerusalem (Yoli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority)
Dr. Ohad Abudraham, a Tel Aviv University postdoctoral researcher in Mandaic (a dialect of Aramaic), looked at the images of the three seized bowls and offered some preliminary impressions to The Times of Israel. The bowls were all written in Aramaic, but used quotes from the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew.
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Abudraham explained that the bowls were written by a professional "magician" who likely sat in the local marketplace. The magicians used formulaic texts that were then adapted to the needs of the individual client. While clients were named on the bowls, the magicians were not, but it is now clear, said Abudraham, that the majority were likely Jewish. Some two-thirds of all recovered bowls were written by Jews, but Christians and pagans also inscribed spells on bowls in their own Aramaic dialects.
One of the bowls seized in the Jerusalem raid is written in the name of Joshua ben (son of) Perachiah, who appears in the Mishna, in Avot. The incantation follows the language of a get, or writ of divorce. However, instead of a man divorcing his wife, the client is divorcing and exorcizing his home of several named groups of destructive demons.
Dr. Ohad Abudraham, a Tel Aviv University post-doctoral researcher in Mandaic (a dialect of Aramaic). (Prof. Matthew Morgenstern)
According to Abudraham, the bowl's exorcism text is written in a parallel to the common formula used on a marriage-ending get. It instructs demons of all sorts — including "those who appear in the day and in nightmares" — to leave the premises. The bowl also includes names of well-known angels Gabriel and Michael, leading Abudraham to conclude that it was written for Jewish clients.
A second bowl also mentions the names of angels, including Michael, Raphael, and a large additional group of named angels, all ending with the divine moniker "el." It also includes a Hebrew quote from Psalms 121:7, "The Lord will guard you from all evil" (Adonai yishmorcha mikol ra).
Artifacts that were seized from an alleged illegal antiquities' dealer's home in Jerusalem (Yoli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority)
The third bowl depicts a female demon with long, wild hair and tied hands at the center, surrounded by a circle. It is a very common motif, said Abudraham, who added that usually the demon's feet are also tied. He identified the name of the client on the bowl, Achai Bar Marganita (literally "My brother, the son of Pearl"), which were common names for both Jews and non-Jews of the era.
Interestingly, said Abudraham, clients' names were written referencing their mothers in order for the spirit realm to be 100% sure for whom their protection was ordered.
According to Amir Ganor, head of the Antiquities Authority's Robbery Prevention Unit, "In 2003, following the war in Iraq, thousands of stolen 'incantation bowls' began to enter international trade markets."
Artifacts that were seized from an alleged illegal antiquities' dealer's home in Jerusalem (Yoli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority)
According to the IAA press release, the investigators discovered pottery restoration chemicals on the premises and the suspect likely repaired the bowls and restored them ahead of a potential sale at auction.
"Antiquities belong to all of us. They are our heritage. Unauthorized antiquities dealers encourage looters to go out and destroy ancient sites in search of finds for sale on the antiquities market. In the name of greed, they plunder antiquity sites, removing the finds from their historical context, thus obscuring parts of human history," says Eli Eskosido, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
"Every find can add a little bit to our knowledge about Jewish life in Babylonia in the 5th-7th centuries, for which firsthand evidence is scant," said Morgenstern.
Lapid prays at grave of Chatam Sofer
Foreign Minister visits the grave of leading 19th century Jewish sage in Slovakia, extols rabbi's teachings on learning both Torah and science.
Lapid at grave of Chatam SoferShlomi Amsalem, GPO
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who is visiting Europe, went to the grave of Rabbi Moshe Sofer, the Chatam Sofer, in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Lapid prayed at the site together with the leaders of the local Jewish community and the Foreign Minister of Slovakia.
Lapid said that "contrary to the misinterpretation of his famous saying 'chadash assur min haTorah' [that which is new is forbidden by the Torah], the Chatam Sofer studied mathematics, history and astronomy. He was a great rabbi who encouraged his students to study science alongside Torah study - because he believed that Torah, education and work are things that go together."
"He once said, and this is a beautiful saying, that 'the land of the Land of Israel is holier than the heavens outside of Israel.' In order to work on the land of the Land of Israel, one must learn and know and know the world - the Chatam Sofer was a person who knew the world, and the world knew him and his wisdom," the foreign minister added.
The Judaism And Zionism Of Tuvia Finkelstein (Aka Peter Max)
Saul Jay Singer
Photo Credit: Saul Jay Singer
Photo of Max with his parents in Shanghai.
Few artists are as evocative of a time and place as Peter Max (nee Tuvia Finkelstein, b. 1937), who is renowned for his use of psychedelic shapes and vibrant color palettes and whose oeuvre is strongly identified as a popular part of the counterculture during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Max is also known for his development of new printing techniques that facilitated four-color reproduction on products and merchandise and an inexpensive printing process that permitted him to produce posters very cheaply in full color. One of his first poster creations, the iconic "Love" poster, sold nearly a million copies at only $2 each, was seen on the walls of college dorms all across America, and is credited with capturing the essence of '60s youth culture and hippie movement. From serving as the "Official Artist" of the 1994 World Cup; creating works for the Grammy Awards, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Super Bowl; painting a Continental Airlines 777 plane; and being commissioned by the U.S. Postal Service to create the first 10¢ postage stamp to commemorate the Expo '74 World's Fair in Spokane. His art became a household name and his projects have always garnered enormous media attention.
Photograph of Max in his Manhattan studio.
Max often employs patriotic American icons and symbols in his artwork, including specifically the Statue of Liberty, and his creations include images of the world's best-loved celebrities, athletes, sporting events, politicians and other pop culture subjects, including seven American presidents. Some of his most creative and original work may have its roots in his synesthesia (the ability to "hear" colors and "see" sounds in his mind).
Max's father, Jacob, was raised in a chassidic family and was religiously observant, and his mother, Salla, was an artistic fashion designer who was less so. The couple met in Berlin, where they were married and where Peter was born. After his parents fled Nazi Germany to escape the Holocaust, leaving behind his maternal grandmother and 10 of his father's siblings, all murdered by the Nazis, Peter Max Finkelstein spent most his childhood in Shanghai with the Jewish community in Hongkou (1938-1949).
The family was very Jewishly active there. Max attended the Kadoorie School, a Talmud Torah; his father supported the local shul; and his mother was a HIAS volunteer helping newly arrived Jewish refugees adjust to their new and unfamiliar home. Max's father owned five clothing stores, ran a successful clothing import business, and accumulated significant holdings, including homes and apartment buildings.
Shanghai was an important safe haven for Jewish refugees during the Holocaust because it was one of the few places in the world where a visa was not required. Some 23,000 European Jews found shelter there because Shanghai was then an open city with no immigration restrictions, and several Chinese diplomats issued protective passports and transit visas to Jews and others fleeing the Holocaust.
Later during the war, the occupying Japanese forces relocated the Jewish "stateless refugees" to an area less than a square mile in Shanghai's Hongkou district, which included the community around the Ohel Moshe Synagogue. Japanese authorities progressively adopted additional restrictions, but the ghetto was not walled, the local Chinese residents did not leave, and American Jewish charities were able to provide basic necessities to the Jews of the Shanghai ghetto. After the war, many of the Jews of Shanghai – including, as we will see, the Max family – made aliyah to Eretz Yisrael and helped to establish the State of Israel.
Max's introduction to art began in Shanghai when he joined Chinese children drawing with multicolored chalk on cement floors. The family lived in a pagoda-style house between a Buddhist temple and a Sikh temple, from where the young Peter would watch the Buddhist monks practicing calligraphy with large bamboo brushes on large sheets of rice paper using the movements of their entire body. His mother encouraged him to develop his skills by leaving a variety of art supplies on the balconies of the pagoda.
However, his interest in art really took off when his nine-year-old Chinese nanny taught him how to hold and paint with a brush by using the movement of his wrist; taught him how to draw and joined him in using the chalk to draw the sun, the sky, and the moon in various colors; and encouraged him to create "nonsense" drawings to expand his artistic imagination.
Max would later describe her as "like my elder sister" and "my first art teacher" and, from the day he left Shanghai, he dreamt of returning there to find her and care for her. On October 11, 2012, he held a press conference at the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum where he held up a sketch he had made of her from memory (he did not remember her name) and asked the local press and the community to help locate her. The museum curator promised to expend every effort to find her, but she was never found.
Aware of the rise of Mao Tse-Tung and the coming Chinese revolution, Israel sent a large ship to China to help evacuate the entire Jewish community. At the time, the Max family was living temporarily in Tibet, where Peter loved being up in the mountains and listening to the chants of the Tibetan monks. Upon the family's return to Shanghai, they learned that the Israeli ship with some 2,500 Jews aboard was scheduled to depart the very next day and, in less than 24 hours, the family put together the little that they could take with them and abandoned virtually everything they had accumulated during their very successful stay in China to go to Israel.
Max recalls crying on the ship taking his family to Israel, where they settled in Haifa, because he was reluctant to leave behind his Chinese nanny and the many friends he had made on the streets of Shanghai. The ship sailed to India and attempted to navigate through the Suez Canal, but they were turned back and forced to take an additional 40-50 days to circle around Africa.
The 10-year-old Max attended an Israeli school in Haifa and took art classes there. He desperately wanted to study astronomy after being awed during a visit to an observatory on Mount Carmel, so his parents took him to the Technion and succeeded in getting him into an evening astronomy class, where he became the youngest student.
Max went on to study art with Professor Hunik, an Austrian oleh and a master Impressionist, Fauvist, and New Age painter noted for his use of exaggerated colors, which later became Max's trademark. Nonetheless, he still harbored dreams of being an astronomer and, when he finally decided on a career as an artist, a fascination with the stars and breadth and beauty of the universe became a common theme of his work and underscored his self-described "Cosmic '60s" period. As he put it:
I've had a fascination for space and astronomy since I was a child and studied it when we lived in Israel . . . Somehow I could intuitively perceive the vast distances of space by visualizing immense vistas in my mind that couldn't be seen with the eye. I sketched oceans of stars, planets with strange suns, futuristic vistas and flying saucers hovering above and they became more and more prominent in my cosmic period in the late '60s.
Max's life in Israel has also manifested itself in his art in other important ways, as evidenced by his frequent use of Jewish themes, such as the Western Wall, Israel's flag; "36 Rabins" (his "twice chai" portraits of Israel's prime minister, one of which he presented to Edgar Bronfman Jr. at a 1997 UJA Federation gala); and a painting he did for the White House in honor of the Israel-Palestine peace accords, in which he depicts the (in)famous handshake between Rabin and Arafat with a beaming Clinton between them (see exhibit).
After spending a few months in Paris, where Max took classes at the Louvre, the family settled in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, after he graduated high school (1953). Max began his formal art training at the Art Students League of New York in Manhattan in 1956, studying anatomy, figure drawing and composition and, starting a small Manhattan arts studio with two friends in 1962, he worked on books and advertising earning industry-side recognition.
Work by Max depicting an Israel theme: 40th anniversary of the Exodus ship to Israel (1987).
Although Max, who is fluent in Hebrew, prefers not to be characterized as a "Jewish artist," he remains a proud Jew. He credits the Jewish influence on his art to his late parents and to the warmth he encountered in various Jewish communities around the world: "I think that my Jewish heritage shaped me as an artist most by the love and caring I got from the Jewish community – in Shanghai, Israel, and later in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn." Nonetheless, he married two non-Jewish women; he maintains a keen interest in Hinduism and Buddhism, which likely began in Tibet; and, a great aficionado of yoga and meditation, he brought Swami Sachidananda from Paris to the U.S. (1966) and co-founded the Integral Yoga Institute with him.
A great supporter of Israel, he has performed significant pro bono work for Jewish and Israeli organizations; he says that he always responds to requests that further Israel's interests as a way to honor his departed parents. Thus, for example he agreed to host at his studio the 130th birthday celebration of HIAS (2011), for which his mother had worked in Shanghai; he served as the official artist of the 2013 Salute to Israel parade in New York City; and he was named the official artist for Israel's 50th anniversary in 1998 (see exhibit), about which he enthused "this was the most special as it not only celebrated my own Jewish heritage, but also the time I spent there as a young boy."
Original Max painting from the author's collection.
Exhibited here is a vibrantly colored original artwork from my collection, an untitled, mixed media on sunburst sheet rendered by Max in his characteristic cheery, polychrome, wide-brushed kaleidoscopic style. He has highlighted a printed color image of a man running across a hilltop, which he has embellished with thick and colorful brushstrokes to both the image and surrounding areas and signed in mixed color paint.
Finally, many people are aware of the long and bitter fight fought by singer/cultural icon Britney Spears to free herself of her father's 13-year abusive conservatorship, a battle which she finally won this year, but few know that Max remains a prisoner of just such an abusive court-appointed conservator/guardian.
When Max married his second wife, Mary, in 1997, his family and friends believed that she had married Max for his money and were deeply concerned by her precarious mental state. Their concerns were borne out when Mary petitioned the Supreme Court of the State of New York in 2015 to be appointed as her husband's guardian, which would give her full control over every aspect of his life. After reviewing evidence of Mary's mistreatment and abuse of Max, the court declined to appoint her as a guardian but, to protect him from his own wife, it appointed a series of guardians, who were kind to him and permitted him to live his life freely as he chose.
However, Mary committed suicide in 2019 and, the very next day, Barbara Lissner – ironically, a Holocaust restitution and estate planning attorney with no therapeutic training or experience in geriatrics – became Max's guardian. Although the law is clear that a guardian must employ the "least restrictive measures" in effecting the conservatorship and that the ward's children must be permitted to participate in medical, financial and other critical decisions, Lissner immediately assumed control of every aspect of Max's life to the point of absurdity.
Small sample of Max stamps illustrating his beauty of nature/cosmos theme.
The family alleges that she not only continues to isolate him from his friends and family, but she also determines at her whim when he may shower, what he may eat, when he can leave his home, etc. They further claim that she has committed extreme economic malfeasance, including paying herself exorbitant millions of dollars in fees for her "services" and continuing to deplete his considerable estate by many additional millions.
Max's family and friends have spent years trying to free him but, to date, they have not been successful. However, the family, now represented by Spears's lawyer, still hopes that they will be able to free Max, who suffers from Alzheimer's, from his involuntary isolation at the hands of strangers, restore his dignity, and allow him to be surrounded by loved ones at the end of his life.
Hopefully, the MLB lockout will soon be resolved, and baseball season can once again get underway. In the meantime, here's a walk down memory lane. One hundred years ago in 1922, The New York Yankees of the American League were finishing up their nearly decade-long stint as tenants of the Major League New York Giants at the Polo Grounds. The Yanks had departed their wooden ballpark in upper Manhattan with its limited seating in 1913 and looked forward to occupying the magnificent new Yankee Stadium rising in the Bronx on the other side of the Harlem River from the Polo Grounds.
Babe Ruth was missing from the Yankees' lineup for the first six weeks of the season after Commissioner of Baseball Kenesaw Mountain Landis suspended him for taking part in a 15-game barnstorming tour. (Scheduling ball games in towns around the country after a World Series was a way for participating players to make some additional money while far-flung fans got a chance to watch the big leaguers they read about in newspapers in action.) During his suspension, Ruth made up for the loss of income by appearing in vaudeville theaters, giving a little baseball talk and answering questions from the audience. Commissioner Landis eventually rescinded the policy of suspending players for barnstorming in the future after letters from fans and newspaper writers made the case for giving small towns around the country a chance to see their idols. Plus, suspending players during the season was not good for attendance.
Once he was back, Ruth managed to hit 35 home runs in 110 games, down from 59 homers in 152 games in 1921. He helped lead the Yankees to the 1922 pennant over the St. Louis Browns by one game. The Browns had first baseman George Sisler, who hit an amazing .420 batting average. The National League St. Louis Cardinals shared Sportsman's Park with the Browns and had their own superstar in second baseman Rogers Hornsby, who batted .401 and hit 42 home runs. St. Louis fans were lucky to see stars in both the American and National League and to have the biggest stars outside of Babe Ruth in their own city.
For the second consecutive season, the New York Giants and New York Yankees met in the World Series at the Polo Grounds. The Giants swept the Yanks in four games. Owners weren't too happy refunding advance tickets sold for Games 5, 6, and 7. Players, on the other hand, didn't lose anything by it; they only received a share of revenues from the first four games to prevent accusations of prolonging the Series to make more money.
While Ruth, Sisler and Hornsby were the most famous players in baseball in 1922, the most popular fan was Reuben Berman. There was an unwritten rule that required fans attending games at the Polo Grounds to return balls hit into the seating areas, as balls belonged to the home team. There were other ballparks around the country that followed the same ritual of ushers coming to retrieve these errant balls. In 1921, 31-year-old Berman caught a foul ball at a Giants game but refused to give it to the usher approaching to retrieve it, tossing it in the other direction instead. Security ushered Berman to the Giants' office, where he was questioned and threatened with arrest. Booted from the ballpark – at least the price of his ticket was refunded – the Giants fan sued for claims of humiliation and distress and eventually won a hundred dollar settlement.
The Giants decided that the bad publicity wasn't worth it and from then on allowed fans to keep balls hit into the stands. The new policy quickly caught on in other ballparks around the country, and fans went home with souvenirs and stories from their great catches.
So, think of Reuben Berman the next time you go home with a baseball that magically ended up in your hands.
See you tomorrow bli neder. Fast of Esther today regular Purim starting tonight and Shusan Purim Thursday night
