Record Number of Jews Visit Temple Mount on Passover Despite Limitations, Muslim Violence, and After years of neglect, ‘rare opportunity’ opens up for Tiberias archaeological gems and American-Jewish poet Richard Howard, a Pulitzer Prize winner, dies at 92, and a London judge jails husband who withheld Jewish divorce from his wife BY CNAAN LIPHSHIZ and shout out to my wife of four years as our Hebrew anniversary is today the 25th of Nisson
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.
A shout out to my wife of four years on our Hebrew Anniversary Nisson 25. Without you my dear wife, I would just be a lonely single man. You bring Joy and spirituality to my life. A happy wife is a happy life.
Record Number of Jews Visit Temple Mount on Passover Despite Limitations, Muslim Violence
Photo Credit: Shalev Shalom/TPS
Israeli police escort Jews who ascend the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during Chol HaMoed Pesach, which is celebrated this year at the same time as the Muslim holy and violent month of Ramadan. Jerusalem, Apr 18, 2022.
About 4,650 Jews visited the Temple Mount during the Passover holiday, a record-breaking number and double the number of visitors recorded during Passover 2021, despite the limitations imposed by the state on the visitors and the violence perpetrated by Muslims against the visitors.
On Wednesday, a new record was set with 1,538 Jewish visits in one morning. The previous record was 816 visits in one morning, and 1,178 for a full day set on the third day of Sukkot in 2020.
A high number of visitors successfully toured the holy site despite the fact that the Temple Mount was open on Passover for only three and a half hours a day. The visit hours during the afternoon were canceled due to Passover's overlap with the Muslim month of Ramadan.
This high number of visitors is surprising following the high tensions in Jerusalem's Old City and the low turnout of visitors in the rest of the city.
Muslim rioters attempted to chase away the visitors and blocked the tour routes with debris, obstacles, and archeological artifacts, and the Jewish visitors walked on new routes, and under heavy police guard. There were no Jewish casualties in any of the incidents.
Temple Mount visitors reported festive and joyful tours, with entire families and baby carriages marching together.
The head of the Temple Mount administration, Rabbi Shimshon Elboim, praised Jerusalem District Commander Doron Turgeman for the activities of the security forces to protect the freedom of movement and worship for the Jewish worshippers "with devotion and out of the sacrifice, day and night."
The Temple Mount was closed over the weekend for Jewish visits until further notice, the government's response to Muslim violence at the holy site. It is estimated that the Temple Mount will be closed to Jews at least until the end of Ramadan, and Eid al-Fitr after it, two weeks time.
Jews' visits to the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site, are limited in time, space, as well as the number of visitors at any given time. While Jews' rights to worship at the site have improved in recent years, much remains wanting, and the full freedom of worship has yet to be granted by the State of Israel to Jews visiting the Temple Mount.
On several occasions, Jews have been banned from the Temple Mount following Muslim agitation, or following fears that a Jewish presence at the site would agitate the Muslims.
While Muslims enter the holy site freely, Jews are screened by metal detectors, undergo security searches, and are banned from bringing Jewish religious objects to the site.
The Three Musketeers at the Kotel
The Three are Rabbi Yehuda Glick, famous temple mount activist, and former Israel Mk, and then Robert Weinger, the world's greatest shofar blower and seller of Shofars, and myself after we had gone to the 12 gates of the Temple Mount in 2020 to blow the shofar to ask G-d to heal the world from the Pandemic. It was a highlight to my experience in living in Israel and I put it on my blog each day to remember.
The articles that I include each day are those that I find interesting, so I feel you will find them interesting as well. I don't always agree with all the points of each article but found them interesting or important to share with you, my readers, and friends. It is cathartic for me to share my thoughts and frustrations with you about life in general and in Israel. As a Rabbi, I try to teach and share the Torah of the G-d of Israel as a modern Orthodox Rabbi. I never intend to offend anyone but sometimes people are offended and I apologize in advance for any mistakes. The most important psychological principle I have learned is that once someone's mind is made up, they don't want to be bothered with the facts, so, like Rabbi Akiva, I drip water (Torah is compared to water) on their made-up minds and hope that some of what I have share sinks in. Love Rabbi Yehuda Lave.
London judge jails husband who withheld Jewish divorce from his wife BY CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
A judge in London has sentenced to 18 months in jail a Jewish real estate mogul who, among other abuses against his wife, refused to allow her to divorce him in a religious court.
He and his estranged wife, Caroline, separated in 2016 after 21 years together, during which they had three children. But he declined her requests that he grant her a get — the name of a formal divorce in Judaism.
In Orthodox Judaism, a marriage cannot be dissolved unless the man willingly and without coercion gives his wife a get. Women may also decline their husbands a get, but rabbinical courts may in such cases may allow the man to remarry regardless.
Women of recalcitrant or absent husbands, however, become agunot, Hebrew for chained women, unable to remarry in an Orthodox Jewish ceremony and destined to have any children they birth outside their marriage branded as bastards who would also be unable to marry in a Jewish Orthodox ceremony.
It was not immediately clear from reports about the sentence, which is unusual, how much it owed to Moher's refusal to divorce his wife or to other abuses. He was also found to have stalked and otherwise threatened her, including with physical harm. In one instance, he drove toward her on Singleton Close, a winding street, before swerving sharply out of the way.
The court did hear about the get issue. "You are not f–king getting a get, you will be one of those chained women," Moher told his wife, according to the news site MyLondon. He also said: "You may get all of the money, but I swear on [their daughter's] life, you will never ever get the get from me," according to the report.
In explaining the sentence, the judge did not name the get issue but did appear to reference it.
"Your wife sought to walk away from you to start a new life and as a result you have sought to make it as difficult and painful as you could," the judge said.
In 2021, the British parliament passed amendments to two pieces of legislation — the Domestic Abuse Bill and the Serious Crime Act — that clarified that withholding a get may also constitute a violation of those laws. Moher does not appear to have been sentenced under those amendments.
American-Jewish poet Richard Howard, a Pulitzer Prize winner, dies at 92
Along with his poetry, Howard was acclaimed for his translations of French literature, including a version of Baudelaire's "Les Fleurs du Mal' that won a National Book Award
NEW YORK (AP) — Richard Howard, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet celebrated for his exuberant monologues of historical figures and a prolific translator who helped introduce readers to a wide range of French literature, has died at age 92.
Howard, a professor emeritus at Columbia University, died Thursday at Mount Sinai Beth Israel in New York. His husband, David Alexander, told The Associated Press that he had dementia.
Over a 50-year period, Howard's poetry, essays and translations totaled well over 200 books and established him as a vital literary creator, commentator and interpreter. He won the poetry Pulitzer in 1970 for "Untitled Subjects" and was a National Book Award finalist in 2008 for "Without Saying." His translation of Charles Baudelaire's "Les Fleurs du Mal" won the National Book Award (then called the American Book Award) in 1983.
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Through "Les Fleurs du mal" and other English-language editions, Howard became essential in broadening the American audience for French writers. His projects included modern and classic French books, from the memoirs of Charles de Gaulle to experimental novels by Alain Robbe-Grillet to the philosophy of Howard's friend Roland Barthes. In 2000, his edition of Stendhal's 19th century novel "The Charterhouse of Parma" was a surprise best-seller.
"I first translated for myself and friends," Howard told the Center for Translation in 1982. "I had read some books I knew I loved, and I wanted to share them with my friends who couldn't read French. My friends would come over and I would make them dinner and after dinner I would read aloud. The pleasure in translating these books was equaled, I thought, by the pleasure in communicating them."
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A balding man with a light, musical voice, a fondness for monocles and a French bulldog named Gide, Howard was praised for the wit and stylishness of his translations and his ability to make French authors accessible. As a poet, Howard mastered a flowing, rhyme-less style both erudite and conversational, guiding readers on an intimate, informal tour of Western art and culture.
Instead of personal confessions, he channeled the voices of Penelope and Odysseus from "The Odyssey," the daughters of "Paradise Lost" poet John Milton, and Edith Wharton and Isadora Duncan. He imagined Henry James as a movie critic and composed odes to the photographer Nadar's portraits of Victor Hugo and Sarah Bernhardt.
One of his personal favorites was "1915: A Pre-Raphaelite Ending, London," in which the widow of 19th-century artist and manufacturer William Morris addresses her middle-aged, unmarried daughter.
"Save it all; you do not know
the value things will come to have until
the world grows dim around you, and your things
—however doubtful in the changing light,
things are what you have
left. And all you have."
Howard's other poetry books included "Findings," "Lining Up" and "Talking Cures." His influential survey of contemporary poetry, "Alone with America," was a National Book Award finalist in 1970. Howard was voted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1983 and for years was poetry editor of The Paris Review. A compilation of his essays and criticism, "Paper Trail: Selected Prose, 1965-2003," was published in 2004.
He was born in Cleveland just weeks before the 1929 stock market crash, and never knew the identity of his biological parents who apparently were too poor to keep him. Adopted as an infant by a middle-class couple that gave him the last name "Orwitz" (changed by his mother to "Howard" after her divorce), he enjoyed at least one advantage of joining a relatively affluent family: His childhood home was big enough to include a well-stocked library that Howard would call his "precocious playroom."
His love for French did not begin in a classroom, but in a car. During a childhood road trip from Cleveland to Miami, he was seated next to a Viennese cousin who decided to fill the long hours by teaching the language. By the time their journey ended Howard had "amassed a formidable vocabulary of nouns and even a rudimentary stock of verbs." Decades later, De Gaulle would ask him how long it took to understand the language. "Five days, mon general," Howard responded.
Howard was an undergraduate and graduate student at Columbia University, where he met Allen Ginsberg and became close friends with classmate Robert Gottlieb, later a top literary editor who published Howard's translation of De Gaulle. Before his time on the Columbia faculty, he taught at the University of Cincinnati and the University of Houston.
Howard was openly gay for much of his adult life. His poetry collection "Fellow Feelings" was a tribute to such artists as Walt Whitman and Marcel Proust and his later works included several elegies for friends who died of AIDS.
He liked to tell the story of waiting backstage with W.H. Auden during a poetry reading in the 1960s. They were discussing the poet Bernie Weinbaum, who had a history of anti-gay, antisemitic remarks. Howard explained that since he was "both these things," he was not a fan of Weinbaum's.
"My dear," Auden gushed, "I never knew you were Jewish
After years of neglect, 'rare opportunity' opens up for Tiberias archaeological gems
Volunteers have cleaned up stunning sites including Sanhedrin seat and huge Roman theater that were buried under trash; as authorities argue, experts plead to set up national park
It is an area of immense historical, archaeological and religious significance to all three monotheistic faiths, referred to by some as the "Caesarea of the Galilee": where manuscripts of the Bible were written, where the 2,000-year-old Sanhedrin rabbinic council of sages is believed to have compiled the Jerusalem Talmud, where an ancient church, huge Roman theater and one of the world's oldest mosques are situated, and where Roman leader Herod Antipas built his palace.
But for many years, these sites in ancient Tiberias in northern Israel have largely been lying neglected and in ruins, covered in weeds and garbage and subjected to theft and vandalism, prompting outcry among experts.
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The fact that the sites lie within the municipal boundaries of the city of Tiberias has led to national authorities shirking responsibility and trading blame for the neglect, with efforts to change the situation falling short.
Now, though, a volunteer group, led by the Kinneret Institute for Galilean Archaeology, has started cleaning up the sites and is fundraising to continue that work and raise public awareness for the site.
While it is in significantly better shape than a few months ago, archaeologists say that without a long-term solution by the state to transform it into a national park, the site will eventually fall back into disrepair.
A plan of this sort is said to be in the making, with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) claiming there has been a breakthrough that will see the government pass a resolution as early as April establishing a new national park in Tiberias.
There's a 7,000-place Roman-era theater, one of the best-preserved buildings of its kind; a huge palace that belonged to Herod Antipas; one of the world's oldest mosques, a prison, and bathhouses — which today house a homeless person
But other bodies and officials whose approval is critical for the move to take place have not confirmed the IAA's claim.
And leading archaeologists are expressing skepticism and warning that a rare window of opportunity — in which both Tiberias city hall and the Antiquities Authority are actively promoting a solution — could end up being squandered.
An ancient Roman and Byzantine bathhouse unearthed in Tiberias lies neglected, under piles of garbage and housing a homeless person, October 19, 2021. (Michael Bachner/Times of Israel)
'A national heritage site'
Experts are expressing hope that archaeology could help rebrand Tiberias, whose public image in Israel is dominated by bitter and sometimes violent conflicts between its secular and religious communities.
Volunteers clean up the neglected site of an ancient Byzantine church in Tiberias, January 2022. (Aharoni Amitai)
"Sites of this importance — every city would be happy with a tenth of what is here — are the responsibility of the state, because this is a national heritage site, if not a world heritage site," says Dr. Katia Cytryn-Silverman, a lecturer at Hebrew University's Institute of Archaeology and Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies.
"If we want to get an idea about the significance of the Tiberias sites, they can be compared to those of Caesarea and be referred to as 'Caesarea of the Galilee,'" she told The Times of Israel. "Not only because there is a theater and other ancient sites, but also because Tiberias was founded by Herod Antipas, the son of [Caesarea founder] Herod the Great."
Tiberias was a cosmopolitan center and the single most important Jewish city in the land of Israel for centuries after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE.
A huge ancient Roman theater unearthed in Tiberias lies neglected, October 19, 2021. (Michael Bachner/Times of Israel)
The uncovered archaeological sites include a Roman-era theater with space for 7,000, a big stage and a stunning view of the Sea of Galilee, one of the biggest and best-preserved buildings of its kind ever found in Israel; a huge palace that belonged to 1st-century Galilee ruler Herod Antipas; one of the world's most ancient mosques, a prison, water holes, bathhouses — which today house a homeless person — and many other stunning artifacts.
Some of the cultural cornerstones of Judaism and Hebrew were laid at this site: the modern fixed Hebrew calendar; the Hebrew alphabet's nikud or vowel signs; the wording of the Bible used to this day; the Aleppo Codex manuscript; and more.
A broken mosaic at a neglected ancient church unearthed in Tiberias, overlooking the Sea of Galilee, October 19, 2021. (Michael Bachner/Times of Israel)
"Herod Antipas is a very important character in Christianity. He is the person who executed John the Baptist," archaeologist Eran Meir told the Kan public broadcaster last year. "If 600 million Christians or even half of them had known this is what Herod Antipas's palace looked like, I think it would have bothered them."
There is much more digging to do in Tiberias, but excavations can only continue if the area is taken care of, Cytryn-Silverman says, because archaeological digs entail some damage to the sites by exposing them to weather conditions and potential vandalism. Just outside the city at the site of an ancient church atop Mount Bereniki, stone pillars have been smashed and ancient mosaics have been vandalized by suspected extremists from the ultra-Orthodox community.
If nothing is done to protect and maintain the sites, some will have to be covered up to keep them safe — until conditions arise that do allow for the site to become part of a national park.
That has already happened in the case of a second church, which was excavated and then covered to protect it, says Dr. Motti Aviam, head of the Kinneret Institute for Galilean Archaeology.
When it was uncovered, the bathhouse had a beautiful mosaic depicting lions, he says. But then, "every kid in Tiberias came and took five stones to play with," and there's not much of the mosaic left anymore. "And that's why the church is covered."
When it was uncovered, the bathhouse had a beautiful mosaic depicting lions. But then, "every kid in Tiberias came and took five stones to play with"; there's not much of the mosaic left anymore
"But if a national park is created and there is protection 24 hours a day and no roamer moves in to live there — of course the church can then be uncovered and reintroduced to the public."
The church that has remained exposed, Aviam adds, had much money invested in its preservation. Wooden footholds were placed around it only to be burned later by unknown vandals, he says.
Cytryn-Silverman says that on many occasions, fences placed to protect the sites are stolen within weeks, leaving the sites vulnerable.
"A site of this size requires much maintenance effort, gardening and fences. The lack of these, coupled with the continued dumping of garbage near sites, are definitely damaging and inappropriate," she says.
Dr. Katia Cytryn-Silverman, an archaeologist with The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, poses for a portrait at the site of the Al-Juma (Friday) Mosque, in Tiberias, northern Israel, January 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Today Tiberias, with 45,000 residents, is known as a rather drab place where ill-thought-out construction has squandered the city's picturesque location on the slopes overlooking one of the world's most famous bodies of water.
Tiberias city hall, which has seen frequent leadership changes over the past decade, has said it is unable to take care of the archaeological sites, whose maintenance would cost many millions of dollars.
The neglected site of the ancient southern city gate of Tiberias, October 19, 2021. (Michael Bachner/Times of Israel)
Over the years, when the municipality was allocated funds to maintain the sites, Aviam says creditors claimed the money first or ultra-Orthodox city council members diverted it to other causes.
"Tiberias understood during the COVID-19 pandemic that it can't only rely on international tourists and on Christian pilgrims, and can't only rely on the modern city and what it currently has to offer, which unfortunately isn't much," says Cytryn-Silverman.
'We will turn Tiberias into Caesarea'
IAA director Eli Eskosido recently told The Times of Israel that the relevant bodies have agreed on a government decision to invest NIS 70 million ($22 million) over five years and to open a new national park. He said he had spoken with many government, municipal and other officials and has received a promise that the decision will be approved shortly after the Passover festival, in late April.
"We will turn this site into an international site and a national park, and we will turn Tiberias into Caesarea, more or less," he declared, estimating that the site will attract three million visitors per year.
Eskosido said the plan is supported by acting Tiberias mayor Boaz Yosef, Culture Minister Chili Tropper, the Tourism Ministry, the Prime Minister's Office and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, saying that the latter's acting CEO Raya Shourky is on board, as is Zeev Margalit, director of the conservation and development department.
We will turn this site into an international site and a national park, and we will turn Tiberias into Caesarea, more or less
Culture Minister Tropper's office commented that "it would be right for the State of Israel to lead a comprehensive plan to develop and preserve the site," adding that the ministry would lend its support to any such move.
However, the Nature and Parks Authority — the body that is authorized to declare national parks and is tasked with maintaining them — declined to confirm Eskosido's claims. Its northern district manager, Guy Eilon, told The Times of Israel that the site's tourism potential must be examined and confirmed before any decision is made on whether it should become a national park.
Eilon said that in meetings in recent months with Tiberias city hall and IAA officials, the historical significance and tourism potential of the sites weren't proven and officials only talked about the site's importance in "general terms."
He said the Parks Authority has suggested hiring an outside planner who would examine the site's potential and come to a conclusion as to whether it is worthy of becoming a national park. Eilon estimated the cost of such an assessment at NIS 200,000 ($62,500) and added that the Parks Authority was willing to provide a third of that sum, but he said this offer had received no response from the IAA or Tiberias city hall.
A Parks Authority spokesperson declined to comment on the possibility of an imminent government decision on the matter, saying that any decision on the sites' future could only be made in "coordinated and joint discourse between relevant authorities."
The neglected site of an ancient basilica unearthed in Tiberias, believed to be the seat of the Sanhedrin, October 19, 2021. (Michael Bachner/Times of Israel)
Despite saying that "optimism is my second name," Aviam is skeptical that the efforts will yield meaningful results.
"Every time there are media reports [about the sites' neglect], they clean it up but don't carry on caring for it in the long term," he laments.
His colleague at the Kinneret Institute, Aharoni Amitai, accuses the Parks Authority of "dragging its feet" out of "shortsightedness or cowardice," and of applying considerations of profit over conservation. He also accuses Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg's office of not sufficiently caring about the matter, with the current window of opportunity in danger of closing.
Contacted for comment, the Environmental Protection Ministry referred The Times of Israel back to the Nature and Parks Authority.
"The vision and all the plans [for a national park] already exist and have been on the tables of many bodies and ministries for many years. There is no need to reinvent the wheel," Cytryn-Silverman says.
"Right now I'm optimistic, because there is a rare opportunity presented by the pandemic when political interests are relatively dormant," she concludes. "If we wait until a time when various officials again will want to reap the credit without actually doing anything, it will never happen."
