Jerusalem Day (Hebrew: יום ירושלים, Yom Yerushaláyim) is an Israeli national holiday that commemorates both the reunification of Jerusalem and the establishment of Israeli control over the Old City after the Six-Day War of 1967 is on Sunday and The Harvard Crimson Normalizes Campus Antisemitism By Alan M. Dershowitz and Astronomers captured the first image of the black hole at the center of our galaxy, using the powerful Event Horizon Telescope and The Portion of Bamidbar for Shabbat
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.
The portion of Bamidbar opens the 4th book of the Torah, known in Hebrew as Bamidbar (in the desert) and in English as Numbers because of the two censuses which took place- the first in our portion.
"And the children of Reuben, Israel's first-born, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of names, by their polls" (Numbers 1;20)
"Of the children of Simeon, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, those that were numbered thereof, according to the number of names, by their polls" (Numbers 1;22)
The letters "lamed" in the word "legulgelotam" (לגולגלותם ) are written in a very unique way in certain Sifrei Torah. Even though this is found in both the the children of Reuben and the children of Shimon, the Baal Haturim relates to it in the children of Shimon. He writes that this is an allusion to the sin of Zimri ben Salu, the leader of the tribe of Shimon, with the Midianite woman (Numbers 25;6).
The second "lamed" of the word "legulgelotam" is written like a drawer and is upright without the hat on its head as the head of the tribe of Shimon who engaged in sexual immorality upright and with an uncovered head, without embarrassment.
And as a result the tribe of Shimon did not merit having a king or judge emerge from its ranks.
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.
Jerusalem Day (Hebrew: יום ירושלים, Yom Yerushaláyim) is an Israeli national holiday that commemorates both the reunification of Jerusalem and the establishment of Israeli control over the Old City after the Six-Day War of 1967 is on Sunday
It is celebrated annually on 28 Iyar on the Hebrew calendar, and is marked officially throughout Israel with state ceremonies and memorial services.
Under the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, which proposed the establishment of two states in British Mandatory Palestine – a Jewish state and an Arab state – Jerusalem was to be an international city, neither exclusively Arab nor Jewish for a period of ten years, at which point a referendum would be held by Jerusalem residents to determine which country to join. The Jewish leadership accepted the plan, including the internationalization of Jerusalem, but the Arabs rejected the proposal.[5]
On 15 May 1948, the day after Israel declared its independence, it was attacked by its Arab neighbours. Jordan seized East Jerusalem and the Old City. Israeli forces made a concerted attempt to dislodge them, but were unable to do so. By the end of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Jerusalem was left divided between Israel and Jordan. The Old City and East Jerusalem continued to be occupied by Jordan, and the Jewish residents were forced out. Under Jordanian rule, half of the Old City's 58 synagogues were demolished and the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives was plundered for its tombstones, which were used as paving stones and building materials.[6]
This state of affairs changed in 1967 as a result of the Six-Day War. Before the start of the war, Israel sent a message to King Hussein of Jordan, saying that Israel would not attack Jerusalem or the West Bank as long as the Jordanian front remained quiet. Urged by Egyptian pressure and based on deceptive intelligence reports, Jordan began shelling civilian locations in Israel,[7] to which Israel responded on 6 June by opening the eastern front. The following day, 7 June 1967 (28 Iyar 5727), Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem.
This morning, the Israel Defense Forces liberated Jerusalem. We have united Jerusalem, the divided capital of Israel. We have returned to the holiest of our holy places, never to part from it again. To our Arab neighbors we extend, also at this hour—and with added emphasis at this hour—our hand in peace. And to our Christian and Muslim fellow citizens, we solemnly promise full religious freedom and rights. We did not come to Jerusalem for the sake of other peoples' holy places, and not to interfere with the adherents of other faiths, but in order to safeguard its entirety, and to live there together with others, in unity.[10]
The war ended with a ceasefire on 11 June 1967.
Celebrations
On 12 May 1968, the government proclaimed a new holiday – Jerusalem Day – to be celebrated on the 28th of Iyar, the Hebrew date on which the divided city of Jerusalem became one. On 23 March 1998, the Knesset passed the Jerusalem Day Law, making the day a national holiday.[11]
One of the themes of Jerusalem Day, based on a verse from the Psalms, is "Built-up Jerusalem is like a city that was joined together" (Psalm 122:3).[12]
In 1977, the government advanced the date of Jerusalem Day by a week to avoid it clashing with Election Day.[13]
The slogan for Jerusalem Day 2007, celebrated on 16 May,[14] marking the 40th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, was "Mashehu Meyuhad leKol Ehad" (Hebrew: משהו מיוחד לכל אחד, 'Something Special for Everyone'), punning on the words meyuhad (מיוחד, 'special') and me'uhad (מאוחד, 'united'). To mark the anniversary, the approach to Jerusalem on Highway 1 was illuminated with decorative blue lighting, which remained in place throughout the year.[citation needed]
In 2015, Yad Sarah a non-profit volunteer organization began organizing a special tour specifically for residents who use wheelchairs, which focuses on Jerusalem history.[15]
The Yakir Yerushalayim (יַקִּיר יְרוּשָׁלַיִם 'Worthy Citizen of Jerusalem') prize is awarded annually by the Jerusalem municipality on Jerusalem day.[citation needed]
50th anniversary
In 2017, the golden jubilee of Jerusalem Day was celebrated. During the course of the year many events marking this milestone took place in celebrations of the 50th Jerusalem Day.
Many events were planned throughout the year, marking the jubilee. The main theme of the celebrations is the "Liberation of Jerusalem". The celebrations began during Hanukkah 2016, at an official ceremony held at the City of David National Park in the presence of Minister Miri Regev, who is responsible for the celebrations marking the 50th anniversary.[16]
A logo was created for the jubilee and presented by the minister Miri Regev.[17]
Events During the Jubilee Year
The ceremony was held at the City of David National Park at the event the ancient "Pilgrims' Route", that led from the City of David to the Temple Mount during the Second Temple period, was unveiled. The ceremony was attended by Knesset members, mayors and the three paratroopers that were photographed by David Rubinger at the Western Wall in 1967. At the event, the Minister Miri Regev was quoted by the press as saying, "Mr. President Barack Obama, I am standing here, on Hanukka, on the same road on which my forefathers walked 2,000 years ago ... No resolution in any international forum is as strong as the steadfast stones on this street." Noting several of the 14 countries that participated in the resolution – including New Zealand, Ukraine, Senegal, and Malaysia – the minister added, "no other people in the world has such a connection and link to their land."[18]
On 2 February 2017, the "14th World Rabbis Conference" was held in Jerusalem, which was marked by "50 years since the Liberation and Unification of Jerusalem"
On 17 March the Jerusalem Marathon was held, marking the 50th anniversary celebrations.
On 28 March, the National Bible Contest for Youth was held, marking 50 years since the liberation of Jerusalem
The Independence Day ceremony this year will mark the Jubilee celebrations.
Many groups from overseas are made pilgrimages to Jerusalem to honor the jubilee.[19][20]
While the day is not widely celebrated outside Israel,[2] and has lost its significance for most secular Israelis,[25][26][27] the day is still very much celebrated by Israel's Religious Zionist community[28][29] with parades and additional prayers in the synagogue.
Religious observance
Religious Zionists recite special holiday prayers with Hallel.[3][30] scholars, namely Meshulam Roth and others who held positions in the Israeli rabbinate, advocated the reciting of Hallel with its blessings, regarding it as a duty to do so.
Astronomers captured the first image of the black hole at the center of our galaxy, using the powerful Event Horizon Telescope
The Event Horizon Telescope network has captured the second-ever direct image of a black hole — called Sagittarius A* — at the center of the Milky Way.
he second-ever direct image of a black hole — Sagittarius A*, at the centre of the Milky Way.Credit: Event Horizon Telescope collaboration
Radio astronomers have imaged the super massive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. It is only the second-ever direct image of a black hole, after the same team unveiled a historic picture of a more distant black hole in 2019.
The long-awaited results, presented today by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, show an image reminiscent of the earlier one, with a ring of radiation surrounding a darker disk of precisely the size that was predicted from indirect observations and from Albert Einstein's theory of gravity.
"Today, right this moment, we have direct evidence that this object is a black hole," said astrophysicist Sara Issaoun of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics at a press conference in Garching, Germany.
"We've been working on this for so long, every once and a while you have to pinch yourself and remember that this is the black hole at the centre of our Universe," said computational-imaging researcher and former EHT team member Katie Bouman at a press conference in Washington, DC. "I mean, what's more cool than seeing the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way?"
Black-hole observations
During five nights in April 2017, the EHT collaboration used eight different observatories across the world to collect data from both the Milky Way's black hole — called Sagittarius A* after the constellation in which it is found — as well as the one at the centre of the galaxy M87, called M87*.
The observing locations ranged from Spain to the South Pole and from Chile to Hawaii, and added up to nearly four petabytes (4,000 terabytes) of data, which was too much to be sent over the Internet and had to be carried by aeroplane on hard disks.
The EHT researchers unveiled their image of M87* in 2019, showing the first direct evidence of an event horizon, the spherical surface that shrouds a black hole's interior.
But the Sagittarius A* data were more challenging to analyse. The two black holes have roughly the same apparent size in the sky, because M87* is nearly 2,000 times farther away but also roughly 1,600 times larger. This also means that any blobs of matter that spiral around M87* are covering much larger distances — larger than the orbit of Pluto around the Sun — and the radiation they emit is essentially constant over short time scales. But Sagittarius A* can change quickly even over the few hours the EHT observes it every day. "In M87* we saw very little variation within a week," says Heino Falcke, an astrophysicist at Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands and a co-founder of the EHT collaboration. "Sagittarius A* varies on time scales of 5 to 15 minutes."
Because of this variability, the EHT team generated not one image of Sagittarius A*, but thousands, and the image unveiled today is the result of a lot of processing. "By averaging them together we are able to emphasize common features," said EHT member José Gómez of the Andalusian Institute of Astrophysics in Granada, Spain. The next aim of the project is to generate a movie of the black hole to learn more about its physical properties, said Feryal Özel, an astrophysicist at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
The EHT team conducted supercomputer simulations to compare with their data, and concluded that Sagittarius A* is probably rotating along an axis that roughly points along the line of sight to Earth. The direction of that rotation is anticlockwise, Gómez said.
"What blows my mind is that we're seeing it face-on," says Regina Caputo, an astrophysicist at NASA–Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA's Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, which Caputo works with, had previously detected giant glowing features above and below the centre of the galaxy, which could have been produced by Sagittarius A* during periods of intense activity in the past. But those features, known as Fermi bubbles, would seem to require matter to swirl around the black hole edge-on as seen from Earth, rather than face-on.
Extremely massive object
The first hints of the existence of Sagittarius A* were seen in the 1970s, when radio astronomers discovered a seemingly pointlike radio source in the central region of the Galaxy.
The source turned out to be unusually dim, dimmer than an average star. Still, decades-long observations of the motions of nearby stars revealed that the object was extremely massive. The most recent ones have measured it to be 4.15 million times the mass of the Sun, give or take 0.3%. These calculations, done by tracking how stars orbit Sagittarius A*, provided strong evidence that the radio source is so massive and dense that it could be nothing else than a black hole, and earned Andrea Ghez and Reinhard Genzel a share of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics. (The EHT image shows that the black hole weighs around 4 million solar masses, which is consistent with those earlier estimates, although not as precise.)
Sagittarius A* is practically invisible to optical telescopes, because of the dust and gas on the galactic disk. But beginning in the 1990s, Falcke and others realized that the shadow of the black hole might be just large enough to be imaged with short radio waves, which can pierce that veil. But to do so, researchers calculated, would require a telescope the size of Earth. Fortunately, the technique called interferometry could help. It involves pointing multiple, faraway telescopes at the same object simultaneously. Effectively, the telescopes work as if they were shards of one big dish.
The first attempts to observe Sagittarius A* with interferometry used relatively long, 7 millimetre radio waves, and observatories a few thousand kilometres apart. All astronomers could see was a blurred-out spot.
Teams worldwide then refined their techniques, and retrofitted some major observatories so that they could add them to the network. In particular, a group led by Shep Doeleman of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, adapted the South Pole Telescope and the US$1.4-billion Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) in Chile to do the work. In 2008, Doeleman's team also conducted the first observations at the more technically challenging 1.3 millimetre wavelength.
Then in 2015, groups joined forces as the EHT collaboration. Their 2017 observation campaign was the first one to span distances long enough to resolve details the size of Sagittarius A*.
Future plans
The EHT collected more data in 2018 but cancelled their planned observation campaigns in 2019 and 2020. They resumed observations in 2021 and 2022, with an improved network and more sophisticated instruments.
Remo Tilanus, an EHT member at the University of Arizona in Tucson, says that the team's latest observations, in March, recorded signals at twice the rate as in 2017 — which should help to increase the resolution of the resulting images.
Researchers also hope to find out whether Sagittarius A* has jets. Many black holes, including M87*, display two beams of rapidly matter shooting out in opposite directions, presumably as a result of the intense heating of the in-falling gas. Sagittarius A* might have had large jets in the past — as heated clouds of matter above and below the galactic centre suggest. Its jets would now be much weaker, but their presence could still reveal important details about our Galaxy's history.
"These jets can inhibit or induce star formation, they can move the chemical elements around," and affect the evolution of an entire galaxy, says Falcke. "And we're now looking at where it's happening."
On April 30, I submitted to the Harvard Crimson a detailed op-ed refuting its recently-published blood libel against Israel. Over the next several days, the Crimson first said they were "reviewing" my submission; then that they were "interested in running it;" and, on May 4, that they would run my piece "probably tonight," promising to "reach out with edits later today if needed." As a result of these assurances, I withdrew my op-ed from other publications. Then, on May 4, they "decided not to publish" my piece, using the phony excuse of "very high number of submissions … combined with our currently limited production schedule."
When I protested their breach of journalistic ethics, they changed their minds again and agreed to run it in the form of a much-shortened letter to the editor. They asked me to eliminate the accusation that their editorial encouraged the current form of antisemitism; I refused. Then they demanded documentary proof of my opinions – something they did not provide for their own egregiously false statements. When I provided the documentation, they finally ran out of excuses, and reluctantly published the shortened letter. This bait and switch compounded their unethical action in knowingly publishing defamatory lies about Israel. Here is the full op-ed they accepted and then rejected:
In one of the most historically ignorant, religiously discriminatory and factually deceptive editorials ever published by the Harvard Crimson, its editorial board engages in and "call[s] on everyone" to promote the current form of antisemitism.
Let's be clear that criticism of Israel and/or its policies is not antisemitic. I and other supporters of Israel around the world routinely criticize policies of the nation state of the Jewish people, just as we criticize policies of our own nation. This editorial, however, is not merely about Israeli policies: it implicitly supports the end of Israel and its replacement by a Palestinian state "from the river to the sea." That is the goal of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement as described by its founder, Omar Barghouti.
Tom Friedman, the Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times columnist who is often quite critical of Israeli policies, put it this way: "singling out Israel for opprobrium and international sanctions – out of all proportion to any other party in the Middle East – is antisemitic, and not saying so is dishonest."
That is precisely what the Crimson editorial is guilty of. It "condemn[s] antisemitism in every and all forms," while practicing its newest form. Are the editors even aware that the founders of the BDS movement apply it only to Israelis who are Jewish? Are the editors aware that Barghouti refused to debate me at the Oxford Union precisely because I am an American Jew who supports Israel's existence? Are the editors aware that BDS singles out only one nation from among the many with serious human rights issues, namely the nation state of the Jewish people? That is antisemitism pure and simple. Shame on the Crimson editors for calling on everyone to promote it. The Crimson's megaphone will surely spread and increase the already high rate of antisemitism on campuses throughout the world.
The Crimson writes about "reality." So, let's begin with five statements of reality that I challenge anyone to contradict:
1) No country faced with dangers comparable to those face by Israel – both internal threats of terrorism and external threats of nuclear annihilation by Iran – has a better record of human rights, compliance with the rule of law, and concern for the lives of enemy civilians. Israel's record is far from perfect, but it is far better than other nations facing comparable threats.
2) No country in the history of the world has contributed more to humanity – medically, agriculturally, scientifically, artistically – than Israel in the less than 75 years of its existence.
3) No country in recent history has made peace with more of its enemies than Israel, including Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and others.
4) No country has offered statehood more often to those seeking to destroy it than Israel; the Palestinians could have had an independent state in 1947, 1948, 1967, 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2008. And they could still have one, if they are willing to come to the negotiation table and make mutually painful compromises with Israel.
(5) No western democracy has been victimized by terrorism more than Israel.
A reader would not know any of these facts, or even that they are asserted, from reading the Crimson's ignorant and deceptive editorial. The paper mentions Palestinians who have been killed by Israeli soldiers, but willfully omits the many Israeli children, women and other civilians who have been murdered or maimed by Palestinian terrorists. It also omits that many Palestinians were killed while perpetrating acts of terrorism. Indeed, the only time it mentions terrorism is to criticize those who have "shamefully link[ed]" critics of Israel "to terrorism." This is deception by deliberate omission.
In a show of incredible chutzpah or ignorance, it condemns Israel for actions that make difficult "the prospect of a two-state solution." Are they unaware that the founders and leaders of the very BDS movement the Crimson supports oppose the two-state solution? BDS is among the major hurdles to the very two-state solution the student newspaper seems to advocate, while promoting a movement that strongly opposes it.
It is hard to know whether this benighted editorial suffers more from ignorance or bigotry. It could have been written by a spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority, except that the Palestinian Authority would be fairer in presenting the counter evidence. Indeed, its president does not support boycotting Israel!
Were this editorial submitted as a course paper, it would deserve a grade of C- (with grade inflation). Not for its points of view, but for its lack of honesty and selective presentation and omission of facts.
Even for those who oppose Israel's policies, this editorial is an embarrassment. It is an embarrassment to the Crimson, to its prior editors and members, to Harvard, and to its alumni. Its claim that it was written to balance "the overwhelming power imbalance that constricts the ongoing debate" is nothing less than a subtle nod to the antisemitic canard of Jewish power.
It takes no courage today on college campuses to oppose Israel's existence. It takes great courage today to tell the whole complete truth about the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which begins with the refusal of the Palestinian leadership to accept the two-state solution proposed by the United Nations. But ignorance and lack of courage are no excuse for blatant antisemitism. This Crimson editorial is part of the oldest prejudice in its newest form. Shame!
See you Sunday bli neder on Yom Yershalim bli neder, Shabbat Shalom
