Mrs. Evelyn Haies was a warrior for Judaism and Ancient Hasmonean aqueduct to Jerusalem exposed in the neighborhood and licking a kindle and Activist Smashes Cake Into Mona Lisa in France and US revokes Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu’s Visa
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.
Until her last moments, my grandmother was a warrior, fighting until the very end.
This past Shavuos, my grandmother, Mrs. Evelyn Haies, took her last breaths after decades of evading the grip of cancer. Although she went through a lot of suffering in the interim, it did not prevent her from pursuing her life's mission. To everyone who was privileged to have made her acquaintance, my grandmother's name became synonymous to them with Kever Rachel, the place where her heart's passion lay. She made sure she would be able to have the most far-reaching impact on the world she could, regardless of the circumstances.
Her levaya was on the Monday succeeding Shavuos, during which Rabbi Machlis, Rabbi Breitowitz, and the Bostoner Rebbe shared words, eulogizing our incredible loss and sharing stories of her greatness.
In 1997, she dedicated a Sefer Torah to Kever Rachel, using money that she won in a lottery. Around 4,000 people streamed into Kever Rachel for this occasion. This was a time when it wasn't so popular to go to Kever Rachel, as it was after the period of the Second Intifada; the typical Israeli chareidim never visited the Kever. As the result of the Hachnasas Sefer Torah and her advertisements for lectures and other occasions, the number of people visiting Kever Rachel increased tremendously. Additionally, the success of this event combined with the organization's consistent lobbying at the Knesset, got Kever Rachel to be open 24 hours a day and increased the number of Egged armored buses making the trek to and from Kever Rachel on a regular basis.
I would like to share more words about my grandmother herself. She was always learning, listening to shiurim, and visiting the Israel Center. I still remember spending the entirety of Tishah B'Av listening to shiurim together with her – learning was her passion. My grandmother authored three books on the parashah: The Eleventh Plague, The Twelfth Plague, and Parashah Poetry, which was read at the Shabbos table. She was always appreciative of everything Hashem created in the world, even the small things that would usually pass by someone, such as an exotic flower or a serene sunset; she would go so far as to point these out to people on the street and say, "Make sure to look at the sunset, before it goes away." She truly had a level of hakaras hatov that had no bounds.
In the week after her passing, hundreds came to pay their respects to the bereaved family, including many esteemed rabbis and countless other family and friends.
During the shiva, hundreds came to pay their respects to the bereaved family, among them Rav Zev Leff from Moshav Matisyahu, Rabbi Machlis and family, Rabbi Hanoch Teller and his wife, Rabbi Moshe Borger, Rabbi Reuven Gefen and his wife, Rabbi Yehuda Samet, Rebbetzin Rena Tarshish, N.Y. Assemblyman Dov and Shani Hikind and countless other family and friends. Rabbi Avraham and Nechama Dina Hendel of Chabad of Baka made a special tribute to Evelyn Haies – Chaya bas Shaul – on Facebook.
In 1995, my grandmother founded RCRF, Rachel's Children Reclamation Foundation, a non-profit organization. She purchased property adjacent to Kever Rachel for $613,000, using the space for lectures, women's learning, and simchot such as bat mitzvahs, etc. This purchase aided in Kever Rachel being included in the official Jerusalem boundary, as there was now a Jewish-owned property there. Until today, weekly women's shiurim are given at the site.
In discussing my grandmother and her legacy, many shared their views. Although I would consider it impossible to encapsulate everything she stood for in a few short words, there was a common denominator in what they said, and that is that my grandmother had a dream. Many people have a dream, but very few act on it and pursue it with as much devotion, grit and dedication as my grandmother did. Kever Rachel was her life, drive, and legacy. For the last year of her life, she was able to live in Baka, a suburb near Kever Rochel.
My grandmother will not be forgotten; rather, her legacy will become our trademarks, and something that we in turn passionately stand for.
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.
US revokes Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu's Visa
Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu Yozer Or
The US embassy in Israel recently informed Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu that his Visa to enter the US has been revoked, USA Todayreported.
According to the report, this is an unusual move as the visa did not expire, but was revoked in a move initiated by the State Department.
Rabbi Eliyahu is one of the most prominent rabbis in Israel, having served for decades as the Chief Rabbi of Safed and on the Chief Rabbinical Council.
The US embassy refused to comment on the reasons for the move, stating that it does not address personal issues related to US visas.. Israeli officials believe the move may be related to Rabbi Eliyahu's past statements regarding Israel's Arab population, including a call not to rent apartments to Israeli Arabs.
Rabbi Eliyahu has been active in recent years in attempting to strengthen ties between Israel and American Jews, and the revocation of his visa may hamper his efforts in that area.
The rabbi's office responded: "Despite appeals to the American consulate, we have not received any explanation for the visa revocation that was supposed to be valid for decades. Our inquiries indicate that this is an action taken at the behest anti-Zionists such as the Reform movement, factors that frequently try to infringe on freedom of expression and silence rabbis. After failing to silence Rabbi Eliyahu in legal ways, they are now trying to silence the rabbi in such petty ways. There is no reason to worry – they will not succeed."
Ancient Hasmonean aqueduct to Jerusalem exposed in neighborhood
An engineering feat of ingenuity allowed the aqueduct that served as Jerusalem's main water supply to be in use for 2000 years. A new section of it was found in Armon Hanatsiv.
Exposed section of Hasmonean-age Jerusalem aqueduct.(photo credit: ALEXANDER WIEGMANN/IAA)Advertisement
For 2000 years, the city of Jerusalem received its main water supply from a low-level aqueduct which wound its way along a route of 21 kilometers from Solomon's Pool located south of Bethlehem all the way to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City.
A new segment of this aqueduct has recently been exposed in an Israel Antiquities Authority excavation directed by Alexander Wiegmann of the Israel Antiquities Authority under Alkachi Street in the Armon Hanatsiv neighborhood in a joint project with the Jerusalem Municipality and the Moriah Jerusalem Development Corporation, the IAA announced on Sunday.
Exposed section of Hasmonean-age Jerusalem aqueduct (credit: Yaniv Berman, Israel Antiquities Authority).
Hasmonean engineering
This feat of ancient engineering ingenuity was built with a very slight gradient-descending just over one meter along every kilometer on average, with a 30-meter difference in elevation. It was initiated by the Hasmonean kings in order to increase the water supply to Jerusalem and in particular to the Temple Mount.
Jerusalem's location as an ancient city was chosen because of its proximity to the large reliable water source of the Gihon Spring.
Exposed section of Hasmonean-age Jerusalem aqueduct. (credit: ALEXANDER WIEGMANN/IAA)
Ya'akov Billig of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who has researched the ancient aqueducts in Jerusalem and took part in the recent excavation, noted that the spring was situated on the vulnerable lower slopes of the mountain.
"Cities were generally built on more strategic higher ground, and the spring being situated low on the mountain slope, was a vulnerable location," he said.
So how did the aqueduct last?
Over time different solutions were found for keeping the water secure, including fortifications, tunnels and cisterns, said Billig.
as the population grew and technology improved bringing water from a larger water source further from the city as possible, he said, was dependent on the accuracy of their measurements of the difference in elevations.
"It is a matter of technology and of the instruments in measuring the relative altitudes and choosing the proper route it can follow with the water constantly going downhill," he added.
They had to somehow manage to know in antiquity what the difference in elevation was over great distances. Water only moves from up to down.
Yaakov Billig, Isarel Antiquities Authority
He said the low-level aqueduct was the first in a series of aqueducts that kept getting longer and more sophisticated, he said.
Due to the newly exposed aqueduct's ingenuity and quality, it continued to be used off and on — depending on whether the ruling authorities had the will and budget to maintain it — until the British Mandate 100 years ago when the invention of electric pumps replaced it, he said.
Billig said there were two aqueducts that brought water from Solomon's Pools, located between Bethlehem and Efrat to Jerusalem: the Low-Level Aqueduct and the High-Level Aqueduct.
The High-Level Aqueduct was made later on and began at a higher elevation reaching a higher destination point in the city, he said.
"It was more sophisticated, maybe be too sophisticated to keep it up and it went out of use after 500 years, at the end of the Byzantine period around 1500 years ago so it is not as well known," he said.
What else are the archaeologists finding?
Slowly portions of it are also being uncovered, and several sections are visible in some places such as Bethlehem, and Jerusalem in Givat Hamatos, Hebron Road and Ramat Rahel. A portion was recently found in Gilo.
"It amazes us to think how they managed in antiquity to make the accurate measurements of elevation along with such a long distance, choosing the route along the mountainous terrain and calculating the necessary gradient, all this without the modern sophisticated instruments we have today," he said.
"It was really a magnificent and fascinating engineering feat that they managed with the old-fashioned instruments they had then to accurately measure and calculate and execute this project and it worked. And since it was planned and constructed so well it was used on and off for 2000 years," he added
Following the excavation, conservation experts will do preservation work on the remains of the aqueduct and it will then be open to the public.
Activist Smashes Cake Into Mona Lisa in France
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A climate change activist was filmed attacking the Mona Lisa inside the Louvre Museum in France on Saturday. The incident stunned nearby onlookers, who filmed the vandalism of the priceless Leonardo da Vinci famed masterpiece, Zero Hedge reported
"A man dressed as an old lady jumps out of a wheelchair and attempted to smash the bulletproof glass of the Mona Lisa. Then proceeds to smear cake on the glass and throws roses everywhere, all before being tackled by security," one eyewitness was quoted in The Guardian as saying.
A man reportedly entered the museum disguised as a wheelchair-bound elderly woman, complete with a wig, according to reports.
Guards quickly grabbed the man and escorted him away from the painting, who was subsequently seen yelling "Think about Earth!"
The vandal is seen yelling in French: "Think about Earth! There are people who destroy it. All artists think about it. That's why I did it," according to videos of the aftermath. Images of the moment the cake was thrown at the painting have yet to emerge.
