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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.

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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.

Were Early Zionists Terrorists? By Rabbi Uri Pilichowski

What's the difference between Palestinians, who are regularly accused of being terrorists and terrorist supporters, and the early Zionists who used violence to fight the British and the Arabs before the founding of the State of Israel?

This is an important question to answer, not because Zionists must defend themselves but because they need to understand whether their movement is a violent and immoral one by nature. If early Zionists, the founders of our state, and an Israeli prime minister were all violent and immoral terrorists, it should give Zionists pause concerning their movement and cause.

Menachem Begin was the leader of the Irgun, a para-military force that existed before the founding of the state. It carried out attacks against the British and Arabs of Palestine. The Irgun, especially after its attacks on The King David Hotel and Deir Yassin, was accused of terrorism, and this charge followed Begin throughout his life, especially after he was elected prime minister in 1977. The following excerpt from the book Right-Hand Man by Menachem Michelson discusses how Menachem Begin addressed the charges that Israeli Irgun fighters were terrorists.

"Several times, the question arose of whether Begin saw any comparison between the struggle of the Palestinians and the Jews' War of Independence. Once, Mike Wallace, the well-known American interviewer asked him directly, "Mr. Prime Minister, you were the commander of a terrorist organization. Do you see any comparison between this and the PLO?"

Begin replied, "There's nothing at all to compare. We fought to liberate our land from a foreign regime, from the British. They [the PLO] want to wipe us off the face of the Earth and take our land from us, because this land is ours. We threw out the British because the land is ours. What do the Arabs want? To throw us out of our land! There's no comparison between the PLO, or any group of murderers of theirs. Another issue is the method of battle. They kill every man, woman, and child, whereas we did everything to avoid harming civilians. True, sometimes disasters happened, and civilians were hurt, but this was not part of our battle tactics."

Prime Minister Begin's answer won't satisfy everyone. His first answer is predicated on the position that the entire land of Israel is the Jewish homeland and doesn't belong to the Palestinians. Therefore, Jews fighting for the land are fighting for their land. Palestinians have no right to the land, and their efforts to fight the Jews isn't a fight for their land, but rather to throw the Jews out of the land. If a person takes a different position and maintains Palestinians have a right to the land of Israel just as Jews do, Begin's answer won't come close to explaining how early Zionists were justified in their attacks against the British and the Arabs.

It's important to note Zionists don't have to accept the premise of their enemies that the land of Israel isn't theirs and that Palestinians too have a right to the land. Zionists don't have to answer the charges of their enemies, and Begin's first answer is acceptable. That other people disagree with the Zionist position that the entire land belongs exclusively to the Jews doesn't obligate Zionists to change their position or entertain an opposite opinion just to answer an accusation. Begin's first answer is perfectly acceptable to a Zionist.

Begin's second answer was addressed to Zionist opponents who would scoff at Begin's position that Jews fought for their land while Arabs fought to throw Zionists out of their land. Begin's focus on Arab tactics of "take no prisoners" and "murder everyone," whether woman or child, was directed at those who maintained both Jews and Palestinian fighters were justified in their cause. The Irgun's code of only attacking those culpable of being a threat to the Jews, as opposed to the Arab ethos of killing any and all Jews, pointed to the difference between the Zionist and Palestinian fighters.

The Irgun and other Zionist fighters were just in their struggle to win freedom for the Jewish state. The land of Israel is the ancient Jewish homeland. The Jewish people spent thousands of years pining to return to their homeland and never gave up their claim to the land. British and Arab forces who violently denied the Jews the opportunity to return to their land had no right to prevent the Jewish people's return and opened themselves to the same violence they were perpetrating against the early Zionists. The Irgun's struggle was a righteous fight for their people's freedom. Early Zionists owe them a debt of gratitude.

23 Facts Tallit Facts You Should Know

By Menachem Posner

1. A Tallit Is a Four Cornered Garment

A tallit is a four-cornered sheet that was commonly used as a simple garment in the times of the Torah and the Talmud. Thus, in the Talmud, we find it mentioned in a variety of contexts, such as tossing it over an object you want to claim as your own,1 lending it to a buddy,2 sleeping under it,3 or finding it in the marketplace.4

Read: What Is a Tallit?

2. It Has Fringes on Each Corner

The Torah commands us to affix fringes onto each of the four corners of our garments.5 Thus, when a fringed tallit is worn, the wearer fulfills a mitzvah, a Divine commandment.

3. It Is Equal to the Entire Torah

We read in the Torah that we are enjoined to wear the fringes, known as tzitzit, "so that you remember and do all My commandments."6 In this vein, the sages tell us that fulfilling this mitzvah is "equivalent to all the mitzvot in the Torah."7

4. Each Corner Has Eight Strings

The tallit being a reflection of all the 613 commandments can be seen in the tassels themselves, each of which comprises 5 double knots and eight fringes (5+8=13). Now the Hebrew word tzitzit, ציצית, has the numeric value (gematria) of 600. 600+13=613, the exact number of mitzvot there are in the Torah.8

5. The Torah Mandates Blue Fringes

Tzitzit with the Tekhelet strings attached.

The Torah tells us to place "a thread of techelet on the fringe of each corner."9 Techelet is wool dyed a striking hue of blue, produced from a specific sea creature (known as the chilazon) following a particular ancient practice. In time, the identity of the chilazon as well as the dying method were lost.

The sages assert that even in the absence of blue, the white threads still constitute a valid mitzvah which we are enjoined to perform.10 In recent years, there have been various people who claim to have rediscovered techelet, but most Jews prefer to stick to the tried and true and do not wear the blue threads.

6. It's a Daytime Mitzvah

Since the purpose of the tzitzit is that they be seen, the sages explain that they are only required for garments worn during the day.11 So if you had a four-cornered pajama, would it warrant tzitzit? That's a tricky question, since most people wear their PJs into the morning, only changing after day has begun. In addition, many specifically wish to wear a garment with tzitzit at night for spiritual protection.

7. It's Only Incumbent Upon Men

As a general rule (with several notable exceptions) any mitzvah that requires you to do something at a specific time ("time-bound positive commandment") is only binding upon men. As such, this mitzvah, which is linked to daytime hours, is not applicable to women.12

8. Eastern European Jews Start Wearing It After Marriage

Sephardim and Western Ashkenazim (Yekkes) begin wearing a tallit from childhood. Among Jews of Eastern-European descent, however, the common custom is only to start wearing it from marriage, when the groom receives his tallit as a gift from the bride and her family.

9. It Is Typically Worn During Morning Prayers

At one point in history, religious Jews likely wore their tallits all day long, but as fashions evolved and sheets fell out of fashion, the tallit became exclusively a ritual item, worn only during morning prayers.

10. There Is a Small One Worn All Day

So what happens the rest of the day? Is the Jew to be bereft of this important reminder of G‑d's wishes? Over time, a smaller, poncho-like tallit, which could be worn under a shirt, emerged. Interestingly, it is known by (at least) three names: tallit katan (small tallit), arba kanfot (four corners), and tzitzit (fringes).

And unlike the large tallit, this one is worn by even the youngest boys.

11. It's Worn All Day (and Night) on Yom Kippur

On Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, it is customary to wear the tallit for all five prayer services, even the evening service when tzitzit is not a mitzvah.

12. There Is a Blessing Said

Before donning the tallit, the garment is wrapped around the upper body and a formula is said, blessing G‑d, "Who commanded us to enwrap with tzitzit." Before putting on the smaller garment, which is not wrapped around the body, the blessing is modified to "who commanded us regarding the mitzvah of tzitzit."

13. White Is Most Common

Technically a tallit can be any color, and in the late Middle Ages and early modern era it was not unusual in Ashkenazi communities for people to wear tallits of other colors. Nevertheless, it is most common (and ideal) for the tallit to be (mostly) white. This is because some teach that the fringes (which are white) should be the same color of the garment.

In addition, white signifies the Kabbalistic attribute of mercy, as does the tallit, which we are told G‑d Himself wears while teaching Moses how to appeal for mercy.13

14. Wool Is Ideal

As far as mitzvah observance is concerned, only garments made of wool and linen are considered bona fide garments. Thus, this mitzvah applies only to garments made of those two materials. All other fabrics—silk, polyester, etc.—are only obligated on a rabbinic level.

Wearing woolen fringes on a linen garment could at times be a transgression of the prohibition not to wear shatnez (wool and linen together).14 This leaves wool as the only material with which one can practically fulfill this mitzvah in the best possible manner.15

15. It Is Also Called a Tallis

The final letter of the word טלית is probably most accurately as "th," a sound that does not exist in many languages. As such, among Sephardim it became a "t" sound, rendering the word "tallit," while Ashkenazim pronounce it like an "s" and say "tallis."

16. Some People Prefer "Turkish"

Some Chassidic communities prefer a heavy woolen tallit made from wool from Turkey (or Tunisia, once upon a time part of the Ottoman Empire). This is apparently because flax does not grow there, and they are therefore assured that no linen was accidentally mixed into the wool.16

17. The Barcodes Are Not Very Important

It is traditional for the white tallit to be adorned with black or blue vertical stripes to remind us of the techelet threads once worn.17 The exact pattern of the stripes is purely aesthetic and has little religious significance.

18. Some People Prefer an Atarah

Since the tallit is a simple rectangle, it is possible for a person to accidentally wear it upside down. To help avoid this, many (not Chabad) have a decorative strip of cloth (known as an atarah, "crown") sewn onto the upper hem. This ornament is sometimes embroidered with the name of the tallit owner, the tallit blessing, or other texts. In some communities, the atarah is made of silver plates, which clink whenever the tallit is adjusted.

19. Many Have a Special Shabbat Tallit

On Shabbat we wear fresh, dressy clothing, and many have the custom to honor the day with a special tallit reserved for the holy day (and other Jewish holidays). In addition to honoring the Shabbat, unique Shabbat garments remind us to keep the special restrictions associated with the day.18

20: It's Often Kept in a Pouch

Many men have a special pouch—typically of velvet, satin, or leather—in which the tallit is stored. This pouch is often embroidered with the owner's name. The pouch for a weekday tallit is often large enough to hold the owner's tefillin as well.

21. The Word Tallit Does Not Appear in the Torah

Interestingly, the word tallit does not appear in the Torah even once. Rather, the terms used are beged (בגד), "garment," and kesut (כסות), which means "cover." The term seems to have become common in the Mishnaic (Second Temple) era.

22. A Jewish Man Is Buried in His Tallit

In addition to the traditional white shrouds, a Jewish man is often wrapped in the tallit in which he prayed during his lifetime.19 To demonstrate that he is no longer obligated to fulfill the mitzvah of tzitzit, one of the fringes is typically damaged.20

In the Holy Land, the custom is that the tallit is not tampered with in any way and that it is removed before burial.21

23. Every Moment You Wear It Is Special

Someone who puts on a tallit (katan) once in the morning and leaves it on fulfills a mitzvah every moment that he wears it. This is because, the purpose of the tallit is to remind us of G‑d's mission for us, which happens every second that this holy fringed garment is on our bodies.22

Footnotes

Peah 4:3.

Nedarim 4:1.

Kiddushin 4:14.

Bava Metzia 1:1.

Deuteronomy 22:12.

Numbers 15:40.

Nedarim 25a.

Rosh to Nedarim ibid, Rashi to Numbers 15:39.

Menachot 4:1.

Menachot 43b.

Menachot 43a.

Shulchan Aruch Harav, 9:9.

14.

This would come into play at night, when the mitzvah does not apply; all the wearer would be left with is a forbidden mixture of wool and linen.

15.

Shulchan Aruch Harav, 9:4.

16.

Minhag Yisrael Torah 9:1.

17.

Minhag Yisrael Torah 9:2. The black stripe is consistent with the tradition that the blue techelet was blackish (Rashi to Numbers 15:21) and the blue stripe would be in line with those who maintain that it was bright blue (Mishneh Torah, Tzitzit 2:1).

18.

Shulchan Aruch Harav, 301:14.

19.

Yoreh Deah, 351:2.

20.

Rama ad loc.

21.

Gesher Hachaim I 10:4.

22.

Shaarei Halacha Uminhag, Orach Chaim I, 13.

By Menachem Posner

World Vision defendant convicted for assisting terrorist group

The Beersheba District Court on Wednesday convicted World Vision defendant Mohammad al-Halabi, around six years after his arrest.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB

Palestinian demonstrators take part in a protest in solidarity with Mohammad El Halabi, World Vision's manager of operations in Gaza who was accused by Israel of funneling millions of dollars in aid money to Hamas, organized by foundations and societies benefiting from World Vision in Gaza City August

The Beersheba District Court on Wednesday convicted World Vision defendant Mohammad al-Halabi of most terror financing charges, around six years after his arrest and under pressure from the High Court of Justice to stop dragging its feet.

Who is Mohammad al-Halabi?

He was acquitted of one charge of assisting the enemy, based on the idea that, as a Gaza resident, he is not a citizen of a state.

Halabi's lawyer Maher Hana said that he would appeal the conviction to the Supreme Court.

The case itself

HAMAS ABIDES by its charter: Graffiti depicts Hamas fighters firing rockets, in Khan Younis, May 30. (credit: ABED RAHIM KHATIB/FLASH90)

The court found that Halabi confessed to the financial terror charges during his interrogation by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).

The judges said that he was highly sophisticated and that his confession was "coherent, specific and included unique details... which he could not have concocted on the spot."

Convicted World Vision defendant Mohammad al-Halabi's confession was "coherent, specific and included unique details... which he could not have concocted on the spot."
Beersheba District Court judges

In addition, they said that there was significant external documentary proof of his actions.

Though the court said that it knew World Vision believes Halabi to be innocent, it said that it was more likely that the organization did not want to overdo oversight of its finances, lest it harms its working relations with Gazan groups.

Further, the court scheduled a hearing for July 10 to debate extending his detention and set a date for Halabi's sentencing hearing.

Although he has already served six years in prison, his maximum sentence for convictions on over a dozen charges could run over 20 years (though maximum sentences are rare).

His Hamas connections

According to the court ruling, Halabi was recruited by Abu Cuchba of Hamas in 2004.

Though Halabi and his brother, Diya, were initially Hamas fighters, he was eventually assigned to infiltrate World Vision to be an undercover Hamas operative assisting the group, the court said.

World Vision hired him in 2005. Initially, he worked in its northern Gaza section, but by 2014 he had achieved a high management position for the entire Strip.

The judges said that throughout his World Vision employment, Halabi met with Hamas military operatives to keep up with their needs.

In the verdict, the court said that Halabi intentionally diverted large volumes of iron, plastic and digging tools to Hamas to assist it with digging terror tunnels.

Further, the court said that in 2012, Halabi twice visited terror tunnels with his brother and another operative, in one case providing the operative with $20,000 to repair tunnels destroyed by flooding.

Hana said that the court failed to address issues, such as the source and the tracing of the alleged terror funds.

He said that he had direct proof that the prosecution had not shown the full trail of some of the alleged terror funds, but that the court issued a gag order (only a paraphrasing of the verdict was published for national security reasons), preventing him from revealing this to the public.

For example, he said that the $20,000 incident from 2012 was a mix of stories that did not involve Halabi and even different amounts of money, but that no one had brought evidence even to prove where the alleged $20,000 would have come from.

Addressing two other specific allegations, Hana said Halabi did not even deal with iron, so he could not have been transferring vast quantities to Hamas and he noted that one accusation involved Halabi crossing at the Kerem Shalom border post, despite Israeli records showing Halabi did not cross there during the relevant period as well as the overlapping six-year period.

In contrast, prosecutors involved in the case told The Jerusalem Post that they had presented the court with unambiguous bank statements showing the path of the alleged terror funds.

In the case, the state prosecution accused Halabi of assisting Hamas on the side to his humanitarian work, but he claimed the charges were made to delegitimize Palestinian civil society.

Because Halabi was connected to World Vision - a global NGO - his case has received global coverage and is being watched closely in terms of making judgments about the fairness and professionalism of the Israeli justice system.

As the Halabi verdict came in, the International Criminal Court is about 15 months into a criminal investigation of alleged Israeli and Hamas war crimes during the 2014 Gaza War and the 2018 Gaza border conflict, and has yet to give any signs about how it views Israel's prosecution and courts in terms of probes and verdicts that have come out regarding the events in dispute.

There are hard questions also about whether the timeframe and evidentiary stringencies of the trial can be justified given that Halabi was not charged with violent crimes himself.

High Court pressure

The setting of the verdict date itself came under a direct order from the High Court on May 9.

The High Court had been set to hear a debate about whether to extend Halabi's detention for another 90 days, despite previous expectations that the verdict would come out before May.

The justices seemed to have finally lost patience with the Beersheba District Court which has been trying the case.

In February, the High Court extended his detention for 90 days, but on the basis that it had indications from the Beersheba District Court that this could be a final extension before the verdict.

Halabi's case had come before the High Court dozens of times since his August 2016 indictment, but each time the justices had extended his detention pending a verdict in the trial.

The extremely delayed and time-consuming trial ended with closing arguments in July and October 2021; it is unclear what further delayed the verdict.

Halabi has vehemently denied the charges and accused the prosecution and the Shin Bet of manufacturing them, coercing a confession in order to undermine humanitarian organizations in Gaza and dragging out the case.

World Vision itself accused the Israeli court and prosecution of "irregularities in the trial process and a lack of substantive and publicly available evidence." They supported Halabi's decision to appeal and called for a "fair and transparent appeal process based on the facts of the case."

NGO Monitor said the decision "highlights fundamental vulnerabilities of a multi-billion dollar NGO aid industry that remains largely unregulated and unexamined."

They said there was a vast multi-million dollar gap between World Vision's income and its expenses.

To date, only the defendant has been unloading on the prosecution, with the state refraining from responding publicly due to concerns of revealing classified intelligence.

Initial claims

Mohammad was indicted in August 2016 for smuggling $7.2 million a year to Hamas for buying weapons and building attack tunnels.

This was instead of being used by World Vision for food, humanitarian assistance, and aid programs for disabled children.

Neither World Vision nor an Australian government audit found the wrongdoing allegedly uncovered by Israel's Shin Bet.

Since March 2021, more allegations have come out from El Halabi's side, including that he was fooled by an undercover informant in detention into confirming details which the informant kept pressuring El Hablabi to confirm.

According to the defense, El Halabi told law enforcement that the confession was coerced from the first moment they raised it with him and the original document recording the confession was lost by police.

The defense says that the case should have been tossed in light of the circumstances in which the confession was given and that the police record of what was said is an inauthentic photocopy, raising questions of a police cover-up.

In addition, the defense has claimed that World Vision did not even transfer any materials to Gaza at some of the crossing points where the prosecution says El Halabi made illegal transfers to Hamas.

The Post has learned that although these allegations were new to the public in March 2021, the prosecution had been aware of them and responded to them behind closed doors throughout the trial.

While the prosecution's responses are classified at this stage, it appears that the prosecution would acknowledge using an undercover informant, but would say that this is a standard approved tactic and that no illegal pressure was applied.

Moreover, the prosecution would point out that the court already rejected any allegations of a coerced confession earlier in the case and that the only question left to the court is how much weight to give the confession.

In terms of the lost document allegation, it appears the prosecution would likely express regret, but reject any conspiracy theories. It would point out that this is not the first case such an error occurred and note that the defense has not flagged any specific issues to invalidate the authenticity of the copy of the confession.

Regarding the border crossing issue, the prosecution would respond that El Halabi was a clever operator and sometimes used different organizations or names to move materials, while using World Vision as his main laundering tool.

Both sides accuse the other of unconscionable delays relating to fighting over how the trial would take place, what evidence the defense would get to see and the possibility in the earlier years of reaching a plea deal.

See you tomorrow bli neder

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