Yehuda HaKohen’s Weekly Torah Thoughts: PARSHAT VAYIGASH

“Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt in the region of Goshen; they acquired property in it and they were fruitful and multiplied greatly.” (BEREISHIT 47:27)

On this verse, the Kli Yakar comments that the Children of Israel no longer regarded themselves as aliens sojourning in Egypt but rather as permanent residents. He further explains that “so completely settled did they become that they did not wish to leave Egypt and HaShem had to remove them by force. Those who did not wish to leave died during the three days of darkness.”

Israel settled in Egypt, established deep roots and enjoyed material success, setting a pattern that would come to define Jewish behavior in later exiles. Nearly every foreign land that we have settled in throughout history was initially a safe refuge, yet Jews have often attempted to turn these places of temporary shelter into permanent dwellings. And in almost every instance, the natural order of history has reacted by shattering our false sense of security on foreign soil and reminding us that we are not yet home in our own country.

“Had the dove found a resting place, it would not have returned. A similar verse is, `She dwells among the nations; she finds no rest’ (EICHA 1:3). If they found rest, they would not return. Similar also is DEVARIM 28:65, `Among the nations you will feel insecure; there will be no place for your foot to rest.’ If they found rest, they would not return.” (Bereishit Rabbah 33:6)

The Gaon of Vilna was agitated by the thought of Jews suffering atrocities due to our remaining in the Diaspora of our own free will at a time when it becomes possible to return to our borders. In the first chapter of Kol HaTor, the Gaon’s teachings on Mashiach ben Yosef and the Redemption process (compiled by his student Rabbi Hillel Rivlin of Shklov), there is mention of refugees.

“Refugees in Zion. The fifth principle is that `for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape… and among the remnant, those whom the L-rd will call.’ (YOEL 3:5) Since according to Midrash Tanchuma, Zion is in the line of Mashiach ben Yosef, whatever befell Yosef befell Zion. The Gaon said that this is hinted at also in the word `among the remnant’ which in numerical values equals `Mashiach ben Yosef” (566), by means of whom, according to the Gaon, the ingathering of the exiles will be accomplished. As the number of ingathered increases, so the Sitra Achra (evil forces) will increase its strength. Then another prosecutor will be added, against those who do not strengthen the ingathering of exiles after the beginning of the Redemption has started with the ingathering, for then in `Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape… and among the remnant…’ A word to the wise is sufficient. This distressed the Gaon a great deal.”

The question is often raised why so many otherwise faithful Jews choose to voluntarily live in exile from their homeland if the Torah so clearly dictates the need for the Jewish Nation to reside in Eretz Yisrael? And why do we sometimes even find learned rabbis who go as far as to reject the existence of a Divine commandment to live in our own country? In the fifth chapter of Kol HaTor, the Gaon is quoted as explaining the inner reason why many great scholars do not encourage their followers to actively participate in the Redemption process.

“The Sin of the Spies… hovers over the Nation of Israel in every generation… How strong is the power of the Sitra Achra that it succeeds in hiding from the eyes of our holy fathers the dangers of the klipot; from the eyes of Avraham our father, the klipah of exile… and in the time of the Mashiach, the Sitra Achra attacks the guardians of Torah with blinders… Many of the sinners in this great sin of, `They despised the cherished land,’ and also many of the guardians of Torah, will not know or understand that they are caught in the Sin of the Spies, that they have been sucked into the Sin of the Spies in many false ideas and empty claims, and they cover their ideas with the already proven fallacy that the mitzvah of the settlement of Israel no longer applies in our day, an opinion which has already been disproven by the giants of the world, the Rishonim and Achronim.”

Anything that delays the sanctification of G-D’s Name consequentially profanes it. By rejecting the mitzvah to build a Hebrew Nation in Eretz Yisrael and magnify HaShem’s Divine Ideal to mankind, many otherwise righteous individuals have become guilty of decreasing the universal perception of His all encompassing Oneness.

“See – HaShem, your G-D, has placed the land before you; go up and possess, as HaShem, G-D of your forefathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear and do not lose resolve.” (DEVARIM 1:21)

The Ramban clearly explains (Positive Commandment 4 in his supplement to the Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvot) that this mitzvah of conquering and living in the Land of Israel is a commandment for every generation at all times. The Shulchan Aruch states conclusively on this issue (Even HaEzer 75, Pitchei Tshuva 6) that all of the arbitrators of Torah Law (Rishonim and Achronim) follow the opinion of the Ramban.

Because history demands that our exile be eliminated, Jews can no longer reside securely in the Diaspora. By neglecting to willingly return home to their soil, Jews are essentially scorning not only their own people’s national aspirations but also the Torah. And because the condition of Jews living outside our borders is both an unnatural situation and an objective desecration of G-D’s holy Name, one way or another it will come to an end.

What sustains the Jewish Diaspora today is a psychological enslavement largely focused on personal security and individual success. The Maharal of Prague explains in Netzach Yisrael that this mental slavery is hinted at within the Hebrew language. The only difference between the words gola (exile) and Geula (Redemption) is the letter Aleph, which possesses the numerical value of one.

Whoever chooses to remains in the exile, thereby fighting the historic tide of Israel’s Redemption, is only doing so because he lacks the idea of “One” – the complete belief in the unity of Israel and HaShem – in G-D being One and His Name being One over and beyond all that exists. Only by arriving at the awareness of One – the intrinsic unity and collective destiny of Am Yisrael – will Jews be able to break free from our psychological prisons of egoism and accept our roles as parts of the greater Israeli whole. We will be able to perceive HaShem’s unity in history and Creation and will be able to fully devote ourselves to the Zionist revolution currently underway. And once the Hebrew Nation is psychologically free, we can focus on living up to our national mission as a kingdom of priests and holy nation that will shine Divine light to all of mankind.

Shabbat Shalom.

Malkah Scarfs Down Doughnuts Online

Become a Legend

Where Have All the Maccabees Gone?

GENIUS.  Thanks to my mother-in-law, Zhenia Fleisher, for cluing me into this.

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AMERICA’S JEWS AND ISRAEL

By Gerald Blidstein

From Tradition, Vol. 18 No. I, Summer 1979

 ”…uphold… ideas long enough, frequently enough, and with inspiration, and some young people are not only going to believe in them, they are going to believe in them with the fervor of the young and even arrange their lives and their sense of honor by them.” Willie Morris, North Towards Home

The American Jewish community relates to Israel much as American popular culture relates to death: both Israel and death are the subjects of incessant, indeed compulsive, attention but both always happen to somebody else. Nor is my bracketing of Israel and death a literary device, an attention-getter, alone. For despite the imagery of life, both physical (“making the desert bloom”) and cultural (“national renaissance”) , there are also images of death: the six million dead as a prelude to the State, the unending sacrifice of life that feeds its survival. And finally, a set of images that has won great popularity: Massada/Yavneh. Massada – communal suicide as the guarantor of integrity or intransigence (depending on your point of view). Yavneh – a community devoted to Torah and its ongoing vitality; but Yavneh presumed the death of the second Jewish Commonwealth and was reared on its ashes – a sinister image for these days.

My topic, though, is more prosaic than these opening comments suggest. I am interested in the implications of the fact that Israel “happens to somebody else,” or in other words, with the failure of the American Jewish community in developing an imperative of aliyah. The implications of this fact are usually seen within the Israeli context: what will the absence of Western immigrants mean to Israeli society, to its industry and technology, and even to its democracy? Where has Israel failed the Western oleh? How can Israel create a climate (spiritual or economic) that will attract the American Jew? This perspective is not necessarily false. But it is certainly a partial perspective at best, and from the point of view of American Jews an irrelevant perspective at worst. The issue for American Jews really is: what does this failure imply as to the nature of American Judaism? What does it imply about Jewish education in the broadest sense of that term, about the content – emotional as well as intellectual – of the Jewish heritage as it is taught in 20th-century America? Actually, it seems to me that this is by far the more productive perspective.

The attitude of young American Jews to Israel as a possible imperative for themselves is usually a function of American Judaism, not a response to the reality of Israel. Many American Jews do consider themselves informed about the shortcomings of Israeli life, of course. I don ‘t believe, however, that this knowledge is the crucial factor influencing young American Jews against aliyah. On the contrary; the expertise is required to silence wistful yearnings for Zion and its community. The young man who yields to information is, in any case, not being pursued by anything more seductive.

It is true, of course, that a small number of American Jews do get to Israel, and a proportion of these return to North America. “Better to have loved and lost/than never to have loved at all.” The question that American Judaism ought to confront is: why do so many not love at all? How has our heritage been so skewered as to produce this feeble vision of peoplehood? On a recent visit to the States I noticed, with grim amusement, that a leading Anglo-Jewish weekly carried columns four weeks running on how to explore Polish cemeteries in search of family roots. So that ‘s where the action is! More seriously: something is awry in the emotional life of the Jewish body politic.

Jewish history and Jewish thought compete well in the marketplace of our time; the fault is not intellectual. In some in way, the will and the emotions are not engaged. To put it another way: educated, traditional, young Jews do not feel the hunger to live in a Jewish state. And so American Jews who care about the fullness of the Jewish future, must ask: what has been killed?

The juices of Jewish history do run towards a restoration of Jewish peoplehood in Israel. Or more carefully: the Jew who loves his people wishes to experience its fullness, and the adventure, the challenge, of Jewish fullness today is in Israel. The Jew who identifies with his people wishes to be at the cutting edge of its history and that, today, is in Israel. The various adaptive forms taken by Jewish life in galut (the autonomous medieval community; the shtetl) also point in the same direction not because they demonstrate the transience of Diaspora communities, but because they disclose the historic Jewish thrust for independence. The American Jewish community acknowledges these facts on a political level, but denies them on the personal, existential one. This denial, like most denials demands its price. It can be made only by truncating Jewish experience by starving its soul. To anybody who has lived in Israel, the thriving Jewish communities of the United States (and I recognize their achievements) are mere torsos of the Jewish people. At the same time they pose the haunting question: how have so many young educated Jews been alienated from essential components of their people ‘s past, from a past that points the will and the heart to a clear destiny?

Now, I am not a naif. On the intellectual level, I know that the tree of Jewish history can be sliced in various ways (obviously, though, I believe that one way cuts against the grain and the other, with it!). Realistically put, I know that Babylon has always existed (but as a success-story, not as a value!) alongside Jerusalem; that even the young aim at careers, status, stability and that they know that these are more easily had in America. But all these considerations ought be only one side (if even the dominant side) of the coin. The other side should be the personal thrust towards k’lal yisroel, the movement towards the emotional and existential core that even today is a fact in Israel. Yet this side of the coin is not current. Is Jerusalem not even fit to hold a candle to Babylon? The question does not seek an empirical answer. Rather, it points to the failure of nerve, the selective paralysis of will, that is at work. I, for one, am not willing to take at face value the claim that the situation described is simply another instance of the classic tension between Torah (or spirituality) and nationalism. It is much more likely that we are witness to a (no less classic) skewering of Jewish spirituality itself, a communal accommodation to stability and case.

If this is the case, the all-but-effective elimination of Israel from the personal agenda of today ‘s American Jew is a symptom of destructive forces cutting away at our people ‘s roots. Israel, today, is the single most significant issue facing the Jew.

The response to this opportunity is perhaps more crucial to the Jews of New York and Los Angeles than it is to the Jews of Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv.

Professor Blidstein, a member of TRADITION ’s Editorial Board, teaches Judaic Studies at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beer Sheva, Israel.

Culture Wars: From the Maccabees to Matisyahu’s Beard

My new article @JewishPress:

The war is as fierce today as it ever was. It is a battle for culture and identity and it is the same war the Maccabees fought oh so long ago. While the original Hanukkah victory had a military component, the battle was certainly first and foremost a fight against cultural assimilation – and that struggle continues today.

Exhibit A: Matisyahu. I am not about to rip on one of my all time favorite musicians, but it was painful for me and many others to see our beloved Hassidic Reggae Superstar look no different then Sting. Matisyahu’s music was amazing, and hopefully will continue to be amazing, but before he was so, well, outwardly Jewish, so proudly different. You just respected him so much for not caring what the world thought. In his full beard he felt tribal, rebellious, revolutionary. But now, it’s all gone and now the beard-of-belonging and Hassidic look is being portrayed as some ball and chain, some iron mask to be freed of.

In Latin there is a saying: The name is an omen. Matisyahu’s very name comes from Hanukkah and in his inner struggle to find his real self the battle of Hanukkah was taking place – the battle to place oneself somewhere on the spectrum between Hellenist (totally assimilated) and Zealot (no outside influence). The signs of identity-strain already showed themselves when for last year’s Holiday Season, Matis released a brilliant and inspiring song “Miracle” – but in the video Matis is seen dancing around in a bird cage dressed in a Santa outfit.

You ask yourself: What is authentic Jewish music? Is it reggae? What is the authentic Jewish look? Black hat? Who inspires you more: the Lubavitcher Rebbe or Bob Marley? Are you a Giants fan or a Jewish soldier? And can these contradictions co-exist, or do we lie to ourselves to justify our comfort zones?

Having religious angst is one thing, but why did Matisyahu feel the need to share his shave with the world? Why did it have to go out to millions by Twitter? Maybe he did not want to shock his fans next time he came out on stage. Or maybe by taking a new side in the cultural battle, Matisyahu chose to be a cultural combatant once again. Matis used to make Judaism look awesome, but now he made it look like a prison. A bit sad, but I still love you Matis, and looking forward to your comeback!

Exhibit B: Yeshiva University scandal involving a column about a student’s premarital sexual episode, ending with her “walk of shame.” YU, an Orthodox Jewish university, wanted the paper to get rid of the column. The paper stood its ground and preferred to lose its funding.

This too happened right before Hanukkah , and is part of the classic cultural war where sexuality, which no doubt existed at YU before, feels the need to be outed, to be loud and proud – to be… Greek. Just like the wars that raged in Judea 2,000 years ago, today’s Jewish students on campus struggle between the passions of physicality and the values of timeless Judaism. The bastion of American Jewish education, Yeshiva University, is indeed a battleground where the forces of Hellenism and traditionalism are locked in a competition for cultural supremacy.

Exhibit C: Absorption Ministry ads targeting Israelis living in America and calling them back to the Jewish State. In one of the ads, Israeli grandparents Skyping with their granddaughter who is living in America are shocked to learn that she is more aware of Christmas then Hanukkah . Unlike the first two exhibits where forces of cultural leniency struck against classical values, here the State of Israel struck back with an unequivocal Maccabean message: American culture is inferior to Jewish culture, so come back home before you lose your children to assimilation.

Many American Jews were outraged, feeling personally affronted at having their host culture besmirched. While Matisyahu paraded his new clean face, and the YU girl lamented her walk of shame, the State of Israel pushed an alternative to Christmas and offered Hanukkah as a remedy for the disease of assimilation.

Exhibit D: While in Exhibit C the State of Israel was the Maccabee, in Exhibit D the Jewish State took its own walk of shame: “The Ministry of Culture and Sport is sponsoring Hanukkah happenings throughout the country under the banner ‘Nes Hanukkah (Hanukkah Miracle)’. In order to make more cultural options available to all, a new initiative is being undertaken to make 100 plays in more than 100 locations free for children. The plays will include Pippi Longstocking, Pinocchio, Aladdin, and more.”

Excuse me? What were those plays again? Did you say Pippi Longstocking? Was she from the house of Chashmonai? If we’re going to go to the trouble of making a whole series of Hanukkah happenings, shouldn’t we use this opportunity to educate about our own cultural history, to teach Jewish identity?

My daughter loves Fiddler on the Roof – why not put that on? My favorite all-time movie is “Masada” with Peter O’Toole; why not make that into a play? Can’t we promote our own stories, our own heroes? Or are we too afraid of those cultural icons of the past because their story is too demanding for us? Those Maccabees were pretty serious folks, they sought purity and Temple offerings, and I guess not everyone in the Israeli elite is interested in inculcating Maccabee ideology…

And speaking of Masada, my friend Yehuda HaKohen pointed out that a McDonald’s is opening up at the famous desert palace/fortress. McDonald’s, not exactly a traditional Jewish food establishment, is rather the height of modern American soft-power cultural imperialism. Putting a McDonald’s at Masada offends the memory of the Zealot fighters who fled the Roman occupation army in search of cultural and religious independence. So why not put a nice Israeli restaurant there instead, something that feels authentically Jewish? But then again, what is authentic Jewish food – Shawarma? Gefilte fish? Jachnoon? Petcha? We’re still figuring that one out.

Finally, Exhibit E in the battle for Jewish identity: Who else but the Maccabeats! They make me “believe in miracles”! These young men make fun music, but as their name suggests, they are cultural warriors. They took Matisyahu’s song “Miracle”, sang it a cappella style, and added to it a video that warms the Jewish heart, giving us Nachas. No walk of shame, no Santa outfits, just great energy and a love of Judaism. And if Hanukkah is about broadcasting the miracle, Pirsumei Nisa, then the Maccabeats usage of YouTube to spread the light of Hanukkah and make Judaism look attractive is to be lauded. Thanks boys, you give me back my faith in the victory of true Jewish culture over the forces of assimilation. Keep it up!

For Jews, assimilating out is easy – but the real challenge is to assimilate in, to process the 3,500 years of Jewish history, knowledge, and texts, and to somehow find a way to be modern, creative, and free, yet still in line with Jewish tradition. Being proudly Jewish and cleaving to our authentic spirit is real beauty. Never surrender.

Happy Yud Tet Kislev!

What do Jewish life in the Land of Israel and Chassidut have in common?  Find out from Yishai, wishing you a Happy Chassidic New Year!

An American Oleh – a response to Jeffrey Goldberg

This was written by our friend Baruch in response to Jeffrey Goldeberg’s rant against the Israeli ads encouraging ex-patriots living in America to return to Israel:

 

Dear Brother Jeff, (Can I call You Jeff?)

 

I have been following your outrage as a result of the widely successful “Anti Diaspora” ad campaign.  As one who was born and raised in the USA and moved to Israel at a young enough age to join the Army here and make Israel my home, I would like to help you understand the way we feel, and why it is that you shouldn’t be too offended by those of us who do not want our children to live outside of our land.

 

While the U.S. Diaspora treated us fairly, it can never substitute for our own homeland.  I, for one believe, that part of the reason that I grew up to be a proud Jew is as a direct result of being born and raised in the United States.  I am a proud American Jew and Patriot.  The American part of me gave me the upbringing and possibility to understand Freedom and yearn for a free homeland for my Jewish part.  Growing up in NY allowed me to feel first hand the hatred of anti-Semitism.  We of course enjoyed the help of the NYPD – something that most Jews in other diasporas did not.  But even the USA did not agree to bomb the train tracks leading to Auschwitz – as this was not seen as a necessary war effort (it would have “just” saved 10,000 Jews a day…).  An Army of our own, in a homeland of our own may even see it fit to travel 2,500 miles to the middle of Africa – “just” to free 102 mostly Jewish hostages.  Although the heroes of that Air France flight were the French Air crew who refused to leave their passengers behind, no one from France dared to set up a rescue mission.  Clearly, even a great “Galus” like the USA is still just a “Galus”.

 

This is what justified volunteering for a special forces team in the Israeli Army.  Although donating money and blogging for the “Zionist cause” may be great and make one feel important, it is far from enough.  I understand that you too served in the IDF and I am sure that at that time you understood yourself for doing so. 

 

I fought for this land, and carried friend’s bodies back to their families who died for this land.  I cried for this land and the plight of many families who will never be whole again, as a direct result of those who wish to take it away.

 

Here is where we are very different.  Here in Israel, we believe that this is our homeland – no matter the cost- monetary or other.  This is where our God destined us to live and grow.  We don’t live here because Stanley Fisher (another American) is the best Central Bank Governor in the world.  We don’t live here because it’s always sunny.  We don’t live here because the unemployment rate is half of that of the USA’s.  We lived here when we were at war.  We lived here when there was a drought.  We lived here when our GNP was a tenth of America’s. 

 

I strive every day to provide for my family and my company’s employees.  I could have it much easier in the USA.  My family and friends in the U.S. are proof of that.  But I choose the struggle.  I willingly gave up on “Sunday” and normal doughnuts.  I chose the Israeli hard water – long before we found out that the water in Long Island was carcinogenic…

 

If after all of this, one of my four children would decide to leave Israel and live with a great Jewish person in America – I would be heartbroken.  It would be devastating – no less.  The fact that You and the JFNA were so offended, proves that my feelings about “losing a child” to the US Diaspora have a sound basis.  You don’t see why someone like me couldn’t fathom not having my children (and hopefully grandchildren) here in Israel.  We live here for a million reasons such as purpose, religion, spirituality, Jewish growth – long before the more sexy reasons that you suggested for an alternative campaign. We would still live here if the economy went south, or if Shmulik’s mom didn’t really miss him.  As your suggested reasons to come back here were all so shallow – it strengthens my point of not wanting my children and grandchildren to get that kind of upbringing.  It’s not that our children here are genetically better than yours – they are just getting a better sense of true values than yours are.  This is not meant to be condescending – move here, and you will understand as well.  Oh, by the way – You were 100% correct about the U.S. Jewry’s assimilation problem.  Well, at least 52% correct…

 

Sincerely Your Brother,

 

Baruch

Hanukkah’s Coming! Yay!

Hanukkah’s almost here!  Hooray!

Hanukkah is the eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem following its successful liberation from powerful Greek occupiers by a fearless Jewish underground militia led by the Maccabee clan. Miraculous events surrounding the emancipation of the Temple from the cruel and idolatrous Greek forces, including the eight-day endurance of a one-day crucible of oil used in lighting the Temple Menorah, and the staggering military victory of a small tribal army against the large, state-of-the-art Greek invaders, make the holiday religious, above its nationalistic significance.

It is a very meaningful, somber, poignant and holy holiday.  But it is also a source of great joy and celebration, and should be fun!  I, for one, think brightening up the year and bringing festivity to Jewish life is important, and I am in favor of getting into the spirit as much as possible!

And of course, Jewish merriness comes with food.  Hanukkah cheer brings the easy lightness of fun family times with the deep significance of miraculous oil.

So to kick off the season, check out this great link with Hanukkah recipes for you!

 

 

 

Listen to Al Jazeera’s Final Words on the Jewish Sluggish Homecoming

Mama Rachel, Pray for Us!

The sun has descended, bringing in the 11th day of Cheshvan, the yartzeit of our mother Rachel. There are so many traits we may hope that we have inherited from her: her beauty, her determination, her compassion, her strength. Yet of all her lofty characteristics, one is most noteworthy – that is her unremitting, passionate love for her children.

Maybe you are a lonely Jew in a far off place, wishing you were connected to the greater Jewish brotherhood. Perhaps you sit quietly in the park, watching other women push baby carriages as your heart breaks and your arms lie empty. Maybe you shed tears for the pain of the exile, praying to return to the bosom of the Holy Land. Or you watch your baby sleep in her biblical homeland, knowing that enemies lurk in the mountains or in the streets outside, and pray that she comes to no harm.

These are the dear ones of Rachel, our matriarch. These are the special charges of the one who ceaselessly cries for her children. May we each take part in ending the suffering of the other, so we can ease the suffering of our mother. And when we do our part – and return to our borders – may we give her joy and pride.

I may have few accomplishments in my name. But of one thing I can always take satisfaction – I came home to Israel, and lessened the crying of Rachel. May we all merit to say the same.

“Thus said Hashem: A voice is heard on high, wailing, bitter weeping. Rachel weeps for her children, she refuses to be consoled for her children, for they are gone. Thus said Hashem: Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is reward for your accomplishment – the word of Hashem – and they will return from the enemy’s land. There is hope for your future – the word of Hashem – and your children will return to their border.” (Jeremiah 31:14-16)