Get to Heaven Keep the Seven

Everybody wants spirituality. To be a good person means to walk in G-d's ways. How does that translate to reality? The only guidebook to spirituality that has stood the test of time is the Hebrew Bible. The Bible says that the Jews will be a light onto the nations. But if you are not a born Jew, you have to convert, which is not so easy!! If you do convert, it is a lot of work to be a Jew (three times a day prayer, keeping kosher, observing the Sabbath).

This blog will show you how to be Jewish without the work!!

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Field Tour - Barkan Shooting - Aftermath--This was my trip to Barkan (Near Ariel) to learn about the aftermath and Haley's resgination letter

Can't see images? Click here...

Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor

Each act of self-discipline raises us to a holier level and actually strengthens the cortex

. Parents and teachers who indulge in their primitive whims are doing terrible damage to their children and students, who are likely to copy them.

Each time you practice self-discipline, take a few seconds to feel the glow of having been victorious.

Each day as we are to do 100 Blessings, we get a chance to practice self-discipline.

When you eat kosher food and when you say a blessngs you are practicising Self-Discipline.

Isn't it great to be a spritual person who practices Self-Discipline?

Love Yehuda Lave

Field Tour - Barkan Shooting - Aftermath--This was my trip to Barkan (Near Ariel) to learn about the aftermath at the 164 companies that do business in Barkan

Following is are the names of the people we met and the places we visited.


1. Mr. Roni Huri, Executive administrator of Barkan Industrial Park.

2. Mr. Chen Ben Lulu - Director of international relations for Shomron Regional Council.

 3. Mr. Yehuda Cohen - CEO of Harsa factory. This is better known as the Lipsky Toilit company (you will see their name on most toilets in Israel. It is a plastics company and they also make many of products including the plastic chairs you sit on. Pictures of the factory below.

4. Mr. Rashid Morar - Harsa employee 

5. Mr. Gal Cohen - Harsa employee

6. Mr. David Ha'ivri - independent political strategist and  resident of Shomron Regional Council

We visited the Shomron Regional Council and Harsa factory. in the Barkan Industrial Park.

Cooking stories from my Sister

I'm just someone who likes cooking and for whom sharing food is a form of expression. Maya Angelou

 

There is no spectacle on earth more appealing than that of a beautiful woman in the act of cooking dinner for someone she loves. Tom Wolfe

 

In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport. Julia Child

 

I learned so much more prepping vegetables than I ever did in cooking school. David Chang

 

The most I like about cooking is eating what someone else has cooked. Octavia Spencer

 

I really like cooking according to the season. I like to get creative with what's fresh. Gwyneth Paltrow

 

I feel fortunate to be part of the cooking community. We learn from each other. Marcus Samuelsson

 

I love shows about creating and cooking. Sometimes they're so extraordinary, you end up setting yourself to fail. Jewel
 

 

Sometimes I look up a recipe for chicken and tomatoes and end up cooking pork. The inspiration gets lost in translation. Alex Guarnaschelli

 

I love cooking. It's what clears my mind, since it's pretty hard to multitask when you're chopping vegetables. Katrina Lake

 

All great change in America begins at the dinner table. Ronald Reagan

 

Isaac Mozeson · ·

Newbies to Hebrew Bible are enchanted by אדם ADaM (a human) and אדמה ADaMaH (earth, soil), as if Genesis 2:7 were a cartoon or primitive creation myth where Man was literally fashioned from dirt or clay that was אדום AhDOAM (red).

There is an important theme of earthiness at play here, but the ד-ם Dalet-Mem root is also evoking terms like דמה DOAMeH (alike) and דם DahM, blood. דמע DeM[A]h means a teardrop, juice … a liquid. Even if the new Bible reader is limit...ed to the shallow, physical level of a translation, a biologist will tell you that a human is more liquid than solid or mineral. So blood/likeness is at least as important as earth when contemplating the first Earthling, or all Mankind.

If you can't lose the image of a long-bearded man in robe and sandals rolling an Adam out of clay, or mud, perhaps you are channeling the Sumerian of a past life. Sumer is the Biblical Shinar where the Tower of (really « near ») Babel happened (Genesis 11 :2). Our one Edenic vocabulary got « confounded », sometimes reversed. « Blood » in Sumerian is דם DahM, (blood) reversed to MUD.

BREAKING NEWS: Earliest known stone carving of Hebrew word 'Jerusalem' found on waist-high 100 BCE column near today's city entrance

Unearthed in what was an artisan's village 2.5 km from ancient Temple, inscribed column from 100 BCE features Aramaic, Hebrew, two of the languages used by Jerusalemites of the era

The earliest stone inscription bearing the full spelling of the modern Hebrew word for Jerusalem was unveiled on Tuesday at the Israel Museum, in the capital.

While any inscription dating from the Second Temple period is of note, the 2,000-year-old three-line inscription on a waist-high column — reading "Hananiah son of Dodalos of Jerusalem" — is exceptional, as it is the first known stone carving of the word "Yerushalayim," which is how the Israeli capital's name is pronounced in Hebrew today

The stone column was discovered earlier this year at a salvage excavation of a massive Hasmonean Period Jewish artisans' village near the Jerusalem International Convention Center, at what is now the entrance to the modern city, by an Israel Antiquities Authority team headed by archaeologist Danit Levi.

"A worker came to me in the office towards the end of the day and excitedly told me to grab my camera and writing materials because he'd found something written,'" Levi told The Times of Israel, ahead of the column's unveiling Tuesday.

'My heart started to pound and I was sure everyone could hear it. My hands were trembling so badly I couldn't properly take a picture' — archaeologist Danit Levi

At first, the excited worker could not clearly explain what he had found, and Levi thought it was graffiti.

"I was picturing red spray paint in my mind and couldn't understand how that happened because the latest dating could only be 2,000 years ago or earlier," said Levi.

Danit Levi, director of the excavations on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority near the Jerusalem International Convention Center, at the Israel Museum on October 9, 2018, for the unveiling of an unusual stone inscription. (Amanda Borschel-Dan/Times of Israel)

But when she saw the professionally chiseled Hebrew lettering inscribed into the stone column, she realized it was something unusual. Brushing off the dirt, she began to read what was written.

"My heart started to pound and I was sure everyone could hear it. My hands were trembling so badly I couldn't properly take a picture," said Levi, who dates the column and its inscription to 100 BCE.

The column, said Levi, would have originally been used in a Jewish craftsman's building, presumably belonging to or built with money from Hananiah son of Dodalos.

While inscribed in a Jewish village — Levi said there is evidence of ritual baths as well as other finds bearing Hebrew lettering at the site — the column was eventually reused in a plastered wall, found in a ceramic construction workshop in use by the Tenth Roman Legion, that would eventually destroy Jerusalem in 70 CE.

Hananiah may have been one of the several potters of the village located a mere 2.5 kilometers (about 1.5 miles) outside of ancient Jerusalem, who created vessels used by Jerusalemites and pilgrims for everyday cooking and Temple offerings. Industrial areas such as this one, said Levi, are always found outside of urban areas to avoid the city's pollution.

Strategically located near clay, water, and fuel for their kilns, the village was also on a main artery leading to the Temple — which is used until today, noted the IAA's Jerusalem Regional Archaeologist Dr. Yuval Baruch at the unveiling.

Jerusalem during the Second Temple, said Baruch, was one of the largest cities in the east, with a population of at least 50,000 residents, which swelled by as many as hundreds of thousands, during the three annual pilgrimage festivals. The excavated artisans' site is approximately 200 dunams, "larger than a small village," which would have been necessary to cater to the needs of the pilgrims ascending Temple Mount.

The inscription as it was found in the excavation near the Jerusalem International Convention Center, winter 2018. (Danit Levy, Israel Antiquities Authority)

The stone inscription is now on display at the Israel Museum in a room of the archaeology wing that is dedicated to Second Temple period artifacts discovered in Jerusalem, including a new piece which the inscription, "Ben HaCohen HaGadol," or son of the High Priest. On a platform upon which the Jerusalem column stands are stone vessels and pottery, perhaps even created by Hananiah himself.

The inscription, labeled as Aramaic at the Israel Museum, gives some insight into Hananiah. Written in Hebrew letters, he is called "Hananiah bar Dodalos," the Aramaic word "bar" used to denote "son of." The name of his father, "Dodalos," said the archaeologists, is a nickname for artists of the time, based on Greek mythology's Daedalus.

New director of the Israel Museum Prof. Ido Bruno said he was pleased to continue a fruitful collaboration between his institution and the IAA. He noted that the short inscription, found only a seven-minute walk away, is evidence of a long history of ceramic craft and industry.

Bruno added that, as a Jerusalemite himself, he was excited to see the word "Yerushalayim."

"Every child who knows a few letters of Hebrew can read it," said Bruno, "and understand that 2000 years ago, Jerusalem was written and spelled like today."

Is the inscription in Hebrew or Aramaic? The unique inscription from Jerusalem, as displayed at the Israel Museum, October 2018. (Laura Lachman, Courtesy of the Israel Museum)

According to the Israel Museum's new display text accompanying the inscription, it is written in Aramaic. According to scholars at the Academy of the Hebrew Language, however, the crown jewel of the inscription, the word "Yerushalayim," clearly indicates the use of Hebrew, not Aramaic.

In Aramaic, the word would have been spelled "Yerushalem," said Dr. Alexey (Eliyahu) Yuditsky, who works as a researcher the academy's Historical Dictionary Project.

"The spelling with the letter 'yud' points to the Hebrew pronunciation," said Yuditsky from his Givat Ram office.

The more difficult question, said Yuditsky, is what is Aramaic and what is Hebrew during this era? They are sister languages and many Jerusalemites would have spoken both fluently, and even used them interchangeably.

Opening a book by epigraphist Ada Yardeni on Bar Kochba's Cave of Letters, a trove of administrative documents dating to circa 131-136 CE, Yuditsky randomly pointed out a Hebrew contract in which Jews signed names both using the Hebrew "ben" for "son of" and the Aramaic "bar," illustrating its undifferentiated nature during this era.

The use of "bar" in the new Jerusalem inscription, Yuditsky said, does not at all necessarily mean it was written in Aramaic.

Artifacts taken from a Roman Legion ceramic building materials workshop from an excavation near the Jerusalem International Convention Center, now displayed at the Israel Museum, October 2018. (Amanda Borschel-Dan/Times of Israel)

The spelling of the name Hananiah son of Dodalos could have been "international," said Yuditsky, and he would have spelled it this way, whether in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, or Latin.

While, according to archaeologists, this inscription is the first of its kind uncovered in stone, the fact of finding a full spelling of Jerusalem is not such a rare occurrence for the time period, Yuditsky said.

The Dead Sea Scrolls, which may have been written as early as 400 BCE, but are definitely at least contemporary or earlier than the stone inscription, offer dozens of physical examples of the full spelling of "Yerushalayim." Written in the same Hebrew font, a random example Yuditsky found in the IAA's digital scan of the War Scroll jumped off the page in clear, modern-appearing script.

"You can find it [the spelling] in the Dead Sea Scrolls without end," said Yuditsky.

Dr. Yuval Baruch, Jerusalem Regional Archaeologist of the Israel Antiquities Authority, at the unveiling of an unusual stone inscription now on display at the Israel Museum, October 9, 2018. (Amanda Borschel-Dan/ Times of Israel)

But for this writer, it is something quite different to look at a computer screen at the digitalized Dead Sea Scrolls and to see a waist-high column inscribed with the name of the State of Israel's capital.

Jerusalem archaeologist Baruch, well aware of the many travels and trials the Hebrew language passed through, traversing continents and historical time periods, in seeing this new inscription, he said he was moved that "some aspect of the Jews' language was preserved the same way, from ancient time until today."

 

NYPD arresting Hasidic Jews during illegal Boro Park Hachnosas Sefer Torah parade (full version)

police arresting Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn New York A Hachnosas Sefer Torah in Boro Park on Sunday afternoon ended in chaos and at least one person arrested. Sources tell that at around 6:00PM, hundreds of people began a procession accompanying a new Sefer Torah to the Dzebo Bais Hamedrash. There was apparently no permit issued for a street closure, and police responded due to massive traffic in the area. As can be seen in the video footage, numerous NYPD vehicles responded to the vicinity of 16th Ave & 51st street and ordered the pedestrians onto the sidewalks in an attempt to open the street. Several individuals intentionally ignored police, prompting officers to get out of their vehicles and physically move the protestors. At least one person was arrested. The NYPD called for a Level 1 Mobilization Response, prompting dozens of officers to respond. It should be noted that there are no legitimate permits issued for Hachnosas Sifrei Torah. A phone call is made to the Community Board who coordinates it with Shomrim and informs the NYPD of the event. In this particular incident, the Community Board was never contacted, for unknown reasons. A group of around 100 teenagers staged a small protest outside the 66 Precinct on 16 Avenue, while community activists worked behind the scene to defuse the situation. The man was released at around 9:30PM as the crowd cheered and sang as he exited the Precinct. the angry group of pedestrians appallingly began chanting "Nazi" at the NYPD Officers – once again demonstrating that many members of the Hasidic community haven't a clue who the Nazis were. These people are simply trampling on the names of the 6 million Kedoshim HY"D. The people quick to use the word Nazi today, have obviously no clue – just as an example – what took place in just one day at Treblinka

The Power of Feminine Beauty—And How to Protect It By Rochel Holzkenner

G‑d created Adam and Eve unclothed, and they walked around the Garden of Eden . . . naked. If public nudity was fine with G‑d, why does the Torah tell us to be modest, to cover up, to subdue our natural allure? What changed?

It all started after Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Before, they were not aware of their nakedness;1 they even "engaged in intercourse before everyone's eyes"!2 But once they ate from that tree, their perspective shifted. The whole universe shifted.

Before, good The whole universe shifted was obviously good and evil was obviously bad. But afterward it was a different world, one in which holiness and impurity became intermingled. In our post–Tree of Knowledge world, everything good has some bad within it, and even the worst evil has some good. In fact, the holier something is, the more susceptible it is to corruption. Potent, holy energy is often siphoned off by the forces of unholiness.

Before eating from the tree, Adam and Eve weren't embarrassed of their nakedness, because they perceived that sexuality was good and natural and holy. Intercourse was an activity created by G‑d for unity and procreation. After they shifted into the world of good and evil, they immediately felt the need to protect their sexuality. In fact, since sexuality was so holy, it would be more vulnerable to corruption. It was on evil's radar—big time!

Sexuality is a way we connect with our soulmate and with G‑d, and pleasure is the outgrowth of that connection. But the forces of evil make us believe that that sexuality is all about our personal pleasure. So Adam and Eve instinctively became a bit selfish, and then they were embarrassed of themselves. They put on clothes so that their sexual aura wouldn't be vulnerable to misuse. Ever since, humans have put on clothing.3

There is a story in the Torah about a child who was protective of his mother's beauty, ensuring that no man but his father benefited from it. That little boy was Joseph. Let's begin the story from the end . . .

When Jacob was lying on his deathbed, he blessed all of his sons individually. Among the things he said to Joseph were these unusual words: "A charming son is Joseph, a son charming to the eye. Women strode along to see him."4

Now, this seems like a fairly shallow blessing. Was Jacob simply focused on Joseph's good looks? Was this the final synopsis of Joseph's good qualities? What type of meaningful message did these words impart?

Let's unpack the verse:

בֵּן פֹּרָת יוֹסֵף
Ben porat Yosef
A charming son is Joseph

בֵּן פֹּרָת עֲלֵי עָיִן
ben porat alei ayin
a son charming to the eye

בָּנוֹת צָעֲדָה עֲלֵי שׁוּר
banot tza'adah alei shur
women, [each one] strode along to see him

Rashi says that the Hebrew word for "charming," porat, also means "to be fruitful5 and to grow." So with the one word porat, Jacob was saying two things to Joseph: "You are charming, and you have grown." Jacob's blessing continues, "alei ayin," which is translated to mean "[charming] to the eye." But literally, the words alei ayin mean "over the eye." So all together, ben porat alei ayin reads, "a son who grew [tall] over the eye." What are Jacob's cryptic words referring to? This Midrash, as quoted by Rashi, explains it all:6

When Esau came toward Jacob, all the other mothers went out ahead of their children to prostrate themselves. Concerning Rachel, however, it is written: "and afterwards, Joseph and Rachel drew near and prostrated themselves"7 [denoting that Joseph preceded Rachel]. Joseph said, "This scoundrel has a haughty eye. Perhaps he will take a fancy to my mother." So he went ahead of her, stretching his height to conceal her. His father was referring to this when he blessed him בֵּן פֹּרָת, "a son who grew," [meaning,] "You raised yourself over Esau's eye. Therefore, you have attained greatness."8

In their epic family reunion, Jacob and Esau met after 34 years of estrangement. A lot had changed in those decades. Jacob had become a family man with four wives and 12 children. He arranged his clan into groups so that each family unit would meet Esau separately.9 There were two women, though, that Esau did not have the privilege of meeting.

Let's Jacob had become a family man examine the verse in Genesis: "Leah and her children drew near and prostrated themselves, and after [them], Joseph and Rachel drew near and prostrated themselves."10 Notice the shift in order. First Leah and then her children. That is understandable; she led the way, her children in tow. Then Joseph and Rachel. Why is Joseph mentioned before his mother? We have seen that the Torah is subtly announcing that Joseph stood in front of his mother in order to entirely block her from Esau's line of vision, a chivalrous act for which Jacob praised him.

The other family member that Esau didn't meet was Dinah. She was hidden in a box. This is implied by the following verse in the Torah: "[Jacob] arose during that night, and he took his two wives and his two maidservants and his eleven children, and he crossed the ford of [the] Jabbok."11 What's problematic about this verse is that the Torah mentioned the birth of all of the children born to Jacob while he was living with his father-in-law in Charan. In total, there were 12 children born there, 11 boys and one girl.12 Why did he cross this river with only 11 kids? Where was number 12?

The Midrash, as quoted by Rashi, answers this question:

But where was Dinah? [Benjamin was not yet born, but Dinah should have been counted.] He put her into a chest and locked her in, so that Esau should not set eyes on her. Therefore, Jacob was punished for withholding her from his brother—[because, had he married her,] perhaps she would cause him to improve his ways—and she fell into the hands of Shechem.13

If Jacob realized he was mistaken in hiding Dinah from Esau, why would he praise Joseph for doing the very same to Rachel?

The answer is that Dinah was a single girl. If Dinah and Esau would meet and want to marry each other, it would have been likely that Esau would give up his hunting escapades and his Sunday night football to become a refined gentleman and a student of the Torah in order to please Dinah.14 But Jacob underestimated the power of his daughter's beauty, and the opportunity was lost.

Rachel was already married. Esau wouldn't think of marrying his brother's wife.15 But he'd probably enjoy looking at her—she was gorgeous! But Joseph didn't let that happen, and that was a good thing. Jacob blessed him for it.

There is another layer of understanding in Jacob's blessing to Joseph: בֵּן פֹּרָת עֲלֵי עָיִן, "A son that grew—you are above the eye," meaning the evil eye, the ayin hara. When someone attracts attention, other people tend to get jealous. That jealous energy can hurt one's success. (We use the expressions kein ayin hara and ben porat Yosef to ward away that jealous, harmful energy that others may project.16) After Joseph protected his mother's beauty from the eyes of Esau, he was immune to the evil eye, says the Midrash.

Beauty is a touchy subject. Dinah's beauty could have pulled at the heartstrings of the most insensitive man that lived. Perhaps that means that in a marriage, a woman's beauty can soften and sensitize her husband to a more spiritual path. In the context of a relationship, feminine allure is sacred.

But Beauty is a touchy subjectattracting the attention of someone who's not one's spouse diffuses that powerful energy and leaves it vulnerable to the forces of evil. Jacob really appreciated it when Joseph made sure that no other man would enjoy Rachel's beauty. Not because Joseph was afraid that Esau would snatch her away, but because Esau had no right to take pleasure in a woman who wasn't his wife. Because Joseph blocked any attention that Rachel would get from Esau, he was protected from an ayin hara—jealous and unhealthy energy projected onto him.

Quoting the Talmud and the Zohar, the Lubavitcher Rebbe emphasized17 that strengthening one's conduct of modesty is an infallible way to be blessed with good health, sustenance, and much nachat—true Jewish pride from children and grandchildren.18

May we all be abundantly blessed.

Footnotes 1.

Genesis 2:25.

2.

See Rashi to Genesis 3:1.

3.

This idea is based upon a talk given by Rebbetzin Yehudis Heller about bushah, healthy shame.

4.

Genesis 49:22.

5.

As in the expression pru u'rvu, "be fruitful and multiply."

6.

Rashi, Genesis 49:22.

7.

Genesis 33:7.

8.

Bereishit Rabbah 78:10.

9.

They were grouped strategically so that if Esau attacked one group, the others would be protected.

10.

Genesis 33:7.

11.

Genesis 32:23.

12.

According to the Midrash, each boy was born with a female twin sibling.

13.

Bereishit Rabbah 75:9.

14.

See comment of Nachalat Yaakov, Genesis 32:23.

15.

Which is why Jacob didn't hide Rachel in a box as he did with Dinah.

16.

Kein ayin hara is a Yiddish expression that means, "May there be no evil eye." In Sephardic countries, it was customary to say ben porat Yosef after a compliment or admission of success, to ward off the evil eye.

17.

Igrot Kodesh, vol. 8, p. 204.

18.

Conversely, the Rebbe made this observation: "When one behaves immodestly . . . this does not bring the other person to work better. Nor will it stimulate his mind and make him smarter. Nor will it improve his character traits by positively affecting the respect he accords to his parents, brothers or sisters, or even for his own wife. Nor will it influence him to donate more charity. What is the impact of dressing in violation of the requirements of modesty? If until now the other person's wicked side was hidden, or not excited and aroused—one provokes that person and inflames that side."

By Rochel Holzkenner

See you tomorrow

Love Yehuda Lave

Rabbi Yehuda Lave

2850 Womble Road, Suite 100-619, San Diego
United States

LIKE TWEET FORWARD

You received this email because you signed up on our website or made purchase from us.

Unsubscribe

No comments:

Post a Comment