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!!

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

The Loss of Minyanim and what we lost and Coronavirus Lockdown “Working from Home” Zoom Suit and The Jewish Advocacy And Zionism Of Felix Frankfurter By Saul Jay Singer and The Mathematics of Scribal Calligraphy and latest Coronavirus advice and the 28th of Nisan is the conquoring of Jerico

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Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor

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. Now also a Blogger on the Times of Israel. Look for my column

Love Yehuda Lave

Today in the story below, I wrote about the loss of minyanim and how I found a substitute Grandfather in the Minyans. A month from today on May 22, would have been my Father's Father birthday. More about him on that day

The Loss of Minyanim and what we lost

One of the things we miss about not having minyanim is the comradery one shares with those who regularly pray or attend class with us. 

We are taught that when one prays alone, one must have perfect kavana (intent) for one's prayers to be carried to by the angels to the throne of glory. Since few can, coming together as a Minyan, allows the group to share their intent, so that each person's intent is multiplied by 10. In addition, the sages teach that we are not judged individually when we pray together as a minyan, but as a group with the best of us considered to be for all of us. 

When we come together as a group, we can imagine that each of us has a kavana or proper thought for one part of the prayer – one perhaps for health, one for sustenance, one for knowledge - so that the prayers of a group are joined together and rise with each other. In a minyan. We are in essence partners. The hazan (prayer leader) provides the first engine, but the others don't just hook on. Each person there also supplies an engine. A minyan manifests the idea of Kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh - that all of Israel are guarantors for one another.

 So the person I am praying with or learning with is more than just the guy I see at synagogue, he is, in essence, my partner and connected to me. His joy is my joy and his pain is my pain.

When I was young, there was an additional benefit. At a minyan, you connected to the previous generations. There may have been a difference of 50 years between us, but we were doing the same prayers and we were part of a team. I connected with several very senior Holocaust survivors in the minyan and gained a couple of extra Grandfathers, since mine had already passed away.

When one passes away, one of the best things that is said about a man is that he came to minyan every day. This is the praise of a Torah Jew.

Both survivors were now single, as their wives had passed away and both lived into their 90's. They gave me wisdom and compassion and showed me what being old meant, if I was privileged to get to their age. They both always had a smile and a story and I looked forward to seeing them each day as much as to the prayers. One only had a couple of fingers on his hand to remind of the torture he had been through, but each day, they came on time and the minyan was the highlight of their day. They both have passed on now, but now how pained they would be without their daily minyan.

Today, I have a new minyan and new friends I  used to see each day both younger and older than I since I am no longer young..

We talk and schmooze before we start, but most people are quiet for the prayer and Torah readings. I don't subscribe to the current out of the box thinking that talking in Shul has caused all the problems in the world. Obviously, we are there for respect for G-d, but G-d loves our company and wants happy customers. To make a shul a place where you don't want to come, I can't believe is what G-d wants.

The good news is that the State just relaxed, the rules for outdoor minyans. We can again return to a modified form of the minion, say Kaddish and take the Torah out to be read. The good news is as of Nissan 25 (April 19th), Outdoor minyans were now allowed again. I davened with a Minyan at 6:00 Am on the 19th. This was exactly 20 days (not 21) that we were cancelled from minyans. A coincidence"? Why not 22 days were we stopped? It was 20 days since the cancellation, (less for me since I went to outdoor minyans before they were canceled) and it is none too soon.

Love Yehuda Lave

Speaking of tradition, here is a little funny story

A Hairy Exchange

A young boy had just gotten his driving permit. He asked his father, who was a rabbi, if they could discuss his use of the family car. His father took him into his study and said, "I'll make a deal with you. You bring your grades up, study your Talmud a little, get your hair cut, and then we'll talk about it."

After about a month, the boy came back and again asked his father if they could discuss his use of the car. They again went into the father's study where the father said, "Son, I've been very proud of you. You have brought your grades up, you've studied the Talmud diligently, but you didn't get your hair cut."

The young man waited a moment and then replied, "But father, in my studies I've learned that Samson, who was loved by God and a leader of the Jewish people, also had long hair. Can't I follow in the footsteps of the great Samson?"

The rabbi replied, "Sure you can follow in Samson's footsteps, because he walked everywhere he went.

Latest Coronavirus Guidelines

In case you were wondering, or need clarification on the latest Coronavirus Guidelines, here they are

1. Basically, you can't leave the house for any reason, but if you have to, then you can

2. Masks are useless, but maybe you have to wear one, it can save you, it is useless, but maybe it is mandatory as well.

3. Stores are closed, except those that are open

4. You should not go to hospitals unless you have to go there. The same applies to doctors, you should only go there in case of emergency, provided you are not too sick

5. This virus is deadly but still not too scary, except that sometimes it actually leads to a global disaster.

6. Gloves won't help, but they can still help.

7. Everyone needs to stay HOME, but it's important to GO OUT.

8. There is no shortage of groceries in the supermarket, but there are many things missing when you go there in the evening, but not in the morning. Sometimes.

9. The virus has no effect on children except those it affects.

10. Animals are not affected, but there is still a cat that tested positive in Belgium in February when no one had been tested, plus a few tigers here and there…

11. You will have many symptoms when you are sick, but you can also get sick without symptoms, have symptoms without being sick, or be contagious without having symptoms. Oh, my..

12. In order not to get sick, you have to eat well and exercise, but eat whatever you have on hand and it's better not to go out, well, but no…

13. It's better to get some fresh air, but you get looked at very wrong when you get some fresh air, and most importantly, you don't go to parks or walk. But don't sit down, except that you can do that now if you are old, but not for too long or if you are pregnant (but not too old).

14. You can't go to retirement homes, but you have to take care of the elderly and bring food and medication.

15. If you are sick, you can't go out, but you can go to the pharmacy.

16. You can get restaurant food delivered to the house, which may have been prepared by people who didn't wear masks or gloves. But you have to have your groceries decontaminated outside for 3 hours. Pizza too?

17. Every disturbing article or disturbing interview starts with " I don't want to trigger panic, but…"

18. You can't see your older mother or grandmother, but you can take a taxi and meet an older taxi driver.

19. You can walk around with a friend but not with your family if they don't live under the same roof.

20. You are safe if you maintain the appropriate social distance, but you can't go out with friends or strangers at the safe social distance

.21. The virus remains active on different surfaces for two hours, no, four, no, six, no, we didn't say hours, maybe days? But it takes a damp environment. Oh no, not necessarily.

22. The virus stays in the air - well no, or yes, maybe, especially in a closed room, in one hour a sick person can infect ten, so if it falls, all our children were already infected at school before it was closed. But remember, if you stay at the recommended social distance, however in certain circumstances you should maintain a greater distance, which, studies show, the virus can travel further, maybe.

23. We count the number of deaths but we don't know how many people are infected as we have only tested so far those who were "almost dead" to find out if that's what they will die of…

24. We have no treatment, except that there may be one that apparently is not dangerous unless you take too much (which is the case with all medications).

25. We should stay locked up until the virus disappears, but it will only disappear if we achieve collective immunity, so when it circulates… but we must no longer be locked up for that?

Anyone else starting to question WTH is really going on ???9

Our Social Distancing has been working too well.

Not enough people have contracted Covid-19 to develop herd immunity. This means that the second round of the virus will be worse. This is the unintended consequence of our extreme reaction to the pandemic.I'm afraid that we have needlessly trashed our economy and only made the crisis worse.More tragically, the poor and disadvantaged are suffering the brunt of the shutdown and many will die because they can no longer afford food and the neceasities of life.This is an Economic and Health Travesty.

 

Conquering Corona!

  28 נ׳סןOn the seventh day...the only day they marched around seven times...on the seventh time, the priests blew the horns...Joshua commanded the people to shout... So...when the Shofars were sounded...the people raised a mighty shout and the wall collapsed.  Joshua 6:15-20 (abbrev.)A call to Arms!  You are being summoned to join the Global Shout to breakthrough and bring down the coronavirus!  Nissan 28 on the Hebrew Calendar occurs this Wednesday, April 22nd.  It is the biblical anniversary date of the conquering of Jericho. During recent years since Shofar So Great has been established at Beit Hogla, the Jewish Jericho some 6.2 km away from the city, we have commemorated Joshua's victory with a pilgrimage to sound Shofars to prophetically bring down strongholds that remain.This year we are confronted with an obstacle, a symbolic wall, Covid-19, that prevents us from actually entering Jericho during the current travel restrictions.  I believe the Shofar community worldwide is being called for such a time as this.  We must wage war and advance through and beyond this invisible enemy's front-line of defense.

You are hereby commissioned to join this prophetic Shofari into Jericho to release a worldwide global blast to break this spiritual stronghold.  

Those in the Nations can participate on Wednesday, April 22nd, between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Israel Daylight Time (7 a.m. to 9 a.m. PDT), with a Shofar blast or shout from wherever you are.

It is forbidden by the Israeli government for Israeli Citizens to enter Jericho without a military escort.  So as the resident Chief Shofar Sounder based in Jewish Jericho, I will be standing in proxy and circling the city seven times with a Shofar drive-by shouting from my Shoferrari!

Coronavirus Lockdown "Working from Home" Zoom Suit

Coronavirus Lockdown "Working from Home" Zoom Suit

From my friend David Kra

The world has turned upside down. Old folks are sneaking out of the house, and their kids are yelling at them to stay indoors!

This virus has done what no woman had been able to do…cancel all sports, shut down all bars, and keep men at home!!

!Do not call the police on suspicious people in your neighborhood! Those are your neighbors without makeup and hair extensions!I

never thought the comment "I wouldn't touch him/her with a 6 foot pole" would become a national policy, but here we are!

Quarantine has turned us into dogs. We roam the house all day looking for food. We are told "no" if we get too close to strangers. And we get really excited about car rides

.I was so bored I called Jake from State Farm just to talk to someone. He asked me what I was wearing...

You think it's bad now? In 20 years our country will be run by people homeschooled by day drinkers…

Since we can't eat out, now's the perfect time to eat better, get fit, and stay healthy. We're quarantined! Who are we trying to impress? We have snacks, we have sweatpants – I say we use them!

Day 7 at home and the dog is looking at me like, "See? This is why I chew the furniture!"

Does anyone know if we can take showers yet or should we just keep washing our hands???

Me: Alexa what's the weather this weekend?Alexa: It doesn't matter – you're not going anywhere.

Can everyone please just follow the government instructions so we can knock out this coronavirus and be done?! I feel like a kindergartner who keeps losing more recess time because one or two kids can't follow directions.

I swear my fridge just said, "what the hell do you want now?"When this is over…what meeting do I attend first…Weight Watchers or AA?

The Mathematics of Scribal Calligraphy

How Do the Scribes Preserve the Exact Tradition of Writing Sifrei Torah?

Following Moses' dedication of the sacrificial service in the Mishkan (Tabernacle), he calls Aaron and Aaron's sons and the elders on the 8th day to offer a sin-offering and a burnt offering. Aaron and his sons offer their sacrifices and then bless the people. But then tragedy strikes. Nadav and Avihu, two of Aaron's sons, offer "strange fire" and, as a result, they are stricken dead.

Moses is angry at Elazar and Itamar, Aaron's two remaining sons: "And Moses diligently inquired for the goat of the sin offering and behold it was burnt and he was angry at Elazar and Itamar, Aaron's remaining sons…"(Leviticus 10;16)

This verse is extremely important to a scribe writing a Torah.

As is known, scribes, who are entrusted with preserving and maintaining the tradition, must be certain that there are no spelling mistakes or extra or missing words in the Sifrei Torah which they are writing. There are more than 300,000 letters in the Torah and any change in the number of letters or words represents a deviation from the original source.

In order to allow the scribes to check their work, our rabbis provided them with "tools" to enable them to check their spelling.

The Hebrew word for scribe is "sofer", meaning he who counts.

A sofer's job, in addition to writing, is to count the number of letters and words which he is writing.

And do it is written in the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Kiddushin 30a: "And it is for this reason that they are called "sofrim"- for they count all the letters in the Torah, as they say: the letter "vav" in the word "gichon" (Leviticus 11;42) marks the middle of the Torah in terms of letters, while "darohs darash" (Leviticus 10;16) marks the middle of the Torah in terms of words and the word "vehitgalach" (Leviticus 13;33) marks the middle of the Torah in terms of verses.

Two of these "tools" are found in our portion- the "vav" of "gichon" and the words "darosh darash". In other words, if we count all the letters in the Torah we will see that the letter "vav" in the word "gichon" is the midpoint of the Torah in terms of letters, and if we count the words we will see that the words "darosh darash", which are written on two separate lines (see picture), is the midpoint in the Torah in terms of words.

However, the fact is that in our Sifrei Torah there is an appreciable difference between the words "darosh darash" which our rabbis determined to be the midpoint of the Torah (in words) and what is, in reality, the actual midpoint of the Torah! And not only that, but there is a difference of close to 5,000 letters between what our rabbis declared to be the midpoint of the Torah (in letters) and what an exact counting of the letters indicates!

The obvious question is, of course, what exactly did our rabbis mean?

The answer:

In the Torah, we find 89 double, or repeated, words, such as "Avraham Avraham", "Noach Noach", etc. The words "darosh darash (in the Torah the words are spelled identically) is the midpoint of the "repeated" words- 44 before "darosh darash" and 44 after "darosh darash".

In the Torah we find a number of larger than usual letters and a number of smaller than usual letters- the letter "vav" in the word "gichon" (a larger-than-usual letter) is the midpoint of the Torah in terms of unusually-sized letters.

And what about the word "vehitgalach"? The answer to that awaits us in the portion of Tazria!!

And in this way we solve the mystery and preserve the written tradition.

The Jewish Advocacy And Zionism Of Felix Frankfurter By Saul Jay Singer

elix Frankfurter (1882-1965) is best known as an outspoken promoter of judicial restraint during his service as a Supreme Court justice from 1939-1962; for helping to found the American Civil Liberties Union in 1920 and serving as its legal advisor, which led J. Edgar Hoover to call him "the most dangerous man in the United States"; for his support of American recognition of the newly created Soviet Union in 1919, which led many analysts to describe him as a "disseminator of Bolshevik propaganda"; and for his years as a professor at Harvard, during which he continued his progressive work on behalf of socialists and oppressed and religious minorities.

On an interesting note, Frankfurter hired an Orthodox Jew as a Supreme Court clerk; unable to get home for Sabbath, the clerk regularly slept on the justice's couch on Friday nights. Frankfurter also employed an African-American as a clerk (he was the first justice to do so), but he turned down highly-qualified female applicants for the position based entirely upon their gender – including Ruth Bader Ginsburg who, ironically, would later reconstitute the so-called "Jewish seat" on the court.

After Frankfurter served as Assistant U.S. Attorney to Henry Stimson in New York in 1906, his career became entwined with FDR at the Department of the Navy. He maintained a close and lifelong relationship with Roosevelt, beginning with serving as counsel to FDR when the latter was elected governor of New York. He later declined President Roosevelt's offer to become U.S. Solicitor General on the grounds that he could be more helpful to FDR working outside the administration. During FDR's presidency, many claimed that Frankfurter was "the most influential single individual in the United States."

In nominating Frankfurter to the Supreme Court in 1938, FDR ignored the advice of those counseling against permitting two Jews to simultaneously serve on the court (Brandeis was the other). His wife, the very tolerant and respected Eleanor Roosevelt, characterized Frankfurter as "an interesting little man, but very Jew."

Sadly, but not surprisingly, much of the strongest opposition to his selection came from Jews, including particularly New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, who feared that Frankfurter's appointment would lend support to those who criticized FDR's bold initiatives as being "run by the Jews," including Roosevelt's "Jew Deal" (New Deal).

United States Frankfurter stamp (issued 2009).

Frankfurter also drew significant opposition for not being born in the United States (he is one of six foreign-born justices in American history) and for his support of "Communist infiltration into the country." As a result, he became the first nominee to testify personally before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Frankfurter was descended from a long line of rabbis, including his father, an Orthodox rabbinical student turned businessman. Raised Orthodox, he spoke only Hebrew and Yiddish as a child such that when he arrived on Ellis Island in 1894, fleeing anti-Semitism with his family, he spoke no English at all. He abandoned his Jewish faith at an early age, married a Protestant minister's daughter after his father's death, which devastated his mother, and regarded his Judaism as a mere "accident of birth."

Among the most secular jurists to serve on the Supreme Court, he promoted with almost religious fervor his belief in cultural assimilation and the power of the American social meritocracy, as evidenced by his own rise from a Jewish Lower East Side ghetto to the Supreme Court. He virtually never set foot in an American synagogue – he says that he left synagogue one Yom Kippur because he felt it was dishonest to be among Jews sincerely praying for forgiveness when he was not – and, during his professional life, he essentially eliminated any connection to Jewish life.

Nonetheless, he never distanced himself from his Jewish identity, calling himself "a believing unbeliever," refused to change his Jewish name in response to requests by his prestigious New York law firm (he was the first Jew ever hired there), and worked to defeat a 1922 proposal by the anti-Semitic dean of Harvard to limit Jewish enrollment there. He drew closer to his Jewish heritage toward the end of his life, even asking an Orthodox former clerk to recite kaddish for him at his funeral and, as we shall see, he was a committed Zionist.

November 16, 1939 correspondence on Frankfurter's Supreme Court card to Rabbi Isadore Breslau: "To you and to the Washington Zionist District – my heartfelt thanks." Breslau served as president of the ZOA in D.C.; as national chair of the UJA; and as a delegate to several World Zionist Congresses.

Some academics characterize Frankfurter as lacking concern for religious freedom in general and for the minority rights of his fellow Jews in particular. They begin by citing his majority opinion in Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940), in which he upheld the right of a school system to expel Jehovah's Witnesses students for refusing to salute the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Worse, when the Court overturned its ruling three years later in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette (1943), Frankfurter wrote a ringing dissenting opinion. However, Frankfurter cogently began his dissent by noting that:

One who belongs to the most vilified and persecuted minority in history is not likely to be insensitive to the freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution. Were my purely personal attitude relevant, I should wholeheartedly associate myself with the general libertarian views in the Court's opinion, representing, as they do, the thought and action of a lifetime. But, as judges, we are neither Jew nor Gentile, neither Catholic nor agnostic. We owe equal attachment to the Constitution and are equally bound by our judicial obligations whether we derive our citizenship from the earliest or the latest immigrants to these shores.

Thus, his opinions had nothing to do with a lack of sympathy for his fellow Jews but, rather, manifested his consistent principled fidelity to his core constitutional belief that the role of the Court is not to opine on the "wisdom or evil of a law" but, rather, only to determine "whether legislators could in reason have enacted such a law."

A more significant source of Jewish discontent with Frankfurter is rooted in his "virtual silence during WWII" notwithstanding his ability to advocate on behalf of Jews with his friend, the president. Specifically, he apparently took no action to intervene with FDR against Secretary of State Cordell Hull's shameful recommendation to bar the St. Louis, with 900 Jewish refugees aboard, from docking in Miami. (The Jews were ultimately returned to Europe, where most were murdered by the Nazis.)

Some critics even go so far as to hold Frankfurter collaterally responsible for FDR's refusal to bomb the tracks to Auschwitz in 1944 – though he had personally interceded six years earlier to save his Uncle Solomon from the Nazis in Vienna.

However, the biggest censure of Frankfurter by some Jews and others comes as a result of his role in the infamous "Karski Affair" in July 1943. FDR sent him to interview Jan Karski, a member of the Polish resistance who had been smuggled into the Warsaw Ghetto and a camp near the Belzec death camp in 1942. Karski was arguably the first eyewitness to the atrocities of the Holocaust to "go public." Reporting back to FDR, though, Frankfurter said that he was skeptical of Karski's account and could not credit Karski's descriptions of ghetto roundups, mass starvation, shootings, and gassings.

Yet, it is worth noting that Frankfurter's memoirs reflect that he decided to accepted FDR's Supreme Court appointment because recent events in Germany and the "infection" of anti-Semitism made it impossible for him to decline. As a trusted advisor, Frankfurter regularly urged the president to help resettle European Jews to the United States. Nevertheless, to maintain his relationship with the president and his ability to influence him, Frankfurter had to carefully walk the line between zealous advocacy on behalf of the Jews and provoking the chief executive.

While many contend that Frankfurter should have used his influence to greater effect – and they may well be correct – it is easy to be judgmental decades after the fact, particularly since it is now well known that FDR had already "hardened his heart" to the plight of Europe's Jews.

As to Karski, Frankfurter, drawing on his broad background as a lawyer and jurist, was simply unconvinced by Karski's evidence, which, unfortunately, was indeed inconceivable until it was proven that the Nazis had, indeed, sunk to such unimaginable depths. As he later explained: "I did not say that he was lying, I said that I could not believe him. There is a difference."

Moreover, Karski did subsequently meet personally with FDR, who refused to take any action in response to his testimony. Thus, Frankfurter's assessment that pushing the issue would not sway the president was, in retrospect, arguably correct.

Of course, as the truth of the Shoah emerged and became more broadly known, Frankfurter actively supported Jewish survivors. In this interesting December 14, 1946 correspondence on his Supreme Court letterhead, he writes to author, Holocaust survivor and Jewish advocate Dr. Hans F. Abraham:

Frankfurter correspondence to scholar Hans F. Abraham.

You are kind to send me a copy of your essay "Public Offices and Public Officers in USA and in Germany." Such are the paradoxes of life that one of the consequences of the brutal tyranny of Hitler is the contribution made to American scholarship by those who have found opportunities to pursue their professions in this country.

Moreover, Frankfurter was a lifelong committed Zionist, beginning with his association with Brandeis, who enlisted him into ZOA membership and a leadership position with the Parushim. (Many suggest that Frankfurter's "Zionism" was not heartfelt but was merely a manifestation of his personal esteem and affection for Brandeis.) The Parushim, a secret Zionist society whose purpose was to take concrete action to advance the cause of autonomous Jewish nationality in Eretz Yisrael, was arguably the first modern militant Zionist organization in America which, as an elite educated Zionist military group, challenged the belief prevalent in early 20th century America that Zionism somehow constituted an unpatriotic "dual loyalty."

Frankfurter also joined Brandeis in an important and successful lobbying effort to convince President Wilson to support the Balfour Declaration. He participated in the founding conference of the American Jewish Congress in Philadelphia in 1918, creating a national democratic organization of Jewish leaders from across the United States, and served as a Zionist delegate to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.

Through T. E. Lawrence (a.k.a. "Lawrence of Arabia"), he also established a relationship with Arab delegation head Emir Feisal and received Feisal's historic March 1, 1919 letter calling the Zionist proposal "moderate & proper" and wishing Jews "a hearty welcome home."

In this historic correspondence from a critical period in Zionist history, Frankfurter, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the building of American support for an independent Jewish state, writes to Rabbi Stephen Wise regarding Senate recognition of Great Britain's authority over Eretz Yisrael:

I have rather disquieting news from London about prospects of Peel Com[mission]. It is most important to get some good speeches in Senate by informed Senators and backed by [Senators] Borah and Pittman if possible – hoping that for sake of international relations Gr. Britain won't substitute Jewish question for the former Irish bitterness in U.S.A.

On reflection I feel we should submit [Secretary of State] Hull's com[mittee] memorandum to Com[mission] and…circulate it as such, after making concessions called for in Weiz[mann's] cable of Dec. 25…

 Frankfurter's letter to Rabbi Wise on the Peel Commission.

The Peel Commission, a British Royal Commission of inquiry headed by Earl Peel, arrived in Eretz Yisrael on November 11, 1936, charged with determining the cause of the Arab riots in Eretz Yisrael in 1936 and judging the merits of the respective Arab and Jewish grievances. Chaim Weizmann addressed the commission on behalf of the Jews of Eretz Yisrael, and the Mufti of Jerusalem, the infamous Haj Amin al-Husseini, testified for the Arabs, opposing any partition of Arab lands with the Jews and demanding a full and immediate cessation of Jewish immigration.

On July 7, 1937, the commission published a report that, for the first time, recommended the partition of Eretz Yisrael and population transfers between Arabs and Jews (with the Jews receiving only a small part of the aggregate territory); determined that increased Jewish emigration to Eretz Yisrael would not be economically detrimental to the Arab population; and recommended that the British Mandate be eventually abolished – except in a "corridor" surrounding Jerusalem, stretching to the Mediterranean Coast just south of Jaffa.

There was heated disagreement among Zionist leaders over the commission's recommendations, particularly with respect to boundaries: Weizmann and Ben-Gurion were strongly in favor, while the Zionist Organization of America, led by Rabbi Wise, opposed it. The Jewish Agency ultimately accepted the Peel partition, but the Arabs quickly rejected it.

Although it was initially endorsed by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, the British government, which tried to appease the Arab population by greatly limiting Jewish immigration from Europe, ultimately rejected the commission's recommendations as unfeasible.

See you tomorrw bii neder- We need Mosiach now

Love Yehuda Lave

Rabbi Yehuda Lave

PO Box 7335, Rehavia Jerusalem 9107202

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