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!!
Saturday, October 1, 2022
Yom Kippur 2022: What Is It And How Is It Celebrated and Israeli Distillery Makes Country’s First Kentucky Whiskey and Deep-sea wonderland in Israel is declared a Hope Spot and One World Observatory at World Trade Center - Elevator Ride shows 500 years of New York City history and Is UC Berkeley guilty of creating Jewish-free zones?
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.
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.
Ancient Coin Discovered from Reign of Pro-Jewish Roman Emperor
A rare bronze coin dating back almost 2,000 years was discovered off of Israel's coast.
By United with Israel Staff
An 1,850-year-old bronze coin was recently discovered in the Mediterranean Sea, near Haifa, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced on Monday.
One side of the coin depicts Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius, who reigned from 138 to 161 CE, the time frame in which the IAA said the coin was minted.
According to the online Jewish Encyclopedia, "The reign of this just and humane emperor came like a blessing to the Jews, particularly to those of [the Land of Israel]. The religious persecutions of Hadrian had devastated the country, depopulated the cities, and made the intellectual development of the Jews impossible."
The source notes that at the outset of Antoninus Pius' tenure as head of the Roman Empire, the Jewish people sent a delegation to Rome headed by Rabbi Judah ben Shamu'a "to negotiate for improvement in their condition."
Among the emperor's overtures to the Jews was permitting them to bury Jewish soldiers and martyrs killed in battle against the Romans. He also repealed the edicts of Hadrian, "which had prevented the Jews from exercising their religion," on the condition that they should not receive converts. Hadrian had prohibited Jews from performing the mitzvah of brit milah.
Gradually, Jews who fled the Land of Israel to escape persecution under Hadrian's rule returned to home.
"The intellectual stagnation of the Jewish people came to an end; and the disciples of [Rabbi] Akiva founded a new center of Jewish culture at Usha," where Rabbi Shimon ben Gamaliel II also resided.
Commenting on the coin, IAA Unit Director Jacob Sharvit said, "It is a rare addition to the National Treasures collection."
"These finds, which were lost at sea and disappeared from sight for hundreds and thousands of years, have been remarkably well preserved; some are extremely rare and their discovery completes parts of the historical puzzle of the country's past," he added.
IAA numismatics expert Lior Sandberg identified the coin as one in a series of 13, 12 of which depict signs of the zodiac, with the thirteenth showing the entire zodiac wheel.
Sandberg dated the coin to 144/145 CE, based on an inscription referring to the eighth year of Antoninus Pius's reign, which was referred to as "Pax Romana" (Roman peace) due to its relative serenity.
Yom Kippur 2022: What Is It And How Is It Celebrated
Yom Kippur is the holiest, most important day of the year in Judaism, known as the "Day of Atonement." It begins at sundown Tuesday, October 4, 2022, and ends Wednesday evening, October 5th—the last of the ten days of penitence that began with Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year). Yom Kippur commemorates the day Moses came down from Mount Sinai after seeking God's divine forgiveness for the Israelites who sinned against him by worshipping a golden calf idol.
Yom Kippur Dates
Year
Begins
Ends
Jewish Year 5783
Sunset October 4, 2022
Nightfall October 5, 2022
Day Of Atonement
Yom means "day" in Hebrew, and Kippur means to atone (Day of Atonement).
Throughout the 10 Days of Awe (Repentance) leading up to Yom Kippur, those practicing Judaism have been reflecting on the personal aspects of the past year, deciding how to improve, seeking forgiveness and showing compassion to others. Traditionally, the belief is that after judging a person by their deeds over the last year, God decides who will be sealed in the Book of Life (to live for another year) and who will die.
Yom Kippur Traditions
There are many traditions associated with Yom Kippur.
Day of Fasting from Food and Work
Feasts are replaced with fasting on this holiest of religious days. However, two traditional meals are enjoyed the day before the fast begins at sundown. Both meals begin by dipping round challah bread into honey, as is customary on Rosh Hashanah. At sundown, the "soul is afflicted" by 25 hours of fasting—no drinking or eating. Fasting enables followers to stop their normal routine to refocus their attention to prayer and connecting spiritually with God.
Attend Synagogue Services
There are several synagogue services throughout Yom Kippur. Songs, religious customs, as well as prayers and readings from the Machzor, the special prayerbook are recited. Portions of Deuteronomy are read in the morning service, and a selection from Leviticus and Genesis are read in the afternoon. The readings encourage those in attendance to live holy lives and draw closer to God. They are also reminded to love others. The single, long blowing of the Shofar (ram's horn) ends the Holy Day service and fasting. Livestream Yom Kippur services and programs for those unable to attend are available this year.
It's Customary to Wear White
It is tradition for everyone to wear white clothing on Yom Kippur. The men often wear a Kittel—a white, robe-like garment—on Yom Kippur. It is said to resemble angels, the high priest's garment, and burial shroud. White reminds those attending services that they are to be like the angels, praising God. White also symbolizes the forgiveness and spiritual cleansing they're praying for, and that life on earth is temporal. White is worn with a humble awareness of one's need to repent sins and pray to God for forgiveness. They pray in hope, remembering how God forgave the children of Israel for their sin of idolatry during the days of Moses.
Breaking the Fast
At the conclusion of the last Yom Kippur service, many enjoy a festive meal at home with family and friends. The foods that are traditionally eaten vary, but are often baked breakfast goods.
Typically we break [the fast] with a lighter meal—tuna fish, whitefish salad, blintzes, egg soufflé, or bagels with cream cheese and lox.
Dr. Eric Mintz of West Bloomfield Township, Michigan
We always break the fast with bagels and Nova (lox). Always! When the kids were younger we went to a friend's home. They invited a ton of people and had the most amazing dairy spread. We've taken the tradition with us wherever we moved.
Robin Zorn, a native of New York, New York
Before Yom Kippur
Just as Yom Kippur is a day of fasting, the day before Yom Kippur is set aside for eating and preparing for this holy day. There are many activities done before the fast, including eating a pre-fast meal, known as the seudah ha-mafaseket ("meal of separation" or "concluding meal"), lighting of candles, donating to charity, and requesting and receiving honey cake, which provides blessings for a sweet year.
What Is The Proper Greeting At Yom Kippur?
The greeting for Yom Kippur is G'mar Hatima Tova, or G'mar Tov. (meaning, "May you be sealed in the Book of Life"). It is also customary to say, "have a meaningful fast" before the holiday begins.
Israeli Distillery Makes Country's First Kentucky Whiskey
Except for the few scattered palm trees you see as you tentatively drive along a bumpy secluded dirt path, you could easily imagine yourself on your way to a moonshine distillery somewhere in the hidden valleys of Kentucky backcountry.
But then the road widens, and instead of driving up to a ramshackle wooden cabin you find yourself in a gravel parking lot next to a neat and tidy warehouse building in a Beit Shemesh area moshav, in the Elah Valley, a stone's throw from the epic battle between David and Goliath.
And then you're being greeted by two kippah-wearing men transplanted from the U.S. East Coast.
It is here that master distillers Noam Cohen and Alan Cohl had the audacity to launch Legends, their boutique bourbon-style whiskey distillery, three years ago after undergoing stringent training in distilling techniques with some of America's best experts.
"We bring American tradition with a bit of Israeli innovation," said Cohen, who moved to Israel 10 years ago. "What is a legend? It is taking something and making it a bit better."
A fourth-generation American, Cohen grew up hearing his grandfather tell tales from his childhood of midnight visitors to his tenement apartment in the 1920s during Prohibition as his father sold bootleg liquor to speakeasies.
"It kind of gets into your blood," Cohen said.
Cohl, who has been in Israel for 30 years, came to bourbon a bit later. His parents immigrated to the United States from Romania and drank a sweet cherry liquor called vishniak rather than whiskey.
Their label sports an old wagon wheel together with an olive tree as symbols of both the gritty American and Israeli pioneering traditions. Their flagship product, Slingshot, has, naturally, a slingshot on its label. Other planned products will be similarly named hinting to the biblical location of the distillery.
Kentucky Style with an Israeli Twist
The royal French family Bourbon supported the American Revolution in certain regions and specific battles — one of which was the province that became Kentucky, thus the well-known Bourbon County.
As much of the new corn-based spirit was produced in this region, its name became synonymous with the origin of its location and was known as Bourbon County Whiskey and eventually simply as bourbon.
Legends created its own unique recipe using small domestic grains, and a detail-oriented aging and mellowing process.
The whiskey is aged for three years in old white American oak barrels previously used by surrounding wineries for aging wine, rather than in new white American oak barrels as is the required process in the U.S. The barrels are duly charred—double the level used in the U.S. in whiskey production.
Legends whiskey has "a complex spirit that you don't find in U.S. bourbon," said Cohen.
For a few technical reasons, they do not call their product "bourbon," one of them being that it is made in Israel and not in the United States. They decided to call it "Kentucky whiskey" because most people know that Kentucky whiskey is bourbon.
Just as other immigrants brought their traditional alcoholic drinks, such as Arak, to Israel, making it part of the local culture, they want to celebrate their American culture, said Cohen, while making it Israeli.
Available Online and in Stores
The two friends—Cohl is a Harvard-trained architect and Cohen a finance professional — connected over their shared love for the amber spirit.
During a recent tour of the distillery, currently in a facility shared with a local brewery, their enthusiasm for the beverage is apparent as they explain the production process from grain purchase to aging.
Of course, they give tastes of the various products in their current line and promise that others are in the pipeline.
They keep their secret ingredient, though, a secret.
There are other distilleries in Israel, they noted, but none make American whiskey. Right now their product is sold in some 100 stores throughout Israel and online.
With traditional Israeli chutzpah, they have plans to begin exporting their "Kentucky Whiskey made in Israel" to the United States.
They have already shipped some 20,000 bottles purchased on their website to customers in U.S. states including Michigan and Minnesota.
"We are still waiting for a Kentucky order," joked Cohen.
Noting Israel's leading position in technology, agriculture and commerce and the coming of age of a more globally oriented generation, Cohl said the Israeli palate has become more sophisticated.
"There will be a boom with whiskey in Israel," predicted Cohl. "We are not afraid of competition as the whiskey market grows. Israeli culture in alcohol is constantly developing; there are so many wonderful microbreweries."
The partners want Legends to "be recognized worldwide like with Israeli wines. And who can bring that? Only us because we have the back story. It's in our blood."
Deep-sea wonderland in Israel is declared a Hope Spot
The Palmahim Slide off the Tel Aviv coast houses rare creatures in a delicate, rich habitat of coral gardens, methane seeps and brine pools.BY ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN
Sunlight does not reach the Palmahim Slide, a rare geological formation deep in the Mediterranean Sea about 30 kilometers (19 miles) off the coast of Tel Aviv.
And yet unique creatures flourish in this pitch-black, 1,000-square-kilometer (386-square-mile) hilly habitat of coral gardens, methane seeps, brine pools and other underwater wonders.
Formed in antiquity by a gradual landslide onto the seabed, the Palmahim Slide is a biodiversity hotspot where blackmouth catsharks breed and bluefin tuna spawn, according to international studies led over the past decade by Yizhaq Makovsky of the University of Haifa and Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research.
A blackmouth catshark. Photo courtesy of University of the Haifa and Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research.
In July, the Palmahim Slide (also called a "disturbance") became the first Israeli Hope Spot designated by Mission Blue, oceanographer Sylvia Earle's organization dedicated to exploring and protecting significant marine areas.
"The diversity discovered there is nothing like anything seen before in the southeastern Mediterranean Sea," said Earle, who was the first female "aquanaut" in Jacques Cousteau's legendary ocean explorations.
Subscribe to The JNS Daily Syndicate by email and never miss our top storiesIsidella elongate, a critically endangered bamboo coral, on compact mud sediments at Palmahim Slide. Photo courtesy of the University of Haifa and Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research.
Mission Blue has identified 144 Hope Spots deemed critical to the health of oceans and seas.
Earle urged Israeli policymakers to "follow in the Hope Spot's steps in declaring 850 square kilometers of the Palmahim Slide as a no-take, give-back marine reserve large enough to protect the marine life that is there and allow no destructive activity in the reserve and its vicinity."
Together with Israel's Nature and Parks Authority, Gann-Perkal and Shabtay have been lobbying Israeli and international authorities, such as the Italy-based General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean, to declare most of the Palmahim Slide a protected area.
"Getting international recognition for the fact that this spot should be protected has already helped in our talks with the decision-makers responsible for the marine environment," said Gann-Perkal.
They want to shield the Slide from habitat-destroying oil and gas exploration and deep-sea fishing while preserving it for scientific research that ultimately would benefit humankind.
Like exploring outer space
"Deep-sea coral gardens that took thousands of years to grow could be gone with one swipe of a fishing net," Gann-Perkal told ISRAEL21c.
Photo of Hadas Gann-Perkal by Amnon Houri.
"If the Palmahim Slide is declared protected, these beautiful ecosystems could continue growing and provide a whole new frontier for research and exploration," she continued. "With submersibles and robots, we can get pictures and videos of what goes on there. As Sylvia Earle says, we can't protect what we don't know."
Using new technologies, said Gann-Perkal, "we can now find out tons of stuff about the deep sea. Fifteen or 20 years ago, you'd see this vast blue sea and not understand the amazing biodiversity it contains and how this affects our life here on Earth."
One way it affects the environment is that the deep sea is a carbon sink, absorbing and sequestering some of the environmentally harmful carbon we create. A better understanding of this function could have implications for climate-change research.
"Instead of vast areas of sand and mud as you might expect, this area of the deep sea with unique geological features is a complex area with different kinds of habitats where each animal can find its own niche," said Gann-Perkal.
A white species of black coral was photographed at the Palmahim Slide. Photo courtesy of the University of Haifa and Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research.
Life is slow-paced down here. Without the photosynthesis of the sun, plant life is nourished by chemosynthesis—nutrients carried gradually deeper on streams of water starting from the surface of the sea.
Gann-Perkal noted that the Mediterranean covers about half of Israel's area—4,000 square kilometers of territorial waters and 22,000 square kilometers of exclusive economic zone (EEZ) waters. If the Hope Spot is declared a national marine reserve, it would be the first in Israel's EEZ.
"The deep sea hasn't been studied well, so it's very exciting," said Gann-Perkal. "It's like exploring outer space. We need to bring back information from 1,000 meters under the sea."
One World Observatory at World Trade Center - Elevator Ride shows 500 years of New York City history
Built inside each of the observatory's elevators are nine, 75-inch displays that create the illusion that you are viewing Manhattan's skyline through glass elevator windows. During the 59-second ride, visitors are shown a detailed recreation of New York City's industrialization and construction. The elevator appears to emerge from bedrock in the year 1500, revealing marsh land yet to be colonized, and then quickly advances to show the rapid expansion that led to the Manhattan we know today. Equipment: GoPro Hero 4 Music: Kronicle - Let's Go - https://soundcloud.com/the-chemist-10...
Is UC Berkeley guilty of creating Jewish-free zones?
Nine student groups have adopted a bylaw excluding pro-Israel speakers in order to safeguard the "welfare" of Palestinian students.
By Debbie Reiss, World Israel News
UC Berkeley School of Law students have kicked off the academic year by barring speakers that support "Zionism, the apartheid state of Israel, and the occupation of Palestine," prompting charges of intentional "Judenfrei" – the Nazi term for an area that has been "cleansed" of Jews.
Nine student groups adopted a bylaw, initiated by UC Berkeley's Law Students for Justice in Palestine at the end of August, claiming that excluding pro-Israel speakers is fundamental to "the safety and welfare of Palestinian students on campus."
Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, himself a progressive Zionist, slammed the bylaw, saying it would mean that he and 90% of Jewish students would be banned.
Kenneth Marcus, founder and chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and former law student at the school, accused the groups of establishing Jewish-free zones.
In an op-ed published in the Jewish Journal, titled "Berkeley Develops Jewish-Free Zones," Marcus notes that the move "seems frightening and unexpected, like a bang on the door in the night."
Pointing to the San Francisco Bay Area's dark past, where Jewish-free zones first spread 100 years ago, Marcus maintains that anti-Zionist campus groups are now directly targeting Jewish Americans.
"The exclusionary bylaws operate like racially restrictive covenants, precluding minority participation into perpetuity," he writes.
Marcus continues:
"Anti-Zionism is flatly antisemitic. Using "Zionist" as a euphemism for Jew is nothing more than a confidence trick. Like other forms of Judeophobia, it is an ideology of hate, treating Israel as the "collective Jew" and smearing the Jewish state with defamations similar to those used for centuries to vilify individual Jews.
"This ideology establishes a conspiratorial worldview, sometimes including replacement theory, which has occasionally erupted in violence, including mass-shooting, in recent months. Moreover, Zionism is an integral aspect of the identity of many Jews. Its derogation is analogous, in this way, to other forms of hate and bigotry."
Marcus has represented Jewish students at several universities, including two sexual assault victims who were kicked out of a survivor group at the State University of New York at New Paltz for being Zionist as well as a Jewish student government vice president Rose Ritch, who was driven from office at the University of Southern California with threats to "impeach [her] Zionist ass."
Free speech?
Marcus dismissed claims that the exclusions were valid on the basis of free speech, claiming that the argument runs the other way too and that "anti-Zionist bylaws limit the free speech of Zionist students."
"Discriminatory conduct, including anti-Zionist exclusions, is not protected as free speech," Marcus adds.
"The students should be ashamed of themselves. As should grownups who stand quietly by or mutter meekly about free speech as university spaces go as the Nazis' infamous call, judenfrei. Jewish-free," Marcus concludes.
Roz Rothstein, co-founder and CEO of pro-Israel advocacy group StandWithUs, told Fox News earlier this month that the student organizations should "rethink their end goals."
"Misrepresenting Zionism is antisemitic and will never lead to peace. Half the world's Jewish people are in Israel, the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people, and the other half likely have friends and/or relatives who live there.
"Denying Jews the right to self-determination creates a double standard against only one country in the world. Those who lead biased, anti-peace campaigns should rethink their end goals and be honest about their prejudice against the Jewish people and the only Jewish country in the world," Rothstein said.
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