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Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher, and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement.

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The Portion of Vayeshev

Jacob/Israel- A Constant Struggle

"And Jacob dwelt in the land of his father's sojourning" (Genesis 37;1).

All that Jacob desired was to live in peace and tranquility but that was not to be as the crisis of Joseph dramatically changed the situation.

The righteous wish to live in peace. Says the Holy One Blessed be He: "The peace which awaits them in the world to come is not enough?! They wish to live in peace in this world as well!! (Rashi)

Jacob's life is replete with battles of survival. To mention just a few: Lavan, Esau, the altercation with the angel, the events surrounding Dinah. Constant struggles.

Jacob then gives a coat of many colors to his favorite son Joseph, which leads to jealousy of his other sons, and which turns to hatred when they hear Joseph tell of his dreams.

After Joseph is sold to the Ishmaelites his siblings take the coat, dip it in blood and say to their father Jacob "Do you recognize this coat as the one you gave to your son?" (Genesis 37;32).

Jacob response: "I don't know. From what I see it appears that he was killed by a wolf and yet I believe he is alive. I am doubtful. Dead? Alive? (Midrash Raba 84)

"And he recognized it" (vayakereha) (Genesis 37;33). The letter "vav" and its additions facing up and down allude to the mixed feelings of Jacob.

We find the same additions in the word "vayemaein" (and he refused to be comforted) (Genesis 37;35) which allude to the ups and downs of Joseph's life, from being sold as a slave and winding up in prison to being appointed Viceroy of Egypt. (The commentary of the Rokeiach on the Torah)

As the portion continues, we find other instances of these additions to the letter "vav" which also allude to Joseph's challenging life.

I've also circled additions to the words "Yishmaelim" and "Adulami" for your reading pleasure.

A brief shiur on the Laws of Thanksgiving as if it was a Jewish holiday (which it's not) one day late

Let's be very careful this Thanksgiving not to forget the finer details of this day's mitzvot.

One must have a Kzayit of turkey past plag on thanksgiving, but should ideally wait for nightfall.

Women are exempt from watching football as it's considered a מצוות עשה שהזמן גרמה (a positive time dependent mitzvah), but they are obligated in watching the Macy's Day parade as they too are involved in the parade.

A turkey may be roasted, grilled fried, or cooked in any manor וכל המרבה הרי זה משובח.

One who eats packaged cold cut turkey has fulfilled his obligation בדיעבד, and there or those who say that you can be יוצא with the Tirat Tzvi salami as its contents is majority turkey.

One who forgot to watch football or who was otherwise incapacitated with the necessities of the day may do tashlumin (make up) with NFL replay but must watch the games in the order of their broadcast. One who does tashlumin with NFL shortcuts is called a sinner but has never the less fulfilled his obligation.

Those who have the practice of listening to Alice's Restaurant should do so before Midday and should be careful to hear every word. There are those who drink bloody Marys while listening הכל לפי מנהג המקום.

One who does not tell over the story of the Pilgrims arrival in Plymouth Rock during the Thanksgiving meal has has not fulfilled his obligation of the day.

Every participant of the meal should see themselves as if they had left England. We are noheg to act out the interaction between the pilgrims and the Indians. An אדם חשוב should not play the part of an Indian. Pilgrim hats are not absolutely necessary והמחמיר תבוא עליו ברכה

Everyone must be thankful for at least two things but no more than four as being thankful for too many things is considered יוהרה.

One must express what he is thankful for it's not sufficient just to think of them. דברים שבלב אינם דברים.

Pies and cobblers should be the last food consumed on thanksgiving and should be eaten before midnight.

The Three Musketeers at the Kotel

Abba Hillel Silver And The Einstein Mystery By Saul Jay Singer

Photo Credit: Saul Jay Singer

The rise of Abba Hillel Silver (1893-1963) as a leader of American Jewry spanning the period between the beginning of the Holocaust and the birth of Israel represented a fundamental transformation of the Zionist movement in general and of American Zionism in particular.

A nationally known orator and a prolific scholar and writer, he made his greatest mark as a Zionist leader and statesman who served as head of many Jewish and Zionist organizations and played an important role in the birth of Israel. Maintaining that Judaism is entirely consistent with the American ethos of promoting human progress, Silver's ministry was marked by bold support for civil rights, organized labor, and other liberal causes, but his highest priority was always to advance Herzlian political Zionism.

Born Abraham Silver in Lithuania the son of Rabbi Moses Silver and the grandson of another Orthodox Rabbi, Silver was raised as an Orthodox Jew but, after emigrating with his family to New York at age nine, he later rejected his religious upbringing. After attending after-school Jewish seminaries on the Lower East Side, he attended both the University of Cincinnati, from which he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1915, and the notoriously anti-Zionist Hebrew Union College (HUC), from which he received rabbinical ordination that same year.

After serving as rabbi of a small congregation in Wheeling, West Virginia, he became rabbi at age 24 of Tifereth Israel in Cleveland, one of America's most prestigious Reform congregations, where he went on to serve for 46 years. Manifesting his commitment to the maintenance of basic Jewish tradition, he installed a Sefer Torah in the sanctuary's previously empty ark and transferred the temple's weekly Sabbath service from Sunday to Saturday, dramatic departures from Reform practice.

Silver was guided by the principle that Judaism and Zionism are inseparable. His preaching and writing were characterized by a fierce loyalty to the concept of Jewish peoplehood, and he frequently spoke out in support of more intensive Jewish and Hebrew education. At a time when most American Zionists were reticent about pressuring the American government and its citizens, lest they be seen as selfishly promoting parochial interests in a time of war, Silver boldly asserted that mobilizing American public opinion was central to achieving a state, and he played a leading role in effectively lobbying the United States in support of Israel.

Among the first to perceive that the American postwar influence would prove decisive to Jewish aspirations for a homeland, and the importance of securing the support of the American government and people for Israel, he successfully led the newly organized American Zionist Emergency Council in mobilizing public opinion on behalf of the Zionist cause (1938). He became a prominent and vocal "Zionist militant" leader who promoted a brand of "aggressive Zionism" and, through his efforts, American activism on behalf of a Jewish state became broadly acceptable, even desirable. He is uniquely responsible for American Zionists assuming an active role in establishing and shaping the Jewish state above and beyond the mere provision of economic support for a nascent Jewish homeland in Eretz Yisrael.

Top to bottom: Israel stamp honoring Silver, JNF Silver label.

Silver's Jewish service, which was truly incredible, included serving as a national chairman of the Board of Governors of the State of Israel Bonds; national chairman of the United Palestine Appeal (1938) and national co-chairman of the United Jewish Appeal; founding chairman of the American Zionist Emergency Council (1943-1945); president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (1945-1947); member of the Board of Governors of Hebrew University; president of the alumni association of Hebrew Union College (1936-1937); honorary chairman of the Zionist Organization of America (1945-1946); and chairman of the American section of the Jewish Agency (1946-1949). Among the early leaders of the anti-Nazi boycott, he also founded the non-sectarian Anti-Nazi League to Champion Human Rights, which organized a boycott of German goods in the 1930s.

Text on verso of photo:
"New York, May 14 – Happy Over U.S. Recognition of Israel
Dr. Abba Hillel Silver of Cleveland, Oh., chairman of the American section
of the Jewish Agency, makes a call to the United Nations after hearing news
of President Truman's recognition of the new Jewish State of Israel."

However, perhaps his greatest moment as a Zionist leader was when, as chairman of the American section of the Jewish Agency, he was chosen to present the case for an independent Jewish state before the United Nations Assembly on May 8, 1947. (He returned to the UN in May 1948 to announce that Israel had declared itself an independent state.) As a result, he is considered a founding architect of modern Israel, to the point that many authorities speculate that he was second in line to Chaim Weizmann to become the first president of Israel. Though unhappy with the UN Partition Plan, he ultimately accepted that given the realities of the situation, the partition of Eretz Yisrael was the best process for the creation of a Jewish homeland in Eretz Yisrael.

A right-wing Zionist, Silver was one of the few major Jewish figures identified with the Republican party. Later forced from Zionist leadership by internal rivalries, he nonetheless always responded to appeals for his services in fundraising or for the use of his enormous prestige on behalf of Israel.

Among Silver's many awards were the Medal of Merit from the Jewish War Veterans (1951); the National Human Relations Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews; and the Louis Brandeis Award of the American Zionist Council. The village Kefar Silver in Israel was named for him.

*****

Einstein's response requesting concealment

Our mystery begins in 1941 when Silver published The World Crisis and the Jewish Survival, a Group of Essays (R.R. Smith 1941). S.F. Dikman, a Jerusalem resident browsing through a Jerusalem antique bookstore, found the book inscribed by Silver to Einstein, which I have in my collection.

Dikman wrote to the physicist to offer the book to him:

I happened to buy . . . at a local antiquariate the book by Abba Hillel Silver "The World Crisis and Jewish Survival." Upon opening it, I saw that the book was dedicated to you by the author on 6.4.41.

Although I would consider it a privilege to keep this book, I wanted to inform you about it, and I am ready to forward it to you upon your request.

In his November 17, 1947 response, Einstein wrote:

Thank you for your letter of November 11^th. You may, of course, keep Rabbi Silver's book, but I beg you to keep quiet about the fact of the dedication so that it may not be embarrassing to me.

Exhibited here is the inscription on an original (first printing) copy of the book on which Silver has written "To Prof. Albert Einstein with affection and esteem. Abba Hillel Silver 6-4-41." Also shown here is a copy of the letter from Einstein in which he asks Dikman to keep the dedication a secret.

All this begs the question, to which I have found no clear answer: why would Einstein be embarrassed by a dedication to him from Rabbi Silver? One theory, albeit unlikely, may be that Einstein, an exceedingly modest man – for example, he once wrote to President Hoover that "I am alone but a grain of dust in the development of the human spirit" – wished to avoid any fanfare or public approbation relating to the disclosure of a dedication to him by such a prominent and important man in Jewish/Zionist circles as Rabbi Silver.

However, this explanation is most improbable because the internationally venerated scientist received countless dedications from heads of state, leaders in the arts and sciences, and famous people – including many better known and more admired than Silver – and I am unaware of any other instance where Einstein requested that such approbations remain confidential.

Local Birobidzhan overprinted Russian stamps featuring the Magen David.

My conjecture – and, to be clear, it is plainly that – is that notwithstanding the dedication by Silver, whom Einstein otherwise admired, Einstein feared that publicity regarding the dedication might be misperceived as Silver's agreement with him on Birobidzhan, the Soviet plan for a homeland for Soviet Jews within Russia and, as such, harmful to the prospect of a Jewish state in Eretz Yisrael.

In 1934, the Soviets established a Jewish autonomous region in Birobidzhan, Siberia, as a sort of Jewish nirvana designed to address the Soviet "problem" of its Jews being unable to adapt to Marxist ideology because of their attachment to their ethno-nationalist aspirations for Eretz Yisrael. Adopting the official Birobidzhan slogan "socialist in content and national in form," Soviet leaders believed that if they provided for a Jewish homeland within Russia, Jews would abandon their Zionist dreams and eventually become fully integrated within Soviet-communist society.

A second and equally important purpose of the Birobidzhan Plan was the financial support which the Soviets believed would flow freely from the West because they expected that Jews and Jewish organizations would make major contributions to assist their Soviet brethren.

The Soviet slogan "To the Jewish Homeland!" did encourage some Jewish workers to move to Birobidzhan, seeing it as an ideological alternative to Zionism – but the idea ultimately failed after the initial wave of Jewish settlers traveled to a remote location only to encounter an inhospitable territory replete with monsoons and bug-infested swampland. Stalin admitted to FDR at Yalta that the few Jews who made "aliyah" to Birobidzhan had returned to their home cities after two to three years and that the Birobidzhan Plan had failed.

Program for the 15th Anniversary Celebration of Birobidzhan in New York City (1944).

On the other hand, the financial aspect of the Birobidzhan Plan met with impressive success, as Western organizations raised some $32 million for the Soviet war effort. The American campaign for Birobidzhan, supported by Communist activists, drew broad support, and the idea of Jews settling there became a legitimate alternative to Eretz Yisrael. Jewish organizations raised funds, sent agricultural experts to Birobidzhan, and contributed seeds, construction machinery and medicine.

One of the most important and public supporters of the Birobidzhan effort was Einstein, who served as honorary president of the American Committee for Birobidzhan (AMBIJAN). Taking advantage of Einstein's renown, AMBIJAN created the "Einstein Fund for the Settlement, Care, and Rehabilitation of Jewish Refugee War Orphans in Birobidzhan and the Orphans of Heroic Stalingrad," which raised substantial funds, and the first national Einstein Fund Dinner held December 2, 1945, drew over 1,000 attendees and raised over $50,000.

Many Zionist leaders actively supported AMBIJAN, and the fact that it was a Communist front did not seem to disturb Einstein and its enthusiastic Jewish supporters in the least. At its National Conference held in New York on March 9-10, 1946, attended by 669 delegates and over 1,500 people, AMBIJAN unabashedly showed its true Communist propagandistic colors by characterizing Birobidzhan as "a thriving self-governing Jewish state-agency" (false) that is "richly endowed with national resources" (false) and that it had become "the Gem of the Far East" (false). On October 8, 1946, Einstein distributed an open letter to all American Jews asking them to "mobilize our energies and resources in the humanitarian endeavor" to rehabilitate the lives of thousands of war orphans resettled in Birobidzhan.

Print of Chagall's Wedding in Birobidzhan.

Members of the AMBIJAN National Committee included Marc Chagall, whose paintings include Wedding in Birobidzhan, based upon a poem by Itsik Fefer, arguably the leader of Yiddish proletarian literature and a leading Russian Jewish antifascist. Marc Chagall illustrated his book Heymland ("Homeland," 1944), which was published by the Jewish Colonization Organization, a leading supporter of the Birobidzhan Project. (Fefer was murdered on August 12, 1952, during Stalin's purge of Yiddish culture.)

Some Jewish leaders – including, ironically, leaders of the Yishuv in Eretz Yisrael such as Menachem Ussishkin and Arthur Ruppin (who actually visited Birobidzhan) – did not summarily oppose Birobidzhan. While rejecting it as a long-term solution, they accepted it as a short-term means to aid thousands of Jewish families in great need. More irony: one of the longtime supporters of territorial solutions for East European Jews was Shmuel Weizmann, Chaim's brother.

Nonetheless, many mainstream Zionists retained their focus on Eretz Yisrael as the historical Jewish homeland; vehemently opposed the plan; criticized its diversion of scarce resources from agricultural colonization projects in Eretz Yisrael; and saw it as the enemy of the Zionist goal of a Jewish State in Eretz Yisrael.

Similarly, Silver was at the forefront of arguing that there can be no replacement for Eretz Yisrael because it is not "an emergency place or refuge . . . It is home!" Toward the end of the Holocaust, he even went so far as to argue that the overemphasis of the leading Jewish organizations on rescuing Shoah refugees, although important, was misplaced and ultimately damaging to Zionism: "It is possible for the Diaspora to undermine the Jewish state, because the urgency of the rescue issue could lead the world to accept a temporary solution . . . We should place increased emphasis on fundamental Zionist ideology."

Silver surely recognized that Stalin's purpose in establishing a "Jewish Homeland" in Russia was to undermine the possibility of a Jewish state in Eretz Yisrael, and it is inconceivable that he would have supported, or even tolerated, the very idea of a Birobidzhan. As such, my conjecture is that it may be that a courteous Einstein, a strong supporter of Birobidzhan, did not want to publicly embarrass Silver, who was strongly against it.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TERRIBLE BABY JOKES OF THE WEEK

What do you call a group of baby soldiers? An infantry.

Do you know what a baby computer calls his old man? Data.

A baby's laugh is one of the most beautiful things you will ever hear. Unless it is 3 a.m., you're home alone, and you don't have a baby.

How do you get an astronaut's baby to sleep? You rocket.

.There was a dad who tried to keep his wife happy through labor by telling jokes, but she didn't laugh once. Know why? It was the delivery.

How did the baby know she was ready to be born? She was running out of womb.

When at night do parents change the most diapers? In the wee wee hours.

Sam picked up his wife Becky and their new baby from the hospital and brought them home. It was not long before Becky suggested that Sam try his hand at changing a diaper. "I'm busy," he said. "I promise I'll do the next one." The next time soon came around, so Becky asked him again. Sam looked at Becky and said innocently, "I didn't mean the next diaper, I meant the next baby."

I just bought #1 baby diapers. However my newborn doesn't seem to care, and she also went number two on them.

Little Moishy's new baby brother was screaming up a storm.He asked his mom, "Where'd we get him?"His mother replied, "He came from shamayim- from Hashem, Moishy."Moishy exclaimed, "Wow… I can see why they threw him out!"

A woman in labor suddenly shouted, "Shouldn't! Wouldn't! Couldn't! Didn't! Can't!""Doctor, what's going on?" asked the concerned father-to-be."Don't worry," said the doctor. "Those are just contractions.

"I sat next to a baby on a 10-hour flight. I didn't think it was possible for someone to cry for 10 hours straight. Even the baby was impressed I pulled it off.

Why is that baby still in diapers? I'll give you two reasons: number 1 and number 2.

My baby just ate a bunch of scrabble tiles. The next diaper change could spell disaster.

One night a wife found her husband standing over their newborn baby's crib. Silently she watched him. As he stood looking down at the sleeping infant, she saw on his face a mixture of emotions: disbelief, doubt, delight, amazement, enchantment, skepticism. Touched by this unusual display and the deep emotions it aroused, with eyes glistening she slipped her arms around her husband."A penny for your thoughts," she whispered in his ear."It's amazing!" he replied. "I just can't see how anybody can make a crib like that for only $46.50!"*********************************

Just Say Nisht? As Vaccine Mandates Expand, Some Jews Consider Religious Exemptions

By Aryeh Werth

"Where does it say in Judaism that you can't be vaccinated?" the CNN anchor asked the young woman.

"While in Judaism there is no specific tenet, we can look for guidance," replied Stephanie Edmonds to the national television audience. "So I've done what I suggest other people do: consult with your family, pray, and this is the decision I've come to between me and G-d."

Edmonds, a 10th grade history teacher at a Bronx public high school, refused to be vaccinated as all city employees are required to do. Instead, she filed a religious exemption claim.

Edmonds cited her Jewish faith as the basis, although she reportedly is not affiliated with any synagogue, Jewish sect, or organized Jewish life and she did not include a supporting letter from a rabbi in the claim. The exemption was denied, as was the appeal.

She was sent home without pay, the consequence for city employees who refuse to vaccinate without an approved religious or medical exemption. And from home launched a media blitz.

"I have deep relationships with a lot of these students, and it breaks my heart to leave them," she told CNN.

In addition to Edmonds, two other Jewish public school teachers filed religious exemptions, including a frum woman from Boro Park, according to a story in the Jewish media.

"The Orthodox Union does not provide or facilitate religious exemptions from vaccines, and continues to strongly promote vaccination," said Executive Vice President Rabbi Moshe Hauer in a statement to The Jewish Press.

"We support exemptions from vaccination mandates for sincerely-held religious reasons," Rabbi Avi Safran, Director of Public Affairs for the Agudath Israel of America, told The Jewish Press in an emailed statement.

The right to seek a religious exemption is from the federal Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects workers from discrimination on the basis of religion. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says employers must provide reasonable accommodations for employees who are determined to have sincerely held religious beliefs unless it would create an undue hardship for the business/organization. In religious exemption cases, undue hardship is defined by EEOC as being more than a minimal cost or burden on the employer's operation.

Overcoming Hesitancy

The overwhelming majority of rabbinic leaders support vaccination and Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef and others even hold halacha obligates vaccination to protect the life of the person and those around him/her. One of America's leading poskim, Rav Hershel Schachter, a rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University, wrote in The Jewish Press in July that one is obligated to get the Covid vaccine. Indeed, YU requires students and staff to be vaccinated.

When asked if the Agudah supported Covid vaccination in general, Rabbi Shafran responded, "We don't take positions on medical issues, leaving that to medical authorities and people in consultation with their doctors. But we have facilitated vaccination clinics and kept Jewish educational institutions apprised of guidance about medical matters, including vaccines, from government agencies."

As vaccine mandates expand in both the public and private sector, Torah observant employees are being compelled to re-evaluate their reasons for not being vaccinated. Despite the overwhelming support for vaccination by rabbonim and medical experts, hesitancy persists in a small but vocal segment of the frum community for several reasons.

First, vaccination, mandates, and even mask requirements have become very divisive political issues. Some Republicans philosophically disagree with mandates, perceiving them as an unfair imposition on freedom and private sector business. Many do not trust the objectivity or accuracy of the Biden Administration and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anthony Fauci regarding Covid policies. A Pew study in August reported 86% of Democrats and Democrat-leaning Americans were vaxxed compared to 60% of Republicans and those leaning GOP. A recent Harvard consortium survey said 65% of all Americans support vaccine mandates while 43% of Republicans supported the policy.

Second, many in this minority segment continue to believe false information about dangerous side effects, such as paralysis, cardiac arrest, fertility problems, and even the shot causing Covid infection. The fast-track approval process is cited as a concern, even though the subsequent data prove the vaccine's high degree of effectiveness and safety as does the healthy outcomes experienced by hundreds of millions of receipts around the world. This misinformed position is fueled by a person's anti-vax political views.

Third, some believe their local frum community has already achieved herd immunity, lessening or eliminating the need for vaccination.

Fourth, in addition, or in combination with political opposition, some have a culturally-generated distrust of government caused by the history of anti-Semitic oppression in Europe.

Fifth, Despite the overwhelming rabbinic support, vaccine hold-outs are being influenced by a very small but vocal number of rabbonim who are discouraging vaccination. Likely influenced by misinformation, these rabbonim believe the health risks are too significant despite the evidence to the contrary.

In halacha, the obligation to protect one's health is defined by the current medical knowledge. When there is disagreement, a process exists for evaluating the differing views and determining a prevailing position. The overwhelming conclusion regarding Covid is that the vaccines are highly effective and very safe, whereas Covid poses a life-threatening risk

"[T]he decision to validate a minority opinion does not result in greater sensitivity to the sanctity of life; it results in the disregarding of a clear majority view and a consequential risk to human life – of the individual deciding as well as of others," wrote Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman in The Jewish Press regarding this issue. "Similarly, some have argued that it is better to decline the vaccine even at the risk of contracting Covid, based on the halachic principle of "shev v'al ta'aseh adif" – i.e. it is preferable to avoid a deliberate action that may be harmful, even if the passive alternative is also connected to a possible negative outcome. Here too, this is a difficult application; failure to adhere to the medical direction in a situation of such serious risk would certainly be considered willful negligence."