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!!
Monday, November 22, 2021
Jerusalem Arabs hold parade in honor of terrorist who committed Sunday's attack and Czech Senate Calls to Investigate Hamas for Crimes Against Humanity and A Child Holocaust Survivor’s Recollections Of Kristallnacht, The Night of Broken Glass By Eve Glover and Judaism and Pet Ownership: 18 FAQs By Menachem Posner
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.
Jerusalem Arabs hold parade in honor of terrorist who committed Sunday's attack
Fadi Abu Shkhaydam was a resident of Shuafat, a Jerusalem neighborhood, where he taught in a school and preached in a number of mosques.
Following Sunday's terrorist attack in the Old City of Jerusalem that left one person dead and three injured, residents of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat held a 'march of support' for Fadi Abu Shkhaydam, the terrorist who committed the attack and who was a resident of Shuafat.
Following evening prayers in the local Abu Ubaidah mosque, during which a special prayer was recited in honor of Abu Shkhaydam, the parade began, joined by numerous Hamas supporters waving Hamas flags and shouting their allegiance to the terrorist organization and their support for the Al-Khassam brigade, Hamas' armed wing, as well as for Mohammed Deif, its leader.
The participants marched past Abu Shkhaydam's home while pledging to continue to fight against the "occupation," and to support further terrorist operations.
Abu Shkhaydam was already known to the security establishment as he was a former security prisoner. He worked as a teacher and educator of Islamic Culture in a Jerusalem school and held a Master's degree in Islamic Law. He also served as a preacher in a number of Jerusalem-area mosques.
According to Hamas' website, Abu Shkhaydam was one of Hamas' leaders in the Shuafat neighborhood.
according to polling data, between 50 and 70 percent of American households contain a pet. Presumably, this includes Jewish homes as well, which leads us to the question of Jewish law and tradition. In this article, we will explore some of the most frequently asked questions regarding Judaism and pet ownership.
For a host of cultural reasons, anecdotal evidence suggests that Jewish homes did not often include pet dogs (although cats were more commonly kept, to keep mice at bay). Even today, Orthodox pet ownership is less common, and pet owners in Orthodox neighborhoods may find themselves doing a lot of explaining.
However, there is no Jewish law or tradition precluding pet ownership. And any religious Jew hankering for canine or feline companionship is free to get a pet.
It is indeed forbidden to keep dangerous pets, such as a dog that bites (or even one with a frightening bark), unless they are properly restrained. The Talmud and subsequent texts discuss what allowances may be made for security and what precautions are still necessary.1
The Talmud tells us that there is an ancient curse placed on anyone who raises pigs. This happened after enemies besieging Jerusalem sent in a pig instead of the usual kosher animals that were allowed into the city to be sacrificed on the altar.2
So although pigs make for intelligent and trainable pets, they are not right for Jewish homes.
The gift of life is sacred. It is written "... in your land you shall not make" damage to an animal's reproductive organs.3 It is, however, OK to purchase an animal that has already been fixed by a non-Jewish vet.4
5. Is it true that you need to feed them before you eat?
In the Shema, we are assured that G‑d will "give grass in the field for your cattle, and you will eat and be sated.5 From here the sages infer that we, too, must make sure that our animals have food before we sit down to breakfast.6
There are indeed several issues pet owners need to be aware of regarding Shabbat:
● "Trapping" is one of the 39 acts (melachot) forbidden on Shabbat. If your animal is prone to running away, then closing the door or window to prevent its flight may be a form of trapping.
● It is permitted to walk your animal even outside of an eruv, provided that it is clear that you are walking your dog, not carrying the leash. This is accomplished by keeping the animals close to you, not letting the leash sag to within a handbreadth of the ground, and not letting a handbreadth of leash dangle from your hand. Carrying a bag for waste outside an eruv would also be an issue.
● A conventional reading of Jewish law puts animals in the category of muktzeh, items that may not be handled on Shabbat. It has been argued, however, that household pets are not included in the category of muktzah at all, because they have an "immediate practical use."7
Redeeming the firstborn donkey, joyously carried out in Moshav Ahi'ezer near Lod on June 26, 2018. Photo by Yossi Zeliger/Flash90
We are told in the Torah that the firstborn of any kosher flock is holy and must be given to a Kohen (priest), who would consume it as a sacrifice in the Holy Temple. There is also a similar sacredness for the firstborn donkey, which must be exchanged for a sheep, which is then sacrificed. Nowadays, since there is no Holy Temple, firstborns cannot be sacrificed but must be allowed to graze until they become disqualified from being sacrificed due to physical blemishes. If you are raising kosher livestock or donkeys, consult your rabbi on the specifics of how this is to be carried out.
There is nothing special about firstborn cats, dogs, hamsters, gerbils or goldfish.
Assuming that you are not preparing your animal's meals in your kosher kitchen with your kosher dishes, your animal is free to enjoy horse meat or other non kosher foods. An exception8 to this rule would be a mixture of milk and meat, from which we may not benefit and are therefore not even allowed to feed our pets. This applies only to the meat of kosher land species. One may feed their pets a mixture milk together with the meat of non-kosher animals or even kosher birds (such as chicken),9 taking care, of course, not to get it on their kosher dishes.
Passover can be tricky, since we may not benefit from chametz on Passover. The ingredients of various animal foods are different, so consult the most recent guides published by your local kosher supervisory agency to find out what's OK each year.
Note that kitniyot (beans, legumes, corn etc.) may be fed to our pets, even by Ashkenazim who do not eat these foods on Passover.
We read on Yom Kippur afternoon how Jonah inspired the residents of Ninveh to fast and repent. In that case, as decreed by the king, both people and livestock refrained from eating and drinking.10 This, however, is not the Jewish way. On Jewish fast days, only Jewish adults (and children who are up to the task) are obligated to fast.
This does not include pets. In fact, in some instances, not feeding your pet would constitute tzaar baalei chayim, causing unnecessary pain to an animal, which is forbidden (see below).
11. What does Torah say about causing animals pain?
The Torah has several precepts relating to not causing animals unnecessary pain (tzaar baalei chayim), including the requirement to assist a struggling pack animal.11
Now, when there is reasonable purpose for humans, Judaism does allow causing an animal discomfort. Thus, we slaughter animals to eat their meat, use their hides, and other purposes. However, plucking feathers from a living goose is sadistic and forbidden, even though those feathers will be used, since you can easily obtain feathers from animals that are no longer alive.12
Since ending the life of an animal is permitted and causing pain to an animal is forbidden, euthenasia is a fine, humane option to consider when an animal is nearing the end of its life and is suffering.
On a most simple level, heaven is a reward for good behavior and compensation for suffering endured here on earth. Since the Middle Ages, the Jewish sages have debated whether reward and punishment applies to animals.
Since no one on our staff can recall going to heaven and back, we cannot tell you for certain whether there is a doggie kennel there. But we do have a great article that cites the classic approaches to this issue:
14. Is there a Jewish tradition about animal funerals?
It is interesting to note that Judaism records an instance of animals themselves burying their dead. After Cain killed Abel, he wondered what to do with the body. Observing birds burying a fellow bird, he decided to do the same.13
However, the mitzvah to bury the dead is unique to humans. As G‑d told Adam, "For dust you are, and to dust you shall return."14 It stands to reason that this is unique to humans, whom G‑d fashioned from dust.15
When a person's animal dies, the proper response is hamakom yemale lecha chisronecha, "May the Omnipresent fill your void."16
16. Can I say Kaddish for my departed pet?
We love our pets very dearly and they are a major part of our lives. However, there is no precedent in Jewish tradition for saying Kaddish for our pets. Here is a thought:
The bond that we share with our pets is one that is expressed without words. It is one forged directly from our hearts to theirs. We do things for them and they do for us. Humans, on the other hand, relate through words. Two-way conversation is uniquely human. As such, the verbal memorial is unique to humans who have passed on. On the other hand, we may memorialize our pets by doing special things in their memory, perpetuating the joy and love that they brought to our lives.
17. Can my (well behaved) pet attend shul with me?
There is little direct discussion of the permissibility of bringing pets into the synagogue from the Talmudic sages. The reason is obvious: In those days, animals were not used as pets.
Now, synagogues are a place for people (not animals) to pray. So your pet has no reason to attend, as far as it is concerned. However, if your attendance depends on your pet being there with you (as discussed below regarding support animals), there may be room for exception, and the final ruling would depend on the determination made by the community rabbi.
18. How about bringing service animals to synagogue services?
In the mid 20th century, debate broke out regarding the permissibility of blind people bringing service dogs into the sanctuary. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, a preeminent halachic authority in the US, allowed it,17 and Rabbi Menachem Kasher, a scholar in Israel, prohibited it.18
In an exchange of letters with Rabbi Kasher, the Rebbe defended Rabbi Feinstein's opinion, arguing that they should surely be allowed, as facilitating synagogue attendance for blind people is a worthy cause, and leniencies should be sought.
There is a longstanding disagreement whether it is also forbidden to benefit from wine (or grape juice) of a non-Jew (see Code of Jewish Law, Yoreh De'ah 123:1. Since neither cat nor dog food contains grapes, this issue appears to be moot.
Jiřà Oberfalzer, Vice-President of the Czech Senate (L) and Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy. Nov. 9, 2021
Czech Senate officials have issued a call to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the Hamas terror organization for crimes against humanity following its rocket attacks on Israeli cities and towns during Operation Guardian of the Walls.
Jiřà Oberfalzer, Vice-President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, along with the four vice-chairpersons of the Senate's Committee on National Economy, Agriculture and Transport, presented Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy on Monday with a petition signed by 127 members of the 200 members of the Czech Parliament's Senate and Chamber of Deputies, including the Senate President and the President of the Chamber of Deputies, calling to investigate Hamas for crimes against humanity following the rocket fire towards Israel during Operation Guardian of the Walls in May.
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Over the course of 12 days, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad terror organizations fired almost 4,400 rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip. The first barrage of over 150 rockets killed two residents of the city of Ashkelon and injured dozens, and another 11 people were killed in the subsequent attacks.
The Iron Dome Aerial Defense System successfully intercepted 90% of the rockets fired at its civilians.
Approximately 680 of these rockets misfired and fell within the Gaza Strip, causing casualties in the Strip.
"We call on the Czech government to contact the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, inform him of these crimes and ask him to consider the prosecution of those responsible for the rocket fire," the petition states.
Levy stated that "the State of Israel and the Jewish people are grateful to the Czech Republic and the Czech people. You have stood by our side during the most difficult hours since the establishment of the state. We will never forget your contribution to strengthening Israel's security and we will always stand by you."
Earlier in the day, the members of the Czech delegation met with the chair of the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee Michael Biton, as well as with MK Michal Shir Segman, who chairs the Israel-Czech Republic Parliamentary Friendship Group. The meetings focused on ways to expand the cooperation between Israel and the Czech Republic.
The attacks perpetrated by the Hamas terror organization constitute a double war crime: indiscriminate attacks on a civilian population while originating from within a civilian population.
A Child Holocaust Survivor's Recollections Of Kristallnacht, The Night of Broken Glass
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Photo Credit: Courtesy Of The Author Inge with her parents and grandparents in 1938, Kippenheim.
Born on December 31, 1934, in Kippenheim, Germany, Inge Auerbacher is one of the youngest survivors to remember Kristallnacht. She was the last Jewish child born in her tiny village and one of the few children to survive Terezin, a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. After being liberated by the Soviet army at the age of 10, Auerbacher and her parents came to America, where she worked as a chemist for 38 years and became a well-known author and lyricist. She has received honorary doctorates and two of the highest civilian awards in Germany. She's spoken at the U.N. and traveled all over the world to tell her story of hope and overcoming unimaginable adversity. Auerbacher was just three years old on Kristallnacht, the fateful night that would forever alter the trajectory of Jewish history.
Destroyed synagogue from the outside after the war – they destroyed it more after the war. It was used as a storage place for animal feed Inge took it around 1966. Advertisement
On November 9-10, 1938, riots broke out across Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland border of Czechoslovakia. A 17-year-old Jewish student, Herschel Grynszpan, had shot and killed a German official because his parents had been forced out of Germany for being Jewish. To retaliate, Germans killed almost 100 Jews and rounded up 30,000 Jewish men, sending them to concentration camps.
Auerbacher told The Jewish Press, "They were always looking for something to hang on the Jews … You always felt anti-Semitism, you felt it in the air, even before Kristallnacht … My parents listened to the radio … they would listen to Hitler screaming and hollering about the Jews being our bad luck and responsible for what we're going through now. They started to make laws with a lot of propaganda: the Jews are this, the Jews are that. You didn't feel safe anymore, but the crucial point was on Kristallnacht. That's when you were really sucked into it … When they put the men in camps, then you really knew, this is it."
Auerbacher's grandfather, who was visiting Kippenheim with her grandmother from Jebenhausen, was suddenly arrested by Nazis early in the morning of November 10, while he was saying his prayers at shul. Her father was still sleeping when police came to the house and ordered him to report to city hall. Auerbacher recalled, "He had to go and it was getting scary. What's going on? … We didn't know where they were going … All the Jewish men from the age of 16 were arrested."
Inge's mother had a professional pic of her taken in store, probably– she was 4 years old, taken right after Kristallnacht.
Auerbacher continued to describe her experience: "We were standing in the living room and they (Nazis and hoodlums) were throwing these bricks through the window … one brick nearly hit my head, my mother pulled me away. My mother, my grandmother and I, and the maid who then ran away, went to the backyard shed to hide. They were throwing bricks, banging on the entrance door, we were scared they were going to come in, and we stayed there until it was quite dark and this banging stopped." They ran to their Jewish neighbor's house, which Auerbacher explained, "was also full of glass, that's why you call it Kristallnacht, the crystals, you know, the glass, all over the floor, everywhere."
Inge in front of Barrack 16 at Dachau, where her father and grandfather were held. The barracks are numbered with these plates on the ground. Post war, she visited Dachau with students and teachers around 2017.
One morning, a townsperson brought a basket with belts and ties to Auerbacher's home, which he said was "from your men." It was not until Auerbacher's father and grandfather were released from Dachau a few weeks later that they found out where they had been. Auerbacher described what her father told to her mother: "They had to give up their clothing and wear those blue and white striped pajamas, the prison uniform, without any underwear, and stand in the bitter cold for hours … My father wanted to blow his nose and they hosed him down with ice cold water. He told them, 'Look I fought in WWI, I was wounded.' 'Oh, you can throw away your Iron Cross medal, it doesn't mean anything' … They got, of course, unkosher food. They got some of these, they used to call them blood sausage, probably made from pork. That's when my grandfather said to my father, 'I can't eat this. It's not kosher.' So my father said to him, 'You better eat it. You want to stay alive.' They were in the same barrack, barrack number 16 … Just because they were Jewish, they were there. And they started to mistreat them. Some people were beaten."
Auerbacher grew up in a modern Orthodox home and synagogue was the centerpiece of their lives in the rural farming area of Kippenheim. They were part of a tight knit Jewish community of about 60 families, almost all of whom were religious. Auerbacher lived very close to shul and saw it destroyed on Kristallnacht. "My mother said she saw the 10 Commandments torn from the synagogue. Other people have said it was done afterwards, so I don't know who's right, but the tablets were taken down … They desecrated the whole inside building. They tore the benches, and we had like a balcony for the women, they made a mess of that … they ripped the Torahs apart … We have a few pieces of the Torah that were desecrated totally, partially burned … there were only like shreds of it." She added, "Christian children were in there, watching all of this … Nobody tried to stop it, it was good for them. They wanted the Jews out." The interior of the synagogue was restored in 2003, and is now an educational center. Fortunately, it was never completely burned to the ground, like thousands of other synagogues across Europe, because it was in such close proximity to Christian homes.
Black & white photo of synagogue in Kippenheim before the destruction, prior to 1938.
When Auerbacher looks back at Kristallnacht, one person in particular stands out to her, Dr. Weber, the doctor who delivered her. Auerbacher remembers hearing about him screaming out his window, "Leave them alone! Don't touch them!" when he saw Jewish men being badly beaten. "He was good to the Jewish people at that time … But the saddest thing is, when he delivered me, he was already a member of the Nazi party. He would come in Nazi uniform to the house when my mother was very sick."
Auerbacher knew a woman who worked as a translator when they had the Nuremburg trial of doctors, and explained, "I don't know exactly what he did, but after the war he was arrested and put in prison for war crimes for many years." She then asked a question especially pertinent to an era like the Holocaust, "How do good people become bad?"
* * *
Inge Auerbacher's poem November 9, 1938, from her book I Am a Star:
It was a cold morning in November, A day that I was always remember. We were awakened from a peaceful sleep, The flames of terror had begun to leap. "Open the door, police, let us in; Don't run or hide, you cannot win!" We had avoided the truth and closed our eyes, The knock on our door had caught by surprise. "All Jewish men are now under arrest, Report to City Hall and join the rest!" Grandpa attended services each day, Now, from his prayers he was torn away. The train rolled on toward incarceration, Dachau, barrack number sixteen, their destination. ARBEIT MACHT FREI was their only greeting, To hide the reality they would be meeting. They wore blue and white striped uniform, Beaten and hungry they faced the storm. In the village only women and children were left, Followed by rampage of tremendous ruin and theft. Our temple became the prime target of hate, Mama saw tablets ripped from their normal state. The Commandments lay broken on the ground, Heralding darkness with their crushing sound. Broken glass crashing, echoed all day, Our house was no place for us to stay. In our living room, a stone grazed my head, We ran for shelter in a backyard shed. The volcano had exploded and began to spew, In its path lay the destiny of every Jew.
(Arbeit macht frei translates as "Work means freedom.")
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