| 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. Love Yehuda Lave Join my blog by sending me an email to YehudaLave@gmail.com | | | | | Nor everything that is written is fit to print The Motto of the Chicago Tribune for many years, was "We print the news that is fit to print"
Not every story that is written is fit to print nor to be put on the front page of the newspaper.
Whether one likes Yair Lapid or not, he is the Foreign minister in charge. Your front page screamed a day ago not to visit Turkey because it was dangerous now.
It is nice that Turkey's chief Rabbi says we should continue to visit Turkey but this seems treasonous to anyone with common sense. It would be nice if your editor exercised some common sense and not put the Rabbi's opinion on the front page contradicting our own leaders.
Cordially
Rabbi Yehuda Lave Jerusalem
| | | | | | | The Three Musketeers at the Kotel | | | | | | 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. | | | | | | | MELANIE PHILLIPS The EU's Jerusalem charm offensive | | | | | Despite all the warm words in Jerusalem, there's no sign that the longtime hostility towards Israel is about to ease. People dining this week on the charming terrace at Jerusalem's King David Hotel were surprised to find at the next table Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission. Given the E.U.'s long-standing hostility towards Israel, it was a bit like spotting Amber Heard knocking back the tequila with Johnny Depp in a Los Angeles bar. That may be unfair to von der Leyen herself, who was described later that day by Israel's prime minister, Naftali Bennett, as "a great friend of the Jewish people and a great friend of Israel." She had certainly come to Israel on a charm offensive. In a speech at Ben-Gurion University, where she was awarded an honorary degree, she said: "I have put the fight against anti-Semitism and fostering Jewish life in Europe at the core of the European Commission's agenda. Our democracy flourishes if Jewish life in Europe flourishes, too. Throughout the centuries, the Jewish people have been 'a light unto the nations.' And they shall be a light unto Europe for many centuries ahead." So she pressed all the right buttons about the Jewish people. The real reason for her trip, however, was panic. As a result of Russia's war against Ukraine, the E.U. has boycotted Russian natural gas. This has left its energy supplies seriously depleted. Until the war, Russia was supplying some 40% of the gas that Europe consumes. Now that Israel has emerged as a major player in the energy market, the E.U. is desperate to import Israeli gas to keep the lights on this coming winter. This week, it signed a deal that will see Israeli gas sent to Egypt, where it will be liquefied and from there shipped to Europe where it will be changed back to gas. Von der Leyen also gushed over the planned pipeline from Israel to supply Eastern Mediterranean gas to Europe (a project from which the Biden administration has withdrawn American support). The E.U. is even siding with Israel in a row with Lebanon over Karish, Israel's major northern offshore gas field, which Brussels agrees lies in Israeli rather than Lebanese territorial waters. President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on June 14, 2022. Photo by Flash90. Also paying a visit to Jerusalem this week was Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi. He, too, was in search of alternative energy supplies to replace Russian gas. He, too, had honeyed words for the Jewish people. Speaking at a Jerusalem synagogue, he said his government was "committed to strengthening the memory of the Holocaust and to fighting against discrimination of all kinds against Jews." So does this mean the E.U. is now changing its attitude to Israel? Until now, it has been hostile. It promotes the Palestinian narrative that seeks to delegitimize Israel through lies about its "illegal" settlements and alleged Israel Defense Forces' aggression; it funds NGOs devoted to harming and destroying Israel; in an aggressive move in 2015 against Israeli "occupation" of the disputed territories, it started to label products from the "West Bank." Despite all the warm words in Jerusalem, there's no sign that this E.U. hostility is about to ease. For on the same day that von der Leyen was kissing up to Bennett, she stood alongside Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh in Ramallah and announced the transfer to the Palestinian Authority of some 214 million euros (about $224 million). This money had previously been frozen because of the incitement against Israel in Palestinian schoolbooks. Now it's been unfrozen, even though the incitement remains. Last week, the commission dismissed Israeli documentation showing that six Palestinian NGOs were acting on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; it then resumed funding them. So much for von der Leyen's pledge to "put the fight against anti-Semitism at the core of the European Commission's agenda." The Europeans are playing the double game so familiar in the West—pledging support for the Jewish people while empowering Israel's mortal enemies. Now the global energy crisis is producing a further double game—supporting Israel when it supplies the Europeans with essentials while abandoning Israel in its defense against its existential foes. This twin-track has long been the strategy of both Britain and America. They maintain deep ties with Israel over military and intelligence cooperation along with mutually beneficial trade links; but at the political level, they undermine Israel's security and promote the Palestinian narrative of lies and distortion. In part, Western leaders support the Palestinians through left-wing, "anti-colonialist" ideology and through ignorance. There's also a significant measure of fundamental, institutionalized anti-Jewish prejudice. But there's also something even more twisted. The British and Europeans in particular resist acknowledging that anti-Semitism is the motor of Palestinian aggression because of a neuralgic obsession arising from the collective guilt they feel about the Jews. They refuse to acknowledge the protean nature of anti-Semitism throughout history, morphing from theological to racial to national, because their own culture was so deeply involved in this bigotry. They pay pious lip service to Jews murdered in the Holocaust. But in order to pretend that their own culture had nothing to do with how they died, they present Israeli Jews as a different breed altogether. While the Jews murdered in the Shoah are depicted as passive and powerless, Israeli Jews are presented as militarily powerful. Because they have power, it is assumed they cannot be victims. Since the Palestinians are viewed as powerless, it's assumed, in turn, that they must be victims of the Israelis. Palestinian anti-Semitism must be denied because that would instead turn Israeli Jews into victims. That must be resisted. For casting Israeli Jews instead as oppressors, thus erasing the unbroken line of anti-Semitism from antiquity to the Palestinians, gives the Europeans a free pass in their minds over the victimization of the Jews in the Holocaust in which they feel at some deep level complicit. In this respect, another remark by von der Leyen was as revealing as it was jarring. "Europe and Israel are bound to be friends and allies," she said, "because the history of Europe is the history of the Jewish people." This was an extraordinary thing to say. The history of the Jews in Europe is one of centuries of murderous persecution, mass conversions, hideous pogroms, and eventually, the Holocaust. Historically, Europe was the epicenter of anti-Semitism and was described by Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, as "the graveyard of the Jewish people." Yet von der Leyen implied instead that Europe had always been bound together in friendship with the Jewish people. No less startling was that Bennett chose to agree with her. "You said Israel and Europe are bound to be friends and allies because the history of Europe is the history of the Jewish people. I could not agree more," he said. Was Bennett choosing to accept her revisionism in the interests of better relations with the E.U.? His eagerness for such a development is understandable. But no Jewish leader should ever connive at sanitizing Jewish persecution. Was von der Leyen deliberately ignoring these unpleasant facts for the purposes of diplomacy? If so, that doesn't inspire much confidence. If Europeans can't acknowledge the crimes against the Jewish people in the past, they won't be able to acknowledge the crimes being committed against them now or in the future. The Europeans come and make nice with Israel's government when they need what Israel has to offer them. They rely on Israel to do their dirty work for them in fighting off the Iranian regime. But when it comes to acknowledging their obligation to defend and protect Israel against the enemies of the Jewish people and of civilization itself, we shouldn't hold our breath. Melanie Phillips, a British journalist, broadcaster and author, writes a weekly column for JNS. Currently a columnist for "The Times of London," her personal and political memoir, "Guardian Angel," has been published by Bombardier, which also published her first novel, "The Legacy." Go to melaniephillips.substack.com to access her work. | | | | Jerusalem's Museum of Tolerance Has Little to Do With Museums or Tolerance In contrast to the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, the Jerusalem museum — built on an ancient Muslim cemetery — will stay away from the Holocaust. Instead, the grandiose project will host conventions, food festivals and concerts For the last 18 years, Jerusalemites have been kept out of the huge compound standing between Hillel and Menashe Ben Yisrael streets in the heart of the city. Only after a litany of woes — including scandals, crises and legal wrangling — has the enormous Museum of Tolerance finally been completed, with a gradual resolution of the riddle: what is the actual purpose of the large white edifice? The term "museum" is misleading here. Even the site's directors admit it. The compound may include two small museums, but they make up only a tiny portion of the allocated space and designated purposes of the center. Most of the planned activities here will be cultural and educational: performances, conventions, movie screenings and food-related events. "We'll revive the city's center," promise the museum's heads. Meanwhile, they have to settle one more dispute with the municipality. 'We wanted to become a site that would attract Paul McCartney to Jerusalem, a place that would open a cultural gate in the city' The story of the Museum of Tolerance started all the way back in 2004, following an agreement between then-mayor Ehud Olmert and Rabbi Marvin Hier to allocate land for a special new project. Hier is the head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and a founder of the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. He has extensive links with donors, politicians and U.S. celebrities. The original vision was to build a museum designed by celebrity architect Frank Gehry on an empty lot, between Independence Park and the colloquially-named Cats' Square. - Advertisment - The cornerstone-laying ceremony was attended by then-California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who promised that museums of tolerance would promote the idea of tolerance just like gyms promote health. But despite the Hollywood glamour, the project encountered troubles from its very beginning: the laying of the structure's foundations revealed that the old parking lot had been built on part of the city's ancient Muslim cemetery, with hundreds of skeletons cropping up. This delayed the museum's construction by several years, after the Islamic Movement turned to the High Court of Justice. The court ultimately allowed construction to continue. The skeletons were removed in a controversial archaeological dig and the museum started to take shape. Then came the economic crisis of 2008, causing the Wiesenthal Center to run into financial difficulties. Gehry decided to abandon the project because of the financial disputes, and was replaced by Israeli architects Bracha and Michael Hayutin. They too ran into conflicts with the developers and left, with architect Yigal Levi taking over. Construction resumed, and the large white building grew upwards.
The project underwent another crisis following the outbreak of the coronavirus. While other construction companies continued working despite the pandemic, work stopped for almost two years at the museum because it was being built without using a contractor company. Developers bought an Israeli construction company and built the structure using workers and experts who came mainly from China. When the pandemic erupted, the workers were stuck in China, unable to return to Israel. Last year the work resumed and the building was almost completed.
While it will remain controversial, it's also an exceptional project on Israel's architectural scene. New and innovative techniques were used in the museum's construction. For example, tens of thousands of stones covering the exterior were imported from Portugal. They hang over with a system of hooks, with stairwells that look as if they're hanging in midair. The museum directors take pride in the high quality of the finish, unknown in Israeli public buildings. The laying of the structure's foundations revealed that the old parking lot had been built on part of the city's ancient Muslim cemetery, with hundreds of skeletons cropping up This includes special acoustic plaster imported from Germany, laminated floors imported from the U.S., fancy accessible washrooms, with cutting-edge lighting, sound and multimedia systems, as well as exclusive furniture imported from Italy and Spain, smart windows, soundproof doors, multi-use auditoriums that can adapt to different purposes, floating ceilings and more. Sources at the Wiesenthal Center are not saying what the total costs were up to now, but they are estimated at over half a billion shekels ($150 million). The ritzy character of the building serves to highlight the years-long uncertainty about its uses. In contrast to the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, devoted mainly to the study of the Holocaust, the Jerusalem museum will stay away from the subject, based on demands by Yad Vashem. As construction continued, city hall officials realized that this was no ordinary museum, but a combination of a culture center, a convention hall, an entertainment venue and a city plaza.
In an interview with Haaretz, museum directors reveal their future plans, asking for a bit more patience from Jerusalem residents, promising that the venue will become the city's throbbing heart. "We'll be a house for everyone, from Abraham's tent to Noah's ark. Imagine taking the Peres Center for Peace from Jaffa and transporting it to Jerusalem," says Jonathan Riss, whose title is operations manager but who has accompanied this project for 21 years. "The museum will revive the city's center," he promises. According to the strategic plan being prepared by Ayelet Frisch, a former adviser to Shimon Peres, the building will serve as a culture center with an attached entertainment venue. At the front is a garden commemorating leaders and Nobel Prize laureates. The garden leads to an amphitheater seating 1,000 people. Between the seats and stage is a glass floor, covering parts of an ancient aqueduct that was discovered in the course of construction. On the stage is a film and sound system. The amphitheater will turn into an open-air cinema, a space for events and performances and a meeting area. Inside the building is another theater with 400 armchair imported from Italy. In the walls and ceiling is a light system that can change the atmosphere in the auditorium. The auditorium, according to developers, will be a conference center holding corporate events and staging performances. Behind the stage are rooms for artists. Other intended uses for the building are food and wine festivals, children's events and art workshops.
The building has other auditoriums, lecture rooms, space for a gift shop, a restaurant, three gigantic kitchens (meat, dairy and parve), balconies overlooking the Muslim cemetery and Independence Park, a religious study hall with a separate floor for women, and even a area for police, intended to counteract possible trouble from Cats' Square. The building's levels are connected through a system of hanging stairs and an elevator with a capacity of 80 people. The walls of the elevator are covered in LED screens. The two lower floors will house the two museums, the Museum of Tolerance for children, and a Museum of Tolerance for adults. They will feature holograms and multimedia systems telling of tolerance in Israeli society. These two spaces have the furthest to go toward completion. Museum officials say that even if the building is opened soon, it will take another year and a half before parts of the museum are opened to the public. The museum hopes the site will become a destination for pupils, soldiers and policemen in Jerusalem, a leading draw for local economic and cultural activity. Museum officials reject charges that the building's purpose gradually changed over the years, and that instead of a museum of tolerance, Jerusalem has acquired a fancy convention center. They say all the current designated uses were in the original plans submitted almost 20 years ago. They admit that the name "museum" is somewhat misleading, and that the main ultimate uses will not be related to the museum. "We wanted to become a site that would attract Paul McCartney to Jerusalem, a place that would open a cultural gate in the city. If it weren't for the delays caused by the pandemic and the bureaucracy, the building would be bustling by now, with food festivals, performances and events that are suitable for an ultra-Orthodox mother and a Muslim child," says Frisch. The museum rejects another claim – that it is tied to the right wing. Eight months ago, the first event was held there, a ceremony marking the establishment of the Friedman Center for Peace. David Friedman was the U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Trump administration. Attending the event were a list of senior officials from that administration. A CNN correspondent described the event as "falling into Alice in Wonderland's mirror," into an alternative reality in which Trump is still president and Benjamin Netanyahu, who attended the ceremony, was still prime minister. The fact that the museum committed to dealing with tolerance in sports and in the health and education systems, while seemingly reluctant to deal with Jerusalem's real problems, such as the occupation, discrimination and human rights abuses, has contributed to its image as a right-wing institution. "I don't ignore the Arab problem," says Riss. "Our goal is to help people understand the distress of others. I cannot undertake the mission of changing Israeli society, but I am trying to find a bridge for cultural dialogue through movies and multimedia." Museum directors promise that there are some projects in the pipeline that challenge their image as rightists. They ask not to publish the names of people who are planning on participating, only noting that they are from the liberal side of America's political map. In the meantime, the museum has found itself in another conflict with Jerusalem City Hall. Many people at the municipality are fed up with the museum's foot-dragging. They say the Wiesenthal Center received the most desirable and expensive plot of land in the city, but it remains closed behind fences, inaccessible to Jerusalemites for too long. "The gap between their declarations and actions is very big," says a senior city official. A conflict over Cats' Square, across from the museum, broke out due to this frustration. The original plan called for this plaza to be part of the museum compound, with yet another auditorium built on it. But this required the city to transfer the square to museum developers, something it refuses to do. Last year the museum turned to the District Court, requesting that it instruct the municipality to transfer the land. While legal proceedings continue, the city passed a sharp motion against the museum last week. The motion determines that the agreement with the museum regarding the transfer of the square is null and void. The city council demanded that the museum open within four months. City officials admit that they cannot force developers to open, but said they could make things difficult for them. Meanwhile, the city is refusing to permit the holding of any further events at the location. A large Independence Day party that was scheduled there was canceled. Facing these problems, the developers are not committing to an opening date, but say it will happen within months, not years. "The museum has broken a host of commitments," says city council member Laura Wharton (Meretz). "Not only did they not meet schedules, they changed the main mission of building a museum, for which the land was given. Developers now admit that the building will serve as a convention center, with a possible secondary use as a museum. There is no transparency regarding content, which until now remains secret. Leaving aside the question of whether a Muslim cemetery is an appropriate venue for a museum of tolerance, what about the question of whether a city center is suitable as a convention center or a venue for flashy events?" The developers are convinced that the conflict with city hall will be resolved. They heap praise on Mayor Moshe Leon, promising that after all these years, the building's construction is in its final lap. "What makes a city a capital is its social and economic activity – that's what we're contributing to Jerusalem, and it will be amazing," says Riss. | | | | | RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TERRIBLE SERMON JOKES OF THE WEEK Rabbi Greenberg was known for his lengthy sermons, noticed Berel get up and leave during the middle of his speech. Berel returned just before the conclusion of the service. Afterwards the Rabbi asked him where he had gone. "I went to get a haircut," was the reply. "But," said the Rabbi, "why didn't you do that before the service?" "Because," Berel said, "I didn't need one then." Rabbi Rosenberg was in the midst of one of his infamous lengthy sermons when all of the sudden, a large plant fell over right behind the pulpit, crashing to the ground. Rabbi Rosenberg turned around to see what transpired, then turned back to the congregation, smiled sheepishly and said, "Well, that's the first time I put a plant to sleep." A Rabbi, a cantor, and a synagogue president were driving to a seminar when they were kidnapped. The highjackers asked the three of them to hand over all of their money and jewelry. When they replied that they hadn't any, the hijackers told them that immediately after their last wishes were fulfilled, they would be killed. "My last wish," began the Rabbi, is to give a fascinating, complicated, long sermon that I have always wanted to but never been allowed to give." "We will grant your wish," the hijackers replied. "My last wish," said the cantor, "is to sing a beautiful, Yemenite style song, one of my own compositions lasting two hours. I have never been allowed to sing it." "We'll let you sing it," replied the hijackers. "What is your last wish," the hijackers asked the shul president. "Please, please shoot me now. " After a performance a cantor - trying to impress- tells the crowd that his voice is insured with Lloyds of London for 1 million dollars. A voice from the back of the room says "so what did you do with the money?" A Rabbi recounted this story: With all the instant messaging and texting lingo going around - with abbreviations like "LOL" and "OMG" and "BTW" - I asked a young lady named Baila if she would be going to shul this Shabbat, and she replied to me "JFK." "JFK? What does that mean?", I asked. Baila answered politely, "Just for Kiddush". A Rabbi was giving a speech and as Rabbis sometimes do, kept going on and on, and after going way over time he stopped and realized and he apologized saying "I'm sorry, I left my watch at home". One disrespectful guy in the crowd yelled, "But Rabbi, you have a calendar right in front of you!" Yankel listened to the Rebbe at shul one Shabbos morning and when the Rebbe asked those with special requests to come to him at Seuda Shlisheet/(3rd meal) , Yankel came. When it was his turn, Yankel sat down and the Rebbe asked, "What do you want me to help you with?" Yankel said, "Pray for my hearing, Rebbe." The Rebbe put one hand over Yankel's ear and his other hand on top of his head and prayed a while. Then he removed his hands and asked, "Yankel, how is your hearing now?" Yankel answered, "I don't know, Rebbe. It's next Wednesday at the courthouse!"
| | | | Renovation work in Poland finds 60 Jewish tombstones near old Gestapo building The tombstones were found during renovations in the area; historians and Catholic priests are asking the landowners to stop construction.A shul in Izbica, a village in Krasnystaw County of the Lublin Voivodeship in eastern Poland.
(June 16, 2022 / JNS) Dozens of Jewish tombstones were discovered this week in the Polish town of Radzyń Podlaski (also known as Radin), about 35 miles from Lublin, near a building that had been used as headquarters for the Gestapo during the years of World War II and the Holocaust. The tombstones were found during renovations in the area. Historians and Catholic priests have taken control of the site and are asking the landowners to stop construction. "We've moved the gravestones to a secure place," Zbigniew Smolko told Haaretz. The journalist, historian and vice president of the local council said that the Nazis took "tombstones from Jewish cemeteries and used them to pave a courtyard." Meir Bulka, who heads the organization J-nerations that works to preserve Polish-Jewish heritage, said: "This is a sensational discovery. About 60 tombstones were found here— most of them intact—and the inscriptions on them are legible." The town had once been the center of the Radzyń Chassidic dynasty; many descendants now live in the United States and Bnei Brak, Israel. | | | | | See you tomorrow bli neder We need Moshiach now! Love Yehuda Lave | | | | |
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