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, August 15, 2022
Polish Priest Recognized Posthumously as Righteous Among the Nations By TPS / Tazpit News Agency and PA Appropriates Another Israeli Heritage Site in Samaria, Causing Mass Damage to Archaeology By Aryeh Savir, Tazpit News Agency and Don’t Listen To The Naysayers – Ben & Jerry’s Settlement Is A VictoryBy Rabbi Uri Pilichowski and A hat trick of monumental architectural designs in Jerusalem
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.
A hat trick of monumental architectural designs in Jerusalem
By Simone Masha, JNS
A top Israeli architect is renewing one of the city's most ancient sites.
Pristine white trousers and a crisply ironed linen shirt may not seem like the appropriate work attire at a construction site. But architect Etan Kimmel of Kimmel Eshkolot Architects in Tel Aviv, looks at ease. He is surrounded by Jerusalem stone while he inspects the latest construction on the new sunken entrance pavilion at the Tower of David Museum.
This is Kimmel's third monumental building in Jerusalem, following the Davidson Museum at the Western Wall and the National Memorial Hall for Fallen Soldiers on Mount Herzl.
"Designing new buildings in Jerusalem is unlike building in any other city in the world. You are surrounded by the stones of walls and buildings from thousands of years before, which act both as a huge reminder of the past and the burden that comes with it, as well as inspiration," says Kimmel.
"You have to take into consideration the sensitivity connected to Jerusalem, with its archeology and architecture, and consider a careful approach," he says. "On the one hand, one must be extremely respectful to the surrounding and, on the other hand, the design has to clearly create a new layer of architecture in the city of 2022."
Each of Kimmel's construction projects took years of discussion and returning to the drawing board over and over again to get the plans just right. Kimmel acknowledges that good design not only hinges on the mastery of the architect but on the relationship and dialogue that is created between the architect and his client. It is this relationship, according to Kimmel, that creates the unique impact on the final design that results in outstanding architecture.
"You have to listen, to hear and to understand your client's needs, their constraints, the purpose of the building, to get it right," he says.
In 2019, Kimmel Eshkolot Architects were awarded the prestigious Italian Dedalo Minosse International Prize for the National Memorial Hall. The Hall was commissioned by the Department of Families and Commemoration at Israel's Ministry of Defense in 2006. The emotionally powerful memorial contains a 250-meter-long "Wall of Names" that wraps around the central sculptural brick structure. The wall is composed of more than 23,000 concrete-coated aluminum bricks, each of which is engraved with the name of a fallen soldier and their date of decease. On the anniversary of each soldier's death, incandescent lights illuminate their name.
Arieh Mualem, Deputy Director General of the Department of Families and Commemoration, acknowledges that it was no surprise to him that Kimmel Eshkolot Architects were awarded such a prestigious the Dedalo Minosse prize.
"This prize honors the connection between vision and architecture," he says. "We at the Ministry of Defense tasked Kimmel Eshkolot with the enormous challenge of finding a way that would memorialize our fallen soldiers, remembering them both as individuals and as a collective. The final design came after 13 years and many, many hours of discussion and deep thought and reflection."
The plans for the building, its model and a film that records the construction are now on display at the Tower of David Museum as part of a new exhibition called "Designing Memory." The exhibition, which opened on July 1, showcases an expansive overview of key architectural projects from studios around the world that were Dedalo Minosse finalists or prize winners. It is located in the newest revamped gallery of the Tower of David Museum, which during Ottoman times was the governor of Jerusalem's reception room, situated in the Phasael Tower built by King Herod more than 2,000 years ago.
Kimmel is the lead architect of the Tower of David Museum's $50 million renewal and conservation project. As part of the project, all the rooms in the ancient citadel at the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem's Old City have been conserved and renovated with a "floating floor" that covers infrastructure and wiring, so as not to harm the national heritage site. The vaulted ceilings have been specially treated for acoustic improvements.
Of course, there are inherent challenges when working in the Old City of Jerusalem. Until excavations take place, construction cannot begin, and all the new design plans are theoretical.
"This only makes the design more exciting," Kimmel says. "In general, such projects are a constant dialogue with the site as opposed to designing new buildings on an empty site. The design ultimately evolves through the construction phase. We saw this happen in real time just recently at the Tower of David, when we suddenly understood that, nine meters down, the ancient walls of the citadel had no real foundations, and so we had to completely rethink our design with new engineering plans for the entrance pavilion."
For Kimmel, it does not matter where he is designing in Jerusalem, whether in the modern city or the Old City. He says the stone is the common denominator in his designs
"It is always about the Jerusalem stone," he says. "Our designs play with the color and texture of this building material, which is so predominant in Jerusalem's urban landscape. We look to use the stone in creative and innovative ways."
Tours of the National Memorial Hall and a behind-the-scenes look at the renewal process at the Tower of David are available in English this summer through the Tower of David website.
The Jampoler extended family by the Wall of Honor featuring Father Jozef Czapran's name in the Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations
Holocaust survivor and decorated retired US Naval Officer Andrew Jampoler, who was rescued during WWII along with his mother and cousin, gathered with his extended family this week at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, to commemorate the six million Jews of Europe and North Africa who were murdered during the Holocaust and honor Józef Czapran, a Catholic priest from Poland, who saved them from the same fate.
At the outbreak of WWII, Łucja (Lucy) Jampoler, her son Karol and his wife Hanka lived near the city of Lwów. When it became clear that all the Jews were being forced to relocate to the local ghetto, the Jampoler family approached Czapran for assistance. At great personal risk, he secured false papers attesting to their Christian identity, including forged birth and marriage certificates, thus allowing them to remain on the "Aryan" side of the city.
In December 1941, Łucja managed to bring her niece, Irena Stella Wilder, from Stanisławów to Lwów, and Czapran also gave her a forged birth certificate. In January 1942, Hanka gave birth to her son, Andrew. The priest arranged falsified papers for Andrew, as well. He also organized a nun to teach Irena Catholic customs and prayers, to help avoid any revelation of her Jewish identity.
After their hiding place was compromised sometime in 1942, the Jampolers and Irena escaped to Warsaw. Karol vanished, never to be heard from again. Czapran continued to help the Jampoler family in Warsaw, and was instrumental in their survival until liberation.
In 1946, the family immigrated to the US. Andrew Jampoler served in the US Navy, and later became a renowned author. Irka immigrated to Australia, where she lives today.
On 24 January 2022, Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, posthumously recognized Józef Czapran as Righteous Among the Nations, people who risked their lives to save Jews during the cataclysmic period.
Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan opened the recent ceremony at Yad Vashem. "The Holocaust was a time when people were indifferent or fearful to act and stand up to the persecution and murder of other human beings," he remarked. "But there were a few who risked their lives and the lives of their families – and even their neighbors – to help save Jews during the Holocaust. Every year we recognize many new Righteous Among the Nations, the State of Israel's highest honor on behalf of the Jewish people, bestowed on those few individuals who acted bravely and selflessly, and we are grateful to have this special event to commemorate the actions of Józef Czapran."
Three generations of the Jampoler family, including Andrew and his half-sisters, daughter Christina Jampoler Houlahan, a member of the US House of Representatives for the State of Pennsylvania and an Air Force veteran, and Rep. Houlahan's children all traveled to Israel to attend the emotional event at Yad Vashem.
"We're all here at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem to honor the memory of Józef Czapran, whose sympathy and extraordinary courage made survival during that dark time possible, and in turn enabled the free lives of our children and grandchildren," remarked Andrew Jampoler. "Like me, they too are the beneficiaries of his courage and compassion."
Rep. Houlahan pondered whether Czapran could have known the impact of his actions when "back in 1942 or '43, with the stroke of a pen, he saved so many of my father's family. I would like to imagine that decades ago Czapran knew exactly what he was setting into motion. We are all here today to give thanks to the generosity and bravery of a man whom none of us ever knew."
Yad Vashem has recognized about 28,000 Righteous Among the Nations.
PA Appropriates Another Israeli Heritage Site in Samaria, Causing Mass Damage to Archaeology
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has commandeered another archaeological site in Samaria and has converted it into a "Palestinian Heritage Site," as a monitoring organization warns of an irreversible loss of Israeli history and culture.
The archaeological site of Sheikh Sha'ala, located in Area A under full PA control in Samaria, has recently been redecorated with a huge mast flying a PLO flag.
Farmers prepared agricultural plots and a summer house was built, without regard to the archaeological findings that were irreversibly damaged.
The meaning of the name "Sheikh Sha'ala" in Arabic is owner or lord of the flame, implying that this is the biblical site at which fire came down and burned the messengers of Ahaziah king of Israel who came to Elijah the prophet, as described in the Book of Kings II.
The site overlooks all of ancient Samaria, the capital of the kings of Israel during the First Temple period.
The site has an ancient structure with a Greek inscription from the 4th century CE, the Byzantine period in the Land of Israel, which tells of the magnificent building erected on the site in memory of Elijah the Prophet. "Help Stephen … who built this wonderful house for Elijah the prophet," the dedication reads.
The floor of the building dates to the 6th century CE. The building incorporates Crusader and Muslim motifs. The building was used in the Byzantine period through the Crusader period and was then abandoned.
Shomrim Al Hanetzach (Preserving Eternity), a watchdog group dedicated to protecting Israel's archaeological treasures, discovered recently the significant damage to the ancient remains at the site. In addition to the summer house and agricultural plots that were prepared with heavy machines, vandals scrawled graffiti on the Byzantine-era dedication plaque affixed at the site by the builder of the house in honor of Elijah.
The PA has announced it has further plans for development at the site.
The PA damaging of heritage sites in Judea and Samaria is not new. In recent years, huge PLO flags have been hoisted at several heritage sites, severely damaging the archaeological remains.
In November 2020, the PA inaugurated a "Palestinian" tourist complex in the town of Sebastia in Samaria, the historic capital of the biblical Kingdom of Israel. A flagpole with the PLO flag was affixed to the ancient stones, under the auspices of UNESCO and the Belgian government, without any archaeological and scientific supervision.
More recently, unknown individuals from the PA have again caused damage to the Biblical-era site of Yehoshua ben Nun's Altar on Mount Ebal.
In January, Shomrim Al Hanetzach discovered that Arabs operating an illegal factory in Beit Fajar in Gush Etzion took about two kilometers from a Second Temple period aqueduct and ground it into gravel for construction.
The IDF's Civil Administration claims it has no powers in the area, and that the PA is responsible for guarding the sites. However, Shomrim Al Hanetzach and the Shiloh Forum have formulated a legal position stating that in the absence of cooperation from the PA, the ultimate responsibility for these important sites rests with Israel.
Adi Shragai, the spokesperson for Shomrim Al Hanetzach, stated Tuesday that "dealing with the erasing heritage sites is not an issue for a local civic authority, like collecting property taxes and treating water and sewage. It is a violation of the global heritage of all mankind."
This latest damage caused to a heritage site is "part of the nationalist rampage of flag-flying by the Palestinian Authority at heritage sites. It started in the Hasmonean Aroma fortress in Samaria that is being destroyed these days, through ancient Sebastia, and now another important site has been destroyed. Meanwhile, the Israeli side remains silent and does not prevent the destruction of the heritage."
Turning to the government, she demands: "when you will be asked how a history of 3,000 years was destroyed in 30 years, what will you answer? This is your shift and the finger is pointed at you. You could act – and you did not. Shame."
Antiquities in Judea and Samaria face a constant danger of destruction. Grave robbers and antiquities thieves from the PA carry out illegal digs and excavations. The phenomenon of antiquity destruction is pervasive and affects all sites that are not under preservation, and a survey of the sites in Judea and Samaria shows that a staggering 95% of the archaeological sites have been robbed, vandalized, or disturbed.
Findings presented to the Knesset in January show that 90% of the sites that are destroyed are being destroyed by the PA for development purposes, and 10% are destroyed for robbery purposes.
Don't Listen To The Naysayers – Ben & Jerry's Settlement Is A Victory
The Jewish people spent two thousand years pining to return to their land. While they might not have used a term coined hundreds of years later, Zionism, the Jewish people's desire to return to Eretz Yisrael is consistent with the values of the modern political movement called Zionism. The intimate connection the Jewish people share with their historic homeland is more than just a feeling, it is a historic fact and provides legal standing for the Jewish people's claim to their land. When opponents deny the Jewish people's connection to the land of Israel, they reject historic fact.
After last year's operation between Gaza terrorist group Hamas and Israel, Vermont-based ice cream company Ben & Jerry's announced it would no longer allow its ice cream to be sold in Judea and Samaria, the area the world calls the "West Bank." Their announcement created a large controversy that saw American states divest its investments from Ben & Jerry's parent company, Unilever. Many American states have laws against allowing state funds to be invested in companies that boycott Israel as part of the anti-Israel Boycott, Sanction and Divest movement (BDS).
In July 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution against BDS. It stated that BDS "[t]argets Israel and is a campaign that seeks to exclude the State of Israel and the Israeli people from the economic, cultural, and academic life of the rest of the world; demands concessions of one party alone and encourages the Palestinians to reject negotiations in favor of international pressure; and the founder of the Global BDS Movement, Omar Barghouti, has denied the right of the Jewish people in their homeland, saying, 'We oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No Palestinian, rational Palestinian, not a sell-out Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.' The global BDS movement targets not only the Israeli government but also Israeli academic, cultural, and civil society institutions, as well as individual Israeli citizens of all political persuasions, religions, and ethnicities, and in some cases even Jews of other nationalities who support Israel; and it does not recognize, and many of its supporters explicitly deny, the right of the Jewish people to national self-determination; The House of Representatives opposes the global boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement targeting Israel." Besides the American objection to BDS, there is a perception that BDS's refusal to recognize the Jewish people's connection to the land of Israel and to recognize the right of the Jewish people to national self-determination is antisemitic in nature.
Ben & Jerry's refusal to sell ice cream in Judea and Samaria was perceived by many as antisemitic. Multiple lawsuits were filed against Unilever, and Zionists around the world stopped eating Ben & Jerry's ice cream. In Israel, where the Ben & Jerry's distributor refused to comply with the boycott against Israel, Israelis doubled down and bought Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Israeli towns held Ben & Jerry's ice cream parties to object to the Ben & Jerry's opposition to their existence.
This week Unilever announced it was overriding Ben & Jerry's boycott and had come to an agreement with Ben & Jerry's Israel distributor. Unilever sold its Ben & Jerry's holding in Israel to Avi Zinger, the Israeli manufacturer and distributor of Ben & Jerry's. Zinger and his company also bought the exclusive rights to the Ben & Jerry's logo in Hebrew and Arabic. Ben & Jerry's responded by tweeting, "While our parent company has taken this decision, we do not agree with it. Our company will no longer profit from Ben & Jerry's in Israel. We continue to believe it is inconsistent with Ben & Jerry's values for our ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory."
While most of the Zionist community saw the Unilever reversal as a significant victory for Israel and the forces that counter the BDS movement, there were some naysayers who focused more on the Ben & Jerry's announcement and understood the boycott as continuing. They argued that without Ben & Jerry's reversing their decision – as opposed to being overridden by their parent company – the boycott's purpose is still being achieved. I disagree with this negative position. I see Unilever's reversal as a major victory for Zionists.
In its letter explaining its decision to override Ben & Jerry's boycott, Unilever CEO Alan Jope wrote, "I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate how proud we are of our business in Israel, which remains an important market for us. I would also like to make it exceptionally clear that Unilever rejects completely and repudiates unequivocally any form of discrimination or intolerance. Antisemitism has no place in any society. We have never expressed any support for the BDS movement and have no intention of changing that position." Jope's letter demonstrates that in the face of an antisemitic attack on the Jewish right to Israel, rational positions prevailed. When the "children" (Ben & Jerry's) took immature positions, the "adults" (Unilever) stepped in and corrected the mistake.
Zionism, the movement that stands for the Jewish right to self-determination in the Jewish people's historic homeland, is a just movement and isn't dependent on other people's approval. At the same time, it's important to make sure Israeli companies and individuals aren't hurt by those who practice economic warfare using discriminatory measures against Israeli companies simply because they are Zionists. The Israeli ice cream consumer should celebrate this week with a pint of their favorite flavor and recognize they can eat delicious ice cream knowing that antisemites aren't getting a shekel from Zionists. I can't imagine a better win-win scenario.
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