Noodles and Soup Nuts "Kasher le'Pessach"

B"H

Not too many years ago, we were complaining about not having noodles during Pessach. As a wheat product, noodles are Chametz and we are forbidden to consume Chametz (forbidden grains such as oats, wheat, spelt, rye or barley) on Pessach. Only dry Mazzot and potatoes, fish, meat, onions, pepper, cabbage and carrots for Ashkenazi Jewry. Sephardi Jews have an easier Pessach, as some of them eat rice (forbidden for Ashkenazi Jews) and Kidniyot (peas, humus, corn or anything made of it). Then the first cakes kosher for Passover were available. Made out of potatoe flour. 

When I went to the supermarket tonight, believe it or not, I saw noodles kosher for Pessach. Noodles and soup nuts ! Some noodles kosher for Pessach are for Kidniyot eaters such as Sephardi Jews but I also saw Pessach noodles without Kidniyot.

Here are a few impressions from the MEGA supermarket branch in Dizengoff Street / corner Pinsker in Tel Aviv:

Kosher for Pessach !

Noodles kosher for Passover

With Kidniyot and made from rice.

Soup nuts kosher for Passover.

Wine for the Seder

Mazzot

Biscuits kosher for Pessach

Photos: Miriam Woelke

No doubt. Pessach is an expensive holiday and many Jewish families in Israel, including plenty of haredi families in Mea Shearim or Bnei Brak, depend on charity organizations handing out food baskets.
One of those organizations is located in Mea Shearim and run by Chassidut Toldot Avraham Yitzchak: "LINAT HA'CHESED". Two years ago, I talked to some of the Chassidim running LINAT HA'CHESED.

How do we cover the Torah Scrolls ?

 Copyright / Photos: Miriam Woelke

Jerusalem: A store where Synagogues can buy covers for their Torah scrolls. The traditional Sephardi Torah box. Round shape and made of metal or wood. Ashkenazi Jews prefer covering the Torah scroll with a fabric usually made of silk. 

"LECHA DODI" - Ashkenaz

Ohad Rosenberg (Ovadiah) and his struggle for Acceptance

Left: Eliyahu Avermann

Right: Ohad Rosenberg (Ovadiah)

Photo: Maariv

B"H


About two weeks ago, Ohad Rosenberg (30) first killed his friend Eliyahu Averman (19) and then committed suicide. This happened in Tel Aviv, near Ibn Gavirol Street, and no one seems to know why the two had gone to Tel Aviv in the first place.


I have been reading through many articles about the murder. A week ago, the father of Eliyahu Averman, the Kaliver Chassid Rabbi Aharon Leib Averman, was interviewed by a secular local Jerusalem paper where he stated that all those accusations against his son Eliyahu are nothing but lies. Last Friday, the Tel Aviv part of MAARIV published an interview of Ohad Rosenberg's father and brother. The two made very harsh accusations against the born haredi society but they agreed with Rabbi Averman in one point: The two friends were not gay !
Many press articles claim that Averman and Rosenberg had a homosexual relationship and that this was the cause for the murder and suicide. However, others claim that Rosenberg and Averman had a dispute about the car they were traveling in. A third opinion is that Rosenberg accused Averman of having destroyed his Shidduch. However, it looks like we will never know the truth.


Ohad Rosenberg was born in December 1979 into a secular family. He grew up in Rishon LeZion (near Tel Aviv) and became religious at the age of 17. He even became haredi and started studying at different programmes in Rishon. His older brother didn't like the idea and told him to go to the university and learn a profession. Ohad, however, became more and more fanatic.


Ohad Rosenberg's family name was NOT Rosenberg but OVADIAH. Some time after entering the haredi world he had changed his name from OVADIAH into ROSENBERG !


Why ?


After some time of studies in Rishon LeZion, Ohad decided to enroll in a haredi Yeshiva in Jerusalem for further studies.
As far as I heard it was the MIR Yeshiva but you are welcomed to correct me in this case.


The MIR Yeshiva is litvish and has thousands of students - also Baalei Teshuva. I assume that Ohad joined the Hebrew programme and he claimed that he was made fun of all the time because he was Sephardi.


We have been hearing lately about the dispute between haredi schools belonging to the Ashkenazi and Sephardi community. The latest example was the "Emmanuel case" and now the accuser Yoav Lalom is going wild about the same separation reason in Kiryat Sefer.


What one has to understand, and not too many Baalei Teshuva like to hear that, that, as soon as you enter haredi society as a newcomer, you are possibly considered as "SUG BETH - Second Class". Born Haredim will look down on you. If not in an open outspoken way, then in a hidden way. Example: They use certain phrases when they talk to you.


Not only that Ohad Rosenberg (Ovadiah) was a Baal Teshuva but he was also of Sephardi origin. Meaning that Ashkenazi Haredim may look down on you and that you won't necessarily marry an Ashkenazi Shidduch. Unless the Shidduch is divorced, has health or other problems.


Ohad Rosenberg (Ovadiah) dreamt of being accepted and he did everything he could in order to reach his goal. This is why he changed his name into something totally Ashkenazi. The reasons seems to be completely ridiculous because Ohad looked Sephardi and other people were aware of his origin from far away.


The only thing missing for his false completion was an Ashkenazi Shidduch. Some time ago he had left the Yeshiva in Jerusalem (because he couldn't stand the rassicm anymore) and moved back to his parents to Rishon LeZion. His brother says that Ohad finally succeeded in finding an Ashkenazi girl he got along with. The former Yeshiva, however, spoke to her parents and thus the Shidduch went down the drain.


In Rishon, Ohad Rosenberg (Ovadiah) started volunteering for ZAKA. There he met the born Haredi Eliyahu Averman (another Zaka volunteer). Both became friends and the haredi society denies any homosexuality between the two friends.


Ohad's family says that they didn't really like Averman. Ohad's mother had bought a laptop for her son but only Averman used it. The same with Ohad's new car. He didn't have a driving license and Eliyahu Averman became his driver. Once he gave the car to Averman who disappeared with it. Ohad's brother had even called up Averman's father in order to investigate where his son disappeared with the car. Rabbi Averman didn't have an answer.


A short time later, the murder took place in Tel Aviv. Before the two friends had been on a trip to Eilat and I am asking myself why would anyone Haredi go to non - kosher Eilat. The same with Tel Aviv.
Ohad Rosenberg (Ovadiah) killed his friend in the middle of the street and then committed suicide. Israel's haredi society is shocked but no one dares to speak.


What did really happen at the Yeshiva and what was the true connection between the older Rosenberg and the only 19 - year - old Averman.
Eliyahu Averman was closed to the Kaliver Rebbe Menachem Mendel Taub and, again, I am asking myself why he was so friendly with the Sephardi Baal Teshuva Rosenberg (Ovadiah). I imagine that Rabbi Averman was surely not too happy about Eliyahu's new friend.


Haredi society made a big fuss about Eliyahu Averman's funeral but no one came to Rosenberg's funeral. Not even one official representative from Zaka and the Ovadiah's are very disappointed. Ohad sacrificed all of his time to Zaka and they ignore his funeral. However, one person from Zaka came but he told the family that he only came because he was a friend of Ohad.


For haredi society, Ohad Rosenberg (Ovadiah) is and never was one of them. You have to be born into haredi society and as a Baal Teshuva you are just not the same. Many times, the Ovadiah's told their son Ohad to go to a Sephardi Yeshiva and mix with other Baalei Teshuva so that he would be accepted and happy. No, Ohad wanted the Ashkenazi society and suffered from his environment looking down on him.


As Rosenberg was not born into their society, the born haredi society, once again, complains about Baalei Teshuva entering with all kinds of personal problems into their society. No one is learning from the tragedy because Ohad Rosenberg (Ovadiah) was not part of the haredi society but just an outsider.

My Mother went to the Mikveh

B"H

Until a week ago, Israel's headlines were full of the Emmanuel case where Ashkenazi haredi parents refused to let their daughters study with Sephardi girls at the same Beit Yaakov school.

Someone from Mea Shearim, very much in favour of the Ashkenazi side, told me the following difference between the behaviour of Ashkenazi haredi girls and their Sephardi counterpart.

"Once a Sephardi girl walked into the classroom and the teacher asked her why she was late. The girl answered: My mother went to the Mikveh last night".

Explanation:

This could mean that the girl's parents had sex at night, as this is quite common for a married couple (when the wife had been to the Mikveh). After the wife comes out of the Mikveh, the couple usually has a romantic evening together.

However, the Mea Shearim woman I spoke to wasn't to shocked about a sex issue but rather about the fact that the children knew when their mother went to the Mikveh. "This is one of the differences between Sepharadim and Ashkenazim, she said. The Sepharadim are far too open with their personal matters but we (Ashkenazi Haredim) keep it more modest and personal".

Yoav Lalom Interview in "Maariv"

B"H

Yoav Lalom, the Sephardi haredi who started taking the Ashkenazi Beit Yaakov girl's school of the Emmanuel settlement to court, is giving an interview in today's Israeli daily "Maariv". How his father, as a Baal Teshuva, went with him to an Ashkenazi school and wanted him to be signed in. The principle refused and thus Lalom's father began to cry.

So far, I have only read parts of the interview but what Lalom does is praising himself. That his wife is dressed modestly and blablabla. However, when you look at the Lalom photos, he is one of those very modern haredi dressed men. The fashion one's and I assume that his entire plot is taking place because he has political ambitions. Always attacking the Sephardi SHASS party and how they still depend on Ashkenazi society. No doubt, Lalom wants more but obviously doesn't realize that he has even caused more hatred between the two groups. Can anyone seriously imagine how it would be if the Ashkenazi and Sephardi girls from Beit Yaakov were sitting together in ONE classroom ? After all what is happening. When parents go to jail and a Chassidut Slonim letting the Supreme Court decide what to do. Soon the Supreme may run the entire haredi school system. Once letting secular judges decide about haredi matters, even the school separation of boys and girls may seen as rassism. Chassidut Slonim always stresses that there hasn't been any kind of rassism and that all demonstrations take place in order to protest a secular court trying to rule over Haredim.

I just wonder how the girls from Emmanuel must look at each other. I wouldn't put them together  into any kind of classroom, as they may kill each other. Lalom, on the other hand, moved to a hotel in the center of Israel because he has received death threats. If he thinks he can change society, he is missing the point. First of all, and here comes the "rassism", he is a son of a Baal Teshuva and this won't make him too accepted. Sometimes Baalei Teshuva really get on my nerves when they fanatically and constantly try to belong to a society where they are not really accepted. I was / am a Baalat Teshuva myself but try keeping a certain kind of mentality and especially dignity. I am not forcing myself into a society of born Chassidim and I do understand Chassidut Slonim when they only accept girls from their own group. Why should I or any outsider want to study with the Slonim ?

The Tel Aviv part of today's Maariv is gossiping that any Beit Yaakov school in the country is making these separations. This is right but one has to see the whole picture of different mentalities and that Baalei Teshuva from today are unable of entering a class with born Haredim. This would just be a joke ! How can a newly Baal Teshuva quote any Mishnayiot ? No matter if Ashkenazi or Sepharadi. On the other hand, look at all the posh Israeli secular schools in the country. Do they accept Ethiopians or Sephardi kids ? NO ! Many schools only accept pupils fitting them. Students are being chosen - this is nothing new at all.

To me, Yoav Lalom looks like an extreme arrogant guy who is still trying to hide his real purposes.

Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef favours separation between Sephardi and Ashkenazi Students

B"H

I listened to the haredi radio channel "Kol Ba'Ramah" last night and they broadcasted a speech given by the former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef. It is extremely hard to understand him, as he speaks with a terrible Iraqui accent in his Hebrew.:-)

However, the Rabbi said that he does favour the separation of Ashkenazi and Sephardi students in the haredi Beit Yaakov girl's school system. The reasons are different mentalities and minhagim (customs). 

For weeks now, the Sephardi Haredi Yoav Lalum has been sueing the haredi Beit Yaakov girl's school systems. Generally Ashkenazi and Sephardi haredi girls study in separate schools and not only due to different customs. Until today, Ashkenazi haredi girls don't want any Sephardi girls in their classes because this would diminish their chances of finding a good Shidduch (match). And until today, Sephardi girls are referred to as more primitiv. 

Fact is that every Ashkenazi girls wants the best Shidduch for herself but going to a mixed Beit Yaakov would diminish the chances drastically. Why ? Because of politics and prejudices.

The most famous case is taking place in the Emmanuel settlement where the Ashkenazi side of the Beit Yaakov built a fence. The majority of the Ashkenazi Beit Yaakov in Emmanuel are girls from the Chassidut Slonim. Lalum sued the Beit Yaakov branch in Emmanuel and the judges decided that Ashkenzi and Sephardi girls have to study together and everything else would be rassism. As you can imagine, the verdict doesn't change the Beit Yaakov system and on the next day, the Ashkenazi girls from Emmanuel went to a school in Bnei Brak. 

The court case is still going on and Rabbi Yosef made this remarkable statement. We will see if this influences anything.

Ashkenazim don't go to the Synagogue

B"H

The two Knesset members. Me'ir Porush (Yahadut HaTorah) and Ariel Attias (Sephardic SHASS Party) stated that a religious Jew cannot be a member of Israel's left - wing party KADIMA. How could any Thora believing Jew give land back to the Arabs or any non - Jew ?

Indeed, Zipi Livni's KADIMA party looks like a popular party among the Ashkenazi population in Tel Aviv, Herzliya and other secular coast areas. Ariel Attias also made the claim that the vast majority of Israel's Ashkenazi Jews doesn't go to a Synagogue at all.

Attias' statement is very true and it is not only him saying it out loud. In fact, it is well - known that when the massive Aliyot from the European Zionist or secular movements arrived in Israel, countless Eastern European Jews forgot about their heritage and became secular. Especially the German Jews who have never been too religious anyway. At least not after the Haskalah and the entire Reform Movement had spread.

Sephardic Jews, on the other hand, have mostly remained traditional. Countless Sepharadim are religious and if not, they still keep kosher, go to the Synagogue or keep Shabbat. They didn't throw away their entire Jewish identity in order to assimilate and just be like the rest of the nations. 

Ariel Attias didn't intend to say that all Asheknazi Jews became secular and thus lost their heritage. However, enormous parts of today's  Israeli Ashkenazi population couldn't care less about Synagogues and Torah traditions.