Copyright / Photo: Miriam Woelke
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Yom Kippur Experience 5772
B"H
Staying in Tel Aviv over Yom Kippur was the perfect decision although I must admit that there is nothing like the Yom Kippur atmosphere in the Old City of Jerusalem. Like near the Kotel (Western Wall).
For all three services, I was at Chabad near Shenkin Street. Some years ago, Chabad took over the building and has renovated it in a very nice way. The inside just reminded me of the Hurvah Synagogue in Jerusalem.
Photos of the Central Chabad House taken at a different occasion:
Miriam Woelke
"Kol Nidrei" was packed last night. The positive Tel Aviv campagne was not too charge any seats at the Synagogues located in the city center. Local papers published all Synagogues where people can go without ordering an overpriced seat in advance. Thus, many Tel Aviv inhabitants who otherwise don't go to Synagogues, should fell free and go. And they did.
It was a very nice idea and especially Chabad was ready to receive the mainly secular and traditional crowd. They had put out extra Tallitot for men, shawls for maybe not too modestly dressed women, copies of prayers and special prayer sections as well as Machzorim.
The services were very nice and Israeli - like fast. Ne'ilah was scheduled for 4.15pm but didn't start until 5pm due to a lon Mincha service. Then the rush through Ne'ilah began and we even had a later blow of the Shofar. We were only done after 6pm although the Tel Aviv fast was over at 5.54pm.
Originally I was planning going to different shuls but because of the beauty of the new Chabad Synagogue I got stuck there.
SHANA TOVA & METUKA - Have a great and sweet year !!!
Friday, October 7, 2011
GMAR veCHATIMAH TOVA !!!
B”H
To all my Jewish readers:
GMAR veCHATIMAH TOVA – May you be inscribed in the Book of Life !
It is rather strange. I am expecting some Yom Kippur content and most Israeli papers are writing about the Yom Kippur War today. Remembering soldiers, tactics and the fact that we still have to protect ourselves, as our enemies keep on planning to destroy us. What the majority of Israeli politicians hasn’t learnt is to also trust in G – d and not the latest, most advanced, tank or missile.
For me, Erev Yom Kippur is a bit stressful because I have to work until, at least, 3pm. Then going home, showering and eating. Unfortunately, there exist too many rumours from those people who don’t really know Tel Aviv. Despite all false claims, Tel Aviv has plenty of Synagogues and I will do some Shul hopping tomorrow. From Chabad, to a litvishe haredi Synagogue, maybe something Sephardi inbetween and the Ne’ilah service at the Great Synagogue with Tel Aviv’s Chief Rabbi Israel Me’ir Lau.
For those of you visiting Israel at the moment: Public life will almost completely stop between 2 – 4pm. The last bus from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is running at 2.30pm.
Even the Tel Aviv supermarket chain AM:PM is going to shut down until tomorrow night.
ZOM KAL – Have a good and easy Fast !
A look into the YOM KIPPUR MACHZOR
B”H
A brief look into the Machzor (Prayer Book) of the Jewish Holiday YOM KIPPUR
We are praying the entire Machzor on Yom Kippur. It includes the first Ma'ariv (evening prayer) after Yom Kippur began, the morning service "Shacharit", the afternoon service "Mincha", the Ne'ilah Service (Closing the Gates) as well as the last Ma'ariv Service after the blowing of the Shofar and Havdalah.
The beginning of the Shacharit morning service with the HAMELECH - The King - Prayer.G - d is "sitting" on His thrown and judging the Jews.
Again and again: The "Vidui - Confession" of our sins (Al Chet she chatanu lifane'icha").
Almost at the very end, the Kehilla is crying out: SHEMA ISRAEL. We are announcing G - d as the ONE and ONLY G - d. The paragraph following is a bit unusual because, throughout the year, we are saying the part of the SHEMA ISRAEL, "Baruch Shem Kavod Malchuto Le'Olam va'Ed", with a low voice. However, on Yom Kippur, the Kehillah is saying it out loud. Afterwards we are saying out loud "Ado - nai Hu HaE - lo - him" (seven times).
Photos: Miriam Woelke
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Yom Kippur Atmosphere
B”H
Finished and tired from work, this is how I am going to enter tomorrow's Yom Kippur. I still need to work and will be done at the early afternoon, run home, shower, eat a bit and continue running to the Synagogue. Afterwards I am going to do one thing: Sleep.
Shabbat morning (Yom Kippur), Shacharit, walking home after a few hours, going to rest and then its time for Mincha and Ne'ilah.
It is going to be a quiet and relaxed Yom Kippur because I am at the burnout and falling apart edge. I don't care about the fasting (except for missing my favourite cup of coffee) but just need one thing: A Bed !
It is going to be a quiet and relaxed Yom Kippur because I am at the burnout and falling apart edge. I don't care about the fasting (except for missing my favourite cup of coffee) but just need one thing: A Bed !
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Why do bad things happen to good people ?
B"H
A few thoughts on Yom Kippur
If G - d is good, then He wouldn’t want bad things happen to good people, and if G - d is omnipotent, He could prevent bad things from happening to good people. Therefore, when bad things do happen to good people, we wonder if G - d is really good or omnipotent, or whether He exits at all.
Ten Explanations
1. We can predict that more intelligent beings will often to things that less intelligent beings won't understand.
2. The suffering might not be caused by actual evil, but a perfectly fine circumstance which this person is responding to irrationally.
3. The circumstances might not be a punishment but rather an opportunity to grow (a test).
4. The difficulties might be just a means to push someone towards a wonderful circumstance.
5. In many cases, what seems like evil at the hand of G - d might be evil at the hand of man.
6. We might not appreciate the value of a kindness or the seriousness of cruelty.
7. Since the only fair reward is based on effort, not on objective accomplishment, then a good G - d might send obstacles to maximize our effort and consequent reward.
8. A person might be given to stimulate them to rethink their plans or past behaviour -- as sort of wake - up call.
9. There are times when progress towards history 's - successful - conclusion necessitates supernaturally limiting the success of the righteous. When they are supernaturally handicapped, that allows forces of evil to become more manifest. People then realize more clearly what it means to live with evil, and choose good -- not out of fear of punishment, but out of clarity about the difference between good and evil. In the end days, in order to accelerate us the final outcome (of man choosing good), G - d thus accentuates the choice.
10. Reincarnation (Gilgul)
______________________________
(Text from Yeshivat Aish HaTorah)
JEWISH AGENCY working together with Christian Missionaries
B"H
It is nothing new at all what I am telling you here but I found an actual proof of what is going on. The JEWISH AGENCY working together with the Christian (Missionary) Embassy in Jerusalem.
For years, Israel's anti - Missionary organization YAD LE'ACHIM as well as leading haredi Rabbis, have been warning and announcing that the "International Christian Embassy" is deeply involved in prostelyzing Jews.
Aliyah 2010 from ICEJ on Vimeo.
What do vicious missionaries have to do with Aliyah ? Besides prostelyzing, bringing lots of Christians into the country and claiming that they are Jewish.
Unfortunately, the Jewish Agency is not the only organization receiving funds from missionary Christians. Another example are the "Christian Friends of Yad Vashem" or SHEKEL community services. Have a look how Christian missionaries have been using Holocaust survivors for their vicious goals:
The link showing a photo and names of Christian missionaries !
________________________
Source: The links I gave are taken from the website of the International Christian Embassy itself.
“Break(fast)” on Yom Kippur
B”H
More than ten years back, I was hanging up some flyers for Jeff Seidel’s Student Information Center in Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter of the Old City. On the flyer it said that a BREAK – FAST is going to take place after Yom Kippur is over.
I was near the Kotel (Western Wall) Plaza when I hung the last flyers on the walls of AISH and Yeshivat HaKotel. Suddenly an older Chassid passed by, read one of the flyers and tore it apart. In Hebrew he said to me that I should be ashamed of myself.
People who are not too familiar with English vocabulary don’t necessarily read “Break – Fast” but BREAKFAST.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Bnei Brak and "Noam Elimelech"
B"H
It seems like I am becoming more and more attached to the haredi part of Bnei Brak. While living in Jerusalem, I have become extremely familiar with many local haredi areas and never really liked the haredi Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv. Those looking for real haredi action, great Tishes and Synagogues need, of course, go to Mea Shearim. Unfortunately, Mea Shearim has become an Israeli tourist center almost every Friday night. Visitors who are neither haredi nor have any deeper knowledge about Chassidism, stroll around the ultra - Orthodox neighbourhood. National religious youth, not having any clue about haredi life, starts yelling around and squeezes itself onto the Tish benches. Moreover, quite a few so - called "tour guides" make lots of money by taking groups to the Mea Shearim Tishes.
Bnei Brak doesn't have too many visitors from the outside on Friday nights. This is a bit unusual, as the inhabitants would show their dislike publically. You don't just walk into Kiryat Yoel on a Friday night when you are national religious or a tour member. Outsiders don't run to the Gur (Ger) Tish. By the way, the Gerrer Chassidim don't accept any women at the Rebbe's Tish !
Not too many people go to the Bnei Brak Tishes unless it is Vishnitz. Rabbi Israel Hager attracts plenty of visitors and his Ezrat Nashim goes about two floors. I have been to his Tish twice but once in Jerusalem and the second time in Kiryat Vishnitz when he celebrated outside and not at the inside Tish.
I have been quite a few times to Bnei Brak lately. For several hours in a row and walked as many streets as I could. I have become familiar with some parts but keep on getting to know the place much better. What I love is all those small Shtieblachs all over town and I finally found the Chernobyl Synagogue where I am planning to go for a Tish.
Yesterday, I again went to Bnei Brak but this time I wanted to buy a Yom Kippur Machzor, as my other Machzor is still in Jerusalem. I am not getting to Jerusalem before the Chag in order to pick it up and so I decided to get a new one. Not just a plain Machzor but the "Machzor Rabbah" Nussach Sfarad. Meaning, a chassidic Machzor.
Now you think that buying a Machzor in Bnei Brak shouldn't be a problem and it will basically take about, hhmm, let's say, 15 - 20 minutes. Maybe even less. But here I was wrong because I had completely forgotten about something.
Ashkenazi booksellers have the habit to sell everything in a set and thus I found all Machzorim in sets. However, I didn't need a whole set with the holiday prayer books for Pessach, Shavuot, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkot but just a single one for Yom Kippur. All the rest I am going to pick up in Jerusalem anyway.
The first two bookstores I went to (all of them in Rabbi Akivah Street) were offering sets only. I didn't put on my religious wardrobe yesterday and went in pants. You should have seen the face of some people in the bookstores when I walked in.:-)))
Only sets and one entirely Sephardi bookstore. I spoke to the owner who almost convinced me to take a Sephardi Machzor, as he had plenty of single ones. This is nothing new for me because I already have a Sephardi Machzor for Rosh Hashana, besides my chassidic one. What I found out is that you, as an Ashkenazi or Chassid, are able to survive with the Sephardi Yom Kippur Machzor. It is much harder having a Sephardi edition on Rosh Hashana. However, towards the end of the Machzor, Ashkenazim start introducing different prayers and then you are in trouble for a while. Eventually I ended up not buying the book and I was almost down at Kahaneman Street, as I saw another bookstore. Not the Artscroll one which is totally overpriced !
I walked into the store and found myself with the shopkeeper who was a younger Chassid. Chassid like hardcore and not some Breslover or Chabadnik.:-)))
A national religious woman looked through the Machzorim and Siddurim and I finally found a single Yom Kippur Nussach Sfarad. I was so happy, the national religious woman wasn't and started an argument with the shopkeeper. While she left, I had found some more interesting books. Among others, the Torah commentary of Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhansk, "Noam Elimelech". I asked the shopkeeper how much it is and he almost fainted. Also because I asked him about the "Ohev Israel" commentary.
The last thing he had expected was me buying "Noam Elimelech". I probably looked like Tel Aviv to him and he saw me going through the Machzorim. This was okay but when I showed some deeper interest, he couldn't believe it.
However, I bought the Machzor and "Noam Elimelech" and when I paid, the Chassid handed me another book to look at. Then it was my time to faint, as he had given me a book like "Modest Women and their Thoughts" or something like that. I told him that I may buy it next time.:-)))
Anyway, I am very happy with my two books and I think I found a bookstore where I am going to buy more often. Maybe even the "Modest Thoughts".
My new Machzor for Yom Kippur
The "Noam Elimelech" I purchased.
Photos: Miriam Woelke
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