Jewish and Gentile Souls do not go Together

B"H

Most of Yom Kippur I spent in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. At the new and super posh AISH HATORAH complex right across the Kotel (Western Wall). Inbetween the prayer service, Rabbi Yaakov Marcus (from the women's seminary NEVE YERUSHALAIM) gave quite interesting classes. Mainly Q & A on Yom Kippur or Judaism as a whole. Interestingly, many questions came from young American Jews concerning "Intermarriage".

Especially the subject of "Intermarriage" seem to raise lots of interest because the worldwide figure of Jewish Intermarriage is rising. Just look at Chelsea Clinton's "husband". According to Halacha they are not married, as there is nothing in Judaism such as a Jew marrying a Gentile unless the Gentile converts to Judaism. Meaning: According to Jewish law, Chelsea Clinton is not married to a Jew because her marriage to the Jew is non - existent.

During the class, some American youngsters in their twenties asked Rabbi Marcus why a Jew cannot marry a Gentile. The Rabbi's response:

A Jew can be related with a Gentile on a Nefesh (desire) level as well as on a Ruach (emotional) level but a Jew has a different Neshama (soul) from the rest of the world and thus can never be a soulmate of a Gentile. An Intermarriage may work but the two souls can never be connected.

In case the Gentile honestly converts to Judaism:

Then he receives a Jewish soul and the two souls may fit together !

Yahrzeit of the LELOVER REBBE

B"H

Exactly a year ago, the LELOVER REBBE (Bnei Brak) passed away. Here are some great photos from the Yahrzeit:

http://www.bhol.co.il/news_read.asp?id=19868&cat_id=2

No Simchat Beit HaShoeva in Mea Shearim ?

B"H

Haredi Internet sites are reporting about an agreement between Mea Shearim's Sikarikim ( crazy fundamentalist) and certain chassidic groups. There are "rumours" or "true reports" that some chassidic groups have canceled their Simchat Beit HaShoeva celebrations because their youth would fall into misbehaviour. Only women of the Toldot Aharon and Breslov are allowed into their Synagogues during Sukkot. Chassidut Toldot Avraham Yitzchak canceled its Simchat Beit HaShoeva and "only" celebrates a new Torah scroll. In other words "Only Men are allowed in".
The Toldot Aharon are even handing out entrance tickets to their members.
Meaning: I cannot dress up as a TA woman in order to get in ! :-))))

What is happening with Mea Shearim ? Does even the Toldot Aharon Rebbe let the Sikarikim dictate everything ?

Anyway, I will try my best to walk through Mea Shearim, make some photos and see if the "Modesty Bridge" from the Toldot Aharon is around again ! If anyone throws me out, so I am kicked out. What can I do ? :-))))

The grave of Rabbi Me'ir Ba'al HaNess

B"H

Last Thursday, I went to three Zaddikim (righteous) grave in Tiberias (northern Israel). Here are some photos from the grave of Rabbi Me'ir Ba'al HaNess.
Within the next few days I will put the photos from the Rambam grave as well as from the grave of Rachel (wife of Rabbi Akivah) into the blog. Furthermore, plenty of photos from the Safed cemetery are following as well !

I must say that my "Zaddikim Grave Trip" inspired me very much. Rabbi Me'ir's grave is always crowded. Mainly with Sephardi families. His grave is located a little outside Tiberias but I still walked all the way along the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee).

One of the entrances to the grave.

Here some families ate and souvenir shops are all over the place.



A MUST before entering the gravesite:

Wearing modest clothes and Cohanim are not allowed to enter !

Eliyahu HaNavi's (?) chair with yellow "Free Gilad Shalit" ribbon.

"Ezrat Nashim - Women's side" at the grave.

The men's side

Outside the grave

Photos: Miriam Woelke

"Umm al Fachem" - How the "poor" Palestinians live

B"H

How the "poor" Palestinians live around Umm - al - Fachem ! 

Umm - al - Fachem is a Palaestinian town in northern Israel near Afula.
I took those photos while I was sitting on a bus. Umm - al - Fachem is not located in the Palestinian territories but in Israel.

Barak Hussein Obama demands a building freeze but see how the Palestinians are allowed to build wherever they want. 

The world doesn't complain about them !

Photos: Miriam Woelke

Kivrei Zaddikim in Tiberias (Tverya)

B"H

Early this morning I took the bus from Jerusalem to Tiberias in the Galilee. The trip usually lasts for 2,5 hours including a 15 minutes break in Afula. Finally I got to Tiberias, checked into a hostel (charing the dorm with two Scandinavian Christians and asking myself whether it is okay to have the Idolworship NT in the room) and right away running to three graves of Zaddikim buried in town.

My first destination was the grave of the RAMBAM (Maimonides, 1135 - 1204). Years ago, I had been there before with my Yeshiva and was now surprised to find a Mechitzah over the grave. Furthermore I noticed that also Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai and Rabbi Horowitz (Shne'i Luchot HaBrit) are buried next to the site of the Rambam.

My second destination was Rachel, the first wife of the Tanna Rabbi Akivah. This grave caught me rather emotional.

My last stop was the Tanna Rabbi Me'ir Baal HaNess.

Rachel's grave was new to me but to the other two graves I had been before. To Rabbi Me'ir even twice.

I did everything walking in the heat and now I am finished. Next week I am going to write a longer report and will also put incredible photos into the blogs.

GMAR veCHATIMAH to all of you !!!

The Days before Yom Kippur

B"H

This Yom Kippur is falling on a Shabbat and thus causing us additional prayers during the service. Sorry, for thinking so terribly attached to the physical world but I am just being realistic. However, the worst thing for me on Yom Kippur is not the lack of food but rather the lack of a good cup of coffee.

The special custom of this week is visiting the graves of the Zaddikim (Righteous). This already took place in the days of the Geonim (Talmudic Rabbis, approx. 650 - 1000 after the beginning of the Common Era). Jews don't pray to the dead Zaddik himself but may ask his soul for help to change G - d's mind regarding the final verdict on Yom Kippur.

I enjoyed myself when I went to the famous Safed (Zfat) cemetery on Sunday morning. Unfortunately I didn't have too much time to say a few Tehillim (Psalms), as my bus to Jerusalem was leaving.

Another Israeli custom is "going to the Kotel (Western Wall) at night in order to say Selichot. Jews from all over the country are there and they especially coming by bus in groups. Some Haredim are already upset because of the missing modesty because many secular women just run in dresses with something which looks like "mini".

I didn't have a real Rosh HaShana feeling this year. The reason may have been that I stayed in Safed with a huge group of Jews from all over Israel. People screaming, kids yelling and rushing from one event in one room to the next. Eventually the feeling came but now for Yom Kippur it is different. Tomorrow afternoon I am taking off to the grave of a very famous Zaddik: The Rambam (Maimonides, 1135 - 1204) in Tiberias.

I will be back in Jerusalem for Yom Kippur and hope that everything is going to work out. This Friday is not a regular Friday, as due to Yom Kippur, buses stop running at about 2pm and shops will be closed by 2.30pm.

Whoever wants to face a great Jewish scene:

Be at the Kotel an hour before Yom Kippur ends and see thousands of Jews praying the Ne'ilah service. Then G - d will be closing the gates, so to speak, and may have made His final judgement over every single Jew.

Anyway, my favourite holiday is Sukkot and I am very much looking forward to that. Traveling to some further Jewish sites and going to chassidic Tishes in Bnei Brak as well as in Mea Shearim. 

_________________________

Remark:

YOM KIPPUR is a Jewish holiday and Gentiles have nothing to do with this holiday ! Whereas Rosh HaShana was for Jews and Gentiles because G - d was judging the world, on Yom Kippur only Jews are being judged !

The SAFED (ZFAT) Cemetery - Part 2

B"H

The grave of the great famous Kabbalist, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, 1534 - 1572, (known as the ARI) at the Safed cemetery (northern Israel).

You can find a Mechitzah at the ARI grave. Men and women pray in different sections. However, the Mechitzah only seems to apply at special events.

The women's side at the back of the ARI's grave.

Women lit memorial candles.

A prayer at the grave of Rabbi Yitzchak Luria.

The grave of the ARI from the men's side (see huge white memorial stone on top of it). Next to him are buried: The Kabbalist Rabbi Moshe Cordovero and Rabbi Shlomo HaLevi Alkabetz.

The grave of Rabbi Luria.

Prayer books at the grave of the ARI.

The grave of the ARI's mother underneath her son's grave.

The Safed cemetery doesn't only include "regular" graves as we know them but also plenty of caves where many different Rabbis are buried.

See right top of the photo:

The entire stage is build around the ARI's grave. There are other famous Rabbis next to him but most visitors go to the ARI's grave which is a pity.

 Photos + Copyright:

Miriam Woelke

Photos: Chicken Kapparot in Jerusalem

B"H

Last night, I went to see the Yom Kippur Kapparot done with chickens. Especially kabbalistic literature is referring to this way of doing Kapparot before Yom Kippur.

Here are some impressions from the schoolyard of the ETZ CHAIM YESHIVA near Jerusalem's Machane Yehudah Market:

 

Ritual slaughter (Shechitah) of the Kapparot - Chicken done by the Schochet.

The Chickens

After the ritual slaughter, the Schochet throws the chickens into those wholes in order to loose their blood and eventually die.

One of the guys working at a stand offered me a chicken but I refused. A while ago, I stopped doing Kapparot at all and I am thus following the Ramban who calls it a "foolish custom".

I took those pictures but was near to throw up. The smell of fresh blood was unbelievable and I escaped after a short while.

Photos & Copyright: Miriam Woelke

Links on KAPPAROT:

http://www.koltorah.org/ravj/kapparot.htm

http://www.chaburas.org/kapparot.html

Chabad

Kapparot in Jerusalem

B"H

The KAPPAROT before Yom Kippur are nothing more but a custom ! 
Some great Rabbis say it is a foolish custom others see it as a Tikun (rectification of one's soul). 

I don't participate in the Kapparot but if you are planning to do so:
You can  participate either by giving a certain amount of money (about 20 Shekels / 5 Dollar and more) as Zedakah for a Yeshiva etc. The second possibility is buying a chicken alive and a Shochet is going to slaughter it ritually on the spot. The chicken is being circled over your head and, symbolically speaking, the sins are being transferred into the chickens. Then it will be slaughtered and you can either give it to the poor or take it home and eat it. 


Killing thousands of chickens is causing an outcry of animal activists every single year anew. Demonstrations against Kapparot with chickens are taking place all over Jerusalem. Nevertheless, especially the Ashkenazi haredi society doesn't give in and insists on Kapparot with chickens. Many other Jews have switched to money (see photos below).

In front of the Machane Yehudah Market (in Jaffa Road).

Photos: Miriam Woelke

Links on KAPPAROT:

http://www.koltorah.org/ravj/kapparot.htm

http://www.chaburas.org/kapparot.html

Chabad

Picture of the Day

 Kikar Shabbat junction (Mea Shearim / Ge'ulah) in Jerusalem.

Photo: Miriam Woelke

When Modesty becomes a Pain

B"H

On Sunday morning, I took a state - owned EGGED bus from Safed back to Jerusalem. The ride usually takes about 3,5 hours with a 15 minutes break inbetween; somewhere at a gas station including some shopping opportunities outside Afula.

The bus wasn't too crowded when we left the central bus station in Safed at 11.03am but filled up slowly as soon as the bus stopped at further stops inside Safed. At the last stop, a haredi woman got on with her 5000 children. Immediately she started looking for "kosher" seats. The bus was anything but divided into gender seating but she asked everyone to move so that her children could sit next to the appropriate gender. The girls next to women and the boys next to males.

The passengers got upset and refused to move. Especially after noticing that the haredi woman didn't care about everyone else's modesty but rather of her own. She asked secular Jews to move (women to men) but just to ensure the modest seats of her own family.

I found this behaviour more than rude. 

Are secular or other non - haredi Jews less than Haredim ? Don't we have a right of sitting where we want ? I f I don't want to sit next to a guy, I don't have to be haredi do make such a decision. What if I am just a simple Jew but don't want to sit next to men on a bus because I am not comfortable with being so close ?

The same haredi behaviour at our bakery: People come knocking on the door when we already closed for Shabbat. "I need Challot (Shabbat bread), I am hungry !"

Many Haredim just don't care about anybody else but only about their own Mitzvot ! However, those "Mitzvot" won't be too accepted and only fire back at the person behaving in such a manner.

I seriously hope that people may change after Yom Kippur !