Chanukkah in Jerusalem

Chanukkah has started tonight and we lit the first of eight candles. The picture shows a Chanukkiah in Jerusalem, built of thousands of small lights.

The Truth about Tanya Rosenblit

B"H

The truth about Tanya Rosenblit differs a lot from the left - wing media articles:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/150832#.TvAvUF12rZJ

Chanukkah Insights

Chanukkah 2010 / 5771 in Jerusalem's Nachlaot neighbourhood 

Photos: Miriam Woelke

B"H

Tuesday night, Dec. 20, or 25th Kislev, is already the first night of Chanukkah. Chanukkah lasts for eight days and is the only holiday where the event took actually place in Israel. Especially in Jerusalem and in the Beit HaMikdash. It is a rabbinic holiday stipulated by the Sanhedrin. For the first time, Chanukkah was already celebrated one year after the Greeks were thrown out of the Temple.

___________________________________

Chanukkah is a Jewish holiday although other religions such as Christianity like to steal Jewish holidays and claim them as their own. The Chashmonaim (Maccabim) were Cohanim and fought against idol worship in Israel. They fought for Judaism and the Jewish people and if they knew today how other religions use their ideas for their own selfish purposes, the Chashmonaim would turn around in their graves. Xmas and Chanukkah have nothing whatsoever in common and whoever tries to connect them kicks the ideals of the Chashmonaim with his feet.

___________________________________

I am not mentioning the whole Chanukkah - history but I would like to give some insights instead. 

The goal of the Greek - Syrian occupation was to destroy the Jewish religion. Studying Torah, keeping Shabbat and Brit Milah (circumcision) was forbidden according to the law. In 165 B.C.E., the Chashmonaim won the war against the Greek idol worshipers and brought back the spirituality to the Jewish people. The Greeks concentrated on materialism and the beauty of the body whereas the Jews wanted to keep their religion. It was not only a physical war but also a spiritual. The Neshama fought against materialism. 

The real miracle of Chanukkah is not the military actions of the Maccabim but the burning of the Menorah for eight days (see Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heshel of Apta in his book "Ohev Israel", the Sefat Emet and many others). After the Maccabim re - conquered the Temple, they only found one tiny bottle of kosher olive oil which hadn't been used for idol worship. With this amount, the Menorah was only to burn for one day but miracoulesly the oil lasted for eight days. In that time, the Jews were able to produce more kosher olive oil. 

In Kabbalah and Chassidut, the eight days of Chanukkah and the miracle are timeless. For G - d, time does not exist because He is infinite. Time only exists for us and is implanted in our DNA. The upper (higher) spiritual worlds of G - d do not know time. There, past, present and future coexist and all three times happen together. Therefore, Chanukkah is timeless.

But why miracle ? What exactly is a miracle ?

For us a miracle is always something supernatural. Something is happening against nature and we are unable to explain it with our human understanding. We have no logical explanation for it. But not everything which seems to be a miracle is really a miracle. G - d is always able to change nature and at the time of the Chashmonaim He did. Thus, the Temple Menorah burnt for eight days instead of one. 

Chassidut sees the Chanukkah candles as Jewish Neshamot (souls). The light itself is considered to be the "Or HaGanuz - the Hidden Light" which G - d created on the very first day of Creation. This hidden light will only be back in the time of Meschiach (see Bnei Yissachar and others). The eight days are a spiritual journey of body and soul. Food, candles and the history represent body and meditation; joy, warmth and light represent the soul. 

The light of Chanukkah has the power to reach every single Jew, no matter how far he is from his Jewish roots. His soul (Neshama) still contains the spark which enables him to connect directly to G - d (Rabbi Shmuel Bozorowsky, the present Admor of Chassidut Slonim in Jerusalem). This spark always remains with a Jew, even after his death. At the time of the resurrection, the spark will come to life again (Bnei Yissachar). 

The Sefat Emet (one of the previous Rebbes of Chassidut Gur) considers each Chanukkah as a spiritual renewal. Especially for the Jews in the Diaspora. The Chanukkah light reminds them of their Jewish identity and, at the same time, of the difficulties of living in the Diaspora. The war of the Maccabim shows us that we should never give up hope because we Jews have the spiritual power to change everything. G - d can change nature any time and bring us the Ge'ulah. 

Have a great and spiritual Chanukkah wherever you are - Chanukkah Sameach !

Chassidic Rebbes on Chanukkah

Haredim founding their own bus company

B”H 

After all the fuss Israel's secular left - wing media has been making about the EGGED Mehadrin buses, the Haredim decided to found their own bus company . Already next month, private kosher buses are due to run and the bus passengers will get their rides for free. The most complicated issue is always a legal one, as our Ministry of Transportation is only granting certain bus stops to EGGED but not to other private bus companies. However, the entire present public fuss may even caused a faster decision on that matter. Who knows ...

Also today, the left - wing daily YEDIOT ACHARONOT continued its war against Israeli Haredim by sending out camera teams onto Mehadrin buses and provoking passengers. Yesterday's article by  Tanya Rosenblit caused lots of public attention but when I asked secular people in Tel Aviv on what bus exactly Ms Rosenblit got on, no one knew that it was actually a Mehadrin and not a regular public bus. However, all those people I spoke to today said that it was an EGGED bus and on any EGGED bus, people can sit wherever they want, as EGGED is a state - owned company. If the Haredim want their separate seating, so found your own company. And this is what is going to happen now.

EGGED Bus in Jerusalem

Copyright / Photo: Miriam Woelke

On the other hand, Haredim from Jerusalem have been complaining about secular Israeli women getting on Mehadrin buses and starting provocations. Mehadrin buses who only run within haredi neighbourhoods and are normally not used by other passengers but Haredim.

It is strange that the war against the Haredim is taking palce right before Chanukkah. In the days of the Maccabim, many Jews joined Greek ideologies (the so - called HELLENISTS) but, in the end, lost everything. 

Israel's Chief Rabbis stated that our country is not an entirely religious one and that the haredi population has to accept that there are other Jews as well. Most Haredim I know are actually against those kosher buses.

Tel Aviv: Illegal Africans at the UN - office

Ben Yehudah Street in Tel Aviv. An office of the United Nations is located in the building and this why, every morning, plenty of Africans are awaiting the opening hours. The Israeli government now wants to start deporting thousands of illegal African infiltrators and yesterday, hundreds of Africans went to the UN - office in the course of the day. What they want is a "refugee status" but 99% are nothing but people who just want to live anywhere but in Africa. 

40,000 African infiltrators live in Tel Aviv and time has come to deport them back to Africa. Israel is too small and has enough other problems to deal with. 

Demonstration against 40,000 Africans in Tel Aviv last week:

http://shearim.blogspot.com/2011/12/demonstration-against-40000-africans-in_13.html

Copyright / Photos: A working colleague of mine

Why did Tanya Rosenblit use a Mehadrin bus ?

B”H

The Israeli newspaper YEDIOT ACHARONOT greeted its readers with a huge headline this morning. The 28 - year - old student Tanya Rosenblit became the latest "hero" of those women being attacked by Haredim on certain Egged buses. HERE is the article from Yediot where Tanya Rosenblit describes her bus ride from Ashdod to Jerusalem. She placed herself in the men's section of the bus and got attacked by the male haredi bus passengers. 


However, what Yediot Acharonot doesn't tell is that Ms. Rosenblit took one of the haredi Mehadrin buses and NOT an ordinary EGGED bus.  

The readership not being familiar with the different bus lines from Ashdod to Jerusalem will get the impression that the incident happened on a regular EGGED bus but this is not the case. Tanya Rosenblit apparently used one of the Mehadrin buses on purpose in order to provoke the haredi passengers and get her headlines. 

Mehadrin buses have separate seating (men in the front and women in the back) and as soon as I use such a bus, I know what to expect. I am fully aware of the separate seating but Tanya Rosenblit ignored the fact and now received her headlines.YEDIOT ACHARONOT, on the other hand, is very well - known for its anti - haredi policy and articles.

Israel's haredi press has been reporting the whole day about the incident and came to the conclusion that Tanya Rosenblit is nothing but provoking.

A haredi article on the subject. Unfortunately only in Hebrew ! 

http://www.bhol.co.il/article.aspx?id=35652&cat=1&scat=1

Haredi Demonstration against government taking over Rashbi Kever

 See more photos HERE !

B”H 

Thousands were demonstrating at Jerusalem’s Kikar Shabbat tonight. The Israeli government is planning to turn the Kever of the Rashbi (Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai) in Meron into an international tourist site. Meaning that the Ministry of Tourism wants to ship thousands of Christians from all over the world to the holy site. 

Can anyone explain to me what Christian have to do with the Tanna Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai ? If Rabbi Shimon knew this, he would beat the Christians from his grave site as fast as he could. 

Tonight, the Edah HaCharedit was demonstrating at Kikar Shabbat (Ge’ulah / Mea Shearim. The Toldot Aharon Rebbe was there, as well as his brother, the Toldot Avraham Yitzchak Rabbe. Further participants: The Rebbe of Rachmastrivka, Pinsk – Karlin, Stropkov, Mishkenot HaRoim, Rabbi Wosner and many others.

Chanukkah Song

Parashat Vayeshev: Joseph’s Pit

B”H 

One of the SHEARIM readers asked from where do we know that the pit where Joseph was thrown in by his brothers was not empty (as the Torah says) but contained snakes and scorpions ? How do Talmud (Shabbat 22) and Torah commentators draw this conclusion ? 

An interesting question and the answer is, once again, showing us that there is much more behind the Torah than just reading the word. The Jewish task should be to dig much deeper into the Torah content and find out what G – d is really trying to tell us. Furthermore, the Torah has a revealed and a hidden side and not everything seeming so obvious can be taken literally. Many things in the Torah are not that clear at all and this is why G – d provided us with the oral law which, later on, was put together in the Talmud. 

Parashat Vayeshev 37:24:

“Then they took him, and cast him into the pit; the pit was empty, no water was in it”. 

Those are the words of the Torah. So, apparently the brothers threw Joseph into an empty pit, as the Torah tells us but why does it also state that “No water was in it ?” Isn’t an empty pit empty ? Why do I have to add that no water was in it when the pit is empty anyway ? 

I want to begin with a famous metaphor on this Torah Passuk: Symbolically speaking, a head which is empty of Torah, is vulnerable to harmful ideologies and thoughts - Implying that in Jewish literature, the Torah is also referred to as water. Man cannot live without water and thus he cannot live without Torah. 

Rashi commentates that the “empty pit” and “no water inside” were mentioned together because this is what the brothers saw. An empty pit, meaning that there was no water inside. But, and this is what the brothers didn’t know and see: The pit contained snakes and scorpions. G - d let a miracle happen and Joseph survived in the pit. Later on, his brothers sold him to the Ishmaelites. 

Had the brothers known that G – d had just created this kind of miracle for Joseph, they would not have sold him. However, G – d’s plan was that Joseph had to go down to Egypt in order to get the entire family down where the Jews had another important Tikkun (soul rectification) to carry out.

Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook on Parashat Vayeshev

 Synagogue of the Greek Jews living in the Tel Aviv Florentin neighbourhood. The Greek Jew Yitzchak Florentin and his family moved to Tel Aviv in the 1920ies and bought the land where the neighbourhood was built. The Synagogue was built in 1943.

B"H

This week's Torah Parasha is telling us the famous story about Yoseph being sold by his brothers, and one of my favouriste commentaries on the Parasha comes from Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook. The Torah tells us that the pit where Yoseph was thrown in by his brothers was empty. However, our commentators let us know that the pit was not totally empty but full of snakes and scorpions. Rabbi Kook, however, look at the pit filled with scorpions from a different point of view: As a metaphor. 

According to the Rabbi, this particular pit can be compared to the Diaspora. Yoseph was in danger because the snakes and scorpions could have attacked him. So is a Jew being stuck in the Diaspora. Vulnerable to all kinds of dangers surrounding him. A Diaspora Jew always has to watch out not to get swallowed up by the temptations around him such as intermarriage, non - kosher food and any other assimilation. 

I had the experience that, sometimes, I felt more Jewish in the Diaspora than in Israel. Especially when Gentiles attack you with anti - Semitic remarks and you suddenly feel proud to be a Jew knowing that those accusers are totally wrong. 

The Haredi World this Week

Among other topics: The weddings in Vishnitz (Bnei Brak) and in Toldot Avraham Yitzchak (Mea Shearim).