The first of a few posts on this year’s anti-Israel activities at the University of California - Irvine. Jewish students put up these signs to warn passersby. They were only up one day because of the strong winds. The winds also knocked down some of the MSU displays.
Rabbi Yonah blogs at Jewlicious.com, and Blogshul.com. He runs Jewlicious Festivals and serves as campus rabbi at Long Beach State and UC Irvine. Cross posted from 60bloggers.com
May there be a good sign and good fortune for us and all of Israel. Amen. — From the prayers for the New Moon.
I am walking through empty markets stalls, littered streets, stained asphalt. Cats scurry in corners over garbage left behind from the thousands of shoppers who crowded the streets yesterday. Wrappers, crumbs, pigeons cooing, strutting amid cigarette butts and cans that line the drainage ditch that runs the length of the street on my way, this Shabbos morning. This shabbos morning that I walk in my mind from time to time. This shabbos morning walk across the innards of Jerusalem, from Rechov Narkiss 7 where we lived to Tiferes Yisrael, across Nachlaot, stone homes, shuls, across empty streets, finally into Machaneh Yehudah. Wide empty street. Wooden carts, awnings covered in Hebrew script from my siddur. Across the markets, and through Geullah up and down hills, across Yafo. No belching busses today. No lines of old women today holding too many bags, and beggars and shnorrers. White taleisim flying in the morning breeze over the shoulders of larger than life Ger Chasidim, proud spodek wearing tribe, flow across the streets silently on their way. The clouds overhead but a whisper, mostly blue deep blue sky over head. The water trickling through this alley I avoid. A few cars pass by, and I don’t really see them, this morning. Tiferes Yisrael rises above the worn homes and streets of Guela, high on the hill, many stories tall, in smooth stone. She is all of Israel for me.
* * *
The original three story synagogue was completed in 1871 and inaugurated on August 19 1872, 29 years after the land had been purchased. For the next 75 years the Tiferes Yisrael synagogue served as the centre for the Hassidic community in the old city. This domed masterpiece of 19th century Jewish architecture was the reunification of chassidus with eretz yisroel. It was the synthesis of the Ashkenazi with the Yerushalmi. It towered over the ancient Jewish quarter with its proud dome – unlike any Ashkenazi shul ever built in Hungary or Poland, lest it compete with a church. And the domed roof in keeping with the local architectural mores and tastes. It even had two names. Some called it the Tiferet Israel synagogue, after Rabbi Israel of Ruzhin, the founder of the Ruzhin and Sadigura Hasidic dynasties, that aided in its construction. Jerusalemites, however, knew it as the Nissan Bak Synagogue, after the son of Rabbi Israel Bak and one of the community’s leaders. It as through the leadership of Rabbi Bak, owner of the first Hebrew Printing Press in Jerusalem, that the land was purchased for the shul in 1843.
During Israel’s war of Independence, the Jordanian Legion captured the old city and the synagogue, which had served as a position for the defenders of the Jewish Quarter, was blown up one hour after midnight on the night of May 20-21 1948. The story of its destruction is captured her in O Jerusalem (1973):
The first major Haganah stronghold to fall was the Nissan Bek Synagogue, the building whose dome had been donated by the Emperor Franz Joseph. It was essential to Rusnack defence plan and the Haganah fought tenaciously to hold on to it…Fawzi el Kutub finally ordered eight of his men to rush across an open space and place a charge at the base of the synagogue. All of them were killed or wounded. No one would volunteer for a second try. Hoping to force his men’s hands by his example, Kutub sprinted across the space himself. When he got to the base of the synagogue, he saw that no one had followed him. Like a spider he pressed himself up against its wall until finally the Tunisian to whom he had promised a wife rushed out to him carrying a fifty-five pound charge. The explosion barely chipped the wall. Three more unsuccessful attempts were required before Kutub managed to blow a hole in the synagogue wall and a party of Legionnaires rushed through the smoke into Nissan Bek’s interior. Sure that the Haganah would counterattack and that the irregulars swarming into the synagogue would quickly turn to looting, Kutub decided to destroy it with a 220-pound charge. His strongest follower, a one-eyed former porter in the railroad station nicknamed the Whale, staggered up with the explosive. A terrible roar shook the quarter and blew out the heart of the building. As the smoke cleared and the frightful devastation caused by the bomb became apparent, Kutub heard a cry of consternation rising from the Jewish posts around him. It was quickly replaced by a triumphant yell. A small group of Haganah led by Judith Jaharan counterattacked and took the smoking ruins of Nissan Bek from the Arabs. As Kutub had suspected, the irregulars had spent their time looting the synagogue. The Haganah found the bodies of Arab irregulars killed in their counterattack with altar cloths around their waist, pages of the Torah stuffed into their shirts, pieces of chandeliers and lamps in their pockets.
* * *
In 1953, Rabbi Mordecai Solomon Friedman, the Boyaner Rebbe, laid foundations for a new Hassidic centre in the new city of Jerusalem, and in the 1960’s a new synagogue was built resembling the original design of the Tiferes Yisrael synagogue of the old city. Called Mesivta Tiferet Israel of Ruzhin, it is home to a large yeshiva, and during Shabbos, services are presided over by the current Boyaner Rebbe, Rabbi Nuchem Dov Brayer, whose grandfather laid the foundation stone for the building.
The Boyaner’s followers make me feel at home when I arrived there for the first time with my spiritual mentor, Rabbi Chaskel Besser. Rav Besser’s father in law was one of the leading Boyaner Chassidim of pre-war Israel, who literally fed thousands of hungry Jews. I look up at the aron hakodesh and the ceiling, rows and rows of pews, and while it is very 1960’s it is still very much an awe inspiring place. Every time that I walk through the doors of the shul I feel the touch of a hand on my shoulder welcoming me, finding me a seat, a siddur, and aliyah, a piece of shiraim from the tisch, a place to stand, a cup with wine, a great warmth of Ahavas Yisroel, of love for a fellow Jew.
* * *
The old Tiferes shul is still in ruins in the heart of the Jewish quarter and was never rebuilt. Only it’s western wall remains. The old home and magnificent court of Boyan lies in ruins in Ukraine. However in New Jerusalem, Boyan and Tiferet Yisrael are packed on Shabbos.
I walk back after Kiddush levanah with my wife Rachel and the city has already restarted, cars rushing everywhere, music, traffic, horns blowing, but we glide through Geula, across Yafo, into Machaneh Yehudah, some stores opening already, across Nachlaot, passing othr shuls emptying out or outside praying at the moon, this new moon, this reborn moon over Jerusalem, and we make our way back and to Narkiss. Our apartment on Narkiss built just before statehood, and also home to Zerah Warhaftig Z”L, at the time one of the last two living signers of Israel’s declaration of independence and a rescuer of Jewish refugees during World War II. Ninety years old, bent over, walking back home held by one of his grandsons.
The Maharsha explains, writes Eluyahu KiTov, “that when Israel is in Exile, we are unable to ascend to Jerusalem to be in the presence of the Shechinah as we were in the time of the pilgrimage Festivals. Nevertheless, we have never stopped yearning to do so, and whenever we see the moon renewed, we are reminded of God’s promise that we will also be renewed, that we will once again attain the merit of ascending and being seen in the presence of the Shichinah.” When we go out to view the moon’s renewal, and bless it, “our inner thoughts are on our own renewal” on our return to service of God.
This “passion play” used was created to incite hatred against Jews and Israelis. This dramatic presentation of Jewish cruelty is in my opinion anti-semitic. It shows the helpless and powerless at the mercy of cruel Jewish villains. While one may choose to see this film in “objective” light - its only a protest Rabbi Yonah to raise awareness of the conflict - I cannot help but view this as part of the continuum of anti-semitism. In fact, the passion plays of the middle ages are very similar in content - showing a powerless Jesus victimized and killed by the Jews. The point of those passion plays was to inflame anger against Jews, and burn the image of the suffering Jesus into the minds of the public. The point of this passion play is to inflame anger against Jews, hatred of Israel, and burn the image of the suffering Palestinians into the minds of impressionable students. Some of these students involved told me that their peace proposal is the elimination - yes destruction - of Israel, and the establishment of an Islamic state in its place.
UCI will be hosting notorious and hateful speakers starting Wednesday with Norm Finkelstein. Which will be followed by ten days of what we casually call hate-week. Partially in response, but also as an affirmation of Jewish identity, Anteaters for Israel has spearheaded a week-long Israel celebration that we are happy to be co-sponsoring. iFest is certainly the largest attempt at UCI to bring a different view of Israel to the campus- and we hope it succeeds in speaking to the majority of students who are uninformed, and uncommitted to the radical Muslim agenda on the campus.
Perhaps the most audacious part of the week will be Thursday night, when an expected 900 people will converge for OASIS - a club night in Garden Grove. It will be the largest pro-Israel event in OC Jewish Student history by far. Students from all over Socal are expected to this massive Israel party -with Israeli dj’s, complimentary admission drinks, and busing.
Come next week, the mood on campus will change, but we hope that this series of events will garner many more friends for Israel and the Jews on the UCI campus - where we truly believe that the majority of students are sick and tired of 1)their school being used as a recruiting ground for radical Islamic movements, 2) the vilification of Jews and other minorities, and 3) the bullying gangs of MSU students that intimidate dissenters.
Check out these programs in LA for Yom Haatzmaut - all part of a week long program 60-4-60, organized by our partners in 60bloggers, Let My People Sing, and Jewlicious Festival sponsors Oyhoo and Craig n Co.
THURSDAY, MAY 8th, Eat, Drink, and Be…The 60-hour celebration begins with a provocative Israel-themed salon hosted by the Professional Leadership Project.
Faith Jam for Israel: A multi-religious ‘jam session’ with choirs from COR AME, Beit Tshuvah, Zimiryah Chorale and special guest artists Mare Winningham, Rick Muchow, Craig Taubman, Yuval Ron and more.
FRIDAY, MAY 9th, Friday Night Live hosts the Consul General of Israel and hip hop sensation Hadag Nachash for an unique Shabbat celebration of Israels 60th.
SATURDAY, MAY 10th, One Shabbat Morning: The Josh Nelson Project and Michelle Citrin and youth groups from throughout the city perform.
Be a part of history at the Gala Concert at the Kodak Theater with Israeli superstars Rami Kleinstein, Noa, and Idan Raichel for this Israeli Independence Day Concert. Special guests: Larry King, Kirk Douglas, Rabbi Yonah and Rachel.
I remember vividly as a child marching in the Israel parades in suburban Detroit. I am not sure how far these marches even went - maybe only a mile. No matter. Marching as a kid with hundreds of Jews from my camps, and with Jews from every generation is a highlight of my childhood. I cherish this memory. It stood out as inspirational, amidst a Jewish communal life that was sorely lacking inspiration. Not until Jewish summer camp was being Jewish that exciting. When I read about Walk the Land’s effort to create Israel walks world-wide in solidarity with Israel on her 60th birthday, it brought back those marches and that great feeling.
The Afikim Foundation based in NY, in solidarity with Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael - aka the JNF abroad - has implemented a worldwide effort called Walk the Land in celebration of Israel’s 60th Anniversary. They hope to foster a sense of worldwide unity in support of Israel, and have already more than 100 cities participating.
If you want to participate, check out the list of cities and then register. If you want to start your own walk in your own community, contact them as well. Walkers get some neat swag and a feeling of being part of a worldwide effort. Even Jews in Mumbai are doing it.
The organizers have prepared a very comprehensive support system to help communities that want to undertake a walk - whether as part of a larger city walk or on their own. You can use the march to raise funds for important causes. They are distributing large banners with imprints of Israel - and if you hurry they may still have backpacks, water bottles and t-shirts to compliment your walk.
If you can’t BE in Israel for Yom Haatzmaut, you can Walk the Land instead.
P.s. They are also raffling off ten free trip to Israel!
Last days of Pesach. Focusing on the redemption, the crossing of the sea, Miriam and dancing, the Ball Shem Tov meal at the end of this holiday. This holiday where matzah shortages in chain supermarkets in California made the news. This holiday where Obama and Clinton duked it out, with Basketball and Hockey playoffs, and hundreds of religious Jews praying mincha at Disneyland together. This holiday that people speak of in the past tense while it is still going on. As in, “my Passover was great” when they mean the seder, and not the holiday. Or do they mean the holiday. This holiday that converged with Earth Day, meaning you could eat your matzah and represent for the earth - it was the convergence of all things crunchy. This holiday where I explained that the cup of Eliyahu is not really for Eliyahu, but that it represents the fifth cup - not four - that some rabbis in the Talmud believed needed to be included in the seder. The argument was solved by the compromise of the fifth cup. And they wrote that when Eliyahu comes to herald the Messiah and this and other questions will be answered, we will know how many cups we were to drink at the seder. Hence it became Eliyahu’s cup. Not Eliyahu in the some Santa Clause kind of way, swooping down on the Jewish homes to swig some bad kiddush wine. I mean what kind of junk did we teach our kids, and what did they feed us? And this holiday where the Muslim Student Union at UCI unveils another outrageous campaign against Jewish students by proclaiming that there is a Holocaust in Palestine and how can Jewish organizations think this meshugass is going to go away by playing patty-cake with the chancellor - it won’t - its gonna get a whole lot worse before you kick these shmucks off campus. And this Holiday where the Hebrew Hammers powered only by sheer will won 14-6, by not swinging the bat. Where they partied on Matzah Pizzas much like the one pictured here. This holiday where all kinds of clever marketing gimmicks were in the works, but the Matzah Song hit a chord. This holiday where we came to the realization that we are all slaves to high oil prices. This holiday where Amy Winehouse is sitting in jail again. This holiday where the weather is wacky and and the stars of aligned, and the Tigers win four straight games. This holiday where you cling to the hope that you can change the world in some significant way by speaking about it at the Seder Table, but you know, deep down, that talk is cheap, and words cheaper, and that the only thing to do is act. Mitzvah. This holiday is about the act. The act of redemption. This holiday where you come up with wonderful ideas because you are elated and high on life, and that you realize that you’ll never get everything done in your life that you hope to. Happy Passover. Happy Redemption Days. and Shabbat Shalom. Matzah Pizza courtesy of Ben Perelstein
Join Maitsyahu and Rabbi Yonah at the Beale Street Music Festival on May 2 4, 2008. Beale Street is one of the premier music festivals in the US —The Black Crowes, Santana, My Chemical Romance, Matisyahu, and many others— with three days of music and street parties in downtown Memphis. It’s a weekend not to miss!
*Matisyahu is headlining Saturday night, and will join festival goers Friday night, May 2 for a free shabbat dinner, just blocks from the festival stages.
*This event is FREE and geared towards Jewish college students and young professionals (ages 18-26)
and sponsored by Jewlicious, Birthright Israel NEXT, and Hillel of Memphis.
*Seating is limited to 150 — registration is strongly recommended.
Perhaps the Chinese have been stuffing Jimmy Carter’s pockets - most likely through donations to his foundation. [Recently we have seen how they stuff the pockets of another former prez - Clinton] Back in 1980, Jimmy Carter led the boycott of the Moscow Olympics in protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. But when asked if he supported a boycott over Chinese aggression in Tibet, <a href=”http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iAFbTsPx174-gHXsXMee0tY8oo1AD9010TQG0″>he replied</a>:
“That was a totally different experience in 1980, when the Soviet Union had brutally invaded and killed thousands and thousands of people,” he said, rejecting the idea of boycotting the Beijing games to protest China’s crackdown in Tibet. He did not address whether just the opening ceremonies should be boycotted.
It is only totally different only if you are being paid by the Chinese. If you are a true humanitarian, and defender of people’s rights to self-determination, as Carter proclaims ot the world, you know that the results of China’s invasion of Tibet has been much, much worse than anything the Soviets did in Afghanistan.
China invaded Tibet on March 10, 1959. According to Tibetan sources, since then 87,000 people have been died. China has carried out a policy to destroy Tibetan culture through destroying Tibetan cultural/religious centers, transplanting millions of ethnic Chinese there, brutally repressing opposition, and forcing into exile the Tibetan leader.
Remember last year, Carter returned from Darfur proclaiming it was not a genocide by the Sudanese government, but a regional conflict. This is the standard line of the Muslim totalitarian regimes, who stuff millions into the coffers of the Carter Foundation. China is also under fire for major supporter of Sudan, and not doing enough to pressure the Sudanese.
Today, Carter roams around Israel, visits Sderot, gets rebuffed by Israel’s leaders, and ignored by the Shin Bet. Any goodwill created when they inked the Peace deal with Egypt nearly 30 years ago has evaporated. I just have one suggestion for the Israelis - pay up. For a mere 5 million of so, Carter could “re-examine” his views on the subject. He could “have a new understanding” and become more of an ally. We could get a ghost writer from the Shalem Center to whip together a new book too.
As it says in Pirkei Avot, “K’ne l’cha chaver”, “acquire for yourself a friend.” It will do Israel a lot more good to support Jimmy Carter with backsheesh, than to rebuff him.
May is coming, and it’s not bringing flowers — its bringing the delusional yet dangerous Storming Norman Finkelstein to a college campus near you. As part of the national Muslim Student Speakers circuit for a while, he always crawls out from his rock in time for May.
Now you may remember that we chimed in during the debate on whether he should get ordained by DePaul and given a real full time job. I offered to teach Norman Hebrew, since he freely admitted that he does not speak Hebrew, nor Arabic. I mentioned that mastery of one or more Semitic languages that are an integral part of the regional conflict would help his chances of getting tenure. He never contacted me for the free lessons and was denied tenure.
We have published too many posts on this nutty professor. Yet, his staying power and his hypocrisy just shout out “blog me!”
Here are some of his upcoming performances:
Brown University— April 15
Boston College — April 16
Grinnell College — April 21 (Passover edition)
University of Southern Maine — April 29
University of Montreal and University of Ottawa — May 3
University of Toronto — May 4
University of Arizona — May 5
University of California, Irvine — May 7
The Evergreen State College, WA — May 8
New College of Florida — May 13
I counted nearly 30 colleges and universities on his published schedule in the US, UK, and Canada from January - May 2008. In other words, since being let go from DePaul he has catapulted to a rarefied status amongst Muslim Students. He is the token Jew, who along side Neturei Karta, say whatever they pay them to say. His performances condemning Israel are being heard by tens of thousands of impressionable young Americans who do not have the requisite knowledge to realize they are being duped. Finkelsteins lectures are often assigned for extra credit or even mandatory by multiple departments, meaning his “lectures” are always well attended.
Passover is one of the most joyous times of the Jewish year. While preparation requires effort, understanding what is required can make the task cheaper, faster, better and easier, and allow you more time to prepare for the spirit of the Holiday. Because this year Passover falls on Saturday Night, preparations need to be done by Friday morning. Tip: If you are making a Seder, use the Hagaddah to check that you have everything you need before Friday night.
CLEANING THE HOUSE Getting rid of the stuff
We clean our homes, apartments and offices to ensure that all chometz we own is removed or sold before Pesach. Chometz is any food made from grain (beer, spirits, bread, crackers, cereals etc.) Kabbalah teaches that we get rid of spiritual chometz too (bad habits, selfishness, cynicism). Jews of European decent also do not eat kitnios: rice, corn, legumes and their by-products. Dust isn’t chometz, but a cookie left in your pocket is. So we clean every place that a child or lazy bachelor could leave chometz. Start by vacuuming the whole house, sweeping, checking pockets, back-packs, purses, and other living areas. Check closets, cupboards, bookshelves, and under couch cushions. If chometz fell into a place where it is unreachable by a dog or child you are not required to get to it. This cleaning ensures that we will not have the prohibited amount of chometz in our possession on Passover (1oz of edible chometz). Remember that your cleaning is also for the sake of preparing for the Festival and you may hire someone to do the cleaning for you.
KOSHERING THE KITCHEN Making it stuff free
We treat chometz in the kitchen very seriously because we don’t want to accidentally eat even a morsel of chometz on Passover. First, put away your chometz dishes and utensils for the duration of Passover. Second, carefully clean the kitchen as you would normally. After the kitchen is clean, we make it kosher for Passover. Wash down counters and tables where you will place food with a cleaning agent, and cover them with decorative paper, shelf liner or vinyl tablecloth. I don’t recommend using tin-foil as this tears easily and is unsightly. Clear the pantry to make room for Passover foods. Clear out fridge and cover shelves with wax paper or plastic inserts.
Ovens: Self-cleaning ovens - just run one cycle. After it cools, cover inside of oven door with tin foil. Other ovens should be cleaned, let stand for 24 hours, and then put on high for one hour.
Stovetop: Clean out food from under burners and broiler. Scrub stove top. Boils pots of water over every burner on high for ten-fifteen minutes to make grates kosher for Passover. Use disposable foil inserts under the grates.
Stainless sinks and faucets: Clean, don’t use with hot foods or liquids for 24 hours, then pour boiling water over sink starting from drain upwards. Ceramic sinks: Use a plastic container placed inside because they cannot be kashered.
Microwaves that are plastic should not be kashered unless it’s your only oven. Metal microwave ovens must be cleaned, let stand for 24 hours, then boil a cup of water inside for a few minutes.
Pots, cutlery, plates and cups: It’s ideal to own two sets, dairy and meaty, only for Passover use. If you cannot then follow these instructions: Wash metal pots, cutlery, and serving utensils, let stand for 24 hours, then immerse in continuously boiling water. Teflon coated pots and all frying pans are (nearly) impossible to kasher for Passover - buy a new one. China, ceramic and porcelain cannot, under most circumstances, be koshered for Passover use.
Glass: Utensils made of Corningware, Pyrex, Duralex, and Correlle may be kashered, if needed, as metal pots (see above). Regular glass must be soaked for three consecutive 24-hour periods in cold water, changed daily.
BEDIKAS CHOMETZ Checking for the stuff
It is a Mitzvah to check for chometz before the Festival. Turn off the lights in your home and use a candle to check your home, office, garage. Because Passover falls on Saturday night, we perform Bedikas Chometz this year on Thursday evening April 17. Ten pieces of chometz wrapped in foil/wrap/newspaper, are placed around the home before the search. During the search, check every room in the house, collect the ten pieces, and any leftover chometz and destroy it Friday morning. You can find the prayer for this ceremony at the beginning of every Haggadah. If you share a house with non-Passover observers just check your personal areas.
MECHIRAS CHOMETZ Selling the stuff
Any chometz that you do not consume or dispose of must be sold to a gentile for the duration of Passover. This is done through a qualified Rabbi who acts as your agent. Sell online at Torah.org or Chabad.org or locally with a qualified Rabbi, a few days before Passover. These items can be kept in your home in a closed and secure place. They can be used a few hours after Passover.
WHAT TO BUY/EAT How to get new stuff
Buy all fresh fruits and vegis, eggs, kosher milk, meat etc before Passover. Look for special Passover certified processed foods and products at major supermarkets (marked with a “P”). There are other customs for Passover about certain foods and matzah. Ask your parents, or your Rabbi what custom you should follow. Several reliable organizations certify kosher products year round and for Passover. They have websites with detailed and helpful information about kosher for Passover products: CRC, OU, Star-K, OK, Not all products need a special “P”, as is detailed in these on-line guides to their supervised products. Passover cookbooks have helpful recipes for traditional and new Kosher for Passover dishes.
CELEBRATE Party time
Now that the house is ready and stocked for Passover, enjoy discussing the Exodus from Egypt, Matzoh, Four Cups of wine, and eight days of celebration. Have a joyous and kosher Passover!
With the Festival of Freedom in a few days, I cannot help but think of the people in Tibet, Burma, Darfur*, the child laborers, the victims of the totalitarian regime which imprisons and tortures dissenters. China is one of the world’s leading human rights abusers. Keep up the pressure on China and companies that are backing the Olympics. Keep up pressure on our politicians to act. Keep up pressure on the Olympic Torch as it makes it way around the globe as a way of focusing the world’s attention of the violence that China commits at home and abroad. And put out the Torch.
The route of the Olympic Torch is being constantly adjusted today to avoid the thousands of protesters on the streets of SF. They had to cut short the route. Hundreds of policemen wielding long batons are keeping protesters off the street. The large rally at the end of the route will have to do without the torch. It has been canceled. Of course, thousands of pro-Chinese protesters are also along the route, at times scuffling with pro-Tibet protesters.
One of the symbols of the torch relay is especially repugnant for me. There is this team of blue-clad Chinese runners that accompany the torch that are in fact security guards with paramilitary training. They are violent. As they go through the streets of SF I noticed they continued their violent ways as in London and Paris. They are blocking, pushing protesters, and not athletes in any sense. The Times in London reports:
China’s blue-clad flame attendants, whose aggressive methods of safeguarding the Olympic torch have provoked international outcry, are paramilitary police from a force spun off from the country’s army. The squad of 30 young men from the police academy that turns out the cream of the paramilitary security force has the job at home of ensuring riot control, domestic stability and the protection of diplomats.
The entire torch ceremony was created by Nazis for the 1936 Olympics. The propaganda department of Nazi Germany created a route through countries they would eventually conquer after 1939, and ended at the Nazi stadium in front of huge swastikas.
The Olympic Torch relay started with a totalitarian regime in Nazi Germany in 1936, and it should end now in 2008 as it is being used for propaganda by another totalitarian regime. The “blue-shirts” protecting the Olympic Torch, remind me of the “brown shirts” Nazi thugs on the streets of Germany, the US, and Britain.
Put out the Torch, its parade through free societies is a mockery.
*China is a major backer of the government in Sudan.
Last Friday night, at a massive Hillel Purim/Shabbat table at Congregation Lubavitch-Long Beach the Purim spirit was intense. We had been singing since 5 o’clock, and after many hours, the room was ringing with our joyous songs. We were pounding the tables and the floors were getting treacherous. Delicious shnitzels, BBQ chicken wings, and other dishes were piled on huge platters, and kept coming out of the kitchen. Ice-cold pitchers of Heineken and many other drinks, going fast and furiously. The party was so holy and so beautiful. I got up to make toasts and L’Chaims. I had been in the same place for several hours.
I gave a roaring toast to the assembled students, alumni, members of the community starting with LChaim, tovim, u’sholom, she yibane beis ha mikdash bimheira v’yameinu, u sen chelkeinu v’torasecha…. and so on for several minutes. Then my wife Rachel yelled in my ear “Don.”
I yelled out “And Let Don Seigleman be with us for Next Shabbos!” Only some in the room understood what I was talking about—former Alabama Govenor Don Siegleman has been unjustly imprisoned for nine months in a work camp, denied being free on bail during his appeal, and featured recently on 60-minutes, MSNBC, and in congressional hearings—but it didn’t because it was Purim and everyone gave a resounding, a gigantic “L’Chaim,” and the singing commensed again. At the table was Dana, Don’s only daughter, who works with us at Beach Hillel. Dana, Rachel and I prayed that Purim would be a yeshua, a redemption for Dana’s dad.
The phone rang this morning and Dana told us the amazing news. Her father was set free just moments before, and she reminded us of the story at Purim, and how she remembered what I had said about “next Shabbos” and how impossible that felt. Thousands of his supporters have been fighting for his release from day one, and it was improbable that anything would change too fast. Then yesterday, the news came that he was wanted for testimony on his case on Capital Hill, and the entire wheel started turning:
OAKDALE, La. — Former Gov. Don Siegelman rolled through the gates of the Oakdale Federal Detention Center at 11:10 a.m. [Friday], released pending an appeal after eight months behind bars.
“I may have lost my freedom for a while,” Siegelman said. “But I never lost faith.”
Siegelman stepped out of a black Chevrolet SUV to speak to reporters. He was wearing a torn gray sweatshirt over a T-shirt.
He said he would have more to say tonight in Birmingham.
“Now, I’m sure you understand this, I want to be with my family for a few days,” he said.
At his house in Birmingham, a red, white and blue balloon floated above the mail box this afternoon and more yellow and silver ones were attached near the front door to welcome the former governor home.
That is Purim - everything can and does change in the blink of an eye. Mazel Tov to all the Siegelman’s and their supporters, Baruch Hashem and Shabbat Shalom!
Because of the rash of ill-founded attempts online to hook up Jews, like JDate, JMatch, JewishMate, Jtrue, JewHarmony, Heebhookup, Sawyouatsinaitemple, Mustlovekugel, JShtup, JewishAdultFriendFinder, HotYiddishMaidel, MarryForMoney, SemiticSex, and many many more, I realized that we need to promulgate the real Jewish views on dating in order to guide the future generations of Jews on the West Side of Jewhattan, some of whom are already third generation singles. Learning a chapter of this book each morning will help all Jews.
Chapter 1: Halachic Issues in Arranging a Shidduch
1. Though everyone feels qualified to be a shadchan, one must exercise great caution.[1] 2. Children born of marriages arranged by untrained shadchanim, G-d Forbid, decide to work, and not learn full-time.[2] 3. Most matchmakers are in it for the money, therefor poskim agree that you should sign pre-shidduch agreements, limiting the amount they can charge.[3] 4. In the event of a good shidduch, a shadchan receives their honorarium, according to all authorities, after the main meal is served.[4] Some say it can be even after desert.[5] 5. Min Ha Torah[6], Parents have no right to veto or approve potential shidduchim. However, Rabbinically, they can veto a shidduch for any good reason.[7] 6. Speed dating, on-line dating, virtual dating, single-socials, venues where singles may meet, Heaven Forbid, and personal ads are strictly forbidden, because aino makom l’bnei melech.[8] They are permitted in Teaneck.[9] 7. One must first ascertain that you know very little about the potential shidduch, so that you will be impartial.[10] 8. Most authorities permit knowing just a little bit about the other party, however, this is only in a case of hefsed merubah.[11]
______________________ Footnotes 1. See Shadchanut K’Hilchasa vol.3, Meor L’Shadachan and Pri Shadchan. The Bidet Shadchan is lenient here. Most people who get into shidduchim are looking for quick get-rich schemes and fail to take into account the responsibility. According to an alternative understanding of the destruction of the Second Beis Hamikdash found in Midrash Kacha Kacha, G-d destroyed his Temple because of poor shadchanus. The RU”M of Havana explains this apparent contradiction with conventional understanding. Was it sinas chinam or poor shadchanus that caused the churban, destruction? He writes that it is really no contradiction. People enjoyed setting up their neighbors with children of families they were incompatible with, so that their own kids could marry the desirable children from good families. Needless to say, in order to fix the sin that caused the expulsion from our land, and the destruction of our Holy Temple, we must learn on a daily basis the halachos of Shidduchim. Only in this way can we hope for a restoration of our glory, the rebuilding of the Temple, and an end to the Exile. 2. Zohar 3. See Hardsell’s® Matchmaker, Matchmaker Make Me A Match, Find Me A Find, Catch Me A Catch, for a suggested pre-shidduch agreement text. 4. See Inyanei Chatunot, by HaRav HaGaon I. M. Broke. 5. The Meor l’Shadchan is lenient. Some say he is actually more stringent, because he liked to serve desert first, at the Shmorgasborg, and then he had the fruit and salad plate. 6. Somewhere it says this, trust me. 7. According to the klal in Chosen Mishpat, “Zeh sheh meshalem, hu ha boss.” In other words, the one who will pay for the mistake gets to nix any good match if it is financially risky. 8. See Hilchos Bnei Melech. Since it would be unseemly for President George Bush, Shlita, to put his children into an online dating program, for example, this is forbidden for all B’nai Yisrael, who are Children of Hashem. 9. As is known, the laws of tinok sheh’ nishbar, are more lenient in regards to dating and other things. 10. The Alhapanim Gaon, admonishes those who think they know it all. “Who knows it all if not Hashem. So you think you are so great that you want second- guess Hashem? Who made you so high and mighty?” See Mussar For Dummies. 11.Commonly translated as “great financial loss.” In our context it refers to “loss of a great shidduch.”
The Wikipedia entry on Purim Torah is slowly gathering some momentum, finishing first in google searches. There are download links to all of my Purim Torah booklets, including the now classic, Haimish L’Chaim: Laws & Customs of Shidduchim.
Today on the Fast of Esther I told over the story of Esther to the UCI Interfaith Center weekly lunch. Enjoying the story were several members of the clergy at the Center, as well as many students who had not heard the story of Esther before. I double checked with the local priest, “It’s in your Bible, right?”
He reassured me that the Book of Esther is in the Authorized Bible editions that they all use, but is not the focus of great attention. I was invited to tell the story at Sunday mass sometime. . .
Meanwhile, the Hamantaschen that failed were relegated as Special Hamentaschen and got their own container. These failed cookies spit out their innards and just jam topped cookies, instead of the real deal.
I raided the Persian Market today for lots of Persian Delicacies to celebrate. There are no less than 7 kosher Persian breads as the local Persian market- maybe more. Got lots of other Persian treats to ensure that we experience Purim with some attention to ethnographic detail.
Most schools are on Spring Break, aka Easter Vacation, and so although I was at UCI today for several hours, I didn’t manage to give out many Hamentaschen. Yesterday, at the Beach Hillel Tent at Long Beach State, they handed out a good number of treats. Some of the members of our Hebrew Hammers Co-Ed Softball Team are dressing up for Purim as “Hammered Hebrews.” It works.
I’ll be heading up to JConnect LA’s Purimpalooza party at The Palace later tonight to check out a replay from the Festival: Moshav and DJ Eric Rosen.
The Sfas Emes wrote that we give Mishloach Manot in order to inspire us to perform the Mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel, loving your fellow Jew. This basket is my virtual Mishloach Manot to all our readers. Thanks for the love and keep reading and commenting on Jewlicious.
Wishing everyone a joyous and inspirational Purim.
About...
"Just as the Temple was destroyed through baseless hatred, it will only be rebuilt through baseless love."
I am walking through empty markets stalls, littered streets, stained asphalt. Cats scurry in corners over garbage left behind from the thousands of shoppers who crowded the streets yesterday. Wrappers, crumbs, pigeons cooing, strutting amid cigarette butts and cans that line the drainage ditch that runs the length of the street on my way, this Shabbos morning. This shabbos morning that I walk in my mind from time to time. This shabbos morning walk across the innards of Jerusalem, from Rechov Narkiss 7 where we lived to Tiferes Yisrael, across Nachlaot, stone homes, shuls, across empty streets, finally into Machaneh Yehudah. Wide empty street. Wooden carts, awnings covered in Hebrew script from my siddur. Across the markets, and through Geullah up and down hills, across Yafo. No belching busses today. No lines of old women today holding too many bags, and beggars and shnorrers. White taleisim flying in the morning breeze over the shoulders of larger than life Ger Chasidim, proud spodek wearing tribe, flow across the streets silently on their way. The clouds overhead but a whisper, mostly blue deep blue sky over head. The water trickling through this alley I avoid. A few cars pass by, and I don’t really see them, this morning. Tiferes Yisrael rises above the worn homes and streets of Guela, high on the hill, many stories tall, in smooth stone. She is all of Israel for me.
The first major Haganah stronghold to fall was the Nissan Bek Synagogue, the building whose dome had been donated by the Emperor Franz Joseph. It was essential to Rusnack defence plan and the Haganah fought tenaciously to hold on to it…Fawzi el Kutub finally ordered eight of his men to rush across an open space and place a charge at the base of the synagogue. All of them were killed or wounded. No one would volunteer for a second try. Hoping to force his men’s hands by his example, Kutub sprinted across the space himself. When he got to the base of the synagogue, he saw that no one had followed him. Like a spider he pressed himself up against its wall until finally the Tunisian to whom he had promised a wife rushed out to him carrying a fifty-five pound charge. The explosion barely chipped the wall. Three more unsuccessful attempts were required before Kutub managed to blow a hole in the synagogue wall and a party of Legionnaires rushed through the smoke into Nissan Bek’s interior. Sure that the Haganah would counterattack and that the irregulars swarming into the synagogue would quickly turn to looting, Kutub decided to destroy it with a 220-pound charge. His strongest follower, a one-eyed former porter in the railroad station nicknamed the Whale, staggered up with the explosive. A terrible roar shook the quarter and blew out the heart of the building. As the smoke cleared and the frightful devastation caused by the bomb became apparent, Kutub heard a cry of consternation rising from the Jewish posts around him. It was quickly replaced by a triumphant yell. A small group of Haganah led by Judith Jaharan counterattacked and took the smoking ruins of Nissan Bek from the Arabs. As Kutub had suspected, the irregulars had spent their time looting the synagogue. The Haganah found the bodies of Arab irregulars killed in their counterattack with altar cloths around their waist, pages of the Torah stuffed into their shirts, pieces of chandeliers and lamps in their pockets.
I walk back after Kiddush levanah with my wife Rachel and the city has already restarted, cars rushing everywhere, music, traffic, horns blowing, but we glide through Geula, across Yafo, into Machaneh Yehudah, some stores opening already, across Nachlaot, passing othr shuls emptying out or outside praying at the moon, this new moon, this reborn moon over Jerusalem, and we make our way back and to Narkiss. Our apartment on Narkiss built just before statehood, and also home to Zerah Warhaftig Z”L, at the time one of the last two living signers of Israel’s declaration of independence and a rescuer of Jewish refugees during World War II. Ninety years old, bent over, walking back home held by one of his grandsons.
UCI will be hosting notorious and hateful speakers starting Wednesday with Norm Finkelstein. Which will be followed by ten days of what we casually call hate-week. Partially in response, but also as an affirmation of Jewish identity, Anteaters for Israel has spearheaded a week-long Israel celebration that we are happy to be co-sponsoring. iFest is certainly the largest attempt at UCI to bring a different view of Israel to the campus- and we hope it succeeds in speaking to the majority of students who are uninformed, and uncommitted to the radical Muslim agenda on the campus.
Check out these programs in LA for Yom Haatzmaut - all part of a week long program 60-4-60, organized by our partners in 
I remember vividly as a child marching in the Israel parades in suburban Detroit. I am not sure how far these marches even went - maybe only a mile. No matter. Marching as a kid with hundreds of Jews from my camps, and with Jews from every generation is a highlight of my childhood. I cherish this memory. It stood out as inspirational, amidst a Jewish communal life that was sorely lacking inspiration. Not until Jewish summer camp was being Jewish that exciting. When I read about 
Last days of Pesach. Focusing on the redemption, the crossing of the sea, Miriam and dancing, the Ball Shem Tov meal at the end of this holiday. This holiday where matzah shortages in chain supermarkets in California made the news. This holiday where Obama and Clinton duked it out, with Basketball and Hockey playoffs, and hundreds of religious Jews praying mincha at Disneyland together. This holiday that people speak of in the past tense while it is still going on. As in, “my Passover was great” when they mean the seder, and not the holiday. Or do they mean the holiday. This holiday that converged with Earth Day, meaning you could eat your matzah and represent for the earth - it was the convergence of all things crunchy. This holiday where I explained that the cup of Eliyahu is not really for Eliyahu, but that it represents the fifth cup - not four - that some rabbis in the Talmud believed needed to be included in the seder. The argument was solved by the compromise of the fifth cup. And they wrote that when Eliyahu comes to herald the Messiah and this and other questions will be answered, we will know how many cups we were to drink at the seder. Hence it became Eliyahu’s cup. Not Eliyahu in the some Santa Clause kind of way, swooping down on the Jewish homes to swig some bad kiddush wine. I mean what kind of junk did we teach our kids, and what did they feed us? And this holiday where the Muslim Student Union at UCI unveils another outrageous campaign against Jewish students by proclaiming that there is a Holocaust in Palestine and how can Jewish organizations think this meshugass is going to go away by playing patty-cake with the chancellor - it won’t - its gonna get a whole lot worse before you kick these shmucks off campus. And this Holiday where the Hebrew Hammers powered only by sheer will won 14-6, by not swinging the bat. Where they partied on Matzah Pizzas much like the one pictured here. This holiday where all kinds of clever marketing gimmicks were in the works, but the Matzah Song hit a chord. This holiday where we came to the realization that we are all slaves to high oil prices. This holiday where Amy Winehouse is sitting in jail again. This holiday where the weather is wacky and and the stars of aligned, and the Tigers win four straight games. This holiday where you cling to the hope that you can change the world in some significant way by speaking about it at the Seder Table, but you know, deep down, that talk is cheap, and words cheaper, and that the only thing to do is act. Mitzvah. This holiday is about the act. The act of redemption. This holiday where you come up with wonderful ideas because you are elated and high on life, and that you realize that you’ll never get everything done in your life that you hope to. Happy Passover. Happy Redemption Days. and Shabbat Shalom.
With the Festival of Freedom in a few days, I cannot help but think of the people in Tibet, Burma, Darfur*, the child laborers, the victims of the totalitarian regime which imprisons and tortures dissenters. China is one of the world’s leading human rights abusers. Keep up the pressure on China and companies that are backing the Olympics. Keep up pressure on our politicians to act. Keep up pressure on the Olympic Torch as it makes it way around the globe as a way of focusing the world’s attention of the violence that China commits at home and abroad. And put out the Torch.
Last Friday night, at a massive Hillel Purim/Shabbat table at Congregation Lubavitch-Long Beach the Purim spirit was intense. We had been singing since 5 o’clock, and after many hours, the room was ringing with our joyous songs. We were pounding the tables and the floors were getting treacherous. Delicious shnitzels, BBQ chicken wings, and other dishes were piled on huge platters, and kept coming out of the kitchen. Ice-cold pitchers of Heineken and many other drinks, going fast and furiously. The party was so holy and so beautiful. I got up to make toasts and L’Chaims. I had been in the same place for several hours.
Because of the rash of ill-founded attempts online to hook up Jews, like JDate, JMatch, JewishMate, Jtrue, JewHarmony, Heebhookup, Sawyouatsinaitemple, Mustlovekugel, JShtup, JewishAdultFriendFinder, HotYiddishMaidel, MarryForMoney, SemiticSex, and many many more, I realized that we need to promulgate the real Jewish views on dating in order to guide the future generations of Jews on the West Side of Jewhattan, some of whom are already third generation singles. Learning a chapter of this book each morning will help all Jews.
The Wikipedia entry on Purim Torah is slowly gathering some momentum, finishing first in google searches. There are download links to all of my Purim Torah booklets, including the now classic, 
