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https://aish.com/when-i-decided-to-take-god-and-religion-seriously/?src=ac
When I Decided to Take God and Religion Seriously
by Rabbi Nechemia Coopersmith
May 24, 2023
I ignored the holiday of Shavuot the same way I ignored the issues related to God – more out of ignorance and apathy than informed choice.

As a teen I fell into the category of what is today called the "Nones", someone who doesn’t identify with any religion.

According to the Pew Research Center, the Nones are the fastest growing segment of the American population. In 2021, about three-in-ten U.S. adults (29%) describe themselves as atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular” when asked about their religious identity – 6% higher than five years ago. According to a 2020 Pew Report, 27% of American adult Jews say they do not identify with Judaism.

I went to Hebrew school and synagogue on the High Holidays decked out in a snazzy suit. We had a large family Passover Seder with gefilte fish, matzah, the four questions, hunting for the afikomen, as many of the guests gravitated to the den for the real action – watching the Stanley Cup playoffs game.

Judaism was a quaint set of traditions, not a religion that I took seriously.

Judaism was a quaint set of traditions, not a religion that I took seriously. That’s probably why my friends and I never heard of Shavuot, the Jewish holiday that commemorates the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai, 50 days after the exodus from Egypt. What meaning could Shavuot have to someone like me who had no clue if there was a God and viewed the rules of Judaism as antiquated and irrelevant? It wasn’t on my radar, not even as an excuse to miss school.
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I ignored Shavuot the same way I ignored the issues related to God – more out of ignorance and apathy than informed choice.

That changed when I recognized my burning desire for meaning and decided to take the question of God’s existence seriously. Is there evidence that God exists (I wasn’t prepared to take a leap of faith)? What is the definition of God and what difference would He make in my life?

I discovered that the basis for Judaism is a search for truth, built on a preponderance of evidence and rational argument. The first of the Ten Commandments is “to know” that God exists – not to just blindly accept. After six months of delving into the various arguments and classical Jewish texts, I was at a crossroads. Where does the evidence lie? Weighing the question of the existence of God and the Divine authorship of the Torah, in what direction did the scales tip?

Even tentatively moving from the category of “The Nones” to "A Believer” made me queasy.

For me, merely asking this question was a radical departure. It was the first time I was taking God seriously and I was torn. I wasn’t eager about adopting certain religious practices. Even tentatively moving from the category of “The Nones” to “a Believer” made me queasy. Most of the religious people I was exposed to growing up were Bible-thumping TV evangelists who didn’t quite impress me with their intellectual rigor. Was I becoming one of them?

Accepting the Torah
When the Jews stood at Mount Sinai and God offered them the Torah, they replied as a unified nation, “Naaseh v’nishma – we will do and we will understand.” They accepted the Torah and all of its commandments right off the bat, without knowing everything that it entails. They signed on the dotted line, and only afterward read the fine print.

Contrast this with how the non-Jewish nations responded to God's offering them the Torah. The Talmud says each nation asked, “What’s written in it?” which is a reasonable question. We want to know what we’re getting ourselves into if we sign this contract. God answered each nation by telling them the very commandment they were loath to accept, and each one rejected it.

What’s going on here? The impulsive Jews accept the Torah, no questions asked, and the reasonable-minded non-Jewish nations end up refusing it. Why?

God doesn’t need your stamp of approval. As the Creator of the universe and the source for all of existence, He determines reality. On offer wasn’t just a new self-help book full of advice and guidance from which you can pick and choose; the Torah is the blueprint of creation, the transcendent map that reveals the structure, purpose, and inter-connectedness of the entire universe. Its commandments enable one to harmoniously connect to its Author, becoming attached to the Infinite.

Once they knew the Torah was coming from God, they were ready to commit because that was Truth, regardless of how they felt about it.

The Jews standing at Sinai heard God speak. Once they knew the Torah was coming from God – and yes, that’s a huge condition – they were ready to commit because that was Truth, regardless of how they felt about it.

The other nations who asked, “What’s written in it?” were essentially telling God, “Let me see if this Torah fits into my lifestyle and if I like it.” The very question was a rejection; they were more interested in staying in their comfortable bubble than going with the truth.

My Personal Sinai
I wasn’t standing at Mount Sinai hearing God speak, so I didn’t have the clarity they had. But the offer on the table was similar, albeit messier and laced with some doubt: Examine the evidence for the Divine authorship of the Torah and if you think it’s compelling (again, a big if), do you want in? Are you prepared to say as the Jews at Sinai replied, “Naaseh v’nishma – we will do and we will understand”?

The holiday of Shavuot replicates the acceptance of Torah. It reminds me to set my sights on truth, not comfort. When it boils down to listening to God or my inner desires, I need to humble myself and subjugate my values to His values. It’s not easy, but if Torah is real, then I need to do the changing, not God. That’s the “we will do” part. Then there’s the “we will understand” – which means I have the unmatched opportunity to devote my lifetime to studying God’s blueprint and strive to understand as much as I possibly can, infusing my life with meaning and connecting to His boundless love.

That’s what it means to take God and Torah seriously.

https://aish.com/jewish-mindfulness-my-search-for-inner-peace/?src=ac
Jewish Mindfulness: My Search for Inner Peace
May 21, 2023
I was surprised to discover the Judaism has a rich and deep tradition of meditation and spiritual practices for increased awareness and self-mastery.
It’s 4 AM.
I’m roused out of my uncomfortable sleep on the wooden bed with the wooden pillow, in a room barely big enough for the bed and my bag, by the incessant ring of the bell. I’m taking part in Wat Suan Mokh ten-day silent meditation retreat in Surat Thani Province, Southern Thailand.

I’m here with about 50 other foreigners all seeking peace of mind, mastery of thought, a quenching of desire, Nibana – Enlightenment. I emerge from under my mosquito net and make my way outside where I hear the splashing as participants pour buckets of cold water over themselves from the huge cement troughs in the courtyard.

I join in the ritual. There’s nothing like a cold bucket shower to wake you up in the morning.

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We trudge towards the meditation hall as the first greyish light begins to reveal the silhouettes of the palm trees lining the surrounding hills. Fifteen hours later, we fall back into our wooden beds, another day of conscious breathing, conscious walking, conscious eating, consciously coming face to face with ourselves. Away from distractions - no TV, no phone, no reading, no writing, no computers, only one meal a day - just us and our thoughts.

Like many Jews seeking spirituality, I didn’t consider my own tradition a relevant place to find what I was looking for.

We are learning to focus all our attention on our breath, trying to discover the inner peace, bliss and higher awareness that lies underneath the constant babbling of the monkey mind…

Judaism and Spirituality?
Like many Jews seeking spirituality, I didn’t consider my own tradition a relevant place to find what I was looking for. The few religious Jews I saw didn’t seem so spiritually connected and what I knew of the religion seemed to me just a load of laws and details, too rigid for a free spirit like me.

Yet, after six years living in the Far East studying martial arts (black belt in taekwondo and brown belt in Aikido), partaking in several 10-day silent meditation retreats, yoga courses, fasting and hiking in the Himalayas, it was a great surprise for me to find that Judaism has a rich and deep tradition of meditation and spiritual practices for increased awareness and self-mastery.

The average American spends 90% of their waking hours looking at a screen. The mindfulness trend is a backlash to the rampant mindlessness.

The term Mindfulness is trending nowadays with mindfulness books selling millions of copies, yoga centers popping up all over, meditation apps flooding the market. This isn’t so surprising, given the trend it’s reacting to: rampant mindlessness. According to a recent survey, the average American spends 90% of their waking hours looking at a screen. Many people admit that the first thing they do when they wake up and last thing they do before they sleep is check their phones for messages and updates. Many work in front of a computer, in the bathroom they are checking their smart phone, in the gym there are screens, at home is TV, social media and Zoom on the laptop, and many go to the movies or sports bar on their night off. The average person has at least five notifications channels – Whatsapp, SMS, Instagram, phone and email, buzzing and beeping all the time.

Add to that Linkedin, Snapchat, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube – we’re being constantly bombarded by things vying for our attention.

Part of the reason for this is that when we don’t have distractions we are left with possibly our worst enemy - our own mind. The voice in our head doesn’t stop from the second we wake up to the second we go to sleep. For many people, that voice is not the most uplifting, kind, sweet, positive companion to be stuck with. So we distract ourselves - which of course is not a real solution.

Rather than trying to escape from the mind, we need to learn to calm and control it, turning it from an enemy into our best friend. Your thoughts create your whole experience of life; therefore, it is imperative that we learn to start calming and controlling them.

Passive and Active Meditation
The primary aim of meditation is to tame the mind, to stop it jumping around so fast and uncontrollably, to observe it, focus it, calm it down and experience the stillness hiding beneath. There are, generally, two types of meditation - passive and active.

Passive meditation is the exercise of quieting the incessant chatter of the mind. One way to do this is focussing all awareness on something in the present moment; for example, the breath or one of the five senses. In Jewish meditation this is called hashkata - quieting. When, inevitably, the mind starts up its chatter again, the key is not to get frustrated, just smile and return your awareness to the steady inhale and exhale of your breath.

Another meditation technique is habata - non-judgmentally observing all thoughts and emotions that arise and letting them pass through the consciousness without reaction or resistance. Rather than judging yourself, blaming others, fighting or engaging in the thought, we just watch it pass like a cloud in the sky, or a wave on the sea.

After a while, the breaks in between the thoughts get longer as the focus gets more consistent and effortless, at which point it feels like the deep peace you experience when the baby finally stops screaming and drops off to sleep at three in the morning.

We’ve all experienced this sublime state naturally for a few moments, perhaps

when listening to classical music or the birds singing in the park or feeling the sun

on our face on a beautiful spring day. Life is often like treading water, with constant waves of challenges, emotions and responsibilities rolling towards us. So much of our energy is taken up with thinking that on the rare occasions when we rise above our thoughts (even for a short while) it is like withdrawing onto the beach, finally resting, finding serenity and recharging.

Active meditation involves using the mind in a focused and controlled way to get deeper understanding into things, create certain thoughts, feelings and beliefs and approach life in a more positive and empowered way.

An example of this in Jewish teachings is hitbonenut – contemplation. Contemplating all the gifts we have in life arouses gratitude, contemplating the beauty and majesty of nature arouses awe, contemplating the fact that we won’t be here forever (in the right, healthy way) arouses purpose and vitality.


Jewish teachings are replete with references to meditative ideas and practices. The Torah teaches us “Don’t be drawn after your negative thoughts and desires.” Ethics of the Fathers, a collection of wise teachings of our sages, teaches, “Who is strong? The one who tames and controls their negative internal world” (4:1), and Kind David teaches that our spiritual and personal growth has to be done joyfully.

Joy is not dependent on external circumstances. It is a state of mind, a perspective on life.

In Hebrew, the word for being in joy is b’simcha, Joy is not dependent on external circumstances. It is a state of mind, a perspective on life. The Baal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidism, pointed out that the letters of the word b’simcha, in joy, also spell the Hebrew word “machshava” - thought. Your happiness is completely dependent on how you are thinking.

Calming your mind isn’t just a path to finding peace and happiness, it’s the key to revealing your Divine Essence - your soul. The word for breath in Hebrew is neshima, which shares the same root letters as the word for soul - neshama. The Torah teaches that God imbued Adam and Eve with a Godly soul by blowing from His own essence to give them life and vitality. By focusing on our breath and the life force it gives us, we can come into contact with our Divine Soul.

From ashrams in India to monasteries in Thailand, Himalayan hikes and martial arts on a Korean beach, I took a long journey to discover that what I was looking for was at home all along.

Rabbi Dov Ber Cohen runs an online Authentic Jewish Mindfulness Course looking into the wisdom and tools you need to develop physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health, vitality and wellbeing www.litmindfulness.org

https://aish.com/when-hitler-tried-to-take-over-hollywood/?src=ac
WHEN HITLER TRIED TO TAKE OVER HOLLYWOOD
Leon Lewis and his network of spies saved the Jews of LA and prevented a Nazi takeover in America.
In 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany, solidifying his terrifying rise to power. Pretty soon, he would initiate his plan to take over Europe and exterminate its Jews.

While Hitler and the Nazis were busy in Europe, they were also hiding out in Los Angeles and attempting to break into Hollywood – the biggest propaganda machine in the world. Their scheme? To murder 24 prominent Hollywood figures like Charlie Chaplin, Al Jolson, and Louis B. Mayer, sabotage military operations along the West Coast, and go around Boyle Heights, the Jewish neighborhood, and gun down as many Jews as they could.

All of this is documented in “Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America,” a fascinating book by Steven J. Ross. The author is a professor of history at the University of Southern California and director of the Casden Institute for the Study of the Jewish Role in American Life.

“Hitler in Los Angeles” follows Leon Lewis, an attorney the Nazis called “the most dangerous Jew in Los Angeles.” He ran a spy operation consisting of military veterans and their wives who infiltrated the Nazi groups and foiled their devious plans.

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Lewis, who served as the first national executive secretary of the Anti-Defamation League, devoted his life to protecting the Jewish people. When Hitler came to power, people didn’t take it seriously – but Lewis knew that he was a dangerous man and the Jews could not stand idly by.

“Many Americans viewed Hitler and his followers either as thugs or fools,” writes Ross. “They assumed that the Nazi leader’s virulent anti-Semitism was a passing phase, and once in office he would moderate his policies toward the nation’s Jews. But Lewis realized Hitler was using violence to get into power, and once in office, Nazi leaders would likely eliminate all political opposition.”

https://aish.com/a-bris-at-96-a-wwii-veteran-enters-the-covenant/?src=ac
Aish.com > Life > Profiles
A Bris at 96: A WWII Veteran Enters the Covenant
by Kylie Ora Lobell
May 21, 2023
Armin Konn never got a circumcision. At 96, he decided it was now or never.
Nearly 3,800 years ago, Abraham, the Jewish patriarch who brought monotheism to the world, gave himself a bris (circumcision). He entered a covenant with God, and ever since, the Jewish people have circumcised eight-day old Jewish boys, bringing them into the covenant between God and the Jewish People by channeling our animalistic desires towards spiritual pursuits.

When Armin Konn was born in Ukraine to Jewish parents in 1926, getting a circumcision was not a simple matter. Living under a anti-religious, communist regime, his parents were hesitant to do so. Jews could not practice their religion without fear of being persecuted.

Konn’s early life was not easy. When he was a teenager, World War II broke out and the Nazis came to murder Jews. The GPU, the predecessor to the KGB, arrested and killed his father in 1937.

“I went through a terrible life,” said Konn in an exclusive Aish.com interview. “All of this was very tough. I was brought up with hardship and I got used to it. I can take more hardship than anyone else without complaining.”

During World War II, Konn fought in the Red Army air force until his plane was downed over Lithuania. He was taken to a Lithuanian/Nazi collaborator POW camp, where the Nazis made everyone strip down. Anyone who was circumcised was taken to the side and killed. Since Konn wasn’t circumcised, he survived. Following the war, he managed to escape the Soviet Union and go to Canada in 1952. He currently resides in Toronto.

In recent years, he started going to the Jewish Russian Community Centre. Rabbi Yoseph Zaltzman, founder of the JRCC, was sent to Toronto by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in 1980 to serve the local Jewish immigrants from the USSR. Today, there are 10 synagogues and branches of the organization all around the city. At the Willowdale branch, led by Rabbi Zaltzman's son, Rabbi Yisrael, Armin began to get more involved, attending the Passover seder and other classes and events throughout the year.

Rabbi Yisrael Zaltzman and Armin Konn

The topic of circumcision came up when Rabbi Yisrael was chatting with Konn. When Konn mentioned he didn’t have one, Rabbi Yisrael suggested he go through the procedure.

“He was totally for it,” said Rabbi Yisrael. “He didn’t have any hesitations.”

After checking with Rabbi Dr. Avi Rosenberg, a doctor who specializes in brises for adults, as well as making sure that Konn got pre-surgical clearance from his doctor, Rabbi Yisrael arranged for Konn to have a bris. During the procedure, he was connected to a heart monitor, and everything went well. At the same time as his bris was happening, Rabbi Yisrael’s newborn son Elazar was receiving his bris.

A big day for both of them!

It’s safe to say that Konn is the second oldest Jew to ever have a bris, right after Abraham himself who was 99. So when the time came for Konn to choose a Hebrew name, what else could it be?

“Armin wanted a Hebrew name that started with A, so I said Avraham for sure,” said Rabbi Yisrael. “And that’s the one he picked.”

Following the bris, there was a grand celebration and feast. At the meal, Konn took out his accordion and played the famous song “A Yidishe Mamme” in Yiddish, English and Russian, to everyone’s astonishment.

“He wanted to drive home, but the doctor didn’t allow him to,” said Rabbi Yisrael. “But he’s up and about. He’s feeling great, thank God.”

The active 96-year-old, who is a volunteer for the Air Cadet League of Canada, still drives and copilots planes in Toronto.

Looking back at the bris ceremony, Rabbi Yisrael said that Konn expressed his gratitude and appreciation.

“He said, ‘I feel like a free man.” That’s his way of expressing the spiritual transformation that occurs at a bris – when he officially enters the covenant between God and the Jewish People.

Konn emphasized this point. “I feel good, like a bird being let out of a cage,” he said. “It was time to belong to my people.”

https://aish.com/hunting-the-ghosts-of-beirut/
Hunting the Ghosts of Beirut
by Dr. Yvette Alt Miller
May 21, 2023
7 min read
The true story behind tracking down Imad Mughniyeh, one of the world’s most wanted terrorists.

Fans of the Israeli spy series Fauda are eagerly awaiting Showtime’s newest spy drama, Ghosts of Beirut, made by Fauda creators Avi Issacharoff and Lior Raz. The four-part Ghosts of Beirut describes the rise of a master terrorist in Beirut, and the grueling years that CIA and Mossad spies tracked him, desperately trying to end his deadly reign of terror across the Middle East.

The series is based on the real-life 20-year manhunt for Imad Mughniyeh, one of the world’s most wanted criminals and – before the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 – the world’s most deadly terrorist.

Born into Hate
When Mughniyeh was born in 1962, Lebanon was still a prosperous country. Its capital Beirut was widely known as the “Paris of the Middle East” for its wealth and sophistication. Yet Mugniyah’s family shared little part in Lebanon’s success. They were poor farmers in the south of the country and belonged to the Shiite branch of Islam, which is widely followed in Lebanon’s neighbor Iran (it’s a minority in most other Middle Eastern nations).

Terrorist Imad Mughniyeh

https://aish.com/rudy-guiliani-jews-are-not-getting-over-it/?src=ac
Rudy Giuliani, Jews Are Not Getting Over It
The Jewish People aren’t living in the past; they’re creating the future.

This week Noelle Dunphy, Rudy Giuliani’s former associate, filed a complaint in the New York Supreme Court, accusing him of sexual harassment and making antisemitic and racist remarks. She claims Giuliani said, “Jews want to go through their freaking Passover all the time, man oh man. Get over the Passover. It was like 3,000 years ago.”

His alleged rant might apply not only to Passover, but to many pivotal Jewish holidays, traditions and observances: Hey Jews, you’re commemorating events that happened over three thousand years ago. Get over it!

It’s something I’ve been thinking about as Israelis and Jews around the globe celebrate the reunification of Jerusalem 56 years ago. Throughout the millennia of exile and persecution, from the crusades to the Spanish Inquisition and the Holocaust, Jews have placed the memory of Jerusalem in the forefront of their mind.

For thousands of years Jews declare at the end of that pesky Passover Seder that seems to upset Giuliani: Next year in a rebuilt Jerusalem!

For millennia, Jews have been obsessed with Jerusalem. Why the fixation on the past? Why don’t Jews “get over it”?

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When Jews pray three times a day, wherever they are in the world they turn to face Jerusalem. In the central prayer, the Amidah, recited thrice daily, Jews pray for the ingathering of the exiles and the return to Jerusalem where the Holy Temple will be rebuilt.

This yearning to return is mentioned any time a Jew eats bread and recites Grace after Meals. At the height of one’s personal joy, when a couple stands under the chuppah, their entire life ahead of them, it is customary to break a glass and say, “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its cunning” (Psalms 137:5). Despite your intense happiness, don’t forget that Jerusalem is not fully rebuilt; it’s as if the heart of the nation is on life support.

And to top it all off, for three weeks of every year, leading up to Tisha B’Av, the Jewish People take on increasingly severe customs of mourning and cry over the destruction of the Holy Temple that happened thousands of years ago.

For millennia, Jews have been obsessed with Jerusalem. Why the fixation on the past? Why don’t Jews “get over it”?

Because Jews are not living in the past – they are creating the future.

The Never-Ending Story
Every speaker or influencer knows how hard it is to keep people’s undivided attention for three minutes. How do you do it for three thousand years?

This is one of the big challenges facing the Jewish People. Starting with Abraham, the first forefather who entered a covenantal relationship with God, continuing through the Exodus from Egypt and the receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, where we received our marching orders to be a beacon of light and hope in the world, spreading wisdom and values from the epicenter in Jerusalem, Jews have been writing an epic story that stretches over the course of history.

How do you ensure that generations throughout the millennia don’t lose the plot, remain steadfast to the Jewish mission and continue to write the next chapter of this unfolding story?

Jews are surrounded with touchstones and markers that remind them of their purpose and ultimate direction.

Through periods of exile and unimaginable persecution, the Jewish People have borne a collective memory, forging into the future while remembering its national destiny. Jews have surrounded themselves with touchstones and markers that remind them of their purpose and direction, and practices that ensure the next generation is clued into the story and given the tools to write the next chapter.

Passover is the time dedicated to crystalizing the story of the Jewish People and passing it on to the next generation, so that they pick up the baton and continue with the next leg of the nation’s journey. The vision of Jerusalem as the heart and soul of the Jewish People, where they can palpably connect to the Divine and recalibrate, is hardwired into the Jews’ collective GPS system. Before Waze, Jews in the far-flung corners of the world had their home destination -- their true north -- programmed. Face East, envision Jerusalem, affirm your ultimate destination as you weave the next chapter in this unfolding historical tapestry.

Some Jews have lost the plot, discarding the 1000-page novel they view as a chore to read. But remarkably, the Jewish nation as a whole still remembers, forging ahead with an unwavering sense of purpose, embracing their role as co-authors of a narrative that transcends time, part of a tapestry that encompasses the past, shapes the present, and promises a future filled with hope and meaning.

Mr. Giuliani, that’s why Jews refuse to get over it.


More About The Author

Rabbi Nechemia Coopersmith

Rabbi Nechemia Coopersmith lives in Jerusalem with his wife and children. He is the chief editor of Aish.com, one of the world's largest Judaism websites. He is the author of Shmooze: A Guide to Thought-Provoking Discussion on Essential Jewish Issues – a must-have little book for anyone who loves a good question, and the co-author of Rabbi Noah Weinberg’s 48 Ways to Wisdom and Wisdom for Living: Rabbi Noah Weinberg of the Parsha.

https://aish.com/when-bad-things-happen-to-good-people-2/?src=ac
When Bad Things Happen to Good People
by Rabbi Gershon Schusterman
May 14, 2023
How to believe in heaven when it hurts like hell.

Rabbi Harold Kushner, the author of the 1981 bestseller “When Bad Things Happen to Good People,” has died at 88. Kushner wrote this book—still talked about today—after his son tragically passed away at age 14 from progeria, a disease that causes premature aging. The pain of this loss prompted the rabbi to write this book as a consoling aid to others also struggling through unexpected and devastating loss.

Kushner’s thesis was that bad things happen to good people simply because God didn’t have control over all the evil in this world. He wrote, "God does not, and cannot, intervene in human affairs to avert tragedy and suffering. At most, He offers us His divine comfort and expresses His divine anger when horrible things happen to people. God, in the face of tragedy, is impotent. The most God can do is to stand on the side of the victim; not the executioner." Kushner also asserted that “the purpose of religion is that it should make us feel good about ourselves,” and if it doesn’t, it has failed in its mission.

In Kushner’s view, tragedy boils down to bad luck. God doesn’t run the world, leaving us all vulnerable to chance, nihilism, or fate.

I walk a fine line here because as a rabbi who has been in the “consolation business” for over a half a century, the last thing I would ever do is discount the feelings of anyone who endured the tragedy that Kushner and his wife did. However, despite his own theological training and good intentions, the rabbi’s response to this existential question about how to deal with suffering and evil is not a Jewish, or even a religious, response. Nor is it psychologically satisfying.

Like Rabbi Kushner, I have also experienced tremendous tragedy in my life. When I was 38 years old, my 36-year-old wife passed away suddenly and unexpectedly, leaving me a widower with many children to raise on my own. Along with being a married couple and parents of 11 children, my wife and I were also partners in teaching and directing our local Jewish day-school. With Rochel Leah’s passing, our community lost a teacher, a mentor, and a guiding light. I also lost my rock and my partner in love and life.

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In my pain, I began to dig deeper for Judaism’s answers to the existence of evil and tragedy, and how we are meant to view it. I learned that we are not the center of the universe—God is. If there is a God, the central mission of humankind is to find Him, to get to know Him, and to serve Him. The word God evokes in some a sense of exaltedness, etherealness and distance. This needs to change. The wisdom and disciplines of Judaism make God relatable, enabling us to expand our sense of self through diminishing our ego and creating a personal, dynamic relationship with God. This lifelong exploratory journey is the destination, one that can be fulfilling and even exciting.

Feeling good about ourselves is a by-product of a life lived purposefully, with God as one’s ballast and compass.

We all want to feel good about ourselves—healthy self-regard is important. But feeling good about ourselves is not the purpose of religion. It is a by-product of a life lived purposefully, with God as one’s ballast and compass. Each of us will be bruised by life’s bitter challenges at one time or another. God wants to be at our side, helping to steer us through life’s traumas and storms without keeling. But if we are the center of our universe, and believe that stopping evil and heartbreak is above God’s pay grade, then a life well-lived means nothing more than that the one who ends up with the most toys, wins.

Kushner once acknowledged that understanding tragedy boils down to only two possibilities: God’s will or bad luck. In Kushner’s view, it was bad luck. God doesn’t run the world, leaving us all vulnerable to chance, nihilism, or fate. A neutered God could only offer comfort during moments of crisis. But this approach makes human suffering meaningless and purposeless, with human beings as hapless victims. Judaism believes that life has meaning. Therefore, human suffering must also have meaning.

Finding Meaning and Comfort
The trauma of tragedy can understandably cause one to become myopic in their pain. They can feel that nobody else can understand or help—not even God. This closes the door on God, telling Him, "Don't mix into my pain; You can't help me anyway!"

As I found in my own experience and through counseling and consoling hundreds of others, I know that our greatest possible comfort and way forward through grief is to submit to the Master of the Universe and let Him in. When I made my relationship with God a more personal one, I was no longer relating to the “To-Whom-it-may-Concern-God” but to the God who knows me and cares for me; I’m no longer alone in my travail.

Struggling with God and trusting in God are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they can be complementary. The very name of the Jewish people is Israel, which means to struggle with God. Abraham and Moses challenged God’s tough justice and their ongoing difficult life tests. King David did the same through the Psalms. Crying out to God, challenging God, and demanding His help are signs of a secure relationship that can handle the friction.

Judaism believes that life has meaning. Therefore, human suffering must also have meaning.

If a person can cry out to God about their enormous problems, a person can also tell their problems how great God is. We may be incapable of embracing Him in all His greatness, but that doesn’t stop Him from embracing us. We can grant Him authorship of what we are going through and recognize that there is ultimate meaning and purpose in our pain. We are not victims of chance. As King David wrote in Psalms 91:16, “I—God—am with him—the sufferer—in his distress.” In this way, we can lean on God to give us strength to find purpose and meaning in this dismal chapter, and the resilience to endure what we have been dealt, confident that ultimately, we can carry on with purpose and even optimism.

https://aish.com/jerusalem-the-longest-love-story/?src=ac
The Jewish People lost Jerusalem three times.
by Sara Yoheved Rigler
May 15, 2023
The first was when the Babylonians conquered the city and destroyed the Holy Temple on the Temple Mount in 586 B.C.E. The Jews living there were enslaved or sent into exile to Babylon. Seventy years later, a segment—42,360—returned and started to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Local peoples who had moved in to replace the Jews tried to attack. The Bible recounts that those who built the walls “would do their work with one hand while the other hand held a weapon” (Nehemia 4:11).

Over the next decades, they succeeded in rebuilding the city and the Second Temple. By the first century C.E. Jerusalem was a thriving, wealthy, populous city—one of the jewels of the ancient world. However, it squirmed under the oppression of its pagan masters, the brutal Roman empire.

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In 66 C.E., the Jews launched the Great Revolt. Rome was forced to send four out of ten of their empire’s eastern battalions to route the troublesome Jews. The Jews lost, and the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Holy Temple. But Jerusalem was not yet Judenrein. As the Talmud describes, Jews had access to the environs around the city. Every year on Tisha B’Av, the anniversary of the Temple’s destruction, Jews went to Mt. Scopus overlooking the Temple Mount and mourned.

Hadrian
The attachment to Jerusalem was a burning ember in the Jewish heart, which burst into flame again some 60 years later with the Bar Kochba revolt. The Jews fought valiantly, killing 40,000 Roman soldiers. This was an affront to the Emperor Hadrian, who determined to destroy not only the Jews, but every vestige of their identification with their land and their capitol city.

Hadrian killed more Jews proportionately than Hitler—80% of the Jews living in the land of Israel. As the Talmudic sages recount, “He plowed Jerusalem like a field,” and built on its ruins a Roman city he called Aelia Capitolina. He outlawed the very name of the country, Judea, and decreed that instead it be renamed “Palestina,” reminiscent of the Jews’ Biblical enemy, the Philistines. Jews were forbidden on pain of death from even approaching Jerusalem.

The Jews who survived Hadrian’s genocide rebuilt their communities in the north of the country, throughout the Galilee and the Golan, and in a few communities in the south, such as Susya. Jerusalem, however, remained barred to Jews for five centuries, until the Arab conquest of the 7th century permitted Jews to return.

Bronze statue of Hadrian, found at the Camp of the Sixth Roman Legion in Tel Shalem, 117–138 AD, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Scholar and philosopher Yisrael Eldad had a unique way of observing Tisha B’Av in the late 20th century. While myriads of Jews go to the Western Wall, the remnant of the Second Temple, to mourn its destruction, Prof. Eldad would go to the Israel Museum. There he would stand in front of the 2nd century bronze statue of Emperor Hadrian and yell, “Where are you now? Where is your empire, its language, its religion, its civilization? You are gone! And the Jews whom you determined to wipe out still exist. We have returned to our city and our land!”

Centuries of Prayer and Longing
Throughout the centuries, Jews prayed three times a day for the “rebuilding of Jerusalem,” but they had a hard time re-establishing themselves there. When the Crusaders conquered the city in 1099, they killed all the Jews and Muslims, so that blood ran “knee-deep” through the streets. Even after Saladin’s Muslim forces reconquered the city in 1187, only a trickle of Jews came back. The Muslim capital was Ramle, not Jerusalem, which remained a backwater city, ignored and impoverished. When the great sage Nachmanides arrived in Jerusalem in 1267, he found less than ten Jewish men, not enough for a minyan [prayer quorum].

After the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, a few hundred of them re-established themselves inside the walls of Jerusalem. Then, in the 18th century, significant Jewish immigration from Europe—disciples of the Baal Shem Tov and of the Vilna Gaon—began to populate the city. By 1860, the Jewish population had grown so much that the walled city could not contain them, and Jewish neighborhoods started to pop up outside the walls. By 1920, the majority of Jerusalem’s population (including the Old City inside the walls and the new city outside the walls) was Jewish.

Jewish settlers in the Land of Israel, 1880s
For four centuries, the country, including Jerusalem, was ruled by the Ottoman Turks. In 1917, during World War I, England vanquished the Turks and took over. Inside the walls of what had become known as “the Old City,” Jews lived in the eastern section near the Temple Mount and the Kotel. The British divided the Old City artificially in four “quarters.” The “Muslim Quarter” in the northeast was actually half of the area and comprised a Jewish majority. The “Jewish Quarter” in the southeast was actually one-eighth of the area. In the northwest was the “Christian Quarter” and in the southwest was the “Armenian Quarter.”

In 1929, the Arab residents of the Old City rioted and killed 133 of their Jewish neighbors. (The house where I live in the Jewish Quarter was targeted in the riots of 1929. No Jews were killed here, but the pharmacy of the Jewish Quarter, which was situated in what is now my living room, was destroyed, and the pharmacist abandoned the Old City for the greater safety of the new city.) In 1936, the Arabs rioted again and killed whatever Jews remained in “the Muslim Quarter.” The Jews who survived retreated to the Jewish Quarter or the new city.

The Final Stand-Off
When the State of Israel was declared on May 14, 1948, there were about 1750 Jews living in the Jewish Quarter, surrounded by ten times that many Arabs. With five Arab armies attacking the nascent state, the Jewish leadership had to decide where to concentrate its meager, poorly armed defenses. The Jewish Quarter of the Old City had no strategic value, and was clearly indefensible.

Terrified young Jewish girl Rachel Levy, 7, fleeing from a street with burning buildings as the Arabs sack the Holy City after its surrender in 1948. (Photo by John Phillips/The LIFE Picture Collection Meredith Corporation)
About a hundred Jewish fighters, however, were determined not to again give up Jerusalem. While the new city had expanded and flourished, their Jewish hearts felt that the real Jerusalem was the Old City, were the Prophets had walked, where our ancestors had fought the Babylonians and Romans, where Jews had prayed and learned Torah throughout the centuries. How could we give up Jerusalem?

They bravely held out for ten days against the assault of the well-equipped Jordanian army. Most of the Jewish Quarter residents were women, children, and elderly. The defenders had one machine gun, and so few bullets that they could count them. With no radios to communicate with other positions, they depended on volunteer children to run messages.

Esther Cailingold was 21 years old when she left England and moved to the Land of Israel in 1946. Burning with zeal to save the Old City of Jerusalem, on May 7,1948, a week before the state was declared, she chose to join the small force in the Jewish Quarter. She was mortally wounded a few days later. From her deathbed, 23-year-old Esther wrote to her parents:

I am writing it to beg of you that, whatever might have happened to me, you will make the effort to take it in the spirit that I want and to understand that for myself I have no regrets. We have had a bitter fight, I have tasted of Hell - but it has been worthwhile because I am convinced that the end will see a Jewish State and the realisation of all our longings. I shall only be one of many who fell [in] sacrifice. … to remember that we were soldiers and had the greatest and noblest cause to fight for. God is with us, I know, in his own Holy City, and I am proud and ready to pay the price it may cost to reprieve (?) it.

Sixty-eight Jews were killed defending the Jewish Quarter. The youngest of them was a ten-year-old messenger boy named Nissim Ginni. When they completely ran out of ammunition, they surrendered. The men were taken as prisoners of war; the women, children, and elderly were banished. Their homes were looted, then burned. The Old City’s 38 synagogues, including the Hurva, the largest and most magnificent synagogue in the Middle East, were destroyed. It was the third time that we lost Jerusalem.

Jerusalem Day
Paratroopers at the Western Wall in 1967
In 1967, on the third day of the Six-Day War, the 66th Battalion of the Paratroopers Brigade, without resistance, entered the Old City of Jerusalem. They ran straight to the Temple Mount, and then to the Western Wall. When the seasoned soldiers touched the Wall, they wept. They were crying the tears of their grandparents and mine and yours, stretching back 2,000 years.

https://aish.com/no-joke-five-real-dangers-of-ai/?src=ac
No Joke: Five Real Dangers of AI
by Yaacov Lipszyc
May 14, 2023
AI isn’t going to go away. It’s our responsibility to create safety measures and use it constructively.

While Artificial Intelligence is taking over the word with its wide range of game-changing possibilities, experts are concerned about the "tremendous consequences" that the advance of this technology can cause. Geoffrey Hinton, considered the "Godfather of AI", resigned from his position as a top Google engineer to warn about the real dangers humanity is facing.

What are his primary concerns? Is this just fear-mongering, or something you should really be worried about?

Based on the many interviews Hinton recently gave, here the five real issues regarding AI to watch out for.

1. Surpassing the human intellect
Hinton said, "The idea that this stuff could actually get smarter than people — a few people believed that. But I thought it was way off. I thought it was 30 to 50 years or even longer away. Obviously, I no longer think that."

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If the IQ of AI had to be estimated, it would be 80 or 90 today, but Hinton believes it can soon reach 210, a genius level rarely reached by humans.

He clarified that “the kind of intelligence we're developing is very different from the intelligence we have. We're biological systems and these are digital systems. The big difference is that with digital systems, you have many copies of the same set of weights, the same model of the world. And all these copies can learn separately but share their knowledge instantly. So it's as if you had 10,000 people and whenever one person learned something, everybody automatically knew it. And that's how these chatbots can know so much more than any one person."

He also said that “it's quite conceivable that humanity is just a passing phase in the evolution of intelligence.”

2. If AI falls into the wrong hands
“What we want is some way of making sure that even if they're smarter than us, they're going to do things that are beneficial for us," Hinton said. "But we need to try and do that in a world where there's bad actors who want to build robot soldiers that kill people."

Hinton also remarked that AI can produce reams of text automatically, creating very effective spambots. “It will allow authoritarian leaders to manipulate their electorates, things like that.”

3. Rich get richer, por get poorer
Hinton said that even though AI it's going to cause huge increases in productivity, "My worry is for those increases in productivity are going to go to putting people out of work and making the rich richer and the poor poorer. And as you do that, as you make that gap bigger, society gets more and more violent."

4. Impossible to distinguish reality
Deep fake Images and even songs created by Artificial Intelligence have circulated that many believed to be authentic. This is another aspect that the Godfather of AI warns: "many will not be able to know what is true anymore".

Hinton is concerned about its potential to manipulate people by spreading misinformation. And if it gets smarter, which it will, AI could deceive people and make them believe things that aren't true. "These things will have learned from us, by reading all the novels that ever were and everything Machiavelli ever wrote, how to manipulate people," he said. "You won't realize what's going on. You'll be like a two-year old who's being asked do you want the peas or the cauliflower and doesn't realize that you don't have to have either.

"It turns out if you can manipulate people, you can invade a building in Washington without ever going there yourself."

5. Very difficult to slow down development
So why don’t we just stop AI? "I think if you take the existential risk seriously, as I now do, it might be quite sensible to just stop developing these things any further,” Hinton said. “But I think it's completely naive to think that would happen… Even if the U.S. stops developing it, the Chinese won't. They're going to be used in weapons. And just for that reason alone, governments aren't going to stop developing.”

AI isn’t going to go away. It’s our responsibility to create safety measures and use it constructively.

In Genesis, it says that God “took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” God has placed the world in the hands of mankind; we are its trustees and our job is to guard and protect it.

The Midrash, a collection of rabbinic commentary on the Bible, says, “When God created the first human being, God led him around all the trees of the Garden of Eden and said: “Look at My works! See how beautiful they are—how excellent! For your sake I created them all. See to it that you do not spoil and destroy My world; for if you do, there will be no one else to repair it” (Midrash, Ecclesiastes, 7:13).

We can’t hand over this responsibility to AI. It’s imperative that we act now to limit the potential negative consequences and learn to harness the awesome power of AI.

https://aish.com/coronating-king-charles-iii/?src=ac
The Coronation of King Charles III
by Rabbi Nechemia Coopersmith
April 30, 2023
What’s up with that anointing oil?

One detail about the upcoming coronation of Kings Charles III and The Queen Consort piqued my interest. The oil that will be used to anoint him as king was consecrated in Jerusalem’s Old City, two minutes away from my office, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Anointing oil? Consecration? Crowning a king? It all sounded so, well, biblical. I was curious to delve into Jewish sources about the anointing oil used to anoint Jewish kings and explore the deeper meaning behind the oil.

The new “sacred oil” – that’s how it’s being referred to in mainstream press – was created from olives harvested and grown on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, under the order of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who will officiate the coronation.

He said, “This demonstrates the deep historic link between the Coronation, the Bible and the Holy Land. From ancient kings through to the present day, monarchs have been anointed with oil from this sacred place. As we prepare to anoint The King and The Queen Consort, I pray that they would be guided and strengthened by the Holy Spirit.”

The Heroism of Miep Gies, The Woman who Helped Hide Anne Frank
https://aish.com/the-heroism-of-miep-gies-the-woman-who-helped-hide-anne-frank/?src=ac
by Dr. Yvette Alt Miller
May 8, 2023
10 min read

A Small Light is an excellent series that conveys the moral dilemmas people faced during the Holocaust.

The new 8-part TV series A Small Light tackles the familiar story of Anne Frank, the famous diarist and Holocaust victim, from a new angle. Instead of focusing on Anne and her family, A Small Light tells the remarkable true story of Miep Gies, the young woman who helped hide the Franks and other Jews, risking her life over and over again for years.

Miep Gies in 1936, working at Opekta, a company owned by Otto Frank in Amsterdam

When the series begins, in 1933, Miep is a fun-loving 24-year-old – “a young woman with an independent spirit,” as she later recorded in her autobiography. “I prided myself on well-styled clothes… I was short, just over five feet, blue-eyed, with thick dark blond hair. I tried to make up for my size with my shoes, adding as much height as possible.”

In A Small Light, Miep – played by Bel Powley – is scatterbrained and lacks self-confidence. In real life, Miep was intensely proud of her sharp secretarial skills, the excellent grades she’d received in school, her handiness with a needle and thread as she recreated all the latest fashions for herself, and her prowess with a bicycle. That came in handy one day in 1933 as she cycled through the streets of Amsterdam, on her way to Voorburgwal Street to interview with a man named Otto Frank, played by Liev Schreiber, about a new job.

Refugees in Amsterdam
In 1933, Hitler had just been elected Chancellor in Germany, where the Frank family lived. Anti-Jewish decrees suddenly meant that Jews could no longer move and work freely. Jewish journalists and civil servants were fired soon after Hitler took power, and “no Jews allowed” signs began to appear in public spaces. In A Small Light’s first episode, Otto Frank explains that he finally decided to leave Germany when he had to explain to his children that they were no longer allowed to play tennis in their Frankfurt club.

https://aish.com/jews-and-booze-the-fascinating-history-of-jews-and-alcohol/?src=ac
Jews and Booze: The Fascinating History of Jews and Alcohol
by Rabbi Ken Spiro
May 8, 2023
Why Jews played an enormous role in the alcohol business.

Wine has always played a central role in Jewish life cycle events and holidays. A cup of wine is used in a circumcision ceremony and a wedding, for kiddush at the beginning of every sabbath and holiday as well as Havdalah at its conclusion. What is far less known is the fascinating central role Jews have played in the production and sale of alcohol in Eastern Europe and America.

In 1569 Poland and Lithuania united into a commonwealth that lasted until the very end of the 18th century. For over 200 years, until it was divided between Austria, Prussia and Russia, it was the largest country Europe – comprising Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia and much of the Ukraine and part of western Russia-the breadbasket of Europe.

Woodcut of a Jewish tavern in the Carpathian Mountains

Jews had already been migrating into Eastern Europe for centuries before the formation of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, but mass expulsions from many of the countries in Western Europe, combined with the more benevolent and welcoming attitude of the Polish and Lithuanian nobility, led to a huge increase in Jewish population. This made Eastern Europe, prior to the Holocaust, the center of the Jewish world. An estimated 30,000 to 50,000 Jews lived in Eastern Europe at the beginning of the 16th century. By the end of the 18th century the estimated Jewish population was 750,000 and by the end of the 19th century it had reached 5.5 million, 60% of the total estimated world Jewish population at that time.

https://aish.com/the-toronto-maple-leafs-and-the-future-of-the-jewish-people/?src=ac
The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Future of the Jewish People
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Which team are you rooting for? Why?

I haven’t lived in Toronto for decades and was never a fan of major sport leagues, but I was genuinely excited when the Toronto Maple Leafs beat their 19-year curse and won their NHL playoff series against Tampa Bay Lightning with a thrilling overtime goal.

I texted “Mazel tov!” to my brother and brother-in-law in Toronto, who are both avid Maple Leaf fans.
The city erupted. Like this:
Maple Leaf fans celebrating in downtown Toronto
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And for a moment, far away in Jerusalem, I was swept up with the elation. My reaction caught me by surprise. Why was I so excited that a group of hockey players, none of whom I knew by name, on the other side of the world, finally won a playoff series? What did it have to do with me?

Henri Tajfel, a 1970s social psychologist, came up with Social Identity Theory that helps explain this phenomenon. Part of our self-esteem and identity comes from the larger groups to which we belong and with whom we identify. This could be your family, your alma mater, your nationality – or the hockey team of your city.

You wear their merch, watch their games, and you may even use the word “we” when talking about them. Their win is your win. Their success is a boost to your esteem. “We won!!” even though you didn’t play for a second and don’t even know how to skate.

There’s still a thread that connects me to Toronto, enough to feel that their victory after 19 years of losing deserves a hearty mazel tov. But my kids couldn’t care less.

What I discovered with the Leafs winning is that although I left Toronto a long time ago and have built my life in Israel, Toronto hasn’t fully left me. There is still a small, minute part, a thread that connects me to my birthplace, enough for me to feel that their victory after 19 years of losing deserves a hearty mazel tov.

But my kids, who have been born and raised in Jerusalem and never heard of the Maple Leafs, couldn’t care less about their win. I didn’t instill my tenuous connection to Toronto in my children.

And this disconnect spells trouble for the Jewish people.
Why?
Israel versus the Soviet Union
It wasn’t all that long ago that Jews across the globe identified with Israel. Even though they never lived in Israel or had never even visited, Israel’s victory was their victory. Their team won.

This kind of connection actually saved the Jews who left Egypt. The Jews were totally assimilated, on the verge of completely losing their identity. The Midrash says that in the merit of three things our forefathers left Egypt: they didn’t change their clothes, their names, or their language. They were no longer circumcised, they worshipped idols, but they spoke Hebrew, kept their Jewish names and continued to wear clothing that identified them as Jews.

How could they have assimilated to such a degree but still kept their unique names, language, and clothing? What made them cling to that? Rabbi Noah Weinberg gave the following answer.

In 1977, during the height of the Cold War, when the Soviet Union was boycotting Israel, the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team was playing against CSKA Moscow, the team of the Red Army, in the European Cup semi-finals. The Russians refused to play in Tel Aviv and they also refused to grant visas to Israelis to play in Moscow. In the end they compromised and played in a small town in Belgium. It was an emotionally charged game, infused with symbolic meaning.

Russian Jews in the Soviet Union who had never been to Israel and knew next to nothing about Judaism found themselves rooting for the Israeli team.

While Israelis were glued to their television sets watching the pivotal game, Russian Jews in the Soviet Union who had never been to Israel and knew next to nothing about Judaism found themselves rooting for the Israeli team as well. They could not read Hebrew, but they identified with the Israeli team as being "our team."

The Soviet dissidents had risked their lives to learn Torah and study Hebrew. Russian Jews proudly identified with the Israelis who represented their people. They were rooting for their team – the Israelis. (Maccabi Tel Aviv beat the heavily favored and mighty Soviets 91-79.)

Most didn’t have the comprehensive Jewish education to understand what it really meant to be Jewish, but they knew they were Jewish, they knew that Jews had returned to their homeland and built a country against all odds, and they were proud of it. Holding on to that tenuous pride compelled many Jews to explore what it meant to be Jewish.

Similarly, the Jews in Egypt were on the brink of extinction. But they identified as Jews, keeping their names, their clothing, and their language. Bedecked in their kippahs, Shmulik and Izzy conversed in Hebrew as they watched the Egyptian Olympics.

Building upon their rather weak identity, both the Jews in Egypt and those of the Soviet Union took action to fan the embers of their connection into a small flame.

Sustainable Connection
Without being proactive, that slight connection is not sustainable. It can’t be carried forward. Would you root for a foreign hockey team playing in a European league that you never heard of? That’s how my kids view the Leafs.

A generation ago, many Jews from all backgrounds felt connected to Israel, enough to identify and root for them. For some, Israel made their Judaism come to life. Today, Israel is largely out of the equation. That fragile bond is at risk; for many it’s non-existent, for some it’s even repellent.

That creates a vacuum. The only way it can be filled and thereby slow the slouching towards assimilation is to be proactive in creating a nourishing and meaningful connection to Judaism which will stand the test of time.

https://aish.com/the-wisdom-of-jewish-trauma/?src=ac
The Wisdom of Jewish Trauma
by Joshua Hoffman
April 30, 2023
7 min read
Trauma is an invisible force that shapes the way we live, the way we love, and the way we make sense of the world.

The root of our deepest wounds, traumatic events can affect the way we feel and behave. And when they run deep, they can be passed on from generation to generation, just like genes. I learned this from the international bestselling book, It Didn’t Start with You, by Mark Wolynn.

Genetic changes stemming from the trauma suffered by Holocaust survivors are capable of being passed on to their children.

One of Wolynn’s patients was overwhelmingly afraid of dying, severely claustrophobic, and feared being unable to escape from a life-or-death situation, describing the feeling as: “I can’t breathe; I can’t get out; I’m going to die.” The patient wasn’t reacting to trauma from her life, but to the experience of her mother’s relatives, who she later learned were murdered in a gas chamber during the Holocaust.

Jews carry symptoms of trauma that we didn’t personally experience, having recurrent feelings or exhibit behaviors which are not the result of any particular event in their own lives.

Traumatic events can also affect our biology. A research team at New York’s Mount Sinai hospital led by Rachel Yehuda found that genetic changes stemming from the trauma suffered by Holocaust survivors are capable of being passed on to their children. Yehuda and her colleagues also analyzed the genes of their children, who are known to have increased likelihood of stress disorders, and compared the results with Jewish families who were living outside of Europe during the war...

Dr. Rachel Yehuda
“The gene changes in the children could only be attributed to Holocaust exposure in the parents,” Yehuda said.

At the same time, our environment plays a significant role in how trauma is enlivened in succeeding generations. Pointing to the Orthodox Jewish community, Yehuda said that being in a “very enclosed environment” can help bring out a different set of traits and “create a new reality for generations and generations and generations to come.”

Finally, Yehuda contended that culture can have an effect on trauma as well, which is why “someone like me, whose parents are Israeli and have really very little connection to the Holocaust, feels that the Holocaust was my trauma too.”

But it’s important to make sure that people understand not all effects of trauma are negative. There’s a wealth of wisdom that comes from our traumas, as painful as they might be. Here are three of them:

1. Being a Part of the Solution
Rachel Yehuda observed that among children of Holocaust survivors is a preponderance of people that are in therapeutic professions: doctors, nurses, social workers, psychologists. An extraordinarily large number of people go into fixing what’s broken.

“You can get stuck in the legacy of victimization, or you can say, ‘No, no, no, no, no. I’m going to be part of the solution,’” Yehuda said. “In the Jewish culture, you have an overwhelming response of, ‘I’m going to make sure this doesn’t happen again.’”

When she was running the Holocaust offspring clinic in the 1990s, Yehuda said she struck with their passion to make sure the Holocaust never happens again.

“They have heightened radar for genocide,” Yehuda said. “To me, it really felt like a post-traumatic response, but in a positive way… Nobody points to the Jewish nation and says, ‘What a bunch of victims,’ because that isn’t really what happened. So, whatever the epigenetic change is, whatever damage was done, whatever difficulties there may have been in connection, or relations, or attachments, you know, the things that Holocaust offspring sometimes talked about in therapy — from a cultural perspective, the second and third generation are not apathetic people, but highly intelligent people who have used the experience in some measure to make the world a better place, heal the sick, make sure it doesn’t happen.”

It’s also been said that many parents who survived the Holocaust understood something important about the past: The greatest gift you can give your children is to free them from the past, so that they can become something new.

2. Humor as a Coping Mechanism
Jews are notorious for their humor, as exemplified by the self-proclaimed joke about most Jewish holidays: “They tried to kill us. We survived. Let's eat.”

Even in ​Schindler’s List, one of the final scenes includes a Soviet soldier liberating Jews in Brinnlitz. “You have been liberated!” the soldier shouts.

“Where should we go?” someone asks the soldier.

“Don’t go east. That’s for sure. They hate you there.”

There’s also the well-known joke: “A high-ranking general approaches a policeman one day and tells him to round up all the Jews and all the bicyclists, to which the policeman replies: ‘Why the bicyclists?’”

According to Nicholas A. Kuiper of ​Europe’s Journal of Psychology,​ humor can have a facilitative role in extremely traumatic situations, and can be an adaptive trait for us to survive.

In addition, a study from the Stanford Psychophysiology Laboratory demonstrated that, in the face of a stressful situation, comedy is a more effective coping strategy than solemnity. These findings support the idea that humor employs psychological effects through a change of perspective. While positive humor gives real reappraisal, negative humor works by distancing the subject from the upsetting picture without creating a new mental scenario instead.

In the book, A Club of Their Own: Jewish Humorists and the Contemporary World, the authors argue that Jewish humor did not die in the Holocaust. In fact, Jews depended on humor to endure the period after liberation, both as a psychological weapon to grapple with what they had endured under the Nazi threat, and as a source of coping with the displacement of the postwar period.

After the war, humor was a poignant affirmation of mir zaynen do — we are (still) here — a declaration that the Jewish people had not disappeared and indeed could at times have the last laugh.

3. Creating a Trauma-Informed World
So much of what we call abnormality in today’s culture is actually normal responses to an abnormal culture. The abnormality does not reside in the pathology of individuals, but in the very culture that drives people into suffering and dysfunction.

This is according to Gabor Maté, a physician and international bestselling author whose maternal grandparents were killed at Auschwitz.

Maté advocates for a trauma-informed society in which parents, teachers, physicians, policy-makers, and legal personnel are not concerned with fixing behaviors, making diagnoses, suppressing symptoms, and judging. Instead, they seek to understand the sources from which troubling behaviors and diseases spring in the wounded human soul.

When Jewish survivors of the Holocaust arrived in Israel, many of them were shamed by Jews already living in Israel during this atrocity: Why didn’t you fight back? and How could you let them do that to you? the locals would say to them. True story. All they knew was what they read in the newspapers, heard on the radio, and perhaps some hear-say.

Instead of asking survivors what really happened, they jumped to conclusions based on quite minimal information. And it’s not like these survivors landed in Israel happy and joyful, eager to pour out their unimaginable traumas to anyone who would lend an ear or two.

Today, Holocaust survivors are universally celebrated in Israel, with initiatives to preserve their stories on videotape, as well as organizations dedicated to supporting the diminishing group of Holocaust survivors, such as one called Adopt-A-Safta (safta meaning grandmother in Hebrew) which pairs young adults with aging survivors to create interpersonal companionships. And of course, there’s Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, which offers complimentary entrance to visitors.

So, what exactly changed in Israel? Survivors started talking about their stories, and the rest started listening with a real intent to learn, to understand, to come together.

If we would just ask more questions — with a real intent to learn, to understand, to come together — we could rather quickly fan the flames of this pressing desire that results in knee-jerk assumption-making.

Dr. Warren Goldstein, the Chief Rabbi of South Africa, calls this “making space for each other” which means “transcending our ego, rising above ourselves, and developing the capacity to show understanding, forgiveness, and compassion to those around us.”

Why Bread Is Dipped Into Salt
Sit around a Shabbat table and you will notice that before the host hands out bread to each guest, he dips it in a bit of salt. One reason for this is that, in previous generations, bread wasn’t always very flavorful and adding salt would enhance the enjoyment of eating it which would, in turn, enhance our enjoyment of Shabbat.
https://aish.com/why-bread-is-dipped-into-salt/?src=ac
But even in our generation, with an abundance of good-tasting bread, we still have the custom of dipping it in salt. There is a deeper reason for this, connected to the requirement for salt to be applied to each sacrifice and offering brought in the Temple that stood in Jerusalem 2000 years ago. Even in the absence of the Temple, salt still plays a significant role in our modern-day lives, based on a teaching in the Talmud that says “When there is no Temple, a person’s table—upon which he feeds the poor—atones for him.”

Our tables have taken on a central role in our modern Jewish lives, just like the altar did in ancient Israel. We congregate around our tables with family and friends to share food together, engage in conversation with one another and, specifically on Shabbat, sing together. And if our tables are like an altar, then the food we place upon them are like the ancient offerings. And just like the offerings in the Temple required salt, so too our bread, the most essential food that we eat.

Both the Hebrew word for bread, lechem, and the word for salt, melech, contain the same exact letters, signifying an inherent relationship between them. According to the Kabbalah, salt represents divine severity while bread represents divine kindness. That is the reason we don’t sprinkle salt on top of the bread, but rather dip the bread into the salt. We want divine kindness to overpower divine severity.

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The Hebrew word for compassion, chemlah, also contains the same exact letters as bread and salt. When we share the bread that we dip in the salt with those in need, we are spreading compassion in the world, and our tables become a vehicle for atonement for those moments when we are focused too much on ourselves and not enough on others.

This idea is also reflected in a ritual performed at the end of a meal when just the fingers are washed with a small amount of water before reciting the final blessing over the meal. According to the Talmud, this is done in order to wash away any extra salt that may be left on the fingers. In ancient Israel, the salt from the region of Sodom was especially strong and the concern was that some of this salt was used at the meal and, if not washed from the fingers, could be damaging to a person’s eyes if touched.

On a deeper level, the people of the ancient city of Sodom were characterized by an unwillingness to help others. By washing our fingers at the end of a meal, we are metaphorically washing away such selfishness from our own lives and reminding ourselves of the value of helping others.

The food we eat on our tables is ideally meant to keep us healthy and extend the length of our lives. So too salt has the special quality to preserve food– extending its life beyond its natural limits. One of Judaism’s most central teachings is to “choose life” and we are encouraged, even commanded, to make choices in our lives that will extend our lives both literally, living as long as we can, and figuratively, living a life filled with meaning and purpose.

Salt also has the quality of enhancing the flavor already present in food. As opposed to sugar, which covers and changes the essential taste of food, salt brings out what is already there. This is a great metaphor for life, especially for parents as they raise their kids, that our job is not to change people, but rather to help them bring out more of who they truly are.

https://aish.com/jews-and-diamonds-6-facts/?src=ac
Jews and Diamonds: 6 Facts
by Dr. Yvette Alt Miller
April 27, 2023
Netflix's Rough Diamonds shines a light on the role of Jews in the diamond trade.
Netflix’s new drama Rough Diamonds is one of their top-10 series at the moment. Set in Antwerp’s Hasidic Jewish community where many members work in the diamond trade, Rough Diamonds follows the fortunes of the longstanding Belgian Jewish family the Wolfsons, who’ve been trading diamonds for 150 years.

The world’s diamond industry has been considered an intensely Jewish field. Here are six little-known facts about Jews and the diamond industry.

1. Jews Represented by a Diamond
Belgian Jew (Photo courtesy Violet’s Journey)
The Torah describes a beautiful decoration that the High Priest, the Kohen Gadol who served in Jerusalem’s ancient Jewish Temple, used to wear. Before he performed his holy duties, he would don a beautiful gold breastplate inlaid with 12 precious stones, each one representing a one of the 12 tribes of Israel. The diamond – yahalom in Hebrew – represented the tribe of Zevulun (Exodus 28:18).

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In more modern times, the Baal Shem Tov (1704-1772), who founded the Hasidic branch of Judaism, compared Jewish people to a diamond. The parallels are many: Just as a diamond is rugged and unyielding, so too are the Jewish people, clinging to their faith and way of life despite all odds. And just as a diamond needs to be polished before it shines, each person needs to work hard to bring out their inner diamond and let it shine.

2. Early Diamond Traders
The earliest mentions of trading diamonds are found in 4th century BCE Sanskrit works. Diamonds were first discovered near the Golconda River in India, and for hundreds of years they were traded locally as a highly prized commodity. Two of the earliest recorded diamond merchants outside of India were the Jewish brothers Abraham ben Yashar and Abu Nasr Chesed. Also known by their Arabic names Abu Sa’D Al-Tustari and Abu Nasr Fadl, they seemingly hailed from the large Jewish community in Persia. In the 11th century they’re recorded as working in Egypt, supplying the royal family with luxury goods, including diamonds.


In Europe during the Middle Ages, Jews were well placed to become diamond traders. Restricted to money-lending in many areas, Jews became de facto bankers and pawn brokers to the rich, often receiving gems and other precious objects as payment when debts came due. Some Jews began to focus on gem polishing and trading.

Jewelry-making equipment is relatively small and portable, making it easy for Jews to pack up and move when local authorities crack down on local Jewish communities. Jewish traders also benefited from family connections across Europe and the Middle East, making it easier to conduct business in numerous countries.

The cities of Venice in modern-day Italy and Bruges in modern-day Belgium emerged as Europe’s early diamond trading centers. Both towns boasted large Jewish communities, and Jews became major players in the Medieval diamond-trading industry.

3. Inventing the World’s First Polished Diamonds
Polished diamonds as we know them only became possible in the 1400s, thanks to an invention by a Jewish diamond merchant named Lodewyk van Berken. Born in the Belgian town of Bruges, he moved to the nearby city of Antwerp - where Netflix’s Rough Diamonds takes place.

Lodewijk van Bercken monument in Antwerp
Diamonds are the toughest gemstone and are extremely difficult to cut. van Berken invented a polishing wheel coated with a diamond dust mixed with olive oil. Called a scaif, this polishing wheel completely transformed the diamond industry. Instead of rough, dull stones, diamonds suddenly became brilliantly shiny objects. Diamonds became much more popular and Antwerp’s Jewish diamond trading companies – which kept his diamond-polishing technology a tightly-held trade secret – became even more central to the growing diamond industry.

The characters in Rough Diamonds would surely know about Lodewyk van Berken: a statue of him, holding a polished diamond in his hand, stands in the heart of Antwerp’s diamond district to this day.

4. Largest Diamond Mine in the World
Diamonds were discovered in Brazil in the 1730s, adding to the world’s supply of this increasingly popular gem. However, the world’s diamond trade changed irrevocably in 1867 with a major discovery in present-day South Africa.

A scene from Netflix’s Rough Diamonds

Dutch Boers had recently settled the Kaapvaal Craton, near the confluence of the Orange and Vaal Rivers. Displacing the native Griqua people there, the Boers began farming and noticed that their soil was studded with whitish-grey rocks. In 1867 a farmer named Schalk Niekerk picked up a pretty rock that his young son was playing with and scratched it across a window pane. It left a mark, a sure sign that the stone was a diamond.

The rock turned out to be a 21.25 carat diamond, later named the Eureka, and it helped spark a huge diamond rush in the area, near the present-day town of Kimberly.

The Eureka
Amidst the frenzy of thousands of diamond prospectors, diamond syndicates began to form. One prominent miner was a formerly penniless Jew from the Yiddish-speaking East End of London who sailed to South Africa to try his luck. Born Barnett Isaacs, he used to perform as a juggling clown in London’s music halls, and was introduced with the tagline “And Barney too!” – he soon changed his name to Barnato, which sounded like his signature introduction.

In South Africa, Barnato began working with German Jews Alfred Beit and Ernest Oppenheimer to consolidate their mining work. In 1888, they eventually formed a partnership with Cecil John Rhodes, a wealthy Englishman who later became prime minister of the Cape Colony, called De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd.

Barney Barnato
No longer owned by its founding families, De Beers remains the world’s largest diamond trading company today by far. A majority of diamonds mined today continue to come from southern Africa, including Botswana, South Africa, and Namibia. Jewish-owned firms continue to play an important role in running mining in the area and exporting stones to Europe, Israel, India, and elsewhere for polishing and re-export.

5. Death and Rebirth
During the Renaissance, the major centers of the diamond trade coincided with the large Jewish population centers. Diamonds were sent first to London, then on Antwerp and Amsterdam for polishing. Jews controlled much of this trade. Throughout the 1800s, Antwerp steadily eclipsed Amsterdam as the hub of diamond polishing and trading, eventually becoming the world’s diamond capital. Jewish life flourished there. Netflix’s show Rough Diamonds gives a sense of Antwerp’s urbane, beautiful Hasidic world.

With the rise of Nazism in the 1930s, many of Belgium’s leading diamond traders fled, bringing their expertise and business connections with them. Cuba, New York, and the land of Israel emerged as major centers of the global diamond trade.

In May 1940, when Germany invaded Belgium, about 50,000 Jews lived in Antwerp, the diamond hub. Nazis imprisoned non-Belgian Jews who’d tried to flee to safety in Antwerp, but for months they largely left Belgian passport-holders alone in the city. Jewish diamond traders were even encouraged to continue working under Nazi control. The situation deteriorated further on April 10, 1941, when local Belgians – whipped up by Nazi propaganda – launched a vicious pogrom in Antwerp’s Jewish quarter. By 1943, the Nazis in charge of Antwerp had decided that all Jews were to be deported to death camps.

Zionist youth groups managed to smuggle some Jews to safety in Spain and Switzerland. Approximately 3,000 Jews were hidden in Antwerp during the Holocaust. 60% of Antwerp’s Jews perished. Altogether, 28,000 Belgian Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.

Belgian Jews in the diamond district.

From the ashes, Belgian’s Jews began to rebuild their shattered communities. Today, approximately 20,000 Jews call Antwerp home, many of them Hasidic. Antwerp has been called the last remaining shtetle (Yiddish-speaking town) in Europe. Rough Diamonds highlights many of the real challenges facing the Jewish community there today, including declining revenue from the diamond trade. Yet this centuries-old slice of Jewish life continues, with Jewish diamond merchants importing rough stones, then polishing diamonds in local workshops before exporting them, just as they have for generations.

6. Diamond Centers in Israel and New York
Today, Indian diamond traders and polishers have largely eclipsed Jews, and India is by far the world’s largest exporter of polished diamonds. In 2021, India exported $24.7 billion worth of polished diamonds. The United States ranked second, exporting $14.8 billion worth of diamonds. Belgium exported $12.5 billion worth of polished diamonds and Israel, also a major player in the industry, exported $8.8 billion worth of polished diamonds. (The next-largest diamond exporter, Russia, exported only half as much.) .

New York Diamond District

In many nations, the diamond industry remains an intensely Jewish one. A recent New York Times article describes the diamond district in New York, the destination of 90% of all diamond imports into the United States:

The jewelry district in New York emerged in the 1800s as a cluster of shops in Lower Manhattan. Later on, Jewish diamond merchants fleeing Europe before World War II began setting up on 47th Street. Much of the industry’s roots in Orthodox Jewish parts of Eastern Europe is reflected in the block’s own vocabulary, largely Yiddish. A “strop” is a second-rate stone that won’t sell; it’s “khazeray” or “shlok” – garbage….

This secret world is revealed on the upper floors above the showrooms in a honeycomb of cramped workshops, retail stalls and anonymous office suites. Here, the polishers, sorters, appraisers, graders and bench jewelers toil… High-end pieces that end up for sale at Tiffany and Harry Winston often begin their lives here as raw material…

For generations, Jewish diamond merchants and artisans have defined the industry, creating beautiful jewelry. As the industry shifts to new workers in new countries, it’s worth taking a moment to learn about the rich history of Jewish diamond workers, and to take a look at the Jewish family businesses that continue to work in the diamond trade today.

https://aish.com/people-arent-qr-codes/?src=ac
People Aren’t QR Codes
The Radical Hassidic Rabbi We Need More Than Ever
by Rabbi Mordechai Rhine
April 24, 2023

Resist the temptation to label others, especially your spouse.
The students quiet down as the teacher walks into class on the first day of the school year. “Which one of you is Horowitz?” the teacher asks.

A boy raises his hand. “Get out!” the teacher declares.

“But why? I didn’t do anything.”

“I heard about you. Do you think I’m going to wait until you do something?”

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The absurdity of the story is instructive: don’t label people based on their past behavior. You can judge students, friends and loved ones by their past behavior or you can choose to believe that people can change and breathe hope into even your most challenging relationships.

Labeling is a tricky hazard in teaching. On the one hand, a quick and easy identification of the problem makes it easy to know how to proceed. But labeling can lock a person in a preconceived destiny, making it very hard for them to change. That’s incredibly damaging; life is all about striving to change for the better.

Unlike fingerprints and DNA, your behavior is a matter of free choice. Even though you have ingrained habits, with guidance and hard work you can change. Your brain has plasticity. The neurons of the brain can do new things by forging new or stronger connections with other neurons. They can be reformed to the tendencies of our choosing. A pillar of Jewish belief is that people can change.

Labeling a spouse as sloppy, self-centered, stingy, or narcissistic makes change difficult.

This is particularly relevant in marriage. Labeling a spouse as sloppy, self-centered, stingy, or narcissistic makes change difficult. They become the label. Their behaviors become like fingerprints, with no hope for change.

When dealing with an objectionable behavior, it is best to identify the behavior without labeling it. When you engage in heartfelt, open communication, you enable your spouse to understand how certain behaviors affect you. That breakthrough of realization allows your spouse to consider slow and gradual change and obtain effective coaching. Labelling someone stingy, self-centered, or rotten locks them into the behavior.

Imagine, for example, if you and your spouse were looking forward to an exciting outing together. Maybe it is a planned date night or a family wedding. You’re ready to go on time and your spouse is late.

You’re frustrated and feel that your spouse just doesn’t care. After all, if it was important, why would he/she be late?

Those feelings and conclusions are understandable and can be processed in an open, perhaps mediated, conversation. But if you turn the event into a labeling fest, facilitating change is going to be hard. Stuck with the label “uncaring, always late, self-centered” doesn’t muster much enthusiasm to step forward to change. This is especially true when the labeling comes from someone they truly admire, trust, and love.

People are not QR codes, that square black-and-white label that’s linked to a limitless amount of digital information describing an item’s identity and quality. “Quick Response” codes are great for objects and merchandise. But labelling people hampers their ability to grow. It limits the possibility of getting a quick response, or any response at all. The way to repair relationships is healthy communication and recognizing that everyone is capable of change.

So, Horowitz, come back to class. I am confident that this year will be a good one.

https://aish.com/bravery-at-jerusalems-ammunition-hill/?src=ac
He Who Goes First, Dies First
by Sara Yoheved Rigler
April 23, 2023
A story of true heroism for Israel’s Remembrance Day.

Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem is Israel’s national Heritage Center for the Six-Day War. The battle that took place there was not the biggest nor the most strategic, nor did it have the most casualties. It was chosen, in the words of Israel’s iconic one-eyed general Moshe Dayan, “because of the extreme bravery that was shown here.”

The 66th Paratroopers Regiment was prepared to parachute into the Sinai. Instead, on June 5, 1967, the second day of the war, they were summoned to a different mission. The armistice lines of the War of Independence in 1948 had left Hadassah Hospital and the Hebrew University on Jerusalem’s Mt. Scopus an isolated island completely surrounded by the Jordanian army. One hundred and twenty Israeli soldiers held the territory, changing shifts every two weeks in armored vehicles that made the ten-minute drive to the Israeli side. When the Six-Day War began, Israeli’s command center understood that if the I.D.F. didn’t break a path through to Mt. Scopus, the 120 Jewish soldiers there would be butchered.

Trenches at Ammunition Hill

The path to Mt. Scopus led through Ammunition Hill, a fortified network of trenches and bunkers expertly built by the British, and occupied by the well-trained and well-armed Jordanian Legion. To attack this stronghold, a company of 100 Israeli paratroopers with a single map drawn on the palm of the hand of one commander, was sent in. They attacked in the middle of the moonless night.
A song commemorating the battle goes: “If you’re the first one to walk, you’ll be the first one to die.” And so it was during those endless three hours. Targeted by machine gun fire coming from the strategically placed bunkers, the commanders who led the single-file line making their way forward in the trenches fell. At pivotal moments, when it was clear that someone had to emerge from the trench to throw grenades at the bunker, a shout went out for a volunteer. Again and again, a soldier jumped out into the line of fire, not because he was suicidal, but because he realized, “If I don’t, what will happen to my friends?”

The paratroopers on Ammunition Hill were reservists, in their mid-twenties. Two thirds of them were married; one-third of them had a child. But as they saw more and more of their comrades injured and killed, their personal concerns vanished. They sacrificed themselves in astounding acts of bravery in order to save their fellows.


The regiment had three medics. Didi Gudel, a new immigrant from France, was shot in his hand during the first hour of fighting, rendering him useless. The second, Uri Leibowtiz, was trying to treat several wounded lying on top of each other in one trench. Suddenly, he heard the pop of a grenade going off. With seconds to spare, Uri lay on top of the wounded and took the brunt of the grenade’s fatal force.

The third medic, Yigal Arad (born Fablo Boxer in Poland), was a child Holocaust survivor. When the Jordanians surrendered and the battle was over, the surviving soldiers brought the wounded and dying to a grassy knoll. Yigal heard, over and over again, “Tell my wife that I love her,” “Tell my son when he grows up that I loved him.” Twenty-four out of the 100 paratroopers died that night, and 56 were wounded, some of them losing limbs, eyes, or their hearing.

Six years later, when Arab armies attacked Israel in the Yom Kippur War, Yigal Arad, the Holocaust survivor medic who had treated 56 soldiers on Ammunition Hill, was 33 years old. He had the choice whether to serve again. He was married with two children. From the front, he wrote to his wife, “I couldn’t bear the thought that my friends under fire would need an experienced medic, and I wouldn’t be there to help them.” Yigal was killed at the Suez Canal.

Remembering the fallen at Ammunition Hill

At Ammunition Hill Heritage Center there are three stone monuments. The first lists the names of the 24 Jewish soldiers killed in the battle of Ammunition Hill, plus another 12 from the 66th Paratroopers Regiment who fell in the hours before and after that battle. The second monument is to another 25 members of the 66th Paratroopers who fell in the Yom Kippur War. The third monument is the most heart-rending. It lists the children and grandchildren of the 66th Paratroopers Regiment who fell in subsequent wars or terror attacks.

Standing beside this third monument during a tour before Remembrance Day, Major General (Ret.) Yitzhak Gershon telephoned Yaki Haimovich, a soldier who, when he saw that the two commanders in front of him had been killed, stepped up to lead the squad and suffered serious injury. General Gershon asked Yaki if he had one sentence to share with the tour group. He said, “Our strength is deep in our spirit.”

https://aish.com/how-james-clerk-maxwells-belief-in-god-inspired-a-revolution-in-science/?src=ac
How James Clerk Maxwell’s Belief in God Inspired a Revolution in Science
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by Dr. Joshua M. Moritz
April 18, 2023
The great scientist revealed the interconnectedness of the laws of nature.

The world as we experience it today owes its existence to the scientific insights and vision of the 19th-century Scottish scientist and polymath James Clerk Maxwell. His pioneering work in electromagnetism is the foundation of essentially all of the advanced technology that we enjoy and depend upon every moment—from cell phones and wireless internet to radios, x-ray scanners, satellite communications, microwave ovens, television, magnets in speakers and credit cards, and even the charge in our batteries.

Maxwell was the great unifier of physics, and it was his discoveries that made Einstein's work possible. Indeed, Maxwell was Einstein's "Einstein," and his insights were Einstein's main inspiration.
While Maxwell described physical reality according to mathematical laws in a way that made him appear like a time traveler from the future (since it took decades for scientists to grasp the significance of Maxwell's work), the inspiration for Maxwell's aspiration to unify physics came from a deeper source. For Maxwell, his physics was ultimately an expression of his faith in the One Creator God, who governs the totality of reality through a unified order and law.

Electricity, Magnetism, and Order Out of Chaos
In Maxwell's day, the sciences of electricity, magnetism, and light were an incongruous cacophony of disparate voices and ideas. While previous scientists had made numerous discoveries pertaining to the perplexing and curious properties of electricity and magnetism, no one had any idea about what was going on at a deeper level.

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Then, in 1861, Maxwell published his paper 'On Physical Lines of Force,' which described the mathematical physics of electromagnetism. Maxwell showed that all the diverse phenomena in electricity and magnetism that scientists had been studying could be succinctly described through a set of just a few equations (which we now call "Maxwell's equations"). Maxwell's four interconnected equations united all the prior findings of Ampere, Henry, Volta, Oersted, Coulomb, Faraday, and others and shed a brilliant light on an area of science that had been shrouded in darkness for centuries.

Let There Be Light

Realizing that electricity and magnetism weren't two separate, distinct forces but simply two expressions of the same, unified electromagnetic force, Maxwell predicted that electromagnetic fields—in the form of moving waves—travel through space at the speed of light. Having introduced the concept of the field to the analysis of electricity and magnetism and reflecting upon his newly discovered equations that govern electromagnetism, Maxwell immediately realized that the physics of electromagnetism could also be unified with the physics of light.

He discovered that the same equations that govern electromagnetism also govern light and that light—in all its forms, from infrared and UV to radio waves, to microwaves, to the colors of the rainbow—is really waves of electromagnetic radiation. Maxwell demonstrated that magnetism, electricity, and light—three phenomena that appear so vastly dissimilar in the ways that they are manifested—are different aspects of one and the same phenomenon.

In a rare case where theoretical prediction actually preceded experimental observation, Maxwell predicted the existence of numerous types of unknown waves within the electromagnetic spectrum. He also predicted that all such electromagnetic waves could carry information (and even do so in a vacuum).

Maxwell's formulation of electromagnetic theory in differential calculus form and his championing of the field's fundamental nature in contrast to the action-at-a-distance theories of his day would become—and still are—the basis of essentially all of modern physics. While Isaac Newton's discovery of the laws of universal gravitation and motion, in which Earth's gravity was joined with the gravity of the heavens under a single law, is considered the first great unification in physics, Maxwell's equations would become known as the second great unification in physics.

Illuminating the Physics of Color
Having revealed the nature of light as electromagnetic waves, Maxwell was also the first scientist to develop a mathematical theory of color and to work out an accurate understanding of how color vision works. Maxwell showed why there is a fundamental difference between mixing paint pigments and mixing colored lights. He demonstrated that mixing paint pigments is a subtractive process, whereas mixing colored lights is an additive process. Paint pigments absorb certain colors so that the color seen consists of those colors which are not absorbed.

In contrast, unaltered colored light from the spectrum of visible light—reaching the eye directly from the source—is pure and unreflected. Maxwell proved that any three colors could be used as primaries as long as white could be obtained as some combination of these colors, and he revealed how the various colors correspond to different electromagnetic wavelengths. Explaining the way that the mixing of colors involves the mixing of different electromagnetic frequencies, Maxwell likewise showed how it is the different wavelengths that cause different colors of light to separate and become visible when passing through a prism.

Having developed a theory of color vision that entails three kinds of color receptors in the human eye—for red, green, and blue light—Maxwell took measurements on a large number of subjects to determine the cause of common types of color blindness. He found that those who are color blind are deficient in one of the three color receptors, usually red. Using his theory of color vision, Maxwell also produced the first color photograph. Taking photographs of an object using separate red, green, and blue filters, he then combined the filtered images by projecting the photographs using the same filters.

Paving the Way to Einstein's Relativity Theory and Quantum Physics


According to Albert Einstein, "One scientific epoch ended, and another began with James Clerk Maxwell." To the scientists of his day, Maxwell's equations were mysterious and difficult to comprehend, and it took about thirty years after Maxwell before his equations were generally understood. Consequently, Maxwell's groundbreaking theory had to wait for the next generation of physicists to fully reveal its explanatory power.

As Maxwell's work became better understood, it soon became clear that "he had achieved greatness unequaled" and that his "theory must be numbered among the greatest of all intellectual achievements," as the founder of quantum physics Max Planck remarked. Maxwell's theory would become the prototype for all the great triumphs of twentieth-century physics.

Opening up a new era of physics, Maxwell paved the way for twentieth-century developments such as Planck's quantum theory and Einstein's theories of special and general relativity. "The special theory of relativity," said Einstein, "owes its origins to Maxwell's electromagnetic field equations." When he visited the University of Cambridge in 1922, Einstein was told by his host that he had done great things because he stood on Newton's shoulders; Einstein replied: "No, I don't. I stand on the shoulders of Maxwell."

The Enlightening Spirit of God
Maxwell firmly believed that "The God who had revealed himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was the same as the God of nature." According to Maxwell, the act of God's creation is the presupposition of all science, even though this act of creation itself is not open to scientific explanation. For Maxwell, the divine creation of the universe and of natural law is "clearly evidenced in seemingly inexplicable features of the cosmos such as the identical properties of molecules in all parts of the universe, near and far."

#He believed that the divine image in humanity enabled humans to comprehend that unity and lawful nature of the world.

Uniformity in the natural world and the unity of natural law are simply reflections of the unified will of the one God who brought them into being and who "hast arranged all things by measure and number and weight." Maxwell affirmed that cosmic "uniformity is intended and accomplished by the same Wisdom and Power of which uniformity, accuracy, symmetry, consistency, and continuity of plan are important attributes," and he believed that the divine image in humanity enabled humans to comprehend that unity and lawful nature of the world.

Seeing "every atom of creation as unfathomable in its perfection," Maxwell held that the "ordered uniformity of nature" is a sign of the Creator. For Maxwell, physics revealed a world "in which Wisdom and Truth are supreme, and Power is their minister." The interconnectedness of the laws of nature is a way that God communicates His existence, and it is the unity of laws that reveal this divine communication. Consequently, says Maxwell, anyone who investigates physical laws "will see as he advances that the laws of nature are not mere arbitrary and unconnected decisions of Supreme Power, but that they form essential parts of one universal system, in which infinite Power serves only to reveal unsearchable Wisdom and Eternal Truth."



https://aish.com/grandmother-and-grandson-62-national-parks-an-adventure-of-a-lifetime/?src=ac
Grandmother and Grandson's Epic Road Trip
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by Debbie Gutfreund
April 13, 2023
Joy and Brad Ryan visited 62 national parks on an adventure of a lifetime.

At 92 years old Joy Ryan is climbing mountains, sleeping in tents and paddling through rapids. It all began eight years ago when her grandson, Brad Ryan, asked her to go on a camping trip with him. At the time, Joy was in her mid-80s, working a minimum wage job at a deli in Ohio and she never had the opportunity to travel. She had been looking at the same scenery for over six decades since she had married at 18 and settled in Ohio to raise a family.


She had told Brad how much she wanted to see the world, so when he was planning a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, he brought her along. They drove seven hours to the campground, arriving at 2 AM in the pouring rain. Joy held an umbrella as Brad set up the tent and the air mattress. During the night Joy fell off the mattress but laughed. “Don’t worry about the small stuff – that’s my philosophy. If you can’t stay on the mattress, stay on the ground. And that’s what I did.”

Brad was experiencing his own challenges at the time and realized how much they both needed each other and this kind of adventure in their lives. They decided to visit all 63 national parks together. During the countless hours of driving across the country, Brad absorbed his grandmother’s life wisdom and some of the optimism and resilience that she exudes every day.

https://aish.com/evan-gershkovich-6-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-imprisoned-wsj-reporter/?src=ac
Evan Gershkovich: 6 Things You Need to Know about the Imprisoned WSJ Reporter
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by Dr. Yvette Alt Miller
April 18, 2023
The Jewish journalist is imprisoned on trumped-up charges in Russia.

On Wednesday, March 29, 31-year-old Evan Gershkovich, an American reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was arrested in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on charges of espionage, becoming the first American correspondent held as a spy in Russia since the end of the Cold War. Evan, his family, the Wall Street Journal, and the US Government vehemently deny any accusation that he’s a spy. If convicted, Evan could be imprisoned for up to 20 years.

Here are six pressing facts that you need to know about Evan Gershkovich.

1. Born into a Russian-Jewish Family in America
Evan’s parents Ella and Mikhail fled the Soviet Union in the 1970s, escaping the crushing antisemitism under which they lived.

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Ella remembers her own mother, a Ukrainian Jew who survived the Holocaust, used to cry as she recalled treating survivors in a Polish military hospital at the end of the war. Ella fled the USSR when she was 22 years old, after hearing rumors that Jews were about to be deported to Siberia. She traveled using Israeli documents and moved to Detroit where she met Mikhail, a fellow Soviet Jew who’d also recently settled in the United States.

The Gershkovich family soon moved from Detroit to Princeton, New Jersey, where they raised Evan and his older sister Danielle. The family always spoke Russian at home. Even today, when Evan was allowed to write a precious letter to his parents, he wrote to them in the family’s native Russian language.

2. A Gift for Writing
Friends and colleagues describe Evan as fun-loving and brilliant, and incredibly hard working.

The father of Evan’s college roommate has written about his first impression of Evan. After dropping his son Simon off at Bowdoin College in Maine, the award-winning TV and movie producer Stan Brooks and his wife noticed Evan, who was bright and charismatic. “He was the other Jewish kid on the floor besides Simon.” Evan and Simon eventually became best friends and roommates. Stan Brooks describes: “It was hard not to like Evan Gershkovich from the first time you met him. His smile was infectious and he loved life. Despite having to work two jobs to pay for his tuition, in addition to hours and hours on the soccer field, you always felt like Evan had the world by the tail. e had a gift to gab and wanted to be a writer, preferably a journalist that could travel the world.”

Evan with his mother, Ella
Evan got an internship with The New York Times, then moved to Russia and worked for an English-language newspaper called The Moscow Times, then Agence-France Presse. A colleague recalled finding Evan sitting in a Moscow coffee shop one day, applying for a job with The Wall Street Journal. “Mr. Gershkovich tilted his laptop to show him the application form, as if to encourage him to apply as well.” Open and generous, it seemed to be a classic Evan move.

Evan was hired at the start of 2022. The following month, Russia invaded Ukraine, and Evan was assigned to cover the progress of the war, travelling to the Belorussian-Ukrainian border. He became the first American journalist to report on wounded Russian troops being evacuated home.

3. Deepening Jewish Connection
In Russia, Evan became more interested in his Jewish identity than ever before. His mother Ella recalled visiting him in Russia and taking him to a synagogue. She’d passed by it as a teenager but had always been too afraid to enter. As a child, she recalls being told that anyone walking into the building would be photographed and even arrested by the KGB.

On her visit, she and Evan entered the synagogue together. “That’s when Evan started to understand us better,” she explained. He understood the fear that drove his parents to emigrate and build knew lives in the United States.



At The Moscow Times, Evan reported on Jewish life in the city. In an 2019 article, for instance, he described hundreds of Jews gathering to openly celebrate Hanukkah in Ploshchad Revolyutsii, a square in the center of Moscow. “Taking place just a stone’s throw from the Kremlin, which promoted a policy of state-sponsored antisemitism during the Soviet era,” he wrote, “what has become a ritual nonetheless continues to surprise those who participate, given the country’s history.”

4. Defying Danger
The mood in Russia has become much darker over the past year, as criticism of government policy has become increasingly dangerous. Soon after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, The Wall Street Journal transferred Evan to its London office, fearing for his safety. After several months in London, Evan begged to go back. He wanted to resume reporting on what he saw as the incredibly vital and difficult story of Russia’s changing political and cultural landscape.

Back in Russia, the atmosphere had changed. Evan rarely made personal comments about Russian society, preferring to report the facts, but in July 2022, he tweeted: “Reporting on Russia is now also a regular practice of watching people you know get locked away for years.” Despite the danger of reporting on Russian politics and the war in Ukraine, Evan persevered.

Russian security officers followed Evan on at least one reporting trip, filming his movements and telling locals not to speak with him. He assumed that his phone was bugged and he downloaded a GPS tracking app so that colleagues could watch his movements. That’s how the alarm was first raised on March 29, on Evan’s fateful trip to Yekaterinburg, where he travelled to report on the Russian mercenary group Wagner, which has fielded soldiers in some of the most brutal fighting in eastern Ukraine.



When he arrived in the city, he texted his colleagues, “Landed, out the airport.” Hours later, a colleague noticed that Evan hadn’t texted in a while. “Have you been in touch with Evan?” he messaged a Wall Street Journal security officer, who responded, “Working on it.” The Wall Street Journal sent a local person to Evan’s rented apartment in Yekaterinburg, and tried to retrace his movements. The following morning, Russian journalists captured footage of Evan being forced into a car by Russian security officials.

5. Notorious Prison
On Thursday, March 30, the Russian state news agency announced that Evan had been arrested for espionage, a charge that the US Government has vigorously denied. A group of major American news outlets issued a statement saying “Evan’s detention is intended to have a chilling effect on independent journalism and deprive the public of essential news.”

Evan is being held in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo Prison. Used as a jail since Czarist times, the prison has held some of Russia’s most famous political prisoners. Torture and executions have taken place behind its forbidding walls. Yevgeny Smirnov, a lawyer who’s defended prisoners accused of treason and espionage, describes the prison as a brutal place, designed to break down prisoners’ will to resist. “No calls, no visitation, no newspapers, nothing… At best, they will receive letters - and even then most likely with a delay of a month or two. It’s one of the tools of suppression.”

Evan’s family has received one letter from him, dated April 5. He confirmed that he did receive a care package from a friend, containing toiletries, slippers, and pens. Evan has been allowed to meet with his Russian attorney and after a month of imprisonment he just received his first visit with a US official – with the United States’ ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy. The diplomat tweeted, “He is in good health and remains strong. We reiterate our call for his immediate release.”

6. Demanding Evan’s Release
US Special Presidential Envoy Roger Carstens has promised to free Evan, along with US Marine Paul Whelan, who has also been accused of espionage in Russia. “We will bring Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich home,” he told NPR. Russia, however, has vowed that any prisoner swap is impossible until after Evan is tried in Russian courts, a process that could take over a year.


Jews around the world are refusing to forget Evan. Over Passover, many Jews set an empty place at their Seder tables to remember the imprisoned journalist. A central Jewish commandment is Pidyon Shvuyim, redeeming captives, to do all you can to free your fellow Jews who are unjustly held, no matter where they are in the world.

Here are a few concrete ways you can help.
Call your representatives and ask that they do all they can to pressure Russia to release Evan Gershkovich (and other political prisoners). Let them know this is an issue that is important to you.
You can send letters to Evan at FreeCershkovich@Gmail.com. His friends will try and get these messages of support to him.
Send messages of support to Evan’s family and friends at FriendsOfEvanGershkovich@Gmail.com.
Spread the word of Evan’s plight by posting about him on social media with the hashtags #IStandWithEvan and #FreeEvan.
Continue to keep Evan in your thoughts and prayers. Never give up.

New Yiddish Holocaust Album is a Smash Hit
by Dr. Yvette Alt Miller
April 16, 2023

The album tells the real-life stories of Holocaust victims and is an unlikely global hit.
A new Yiddish album that tells the real-life stories of Holocaust victims is an unlikely global hit. Silent Tears: The Last Yiddish Tango by the Toronto-based Payadora Tango Ensemble is on top of the World Music Charts in Europe, and is educating a new generation about the Holocaust.

The album’s songs are woven out of harrowing survivor accounts, many of them collected by Dr. Paula David, a gerontologist in Toronto and one of the world’s foremost experts in caring for Holocaust survivors. In an Aish.com exclusive interview, Dr. David recalled her work with survivors which helped form the basis of some of the moving songs in Silent Tears.


“I moved back to Toronto in the 1990s,” Dr. David recalls, where she began working at Baycrest Center, a Jewish research and teaching hospital for the elderly. Dr. David worked with people experiencing dementia and noticed that aging Holocaust survivors were beginning to make up more and more of the adults needing care at Baycrest. As their memories of the present faded, in some cases their recollections of traumatic events in their youth began to come to the fore.

MORE https://aish.com/new-yiddish-holocaust-album-is-a-smash-hit/?src=ac

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The True Story Behind Netflix’s Transatlantic
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by Dr. Yvette Alt Miller
April 16, 2023
The new series tells the remarkable story of the Emergency Rescue Committee that saved thousands of refugees from the Nazis.

Netflix’s new show Transatlantic tells the thrilling, true-life story of the Emergency Rescue Committee, a clandestine rescue group that saved thousands of refugees from the Nazis, including many Jews, artists, and intellectuals.

Based on the 2019 novel The Flight Portfolio by Julie Orringer, Transatlantic brings to life a host of colorful characters who set up shop in the southern French city of Marseilles in 1940, defying the Vichy French regime to lead thousands of refugees across the Pyrenees Mountains to relative safety in Spain.

One of the opening scenes captures the bravery of this motley group. Mary Jayne Gold, a wealthy heiress from Chicago, is sitting in a Marseilles cafe speaking with an American official who urges her to go back home. When Mary Jayne protests that she wants to help refugees, the official tells her she can be most useful by sending money from Chicago.

Instead, Mary Jayne spies a young Jewish refugee wandering among the cafe tables, obviously hungry. Excusing herself to powder her nose, Mary Jayne goes to the bathroom where she gives the woman food, promises to help smuggle her on a ship bound for New York, and even trades dresses with her, returning to her cafe table wearing the refugee’s dirty, sweat-stained dress.

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Chicago heiress Mary Jayne Gold (L); Gillian Jacobs who plays Gold in the Netflix series

While there’s no evidence that this particular scene ever took place, Mary Jayne Gold and others risked their lives, courting arrest and death to help save thousands of lives. Transatlantic captures some of the bravery of a few of these remarkable people.

Founded by Albert Einstein
After Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Jews and others began fleeing his fanatical antisemitism. Albert Einstein moved to the United States and soon joined with 50 other intellectuals to form a new branch of the International Relief Association, aimed at helping Jews and other people who were being targeted for persecution and harassment in Germany. Among the group’s early members were the philosopher John Dewey, theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, writer John Dos Passos, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Seven years later, the International Relief Association merged with another band of intellectuals who’d gathered in New York to discuss how to best aid French refugees following Paris’ surrender to the Nazis. The two groups formed the Emergency Rescue Committee, dedicated to helping refugees in France, particularly Jews and others from elsewhere in Europe. Thousands of refugees poured into southern France, which was nominally under French (as opposed to German) control. Despite their relative safety for a time, undocumented immigrants could be arrested at any time and deported to Germany.

Varian Fry, Reluctant Spy
Varian Fry was a shy, Harvard-educated high school teacher and journalist when he became one of the Emergency Rescue Committee members in New York. He was already well aware of the terrible dangers faced by Jews in Europe: he’d reported from Berlin in 1935, where he witnessed Jews being brutally beaten up in the streets. That horror helped galvanize him to do all he could to protect Jews and others as war raged in Europe.

Fry advocated lifting America’s 1924 Immigration Act, which drastically limited the number of refugees the US was willing to take. He also wrote to Eleanor Roosevelt, begging her to find someone, “an adventurous daredevil,” to coordinate the Emergency Rescue Committee’s activities in France and “save the intended victims of Hitler’s chopping block.”

Cory Michael Smith (R) play journalist Varian Fry (L), who was named by Yad Vashem Righteous Amongst the Gentiles

Fry pointed out that he was unsuitable for this position: his French and German skills were poor and he possessed “no experience whatever in detective work.” When no one else volunteered, Fry strapped $3,000 in cash to his leg and flew from New York to France with a list of 200 Jewish intellectuals he was determined to help smuggle to safety. That number would eventually grow to over 2,000.

Villa Air-Bel
Much of Transatlantic takes place in Villa Air-Bel, the crumbling villa outside of Marseilles which became the International Rescue Committee’s unofficial transit center. There, Fry and his colleagues coordinated a complex network of top-secret informants and aides, who helped provide false passports and visas, shelter and aid refugees, and smuggle refugees out of France and across difficult mountain passes into Spain. The group helped pay for their passage on ships headed to America.

While most of the people the Emergency Rescue Committee aided were ordinary Jews, they also helped save the lives of a number of artists. The list of those who passed through the committee’s operations is a virtual who’s who of the 20th century’s leading artists and intellectuals: Marchel Duchamp, Jacques Lipchitz, Max Ernst, and Marc Chagall; writers Andre Breton and Heinrich Mann, Hannah Arendt and others. Alma Mahler, wife of the composer Gustav Mahler, crossed the Pyrenees, thanks to the Emergency Rescue Committee, carrying Mahler’s final work, his Symphony No. 10, with her.

Villa Air-Bel served as a haven and a home for many of these artists for a while. Painters and writers continued to work in its grounds, and each Sunday evening, Andre Breton and his wife Jaqueline hosted parties on the villa’s properties for refugees and aid workers.

Albert Hirshman
In Transatlantic, the brother of the Jewish refugee that Mary Jayne Gold helps early in episode one turns out to be Albert Hirshman, a Jewish hero of the resistance who became a key agent for the group. Born in Berlin in 1915, he worked for an anti-Nazi political party in Germany before fighting in Spain’s civil war as a resistance worker in Italy. In Marseilles, Hirshman recruited new Rescue Committee members and helped coordinate routes out of France for refugees.

Austrian actor Lucas Englander (R) plays Albert Hirschman (L)

He joined one of the refugee groups fleeing France in 1941 after he became known to the Vichy French authorities. Police raided Villa Bel-Air looking for him, but Hirshman escaped arrest, eventually making his way to Spain and then to the United States. He served as an Intelligence agent in the US Army, and after the war became one of America’s most prominent economists, teaching at Princeton University.

Mary Jayne Gold
Originally from Chicago, Mary Jayne Gold was a sophisticated, multi-lingual socialite. After attending finishing school in Italy, she settled in Paris during the 1930s, throwing parties in her beautiful home and enjoying high society. When World War II broke out in 1939, all Americans were advised to leave Europe. Mary Jayne remained, determined to do all she could to help the Allies and aid refugees. She donated her personal plane to the French military, and - once she made contact with Varian Fry in 1940 - helped bankroll the Emergency Rescue Committee.

It was thanks to Mary Jayne Gold that Fry’s original list of 200 refugees expanded to over 2,000. In fact, it was called “Gold’s list,” as she identified more and more people to help. She worked as a courier and interviewer, getting to know each member of the rescue group and befriending many of the refugees she helped save.

The Emergency Rescue Committee was forced to cease operations in 1941, and Mary Jayne fled France at that time. Before she returned to the United States, she managed to smuggle vital intelligence to British agents in Lisbon.

For the remainder of the war, Mary Jayne worked to aid refugees as much as she could, and studied for a degree in criminal psychology. She eventually returned to France, settling in a villa in the Riviera. She never married. After her death in 1997, her friend, the filmmaker Pierre Sauvage, described her as “a very shrewd woman whose heart was on the right side of issues and who at a crucial turning point in history understood what was called for.” He told reporters that she “felt that only one year in her life really mattered and it was the year she spent in Marseilles.”

At a time when so many people turned away, Varian Fry, Mary Jayne Gold, Albert Hirshman and others asked themselves what they could do for others, and risked their lives to help. Their remarkable legacy deserves to be remembered.

https://aish.com/chances-are-leonardo-da-vinci-was-jewish/?src=ac
Chances Are Leonardo da Vinci Was Jewish
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by Marc Weitzmann
April 16, 2023
Italian historian Carlo Vecce set out to debunk rumors of da Vinci’s foreign origins, but a newly discovered document changed his mind.

In all likelihood, Leonardo da Vinci was only half Italian. His mother, Caterina, was a Circassian Jew born somewhere in the Caucasus, abducted as a teenager and sold as a sex slave several times in Russia, Constantinople, and Venice before finally being freed in Florence at age 15. This, at least, is the conclusion reached in the new book Il sorriso di Caterina, la madre di Leonardo, by the historian Carlo Vecce, one of the most distinguished specialists on Leonardo da Vinci.

The official version of da Vinci’s birth is that it was the fruit of a brief fling between the Florentine solicitor Piero da Vinci and a young peasant from Tuscany called Caterina, of whom almost nothing was known. Yet there had long been a seemingly unfounded theory that Leonardo had foreign origins and that Caterina was an Arab slave. Six years ago, professor Vecce decided to kill the rumor for good. “I simply found it impossible to believe that the mother of the greatest Italian genius would be a non-Italian slave,” he told me. “Now, not only do I believe it, but the most probable hypothesis, given what I found, is that Caterina was Jewish.”

“…the most probable hypothesis, given what I found, is that Caterina was Jewish.”
Vecce was the right man for the job—he published an anthology of da Vinci’s writings and a biography, Leonardo, translated into several languages, and he collaborated on the exhibition of da Vinci’s drawings and manuscripts at the Louvre and Metropolitan Museum in 2003. He embarked on the research for his latest book during the reconstruction of da Vinci’s library, which is where he found the document that changed everything. Dated Nov. 2, 1452, seven months after Leonardo’s birth, and signed by Piero da Vinci in his professional capacity, it is an emancipation act regarding “the daughter of a certain Jacob, originating from the Caucasian mountains,” and named Caterina.

According to the document, Catarina’s owner appears to have been the wife of rich merchant Donato di Filippo, who lived near the San Michele Visdomini church in Florence, and whose usual solicitor for business was Piero da Vinci. The date on the document is underlined several times, as if da Vinci’s hand was shaking as he proceeds to the liberation of the woman who just gave him a child.
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Slavery was still current practice in 15th-century Italy, though on a much smaller scale than in the Ottoman Empire. The city of Florence alone had at least 1,000 slaves—among them Russians, Abkhazes, Turks, Serbs, and, like Caterina, Circassians from the Caucasus. Who was this woman who gave birth to one of the greatest geniuses of the Renaissance?

Investigating her story, professor Vecce traced another part of the history of the Jews. “Traveling from Russia,” he told me, Caterina “certainly passed through the Taman peninsula, near Crimea, which opens on the Azov sea.” The peninsula owes its name to David of Taman, the king of the Jewish Khazar kingdom that briefly existed there during the seventh to 10th centuries. “It seems that some traces of the Khazar kingdom still existed in the 15th century, when the peninsula was controlled by the Genovese Jewish Ghisolfi family. The region was ruled by Jewish consuls until the Ottoman Empire put an end to it at the end of the 15th century.”

Most of the slave ships traveled from the Venetian colony implanted at Azov (then Tana) to Constantinople. From there, we can follow Caterina to Venice, and then to Florence where she was brought by her new master, Donato di Filippo, who put her to work both in his clothing workshop and at the service of his wife. That she was a sex slave is attested by the fact that she already had several children by Filippo when, at 15, she met da Vinci, Filippo’s solicitor, who at first “borrowed” her as a nanny for his daughter Marie and then fell so much in love with her that he freed her from slavery after Leonardo’s birth.

“Da Vinci himself was no stranger to the Jews,” says professor Vecce. “His main customers were among the Jewish community of Florence.”

Piero da Vinci ended up leaving Florence for Milan. Caterina died there in 1493 and is probably buried in the San Francesco Grande church, where Leonardo had painted the “Verginne delle rocce” a few years before.

As for Donato di Filippo, after his death he gave his money to the church of San Bartolomeo a Monte Oliveto, for which Leonardo would paint the “Annunciation.” Coincidentally enough, the background of this painting shows a mountain very similar to Mount Elbrus, the highest summit of the Caucasus mountains. An Oriental port quite similar to the port Caterina passed through when she was a slave also figures on the painting.

According to professor Vecce, “Caterina certainly fed young Leonardo’s imagination with the memories of her travels. Circassian people had a reputation for being untamed, free of mind, and wild. I like to think she taught him the spirit of absolute freedom that can be found in his scientific and intellectual researches. The freedom of a mind that is not bound by prejudices or authority.”

https://aish.com/telling_lies/?src=ac
When is it appropriate to shade the truth?
There is a GEICO ad which asks the question “Was Abe Lincoln honest?” It shows him struggling to answer his wife’s question, “Does this make me look fat?” Compelled to tell the truth, he just can’t get out the words he knows he really should say. Finally he tells her that yes, perhaps it does, just a little.

The ad is funny; the damage to a real marriage may not be.
Judaism puts a very high premium on truth-telling, admonishing us to stay far from falsehoods. Yet Jews also recognize that there are times when it is necessary and even appropriate, to tell a white lie – or at the very least, shade the truth.

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"Does this make me look fat?" is a classic. The appropriate answer is always, “No, you look beautiful.” Even God told a white lie for the sake of peace and to promote the affection in a marriage. When God told Sarah that she was going to have a child, she laughed and said, “I am old and my husband is old.” Upon repeating the story to Abraham, God omitted the part about her husband being old to spare Abraham's hurt feelings – even though he was 99 at the time!

That’s the level of sensitivity you need to have – and the level at which it is permissible to fudge the truth.

In situations like this, if you can give a satisfactory answer without lying, that's certainly better. To the question, “How do I look?” you could respond that you love the color on her without remarking on how much you hate the style.

Peace is also important between friends. Moses' brother Aaron would attempt to restore peace by telling each party to a dispute that the other side really wants to make up, whether they did or not.

Imagine a close friend bought a clothing item, final sale only. She asks your opinion and you think she made a poor choice. Since the purchase can't be returned, you do her no favor by sharing your negative response. You can say: “I love it!” Even better: if you can say something that is honest but limited. “You are one of the few people who can get away with that color.” “What an amazingly low price you paid.” The same goes for haircuts which obviously can’t be returned.

It’s best to look for something positive. The Talmud tells the story of a rabbi walking with his students when they came upon a dead dog. They responded, “Gross! How disgusting!” But their teacher said, “He has nice white teeth.” It's better for your character if you can avoid an outright lie and put a truthful positive spin on it, but if you can't, the higher value is not hurting our friend.

It's also permissible to distort the truth to save someone from shame. Perhaps you know of a family that needs some financial help to send one of their children to school. They would be mortified to be the recipients of charity. You could create a fictional scholarship as a way of giving them money. Saving them from embarrassment trumps the absolute truth. This also applies to humiliating incidents in someone’s past; you can lie to avoid revealing such information.

Talk shows and reality TV have destroyed most people’s sense of privacy. Appropriate boundaries have been done away with. You do not need to answer an invasive question; it's none of their business how much that necklace cost or if you're dating someone.

In keeping with the Jewish sense of privacy and dignity, you can lie (or not reveal the truth) in answering these and similar queries.

The quest for peace, common sense, sensitivity – and a good rabbi – should be our guidelines. Another helpful tool is to ask ourselves “Do I feel comfortable explaining this to my children or even asking them to participate in the deception?” You'll discover that if the goal is to help or protect someone else, there are occasions where a falsehood is permitted and your children will understand. If the goal is to protect yourself, then they won’t understand and they are correct in thinking this is wrong.

Ultimately the goal remains truth. But the very real emotional needs of those you care about cannot be discounted.

Like What You Read? Give Jews around the world the chance to experience engaging Jewish wisdom with more articles and videos on Aish. As a nonprofit organization it's your support that keeps us going. Thanks so much!

https://aish.com/jewish-comedians-and-splitting-the-sea/?src=ac
Jewish Comedians and Splitting the Sea
by Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff
A surprising answer to why so many Jews become comedians.
When Robin Williams, arguably one of the greatest comedians died, some people gave him an interesting title: “honorary Jew.” Why the Jew label? Couldn't he have been left as a brilliantly comedic non-Jew?
Well if you look back at most of the great comedians from the previous generation, they were predominantly Jewish. This is a group it seems some people badly wanted him to be part of. Here is a short list of some Jewish comedians, with their real names:

Jack Benny (Benjamin Kubelsky),
Mel Brooks (Melvyn Kaminsky),
Milton Berle (Mendel Berlinger),
Gene Wilder (Jerome Silberman),
Jackie Mason (Yaakov Moshe Maza),
Buddy Hackett (Leonard Hacker),
Jerry Lewis (Joseph Levitch),
Danny Kaye (Daniel Kaminski),
Victor Borge (Borge Rosenbaum),
Rodney Dangerfield (Jacob Cohen),
Joan Rivers (Joan Molinsky)
And my personal favorite
Tony Curtis (Bernie Schwartz)

Growing up I had a passion for jokes and stand-up comedy; I even performed once in a while. The fact that I became a rabbi instead of a stand-up comic tells you how good I was.

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Why are Jews so funny? Is it a coincidence that nearly all the great entertainers of recent memory were of Jewish stock, or is something deeper going on?

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, one of my favorite commentators on the Torah, answered the question for me. He makes a short but remarkable statement which changed the way I looked at comedy and why so many Jews are comedians. The relationship between Jews and comedy actually goes back to our birth as a people.

When the Jewish people left Egypt they were pursued by Pharaoh and the Egyptian army who regretted letting them leave in the first place. Several days after leaving Egypt the Jewish people arrived at the Red Sea. Behind them were the Egyptian soldiers and in front of them was the sea. They were trapped.

The Torah describes the scene quite vividly, “…and when Pharaoh drew close, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians were marching after them; and they were very afraid; and the children of Israel cried out to God.” (Exodus 14:10-11)

You could have expected them to cry out to God, or to complain to Moses, but what they did after that was rather unexpected: “And they said to Moses: Were there no graves in Egypt, that you brought us to die here in the wilderness?”

What kind of statement is that? Of course there were graves in Egypt. Their own parents and grandparents had been buried there.

Rabbi Hirsch gives a short and fascinating explanation of this verse. He says, “This sharp and ironic statement was made at a time of the deepest anxiety and despair. This marks the sense of wit that is a characteristic trait of the clearheaded Jewish people.”

He’s telling us something remarkable: the Jewish people made a joke. They assumed that this was the end of the road. All bets were off. Hundreds of years of Jewish history were about to come to a gruesome and pitiful end. Instead of crying, they made a sarcastic comment. “Oh I see Moses, there wasn't a grave in Egypt that you had to shlep us to die here instead!”

Comedy and humor have a purpose. The Jewish people have gone through thousands of years of Jewish history, and along the way we have seen and been part of some of the worst atrocities the world has known. We have survived beatings, torture, forced conversions, exiles, pogroms and holocausts. We needed something to help us survive those hardships. One of the abilities that God encoded into our spiritual DNA from our earliest beginnings as a people was the ability to laugh. The Jewish people used comedy as one of many survival tools. And God knows, we've needed it.

A few years ago Leo Zisman of blessed memory, a survivor of Birkenau, and his wife Myrna, accompanied a group of young professionals to Poland on a tour that I was leading. Leo gave us a detailed explanation of what living during the horrors of the Holocaust was like. He also had a terrific and mischievous sense of humor.

I asked him how he had the mental stamina to survive such an atrocious experience. He replied that many people would tell each other jokes and funny stories from the shtetl in order to escape the terrible reality they were faced with on a daily basis. Those moments of laughter lifted them out of their misery for a few moments every day.

I even saw a book for sale in the Majdanek gift shop (yes, even the camps have gift shops) entitled “Laughter in Hell” that cataloged many of the stories, plays and jokes that were told in the camps.

Medical research has shown the benefits a good laugh can have on your mind and body. Among other things laughter can lower blood pressure, reduce stress hormone levels, improve cardiac health and trigger the release of endorphins, the body's natural pain killers.

The Talmud tells a story about the great sage Rabbi Beroka who one day met Elijah the prophet in the market place. Rabbi Beroka asked him, “Who in the market is worthy of achieving the next world?” Elijah pointed at two men and said they were ideal candidates. Rabbi Beroka was surprised as these two men did not fit the image of very righteous individuals. Intrigued, Rabbi Beroka approached them and asked, “What do you do for a living?”

They replied, “We are clowns and we tell jokes for a living. When we see people around us who are a bit down hearted we cheer them up with a joke and a few funny words.”

Using the power of humor to lift people’s spirits when they are down is worthy enough of assuring a place in heaven.

https://aish.com/the-story-of-the-jews-4-masadas-fall-and-rise/?src=ac
The Story of the Jews, #4: Masada's Fall and Rise
by Rabbi Meir Soloveichik
April 2, 2023
Mighty Rome is no more; the Jewish people lives.
It was an incident that seemed to signal the utter defeat of the Jewish people. In 73 CE, only three years after the devastation of Jerusalem, Rome’s tenth legion massed against a small band of Jews still stubbornly holding out at Masada, a primitive stone fortress on a cliff above the Dead Sea.
VIDEO
There was no contest. In a piercing low point of Jewish history, Masada and its last defenders fell. But Masada was not the end. In this concluding episode of our series, the story of the Jews emerges once again as a chronicle of almost unbelievable tenacity and perseverance, of resurgence, and of the workings of God’s unbreakable covenant with His people.
Mighty Rome is no more; the Jewish people lives. A single date-palm tree, grown from 2,000-year-old seeds, tells the tale with unparalleled eloquence.