Sunday, September 30, 2018
Chol Hamoed Sukkot in Israel & outside of Israel ...
by Rabbi Shmuel Knopfler
What is the true symbolism of the succa?
The Talmud (B.T. Succa 11b) cites a difference of opinion between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Eliezer as to whether the succa commemorates the actual huts in which the Israelites dwelt in the desert, or the “clouds of glory” which encompassed us as a sign of Divine protection.
Leviticus chapter 23 catalogs all the holy days of the Hebrew calendar, beginning with the Sabbath and concluding with Succot. The 33rd verse begins a description of Succot:
“The 15th day of the seventh month shall be the festival of Succot (Booths), seven days for the Lord; the first day shall be a holy convocation, when you may not perform creative work…”
The text goes on to mention the festival of the Eighth Day of Assembly (Shmini Atzeret), and then seemingly concludes the entire calendar sequence with the words: “These are the special appointed times of the Lord” (23:37).
But just as we thought the description of the festivals was complete, the narrative inexplicably reverts to the festival of Succot. This time, however, the Bible stresses the connection to the Land of Israel, and the agricultural cycle:
“But on the 15th day of the seventh month, when you harvest the grain of the land, you shall celebrate a festival to the Lord for seven days, with the first day being a day of rest and the eighth day being a day of rest” (23:39).
Another curious feature of this second account is that having repeated the command to observe Succot in the context of the farmers’ request, the Bible now introduces other crucial themes of the festival, including the command to take up four species of plant indigenous to Israel (citron, palm frond, myrtle branch and willow), and rejoice on our holy days, wrapping up its description with a repetition of the command to dwell in booths, this time stressing the historical aspects of the festival:
“You shall dwell in booths for seven days, so that your generations shall know that I caused the Israelites to live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God” (23: 42-43).
It seems that the Bible is making a clear distinction between the significance of the Succot Festival before the Israelites entered the Land and the nature of the festival once we were living in Israel. How so?
Outside Israel, the hut-like booths symbolized our temporary dwellings while we wandered across the desert and, by extension, throughout our long exile when we were a people without a homeland. Once we entered the Land of Israel, however and harvested the grain of the land,” we could celebrate the harvest with special blessings and rituals involving the four species – vegetation unavailable in the desert.
In the Promised Land, the entire festival and even the symbolism of the succah itself assumed a heightened significance. Now, the shabby, makeshift desert huts came to represent the sheltering wings of the Divine Presence, the clouds of glory with which God protected us so that we’d be able to fulfill our mission as His divine ambassadors. When we are living in the Diaspora, the succa can only teach us to be grateful to the Lord who preserves us under difficult and dangerous conditions; whereas living in Israel, we understand that as the people of God’s covenant, no matter how flimsy the walls of our temporary homes may seem, we constantly live under His protective grace, with the borders of our homeland for protection and the food provided by our land for life-giving sustenance.
This essential difference in the significance of the succa prior to our inhabiting the Land of Israel and afterwards could also be seen when we returned to the Land after our Babylonian exile. Then, Ezra exhorted us to dwell in booths during the Festival of the Seventh Month, and to make our booths with “olive leaves and olive branches, with myrtles, psalms and willows” (Nehemiah 8:15). In the Land of Israel, the succa is adorned and enhanced by the local vegetation, thespecial fragrance of which symbolizes God’s shelter and fulfillment of the Divine covenant. Seen in this light, as the Vilna Gaon noted, Succot is the festival which celebrates our entry into the Land of Israel!
God’s revelation and gift of forgiveness (initially for the sin of the Golden Calf) took place on the 10th of Tishrei, Yom Kippur. The following day, He commanded the building of the Sanctuary; and the Israelites collected materials for the next two days.
Then, on the 15th of Tishrei, the work of building the Sanctuary began, marking the restoration of the relationship between God and the Jews. This is noted by the Ramban, who explains that this is why the Book of Exodus is indeed the Book of Redemption.
“Then the Holy One Blessed be He returned and rested His Divine Presence among them and they returned to the exalted level of the patriarchs, which was the secret of God, with Clouds of Glory upon their tents, and they were considered to be redeemed. And so the Book of Exodus ends with the completion of the Sanctuary and with the Glory of God filling it always.” (Ramban – Introduction to Book of Exodus).
Hence the succa in Israel became clouds of divine glory, symbolizing the Sanctuary and the Holy Temple in Jerusalem – which will eventually bring the entire world to peace and redemption. And indeed He has begun the process in our generation, when He brought us home to Israel thereby restoring and uplifting the fallen Succah of David, which has now become – after 2000 years of Exile – clouds of Divine Glory presaging the Third Santuary and World peace. (Isaiah 2)
בברכת התורה והארץ
שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם
B'Birchat Hatorah V'Haaretz
Shabbat Shalom
Friday, September 28, 2018
“Go to the army” rather than be involved in Machlokes.... .Rechnitz to the Litvishe Yeshivah Guys
As has become an annual event, philanthropist R’ Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz spoke at the Thursday night Simchas Bais Hashoeva at the Mir Yeshiva in Yerushalayim. The event was attended by thousands of Yeshiva Bochurim, Kollel Yungerleit, and supporters of the Yeshiva – and watched by thousands more on live webcast.
In previous years, Rechnitz stunned the crowd as he pledged astronomical support to the Yeshiva and its Yungerleit. Additionally, it is widely known that when delivering speeches around the globe, Rechnitz tackles issues that many shy away from. One of those speeches occured in Lakewood where he spoke about children not being accepted into Lakewood Yeshivas.
On Thursday, R’ Shlomo Yehuda spoke about the too-long-lasting split in the “Oilam Hatorah” of the Litvish community, which has torn apart families, Mosdos, and well known Yeshivas.
Rechnitz called the current situation “one of the biggest divides and unrest Klal Yisroel has faced,” and warned “it can only lead to the obliteration of KLAL YISROEL as we know it today.”
It is well known that Rechnitz gives donations to practically all Mosdos of Torah and Chesed – on all sides of the spectrum. He stated: “Anyone who includes themselves in the ugliness of trying to convert this from a mere CHILUKEI DEIOS to an outright destructive MACHLOKES in a public manner, should not and cannot be NEHENE from any money that I contribute.”
Rechnitz also bemoaned the fact that “innocent children who are now 11 or 12 years old, know of nothing but Machloikes”, describing them as “BA’ALEI MUM”.
He compared the indoctrination of these children to Holocaust denial, describing the “sheer abuse” when a child describes a NAZI as a “Frum Bochur or Yungerman who joins the Army”.
He told the crowd point blank, “go to the army” rather than be involved in Machlokes.
“Jerusalem Is Not For Sale” No! Not the MBD Song! Abbas Said it In the UN!
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas YM"S declared Thursday that his people’s rights “are not up for bargaining” and he accused the U.S. of undermining the two-state solution, a day after President Donald Trump suggested for the first time in office that he “liked” the long-discussed idea as the most effective way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Abbas halted ties with Trump’s administration in December after the U.S. recognized contested Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and Palestinians have said a pending U.S. peace plan will be dead on arrival because of that and other recent U.S. moves that Palestinians see as favoring Israel.
“Jerusalem is not for sale,” Abbas said to applause as he began his speech at the annual U.N. General Assembly. “The Palestinian people’s rights are not up for bargaining.”
He said Palestinians would never reject negotiation, but that “it’s really ironic that the American administration still talks about what they call the ‘deal of the century.’”
“What is left for this administration to give to the Palestinian people?” he asked. “What is left as a political solution?”
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Jews Buying Apartments for Investment in Yerushalyim are Destroying the City
Jerusalem is growing dark. Jews who love this city are destroying it, destroying it with money, destroying it by…buying apartments.
In my neighborhood of Baka (known to one ambitious sign maker as Geulim), on our quaint main street, is one of the monstrous “luxury” developments that are sprouting up throughout the city. I’ve noticed the signs and the construction in Katamon, in the German Colony, and near the shuk. The advertising for these developments is geared toward foreigners. Not just any foreigners, mind you – specifically, the rich ones.
Pianist Chaim Tukachinsky Killed by Hit and Run in Jerusalem
The Jerusalem District Court on the first day of Chol Hamoed Sukkos accepted an appeal filed by Israel Police. As a result, Spanish journalist visiting in Israel, Julio De LaGuardia, will remain incarcerated and will not be released to house arrest. The lower Jerusalem court ruled that De LaGuardia may remain under house arrest in the Spanish Consulate, but the District Court overturned that ruling at the behest of police.
De LaGuardia, 59, is the hit-and-run driver who struck and killed chareidi pianist Chaim Tukachinsky z”l. Police report De LaGuardia has admitted to operating a vehicle while intoxicated. The accident took place during the first night of Yomtov in the area of Paris Square in Yerushalayim.
Tukachinsky was heading back from the Kosel when the fatal accident occurred. Police have determined that De LaGuardia was intoxicated while operating the vehicle, and he fled the scene, only to be arrested about 90 minutes later by police in the Mt. Scopus area of the capital.
According to other reports, Tukachinsky was the son of a Kiryat Motzkin chareidi family and the 30-year-old pianist was a prodigy, having begun his musical career in the Kiryat Motzkin music conservatory. He was also a graduate of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, in both piano and composition. He was also a winner of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation (AICM) award for the years 2007-2009.
A published bio on the late young pianist adds, “Since 2012 Chaim is involved in musical theatre productions in Israel. Musically directed ‘Seussical’, ‘Peter Pan’, ‘The Producers’ (for Israel Musicals), ‘Next to Normal’, ‘First Date’, ‘Merrily we Roll Along’, ‘Ordinary Days’ (AACI Jerusalem), ‘the Sound of music’, ‘Singin’ in the Rain’, as well as several Broadway reviews. Played in productions of ‘Cats’, ‘Little night Music’ and others.
“Chaim’s output as a composer spreads upon wide and diverse spectrum of genres: music for solo instruments, chamber music, vocal music, choral and orchestral music, as well as music for the stage. Some of his works were performed by leading Israeli ensembles, such as the ‘Caprisma’ ensemble and the Beersheva Sinfonietta.”
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Accused Sex Pervert Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro Writes Book Against Israel Called "The Empty Chair"
This dirty rat that calls itself "Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro" is an accused sexual predator, who has a history of molesting frum teenage girls way back when he was a teacher in a Yeshiva High School for Girls. His answer is always that these stories have been fabricated because of his anti-Israel ideology. But no one ever made those accusations against the Satmar Rebbe or for that matter Reb Amrom Blau founder of the Neturei Karta ..
He now authored a Nazi-like propaganda book called "The Empty Chair." You can find this book in practically all bookstores and I found that the Zundel Berman and Judaica Plus book stores in Cedarhurst sell this filthy thrash!
A glossy new book has recently been published:
"The Empty Wagon: Zionism's Journey from Identity Crisis to Identity Theft."
It seeks to persuade religious Jews - especially charedim - into an extreme anti-Zionist approach.
The author is Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro, who is not to be confused with the Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro who authored the fabulous book Halachic Positions. This Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro, breaking the popular image of Israel-haters, is highly intelligent and well-read, the rabbi of a shul in Bayswater, Long Island, and a Litvak, though he is also a grand-nephew of the Satmar Rebbe. He used to anonymously operate the creepy website FrumTeens, in which he infamously quoted (or probably misquoted) the Chafetz Chaim as saying about Rav Kook, "Kook, Shmook."
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