Her beginnings were unremarkable, her life extraordinary. Her end — a bullet by a Hungarian execution squad — catapulted her into history, turned her into a symbol of courage, an inspiration for generations.
At the time of her death, Hanna Szenes was 23, innocent of all crime. On that fatal November 7, 1944, my heart leaped across the ocean and I cried. I cried for the injustice. I cried for Hanna Szenes who was — and still is — my hero.
If her young life had not been cut short, her writing might have become a welcome addition to the Israeli literary canon.
We never met. Our lives flowed only as two parallel lines. Five years after she was born on July 17, 1921, circumstances deposited my cradle not far from her native Budapest — in Brno, Czechoslovakia. Both of us came from solid Jewish families; Hanna’s, upper middle class, assimilated; mine, more modest, Modern Orthodox.
Hanna grew up surrounded by culture and love. Vivacious, precocious, protected, she possessed all: a good school where she excelled in all her studies, friends who sought her lively company, summers in the countryside. She learned French and English, played the piano, tutored weaker pupils. Popular with her peers, she partied and danced, she traveled, swam and skied.
She had boyfriends who proposed marriage to her. Years later, thinking of her Right Man whom she never found, she confessed to her diary, I am 22 and have never been kissed.
Her diary was her confidant: to it, she entrusted her thoughts, her feelings, her ambitions.
Like her father, Bela Szenes, well-known for his plays applauded on the Budapest stage, Hanna also wrote. She composed poetry and prose that was read and admired in her many circles. Bela died when she was a child of six; all her life, she remained fiercely attached to her mother Katerina and to her brother George.
Hanna and her brother, George, in Budapest. (From the collection of the National Library)
Both Hanna and I could have continued to live our separate cultured European lives.
It's Tisha Be'ov and we are all wondering why we are still mourning.
The Parsha that we all heard in shuls around the world this shabbos, was Parshas Devarim. Moshe Rabbeinu, using hints and riddles, chastises the Jewish people, reminding them of all what transpired in the 38 years prior.
But there was one sin that the Jewish people did that Moshe Rabbeinu didn't mince words, didn't hint and didn't use riddles but was very direct, and that was the "Chet of the Meraglim."
Why?
Because Hashem never forgives someone who bad mouths Eretz Yisrael, you could learn Torah and do chesed, you could be a great rabbi who authors the greatest sefarim, but if you bad mouth Eretz Yisrael, Hashem will never forgive you.
Last night was the 3,330th anniversary of when the Meraglim brought their treasonous words to Moshe.
Hashem promised that this day would be בכיה לדורות "a cry for generations" and Hashem was true to His words; the first and second Bais Hamikdash were destroyed on the anniversary of this very day.
The Talmud in Yoma (ט':ב)cannot understand why the Second Bais Ha'mikdash was destroyed, after all the Jews were involved in Torah, Mitzvois and Gemillas Chassadim
?שהיו עוסקין בתורה ובמצות וגמילת חסדים מפני מה חרב
It would have been much easier to understand why Hashem destroyed the Bais Hamikdash , if the Jews at the time would have been involved exclusively "in Torah and Mitzvois" and not in involved in chessed, then we could reason, that the Jews were only interested in mitzvahs that were between them and Hashem בין אדם למקום,but mitzvahs that pertain between them and their fellow Jews,בין אדם לחבירו they neglected, and that's why Hashem destroyed the Bais Hamikdash.
But a careful reading of the Talmud's question includes גמילת חסדים, the Jews were very much involved in doing chessed,
so if they were doing "chessed, why was the Bais Hamikdash destroyed?
The gemmarah answers that it was because of "baseless hatred"שנאת חינם`
Wait one minute, they were doing chessed and hated their fellow Jew? How do we understand that, it's a contradiction!
It's not a contradiction ... because doing a chessed to a neighbour or to another Jew is a personal thing, you feel bad for his or her circumstances, so you will go out and do them a chessed...
Hating another Jew is anonymous thing, because usually you hate a group and you may not even know them personally ...
"That other group doesn't dress like me, doesn't follow my minhagim, or even because they are not religious. So yes, I will do them a favor a chessed should they need something, but in my heart I hate them, I don't want them living anywhere near me."
So how does a Jew who learns Torah, does mitzvahs and does Chessed, hate another Jew? Where does it start?
For that we have to thank Hamas!
What? Hamas?
Yes absolutely... Hamas and Hizbollah train their toddlers to hate Jews, and set up summer camps to make sure this happens. They train them when they are still very young.
There exists a very large Chassidus that is known for chessed, if G-d forbid you or a loved one was ever hospitalised, you benefited from that chessed. They will take their shirts off their back to help another Yid, no question.
But at the same time they embed hate of other Jews such as Zionists, in their children and they do it when their children are still very small
Another point that I want to make in reference to this gemarrah in Yoma....
If you open the book of Josephus or even the gemarrah itself, you will see that there were large groups of Jews that were not at all frum and some of them were even murderers. For example, the Sadducees and the Essenes were groups of Jews that went against the Torah, so why is the gemmarah searching for a reason for the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash and why does the gemmarrah seem to say that all Jews were involved in "Torah, Mitzvahs and Gemillas Chassadim?"
Why doesn't the gemmarah simply say that Bais Hamikdash was destroyed because many Jews were violating the Torah, weren't holding shabbos?
The answer is that Hashem looks what the Frummies are doing. Hashem is looking at the guys that learn all day, learn Mussar sefarim, do Mitzvois and do chessed who are "Torah True Jews" ....yet hate each other.
Hashem is looking at the Jews who instead of voting, make illegal protests, protesting the "light rail" in Yerushalyim because it "will bring "prizus into their neighbourhoods, yet destroying millions of shekels worth of equipment." Hashem is looking at Jews that throw rocks and beat up other Jews because they were brave enough to join the army to protect their very rights to protest. Hashem is looking at Jews that train their children to call other Jews "Nazis" Hashem is looking at the "holy" Jews in Meah Sharim who threw rocks and eggs, just like Arabs, on 60 innocent Jewish girls that walked thru their neighborhood.
The Bais Hamikdash was not destroyed because of "chillul Shabbos" it wasn't destroyed because of Jews that may have distorted the Torah ....
The Bais Hamikdash according to this gemmarrah in Yoma was destroyed because of the "Tzaddikim" it was destroyed because those learning Torah and doing Mitzvois and going out of their way to do another Jew a chesed, were at the same time carrying around hate in their minds & bodies..
Remember that the roshei teivois of
איכה ישבה בדד העיר
is איבה ..hate
and that brings me to my headline ...
about Harav Yitzchok Dovid Grossman...
This book is a must read, and every Jewish home must run out and buy it. It's about a Yerushalmie Jew brought up in Meah Searim and who loves every single Jew... see what he has and continues to accomplish.
I have seen his work first hand, and he is truly a tzaddik.
If you want to celebrate Tisha Be'ov next year, buy this book and start in your own small way emulating a true Ohaiv Yisrael!
Ha’aretz is more than just a left-leaning newspaper.
It is an enemy of the state, and in fact, an enemy of the Jewish people, whose future depends on the state.
Today, when Israel and Jews are under attack throughout the world, when international organizations have been turned into lie factories targeting Israel, when the Jewish State is accused of the very crimes – terrorism, murder, apartheid, genocide – that her enemies are either guilty of or aspire to, an Israeli newspaper, owned and operated by Jews, is a primary propaganda organ of those enemies.
Every day, the paper – which publishes both a Hebrew print edition that few Israelis read, and an English internet edition that is read around the world by decision-makers in governments and businesses – pumps out its vileness. Every day its writers present a slanted version of events in which Israel and Israelis are oppressors, occupiers, murderers, racists, thieves, and liars.
By virtue of its Israeli origin, this Stürmer gains credibility. Perhaps you don’t believe everything you read on Aljazeera’s website, but this is an Israeli newspaper; indeed, it’s been called the NY Times of Israel, the paper of record.
Today there is a typical example. In an editorial, they excoriate the Yamam, the Israel Police counterterrorism unit, accusing it of committing a “cold-blooded execution” of a man named Ahmed Abdu. They call it “Israel’s own death squad,” equating it with the ones operated by South American dictators.
Their accusation is based on a security camera video: it shows someone in a car getting shot. That is all it shows. But let me quote the Ha’aretz editorial:
Who killed Ashli Babbitt? His name is Lt. Michael Byrd. So the only deliberate killing on January 6 was a black male police officer who shot a white female Trump supporter through the neck. Are you still puzzled why the media is hiding Byrd's identity? https://t.co/6nAMThNHSt
Do not release your pet goldfish in lakes or ponds. That's what officials are saying after a huge goldfish was recently pulled from a Minnesota lake, an issue that has been seen across the United States in recent years.
National Geographic said while a goldfish typically weighs just 0.2 to 0.6 pounds, they can weigh more than five pounds in the wild, CBS News reported.
"They grow bigger than you think and contribute to poor water quality by mucking up the bottom sediments and uprooting plants," the City of Burnsville, Minnesota, tweeted on Friday, July 9.
In recent years, huge goldfish were also reported in bodies of water in South Carolina, Missouri, Virginia and Kentucky, CBS News said.
Large, invasive goldfish have also been seen in New York. In March, an angler in Syracuse reported that he caught a 14 1/2 inch goldfish Onondaga Lake, according to Syracuse.com.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has posted guidance on how goldfish owners can "break up" with their pet without damaging the ecosystems of any bodies of water. The agency said after freeing your pet, it can still grow huge under the right conditions.
"Imagine a goldfish the size of a football and weighing four pounds," the agency said.
Some alternatives include rehoming the fish or donating it to a school, learning institution or pet store.
