“I don’t speak because I have the power to speak; I speak because I don’t have the power to remain silent.” Rav Kook z"l

Monday, October 11, 2021

DIN & Kabbalah ...


 


 
There is a story told about the Gaon of Vilna, who was walking with his talmidim past a bar on Friday night on the way to shul. Suddenly one of his talmidim noticed that a former talmud of the Gaon was sitting in the bar, smoking a cigarette.

The Gaon commented that after this former talmud dies and comes up to heaven to face judgement for disgracing the sanctity of Shabbos, he will still be asked if he learned "maaseh markava" .... Kabbala.
In other words, even ,someone who has gone so far off the religious path that he publicly desecrates the Sabbath, still has an obligation to learn all parts of the Torah including the mystical aspects ... being a "mechallel Shabbos" does not give one an exemption , a pass.

That got me thinking, that before I go, I should delve into some Kabbala. Not that I am done learning Shas, Tanach, Halacha etc., but maybe just to dabble a bit so that I can say I tried, even though I will never be a "kabbalist"

And so I started my journey into Kabbalah, learning Chassidishe Seforim that contain Kabbalistic concepts albeit in a filtered way. 
I also learned Tanye. The Tanye was written by the first Lubavitcher Rebbe who is called the "Baal Ha'Tanya" named after his sefer the "Tanye"

In this sefer he describes a kabbalistic concept called "Tzimzum". This is not the forum to discuss this deep concept but just to whet your appetite, let me explain very briefly and simply.

We all believe that Hashem is everywhere. If you ever went to the planetarium, and looked up at the vast sky with billions of stars, you will never find earth on your own. They will direct you to a tiny speck in the sky. 

So how does Hashem manifest Himself into our own very lives and bodies, when He is so so huge and compared to the Universe we are so tiny and minuscule ? 
The answer is, because Hashem is unlimited and infinite, He must therefore constrict (Tzimzum) His powerful manifestation, so that limitation and finitude can be actualized.
I just gave you a very simple surface explanation, just so that you can follow my story.

After learning Tanye I decided to delve into the Litvishe sefarim  and I  started learning Nefesh Hachayim, a small booklet written by R'Chaim Volozhin, the star pupil of the Vilna Gaon. 
This booklet, Nefesh hachayim  was printed posthumously by his son, R' Yitzchok, after R' Chaim on his deathbed begged him to publish Nefesh Hachayim "exceedingly quickly."
R' Yitzchok did not publish it right away and procrastinated and his son, Chaim, named after his father died within the year of his birth and soon after, his 8 year-old son died. R' Yitzchok in his preface to Nefesh HaChayim attributed these deaths for his procrastinating; not publishing the booklet immediately. 

In this Nefesh Hachayim, R' Chaim also discusses the kabbalistic concept of "tzimzun" but has a different understanding, (I thought) than the Baal Ha'Tanye, and I was confused. 
And even though I understand that Chassidic and Litvishe views differ, but "tzimzum" is "tzimzum" and can only have one understanding.

 So one nice day I went into a shul in Beit Shemesh to daven Mincha.  There was a half hour break between Mincha & Maariv, and I had time to browse the sefarim in their library and there, lo and behold,  I saw on the shelf a two-volume set called "Nefesh Ha'Tzimtzum" by Avinoam Fraenkel.
I brought the book over to my seat in shul and opened it up and saw that it was an English translation of the Nefesh Hachayim. But it wasn't just a translation, it had very sensitive annotations with referencing and cross referencing, and the pinnacle of the book was clear and had profound sections that analyzed and discussed the topic of Tzimtzum in a highly innovative, truth-seeking and meticulous manner. 
I decided that this would be my shul, because I became so engrossed in the sefer that I couldn't tear myself away from it. In fact one night I became so engrossed that I forgot to come home and my wife sent people to look for me. 

Across the aisle, sat a young man who was apparently watching me as I learned this sefer, and he asked me what I found so intriguing. I told him, that I was trying to reconcile the view of Tzizum of the Baal Hatanye and the Tzimzum understanding of the Nefesh Hachayim, and I was hoping that this sefer would have the answer.
That's when he told me that he was Avinoam Fraenkel the author of those books and proceeded to tell me that he discusses it in Volume two. He then took me to his home and gave me a set of his seforim.

Why am I telling you this? 
Avinoam Fraenkel just finished his new book a translation of "Shomer Emunim" a sefer written by Rabbi Yosef Ergas, in the late 1720's. Rabbi Ergas, was an Italian Kabbalist. 
Shomer Emunim powerfully responds to those who claim Kabbalah was fabricated. It also explains Kabbalistic concepts simply, dispelling the illegitimate views of those encouraging blasphemous religious compromise by distorting those very concepts. 
The original Shomer Emunim Hebrew text, together with its complete, facing-page, English translation and commentary, are presented in an innovative and easily digestible format. See the video below
You can get the sefer on Amazon. 
I get no commissions from the sale of these books, and I am only promoting it because I found these sefarim fascinating and I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did.
 



Fatsos Keep Corona Antibodies Longer

 

A study conducted at Sheba Tel Hashomer Hospital and published Thursday shows a consistent decline in the neutralizing antibodies six months after receiving the second dose of Corona vaccine, in all but one group: overweight people.

The study that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (Waning Immune Humoral Response to BNT162b2 Covid-19 Vaccine over 6 Months) included 4868 participants, with 3808 being included in the linear mixed-model analyses. The level of IgG antibodies decreased at a consistent rate, whereas the neutralizing antibody level decreased rapidly for the first 3 months with a relatively slow decrease thereafter. However, obese participants (those with a BMI of ≥30) had a 31% increase in neutralizing antibody concentrations as compared with nonobese participants.

The study concluded that six months after receipt of the second dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine, the humoral response was substantially decreased, especially among men, among persons 65 years of age or older, and among persons with immunosuppression.

Ice Cream & Sushi Will Delivered by Drone very soon to Israeli beaches

 

Israel’s National Drone Initiative, which first began its flights over urban areas in January 2021, launched on Sunday its third phase, in participation of five companies that operate autonomous drone networks.

This is the third stage in a series of eight demonstrations expected to take place during the coming two years, during which tens of thousands of sorties will take place in Israel’s skies.

This phase, with the participation of 16 Israeli companies and international representatives, includes 10 days of flights that will take place above residential areas in Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Ramat Sharon, Herzliya and the city Hadera, where the project was launched, while in parallel a flight transport will take place in Brazil, controlled by the management system in Israel.

The drones are expected to carry out around 300 flights per day and carry out different kinds of tasks on flight paths assigned by the joint control system, including the delivery of sushi, security missions for an emergency facility, ice-cream deliveries, and flights to deliver donated blood, platelets and plasma from the Magen David Adom (MDA) Blood Bank to Sheba-Tel HaShomer Hospital.

Ancient World’s Largest Complex of Winepresses Uncovered in Yavne

 









It appears that the town of Yavne, home to the Sanhedrin in exile after the destruction of the Second Temple, became a worldwide powerhouse of wine production some 1,500 years ago. A vast, well-designed industrial estate from the Byzantine period with an impressive wine production complex—the largest of its kind in the world in that period—has been excavated in the city of Yavne over the past two years.

This large-scale excavation has been conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority as part of the Israel Land Authority’s initiative to expand the city. The plant includes five magnificent wine presses, warehouses for aging and marketing the wine, kilns for firing the clay jars in which the wine was stored, tens of thousands of fragments and intact earthen jars, and well-planned access from each facility to the others.

Drinking wine was very common in ancient times, for children and adults alike. The water was not always clean or tasty, so wine was used as a kind of concentrate to improve the taste. Each of the exposed winepresses covered an area of about 225 square meters. Compartments were built across the treading floor for fermenting the grape juice after it had been crushed by barefoot workers, and next to them there stood two enormous octagonal-shaped vats for collecting the extracted liquid.

Chabad Green Brothers "anti-vaxxers" Lose their Father to Covid

 



Sources state that they did not let their mother hospitalize him as his oxygen trended down to the 70’s and lower until he was critical and was admitted to the ICU.

As soon as shiva ends I expect them to accuse the hospital of malpractice and murder. 

Man who got married to his "Rice cooker" gets divorced just 4 days later ...smack in the middle of Sheva Berachos

 


BBC describes Alfred Dreyfus as 'notorious Jewish spy' despite being exonerated.



 

 


The BBC described Alfred Dreyfus — a French-Jewish officer accused of treason in the Dreyfus Affair — as a "notorious Jewish spy" in its summary for the first episode of a period police drama released on October 9.
"Paris, 1899. The French Republic is in turmoil as rumors spread about the release from Devil's Island of Dreyfus, the notorious Jewish spy," read the summary for episode 1 of  BBC's Paris Police 1900.
According to the BBC, the summary was later changed to avoid misunderstanding. The line from the program page was rewritten to describe Dreyfus instead as having been "previously arrested for spying." 
"The sentence was not intended as an [sic] historical statement, but to reflect the rumors towards the Dreyfus case that we see in the drama — which also depicts the rise of antisemitism," the BBC Spokesperson said in response to a Jerusalem Post inquiry. 
"For the BBC to produce a series featuring Alfred Dreyfus, who was baselessly accused of treason, and then describe him as a 'notorious Jewish spy' is an insult to his memory and to the Jewish community in general," Emanuel Miller, a media analyst at the media watchdog organization HonestReporting, told The Jerusalem Post. "The Dreyfus case represented a key moment in Zionism's history and in the eyes of many is a byword for the miscarriages of justice suffered by Jews throughout the ages. How many times must a Jew's name be smeared?"

"While the website text was quietly changed, the BBC evidently feels it doesn't owe Jews an apology, much less take serious steps to familiarize its staff with the basics of antisemitism in order to prevent such easily avoidable mishaps," Miller said to the Post. "Unfortunately, judging by past experience, the BBC is unlikely to apologize for the insulting mischaracterization."
Alfred Dreyfus was a French Jewish Military officer who was falsely accused of treason in 1894 in the wake of the Franco-Prussian War. Dreyfus's officer sword was publicly broken, he was stripped of his rank, and imprisoned on Devil's Island. Eventually, reports of an army cover-up of Dreyfus' innocence and scapegoating were leaked to the press, later leading to his exoneration in 1906.
The antisemitism surrounding the scandal convinced Theodor Herzl, then a journalist and later one of the founding fathers of Zionism, of the necessity of establishing a Jewish state. 

Noach Said L'Chayim When he came out of the Ark ..in Yiddish


 

Two Blocks from DIN ... Kosher Mikva & Olive Press from the Times of the Chashmonim Uncovered

 





Developers were about to build a building on this site on Rechov Luz in Beit Shemesh Alef, just blocks from where I live, and discovered a Kosher Mikvah and an olive press on site. So instead of another building the Zionists will build a park around this new find so that  all of us will enjoy sitting where our grandparents lived during the times of the Chashmonim...
Who knew that 2,000 years later a descendant would move  around the corner from where my ancestors lived

תושבי בית שמש בתקופת החשמונאים בוודאי לא העלו בדעתם, שמקווה הטהרה ובית הבד שבו הם מייצרים שמן, יהפכו בתוך 2,000 שנה, לחלק מהגן הציבורי של תושבי בית שמש המודרניים 🙂
חורבת אל כיך ברמת בית שמש נחפרה במשך שש עונות חפירה, בניהולה של ד"ר אלנה קוגן זהבי מרשות העתיקות. ממש בימים אלו, נשלמות עבודות הפיתוח של השטח הציבורי בשכונה, בתום עבודות השימור רחבות של מינהל השימור של רשות העתיקות במימון משרד השיכון. במסגרת העבודות, ייצבו המשמרים את הממצאים, והם שילבו אותם בצורה הרמונית בפארק הארכיאולוגי. צוות השימור שלנו הכשיר את העתיקות, כך שכיום ניתן לבקר בהן באופן חופשי, ובהמשך ישולבו בגן שלטי הסבר והמחשות.
סיפורה של חורבת כיך הולך הרבה אחורה. אחרי הגירוש הגדול של נבוכדנאצר מלך בבל, כל שפלת יהודה ננטשה לחלוטין. מבנה מהתקופה הפרסית שנתגלה באתר, גילה לנו שהחזרה לשם אחרי הגירוש החלה בתקופה הפרסית – במאה ה-4 לפנה"ס. מבנים נוספים, מאוחרים יותר שנחשפו, מהתקופה החשמונאית, ובהם מקווה טהרה ציבורי, גת לייצור יין ובית בד, סיפרו את סיפורו של הכיבוש החשמונאי והתעצמות השלטון היהודי באזור.
היישוב אמנם ננטש אחרי חורבן בית שני, אבל סוף הסיפור, כמו שאנחנו מכירים אותו, טוב, והיום שוכנת לה כאן עיר יהודית מודרנית, שתהנה מפארק ארכיאולוגי חדש ומונגש.
מוזמנים לשתף 😊
צילום: איל מרקו, רשות העתיקות

US pressures Israel to slow settlement building

 What exactly did Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and President Joe Biden discuss about settlements? And what’s behind leaks that want to suggest cracks in their relationship?