"תשמרו עליי, נפגעתי. הצילו"
— אהרן רבינוביץ (@AronRabino1) March 7, 2022
"וְלַנַּעֲרָה לֹא-תַעֲשֶׂה דָבָר, אֵין לַנַּעֲרָה חֵטְא מָוֶת: כִּי כַּאֲשֶׁר יָקוּם אִישׁ עַל-רֵעֵהוּ, וּרְצָחוֹ נֶפֶשׁ--כֵּן, הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה. כִּי בַשָּׂדֶה, מְצָאָהּ; צָעֲקָה, הַנַּעֲרָ הַמְאֹרָשָׂה, וְאֵין מוֹשִׁיעַ, לָהּ" pic.twitter.com/1Lb2sUdmNB
Rare and decorated bone and ivory items from the biblical period and ancient bowls dating back some 1,500 years, bearing spells and incantations in Hebrew, were uncovered in the home of a resident of the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood of Jerusalem, suspected of illegal trade in antiquities.
Hundreds of antique coins, glassware and weapons were also discovered during a cooperative search by the Antiquities Authority's Robbery Prevention Unit and Lev HaBira police.
The incantation bowls, known as the “swearing bowls” were used as a kind of amulet in ancient times, and date back to the 8th-4th centuries CE. It was common practice to bury them under the house floor for protection. Inside the bowls, magical inscriptions were written in the Babylonian-Aramaic language. The inscription in the bowl is meant to fight curses, demons, diseases, and pests.
According to Amir Ganor, head of the Antiquities Authority's Robbery Prevention Unit, said: “bowls of this type came from ancient sites in the area of Mesopotamia, now present-day Iraq. The text was written by artists for a specific client, according to their personal needs.”
So today I was stuck in traffic for hours in Yerushalyim traffic. What happened was that the police caught a Satmar Young Avreich , a Teitelbaum of course, who refused to register with the draft and so they threw him into jail.
The "Auerbach "leidegeiers " blocked traffic to protest his arrest!
I had nowhere to go as I was blocked in on all sides, so I decided to step out of my now stopped car and take a little stroll over to see who were the protestors? מי ומי ההולכים
I couldn't help but notice that at least 85% of the protestors were shaven boys with big "Chups" "fancy hair styles! These "Chup" wearing guys stopped their Torah learning to protest the arrest of a Satmar Draft dodger! Looking at their fancy "chups" I couldn't help but think that they must be looking in the mirror for hours combing their fancy locks! Who are they trying to attract? They are supposedly in Bais Medrish all day shteiging away, so why do they need these "chups?" Why is a Torah "Scholar" styling his hair? I know that the Ribono Shel Oilom has a senses of humor, and I can't wait to see them going bald!
Could it be girls? Naaaaa! So what's with the "chups?"
Background Story!
The law is that all Israeli boys must register for the draft, despite the fact that they get exemptions and do not serve. There isn't a bocher in Israel who registered for the draft and received an exemption sitting in jail for not serving in the IDF! Not One!
How did they catch him?
This Satmar Shvantz left his young wife and child in the middle of the night last Thursday, not to do "tikkun chatzos" chas ve'sholom, but to commit a criminal act!
He and 20 of his friends או לרשע ואו לשכינו came to a brand new neighborhood in Beit Shemesh, called Beit Shemesh Daled, to spray grafiti on the walls of brand new buildings! They sprayed "Tziyoinim YM"S" and other Torah Statements, doing tremendous financial damage and of course making the buildings and the neighborhoods ugly!
This was going on for several weeks, and I guess the brand new residents were sick of these parasites so they set up a buddy system to catch the culprits. Bingo! Last Thursday, they caught the vandalizers, and while many got away, this Teitelbaum character who was quick with a paint aerosol can, but apparently not too swift on his feet and never ran in the "Jerusalem Marathon" got caught and the neighbors held him for police. When the police saw his ID they noticed that he never registered for the draft and they threw him in jail. His "Friday Night Mitzva Night " is going to wait until he sees a military judge!
Originally they were going to protest in Beit Shemesh, but the rabbanim in Beit Shemesh told them that they won't cooperate because he was a "mazik" a criminal!
But the "Auerbach Chups" who are always looking for a quick exit from learning Torah, called for a massive protest and that's how I got caught up in this mess!
זו תורה וזו שכרה
Less than six years ago, the British-born Muslim Tania Joya was living in Syria with her husband, an American-born convert to Islam who was becoming an increasingly influential figure in the circles of Islamic State. Next week, she will be giving a talk about “countering the forces of violent extremism” at Temple Shalom, a synagogue in Dallas, Texas.
As far as Joya knows, her ex, the former Greek Orthodox Christian John Georgelas who for 17 years has gone under the name of Yahya al-Bahrumi, is still active in Syria with Islamic State, where he is said to head the jihadi terror group’s English-language propaganda operation and to be its most senior American recruit. For her part, Joya has renounced Islam, is becoming increasingly attracted to Jewish customs and rituals, took her sons to help decorate the sukka at Temple Shalom a few months ago, and says she intends to come to Jerusalem.
DIN: (The report that the Russians bombed the site is now proven to be untrue)
In other massacres at that site victims included Soviet prisoners of war, communists, Ukrainian nationalists and Roma. News reached Victor Klemperer in Dresden. He noted in his diary in April 1942 the “ghastly mass murders of Jews in Kiev. The heads of small children smashed against walls, thousands of men, women, adolescents shot down in a great heap, a hillock blown up and the mass of bodies buried under the exploding earth.” Half of the victims were never named.
Babyn Yar was the subject of poems by Lev Ozerov, Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Ilya Ehrenburg among others. In the first movement of Shostakovich’s 13th Symphony, Shostakovich and Yevtushenko transform the massacre of Jews at Babi Yar into a denunciation of antisemitism in all its forms. In DM Thomas’s novel, The White Hotel (1981), there is a famous scene when the central character, Elisabeth (Lisa) Erdman, and her young son are sent to Babyn Yar.
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| Zelensky at Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center |
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s direct and emotional appeal to the world’s Jews on Wednesday marked something of a departure for him.
Before and during Russia’s war on his country, Zelensky had spoken plainly to civilians on both sides of the conflict, but he hadn’t directly addressed those outside the country. And for his entire career, he has not been outspoken about his Jewish identity.
So when he and his aides repeatedly drew attention to what they said was happening to sites of Jewish significance this week, some saw a strategic decision at a perilous time for Ukraine.
“He’s using the Jewish angle – and it’s absolutely kosher,” Roman Bronfman, a Ukraine-born former Israeli lawmaker and the author of a book on the immigration of Russian-speaking Jews to Israel, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Zelensky has never hidden his Jewish identity, but he has never called attention to it, either. At a ceremony last year in Babyn Yar, the site near Kyiv of a massacre of Jews during the Holocaust, Zelensky did not mention the fact that some of his relatives were murdered there, delivering a speech that could have come from any of his non-Jewish predecessors.
During his presidential campaign, Zelensky, a comedian turned politician, dismissed the subject of his Jewish identity with typical self-deprecating humor.
In a 2019 interview with Bernard-Henri Levy, a French-Jewish philosopher, Zelensky declined to explore his Jewish identity at any length, responding to a question about it by saying: “The fact that I am Jewish barely makes 20 in my long list of faults.”
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Saturday night to discuss Ukraine crisis, a Kremlin spokesperson said.
The Israeli Prime Minister left Israel in the Mossad's private jet early on Saturday morning, when Jewish law usually forbids travel, in light of a conversation held between himself and Putin on Wednesday.
Participating in the meeting is Construction and Housing Minister Ze'ev Elkin, who accompanied former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his meetings with Putin and who serves as translator. Also participating in the meeting are National Security Council chief Dr. Eyal Hulata, diplomatic adviser Shimrit Meir, and the Prime Minister's spokesman, Matan Sidi.
According to Kan 11, both the Ukraine and the US were updated prior to the Bennett-Putin meeting, and the American government gave Bennett their blessing prior to his meeting with Putin.
On Sunday, Bennett spoke with Putin about the war with Ukraine, and said that Israel is ready to assist as much as is needed and at any time in resolving the crisis and bringing the parties closer.
According to the Kremlin, in the conversation between the leaders, Bennett suggested mediating talks between Russia and Ukraine, but Putin refused the offer.
As the civilian death toll mounts in Ukraine and the world prepares for unspeakable crimes against humanity yet to come, the Biden administration said Friday it’s close to announcing a Russian-brokered deal with Iran that will flood the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism with billions of dollars and leave Tehran on the nuclear weapons threshold.
While the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was bad enough, the coming deal is even worse.
Natan Sharansky spoke at a Sheva Brachot gathering in honor of the wedding of Benaya and Neta Dickstein. Benaya's parents, Yossi and Chanah, were murdered in a terrorist attack when he was seven years old. It's too bad that only those in attendance heard Sharansky, the famous prisoner of Zion, speak as follows:
Hundreds of members of the Reform and Conservative movements from Israel and the United States arrived on Friday morning at the Kotel plaza for the Rosh Chodesh Adar B prayer. They were met with enormous resistance from mostly Haredi Jews, including an estimated ten thousand seminary women who followed the instructions of two leaders of the Haredi Lithuanian public, Rabbis Chaim Kanievsky and Gershon Edelstein, to protest the Reform and Conservative presence. Large police forces separated the two parties of obviously God-loving Jews.
The Reform prayer was held in the presence of the President of the Reform Movement in the United States, Rick Jacobs, who is on a visit to Israel.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with the leaders of the Reform movement in Israel and the Diaspora and stressed the need to allow the Reform members to enjoy equality in their prayer at the Kotel plaza, “the remains of our Temple.”
Just a reminder: the remains of our Temple are several yards up from the Kotel plaza, and Jews up there still have to struggle every day for their right to equality in prayer, but that’s not anything that seemed to bother Bennett or his Reform guests.
US Ambassador to Jerusalem Tom Nides was trying his best to get Israel deeper in trouble with its neighbor to the north, Vladimir Putin, by tweeting glowing praise giving it credit for its wonderful work against the nasty Russians: “Enormous thanks to Israel for helping rally more members to stand with Ukraine in today’s historic UN vote. Over 141 votes to hold Russia accountable. Diplomacy matters.
Enormous thanks to Israel for helping rally more members to stand with Ukraine in today’s historic @UN vote. Over 141 votes to hold Russia accountable. Diplomacy matters. pic.twitter.com/ZIsO8XYe0z
— Ambassador Tom Nides (@USAmbIsrael) March 2, 2022
Gee, thanks, Tom.
While running for the Presidency in 2020 Joe Biden promised to appoint the first black, female Supreme Court justice. In January when a place opened up on the court, he repeated that pledge. To only murmurs of concern. Is this really how things have to work in America?
Last week the president announced that he was going to put forward Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the lifetime appointment. Democrats were thrilled. Most Republicans saw a trap and kept away. Almost no one dug any deeper. But they should.
Because if they did, they would find out a number of things. Not just that there are far better qualified candidates, including better qualified black female candidates. But that Jackson’s own career shows she is unsuitable for the role.
It is now eight years ago since Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 crashed into the sea, killing all 239 people on board. Among them was one American man, Philip Wood, a 50-year-old IBM executive from Texas.
In the traumatic months after the crash, Wood’s family sought to gain justice for their family in the courts. They imagined the American court system would help them. They were wrong.
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| Chelmanetski Statue Still Standing in Kiev |
If my dear mother, a Holocaust survivor, was alive, she would have this to say about Ukraine: 'Loz em brennan' (let them burn).
To help understand her statement, you might recall one of the most terrible events in WWII, known as Babi Yar. It's a deep ravine in the main city, Kiev in Ukraine. In 1941 in the period of just 2 days, almost 34,000 Jews were murdered there! Think about that number. And it was all done by men shooting at innocent civilians. A very personal way to commit mass murder.
That was nothing like carpet bombing a city from the air. As far as we know, that extreme murder rate had never been achieved until then. Of course the Nazis organized the killing. But it was the Ukrainians who actually did the killing. You see, the Ukrainians had such a blood lust for killing Jews that even the Nazis had to stop them. The Germans were in love with organized killing and documenting every 'perfect' thing they did. So when the Ukrainians were running around trying to murder every Jew they saw, the Nazis intervened and instructed them on how to do it efficiently and more organized.
Since then the Germans have laws (serious laws) against joining any neo-Nazi party. They have also paid out millions of dollars to Holocaust survivors and their families. The Ukrainians have literally gotten away with murder.
Today, decades after the war, Ukraine has more neo-Nazi groups than any other country in the world! (Yet another world record) And they are not forced underground in any way. The largest of these, Azov, is unofficially part of their parliament. Many fools consider them to just be nationalistic. Although some members might be, most are thugs. Their flag is similar to a swastika and they are antisemitic to the core, just like their grandfathers were.
Azov flag
When Putin says he wants to de-nazify Ukraine, he's not lying. I have no doubt that we will soon be hearing of stories leaked out of Ukraine, blaming it's small Jewish population for the trouble they are in now. I already have heard some.
The chief rabbi of Ukraine is a 57-year-old U.S.-born former member of Israel’s Karlin-Stoliner Hasidic sect who was once an executive member of the World Jewish Congress.
The chief rabbi of Ukraine is a 55-year-old Russian-born member of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement who is close to associates of former President Donald Trump and recently created “Anatevka,” a village for displaced Jewish families inspired by “Fiddler on the Roof.”
The two men – Rabbi Yaakov Bleich and Rabbi Moshe Azman – have since the Russian assault on Ukraine began a week ago each posted a series of dramatic videos about their efforts to evacuate Jews and raised millions of dollars to support them. Their dueling claims to be the country’s top Jewish leader date back two decades, a fraught history involving many questionable characters.
“Remember that he who does not care and he who agrees silently — that is an accomplice to a crime, a war crime, a crime against humanity!” Rabbi Azman declared in a video posted on Wednesday, of him holding a Torah scroll in front of the ark in a Kyiv synagogue.
Warning Russian Jews that their silence would be remembered and pledging to stay and care for those unable to flee, he added in Russian: “I never thought, even in my worst nightmare, that I might have to perish under the shells of Russia, where I was born, where I went to school, where I have many friends, who are silent.”
Meanwhile, Bleich has been publishing “live updates” via YouTube on a daily basis, using an Ukrainian flag as a backdrop.
“We already have evacuated some people,” he said when the assault began last Thursday. That evening, he released another video, pleading for help: “We are sheltering in place outside of Kyiv in our camp until tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. when we hope we will be able to hit the road,”
For viewers, it might seem as if Bleich is on the ground assisting his flock at a time of great need. In fact, he has been making the videos from his home in the Hasidic enclave of Monsey, New York, where he received a call from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this weekend and, as of Wednesday morning, had raised more than $1.4 million online for Kyiv’s Jewish community.
Bleich didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Now! That's a real hero!
This past Shabbos, the Chief Rabbi of Odessa heroically rescued 250 orphan children from potential tragedy. Rabbi Shlomo Baksht determined that it was permissible to travel on Shabbos in order to flee the country.
The terrifying drama began Thursday evening, when heavy Russian bombings rocked the area near the orphanage.
“We just received an update that there were three terrible explosions near the orphanage. The girls were very anxious, sitting and crying. We are trying to move them to the city center next to us. The situation is becoming more dangerous from one moment to the next,” said Rabbi Baksht.
After speaking with senior officials in the Prime Minister’s Office and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Jewish community decided to flee westward.
On Friday morning, eight buses set off, with all of the orphans onboard, as well as the orphanage staff, Rabbi Baksht, his daughter Shira and his partner Rabbi Rafael Kruskal.
A few hours after they fled Odessa, Russian missiles landed near the Jewish community where they had been located hours earlier.
“We had a great miracle that we got out of there on time,” said Rabbi Baksht, “a really great miracle.”
The journey lasted through Friday night into Shabbos morning, and the Rabbi decided that the proper decision was to continue traveling for pikuach nefesh.
“I told them that we are here to fulfill God’s will, and on this Shabbat, His will is for us to escape to save lives,” he said
On Friday the Rabbi told community members, “We will continue to travel on Shabbos because it is a matter of mental supervision. Everyone will turn off their mobile phones, but on every bus there will be one mobile left open in case of an emergency.”
At one point they stopped in the dark and Rabbi Raphael Kruskal recited Kiddush, adding a taste of the Shabbos atmosphere during an unthinkably difficult time.
Rabbi Baksht described the superhuman effort of the staff.
“The babysitters on the baby bus held the toddlers in their arms for many hours. It was not easy.”
