WHAT DO WE MEAN by JEWISH CONTINUITY? the LEGACY of “BE FRUITFUL and MULTIPLY” Dr
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Introduction
INTRODUCTION RECOVERING A REPRESSED PAS T On February 12, 2013, Ruth Calderon was invited to the dais of the Israeli Knesset to deliver her firs t speech as a newly-elected member of parliament.1 The speech was unlike any given in the his tory of deliberations in Israel’s legislature in that it consis ted primarily of her reading and interpreting a Talmudic s tory. The Talmudic s tory that Calderon read before the Knesset, firs t in the original Aramaic and then in Hebrew translation, was, as is typical of these s tories, very brief: Rabbi Rahumi s tudied under Rava in Mehoza. He would regularly come home to his wife on the eve of Yom Kippur. One day [on the eve of Yom Kippur] the topic [he was s tudying] drew him in. His wife anticipated him, “He is coming. He is coming.” He did not come. She began to grieve. She shed a tear from her eye. He was sitting on a roof. The roof collapsed under him, and he died. (B. Ketubot 62b)2 The s tory reflects what appears to have been a common practice among rabbinic scholars in Babylonia: to absent themselves from home for long periods of time to s tudy Torah. The author of the s tory expresses his disapproval of this cus tom by portraying empathically the emotional s tress experienced by Rabbi Rahumi’s wife when he was so engaged in Torah s tudy that he forgot to return home for the sacred holiday. The excitement captured in her cry of anticipation, “He is coming. -
A Future for Israeli-Palestinian Peacebuilding
Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre A future for Israeli-Palestinian peacebuilding Ned Lazarus July 2017 The Israel-Palestine conflict is one of the most heavily researched in the world. Yet a shockingly small fraction of this research focuses on the millions of Israelis and Palestinians who share this land, their relations with one another, and how such relations could be improved so that a breakthrough might be possible. This report is both timely and necessary, and can hopefully provide a blueprint for greater international support of civil society efforts to foster conflict resolution. John Lyndon Executive Director of OneVoice Europe and Research Fellow at Kings College London BICOM, the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre, is an independent British think tank producing research and analysis to increase understanding of Israel and the Middle East in the UK. Fathom: for a deeper understanding of Israel and the region is BICOM’s online research journal, publishing interviews, articles and reviews from a range of Israeli, Palestinian and international contributors. Front Cover Photo: EcoPeace’s Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian directors and staff standing together in the Jordan River as part of their campaign to rehabilitate the river which is dwindling due to diversion of its source waters and pollution. Photograph used by permission of EcoPeace. The Author Ned Lazarus is Visiting Professor of International Affairs at the George Washington University’s Elliott School, and an Israel Institute Teaching Fellow. A conflict resolution scholar, practitioner and evaluator, Ned has conducted evaluative studies of Israeli-Palestinian peacebuilding initiatives on behalf of USAID, USIP and the European Union. -
The Two Objectives of the Institution of Marriage
Rabbi Dr. Binyamin Lau is the Rosh Beit Midrash of Beit Morasha in Jerusalem and is the author of numerous articles and books. THE TWO OBJECTIVES OF THE INSTITUTION OF MAR R IAGE1 “For She is Your Companion, and the Wife of Your Covenant.” (Malakhi 2:14) Rabbi Dr. Binyamin Lau Introduction: Marriage According to Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik In the beginning of his article on marriage,2 Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik notes that there are two basic theories about the institution of marriage. The first expresses commitment to the welfare of the group outside the matrimonial union, the partners to the marriage placing themselves at the service of society. The second expresses commitment within the matrimonial union, a commit- ment rooted in the experience of the joining of two individuals thirsting for love and fellowship. One practical difference between the two theories relates to the place assigned to procreation. According to the first theory, having children is the central element upon which the entire structure of marriage rests. Remove that obligation from marriage, and the institution loses all its meaning. According to the second theory, the significance of marriage is not diminished by the absence of offspring. The very union of the wedded partners is itself the desired creation. In his typical manner,3 here too Rabbi Soloveitchik tries to uncover both of these motifs in Scripture. The command to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen.1:28) expresses the essence and goal of the man created in the first chapter of the book of Genesis. Man’s obligation to procreate, which appears in chapter 1, is presented as part of man being God’s partner in the continuous process of creation. -
Yeshivat Har Etzion Yisrael Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash (Vbm) *********************************************************
YESHIVAT HAR ETZION YISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM) ********************************************************* SEFER MELAKHIM BET: THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS By Rav Alex Israel Shiur #23: Chapters 18-19 – Sancheriv’s Siege of Jerusalem Last shiur we discussed Chizkiyahu's rise to power. We noted his devotion to God and we charted his initial accomplishments: his repudiation of his father's idolatry, his nationwide campaign to expunge pagan worship from the kingdom, the purification and reopening of the Temple and his ambitious strategy to reunify the northern and southern kingdoms. We recall that this last aspiration materialized in a grand, national celebration of Pesach at the Temple in Jerusalem. The subsequent story of Chizkiyahu is narrated through three dramatic episodes: 1. 18:13-19:37 The Assyrian attack on Jerusalem 2. 20:1-11 Chizkiyahu's sickness 3. 20:12-19 The diplomatic visit of Berodakh Baladan from Bavel Despite some question as to the correct chronology1 of these three independent literary segments, we shall study each story according to the order that it features in Sefer Melakhim. 1 We shall address some of the chronological issues in our upcoming chapter. For now, let us note a significant disparity between the timeline in Tanakh and the Assyrian timeline, adopted by historians. Shomron falls in Chizkiyahu's sixth year. Historians date this event to 722 BCE. But the siege in Jerusalem is dated to 701 BCE, some twenty-one years later. This is problematic because Melakhim, Yeshayahu and Divrei Ha-yamim all agree that the siege occurred in the fourteenth year of Chizkiyahu's reign. -
Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Chai Uziel Rabbi Jonathan Ziring: [email protected]
Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Chai Uziel Rabbi Jonathan Ziring: [email protected] born 23 May 1880, died 4 ,בן ציון מאיר חי עוזיאל :Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel (Hebrew September 1953) was the Sephardi chief rabbi of Mandatory Palestine from 1939 to 1948, and of Israel from 1948 until his death in 1953. Biography Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel was born in Jerusalem, where his father, Joseph Raphael, was the av bet din of the Sephardi community of Jerusalem, as well as president of the community council.At the age of twenty he became a yeshivah teacher and also founded a yeshivah called Mahazikei Torah for Sephardi young men. 1. Rabbinic Career (Wikipedia) In 1911, Uziel was appointed Hakham Bashi of Jaffa and the district. There he worked closely Abraham Isaac Kook, who was the spiritual leader of the Ashkenazi community. Immediately upon his arrival in Jaffa he began to work vigorously to raise the status of the Oriental congregations there. In spirit and ideas he was close to the Kook, and their affinity helped to bring about more harmonious relations than previously existed between the two communities. During World War I, Uziel was active as a leader and communal worker. His intercession with the Ottoman government on behalf of persecuted Jews finally led to his exile to Damascus but he was permitted to return to Palestine, arriving in Jerusalem before the entry of the British army. In 1921, he was appointed chief rabbi of Salonika, accepting this office with the consent of the Jaffa-Tel Aviv community for a period of three years. -
Towards a Phenomenological Existentialism in the Rabbinic Law of Beit Hillel
135 “If I am here, then all is here”: Towards a Phenomenological Existentialism in the Rabbinic Law of Beit Hillel By: HILLEL E. BRODER and MOSHE L. LAX “Subjective reflection turns in towards subjectivity, wanting in this inner absorption to be truth’s reflection, and in such a way that…where objectivity was brought forward and subjectivity disappeared, so here subjectivity itself is what is left and objectivity what vanishes.” —Soren Kierkegaard1 “If I am here, then all is here.” —Hillel 2 Perhaps the most central name in rabbinic antiquity, Hillel (c. 60 B.C.E. to c. 20 C.E.) and his affiliated mishnaic and talmudic school (“Beit Hil- lel”) of nearly four centuries figure predominantly in both aggadic ideals and normative legal decisions within the rabbinic textual tradition. Hillel’s school is principal in Mishnaic debates and enjoys victory as the dominant rabbinic voice in the majority of over 350 legal disputes.3 In traditional 1 Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical Crumbs ed. Alastair Hannay (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2009), 165. 2 bSukka, 53a. 3 Standard readings of Beit Hillel initialize the house’s genealogy and extend it through 356 C.E. with the death of Hillel II; see most recently Binyamin Lau, The Sages, Vol. 1 (Maggid, 2010), 203–239; Alfred J. Kolatch, Masters of the Talmud: Their Lives and Views (JD Books, 2003), 220. Most significant scholarly opposi- tion to such a traditional theory can be found in Louis Ginzberg “Significance of the Halacha,” On Jewish Law and Lore (Atheneum, 1970). Ginzberg argues that Hillel and Shammai were, in fact, the final Pair (zug) or “preeminent figures” of legal liberalism and conservatism, respectively, who “figured as the last in the period that began with the first Pair, Jose ben Joezer and Jose ben Johanan” (90) referenced in mAbot 1:4–12. -
TORAH TO-GO® Established by Rabbi Hyman and Ann Arbesfeld April 2015 • Pesach-Yom Haatzmaut 5775
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary Yeshiva University Center for the Jewish Future THE BENJAMIN AND ROSE BERGER TORAH TO-GO® Established by Rabbi Hyman and Ann Arbesfeld April 2015 • Pesach-Yom Haatzmaut 5775 Dedicated in memory of Cantor Jerome L. Simons Featuring Divrei Torah from Rabbi Kenneth Brander • Rabbi Assaf Bednarsh Rabbi Josh Blass • Rabbi Reuven Brand Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff • Rona Novick, PhD Rabbi Uri Orlian • Rabbi Ari Sytner Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner • Rabbi Ari Zahtz Insights on Yom Haatzmaut from Rabbi Naphtali Lavenda Rebbetzin Meira Davis Rabbi Kenny Schiowitz 1 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Pesach 5775 We thank the following synagogues who have pledged to be Pillars of the Torah To-Go® project Congregation Kehillat Shaarei United Orthodox Beth Shalom Yonah Menachem Synagogues Rochester, NY Modiin, Israel Houston, TX Congregation The Jewish Center Young Israel of Shaarei Tefillah New York, NY New Hyde Park Newton Centre, MA New Hyde Park, NY For nearly a decade, the Benajmin and Rose Berger Torah To-Go® series has provided communities throughout North America and Israel with the highest quality Torah articles on topics relevant to Jewish holidays throughout the year. We are pleased to present a dramatic change in both layout and content that will further widen the appeal of the publication. You will notice that we have moved to a more magazine-like format that is both easier to read and more graphically engaging. In addition, you will discover that the articles project a greater range in both scholarly and popular interest, providing the highest level of Torah content, with inspiration and eloquence. -
Allan Arkush in the Melting Pot
Ilana Kurshan on a Brilliant New Torah Commentary JEWISH REVIEW OF BOOKS Volume 9, Number 2 Summer 2018 $10.45 Allan Arkush In the Melting Pot Cecile E. Kuznitz The Book Smugglers of Vilna Jenna Weissman Joselit W. E. B. Du Bois at the Warsaw Ghetto Matt Goldish Isaac Newton and the Secrets of the Temple PLUS Allan Nadler The Most Important Rabbi You've Never Heard Of Abraham Socher Says Who? Editor Abraham Socher NEW FROM MAGGID BOOKS Senior Contributing Editor Allan Arkush Art Director Betsy Klarfeld Maggid Studies in Tanakh Managing Editor Amy Newman Smith Web Editor Rachel Scheinerman Rabbi Dr. Zvi Grumet Dr. Erica Brown Editorial Assistant GENESIS JONAH Kate Elinsky FROM CREATION THE RELUCTANT Editorial Board TO COVENANT PROPHET Robert Alter Shlomo Avineri Leora Batnitzky Ruth Gavison Moshe Halbertal Hillel Halkin Jon D. Levenson Anita Shapira Michael Walzer J. H.H. Weiler Ruth R. Wisse Steven J. Zipperstein Executive Director Eric Cohen Publisher Gil Press Circulation Associate Dalya Mayer Chairman’s Council Blavatnik Family Foundation Rabbi Michael Hattin Rabbi Alex Israel Rabbi Dr. Binyamin Lau Rabbi Hayyim Angel Dr. Yael Ziegler Dov S. Zakheim Publication Committee I KINGS JEREMIAH JOSHUA ĤAGGAI, RUTH NEHEMIAH Marilyn and Michael Fedak THE CHALLENGE OF THE TORN IN TWO THE FATE OF A PROPHET ZECHARIAH & FROM ALIENATION TO STATESMAN AND SAGE PROMISED LAND MONARCHY Ahuva and Martin J. Gross MALACHI Susan and Roger Hertog PROPHECY IN AN AGE OF UNCERTAINTY Roy J. Katzovicz The Lauder Foundation– Leonard and Judy Lauder Sandra Earl Mintz Maggid Modern Classics Tina and Steven Price Charitable Foundation Pamela and George Rohr Daniel Senor NEW EDITION Paul E. -
What a Difference Place Makes: Reflections on Religious-Secular Divides in Israel and in America
10 What a Difference Place Makes: Reflections on Religious-Secular Divides in Israel and in America Jeffrey Saks From [both] the midst of a heritage which is compulsive and fateful and a terrible aloneness which are the source of the unity of the nation, issues forth the attribute of loving-kindness, which summons and drives the fateful collective to imbue their unity with positive content.… The obligation of love for another person emanates from the self-awareness of the people of fate, which is alone and perplexed by its uniqueness. — Rabbi Joseph b. Soloveitchik1 259 Non Orthodox Relationships.indb 259 7/13/10 10:06 AM Jeffrey Saks Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) — Walt Whitman, Song of Myself (51) in the 1980s Professor E. d. Hirsch’s Cultural Literacy argued that the excesses of educational reforms instituted throughout the twentieth century by the progressive movement, and its emphasis on process over content, had robbed Americans of a “vocabulary of national dis- course.” in his book, Hirsch proposes that all Americans learn com- mon points of reference to facilitate the equitable exchange of ideas.2 in israel today, we are often told, the notion that citizens on either side of the religious divide might exchange ideas equitably seems to be an increasingly difficult proposition.t he religious-secular divide— which, some polls tell us, depending on what else is happening in the news on any given day, is perceived as the greater threat to the future of the State—reflects the breakdown of a common cultural language.3 When i moved into a Jerusalem apartment, after my wedding a number of years ago, there were two other families who had been liv- ing there since 1948. -
Review Essay By
77 Review Essay Jeremiah: The Fate of a Prophet by Binyamin Lau (New Milford: Maggid Books, 2013) translated by Sara Daniel, 230 pp. By: Heshey Zelcer The Book Jeremiah: The Fate of a Prophet (“our book”) contains an introduction to the Book of Jeremiah followed by three sections corresponding respectively to the reigns of Josiah, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, the three main kings of Judah during the time Jeremiah prophesied. At the end of the book are two indices that cross-reference its chapters to those in the Book of Jeremiah. This is necessary, according to the author, because certain chapters and events in the Book of Jeremiah are not in chronological order,1 a claim very much within the tradition of our commentators (ein mukdam u-meuhaṛ ba-Torah). I dedicate this essay to my dear friend Heshy Roz, z”l whose enthusiasm and love for learning remains an inspiration to my colleagues and myself. 1 Our author reorganizes the chapters in the Book of Jeremiah as follows: Josiah 1, 3, 31, 23, 30, 2, 10, 17, 11, 18, 5, 7, 8, 11, and 16. Jehoiakim: 22, 26, 19, 20, 46, 4, 6, 25, 35, 36, 45, 36, and 13. Zedekiah: 22, 24, 29, 27, 28, 14, 37, 14, 21, 34, 37, 38, 39, 32, 33, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, and 52. He does not suggest any organizing principle for the Book of Jeremiah. On p. xxi, n. 8, however, he does mentions some works that discuss this. See Da‘at Mikra: Sefer Yirmiyahu (Mossad ha-Rav Kook, 1983) pp. -
Hebrew.” Root Their Jewish Origins in Legendary, Rather Than Traveled to Ethiopia to Visit the Beta Israel Historical Material
Walter Laqueur Did One Million Russians Change the Middle East? JEWISH REVIEW OF BOOKS Volume 4, Number 2 Summer 2013 $7.95 Benny Morris The Alarming Signif icance of a Trivial Book SUMMER READING Adam Kirsch Proust & Bialik Alan Mintz A.B. Yehoshua at the Movies Jeffrey SaksS.Y. Agnon in Comics Daniel Johnson Francesca Segal's Brilliant First Novel Amy Newman Smith A Short, Strange, Heroic Life Editor Abraham Socher Senior Contributing Editor Allan Arkush Art Director Betsy Klarfeld Assistant Editor Amy Newman Smith Administrative Assistant Rebecca Weiss Intern Zachary Crockford Editorial Board Robert Alter Shlomo Avineri Leora Batnitzky Ruth Gavison Moshe Halbertal Hillel Halkin Jon D. Levenson Anita Shapira Michael Walzer J. H.H. Weiler Leon Wieseltier Ruth R. Wisse Steven J. Zipperstein Publisher Eric Cohen Associate Publisher & Director of Marketing Lori Dorr Marketing Associate Chaya Glasner The Jewish Review of Books (Print ISSN 2153-1978, Online ISSN 2153-1994) is a quarterly publication of ideas and criticism published in Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter, by Bee.Ideas, LLC., 165 East 56th Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10022. For all subscriptions, please visit www.jewishreviewofbooks.com or send $29.95 The Posen Society of Fellows is a unique international fellowship for ($39.95 outside of the U.S.) to: Jewish Review of junior scholars and emerging fiction writers. The Fellowship provides Books, PO Box 3000, Denville, NJ 07834. Please send notifications of address changes to the same address recipients with $40,000 over the course of two years, and the opportu- or to [email protected]. nity to work with seasoned scholars and writers. -
OF 19 R10 Draft 08 Balanced.Indd Iii 9/23/2008 8:19:37 AM the ORTHODOX FORUM
Chaim I. Waxman Robert S. Hirt, Series Editor OF 19 r10 draft 08 balanced.indd iii 9/23/2008 8:19:37 AM THE ORTHODOX FORUM The Orthodox Forum, initially convened by Dr. Norman Lamm, Chancellor of Yeshiva University, meets each year to consider major issues of concern to the Jewish community. Forum participants from throughout the world, including academicians in both Jewish and secular fields, rabbis, rashei yeshivah, Jewish educators, and Jewish communal professionals, gather in conference as a think tank to discuss and critique each other’s original papers, examining different aspects of a central theme. The purpose of the Forum is to create and disseminate a new and vibrant Torah literature addressing the critical issues facing Jewry today. The Orthodox Forum gratefully acknowledges the support of the Joseph J. and Bertha K. Green Memorial Fund at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary established by Morris L. Green, of blessed memory. The Orthodox Forum Series is a project of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, an affiliate of Yeshiva University OOFF 1199 rr1010 draftdraft 0088 balanced.inddbalanced.indd iiii 99/23/2008/23/2008 8:19:378:19:37 AMAM Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Religious Zionism post disengagement: future directions / edited by Chaim I. Waxman. p. cm. – (Orthodox Forum Series) ISBN 978-1-60280-022-9 1. Religious Zionism – Israel – History. 2. Religious Zionism – United States – His- tory. 3. Israel and the diaspora. 4. Judaism and state. 5. Religion and state. 6. Jews – Israel – Politics and government – 21st century. 7. Jews – United States – Politics and government–21st century.