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Sanctity As Defined by the Silent Prayer Benjamin Blech Sanctity Isn't
145 Sanctity as Defined by the Silent Prayer Sanctity as Defined by the Silent Prayer Benjamin Blech Sanctity isn’t meant to be an esoteric subject reserved solely for rabbis, theologians, and scholars. It is a theme that has been accorded a blessing that is to be recited by every Jew three times a day as part of the Amidah, the Silent Prayer composed by the Men of the Great Assembly, in order to give voice to our collective desire to communicate with the Almighty. The Amidah is the paradigm of prayer. It is what the Talmud and rabbinic commentators refer to as “[the] t’fillah.” It is the one prayer at whose beginning and ending we take three steps backward followed by three steps forward, indicating our awareness of entering and then subsequently leaving the presence of the supreme Sovereign. The wording and structure of this prayer are profoundly significant. Its text carries the spiritual weight of authorship by saintly scholars imbued with prophetic inspiration. All this is by way of introducing the reader to the importance (as well as the practical relevance) of the insights of the Amidah regarding the theme of holiness. It is within the context of the words chosen for our daily conversations with God that we will discover how the concept of sanctity helps us resolve two of the most pressing problems of life: How can we be certain that God exists? And if indeed there is a God, what does that mean for our mission here on earth? 146 Benjamin Blech Can We Ever Prove God’s Existence? Philosophers throughout the ages have debated this issue without coming to a universally agreed-upon resolution. -
The Holy See
The Holy See ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO MEMBERS OF THE DELEGATION OF THE "CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN RABBIS" Monday, 20 April 2015 [Multimedia] Dear Friends, I welcome you, members of the delegation of the Conference of European Rabbis, to the Vatican. I am especially pleased to do so, as this is the first visit by your Organization to Rome to meet with the Successor of Peter. I greet your President, Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, and I thank him for his kind words. I wish to express my sincere condolences for the death last evening of Rabbi Elio Toaff, former Chief Rabbi of Rome. I am united in prayer with Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni – who would have been here with us – and with the entire Jewish Community in Rome. We gratefully remember this man of peace and dialogue who received Pope John Paul II during his historic visit to the Great Synagogue of Rome. For almost fifty years, the dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Jewish community has progressed in a systematic way. Next 28 October we will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate, which is still the reference point for every effort we make in this regard. With gratitude to the Lord, may we recall these years, rejoicing in our progress and in the friendship which has grown between us. Today, in Europe, it is more important than ever to emphasise the spiritual and religious dimension of human life. In a society increasingly marked by secularism and threatened by atheism, we run the risk of living as if God did not exist. -
SAMPLE His Priests from Ever Entering a Synagogue.” I Was Amazed and Crushed
Introduction Gilbert S. Rosenthal I was a young and callow rabbi serving a congregation in New Jersey about forty miles from New York City. The year was 1960, and Thanks- giving was approaching. I had an inspirational idea: My synagogue was literally across the road from a Roman Catholic church. Why not invite the priest and his flock to join my congregation in a program—not a wor- ship service—of thanksgiving for the blessings of freedom in this blessed land? So I called the priest whom I had never met and enthusiastically told him of my idea, stressing that this would be a program without any liturgical content, confident that he would accept my invitation. I was quite wrong: The priest responded, “Rabbi, I should very much like to take you up on your offer but I cannot. You see, my bishop, Bishop Ahr of Trenton, prohibitsSAMPLE his priests from ever entering a synagogue.” I was amazed and crushed. The fact that I vividly remember that conversation after over fifty years have elapsed underscores my sense of despair and the lasting impression it made on me. Imagine that a scant fifteen years after the Shoah—the Holocaust that destroyed six million Jews in Christian Europe—and the Catholic Church would not even talk to Jews or enter their houses of worship! We were just across the road from each other, but we might as well have been on other sides of the world. Perhaps that episode was the catalyst of my commitment to interreligious dialogue throughout my long rabbinic career. -
Jason Yehuda Leib Weiner
Jason Yehuda Leib Weiner A Student's Guide and Preparation for Observant Jews ♦California State University, Monterey Bay♦ 1 Contents Introduction 1 Chp. 1, Kiddush/Hillul Hashem 9 Chp. 2, Torah Study 28 Chp. 3, Kashrut 50 Chp. 4, Shabbat 66 Chp. 5, Sexual Relations 87 Chp. 6, Social Relations 126 Conclusion 169 2 Introduction Today, all Jews have the option to pursue a college education. However, because most elite schools were initially directed towards training for the Christian ministry, nearly all American colonial universities were off limits to Jews. So badly did Jews ache for the opportunity to get themselves into academia, that some actually converted to Christianity to gain acceptance.1 This began to change toward the end of the colonial period, when Benjamin Franklin introduced non-theological subjects to the university. In 1770, Brown University officially opened its doors to Jews, finally granting equal access to a higher education for American Jews.2 By the early 1920's Jewish representation at the leading American universities had grown remarkably. For example, Jews made up 22% of the incoming class at Harvard in 1922, while in 1909 they had been only 6%.3 This came at a time when there were only 3.5 millions Jews4 in a United States of 106.5 million people.5 This made the United States only about 3% Jewish, rendering Jews greatly over-represented in universities all over the country. However, in due course the momentum reversed. During the “Roaring 1920’s,” a trend towards quotas limiting Jewish students became prevalent. Following the lead of Harvard, over seven hundred liberal arts colleges initiated strict quotas, denying Jewish enrollment.6 At Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons for instance, Jewish enrollment dropped from 50% in 1 Solomon Grayzel, A History of the Jews (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1959), 557. -
If God Is Good, Why Is the World So Bad? by Benjamin Blech Simcha
Books If God is Good, God is not in control of the world, and sion that all of his proposals stem from Why is the World So Bad? that they suffer because God lacks the the Rav’s theology. By Benjamin Blech power to prevent it. The primary dissonance between Simcha Press Rabbi Blech opens with an anec- Rabbi Blech’s approach and that con- Florida, 2003 dote demonstrating that Kushner’s view veyed by the Rav is that Rabbi Blech is 250 pages is not only in contradiction to tradition- not at all hesitant to offer confident the- Reviewed by Shalom Carmy al religion, which is pretty obvious, but ological explanations for good and bad that it is therapeutically inadequate too. occurrences. Thus he writes: A woman, who had first been comfort- And how can we know whether our ed by Kushner’s assurance that her own suffering is divine punishment or child’s death was not punishment, now heavenly warning? When God intervenes, complains that the book gives her night- when He is sending you a message, you mares: “I now have two healthy chil- will know it. How? There is one sure way dren. We are so happy. But any minute to tell—God is very specific and leaves no now I expect something terrible to hap- doubt about His meaning if you merely pen. If God doesn’t run the world like give it a little thought. this book says….” And her voice cracks. Many of Rabbi Blech’s stories This woman, Rabbi Blech says, needs about unmistakable Divine communica- assurance. -
Guide to the Yeshiva
Guide to the Yeshiva The Undergraduate Torah Experience For answers to all your Yeshiva questions, email [email protected] Our Yeshiva has a long and profound history and legacy of Undergraduate Torah Studies Torah scholarship and spiritual greatness. Our roots stretch back to the Torah of Volozhin and Brisk and continue in WELCOME TO THE YESHIVA! our Yeshiva with such luminaries as Rav Shimon Shkop We have assembled in one Yeshiva an unparalleled cadre of roshei yeshiva, rebbeim, mashgichim and support staff to enable you to have an uplifting and enriching Torah experience. We hope you will take and Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik. As you enter Yeshiva, you full advantage of all the Yeshiva has to offer. will not only partake of the great heritage of our past but, Hatzlacha Rabbah! together with your rebbeim, will forge a glorious future. Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman Rabbi Zevulun Charlop President Dean Emeritus Special Assistant to the President Rabbi Menachem Penner Rabbi Dr. Yosef Kalinsky The Max and Marion Grill Dean Associate Dean Glueck Center, Room 632 Undergraduate Torah Studies 646.592.4063 Glueck Center, Room 632 [email protected] 646.592.4068 [email protected] For answers to all your Yeshiva questions, email [email protected] 1 Undergraduate Torah Studies Programs Yeshiva Program/Mazer School The James Striar School (JSS) of Talmudic Studies (MYP) This path is intended for students new to Hebrew language and textual study who aspire to attain This program offers an advanced and sophisticated a broad-based Jewish philosophical and text classical yeshiva experience. Students engage education. Led by a dynamic, caring faculty and in in-depth study of Talmud with our world- with daily mentoring from students at YU’s renowned roshei yeshiva. -
Biographical Sketch
Rabbi Benjamin Blech Rabbi Benjamin Blech, a Maggid-shiur at Yeshiva University, is an internationally recognized educator, religious leader, author and lecturer. He has written 12 highly acclaimed and best-selling books, with combined sales of close to half a million copies, including The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Judaism and Understanding Judaism: The Basics of Deed and Creed, which was chosen by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations as the single best book on Judaism in our generation. Together with an accompanying six-hour video, filmed by the producers of 20/20 and featuring Rabbi Blech, Understanding Judaism: The Basics of Deed and Creed is used in study groups in numerous synagogues and universities around the country. His book Taking Stock: A Spiritual Guide to Rising Above Life’s Financial Ups and Downs was featured in a full-page article in the New York Times and his If God is Good, Why Is The World So Bad? has been translated into Indonesian, where it has had a powerful reception in the wake of the country’s tsunami. Rabbi Blech’s most recent book is The Sistine Chapel: Michelangelo’s Forbidden Messages in the Heart of the Vatican. Coinciding with the 500th anniversary of Michelangelo’s starting work on the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel, this groundbreaking book is already the subject of huge interest, discussion and controversy. Translated into 15 languages, available in 25 countries, a first printing of 100,000 copies by HarperOne, movie and TV rights presently in negotiation with three major film companies and with national TV coverage, this major work proves that Michelangelo incorporated many teachings of Jewish Midrash and Kabbalah into the Sistine Chapel. -
Spirit of Assisi”
Sulle vie della pace nello “spirito di Assisi” On the paths of peace In the “Spirit of Assisi” !1 INTRODUCTION The photo of the World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi on October 27, 1986, portraying Pope John Paul II with the leaders of religions in their colorful clothes, is one of the best-known religious images of the twentieth century. Assisi 1986: the leaders of religions with John Paul II In Assisi, various religious communities prayed in different places at the same time, affirming that only peace is holy and that at the heart of every religious tradition is the search for peace. It was a strong and unequivocal message that delegitimizes violence and war perpetrated in the name of religion. It was a simple and new reality: praying for peace, no longer against each other as it had been for centuries, perhaps millennia, but side by side.. This new image has become almost a modern icon: the leaders of the various world religions gathered together. That image had a beauty, almost an aesthetic of dialogue. Leaders joining together illustrated to their respective faithful that living together was possible and that all are part of one big family. John Paul II said: “Perhaps never before in the history of humanity, the intrinsic link between what is authentically religious and the great good of peace was made evident." Karol Wojtyla's dream was the birth of a movement of interreligious peace, which would flow from that day in Assisi. At the end of the day he said, "Peace is a building site open to everyone, not only to specialists, scholars and strategists.”1 !2 More than thirty years have passed. -
The Torah U-Madda Journal Devoted to the Interaction Between Torah and General Culture
THE TORAH U-MADDA JOUR NAL DEVOTED TO THE INTERACTION BETWEEN JUDAISM AND GENERAL CULTURE EDITOR : DAVID SHATZ EDITORIAL ASSISTANT : MEIRA MINTZ FOUNDING EDITOR : JACOB J. SCHACTER , 1989–1999 VOLUME SIXTEEN • 2012 –13 The Torah u-Madda Journal Devoted to the interaction between Torah and general culture. Copyright © 2013 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, an affiliate of Yeshiva University. David Shatz, Editor Meira Mintz, Editorial Assistant Jacob J. Schacter, Founding Editor A publication of The Torah u-Madda Project Max Stern Division of Communal Services Center for the Jewish Future Yeshiva University 500 West 185th Street New York, NY 10033 The Torah u-Madda Project gratefully acknowledges the support of the Joseph J. and Bertha K. Green Memorial Fund at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. Manuscripts should be sent to: Dr. David Shatz Editor, The Torah u-Madda Journal Stern College for Women Yeshiva University 245 Lexington Avenue New York, NY 10016 Before sending your submission, please consult “Instructions for Contributors” on p. v of this volume. Back issues of the journal are available electronically at www.yutorah.org. For further information on back issues and to order copies of the current issue, please contact the Center for the Jewish Future at Yeshiva University, 212.960.5263. Produced by Olivestone, Inc. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONTENTS INSTRUCTIONS FOR CONTRIBUTORS V ARTICLES Orthodox Approaches to Biblical Slavery 1 Gamliel Shmalo A Halakhic-Philosophic Account of Justified Self-Defense -
Italy and the Vatican
Italy and the Vatican National Affairs THEDEATH OF Pope John Paul II and the election of German- born Joseph Cardinal Ratzingeras his successor dominated the news. John Paul died April 2, aged 84, justover two months after falling ill with the flu. Ratzinger, 78, who had beena close aide and friend, was elected pope on April 19, taking the name Benedict XVI. Knownas a hard-line theologian, Ratzinger had served fortwo decades as the Vatican's doc- trinal watchdog in his capacityas head of the Congregation of the Doc- trine of the Faith. The papal transitionwas a worldwide media event and drew an unprecedented number of pilgrimsto Rome. Italian domestic politics centeredon preparations for the April 2006 general elections pitting Prime Minister SilvioBerlusconi's ruling center- right coalition against the center-leftopposition led by Romano Prodi,a former prime minister and former headof the European Commission. The center-left made sharp gains in regionalelections held in early April 2005. With voters in 13 of the country's 20regions going to the polls, the center-left rode to victory in 11 of them. Theresults prompted Berlus- coni to resign, reshuffle his cabinet, and forma new government. An opin- ion poll at the end of November indicatedthat Prodi's coalition would garner 52.7 percent of the vote against just 40.2percent for Berlusconi's bloc. But in December, Berlusconi'sallies pushed through a controver- sial electoral reform law that, accordingto the opposition, was intended tielp the center-right. The law restoreda completely proportional vot- system, replacing the mixed proportional and majoritysystem put in in 1994. -
When the Rabbi's Soul Entered a Pig: Melchiorre Palontrotti and His
Jewish History (2020) 33: 351–375 © The Author(s) 2020 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10835-020-09367-y When the Rabbi’s Soul Entered a Pig: Melchiorre Palontrotti and His Giudiata against the Jews of Rome MARTINA MAMPIERI Lichtenberg-Kolleg, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany E-mail: [email protected] Abstract This essay analyzes an unpublished manuscript of a giudiata, a poem mocking Jew- ish funerals that was written and performed in Rome in the mid-seventeenth century. Mel- chiorre Palontrotti, the author of the composition, was a Roman polemist and author of other published works against Italian Jews, including, among others, the Venetian rabbi Simone Luzzatto, between 1640 and 1649. After furnishing information on the author and the histor- ical background in which the song was written, and following an analysis of the origins of giudiate and their diffusion in early modern Rome, this paper explores the content, language, and style of the giudiata text. The appendix includes a bibliography of Palontrotti’s writings and a transcription of the manuscript. Keywords Jewish-Christian Relations · Jewish History · Anti-Jewish Polemics · Early Modern Polemics · Seventeenth Century · Rome In the rich manuscript collection belonging to Giovanni Pastrizio (ca. 1636– 1708),1 a lecturer in theology at the Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide and scriptor hebraicus at the Vatican Library from 1695, there is a brief but extremely interesting rhymed composition.2 This text, handwritten by Pas- trizio, consists of a canzone contro gli ebrei (“song against the Jews”) in 1On Pastrizio, also known as Ivan Paštric,ˇ and his activity in Rome from the first half of the seventeenth century until his death, see Notizie istoriche degli Arcadi morti, tomo secondo, in Roma, nella Stamperia di Antonio de Rossi, 1720, f. -
Forty Years of Revolution
Haaretz w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m Last update - 08:36 28/10/2005 Forty years of revolution By David Rosen On October 28, 1965, a declaration was published by the Catholic Synod of Bishops (known as Vatican II) that changed in a revolutionary way the attitude of the Catholic Church towards the Jewish people, Judaism and ultimately the state of Israel. This declaration is known by the name taken from the two Latin words with which it begins: "Nostra Aetate," which means "In our time." To appreciate the dimension of the change, it must be noted that the historical approach of Christianity, almost from its very beginnings, had been that because the Jews had failed by not recognizing the person whom Christianity had declared to be the Messiah, and were also responsible for the death of Jesus, their Temple was destroyed, they were expelled from their land and they were condemned to wander the earth until the end of days. Therefore the blessings and the destiny of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were taken from them and given to the Church, which since then was "the true new Israel." This traditional attitude towards Judaism and the Jews is known as the "teaching of contempt." By the first part of the 20th century in certain circles a reevaluation had begun of the Catholic doctrine with regard to the Jews, but a fundamental change took place only under the influence of the Holocaust. Although there is no basis to the argument that Christianity was directly responsible for the Holocaust, there is no doubt that the "Final Solution" would not have succeeded to the same extent had the ground in Europe not been prepared to absorb the seeds of hatred for Jews, in the wake of the "teaching of contempt" and many centuries during which the Church, actively or passively, had encouraged the demonization and dehumanization of the Jew.