I love a well written cartoon, and I think that the best cartoon is when you would not have anticipated the ending. There is a style of humour known as the “brick joke” where the ending shows up where you’d least expect it. (See for example the Garfield cartoon where he kicks Odie into next week)
Over recent weeks, many blogs have been talking about the recent Ami article about a practicing Jew who keeps Torah and Mitzvot, yet doesn’t believe in HaShem.
It is impossible to know details about the story, to understand exactly what this person does or does not believe, and how it effects his performance of Mitzvot; however I found the story inspiring – that Torah and Mitzvot have meaning and purpose, even without belief.
But I wanted to share a different story about a different Jew who possibly could be defined as Orthoprax.
Three years ago I was privileged to visit Budapest with my father who was born there in 1934, and lived there until the age 13 in 1948.
We were walking back from shacharit down a wide street not far from the shul. The street was busy with street cars and traffic and had a large supermarket with large signs in the window advertising various kosher products. At the end of the street was a sign saying that this had once been the edge of the Jewish Ghetto; in 1945 the ghetto housed the remaining Jews of Budapest, including my father who shared a tiny room with his younger brother and grandfather – his parents had both been taken away
When we passed a small doorway my father stopped and told me that in 1945 he was walking down this street with his grandfather, when suddenly a plane appeared overhead, strafing the street with machine gun fire. My father and his grandfather managed to duck into the doorway and weren’t physically hurt but were very shaken.
In that small doorway, my great-grandfather looked at my father and said one phrase: “There is no G-d”. I’m not sure whether this caused my Great-grandfather to abandon belief, possibly he had already given up belief years earlier, or possibly he still believed in spite of everything.
In any case, it didn’t matter – the following morning my great grandfather woke up in the tiny room that he shared with his two grandsons, and did the same thing that he had done every morning since his Bar Mitzvah, he put on his Tfillin and prayed to the G-d in whose very existence he had questioned.
In honour of Yom HaShoah tonight, here is Yaakov Shwekey’s “Shema”.
The song retells the legend of HaRav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman. After the Churban in Europe, Rav Kahaneman travelled throughout Europe trying to find Jewish orphans and bring them to Eretz Yisrael.
Legend has it that Rav Kaheneman heard rumours that a Jewish child was hidden in a convent orphanage, however the people who ran the orphanage denied that there were any Jewish children there, and invited the Rabbi in to see for himself that none of the children were Jewish.
When confronted with a room full of orphans the Rabbi stood up and loudly cried out Shema Yisrael. Sure enough, a small child started crying “Mama! Tate!”. And so Rav Kaheneman was able to leave with the child he came looking for.
SHEMA
He raised his hand to wave goodbye Saw the pain in mother's eyes Who left her little precious boy of four In a citadel of ashen stone That preached a faith unlike his own Perhaps he may just yet survive this war In the shadows stood a man in black My child he said, you must not look back Yet one image lingered, the tears on her face And mother's words from their last embrace
CHORUS: Shema, Shema Yisrael Know that there is but one G-d above When you feel pain, when you rejoice Know how He longs to hear your voice Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad
Deep within the iron gate Far from the stench of war and hate He knew not of a world gone insane You must believe us, he was told Our faith alone can save your soul Please let us heal your wounds and ease your pain He tried not to forget his past, his home But he was so very young and all alone While visions of his shtetl, so vivid and clear Began to fade, and all but disappeared
CHORUS: Shema, Shema Yisrael Know that there is but one G-d above When you fel pain, when you rejoice Know how He longs to hear you voice Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad
The winds of war had finally passed One man took on a sacred task To bring the scattered Jewish children home He travelled far, from place to place A quest to reignite the faith Of those sent into hiding long ago He entered the fortress grey and cold Your kind is not among us, he was told Hashem above, he whispered, please don't let me fail As he began to sing Shema Yisrael
CHORUS: Shema, Shema Yisrael Know that there is but one G-d above When you feel pain, when you rejoice Know how He longs to hear your voice Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad Shema, Shema Yisrael Know that there is but one G-d above When you feel pain, when you rejoice Know how He longs to hear your voice Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad
Growing up in New Zealand, a central part of Shabbat Morning Services was the following Prayer for the Royal Family, recited in English throughout the British Commonwealth (although I never saw it in Canada). The wording is based on the prayer composed by Chief Rabbi Dr Hertz for the Royal Jubilee Service in 1935. Text in blue is said in New Zealand (and I assume other commonwealth nations).
He Who gives salvation to kings and dominion to princes, Whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom – may he bless
OUR SOVERIGN LADY, QUEEN ELIZABETH
PHILLIP, DUKE OF EDINBOROUGH
CHARLES, PRINCE OF WALES
AND ALL THE ROYAL FAMILY
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR GENERAL OF NEW ZEALAND
AND ALL WHO LEGISLATE FOR ITS BENIFIT
So, in honour of tomorrow’s royal wedding (also being celebrated here in Modi’in a few doors up from my house), I thought that I’d share some Prayers for the Royal family from older siddurim.
This סדור ויעתר יצחק published in Berlin 1785 blesses an anonymous “King Ploni”
This סדור אשי ישראל published 1968 in Tel Aviv has standard text in Hebrew, with a blank space to insert the monarch of your choice:
סדור שפתי ישנים published in Warsaw in 1865, complete with Polish translation blesses “the Father of Our Nation”, Alexander the 2nd, together with his wife Maria and his son Alexander
This Siddur Beit Yaakov published in 1889 in Bazitamar (sp?) has a prayer for Kaiser Alexander, his son Nikolai, and his wife Maria. I found another edition of the same siddur was published 1881 in Warsaw, with the same royal family.
And here is a prayer for Nikolai when he grew up to be Kaiser from סידור דרך החיים published in 1839 in Vilna.
Over to America, This School Siddur from Philadelphia, 1904 has a prayer for The United States and its President, complete with inter-linear Yiddish translation.
This סדור חנוך תפלה החדש from New York 1940 expands the prayer considerably to bless not only the rulers, but also the country itself. The name of the ruler is listed as “President” and his assistant the “Vice President”. The same Nussach is in the 1916 סדור שפת אמת החדש also from New York.
And finally, here is the prayer as it appeared in the 1975 Singer Siddur that I received for my Bar Mitzvah:
With Best Wishes to William and Kate, may they enjoy many years of happiness together, and may G-d grant them the wisdom to rule with love and compassion towards the People and Land of Israel
Every Pessach, a few minutes before Chag, as I’m about to leave for shul, I realize that again I’ve forgotten how to set up the Seder Plate (קערת הסדר).
I start frantically looking through haggadot until I manage to find one with a picture of the קערה על פי הרמ”א
This year, in a bid to be a bit more organized, I prepared this diagram:
סדר הקערה על שלחן הסדר לדעת הרמ"א ז"ל
:אומר השו"ע:
"מביאין לפני בעל הבית קערה שיש בה שלשה מצות ומרור וחרוסת וכרפס או ירק אחר (רמ"א: וחומץ או מי מלח) ושני תבשילין, אחד זכר לפסח ואחד זכר לחגיגה, ונהגו בבשר וביצה."
הרמ"א: מביא את המאכלים של השו"ע, ומסדר אותם בקערה ע"פ הכלל ש "אין מעבירין על המצוות", לכן צריך שהדבר הראשון שמברך עליו יהיה יותר קרוב אליו, השני אחריו וכן הלאה, כדי שלא יקרה מצב שבו הוא רוצה להגיע אל הכרפס, לדוגמא, יעבור מעל המצות ויש בכך מעין ביזוי למצה.
הגה: ויסדר הקערה ... הכרפס יהא למעלה מן הכל והחומץ סמוך לו יותר מן המצה, והמצות מן המרור והחרוסת, והם יהיו יותר קרובים אליו מן הבשר והביצה."
(1) הרמ"א מוסיף על השו"ע את המי-מלח או החומץ, כדבר שיש לשים בקערה, ולא בצידה. וניתן להסיר אח"כ את המי-מלח מהקערה.
(2) בב"י הביא את מחלוקת הפוסקים, האם מניחים על הקערה שתי מצות או שלוש, ומרן חורג ממנהגו להכריע כדעת הרוב ופוסק כדעת הרא"ש והתוס' (ולא כמו הרי"ף והרמב"ם) והסביר בב"י שהעולם נוהגים כדעת הרא"ש והתוס'.
(3) .ע"פ הציור אין מצות בקערה, כי ע"פ הרמ"א המצות צריכות להיות באמצע. ונהגו לשים את שלושת המצות מתחת לקערה במעין מתקן בעל שלושה מדפים שעל כל אחד מהם מניח מצה אחת.
I was looking for an on-line Haggada to use for a source sheet that I needed to prepare, but instead I stumbled upon this “Passover Service” booklet printed in Munich Germany in 1946 for a Seder held for the Jewish Members of the US armed forces.
The booklet contains snippets of the Haggada as well as text in Yiddish, Zionist text written in Hebrew, together with chilling illustrations.
Here’s part of the introduction:
And the khaki-clad sons of Israel commanded by Lt. General Truscott gathered together as was the custom in Israel, to celebrate the Passover festival. They came from the Ninth Division in the West and the First Division in the East. They came from the 98th General Hospital and from the 24th Dispensary. They came from the CIC, the CID, the lCD, the UNRRA and the American Joint Distribution Committee, all of them came to the city of Munich, there to relate as of old, the miracle of freedom. They spoke of Pharaoh and the Egyptian bondage. They spoke of slave labor and the torture cities of Pitham and Ramsees and they spoke of the inevitable force of liberty which will lay waste to every tyrannical design. But in their hearts they felt very close to all that which was narrated. Pharaoh and Egypt gave way to Hitler and Germany. Pitham and Rarnsees faded beneath fresh memories of Buchenwald and Dachau.
Or take a look at this short snippet:
ברוך שומר הבטחתו לישראל. ברוך בלפור שחשב לעשות את הקץ. לעשות כמו שנאמר: ידע תדע כי שוב לא יענו אתכם ארבע מאות שנה ובית יקום לכם כםו שנאמר: אל יהיה זרעך גר בארץ לא להם
ברוך שוםר הבטחתו לישראל וחבר את הספר הלבן, אסר על העליה וקנית הקרקעות וחשב לעשות את .הקץ
My Approximate Translation:
Blessed is He who guards his promise to Israel. Blessed is Balfour that calculated how to bring the redemption. To do as is written: You shall surely know that when you return you will not be afflicted four hundred years” And a house will be established as it is written “Your descendents will not dwell in a land which is not theirs”
Blessed is he who guards his promise to Israel, yet wrote the White Paper that is is forbidden to make Aliya or to purchase land, yet calculated how to bring the redemption.
What is most chilling about the Haggada are the illustrations, following are some examples with their captions:
The entire nation is in shock over the horrific massacre last Shabbat.
I have nothing to add to the comments that have already been made on other blogs and news sources, however I wanted to repost a few of the more powerful images.
The Muqata has a copy of the Tfilla that was hanging above 11 Year Old Yoav Fogel's bed, we could should all internalize the message of this Tfilla:
May it be Your will, the Lord my G-d and the G-d of my fathers, that I should merit to love every individual in Israel as if they were my soul, and with my might, and to properly observe the mitzva (commandment) of "Love your Neighbor as Yourself."
And may it be Your will, the Lord my G-d and the G-d of my fathers, that You place in the hearts of my friends, love for me, and that I will be accepted by all, that I should be loved and caring, and find favor in the eyes of all.
As a face is reflected in water, so should the hearts of man be to each other.
And all for the sake of heaven, to observe Your will.
Several bloggers have commented on the inspiring words and courage of 12 year old Tamar who found the bodies and talked about her new responsibilities as a "mother to her sibling"
And finally, there is this new song and video by Shmuel Schwartz
May this indeed be the last time, and may Klal Yisrael (and the entire world)know no more sorrow.
