Which is holier - Shabbat or Lag B'Omer?

Rafi over at Life in Israel recently had a post about the directions of the Rabbanut to postpone Lag B'Omer celebrations to Sunday afternoon, This is actually a suggestion he made all the way back in 2007 (Good call Rafi).

Last year the Rabbanut made the same suggestion, but as far as I could tell it was largely ignored, possibly partially because the decision was announced too late and people had already made plans. This year it seems that more people are making Medorot on Sunday afternoon / night, at least in Modi'in - all my kids had bonfires on Sunday, not Motzei Shabbat.

Not surprisingly, segments in the Haredi community have rejected this suggestion - claiming that they will not be Mechalel Shabbat, and if other people have to be Mechalel Shabbat to provide security and safety requirements in Meron, that is not their problem.

Rabbi Slifkin at Rationalist Judaism has an excellent post where he discusses this problem.

An anonymous commentator on Life in Israel ridiculed the whole idea - asking how Medorot on Motzei Shabbat would prevent people from keeping Shabbat who otherwise would have:

I'm curios who the Shabbos desecration is coming from? Religious people who know not to drive on Shabbos? Irreligious peeople who would otherwise keep the Shabbos the day before Lag B'Omer? Are there any studies that show that people who used to be Shabbos observers decide to abandon their beliefs to attend a bonfire?

Well - today Radio Kol Chai is reporting that a religious firefighter has been ordered by his superiors to travel to Meron on Shabbat - you can read the story here: http://www.93fm.co.il/radio/111333/

I have no idea how the issue will be resolved for this firefighter - will he get a heter to travel on Shabbat? Will he spend Shabbat in Meron away from his family? Will he simply defy the order, and if so will this cost him his job?

None of these options sound good - and whatever action this firefighter takes, I'm sure that there are many other firefighters who are religious or traditional and do not normally travel on  Shabbat, but will be pressured to this year.

So the short answer is that there are large forces within the religious community that believe that the relatively new minhag of bonfires on Lag B'Omer is more important than Shabbat. Curious to know if these people who aren't  bothered by other people being Mechalel Shabbat on their behalf are equally happy for businesses, buses, or car parks to operate on Shabbat - or do they only think that Jews should break Shabbat if it is for the benefit of the religious community.

By the way my brother has 2 interesting blog posts about the histor (or lack of history) of Lag B'Omer here and here.

"Undesirables" in Modi'in

Rabbi Eli Fisher posted a link on Facebook to a letter from Modi'in City Representative Avi Elbaz of "Ir Chofshit" complaining about "outsiders" using our Modi'in's parks during Pessach.

Apparently these "undesirables" (mainly from Kiryat Sefer) allowed their children to sit on the same grass and play on the same equipment and spend their money in the same concession stands as the innocent children of Modi'in.

How can we raise tolerant, liberal, enlightened, open-minded children if they are exposed to these backward "undesirables" who not only dress differently, but have different values and spend their vacation in parks built with public money instead of leaving the TV to entertain and raise their children.

I only hope that we take action to make sure that these backward people are kept out of the public sphere where they may influence our open minded children. Close the parks to them! Give them separate play equipment and water fountains! And make sure that they are denied access to public institutions like the army.
Oh wait ...

In other news, Jews all over the world are still practicing mourning customs during this time of year to remember Rabbi Akiva's students who did not respect each other.

Yom HaShoah - "What if there had been an Israel?"

One of the false claims you sometimes here is that the State of Israel was created in response to the Holocaust, the Daily Beast has an interesting column on that topic.

In fact the opposite is true, the Holocaust only happened because the State of Israel hadn't been created earlier in the Century.

With that in mind, I thought the following article from the Pittsburgh Press in 1919 very interesting. It talks about a Jewish state for 20,000,000 Jews, the approximate Jewish population before Hitler destroyed a third of our people. And talks about the proposed future borders of the state, borders that make today's "Greater Israel" proponents look like minimalists.
Also interesting that the it assumes that the Jewish state would be referred to as "Palestine", at that time the only people who identified themselves as "Palestinian" were the Jews living in Eretz Yisrael. The Arab Palestinian National Movement had not yet been invented.

Certainly a lot of food for thought in the article...

Room for 20,000,000 Jews in New Jewish State Formed in Palestine

International News Service Stall Correspondent.

London. Dec. 20.-There is room for 20.000.000 inhabitants in the new Jewish state being created in Palestine, according to Max Nordeau, famous French aviator, who is keenly interested in arousing interest of Jews in this project throughout the world.
  This is the hour before the dawn for the Jews, thanks to the English-speaking nations, declared Dr, Nordeau today. "For 1,000 years the Jews have looked for the coming or the Messiah and I feel that his coming is about near. I hope it will not prove a false Messiah.
  "The Jews are just beginning to realize what this Zionist movement really is. Zionism for the Jews is
their real salvation. The Jews of the world have assimilated the habits and customs of all nations. but they realise that Palestine is their real home. The masses of Jews hail this movement, and it there should be any deception it would be tragic. Those not wanting to go to Palestine may easily remain where they are and God bless them.
  “It is expected that a method will be devised of giving citizenship in the new state of Palestine to Jews who
do not wish to go there right away. A system of taxation has been proposed, also, by which Jews would
contribute to the support of the Palestine government whether they live there or not, it they secure citizenship papers.
  "There is going to be competition for space in Palestine. The boundaries of the new state probably will
be defined after the lines of the Bible. We do not anticipate a return of the whole Jewish people from the
outside world, but it is already known that the territory which the new state will possess between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates river, will hold 20,000,000 souls. The Bolsheviks and the Jews have severed their bonds and now hold nothing in common
Source: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19191221&id=IyIeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qo4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=2886,1863998

Bread on the Seder Plate?

Life in Israel has a link to an interesting interview with MK Ruth Calderon or Yesh Atid.

Ms Calderon is an interesting person with a strong connection to Judaism and Jewish sources. She made a name for herself in her maiden address to the Knesset when she gave a Talmud Class which showed her familiarity and respect for Jewish scholarship.

In the video, the guests on the talk show are discussing how they conduct a seder. Not surprisingly, Ms Calderon said that she has several haggadot that she uses during the seder and analyzes the text, however she also said that she has an Orange and often a piece of bread on the seder plate.

An orange on the Seder plate has long been a symbol of Jewish Feminism. She expended it to refer to support for single-sex families. I'm not sure why people think that the seder is the correct opportunity to promote the political cause of the week; there are "green Haggadot", "feminist Haggadot", "Pro-Plaestinian Haggadot", "Jews-for-Jesus Haggadot". You name the political or social cause, there is a haggada to make that the emphasis of the seder.
Many of these are important causes, but I never understood why we have to take a 3000 year old ceremony filled with meaning, and make it a ceremony about a different cause. If you want to make a ceremony to protest global warming - fine, an excellent idea - but if the only way you can do it is by hitching a ride on one the most powerful ceremonies held in Jewish households all over the world, you are cheapening both ceremonies.
The seder is filled with powerful themes such as liberty, nationhood, connection to family and Jewish tradition and Jewish history, and connection to the G-d who took us out of Egypt. If these themes don't speak to you, making the ceremony about a different unrelated social cause is insulting to both the seder, and to the social cause.

What was more worrying about Ms Calderon's seder is she said that she said that she includes bread on the Seder Plate to remind the participants of all those who are hungry and don't have food. What is upsetting about this, besides the obvious halachic problems, is that one of the themes of the Seder and Matza itself is "Bread of Affliction" - all those who are hungry are invited to join the Seder. One of the important preparations of Pessach is "Kimcha D'Pesscha" - providing food for the needy to make sure that no one is hungry on Seder night.
Instead of emphasizing these points that are already explicitly in the Haggada and Jewish practice, Ms Calderon decided to invent a new practice that is deliberately against traditional Jewish practice. There is a lack of humility in the statement that even though we have a tradition that has been handed down for 3000 years, and was filled with meaning to Jewish families throughout history and in all corners of our exile, yet she can rewrite it to make it better, not by adding a commentary or discussion to thy existing scholarship, but by openly defying the tradition. I would have expected more respect from for someone with so much knowledge and understanding of Jewish tradition and scholarship.

Happy Tu B'Shvat - The darkness before the Dawn

Years ago I heard a thought based on Rav Kook that Galut can be compared to Winter. The darkness of winter finishes in the Spring - Nissan, the month of redemption.
However, a month before Pessach, as the flowers start to blossom we celebrate Purim. The redemption of Purim is related to Pessach, immediately after Purim we not only start cleaning and learning hilchot Pessach, but the partial redemption of Purim helps us prepare for the complete redemption that is just around the corner.

A month before Purim (or in a leap year 2 months before Purim), at the darkest point of the Winter if people are sensitive to their surroundings they will notice that the nights start getting shorter, each day has more light than the day before, and the Almond tree suddenly bursts in to bloom - as if to say that even though you can't see it, the end of the long Winter that we have suffered through is just around the corner.

Tu Bshvat is a time to look ahead, to look at the Almond tree and realize that the best is still to come.

The Ben Ish Chai, composed a Prayer to be said on Tu Bshvat for a beautiful Etrog. As if to say that we should not only look forward to the redemption 3 months from now, but we can look forward to Succot - when our eterog should be complete without any blemish, there should be no external thorns to hurt us, and and we can all sit in Peace in the Succat Shalom that we have been promised.

Happy Tu B'shvat to all.

תפילה על האתרוג

תפילה על אתרוג נאה שתיקן רבינו יוסף חיים מבגדד – ה"בן איש חי" זיע"א

יהי רצון מלפניך ה' אלקינו ואלקי אבותינו שתברך כל אילנות האתרוג, להוציא פירותיהם בעתם ויוציאו אתרוגים טובים יפים ומהודרים ונקיים מכל מום ולא יעלה בהם חזזית ויהיו שלמים ולא יהיה בהם שום חסרון ואפילו עקיצת הקוץ ויהיו מצויים לנו ולכל ישראל אחינו בכל מקום שהם, לקיים בה מצות נטילה עם הלולב בחג הסוכות שיבוא עלינו לחיים טובים ולשלום כאשר צויתנו בתורתך ע"י משה עבדך ולקחתם לכם  ביום הראשון פרי עץ הדר וכפות תמרים וענף עץ עבות וערבי נחל.

ויהי רצון מלפניך ה' אלקינו ואלקי אבותינו שתעזרנו ותסייענו לקיים מצוה זו של נטילת לולב והדס וערבה ואתרוג כתיקונה בזמנה בחג הסוכות שיבא עלינו לחיים טובים ולשלום בשמחה ובטוב לב ותזמין לנו אתרוג יפה ומהודר ושלם וכשר כהלכתו.

ויהי רצון מלפני ה' אלקינו ואלקי אבותינו שתברך כל מיני האילנות ויוציאו פירותיהם בריבוי שמנים וטובים ותברך כל הגפנים שיוציא ענבים הרבה שמנים טובים כדי שיהיה היין היוצא מהם מצוי לרוב לכל עמך ישראל לקיים בו מצות קידוש ומצות הבדלה בשבתות וימים טובים ויתקיים בנו ובכל ישראל אחינו מקרא שכתב "לך אכול בשמחה לחמך ושתה בלב טוב יינך כי כבר רצה אלוקים את מעשיך" באתי לגני אחותי כלה אריתי מורי עם בשמי, אכלתי יערי עם דבשי שתיתי ייני עם חלבי אכלו רעים שתו ושכרו דודים יהיו לרצון אמרי פי והגיון לבי לפניך ה' צורי וגואלי.

 

Can you Date The Following Quote

For history buffs - can you identify which public figure said the following quote, and when:

"We have a historic opportunity for peace and we must do all we can to seize it," 

A. Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, May 1, 1987
B. Israeli prime Minister Ariel Sharon, 17 December, 2004
C. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, 12 November, 2007
D. President GW Bush to Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, 1 September, 2008
E. Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, 19 June, 2009
F. Israeli prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, 27 September, 2010
G. King Abdullah of Jordan, 5 October 5 2010
H. Head of Israeli Labo(u)r Party, Isaac Herzog, to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, 1 December, 2013
I. All of the above

The Correct answer is - you guessed it -  "I - All of the above"

Herzog's first month as head of Labour he has already determined that NOW is the Historic Opportunity for Peace - I really hope that we don't miss this historic opportunity - it might be weeks before another such opportunity presents itself. 

Happy כ"ט בנובמבר

Don't forget that as well as being Chanuka and American Thanksgiving, today is also כ"ט בנובמבר, which I believe is the only Israeli Government-recognized holiday with a date based on the non-Jewish Calendar.

November 29 is certainly a day for Thanks giving and to לְהוֹדוֹת וּלְהַלֵּל לְשִׁמְךָ הַגָּדוֹל

Happy כ"ט בנובמבר everyone.