Menahem Schmelzer, a Hungarian refugee who for more than two decades was the doting custodian of one of the world’s greatest collections of ancient Hebrew and other Jewish manuscripts and books as the librarian of the Jewish Theological Seminary, died on Dec. 10 at his home in Manhattan. He was 88. During Professor Schmelzer’s tenure [...]
Author: Guestspeaker
A joint effort of several authors who do find that nobody can keep standing at the side and that “Everyone" must care about what is going on in today’s world.
We are a bunch of people who do not mind that somebody has a totally different idea but is willing to share the ideas with others and to be Active and willing to let others understand how "today’s decisions will influence the future”. Therefore we would love to see many others to "Act today".
Micha Gamerman’s Chanuka Medley
A fun medley about a small but nice get-together
In this time of darkness yearning for God’s presence
Right now, we are in a time of seeking, and there is good reason to yearn for the Qadosh Barukh Hu, El ʿElyon, thirsting for Jehovah the living God, to find our way through the darkness. Those who have tasted the Bore and got that personal relationship with Him, have found that nothing else can satisfy their souls but Him.
Beginnings and endings are significant
As we gain new experiences and learn every day so does the confrontation of reading the Torah every year again from beginning to end, which makes us discover each time some new things, making us grow in our Bible knowledge.
Rabbi Aaron Bergman’s Simchat Torah message 2022/5783
A last day of Sukkot, a seven-day festival ending with an eight day. Finishing and beginning again of Torah reading
You don’t need a religion to do soul management
You don’t need a religion to do soul management, but having a sacred calendar certainly helps. Far from being an endless list of tasks, the Torah itself is a blueprint for management.Judaism, and especially Leviticus, wants us to build a civilization that prioritizes the parts of us that make us most human – our fragility, [...]
Soar to Places Unknown
With one foot in a world where there is no room for the Elohim and with the other foot where one is searching for the Kingdom of Peace offered by the Creator, one must dare to make the right decision in a world where individualism and consumerism are paramount.
After not being deliberately separated from everyone else, we may look forward to times that we shall be allowed again to gather, finding again some precious time to feel a unity to worship the Elohim.
After a time when isolation seemed to be the priority, we as human beings will now have to make the choice whether we want to bond with others in the community before the Most High.
During the long months when we could not meet in the shul and were assigned to celebrate all the Feasts of Hashem in our own little living room among house-mates, it became clear how important the meetings are for the community, to keep them alive but also to give them enough spiritual food to grow.
Now that the lockdown periods seem to be over, let us not be deterred by the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, but let that also be one of the reasons to come together now more than ever, for prayer and reflection, looking forward to a time when our people will enjoy an everlasting peace under Hashem’s blessings.
+++
Related
- How has lockdown affected your relationship with those you live with?
- Dystopian Reality
- “We all had friends and relatives who tragically died from Covid” – Lichfield MP
- Planet Chaos
- Lockdown
- Of mice and men essay loneliness and isolation
- When is TOO much isolation a problem?
- The world is crashing
- Close covid contacts in NSW no longer required to isolate
- ‘NSW’s COVID close contact rule change is the good news I wasn’t expecting’
- Close Contacts No Longer Have to Isolate in NSW and VIC Under New COVID-19 Rules
- Household covid contact rules to loosen in ACT
- The trauma of war and the war of trauma in family life.
- The Invisible Community
- Feeling Connected
- The World of the Generous
- Going back to shul
We humans live with one foot firmly in the physical world, and yet we have an inexplicable urge to dip a toe in the spiritual world. However strong or tentative that impulse may be, we all have our moments when we long to transcend our physical being and soar. Where to? That’s the mystery.
Today I shared a moment with a woman whom I had only just met. It was time for her to take the last step in her conversion to Judaism, and I had the privilege of walking into the Gulf of Mexico with her while she prepared to submerge three times.
The Gulf is a beautiful place to use as a mikvah. It is living waters, mayim chayyim, as required of a mikvah, but instead of being surrounded by the walls of a building we were surrounded by sand and sky, white clouds and soft breezes. …
View original post 312 more words
The Fallen Sukkah of David
Hidden Presence
“1 Look, a day is coming for ADONAI when your plunder, (Yerushalayim), will be divided right there within you. 2 “For I will gather all the nations against Yerushalayim for war. The city will be taken, the houses will be rifled, the women will be raped, and half the city will go into exile; but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.” 3 Then ADONAI will go out and fight against those nations, fighting as on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies to the east of Yerushalayim; and the Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, to make a huge valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
5 You will flee to the valley in the mountains, for the valley in the mountains will reach to Atzel. You will flee, just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of ‘Uziyah king of Y’hudah.
Then ADONAI my God will come to you with all the holy ones. 6 On that day, there will be neither bright light nor thick darkness; 7 and one day, known to ADONAI, will be neither day nor night, although by evening there will be light.8 On that day, fresh water will flow out from Yerushalayim, half toward the eastern sea and half toward the western sea, both summer and winter. 9 Then ADONAI will be king over the whole world. On that day ADONAI will be the only one, and his name will be the only name. 10 All the land will be made like the ‘Aravah, from Geva to Rimmon in the Negev. Yerushalayim will be raised up and inhabited where she is, from Binyamin’s Gate to the place where the earlier gate stood, and on to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hanan’el to the king’s winepresses. 11 People will live there, the curse will be broken, and Yerushalayim will live in safety. 12 ADONAI will strike all the peoples who made war against Yerushalayim with a plague in which their flesh rots away while they are standing on their feet, their eyes rot away in their sockets, and their tongues rot away in their mouths. 13 When that day comes, there will be among them great panic, sent by ADONAI, so that everyone lays hands on his neighbor, who in turn attacks him. 14 Y’hudah too will fight against Yerushalayim; and the wealth of all the nations will be assembled—gold, silver and clothing in great abundance. 15 A plague like this plague will also affect the horses, mules, camels, donkeys and all the other animals in those camps.
16 Finally, everyone remaining from all the nations that came to attack Yerushalayim will go up every year to worship the king, ADONAI-Tzva’ot, and to keep the festival of Sukkot. 17 If any of the families of the earth does not go up to Yerushalayim to worship the king, ADONAI-Tzva’ot, no rain will fall on them. 18 If the family of Egypt doesn’t go up, if they refuse to come, they will have no (annual) overflow (from the Nile); moreover, there will be the plague with which ADONAI will strike the nations that don’t go up to keep the festival of Sukkot. 19 This will be Egypt’s punishment and the punishment of all the nations that don’t go up to keep the festival of Sukkot. 20 When that day comes, this will be written on the bells worn by the horses: “Consecrated to ADONAI”;and the cooking pots in the house of ADONAI will be (as holy) as the sprinkling bowls before the altar. 21 Yes, every cooking pot in Yerushalayim and Y’hudah will be consecrated to ADONAI-Tzva’ot. Everyone who offers sacrifices will come, take them and use them to stew the meat. When that day comes, there will no longer be merchants in the house of ADONAI-Tzva’ot.” (Zec 14:1-21 CJB)
Torah portion: Leviticus 22:26 – 23:44; Numbers 29:12-16
Although the Torah reading for the second day of Sukkot is the same as the first day, the haftorah is different. The haftorah for the first day of Sukkot (Zechariah 14:1-21) concerns the events leading up to the Final Redemption of Israel, and the beginning of the Messianic Kingdom. All of the peoples who are left on the face of the earth, after the Battle at Har Megiddo, will be required to send a delegation every year to Jerusalem, during Sukkot, in order to bring offerings for H’Shem. As is written, “All who survive of all those nations that came up against Jerusalem shall make a pilgrimage year by year to bow low to the King L’RD of Hosts and to observe the Feast of Booths” (Zechariah 14:16, JPS 1985 Tanach).
Haftorah: 1 Kings 8:2-21
“Now when the kohanim came out of…
View original post 310 more words
Setting Up the Sukkah Today 🍋🌿
41 You are to observe it as a feast to Adonai seven days in the year; it is a permanent regulation, generation after generation; keep it in the seventh month.
42 You are to live in sukkot for seven days; every citizen of Isra’el is to live in a sukkah, 43 so that generation after generation of you will know that I made the people of Isra’el live in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am Adonai your God.’”
{Leviticus 23:41-43 CJB}
Today is the 14th day of the (revised) Hebrew calendar and the day I set up the sukkah for the Feast of Tabernacles/ Sukkot here in Tennessee. I say “revised” because, a few days ago I realized (finally) that we have been a month late all year, even missing Yom Kippur/ Day of Atonement 😥; the most crucial day of Yah’s calendar. But we are back on track.
You may have seen photos of sukkahs in Israel, or perhaps even seen them in person, but sukkahs in Tennessee are a bit different. You see, often in Tennessee during Sukkot it will rain as it has been today and an open topped sukkah would hardly do. Tent camping is a necessity. Tent camping for seven great days!
Technically…
View original post 180 more words
13) Kuntres Rosh Hashono, 5752
Released a few days in advance of Rosh Hashono, the discourse begins with the verse from the prophet Yeshaya: “On that day a great shofar will be sounded, and the ones who are lost in the land of Ashur and the ones who are pushed away in the land of Mitzrayim, will come and prostrate themselves to Hashem on the Holy Mountain in Yerushalayim.”
The Rebbe asks a few questions on this verse: What is special about a “great shofar”? Why does it say that the shofar “will be sounded” without specifying who will be sounding it — it seems as though it will be sounded on its own?
The shofar here is explained in spiritual terms: the cry of the innermost point in the heart which is above intellect. This cry draws down the corresponding level from Above, meaning the Supernal Will which transcends the level of Chochma (usually…
View original post 1,141 more words
Analysis of Torah
Analysis of Torah without Hitbodedut/relationship is idolatry. Our brains need to be surrendered to Hashem. He should be guiding our brains. The Torah is to be used as His voice speaking to us, a way to know Him more, not as object to be analysed, disected, picked appart by self effort, which is the yetzer [...]
Romanian malai cake
A maize dish for dessert from the wide plains of the Romanian countryside or from Transilvania, a cake reminiscent of childhood and of holidays spent in the countryside.
Shavuot Cheesecake Challah
A country girl at heart who grew up in the “Messianic” movement and in the Pentecostal movement, but only really starting walking out God’s truth about Shabbat and the Feasts for herself about five years ago looks at our Shavuot tradition to celebrate by eating dairy filled foods and foods with honey. This corresponding to [...]
Days of Chanukah- Days of Faith
This eight-day holiday, commemorating a miraculous win in a battle fought against a powerful enemy of the Jewish people, brings us several reasons to have a feast within the family. Eating is also part of sharing, enjoying the gifts the Hashem provides for us.
The Sages did not establish that we hold festive meals during Chanukah, for the holiday of Chanukah represents the oral Torah whose length and breadth are vast and can only be acquired through limiting one’s eating and drinking. But eating and drinking whilst talking about God’s miracles is also a way of expressing gratitude for everything the Hashem provides for us.
*
To remember:
- On Chanukah > Jewish nation’s faith in oral Torah strengthened <= they saw that Heaven agreed with the rulings of the Sages of the Talmud. > according to Torah law, non-Jews cannot defile oil; however would share the status of a Jew who has become impure who defiles oil immediately upon touching it.
- According to the writer of the article: oral Torah whose length + breadth are vast => can only be acquired through limiting one’s eating and drinking.
- Our Sages taught us in the Gemara in Tractate Shabbat (23a) that the mitzvah of the Chanukah candles is performed through the lighting of the candles and if the candles are extinguished, one is not obligated to rekindle them. This means that the main Mitzvah is through lighting Chanukah candles which will innately have the ability to burn for half an hour. Therefore, if the candles were extinguished due to a cause non-existent at the time the candles were lit, for instance, if the door or window were opened suddenly and a gust of wind blew out the flames, one is exempt from rekindling the flames. Even so, it is an extra special Mitzvah to relight any candle (without a blessing) that has been extinguished if it is still within a half hour of being lit. {Lighting the Chanukah Candles}
- When lighting Chanukah candles, one should be certain to put in enough oil so that they will remain lit for at least half an hour from the initial lighting time. Similarly, if one is using wax candles, care should be taken that they should be long enough to burn for at least half an hour after the appropriate candle-lighting time which is when stars appear in the sky. There are some multi-colored candles on the market made especially for small Menorahs which do not last for half an hour; one should abstain from using such candles. On Friday afternoon when Chanukah candles are lit earlier than usual, more oil should be added, as will be explained, G-d-willing, in a following Halacha. {Lighting the Chanukah Candles}
The Days of Chanukah- Days of Faith
As opposed to the other holidays and festivals which were already existent since Hashem gave the Torah to the Jewish nation, the holidays of Purim and Chanukah were brought about through two wicked men, Haman and Antiochus.
Maran Rabbeinu Ovadia Yosef zt”l writes that Purim and Chanukah have resulted in tremendous things for the Jewish nation, for on Purim, the Jewish nation reaffirmed their commitment to the oral Torah lovingly. On Chanukah, the Jewish nation’s faith in the oral Torah was strengthened, for they saw that Heaven agreed with the rulings of the Sages of the Talmud. Indeed, according to Torah law, non-Jews cannot defile oil; however, our Sages decreed that a non-Jew would share the status of a Jew who has become impure who defiles oil immediately upon touching it. Thus, all of the impurity related to the oils in the Bet…
View original post 295 more words
Immanuel Verbondskind - עמנואל קאָווענאַנט קינד 