The Media and Chassidic Women

Chaya writes:  When you slam Orthodox Jews because you think you're defending or somehow liberating the women of our communities, you're actually doing us a huge disservice.

Hi. I'm Chaya, and I am a Chassidic Jewish woman. I am also a media professional with a degree in Women's Studies from a large, very liberal university (magna cum laude, baby!).

In the past few days, I've been reading the backlash against "the asifa," a recent mass meeting of religious Jewish men meant to draw a few boundaries around Internet use in our homes (meaning religious Jewish homes; not your house).

Whenever religious Jews make a stink about some cultural issue, the media moves in on it with a bizarre kind of vengeance. Like yesterday, Katie J.M. Baker published an article on Jezebel about the event, in which she actually compared Jewish men to ants!

See: "While men in traditional Orthodox garb filed into Citi Field as steadily as a never-ending line of ants approaching an anthill…" Um, where have I seen Jews compared to insects before? Oh, wait, WWII. 

 Continue reading at: What Women's Media Needs to Know about Chassidic Women

Why Tzadikim Atone for Us All

Regarding the Horrific tragedy in Northern Israel of the Atias family zt"l

Question: How can the death of a Tzaddik become a Kapparah [atonement]?
Answer by Rabbi Elchanan Lewis

Answer: The Tzadik is not a personal individual that has an impact only on himself, he is a public figure who impacts on all those around him; the loss of a Tzadik is therefore a public loss, not an individual or family one. The Tzadikim are here not for themselves, rather for others - that is how they live their lives and that is how they also die; Just as the death serves as atonement to the deceased himself, so the departure of a Tzadik does to his community.

Also see: A Kapora for Am Yisrael

Shavuot Video: King David's Passing

Rabbi Y. Y. Jacobson - Exploring a strange Talmudic story about the passing of King David - 
''A Dead King and Hungry Dogs''

Shelah HaKadosh Prayer for Children

This Monday, 21 May, 2012 is Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan when this special prayer for parents should be said.

Yom Yerushalayim May 20

How did the "Western Wall " survive for almost three thousand years of wars and destruction? 

The answer lies in an ancient Jewish Midrash. "Behold - He stands behind our wall'' - this refers to the Western Wall of the Temple. Why so? Because God has sworn that it will never be destroyed." [Midrash Raba, Song of Songs 2:4]    

Source: Evidence for Torah - A website which I just discovered and is well worth a visit.

In The Desert

Bamidbar, the name of this week's parsha as well as the name of the entire 4th book of the Torah, means "in the desert". However, the name Bamidbar itself does not seem to bring to light any unique qualities of the Parsha at all. At this point, the Jewish people have been situated in the desert for a considerable period of time: throughout the whole book of Vayikra and part of the book of Shemos. So what is added now by stressing that the Jewish people were "in the desert"?

The answer to this question lies in the fact that "we always read Parshas Bamidbar before Shavuot" [Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim]. Before we experience the giving of the Torah once again - for spiritually the Torah is given anew every Shavuot - it is necessary to recall and take to heart the fact that the Torah was not given in a civilized environment, but in a desert.

The lesson here is twofold:

1. A desert is a place of utter desolation where "no man can live". Thus the Torah was given there to indicate that it should be embraced without any preconceptions or ulterior motives. When a person lives in a civilized place and he encounters a new idea or suggestions, he will first evaluate it to determine whether it is acceptable according to societal norms. With Torah, however, this would be a mistake; the correct approach to accepting the Torah is "we will do, and (later) we will understand" (Shemos 24:7). Therefore the Torah was given in a desert, where nobody lives, to indicate that one needs to be truly "open-minded" - i.e. not influenced by one's environment - to appreciate its values.

2. The Torah was given in a desert to teach that sharing the Torah with those who currently find themselves in a spiritual desert is fundamental to Torah Judaism. It is not the case that the Torah can "also" reach those who are found in a spiritual wasteland; to the contrary, this is a central theme of the giving of the Torah: To transform every spiritual desert into a "civilized environment".

Based on Sichas Shabbos Parshas Bamidbar of the Lubavitcher Rebbe (5732 and 5734)

Seven Stars on the North and 60 days

I have updated this post as some new information has been passed on to me from Dov bar Leib, which is actually very exciting:

The seven stars on the North side, as mentioned below, ARE the Pleiades - they are actually known as the Seven Sisters in Greek mythology because it is composed primarily of seven bright stars in a very large nebula which can be seen as a Messier object called M45 by Astronomers. The key point being that the Pleiades highlights 7 stars.....

.. when a star on the East side will swallow seven stars on the North side, and a flame of black fire will be hanging in the firmament 60 days..... [Zohar]

[The star on the East side would be the Sun itself]........ It is hard to keep up with the plethora of gods and goddesses from Greek mythology, but one thing that sticks out with regards to the Seven Sisters is that they are the nursemaids to Dionysus, the god of drunkenness and the grape harvest. The Sin of the Spies was during the grape harvest in Eretz Yisrael, but the spies were dispatched on the last day of Sivan, not at its molad, which is this coming solar eclipse in the Ring of Fire. [Source: Dov bar Leib]

May 20 [Yom Yerushalayim] will see the alignment of the earth, moon, sun and the Pleiades - as well as an Annular Solar Eclipse  [see video]

You can read more about this eventful date, and the Mayan Messiah Theory at: Venus Transit and the Star of Moshiach

60 days after this brings us to erev Rosh Chodesh Av - July 19.

July 20 is when Obama's Presidency reaches it's three-and-a-half-year mark: which could refer to Sefer Daniel [where President Obama is hinted to] - see ''time and times and a half of time'' for more on this.

And as Devash just blogged: Sixty days after Shavuot, the London Olympics will begin.

It's just speculation on my part ...... we'll have to wait and see.

Ubuntu Philosophy

An anthropologist suggested the following game to a group of children in a tribe in Africa: He placed a basket full of fresh fruits under a tree. He then said that whoever reached the basket first in a race would be the winner of all the fruits. As he gave the signal to begin the race, the whole group held hands, ran bonded together and then sat and enjoyed the prize together.

When he asked why they had done such thing, when he had offered the possibility to one to be the ultimate winner. They replied: " UBUNTU"-- how could one of us be happy [feel happiness] while the rest are in despair, unhappy?

Ubuntu in the Xhosa culture means: "I am, because we are."