Category Archives: Talmud

ANTAKYA, Turkey (JTA) Jews have lived in the city of Antakya, known in ancient times as Antioch, for over 23 centuries. And the city wants visitors to know that.

A symbol composed of a Star of David entwined with a Christian cross and Islamic crescent has practically become the citys logo, as its plastered all over town, especially on restaurants peddling the southern Hatay provinces patently spicy cuisine.

I was born in Antakya and I will die in Antakya, said Selim Cemel, a Jewish clothing merchant with a shop in the citys famed Long Bazaar a snaking maze of Ottoman Era caravanserais and even older shops, rivaling Istanbuls Grand Bazaar or Jerusalems Arab Shuk. In it, one can find everything from textiles to spices to some of the best hummus in Turkey.

The Star of David imagery is so prevalent that one would be forgiven for thinking Jews were a significant portion of the citys 200,000-strong population. In reality, barely more than a dozen Jews remain.

A vendor speaks with a customer in a shop in Antakyas famed Long Bazaar. (David I. Klein)

The youngest member of the local Jewish community is over 60, and many are talking about joining their children elsewhere in the world.

Like many cities in Turkey, Antakya has been losing its youth of all faiths and ethnicities over the past century to the metropolises of Istanbul and Ankara. Today one in four Turks live in Istanbul.

For Antakyas Jews, the exodus began in the 1970s, when Turkey experienced a period of particular political instability. The first half of the decade saw Turkey embroiled in a civil war in Cyprus, and in the second, a breakout of sectarian violence across the country between Turkish nationalists and Kurdish separatists culminated in a 1980 military coup.

Some have died, some moved to Istanbul, and the youth left one by one. This is the way they dispersed, explained Daoud Cemel, a relative of Selim and another Jewish merchant in the Long Bazaar who sells towels and other textiles.

Daoud lives in Antakya with his wife Olga, a Syrian Jew who moved to the city from Damascus 25 years ago. Like many in Antakya, which had long been associated more closely with bordering Syria than Turkey, they speak Arabic at home.

Their children, like so many others in Antakya, have long since left. Before Shabbat dinner at her home, Olga proudly showed off a picture from a granddaughters birthday in Tel Aviv, and one of a son who is a doctor in Germany.

Daoud had tried living in Israel and even enrolled in an ulpan course to learn Hebrew, but he found the lifestyle there too different and making a living difficult. Still, he, Olga and even his 90-year-old mother Adile hope to make the move there permanent some day.

Olga stands with her husbands 90-year-old mother, Adile, in Antakya. (David I. Klein)

Despite his proud statement at the beginning of our discussion, Selim ultimately opened up to explain that he too was considering other options.

I have three daughters. Each of them are in separate countries. One is in Holland, one in America, one in Canada, he said. We have already been thinking about leaving for a long time. We are preparing the foundation.

Jews were present in Antioch since its founding around 300 BCE by Seleucus I, one of the Diadochi Alexander the Greats generals and leaders of his successor states. However, the city first pushed itself into the crosshairs of Jewish history with a boom that reverberates to this day. During the Seleucid era, it was the capital base for Emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who is most remembered today as the villain of the Hanukkah story. The Talmud later recorded visits to the city from Jewish sages, including the famed Rabbi Akiva, and generally uses Antioch as a standard for a metropolis. The Jewish presence in Antakya has since far outlived Antiochus and his Seluecids, not to mention the Romans, Byzantines, Crusader states, Mamluks, Seljuk Turks, Ottomans and every other empire that ruled over the city in the past two millennia. The Jews who remain are strongly attached to the Jewish traditions they can practice in such a small community.

Though they do not have enough observant members to make a regular minyan, or prayer quorum of 10 men, all of the local Jews have keys to the citys sole synagogue and stop by often. Since Antakya is almost a straight shot north of Jerusalem, the synagogue is one of few still functioning that was built to have its ark on the southern wall, rather than the east.

All but three of the 14 Jews refrain from non-kosher meat, eating only fish and vegetarian food for most of the year.

I am not very religious, Azur Cenudioglu, who claims his family has been living in Antakya since antiquity, told Turkeys Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Mendy Chitrik over the summer. But I do my part. I pray in the morning and say the evening prayers and we do what we can.

Stars of David can be seen all around the city. (David I. Klein)

Even just a few decades ago, the city and region were entirely different.

Daoud is the son of the citys old kosher butcher and cantor. He said his father traveled often to Aleppo (today only two hours by car) back in the days when it was a major center of Jewish scholarship. It was home to at least 6,000 Jews, along with many synagogues and religious schools. He went to learn the slaughtering trade, as well as Hebrew to serve the community in Antakya. At the time, Antakya was not a part of Turkey, but the French Mandate that included Syria and Lebanon.

There were 450 Jews here, Daoud Cemel recalled about his youth in Antakya. During holidays we wouldnt be able to find places to sit in the synagogue.

Back then there was Shabbat, holidays, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, all observed properly, Selim Cemel said. Purim with Megillah reading, we were observing all of it.

By now, it is business more than nostalgia that ties the community to the city.

Why do I stay here, you ask? Because I was born here. All my business and commerce is here. Due to the work I do, I stay here, Selim said.

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On the Turkish-Syrian border, a citys last Jews watch the ending of an epoch - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

TR begins with a declaration of principles. Adam Gopnik is interviewing Lydia Tr (Cate Blanchett) a famous conductor and maestro of the Berlin Philharmonic for the New Yorker Festival. He asks what she learned from her mentor, Leonard Bernstein (whom she calls Lenny). Lydia lands on the Talmudic notion of midrash, an interpretive method of reading into the past that he taught her about.

That idea is the key to TR, Todd Fields first movie since 2006s Little Children, as triumphant a return as can be had. Essentially, this film is interested in the violent collision of past and present, a lofty idea it handles with grace and intelligence. The character of a conductor is a particularly fruitful way to explore this idea since Lydia chooses in each swing of the baton whether to leave a given symphony in the past, playing as its composer intended, or reimagine it, hurling a sometimes centuries-old piece into the now. Of course, in the notion of midrash, the present is as essential to interpretation as the past.

Take the guest lecture Lydia gives at Julliard, during which a self-described BIPOC pansexual student professes their distaste for the historical figure of Bach. Lydia pushes them on this, ambushes them really, and they storm out. It sounds cruder on the page than it does in the film I can not translate into words how Fields decision not to cut for the entirety of the scene, which enraptures; nor his probing camera, which subtly captures some of the less apparent dynamics going on here; nor can I convey the power of Blanchetts performance, which may be her best in a career of great performances. Its rare that actors can command attention as completely as she does.

What we see is a collision of interpretationthough its force, confident as Lydia is, is more like an asteroid smashing into a planet. Yes, as you might be able to tell, this film has to do with cancel culture. Instead of the Manichean framing of the culture wars, though, Field seems interested in examining the phenomenon as a broader difficulty in interpretation. Its as hard as sitting on a train, looking out at the landscape, trying to stay in motion while keeping the perfect frame of your window frozen in place. At some point, something has to give. Sublimate your identity is Lydias answer. Clearly she does not recognize that on the level the Talmud is talking about. Her identity, her place in history, is indispensable to this exchange of interpretation. Either that or she is a narcissist who identifies with that planet, who takes her loftiest for granted, and whose gravitational pull naturally leads to concussion with those little things.

The films structure seems indebted to the fugues Bach famously pioneered. We are introduced to a theme, given an exposition and bounce between elaborations on the theme until reaching the coda. We learn more about Lydias past through this structure, not through flashbacks but a slow seeping, like liquid soaking through a wood thought impermeable. It is a drawn-out affair, but the 158-minute running time is paced with exquisite precision until her past is there puddled on the ground, and that solid patina has been irreparably ruined. TR recalls a line Kubrick liked to say Kubrick who directed Field in Eyes Wide Shut and whose influences looms large that film should be more like music than like fiction, a progression of moods and feelings.

The progression of moods is subtle until it happens all at once, like the opening movement of Mahlers 5th Symphony. Lydia practices with the Philharmonic, politics with the orchestra, takes charge of the affairs at home with her wife Sharon (Nina Hoss) and adopted daughter (Mila Bogojevic), flies between Berlin and New York City. Mahlers apt notation for that movement is that it be played at a measured pace. Strict. Like a funeral procession. As it were, Lydia is conducting Mahlers 5th for a Deutsche Grammophon recording.

There are about a dozen times Lydia uses robot as an epithet to describe those who do not please her, personally or aesthetically. She means that they sublimate their voices, offer none of themselves to their art or vocation, and understand these intellectually but not in their heart. Theres a delicious irony there as it becomes clear she can not understand other people including her wife and child as anything but fodder for her own mechanical advancement. She is not innocent by any means, but moralistic questions of innocence and guilt are secondary to Field.

Instead, TR is a character study in the least tortured sense. The film is well-composed and brimming with ideas, its structure and form so intelligently thought out, its performers like Sophie Kauer as a young Russian cellist whose manner is hilariously at odds with Blanchetts self-fashioned courteousness so captivating, this is a truly great film. Its the kind of movie Id say they dont make em like anymore if it werent coming out this month.

TR opens in Montreal theatres on Friday, Oct. 21.

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Cate Blanchett gives what might be her best performance ever in TR - Cult MTL

Welcome back to campus! Now that youve had your fall semester orientation, our magazine is offering up an alternative education: The New Voices Disorientation Guide, where Jewish student activists and organizers give the low down on todays hot-button campus issues, including the tips and tricks that university administration might not want you to know. Read more Disorientation Guide articles here.

In 2018, a group of student activists were advocating for racial justice at the University of Wisconsin. Theyd known that the universitys policies had been historically discriminatory against students of color and that the administration had made racist statements, but needed specifics, as well as some examples of effective organizing from Black activists of the past. When they turned to their schools archives, they found materials about the UW Black Student Strike of February, 1969. After reading the list of demands from previous generations of student organizers and even articles about state violence perpetrated by the University against protesters, these modern-day activists found the inspiration they needed to tighten their demands, pointing to the real history of these campus issues and building a reparations platform to rally the student body.

As Jews, we have an oral tradition of stories, wisdom and teachings that have been passed down from generation to generation; communal memory is the name of the game. From that perspective, colleges are strange places: a large group of people arrives, and four years later, theyre gone. Maintaining memory within the student body is incredibly difficult due to constant turnover every semester. That also means that when issues arise on campus (and they always do), administrators can afford to wait a few years for an entirely new population to wash away the memory of whatever problems theyd rather not address, and watch student movement momentum fizzle out and forget as each class graduates while issues persist. Administrators can play a long game that student organizers cant afford.

Just like Jews have turned to Torah and Talmud and centuries of commentaries when we need advice or context for the diaspora world we find ourselves in, Jewish student organizers should put another wisdom tool into their toolbox: the college archives.

Whats an archive? Most see archives as shelves and shelves of boxes filled with old papers. But the truth is that archives are an often semi-secret repository of documents, materials, items, and stories that have been kept for decades, waiting for you to make meaning from them.

Colleges can have archives related to particular subjects in history, such as second-wave feminism, the civil rights movement or American Jewish novelists, but they all have archives related to the history of the institution itself, such as old school newspapers and yearbooks. For a student organizer, these histories are personal, local, and immediate. Knowing what happened on campus before you got there can be the difference between making your campus a better, more equitable place or surrendering the issue to the next generation of students who either accept the status quo or feel they must entirely reinvent the wheel to change it.

The School Archive and You

Almost every major institution, whether a school or a business, will keep an archive. At larger universities, archives will have entire staffs who maintain the collections and can point curious students in the direction of the materials theyre looking for. Archives are usually housed under your schools library system. Most campus archivists will be extremely excited to see you they usually interact with administrators or researchers working on high-tower dissertations. You dont have to be a history major to find a home here. Before you reach out, try doing an online search for archives and the name of your college, and see what resources immediately pop up.

Entering the Archives

Figure out where your schools archives are housed and what their hours are. Some may be by appointment only. Calling or sending an email ahead of time with information about your quest can give the receptionist or archivists time to gather some materials to help you find what youre looking for.

There will probably be a reading room where theyll bring up materials for you to look through, while elsewhere in the building are shelves filled with boxes. At many schools, archives are underfunded, so searching systems may still be analog. Materials arent always cataloged or digitized; dont expect most of what youre looking for will be viewable online (that costs money your archive doesnt have). That also means it may take a few different searches to find the kinds of history youre looking for but it also means you might find some things that surprise you, even pieces of history that havent been seen since they were accessioned, or brought into the archives. Give yourself at least an hour or two to dig around. Think of it as a treasure hunt. Who knows you may unearth something fascinating and long forgotten.

Learning About The History of A Campus Problem

Knowing how long a problem has persisted on campus can be key to fighting for a solution. Whether by learning about the ways earlier generations of students dealt with or tried to change the issue or what things looked like before the issue began, archives can get you that information and help you and your comrades brainstorm next steps in your fight.

If you attend a school with a campus newspaper, your archive might have a collection of old editions. Read through the front pages and see what the hot-button issues were back then. Student newspapers are often rich with details about campus struggles.

Some prescient history students have also occasionally gathered and donated protest materials to school archives, especially at schools that have long histories of organizing during the anti-Vietnam War era or Black Power movement. Asking archivists to view materials related to these general periods in history can lead to finding materials addressing other more specific campus issues. Just like broad social issues like racism, misogyny and ableism affect every part of the world, you may find that larger social movements focus on specific details like campus housing, dining halls, academic discrimination, hate crimes and more.

You may even want to ask for a book that someones written about the history of your campus and see if the topics youre looking for are listed in the index. Once you find some dates and specific moments in history, you can go back to the newspapers, lists of clubs and courses, oral histories, photographs or even administrative files.

Digging up Dirt On Your Administration

When youre angry at your campus administration, theres nothing more vindicating (and upsetting) than finding proof of their unfixed apathy or malignance dating back decades or even centuries. Historically, archives have been used by the powerful to make a record of their power. But that also means that all of their mistakes, prejudices and unjust decisions are just sitting in boxes, waiting to be read.

You can find campus budgets to see how long something was underfunded or understaffed. If you know the dates when a particular issue was heating up, you can often find board meeting minutes or administrative notes discussing the topic (and occasionally, punishments for pesky students speaking out against it). Youre going to want an archivists help, but these documents are eminently findable and can be shared with school newspapers.

If youre a protest organizer, it may also be useful to use archives to find information about the history of campus policing. If youre worried that police will show up to your actions, its good to know if your campus or local police have a violent streak and to prepare accordingly for those outcomes, especially to protect students of color involved in your movement.

Share Your Findings

Using history and precedent in your arguments to change policy can be an extremely effective rhetorical tool, especially in speeches, town halls and editorials in your campus or local newspaper. Its important to let your school community (and its alumni) know that this has gone on for too long and demonstrating that the administration knew about it the whole time? If you make enough noise about your issue, maybe some big donor will stop giving them money until they fix it!

Gaps In The Archives & Reading Between The Lines

Since school archives are usually maintained for the purposes of the administration, you may find that the materials tend to have an ideological slant: they serve the people in power, and all of the social identities that come along with them. The field of archival justice has a lot to say on this, but on the campus level, that also means there will be fewer materials from student perspectives. Administrators rarely care what undergraduates think, so most of what has historically been documented may not necessarily be by or for students, with the exception of school newspaper catalogs and other student publications that may have a more official history. Given that student perspectives are rare to begin with, marginalized student voices are exceptionally hard to find.

Even so, one can understand the absences in the archives as proof and information itself. Calling your school out for ignoring Black student cries for housing justice in the 1990s by refusing to document them in the university archives might be one more rallying point on for your anti-racist dormitory platform. Whose voices are not present in the archives can speak just as loudly as whose are, and a thoughtful student researcher can use those clues as tools and even begin gathering todays materials to do teshuva, or make reparations for the absence of student voices in eras past.

Documenting Your Movement

Even if your school archive lacks the juicy details youre craving, you can be that historian for future generations of students and those generations are only a year or two away! Gathering posters, flyers, articles, editorials, photographs and even memes can go a long way to transmit your own campus organizing history to future students who may inherit versions of the same issue. Folders like these can be donated to your schools archives. Ldor vdor, from generation to generation, isnt just a Jewish concept. Student organizing causes historical change. Documenting how you did it makes history.

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Revisiting The Campus Archives - New Voices

These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher Frands Commuter Chavrusah Series on the weekly portion: #1133 Bracha of Elokai Neshama SheNaasaata Be. Good Shabbos!

In the beginning of Parshas Bereshis, the Torah says that the Ribono shel Olam created two big luminaries in the heavensthe sun to rule by day and the moon to rule at night. There is a well-known teaching of Chazal (Chulin 60b) that the moon complained to the Ribono shel Olam that it is not practical for two kings to share one crown. The Talmud says that the Almightys response to the moon was You are right. Go ahead and make yourself smaller. As a result, the moon downsized. It made itself much smaller and became the smaller luminary that ruled at night. Not only did it make itself much smaller, but originally, at the time of Creation, it had its own source of light. After downsizing, the moon accepted a status of only being able to reflect the light of the sun, forgoing being a source of light on its own.

The Gemara says that the moon felt bad about its diminished status, and therefore the Almighty consoled it, saying, Dont feel bad about being the small luminary because Tzadikim will be called small as we see Yaakov is called Katan, Shmuel is called Katan, and Dovid is called Katan. Then the Ribono shel Olam consoled the moon even further. The Medrash says, Since this luminary diminished herself to rule at night, I decree that she shall be accompanied by innumerable stars and galaxies. The moon received a consolation prize of many billions of stars. When the moon becomes visible at night, the stars become visible as well.

The question must be asked: Where do we ever find that the Ribono shel Olam punishes someone and then seemingly reconsiders and says, You know, I feel bad that I am punishing you, so I will give you a consolation prize to compensate you for the punishment. The moon acted improperly by complaining about the two co-rulers. Hashem commanded her to minimize herself. The Ribono shel Olam is not a parent who has second thoughts Maybe I punished my child too severely so I am now going to give him a treat. The Ribono shel Olam does not act like that. What He does is Just. If it is proper that the moon had to make itself smaller, then there was no need for any consolation prize!

Rav Leibel Heiman offers an interesting observation in his sefer Chikrei Lev: The Almighty told the moon to make itself smaller. How much smaller? He left that up to the moon. The moon did not need to reduce itself to a fraction of what the sun is. The moon could have said, Okay. Three percent. Five percent. Ten percent. The sun is so many times bigger than the moon. In addition, who said the moon had to give up its own source of light? The moon could have even reduced itself by fifty percent but held onto its own source of light. Becoming merely a reflection of the sun was not part of Hashems instruction. That was not part of the punishment.

When the moon greatly reduced its size and changed its entire naturegoing far beyond what was decreed upon itthe Ribono shel Olam saw a tremendous teshuva in that.

We are talking about the moon, but this is a metaphor. This is a lesson for all of us. It is a lesson that when we do something wrong, real teshuva is demonstrating our sincere regret by doing much more than we need to do. If someone insults another person or hurts the persons feelings, he needs to apologize. Im sorry. That is required. But when a person really tries to make it up to the other person and goes out of his way to demonstrate his sincere regret, that is a true teshuva.

The Ribono shel Olam provided all this consolation by saying that Yaakov, Shmuel and Dovid are all called Katan and by providing billions of stars, because the moons action demonstrated tremendous contrition. Ribono shel Olam, You were right. That was no way for me to talk! To prove it, the moon goes lifnim mshuras haDinso much further than was necessary. The moon was rewarded with consolation prizes for that sincere teshuva!

The Garments of Adam and Chava Were Made from the Skin of the Nachash

The pasuk says that when the Nachash (snake) seduced Adam and Chava into eating from the Etz HaDaas, they realized they were naked, and G-d made for them garments of skin and dressed them. (Bereshis 3:21) The Medrash says that these garments of skin came from the Nachash. The Ribono shel Olam skinned the Nachash (which was a huge animal), took his hide and made it into clothing for Adam and Chava. What is this Medrash trying to teach us?

These are metaphors. Chazal say that jealousy prompted the Nachash to try to entice Adam and Chava to eat from the Tree of Knowledge and change the world. Rashi quotes the Medrash that the Nachash observed them engaging in marital relations and he lusted for Chava. He was jealous of Adam and hatched this plot to bring them down. Jealousy was the root cause that prompted the Nachash to change the world.

What caused the Nachashs jealousy? He saw them engaging in private activity that is supposed to remain private between a man and a woman. He looked where he was not supposed to look, and he wanted what he was not supposed to want. The root of Midas HaKinah (the Attribute of Jealousy) is that someone looks where he is not supposed to look, and as a result, wants that which is really off limits to him. If someone restricts his eyes and his thoughts to his own four amos (cubits), there is no jealousy. That is the way it is.

I see my friend or my neighbor driving a better car. I want that car. I see that my friend remodeled his kitchen. I need to remodel my kitchen. He has granite counter tops. I also want granite counter tops. Why are you going around looking at his kitchen? His kitchen is his kitchen! Your kitchen is your kitchen. Maybe you cant help seeing a car. But kinah stems from me looking into the private affairs of someone else where I have no business looking.

This is perhaps why a famous Gemara in Maseches Taanis (8a) equates the Baal Lashon HaRah to the Nachash. The Gemara asks what pleasure does either get from their destructive actions? Lashon HaRah is also an aveira of revealing information which should be hidden. What is Lashon HaRah? I know something about someone that others do not know. I spread it. Again, I am looking at that which should remain hidden. I see it and I share it with others. It is the same aveira as the Nachashlooking where you should not look, wanting what you should not want, and going where you do not belong.

The Tolner Rebbe explains the reason why the Ribono shel Olam punished the Nachash by taking its skin and making garments of hide for Adam and Chava. What is skin? Skin is the most basic covering of a being. It keeps hidden that which should be hidden. The Nachash failed to understand that. There are things that should remain closed, should remain behind the screen, behind the skin. They should be hidden. Do not look where you are not supposed to look.

By taking the skin of the Nachash, the Ribono shel Olam was teaching us that this Nachash did not respect the privacy of a human being and looked where he should not look. As a result, the Ribono shel Olam took off his skinuncovered himand used that skin to cover the human beings.

Transcribed by David Twersky; Jerusalem [emailprotected]

Edited by Dovid Hoffman; Baltimore, MD [emailprotected]

This weeks write-up is adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissochar Frands Commuter Chavrusah Series on the weekly Torah portion. A listing of the halachic portions for Parshas Bereshis is provided below:

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The Moon Provides an All-Star Example of Sincere Repentance - Torah.org

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Browse > Home / Featured Articles / Was the fruit of the Tree of Life from which Adam and Eve ate really an apple? J-Wire

October 19, 2022 by Rabbi Raymond Apple

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Ask the rabbi.

WAS IT REALLY AN APPLE?

Q. Was the fruit of the Tree of Life from which Adam and Eve ate really an apple?

A. The text (Gen. 2:7) doesnt say a word about apples. All it speaks about is the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Whatever fruit it was, Adam was warned not to eat it. He disobeyed, as did Eve, and their punishment was expulsion.

Now was it literally a piece of fruit that they ate, or was the fruit allegorical?

How, after all, could eating a physical piece of fruit be wrong? And why should anyone think the text is talking about an apple when apples are regarded so highly later on in the Bible?

Surely the verse is teaching a moral lesson, and the word fruit is not to be taken literally.

As an analogy, remember that we have common idioms such as the fruit of ones deeds, which no one takes literally as a reference to apples, oranges or any other specific fruit category.

The lesson the Torah is teaching is that there are some kinds of indulgence (hence the word eat) that are out of bounds.

In this case, there is a clear sexual implication; when Adam and Eve replaced purity and holiness with sensuality and lust, their Garden of Eden was over.

However, the belief that there was an actual apple must have come from somewhere.

In the Midrash, there are suggestions that the fruit that symbolised the forbidden indulgence could have been a fig, grapes, wheat, quince, pomegranate, nuts or the apple of paradise, i.e. the etrog (citron).

This last view is promoted in the Septuagint and elsewhere, and Nachmanides, in fact, sees the name etrog as deriving from an Aramaic root denoting passion or desire.

In time, the word apple may have come to be the general term for any fruit, and when Biblical and post-Biblical writers said (e.g. Song of Songs 2:5) that apples were good for ones health, they may have been thinking of fruit in general.

It was early Christian writers (e.g. Jerome) who identified Adams sin with an actual apple, perhaps because they misconstrued the Greek references to the apple of paradise or possibly because the shape of the apple suggested a sexual connotation.

RABBIS IN THE WORKFORCE

Q. How is it that some rabbinically qualified people take on jobs outside the rabbinate?

A. This was always the case.

Because of the principle, Do not make the Torah a spade to dig with (Avot 4:5), Talmudic rabbis practised a variety of professions; one was even a gladiator.

The concept of the rabbi was quite different from the modern idea of a congregational minister. The rabbi was no more (or less) than a learned layman. Certain professions became particularly common among rabbis, especially medicine.

The modern spread of yeshivah learning has created thousands of rabbis who work in industry, commerce and the professions. Indeed, when the Lubliner Rav, a great rosh yeshivah, was asked where he was going to find congregational posts for his 300 students, he said he expected only one would be a community rabbi but hoped the other 299 would be learned enough to appreciate their congregational colleague.

Rabbis who work in other areas ought to be able to exert a subliminal spiritual and ethical influence and to raise the quality of society from within.

Whatever the profession he chooses, a rabbi must always ensure he is a role model of morality and decency.

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Was the fruit of the Tree of Life from which Adam and Eve ate really an apple? J-Wire - J-Wire Jewish Australian News Service

Large numbers of Israeli settlers raided the courtyards of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque this morning, coinciding with the Israeli Occupation forces preventing the entry of worshipers and Al-Murabitoun.

One of the guards at Al-Aqsa Mosque confirmed that "the Occupation forces stationed at the gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque prevented those under the age of 40 from entering to pray in Al-Aqsa Mosque. They have crackdown even further."

The guard, who preferred to be anonymous, told Arabi 21, that "there aren't many worshipers or Murabitoun inside Al-Aqsa," adding that "the Mosque is empty; only about 60 worshipers remained after dawn prayer."

He stated that a number of Israeli officers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque at dawn today, and filmed inside it, in preparation for the storming of Israeli extremists, while large forces of the army were deployed outside Al-Aqsa Mosque and at its doors.

Shortly after seven o'clock, the Occupation forces opened the Mughrabi Gate, and Israeli settlers began storming Al-Aqsa Mosque in large numbers.

Some of the settlers storming Al-Aqsa were continuously performing Talmudic rituals and prayers inside and at the gates of Al-Aqsa, in addition to carrying out provocative tours.

The Islamic Endowments Department in the occupied city of Jerusalem were quoted by Arabi21 issuing warnings of the dangers arising from the escalation of violations by the Israeli occupation authorities against the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, especially during the period of Jewish holidays, particularly on the Sukkot.

These massive stormings into Al-Aqsa Mosque come on the second day of Sukkot, in response to the calls issued by the Israeli settlement temple associations. This holiday will continue until 17th October.

The extremist Jewish groups worked to mobilise the largest number of settlers to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque in the form of large groups, and the extremist Temple groups demanded that the storming crowds read the Torah loudly inside Al-Aqsa. Some texts were circulated to them.

On this holiday, extremist Temple groups try to bring plant offerings into the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the incursions, in addition to continuing to perform Talmudic prayers and rituals in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa.

All of this coincides with the escalation of confrontations and tension inside the occupied city of Jerusalem, due to the escalation of the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian citizens. They have also closed some areas as they search for the person who carried out the Shuafat operation on Saturday evening, which led to the killing of a female soldier and the injury of two other soldiers, one of whom was seriously wounded.

READ: Jerusalem activists mobilise against settlers storming Al-Aqsa Mosque

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Major raids into Al-Aqsa and the Occupation prevents worshipers from entering - Middle East Monitor

Theater veteran Tovah Feldshuh has performed in 10 Broadway shows over the last five decades, garnering acclaim and Tony Awards love for Yentl and Goldas Balcony, among others. But theres a unique thrill to her current role on stage, as the endearing mother of Lea Micheles Fanny Brice in Funny Girl.

I get entrance applause at the top of the stairs, she says. Its kind of fabulous.

The crowd at Broadways August Wilson Theatre has been nothing short of euphoric ever since Feldshuh and Michele joined the company of Funny Girl in September. And the stakes couldnt have been higher. When the revival opened in March, 60 years after Barbra Streisands star-making turn in the beloved musical, it was plagued by negative reviews, bad buzz and wilting ticket sales.

Adding to the drama: Beanie Feldstein was originally cast as Fanny Brice instead of Michele, who has a long-publicized obsession with Funny Girl. One thing (criticism about Feldsteins voice) led to another (Feldsteins early exit from the show), resulting in Michele finally getting to take the main stage. The 73-year-old Feldshuh replaced Micheles former Glee co-star Jane Lynch, who initially played Mrs. Brice and left with Feldstein. Throughout the casting choices, surprise departures, and critical pile-on, theres been no shortage of headlines to dine out on the on- and off-stage gossip.

There is a reason its the most publicized show in New York, Feldshuh says over tea and fresh fruit at her Upper West Side apartment on a recent fall afternoon. It has a kernel of the American dream. Lea finally got the part she was destined to play in the first place, and shes brilliant in it.

Feldshuhs certain kind of maternal energy and shes played her share of Jewish mothers on stage and screen in Kissing Jessica Stein and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend seeps into real life as she interjects her musings about the theatre to make sure her company is well fed. Had we been cast in the first place, she says, taking a sip from her mug, this would not nearly have been as interesting a story.

Theres another reason that people have been clinging to the well-documented saga. Its a shot at redemption for Michele, who largely stepped back from the spotlight in 2020 after former Glee co-stars accused her of bad behavior on set. Feldshuh brushes off the idle chatter. I have no interest in reading about or knowing about it, she says in a way that, nonetheless, suggests shes acutely informed of the spectacle surrounding Michele. She adds, The Talmud says its forbidden to gossip.

Spoken like a true Jewish mother.

What has it been like to be back on Broadway?

Its a thrill. This thing fell into my lap. Forget just coming back to Broadway. What is it like to be in Funny Girl? Its like performing with The Beatles. Our performances, thanks to Lea Michele, are theatrical events.

Next year marks your 50th year on Broadway. How will you celebrate?

I want to have a party. We need to stop the conveyor belt and celebrate this accomplishment. Im so grateful I can do eight shows a week. I am an athlete. I am fit. I weigh 111.4 pounds, which is what I weighed in seventh grade. And you dont want to mess with me.

I was at your opening night, and the energy in the audience was electric. What was it like for you?

It was absolutely phenomenal. Basically the audience is saying to you, the second you step on stage, thank you. I feel very good about my work in the show. [The producers] let me say Oy, and they let Lea say Oy gevalt, and theyre letting me go, toi toi toi, which now gets a good laugh.

Has the reception been that enthusiastic every night?

We had no idea we would get that kind of reception. Weve only been doing it for five weeks, but thats the reception we get.

How were you first approached for the role?

I got this call from [producer] Daryl Roth saying Would you be interested in playing Rosie Bryce on Broadway? I said, I wouldnt be uninterested. I went to see the play, looked at the part and said, Maybe I can do something with this. I accepted the offer and saw the play innumerable times. Fanny Brice is the most startlingly brilliant role for a woman in the American musical theater. The rest of us are her spokes. But we dont have to be wallpaper. We function to bring out various assets and liabilities of Fanny Brices character. So I said yes. [But] how can I distinguish this part? Well, I got one advantage: Im Jewish. And Im the first actress of the Jewish religion to play this part on Broadway in 60 years.

Thats surprising to learn. What is gained by a Jewish actor playing Fannys mother?

As Katharine Hepburn said, God exists in the details. You want to come to any part youre playing as a sharpened pencil, a really fine point. And theres a difference between an Italian mother, an Irish mother, a Jewish mother, a Swedish mother A lot of Rosie Brice is not on the page. Its not some bravura role. How do you lift it off the page and make it deep, true, real and Jewish? This is a Jewish story about a Jewish girl. What makes it different, being a Jewish mother, is the manner in which a child is loved, cared for, touched. Its very demonstrative. The manner in which a Jew often catastrophizes first, which is written into Fannys part Wheres the torture? she says. The manner in which all is not always well, or all is not ever totally well; the Jew epigenetically has the specter of the possibility of extinction.

Did you do any research, or do you have enough experience from having a Jewish mother and being a Jewish mother?

and a Jewish grandmother. And no divorces in our family. I researched on Wikipedia that [Fannys mother] came here when she was 10 years old from Hungary. Had I been in the original production, I would have asked to explore the Hungarian accent. But I was a replacement, and to come in with that kind of a change would have been too drastic for the production. So I let it go. Other than that, its not that I didnt do research. I have enough in my memory bank.

Whats it like working with Lea Michele?

Lea never talks about herself. Never. The word diva doesnt even apply to her. It doesnt come close. Shes a working actress. Shes very good for the community.

What would surprise someone to know about her?

Her fans could enjoy the fact that her greatness of talent is coupled with her decency as a human being. And those who are not her fans, let me assure you, she is a dream to work with. Shes certainly wonderful to me. She calls me mom.

You were also in Yentl, another show thats closely associated with Barbra Streisand. Do you know each other?

She saw Kissing Jessica Stein and loved it, so she called me.

Have you spoken to her since youve joined Funny Girl?

I have not. I emailed her and said, Dearest Barbra, Im finally playing your mother. Love, Tovah. I dont know that shell come to see it. We all hope she will see it. I dont know. Shes in California, and shes 80.

How do you prepare to perform each day?

Would you like some of this apple? You should try some, its really good I get to the theater early. I like to close my eyes. I put my mask on and my earplugs on and listen to Headspace. I wake up at hour call. Just recalling the image Im starting to yawn. I change into the beginning of my costume and go to the stage to warm up my body and voice. By that time, its the half-hour mark. I get into my corset. Im one of two people who wear a corset in this show. I love wearing it. It makes me stand up straight. And then I start to go over the scenes.

How do you come down after a show?

The curtain call is so insane. It takes a while to relax. I ride my bike to the theater most nights. Now that were in a hit [show], everybodys flocking to the theater. So very often, well go out for a bite and then Ill bike home. I have a neon vest, and I bike up Central Park West. Im very careful. Sometimes I go to bed at 2 in the morning. I take Sleepytime Extra tea and melatonin. It takes tremendous discipline to calm down my mind.

Its a pretty long show. How do you spend time in between your scenes?

Could you pass the berries? When I was following Janes track, the dresser would say, And now Jane goes into the stage management office and sits and chats. I said, You got the wrong actor here. I do not sit. I do not chat. I study my script, like every good Jewish girl.

Is there a plan to record a cast album?

I hope so. What makes me sad is were not eligible for the Tonys. I hope they create something special for us.

Tovah Feldshuh (in red) on the Cannes red carpet for Armageddon Time.Getty Images

Youre also in James Grays new movie Armageddon Time. What was it like working with Jeremy Strong, Anne Hathaway and Anthony Hopkins?

Fabulous. Jeremy Strong as a real standout in that movie. Hes a superb artist and a wonderful man. When he works on set, hes in the tunnel. And, frankly, so are most of us. Tony is a gas. Hes hilarious. He can tell a dirty joke right before they say action and then do the part. And Anne Hathaway is like Lea Michele, just a superb human being. Shes very well brought up, very kind, very warm. Working for James Gray was pretty exciting because, who knew we were going to be invited to the Cannes Film Festival?

What was it like to go to Cannes?

It was exquisite. I was walking home Andy [Levy, Feldshuhs husband] and I rented a beautiful apartment near the Croisette and I met Julia Roberts. Shes a foot taller than me. She threw her arms around me and said, I have loved your work all my life. She started to name my theater credits. I said, You should run for president of the United States.

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Funny Girl Star Tovah Feldshuh on Sharing the Stage With Lea Michele and What the Talmud Says About Gossip - Variety

Marking the end of the annual Torah reading cycle, Simchat Torah is one of the most joyous days on the Jewish calendar. Tradition calls for dancing with Torah scrolls and eating festive meals and sweets.

Filled foods are a hallmark of the holiday, which this year will be observed from sunset Oct. 17 to sunset Oct. 18 (in Israel, and in Reform communities, its a day earlier).

In pursuit of tasty treats for such a sweet day, I explored a new cookbook that matches the stories of women in the Talmud with recipes. Feeding Women of the Talmud, Feeding Ourselves: Uplifting the Voices of Talmudic Heroines and Honoring them with Simple, Vegan Recipes is by Kenden Alfond, a blogger (Jewish Food Hero) who also wrote Beyond Chopped Liver.

The new book pairs stories about 69 women from the Talmud (written by female rabbis, educators and others) with mostly vegan recipes (gathered from 129 women who are chefs, food bloggers and home cooks from around the globe).

The recipe below inspired by the story of a rabbis daughter includes a layer of date caramel and is thus perfect for Simchat Torah. The story, which has inspired rabbinic thought on financially independent women, is about how the daughters wedding contract stipulates she retain her own possessions and manage her own finances.

The recipe is by Yal Alfond-Vincent (Alfonds Paris-based daughter), and my writeup is adapted for style, space and my experience in making it. Note that the cookies need to chill before being served.

Line the bottom and sides of a loaf pan (8-by-4-by-2 inches) with a large piece of parchment paper so its easy to lift out the squares.

Place almond flour, cup coconut oil, syrup and salt in the work bowl of a food processor. Process until until paste forms (3 to 5 minutes). Press mixture evenly into the bottom of prepared pan. Smooth with a metal spoon. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Once this layer is well chilled, pulse the almond butter, dates, figs, vanilla, lemon juice in the food processor until smooth. Taste and stir in more lemon juice if desired. Evenly spread on top of shortbread with a metal spoon. Wet the back of the spoon with water or additional juice and smooth. Return to fridge for at least 1 hour.

Melt the chocolate: Place chips or broken-up chocolate bars with remaining 1 tsp. coconut oil in small pot over low heat until smooth, stirring occasionally. Pour over the chilled caramel layer, titling the pan so the chocolate spreads evenly. Place pan level in refrigerator overnight. (Can be made 3 days ahead.)

Use the paper to lift the millionaire squares out of the pan in one piece. Cut into 16 pieces with sharp knife. Serve at room temperature. Wrap leftovers individually in plastic and store in refrigerator.

Notes: Use solid, room-temperature coconut oil, which will have a strong coconut taste. If thats an issue, use triple-refined coconut oil or a non-palm oil solid baking shortening. Choose a nut butter without added oil or sugar. Use vegan chocolate that is 54% to 72% cocoa solids. If using chips, 2 cups equals 12 oz.

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No-bake 'millionaire' bars are a rich treat for a sweet Simchat Torah J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

When the Supreme Court ruled in June to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to an abortion, 87-year-old Barbara Meislin immediately called her grant adviser at the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation and started mapping out which reproductive-rights organizations she could support through philanthropy.

We need to fight back, the Marin County resident said.

For Meislin, that meant adding money to her Federation donor-advised fund a managed account that lets her have a big say about which groups and causes will receive grants from those funds.

This summer, she focused on organizations supporting womens rights and democracy itself. Im doing everything I know how and can [do] to help us survive, she said.

Many local Jewish philanthropists say they feel the same way when it comes to defending womens reproductive rights.

It was sort of this steady march up with each threat over the Trump presidency, and now with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, [donors are] stepping it up again, said Amy Lyons, executive director of the John and Marcia Goldman Foundation, a Jewish-driven entity focused on supporting community needs across the Bay Area.

At the Federation, according to Rebecca Randall, the agencys managing director of philanthropy, donor-advised funds and supporting foundations granted $1.2 million in the name of reproductive rights from July 2021 through August 2022.

Since 2018, she added, more than 200 Federation donors and supporting foundations have given approximately $3.9 million to agencies that provide reproductive health care, protect abortion access and do other advocacy work around these causes. (By comparison, for the fiscal year ending in June 2016, the total given toward reproductive rights was only just above $250,000.)

This is one of those issues that we knew our community as a whole cared about, even if they hadnt necessarily started funding it in a big way, Randall said.

In May, seeking to support reproductive rights in a more explicit way, the Federation developed a guide titled Reproductive Rights Giving Opportunities.

The need for an abortion affects 1 in 4 women of reproductive age, the guide begins, adding that 75 percent of abortion patients are low-income women who cant use insurance for the procedure. The Rabbis of the Talmud are clear, it adds later, Abortion is permitted, and in some cases required, for the health and safety of women.

The guide lists agencies that the owners of donor-advised funds have recommended supporting, including the Abortion Care Network, two local branches of Planned Parenthood, Access Womens Health Justice, Center for Reproductive Rights, the Guttmacher Institute, NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation and National Network of Abortion Funds. An update this summer added the National Council for Jewish Women, which has its own Jewish Fund for Abortion Access. (Abortion access is a Jewish value plain and simple, its webpage states.)

The Rabbis of the Talmud are clear: Abortion is permitted, and in some cases required, for the health and safety of women.

Supporting reproductive rights is not the only hot issue these days, as there have been big jumps in other donor-advised giving at the Federation. In the fiscal year that ended in June 2022, for example, educational organizations were granted $23 million from Federation donors, a sizable increase of over $5 million from the previous fiscal year, according to Randall.

Meanwhile, the John and Marcia Goldman Foundation has doubled what it has granted to reproductive-rights groups over the last five years. Grantees include NARAL, Planned Parenthood and ACLU Northern California.

In July, the Goldmans added six $10,000 grants to smaller, grassroots organizations working toward the same goals, including Groundswells Catalyst Fund for Reproductive Services, which focuses on directing health resources to low-income women, women of color and transgender people. In August, the National Abortion Federation was added as a grantee.

In all, John and Marcia Goldman have donated $245,000 this year toward abortion access and womens reproductive health care, according to Lyons.

Prompted by the Supreme Court ruling in June, the S.F.-based Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund awarded two rounds of emergency grants totaling $1 million to reproductive health and rights groups. These include Just the Pill, I Need an A.com, If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice and the Abortion Movement Fund. The extra funding came in addition to Lisa and Douglas annual award of approximately $1.4 million in grants in support of abortion access and delivery. (John and Douglas Goldman are brothers.)

The S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council is one of the Federations largest grantees and a major partner in advocacy for abortion access and activism around legislation tied to protecting reproductive freedom.

JCRC aggressively advocated for Assembly Bill 1666, introduced by Assembly member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan of the East Bay and signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in June. It protects California abortion providers and their patients from civic actions brought by states where abortions are banned or significantly restricted.

Jessica Trubowitch, JCRCs director of policy and partnerships, said that the rise in giving to Federation donor-advised funds speaks to the concern that our community has for where abortion rights and access are right now in many U.S. states.

Julia Abramson, JCRCs community relations associate, added that the grant money from the Federation helps her mobilize and attract more volunteers to participate in abortion rights advocacy. Shes currently running a campaign for Proposition 1, the Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment, which will be on the California ballot in November.

The Federations support really makes me happy and excited for what we can do in this Prop. 1 campaign, mobilizing our communities, Abramson said. So although its a very troubling and anxious time, it has me activated and hopeful.

Meislin echoed Abramsons feelings. She is encouraged by the growing philanthropy and political activism that has emerged since the landmark ruling in June that overturned Roe vs. Wade.

Im very concerned about the survival of our democracy right now, she said. I think were in very dire straits. Maybe things like this particular Supreme Court ruling have awakened people who would otherwise be half asleep.

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Jewish donations to support abortion rights groups are booming J. - The Jewish News of Northern California