The Gates of Jerusalem, Part IV: The Golden Gate -- Sha'ar Harachamim

The Golden Gate (Sha'ar Harachamim,Gate of Mercy) of Jerusalem's Old City wall has special significance on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement.  If the gate were opened, it would lead directly onto the Temple Plaza.  The outside of the gate would open to the Kidron Valley and the Mount of Olives beyond.  In Talmudic literature the gate was also known as the Shushan Gate because of its eastern direction (toward the Persian city of Shushan) and perhaps because of the role played by the Persian leader Cyrus in the Jews' return to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. 

According to Jewish tradition, on Yom Kippur a messenger (usually a priest) took the sacrificial lamb from the Temple through the gate to the desert.  The Red Heifer purification ceremony also involved taking the sacrifice through the eastern gate to the Mount of Olives.

Unlike most of Jerusalem's other gates, the Golden Gate was originally built at least a millennium before Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem in 1540.  Indeed, some archeologists believe that the original gate, dating back to Herod's construction or even Nehemiah's period (440 BCE), still exists beneath the current gate.  Perhaps because of the great religious significance of the gate to Jews and Christians as the Messiah's route into Jerusalem, it is believed Suleiman sealed the gate and permitted the construction of a Muslim cemetery in front of the gate.

Hebrew writing on the internal walls of the gate's chamber is believed to have been left by Jewish pilgrims at least 1,000 years ago. (See study by Shulamit Gera, Catedra, in Hebrew.)

The theory of an ancient gate received support in 1969 when an archeological student named James Flemingwas inspecting the current gate. Suddenly the rain-soaked ground beneath him opened and he found himself in a pit of bones looking at the top of another gate eight feet beneath the surface.  Fleming photographed his discovery. When he returned the next day, the tomb had been sealed with a cement slab by the Islamic custodians of the cemetery. 

RJC's Backtrack

President Obama said one thing about Jerusalem being Israel's capital when he was a candidate, and something else as President. It's another broken promise from President Obama, and another reason why many in the Jewish community have buyer's remorse.

Washington, D.C. (July 31, 2012) -- The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) today released a new web ad focused on President Obama's flip-flop on Jerusalem. 

 

The ad, entitled, "Backtrack" highlights then-candidate Barack Obama's statements about Jerusalem being the capital of Israel and contrasts them with White House spokesman Jay Carney's inability to answer a reporter's question: "What city does this administration consider to be the capital of Israel, Jerusalem or Tel Aviv?"

 

RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said, "Candidate Obama gained support in the pro-Israel community by saying, " The fact is that Jerusalem IS Israel's capital." As President, Obama has backed away from that assurance. This is another broken promise from Barack Obama, one the American people will remember in November. It's another reason why many in the Jewish community have buyer's remorse."

Wins by a Nose

Instead of Taking Down a Fruit Tree, Building Around It

Sheya Wieder owned a small old house on a large lot in Borough Park, Brooklyn, until about six years ago, he said, when he decided it was time to knock it down and build an upgrade. He was all set to go when it occurred to him that the big, shady tree, standing tall and proud right where his new stoop would go, might cause a problem. He took a branch to Brooklyn Botanic Garden, where he was told it was a mulberry tree. 

“The rabbis wouldn’t let me take it down,” Mr. Wieder said. “They told me if there is any possibility, even if it costs you money, you should work around it.”

So he did.

Today, a black metal staircase wraps partly around the tree, and a beige wheelchair-accessible elevator stands beside it. The tree looks perfectly happy, right there in front of the door.

“It cost me over $100,000 to save it,” Mr. Wieder said.

In certain Orthodox Jewish communities, from Borough Park to Monsey, N.Y., rabbis say, there is a strong aversion to chopping down fruit trees, which results from some combination of biblical verses, Jewish law and mystical documents that prohibit destroying them wantonly. In New York City, where space is tight and the option to build out in another direction generally does not exist, that means friendly neighborhood foliage can present an especially hard challenge.

“It’s an extraordinary reminder of the kind of spiritual consciousness people need to be able to sustain, particularly in urban settings,” said Rabbi Saul J. Berman, an associate professor of Jewish studies at Yeshiva University. “You see this tree and the way it’s being guarded, and suddenly you realize there’s something going on here besides just human needs.”

This broader consideration, however, does not always come cheaply, as Mr. Wieder can attest to, or easily.

Others have wrapped more than just a staircase around a tree in the name of keeping it alive — like, for example, an entire building.

At Shloimy’s Bake Shoppe on 12th Avenue in Brooklyn, where flaky perfection can be found in the form of hand-rolled rugelach, there is a glass enclosure toward the back, right behind a giant oven and stacks of baking trays. Inside this glass box, which is open to the sky, is a berry tree.

“When we bought this place, we thought we would build all the way back, and then it became summer,” said Joe Leiberman, whose family owns the bakery. “We saw it was a fruit tree, and we changed all the plans.”

Interpretations may vary, but several rabbis, including Rabbi Berman, Rabbi Mayer Schiller and Rabbi Gavriel Zinner, who has written more than two dozen books on Jewish law and tradition, say this practice emerged from a passage in Deuteronomy: Even in wartime, one should not chop down your enemies’ fruit trees. There are also Talmudic sources, some said. And a mystical document called the Will of Rabbi Yehudah HaChosid, which dates back nearly 1,000 years and tends to hold more sway in Hasidic communities, took it further.

“He very cryptically asserted that it’s really dangerous to cut down a fruit-bearing tree because you’re tampering with God’s property,” Rabbi Berman said. “And if you want to tamper with God’s property, be cautious.”

Caution might also be advised to those left to deal with pre-existing fruit trees.

On a piping hot afternoon last week in Borough Park, a woman in a long black skirt struggled to get a stroller down the front stoop of her sister’s house. The double-wide buggy was empty and the stairs were tidy, yet the woman faced a distinct challenge: The steps extended from the house sideways at roughly a 45-degree angle to avoid a tree directly in front of the doorway.

“They are fruit trees,” the woman said of the tree in her path and another nearby, protruding from a brick shelter that housed the building’s trash cans. “That’s why they made the steps crooked, because they didn’t want to take it down.”

She jerked the buggy awkwardly to the left, then the right, before sighing and releasing her grip. She watched as the stroller bounced to the sidewalk.

All of this does not mean that exceptions cannot be made, said Rabbi Zinner, sitting in his cozy wood-paneled library last week surrounded by volumes and volumes of worn leather books. And if a tree is a danger to people, he continued, it can certainly go. A few years back, he said, he received a call from members of an Orthodox community north of New York City asking what they should do about a fruit tree that was attracting bears to an area where children played. He said they could chop it down.

“We have to respect a tree,” Rabbi Zinner said. “But we have to have respect for human beings, also.”

Though some groups take this prohibition more seriously, there are communities where stories circulate about tragedy or hardship, like a lost business or a sick child, befalling those who take the restriction lightly, and those can have staying power.

“It is a fear,” Rabbi Schiller said of the attitude in certain groups. “A mystical fear of mystical forces.”

Asked about his personal approach to the subject, he said, “I try to maintain the traditions of my community.” And besides, he added, “why take a chance?”

Romney not embarrassed nor scared to pick sides in Middle East crises - Republican challenger to Obama eloquently -- if forcefully - articulates distinctions in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM — (MCT) On a day that mixed religious symbolism, courtship of financial donors and tough rhetoric, Mitt Romney on Sunday declared in his most aggressive tones to date that the U.S. should stand firmly behind Israel if it chooses military action to thwart Iran's progression toward a nuclear weapon.

Flanked by several dozen Israeli and American flags, with the last glimmers of sunlight illuminating the walls of Jerusalem's Old City behind him, Romney argued in a speech that Tehran's ayatollahs "are testing our moral defenses" and monitoring "who will object" and "who will look the other way."

Accusing Iran of having a "bloody and brutal record," the unofficial Republican presidential nominee said, "We have a solemn duty and a moral imperative to deny Iran's leaders the means to follow through on their malevolent intentions."

The conduct of Iran's leaders "gives us no reason to trust them with nuclear material," he said. As they edge toward developing nuclear weapons capability, "preventing that outcome must be our highest national security priority."

Romney did not explicitly break with the policy set out by his Democratic opponent, President Obama, who has said that no option is off the table when dealing with Iran. Although Romney has insisted that he would not criticize the president during a three-country tour, he implicitly did so toward the end of his speech.

"Standing by Israel does not mean with military and intelligence cooperation alone," he said. "We cannot stand silent as those who seek to undermine Israel voice their criticisms. And we certainly should not join in that criticism. Diplomatic distance in public between our nations emboldens Israel's adversaries."

Romney also drew applause by stating unequivocally that he believes Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, a contentious issue in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Obama made a similar statement four years ago, but according to Romney he has not shown enough public support for Israel's goals while in the White House. Romney has also accused the president of failing to enforce crippling sanctions against Iran soon enough and of undermining Israel publicly.

Obama's campaign has rebutted that point, saying that the Obama administration has offered generous aid packages and expensive, cutting-edge military hardware.

The sundown speech capped a carefully orchestrated visit that was aimed in part at the audience back home — particularly Jewish and evangelical voters disenchanted with Obama — and in part as a retreat for some of Romney's top donors, who filled the first few rows of folding chairs at his speech.

That elite group of fundraisers, many of whom joined the campaign at a recent Park City, Utah, retreat and a top-dollar fundraiser at the Wyoming home of former Vice President Dick Cheney, was greeted with gift bags containing yarmulkes and Israeli chocolates.

Several watched Romney's visit to the Western Wall earlier Sunday, and then dined after the speech with senior aides on a terrace at the King David Hotel overlooking lush gardens and the hotel's Olympic-size pool.

Romney, his wife, Ann, and son Josh spent the evening at the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who invited the Romneys to join him in breaking the traditional fast of Tisha B'Av, a Jewish observance that commemorates the destruction of the first and second Jewish temples of Jerusalem.

An unusual sighting at Romney's speech was Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who could become the biggest spender of the 2012 campaign. Adelson and his family have directed $36.5 million toward Republican "super PACs" this election cycle — $10 million of which has gone toward the pro-Romney PAC Restore Our Future.

Adelson's first choice for president was Newt Gingrich, but his relationship with Romney seems to have warmed considerably. After shaking hands with many attendees after his speech, Romney leaned in for what amounted to a half handshake and half hug with Adelson, who told reporters that Romney had delivered "a great speech."

Adelson will also attend a Monday morning campaign fundraiser at the King David, but he declined Sunday to reveal his strategy for helping Romney over the next few months. When asked what he planned to contribute to the super PAC backing Romney, he replied, "A kosher dinner."

In the spiritual part of his day, Romney and his wife visited the Western Wall, one of Judaism's holiest sites. They wrote out prayers together before they arrived, and then parted ways on the plaza leading to the wall, where a partition separates men and women in accordance with religious tradition.

Romney wore a black yarmulke and was accompanied by the rabbi of the Western Wall. Pressing his palm against the stone, he closed his eyes and bowed his head in silence for 20 seconds before slipping his written prayer into a crevice.

Romney was surrounded by a throng of admirers who crowded around him shouting from the time he stepped out of his motorcade on the plaza. "Here comes the next president," one man shouted. "He is for Israel," another man said.

Rabbi Banned from Temple Mount over Arutz Sheva Interview Rav Elboim tells story in Knesset conference initiated by MK Michael Ben Ari on Jewish prayer on Temple Mount.

A study day in the Knesset Auditorium was devoted to the subject of "Jewish Prayer on the Temple Mount: Halakha, Reality and Vision."

The first session of the study day focused on Temple Mount prayer as reflected in the Jewish sources. Particpants included MK Michael Ben Ari, who initiated the conference, Rav Yosef Elboim, noted rabbinical authority on the Temple Mount, Rav Yaakov Meidan, head of the Har Etzion Hesder Yeshiva, Rav Dr. ​​Avraham Walfish, Rabbi of Mitzpe Yericho Rav Yehuda Kroizer, Rav Re'em HaCohen, head of the Otniel Hesder Yeshiva, Prof. Efraim Inbar and Rav Itai Elitzur.

Rav Elboim said that he was blocked from ascending to the Mount because of a statement he made on Arutz Sheva radio, about the need for a Jewish house of learning on the Temple Mount.

The second session was devoted to "Prayer on the Temple Mount – reality and vision." Rav Yehuda Glick, one of the conference's initiators, described the personal pain he feels in being prevented from ascending to the Mount. Rabbanit Rivka Shimon spoke about women's prayer o the Temple Mount, Dr. Mordechai Kedar explained why Muslims fight against Jewish prayer on the Mount. Moshe Feiglin said that as long as the Prime Minister does not want Jews to pray on the Mount, police will continue to forbid it.

Other participants were the Rabbi of Kiryat Arba, Rav Dov Lior, and Rav Yisrael Ariel, head of the Temple Institute, who described preparations for the establishment of the Third Temple. 

On the other hand, the late Rabbi Avraham Elkana Shapira, formerly the Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel and Dean of the flagship yeshiva of religious Zionism, Merkaz HaRav Kook Yeshiva, was unequivocally against going up to the Temple Mount and this for strictly Jewish legal reasons, based on the grave Biblical prohibition of setting foot, while in an impure state, on certain parts of the Temple Mount - and the lack of absolute proof as to where those parts might be.

On the last Jerusalem Day that he spoke in Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva in the Spring of 2007, Rabbi Shapira quoted the words of the late Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook, son of the founder of the yeshiva, who, when presented with maps purporting to show where one could walk permissibly on the Temple Mount, said in Yiddish “Noch a shticketl kares, noch a shtickel kares” (translation: another bit of ‘karet’, another bit of ‘karet’—i.e. every step may cause the visitor to be sentenced with mortal Divine punishment for treading on forbidden areas of the Temple Mount).k The head of the Beit El Yeshiva, Rav Zalman Baruch Melamed, refrains from going up on the Temple Mount for that reason, as do many rabbinic figures.

Rabbi Avraham Shapira told his students that Rabbi Shlomo Goren's students may follow their Rabbi's opinion, but that he disagreed. Rabbi Shapira intended to publish a short Jewish legal work on the subject and had prepared the writings before he passed away last year, according to his close students.

As far as the hareidi world is concerned, several years ago, the late Rabbi Shalom Elyashiv, his son-in-law Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, and former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Rabbi Ovadia Yosef - all renowned rabbis of the hareidi non-nationalist religious sector - sent a letter asking that the ban on Jewish entry to the Temple Mount be re-issued. The letter was sent to Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich, the Rabbi of the Holy Sites on behalf of the government of Israel.

"As time passed," the letter states, "we have lost knowledge of the precise location of the Temple, and anyone entering the Temple Mount is liable to unwittingly enter the area of the Temple and the Holy of Holies. Entrance to the Temple Mount, and the defilement of the Holy of Holies, is more severe than any of the violations in the Torah."

US gymnast does floor exercise to Hava Nagila

Im Eshkacheich

Searching for the capital of Israel HonestReporting goes searching for the capital of Israel, and discovers that despite the insistence of the British media that Tel Aviv is the capital of Israel, ever Tel Avivi knows that the capital of Israel is Jerusalem.

Michael Coren on Zionism, the Arab world and the Olympics; Unabashedly pro-Zionist, pro-Israel

The Lebanese Judo team didnt want to practice near the Israelis, so the IOC placed a mechitza between them

PMW: Syrian MP threatening using biological, chemical weapons

Following are excerpts from several TV interviews with Syrian MPs and Lebanese sympathizers, which aired on various TV channels in July 2012.

Al-Manar TV, July 20, 2012:

Syrian MP Ahmad Shlash, deputy chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee: These biological and chemical weapons are intended for a confrontation with the country's enemies.

As for those terrorist groups, the defenders of the land can get rid of them...

Interviewer: Yesterday, Ehud Barak toured the area...

Ahmad Shlash: Let him tour it. He wants to see where he will be buried if he tries to...

He's wondering what hole will be dug for him...

Let me tell you something. I cannot tell a lie. We have biological weapons. What's the problem? We have advanced weapons. Why lie to the people? We have them. That is what's known as the balance of power. You have nuclear weapons, and we have advanced biological weapons.

We counter might with might, but we're keeping this for the end. If you consider using nuclear weapons, we will use something equivalent, or something that causes similar damage.

Nasrallah said that Syria has drastically changed its [military] systems. Syria no longer relies upon artillery, tanks, and airplanes. Syria relies upon missiles. We have all types of missiles. All types of missiles!

Let them bear in mind and take into consideration that Syria has both chemical and biological weapons.

[...]

I would like to convey a message to my beloved Syrian president. Honorable President, enough with the leniency and the tolerance. Enough giving one respite after another. I am against the principle of tolerance. If you want to be tolerant toward someone – save it for later. This is the time to finish it off militarily – throughout the country. For the sake of Allah, oh President, the people want you to finish it off.

Al-Manar TV, July 23, 2012:

Interviewer: We are talking about unconventional weapons. Today, Syrian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Jihad al-Maqdisi said: "We will use these weapons in the event of a foreign attack."

Syrian MP Sharif Shehadeh: So, what's wrong with that?

Interviewer: You're taking precautions for any attack on you?

Sharif Shehadeh: I don't know, but if the Syrian government has weapons of that type – of course they will use them against any attacker. What should we do with them? Make tabouleh or fattoush salads? Of course we will use them against of attackers. That's only natural. When Israel was waging war against Syria and Lebanon, they used cluster bombs, which are banned internationally. Why is Israel allowed to do this while the Arabs must accept being tramped underfoot on a daily basis? Let me tell you, the Syrian public is hoping for a war. The Syrian public is hoping that we will wage a war. Either [they win, or we do].

[...]

Al-Dunya TV, July 24, 2012:

Syrian MP 'Issam Khalil: I'd like to say to those [Israelis]: The missiles of Hizbullah, which defeated you in the 2006 war, were nothing more than extremely simple fireworks compared with the firepower that Syria has in stock, which could burn you to ashes. This is well known. I'm not revealing any secret. The range [of our missiles] far exceeds what you believe. Indeed, Syria possesses weaponry, as is its right, because its facing the danger of the Zionist enemy.

NBN TV, July 10, 2012:

Hizbullah MP Brig.-Gen. [ret.] Walid Sakariya: The coalition between Syria, Iraq, and Iran builds up a power superior to Israel, even without nuclear weapons. They can annihilate Israel in a war, even if it costs them a million martyrs. We should not consider the figure of one million martyrs to be catastrophic. By no means. The USSR sacrificed 26 million martyrs in WWII, yet it became a world superpower. France and Germany suffered 6-7 million casualties in the war. We have a total population of 130 million in these three countries

If 5,000 martyrs are sacrificed out of everyone one million people...

It's like in the 2006 war – this is a price that we can cope with. Even 10,000 martyrs per million... You could easily afford a million martyrs.

Interviewer: Now we are over-simplifying things...

Walid Sakariya: It's true. People need to know this, rather than delude themselves that 100 martyrs is such a big deal. It’s not the end of the world. The living nations are the ones that are prepared to sacrifice blood for the sake of their freedom. Those that are not willing to pay for freedom with their blood will remain subjugated and will live the life of a slave.

Al-Mayadeen TV, July 24, 2012:

General Mustafa Hamdan, Former Head of Lebanese Presidential Guard: If foreign soldiers or forces try to enter Syria, there will be an all-out war – not only with chemical weapons, but with biological weapons as well. Davutoğlu Effendi also declared: We may participate in an operation within Syria. They deployed some surface-to-air missiles, in an attempt to raise the morale of the saboteurs in Syria. The Syrian reaction was quick: Any attempt of foreign intervention will lead to an all-out war, in which all types of weapons will be used, including chemical and biological.

PaHamas Pajamas! Order yours today, before the offer blows up!

1972 Munich Olympics Massacre of Israeli Atheletes

he Eleventh Siyum Hashas Of Daf Yomi Kabbolas Ohl Malchus Shamayim The Klausenburger Rebbe, Hagaon Harav Shmuel Dovid Halberstam Shlit''a

Siyum Hashas London 2012: Dancing after Kadish-Shloime Gertner

Siyum Hashas London: Ani Maamin-Shloime Gertner with a boy

The Nikolsburger Rebbe of Boro Park, Rabbi Mordechai Jungreis, at the site of his shul in the Catskill Mountains of Upstate New York. Meeting a group of boys and singing some of his own compositions.

Itzhak Perlman and Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot- Dudele

Protesters arrived at an archaeological site near the community of Mesilat Zion in Beit Shemesh, On July 30 2012. to protest excavations, involving, according to them vandalizing graves Police arrested five protesters - הפגנת קברים במסילת ציון

CROSS-CURRENTS: Selling the Siyum: a Los Angeles Times Op-ed By Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein

On Sunday, the Los Angeles Times ran my op-ed on the upcoming Siyum Daf Yomi. I would love to say that I am enough of an anav not to be proud of publishing in one of the nations’s Big Five. While I am not that anav, I do have enough restraint not to mention on Cross-Currents the vast majority of articles I publish fairly regularly in a variety of outlets. Why the exception here? Because I hope my piece will get people thinking about how they will interact with their friends and neighbors on the morning after.

The Siyum is going to be big. This means many are sharpening their teeth to tear into it, but far more are going to be looking in from the outside with an inquisitive but congratulatory gaze. I can tell this from the email I’ve received from far outside our community, and lines like the one in Haaretz that point out that the gathering at MetLife will be larger than the iconic gathering of all Jews – the AIPAC conference. The haters will spew their vitriol; the majority of media will be respectful. (I did not have to “sell” by piece to the Times. I mentioned in my cover that at the last Siyum, the Times – as well as the New York Times – provided first page coverage to the event. By the time the op-ed editor called, she knew enough about gemara to question whether I had the right to refer to “the” Talmud, since their were two of them! I told her that the Babylonian one was more important halachically, and that the Palestinian one was currently under occupation. I couldn’t resist.)

We need to think about how to articulate the specialness of the Siyum, especially why it is that we study Torah and love it so intensely. In other words, I was interested in a Talmud for non-Jew (and non-Orthodox). I tried conveying what we took away from learning, and what parallels, if any, could be shared with the rest of the world. I am greatly appreciative of the help I received from the single best idea person I have ever encountered, my colleague at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, who provided a number of the concepts. My hope is that readers will come up with more, and use them to turn an item of curiosity in one new cycle into the larges Kiddush Hashem that it can. If we have the ideas, we can share them with family, friends, and the world at large.

Rav Yisroel Salanter wanted gemara to be translated into the vernacular, and taught in secular universities. He felt that if it were appreciated by secular academics, then downtrodden yeshiva students and Jews of marginal commitment make look at it differently. Baruch Hashem, today hundreds of thousands of lomdei Torah do not need the approbation of anyone outside the Torah world to enhance their learning experience. But putting Torah, the jewel of committed Jewish life, in a better light might indeed even today provide a boost for Jews waiting to be turned on to their legacy.

LATimes: 'Doing the daf,' a Jewish marathon; Thousands of scholars are about to finish a study of the Talmud, one page per day — a challenge that takes more than seven years. By Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein

On Aug. 1, I will cross the finish line in an authentic Jewish marathon. I will take my place alongside thousands of other successful competitors as we complete our study of the Talmud, one page per day, a challenge that takes about 7 1/2 years. Just like the participants in that other years-in-the-making event — the Olympic Games in London — some of us are eager to tell our stories.

Next to the Bible, the Babylonian Talmud is the most important text in Judaism. Jewish law, and a good deal of its thought, derives from this work, written mostly in Aramaic more than 1,500 years ago. No topic escapes its gaze or its treatment: family law, commercial law, ethical behavior, criminal procedure, religious observance.

The Talmud was deliberately composed in a kind of shorthand that demands that the student puzzle over the meaning of each line. At the beginning of the 20th century, a young Polish leader, Rabbi Meir Shapiro, a member of the country's parliament, organized a program that would unite Orthodox Jews around the world through the study of the same page of the Talmud each day.

Each folio (i.e., double-sided page) is called a daf, and the marathon is called Daf Yomi, which means "daily folio." But those of us working through 2,711 folios just call it "doing thedaf." The first siyum, or completion of a cycle, was celebrated in 1923. As one cycle ends, the next begins.

This year's siyum will be the 12th since the program began. It will be especially poignant for the oldest participants, many of whom believed the Jewish people were doomed as they awaited their deaths in Hitler's extermination camps. But traditional Judaism rebounded after the war, and this year, about 90,000 people will mark the siyum at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, which will make it a kind of Jewish Super Bowl. Another 60,000 will gather in 75 cities around the world, including in Los Angeles at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

There are no medals for those who reach the finish line, but as they used to tell us in Little League, everyone who participates is a winner.

What does it feel like? Much like what Olympians report. It is a long, punishing process. This is my second time around. There are no vacation days, never a skipped day. I have pored over the daf on a commuter train on the northern coast of Taiwan, pushed sleep from my eyes on a delayed flight from Monterrey, Mexico, and forced myself to finish my study time before snorkeling in Maui. To stay the course, we need endurance, dedication and lots of focus.

What does it do for us? First, it is a joyful act of love for Judaism. (Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi recently delivered a baldly anti-Semitic speech at an international antidrug conference, reminiscent of the czarist fabrication of the "Elders of Zion" myth. Rahimi said that the Talmud was responsible for the global spread of illegal drugs. If endorphins are illegal, he may have a point. Jumping out of bed to catch a 6 a.m. Talmud class leaves participants with something like a runner's high.)

It is not difficult, however, to inventory how we also benefit from the experience: Intellect, like muscle, atrophies when not used. Doing the daf ensures that we will spend some quality time each day tending to our intellectual side. (Only a handful of Jewish Nobel laureates were conversant with the Talmud, but almost all benefited from the Jewish passion for education. For centuries, it was primarily the Talmud that Jews studied.)

The majority of the texts in the Talmud pit one opinion against another. The Talmud student therefore learns to examine multiple points of view on complex issues, something we would like to see more of in our political leaders, our talk show hosts and our general political discourse.

We learn to reject the crippling artifact of modernity that casts off everything old as outdated and useless. We learn that when we get past cultural differences, we can rescue the core truths in ancient works and find them enriching.

We appreciate continuity. The Talmud has a habit of speaking in the present. "Rava says," rather than "Rava said," even though Rava, a Babylonian contributor to the Talmud, died many years before his arguments were turned into written text. The old lives on in the present, and it projects itself on to the future. (An app is in development that promises to allow students to follow the daf on their computer tablets, toggling between the original texts and an English translation and commentary.)

We discover the power of an interpretive tradition. Taking the Bible or other holy texts literally breeds fanatical extremism. Rational interpretation is the antidote.

And then there are the ancillary benefits. My favorite is humility. We often spend hours struggling with a few lines of text, finally believing that we understand it. Minutes later, a new argument is introduced, and we are left with 2,000-year-old egg on our faces. We learn, often, that we are wrong, and we learn to live with it.

One benefit may be felt far beyond the ranks of individuals doing the daf. With Twitter, YouTube, PowerPoint presentations and so much else in the digital playbook, visual learning has pushed text to the sidelines. At some future siyum, the last players on the storied field of deep textual study may all be on the daf squad.

Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein is the director of Interfaith Affairs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center and a professor of Jewish law and ethics at Loyola Law School.

SERAPHIC SECRET: The New, Improved Jew-Hatred: Jerusalem Denial

Obama's White House: A.) Doesn't Know What the Capital Of Israel Is? B.) Doesn't Care? C.) Will Figure Out What It Is Closer To The Election? Answer: All Of The Above! 

Maybe if it was an Islamic state, Obama and his administration might know what the capital was.

There are no guarantees in life, but this I can guarantee you ... America and the Middle East will look a hell of a lot worse, if Barack Obama gets a second term! After a two day barrage by Obama's mainstream press trying to pass off that Mitt Romney somehow made a major gaffe after correctly pointing out that the UK might not have enough security at the Olympics, only to have the UK call up 18,000 extra troops for additional security,http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/feedarticle/10351843 Obama's press seems to be silent once again, when it comes to Obama's bad track record with our only major ally in the middle east, Israel, who happens to be surrounded by 52 Arab/Islamic states! 

And Obama's spokes hack and propagandist; Jay Carney and the Obama administration, refuses to acknowledge that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel or even explain what out middle east policy is towards the Jewish state. Question: When is the last time Obama has traveled to Israel? Answer, 2008! But he didn't miss multiple apology trips to 6 Arab / Islamic countries, over the past 4 years. But good news, one of Obama's aides also annouced Friday, that Obama will be going back to Israel... in his second term! Wow, what Chutzpah! No time like next year or the year after. Then again, after all that golf and fundraising, he hasn't even had the time to meet with is jobs council or have a cabinet meeting in 6 months! Get in line Israel, the man's busy! http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/239467-obama-aide-president-...

Question, Why do the Jewish people in America continue to vote for Democrats or for Obama when we know that he clearly doesn't like Israel and never misses an opportunity to throw them under the Islamic bus? Answer: Because he's very confident that no matter what he does or how much he abuses them, they will continue to support him out of guilt. Let's face it, if he actually did give a damn about Israel and the Jewish people, he would never act the way that he does. His foreign policy is a joke and is not beneficial to the state of Israel in any way, and it's safe to say that Obama's complacency ... is very dangerous for Israel, America and the world.

Thursday, Jay Carney was asked about the administration's position on whether Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. The best response he had was, "Our position hasn't changed and after a minute of squirming, he said that he hasn't gotten that question in a while.." Just Brilliant! Now, would someone in the White House take a few minutes from playing golf and fundraising to explain just what that policy is? Israel is now completely surrounded by hostile Islamic nuts, who have made it no secret how badly that would like to drive the Jews into the sea because they believe that tiny strip of land (the size of New Jersey) that no one wanted until the Jews returned to their homeland after WW 2, suddenly now belongs to Arab -Islamic world. 

Obama: Why he's going where he's going... (Charles Krauthammer)http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-why-hes-going-wher...

Obama Will Finally Visit Israel... In His Second Term, Aide Sayshttp://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/239467-obama-aide-president-...

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Let us stipulate that Jerusalem is the eternal, undivided capital of Israel.

If you give up Jerusalem you surrender Zion.

Game. Set. Match.

The Arab Muslims understand this all too well. Why do you think their propaganda is an unrelenting assault on Jewish history?

But liberal Jews do not get it. Or if they do, they do not care. Or they care the way a wife-beater cares about the wife he beats to death for her own good.

Let us further stipulate that anyone who denies that Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish State is either geographically challenged, a Jew-hater or an enabler of Jew-haters.

Barack Hussein Obama’s policy toward the Jewish State seems to have been crafted by Hamas, The PLO, Islamic Jihad, the Ayatollahs, Obama’s spiritual mentor Jeremiah Wright or Obama’s good friend, terrorist spokesman Rashid Khalidi.

Holocaust denial. Temple denial. And now Jerusalem denial. It all boils down to the same thing: a denial of Jewish history that is, ipso facto, a repudiation of Jewish sovereignty over the land of Israel.

Obama vowed to “fundamentally transform the United States of America.”

This is one promise he has fulfilled.

Are Holocaust Survivors Heroes? Casting Holocaust survivors as nervy, pushy villains is a moral perversion.

Like Anna Breslaw, I too grew up with Holocaust survivors, and went through the “de rigueur exposure to the horror.” I too visited “geriatric men and women with numbers tattooed on their arms,” endlessly, sitting sullenly in boredom. I too “completing assigned reading like The Diary of Anne Frank and Night,” and had nightmares for weeks. The Holocaust was practically a member of my family.

I grew up knowing without a shadow of a doubt that had I been born in 1936 instead of 1986, I would have ended my life as an eight year old mottled blue corpse in Auschwitz, like my seven year old cousin Judith. When I was too lazy to complete a seven-mile hike, my mother informed me I would have never survived a death march.

The only difference between Anna and me is that I am deeply grateful for my upbringing. I grew up exposed to people who were strong in the face of adversity. No, Holocaust survivors aren’t heroes for enduring pain and suffering. My survivor grandfather will readily tell anyone who will listen that he is not holy for surviving; it was those who died were truly holy. All he did was survive, and that is why he is my hero.

They survived and rebuilt after devastation.

That is why I “clapped for the old Hungarian lady who spoke about Dachau,” because she and her fellow survivors rebuilt after devastation. These young men and women were orphaned, cruelly tortured beyond measure and stripped of their humanity. They built the nation of Israel, and they built communities in America. They built homes, they built families and they raised up the next generation to be strong, proud citizens of their country. They worked menial jobs, saved each and every penny so that their children could grow up and live the dream of a house in the suburbs, and grandchildren who are privileged to be living out their dreams.

No, the survivors were not always heroes but few people have that privilege in a literal man made hell. I know what my grandparents did to survive and not all stories are pleasant, but I would never presume to judge them.

It is only someone who never knew extreme hunger, homelessness, degradation and terror who would dare ask, “What did you do that you’re not talking about?” with a holier-than-thou air.

Here is the answer, plain and simple. They did what they had to survive. And anyone would have done the same in the circumstance. I pray to God I never know the limits of what I would do to defend my own life. I hope Anna never has to make a choice like that. It’s the perch of the privilege to look down on the less fortunate as "conniving, indestructible, taking and taking."

Dehumanization has a nasty habit of warping a person. My grandmother used to force me to help her smuggle out food from buffet tables, she constantly seemed to be seeing how much more she could get. And I smiled through my humiliation at her behavior and remembered I was never 15 and hungry and having the last morsel of bread stolen from my hand. Compassion is a great gift.

I do not judge others for their mental quirks as they dealt with terrible emotional and psychological damage. Anyone would break under those circumstances.

I recall one survivor weeping as she told me she pretended not to know her own younger sisters to make sure she did not join them on the line to the gas chambers.

Is this woman a villain? No, she is human and she mourns her choice each day. We are fortunate to live in a time where these choices are no longer forced on us. In Jewish history, this period of freedom is a rare and precious anomaly.

Yes, the Holocaust is frightening. We all wonder how we would have survived, what could have been done to us, before going back to our comfortable cushy lives. Casting Holocaust survivors as nervy, pushy villains is a moral perversion. It denigrates and blames the victims and displays an unfathomable disconnection to reality. It’s also a rather convenient way of avoiding looking in the mirror and wondering how well they would have fared.

For me, the Holocaust survivors in my life are the marrow in my bones, the steel in my spine and the humility in my heart. They remind me that evil still exists and they challenge me to fight it, they endowed me with the spiritual wish to live, to love life and its beauty.

To my late grandmother, I am sorry I was not as patient to you in life as you deserved. I hope in the next world, you can know that I miss you every single day.

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To the survivors in my life who taught me, shared with me their stories and loved me, thank you.

Thank you for the gift of an extreme will to live. It has made me strong and proud and grateful.

I only hope I can live up to it.

Hi-tech fence: India to get tips from Israel

India will send a team to Israel to learn from its experiences in erecting the security barrier along the West Bank and Gaza Strip to assess technologies that New Delhi could implement at its fence with Pakistan and Bangladesh, an Indian daily reported on Sunday.

Home Minister P Chidambaram, who had launched the fencing project in 1986, told a group of MPs this week that the government was exploring use of modern technology in border management and would send a team to Israel to assess technologies used there, Hindustan Times said.

Israel’s security fence of concrete and steel razor wires — complete with electronic sensors and close-circuit cameras — has been as useful to stop terrorist strikes as it has been controversial.

The fence helped reduce attacks on Israeli settlements but has been controversial due to Israel’s decision to build the barrier, at places, deep into the occupied West Bank.

India had voted against the fence on the West Bank at the UN general assembly in 2004.

At the meeting of the consultative committee, the minister said how India too used technology — sensors and satellite images — to track infiltrators.

But the home minister wants the team to evaluate technologies used elsewhere in the world. He had conceded just last month that the border with Bangladesh was still “open and porous”.

Technology, however, is only one component, a home ministry source said, citing recent orders to get smugglers caught on the border to identify locations from where they crossed the border and penalise the local BSF commander.

Kids of Courage

Hamas and friends issue responses to Temple Institute video

On Thursday, I reported on a video issued by the Temple Institute for Tisha b'Av. Over the weekend, two responses were issued, one by Hamas, and one by an individual named M. Saber Alian. Here's Hamas' version.





Obviously, the one on the Left is the Temple Institute video, while the one on the right is in the shape of the state of Israel – which they claim is "Palestine."

Here's the second one. Let's go to the videotape.

Rabbi Chaim Richmanת International Director of the Temple Institute, told Arutz Sheva Sunday: "The irony is that this video, aimed at the Jewish world, has succeeded in moving many people towards a deeper feeling about this period of mourning, and the Temple. This whole thing that has angered the Arab world and plunged us into international intrigue, is simply a red herring...

"The irony is that Hashem has used the international media, focusing on Morsi's imagined insult, to bring the idea of the Holy Temple to the attention of people the world over. So actually there is no coincidence even though we didn't plan for the paper to fall on any particular page...that is just what happened to be in the news that day -- but min hashaymaim [from the Heavens, ed.] the video got much more exposure, and thus the idea of the Temple got more exposure."

Indeed it did. The Temple Institute video has more than 300,000 views - more than the other two combined.

Rabbi Gold Strengthens Participants of Tisha B'Av March Educator and author Rabbi Shalom Gold encourages participants in Tisha B'Av march to fight for the Temple Mount.

Educator and author Rabbi Shalom Gold took part in the 18^th annual march around the ancient walls of the holy city of Jerusalem on Saturday night, held by the Women in Green movement.

In his remarks, Rabbi Gold strengthened the participants and encouraged a return to the Temple Mount.

“We have to be strong and proud enough to say: What any other person on the face of this earth can do on the Temple Mount – which is to pray there – is denied to Jews. It’s unbelievable. It staggers the imagination,” he said.

“Maybe there should also be a process of preparing Jews how to go up to the mountain,” he added. “You don’t just go up to the mountain, there’s a halakhic process. But we have to demand our rights, otherwise they’re laughing at us that we were able to give that up.”

Rabbi Gold noted that Tisha B’Av does not only remember the destruction of the First and Second Temples many years ago, because “there is destruction of the mountaintaking place right now. They are digging and digging with heavy equipment against the law. They’re digging up all of Jewish history. They want to erase every trace of our on that mountain. It’s the biggest act of highway robbery in the world.

“They’re destroying our archaeological proof because they say there was never a First Temple or a Second Temple, and we remain silent,” he said. “Making this march around the city and going to stand right beneath the Temple Mount, our cry to our government should be: It’s our mountain. They must stop all of the destruction taking place. We should be mourning what is taking place every day on that mountain.”