Thursday, March 31, 2022

In This Moment: In the Moment, April 1: Ten Curses, One Slap; Getting Past the Anger' We Won...Let's Eat!!! The Bitter and the Sweet


In This Moment

The Bitter and the Sweet in this Holiest of Months


Ramadan starts today, and at sunset the new Hebrew month of Nisan begins. It's also Shabbat Ha-hodesh, the special Sabbath where we announce this most special of months. And soon to come: Passover & the Christian Holy Week, forming a rare trifecta of Jewish-Christian-Muslim holy days for us to enjoy with our April showers. You can throw in the opening of the baseball season and the table is truly set.

ISIS tried to overturn a heap of good will with several terror attacks in Israel this week. (Responsibility for the attack in Bnai Brak still has not been claimed by any group). The Hebrew headline above says, "Terror Wave," and "Eleven Killed in One Week." And there is a photo of Amir Khoury, the hero police officer, an Arab-Israeli, who was killed while taking out the terrorist in Bnai Brak. We pray for the victims - and in today's NYT we can read some of their stories, which are as diverse as Israel itself - just as we continue to pray for those suffering in Ukraine. The attacks in Israel seem clearly timed to upset the good will generated by the diplomatic coup of this week's summit in the Negev, featuring the strangest of bedfellows, the foreign ministers of Bahrain, UAE, Morocco and Egypt, Israel and the United States. Mahmoud Abbas, the Turkish embassy and Jordanian King Abdullah, who were not there, and numerous key Arab leaders in Israel and the West Bank have nonetheless led an unprecedented chorus of condemnation for the terror attacks, so the news is not all bad - though the increase in ISIS-led terror is very concerning. Why the condemnations? Part of it has to do with ISIS, but mainly, it's because the last two Ramadans have been busts, due to Covid in 2020 and last year's Gaza war. No one wants to upset this year's mega-festival season for Christians, Muslims and Jews. Let it be a time when peace reigns, there, in Ukraine, and everywhere.

Happy April Fools!

Bring out that haroset and that chrain! Lots of bitter these days, but also a little something sweet. We've got the promise of Passover's liberation and springtime warmth, and on Friday, April Fool's Day. Perfectly timed, this Sat night we will be hosting Muslim and Jewish comedians - the best possible tribute to this bittersweet season of Ramadan and Passover.

Is April Fools a Jewish thing? There's speculation that it is connected to Purim, along with a Roman festival called "Hilaria," observed on March 25. According to William Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities,” Hilaria was a day for games, masquerades and relentless mocking.

Here are some prime examples of Jewish April Fools prankslike the time traffic signs were reversed in Tel Aviv and no one noticed, because... have you ever driven in Tel Aviv? And below, see some select Hebrew April Fools phrases alongside an all-time Israeli prank - a video of a spaceship hovering over the Old City of Jerusalem. it's very convincing, but as Ha'aretz noted at the time, "Well, if an alien spaceship had hovered over a city of 800,000 mobile-phone addicts there wouldn't be two clips, there'd be thousands. Then there’s the pesky matter of why the spacecraft didn’t reflect light off the dome’s gold plating."

"War of the Worlds" it 'aint.
UFO - JERUSALEM -Temple Mount - THE BEST SIGHTING
They Tried to Kill Us. We Won...Let's Eat!!!

Click below to see this week's Parsha Packet for this special Shabbat where we welcome the month of Nisan, It's the month of heavy eating! See in the packet the stories behind a a variety of Passover foods, taken from "The 100 Most Jewish Foods,by Alana Newhouse of Tablet Magazine - lots of great material for your seders! We'll discuss this packet at services on Shabbat morning

Ten Curses, One Slap
Getting Past the Anger, Then and Now
Will Smith Slaps Chris Rock at The Oscars
Last Sunday night's Oscars featuring the "Slap Heard Round the World" will be debated for quite some time. it was shocking, even at a time when flying off the handle is fast becoming our national pastime. Rather than recapitulating all the points that have been made, I want to recommend an excellent essay by none other than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, "Will Smith Did a Bad, Bad Thing."

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? Yes THAT Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who yelled at a kid in "Airplane" and swung his elbows at Larry Bird in the 1984 Finals. (To be fair, that followed the famous Kevin McHale takedown of Kurt Rambis). But Kareem's now a champion of nonviolence and, incidentally, a really good writer too.
Kareem Abdul Jabbar swings elbow at Larry Bird - NBA finals 1984 game 4
After laying out a solid case for condemnation of Smith, Abdul-Jabbar writes, "I don’t want to see him punished or ostracized because of this one, albeit a big one, mistake. I just want this to be a cautionary tale for others not to romanticize or glorify bad behavior. And I want Smith to be the man who really protects others—by admitting the harm he’s done to others."

Anger management was an issue long before The Slap. How about the Bible? We know about King Saul's infamous temper (which some trace to PTSD), and you've got Jacob (Genesis 31:36), Moses (Exodus 32:19), Samson (Judges 14:1, 19) and Samuel (1 Samuel 15:16-31), just for starters. Some would add God to that list.

But this past week raised the issue of destructive behavior to a whole new level, and not just because of the Oscars. An astounding archeological discovery was revealed, the so-called curse tablet, uncovered near Mt. Ebal, the Curse Mountain, in Samaria, forty miles north of Jerusalem, the site of a ritual enactment of blessings and curses described in Deuteronomy 27(Read all the curses here)Joshua 8 and below in Deuteronomy 11:29.

Cursed, cursed, cursed – cursed by the God YHW.
You will die cursed.
Cursed you will surely die.
Cursed by YHW – cursed, cursed, cursed.
Oh, and by the way, you'll also be cursed!

Sounds like a scene from "The Wolf of Wall Street," which had a reported 3.81 swear words per minute, a record at the time for films. Or maybe it's like a half hour watching HBO, or, in pre-cable days, a George Carlin routine about the seven words never spoken on television. The Deuteronomist did not mince words - compiling a long list of curses later in the book that is far more negative than a similar list found in Leviticus, and Leviticus's is pretty racy. So bottom line: people are acting very strange these days, no doubt. But they were pretty strange back then too, even without two years of quarantine.

There's another side to this remarkable discovery. Some say that this postage stamp sized tablet may show the earliest imprinted text displaying the name of God - and the earliest by a matter of centuries. So, the Name of Names, the ultimate source of spiritual power and goodness, of morality, peace and liberation, of loving our neighbor as ourselves, comes embedded in a thicket of epithets. Ten curses, one divine name (YHW - which appears twice). It's twelve curses if you include the two times it says "you will surely die" as a couple more curses.

What is the message here? Is it that you need to cut through the curses and craziness in order to discover the treasure hidden beneath? Is holiness akin to a sabra, prickly and hard on the outside but all sweetness within? Or it more like the engagement ring your dog swallowed, which needs to make it out the other end and be excavated from the doggy's dirty deposits before it can be appreciated? Or is it within the squalor of suffering humanity, where Mother Theresa asserted that God can most easily be found.


Life is messy, and so is holiness. You have to swing a few elbows at Larry Bird or slap a fellow actor (never excusable); but then, at some point, you realize that all the cussing and hitting doesn't get you anywhere - and that's when you discover God. After the hard work, the suffering, you find the Good Life. You have to clean the house for Pesach - and get rid of all the schmutz that's accumulated over the course of the year - and fill it with sublime (albeit nearly indigestible) food; only THEN can you gather for the greatest family moment of the year.

You have to get through all the things that make you curse before you can find the blessing.

As this week's portion reminds us, you have refrain from cursing or gossiping about the people you can't stand. The Chafetz Chayim says that, regardless of what sticks and stones may do, words can in fact hurt you. And living a holy life can only come when you've made your way through this moral muck. And the center of the book of Leviticus, Tazria calls on us to live holy lives through sensitivity in our use of language.

Two upcoming Torah portions, which form the heart of the book of Leviticus, give us the road map: Ahare Mot / Kedoshim. Taken together it literally means "After the death, holiness.In non leap years, the portions are read together on the same Shabbat. We take that journey from the curse of death to the blessing of life, all in the course of a half hour's Torah reading. We do it at the Seder too.

And Jews aren't the only ones on this kind of journey this month from anger and epithet to peace and reconciliation.

According to the American Jewish Committee, the notoriously anti-Semitic Passion play Oberammergau was first performed in Germany in 1634, as the fulfillment of a vow made by the townspeople. In 1633, Oberammergau was struck with the bubonic plague, and many people died. The townspeople vowed that if the deaths would stop, they would perform a Passion play every ten years to show their appreciation for God. The plague ended, and the townspeople fulfilled their vow. And they continue to do so.

But the play needed to be cleaned up before it could be performed again.

For the 2022 play, originally scheduled for 2020 but delayed by the pandemic, AJC convened an Academic Advisory Group to recommend, through ongoing dialogue with the play’s leadership, additional steps in this decades-long process of ridding the play of any lingering anti-Jewish tropes. The revised play is now scheduled to premiere in May. Like the ceremony on Mt. Ebal, another scripted ritual replete with curses directed toward Jews, Oberammergau's curses have passed their expiration date. When there are no more epithets to scream and shout, only holiness remains.

Only God. In God's original form. Centuries older than any other tablet with God's ancient name. Surrounded by curses but ultimately dwarfing them.

Maybe, in this year of convergence for Ramadan, Passover and Easter, this year when we are peeking out from behind the darkest plague since that plague, the lovely view from this rounded mountain near Nablus, which can be seen below (and in other photos), can bring us closer to a world at peace. Let's run past the curses and head straight to holiness.
One Final Question to engage us, now and at our Seder tables,
on this topic of God, holiness and anger management.
If Will Smith were God, would he have gotten away with it -
or would he have gotten off with a... um... slap on the wrist?
See this response from three faith leaders:
Recommended Reading

Prayer Vigil for Ukraine




  • Zelensky aide says Ukraine now understands Israel's terror fight (TOI) - In a series of tweets, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expresses solidarity with Israel following a terror attack Tuesday that left five dead, including two Ukrainian nationals.“Terrorism knows no borders and neither does pain and grief,” tweets Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff. “[Ukraine] now understand what [Israel] has been facing for decades.” But he says both countries “will prevail – absolutely certain.”

  • Jews say making daylight saving time permanent threatens morning prayer The Sunshine Protection Act, which passed the Senate on March 15, will make it nearly impossible for Jews to pray communally in the morning, Jewish advocates say, and still get to work or school on time during the winter months. According to Jewish law, morning prayers must take place after the sun rises. Daylight saving time, which currently begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November, extends darkness on late-winter mornings.

  • When a rabbinical school closes (Rabbi Jeff Salkin, RNS) (Writing on hearing of the planned closing of the Hebrew Union College's flagship Rabbinical School campus in Cincinnati), Salkin calls it a "cultural tsunami" and explains why he thinks so many fewer young Jews are choosing to become progressive rabbis: This is what I see: a portrait of Jews in the 18-49 age category — the generation that would be producing new rabbis — and their would-be congregants:
Fewer say that being Jewish is important to them.
Fewer feel a connection to the broader Jewish people.
Fewer report having close Jewish friends.
Fewer observe Jewish traditions, however defined.
Fewer are members of synagogues.
Fewer attend services.
Increasingly, they are Jews of “no religion.”
This cultural tsunami has affected not only Reform Judaism. It has not only affected Judaism. It has affected all American religion. Religiously speaking, America is becoming Europe. Secularism has won.


Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman

Friday, March 25, 2022

Why Zelensky Drives Israelis Crazy (Hint: It's Not the Holocaust)

Why Zelensky drives Israelis crazy (Hint: It’s not the Holocaust)



The screaming headlines from Israel’s newspapers said it all, quoting Prime Minister Naftali Bennett: "Zelensky is fighting for his nation's survival, but it is forbidden to compare the Holocaust to anything else."

Volodymyr Zelensky was crying for help from his bunker when he addressed the Knesset on Sunday. Yet while Kyiv literally burned, Israelis fiddled with the Ukrainian president’s misguided use of the term, “Final Solution.” How is it that this icon of democratic values and steadfast self-determination, who would have been the envy of Israel’s founders, felt the wrath of Israel over a couple of misplaced words of an otherwise galvanizing speech?

Something is happening here, and it has little to do with the Holocaust.

This overreaction demonstrates that Israelis have no idea what to do with a man who has turned Zionism on its head. Zelensky is the antithesis of what was supposed to happen in a dying diaspora – and in Ukraine of all places, the deadest of the dying diasporas. He represents a new form of Jewish hero, more Mordechai than Maccabee, combining the courage and battlefield prowess of the IDF with the chutzpah and street smarts of Ukrainian-born Golda Meir, whom he quoted in his Knesset speech, along with the transformational, earth-moving faith of another Ukrainian Jew, Reb Nachman of Bratzlav, whom he also referenced. 

Diaspora Jews are supposed to be disheveled shlemiels and good fundraisers and maybe occasionally smart politicians and media stars. This guy is all of the above and more.

He’s a hero, in the way that Israelis used to be heroes. He’s Moshe Dayan and Yoni Netanyahu – and he’s Jon Stewart too. And, to top it off, he’s a political leader who isn’t standing trial for corruption. Who knew?

And that’s driving Israelis crazy.

Here's the perfect partner that your child brings home, and the parents are complaining, “Yes, but he’s not a doctor!” And to top it off, they refuse to give Iron Dome as a wedding present, and they want to invite Putin to the wedding.

Zelensky has been pitch-perfect in addressing government gatherings throughout the world. But when he addressed the Knesset last Sunday, he touched that third rail when he compared Russia's actions against his country to the Holocaust. Specifically, he appealed that Russians are aiming for a "final solution" for his people.

Zelensky was not totally wrong about that. But “genocide” is the word he should have used. There was only one "Final Solution." For decades, we’ve all had to navigate verbal minefields to avoid using that term. Israeli-Palestinian peace plans always include provisions for a "Final Status" agreement; never a "Final Solution." Synonyms like "end result" or "ultimate consequence" have found their way into the vernacular to replace the Holocaust expression that rolls so effortlessly off the tongue.

So Zelensky, who lost family members during the Holocaust and who successfully compared this conflict to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor when addressing Congress, and to Dunkirk when speaking to the British Parliament, slipped up here. It was an unforced error but give the guy a break! The energy with which Israeli politicians pounced on this modern Jewish hero who has done more to save democracy than anyone since Churchill, was even more tone deaf than Zelensky's remark.

It's even greater chutzpah for the Israeli government to act so offended when the state is now aligning itself squarely on the side of neutrality, at a time when even Switzerland - Switzerland! - has taken a side. They are choosing the way of Kissinger realpolitik when a strong Wiesel-like moral stance would be both morally right and politically prudent, at a time when Congress is voting on a 4.8-billion-dollar security package for Israel.

Neutrality in the face of evil is itself evil; and to Putin, it reeks of weakness. Perhaps a month ago neutrality might have made sense - perhaps. But now, who cares if Israel is the peace broker? Others can take up that mantle. Ukrainians and the world need to see Israel being a true beacon of justice here - precisely because of the Holocaust. Because of the Final Solution.
Zelensky's analogy was spot on; he just used the wrong words. This battle between good and evil is every bit as fateful as the one fought 80 years ago. Call it what you want, but Putin is aiming to annihilate the Ukrainian people, which incidentally, includes tens of thousands of Jews. This enemy has proven himself to be every bit as craven as the one the allies defeated in World War Two.

Zelensky should be absolutely embraced by his fellow Jews, not relegated to a Hollywood Squares Zoom session with nit-picky Knesset members looking for gotcha quotes. He is the ultimate Jewish hero envisioned by Herzl and the founders of Zionism. He's the ghetto fighter who survives in the bunker. But they can’t stomach that he's a product of the exile, a diaspora Jew who has stolen their mojo.

When hundreds of thousands of Jews left for Israel after the Soviet Union fell, Zelensky's family stayed behind in the land of Golda and Reb Nachman and Bialik. He chose to continue to identify proudly as a Jew and yet won a national election by a landslide. He reduced corruption and antisemitism in his country. His army could give the IDF a run for its money.
And he's not afraid to take on Putin alone.

All of this makes Israel look like the diaspora weakling begging the Russian bully to return their lunch money in Syria.

Zelensky has turned Zionism on its head, and that's why Israeli politicians are treating him with such disdain, when they should in fact be embracing him, as everyone else in the free world is, including American Jews across the political spectrum. He got a standing O in Washington. He got a muted Zoom wave in Jerusalem.

There is still time to change that. Ukraine still needs what Israel has to offer. And this war has not yet reached its final…resolution.

Thursday, March 24, 2022

In This Moment: March 25: Why Zelensky Drives Israelis Crazy; The Red Heifer and the Refrigerated Trucks of Dnipro; Spotlight on Berdichev


In This Moment
Purim: Back and Better than Ever!
It was great to get back into our sanctuary for Purim last week, and into the social hall for Temple Rock. Thank you to Lisa Gittelman-Udi for the photos seen here. Click here to see all of Aviva Maller's fantastic photographs from Purimwhich can be downloaded individually. If you share them on social media please tag Aviva Maller and use her copyright as well - AvivaMaller Photography.

Jewish g
Shabbat Shalom
As our concern for Ukraine continues to grow, our interfaith community will be gathering virtually for a prayer vigil on Tuesday at 7. I've engaged a special guest speaker for the event, Larry Cohler-Esses, who just returned from the region, reporting for the Forward. Larry (pictured here), an acclaimed and well-traveled journalist, spoke here several years ago following his trip to Iran, where, according to The New York Times, he was the first journalist from an American Jewish pro-Israel publication to be given an Iranian visa since 1979. Please join us on Tuesday as we welcome Larry and pray together with our neighbors.

You have likely seen our revised Covid protocols, which, mirroring the world around us, reflect a deep desire to enable people to gather in person comfortably and safely. Still, with the threat of a new variant growing, we are not going to be caught with our guard down yet again. So we are focusing our efforts on instantaneous adaptability. The new tent will help, as will our commitment having all our services be engaging on multiple levels. We strive for excellence in person AND online.

And that's where you come in. In order to provide excellent Zoom options for Shabbat mornings and many Friday nights, we need people to run the Zoom for us. We'll train you! We'll help you! But we need you! Without a Zoom operators, we will not be able to move Shabbat morning services to in-person in April, as we are hoping to do. So please contact me or our office if you are interested. More details can be found in the weekly announcements.

And we have a big social justice event for TBE teens this weekend. Several will be participating in a Midnight Run on Sat. night, bringing food for people without homes in Manhattan.

Finally, I am happy to announce that I have just begun posting on Substack. I'll be sending out emails on a regular basis, some of them mirroring what you see here plus new material. Click here to subscribe (it's free) and share the link with your friends!

The Red Heifer and the Refrigerated Trucks of Dnipro
This week is Shabbat Parah, the third of the four special Torah readings read before Passover. Parah means cow, and the section, from Numbers chapter 19, describes the red heifer that was killed as part of an ancient purification ritual when coming into contact with a corpse. We are reminded to purify our homes - and ourselves - with the festival fast approaching.

But this ancient ritual gains special meaning for us this year, both in light of the weekly portion, Shmini, which speaks of the tragic and sudden deaths of Aaron's two young sons Nadav and Avihu, and with the specter of death everywhere in Ukraine. I was taken by a report shown on CNN today, featuring the deputy mayor of Dnipro, 240 miles southeast of Kyiv, a city that has seen its share of death and suffering and an area with a rich and tragic Jewish history as wellThe reporter was shown the cemeteries where Ukrainian soldiers are buried, and then large refrigerated trucks, within which 700 Russian soldiers lie, awaiting transport to Kyiv and then, presumably, back to Russia - if the Russians will take them back.
The deputy mayor does not open the trucks, not wanting to show the faces of the "dead guys," preferring to preserve some sense of their dignity. The reporter asks why go through all this effort, and he replies, "We cannot leave this body on our fields, on our streets or another place. It is not normal."

This small example of human dignity in the midst of an inhuman war reminded me of another biblical purification rite involving a heifer and a corpse. In Deuteronomy 21, we read:
Refrigerated trailers become makeshift morgues for over 700 Russian soldiers
Heschel said, "In a free society, some our guilty, all are responsible." This ritual, however strange, reminds us that if we come across a calamity, even if we didn't cause it, even if it's outside our area of prime responsibility, we are obligated not to ignore it - especially if it involves a death.

The Russians have retreated without taking the corpses of their comrades with them, whether out of fear of causing panic back home, sheer denial or simply reflecting the wishes and character of their nihilistic leader. The Ukrainians are providing a more dignified repatriation, in line with the values espoused by the Torah. What the Russians are doing to their dead brothers, and what they are doing to their Ukrainian cousins, is not normal.

May we all possess such caring hands as those of the deputy mayor of Dnipro, and may those caring hands purify our hearts, as the season of liberation approaches.
Should Russia's War Be Compared to the Holocaust?
Why are Israelis Really So Angry at Zelensky?

The screaming headlines from Israel’s newspapers said it all, quoting Prime Minister Naftali Bennett: "Zelensky is fighting for his nation's survival, but it is forbidden to compare the Holocaust to anything else." 

Volodymyr Zelensky was crying for help from his bunker when he addressed the Knesset on Sunday. Yet while Kyiv literally burned, Israelis fiddled with the Ukrainian president’s misguided use of the term, “Final Solution.” How is it that this icon of democratic values and steadfast self-determination, who would have been the envy of Israel’s founders, felt the wrath of Israel over a couple of misplaced words of an otherwise galvanizing speech?

Something is happening here, and it has little to do with the Holocaust. 

This overreaction demonstrates that Israelis have no idea what to do with a man who has turned Zionism on its head. Zelensky is the antithesis of what was supposed to happen in a dying diaspora – and in Ukraine of all places, the deadest of the dying diasporas. He represents a new form of Jewish hero, more Mordechai than Maccabee, combining the courage and battlefield prowess of the IDF with the chutzpah and street smarts of Ukrainian-born Golda Meir, whom he quoted in his Knesset speech, along with the transformational, earth-moving faith of another Ukrainian Jew, Reb Nachman of Bratzlav, whom he also referenced. Diaspora Jews are supposed to be disheveled shlemiels and good fundraisers and maybe occasionally smart politicians and media stars. This guy is all of the above and more. 

He’s a hero, in the way that Israelis used to be heroes. He’s Moshe Dayan and Yoni Netanyahu – and he’s Jon Stewart too. And, to top it off, he’s a political leader who isn’t standing trial for corruption. Who knew?

And that’s driving Israelis crazy.

Here's the perfect partner that your child brings home, and the parents are complaining, “Yes, but he’s not a doctor!” And to top it off, they refuse to give Iron Dome as a wedding present, and they want to invite Putin to the wedding.

Zelensky has been pitch-perfect in addressing government gatherings throughout the world. But when he addressed the Knesset last Sunday, he touched that third rail when he compared Russia's actions against his country to the Holocaust. Specifically, he appealed that Russians are aiming for a "final solution" for his people.

Zelensky was not totally wrong about that. But “genocide” is the word he should have used. There was only one "Final Solution." For decades, we’ve all had to navigate verbal minefields to avoid using that term. Israeli-Palestinian peace plans always include provisions for a "Final Status" agreement; never a "Final Solution." Synonyms like "end result" or "ultimate consequence" have found their way into the vernacular to replace the Holocaust expression that rolls so effortlessly off the tongue.

So Zelensky, who lost family members during the Holocaust and who successfully compared this conflict to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor when addressing Congress, and to Dunkirk when speaking to the British Parliament, slipped up here. It was an unforced error but give the guy a break! The energy with which Israeli politicians pounced on this modern Jewish hero who has done more to save democracy than anyone since Churchill, was even more tone deaf than Zelensky's remark.

It's even greater chutzpah for the Israeli government to act so offended when the state is now aligning itself squarely on the side of neutrality, at a time when even Switzerland - Switzerland! - has taken a side. They are choosing the way of Kissinger realpolitik when a strong Wiesel-like moral stance would be both morally right and politically prudent, at a time when Congress is voting on a 4.8-billion-dollar security package for Israel.

Neutrality in the face of evil is itself evil; and to Putin, it reeks of weakness. Perhaps a month ago neutrality might have made sense - perhaps. But now, who cares if Israel is the peace broker? Others can take up that mantle. Ukrainians and the world need to see Israel being a true beacon of justice here - precisely because of the Holocaust. Because of the Final Solution.

Zelensky's analogy was spot on; he just used the wrong words. This battle between good and evil is every bit as fateful as the one fought 80 years ago. Call it what you want, but Putin is aiming to annihilate the Ukrainian people, which incidentally, includes tens of thousands of Jews. This enemy has proven himself to be every bit as craven as the one the allies defeated in World War Two.

Zelensky should be absolutely embraced by his fellow Jews, not relegated to a Hollywood Squares Zoom session with nit-picky Knesset members looking for gotcha quotes. He is the ultimate Jewish hero envisioned by Herzl and the founders of Zionism. He's the ghetto fighter who survives in the bunker. But they can’t stomach that he's a product of the exile, a diaspora Jew who has stolen their mojo.

When hundreds of thousands of Jews left for Israel after the Soviet Union fell, Zelensky's family stayed behind in the land of Golda and Reb Nachman and Bialik. He chose to continue to identify proudly as a Jew and yet won a national election by a landslide. He reduced corruption and antisemitism in his country. His army could give the IDF a run for its money.

And he's not afraid to take on Putin alone.

All of this makes Israel look like the diaspora weakling begging the Russian bully to return their lunch money in Syria.

Zelensky has turned Zionism on its head, and that's why Israeli politicians are treating him with such disdain, when they should in fact be embracing him, as everyone else in the free world is, including American Jews across the political spectrum. He got a standing O in Washington. He got a muted Zoom wave in Jerusalem.

There is still time to change that. Ukraine still needs what Israel has to offer. And this war has not yet reached its final…resolution.


Pilgrimage to Jewish Ukraine
Spotlight on Berdichev

Members of the Bene Tsiyon (Sons of Zion) society with visiting writer Sholem Aleichem (second row from front, fifth from left) and composer Mark Varshavski (third from left), Berdichev (now Berdychiv, Ukr.), 1900. (YIVO)

One of the hidden gems of Jewish Ukraine is the city of Berdichev, about a three hour drive west of Kyiv and 25 miles south of Zhytomir, a site of nearly daily Russian bombardment. Last week, Berdichev (also spelled Berdychiv) was also attacked. Another holy place desecrated.

According to the census of 1789, Jews constituted 75% of Berdychiv's population (1,951 out of 2,640, of whom 246 were liquor dealers, 452 houseowners, 134 merchants, 188 artisans, 150 clerks and 56 idlers). Around the turn of the 20th century, Berdichev counted some 80 synagogues and Jewish schools and was famous for its cantors. At that time it was an epicenter of constant debate between Hasidim, Mitnagdim (their rationalist, legalist opponents) and Maskilim (proponents of the Enlightenment). Throw in some socialists Zionists and Yiddishists - like Shalom Aleichem - and it was quite a volatile mix, Jewish culture at its absolute zenith. You can read all about the history of Jewish Berdichev at this website.

The most influential Jew to come from there was Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev (1740–1809) who transformed it into one of the great early centers of Hasidism. Following an old tradition that dates back to Abraham, Levi Yitzchak was known to challenge God. One Rosh Hashanah he went far beyond that, actually putting God on trial. (And you think I have chutzpah!) He claimed that God had no right to extend Israel's exile when other more sinful nations were allowed to live in peace and prosperity.

The verdict is rendered: "guilty," after which the rabbi rises to praise God's name by saying Kaddish. Elie Wiesel wrote of such a trial actually happening among the prisoners at Auschwitz. Musical renditions of this "Kaddish of Levi Yitzchak" became staples of cantorial repertoires around the world. Here's an example of how that "Kaddish" has resonated far beyond its original setting.

One could imagine Levi Yitzchak repeating his emotional appeal, with his hometown facing renewed devastation from the skies.

He raised his fist to the heavens to defend his people - such was his sense of compassion and devotion. He also had a keen sense of humor, as is seen in this story, with which I'll conclude this tribute to Berdichev, another magical place being trampled upon by the Russian oppressors.

R. Levi Yitzhak’s every pronouncement was punctuated by a love for the Jewish people. When R. Levi Yitzhak once chanced upon a Jew standing in the street on Shabbat and smoking a cigarette, he did not approach the young man with harsh admonishment: “My beloved brother, you probably do not realize that today is the holy Shabbat.”

The smoker responded in a belligerent tone: “I know that today is Shabbat,” and demonstratively placed the cigarette back in his mouth.

“Then, dear friend, you probably do not realize that it is forbidden to smoke on the holy Shabbat.”

“I know that it is Shabbat and I know that it is forbidden to smoke on Shabbat!” replied the smoker cantankerously as he exhaled puffs of smoke.

Seeking some line of defense, R. Levi Yitzhak’s brow became knitted for a moment until suddenly his eyes lit up and with a satisfied grin he said: “My friend, you must be ill and the doctors have told you that the only remedy for your health is to smoke and you must smoke even on Shabbat because of your life-threatening condition!” 

The Shabbat smoker’s eyes were ablaze as he aggressively responded: “I am perfectly healthy, I know it is Shabbat and I know that it is forbidden to smoke on Shabbat.” And with that he blew smoke straight into the face of the Berditchever Rebbe.

R. Levi Yitzhak raised his eyes heavenward and called out to God: “Master of the universe! Look how unbelievably worthy Your children are: They will smoke on Shabbat, but they would never dare to tell a lie!”
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Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman

Temple Beth El