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7 Israeli Singers to Watch in 2018

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Nathan Goshen performing at Hangar 11 in Tel Aviv, December 2017. Photo via Facebook

Nathan Goshen, Yonina, JonZ, Noga Erez, Itamar Haluts, DORJ and Gili Yalo aren’t household names yet but they’re fast gaining fans across the world

Quite a few Israeli singers have fans across the globe and perform in North America, Europe and Asia. But for every success story like Idan Raichel, David Broza, Ester Rada or Noa, there are dozens of other talented vocalists working hard to get recognition abroad by getting their material on social media and adding English songs to their repertoire.

Here are seven solo and duet artists to keep your eye (and ear) on in 2018. Are there others whose music you want to share? Let us know about them in the comments section below.

  1. Nathan Goshen

Six years after releasing his successful self-titled debut album, which contained numerous top singles in Israel, Nathan Goshen enjoys a growing fan base worldwide for his electronic-tinged pop.

His first English-language song, “Thinking About It (Let It Go),” amassed a huge following including a remix by Dutch artist KVR that has clocked more than 102 million plays and led to Goshen being picked up by Scandinavian imprint disco:wax.

His new offering on the label, “Home,” is accompanied by short documentaries depicting people for whom the word “home” has a hard-hitting meaning.

As well as starring on “The X Factor” in Ukraine as a guest mentor/judge assistant, Goshen was named Man of the Year and Singer of the Year by Israel’s Galgalatz Radio and has been tapped by filmmaker Avi Nesher for his first movie role.

  1. Yonina
Yonina duo Yoni and Nina Tokayer. Photo by Kfir Ziv

Yonina – a duo of Yoni and Nina Tokayer (often appearing in videos with their baby, Ashira) gained surprising popularity after posting weekly homemade music videos on which they sweetly harmonize and accompany themselves on a variety of instruments.

“To our growing astonishment, our videos began receiving a huge amount of exposure, the record being our most popular ‘One Day’ video with over 40 million views from all over the world,” they report.

Pretty soon, Yonina branched out from doing covers to writing and recording their own compositions in Hebrew and English. Their debut album, supported by a crowdfunding campaign, is titled “Emet Pshuta (Simple Truth).” A second album is in the works.

Over the past year they began performing live in Israel and other countries, including sold-out concerts in New York and New Jersey. Yonina performed in Switzerland in December and has a gig in Florida this March. Then it’s on to the US West Coast and Vienna next summer.

  1. JonZ
JonZ, a duo of Yoav Or and Jenia Vasilenko. Photo: courtesy

Pronounced “Jonesy,” JonZ consists of Jenia Vasilenko and Yoav Or. They started writing melodic music together in an isolated house above the Carmel Mountains. Following their first EP live recording, a debut album recorded in Tel Aviv is scheduled to be released in March 2018.

JonZ has played festivals in Israel and Europe (including Colours of Ostrava, Rosa Laub, InDnegev, Haifa 100 Live, Yearot Menashe and Songbird Festival in Davos), toured the south of France last winter and most recently performed in Germany, Czech Republic and Switzerland. The couple debuted the first single from their forthcoming album at Cuckoo’s Nest in Jaffa.

  1. Noga Erez

Last November, Apple Music chose “Dance While You Shoot,” the first single by Israeli singer-songwriter Noga Erez, as the anthem for an advertisement featuring album covers of such stars as Eminem and Dr. Dre.

Trained at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, Erez became interested in music software and has won a place on the global electronic dance music scene.

Members of the US-based electronic pop band Son Lux heard a cover Erez made of their track “Weapons,” and invited her to open for them at Tel Aviv’s Barby Club in February 2014. Since then she’s headlined her own show at the Barby.

The 28-year-old Erez partners with producer Ori Rousso to create beat-driven songs – all in English — whose lyrics touch on controversial political and social issues.

During 2016, Erez performed at the Rio Olympics with the official Israeli music showcase and signed a record deal with Berlin-based City Slang. Erez has been touring Europe and releasing additional titles from her “Off the Radar” CD.

  1. Itamar Haluts
Itamar Haluts in concert. Photo by Gaya Saadon

Guitarist-singer-songwriter Itamar Haluts, 26, last year released his first album in English, “Alexandra Clyde,” featuring hard-driving rock ’n’ roll songs written during a one-year post-army sojourn in New Zealand, during which he supported himself by picking apples.

Haluts played most of the instruments and recorded the tunes in his father’s Rosh Ha’ayin studio. He also did all the mixing and over-recording, mastered the album online in conjunction with Abbey Road Studio, has made two music videos from the album so far, and is touring Israel with his four-man band. Among the venues they’ve played are the Ye’arot Menashe, Tel Aviv Blues and Jacob’s Ladder festivals.

“I’m working on a new project right now,” he tells ISRAEL21c.

  1. DORJ

Clash Magazine recently described the music of DORJ as “sultry, emotional, trip-hop inspired neo-soul.” Highsnobiety included him in an October 2017 edition of “10 Under the Radar Artists to Discover This Week.”

DORJ already has a sizeable following in Berlin, where he has performed live, and played to a sold-out house in Poland. He appeared on the Swiss and German summer festival circuit and has gotten airplay on BBC Radio 1. His latest cut, “Shadow,” was co-written and produced by London’s Subculture Sounds and was released via the London imprint Twisted Hearts.

Currently, DORJ is working on a live show and an album with electronic hip-hop artist Melodiesinfonie, whom he met in Switzerland.

  1. Gili Yalo

Combining his Ethiopian roots with soul, funk, psychedelic and jazz elements, Gili Yalo released his self-titled debut album in November 2017 on the Dead Sea Recordings label and has been touring around Europe based on the disk’s success.

Backed by a band of five musicians, Yalo sings in English and Amharic, the Ethiopian language that best expresses his personal story of making the perilous journey to Israel from his native land when he was a child.

By: Abigail Klein Leichman
(Israel 21c)

Holocaust Photo Exhibit to Be Displayed at Bronx Synagogue

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The experiences of Jewish youngsters trapped in a ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland will be vividly evoked in “Through the Eyes of Youth: Life and Death in the Będzin Ghetto,” a traveling photographic exhibit that will be on display at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale – The Bayit, 3700 Henry Hudson Parkway East, from Sunday, January 21 through Friday, January 26.

Photos bring horrors, joys of Polish Ghetto to Hebrew Institute of Riverdale

The experiences of Jewish youngsters trapped in a ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland will be vividly evoked in “Through the Eyes of Youth: Life and Death in the Będzin Ghetto,” a traveling photographic exhibit that will be on display at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale – The Bayit, 3700 Henry Hudson Parkway East, from Sunday, January 21 through Friday, January 26.

The exhibit will kick off with a panel discussion on January 21, with Holocaust Survivors Sam Bradin, Gela Majerczyk Buchbinder, Josef Guttman and Dasha Werdyger Rittenberg, from the neighboring towns of Będzin and Dąbrowa Gornicza; Moderated by Jeffrey Cymbler, Founder of the Będzin-Sosnowiec-Zawiercie Area Research Group, and Będzin Town Leader for Jewish Records Poland, Inc.

Dr. Björn Krondofer, a professor of religion and director of the Martin-Springer Institute, which seeks to apply the lessons of the Holocaust to the crises of today, will speak at the opening.

“Today, we often encounter survivors as people who could be our grandparents but most of them were teenagers when they experienced the Holocaust,” Dr. Krondorfer said. “In this exhibit, we focus on the struggle of young people; we hope that our audiences, especially students, can more easily identify with them.”

The exhibit shares the struggles of the youth in Będzin, a small town in southern Poland, who grew up amid tragedy while still trying to find small joys in life. It follows seven young people from prewar life to the harsh conditions of German occupation and finally deportation to Auschwitz, the largest Nazi concentration camp in Europe. The exhibit ends with their lives after the Holocaust in America and other places. Most did not survive the war.

During the opening event monitors will play testimonials from Będzin Survivors: Joe Guttman, Dasha Rittenberg, Ben Fainer and Sam Bradin; and trailers to the BBC documentary Rutka Laskier: The Lost Diary of the Holocaust, and By A Thread: A Daughter’s Search for her Mother’s Hidden Holocaust Past; Sam Pivnik’s A Visit to Poland and the movie Cardinal Lustiger: Jewish Archbishop of France.

Inspirations, Cantor David Props sings Memories of Home : Holocaust Museum of Houston’s Tribute to the Survivors will be featured at the exhibit opening and the award winning documentary: Diamonds in the Snow, directed by Będzin Survivor Mira Reym Binford will be aired.

The program is sponsored by The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale; The Doris-Martin Springer Institute at Northern Arizona University; The Holocaust, Genocide Interfaith Education Center of Manhattan College; Healthy Communities; The Rutka’s Notebook Holocaust Education Continuity Project, and members of the Riverdale and Zaglebie (Zaglembie), Poland communities.

For more information, or to schedule a visit by schools or senior centers, contact: Rick Feldman at [email protected]/ 646 431 7734. Light refreshments will be served at the opening. Suggested donation $10. Save time and pre-register online @ www.thebayit.org/bedzin

Edited by: JV Staff

 

 

 

Howard Stern Blasts Lorde for Canceling Israel Show

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Popular radio shock-jock Howard Stern took a shot at New Zealand pop star Lorde this week, after she canceled an upcoming show in Israel amid pressure by supporters of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS).

Popular shock-jock suggests New Zealand pop star is anti-Semitic after she cancels Tel Aviv concert

Popular radio shock-jock Howard Stern took a shot at New Zealand pop star Lorde this week, after she canceled an upcoming show in Israel amid pressure by supporters of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS).

Stern, an ardent supporter of Israel and constant critic of musicians who refuse to take the stage there, blasted Lorde on his Sirius XM radio show, saying the singer likely has a problem with Jewish people.

“She has no problem with Russia. The only place in the world where she can’t play is Israel. So what do you think’s going on? What’s the one thing about Israel that’s different than all other places. There’s Jews there … I hope Lorde has a good time in Russia,” he said, as quoted by The Washington Free Beacon.

“Anti-Semitism is on the rise. I’m so [expletive] sick of it,” Stern said, adding about Lorde, “One hit song this girls’ living off of.”

News of the cancellation of Lorde’s June concert in Tel Aviv came days after pro-Palestinian Arab fans in her native New Zealand criticized her. Israeli concert organizers announced the cancellation and said ticket sales would be refunded.

Lorde later justified her decision, claiming it was the right one and adding, “I pride myself on being an informed young citizen, and I had done a lot of reading and sought a lot of opinions before deciding to book a show in Tel Aviv, but I’m not too proud to admit I didn’t make the right call on this one. Tel Aviv, it’s been a dream of mine to visit this beautiful part of the world for many years, and I’m truly sorry to reverse my commitment to come play for you. I hope one day we can all dance.”

In the past, Stern also has blasted former Pink Floyd frontman and notorious anti-Israel activist Roger Waters for his vocal criticism of Israel and effort to get various artists to cancel concerts there.

Waters, who regularly pressures artists not to perform in Israel, last week was one of 100 artists who signed an open letter in support of Lorde.

The letter of support by the group of artists was a response to New York City based Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who published a full page advertisement in the Washington Post in which he called Lorde a Jew-hating “bigot” and a hypocrite on human rights issues.

Published two weeks ago, Rabbi Boteach’s ad said “While Lorde claims to be concerned with human rights, she hypocritically chose to proceed with her two concerts in Putin’s Russia, despite his support for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s genocidal regime.”

“Let’s boycott the boycotters and tell Lorde and her fellow bigots that Jew-hatred has no place in the twenty-first century.”

The ad also states that “21 is young to become a bigot.”

Rabbi Boteach had raised money for the ad on a GoFundMe page.

By: Ben Ariel
(INN)

 

Authorities Allow Terrorist to Radicalize Others in NYC Prison

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Ahmad Khan Rahimi was in MCC awaiting sentencing in January after he was convicted of setting off two improvised explosive devices in 2016, one in New York and one in New Jersey. A third device set by Rahimi failed to detonate. The bomb that exploded in the Chelsea neighborhood in New York City injured more than a dozen people. Luckily, no one was killed.
New York City’s Metropolitan Correctional Center

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. That saying may best describe the Federal Bureau of Prisons administrators who operate the New York City’s Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC). How foolish were they? Well, they gave the inmates there the blueprints to make a bomb. And if that wasn’t stupid enough, they also gave them radical Islamic literature by noted terrorists Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki. These were no ordinary inmates who had all this material while in custody. One was an ISIS sympathizer, one was an al-Shabaab member, and another was convicted of attacking U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan.

How did this fiasco occur you ask, as if this storyline couldn’t get any worse? The materials were distributed by convicted terrorist Ahmad Khan Rahimi, better known as the Chelsea Bomber. Rahimi was in MCC awaiting sentencing in January after he was convicted of setting off two improvised explosive devices in 2016, one in New York and one in New Jersey. A third device set by Rahimi failed to detonate. The bomb that exploded in the Chelsea neighborhood in New York City injured more than a dozen people. Luckily, no one was killed.

This egregious breach in prison security protocol was outlined last week in a letter from Acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim, Southern District of New York, to U.S. District Judge Richard Berman. Among the security breaches Kim informed the court of was that Rahimi was “attempting to radicalize fellow inmates.” Investigators found the radical literature on Rahimi’s electronic devices. He received copies back during the discovery process.

It is no surprise to learn that terrorists radicalize other inmates.

Numerous reports during the last decade identified cases of people radicalized in prison both in the United States and abroad. Several government reports have also identified specific factors that contribute to radicalization in prison. Among them were convicted terrorists who have gained notoriety by their crimes and exerted influence on other inmates. Another factor in the radicalization process was inmate access to extremist literature by radical Islamists. Several years ago, the Investigative Project on Terrorism discovered that tapes of Anwar al-Awlaki’s sermons were available in the Bureau of Prisons’ inmate library. In 2011, I testified before the House Committee for Homeland Security on the subject of Islamic radicalization in the U.S. prison system. I told the committee then that I would not be surprised if a copy of al Qaida’s Inspire magazine was found in prison. Several copies of Inspire were among the jihadist literature found in the Metropolitan Correctional Center inmates’ cells, Kim’s letter said.

So what caused this breakdown in security procedures now?

It’s not like MCC has never had to deal with incarcerated terrorists before. Over the last 25 years it has held numerous high profile terrorists within its cavernous walls in lower Manhattan, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombers.

Nor is it the first time terrorists have been able to obtain contraband items there. In November 2000, al-Qaida members Mamdouh Salim and Khalfan Khamis Mohamed were held in MCC for the bombing of the United States embassy in Tanzania. They attempted to escape by stabbing prison guard Louis Pepe with a sharpened comb they had hidden in their cell in order to gain possession of the officer’s cell block keys and escape. In the ensuing struggle, Pepe was stabbed in the eye and suffered a traumatic career ending disability.

Prisons are dangerous places and the people who work in them realize the risks every time they go to work. Housing terrorists in the same prisons as ordinary criminals exponentially increases the security threat both outside the prison and within. Authorities shouldn’t heighten the risk by becoming lax in security measures. Consistent vigilance is a prerequisite to operating a secure prison.

Someone in MCC should have reviewed the material prior to giving it to inmate Rahimi. Yes, inmates are allowed access to legal papers. But those papers containing material that would jeopardize the security of the facility (bomb making instructions) they are held in a secure location outside the general population.

Defendants in child pornography cases cannot bring such images into their cells.

In terrorism prosecutions like Rahimi’s, a failure to examine his belongings allowed him to distribute the material to the other inmates in the jail mosque during Jummah services. Where was the Muslim chaplain while this was happening, or the security personnel assigned to cover the services? Bringing a Quran into the prison mosque is acceptable. Bringing a copy of Inspire magazine or writings by Anwar al-Alwlaki is not.

Someone has to be held accountable. If not, the likelihood of being fooled again just went up.

By: Patrick Dunleavy
(Investigative Project on Terrorism)

IPT Senior Fellow Patrick Dunleavy is the former Deputy Inspector General for New York State Department of Corrections and author of “The Fertile Soil of Jihad.” He currently teaches a class on terrorism for the United States Military Special Operations School.

 

Iran’s Attempts to Set Up a Terrorist Base in Judea & Samaria is Now Exposed

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In recent days, the Iranian Republican Guards Corps (IRGC)'s elite overseas unit called the Quds Force released a propaganda video showing Gazan children "thanking" Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani for his support.

Israeli security forces have uncovered a significant Iranian attempt to infiltrate the West Bank and use it as a base for launching terrorist attacks and hostile intelligence gathering operations against Israel.

The radical Shi’ite axis, led by Iran, has long held the ambition of flooding the West Bank with weapons, terrorist cells, and espionage agents, turning it into an active Iranian terror base.

In recent years, most of those efforts have seen Hizballah, Iran’s chief proxy in the region, attempt to create a footprint in the West Bank. Israel has foiled multiple Hizballah attempts to set up terrorist cells among Palestinians, and recruit them for bombings, shootings, and espionage. In one high profile case last year, Shin Bet found that Hizballah’s Unit 133, responsible for foreign operations, was operating a social media recruitment program in the West Bank and Israel in hopes of setting up terrorist cells for suicide bombings and gun attacks.

Yet the latest plot to be broken up by Israel’s Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency shows direct involvement of Iranian intelligence agents in orchestrating a Palestinian terrorist cell in Hebron.

Until now, most of the known Iranian attempts to promote Palestinian terrorism played out in the Gaza Strip, Reuven Erlich, director of the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center in Israel, told the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

In recent days, the Iranian Republican Guards Corps (IRGC)’s elite overseas unit called the Quds Force released a propaganda videoshowing Gazan children “thanking” Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani for his support.

“Until today, the connection to Iran was mostly seen in the Gaza Strip, through Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Hamas,” Erlich said.

Under Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, relations between the PA, which governs most Palestinians in the West Bank, and Iran, soured, Erlich said. Things were different under Abbas’s predecessor, Yasser Arafat. Iran “enjoyed a romance with the PA” during Arafat’s time, Erlich said, recalling Iranian weapons smuggling efforts, including the Karine A weapons ship that was packed with arms destined for the PA in 2002 when it was intercepted by Israel.

Today, however, the PA sees Iranian and Hizballah activities in the West Bank as a “direct threat,” Erlich said. Israel’s “abilities to take care of this threat” prevent Iran and its proxies from realizing their vision of building a network of terrorist outposts in the West Bank.

“The Iranians find it much easier and simpler to get to Gaza, though they also have problems reaching it, with Egypt in the rear,” Erlich said. Despite the Egyptian obstacle, Erlich warned, there has been a “flood of declarations” by Iran, Hizballah, and Palestinian terrorist factions in Gaza indicating a new level of cooperation among them.

Iran has, over the past months, transferred $100 million to Hamas and PIJ, due to the fact that they “share the same vision about the State of Israel,” Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot said in a recent speech.

From Iran to South Africa to Hebron

The Shin Bet announced last week that it had uncovered and foiled a West Bank terrorist infrastructure “that was run by an Iranian intelligence operative living in South Africa.”

“The principal operative that was arrested is Mahmoud Makharmeh, 29, a computer engineering student, who resides in Hebron. He was recruited for Iranian intelligence activity by a relative of his, Bakhar Makharmeh, who is from Hebron, but who has been living in South Africa in recent years,” the Shin Bet stated.

“Iranian intelligence has been using South Africa as a significant center for locating, recruiting and activating agents against Israel in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank],” it added.

Acting on behalf of the Iranian intelligence agents, Bakhar Makharmeh tried to recruit operatives in the West Bank and in Israel for espionage and terrorist missions, according to the investigation.

Bakhar took advantage of a 2015 visit by his relative, Mahmoud, to South Africa, and succeeded in recruiting him, the Shin Bet said. Mahmoud then had several meetings with Iranian agents, “several of whom came from Tehran especially to meet him.”

Following his arrest, the IDF’s Judea and Samaria Military Court charged Mahmoud Makharmeh with several severe security crimes. The charge sheet alleges that he worked to recruit suicide bombers and a shooting terrorist cell. It also details his involvement in a training course for the use of explosives and other weapons, and the opening of a computer store in Hebron which was supposed to double as an Iranian intelligence gathering post.

Mahmoud Makharmeh allegedly recruited an Israeli Arab man to take photographs in Israel. He also sent Israeli SIM cards and cash to the Iranians – items that were apparently necessary for the next stage of Iran’s operations.

The Israeli charge sheet details how Mahmoud Makharmeh recruited two Palestinians in Hebron, both aged 22, who agreed to join the Iranian-run terrorist cell.

“Mahmoud received $8,000 from the Iranians to operate the cell,” the Shin Bet said.

The Iranians instructed him to also recruit residents of Israel, including journalists, because they have access to official sites.

The two Palestinians recruited by Makharmeh were charged with conspiring to join an illegal organization.

The investigation “underscores Iran’s involvement in sponsoring terrorism against Israel, and exposes Iran’s efforts in various countries in order to promote hostile activity against Israel,” the Shin Bet said.

Commenting on the investigation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “This is not the first time. They are trying various methods, and in various fields, to attack the State of Israel. I am pleased that the ISA [Shin Bet] and our security services have succeeded in foiling it. I would like to bring it to your attention that Iran is using terrorism against the State of Israel not only with the assistance of terrorist movements such as Hamas, Hizballah and Islamic Jihad but is also attempting to organize terrorist actions inside the State of Israel and against the citizens of Israel.”

By: Yaakov Lappin
(Investigative Project on Terrorism)

Yaakov Lappin is a military and strategic affairs correspondent. He also conducts research and analysis for defense think tanks, and is the Israel correspondent for IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly. His book, The Virtual Caliphate, explores the online jihadist presence.

 

Smartphones and Kids: Harmful Effects and What to Do About It

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Recent research on the impact of smartphones on children and how we can realistically protect them

Another part of our brains, the prefrontal cortex, is necessary for interpreting emotions and for focusing on tasks, and is also harmed by smartphone use. This part of our brains doesn’t fully develop until people’s mid-20s, and excessive smartphone use can get in the way of that. “

On January 6, two of Apple’s biggest investors published an open letter calling on Apple and other high tech firms to do much more to protect the health of their youngest users. Citing studies showing that smartphones can have grave impacts on kids’ physical and mental well-being, the investors – California State Teachers’ Retirement System and JANA Partners LLC – have opened a major debate, asking tech companies to develop more controls on their products for their youngest users.

What is so bad about kids and smartphones? With more researchers look into the impact of smartphones and other technology on children, here are some recent results, as well as suggestions for what we can do when it comes to protecting kids from smartphone abuse.

 

Stunting Babies’ Brain Development

Consider Shabbat as an antidote to too much smartphone use. For 25 hours each week we’re completely phone free. The results are amazing: a whole day without distractions, when we’re able to focus on each other and ourselves. While it can seem daunting to go a whole 25 hours without a smartphone, doing so is a welcome weekly respite from the tyranny of technology for us all.

The harm that smartphones and other screens do to kids is particularly acute in babies whose brains are still developing. Psychologists call the first three years of a child’s life “the critical period” in brain development because the way that brains grow during these years becomes the permanent base upon which all future learning relies. Receiving information and cues from the real world around them helps babies form neural pathways that make their brains strong and healthy. Stimuli from screens, including tablets and smartphones, get in the way of brains’ normal development, overwhelming their still-developing minds with stimuli.

The damage from too much screen time can be permanent. “The ability to focus, to concentrate, to lend attention, to sense other people’s attitudes and communicate with them, to build a large vocabulary – all those abilities are harmed,” warns Dr. Aric Sigman, an associate fellow the British Psychological Society and a Fellow of Britain’s Royal Society of Medicine.

The ability to interact with other people, to empathize and read people’s feelings all have their foundations in babyhood. Spending time interacting with screens instead of human beings can permanently alter our children’s brain structures, making tasks like forming friendships and understanding the world around them much harder.

 

Harming Teens’ Brain

Indeed, heavy smartphone use is associated with higher rates of stress and depression in kids. One study conducted by the Center on Media and Child Health at the University of Alberta found that over the past three to five years, as smartphone use has skyrocketed, 90% of teachers report that the number of students with emotional challenges is increased; 86% of teachers report that the number of students with social challenges has gone up as well.

While older kids don’t experience the same sort of intense brain development as babies, kids’ and adolescents’ brains continue to develop and can be harmed by too much smartphone use.

The problem is that teenagers’ brains are very adaptable. The experience of using a smartphone, switching rapidly between many activities such as texting and using social media, is associated with lower levels of brain matter in teens’ anterior cingulate cortex, the region in our brains that is responsible for emotional processing and decision-making. Less brain matter in this area is associated with higher rates of depression and addiction.

Another part of our brains, the prefrontal cortex, is necessary for interpreting emotions and for focusing on tasks, and is also harmed by smartphone use. This part of our brains doesn’t fully develop until people’s mid-20s, and excessive smartphone use can get in the way of that. “During our teenage years,” explains Paul Atchley, a psychology professor at the University of Kansas, ”it’s important to train that prefrontal cortex not to be easily distracted. What we’re seeing in our work is that young people are constantly distracted, and also less sensitive to the emotions of others.”

 

Harder to Make Friends:

Given the changes smartphones make to developing brain’s ability to empathize with others, it’s no surprise that smartphone use is associated with difficulty in making friends.

For many teens, smartphones can become a crutch in difficult social situations. “When you’re with people you don’t know well or there’s nothing to talk about, phones are out more because it’s awkward,” one Connecticut high school senior explained to researchers.

Yet this “new normal” where smartphones are such a part of social interaction is dangerous, warns Brian Primack, Director of the Center for Research on Media, Technology and Health at the University of Pittsburgh. “There’s strong research linking isolation to depression, and time spent socializing with improved mood and well-being,” Dr. Primack explains. “If smartphones are getting between an adolescent and her ability to engage in and enjoy face-to-face interaction – and some studies suggest that’s happening – that’s a big deal.”

 

Smartphones and Depression in Kid

Indeed, heavy smartphone use is associated with higher rates of stress and depression in kids. One study conducted by the Center on Media and Child Health at the University of Alberta found that over the past three to five years, as smartphone use has skyrocketed, 90% of teachers report that the number of students with emotional challenges is increased; 86% of teachers report that the number of students with social challenges has gone up as well.

Many teachers blame smartphone use for these jumps. Kids used to go outside during lunch break and engage in physical activity and socialization. “Today, many of them sit all lunch hour and play on their personal devices,” one junior high teacher said.

Between 2010 and 2016, the number of adolescents who experienced major depression grew by 60%, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services. Suicides have also increased significantly among kids ages 10 to 19 during that time. “These increases are huge – possibly unprecedented,” explains Prof. Jean Twenge of San Diego State University. She has found that since 2010, teens who spend more time using smartphones and other technology are more likely to report having mental health problems than teens who spend less time with their devices.

Prof. Twenge surveyed over half a million adolescents across the United States; her findings paint a troubling portrait of a generation both addicted to and harmed by smartphone use. Kids who spend three hours a day or more on smartphones or other devices are over a third more likely to suffer at least one suicide-related symptom such as feeling hopeless or thinking about suicide than kids who limit their smartphone and other device use to two hours a day or less. Among kids who used devices for five or more hours each day, nearly half reported experiencing at least one suicide related outcome.

Even moderate smartphone and other high tech use can harm our kids’ mental health, Prof. Twenge has found. Kids who use social media every day are 13% more likely to have high levels of depressive symptoms than those who don’t. In her research, teens who ditched their smartphones some of the time and who spent the most time interacting face to face seemed to be the healthiest emotionally.

 

Breaking the Smartphone Addiction

Despite the drawbacks of excessive smartphone use, limiting tech time can be difficult. In fact, many psychologists now view smartphone use as an addiction.

This is partly due to the nature of teenagers’ developing brains. The anterior cingulate cortex, mentioned above in its connection to helping teens develop the characteristic of human empathy, is also a factor in decision-making and addiction. “We know for a fact teens have very underdeveloped impulse control and empathy and judgment compared to adults,” explains Dr. Frances Jensen, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and co-author of The Teenage Brain. As kids brains continue to develop, adolescents and teens are more prone to addiction.

Researchers have also found that the speedy interactions teens enjoy on their smartphones floods their brains with neurochemicals like dopamine, which induces a feeling of euphoria. It also can contribute to addiction, as kids learn to rely on the gratification they feel when they use their phones. Once an addiction develops, teens (and others) can experience feelings of anger, depression, fatigue and distraction when they’re not using their phones.

One rehab center near Seattle now offers therapy for smartphone and technology addiction, and has treated children as young as 13. Hilarie Cash, the Center’s founder, has explained that smartphones and other mobile devices can be so stimulating and all-consuming that they “override all those natural instincts that children actually have for movement and exploration and social interaction.”

 

Strategies for Change

Limiting smartphone and other tech use isn’t easy. In fact, in one recent study, teenagers were given a choice: would they rather break a bone in their bodies, or break their phones? It might not come as a surprise to teens and their parents that fully 46% of teenagers said they’d prefer to break a bone than their smartphone.

Yet change is possible. Here are three suggestions for starting to change: both for teens and their families.

  1. Set aside a time every day to go phone free. That’s the advice of New York University Professor Adam Alter who wrote “Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked.” When the thought of giving up a phone seems too scary, try limiting phone use to certain hours each day: Prof. Alter recommends blocking out a time, such as 5-8pm each day, to go phone-free. This proposition might seem less daunting than a wider phone moratorium.
  2. Lead by example. It’s hard to tell your kids to limit their smartphone use if you are glued to your devices. Try setting aside time for the entire family come together, phone-free. That’s the advice of child psychologist Yalda Uhls: specify a set amount of time for your family to interact with no devices in sight. This can help foster the face-to-face interaction and emotional empathy that is lacking from smartphone-based communication.
  3. Consider Shabbat as an antidote to too much smartphone use. In my own family, we also struggle with too much technology time. Shabbat is the one day a week when we don’t have to worry about smartphones and other devices. For 25 hours each week we’re completely phone free. The results are amazing: a whole day without distractions, when we’re able to focus on each other and ourselves. While it can seem daunting to go a whole 25 hours without a smartphone, doing so is a welcome weekly respite from the tyranny of technology for us all.

By: Dr. Yvette Alt Miller
(Aish.com)

 

Gal Gadot Sparks Controversy; Wears Dress by Lebanese Designer

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Days after Gal Gadot wore a dress by Lebanese designer Elie Saab at the National Board of Review Awards Gala in New York, controversy over her choice seems not to die down.
Elie Saab’s Instagram followers attacked the designer for posting a picture of the Israeli actress wearing his dress. In the post, Saab bragged about the Israeli star’s choice of clothes and called her “flawless”. But shortly afterwards, he was forced to remove the post after Lebanese Instagram users called him a “traitor”.

Days after Gal Gadot wore a dress by Lebanese designer Elie Saab at the National Board of Review Awards Gala in New York, controversy over her choice seems not to die down.

In yet another chapter of the Israeli actress’ tormented relationship with the Lebanese public, Elie Saab’s Instagram followers attacked the designer for posting a picture of the Israeli actress wearing his dress.

In the post, Saab bragged about the Israeli star’s choice of clothes and called her “flawless”. But shortly afterwards, he was forced to remove the post after Lebanese Instagram users called him a “traitor”.

Gal Gadot had already sparked debate in Lebanon when her movie “Wonder Woman” was distributed last year. Hours before the first screenings in Beirut the movie was censored by the Interior Ministry, following a campaign against what was called “an Israeli soldier’s film”.

Gal Gadot had already sparked debate in Lebanon when her movie “Wonder Woman” was distributed last year. Hours before the first screenings in Beirut the movie was censored by the Interior Ministry, following a campaign against what was called “an Israeli soldier’s film”.

Three years before, during the Israeli Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, Gal Gadot had posted a picture of her and her daughter praying for the Israeli youth involved in the offensive. Like most Israelis, the actress had served in the army, specializing in combat training.

“I am sending my love and prayers to my fellow Israeli citizens,” she wrote. “Especially to all the boys and girls who are risking their lives protecting my country against the horrific acts conducted by Hamas, who are hiding like cowards behind women and children…We shall overcome!!! Shabbat Shalom! #weareright #freegazafromhamas #stopterror #coexistance #loveidf”

“I love and respect Elie Saab, but is he really pleased when an Israeli actress wears his dress?” tweeted Lebanese journalist Heba Bitar (pictured above). “I don’t have a problem with her wearing @ElieSaabWorld but I do have a problem with posting her picture from Elie Saab’s account and bragging about an ex-Israeli soldier wearing his dress!” tweeted one critic. “Don’t ruin one the few things that make us proud Lebanese people!”

The Israeli star has not publically addressed the Lebanese boycott of her movie since it hit screens. Surprisingly, a sequel she also starred in, Justice League, was cleared for screening in the country.

According to a report on Ynet News, this was not the first time Gadot has faced backlash from Americans of Arab descent, not merely for being an Israeli but also for having served in the IDF.

“I love and respect Elie Saab, but is he really pleased when an Israeli actress wears his dress?” tweeted Lebanese journalist Heba Bitar.

“I don’t have a problem with her wearing @ElieSaabWorld but I do have a problem with posting her picture from Elie Saab’s account and bragging about an ex-Israeli soldier wearing his dress!” tweeted one critic. “Don’t ruin one the few things that make us proud Lebanese people!”

Israel and Lebanon are officially at war with each other, even though the last open confrontation between the Israeli Defense Forces and the arch-enemy militia Hezbollah happened in summer 2006. Since 2011, with the beginning of the civil war in Syria, Lebanon’s Shiia militia Hezbollah has been involved in operations to support President Bashar Assad against rebel forces in Syria.

Edited by: JV Staff
(i24 News & Ynet)

 

Michael Douglas Denies Charges of Sexual Misconduct in Hollywood Reporter Story

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Michael Douglas, the Oscar winning actor and producer, and famed son of Kirk Douglas, announced before it became common knowledge, that pending allegations that he masturbated in front on an aspiring actress and then had her blackballed from Hollywood, were false.

Michael Douglas, the Oscar winning actor and producer, and famed son of Kirk Douglas, announced before it became common knowledge, that pending allegations that he masturbated in front on an aspiring actress and then had her blackballed from Hollywood, were false.

Douglas, who received his Bachelor Degree in Drama at the University of California and won a series of Emmy nominations for his role in the ABC drama the Streets of San Francisco, has had an incredible career in film which began when he produced One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest starring Jack Nicholson. Douglas has starred in numerous films in both serious and comical nature with the height of his acting career taking place during the 1980s in such films as Romancing the Stone (1984) and Wall Street (1988).

Douglas related to Deadline Hollywood that he had been informed that the Hollywood Reporter was set to publish as story detailing supposed misdeeds that had taken place during the heyday of his acting career during the 1980s. The unidentified woman had worked for the actor’s production company in New York City, the Douglas related.

The allegations come at a time during of increased sensitivity in both the dramatic arts, the political world and in the news business around sexual harassment claims by high powered players such as Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer and other prominent figures.

Douglas and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones both support the #MeToo movement which centers around women who have been sexually assaulted. At the recent Golden Globes awards, actresses wore black in solidarity with those who had fallen prey to sexual misconduct by people like Weinstein and even well-respected actors like Dustin Hoffman, et. al.

“I don’t know where to begin,” the 73-year-old actor said in disbelief. “This is a complete lie, fabrication, not truth to it whatsoever,” Douglas told Deadline.

“I felf the need to get ahead of this,” Douglas related, as it “pertains to me but I’m also getting a sense of how it reflects in our culture, and what is going on today.”

While Douglas admitted that he often used profanities during his professional relationships, he had never directed any foul language in her presence adding that the woman worked in development and because “we didn’t have a good development record . . . I just moved on. I never blackballed her.”

Zeta-Jones defended her husband saying the they were “seeing changes that have taken many years t even be talked about. Jones and Douglas have been married for 17 years and their son, back in 2014, had his Bar Mitzvah in Israel.

By: Andrew Schiff

 

Jewish Woman in UK Gets Special Note from Prince Harry & Meghan Markle

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Meghan Markle, 36, and Prince Harry, 33, are to marry May 18th at Windsor Castle in what is to be a televised occasion

The upcoming royal wedding of the world’s most eligible bachelor, Prince Harry, and American actress Meghan Markle has the world royally exited. The couple has received well wishes from exited royal watchers as well as other celebrities and heads of state from around the world–but not everyone receives a personalized note in response, except of course, for Edna Levi, who lives just outside Leeds, England and is a members of the Leeds Jewish community.

The British born Levi, who is in her eighties, sent a congratulatory note expressing her “Mazel Tov” to the newly engaged couple, wanting to feel part of the excitement regarding the royal and highly publicized nuptials. What Ms. Levi did not expect when she checked her mail one day was a letter delivered straight from Buckingham Palace. Surely thousands of well wishers had sent similar notes to the couple, and yet Harry and Megan responded personally to the woman’s letter, leaving her both shocked and elated.

Ms. Levi’s note in part read:

“I’m British born but a member of the Jewish faith and we say Mazel Tov on a happy occasion. This is why I am saying it to you and wishing you well and good health.”

The prince and his American fiancée were so touched by the note they wrote back how “thoughtful” and “greatly appreciated” Ms. Levi’s words were.

“I’ve never written to the royal family before but I like Prince Harry because of the way he looks after charities, he’s a nice, normal young man,” said Ms. Levi, who was beyond shocked that she received such a heartfelt and personal reply.

Markle, 36, and Prince Harry, 33, are to marry May 18th at Windsor Castle in what is to be a televised occasion. The couple had received so much publicity during their courtship that Kensington Palace issued a letter warning the press to leave Ms. Meghan alone and also called out certain publications for their stories on the couple featuring sexist and racial undertones. Ms. Markle, who left her TV show Suits prior to the engagement, was previously married to Trevor Engelson, a Jewish film producer.

By Julie L. Sagoskin

 

Emanuel Rund; The Initiator of the Int’l Holocaust Remembrance Day

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Emanuel Rund tells of his life in New York and Hollywood and his successful start in to the film business. "Suddenly, I wanted to know where I came from," he said. In 1984, he traveled with his mother to her hometown of Aurich in East Friesland. There he learned the story of his relatives who were murdered by the Nazis; such as his grandparents Joseph and Ida Wolffs

“I wanted a day of remembrance for all the victims of National Socialism together” – An Interview with Emanuel Rund

A scene from Emanuel Rund’s film, “All Jews Out!”

Emanuel Rund, successful documentary filmmaker and producer, grew up as the son of German Jews in Israel. When he moved to Germany after completion of training, he noticed that there was in this country no remembrance for the victims of National Socialism–and grabbed the process of memory reprocessing in Germany under the arms. Johanna Strunge has spoken to us by Rund.

If Emanuel Rund talks about his idea for a German Day of Remembrance for Victims of National Socialism, he begins with his life in America. Around grows up as the son of German Jews in Israel. For his training as a documentary filmmaker, he goes to the USA. He tells of his life in New York and Hollywood and its successful start into the film business. “Suddenly, I wanted to know where I came from.” In 1984, he travels with his mother in her hometown Aurich in East Friesland. There he learns the story of his murdered by the Nazis relatives–such as his grandparents Joseph and Ida Wolffs.

About the history of his family, he opens up gradually about the history of National Socialism. “It surprised me very much that there is no remembrance for the Holocaust in Germany,” says Rund. He knows the Yom HaShoah, the Israeli Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was introduced in 1951.

Rund remains in Germany and his life builds up over the eighties here. He is rabbi and cantor of some communities and on the board of the Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation. He is in contact with important people from politics, the church and education. These contacts he uses to express his desire for a Remembrance Day: “I have asked hundreds of these people, if they cannot help to establish a memorial in Germany.”

A new impetus given its commitment to the memorial but only by Karin: 1994 goes Rund with a group of young people to Israel. He films them as they meet survivors, talk with volunteers of the Action Reconciliation Service for Peace and Yom HaShoah commemoration participate in Israeli at Yad Vashem. “Then,” he says, ” one of the young Germans, Karin, said in the camera that she was ashamed that there was no memorial day in Germany.” He uses the opportunity, as he calls it, ” to be naughty.”

He goes back to Germany to talk to the people; among other things, he will meet with the President of the Bundestag Prof. Dr. Rita Süssmuth. Again and again he asks the people the question: “Can you do something for the young people in your country who are ashamed that there is no memorial in their country?” In 1995, he engaged in almost around the clock so.

“And then I got in early January 1996, the response from Berlin, the German President Roman Herzog have now taken over this project,” says Round, “and that he will proclaim a day of remembrance for Germany 27 January.” He laughs and cries, ” Hallelujah! ”

On 3rd of January 1996, President Roman Herzog declared the January 27th, a day of remembrance for the victims of National Socialism. The date commemorates 27 January 1945, when the Red Army liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp. It is envisaged that day express all of whom the Nazis systematically persecuted. “That was for me from the beginning of special concern,” says Rund. “I wanted to put together a day of remembrance for the Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, political and clergy resistance and all the other victims of persecution.”

President Roman Herzog and Rund are of the opinion that in fact, the commemoration of the Holocaust is of great importance for the young generation. “My goal is always the education of the younger generation and the motivation for a better future,” said Rund. Therefore all witnesses were interviewed by young people in his second German film “All Jews Out!”. He also raves about imaginative school projects in the framework of the German Remembrance Day.

Nevertheless Rund also exerts considerable criticism: “January 27, when you go to the Marienplatz in Munich or at Alexanderplatz in Berlin, you do not notice that it is a memorial day! In Israel that is quite different. There, we all know from Memorial Day and it would take place in the morning. Around 10:00 o’clock am, a two-minute siren is sounded. “In every city and even on the highway everything stops, people go out and then stand for two minutes in silence.” Rund says that this would also be a good addition to the German Day of Remembrance for Victims of National Socialism. But he doesn’t want to set it now: “I now have so many other projects. Especially I am busy for example in the process of digitizing my huge private archive so it is available to the public.

He laughs and says: “I grabbed the Memorial Day project under my arms and now I’m looking for people who grab me by the arms… ”

Whoever wants to know more about Emanuel Rund can visit his blog at http://emanuelrund.wordpress.com.

The interview was conducted by Johanna Strunge, 2009/10 ASF volunteer.

As Emanuel Rund came in 1985 to shoot his first film in Germany, one of many issues he had to “settle” with the Germans was to initiate a memorial day for the Holocaust and for all other victims of the Nazis. He did it in the early 1990’s, raising the issue with many people he met. The last phase of the campaign was in May 1994 after filming young Germans on the Jewish Memorial Day to the Holocaust, Yom-Hashoah in Yad Vashem. He campaigned for one and a half years; spoke with over 200 politicians, civil activists, teachers and the clergy.

Then on January 3rd 1996 the German President Roman Herzog chose the 27th of January as a Memorial Day. Later it was adopted by the European Union, followed by the UN as The International Remembrance Day for the whole world.

Edited by: JV Staff

 

 

Autistic IDF Recruits Beckon Age of Inclusive Vision in the Military

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Roim Rachok cadets receive guidance from their commanding officer
A Roim Rachok cadet scans aerial photographs for suspicious activity

For decades, service in the Israel Defense Forces has been an important rite of passage for Israeli youth and a launch pad for social and professional success. But until recently, young adults on the Autism spectrum were unable to take advantage of this crucial and transformative experience. That is, until a forward-thinking program righted this shortsighted mistake in a way that benefits the entire Jewish State.

Known as “Roim Rachok” (literally “looking beyond the horizon”), the innovative program allows young adults with “high functioning” Autism, those who have above-average intelligence but struggle with social interaction and communication, to join the IDF as volunteer soldiers. Using their unique abilities of spatial intelligence and visual perception, these young cadets make valuable contributions to Israel’s most sensitive security operations.

Thanks to Roim Rachok, Pvt. E, a young man on the spectrum who never thought he would be able to join the army now serves in a sensitive intelligence unit. Though he struggled with certain social situations and was often easily distracted, the skills he gained from the program allowed him to secure a position working in software quality assurance, accomplishing what he and his family previously deemed impossible.

The brainchild of Tamir Pardo, the former head of the Mossad, and his retired colleagues, Tal Vardi and Leora Sali, Roim Rachok empowers young men and women on the Autism spectrum, teaching them basic life skills and preparing them for Israel’s job market through extensive training and invaluable security experience.

“I knew this program had potential because it taps into their strengths, specifically intense focus for extensive periods of time and strong visual capabilities,” says Sali, who understands this from her own experience as the mother of a son on the Autism spectrum. “I first became involved in this out of personal motivation, but I have moved on to a broader goal – to do something that has an impact on others.”

In order to ensure the greatest impact, Roim Rachok enlisted the help of the organization Beyond the Horizon and Ono Academic College the fastest growing institute of higher education in Israel and a model of inclusive undergraduate and graduate programming, to train both the recruits and the IDF commanders, most of whom have little experience interacting with individuals on the spectrum. Ono Academic College provides Roim Rachok with access to a full faculty of health professionals, including occupational and speech therapists which also enables the students to work with Roim Rachok for their practical experience.

During the first three months of the program, the pre-army training takes place at Ono Academic College, where a team of military specialists and health professionals, including speech, occupational and emotional therapists and psychotherapists, teach the recruits how to communicate with their commanders, make presentations in public, write a polite email, and travel using public transportation. Throughout the course, the curriculum focuses equally on technical and socio-emotional training, preparing recruits to work with others in a professional setting. The training continues for three more months at an army base in an effort to ease the recruits into their news surroundings.

Once the training is complete, the newly-minted soldiers are accompanied by an occupational therapist and a psychotherapist, who provide guidance to the cadets on the spectrum and their commanders and colleagues.

“Commanders have told me that working with Autistic soldiers has made them better commanders and better human beings,” says Sali. “They say they are better able to accept others, with their strengths and weaknesses, and develop more patience and sensitivity, which affects their relationships with all soldiers, not just the ones on the spectrum.”

Back in 2013, the program’s first group was trained to scan aerial photographs for suspicious activity, a role that requires great concentration. The recruits’ success in this area led to the growth of the program, which now prepares the teens to work in software quality assurance, information sorting, electro-optics and various tasks for the air force and intelligence.

Once they reach 21, individuals on the spectrum are usually burdened with the challenge of fending for themselves following the cessation of state-funded programs and assistance. Roim Rachok provides its graduates with a soft landing that includes a network of friends, a toolbox of life skills, a greater sense of belonging in mainstream Israeli society, and a professional future.

“A number of companies have expressed interest in hiring our graduates. And for the first time, they are able to decide what they do and how they do it,” says Sali. “There is a ripple effect, and this program touches more than just the recruits – it impacts their extended families and their entire neighborhoods. It’s a change in Israeli society, and we’re part of that.”

By: Ayala Young

 

 

ABCs of Tu B’Shvat

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On Tu B’Shvat, it is also customary to eat a "new fruit" – a seasonal fruit that you have not yet tasted this season

The “new year for trees” has a special set of meaningful customs.

Tu B’Shvat appears in the Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 2a) as one of the four “new years” in the Jewish calendar:

“Beit Hillel says that the ‘new year for the trees’ is the 15th of Shevat – Tu B’Shvat.”

The custom on Tu B’Shvat is to eat fruits from the seven species for which the Land of Israel is praised: “…a land of wheat, barley, [grape] vines, fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and [date] honey” (Deut. 8:8).

Kabbalistic tradition even includes a mystical Tu B’Shvat “seder” service (conceptually similar to the Passover seder), where the inner dimensions of fruits are expounded, along with blessings, songs and deep discussion. The 16th century kabbalist Arizal taught that eating 10 specific fruits and drinking four cups of wine in a specific order can bring one closer to spiritual perfection.

Some Jews preserve their etrog from Sukkot and eat it on Tu B’Shvat. This is also considered a propitious day to pray for a beautiful etrog on the following Sukkot.

In contemporary Israel, Tu B’Shvat is a sort of Jewish Arbor Day – a day of environmental awareness where trees are planted in celebration.

 

Agricultural Laws in Israel

Tu B’Shvat has great significance in the agricultural laws that are relevant in the Land of Israel.

As “new year for the trees,” Tu B’Shvat is the cut-off date in the Hebrew calendar for calculating the age of a fruit-bearing tree.

Each tree is considered to have its “birthday” on Tu B’Shvat. This means if you planted a tree a few weeks before Tu B’Shvat, it begins its second year on Tu B’Shvat; whereas a tree planted after that time does not reach its second year until the following Tu B’Shvat.

Think of Tu B’Shvat as the fiscal year for agriculture.

The practical relevance of this is that during a tree’s first three years, its fruits are forbidden under the biblical injunction against eating Orlah (Leviticus 19:23).

Furthermore, Tu B’Shvat is the new year for determining the tithes: In years 1, 2, 4 and 5 of the 7-year Shmita cycle, 10 percent of produce grown in Israel is Maaser Sheni, which must be redeemed with a coin. In years 3 and 6 of the cycle, that 10 percent is Maaser Ani.

When partaking of fruits grown in Israel, they must be properly tithed. Otherwise, the fruits are not “kosher.”

 

Blessings on Fruit

The proper blessing before eating any fruit is:

“Baruch Atah Adod-nai Elohai-nu Melech HaOlam boray pri ha-aitz.”

“Blessed are you God, King of the Universe, Who creates the fruit of the tree.”

[A few fruits, such as pineapple, have a different blessing – the last word is changed to “ha-adama.”]

On Tu B’Shvat, it is also customary to eat a “new fruit” – a seasonal fruit that you have not yet tasted this season.

When eating two foods with the same bracha, e.g. a date and an apple that both require Ha’aitz, one bracha covers both foods.

If you plan to eat more than one kind of fruit, the principle is: Say a blessing (bracha) over the more important of the two foods. The Code of Jewish Law (OC 211) outlines a specific order in which to say the bracha over (and consequently which food to eat first).

A key factor in determining “importance” is the special “Seven Species.” Therefore when faced with two foods of the same bracha – e.g. dates and apples – you would say Ha’aitz on the dates (one of the seven species).

[The special status of the Seven Species applies even to non-Israeli produce. Although, with all things being equal, produce grown in Israel has bracha-preference over produce from the Diaspora.]

Furthermore, this verse teaches the order of importance within the seven species themselves. The rule is that a fruit or grain that is mentioned closer to the word “land” (which appears twice in the verse) is considered of higher importance. Within the seven species, the order of importance is:

wheat / barley / olives / dates / grapes / figs / pomegranates

To memorize this list, one rabbi suggests the following ditty, whose first letters correspond to the first letter of the seven species, in order: We Believe One Day God Forgives Penitents.

By: Rabbi Shraga Simmons
(Aish.com)

For more details on the laws of brachos, see:

 

Insights Into Tu B’Shevat – Holy Eating

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Rav Tsadok HaKohen (a Chassidic rebbe who lived in Poland, 1823-1900) explains that at our Tu'B'Shvat table we are reenacting what life was like for Adam and Eve before their sin, when they were fruitarians

Run a search on food and Jewish culture on Google and you will get about 2,380,000 results, including one which starts with the observation that “Jewish culture is often associated in the popular imagination with food.” For that matter, Jewish culture is often associated in the Jewish imagination with food- as are our spiritual beliefs and practices. It’s difficult to even think about a Jewish holiday, any Jewish holiday, without thinking about a. what you eat that day or b. what you aren’t allowed to eat on that day.

So where does this obsession come from?

Actually, there are some deep spiritual roots to the Jewish obsession with food- what, how, and when it should be consumed.

When the first man and woman were created, Adam and Eve, they were given two explicit commandments: to eat from all the trees of the garden, and not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Yet, they ate from it. So the first sin committed in this world was a sin of improper eating. It was through this sin that the yeitzer hara (evil inclination) became a part of each of us, challenging us to this day with obstacles to our spiritual growth. When Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge, an impurity was brought into the world as a whole as well.

On Tu’B’shvat we have a unique opportunity to fix all of that.

Rav Tsadok HaKohen (a Chassidic rebbe who lived in Poland, 1823-1900) explains that at our Tu’B’Shvat table we are reenacting what life was like for Adam and Eve before their sin, when they were fruitarians. When we sit before our Tu B’Shvat spread, our table filled with fruits of every sort, it is as if we have returned to the Garden of Eden, and are fulfilling the one explicit positive commandment that we received there- one of the most ancient commandments in the Torah. It’s really pretty awesome in its simple way.

Yet how do we account for the negative commandment of not eating from the Tree of Knowledge? Especially since many of the fruits of our table are suspected of being of the same species as the infamous forbidden Tree of Knowledge. One opinion says it was a fig tree, another says it was a grape vine (which actually was a tall tree in the Garden of Eden, but was lowered to a vine by the sin of Adam and Eve), another opinion says that it was wheat…. In fact, for each of the seven species of fruit associated with the Land of Israel, all of which are eaten on Tu B’shvat, there is an opinion that it is the species of the forbidden tree.

It seems like when we sit down to eat fruits on Tu B’shvat, we’re doing the same thing Adam and Eve did- we’re obeying the positive commandment while violating the negative one. It can’t be that we are brazenly disobeying G d’s command and eating specifically from the Tree of Knowledge (i.e. olives, dates, etc) and calling it a mitzvah.

Rav Tsadok explains that the Tree of Knowledge was all of the seven species and none of them at the same time. He explains that the Tree of Knowledge was not one species of fruit as opposed to another- it was not a thing at all but a way of doing something- a way of eating. Whenever a person grabs pleasure from the world, he falls spiritually and it is as if he is eating from the Tree of Knowledge. What does it mean to grab pleasure? It means to get so distracted by the pleasure of consumption that we forget about our Creator. We take the gift and leave the Giver behind.

When we eat the many fruits associated with the Tree of Knowledge on Tu B’shvat and do so with consciousness of our Creator, that in itself is a rectification of what happened in Garden of Eden.

Based on a tradition from the Sefer Yetzira, the world’s oldest work of Kabbalah, we all know that the Hebrew month of Shvat is a time when there is a unique opportunity to rectify our relationship with food and with pleasure in general.

This is expressed in the passage which states: “G-d made the letter tsadik rule over indulgent eating, the month of Shvat and the gizzard in the soul.”

The word used for eating is l’eita , and not achila . L’eita is more gluttonous. It’s the word that Esau uses when he comes in from the field, famished, and asks Jacob to “stuff some of the red stuff you’re cooking down my throat.” For these words, his generations carry the name Edom (related to adom, “red”), to this day.

By: Sarah Schneider
(Chabad.org)

 

Rabbi Mendel Kessin on President Trump and his Relationship to the Heralding of Moshiach

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Rabbi Mendel Kessin received his first smicha from the late great Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and went on to receive several more from Israeli rabbis. R'Kessin is also a graduate of Fordham University, where he received his professional degree in psychology
Rabbi Kessin says: Trump is not the messiah of the Jews; but he is the catalyst to “m’taher”—purify—the good part of Esau, which is America.

The following ideas are gleaned almost exclusively from a shiur that Rabbi Mendel Kessin gave on motzei Shabbat, December 23rd, 2017 in Lakewood New Jersey. In addition, there are a few ideas taken from his previous shiurim. I have tried to assemble his ideas and present them in a style that is both natural to me and allows me to express the power and importance that I ascribe to them. I have also incorporated some of the language as articulated by him.

The dramatic events of recent weeks, occurring in rapid succession — namely Trump’s brazen stance on behalf of Jerusalem and the U.N.’s consequential reaction to it, the commutation of Rubashkin’s imprisonment, the passing of the tax reform bill, and the reforms in Saudi Arabia — are all the more exciting if regarded as steps of a messianic process.

Trump’s action of declaring Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was immediately denounced as “counterproductive.” Strident voices warned of risks to the peace process while cries of uprising resounded in the Muslim world. Trump’s action was reckoned as a possible cause for a crusade to wrest Jerusalem from the Jews, not unlike medieval Christendom’s crusades to wrest Jerusalem from the Muslims. Almost immediately, the U.N. demanded that Trump rescind his declaration.

Trump warned he would de-fund those who enjoy America’s largesse while spurning its values. Trump’s release of Rubashkin came suddenly on the eighth day of Chanukah. The ensuing raucous, global celebration is not unlike Yosef finding himself just hours after his release standing before the imperial man-god of Egypt. Auspiciously, on the same day as Rubashkin’s release, the long-awaited tax reform bill was approved, heralding for its proponents a prosperous future. Lastly, Saudi Arabia’s radical shift toward liberalism and modernity, its abandonment of Wahhabi extremism suggests that, this too, is messianic.

We know, according to the Ramban, that events of the Patriarchs are the template for their descendants. The hidden story of Ya’akov and Esau reveals the prophetic features of recent events. The epic struggle begun in Rivkah’s womb is, in actuality, the future unfolding of the messianic era.

The following is a synopsis of Rabbi Mendel Kessin’s shiur.

1- Background: Whereas the patriarchal task of Ya’akov was to bring down kedusha, dwelling in tents of Torah, Esau, who was no less a patriarch, had a different task. His was to subdue and destroy evil in the bloody, debauched fields of the world. Esau’s neshama as “shoresh” — root soul — was meant to destroy the root of evil, the Satan, ending evil’s existence. Unfortunately, Esau succumbed to the Satan’s wiles and, instead of fighting him, fed him. Having failed, the task of rectifying creation, which is referred to as the “tikun” process, continues instead with Ya’akov and his descendents’ observance of mitzvot, doing t’shuva, or enduring suffering. All three of these terms are tikun devices. But even Esau’s failure to be part of the tikun process and resultant loss of the blessing is destined for a reclamation and reversal.

2- The Prophecy: This state of affairs of Esau’s possible failure of his task was preceded by a prophecy given to our matriarch Rivkah, that the elder of the twin brothers, i.e. Esau, agitating within her would “serve” the younger. But the wording of “serve” in the Torah text can be read either as “ya’avod” he shall serve or “va’aved” he shall oppress, due to the absence of pronunciation markings — nekudot in the Torah text. Therefore two potential meanings emerge. Thus Esau must be involved in the tikun or rectification process by either assisting Ya’akov directly in his observance of the mitzvot, or being the cause of his suffering, which is also a tikun method.

What emerges from this is that Esau will serve Ya’akov if he serves G-d’s Will, or Esau will persecute and oppress him if he sins. Such has been the relationship between B’nei Yisroel (the nation of Ya’akov) and Edom (the nation of Esau) since the inception of the Roman subjugation which ultimately morphed into Christianity and its subsequent inquisitions and expulsions, and again morphing into Western Civilization and its subsequent pogroms, blood libels, crusades, and exterminations i.e. Holocaust.

Esau has indeed fostered judgment and suffering upon the Jews for their myriad transgressions. However, this hostile and antagonistic relationship is destined for a reversal of his original task of serving Ya’akov. The elder will indeed eventually serve the younger, and will rejoin Yisroel in the final phase of the Jewish national task — tikun, and thereby receive merit and reward.

3- The Struggle: “A man fought with Ya’akov all night,” scripture says. The man is Esau’s guardian angel, Satan. Why all night? Four thousand years of crushing exile is indeed a long night. When morning dawns, and the messianic era commences, the angel demands to be released. Ya’akov refuses unless and until the angel blesses him. The angel’s blessing admits that Ya’akov has prevailed over him. As victor, Ya’akov is now the legitimate appointee of G-d. He has earned the name “Yisroel.” Esau also concurs by saying, “Let that which is yours, be yours.” It is of critical importance to note that Esau’s complaint against Ya’akov for stealing the blessings and the birthright is withdrawn.

So who are these fractured manifestations of Esau today? Edom’s three-fold nature, like that of its progenitor who is Esau, is arrogance, fraudulence, and hedonism. Who are Edom’s practitioners of recent times? They are: The Soviet Union, the arrogant Communist state descendant from the ruthless Czars and Russian aristocrats. Europe is the magnificent fraud which gave the world the Enlightenment even as it was brutalizing the Jews, ornamenting its treachery with gold-leafed splendor. Hedonistic America has been comparatively benign, a purveyor and consumer of pleasure and exponent of liberty and justice. America is the “tov she’b’Esau” to be purified by his t’shuva.

4- Vidui / T’shuva: Who will do this? Donald J. Trump is that man, though he is unaware of his Divine mission and certainly wouldn’t believe it if he were told so. What, basically, is a messianic figure but someone who creates a paradigm shift or, in Trump’s phraseology, “drains the swamp.” Certainly, Trump is not the messiah of the Jews; but he is the catalyst to “m’taher” — purify — the good part of Esau, which is America. Trump is Esau’s representative in the field, tamping down America’s evil, helping Israel, and, at long last, returning to the original task which he was born to accomplish, namely, tikun rectification.

The declaration that Jerusalem, the holy city of G-d, is Israel’s capital is Edom’s admission that Israel is, undeniably, G-d’s appointee, and Judaism is its spiritual root. And if Jerusalem is the Jewish capital, then what else is Israel but the Jewish homeland? “Let that which is yours, be yours” declares Esau. Consider too that shortly after his inauguration, Trump visited the Kotel, being the only U.S. president to do so. Recall that popular image of him in meditation, testifying to the supremacy of the G-d of Abraham in view of the entire world, an act of t’shuva on behalf of Esau. As an addendum to this, there are two more acts of t’shuva: First, Trump gave a Chanukah party at the White House. What is Esau/Edom doing praising Jews for their Chanukah? It is a form of vidui — confession — that the spiritual nexus of the Jews is the Beit ha’Mikdash for what else is the essential event of Chanukah but the rededication of the Beit Ha’Mikdash? Next, Edom/Trump, by commuting Rubashkin’s sentence, symbolically expresses regret and remorse for the continuing treachery toward the Jews who, though not unstained by sin, were, like Rubashkin, certainly ravaged and brutalized beyond their due. And the accompanying ecstasy, the dancing in the streets of the world by throngs of Jews implies that Rubashkin’s liberation was intuitively felt like the liberation of all Klal Yisroel. Furthermore, we should regard his liberation to be a subtle harbinger of the way Moshiach ben Yosef will appear, suddenly and with tumultuous fanfare.

5- Satan’s Demise: With Trump’s ongoing fortification of America and its might enlisted on behalf of Israel, that prosecutorial angel, namely the Satan, already weakened from millennia of our mitzvot, t’shuva and suffering, is nearly vanquished. His desperation is demonstrated by the opposition to Trump which is unprecedented and extraordinary.

6- Gog u’Magog: It is critical to understand that the U.N. is the present-day Gog u’Magog that is prophesied by Ezekial, chapter 38. The numerical value of Gog u’Magog is “70,” which is the total number of roots of the nations of the world. It is Edom’s /America’s repentance and its mission to defend the Jewish nation against its enemies. We see now that the continual attacks on Israel are being blocked by Trump. We now have a formidable advocate powerful enough to temper their vicious and outrageous claims.

7- T’hara Purification of Ishmael: In the last days, Ishmael, like Esau, has a t’hara. Yalkut Shemoni 499 of Yeshayahu prophesies that shortly before Moshiach ben David appears, Poras (Persia, present-day Iran) wars with Arav (Arabia, present-day Saudi Arabia) and Arav seeks counsel with Edom (America). The Saudis/Sunnis and their allies (Ishmaelites) have woken up to the fact that unless it allies itself with America and Israel, they’re defenseless against Iran and its allies. Furthermore, with the advent of electric and hydrogen-powered cars, they anticipate the price of oil declining. So, having dismissed the radical Wahhabi clerics, replacing them with religious advisors amenable to Christianity and Judaism, and collaborating with Trump and Israel, Salman has aligned himself anew. The Palestinian Authority is becoming “neutered ” and rendered irrelevant. Deals disadvantageous to Israel are fading and there is a chance for Israel’s stunted growth to regenerate.

8- The Downfall of the “Erev Rav”: This term refers to those forces that seek to destroy the authority of the Torah which is the unique bond between G-d and the Jews. It would seem that the current manifestation of the Erev Rav is the media, the Supreme Court, the Knesset , the military establishment, and those prominent Jews who seek to sever or weaken the bond between the Jews and the Torah. They will fall as suddenly as Haman, and as surprisingly as Trump’s popular movement took hold. This is the classic “ve’nehapech hu” a term that refers to the sudden overthrow of Haman, that which seems to come out of nowhere. Another indication of the Erev Rav’s waning influence was the absence of Reform Movement representatives at Trump’s Chanukah party.

9- Preparation for Moshiach: The Jews require preparation for Moshiach’s arrival. As happened at Sinai, the exposure to the Messianic light is overwhelming and potentially lethal. After the Erev Rav are deposed, an interim and transitional leader can, with “besiyata dishmaya” — heavenly assistance, reform the government and raise Klal Yisroel’s spirituality and Torah scholarship. This can be brought about by restoring a true Torah curriculum in the elementary and high schools in Israel and by funding kiruv organizations. It must not be supposed that anyone will be forced or coerced toward this goal. However , a Jew’s neshama is always susceptible to Torah because of the Divine spark that exists within him.

Anyone seeking further clarification and explanation of current events and the messianic process should go to Rabbi Kessin’s website, Torahthinking.com for the complete “21st Century” series of video lectures. You will also find 300 shiurim which deal extensively with the hashkofa of Ramchal, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto.

His videos can also be found at https://www.torahanytime.com.

You’ll also find his video lectures on YouTube. Simply type in “Rabbi Kessin.”

Rabbi Mendel is also a teacher of the methodology of learning Torah which promises to significantly improve a person’s ability to learn Torah.

By: Robin Diamond

Robin Diamond, originally from Brooklyn, NY, taught Language Arts in an L.A. high school for 24 years. She and her husband Yonathan made aliyah to Israel in 2011 and live, very happily, in Ma’ale Adumim.

Rabbi Mendel Kessin received his first smicha from the late great Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and went on to receive several more from Israeli rabbis. R’Kessin is also a graduate of Fordham University, where he received his professional degree in psychology. In 1987, R’Kessin helped found the Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation. R’Kessin, an expert on the writings of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (RAMCHAL), lectures extensively and internationally on the Torah of R’Luzzatto. He also lectures on the Torah learning methodology of the RAMCHAL. Lately, he has given a series of lectures on President Trump and the messianic process. These lectures have been heard by tens of thousands of people on the internet.

 

Parshas Bo – Reinvigorate Yourself Jewishly

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The Jewish people do not put forth our own light, but reflect the light of G-d, meaning that we do not act in accordance with our will or desire

At the beginning of the parsha, we are told that one of HaShem`s goals in the exodus from Egypt was to insure that we tell that story to our progeny: “And so that you may relate it in the ears of your sons and your son`s sons what I have wrought upon Egypt, and My signs which I have placed among them that you may know that I am the L-rd” (Exodus 10:2).

After reading this passage, the obvious question that comes to mind is, if we are commanded to teach our children, then it is they who will know, but the text reads that you, the teller of the story may know. Furthermore, the order appears to be in reverse–should one not have knowledge before teaching? The Torah is revealing to us a profound truth regarding human nature. The best way to acquire understanding is by accepting the responsibility of instructing others, for that experience compels us to study and seek insights.

Thus, it is not unusual for a man or a woman who never gave too much thought to their Judaism to undergo a total transformation once they become parents. They realize that if they are conveying something of lasting value, and if they are to tell “the story” to their children, they must first and foremost possess that knowledge. This logic holds true, not only vis a vis children, but every time we are challenged to explain ourselves as Jews, we are prompted to explore our roots.

The text also shows us how we might best impart this lesson: “Speak unto the ears of your children”–meaning, the teaching has to be personalized and intimate. The study of Torah cannot be just a cerebral experience, but it must be an emotional and spiritual one as well. It must be transmitted from heart to heart with love and passion. It is this that enabled Joseph to retain his faith as a lone Jew in Egypt. Despite his suffering, he never faltered, for engraved upon his heart and mind was the image of his father`s teaching.

From this passage, our sages also conclude that if there are three generations (sons and sons` sons) in one family who are committed to the study of Torah, we may be assured that the Torah and the mitzvos will never depart from that family. The litmus test of Jewish continuity is whether Judaism continues into the third generation. In our contemporary society, in which demographics demonstrate that we are rapidly losing our numbers to assimilation and intermarriage, this question weighs heavily upon us: “Will our grandchildren remain Jews?”

Tragically, ours is a generation that has become spiritually orphaned and most of us do not have zeides who can tell the story, so we must seek out our rabbis and Torah teachers and ask them to “relate the story in our ears”. And that is the goal that we at Hineni have set for ourselves in teaching Torah. When you come to Hineni, it`s not just knowledge that you acquire, but a total personal Jewish experience. Make it your priority to study Torah and then, tell the story in someone`s ear and re-invigorate yourself Jewishly.

We have survived the centuries because this commandment to tell the story to our children and our children`s children, is at the heart of our faith. No matter where destiny may have taken us, we continued to relate that tale and shall continue to do so until the end of time.

THE GIFT OF TIME

In this week’s parsha, we find the first mitzva that G-d gave us as a nation. This month shall be for you the beginning of months…(Exodus, 12:2). With that proclamation, HaShem endowed us with the greatest of all gifts–time. In bondage in Egypt, our time did not belong to us. Our days meshed one into the other. Every day was painfully and monotonously the same. In the life of a slave there is no hope, there is no creativity; there is no future. But free men have choices to make and the most important choice is to use time wisely and not squander it away.

This commandment is especially pertinent to us in the twenty-first century. While technology and modern scientific inventions have freed us from much drudgery and hard labor, and we have more time at our disposal than our forefathers ever dreamt possible, we have also unfortunately come to abuse that time and fritter it away on pointless, meaningless pursuits. Our technology has actually created inane programs that serve only to kill time. However, when G-d spoke to us and entrusted to us that great gift of time, He demanded more from us than just using time expeditiously. He charged us with the command of sanctifying time and making it holy. We do this through Kiddush HaChodesh–sanctifying the New Month.

In contrast to the solar calendar used by the rest of the world, ours is a lunar calendar and there is a profound teaching to be found therein. In contrast to the sun, the moon does not generate its own light, but reflects the sun’s rays. Similarly, we, the Jewish people do not put forth our own light, but reflect the light of G-d, meaning that we do not act in accordance with our will or desire, but rather, our mission is to fulfill the Will of G-d, and even as the moon illuminates the night, our task is to illuminate the darkness of the world with our Torah.

Another reason why we have a lunar calendar is that the moon waxes and wanes every month, and even as the moon renews and regenerates itself, so we too have a mandate to rejuvenate and revitalize ourselves through tshuva. This mitzva of establishing the calendar, of sanctifying the new month, was chosen by G-d to be the very first of our 613 commandments, for it is the very first lesson that HaShem wanted us to absorb.

Freedom from Egyptian bondage does not mean that we are free from responsibility. It does not mean that we can do with our time that which we wish. On the contrary, when G-d charged us with this mitzva of time, He entrusted us with the greatest of all responsibilities–to sanctify time–to utilize every moment prudently for its holy name’s sake.

As Jews, we must be ever cognizant that our life here is temporary and that we must make the most of every moment, for the time will come when G-d will ask us to give an accounting for every day of our lives. So let us sanctify our time here on earth through our holidays, through our Sabbaths, through our Torah studies, through our prayers and through our acts of kindness.

By: Rabbi Osher Jungreis
(Hineni.org)

 

Parshas Bo – The Redemption Comes When Things Seem Bleakest

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Eating the Korban Pessach each year symbolizes our bravery in slaughtering the G-d of the Egyptians and eating it in our homes on the night of the Exodus in accordance with G-d’s mitzvah.

This week’s parsha contains a “famous pasuk”: “They baked the dough that they took out of Egypt into unleavened cakes, for they could not be leavened, for they were driven from Egypt for they could not delay nor had they made provisions for themselves.” [Shmos 12:39]. I refer to this pasuk as a “famous pasuk” because aside from the fact that we read it in the Torah on Parshas Bo every year, we say it every year at the Pesach Seder, as one of the most essential parts of the Hagaddah.

This is the proof text cited by Rabban Gamliel’s teaching “Whoever has not said these 3 things has not fulfilled his obligation” of eating Matzah on Seder night.”

If we think about it, this seems like a rather minor side point to the whole story of the Exodus. The fact that they were driven out quickly and had no time to bake bread that night would hardly seem to rate as a crucial factor in the miraculous deliverance! And yet because of this seemingly insignificant event we eat Matzo. We eat Maror because we suffered a bitter slavery for 210 years. This fact easily qualifies for a significant ritual symbol of the holiday of Passover. Eating the Korban Pessach each year symbolizes our bravery in slaughtering the G-d of the Egyptians and eating it in our homes on the night of the Exodus in accordance with G-d’s mitzvah. This too is a significant occurrence. But where is the fundamental significance in the fact that we did not have time to bake bread when we were chased out of Egypt?

Furthermore, we might ask, why did not they have a little foresight? We spend weeks preparing for Pesach. They didn’t have any cleaning to worry about. Moshe told them ahead of time they were leaving Egypt the next day. They should have packed up and prepared provisions. Why were they so rushed at the last minute that they did not have time to let their dough rise? What is the meaning of this?

The answer is the following: The Jews expected to leave Egypt right after the plague of blood. They were packed, they had their provisions, and they were ready to go. The plague of blood came and went and there was no movement. Nothing happened. Again with the frogs, there was a “false alarm” that they were about to leave. However the status quo persisted after frogs and after each of the first nine plagues. By the time of the Plague of the First Born, people already did not believe that the end was imminent. They took a “I’ve been there, done that” attitude and were not going to get caught yet again making provisions and having to unpack and unwrap the meals that they had prepared for the road.

They did not pack. They did not prepare. They did not bake. They did not believe. They were so depressed and so helpless as a result of the rollercoaster of emotions they had been through during the previous 9 plagues that they did not expect to leave when they did.

The lesson of the Exodus is that the salvation of G-d can come in the blink of an eye. It could be that yesterday the odds against it happening appeared astronomical, but today it might yet happen. This is the way redemption works. The Exodus is the paradigm for all future redemptions. It is always darkest before the dawn. Geulah [redemption] comes Precisely at the point of hopelessness.

This is why it is most significant for all generations to celebrate the Exodus by eating matzah. Which matzah? The matzah that symbolized the fact that they gave up hope of ever leaving to the extent that no one prepared an iota of food ahead of time.

When we look at the situation in Eretz Yisrael today, we get depressed. Everyone asks – what is going to be? The lesson of the Exodus and the lesson of all Jewish redemption is that G-d’s salvation can come in the blink of an eye. If we merit it, things can turn around in the time it takes to snap one’s fingers!

By: Rabbi Yissocher Frand
(Torah.org)