Opuscula Gandhi Revisited

HAVING KEYED (“PENNED” NO LONGER IS ACCURATE) yesterday’s screed on Gandhi and Eichmann I did an internet search for more Gandhi-on-Jews articles.

One recurring theme in Gandhi’s life was that Jews should willing offer their necks to the slaughter’s sword, be the slaughter nazi or Muslim.

In sacrificing Jewish lives, Gandhi was absolutely consistent.

THE FIRST ARTICLE I encountered was an op-ed piece by Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. in the LA Times for September 24, 2009.¹

Having already reminded the Jews that they should have allowed the nazis to slaughter them, Gandhi then tells the survivors that any Jew who wants to go home (to Israel) to let the Arabs slaughter them.

Of course no one would dare accuse the “holy man” of being anti-Semitic.

The final two paragraphs of the commentary read as follows:

"The cry for the national home for the Jews does not make much appeal to me. The sanction for it is sought in the Bible and the tenacity with which the Jews have hankered after return to Palestine. Why should they not, like other peoples of the Earth, make that country their home where they are born and where they earn their livelihood?

"Palestine belongs to the Arabs. ... Surely it would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine can be restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their national home. ... The Palestine of the biblical conception is not geographical tract. It is in their hearts. ... They can settle in Palestine only by the goodwill of the Arabs. They should seek to convert the Arab heart. The same God rules the Arab heart who rules the Jewish heart. They can offer ... themselves to be shot or thrown into the Dead Sea without raising a little finger against them. They will find the world opinion in their favor in their religious aspiration. . I am not defending the Arab excesses. I wish they had chosen the way of nonviolence in resisting what they rightly regarded as an unwarrantable encroachment upon their country. But according to the accepted canons of right and wrong, nothing can be said against the Arab resistance in the face of overwhelming odds."

Nelson Mandela was a believer in what Gandhi preached, despite what Gandhi wrote about South African blacks. (See Gandhi on blacks, below.)

Gandhi’s non-violent actions against the British in India worked because the British behaved in a (more or less) civilized manner. Unlike the nazis and Muslims, they did not butcher Gandhi’s followers.

Martin Luther King Jr. used Gandhi’s tactics in the U.S. to great success. Americans, like the Brits, were not rounding up blacks for wholesale killing. (That is not to pretend that no blacks were murdered by whites.)

Gandhi as Hitler’s friend

An opinion piece in the Jerusalem (nee’ Palestine) Post by Shmuley Boteach, contends that Gandhi decided to write Hitler a letter. In the letter, he refers to Hitler as his “friend.” While he condemns Hitler’s war and the actions toward the Jews, he assures Hitler, “Nor do we believe that you are the monster described by your opponents.”

Hitler also counted among his political – if not actual – friends the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Amin al-Husseini . (Al-Husseini was appointed to his post by the British.)

As an aside, a telegram from Heinrich Himmler to the grand mufti of Jerusalem has been found in the archives of Israel’s National Library.²

Believed to have been sent in 1943, it contains a promise by Hitler’s deputy to Haj Amin al-Husseini that the German Reich will stand behind the Arabs of Palestine and support their struggle against “Jewish intruders.”

Published on the library website on Wednesday, the telegraph notes that the struggle against world Jewry has been a principle of the German National Socialists from the start, and that the regime has always followed “with particular sympathy,” the struggle of “freedom-loving Arabs,” especially those in Palestine battling the Jews.

Martin Buber makes a point

Martin Buber3, in a letter to Gandhi, took exception to Gandhi’s comparison of the plight on non-whites in South Africa and the Jews in Europe.

Buber’s letter, in part, reads as follows: Jews are being persecuted, robbed, maltreated, tortured, murdered. And you, Mahatma Gandhi, say that their position in the country where they suffer all this is an exact parallel to the position of Indians in South Africa at the time you inaugurated your famous “Force of Truth” or “Strength of the Soul” (Satyagraha) campaign. There the Indians occupied precisely the same place, and the persecution there also had a religious tinge. There also the constitution denied equality of rights to the white and the black race including the Asiatics; there also the Indians were assigned to ghettos, and the other disqualifications were, at all events, almost of the same type as those of the Jews in Germany. I read and re-read these sentences in your article without being able to understand. Although I know them well, I re-read your South African speeches and writings, and called to mind, with all the attention and imagination at my command, every complaint you made therein, and I did likewise with the accounts of your friends and pupils at that time. But all this did not help me to understand what you say about us. In the first of your speeches with which I am acquainted, that of 1896, you quoted two particular incidents to the accompaniment of hisses from your audience: first, that a band of Europeans had set fire to an Indian village shop, causing some damage; and, second, that another band had thrown burning rockets into an urban shop. If I oppose to this the thousands on thousands of Jewish shops destroyed and burned out, you will perhaps answer that the difference is only one of quantity and that the proceedings were of almost the same type. But, Mahatma, are you not aware of the burning of synagogues and scrolls of the Law? Do you know nothing of all the sacred property of the community - some of it of great antiquity - that has been destroyed in the flames? I am not aware that Boers and Englishmen in South Africa ever injured anything sacred to the Indians. I find only one other concrete complaint quoted in that speech, namely, that three Indian schoolteachers, who were found walking in the streets after 9.00 p.m. contrary to orders, were arrested and only acquitted later on. That is the only incident of the kind you bring forward. Now do you know or do you not know, Mahatma, what a concentration camp is like and what goes on there? Do you know of the torments in the concentration camp, of its methods of slow and quick slaughter? I cannot assume that you know of this; for then this tragi-comic utterance “of almost the same type” could scarcely have crossed your lips.

Gandhi would have the Jews continue living in countries where they are prosecuted simply for being Jews.

Gandhi on Jews staying where they are

Gandhi seems to have believed that Jews born in France should stay in Frnce; born in England should stay in England.⁴. That might have been fine at one time; however, based on current news reports of attacks on Jews and Jewish property, that is not the case today.

Beyond that, what about Jews in Muslim-dominated lands.

During WW 2 there was at least one pogrom in Iran. Despite the ayatollahs’ assurances, Jews in Iran today are in jeopardy. About the only Muslim country where Jews were and are relatively safe – perhaps safer there than in France, Germany, or the Nordic countries, is Morocco. Libya, Algeria, not so much.

Still, Gandhi would have a Jew born in France stay in France, regardless of the level of anti-Semitism.

Gandhi on blacks

Taking a page from the leftists in the U.S. who insist on covering up the nation’s history by pulling down statutes and renaming everything connected with slavery,
A group of Ghanaian academics, students and artists is calling for the removal of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi from a university campus, saying that the leader of India's independence movement was racist towards black people.⁵

The statue of Gandhi, who spent 21 years (1893-1914) in South Africa and fought for the rights of Indians living there, was erected at the University of Ghana in mid-June during a visit to the country by India's President Pranab Mukherjee.

They quoted several references in which he depicted Indians as being at a higher level than black Africans, and used the racist pejorative "kaffirs" to describe them.

One of Gandhi's writings cited in the petition reads: "Ours is one continual struggle against a degradation sought to be inflicted upon us by the Europeans, who desire to degrade us to the level of the raw Kaffir whose occupation is hunting, and whose sole ambition is to collect a certain number of cattle to buy a wife with and, then, pass his life in indolence and nakedness."

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Sources

1. http://tinyurl.com/y8cmke2p

2. http://tinyurl.com/y783jxmg

3. http://tinyurl.com/yb8ruexh

4. http://tinyurl.com/y926etgv

5. http://tinyurl.com/yajxe7pw

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Gandhi revisited

Opuscula From Gandhi To Eichmann

BEN KINGSLEY, WHO not too long ago played the pacifist-at-any-price Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, now stars in a new film as the nazi’s chief death planner, Adolph Eichmann.

Quite a stretch.

At least on the surface.

WILL THE REAL GANDHI PLEASE speak up.

In one of several similar internet articles on Gandhi¹, the sage is alleged to have told Jews to give up their lives to the nazis and the English to allow the nazis to take over their island.

In 1938, he suggested that Jews suffering under Nazism should commit mass suicide to “arouse the world and the people of Germany to Hitler’s violence.” After the Holocaust, he reaffirmed this view:

“Hitler killed five million Jews. It is the greatest crime of our time. But the Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs. As it is, they succumbed anyway in their millions.”

During World War II, Gandhi offered this advice to the British people:

“I would like you to lay down the arms you have as being useless for saving you or humanity. You will invite Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini to take what they want of the countries you call your possessions… If these gentlemen choose to occupy your homes, you will vacate them. If they do not give you free passage out, you will allow yourselves, man, woman, and child, to be slaughtered, but you will refuse to owe allegiance to them.”

Another site² quotes Gandhi stating:

“If there ever could be a justifiable war in the name of and for humanity, a war against Germany, to prevent the wanton persecution of a whole race, would be completely justified. But I do not believe in any war. A discussion of the pros and cons of such a war is therefore outside my horizon or province,” Gandhi once said.

Gandhi wrote to the British during the war, “This manslaughter must be stopped. You are losing; if you persist, it will only result in greater bloodshed. Hitler is not a bad man.” (Emphasis mine.)

Gandhi’s advice to the Jews was no less bizarre.

“If I were a Jew and were born in Germany... I would claim Germany as my home even as the tallest gentile German may, and challenge him to shoot me or cast me in the dungeon.... And suffering voluntarily undergone will bring them an inner strength and joy.... The calculated violence of Hitler may even result in a general massacre of the Jews by way of his first answer to the declaration of such hostilities. But if the Jewish mind could be prepared for voluntary suffering, even the massacre I have imagined could be turned into a day of thanksgiving and joy that Jehovah had wrought deliverance of the race even at the hands of the tyrant.”

Obviously Gandhi did not understand the world’s convenient blindness in regard to Jews. His conviction that the slaughter of Jews would cause the world to rise up against the nazis was absolutely incorrect. Even in the U.S., every liberal Jews favorite president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt,

* Turned away the MS St. Louis with nearly 1,000 Jews trying to escape Eichmann’s death camps³, and
* Refused to let U.S. bombers destroy railroad tracks and death camps over which they were flying to and from approved targets^{4, 5}

ADOLPH EICHMANN is less complicated that Gandhi.

According to Wikipedia⁶, Eichmann had no regrets. He was quoted in Life magazine, while awaiting trial, “To sum it all up, I must say that I regret nothing.” Two other quotes from the same source deserve attention.

”Whether they were bank directors or mental cases, the people who were loaded on those trains meant nothing to me. It was really none of my business.

“I was never an anti-Semite. … My sensitive nature revolted at the sight of corpses and blood... I personally had nothing to do with this. My job was to observe and report on it.”

A biography⁷ might give a clue to Eichmann’s hatred of Jews. “As a boy, Eichmann was teased about his looks and dark complexion and was nicknamed "the little Jew" by classmates.

He studied all aspects of Jewish culture, attended Jewish meetings and often visited Jewish sections of cities while taking volumes of notes. He became familiar with the issue of Zionism, studied Hebrew and could even speak a bit of Yiddish. He gradually became the acknowledged 'Jewish specialist,' realizing this could have positive implications for his career in the SS.

He soon attracted the attention of Heydrich and SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler who appointed Eichmann to head a newly created SD Scientific Museum of Jewish Affairs.

Eichmann was then assigned to investigate possible "solutions to the Jewish question." He visited Palestine in 1937 to discuss the possibility of large scale immigration of Jews to the Middle East with Arab leaders. British authorities, however, ordered him out of the country.

The “Final Solution” was really the nazis’ final plan – all others either having failed or proven too telling on the killers’ psyches – came about in 1942.

On July 31, 1941 Heydrich was told by Göring to prepare "a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired Final Solution of the Jewish question."

In January 1942 Eichmann helped Heydrich organize the Wannsee Conference in Berlin during which Heydrich and Eichmann along with 15 Nazi bureaucrats planned the extermination of the entire Jewish population of Europe and the Soviet Union, estimated at 11 million persons.

With the end in sight, Eichmann, disobeying orders, had “another 50,000 Hungarian Jews rounded up and forced on an eight day death march to Austria.”

Even awaiting trial in Jerusalem, Eichmann remained true to his dementia (ibid.).

In 1950, with the help of the SS underground, he fled to Argentina and lived under the assumed name of Ricardo Klement for ten years until Israeli Mossad agents abducted him on May 11, 1960.

Eichmann went on trial in Jerusalem for crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity and war crimes. During the four months of the trial over 100 witnesses testified against him. Eichmann took the stand and used the defense that he was just obeying orders. "Why me," he asked. "Why not the local policemen, thousands of them? They would have been shot if they had refused to round up the Jews for the death camps. Why not hang them for not wanting to be shot? Why me? Everybody killed the Jews."

From Encyclopaedia Britannia⁸:

Following the war, U.S. troops captured Eichmann, but in 1946 he escaped from a prison camp. After dodging in and out of the Middle East for several years, Eichmann settled in Argentina in 1958. He was arrested by Israeli secret service agents near Buenos Aires, Argentina, on May 11, 1960; nine days later they smuggled him out of the country and took him to Israel. After settling the controversy that arose over this Israeli violation of Argentine law, the Israeli government arranged his trial before a special three-judge court in Jerusalem. Eichmann’s trial was controversial from the beginning. The trial—before Jewish judges by a Jewish state that did not exist until three years after the Holocaust—gave rise to accusations of ex post facto justice. Some called for an international tribunal to try Eichmann, and others wanted him tried in Germany, but Israel was insistent. At stake was not only justice but also honour, as well as an opportunity to educate a new generation about the Holocaust.

Perhaps Kingsley’s portrayal of of Eichmann will enhance the world’s curiosity about the Holocaust and the people who murdered more than 12 million civilians and caused the deaths of thousands of soldiers.

Kingsley told the Associated Press⁹ that “he didn't portray Adolf Eichmann out of love or admiration. Rather, he wanted to "nail him to the gates of Auschwitz.”

The actor said he “dedicated my performance to Elie Wiesel and the millions who lost their lives under [Eichmann's] command" 

* * * * * * *

There is another Eichmann movie, a YouTube film made in 2016.

The movie revolves around Eichmann’s time in Israel prior to the trial.

The URL is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuhR59GK-vw

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Sources

1. http://tinyurl.com/ybtu6k74

2. http://tinyurl.com/yclrepnp

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_St._Louis

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_bombing_debate

5. http://tinyurl.com/y8uugvuq

6. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adolf_Eichmann

7. http://tinyurl.com/yzpz2o

8. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Adolf-Eichmann

9. http://tinyurl.com/y7lzhwtf

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Gandhi & Eichmann

Opuscula Why you see Hebrew in My postings

SOME READERS OF MY TRIVIA MAY wonder why I occasionally use Hebrew characters.

In a word: pronunciation.

I HAVE A RABBI who is Ashkenazi. Nice guy.

He knows Hebrew and he can communicate in Hebrew on paper.

But when he SPEAKS Hebrew it is as if he is speaking another language,

The rabbi speaks Ashkenazi Hebrew. That’s what he learned at his father’s knee.

Most of the people in his congregation – at least those that know Hebrew on a “conversational” level – can understand the rabbi. He speaks their language.

I know many people who can READ prayer book Hebrew, but they have little or no concept of WHAT the words mean.

Sender, the rabbi, has a blog and he occasionally allows me a preview. Sometimes I even get a preview of a coming d’var Torah. (I’m honored.)

I have no problem with his English, but when he transliterates a Hebrew word to an Ashkenazi pronunciation, I often am lost.

Truly a case of its not WHAT you say, but HOW you say it.

Sender writes as he talks – vus-vus.

To be fair, there are Sefardim who ALSO turn a taf (ת) into a samach (ס).

I have a son-in-law who can “speak Yemenite.” When he does, I can’t understand a word he says.

If Sender will write the transliterated word in “Ashkenaz,” and then follow it up with the same word in Hebrew characters, I’ll know what he means. (If I don’t, I have several Hebrew-English dictionaries and 501 Hebrew Verbs handy.)

I’m fairly certain he has the same problem with my Sephardi/Israeli Hebrew.

But if I write a word in Hebrew, I know that everyone who has even basic, survival level Hebrew – that is, my level of Hebrew – can (assuming I spell the word correctly) comprehend my meaning.

Unfortunately I have not found a way to insert nikudot in LibreOffice on a Windows 10 platform.

Even sans the nikudot, Sender can read סליחות even if he pronounces it selihos (and I pronounce it selihot).

I try to follow good journalism practice and “spell it out” on first use. For the Hebrew it means presenting the word in Latin characters first followed by the Hebrew characters inside parentheses: selihot (סליחות).

Another journalism practice I try to follow is to cite my sources.

For many years I was a reporter and I had to attribute what I wrote to a source; “anonymous” was NOT an option. I wish more writers accepted the same obligation.

I like to read Sender’s works, but I still get tripped up with his Hebrish – Hebrew with an Ashkenazi sound.

Now you know why I scatter Hebrew words in some of the blog entries.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Hebrew words

Opuscula In the dark

ALTHOUGH OF I AM BETWEEN a ripe old age and showing strength¹ I normally sleep through the night.

There was a time, when I was 20 or so years younger, that I would awaken between 2 and 3 a.m., the proper time for תיקון חצות. (I’m fond of תיקון לאה.)

Now I have to set the alarm for 4:45 in order to be in time for סליחות.

I REALLY DON’T OBJECT to rising, if not shining, well before sunrise.

Unlike the Ashkenazim, Sephardi and Mizrachi minhag is to recite Selihot from the second day of Elul until Yom Kippor, skipping only Shabatot and Rosh HaShana.

The proper time for Selihot, according to the rabbis, is before dawn.

By the time Yom Kippor rolls around, early rising almost is automatic.

I used to envy my Ashkenazi acquaintances who can “sleep in” until time for תפילות השחר (morning prayers), but I’m in such good company for Selihot and Shaharet that it’s worth the early evening (9-9:30) burn out.

I could do Selihot at the house. I won’t mind missing the tongue tying Aramaic, but having to forego the 13 Medot (attributes) is something else. The “no minyan” Selihot, sans Aramaic, the several repetitions of the 13 Medot (ויעבר), and kadishim (it’s Aramaic) goes a lot faster, but “it’s not the same.”

From Rosh HaShana, Selihot is even longer, but its only during “The Ten Days.”

Maybe by the time I have recovered from the Yom Kippor fast the early rising will have become a habit and I’ll wake up before sunrise and get back into the Hatzot routine.

Hatzot starts off with ברכות השחר (morning prayers).

I asked one of the local Sefardi rabbis if, having said the morning prayers before Rachel and Leah, I needed to repeat the prayers again when it comes time for Shaharet – I am fortunate that I can wake up, do תיקון חצות and promptly go back to sleep – his answer was Once is enough. (Now I have a “head start” on the day.)

This is not exactly “Sleepless in Seattle,” but it can be “Yawning in the Morning.”

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Sources

1. פרקי אבות 5:25

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on In the dark

Opuscula Hatikvah vs. Enemy flag

ACCORDING TO NOAM TIROSH, offering his opinion on the Israel HaYom site (http://tinyurl.com/ybv59rxo ), the Israeli Arabs waving “Palestinian” flags in Rabin Square (where else) are no different than American Jews singing Hatikvah, the Israeli anthem.
But there is a difference.

THE DIFFERENCE IS that Israel is constantly attacked by “Palestinians,” while Israel and the U. S.are not killing each other’s people.
That is a small distinction that Tirosh apparently overlooked.
Before the U.S. got “involved” in World War Two, pro-German groups waved nazi flags with impunity. After the attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the U.S. declared war on the Axis – Germany, Italy, and Japan – and waving an enemy flag was not acceptable.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR – worshiped by ignorant liberal American Jews – interned thousands of Japanese Americans (http://tinyurl.com/ydbgw6av )– along with a handful of German-Americans and Italian-Americans – because he feared there might be a spy in their midst. Roosevelt also turned away the MS St. Louis (http://tinyurl.com/ycm2yztn ), sending many of its almost 1,000 passengers back to Germany and their deaths because he feared there might be a spy in their ranks.
Most of the Japanese, Germans, and Italians interned by the Democrat president were loyal Americans. Other Japanese, German, and Italian Americans wore military uniforms and served – many dying for it – their country. The less then 1,000 Jews on the St. Louis – refugees begging to be admitted to the U.S. (vs. sneaking in under cover of darkness) – certainly were not enemies of the U.S., and would gladly have gone to internment camps if FDR had made that decision. At the time, the U.S. had thousands of acres of government land available.
While FDR turned away Jews from the U.S., some found refuge in Japanese-controlled areas of the Far East, (http://tinyurl.com/yavafp4c ) this despite Japan being Germany’s ally.
IN ISRAEL, the situation is different.
There are, without a doubt, Arabs in Israel who are proud to be Israelis. There are Arabs in Israel who prefer life in Israel to life in the occupied (e.g., PA) territories.
There are Arabs in Israel’s knesset that actively promote insurrection against Israel and vocally support Israel’s enemies. (Would the U.S. tolerate a member of Congress who openly supported Iran’s grandiose nuclear plans and threats to the “Great Satan”?)
The Rabin Square Arabs were rallying against Israel’s new Nation-State law that declares Israel to be a “Jewish state.” It is less democratic than previous laws and in many ways does indeed make non-Jews if not second class citizens then tolerated residents. It removed Arabic as an official language, but in reality, road signs still will be in Hebrew, Arabic, and Latin characters.
To be candid, there are things I have heard about the Nation-State law (I have not read it) that offend me, but while I hold an Israeli passport, I am not in Israel and I have no say in what the Israeli government does.
Perhaps the Rabin Square event can be equated to politicized athletes who “take a knee” during the U.S. national anthem.
It is insulting to flag wavers (in Israel and in the U.S.), but it was a relatively peaceful demonstration to make a point. (It is interesting to note that Israeli Arabs are NOT conscripted into the Israeli military – they are encouraged to do national service in Arab communities – and that the vast majority of athletes in the U.S. have never served a day in the U.S. military or performed any national service despite an abundance of opportunities (http://tinyurl.com/y6v45ah2 ) of varying durations.)
Belying Tirosh’s comparison, while the politicized athletes “take a knee,” athletes are, as a group, NOT promoting an enemy or even suggesting anarchy. The Rabin Square flag wavers ARE supporting an enemy, and that is the difference.
Standing and singing Hatikvah and facing an Israeli flag is no more disloyal to the U.S. than some religious organization’s flags in churches and parades. There may be little difference between the Rabin Square flag wavers and misguided Americans marching with nazi or klan flags, but only the Rabin Square flag wavers support an enemy state.
Sorry, Mr. Tirosh, there IS a difference.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Flag wavers

Opuscula Thoughts On selihot On the Web

ACCORDING TO MOST AUTHORITIES, parts of selihot must be omitted when said sans a minyan.

* All the Aramaic is skipped.

* Each kaddish is skipped.

* Each of the 13 attributes of HaShem (ויעבר) are skipped.

Each of the above requires a minyan.

THANKS TO THE INTERNET, there may be a way to have a “virtual” minyan.

According to Rabbi Yaacov Laredo (https://www.mybnai.com/clergy.html) of the B'nai Sephardim Synagogue in Hollywood FL, it may be possible to participate in a virtual minyan and to recite all of the sections skipped when there is no minyan.

R. Laredo makes it clear that this applies ONLY to selihot. It does not apply to any other service.

The virtual minyan must be in real time; more than a few seconds latency – delay in transmitting sound from Point A to Point B – and the virtual minyan is not a minyan.

However, he cited several popular applications that meet the “real time” requirement; included are WhatsApp, Facetime, and similar. Perhaps Google’s Hangouts and Microsoft’s Skype also qualify providing there is a fast internet service provider (ISP).

OK – R. Laredo stopped here.

I got to thinking.

If I am too lazy to drag myself out of bed in time for a 6 a.m. (or earlier) selihot minyan, maybe I could “sleep in” and catch a minyan in the Central time zone.

That’s cheating since (Sefardi) selihot’s opening words are “קמתי באשמורת“ – roughly “I got up during the night watch” which of course a Central time zone minyan belies that statement.

According to My Zmanim (https://www.myzmanim.com), I’m “good” as long as I can complete reciting the שמע on or before 9:32 a.m. (That’s the last time for the shema according to Gra & Baal HaTanya for Hollywood FL on August 14, 2018. Times change daily.) Of course, praying sans a minyan means no kaddish and no repetition of the Ahmedah, but late risers might find a late starting minyan that still will “beat the shema clock.” (There are a couple of minyans that start at 8 a.m.; neither congregation is Sefardi or Mizrachi, so selihot during Elul are not an issue.)

To their credit, there is a minyan plus at 6 a.m. at B’nai Sephardim and Tiferet Rafael (http://tiferetrafael.org/); Nahar Shalom (http://naharshalom.com/), also in Hollywood, starts selihot before 5:30 and also manages a minyan.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Selihot via the web

Opuscula When is A cease fire Not a cease fire

ANSWER: WHEN HAMAS IN GAZA keeps pushing “civilians” to fire bomb Israeli civilians.

HAMAS CONTROLS GAZA, even when other terrorists share space on the strip. Nothing happens sans Hamas’ knowledge and at least passive approval.

Why, then, does Israel’s allegedly right-wing government sit on its hands? Why does Israel rein in the military. Why does Israel not simply do as Egypt did – clear an area in Gaza near the Israel-Hamas border of all life. Get within, say, 50 meters (165 feet) of the fence and die, either by sharp shooters or armed drones.

Hamas, of course, will send children to attack Israel and Hamas will wail for all the world to hear when one of the children is killed – and the world will ignore Hamas’ role in the child’s death and focus solely on Israel.

When will parents in Gaza finally tire of burying their children?

Given the terrorists’ reading of the Koran and Muslim leaders interpretation of the book, many Muslims believe a martyr (shaheed) will go to Mohamed and will received 70 virgins of unimaginable beauty. Female martyrs have a similar fate awaiting them according to some martyr want-to-be’s. So far, no one has returned from the grave to confirm what is considered a fairy tale by non-believers.)

Click on images to enlarge

IN ANY EVENT, apparently there are many Muslim mothers who encourage their young to sacrifice themselves “for Allah” – or in the case in Gaza, for “for Ismail Haniyeh” the despot of Gaza. (A similar mentality is found in “Palestine” where Abu Mazen, a/k/a Mahmoud Abbas, rules.) That is NOT a Jewish mother’s mentality.

Interviews with jihadists can be seen and heard at https://vimeo.com/281836636

The question for the flip-flop government of Israel: How many Israeli lives must be sacrificed – or even endangered – before the government will respond forcefully and remove Hamas from power in Gaza.

It must have a plan to prevent a power vacuum in Gaza, else nothing will be gained. Egypt is too smart to want hegemony over the strip; the UN cannot be trusted and in any case, if anyone says “Boo!” to the Blue Bonnets, they run for cover. What’s left? The Arab League? A major powers coalition – U.S. and Russia, but neither wants to strengthen the other’s foothold in the region? Return the strip to the terrorist Abu Mazen? Perhaps a joint Egypt-Israel control until Gaza’s residents can decide if they prefer the prosperity of peace to the poverty of war?

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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Opuscula When Sefardim Want to be Ashkenazim

בן אדם מה לך נרדם קום קרא בתחנונים שפוך שיחה דרוש סליחה

TWICE-A-YEAR many Sefardim and many Ashkenazim want to change places.

For Ashkenazim, when they look at the Sefardi Pesach menu, they would like to broaden their restricted diet.

For Sefardim, especially those who like to sleep late, they would be happy to follow Ashkenazi traditions for Selihot.

SELIHOT are best said before sunrise. In many Jewish communities in the Middle East, a man made the rounds calling out S-LI-HOT and depending on the local custom, banging on doors or shutters or ringing a bell.

According to Yeshiva.com> (http://tinyurl.com/y85ut7gc ), Rabbi Yosef Karo in the Shulhan Aruk writes that Jews begin reciting Selichot from the second day of Elul. Sephardic Jewry follows this custom. Rabbi Moshe Isserles, the "Rema," writes (in his “Mappa” to R. Caro’s Shulhan Aruk) that the custom of the Ashkenazic Jews is to begin reciting them from the Sunday before Rosh HaShannah, on the condition that there remain at least four days of Selichot before Rosh Hashannah.

Interestingly enough, Chabad, which often follows Sefardi/Mizrachi customs aligns itself with its fellow Ashkenazim for an “abbreviated” Selihot period. (http://tinyurl.com/y792ted5 )

Chabad’s Selihot are even shorter. From Chabad.org: According to Chabad custom, however, Selichot are not said during these days (בעשי’’ת), with the exception of the third of Tishrei, when Selichot are recited as part of the commemoration of the Fast of Gedaliah.

This year, Elul begins on Shabat Re’eh, 11 August 2018 at 7:33 p.m. and 9 chalakim, according to TorahCalc (http://www.torahcalc.com/molad/ ).

Most Sefardi congregations in my neighborhood wrap Selihot together with the usual morning service. The largest Sefardi congregation schedules Selihot at 6 a.m., with the regular morning service at 7 a.m.

And then, when the 10 days between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippor roll around (בעשי’’ת) Selihot become much longer.

I have two Selihot books, one, Sucat David for Sefardim, and one, translated and annotated by Philip Birnbaum, for Azkenazim. The Birnbaum version includes English on opposing pages, i.e., the right side page is Hebrew and the left side page is English. (Sucat David and Birnbaum are only two of many Selihot books available.)

I thought to use Birnbaum’s English rather than to offer my own translations, but the two works are so radically different – and the Birnbaum work is for the first day only.

There ARE similarities and some verses found in one are found in the other, but an Askenaz wandering into a Sefardi minyan – or vice versa – probably would feel out of place. (He would not be “out of place” of course; every Jew’s place is in a minyan of Jews, regardless of minhag.)

Yeshiva.com explains why the Ashkenazim do as they do.

The reason that Ashkenazic Jews recite Selichot for at least four days before Rosh HaShannah is that there is a custom to observe ten days of fasting before Yom Kippur for the purpose of repentance. And since during the Ten Days of Repentance between Rosh HaShannah and Yom Kippur there are four days on which it is impossible to fast - i.e., the two days of Rosh HaShannah, one Sabbath, and Yom Kippur eve on which one is obliged to eat - four days are set aside before Rosh HaShannah for fasting. This being the case, Selichot are recited on these days. And even though today most people do not actually fast on these ten days, it none the less remains customary to get up early for Selichot for at least ten days - i.e., the four days before Rosh HaShannah, and six days during the Ten Days of Repentance.

While the “best” time for Selihot is just before dawn ("Ashmoret HaBoker" - i.e., the very end of the nighttime), some communities have instituted the custom of reciting Selihot in the evening or at night. Again, citing Yeshiva.com, the accepted practice has become to rise for Selichot about an hour or a half-hour before morning prayers. Though it is no longer dark outside it is still permissible to recite Selichot. Hence, if a person feels that by rising early his work will suffer, it is preferable that he rise for Selichot a half-hour before the normal time.

According to Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, in a situation where one has no alternative, it is even possible to recite Selichot before midnight. If a community is unable to manage getting up early in the morning for Selichot, its members are permitted, as an emergence measure, to gather for Selichot at ten o'clock in the evening. By arranging Selichot at such an hour, everybody is able to come, and their sleep hours remain unaffected. Yet, according to many Kabbalists and authorities in Jewish law, such practice is completely unacceptable. According to them, the time for reciting Selichot is only after midnight, for this is the time of Divine mercy.

The website Hardcore Mesorah (http://tinyurl.com/y9gdyzlt ) lists Selihot available in PDF format:

* New Chabad Selichot in Hebrew – this is a new typesetting with instructions, there is no English translation. According to the tradition of Chabad chassidus. (http://www.chabad.org/media/pdf/56/JODh562118.pdf)

* Classic Chabad Slichot in English – this text also has the facing Hebrew pages, however the person who digitized it scanned the Hebrew upside down in many cases. (http://www.hebrewbooks.org/15946)

* Classic Chabad for Day One – with English, this also has upside-down Hebrew pages. (http://www.hebrewbooks.org/15691)

* Selichot Avodat Yisrael, Sephard – this is a comprehensive set of selichot for each day. (http://www.daat.ac.il/ddaat/vl/tohen.asp?id=160)

* Selichot Saadia Gaon – Mizrahi tradition, the tradition of the middle-east. Nusach Edut haMizrach (http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/vl/slihoteman/slihoteman02.pdf)

* Selichot Teimani – according to the Yeminite tradition (http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/vl/slihoteman/slihoteman01.pdf)

* Selichot Kol Tuv Sefard – de acuerdo a la tradición de las comunidades sefarditas de Londres y Amsterdam, en hebreo y español. Compilado por el Rabino Juan Mejía, rabino Masortí. (http://koltuvsefarad.com/siddur/Selijot.pdf)

בעשרת יומי תשובה = בעשי’’ת a/k/a The Ten Days of Repentance (lit., “Return”)

Sources

Video: Sefardi Selihot in Israel - https://youtu.be/FJMgU7YdN7A

Video: Sefardi Selihot at כתל המערבי - https://youtu.be/cEUTmP_Lvzs

Video: Sefardi Selihot - https://youtu.be/YpPAd6O4Mgk

Video: Sefardi Selihot, Petah Tikva Anshe Castilla - https://youtu.be/ERbLFPg_9XI

As you watch these keep in mind the very early hour.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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