Opuscula Interesting Odds & ends About Hanuka

Hanuka — or Chanukah or any variation thereof, still is חנוכה — is different than most “popular” Jewish holidays in many ways.

It is not from the Torah; akin to Purim, it is “post-Torah.”

The full Hallel is recited after the morning Ahmedah.¹ On Pesach (Passover) the full Hallel is recited only on the first day. Shavuot, however, is similar to Hanuka in that full Hallel is recited all eight days.²

Hanuka also shares another trait with Shavuot. Both holidays are celebrated with dairy meals. My Moroccan Mother-in-Law recalls making a dairy cus-cus.
שלחו ערוך השלם מנקד (של הרה''ג מרדכי אליהו) הנוכה ,,,בת יוחנן כהן גדול (ע"מ 466))

As with everything Jewish, there are variations on a theme.

?מה עוד חדש

None of the above hanukiot are kosher; cute but not kosher for Hanuka

EVERYTHING “HANUKA” IS RABBINICAL.

Everyone knows that the main difference between the menorah in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem — built long before Mohamed was born and therefore preceding Islam and the so-called “Palestinians” — and the Hanukia is the number of wicks.

The Temple in Jerusalem had seven wicks — the shamash in the middle flanked by three on either side.

Was the shamash in the middle and higher or as some insist, in front of the other wicks?

Why “wicks?” Rather than write “candles or wicks in oil,” “wicks” covers both. Candles have wicks. Oil hanukiot also use wicks.

Some homes have a hanukia for each person — it makes a pretty sight and we are allowed only to enjoy the light — in other homes, there is one hanukia for the entire household. In multi-hanukia households, everyone who lights the wicks says the blessings. In a single-hanukia household, whoever lights the wicks says the blessing. The single-hanukia source is the Babylonian Talmud.³

Everyone says amen to the blessings:

להדליק ניר של חנכה

בימים ההם בזמן הזה

שהחינו

The last of the three blessings is “first night only.”

Everyone sings the songs, including:

הנרות הללו אנו מדליקים

מעור צור ישועתי

.

To help assure that everyone enjoys the light of the hanukia, work is prohibited while the wicks burn.

The commandment is to LIGHT the wicks. If the fire goes out, it is not necessary to re-light the wick.

The REASON the wicks are lit is to publicize the miracle of Hanuka.

While the only thing we can do with the light is to enjoy it, in order to publicize it we put the hanukia where it can be seen by passers-by.

On most nights the wicks must burn, at a minimum, 30 minutes. On Shabat, when the wicks are lit before the Shabat candles, the “no work” period is longer. (On the other hand, all work is permitted during Hanuka (except, of course, on Shabat Hanuka).⁴ Shabat is the only night when the wicks are lit before dark (since they must be lit before the Shabat candles).

The problem with the hanukiot in the image above is that the candles are at different levels. The only exception is the shamash. All eight candles must be at the same level.⁵

During prayers and at meals

In the morning prayers, both daily and Shabat, Moroccans add “A psalm, a song of dedication of the House of David, a/k/a the Temple, before “From your heights”

מזמור שיר-חנת הבית לדוד before ארוממך " כי דליתני⁶

In the Hanuka Ahmedah, we add “For the miracles” (על הנסים) and the paragraph beginning “In the days of Matatya” ( בימי מתתיה בן יוחנן) ⁷

In Berekat HaMazon (prayer following a meal with bread), the words we add “Because of the miracles” (על הנסים).⁸ All of the above apply to those who pray at home as well.

Many Moroccans also add “נר-לרגלי ואור לנתיבתי” just before “בריך שמיה” except on Rosh Hodesh when “יהי רצון” precedes “בריך שמיה”.

Hanuka song book

* Adam Sandler: http://tinyurl.com/y8j6ql56
* Songs for Teaching: http://tinyurl.com/y8h6ymod
* Chanukah Songs from Chabad: http://tinyurl.com/y8fllhjm
* Maoz Tzur & Oh Hanukkah: http://tinyurl.com/yafkh6e9
* Hanukkah Song and Music Guide: http://tinyurl.com/y7dkqc3a
* Hanukkah Songs and lyrics: http://tinyurl.com/y8rol623
* Hebrew songs (English lyrics): http://tinyurl.com/3esc7http://tinyurl.com/3esc7

Hanuka elsewhere on this blog

Hanukkah quiz http://tinyurl.com/ybuoggqw
A little bit of water keeps oil cups clean http://tinyurl.com/y9yscayu
Phrasing it out? http://tinyurl.com/yaxt3pow
Two thoughts - Hallel and Atheists http://tinyurl.com/y6wz93nx
Choice: Advertise Hanuka? Or risk a conflagration http://tinyurl.com/yb2hqolm
"Xmas not for Jews" said to be hate crime http://tinyurl.com/y75af53e
I don't understand http://tinyurl.com/y8kg7gqu

Sources

1. R. Israel Meir Lau, יהדות הלכה למעשה Page 241

2. Sedur Abotanu, Page 667

3. Israel Meir Lau, יהדות הלכה למעשה Page 239

4. R. Mordachi Eliyahu קצור שלחן ערוך השלם מנקד Page 466, Para. ג

5. R. Mordachi Eliyahu קצור שלחן ערוך השלם מנקד Page 467, Para. י

6. Sedur Abotanu, Page 134

7. Sedur Abotanu, Page 183

8. R. Israel Meir Lau, יהדות הלכה למעשה Page 238

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Opuscula Jews bury heads Today; Will they Bury bodies next?

LEFTIST AMERICANS WHO happen to be Jewish are sufficiently enchanted with avowed anti-Semites to elect them to the nation’s congress.

Never mind that these people, including two Muslim women who openly express hate for Israel, represent districts in Minnesota and Michigan.

Minnesota, Hubert H. Humphrey’s home state, has long been a bastion of liberalism, but not antisemitism.

LEFT: Rashida Tlaib RIGHT: Ilhan Omar

JEWS HAVE HAD A LONG ROMANCE with the Democrat party and they have ignored what the party’s leadership has done to them.

For years, and for some, even until today, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is something of a minor god. Never mind that he condemned a boatload of Jews escaping Germany to return their deaths in nazi gas chambers.

LEFT: Refugees on board the St. Louis trying to escape nazi murderers. RIGHT: FDR concerned a nazi spy might be among the Jews fleeing for their lives.

The Jews in the Democrat party ignored Barack Hussein Obama’s flirting with notorious anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan. Nor were they bothered by Obama’s loyalty to the anti-American preacher, the “Rev.” Jeremiah Wright who called on his god to damn America.

LEFT: Obama and anti-Semite Farrakhan RIGHT: Obama and America-hater Wright

These same Jews closed their eyes when Obama, in his last day in office, gave millions of dollars to Abu Mazen — despite congress opposing the “gift.” (But then again, Obama frequently had his way with congress despite congress’ wishes.)

These are the Jews who think the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is a protector of Jews. The ADL is like a toothless old woman confined to a rocking chair.

What Jews need in America to counter the leftist is the Jewish Defense League, JDL.

Jews in America need to wake up and realize that antisemitism is not only “alive and well” but spreading like a California wild fire.

Burying our heads in the sand will not stop the spread of this disease in either the Democrat left or the skinhead “alt-right.”

I will stop short of urging Jews to take ball bats in hand or to arm themselves (as the JDL recommends), but Jews of all political points of view need to decide if they are Jews first or extremists first. “Accident of birth” Jews — those Jews who have little or no connection and knowledge of Judaism — already have decided that their fellow Jews, Israel, and Judaism will play no role in their lives. Worse, to distance themselves from Jews and Judaism, they often become strident antisemites.

This denial of their Jewishness is nothing new; for centuries, Jews who valued integration over peoplehood have gone to extremes to hide the truth, even going so far as trying to reverse a circumcision. (Never mind that Muslims and many non-Jews circumcise their sons.)

I’m not sure what can be done with Jew-hating Jews, but they must be politically neutralized. Jews need to run for office and Jews need to support moderate Jews-who-are-Jewish candidates.

Burying our collective head in the sand is NOT going to protect us.

Kowtowing to the antisemites — be they Jews or not &mdAsh; is NOT going to protect us.

Behaving like the Jews of Europe as Hitler pushed for power — “no one will left him take over the government” — will NOT protect us.

Leftist Jews need to make sure their candidates are not antisemites.

Conservative Jews need to put forward candidates who are our friends.

When antisemites are elected to congress it must be a wake-up call for Jews in America.

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out . . . (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came_...)

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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.

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Opuscula Everyone can lose If Israel invades And deposes Hamas

Another Lebanon?

According to Israel HaYom’s English edition of 21 November 2018 (http://tinyurl.com/ybefj3p4), Public ‎Security Minister Gilad Erdan, a member of the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet, says Israel may have to retake Gaza "until ‎we eliminate terrorist infrastructure"

While hardly any Israeli would be sad to see Hamas obliterated, what can replace it?

Not Abu Mazen’s PLO that flip-flops on its relationship with Israel more than Benjamin Netanyahu flip-flops on settlements. The Gazans allowed Hamas to run the PLO out of the Strip.

Not Islamic Brotherhood, as bad for Israel and probably for Gazens, too, as Hamas.

Egypt won’t step it.

IF ISRAEL PUTS AN END to Hamas it will be “stuck” in Gaza trying to govern a people who for decades have been indoctrinated that the only good Israeli – or Jew – is a dead Israeli (or Jew).

What about the UN?

The UN is in bed with Hamas. It teaches hatred of Israel in its schools. It allows Hamas to use its facilities to launch rockets and mortars into Israel.

The UN is not capable of guiding Gaza toward peace with either Israel or Egypt.

Perhaps — just “perhaps” — given the improved relations with several Muslim-dominated countries, a coalition of Islamic nations no longer intent on driving the Jews to the sea could be invited to govern Gaza until the locals can create a viable, and acceptable to Israel, political infrastructure.

Israel could, and I suggest should, help the interim governors by loosening trade restrictions (both ways) and making it easier for Gazans to travel to Europe and other Muslim states – but NOT to PLO-controlled areas. (The PLO still harbors jihadists and its leader-for-life cannot be depended upon to honor yesterday’s agreements,)

Having a perhaps multi-national Muslim government in Gaza sans Israeli military presence would go a long way to “normalizing” relations with Gaza’s neighbors (Israel and Egypt). The government would need to be the same flavor of Islam as the residents of Gaza. (Iraq is a great example or NONcooperation between various Muslim sects.)

Don’t expect Gazans, especially young Gazans, to welcome Israeli tourists with open arms (at least they won’t be firearms); It took a while for Israelis to be “just another tourist” in Egypt and, even after all the years since Begin and Sadat met in Jerusalem, some tension still exists, but there is progress.

Gazans must learn that they cannot destroy whatever is left behind when a caretaker government is succeeded by a true Gazan government, unlike what happened when Sharon threw Israelis out in 2005 — the Muslims destroyed hot houses and other infrastructure that could have provided the Strip with a growing foreign trade.

The greatest risk Israel faces if it invades and deposes Hamas (and the Brotherhood standing in the wings) is to leave a vacuum that quickly will filled with anarchy.

Compare Gaza to Iraq — the allies defeated Saddam but failed to put a caretaker government in place to rule the country until a new government of Iraqis could be installed.

Compare Gaza to Germany. When Germany was defeated, the World War 2 Allies, sans the Soviet Union, established a German caretaker government that today rules a unified country. (The Soviets set up a puppet government in what was “East Germany.” Eventually that government fell and “East” Germany as absorbed into what was then “West” Germany.)

Unlike Iran under the shah, Gaza lacks a shadow government, even one in exile. When the shah was chased out, the ayatollah hiding out in Europe came back much like DeGaulle returned to Paris. (Whether the Iranians now regret his return is another matter.)

Invading Gaza sans a solid plan to install a Muslim caretaker government would be both foolish, a waste of Israeli lives, and a waste of time.

Lacking a Muslim caretaker government will allow a new Hamas to take over and nothing will be gained for Israel or the denizens of the Strip.

BOTTOM LINE: Israel needs to line up friendly Muslims to govern Gaza BEFORE it even draws up invasion plans.

It also needs to prepare its “hasbarah” (PR) to counter the howls of the world’s leftists who undoubtedly will castigate Israel for preventing Hamas, et al, to continue killing and maiming innocent Israelis.

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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.

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Opuscula Native Americans Had war chiefs To lead warriors

AS MOST BOYS GROWING UP in the U.S., I was fascinated by Indians, a/k/a “Native Americans” in PC-speak.

Many Indian tribes had a special chief — leader — who was skilled in dealing with threats from outside the tribe.

The only time a war chief had authority was when the tribe was threatened. Otherwise, the war chief was just another member of the tribe.

ISRAEL HAS HAD “war chiefs.” Menachem Begin was a war chief, which is how he, and Egypt’s war chief, Anwar Sadat, managed to make a so-far long-lasting peace.

Benjamin Netanyahu is NOT a war chief.

In fact, he seems to have worked against the men who could serve Israel as a war chief.

Netanyahu kowtowed to Hamas several times. The last time, this week, he obliged Hamas and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman resigned.

According to Liberman, “I have tried to remain a faithful member of the cabinet and to make heard another view, even at a great electoral and political price,” Liberman said. However, Tuesday’s ceasefire with Hamas “cannot be interpreted in any way other than a capitulation to terrorism." ¹

Netanyahu claimed he had “secret” information; apparently so secret he could not, or would not, share it with his war chief. Granted, Liberman is not a Likudnik; he heads the Yisrael Beitenu (Israel [is] our home) party.

Liberman is a “hawk,” a man who was frustrated by Netanyahu’s constant flip-flopping on Gaza and the “settlements” and many other issues.

Another “hawk,” Naftali Bennnett, also of Yisrael Beitanu, wants Liberman’s old job.

Bennett’s demand for the defense minister position is opposed by fellow cabinet ministers Moshe Kahlon of the Kulanu (All of us) party and Aryeh Deri of Shas (the late R. Ovadia Yosef’s party). Deri was convicted of corruption before being named to Netanyahu’s cabinet.

Bennett told Netanyahu "There is something to do. I told the prime minister yesterday to appoint me defense minister so Israel can back to winning."¹ Bennett has long criticized the Netanyahu government’s reluctance to respond more forcefully to Gaza rocket attacks, and has advocated ground incursions into the Gaza Strip.²

Both Bennett and Kahlon threaten to pull their parties out of Netanyahu’s coalition; Bennett and Yisrael Bietnu if Netanyahu refuses to appoint Bennett as Defense Minister and Kahlon if Netanyahu appoints Bennett to the post.

Either way, the current government is on shaky ground.

Meanwhile, there is, or was, a bill in the Knesset that would allow Israel’s president, a largely ceremonial position, to appoint whomever the president wished to form a new government. Currently, the president is obliged to ask the leader of the party with the most seats in the Knesset to try to form a government. All governments, from Ben Gurion on, are formed as a coalition, usually by blackmailing the person named to head the new government.

Sources

1. http://tinyurl.com/yafx7j7y

2. http://tinyurl.com/ycwcs59p

3. https://www.haaretz.com/1.4705992

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 Politicians Never learn Basic lesson

HAMAS WINS AGAIN! After sending nearly 500 rockets and mortars into Israel, killing at least one and injuring many, Hamas agrees to a cease fire.

“We’ve taken our toll on you, now we have a cease fire so you can’t fight back.”

What’s wrong with this picture?

APPARENTLY SOMETHING IS sufficiently “wrong with this picture” to cause Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman to resign his post.

Liberman announced his resignation in a press conference Wednesday afternoon (11/14/18) expressing dissatisfaction with Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas. He says he will call for immediate elections.¹

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defends ceasefire, cites secret information² that, apparently, is too secret to share with the country’s defense minister.

Meanwhile, opposition party members celebrated Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman’s announcement Wednesday that he was resigning his post.

Leader of the opposition and member of the Zionist Union Tzipi Livni said, “Liberman is right that the government revealed weakness against terror. Everyone errs who thinks the solution is with Liberman, Bennett or the rest of the slogan throwers. We’re the solution.”³

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It seems the more Hamas gets from, or via, Israel, the more it indiscriminately attacks Israeli civilians.

There WAS a brief cease fire, but Hamas broke it.

Does anyone believe Hamas will honor ANYTHING that is not to its advantage (and to Israel’s disadvantage)?

Didn’t Israel’s politicians learn ANYTHING from Oslo?

Netanyahu, “Bibi,” can’t seem to stick to a decision from one day to the next.

Allow settlements.

Bulldoze the same settlements.

Close the border to Gaza in retaliation for rockets, mortars, and fire bombs.

Open the border when Hamas offers a cease fire.

Close the border’s again when Hamas violates the cease fire.

Allow millions of dollars into Gaza for humanitarian use.

Let Israelis be shelled by Hamas again.

I don’t blame Liberman for resigning. The way Bibi is flip-flopping, it seems the inmates are running he asylum.

Unlike the opposition parties, I doubt they (the opposition) could do better.

One thing is beyond question: Likud 2018 is NOT the Likud of Menachem Begin, the man who forged, with Anwar Sadat, a long-lasting peace agreement.

Likud 2018 can’t seem to create a program and stick to it.

Is Likud — read Netanyahu — afraid of the Left?

Has Likud 2018 lost confidence in its military and its diplomatic corps.

Netanyahu is guiding Israel along a path that seems to be influenced by the former U.S. president, a man who diligently worked against Israel’s interests.

Or is Netanyahu simply a politician in mold of the Roman god, Janus.

What Israel needs today is another Jabotinsky or Begin or even Trumpeldor.

Sources

1. Liberman: http://tinyurl.com/yd98ytgf

2. Netanyahu: http://tinyurl.com/y7ycdd94
3. Livni: http://tinyurl.com/ydhosn2g

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 Removing Hamas Leaves a vacuum

THE QUESTION BEING ASKED BY MANY in Israel and in the United States – and perhaps elsewhere – is:

If the IDF can eliminate Hamas, why doesn’t it do it?

Good question.

Simple answer: Who has an organization that can rush in and fill the role of government?

Image above shows map of Gaza Strip and surrounding areas

UNLIKE IRAN and some other nations with despotic rulers, Gaza lacks a shadow government, a government of people prepared to assume the duties of an overthrown government.

There may be a movement in Gaza able to take over the deposed Hamas role, but apparently it is a deep secret.

Egypt could step in on an interim basis, but so far it has declined to consider the possibility.

Menachem Begin tried to give Gaza to Egypt, but Anwar Sadat was too smart and refused Begin’s “gift.”

Israel ruled Gaza for a number of years. Israeli farmers set up greenhouses and an infrastructure to make the strip self-supporting. When Ariel Sharon forced the Jews out, the indigenous Muslim population quickly destroyed the greenhouses and infrastructure.

Israel, understandably, does not want anything to do with a Gaza government, even on a temporary basis.

When the nazis were defeated (and many escaped to Latin America and the U.S. or were “invited” to the then Soviet Union), the Allies set up governments in their sections.

After the bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese sued for peace, the Americans established an interim government.

Both Germany and Japan today have viable, stable, independent governments.

When the U.S. and its allies overthrew Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi government, neither the U.S. nor its allies had the foresight – or perhaps hindsight – to establish an interim government to rule until the Iraqis could develop a cadre of politicians who would be sufficiently popular to run the country after the U.S. and its allies went home.

Iran was a different model.

When the shah was overthrown, a shadow government headed by the Ayatollah Khomeini filled the vacuum. Khomeini returned from exile in England and took control of the government.

When the nazis were chased out of France, the arrogant Gen. Charles de Gaulle managed to assume political power.

There are no De Gaulles in Gaza.

There are no leaders in Egypt or Israel willing to help Gazans set up an independent government.

The PA in Ramallah can’t govern its own areas, and although Abu Mazen would like to claim he is the president of Gaza as well as the PA, Hamas and the local population chased the PA government’s personnel out of Gaza. Mazen and the Ramallah government would not be welcome in Gaza.

Bottom line: Israel is “stuck” trying – and failing – to protect Israelis near the Gaza border.

If it eliminates Hamas, which it surely could do, what would replace it? The Islamic Brotherhood is the prime candidate, and it is no better – possibly worse for Israel and the Gaza population – than Hamas.

It is suggested that not all Gazans are happy with Hamas, but apparently few Gazans are prepared to make peace with Israel.

For Israel, the bottom line is to suffer Hamas until the Gazans develop a shadow government – even if that government is formed and waiting in exile – Egypt or Jordan, perhaps – ready to return and assume control of the strip with a little help from foreign sponsors – again, Egypt, Jordan, and possibly Israel.

The “fly in the ointment” is Iran, Hamas’ sponsor. Iran will not willingly give up its puppet on Israel’s southern border anymore than it will allow Lebanese to rule their country without its proxy, Hezbollah.

Unlike Gaza, the Lebanese could have a Hezbollah-free government in place in short order; the Lebanese have a great deal of experience in self-rule.

For all the aggravation and danger Hamas presents to Israel, there is nothing to replace it except anarchy.

Until Gazans decide they want a better government, if the choice is Hamas or anarchy, Hamas seems to be the lesser of two evils.

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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