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http://www.chabad.org/therebbe/article_cdo/aid/61695/jewish/Sin-In-Four-Dimensions.htm
The Midrash recounts the following dialogue on the significance of sin:
Midrash
(a) the classical collection of the Sages’ homiletic teachings on the Torah, on the non-literal level of derush; (b) any one such teaching
Wisdom was asked: What is the fate of the transgressor? Wisdom replied: "Evil pursues iniquity" (Proverbs 13:21).
Prophecy was asked: What is the fate of the transgressor? Prophecy replied: "The soul that sins, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:20).
The Torah was asked: What is the fate of the transgressor? Torah replied: He shall bring a guilt-offering, and it shall atone for him (Leviticus, ch. 5).
G-d was asked: What is the fate of the transgressor? G-d replied: He shall do teshuvah, and it shall atone for him.
1) The Philosophical Perspective
The concept of "reward and punishment" is one of the fundamental principles of Jewish faith. But punishment for wrongdoing, say our sages, is no more G-d's "revenge" than falling to the ground is Divine retribution for jumping out the window or frostbite is G-d's punishment for a barefoot trek in the snow. Just as the Creator established certain laws of cause and effect that define the natural behavior of the physical universe, so, too, did He establish a spiritual-moral "nature," by which doing good results in a good and fulfilling life and doing evil results in negative and strifeful experiences.
This is the philosophical perspective on sin and punishment, expressed by King Solomon in the above-quoted verse from Proverbs. "Evil pursues iniquity" -- the adverse effects of sin are the natural consequences of acts that run contrary to the Creator's design for life.
2) The Prophet's View
Prophecy, which is G-d's empowerment of man to cleave to and commune with Him, has a deeper insight into the significance of sin.
The essence of life is connection with G-d. "And you who cleave to G-d," says Moses to the people of Israel, at the end of their physically and spiritually perilous 40-year journey through the desert, "are all alive today." "Love the L-rd your G-d," he also enjoins them, "for He is your life."
So a transgression is more than a spiritually "unhealthy" deed -- it is an act of spiritual suicide. In the words of the prophet Ezekiel, "The soul that sins, it shall die," for to transgress the Divine will is to sabotage the lifeline of vitality that connects the soul to its source. Our sages echo the prophetic perspective on sin when they state: "The wicked, even in their lifetimes, are considered dead... The righteous, even in death, are considered alive."
3) The Guilt-Offering
The Torah has yet a more penetrating view on the dynamics of transgression. It, too, recognizes that the essence of a person's life is his relationship with G-d. But the Torah also perceives the superficiality of evil -- the fact that "a person does not sin unless a spirit of insanity enters into him."
The soul of man, which is "literally a part of G-d above," "neither desires, nor is able, to separate itself from G-d." It is only a person's animal self -- the material and selfish drives which overlay his G-dly soul -- who might, at times, take control of his life and compel him to act in a manner that is completely at odds with his true self and will.
Because the Torah perceives the superficiality of sin, it can guide the transgressor through a process by which he can undo the negative effects of his transgression--a process by which the transgressor recognizes the folly and self-destructiveness of his deed and reinstates his true, G-dly self as the sovereign of his life. This process culminates with the transgressor's bringing of a korban (animal sacrifice) as an offering to G-d, signifying his subjugation of his own animal self to the spark of G-dliness within him.
In this way, the "guilt-offering" achieves atonement for sin. Only the most external self was involved in the transgression in the first place; by renouncing the deed as "animal behavior" and subjugating the beast within to serve the soul's G-dly aims, the transgressor restores the integrity of his relationship with the Almighty.
4) What G-d Sees
There is one thing, however, that the philosophical, prophetic and Torahic perspectives on sin have in common: the transgression was, and remains, a negative phenomenon.
"Wisdom" sees it as the harbinger of evil in a person's life. "Prophecy" sees it as antithetical to life itself. Torah delves deeper yet, revealing the root cause of sin and providing the key to the transgressor's rehabilitation; but even after the atonement prescribed by the Torah, the transgression itself remains a negative event. Torah itself defines certain deeds as contrary to the Divine will; so nothing in Torah can change the fact that a transgression constitutes a betrayal of the relationship between G-d and man.
G-d, as the author of wisdom, the bestower of prophecy and the commander of Torah, is the source of all three perspectives. But He also harbors a fourth vision of sin, a vision that is His alone: sin as the potential for teshuvah.
The Forbidden Realm
The commandments of the Torah categorize the universe into two domains: the permissible and the forbidden. Beef is permissible, pork is forbidden; doing work on the first six days of the week is permissible, to do so on Shabbat is not; the trait of compassion is to be cultivated, and that of haughtiness is to be eliminated.
Chassidic teaching explains that this is more than a list of do's and don'ts: it is also a catalog of realizable and unrealizable potentials. Every created entity possesses a "spark" of Divine energy that constitutes its essence and soul--a spark that embodies its function within the Divine purpose for creation. When a person utilizes something--be it a physical object or force, a trait or feeling, or a cultural phenomenon--toward a G-dly end, he brings to light the Divine spark at its core, manifesting and realizing the purpose for which it was created.
While no existence is devoid of such a spark -- indeed, nothing can exist without the pinpoint of divinity that imbues it with being and purpose -- not every spark can be actualized through man's constructive use of the thing in which it is invested. There are certain "impregnable" elements -- elements with which the Torah has forbidden our involvement, so that the sparks they contain are inaccessible to us.
Thus, for example, one who eats a piece of kosher meat and then uses the energy gained from it to perform a mitzvah, thereby "elevates" the spark of divinity that is the essence of the meat, freeing it of its mundane incarnation and raising it to a state of fulfilled spirituality. However, if one would do the same with a piece of non-kosher meat--meat that G-d has forbidden us to consume--no such elevation would take place. Even if he applied the energy to positive and G-dly ends, this would not constitute a realization of the Divine purpose in the meat's creation, since the consumption of the meat was an express violation of the Divine will.
This is the deeper significance of the Hebrew terms assur and mutar employed by Halachah (Torah law) for the forbidden and the permissible. Assur, commonly translated as "forbidden," literally means "bound"; this is the halachic term for those elements whose sparks the Torah has deemed bound and imprisoned in a shell of negativity and proscription. Mutar ("permitted"), which literally means "unbound," is the halachic term for those sparks which the Torah has empowered us to extricate from their mundane embodiment and actively involve in our positive endeavors.
Obviously, the "bound" elements of creation also have a role in the realization of the Divine purpose outlined by the Torah. But theirs is a "negative" role -- they exist so that we should achieve a conquest of self by resisting them. There is no Torah-authorized way in which they can actively be involved in our development of creation, no way in which they may themselves become part of the "dwelling for G-d" that we are charged to make of our world. Of these elements it is said, "Their breaking is their rectification." They exist to be rejected and defeated, and it is in their defeat and exclusion from our lives that their raison detre is realized.
The Man in the Desert
These are the rules that govern our existence and our service of G-d. One who lives by these rules, establishing them as the supreme authority over his behavior, attains the status of tzaddik ("perfectly righteous"). Yet our sages tell us that there is an even higher level of closeness to G-d--that "in the place where baalei teshuvah ("returnees"; penitents) stand, utter tzaddikim cannot stand."
The tzaddik is one who has made the Divine will the very substance of his existence. Everything that becomes part of his life--the food he eats, the clothes he wears, the ideas and experiences he garners from his surroundings--are elevated, their "sparks" divested of their mundanity and raised to their Divine function. And he confines himself to the permissible elements of creation, never digressing from the boundaries that Torah sets for our involvement with and development of G-d's world.
The baal teshuvah, on the other hand, is one who has digressed; one who has ventured beyond the realm of the permissible and has absorbed the irredeemable elements of creation into his life. His digression was a wholly negative thing; but having occurred, it holds a unique potential: the potential for teshuvah, "return."
Teshuvah is fueled by the utter dejection experienced by one who wakes to the realization that he has destroyed all that is beautiful and sacred in his life; by the pain of one who has cut himself off from his source of life and well-being; by the alienation felt by one who finds himself without cause or reason to live. Teshuvah is man's amazing ability to translate these feeling of worthlessness, alienation and pain into the drive for rediscovery and renewal.
The baal teshuvah is a person lost in the desert whose thirst, amplified a thousandfold by the barrenness and aridity of his surroundings, drives him to seek water with an intensity that could never have been called forth by the most proficient welldigger; a person whose very abandonment of G-d drives him to seek Him with a passion the most saintly tzaddik cannot know. A soul who, having stretched the cord that binds it to its source to excruciating tautness, rebounds with a force that exceeds anything experienced by those who never leave the Divine orbit.
In this way, the baal teshuvah accomplishes what the most perfect tzaddik cannot: he liberates those sparks of divinity imprisoned in the realm of the forbidden. In his soul, the very negativity of these elements, their very contrariness to the Divine will, becomes a positive force, an intensifier of his bond with G-d and his drive to do good.
teshuvah,the magnified force of a rebounding soul.
This is teshuvah, "return," in its ultimate sense: the reclaiming of the "lost" moments (or days, or years) and energies of a negative past; the restoration of sparks imprisoned in the lowliest realms of creation; the magnified force of a rebounding soul.
Good and Evil
But what of the "bindings" that imprison these sparks? If the tzaddik were to employ a forbidden thing toward a positive end, he would fail to elevate it; indeed, the deed would drag him down, distancing him, rather than bringing him closer, to the G-d he is presuming to serve. From where derives the baal teshuvah's power to redeem what the Torah has decreed "bound" and irredeemable?
In its commentary on the opening verses of Genesis, the Midrash states:
At the onset of the world's creation, G-d beheld the deeds of the righteous and the deeds of the wicked... "And the earth was void and chaotic..." -- these are the deeds of the wicked. "And G-d said: ‘Let there be light'" -- these are the deeds of the righteous. But I still do not know which of them He desires... Then, when it says, "And G-d saw the light, that it is good," I know that He desires the deeds of the righteous, and does not desire the deeds of the wicked.
In other words, the only true definition of "good" or "evil" is that "good" is what G-d desires and "evil" is what is contrary to His will. The fact that we instinctively sense certain deeds to be good and others to be evil -- the fact that certain deeds are good and certain deeds are evil -- is the result of G-d having chosen to desire certain deeds from man and to not desire other deeds from man. We cannot, however, speak of good and evil "before" G-d expressly chose the "deeds of the righteous." On this level, where there is nothing to distinguish right from wrong, we cannot presume to know what G-d will desire.
Therein lies the difference between the tzaddik and the baal teshuvah.
The tzaddik relates to G-d through his fulfillment of the Divine will expressed in the Torah. Thus, his achievements are defined and regulated by the Divine will. When he does what G-d has commanded to be done, he elevates those elements of creation touched by his deeds. But those elements with which the Divine will forbids his involvement are closed to him.
The baal teshuvah, however, relates to G-d Himself, the formulator and professor of this will. Thus, he accesses a Divine potential that, by Torah's standards, is inaccessible. Because his relationship with G-d is on a level that precedes and supersedes the Divine will--a level on which one "still does not know which of them He desires"--there are no "bound" elements, nothing to inhibit the actualization of the Divine potential in any of G-d's creations. So when the baal teshuvah sublimates his negative deeds and experiences to fuel his yearning and passion for good, he brings to light the sparks of G-dliness they hold.
To Be and To Be Not
What enables the baal teshuvah to connect to G-d in such a way? The tzaddik's ability to relate to G-d through the fulfillment of His will was granted to each and every one of us when G-d gave us the Torah at Mount Sinai. But what empowers the baal teshuvah to reach the "place where utter tzaddikim cannot stand" and tap the "pre-will" essence of G-d?
The thrust of the baal teshuvah's life is the very opposite of the tzaddik's. The tzaddik is good, and the gist of everything he does is to amplify that goodness. The baal teshuvah had departed from the path of good, and the gist of everything he does is to deconstruct and transform what he was. In other words, the tzaddik is occupied with the development of self, and the baal teshuvah, with the negation of self.
Thus the tzaddik's virtue is also what limits him. True, his development of self is a wholly positive and G-dly endeavor--he is developing the self that G-d wants him to develop, and by developing this self he becomes one with the will of G-d. But a sense of self is also the greatest handicap to relating to the essence of G-d, which tolerates no camouflaging or equivocation of the truth that "there is none else besides Him."
The baal teshuvah, on the other hand, is one whose every thought and endeavor is driven by the recognition that he must depart from what he is in order to come close to G-d. This perpetual abnegation of self allows him to relate to G-d as G-d is, on a level that transcends G-d's specific projection of Himself formulated in His Torah.
NOTE THIS FOURTH DIMENSION WHY G-D HAS A PERSPECTIVE AND PURPOSE FOR SIN TO EXIST IN THE WORLD
The Fourth Dimension
This is G-d's perspective on sin: sin as the facilitator of teshuvah. "Wisdom," "prophecy" and "Torah" are all part of a reality polarized by good and evil; they can perceive only the damage inflicted by sin, or, at most (as in the case of Torah), the manner by which it might be undone. G-d's reality, however, is wholly and exclusively good. "No evil resides with You," sings the Psalmist. In the words of Jeremiah, "From the Supernal do not stem both evil and good."
From G-d's perspective, there is only the positive essence of transgression--the positive purpose for which He created man's susceptibility to evil and his capacity for sin in the first place. As viewed by its Creator, transgression is the potential for a deeper bond between Himself and man--a bond borne out of the transformation of evil into good and failure into achievement.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
hitbon'nut Parshat Pinchas, 6th Portion (Numbers 28:16-29:11)
There are three forms of hitbon'nut (contemplation, meditation):
(a.) Study-meditation: After mastering the concept thoroughly, one meditates on its profundity, until the intellectual element shines forth for him.
(b.) Meditation before davening: This is directed toward sensing the vitality of the concept learned, in contrast to sensing the intellectual element emphasized in study-meditation.
(c.) Meditation in davening: To sense the "G-dly element" in the concept learned.
These three are rungs on the ladder of sensitivity. It is only by G-d's kindness towards us that we may occasionally sense G-dhood spontaneously, without any avoda at all. This comes about by virtue of the quality of Ultimate Essential G-dhood1 within the soul. For avoda by one's own efforts, however, these three forms of meditation are essential.
Compiled and arranged by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory, in 5703 (1943) from the talks and letters of the sixth Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of righteous memory.
FOOTNOTES
1. Atzmut.
Daily Quote
Ten powerful things were created in the world: mountains are hard, but iron cuts through them; iron is hard, but fire melts it; fire is strong, but water extinguishes it; water is strong, but clouds bear it; clouds are strong, but wind scatters them; wind is strong, but the body contains it; the body is strong, bur fear breaks it; fear is potent, but wine dispels it; wine is powerful, but sleep assuages it; and stronger than all these is death. But charity delivers from death.
- Talmud, Bava Batra 10a
Parshat Pinchas, 6th Portion (Numbers 28:16-29:11)
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16. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, [you shall offer up] a Passover offering to the Lord. טז. וּבַחֹדֶשׁ הָרִאשׁוֹן בְּאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר יוֹם לַחֹדֶשׁ פֶּסַח לַיהֹוָה:
17. On the fifteenth day of this month, a festival [begins]; you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days. יז. וּבַחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר יוֹם לַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה חָג שִׁבְעַת יָמִים מַצּוֹת יֵאָכֵל:
18. On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall not perform any mundane work. יח. בַּיּוֹם הָרִאשׁוֹן מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ כָּל מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ:
You shall refrain from all manner of mundane work: Even essential work, such as the prevention of loss, which is permitted on the intermediate days of the festival, is forbidden on the festival itself. — [Torath Kohanim Emor 187, see Rashi on Lev. 23:8] כל מלאכת עבודה: אפילו מלאכה הצריכה לכם, כגון דבר האבד המותרת בחולו של מועד אסורה ביום טוב:
19. You shall offer up a fire offering, a burnt offering to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in the first year they shall be unblemished for you. יט. וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם אִשֶּׁה עֹלָה לַיהֹוָה פָּרִים בְּנֵי בָקָר שְׁנַיִם וְאַיִל אֶחָד וְשִׁבְעָה כְבָשִׂים בְּנֵי שָׁנָה תְּמִימִם יִהְיוּ לָכֶם:
bulls: Corresponding to Abraham, about whom it says, “And to the cattle did Abraham run,” [to feed the three angels who visited him] (Gen. 18:7). פרים: כנגד אברהם, שנאמר (בראשית יח, ז) ואל הבקר רץ אברהם:
ram: Symbolizing the ram [sacrificed instead] of Isaac (see Gen. 22:13). אילים: כנגד אילו של יצחק:
lambs: Corresponding to Jacob, of whom it says, “Jacob separated the lambs” (Gen. 30:40). I saw this in the commentary of R. Moshe Hadarshan [the preacher]. - [Mid. Aggadah, Midrash Tadshey ch. 10] כבשים: כנגד יעקב שנאמר (בראשית ל, מ) והכשבים הפריד יעקב. ביסודו של רבי משה הדרשן ראיתי זאת:
20. Their meal offerings [shall be] fine flour mixed with oil; three tenths for each bull and two tenths for the ram you shall offer up. כ. וּמִנְחָתָם סֹלֶת בְּלוּלָה בַשָּׁמֶן שְׁלשָׁה עֶשְׂרֹנִים לַפָּר וּשְׁנֵי עֶשְׂרֹנִים לָאַיִל תַּעֲשׂוּ:
21. And you shall offer up one tenth for each lamb, for all seven lambs. כא. עִשָּׂרוֹן עִשָּׂרוֹן תַּעֲשֶׂה לַכֶּבֶשׂ הָאֶחָד לְשִׁבְעַת הַכְּבָשִׂים:
22. And one young male goat for a sin offering to atone for you. כב. וּשְׂעִיר חַטָּאת אֶחָד לְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם:
23. You shall offer these up besides the morning burnt offering which is offered as a continual burnt offering. כג. מִלְּבַד עֹלַת הַבֹּקֶר אֲשֶׁר לְעֹלַת הַתָּמִיד תַּעֲשׂוּ אֶת אֵלֶּה:
24. Like these, you shall offer up daily for seven days, food of the fire offering, a spirit of satisfaction to the Lord; you shall offer up this in addition to the continual burnt offering and its libation. כד. כָּאֵלֶּה תַּעֲשׂוּ לַיּוֹם שִׁבְעַת יָמִים לֶחֶם אִשֵּׁה רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ לַיהֹוָה עַל עוֹלַת הַתָּמִיד יֵעָשֶׂה וְנִסְכּוֹ:
Like these, you shall offer up daily: They should not be decreased progressively, as is the case of the bulls of the [Sukkoth] festival. — [Sifrei Pinchas 48] כאלה תעשו ליום: שלא יהיו פוחתין והולכין כפרי החג:
25. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall not perform any mundane work. כה. וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם כָּל מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ:
26. On the day of the first fruits, when you offer up a new meal offering to the Lord, on your festival of Weeks; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall not perform any mundane work. כו. וּבְיוֹם הַבִּכּוּרִים בְּהַקְרִיבְכֶם מִנְחָה חֲדָשָׁה לַיהֹוָה בְּשָׁבֻעֹתֵיכֶם מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם כָּל מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ:
On the day of the first fruits: The festival of Weeks [Shavuoth] is called the first fruits of the wheat harvest, because of the two loaves, which were the first of the wheat offerings to be brought from the new [crop]. — [Men. 84b] וביום הבכורים: חג השבועות קרוי בכורי קציר חטים על שם שתי הלחם, שהם ראשונים למנחת חטים הבאים מן החדש:
27. You shall offer up a burnt offering with a spirit of satisfaction to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in the first year. כז. וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם עוֹלָה לְרֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ לַיהֹוָה פָּרִים בְּנֵי בָקָר שְׁנַיִם אַיִל אֶחָד שִׁבְעָה כְבָשִׂים בְּנֵי שָׁנָה:
28. Their meal offerings [shall be] fine flour mixed with oil; three tenths for each bull and two tenths for the ram. כח. וּמִנְחָתָם סֹלֶת בְּלוּלָה בַשָּׁמֶן שְׁלשָׁה עֶשְׂרֹנִים לַפָּר הָאֶחָד שְׁנֵי עֶשְׂרֹנִים לָאַיִל הָאֶחָד:
29. One tenth for each lamb, for all seven lambs. כט. עִשָּׂרוֹן עִשָּׂרוֹן לַכֶּבֶשׂ הָאֶחָד לְשִׁבְעַת הַכְּבָשִׂים:
30. One young male goat to atone for you. ל. שְׂעִיר עִזִּים אֶחָד לְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם:
31. You shall offer this up besides the continual burnt offering and its meal offering they shall be unblemished for you, as well as their libations. לא. מִלְּבַד עֹלַת הַתָּמִיד וּמִנְחָתוֹ תַּעֲשׂוּ תְּמִימִם יִהְיוּ לָכֶם וְנִסְכֵּיהֶם:
they shall be unblemished for you, as well as their libations: Even the libations shall be unblemished. Our Rabbis learned from here that wine that has turned moldy is unfit for libations. - [Men. 87a]
Chapter 29
1. And in the seventh month, on the first day, there shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall not perform any mundane work. It shall be a day of shofar sounding for you. א. וּבַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם כָּל מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ יוֹם תְּרוּעָה יִהְיֶה לָכֶם:
2. You shall offer up a burnt offering for a spirit of satisfaction to the Lord: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in the first year, [all] unblemished. ב. וַעֲשִׂיתֶם עֹלָה לְרֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ לַיהֹוָה פַּר בֶּן בָּקָר אֶחָד אַיִל אֶחָד כְּבָשִׂים בְּנֵי שָׁנָה שִׁבְעָה תְּמִימִם:
3. And their meal offering [shall be] fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths for the bull and two tenths for the ram. ג. וּמִנְחָתָם סֹלֶת בְּלוּלָה בַשָּׁמֶן שְׁלשָׁה עֶשְׂרֹנִים לַפָּר שְׁנֵי עֶשְׂרֹנִים לָאָיִל:
4. And one tenth for each lamb, for the seven lambs. ד. וְעִשָּׂרוֹן אֶחָד לַכֶּבֶשׂ הָאֶחָד לְשִׁבְעַת הַכְּבָשִׂים:
5. And one young male goat as a sin offering, to atone for you. ה. וּשְׂעִיר עִזִּים אֶחָד חַטָּאת לְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם:
6. [This is] besides the burnt offering of the new month and its meal offering, and the continual burnt offering and its meal offering, and their libations as prescribed for them, as a spirit of satisfaction, a fire offering to the Lord. ו. מִלְּבַד עֹלַת הַחֹדֶשׁ וּמִנְחָתָהּ וְעֹלַת הַתָּמִיד וּמִנְחָתָהּ וְנִסְכֵּיהֶם כְּמִשְׁפָּטָם לְרֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ אִשֶּׁה לַיהֹוָה:
[This is] besides the burnt offering of the new month: The additional offerings of the beginning of the month, which is on the first day of the new year. מלבד עלת החדש: מוספי ראש חדש שהוא ביום ראש השנה:
7. And on the tenth day of this seventh month, there shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall afflict your souls. You shall not perform any work. ז. וּבֶעָשׂוֹר לַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי הַזֶּה מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם וְעִנִּיתֶם אֶת נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם כָּל מְלָאכָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ:
8. You shall offer up a burnt offering to the Lord, [for] a spirit of satisfaction: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in the first year; they shall [all] be unblemished. ח. וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם עֹלָה לַיהֹוָה רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ פַּר בֶּן בָּקָר אֶחָד אַיִל אֶחָד כְּבָשִׂים בְּנֵי שָׁנָה שִׁבְעָה תְּמִימִם יִהְיוּ לָכֶם:
9. And their meal offering [shall be] fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths for the bull and two tenths for the ram. ט. וּמִנְחָתָם סֹלֶת בְּלוּלָה בַשָּׁמֶן שְׁלשָׁה עֶשְׂרֹנִים לַפָּר שְׁנֵי עֶשְׂרֹנִים לָאַיִל הָאֶחָד:
10. One tenth for each lamb, for the seven lambs. י. עִשָּׂרוֹן עִשָּׂרוֹן לַכֶּבֶשׂ הָאֶחָד לְשִׁבְעַת הַכְּבָשִׂים:
11. A young male goat for a sin offering, besides the atonement sin offering and the continual burnt offering, its meal offering and their libations. יא. שְׂעִיר עִזִּים אֶחָד חַטָּאת מִלְּבַד חַטַּאת הַכִּפֻּרִים וְעֹלַת הַתָּמִיד וּמִנְחָתָהּ וְנִסְכֵּיהֶם:
besides the atonement sin-offering: The goat offered up [i.e., whose blood is sprinkled] in the inner chamber mentioned in [the portion of] Acharei Moth (Lev. 16:9, 15), as that too is a sin-offering. מלבד חטאת הכפרים: שעיר הנעשה בפנים האמור באחרי מות, שגם הוא חטאת:
and the continual burnt offering: Besides the regular burnt offering, you shall offer these burnt offerings. ועלת התמיד: ומלבד עולת התמיד תעשו עולות הללו:
and their libations: This refers to the additional offerings which are stated, and to the [phrase] “you shall offer up” [which is not written, but implied]; this denotes a command: Besides the continual burnt offering and its meal-offering, you shall offer up these and their libations. The same applies every time “their libations” is mentioned in connection with all the festivals, except for [when mentioned in connection] with the festival [of 'Succoth’] offerings, for all [the expressions] “and its libation,” “and their libations,” “and its libations” in [connection with] them refer to the continual sacrifice. Nor are they expressions denoting commands, since the libations of the additional offerings are written separately for each day.
Chapter 97
1. When the Lord will reveal His kingship, the earth will exult; the multitudes of islands will rejoice. 2. Clouds and dense darkness will surround Him; justice and mercy will be the foundation of His throne. 3. Fire will go before Him and consume His foes all around. 4. His lightnings will illuminate the world; the earth will see and tremble. 5. The mountains will melt like wax before the Lord, before the Master of all the earth. 6. The heavens will declare His justice, and all the nations will behold His glory. 7. All who worship graven images, who take pride in idols, will be ashamed; all idol worshippers will prostrate themselves before Him. 8. Zion will hear and rejoice, the towns of Judah will exult, because of Your judgments, O Lord. 9. For You, Lord, transcend all the earth; You are exceedingly exalted above all the supernal beings. 10. You who love the Lord, hate evil; He watches over the souls of His pious ones, He saves them from the hand of the wicked. 11. Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. 12. Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, and extol His holy Name.
Chapter 98
This psalm describes how Israel will praise God for the Redemption.
1. A psalm. Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has performed wonders; His right hand and holy arm have wrought deliverance for Him. 2. The Lord has made known His salvation; He has revealed His justice before the eyes of the nations. 3. He has remembered His kindness and faithfulness to the House of Israel; all, from the farthest corners of the earth, witnessed the deliverance by our God. 4. Raise your voices in jubilation to the Lord, all the earth; burst into joyous song and chanting. 5. Sing to the Lord with a harp, with a harp and the sound of song. 6. With trumpets and the sound of the shofar, jubilate before the King, the Lord. 7. The sea and its fullness will roar in joy, the earth and its inhabitants. 8. The rivers will clap their hands, the mountains will sing together. 9. [They will rejoice] before the Lord, for He has come to judge the earth; He will judge the world with justice, and the nations with righteousness.
Chapter 99
This psalm refers to the wars of Gog and Magog, which will precede the Redemption.
1. When the Lord will reveal His kingship, the nations will tremble; the earth will quake before Him Who is enthroned upon the cherubim, 2. [before] the Lord Who is in Zion, Who is great and exalted above all the peoples. 3. They will extol Your Name which is great, awesome and holy. 4. And [they will praise] the might of the King Who loves justice. You have established uprightness; You have made [the laws of] justice and righteousness in Jacob. 5. Exalt the Lord our God, and bow down at His footstool; He is holy. 6. Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among those who invoke His Name, would call upon the Lord and He would answer them. 7. He would speak to them from a pillar of cloud; they observed His testimonies and the decrees which He gave them. 8. Lord our God, You have answered them; You were a forgiving God for their sake, yet bringing retribution for their own misdeeds. 9. Exalt the Lord our God, and bow down at His holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy.
Chapter 100
This psalm inspires the hearts of those who suffer in this world. Let them, nevertheless, serve God with joy, for all is for their good, as in the verse: "He whom God loves does He chastise." The psalm also refers to the thanksgiving sacrifice-the only sacrifice to be offered in the Messianic era.
1. A psalm of thanksgiving. Let all the earth sing in jubilation to the Lord. 2. Serve the Lord with joy; come before Him with exultation. 3. Know that the Lord is God; He has made us and we are His, His people and the sheep of His pasture. 4. Enter His gates with gratitude, His courtyards with praise; give thanks to Him, bless His Name. 5. For the Lord is good; His kindness is everlasting, and His faithfulness is for all generations.
Chapter 101
This psalm speaks of David's secluding himself from others, and of his virtuous conduct even in his own home.
1. By David, a psalm. I will sing of [Your] kindness and justice; to You, O Lord, will I chant praise! 2. I will pay heed to the path of integrity-O when will it come to me? I shall walk with the innocence of my heart [even] within my house. 3. I shall not place an evil thing before my eyes; I despise the doing of wayward deeds, it does not cling to me. 4. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I shall not know evil. 5. He who slanders his fellow in secret, him will I cut down; one with haughty eyes and a lustful heart, him I cannot suffer. 6. My eyes are upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the path of integrity, he shall minister to me. 7. He that practices deceit shall not dwell within my house; the speaker of lies shall have no place before my eyes. 8. Every morning I will cut down all the wicked of the land, to excise all evildoers from the city of the Lord Chapter 102
An awe-inspiring prayer for the exiled, and an appropriate prayer for anyone in distress.
1. A prayer of the poor man when he is faint [with affliction], and pours out his tale of woe before the Lord. 2. O Lord, hear my prayer, let my cry reach You! 3. Hide not Your face from me on the day of my distress; turn Your ear to me; on the day that I call, answer me quickly. 4. For my days have vanished with the smoke; my bones are dried up as a hearth. 5. Smitten like grass and withered is my heart, for I have forgotten to eat my bread. 6. From the voice of my sigh, my bone cleaves to my flesh. 7. I am like the bird of the wilderness; like the owl of the wasteland have I become. 8. In haste I fled; I was like a bird, alone on a roof. 9. All day my enemies disgrace me; those who ridicule me curse using my name.1 10. For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with tears, 11. because of Your anger and Your wrath-for You have raised me up, then cast me down. 12. My days are like the fleeting shadow; I wither away like the grass. 13. But You, Lord, will be enthroned forever, and Your remembrance is for all generations. 14. You will arise and have mercy on Zion, for it is time to be gracious to her; the appointed time has come. 15. For Your servants cherish her stones, and love her dust. 16. Then the nations will fear the Name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth Your glory, 17. when [they see that] the Lord has built Zion, He has appeared in His glory. 18. He turned to the entreaty of the prayerful, and did not despise their prayer. 19. Let this be written for the last generation, so that the newborn nation will praise the Lord. 20. For He looked down from His holy heights; from heaven, the Lord gazed upon the earth, 21. to hear the cry of the bound, to untie those who are doomed to die, 22. so that the Name of the Lord be declared in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem, 23. when nations and kingdoms will gather together to serve the Lord. 24. He weakened my strength on the way; He shortened my days. 25. I would say: "My God, do not remove me in the midst of my days! You Whose years endure through all generations.” 26. In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. 27. They will perish, but You will endure; all of them will wear out like a garment; You will exchange them like a robe, and they will vanish. 28. But You remain the same; Your years will not end. 29. The children of Your servants will abide; their seed shall be established before You.
Chapter 103
David's prayer when he was ill, this psalm is an appropriate prayer on behalf of the sick, especially when offered by the sick person himself while his soul is yet in his body. He can then bless God from his depths, body and soul. Read, and find repose for your soul.
1. By David. Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all my being, His holy Name. 2. My soul, bless the Lord; forget not all His favors: 3. Who forgives all your sins, Who heals all your illnesses; 4. Who redeems your life from the grave, Who crowns you with kindness and mercy; 5. Who satisfies your mouth with goodness; like the eagle, your youth is renewed. 6. The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. 7. He made His ways known to Moses, His deeds to the Children of Israel. 8. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and of great kindness. 9. He will not contend for eternity, nor harbor ill will forever. 10. He has not dealt with us according to our transgressions, nor requited us according to our sins. 11. For as high as heaven is above the earth, so has His kindness been mighty over those who fear Him. 12. As far as the east is from the west, so has He distanced our transgressions from us. 13. As a father has compassion on his children, so has the Lord had compassion on those who fear Him. 14. For He knows our nature; He is mindful that we are but dust. 15. As for man, his days are like grass; like a flower of the field, so he sprouts. 16. When a wind passes over him, he is gone; his place recognizes him no more. 17. But the kindness of the Lord is forever and ever upon those who fear Him, and His righteousness is [secured] for children's children, 18. to those who keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commands to do them. 19. The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His kingship has dominion over all. 20. Bless the Lord, you His angels who are mighty in strength, who do His bidding to obey the voice of His speech. 21. Bless the Lord, all His hosts, His servants who do His will. 22. Bless the Lord, all His works, in all the places of His dominion. My soul, bless the Lord!
(a.) Study-meditation: After mastering the concept thoroughly, one meditates on its profundity, until the intellectual element shines forth for him.
(b.) Meditation before davening: This is directed toward sensing the vitality of the concept learned, in contrast to sensing the intellectual element emphasized in study-meditation.
(c.) Meditation in davening: To sense the "G-dly element" in the concept learned.
These three are rungs on the ladder of sensitivity. It is only by G-d's kindness towards us that we may occasionally sense G-dhood spontaneously, without any avoda at all. This comes about by virtue of the quality of Ultimate Essential G-dhood1 within the soul. For avoda by one's own efforts, however, these three forms of meditation are essential.
Compiled and arranged by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory, in 5703 (1943) from the talks and letters of the sixth Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of righteous memory.
FOOTNOTES
1. Atzmut.
Daily Quote
Ten powerful things were created in the world: mountains are hard, but iron cuts through them; iron is hard, but fire melts it; fire is strong, but water extinguishes it; water is strong, but clouds bear it; clouds are strong, but wind scatters them; wind is strong, but the body contains it; the body is strong, bur fear breaks it; fear is potent, but wine dispels it; wine is powerful, but sleep assuages it; and stronger than all these is death. But charity delivers from death.
- Talmud, Bava Batra 10a
Parshat Pinchas, 6th Portion (Numbers 28:16-29:11)
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16. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, [you shall offer up] a Passover offering to the Lord. טז. וּבַחֹדֶשׁ הָרִאשׁוֹן בְּאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר יוֹם לַחֹדֶשׁ פֶּסַח לַיהֹוָה:
17. On the fifteenth day of this month, a festival [begins]; you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days. יז. וּבַחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר יוֹם לַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה חָג שִׁבְעַת יָמִים מַצּוֹת יֵאָכֵל:
18. On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall not perform any mundane work. יח. בַּיּוֹם הָרִאשׁוֹן מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ כָּל מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ:
You shall refrain from all manner of mundane work: Even essential work, such as the prevention of loss, which is permitted on the intermediate days of the festival, is forbidden on the festival itself. — [Torath Kohanim Emor 187, see Rashi on Lev. 23:8] כל מלאכת עבודה: אפילו מלאכה הצריכה לכם, כגון דבר האבד המותרת בחולו של מועד אסורה ביום טוב:
19. You shall offer up a fire offering, a burnt offering to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in the first year they shall be unblemished for you. יט. וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם אִשֶּׁה עֹלָה לַיהֹוָה פָּרִים בְּנֵי בָקָר שְׁנַיִם וְאַיִל אֶחָד וְשִׁבְעָה כְבָשִׂים בְּנֵי שָׁנָה תְּמִימִם יִהְיוּ לָכֶם:
bulls: Corresponding to Abraham, about whom it says, “And to the cattle did Abraham run,” [to feed the three angels who visited him] (Gen. 18:7). פרים: כנגד אברהם, שנאמר (בראשית יח, ז) ואל הבקר רץ אברהם:
ram: Symbolizing the ram [sacrificed instead] of Isaac (see Gen. 22:13). אילים: כנגד אילו של יצחק:
lambs: Corresponding to Jacob, of whom it says, “Jacob separated the lambs” (Gen. 30:40). I saw this in the commentary of R. Moshe Hadarshan [the preacher]. - [Mid. Aggadah, Midrash Tadshey ch. 10] כבשים: כנגד יעקב שנאמר (בראשית ל, מ) והכשבים הפריד יעקב. ביסודו של רבי משה הדרשן ראיתי זאת:
20. Their meal offerings [shall be] fine flour mixed with oil; three tenths for each bull and two tenths for the ram you shall offer up. כ. וּמִנְחָתָם סֹלֶת בְּלוּלָה בַשָּׁמֶן שְׁלשָׁה עֶשְׂרֹנִים לַפָּר וּשְׁנֵי עֶשְׂרֹנִים לָאַיִל תַּעֲשׂוּ:
21. And you shall offer up one tenth for each lamb, for all seven lambs. כא. עִשָּׂרוֹן עִשָּׂרוֹן תַּעֲשֶׂה לַכֶּבֶשׂ הָאֶחָד לְשִׁבְעַת הַכְּבָשִׂים:
22. And one young male goat for a sin offering to atone for you. כב. וּשְׂעִיר חַטָּאת אֶחָד לְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם:
23. You shall offer these up besides the morning burnt offering which is offered as a continual burnt offering. כג. מִלְּבַד עֹלַת הַבֹּקֶר אֲשֶׁר לְעֹלַת הַתָּמִיד תַּעֲשׂוּ אֶת אֵלֶּה:
24. Like these, you shall offer up daily for seven days, food of the fire offering, a spirit of satisfaction to the Lord; you shall offer up this in addition to the continual burnt offering and its libation. כד. כָּאֵלֶּה תַּעֲשׂוּ לַיּוֹם שִׁבְעַת יָמִים לֶחֶם אִשֵּׁה רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ לַיהֹוָה עַל עוֹלַת הַתָּמִיד יֵעָשֶׂה וְנִסְכּוֹ:
Like these, you shall offer up daily: They should not be decreased progressively, as is the case of the bulls of the [Sukkoth] festival. — [Sifrei Pinchas 48] כאלה תעשו ליום: שלא יהיו פוחתין והולכין כפרי החג:
25. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall not perform any mundane work. כה. וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם כָּל מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ:
26. On the day of the first fruits, when you offer up a new meal offering to the Lord, on your festival of Weeks; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall not perform any mundane work. כו. וּבְיוֹם הַבִּכּוּרִים בְּהַקְרִיבְכֶם מִנְחָה חֲדָשָׁה לַיהֹוָה בְּשָׁבֻעֹתֵיכֶם מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם כָּל מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ:
On the day of the first fruits: The festival of Weeks [Shavuoth] is called the first fruits of the wheat harvest, because of the two loaves, which were the first of the wheat offerings to be brought from the new [crop]. — [Men. 84b] וביום הבכורים: חג השבועות קרוי בכורי קציר חטים על שם שתי הלחם, שהם ראשונים למנחת חטים הבאים מן החדש:
27. You shall offer up a burnt offering with a spirit of satisfaction to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in the first year. כז. וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם עוֹלָה לְרֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ לַיהֹוָה פָּרִים בְּנֵי בָקָר שְׁנַיִם אַיִל אֶחָד שִׁבְעָה כְבָשִׂים בְּנֵי שָׁנָה:
28. Their meal offerings [shall be] fine flour mixed with oil; three tenths for each bull and two tenths for the ram. כח. וּמִנְחָתָם סֹלֶת בְּלוּלָה בַשָּׁמֶן שְׁלשָׁה עֶשְׂרֹנִים לַפָּר הָאֶחָד שְׁנֵי עֶשְׂרֹנִים לָאַיִל הָאֶחָד:
29. One tenth for each lamb, for all seven lambs. כט. עִשָּׂרוֹן עִשָּׂרוֹן לַכֶּבֶשׂ הָאֶחָד לְשִׁבְעַת הַכְּבָשִׂים:
30. One young male goat to atone for you. ל. שְׂעִיר עִזִּים אֶחָד לְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם:
31. You shall offer this up besides the continual burnt offering and its meal offering they shall be unblemished for you, as well as their libations. לא. מִלְּבַד עֹלַת הַתָּמִיד וּמִנְחָתוֹ תַּעֲשׂוּ תְּמִימִם יִהְיוּ לָכֶם וְנִסְכֵּיהֶם:
they shall be unblemished for you, as well as their libations: Even the libations shall be unblemished. Our Rabbis learned from here that wine that has turned moldy is unfit for libations. - [Men. 87a]
Chapter 29
1. And in the seventh month, on the first day, there shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall not perform any mundane work. It shall be a day of shofar sounding for you. א. וּבַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם כָּל מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ יוֹם תְּרוּעָה יִהְיֶה לָכֶם:
2. You shall offer up a burnt offering for a spirit of satisfaction to the Lord: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in the first year, [all] unblemished. ב. וַעֲשִׂיתֶם עֹלָה לְרֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ לַיהֹוָה פַּר בֶּן בָּקָר אֶחָד אַיִל אֶחָד כְּבָשִׂים בְּנֵי שָׁנָה שִׁבְעָה תְּמִימִם:
3. And their meal offering [shall be] fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths for the bull and two tenths for the ram. ג. וּמִנְחָתָם סֹלֶת בְּלוּלָה בַשָּׁמֶן שְׁלשָׁה עֶשְׂרֹנִים לַפָּר שְׁנֵי עֶשְׂרֹנִים לָאָיִל:
4. And one tenth for each lamb, for the seven lambs. ד. וְעִשָּׂרוֹן אֶחָד לַכֶּבֶשׂ הָאֶחָד לְשִׁבְעַת הַכְּבָשִׂים:
5. And one young male goat as a sin offering, to atone for you. ה. וּשְׂעִיר עִזִּים אֶחָד חַטָּאת לְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיכֶם:
6. [This is] besides the burnt offering of the new month and its meal offering, and the continual burnt offering and its meal offering, and their libations as prescribed for them, as a spirit of satisfaction, a fire offering to the Lord. ו. מִלְּבַד עֹלַת הַחֹדֶשׁ וּמִנְחָתָהּ וְעֹלַת הַתָּמִיד וּמִנְחָתָהּ וְנִסְכֵּיהֶם כְּמִשְׁפָּטָם לְרֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ אִשֶּׁה לַיהֹוָה:
[This is] besides the burnt offering of the new month: The additional offerings of the beginning of the month, which is on the first day of the new year. מלבד עלת החדש: מוספי ראש חדש שהוא ביום ראש השנה:
7. And on the tenth day of this seventh month, there shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall afflict your souls. You shall not perform any work. ז. וּבֶעָשׂוֹר לַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי הַזֶּה מִקְרָא קֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם וְעִנִּיתֶם אֶת נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם כָּל מְלָאכָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ:
8. You shall offer up a burnt offering to the Lord, [for] a spirit of satisfaction: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in the first year; they shall [all] be unblemished. ח. וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם עֹלָה לַיהֹוָה רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ פַּר בֶּן בָּקָר אֶחָד אַיִל אֶחָד כְּבָשִׂים בְּנֵי שָׁנָה שִׁבְעָה תְּמִימִם יִהְיוּ לָכֶם:
9. And their meal offering [shall be] fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths for the bull and two tenths for the ram. ט. וּמִנְחָתָם סֹלֶת בְּלוּלָה בַשָּׁמֶן שְׁלשָׁה עֶשְׂרֹנִים לַפָּר שְׁנֵי עֶשְׂרֹנִים לָאַיִל הָאֶחָד:
10. One tenth for each lamb, for the seven lambs. י. עִשָּׂרוֹן עִשָּׂרוֹן לַכֶּבֶשׂ הָאֶחָד לְשִׁבְעַת הַכְּבָשִׂים:
11. A young male goat for a sin offering, besides the atonement sin offering and the continual burnt offering, its meal offering and their libations. יא. שְׂעִיר עִזִּים אֶחָד חַטָּאת מִלְּבַד חַטַּאת הַכִּפֻּרִים וְעֹלַת הַתָּמִיד וּמִנְחָתָהּ וְנִסְכֵּיהֶם:
besides the atonement sin-offering: The goat offered up [i.e., whose blood is sprinkled] in the inner chamber mentioned in [the portion of] Acharei Moth (Lev. 16:9, 15), as that too is a sin-offering. מלבד חטאת הכפרים: שעיר הנעשה בפנים האמור באחרי מות, שגם הוא חטאת:
and the continual burnt offering: Besides the regular burnt offering, you shall offer these burnt offerings. ועלת התמיד: ומלבד עולת התמיד תעשו עולות הללו:
and their libations: This refers to the additional offerings which are stated, and to the [phrase] “you shall offer up” [which is not written, but implied]; this denotes a command: Besides the continual burnt offering and its meal-offering, you shall offer up these and their libations. The same applies every time “their libations” is mentioned in connection with all the festivals, except for [when mentioned in connection] with the festival [of 'Succoth’] offerings, for all [the expressions] “and its libation,” “and their libations,” “and its libations” in [connection with] them refer to the continual sacrifice. Nor are they expressions denoting commands, since the libations of the additional offerings are written separately for each day.
Chapter 97
1. When the Lord will reveal His kingship, the earth will exult; the multitudes of islands will rejoice. 2. Clouds and dense darkness will surround Him; justice and mercy will be the foundation of His throne. 3. Fire will go before Him and consume His foes all around. 4. His lightnings will illuminate the world; the earth will see and tremble. 5. The mountains will melt like wax before the Lord, before the Master of all the earth. 6. The heavens will declare His justice, and all the nations will behold His glory. 7. All who worship graven images, who take pride in idols, will be ashamed; all idol worshippers will prostrate themselves before Him. 8. Zion will hear and rejoice, the towns of Judah will exult, because of Your judgments, O Lord. 9. For You, Lord, transcend all the earth; You are exceedingly exalted above all the supernal beings. 10. You who love the Lord, hate evil; He watches over the souls of His pious ones, He saves them from the hand of the wicked. 11. Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. 12. Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, and extol His holy Name.
Chapter 98
This psalm describes how Israel will praise God for the Redemption.
1. A psalm. Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has performed wonders; His right hand and holy arm have wrought deliverance for Him. 2. The Lord has made known His salvation; He has revealed His justice before the eyes of the nations. 3. He has remembered His kindness and faithfulness to the House of Israel; all, from the farthest corners of the earth, witnessed the deliverance by our God. 4. Raise your voices in jubilation to the Lord, all the earth; burst into joyous song and chanting. 5. Sing to the Lord with a harp, with a harp and the sound of song. 6. With trumpets and the sound of the shofar, jubilate before the King, the Lord. 7. The sea and its fullness will roar in joy, the earth and its inhabitants. 8. The rivers will clap their hands, the mountains will sing together. 9. [They will rejoice] before the Lord, for He has come to judge the earth; He will judge the world with justice, and the nations with righteousness.
Chapter 99
This psalm refers to the wars of Gog and Magog, which will precede the Redemption.
1. When the Lord will reveal His kingship, the nations will tremble; the earth will quake before Him Who is enthroned upon the cherubim, 2. [before] the Lord Who is in Zion, Who is great and exalted above all the peoples. 3. They will extol Your Name which is great, awesome and holy. 4. And [they will praise] the might of the King Who loves justice. You have established uprightness; You have made [the laws of] justice and righteousness in Jacob. 5. Exalt the Lord our God, and bow down at His footstool; He is holy. 6. Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among those who invoke His Name, would call upon the Lord and He would answer them. 7. He would speak to them from a pillar of cloud; they observed His testimonies and the decrees which He gave them. 8. Lord our God, You have answered them; You were a forgiving God for their sake, yet bringing retribution for their own misdeeds. 9. Exalt the Lord our God, and bow down at His holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy.
Chapter 100
This psalm inspires the hearts of those who suffer in this world. Let them, nevertheless, serve God with joy, for all is for their good, as in the verse: "He whom God loves does He chastise." The psalm also refers to the thanksgiving sacrifice-the only sacrifice to be offered in the Messianic era.
1. A psalm of thanksgiving. Let all the earth sing in jubilation to the Lord. 2. Serve the Lord with joy; come before Him with exultation. 3. Know that the Lord is God; He has made us and we are His, His people and the sheep of His pasture. 4. Enter His gates with gratitude, His courtyards with praise; give thanks to Him, bless His Name. 5. For the Lord is good; His kindness is everlasting, and His faithfulness is for all generations.
Chapter 101
This psalm speaks of David's secluding himself from others, and of his virtuous conduct even in his own home.
1. By David, a psalm. I will sing of [Your] kindness and justice; to You, O Lord, will I chant praise! 2. I will pay heed to the path of integrity-O when will it come to me? I shall walk with the innocence of my heart [even] within my house. 3. I shall not place an evil thing before my eyes; I despise the doing of wayward deeds, it does not cling to me. 4. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I shall not know evil. 5. He who slanders his fellow in secret, him will I cut down; one with haughty eyes and a lustful heart, him I cannot suffer. 6. My eyes are upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the path of integrity, he shall minister to me. 7. He that practices deceit shall not dwell within my house; the speaker of lies shall have no place before my eyes. 8. Every morning I will cut down all the wicked of the land, to excise all evildoers from the city of the Lord Chapter 102
An awe-inspiring prayer for the exiled, and an appropriate prayer for anyone in distress.
1. A prayer of the poor man when he is faint [with affliction], and pours out his tale of woe before the Lord. 2. O Lord, hear my prayer, let my cry reach You! 3. Hide not Your face from me on the day of my distress; turn Your ear to me; on the day that I call, answer me quickly. 4. For my days have vanished with the smoke; my bones are dried up as a hearth. 5. Smitten like grass and withered is my heart, for I have forgotten to eat my bread. 6. From the voice of my sigh, my bone cleaves to my flesh. 7. I am like the bird of the wilderness; like the owl of the wasteland have I become. 8. In haste I fled; I was like a bird, alone on a roof. 9. All day my enemies disgrace me; those who ridicule me curse using my name.1 10. For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with tears, 11. because of Your anger and Your wrath-for You have raised me up, then cast me down. 12. My days are like the fleeting shadow; I wither away like the grass. 13. But You, Lord, will be enthroned forever, and Your remembrance is for all generations. 14. You will arise and have mercy on Zion, for it is time to be gracious to her; the appointed time has come. 15. For Your servants cherish her stones, and love her dust. 16. Then the nations will fear the Name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth Your glory, 17. when [they see that] the Lord has built Zion, He has appeared in His glory. 18. He turned to the entreaty of the prayerful, and did not despise their prayer. 19. Let this be written for the last generation, so that the newborn nation will praise the Lord. 20. For He looked down from His holy heights; from heaven, the Lord gazed upon the earth, 21. to hear the cry of the bound, to untie those who are doomed to die, 22. so that the Name of the Lord be declared in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem, 23. when nations and kingdoms will gather together to serve the Lord. 24. He weakened my strength on the way; He shortened my days. 25. I would say: "My God, do not remove me in the midst of my days! You Whose years endure through all generations.” 26. In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. 27. They will perish, but You will endure; all of them will wear out like a garment; You will exchange them like a robe, and they will vanish. 28. But You remain the same; Your years will not end. 29. The children of Your servants will abide; their seed shall be established before You.
Chapter 103
David's prayer when he was ill, this psalm is an appropriate prayer on behalf of the sick, especially when offered by the sick person himself while his soul is yet in his body. He can then bless God from his depths, body and soul. Read, and find repose for your soul.
1. By David. Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all my being, His holy Name. 2. My soul, bless the Lord; forget not all His favors: 3. Who forgives all your sins, Who heals all your illnesses; 4. Who redeems your life from the grave, Who crowns you with kindness and mercy; 5. Who satisfies your mouth with goodness; like the eagle, your youth is renewed. 6. The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. 7. He made His ways known to Moses, His deeds to the Children of Israel. 8. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and of great kindness. 9. He will not contend for eternity, nor harbor ill will forever. 10. He has not dealt with us according to our transgressions, nor requited us according to our sins. 11. For as high as heaven is above the earth, so has His kindness been mighty over those who fear Him. 12. As far as the east is from the west, so has He distanced our transgressions from us. 13. As a father has compassion on his children, so has the Lord had compassion on those who fear Him. 14. For He knows our nature; He is mindful that we are but dust. 15. As for man, his days are like grass; like a flower of the field, so he sprouts. 16. When a wind passes over him, he is gone; his place recognizes him no more. 17. But the kindness of the Lord is forever and ever upon those who fear Him, and His righteousness is [secured] for children's children, 18. to those who keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commands to do them. 19. The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His kingship has dominion over all. 20. Bless the Lord, you His angels who are mighty in strength, who do His bidding to obey the voice of His speech. 21. Bless the Lord, all His hosts, His servants who do His will. 22. Bless the Lord, all His works, in all the places of His dominion. My soul, bless the Lord!
Friday, June 28, 2013
Anne_Frank
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank
Annelies "Anne" Marie Frank (Dutch pronunciation: [ɑnəˈlis ˈɑnə maˈri frɑŋk], German pronunciation: [anəliːs ˈanə maˈʁiː fʁaŋk] ?, pronunciation (help·info); 12 June 1929 – early March 1945) is one of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Her diary has been the basis for several plays and films. Born in the city of Frankfurt am Main in Weimar Germany, she lived most of her life in or near Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. Born a German national, Frank lost her citizenship in 1941. She gained international fame posthumously after her diary was published. It documents her experiences hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.
The Frank family moved from Germany to Amsterdam in 1933, the year the Nazis gained control over Germany. By the beginning of 1940, they were trapped in Amsterdam by the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. As persecutions of the Jewish population increased in July 1942, the family went into hiding in some concealed rooms in the building where Anne's father worked. After two years, the group was betrayed and transported to concentration camps. Anne Frank and her sister, Margot, were eventually transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where they died of typhus in March 1945.
Otto Frank, the only survivor of the family, returned to Amsterdam after the war to find that Anne's diary had been saved, and his efforts led to its publication in 1947. It was translated from its original Dutch and first published in English in 1952 as The Diary of a Young Girl. It has since been translated into many languages. The diary, which was given to Anne on her 13th birthday, chronicles her life from 12 June 1942 until 1 August 1944.
Early life
Frank was born Annelies[1] or Anneliese[2] Marie Frank on 12 June 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany, the second daughter of Otto Frank (1889–1980) and Edith Frank-Holländer (1900–45). Margot Frank (1926–45) was her elder sister.[4] The Franks were liberal Jews, did not observe all of the customs and traditions of Judaism,[5] and lived in an assimilated community of Jewish and non-Jewish citizens of various religions. Edith Frank was the more devout parent, while Otto Frank was interested in scholarly pursuits and had an extensive library; both parents encouraged the children to read.[6]
Lee, Carol Ann (2000). The Biography of Anne Frank – Roses from the Earth. London: Viking Press. ISBN 978-0-7089-9174-9.
van der Rol, Ruud; Verhoeven, Rian (1995). Anne Frank – Beyond the Diary – A Photographic Remembrance. Langham, Tony & Peters, Plym (translation). New York: Puffin. ISBN 978-0-14-036926-7.
On 13 March 1933, elections were held in Frankfurt for the municipal council, and Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party won. Antisemitic demonstrations occurred almost immediately, and the Franks began to fear what would happen to them if they remained in Germany. Later that year, Edith and the children went to Aachen, where they stayed with Edith's mother, Rosa Holländer. Otto Frank remained in Frankfurt, but after receiving an offer to start a company in Amsterdam, he moved there to organise the business and to arrange accommodations for his family.[7] The Franks were among 300,000 Jews who fled Germany between 1933 and 1939.[8]
Otto Frank began working at the Opekta Works, a company that sold fruit extract pectin, and found an apartment on the Merwedeplein (Merwede Square) in Amsterdam. By February 1934, Edith and the children had arrived in Amsterdam, and the two girls were enrolled in school—Margot in public school and Anne in a Montessori school. Margot demonstrated ability in arithmetic, and Anne showed aptitude for reading and writing. Her friend Hanneli Goslar later recalled that from early childhood, Frank frequently wrote, although she shielded her work with her hands and refused to discuss the content of her writing. The Frank sisters had highly distinct personalities, Margot being well-mannered, reserved, and studious,[9] while Anne was outspoken, energetic, and extroverted.[10]
In 1938 Otto Frank started a second company, Pectacon, which was a wholesaler of herbs, pickling salts, and mixed spices, used in the production of sausages.[11][12] Hermann van Pels was employed by Pectacon as an advisor about spices. A Jewish butcher, he had fled Osnabrück in Germany with his family.[12] In 1939 Edith's mother came to live with the Franks, and remained with them until her death in January 1942.[13]
In May 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands, and the occupation government began to persecute Jews by the implementation of restrictive and discriminatory laws; mandatory registration and segregation soon followed. The Frank sisters were excelling in their studies and had many friends, but with the introduction of a decree that Jewish children could attend only Jewish schools, they were enrolled at the Jewish Lyceum. Anne became a friend of Jacqueline van Maarsen in the Lyceum.[13] In April 1941 Otto Frank took action to prevent Pectacon from being confiscated as a Jewish-owned business. He transferred his shares in Pectacon to Johannes Kleiman and resigned as director. The company was liquidated and all assets transferred to Gies and Company, headed by Jan Gies. In December 1941 Frank followed a similar process to save Opekta. The businesses continued with little obvious change and their survival allowed Frank to earn a minimal income, but sufficient to provide for his family.[14]
Before going into hiding
For her 13th birthday on 12 June 1942, Anne Frank received a book she had shown her father in a shop window a few days earlier. Although it was an autograph book, bound with red-and-white checkered cloth[15] and with a small lock on the front, Frank decided she would use it as a diary,[16] and began writing in it almost immediately. While many of her early entries relate the mundane aspects of her life, she also discusses some of the changes that had taken place in the Netherlands since the German occupation. In her entry dated 20 June 1942, she lists many of the restrictions that had been placed upon the lives of the Dutch Jewish population, and also notes her sorrow at the death of her grandmother earlier in the year.[17] Frank dreamed about becoming an actress. She loved watching movies, but the Dutch Jews were forbidden access to movie theaters from 8 January 1941 onwards.[18]
In July 1942, Margot Frank received a call-up notice from the Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung (Central Office for Jewish Emigration) ordering her to report for relocation to a work camp. Otto Frank told his family that they would go into hiding in rooms above and behind Opekta's premises on the Prinsengracht, a street along one of Amsterdam's canals, where some of his most trusted employees would help them. The call-up notice forced them to relocate several weeks earlier than had been anticipated.[19]
Life in the Achterhuis
Reconstruction of the bookcase that covered the entrance to the Secret Annex, in the Anne Frank House in AmsterdamOn the morning of Monday, 6 July 1942,[20] the family moved into their hiding place, a secret annex. Their apartment was left in a state of disarray to create the impression that they had left suddenly, and Otto Frank left a note that hinted they were going to Switzerland. The need for secrecy forced them to leave behind Anne's cat, Moortje. As Jews were not allowed to use public transport, they walked several kilometers from their home, with each of them wearing several layers of clothing as they did not dare be seen carrying luggage.[21] The Achterhuis (a Dutch word denoting the rear part of a house, translated as the "Secret Annexe" in English editions of the diary) was a three-story space entered from a landing above the Opekta offices. Two small rooms, with an adjoining bathroom and toilet, were on the first level, and above that a larger open room, with a small room beside it. From this smaller room, a ladder led to the attic. The door to the Achterhuis was later covered by a bookcase to ensure it remained undiscovered. The main building, situated a block from the Westerkerk, was nondescript, old, and typical of buildings in the western quarters of Amsterdam.[22]
Victor Kugler, Johannes Kleiman, Miep Gies, and Bep Voskuijl were the only employees who knew of the people in hiding. Along with Gies' husband Jan Gies and Voskuijl's father Johannes Hendrik Voskuijl, they were the "helpers" for the duration of their confinement. The only connection between the outside world and the occupants of the house, they kept the occupants informed of war news and political developments. They catered to all of their needs, ensured their safety, and supplied them with food, a task that grew more difficult with the passage of time. Frank wrote of their dedication and of their efforts to boost morale within the household during the most dangerous of times. All were aware that, if caught, they could face the death penalty for sheltering Jews.[23]
On 13 July 1942, the Franks were joined by the van Pels family: Hermann, Auguste, and 16-year-old Peter, and then in November by Fritz Pfeffer, a dentist and friend of the family. Frank wrote of her pleasure at having new people to talk to, but tensions quickly developed within the group forced to live in such confined conditions. After sharing her room with Pfeffer, she found him to be insufferable and resented his intrusion,[24] and she clashed with Auguste van Pels, whom she regarded as foolish. She regarded Hermann van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer as selfish, particularly in regard to the amount of food they consumed.[25] Some time later, after first dismissing the shy and awkward Peter van Pels, she recognised a kinship with him and the two entered a romance. She received her first kiss from him, but her infatuation with him began to wane as she questioned whether her feelings for him were genuine, or resulted from their shared confinement.[26] Anne Frank formed a close bond with each of the helpers, and Otto Frank later recalled that she had anticipated their daily visits with impatient enthusiasm. He observed that Anne's closest friendship was with Bep Voskuijl, "the young typist ... the two of them often stood whispering in the corner."[27]
The young diaristIn her writing, Frank examined her relationships with the members of her family, and the strong differences in each of their personalities. She considered herself to be closest emotionally to her father, who later commented, "I got on better with Anne than with Margot, who was more attached to her mother. The reason for that may have been that Margot rarely showed her feelings and didn't need as much support because she didn't suffer from mood swings as much as Anne did."[28] The Frank sisters formed a closer relationship than had existed before they went into hiding, although Anne sometimes expressed jealousy towards Margot, particularly when members of the household criticised Anne for lacking Margot's gentle and placid nature. As Anne began to mature, the sisters were able to confide in each other. In her entry of 12 January 1944, Frank wrote, "Margot's much nicer ... She's not nearly so catty these days and is becoming a real friend. She no longer thinks of me as a little baby who doesn't count."[29]
The Secret Annexe with its light-coloured walls and orange roof (bottom) and the Anne Frank tree in the garden behind the house (bottom right), seen from the Westerkerk in 2004Frank frequently wrote of her difficult relationship with her mother, and of her ambivalence towards her. On 7 November 1942 she described her "contempt" for her mother and her inability to "confront her with her carelessness, her sarcasm and her hard-heartedness," before concluding, "She's not a mother to me."[30] Later, as she revised her diary, Frank felt ashamed of her harsh attitude, writing: "Anne, is it really you who mentioned hate, oh Anne, how could you?"[31] She came to understand that their differences resulted from misunderstandings that were as much her fault as her mother's, and saw that she had added unnecessarily to her mother's suffering. With this realization, Frank began to treat her mother with a degree of tolerance and respect.[32]
The Frank sisters each hoped to return to school as soon as they were able, and continued with their studies while in hiding. Margot took a shorthand course by correspondence in Bep Voskuijl's name and received high marks. Most of Anne's time was spent reading and studying, and she regularly wrote and edited her diary entries. In addition to providing a narrative of events as they occurred, she wrote about her feelings, beliefs, and ambitions, subjects she felt she could not discuss with anyone. As her confidence in her writing grew, and as she began to mature, she wrote of more abstract subjects such as her belief in God, and how she defined human nature.[33]
Frank aspired to become a journalist, writing in her diary on Wednesday, 5 April 1944:
I finally realized that I must do my schoolwork to keep from being ignorant, to get on in life, to become a journalist, because that's what I want! I know I can write ..., but it remains to be seen whether I really have talent ...
And if I don't have the talent to write books or newspaper articles, I can always write for myself. But I want to achieve more than that. I can't imagine living like Mother, Mrs. van Daan and all the women who go about their work and are then forgotten. I need to have something besides a husband and children to devote myself to! ...
I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I've never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that's why I'm so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that's inside me!
When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived! But, and that's a big question, will I ever be able to write something great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer?
— Anne Frank[34]
She continued writing regularly until her last entry of 1 August 1944.
ArrestMain article: Betrayal of Anne Frank
A partial reconstruction of the barracks in the Westerbork transit camp where Anne Frank was housed from August to September 1944On the morning of 4 August 1944, following a tip from an informer who was never identified, the Achterhuis was stormed by a group of German uniformed police (Grüne Polizei) led by SS-Oberscharführer Karl Silberbauer of the Sicherheitsdienst.[35] The Franks, van Pelses, and Pfeffer were taken to RSHA headquarters, where they were interrogated and held overnight. On 5 August they were transferred to the Huis van Bewaring (House of Detention), an overcrowded prison on the Weteringschans. Two days later they were transported to the Westerbork transit camp, through which by that time more than 100,000 Jews, mostly Dutch and German, had passed. Having been arrested in hiding, they were considered criminals and were sent to the Punishment Barracks for hard labor.[36]
Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman were arrested and jailed at the penal camp for enemies of the regime at Amersfoort. Kleiman was released after seven weeks, but Kugler was held in various work camps until the war's end.[37] Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl were questioned and threatened by the Security Police but were not detained. They returned to the Achterhuis the following day, and found Anne's papers strewn on the floor. They collected them, as well as several family photograph albums, and Gies resolved to return them to Anne after the war. On 7 August 1944, Gies attempted to facilitate the release of the prisoners by confronting Silberbauer and offering him money to intervene, but he refused.[38}
Deportation and death
On 3 September 1944,[a] the group was deported on what would be the last transport from Westerbork to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and arrived after a three-day journey. On the same train was Bloeme Evers-Emden, an Amsterdam native who had befriended Margot and Anne in the Jewish Lyceum in 1941.[39] Bloeme saw Anne, Margot, and their mother regularly in Auschwitz,[40] and was interviewed for her remembrances of the Frank women in Auschwitz in the 1988 television documentary The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank by Dutch filmmaker Willy Lindwer[41] and the 1995 BBC documentary Anne Frank Remembered.[42]
In the chaos that marked the unloading of the trains, the men were forcibly separated from the women and children, and Otto Frank was wrenched from his family. Of the 1,019 passengers, 549—including all children younger than 15—were sent directly to the gas chambers. Frank had turned 15 three months earlier and was one of the youngest people to be spared from her transport. She was soon made aware that most people were gassed upon arrival, and never learned that the entire group from the Achterhuis had survived this selection. She reasoned that her father, in his mid-fifties and not particularly robust, had been killed immediately after they were separated.[43]
With the other females not selected for immediate death, Frank was forced to strip naked to be disinfected, had her head shaved and was tattooed with an identifying number on her arm. By day, the women were used as slave labour and Frank was forced to haul rocks and dig rolls of sod; by night, they were crammed into overcrowded barracks. Some witnesses later testified Frank became withdrawn and tearful when she saw children being led to the gas chambers; others reported that more often she displayed strength and courage. Her gregarious and confident nature allowed her to obtain extra bread rations for her mother, sister, and herself. Disease was rampant; before long, Frank's skin became badly infected by scabies. The Frank sisters were moved into an infirmary, which was in a state of constant darkness and infested with rats and mice. Edith Frank stopped eating, saving every morsel of food for her daughters and passing her rations to them through a hole she made at the bottom of the infirmary wall.[44]
In October 1944 the Frank women were slated to join a transport to the Liebau labour camp in Upper Silesia. Bloeme Evers-Emden was slated to be on this transport. But Anne was prohibited from going because she had developed scabies, and her mother and sister opted to stay with her. Bloeme went on without them.[42]
On 28 October selections began for women to be relocated to Bergen-Belsen. More than 8,000 women, including Anne and Margot Frank and Auguste van Pels, were transported. Edith Frank was left behind and later died from starvation.[45] Tents were erected at Bergen-Belsen to accommodate the influx of prisoners, and as the population rose, the death toll due to disease increased rapidly. Frank was briefly reunited with two friends, Hanneli Goslar and Nanette Blitz, who were confined in another section of the camp. Goslar and Blitz survived the war and later discussed the brief conversations they had conducted with Frank through a fence. Blitz described her as bald, emaciated, and shivering. Goslar noted Auguste van Pels was with Anne and Margot Frank, and was caring for Margot, who was severely ill. Neither of them saw Margot, as she was too weak to leave her bunk. Anne told Blitz and Goslar she believed her parents were dead, and for that reason she did not wish to live any longer. Goslar later estimated their meetings had taken place in late January or early February 1945.[46]
In March 1945 a typhus epidemic spread through the camp, killing 17,000 prisoners.[47] Witnesses later testified Margot fell from her bunk in her weakened state and was killed by the shock. A few days later, Anne died. This was only a few weeks before the camp was liberated by British troops on 15 April 1945; the exact dates were not recorded.[48] After liberation, the camp was burned in an effort to prevent further spread of disease, and Anne and Margot were buried in a mass grave; the exact whereabouts remain unknown.
After the war, it was estimated of the 107,000 Jews deported from the Netherlands between 1942 and 1944, only 5,000 survived. An estimated 30,000 Jews remained in the Netherlands, with many people aided by the Dutch underground. Approximately two-thirds of this group survived the war.[49]
Otto Frank survived his internment in Auschwitz. After the war ended, he returned to Amsterdam, where he was sheltered by Jan and Miep Gies as he attempted to locate his family. He learned of the death of his wife, Edith, in Auschwitz, but he remained hopeful that his daughters had survived. After several weeks, he discovered Margot and Anne had also died. He attempted to determine the fates of his daughters' friends and learned many had been murdered. Susanne ''Sanne'' Ledermann, often mentioned in Anne's diary, had been gassed along with her parents; her sister, Barbara, a close friend of Margot, had survived.[50] Several of the Frank sisters' school friends had survived, as had the extended families of Otto and Edith Frank, as they had fled Germany during the mid-1930s, with individual family members settling in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Publication
Het Achterhuis ("The Secret"), cover of the 1st edition of Anne Frank's diary in 1947, subsequently titled as The Diary of a Young GirlIn July 1945, after the Red Cross confirmed the deaths of the Frank sisters, Miep Gies gave Otto Frank the diary and a bundle of loose notes that she had saved in the hope of returning them to Anne. Otto Frank later commented that he had not realized Anne had kept such an accurate and well-written record of their time in hiding. In his memoir, he described the painful process of reading the diary, recognizing the events described and recalling that he had already heard some of the more amusing episodes read aloud by his daughter. He saw for the first time the more private side of his daughter and those sections of the diary she had not discussed with anyone, noting, "For me it was a revelation ... I had no idea of the depth of her thoughts and feelings ... She had kept all these feelings to herself".[51] Moved by her repeated wish to be an author, he began to consider having it published.
Frank's diary began as a private expression of her thoughts; she wrote several times that she would never allow anyone to read it. She candidly described her life, her family and companions, and their situation, while beginning to recognise her ambition to write fiction for publication. In March 1944, she heard a radio broadcast by Gerrit Bolkestein—a member of the Dutch government in exile—who said that when the war ended, he would create a public record of the Dutch people's oppression under German occupation.[52] He mentioned the publication of letters and diaries, and Frank decided to submit her work when the time came. She began editing her writing, removing some sections and rewriting others, with a view to publication. Her original notebook was supplemented by additional notebooks and loose-leaf sheets of paper. She created pseudonyms for the members of the household and the helpers. The van Pels family became Hermann, Petronella, and Peter van Daan, and Fritz Pfeffer became Albert Düssell. In this edited version, she addressed each entry to "Kitty," a fictional character in Cissy van Marxveldt's Joop ter Heul novels that Anne enjoyed reading. Otto Frank used her original diary, known as "version A", and her edited version, known as "version B", to produce the first version for publication. He removed certain passages, most notably those in which Frank is critical of her parents (especially her mother), and sections that discussed Frank's growing sexuality. Although he restored the true identities of his own family, he retained all of the other pseudonyms.
Otto Frank gave the diary to the historian Annie Romein-Verschoor, who tried unsuccessfully to have it published. She then gave it to her husband Jan Romein, who wrote an article about it, titled "Kinderstem" ("A Child's Voice"), which was published in the newspaper Het Parool on 3 April 1946. He wrote that the diary "stammered out in a child's voice, embodies all the hideousness of fascism, more so than all the evidence at Nuremberg put together."[53] His article attracted attention from publishers, and the diary was published in the Netherlands as Het Achterhuis in 1947,[54] followed by a second run in 1950.
Romein, Jan. "The publication of the diary: reproduction of Jan Romein's Het Parool article Kinderstem". Anne Frank Museum. Archived from the original on 29 April 2007. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
Lee, Carol Ann (2000). The Biography of Anne Frank – Roses from the Earth. London: Viking Press. ISBN 978-0-7089-9174-9.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Notes and referencesExplanatory notes
a.^ Westra et al. 2004, p. 196, includes a reproduction of part of the transport list showing the names of each of the Frank family.
Citations
1.^ a b Anne Frank Fonds.
2.^ a b Barnouw & Van Der Stroom 2003, pp. 3, 17.
3.^ Müller 1999, pp. 143, 180–181, 186.
4.^ Müller 1999, preface: Family tree.
5.^ van der Rol & Verhoeven 1995, p. 10.
6.^ Lee 2000, p. 17.
7.^ Lee 2000, pp. 20–23.
8.^ van der Rol & Verhoeven 1995, p. 21.
9.^ Müller 1999, p. 131.
10.^ Müller 1999, pp. 129–135.
11.^ Müller 1999, p. 92.
12.^ a b Lee 2000, p. 40.
13.^ a b Müller 1999, pp. 128–130.
14.^ Müller 1999, pp. 117–118.
15.^ van der Rol & Verhoeven 1995, p. 3.
16.^ Lee 2000, p. 96.
17.^ Frank 1995, pp. 1–20.
18.^ Müller 1999, pp. 119–120.
19.^ Müller 1999, p. 153.
20.^ Müller 1999, p. 163.
21.^ Lee 2000, pp. 105–106.
22.^ Westra et al. 2004, pp. 45, 107–187.
23.^ Lee 2000, pp. 113–115.
24.^ Lee 2000, pp. 120–21.
25.^ Lee 2000, p. 117.
26.^ Westra et al. 2004, p. 191.
27.^ Lee 2000, p. 119.
28.^ Müller 1999, p. 203.
29.^ Frank 1995, p. 167.
30.^ Frank 1995, p. 63.
31.^ Frank 1995, p. 157.
32.^ Müller 1999, p. 204.
33.^ Müller 1999, p. 194.
34.^ Marcuse 2002.
35.^ Barnauw & van der Stroom 2003.
36.^ Müller 1999, p. 233.
37.^ Müller 1999, p. 291.
38.^ Müller 1999, p. 279.
39.^ Morine 2007.
40.^ Bigsby 2006, p. 235.
41.^ Enzer & Solotaroff-Enzer 1999, p. 176.
42.^ a b Laeredt 1995.
43.^ Müller 1999, pp. 246–247.
44.^ Müller 1999, pp. 248–251.
45.^ Müller 1999, p. 252.
46.^ Müller 1999, p. 255.
47.^ Müller 1999, p. 261.
48.^ Stichting, "Typhus", p. 5.
49.^ US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
50.^ Lee 2000, pp. 211–212.
51.^ Lee 2000, p. 216.
52.^ Frank 1995, p. 242.
53.^ Romein.
54.^ Lee 2000, p. 223.
55.^ Lee 2000, p. 225.
56.^ Müller 1999, p. 276.
57.^ a b Frank 1989, p. 102.
58.^ Blumenthal 1998.
59.^ Levin 1952.
60.^ Michaelsen 1997.
61.^ Berryman 2000, p. 78.
62.^ Rosow 1996, p. 156.
63.^ a b c Westra et al. 2004, p. 242.
64.^ Graver.
65.^ Feldman 2005.
66.^ Clinton 1994.
67.^ Mandela 1994.
68.^ Müller 1999, p. 305.
69.^ Lee 2000, pp. 222–33.
70.^ Stichting, "Simon Wiesenthal".
71.^ a b Rosenblatt 1999.
72.^ Frank & Holmer 2005, p. 340.
73.^ a b c d Stichting, "Authenticity of the Diary".
74.^ Lee 2000, pp. 241–246.
75.^ Stichting, "Legal rulings".
76.^ Lee 2000, p. 233.
77.^ Faurisson 2000.
78.^ Stichting, "Ten Questions".
79.^ Boretz 1995.
80.^ a b O'Toole 2013.
81.^ Bennett-Smith 2013.
82.^ Bastow 2013.
83.^ a b Anne Frank House Annual Report 2005.
84.^ Anne Frank-Fonds Annual Report 2003.
85.^ Anne Frank Educational Centre website 2012.
86.^ Max 2007.
87.^ a b Thomasson & Balmforth 2008.
88.^ Kreijger 2007.
89.^ Radio Netherlands 2010.
90.^ Engel 2013.
91.^ Stevens 1989.
92.^ Chester and Novello.
93.^ Gabbatt 2009.
94.^ McCrum 2010.
95.^ Ferguson 2012.
96.^ Anne Frank at the JPL Small-Body Database
Discovery · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters
Bibliography Barnouw, David; Van Der Stroom, Gerrold, eds. (2003). The Diary of Anne Frank: The Revised Critical Edition. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-50847-6.
Berryman, John (2000) [1999]. "The Development of Anne Frank". In Enzer, Hyman Aaron; Solotaroff-Enzer, Sandra. Anne Frank: Reflections on her life and legacy. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-06823-2.
Bigsby, Christopher (2006). Remembering and Imagining the Holocaust: The Chain of Memory. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-86934-8.
Enzer, Hyman Aaron; Solotaroff-Enzer, Sandra, eds. (20 December 1999). Anne Frank: Reflections on Her Life and Legacy. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-06823-2.
Frank, Anne (1995) [1947]. Frank, Otto H.; Pressler, Mirjam, eds. Het Achterhuis [The Diary of a Young Girl – The Definitive Edition] (in Dutch). Massotty, Susan (translation). Doubleday. ISBN 0-553-29698-1. ; This edition, a new translation, includes material excluded from the earlier edition.
Frank, Anne (1989). The Diary of Anne Frank, The Critical Edition. Netherlands State Institute for War Documentation. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-24023-9.
Frank, Anne; Holmer, Per (2005). Anne Franks dagbok : den oavkortade originalutgåvan : anteckningar från gömstället 12 juni 1942 – 1 augusti 1944 [Anne Frank's Diary: The Unabridged Original Edition: Notes From the Hiding Place] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Norstedt. ISBN 978-91-1-301402-9.
Lee, Carol Ann (2000). The Biography of Anne Frank – Roses from the Earth. London: Viking Press. ISBN 978-0-7089-9174-9.
Müller, Melissa (1999) [1998]. Das Mädchen Anne Frank [Anne Frank: The Biography] (in German). Kimber, Rita and Robert (translators). New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-0-7475-4523-1. OCLC 42369449. ; With a note from Miep Gies
Rosow, La Vergne (1996). Light 'n Lively Reads for ESL, Adult, and Teen Readers: A Thematic Bibliography. Englewood, Colo: Libraries Unlimited. p. 156. ISBN 978-1-56308-365-5.
van der Rol, Ruud; Verhoeven, Rian (1995). Anne Frank – Beyond the Diary – A Photographic Remembrance. Langham, Tony & Peters, Plym (translation). New York: Puffin. ISBN 978-0-14-036926-7.
Westra, Hans; Metselaar, Menno; Van Der Rol, Ruud; Stam, Dineke (2004). Inside Anne Frank's House: An Illustrated Journey Through Anne's World. Woodstock: Overlook Duckworth. ISBN 978-1-58567-628-6.
Masking Holiness, Part 1
Masking Holiness, Part 1
Chapter 3
Mishna 15a
Rabbi Elazar of Modin said, one who desecrates sacred objects, one who disgraces the festivals, one who shames his fellow in public, one who annuls the covenant of our forefather Abraham, or one who interprets the Torah not in accordance with Jewish law -- even if he has Torah [study] and good deeds, he has no share in the World to Come."
This week's mishna lists a number of concepts central to Judaism, stating that one who fails to accord them the proper reverence will lose his share in the World to Come. This will require some analysis. Why these five concepts in particular, and why so devastating and total a punishment? There are many types of sinners, and virtually all -- except a chosen few - - ultimately merit at least some small share in the World to Come. "All of Israel has a share in the World to Come," proudly promises the Mishna (Sanhedrin 10:1). What is so exceptional about these individuals -- more than the murderer, adulterer, Sabbath-violator, etc.? First, however, I would like to explain each of the five cases of our mishna in its own right.
(a) "One who desecrates sacred objects" refers to a person who does not treat sacrifices or Temple articles properly, in particular by willfully causing a sacrifice to become invalid or ritually unclean (through direct or indirect contact with a corpse or certain other unclean objects).
(b) "One who disgraces the festivals" is one who treats them as ordinary days. The commentators understand our mishna to be referring to Chol HaMoed, the intermediate days of the festivals of Passover and Sukkos (Tabernacles). Passover is a seven-day festival, in which the first and last day are Yom Tov -- sacred days similar to the Sabbath. (Outside the Land of Israel, Passover is observed for eight days, with the first two and last two days sacred.) Sukkos likewise is an eight (or nine) day holiday, with the first and last day(s) sacred. The intermediate days of these holidays are neither Yom Tov proper nor wholly mundane. In Jewish law, they are accorded a semi-sacred status, in which most labor is forbidden but with several exceptions. ("Chol HaMoed" translates as "the non-sacred of the holiday.")
The commentator Rabbeinu Yonah explains that the mishna did not need warn us of the Yom Tov portions of the holidays. Everyone knows of their sacred nature. Everyone has a Passover Seder, (this being virtually the last Jewish observance to be cast off by the marginally-observant). However, the intermediate days are far more often neglected. Many of us know how difficult it is to take off time from work or school on account of religious holidays. In the fall in particular, Sukkos immediately follows Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (for good reason, of course -- which we won't get into here). Having taken off so many days already, who has the luxury of taking off Chol HaMoed as well (or even the guts to ask the boss)? However, these days must not be taken lightly. They are a part of our holidays and provide their own opportunities for spiritual growth.
My personal feeling has always been that once a person goes off to work on Chol HaMoed, even if he shook a lulav (palm branch) in the morning or brought in a matzah sandwich for lunch, the day quickly reverts to life as usual and loses any sanctity it had to offer. Offices are very uninspiring places. They might be cordial and friendly, but in a sterile and certainly nondenominational manner. They offer very little in terms of true religious inspiration -- or even of just being ourselves rather than the organization man.
By the way, needless to say I am not writing this as a definitive statement of Jewish law. There are possible leniencies in going to work on Chol HaMoed, and every G-d-fearing individual should consult his local rabbi. But to act as if there is no difference between this and other days -- not to even *consider* taking off -- that our mishna cannot countenance.
(c) "One who shames his fellow in public" needs no explanation. Religion aside, one who publicly humiliates another has little or no soul of his own. The Talmud writes that publicly embarrassing someone is tantamount to murdering him. When one Talmudic sage stated this, a second one concurred, saying that when a person turns pale, "the red leaves and the white comes" (Bava Metziah 58b). Causing another's blood to rush from his face is no less an act of bloodshed.
(d) "One who annuls the covenant of our forefather Abraham" refers to one who refuses to be circumcised or who hides the fact that he is. (Circumcision was a mitzvah (commandment) given specifically to Abraham -- the first mitzvah commanded upon the nascent Jewish nation -- and through which G-d sealed His covenant with Abraham and his descendants. Thus, the terminology here and in many places -- "the covenant of Abraham;" see Genesis 17.)
With this the Rabbis certainly had in mind a contemporary practice, prevalent during the period of the Greek and Roman Empires. The Greek Olympics and other athletic activities were performed in the nude. The Greeks, in their worship of the human body and physical beauty (they were even so shallow as to see their gods as supermen), would not allow people with mutilated bodies, such as the circumcised, to participate. (No Special Olympics in those days, that's for sure. We all learned how in Sparta they left the less-than-healthy babes out to die.) Aspiring Jewish athletes, in an effort to obtain entrance into the contemporary culture, would undergo an operation known as "stretching the foreskin." Such a desperate (not to mention painful) attempt at hiding one's Jewishness in order to be "fashionable", was condemned by the Rabbis in the harshest terms. We have so little to be proud of that we would go to such horrific extremes just to conform?
Circumcision contains within it a deep significance. Far from being a hygienic procedure practiced by a desert-dwelling tribe, it was a commandment from G-d to Abraham, the first given to the Jewish people, and so the first and most prominent distinguishing symbol of Israel. G-d referred to it as the sign of a special covenant between Himself and Israel (Genesis 17:11), and said that through it Abraham would be "complete" (v. 1). (The word "covenant" in fact appears 13 times in Genesis 17 -- as noted by the Sages), What is so unique and distinguishing about this one mitzvah?
On one level, circumcision represents the sublimation of man's strongest passions towards a higher purpose. We do not live for ourselves -- not on any level of our existence. Israel is G-d's special nation, and our passions, our drives, our bodies, and our very lives are devoted to our Creator. This perhaps above all else is the defining and distinguishing characteristic of the nation of Israel.
But there is a deeper idea as well. By circumcising ourselves, we state that we are not entirely creatures of this world. We must "improve" ourselves before we are ready to begin life. For we are not merely the physical beings we were as we came out of the womb; we are not truly beings of this world at all.
The rest of mankind, as part of the natural world, is quite at home the way it was created. G-d's handiwork is perfect; there is no need to "improve" upon it through circumcision. G-d made the rest of mankind in its correct form. Man may live in his natural and pristine state -- and in harmony with the world at large.
But Israel is different. We are not physical beings alone. We take our natural physical form and transform it into something just a little bit less physical. And this is because our mission is not simply to live *in* this world. We are to strive for something infinitely higher. Abraham was not "complete" without circumcision. As a physical being he certainly was complete, but he was to become something far greater -- a new and different sort of being altogether. And we too must live for something higher. Our goal is not merely to live *in* this world but to transcend it. We have enormous and awe-inspiring heights to scale. We may now aspire to be creatures of spirit and of a higher plane. And we will never again entirely fit in the world of man.
For this reason, Jews have always had a sense that there is something particularly sacred about circumcision. Even Jews who have lapsed from almost all other religious observance hold it dear. (In general, birth, death and marriage issues increase our awareness of our immortality and are approached with due reverence.)
Finally, considering all the above, someone who sacrifices a ritual so sacred, one which so wholly exemplifies our existence as servants of G-d -- for the pathetically inexcusable reason of currying favor with the Gentile society at large -- can tragically be said to have placed this world before the next. We all sin and make mistakes. But to refuse to accept the basic premise of what it means to be a Jew -- sadly, such a person deserves inclusion in our mishna's list.
e) "One who interprets the Torah contrary to Jewish law" is one who studies Torah but who concocts his own explanations, regardless of whether or not they are consistent with the tradition handed down to us from Sinai. He may find Torah study enjoyable and intellectually stimulating, but he is clearly not studying it to fulfill G-d's will or even to find out what that will is. Stated frankly, he does not care about G-d. And admiring the Torah and the words of the Sages with little reverence for their Giver separates them from their source and removes any and all spirituality they may have had to offer.
Next week, G-d willing, we will begin to examine the connection between the five cases above -- and will hopefully uncover just a small degree of their deeper significance.
Chapter 3
Mishna 15a
Rabbi Elazar of Modin said, one who desecrates sacred objects, one who disgraces the festivals, one who shames his fellow in public, one who annuls the covenant of our forefather Abraham, or one who interprets the Torah not in accordance with Jewish law -- even if he has Torah [study] and good deeds, he has no share in the World to Come."
This week's mishna lists a number of concepts central to Judaism, stating that one who fails to accord them the proper reverence will lose his share in the World to Come. This will require some analysis. Why these five concepts in particular, and why so devastating and total a punishment? There are many types of sinners, and virtually all -- except a chosen few - - ultimately merit at least some small share in the World to Come. "All of Israel has a share in the World to Come," proudly promises the Mishna (Sanhedrin 10:1). What is so exceptional about these individuals -- more than the murderer, adulterer, Sabbath-violator, etc.? First, however, I would like to explain each of the five cases of our mishna in its own right.
(a) "One who desecrates sacred objects" refers to a person who does not treat sacrifices or Temple articles properly, in particular by willfully causing a sacrifice to become invalid or ritually unclean (through direct or indirect contact with a corpse or certain other unclean objects).
(b) "One who disgraces the festivals" is one who treats them as ordinary days. The commentators understand our mishna to be referring to Chol HaMoed, the intermediate days of the festivals of Passover and Sukkos (Tabernacles). Passover is a seven-day festival, in which the first and last day are Yom Tov -- sacred days similar to the Sabbath. (Outside the Land of Israel, Passover is observed for eight days, with the first two and last two days sacred.) Sukkos likewise is an eight (or nine) day holiday, with the first and last day(s) sacred. The intermediate days of these holidays are neither Yom Tov proper nor wholly mundane. In Jewish law, they are accorded a semi-sacred status, in which most labor is forbidden but with several exceptions. ("Chol HaMoed" translates as "the non-sacred of the holiday.")
The commentator Rabbeinu Yonah explains that the mishna did not need warn us of the Yom Tov portions of the holidays. Everyone knows of their sacred nature. Everyone has a Passover Seder, (this being virtually the last Jewish observance to be cast off by the marginally-observant). However, the intermediate days are far more often neglected. Many of us know how difficult it is to take off time from work or school on account of religious holidays. In the fall in particular, Sukkos immediately follows Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (for good reason, of course -- which we won't get into here). Having taken off so many days already, who has the luxury of taking off Chol HaMoed as well (or even the guts to ask the boss)? However, these days must not be taken lightly. They are a part of our holidays and provide their own opportunities for spiritual growth.
My personal feeling has always been that once a person goes off to work on Chol HaMoed, even if he shook a lulav (palm branch) in the morning or brought in a matzah sandwich for lunch, the day quickly reverts to life as usual and loses any sanctity it had to offer. Offices are very uninspiring places. They might be cordial and friendly, but in a sterile and certainly nondenominational manner. They offer very little in terms of true religious inspiration -- or even of just being ourselves rather than the organization man.
By the way, needless to say I am not writing this as a definitive statement of Jewish law. There are possible leniencies in going to work on Chol HaMoed, and every G-d-fearing individual should consult his local rabbi. But to act as if there is no difference between this and other days -- not to even *consider* taking off -- that our mishna cannot countenance.
(c) "One who shames his fellow in public" needs no explanation. Religion aside, one who publicly humiliates another has little or no soul of his own. The Talmud writes that publicly embarrassing someone is tantamount to murdering him. When one Talmudic sage stated this, a second one concurred, saying that when a person turns pale, "the red leaves and the white comes" (Bava Metziah 58b). Causing another's blood to rush from his face is no less an act of bloodshed.
(d) "One who annuls the covenant of our forefather Abraham" refers to one who refuses to be circumcised or who hides the fact that he is. (Circumcision was a mitzvah (commandment) given specifically to Abraham -- the first mitzvah commanded upon the nascent Jewish nation -- and through which G-d sealed His covenant with Abraham and his descendants. Thus, the terminology here and in many places -- "the covenant of Abraham;" see Genesis 17.)
With this the Rabbis certainly had in mind a contemporary practice, prevalent during the period of the Greek and Roman Empires. The Greek Olympics and other athletic activities were performed in the nude. The Greeks, in their worship of the human body and physical beauty (they were even so shallow as to see their gods as supermen), would not allow people with mutilated bodies, such as the circumcised, to participate. (No Special Olympics in those days, that's for sure. We all learned how in Sparta they left the less-than-healthy babes out to die.) Aspiring Jewish athletes, in an effort to obtain entrance into the contemporary culture, would undergo an operation known as "stretching the foreskin." Such a desperate (not to mention painful) attempt at hiding one's Jewishness in order to be "fashionable", was condemned by the Rabbis in the harshest terms. We have so little to be proud of that we would go to such horrific extremes just to conform?
Circumcision contains within it a deep significance. Far from being a hygienic procedure practiced by a desert-dwelling tribe, it was a commandment from G-d to Abraham, the first given to the Jewish people, and so the first and most prominent distinguishing symbol of Israel. G-d referred to it as the sign of a special covenant between Himself and Israel (Genesis 17:11), and said that through it Abraham would be "complete" (v. 1). (The word "covenant" in fact appears 13 times in Genesis 17 -- as noted by the Sages), What is so unique and distinguishing about this one mitzvah?
On one level, circumcision represents the sublimation of man's strongest passions towards a higher purpose. We do not live for ourselves -- not on any level of our existence. Israel is G-d's special nation, and our passions, our drives, our bodies, and our very lives are devoted to our Creator. This perhaps above all else is the defining and distinguishing characteristic of the nation of Israel.
But there is a deeper idea as well. By circumcising ourselves, we state that we are not entirely creatures of this world. We must "improve" ourselves before we are ready to begin life. For we are not merely the physical beings we were as we came out of the womb; we are not truly beings of this world at all.
The rest of mankind, as part of the natural world, is quite at home the way it was created. G-d's handiwork is perfect; there is no need to "improve" upon it through circumcision. G-d made the rest of mankind in its correct form. Man may live in his natural and pristine state -- and in harmony with the world at large.
But Israel is different. We are not physical beings alone. We take our natural physical form and transform it into something just a little bit less physical. And this is because our mission is not simply to live *in* this world. We are to strive for something infinitely higher. Abraham was not "complete" without circumcision. As a physical being he certainly was complete, but he was to become something far greater -- a new and different sort of being altogether. And we too must live for something higher. Our goal is not merely to live *in* this world but to transcend it. We have enormous and awe-inspiring heights to scale. We may now aspire to be creatures of spirit and of a higher plane. And we will never again entirely fit in the world of man.
For this reason, Jews have always had a sense that there is something particularly sacred about circumcision. Even Jews who have lapsed from almost all other religious observance hold it dear. (In general, birth, death and marriage issues increase our awareness of our immortality and are approached with due reverence.)
Finally, considering all the above, someone who sacrifices a ritual so sacred, one which so wholly exemplifies our existence as servants of G-d -- for the pathetically inexcusable reason of currying favor with the Gentile society at large -- can tragically be said to have placed this world before the next. We all sin and make mistakes. But to refuse to accept the basic premise of what it means to be a Jew -- sadly, such a person deserves inclusion in our mishna's list.
e) "One who interprets the Torah contrary to Jewish law" is one who studies Torah but who concocts his own explanations, regardless of whether or not they are consistent with the tradition handed down to us from Sinai. He may find Torah study enjoyable and intellectually stimulating, but he is clearly not studying it to fulfill G-d's will or even to find out what that will is. Stated frankly, he does not care about G-d. And admiring the Torah and the words of the Sages with little reverence for their Giver separates them from their source and removes any and all spirituality they may have had to offer.
Next week, G-d willing, we will begin to examine the connection between the five cases above -- and will hopefully uncover just a small degree of their deeper significance.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Shammai Davidovics
http://www.aish.com/sp/so/48909827.html
Smuggling Out Of Hell'
Through ingenuity and chutzpah, one man saved lives in the Holocaust. His daughter tells how.
by Tova Lebovits I am the child of Holocaust survivors. I belong to the generation that will always be overshadowed by the calamity of our parents. I belong to a generation of kinless childhoods, where we grew up without grandparents, numerous uncles, aunts, cousins and relatives who had perished, yet whose silent presence loomed in the background. I belong to a generation that has to face the horrors of the past, and bridge that past to an uncertain future.
I cannot explain Hitler nor can I make what happened go away. But I can remember and I must pass that memory on. I must remember the Nazis, their great evil, and their threat to my existence, my people, and humankind.
Only through our collective memory can we combat such demonic evil. I am a messenger, and I bear witness in the name of my parents' families and friends.
My father, Shammai Davidovics, taught me to fight for life. He could not speak about what happened to him during the war, nor of his family who perished. He kept a life-long self-imposed silence, which I painfully learned to accept despite my need to know.
Over the years, survivors and people he had saved would find us, and then I would hear their tales. It is only before his death that my father broke his silence and substantiated the stories my brothers and I had collected. And it was only then that he answered, painfully, some of our most heartrending questions.
UNDERGROUND FORGERY RING
My father was born in 1912 to a chassidic family in Danilev (near Hust), a small Czechoslovakian town in the Carpathian Mountains. My grandma Gitle, after whom I am named (git=good=Tova), was said to be a cheerfully energetic thin wisp of a woman. She managed to bring into this world 14 babies, of whom 12 reached adulthood - eight sons and four daughters, with my father somewhere in the middle.
Like those around him, my father went to cheder (Torah school), spoke Yiddish, and led a religious life. Yet his curiosity and adventurous nature led him to seek knowledge in the big world outside the shtetl (village). He studied Hebrew and other secular subjects. At age 16, he was accepted to a German gymnasium (high school) in Berne, while he continued his Torah studies on the side as well. From there he joined the Czechoslovakian army, and then was one of the few Jews accepted to the University of Budapest.
He was fluent in 12 languages, had a PhD in sociology, and received rabbinic ordination.By the end of 1943, when the German army invaded Hungary, he was fluent in 12 languages, had completed his PhD. in sociology, and had received rabbinic ordination from Beit Hamidrash Lerabanim in Budapest.
At the start, the Germans deported only those Jews who did not have Hungarian or Czech citizenship papers. Unfortunately, most Jews, especially those living in small villages, though having lived there for centuries, did not have such papers. My father and several of his friends organized an underground forgery ring, where they began producing forged citizenship papers and other necessary documents for Jews. They were financially backed by wealthy Jews, and worked with Raul Wallenberg, providing him with the needed documentation.
MASTER OF DISGUISES
At this time my father also became a master of disguises, taking on various identities when necessary for his mission. Fortunately he looked Aryan, spoke a fluent German, and unlike some who could not see the writing on the wall, he believed that these times required desperate measures.
His exploits were described to us by several survivors of my father's hometown of Danilev, and were later corroborated by my father.
In those critical days of the German invasion, my father collected all the names of the Jews of Danilev without citizenship papers (half the town was related) and worked as fast as possible to forge those papers, several hundred in all. He knew that time was of the essence. It took almost five days to reach Danilev, and he knew the German army was now deporting Jews of nearby regions and would get to his hometown and family within weeks.
The entire town, including his family, had been herded onto cattle cars.With papers in hand, he set out to Danilev in great haste. As he neared his region, he heard that the Germans had worked much faster than anticipated and had most probably reached Danilev. He arrived at his hometown too late. The entire population, including his family, had been herded onto cattle cars and the trains were about to depart. When my father saw the German soldiers guarding the trains and taunting his people, he realized there was only one thing to do...
On the scene arrives an impeccably dressed high-ranking German official. He walks with a quick sure gait and the self-confidence of a haughty personage. And he is furious. He approaches one of the guards, who immediately salutes him, and in harsh tones demands to see the highest-ranking officer in charge. He sends the guards scuffling off to obey his orders.
A perplexed and harried officer quickly appears, and thus ensues a humiliating scolding and berating of the mortified officer in charge. This inevitably draws the attention of those around. "Do you realize you have blatantly disobeyed and violated military orders?" yells the arrogant stranger as he slams a stack of papers in front of the officer.
This stranger was my father. The Jews who recognized him could not believe their eyes. On that day, through sheer chutzpah, he succeeded in reversing the decree. The Jews of Danilev were released from the cattle cars and returned to their homes (what was left after the looting, that is). They were now all legal citizens.
WHERE CAN WE RUN?
Theirs was not a happy ending, however. The Jews were safe in Danilev for just one more year. During that time, on his occasional visits, my father tried desperately but in vain to convince his family and townsfolk to flee. He succeeded with but a handful of people, mostly teenagers. The others simply did not believe him. The things he said "will" happen, they argued "could not" happen. And besides, "Where can we run to?!"
He offered to get them forged gentile papers, and to help them escape to the forests, providing them with peasants' clothes. But to no avail. To them, such acts seemed too desperate. They felt they stood a better chance of surviving at home than in the forest.
He felt responsible and guilty for his family's death, feeling he should have somehow saved them.My father remembers begging his favorite brother Hillel to come with him. But when Hillel heard it would entail hiding his Jewish identity, he could not.
Almost a year later, the Jews of Danilev were again herded, and this time deported and murdered. This time my father arrived several days too late. There was nothing he could do by then. He was only able to reach one sister in time. Until his dying day, my father felt responsible and guilty for his family's death. He believed he should have been able to get through to them and somehow save them.
24-HOUR DIPLOMAT
When the Nazis occupied Budapest, they made an agreement with the Hungarian authorities, whereby the Hungarians would recruit a special police Hungarian force - called the Kishket - that would be in charge of taking care of buildings which the Germans gave political immunity to, such as the Austrian Embassy.
My father and several of his Jewish friends joined this force (as gentiles, of course, since Jews were not allowed). This way, they created an underground that could gather information about enemy activities. (Years ago, Yad Vashem had a life-size portrait of my father in his Hungarian Kishket uniform, as an example of Jewish underground activity.)
By then, Jewish citizenship papers were no longer good enough. My father obtained for my mother and her entire family gentile papers, and later when that became too dangerous, he hid them in an attic. He brought them food and provisions until the remainder of the war.
One day my mother came running tearfully to my father. Her mother (my grandma Cidi) and her uncle (Cidi's brother) had become careless and gone out of hiding for a bit. They were caught by German soldiers and taken to a concentration camp. My father must help.
He assumed the identity of the Austrian counsel for 24 hours, and entered the concentration camp.My father found out exactly where they were detained, and with the help of his friends, organized an escape. He found out that the Austrian counsel (the Austrian representative in Hungary at the time) was leaving the capitol for a few days. My father assumed the identity of the Austrian counsel for 24 hours. He had friends in a Kishket police car wait outside the camp for him.
The "Austrian counsel" entered the concentration camp. He approached the officer in charge and with perfect Austrian German introduced himself. He was also in charge of the Swiss in Budapest, and said it had come to his attention that through some terrible error, two Swiss citizens had been wrongfully deported and now detained in this very camp. He held their papers in his hand.
The officer in charge said that was impossible, but my father insisted on checking it out, for he had personally promised their relatives he would attend to the matter.
So together they went from floor to floor searching for these citizens. On each floor, they announced the names of these citizens. And so they found my grandmother and her brother. They took them out, into the waiting police car, sped away, back into hiding.
My father sadly recalled as he walked through the camp, how many Jews begged and pleaded with him: "We too are Swiss citizens. We too are Austrian citizens. Help us." But he could do nothing for those unfortunate people, and he said he would never forget them.
TRAVELLING PRIEST
One time in Israel, my brother Shmuel got on a public bus with my father. The driver took a look at my father, became very emotional, got up, hugged him hard, and began weeping and crying my father's name, "Shammai, Shammai." He refused to take payment, sat my father in the front seat, and as he drove began telling his tale to the astonished riders.
This bus driver told how my father - disguised as a priest - came and rescued a young chassidic boy, himself.
Apparently, my father's priestly disguise had become almost his second identity. It enabled him to travel from village to village for weeks at a time on, even entering concentration camps and thus saving lives.
How did this disguise come about? While attending university, he was required to remain in class during Christian prayers and theology classes. He learned his lessons well and was also fluent in Latin. This oddity later saved his life many times, and helped save others. God works in mysterious ways.
My father used his black graduation robe from rabbinical seminary as his priestly garb. He became a travelling priest, the kind that kept a special pouch with various relics and talisman, holy to the Christians and especially the peasants, and he knew how to perform the various rituals. He always had two "altar boys" to assist him, and he would pick them up here and there where he would find lost Jewish children. He would dress them in gentile clothes and teach them their prayers and duties, and they would travel together until he found a way out for them.
This particular bus driver was one of those he'd smuggled out of hell to Israel.
LEFT FOR DEAD
One day, while my father was living with me in Jerusalem, someone called and asked if Dr. Davidovics was there. When I replied, "Yes," he insisted on coming over with his wife and son. They had just flown in from Hungary and when he entered our home, he ran excitedly to my ailing father, got on his knees and kissed his hands.
My father's eyes became red, as they do when he cries tearlessly - the closest he ever got to crying. Years earlier, my father had found this orphaned boy, neglected and frightened on the street. He took him in, washed him, fed him, dressed him, and got him new gentile identity papers. Then he took him to a Christian orphanage where he was cared for by nuns. My father told him: "Do as you are told, but never forget who you are. One day you will again live as a Jew."
And so it was. They regularly keep in touch and send us cards several times a year.
He was thrown onto a pile of other bodies, but through some miracle he crawled away and lived.Ironically, it was this priestly disguise that had almost left my father for dead. On one of his many trips to the concentration camps, as he forced himself to walk quickly past the human skeletons that were his people, he was seen by a neighbor from Danilev. The man was so overcome with joy that he yelled out, "Shammai! Shammai!"
My father tried desperately to signal to him to stop, but it was too late.
My father was taken, and now he too became an inmate. He was tortured and beaten and finally left for dead. His body was thrown onto a pile of other bodies, but through some miracle he crawled away from that hell and lived. He had marks all over his legs for the rest of his life, and sometimes he would get headaches where they had beaten him. But he never complained about anything.
Click here to receive Aish.com's free weekly email.
The Holocaust was a tortuous time for the Jewish people. My father lived with these horrors for the rest of his life. He couldn't cry, because the smell of burning human flesh still came back to haunt him.
My father had done all he could to reverse the evil. For his family, his townsfolk, and the 6 million Jews, it was not enough.
We shall never forget.
_(english).jpg)
Smuggling Out Of Hell'
Through ingenuity and chutzpah, one man saved lives in the Holocaust. His daughter tells how.
by Tova Lebovits I am the child of Holocaust survivors. I belong to the generation that will always be overshadowed by the calamity of our parents. I belong to a generation of kinless childhoods, where we grew up without grandparents, numerous uncles, aunts, cousins and relatives who had perished, yet whose silent presence loomed in the background. I belong to a generation that has to face the horrors of the past, and bridge that past to an uncertain future.
I cannot explain Hitler nor can I make what happened go away. But I can remember and I must pass that memory on. I must remember the Nazis, their great evil, and their threat to my existence, my people, and humankind.
Only through our collective memory can we combat such demonic evil. I am a messenger, and I bear witness in the name of my parents' families and friends.
My father, Shammai Davidovics, taught me to fight for life. He could not speak about what happened to him during the war, nor of his family who perished. He kept a life-long self-imposed silence, which I painfully learned to accept despite my need to know.
Over the years, survivors and people he had saved would find us, and then I would hear their tales. It is only before his death that my father broke his silence and substantiated the stories my brothers and I had collected. And it was only then that he answered, painfully, some of our most heartrending questions.
UNDERGROUND FORGERY RING
My father was born in 1912 to a chassidic family in Danilev (near Hust), a small Czechoslovakian town in the Carpathian Mountains. My grandma Gitle, after whom I am named (git=good=Tova), was said to be a cheerfully energetic thin wisp of a woman. She managed to bring into this world 14 babies, of whom 12 reached adulthood - eight sons and four daughters, with my father somewhere in the middle.
Like those around him, my father went to cheder (Torah school), spoke Yiddish, and led a religious life. Yet his curiosity and adventurous nature led him to seek knowledge in the big world outside the shtetl (village). He studied Hebrew and other secular subjects. At age 16, he was accepted to a German gymnasium (high school) in Berne, while he continued his Torah studies on the side as well. From there he joined the Czechoslovakian army, and then was one of the few Jews accepted to the University of Budapest.
He was fluent in 12 languages, had a PhD in sociology, and received rabbinic ordination.By the end of 1943, when the German army invaded Hungary, he was fluent in 12 languages, had completed his PhD. in sociology, and had received rabbinic ordination from Beit Hamidrash Lerabanim in Budapest.
At the start, the Germans deported only those Jews who did not have Hungarian or Czech citizenship papers. Unfortunately, most Jews, especially those living in small villages, though having lived there for centuries, did not have such papers. My father and several of his friends organized an underground forgery ring, where they began producing forged citizenship papers and other necessary documents for Jews. They were financially backed by wealthy Jews, and worked with Raul Wallenberg, providing him with the needed documentation.
MASTER OF DISGUISES
At this time my father also became a master of disguises, taking on various identities when necessary for his mission. Fortunately he looked Aryan, spoke a fluent German, and unlike some who could not see the writing on the wall, he believed that these times required desperate measures.
His exploits were described to us by several survivors of my father's hometown of Danilev, and were later corroborated by my father.
In those critical days of the German invasion, my father collected all the names of the Jews of Danilev without citizenship papers (half the town was related) and worked as fast as possible to forge those papers, several hundred in all. He knew that time was of the essence. It took almost five days to reach Danilev, and he knew the German army was now deporting Jews of nearby regions and would get to his hometown and family within weeks.
The entire town, including his family, had been herded onto cattle cars.With papers in hand, he set out to Danilev in great haste. As he neared his region, he heard that the Germans had worked much faster than anticipated and had most probably reached Danilev. He arrived at his hometown too late. The entire population, including his family, had been herded onto cattle cars and the trains were about to depart. When my father saw the German soldiers guarding the trains and taunting his people, he realized there was only one thing to do...
On the scene arrives an impeccably dressed high-ranking German official. He walks with a quick sure gait and the self-confidence of a haughty personage. And he is furious. He approaches one of the guards, who immediately salutes him, and in harsh tones demands to see the highest-ranking officer in charge. He sends the guards scuffling off to obey his orders.
A perplexed and harried officer quickly appears, and thus ensues a humiliating scolding and berating of the mortified officer in charge. This inevitably draws the attention of those around. "Do you realize you have blatantly disobeyed and violated military orders?" yells the arrogant stranger as he slams a stack of papers in front of the officer.
This stranger was my father. The Jews who recognized him could not believe their eyes. On that day, through sheer chutzpah, he succeeded in reversing the decree. The Jews of Danilev were released from the cattle cars and returned to their homes (what was left after the looting, that is). They were now all legal citizens.
WHERE CAN WE RUN?
Theirs was not a happy ending, however. The Jews were safe in Danilev for just one more year. During that time, on his occasional visits, my father tried desperately but in vain to convince his family and townsfolk to flee. He succeeded with but a handful of people, mostly teenagers. The others simply did not believe him. The things he said "will" happen, they argued "could not" happen. And besides, "Where can we run to?!"
He offered to get them forged gentile papers, and to help them escape to the forests, providing them with peasants' clothes. But to no avail. To them, such acts seemed too desperate. They felt they stood a better chance of surviving at home than in the forest.
He felt responsible and guilty for his family's death, feeling he should have somehow saved them.My father remembers begging his favorite brother Hillel to come with him. But when Hillel heard it would entail hiding his Jewish identity, he could not.
Almost a year later, the Jews of Danilev were again herded, and this time deported and murdered. This time my father arrived several days too late. There was nothing he could do by then. He was only able to reach one sister in time. Until his dying day, my father felt responsible and guilty for his family's death. He believed he should have been able to get through to them and somehow save them.
24-HOUR DIPLOMAT
When the Nazis occupied Budapest, they made an agreement with the Hungarian authorities, whereby the Hungarians would recruit a special police Hungarian force - called the Kishket - that would be in charge of taking care of buildings which the Germans gave political immunity to, such as the Austrian Embassy.
My father and several of his Jewish friends joined this force (as gentiles, of course, since Jews were not allowed). This way, they created an underground that could gather information about enemy activities. (Years ago, Yad Vashem had a life-size portrait of my father in his Hungarian Kishket uniform, as an example of Jewish underground activity.)
By then, Jewish citizenship papers were no longer good enough. My father obtained for my mother and her entire family gentile papers, and later when that became too dangerous, he hid them in an attic. He brought them food and provisions until the remainder of the war.
One day my mother came running tearfully to my father. Her mother (my grandma Cidi) and her uncle (Cidi's brother) had become careless and gone out of hiding for a bit. They were caught by German soldiers and taken to a concentration camp. My father must help.
He assumed the identity of the Austrian counsel for 24 hours, and entered the concentration camp.My father found out exactly where they were detained, and with the help of his friends, organized an escape. He found out that the Austrian counsel (the Austrian representative in Hungary at the time) was leaving the capitol for a few days. My father assumed the identity of the Austrian counsel for 24 hours. He had friends in a Kishket police car wait outside the camp for him.
The "Austrian counsel" entered the concentration camp. He approached the officer in charge and with perfect Austrian German introduced himself. He was also in charge of the Swiss in Budapest, and said it had come to his attention that through some terrible error, two Swiss citizens had been wrongfully deported and now detained in this very camp. He held their papers in his hand.
The officer in charge said that was impossible, but my father insisted on checking it out, for he had personally promised their relatives he would attend to the matter.
So together they went from floor to floor searching for these citizens. On each floor, they announced the names of these citizens. And so they found my grandmother and her brother. They took them out, into the waiting police car, sped away, back into hiding.
My father sadly recalled as he walked through the camp, how many Jews begged and pleaded with him: "We too are Swiss citizens. We too are Austrian citizens. Help us." But he could do nothing for those unfortunate people, and he said he would never forget them.
TRAVELLING PRIEST
One time in Israel, my brother Shmuel got on a public bus with my father. The driver took a look at my father, became very emotional, got up, hugged him hard, and began weeping and crying my father's name, "Shammai, Shammai." He refused to take payment, sat my father in the front seat, and as he drove began telling his tale to the astonished riders.
This bus driver told how my father - disguised as a priest - came and rescued a young chassidic boy, himself.
Apparently, my father's priestly disguise had become almost his second identity. It enabled him to travel from village to village for weeks at a time on, even entering concentration camps and thus saving lives.
How did this disguise come about? While attending university, he was required to remain in class during Christian prayers and theology classes. He learned his lessons well and was also fluent in Latin. This oddity later saved his life many times, and helped save others. God works in mysterious ways.
My father used his black graduation robe from rabbinical seminary as his priestly garb. He became a travelling priest, the kind that kept a special pouch with various relics and talisman, holy to the Christians and especially the peasants, and he knew how to perform the various rituals. He always had two "altar boys" to assist him, and he would pick them up here and there where he would find lost Jewish children. He would dress them in gentile clothes and teach them their prayers and duties, and they would travel together until he found a way out for them.
This particular bus driver was one of those he'd smuggled out of hell to Israel.
LEFT FOR DEAD
One day, while my father was living with me in Jerusalem, someone called and asked if Dr. Davidovics was there. When I replied, "Yes," he insisted on coming over with his wife and son. They had just flown in from Hungary and when he entered our home, he ran excitedly to my ailing father, got on his knees and kissed his hands.
My father's eyes became red, as they do when he cries tearlessly - the closest he ever got to crying. Years earlier, my father had found this orphaned boy, neglected and frightened on the street. He took him in, washed him, fed him, dressed him, and got him new gentile identity papers. Then he took him to a Christian orphanage where he was cared for by nuns. My father told him: "Do as you are told, but never forget who you are. One day you will again live as a Jew."
And so it was. They regularly keep in touch and send us cards several times a year.
He was thrown onto a pile of other bodies, but through some miracle he crawled away and lived.Ironically, it was this priestly disguise that had almost left my father for dead. On one of his many trips to the concentration camps, as he forced himself to walk quickly past the human skeletons that were his people, he was seen by a neighbor from Danilev. The man was so overcome with joy that he yelled out, "Shammai! Shammai!"
My father tried desperately to signal to him to stop, but it was too late.
My father was taken, and now he too became an inmate. He was tortured and beaten and finally left for dead. His body was thrown onto a pile of other bodies, but through some miracle he crawled away from that hell and lived. He had marks all over his legs for the rest of his life, and sometimes he would get headaches where they had beaten him. But he never complained about anything.
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The Holocaust was a tortuous time for the Jewish people. My father lived with these horrors for the rest of his life. He couldn't cry, because the smell of burning human flesh still came back to haunt him.
My father had done all he could to reverse the evil. For his family, his townsfolk, and the 6 million Jews, it was not enough.
We shall never forget.
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