Faces of Courage Young Heroes of WWII by Sally Rogow

http://www.amazon.com/Faces-Courage-Young-Heroes-World/dp/1439547254
From Booklist


Gr. 5-9. These 12 fictionalized accounts of teenage rescuers, resistance fighters, and survivors under Nazi occupation in Europe are based on true accounts of young people who fought back, not only Jews this time but also others whose stories are not often told, including descriptions of German Edelweiss Pirates who resisted Hitler, young Mormons in Hamburg, and a teenage girl in the Greek resistance. There are also several stories of disabled individuals: some escaped, many were murdered, and some, including a blind leader in the French Resistance, rescued others. Rogow supplies a brief bibliography of sources on which the stories are based, but the blurring of fact and fiction doesn't always work, especially when the author imagines inner experience ("Despair welled up inside her. . . . He could see the sorrow in her eyes"). The personal histories are the drama here. Rogow never denies the history of the millions who did not survive as she brings readers close to the astonishing individual stories of young people who made a difference. Many readers will want to go on from here to find out more. Hazel Rochman
 
Faces of Courage is an inspiring compilation of twelve stories of courageous teenagers from all across Europe who resisted the Nazis.


There is Kirsten, a Danish girl who helped save a group of Jewish children from the Nazis. Jacob, a young Pole, survived the Holocaust by concealing his Jewish identity and working in a German armament factory.

Jacques Lusseyran, a blind French boy, organized a student resistance group called the Volunteers of Liberty. The Edelweiss Pirates were a group of German teenagers who opposed The Hitler Youth and aided homeless runaways from reform schools and labor camps.
 
Review


"Faces of Courage is a major step forward in the evolution of Holocaust education. These stories about young people who lived through that time in history enable us to feel the terror of living under German occupation during World War II. Only when we identify with this reality can we learn from it and begin to take action." --Mark Nataupsky, Ph.D. - Founder, Holocaust Education Fondation, Newport News, Virginia



"Rogow never denies the history of the millions who did not survive as she brings readers close to the astonishing individual stories of young people who made a difference." --Hazel Rochman, ALA's Booklist



"Sally Rogow has written a book about courage and the indomitable spirit of humanity. The heroes of Dr. Rogow's book provide a shining light for all of us to follow. Like The Diary of Anne Frank, Faces of Courage should become required reading in every high school in this country." --Bernie Farber, Executive Director, Canadian Jewish Congress



"Sally Rogow has written a book about courage and the indomitable spirit of humanity. The heroes of Dr. Rogow's book provide a shining light for all of us to follow. Like The Diary of Anne Frank, Faces of Courage should become required reading in every high school in this country." --Bernie Farber, Executive Director, Canadian Jewish Congress



"Faces of Courage is a major step forward in the evolution of Holocaust education. These stories about young people who lived through that time in history enable us to feel the terror of living under German occupation during World War II. Only when we identify with this reality can we learn from it and begin to take action." --Mark Nataupsky, Ph.D. - Founder, Holocaust Education Fondation, Newport News, Virginia
 
 
http://umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol10/no9/facesofcourage.html
 
excerpt:






The following Monday, Karl was arrested and put in a green paddy wagon with twenty other prisoners. Rudi and Gerhardt were arrested a few days later. They were in the same jail, but they were not allowed to see one another. Despite the rough treatment and the cruelty of the guards, not one of them betrayed the others.?



Helmuth stood up in the courtroom. “You have sentenced me to die, even though I have committed no crime. But I must tell you that your turn will come. Germany will lose the war.” Karl was amazed at his courage.



Everyone was silent as the four boys were led out of the courtroom. Karl, Rudi and Gerhardt were sent to slave labor camps in Poland and Russia. Helmuth Heubner was seventeen years old when he was executed by guillotine. He was the youngest resistance fighter to lose his life in Ploetzensee, the infamous Nazi center of death. (Pp.131-132).

Personal stories of resistance and sacrifice inspire young adults. Teens think about how they, themselves, would react to situations of stress, war, terror and other abnormal situations; role models put their imaginings into concrete perspective. Faces of Courage is a collection of short stories about resisters in World War II. Three of the stories are based on accounts of real people; nine are based on accounts of how many people, young and old, acted under the Nazis including Jews, Christians, Gypsies (Rom) and the disabled. The smallest act of resistance was punishable by death, and many died because they dared to defy barbarism. Whether the story is an actual account or not, the example set by the ordinary heroes of these stories is inspiring. It’s hard to distinguish between the stories that are true and those that are not. The postscripts to the fictional accounts are as sad and plausible as those of the true stories.




But each shines the light on young individuals or groups whose humanity overcame their fear of tyranny and death. It’s almost unimaginable that people procured printing machines to produce anti Nazi leaflets and newspapers and then distributed them clandestinely, but brave souls knew that their countrymen needed a banner under which to rally. Individuals acted alone or combined secretly to help others by hiding them, feeding them, guiding them to safety. Disguising the truth and lying became polished skills to prevent information from leaking out when neighbours or family could not be trusted. People displayed bravery that they never would have shown in other times, their courage a testament to their fundamental convictions of brotherhood and opposition to racism and brutality.

“I’ve come to deliver your chickens,” he said to the man who opened the door.




The man nodded. “I’ve been expecting you,” he said and took the chickens. Yojo went back to the wagon, brushed the hay to one side and lifted the blankets. The pilots shivered as they climbed out of the wagon. Their clothes were wet. Fred turned to Yojo, grabbed his hand, shook it and made a victory sign.



Inside the house, a woman gave them towels and dry clothes. After a dinner of spicy stew and bread, the man in charge of the safe house spoke to the pilots in English. He took their pictures for fake French identity cards....Yojo and the pilots were also given thick woolen socks, sweaters and climbing boots with heavy spiked soles. (p.72)

Enough praise can never be awarded to those who resisted the Nazi terror, and that’s why this book will be part of the growing body of literature that reminds us about these brave people. Faces of Courage can be used as part of a classroom unit about the World War II and the Holocaust. The writing style is occasionally too earnest and the dialogue slightly artificial, but teens will ignore these faults because the content will touch their souls. Each story can be used as a starting point for historical research and discussion. The cover of the book shows three youths standing in a village square, defiantly facing Nazi soldiers. The pen and watercolour sketch is not appealing, considering the high level of illustration that is being produced these days. The rough quality of the drawing chosen seems inadequate to the material. A woman and girl who stand at the bottom of the sketch have a more modern appearance than one would expect.
___________________________________________________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmuth_H%C3%BCbener
Helmuth Hübener From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search Helmuth Hübener




Helmuth Hübener, flanked by Rudolf Wobbe (left) and Karl-Heinz Schnibbe (right)

Born January 8, 1925(1925-01-08)

Hamburg, Germany

Died October 27, 1942(1942-10-27) (aged 17)

Berlin, Germany

Conviction(s) Treason

Penalty Death by beheading (guillotine)

Status Deceased



Helmuth Günther Hübener, (8 January 1925 – 27 October 1942), was one of the youngest opponents of the Third Reich to be sentenced to death by the Volksgerichtshof and executed.[1]



Contents [hide]

1 Life

2 Friends

3 Arrest and execution

4 Church reaction

5 Legacy

5.1 Depiction in books, drama, and movies

6 Quotations

7 Notes

8 References

9 External links





[edit] LifeHübener came from an apolitical family in Hamburg, Germany. He belonged to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), as did his mother and grandparents. His adoptive father, Hugo, gave him the name Hübener.



The youthful Helmuth had, since early childhood, been a member of the Boy Scouts, an organization strongly supported by his church, but in 1935 the Nazis banned scouting from Germany. He then joined the Hitler Youth, as required by the government, but would later disapprove of Kristallnacht, when the Nazis, including the Hitler Youth, destroyed Jewish businesses and homes. When one of the leaders in his local congregation, a new convert of under two years, undertook to bar Jews from attending its religious services, Hübener found himself at odds with the new policy, but continued to attend services with like-minded friends as the Latter-day Saints locally debated the issue. (His friend and fellow resistance fighter Rudolf Wobbe would later report that of the two thousand Latter-day Saints in the Hamburg area, seven were pro-Nazi, but five of them happened to be in his and Helmuth's St.Georg Branch (congregation), thus stirring controversy with the majority who were non- or anti-Nazis.)



After Hübener finished middle school in 1941, he began an apprenticeship in administration at the Hamburg Social Authority (Sozialbehörde). He met other apprentices there, one of whom, Gerhard Düwer, he would later recruit into his resistance movement. At a bathhouse, he met new friends, one of whom had a communist family background and, as a result, he began listening to enemy radio broadcasts. Listening to enemy radiobroadcast was then strictly forbidden in Nazi Germany, being considered a form of treason. In the summer of that same year, Hübener discovered his brother Gerhard's shortwave radio in a hallway closet and began listening to the BBC on his own and used what he heard to compose various anti-fascist texts and anti-war leaflets, of which he also made many copies. The leaflets were designed to bring to people's attention how skewed the official reports about World War II from Berlin were, as well as to point out Adolf Hitler's, Joseph Goebbels's, and other leading Nazis' criminal behaviour. Other themes covered by Hübener's writings were the war's futility and Germany's looming defeat. He also mentioned the mistreatment sometimes meted out in the Hitler Youth.



In late 1941, he managed to involve three friends in his listening: Karl-Heinz Schnibbe and Rudi Wobbe, who were fellow Latter-day Saints, and later Gerhard Düwer. Hübener had them help him distribute about 60 different pamphlets, all containing typewritten material from the British broadcasts.[2] They distributed them throughout Hamburg, using such methods as surreptitiously pinning them on bulletin boards, inserting them into letterboxes, and stuffing them in coat pockets.[3]



[edit] FriendsRudi Wobbe and Karl Schnibbe were very close to Hübener. Hübener started getting the British information from a Rola short wave radio. Surprised by the differences he heard between BBC radio and the German radio, he decided he wanted everyone to know. He involves his two closest friends. They did almost everything he did. They were tried with Helmuth and were also sentenced. They were also interviewed for Susan Bartoletti's book "The Boy who Dared". They were key roles in her book.[citation needed]



[edit] Arrest and executionOn 5 February 1942, Helmuth Hübener was arrested by the Gestapo at his workplace The Hamburg Social Authority in the Bieberhaus in Hamburg. While trying to translate the pamphlets into French and have them distributed among prisoners of war, he had been noticed by Nazi Party member Heinrich Mohn at his place of work, who had denounced him.



On 11 August 1942, Hübener's case was tried at the Volksgerichtshof in Berlin, and on 27 October, at the age of 17, he was beheaded by guillotine at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin.[3] His two friends, Schnibbe and Wobbe, who had also been arrested, were given prison sentences of five and ten years respectively.





Volksgerichtshof's proclamation from 27 October 1942 announcing Hübener's executionAs stated in the proclamation (at right), Hübener was found guilty of conspiracy to commit high treason and treasonous furthering of the enemy's cause. He was sentenced not only to death, but also to permanent loss of his civil rights, which meant he could be (and was) mistreated in prison, with no bedding or blankets in his cold cell, for instance.



It was highly unusual for the Nazis to try an underaged defendant, much less sentence him to death, but the court stated that Hübener had shown more than average intelligence for a boy his age. This, along with his general and political knowledge, and his behaviour before the court, made Hübener, in the court's eyes, a boy with a far more developed mind than was usually to be found in someone of his age. For this reason, the court stated, Hübener was to be punished as an adult.



Hübener's lawyers and his mother, and the Berlin Gestapo appealed for clemency in his case, hoping to have his sentence commuted to life imprisonment. In their eyes, the fact that Hübener had confessed fully and shown himself to be still morally uncorrupted were points in his favour. The Reich Youth Leadership (Reichsjugendführung) would have none of it, however, and stated that the danger posed by Hübener's activities to the German people's war effort made the death penalty necessary. On 27 October 1942, the Nazi Ministry of Justice upheld the Volksgerichtshof's verdict. Hübener was only told of the Ministry's decision at 1:05 p.m. on the scheduled day of execution and beheaded, in the execution room at 8:13 p.m.[4]



[edit] Church reaction

The execution chamber at Plötzensee PrisonIn 1937, LDS President Heber Grant had visited Germany and urged the members to remain, get along, and not cause trouble. Consequently, some LDS members saw Hübener as a troublemaker who made things difficult for other Mormons in Germany. This recommendation didn't change after Kristallnacht, which occurred the year following Grant's visit, after which he evacuated all non-German Mormon missionaries.



Local LDS leader Arthur Zander was a fervent member of the Nazi Party, even to the extent of affixing notices to the church door stating "Jews not welcome" beginning in 1938. Immediately after the arrest of Helmuth Hübener, Zander, acting for the LDS, excommunicated the young man demonstratively.[5]



Four years later and after the war, Hübener was posthumously reinstated in the LDS Church in 1946.



The day of his execution, Hübener wrote to a fellow branch member, "I know that God lives and He will be the Just Judge in this matter... I look forward to seeing you in a better world!" — from a letter written by Hübener, the only one believed to still exist[6]



[edit] LegacyA youth centre and a pathway in Hamburg are named for Helmuth Hübener. The latter runs between Greifswalder Straße and Kirchenweg in Sankt Georg. At the former Plötzensee Prison in Berlin, an exhibit about young Helmuth Hübener's resistance, trial, and execution is located in the former guillotine chamber, where floral tributes are often placed in memory of Hübener and others put to death by the Nazis there.



[edit] Depiction in books, drama, and moviesHübener's story has been the subject of various literary, dramatic, and cinematic works. In 1969, German author Günter Grass published the book Local Anaesthetic, about the Hübener group.[7]



In 1979 Brigham Young University professor Thomas Rogers wrote a play titled Huebener, which has had several runs in various venues. Schnibbe, one of Hübener's co-accused, attended some of the performances on the BYU campus. Rudolf Wobbe, another co-accused, attended one. Wobbe died of cancer in 1992; Schnibbe died in 2010.



Schnibbe wrote the first-hand account When Truth Was Treason. It was edited by Blair R. Holmes, a professional historian, and Alan F. Keele, a German-language specialist. This monograph was published in 1995 by University of Illinois Press, with new publishing rights, theatrical rights, and copyright transferred 2003 to Academic Research Foundation, a subsidiary of Stratford Books, Inc.



The book Hübener vs. Hitler; A Biography of Helmuth Hübener, Mormon Teenage Resistance Leader, by Richard Lloyd Dewey was published in 2003; upon selling out the first edition, a second, revised edition with new material and corrections was released in late 2004. It is a biography written in a popular-historical style. It includes interviews with all living friends and close relatives of Hübener before most of them died. It also utilizes primary documents from the Nazi regime that investigated his case.



Rudolf Wobbe (Hübener's other co-resistance fighter) wrote the book Before the Blood Tribunal. Published in 1989, the book provides a personal account of his own trial before the Volksgerichtshof, the infamous "people's court" of Nazi Germany. Rudi, as he was known, was charged with Conspiracy to Commit High Treason and Aiding and Abetting the Enemy. Chief Justice Fikeis sentenced him to 10 years for his participation in the resistance. The account also describes events leading up to the trials of the three German youths and Rudi's own experience as a prisoner.



The 2008 juvenile novel The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti, while fictional, is based on Hübener's life. Bartoletti's earlier Newbery Honor book, Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow (2005), also covers Hübener's story.[8]



Hübener's story was documented in the 2003 documentary Truth & Conviction, written and directed by Rick McFarland and Matt Whitaker.



Truth & Treason, a major motion picture based on the Hübener Group, is being produced by Russ Kendall, Micah Merrill and Matt Whitaker of Kaleidoscope Pictures based on a script by Ethan Vincent and Matt Whitaker.



[edit] Quotations"German boys! Do you know the country without freedom, the country of terror and tyranny? Yes, you know it well, but are afraid to talk about it. They have intimidated you to such an extent that you don't dare talk for fear of reprisals. Yes you are right; it is Germany — Hitler Germany! Through their unscrupulous terror tactics against young and old, men and women, they have succeeded in making you spineless puppets to do their bidding." — from one of Helmuth Hübener's many pamphlets, subsequently also published in When Truth Was Treason: German Youth against Hitler, Editors Blair R. Holmes and Alan F. Keele.



"I know that God lives and He will be the Just Judge in this matter. I look forward to seeing you in a better world!" — from a letter written by Hübener (believed to be the only one extant)[6]



[edit] Notes1.^ Barbara Beuys: Vergeßt und nicht - Menschen im Widerstand 1933-1945, Rowohlt Verlag, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-498-00511-1

2.^ Lexikon des Deutschen Widerstandes, Hrsg., Wolfgang Benz ; Walter H.Pehle, Frankfurt Germany, 1994, ISBN 3-10-005702.3, S. 236ff.

3.^ a b Matt Whitaker (2003). Truth & Conviction (DVD). Covenant Communications.

4.^ Holmes, Blair R., ed. (1995). When Truth Was Treason. Alan F. Keele. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. p. 241.

5.^ Barbara Beuys: Vergeßt und nicht - Menschen im Widerstand 1933-1945, Rowohlt Verlag, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-498-00511-1, Page 488

6.^ a b "Hübener at Dixie State College". 2005-03-14. http://abev.wordpress.com/2005/03/14/hubner-at-dixie-state-college/. Retrieved 2010-04-26.

7.^ Günter Grass (1970). Local Anaesthetic. New York: Harcourt Brace. LCCN 78100501.

8.^ Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow, Scholastic Nonfiction, 2005.

[edit] ReferencesProtecting the National Community From Juvenile Delinquency: Nazification of Juvenile Criminal Law in the Third Reich, by Wayne Geerling (Melbourne University)

Gedenkstätte Plötzensee (Brigitte Oleschinski, published by the Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand, and also listed in the German article).

Lights in the Darkness: Resisters of the Nazi Regime — Youth Dissent

Review of Ulrich Sander's book Jugendwiderstand im Krieg. Die Helmuth-Hübener-Gruppe

Truth & Treason at the Internet Movie Database

The Price: The True Story of a Mormon Who Defied Hitler, by Karl-Heinz Schnibbe, with Alan F. Keele and Douglas F. Tobler. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1984. (This book was the first "rough" and considerably shorter version of the later expanded and revised title, When Truth Was Treason, noted above under "Books, Drama, and Movies.")

Truth & Treason Official Web Site

When Truth Was Treason: German Youth Against Hitler, by Karl-Heinz Schnibbe, with Alan F. Keele and Douglas F. Tobler. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, and Provo: Academic Research Foundation/Stratford Books, 1995/2003.

Hubener Vs. Hitler: A Biography of Helmuth Hubener, by Richard Lloyd Dewey. Provo: Academic Research Foundation/Stratford Books, 2004.

[edit] External linksTruth & Conviction, a documentary on Hübener from BYU Television

ROALD dAHL AND WRITING

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/roald_dahl.html
http://thebookbase.com/23/8-roald-dahl-quotes-about-writing
“When you’re writing a book, it’s rather like going on a very long walk, across valleys and mountains and things, and you get the first view of what you see and you write it down. Then you walk a bit further, maybe up onto the top of a hill, and you see something else. Then you write that and you go on like that, day after day, getting different views of the same landscape really. The highest mountain on the walk is obviously the end of the book, because it’s got to be the best view of all, when everything comes together and you can look back and see that everything you’ve done all ties up. But it’s a very, very long, slow process.”




“The prime function of the children’s book writer is to write a book that is so absorbing, exciting, funny, fast and beautiful that the child will fall in love with it. And that first love affair between the young child and the young book will lead hopefully to other loves for other books and when that happens the battle is probably won. The child will have found a crock of gold. He will also have gained something that will help to carry him most marvellously through the tangles of his later years.”


A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.


Roald Dahl





A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom.

Roald Dahl





A writer of fiction lives in fear. Each new day demands new ideas and he can never be sure whether he is going to come up with them or not.

Roald Dahl





All Norwegian children learn to swim when they are very young because if you can't swim it is difficult to find a place to bathe.

Roald Dahl





All through my school life I was appalled by the fact that masters and senior boys were allowed quite literally to wound other boys, and sometimes very severely.

Roald Dahl





An autobiography is a book a person writes about his own life and it is usually full of all sorts of boring details.

Roald Dahl











Did they preach one thing and practice another, these men of God?

Roald Dahl





I am only 8 years old, I told myself. No little boy of 8 has ever murdered anyone. It's not possible.

Roald Dahl





I began to realize how simple life could be if one had a regular routine to follow with fixed hours, a fixed salary, and very little original thinking to do.

Roald Dahl





I do have a blurred memory of sitting on the stairs and trying over and over again to tie one of my shoelaces, but that is all that comes back to me of school itself.

Roald Dahl





I shot down some German planes and I got shot down myself, crashing in a burst of flames and crawling out, getting rescued by brave soldiers.

Roald Dahl





I was a fighter pilot, flying Hurricanes all round the Mediterranean. I flew in the Western Desert of Libya, in Greece, in Syria, in Iraq and in Egypt.

Roald Dahl

January 4, 1938 Application of Anti-Semitic Laws Intensified

http://archive.jta.org/article/1938/01/04/2840750/application-of-antisemitic-laws-intensified
A WALL OF NO ESCAPE BUILT AROUND THE JEWS

AMSTERDAM, Jan. 3 (JTA) –


The suffering of German Jewry, caught in the vise of the nazi anti-Jewish program, has grown worse lately owing to the increasing intensity with which its captors are turning the screw, according to a survey of the situation by a J.T.A. Special correspondent.



There have been no new laws and regulations affecting the Jews of the Reich during the last three months. Nor have there been any spectacular anti-Jewish activities, for the anti-Jewish work has gone under cover, unreported in the press and conducted under guise of the legal forms provided by the anti-Jewish legislation enacted in the past.



What has been and is happening in Germany today is the intensified application of every anti-Jewish measure provided by nazi legislation and decree to a point unequalled in the previous history of the regime and to an extent permitting no single Jew to escape. What is happening to the Jews in Germany today effectively disposes of any belief that the Nazis, after realizing the major part of their policy with regard to the Jews, would permit some stabilization of the Jewish question.

____________________________________________________________________________
THE CONSPIRACY OF THE CREATION OF THE STATELESS JEW

PLIGHT OF 30,000 STATELESS JEWS HOPELESS


Lately, the estimated 30,000 "stateless" Jews in the Reich have been receiving the attention of the police. The usual procedure is to notify the stateless Jew that his labor permit has been cancelled and that his residential permit has also expired and he must leave the country within fourteen days.



As no European country today admits stateless persons, the stateless Jew has, in most cases, only two alternatives -- the concentration camp in Germany for failure to obey the deportation order, or jail in a neighboring country for entering it illegally.



The German-Jewish emigration organizations are able to do little in these cases. Emigration possibilities today are very slight and exist only for qualified individuals. The organizations in Berlin are now receiving as many as 200 requests a day for advice and assistance in emigration work.



It is in the industrial and commercial fields that the Nazis are meeting with their greatest success and are securing the "Aryanization" of one firm after another. These activities are now being concentrated in the textile fields with the large Jewish-owned houses as the principal targets.



The Jews are being rapidly forced out of industry by the withholding of raw materials (or foreign exchange to purchase them), and from trade by the refusal to supply finished products to Jewish agents and retailers. A vigorous campaign is being conducted among dealers not to buy from Jewish manufacturers. Anti-Jewish propaganda activities are especially noticeable in the export branches of industry.



It is significant to note that the loudest demands for action on the Jewish question are being voiced by the Schwarze Korps, the mouthpiece of the S.S. guards and the secret police; for it is the secret police who are chiefly responsible for the increased pressure felt by the Jews today.



One of the chief goals has been the isolation of German Jewry by depriving it of contacts with the non-Jewish world in Germany and with the Jews abroad. German Jews, with some exceptions, are no longer given passports, unless to emigrate. Those receiving passports, find them valid for only six months.



German-Jewish organizations are not permitted to receive visits from representatives of foreign Jewish organizations without permission of the Gestapo. German-Jewish newspapers may not even accept subscriptions from non-Jews without special permission from the authorities in each case. An increasing interest in the activities of Jewish organizations, particularly those engaged in emigration work, is being shown by the police, who do not hesitate to attempt to dictate policies.
______________________________________________________________________
HELPLESS AGAINST POLICE PRESSURE


The Jews have been able to hold out against these tactics to a certain extent, not only in the textile but in other industrial and commercial fields, but they are helpless to oppose police pressure to sell out and emigrate. This police pressure, now being applied to an increasing degree, is having a marked effect in liquidating the Jewish position.



Today there is only one large department store left in Berlin in Jewish hands. It is rumored that it will be pulled down for municipal purposes early this year. A Jewish owner of a large shop in Berlin was ordered to install separate cloak rooms for his "Aryan" and Jewish employes. He himself cannot take any action against nazi employees in his own shipping department who wrap leaflets urging the boycott of Jews with purchases made in his own shop.



In general, the policy is to make things as difficult as possible for the Jewish manufacturer or merchant until -- in the words of a nazi official to a Jewish businessman -- he realizes that "there is no future for the Jew in Germany." There is no great reluctance to use persuasive methods to bring about this understanding, particularly in the provinces, with the result that the Jewish businessman takes the best offer he can get and clears out.



One result of this has been a further weakening of the Jewish communal structure, the financial basis of which weakens steadily as increasing numbers of members of the Jewish community become financially unproductive and unable to maintain their share of the communal burdens. What these are may be seen from the fact that one in five of the Jewish population in the cities is dependent on the community while in the smaller towns the proportion is larger.

__________________________________________________________________________
MIDDLE-AGED NOW SEEK TO EMIGRATE


Another result has been the development of a new emigration problem. A large class of middle-aged people, with a small amount of capital, is now seeking to emigrate. Most of them have no vocational experience except. Commercial activities and are of an age where they cannot easily master new vocations or languages. The great majority of them are also beyond the age which countries of immigration consider suitable.



Existence of this class, which continues to grow daily, provides another contradiction to the Nazi dictum: "Young Jews, overseas; old Jews, Weissensee (the Jewish cemetery)."



Jewish emigration from the Reich now proceeds by the estimated average of about 1,500 a month under steadily mounting difficulties. The German Jews considered from the viewpoint of age and training as most suitable for immigration, have already gone from the Reich and it becomes increasingly difficult to place those remaining. The number of German Jewish girls emigrating has not been in proportion to men and efforts are now being made to further the emigration of young women.



In spite of the fact that women emigrants find it easier to get employment abroad than men, there has been some reluctance on the part of the Jewish girls to emigrate, chiefly because they prefer to remain with their families as long as it is economically possible for the families to remain together. Once they leave Germany, they know that they may return to the country only under special circumstances and with special permission of the police. In many cases, emigration means separation for life and this they naturally prefer to delay as long as possible.
____________________________________________________________________________
http://archive.jta.org/article/1946/05/28/2745244/nazi-youth-leader-charged-at-nuremberg-trial-with-deporting-50000-jews-to-death-camps
May 28, 1946
Nuremberg, May. 27 (JTA) –

Nazi Youth Leader Charged at Nuremberg Trial with Deporting 50,000 Jews to Death Camps


U.S. Prosecutor Thomas Dodd today confronted Baldur von Schirach, former gauleiter of Vienna and one-time Nazi youth leader, with documents proving that he had arranged for the deportation of 50,000 Jews to extermination camps in Poland. Dodd submitted to the International Military Tribunal the minutes of a meeting of Hitler, Hane Frank, then gauleiter of Poland, and Schirach, at which Schirach asked Frank to accept 50,000 Viennese Jews.



Schirach denied that he knew what had happened to the deportees, stating that he believed the older people were sent to Theresienstadt, while the younger ones were sent to Poland. Dodd interrupted, declaring: "You know that the Jews were taken to Riga and Minsk and annihilated."



Dodd quoted from 55 reports submitted to Schirach in 1942 by Reinhard Heydrich, who was at the time deputy chief of the Gestapo, giving full details of the massacre of he deported Jews. The prosecutor remarked that "your memory is very bad today," when the former youth leader said that he could not remember having seen the reports.



The Russian prosecutor following Dodd, submitted excerpts from an affidavit by Ida Wassotom, a Jewish resident of Lemberg, relating how members of the Hitler youth groups, which Schirach directed, had participated in the murder of hundreds of Jews in that city. Uniformed youths, armed with knives and pistols, she said, reamed the streets, breaking into homes to search for hidden Jews and killing Jewish men and women on the streets.

_____________________________________________________________________________
http://archive.jta.org/article/1946/07/22/2745874/ss-leader-who-commanded-ghetto-hanged-in-czechoslovakia-for-crimes-against-jews
July 22, 1946


S.s. Leader Who Commanded Ghetto Hanged in Czechoslovakia for Crimes Against Jews
Prague, Jul. 21 (JTA) –


An Austrian S.S. leader named Knollmayer, who was vice-commander of the concentration camp at Sered, was hanged today following his conviction by a People's Court at Bratislava. Knollmayer, 24, achieved notoriety in 1944 when he shot and killed the rabbi of Piestany and other Jews.



Meanwhile, the long-drawn-out trial of Anton Vasek, Slovak puppet official, is nearing an end, with the prosecution demanding the death penalty and the defense pleading for clemency on the grounds that not all the Jews in Slovakia were killed.
___________________________________________________________________________
http://archive.jta.org/article/1944/02/08/2863008/200-gestapo-men-killed-by-jews-during-battle-in-polish-extermination-camp
February 8, 1944


200 Gestapo Men Killed by Jews During Battle in Polish “extermination Camp”
LONDON, Feb. 7 (JTA) –


More than 200 Gestapo agents and Ukrainian guards in the "Jewish extermination camp" of Sobibor, in occupied Poland, were killed during a revolt of the Jewish internees organized with the aid of the underground movement, the Polish Government-in-Exile reported today.



The revolt, which is the second largest Jewish uprising against the Nazis, surpassed only by the "Battle of the Warsaw Ghetto," started in the so-called "penal huts" of the camp where Jews are tortured for various alleged offences. Jewish prisoners attacked the huts and released the tortured Jews who joined them in disarming the guards, and in resisting the Gestapo units which rushed to the scene to crush the revolt. Aided by armed members of the underground movement who came to their assistance, the Jewish prisoners succeeded in killing many of their tormentors. Many of the Jews were also killed in the battle.



The Polish Government's report states that the Gestapo "liquidation" of the remnants of the Jewish population in various Polish towns continues. Five hundred Jews were recently executed in Przemysl and a large number were killed in Rseszow, the report declares, adding that the "Jewish" labor camps in Trawniki and Poniatowka have been completely "liquidated" by the Germans.



Citation - Click to see see this article's citation



"200 Gestapo Men Killed by Jews During Battle in Polish “extermination Camp”." Jewish Telegraphic Agency 8 Feb 1944.

_________________________________________________________________
http://archive.jta.org/article/1944/08/17/2864684/germans-raze-all-traces-of-the-jewish-extermination-camps-before-leaving-poland
August 17, 1944


Germans Raze All Traces of the “jewish Extermination Camps” Before Leaving Poland
MOSCOW, Aug. 16 (JTA) –


Correspondents of the Moscow press now visiting the liberated area in Poland today reported from Lublin that the Germans have razed to the ground all buildings in the extermination camp of Treblinka, including the gas chambers where tens of thousands of Jews were suffocated to death. The Moscow papers, however, assert that there are people who survived the massacres in Treblinka and who testify in details as to the mass-murder which the Germans carried out systematically on Jews brought from all parts of occupied Europe.



Similar steps to remove all traces of their crimes have been taken by the Germans in the Sobibor, Trawniki, Poniatow and Majdanek. All these places are now in the hands of the Red Army, but it is not easy to find the exact location of the "death factories."



An investigation made by Soviet officials in the Lublin district established that in the Trawniki concentration camp the Germans had established a special section for Jews who were caught fleeing from the Warsaw ghetto after the anti-Nazi revolt there. The torture of the Jews in this section of the camp was especially brutal, neighboring peasants testified.



Citation - Click to see see this article's citation



"Germans Raze All Traces of the “jewish Extermination Camps” Before Leaving Poland." Jewish Telegraphic Agency 17 Aug 1944.
__________________________________________________________________
http://archive.jta.org/article/1945/06/24/2867482/german-plan-to-kill-all-jews-in-theresienstadt-thwarted-by-rapid-advance-of-red-army
June 24, 1945


German Plan to Kill All Jews in Theresienstadt Thwarted by Rapid Advance of Red Army
London, Jun. 22 (JTA) –


A German plan to kill all Jews in Theresidenstadt in special "gas chambers" was foiled almost at the last minute, the London Times reports today in a letter from Theresienstadt.



The letter reveals that "bathing establishments" for gassing the interned Jews had already been prepared, but the doors for these chambers were returned three times because they did not fit, In the meantime, Russian troops reached Theresisnstedt.



The letter confirms earlier reports with regard to the number of Jews who passed through Theresienstedt, and estimates that during the years 1942-43 an average of 150 Jews died there each day. Only Rabbi Leo Neuhaus and four Jewish women remained alive from the first transport of 1,197 Jews brought to Theresienstedt from Frankfurtan- Main, the letter reported.



(Rabbi Ralph Nehaus, who is rabbi of Congregation Chab Shalom in New York, told the JTA that he last heard from his father over four years ago and did not know were he was or whe ther he was alive. The younger Rabbi Neuhaus came to the United States in 1941.)



Eva Bart, an official of the Joint Distribution Committee in Warsaw, is among the Jews liberated in Western Germany, Dr. Emanuel Szerer, Polish-Jewish leader reported today. She lived in the Warsaw ghetto until its "liquidation" by the Germans and passed through the notorious camps of Oswiecim, Majdanek and Ravensbruck.



Citation - Click to see see this article's citation
"German Plan to Kill All Jews in Theresienstadt Thwarted by Rapid Advance of Red Army." Jewish Telegraphic Agency 24 Jun 1945
________________________________________________________________________
http://archive.jta.org/article/1945/06/03/2867290/antisemitism-widespread-in-liberated-czechoslovakia-surviving-jews-not-wanted
June 3, 1945


Anti-semitism Wide-spread in Liberated Czechoslovakia; Surviving Jews Not Wanted

Frague, Jun. 1 (JTA) –


Jews returning to Czechoslovakia are not being welcomed home with open arms and, in Slovakia particularly, have encountered a great deal of hostility. Dr. Inrich Resenberg, deputy chief of the repatriation department of the Crechoslovak Government, disclosed today.



Dr. Rosenberg told a Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent that while some terns have welcomed Jews returning from Theresienstadt as martyriz the more typical reaction has been one of surprise that any Jews were still alive, and discomfit at the thought that they will want their jobs and property back.



He estimated that only about 15,000 of the country's 350,000 Jews survive, and Eest of these, he said, desire to emigrate to Palestine as a result of the increased anti-Semitism here. According to Stefan Engel, former secretary-general of the Prague Jewish community under the occupation, who is now a member of the committee to liquidats the Nazi commissariat for Jewish affairs, the Communist newspaper here has been the only one thus far to advocate returning jobs to Jews.



The situation in Prague is complicated by the fact that it has become a center for Jewish survivors from Germany and Poland seeking remnants of their families. Nearly 10,000 have wandered in from slave camps hoping to pick up news of their kin. The presence of German Jews is already being used by anti-Semites, who are attacking them as German nationals. Some were arrested, but have since been released.



The government, itself, is very friendly to the Jews, recognizing the zealous service rendered by many during the period of exile. Returning Czech Jews, like re turning political prisoners, are being housed in the apartments of Nazis or collaborators, but, naturally, this does not apply to non-Czechs, such as Poles, Germans and Eungarians. These latter require clothes and other forms of assistance.

_

Jew vs. Gentile in the Eyes of the Torah, Part II

http://sn111w.snt111.mail.live.com/default.aspx#!/mail/InboxLight.aspx?n=1367002664!n=1848540384&fid=1&fav=1&mid=3870e9b3-a04b-11e1-91e6-00237de4a774&fv=1

Jew vs. Gentile in the Eyes of the Torah, Part II






Chapter 1, Mishna 18(b)



"Rabbi Shimon ben (son of) Gamliel said: On three things does the world endure: justice, truth and peace, as the verse states, 'Truth and judgments of peace judge in your gates' (Zechariah 8:16)."



Last week we discussed the difference between this mishna and Chapter 1 Mishna 2. As we saw, this mishna is not discussing the purpose and ultimate goals G-d had in mind in creating the world. Rather, it discusses the prerequisites necessary to allow the world to "endure" -- to function smoothly without disintegrating into anarchy. Individuals as well as nations must abide by the dictates of truth, peace and justice in order that societies function and civilizations flourish. With this prerequisite in place, when a spirit of peace and tolerance reigns among men, man will be able to devote himself to more profound religious devotion and spiritual growth. If, however, the world deteriorates into chaos and lawlessness, man will be forced to expend all his energies on his basic survival and making ends meet, and he will have neither time nor composure to focus on matters more lofty.



We then noted that the obligation to create functional societies was not placed on Israel alone but on all mankind. G-d did not entrust the world to Israel alone; He gave it to all of man. And He asked us all to take care of it -- environmentally for starters, as Adam was commanded to both "work" and "protect" the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15) (neither of which we're doing very well today). But even more significantly, G-d instructed man in the Seven Noahide Laws in order that man create just societies -- receptive to the concepts of morality, fair play, and religious commitment. Man was instructed not to become religious ascetics -- the Seven Laws include only the real basics (murder, adultery, theft, etc.) -- but to cultivate within himself and within society a basic appreciation for G-dly values. And by so doing, not only would the societies of man become reflections of the truth of G-d, but they would become places conducive to more serious spiritual and character dev elopment -- the type Israel would then introduce to the world.

The above was a brief synopsis of our discussion last week. We thus observed that G-d both entrusted the nations of the world with stewardship of the planet and gave them their own set of mitzvos (commandments) towards that end. (And as we also pointed out, not only were certain mitzvos made binding upon them, but they were promised a share in the World to Come for their proper observance.) That being said, I'd like to point out a significant difference -- perhaps the key difference -- between the Noahide Laws and the mitzvos placed upon Israel. It is based on a lecture heard from my teacher, R. Yochanan Zweig (www.talmudicu.edu).




The Midrash (Sifri Deut. 343:2) states as follows: G-d, before offering the Torah to Israel, offered it first to all the nations of the world. The encounter with each nation went roughly as follows: Nation: "What does it say?" G-d: "Thou shalt not kill." Nation: "What?! No wars?! No duels?! No Monday night football?! Nothing doing!" G-d approached the next nation. Nation: "What does it say?" G-d: "Thou shalt not steal." Nation: "What?! Full disclosure to the IRS?! Accurate insurance claims?! No "trial license" software?! Forget it!" -- and too responded in the negative. Finally, G-d offered the Torah to Israel. We asked no questions, responded "We will do and we will hear" (Exodus 24:7), and became G-d's chosen nation.



The message, evidently, is that the other nations of the world had allowed certain negative tendencies and practices to become too ingrained in their natures. They could no longer aspire to the true ideals of the Torah and instead were left to wallow in their immorality. Israel, however, was ready and willing to rise to the challenge.



There is, however, a glaring difficulty with this passage. Murder and robbery are two of the Seven Noahide Laws! These nations were *already* commanded not to kill and steal! If so, why did these laws scare them off from Torah acceptance? Perhaps they didn't like them to begin with, but accepting or rejecting the Torah would in no way alter the fact. If so, how could these laws have been their reason for refusing the Torah?



Even beyond this, there is no such thing as a civilized society which openly condones murder and robbery -- except ones literally in the process of self-destruction? Could these nations really have intended to reject such basic and rational laws -- clearly necessary for the function of any society?

R. Zweig explained that there is a fundamental difference between the Noahide injunctions not to kill and steal and the Jewish ones. When G-d told the nations of the world not to kill, it meant to refrain from the *act* of killing. As we have seen, the purpose of the Seven Laws is primarily in order that society not self-destruct. No society can exist in a state of lawlessness. We will learn later, "Pray for the welfare of the government for if not for its fear, a man would swallow his fellow live" (3:2 www.torah.org/learning/pirkei-avos/chapter3-2.html) -- a fairly accurate description of what occurs during a blackout. For even the most violent-prone among us appreciate that man must refrain from overt acts of violence in order to maintain any semblance of law and order.




Israel, however, was not merely commanded to refrain from the acts of killing and stealing. The Torah asks of us infinitely more: that we grow into people who appreciate that such acts are inherently evil. The purpose of the mitzvos is not only to control our behavior. It is to enlighten us, to instruct us in G-d's value system. We are to become people who relate to G-d's values -- and who thereby relate to G-d Himself. We must grow to appreciate the beauty of the mitzvos to the extent that we do not *want* to behave otherwise. And when we reach this level -- of not wanting to sin -- our souls and bodies unite in wholehearted service of G-d.



This might be considered the single defining principle of Jewish law. And its application is found practically everywhere. On its crudest level, "thou shalt not kill" refers to physically taking another life. But G-d in truth had far more in mind. "Thou shalt not kill" is a value statement: human life is important. Man is sacred and fashioned in the image of G-d. And if a human being is valuable, his feelings, his well-being, and his quality of life are important as well. The Talmud tells us that one should sacrifice his own life rather than publicly embarrass his fellow (Sotah 10b) -- just as one must sacrifice his own life rather than kill another.



Likewise, not only are we forbidden to steal, but we may not disturb our fellow's sleep -- "stealing" his relaxation time, nor invade and "steal" his privacy. (The Talmud forbids such acts as adding a window to your house which offers you a view of your neighbor's backyard (without explicit permission) -- even to open a second window when a first already exists.)

And this in fact is the story behind every mitzvah in the Torah. The Vilna Gaon (18th Century leader of Lithuanian Jewry) wrote that the entire purpose of the commandments is so that we improve our characters. The Talmud expresses it likewise: "G-d wants our hearts" (Sanhedrin 106b). The deeds themselves the Torah instructs us are finite, but the levels of growth and appreciation we must strive towards are unbounded.




And this, according to the Talmud, was what the nations of the world were not ready to accept. To be sure, such a relationship with G-d had hardly been denied them. They too can and should aspire to grow to appreciate G-d's laws and build a relationship with Him. Let me in fact reiterate this so I'm not misunderstood. Isaiah (42:6) writes that Israel is to be a light and example to the nations. We live the relationship with G-d that He truly wants with all His children. As I often write, what Israel has been commanded in, the nations are told to aspire to. Our relationship is special, but it is not exclusive. It is an opening and invitation to all mankind.



Even so, it is important to appreciate the crucial difference between 7 laws and 613. It is hardly a matter of more of the same. The 613 Commandments introduce an entirely new level of closeness to G-d. We are not only to restrain our actions, as all men must. We must grow to appreciate that sinful behavior is inherently wrong. We must not want to kill, steal or commit adultery. And this was not commanded on the nations of the world. Yet it is the special challenge which G-d has challenged -- and favored -- the Children of Israel.

The Morrow of the Shabbat LAG BOMER

http://sn111w.snt111.mail.live.com/default.aspx#!/?rru=inbox!n=193522994&rru=inbox&fid=1&mid=17a3efbc-9a59-11e1-863d-002264c16152&fv=1

Lag BaOmer




Lag BaOmer (the 33rd day of the Omer count) celebrates the end of the plague amongst Rabbi Akiva's students, and the ascent on high of the soul of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (see "Today in Jewish History"). The mourning practices of the Omer period are suspended, which is why many three-year-old boys receive their first haircut on this day. Many visit the gravesite of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in Meron in northern Israel. It is customary to go on outings and to light bonfires; children play with bow-and-arrows to recall that "during the lifetime of Rabbi Shimon the rainbow (--a sign of the world's unworthiness, as per Genesis 9:14) was not seen."



The Lubavitcher Rebbe initiated the organization of parades of Jewish unity and pride on Lag BaOmer and on a number of occasions (in 1953, 1956, 1957, 1960, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1976, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1987 and 1990) he addressed the parade held near his headquarters in Brooklyn in which thousands of Jewish children and their teachers participated.
___________________________________________________________________________
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/42915/jewish/The-Morrow-of-the-Shabbat.htm

The Morrow of the Shabbat






Based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

In the Torah reading of Emor, the commandment of counting the omer is stated: "And you shall count unto you from the morrow of the day of rest ('Shabbat'), from the day that you brought the sheaf ('omer') of the waving; there shall be seven complete weeks" (Leviticus 23:15).



The Talmud (Menachot 65a) tells us that the sect of the Boethusians interpreted the word Shabbat to mean the seventh day of the week, rather than the "day of rest" of Passover. As a consequence they held that the counting of the omer always begins on a Sunday. There was considerable debate, during which the Rabbis brought many scriptural proofs to establish that the Boethusian interpretation was false. But a persistent question remains: Why did the Torah leave room for this error, instead of stating explicitly, "on the day after Passover"?



2. Three Months



In Exodus 3:10, G-d tells Moses: "When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve G-d upon this mountain." In other words, the purpose of the Exodus from Egypt lay in the Giving of the Torah. Between these two events, the Exodus and the Revelation on Sinai, came the seven weeks of the omer. These seven weeks were the necessary transition between the start and the completion of the redemption.



Three months were involved in this process: Nissan, in which the Exodus took place; Iyar, which is wholly taken up with the counting of the Omer; and Sivan, in which the Torah was given.



Only these three are explicitly mentioned in the context of the redemption. Of Nissan it is written: "The month of Spring, . . . in it you came out of Egypt" (Exodus 23:15). Of Iyar we find, "The second month . . . after they had come out of the land of Egypt" (Number 1:1). And of Sivan, "In the third month after the Children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt" (Exodus 19:1). All three are mentioned because each was an integral part of the redemption.



3. Three Kinds of Food



Of these three stages, Passover is linked to the eating of Matzah. The omer was a measure of barley. And Shavuot had a special offering of two loaves of fine flour baked with leaven.



This presents a number of difficulties.



Only two meal offerings did not consist of wheat: The omer, and the offering of a wife suspected of infidelity. Both of these were of barley. In the latter case the Talmud (Sotah 14a) gives a reason: Her offering was to be of animal food as a humiliation for her immorality ("She did the deed of an animal, therefore she brings animal feed as an offering"). But why was the omer of animal food?



On Passover we are forbidden to eat leaven, because leaven symbolizes man's inclination to pride and self-esteem. As leaven causes dough to rise, so pride inflates a man to arrogance. But why, in that case, are we allowed to eat leaven the rest of the year, and indeed obliged (in the Temple) to do so on Shavuot?



4. "Draw Me; We Will Run After You"



In the Song of Songs (1:4), there is a verse, "Draw me, we will run after you; the king has brought me into his chambers." The Kabbalists see these three phrases as references to the three stages of the departure from Egypt. "Draw me" is the Exodus. "We will run after you" is the counting of the omer. "The king has brought me into his chambers" is the giving of the Torah.



"Draw me" is passive -- it refers to the Israelites being taken out by G-d. Also it is singular. Whereas "We will run after you" is both active and plural.



The Zohar explains that by the end of their enslavement, the Israelites were assimilated into the heathen ways of their captors. They were not deserving of redemption. They had to be seized and drawn out of their captivity by the initiative of G-d. Since they were not inwardly prepared for it, this unexpected revelation did not alter them inwardly. They were taken hold of by G-d rather than by the promptings of their heart. And although their "G-dly soul" responded, their "animal soul" was unchanged. One part of their being received the revelation, but the other, the capacity for evil, remained. Indeed, says Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, this is why the Israelites are described as having fled from Egypt (Exodus 14:5). What they were running from was the evil within themselves.



So we can understand the phrase "Draw me." Firstly, when we take possession of an object by seizing hold of it nothing is changed in the subject itself; it merely changes hands: In this case, Israel went from being in the hand of Pharaoh to being in the hand of G-d. Israel in itself was unchanged.



Secondly, it was passive. The drawing out of Egypt was achieved by the hand of Heaven, not by any spontaneous act on the part of the Israelites.



Thirdly, it was singular. The revelation of this sudden intervention of G-d affected only one side of their being. Their spirit responded; their physical passions did not.



5. Intellect and Passion



For all this, the purpose of a revelation is that the spirit should change the physical nature of man as well. As Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi puts it, if man were meant to be pure spirit, he would not have needed a body. The point of a religious life within the world is to bring every side of human nature into G-d's work. In the words of the Talmud: "'And you shall love the L-rd your G-d with all your heart' -- this means, with both your inclinations."



This interplay not only elevates the physical side of man, but also his spiritual life, by adding to it the drive and energy of physical passion. Man as an intellectual being is dispassionate: his emotions and desires are mitigated by the rational control he exercises over them. But animal energy, be it literally in an animal or in the instinctual drives of man, is unchecked, powerful. "There is much increase by the strength of an ox" (Proverbs 14:4).When the animal in man is no longer at war with his spirit, but is sublimated to it, all its passionate intensity is transferred to the life of holiness.



This is why the omer was of barley, animal food. This was the labor of that period: to transform the "animal soul" of the Israelites which had remained unaffected by the initial revelation in Egypt.



How is this done? By meditation. Meditation on the nature of G-d awakens love and fear. At first, when one knows that rebellion, pride and animal obstinacy still hold power within oneself, one must "flee." This is the time of suppression. But once one has left the "Egypt" of temptation, there comes a time of meditation and sublimation, when the two sides of man no longer battle for possession. The spirit rules, and physical nature transfers its energy.



Thus Solomon wrote, "We will run after you." We will run, because our service is quickened by this new source of energy. We will run, because it is we, not G-d, who take the initiative. And "we," in the plural, because both sides of our nature are caught up in this effort of reaching out towards G-d, and each gives impetus to the other.



6. The Final Stage



There is still a further stage. At the Exodus, there was the Divine call. During the counting of the omer, there was man's response. But at the Giving of the Torah, there was the final abnegation of man in the face of G-d.



While for forty-nine days the Israelite was transforming himself, he was still a self, still using his powers and relying on himself. But at Sinai, in the face of G-d, "With every single word that went forth from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, the souls of Israel departed" (Talmud, Shabbat 88b). They were empty: The only reality was G-d.



Thus it is that on Passover we may not eat leaven. At the outset, when pride and willfulness preserve their power, they must be suppressed, set aside. They cannot be combated rationally for they can subvert the mind: "They are wise to do evil" (Jeremiah 4:22).



At the stage of the omer, we use our understanding to redirect our emotions. We use the leaven in ourselves to change ourselves.



And when, at the point of Shavuot, we reach the final openness of all our being to G-d, we are obliged to use the leaven, making every part of our nature into a channel for the light of G-d.



7. Every Day



The Rabbis tell us, "In every generation, and every day, a man is obliged to see himself as if he had gone out of Egypt that very day" (Talmud, Pesachim 116b; Tanya ch. 47). So each of the three stages of the Exodus are components of the task of every day.



In the beginning of our prayers we say, "I give acknowledgment before you . . ." (the modeh ani prayer). This is the acknowledgment, the surrender to G-d, that precedes understanding. It is the Nissan of the day, the individual Exodus.



There then follow the Psalms of Praise (pesukei dezimrah) and the shema and its benedictions. These are the prayers of meditation, and understanding. "Hear, O Israel," the first phrase of the shema, means "understand." And through this meditation, the emotions are awakened, and the love of G-d is aroused with "all your heart and all your soul and all your might." This is the daily equivalent of the month of Iyar and the counting of the omer.



But, so far, this represents only the battle against half, the "animal" half, of one's nature (bittul ha-yesh). There still awaits the final extinction of self-consciousness (bittul bi-metziut) which comes during the Amidah prayer, when "like a slave before his master" we have no self with which to speak. We are empty of words. We say, "O L-rd, open my lips." And this is the Sivan of the day, the moment when we confront -- like the Israelites at Sinai -- the all-possessing presence of G-d.



8. After the Shabbat



Now, finally, we realize why the Torah, in the verse quoted at the outset, says, "On the morrow of the Shabbat" instead of ". . . after the Passover."



To achieve the transformation of the "animal soul" demands the deepest reserves of spiritual energy. To have brought the Israelites out of their entrenched impurity needed more than an "angel" -- an emissary -- it needed G-d himself in His Glory and Essence. If this was true of the escape from evil, it is more so for the transformation of evil into good. The task demands a spiritual source able to enter into the heart of evil without being affected.



Shabbat is a source of intense spirituality. It is the apex of the week. But it still belongs to the week, and thus to time and the finite. "The morrow of the Shabbat" refers to the step beyond Shabbat, beyond time itself: A revelation higher than the world.



To count the forty-nine days of omer, that is, to transform into holiness every emotion that we feel, we must rest our efforts on the "morrow of the Shabbat" -- the light of G-d from beyond the world.

____________________________________________________________________________


Plague among R. Akiva's Disciples Ends (circa 120 CE)




In the weeks between Passover and Shavuot, a plague decimated 24,000 students of the great sage Rabbi Akiva--a result, says the Talmud, of the fact that they "did not respect one another." The plague's cessation on Iyar 18--the 33rd day of the Omer Count or "Lag BaOmer"--is one of the reasons that the day is celebrated each year (see "Laws and Customs" below).



Links: Rabbi Akiva

Akiba ben Joseph
http://www.chabad.org/search/keyword_cdo/kid/1418/jewish/Akiba-ben-Joseph.htm


Knowledge Base » People & Events » People » Mishnaic Sages » Akiba ben Joseph

Akiba ben Joseph: (c. 50-c.135 CE) Among the greatest of the Mishnaic sages. Unless otherwise stated, all Mishnayos are presumed to be in accordance with the Rabbi Akiva's view. He was the son of converts, and an unlearned shepherd. At the age of 40, at the insistence of his wife, he began studying Torah,under Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, Joshua ben Hananiah, and Nahum Ish Gamzu ultimately attracting 24,000 students including Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai, Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Judah ben Ilai. He supported Bar Kochba's revolt. He was imprisoned and savagely murdered by the Romans for teaching Torah (he is one of the Ten Martyrs).

The Wisdom of Rabbi Akiba
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112059/jewish/The-Wisdom-of-Rabbi-Akiba.htm


Rabbi Akiba whom we remember especially on the day of Lag B'Omer, was the wisest and greatest Tanna (teacher) of his time, and one of the greatest of all times. When he passed away, "he left none like him," the Rabbis said. Many are the wise teachings and laws which he taught, and of which the Talmud is full. We bring you here some of his teachings:



A heathen once came to Rabbi Akiba, and asked him, 'Who created the world?'



'G-d created the world,' Rabbi Akiba replied.



'Prove it to me,' persisted the heathen.



'Come back tomorrow,' Rabbi Akiba told him.



The following day the heathen came back, and Rabbi Akiba engaged him in conversation. 'What are you wearing?', Rabbi Akiba asked him.



'A cloak, as you see.'



'Who made it?' Rabbi Akiba asked.



'The weaver, of course.'



'I don't believe it; prove it to me!' Rabbi Akiba persisted.



'What proof do you want? Cannot you see that the weaver has made the cloth?'



'Then why do you ask for proof that G-d created the world? Cannot you see that the Holy One blessed be He created it.'



And to his disciples Rabbi Akiba added, 'My children, just as the house is proof of the builder, and the cloth is proof of the weaver, and the door is proof of the joiner, so this world proclaims that G-d created it.'



* * *



Rabbi Akiba had learned and studied the Torah more deeply and extensively than anyone else, yet he was very humble, for he knew that the Torah is endless, for it is the wisdom of G-d. Said he, "All my learning is no more than like the fragrance of an Ethrog; the one who scents it, enjoys it; but the Ethrog loses nothing. Or it is as one who draws water from a spring, or lights a candle from a candle."



No wonder Rabbi Akiba despised a conceited and vain man, whose learning only filled him with self-importance and vain glory. Of such a man Rabbi Akiba said, "He is like a carcass lying on the road; whoever passes it puts his fingers to his nose, and hurries away from it."



The following story also illustrates his humility and respect for the Torah.



Rabbi Akiba was once called upon to read to the congregation a portion of the Torah, but he did not want to do it. His amazed disciples asked him, 'Master, have you not taught us that the Torah is our life and the length of our days? Why did you refuse to read it to the congregation?' And Rabbi Akiba replied, simply: 'Believe me, I had not prepared myself for it; for no man should address words of Torah to the public unless he has first revised them to himself three or four times.



Rabbi Akiba did not keep his learning to himself, but had many students and disciples, more than any other single teacher. As you know, he had no less than 24 thousand students at one time. Some of the greatest Rabbis of the next generation were among his disciples, as, for example, Rabbi Simeon ben Yochai, whose Yahrzeit is observed on Lag B'Omer. Together with another great Sage, Rabbi Chanina ben Chakinai, Rabbi Simeon went to Bene Beraq to learn Torah from Rabbi Akiba, and they stayed there for thirteen years!



Quoting a passage from Koheleth (11:6) "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening do not rest thy hand," Rabbi Akiba explained it to mean: "Teach disciples in thy youth, and do not stop teaching in thy old age."



As you know, it is customary to say 'Perek' (Sayings of Our Fathers) on the Sabbath, beginning with the Sabbath after Pesach. Some say it until Shovuoth, others throughout the summer. Among the 'Fathers' whose teachings we find in this tractate of the Mishnah there is also Rabbi Akiba. In the third chiapter we find the following sayings of his:



"Jesting and frivolity lead a man on to immorality.



"The Massorah (Tradition) is a fence to the Torah.



"Tithes (the prescribed Tzedoko, charity) are a fence to riches.



"Vows (self-restraint) are a fence to a holy life.



"A fence to wisdom is silence."



He used to say:



"Beloved is man, for he was created in the image of G-d. . .



"Beloved are Israel, for they were called children of G-d. . .



"Beloved are Israel, for unto them was given the desirable Torah."



Man is indeed the beloved creature, and Israel has been chosen to receive the Torah; that is why one's responsibility is all the greater. And so he reminds us:



"Everything is foreseen (by G-d), yet freedom of choice is given; and the world is judged with grace, yet all is according to the amount of work accomplished."



Rabbi Akiba goes on to compare the world to a store, where anybody can come and buy things on credit, but everything is recorded in a ledger, and payment will have to be made. Said he:



"Everything is given on pledge, and a net is spread over all the living: the shop is open; and the shopkeeper gives credit; and the ledger lies open; and the hand writes; and whosoever wishes to borrow may come and borrow; but the collectors regularly make their daily rounds; and exact payment from man, whether he is willing or not.



We have no more room here to give you many more of his great sayings and teachings, so we will conclude with one of his favorite sayings, which will do us good to remember always:



"Whatever G-d does is for the best."

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/111935/jewish/Rabbi-Akiba-in-Prison.htm

Rabbi Akiba in Prison


In Prison



Rabbi Akiba lived at a time when the Romans were the rulers in the Holy Land, ever since they had destroyed the Beth Hamikdosh. There came a time when the Romans treated the Jews very harshly, and forbade them to study the Torah and observe the Mitzvoth. Rabbi Akiba, however, continued to teach his many pupils, until he was arrested and put into prison.



The warden of the prison permitted one of Rabbi Akiba's students to bring water to the prisoner. His name was Rabbi Joshua ha-Garsi (meaning, the Grinder of Beans, for this was his trade; there is another opinion that the name refers to his native town).



Every day Rabbi Joshua brought his master in prison a measure of water. Once the warden noticed what a large measure of water it was. "No man drinks so much water," the warden said suspiciously. "Maybe he wants to undermine the foundation of the prison?" Saying this, the warden poured out half of the water, and gave Rabbi Joshua the other half to take to the prisoner.

Asked why he was late, Rabbi Joshua explained to Rabbi Akiba what had happened. "Never mind," said Rabbi Akiba soothingly, "let me now wash my hands, so that I may have something to eat."




Rabbi Joshua ha-Garsi said, "If you use the water for washing your hands, there will not be enough water to drink!"



Then Rabbi Akiba said, "What can I do? To eat with unwashed hands is a sin. It is better to die of thirst than to commit a sin."



When the Sages later heard of Rabbi Akiba's conduct, they said, "If he acts in this pious way now that he is an old man, how much more careful must he have been when he was younger and stronger. And if he observes every law while he is in prison, how much stricter in his observance must he have been at home! Also, note how important is the Mitzvah of washing the hands before meals!"




http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112076/jewish/The-Daughter-of-Rabbi-Akiba.htm
TZEDAKAH DELIVERS FROM DEATH
The Daughter of Rabbi Akiba


The Star-Gazers Were Wrong



Rabbi Akiba’s daughter once went to the market to buy things for the home. As she passed a group of star-gazers and fortune–tellers, one of them said to the other: “see that lovely girl? What a dreadful calamity is awaiting her! She is going to die on the very day of her wedding. Mark my word!”



Rabbi Akiba’s daughter overheard the words of the star-gazer, but paid no attention to him. She had often heard it from her great father that he who observes the Mitzvoth of the holy Torah need fear no evil.



As the happy day of her wedding approached, she had forgoten all about that star-gazer. On the day before her wedding, there was much to do, and at night she retired to bed, tired but happy. Before going to bed, she removed her golden hair-pin and stuck it in the wall, as she had done before.



The following morning, she pulled her pin from the wall, and in doing so dragged a small but very poisonous snake with it. Horrified, she realized that she had killed the snake that was lurking in the wall's crevice when she stuck the pin into the wall the night before. What a wonderful miracle!



Then she remembered the words of the star-gazer, and shuddered.



She heard a knock on the door. “Are you alright, daughter? I heard you shriek,” her father said. Then he saw the dead snake still dangling from the pin. She told her father what happened.



“This is indeed a miracle,” Rabbi Akiba said. “Tell me, daughter, what did you do yesterday? There must have been some special Mitzvah that you performed yesterday to have been saved from this.”



“Well, the only thing that I can remember was this. Last night, when everybody was busy with the preparations for my wedding, a poor man came in, but nobody seemed to notice him, so busy everbody was. I saw that the poor man was very hungry, so I took my portion of the wedding-feast and gave it to him.”



Rabbi Akiba had always known that his daughter was very devoted to the poor, but this was something special, and he was very happy indeed. “Tzedoko (charity) delivereth from death,” he exclaimed.



Rachel, Rabbi Akiba's Wife

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/111936/jewish/Rachel-Rabbi-Akibas-Wife.htm
I am sure, all of you know of Rabbi Akiba ben Joseph, about whom our Sages say that he was one of the greatest Scholars of all times. With his sharp mind the Sages said, he could "uproot mountains," and he explained every single letter of the Torah, even the little crowns that adorn many of the letters of the Torah. Rabbi Akiba- was one of four great Sages who tried to enter the deepest secrets of the Creation and of learning, and he was the only one .who came out sound of body and sane of mind.



But do you also know that all the extraordinary scholarship of this most famous of all Tanaim was due to the self sacrificing love of Torah of his wife?



You see, Rabbi Akiba was not one of the fortunate ones who are born to riches, or into the house of a scholar. He had to get everything the hard way. He was born as the child of a very poor family and became an ignorant shepherd, one of the many who took care of the thousands of flocks of the wealthy Kalba Sabua, about whose riches the Talmud tells many stories. The daughter of this fabulous man, was a beautiful and G-d fearing girl. The richest and most learned young men of that time would have considered themselves fortunate to marry her. But Rachel, Kalba Sabua's only child, the heir to his riches, had observed the shepherd Akiba and some inner voice told her that this ignorant youth had the making of a great scholar. On the condition that he would leave her father's work to go and study Torah, she married him secretly.



As Rachel refused one young man after the other, Kalba Sabua found out about her secret marriage to his former shepherd. He was very angry and he vowed that he would have nothing to do with her or her husband. Gladly, the only child of the richest man of those days left all the luxuries and comforts to which she had been used, and went to live with Akiba in a shack, sleeping on a bundle of straw, and working hard with her own, soft hands, so that her husband could devote himself to the study of Torah. Once when she could not find work, she even cut off her beautiful long hair to sell it, so that she would have some money with which to buy a dry crust of bread for both.



Yet even in their poverty, they were willing to share with others the little they possessed. Once a poor man passed the shack of Akiba and Rachel, and begged, "Pray, good people, let me have a handful of straw. My wife is sick and I have nothing to bed her on." At once Akiba shared his own bundle of straw with the poor man, remarking thus to Rachel: "See, my child, there are those who fare worse than we." The poor beggar, say our sages, was none but the Prophet Elijah who had come to test Akiba's good heart.



After Akiba had mastered the basic knowledge of the Torah, his wife and he agreed that he was to go to the academy of the great scholars of those days, headed by Rabbi Eliezer, to devote twelve years to intensive study. Thus the two parted and for twelve long years Rachel slaved hard to support herself, while her husband grew to become one of the most learned of all men that ever lived. At the end of twelve years Rabbi Akiba returned to his wife, as he had promised. When he came before the shabby old shack he heard a conversation between his wife and a neighbor who was taunting Rachel for being foolish enough to wait and slave for her husband who had left her to study Torah. "You could live in riches and luxuries, if you were not so foolish," said the woman.



"For my part he could stay away another twelve years at the Yeshivah to acquire more knowledge," was Rachel's reply.



Full of pride and admiration for his great wife Rabbi Akiba turned around to do as Rachel wanted him to do.



At the conclusion of the twenty four years Rabbi Akiba had become the most famous of all living scholars. From near and far came the youth of Israel to study under his direction.



Accompanied by twenty four thousand students, Rabbi Akiba returned home in a triumphant journey from city to city, welcomed everywhere by the highest nobility. The masses, rich and poor, turned out when he came home to Jerusalem.



Kalba Sabua, too, was among those who tried to get close to the master. Suddenly Rabbi Akiba saw his disciples trying to hold back a woman dressed in ragged clothes. At once he made his way through the crowd to greet the woman and led her to the chair by his side. "If not for this woman I would be an ignorant shepherd, unable to read the Aleph Beth. Whatever I know, I owe to her," Rabbi Akiba declared.



The whole huge crowd bowed in respect before the woman to whom Rabbi Akiba owed his great scholarship. Kalba Sabua, too, suddenly discovered who his son-in-law was. Publicly he expressed his regret for having treated his daughter and her husband so badly. Now all his wealth would be theirs.



Thus ends our story of Rachel, Rabbi Akiba's wife, whose heroism and self-sacrifice gave us the great Rabbi Akiba.



The Fox and the Fishes


http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2872/jewish/The-Fox-and-the-Fishes.htm



Talmud, Berachot 61b

Once, the wicked government [of Rome] decreed that the Jewish people were forbidden to study Torah. Pappus ben Judah saw Rabbi Akiva convening gatherings in public and studying Torah [with them]. Said he to him: "Akiva, are you not afraid of the government?"



Said [Rabbi Akiva] to him: "I'll give you a parable.



"A fox was walking along a river and saw fish rushing to and fro. Said he to them: 'Why are you fleeing?'



"Said they to him: 'The nets that the humans spread for us.'



"Said he to them: 'Why don't you come out onto the dry land? We'll live together, as my ancestors lived with your ancestors.'



"Said they to him: 'Are you the one of whom it is said that you are the wisest of animals? You're not wise, but foolish! If, in our environment of life, we have cause for fear, how much more so in the environment of our death!'



"The same applies to us: if, now, when we sit and study the Torah, of which it is said (Deuteronomy 30:20), For it is your life and the lengthening of your days, such is our situation, how much more so if we neglect it....

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2895/jewish/24000-Plus-One.htm
24,000 Plus One






Based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Courtesy of MeaningfulLife.com



There was once a man who had twenty-four thousand disciples. He taught them to love, but their love was too absolute, too true, to be loving. They died, and their death spawned a period of mourning that darkens our calendar to this very day.



This man had one disciple who devoted his entire life -- literally his every minute -- to the pursuit of truth. Yet his truth was true enough to love. He, too, passed from this world, and the anniversary of his passing is celebrated as a day of joy and festivity to this very day.



This, in a word, is the story of Lag BaOmer -- the story of Rabbi Akiva and his greatest disciple, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.



A Celebrated Death



The 18th of Iyar is Lag BaOmer -- the 33rd day of the Omer Count which spans the seven weeks from Passover to Shavuot. Two joyous occasions are associated with this day. During the Omer period we mourn the deaths of 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva who died in a plague because, as the Talmud informs us, "They did not conduct themselves with respect for each other"; Lag BaOmer is the day on which the plague ended and the dying ceased. Lag BaOmer is also the anniversary of the passing of Rabbi Akiva's greatest disciple, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Before his death (many years later, without connection to the plague), Rabbi Shimon referred to the day of his passing as "the day of my happiness" and instructed his disciples that it be observed each year as a day of joyous celebration.



Why is the passing of Rabbi Akiva's other disciples mourned as a national tragedy, while the passing of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is remembered with celebration and joy? Indeed, the very same day that celebrates the end of the dying of Rabbi Akiva's disciples, celebrates the death of his greatest disciple! To unravel the paradox of Lag BaOmer, we must first examine the root of the disrespect that caused the plague amongst Rabbi Akiva's disciples.



Rabbi Akiva taught that "Love your fellow as yourself is a cardinal principle in Torah"; indeed, this is the most famous of his teachings. One would therefore expect that Rabbi Akivas disciples would be the foremost exemplars of this principle. How was it that they, of all people, were deficient in this area?



But their very diligence in fulfilling the precept "Love your fellow as yourself" was their undoing. Our sages have said that "Just as every person's face differs from the faces of his fellows, so, too, every person's mind differs from the minds of his fellows." When the twenty-four-thousand disciples of Rabbi Akiva studied their master's teachings, the result was twenty-four-thousand nuances of understanding, as the same concepts were assimilated by twenty-four-thousand minds -- each unique and distinct from its 23,999 fellows. Had Rabbi Akiva's students loved each other less, this would have been a matter of minor concern; but because each disciple loved his fellows as he loved himself, he felt compelled to correct their erroneous thinking and behavior, and to enlighten them as to the true meaning of their master's words. For the same reason, they found themselves incapable of expressing a hypocritical respect for each others' views when they sincerely believed that the others' understanding was lacking, even in the slightest degree.



The greater a person is, the higher are the standards by which he is judged; in the words of our sages, "With the righteous, G-d is exacting to a hairsbreadth." Thus, what for people of our caliber would be considered a minor failing had such a devastating effect upon the disciples of Rabbi Akiva.



The Thirteenth Year



But there was one disciple of Rabbi Akiva who learned to overcome the pitfalls of uncompromising love and uncompromising truth, as exemplified by the following incident in the life of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai:



The Talmud relates that when the Roman rulers of the Holy Land placed a price on the heads of Rabbi Shimon and his son Rabbi Elazar, they hid in a cave for twelve years. During this time, they spent every minute of their day studying Torah. When they emerged from the cave, they were shocked to discover people plowing and sowing: how could people set aside the eternal life that is Torah and occupy their days with the transitory life of the material? So intense was their wrath at such folly that whatever met with their burning glance went up in flames. Proclaimed a voice from heaven: "Have you come out to destroy My world? Return to your cave!" Rabbi Shimon's thirteenth year of study, while increasing his knowledge and appreciation of the truth of Torah, also taught him the value of endeavors other than his own. Now, wherever he went, his look would heal rather than destroy.



The 4,000-year history of Jewish learning has known many great and diligent students of Torah; yet none epitomized the absolute devotion to the pursuit of the divine truth to the extent exemplified by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Throughout the writings of our sages, his example is cited as the ultimate case of torato um'nato, "one whose study of Torah is his sole vocation."



Certainly, then, Rabbi Shimon's commitment to truth was no less absolute than that of Rabbi Akiva's other disciples. Yet his truth was true enough to love. In his thirteenth year in the cave, he attained a dimension of the divine truth that tolerates, indeed embraces, the many and diverse avenues of connection to G-d which the Creator has provided to a humanity whose minds, characters and temperaments are as diverse as their number. In his thirteenth year in the cave, Rabbi Shimon attained a level of truth in which he could utterly devote himself to the eternal life that is Torah, and advocate such devotion for everyone else, and at the same time appreciate and respect the path of those who serve G-d via the temporal life of material endeavors.



So the very same day that celebrates the end of the plague amongst Rabbi Akiva's disciples also celebrates the passing of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. The Chassidic masters explain that the passing of a righteous person marks the point at which "all his deeds, teachings and works" attain the pinnacle of fulfillment and realization and the point of their most powerful influence upon our lives. And the deeds, teaching and works of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai are the ultimate rectification of Rabbi Akiva's disciples' tragic failure to achieve the proper synthesis of love and truth that would make their love true and their truth loving.



As Yourself



As noted above, it is only among men of the caliber of Rabbi Akiva's disciples that such a failing could bode such devastating results. But our sages chose to record this story for posterity and fix it in our lives with a series of laws that govern our behavior in the weeks between Passover and Shavuot each year. Obviously, we, too, have something to learn from what happened to Rabbi Akiva's disciples.


THE LESSON IS TWO FOLD
The lesson is twofold: we must learn from their virtues as well as from their mistakes. We must learn to care enough for our fellow man not to indulge his errors and accommodate his failings. This might be the easiest and most socially comfortable way to behave, but, rather than tolerance, it bespeaks an indifference toward his or her welfare. On the other hand, we must never allow our commitment to his betterment to lessen in the slightest our respect and esteem toward him, no matter how misguided and unresponsive he might be.



If this seems paradoxical, it is. But the ability to embrace this paradox is at the very heart of the Torah's commandment to "Love your fellow as yourself." For in regard to ourselves, it is a paradox with which we are quite comfortable -- every psychologically healthy person loves himself unconditionally and, at the same time, incessantly strives to improve himself. This paradox we must also cultivate in our relationship with others: on the one hand, we must never compromise our efforts to improve our fellow man out of respect for his views and feelings; on the other hand, we must never allow these efforts to compromise our love and respect for him.



For to succumb to either compromise is to fail to love him as we love ourselves -- a principle which Rabbi Akiva considered fundamental to G-d's blueprint for life and of which Hillel said: "This is the entire Torah; the rest is commentary."









______________________________________________________________________________