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Rabbi Almosnino was born in Salonica in 1515. Rabbi Almosnino belonged to a prominent Sephardic family, which fled Aragon after two of his ancestors died on the stake, condemned by the Inquisition. Rabbi Moshe Almosnino was the rabbi of the main Spanish Sephardic community “Neve Shalom”. 

Rabbi Almosnino was a prolific author, and the earliest known writer in Ladino. 

  

He was also a very prominent community leader. In 1565 he represented the Jewish communities at an audience with the sultan Selim II, petitioning the confirmation of the civil rights of the Jews who lived in the Ottoman Empire.   

Anticipating by a few centuries the idea of Tora uMada (the compatibility between Tora and sciences), Rabbi Almosnino, who had great interest in  all scientific fields and particularly in astronomy, wrote commentaries on Aristotle’s Physics and on John Sacrobosco’s Sphaera Mundi. He translated and commented George von Peuerbach’s Teoriae Novae Planetarum, composed an exposition of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and a commentary on al-Ghazali’s work.

Rabbi Moshe Almosnino is the author of many important Jewish books as well.

For example:    

“Yede moshe” , a commentary on the five megillot: Shir haShrim, Ruth, Ekha (Lamentations) Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) and Esther.

“Pirqe Moshe”  an exposition of the treatise Pirqe Abot  Chapters of the fathers (Salonica 1563). 

“Tefila leMoshe” a book on the praises and wonders of the Tora. Based on the Psalms.

He also wrote in Spanish and in Ladino (Spanish with Hebrew letters)

“Regimiento de la Vida” (The rules of life), written in Spanish. He dedicated tis work to his son Shim’on (Salonica 1564). It is a guide to the moral conduct meant for educated young men not fluent in Hebrew.  It deals, among other things, with the nature of good and evil, Divine providence vis-a-vis free will, the importance of education, etc. To this book was appended a chapter called: “El Tratado de los suenyos” (A treatise on Dreams).

“Extremos y Grandezas de Constantinopla”, originally written in ladino was transliterated and republished by Jacob Cansino in Madrid, 1638. In this extraordinary book he describes the life in Constantinople. Its weather, its inhabitants, the life in the city, etc.   It is the earliest known book written in Ladino and it is priceless for historians.

Rabbi Almosnino’s most famous book, Yede Moshe (600 pages long), is a commentary to the five Meguilot, among them Meguilat Esther.

Rabbi Almosnino’s expertise was “language” and beyond his mastery of Hebrew grammar he was extremely sharp and sensitive for textual analysis of the Peshat (the text’s plain literary meaning).  As it was the way of Sephardic rabbis, he analyzes the Peshat independently from the Midrashim.

We will see now one example from his commentary to the book of Esther. Rabbi Almosnino asks himself, and the reader, why do we need the seemingly superfluous first chapter of the Meguila. What can be learned from it, vis-a-vis the main plot of the story,  Haman’s plan to exterminate the Jewish people?

Rabbi Almosnino shows that when we examine closely the first chapter of the book of Esther, we get a better idea of the magnitude of the miracle of Purim.

A few examples:

The story of Esther begins in verse 1:1, telling us that Ahashverosh reigned over 127 cities of the Persian Empire. Why would the Megilla need to tell us these seemingly irrelevant details? Because we should understand that the decree of Haman to kill the Jews of Persia, would have implied the end of the Jewish nation.  The Persian Empire, at the time of Ahashverosh, was so large that there were no Jews living outside these 127 cities. This shows us the magnitude of the miracle: 1. There was no escape for the Jews, and later on . 2. the entire Jewish nation was saved from Haman’s decree.

In the following lines, pasuq 1:3, Rabbi Almosnino draws an outstanding psychological profile of Ahashverosh. Unlike a psychologist who examines his patient’s profile from a therapy session, Rabbi Almosnino delved into Ahashverosh personality from a profound “psychoanalysis ” of  the text.

bishnat shalosh lemolkho: The Meguila describes Ahashverosh as an inexperienced, naive King.  What defines a King’s lack of experience? A King is surrounded by advisers. The advisers very often would give the King an advice that favors them personally, rather than the King or the Kingdom. But they would always disguise their advice as if they are favoring the King or the Kingdom. An experienced King is able to detect these tricks. An inexperienced King would be tricked by his advisers’ maneuvers. The book of Esther is presenting us with this fact, Ahashverosh third year in power,  to anticipate that the King is inexperienced. Later on in the Meguila, we will see all kind of maneuvers coming from Haman, which Ahashverosh was unable to detect. When Haman presented the King with his plan to kill the Jews, his way to achieve a personal vendetta for a private affront, Haman describes the plan not as related to his private interest, but to the King’s interest.”These people do not follow your rules… It is not in the interest of the King to let this people live”. The inexperienced King took the bait.

‘asa mishte lekhol sarav va’abadav. “The King threw a party to all his servants”, ergo, says rabbi Almosnino, this King is “a people pleaser”. Normally, the people would honor the King, throwing a party in his honor. But Ahashverosh was insecure of his people’s loyalty and of their love for him. He must have had the emotional need to be loved and praised, in order to feel good with himself. Therefore, his decisions will be made having in mind not the benefit of the Kingdom, but his own image. As a people pleaser he would do and execute whatever would reflect positively in his image and vice-versa.  This is why the King will eventually accepts Haman’s evil request: to please his favorite adviser. On the other hand, Haman, very cleverly, does not reveal the name of the people he wants to exterminate. Haman never mentions to Ahashverosh: “I want to kill the Jews”. He advises the King to get rid of “a” people , anonymous, unnamed. In a way that no one Ahashverosh knows would be displeased.

behar-oto et ‘osher kebod malkhuto ve-et yeqar…: “Ahashverosh threw the big party to show-off his wealth and the magnificence of his splendorous  Kingship.” Rabbi Almosnino explains that there are two major drives for powerful people: money and image/vanity (ga’ava). For some people, money is number 1 priority. And these people would sacrifice their image and honor in order to gain more money. But for other people, image/honor  is above money. These people would spend all their money to boost their image. Ahashverosh, Rabbi Almosnino says, belongs to the second group. He spent a fortune in his party just to advance his image and self-pride in the eyes of all his subjects. Rabbi Almosnino explains that vanity was the consequence of Ahashverosh’s insecurity and low self esteem. And knowing this will help us understand that because of his arrogance and insecure character, he would probably not consider backing down from his decisions.

And why is it important for the reader of the Meguilla to know this about Ahashverosh? Because later on in the Meguila, once the decree is made and signed by the King, the reader might think that if the Jews collect enough money, they will be able to buy the King’s favor and make him cancel his decree. But once we know that for this King money is below image/honor, and that backing down from his decision would have been psychologically impossible for a person with a low self esteem, you would think that there is no way to make this decree disappear! (My son Ya’aqob explains that, projecting his own personality, when Ahashverosh wishes to reward Mordekhay for his services to the crown, he does not think of a monetary reward for Mordekhay but of an honorific reward that would enhance “Mordekhay’s image”. This is why Ahashverosh accepts Haman’s suggestion to lead Mordekhay on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming before him, “This is what is done for the man the king wishes to honor!”). Having all this in mind, when you read the Meguila for the first time and you see that Ahashverosh is insobornable, proud and stubborn, you say to yourself: “this decree cannot be undo”, thus, you get to better appreciate the magnitude of the miracle of Purim.

Read Rabbi Almosnino’s Books

You can find the Hebrew books of Rabbi Moshe Almosnino in  www.hebrewbooks. org

For “Regimiento de la vida” (ancient Spanish) click  here .

For “Extremos y grandezas de Constantinopla” (Spanish) click  here.

            Why Europe has a problem with Israel?

As we have explained yesterday, the Rabbis enacted a number of ordinances in order to remind us of the destruction of the Holy Temple. The underlying principle is that when a person has the good fortune of arriving at some occasion that gives him a sense of gratification, he must remember that his joy is incomplete, for the Temple still lies in ruins.

Therefore, the sages instituted that when a person builds a house for himself and arrives at its final stage, the whitewashing of the walls, he must remember that the house of the nation, the Holy Temple, still lies in ruins. And in remembrance of the destruction of the Holy Temple he must leave a square cubit of wall unwhitewashed.

A cubit is approximately half a meter, or 1.5 ft, and therefore, in practice, a square half meter of wall must be left without whitewash. Similarly, if a person covers his walls with wallpaper, he must leave a square half meter of wall without whitewash and without wallpaper. If possible, the unwhitewashed space should be situated on the wall opposite the entrance so that whoever enters the house can see it. 

When one does not build a house but buys a house from someone else, does he need to scrape off some of the wall in order to uncover a square cubit?

It depends. If the person who built the house was a Jew, he was obligated to leave a square cubit of wall unwhitewashed. Therefore, If he did not do so, the buyer must now scrape off the whitewash. However, if the original owner was a non-Jew, he was not obligated to leave an unwhitewashed area, and the buyer is exempt from scraping off a square cubit of whitewash (shulhan ‘arukh, OH 560:1. For more details read here Rabbi E. Melamed, penine halakha).

I think that in this last case and in every other case when technically there is no obligation to scrape off the wall, it would be proper to hang a picture or a decorative painting of Yerushalayim or the Bet haMiqdash to educate ourselves and our children to remember the Hurban.

Shabbat Shalom!

Tish’a beAb, our national day of mourning, begins tonight Monday July 15th. In NYC the fast begins at 8:16pm and ends at 8:45pm (some communities have different times). 

This afternoon around 7:00pm we do the seu’da mafseqet, the last meal before the day-long fast.

This is virtually ‘a mourners meal’ and should consist of bread, eggs, lentils and water.  In some communities they would also serve rice with lentils or other variations.

What make this meal special is that:

1. We abstain from eating two different cooked dishes to express a mood of austerity by consuming only what is needed to endure the fast (Raw vegetables and fruits are not restricted).

2. The ancient custom is that everyone eats in solitude, with nozimun, sitting on the floor or on a low chair, like mourners do.

For Arbit, we chant the prayers with a sad tune, starting with ‘al neharot babel, the Psalm of the mourners for the Bet haMiqdash. In many Sephardic communities the Shema Israel is said with a sad intonation, instead of the regular ta’amim .

Then, we read Megilat Ekha, the book of Lamentations written by the Prophet Yrmiyahu in the aftermath of the destruction of the first Temple. You can find Megillat Ekha with ta’amim  here.

Then, we recite the Kinot. The Kinot are poems which describe different tragedies that we endured throughout our history.

At the end of the Kinot, sitting on the floor, with all lights dimmed, we declare with sadness: “Listen, oh our brothers of the house of Israel….today we count … 1945 years from the destruction of our Bet haMiqdash….”  (According to the traditional Sephardic account the second bet haMiqdash was destroyed 1945 years ago, in the year 68 of the Common Era).

 See  here who is exempt from fasting on Tish’a be-Ab? 

Shabbat ends in NYC:             9:07 pm

 

Tish’a be-Ab is the Jewish National Day of Mourning. On Tish’a be-Ab every Jew must feel as if he or she is in mourning for his or her loved one.  Besides bringing ourselves to a mood of mourning, we must also reflect on our collective accountability for the tragic events which took place on Tish’a Be-Ab and the ways to amend our personal behavior (teshuba) to atone for our sins and the sins of our ancestors.  

On this day, five tragedies occurred to Am Israel

1. HET HAMERAGELIM (1312 BCE): The Jews in the desert accepted the slanderous report of the ten explorers. They cried for a whole night complaining to God for having taking them out of Egypt and hinting that the Almighty won’t be able to bring them the Land of Israel. The generation who left Egypt was condemned to die in the desert. The night on which they cried, was Tish’a be-Ab.

2. HURBAN HABAYIT HARISHON (586 BCE): The First Temple was destroyed and burned on the ninth of Ab by the Babylonians, led by Nebuchadnezzar. Thousands of Jews were slaughtered, enslaved or exiled to the Babylonian empire. The story of the destruction of Jerusalem and its desolation is narrated in Megilat Ekha.

3. HURBAN HABAYIT HASHENI (68 CE): The Second Temple was also destroyed on Tisha be-Ab. The Romans led by Titus destroyed the city. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed, sold into slavery or exiled.

4. NILKEDA BETAR (135 CE): The Bar Kokhba revolt was crushed by Roman Emperor Hadrian. The city of Betar (Sephardim call it “Bee-ter”), which was the Jews’ last stand against the Romans, was captured by the enemy on Tish’a be-Ab. Over 100,000 Jews were slaughtered and their bodies left unburied.

5. NEHERASH HAHEKHAL: Around the same period, also on a ninth of Ab, the Temple’s holiest area and its surroundings was plowed by the Roman general Turnus Rufus. Jerusalem was turned into a pagan city, and renamed Aelia Capitolina. Access to Jerusalem was forbidden for Jews.

 

 

 the events that led to the destruction of the Second Temple. 

“Once the month of Ab begins (=today) we minimize our happiness” mishenikhnas Ab, mema’atim besimha. These days are dedicated to prepare ourselves for mourning the destruction of our Bet haMiqdash. Therefore, in addition to the restrictions we mentioned for the three weeks (see this) we abstain ourselves from eating meat during these days. The shulhan ‘arukh mentions that there are communities in which people do not consume meat and do not drink wine during the entire three weeks period while other communities restrict themselves only during the week of Tish’a be-Ab. In most Sephardic communities the tradition is to avoid eating meat during nine days; namely, from the second day of the month of Ab (tonight) until the day after Tish’a be-Ab (we will explain this later on).  Some Sephardic communities avoid eating meat also during the day of Rosh Hodesh.  Obviously, this restriction does not apply on Shabbat. On the contrary. It is forbidden to abstain from meat on Shabbat (except for health reasons).  Fish is allowed during the nine days.