Doña Gracia Mendes (Part 1): Rescuing Jewish refugees from Spain and Portugal

FORGOTTEN GIANTS
Doña Gracias Mendes (1510-1568), also known as Doña Gracia Nasí, was probably the woman who did the most for the Jewish people in the diaspora of the post-biblical era. As happened with Ester HaMalka, who used her position of queen of the Persian Empire to save the Jews who lived in her kingdom from genocide, Doña Gracia used her power –an immense fortune and an extensive network of commercial, financial and political contacts — to rescue and save from death, misery, and slavery tens of thousands of “anusim”, Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal. Her life story is fascinating and seems to belong more to the genre of fantasy and legend than history. However, the documentation that exists about her life, including the most incredible data, is well documented in articles and books that are now available to anyone interested in learning more about this extraordinary soul. I’m going to write about her for the next few weeks. My hope is that this information arouses the reader’s curiosity and helps rescue the memory of this great woman from Israel from oblivion.
FROM SPAIN TO PORTUGAL
She was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in the year 1510. Her birth name was “Beatriz de Luna”. Let us remember that in 1492, between 600,000 and 800,000 Jews were expelled from Spain. Approximately 120,000 of those Jews fled to Portugal, where King Joao II demanded a huge sum of money, 100 gold coins or ducats per family, to grant them permanent residence. Most of the Jewish refugees had abandoned everything they had in their native Spain, and could not afford the exorbitant costs. The king then offered them to stay in Portugal temporarily, for 6 months, paying 1 gold coin per person.
THE NASI FAMILY
Some 600 wealthy Jewish families were able to pay the 100 coins to obtain residency in Portugal. Beatriz Nasí’s family — that’s what they called themselves before she forcibly adopted the surname “de Luna” — was one of those. The history of the tremendous difficulties that the Jews suffered in Portugal at this time is too long and complex to describe in a few lines. But let’s say briefly that after endless negotiations around the year 1500 an agreement was reached with King Manuel, King John’s successor: Jews would “formally” convert to Christianity, but the King would not allow the tribunal of the Inquisition to be established in Portugal. The Inquisition was in charge of verifying –and punishing with death–conversos who practiced their old religion in private. Now, with no Inquisition, Jews would live a double life: outwardly they were forced to pretend that they lived as Christians, but in privacy, and with discretion, they were practically free to act as they wished. Beatriz de Luna was born and raised in this environment. And as was usual in those times, it was not until she was 12 years old that her parents revealed to their daughter that she was Jewish, because telling a child under that age their secret identity could be very risky and dangerous for the family and for the child himself.
MARRYING A CONVERSO RABBI
At the age of 18, Beatriz married Francisco Mendes. “Mendes” was the non-Jewish surname that had been adopted in these circumstances by the “Benbeniste” (or Benveniste) family, a dynasty of rabbis and Tora scholars. The wedding ceremony took place in the cathedral of Lisbon. After the Christian ceremony, as it was customary for conversos (Jews that were converted by force, or their descendants), they celebrated the Chuppah –the Jewish wedding ceremony and the signing of the Ketuba– in the privacy of their home. Francisco Mendes was not just another “converso”. Francisco was a man who loved and observed Judaism and was very knowledgeable about religious practice. So much so that he acted as master of ceremonies in religious events. He was known as the RAB HA-ANUSIM, “the rabbi of the conversos”. And it was thanks to her illustrious husband that Beatriz became interested and learned in Tora. And it was because of her husband that her love for the Jewish people became the passion of her life.
BUSINESSES FROM THE SEA
Francisco was not just a converso and a Tora scholar. He was also the most brilliant businessman of his time in Lisboa. Together with his brother Diogo (or Diego, originally “Meir”) they grew immensely in business. The two brothers were in charge of marketing and commercializing all the cargo that arrived in Portugal from Brazil, Africa, and India. Let us remember that the beginning of the 16th century was a time of immense economic boom for Portugal, which on the one hand had discovered the best route to reach India, through Cape Town (South Africa), and on the other hand, exploited its rich colonies in Brazil. Commercially, Portugal was the most important gateway to Europe for all the exotic goods (black peppers, tobacco, wood, metals and precious stones, etc.) that arrived in Lisbon. All this trade that benefited the Portuguese crown was managed from start to finish by the Mendes brothers. This lasted for approximately 30 years. The success of the Mendes and their fortune was so great that they also created a bank, “La Casa Mendes” (see this interesting Wikipedia article in French), which became the second most important bank in Europe in the 16th century.
DOUBTFUL INTENTIONS
Not only the Mendes were doing economically well in Portugal. Spanish Jews were famous for their skill in commerce, an area that was not the specialty of Gentiles in the Peninsula. And now free to develop their talents, the Sephardic refugees in Portugal went on to achieve a great level of wealth. But after 35 years of prosperity, the situation for the Jews of Portugal became complicated. The Pope insisted on installing the Inquisition in Portugal. Beyond the religious reasons, the establishment of the Inquisition was an excellent source of income for the Church, since when the inquisition discovered that a converso observed any Jewish ritual even in private, the accused was sentenced to death by burning “and all his money, goods, and property were confiscated and passed into the hands of the church”. It became almost a historical custom that the Church pressed to establish its tribunal of Inquisition after Jews were allowed to become economically successful so that their numerous assets could be confiscated. Portuguese Jews tried by all means to delay the arrival of the Inquisition, but finally, in 1536 the papal pressure prevailed and the dreaded court was installed in Lisboa. From that moment on, it was impossible for the Jews to stay there.
SAVING LIFE AND DIGNITY
In 1538 Francisco Mendes passed away, and he left his position and his fortune to his wife Beatriz. That same year Beatriz, her daughter Ana, and her brother-in-law Diogo Mendes settled in Antwerp, Belgium, the most important financial center in Europe at the time, and continued with their successful company. Beatriz still kept her Jewish identity a secret. In Antwerp and together with Diego Mendes, and later with the help of her nephew Yosef Nasí, the Duke of Naxos, Beatriz begins to transform into a gigantic figure for the Jewish people. First of all, she used the trade routes of the Mendes company to help the Jews of Portugal to escape clandestinely in the company’s ships from the hands of the Inquisition. These families escaped hiding on the Mendes’ trading ships, which had free and safe passage throughout Europe. Tens of thousands of refugees poured from Lisbon to Antwerp, from Antwerp to Venice or Ancona in Italy, and from there many continued on to Turkey, where the Jews, as we shall see later, were very well welcomed.
Beatriz not only saw to it that the Jewish refugees were able to escape Portugal alive and reach their destination safely, but she also prevented them from losing all their belongings. How? Through her many loyal agents, Beatriz’s company was buying and selling the properties and assets of Anusim Jews in Portugal before they were confiscated by the Inquisition, and the money from these proceedings was sent to the property owners’ hands through the Mendes bank.
To be continued


NES MOOSSAN: The Aleppo Blood Libel, 1853

“
“Blood libel also called blood accusations, the superstitious accusations that Jews ritually sacrifice Christian children at Passover to obtain blood for unleavened bread ( matzot).”
Encyclopedia Britannica. 
Blood libels were, unfortunately, very common. When a body of a Christian child was found, and the murder case could not be immediately solved, the Jews were the usual suspects or scapegoats. The accusations were ridiculous and preposterous:  Jews using human blood to bake matsot?  This is perhaps the best and most outrageous example of the demonization of the Jews. No matter how much  Jews insisted that we are not allowed to consume even a drop of blood found in an egg, many gentiles spread the rumor that there was a secret ritual in which Jews extracted the blood of Christian children…
Historians have explained that these accusations gave the masses the excuse they needed to persecute Jews, seeking to take their money, their power, and positions.  Probably the most famous blood libel in modern history was the “Damascus Affair” in 1840. When a Franciscan priest, Father Thomas, disappeared, the Jews were accused by the French authorities, their plea was ignored by the British and many were tortured by the Turkish authorities of Damascus. All done with the purpose of taking the assets and positions of the wealthiest families of the local Jewish community (see this ).  Needles to say, the Damascus affair had devastating consequences for its Jewish community…
In Aleppo, 1853, a blood libel was averted just on time.  The body of a murdered gentile boy was planted in the house of a Jewish baker at midnight.  The plan was to come in the morning with the police and accuse the baker of “ritual murder”. A Jewish baker was the perfect target and easy to accuse of “using the Christian blood to knead matzot” .  Miraculously, the baker (named Moossa) woke up in the middle of that night, he discovered the body, understood the potential threat, and got rid of it. When the authorities came in the morning they could not find anything. The baker informed the rabbis of the city of what had happened and they said that HaShem in His mercy saved the Jewish community of Aleppo from a terrible tragedy.  They instituted that the 13 of Sivan be remembered as “Nes Moossan” (The miracle that happened thru Moossa) and in remembrance of this miracle,  Viduy should not be said on that day.
(There is another explanation as to why Viduy is not recited: in the Diaspora, the days of tashlumim for Shabu’ot are finished on the 13th of Sivan, not the 12th. )

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Who Should Say Hello First?

רבי מתיא בן חרש אומר: הוי מקדים שלום לכל אדם

Rabbi Matya ben Harash was an important Tanna, a rabbi of the time of the Mishna, who lived in the second half of the second century of the common era. After the defeat at Bar Kokhba, Rabbi Matya ben Harash left Erets Israel, settled in Rome and founded what may have been the first Yeshiba in Rome. He was famous for his extreme dedication to fulfilling the Mitsvot, both the Mitsvot towards God and the Mitsvot towards others. Although he is mentioned in several baraytot, Rabbi Matya does not have many Mishnayot in his name. In fact, there are only two in the entire Mishnah. And one of them is what we will learn today.

Rabbi Matya says HEVE MAQDIM SHALOM LEKHOL ADAM  “Always be the first to greet everyone.”

This gesture, being the first to extend a greeting to others, was considered by the sages to be a great virtue. Why?

Because in our family and social interactions we are always waiting for someone to notice our presence, to pay attention to us. And many times two people see each other and don’t say hello, simply because each one is waiting for the other to say hello first. Sure, it’s risky to be the first to say hello: what happens if the other person does not return my greeting, or does not greet me with the same intensity that I greeted him? That is why many people prefer not to be the first to say hello. They choose to wait for the other to make the first move. And sometimes that creates a vicious circle (you don’t say hello to me > I don’t say hello to you > you don’t say hello to me) which is destructive and produces unnecessary tensions.

To break this vicious circle, Rabbi Matya tells us to overcome our shyness or our vanity, and say hello first.

Thus, instead of a destructive circle, we will be generating a positive domino effect. If I say hello first, especially if I do it with a wide smile, it is very unlikely that I will be rejected. In most cases, people don’t say hello first out of shyness, not arrogance. And the good news is that when we are the first to greet, we will be giving an example of good behavior that is usually imitated by others.

The Gemara tells that one of the greatest and most important rabbis of all time, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai, always went ahead to greet others, even Gentiles he met on the street.

רבן יוחנן בן זכאי, אמרו בגמרא: «שלא הקדימו אדם לשלום מעולם. אפילו לא נכרי בשוק

מסכת ברכות דף י”ז.

“Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakai Was Never Anticipated In Greeting Him By Any Other Person, Not Even A Gentile In The Market”

I had the great zechut to meet a person who fulfilled this instruction of the Hachamim and the model of Rabban Yochanán ben Zakai to the letter. I am referring to my first teacher, Rabbi Saadiá Benzquen, z”l. Shabbat afternoon, after studying at his house, we would walk to the Piedras Street Synagogue, about five blocks from Garay Street. Normally it would take 5,  6 minutes to get to the Synagogue. But Ribbi Saadia took half an hour. Why? Because from the time he left his apartment until he arrived at the Synagogue, Rabbi Saadia greeted EVERYONE he saw, all Gentiles.   The doorman, the newspaper guy, the pharmacist, the shop owner on the corner, and all the neighbors he found in those 5 blocks. He greeted everyone by name and with great affection. As Rabbi Matya ben Harash indicated and as Rabbi Yochanan did, Ribbi Saadiah never expected to be greeted. He was always the first to extend the greeting. People appreciated this gesture so much that everyone, without exception, stopped in veneration and admiration when they saw this polite, humble and generous human being, who, following the words of Rabbi Matya, generated this great Qiddush haShem.



Rabbi Akiva and the Jewish Fish 

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

Around the year 130 CE, 60 years after the destruction of the Second Bet haMiqdash, Emperor Hadrian’s horrific decrees included a ban on learning and teaching Tora. In this way, the evil Roman emperor sought to erase the Jewish Law from the minds and hearts of the Jews. Hadrian knew that as long as the Jews were faithful to God and obeyed His laws they would not regard him as the sovereign of the Jews. Now, Hadrian’s decree left the Jews with only one alternative: civil disobedience. The Jews rebelled against this decree and some of them paid for this act of faith with their own lives. However, not all Jews agreed that a Jew had to fight and risk one’s life to preserve the Tora. Just like today, there were Jews in those days who didn’t mind living like Romans. These assimilated Jews criticized the Sages for “provoking the Romans” and “increasing anti-Semitism” by promoting the Tora. The Gemara in Berachot 61b records a fascinating encounter between two Jews with opposing views on this subject. One of them was none other than Rabbi Aqiba, the most prominent rabbi of that time.

THE FIRST MEETING

 This story takes place during the year 134 or 135. Ribbi Aqiba was born in the year 50, so when this story happened he must have been around 80 years old. Defying the decree of the Romans, Rabbi Aqiba taught Torah in public. The Gemara tells us about an assimilated Jew named “Papos son of Yehuda” ( פפוס בן יהודה). The first thing we notice is that this individual had already adopted a Latin name, “Papos”, separating himself in this symbolic, but the very eloquent manner, from his Jewish past, represented by the iconic name of his own father: “Yehuda” (which means “from Judea” or “Jewish”). This person, with a Hebrew past and a Roman present, confronted Ribbi Aqiba when he was teaching the Tora and said, “Aquiba, aren’t you concerned that you are provoking the Romans? They will catch you and sentence you to death !”  For Papos, Jews living as Jews “provoked the wrath of the Romans.” And for him, the only way we Jews can live in peace, and avoid anti-Semitism, is by living like the Romans. It is amazing to see how relevant this story, which is 2000 years old, is not outdated. As unfortunately, millions of Jews in the United States and around the world think or act in much the same way as Papos did at the time.

FOX AND FRIENDS 

Ribbi Aqiba responded to Papos with an extraordinary parable: Once a fox was walking near the river and saw the fish running back and forth as if fleeing from some danger. The fox, hungry, and trying to trick the appetizing fish, asked them: What are you running from? The fish said: We are escaping from the fishermen’s nets. Then the cunning fox said to them: ‘Why don’t you come upon the shore together with me? Here we can live in peace and safe from the fishermen’s nets. The fish responded to the fox: We can’t believe that you’re considered the smartest of all animals: You don’t realize that if we fear for our lives while we are in the water, which is our natural habitat, do you think we will be able to survive out of the water?  Ribbi Aqiba then explained the metaphor to Papos: The Torah is to Jews what water is to fish. As long as we remain within our Tora, and live by it, even though we expose ourselves to danger, we can continue to breathe, survive and avoid being caught by the Romans who are after us. But if we accept the deceptive invitation of the fox and abandon the Tora, jumping out of the water, we will be committing suicide.

TWO KINDS OF ROMANS

Ribbi Aqiba clarified to Papos that there are two types of Romans: The fisherman and the fox. They both seek the same thing: to swallow the fish, dead or alive!  The only difference is that the fishermen do not hide their intention. The Roman army persecutes the Jews, spreads its nets in broad daylight, and does not try to hide its lethal intention. The fox, on the other hand, is more subtle. Roman politicians and intellectuals invite us to be one with them and live together as one people: ”the Romans”. Same as the Greeks did before – the Romans offered the Jews the “Pax Romana”, that is: being part of the powerful Roman Empire, but now with one condition: Get out of the water, leave the world of Tora.  Ribbi Aquiba concluded: “I teach Tora because I will rather be exposed to fishermen and get caught than commit spiritual suicide by jumping out of the water”. 

Eventually, Ribbi Aqiba was caught by the Romans and sentenced to death. But while he awaited his execution he had a second encounter with Papos ben Yehuda, but in a completely different place: prison.

To be continued 



Pesach Sheni: the Second Pesach

Today is the 14th day of Iyar, 29 days of Omer (4 weeks, 1 day)

Thirty days after Pesach we commemorate Pesach Sheni or The Second Pesach. Pesach Sheni is not a formal holiday. No resting from melakha (work, etc) or Kiddush , etc is commanded today.

Pesach Sheni is mentioned in the Torah in Bamidbar 9:1-14 when Moshe announced that the Korban Pesach (Pesach sacrifice, a lamb) may only be offered by people who are ritually pure. Some men came to Moses, claiming that there were people, who came into contact with a dead body and became ritually unclean, unfit to participate in the Korban Pesach. God then indicated Moshe that anyone who was unable to offer the Korban Pesach on its due time, the 14th of Nisan, due to defilement or inability to journey to the place of sacrifice in time, should perform the sacrifice on the 14th of Iyar, a full month later.

In modern times, there is no practical observance of Pesach Sheni because, after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem we are unable to perform the original Pesach sacrifice anyway.

We remember Pesach Sheni by:

1. Eating Matza, which symbolizes the Korban Pesach, sometime during the day. The Sephardic custom is saying mezonot not hamotzi for Matza. There is no minimum requirement of Matza to eat and we can also eat Chametz regularly.

2. Saying yehi shem instead of the regular viduy (or confession, a prayer which is suspended on joyous occasions) from Mincha of the previous day.



HAFTAROT VAYIQRA

HAFTARAT VAYIQRA

HAFTARAT EMOR



A PERSONALITY TEST, by KING SOLOMON

מַצְרֵף לַכֶּסֶף וְכוּר לַזָּהָב וְאִישׁ לְפִי מַהֲלָלוֹ
There are good people and bad people in the world. But no one considers himself to be on the side on the bad guys. Thieves, corrupt individuals and even the worst criminals in the world, believe that they are doing the right thing, and they justify their actions in a thousand different ways. The Gemara echoed this ethical and psychological phenomenon by saying 2,000 years ago: kol derekh ish yashar be’enav “Everything an individual does is right in his or her own eyes. ”  But if everyone believes that he is the good one, how should we differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys?

Rabbi Shemuel Pinhasi, Shelita, author of an extraordinary commentary on Pirqe Abot, explains in his book (Vol. 1, p. 87) that King Solomon formulated a “personality test” in the pasuq of Proverbs 27:21 saying “Silver is tested in the crucible; gold, in the melting furnace; and a man is tested by his praise”. The crucible and the melting furnace serve to examine the purity and quality of precious metals: the more time and temperature the metal needs to be melted, the better its quality, and vice-versa. In a similar way, by examining how much a person “praises” others, you can measure the quality of that person. Rabbi Pinhasi explains that “praising” refers to using positive language, thinking, and speaking positively of other people. Focusing on identifying the virtues of our friends, relatives, and peers rather than identifying and criticizing their flaws. Who is a “good” person then? The one that is constantly focused on the good side of others, and somehow learns to overlook their shortcomings. When someone does something wrong, a good person sees it as a mistake and judges the person with the benefit of the doubt (I must clarify that we are not referring here to crimes, hate or other extreme cases, but to everyday social situations). The bad guy, on the other hand, does not possess the ability to “praise”. And is unable to see any positive side of the other. He is always focusing on people’s negative side. These people are not able to identify virtue, even when they see it, and therefore cannot “praise” a virtuous act.

Rabbenu Yona said: “The Tsadiqim (the good people) always praise and exalt others, they are eager to find positive things in their peers. The wicked ones, on the other hand, try to look for the negative, criticize and humiliate others.”Thus, the ability or inability to “praise”, is the test of a good or a bad personality.
The Sages of the Gemara, who should be regarded as the pioneers of modern psychology, explained why some people tend to see the good in others while others only focus on the bad. They said it with just four Hebrew words: כל הפוסל במומו פוסל. “When someone has a flaw, he sees his or her flaw in others”. We project on our peers whatever we carry within us.  Imagine that I’m a selfish person, constantly looking for making an impression on people, and show off my wealth, and when I make a donation I do not think about the benefit that I am bringing to this good cause, but rather the benefit that this donation will bring to me in other people’s eyes. Now, when I see another person,  a complete stranger, making a donation, I will not be praising his good deed, rather, I will be inclined to think, and perhaps say, that all that person wants is to show off his wealth in front of others.  My own flaws, my selfishness, blocks me psychologically from conceiving that another person can act with altruism and disinterest.
Now, if I’m a generous guy and when I donate the money I’m always looking to support a good cause, when I see someone else donating money for a good cause, I will surely think positively of that person, and I will “praise” him!     My good qualities are projected into other people’s intentions.
We can understand now better King Solomon’s personality: when a person has the ability to identify and “praise” other people’s virtues, it is because there are good qualities and purity of thought within that person.  And vice versa.


The Inexplicable Ceasefire of (June 11th, 1948).

(This article is the continuation of the article found at this link).

ורדפו מכם חמשה מאה ומאה מכם רבבה ירדפו ונפלו אויביכם לפניכם לחרב

THE WORST FOUR WEEKS IN THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL

Israel’s War of Independence was the most critical battle for the survival of the Jewish State. It began on the evening of May 15th, 1948, when the British army withdrew from their region. Throughout the first few weeks of the war, the United Arab armies were defeating the newborn State of Israel, despite a heroic resistance. But Israel was not able to stop the advance of five strong armies with planes, ammunition, and counting with the implicit support of the rest of the world. Before beginning their attack, the Arabs, confident in their impending victory had said that “what Hitler did was nothing compared to what they would do with the Jews living in Israel.” It was a horrible dejavu of the Shoa, to see that the world remained silent. But HaShem was with us. And the unimaginable occurred. Israel not only survived the invasion of five Arab armies but against all odds, won the war in a way no one could have anticipated.

THE MIRACULOUS CEASE-FIRE

According to Dr. Hagai Ben Artzi- professor of history at Bar Ilan University (and brother-in-law of former Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu) the greatest miracle of this war was that the Arab armies accepted a ceasefire. The proposal came from the Swedish  Folke Bernadotte, who had been designated as a mediator between the Arabs and Israelis by the United Nations. The ceasefire proposed to stop all military activity for four weeks and stated that the armies would remain in control of the positions they had conquered. Israel, which conquered nothing and was cornered everywhere, immediately accepted the proposal. The unexplainable, however, is that the Arab armies also accepted the proposal. I quote Ben Artzi from his (Hebrew) book- Megillat Hatequma VeHaAtzmaut: “…but why did the Arabs accept the ceasefire …? …they had almost reached all of their military objectives: Jerusalem was surrounded and besieged; Tel Aviv, a very short distance [from falling]; southern Israel [the Negeb] disconnected from the rest of the country, and the Galil, the North, was already conquered. A little more effort on the part of the Arabs and they were already in the heart of Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv, Petah Tikva, Netania, Hadera, and Afula. … ” Ben Artzi does not hide his conviction that this ceasefire was indeed a miracle of Biblical proportions. The enemies of Israel retreated as if possessed by an imaginary panic.

A BIBLICAL FEAR

Among other examples of this sort of Providential intervention, Ben Artzi mentions what happened on May 30th, 1948. Israel went to war without a single military plane. While the Arabs had over 75 active warplanes. The only country which dared to break the embargo and sold weapons to Israel was Czechoslovakia. By the end of May, four unarmed German “Messerschmidt” military planes arrived in Israel inside a transport plane. The planes were quickly assembled and on May 30th, and without even a test run, were sent on their first operation: trying to stop the Egyptian forces that were only 30 Kilometers away from Tel Aviv. These new Israeli planes took the Egyptians by surprise but did not cause severe damage, because the weapons did not function very well. Nevertheless, the Egyptian commander sent an urgent message to his headquarters saying that they could go no further because they were heavily bombarded “by a force far superior to them”. This “military assessment” was based more on imagination than reality. Ben Artzi also cites the reports of an Egyptian officer who fought in that battle and was taken prisoner by the Israelis in the 1956 war. When asked why the Egyptians did not continue their advancement towards Tel Aviv in ’48, when they had the whole area open to them, he said, “In the two Israeli attacks … we saw something that shook us: even after being hit by direct fire and suffering large losses, the Israeli soldiers continued to advance as if they were “crazy” (mej’nunin). And we said to ourselves: it is impossible to defeat these madmen. Better [accept the ceasefire and] settle for what we have conquered. ”

ALL ROADS LEAD TO JERUSALEM

Another providential event that occurred was that a young soldier, Moshe Eshed, discovered, “by coincidence” an alternative path to Jerusalem through the mountains, which was named “Derekh Burma.”  Through this path, the Israeli fighters were able to send food, medicine, weapons, and reinforcements to the city. There were about 100,000 Jews in Jerusalem at the time, especially concentrated in the Western area, the “Jewish Jerusalem.” They were completely isolated and trapped by the Jordanians, who had blocked all entrances to Jerusalem to avoid any supplies sent in.  If this mysterious path- which shockingly neither the Arabs nor the United Nations discovered for six months- had not been found, Jerusalem would’ve collapsed and the war would have had a very different ending. 

WHEN WHAT DOES NOT HAPPEN IS A GOOD THING

Despite all efforts, the Old City of Jerusalem (where the Kotel and the Temple mountain are) could not be conquered. By the end of the 1948 war, the Old City still remained in the power of the Jordanians. Until the Six Days War in 1967. Even in this failure, we can see the Divine Hand because if Israel had conquered Jerusalem in 1948, the United Nations would have demanded the internationalization of Jerusalem, a holy city “for the three Biblical religions”. International pressure would have been unsustainable and Israel, which was not strong at that time, would have surely relented. Jerusalem, with international status, would have been impossible to recover. And the long-term consequences for Israel would have been terrible. In the end, the Old City was not conquered by the Jews in 1948 and came under Jordan’s sovereignty. And as expected, no one imposed an “International status” on the city, and there were no complaints to the Jordanians for not allowing the Jews to visit the Western Wall.

Therefore, when in 1967 Israel conquered the Old City, the U.N. could no longer demand from Israel what they did not demand from Jordan for 19 years…



Israel’s Miraculous Independence War (May 15, 1948)

Israel’s victory in the War of Independence, which began on May 15, 1948 and lasted for 10 months, is unprecedented in the annals of military history. This is due, on the one hand, to the incredible courage, ingenuity, and sacrifice of our leaders and fighters, who gave it all to succeed, and mainly to Divine intervention that, battle after battle, miracle after miracle, made it possible.

To understand it better, it is important to remember the following.

ISRAELI ARMY vs ARAB ARMIES

On the day that Israel declared its independence, British troops who had been there since 1922, left Israel. Immediately afterward, that same night of May 15, the Arab armies launched an attack to destroy the newborn state of Israel. The Arabs had absolutely everything in their favor, politically and militarily. Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan had become independent states a few years earlier, and both England and France had sold weapons to them so that they could have an organized army.  Israel, on the other hand, was on its way to becoming an independent State. And no country was supporting the Jewish state. Moreover: England, France, and the United States had declared a strict weapon embargo that prohibited the entire world from selling weapons of any kind to Israel.

At the beginning of the armed conflict, the difference between the military power of Israel and that of the unified Arab armies could not be more unequal.

For example.
The Arabs had 50 tanks. Israel had 1.
The Arabs had 200 artillery vehicles. Israel had 2.
The Arabs had 140 cannons. Israel had 5.
But the most important difference was in the air force. The Arab armies had 60 attack aircraft and 14 transport aircraft. Israel, at the start of the battle, did not have one single plane.

THE LOGIC OF WAR
Before continuing, I would like to stop here and reflect for a few seconds. First of all, it is completely understandable that the Arabs launched a full-force attack against Israel because the chances of destroying Israel, with their absolute military advantage, were 100%. It is also understandable that the Arabs themselves broadcasted by radio to all Palestinians living in Israel –who were not taking an active part in the war– to leave Israel. Assuring them that they would return very soon when the short war was over, and the Jews were “thrown into the sea” (a euphemism for: “murdered”). Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians left Israel. In this way, the Arab countries created the “Palestinian refugee problem” for which they never took charge, and to this day, they continue to blame Israel.

WHO IS NOT RELIGIOUS?
What is indeed inconceivable is that being aware of Israel’s military inferiority, the Jewish leaders made the decision to declare the Independence of Medinat Israel, having been warned of the imminent Arab attack. This decision made absolutely no sense, either from a military point of view or from a logical point of view. Looking at the numbers, it was a suicidal act! Although there is another possibility. An idea that might be viewed as mystical… Every Jew, even a secular Jew, has a “nitzotz”, a “hidden” spark of Emuna. A Divine connection, perhaps, an unconscious one, that is always there, latent, dormant, but lit, like a boiler’s pilot. And at critical moments, perhaps in matters of life and death, this spark ignites the Jewish soul and .    I believe that David Ben Gurion and all the “seemingly secular” Israeli leaders of that time, had an epiphany, or a moment of Divine Inspiration when they decided to declare the establishment of the State of Israel. A spark that ignited their Jewish faith and led them to act like Nachshon Ben Aminadab, the man enter into the sea, and when the water reached his nostrils, he continued “knowing” that the sea was going to open up for him. Israel’s leaders (miraculously, if you will) relied on a miracle that “had to happen”. And in the end, it happened.
I can’t find a better explanation.

THE DARKEST HOUR
The entire world was certain that Israel’s defeat was a matter of days, or perhaps a few weeks. And they were not very wrong. During the first four weeks, the Arab armies advanced significantly and reached Ashdod, 30 kilometers south of Tel-Aviv. From Ashdod, they reached Hebron and thus they divided the Negev from the rest of the country.

The powerful Jordanian legion, which had been trained by the British, managed to besiege Jerusalem from all sides. A frontal attack was imminent. Jordanians also captured Lod and the airport (today, Ben Gurion International) and were approaching Tel-Aviv from the east.

Iraqi forces had attacked the Shomron and were approaching the cities of Petach Tikva and Hadera, en route to Tel-Aviv.

The Syrians came from the north and were encircling the city of Tiberia. Together with Lebanon’s military forces, they were isolating the northern Galil from the rest of Israel. Their final destination was Tel-Aviv.

All efforts by the newly created Israeli Army to defend Jerusalem from Jordanians or to repel Egyptian, Syrian, or Iraqi forces failed.

During the first weeks of the war since May 15, 1948, all predictions about Israel’s brutal defeat were fulfilled. Despite the sacrifice and bravery of our soldiers, the military superiority of the Arab armies was insuperable. There was no way for the Israeli forces to withstand the enemy’s attacks for even a few more days…. it seemed that the end was imminent.

And then, the first great miracle of this war occurred. It was June 11, Sivan 4, 1948.



The First Victim

Today is Yom HaZikaron, the day we honor the memory of the soldiers of the Israeli Army who sacrificed their lives for the establishment of the State of Israel and its continued existence. The young soldiers who gave their lives in the wars of Israel are the great heroes of the Jewish State. “The silver plate” on which the State of Israel was delivered to us. As Rabbi Eliezer Melamed says in his book Penine Halakha: “These soldiers, most of them very young, sacrificed everything, so that we can have our land, where we can fulfill our greatest dream: returning to our land to serve HaShem and observe His Tora … we should be inspired by their sacrifice and devotion to dedicate our lives to sanctify the Name of HaShem (leqaddesh shem Shamayim). “

AHARON HERSHLER z “l
The Ministry of Defense considers that the first Jewish victim of Arab terrorism in Israel was Aharon Hershler.  Hershler was killed on January 1st, 1873 at the age of 23 years, and is buried on the Mount of Olives, הר הזיתים, the oldest cemetery in the world that is still in use.  Hershler was a student of the Kolel “Shomere haHomot”, and he studied Tora day and night. Hershler was born in Hungary in 1850, son of the prominent Rabbi Yosef Shmuel Hershler. The Hershler family lived in Mishkenot Shaananim, the first Jewish neighborhood built outside the Old City. Records indicate that in 1872 there was abundant rainfall, which meant that  Jews were not forced to buy water from the Arab residents of Shiloah (Silwan in Arabic). In response, the Arab residents decided to attack the Jews and plunder them. Several Arabs stormed the Hershler house on January 1. Aharon interrupted his studies of the Tora, confronted them and began to persecute them. The bandits opened fire on Hershler and shot him 12 times. Hershler was taken to the hospital where he died of his injuries, after four days of agony. Hershler left a wife and a daughter.

May HaShem treasure the souls of the heroes of Israel and the victims of terror, in Gan Eden.

May He bless their families and give them the strength to endure the insurmountable pain of the loss of their loved ones.

May He bless the soldiers of Israel and her inhabitants, and protect them from our enemies.

May He grant AM ISRAEL strength and victory, and bless Israel with peace. AMEN

Please light a candle today in memory (leiluy nishmat) of their souls 
אֵ-ל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים שׁוֹכֵן בַּמְּרוֹמִים, הַמְצֵא מְנוּחָה נְכוֹנָה עַל כַּנְפֵי הַשְּׁכִינָה,
בְּמַעֲלוֹת קְדוֹשִׁים, טְהוֹרִים וְגִבּוֹרִים, כְּזֹהַר הָרָקִיעַ מַזְהִירִים. לְנִשְׁמוֹת חַיָּלֵי צְבָא הֲגַנָּה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁנָּפְלוּ בְּמִלְחֲמוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל בִּפְעֻלּוֹת הֲגַנָּה, תַּגְמוּל וּבִטָּחוֹן, וּבְעֵת מִלּוּי תַּפְקִידָם, וּלְנִשְׁמוֹת כָּל לוֹחֲמֵי הַמַּחְתָּרוֹת וַחֲטִיבוֹת הַלּוֹחַמִים בְּמַעַרְכוֹת הָעָם שֶׁחֵרְפוּ נַפְשָׁם לָמוּת עַל קְדֻשֵּׁת הַשֵּׁם וּבְעֶזְרַת אֱלֹקי מַעַרְכוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל הֵבִיאוּ לִתְקוּמַת הָאֻמָּה וְהַמְדִינָה וְלִגְאֻלַּת הָאָרֶץ וְעִיר הָאֱלֹקים. בַּעֲבוּר שֶׁאָנוּ מִתְפַּלְלִים לְעִלּוּי נִשְׁמָתָם, לָכֵן בַּעַל הָרַחֲמִים יַסְתִּירֵם בְּסֵתֶר כְּנָפָיו לְעוֹלָמִים וְיִצְרוֹר בִּצְרוֹר הַחַיִּים אֶת נִשְׁמָתָם. ה’ הוּא נַחֲלָתָם. בְּגַן עֵדֶן תְּהֵא מְנוּחָתָם, וְיָנוּחוּ בְּשָׁלוֹם עַל מִשְׁכָּבָם וְיַעַמְדוּ לְגוֹרָלָם לְקֵץ הַיָּמִין וְנֹאמַר אָמֵן”.