THE LIFE OF RABBI MOSHE

Rabbi Yosef de Trani (or Mitrani. Trani is a small town in Puglia, in South Italy, probably the family’s origin was from this city) escaped from Spain at the time of the expulsion in 1492, and reached Thessaloniki, Greece. There, in the year 1500, his son Ribbi Moshe was born. At the age of 18, Ribbi Moshe moved to Erets Israel and settled in the city of Tsefat/Safed where a small Jewish colony was developing; led by the well known Rab Ya’aqob Berab. By the 16 century, Tsefat became the most important Jewish center in the world. And the influence of the Rabbis who were there is still felt today. Rabbi Miterani was one of those influential Rabbis. He was also known by his acronym- Mabbit (מבי”ט (משה בן יוסף טיראני.
Around the year 1530, Rabbi Miterani received his Semikha (a renewed rabbinical ordination) from Rabbi Yaakob Berab, along with Ribbi Yosef Caro, the famous author of the Shulhan Arukh. Rabbi Yosef Caro and Rabbi Miterani were inseparable colleagues and served together in the Bet Din (rabbinical Court) of Tsefat, the latter for 54 years. Rabbi Miterani succeeded Rabbi Yosef Caro as head of the Bet Din when Rabbi Caro died in 1575. Rabbi Miterani passed away at the age of 80. He left behind children who followed his rabbinical vocation and wrote several books. His most famous Halacha books are “Qiriat Sefer” and his responsa, “Shut Hamabit” .
He also wrote a very particular book called BET ELOKIM, which I want to tell you about today.

BET ELOKIM
The book is divided into 3 parts: the first part refers to Tefila- prayer. The second part is about Teshuba-repentance. And the third part, Yesodot- the ideas, beliefs and philosophical foundations of Judaism.
In the first part, chapter 16, Rabbi Miterani refers to deber, that is, the deadly epidemics that occasionally appear in the world and affects cities, towns, countries, or in times of globalization- the entire planet.
He first describes the most famous epidemics mentioned in the Tanakh. The plague in the times of Pinehas, when 24,000 people died . That of Qorah where 14,700 Jews died. And finally the epidemic that hit Israel in the time of King David, where 70,000 people died.

ADULTS OR CHILDREN?
Rabbi Miterani then mentions the epidemics that plagued the world in his own time. Biblical epidemics affected mostly adult men. Death was immediate, sudden, and the plague was short. It could be over in a day.
Plagues in Rabbi Miterani’s time, like in our times, were not sudden, but would last for weeks or even months. People died daily, and like David haMelekh himself (see Tehilim Psalm 30) some of those who became ill, recovered.
The most dramatic thing that Rabbi Miterani writes is that the plagues and epidemics of his time affected mostly “innocent children” תינוקות של בן רבן. Similarly, the Spanish Influenza in 1918 affected mostly young adults and pregnant women. Today, despite the general madness, we have to be thankful that B”H children are not that vulnerable to this virus. Children and young adults can get the virus and might have symptoms of a common cold. But unlike what happens with the elderly, the young immune system of children and adolescents is effective and usually overcomes this virus.

DO NOT PUT YOURSELF AT RISK
Rabbi Miterani says that unlike the divine plagues cited in the Tora, contemporary epidemics may appear to us to be a “natural” phenomenon. The Rabbi quotes doctors of his time who explained that “the rarefied air that one breathes makes one die”. But the final verdict, the Rabbi explains, then and now, is still in the hands of the Creator, as we say in the Tefilot de Rosh haShana.
The Rabbi also criticizes those who take unnecessary risks, by negligently exposing themselves to contagion. ” וקצתם שאינם מחויבים אז בעונש ההוא אלא שהם מסתכנים בעצמם לעמוד במקום הסכנה ואינם ראויים לשיעשה להם נס ונדבק בהם החולי ההוא וה‘ יתברך יודע בחירתם וחותמם למיתה  “Even if someone was not destined to die, if he stays in a dangerous place where he shouldn’t be, might not be worthy of a miraculous Divine intervention, and he might be condemn to die.”
We must take Rabbi Miterani’s words into account and avoiding taking risks. Because today, even if the lives of children and young adults, B”H, are not in danger they can become carriers of this virus, and involuntarily spread it to the elderly by being in contact with them, or with someone who will eventually be in contact with elders. ANYONE CAN BECOME, ח”ו AN INVOLUNTARY POTENTIAL KILLER. Grandparents are the most exposed in this entire pandemic. And we must protect ourselves to protect them. This is very important to bear in mind, especially in our communities where staying in the family many times means staying with the “extended families”, grandparents, grandchildren, cousins, etc. WE ARE FORCED TO DO THE UNTHINKABLE UNTIL THIS PANDEMIC IS OVER: SEPARATE FROM OUR BELOVED FAMILY MEMBERS.

WHAT TO DO NOW?
Although Rabbi Moshe leaves open the difficult eternal question of why bad things happen to good people, he explains how we Jews react in times of tragedy.
He mentions the areas where we should improve: וירבה בתפילה וצדקה ותחנונים לפני הא-ל יתברך בתשובה ומעשים טובים
In my own words,
Tefila, praying to God, asking Him to heal those who are sick, and begging Him to protect those who are healthy.
Tsedaka, helping and assisting with food, resources, money those who are most affected by this epidemic.
Teshuba, repenting of our wrong actions. Trying to improve the observance of His Tora.
Ma’asim Tobim, becoming better people. Better parents, better children, better spouses.

We pray that soon, B’H, this epidemic will be over and we will return to normality, which we will now surely value more than ever!

בשביל שלושה דברים נגאלו ישראל ממצרים: שלא שינו את שמם, ואת לשונם, ואת לבושם

TETOUAN

To speak of my father, about whom I never dared writing until now; I must begin with my great-grandfather, and make a special emphasis on his name: Ya’akob Bitton z ”l. My great-grandfather (it is his picture you see photographed here) lived in Tetouan- a small city in the North of Morocco with a significant Jewish population. An official 1861 census reports that out of 11,000 inhabitants in Tetouan, 5,000 or 6,000 were Jewish. (https://avotaynuonline.com/2016/08/jews-tetuan-morocco-genealogy-iconography/). Tetouan’ Jews were direct descendants of those expelled from Spain in 1492.  Spanish was the most common language in Tetouan but Jews had also their own Judeo-Spanish dialect: Haketia.

This is what I know about my great-grandfather. He lived in Calle del Tesoro # 2. He had a spices shop next to the market. And whenever someone needed paper to wrap the fish, they would get it from him. He was called “Brother Yaakob Bitton, the good one” (Hermano Yaakob Bitton, el Bueno) an honorific title in the Jewish quarter of Tetouan. Why? Because he was always reciting Tehilim and never spoke unnecessarily. This is all I know of my great-grandfather. Including one more detail: indirectly, he saved my father from assimilation.

SAN MIGUEL DEL MONTE

My grandfather Leon z ”l (Yehuda) was the eldest son of Yaakob Bitton. Born in 1895 he had to go out to work since a young age because poverty in Tetouan had turned into starvation. So terrible was the situation that at the age of 13 or 14  my grandfather had to travel alone to Argentina to send some money to his family. I don’t know how many times he traveled back to Tetouan. But I have the document of his wedding, civil and religious, that took place in Tetouan, in 1916. I believe after that, he never returned to Morocco. My grandfather Leon became a very prosperous businessman. He opened a network of clothing stores in various provinces of the country. And he settled with my grandmother in the city of San Miguel del Monte, a small town more than 100 kilometers away from Buenos Aires.

In that little town, to this day, there is absolutely nothing Jewish. There is no community, no synagogue, no school, no Kashrut. I think my grandfather was the only Jew in the entire town.

My father grew up there, and in his childhood, he never saw a mezuza in his house, he never ate Kosher, never learned Hebrew, never even heard a Kiddush. My grandfather’s legacy to my father were his Berit Mila and his name.   

In the 1940s my grandfather became very wealthy and was the only person in his small town to own a car and a driver. My grandparents my father and his siblings lived and dressed  like millionaires and were the celebrities of San Miguel del Monte.

LANGUAGE, ECONOMY, AND ASSIMILATION

My grandfather represented those thousands of Jews who, for mainly economic reasons, decided to live their lives on their own, with no Jewish community life. I am reminded of the differences between my paternal grandfather and my maternal grandfather, Abraham Faur, z ”l, who arrived from Damascus, Syria, around the same time, 1915. The most notable “advantage” my paternal grandfather had was that he spoke Spanish. And that advantage gave him access to business opportunities anywhere in the then rich country.  But this “advantage” also precipitated his assimilation. My maternal grandfather, on the other hand,  did NOT speak Spanish, only Arabic. And like 99% of the Syrian Jews who arrived in Buenos Aires, he settled in Barracas,  near the port. He went through hardship and financial difficulties but always lived with the community, with other Jews like him, supporting each other. 

What saved my grandfather from assimilation?

I believe that what saved my grandfather’s family from total assimilation was that his employees cheated on him and took all his businesses. My grandfather was literally left with nothing but debts. And he had to go to Buenos Aires in search of business opportunities and start from scratch. He never recovered his wealth but, providentially, my grandfather’s  financial ruin brought my father closer to the Jewish community.

WHAT’S IN A JEWISH NAME? 

What saved my father from assimilation? 

The most important factor that kept my father’s Jewish identity alive was his name, “Jacobo”. In Argentina, only a Jew could be named “Jacobo”. My father told me that throughout his childhood and adolescence, all he wanted was to be like everyone else but his name gave his religion away. Because of his Jewish name he suffered mocking, bullying and hatred. He tried to change his name and begged his friends to call him “Juan Carlos”, but he did not succeed. At school or at work everyone kept calling him, “Jacobo”, laughing, reminding him that he was a Jew.  When he arrived in Buenos Aires, he had no choice but to connect socially with the only people who were not going to bully him because of his name: his Jewish “brothers”.  And one night, at a community party in Barracas he met my mom.  And the rest is history.  

The Sages explained that what kept the Jews from assimilating into Egyptian society, particularly in times of prosperity, was that the Israelites consciously preserved their language, their clothes, and their names, a lesson I will never forget. 

In memory of my father, יעקב בר יהודה, in the day of his anniversary

https://www.dropbox.com/s/77an6p9d1c8yr94/COTY%20march%2013.mpeg?dl=0

This is going to be one of the most special Shabbat of our lives. 

Unlike other times, like Hurricane Sandy, when I remember that some people had to leave homes because their basements were flooded and there was no power , many people came to Kanissa, that was like the safest place to be. Now, this Shabbat, we will have to avoid Kanissa and stay home. 

We will miss each seeing each other, greeting, hugging each other and praying together,  

Just to make sure:  Missing and not being physically with each other for a short while, is not necessarily a bad thing.  First, It teaches us that we need to value the gifts and blessings that we have WHEN we have them, and second,  like Nidda time, longing for each other RENEWS our love and desire to be together again, BH very soon. 

Why we are not going to Kanissa? 

Basically, it is my understanding that this is basically a preventive measure. It is not ONLY because CDC gives us some medical guidelines. It is also our Tora that urges us to be EXTRA careful when it gets to keeping ourselves and those around us safe and healthy. ונשמרתם מאוד לנפשותיכם

We need to separate from each other, mainly, to protect the elders and those with a medical condition. Because, BH for most of us even if we get the virus, it won’t mean anything worse than the flu. But, if we get the virus and we go home to our parents or grandparents, we might affect them.  And the older someone is, the more expose he or she is. That’s the main reason we are ALL doing this.  We are all sacrificing ONE SHABBAT because we want to avoid a risk that even ONE of our elders will be affected by this virus that is more contagious than the flu.     

In my personal case, ever since we were informed that one of my family members was in contact with someone that tested positive we have all decided that because we MIGHT represent a bigger factor of risk for others, we will stay home for a few days. Why? Because the most rational thing to do will be to test yourself best and eliminate the doubt. However, testing is extremely limited, and Urgent care will ONLY test you if you have been in direct contact with someone who tested positive AND you have symptoms.  So, we wait home and see if we develop any symptoms. Which BH after a week, did not happen. AGAIN ALL THIS IS DONE MOSTLY TO AVOID A POTENTIAL SPREADING OF THE VIRUS IN THE UNLIKELY CASE YOU HAVE IT AND IN THIS WAY PROTECT OTHERS, THE ELDERS AND PEOPLE WITH CERTAIN MEDICAL CONDITIONS.

So, this Shabbat I’m staying home .

This is a very special Shabbat for me. Because this Sunday is the anniversary of my father, z”l. And I should be saying Kaddish for him from this Friday night. BUT, AS A RABBI I KNOW that protecting lives, and avoiding the risk of someone else’s life, is more important than saying Kaddish.    Please, learn this thing from me. And if you are saying Kaddish, and you will be in contact with any elder person or with someone that might be close to an elder, stay home and ask someone else to say Kaddish for you. 

Finally, let me tell you what I have done for my father’s Kaddish. 

Last night, I called my friend and colleague Rabbi Mordekhai Kohanim. I knew that Rabbi Kohanim will be attending a very small Minyan this Shabbat, so I asked him to say Kaddish for my father. 

Rabbi Kohanim, as expected, told me: “Of course rabbi Bitton I will be very honored to do so”.  Then I said to him that is going to be just until Sunday, because my father passed away Adar 19th.   Then, after a few seconds of silence Rabbi Kohanim said: “Adar 19th? That is also my own father’s Yahrtzait “.  

We got very emotional. I cried a little bit…. and it it hit me very strongly to feel the incredible ways in which despite all these physical isolations, we are indeed united and together in so many mysterious paths, in this world and beyond… 

I will miss you all. I wish for everyone a great Shabbat 

LEILUY NISHMAT YAAKOB BAR YEHUDA BITTON AND AHARON BEN MORDEKHAI KOHANIM, z’l. 

THIS IS A VERY SPECIAL EMAIL FROM A JEWISH COMMUNITY IN CHICAGO GREAT GUIDELINES FOR THIS SPECIAL SHABBAT 

PLEASE PRINT IT AND FOLLOW IT!  IT WILL ENHANCE YOUR SHABBAT DAY 

Shabbat Parashat Ki Tisa, Shabbat Parah

March 14th, 2020

Dear Families,

In the coming days and weeks, we all may find ourselves spending Shabbat at home with our families, unable to attend shul or the other kinds of playdates and social gatherings that make up the special flavor of a normal shabbat in our community. Unlike on weekdays, where digital distractions abound, Shabbat poses unique challenges. How do we make the day fun, special and religiously significant even without attending services, kiddush or shabbat meals? 

We’ve included some ideas below, to make your Shabbat at home feel as special and holy as possible under the circumstances. 

Pre-Shabbat Ruach: Get in the Shabbat spirit with a dance party and watching parsha videos. 

• Parshat Ki Tisa: Moses Breaks the Tablets at Sinai – Rabba Yaffa Epstein (BimBam)
• Parshat Ki Tisa: Seeing the Golden Calf – Sarah Gershman (BimBam)
  • Comprehension questions:
    • What does B’nei Yisrael do when they think that Moshe is not returning?
    • What does Aharon do to try to delay them?
    • What does Hashem want to do in response to the Egel HaZahav?
    • What does Moshe do when he sees the Golden Calf?
  • Questions for discussion:
    • What is something you know to be true that you have trouble believing until you’ve seen it for yourself (with your own eyes)?
      • (ex. Snow day, rainbow, etc)
    • The storyteller sees the Egel HaZahav as a representation of Moshe. That’s her opinion. There are many ways to interpret this story. What’s another way of seeing it?
• If you can’t join the ASBI Zoom dance party, host your own! Youtube playlist here: 
  • https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLokUsVxY1i3d3CAhupElxRhZheY2H39fr

Friday Night:

• Do you have tunes from Kabbalat Shabbat that you love? After candle lighting, sing them out loud with your family, dance in a circle–  holding your own little service at home to welcome in the Shabbat queen. Adults can make sure to pray a full Kabbalat Shabbat and Maariv service as well, but bring your children into it as is appropriate. 
• Over dinner, start to discuss the Parsha with your children. You can use the Parsha Themes infographic included in the family email to kick off your discussion. 

Shabbat Day: 

• Shabbat day can feel like a very unstructured time. One way to help everyone in your family feel like they know what to expect and look forward to is to make a plan and a written schedule for how your Shabbat will be spent and review it with your children before Shabbat. 
• In addition to your own personal tefillot of Shacharit and Musaf, daven with your children. If they are in Tot Shabbat, sing your favorite songs with them. The children in drop-off groups may well know what Tefillot they normally do in groups. Hopefully in the coming days the leaders of those groups will produce at-home guides for you and your children, but we might not have them ready in time for this Shabbat. Nevertheless, you can ask your children of any age which Tefillot they know and love from groups, school or summer camp, and you can sing them together. 
• There are many different ways to explore the Parsha with your children, depending on their age. 
  • With older children, you could learn it together out of a chumash. You could practice some leyning together, to hone skills they are learning in school or have learned for their bnai mitzvah. 
  • For elementary aged children, you could talk about the Parsha (perhaps the story of the Golden Calf) and put on a skit together utilizing any costumes and props you might have around the house. Add in challenge with unusual types of props (eg, “incorporate this spatula into the story!”). If you have some time before shabbat, have your child(ren) create puppets for the main figures in the parsha and put on a puppet show in a unique style or using silly voices (think B’nei Yisrael heads to the opera or rodeo).
  • For younger children, you might want to talk about counting. Our Parsha begins with a census, but instead of counting people, they are commanded to collect a coin per person and then count the coins. What other kinds of things can you count? 
• Extend your Shabbat lunch by singing zemirot between courses and saying birkat hamazon out loud together. If it is age-appropriate, practice the words of Kiddush with your children. 
• Reading together is a great Shabbat activity for all ages. Adults also enjoy gathering together for dramatic readings of Shakespeare and other theater greats. Find books to read to your children that might be new for them and for you– the more participatory the better. Challenge yourself to come up with tunes for any parts that might be sing-song, so as to break up the monotony for yourself and further engage your children. 
• Playing board and card games for many hours straight can be strenuous, but starting a board game and then taking a break for another activity before continuing can keep everything exciting and fresh for longer. Don’t wait until everyone is bored before pausing an activity– always leave people wanting more, so that when you come back to it, it will feel like a treat. 
• Make sure to incorporate physical activity. Whether this is a Shabbat Zemirot dance party (appointing a table-drummer to keep a beat while everyone else dances will go a long way here), a game of Simon says, or just some good laps around your apartment (one time in a crab walk, one time in a crawl, one time backward, one time wheelbarrow, one time blindfolded, one time singing the Tot Shabbat “on my way to shul one day” song, etc), will help everyone feel less stir-crazy. 

End of Shabbat:

• As shabbat winds down, eat Seudah Shlishit together as a family. Sing slower songs as the day flows away. Get everyone into pajamas and ready for your pajama havdallah party! 
• When Shabbat ends, turn out the lights, light up your havdallah candle, and reflect together on how special this Shabbat was that you all spent together. Remind each other of the parts you liked the most, the fun times you had together. This is important because if we have to do this all again next week, you want everyone to remember the good parts! 

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbanit Leah Sarna & Molly Jaret

I do. But I have to make a concerted effort to recall the memories of gas shortage, lack of electrical power, and our collective fears over supplies of food. It felt to us then like the world was coming to an end. Today, we go about our lives as if hurricane Sandy never happened. 

The one thing I do recall with clarity from that time are amazing words that a good friend of mine, an ophthalmologist, shared with me. After witnessing his medical office being completely destroyed by the terrible storm, he said that “tragedies could bring the worst in us or the best in us”. He mentioned that some of his colleagues took advantage of Sandy to try and ‘steal’ some of his patients. Other colleagues, though, offered him usage of their own medical offices so he could continue treating his patients. 

COVID-19 is looking to be far more severe than Sandy. But this tragedy too, can bring out the best or the worst in us. 

If we respond with this in mind, this can be a time for each of us to react in ways that are giving and kind. We can work to do something helpful and productive for those who are suffering, and act with altruism, and compassion. Just imagine what our communities could look like if we each asked ourselves to care for others in the way we have been caring for our selves and our families! 

Be’ezrat HaShem “THIS TOO SHALL PASS” . And our actions will define the way we remember these days. 

Be grateful to HaShem for the silver linings of this difficult time. If you are a parent or a grandparent be grateful that this virus, for which there is no vaccine yet, is thank God not affecting children to a great extent. 

Above all pray to HaShem with special intensity: ask Him sincerely for the welfare of others. When you do that, you become a person of His interest, deserving God’s attention. 

With prayers for a Refuah Shlema for all –

Yosef Bitton

In memory of “Sarina”,  Sara Rut bat Ephraim Kalaty, z”l.  

First Speaker is DR. AARON E. GLATT, MD, CHAIRMAN, DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE,CHIEF, INFECTIOUS DISEASES AND HOSPITAL EPIDEMIOLOGIST AT MT SINAI. 

Second Speaker DR NORMAN BLUMENTHAL a licensed clinical psychologist who practices in Cedarhurst, NY. Dr. Blumenthal serves as the Coordinator of Group Psychotherapy Training for Interns and Residents at the North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System.

Lecture by Dr Aaron Glatt from Mt Sinai and Dr
Dr. Norman Blumenthal

:i

This was a conference call held on Tuesday March 3rd at 8:15PM. 1200 people were on the call. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS INFORMATION IS RELEVANT ONLY ON THE DATE OF MARCH 3RD. IF THERE ARE ANY NEW DEVELOPMENTS, THE HEALTH RECOMMENDATIONS MAY CHANGE.

CARE FOR OUR HEALTH
There are 613 precepts in the Tora. One of them is to “take care of our health.” As Maimonides explains, this precept requires us to not only to seek healing when we are sick but also to prevent possible diseases. Maimonides, who was a pioneer of preventive medicine, writes extensively on the importance of diet and physical exercise to keep ourselves in good shape and about the significance of hygiene. Today it is known that good hygiene is what primarily allows the prevention of contagious diseases.

HOW ARE DISEASES TRANSMITTED?
There are viruses, such as HIV, that are transmitted through the blood and other bodily fluids. Other diseases, like tuberculosis or measles, are caused by pathogens which are transmitted through the air. And still others, such as the influenza virus (flu) and the coronavirus are transmitted through respiratory droplets. If a person with the flu coughs or sneezes the pathogen can infect those who are nearby. Viruses and bacteria can also be transmitted through the surface of objects, a door-knob or even a cellphone. 
But perhaps the most common way to get sick is through direct contact — by touching or shaking the hands of a person who is ill.

2,000 years ago our rabbis discussed a similar matter: the transmission of ritual impurity (Heb: tum-a).

ידיים עסקניות הן, ונוגעות מבלי משים במקומות מזוהמים, משום כך גזרו חכמים על סתם ידיים שיהיו שניות לטומאה
“The hands are permanently active” they said” “And, involuntarily, the hands touch contaminated parts of our body. And that is why the Hakhamim established that when one is not aware that his hands have touched something impure, the hands  must still be considered impure.”    

Jewish law therefore states that hands should be washed permanently, even if one is not aware that they have been in contact with something impure (except when one is certain that since he washed his hands he did not touch anything impure).

THE ENEMY IN YOUR HANDS
Dr. Colleen Kraft, a microbiologist, says:
“During a viral pandemic, we are often our own worst enemies. Point in fact: We touch our face with our hands, including our nose, eyes, and mouth — areas with mucous membranes, an average of 15 to 23 times an hour.”

This helps us better understand why hand hygiene is the most important precautionary measure to avoid the flu or the coronavirus. According to Dr. Kraft, the lack of hand hygiene has proven to be the most important factor in the spread of infectious diseases (see more here ).

Since taking care of one’s health is a Mitzva (a biblical precept), I believe that it is our halakhic obligation to learn how to minimize the risk of contagion.

Here are some guidelines:

1. GREETING, IN HEALTH AND IN SICKNESS: In times of coronavirus, when we greet other people with a handshake it is important to wash our hands, or to apply an alcohol based hand sanitizer to our hands. Although most people are healthy, with the coronavirus it is not possible to know if individuals are contagious since the symptoms (fever, sneezing or coughing) may not be evident and the virus can still be transmitted. In my opinion, the best thing we should do temporarily is to greet by waving one’s hands, blowing a kiss across the air, or engaging in a “namaste”-style greeting, avoiding direct physical contact as much as possible.

2. DEREKH ERETZ: Now, even if health-wise it is the prudent thing to do, if I leave the room to wash my hands immediately after shaking somebody’s hand, there is a good chance that person will be offended. Therefore, where the situation makes it impracticable to wash one’s hand after a handshake, it is particularly important to avoid touching our own face and to avoid shaking another person’s hand until we have had a chance to wash with soap.

3. NO KISSING HANDS: Today, in his daily class, Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Hayim told us that rabbis should temporarily discourage people from kissing other people’s hands. As anyone knows, this is an honorable gesture toward Talmide Hakhamim or elders, but the present circumstances call for avoiding this beautiful practice due to the higher risk of transmission. I think we should also discourage the custom of greeting someone we honor by shaking his hand and then bringing our own hand to our mouth and kiss it. In our community many people perform this gesture out of respect and affection, when they greet the Kohanim, after the priestly blessing.

4. THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR: If you are sick, if you have a fever or you think you may have the flu, you should stay at home and talk to your doctor. Because if you go to a public place you can spread the virus, involuntary, to many people around you.

5. TEMPORARY ONLY: We pray and hope B”H that all these measures will soon be unnecessary. We pray and hope that this virus will disappear, as it seems to be happening in China, or that a vaccine will be found soon.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yosef Bitton

Washing your hands with soap and water … kills viruses that may be on your hands.  W.H.O.

A LITTLE HISTORY

In 1350, Europe was hit by a devastating deadly disease, the bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death. This disease arrived from Asia, and the bacteria was transmitted by fleas hosted in rats and other rodents. This plague killed approximately half of the European population. At that time the origin of the plague was unknown. The explanation given by the faculty of medicine in Paris was that the black plague was due to the “misalignment” of three planets: Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. That astrological event caused a “great pestilence in the air”, a kind of “bad air” (רוח רעה?). 

But the common people, the masses, had their own theory. For the European peasants the real culprits of the black plague were the Jews.

THE SCAPEGOAT

People accused the Jews of poisoning the water wells. The extent of the persecutions, progroms and killing of Jews during 1348-1351 are impossible to describe or even imagine. The first massacres took place in April 1348 in Toulon, France, where the Jewish quarter was sacked and 40 Jews were killed in their homes. In 1349 the persecutions spread throughout Europe, from Barcelona, ​​Spain, to Erfurt, Germany. On February 14, 1349, on “Valentine’s Day,” 2,000 Jews were burned alive in Strasbourg, before the plague affected the city. And while the ashes were still burning, the Christian population ransacked the homes of the Jews and took everything of value. Thus, 510 Jewish communities were erased  and its inhabitants massacred. (for more information see  this    ).  Jews were the favorite scapegoats of Christian Europe. They were blamed for any calamity or unsolved murder. But in the specific case of the Black Death there was an additional reason that fueled these false suspicions:  Jews were less affected by this disease than their non-Jewish neighbors.

WHY JEWS DID NOT DIE?

In medieval Europe, the importance of hygiene in disease prevention was unknown. The streets were dirty, full with live or dead animals, parasites, fleas and lice that facilitated the transmission of diseases. People did not bathe regularly. Monks, for example, were forbidden to bathe more than 2 or 3 times a year.  Jews, however, have a rule that has been observed for thousands of years ago, no matter the circumstances: bathing in honor of Shabbat. Thus, in ancient times, Jews would take a bath or clean themselves thoroughly at least once a week, something absolutely exceptional for the average person in those times.

NETILAT YADAYIM

Perhaps, the most important element that prevented the spread among Jews was the Jewish tradition of washing our hands.

Jewish law states that the first thing you should do every day when you wake up in the morning is to wash your hands, before touching your face, your eyes or your mouth with your hands.

Jewish tradition also mandates to wash our hands before praying, that is two (or sometimes three) more times a day.

One is also required to wash his or her hands before eating bread or before consuming any food that has been dipped in a liquid condiment or sauce (דבר שטיבולו במשקה). Keep in mind that at that time people ate with their hands (there were no forks!)

Jewish law also states that one should wash his or her hands when leaving the bathroom.

A Jew, thus, washed his hands several times a day. And this, which seems normal to us today, was not the practice of ordinary people in medieval Europe, since running water did not exist.

THE FIRST ADVICE OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

Modern medicine, thanks God, helped us find the solution for the Black Death and other infections diseases that were once deadly.   In addition to that, in most of the world’s homes today, hygiene standards  are very high and effective. But still, in these moments when the whole world is watching with horror how the dangerous “coronavirus” spreads from country to country , it is important to redouble our efforts to keep our hands clean.

On that note, it is so interesting that the first guideline to minimize the transmission of the coronavirus is to keep our hands clean.

As we have said this last Shabbat in our prayer announcing the new month,may HaShem help us so that this epidemic does not continue to spread (לרחם על פליטתנו ולעצור המגפה והמשחית מעלינו) .

May it be His will that all human beings will enjoy good health.

May it be His will that all those who are sick, Jews or non-Jews, will soon recover and return to their families with health and joy.

AMEN. 

THE INEVITABLE END?

The Jewish people were going through one of its worst crises. Jerusalem had been destroyed decades ago, in 586 BCE. Jewish refugees living in Babylon were assimilating at a galloping pace. They married pagan refugees; they no longer spoke in Hebrew; and they had begun to practice pagan rites. The land of Israel had almost no Jews. The Babylonians sent there pagans, from several conquered civilizations, and without a defined identity, to work the land and prevent its desertification. This new ethnic group, the Samaritans, who were now natives of Israel, were very comfortable in the Holy Land. The Babylonians had no intention to authorize the Jews, let alone encourage them, to return to their land. It seemed that the prophecy of Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah), who anticipated that God would bring His people back to Israel, was not going to be fulfilled…. Without a land and a Temple, the complete integration of the Jews into the Babylonian society was only a matter of time. The end of the Jewish people was, seemingly, imminent.

THE HEART OF THE KINGS, AS PER PROVERBS 21:1

And then a “miracle” happened. It was not a supernatural event like the opening of the Red Sea. It was a historical-military event, something that could be considered a “normal” historical development. In 538 BCE the Persians defeated the Babylonians and took their empire. A new emperor emerged: Koresh (Cyrus). At first, no one knew what Koresh policy with the Jews would be. But the uncertainty did not last long.

To relate what happened next, something totally unexpected, I am going to copy below what the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) says, literally, in its last 2 verses: “In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, at the time that the Divine promise that Yirmiyahu had prophesied should be fulfilled, HaShem awakened [= inspired] the spirit of Koresh [Cyrus], king of Persia. And [Koresh] proclaimed this statement, which he also recorded in a document, saying. “Thus says Koresh king of Persia, HaShem, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build for Him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judeah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may HaShem his God be with him and let him go up [=back to Israel.’”

I would like to analyze the implications of Koresh’s proclamation:

Koresh recognized Israel as a people, a nation in exile, with a geographical and historical reference. Something that the many Jews had already begun to forget.

Koresh recognized that the Jews of Babylon had a historical right to the land Israel, which exceeded the right of the Samaritans who were brought there to work the land.

Koresh explicitly mentioned Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish people, the place where the “House of God”, the Bet haMiqdash, should be rebuilt.

Koresh not only declared and wrote a document expressing his willingness to rebuild Jerusalem for the Jews, and help them to live there in peace, protected from their numerous enemies. Koresh also took care of financing this project. He directed funds from the prosperous Persian Jewish community for this purpose, and contributed funds from his own royal treasury.

Koresh sent some of his guards to accompany the Jews who emigrated to Israel, to protect them on the dangerous roads, and he provided those who travel to Jerusalem with provisions, wood and other construction materials for the job.

Koresh exceeded the expectations of all Jews when he did this: The Babylonian king Nebukhadnetsar, who had destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, took all the vessels of the Bet haMiqdash, the utensils and sacred objects made of gold and silver, to his royal treasure. Koresh, in an unprecedented act, restored all these vessels to the Jews, and sent them back to Jerusalem to be used again in the Bet haMiqdash.

It is interesting to note that King Koresh never claimed he was Jewish or of jewish descent. But as the Biblical text clearly says, he proclaimed that HaShem “had awaken his spirit” and inspired him to help the Jews to return to their land, rebuild it and defend it.

The prophet Yesha’ayahu (Isaiah) also referred to Koresh in chapters 44 and 45 of his book. Yesha’ayahu described Koresh as the king that God had crowned to help His flock to return to its original pasture lands: Israel.

What did President Donald Trump do for Israel and for the Jews since he was elected ?

President Trump recognized Jerusalem by Congressional Law as the indivisible capital of the State of Israel and moved there the US embassy.

President Trump canceled the nuclear agreement that President Obama signed with Iran, which was considered extremely dangerous for Israel.

President Trump imposed severe economic sanctions on the Iranian government to prevent the extremist regime from obtaining or developing nuclear weapons, and to stop its aggressive expansion in the Middle East. The state of Israel considers the Iranian regime as the greatest threat to its existence.

President Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty in the Golan.

President Trump recognized the legality of Jewish cities and towns in Judea and Samaria. No more “occupied territories”. 

President Trump ordered the suspension of economic aid to the Palestinian authority in Ramallah, and to UNRWA, for supporting terrorism. For that same reason he removed the representative of the Palestinian Authority in Washington.

President Trump encourages and fosters the normalization of diplomatic relations between Arab states (Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, etc.) and Israel.

President Trump enacted a new law against anti-Semitism in American universities.

לב מלך ביד ה’ על כל אשר יחפץ יטנו

The heart of the kings is in the hands of God, He DIRECTS [theIR HEART] at His will

Proverbs 21: 1