Month: December 2021

Parsha Va’era (וארא – And I Appeared), Exodus 6:2–9:35
Exodus 7:9
יְדַבֵּר אֲלֵכֶם פַּרְעֹה לֵאמֹר, תְּנוּ לָכֶם מוֹפֵת; וְאָמַרְתָּ אֶל-אַהֲרֹן, קַח אֶת-מַטְּךָ וְהַשְׁלֵךְ לִפְנֵי-פַרְעֹο
When Pharaoh says to you: Give me proof of your mission, you will say to Aaron: Take your staff and throw it before Pharaoh, so that he becomes a crocodile.

In verse 29:3 of the haftarah (Ezekiel 28:25-29:21), it is written:

הִנְנִי עָלֶיךָ פַּרְעֹה מֶלֶךְ-מִצְרַיִם, הַתַּנִּים הַגָּדוֹל, הָרֹבֵץ בְּתוֹךְ יְאֹרָיו: אֲשֶׁר לִ לִי יְאֹרִי, וַאֲנִי עֲשִׂיתִנִי …
… Behold, I come against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, great crocodile,
lying in the midst of your rivers, you who say: My river is mine, I created it.

Aaron’s staff turns into a crocodile and devours the staffs changed into crocodiles of the Egyptian wizards. Pharaoh thus suffered his first defeat.
The coat of arms of Nîmes represents defeated Egypt (a crocodile chained to a palm tree). The Synagogue of Nîmes built in 1793 was restored in 1893 and the current facade dates from this period. Since then, it has not undergone any notable change. The prayer hall is on the first floor while on the ground floor are the Rabbi’s quarters, the Matzos oven and the Mikveh.
The Jewish community of Nîmes counted among its members Adolphe Crémieux (Isaac-Jacob Crémieux), the author of the famous decree of 1870 which freed the 35,000 Jews of Algeria from the status of dhimmi and made them French citizens.

Parshat Shemot (שמות – Names), Exodus 1:1–6:1

Exodus 3:5
וַיֹּאמֶר, אַל-תִּקְרַב הֲלֹם; שַׁל-נְעָלֶיךָ, מֵעַל רַגְלֶיךָ- כִּי הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה עוֹמֵד עָלָיו, אַדְמַת-קֹדֶשׁ הוּא
And said: Don’t come near here! Take off your shoes, for the place you walk on is holy ground!

In some Eastern countries, it is customary to take off your shoes before entering a synagogue. RAMBAM writes that one should not pray barefoot, unless the local custom is to walk barefoot, even in the presence of great personalities. In a place where it is customary to walk permanently with shoes, it is forbidden to pray barefoot.

Gyrmyzy Gasaba (Azeri: Qırmızı Qəsəbə = Red City) or Krasnaya Sloboda (Russian name) is a town in Azerbaijan, whose population (about 3,500 inhabitants) is entirely Jewish. The local custom is to enter synagogues barefoot. The Six Domes Synagogue was built by Gilel Ben Haim in 1888 in an oriental style. The building is embellished with 6 domes which symbolize the migration of the inhabitants of the village of Gilgat to the town of Gyrmyzy Gasaba in 6 days.

For a long time, the building was used as a warehouse, then as a sewing workshop. After the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 1991, the building was returned to the Jewish community. Restoration work was undertaken from 1995 to 2001 and on October 11, 2001 celebrations resumed.

Parashat Vayechi (ויחי = and he lived), Genesis 47.28 – 50.26

The parsha Vay’hi has the particularity of being closed, that is, there is no space between the end of the previous one and the beginning of the previous one. Yaakov wanted to reveal to his sons the secret of the end of time (Rashi 49,1), but his vision was “closed”.

The Grand-Mezel, created in 1428, is the Cancel of Geneva. It takes its name from the Latin macellum which means butchery. It was the oldest closed Jewish quarter in Europe. It was closed by two doors with an obligation for Jews to reside there. It is the equivalent of Carriere (Comtat Venaissin), Giudaria (Nice), Judengasse (Germany), Judería (Spain), Ulica Zydowska (Poland), Chara (Tunisia), Mellah (Morocco) and Ghetto (Venice). In 1490 the Jews were expelled from Geneva. In 1852 Alsatian Jews reformed the community of Geneva and received from the city land freed by the demolition of the fortifications to build a synagogue there, as a sign of tolerance towards non-Protestant minorities. It was designed in 1857 by Jean-Henri Bachofen and the interior decor is the work of Jean-Jacques Deriaz.

Shabbat Vayigash (ויגש = and he drew near) Genesis 44.18 – 47.27

כז וַיֵּשֶׁב יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, בְּאֶרֶץ גֹּשֶׁן

27 So Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the province of Goshen.

Around 1831, a Jewish community settled in Goshen, Indiana. At the beginning of his installation, the services are done in houses, in particular at Louis Simon Clothiers. His home currently houses the Mexican bakery Gutierrez (Source: Elkhart County Historical Museum). In 1876, the Jewish community of Goshen bought an old Baptist church, transformed it into a synagogue and named it Sharis Israel. In 1927, the Jewish population numbered only fifty members and in 1932, the synagogue was abandoned because the Jews had deserted Goshen.

Parashat Mikets (מקץ – at the end), Genesis 41:1 – 44:17, Rosh ‘Hodesh Tévet, Hanukkah

The parsha Mikets are read during Hanukkah. Let us propose to find that this is the allusion to Hanukkah in this parsha. The Feast begins on 25 Kislev. Each day we light one more candle than the day before. The word נר (ner = candle) has a numerical value of 250 (נ = 50 and ר = 200). The Feast lasts 8 days. If we multiply 250 by 8, we get 2000. By adding 25 (date of the month of Kislev), we get a total of 2025. This corresponds to the number of words in the parsha Mikets.

The Tomsk Choral Synagogue is located in Siberia. Its history begins in 1850, with the construction of a wooden building. This was replaced in 1902 by a two-storey brick building. In 1929, the synagogue was closed by the Soviet authorities and moved from one institution to another. It successively became a cinema, a military school, an oblast tribunal, … In 1999, the building, which was damaged, was returned to the Jewish community. In December 2002, restoration works were undertaken and were completely completed in 2010.

The synagogue was inaugurated on December 8, 2010, the 7th day of Hanukkah and Roch Hodesh Tévet. The opening ceremony begins with the lighting of the Hanukkah candles, followed by a Ha’hnassat Sefer Torah. After this ceremony, the first stones of the school and kindergarten are laid.