Month: July 2022

Rosh Chodesh Av
We are entering the month in which dire elements have occurred.

Mas’ei (מסעי – steps), Numbers 33:1-36:13.
^א אֵלֶּה מַסְעֵי בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, אֲשֶׁר יָצְאוּ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם–לְצִבְאֹתָם:  בְּיַד-מֹשֶׁה, וְאַהֲרֹן.
¹ This is the steps of the children of Israel, since they came out of the land of Egypt, according to their legions, under the conduct of Moses and Aaron.

The Jewish presence in Alsace is attested from the 12^th century. From 1336 to 1339, a movement of poor peasants, the Judenschläger¹ reigned terror. But the most terrible time was that of the Black Death (1347-1349) when thousands of Jews were massacred². The surviving Jews find refuge in the countryside. Alsatian Judaism became rural.
Kembs :
The Jewish community still present at the start of the 20^th century disappeared and the synagogue was razed.
Altkirch :
As of 1469, there is no longer a medieval Jewish community in Altkirch³. At the beginning of the XIX^th century Altkirch had 8 Jewish families⁴.  In 1834, the construction of the current synagogue began. In 1848, anti-Jewish riots broke out⁵, the synagogue and Jewish dwellings were badly damaged. Life resumed its course in 1864, Altkirch had a cemetery, a school and a mikveh. In 1870, entire families left the region after the Prussian invasion and emigrated to Algeria.
Built in 1834, the synagogue⁶ was the place of worship for the Jewish community of Altkirch, until in 2016, the year in which the last Jew in Altkirch died. Transformed into a cinema in 1940, the synagogue was restored in 1946 by the architect Edmond Picard⁷. Since 2016, there have been no more religious services and the building has been put up for sale⁸.

The 4^th step of the Tour of Alsace 2022 (July 30) connects
Kembs in Altkirch.

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¹Those who beat the Jews.
²More than 2000 Jews are murdered in Strasbourg , February 14, 1349, the day of Saint Valentine.
³ Emigration to Basel (1365) and to Mulhouse (1410).
⁴ For comply with the decree of Bayonne, of July 20, 1808, by Napoleon, in which it is said that the Jews of the Empire must adopt a surname and have it registered by a civil registrar of the commune where they are domiciled.
⁵ Juden Rumpel or Judenrumpell.
⁶ Listed in the general inventory of cultural heritage.
⁷ Edmond Picard (1893-1960), son of Abraham Picard and Pauline Schwab, architect, town planner, property developer. A combatant in the French army, he was decorated with the Croix du Combattant Volontaire 1939-1945. He is the grandfather of Dominique-France Picard, wife of Fouad II, the last king of Egypt (1952-1953).
⁸ Property of the Israelite Consistory of Haut-Rhin.

Matot (מטות – Tribes), Numbers 30:2-32:42 .
[…] ב וַיְדַבֵּר מֹשֶׁה אֶל-רָאשֵׁי הַ מַּטּוֹת , לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר
^{2 tribes of the children of Israel, in these terms […]}

The Ed Kahn Foundation Synagogue which is located across the street from Rabbi Elie Cyper^[1] in Dijon a was built in 1879. It is located in a district^[2] where the Jewish presence has been attested since the XII^th century. In 1394, the Jews were expelled from the city and would not return until after the French Revolution.

Appointed in January 1939 rabbi of the Community of Dijon, Elie Cyper was mobilized nine months later as captain-chaplain. He was taken prisoner in May 1940, but he immediately escaped. He resumed service as chaplain until his demobilization in August 1940. He then became the rabbi of the refugees. During the occupation of Dijon by the Germans (1940-1944), Canon Felix Kir^[3], so municipal councilor has the synagogue transformed into a clothing warehouse to avoid its destruction and warns Rabbi Elie Cyper to save the objects of worship. From May 1943, Elie Cyper was active in the resistance group Combat^[4]. He was arrested by the Gestapo on April 8, 1944, the first day of the Passover holiday. He was deported and assassinated by the Nazis in Kovno, Lithuania-Estonia, at the age of 35, on May 15, 1944. The population of Dijon and networks of smugglers allowed half of the Jews of Dijon, in particular the wife of the Rabbi Cyper and his 2 daughters to escape deportation.

The Dijon synagogue is listed in the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments (March 15, 1989). In neo-Byzantine style, the building, the work of the Dijon architect Alfred Sirodot^[5], is composed of ‘a central nave and two aisles, interrupted by a transept with two small turrets. The choir is topped with an octagonal cupola. The decorative ornaments were made by Jules Schanovki (sculptures), Léon Leniept (paintings) and Eugène Oudinot^[6] (stained glass, especially those symbolizing the twelve tribes).

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^[1] Elie Cyper was born in Ukraine in 1908. He was decorated with the Croix de Guerre 1939-1945, the Medal of the French Resistance and the Medal of the Order of the Liberation.
^[2] The streets of Petite-Juiverie where there was a synagogue (currently rue Piron), of Jews (rue Buffon) and of Grande-Juiverie (rue Charrue) .
^[3] Félix Kir (1876-1968) priest, politician and resistance fighter (Commander of the Legion d’Honneur, Croix de Guerre 1914-1918 and 1939-1945, Medal of the French Resistance, etc.), he gave his name to a cocktail recipe based on Aligoté white wine (lively and fresh wine) and crème de cassis. When he went to the Assembly, he carried a bag containing the necessary to make kirs that he offered to his companions.
^{[ 4]} The most important of the eight great French Resistance movements created by Henri Frenay (Henri Frenay Sandoval, 1905-1988) and Berty Albrecht (born Berthe Pauline Mariette Wild, in 1893 in Marseilles and died on May 31, 1943 at Fresnes prison).
^[5] Philippe Auguste Alfred Sirodot (1831-1900) .
^[6] Eugène-Stanislas Oudinot de La Faverie, known as Eugène Oudinot (1827-1889), is a French glass painter. He also made

Pinchas (פנחס) Numbers 25:10-30:1

Regarding Pinchas, grandson of Aaron the Pontiff, Gd says:

כה יג וְהָיְתָה לּוֹ וּלְזַרְעוֹ אַחֲרָיו, בְּרִית כְּהֻנַּת עוֹלָם- תַּחַת, אֲשֶׁר לֵאלֹ לֵאלֹהָיו, וַיְכַפֵּר, עַל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל.
He and his posterity after him will possess, as pledge of alliance,
the priesthood in perpetuity; because he sided with his God
and made atonement for the children of Israel.”

Rabbi Pinhas Ha-Cohen is a great Moroccan figure. Born in Taroudant, he was renowned for his kindness, his tolerance, his uprightness and his modesty pushed to the point of humility.

He died in Marrakech on Shabbat afternoon, 14 Tebet 5712¹. On the day of his funeral, the whole town was present. He is buried in the Jewish cemetery in Marrakech and his grave continues to attract pilgrims from all over the world. It is reported that he several times saved the life of the pasha of Marrakech, Thami El Mezouari El Glaoui² nicknamed The Black Panther.

The Jewish presence in Morocco is attested as early as the 2^th century BCE (some believe it dates back to the time of the First Temple). In 1062, when Marrakech was founded, Jews settled there. In 1492, Rabbi Yitzhak Deloitte, expelled from Spain, founded the Salat al-Azama³ or Laazama synagogue in the Mellah of Marrakech. The current building is a riad⁴ from the end of the XIX^th century in the traditional Moroccan style where zelliges⁵ are omnipresent. The building was renovated in the 50s and a space for women  (עזרת נשים – ezrat nashim) was created and on the upper floor, a yeshiva.

¹ January 12, 1952.
² Grandfather the French actor Moroccan Mehdi El Glaoui (Belle Et Sébastien).
³ Meaning: prayer of dissidents, outcasts or expelled.
⁴ Traditional urban dwelling of Morocco and Andalusia with a central patio or an interior garden.
⁵ Mosaic whose elements are pieces of glazed terracotta, cut and assembled geometrically. Originally from Morocco, this type of decor is present in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula.

Balaq (בלק), Numbers 22:2–25:9
^{כד ה} מַה-טֹּבוּ אֹהָלֶיךָ, יַעֲקֹב; מִשְׁכְּנֹתֶיךָ, יִשְׂרָאֵל.
^24-5 How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob! Your dwellings, O Israel!

So beautiful! A jewel in the Arab-Andalusian style. The Spanish Synagogue was designed by the architects Vojtěch Ignác Ullmann and Josef Niklas in 1868. It presents an incredible interior decoration with its stucco arabesques, its gildings, its stylized oriental motifs. After an initial renovation of 20 years and a reopening in 1998, the synagogue is undergoing a new but less extensive renovation in 2020.

On the first floor are exhibited no fewer than 6,000 pieces, the work of 13 generations of goldsmiths from Bohemia and Moravia.

‘Huqat (חקת – decree), Numbers 19:1-22: 1.
^ב זֹאת ַתּ הַתּוֹרָה, אֲשֶׁר-צִוָּה יי לֵאמֹר: דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְיִקְחוּ אֵלֶיךָ פָרָה אֲדֻמָּה תְּמִימָה אֲשֶׁר אֵין-בָּהּ מוּם, אֲשֶׁר לֹא עָלֶה עָלֶיהָ, עֹל .
² This is a decree of the law which the Lord hath commanded: Warn the children of Israel to choose unto thee a red heifer, intact, without any blemish, and which has not yet borne the yoke.

The Institute of Temple (מכון המקדש – Makhon HaMiqdash) located near the Western Wall (הכותל המערבי – HaKotel HaMa’aravi) is a museum and institute of research dedicated to the Temples. It was created in 1987 by Rabbi Yisrael Ariel. The Temple Institute has built many artifacts that can be used in the Third Temple. He also set up an ideal farm project, in a secret location in southern Israel, to create a small herd of cattle of the American breed Red Anguss¹. Several red heifers (פרה אדמה – Parah Adumah) were born there. They receive a rich diet and rigorous veterinary control. Jewish laws concerning the red cow are strict: For example, it is forbidden to use this heifer for agricultural use or transport. In addition, the cow must have reached the age of two years, not have calved and have only red hair.

¹ The Israeli Ministry of Agriculture does not allow the import of live cattle due to the threat of bovine diseases such such as foot-and-mouth disease or mad cow disease, so any farmer who wishes to breed a breed of cow not available in Israel must use frozen embryos.