Month: August 2022

Tu Be-Av (ט”ו באב)

The Talmud in the treatise Ta’anit (26b), reports that Av 15 is one of the happiest days of the year. That day meetings for marriage were organized.

Va’et’hanan (ואתחנן – and I pleaded) Deuteronomy 3: 23-7:11

Moshe exhorts the children of Israel to remain faithful to the covenant contracted at Sinai, insists on the uniqueness of the Torah, reiterates the Ten Words and proclaims the Shema; שְׁמַע, יִשְׂרָאֵל: יי אֱלֹכֵינוּ, יי אֶחָד. The two large letters ^{_{(in red)}} of the verse form the word עד (Ed – witness).

Israel a consecrated people, a people apart.

Deuteronomy Chapter 7 – ז’ דְּבָרִים
^ו כי עם קדוש אתה, לַיי אלכיך:  בך י יי אלכיך, להיות לו סגלה, מכֹל העמים, אשר על-פּני האדמה.
⁶ Because you are a people dedicated to the L-rd your G‑d: he has chosen you, the L-rd your G‑d, for him to be a special people among all the peoples that are on the face of the earth.

Since antiquity the Jewish presence in Rhodes is attested². In the 12^th century, Benjamin of Tudela³ attests to the presence of 400 Jews in the city. At the beginning of the 14^th century the Hospitallers⁴ conquered Rhodes. Gradually the community diminished (earthquake, plague) and at the end of the 15^th century, the Hospitallers expelled the twenty Jews still present in Rhodes. At the beginning of the 16^th century, they brought more than 2,000 Sephardic Jews there, exploited as slaves. In 1522, the island was conquered by the Ottomans. Under their rule, the community thrives. At the beginning of the 20^th century, the island was occupied by the Italian fascists and most of the Jewish⁵ community of Rhodes, feeling threatened, emigrated to the Belgian Congo⁶. In September 1943, the Italians having signed the armistice⁷, Rhodes was occupied by the Nazis. On July 23, 1944, 1,673 Jews from Rhodes were deported to Auschwitz. A commemorative plaque, in French, is dedicated to members of the community who died during the Holocaust, but most of the plaques that adorn the synagogue are in Ladino⁷.

The Kal Kadosh Shalom⁸ Synagogue is the only one of the four synagogues in the Juderia⁹ not to have been destroyed by bombardment. It was built in Kislev 5338 (Nov./Dec. 1577), the date inscribed on the fountain located in the entrance courtyard. It is the oldest synagogue in Greece. Two holy arches, as if symbolizing the two tables of stone on which the Ten Words are engraved, frame a door leading to a courtyard. From this courtyard one once accessed the yeshiva¹⁰. On the ground, a mosaic of black and white pebbles.

¹ Roman decree, dated 142 _^AEC and reported in Book I of Maccabees.
² Rabbi, born in Tudela (circa 1130-1173), author of the Sefer massa’ot. He is a major figure in medieval Jewish geography and history.
³ Also called the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, is a hospitable and military Catholic religious order which existed from the time of the Crusades until the beginning of the 19th^th century.
⁴ During the census carried out in 1931, the Italians counted 4,372 Jews.
⁵ At the independence of the Belgian Congo, the Jews joined Belgium.
⁶ The armistice signed secretly on September 3, 1943 in Cassibile, by which the Kingdom of Italy ceased hostilities against the Allied forces.
⁷ Judeo-Romance language derived from 15th century Old Castilian and Hebrew. Ladino is also called Judeo-Spanish, judesmo, spanyolit, djudyo, tetuani, haketiya, spanyol depending on the place.
⁸ בית הכנסת קהל קדוש שלום – synagogue of the holy congregation of peace.
⁹ ‘לה ג’ודיריה’ – Jewish quarter in the city of Rhodes, on the Greek island of Rhodes.
¹⁰ Destroyed during the war.

Devarim (דברים – lyrics), Deuteronomy 1:1 – 3:22

At the end of the 40-year exodus, Moshe rebukes the children of Israel. He reminds them of their rebellious behavior. He insists on the fact that Lord thus offers them a country already built. Moshe also discusses the recommendations he gave to his successor, Joshua.
This parsha is always read on the Shabbat preceding the fast of 9 av. It is called Shabbat Chazon (שבת חזון – Shabbat of Vision) because of the Haftarah (Isaiah 1:1-27), which contains the prophecies of the destruction of the Temple.

Isaiah chapter 1-‘ישעיהו א
א חֲזוֹן , יְשַׁעְיָהוּ בֶן-אָמוֹץ, אֲשֶׁר חָזָה, עַל עַל עַל עַל -יְה וִירוּשָׁלִָם
בִּימֵי עֻזִּיָּהוּ יוֹתָם אָחָז יְחִזְקִיָּהוּ, מַלְכֵי יְהוּדָה.
1 Oracle of Isaiah, son of Amos, who prophesied on Juda and Jérusalem,
of the time¹ of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

The Western Wall (הכותל המערבי – HaKotel HaMa’aravi): The second Temple was destroyed² by the Romans³, but the retaining wall of its esplanade is still standing. It is made up of 46 rows of stones ranging from 2 tons to several hundred, like the one that can be seen in the underground part which is 14 meters long and weighs 570 tons. The wall is almost 500 meters long, but only a 70 meter section is easily accessible (of which 57 meters are in the open). A tunnel runs along the underground part of the wall for more than 200 meters. The initial height of the retaining wall is about 60 meters but it is 32 meters on the visible part of the place of prayer. The thickness of the wall is estimated at 4 meters at its base and 2 meters at its top. The closest place to Saint-des-Saints⁴ is called Kotel Hakatan. It is located in the undergrounds of the Kotel.

¹ VIII^th century BCE
² The First Temple, built in 970 BCE, was completely destroyed when Jerusalem was taken by the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BCE. The Second Temple, built in 515 BCE, was destroyed by the Roman armies of Titus in 70; all that remains today are the retaining walls of the esplanade built by Herod and the remains of the arches that allowed access to the esplanade.
³ Flavius ​​Josephus, testifies to the capture of Jerusalem and the destruction of the second Temple by Ttitus in “The War of the Jews”, Book VII.
⁴ קודש הקודשים Kodesh Hakodachim, the most central part of the Temple in Jerusalem. The Muslims appropriated the place and built the Dome of the Rock (golden dome).