Author: shamyr

Tu B’Shvat is a rabbinical institution holiday. It is referred to in the Mishnah as the New Year of Trees. Under the impetus of the kabbalists of Safed, Tu B’Shvat becomes the celebration of the renewal of the Land of Israel. In 1890, to celebrate Tu B’Shvat in the spirit of the Kabbalists, Rabbi Ze’ev Yavetz (d. 1924, Shevat 18) took his students to plant trees in Zikhron Yaakov. In 1907, in this continuity and in memory of Theodor Herzl, the KKL planted the first forest in Israel at Houlda. This is composed mainly of olive trees.
The Abuhav Synagogue is a Sephardic synagogue built in the 16th century in Safed. The architecture of the building is inspired by the Kabbalistic teachings of Rabbi Isaac Abouhav, one of the great sages of Castile in the 15th century. Among his students was Rabbi Ya’acov Beirav, who settled in Safed and became one of the city’s leading sages. It was perhaps he who brought the oldest Sefer Torah from Safed written by Isaac Abuhav. The synagogue was damaged in the earthquake of 1837.
The current paintings are by Israeli artist Ziona Tagger: trees, symbols of the tribes of Israel, musical instruments used in the Temple, 4 crowns (Torah, priesthood, royalty and redemption), …

Shabbat Shira, Parashat Beshelach (בשלח – when she let go), Exodus 13:17-17, 16.

The Parsha Bechalach contains the Shira (15:1-18) sung in chorus by Moshe and the Hebrews and the Song of the Women (15:20-21) sung by Miriam and the women. As for the haftarah (Judges 4:4–5:31), it contains the chant (5:1-31) of Dvorah and Barak.The Levites sang in the temple, but modern singing in the synagogue only appeared in the 17th century. In the 19th century, synagogues whose ceremony was accompanied by choral singing were called choral synagogues. The Jews received citizenship from Grand Duke Witold in 1389 and settled in Hrodna (Grodna). In the 19th century more than 60% of the population were Jews. There are many synagogues and yeshivas in the city. The Great Synagogue of Hrodna was built by Ilya Fronkin, between 1902 and 1905, in a very eclectic style, inspired by Moorish art, on the site of two former synagogues, which were destroyed during fires, one in 1677 and the other in 1899. 1941, the interior of the synagogue was vandalized by the Nazis and the rich decoration was heavily damaged. During the Soviet Union (1944-1991) it was used as a warehouse. In 1991 it was returned to the Jewish community (0.3% of the population) and was fully restored between 2012-2015.

Parashat Bo (בא – Go), Exodus 10:1–13:16.

G. send the three last plagues: locusts, darkness, and the death of the firstborn.

Synagogues were numerous in the main big cities of Algeria but also in very remote small villages where a very ancient Judaism was practiced often pre-existing to Islam.
The town of Laghouat is located on Oued Mzi, to the south-east of the Djebel Amour massif, in the foothills of the Saharan Atlas; it has a vast palm grove, in the shade of which some cereals and fruit trees are grown. The Jews occupied the lower part of the Ahlaf and Ouled Serguine districts. They did heavy and dirty work. The Jews were subordinates and laborers in the service of the Muslims. The year 1967 marked the departure of the last Jew from Laghouat, a woman in this case.

The region of Laghouat had to undergo during the spring of 1933 an invasion of locusts of such importance that the oldest inhabitants did not remember to have seen any similar.
In 2020, locusts invaded East Africa. 360 billion locusts devoured crops at a frightening rate. FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) experts believe that this scourge could become much worse in the coming months and that insects will invade North Africa and the Middle East.
These immense clouds of locusts darken the sky to the point of making the sun disappear. If nothing is done, it could lead to millions of deaths.

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.

Hanukkah 5781

A great miracle took place: In the 2nd century BCE, Judea was ruled by the Seleucids (Greco-Syrians), who wanted to force the Jews to deny the Torah and accept Greek culture and beliefs. But a small group of Jews, led by the Maccabee family, defeated them, drove them out of the country, and purified the Temple. When they tried to light the seven-branched candelabra, they found only one vial of undefiled olive oil. However, they lit it, and the oil barely enough for a day lasted eight days. To commemorate and make known these miracles the Sages instituted the festival of Chanukkah.

Diffusion of light: The synagogue in Kazan (Tatarstan, Russia) was built in 1915. In 1920, it was confiscated by the Soviet authorities. A portrait of Lenin will even be incorporated into the walls. Gradually the synagogue is deteriorating. When it is returned to the local Jewish community in 1996, it will be in a state of disrepair. A few years later, a renovation is undertaken, which will be completed in September 2015.

A hanukkiah was placed in front of the building.

Parashat Vayeshev (וישב – And he settled down), Genesis 37:1-40:23

Genesis 39:1
וְיוֹסֵף, הוּרַד מִצְרָיְמָה; וַיִּקְנֵהוּ פּוֹטִיפַר סְרִיס פַּרְעֹה שַׂר הַטַּבָּחִים, אִישׁ מִצְרִי, מִיַּד הַיִּשְׁמְעֵאלִים, אֲשֶׁר הוֹרִדֻהוּ שָׁמָּה
Joseph was taken to Egypt. Putiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, chief executor, an Egyptian,
 bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

Joseph’s business.
The Shaar HaChamaïm (Gate of Heaven) synagogue in Cairo was built between 1905 and 1907 and financed by the neighborhood’s Cairo families. The building was imagined in an Egyptian historicist style by the architects Edward Matasek and Maurice Yossef Cattaui, The latter was the nephew of Joseph Aslan Cattaui Pasha, businessman, Egyptian politician and president of the Jewish community of Cairo from 1924 to 1942. In 1980, it was restored with funding from the Sephardic Jewish community in Geneva. It is the largest synagogue in Cairo.