Beha’alotekha (בהעלותך – when thou shalt raise), Nbr 8: 1–12: 16 ב דַּבֵּר, אֶל-אַהֲרֹן, וְאָמַרְתָּ, אֵלָיו: בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ, אֶת-הַנֵּרֹת, אֶל-מוּל פְּנֵי הַמְּנוֹרָה, יָאִירוּ שִׁבְעַת הַנֵּרוֹת. 2 Speak to Aaron and tell him: When you arrange the lamps, it is opposite the face of the candelabra that the seven lamps must project the light.
Designed by Amsterdam-based architectural firm SeARCH1, the liberal synagogue on the Zuidelijke Wandelweg (Southern Hiking Trail) offers two large windows in the shape of a stylized menorah that cast their lights the outside. Bricks from the old synagogue were salvaged and included in the building, linking history with modernity.
This is the second synagogue built in the Netherlands since the Holocaust during which 75% of the Jewish community was wiped out. On the holy ark is inscribed a verse from Isaiah chapter 40:
ח יבש חציר, נבל ציץ, ודבר אלוקינו יקום לעולם. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our Gd endures forever.
1Stedenbouw En ARCHitectuur (Town Planning & Architecture) was founded by Bjarne Mastenbroek in 2002
Shavuot (שבועות) is one of the three pilgrimage festivals, prescribed by the Torah, during which we celebrate the beginning of the wheat harvest and the giving of the Torah. The 304,805 letters1 of the Torah are scrupulously reproduced by a sofer (סוֹפֵר – scribe) on a klaf2 (קְלָף – parchment). The oldest 3 Torah scroll (1250), still in use, is in Biella, northern Italy. The synagogue where it is kept is located in the ghetto on the top floor of a building that stands in the courtyard of a house that cannot be identified from the outside. The age of the Séfer Torah is an indication of a Jewish presence from the 13th century. A stable Jewish community is attested4 in 1577. The ghetto was established by the House of Savoy in 1723, in the medieval quarter where the Jews were settled. In 1761, there were 5 26 people. With the emancipation of 1848, a hundred Jews resided in the city. Today, a small community still remains.
Inside the synagogue, you can admire at the bottom a holy ark (ארון הקודש – aron ha-kodesh), from the 18th century, in carved wood painted in light blue and center a podium (תֵּבָה – tevah) in walnut carved with plant motifs dating from 1868. The ceiling is decorated with a fresco in the neoclassical style and the floor is in Venetian mosaic, the wooden chandeliers date from the 18th th century.
1 5,845 verses and 79,976 words. 2 It takes about 60 skins of a kosher animal to make a sefer. 3 Carbon 14 dating conducted by the geochronology laboratory of the University of ‘Illinois. 4 Appointment of Mosè Ebreo di Massera (Jewish Moses of Massera) as representative of Duke Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy. 5 First general census of the Biella ghetto, six families were counted.
Yom Yerushalayim (יום ירושלים), Day of Jerusalem, is the commemoration of the liberation of Jerusalem during the Six Day War, on 28 Iyar 57271 (June 7, 1967).
On May 16, 1967, Egypt declared a state of alert, carried out major troop movements in the desert Sinai and demands the departure of the UN forces. On May 23, 1967, it imposed a blockade of the Strait of Tiran to Israeli ships. Faced with this casus belli, on June 5, 1967 at 7:45 a.m., the Israeli air force attacked Egypt, destroying almost all of their air force. At 9:30 a.m. the Jordanians enter the conflict, then the Syrians bombard Israel. June 7 (28 Iyar), the Israeli air force destroyed the Jordanian air force and theIsraeli paratroopers seized Jerusalem and all the western bank of the Jordan. The Israeli-Jordanian ceasefire takes effect the same evening. On June 8, Egypt also accepts a ceasefire. On June 9, Moshe Dayan decides to launch the Israeli army to conquer the Golan Heights. On June 10, the Syrians evacuated the plateau and a ceasefire took effect the same evening. Judea and Samaria, the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights come under Israeli control, the navigation of Israeli ships is ensured and Jerusalem is reunited.
psalms 122 תְּהִלִּים ג יְרוּשָׁלִַם הַבְּנוּיָה-כְּעִיר, שֶׁחֻבְּרָה-לָּהּ יַחְדָּו 3 Jerusalem which is built like a city of harmonious unity.
In December 2017, fifty years after the liberation of Jerusalem, in the tunnel, running along the outer wall of the Temple, close to the Holy of Holies, after 12 years of development, a synagogue funded by the Delek Foundation and Yitzhak Tshuva2 was opened. This underground synagogue has a very special atmosphere, with low vaulted ceilings and stone walls. The metallic spherical arch is crowned with a burning bush and its walls are engraved with the texts: Shma Yisrael (שמע ישראל – Listen Israel), Ana beKoach3 (אנא בכוח – By grace, by power) and Shir HaShirim (שיר השירים – The Song of Songs).
1 Shabbat takes precedence over this day which is moved to the next day if Iyar 28 falls on a Saturday or the day before, if it falls on a Friday. 2Israeli businessman and billionaire, born in Tripoli in 1948, chairman of El-Ad Group, owner of the New York Plaza Hotel and the Delek Group conglomerate. 3 Ana beKoach: “Please, by the power of Your great right arm, free the bound nation“, liturgical poem recited during the morning prayer and after the counting of the ‘ Omer.
The Jewish Museum of Riga (4) devotes a whole section to famous Jews born in Latvia. Among them: Chief Rabbi Avraham Kook (1865-1935), who was the mentor of the religious Zionist movement and the first Chief Rabbi of Palestine under the British Mandate, Yeshayahu Leibowitz (1903-1994), Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997). On the building where Sir Isaiah Berlin lived is affixed a commemorative plaque. This building, like all those on the street, is due to the architect Mikhail Eisenstein (1867-1920), born in the kyiv region and father of the famous filmmaker Serguei Eisenstein > (1898-1948) director of the film The Battleship Potemkin, dealing with the 1905 mutiny of Russian sailors in Odessa.
The Holocaust resulted in the near-extermination of Latvia’s Jewish community. The Peitav Synagogue (1) is the only synagogue that was not destroyed during this period. Of the Choral Synagogue (2), only ruins remain which have been transformed into a Memorial. The ghetto has been transformed into a Latvian Holocaust museum.
Today, Riga has about 9,000 Jews and a community center (6) has been created by the chabads, (synagogue, mikveh, school, grocery store). A restaurant (5) is open in the basement of the museum.
Lag Baʿomer (ל = 30 + ג = 3) – 33rd day of the omer)
The ‘omer (עֹמר) is an ancient unit of measurement used in Temple times, weighing between 1,560 and 1,770 kg. From the second day of Passover and until Shavuot, i.e. for 49 days, an ‘omer of barley was brought as an offering to the Temple in Jerusalem. The Hiloula of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohaï (1st and 2nd century), which takes place on the 33rd day of the ‘omer, is one of the most popular celebrations in Israel and the Diaspora. Meron, in the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, is particularly known for hosting the tombs of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai and his son, Rabbi Eleazar bar Rabbi Shimon. It is the second busiest place in Israel. There are also the remains of an old 3rd century synagogue which suffered several earthquakes, as well as the tombs of Hillel Hazaken and Shammai (1st century BCE).
Parashat Behar Sinai (בהרסיני – On Mount Sinai), Leviticus 25:1-26:2
The parashah cites the laws of chemita (שמטה – remission, “fallow” ). That is to say that every seven years one should not take advantage of the land of Israel, nor cultivate it. The parashah also cites the laws of yôvēl (יובל – “jubilee). Every fifty years, alienated or pledged lands are freed, debts forgiven and slaves freed.
Pesach Chéni
A person who could not participate in the Passover sacrifice, can perform it a month later (14 Iyar), Numbers 9:5-14. Passover Sheni also gives rise to the celebration of Hilula1 of Rabbi Meir Baal HaNess, who died on 14 Iyar during the 2th century, while he was in exile. At his request, he was buried standing, in order to better welcome2 the Messiah during the resurrection of the dead. His name is mentioned frequently in the Mishnah and his wife Brouria3 is one of the few women mentioned in the Gemara.
It is traditional to light a candle, give Tzedakah and say 3 times: .אלקא דמאיר ענני Ela-ha deMeïr aneni D. from Meir – answer me.
1 Jewish custom of visiting the tombs of the tzaddikim (righteous) on the anniversary of their death, and commemorating this death by means of a festive ceremony during which the pilgrims make prayers, read Psalms and other texts sacred or considered as such (such as the Zohar). 2 In a attitude of prayer (Amida). 3 Daughter of Rabbi Hanania ben Teradion, one of the “Ten Martyrs”, burned alive wrapped in a Sefer Torah by order of the Roman Emperor.
Leviticus , chapter 23 .ב דּבר אל-בני ישראל, ואמרת אלהם, מועדי יי, אשר-תקראו אֹתם מקראי קדש–אלה הם, מועדי 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, The days of the LORD, which ye shall observe, these are my solemnities.
Shabbat, Passover, the counting of the ‘Omer, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot.
In 1769, a certain Mr. Jew settled in Tahiti. He arrives on the Endeavour, the ship commanded by Captain Cook. In 1841, Alexander Salmon, an English banker settled there and married Princess Ari’ioehau Hinari’i Tepau a Tati. But truly the Jewish community was not created until the 1960s with the arrival of Jewish refugees from Algeria. In 1993, the Haava Vehahava Synagogue (אהבה ואהבה – Love and Friendship) in Papeete was built. It has a party room, a mikveh and a studio for visiting rabbis. In the prayer room with 60 places, the stained glass windows recalling the solemnities were made by Deanna de Marigny.
David Ben-Gurion1, on May 14, 1948, declares the independence of the State of Israel. The Independence Day Law was enacted the following year: It was decided to celebrate “State Day” on its Hebrew date, 5 Iyar, rather than the calendar date of May 14 and name2Independence Day (יום העצמאות – Yom Haʿatzmaut). It is also recorded that the Shabbat takes precedence over this day, and that it must therefore be moved to the next day, if the 5th falls on a Saturday or to the eve, if the 5th Iyar falls on a Friday.
In 1950, David Ben-Gurion convened a commission which decided to pay tribute to those fallen during the war of independence on the eve of Yom Haʿatzmaut. Again, preeminence is given to Shabbat3. The Heroes’ Remembrance Day4 Act was enacted in 1963. Since the Six Day War of June 1967, the ceremonies of opening stand in front of the Western Wall. This day of commemoration was extended, in 1998, to Jewish victims of terrorism. The sadness of Yom HaZikaron begins with a ringing at 8 p.m. in the evening. Another bell will ring in the morning at 11 a.m. Israel is in meditation and mourns its 24,068 martyrs.
On May 15, 1952, in the Negev desert south of Beersheba on the road to Mitzpé Ramon, soldiers founded a kibbutz. They decide to call it Sdé Boker (שדה בוקר – literally “herdsman’s field”), because they plan to farm there. In 1954, David Ben Gurion resigned as Prime Minister and joined the kibbutz; his dream, to make the Negev bloom. Returning to political life in 1955, he continued to live there. In 1962, institutes were initiated emphasizing environmental studies. David Ben-Gurion and his wife Paula are buried on the cliff overlooking the Zin Valley.
1 David Grün born in Poland in 1886 adopted the name Ben Gurion in 1909. He is the main national founder of the State of Israel. He was Prime Minister from 1948 to 1954 and from 1955 to 1963. 2 At the instigation of Avraham Elmalih (1885-1967) journalist, Zionist activist and Israeli politician. 3 Moved to Thursday if Yom Haʿatzmaut falls on a Sunday. 4 The full name: יום הזיכרון לחללי מערכות ישראל ולנפגעי פעולות האיבה (Day of Remembrance For The Victims Of The Desraeli And Desraeli Wars). >
Be holy: for I am Holy (קדשים תהיו: כי קדוש): Parashat Qedoshim, Leviticus 19:1–20:27 . Lord, through Moses, enumerates a series of prescriptions regarding holiness1. He insists on the love of neighbor, the stranger and the respect due to the wise.
As early as the 12th century, a Jewish presence is attested in Nancy, but in 1477, Duke René II of Lorraine had them expelled from the city. It was only in 1721 that Duke of Lorraine Léopold the 1st authorized Jews to reside in Nancy. On June 11, 1790, the synagogue, built on a marshy area away from places of passage by Augustin-Charles Piroux, was inaugurated. Access to the interior is through a back door. Due to the urban extension, two centuries later, it is found in the heart of the city. In 1935, after having been enlarged twice (1841 and 1861), a new facade, the work of Alfred Thomas, was put in place. On this facade is inscribed in French the verse of Leviticus (19.18)
ואהבת לרעך כמוך You shall love your neighbor as yourself TU AIMERAS TON PROCHAIN COMME TOI-MEME
On July 18, 1942, Edouard Vigneron, head of the Foreigners Service2of Nancy, learns that a raid must take place the next day at dawn. He summons all the policemen he can reach to scare away all the threatened Jews. He does not hesitate to have them accompany them to the station, to give them tickets, false-real identity cards and passes. Some of these police even sheltered Jews in their homes. Edouard Vigneron and his assistant Pierre Marie and the policemen Charles Bouy, Henri Lespinasse, Charles Thouron, Emile Thiébault and François Pinot thus saved more than 360 people3. On June 30, 1996, five of them received the medal of Righteous Among The Nations4.
In his Book Of The Righteous, Lucien Lazare describes the precise circumstances of this story and Patrick Volson is inspired by these facts to make the film The Time Of Disobedience(2006).
Currently the Jewish community of Nancy has about 450 families.
1 It follows parashah A’harei Mot (אחרי מות — after death), Leviticus 16:1–18 :30, read last week in israel and associated with Qedoshim this shabbat in the diaspora. 2 A service whose mission was to enforce the racist laws of the French State and to collaborate with the Nazis. 3 18 Jews were arrested instead of the planned 385 4 Pierre Marie, Charles Bouy, and Charles Thouron and posthumouslyEdouard Vigneron and François Pinot : See the site “The Foreigners Service of Nancy (French Committee for Yad Vashem) “
On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in Sarajevo. Through the game of complex alliances, the First World War is triggered. In 1918, the Ottoman army allied with Germany was defeated and the British invaded Lebanon and Syria, took Damascus, then Aleppo and other strategic points, while French naval forces occupied Beirut. In 1920, near the bank of the Euphrates, British soldiers installed machine guns behind a section of wall which gave way under the weight of the weapons and huge frescoes appeared. It is the ancient city of Doura-Europos1 which has just been brought to light; a Macedonian colony founded in 313 BCE by Seleucus I, King of Asia, former general of Alexander the Great. In 64 BCE, Pompey defeated King Mithridates VI and transformed the kingdom of Syria into a Roman province, ending the Seleucid dynasty. But it was only under Lucius Verus (co-emperor with Marc Aurelius), in 165, that Doura-Europos was incorporated into the Roman Empire. The population is estimated at around 5,000 inhabitants and many buildings were built: temples, sanctuaries, thermal baths, amphitheater, house of Christians, synagogue. In 244, the enlargements of the synagogue were completed and important frescoes embellish the walls and bear witness to the importance and wealth of the city’s Jewish community. In 256, to defend against the Sassanid army of Shapour I, the walls of the synagogue were filled in by the defenders (this would protect the frescoes from destruction).. The city is taken, the population deported and the city delivered to oblivion.
On the seventh day of the Passover feast, we read the parashah Beshalach (בשלח – when he let go), Exodus 13:17-15:26 and that of the additional offerings offered on the seven days of the feast, Numbers 28 :19-25.
Lord said to Moses (Exodus – Chapter 14):
טז ואתה הרם את-מטך, ונטה את-ידך על-הים–ובקעהו; ויבאו בני-ישראל בתוך הים, ביבשה 16 And you, lift up your rod, reach out your hand to the sea and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go into the midst of the sea on dry ground.
On the west wall2, at the top right of the holy ark, the fresco represents the departure from Egypt, the crossing of the Sea of Reeds by the children of Israel and the drowning of the Egyptian army. Moshe is shown extending his staff. Above him a powerful and protective arm.
the synagogue was completely dismantled and rebuilt at the Archaeological Museum of Damascus in 1936.
1 Doura Europos: Europos was the name of the birthplace of Seleucus I in Macedonia. The term Doura means “fortress” in the ancient Semitic languages. 2 Jerusalem is to the west of the site.
