Birkat Ha'Kohanim - 70000!

See last year at brakha: Birkat Ha'Kohanim



This year:

About seventy thousand people attended the Kotel (Outerwall) of Har Bet Ha'Mikdash (the Mountain of the House of the Holy Place) to manifest Birkat Ha'Kohanim (the blessing of the priests). One of the biggest turnouts for the blessing ever!

Birkat Ha'Kohanim

(Image: Priestly Blessing. Israel news photo. Journal: Arutz Sheva. ©2012 4/9. Digital: IsraelNationalNews.com.

Article: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/154620

Image linked: http://a7.org/Resizer.ashx?source=albums&image=37281&a=460&b=950, 2012)

Hate the Hate

(Stein Atle Vere. ©2012. Hate the Hate. brakha.blogspot.com.)



The following article with the link is by Giulio Meotti.

The news is disturbing, about a resurgence of hate against Jews among Christian churches today.

Giulio Meotti. 2011. Op-Ed: How Deep is the Christian-Jewish Abyss? Arutz Sheva.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/11447, 2012.

His article mentions:

• the Vatican seems to indulge a medieval demonization of Jews that persists among Catholics in the Mideast, and similarly among Orthodox Christians in the Mideast
• Mainline Protestant Churches (Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopalian, and United Church of Christ) initiate radical delegitimization doctrines and boycott campaigns against the Jewish state - especially vicious in their umbrella organization, World Council of Churches.
• even the Evangelical Churches (especially Pentacostal) experience some Antiisrael groups emerging

To combat this dark trend, Meotti lists the following steps that Christians can take,

• dont proselytize the Jews
• dont slander them
• dont preach their conversion
• avoid any theological topic
• fight the apocalyptic cults

• proclaim the uniqueness of the Jewish covenant
• recognize Jews right to Judea and Samaria
• defend a united Jewish Jerusalem
• support Israel’s right to defend itself
• stop spiritualize the Bible, as if the promises to Abraham were not about a specific land for a specific people but about some heavenly domain

This is an excellent list. In sum, help Jews worship God in a Jewish way - according to the Jewish Bible.

Meotti warns, “Unless these steps are taken, any Jewish-Christian reapproachment would be not only futile, but dangerous.” Note, this blog seeks a reapproachment between Jews and Nonjewish Christians. But he is correct. Christians must do everything in their power to prevent the hate against Jews. Pray for God to help Jews be Jews.

Hate the hate.

Yhoshua, Yhudim and Notsrim

(Vere, Stein Atle. ©2011. “Comment: Yhoshua, Yhudim and Notsrim”. brakha.blogspot.com.)



Jewish Ideas Daily publishes a book review about the “Jesus question”. Namely, how to understand the ancient Yhoshua (Historical Jesus) within the context of the Tora (Judaism).

(Chagall, Marc. ©1943. “Yellow Crucifixion”. Online: Jewish Ideas Daily.

www.jewishideasdaily.com/imgLib/20110614_061511T.jpg, 2011.)

Eve Levavi Feinstein reviews the following book about Yhoshua, his place within Tora, and by extension the implications for the modern friendship between Yhudim (Jews) and Notsrim (Christians).

• The Jewish Jesus: Revelation, Reflection, Reclamation. Edited by Garber, Zev. ©2011.

(The Jewish Jesus. Online: www.thepress.purdue.edu.
www.thepress.purdue.edu/titles/format/9781557535795, 2011.)

The Jewish Jesus is a collection of essays whose topics range from the ancient Yhoshua doing the Tora to modern Yhudi scholars reclaiming him as a Yhudi spiritual figure.



The review concludes cautiously:

“It may certainly be argued that beliefs such as these are not beyond the pale of traditional rabbinic Judaism.

Yet it is difficult to imagine that they will be widely accepted within the Jewish community any time soon, making them a questionable basis for genuine inter-communal dialogue.

Moreover, as none of the Jewish thinkers cited in these essays accepts the core Christian doctrines of the resurrection and full divinity of Jesus, the gulf between mainstream Jewish and Christian views of Jesus remains quite wide.

For Jews, learning to understand and respect Christian views about Jesus - without necessarily accepting them - may be more fruitful than attempting to claim him as one of our own.”

In sum, Yhoshua seems true to Tora. There are ways to understand him within Tora. At the same time, the Tora is unable to entertain the “full divinity” of Yhoshua - namely, unable to worship a human as if a human is God.





Even so, it seems to me, Notsrim have enough ideological room to bridge the gulf.

Thus the modern reclamation of Yhoshua as a Yhudi is valuable because it clarifies how Notsrim connect to the Tora.

Rather than Yhudim needing to embrace the theology of Notsrim, Notsrim can bridge the difference, by understanding the teachings of Yhoshua within the context of the Tora.

Yhoshua, like any human, is to be “one” with God. Even so, God isnt a human. God is utterly beyond any human, including beyond the human Yhoshua.

And so on within the context of the Tora - especially within the concepts of Kabala (Jewish spirituality) - it is possible for Notsrim to reexplain the theology to clarify its monotheism.



I believe it is possible, for Yhudim and Notsrim to form a spiritual alliance.

More than a friendship among those who agree to disagree, it seems to me possible to arrive at a mutual understanding.

The bridge between Yhudim and Notsrim has something to do with the following:

• See Yhoshua as one among many Yhudim,
• See the ongoing Tora among all Yhudim as the spiritual authority,
• See the spiritual necessity of both Yhudim and Non-Yhudim,
• See why Yhudim need to do Tora, and why Non-Yhudim dont need to do Tora.
• See Non-Yhudi students of Yhoshua as God-fearers, a kind of Gerim, thus part of the spiritual community of Yisrael.



See Also:
• Jewish Ideas Daily. ©2011. jewishideasdaily.com, 2011.
• Feinstein, Eve Levavi. ©2011. “Jesus for Jews”. jewishideasdaily.com.
www.jewishideasdaily.com/content/module/2011/6/15/main-feature/1/jesus-for-jews, 2011.
• The Jewish Jesus: Revelation, Reflection, and Reclamation. Edited by Galber, Zev. ©2011. Purdue University Press.
www.thepress.purdue.edu/titles/format/9781557535795, 2011.

Make Peace With Your Friends

(Vere, Stein Atle. @2011. “Comment: Make Peace With Your Friends”. brakha.blogspot.com.)



The common fallacy is glib: “You dont make peace with your friends, you make peace with your enemies.” But the opposite is true.

In fact, it is impossible to make peace with enemies − until the enemy desires peace. In other words: until the enemy is no longer an enemy.

Either: the former enemy is no longer able to fight back and surrenders unconditionally − so the defeated must now accepts terms of surrender.

Or: the enemy has a change of heart and seeks reconciliation − so a new friend negotiates to resolve conflicts with a fellow friend.



See Also
• (Lahav, Harkov. ©2011. “I cant make peace with one who denies my right to exist”. JPost. http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=219316, 2011.)

Kabala Irrelevant

(Vere, Stein Atle. ©2011. “Comment: Kabala Irrelevant”. brakha.blogspot.com.)



Kabala studies spirituality. Similar to how psychology studies love. However, the “Wisdom” חכמה of Kabala must do the “Tora” תורה of compassionate actions.

It would be a tragedy if a psychologist who studies love fails to do loving actions, thus fails to be a loving person. “Studying” how to love has surprisingly little to do with “doing” love. Even a baby knows how to love and always expresses love sincerely (even if irresponsibly).

Similarly, a Mkubal מקובל − the one from who students receive secrets about God − that is, a Kabbalist, a mystic, a spiritual scholar who studies the Khesed חסד “compassion” of God − must also do Khasadim חֲסָדִים “compassionate actions”.

All spiritual wisdom is false, unless it does reallife physical compassionate actions that require reallife physical effort.

In other words, only Halakha (Jewish legal tradition) is true spirituality. The wisdom of Kabala is, by itself, irrelevant. Kabala can only become legitimate if the expertise helps a person to increase the quantity and quality of the compassionate actions that they do to empower others.

Only compassionate actions matter.

From Yhosua to Hai

(Vere, Stein Atle. ©2011. “Comment: From Yhoshua to Hai”. brakha.blogspot.com.)



To compare the response letter on the topic of The Salvation by the school of Hai Gaon האי גאון (circa 1000s) and the New Testament by the school of Yhoshua יהושע (Historical Jesus circa 00s) is instructive. Despite almost one thousand years separating them, the similarity between their views is striking.

Obviously Hai Gaon and Yhoshua belong to the same tradition of Tora תורה . The Tora is the first five books of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). “Tora” can also mean all of the commentary on it, thus be a synonym for “Judaism”.

These two teachers of Tora share the same unique technical terms and organize them according to the same conceptual paradigms. Allowing for the different concerns of their day and the different texts under scrutiny, these same elements recombine to form equivalent meanings.



For example, both Hai Gaon and Yhoshua use the technical term “salvation” ישועה to mean simultaneously:

• the return of the Children of Yisrael to the Land of Yisrael,
• the liberation of Yisrael from Non-Yisreli governments,
• and the personal resurrection of each meritorious member of Yisrael.

Indeed, both portray “salvation” as a national resurrection event.

Moreover, regarding paradigms, both insist there are, not one, but two separate resurrections. The first at the beginning of the Age of Mashiakh, and the second at the end.

For some reason, reading this unusual prediction from Hai Gaon about two resurrections filled me with intense joy. In any case, the common opinion of separate resurrections is remarkable.



They both refer to the same ongoing Tora tradition.

Two-Day Weekend

(Vere, Stein Atle. ©2011. "Comment: Two-Day Weekend". brakha.blogspot.com.)



In the modern economy, the State of Yisrael feels a need for a two-day weekend. One day for relaxation and one day for spirituality. Yisrael has been trying to institute a Sat-Sun weekend. But unlike the rest of the Western World, only a Fri-Sat weekend seems to work in Yisrael, where Friday is for relaxation and Shabat is for spirituality.

In a real Fri-Sat weekend, Friday is completely laborless. Thus Thursday is the last day of work. Here is a restful rhythm.



Thursday - Day Five is the last day of the five-day workweek.
• Thursday Afternoon: leave work, shop for weekend, get home.

Friday - Day Six is for relaxation.
• Friday Eve (Thursday Evening): vege to recupe from work, get cleaned up, spend the entire night seeing a movie, nightclubing, and partying.
• Friday Morning: sleep in all morning, relax.
• Friday Afternoon: clean house, prepare for Shabat.

Shabat - Day Seven (Saturday) is for spirituality.
• Shabat Eve: synagogue, family dinner, romance for spouses, slumber party for fellow synagoguers.
• Shabat Morning: synagogue, Tora.
• Shabat Afternoon: community lunch.

Sunday - Day One is the first day of the workweek - a time for new beginnings.
• Sunday Eve: quick Tora, havdala. Then home, downtime, tv, read.
• Sunday Morning: labor for a new beginning.



See Also:
• (Reichman, Libby. ©2011. "This Country Really Needs a Real Weekend". JPost. http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=216889, 2011.)

Shopping Isnt Rest

(Vere, Stein Atle. ©2011. "Comment: Shopping Isnt Rest". brakha.blogspot.com.)



Shopping isnt "rest". Shopping is slavery, the enslavement of people who are too poor to lose their painful jobs in the service industry and who therefore cant rest.

It is wrong to force the poor to accept randomized schedules - that destroy the rhythms of personal lives, make weekly obligations to family and friends impossible to fulfill, and create sadistic dependencies - under merciless exploitation by wealthy employers. It must be illegal to force the poor or even to "pressure" the poor to work on Shabat.

The poor have a human right to rest - literally a sacred human right to a rhythm of rest.



See Also:
• (Reichman, Libby. ©2011. "This Country Really Needs a Real Weekend". JPost. http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=216889, 2011.)

Shabat for Notsrim

(Vere, Stein Atle. ©2011. "Shabat for Notsrim". brakha.blogspot.com.)



For the State of Yisrael, the two-day weekend must be Friday-Saturday.

The majority of Yisrelim are Yhudim יהודים (Jews) whose Shabat is on Saturday. The largest minority are Muslmim מֻסְלְמִים (Muslims) whose day of rest is on Friday.

There is also a significant minority of indigenous Notsrim נוֹצְרִים (Christians), whose day of rest is now on Sunday. But Notsrim can be flexible.

Their name derives from a Notsri (Nazarene), an inhabitant of the Yhudi town of Natsrat נָצְרַת (Nazareth).

Yhoshua יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (Historical Jesus) himself is a Yhudi who "unlabors" שבת on Saturday (and also on Yhudi holy days such as Pesakh). Only centuries later at the Council of Nicaea, did the Roman Empire switch the day of rest from biblical Shabat-Saturday to Sunday (also from biblical Pesakh to Easter), literally for "convenience". Notsrim can make any day a day of rest.

To honor Yhoshua, modern Yisreli Notsrim can return to his Yhudi rhythm, and like him rest on Shabat (also on Pesakh).

By contrast, Sunday is Day One. This is a day for new beginnings, not rest. The Notsri worldview has Yhoshua resurrect on Sunday because, on that day, God begins the Six Days of Labor, to create a new creation.



See Also:
• (Reichman, Libby. ©2011. "This Country Really Needs a Real Weekend". JPost. http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=216889, 2011.)

Dilemma of Rest

(Vere, Stein Atle. ©2011. "Comment: Dilemma of Rest". brakha.blogspot.com.)



Modern Yisreli life can frazzle because, so far, it only has one day of rest. Each week, one Shabat.

There are two kinds of "rest": relaxing to rest from exhaustion and worshiping to rest from the mundane.

The Hebrew word "Shabat" שַׁבָּת (English cognate Sabbath) literally means "unlabor", to cease all mundane "labor" Mlakha מְלָאכָה . To escape the daily grind of the mundane.

The Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) makes the weekly day of unlabor the most holy time of the year, even more holy than the annual pilgrimages to the Temple on Pesakh (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost), and Sukot (Tabernacles), and even more holy than the high holy days of Rosh Ha'Shana (New Year) and Yom Kipur (Day of Atonement). The Tanakh commands the kin of Yisrael to observe Shabat, and is deadly serious about doing so. Humans have a sacred human right to rest.

While this Shabat is a day of unlabor away from the mundane, it is also a day of work for the sacred: "the worship of God" עבודת השם . In Hebrew, the verb "worked" עבד can mean either worshiped or labored, in the sense of served. Indeed, Shabat can be a lot of "work".

The modern State of Yisrael has a dilemma. Either it "relaxes" or it "worships". Upto now, the one day a week doesnt give enough time to do both.

The ancients have plenty of spare time. Except for the harvest seasons that are truly exhausting, most of the rest of the time is their own. Amid this free time, Shabat belongs to transcendence. To God. However during the Modern Era, human free time evaporates, since the Industrial Revolution. Ironically, our time-saving devices provoke us to become more productive than ever. Moreover, the modern economy traps us into a vicious cycle of work-sleep-work-sleep-work-sleep with the poor having few chances to escape.

With only one day off, Modern Yisrelis must choose between a day of truly resting for the sake of health versus a day of truly transcending for the sake of meaningfulness. An impossible choice.

Yisraelis periodically try institute a two-day weekend, attempting the Western culture of Saturday-and-Sunday off from work. Hypothetically, Saturday is for God and Sunday is for recuperation, but this two-day weekend continually fails to take root within modern Yisraeli culture.

It seems obvious to me and others, the unique culture of Yisrael must make Friday-and-Shabat, the two-day weekend.



See Also:
• (Reichman, Libby. ©2011. "This Country Really Needs a Real Weekend". JPost. http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=216889, 2011.)

Your Fellow Is You

(Vere, Stein Atle. ©2011. "Comment: Your Fellow Is You". brakha.blogspot.com.)



Each human is free: an infinity of possibilities. The interrelationships among eachother invites each human to become an (unlimited) Open System, to move beyond the (limited) Closed System of ones own personal history, limitations, and expectations. The stranger is a surprise, someone beyond.

When the Tora (Vayikra 19:18) says, "And, you will love your fellow as you" ואהבת את רעך כמוך , your "fellow" companion is actually "you" yourself.

This "you" is your infinite self, the higher aspect of your self-identity, whose unlimited possibilities can encompass any identity of any human, who ever lived, lives, or ever will live.

The possibility for compassion חסד and altruism צדקה - to reach out to a stranger who you cant understand, to try see the world from someone elses point of view - is an encounter with your own infinite self.

When you and your stranger become fellows, by trusting eachother openly and striving to fulfill eachothers needs, this mutually unpredictable dynamic actualizes the infinite self that you and your fellow both share.

Loving your infinite self, is the only way humans have to actualize the love from God and to God.

Spirituality of Freedom

(Vere, Stein Atle. ©2011. "Comment: Spirituality of Freedom". brakha.blogspot.com.)



There is a spirituality of freedom. I value the TRANSCENDENCE of human rights and personal freedoms. The "freewill" (Ratson רצון ) of each and every human and the "infinite will" (Ratson רצון ) of God are virtually identical. Freedom - thus negotiating the freedom of others - defines authentic spirituality.

Freedom of speech is the mother of all human rights and personal freedoms. Only speech can voice grievances and negotiate solutions. Human rights are conflictive. Example: the right to be free versus the right to be secure, including the right to speak freely versus the right to protection from defamation. Each nation must use speech to negotiate its own optimal balance of rights, according to its cultural values, but all nations must maximize freedom of speech to the greatest degree possible.

Even this negotiation of mutual rights invites each one of us to transcend our own limited assumptions. Negotiation among "fellow" mutually sincere negotiators is a way to engage the infinite.



Also See
• (Rosner, Shmuel. ©2011. "Last Salvo of the Secular Religion of Human Rights". JPost. http://blogs.jpost.com/content/guest-blog-last-salvo-secular-religion-human-rights, 2011.)

The UN Must Reform

(Vere, Stein Atle. ©2011. "Comment: The UN Must Reform". brakha.blogspot.com.)



When freedom negotiates the freedom others, then freedom is spirituality.

"Secularity" means freedom of spirituality.

Freedom is good. At the same time, the movement for human rights and personal freedoms has a lightside and a darkside.

While secular and international, the United Nations Declaration of Universal Human Rights now functions as a cultural expression of spirituality. Therefore. Unfortunately, the adherents of human rights also become vulnerable to the "groupthink" of this culture. Any reasonable individual can see: To legitimize dictators who seek to destroy human rights and personal freedoms, obviously, harms human rights and personal freedoms. But groupthink limits reason to serve collective behavior. The darkside of the United Nations - UN - behavior is a conspiracy of bribes and threats by Islamist, Communist, and Neo-Fascist dictators of oil-producing nations. Thus those who individually seek human rights, instead collectively serve the UN groupthink, like automatons, to whitewash dictators and even demonize those who oppose dictators.

The UN must reform to disempower all nations that violate personal freedoms of their own citizens.

"Islamism" (as opposed to Islam) is the use of violence, threats, and discrimination to coerce victims to adopt Islam. Islamism is evil, antihuman, and wars against human rights and personal freedoms. Unfortunately Islamism still dominates the Muslim World because, unlike the Christian World, the imperialistic cultures of the Medieval Age continue as such into the Modern Age. Even "secular" (non-clergy) Muslim dictatorships adopt Islamist traditions, albeit self-servingly. Currently, the UN includes 57 Islamist nations who denounce the Declaration of Universal Human Rights under the pretext that it contradicts the historically imperialistic implementations of Sharia (the Muslim legal tradition). But disgustingly, these same Islamists sit on the UN Human Rights Council as judges - such as Lybia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, Djibuti, soon Syria, etcetera - to obstruct legal actions against their own crimes against humanity and to trump up charges against their democratic enemies - such as the Jewish State of Israel. Notice many of these dictators are strategic Western allies, which is why the collective groupthink behavior entangles the evil ambitions of these Islamists. Also, there are Nonmuslim dictators who sit on the Council whose crimes against humanity in the name of Communism or Neo-Fascism (systemic "mafia") are equally evil - such as China, Cuba, Russia, Chile, etcetera.

Incredibly, these antihuman dictators control the Council that is supposed to safeguard the Declaration of Universal Human Rights.

The UN must reform. To denounce the Declaration of Universal Human Rights must automatically disqualify any nation from sitting on the UN Human Rights Council. Any UN HRC member nation who violates the Declaration must lose their HRC membership.

Furthermore, freedom of speech is the mother of all human rights and personal freedoms. All nations - even dictatorships - must allow freedom of speech and nonviolent protests. Any nation that silences freedom of speech must lose their voting status in the General Assembly.



Also See
• (Rosner, Shmuel. ©2011. "Last Salvo of the Secular Religion of Human Rights". JPost. http://blogs.jpost.com/content/guest-blog-last-salvo-secular-religion-human-rights, 2011.)

Archetype of Nations

(Vere, Stein Atle. ©2011. "Comment: Archetype of Nations". brakha.blogspot.com.)



Deriving from the Tanak (Hebrew Bible), Jewish spirituality describes humanity diversifying into an archetype of 70 nations − plus a transcendent nation of Yisrael to energize the dynamic equalibrium among these nations. Likewise, the Tanakh has nationalism persist into the future, inspiring a Messianic Age. When God saves the nation of Israel, God reciprocates each nation separately as nations, depending on how they engage Yisrael. Even during the Messianic Age, nationalism continues, possibly eternally. The archetype to organize and diversify into national identities seems a human biological impulse. Diversity of worldviews is good.

Advancing Human Rights

(Vere, Stein Atle. ©2011. "Comment: Advancing Human Rights". brakha.blogspot.com.)
(JPost. http://www.jpost.com/Features/FrontLines/Article.aspx?id=215658, 2011.)

Advancing Human Rights - AHR. Finally! A real Human Rights group. The other groups prove to be brazen criminal fronts for Islamists, dictators, and terrorists - empowering the worst human rights violators on the planet. But this group AHR advances global human rights in “authoritarian countries without free speech or corrective mechanisms.” This is the exact target to engage to make the world a better place. Free speech is the bedrock for all human rights and personal freedoms. The fake human rights groups made me cynical. But AHR renews my hope in the future. Hurray for humanity!

Support Advancing Human Rights now: http://advancinghumanrights.org/!

Violence

(Vere, Stein Atle. ©2011. "Comment: Violence". brakha.blogspot.com.)

Violence remains vital to human survival, whether by armies, police, or homeowners. Ethics requires us to minimize violence. We must achieve altruistic goals with the minimal amount of violence possible, but enough to remain effective. But "proportionality in warfare" is a false doctrine. Violence must be asymmetric: police must use enough violence to apprehend any criminal who violates the freedoms of others. Sometimes police violence must be more than the criminals, sometimes less. It is independent. We still cant eliminate violence because defenselessness itself still provokes victimization.

Archetype of Brothers

(Vere, Stein Atle. ©2011. "Comment: Archetype of Brothers". brakha.blogspot.com.)
(JPost. http://www.jpost.com/ArtsAndCulture/Entertainment/Article.aspx?id=215645, 2011.)

The archetypal Jewish brothers are the two biblical Jewish nations: Kingdom of Yisrael in the north versus Kingdom of Yhuda in the south. Yisrael is sensual, aggressive, worldly, and savvy. Yhuda is spiritual, patient, isolationist, and inflexible. These archetypes Yisrael-versus-Yhuda reincarnate thru Jewish history: Hellenist-v-Makabi, philosopher-v-mystic, Enlightenment-v-Orthodox. Truly, when these two brothers hate eachother, the stronger brother (Yisrael) gets killed while the weaker brother (Yhuda) languishes. In the Messianic Age (King David), the two brothers succeed only by working together.