Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: Simchat Torah

Showing posts with label Simchat Torah. Show all posts

Thursday, September 30, 2021

"Human Rights organization" founder decries "herds of colonists performing Talmudic rituals" at Cave of the Patriarchs (update)

This video of Jews celebrating Simchat Torah in Hebron on Wednesday is causing a great deal of angst from bigoted Arabs who believe that Jews should be banned from Judaism's second holiest site.

Al Jazeera catalogued some of the reactions to this video.

This tweeter that they highlighted said, "The sons of Khazar are dancing around the Ibrahimi mosque burial site of Ibrahim(pbuh) patriach of the Arabs. These European Jews who have no connection to our father Ibrahim(pbuh) are testing the limits of the Arabs."

The Khazar myth is an antisemitic theory that says most Jews aren't really Jews.

The Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs condemned the celebration, claiming that "extremist groups used the Jewish holidays to desecrate the mosque through massive incursions, wearing religious clothes, in an attempt to perform Talmudic prayer and lying on the ground, deliberately provoking the feelings of Muslims."

Because why would Jews want to celebrate a holiday without deliberately provoking the feelings of Muslims?

But perhaps the most telling comment came from Ramy Abdu, the founder and chairman of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, who has given statements to the UN. We've shown the anti-Israel bias of the organization, but his comment leaves no doubt that the human rights of Jews are of no concern to him.

Abdu tweeted, "At dawn today, with the support of the occupation forces, herds of colonists storm the Ibrahimi Mosque in Khalil al-Rahman and perform Talmudic prayers!"

To this "human rights expert," Jews in groups are not human, but "herds" of animals. Performing Jewish prayers (which are virtually all "Talmudic") is a disgrace. Jews do not have any rights to their own holy places.

Dozens of responses curse the Jews for having the audacity of dancing - which is how Simchat Torah is celebrated.

A human rights leader is inciting violence against Jews. And no one says a word about it.

UPDATE: This news site says that the Jews converted the shrine into a "discotheque."

The people who dance with their book (Forest Rain)

Who are these people, who dance with their book?

A book created before humanity knew what books are,
A book that is really five books, written out by hand, on one long scroll.
Every single letter must be perfect.
Written exactly the way it was always written.
Otherwise the writing must begin anew.

These people, the Others of the world called them, the “People of the Book”
Because their book defined them, told them how to live,
How to be a people.
And gave life to the modern world.

These people, my people, dance with our book once a year.
We have a special holiday for that – to rejoice in our book.
Dancing in circles, outside, in public,
Embracing the book, like a child carried by his or her parent,
Encouraging our children to join in,
To see this moment as one of sweetness and joy as well
Because they are the ones who will make sure this Book lives on.

Joy is a simple but profound emotion.
Not one usually evoked by a book.
But this is not “a book”, it is “The Book.”
This is the book of life, of civilization, of morality and humanity.

Like life itself, this book is cyclical.
We read it every year
And when we complete it, we rejoice.
And start again, from the beginning.

Every week there is a different chapter to read.
Always in the same order.
Always at the same time of year.
Always the same and yet, different every time.

At different times in life, the same wisdom is understood differently.
We learn and take away different messages, in varying depths of comprehension.
All are good, all are of value.
It is the journey that counts, the struggle to gain in wisdom
And begin the next year, better.

The people who dance with their book are people, dancing with life.
Rejoicing in the cycle of life, growing as individuals, together as a community,
One generation to the next.

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Chag sameach! Again!

This is the final of this season's holidays. I won't be blogging from sundown on the US East Coast until Saturday night.

Israel once issued a series of stamps to celebrate Simchat Torah flags that children use in synagogue. Here they are:

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Arabs freak over Jews dancing on Simchat Torah in Hebron

I saw at least five articles in Arabic media showing "Rabbis dancing in Ibrahimi mosque":

This is of course the celebration of Simchat Torah in the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

A much better video is here:

The Arabic articles say:

Jews held a noisy celebration inside the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron in the West Bank in Palestine, where they danced to the tunes of loud songs.
The video clip caused a fuss on social networking sites, where the wrath of social media members were condemning these despicable acts inside the Ibrahimi Mosque, which included angry words against the Israeli entity, in addition to the criticism of the Arab rulers and Muslim countries who do not act for the Liberation of Palestine, and to allow this abusive business inside the house of Allah.

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Chag Sameach! Some historic Simchat Torah flags

Once again I will not be blogging for the next two days because of the last of the season's Jewish holidays, Shmini Atzeret/Simchat Torah.

Here are some historic Simchat Torah flags:

From Russia, featuring Theodor Herzl and Max Nordau, co-founders of the World Zionist Organization. It is fascinating that these staunch secularist Zionists were celebrated at Simchat Torah services - apparently the idea that religious Jews were axiomatically anti-Zionist is quite wrong. (Nordau married a Protestant Christian woman.)

Woodcut Simchat Torah flag, late 19th or early 20th century.

King David celebrating Simchat Torah, Jewish Museum, New York.

Chag sameach!

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Chag Sameach...again

Last year I posted some historic Israeli Simchat Torah flags for the coming holiday. Here are some more from the same article.

This is from the 1950s, showing various mitzvot associated with the Hebrew month of Tishrei. It also shows kids dancing with torches, which was a common custom at the time in some communities.

This flag is from the 1970s and celebrated diversity before it became a trendy buzzword, showing kids in both Ashkenazic and traditional Oriental and Persian dress.

Anyway, I want to wish everyone a chag sameach. After sunset tonight I will not be posting until at least Saturday night. This is the price I pay for living outside Israel.

Chag Sameach, with old Simchat Torah flags

We are now in the home stretch of Jewish holidays, with Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah on Thursday (and, outside Israel on Friday.)

YNet Hebrew has a fascinating article showing the history of Simchat Torah flags in Israel. (These are cheap disposable flags mass produced and given to kids to wave during the celebrations in the synagogue.) They note, for example, that while before Israel was reborn, Simchat Torah flags tended to emphasize the phrase "Rejoice and be happy on Simchat Torah," during the 1940s Israeli flags started emphasizing more the verse "From Zion shall go forth the Torah."

This flag has both, along with a tractor showing the reclamation of the Land:

This flag was created soon after the State of Israel was declared, showing both ancient Jewish holy places and more modern Israeli buildings on a backdrop that resembles the Israeli flag:

This flag from the 1950s apparently includes (according to the article) an implicit reference to a famous rabbinic saying in Pirke Avot 5:20: "Yehuda ben Teima said: Be strong as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a stag, and mighty as a lion to do the will of your Father in Heaven." (I think that the "leopard" looks more like a gazelle, though.)

The article also shows how the flags reflected diversity - even during the 1950s, when Israel is now excoriated for how badly it treated its Jews from Arab countries, the flags showed both Ashkenaz and Edot HaMizrach kids, setting the stage for the next generation to get rid of earlier prejudice.