Al hanisim

Just returned from a shiur where the lecturer asked the famous question as to why Chanukah is celebrated for eight days and not seven. After all, there was enough oil to last for one day, so the other seven days should be considered miraculous.
He answered that celebrating the full eight days teaches us that, just as we have to thank Hashem for miracles that occur to us, we also have to thank G-d if everything goes according to natural law. If we go through a day without anything untoward happening to us and it was just a nondescript day, that, in itself, is a miracle.
If one were to ask me if anything miraculous occurred to me today, I would be prone to answer that nothing special happened. But, walking into the shiur, I noticed two women with heavily bandaged fingers. One had an accident while grating some vegetables this morning and another almost had part of her finger amputated at the hospital after an incident involving broken glass.
So, in appreciation to nothing special happening to me today, I thank G-d for an especially ordinary day.

A different generation

Reading the story below, left me ashamed at how little preparation is involved in our Chanukah lighting. Today, I learned from a simple yid what it means to do a mitzvah properly and joyously.

Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky, z”tl once visited Cracow. When he arrived, Rav Chaim Ozer sought a tailor who could sew his suit which had torn on the way. He eventually found one, and requested that he fix his suit.
The tailor answered, “Forgive me, Kavod HaRav, but I have not yet lit the Chanukah candles. If you wish, you can wait until I light, and after a half an hour, I’ll sew your suit.”
While Rav Chaim Ozer waited, he noticed how this simple tailor prepared himself for the mitzvah. He removed his weekday clothing, and donned Shabbos clothing. He washed his hands and joyously prepared to light the candles.
Rav Chaim Ozer was astounded by the temimus of this man and he said, “Now I understand how the city Cracow produces such Gedolai Torah and giants of spirits, if this is what the simple tailors are like!” (Chaim Sheyash Bahem)
http://www.revach.net/article.php?id=3158

Yossel - a story of courage

Those of you who haven't read A Story for Chanukah by Leah Abramowitz, click on the link below. But, first, take out the tissues.
The courage of the Maccabee's endures in this story of a young Yeshiva student's defiance in the Nazi concentration camps.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/9202

Pharoah's dream

"At the end of two years, and behold Pharoah dreamt that he was standing by the Nile" [Bereshis 41:1]. Pharoah is very disturbed by a dream wherein seven lean cows eat seven fat cows. None of the wise men of Egypt can interpret the dream for him, and this troubles him even more.
Even if we assume that the Egyptian Pharoahs were much more superstitious than modern man, it seems rather odd that a head of state should get so upset about a crazy dream. What is so upsetting about seven lean cows swallowing seven fat cows?
Rav Shimon Schwab (1908-1995) provides an insight into this question. Pharaoh's whole dominion, like that of any dictator, was based on the premise that the mighty will dominate the weak. "I have the troops. I have the force. Therefore I can impose my will, because no one can do anything against me."
....Rab Schwab further points out that Parshas Miketz always coincides with Chanukah. This is a constant of the Jewish calendar. It is not just a coincidence. One of the major themes of Chanukah is the idea that "the mighty fell into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few", as we say in the Al HaNissim prayer.
Read full article: http://www.torah.org/learning/ravfrand/5763/mikeitz.html

The power of giving

This morning I came across a CNN article entitled The proven power of giving, not getting by Jessica Ravitz. It is a fascinating look at how the act of giving helps people struggling with illness, recovering from alcohol addiction, etc.
One study looked at preteens who'd first been surveyed in the 1920s in Berkeley, California. Those who displayed generosity and a giving attitude grew up to have lower rates of heart disease and depression, said Post, a professor of preventive medicine and director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at Stony Brook University in New York.

To read full article, click on the link below.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/12/14/power.of.giving/index.html

Fire

A 76-year-old Staten Island man died a hero. John Anstett rescued his elderly wife from a fast-moving fire at their apartment in New Brighton Saturday, but suffered a fatal heart attack during the escape.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/12/13/2009-12-13_si_hubby_saves_wife_from_blaze_then_dies.html

A few years ago, I heard a story about a woman who was frying something in her kitchen, when she received a phone call. She answered the telephone and a while later, she discovered that a full fledged fire had broken out, completely destroying her kitchen.
Since then, whenever I am in the middle of frying and the telephone rings, I first turn off the burner before answering the phone. Hence, a word of caution during the holiday season, when we are especially busy in the kitchen making latkes and sufganyot.

Bitachon and Hishtadlut

The video below talks about the balance between bitachon(trust in G-d) and hishtadlut(human initiative.)
It reminds me of an anecdote about a young woman who came home from a lecture and told her mother, “That’s it! No more phone calls. Rabbi X. said that the only necessary effort in finding a shidduch is to daven."
The mother responded, "Fine. Good idea. You daven and I will make the phone calls."

Matityahu and his sons knew that Hashem would never destroy Klal Yisrael. With that understanding, they could have stayed in the Beit Midrash and had bitachon in Hashem. Why should they fight the Syrian-Greeks and the mityavnim (Hellenist Jews)? They were few in number and non-professional soldiers. Yet, Matityahu defined bitachon as active. This is the story of Chanukah - people were moser nefesh to take upon themselves something seemingly impossible, and thereby released tremendous forces of siyata dishmaya.
To read full article, click on the link below:
http://www.kby.org/torah/article.cfm?articleid=1330

Chabad Rabbi bitten

A Muslim man attacked a Chabad rabbi Saturday night as he was conducting the annual ceremony to light the public Chanukah menorah in Stefenfaltz Square in the city of Vienna, Austria.
The attacker hurled himself at Rabbi Dov Gruzman, principal of the city’s Jewish school run by the Chabad-Lubavitch Chassidic movement, and began punching him, a local resident told Arutz Sheva.
Read more: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/134958

Eating yourself to death

After starting a new diet, I altered my drive to work to avoid passing my favorite bakery.
I accidentally drove by the bakery this morning and as I approached, there in the window were a host of goodies.
I felt this was no accident, so I prayed, "Lord, it's up to you, if you want me to have any of those delicious goodies, create a parking place for me directly in front of the bakery."
And sure enough, on the eighth time around the block, there it was!
God is good!

After an overweight man in the neighborhood suffered a stroke with devastating consequences, I resolved to post about the importance of losing weight.
To offer some encouragement, read about a man who is walking from NY to the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia to encourage the community to keep fit.
....Shraga weighed 323 pounds 13 years ago, and he says he was barely able to get out of a chair. He started losing weight, and then suffered a massive heart attack 3 years ago - while weighing 260 pounds. His doctor said he would never walk again, and was diagnosed with diabetes, heart problems, and high cholesterol.
He was determined to change his body for good, and defy what the doctors had predicted.
He started walking, and now walks approximately 40-60 miles each week and currently weighs 175-180.
He has no sugar problems, his cholesterol is perfect, and miraculously, he has no cardiac problems whatsoever.
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/43009/Frum+Man+Walks+From+Brooklyn+To+Liberty+Bell+in+Philadelphia+To+Raise+Health+Awareness.html

To really scare you into action, click on the link below for an article by Lionel Shriver entitled My brother is eating himself to death. Unfortunately, soon after the column was filed, the journalist's brother did indeed die.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/dec/01/lionel-shriver-my-obese-brother

Selective condemnation

"The United States condemns the attack on the mosque in Yasuf in the strongest terms and calls for the perpetrators to be brought to justice."

The above statement was issued by the U.S. State Department in reaction to the attack on a mosque. Certainly, the attack on a religious place of worship was wrong.
However, could someone point me to the statement issued after the torching of a church in New York this week?

A former Bronx synagogue that was turned into a church was torched by assailants who smeared Satanic graffiti on its walls.
...More than 100 firefighters were called to the scene at about 4 a.m. Wednesday, just before morning prayers at 5:30 a.m.
...The arsonists painted upside-down crosses and a pentagram – a five-point star surrounded by a "666," which the pastor said were meant to represent Satanic evil.
Elsewhere, they scrawled "Crip Kill" – referring to the name of the street gang, the Crips – and "We hate Jews and Christians."
...The congregation had a clothing outreach and a soup kitchen set up with a donation from the late Yankees broadcaster Bobby Murcer. It also had prepared Christmas gifts for children in the Parkchester area, and medicines to send to Africa.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/11/burnedout-church-had-sata_n_388538.html

Tearing at the moral fabric

One of the FBI's top agents warned yesterday that corruption in the US was increasing and tearing at the fabric of society.
Special agent John Gillies, who has led major anti-corruption drives during his 27-year career with the bureau, focused his words primarily on crooked financiers and unscrupulous officials.
However, he added that sporting heroes such as Tiger Woods were also to blame, letting down children who saw them as role models.
...For anyone tempted by easy money or looking for a way out of a dead-end job, he offered this advice: "The worst day at work is still better than the best day in jail."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/09/fbi-corruption-america

Leading rabbis have published a harsh letter in Chareidi newspapers against Chareidi websites, in an attempt to keep their public off the internet.
About a week ago, I heard a rabbi speaking about how the internet ensnares a person who wouldn't go on it for personal use. The individual says to himself that he is only going to go on the kosher sites. Once he is on the internet, one click leads to another, with sometimes disastrous results.
This week I read comments from the director of the newest Harry Potter film which will be released sometime in the coming year.
The first Harry Potter film came out and a parent says to himself why not let my child see the film? It is wholesome family entertainment - rated PG. A little while down the line, other HP films rate a PG-13. And, as for the seventh film? Just a word of caution, based upon what the director had to say.

Light one candle

I found a pdf file containing several interesting devar torah for Chanukah Parshat Vayeshev. Click on the link to access full file.
http://www.parsha.net/pdf/Bereishis/Chanukah61.pdf

One thought expressed by Rabbi Yaakov Haber concerns the menorah.

As several Rishonim point out, the seven branches of the Menora represent the seven true wisdoms (e.g. see Rabbeinu B'chaye, Avot, end of Chapter 3) that were studied by humanity. All of the branches, i.e. all of the wisdoms, "must face the middle branch" (Shmot 25:37), which symbolizes Torah wisdom. All of intellectual endeavors must be utilized in the service of Torah and 'Avodat Hashem in order for them to be meaningful. Hashem thus placed his stamp of approval on the victory of the Chasmonaim, which represented the idea that wisdom must be utilized for Divine service and not merely to satisfy curiosity, by bringing about a miracle through the medium of the Menora which symbolizes these ideas.

Wishing you a Chanukah Sameach and a good Shabbos.

A simple belief

I came across a moving account of a holocaust survivor's experience in a Jewish Press article entitled On Account Of An Apple: Chanukah in Buchenwald by Judy Tydor Baumel-Schwartz.

Decades later he explained how he remained a believer. To do so, he said, one has to learn the true meaning of Psalm 73, which he recited in camp at moments of despair. Verse 22 states: "Then foolish I am and ignorant, I am as a beast before thee."
"We often could not understand the evil surrounding us," my father said. "We almost lost our minds, like animals, looking for self-preservation at any price. And yet, only when we reached such despair could we truly understand the simple belief of the next verses - 'But I shall be continually with thee, Thou hast held me by my right hand.'
"So it was with me. I hoped and prayed we would survive, but only when I reached the depths of despair after hearing my family had been killed did I stop thinking, knowing I could only continue from day to day if I believed I felt God's hand holding mine. No intellectual explanations of faith could comfort me. Only a simple belief that if God intends for me to live, I shall live, and so I must continue helping and making sure that I would never lose my humanity."
Read full moving article:
http://www.jewishpress.com/pageroute.do/41755/

Can you find the man?

I came across a video about a painter who is hard to spot as he hides himself in his own work. It reminded me of the picture I received above, where you have to find the man in the beans. If it takes you more than three minutes, start practicing more exercises to make your brain stronger.

A tale of two prisons

This morning I came across an article entitled Israeli prisons as revolutionary universities written by Khaled al-Azraq.

"I was first imprisoned in 1982 at the age of 16. In prison I found what I was not expecting to find: I found inside the prison what I could not find outside of it. In prison I found Palestine's political, national, revolutionary university.....In prison, and through a long and arduous struggle, the prisoners' movement has been able to win and maintain the right to a library. Members of the prisoners' movement came up with ingenious ways of smuggling books into Israeli prisons, methods that Israeli prison guards were never able to discover.
.....Through the will and perseverance of the prisoners, prison was transformed into a school, a veritable university offering education in literature, languages, politics, philosophy, history and more. The graduates of this university excelled in various fields. I still remember the words of Bader al-Qawasmah, one of my compatriots who I met in the old Nablus prison in 1984, who said to me, "before prison I was a porter who could neither read nor write. Now, after 14 years in prison, I write in Arabic, I teach Hebrew, and I translate from English." I remember the words of Saleh Abu Tayi (a Palestinian refugee in Syria who was a political prisoner in Israeli jails for 17 years before being released in the prisoner exchange of 1985) who told me vivid stories of prisoners' adventures smuggling books, pieces of paper and even the ink-housing tubes of pens.

The following is an excerpt from an email I received the other day.
Terrance David Sheard - Released from a Japanese Prison On Wednesday, 21 September 2005,
Foreign Prisoner Support Services was contacted by US Citizen, Terrance David Sheard, recently released from a Japanese prison. Terrance has kindly written the following account of his ordeal in the hope that he may highlight the suffering of those he left behind. “I want to tell my story because I promised my mates back in the Fuchu hellhole [Japan Prison] that I would try to expose the abuses and cruel treatment experienced daily by all Fuchu inmates. Can you [FPSS] please help me? I owe it to all those who are suffering under the draconian prison system in Japan to tell my story!” Terrance wrote. My name is Terrance. I've just been released from prison in Japan. I was arrested in June 2002 in the Narita International Airport by Japanese customs officials as I tried to enter Japan. I had 1 kilo of hashish in my possession and I was convicted for violating the cannabis control laws of Japan. For my crime I was sentenced to 5 years forced labor and sent to Fuchu prison in Tokyo. I had no idea how hard and lonely the next few years of my life were going to be. Life in Japanese prison is very hard. Like the Nazi prison camps of WWII. Work is the main focus. The prison population is used as slave labor. The food you receive is barely enough to keep you alive. It consists of rice and soup. There is very little exercise except in the summer only twice a week for 30 minutes. During the winter they allow exercise for 3 times a week but they cut one of the 3 x 15 minute bathing periods. So during the winter there are only 2 x 15 minute baths. There is no heating or air conditioning in the prison. There are many cases of frostbite in the winter, heatstroke, and heat exhaustion in the summer. God forbid if you get sick and need medical attention. In order to see a doctor, or receive medicine a prisoner must fill out a form and wait for days. Generally, you will not be allowed to see the doctor unless you have a dire emergency. Tuberculosis is prevalent and there are many skin diseases due to the poor sanitation in the shower facilities. These are everyday realities in a Japanese prison.
Day One
On the first day of my arrival I was thrown into a filthy solitary cell and given a rulebook to read. The rulebook consisted of hundreds of rules for living in the prison. I was kept in this cell for three weeks and forced to perform menial labour, consisting of smoothing out the wrinkles in hundreds of aluminium cupcake doilies. Once I had finished smoothing out the entire carton the guard came to inspect my work. He reached into the box containing all the smoothed out doilies and crushed them all up again. I was told that I would have to do them over. After 3 weeks of solitary I was told that I would be starting to work in a training factory. During this training period you are shown how you will do everything in the correct manner. It was like a boot camp for Nazis. They have rules for how to walk, how to use the toilet, how to sit, how to place things in your cell, etc. etc. We were being systematically turned into automatons. Everything was drilled repeatedly into our heads. If we made mistakes during the training we were pushed around and screamed at. On two occasions I witnessed prisoners who were beaten for their failure to cooperate. I personally experienced a physical beating and strangulation to the point of unconsciousness at the hands of no less than eight guards after only being in the prison for three months. The reason for this beating was because I was not marching properly. I was singled out by the Factory boss for my offence and told to stand in the corner with my nose to the wall. After I refused this order the boss pushed his secret panic button, and the goon squad rushed into the factory and smashed me to the ground, beating and kicking me for extra measure. One of the goons grabbed my collar from behind and twisted it until my air supply was effectively cut off. Upon regaining consciousness, I found myself in the presence of the foreign prisoner's chief. He informed me that I would be placed in solitary confinement for a while until the prison authorities could decide what to do with me. Back to solitary Japanese style. The cell I was placed in this time had the window blocked and wreaked of piss. The walls were mouldy and the floor surrounding the toilet was too. There were lots of bugs to keep me company. Everything was taken out of the cell except for a filthy mattress. It was explained to me that I would have to sit in the middle of my cell and face my door all day long [from 7:30am-5:00pm]. I was told to keep my hands on my lap and not to move. That was my existence for an entire month! The little bit of rice and soup I had previously received, my daily allotment, was cut in half. If I wanted to use the toilet, I had to wait until the guard gave the signal twice daily. No exercise and 1 x 15minute shower every ten days! I was caught on several occasions exercising in my cell and time was added to my solitary confinement. After about 40 days, I was taken out of solitary and placed back in a factory to work. After my stint in solitary I figured that I wouldn’t have anymore trouble. Boy, was I WRONG! You see, I had been labelled a troublemaker by the guards, and I was continually being singled out for crazy infractions in the factory and in my cell. Not marching properly, improper sitting position while working, looking out the window, not bowing properly, washing my face in my cell...the list goes on and on. The rules are so numerous that you cannot possibly remember them all. But when you are labelled a "troublemaker", like I was, the rules don't matter anymore. The guards and factory bosses can use their discretion to bend and break the rules as they see fit. Well, it wasn’t long before I'd had enough of the harassment. One guard in particular, named Chiba, was trying to make my life a living hell. Everyday he would come into the factory and do his best to break me down. It wasn’t long before I was back in solitary for another month. At least I didn’t have to take any more crap from Chiba for awhile. During my second stay in solitary, someone down the hall from my cell tried to commit suicide by punching the glass in his window and using a piece to slash his throat. The guards tried to prevent everyone from looking out the cell door window, but I managed to see them carrying the poor fellow bleeding profusely from his neck before one of the guards began shouting at me to get back into my position on the floor. I still don’t know if that guy died. So many thoughts ran through my head while sitting motionless for hours on end. Never before in my life had I been caged and cut off from the world. I wondered what my wife and son were doing. My boy was only 6 months old when I was arrested and he was growing up without his father. While in solitary your monthly 15-minute visit behind a glass partition is not allowed, so I was not able to see my wife and son during the months that I was punished. I was not allowed to write my one monthly 7-page letter either. No communication with anyone whatsoever! As I gazed at the stains on the wall, I thought about my travels in the past and surfing adventures, the feeling of the ocean. I always wondered what all of my family and friends were doing. So many times I would think of real food; a bar of chocolate, a cup of coffee. It is so strange all of the fleeting thoughts and visions that popped into my head. Many times, I wondered if I was strong enough to make it through the shit I was now facing. I made a vow to myself that I would get through this, and that suicide would never be an option for me. Prior to being in prison, I had lived in a Buddhist Monastery in Thailand for a few weeks. I learned many things from the monks during my stay. The knowledge I gained there was instrumental in my being able to deal with the suffering I experienced in prison. I practiced meditation daily. In this prison, I learned much about survival in the face of adversity. I was determined not to give up hope. I ended up being thrown into solitary confinement five times during my stay in Fuchu. On March 25th 2005, I was lucky enough to be transferred to an American Federal Prison to finish serving my sentence. I am only the 2nd American to be transferred out of Japan. Apparently, the Japanese prison authorities know that we will receive better treatment in American prisons, so they are making foreigners serve at least 50% of our sentences in Japan before they will agree to let us transfer.

My question. Anyone have the data on the recividism rates of criminals who spend time in these prisons?

No answer

"Seventy years ago the steamship St. Louis idled at anchor within sight of the Miami Beach coastline in June 1939 with more than 900 Jewish refugees onboard who were who were fleeing persecution and seeking a safe haven in the United States, refuge was denied…and the world was changed forever.
NOW 70 YEARS LATER…
THE NATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CONTINUITY INVITES YOU TO MEET THE SURVIVING PASSENGERS OF THAT FATEFUL VOYAGE, HEAR THEIR STORIES, AND BE PART OF AN INTERNATIONAL HISTORY-MAKING WATERSHED EVENT IN JEWISH HISTORY
THE 70th ANNIVERSARY OF THE SS ST. LOUIS VOYAGE, PASSENGER REUNION AND COMMEMORATIVE EVENT
Sunday, December 13, 2009 – Eden Roc Hotel, Miami, Florida
10:30 a.m. Registration and Debut and Tours of a special United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archival Exhibition on the SS St. Louis Voyage
11:30 a.m. Brunch and Program Begins, Introductions of SS St. Louis Passengers and Dignitaries. Preview of Passenger J film.
Premiere of The Trial of Franklin D. Roosevelt, an original play by Robert Krakow (trustee of the passenger-signed U.S. Senate Resolution 111 documents) for which you, the audience, serves as the jury.
Official Passenger Resolution Signing and Presentation to United States National Archives “Legislative Treasures Vault”, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Oskar Schindler Family Archives, and other significant institutions around the world for preservation and public display.
Menorah Lighting With SS St. Louis Passengers and Beachfront SS St. Louis Commemoration Ceremony........"
Read full program at http://thestlouisproject.com/?p=208.

"Gisela Knepel was just 15 when she boarded the SS St Louis as a refugee fleeing the Nazis for asylum in Cuba. Seventy years on, now Gisela Feldman and living in Manchester, she recalls how a voyage of hope turned into a nightmare..."
Read the full article:
http://www.thejc.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-features/24697/it-was-a-cruise-then-suicide-attempts-began

The Rabbi's advice

This morning I heard a shiur in which the speaker said that now that there are no more prophets, we should turn to our rabbis for advice since they have help from the One Above to instruct the person to make the right decision.
She related a story about a rabbi who instructed a man not to enter into a no fail golden business deal. A number of months later, the company went bankrupt.
A woman told me that her son was unsure whether to get engaged to a certain woman. He asked advice from his rabbi who told him that she was the one for him. The day after the engagement, the woman called the rabbi to thank him. The rebbetzin answered the phone and said that her husband hadn't slept the whole night, overwhelmed with the responsibility of offering the man advice.
A little while ago I found an article on the Haredim website about a man seeking advice from a Rav.
An Orthodox resident of Bnei Brak, married for ten years, had not merited having children. He went to Rav Chaim Kanievsky a number of times for advice. The Rav wished him "beracha vehatzlacha" (blessing and success) and then instructed him to inspect what needs to be checked. Since the Rav didn't expressly explain his statement, the man was perplexed as to how to carry out the instruction.
This week, the man returned to Rav Kanievsky and received the same instruction. This time, he asked the Rav what should he check. The Rav said, what does one have to inspect? Check your mezuzot.
The man removed his mezuzot and had them checked. All were kosher except for the one affixed to the bedroom door. The words "ושיננתם לבניך" (and you shall teach your children) were connected without any spacing or separation between them. He then replaced the mezuzah with a kosher one.
Here's hoping for good news. To read the article in Hebrew, click here.

Finding your soul mate

29:26 And Laban said: 'It is not so done in our place, to give the younger before the first-born.
ויאמר לבן לא יעשה כן במקומנו לתת הצעירה לפני הבכירה

I visited a friend the other day and, as she was talking on the phone, I started reading an article from the Yated about shidduchim and how one can let a good shidduch slip away. The author told a story about a boy who asked a Rav to propose a shidduch. When the Rav suggested someone, the boy asked to see a picture. The Rav's wife heard the request and responded with the Passuk from Bereishit above. But she pronounced the word "tzeirah" (younger) as tzurah (image) and the word bechorah (older) as bochurah (young woman). The Rebbetzin was telling the young man that it was not appropriate to ask for a picture before meeting the young woman.
My friend had recently suggested a shidduch. The mother of the girl made all sorts of enquiries about how smart he was, about his looks, and so on. It took my friend's son to point out to the woman that she had never asked about his middot.