#Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau

[girlactionfigure]

In 1950, 13 year old Holocaust survivor Yisrael Meir celebrated his bar mitzvah as an orphan (his parents were murdered by the Nazis). 73 years later, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau (the former Chief Rabbi of Israel) stood beside 13 year old Ariel Zohar -an orphan whose parents were murdered on October 7th- as he marked his Bar Mitzvah. Two orphans, two heroes, two links in a long chain of Jewish survival and triumph over darkness.

Via @stateofisrael

jewishlifenow

[healingordestroying]

A single image captures the poignant connection between two generations of Jewish resilience.

On the right stands Ariel Zohar, who tragically lost his parents and sisters during the October 7th Hamas massacre in southern Israel. This week, he observed his bar mitzvah as an orphan.

On the left is Yisrael Meir Lau, a Holocaust survivor and former Chief Rabbi. He, too, marked his bar mitzvah as an orphan after enduring the horrors of the Holocaust.

Despite the profound tragedy they've endured, these two individuals steadfastly embrace their Jewish identity with an unwavering sense of pride.

[aronarchy]

Ron Dermer: “The lesson of the Holocaust is that the Jewish people need power”

Dermer said that his top two priorities as strategic affairs minister were ensuring that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon, and to “expand the circle of peace” between Israel and countries in the Arab world

Ambassador Ron and Rhoda Dermer (at left) are honored at the March of the Living's gala in Miami on Jan. 10, 2023.

By eJewishPhilanthropy staff ⋅ January 10, 2023

At the 35th anniversary gala of the March of the Living, Israeli Minister Ron Dermer said that the lesson of the Holocaust is that “the Jewish people need power.”

Dermer, who previously served as Israel’s ambassador to the United States and now serves as the Israeli minister of strategic affairs, was the main honoree of the gala alongside his wife, Rhoda. The event, which took place at the Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus, a Conservative synagogue in Miami, also included a tribute to Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, the former Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel. 

“The Holocaust took everything away from the Jewish people. For the victims, it took away their property, it took away their dignity. It ultimately took away their lives,” Dermer said. “But it is very important not to take the Holocaust itself away from the Jewish people. Because there has been an attempt in recent years to universalize the Holocaust, to turn it into another genocide, another massacre that happened. And I understand why people want to do that, because they want it to resonate with people outside of the Jewish community. I understand that.”

He added, “What is the lesson of the Holocaust to the Jews? Is the lesson that we have to teach tolerance? Did we need six million to die to teach tolerance?… We didn’t need the Holocaust to teach tolerance. The lesson of the Holocaust is that the Jewish people need power. That’s the lesson of the Holocaust.”

“Jews are uniquely uncomfortable with the idea of power because there’s a price of power,” he said. “You know what that price is? It’s imperfection. When you are sovereign, you are imperfect. When you are a victim, you can be morally perfect. I would rather be sovereign and imperfect.”

Speaking at the gala, Dermer recounted an instance when, while serving as ambassador, he visited Majdanek, the Nazi death camp, which he called “the most surreal moment that I’ve had… in my entire life.” While outside the camp’s crematorium, he received a secure call from Israel’s and the United States’ national security advisers about an impending American airstrike in Syria and how Israel would be involved in the operation.

“While this call is happening, and while we were talking about who’s going to bomb what when, I had an image of a five-story chimney to my left and a three-story mound of human ash to my right—the ultimate symbol of Jewish powerlessness—and here I was, privileged to be the ambassador of the sovereign Jewish state of Israel, speaking to the most important ally that we have.”

Dermer—who has served for decades as a close adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—said that his top two priorities as minister were ensuring that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon, and to “expand the circle of peace” between Israel and countries in the Arab world that grew through the 2020 Abraham Accords. He also hopes that Israel “will be the most important ally of the United States in the 21st century.”

“Prime Minister Netanyahu is determined to expand it and we hope to work very closely with the Biden administration,” Dermer said. “I think the policy towards Iran is a critical part of expanding that because I think it opens the space for Arab leaders to move into a public alliance with Israel as we face this common enemy together.”

Well, this is depressing.

[paulinedorchester]

Shavuot, 1945:

In 1945, Shavuot began on the evening of May 17th, a Thursday. That is presumably when this photograph was taken: although we can see daylight coming in at the windows, candles have been lit, indicating that this is an evening service, and the photo has been identified as having been taken on Shavuot. It shows Captain Herschel Schacter (1917-2013) leading worship for American soldiers and newly-liberated inmates at the Buchenwald concentration camp.

Schacter, a Brooklyn native, was an Orthodox rabbi. He graduated from Yeshiva College (now University), and received his ordination in 1941 from Elchanan Theological Seminary (now part of Y.U.). He briefly served a synagogue in Stamford, Connecticut, before joining up in 1942. My main information source states that he served in the European Theater "until July 1945," but other sources relate that he "remained at Buchenwald for months," which of course is open to interpretation. Regardless, he appears to have still been in Army at the end of 1945. In 1947 he took up a pulpit in the Bronx, which he held until 1999. He did quite a bit else as well, as you can see from the Wikipedia page that I've linked.

As you can see, there were a lot of young boys in this group of worshipers, including one at the far left end of the front row directly facing the table, seated between two GIs. He is Yisrael Meir Lau (b. 1937), who grew up to become Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel and is now chairman of Yad Vashem.

[masterofd1saster]

Follower of that nice rebbi from Nazareth

*** The connection between the Catholic Church and its Jewish roots was a personal one for Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, the son of Polish Jews and a convert to the Catholic faith, who nonetheless considered himself to be Jewish for his entire life. Lustiger defended his identity as both a Jew and a Catholic against those who were wary of him as the leader of the Archdiocese of Paris at the end of the 20th century.  The cardinal was born Aaron Lustiger on Sept. 17, 1926 in Paris. His parents were Polish Jews. When German forces entered France in 1940, Lustiger and his family were forced to wear the Star of David on their garments, as were all French Jews. His mother was later arrested and sent to Auschwitz, where she was killed. To escape the Nazi occupation, Lustiger and his sister were sent to live with a Catholic family in Orleans.  There, the two children learned about Catholicism.  Aaron decided to be baptized at the age of 13. When he did so, he took the name Jean-Marie. As a boy, Lustiger wanted to be a doctor. He later earned a degree in literature at the Sorbonne and worked briefly as a mechanic before attending seminary in Paris. He was ordained a priest in 1954. *** The cardinal told a biographer that during the 1970s, he had a spiritual crisis, provoked by the persistent antisemitism he experienced. He thought even of leaving France, and moving to Israel. But in 1979, Pope John Paul II unexpectedly appointed him Bishop of Orleans, and Lustiger returned to the diocese where he had been baptized some 30 years prior.*** Even those who didn’t criticize him took note of the unusual circumstances of a Jewish cardinal, and the tension that some felt about his religious identity. In fact, while Lustiger led the archdiocese, there was a joke about him in Paris, according to some news reports: “What’s the difference between the chief rabbi of France and the cardinal of Paris? The cardinal speaks Yiddish.”*** The cardinal was passionate about interfaith relations. He joined Pope John Paul II on visits to leaders of other religions, and was present when the pope entered a Syrian mosque in 2001. He helped mediate in a dispute over a Carmelite convent erected near Auschwitz concentration camp.*** The cardinal embraced his Jewish identity, even after converting to Catholicism.  Lustiger often emphasized that Christianity is “the fruit of Judaism,” saying that for him, “it was never for an instant a question of denying my Jewish identity.” But at times, the cardinal faced criticism for his acceptance of Christianity.  He was once accused by the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yisrael Meir Lau, of having “betrayed his people and his faith.” Lustiger replied, “To say that I am no longer a Jew is like denying my father and mother, my grandfathers and grandmothers. I am as Jewish as all the other members of my family who were butchered in Auschwitz or in the other camps.”*** He requested that his epitaph read, “I was born Jewish. I received the name of my paternal grandfather, Aaron. Having become Christian by faith and by Baptism, I have remained Jewish, as did the Apostles.” Cardinal Lustiger retired in 2005, at the age of 78. He died Aug. 5, 2007, after a battle with cancer. His funeral at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris included the Kaddish, a Jewish hymn of mourning. Following his death, the World Jewish Congress lauded Lustiger as “a pioneer of Christian-Jewish dialogue.”*** https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/french-cardinal-lustiger-remained

[eretzyisrael]

The Meaning of Tu B Av

by Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau

The Mishnah tells us that: “No days were as festive for Israel as the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur.” (Tractate Ta'anit) What is Tu B'Av, the 15th of the Hebrew month of Av? In which way is it equivalent to Yom Kippur?

Our Sages explain: Yom Kippur symbolizes God’s forgiving Israel for the sin of the Golden Calf in the desert, for it was on that day that He finally accepted Moses’ plea for forgiveness of the nation, and on that same day Moses came down from the mountain with the new set of tablets.

Just as Yom Kippur symbolizes the atonement for the sin of the Golden Calf, Tu B'Av signifies the atonement for the sin of the Spies, where ten came bearing such negative reports which reduced the entire nation to panic. As a result of that sin, it was decreed by God that the nation would remain in the desert for 40 years, and that no person 20 or older would be allowed to enter Israel. On each Tisha B'Av of those 40 years, those who had reached the age of 60 that year died – 15,000 each Tisha B'Av.

This plague finally ended on Tu B'Av.

Six positive events occurred on Tu B'Av:

Event #1 - As noted above, the plague that had accompanied the Jews in the desert for 40 years ended. That last year, the last 15,000 people got ready to die. God, in His mercy, decided not to have that last group die, considering all the troubles they had gone through. Now, when the ninth of Av approached, all the members of the group got ready to die, but nothing happened. They then decided that they might have been wrong about the date, so they waited another day, and another…

Finally on the 15th of Av, when the full moon appeared, they realized definitely that the ninth of Av had come and gone, and that they were still alive. Then it was clear to them that God’s decree was over, and that He had finally forgiven the people for the sin of the Spies.

This is what was meant by our Sages when they said: “No days were as festive for Israel as the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur,” for there is no greater joy than having one’s sins forgiven – on Yom Kippur for the sin of the Golden Calf and on Tu B'Av for the sin of the spies. In the Book of Judges, Tu B'Av is referred to as a holiday (Judges 21:19).

Read More: here

[antizionistrussophile64]

Putin welcomes delegation of rabbis from several countries on July 9, 2014.

Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed an international delegation of rabbis to the Kremlin. They discussed joint efforts to combat neo-Nazism, fascism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism. "This is our fight, and we are very happy to know that you are on the frontline with us together to fight hatred and anti-Semitism," said Yisrael Meir Lau, Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv. The group of rabbis included delegates from Israel, Austria, Belgium, UK, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and France.

[newstfionline]

Israel Moves to Expel Africans. Critics Say That’s Not Jewish.

By Isabel Kershner, NY Times, Feb. 2, 2018

JERUSALEM--On a recent weeknight, about two dozen Israelis, mostly in their 20s, gathered in a Jerusalem basement to hear the story of an Eritrean man who is facing deportation.

Like thousands of Eritreans, Frezgi Ketef Tehehaymanut, 27, fled his country to avoid the draft into slave-like national service, a crime punishable by death. He would return to Eritrea tomorrow, he said, but he feared he would “end up under the ground.”

The meeting was one of many similar events taking place across the country in what has become a particularly Jewish backlash against the government’s tough new deportation policy.

Last month, the Israeli government offered some 38,000 migrants from Eritrea and Sudan a stark choice: $3,500 and a plane ticket to a third country in Africa, or jail.

Petitions opposing the policy poured in from Israeli doctors, pilots, retired diplomats, professors, rabbis, architects and musicians, many arguing that a nation formed by refugees in the aftermath of the Holocaust has a special obligation to treat refugees with more compassion.

In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 36 Holocaust survivors, many of them refugees from the ghettos and concentration camps of Europe, beseeched him “to learn the lesson” and not to expel Africans seeking asylum in Israel.

“As a country founded by refugees,” said another letter signed by 850 Jewish clergy and delivered to Israeli embassies and consulates in the United States and Canada, “and whose early leaders helped craft the 1951 International Convention on the Status of Refugees, Israel must not deport those seeking asylum within its borders.”

Like much of the Western world, Israel is grappling with how to balance its right to protect its borders and prevent illegal immigration with showing compassion and humanity. But the government’s decision has struck a particular chord here and among Jews abroad since the modern state of Israel has served as a safe haven for Jews fleeing persecution and was largely built by immigrants.

The issue is also testing what it means to be a Jewish state: to preserve its Jewish majority, or to be governed by Jewish values, including the ideal of “tikkun olam,” or repairing the world.

“Every country must guard its borders,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in announcing the policy last month. “It is important that people understand that we are doing something here that is completely legal and completely essential.”

He cited the “plight” of residents of south Tel Aviv, where many of the migrants are concentrated. In the past, he has also said that the influx of Africans threatened Israel’s Jewish majority.

Many of the solidarity events are taking place under the umbrella of a grass-roots movement, “Stop the Deportation,” which was started by students. In addition to the meeting in the basement studio of a Jerusalem yoga teacher, there was a gathering this week in a bar in Kiryat Shemona, a town on Israel’s northern border, and another in the southern city of Beersheba in the Negev desert.

Another initiative, “Miklat Israel,” Hebrew for Israel Sanctuary, and known informally as the Anne Frank Home Sanctuary movement, signed up about 500 Israeli families from scores of towns and communities willing to adopt asylum seekers and, if necessary, hide them in their homes.

First conceived by Susan Silverman, a rabbi and the sister of the American comedian Sarah Silverman, the idea was partly inspired by the story of another Eritrean who was so moved by Anne Frank’s diary that he translated it into Tigrinya while in a camp in Ethiopia, then carried it with him on his journey to Israel, convinced that its people would receive him.

Even secular Israelis have taken to citing biblical verses like Leviticus 19:34: “The stranger who resides among you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

And liberals hark back to the decision of Menachem Begin, the prime minister who brought Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party to power in 1977, to welcome several hundred Vietnamese boat people.

But Israelis are divided, with many others eager to see the departure of the Africans. Officials here routinely refer to them as “infiltrators” because they sneaked across the border from the Egyptian Sinai, and insist that the majority--young men of working age--are economic migrants, not refugees.

“Israel is too small and has its own problems,” Israel’s justice minister, Ayelet Shaked, said in a Facebook post. “It cannot serve as the employment agency for the African continent.”

Many, including the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, David Lau, and his father, Yisrael Meir Lau, a former chief rabbi and child Holocaust survivor, reject the comparisons with the Holocaust. The migrants, they note, are not being sent to extermination camps and their Israeli sympathizers will not be risking their lives by harboring them.

About 60,000 African migrants have surreptitiously crossed into Israel over the once-porous border with Egypt since 2005, most of them Sudanese or Eritreans who cannot be sent back home because of international conventions that prevent the repatriation of asylum seekers to home countries where they could face persecution. The influx stopped in 2012, when Israel constructed a steel barrier along the 150-mile border with Egypt.

Of the thousands of Eritreans and Sudanese who have filed asylum requests in Israel in recent years, only about 10 have received refugee status. Some Sudanese refugees from war-torn Darfur have been given a special humanitarian status but most of the other asylum requests have not been processed.

At least 20,000 African migrants have since left Israel. Mr. Netanyahu said he had made it his mission to deport the rest. He and his ministers have alluded to secret understandings with third countries in Africa, without naming them.

The migrants say the main destination is Rwanda, but the Rwandan government has denied signing any secret deal. It says its policy toward Africans in need of a home is one of “open doors,” but only to those who come voluntarily.

Migrant and human rights organizations say many Africans who left Israel for Rwanda and Uganda did not find work or receive legal status. Many are said to have continued on their journeys, often putting themselves in grave danger.

In the Jerusalem basement, Mr. Tehehaymanut said he had initially hoped to go to Libya, and from there to Europe. But the Bedouin smugglers dropped his group off in the desert in the middle of the night and told them to walk straight ahead toward the lights of Israel.

Israeli soldiers received them with smiles, food and drink. “We did not come to eat,” Mr. Tehehaymanut said. “Just to live.”

[moishgil]

Israel has almost as many religious restrictions as Iran, report says

Israel has almost as many religious restrictions as Iran, report says

Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau, second from left; Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, third from left; and Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau at a special meeting of the Israeli Rabbinate Council at the Western Wall tunnels in Jerusalem’s Old City, May 24, 2017. (Shlomi Cohen/Flash90)

(reposted from JTA)

When it comes to restrictions on religious freedom, Israel is in the company of countries like Saudi…

[smithnewsco]

RT @IsraelHeadlines: Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau arrives to console Vishlitzky family https://t.co/qqqATrPfLU @SmithNewsCo #RealNews #SmithNews https://t.co/n4bHaWLKN3 https://t.co/Cr40eO7GVr (via Twitter http://twitter.com/SmithNewsCo/status/1082655420894928896) http://bit.ly/2Vw4RLg

[girlactionfigure]

"I remember the looks of horror on the faces of the American soldiers when they came in and stared around them. 

I was afraid when I saw them. 

I crept behind a pile of dead bodies and hid there, watching them warily.

"Rabbi Herschel Schachter was the Jewish chaplain of the division. I saw him get out of a jeep and stand there, staring at the corpses.

He has often told this story, how he thought he saw a pair of living eyes looking out from among the dead.

It made his hair stand on end, but slowly and cautiously he made his way around the pile, and then, he clearly remembers coming face-to-face with me, an eight-year-old boy, wide-eyed with terror. 

In heavily-accented American Yiddish, he asked me, 'How old are you, mein kind?' There were tears in his eyes.

"'What difference does it make?' I answered, warily. 'I'm older than you, anyway.'

"He smiled through his tears and said, 'Why do you think you're older than me?'

"And I answered, 'Because you cry and laugh like a child. I haven't laughed in a long time, and I don't even cry anymore. So which one of us is older?'"

-Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, former Chief Rabbi of Israel, 8-years-old when Buchenwald was liberated. 

From his book “Out of the Depths”. One of the most important and riveting books I have ever read.

Rabbi Yisroel Bernath

[readingbooksinisrael]

One Word BPC-April 1-Nationality

I’m holding a book of all the short stories and novelas by S.Y. Agnon, the only Israeli who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and who helped popularize Hebrew a bit through his books on top of Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau’s autobiography, the youngest survivor of Buchenwald, and to time the Chief Ashkanazi Rabbi of Israel. Together they make the colors of the Israeli flag: light blue and white.

In the distance you might be able to make out the Israeli flag itself, hanging from a balcony.

[thejewishlink]

Israel’s Former Chief Rabbi Gives a Lesson to Anti-Semites

“We are still alive. We have a homeland. We have an independent state. We are very proud of what we have, what we have achieved in the last 75 years,” Rabbi Lau said.

Former Israeli Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, a Holocaust survivor, is feeling at a loss this year on Yom Hashoah. For the first time in 32 years, he is unable…

[peterbreuerblog]

A special message from Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau

[israel-jewish-news]

Special Tefillos for Rain Held at Kosel

New Post has been published on http://hamodia.com/2017/12/28/special-tefillos-rain-held-kosel/

Special Tefillos for Rain Held at Kosel

(Flash90)

Thousands of people participated in a special gathering for tefillos at the Kosel on Thursday night at the conclusion of the 10th of Teves fast to ask for rain in what threatens to be the fifth consecutive year of drought conditions.

The tefillos were intended to overturn the decree of Israeli meteorologists that dry conditions will continue at least through January.

Israel’s Chief Rabbis Rabbi David Lau and Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef led the tefillos. Also in attendance were Tzfat Chief Rabbi Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Rabbi Haim Druckman, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz and Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, according to Arutz Sheva.

Representatives of the agricultural sector, which feels the shortfall most acutely, were there as well, including: the president of the Israel Farmers’ Union Dubi Amitai, the secretary general of the Moshav Movement and chairman of the Israel Farmers Union Meir Zur, and the secretary-general of the religious kibbutz, Amitai Porat.

Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home), who initiated the event, said that “after four years of drought, so far there has been less rainfall than the multi-annual average, and this winter looks like it will be another drought. I am happy that the public responded to the prayers and brought umbrellas.”

(Flash90)

Ariel also outlined the hishtadlus, practical measures, being taken to cope with the lack of rain:

“In the past year, we have done much to improve the situation of farmers in the water sector, reducing the price of fresh water by about 20 percent. We have formulated, together with the Water and Energy Ministry as well as the Finance Ministry, an outline adopted by the Water Authority whereby there will be no cutback [in water provided to farmers] without compensation.

“At the same time, the Agriculture Ministry is working to invest in water-saving crops and directing the water to orchards over field crops while encouraging farmers to switch to more efficient uses of water, and we will continue to make efforts to benefit the farmers,” Ariel added.

Since last winter, the Kinneret has received only 10 percent of its annual average inflow, and by February had reached its lowest level in nearly a hundred years.

As of the last measurement, the water level there stood at 703 feet (214 meters) below sea level, several feet below the point at which experts warn of damage to the ecosystem and water quality.

[eretzyisrael]

The Meaning of Tu B Av

by Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau

The Mishnah tells us that: “No days were as festive for Israel as the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur.” (Tractate Ta'anit) What is Tu B'Av, the 15th of the Hebrew month of Av? In which way is it equivalent to Yom Kippur?

Our Sages explain: Yom Kippur symbolizes God’s forgiving Israel for the sin of the Golden Calf in the desert, for it was on that day that He finally accepted Moses’ plea for forgiveness of the nation, and on that same day Moses came down from the mountain with the new set of tablets.

Just as Yom Kippur symbolizes the atonement for the sin of the Golden Calf, Tu B'Av signifies the atonement for the sin of the Spies, where ten came bearing such negative reports which reduced the entire nation to panic. As a result of that sin, it was decreed by God that the nation would remain in the desert for 40 years, and that no person 20 or older would be allowed to enter Israel. On each Tisha B'Av of those 40 years, those who had reached the age of 60 that year died – 15,000 each Tisha B'Av.

This plague finally ended on Tu B'Av.

Six positive events occurred on Tu B'Av:

Event #1 - As noted above, the plague that had accompanied the Jews in the desert for 40 years ended. That last year, the last 15,000 people got ready to die. God, in His mercy, decided not to have that last group die, considering all the troubles they had gone through. Now, when the ninth of Av approached, all the members of the group got ready to die, but nothing happened. They then decided that they might have been wrong about the date, so they waited another day, and another…

Finally on the 15th of Av, when the full moon appeared, they realized definitely that the ninth of Av had come and gone, and that they were still alive. Then it was clear to them that God’s decree was over, and that He had finally forgiven the people for the sin of the Spies.

This is what was meant by our Sages when they said: “No days were as festive for Israel as the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur,” for there is no greater joy than having one’s sins forgiven – on Yom Kippur for the sin of the Golden Calf and on Tu B'Av for the sin of the spies. In the Book of Judges, Tu B'Av is referred to as a holiday (Judges 21:19).

read here