2011 First 3 weeks in Jerusalem & Around Israel

First 3 weeks in Jerusalem- Lectures, Places, Concerts Oct 21 Shabbat at the Yeshrun Synagogue which featured a men's choir and great cantor and used Carlebach melodies which I love. Oct 22. Lecture at Great Synagogue by Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon, former chief of the Army talking on challenges facing Israel. Main point is Iran is now behind all the tough problems Israel is facing and will have to be dealt with at some point. Palestinians do not want peace and never have. He voted against Shalit deal as he followed his head not his heart, as death penalty he feels with have to be considered for terrorist murderers. Oct 23 Saw Russian Circus at Jerusalem Theater only 10 minute walk. Incredible. There are about 7 different theaters within 15 minute walk of our rental. Circus all in Russian was fun Oct 24 “Eichman in Jerusalem:50 years After” Lecture by Former Israeli Supreme Court Justice Gavriel Bach who was Deputy Prosecutor and Primary Interface with Eichmann in the 1961 trial. The Judge talked about incredible luck of his father to leave Germany just before Kristnacht, travel to Holland and get his family out of Germany and then leave Holland 1 day before Hitler invaded. Hitler postponed the invasion 6 times each of the last 6 days so every one was critical for his family to get to Palestine. On the next trip this boat was sunk with all aboard lost at sea. His father developed a reputation because of this excellent timing. When Gen Rommel was advancing toward Egypt and if successful would have captured all the Jews in Palestine, friends asked him when and where should they go next. His father replied we stay and fight here. Eichmann never changed his view of what he did. In a 1956 book deal he told his biographer he regretted not killing more Jews. The prosecutor amassed colossal evidence against him from all countries and had witnesses testify from all the countries the Nazis were in to set the record straight for all the countries where Jews were captured and killed. Eichmann didn't care about the war effort as when the General in charge of Paris , who had in custody a Jewish professor expert in radar, wrote to Eichmann asking to keep the professor in his custody to extract his knowledge. Eichmann wouldn't even consider it. Eichmann thought up the following idea in late 1944 when Hungary was finally invaded and the 400,00 Hungary Jews were to be killed,; before their arrival to the gas chambers they first wrote postcards back to Hungary telling their relatives that the work is not too bad , the food is good, and to come quick and bring extra shoes. The German army was running out of shoes then. The Judge though 84 was in great shape and is invited all over the world to speak about the trial and antisemitism. Recently he was in Japan where 50,00 Japanese learned Hebrew and sang Hatikva to him and treated him royally. He is still in contact with Eichmann's defense attorney in Germany; during the trial Bach shared evidence with him and they had a formalwithw but collegial relationship. Oct 26. Lecture by Rabbi Dr. Nathan T. Lopes Cardozo is Dean of the David Cardozo Academy for Jewish Studies and Human Dignity. He lectures regularly at over fifty institutions of Jewish and secular learning around the world. He is the author of several books on Judaism sponsored by Beth Midrash Cardozo in Jerusalem in memory of Rabbi David Lopes Cardozo of the Amsterdam Portuguese Spanish Synagogue (1808-1880). Regarded by many as a type of ambassador of Jewish conscience, he has, over the past twenty-five years, attracted a large number of students with his unconventional style. His fresh approach to many topics of social concern and his unswerving honesty continue to engage Jews and non-Jews alike. (from his web site) He talked about Spinoza and his times in 1650 Amsterdam. The Jews had been escaping to Holland from the Inquisition for some time as they were secret Jews but living as Christian. So they had to learn complete Judaism but it was filtered thru the Christian education they had received for many generations. Keeping the laws was not a problem but not having a list with a specific set of beliefs was. The Protestants of Holland welcomed the Jews with some specific requirements, namely that the Jews stay together, not interact with the Christians and don't question and not converse with them on religion. Secondly the Rabbis there were not the most educated and had difficulty allowing questioning of all Jewish beliefs where any place else this would not have been a problem. When Spinoza questioned the existence of God that was a problem! The method to keep the Jews in line was by a lay group that watched their community to make sure one went to services and bought meat form the Sephardic butcher and not the Ashkenazim one, etc. If one transgressed one was banned an appropriate time ranging from one day on. One then had to apologize in front of the congregations and then one was back in good standing. Spinoza was banned, then recanted in front of the congregation, but then soon wrote again that God doesn’t exist and then was banned again. This time he refused to apologize and therefore was permanently banned. He was one of only 4 excommunicated in this period. He then got angry at the Jewish community and wrote incorrect things about Judaism. Nevertheless, Rabbi Cardozo is a great fan of his philosophy books and reads them daily. Rabbi Cardozo was a very interesting person concerned with changing Judaism. He grew up in the same synagogue in Amsterdam, not the same building as in 1650 as a new building went up in early 1700s. Some of these Jews moved to England starting in 1660s. Oct 28 Shabbat services at very modern Orthodox Shir Hadash where women sit on the same floor as men, act as cantor for part of the services, though a see thru curtain separates the sexes down the middle. The singing is wonderful with actual harmony and much enthusiasm in singing . It is most inspirational. Oct 29 'Live at the New York Met' came to Israel and Jerusalem first. We saw Don Giovanni. What fun. Interesting that they are not showing the 2 Wagner opera here in Israel! Oct 30 Tour of east Jerusalem already discussed. Oct 31. Free concert with new music by an Israeli composer with roots in Yemen. Chorus with oud and other middle eastern instruments. Meet Shimshon (Sam) and Miriam Neikrug and son in laws parent Stu and Getta Krauss at concert and had dinner after. Really great pizza at Jerusalem Theater's restaurant. Nov. 1 Roberta goes to Hallel chorus at Hebrew Union College where Reform rabbinical students come for their first year of study. Roberta had to audition and she is in. They do Hebrew and Ladino songs. She goes from 8 to10 pm once aweek and it is only a 15 minute walk. Nov. 3 We went to an unusual concert the Mediterranean Andalusian Orchestra of some where in Israel. This was in still another theater within 15 minutes of our place. The word Andalusian refers to the southernmost part of Spain with capitol Seville, but here refers to the Jews who were significant in this region but also to the other north African countries with a lot of Jews, namely Libya, Tunisia, etc and all the way round to Turkey. The crowd knew all the music and sang along and capped the hands off. There was a big guy tenor and 2 teenage boys. Many of the instruments were of middle east origin. Songs were in Spanish, French, Ladino and even Arabic. When the cello soloist came out to perform some serious music, a clown came out and did a number along side. He brought a food wagon out and started chopping veggies with a large knife, saw, or ax and putting cut veggies into a large pot. He turned the burners on and large amount of smoke came out. Finally after much prancing and other stuff , he served the conductor some food from a plate he prepared and got a positive OK. It was very funny and was called the Couscous Concerto. Nov. 4 Spent weekend Shabbat with cousin Shimshon and Miriam Neikrug at their moshav Tiryat Yehuda. We took bus to Ben Gurion airport and he would pick us as his place is close by. When we got close to a stop the bus driver told us to get off and take the #5 to the airport. The bus web site said this was a nonstop to the airport and now we were on a corner of the highway at a bus stop. We called Shimshon and he knew were we were. He took us a a tour of the West Bank. We headed out #444 to #465 and headed east first to Beit Arye, a middle class secular town, then past several Arab villages, then Nacholot, then Kiyat Sefar which is most unusual. The super Orthodox called haredi, which means 'shaking' really for fear of GD, wanted to live in Bnai Braq and Jerusalem, the 2 ancient holy biblical cites but they got filled and /or too expensive. So the government built 2 cites for the this group starting in 1994 and only this group. One must be interviewed to get in and must agree to abide by all religious rules, including no TV. There are no businesses other than yeshivas where the men study and assorted services for everyday life. Population is around 50K with median age 10 years old!! It is just 1.5 miles over the border and so it would not be too much of a problem to adjust the borders. Miriam works part time in this town as a speech therapist and mentor to young speech therapists. We then drove to two secular towns, Lapid & then Kfar Oranium where their son Yehuda lives. The original town here needed to expand and then did but just across the Green Line. Changing the boarder will not be difficult here also, but some towns which are far from the former line will be more difficult. They live in a nice townhouse with 2 units side by side with a little side yard with fruit trees. Their kitchen is quite small by our standards as are most Israeli kitchens but has lots of electric appliances. We then traveled past the new town of Modi'in, population 75K and inside the border. The Chanukah story started nearby with the Maccabees and older brother Judah. In fact Shimshon's moshav Tiryat Judah is named after Judah Maccabee. This brand new planned town is a big success and some day will have high speed rail to Jerusalem in 30 min. Now it is connected to Tel Aviv by rail. On the way back we stopped at burial site of Macabees or 2200 year old. They carved coffin size caves in the rocks right on the surface. They were scattered around and some had a very large rock partial covering the opening. Then we stopped at a Roman mausoleum the size of a very large room. Inside on a side room was a pigeon roost that they used for eating and sacrifice. Next we saw a Biblical age water storage building. They lined this large building with limestone and then set the cavity on fire which made lime and a lining to hold water. Nov. 6 Went to concert at Jerusalem Theater called the Emunah Concert, a fund raiser for this charity, Emunah, that helps poor people with a very wide range of services. We got one of the last seats but didn't matter as concert hall is not that big. Music was ' Jewish Music at Its Best” and was 2 cantors from Israel who were incredible. Simon Cohen grew up and trained in England but now lives here. Shai Abramson is now the chief Cantor of the Israel Defense Force. They sang with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and 2 men choirs many prayers in the full cantor's mode and it was very special. Also singing was a Orthodox musical talent Yonatan Razel who composed his own semi pop version of various prayers. Simon Cohen also did “Bring Him Home' from Les Miserables in honor of Schalit coming home. It was quite moving. They also did “ O Sole Mio' duet which was quite a treat. We certainly got our money 's worth. Interestingly the three cantors also related musically, singing harmonies and counter melodies together (unlike the Three Tenors who were almost always soloists.)