2011 comes to an end. This is the planetarian calendar that is admitted by international agreement for "universal" connections. Jews continue their way in 5772 and Muslims go forward on the route of 1433. The Orthodox Church is in 7520. Our days, weeks, months are sliding down to the turn of 2011 into 2011 within some hours. Samoa decides to change its national viewpoint about their dates and hours today. May the Divine Presence accompany and lead and overshadow us into this new portion of time; may we get more and more aware of the "length, depth, width and breadth of our days and lives, their density and unique value for each soul and being. This is my only Service and reason to serve: oneness and unity and be a sign of at-one-ment. Blessed 2012, if it pleases to God!
For the sake of oneness and unity
For the sake of oneness and unity
The State of Israel encompasses people of "every tribe and tongue, people and nation" (Apocalypse 5:9) and John the Evangelist added :"After this, I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race people and tongue" (Apocalypse 7:9). It maybe intriguing to refer to the Book of Revelation that was written in Patmos by the very old evangelist who had known and accompanied Jesus to speak of today's Israel population as the State of the Jews (Judenstaat). In particular with regards to the actuality of the reading portion "Vayiggash\ויגש - then Judah went up to (Joseph)" (Genesis/Bereishit-בראשית 44:18-47:27).
In the previous weeks, we dealt with the seizure of a birthright (Jacob/Isaac), the sale of a brother (Joseph), i.e. powerful moms and wives. The chapters of Bereishit\בראשית (the Book of Genesis) constitute the fundamentals of human history and developments. They include some specific constant elements or "invariants" that recurrently question our society and conscience till the issues will be resolved in the future as the Prophets foretold.
Interestingly, the haftarah\הפטרה (prophetic reading) of this week is from the Prophet Ezekiel 37:16-28. It refers to the two sticks that should reunite Joseph and his son Ephraim with Judah so they will "no more be divided into two nations… they will be My people and I will be their God".
Chapter 37 of the accounts of the Prophet deals with the great vision of the dry bones that progressively rise from the earth and dust of the valley. They are reviving, bodies are to be shaped anew with sinews, muscles, skins and souls, bones matching bones (vetikrevu atzamot etzem el atzmo\ותקרבו עצמות עצם אל עצם). The Hebrew text suggests that the process of reviving each human being allows them attaining full consciousness of who they are to be beyond death.
Midrash Exodus Rabbah states that, at the time of Exodus, some children of Israel were too eager or, on the contrary, too slow to leave Egypt and thus perished in the desert, as things happened with the sons of Ephraim.
All these traditional comments may either be fascinating for the believers or pious God seeker. Jews can spend years on some few key verses of the TaNaKH or the Talmud. True, we feel that our memory capacity (zikkaron\זיכרון) cannot be obsolete. It speeds us into the future and encodes the verses with revised possible meanings for each generation.
Again, each Jew is told (it is a vivid tradition) that s/he personally participates in the Exodus at Pessach-פסח/Passover and be present at the giving of the Written and Oral Laws at Mount Sinai on Shavuot-שבועות/Pentecost. In a very similar way, each Christian Orthodox and Catholic faithful is present at the bread and wine shared by Jesus as a present-day event. “Zechor\זכור –Remember”upgrades, updates and prompts the move and even the jumping rush into the future”: it is definitely not a stiff memorial of old.
Thus, “zekhor et yom hashabbat lekodsho\זכור את יום השבת לקדשו – remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8; Deuteronomy 5:12) is a commandment that goes far beyond our own feelings or agendas. It recalls that “we were slaves in the land of Egypt” and that this miracle brings us back to the very first days of the creation, at a stage when there was "full unity" (“yom echad\יום אחד – day one, not first”; Bereishit 1:5).
Indeed, God Himself rested on the seventh day! Are we aware of such a reality when Israeli Jews often don’t greet the non-Jews on that day wishing “Shabbat shalom\שבת שלום”. We must pay much consideration to the commandment firstly respected by God?
This sort of problem shows with the relationships between Judah and Joseph. Who is really doing something for the sake of God and humankind? Who will endure or disappear?; and why? Joseph decided to keep Benjamin as a slave while the others would go and come back with Jacob. Since Judah did not come back with Joseph when they had sold him, Yehudah took the plight to redeem his soul with Binyamin.
Joseph was deeply moved and explained to them that he is their brother whom they had sold and that this was for the sake of saving all the family in due time. Such is the true and real challenge of our faith. Personal fates can become particularly meaningful over decades for the enhancement of a totally unexpected situation.
When Judah came back to Egypt with Yaakov, Pharaoh honored Israel and the 70 people who came with Jacob (Exodus/Shmot-שמות 1:5). They settled in the rich area of Goshen. On the other hand, Yaakov left the Land of Canaan, died in Egypt and was buried in the Land of Canaan with Pharaoh’s blessing (Genesis 50:6).
This tracks back again and again to the “70” nations. The root twists from the “shin to sin Hebrew letters”. “Sheva\שבע’ = 7” – “Shiva’h\שבעה – seven days of mourning, cf. creation); “shivi’im\שבעים – Aramaic: shavi’in\שבעין” = 70. A sort of oath totally in force: “shava’\שבע – to adjure”.
To begin with, Joseph questioned his brothers and Judah about his father because he was not convinced that Yaakov was still alive. Interestingly, Jacob had cheated his father Isaac and the tribe entered Egypt first to be saved and then enslaved, bearing the burden of sin.
Yaakov/Israel’s descent came into exile as the image of the 70 nations of the world. This firstly turned to be a blessing because they were fed at satiety: “save’a\שבע – sated, fulfilled, satisfied” as in “she (Israel) will eat in this world, have plenty in the messianic days and leave over for the world-to-come (olam atid\עולם עתיד)” (Tractate Sukka 52b).
There is a strange move: let's think it over: say we sold our brother for a project that cannot be resolved by any kind of anticipation whose solution. It would pre-suppose that he would save our family although we sinned as our father sinned before us; and thus we are as all the nations of the world. We are to enter a place of blessing and eat at satiety, feel or get wealthy.
You bet! we would subsequently be taken as slaves with the privilege to be freed by God’s Will. So, let’s take a mirror, call our psychoanalysts, rabbis, confessors, gurus, this move is persistent and concrete in personal life and the spiritual history of our communities. Is it a fluke, a wigging out episode, a bogus? Or simply a true event, full of peps…
This does track back to Lamech's laments: “If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-seven” (Bereishit 4:24). Because, Jews or Gentiles, we have been redeemed - like in bank speech “over long-term” – as the descent of a murderer. This changes wrongdoings into blessings by God’s understanding and wisdom. It does not mean that misdeeds ever can be signs of "blessings"; it implies that wrongdoings can be corrected and overcome, controlled and pardoned by Divine Presence.
The reality matches with Lamech’s words with Jesus’ response to Peter-Kaipha: “Not seven times, but seventy-seventy times you must forgive” (Matthew 18:22).
Then again, new clash: God is done with His creatures and decides to erase everything with a full flood. God thought it over and chose to save Noah and each sort of living being by couple. Noah’s descent, i.e. his three sons Japheth, Ham, Shem and his grandsons, are the Seventy different nations determined by their tongues. Again, the will of power will inspire them to build a tower to “make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all over the world” (Bereishit 11:4-9). Consequently, God decided to scatter them though it took centuries before people met with the natives in America and China-Japan, Africa and vice versa.
This linguistic breaking down according to Noah’s grandsons was ethnically consistent for many generations. It is rather a symbol opposing the first Hebrew consonant “alef\אלף” to the sixteenth letter “ayin\עין”, from “unity, teaching” to “70, division, source, eye, multitude”. It is of course not scientifically correct.
There are more than 3,000 living tongues and dialects in the world at the present. When a language disappears, some others show elsewhere! English is our Modern Aramaic, Greek, Latin, Lingua Franca vernacular. Nonetheless, it is fragmented in local hip hop, expressions, various "Anglo" and Pidgin dialects.
Just as the Chinese ideograms are visible marks of unity. Still, they are pronounced differently throughout continental China and overseas. are designed differently all over the world. We know that languages developed from instruments corresponding to weird sounds of some awkward dinosaurs to sophisticated human tools. Human language is indeed the only vocal instrument that can articulate and express such feelings as reconciliation.
The Talmud considers that God deliveerd His Word in 70 languages at the Sinai, Hebrew being the major element (Shabbat 88a) in a way that shows some similarity with the coming of the Spirit overshadowing “both Jews and converts to Judaism… al yet hearing in their own tongue (Acts of the Apostles 2:11).
Although the matter was a bit amazing and obscure, each member of the Sanhedrin was supposed to speak (all) the seventy languages of the nations (Sanhedrin 17a, Menachot 65b). This should be a source of reflection at the presence in all religious communities.
The conflict that is accounted this week between Joseph and Judah is still in force. When the kingdom of Israel disappeared, the only entity that subsisted was Judah. As Jews, we are the only descendants of a small part of the Twelve tribes.
The rest of the “Klal Israel\כלל ישראל” (Fulfillment of the Community of Israel) is a prophetic hope envisioning the ingathering of the whole House of Israel. It does include those who assimilated throughout history and vanished in various cultures and areas.In this view, the work that is carried out by "Shavei.org" to gather in the scattered and exiled and bring them back to Zion in the name and for the sake of unity is a great and remarkable task. It also questions about the real dimension of Redemption.
It is important to be aware that most of Israel’s tribes acculturated among the pagans and certainly adopted their lifestyles, beliefs. Some Chassidic movements are at least aware of the “sheilah\שילה” (question) as connected to the Noahide Laws reaching out the 70 Nations (ChaBaD) (blog: “Noah is avant-garde”).
The Noahide Laws are at the orgins of the Church decree taken by the first Synod of Jerusalem and the edict pronounced by the Jewish-born first bishop of Jerusalem Yaakov/Jacob. He could not even figure out any split from among the Jewish community. On the other hand, by citing the Noahide rules, he gave the rule that allowed the Non-Jews... (not the Jews who were and basically remain the natives of the Church) to enter the Covenant.
The revival of the dry bones and the bringing together of the two parts of the sticks “Of Judah and the Israelites associated with him” joined to “Of Joseph – the stick of Ephraim – all all the House of Israel associated with him” (Ezekiel 37:15-23) is a very long-term process.
It is theologically admitted that the Holy One positively accepts and responds to every true prayer for unity.
av aleksandr (Winogradsky Frenkel)
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
The Blessing of Lights
The blessing of Lights
Times to switch on the Lights.
Times to think that we were born, give birth to children, will birth from generation to generation. Times that show how much humans can seemingly be cupid, self-centered and still complain they are not taken into account. A year of shaking and quaking months will end according to the unversally recognized or accepted or current calendar. The Jews are in 5772, the Muslims entered 1433 recently. The Christians swings along different mesures: 2012 to come or 7520 for the Orthodox Christians.
The measure of time can be lengthy, short or broad, extending or compacted, eclipsed.
From Jerusalem, Hanukkah is a special feast. Some Jews would not accept to speak of "the dedication" of a Temple that would erroneously be considered as a political conflict. But the Temple, its construction and destruction are also a part of the spiritual path of the Christian world: Jesus taught in the place, he showed some violence and removed the merchants. He said it is possible to destroy the Temple and he would rebuild it in three days.
In Jerusalem, we are exbiance or Stimmung"pecting lights. Lightning and kindling candles of all sorts everywhere and for any purpose.
Hanukkah and Nativity are not times for children alone. Yes, people can feel so sweet, tender, lovely and loving; some need love pathetically. We need the "ambiance or Stimmung" and then... hope needs to be nurtured by the dynamics of some unexplained but real Divine Presence.
But at the heart of the Feasts, there is more: our commitment to openly witness to the Presence and reject idolatry, remove the idols and the vanity. To choose the personal and interior fight and spiritual combat to loving, sharing and rejoicing. Because there is this Light and its flickers along tiny days into times that we cannot envision and that are a part of destiny and responsibility, commitment to live and not to die away.
In January my new article will be published in the journal of the Franciscans of the Holy Land whose title is in French "TERRE SAINTE". Those who read French can appreciate the work done with passion and zealous care by the editor, French journalist Marie-Armelle Beaulieu. She loves this region and walks ahead of her life there as so many do. You can join and ask for the review.
Blessings be upon all, and may it reach out till the ends of this world and enhance, sustain all the living into a world of creation and good.
"AvAlex_Janv2012"
Times to switch on the Lights.
Times to think that we were born, give birth to children, will birth from generation to generation. Times that show how much humans can seemingly be cupid, self-centered and still complain they are not taken into account. A year of shaking and quaking months will end according to the unversally recognized or accepted or current calendar. The Jews are in 5772, the Muslims entered 1433 recently. The Christians swings along different mesures: 2012 to come or 7520 for the Orthodox Christians.
The measure of time can be lengthy, short or broad, extending or compacted, eclipsed.
From Jerusalem, Hanukkah is a special feast. Some Jews would not accept to speak of "the dedication" of a Temple that would erroneously be considered as a political conflict. But the Temple, its construction and destruction are also a part of the spiritual path of the Christian world: Jesus taught in the place, he showed some violence and removed the merchants. He said it is possible to destroy the Temple and he would rebuild it in three days.
In Jerusalem, we are exbiance or Stimmung"pecting lights. Lightning and kindling candles of all sorts everywhere and for any purpose.
Hanukkah and Nativity are not times for children alone. Yes, people can feel so sweet, tender, lovely and loving; some need love pathetically. We need the "ambiance or Stimmung" and then... hope needs to be nurtured by the dynamics of some unexplained but real Divine Presence.
But at the heart of the Feasts, there is more: our commitment to openly witness to the Presence and reject idolatry, remove the idols and the vanity. To choose the personal and interior fight and spiritual combat to loving, sharing and rejoicing. Because there is this Light and its flickers along tiny days into times that we cannot envision and that are a part of destiny and responsibility, commitment to live and not to die away.
In January my new article will be published in the journal of the Franciscans of the Holy Land whose title is in French "TERRE SAINTE". Those who read French can appreciate the work done with passion and zealous care by the editor, French journalist Marie-Armelle Beaulieu. She loves this region and walks ahead of her life there as so many do. You can join and ask for the review.
Blessings be upon all, and may it reach out till the ends of this world and enhance, sustain all the living into a world of creation and good.
"AvAlex_Janv2012"
Friday, December 16, 2011
The Value of Lights
The Value of Lights
Feasts are mostly recurrent and cherished rendezvous celebrated throughout the year. Hanukkah\חנוכה or the "Feast of the Lights" is a special moment. The festivities might have mentally begun for some people with Halloween. The Russians did introduce Santa Claus' clone festival in some Ded Moroz\Дед Мороз (Granpa "Freeze") mainly consisting of sweets, cakes, letters to get some gifts by the end of the civilian year. Well pumkins, carrots, Thanksgiving turkeys, chocolates...
It is time to get the sufganyot\סופגניות or jelly doughnuts that are more and more sophisticated. The Ashkenazi's prefer to add the "latkes\לאטקעס - fried potatoes pancakes". Of course a lot of balloons. We love balloons at all times in this country and a lot of mishloach\משלוח - gifts or chanikke-gelt\חנכה-געלט, special Hanukkah money for the children. Say that
We pass from what the Jews have always considered as the above "Gentile" Feasts to the miracle that happened in the Temple. Things are not so simple. It seems that, in mixed families, "Chrismukkah", combining Hanukkah with Christmas are slowly replaced by separate and more coherent feasts.
In the end, there is a kind of secular "chres'mas" feast that is more secular in some parts of the country, showing unclear X-mas trees and Santa Claus intertwined with candles...
With regards to Hanukkah, during eight days, we shall everywhere light the eight candles by using the first one, the shamash\שמש = server. Huge candelabra lightning usually organized by the Lubavitch ChaBaD. They also distribute small ones, more homely. Joyous days for times of uncertainty.
One thing is sure: light overcame and overcome darkness and " Nes Gadol Haya Po\נס גדול היה פה - a big miracle happened here (in Israel) or Sham\שם - there (as viewed from the diasporas)". It is more luminous to interrogate your “dreyd’l\דריידל or savivon\סביבון” (little top) about your future than any soothsayer in town.
Hanukkah is the only Jewish feast that leaps over two months: it starts on Kislev 24 (12/20) and ends on Tevet 2 (12/28/2011). The shamash\שמש (server) used to light the candles is the source of flushing sun brightness (shemesh\שמש). Indeed, Hanukkah is more lunar reminding about how the Moon births each month, then disappears still constantly showing again as a sign of Divine Providence and care.
Miracles are God's flickering winks. But even if God shows much confidence in us - quite unbelievable by the way! - what is more important to learn or experience this year through this feast? A victory? God's constancy? our survival and humankind's existence? Or God's shining pardon when we hardly can stand or appreciate each other?
The weekly reading portion reports how Joseph, Jacob's preferred son, had received a splendid tunic. His competences and good look inflamed his brother’s jealousy. They sold him to an Ishmaelite. There is a point: it made more sense to them to sell him rather than killing him. In the original text, there is no moral or spiritual discussion. Joseph could be killed. The brothers were more afraid of their father Yaakov than of God. By selling him, they could at least think they could "capture" the price of the tunic. Human societies as such that we also can prove the existence of tunics and "clothes" and still murder those who should or could wear them.
Joseph kept the moral attitude. He steadfastly refused to step down and be seduced by Potifar's wife. She put him to jail. There, he started interpreting dreams with insights and finally was called to explain Pharaoh's nightmares about some cows' forms.
He thus predicted seven super-productive years followed by seven years of hunger. So get ready to spare and develop your economic system was Joseph final touch to Pharaoh who assigned him as his chief governor. Last but not least, in Genesis 38, the role game between Tamar and Judah, who cheated and abused her... or each other.
With regards to cows and economic collapse, this is very up-to-date. Everywhere in the world soothsayers will show to explain how the upcoming years will be full of hardships, under- and unemployment growing in the rich countries, more indebtness and poverty. We raely feel responsible in such situations. Egoistic and self-centered reactions are the common rules.
We do not see or hear some prophets who could teach us the value of time, the wisdom of time and how we can "spend both time and values". This is why the Book of Kohelet is wise: there are indeed times and instants, delays, periods. It makes man human and humane to be able to "manage" in terms of righteousness and growth the time and measures that are entrusted to us.
This is totally on line with Hanukkah. It is evident that we can connect Hanukkah to the historical events that happened when the Syrian-Greek emperor Antiochus Epiphanes. He decided to annihilate the Jews in 167 B.C. We always focus on the Maccabean revolt and fight. True.
But, to begin with, it is important to underscore the frightful passivity of the Jews in times when pleasures, leisures and la-la land ways of living were more agreeable with some Greek tact than to make one's existence a sacrifice for the traditional realm of the Mitzvot-מצות/ Commandments.
This is a constant test for the Jews. We easily can trap ourselves in some pleasuring places and habits. The same as for Exodus from Egypt: once free in the desert, the ancestors regretted “the onions of Egypt”! – not some latkes or sufganyot for which one can get nuts and lose full dough.
In that particular case, they were ready to lose their souls and brains. They wanted to go back to the place where they could get but their usual food + slavery = wonderland.We are quite the same right now! The problem is that we are the world and Faith has spread all over the planet. "Exodus" would imply to get out from where we already went out but it is far more difficult to figure out. When peoples have been saved and released several times and convinced themselves and the others that the yare more free than anywhere else, it is not time to flee to March or the Moon or any other star to find some "Little Prince" and a new society to convince. We sit "put" in our prejudices and still want to be redeemed.
Some areas are so spoiled at the moment that they just cannot see that they are in the same situation as when decadence and sliding down morals were collapsing. On the one hand everything is cheap and still it costs huge amounts of money.
With regards to the Greek culture that had spread throughout ancient world, the prestige of the language, culture, refined lifestyles, ancient Greek salads or so as we do love them, the music that spaces us out, all these habits developed into slowdowns toward the observance of the Jewish traditions and Temples services.
At least, Greek culture focuses on beauty, absence of scars, hedonistic and philosophical positions. The Jews got re-operated – rejecting Judaism and the sign of circumcision – in order to participate, for example, in the Olympic games.
Is it so remote from our way of living? We live in a Jewish State. A blessing - good enough! If we can really and freely accept the yoke of the mitzvot/Divine Commandments. It may happen that we behave as part-time new pagan peoples that arrived in Israel from all the parts of the world.
We would not wear one kippah or woman head cover at home (abroad) and suddenly would get three on the top. At some bus stations very pious young boys and girls are disguised like Halloween pumpkins avatars till they get into the bus, put on the yarmulke (skull caps), change their look into more modest dress.
A real jew has to comply with constraints that are not easy to observe and require in-depth education and training. Thus, the Maccabees acted as true fighters, but in a way that is rather similar to the despotism imposed by the then hated Greeks.
The problem was that the Syrian-Greek emperor decided to destroy the Jewish way of living by imposing a ban on three major "Mitzvot" / Commandments of the Torah: a) To cancel the sanctifying of the New Month (Rosh chodesh\ראש חודש); b) To abolish the Brit-Milah\ברית מילה (circumcision) the sign of the Covenant with Abraham; and c) To suppress the celebration of the Shabbat\שבת, the day on which the Jewish Community recognizes that God is the Creator of the Universe and that He gave His Law (Torah\תורה) in order to comply with His Will.
The High Priest Matityahu ben Yohanan, from the town of Modi'in decided to fight Antiochus in order to preserve the values. Was it a “national - nationalistic” movement? Is it possible to speak of "ethnic/ethnicity the way it is rather trendy, in particular in the New World Eastern Orthodoxy Churches?
The actions conducted by the High Priest and his family mainly preserved a conscience of God's Presence and reality, His morals and Words. They evicted the oppressors after three years of harsh struggle but the victory was mainly a spiritual miracle. They took over the Temple of Jerusalem. Thus they had to purify and to re-dedicate it. They found a single cruse of olive oil and could light the lamps of the menorah (candelabra, a "lamp" in Hebrew), which burnt for eight days in a row.
The miracle of the light showed at that time the importance of spiritual struggle and resistance, which are still very much an up-to-date challenge. We might often give up our religious forces and abandon the commandments of God.
Acommunity of faithful can be destroyed by using two different methods. This does not only concern the Jewish Community but also the Christians:
a) Physical annihilation as the Jews were exterminated during World War II at the time of the Shoah-שואה/ Churban\חורבן (reduction to nothing) (catastrophe) and previously mentioned in the Bible in the small scroll of Esther. This is the Feast of Purim.
b) Cultural annihilation, which is often very subtle and not very clearly determined. The purifying of the Temple by the Hasmoneans shows this particular kind of spiritual behavior giving to God the right and first place. In the Christian world this is very similar to the spiritual resistance of the saints and martyrs throughout history, especially over the 20th century.
The first step of the struggle conducted by the Maccabees ended on 25 Kislev and this is one of the explanations given for the name of the Feast: Hanukkah, i.e. "HaNUKH\הנוח" = "they rested [on the KH = 25\כ''ה]".
In fact the word is mentioned in the Second Book of the Maccabees since Hanukkah is "dedication, inauguration" (Talmud Tractate Shabbat 21b). This tiny lamp of oil was found unexpectedly. Would it be possible to compared this to the song we sing during Pessach: “Dayeinu\דינו” :”If God had only done such and such a miracle… that would have sufficed”?
Indeed, we are not strong in confessing (our) faith. At times, we might understand that what is imperiled, in ourselves as in our society, is precisely God’s Presence and steadfastness. It did suffice for God’s witnesses that one single oil lamp was ready to burn. They rededicated the Temple.
In this respect, Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount are interesting: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses it taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is not longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father” (Matthew 5:13-17).
Av aleksandr (Winogradsky Frenkel
Feasts are mostly recurrent and cherished rendezvous celebrated throughout the year. Hanukkah\חנוכה or the "Feast of the Lights" is a special moment. The festivities might have mentally begun for some people with Halloween. The Russians did introduce Santa Claus' clone festival in some Ded Moroz\Дед Мороз (Granpa "Freeze") mainly consisting of sweets, cakes, letters to get some gifts by the end of the civilian year. Well pumkins, carrots, Thanksgiving turkeys, chocolates...
It is time to get the sufganyot\סופגניות or jelly doughnuts that are more and more sophisticated. The Ashkenazi's prefer to add the "latkes\לאטקעס - fried potatoes pancakes". Of course a lot of balloons. We love balloons at all times in this country and a lot of mishloach\משלוח - gifts or chanikke-gelt\חנכה-געלט, special Hanukkah money for the children. Say that
We pass from what the Jews have always considered as the above "Gentile" Feasts to the miracle that happened in the Temple. Things are not so simple. It seems that, in mixed families, "Chrismukkah", combining Hanukkah with Christmas are slowly replaced by separate and more coherent feasts.
In the end, there is a kind of secular "chres'mas" feast that is more secular in some parts of the country, showing unclear X-mas trees and Santa Claus intertwined with candles...
With regards to Hanukkah, during eight days, we shall everywhere light the eight candles by using the first one, the shamash\שמש = server. Huge candelabra lightning usually organized by the Lubavitch ChaBaD. They also distribute small ones, more homely. Joyous days for times of uncertainty.
One thing is sure: light overcame and overcome darkness and " Nes Gadol Haya Po\נס גדול היה פה - a big miracle happened here (in Israel) or Sham\שם - there (as viewed from the diasporas)". It is more luminous to interrogate your “dreyd’l\דריידל or savivon\סביבון” (little top) about your future than any soothsayer in town.
Hanukkah is the only Jewish feast that leaps over two months: it starts on Kislev 24 (12/20) and ends on Tevet 2 (12/28/2011). The shamash\שמש (server) used to light the candles is the source of flushing sun brightness (shemesh\שמש). Indeed, Hanukkah is more lunar reminding about how the Moon births each month, then disappears still constantly showing again as a sign of Divine Providence and care.
Miracles are God's flickering winks. But even if God shows much confidence in us - quite unbelievable by the way! - what is more important to learn or experience this year through this feast? A victory? God's constancy? our survival and humankind's existence? Or God's shining pardon when we hardly can stand or appreciate each other?
The weekly reading portion reports how Joseph, Jacob's preferred son, had received a splendid tunic. His competences and good look inflamed his brother’s jealousy. They sold him to an Ishmaelite. There is a point: it made more sense to them to sell him rather than killing him. In the original text, there is no moral or spiritual discussion. Joseph could be killed. The brothers were more afraid of their father Yaakov than of God. By selling him, they could at least think they could "capture" the price of the tunic. Human societies as such that we also can prove the existence of tunics and "clothes" and still murder those who should or could wear them.
Joseph kept the moral attitude. He steadfastly refused to step down and be seduced by Potifar's wife. She put him to jail. There, he started interpreting dreams with insights and finally was called to explain Pharaoh's nightmares about some cows' forms.
He thus predicted seven super-productive years followed by seven years of hunger. So get ready to spare and develop your economic system was Joseph final touch to Pharaoh who assigned him as his chief governor. Last but not least, in Genesis 38, the role game between Tamar and Judah, who cheated and abused her... or each other.
With regards to cows and economic collapse, this is very up-to-date. Everywhere in the world soothsayers will show to explain how the upcoming years will be full of hardships, under- and unemployment growing in the rich countries, more indebtness and poverty. We raely feel responsible in such situations. Egoistic and self-centered reactions are the common rules.
We do not see or hear some prophets who could teach us the value of time, the wisdom of time and how we can "spend both time and values". This is why the Book of Kohelet is wise: there are indeed times and instants, delays, periods. It makes man human and humane to be able to "manage" in terms of righteousness and growth the time and measures that are entrusted to us.
This is totally on line with Hanukkah. It is evident that we can connect Hanukkah to the historical events that happened when the Syrian-Greek emperor Antiochus Epiphanes. He decided to annihilate the Jews in 167 B.C. We always focus on the Maccabean revolt and fight. True.
But, to begin with, it is important to underscore the frightful passivity of the Jews in times when pleasures, leisures and la-la land ways of living were more agreeable with some Greek tact than to make one's existence a sacrifice for the traditional realm of the Mitzvot-מצות/ Commandments.
This is a constant test for the Jews. We easily can trap ourselves in some pleasuring places and habits. The same as for Exodus from Egypt: once free in the desert, the ancestors regretted “the onions of Egypt”! – not some latkes or sufganyot for which one can get nuts and lose full dough.
In that particular case, they were ready to lose their souls and brains. They wanted to go back to the place where they could get but their usual food + slavery = wonderland.We are quite the same right now! The problem is that we are the world and Faith has spread all over the planet. "Exodus" would imply to get out from where we already went out but it is far more difficult to figure out. When peoples have been saved and released several times and convinced themselves and the others that the yare more free than anywhere else, it is not time to flee to March or the Moon or any other star to find some "Little Prince" and a new society to convince. We sit "put" in our prejudices and still want to be redeemed.
Some areas are so spoiled at the moment that they just cannot see that they are in the same situation as when decadence and sliding down morals were collapsing. On the one hand everything is cheap and still it costs huge amounts of money.
With regards to the Greek culture that had spread throughout ancient world, the prestige of the language, culture, refined lifestyles, ancient Greek salads or so as we do love them, the music that spaces us out, all these habits developed into slowdowns toward the observance of the Jewish traditions and Temples services.
At least, Greek culture focuses on beauty, absence of scars, hedonistic and philosophical positions. The Jews got re-operated – rejecting Judaism and the sign of circumcision – in order to participate, for example, in the Olympic games.
Is it so remote from our way of living? We live in a Jewish State. A blessing - good enough! If we can really and freely accept the yoke of the mitzvot/Divine Commandments. It may happen that we behave as part-time new pagan peoples that arrived in Israel from all the parts of the world.
We would not wear one kippah or woman head cover at home (abroad) and suddenly would get three on the top. At some bus stations very pious young boys and girls are disguised like Halloween pumpkins avatars till they get into the bus, put on the yarmulke (skull caps), change their look into more modest dress.
A real jew has to comply with constraints that are not easy to observe and require in-depth education and training. Thus, the Maccabees acted as true fighters, but in a way that is rather similar to the despotism imposed by the then hated Greeks.
The problem was that the Syrian-Greek emperor decided to destroy the Jewish way of living by imposing a ban on three major "Mitzvot" / Commandments of the Torah: a) To cancel the sanctifying of the New Month (Rosh chodesh\ראש חודש); b) To abolish the Brit-Milah\ברית מילה (circumcision) the sign of the Covenant with Abraham; and c) To suppress the celebration of the Shabbat\שבת, the day on which the Jewish Community recognizes that God is the Creator of the Universe and that He gave His Law (Torah\תורה) in order to comply with His Will.
The High Priest Matityahu ben Yohanan, from the town of Modi'in decided to fight Antiochus in order to preserve the values. Was it a “national - nationalistic” movement? Is it possible to speak of "ethnic/ethnicity the way it is rather trendy, in particular in the New World Eastern Orthodoxy Churches?
The actions conducted by the High Priest and his family mainly preserved a conscience of God's Presence and reality, His morals and Words. They evicted the oppressors after three years of harsh struggle but the victory was mainly a spiritual miracle. They took over the Temple of Jerusalem. Thus they had to purify and to re-dedicate it. They found a single cruse of olive oil and could light the lamps of the menorah (candelabra, a "lamp" in Hebrew), which burnt for eight days in a row.
The miracle of the light showed at that time the importance of spiritual struggle and resistance, which are still very much an up-to-date challenge. We might often give up our religious forces and abandon the commandments of God.
Acommunity of faithful can be destroyed by using two different methods. This does not only concern the Jewish Community but also the Christians:
a) Physical annihilation as the Jews were exterminated during World War II at the time of the Shoah-שואה/ Churban\חורבן (reduction to nothing) (catastrophe) and previously mentioned in the Bible in the small scroll of Esther. This is the Feast of Purim.
b) Cultural annihilation, which is often very subtle and not very clearly determined. The purifying of the Temple by the Hasmoneans shows this particular kind of spiritual behavior giving to God the right and first place. In the Christian world this is very similar to the spiritual resistance of the saints and martyrs throughout history, especially over the 20th century.
The first step of the struggle conducted by the Maccabees ended on 25 Kislev and this is one of the explanations given for the name of the Feast: Hanukkah, i.e. "HaNUKH\הנוח" = "they rested [on the KH = 25\כ''ה]".
In fact the word is mentioned in the Second Book of the Maccabees since Hanukkah is "dedication, inauguration" (Talmud Tractate Shabbat 21b). This tiny lamp of oil was found unexpectedly. Would it be possible to compared this to the song we sing during Pessach: “Dayeinu\דינו” :”If God had only done such and such a miracle… that would have sufficed”?
Indeed, we are not strong in confessing (our) faith. At times, we might understand that what is imperiled, in ourselves as in our society, is precisely God’s Presence and steadfastness. It did suffice for God’s witnesses that one single oil lamp was ready to burn. They rededicated the Temple.
In this respect, Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount are interesting: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses it taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is not longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father” (Matthew 5:13-17).
Av aleksandr (Winogradsky Frenkel
CLIQUONS!
CLIQUONS!
Il y a une véritable manie actuellement: tout le monde se copie plus ou moins et il n'est pas certain que cela soit avec bonheur: CLIQUER ET FAIRE UN DON. MORT DE RIRE! LOL! LAUGH AND LAUGHTERS! khakhakha comme on dirait en hebreu!
Un côté futile et dérisoire. Mais tout le monde a besoin de dons. Un buzzard que j'ai rencontré en ligne a même inventé un système où il joue son "honnêteté": ne faire des dons que dans la mesure où il en a besoin: d'où l'affichage d'un thermomètre (entre la mesure du degré d'alcool et cela de la froidure). Si les dons atteignent un certain niveau, plus besoin de cliquer!
Un autre problème: donner pourquoi et pour quoi? Il y a des grandes causes. Il y a des organismes internationaux et ceux-ci sont vraiment habilités à recevoir des dons. Je donne toujorus l'exemple du MAGEN DAVID ADOM/L'ETOILE DE DAVID ROUGE qui correspond à la Croix Rouge Internationale et qui vient e naide partout sur le territoire israélien et même dans les Territoires pour soigner et sauver, assister en cas de problèmes de santé, en cas de violence. Je crois être le seul prêtre orthodoxe à recommander de faire des dons à cette organisation. De même, il y a l'hôpital HADASSAH dont les actions sont vraiment comparable à celles d'une communauté inter-confessionnelle au service de l'être humain.
Pour ma part, je n'ai jamais fait vraiment appel à des dons de manière systématique. J'a iexpliqué dans mon blog (Qiyum/Existence) que, de ce fait, l'Eglise me m'a jamais rémunéré (sauf dans le cas de cours donnés dans un cadre officiel où elle y était légalement contrainte). J'ai assuré pendant 15 ans la création, l'aumônerie des malades d'un quartier avec otute la chagre pastoral et la préparation sacramentelle (je n'étais pas membre du clergé alors). L'adminiombreuses personnes.stration diocésaine, sachant que j'y passais un service de temps complet, ne m'a jamais dédomagé ni songé à me donner un lettre de mission. Cela l'aurait contrainte, par la Loi, à me rémunérer comme elle l'a fait pour de nombreuses personnes.
Il y a plusieurs raisons à cela. Tout d'abord et avant tout, cette attitude est générale envers les Juifs qui offrent totalement leur vie au service de l'Eglise. Je pourrais allonger une liste stupéfiante. Beaucoup ont vécu comme des "mendiants". On vient de clébrer l'anniversaire de l'archevêque épiscopalien S. schereschorwsky de Shanghai qui fut d'abord un juif pieux et fut nommé prêtre puis évêque de Shanghai. En 1927, il rencontra les juifs de Kai Feng en Chine en attesta de leur existence. Paralysé, il tapa à deux doigts la version en chinois dsa Two Finger Bible dont la version reste fort appréciée et termina ses jours à Tokyo.
Lorsque j'ai commencé mon ministère à Jérusalem - directement envoyé par le patriarche oecuménique - certains occidentaux ont dit à mno sujet en souriant: "Il a ce qu'il a voulu!" Il est plus facile de mener une vie iconique ou sécurisée et même en dispute avec les autres dans un cadre que l'on connait; pour ma part, je suis au service de cette réalité culturelle et humaine qu'est Israël, la culture israélienne, le renouveau de cett culture et de cette civilisation (on peut le dire). Il correspond à un moment majeur du renouveau et du changement de la société chrétienne au Proche-Orient et dans les Eglises locales traditionnelles.
Habitant sur le toit du Saint Sépulcre ou Anastasis, je suis le seul prêtre poly-culturel (israélien, russe, ukrainien, anglo, français, néerlando-allemand et autres...) à vivre au sein d'un patriarcat orthodoxe de Jérusalem qui subit des mutations fascinantes. Elles restent inconnues de l'intérieur.
Je suis aussi en lien avec le judaisme ultra-orthodoxe comme avec les "révolté(e)s" de la société (marginaux, gens de la rue, poètes et écrivains, artistes, LGBT).
Je croise depuis une quarantaine d'années des personnes qui s'acharnent à suivre des cours d'hébreu de tous genres. A l'expérience, il ne savent ni lire, ni comprendre les subtilités de cette langue et rares sont ceux qui le font avec discernement pour comprendre la nouveauté radicale de l'Etat d'Israël.
Le P. Kurt Hruby disait avec bon sens que la plupart des personnes sont en fait travaillées par une ssorte de culpabilité envers le peuple juif, généré par la Shoah et une prise de conscience de l'après-guerre. Celle-ci est dépassée aujourd'hui; elle s'est changée en autre chose. Des sentiments diffus que l'hébraïté réapparaît dans un contexte où Israël, la culture juive viennent interroger l'Eglise sur son authenticité et son rapport envers la communauté juive.
Il est bien plus aisé et "payant" d'affirmer une identité contestable au sein de l'Eglise ou d'un groupe clairement d'Eglise plutôt que de se lancer dans un travail de longue haleine où chacun n'est qu'un maillon temporaire mais qui est plus cohérent sur le long terme. Les "Béatitutde" comme la Théophanie et d'autres groupes catholiques et/ou messianiques se brisent et sont brisés par l'ambiguités de leur positions ou encore leurs déviances, y compris juridiques comme nous l'avons constaté récemment. Pourtant, Messianiques ou Evangélistes ou autres sont tous des gens de bonnes volonté.
La "classes des prêtres" en Israël n'avait pas de territoire tribal. Il revenait comme il revient toujours aux descendants des tribus - aux membre de l'Eglise pour ceux qui sont chrétiens dans ce temps de l'économie, d'assurer la subsistance de ceux qui offrent les Sacrifices. C'est à la fois gratuit et providentiel. Cela procède de la compréhension d'un Dessein divin qui implique de "tout quitter pour le service de Dieu et des êtres humains".
Lorsque saint François d'Assise fut battu, volé et laissé pour mort par les brigands qui le laissèrent sans rien, il revint à lui-même et éclata d'un grand rire. Oui, Dieu pourvoit. Oui, de fait, il n'y a pas de raisons de s'inquiéter de ce que nous mangerons, de ce dont nous nous vêtirons. Les moineaux de Jérusalem sont mieux habillés que le roi Salomon et cela reste vrai.
De même, le saint Curé d'Ars avait bâti une école pour jeunes filles. Il n'avait rien pour qu'elles puissent survivre. Pourtant il dédia son institution à la Divine Providence et reçut de quoi développer cette institution.
La tradition orientale est riche de ces "stranniki/странники "qui sillonnent à nouveau l'immense territoire de la Russie. Mais combien de saintes personnes sont ainsi venues à pied en Terre Sainte et à Jérusalem, issues de cette vénérable tradition slave du Pèlerin russe, en quête de Dieu et de l'humanité vraie.
Il y a aujourd'hui une mode: la possibilité de faire des dons et de les déduire (à hauteur d'un certain montant) de la déclaration d'impo^t. Cela paraît juste. Cela peut aider des organismes et associations caritatives qui ont pour but de secourir des malades ou des situations sociales dans la société.
Cela n'est pas possible à mon sens dans la foi. La vie de foi implique que l'on fasse don de la "dîme/le dixième" de ses bien à la communauté religieuse; si par ailleurs on fait des dons à un mouvement d'Eglise (je ne veux pas parler de synagogues), il faut garder l'image de la veuve qui a donné sa dernière piécette dans le Temple. Elle a donné de son nécessaire. Elle se remet donc à cette Providence qui marque en quoi Dieu sait ce dont nous avons besoin.
Certains m'ont généreusement aidé - par exemple à certains moment. Ce qui devient intéressant c'est le motif qu'ils ont donné soit pour continuer ou pour arrêter. Il y a de la versatilité en cela, une profonde instabilité qu'il faut pouvoir démasquer et clarifier. Certains ont dit qu'ils m'avaient aidé parce que j'ai une fille handicapée.
Ce fut un faux prétexte! Mais il est intéressant d' yregarder de plus près: ma fille est socialement et financièrement la personne la plus assurée; elle dispose selon la lois des pensions handicapées prévues par la Loi; elle a un travail rémunéré. Elle a une "base sociale" bien plus assurée que son frère qui comme tout autre personne normale dans la société doit faire son chemin et assurer sa carrière.
Mais le plus "amusant" c'est que jamais les personnes qui ont aidé "à cause de cette fille handicapée" au grand jamais ils n'ont tépéhoné pour prendre de ses nouvelles, suivre son évolution.
La multiplication des "points de cliquage DON, DONATE" offre une autre curiosité mentale; on peut parler de "mental" dans la mesure où le monde religieux est souvent étroitement cupide sans donner dans le Cupidon de la foi!!! Il y a de la concurrence dans l'air, une course après les sous qui est capable d'ignorer la décence. La vie de foi implique autre chose.
Parmi mes "paroissiens", j'ai de nombreuses personnes rescapées - comme moi-même - du "goulag ou assimilé". J'ai été aussi dans une situation assez similaire. Cela provoque des réactions communes. Ne jamais taper dans notre dos, parler de manière réfléchie et parcimonieuse. En revanche, nous connaissons de l'intérieur le prix de notre liberté et de notre foi.
Je l'ai senti aussi avec le Père Elia Shmain qui a aussi souffert dans les goulags et par la maladie de savie qui finit par se suicider à Moscou.
Mon cacner de la thyroide est guéri. Je puis le dire parce que c'est le seul cancer dont on soit sûr qu'il peut être guéri. Cela a pris trois années. La hiérarchie ne m'a aidé en rien, pas même prendre de mes nouvelles, ni demander s'il était utile de donner un coup de main. D'autres en ont profité pour me donner des conseils sur où et comment je devais vivre. C'est facile à dire quand on court l'aristocratie hiérarchique du moment e nvue de se caser. D'autres en ont profiter pour s'étonner que je sois toujours en ministère.
Nul ne connait vraiment le secret de ce que représente la vocation à servir Dieu. Cela rejoint le sens de la Providence dont nul ne possède le "code ou le mot de passe". Elle ne peut être ritualisée. Elle ne peut être comprise dans ses temps et contre-temps. Il y a des temps ou Dieu donne, d'autres où Il éprouve, teste, met au défi. Ceal donne aussi sens à l'Incarnation, donc à la fête de Noël. Il ya plus: cela donne la densité de l'espérance du Retour du Seigneur.
Si vous avez l'idée que vous pouvez faire don d'une partie de vous n"cessaire: cliquez sur ce site:https://sites.google.com/site/hebrewinchurch/.
Sur la première page, cliquez sur DONATE et faite votre don en ligne. Il est sécurisé par PAYPAL. Je vous répondrai. Votre nom et ceux des perssonnes que vous m'indiquerez seront lus pendant mon office de nuit au-dessus du Saint-Sépulcre pendant un an. C'est le suel lie, avec le Golgotha proche, où toute être humain peut être nommé dans la prière orthodoxe.
Nous vivons une époque et un temps de grande difficultés humaines, économiques, professionnelles, internationales. Si vous pensez qu'un prêtre israélien, juif de naissance et servant de multiples cultures pour affirmer le Règne de Dieu dans notre société a du sens, merci pour vos dons.
Bonne et sainte fin de l'an (international) 2011 à l'approche des saintes fêtes de la Nativité, de Hanouccah et de la Théophanie.
av aleksandr
Il y a une véritable manie actuellement: tout le monde se copie plus ou moins et il n'est pas certain que cela soit avec bonheur: CLIQUER ET FAIRE UN DON. MORT DE RIRE! LOL! LAUGH AND LAUGHTERS! khakhakha comme on dirait en hebreu!
Un côté futile et dérisoire. Mais tout le monde a besoin de dons. Un buzzard que j'ai rencontré en ligne a même inventé un système où il joue son "honnêteté": ne faire des dons que dans la mesure où il en a besoin: d'où l'affichage d'un thermomètre (entre la mesure du degré d'alcool et cela de la froidure). Si les dons atteignent un certain niveau, plus besoin de cliquer!
Un autre problème: donner pourquoi et pour quoi? Il y a des grandes causes. Il y a des organismes internationaux et ceux-ci sont vraiment habilités à recevoir des dons. Je donne toujorus l'exemple du MAGEN DAVID ADOM/L'ETOILE DE DAVID ROUGE qui correspond à la Croix Rouge Internationale et qui vient e naide partout sur le territoire israélien et même dans les Territoires pour soigner et sauver, assister en cas de problèmes de santé, en cas de violence. Je crois être le seul prêtre orthodoxe à recommander de faire des dons à cette organisation. De même, il y a l'hôpital HADASSAH dont les actions sont vraiment comparable à celles d'une communauté inter-confessionnelle au service de l'être humain.
Pour ma part, je n'ai jamais fait vraiment appel à des dons de manière systématique. J'a iexpliqué dans mon blog (Qiyum/Existence) que, de ce fait, l'Eglise me m'a jamais rémunéré (sauf dans le cas de cours donnés dans un cadre officiel où elle y était légalement contrainte). J'ai assuré pendant 15 ans la création, l'aumônerie des malades d'un quartier avec otute la chagre pastoral et la préparation sacramentelle (je n'étais pas membre du clergé alors). L'adminiombreuses personnes.stration diocésaine, sachant que j'y passais un service de temps complet, ne m'a jamais dédomagé ni songé à me donner un lettre de mission. Cela l'aurait contrainte, par la Loi, à me rémunérer comme elle l'a fait pour de nombreuses personnes.
Il y a plusieurs raisons à cela. Tout d'abord et avant tout, cette attitude est générale envers les Juifs qui offrent totalement leur vie au service de l'Eglise. Je pourrais allonger une liste stupéfiante. Beaucoup ont vécu comme des "mendiants". On vient de clébrer l'anniversaire de l'archevêque épiscopalien S. schereschorwsky de Shanghai qui fut d'abord un juif pieux et fut nommé prêtre puis évêque de Shanghai. En 1927, il rencontra les juifs de Kai Feng en Chine en attesta de leur existence. Paralysé, il tapa à deux doigts la version en chinois dsa Two Finger Bible dont la version reste fort appréciée et termina ses jours à Tokyo.
Lorsque j'ai commencé mon ministère à Jérusalem - directement envoyé par le patriarche oecuménique - certains occidentaux ont dit à mno sujet en souriant: "Il a ce qu'il a voulu!" Il est plus facile de mener une vie iconique ou sécurisée et même en dispute avec les autres dans un cadre que l'on connait; pour ma part, je suis au service de cette réalité culturelle et humaine qu'est Israël, la culture israélienne, le renouveau de cett culture et de cette civilisation (on peut le dire). Il correspond à un moment majeur du renouveau et du changement de la société chrétienne au Proche-Orient et dans les Eglises locales traditionnelles.
Habitant sur le toit du Saint Sépulcre ou Anastasis, je suis le seul prêtre poly-culturel (israélien, russe, ukrainien, anglo, français, néerlando-allemand et autres...) à vivre au sein d'un patriarcat orthodoxe de Jérusalem qui subit des mutations fascinantes. Elles restent inconnues de l'intérieur.
Je suis aussi en lien avec le judaisme ultra-orthodoxe comme avec les "révolté(e)s" de la société (marginaux, gens de la rue, poètes et écrivains, artistes, LGBT).
Je croise depuis une quarantaine d'années des personnes qui s'acharnent à suivre des cours d'hébreu de tous genres. A l'expérience, il ne savent ni lire, ni comprendre les subtilités de cette langue et rares sont ceux qui le font avec discernement pour comprendre la nouveauté radicale de l'Etat d'Israël.
Le P. Kurt Hruby disait avec bon sens que la plupart des personnes sont en fait travaillées par une ssorte de culpabilité envers le peuple juif, généré par la Shoah et une prise de conscience de l'après-guerre. Celle-ci est dépassée aujourd'hui; elle s'est changée en autre chose. Des sentiments diffus que l'hébraïté réapparaît dans un contexte où Israël, la culture juive viennent interroger l'Eglise sur son authenticité et son rapport envers la communauté juive.
Il est bien plus aisé et "payant" d'affirmer une identité contestable au sein de l'Eglise ou d'un groupe clairement d'Eglise plutôt que de se lancer dans un travail de longue haleine où chacun n'est qu'un maillon temporaire mais qui est plus cohérent sur le long terme. Les "Béatitutde" comme la Théophanie et d'autres groupes catholiques et/ou messianiques se brisent et sont brisés par l'ambiguités de leur positions ou encore leurs déviances, y compris juridiques comme nous l'avons constaté récemment. Pourtant, Messianiques ou Evangélistes ou autres sont tous des gens de bonnes volonté.
La "classes des prêtres" en Israël n'avait pas de territoire tribal. Il revenait comme il revient toujours aux descendants des tribus - aux membre de l'Eglise pour ceux qui sont chrétiens dans ce temps de l'économie, d'assurer la subsistance de ceux qui offrent les Sacrifices. C'est à la fois gratuit et providentiel. Cela procède de la compréhension d'un Dessein divin qui implique de "tout quitter pour le service de Dieu et des êtres humains".
Lorsque saint François d'Assise fut battu, volé et laissé pour mort par les brigands qui le laissèrent sans rien, il revint à lui-même et éclata d'un grand rire. Oui, Dieu pourvoit. Oui, de fait, il n'y a pas de raisons de s'inquiéter de ce que nous mangerons, de ce dont nous nous vêtirons. Les moineaux de Jérusalem sont mieux habillés que le roi Salomon et cela reste vrai.
De même, le saint Curé d'Ars avait bâti une école pour jeunes filles. Il n'avait rien pour qu'elles puissent survivre. Pourtant il dédia son institution à la Divine Providence et reçut de quoi développer cette institution.
La tradition orientale est riche de ces "stranniki/странники "qui sillonnent à nouveau l'immense territoire de la Russie. Mais combien de saintes personnes sont ainsi venues à pied en Terre Sainte et à Jérusalem, issues de cette vénérable tradition slave du Pèlerin russe, en quête de Dieu et de l'humanité vraie.
Il y a aujourd'hui une mode: la possibilité de faire des dons et de les déduire (à hauteur d'un certain montant) de la déclaration d'impo^t. Cela paraît juste. Cela peut aider des organismes et associations caritatives qui ont pour but de secourir des malades ou des situations sociales dans la société.
Cela n'est pas possible à mon sens dans la foi. La vie de foi implique que l'on fasse don de la "dîme/le dixième" de ses bien à la communauté religieuse; si par ailleurs on fait des dons à un mouvement d'Eglise (je ne veux pas parler de synagogues), il faut garder l'image de la veuve qui a donné sa dernière piécette dans le Temple. Elle a donné de son nécessaire. Elle se remet donc à cette Providence qui marque en quoi Dieu sait ce dont nous avons besoin.
Certains m'ont généreusement aidé - par exemple à certains moment. Ce qui devient intéressant c'est le motif qu'ils ont donné soit pour continuer ou pour arrêter. Il y a de la versatilité en cela, une profonde instabilité qu'il faut pouvoir démasquer et clarifier. Certains ont dit qu'ils m'avaient aidé parce que j'ai une fille handicapée.
Ce fut un faux prétexte! Mais il est intéressant d' yregarder de plus près: ma fille est socialement et financièrement la personne la plus assurée; elle dispose selon la lois des pensions handicapées prévues par la Loi; elle a un travail rémunéré. Elle a une "base sociale" bien plus assurée que son frère qui comme tout autre personne normale dans la société doit faire son chemin et assurer sa carrière.
Mais le plus "amusant" c'est que jamais les personnes qui ont aidé "à cause de cette fille handicapée" au grand jamais ils n'ont tépéhoné pour prendre de ses nouvelles, suivre son évolution.
La multiplication des "points de cliquage DON, DONATE" offre une autre curiosité mentale; on peut parler de "mental" dans la mesure où le monde religieux est souvent étroitement cupide sans donner dans le Cupidon de la foi!!! Il y a de la concurrence dans l'air, une course après les sous qui est capable d'ignorer la décence. La vie de foi implique autre chose.
Parmi mes "paroissiens", j'ai de nombreuses personnes rescapées - comme moi-même - du "goulag ou assimilé". J'ai été aussi dans une situation assez similaire. Cela provoque des réactions communes. Ne jamais taper dans notre dos, parler de manière réfléchie et parcimonieuse. En revanche, nous connaissons de l'intérieur le prix de notre liberté et de notre foi.
Je l'ai senti aussi avec le Père Elia Shmain qui a aussi souffert dans les goulags et par la maladie de savie qui finit par se suicider à Moscou.
Mon cacner de la thyroide est guéri. Je puis le dire parce que c'est le seul cancer dont on soit sûr qu'il peut être guéri. Cela a pris trois années. La hiérarchie ne m'a aidé en rien, pas même prendre de mes nouvelles, ni demander s'il était utile de donner un coup de main. D'autres en ont profité pour me donner des conseils sur où et comment je devais vivre. C'est facile à dire quand on court l'aristocratie hiérarchique du moment e nvue de se caser. D'autres en ont profiter pour s'étonner que je sois toujours en ministère.
Nul ne connait vraiment le secret de ce que représente la vocation à servir Dieu. Cela rejoint le sens de la Providence dont nul ne possède le "code ou le mot de passe". Elle ne peut être ritualisée. Elle ne peut être comprise dans ses temps et contre-temps. Il y a des temps ou Dieu donne, d'autres où Il éprouve, teste, met au défi. Ceal donne aussi sens à l'Incarnation, donc à la fête de Noël. Il ya plus: cela donne la densité de l'espérance du Retour du Seigneur.
Si vous avez l'idée que vous pouvez faire don d'une partie de vous n"cessaire: cliquez sur ce site:https://sites.google.com/site/hebrewinchurch/.
Sur la première page, cliquez sur DONATE et faite votre don en ligne. Il est sécurisé par PAYPAL. Je vous répondrai. Votre nom et ceux des perssonnes que vous m'indiquerez seront lus pendant mon office de nuit au-dessus du Saint-Sépulcre pendant un an. C'est le suel lie, avec le Golgotha proche, où toute être humain peut être nommé dans la prière orthodoxe.
Nous vivons une époque et un temps de grande difficultés humaines, économiques, professionnelles, internationales. Si vous pensez qu'un prêtre israélien, juif de naissance et servant de multiples cultures pour affirmer le Règne de Dieu dans notre société a du sens, merci pour vos dons.
Bonne et sainte fin de l'an (international) 2011 à l'approche des saintes fêtes de la Nativité, de Hanouccah et de la Théophanie.
av aleksandr
Friday, December 9, 2011
Wrestling Identity
Wrestling identity
Wrestling identity
Of course, we can't help: our earthly time is a night and day struggle for life, in many evident aspects; at times, things would be more wildly off-the-wall. Israeli society and Yiddishkayt\יידישקייט - Jewishness get to the point that looks like they would be forced to of being often forced to searching their reality, identity, actions.
This search may appear to be too hot, too crazy, too awesome, well, too much more than any real events or situations. Comedy and character playing are such inborn constituents of Jewish abilities to compose with hostile then friendly and anew savage environments that we may be at pains to really get to who we are indeed.
Some Jews would not ever suspect they may behave in a weird way, a bit borderline without getting beyond the rope. Over three years, the Franciscans have been celebrating the 800 years since Francisco d'Assisi has founded their religious order of "Fratres Minores - humblest brothers."
In his famous biography of the saint man, who happened to firstly be a yuppy, then a hippy who pulled off his job and pedigree, Gilbert K.Chesterton said that Francis was "walking on a tightrope the other way, i.e. head down". Or, let's take Don Quixote de la Mancha attacking windmills at Noon... This week is Full Moon Kislev 5772. He is the foolishly stiffed model of the wacky guy. But quixotic does not really sound neurotic in English. It interrogates, rather like a quiz that obliges to face real and substantial questions.
As long as the Jews can play games and swing between rich and poor, needy and schnorrers, schmooze about fate and money, jewelry, trading, career, show to be "klug un intelligent ober a biss'l paskudne\קלוג און אינטעליגענט אבער א ביסל פאסקודנע = clever and well-educated but a bit obnoxious in their behaviors", things are abnormal.
There are tons of people, nations that have the nerve to be arrogant. We have a lot of such people and arrogance seems to be a sort of local "brand". One peculiar component of this "essence" is the pretence to be best, first, successful, prestigious, mighty (though ready to help at your early convenience), undauntedly powerful. It sounds like our chutzpah\חוצפה, but the word brings forth another point of view: "how irrepressible (chatzifah\חציפה) is the land of Israel that is still productive after all devastations" (Y. Talmud Taanit IV:69b).
This is the way we should consider "Vayishlach\וישלח", the reading portion of the week which includes the account of Jacob's wrestling during the night "till dawn breaking, he got a new name, Israel".
"Efshar la'azor? אפשר לעזור- may (I) help you?" is said all the time in this country. The intention is real ezrah-עזרה/assistance-oriented first. It is quite a Hebrew way to showing very polite and then dropping the others like old donkeys and become a nighmare of arrogance. It looks like a game, children playing in a kindergarten.
It can be rather mild, the way Jacob is pictured. There is more in Judaism. The Jews have indeed to face constant, steady, persistent combat. It does not deal with the basic fight we have to face because of long-long-long-term, age-long and stubborn rejection, hatred or misunderstanding.
This is normal. And it is normal because of what happened in this Yaakov's wrestling over the night. It belongs to the standards of alterity and similarity between God and Israel.
We can be terrible at that and misuse or misunderstand that we are chosen to serve and not to be served, in order to bless and not to curse. For instance, some observers have noted with insights that after the Lebanese war, some North American and European Christians had offered (gave charities; trumah\תרומה = offering) millions and millions of money to repair the damages in the North. They funded food for the needy.
It barely was mentioned as a great gesture. Do we expect to be recognized? True gratitude and acceptance of alterity are a must. If we do not accept the Christians or any other group, we are definitely not obliged to accept their assistance...!
But this is still too basic. These are still normal standards in the world where relations based on power.
The question with Yaakov deals with a man who always depended on his mom, Rebekkah, and her good old nanny, Devorah, only mentioned in the TanaKh, because she died and was buried at Beth-El; he has been fashioned by his wives, in particular his child-birthing beloved wife Rachel. Since time can’t avoid facing his brother Esau who had scorned him and whom he had cheated as well as their father Isaac, it is time for him to face his own personality and get the true blessing.
Talmud Berakhot 55b states that dreams do not reveal anything special about a person, except the “innermost thoughts of the heart”. This is the utmost specificity of Judaism to take dreams for granted realities and true positive events. Jews can be so anxious as to ask themselves or their mates if they are asleep or not, then why… not?
Dreams happen in envisioning sights that clearly open the way to who we are indeed. Theodore Herzl’s “I have a dream” is parallel to Martin Luther King’s message. Parallel because abnormal according to the basic rules governing societies. On the other hand, it is possible to make dreams come true because of faith. it allows knowing who we are, why we have a personal identity, what each individual may be entrusted to accomplish for the benefit of collectivities.
The text of the reading portion (Bereishit/Genesis 32:23-33) shows in very few words playing on roots and meanings, the essence of identity. This goes far beyond Jacob’s special call to be Israel. Abraham was the “ivri\עברי – going across the two rivers”. Yaakov crossed the ford of Yabbok\יבק: note that Ya-Bo -k is the reversed order of the letters in Ya-Ko-v (heel, limp) and it is said: “VaYeAVeK ish imo\ויאבק איש עמו – and a man wrestled with him” (v. 25) as he was remained alone: real wrestling now deals, in loneliness – though not solitude – with his special oneness and identity.
The Jew is by nature and call a "monastic"; it makes no sense to compare with the different life-styles that the Christians and maybe the Essenes adopted and developed throughout the ages. "Monos\μονος = one, single, outsingled" but it always implies that the "one alone" is not cast aside or on his/her own; on the contrary, ones are gathered and gathering into one Body (guf/גוף ), usually depicted as the vineyard (gefen-gofna/גפן-גופנא ). Thi" added to final s is the meaning of the final word of the "Hear Israel": "G. is One/echad = אחד ". The interpretation of the last letter "ayin/ע " added to final "dalet/ד " make "ad\עד = eternal and/or witness (ed/ עד ) and "edah\עדה = community".
Like Abraham, Yaakov was born to choose new priorities and geographical orientations. He was “standing behind on his heels (EKev\עקב)”; from now on, he faces humankind and himself in their being. The “unknown” fighter was both of divine and human nature. He called the place “Peniel\פניאל” because he fought timelessly overnight in a human and divine Panim el panim\פנים אל פנים = face to face encounter. Was it Esau, Jacob’s own shadow? or both God and the brothers? “God created us in His image and likeness” (Genesis 1:27).
Moreover, it seems at this point that God concealed something definitely substantial with Jacob becoming Israel. Adam found his fulfillment in the removing of “tzela\צלע – rib, side, shadow” (Genesis 2:18) because he was alone. Jacob was alone during the wrestling.
Adam woke up and found his wholeness in Eve/Chawah\חוה, the woman who is indeed the crown of creation. The same happens during that combat in which Jacob urged the “ish\איש – man” to tell his name. In return, he is hurt at his hip and his “tzolea\צולע – limping, walking” is crooked to one side (“Are the paralyzed and crippled to punish him who holds?” Pessakti Rabbati 13). He is no more alone but “achieved, whole” = “shalem\שלם, strangely also “sholem\שולם = loyal (Genesis 33:18).
His new name is that of a “feminine” mildness given upon birth from Jewish women that “shall make the crooked straight (yashar\ישר) = Yisrael” (Isaiah 40:4). This combat ended at “alot hashachar\עלות השחר = the breaking or ascending of dawn”. It is an identity rebirth: Jacob wrestled and removed the useless clue of “dirty dust = abak\אבק” (cf. Yaakov, ekev\עקב = heel, Yabbok) in order to be able to face his destiny.
He became Israel and birthed the Community envisioning what repeatedly happened at Beth-El as dawn broke, i.e. is “making a sort of aliyah\עליה-ascent”. He has been injured but he relocated to achieving Israel’s true goal as a firstly multi-faceted tribe who has to share the blessings with all the nations.
The main problem is whether we accept or not this wrestling not to be a victory per se; this inner combat empowers us to struggle for life in whatever circumstances of our lives without ever stepping down because we face a specific reality aand witness to much bigger than ourselves.
As Jesus of Nazareth was dying, he told his disciple John to take Mary his mother to his home. When he rose from the dead, he met with Maria Magdalena. Jesus saw “the woman without faith and yet unbelievable” who will powerfully convince the scary disciples that the Master is alive!
Adam had welcomed Eve, mother of the living, after a sleep comparable to death and solitude. This lines out with Yaakov becoming Israel, the father of the twelve Tribes, one and unique Community, both injured and unwillingly reinforced.
Thus, Rachel died after having birthed Benyamin, the first “son of Abraham” to be born in the land of Canaan. What firstly appeared to look like a cheating story turned into a dream that come true at dawn breaking and continues to interrogate :”hagidah-na shmecha\הגידה-נא שמך – tell me Your Name?” that can be viewed in the injured “gid hanashe\גיד הנשה – sinew of the thigh”. The word "nashe/נשה is rooted in "woman, female, feminity\נשות-נשי and to move as thighs allow the body to get up and move\נשה.
As Sarah for Abraham, Rachel for Yaakov, Mary Magdalene for Jesus, women (Aramaic “nesha\נשא”) remove, discard wounds. They allow being released from debts and they save men, i.e. humankind (Talmud Berakhot 17b/Chullin 91a).
Av Aleksandr (Winogradsky Frenkel)
Wrestling identity
Of course, we can't help: our earthly time is a night and day struggle for life, in many evident aspects; at times, things would be more wildly off-the-wall. Israeli society and Yiddishkayt\יידישקייט - Jewishness get to the point that looks like they would be forced to of being often forced to searching their reality, identity, actions.
This search may appear to be too hot, too crazy, too awesome, well, too much more than any real events or situations. Comedy and character playing are such inborn constituents of Jewish abilities to compose with hostile then friendly and anew savage environments that we may be at pains to really get to who we are indeed.
Some Jews would not ever suspect they may behave in a weird way, a bit borderline without getting beyond the rope. Over three years, the Franciscans have been celebrating the 800 years since Francisco d'Assisi has founded their religious order of "Fratres Minores - humblest brothers."
In his famous biography of the saint man, who happened to firstly be a yuppy, then a hippy who pulled off his job and pedigree, Gilbert K.Chesterton said that Francis was "walking on a tightrope the other way, i.e. head down". Or, let's take Don Quixote de la Mancha attacking windmills at Noon... This week is Full Moon Kislev 5772. He is the foolishly stiffed model of the wacky guy. But quixotic does not really sound neurotic in English. It interrogates, rather like a quiz that obliges to face real and substantial questions.
As long as the Jews can play games and swing between rich and poor, needy and schnorrers, schmooze about fate and money, jewelry, trading, career, show to be "klug un intelligent ober a biss'l paskudne\קלוג און אינטעליגענט אבער א ביסל פאסקודנע = clever and well-educated but a bit obnoxious in their behaviors", things are abnormal.
There are tons of people, nations that have the nerve to be arrogant. We have a lot of such people and arrogance seems to be a sort of local "brand". One peculiar component of this "essence" is the pretence to be best, first, successful, prestigious, mighty (though ready to help at your early convenience), undauntedly powerful. It sounds like our chutzpah\חוצפה, but the word brings forth another point of view: "how irrepressible (chatzifah\חציפה) is the land of Israel that is still productive after all devastations" (Y. Talmud Taanit IV:69b).
This is the way we should consider "Vayishlach\וישלח", the reading portion of the week which includes the account of Jacob's wrestling during the night "till dawn breaking, he got a new name, Israel".
"Efshar la'azor? אפשר לעזור- may (I) help you?" is said all the time in this country. The intention is real ezrah-עזרה/assistance-oriented first. It is quite a Hebrew way to showing very polite and then dropping the others like old donkeys and become a nighmare of arrogance. It looks like a game, children playing in a kindergarten.
It can be rather mild, the way Jacob is pictured. There is more in Judaism. The Jews have indeed to face constant, steady, persistent combat. It does not deal with the basic fight we have to face because of long-long-long-term, age-long and stubborn rejection, hatred or misunderstanding.
This is normal. And it is normal because of what happened in this Yaakov's wrestling over the night. It belongs to the standards of alterity and similarity between God and Israel.
We can be terrible at that and misuse or misunderstand that we are chosen to serve and not to be served, in order to bless and not to curse. For instance, some observers have noted with insights that after the Lebanese war, some North American and European Christians had offered (gave charities; trumah\תרומה = offering) millions and millions of money to repair the damages in the North. They funded food for the needy.
It barely was mentioned as a great gesture. Do we expect to be recognized? True gratitude and acceptance of alterity are a must. If we do not accept the Christians or any other group, we are definitely not obliged to accept their assistance...!
But this is still too basic. These are still normal standards in the world where relations based on power.
The question with Yaakov deals with a man who always depended on his mom, Rebekkah, and her good old nanny, Devorah, only mentioned in the TanaKh, because she died and was buried at Beth-El; he has been fashioned by his wives, in particular his child-birthing beloved wife Rachel. Since time can’t avoid facing his brother Esau who had scorned him and whom he had cheated as well as their father Isaac, it is time for him to face his own personality and get the true blessing.
Talmud Berakhot 55b states that dreams do not reveal anything special about a person, except the “innermost thoughts of the heart”. This is the utmost specificity of Judaism to take dreams for granted realities and true positive events. Jews can be so anxious as to ask themselves or their mates if they are asleep or not, then why… not?
Dreams happen in envisioning sights that clearly open the way to who we are indeed. Theodore Herzl’s “I have a dream” is parallel to Martin Luther King’s message. Parallel because abnormal according to the basic rules governing societies. On the other hand, it is possible to make dreams come true because of faith. it allows knowing who we are, why we have a personal identity, what each individual may be entrusted to accomplish for the benefit of collectivities.
The text of the reading portion (Bereishit/Genesis 32:23-33) shows in very few words playing on roots and meanings, the essence of identity. This goes far beyond Jacob’s special call to be Israel. Abraham was the “ivri\עברי – going across the two rivers”. Yaakov crossed the ford of Yabbok\יבק: note that Ya-Bo -k is the reversed order of the letters in Ya-Ko-v (heel, limp) and it is said: “VaYeAVeK ish imo\ויאבק איש עמו – and a man wrestled with him” (v. 25) as he was remained alone: real wrestling now deals, in loneliness – though not solitude – with his special oneness and identity.
The Jew is by nature and call a "monastic"; it makes no sense to compare with the different life-styles that the Christians and maybe the Essenes adopted and developed throughout the ages. "Monos\μονος = one, single, outsingled" but it always implies that the "one alone" is not cast aside or on his/her own; on the contrary, ones are gathered and gathering into one Body (guf/גוף ), usually depicted as the vineyard (gefen-gofna/גפן-גופנא ). Thi" added to final s is the meaning of the final word of the "Hear Israel": "G. is One/echad = אחד ". The interpretation of the last letter "ayin/ע " added to final "dalet/ד " make "ad\עד = eternal and/or witness (ed/ עד ) and "edah\עדה = community".
Like Abraham, Yaakov was born to choose new priorities and geographical orientations. He was “standing behind on his heels (EKev\עקב)”; from now on, he faces humankind and himself in their being. The “unknown” fighter was both of divine and human nature. He called the place “Peniel\פניאל” because he fought timelessly overnight in a human and divine Panim el panim\פנים אל פנים = face to face encounter. Was it Esau, Jacob’s own shadow? or both God and the brothers? “God created us in His image and likeness” (Genesis 1:27).
Moreover, it seems at this point that God concealed something definitely substantial with Jacob becoming Israel. Adam found his fulfillment in the removing of “tzela\צלע – rib, side, shadow” (Genesis 2:18) because he was alone. Jacob was alone during the wrestling.
Adam woke up and found his wholeness in Eve/Chawah\חוה, the woman who is indeed the crown of creation. The same happens during that combat in which Jacob urged the “ish\איש – man” to tell his name. In return, he is hurt at his hip and his “tzolea\צולע – limping, walking” is crooked to one side (“Are the paralyzed and crippled to punish him who holds?” Pessakti Rabbati 13). He is no more alone but “achieved, whole” = “shalem\שלם, strangely also “sholem\שולם = loyal (Genesis 33:18).
His new name is that of a “feminine” mildness given upon birth from Jewish women that “shall make the crooked straight (yashar\ישר) = Yisrael” (Isaiah 40:4). This combat ended at “alot hashachar\עלות השחר = the breaking or ascending of dawn”. It is an identity rebirth: Jacob wrestled and removed the useless clue of “dirty dust = abak\אבק” (cf. Yaakov, ekev\עקב = heel, Yabbok) in order to be able to face his destiny.
He became Israel and birthed the Community envisioning what repeatedly happened at Beth-El as dawn broke, i.e. is “making a sort of aliyah\עליה-ascent”. He has been injured but he relocated to achieving Israel’s true goal as a firstly multi-faceted tribe who has to share the blessings with all the nations.
The main problem is whether we accept or not this wrestling not to be a victory per se; this inner combat empowers us to struggle for life in whatever circumstances of our lives without ever stepping down because we face a specific reality aand witness to much bigger than ourselves.
As Jesus of Nazareth was dying, he told his disciple John to take Mary his mother to his home. When he rose from the dead, he met with Maria Magdalena. Jesus saw “the woman without faith and yet unbelievable” who will powerfully convince the scary disciples that the Master is alive!
Adam had welcomed Eve, mother of the living, after a sleep comparable to death and solitude. This lines out with Yaakov becoming Israel, the father of the twelve Tribes, one and unique Community, both injured and unwillingly reinforced.
Thus, Rachel died after having birthed Benyamin, the first “son of Abraham” to be born in the land of Canaan. What firstly appeared to look like a cheating story turned into a dream that come true at dawn breaking and continues to interrogate :”hagidah-na shmecha\הגידה-נא שמך – tell me Your Name?” that can be viewed in the injured “gid hanashe\גיד הנשה – sinew of the thigh”. The word "nashe/נשה is rooted in "woman, female, feminity\נשות-נשי and to move as thighs allow the body to get up and move\נשה.
As Sarah for Abraham, Rachel for Yaakov, Mary Magdalene for Jesus, women (Aramaic “nesha\נשא”) remove, discard wounds. They allow being released from debts and they save men, i.e. humankind (Talmud Berakhot 17b/Chullin 91a).
Av Aleksandr (Winogradsky Frenkel)
Monday, December 5, 2011
You Have A Brother
You have a brother
You have a brother
The Church of Jerusalem follows the Julian calendar. On Monday 5th, 2011, we commemorate two apostles from the Seventy, Philemon and Onesimus. They are mentioned in the shortest letter written by Paul of Tarsus. Saint Paul was in prison. There he met with Onesimus, a robber, a theft. The man was a slave and had stolen and deceived his master, Philemon, a wealthy man known to Paul as a Christian and a "Church builder"... In jail, the two companions could speak, share. Paul convinced Onesimus that Jesus had freed and saved him. Thus, the theft revolved and believed! Paul decided that something could be as Onesimus was about to leave the prison.
This is quite a unique event. The shortest epistle/letter included in the corpus of the Holy Scripture, i.e. it is inspired by the Divine Presence. Paul thinks to return Onesimus to Philemon, not as a slave or a debtor, a man who is guilty and should return to his master to pay more than he did when he was sent to jail. Paul converted Onesimus and he was actually a Christian. There is no discussion about his identity: Onesimus was a Jew or a Gentile by descent or roots or pedigree. He was a slave and both Hebrews and other people could be slaves. He was on the wake to be released.
Paul writes himself a "mail" to Philemon whom was very dear to his heart and important for the setting up of the community. He wrote to Philemon that he, Paul, personally takes the chagre and resposibility to send him Onesimus who shared his time in prison and to welcome him "as a brother"! Guess who comes to dinner tonight!??? This is maybe one or the weirdest situations in the whole of the Bible and New Testament. There are bizarre accounts on how people met again or had to share the way. The Gospel often underscores that the disciples could not hold together and stand each other. They separated and could go away. Many died alone in some random and isolated region. The fruit of their faith and the way they could sow appeared later, sometimes at once.
Paul sent a letter to Philemon knowing that the man could understand his request. The request is unique and remains unheard up to the present. The situation is still very rare and unique. Philemon is required to welcome the man who was "his property" by law! He had to welcome him and recognize that Onesimus is no more a slave, but a free man, released from jail and from any other bond.
We can "parrot" throughout the year that we are "for freedom, we are free, have to feel free, help the others to free themselves and get to new revolutions or so", we hate freedom when we see that a human being is indeed free and released. Moreover, Onesimus does say anything. It is quite comparable to the "mute dialogue in the shape of a monologue" that Jesus had with the adultery woman when he had saved her. She got freed from being stoned and was about to leave without saying a word.
Onesimus could not say a word. He could only be speechless. He had had a master. He betrayed his "owner"; Paul did not write to Philemon "as an apostle or a disciple". He was in jail. He was condemned for his faith. Whatever position he had in the Church, he has always and constantly repeated that he is what we call in Yiddish "an oisvorf/א אויסווארף " that corresponds to 1 Corinthians 15:8: "the one born out of time" or the "last one" ("τω ετκρωάτι"). Paul's credit comes from "channelling things of God" that make sense in a specific situaiton.
This implies that Philemon was able to understand that he was himself a "released person" for the sake of the Kingdom. Paul insisted on the fact that he asked Philemon to take Onesimus beyond all the standards of society, as a brother and a co-worker for the sake of redemption.
Paul added something: if, by some remote chance, Onesimus stil had any debts or plights or "sins" against Philemon, he, Paul, signed "with his own blood" that he would refund Philemon. He would pay when he will go out of jail! This is brilliant!
This is the true message of Christian identity, and less known, deeply rooted in Jewishness. This is at the heart of "ransoming". No need to make quotes from the Mishnah and the Tosefot. This has nothing to do with intellectual knowledge. The spirit of freedom has to be experienced and be put into practice in "real life". In that sense, Paul summarized in a short letter what remains a current question.
There are debts everywhere. Debtors everywhere. The world claims to be built on the basis of Christian values and centuries of "Christian fulfillment".
Who can then share Paul of Tarsus' statement to Philemon and build a righteous society: that Paul wrote with his own blood that he would pay any debts left by Onesimus. The point was for Philemon to welcome a brother: "When two or three are gathered in my Name, I am in their midst" proclaimed by Jesus along with the Avot treaty becomes true. At the present, I was about to lecture about the Prayer of the Lord on "Redeeming the current debts" in the major European societies. I was told the bankers would not listen because they are not ready to face the matter in this particular spiritual way.
Paul wrote with his blood. He accepted to pay the price of of his own and societal responsibility in the face of God. The absence of payment or wrongdoing in a more general way could be repaid by the request: "Take him as your brother". This is how Paul considered all debts or misdeeds committed by Onesimus - though the man was then a slave working at Philemon's house - At this point, Paul was in jail. He said he would prefer to be anathema and rejected by his own people. He still took up the sins and debts, the spiritual indebtedness and liability of a "criminal". he was also a "criminal" and was though able to share the possibility of full release.
We see how some countries fall down into full indebtedness: to begin with the United States, the European Community. I did not find in any journals or news that some people would assume their responsibility the way Saint Paul did when he wrote a letter to Philemon, the rich man, to welcome the robber Onesimus, signed with his own blood and ready to pay for the one wh owas to return home. He was to return not in order to get more "financial baskets". He returned to be a brother, not a virtual one, but a real one. Normally, Onesimus could be whipped, stabbed or condmened to chains. He returns to the master that he had robbed with a paper bearing Saint Paul's bleeding signature.
There is no evidence that any State would recognize and accept their debts. Iceland decided not to reimburse the huge debts the country got liable to Great-Britain and the Netherlands, for instance. It is very intriguing. Iceland is going through the pangs of sexual assaults that deeply affect the Lutheran Church of Iceland and its credit. Rapes, abuses of woman may lead the local Icelandic Church to elect a female bishop to head the Lutheran Church in the coming months.
The same financial situation showed in Ireland. Kicking out the Poles and trying to erase the debts and the marks of bankrupcy is one thing. The Catholic clergy who has been so pregnant in the history of the Irish and Celtic peoples also got indebted in terms of sexual abuse. The same happened in Germany, Belgium, France.
I met retired Cardinal Daneels of Brussels-Mechelen many times. He could not face the issue. Abuse committed by the clergy and monastics, in partucular in schools was too much for a man used to the "standard silence"' of the Church . From holiness to private transgression of moral commandments... At 80, he could not react accordingly in a country that is definitely split and broken down into so many small segments! Overall sexual assaults that profoundly marked the Belgian society in its diversity. But also the many denominations that are to be found at the cross-roads of Europe.
There is also a very low conscience of who is who in the Face of God and the society in which we are to live in Israeli society. All sorts of converts, real, fake, false, half false Jews real Jews who are kicked out form the country and non-Jews inegrated in the State. We are far from the laws defined for the return of the exiled. A messy immigration that intertwins all kinds of nations, tongues, races.
In all cases, there is a low conscience of how much God ransoms and redeems us. The word has also a bank financial meaning as far as a debt can be refunded over a long-term period, which is a "redeeming" action when there are debts that should be reimbursed.
I have tons of such examples in my daily ministry.
Passing in France on my way back to Jerusalem, there is a trial. A "brother" or so-called friar". For years he had been a member of the Community of the "Béatitudes", firstly sheltered in the South of France, Cordes, then Normandy - Mortain. To begin with, the community was initiated by a former pastor from the Ardèche in France, Gérard Croissant. He connected himself to some sort of Jewish background and included the rites into acombination/combinazione of all mixed-up rites and chants. A lot of "lost souls, welathy people, God-seekers" came and lived together. Monks and nuns, brothers and sisters and the families. The children were often taken to their parents. They had to donate their assets and properties to the "sheperd/Berger" and the community. Newly intronised deacon Ephraim and his wife Jo guided the community with much authority. I could see that for years live in the whole of the Holy Land and abroad.
In the end, after the courageous efforts developed by some short-term "bros and sis" the paedophile who has abused 57 youths was convinced to be brought to the Court. The records show that Ephraim who has been "deposed" and is no more a member of the community and his family (one deaon and physician and his wife) had to leace but still Ephraim is much appraised in Russia, inter alia and makes use of the money he stole from the faithful and community.
When the friar was recently tried and condemned to 5 years of prison, he repeatedly declared that he regretted his acts. Not a single word from the part of the community or from the Church. This kind of silence has nothing to do with the attitude of Saint Paul sending back Onesimus to Philemon. It shows a real lack of responsibility. It is terrible because the men of the Church have the Divine power to "retain and release" the faults and transgressions committed by the members of the Church.
The trial took place in France one the wake of the Téléthon, an annual national and international movement on the French TV for raising funds in order to fight the genetic diseases and "rare/orphan syndroms-dieases". The loca lChristian radio had the "great" (!!!!) idea in the previous year to condemn the demonstration and collection of funds for the genetic research. This year was the 25th anniversary of the event. Till last year, the Church had attacked the event claiming that it was not online with the genetic and ethic principles of faith.
This year, no word or regret or forgiveness toward the victims of the sexual assaults. A high-ranking cleric admitted that "the Téléthon event constitutes a sign of generosity... that should be understood accordingly (!)". "Accordingly" means for the Christian head of Church that genetics are governed by "manipulations" and therefore the Church can only highly suspect any fundraising for this kind of Research. The public, ordinary people in a secularized environment understand that the Church love getting money and would even misuse it. As most humans clerics are deadly frightened by sickness and disabilities. I have been experiencing this over more than 30 years when visiting all sorts of sick people and the injured.
In the whole process, no word was uttered that - even from afar - would be compared to Saint Paul's own writing to Philemon: with his own blood, he asked the man to welcome a "traitor, a robber, a sinner".
Our former President Katzav, the man who arrived in Israel from Iran/Persia when he was only 5 years is condemned to be in jail. From appeal to new appeals, he postponed his "settling to jail". He was granted some legal delays not to go to prison. He is accused of bribes, but mainly of sexual harassment and assaults. A full shame in a country where men and women can be rather "hot" and have a "flexible understanding" of the ethics governing sexual behaviors.
Rabbis are also in jail for paedophily, which is a total mess for a tradition that has a high moral attitude to fatherhood and respect of integrity, both of souls and bodies. There is a pride, a terrible and hideous arrogance: when people commit a sin, even repeatedly, the collectivity should be com-passionate. it means that the society is able to share and approach the one who failed somehow with understanding.
it is just unbelievable that Katzav, married to a wonderful and trustworthy wife Gili Katzav who keeps silent, dared recently request to spend his time in jail "at his home"!!! The accusation made by different women who had worked for and with him may raise some questions. It is not possible for a man to require to spend his jail time "at home". Total absence of decency and/or arrogance.
There is no use to try to get some privilege or favor; in a country where "birthright" is a rule, there is no birthright for those who trespass and transgress hte rules governing emotions and financial issues alike. The Prayer of the Lord has an ancient Aramaic version still in use in the Semitic Churches. It adds a very important feauture to "forgiveness": "Forgive = in fact "remit" our trespasses (chatayn) and our debts (chaybayn)" as we also already have remitted those who had debts and trespasses against us".
This is the same attitude as Saint Paul showed toward Onesimus and Philemon, knowing that he himself was in jail and released by the grace of God.
This year there are a lot of sexual affairs. They are a part of any political activity and reality. Men and women are constantly in a mood of communication, contact, intercourse and commerce. Sexual assaults have been constant from the early days of humankind and so far the humans can be aware of "sexual morals". In the realm of the Jewish tradition, it took time to get to some conscience of "transgression" in this field. The two genealogic accounts of Jesus in the Gospels of Evangelists Matthew (linear) and Luke (reversed) show the presence of real "sex sinners". The Giving of the Commandments allwed to get to real awareness of what is right or wrong. At least the Commandments define the possible points of what makes us free or tied up.
The French Dominique Strauss Kahn Summer saga started on May 14th in New York. It still develops in a series of unbeaten breaking news in which the politician and professor of Law and Economics, former chairman of the IMF falls from high to the depths of nil. The man is shown as a rotten guy, sexually obsessed, nearly a "pimp". A man who lost his BlackBerry that stored all his personal data. He was always on trips and had no time to meet with deciders, many claimed. Was it because he had a network of parties?
Say, DSK had his lifestyle and privacy. To begin with, he was a possible candidate for the French presidential election in 2012. I never believed a Jew can apply to such a position..., but why not to apply? It makes no sense, even at the present. The problem is not that the man could be the victim of a plot. Quite possible and he had "anticipated" such a problem. On the other hand, his behavior - until right now - is similar to Katzav's nonsense.
DSK's nonsense is not in his behavior or the way he conducted his private life. No way for him to say: I did wrong things, I regret and will repair. From papers to lawyers to counter-attacks through the press and his lawyers, no way to admit the facts and "repent"; The word is too pious. It sound clerical. But "to repent" does exist and he would gain some credit. This is a matter of psychological and moral downfall.
This is why the shortest letter of the Gospel, Saint Paul's epistle to Philemon is so meaningful.
He makes his writing and sharing a real and significant sacrifice for life and redemption.
av aleksandr (Winogradsky Frenkel)
November 22/December 9, 2011 - Kislev 9, 5772
You have a brother
The Church of Jerusalem follows the Julian calendar. On Monday 5th, 2011, we commemorate two apostles from the Seventy, Philemon and Onesimus. They are mentioned in the shortest letter written by Paul of Tarsus. Saint Paul was in prison. There he met with Onesimus, a robber, a theft. The man was a slave and had stolen and deceived his master, Philemon, a wealthy man known to Paul as a Christian and a "Church builder"... In jail, the two companions could speak, share. Paul convinced Onesimus that Jesus had freed and saved him. Thus, the theft revolved and believed! Paul decided that something could be as Onesimus was about to leave the prison.
This is quite a unique event. The shortest epistle/letter included in the corpus of the Holy Scripture, i.e. it is inspired by the Divine Presence. Paul thinks to return Onesimus to Philemon, not as a slave or a debtor, a man who is guilty and should return to his master to pay more than he did when he was sent to jail. Paul converted Onesimus and he was actually a Christian. There is no discussion about his identity: Onesimus was a Jew or a Gentile by descent or roots or pedigree. He was a slave and both Hebrews and other people could be slaves. He was on the wake to be released.
Paul writes himself a "mail" to Philemon whom was very dear to his heart and important for the setting up of the community. He wrote to Philemon that he, Paul, personally takes the chagre and resposibility to send him Onesimus who shared his time in prison and to welcome him "as a brother"! Guess who comes to dinner tonight!??? This is maybe one or the weirdest situations in the whole of the Bible and New Testament. There are bizarre accounts on how people met again or had to share the way. The Gospel often underscores that the disciples could not hold together and stand each other. They separated and could go away. Many died alone in some random and isolated region. The fruit of their faith and the way they could sow appeared later, sometimes at once.
Paul sent a letter to Philemon knowing that the man could understand his request. The request is unique and remains unheard up to the present. The situation is still very rare and unique. Philemon is required to welcome the man who was "his property" by law! He had to welcome him and recognize that Onesimus is no more a slave, but a free man, released from jail and from any other bond.
We can "parrot" throughout the year that we are "for freedom, we are free, have to feel free, help the others to free themselves and get to new revolutions or so", we hate freedom when we see that a human being is indeed free and released. Moreover, Onesimus does say anything. It is quite comparable to the "mute dialogue in the shape of a monologue" that Jesus had with the adultery woman when he had saved her. She got freed from being stoned and was about to leave without saying a word.
Onesimus could not say a word. He could only be speechless. He had had a master. He betrayed his "owner"; Paul did not write to Philemon "as an apostle or a disciple". He was in jail. He was condemned for his faith. Whatever position he had in the Church, he has always and constantly repeated that he is what we call in Yiddish "an oisvorf/א אויסווארף " that corresponds to 1 Corinthians 15:8: "the one born out of time" or the "last one" ("τω ετκρωάτι"). Paul's credit comes from "channelling things of God" that make sense in a specific situaiton.
This implies that Philemon was able to understand that he was himself a "released person" for the sake of the Kingdom. Paul insisted on the fact that he asked Philemon to take Onesimus beyond all the standards of society, as a brother and a co-worker for the sake of redemption.
Paul added something: if, by some remote chance, Onesimus stil had any debts or plights or "sins" against Philemon, he, Paul, signed "with his own blood" that he would refund Philemon. He would pay when he will go out of jail! This is brilliant!
This is the true message of Christian identity, and less known, deeply rooted in Jewishness. This is at the heart of "ransoming". No need to make quotes from the Mishnah and the Tosefot. This has nothing to do with intellectual knowledge. The spirit of freedom has to be experienced and be put into practice in "real life". In that sense, Paul summarized in a short letter what remains a current question.
There are debts everywhere. Debtors everywhere. The world claims to be built on the basis of Christian values and centuries of "Christian fulfillment".
Who can then share Paul of Tarsus' statement to Philemon and build a righteous society: that Paul wrote with his own blood that he would pay any debts left by Onesimus. The point was for Philemon to welcome a brother: "When two or three are gathered in my Name, I am in their midst" proclaimed by Jesus along with the Avot treaty becomes true. At the present, I was about to lecture about the Prayer of the Lord on "Redeeming the current debts" in the major European societies. I was told the bankers would not listen because they are not ready to face the matter in this particular spiritual way.
Paul wrote with his blood. He accepted to pay the price of of his own and societal responsibility in the face of God. The absence of payment or wrongdoing in a more general way could be repaid by the request: "Take him as your brother". This is how Paul considered all debts or misdeeds committed by Onesimus - though the man was then a slave working at Philemon's house - At this point, Paul was in jail. He said he would prefer to be anathema and rejected by his own people. He still took up the sins and debts, the spiritual indebtedness and liability of a "criminal". he was also a "criminal" and was though able to share the possibility of full release.
We see how some countries fall down into full indebtedness: to begin with the United States, the European Community. I did not find in any journals or news that some people would assume their responsibility the way Saint Paul did when he wrote a letter to Philemon, the rich man, to welcome the robber Onesimus, signed with his own blood and ready to pay for the one wh owas to return home. He was to return not in order to get more "financial baskets". He returned to be a brother, not a virtual one, but a real one. Normally, Onesimus could be whipped, stabbed or condmened to chains. He returns to the master that he had robbed with a paper bearing Saint Paul's bleeding signature.
There is no evidence that any State would recognize and accept their debts. Iceland decided not to reimburse the huge debts the country got liable to Great-Britain and the Netherlands, for instance. It is very intriguing. Iceland is going through the pangs of sexual assaults that deeply affect the Lutheran Church of Iceland and its credit. Rapes, abuses of woman may lead the local Icelandic Church to elect a female bishop to head the Lutheran Church in the coming months.
The same financial situation showed in Ireland. Kicking out the Poles and trying to erase the debts and the marks of bankrupcy is one thing. The Catholic clergy who has been so pregnant in the history of the Irish and Celtic peoples also got indebted in terms of sexual abuse. The same happened in Germany, Belgium, France.
I met retired Cardinal Daneels of Brussels-Mechelen many times. He could not face the issue. Abuse committed by the clergy and monastics, in partucular in schools was too much for a man used to the "standard silence"' of the Church . From holiness to private transgression of moral commandments... At 80, he could not react accordingly in a country that is definitely split and broken down into so many small segments! Overall sexual assaults that profoundly marked the Belgian society in its diversity. But also the many denominations that are to be found at the cross-roads of Europe.
There is also a very low conscience of who is who in the Face of God and the society in which we are to live in Israeli society. All sorts of converts, real, fake, false, half false Jews real Jews who are kicked out form the country and non-Jews inegrated in the State. We are far from the laws defined for the return of the exiled. A messy immigration that intertwins all kinds of nations, tongues, races.
In all cases, there is a low conscience of how much God ransoms and redeems us. The word has also a bank financial meaning as far as a debt can be refunded over a long-term period, which is a "redeeming" action when there are debts that should be reimbursed.
I have tons of such examples in my daily ministry.
Passing in France on my way back to Jerusalem, there is a trial. A "brother" or so-called friar". For years he had been a member of the Community of the "Béatitudes", firstly sheltered in the South of France, Cordes, then Normandy - Mortain. To begin with, the community was initiated by a former pastor from the Ardèche in France, Gérard Croissant. He connected himself to some sort of Jewish background and included the rites into acombination/combinazione of all mixed-up rites and chants. A lot of "lost souls, welathy people, God-seekers" came and lived together. Monks and nuns, brothers and sisters and the families. The children were often taken to their parents. They had to donate their assets and properties to the "sheperd/Berger" and the community. Newly intronised deacon Ephraim and his wife Jo guided the community with much authority. I could see that for years live in the whole of the Holy Land and abroad.
In the end, after the courageous efforts developed by some short-term "bros and sis" the paedophile who has abused 57 youths was convinced to be brought to the Court. The records show that Ephraim who has been "deposed" and is no more a member of the community and his family (one deaon and physician and his wife) had to leace but still Ephraim is much appraised in Russia, inter alia and makes use of the money he stole from the faithful and community.
When the friar was recently tried and condemned to 5 years of prison, he repeatedly declared that he regretted his acts. Not a single word from the part of the community or from the Church. This kind of silence has nothing to do with the attitude of Saint Paul sending back Onesimus to Philemon. It shows a real lack of responsibility. It is terrible because the men of the Church have the Divine power to "retain and release" the faults and transgressions committed by the members of the Church.
The trial took place in France one the wake of the Téléthon, an annual national and international movement on the French TV for raising funds in order to fight the genetic diseases and "rare/orphan syndroms-dieases". The loca lChristian radio had the "great" (!!!!) idea in the previous year to condemn the demonstration and collection of funds for the genetic research. This year was the 25th anniversary of the event. Till last year, the Church had attacked the event claiming that it was not online with the genetic and ethic principles of faith.
This year, no word or regret or forgiveness toward the victims of the sexual assaults. A high-ranking cleric admitted that "the Téléthon event constitutes a sign of generosity... that should be understood accordingly (!)". "Accordingly" means for the Christian head of Church that genetics are governed by "manipulations" and therefore the Church can only highly suspect any fundraising for this kind of Research. The public, ordinary people in a secularized environment understand that the Church love getting money and would even misuse it. As most humans clerics are deadly frightened by sickness and disabilities. I have been experiencing this over more than 30 years when visiting all sorts of sick people and the injured.
In the whole process, no word was uttered that - even from afar - would be compared to Saint Paul's own writing to Philemon: with his own blood, he asked the man to welcome a "traitor, a robber, a sinner".
Our former President Katzav, the man who arrived in Israel from Iran/Persia when he was only 5 years is condemned to be in jail. From appeal to new appeals, he postponed his "settling to jail". He was granted some legal delays not to go to prison. He is accused of bribes, but mainly of sexual harassment and assaults. A full shame in a country where men and women can be rather "hot" and have a "flexible understanding" of the ethics governing sexual behaviors.
Rabbis are also in jail for paedophily, which is a total mess for a tradition that has a high moral attitude to fatherhood and respect of integrity, both of souls and bodies. There is a pride, a terrible and hideous arrogance: when people commit a sin, even repeatedly, the collectivity should be com-passionate. it means that the society is able to share and approach the one who failed somehow with understanding.
it is just unbelievable that Katzav, married to a wonderful and trustworthy wife Gili Katzav who keeps silent, dared recently request to spend his time in jail "at his home"!!! The accusation made by different women who had worked for and with him may raise some questions. It is not possible for a man to require to spend his jail time "at home". Total absence of decency and/or arrogance.
There is no use to try to get some privilege or favor; in a country where "birthright" is a rule, there is no birthright for those who trespass and transgress hte rules governing emotions and financial issues alike. The Prayer of the Lord has an ancient Aramaic version still in use in the Semitic Churches. It adds a very important feauture to "forgiveness": "Forgive = in fact "remit" our trespasses (chatayn) and our debts (chaybayn)" as we also already have remitted those who had debts and trespasses against us".
This is the same attitude as Saint Paul showed toward Onesimus and Philemon, knowing that he himself was in jail and released by the grace of God.
This year there are a lot of sexual affairs. They are a part of any political activity and reality. Men and women are constantly in a mood of communication, contact, intercourse and commerce. Sexual assaults have been constant from the early days of humankind and so far the humans can be aware of "sexual morals". In the realm of the Jewish tradition, it took time to get to some conscience of "transgression" in this field. The two genealogic accounts of Jesus in the Gospels of Evangelists Matthew (linear) and Luke (reversed) show the presence of real "sex sinners". The Giving of the Commandments allwed to get to real awareness of what is right or wrong. At least the Commandments define the possible points of what makes us free or tied up.
The French Dominique Strauss Kahn Summer saga started on May 14th in New York. It still develops in a series of unbeaten breaking news in which the politician and professor of Law and Economics, former chairman of the IMF falls from high to the depths of nil. The man is shown as a rotten guy, sexually obsessed, nearly a "pimp". A man who lost his BlackBerry that stored all his personal data. He was always on trips and had no time to meet with deciders, many claimed. Was it because he had a network of parties?
Say, DSK had his lifestyle and privacy. To begin with, he was a possible candidate for the French presidential election in 2012. I never believed a Jew can apply to such a position..., but why not to apply? It makes no sense, even at the present. The problem is not that the man could be the victim of a plot. Quite possible and he had "anticipated" such a problem. On the other hand, his behavior - until right now - is similar to Katzav's nonsense.
DSK's nonsense is not in his behavior or the way he conducted his private life. No way for him to say: I did wrong things, I regret and will repair. From papers to lawyers to counter-attacks through the press and his lawyers, no way to admit the facts and "repent"; The word is too pious. It sound clerical. But "to repent" does exist and he would gain some credit. This is a matter of psychological and moral downfall.
This is why the shortest letter of the Gospel, Saint Paul's epistle to Philemon is so meaningful.
He makes his writing and sharing a real and significant sacrifice for life and redemption.
av aleksandr (Winogradsky Frenkel)
November 22/December 9, 2011 - Kislev 9, 5772
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Av Aleksandr in Israeli society
Av Aleksandr in Israeli society
Again and again - IC XC NIKA
An Orthodox Christian
Priest of Jewish Heritage
Serving in Jerusalem
An AGAIN Interview with
Fr. Alexander Winogradsky
this interview was published in the famous AGAIN Journal; the interview was conducted by Douglas Cramer. TODAY, IT IS INTERESTING TO SEE THAT THE PROJECTS SLOWLY DEVELOP. IT IS ALWAYS GOOD TO LOOK BACKWARDS AND FORWARD AGAIN! THE PATH IS STEADFAST! HERE IS THE INTERVIEW:
AGAIN: Fr. Alexander, please introduce yourself, and the
work God has given you. How did you come to be an
Orthodox Christian priest of Jewish heritage serving
Orthodox Christians in Israel?
Fr. Alexander: I was born into a Jewish Russian family from
Nikolayiev, near Odessa in the Ukraine. Although I
was born in France after World War II, we were Soviet
citizens. I was educated in France, Switzerland, England,
and the Scandinavian countries, and graduated as a
linguist. At home, we used to speak many languages:
Yiddish, Russian, Ukrainian, French, Dutch, German.
My parents were Holocaust (I prefer the word Shoah)
survivors; my mother came out of the horrific concentration
camp of Majdanek, in Poland. I was raised in a
religious atmosphere, which put a certain positive and
permanent mark on my life: a great sense of pardon and
atonement.
We had a link with Israel because most of our family
had supported the creation of the State of Israel, since
the time of the pogroms of 1880. Because of my parents’
age, I am still connected with some specific features of
a world that seemingly disappeared during the Shoah.
This Yiddish culture and the Eastern European Hassidic
traditions are important for a better understanding of
Jewish and Christian relationships in the State of the
Jews and the Holy Land.
I would like to point out that I do not consider myself
as being “ethnically” a Jew or Hebrew. We should be
careful, because God calls every single human being
without making any distinction. In Israel, there are two
“nations”: the Jews and the Gentiles. But I always refer to
Saint Paul, who said that God “create[d] in Himself one
new man from the two [Israel and the Gentiles]”
(Ephesians 2:14–16).
I don’t want to be misunderstood: I am a Jewish
Hebrew Christian Orthodox priest, but my flock is
composed of people of any nation present in the State
of Israel. My congregation therefore depends on the
Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which takes spiritual
care of the Holy Land, Jordan, and Palestine. As the
believers who come to me are Orthodox Christians, I try
to help them in all possible ways, but they are certainly
not exclusively Jews or Hebrews. There are a lot of
mixed couples, Ukrainian, Russian, Georgian, and
Romanian-Moldavian faithful. There are also people
from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, as well as some
Tatars, Uighurs, and “Nentsy”—Siberian Inuits or
Eskimos—who have arrived in Israel. There are Arabs
and Armenians as well. However, we do use Jewish
languages for the services and the Divine Sacraments:
usually Hebrew, often Yiddish, sometimes Ladino, the
Spanish tongue.
AGAIN: Please help us get to know your flock. Who are
the people you serve within the Patriarchate of Jerusalem?
What are their backgrounds, and what are their
lives like now?
Fr. Alexander: There are first the people who came to Israel
as immigrants from the former Soviet Union over the
past 30 years, especially since the fall of the communists
in the 1990s. A lot of dissidents arrived before that time.
They went through hard times because they had been
baptized during the Communist period and were
ignored by the churches when they came to Israel. Then,
since 1990, about 400,000 baptized persons have come
to Israel under the Law of Return. Most of them were
received into the Russian Orthodox Church, some into
the Georgian or Romanian Churches.
As they settled in Israel, many did not know how to
live as Christian believers. The local clergy of the Orthodox
Patriarchate of Jerusalem had to face a new and
unexpected situation. This is very appropriate for the
Church, which is always on the move. It is important for
us to use the Hebrew language to help pave the way to
a healthy inculturation within an Israeli society that is
basically Jewish. This also has important ramifications
for the reading of the Bible. Every week, the Jewish texts
are explained throughout the country by the media. As
Orthodox Christians, we try to explain the Old Testament
roots of our faith and how the Gospel interprets
the old and new heritage in the land of Jesus.
I am very respectful of the laws in force which guarantee
“full freedom of speech and conscience” [Law 140/
1977]. This is a good rallying cry for the faithful who
want to be authentic Christians and to baptize their
children within a varied culture. A good understanding
and experience of Israeli society enables the faithful to
feel at home and not to view themselves as permanent
displaced persons.
Once, I was waiting for the bus at the Western Wall,
and a man came to me and asked in Spanish if I was a
priest. I said I was an Eastern Orthodox priest of the
Jerusalem Church. He then told me that he had arrived
two years ago as a newcomer from Argentina. His family
had left Harbin in China after World War II, and he
spoke Russian and Yiddish as well as Hebrew. This is
usual for the faithful here.
I try to hear confession a lot, and at length. Migrants
are often reluctant to speak or to confide. The soldiers
who can serve as “Orthodox faithful” in the Israeli Army
need also to tell about their spiritual path. And it is
important to visit the sick and the elderly. But some
people do not feel at ease, and a lot of patience is
needed.
I insist on the fact that we must serve the Divine
Liturgy strictly according to the Byzantine tradition.
Therefore, men of any age come to help as servers in the
altar in order to pray and better understand our tradition.
And it is essential for the faithful to pray and to
have access to catechism books as well as the Scripture.
We are very poor and need books in Russian, Ukrainian,
and Hebrew.
AGAIN: Please spend a moment discussing language.
You must be one of only a few priests in the world
serving the Liturgy frequently in Hebrew, and you serve
in many other languages as well. Are there any interesting
language-related stories or insights you’d like to
share?
Fr. Alexander: I always use different languages in the
services because the main point is to be understood, to
get to what the celebration means. Therefore I serve
in Hebrew, but also in Ukrainian, which is a major
language here, as well as Modern Russian. I serve in
other languages depending on who is attending the
services. Sometimes it is necessary to sing in Romanian/
Moldavian, or Georgian. I use Church Slavonic for the
Feasts. In the South, I need to serve mainly in Russian
and Hebrew, as the youth have forgotten the Slavonic
language.
At the moment, there are very few priests serving
in Hebrew. This was not the case some 20 years ago
in Jerusalem, when Hebrew was more in vogue in the
churches. It is indeed my “Father tongue.” I have always
used it, heard it, and written it, and it is the language of
the Father in the sense that God is Our Father in Heaven
and gave the first Covenant in this language. I pray every
day with the faithful in Hebrew, and I can feel today how
living Modern Hebrew is growing and developing. I
consider it is a part of the resurrection, because a speech
shows that a people are alive and can communicate.
It is important for believers to enlarge their understanding
of Hebrew, and not to exclude themselves
from society by their language. Our Christian Orthodox
faithful may sometimes be shy about speaking and
writing Hebrew. They have a Soviet background that still
can imprison them within a sort of Russian nationalism.
I do my best to avoid any kind of nationalism. The
Orthodox tradition has always supported the translation
of Holy Books and prayers into every tongue. People do
not seem to be aware that the Hebrew text of the Divine
Liturgy has been used for 150 years, since a Russian
Jewish priest in Jerusalem made a translation that was
blessed by the Holy Synod of Moscow.
I would never have imagined that I would one day use
such languages as Yiddish or Afrikaans (South African
Dutch) for the spiritual benefit of Israeli citizens. But it
is very important. I have a spiritual daughter in Jerusalem.
She is 34 years old, with two children, originally
from the north of Russia. We speak Russian. Many years
ago, I came to visit her, and her mother and grandmother
were there. There was a long silence. Suddenly
“Grandma” (Bubele) said something in very bad Russian,
and I answered her in Yiddish. There was such
relief! We all continued in this tongue: we could just be
who we are.
The same sort of thing often happens in confession,
because most believers mix their speech with Hebrew
words or sentences that most Russian or former Soviet
priests would never understand. As a Yiddish saying
states: “The tongue is the pen of the soul.” And spiritual
life consists in opening it wider and wider: quite a
challenge.
AGAIN: As has often been the case before, events in the
Holy Land are playing an important part in world affairs,
particularly as they pertain to the current war. Do you
have any insights regarding how the Arab and Jewish
peoples can move towards healing and reconciliation,
and how we in the West can better come to understand
them and their world?
Fr. Alexander: This is more than a challenge, and it is
important not to dream, but to act. Arabs and Jews are
part of the present Israeli society and its development.
I don’t discuss war, politics, tactics. It is a challenge for
a people who were absent for more than two thousand
years to create a modern society with those who have
lived here for centuries. I serve in Hebrew and different
tongues in a church located in a Jerusalem Old City
Arabic compound. The Arabs know I will pray some in
Arabic, and they are very friendly Orthodox faithful.
They know that I pray, and am not using any language
for political or ethnic reasons. God is far beyond that.
We have to search for God, to truly say “Christ is risen—
Christ is in our midst,” rather than emphasizing linguistic, cultural, or strategic differences.
AGAIN: Is there anything else you would like to share
with our readers?
Fr. Alexander: I suppose most readers are North Americans.
I always have fascinating discussions with the pilgrims
and tourists from the United States and Canada. They
are always welcome to attend our services, and then to
get some information about how and why we pray the
way we do. In Hebrew, “Again” would usually be translated
“Shuv”: “new, renew, create anew.” In the Holy
Land, God gives me the chance to make things new,
open, peaceful.
For two thousand years, the Resurrection of the Lord
has been proclaimed everywhere in the world. Now we
renew our Faith in the Resurrection here, in a land
where every single person is facing the question, “Who
are you?” With God’s help, may they reach their own
identity to the full. .
Since 1998, Fr. Alexander Winogradsky has set up a variety of ministries centered
in Jerusalem, serving Orthodox Christians from the former Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe. He is delighted that the unexpected emergence of such a
significant number of Orthodox Christians in a Jewish-Arab society is providing
tremendous opportunities for dialogue and reconciliation. Yet the challenges for
one priest to oversee this extensive ministry are overwhelming. His fervent hope is
to develop a spiritual education training program, allowing his ministry to expand
and include many others desirous to serve the Church.
Funds to help support this important ministry can be sent:
through the Orthodox Christian Mission Center.
Please make checks payable to OCMC, and also earmark on the checks:
“Winogradsky/Jerusalem Ministry.” Send to OCMC, P.O. Box 4319, St. Augustine,
FL, 32085-4319. Funds sent through OCMC are tax-deductible.
FACEBOOK DONORS HAVE SENT FUNDS. THE PAST FEW MONTHS WERE SPECIAL AND I WAS BETWEEN ISRAEL AND ABROAD - I SHALL DEEPLY THANK EACH OF THE DONORS AND ASK YOU TO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE ACTION SUPPORTED BY THE PATRIARCHATE OF JERUSALEM AND THE SCOBA ORGANIZATION OF NORTH AMERICAN ORTHODOX BISHOPS.
Again and again - IC XC NIKA
An Orthodox Christian
Priest of Jewish Heritage
Serving in Jerusalem
An AGAIN Interview with
Fr. Alexander Winogradsky
this interview was published in the famous AGAIN Journal; the interview was conducted by Douglas Cramer. TODAY, IT IS INTERESTING TO SEE THAT THE PROJECTS SLOWLY DEVELOP. IT IS ALWAYS GOOD TO LOOK BACKWARDS AND FORWARD AGAIN! THE PATH IS STEADFAST! HERE IS THE INTERVIEW:
AGAIN: Fr. Alexander, please introduce yourself, and the
work God has given you. How did you come to be an
Orthodox Christian priest of Jewish heritage serving
Orthodox Christians in Israel?
Fr. Alexander: I was born into a Jewish Russian family from
Nikolayiev, near Odessa in the Ukraine. Although I
was born in France after World War II, we were Soviet
citizens. I was educated in France, Switzerland, England,
and the Scandinavian countries, and graduated as a
linguist. At home, we used to speak many languages:
Yiddish, Russian, Ukrainian, French, Dutch, German.
My parents were Holocaust (I prefer the word Shoah)
survivors; my mother came out of the horrific concentration
camp of Majdanek, in Poland. I was raised in a
religious atmosphere, which put a certain positive and
permanent mark on my life: a great sense of pardon and
atonement.
We had a link with Israel because most of our family
had supported the creation of the State of Israel, since
the time of the pogroms of 1880. Because of my parents’
age, I am still connected with some specific features of
a world that seemingly disappeared during the Shoah.
This Yiddish culture and the Eastern European Hassidic
traditions are important for a better understanding of
Jewish and Christian relationships in the State of the
Jews and the Holy Land.
I would like to point out that I do not consider myself
as being “ethnically” a Jew or Hebrew. We should be
careful, because God calls every single human being
without making any distinction. In Israel, there are two
“nations”: the Jews and the Gentiles. But I always refer to
Saint Paul, who said that God “create[d] in Himself one
new man from the two [Israel and the Gentiles]”
(Ephesians 2:14–16).
I don’t want to be misunderstood: I am a Jewish
Hebrew Christian Orthodox priest, but my flock is
composed of people of any nation present in the State
of Israel. My congregation therefore depends on the
Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which takes spiritual
care of the Holy Land, Jordan, and Palestine. As the
believers who come to me are Orthodox Christians, I try
to help them in all possible ways, but they are certainly
not exclusively Jews or Hebrews. There are a lot of
mixed couples, Ukrainian, Russian, Georgian, and
Romanian-Moldavian faithful. There are also people
from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, as well as some
Tatars, Uighurs, and “Nentsy”—Siberian Inuits or
Eskimos—who have arrived in Israel. There are Arabs
and Armenians as well. However, we do use Jewish
languages for the services and the Divine Sacraments:
usually Hebrew, often Yiddish, sometimes Ladino, the
Spanish tongue.
AGAIN: Please help us get to know your flock. Who are
the people you serve within the Patriarchate of Jerusalem?
What are their backgrounds, and what are their
lives like now?
Fr. Alexander: There are first the people who came to Israel
as immigrants from the former Soviet Union over the
past 30 years, especially since the fall of the communists
in the 1990s. A lot of dissidents arrived before that time.
They went through hard times because they had been
baptized during the Communist period and were
ignored by the churches when they came to Israel. Then,
since 1990, about 400,000 baptized persons have come
to Israel under the Law of Return. Most of them were
received into the Russian Orthodox Church, some into
the Georgian or Romanian Churches.
As they settled in Israel, many did not know how to
live as Christian believers. The local clergy of the Orthodox
Patriarchate of Jerusalem had to face a new and
unexpected situation. This is very appropriate for the
Church, which is always on the move. It is important for
us to use the Hebrew language to help pave the way to
a healthy inculturation within an Israeli society that is
basically Jewish. This also has important ramifications
for the reading of the Bible. Every week, the Jewish texts
are explained throughout the country by the media. As
Orthodox Christians, we try to explain the Old Testament
roots of our faith and how the Gospel interprets
the old and new heritage in the land of Jesus.
I am very respectful of the laws in force which guarantee
“full freedom of speech and conscience” [Law 140/
1977]. This is a good rallying cry for the faithful who
want to be authentic Christians and to baptize their
children within a varied culture. A good understanding
and experience of Israeli society enables the faithful to
feel at home and not to view themselves as permanent
displaced persons.
Once, I was waiting for the bus at the Western Wall,
and a man came to me and asked in Spanish if I was a
priest. I said I was an Eastern Orthodox priest of the
Jerusalem Church. He then told me that he had arrived
two years ago as a newcomer from Argentina. His family
had left Harbin in China after World War II, and he
spoke Russian and Yiddish as well as Hebrew. This is
usual for the faithful here.
I try to hear confession a lot, and at length. Migrants
are often reluctant to speak or to confide. The soldiers
who can serve as “Orthodox faithful” in the Israeli Army
need also to tell about their spiritual path. And it is
important to visit the sick and the elderly. But some
people do not feel at ease, and a lot of patience is
needed.
I insist on the fact that we must serve the Divine
Liturgy strictly according to the Byzantine tradition.
Therefore, men of any age come to help as servers in the
altar in order to pray and better understand our tradition.
And it is essential for the faithful to pray and to
have access to catechism books as well as the Scripture.
We are very poor and need books in Russian, Ukrainian,
and Hebrew.
AGAIN: Please spend a moment discussing language.
You must be one of only a few priests in the world
serving the Liturgy frequently in Hebrew, and you serve
in many other languages as well. Are there any interesting
language-related stories or insights you’d like to
share?
Fr. Alexander: I always use different languages in the
services because the main point is to be understood, to
get to what the celebration means. Therefore I serve
in Hebrew, but also in Ukrainian, which is a major
language here, as well as Modern Russian. I serve in
other languages depending on who is attending the
services. Sometimes it is necessary to sing in Romanian/
Moldavian, or Georgian. I use Church Slavonic for the
Feasts. In the South, I need to serve mainly in Russian
and Hebrew, as the youth have forgotten the Slavonic
language.
At the moment, there are very few priests serving
in Hebrew. This was not the case some 20 years ago
in Jerusalem, when Hebrew was more in vogue in the
churches. It is indeed my “Father tongue.” I have always
used it, heard it, and written it, and it is the language of
the Father in the sense that God is Our Father in Heaven
and gave the first Covenant in this language. I pray every
day with the faithful in Hebrew, and I can feel today how
living Modern Hebrew is growing and developing. I
consider it is a part of the resurrection, because a speech
shows that a people are alive and can communicate.
It is important for believers to enlarge their understanding
of Hebrew, and not to exclude themselves
from society by their language. Our Christian Orthodox
faithful may sometimes be shy about speaking and
writing Hebrew. They have a Soviet background that still
can imprison them within a sort of Russian nationalism.
I do my best to avoid any kind of nationalism. The
Orthodox tradition has always supported the translation
of Holy Books and prayers into every tongue. People do
not seem to be aware that the Hebrew text of the Divine
Liturgy has been used for 150 years, since a Russian
Jewish priest in Jerusalem made a translation that was
blessed by the Holy Synod of Moscow.
I would never have imagined that I would one day use
such languages as Yiddish or Afrikaans (South African
Dutch) for the spiritual benefit of Israeli citizens. But it
is very important. I have a spiritual daughter in Jerusalem.
She is 34 years old, with two children, originally
from the north of Russia. We speak Russian. Many years
ago, I came to visit her, and her mother and grandmother
were there. There was a long silence. Suddenly
“Grandma” (Bubele) said something in very bad Russian,
and I answered her in Yiddish. There was such
relief! We all continued in this tongue: we could just be
who we are.
The same sort of thing often happens in confession,
because most believers mix their speech with Hebrew
words or sentences that most Russian or former Soviet
priests would never understand. As a Yiddish saying
states: “The tongue is the pen of the soul.” And spiritual
life consists in opening it wider and wider: quite a
challenge.
AGAIN: As has often been the case before, events in the
Holy Land are playing an important part in world affairs,
particularly as they pertain to the current war. Do you
have any insights regarding how the Arab and Jewish
peoples can move towards healing and reconciliation,
and how we in the West can better come to understand
them and their world?
Fr. Alexander: This is more than a challenge, and it is
important not to dream, but to act. Arabs and Jews are
part of the present Israeli society and its development.
I don’t discuss war, politics, tactics. It is a challenge for
a people who were absent for more than two thousand
years to create a modern society with those who have
lived here for centuries. I serve in Hebrew and different
tongues in a church located in a Jerusalem Old City
Arabic compound. The Arabs know I will pray some in
Arabic, and they are very friendly Orthodox faithful.
They know that I pray, and am not using any language
for political or ethnic reasons. God is far beyond that.
We have to search for God, to truly say “Christ is risen—
Christ is in our midst,” rather than emphasizing linguistic, cultural, or strategic differences.
AGAIN: Is there anything else you would like to share
with our readers?
Fr. Alexander: I suppose most readers are North Americans.
I always have fascinating discussions with the pilgrims
and tourists from the United States and Canada. They
are always welcome to attend our services, and then to
get some information about how and why we pray the
way we do. In Hebrew, “Again” would usually be translated
“Shuv”: “new, renew, create anew.” In the Holy
Land, God gives me the chance to make things new,
open, peaceful.
For two thousand years, the Resurrection of the Lord
has been proclaimed everywhere in the world. Now we
renew our Faith in the Resurrection here, in a land
where every single person is facing the question, “Who
are you?” With God’s help, may they reach their own
identity to the full. .
Since 1998, Fr. Alexander Winogradsky has set up a variety of ministries centered
in Jerusalem, serving Orthodox Christians from the former Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe. He is delighted that the unexpected emergence of such a
significant number of Orthodox Christians in a Jewish-Arab society is providing
tremendous opportunities for dialogue and reconciliation. Yet the challenges for
one priest to oversee this extensive ministry are overwhelming. His fervent hope is
to develop a spiritual education training program, allowing his ministry to expand
and include many others desirous to serve the Church.
Funds to help support this important ministry can be sent:
through the Orthodox Christian Mission Center.
Please make checks payable to OCMC, and also earmark on the checks:
“Winogradsky/Jerusalem Ministry.” Send to OCMC, P.O. Box 4319, St. Augustine,
FL, 32085-4319. Funds sent through OCMC are tax-deductible.
FACEBOOK DONORS HAVE SENT FUNDS. THE PAST FEW MONTHS WERE SPECIAL AND I WAS BETWEEN ISRAEL AND ABROAD - I SHALL DEEPLY THANK EACH OF THE DONORS AND ASK YOU TO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE ACTION SUPPORTED BY THE PATRIARCHATE OF JERUSALEM AND THE SCOBA ORGANIZATION OF NORTH AMERICAN ORTHODOX BISHOPS.
On a religious trial in France (Rodez)
30 novembre 2011
Béatitudes : victime d’un religieux pédophile, elle témoigne au procès
(lire aussi l'enquête Les Béatitudes en redressement spirituel)
Solweig Ely a passé un an dans une "maison" de la communauté des Béatitudes, un groupe catholique fondé en 1973 par un laïc exalté et charismatique, Gérard Croissant, dit "Ephraïm". Ces quelques mois ont "brisé" quinze ans de sa vie. Elle en témoigne dans un ouvrage qui vient de paraître, Le silence et la honte (éd. Michel Lafon).
En 1990, son père et sa mère, brusquement convertie à la religion après une guérison survenue quelques années auparavant, font le choix d'entrer dans la communauté des Béatitudes, abandonnant travail et domicile.
Issue du "renouveau charismatique", un mouvement né dans l'euphorie post-soixante-huitarde au sein de l'Eglise catholique, cette "association de fidèles" mêle une liturgie chantante et dansante, des rites empruntés au judaïsme (le shabbat, notamment), des pratiques de "guérisons psycho-spirituelles", souvent proches de la manipulation mentale, et, surtout, une vie communautaire où cohabitent sans discernement des religieux, des religieuses, des laïcs célibataires et des familles, sous la houlette d'un "berger" tout puissant.
Solweig Ely a 10 ans à l'époque et, dans les premiers temps, la fillette et ses sœurs se réjouissent de rejoindre un tel lieu. Pour son malheur, elle y croise Pierre-Etienne Albert, un religieux, chantre respecté de la communauté. Dénoncé en 2008 par des fidèles, cet homme de 60 ans comparaît mercredi 30 novembre et jeudi 1er décembre, devant le tribunal correctionnel de Rodez (Aveyron) pour plusieurs dizaines d'agressions sexuelles sur mineurs, perpétrées entre le milieu des années 70 et 2000.
"Nid à pervers"
Solweig Ely fut l'une de ses victimes ; elle témoignera au procès, même si elle appréhende de se retrouver face à celui qui pénétrait chaque soir dans sa chambre, au vu et au su de ses propres parents, pour lui faire subir des attouchements. Ils avaient fait vœu de "pauvreté et d'obéissance", précise aujourd'hui leur fille. Une "obéissance" aveugle que Solweig Ely ne s'explique toujours pas et qui s'apparente pour elle, à "de l'emprise mentale, des dérives sectaires". "Pierre-Etienne s'était vraiment introduit dans notre famille, au point d'appeler mes parents "papa" et "maman"", se souvient la jeune femme. Au bout d'un an, ses parents quitteront la "maison" de Mortain (Manche), déstabilisés par l'influence exercée par ses responsables sur leur vie familiale et sans moyens de subsistance propres. Mais sans rompre tout à fait avec les Béatitudes.
Par la suite, la fillette ne recevra jamais le soutien de ses parents, qui refusent de dénoncer le religieux. "On ne parlait jamais de ces choses-là. Pour les gens de la communauté, le mal était à l'extérieur", explique aujourd'hui Solweig Ely, que l'on accuse alors d'être possédée. "Mes parents m'ont emmenée chez un exorciste car j'avais une douleur au genou qui m'empêchait de rester agenouillée pour prier. Pour eux, c'était un signe du démon. On s'est rendu compte plusieurs années plus tard, qu'il s'agissait d'une tumeur et je me suis fait opérer..." .
La rupture de la pré-adolescente avec ses parents intervient rapidement après l'épisode des Béatitudes. Placée en famille d'accueil, la jeune fille débute une longue dérive qui la mènera aux quatre coins de France, en quête d'emploi et d'amour. "J'ai eu un parcours familial plus douloureux que les actes [perpétrés par M. Albert] eux-mêmes. Mais au final, je m'en sors mieux que certaines qui ont été soutenues par leurs parents", confie aujourd'hui la jeune femme, mère de quatre enfants. "Fragiles psychologiquement", ses parents ne se remettront jamais tout à fait de cette affaire et divorceront. Son père, "à l'approche du procès et de la sortie du livre" de sa fille, s'est donné la mort.
Le procès de Rodez sera celui d'un homme et de sa perversion, mais il devrait, en creux, souligner l'aveuglement de la communauté des Béatitudes, et, au delà, celui de l'institution catholique dans son ensemble face aux dérives de mouvements qui s'en réclamaient et qui ont vu le jour sans discernement ni accompagnement.
Alors que l'Eglise catholique s'efforce aujourd'hui d'assainir cette communauté réduite à 640 personnes à travers le monde, Solweig Ely aimerait que ce procès ouvre la voie à une remise en question de "ce type d'organisations, des nids à pervers qui ne doivent plus avoir d'existence légale".
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6 commentaires à Béatitudes : victime d’un religieux pédophile, elle témoigne au procès
//Le procès de Rodez sera celui d’un homme et de sa perversion, mais il devrait, en creux, souligner l’aveuglement de la communauté des Béatitudes, et, au delà, celui de l’institution catholique dans son ensemble//
Aveuglement, ou laisser-faire ?
Rédigé par : Ecoeuré | le 30 novembre 2011 à 11:16 | Répondre | Alerter |
Vous dites dans votre article : //Quant aux agressions sexuelles, » infiniment regrettables « , elles doivent être replacées » dans le contexte général d’impréparation, voire d’aveuglement des esprits et de la société, face au drame de la pédophilie avant l’affaire d’Outreau « , précise le religieux.//
Tactique de relativisation connue : « les autres l’ont fait aussi ». Ce qu’oublie de dire Donnaud c’est la spécificité de l’Eglise, où il est demandé d’obéir « perinde ac cadaver » à une entité supérieure et à ses représentants sur terre.
Cette affaire ressemble fâcheusement à celle des Légionnaires du Christ, pendant longtemps fort en cour au Vatican.
Quant au « Frère », qu’il ne se défausse pas de sa propre responsabilité !
Rédigé par : Ecoeuré | le 30 novembre 2011 à 11:48 | Répondre | Alerter |
il est imperatif que tous ces cures se marient comme les autres et deviennent « normaux » avant de faire subir des sevices aux adolescents. J’ai subi des « attouchements » sur mon sexe a l’age de 12 ans [pretres jesuites College St Michel a Bruxelles] mais j’ai toujours renonce et ils n’ont pas insiste heureusement. Ils sont « malades »…………Andre (pas d’accents car portable anglais/qwerty)
Rédigé par : vermeer | le 30 novembre 2011 à 11:55 | Répondre | Alerter |
L’article est bon. La situation est complexe. Pour ma part, dans les années 1980, je fus souvent invité à visiter les communautés du « Lion de Juda et de l’Agneau Immolé »; vivant toujours à Jérusalem où j’ai une charge pastorale au patriarcat orthodoxe de Jérusalem, le nom faisait plus que sourire, surtout en hébreu. Qui allait-on égorger? Certaines personnalités européennes ont essayé de faire croire que Mortain était un lieu de passage obligé. J’ai toujours refusé de m’y rendre. Il est frappant de voir que les « Béatitudes » doivent assumer la compassion réelle témoignée envers des gens « paumées ou borderline ». Un accueil souvent fraternel, agrémenté de légumes. Il reste que l’autoritarisme, la « prétention » spirituelle ont conduit à justifier des pratiques comme celles qui sont mentionnées en cour de justice. Prestige étonnant qui faisait d’un ancien pasteur, prétendument « juif d’origine » et de sa famille un initiateur de groupe prestigieux qui mélange encore a volo toutes les traditions liturgiques et spirituelles. On mesure dans sa fuite au Rwanda et/ou ailleurs un gaspillage dont on ne peut que rester stupéfait. C’est totalement incroyable que des êtres humains puissent ainsi revendiquer un pouvoir spirituel et « directionnel » si abusif sans être sous contrôle, sinon par le silence d’une Eglise qui a toujours raison. Je ne condamne pas car les mêmes phénomènes et exactions se produisent en ce moment dans toutes les confessions (Islande luthérienne, Irlande, Pays-Bas, Autriche sinistrée – rabbins en prison en Israël, l’orthodoxie n’est pas abesnete de ce tableau effroyable). En revanche, il serait utile de limiter les désirs de pouvoir, voire assurer pour le bien des personnes, des âmes et de leur cheminement une certaine alternance et modération. Il est aberrant de voir les détournements financiers, immobiliers, affectifs exécutés au nom de « visions prophétiques et de parler en langues ». Et aussi le pillage intellectuel qu’il faudra un jour clarifier sur des textes et écrits qui furent simplement pris à d’autres et « captés ». La captation est une maladie spirituelle particulièrement grave à toutes les étapes du processus. On attend aussi plus de courage de toute autorité ecclésiale. Il faut saluer le courage tenace de certains qui ont permis que la question soit portée devant un tribunal français. Dans leur tenacité, il y sûrement une persévérance rare dans la foi. En termes chrétiens, il est évident qu’il faut prier. Mais il ne faut pas que ces news détourne de la foi ou de la démarche sincère proposée par le Dieu et l’Eglise.
Rédigé par : abbaa | le 30 novembre 2011 à 14:47 | Répondre | Alerter |
Vous ne condamnez pas ?
Vous trouvez que le détournement de textes religieux est plus grave que le détournement de mineur ?
Le glissement de la morale dans les cercles religieux fait peur !
Rédigé par : M'enfin! | le 30 novembre 2011 à 20:55 | Répondre | Alerter |
Je ne sais pas qui a écrit juste à ma suite, ce n’est pas signé ni référencié.
Il est facile, dans une presse sécularisée et où le journalisme religieux est une gageure et même un exploit culturel et spirituel, de présenter des faits de cette gravité. Au moins, Stéphanie le Bars fait son métier.
Son métier n’est sûrement pas de juger et certainement pas de porter une condamnation, qelle qu’elle puisse être. Le journalisme – notamment Le Monde s’y est montré un exemple au cours des décennies – est de présenter, d’analyser, d’expliquer, de présenter les faits sous les angles les plus diversifiés. Au fond, il est possible que la remarque m’ait été en réponse car je parle d’une chose jamais mentionnée: le détournement par la communauté concernée de textes publiés et utilisés sans autorisation!
Le simple fait d’avoir écrit en réponse à cet excellent article – excellent parce qu’il est journalistique et que la journaliste fait son travail d’information sur une affaire qui ne fait que paraître à un tribunal français – ce simple fait est évidemment une condamnation. L’utilisation abusive d’ouvrages violés est grave, il est évident – à moins de faire un procès d’intention irraisonné de tout propos du clergé – que le viol, l’abus physique, mental et spirituel de quiconque est condamnable!
Le croyant est toujours solidaire de la victime comme de celui qui a commis le pire. Disons que c’est du domaine de la foi.
La presse islandaise parle depuis de nombreux mois d’un évêque luthérien décédé dont la fille victimisée à outrance a récemment publié les faits familiaux.
Condamner ne suffit pas; encore faut-il assumer ce que fait une société et réparer ou tout faire pour réparer.
Il faut se garder de juger a priori et systématiquement de ce que l’on ne perçoit pas clairement. Ce procès ne fait que commencer.
Rédigé par : abbaa | le 01 décembre 2011 à 00:18 | Répondre | Alerter |
Béatitudes : victime d’un religieux pédophile, elle témoigne au procès
(lire aussi l'enquête Les Béatitudes en redressement spirituel)
Solweig Ely a passé un an dans une "maison" de la communauté des Béatitudes, un groupe catholique fondé en 1973 par un laïc exalté et charismatique, Gérard Croissant, dit "Ephraïm". Ces quelques mois ont "brisé" quinze ans de sa vie. Elle en témoigne dans un ouvrage qui vient de paraître, Le silence et la honte (éd. Michel Lafon).
En 1990, son père et sa mère, brusquement convertie à la religion après une guérison survenue quelques années auparavant, font le choix d'entrer dans la communauté des Béatitudes, abandonnant travail et domicile.
Issue du "renouveau charismatique", un mouvement né dans l'euphorie post-soixante-huitarde au sein de l'Eglise catholique, cette "association de fidèles" mêle une liturgie chantante et dansante, des rites empruntés au judaïsme (le shabbat, notamment), des pratiques de "guérisons psycho-spirituelles", souvent proches de la manipulation mentale, et, surtout, une vie communautaire où cohabitent sans discernement des religieux, des religieuses, des laïcs célibataires et des familles, sous la houlette d'un "berger" tout puissant.
Solweig Ely a 10 ans à l'époque et, dans les premiers temps, la fillette et ses sœurs se réjouissent de rejoindre un tel lieu. Pour son malheur, elle y croise Pierre-Etienne Albert, un religieux, chantre respecté de la communauté. Dénoncé en 2008 par des fidèles, cet homme de 60 ans comparaît mercredi 30 novembre et jeudi 1er décembre, devant le tribunal correctionnel de Rodez (Aveyron) pour plusieurs dizaines d'agressions sexuelles sur mineurs, perpétrées entre le milieu des années 70 et 2000.
"Nid à pervers"
Solweig Ely fut l'une de ses victimes ; elle témoignera au procès, même si elle appréhende de se retrouver face à celui qui pénétrait chaque soir dans sa chambre, au vu et au su de ses propres parents, pour lui faire subir des attouchements. Ils avaient fait vœu de "pauvreté et d'obéissance", précise aujourd'hui leur fille. Une "obéissance" aveugle que Solweig Ely ne s'explique toujours pas et qui s'apparente pour elle, à "de l'emprise mentale, des dérives sectaires". "Pierre-Etienne s'était vraiment introduit dans notre famille, au point d'appeler mes parents "papa" et "maman"", se souvient la jeune femme. Au bout d'un an, ses parents quitteront la "maison" de Mortain (Manche), déstabilisés par l'influence exercée par ses responsables sur leur vie familiale et sans moyens de subsistance propres. Mais sans rompre tout à fait avec les Béatitudes.
Par la suite, la fillette ne recevra jamais le soutien de ses parents, qui refusent de dénoncer le religieux. "On ne parlait jamais de ces choses-là. Pour les gens de la communauté, le mal était à l'extérieur", explique aujourd'hui Solweig Ely, que l'on accuse alors d'être possédée. "Mes parents m'ont emmenée chez un exorciste car j'avais une douleur au genou qui m'empêchait de rester agenouillée pour prier. Pour eux, c'était un signe du démon. On s'est rendu compte plusieurs années plus tard, qu'il s'agissait d'une tumeur et je me suis fait opérer..." .
La rupture de la pré-adolescente avec ses parents intervient rapidement après l'épisode des Béatitudes. Placée en famille d'accueil, la jeune fille débute une longue dérive qui la mènera aux quatre coins de France, en quête d'emploi et d'amour. "J'ai eu un parcours familial plus douloureux que les actes [perpétrés par M. Albert] eux-mêmes. Mais au final, je m'en sors mieux que certaines qui ont été soutenues par leurs parents", confie aujourd'hui la jeune femme, mère de quatre enfants. "Fragiles psychologiquement", ses parents ne se remettront jamais tout à fait de cette affaire et divorceront. Son père, "à l'approche du procès et de la sortie du livre" de sa fille, s'est donné la mort.
Le procès de Rodez sera celui d'un homme et de sa perversion, mais il devrait, en creux, souligner l'aveuglement de la communauté des Béatitudes, et, au delà, celui de l'institution catholique dans son ensemble face aux dérives de mouvements qui s'en réclamaient et qui ont vu le jour sans discernement ni accompagnement.
Alors que l'Eglise catholique s'efforce aujourd'hui d'assainir cette communauté réduite à 640 personnes à travers le monde, Solweig Ely aimerait que ce procès ouvre la voie à une remise en question de "ce type d'organisations, des nids à pervers qui ne doivent plus avoir d'existence légale".
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6 commentaires à Béatitudes : victime d’un religieux pédophile, elle témoigne au procès
//Le procès de Rodez sera celui d’un homme et de sa perversion, mais il devrait, en creux, souligner l’aveuglement de la communauté des Béatitudes, et, au delà, celui de l’institution catholique dans son ensemble//
Aveuglement, ou laisser-faire ?
Rédigé par : Ecoeuré | le 30 novembre 2011 à 11:16 | Répondre | Alerter |
Vous dites dans votre article : //Quant aux agressions sexuelles, » infiniment regrettables « , elles doivent être replacées » dans le contexte général d’impréparation, voire d’aveuglement des esprits et de la société, face au drame de la pédophilie avant l’affaire d’Outreau « , précise le religieux.//
Tactique de relativisation connue : « les autres l’ont fait aussi ». Ce qu’oublie de dire Donnaud c’est la spécificité de l’Eglise, où il est demandé d’obéir « perinde ac cadaver » à une entité supérieure et à ses représentants sur terre.
Cette affaire ressemble fâcheusement à celle des Légionnaires du Christ, pendant longtemps fort en cour au Vatican.
Quant au « Frère », qu’il ne se défausse pas de sa propre responsabilité !
Rédigé par : Ecoeuré | le 30 novembre 2011 à 11:48 | Répondre | Alerter |
il est imperatif que tous ces cures se marient comme les autres et deviennent « normaux » avant de faire subir des sevices aux adolescents. J’ai subi des « attouchements » sur mon sexe a l’age de 12 ans [pretres jesuites College St Michel a Bruxelles] mais j’ai toujours renonce et ils n’ont pas insiste heureusement. Ils sont « malades »…………Andre (pas d’accents car portable anglais/qwerty)
Rédigé par : vermeer | le 30 novembre 2011 à 11:55 | Répondre | Alerter |
L’article est bon. La situation est complexe. Pour ma part, dans les années 1980, je fus souvent invité à visiter les communautés du « Lion de Juda et de l’Agneau Immolé »; vivant toujours à Jérusalem où j’ai une charge pastorale au patriarcat orthodoxe de Jérusalem, le nom faisait plus que sourire, surtout en hébreu. Qui allait-on égorger? Certaines personnalités européennes ont essayé de faire croire que Mortain était un lieu de passage obligé. J’ai toujours refusé de m’y rendre. Il est frappant de voir que les « Béatitudes » doivent assumer la compassion réelle témoignée envers des gens « paumées ou borderline ». Un accueil souvent fraternel, agrémenté de légumes. Il reste que l’autoritarisme, la « prétention » spirituelle ont conduit à justifier des pratiques comme celles qui sont mentionnées en cour de justice. Prestige étonnant qui faisait d’un ancien pasteur, prétendument « juif d’origine » et de sa famille un initiateur de groupe prestigieux qui mélange encore a volo toutes les traditions liturgiques et spirituelles. On mesure dans sa fuite au Rwanda et/ou ailleurs un gaspillage dont on ne peut que rester stupéfait. C’est totalement incroyable que des êtres humains puissent ainsi revendiquer un pouvoir spirituel et « directionnel » si abusif sans être sous contrôle, sinon par le silence d’une Eglise qui a toujours raison. Je ne condamne pas car les mêmes phénomènes et exactions se produisent en ce moment dans toutes les confessions (Islande luthérienne, Irlande, Pays-Bas, Autriche sinistrée – rabbins en prison en Israël, l’orthodoxie n’est pas abesnete de ce tableau effroyable). En revanche, il serait utile de limiter les désirs de pouvoir, voire assurer pour le bien des personnes, des âmes et de leur cheminement une certaine alternance et modération. Il est aberrant de voir les détournements financiers, immobiliers, affectifs exécutés au nom de « visions prophétiques et de parler en langues ». Et aussi le pillage intellectuel qu’il faudra un jour clarifier sur des textes et écrits qui furent simplement pris à d’autres et « captés ». La captation est une maladie spirituelle particulièrement grave à toutes les étapes du processus. On attend aussi plus de courage de toute autorité ecclésiale. Il faut saluer le courage tenace de certains qui ont permis que la question soit portée devant un tribunal français. Dans leur tenacité, il y sûrement une persévérance rare dans la foi. En termes chrétiens, il est évident qu’il faut prier. Mais il ne faut pas que ces news détourne de la foi ou de la démarche sincère proposée par le Dieu et l’Eglise.
Rédigé par : abbaa | le 30 novembre 2011 à 14:47 | Répondre | Alerter |
Vous ne condamnez pas ?
Vous trouvez que le détournement de textes religieux est plus grave que le détournement de mineur ?
Le glissement de la morale dans les cercles religieux fait peur !
Rédigé par : M'enfin! | le 30 novembre 2011 à 20:55 | Répondre | Alerter |
Je ne sais pas qui a écrit juste à ma suite, ce n’est pas signé ni référencié.
Il est facile, dans une presse sécularisée et où le journalisme religieux est une gageure et même un exploit culturel et spirituel, de présenter des faits de cette gravité. Au moins, Stéphanie le Bars fait son métier.
Son métier n’est sûrement pas de juger et certainement pas de porter une condamnation, qelle qu’elle puisse être. Le journalisme – notamment Le Monde s’y est montré un exemple au cours des décennies – est de présenter, d’analyser, d’expliquer, de présenter les faits sous les angles les plus diversifiés. Au fond, il est possible que la remarque m’ait été en réponse car je parle d’une chose jamais mentionnée: le détournement par la communauté concernée de textes publiés et utilisés sans autorisation!
Le simple fait d’avoir écrit en réponse à cet excellent article – excellent parce qu’il est journalistique et que la journaliste fait son travail d’information sur une affaire qui ne fait que paraître à un tribunal français – ce simple fait est évidemment une condamnation. L’utilisation abusive d’ouvrages violés est grave, il est évident – à moins de faire un procès d’intention irraisonné de tout propos du clergé – que le viol, l’abus physique, mental et spirituel de quiconque est condamnable!
Le croyant est toujours solidaire de la victime comme de celui qui a commis le pire. Disons que c’est du domaine de la foi.
La presse islandaise parle depuis de nombreux mois d’un évêque luthérien décédé dont la fille victimisée à outrance a récemment publié les faits familiaux.
Condamner ne suffit pas; encore faut-il assumer ce que fait une société et réparer ou tout faire pour réparer.
Il faut se garder de juger a priori et systématiquement de ce que l’on ne perçoit pas clairement. Ce procès ne fait que commencer.
Rédigé par : abbaa | le 01 décembre 2011 à 00:18 | Répondre | Alerter |
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The pangs of birth
"The Pangs of Birth"
There are times of emergency and times of slow-slow moves. We may not notice that some very dramatic events affecting our personal lives and the society we live and work in and with may move off and speed up unexpectedly. We may subconsequently show some tendency to moral "laziness" refusing to accept changes.
Israeli society is very special: we are assembled beyond our differences in coping or not with modernity, swiftness or slowness, sort of stagnation. There is a spiritual disease called "akedia/ακεδια" in Greek that corresponds to some extent to Talmudic "atslut\עצלות-עצלנות - laziness, indolence". Talmud Sukka 27b states: "I like laggards (atslanim\עצלנים) because they cannot even leave their home on a festive day". True, "akedia" is a very severe absence of motion affecting human will and desire to evolve. Reflection, thoughts, dynamics shelter into the swindling caves of our consciousness in order to sleep in. They also may be on a play and faint to ignore outside realities.
Is it possible to dawdle or loiter as how to reach a minimum of efforts and always expect assistance from others, then slow-slow fall asleep or lose our alertness? This can be a personal selfish and own tendency that leads a soul and the body that shelters the soul to sleep and auto-mutilation. Both become lame or sleep as in a fake death context. This can lead to suicide.
There are people who are contented because they do not have to move or wake up. This can be the consequence of strong authoritarism that progressively wipes out and erases mind and brain capacities. It has always been the case. On the other hand, by the time of the Hebrew Patriarchs, people were on a move. Not in train, buses, planes, subways or even escalators. Muscles had to go on whilst neurones were on high alert.
Our present disease is not that God directly tells us we have to face the challenges of our lives; Abraham had to be tested and overcome, surface ten Tests. He did it without any claim. He did not intervene for his sake, but for the inhabitants of Sodom. Prophet Elijah was also depressed. Job too as Jonah. As saint Paul stated, Abraham went through the tests in full confidence to God. His son Isaac and grandson Jacob wandered back and fro.
Abraham was a decider. Yitzchak is reminded in this week's reading portion "Vayetzei/" ויצא as having a “Pachad HaShem\פחד ה' - Fear for God”. "Fears-pachadim\פחדים" can be a very respectful feelings in front of God's almighty powers and creative capacities. In human society, this can be compared to brakes that would curb any move in order to avoid resolving pending problems.
Yaakov was a mild mom's kid and he will remain a sweet boy until he fought with some angel who slashed his hip and thigh sinew. Then, in his weakness, he will limp ahead with more self-confidence. But to begin with, he is a "ish tam\איש תם - a mild man", though "tam\תם" involves some "fulfillment". He went out of Beer Sheva and met Rachel, a shepherdess, Laban’s daughter, in order to obey his father and mother's commandment to marry within the original tribe, their kinsmen. There he spent a long time not doing anything, a kind of non-paying non-profitable guest. Laban told him it was not fair even for a relative.
They spoke "wages" and Jacob agreed to work seven years for Laban to be given Rachel as a wife. The reality of the deal concluded in his receiving her sister Leah first. And, indeed - for the sake of love – he only was given Rachel after fourteen years of labor. This is the kind of local agreement that often turns to cheat and fraud as we have it daily in our society, including women issues.
With regards to Jacob, this is typical consequence of some childlike and fresh boyish mellowed-out attitude. He woke up and faced burdening problems. On the other hand, the wives were doing fine. Well, more or less: full competition and here is Rachel's plus over Leah. Firstly, Yaakov loved her and she loved him. Leah was unloved ("s'nu'a\שנוא - hated") and thus God "opened her womb - rachmah\רחמה = showing loving-kindness”, i.e. four babies in a row while Rachel remained barren.
There will not be any love, but Leah will grow in some sort of "aversion-hate" toward Yaakov that can drive a woman totally mad till she will even think she can, as Leah declared: "yillaveh\ילוה - be fastened, bound to her husband through Levi, their son. And she stopped bearing with Yehudah.
Unfavored Rachel, nebech (too bad, poor thing, a key word in Yiddish), is furious, envious of her sister. And there goes the gung ho! Well, she was not in the WWII Pacific battalion that adopted these words, but she hit the sack, did not remain a gizmo, and like any female "flak" violently burst her shells against her mild husband. She gave him an order: "Take Bilhah, my servant and get me children". And the man did obey his wife as he had obeyed his parents. Then Rachel is still gung ho at getting her own children: "Give me children or I shall die", she says to Jacob who is incensed at her. The word is delicious in English.
Violence and passion? Yes, because of true love facing unborn children, sterility. We can understand that in this region in constant baby boom. The competitors are basically the same as at the time of Yaakov and Rachel. The problems are the same: to bear babies because God is merciful. Can children replace the absence of love between the parents? Would a wife, a partner, a lover be willing to tie up a man and get more love or possess their children because of a some frustration. This is so current and archaically fits with special niches in many women intense emotions. Children are also those who can work when the parents get old or they can prevent accidents. The West is far to hedonistic and selfish, wealthy or thinks it is; Westerners only trust themselves and have a selected sense of history. For the Jewish tradition, birthing means to introduce into redemption.
Yaakov’s answer might not show that often… though… who knows? He had said to Rachel: “Can I take the place of God?” We are in a region, samples of cultures where sterility can be considered as a proof or an argument that love is absent; then, marriage, family life can be released to err here and there, which, at the present, raises the problem of secular divorces, separation, difficult gittin (religious divorce bills).
Sterility is in crisis. Men are fragilized just as women can be but seminal loss of fertility is something different from women's ovulation process. Jewish tradition focuses on something else.
Is it possible to replace individuals as tumors may be removed, period? Or are we bound to emotional imprints that, developing from early age to adulthood, allows some people to find the chosen or very special one and build a family with God’s love. In Leah’s and Rachel’s bonds to Yaakov, the acting factor is the closure or opening of the women’s wombs.
“Ekeret\עקרת - barren” means “uprooted, rootless”, mutilated in her womanhood and capacity as a woman in witnessing that love does exist and can more: lead to the fecundity of bodies and souls. Talmud Berakhot 44b states: “There will be no barren one amongst you (cf. Deuteronomy 7:14 referring to “Ekev\עקב = Yaakov”), i.e., there will be no one ignoring or not knowing the Scripture”.
When finally “God opened Rachel’s womb… and she bore a son, she said: “God has taken away (asaph\אסף = harvested) my disgrace” and she called the him “Yoseph\יוסף” (added as an growth). There is a kind of “harvest” in either removing a disgrace or adding a son of man who, as Rachel’s Yoseph, will be rejected by his brothers, sold and save them and their father from the famine as he held an unexpected position in Egypt and married an Egyptian woman, the mother of Ephraim and Menashe.
Rachel won in a special way: Jacob was finally willing to leave Laban and he did. Leah bore the ancestor of the Leviim\לויים – Levites; Rachel birthed the man who pardoned the jealousy of his people represented by his own brothers who had left him half dead in a cistern, then sold him – out of envious jealousy. In return, he nourished them.
Maybe because of our demographic “requirements or fears”?, or because we reached a time when high-technology and scientific knowledge indeed give the possibility to challenge human laws governing what is normal or abnormal, admissive or prohibited in order to give birth without harming authentic womanhood? Who really knows or understands?
The Israeli Jewish cultural realm need the “teshuvot\תשובות – responsae” provided by scholars like Rav Tzitz Eliezer Waldenberg who was a Talmudic decision-maker in matters of abortion. And also to read them with consideration to scientific developments. The recent development of the State of Israel and the big impact of women in all the sectors of our society should give them the opportunity to improve, with the insight of their women’s views and own experience to achieve male explanations that can only be like Yaakov answer: “Can we be God?”
Is it healthy or simply wise to bear children at 50 years old or more? Does it make sense to “hire wombs” in order to “replace ours”? Or to force a woman to give birth at any price? The challenge is whether we confide in God or rely upon selfish desires. The question is real, can hurt… or be convenient. And this concerns very young girls or women without experience, at odds with their environment as with mature wives struggling with age or senior male husbands or partners.
The Gospel starts with the same question. The first chapter of the Evangelist Luke (1:1-2:14) reports the birth of John the Baptist or Forerunner into an aging couple, Elizabeth and Zechariah who was of the priestly division of Abijah. Elizabeth was an “Ekeret\עקרת” and old. On the other hand, she received the visit of her cousin, Mary, who was a very young maiden.
In both cases, as Yaakov dealing with Leah and Rachel, the priest Zechariah and Joseph, who was betrothed to Mary, face the same attitude of faith and trust as Jacob: “Can I replace God who can open your womb?”
Is there any border to love and trust or, on the contrary, the Scripture shows us the combat of men and women on their way to faith, debating with pragmatic human emotional disputes and responses?
Av Aleksandr (Winogradsky Frenkel)
There are times of emergency and times of slow-slow moves. We may not notice that some very dramatic events affecting our personal lives and the society we live and work in and with may move off and speed up unexpectedly. We may subconsequently show some tendency to moral "laziness" refusing to accept changes.
Israeli society is very special: we are assembled beyond our differences in coping or not with modernity, swiftness or slowness, sort of stagnation. There is a spiritual disease called "akedia/ακεδια" in Greek that corresponds to some extent to Talmudic "atslut\עצלות-עצלנות - laziness, indolence". Talmud Sukka 27b states: "I like laggards (atslanim\עצלנים) because they cannot even leave their home on a festive day". True, "akedia" is a very severe absence of motion affecting human will and desire to evolve. Reflection, thoughts, dynamics shelter into the swindling caves of our consciousness in order to sleep in. They also may be on a play and faint to ignore outside realities.
Is it possible to dawdle or loiter as how to reach a minimum of efforts and always expect assistance from others, then slow-slow fall asleep or lose our alertness? This can be a personal selfish and own tendency that leads a soul and the body that shelters the soul to sleep and auto-mutilation. Both become lame or sleep as in a fake death context. This can lead to suicide.
There are people who are contented because they do not have to move or wake up. This can be the consequence of strong authoritarism that progressively wipes out and erases mind and brain capacities. It has always been the case. On the other hand, by the time of the Hebrew Patriarchs, people were on a move. Not in train, buses, planes, subways or even escalators. Muscles had to go on whilst neurones were on high alert.
Our present disease is not that God directly tells us we have to face the challenges of our lives; Abraham had to be tested and overcome, surface ten Tests. He did it without any claim. He did not intervene for his sake, but for the inhabitants of Sodom. Prophet Elijah was also depressed. Job too as Jonah. As saint Paul stated, Abraham went through the tests in full confidence to God. His son Isaac and grandson Jacob wandered back and fro.
Abraham was a decider. Yitzchak is reminded in this week's reading portion "Vayetzei/" ויצא as having a “Pachad HaShem\פחד ה' - Fear for God”. "Fears-pachadim\פחדים" can be a very respectful feelings in front of God's almighty powers and creative capacities. In human society, this can be compared to brakes that would curb any move in order to avoid resolving pending problems.
Yaakov was a mild mom's kid and he will remain a sweet boy until he fought with some angel who slashed his hip and thigh sinew. Then, in his weakness, he will limp ahead with more self-confidence. But to begin with, he is a "ish tam\איש תם - a mild man", though "tam\תם" involves some "fulfillment". He went out of Beer Sheva and met Rachel, a shepherdess, Laban’s daughter, in order to obey his father and mother's commandment to marry within the original tribe, their kinsmen. There he spent a long time not doing anything, a kind of non-paying non-profitable guest. Laban told him it was not fair even for a relative.
They spoke "wages" and Jacob agreed to work seven years for Laban to be given Rachel as a wife. The reality of the deal concluded in his receiving her sister Leah first. And, indeed - for the sake of love – he only was given Rachel after fourteen years of labor. This is the kind of local agreement that often turns to cheat and fraud as we have it daily in our society, including women issues.
With regards to Jacob, this is typical consequence of some childlike and fresh boyish mellowed-out attitude. He woke up and faced burdening problems. On the other hand, the wives were doing fine. Well, more or less: full competition and here is Rachel's plus over Leah. Firstly, Yaakov loved her and she loved him. Leah was unloved ("s'nu'a\שנוא - hated") and thus God "opened her womb - rachmah\רחמה = showing loving-kindness”, i.e. four babies in a row while Rachel remained barren.
There will not be any love, but Leah will grow in some sort of "aversion-hate" toward Yaakov that can drive a woman totally mad till she will even think she can, as Leah declared: "yillaveh\ילוה - be fastened, bound to her husband through Levi, their son. And she stopped bearing with Yehudah.
Unfavored Rachel, nebech (too bad, poor thing, a key word in Yiddish), is furious, envious of her sister. And there goes the gung ho! Well, she was not in the WWII Pacific battalion that adopted these words, but she hit the sack, did not remain a gizmo, and like any female "flak" violently burst her shells against her mild husband. She gave him an order: "Take Bilhah, my servant and get me children". And the man did obey his wife as he had obeyed his parents. Then Rachel is still gung ho at getting her own children: "Give me children or I shall die", she says to Jacob who is incensed at her. The word is delicious in English.
Violence and passion? Yes, because of true love facing unborn children, sterility. We can understand that in this region in constant baby boom. The competitors are basically the same as at the time of Yaakov and Rachel. The problems are the same: to bear babies because God is merciful. Can children replace the absence of love between the parents? Would a wife, a partner, a lover be willing to tie up a man and get more love or possess their children because of a some frustration. This is so current and archaically fits with special niches in many women intense emotions. Children are also those who can work when the parents get old or they can prevent accidents. The West is far to hedonistic and selfish, wealthy or thinks it is; Westerners only trust themselves and have a selected sense of history. For the Jewish tradition, birthing means to introduce into redemption.
Yaakov’s answer might not show that often… though… who knows? He had said to Rachel: “Can I take the place of God?” We are in a region, samples of cultures where sterility can be considered as a proof or an argument that love is absent; then, marriage, family life can be released to err here and there, which, at the present, raises the problem of secular divorces, separation, difficult gittin (religious divorce bills).
Sterility is in crisis. Men are fragilized just as women can be but seminal loss of fertility is something different from women's ovulation process. Jewish tradition focuses on something else.
Is it possible to replace individuals as tumors may be removed, period? Or are we bound to emotional imprints that, developing from early age to adulthood, allows some people to find the chosen or very special one and build a family with God’s love. In Leah’s and Rachel’s bonds to Yaakov, the acting factor is the closure or opening of the women’s wombs.
“Ekeret\עקרת - barren” means “uprooted, rootless”, mutilated in her womanhood and capacity as a woman in witnessing that love does exist and can more: lead to the fecundity of bodies and souls. Talmud Berakhot 44b states: “There will be no barren one amongst you (cf. Deuteronomy 7:14 referring to “Ekev\עקב = Yaakov”), i.e., there will be no one ignoring or not knowing the Scripture”.
When finally “God opened Rachel’s womb… and she bore a son, she said: “God has taken away (asaph\אסף = harvested) my disgrace” and she called the him “Yoseph\יוסף” (added as an growth). There is a kind of “harvest” in either removing a disgrace or adding a son of man who, as Rachel’s Yoseph, will be rejected by his brothers, sold and save them and their father from the famine as he held an unexpected position in Egypt and married an Egyptian woman, the mother of Ephraim and Menashe.
Rachel won in a special way: Jacob was finally willing to leave Laban and he did. Leah bore the ancestor of the Leviim\לויים – Levites; Rachel birthed the man who pardoned the jealousy of his people represented by his own brothers who had left him half dead in a cistern, then sold him – out of envious jealousy. In return, he nourished them.
Maybe because of our demographic “requirements or fears”?, or because we reached a time when high-technology and scientific knowledge indeed give the possibility to challenge human laws governing what is normal or abnormal, admissive or prohibited in order to give birth without harming authentic womanhood? Who really knows or understands?
The Israeli Jewish cultural realm need the “teshuvot\תשובות – responsae” provided by scholars like Rav Tzitz Eliezer Waldenberg who was a Talmudic decision-maker in matters of abortion. And also to read them with consideration to scientific developments. The recent development of the State of Israel and the big impact of women in all the sectors of our society should give them the opportunity to improve, with the insight of their women’s views and own experience to achieve male explanations that can only be like Yaakov answer: “Can we be God?”
Is it healthy or simply wise to bear children at 50 years old or more? Does it make sense to “hire wombs” in order to “replace ours”? Or to force a woman to give birth at any price? The challenge is whether we confide in God or rely upon selfish desires. The question is real, can hurt… or be convenient. And this concerns very young girls or women without experience, at odds with their environment as with mature wives struggling with age or senior male husbands or partners.
The Gospel starts with the same question. The first chapter of the Evangelist Luke (1:1-2:14) reports the birth of John the Baptist or Forerunner into an aging couple, Elizabeth and Zechariah who was of the priestly division of Abijah. Elizabeth was an “Ekeret\עקרת” and old. On the other hand, she received the visit of her cousin, Mary, who was a very young maiden.
In both cases, as Yaakov dealing with Leah and Rachel, the priest Zechariah and Joseph, who was betrothed to Mary, face the same attitude of faith and trust as Jacob: “Can I replace God who can open your womb?”
Is there any border to love and trust or, on the contrary, the Scripture shows us the combat of men and women on their way to faith, debating with pragmatic human emotional disputes and responses?
Av Aleksandr (Winogradsky Frenkel)
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