A Really Good Reason to Live in Tzfat
LOOKOUT ON CHESSED: Tzfat's own indomitable Mikimi Steinberg blogs about Yad Sarah.
http://tinyurl.com/344mdc
What is Yad Sarah?
"Yad Sarah is an Israel-wide network of volunteers aiding disabled, elderly, housebound people aimed at making home care possible."
Please see: http://tinyurl.com/2rj68s for more details.
Way to go, Mikimi!
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
THE CREATION OF A STATE
This is what is involved in the creation of a state:http://tinyurl.com/2kyw6l
We Israelis too were brutalized and reduced to the ignominy of committing acts that would have been unthinkable before we had a state to defend. It really does not matter if we are more than, less than or equally brutal to the Palestinian Arabs. We have both become far more brutal and violent than we were - all for the sake of achieving and defending a state with "secure borders".
And that is why when people ask me if I believe in a two-state solution, I tell them that I believe in a zero-state solution.
No state is a solution to violence, to intrigue, to nefarious undertakings, systematic povertization of target populations in order to keep the drug, prostitution and weapons markets humming. No state will not send its young to war for the sake of maintaining the power of the elite.
And although I do not see Israel as an imperialist state because none of the land that we seized was as a result of our initiative, but rather as a result of wars that we did not begin, but were victorious in - still I do not doubt that we would be imperialists and colonialists if we could, because that is the way of the realpolitik of statecraft. And the Palestinians, given the chance, would do exactly the same thing.
From what I understand from scions of families that have inhabited this area for many generations, Arab and Jewish alike; these problems did not exist before the British arrived and fomented discord to their own purposes. Historians say the same. There was also no concept of state in this area until it was imported.
I don't see any solution to the conflicts in this area until states and borders are abolished. Only when there are no borders can disarmament, particularly nuclear disarmament, occur. Only then can prosperity based on truly free trade agreements take place. Only then can there be free educational and cultural exchange. Only then can there be religious speculation that is not the concept by which we measure our pain, as John Lennon so aptly observed, but rather the measure of our joy.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
This is what is involved in the creation of a state:http://tinyurl.com/2kyw6l
We Israelis too were brutalized and reduced to the ignominy of committing acts that would have been unthinkable before we had a state to defend. It really does not matter if we are more than, less than or equally brutal to the Palestinian Arabs. We have both become far more brutal and violent than we were - all for the sake of achieving and defending a state with "secure borders".
And that is why when people ask me if I believe in a two-state solution, I tell them that I believe in a zero-state solution.
No state is a solution to violence, to intrigue, to nefarious undertakings, systematic povertization of target populations in order to keep the drug, prostitution and weapons markets humming. No state will not send its young to war for the sake of maintaining the power of the elite.
And although I do not see Israel as an imperialist state because none of the land that we seized was as a result of our initiative, but rather as a result of wars that we did not begin, but were victorious in - still I do not doubt that we would be imperialists and colonialists if we could, because that is the way of the realpolitik of statecraft. And the Palestinians, given the chance, would do exactly the same thing.
From what I understand from scions of families that have inhabited this area for many generations, Arab and Jewish alike; these problems did not exist before the British arrived and fomented discord to their own purposes. Historians say the same. There was also no concept of state in this area until it was imported.
I don't see any solution to the conflicts in this area until states and borders are abolished. Only when there are no borders can disarmament, particularly nuclear disarmament, occur. Only then can prosperity based on truly free trade agreements take place. Only then can there be free educational and cultural exchange. Only then can there be religious speculation that is not the concept by which we measure our pain, as John Lennon so aptly observed, but rather the measure of our joy.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Becoming Ever More Israeli
In July I will be here 25 years.
I married here and became a parent here. So, most of my life as a responsible adult and the whole setting up of home and family experience happened to me here. My husband is a Sabra and an expert in the Hebrew language. So, my interactions with my family are mostly in Hebrew. In fact, my daughter's English is very poor. I have no choice but to speak in Hebrew with her. My son's English is considerably better.
I can pronounce the gutteral reish and ayin, even the kuf, which is so deep a gutteral that it issues from somewhere around one's knees.
Still, the process of becoming more Israeli goes ever on.
I remember being aghast that people would pick nuts or other finger foods out of the large, open sacks and boxes in the shuq. It looked so unsanitary to me. Just the thought of any number of people whose hands had been I know not where touching food and eating it one after the other me made me sick.
One day; I pinched a cookie in the shuq, tossing regard for sanitation to the wind. I enjoyed the septic morsel thoroughly and was delighted with my progress toward real Israeliship (Israeliness?).
When I got home I said to my son: "Today I became a real Israeli! I ate a cookie from an open box in the shuq!"
He looked at me levelly and said: "If you were a real Israeli you would do it without thinking about it and would never mention it."
I advanced nicely and today I even make my tuna and egg salad with humous instead of mayo.
Today, I took yet another giant step toward become a real local.
Though I have a plastic squeeze bottle of real Heinz ketchup in the fridge; I put techina (tahini) on my hamburger today, like a lot of Israelis do. The first time I heard of putting techina on hamburger I thought I'd .
My next project: Learning how to smooth humous and labane on my plate with the back of a spoon and fashion a perfect indented pool in the middle for olive oil and za'atar.
When a Jew becomes more Israeli is that acculturation or enculturation?
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat (Safed), Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
In July I will be here 25 years.
I married here and became a parent here. So, most of my life as a responsible adult and the whole setting up of home and family experience happened to me here. My husband is a Sabra and an expert in the Hebrew language. So, my interactions with my family are mostly in Hebrew. In fact, my daughter's English is very poor. I have no choice but to speak in Hebrew with her. My son's English is considerably better.
I can pronounce the gutteral reish and ayin, even the kuf, which is so deep a gutteral that it issues from somewhere around one's knees.
Still, the process of becoming more Israeli goes ever on.
I remember being aghast that people would pick nuts or other finger foods out of the large, open sacks and boxes in the shuq. It looked so unsanitary to me. Just the thought of any number of people whose hands had been I know not where touching food and eating it one after the other me made me sick.
One day; I pinched a cookie in the shuq, tossing regard for sanitation to the wind. I enjoyed the septic morsel thoroughly and was delighted with my progress toward real Israeliship (Israeliness?).
When I got home I said to my son: "Today I became a real Israeli! I ate a cookie from an open box in the shuq!"
He looked at me levelly and said: "If you were a real Israeli you would do it without thinking about it and would never mention it."
I advanced nicely and today I even make my tuna and egg salad with humous instead of mayo.
Today, I took yet another giant step toward become a real local.
Though I have a plastic squeeze bottle of real Heinz ketchup in the fridge; I put techina (tahini) on my hamburger today, like a lot of Israelis do. The first time I heard of putting techina on hamburger I thought I'd .
My next project: Learning how to smooth humous and labane on my plate with the back of a spoon and fashion a perfect indented pool in the middle for olive oil and za'atar.
When a Jew becomes more Israeli is that acculturation or enculturation?
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat (Safed), Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
A New Tzfat Site has been created by one of the loveliest ladies in our town, Laurie Rappeport
TZFAT: The Mystical City
This one is chock-full of reasons to be proud to live in Tzfat and I am delighted to post a link to the site here:
http://tinyurl.com/37u87l
TZFAT: The Mystical City
This one is chock-full of reasons to be proud to live in Tzfat and I am delighted to post a link to the site here:
http://tinyurl.com/37u87l
Friday, April 06, 2007
This is a Reason to Live in Tzfat
A Lebanese Christian Describes Her Experience in the Tzfat Hospital
That which she describes is the Rivka Ziv Hospital inTzfat that I know and we can all be proud of.
I know that hospital and I know that what she is saying is true. My husband has been volunteering in the hospital library for years. That is the way they really work.
http://tinyurl.com/ybzc82
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat (Safed), Israel
A Lebanese Christian Describes Her Experience in the Tzfat Hospital
That which she describes is the Rivka Ziv Hospital inTzfat that I know and we can all be proud of.
I know that hospital and I know that what she is saying is true. My husband has been volunteering in the hospital library for years. That is the way they really work.
http://tinyurl.com/ybzc82
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat (Safed), Israel
Sunday, March 18, 2007
The Abbrahms Meshpucha
Of Yud-Gimmel Street in the Old City of Tzfat, Originally
FromWilliamsburg, Brooklyn
The following can be adapted to become a Purim spiel. Expanded, it can be a TV series.
I want to do a take-off on the Addams family - The Abbrahms Meshpucha.
Some of the Kroivim are:
Morticia will be Toityana
Gomez will be Goilem
Wednesday will be Mitvuch
Pugsly will be Pitschetch
The baby will be Choleryeh
Uncle Fester will be Fete Finster, who enjoys resting on a bed of schpilkes
Toityana has an adopted brother, a foundling, by the name of Imglick. When Toityana was a child she enjoyed nothing better than to play in the dump behind the genetic engineering lab near her house in Brooklyn. She loved the aroma of the noxious emissions and the feel of the slimy effluvium squishing though her toes.
Little did the innocent Toityana know that one day a miracle would come to the Abbrahms family from that laboratory.
One of the first attempts at cloning a human being was deemed to be an utter failure. The scientists agreed that the DNA of the blastocyst was so hopelessly corrupted that it had no chance of survival. They mindlessly tossed the Petri dish containing the blastocyst from their window.
Just then Toityana came by to play. Out of the corner of her eye she saw what looked like a small flying saucer coming straight at her.
It fell at her feet in the slimy effluvium, making quite a splash.
Toityana picked up the Petri dish and saw a tiny, tiny speck the middle of some clear, gooey stuff. She decided to bring it home and ask her parents what it might be.
She showed to it her mother, Glitshik, and her father, Klog.
They examined the Petri dish under their microscope and were astounded to see that it was a humanoid blastocyst.
"Mama, Tati! Can we keep it?", Toityana entreated.
Glitshik and Klog looked at one another and then at Toityana. Exhibiting typical Abbrahms ruchmunis and ahavas chinam they said: "Of course we'll keep it. We'll culture it and raise it as though it were our very own experiment."
They called the blastocyst Imglick and showered great love upon it.
Imglick grew to be movie-star handsome. Some said he looked like Boris Karloff. Others said he resembled Bela Lugosi. Others said he resembled Danny DeVito. The Abbrahms thought he was a dead ringer for Marty Feldman.
There was just one strange thing about Imglick. When a hat was placed on his head spontaneous combustion occurred. The hat burst into flames and smoldered until it was consumed. No harm was done to Imglick, but everyone wondered about the phenomenon.
We'll find out why this phenomenon occurred in Episode I of The Abbrahms Family.
Another experiment from that laboratory that would find its way into the Abbrahms' Family hearts and homes was the first attempt at creating a human-Tasmanian Devil hybrid. She would come to be named Vilde Chimera.
Grandmama, Morticia's mother, now Toityana Abbrahm's mother, will be Bubbie Glitshik
Toityana's father will be Zayde Klog
Toityana's grandfather, Zayde Klog's father, is Siamese twins Gornisht and Oisvarf
Goilem's father will be Zayde Moisheh Kapoyer
Zayde Moishe Kapoyer's father will be Alter Zayde Sheigitz
Toityana's sister the witch will be Tante Kuchleffel
Goilem's mother will be Bubbie Hartsveitik
Hartsveitik's brother is Fete Kopveitik
The Cousin with the long hair will be Ich Vais Nit
There'll be a cousin by the name of Greener Cousiner
More cousins will be the identical quadruplets Cousins Meeskeit, Kronkeit, Narishkeit and Nishtkeit.
Lurch, the Butler, will be Schlepp
Shlepp, the Butler, has recently married. The Abbrahms Meshpucha has graciously agreed to hire Shlepp's lovely bride in the capacity of household Maid. Unfortunately, since she was hired Shlepp has been shlepping less and less and his new wife more and more. Introducing a new addition to the Abbrahms Meshpucha household: Oysgemitshet, the Maid. What the Abbrahms family and Shlepp don't know is that Oysgemitshet is one of identical triplets and she and her sisters Oysgematert and Oysgehorevet have secretly been sharing the housework - and Shlepp.
Thing will be Lapeh.
The Abbrahms Family has two pets. Their mongoose, Shmei Drei, and their dragon, Gilo Monster.
The Abbrahms family has a long and illustrious history. For instance, you may think that the guillotine was invented by Dr. Joseph-Ignace Gullotin. But he only came up with the idea of putting a basket in place to catch the head. The guillotine was actually invented by Hockmesser Abbrahms, who also invented g'hakte leber. The Abbrahms family has been petitioning the French government to change the name of the famed invention from the guillotine to the hockmesser.
Episode I
Every Wednesday night the Abbrahms family make a picnic by some of the Kivrois HaTzaddikim. It's Mitvuch's favorite night and event of the week. It makes her feel like the family is making a special yahrtzeit celebration just for her.
It's also always a great opportunity to do the mitzvah of bikkur metim.
They make a kumsitz and roast marshmallows and locusts. Then they tell horror stories about lawyers and bankers and other dreadful creatures that suck blood by day and then hide in houses with perfectly manicured lawns and white picket fences at night. The children shudder in terror.
One Thursday morning, just at dawn, the Abbrahms family returned from a particularly fun and lovely night in the cemetery.
They are surprised to see policemen waiting for them at their door.
They approach the policemen and one of them asks if the family knows where Imglick Abbrahms might be.
Shocked, Toityana asks the policemen why they want Fete Imglick.
They are about to find out why Imglick's hats always burn…
***All rights reserved. No portion may be downloaded, recopied, edited, or used in any form except with express written permission of the author. ***
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
March – May 2007
Of Yud-Gimmel Street in the Old City of Tzfat, Originally
FromWilliamsburg, Brooklyn
The following can be adapted to become a Purim spiel. Expanded, it can be a TV series.
I want to do a take-off on the Addams family - The Abbrahms Meshpucha.
Some of the Kroivim are:
Morticia will be Toityana
Gomez will be Goilem
Wednesday will be Mitvuch
Pugsly will be Pitschetch
The baby will be Choleryeh
Uncle Fester will be Fete Finster, who enjoys resting on a bed of schpilkes
Toityana has an adopted brother, a foundling, by the name of Imglick. When Toityana was a child she enjoyed nothing better than to play in the dump behind the genetic engineering lab near her house in Brooklyn. She loved the aroma of the noxious emissions and the feel of the slimy effluvium squishing though her toes.
Little did the innocent Toityana know that one day a miracle would come to the Abbrahms family from that laboratory.
One of the first attempts at cloning a human being was deemed to be an utter failure. The scientists agreed that the DNA of the blastocyst was so hopelessly corrupted that it had no chance of survival. They mindlessly tossed the Petri dish containing the blastocyst from their window.
Just then Toityana came by to play. Out of the corner of her eye she saw what looked like a small flying saucer coming straight at her.
It fell at her feet in the slimy effluvium, making quite a splash.
Toityana picked up the Petri dish and saw a tiny, tiny speck the middle of some clear, gooey stuff. She decided to bring it home and ask her parents what it might be.
She showed to it her mother, Glitshik, and her father, Klog.
They examined the Petri dish under their microscope and were astounded to see that it was a humanoid blastocyst.
"Mama, Tati! Can we keep it?", Toityana entreated.
Glitshik and Klog looked at one another and then at Toityana. Exhibiting typical Abbrahms ruchmunis and ahavas chinam they said: "Of course we'll keep it. We'll culture it and raise it as though it were our very own experiment."
They called the blastocyst Imglick and showered great love upon it.
Imglick grew to be movie-star handsome. Some said he looked like Boris Karloff. Others said he resembled Bela Lugosi. Others said he resembled Danny DeVito. The Abbrahms thought he was a dead ringer for Marty Feldman.
There was just one strange thing about Imglick. When a hat was placed on his head spontaneous combustion occurred. The hat burst into flames and smoldered until it was consumed. No harm was done to Imglick, but everyone wondered about the phenomenon.
We'll find out why this phenomenon occurred in Episode I of The Abbrahms Family.
Another experiment from that laboratory that would find its way into the Abbrahms' Family hearts and homes was the first attempt at creating a human-Tasmanian Devil hybrid. She would come to be named Vilde Chimera.
Grandmama, Morticia's mother, now Toityana Abbrahm's mother, will be Bubbie Glitshik
Toityana's father will be Zayde Klog
Toityana's grandfather, Zayde Klog's father, is Siamese twins Gornisht and Oisvarf
Goilem's father will be Zayde Moisheh Kapoyer
Zayde Moishe Kapoyer's father will be Alter Zayde Sheigitz
Toityana's sister the witch will be Tante Kuchleffel
Goilem's mother will be Bubbie Hartsveitik
Hartsveitik's brother is Fete Kopveitik
The Cousin with the long hair will be Ich Vais Nit
There'll be a cousin by the name of Greener Cousiner
More cousins will be the identical quadruplets Cousins Meeskeit, Kronkeit, Narishkeit and Nishtkeit.
Lurch, the Butler, will be Schlepp
Shlepp, the Butler, has recently married. The Abbrahms Meshpucha has graciously agreed to hire Shlepp's lovely bride in the capacity of household Maid. Unfortunately, since she was hired Shlepp has been shlepping less and less and his new wife more and more. Introducing a new addition to the Abbrahms Meshpucha household: Oysgemitshet, the Maid. What the Abbrahms family and Shlepp don't know is that Oysgemitshet is one of identical triplets and she and her sisters Oysgematert and Oysgehorevet have secretly been sharing the housework - and Shlepp.
Thing will be Lapeh.
The Abbrahms Family has two pets. Their mongoose, Shmei Drei, and their dragon, Gilo Monster.
The Abbrahms family has a long and illustrious history. For instance, you may think that the guillotine was invented by Dr. Joseph-Ignace Gullotin. But he only came up with the idea of putting a basket in place to catch the head. The guillotine was actually invented by Hockmesser Abbrahms, who also invented g'hakte leber. The Abbrahms family has been petitioning the French government to change the name of the famed invention from the guillotine to the hockmesser.
Episode I
Every Wednesday night the Abbrahms family make a picnic by some of the Kivrois HaTzaddikim. It's Mitvuch's favorite night and event of the week. It makes her feel like the family is making a special yahrtzeit celebration just for her.
It's also always a great opportunity to do the mitzvah of bikkur metim.
They make a kumsitz and roast marshmallows and locusts. Then they tell horror stories about lawyers and bankers and other dreadful creatures that suck blood by day and then hide in houses with perfectly manicured lawns and white picket fences at night. The children shudder in terror.
One Thursday morning, just at dawn, the Abbrahms family returned from a particularly fun and lovely night in the cemetery.
They are surprised to see policemen waiting for them at their door.
They approach the policemen and one of them asks if the family knows where Imglick Abbrahms might be.
Shocked, Toityana asks the policemen why they want Fete Imglick.
They are about to find out why Imglick's hats always burn…
***All rights reserved. No portion may be downloaded, recopied, edited, or used in any form except with express written permission of the author. ***
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
March – May 2007
Saturday, March 17, 2007
If You've Held Out Until Now, It's Your Gain!
So read the blurb for the ad for the new "aesthetic" plastic surgery clinic that opened in Tzfat (See: page 86, Chadash B'Galil, Edition 791 (1097), 16.03. 07, the third to last small pink heart.
The ad (See pg. 22 of the same edition) read on:
Can't decide whether to do a breast augmentation or a lip augmentation?
Special for a limited time only - If you have a breast augmentation done, you get a lip augmentation FREE!
I'm gonna call them tomorrow and ask if I can choose which lips I want done. Or, because it's a deal, if I have to have the lips of their choosing done.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat (Safed), Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
So read the blurb for the ad for the new "aesthetic" plastic surgery clinic that opened in Tzfat (See: page 86, Chadash B'Galil, Edition 791 (1097), 16.03. 07, the third to last small pink heart.
The ad (See pg. 22 of the same edition) read on:
Can't decide whether to do a breast augmentation or a lip augmentation?
Special for a limited time only - If you have a breast augmentation done, you get a lip augmentation FREE!
I'm gonna call them tomorrow and ask if I can choose which lips I want done. Or, because it's a deal, if I have to have the lips of their choosing done.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat (Safed), Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Shetz Food – Not Your Average Israeli Sandwich Place
The most original idea in quick eating restaurants to come along in Tzfat is located in Tzfat's "downtown".
I bet you haven't had really good, I mean fantastically good, melt-in-your-mouth roast beef since you started keeping kosher. If you've kept kosher all your life you probably don't know what roast beef can be. Well, it is to be had. It's closer than you think. It's right here in Tzfat, the Dubek shopping center in the south of Tzfat, above Supersol and next to the Sakal electric appliances store.
Our first experience with Shetz Food was not as an eatery per se.
My husband went there and asked if they sell take-away food for Shabbat. The owner, Yaniv Shetzki, said they most certainly do. His 'can do' attitude was most appreciated. My husband brought home the St. Peter's Fish that Yaniv prepares. It was outstanding - piquant without being too spicy hot. It was covered with perfectly cooked sweet peppers and tender.
Yaniv's many suuper-fresh and tempting salads are on sale by weight for those who wish to buy them and eat them at home.
The next week, my husband went back and asked about side dishes. Yaniv said that they prepare couscous every day, but if one wants food for Shabbat it's a good idea to call before 16:00 on the Thursday before.
I dropped by to thank Yaniv for the delicious fish and to assure him that we would most definitely like to try their couscous the following Shabbat (meaning this coming week, we're anticipating it).
My attention was attracted by two things immediately. First, although the Kashrut certificate is from the Rabbinut of Tzfat; there were a number of Charedi customers in the restaurant when I arrived. The young man at the front counter, in fact, is Charedi.
Second, the deli caught my eye. The meats and the salads all looked incredibly fresh and tempting. I asked about one of the cold cuts for a sandwich, but Yaniv suggested his roast beef. Frankly, I've been disappointed with Kosher roast beef in Israel before and didn't get too excited. Then he showed me the roast beef. It was rare, and obviously succulent. I "went for it". He asked me which kind of salads I wanted on the sandwich and suggested a marvelous dressing that is the house special. He told me that toasted the sandwich is something else. He was right. After a couple of minutes in the toaster I received a warm sandwich that was unlike any other I have ever tasted. I don't believe that I have ever enjoyed a sandwich in Israel that much. The sandwich was served with two salads on the side. One was a raw vegetable salad, the other was a cooked eggplant salad that I mentioned looked particularly good and a mixed cooked salad of red, yellow and green peppers.
Another client in the restaurant ordered French fries with his frankfurters. They were perfectly, but perfectly, prepared. I had to restrain myself not to order them.
Yaniv's advertisement in Hebrew says that he offers: a selection of cold cuts and meats, omelets, home-made humus, grilled breast of chicken (which can be had in a salad as well), schnitzel, hot dogs, sabiah and a wide selection of salads, which are enhanced by Yaniv's special dressings. Additionally, the ad promises a special of the day every day.
Shetz Food is the kind of place that one can become a regular in and never get bored. The selection of delicacies just goes on and on.
There is a parve coffee bar at Shetz food and a selection of cold drinks as well.
This restaurant is going to be a hit. There is plenty of room for them to expand into and for tables to be placed outside the restaurant. They're going to need that space as people discover Shetz Food. I believe they are going to make a major contribution to the business base of the southern part of Tzfat. The atmosphere is homey as Yaniv's slogan promises, and the food, while simple, is one-of-a-kind. As there is a great deal of parking in the area and the inside of the mall is decorated nicely, people will, no doubt, drive down to the "downtown" of Tzfat for a great sandwich or terrific take-away.
The catering that he provides is a real boon. I, for one, could not prepare a comparable meal without a good deal of work and not much less expense.
The prices are very reasonable at Shetz Food.
You can reach Yaniv at 077-9155570.
The exact address is: Weitzman Street #20, Dubek Shopping Center, Tzfat
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
The most original idea in quick eating restaurants to come along in Tzfat is located in Tzfat's "downtown".
I bet you haven't had really good, I mean fantastically good, melt-in-your-mouth roast beef since you started keeping kosher. If you've kept kosher all your life you probably don't know what roast beef can be. Well, it is to be had. It's closer than you think. It's right here in Tzfat, the Dubek shopping center in the south of Tzfat, above Supersol and next to the Sakal electric appliances store.
Our first experience with Shetz Food was not as an eatery per se.
My husband went there and asked if they sell take-away food for Shabbat. The owner, Yaniv Shetzki, said they most certainly do. His 'can do' attitude was most appreciated. My husband brought home the St. Peter's Fish that Yaniv prepares. It was outstanding - piquant without being too spicy hot. It was covered with perfectly cooked sweet peppers and tender.
Yaniv's many suuper-fresh and tempting salads are on sale by weight for those who wish to buy them and eat them at home.
The next week, my husband went back and asked about side dishes. Yaniv said that they prepare couscous every day, but if one wants food for Shabbat it's a good idea to call before 16:00 on the Thursday before.
I dropped by to thank Yaniv for the delicious fish and to assure him that we would most definitely like to try their couscous the following Shabbat (meaning this coming week, we're anticipating it).
My attention was attracted by two things immediately. First, although the Kashrut certificate is from the Rabbinut of Tzfat; there were a number of Charedi customers in the restaurant when I arrived. The young man at the front counter, in fact, is Charedi.
Second, the deli caught my eye. The meats and the salads all looked incredibly fresh and tempting. I asked about one of the cold cuts for a sandwich, but Yaniv suggested his roast beef. Frankly, I've been disappointed with Kosher roast beef in Israel before and didn't get too excited. Then he showed me the roast beef. It was rare, and obviously succulent. I "went for it". He asked me which kind of salads I wanted on the sandwich and suggested a marvelous dressing that is the house special. He told me that toasted the sandwich is something else. He was right. After a couple of minutes in the toaster I received a warm sandwich that was unlike any other I have ever tasted. I don't believe that I have ever enjoyed a sandwich in Israel that much. The sandwich was served with two salads on the side. One was a raw vegetable salad, the other was a cooked eggplant salad that I mentioned looked particularly good and a mixed cooked salad of red, yellow and green peppers.
Another client in the restaurant ordered French fries with his frankfurters. They were perfectly, but perfectly, prepared. I had to restrain myself not to order them.
Yaniv's advertisement in Hebrew says that he offers: a selection of cold cuts and meats, omelets, home-made humus, grilled breast of chicken (which can be had in a salad as well), schnitzel, hot dogs, sabiah and a wide selection of salads, which are enhanced by Yaniv's special dressings. Additionally, the ad promises a special of the day every day.
Shetz Food is the kind of place that one can become a regular in and never get bored. The selection of delicacies just goes on and on.
There is a parve coffee bar at Shetz food and a selection of cold drinks as well.
This restaurant is going to be a hit. There is plenty of room for them to expand into and for tables to be placed outside the restaurant. They're going to need that space as people discover Shetz Food. I believe they are going to make a major contribution to the business base of the southern part of Tzfat. The atmosphere is homey as Yaniv's slogan promises, and the food, while simple, is one-of-a-kind. As there is a great deal of parking in the area and the inside of the mall is decorated nicely, people will, no doubt, drive down to the "downtown" of Tzfat for a great sandwich or terrific take-away.
The catering that he provides is a real boon. I, for one, could not prepare a comparable meal without a good deal of work and not much less expense.
The prices are very reasonable at Shetz Food.
You can reach Yaniv at 077-9155570.
The exact address is: Weitzman Street #20, Dubek Shopping Center, Tzfat
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
Welcome to Menagerie
Oh, you're going to like this Menagerie. It's not a zoo at all and you don't have to worry about the animals eating you. You get to eat them! And delightfully sweet they are too. You see, Menagerie is a unique specialty bakery, confectionery and coffee shop.
You needn't read Hebrew to enjoy their site. Just wander from link to link and feast your eyes on the photos of the creations to be found at Menagerie. Imagine the aromas and flavors. The reality is far better than just imagining.
http://tinyurl.com/39c2vf
My son and I attended the opening evening of Menagerie in Rosh Pina (a town adjacent to and just 15 minutes traveling away from Tzfat [Safed]), which is on the old main road very close to Center HaGalil.
The tables were laden with cakes, cookies and pastries of every sort – one more delicious than the next. Wine was served too, as were samplings of their specialty soft drinks.
The atmosphere is sophisticated, yet relaxed. Erstwhile strangers initiated conversation with one another and a feeling of 'this is my kind of place' was had by all. Galit and her staff know how to make people feel comfortable and like valuable clientele.
Having tasted samples of Galit's creativity, I return to Menagerie regularly when in Rosh Pina.
The owner of Menagerie, Galit Cohen, is a sculptress as well as a master pastry chef and chocolatier. She's an artist. There is no other word to describe her talent. Each cake is a creation. Each novelty is inspired and executed with exquisite ability. And how sweet and delectable the media of her art are!
Marvelous candies are on sale at Menagerie too. Unlike the cakes, which are most reasonably priced, the candies are quite pricey.
Galit does not keep her secrets to herself. She conducts many bakery workshops and invites English-speakers to attend. Among the workshops offered at Menagerie are: drawing on sugar dough, basic sculpting with sugar dough, advanced sculpting with sugar dough, decorating cookies, pastry baking, the wonders of phyllo dough, making cream puffs and éclairs, chocolate and praline making. Come one, come all! Experience the pure, childlike joy of sculpting in sugar, chocolate and cream. It's a fantasy come true.
Menagerie is under Rabbinical Kashrut Supervision.
The phone number is (04) 693-5703.
I'm sure that you, like me, will enjoy every minute there and wish to return often.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
Oh, you're going to like this Menagerie. It's not a zoo at all and you don't have to worry about the animals eating you. You get to eat them! And delightfully sweet they are too. You see, Menagerie is a unique specialty bakery, confectionery and coffee shop.
You needn't read Hebrew to enjoy their site. Just wander from link to link and feast your eyes on the photos of the creations to be found at Menagerie. Imagine the aromas and flavors. The reality is far better than just imagining.
http://tinyurl.com/39c2vf
My son and I attended the opening evening of Menagerie in Rosh Pina (a town adjacent to and just 15 minutes traveling away from Tzfat [Safed]), which is on the old main road very close to Center HaGalil.
The tables were laden with cakes, cookies and pastries of every sort – one more delicious than the next. Wine was served too, as were samplings of their specialty soft drinks.
The atmosphere is sophisticated, yet relaxed. Erstwhile strangers initiated conversation with one another and a feeling of 'this is my kind of place' was had by all. Galit and her staff know how to make people feel comfortable and like valuable clientele.
Having tasted samples of Galit's creativity, I return to Menagerie regularly when in Rosh Pina.
The owner of Menagerie, Galit Cohen, is a sculptress as well as a master pastry chef and chocolatier. She's an artist. There is no other word to describe her talent. Each cake is a creation. Each novelty is inspired and executed with exquisite ability. And how sweet and delectable the media of her art are!
Marvelous candies are on sale at Menagerie too. Unlike the cakes, which are most reasonably priced, the candies are quite pricey.
Galit does not keep her secrets to herself. She conducts many bakery workshops and invites English-speakers to attend. Among the workshops offered at Menagerie are: drawing on sugar dough, basic sculpting with sugar dough, advanced sculpting with sugar dough, decorating cookies, pastry baking, the wonders of phyllo dough, making cream puffs and éclairs, chocolate and praline making. Come one, come all! Experience the pure, childlike joy of sculpting in sugar, chocolate and cream. It's a fantasy come true.
Menagerie is under Rabbinical Kashrut Supervision.
The phone number is (04) 693-5703.
I'm sure that you, like me, will enjoy every minute there and wish to return often.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
SINKHOLE!
On the main drag no less.
Estimated at being between 30 and 50 feet deep.
http://tinyurl.com/2allzw
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat :0(Safed)
On the main drag no less.
Estimated at being between 30 and 50 feet deep.
http://tinyurl.com/2allzw
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat :0(Safed)
Thursday, December 14, 2006
"If there is no flour there is no Torah; if there is no Torah, there is no flour." - Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah
An antagonist who contributes regularly to the Tzfat Yahoo! forum asked: Doesn't our Torah have enough commandments concerning helping the poor and the poor's welfare?
I answered: You sound as though there are so many that they are a burden to you. You should cherish those mitzvot above all others and those are the mitzvot that you should perform most assiduously.
Why do I say this? Because they are the mitzvot that are the conditions upon which all of the other mitzvot can be carried out.
"If there is no flour there is no Torah; if there is no Torah, there is no flour." - Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah
I'll quote that again: "If there is no flour there is no Torah; if there is no Torah, there is no flour." - Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah
That statement does not mean that there is no Torah only for those who have no flour. It means that there is no Torah for the ones hardening their hearts, or making of themselves luftmenschen, and not seeing to it that everyone has flour (and water, clothes, shoes, housing, inoculation, education and the conditions under which every individual can grow to her or his maximum Spiritual-Moral, mental, emotional and physical potential).
It is because I see the poor in this country becoming increasing beggared and more and more people falling into poverty, that I feel absolutely confident in saying there is no Torah in Israel. If there was one-third of the children in Israel would not be under the poverty line and they would not be going to school hiding the roll the have from others so that no one will see it has nothing on it, the elderly and infirmed would not be eating out of garbage cans and widows would not have their electricity turned off in the winter.
You stated: It seems to me, there are scores of commandments requiring compassion to the poor; forbidding oppressing the poor.
I responded: And are they being fulfilled? Are people as careful to do those mitzvot as they are when choosing their "glatt" chickens? No! They (maybe) give their 10% tzeddakah and a few hours of their time to help others, which only perpetuates the misery. They do not fulfill the commanment: Unloose the shackles of injustice. They do not go up against the system that creates and perpetuates poverty.
He went on to inquire: Why do we need a philosphy that is not rooted in Torah?
I responded: Do you not see that what I am saying is pure Torah? Shame on your teachers!
From the day that Avraham smashed his father's idols Judaism has been nothing but radical social transformation. Anyone who isn't smashing the idols that keep us in thrall, poor and subject to corrupt regimes is not of the covenant of Avraham, has not begun to understand what that covenant is.
Anarchy is not a philosophy from outside Torah. Anarchy is the mitzvot "concerning helping the poor and the poor's welfare" with the utmost punctiliousness and assiduousness.
Why do you think the old Jew blessed Rudolph Rocker after he helped the Jewish workers win their demands in a strike in 1912?
I once took a course with a rabbi on tzadakah. At one point he stated that there must always be poor people so that we can do the mitzvah of giving tzaddakah. I left his course and have not read a word that he has to say since. He went down to credibility zero with me when he said that. The cruelty that passes itself off as Torah in this generation is absolutely astounding.
We may be sure that even in a society of Anarcho-Communalism, in which all of our physical needs are provided for; there will be endless opportunities for us to give emotional tzaddakah; to help those who need us in numerable ways and to be helped by others in innumerable ways.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
An antagonist who contributes regularly to the Tzfat Yahoo! forum asked: Doesn't our Torah have enough commandments concerning helping the poor and the poor's welfare?
I answered: You sound as though there are so many that they are a burden to you. You should cherish those mitzvot above all others and those are the mitzvot that you should perform most assiduously.
Why do I say this? Because they are the mitzvot that are the conditions upon which all of the other mitzvot can be carried out.
"If there is no flour there is no Torah; if there is no Torah, there is no flour." - Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah
I'll quote that again: "If there is no flour there is no Torah; if there is no Torah, there is no flour." - Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah
That statement does not mean that there is no Torah only for those who have no flour. It means that there is no Torah for the ones hardening their hearts, or making of themselves luftmenschen, and not seeing to it that everyone has flour (and water, clothes, shoes, housing, inoculation, education and the conditions under which every individual can grow to her or his maximum Spiritual-Moral, mental, emotional and physical potential).
It is because I see the poor in this country becoming increasing beggared and more and more people falling into poverty, that I feel absolutely confident in saying there is no Torah in Israel. If there was one-third of the children in Israel would not be under the poverty line and they would not be going to school hiding the roll the have from others so that no one will see it has nothing on it, the elderly and infirmed would not be eating out of garbage cans and widows would not have their electricity turned off in the winter.
You stated: It seems to me, there are scores of commandments requiring compassion to the poor; forbidding oppressing the poor.
I responded: And are they being fulfilled? Are people as careful to do those mitzvot as they are when choosing their "glatt" chickens? No! They (maybe) give their 10% tzeddakah and a few hours of their time to help others, which only perpetuates the misery. They do not fulfill the commanment: Unloose the shackles of injustice. They do not go up against the system that creates and perpetuates poverty.
He went on to inquire: Why do we need a philosphy that is not rooted in Torah?
I responded: Do you not see that what I am saying is pure Torah? Shame on your teachers!
From the day that Avraham smashed his father's idols Judaism has been nothing but radical social transformation. Anyone who isn't smashing the idols that keep us in thrall, poor and subject to corrupt regimes is not of the covenant of Avraham, has not begun to understand what that covenant is.
Anarchy is not a philosophy from outside Torah. Anarchy is the mitzvot "concerning helping the poor and the poor's welfare" with the utmost punctiliousness and assiduousness.
Why do you think the old Jew blessed Rudolph Rocker after he helped the Jewish workers win their demands in a strike in 1912?
I once took a course with a rabbi on tzadakah. At one point he stated that there must always be poor people so that we can do the mitzvah of giving tzaddakah. I left his course and have not read a word that he has to say since. He went down to credibility zero with me when he said that. The cruelty that passes itself off as Torah in this generation is absolutely astounding.
We may be sure that even in a society of Anarcho-Communalism, in which all of our physical needs are provided for; there will be endless opportunities for us to give emotional tzaddakah; to help those who need us in numerable ways and to be helped by others in innumerable ways.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
A Jew Who Knew
Rudolph Rocker was a German non-Jew who devoted his life to ameliorating the conditions of the working poor Jews in London at the start of the 20th C.
He learned Yiddish so well that he became the editor of the Yiddish Anarchist papers Dos Fraye Vort (The Free Word), Der Arbeiter Freint (The Workers Friend) and Germinal.
For his efforts he was detained by the British for years as an "alien enemy of the state".
Shortly after leading Jewish sweatshop workers to victory in a 1912 strike he recalled:
"As I was walking along a narrow Whitechapel street, an old Jew with a long white beard stopped me outside his house, and said: “May God bless you! You helped my children in their need. You are not a Jew, but you are a man!” This old man lived in a world completely different from mine. But the memory of the gratitude that shone in those eyes has remained with me all these years."
THE LONDON YEARS, the last page of Chapter 23 – Workers' Circle. The Great Strike.
In 1912, you may be sure, that an old Jew with a long white beard knew the halakhah.
How many Jews today can honestly say they would do for the Jews what the gentile German Rocker did?
Today, far too many Jews who fancy themselves Orthodox and knowledgeable in Torah would dismiss Rocker as a "sheigitz" or perhaps try to shame him publicly for being an "abominable" Anarchist, or proffer a description of his "touched" personality based on an astrological chart, or throw in his face that his father celebrated Christmas or speculate on his mental state or call him a "freak". (See the Yahoo! group "Tzfat" in order to understand to what I am referring.)
But we all know deep in our heart of hearts that the Jew with the long white beard who was already old in 1912 was the real thing. May God bless him as he blessed those who helped the (secular, Anarchistic) Jews, who he called his children, in their need.
And thank God for a gentile who bothered to learn Yiddish so he could help the Jews, who recorded the words of that old Jew, immortalizing him, so that the voice of true Judaism can still be heard today by Jews like me who yearn to hear it but so very rarely do.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Rudolph Rocker was a German non-Jew who devoted his life to ameliorating the conditions of the working poor Jews in London at the start of the 20th C.
He learned Yiddish so well that he became the editor of the Yiddish Anarchist papers Dos Fraye Vort (The Free Word), Der Arbeiter Freint (The Workers Friend) and Germinal.
For his efforts he was detained by the British for years as an "alien enemy of the state".
Shortly after leading Jewish sweatshop workers to victory in a 1912 strike he recalled:
"As I was walking along a narrow Whitechapel street, an old Jew with a long white beard stopped me outside his house, and said: “May God bless you! You helped my children in their need. You are not a Jew, but you are a man!” This old man lived in a world completely different from mine. But the memory of the gratitude that shone in those eyes has remained with me all these years."
THE LONDON YEARS, the last page of Chapter 23 – Workers' Circle. The Great Strike.
In 1912, you may be sure, that an old Jew with a long white beard knew the halakhah.
How many Jews today can honestly say they would do for the Jews what the gentile German Rocker did?
Today, far too many Jews who fancy themselves Orthodox and knowledgeable in Torah would dismiss Rocker as a "sheigitz" or perhaps try to shame him publicly for being an "abominable" Anarchist, or proffer a description of his "touched" personality based on an astrological chart, or throw in his face that his father celebrated Christmas or speculate on his mental state or call him a "freak". (See the Yahoo! group "Tzfat" in order to understand to what I am referring.)
But we all know deep in our heart of hearts that the Jew with the long white beard who was already old in 1912 was the real thing. May God bless him as he blessed those who helped the (secular, Anarchistic) Jews, who he called his children, in their need.
And thank God for a gentile who bothered to learn Yiddish so he could help the Jews, who recorded the words of that old Jew, immortalizing him, so that the voice of true Judaism can still be heard today by Jews like me who yearn to hear it but so very rarely do.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Monday, December 11, 2006
Need Another Reason to Live in Tzfat? - The Laughs! Try Pluto and Goofy On For Size This Time
http://tinyurl.com/yxwrgc
I have posted twice or thrice on the IAS site. Does that make me a "major contributor"? Another person on the board said I am a "member" of IAS. What does that mean prey tell?
FYI: "vey iz mir" is a transliteration of the Yiddish. It means 'woe is me'.
Question: Does the poster mean Winny the Pooh-Pooh?
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
http://tinyurl.com/yxwrgc
I have posted twice or thrice on the IAS site. Does that make me a "major contributor"? Another person on the board said I am a "member" of IAS. What does that mean prey tell?
FYI: "vey iz mir" is a transliteration of the Yiddish. It means 'woe is me'.
Question: Does the poster mean Winny the Pooh-Pooh?
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Corruption in Israel
Five hundred people were surveyed by the Israeli branch of Transparency International.
Corruption, for the purpose of the study, is defined as "the use of political or other power for the advancement of personal interests".
The results, according to a report that appeared on Dec. 12, 2006 of "Kol HaIr", one of the local papers of Tzfat, edition 640, are the following:
66% said that the current gov't does not do enough to fight corruption.
55% said that corruption negatively affects their personal quality of life.
81% said that corruption negatively affects the business enviornment.
86% said that corruption negatively affects quality of gov't.
16% said they believe that the gov't actively encourages corruption.
4% admitted to giving bribes during the past year. (We can assume that this is a very small percentage of those who actually did give bribes. Admitting to doing so is admitting to committing a crime and most people will, understandably, be reluctant to do so, even on a supposedly anonymous survey.)
Add to these results, the recent finding that 92% of Israeli businesses do not conduct themselves in accordance with labor laws.
How, I ask you HOW, can Torah flourish in such an enviornment?
Take the most well-meaning, religious man. He gets up in the morning, does netilat yadayim...has his brakhot as he dresses...goes to shul, dons t'fellin...Learns a blat Gemorrah...
Then, he goes to work. Because he has, b'li ayin hara, a family he, if he's a salaried employee, will keep his mouth shut if he sees his boss cheating. He will do what he is told, even if it is not on the "up and up". He will let himself be abused by his boss who, 92 chances out of 100 on the average, is cheating him of what is coming to him.
If he's an independent, he has to compete with others in the field. He may have loans with the banks in astronomical figures and tens of thousands of shekels is held in escrow by his suppliers.
What does that do to him?
How can he have a crooked heart and tongue all day and then be pure when he sits down to learn Torah, or when he does a mitzvah?
That is what is called: "Ablution in a mikveh while holding a serpent."
First, and I'm going to keep pestering and nudging until this is understood, first we build a just society - then we can go about the business of learning and doing Torah as we should.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Israel, Tzfat
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Five hundred people were surveyed by the Israeli branch of Transparency International.
Corruption, for the purpose of the study, is defined as "the use of political or other power for the advancement of personal interests".
The results, according to a report that appeared on Dec. 12, 2006 of "Kol HaIr", one of the local papers of Tzfat, edition 640, are the following:
66% said that the current gov't does not do enough to fight corruption.
55% said that corruption negatively affects their personal quality of life.
81% said that corruption negatively affects the business enviornment.
86% said that corruption negatively affects quality of gov't.
16% said they believe that the gov't actively encourages corruption.
4% admitted to giving bribes during the past year. (We can assume that this is a very small percentage of those who actually did give bribes. Admitting to doing so is admitting to committing a crime and most people will, understandably, be reluctant to do so, even on a supposedly anonymous survey.)
Add to these results, the recent finding that 92% of Israeli businesses do not conduct themselves in accordance with labor laws.
How, I ask you HOW, can Torah flourish in such an enviornment?
Take the most well-meaning, religious man. He gets up in the morning, does netilat yadayim...has his brakhot as he dresses...goes to shul, dons t'fellin...Learns a blat Gemorrah...
Then, he goes to work. Because he has, b'li ayin hara, a family he, if he's a salaried employee, will keep his mouth shut if he sees his boss cheating. He will do what he is told, even if it is not on the "up and up". He will let himself be abused by his boss who, 92 chances out of 100 on the average, is cheating him of what is coming to him.
If he's an independent, he has to compete with others in the field. He may have loans with the banks in astronomical figures and tens of thousands of shekels is held in escrow by his suppliers.
What does that do to him?
How can he have a crooked heart and tongue all day and then be pure when he sits down to learn Torah, or when he does a mitzvah?
That is what is called: "Ablution in a mikveh while holding a serpent."
First, and I'm going to keep pestering and nudging until this is understood, first we build a just society - then we can go about the business of learning and doing Torah as we should.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Israel, Tzfat
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
A Reason to Live in Tzfat - Probably the Best
Someone wrote the following to me on another board: "Let me know if you ever get off your duff in the periphery, and come down to the center of the country to actually DO something constructive regarding the things you write about."
I answered:
The revolution that I am starting, and of late reverberations of which are reaching me, is centered in Tzfat, not in the center of the country. Just today, the following magnificent quote was sent to me by someone who participates in a Tzfat list "May God veil you from the exterior of the religious law, and may he reveal to you the reality of infidelity. For the exterior of the religious law is a hidden idolatry, while the reality of infidelity is a manifest gnosis."
That quote is astounding coming from someone who is Orthodox.
It is here in Tzfat that religious sentiment runs high. It is here in Tzfat that the religious fervor, which should be being directed into creating a just society but is being intercepted and channeled for their own purposes by nefarious interests is to be found. It has been that way for 500 years. What happens in Tzfat religiously sets the tone for what happens in the Jewish world at large. Religion is big business.
I'm undermining their clientele.
Too many of the people in the center of the country are like you - Jewish ignoramuses who are so mired in the material that they cannot dredge themselves out of the mire. That is not material to work with to bring about a moral-spiritual revolution.
Like you, they are servomechanisms too inured to be able to appreciate the beauty and absolute necessity of being dedicated to righteousness and justice - for all. Like you, it is enough to just have cushy conditions for them and theirs.
Like you, the highest value they are capable of cherishing is working like an army of ants.
I am gearing my efforts toward those who become religious for many of the right reasons and are led down the path to perdition by unscrupulous, charasmatic "rabbis" whose job it is to deflect those precious Souls from finding the starting and jumping off point of Judaism, which is, and always has been radical social transformation.
Proudon, who was also from the "periphery" (the County of Burgundy), was urged to emigrate to America by a friend who feared for his life in France. He answered: "It is here, I tell you, here under the sabre of Napoleon, under the rod of the Jesuits and the spy-glass of the secret service, that we have to work for the emancipation of mankind. There is no sky more prpitious for us, no earth form fruitful."
Proudhon considered himself a failure toward the end of his life. He was not able to launch the revolution he envisionsed. History, however, recalls him as the father of Anarchy and his works are de rigueur for every student of Socialsim and Socialist economics. Marx, whom he dubbed "the tapeworm of Socialism", pleaded with him to collaborate. He refused.
Proudhon did succeed, though he did not live to eat the fruit of his success. No longer are the French under the sabres of dictators. No longer are they under the rod of the Jesuits. No longer are they under the spy-glass of the secret service.
I do not do what I do for the sake of making a name for myself in posterity. But I can tell you that my chances of my efforts being remembered in history are far greater than any in your army of servomechanisms.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Someone wrote the following to me on another board: "Let me know if you ever get off your duff in the periphery, and come down to the center of the country to actually DO something constructive regarding the things you write about."
I answered:
The revolution that I am starting, and of late reverberations of which are reaching me, is centered in Tzfat, not in the center of the country. Just today, the following magnificent quote was sent to me by someone who participates in a Tzfat list "May God veil you from the exterior of the religious law, and may he reveal to you the reality of infidelity. For the exterior of the religious law is a hidden idolatry, while the reality of infidelity is a manifest gnosis."
That quote is astounding coming from someone who is Orthodox.
It is here in Tzfat that religious sentiment runs high. It is here in Tzfat that the religious fervor, which should be being directed into creating a just society but is being intercepted and channeled for their own purposes by nefarious interests is to be found. It has been that way for 500 years. What happens in Tzfat religiously sets the tone for what happens in the Jewish world at large. Religion is big business.
I'm undermining their clientele.
Too many of the people in the center of the country are like you - Jewish ignoramuses who are so mired in the material that they cannot dredge themselves out of the mire. That is not material to work with to bring about a moral-spiritual revolution.
Like you, they are servomechanisms too inured to be able to appreciate the beauty and absolute necessity of being dedicated to righteousness and justice - for all. Like you, it is enough to just have cushy conditions for them and theirs.
Like you, the highest value they are capable of cherishing is working like an army of ants.
I am gearing my efforts toward those who become religious for many of the right reasons and are led down the path to perdition by unscrupulous, charasmatic "rabbis" whose job it is to deflect those precious Souls from finding the starting and jumping off point of Judaism, which is, and always has been radical social transformation.
Proudon, who was also from the "periphery" (the County of Burgundy), was urged to emigrate to America by a friend who feared for his life in France. He answered: "It is here, I tell you, here under the sabre of Napoleon, under the rod of the Jesuits and the spy-glass of the secret service, that we have to work for the emancipation of mankind. There is no sky more prpitious for us, no earth form fruitful."
Proudhon considered himself a failure toward the end of his life. He was not able to launch the revolution he envisionsed. History, however, recalls him as the father of Anarchy and his works are de rigueur for every student of Socialsim and Socialist economics. Marx, whom he dubbed "the tapeworm of Socialism", pleaded with him to collaborate. He refused.
Proudhon did succeed, though he did not live to eat the fruit of his success. No longer are the French under the sabres of dictators. No longer are they under the rod of the Jesuits. No longer are they under the spy-glass of the secret service.
I do not do what I do for the sake of making a name for myself in posterity. But I can tell you that my chances of my efforts being remembered in history are far greater than any in your army of servomechanisms.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Genuine Religious Jews
Jews inspired by genuine Divine afflatus do not engage overmuch in ceremonies, nor do they speak in clichés, quoting others verbatim by rote.
They are not overly punctilious and scrupulous about ritual purity and they do not carry out formulaic actions obsessively-compulsively.
They do not care a whit about their own salvation and nothing they do is for the sake of ensuring an eternal place of rest and joy for themselves.
They act in, rather than speak of, love.
They do not wax pontifical or esoteric. They concern themselves with the needs of human beings qua human beings.
They do not sacrifice the material levels of our beings for the sake of the "spiritual" levels.
They do not profit from the encouraging and teaching of others to observe ritual.
They do not claim immaculate morality on the part of their teachers; neither do they claim that they their tradition or their teachers are infallible.
They do not set themselves up and judge and jury over humankind.
The only abomination they recognize is injustice and the misuse of power.
They need no social acceptance or group to be part to know what they should do or give them a sense of identity. They are strong enough to stand alone, all alone, if need be.
Their every action, the very purpose of their lives and their entire being is given over to the alleviation of the suffering of humankind.
Injustice is intolerable to them and they fight for justice for all no matter what the personal price they must pay for it.
Gustav Landauer, Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, Saul Alinsky, Martin Buber and Murray Bookchin were religious Jews. They carried within them the whole of Torah. The received and passed on the torch of the Prophets of Israel. This was true despite the protestations of some of them that they were atheists. It is recorded of Emma Goldman, the self-professed atheist Anarchist, that: "A rabbi who heard her lecture a large conference of clergymen on atheism probably came closer than the public to understanding her antireligious stand. "In spite of al Miss Goldman has said against religion", he announced, "she is the most religious person I know." (RED EMMA SPEAKS, An Emma Goldman Reader, Compiled and Edited by Alex Kates Shulman, Preface to Part Two; Published 1998 by Humanity Books, an imprint of Prometheus Books)
It is certainly be true that some Jews who adhere to the minutiae of Jewish Law may be true Orthodox Jews, but this is true if and only if they do so in addition to devoting their entire lives to the amelioration of the human condition and the alleviation of human suffering. Their performance of the minutiae of Jewish Law is not that which defines them at genuine Orthodox Jews. That is a mere appurtenance. Their devotion to justice is that which defines them as genuine Orthodox Jews.
Those who teach Jewish Law in such a way that it comes in lieu of acting in the world for the betterment of human kind; if it obviates doing so; if it becomes so all-demanding, time-consuming and burdensome that there is no strength or time for fighting injustice; if the observance of Jewish Law imparts the illusion of being absolutely right and just; if it attenuates the desire to right wrongs or puts off the doing so for the Mashiach to take care of; if it brings one to believe that each of us has only to tend to our own imperfections – then we may be entirely sure that what we have is not Judaism at all, but an ersatz, painstakingly deliberately fabricated and purposefully promulgated in order to confound us, to keep our energies invested in that which will avail nothing and deflect us from our duties by nefarious interests.
A great deal of money, ink and blood is being poured in order to keep Jews distracted from our true purpose and our true values. This is as true of the religious segments of our society as it is of the secular segments. The only difference is the methods being employed in order to dissipate our energies.
History has proven that Jews who are devoted to justice en masse are invincible. It is then that HaShem performs miracles for us.
Every effort is being made, in the religious and secular worlds alike, to prevent us from knowing who we truly are, what our purpose in creation is, from mobilizing in unison, reaching a critical mass of power and changing the course of the world. We can do it. We have done so before. If we were not capable of changing the world, so much investment would not be being invested in atomizing us and reducing our strength.
Do not be fooled. Do not be misled. Do not be bought. Do not be enthralled. Do not be enticed. Do not be led astray.
We Jews were put here for the sake of participating in the creation of a just world with every other and for every other sentient being.
Let nothing, but nothing, be it pseudo-religious principles or iPods and other things that go beep in the night steer you away from what you are and what your designated tasks are.
The Hebrew version of this essay is to be found on the following URL: http://tinyurl.com/yfnud6
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Jews inspired by genuine Divine afflatus do not engage overmuch in ceremonies, nor do they speak in clichés, quoting others verbatim by rote.
They are not overly punctilious and scrupulous about ritual purity and they do not carry out formulaic actions obsessively-compulsively.
They do not care a whit about their own salvation and nothing they do is for the sake of ensuring an eternal place of rest and joy for themselves.
They act in, rather than speak of, love.
They do not wax pontifical or esoteric. They concern themselves with the needs of human beings qua human beings.
They do not sacrifice the material levels of our beings for the sake of the "spiritual" levels.
They do not profit from the encouraging and teaching of others to observe ritual.
They do not claim immaculate morality on the part of their teachers; neither do they claim that they their tradition or their teachers are infallible.
They do not set themselves up and judge and jury over humankind.
The only abomination they recognize is injustice and the misuse of power.
They need no social acceptance or group to be part to know what they should do or give them a sense of identity. They are strong enough to stand alone, all alone, if need be.
Their every action, the very purpose of their lives and their entire being is given over to the alleviation of the suffering of humankind.
Injustice is intolerable to them and they fight for justice for all no matter what the personal price they must pay for it.
Gustav Landauer, Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, Saul Alinsky, Martin Buber and Murray Bookchin were religious Jews. They carried within them the whole of Torah. The received and passed on the torch of the Prophets of Israel. This was true despite the protestations of some of them that they were atheists. It is recorded of Emma Goldman, the self-professed atheist Anarchist, that: "A rabbi who heard her lecture a large conference of clergymen on atheism probably came closer than the public to understanding her antireligious stand. "In spite of al Miss Goldman has said against religion", he announced, "she is the most religious person I know." (RED EMMA SPEAKS, An Emma Goldman Reader, Compiled and Edited by Alex Kates Shulman, Preface to Part Two; Published 1998 by Humanity Books, an imprint of Prometheus Books)
It is certainly be true that some Jews who adhere to the minutiae of Jewish Law may be true Orthodox Jews, but this is true if and only if they do so in addition to devoting their entire lives to the amelioration of the human condition and the alleviation of human suffering. Their performance of the minutiae of Jewish Law is not that which defines them at genuine Orthodox Jews. That is a mere appurtenance. Their devotion to justice is that which defines them as genuine Orthodox Jews.
Those who teach Jewish Law in such a way that it comes in lieu of acting in the world for the betterment of human kind; if it obviates doing so; if it becomes so all-demanding, time-consuming and burdensome that there is no strength or time for fighting injustice; if the observance of Jewish Law imparts the illusion of being absolutely right and just; if it attenuates the desire to right wrongs or puts off the doing so for the Mashiach to take care of; if it brings one to believe that each of us has only to tend to our own imperfections – then we may be entirely sure that what we have is not Judaism at all, but an ersatz, painstakingly deliberately fabricated and purposefully promulgated in order to confound us, to keep our energies invested in that which will avail nothing and deflect us from our duties by nefarious interests.
A great deal of money, ink and blood is being poured in order to keep Jews distracted from our true purpose and our true values. This is as true of the religious segments of our society as it is of the secular segments. The only difference is the methods being employed in order to dissipate our energies.
History has proven that Jews who are devoted to justice en masse are invincible. It is then that HaShem performs miracles for us.
Every effort is being made, in the religious and secular worlds alike, to prevent us from knowing who we truly are, what our purpose in creation is, from mobilizing in unison, reaching a critical mass of power and changing the course of the world. We can do it. We have done so before. If we were not capable of changing the world, so much investment would not be being invested in atomizing us and reducing our strength.
Do not be fooled. Do not be misled. Do not be bought. Do not be enthralled. Do not be enticed. Do not be led astray.
We Jews were put here for the sake of participating in the creation of a just world with every other and for every other sentient being.
Let nothing, but nothing, be it pseudo-religious principles or iPods and other things that go beep in the night steer you away from what you are and what your designated tasks are.
The Hebrew version of this essay is to be found on the following URL: http://tinyurl.com/yfnud6
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
THE LEAVING FOR THE SAKE OF THE RETURN
One can keep kashrut out of a need to belong, keep Shabbat out of fear of what their family and neighbors will say and keep Taharat HaMisphachah out of desire for a place in the world to come... - all without loving HaShem with one's entire being.
But no one devotes their entire life to humanity, consistently over the period of a lifetime, unless they love HaShem completely and are devoted to HaShem in a way that the Orthodox can only feign being. That devotion need not be conscious, but it is there.
Am I conflated? Am I making a shatnez of Torah and secular ethics? In fact, there is nothing that I have written that is not pure Torah.
Ideally a Jew should keep the mitzvot and serve humanity. They do not only not contradict; they are supplementary one to the other.
However, Judaism as it is currently taught and practiced, with all of the chumrot and minhagim that have been added to Torah (in contravention of the injunction not to add to Torah!) does not allow for the performance of both those mitzvot that bring down holiness into the physical plane and the social service aspects of Torah - both of which are essential and should be performed in such a way that they enable and advance one the other.
We have been taught in Chassidut about the principle of the descent for the purpose of the ascent.
In our times, time of darkness and blindness we are in need of a more radical cure for our moral-spiritual ills. We are in need of the leaving for the sake of the return.The only solution to the problem is to leave this farce that we are told is Torah and build a just society that is not based on greed and violence and power-hungriness. In such a society there will be no incentives for Rabbis who serve the power structure to distort Torah and make it into shackles and manacles that bind the mind, the heart and Soul. In such a society Torah can be rediscovered in its pristine purity because there won't be a power structure that will have interests in making the populace spiritual slaves and moral cripples.Torah has been so horribly misrepresented, so grossly misunderstood and so abused as an instrument of mind and behavior control that the only way to return to it is by leaving what we think is Torah, but is not.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
One can keep kashrut out of a need to belong, keep Shabbat out of fear of what their family and neighbors will say and keep Taharat HaMisphachah out of desire for a place in the world to come... - all without loving HaShem with one's entire being.
But no one devotes their entire life to humanity, consistently over the period of a lifetime, unless they love HaShem completely and are devoted to HaShem in a way that the Orthodox can only feign being. That devotion need not be conscious, but it is there.
Am I conflated? Am I making a shatnez of Torah and secular ethics? In fact, there is nothing that I have written that is not pure Torah.
Ideally a Jew should keep the mitzvot and serve humanity. They do not only not contradict; they are supplementary one to the other.
However, Judaism as it is currently taught and practiced, with all of the chumrot and minhagim that have been added to Torah (in contravention of the injunction not to add to Torah!) does not allow for the performance of both those mitzvot that bring down holiness into the physical plane and the social service aspects of Torah - both of which are essential and should be performed in such a way that they enable and advance one the other.
We have been taught in Chassidut about the principle of the descent for the purpose of the ascent.
In our times, time of darkness and blindness we are in need of a more radical cure for our moral-spiritual ills. We are in need of the leaving for the sake of the return.The only solution to the problem is to leave this farce that we are told is Torah and build a just society that is not based on greed and violence and power-hungriness. In such a society there will be no incentives for Rabbis who serve the power structure to distort Torah and make it into shackles and manacles that bind the mind, the heart and Soul. In such a society Torah can be rediscovered in its pristine purity because there won't be a power structure that will have interests in making the populace spiritual slaves and moral cripples.Torah has been so horribly misrepresented, so grossly misunderstood and so abused as an instrument of mind and behavior control that the only way to return to it is by leaving what we think is Torah, but is not.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Friday, November 24, 2006
I've begun another web site. Yes, yes, yet another.
I had no choice. This topic must be aired.
The site is called Critique of Judaism and is to be found on the following URL:
http://tinyurl.com/yed5pe
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
I had no choice. This topic must be aired.
The site is called Critique of Judaism and is to be found on the following URL:
http://tinyurl.com/yed5pe
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Traces of Child Sacrifice in Orthodox Judaism
The original article, entitled הכוח להתמודד, להמשיך ולהתחזק, which appeared in גיליון מס' 1037 of שיחת השבוע on November 17, 2006 can be found on the following URL: http://tinyurl.com/yh3mtw.
The Hebrew version of this essay, entitled: אבק זבח ילדים ביהדות חרדית can be found on the following URL: http://tinyurl.com/ssy5a.
Yet more articles and a video can be found on the following site: http://tinyurl.com/yffen4 .
As reported in the article, eight-year-old Chiah-Muska Attiyah of blessed memory, daughter of Rabbi Victor Attiyah and his wife Devorah, was playing with matches in the back yard of their home. Some dried schach (the covering of the succah, which is usually highly flammable dried, thin branches, leaves and the like) in the yard caught fire, as did the girl's dress. Her younger brother told her to take the dress off. She refused to take the burning dress off even as she was engulfed in flames because "it's not modest". "It's not modest" is a formula that is drilled into the heads of Orthodox girls from the time they are three years old. From that age they begin to wear dresses that cover their knees by a few inches, with high necklines, long sleeves and opaque stockings. They are taught to dress and undress under a blanket. If their dress goes over their knee while sitting, running, playing - anything they are reprimanded: "It's not modest!" Modesty for an Orthodox girl is everything.
Chiah Mushke died.
She died because the lesson of being modest was drilled into her more than the overriding principle that saving a life, including her own, precludes all else. Her younger brother did know that either because as a boy he was better schooled than she or because, still being so young, he was reacting with natural common sense. God only knows the effect the experience had on her brother. The worst of it is that neither her father, the head of the Chaba"d house in Kiryat Arba-Chevron, nor his community and large circle of friends seem to have learned anything from the terrible incident. As we see from the site above, Rabbi Attiyah addressed an audience of 600 girls wherein he praised the virtue of modesty. He said nothing about his daughter not understanding the virtue of modesty properly or that saving one's life takes precedence over being modest.
It is of no especial import that the family is Chaba"d. It could have happened in any ultra-Orthodox family. In fact, most of the Orthodox who have heard this story seem to think that as regrettable and tragic as it is, it was unavoidable and that the girl did the right thing.Rather than asking himself if his understanding of Jewish Law and the way he was promulgating it is incorrect; the Rabbi is digging in his heels and building a large school in his daughter's honor wherein they will disseminate the self-same teachings. There isn't the merest hint that the teachings of female modesty in the school being built in her memory will be revised from the way in which she was taught.
There is no intimation in the incident, as reported, that either the family of the child, Chiah-Mushka Attiyah, of blessed memory, or any of the thousands of people who attended the funeral and contacted the family during the mourning period thereafter see this as anything other than a story of the ultimate "self-sacrifice" for the sake of the grand principle of female modesty. She is being hailed as a precocious paragon of female Orthodox Jewish virtue.
It is a perversion of our religion to think that it is in any ways right that a child should die for the sake of modesty. There are only three mitzvot that a Jew who is ben or bat mitzvah must die rather than commit: They are: incest, idol worship and the shedding of innocent blood – known by the acronym גע"ש.
If there be among you anyone who might think that an eight-year-old engulfed in flames taking off her dress in front of her younger brother constitutes the sin of incest, consider that in the time that she said: "It's not modest!", she could have said: "Turn away!"
There is an element of child sacrifice in this incident that is blood chilling and wholly inimical to Judaism as I learned it.
There was always a strain of this type of approach in Judaism, but it was a strain and nothing more. The vast majority of Orthodox Jews were rational and common sensical. That was even true among those who learned the Kabbalah. I remember Jews as being very rational from my childhood, speaking of "luftmenschkeit" with utter disdain. This fanaticism is now the norm in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish world. This fanaticism is growing and becoming more dangerous, even fatal. We see the execrable violence in Orthodox/non-Orthodox relations. We see it in factional violence even within the same group of Orthodox Jews. We now see it in the death of children who have not even attained the age of being b'nei and b'not mitzvah.
I recall two stories of extreme modesty in women, two women who are held up as models of the modesty. The first is that of a woman by the name of Kimchit, the story of whom is related here: http://tinyurl.com/y4w23u . Note that the site says of Kimchit: "She was rewarded with seven sons who served as High Priests. We see from this story that a woman’s covering her hair in private is highly praiseworthy." Let's examine these comments. Is having seven sons who were High Priests a reward? The High Priesthood was an office for life from the time it was assumed. In order for a High Priest to be replaced by another he had to die or be otherwise incapacitated or found incapable or unworthy to continue the function. It is not a natural state that in the space of the lifetime of seven brothers they all serve as High Priests. Clearly, something is very wrong in this story. Indeed, the Talmud relates an explanation of this story that appears contrived and unconvincing, as we see here: http://tinyurl.com/yaoulz . Moreover, it is said that other women likewise did not let the beams of their house "see" their hair. Surely there was another reason why all seven of Kimchit's sons become High Priests. The text would have us understand that she did something meritorious in addition to being very careful about covering her hair. Perhaps the fact that those seven men grew up in a home in which the wrong aspects of Torah were overly stressed contributed to the fact that they did not serve as High Priests in a normal, natural way. Perhaps a woman being so punctilious about covering her hair in private that the "walls of her house do not "see" her hair is not so "praiseworthy" after all. Perhaps it is unhealthy fanaticism, which always comes at the expense of doing mitzvoth correctly and putting the emphasis on serving humanity.
The second story of a model of female modesty is that of a woman who pinned her dress to her legs so that when she was dragged through the streets to her death by horses no one would see her legs. The story, entitled "שלש מתנות", part 3, by י"ל פרץ can be found in Hebrew on the following URL: http://tinyurl.com/yn27u9 . This is a story that recounts a grown woman, a woman who is bat mitzvah. She was designated for death in the brutal way described immediately above by Gentile authorities. Rather than give them the satisfaction of seeing her utterly humiliated, she pinned her dress to the flesh of her legs so that they would not be seen. Obviously, that must have been very painful. It was a brave and noble act of defiance and retaining her dignity to the last.
Eight-year-old Chiah-Mushka Attiyah, of blessed memory, was in no way in the same position. She could have and should have taken off her dress. She would have in no way been compromising her self. She made the ultimate compromise of herself for nothing, for absolutely nothing – because she was incorrectly educated in Jewish Law.
This story haunts me for many reasons
Looking at the pictures of the lovely children Chiah Mushke, of blessed memory, and her siblings on the site (http://www.chabad-hebron.com/345.html) we see healthy, happy children. They are immaculately clean. They are well dressed. There isn't a spot on their clothes, not so much as a wrinkle. Not one hair is out of place. They are obviously the recipients of great love and devotion. They also obviously love one another profoundly. There isn't the merest hint of neglect.
There is no doubt in my mind that the girls were educated to overweening צניעות (modesty) out of the sincere desire to protect them. The problem is, צניעות (modesty) seems to have been used as a kind of fetish and the *only* fence of protection. They were obviously not taught the whole battery of survival skills that we all need.
Chiah Mushke was playing with matches, which there is every reason to assume that she knew was forbidden. From this we learn that she had the spunk to be a bit naughty.
So, why was she not a bit "naughty" enough to go against Torah to save her life, assuming she did not know that פקוח נפש (saving a life) is a מצוה (mitzvah, commandment, good deed), and not an עברה (sin, transgression)?
Why was the will to survive so attenuated in this child? Was it a function of her education as an ultra-Orthodox female child, education geared toward creating women who will be utterly devoted to others, never thinking of their own welfare. I am apt to think that this occurred as a result of a wholly distorted concept of בטול (self-effacement, negation of the ego) and that is the reason why this story haunts me so.
God protect us if this is what "Ufaratztah" (the spreading of Jewish teaching and practice) means. May God prevent the spreading of such "teaching" of such "Chassidus" (piety; devotion; virtue; Hassidism).
Please do not misunderstand me. I am convinced that Rabbi and Rebbetzen Attiyah are lovely and loving people. I am sure that there intentions are only good. The problem is that they are terribly misled. Herein lies the problem with Judaism today - the confusion, the ignorance, the reversal of priorities and the superstition that passes for halakhah.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
The original article, entitled הכוח להתמודד, להמשיך ולהתחזק, which appeared in גיליון מס' 1037 of שיחת השבוע on November 17, 2006 can be found on the following URL: http://tinyurl.com/yh3mtw.
The Hebrew version of this essay, entitled: אבק זבח ילדים ביהדות חרדית can be found on the following URL: http://tinyurl.com/ssy5a.
Yet more articles and a video can be found on the following site: http://tinyurl.com/yffen4 .
As reported in the article, eight-year-old Chiah-Muska Attiyah of blessed memory, daughter of Rabbi Victor Attiyah and his wife Devorah, was playing with matches in the back yard of their home. Some dried schach (the covering of the succah, which is usually highly flammable dried, thin branches, leaves and the like) in the yard caught fire, as did the girl's dress. Her younger brother told her to take the dress off. She refused to take the burning dress off even as she was engulfed in flames because "it's not modest". "It's not modest" is a formula that is drilled into the heads of Orthodox girls from the time they are three years old. From that age they begin to wear dresses that cover their knees by a few inches, with high necklines, long sleeves and opaque stockings. They are taught to dress and undress under a blanket. If their dress goes over their knee while sitting, running, playing - anything they are reprimanded: "It's not modest!" Modesty for an Orthodox girl is everything.
Chiah Mushke died.
She died because the lesson of being modest was drilled into her more than the overriding principle that saving a life, including her own, precludes all else. Her younger brother did know that either because as a boy he was better schooled than she or because, still being so young, he was reacting with natural common sense. God only knows the effect the experience had on her brother. The worst of it is that neither her father, the head of the Chaba"d house in Kiryat Arba-Chevron, nor his community and large circle of friends seem to have learned anything from the terrible incident. As we see from the site above, Rabbi Attiyah addressed an audience of 600 girls wherein he praised the virtue of modesty. He said nothing about his daughter not understanding the virtue of modesty properly or that saving one's life takes precedence over being modest.
It is of no especial import that the family is Chaba"d. It could have happened in any ultra-Orthodox family. In fact, most of the Orthodox who have heard this story seem to think that as regrettable and tragic as it is, it was unavoidable and that the girl did the right thing.Rather than asking himself if his understanding of Jewish Law and the way he was promulgating it is incorrect; the Rabbi is digging in his heels and building a large school in his daughter's honor wherein they will disseminate the self-same teachings. There isn't the merest hint that the teachings of female modesty in the school being built in her memory will be revised from the way in which she was taught.
There is no intimation in the incident, as reported, that either the family of the child, Chiah-Mushka Attiyah, of blessed memory, or any of the thousands of people who attended the funeral and contacted the family during the mourning period thereafter see this as anything other than a story of the ultimate "self-sacrifice" for the sake of the grand principle of female modesty. She is being hailed as a precocious paragon of female Orthodox Jewish virtue.
It is a perversion of our religion to think that it is in any ways right that a child should die for the sake of modesty. There are only three mitzvot that a Jew who is ben or bat mitzvah must die rather than commit: They are: incest, idol worship and the shedding of innocent blood – known by the acronym גע"ש.
If there be among you anyone who might think that an eight-year-old engulfed in flames taking off her dress in front of her younger brother constitutes the sin of incest, consider that in the time that she said: "It's not modest!", she could have said: "Turn away!"
There is an element of child sacrifice in this incident that is blood chilling and wholly inimical to Judaism as I learned it.
There was always a strain of this type of approach in Judaism, but it was a strain and nothing more. The vast majority of Orthodox Jews were rational and common sensical. That was even true among those who learned the Kabbalah. I remember Jews as being very rational from my childhood, speaking of "luftmenschkeit" with utter disdain. This fanaticism is now the norm in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish world. This fanaticism is growing and becoming more dangerous, even fatal. We see the execrable violence in Orthodox/non-Orthodox relations. We see it in factional violence even within the same group of Orthodox Jews. We now see it in the death of children who have not even attained the age of being b'nei and b'not mitzvah.
I recall two stories of extreme modesty in women, two women who are held up as models of the modesty. The first is that of a woman by the name of Kimchit, the story of whom is related here: http://tinyurl.com/y4w23u . Note that the site says of Kimchit: "She was rewarded with seven sons who served as High Priests. We see from this story that a woman’s covering her hair in private is highly praiseworthy." Let's examine these comments. Is having seven sons who were High Priests a reward? The High Priesthood was an office for life from the time it was assumed. In order for a High Priest to be replaced by another he had to die or be otherwise incapacitated or found incapable or unworthy to continue the function. It is not a natural state that in the space of the lifetime of seven brothers they all serve as High Priests. Clearly, something is very wrong in this story. Indeed, the Talmud relates an explanation of this story that appears contrived and unconvincing, as we see here: http://tinyurl.com/yaoulz . Moreover, it is said that other women likewise did not let the beams of their house "see" their hair. Surely there was another reason why all seven of Kimchit's sons become High Priests. The text would have us understand that she did something meritorious in addition to being very careful about covering her hair. Perhaps the fact that those seven men grew up in a home in which the wrong aspects of Torah were overly stressed contributed to the fact that they did not serve as High Priests in a normal, natural way. Perhaps a woman being so punctilious about covering her hair in private that the "walls of her house do not "see" her hair is not so "praiseworthy" after all. Perhaps it is unhealthy fanaticism, which always comes at the expense of doing mitzvoth correctly and putting the emphasis on serving humanity.
The second story of a model of female modesty is that of a woman who pinned her dress to her legs so that when she was dragged through the streets to her death by horses no one would see her legs. The story, entitled "שלש מתנות", part 3, by י"ל פרץ can be found in Hebrew on the following URL: http://tinyurl.com/yn27u9 . This is a story that recounts a grown woman, a woman who is bat mitzvah. She was designated for death in the brutal way described immediately above by Gentile authorities. Rather than give them the satisfaction of seeing her utterly humiliated, she pinned her dress to the flesh of her legs so that they would not be seen. Obviously, that must have been very painful. It was a brave and noble act of defiance and retaining her dignity to the last.
Eight-year-old Chiah-Mushka Attiyah, of blessed memory, was in no way in the same position. She could have and should have taken off her dress. She would have in no way been compromising her self. She made the ultimate compromise of herself for nothing, for absolutely nothing – because she was incorrectly educated in Jewish Law.
This story haunts me for many reasons
Looking at the pictures of the lovely children Chiah Mushke, of blessed memory, and her siblings on the site (http://www.chabad-hebron.com/345.html) we see healthy, happy children. They are immaculately clean. They are well dressed. There isn't a spot on their clothes, not so much as a wrinkle. Not one hair is out of place. They are obviously the recipients of great love and devotion. They also obviously love one another profoundly. There isn't the merest hint of neglect.
There is no doubt in my mind that the girls were educated to overweening צניעות (modesty) out of the sincere desire to protect them. The problem is, צניעות (modesty) seems to have been used as a kind of fetish and the *only* fence of protection. They were obviously not taught the whole battery of survival skills that we all need.
Chiah Mushke was playing with matches, which there is every reason to assume that she knew was forbidden. From this we learn that she had the spunk to be a bit naughty.
So, why was she not a bit "naughty" enough to go against Torah to save her life, assuming she did not know that פקוח נפש (saving a life) is a מצוה (mitzvah, commandment, good deed), and not an עברה (sin, transgression)?
Why was the will to survive so attenuated in this child? Was it a function of her education as an ultra-Orthodox female child, education geared toward creating women who will be utterly devoted to others, never thinking of their own welfare. I am apt to think that this occurred as a result of a wholly distorted concept of בטול (self-effacement, negation of the ego) and that is the reason why this story haunts me so.
God protect us if this is what "Ufaratztah" (the spreading of Jewish teaching and practice) means. May God prevent the spreading of such "teaching" of such "Chassidus" (piety; devotion; virtue; Hassidism).
Please do not misunderstand me. I am convinced that Rabbi and Rebbetzen Attiyah are lovely and loving people. I am sure that there intentions are only good. The problem is that they are terribly misled. Herein lies the problem with Judaism today - the confusion, the ignorance, the reversal of priorities and the superstition that passes for halakhah.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Chaba"dnikim from Tzfat Riot at Chaba"d Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn
http://tinyurl.com/ygz7jb
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
http://tinyurl.com/ygz7jb
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
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