Wednesday, October 15, 2025

It's not Genesis, It's Be'ray'sheet

  here comes the shemesh-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyJuZnDK8AM




 

THIS IS SO BASIC.  YOU HAVE TO KNOW THIS STUFF.

 

Knowing the Five Books Of The Torah is essential jewish knowledge. It don’t get more basic than this.

The Book’s name in Ivrit.

How you pronounce that

What that means

Name of that book in English

What that means

בְּרֵאשִׁית

Bereysheet

In/at the begining

Genesis

Creation

שְׁמוֹת

She’mot

Names

Exodus

Exiting

וַיִּקְרָא

Va’yi’kra

And He called

Leviticus

 Of the Levities

בְּמִדְבַּר

Bemidbar

In the wilderness

(and not in the desert- that would be Ba’negev)

Numbers

Go on, take a guess.  You can do it!

דְּבָרִים

Devarim

Statements/

Words/Things

Deuteronomy

Second Teaching






 


BEREYSHEET, CHAPTER TWO:

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth, of their being created.

At the time of Adonai Elohim’s making of earth and heaven,

no bush of the field was yet on earth,

no plant of the field had yet sprung up,

for Adonai God had not made it rain upon the earth,

and there was no human/adam to work the soil/adama—

but a surge would well up from the earth and water all the face of the ground.

And Adonai Elohim formed the human, of dust from the ground;

he blew into his nostrils the breath of life

and the human became a living being.

Adonai Elohim planted a garden in Eden/Land-of-Pleasure, in the east,

and there he placed the human whom he had formed.

And Adonai Elohim caused to spring up from the ground

every type of tree, desirable to look at and good to eat,

and the Tree of Life was in the center of the garden

and also the Tree of the Knowing of Good and Evil.

[Now a river goes out from Eden, to water the garden,

and from there it divides and becomes four stream-heads.

The name of the first one is Pishon/Spreader—that is the one that goes around all the land of Havila, where gold is;  the gold of that land is good, there too are bdellium and the precious-stone carnelian.

The name of the second river is Gihon/Gusher—that is the one that goes around all the land of Cush.

The name of the third river is Hiddekel/Tigris—that is the one that goes to the east of Assyria.

And the fourth river—that is Perat/Euphrates. ]

Adonai Elohim took the human and set him in the garden of Eden,  to work it and to watch it.  And Adonai Elohim commanded concerning the human, saying:

From every [other] tree of the garden you may certainly eat, but from the Tree of the Knowing of Good and Evil—

you are not to eat from it,  for on the day that you eat from it, you will certainly die!

Adonai Elohim said:

It is not good for the human to be alone;  I will make him a helper corresponding to him.

So Adonai Elohim  formed from the ground all the wildlife of the field and all the birds of the heavens and brought [each] to the human, to see what he would call it;

and whatever the human called it as a living being, that became its name.

The human called out names for all the herd-animals and for the birds of the heavens and for all the wildlife of the field, but for the human, there could not be found a helper corresponding to him.

So Adonai God caused a deep slumber to fall upon the human, so that he slept;  then he took one of the sides of the human and closed up the flesh in its place. And Adonai God built the side that he had taken from the human into a woman and brought her back to the human.

The human said:

“This-time, she-is-it!

Bone from my bones

and flesh from my flesh!

She shall be called Isha,

for from a human/Ish she was taken!

And  so a human being leaves thier father and mother, and clings to their spouse,  and they become one person.

 _________________________________________________________


TORAH:  THE UNIVERSE WAS NOT MADE IN SIX DAYS 

Rabbi Judah b. R. Simon said: “Let there be evening” is not written here, but “And there was evening”; hence we know that a time-order existed before this. Rabbi Abahu said: “This proves that the Holy One, blessed be He, went on creating worlds and destroying them until He created this one, and declared, ‘This one pleases Me; those did not please Me.'” (Midrash Rabbah – Genesis III:7)

“I, the insignificant Yitzchak of Akko, have seen fit to write a great mystery that should be kept very well hidden. One of God's days is a thousand years, as it says, "For a thousand years are in Your eyes as a fleeting yesterday." Since one of our years is 365 ¼ days, a year on High is 365,250 our years.”

Kaplan notes that this sage calculates the age of the Universe  as follows: as the Midrash states, "A thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday" (Psalm 90:4); a physical year contains 365 ¼ days, which, if multiplied by 1000 would give the length of a divine year as 365,250 physical years; if we are living in the last, 7th Sabbatical cycle [ of divine years], that would mean that the creation as it described in the Bible happened 42,000 divine years ago; to convert this figure to physical years it should be multiplied by 365,250; this gives the result 15,340,500,000 years. [Current estimates using Hubble’s law and red shift measurements from distant galaxies place the age of the universe at 13.8 Billion years.]


 

 

MISHNAYOT ON COURTS (SANHEDRIN)

Masechet Sanhedrin Chapter 1

This chapter of the Mishnah deals with the kinds of courts that are established under  Jewish Law.

Mishnah Aleph

Dinei Ma’monot, civil or monetary cases, these are judged by three judges. Cases of theft and personal injury are judged by three judges. Suits for damages or “half-damages”, or crimes for which one would pay fees that are double, quadruple, or quintuple the cost of what was stolen are judged by three judges. Cases of rape, seduction, and slander are judged by three judges- these are the words of Rabbi Meir. But the Sages say, a case of slander is judged by twenty-three judges, because this is a capital case.

Mishnah Bet

Dinei Nefashot- Capital cases-- are judged by twenty-three judges…. An ox to be stoned [because it attacks and kills people repeatedly], by twenty-three, as it is written (Exodus 21:29) "the ox shall be stoned and its owner shall also be put to death." As is the death of the owner, so is the death of the ox.

 

Masechet Sanhedrin Chapter  4 

This chapter of the Mishnah deals with how the court is set up and how the witnesses are prepared.

Mishnah Gimmel

The Sanhedrin was  organized like  half of a round granary (a semi-circle), so that each  judge  could see every other judge. Two court scribes stood before them, one on the right and one on the left, and they wrote the words of the defense and the words of the prosecution.

Mishnah Hei

A) How do we vet the witnesses in a capital case? We bring them in  to the court's chambers  and press them: "Perhaps what you say  isn't eyewitness testimony  is but your own assessment, or from rumors, or your witnessing an actual witness testify, or your reporting what a trustworthy person said. Or perhaps you were unaware that by the end we'd interrogate you, with examination and inquiry.

B) “Know that capital cases are not like monetary ones. In monetary cases,  a false witness  can return the money and achieve atonement. But in capital cases, the blood of  the victim  and all their future offspring hang upon you until the end of time. For thus we find in regard to Cain, who killed his brother,  The bloods of your brother scream out!   Genesis 4:10  - the verse does not say blood of your brother, but bloods  of your brother, because it was his blood and also the blood of his future offspring  screaming out!

C)  The judges' speech continues:  "It was for this reason that humanity was first created as one person, Adam, to teach you that anyone who destroys a life from Yisrael is considered by Scripture to have destroyed an entire world; any one who saves a life from Yisrael is as if one saved an entire world.

 D) And also, to promote peace among the created,  that no man would say to his friend, "My ancestors are greater than yours.” And also, so that heretics will not say, "There are many rulers up in Heaven."

E) And also, to express the grandeur of The Holy Blessed One : For a human imprints many coins from the same die, and all the coins are alike. But the King, the King of Kings, The Holy Blessed One  imprints every human with the die of the Adam Ha’Rishon, and yet no person is exactly like their fellow.”

F) The judges' speech continues:  "Maybe you -- the witnesses--  will now say, 'What do we need this, and all this anxiety-- let's not come forward even with true testimony!' But Scripture has already spoken: If one be a witness - having seen or known - if one does not express it, this shall be their sin. (Lev. 5:1).   Maybe you will now say, 'What do we need this, to be responsible for another man's death?' But Scripture has already spoken:  When the wicked are destroyed there is rejoicing.   (Prov. 11:10) "

 

 

 

 

 Rabbi Simcha Bunam Bonhart of Prizsucha (1765–1827)wrote:  "Each and every person should have two pieces of paper to use in a time of need.

On one note: “The world was created for my sake.”

And on the other note: “I am dust and ashes.”

 

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Besamachta Bechagecha!


 



Achsameayach!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUbOLu3Up_o


 

יוֹשְׁבֵי

 

וַאֲבָרְכָה

 

אֲבָרְכֶךָּ

 

וּגְבוּרֹתֶיךָ

 

נוֹרְאֹתֶיךָ

 

פּוֹלִיטִיקַאי

 

וְצִדְקָתְךָ

 

אוֹרְחִים

 

וַחֲסִידֶיךָ

 

מַלְכוּתְךָ

 

הַכְּפוּפִים

 

חֲלָלִית

 

פּוֹתֵחַ

 

שַׁלֶּכֶת 

 

הָרְשָׁעִים

 

נְבָרֵךְ

 

 







not just online...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5Ad1gW2i_4A




Simchat Torah according to . . . Blair Bleichman?!?

 

Blair Bleichman is a Senior in High School at Francis Parker.  Blair stopped learning about Judaism the second her Bat Mitzvah was over with, and hasn’t bothered with learning Torah since.  Consequently, she can’t get important details of Judaism right anymore, and has mixed-up almost everything she learned in Religious School.  Even the fun of Simchat Torah is something she has trouble with.  You will be helping review her two (2)  page report she made for her Social Studies teacher at Parker High School. It’s due this week and it doesn’t look good at all.  If she hands this work in as it is, she’s heading for a D on her report, which she will explain by saying “Judaism is stupid and makes no sense.” Can you underline any factual mistakes she made, and if possible correct them for her so that Blair doesn’t flunk her assignment and then blame her people’s faith?

 

 

 

 

 


WHAT BLAIR SHOULD HAVE WRITTEN:

When the seven days of Sukkot end, the Bible decrees yet another holiday, Shemini Atzeret—the eight  Day of Assembly. This Shemini Atzeret holiday  is in fact mentioned in the Torah. It marks the beginning of the rainy season in Israel and, therefore includes the year’s first prayer for rain.

 

Unlike like the seven days of Sukkot, the observance of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah are mostly in the synagogue. On Shemini Atzeret, some still eat meals in the sukkah  (the outdoor  shack Jews make for the holiday), but in contrast to Sukkot no blessings are made for eating inside of it.

 

It is traditional to include the Yizkor, or memorial service, as part of the prayers for this eighth day. The final portion of the Book of  Devarim is read in the synagogue followed by the beginning of the Book of Genesis. In this manner, the annual cycle of Torah readings continues unbroken. Although Shemini Atzeret is a one-day holiday in the Torah, among Jews outside of Israel, Shemini Atzeret is a two-day festival. However, during the medieval period/ the second day of Shemini Atzeret began to develop a unique character.

 

The second day of Shemini Atzeret became the day on which the last Torah portion of the year would be read and the very first Torah portion begun, all over again. Therefore, this day became an Occasion for joy and an opportunity for demonstrating the Jewish community’s love  of God for giving us the torah. The day itself took on an additional name, Simchat Torah, meaning the day of “being joyful with the Torah.” Simchat Torah is celebrated by joyful dancing with Torah.

Since the whole day is so exciting, special honors are given to honor people who volunteer for the synagogue.  Anyone who wants an aliyah on Simchat Torah is given one, even little kids. Flags with large apples  are often given to children to help celebrate having the Torah. The majority/many adults will carry the Torah Scrolls and  the synagogue dancing and singing. They will make these Hakafot seven times so that Jews show they are happy to have the Torah.






What you need to know about . . . Shemini Atzeret & Simchat Torah

 

Things about Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah

·       Shemini Atzeret is a holiday commanded by the Torah.  The name roughly means “The Eighth Get-together-day.”

·        It’s sort of the end of Sukkot, but sort of its own holiday.

·       Shmini Atzeret is two days long outside of Israel.  The second day is called Simchat Torah.

·       There is no more lulav and etrog waving once the holiday begins.

·        Though we can  eat in the Sukkah, we no longer say the blessing for sitting in the sukkah.

·       Both days are celebrated with lighting of candles at sundown.

·       Both days are celebrated with festive meals with family and friends.

·       The Torah says we should not work on this festival.

The first day is Shemini Atzeret, when in synagogue…

·       Yizor, the special prayers remembering those who have died are said. This includes Kaddish Yatom, the Mourners Kaddish.

·       There is a special prayer for rain (Geshem) said during Musaf. When a cantor chants Geshem, they often wear a white robe called a Kittel (just like on Yom Kippur) because this prayer is so serious and so important.

·       We Say Hallel.

·       We read Torah and Haftorah.

·       From now through Pesach, there will be a short line in the Amidah every day, asking God to provide rain: Mashiv Haruach Umorid Hagashem. We wait until this day to say this prayer because we don’t want it to rain until we’re done sitting in the sukkah.

 

The second day is Simchat Torah when in synagogue….

·       The atmosphere is one of fun and celebration, and things get a little silly.  Prayers are often sung  to pop music tunes (Think the Beatles, music from “Frozen”, etc)

·       The end of the Torah is read, as is the start.

·       There is food and drink  (but usually not in the Sanctuary itself)

·       People play (simple) pranks on each other.

·       Every Torah scroll is taken from the ark. People dance with the scrolls and around the scrolls in a series of seven processions known as Hakafot.  At least one usually breaks out into the halls or even outside.

·       Everyone of Bnei Mitzvah age gets an aliyah.

·       Young Children are given flags to wave, and all kids under BM age get an aliyah together under a Chuppah.

·       A special honor is to be  a Chattan/Kallah  (Groom or Bride) Torah at Night  and a Chattan/Kallat Beresheet  during the day.  Anshe Emet gives this honor people who have been active and helpful in the community in numerous ways.\