Liberty and Curses

 

-Zeh or Zeh Meod

-Reading- https://www.sefaria.org/Psalms.90.1?lang=he

Parsha Summary Word bank

Bell Quiz!

Verse. Shemitah and Yovel.  Commentary on Yovel

 Yiddish Curses!

Curses

Commentary on curses

 

 

 

 

 

קַר 

חַם

מְאוֹד

 

 

גָּדוֹל

קָטָן

מְאוֹד

 

קָרוֹב

רָחוֹק

מְאוֹד

 

 

 

1.      Which of the following is not a cause that was associated with the Liberty Bell?

a.      American Independence

b.      Women’s suffrage (right to vote)

c.      Abolition of slavery

d.      Unifying the nation after the Civil War

e.      Purging America of the “Six-Seven” meme

 

2.      John Pass and John Stow are known for doing what to the Liberty Bell?

a.      Stealing it 

b.      Making it

c.      Trying to fix the crack

d.      Making the crack

e.      Coating the bell with layers of vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate cream to make it easier to eat

 

3.      Who rings the Liberty Bell on the 4^th of July?

a.      Winners of the Liberty Bell Essay Contest

b.      Descendants of the first ten presidents

c.      Descendants of Declaration of Independence  signers  

d.      Winners of the Medal of Honor

e.      Winners of the famous “Fist of Liberty” mixed martial arts tournament

 

4.      In August of  1777 The Liberty Bell was removed from the city and hidden in the floorboards of the Zion Reformed Church in Allentown, Pennsylvania,  Why?

a.      Because the Confederate soldiers invading from the south would melt it down for Cannon balls.

b.      Because the British soldiers invading from the north would melt it down for Cannon balls.

c.      Because the French soldiers invading from Louisiana would melt it down for Cannon balls.

d.      Because the Native American tribes invading from the west would melt it down for Cannon balls.

e.      Because the North Koreans were parachuting down from their Space Shuttle to capture the Liberty Bell before Abraham Lincoln arrived with the new Plasma Cannons needed to stop them.

 

5.      Where was the Liberty Bell placed originally?

a.      Congress in Washington DC

b.      City Hall in New York City

c.      The Pennsylvania State House

d.      The center of the Boston Commons

e.      Underwater in Boston Harbor, to scare away British Attack Dolphins.

 

6.      What was the Liberty Bell doing in Philadelphia?

a.      It was made there

b.      It was stuck there

c.      It was ordered for the state house there

d.      It was not wanted by anyone else

e.      It was cursed by a warlock who survived the Salem witch trials.

 

7.      What was the Liberty Bell rung for in 1776?

a.      The reading of the Preamble of the Constitution

b.      The reading of the Bill of Rights

c.      The reading of the will of George Washington

d.      The reading of the Declaration of Independence

e.      The reading of the famous “You’ll Be Back” speech  of King  George III after the Revolutionary War.

 

8.      The last and biggest crack that made the Bell no longer ring-able happened on what occasion?

a.      The 3^rd wedding of Thomas Jefferson in 1793

b.      The 114^th birthday of George Washinton in 1846

c.      At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861

d.      The death of Abraham Lincoln in 1865

e.      The first halftime show the Super Bowl in 1967

 

9.      Who has the Liberty Bell been “tapped” in honor of since 1986?

a.      John F. Kennedy, Jr

b.      Carrie Fisher

c.      Harvey Milk

d.      Martin Luther King Jr

e.      Comic book collector Melvin Kaplinsky of  his parent’s basement at 253  Schuller Parkway,  Brooklyn

 

10.   What phrase or statement is on the Liberty Bell that gives it is name?

a.      Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death!

b.      Depart From Evil And Do Good, Seek Liberty And Pursue

c.      There Is No Liberty Without The Law, And No Law Without Liberty!

d.      Proclaim Liberty Throughout All The Land, To All Who Dwell In It!

e.      Forsooth, Liberty Thompson of Philadelphia Oweth Us Ninety Seven Pounds And Four Shillings

 

11.   Where is this phrase from?

a.      Shakespeare

b.      The Torah

c.      The Magna Carta

d.      The Code of Hammurabi

e.      Our glorious leader of the People’s Democratic Republic of North Korea!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

וְקִדַּשְׁתֶּ֗ם אֵ֣ת שְׁנַ֤ת הַחֲמִשִּׁים֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וּקְרָאתֶ֥ם דְּר֛וֹר בָּאָ֖רֶץ לְכׇל־יֹשְׁבֶ֑יהָ יוֹבֵ֥ל הִוא֙ תִּהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֔ם וְשַׁבְתֶּ֗ם אִ֚ישׁ אֶל־אֲחֻזָּת֔וֹ וְאִ֥ישׁ אֶל־מִשְׁפַּחְתּ֖וֹ תָּשֻֽׁבוּ׃

You are to make different the year, the fiftieth year,

and proclaim freedom throughout the land and to all its inhabitants;

it shall be Homecoming for you!

You are to return, each person to their holding,

each person to his family you are to return.

 LEVITICUS 25:11

 

 Chizkuni, Leviticus 25:10:2

לכל יושביה, “for all its inhabitants;” seeing that the Torah wrote: ושבתם איש אל אחוזתו, “each man of you is to return to his ancestral heritage,” it might have sounded as if women did not possess ancestral land in Israel. Therefore the Torah also had to write: לכל יושביה, lechol yoshvehah, to all of its inhabitants no matter which gender. 

 

Haamek Davar on Leviticus 25:10:1

And proclaim freedom throughout  the land. This includes the soldiers of war who leave their homes to guard in the service of the king and the matters of state; in the Jubilee year they return to their homes and ancestral land.  And each person shall return to their holding — even if he has no ancestral land each goes back to their family and all the family heads are gathered together.

The Torah; A Women's Commentary, Leviticus 25:10:2

Proclaim liberty throughout the land for all its inhabitants. This verse sums up the goal of the laws in the parashah: to ensure the fundamental freedom from economic oppression. Return to your holding…return to your family. The jubilee system aims principally at reuniting families and allowing them to live on their land.

 

And now, A Selection of Curses from Nahum Stutchkoff's Thesaurus of the Yiddish Language

     

    Shteyner zol zi hobn, nit kayn kinder.

    She should have (kidney) stones and not children.

      

    Oyskrenkn zol er dus mame’s milakh.

    He should get so sick as to cough up his mother’s milk.

    

    Oyf doktoyrim zol er dos avekgebn.

    He should give it (his fortune) all away to doctors.

     

 

    A meshugener zol men oyshraybn, un im araynshraybn.

    They should free a madman, and lock him up.

     

    

    A kleyn kind zol nokh im heysn.

    A young child should be named after him.

  

    

  Er zol hobn paroys makes bashotn mit oybes krets.

    He should have Pharaoh’s plagues sprinkled with Job’s sores.

     

    Es zol dir dunern in boykh, vestu meyen az s’iz a homon klaper.

    Your stomach will rumble so badly, you'll think it was Purim grager.

 

Khasene hobn zol er mit di malekh hamoves tokhter.

    He should marry the daughter of the Angel of Death.

 

     Got zol gebn, er zol hobn altsding vos zayn harts glist, nor er zol zayn geleymt oyf ale ayvers un nit kenen rirn mit der tsung.

    God should bestow him with everything his heart desires, but he should be a quadriplegic and not be able to use his tongue.

    

    Migulgl zol er vern in a henglayhter, by tog zol er hengen, un bay nakht zol er brenen.

    He should be transformed into a chandelier, to hang by day and to burn by night.

 

 

•  Have you ever heard anyone refer to God as “angry” or “vengeful” in the Torah?
• Why might someone say this?
• How do you feel about these labels?
• Throughout the parshiyot we’ve studied, we’ve seen both blessings and curses from God ?  Which do you think there are more of? 

From our Parasha:

And you I will scatter among the nations;

I will unsheath the sword against you,

so that your land becomes a desolation and your cities become a wasteland.

Now those that remain among you—I will bring faintness into their hearts, in the lands of their enemies,

they will be set-in-pursuit by the sound of a driven leaf,

they will flee as if in flight from a sword and will fall, though there is no pursuer!

rather, you will perish among the nations—

it will devour you, the land of your enemies! 

 

 

Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra (Of Zaragosa, Spain, 1092 -1167) wrote: "There is an empty-headed claim that there are more curses than blessings in this portion, but this is not true. Rather, the blessings are set forth in general terms, while the curses are specified in detail, so as to frighten the listeners. A good look [at the verses] will confirm this." 

 

Moses Winefeld (Professor at Hebrew University,  1925-2009)  says that if we look at  documents from the era when such scholars think the Torah was written (7^th cen BCE), we find  they also contain threats of horrible nature. Contrast  Duet. 28:23, “I will make the skies above you brass and the ground below you iron,”  with the  Essarhaddon documents: “”May the gods make your ground like iron so that no one can cut it. Just as the rain does not fall from a brass heaven, so may rain and dew not come upon your fields and pastures.”   Just as chapter 28 threatens famine and hunger, so too does the treaty of Aššurnirari V if it is violated: “May Haddad, the inspector of heaven and earth, destroy this land through constant want, hunger and famine.”  Be it the Esarhhadon treaties or the Aššurnirari documents,  they use the same language.  It’s just exageration, the style of the time,  used only to stress the seriousness of the covenant at hand.  

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