An interview with Rabbi David Karpov, a Shaliyach in Otradnoe, Moscow

This interview is a companion post to the story reported in the Hostile takeover in Moscow.

03.31.05 - 12:15 pm
Tzemach Atlas calls R. David Karpov�s home. His wife picks up the phone. �Alyeo, hey is that you, you publish what? The internet, ahh, my internet is broken� but Dovid has one in his office, Esterke uses it, you have her email, right? Oh, that story, I don�t know all the details, speak to Dovid.
Tzemach Atlas: Ok, tell me about this synagogue please.
Nadiya: A Tatarin (tatar) Muslim wanted to build a mosque in Otradnoe, north of Moscow. The government told him that this chutzpa will be allowed only on a condition that he also builds a Synagogue and a Russian Orthodox Church. He agreed and 7 years ago this Tatarin who technically owns all three worship buildings announced that the Synagogue was ready for the taking. Nobody wanted the building at the time, not Lazar or anyone else except David who took it and started this congregation Darkei Shalom.
TA: So what happened now?
Nadiya: I am not sure, speak to David.

TA: Tell me about the reaction of the congregation to the takeover.
Nadia: People are in shock.
TA: Why?
Nadia: We often see takeover scenes in Russia when masked armed heavies arrive and announce that the property changed hands. This basically what happened when the new security people showed up minus arms and masks and enforced the new rules.

Tzemach Atlas: Nadiya, there is a Yid named Schneur, he is asking some questions on my web site now.
Schneur: How many Lubavitcher baale batim are there in Moscow today?
Nadia: You mean passport carrying Anash? Let me look in our phone book, I see 80 families in Moscow.
TA: How many of them are bourn in Russia?
Nadia: Only three families, including us*. (*See UPDATE No.1 below)

Tzemach Atlas paraphrasing Schneur: Does the congregation support you?
Nadia: We are not supported by the congregation. But a member of the Synagogue recently paid for the renovation of the building.
Schneur: How many shuls are there in Moscow today?
Nadia: Let�s see, Archipova, Maryina Roscha, Poklonnay Gora (museum/shule?), Darkei Sholom (our Synagogue), Malay Bronnoy, Malachovka (outside of Moscow). There are also separate shules for the Mountain Jews next to Archipova and next to Maryna Roscha, plus there are improvised Shules at the two markets (for the merchants). Total 6,7, 8?

Tzemach Atlas: Can I speak to Dovid on his cell? Please tell him I will be calling. Thanks Nadia, talk to you soon.

03.31.05 - 12:35 pm
Tzemach Atlas calls Tovarish to get a bird eye view on the issue.
TA: What is the story with this takeover between Lazar and Karpov? Why would Lazar do it?
Tovarish: This is not just Darkei Shalom. Lazar�s general strategy is a complete monopoly and a methodical centralized control. This is his "glavny politichesky vector" (main political vector). He has taken over at least more than 10 synagogues in Russia and beyond.

TA: Is it Lazar or Levayev? Who is behind this?
Tovarish: I do not know. I would imagine that the idea of monopoly is appealing from the religious and business perspective, so at some theoretical point their goals might be the same.

TA: Somebody wrote that this argument is driven by the opposing political affiliations. True?
Tovarish: I don�t think so. There has been a bad blood between Lazar and Karpov for many years, but domination is Lazar�s general strategy. Lazar wants to have a national Jewish political and religious control. And right under his nose is a lively congregation that he has no say in.

TA: What about the different political organizations?
Tovarish: The umbrella organizations have attempted to coexist with each over lately and the confrontation is gone.
TA: You mean like AJ Congress and AJ Committee in USA, different structures learned to coexist side by side?
Tovarish: Yes

03.31.05 - 12:55 pm
After several dialing combinations Rabbi David Karpov�s finally picks up his cell while driving.
Tzemach Atlas: Do you know this mayse was published in a newspaper in America?
RK: Really?

TA: Somebody wrote that you met with the �Bulgarian Foreign Ministry�, etc. What are the politics of this?
RK: I don�t know about �Bulgarian Foreign Ministry� but Lazar made some noise recently because I went to a conference in Kazakhstan with some �misnagdim�. This all is a bad blood between me and Lazar really.

TA: After each question tell me if your answer is for publication or not. I don�t what to hurt you.
RK: OK

TA: Who pays you and who supports the congregation Darkei Shalom?
RK: I work for Chama, Chama has a lease on the building for 49 years from the owner, the Tatarin. With alleged new ownership of the building, legal aspect of that lease will have to be determined. The congregation is supported by Joint, Chama and the Russian Jewish Congress. Our congregation is mostly families and young people; it is not a senior citizens club where they come for the refreshments. We have classes and many programs. We built this congregation from scratch; it was an empty shell of the building 7 years ago. Jews in that area of Moscow never had a Synagogue. People have bee signing a petition against the takeover. Already several hundred signatures, without me ever asking them.

TA: It is written in the article that you are banned from giving classes at night and from having sleepovers on Shabbos. True?
RK: Yes, we were ordered to leave the premises after 8 PM. Because this Shule is remotely located, 8 PM is the earliest time most can attend the classes after wrok. So we can�t have classes during the week any longer. Additionally many can�t come here on Shabbos and YT. So we converted some rooms into the sleeping quarters. We were ordered to close this as well. Now please publish this specifically: �Tatarin, our previous Muslim owner never had problems with us learning at night or Jews staying here for Shabbos, but now under the Jewish ownership this is no longer possible!�

TA: How big is your congregation?
RK: We have a daily Minyan and we have 50-60 people on Shabbos, several hundred �till there is no more room� on Yom Tov.

TA: So what is your status?
RK: I work for Chama. Lazar can own the building but he can�t own the people who attend the services. Because he does not have a base of people, we created this from nothing in the last 7 years; he can�t take it over outright. They made me an offer to join their organization because they knew I would refuse, which I did.

TA: Is there anything you would like to say to the readers. A special message?
Rabbi David Karpov: �Yes, I see myself in Otradnoe as a Shaliyach, as such I am here be coach ha Mechaleyach and I believe he will find a way to defend his Shaliyach. I also would like to say that our congregation is named Darkei Shalom, we found a way to deal be darkei noam ve shalom with our Muslim and Christian neighbors and we would like to find a way to deal be darkei noam ve shalom with this situation as well.

Tzemach Atlas: Thanks Dovid, hatzlocha!

UPDATE No.1: "Only three Russian families", Nadia was referring to the old timers (from our days): Tamarin, Kuravsky, Karpov.
UPDATE No.2: Congregation Darkei Shalom web site.

Hostile takeover in Moscow

Berl Lazar muscles in on Rabbi Dovid Karpov. Walter Ruby reporting in the Jewish Week: The move, critics say, is the latest in a series of takeovers of property affiliated with other Jewish groups that appear at odds with the ethos of a worldwide religious movement that proclaims its love for every Jew.

"Many in Moscow speculate that Rabbi Lazar, who was born in Italy, perceives the native-born Rabbi Karpov as a threat because the latter is widely viewed as better able to connect with Moscow Jewry than are the vast majority of Chabad rabbis in the FSU, who hail from the United States, Israel and Europe."

This is a picture I took of Rabbi Dovid Karpov in his tiny appartment in Moscow in 1988 where he lived with his family and his mother in law. A Hosid and a Lamdan, a heart of pure as gold, forsake every opportunity to leave to the West.

The story is consistent with what we wrote previously about Lubavitch here, here, here and here. Berl Lazar=Shlomo Cunin?

Raboisay, can you put this in your pudding:

To enforce its new status, FEOR has dispatched a guard and a manager to Darkei Shalom who have begun enforcing a new set of regulations Rabbi Karpov considers onerous. One stipulates that everyone, including Rabbi Karpov, must leave the synagogue complex no later than 30 minutes after evening prayers, making it impossible for the rabbi to teach classes.

Another new rule forbids people from sleeping over at the facility on Friday nights, a practice Rabbi Karpov sees as a �mitzvah� that has enabled single men and families who cannot walk home on Shabbat because the synagogue is in a remote section many miles from their homes to attend services.

I will call Moscow tomorrow to get the first hand account. Meanwhile please spread the word about this and see what YOU can do. Does anyone have contacts with Levayev? Call American Jewish Congress. Can someone call HAMA?

UPDATE #1: Is anyone else uneasy looking at this?

Simon Jacobson - the proof is in the pudding

Responding to the post Was the Lubavitcher Rebbe a closet Kotzker? Simon Jacobson writes:

Hi Tzemach,
For the record I would like to clarify some of the informal comments I made to you which you posted based on your recollection. My statement that "the Rebbe was skeptical of people and did not trust them" was not at all meant the way it was posted. The Rebbe, who I should add was personal witness to the violent abuses of individual power in Soviet Russia, did not trust any individual or group of individuals with authoritative power to run Chabad. But he absolutely trusted ALL people, empowering each person to go out and teach and inspire everyone they encounter.

In other words, the Rebbe very strongly trusted people --- not to dictate or control other people, but to propagate Torah and Yiddishkeit.

Indeed, this is the legacy of Torah in general. Moses was not a CEO and did not create a "Torah" corporation with a board of directors and financial controls. Moses, a true man of G-d, left the Torah and students. Joshua succeeded Moses as Torah leader in his time, and so the chain carried on in one unbroken flow till today. Leadership was about scholarship, mitzvot and world change, not about finance and real estate. The authority of (authentic) Rabbis and Torah leaders was about all legal and spiritual matters, but not about "running" a business in the modern sense of the word. Torah was taught freely.

I would say that the Rebbe believed that grass roots empowerment was the best way to create checks and balances of individual abuses of power. Each Chabad shliach was given the mandate to establish his own board of trustees, to raise funds and build with no limits. Obviously there needs to be coordination and respect of boundaries --- and recourse to resolve conflicts before a bet din -- but not any individual (or group) has exclusive control.

America's foundation very much parallels this approach. No trust in any one monarch (or group of monarchs), yet "all men were created equal."

The brilliance in this is that quality control was maintained due to the profound spiritual compass instilled in each Chassid by the Rebbe, while allowing for the motivation and drive that can only come with decentralization -- each organization driven to succeed independently. If people were mere employees of some centralized authority they wouldn't have the motivation to raise funds and build; they would do whatever is necessary to earn their salary and then "go home" at the end of the day, without the dedication that comes when you feel that its "your own baby."

And the proof is in the pudding: The huge success and continued growth of Chabad institutions (with no one quitting after Gimmel Tammuz) testifies to the ingenuity of the Rebbe's approach.

For an elaborate discussion on this issue, please see:
On the Nature of Leadership & the Art of Delegation: Shlichus: The Rebbe's Brilliant New Approach.
Leadership with Love: Leadership & Delegation 2.

Thank you,
Simon Jacobson

The Shaigetz - an instant classic

I am amazed at the quality of writing coming from the British blogsphere. Today The Shaigetz published an instant classic. It's sharp, hilarious and could not be found in any other medium. Enjoy! The Shaigetz writes:

In former times it was those of Polish and Russian descent who despised the Hungarians who in turn turned their big noses down on the Rumanian ganuvim (crooks) who joined them all in agreeing that the yekkes (of German stock) were the pits. As the Germans considered themselves superior to anything emanating from any of those cultural black holes and the Hungarians considered their superior cooking to be more than adequate to cover for any gaps in their culture or learning they all took a fair share of the biscuit. Read on from the beginning.

Via Shmarya: Baruch Tegegne, the man credited with rescuing untold numbers of his fellow Ethiopian Jews, is now in a fight for his own life. Montreal Ethiopian Jew battles for kidney donation.

Donate for the kidney here.

Out of Step Jew: The Israeli Supreme Court (supreme legislature?) is to rule tomorrow (Thursday) on recognizing non-orthodox conversions. As one who is uncomfortable with the Orthodox religious monopoly in Israel I should be rooting for a victory for the Reform and Conservative, but I am not. This is not only about "unity" this is about the best interests of the converts. The Chief Rabbinate's approach to conversions and to converts is, well, sinful. There are some people who are dealing with it though, like R. Haim Druckman and the IDF's chief chaplain, R. Weiss.

Poster Announcing the Visit of the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe to Jerusalem in 1929 from The Living Torah Museum.

A sign

Aguh court filing

Via 770 Blog: Agudas Chassidei Chabad's full filing in New York State Supreme Court against the Sefadi students and the Gabbais, in the matter of 770 Eastern Parkway.

649 key phrases

OK, talking about clicks. When you start running a web site you realize that a lot of traffic comes from search engines, particularly Google. Google is the main referred on the Internet. To get a click through Google you have to write about some obscure subject to be on the first or second pages of the search ranking. Here is a list of visits to mentalblog.com via 649 key phrases since 1st of March, 2005 till 12:00 AM today. It lists number of visits for each of the key phrases through various search engines (59% Google, 33% Yahoo!, 3% MSN, 2% AOL, etc.) and a percentage of the total search traffic.

Back to the real subject of this blog via CampusJ: Matisyahu Rocks Columbia U on Purim.
P.S. More interesting question is how mentalblog.com got #6 and #7 Google search ranking for the lubavitcher rebbe ?
A reminder, you can sears the connect of this blog only with the Google box to the right ->>
Don�t miss an opportunity to �search� our new PayPal button on the bottom of the Google box.

A question

How did this blog turned into Crown Heights and Boro Park, the very places I did my best to leave behind? I am having a mental block about this. People are clicking through here but I know at the end of the day they will remain distant strangers just like someone you accidentally bump into licking a cone of ice cream on 13th Ave. You go your way they go they go their way. A mirage.
P.S. There is a video posted of the coronation of the new Bbobover Rebbe. I found it excruciatingly boring. There are three parts, at the end of the 2nd part there is "Yehi" to the Bobover. Boring...

Moral Dillema of sorts

Michael/Mordechai Yisrael wrote in weirdjews2: Moral Dillema of sorts: As some of you may know, I'm having some Lubavitch related issues right now. Before I considered these mostly remote from my community..but then I went to one of the rabbis' homes on Purim. I noticed that besides having "Beis Moshiach" magazines, which containe the line "Long Live Our Master, Our Teacher, and Our Rebbe, King Messiah Forever and Ever!" on the cover, he had a tambourine on his wall with the exact same phrase scrawled on it in Hebrew, although it also seemed to have the word "boreinu" written on there as well. If this wasn't enough, one of the visiting (Chabad) yeshiva students started singing "yechi".

I'm...shocked to say the least and completly unsure of whether or not I can trust anything this man says in regards to Halacha or Yiddishkeit. I feel compelled to leave this shul for the new Modern Orthodox one, but I also don't want to "bite the hand" that fed me, since these people did sort of set up my appointment with the Beit Din and vouched for me. Everyone else in the community just pretends it isn't an issue or that if they ignore it, then it'll go away.
So nu, any advice?

Messianic disturbance

A video in Real format showing the Rebbe encouraging the Yehi. It is painful to watch actually as Rebbe�s right hand is paralyzed and he is ensconced by the handlers.
The video.

Messianic imperative

Responding to my post Easter message Schneur Zalman of NY wrote:
Jewish history is replete with honest Messianic hopes. This includes many Zaddikim who as the Rebbe understood that this world could not continue for long. Such people included the Shinyaver Rav Yecheskel Shraga Halberstam who predicted Moshiach would arrive in 1902. The Minchas Elozor of Munkatch a serious Halachic decisor as well as Hassidic master (ironically his father opposed the efforts of the Shinyaver Rav) also orchestrated a Messianic campaign after World War I and traveled to Israel in the 1930's to meet the fabled kabbalist Rabbi Alfandari the Sova kaddisha in order to unite the tow oroth of Mizrach and Maarac as rabbi Or haChaim hakadosh Benattar and the holy Baal Shem Tov were supposed to meet for the same goal.

The holy Koshnitzer Rebbe Hofstein Reb Arelle also begged G-D for Moshiach or there would be no Jews left to greet him. In our time the saintly Lelever Rebbe wanted an Atomic War in 1962 as the world had no right to exist.

Among Mithnagdim the Chofetz Chaim and heilike Oshmener Rav Mordechele also initiated Messianic campaigns. How fast we forget about the Chofetz Chaim's campaign to welcome Mashiach. He established the Kodshim Kollel in Radin for this purpose as well as other peulos.

So the response of the 6th and 7th Rebbe's to the Holocaust was not only proper but in line with Jewish tradition. It�s the rest of the frum world who had gotten so comfortable in the gashmiyuth (material world) of the West that forgot the Messianic imperative. Others in the Mizrachi pinned their hopes on the new Jewish state. Still other Gedolim put Mashiach aside and concentrated on Torah Lishmo etc. But the Rebbe was no imposter or fraud. He was raising the centuries old Jewish hope for geula because it could not go on.

It was many foolish Lubavitchers who taking advantage of the Rebbe's illness proclaimed HIM to be the Messiah. Halvai bechayav. But alas it was not meant to be. We await a new "sanigeron shel israel"!

Hasidic monarchy, did it run it's hereditary course?

Schneur Zalman of NY writes:
Last week the fourth Bobover, Rebbe Rav Naftoli Zvi Halberstam died in Boro Park following a long illness. Although his reign was short he had served as his father�s chief aide de camp for many years. As such he was responsible for the growth of the Bobover school system and its community. In the short time of his rebbistve, he acquired a name as a baal mofes and inspired his followers.

His death has led to a split in the Bobover Hassidic community. This sect is regarded as the 3rd largest in the U.S., following Satmar and Lubavitch. Following the death of the previous third Rebbe Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam his second son Rabbi Ben Zion was proclaimed as the "Young Rav" while his half brother Rav Naftoli Zvi was made the Rebbe. Implicit in this proclamation was that Reb Ben Zion was now The Crown Prince of Bobov. Rav Naftoli Zvi Halberstam had no sons, rather two sons in law Rabbis Rubin and Ungar (both are also eyniklech of the Divre Chaim of Sandz).

Reb Ben Zion was not highly regarded by many in Bobov. Many of the scholars in the younger Bobover community regarded him as a non entity in terms of scholarship and spirituality. The leaders of the community resented the fact that he rarely was active in building their community. Nevertheless Rav Ben Zion was regarded as a charismatic figure who sang well, danced well and preformed the public role of a Rebbe in a proper manner. As such he had the support of the wealthier community members and those who did not want to rock the boat.

With the death Rav Naftoli Zvi Halberstam the split has surfaced. Rav Ben Zion was proclaimed Rebbe, but Rav Naftoli's son in law Rabbi Ungar a long time Rosh Yeshiva in Bobov was also proclaimed Rebbe. Rav Ungar was seen as a spiritual seeker and a mystical leader. The new counter Rebbe's followers rented synagogue facilities elsewhere in Boro Park. As of now it seems the institutions are controlled by Reb Ben Zion. However final determinations are to be made by some sort of rabbinical court.

Hasidism has reverted to its original nature which is constant machlokes and splits. Satmar is currently split between two fighting brothers while their father is still here. Lubavitch is in a complete state of disconnect from reality. Bobov is now officially split. Vishnitz has a war between two brothers like Satmar, while the Rebbe their father is alive and well. Kluizenberg has two Rebbes in a cold war. Toldos Aron is split with Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok and so on. Some groups are still basically united like Belz, discounting the old Belzers and the Machanovker Rebbe or Ger, discounting the on again off again war with Rav Saul Alter), etc.
What does this say about Chassiduth and the institution of hereditary Rebbes?
Schneur

Mikveh and the Single Girl (Part I)

My Obiter Dicta: Recently, there has been a lot of discussion around the question of non-marital sexual activity among otherwise religious people who, for whatever reason, have delayed marriage and wish to continue to consider themselves Orthodox while ignoring the prohibitions against sexual contact.

A Dutch Soccer Riddle

New York Times, Amsterdam Journal: Jewish Regalia Without Jews.

Nice Jewish Girl's primal scream

Via Bloghead: Directly relating to our discussion a few days ago about premarital sex in the Orthodox world, Renreb has linked to a new blog, Shomernegiah.blogspot.com. Its strapline: "I am 34 years old. An Orthodox Jew. Female, healthy, friendly, successful in my work. I have never been kissed. This blog is my primal scream."
Nice Jewish Girl.

Easter message

RaYaTZ and RaMaSH are not with us. So either the messianic diversions that started with RaYaTZ in the middle of the Holocaust and continued with the Rebbe himself suggesting that he is the redeemer are true prophecies or both diversions were delusions played with the currency of human fate, life and truth. And if in fact the undercurrent idea of RaMaSH was that Jewish nation could not possibly continue in it�s currents state, than may be we should take this message as his principal legacy.

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mentalblog.com links

Publius Pundit, blogging the democratic revolution: PHOTOS FROM OPPOSITION RALLY IN BELARUS.
Registan.net: Kyrgyzstan's Unexpected Revolution.
FJC News: Purim Celebrated in Kyrgyzstan Capital Despite Local Turmoil.
Frummer: Purim (what else!). Most of our MM are stuffed full of nosh. There�s very rarely any delicacies for the seodoh, and depending on your age group, very rarely anything which can be described as food at all.
Forward Newspaper Online: Rabbinical Council of America expels Rabbi Mordecai Tendler.
New York Times, Sunday Book Review 'Break, Blow, Burn': Well Versed By Camille Paglia.
Sha! on Purim in Tel Aviv: A Very Irish Purim.

Our chat board is live!

Served by TagBoard.com. You can find it on the right column, under the visits map. I am still tuning colors and setup. You are welcome to use it for short messages.

TINTORETTO, Esther before Ahasuerus, 1547-48, Royal Collection, Windsor

Could someone please recommend a charity opportunity?
Preferably a direct donation to a person or a family. Perhaps an online donation. Post or email please.
I just remembered that a while ago I posted this link: ComeToYesha - Mishloach Manot for Purim, 5765-2005. It's too late for shelachmonos but on the bottom of the page you can send "Matanot l'Evyonim" via Pay Pal.

Disengagement GULAG opens for business

The group of 32 men, eight women and two minors were on their way to Masiyahu Prison near Ramle, Prisons Service officials said, where they would be locked up in the newly constructed disengagement jail.

To Schneur Zalman of NY on DR. Rigg & 65 years of silence

In response to this comment:

For 65 year the major chapter in the Chabad royal history remained hidden. In comes a person with German roots, he discovers he is �mi zera Isroel�. This awakening energized him and he spends a decade backpacking in Europe. He writes two books on the subject that people prefer not talk about. YB Tamuz is celebrated as festive holiday, yet the story of RaYatZ rescue from Warsaw, a more dramatic and life threatening compared to his Spalerka visit is effectively swept under the carpet in the Lubavitch oral and written tradition.

Now Schneur envision me standing up, climbing on a chair, raising my both hands in the air, and looking you straight in the eye (refua shleima). I scream on top of my lungs: �For 65 years nobody wanted to talk about this!!!� And don�t even mention the �inferno�, it does await the cover-up artists. And now all you can come up with is that he didn�t know Yiddish or Hebrew?

Moreover Rigg writes that he searched and wanted to discover that RaYaTZ did something besides rescuing his library. He did not find it. Admit that you can�t question that he was sincere in his search. Should you have a better information please show it to all. But don�t base your argument on the fact that Rigg is a Goy. (I am still screaming by the way). Base your argument on the fact that every time Rigg asked a Lubavitcher to help him with information and facts he could not move an inch beyond the party line. Fume about that!!!

Schneur, instead of lamenting the fact the Barry Gourary did not write memoirs you should have done that task yourself for him. Because if not you who would do it? A person with roots in the German military?

From bitter searching of the heart

Encore...

Over 1000 snowmen on Arbat St. in Moscow. Jake from Melbourne sent this picture. In my days Arbat St. was not a pedestrian mall like it is now.

Dr. Bryan Mark Rigg on getting caught up in building a myth

This a companion post to the Email interview with Dr. Bryan Mark Rigg. See the comments.

As far as Menachem Mendel Schneerson's schooling is concerned, he never got a degree. As a historian, I tried to locate degrees from both Berlin and the Sorbonne, and there is nothing there. There is not even a transcript to get. According to Chabad, he had all these degrees and worked with the Navy Secret Service, but here again, there is no evidence for this. The Navy would have never hired someone without a degree and as a former Marine Corps officer; I personally looked at the National archives and the files in the Navy files in DC and found nothing on Schneerson. This is all myth making. And if he wanted to get a degree to support his family, he would have got a degree instead of probably only taking a few classes at the most and auditing a few at the least.

As far as Rebbe Joseph Isaac Schneersohn's rescue efforts are concerned--well, they were mostly failures. He was driven by his spiritual mission and this clouded his vision of what could have been done as rabbis Kotler and Kalmanowitz's actions so clearly have shown. For a detail account of these men's efforts, see Kranzler's book on the Orthodox in America and the Holocaust called "Thy Brother's Blood" and Wyman and Medoff's book "Race Against Death."

There is really no agenda, but to find the truth. I approached Deutsch several years ago, but he is not a trained historian nor was he very helpful. He actually has self-published his own work, so his books must be used with caution. This is not to say that there are not good researchers out there who self-publish, but if you do not go through a serious process of getting proof-readers, editors and fellow-historians to look through and check your work before publication, then you will not be taken seriously and your work will not be as strong as it should be. Although Deutsch has done a lot of research, no one really takes him seriously which is sad.

MM Schneerson's studies---yes, he studied in some capacity in Berlin, but he did not get degrees. Now, if you talk to many people at 770, they will tell you that he had all these degrees and worked for the Navy building ships or on some secret project. This is simply not true. There is no agenda here. This is just one example of how many Chabad leaders get caught up in building a myth that is only based on a tiny piece of truth. We I started working with Lubavitchers, I felt that being so pious, they would be driven to find the truth and appreciate it. Well, they are only interested in truth that shows their movement 100% in a good light. This is the danger. If you are not able to look at your history with all its good and bad, then you will continue to make mistakes. Also, I came from a Christian background before I learned of my Jewish background in 1992. With this background and learning about Chabad, I have come to realize that Chabad is very similar to Christianity. They hold up their Rebbe to be perfect and without sin, and as many of you know several of them believe he is the Messiah, and this is a lot like Christianity. Although there are several good Christians out there, there have been too many throughout history who have taken that ideology that they are right and have found the true way to do horrible things to non-believers. The seeds of such mistreatment and intolerance are also there with Chabad, or any religious group, who believes they have the perfect way and a perfect leader that all should follow. So, my creed is to follow the truth. Remember MM Schneerson said that he preferred ugly truth to beautiful lies, yet few in the Chabad community follow his belief.

Ask them about the JI Schneersohn's take on the Holocaust, and most do not even know--this is interesting commentary within itself. They do not know because it is radically different from MM Schneerson's take and Rebbes are not supposed to contradict one another. It is such a sad story--it makes me shake my head. We humans sometimes do so much to hold onto ideas without any evidence--Allah is Good, Mohammed is his Prophet, Jesus died for your sins, Church of Christ has the only way to salvation, the Rebbe is the Messiah, etc.

Now to Kotler and Kalmanowitz--They took help from everywhere they could. Kotler was appalled by the Rebbe's focus on the Messiah and his spiritual campaign, especially throughout 1942-1943 when all energy should have been focused on rescuing lives. So, Kotler and Kalmanowitz would have gladly received help from the Rebbe, but such help never came from the Rebbe. He only condemned them for their un-kosher ways. For the record, I wanted to find the Rebbe acting like Kotler and Kalmanowitz. That would have been a beautiful conclusion to the story. Rabbi Weisfogel, who was Kalmanowitz's assistant, said of the Rebbe "He was a moral failure at this time to condemn us and the Jewish people as a whole for the Holocaust when he in turn did hardly anything except rescue his books and few students' lives."

For the record, if I was a business man, as many Lubavitchers encouraged me to be, I would not have mentioned his dealings in the US after his rescue. As one Lubavitcher at 770 told me "If you do this, you will get thousands of dollars and go all over the Chabad world and give talks." Yes, I said, but that is not the truth. To this, he was silent.

Schneur asked me not to "play with fire" and talk about "that subject". So I am not going to, but somebody else is talking.

Reb Shneor Zalman Hakohen Blesofsky, OHS

Reb Shneor Zalman Hakohen Blesovsky passed away. A person who also reads this blog brought to my attention his anonymous comment: "The most memorable of all the old chassidim I ever met. He had broad, warm yet biting sense of humor, with a keen eye for hypocrisy. Being a baal-tshuvah, naive, silly, not chassidically socially graceful, I'd get stares, rebuke or snubbed by most all elder chassidim. Not R. Blesofsky. He treated us (baal-tshuvah yungermen at chevrah shas) with the utmost respect, whether inviting us to learn a daf with him, or just schmoozing, earnestly regarding us as equals in service to Hashem and the Rebbe. Maybe it was because he was born in America, and didn't have that Eastern European royalty-peasantry dichotomy carved into his brain as a model for social and spiritual relationships."

Reb Shneor Zalman Blesovsky in the background, behind Seyfer Teyre, with glasses and black beard.

UPDATE: I find that there are undercurrent patterns on this blog that only later become apparent. About two and half weeks ago I posted this picture of Label Blesofsky nominating him for the title of the next Lubavitcher Rebbe after my first and second candidates bombed. The post was on for a few hours, before I deleted it (I though it was stupid). And now it has a different meaning. You see I am attracted to the kind misfits like Charlie, Lebel and Hirshel, as I think of myself as part that spiritual gang.

Proceeding in a timely fashion

With over 80 building projects under construction throughout Federation of Jewish Communities, the FJC established a full time office of architects and designers to design the new buildings, draw up the renovation plans and thereafter they evaluate and work together with local construction firms to insure that all the projects are cost efficient, and proceeding in a timely fashion.

George Rohr and Lev Leviev at the grand opening of synagogue in kharkov, Ukraine. Love the military band�
P.S. Do you think they can find a room for the library? Oh, sorry I forgot it's "supra-rational".

Hitler's Jewish Soldiers

Off topic: and since this night is the night of uncomfortable feeling here are some troubling photos from Dr. Bryan Mark Rigg's other book.

Email interview with Dr. Bryan Mark Rigg

What follows is my email interview of Dr. Bryan Mark Rigg, his book was the subject of an earlier post this week. Perhaps to get a proper background on Dr. Bryan Mark Rigg and to understand his fascination with the subject of his two recent books you should read this amazing biographical note. Below are Bryan Rigg�s opinions, I don�t have any opinions. In fact I feel uncomfortable with some of the anecdotes and conclusions; you might say that I disagree with some of the conclusions. But here what Bryan actually wrote:

Tzemach Atlas: Hi Bryan, I am not sure you know but Barry Gourary passed away last week. Perhaps you can write a short snippet if you had contacts with him.

Bryan Mark Rigg: Sad news. Thanks for the update. If I were to write something, it would go like this: �I met with Barry Gourary in 2003 and interviewed him for my most recent book �Rescued From the Reich: How One of Hitler�s Soldiers Saved the Lubavitcher Rebbe.� I also talked to him several times throughout 2003 and 2004 on the phone. Since Gourary was there when the German soldiers came to rescue him and his grandfather in 1939 out of Warsaw, he proved an invaluable witness to this World War II event. He was extremely helpful and gave me an honest view of Chabad and its political dealings. Being a direct relative of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, he had a very interesting take on his uncle the Rebbe. He felt that he was just as human as each one of us and that Menachem Mendel Schneerson made mistakes with how he went about getting the appointment of being a Rebbe. He even went so far to claim that his grandfather was not pleased with several things Menachem Mendel did, like going to secular university, not wearing his skullcap and not treating his duties to the movement seriously when he was a young man.

These views of Chabad coming from a direct descendant of the Rebbes were invaluable for a historian. It showed more than anything how ahistorical and even �dishonest� to use Gourary words, many in the movement are about their past and about their beliefs about their leadership. And although he revered his grandfather, Rebbe Joseph Isaac Schneersohn, and did not see any fault with him, he did help me to see the movement in a more balance way. There are many sides to any story, and Chabad tends to always stay on the side of glorifying. Even though Menachem Mendel Schneerson said, according to the scribe Yosef Yitzak Jacobson, that he �preferred the ugly truth to beautiful lies,� Gourary testimony showed more than anything that the movement in general is incapable of seeing both the bad and good of its movement. This statement about truth and lies of the Rebbe is taken from Plato actually. But Plato said it in reverse claiming that most people like living with beautiful lies instead of the bitter truth. And from my experience with Chabad, this is what its members do�they prefer beautiful lies about their movement instead of the bitter truth that there were mistakes done, personality conflicts and cover-ups throughout its history. The story of the rescue and what the Rebbe did with it shows this characteristic of Chabad like nothing else. So Barry was one of the people of many who really opened my eyes to this aspect of Chabad.�

Tzemach Atlas: Bryan, please clarify this point: �The story of the rescue and what the Rebbe did with it shows this characteristic of Chabad like nothing else.�

Bryan Mark Rigg: It basically means that the Rebbe of course wanted to escape Europe and had his movement employ every means, even approaching the Secretary of State, to get him out, but when he was here in the US, he did not approach those very same people to help rescue those who had to remain in Europe. However, he did approach those people in the government to rescue his library, which he did get out in 1941. Are books more important than people? Some of the books were secular like Dante's Inferno and books on Communism. This is a sad part of the history of the Rebbe. Also he started condemning people who were organizing amazing rescue efforts like rabbis Kotler and Kalmanowitz of the Vad-Haatzala.

He claimed they and Reform and Kofrim Jews were causing the Holocaust with their non-Kosher ways. Yet, we see that Kotler and Kalmanowitz helped rescue up to 100,000 people with the War Refugee Board. The Rebbe felt they were unnecessarily compromising their religious integrity by meeting with politicians on the Sabbath and secular and reform leaders. So the Rebbe made mistakes and according to Chancellor or Yeshiva University, Norman Lamm, he committed blasphemy by claiming God was punishing the Jews for their sins with the Holocaust. He claims this is a desecration of God's name (Menachem Mendel Schneerson also said that saying such a thing is a desecration of God's name without mentioning his father-in-law). These facts and many more show how much Chabad does to ignore unpleasant facts about their history. They just claim that when people write such things, they are jealous of their movement, do not understand their people or on a political campaign to smear them. Very weak arguments and signs of inferiority complexes. So basically this story shows that instead of pointing fingers, we need to act and make a difference. Small minds blame others; big ones blame themselves and then seek out action to make the situation better.

What people wanted was a hero of the Jewish people fighting for their rights. Instead, the Rebbe just thought of himself and his movement and condemned others. He was not helping the problem, but creating more. He should have worked with Kotler and Kalmanowitz, or at least have tried to, instead of condemning them and a host of others.

Does this help to clarify things? I send you an email earlier saying you may use my email, but it bounced back.
I hope all is well,
Bryan

Jewish roots via DNA

I was thinking of taking this test, encouraged by the results that this fellow documents: PERSONAL DNA SUCCESS STORY. See also on the bottom of his page some interesting Belarus resources.
For example: Translation of two legal notices from the 2 April 1877 Minsk Vedomosti, Page 154 in the bound volume, dealing with the finances of the Shneerson family of Lubavitch.
or from the 7 August 1876 issue of the Minsk Vedomosti. (Page 461 in the bound volume): A List of 337 Jewish draft evaders from Nesvizh.
P.S. I heard that the DNA test works for the Ukrainians as well... I also heard the DNA service would not assure a positive result for the Hungarians though, as the genetic markers have not been yet sufficiently studied from the erev rav sample of the population. I was also thinking that if a group of us takes the test this increases the sample data and perhaps we can negotiate a group rate? We can also discover that all the readers of this blog are one family, all descendants of Motl Bobruysker, who was the eternal outcast in his native Kiev.

Geography of Belarus

A great map of Belorussia in Russian.
An interactive map in English, also very good.

Any takers to tackle this question from A Simple Jew?

VERMEER VAN DELFT, View of Delft, 1659-60, Oil on canvas, Mauritshuis, The Hague

A Rebbeshe Zach or a third way of looking at the Barry Gourary controversy

A reader suggests that there might be a third way o looking at the Barry Gourary controversy. Perhaps there is not sense or logic in it. As was often the case with many Rebbe�s initiatives and directions. Put it simple it does not make any sense by design. Specifically the reader suggest that the "seforim" issue is purely mystical and does not fit in into the normal familiar dispute framework.
He brings these examples:
1. The Rebbe wanted all original letters of the Rebbeim in perfectly legal possession of the chassidim to be �returned� to him. (not strange?)
2. The printing of Tanya everywhere (more than a bit bizarre?)
3. The "seforim" case. Even though it sounds crazy to say the Rebbe�s position was that "there is no issue of yerusha because the deceased is still alive"!!!!Therefore the legal fight was not between the inheritors but between Barry and Aguh, an old organization that RaYaTZ "was still in charge of".
4. The "Schneersohn" library in Russia case. Even though for scholarship purposes it was sufficient to have copies of the manuscripts and most of the stuff there does not seem to have scholastic value there is a strange protracted struggle with significant expenditures in time and human effort.
The point is that the whole thing is not what you say it is � it is mystical, a Rebbeshe zach.

Let there be Druya!

My maternal grandmother OHS was born in Druya, a town on the border of White Russia and Latvia, not far from Dvinsk. When she came to America and heard me mention the name Shemtov, she would say that she remembered Shemtovs in Dryua "they were rich and had a big house." I asked one of the "know it all" contributors to this blog if indeed Shemtovs are from Dryua? His response was: "how can you say they are from Dryua, they are from Ukraine" (the highest form of insult). Still I found my own sources of the subject and indeed not only Shemtovs but Drizins are all from my village. A knowledgeable man wrote:

R. Bentzion Shemtov was born to R. Kasriel and Basya of Druya. They indeed had been a wealthy family as your grandmother recalled. According to some of the Shemtovs Kasriel may have descended from Georgian Jews, hence the unusual Belorussian names Shemtov, Kasriel...

R. Bentzion's mother Basya descended from the Tzemach Tzedek's father R. Sholom Shachna. After the Tzemach Tzedek's mother Rebbetzin Dvorah Leah passed away, his father remarried a Karliner einekel and had two daughters, i.e. the Tzemach Tzedek had two half sisters and Basya Shemtov descended from one of them.

R. Avrohom Drizin was born to his parents R. DovBer and Yehudis of Miory. They were descendants of quite a few generations of Chabad Chassidim. The Drizins had also been a wealthy family. When R. Avrohom was young he studied in the Cheder in Druya and befriended Benzion. Later when Avrohom went off to learn in Lubavitch he sent his friend letters trying to convince him to join him in Lubavitch. Bentzion was convinced and the rest is history. R. Avrohom later married Sarah the daughter of R. Schneur Zalman Moshe HaYitzchoki.

This picture is of my (Tzemach Atlas) grandmother�s grandfather Reb Avrohom Leviyan from Druya.


UPDATE: Look at the area map. North of Vilnus AKA Vilno is Daugavpils AKA Dvinsk. To the East of Dvinsk (under number 15) is Druja (be careful because if you go the West of Dvinsk you end up in Panevezys), now look under Druja at the edge of the map is Mior. My grandmother always said that she is from Latvia and indeed Dvisk is a Latvian town. Culturally it is Lithuania (in the jewish tradition). In terms of government it was part of Vitebsker Gubernia or Byelorussia. You can see on the map that Druja is at the intersection of Lithuania, Latvia and Byelorussia. But technically Druja is in Byelorussia.

Interviewed by the Tsar

Paul Shaviv relates an anecdote about witnesses at the Barry Gourary library trial. Bloghead: The distaff side of the Chabad dynasty.
P. S. Did someone even see the picture of Reb Moshe�s (Alter Rebbe's son who allegedly converted) grave mentioned by Paul?

On page"Gimel" of Haskomas to Tanya it is signed by three Alter Rebbe�s sons; Dov Ber, Chaim Avrohom and Moshe. Little is known or talked about in regards to Moshe but everyone agrees that something did happen with him. Moshe Rosman writes in Founder of Hasidism: A Quest for the Historical Ba'Al Shem Tov. on Page 191:

There are various reports about Moses subsequent to the contest over the leadership of Habad, all indicating that he left the orbit of Hasidism and probably even of Judaism. In 1811, the Jewish Englightenment figure Isaac Ber Levinsohn related that he had learned from Hasidic informants that Moses had converted of his own free will and had been interviewed by the Tsar. In 1843, Bonaventura Mayer, a convert to Christianity, wrote that in the course of his travels in Russia he had met Moses serving as a Russian bureaucrat, something a nonconverted Jew would not have been able to do. According to Habad tradition, Moses caused much grief to his family but at the end of his life repented.

I heard that Moshe was versed in Russian culture and language (even before he left the fold) and he was instrumental in negations with the government during his fathers arrest, securing the ultimate release on YAT Kislev.

The Latvian border

Anyone who pretends to have an interest in the history of Chabad should pick up this book: Rescued from the Reich: How One of Hitler's Soldiers Saved the Lubavitcher Rebbe. By Bryan Mark Rigg.
Some interesting snippets from the book:
1930:


1939:
Page 128 of the book describes the transit of RaYaTZ through Berlin escaping from Warsaw with Ernst Bloch and his family:
At the train station, Bloch's group again attracted the attention of the authorities. An army officer questioned him as to why Jews had been issued first-class tickets. Bloch or one of his men may have told him that the Jews were traveling under diplomatic protection and then said a few other things that caused him to leave without further questioning." Sitting in a train full of Nazi officials and military personnel made the Jews uncomfortable. One can only wonder what they felt as they crossed the border into the Greater German Reich and passed through towns bedecked with swastika flags. This was not their world. As one Lubavitcher described it, they were now in the "very heart of the evil Nazi kingdom." On 15 December, Bloch brought the Rebbe and his group to Berlin, where they stayed one night at the Jewish Federation. They probably picked up the visas there that would ensure their escape. The next day, they boarded another train, again in a first-class cabin, for Riga, accompanied by their German escorts and delegates from the Latvian embassy.

When asked why Jews were traveling in the first-class section of the train, a "German officer," most likely Bloch, was reported to give the same response as earlier, that they were traveling on diplomatic orders and should be left alone. At the Latvian border, the Germans bade the Jews farewell. It was probably the last time Bloch saw the Rebbe. As they left German soil, the Rebbe and his group rejoiced. "We felt so good once we reached the Latvian border," Barry Gourary says. On its way to Riga, the train stopped at Kovno (Kaunas), where several of the Rebbe's followers met the train and danced with joy as he arrived. He had returned to his world.

1943:

Impermeable hardness of being, or in praise of Shmarya Rosenberg

The dynamics of an argument are not too complicated. Two people can start with an incredibly close position and through the argumentative acceleration of negativity gradually or instantly push each over into the opposite corners.

Side from a sex operation there is little more radical one can do compared to the acceptance of the harsh and uncompromising dictums of the Yoke of Torah in it�s late 20th century interpretations. The path to this change for Shmarya like for many Jews was through Lubavitch. From a few conversations with Shmarya I know that he has a sense of moral urgency unlike most. He is a diligent and persistent journalist. I know that the tone of his web site and the arguments he solicits bound to push him further in the corner.

Most of Lubavitch today are well meaning close minded ideologues. Even a hint of inquisitiveness is greeted during the online chatter and in the inner chambers of the royal court of Crown Heights with disdain and derision. Imagine a person who undertook a tremendous change in his life wallowing in the sea of complete and utter moral indifferences, or thinking so narrow it negates the very core of goodness it professes to preach.

I want to ask mentalblog.com readers to go to Shmarya�s site and write to him kind words of encouragement; this is bound to take him out of his corner. I know it worked for me!

Hakarat HaTov to the Conservative Movement

This is also a link but it deserves to be framed on it's own. My Obiter Dicta: This is my way of owning my origins: Hakarat HaTov to the Conservative Movement.
Alas, those days in Boston long gone.

mentalblog.com links

A Simple Jew wants a recommendation for an MP3 player. I do wonder myself. Perhaps we should read the astute observations on the subject by Andrew Sullivan: iPod World. The End of Society?
Biur Chametz on the the quick demise of the better known Chasidic bloggers.
I guess the Baltimore Jewish Times refused to publish an article about Chabad (via Shmarya). So what? Blogging to the rescue the reporter has his own blog, who needs the papers. We can read it here: The "Heresy" of Chabad.
Give support to Gilly as he copes with the loss of his wife�s zeidy.
Follow up on Moshe Rubashkin story in Forward: Felon Elected To Head Council in Brooklyn.
Uber blogger Steven I. Weiss writes in Forward on R. Tendler controversy: Rabbi Targeted After Call for Bris Change.
Seraphic Secret: Okey-dokey. Another Shabbos is almost here and afterwards some of you may want to sit back, relax, and watch a movie. Problem is, so many films on the New Release shelves of your local Blockbuster are just plain wretched. So I'm here, once again, to perform a mitzvah. This week I'm just going to recommend three great movies.

Alexey Zaitsev, Lilac above the river, oil, 2004

Yakov Shimon on the voices from the conversation

Visitors are speculating whether Barry Gourary was a totally observant Jew. This is what I observed during my dealings with him. The only thing unorthodox within the Gourary home was that his wife Minna did not cover her hair.

Minna claimed that her uncle�s wife, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, did not cover her hair either, only in her later years did she cover. Other than that, the two, Barry and his wife, were extremely well versed in Halacha and all topics of Yidishkeit and they led a life that was indicative that they knew Halacha and observed it.

Their stepdaughters behaved like regular Modern Orthodox Jews and one married an Orthodox doctor.

My whole dealings with Barry started at the time of the court case he had with his uncle about the library of his grandfather.

In a previous post I mentioned the reason for his reaching out to me. Barry felt that he was the Yoresh (which he would be according to Halachic dictum) and he felt that Halachically and legally some Seforim belonged to him. He further felt, rather strongly, that no Rebbe is above halacha and, at one point tried to prove to me that rebbes are humans and speculated the fault on the Gabbaim/Secretaries.

Barry felt that Gabbaim have stakes in outcomes of Rebbe�s lives and that in his case they themselves might have wanted to eventually have stakes in that library. Why else, he wondered, did the Gabbaim become so engrossed in fighting him and creating a movement out of the court case, which was simply a question of legalities of who to inherit a library. He related to me that he remembered a time from his childhood when the Secretary/Gabbai Faigin had a fight with his grandfather. He said the voices from the conversation were heard many rooms farther down because there was such a huge disagreement, and he said that Faigin rightfully saw his place as secretary to explain to a Rebbe when they overstep boundaries. He just wished the Gabbaim advising his uncle would have the sense of responsibility to have advised right, instead of becoming a part of the problem in fanning the flames of dispute way beyond any Halachic parameter.

A few bloggers mentioned the pain that Barry caused for his uncle, therefore no ahavas yisroel should be expressed towards him. It seems illogical to me that anyone who causes great pain for our great Father In Heaven by doing Aviros is being loved and respected and the Dor Hashimini who only indirectly might have caused pain for his uncle should be treated in such a manner.

Ellery Queen & Reb Minna Gourary

Schneur Zalman of NY writes:
Indeed Barry suffered from a chronic back pain. My visit to Lenox Hill hospital was in connection with surgery he had on his back. Yet the surgery was not successful and Bere was plagued with chronic back pain throughout his life.

His wife Mina Haskind Gourary was a daughter of a prominent Lubavitcher chasid Berel Chaskind. They were much in love and respected each other. In many ways the perfect couple.Mina loved music, the opera and the arts.

She was a strong woman who made a living as a financial planner and stock broker. The late Lubavitcher Rebbe called her Reb Mina. She was a close friend of Rabbi Schneerson prior to 1950. The Rebbe helped her with her school homework especially in Math and she helped him with his English. She related to me that the Rebbe was a major fan of a series of mystery novels called I believe Ellery Queen (sic) And that she traded books with the Rebbe. All this changed after 1951 when she started to date Barry in a serious manner. Her brother is Reb Shalom Chaskind of Tel Aviv. The Rebbe was not invited to their wedding and the Rebbe publicly cried about this . In 1960 a delegation of leading Anash visited Barry led by Rabbi Yosef Weinberg in the hope of bringing him back to CH and the movement. It�s unclear whether the Rebbe himself was behind this. When the rebbe had a MI in the 1970's Barry was among the family members organizing the Rebbe's health recovery team, together with his Mother. At that point Barry related to me that James G. his 2nd cousin called him and told him "you are it". Come back. James G and others were covering all their bases. Of course Barry had no interest in the rabbinate and had embarked on a secular vocation. The Gourary were financially successful and lived in a spacious home. One only can wonder if history had taken a different turn.


From the Amazon.com book description: In the "The Tragedy of Errors" the theme is one that Queen had been developing for many years: the manipulation of events in a world going mad, by people who aspire to the power of gods." Hmmm...

Ellery Queen was one of two brainchildren of the team of cousins, Fred Dannay and Manfred B. Lee. Dannay and Lee entered a writing contest, envisioning a stuffed-shirt author called Ellery Queen who solved mysteries and then wrote about them. Queen relied on his keen powers of observation and deduction, being a Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson rolled into one.

The funeral of Rabbi Sholom Ber Gourary

I spoke on the phone with Shaul Shimon Deutsch. He repeated the acount he already given to Schneur Zalman:

His funeral (Beth-El in Paramus) was attended by 20 people. Rav Yakov Neuberger MDA of Beth Abraham synagogue in Bergenfield, NJ and Rosh Yeshiva at RIETS gave a eulogy.

Shaul Shimon Deutsch asked me to convey this message: I was the only Chasidic person at the funeral. I was shaken by the fact that they were putting into the ground the grandson of the Previous Rebbe and there were not a single person from Chabad. Whatever the disagreement in the past how is it possible if you preach love to other Jews? It does not ad up.

When I wrote my books my goal was to be objective and present the facts and let others decide. When I interviewed Barry Gourary I sometimes asked him questions that could have been interpreted on his part as an opportunity "to get even". He was not interested and never crossed the line of respect (see also a comment from Chabakuk Elisha)

I asked Shaul Shimon: "The news came out very late and perhaps people in Chabad did not know"? He responded that a call was placed informing of the passing and that the information about the funeral was given out at 5:00 am.

He said: "The grandson of the Rebbe Rayatz was laid to rest virtually alone! How is it possible? When I was driving back to the city to tape my weekly radio program I though I will speak about Barry Gourary as a human being, but then I decided against it, because of who I am my words would not be received."

Barry S. Gourary � the prince and the commoner

REMBRANDT, Jacob Blessing the Children of Joseph, 1656, Oil on canvas, Staatliche Museen, Kassel

Schneur Zalman of NY remembers:
Barry was a very deliberate man. He thought along scientific lines. He rarely became excited or showed his emotions. He did laugh some times. Now that he is in the olam haemes many of the conversations I had with him can be revealed. And I hope to do so on this forum.

In Warsaw Bere had a private tutor. He was my landsman Rav Berel Gorfinkel (hamechuna Berel Kurnitzer) from Kurnitz, White Russia. The Rebbe also did not study in Tomche Tmimim, so whats the point. In addition Bere told me that much of his private study took place in the zal in Otwock. In the US Barry and his family thought he would gain more from study at Teyre Vedaas Yeshiva than in a new unstructured Tomche Tmimmim. And Barry received a shayne semicha from rabbi Kushelewitz of the Bronx in Teyre Vedaas.

He was not interested in history and had little regard for either chronology or historical research. He never felt the need to show off and rarely spoke of his rabbinic training etc. Only his wife Mina told me of his smicha from Teyre Vedaas. In many ways he was a classical Lithuanian Jew - scholarly, not overly emotional, with a sharp wry wit. Or maybe he was a classical Mench of Chabad. But he was a Pnimi.

Let me relate an interesting story here in his memory. In the late 1940's interested parties wanted Barry to "see" the daughter of the Rav (I presume the one who married Dr. Twersky). As such Barry came to YU and sat in the rav's shiurim for several months. Nothing came of the shidduch. As Reb Berke told me it was difficult enough being a Schneerson, imagine adding the luster of the Soloveitchik Brisk legacy to your family. I hope Barry wrote some zichrones. I encouraged him but he resisted.

I debated whether I should write as to R. Gourary' s religious state of mind. When I visited Barry in Lennox Hill hospital in 1989 (a visit he did not expect) I found him in PJ's with a big league tallith katan over his clothes.

Barry always had a beard. He davened before the amud in his Yeme Aveilus and was makpid on the Lithuanian pronunciation. His son in law Dr. Samuel Friedman is an Orthodox man. In West Hartford, Barry was a member of the local Young Israel. In NJ he was a member of the large Orthodox shul then rabbied by Rabbi Marcus. As a grad student at Columbia University I recall meeting an undergrad from there (who is now a well known Israeli diplomat D.G.) who told me that Barry had an influence on his own views of Judaism.

Barry had semicha not because his wife said so, but because he studied at Teyre VeDaas and there are hundreds of people in Flatbush who remember him well at that school. I saw his semicha . His legal adversaries in Crown Heights engaged in a campaign of defaming him. They claimed he was a mechalel Shabbes, and that he was this and that, even though this embarrassed the memory of his holy grandfather.

Many people believed this, but few had ever met him. Barry lived in Montclair, NJ. Yes there was no Orthodox shul there. I recall meeting a visiting Israeli professor of physics at YU many moons ago. This was a frum Mizrachi type who made aliya from the US in the late 1960's with a full beard. He told me that as a young man in the DC area his colleagues when learning of his religious leanings told him about another fellow at Johns Hopkins with a full beard. That man was Barry Gourary.

Finally anyone with Barry's Judaic background who almost received his doctorate in physics at Columbia and Johns Hopkins could not be a farshtopte kop and certainly had a yad vashem in Nigle and Nister. Zol er zayn a melitz Yosher for Klal Israel !

A reader of this blog Chabakuk Elisha found a letter written by Barry Gourary to the NY Times. Before you open this link please imagine the letter was written only 20 months before 9/11, just enough time to implement this idea. Now imagine live audio access to cockpits of the hijacked airplanes? Here is the letter to the NYT.

Schneur Zalman of NY continues:
There was also another side of Barry S. Gourary. Barry was a scientist. He had studied at Columbia and Johns Hopkins Universities. I believe he was studying Physics and almost finished his dissertation. Frankly a good part of my discussions with him were not concerning Chabad, but about information technology. At about 1986 he was telling me about remote access of library materials and various uses of the internet. He was very much involved in the new computer technology and interested in new manners of information retrieval.

Chabakuk Elisha found this advice on back pain from Barry Gourary, I would imagine that his knowledge is indicative of the fact that he was a sufferer himself.

Schneur Zalman of NY:
Reb Bere spoke in Yiddish in the traditional Litvishe pronunciation and more importantly in the cadence of Lithuanian Rabbonim. His English was rich but fairly accented with a Polish accent. Gourary spoke in Yiddish when relating a story about or from his grandfather or when telling a short dvar Teyre. He certainly knew Yiddish. He even had stationary which identified him as NECHED HARAYAATZ.

Hopefully the Lubavitch community will one day wake up and understand what was done to Barry Gourary. They will then take important steps to resolving the matter. Only time will tell. Zichrono Levracha.

Rabbi Barry Gourary passed away yesterday night

The last member of the Schneerson royal family. The only grandchild of RaSHaB and RaYaTZ. Funeral is now in Englewood, NJ. Funeral home Wein & Wein, followed by burial in Beth El cemetery next to his wife. Yehi zichrono Boruch!


UPDATE No. 1: I received a call from a frequent contributor to this Blog. He said that before he went to sleep on Sunday night (the night Shalom Ber Gourary passed away) he opened randomly Likkutei Dibburim on a page retelling the story about Rebbe RaYaTZ visiting his grandson's room seconds before being escorted out of his house during his arrest:

I put on my coat, received farewell blessings from my revered mother, my wife, and my daughters Chanah, Chayah Mushka and Sheine, and went to the room of my daughter's son, Shalom Ber, to see him before I set out for Spalerka. The sweet and precious child slept softly in his little iron crib. May G-d grant him long days and years and, to the joy of all our family and friends and well-wishers, may his father and mother bring him up to a life of Torah, to the marriage canopy, and to the practice of good deeds.

For a few moments I stood in his room, and a sigh escaped my heart: "May it be G-d's will that this child (May he blessed with long and good days!) grow to be the greatest of his brothers, and stand firmly on the same basis on which his grandfather is standing, fearing nothing in the world. G-d grant that he tread the same path that was boldly trodden by my holy forebears, for in his veins flows holy blood that is bequeathed from a father to his son, to his grandson, and to his greatgrandson."

My father once told me, as I recalled during those moments, that when I cried of pain at my circumcision, my grandfather the Rebbe Maharash had said: "Why are you crying? When you grow up you will be a chassid and you'll teach Chassidus articulately."

Standing now near my grandson, I thought: "Let us hope that when my grandson grows up he will staunchly tread the path blazed by our holy forebears; that he will stand firm in the cause of Torah and the awe of heaven, undaunted by any obstacle; that he will battle for the preservation of Torah observance and the fear of heaven; and that he will always be of help to those who stand in awe of G-d."

I then said goodbye to the household staff. Once the guards freed them from the kitchen, they were so shocked by what they heard and saw that they averted their gaze from me and looked at the floor, unable to return my greetings.

UPDATE No. 2: These are some of the recent posts on mentalblog.com about Barry Gourary:
Barry Gourary file
Barry Gourary with Rebbetzin Shterna Sorah
Schneur Zalman of NY on the "non human" family
What if R. Shmaryahu Gourary became the Lubavitcher Rebbe?
RASHAB's books and the Rebbe
Docket - Agudas Chabad versus Barry Gourary
Was the Lubavitcher Rebbe a closet Kotzker?

Ritual slaughter avoids censure in London

JTA NEWS: The threat to ritual slaughter, known as shechitah, was raised after a June 2003 report from the government-sponsored Farm Animal Welfare Council advised that the practice should be outlawed. But a specially formed Jewish coalition, Shechita UK, fought the recommendation by emphasizing scientific evidence that shechitah � which involves cutting an animal�s throat with a surgically sharp blade, leading to rapid loss of consciousness � is a humane method of slaughter.

Museum Lane on Eastern Parkway

This post is a follow up to the Tombstone mason beauty.

Brooklyn Museum Entrance.

Let me tell you how it all started. In mid 80s I. M. Pei was commissioned a new entrance to Louvre in Paris. His challenge was similar to the challenge of the designers of the entrance to the Brooklyn museum . Create a modern structure to serve as an admission center for visitors, incorporate badly needed offices, HVAC systems, show respect to the classic surroundings and build it all without any land available for the expansion. I. M. Pei (actually a Baal Tshuva South African Architect who was working in his office named Jan Bader (sp?) came up with the famous glass pyramid. The choice of transparent glass was logical, it allowed the existing building to maintain it�s own. Initially Parisians hated the pyramid just like they hated the Eiffel tower after it�s construction but eventually people started to appreciate the iconic shape and it became Louvre�s symbol.

Polshek glass design in Brooklyn is derived from the glass pyramid in Louvre (one more Brooklyn Paris connection). I have only seen it very briefly while driving but I would say that my only negative comment �it is a bit too geometric with perfect concentric circles. I am fan of sensuous Brancusi curves where each next turn is unexpected. I have to say that concentric geometry of the Brooklyn Museum and incidentally big round windows of Tzivos Hashem museum are the unintended consequences of the computer driven design. Those circles look small on the screen... And Brancusi curve is hard to modulate with a mouse. So there is something mechanical about the new museum entrance but it does a respectable job on the first reading of it.

Tzivos Hashem Museum.

My prime of objections are the choice of materials and lack of scale. Scale in architecture is established by recognizable elements like windows, etc that relate to it surroundings and to the human scale. In case of TH museum the gigantic shapes do not relate to any building on the street. I am shocked that the building was designed by Gwathmey Siegel a top notch firm. A reader writes:

I can only imagine what it must have been like for the architects to work with the folks in charge of that project! The only thing I can think of is that when you main concern is pure survival � aesthetics are not going to be on many minds.

This might be true but I am sure that the client did not dream up the fa�ade of that building. The metallic finishes seem harsh. What that intersection needs is more wood, trees, classic New York terracotta, softness and human scale. I can only hope that the �pnimius� interior of that museum is in better shape and indeed some sophistication is discernable on the interior illustrations. Incidentally Gwathmey Siegel is a terrific practice by they had done bad museums elsewhere, for example their addition to the Fogg Museums at Harvard is considered dysfunctional by most of the curators.

P.S. Next time you are at the TH front entrance take a look at the colored mural. Over the mural there are raised steel signage letters with a dedication. It is totally lost on that background. Go take a look, you will see what I mean. To screw up the building name so badly? Don�t even get me starter about the dreidel. The deridel only adds metallic harshness, dehumanizing in it�s scale. A museum for children?

Obituary: Leon Charny OHS

Leon Charny passed away after a long fight with an illness. He was 52. He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter. He will be terribly missed by the Jewish people and the Russian Jewish community in Boston. Here is a singup sheet for his Shiva Minyanim.

I looked for his picture but could not find any but I found several digital photos Leon took during our rally for Israel in Brookline exactly 3 years ago. He had an abundant love of Israel and it is only fitting�

Mishloach Manot opportunity

Menachem writes:
Over the previous seven years, you have purchased various gifts for Purim and Rosh haShana via our site. As a supporter of Yesha, we are sending you a reminder that once again this Purim, you can help the people living in Yesha at this difficult time by supporting local industries and sending Mishloach Manot of Yesha-produced products.

Via our site, http://www.cometoyesha.com/ you can send Mishloach Manot to our wonderful soldiers, to children living in Yesha and to families on the government's "hit-list": living in Gush Katif and the maachazim -- "hill-top" settlements. In addition, you can perform the Purim Mitzva of Matanot l'Evyonim, financial assistance to the needy in Yesha, from our site.

DISENGAGEMENT PREP COURSE

Rabbi Sholom Dov Ber Volpe spoke with an Israeli policeman who completed a course that prepared him for the Disengagement. Published in Beis Moshiach (Issue No. 499)

Timetable: as of May 15th, all roads to Gush Katif will be closed and it will be declared a closed military zone; nobody will be allowed in or out. As of June 15th, there will be no vacation for policemen. All officers will be on duty for two and a half months and will not be allowed to go home. The Disengagement will begin on July 10th, and will take at least two months.

*Huge gatherings will be held for the wives of police officers in order to explain to them the importance of what is happening and so that they understand that they will not see their husbands for two and a half months, and they shouldn�t be upset about it because their husbands are needed for an important operation.

*Every settler will be assigned four police officers. That is, four for every family member.

*Each Disengagement team will be accompanied by a video photographer, who will tape every move and intimidate the settlers, so that they don�t respond to the Disengagement with force or act violently towards the police.

*The police will work without their ID tags. Among other concerns, this will also prevent the settlers from taking anybody to court for violence. The policemen were guaranteed that the department that investigates police internal affairs will not deal with complaints during the months of the Disengagement, and even afterwards, it will turn a blind eye and will protect the policemen as much as possible. They were told explicitly that for �little things� like breaking the arm of a settler while evicting him, no file against them will be opened.

*The courses included lessons on hand-to-hand combat, with emphasis on how to inflict pain without leaving a mark. For example, if a mother is holding her baby and they want to evict her, they first have to forcibly take the baby from her. They are taught various methods of how to inflict pressure on various joints and methods on how to twist hands �gently,� and then she will have to loosen her hold on the baby. It will all be done in a way that afterwards, she won�t be able to show signs of violence. After removing the child or children from the mother, they will give the children immediately to a social worker and then they will drag the mother to the bus and only afterwards, bring her the children.

*As soon as they manage to remove the family from their home, the moving companies will remove the furniture and load it on trucks. After finishing clearing out the contents of the house, they will immediately seal the doors and windows with bricks, etc., so that the house can no longer be occupied. Once the sealing of the house is completed, a guard will be assigned to the house.

*The Disengagement will take place yishuv by yishuv; not all at once. When they finish with one yishuv and seal the homes, they will leave soldiers to guard the yishuv so settlers cannot try to return.

*The evicted people will be sent to live in caravans or hotels set aside for this purpose, and they will be under guard so they cannot demonstrate, obstruct roads, etc.

*A large proportion of the policemen are not Jewish. They are happy at this opportunity to throw Jews out of their homes.

*The Jewish soldiers are terribly shaken by all this and during the breaks spoke among themselves, saying that just from the course itself they need psychological help. After the course, all the officers will take workshops with psychologists who will help them deal with the horrible work they have to do over a two-month period.

*In conclusion, the police officer told me: The settlers do not understand what is in store for them. There is no way they can prevail. Aside from their eviction and the giving of their homes to terrorists, they will watch strangers pack their belongings and of course, items will be stolen from them.

*They will be herded like cattle to various centers. The Disengagement and everything connected with it will break them. They will no longer be able to function as normal people.

However, we believe that �Many are the thoughts in the heart of man, and the counsel of G-d will prevail!�

Can any official sources in Israel please comment on this? Is this report true?

Lo alman Israel

Schneur Zalman of NY comment on About leadership post:

The gedolim in Poland and Lithuania before the war were involved in issues way beyond their realm. Nevertheless the secular Jewish leadership and the lay Orthodox leadership did not perform any better in understanding the threat of nationalism and Nazism in the post WW I Europe. They had only a murky vision of what the New World was all about and their eyes were shut to the importance of Israel, Zionism and the world of Science. Only Mr. Jabotinsky saw the importance of Israel and the imminent Nazi threat to Jewish survival.

What we are lacking in the communal world are Jewish communal and political leaders who are knowledgeable Jews. How many Communal leaders can read Hebrew or know the distinction between the Talmud and the Talmud Torah? In America our leadership is men like Edgar Bronfamn and others.

As far as leaders on the Orthodox scene it would be nice to have communal activists who hold their jobs based on their ability and qualifications not on their zeal for cheap publicity, fund raising ability and rabbinic connections.

On the Orthodox spiritual level we are completely lacking rabbis who are willing to take an independent stance regardless as to what the wealthy desire. We need Reb Yisroel Salanter's, Kotzker Rebbes, we need a Baal Shem Tov, a Reb Yosef Yoizel Hurwitz of Novogrudeck. We need fresh thinkers who are out of the box who don't think of money or kavod.

Alas these people are rare. In our days only the Rav, the Lubavitcher Rebbe (No. 7) and a few other like Reb Zvi Yehuda Kuk, fall into this category. Our yeshivas will never produce such people. But lo alman Israel.

The synagogue in Corizia, Italy on via Ascoli. Built 1699, it served the community until World War II. When the diminished Gorizia kehillah was dissolved in 1978, its Trieste guardians donated the building to the municipality of Gorizia for cultural use. Restored by municipal and private funding, the synagogue was reopened as a museum on September 2, 1984. Pesach Ostishinsky of Netanya, Israel, and Rabbi Eliyahu Richetti of Trieste affixed a mezuzzah on the synagogue door post on July 22, 1988.
Published in Synagogues without Jews.

Guilad Kahn photography

These are the most amazing Guilad Kahn uncut raw photographs of the perilous life in Israel today:

Tombstone mason beauty

Commenting to my 770 revisited post Schneur writes:

Our host is describing an emotional SUBJECTIVE experience, and every one is entitled to his emotions. I never felt any sense of sacred space in 770. The place was the exact opposite of the concept of "Zeh Keli VeAnveyhu". Even later when some ornamentation was added, (in terms of furnishing) it in my opinion has an odd almost non Jewish feel to it. For a binyan the Rebbe called essentially the Beth Hamikdash (Beth Mashiach) there is little of the care, beauty, esthetics, etc. and thought that the Torah tells us went into the building of the Lord's Home. Where is the Bezalel of 770?

A quick glance at several fine photo albums of Polish and European Shuls show that this concept was taken seriously even during the time of tremendous material poverty in Poland and Russia. The Shuls were beautiful with architecture with art work and additional dashes of spiritual value. This held true both internally and also externally. Even in the USA such older Shuls like the Park East Synagogue evoke a sense of magnificence, of what one can call Sacred Space.

770 is just a vast empty space with some tables and moveable furniture! For me the experience of 770 was linked to the presence of one man the Rebbe. Yes, there may be some nostalgia left and some faint memories, but for me no true spiritual experience.

Tzemach Atlas responds:
Schneur, I do not disagree with your aesthetic assessment of 770. Unfortunately it is not only in 770 but elsewhere in Boro Park and beyond. Note my comments about fluorescent light.


But back to 770 by the way of example. Note the plaque that is now a subject of the legal and physical fight. Let's leave the controversy and look at the plaque as an artistic object. What does this plaque look like? Sure it looks like a tombstone. The red granite, the lettering was undoubtedly carved by a tombstone mason. This in itself is more symbolic than the sacred stone it designed to frame. The elephant in the room is that the new 770 was never built. Instead they managed to erect underground catacombs for the expanded toilets. If you go down there you know it is dark and cold with the mercurial "shvartza" genitor lingering around. The old toilets off the "Zal" were bright and cheerful, but enough with that.

Note that my post about Eastern Parkway was to underscore that the most influential urban designer in history of America Frederick Law Olmsted had a wet dream about Brooklyn, he envisioned Eastern Parkway as Baron Haussmann�s Paris boulevard. Manhattan was the freak of nature with matrix like rectangular streets but in Brooklyn they were going to do it right, with delicate parks, boulevards and open squares. This was the vision of the most beautiful city in Europe. Incidentally that's why they built an Arch at the intersection of Prospect Park and Eastern Parkway. It was Brooklyn�s Arc de Triomphe. But you see the history often has other ideas and the only people who march triumphantly through the Arch in Brooklyn are the "savages" on the Labor Day Caribbean Parade.

In Crown Heights the neglect of beauty is palpable. I will be hard pressed to find another avenue in USA that changed or improved so little in the past 20 years as Kingston Ave. This is astounding as Lubavitchers claim to have a big stake in real estate business these days. In fact some even commented on this blog that real estate is the only glue that holds the movement together�

And please do not bring up the new museum across from 770. An intergalactic monster with it�s gigantic scale and metallic finished it pierces the delicate fabric of Eastern Parkway like a guillotine through the head of the lost royal glory.

Pre WWII picture of a three Jewish sisters from Minsk. Fate unknown. I told you I am going to blog about beauty now�

I took this photo today in Newton, MA, and this one:


Only in America!

Jewish Agency's time has passed

Haaretz OpEd: The Jewish Agency's aliyah emissaries should come home:

Job fairs should be shut down and the Jewish Agency should cease to exist. Jews who wish to immigrate are welcome to do so at their own responsibility, knowing that there is a considerable element of adventure in this move. The assistance extended to them must be exactly the same as the assistance the citizens of the state receive. In the current reality, no one can honestly promise them personal security, an economic future or an especially just society. It is only fair to tell them this.

Eastern Parkway: Shades of Paris in the County of Kings

POLITICAL CULTURE writes about beauty:

Imagine for a moment a networked system of radial boulevards bursting forth from Prospect Park and approaching destinations in outer Brooklyn and Queens. A Parisian type arrangement with all the trimmings: promenades, planted flowers, enchanting elms, and decorative footpaths. In the mid-nineteenth century, Frederick Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, together with Brooklyn�s Parks Commission, sought to make this dream a reality. And Baron Haussmann, the urban planning genius who by creating boulevards in the city�s center transformed Napoleon III�s Paris, was the inspiration. While the larger idea never came to pass (for example: no President St. or Douglass St. boulevards as initially planned), two first rate thoroughfares did manage to emerge from the original design: Ocean Parkway and the monumental Eastern Parkway. Designed and layed out in the late 1860s-- largely coterminous with Prospect Park�s development-- Eastern Parkway�s 2.2 miles from Grand Army Plaza to Ralph Ave on Crown Heights� western border, became the world�s first parkway and a model of urban planning.

Although wide-scale development along the boulevard was to await the completion of the IRT New Lots line decades later, Eastern Parkway did become a central axis for pedestrians and carriage riders. Outfitted with three roadways, separated by two malls, and all divided by glorious tree rows, it would attract such fundamental institutions as the Brooklyn Museum and the Botanic Gardens, as well as sumptious rounded bay nineteenth century row houses.

Curiously, today�s planners would never allow an Eastern Parkway according to University of California-Berkeley urban design specialist Elizabeth Macdonald. Maintaining an artery hospitable to both human and vehicular traffic is far too costly in terms of safety and traffic flow. Ironically, however, Eastern Parkway scores well on both counts (no more accidents comparatively, and a reasonable flow of cars) proving that a century and a half old model of planning can translate successfully into contemporary use.

Certainly Eastern Parkway�s designers, Olmsted and Vaux, are better known for Manhattan�s Central Park. But it was the City of Brooklyn that was the beneficiary of the bulk of that dynamic duo�s New York works. Besides Eastern Parkway, they were responsible for, among others, Prospect Park (which they held in higher esteem than Central Park), Fort Greene Park, and Ocean Parkway.

These days Eastern Parkway is probably best known for its annual labor day West Indian Carnival & Parade, one of New York�s largest and most colorful celebrations. Inaugurated 36 years ago it often draws over one million persons enjoying the rich culture of the West Indian community. Eastern Parkway is also the world headquarters, at number 770, of the Lubavitcher Hasidic movement, the largest Hasidic sect in the world.

Eastern Parkway was designated a �scenic landmark� by the landmarks preservation commission in 1978. In petitioning for landmark status, then Borough President Sebastian Leone pointed out that �the parkway has encouraged the erection of outstanding cultural, religious and residential buildings,� and that �such a designation may assist us in obtaining state and federal help to recondition its roadways and pedestrian paths.� How right Leone was. The late 1980s saw a $58M restoration effort of Eastern Parkway, at the time the single largest road construction project ever advanced, the results of which are enjoyed today by pedestrians and motorists alike.

This blog is not here to pick arguments with fools. I am getting tired of this. I think I must start blogging about poetry, beauty and nature.

Mentalblog.com links

Seraphic Rules of Screenwriting Part I and Part II.
Merchandising Daf Yomi: dothedaf.com This must be a sophisticated joke?
If I forget thee......: Attention eligible single females!! A friend of mine, currently based in Hong Kong writes.

Unusual photos of the Rebbe

Schneur Zalman of NY comments here:
I have no doubt that printing "unusual" photos of the Rebbe would not weaken the emunah of Chabad chasidim in the Rebbe. The picture that Deutsch published did not do this either.

But it�s another issue as to its impact on the other Chasidic communities (and this is the key) and the Yeshiva world. I appreciate Chaim's comments, but no one ever said that Shmarya Gourary's picture was not published. You I am sure will admit that besides the 2 or 3 pictures that are published of the Maharyaatz with Barry, hundreds of others are extant. Hundreds of other pictures also exist of Gourary on the right of the Mahaaryatz. These 2 generally are not printed. I am certain you will concede that in the period of 1929-1942 there are more than 5 photographs of the rebbe about? Would you not concede this? The movies of the rebbe in 1929 and in 1940 were first released by my friend the Liozner rebbe Rabbi Shaul S. Deutsch, only later did Krinsky suddenly rediscover these reels. These reels show a Lubavitch inner circle of RaShaG, Barry, Reb Chaim, Reb Moshe Hornstein, Reb Mordecai Dubin, Reb Itche Masmid, Mordeche Cheyfetz etc. But one person is missing? No wonder they were lost or filed away.

First published portrait of the Tzemach Tzedek. Found in Shaul Shimon Deutsch's Living Torah Museum.

Felon picked as leader

(Via Shmarya) Newsday picked up a story about Moshe Rubashkin that was reported on this blog in January.

Newsday: No rules prevent convict from heading government-funded Crown Heights group; he won't 'handle checks':

To celebrate his victory, Rubashkin has invited elected officials, including Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and City Councilwoman Leticia James (D-Crown Heights) to his house for sabbath dinner tomorrow. Markowitz rejected the offer, citing prior commitments; James accepted but is reconsidering after learning of Rubashkin's criminal past, a spokeswoman said. "She will meet with community leaders and consider her options,..."

P.S. Women can�t vote in Crown Heights (see the article)? Their political status is worse than in Saudi Arabia. We should report them to the freedom fighters in the White House. No wonder Chaya Muska was in seclusion�

About leadership

Lately there have been a lot of digits spilled on the subject of Gdolim and the current state of Jewish people running like a chicken without a head, in Israel, Lubavitch and elsewhere.

Firstly I think that the experience of Jewish communities governed by others wasn�t conducive to developing the leadership qualities. Traditionally a person with greatest knowledge or spirit was elevated to power within the tribe. I strongly believe that knowledge and leadership are qualities often bestowed on different people. Nobody would argue that we had plenty of �Gdolim� before the WWII yet most of them were blind to the onset of Holocaust and their performance in saving our people was a monumental failure or worse a betrayal. So I have zero nostalgia for the time of Gdolim.

I have been often confounded in my personal experience observing mediocre people elevated to the position of leadership grow into the role. The dynamic of a leader is an elaborate dance between a group and a person trusted with guidance. The influences are mutual. A solid group can gift greatness to a simple leader. This dynamic often leads in unexpected direction. For example two people universally considered as morons Reagan and Bush are in my book a terrific leaders. Which brings us to the subject often discussed on this Blog. We simply do not know in what direction RaSHaG or even his son Barry could have taken the movement. Conversely the style of RaMaSH was a military style where no price was too high for the victory. Some even venture to say that it was a deliberate neglect.

Let�s open our eyes to the unexpected greatness amongst us. As much as I am disappointed in what I hear in Shule and from over pulpits I am astounded by the level and intensity on these very pages. People power is a fire that screams to the top!

Mentalblog.com mailbag

hello tzemach,

you have some very interesting stuff on your blog, thanks for sharing. i've been trying to find out for sometime the real truth some biographical details about the rebbitzen chaya mushka, and her approach to modernity... do you have any information or sources you could point me to? i particularly would like to know when she did/did not cover her hair, (eg after the rebbe asked women "as a personal favor" to wear a sheitel), and if you know how that affected her relationship with the rebbe.

Dear Reader:

I am not an expert on this. And to be honest I am not interested in the specific question about the hair. I personally saw the Rebbetzin only once in a passenger seat of small (red?) car, when she was driven out of the library building next to 770 Mozey Shabbos. I don't know if she covered her hair but in some of the black and white pictures she has that luminous complexion of a "read head". The best way for all the lurkers is to ask the questions in the comments to posts. Inevitability someone has the information. For example people inquired if R. Berl Lazar was a Hungarian and now a knowledgeable reader writes about his family.

In any case I personally I do not care about the Sheitel question. I am more interested in a physiological make up of the "family". For example why the Rebbetzin remained such a recluse? Why didn't she take a more participatory role in the community? Was she also introverted with the Rebbe?

Photos of Sium HaShas (Via Bloghead)
Tell me please, is this Mehitza in the record books?

It's a long snowy night. The wind is howling and the feeling is cold. I also have a migraine and can't blog coherently.

Sofiefka Park

Entrance to Sofiefka Park in Uman. Rabbi Nachman used to go for walks in the park to dream the big thoughts. Appropriately named Sofiefka as Sophia (knowledge) in Philosophia (love of knowledge).

Yigal Amir Denied Conjugal Visits

Yahoo! News: Yigal Amir, who is serving a life term for the Nov. 4, 1995, killing of the prime minister, had sought permission to have conjugal visits with Larisa Trimbobler. "This entire affair is an example of sadistic maltreatment of us. They can kill us but they can't separate us," Trimbobler told Army Radio.

Jewish heirs to German department-store fortune awarded millions

Yahoo! News: In making the ruling, the court dismissed a claim to the property by KarstadtQuelle, one of Europe's largest retailing chains, which in 1994 purchased companies once owned by the Wertheim family. The ruling affects only one piece of land worth a relatively modest sum of $22 million. But it eventually could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in payments to the heirs, both from the German government and from KarstadtQuelle. Other disputed properties include a Ritz-Carlton Hotel complex and an office building used by members of Germany's parliament.

Was Bush right after all?

The Independent has guts to say this: Was Bush right after all? Does Yudel or Mobius got the guts to come clean or is it ideology uber ales?

Couple contributes $15 million for Jewish living

Las Vegas mogul Sheldon Adelson with roots in Boston donates $15 million for the campus in Dedham, MA to feature residences for senior citizens and a school for kindergarten through grade eight.

Kosher phone, officially

TheMarker.com: Rabbis have agreed that MIRS Communication will provide their community with cellular phones preventing users from accessing potentially offensive content.

The phones, to be marked with a large, clear kashrut stamp of approval, will prevent users from enjoying Internet, SMS, video and voice mailbox services. MIRS has been granted five months of exclusivity to market the handsets instead of its original demand requiring the community to commit to the purchase of 50,000 devices.

No voice mail? The terms are "exclusive" but what if a company provides a phone without all the above mentioned services and without the �hashgoho�, is it still a kosher phone? And what if my phone has �hashgoho� that I don�t hold by, can I still make a phone call? Is there a secret agreement with unemployed former KGB agents to monitor all conversations?

Helsinki Commission to President Putin: "The Books Are Overdue"

Mentalblog.com reader comments:

According to 'Mishpacha Magazine' when President Bush met with President Putin demanding the return of the Schneerson Library, Putin replied that Rabbi Berel Lazaar is willing to receive the books and leave them in Russia. 'Why then must I return them to the U.S.?' asked Putin, leaving President Bush perplexed.

If true than perhaps we have a solution suggested by Schneur Zalman of NY:

Chabad should set up a library in Moscow to house the RaShaB's collection. That way they need never leave Mother Russia and yet remain under Chabad control. Someone like Yehoshua Mundshine can be flown in from Jerusalem and appointed Chief curator of the collection.

I fail to see how the books will be better of in Crown Heights than in Moscow. In fact I will be more worried for the books in NY. And now this:

United States Helsinki Commission leaders have written to Russian President Vladimir Putin asking that he take every appropriate measure to secure the return of the Schneerson Collection of sacred Jewish books and manuscripts to the Lubavitch Chasidic community to whom a Russian court awarded the collection almost fourteen years ago.

Wasn�t there a Lubavitch Chasidic community in Russia as well?

al-Mahdi the 12th Imam Messianic disturbance

I found in my archives this April 9th post by an Iraqi blogger Ali. In his blog IRAQ THE MODEL he writes about al-Mahdi the 12th Imam Messianic disturbance or Iraq today:

Most of the Shea�at in Iraq (as well as all over the world) generally believes in Al-Mahdi state, but they differ in the way they look at it. One part remained faithful to the old myth that someday the 12th Imam who disappeared mysteriously, will appear and start to lead the Shea�at to victory over all their enemies, starting with the hypocrite mullahs and ending with the Jews, and that all they have to do is sit and wait for his appearance. This part is represented by Sistani and his followers in Iraq. These are the people who refused to revolt against Saddam. The other part represented by the late Sadir and before that by Khomaini, saw that this ideology will put the Shea�at out of the political struggle, which led Khomaini to come up with the theory of (wilayat Al-faqiuh) which means that an honest and highly educated cleric can serve as a deputy for the Mahdi and lead the Shea�at to fight and find their way between the lines and prepare for the appearance of the Mahdi.

Hmm...I officially declare a world wide shortage of ideas.

March 7, 1939...

elabrek: Rakushkes.

A yingele AKA "Jewish+Eighteen=Problems;-)": wants to get a few things off his chest: Rosh Yeshiva. The sacred job.

Etymology of the word "assassin"

As defined in dictionary: "They were members of a secret Islamic order originating in the 11th century who believed it was a religious duty to harass and murder their enemies. The most important members of the order were those who actually did the killing. Having been promised paradise in return for dying in action, the killers, it is said, were made to yearn for paradise by being given a life of pleasure that included the use of hashish. From this came the name for the secret order as a whole, an, "hashish users." After passing through French or Italian, the word came into English and is recorded in 1603 with reference to the Muslim Assassins."

Some other sources dispute that the word came from hashish instead they say that the word is derived from the name of the leader of the sect al-Hassan ibn-al-Sabbah. Hassan used hashish to enlist the aid of young men into his private army known as assassins (aschishin - or follower of Hassan). In the early 11th century, al-Hassan became the head of the Persian sect of the Ismailians, a rather obscure party of fanatics which gained local power under his guidance. In 1090, al-Hassan and his followers seized the castle of Alamut, in the province of Rudbar, which lies in the mountainous region south of the Caspian Sea. It was from this mountain home that he obtained evil celebrity among the Crusaders as "the old man of the mountains", and spread terror through the Mohammedan world.

One of the primary sources for this information comes from the writings of Marco Polo who visited the area in 1273, almost 150 years after the reign of Al-Hassan. In the account given by Marco Polo in "The Adventures of Marco Polo" it is told that: "The Old Man kept at his court such boys of twelve years old as seemed to him destined to become courageous men. When the Old Man sent them into the garden in groups of four, ten or twenty, he gave them hashish to drink. They slept for three days, then they were carried sleeping into the garden where he had them awakened. When these young men woke, and found themselves in the garden with all these marvelous things, they truly believed themselves to be in paradise. And these damsels were always with them in songs and great entertainments; they; received everything they asked for, so that they would never have left that garden of their own will. When the Old Man wished to kill someone, he would take a young man and tell him they could return to Paradise if they entered his service and followed his instructions or died in his service."

Someone who really wants to dig into this stuff might read a book on the subject: The Assassin Legends : Myths of the Isma'ilis by Farhad Daftary.

Miriam writes in Bloghead: Just came back from an absolutely beautiful wedding -- beautiful, that is, in all aspects but one.

A stale legacy

Everyone who looks at Lubavitch today understands why written Torah was such a bad idea. The ritual of small minds repeating Sichos (Rebbe�s discourses) in public is an intellectual torture of a highest degree. The original is full of enlightening questions and mostly predictable answers. And it is routinely hacked and blunted beyond recognition.

Lubavitcher youngsters came to our Shule past Shavues. One of them recited the famous "mistake of sleeping to elevate the souls" Sicha. After he finished his friend looked at me excitedly, his eyes beaming. "Do you understand"!? - He asked. I replied: "Yes, I do understand, but do YOU realize that I heard this very Sicha every Shavues literally since before you were born"?

It would be advisable instead of torturing the folks with hacked versions of Rebbe's thoughts just to hide the darn volumes. In addition virtually every Shliah gives over the talks without attribution.

Conversely the art of conversation is quickly disappearing. Shluchin usually fall into two categories. They are either chronic patronizers and speak with a mixture of disdain and bravado treating you as child. Or they are embarrassingly na�ve and unenlightened. Unless of course they smell money in which case whatever category they belong to they are magically transformed into perfect lackeys.

A stale legacy�

LEONARDO da Vinci, The Battle of Anghiari (detail), 1503-05, Black chalk, pen and ink, watercolour on paper, 452 x 637 mm, Mus�e du Louvre, Paris

The Renegade Rebbetzin has discovered a frum reflections on sex for men and women.

Schneur Zalman of NY on the "non human" family

A conversation on this blog about Barry Gourary�s photography led to interesting observations by Schneur Zalman of NY:

Actually Krinsky who has control of the papers of Mrs. Mushka Schneerson and the Rebbe probably has many more interesting photographs from the collection of Rabbi and Mrs. Mendel Schneerson. When Mrs. Gourary was in Montclair and the RaShaG in the hospital, Jimmy G. organized a raiding party of their apartment in 770 which took everything including Chana Gourary's dresses and her shoes... This included papers and photographs. Only non essential material was eventually returned to Barry after the court case was closed. So there are lots of photos out there, like the Rebbe on skies with a beret and the like. But only under a serious Glassnost will they ever be published.

I am sure many pictures of the Rebbe the Rayatz can not be printed because Shmaryahu Gourary is standing next to his father in law, or Barry is in the photo. Other pictures show the Rebbe in Berets or other clothing now thought of as not befitting the Rebbe. The same is probably true of photos of the Schneerson daughters in Poland.

I recall asking many Geza Lubavitcher in the 1970's after I first met Rabbi Chaim Liberman in the YIVO Institute where I served as a junior librarian, the question of what happened to the RaYaatz's library. The answer was that the yorshim - inheritors have not decided how to divide the books and kesofim PERIOD. No talk of Aguch which at that time was the chevra kaddisha run by Rabbi S. Gourary.

As Barry once wrote no court decision changes the facts in terms of ownership as seen by the community in which I (Barry S. Gourary) grew up in and in which the library was held. That community by and large believed the books were family possessions. So did Mrs. N.D. Schneerson. So did Chana Gourary, so did Chaim Lieberman the man who bought and created the collection. In the first edition of the NY Times article on the case it is reported that Mushka Schneerson told Chana Gourary to take whatever books you want as they are being destroyed by vermin. So I will let readers draw their own conclusion about Rebetzin M. Schneerson�s personal views on ownership of the collection. So only one family member believed that some organization defunct for 36 years owned the library! I guess he was correct.

(R. Chaim Lieberman RACHAL died a number of years ago. He spent his final years in Eishal Avrohom Home in Williamsburg. A number of satmarer chasidim took care of him. I saw him there and he looked well. His mind was razor sharp and he let me have it too...He is buried in Israel. A tragic life, never married, a scholar (his 2 volume Ohel Rachel is a classic in Jewish bibliography and Yiddish linguistics) and a gentleman. Zecher Zaddik Livrocho!)

The Rebbe and Barry parted ways in 1950 over the struggle for leadership. Barry reacted by not inviting the Rebbe to his wedding. The Rebbe reacted by ignoring him for years. On thing led to another. There was bad blood there. It is something that happens in many human families and even in "non-human" families like the families of the Munkatcher Rebbe, Vishnitzer Rebbe, Toldos Aron Rebbe, Bialer Rebbe, and other "non-human" families. Barry miscalculated as another reader said he should have waited until Gimmel tammuz.

When the Rebbe died, his trusted Gabbai B. Klein said he had secret horaoth from the Rebbe that he would soon reveal. We are still waiting for them.

-Schneur Zalman of NY

out of step jew reads an unorthodox story in the Jerusalem Post:
"What caused a former Orthodox Jew and son of Holocaust survivors to join the Orthodox Christian priesthood and serve Israel's Christian immigrants?"
I think I actually met him in a cafe in Jerusalem and I cursed him out which I do routinely on a rare occasions that I meet Russian speaking galachs that look Jewish.

Jewish Vegetarians of North America to mentalblog.com

Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, College of Staten Island
Author of Judaism and Vegetarianism
President of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA)

Shalom,

As president of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) and author of "Judaism and Vegetarianism," I would like to thank you for your recent coverage of the foie gras issue. I am surprised and saddened to learn that Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv ruled there is no halachic restriction against force-feeding geese for foie gras, despite an Israeli High Court ruling banning the production of foie gras and the adopted practice of a growing number of European countries.

Rabbi Elyashiv�s ruling would seem to condone any mistreatment of animals, including recreational hunting that our sages have condemned, as long as some people felt it beneficial. Even if one believes that meat is necessary for proper nutrition, in spite of the abundant evidence to the contrary, surely there are many choices that do not involve such systemic brutality as force-feeding young geese until their livers swell to many times their normal size, causing serious, sometimes fatal, pain and trauma.

As your blog indicates, in his book, "The Vision of Eden: Animal Welfare and Vegetarianism in Jewish Law and Mysticism," Rabbi Dovid Sears cites many Jewish sources who deemed the stuffing of geese halachically unacceptable. Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, the most influential contemporary halachic authority in the Sefardic world and former Sefardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, forbids the forced feeding of fowl in Israel in Yabia Omer, Vol. 9, Yoreh De'ah, no. 3 (originally issued in 1976), both for reasons of kashrus and tza'ar baalei chaim. Rabbi David Rosen, former Chief Rabbi of Ireland, stated: "Pate de foie gras is obtained through the willful desecration of a Torah prohibition and any truly God-revering Jew will not partake of such a product, which is an offense against the Creator and His Torah."

As the Jerusalem Post article indicates, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, generally considered in Orthodoxy to have been the greatest halachic authority of the last generation, affirms the prohibition of any gratuitous cruelty in animal food production. Rabbi Hayyim David Halevy, late Sefardic Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, ruled accordingly with regard to the production and wearing of fur.

Very truly yours,

Richard H. Schwartz

Mentalblog links to the brothers on the other side of the pond

I am not sure why, but amongst frum and post frum bloggers the height percentage are British. Perhaps there is better schooling in English but some of them are terrific writes. Her is one of the fine examples, post frum blogger named frummer writes a fine piece titled "My Siyum Hashas Drosho."

Another Britt Orthoskeptic posts on Gedolim - ketanim:

I read a proposal a while ago that we had come to the end of the age of the acharonim. In the same way that we divide Tanaaim from Amoraim and Rishonim from Acharonim it was the time for the end of an era. From henceforward no-one could dispute with an acharon unless they had another acharon for support.

This is subject that I read a lot about lately even on this blog. Few thoughts are jumping in my head on this subject.

Tops and Tales post by yet another Britt, The Shaigetz is hard to read and hard to believe. It is about sexual incidents in Yeshivas.

Child molestation is not a problem unique to little boys or our community. The fact it occurs should not be cause for embarrassment; it happens everywhere. We should be hanging our heads in shame however for so adamantly refusing to deal with the perpetrators or the victims.

Josh from Chakira reports on Siyum HaShas 11: Rereading the Talmud, Rewriting the Holocaust and Revisiting the Controversies of the Day.

The next Lubavitcher Rebbe No.2

I could only generate a minimal support for the previous candidate to be the next Lubavitcher Rebbe. I have a new nomination - Charlie:

His credentials:
1. Little is know about his life, he grew up outside of Crown Heights so he qualifies for Schenur's criteria of an outsider.
2. He was loved by the Rebbe. In fact when Rebbe saw him he always smiled.
3. Every Lubavitcher adores him.
4. He led life of suffering and universally accepted in Lubavitch as big a Tzaddik.

YeshaSpeaksOut.org is looking for an editor

Yoel Ben-Avraham: Someone who has the luxury (time & money) to work long hours without compensation.

Golem

Diane Arbus Photography: A Jewish giant at home with his parents in the Bronx, NY, 1970.

Boston: Bat Ye'or "Eurabia" talk on Thursday

Bat Ye'or, born in Egypt, is a renowned expert on the history of non-Muslims under Islam. She has authored many articles and four books on the subject, including "Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide" (2002). Her books are considered essential reading on this subject. Bat Ye'or's latest work, "Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis" (2005), is about the transformation of Europe into "Eurabia" over the past 30 years.

Thursday, March 3rd at 7:30 PM
Congregation Mishkan Tefila
300 Hammond Pond Parkway
Chestnut Hill

David Sears on Pate De Foie Gras

A follow up to our previous post. We quote David Sears, he writes in his book The Vision of Eden on pages 86-87:

Pate De Foie Gras: The forced feeding of geese and other species of fowl for the production of pate de foie gras was the subject of debate among rabbinic decisors during the 18th and 19th centuries, when many Jewish families in Eastern Europe subsisted from the breeding and sale of livestock. Stuffing geese was deemed halachically unacceptable by most prominent authorities, although several, including the Chasam Sofer (R. Moshe Sofer, 1762-1839), permitted it.(75) Thus, Jewish farmers in Hungary force-fed their geese, while those living in Rumania, Poland, Ukraine, and Russia did not.

Both the unnatural method of feeding and the suffering the birds inevitably endure as their sclerotic livers become enlarged to as much as eight times their natural size raise the issue of transgressing the laws of tza'ar baalei chaim. Of pressing halachic concern is whether or not forced feeding renders the birds treifos (internally damaged). The smallest puncture in the animal's esophagus as a result of foreign matter or a coarse particle of grain in the feed would render it non-kosher. Therefore, religious Jews today almost universally abstain from pate de foiegras. Most European countries forbid raising geese for pate de foie gras for humane reasons, but some allow it to be imported.(76) Ironically, among the world's main producers of foie gras are the secular Kibbutzim (farming collectives) in Israel.(77)

Footnotes:
75. Authorities opposed to this practice include the Bach on Yoreh De'ah 33:9; Chochmas Adam 16:10; Sha'arei Tzedek on Yoreh De'ah 33; Divrei Menachem (Divrei Shalom), p. 143, col. 2; Darkei Teshuvah, Yoreh De'ah 33:131, 142, 143, citing Teshuvos HaTzemach Tzedek, no. 17, Nekudas HaKessef, et al.; She'ilas Shalom Tinyana, no. 154 (end); Tzitz Eliezer, Vol. XI, nos. 49, 55 (end), citing the Chida in Machzik Beracha, Yoreh De'ah 33:19, and R. Zvi Elimelech Spira of Dinov, et al.; ibid. Vol. XII, no. 52; Teshuvos Har Tzvi, no. 26; Shema Shlomo, Yoreh De'ah, no. 1. The Taz is inclined to permit it if the birds are fed gently. On this basis the Chasam Sofer takes a lenient view in Teshuvos Chasam Sofer, Vol. I, no. 25. Nevertheless, I am told that most Chassidim in Hungary before the Holocaust would not eat force-fed geese due to uncertainty as to their kashrus. For a comprehensive halachic perspective, see R. Binyamin Adler, Kashrus U'Treifos B'Ohf, chap. 33, sec. 98-129.

76. Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, as well as Australia have banned this practice. Italy has recently implemented such legislation, to be complied with by 2004.

77. The Knesset, Israel's parliament, recently initiated a process of reassessing its standards for raising fowl in order to produce pate de foieyas. As of July 2001, the forced feeding of ducks, which represent 12% of the birds slaughtered for foiegras in Israel, has been banned. However, Israel's rabbinate has opposed the forced feeding of fowl all along; see above n. 75, Teshuvos Har Tzvi, Tzitz Eliezer, op cit. R. Ovadiah Yosef, the most influential contemporary halachic authority in the Sefardic world and former Sefardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, forbids the forced feeding of fowl in Israel in Yabia Omer, Vol. 9, Yoreh De'ah, no. 3 (originally issued in 1976), both for reasons of kashrus and tza'ar baalei chaim.

R. Elyashiv on force feeding

Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv is at it again, stirring the pot. Now it is the force feeding of Geese for foie gras production as reported in the Jerusalem Post. This is consistent with our discussion on the second cut on the halachic aspects of shechita. As a personal note I once was forced fed foie gras at Le Marais. I could not stop throwing up for two days.

Then:


Now:

More of the stopforcefeeding.com

Siyum Ha-Shas

Congratulation to the brave souls who completed Shas. AJHistory by Menachem Butler on Siyum Ha-Shas 5765.

Yasmin Levy

Yasmin Levy out of this world singing in Ladino: Listen to La Jude Ria WOW!

Thank you Lisa for the wonderful write up.

She is as good as than my favorite Fado queen Mariza. (I have few Mariza songs on my Radio Blog to the right)