Chamah veQayma - Anastasis and воскресение/ье

CHAMAH VEQAYMA - ANASTASIS and Воскресение/ье

Prayer - תפילה

Host:	MEMRA - Prayer for Peace In the Heat of the Day
Type:	Trips - Group Trip
Network:	Global

Start Time:	Wednesday, April 8, 2009 at 5:00am
End Time:	Sunday, April 26, 2009 at 12:00pm
Location:	the world and all its inhabitants/תבל עולם מירושלים עד קצי הארץ

Email:

avoleksandr@yahoo.com

Description

On the 14th of Nisan 5769, just before sunrise, the Jewish believers will recite the special prayer and blessing of the Sun, of the "Heat(ing source)\ברכת החמה". This only happen once every 28 years when the sun is supposedly passing by the same sidereal point where it was created at the beginning of creation, on the fourth day ("Tuesday to Wednesday"). The blessing is famous: "Blessed are You Lord of the universe / Who makes (realizes) the actions of the creation". This blessing tracks back to the renown verses of the Book of Bereishit - בראשית/Genesis: "God said: let be lights in the firmaments of heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years
ויאמר אלהים יהי מארת ברקיע השמים להבדיל בין היום ובין הלילה ויהו לאתת ולמועדים ולימים ושנים:
And let them be for lights in the firmaments of heavens to give light on the earth", and it was so. Then, God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.
ויהו למאורות ברקיע השמים להאיר על-הארץ ויהו כן: ויעש אלהים שני המאורות הגדלים את המאור הגדול לממשלת היום ואת המאור הקטן לממשלת הלילה ואת הכוכבים:
God set them in the firmament of heavens to give light on the earth and to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. (Bereishit/Genesis 1:14-19).
ויתן אתם אלהים ברקיע השמים להאיר על-הארץ: למשל ביום ובלילה ולהבדיל בין האור ובין החשך ויאר אלהים כי טוב ויהי ערב ויהי בקריום רביעי: (בראשית א, יד-יט(

God continuously and without ceasing renews the works of creation and brings them to fulfillment. This is a clear action that also oversteps the Shabbat as said at the end of the sixth day of creation: "... Sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were accomplished. And on the seventh day God ended (brought to fulfillment - "took as a bride [cf. kallah - כלה]" all His work that He has been doing (= dynamic for "had done"), and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which God has been creating in continuing realizing it = asher osseh (present tense) le'assot)\יום ששי: ויכלו השמים והארץ וכל-צבאם: ויכל אלהים ביום השביעי מכל-מלאכתו אשר עשה: ... אשר ברא אלהים לעשות. (Bereishit/Genesis 1:31-2:3. This means that, even on Shabbat when He rests, God does project the extension of the work of creation over the time of the Shabbat. This is comparable to a "marriage" in so far this acount shows the "history = toledot\תולדות = generations" that allowed turning periods or "tekufot" to switch ahead into the future, still unveiled times. The Sun is "shemesh\שמש = also a server "shamash - שמש) to rule the day, the heat and a sign of manhood while the Moon trustworthily appears and seems to disappear and shows up again, which witnesses to the faithfulness of the Divine Providence. It should be noted that it is very similar to Jesus words in the Gospel of the Evangelist John: "I am the Father are always at work".

The blessings is thus: "Blessed are You Lord of the universe/Who is doing (realizing) the works of creation - ב' א' ה' א' מ' ה' אשר עושה מעשי בראשית" which echoes the usual Hebrew blessing: "/Who renews the works of the creation\ אשר מחדש מעשי בראשית".

As a consequence, it is not surprising that this "creation and wedding atmosphere" is compared to women's machzor or recurrent menstrual cycle which precisely is composed of 28 days - the Jewish month 29 days and based on the lunar calendar - it was not the case in the Antiquity before the adoption of a new calendar system by the Jews. This also means that there is a "generational, birth-developing process" and the "blessing of the chamah\חמה - birkat hachamah\ברכת החמה - " is a solar vernal equinox that refers to the first New Year day of Nisan, for the Feast of Release and Freedom. The Talmud (Berachot 59b and Eruvin 56a).

The Birkat hachamah\ברכת החמה memorizes us back and forth into the most ancient times of human history and ahead of the full plerome/expanding work of humankind in the face of God. This is somehow related to the celebration of the fire in the Zaratushtrian/Mazdean tradition and maybe reminded in the celebration of the Holy Fire on the Shabbat HaOr -Sabbath al-Nur (Hagion Phos). The Latin Church has kept it in the lighting of the "fire of the Resurrection at midnight in the Roman Latin churches). Interestingly, the Birkat HaChamah should be said in concordance with the Julian day of March 25 that is the Feast of the Annunciation in the Old Calendar traditions, as we are in the Church of Jerusalem. This creates a very peculiar and ancient connection with the faith of the early Church of Jerusalem. This may be related to the fact that "Passkha" has been determined in the first centuries with the Jewish Pesach. This Pesach has a sort of "priority" over the "Christian Church Easter dates". This is why from Pesach till the end of the eighth day of the Eastern Orthodox feast of the Resurrection (April 26/13, 2009).

LET US PRAY AND EXPRESS OUR CONNECTION, FRIENDSHIP BY USING THE WALL AND PHOTOS TO SHARE OUR DEMANDS AND DESIRE FOR PEACE FROM THIS DAY THROUGH PESACH, WESTERN EASTER (04-12) AND EASTERN PASSKHA ON 04-18/19.

FROM ANYWHERE, ANY LANGUAGE, WE SHARE HERE OUR HOPES AND WORDS OF PRAISE. THE LORD BRINGS TO LIFE (KAYAM), "KAYMA = GOOD TIDINGS" IN ARAMAIC, "ANASTASIS = RESURRECTION" AS IN "MECHAYEH METIM/מחיה מתים ";
Who said we should die? Ask, knock and get it for the best of life.

Messages: "abbaleksandr@live.com"

Chamat hatekufah - Heat, sun and fire

On the 14th of Nisan 5769, just before sunrise, the Jewish believers will recite the special prayer and blessing of the Sun, of the "Heat(ing source)\ברכת החמה". This only happen once every 28 years when the sun is supposedly passing by the same sidereal point where it was created at the beginning of creation, on the fourth day ("Tuesday to Wednesday"). The blessing is famous: "Blessed are You Lord of the universe / Who makes (realizes) the actions of the creation". This blessing tracks back to the renown verses of the Book of Bereishit - בראשית/Genesis: "God said: let be lights in the firmaments of heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years
ויאמר אלהים יהי מארת ברקיע השמים להבדיל בין היום ובין הלילה ויהו לאתת ולמועדים ולימים ושנים:
And let them be for lights in the firmaments of heavens to give light on the earth", and it was so. Then, God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.
ויהו למאורות ברקיע השמים להאיר על-הארץ ויהו כן: ויעש אלהים שני המאורות הגדלים את המאור הגדול לממשלת היום ואת המאור הקטן לממשלת הלילה ואת הכוכבים:
God set them in the firmament of heavens to give light on the earth and to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. (Bereishit/Genesis 1:14-19).
ויתן אתם אלהים ברקיע השמים להאיר על-הארץ: למשל ביום ובלילה ולהבדיל בין האור ובין החשך ויאר אלהים כי טוב ויהי ערב ויהי בקריום רביעי: (בראשית א, יד-יט(

God continuously and without ceasing renews the works of creation and brings them to fulfillment. This is a clear action that also oversteps the Shabbat as said at the end of the sixth day of creation: "... Sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were accomplished. And on the seventh day God ended (brought to fulfillment - "took as a bride [cf. kallah - כלה]" all His work that He has been doing (= dynamic for "had done"), and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which God has been creating in continuing realizing it = asher osseh (present tense) le'assot)\יום ששי: ויכלו השמים והארץ וכל-צבאם: ויכל אלהים ביום השביעי מכל-מלאכתו אשר עשה: ... אשר ברא אלהים לעשות. (Bereishit/Genesis 1:31-2:3. This means that, even on Shabbat when He rests, God does project the extension of the work of creation over the time of the Shabbat. This is comparable to a "marriage" in so far this acount shows the "history = toledot\תולדות = generations" that allowed turning periods or "tekufot" to switch ahead into the future, still unveiled times. The Sun is "shemesh\שמש = also a server "shamash - שמש) to rule the day, the heat and a sign of manhood while the Moon trustworthily appears and seems to disappear and shows up again, which witnesses to the faithfulness of the Divine Providence. It should be noted that it is very similar to Jesus words in the Gospel of the Evangelist John: "I am the Father are always at work".

The blessings is thus: "Blessed are You Lord of the universe/Who is doing (realizing) the works of creation - ב' א' ה' א' מ' ה' אשר עושה מעשי בראשית" which echoes the usual Hebrew blessing: "/Who renews the works of the creation\ אשר מחדש מעשי בראשית".

As a consequence, it is not surprising that this "creation and wedding atmosphere" is compared to women's machzor or recurrent menstrual cycle which precisely is composed of 28 days - the Jewish month 29 days and based on the lunar calendar - it was not the case in the Antiquity before the adoption of a new calendar system by the Jews. This also means that there is a "generational, birth-developing process" and the "blessing of the chamah\חמה - birkat hachamah\ברכת החמה - " is a solar vernal equinox that refers to the first New Year day of Nisan, for the Feast of Release and Freedom. The Talmud (Berachot 59b and Eruvin 56a).

The Birkat hachamah\ברכת החמה memorizes us back and forth into the most ancient times of human history and ahead of the full plerome/expanding work of humankind in the face of God. This is somehow related to the celebration of the fire in the Zaratushtrian/Mazdean tradition and maybe reminded in the celebration of the Holy Fire on the Shabbat HaOr -Sabbath al-Nur (Hagion Phos). The Latin Church has kept it in the lighting of the "fire of the Resurrection at midnight in the Roman Latin churches). Interestingly, the Birkat HaChamah should be said in concordance with the Julian day of March 25 that is the Feast of the Annunciation in the Old Calendar traditions, as we are in the Church of Jerusalem. This creates a very peculiar and ancient connection with the faith of the early Church of Jerusalem. This may be related to the fact that "Passkha" has been determined in the first centuries with the Jewish Pesach. This Pesach has a sort of "priority" over the "Christian Church Easter dates". This is why from Pesach till the end of the eighth day of the Eastern Orthodox feast of the Resurrection (April 26/13, 2009).

av aleksandr [Winogradsky Frenkel]

April 8/26, 2009 - 14 deNisan 5769 - י"ד דניסן תשס"ט

En route to...

Are you "en route"? Well, I grew up being a Displaced Person and in their international company. The way was from East-Europe to West-Europe, then North America, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand. World War I had inaugurated a long-term period of human flows or transfers of flocks, redesigning precarious borders.

In the 19/20th c., Sicilians used to harvesting twice in the Americas: firstly in Canada; then, in winter time, when the Mafia was hibernating, they made their money and often good fortunes in the rich plains of Argentina. To begin with, the Jews thought, , that the Russian and Austrian-Hungarian Empires political quakes would indeed allow them to remain in a rather beloved German-speaking and cultural area. Some deeply rooted "nationalisms" do exist among the Jewish communities. British Jews lost India and the Middle-East.

The German Jews who had been present in some Länder for over 600 years, which is still quite a frequent painful experience of memory, discovered with stupor that they had gone through a journey through illusion. But, before and just after WWI, it was rather expensive to travel and it was more an exploit to move definitely from one country to another.

Queen Victoria was still sending some colonizers/settlers paid on her own expenses and for the sake of the Crown to Australia: hooligans, released murderers and street women rose up the level of London cockney to the rank of a continent dialect at the turn of the 20th century. Suddenly, Greek, Bulgarian, together with the first Russian immigrants arrived by steamers . By the same time, the Ukrainian Yiddish father of the gazette Yiddish literary tongue described in a short novel "Blondzhdike shterne\בלאנזשדיקע שטערנע - Sparkling stars" how any Jew originating from any normal shtetl\שטעטל (small village) would so nicely feel at home in the London East End: no need to speak English, but just move "dos machen mit di hent\דאס מאדען מיט די הענט - by using their hands expressively". Some nations seem today very cozy and well-settled, as if they had cultivated their green lawn for over more than two thousands years. The intrusion of invaders or killing guests has been the cause for total disappearance of certain civilizations. Saint Augustine, the bishop of Hippone and major theologian for the Western Christianity, built his Church and assisted to the collapse of his work plundered by the violent destruction of the barbarians.

In a cute Dutch village by Nijmegen, nobody is seen in the street during the heat of the day… except that most gossip women know everything “online” looking at their “spiegeltjes – little side mirrors” and inform their tribe through SMS’ or cellular calls. Nations sank into the oblivious unconsciousness of low-gear memories. Modernity meets with gossip, chatting and apparent stiffness. No, people have always been on the move. I wonder if this is not due, to some extent, to the fact that the planet does rotate and pursues a difficult pilgrimage through history. Stability and fixity are rather a part of a myth. Life has often been too short or reduced by the hands of conquerors. In the 70ies, we were a handful of Jews, in Iceland, rescued from all kinds of persecutions: a famous pianist, a cemetery security guard among the happy few; we felt so “at peace” in that old-new Viking country. Still, our eyes were flickering at Pesach: “Next year in “ara de’Israel\ארעא דישראעל= in the Land of Israel”- “chulem oder emes?\חלום אדער אמת – a dream or a reality?” As regards Yiddishkayt and Jewishness, the Beyt Hatfutzot\בית התפוצות (Museum of the diaspora) is definitely a unique and insightful place for a coherent understanding of humans, in particular the Jews en voyage to themselves along God’s paths (“My plans are not your plans, nor My ways your ways says the Lord/so is the word that issues from My mouth: it does not come to Me unfilled”, Isaiah 55:8-12).

What is your real trip for Pesach 5769? What is your journey through these seven days of different daily bread? Jews have a sort of creative inability to settle somewhere or not to move from time to time. Say, the Russians have such a huge territory that it is obvious to have a “datcha – “external house, second far way located house with garden or forests”. Once the Jews came out of Egypt, they settled in land they never could totally control because of failures in the managerial programs or human, so too human sins committed by the leaders. But when the Temple was existent, the Klal Israelכלל ישראל – Community of Israel rapidly developed a system of free but rather obligatory pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to the Temple in order to offer the korbanot\קורבנות/prescribed sacrifices.This allowed to prohibit the other sites that did not focus on the Lord/HaShem alone, especially in the North. Shalosh regalim: i.e. three footings up to the Holy of Holies (Devir\דביר). As in English “foot-step” it is a move of ascent that also corresponds to a way of living, moral or spiritual conducts or actions. Of course, it is wiser to translate “regalim” by “pilgrimages”; but it sounds a bit bizarre. Pilgrimages mean that pilgrims (from O. Fr. Pelegrin = go “beyond the fields (acres) that are outside, foreign” and enter a new place).

In Hebrew, “regalim\רגלים” comes from “regel\רגל = leg”. We walk on foot, beregel\ברגל even if some wealthy people would arrive on Dutch bikes, in buses, soon by trains and other by private jets and Mercedes. Firstly, this kind of expedition for Pesach, Shavuot (Pentecost/Giving of the Torah) and Sukkot (Tabernacles) requires a strong a diet a reconnect with a soulful nomadic Semitic spirit (The “wandering Aramean” syndrome depicted in Bemidbar 26:5). “On foot is on foot”; we have all kinds of wonderful sandals, very solid and comfy. We can also walk bare-foot, somehow a bit titillating for the toes… “Shirey hama’alot שירי המעלות – are the “songs or ascents, Tehillim,120-134, some being read every evening in the Orthodox Church).

“Regalim\רגלים” has more. They are “r’gel davar = the basics of a reason” (Talmud Nazir 9:3). Thus, the three pilgrimages of ascents to Jerusalem and the Temple as commanded in Exodus 23:14.”Hirgil\הרגיל” = to make accustomed/ to flay an animal from its feet upwards “for the purpose of levitical cleanness” (Hullin9:3). “Rigel\ריגל – to spy”. But, “The 1st of Nissan is the new year for the oley regel\עולי רגל (those who go up on foot)” (Rosh Hashanah 16b). There is a concept of climbing, going up. It may be a slow process, take time.

The French Saint Therese of Lisieux, having seen one of the first elevators during her pilgrimage to Rome, declared she would love to get to God by elevator! Makes sense in Hebrew too: “shirey hama’alot\שירי המעלות = songs of ascents/ hama’alit\המעלית = of the elevators” showing that thirst for speed. In the Semitic languages, it is always this kind of journeys is always connected with “upwards”. “Aliyah” is the real word for this experience and adds an internal combat or capacity to reach a goal that is essentially spiritual. “Ol shamayim\עול השמים = yoke of heaven = the realm of the Mitzvot, the ascent of our soul towards God”. Jesus has a clear word: “My yoke is easy and my burden light” (Matthew 11:30).After the destruction of the Temple, the “Mitzvah to go up to Jerusalem for the three Feasts” seemed to be dropped away somehow. True, Jews maintained a specific sort of “aliyah – upward pilgrimage” when going up the bema/lectern to make a reading in the synagogue. Or to go by circles around the bema with the Torah scrolls (“hakafot\הקפות – circling like around the city of Jericho” and the feast of Simchat Torah\שמחת תורה/Joy of the Torah). This move is definitely universal or spiritually meaningful: it is performed during the “hajj – pilgrimage to Mecca” and suggests a mood of conversion towards God, also a victory allowing overcome our passions or desires of all sorts.

So what is your “pilgrim journey” for Pesach 5769? Christian pilgrimages are very ancient. They often led from Western Europe to the Holy Land with some sense of avenging defects of understanding among the Christians or mixing legends and sagas into non-pagan myths: Santiago de Compostela, the Hagion Oros (Mount Athos, Sinai), Lourdes, numerous places in the Christian world. There is a difference between the Oriental and Western Christian traditions. Firstly, some lay people would have left their home in order to realize an oath (Matthew 19:29); secondly, the Russian traditions, also vivid here, in our Israeli society, have always had some “stranniki/странники – “estranged pilgrims/God seekers along the ways”) who could wander along the wide spaces and stay for a while in some monasteries.

The Israelis love to be on “tiyulim\טיולים – tours” and visiting archaeological sites. It takes quite often a sort of “spiritual-like regalim along the country”. This is more than important for the newcomers who have to plant themselves back into the soil and the soul of the Eretz Israel. Archaeology is the key-element tracking back to history, religion, society, culture. Some tendencies seem to become usual practices, such as the recent move shown by the Ultra-Orthodox to systematically visit Yad-VaShem and similar Shoah memorials at certain times of the year.

On the other hand, more and more Israelis travel back to some famous cities or areas of the diasporas (Prague, Budapest, Bucharest). There is one intriguing and “charming” daily-weekly” permanent spiritual return to Uman, a small Ukrainian village, where the followers of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov can pray and rejoice near his house, “the world is a narrow bridge” and the chassid exerts a rare know-how of bridging Jews and Ukrainians for a spiritual peace and encounter.

The Christian Orthodox, Catholic, Armenian, Syrian-Orthodox, Coptic, Ethiopian and the other Protestant Churches enter a time that conduct them through the suffering of Jesus, his service to proclaim his rising from the dead. It is a sort of ascent that he made till the Golgotha, the place of the Skull or Calvary. The heathens used the skulls of their victims to have a toast; thus “skaal (pronounced /skol/ = cheers and skull” in the Scandinavian tongues. Golgotha is the Aramaic word similar to Hebrew “gilgul\גילגול” (prayer because going to sleep) or “gilgel\גילגל” (to revolve) that makes a skull not stiff (-headed?). On the contrary, it means that life continues, changes, runs, moves around and ahead of us. It incites us to make this personal and community, societal trip to reinforce our discovery of ourselves and proximity to the others.


av Aleksander [Winogradsky Frenkel]

April 6/24, 2009 – 12 deNisan 5769 - י"ב דניסן תשס"ט

entry in Jerusalem
Syrian Orthodox manuscript in Aramaic (R.E.)

לעשות וידוי ולעשות תשובה לשם השמים
נו, ווער האט געזאגט אז מיר זיינען חטאים געווען?? . ...

Marc Chagall's dove of peace (museum of Tehran)

The Mouth converses

What can we do? Our earthly time is a night and day struggle for life, in many evident aspects; at times, things would be more wildly off-the-wall. Israeli society and Jewishness get to the point as if they would be forced to searching their reality, identity, actions. Pesach is the drama about good health: good ears when Gods mouth speaks (Peh siach/sochech פה שיח\שוחח). Solid travailing wombs to birth a nation, some grains of sechel (discernment - שכל).

As long as Jews can play games between rich and poor, needy and schnorrers, schmooze about fate and money, jewelry, trading, career, show to be "klug un intelligent ober a biss'l paskudne\ קלוג און אינטעליגנט אבער א ביסל פאסקודנע = clever and well-educated but a bit obnoxious in their behaviors", things are abnormal.

True, it is amazing how people, nations have the nerve to be arrogant. One peculiar component of this "essence" is the pretence to be best, first, successful, prestigious, mighty (though ready to help at your early convenience and without your consent!), undauntedly powerful. It sounds like our chutzpah\חוצפה, but the word brings forth another point of view: "how irrepressible (chatzifah\חציפה) is the land of Israel that is still productive after devastation" (Y. Talmud Taanit IV:69b). This is the real prodigy this year!

There is more in Judaism. Things deal with constant, steady, persistent combat. Not the simple basic fight we have to face because of long-long-long-term, age-long and stubborn rejection, hatred and misunderstanding. This is normal. It is normal because of what happened during this overnight Yaakov's wrestling. It belongs to the standards of alienation and similarity between God and Israel. This wrestling is the artifact of the original Pesach event.

Theodore Herzl's "I have a dream" is somehow parallel to Martin Luther King's message. This year, we are both in full dream and full nightmare: dream of newness with creolization, pidjinization, intermingling cultural and mental mixing melting pot. Then, as a sort of counter-point, impoverishment, traders' twisting, fraud, laundering, sloth and gossip, cruel diseases come to haunt souls, some bones in between and eat like worms bank accounts, reserves, profits, benefits... they can reduce to nil those who have nothing and will be even be taken what they could not even hold in their hands. Jesus of Nazareth said this, as Hillel and all the Sages. This is the nightmare, a she-horse that rides during the night in the pretending free spaces of our brains.

Pesach\פסח is more than any dream; it is much more than any nightmare. Pesach is not governed by the same rules that are in force our societies. Pesach gives to each Jew the opportunity to know who he is in the Face of the Most High; not for their profit but for the sake of any collectivity, without exclusion.

Pesach cannot be a nice supper that gathers families. Late Rabbi Yeshayahu Leibowitz declared that we are definitely not aware of the fact that our society is so segmented (he stated "split") that we are not even aware of the fact that our Seder Pesach\סדר פסח - Order for the celebration of Passover - could hardly be shared on a voluntary basis by all the inhabitants of Israel. We undoubtedly have numerous and often opposed ways in understanding and "accounting (the haggadah\הגדה = account) the passing from slavery-bondage/serfdom to freedom. He made that statement during a lecture and a Israeli Defense general got really surprised and agreed with him. Pesach is unique. It is unique day after day when the Jews mention the flight from Egypt. It is much more significant during the night of Nisan 14th: each Jews DOES COME OUT IN PERSON FROM EGYPT. This makes the event totally unique because it only happens once a year and not everyday. Moreover, year after year, each person and community (and all the nations of the world) partake in this way-out from slavery to freedom and release.

This bounces through all human beings even if it sounds invisible and ignored. It revives the world: it does mean that the humans (Jews or non-Jews) are really conscious of such an event and share it. This is challenging because it defies "memory - zikkaron - זיכרון " as a bouncing process and move that constantly reinvigorates past, present and future. Pesach is on the move, Pesach is not stiff or fixed. Thus, there can be a tremendous distance between what we supposedly celebrate (a nice family or community ingathering) and the prospect of daily redemption.

This goes far beyond Jacob's special call to be Israel. Abraham was the "ivri\עברי - going across the two rivers". Yaakov crossed the ford of Yabbok: note that Ya-Bo -k is the reversed order of the letters in Ya-Ko-v \ יעקב (heel, limp) and it is said: "VaYeAVeK ish imo - ויעבק איש עמו - and a man wrestled with him" (v. 25) as he was remained alone: the real wrestling now deals, in loneliness - though not solitude - with his special oneness and identity. Like Abraham he has to choose new priorities and geographical orientations. He was "standing behind on his heels (EKev\עקב)"; from now on, he will face humankind and himself because the "unknown" fighter was both of divine and human nature. He called the place "Peniel" because he fought timelessly overnight in a human and divine Panim el panim פנים על פנים = face to face encounter. Was it Esau, Jacob's own shadow? both God and the brothers? "God created us in His image and likeness" (Genesis 1:27). But moreover, it seems at this point that God concealed something definitely substantial with Jacob becoming Israel. Adam found his fulfillment in the removing of "tzela - rib, side, shadow" (Genesis 2:18) because he was alone.

Jacob was alone during the wrestling. Adam woke up and found his wholeness in Eve/Chawah, the woman who is indeed the crown of creation. The same happens during that combat in which Jacob urged the "ish - man" to tell his name. In return, he is hurt at his hip and his "tzolea צולע - limping, walking" is crooked to one side ("Are the paralyzed and crippled to punish him who holds?" Pessakti Rabbati 13). He is no more alone but "achieved, whole" = "shalem\שלם, strangely also "sholem\שולם = loyal (Genesis 33:18). His new name is that of a "feminine" mildness given upon birth from Jewish women that "shall make the crooked straight (yashar\ישר) = Yisrael" (Isaiah 40:4). This combat ended at "alot hashachar = the breaking or ascending of dawn\עלות השחר". It is an identity rebirth: Jacob wrestled and removed the useless clue of "dirty dust = abak\עבק" (cf. Yaakov, ekev = heel, Yabbok) in order to be able to face his destiny. He became Israel and birthed the Community envisioning what repeatedly happened at Beth-El as dawn broke, i.e. is "making a sort of aliyah-ascent\עליה". He has been injured but he relocated to achieving Israel's true goal as a firstly multi-faceted tribe who has to share the blessings with all the nations.

The main problem is whether we accept or not that this wrestling is not a victory per se; this inner combat empowers our struggling for life in whatever circumstances of our lives without ever stepping down because we witness for much more than ourselves.

When Jesus of Nazareth was dying, he said to John, his disciple to take Mary his mother to his home. He rose from the dead, then met with Maria Magdalena. Jesus saw "the unbelievable woman" who will powerfully convince the scary disciples that the Master is alive! This is comparable to Adam welcomed Eve, mother of the living, after a sleep that resembles death and solitude.

This lines out with Yaakov becoming Israel, the father of the twelve Tribes, one Community, both injured and unwillingly reinforced. Thus, Rachel died after having birthed Benyamin, the first "son of Abraham" to be born in the land of Canaan. What firstly appeared to look like a cheating story turned into a dream that come true at dawn breaking and continues to interrogate :"hagidah-na shmecha הגידה נא שמך- tell me Your Name?" that can be viewed in the injured "gid hanashe - sinew of the thigh\גיד הנשה". As Sarah for Abraham, Rachel for Yaakov, Mary Magdalene for Jesus, women (Aramaic 'nesha\נשא') remove, discard wounds and debts and save men, i.e. humankind (Berakhot 17b/Chullin 91a).

Indeed, "[Christians] dwell in their own fatherlands, but as if sojourners in them; they share all things as citizens, and suffer all things as strangers. Every foreign country is their fatherland, and every fatherland is a foreign country." (Letter to Diognetus). How curious that Jews experienced the same in both a terrible and marvelous way. They have to respond to this situation with much righteousness in our generation. Freedom remains the goal. This goal, in Judaism and Christianity, boomerangs the whole of humankind and creatures into a living memory that touches us beyond our consent.


av aleksandr [Winogradsky Frenkel]

April 5/23, 2009 - 11 deNisan 5769 - י"א דניסן תשס"ט

The smallest TaNaCh on a grain (Haifa University)

Micro-mini-TaNaCh on a grain-size chip... something like faith as big as the grain of mustard...

Lord and Master of my life

The prayer of Mor/Mar Ephrem, the deacon of Edesse (4th c), famous hymnograph and liturgist may have not been written by the author of the "madroshe - commentary poetry". Thus we only have access to the Greek version and Saint Ephrem only wrote in Syriac (Aramaic). His prayer is not in use in the Semitic Syrian Orthodox/Catholic and Ancient Nestorian/Assyrian-Chaldean Churches of the East. Instead, they have a wonderful supplication for confession called "hussaya-hussoyo" (prayer of supplication for mercy).

IT SHOULD BE NOTED that the prayer, just as the Prayer of the Lord, is deeply rooted in the Jewish and rabbinical tradition and, as the Our Father prayer, it could be said both by Jews and Christians alike. It is important to mention without exaggerating this special connection because it shows that the prayer is most ancient.

Sloth, vain gossip, denunciation, one-side accusation and judgment are linked there with the spiritual disease of apathy (akedia) which is much more than simple spleen or depressive stand, _ it is indeed a spiritual discomfort that always tried to accuse the others except ourselves in our own responsibility in the Face of God. It calls to pardon, but it requires much more: "give me not to judge my brother (evidently also "sisters"). Judgmental attitudes reign everywhere; from soap television series, media false statements and information, absence of the respect to consider people as innocent before it is proven that they committed misdeeds are our daily "bread and nonsense".

Late Olivier Clement and many thinkers and theologians as also psycho-analysts have shown that human souls often search, with real despair and hectic uncontrolled reflection and envy, to hate some enemy, some "aliens". This allows to mirror some personal hidden questioning and self-hate, immaturity and lack of courage. God allows to erase hate and open the gates of mutual understanding and cooperation. This also lines with St. Paul's preaching for the unity among the members of the community, One Body and One Vineyard. The challenge is proposed as a reachable goal in the course of Great Lent, as also before Pesach and the liberation from personal and collective serfdom, bondage.

[Greek] Κύριε καὶ Δέσποτα τῆς ζωῆς μου, πνεῦμα ἀργίας, περιεργίας, φιλαρχίας, καὶ ἀργολογίας μή μοι δῷς. Πνεῦμα δὲ σωφροσύνης, ταπεινοφροσύνης, ὑπομονῆς, καὶ ἀγάπης χάρισαί μοι τῷ σῷ δούλῳ.
Ναί, Κύριε Βασιλεῦ, δώρησαι μοι τοῦ ὁρᾶν τὰ ἐμὰ πταίσματα, καὶ μὴ κατακρίνειν τὸν ἀδελφόν μου, ὅτι εὐλογητὸς εἶ, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

[Slavonic] Господи и владыко живота моегω, духъ оунынїѧ, небрежεнїѧ, любоначалїѧ и празднословїѧ ѿжεни ѿ мεнε. Духъ же цѣломѹдрїѧ, смиреномѹдрїѧ, терпѣнїѧ и любве, дарѹй ми рабѹ твоемѹ. Ей Господи Царю, даждь ми зрѣти моѧ согрѣшенїѧ, и не ωсуждати брата моегω, якω благословенъ еси во вѣки вѣковъ. Аминь

[English] O Lord and Master of my life, give me not the spirit of sloth, idle curiosity/meddling, lust for power and idle talk.But grant unto me, Thy servant, a spirit of chastity/integrity, humility, patience and love. Yes, O Lord and King, grant me to see mine own faults and not to judge my brother. For blessed art Thou unto the ages of ages. Amen.

[Ukrainian] Господи і Владико життя мого, дух млявости, недбайливости, владолюбства й пустослів’я віджени від мене. Дух же доброчесности і смиренномудрія, терпіння й любови даруй мені, недостойному рабові Твоєму. Так, Господи Царю, дай мені зріти мої прогрішення і не осуджувати брата мого, бо Ти благословен єси на віки віків. Амінь.

Marc Chagall's painting: Abraham intercedes for Sodom in the presence of the angels;