Brit-Am Now no. 1263
3 December 2008, 6 Kislev 5769
Contents:
1. "You reminded me of Winston Churchill"
2. Constance Fischer: One more Thanksgiving note...
3. New Article:
The World Crisis and its Causes
by Elchanan Bunam Wasserman
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1. "You reminded me of Winston Churchill"
Re: Brit-Am Now no. 1262
Thank you, Yair, for that encouraging and inspiring thanksgiving message. You reminded me of Winston Churchill as he encouraged the people of Britain during the dark days of World War II.
Echoing the words of the service and the prayerbook, I pray: May the Elevated One of Yisrael bless you and your family, together with your brothers and sisters in all Yisrael. May he sound the great shofar for our redemption. May he gather us from the four corners of the earth. May he bring us upright in shalom and in joy to our land, to Eretz Yisroel, soon and in our day!
Amen!
Amen v' Amen!
McC
2. Constance Fischer: One more Thanksgiving note...
Extracts:
Shalom Yair,
I send this in response to your note of 11/27 which included:
Today Americans give thanks to the Almighty for the benefits they have received.
I know this is a bit late, but wanted to submit this information regarding Thanksgiving. (I think you really blessed us with your comments and thus the numerous responses. With all the ?doom and gloom? predictions, it is encouraging to hear you say that we may indeed weather this storm to see another day. I have seen that HaShem has positioned America as a "Jonathan" to Israel's "David" and the relationship has been, for the most part, one of standing by a friend, may that continue. Now back to Thanksgiving.)
http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday5.htm
Here is a portion taken from the "Judaism 101" website, link above:
Many Americans, upon seeing a decorated sukkah for the first time, remark on how much the sukkah (and the holiday generally) reminds them of Thanksgiving. This may not be entirely coincidental: I was taught that our American pilgrims, who originated the Thanksgiving holiday, borrowed the idea from Sukkot. The pilgrims were deeply religious people. When they were trying to find a way to express their thanks for their survival and for the harvest, they looked to the Bible for an appropriate way of celebrating and found Sukkot. This is not the standard story taught in public schools today (that a Thanksgiving holiday is an English custom that the Pilgrims brought over), but the Sukkot explanation of Thanksgiving fits better with the meticulous research of Mayflower historian Caleb Johnson, who believes that the original Thanksgiving was a harvest festival (as is Sukkot), that it was observed in October (as Sukkot usually is), and that Pilgrims would not have celebrated a holiday that was not in the Bible (but Sukkot is in the Bible). Although Mr. Johnson claims that the first Thanksgiving was "not a religious holiday or observance," he apparently means this in a Christian sense, because he goes on to say that the first Thanksgiving was instead "a harvest festival that included feasts, sporting events, and other activities," concepts very much in keeping with the Jewish religious observance of Sukkot. (end quote)
Note: celebrating Thanksgiving on the third Thursday of November was established by the American government and may not necessarily coincide with the pilgrim's first observance.
Another interesting tidbit comes from this link:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=117173
Hebrew
The student Rabbi Jack Romberg discusses the relation of the Hebrew word hodu to the word todah which means thanks.
?The idea of giving thanks for the abundance of the harvest is what we do at Sukkot. The idea that we should feel blessed with the bounty that is provided for us at a meal is central to the Motzi and the
birkat hamazon, the blessings before and after the meal. (..) On Sukkot, indeed all of our festivals, we recite Hallel. Hallel is a set of Psalms of praise to God which we say as a "thank you" for the particular celebration. A key phrase that occurs in Hallel is this:
The Hebrew word "hodu" means "giving thanks" and is related to the Hebrew word "todah," which means "thank you." However, "hodu" is also the Hebrew word for "turkey." So we can translate the same
phrase (Hodu l'adonai ki tov) this way: "Eating turkey for the sake of God is good!" The word "hodu" from our festival psalm of praise means both "giving thanks" and "turkey!" Finally, the English word, "turkey" may have its origins in the Hebrew word "tookie" which is the word for another large feathered bird, the parrot."(End Quote)
Hebrew in America
Ben Franklin once proposed that Hebrew be the national language of the nascent U.S.A.
After all, why keep English if we are breaking away from England?
Also every educated person should be able to read the Old Testament of the Bible in the original language.
Hebrew was a required course at Harvard and Yale.
Hebrew is in the seal of Yale!
Are these more ?clues? that those who came to this nation of America had their roots, albeit it distant and unrecognizable, in a Hebrew past?
Blessings to you Yair,
Constance
The First Thanksgiving (1621)
And, "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come" (1844)
Tehillim 100
"Raise a shout for HaShem, All the earth!
Serve HaShem with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.
Know that HaShem, He is Elohim; He has made us, and we are His ? His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him; bless His Name.
For HaShem is good; His kindness is everlasting, And His truth, to all generations."
3. New Article:
The World Crisis and its Causes
by Elchanan Bunam Wasserman
World Financial Crisis Caused
by Denial of the Almighty
Brit-Am Pre-amble from Yair Davidiy
The other day I went to visit my son Israel and his family. Israel lives in a city in the territory of Judah on the West Bank of the Land of Israel. He is a full-time Rabbinical student. We discussed the present situation. I said that Brit-Am is suffering from the financial point of view. If in the past things had become difficult now they have gotten worse. People are buying less books and making less offerings. Other activists in this field are undergoing similar experiences. The situation hopefully is temporary and everyone will get over it.
Israel had heard from another family member in the USA that people are keeping their money to themselves. They are spending less. They do not realize that the less money being put out may result in less money being available ultimately to themselves.
I then opined that there seems to be a loss of faith. There is no real logical explanation for what is happening other than a sudden collapse in confidence. People no longer believe in the system or in each other. Everything is shrinking up.
Israel then said that this reminds him of an article by Rabbi Elchanan Bunam Wasserman (1874-1941). Rabbi Wasserman was murdered by the Lithuanian collaborators of the Nazis.
The article by Rabbi Wasserman concerns the Great Depression ("1929 and ending at different times in the 1930s or early 1940s for different countries"). It is however pertinent to our own time and to what is now taking place.
We have taken the liberty of making a free translation of the article and presenting it below.
The views are not necessarily those of Brit-Am. We may not agree with everything in the article but we are presenting it because of the valid points it does make. Presenting such articles is not expected to become a regular feature with us. This is exceptional. Brit-Am is concerned with the Lost Ten Tribes. We usually present rabbinical opinion only on rare occasions and when it concerns the Ten Lost Tribes. We are not in the business of theological discussion. Nor do we wish to propagate rabbinical opinion on issues beyond our primary concern which is the Lost Ten Tribes. If there is a need for rabbinical opinion to be presented on world issues then other forums exist manned by those with more knowledge, greater authorization, and the needed enthusiasm for such a task.
The article below is an exception because the circumstances are exceptional.
To see the article:
http://www.britam.org/wasserman.html
To hear a New BAMBI talk based on the article:
The Cause of the Present Financial Crisis:
Discussion of an Article by Rabbi Elchanan Bunam Wasserman
http://britam.org/Broadcasts/newBAMBI/wasserman.mp3
(ca. 52 minutes)
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