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July 4, 2019

With a Rebel Yell – A poem for parsha Korach

Moses heard and fell on his face.

When the impatient men of repute
…….confronted the big kehunah
concerned he had elevated himself
…….above them all
These same men who
…….built a calf in the desert
These same men who
…….complained at every dry rock
These same men
…….who begged to go back to
the familiar bondage
…….of the narrow place.
Moses heard and fell on his face.
…….It’s not as slapstick as it sounds.
There was no body stiffening and
…….emergency of gravity joining the prophet’s beard
…….with the rapidly approaching ground.
This was head in hands
…….This was again with this?
The mensch of all mensches
…….former prince who gave it all up
…….to eat flat bread in the desert.
For all his efforts he doesn’t even
…….get his name in the Haggadah.
Just a rebellion at every turn
…….baldness, ice hail and frost
Just a disenfranchised cabal
…….yelling more more more
Until his burial at an undisclosed location
…….while the Korachs and
…….other reputers
eventually cross the river and
…….leave him with his
…….head forever in his hands.


God Wrestler: a poem for every Torah Portion by Rick LupertLos Angeles poet Rick Lupert created the Poetry Super Highway (an online publication and resource for poets), and hosted the Cobalt Cafe weekly poetry reading for almost 21 years. He’s authored 23 collections of poetry, including “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion“, “I’m a Jew, Are You” (Jewish themed poems) and “Feeding Holy Cats” (Poetry written while a staff member on the first Birthright Israel trip), and most recently “Hunka Hunka Howdee!” (Poems written in Memphis, Nashville, and Louisville – Ain’t Got No Press, May 2019) and edited the anthologies “Ekphrastia Gone Wild”, “A Poet’s Haggadah”, and “The Night Goes on All Night.” He writes the daily web comic “Cat and Banana” with fellow Los Angeles poet Brendan Constantine. He’s widely published and reads his poetry wherever they let him.

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Germany Returns Nazi-Looted Painting to Heirs of French Art Collector

(JTA) — Germany returned a Nazi-looted painting to the heirs of a French Jewish art collector which was seized by German soldiers in France in 1940.

“Quai de Clichy. Temps gris” by Paul Signac was returned to the family of Gaston Prosper Levy, who was a real estate broker, the French news agency AFP reported.

It is the sixth painting returned from the art collection of Cornelius Gurlitt, who died in 2014, and had inherited the collection more than 1,400 works from his father, Hildebrand Gurlitt, a collector whom the Nazis hired to buy art for its museums or to sell for profit.

The vast collection includes works by such famous artists as Picasso, Dürer, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Beckmann and Matisse.

“A countless number of the mostly Jewish collectors of art and cultural goods like Gaston Prosper Levy were persecuted, robbed or expropriated by Nazis,” Germany’s Culture Minister Monika Gruetters said Wednesday in Berlin during the handover. “Others have had to sell their property far below its value or leave it behind while fleeing or emigrating. We can never make good on the suffering and injustice.”

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‘Politics is Not for Women,’ Leading Religious-Zionist Rabbi Says

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A leading religious-Zionist rabbi in Israel rejected the possibility of asking former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked to head the Union of Right Wing Parties because “politics is not for women.”

Rabbi Shlomo Aviner was one of dozens of rabbis who signed a letter objecting to seeing Shaked named head of the Jewish Home Party, and thus the union. Shaked is secular.

“The composition of the party list is a statement that expresses our priorities, and this statement has far-reaching implications for us as a public and for the educational message that we convey to our children,” read the letter signed by heads of yeshivas and pre-army preparatory programs, neighborhood rabbis, and other rabbis. It did not specifically name Shaked.

The existence of the letter was first reported on Wednesday by the Walla! Hebrew news website.

Aviner, the head of the Ateret Yerushalayim Yeshiva in Jerusalem and the former rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Beit El, defended the letter’s message in an interview on Thursday with the Kan public broadcaster. “We think that a religious party is needed because this country is not just about its economy or security, it’s also about faith. That’s why we need to have people who dedicate their entire lives to the Torah, who can lead these struggles for the benefit of the nation.”

He called Shaked “really wonderful but added: “Every person has their own place. It’s not right, the complex world of politics is no place for the female role.”

Shaked, who in the last election ran in the number two slot for the newly formed The New Right party, has said she will run in the September elections but has not said which party she will run with.

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Rosner’s Torah Talk: Parshat Korach with Rabbi Daniel Lapin

Rabbi Daniel Lapin, known widely as America’s Rabbi, is a noted rabbinic scholar, best-selling author and TV host. As one of America’s most eloquent speakers, his ability to extract practical life principles from the Bible and transmit them in a life-changing and captivating manner has brought thousands of Jews and Christians closer to their respective faiths. Pairing his inheritance as a descendant of a multi-generational rabbinical family with his background in science and business, he teaches ancient Jewish wisdom in an unparalleled manner.

In parshat Korach, a Levite, along with two sons of Eliab, decided to rise up against Moses with the support of 250 community leaders. When Moses heard this, he fell on his face. Then the ground under Korach, the sons of Eliab and their followers split, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their houses and all of their property.

 

 

Previous Torah Talks on Korach

Rabbi Daniel Nevins

Rabbi Susan Silverman

Rabbi Rachel Bregman

Rabbi Raysh Weiss

Rabbi Shawn Zevit

Rabbi Joshua Katzan

 

 

 

 

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Rosner's Domain Podcast

Amos Harel: A defense analyst’s look at Israel’s current situation


Shmuel Rosner and Amos Harel discuss Israel’s challenges – from the Gaza Strip to the draft law and much more – and the intersection of military affairs, politics and society.

Amos Harel is one of Israel’s leading media experts on military and defense issues. He is been the military correspondent and defense analyst for Ha’aretz, one of Israel’s most respected newspaper. In this role, he has written extensively about Israel’s ongoing fight against terrorist organizations, its battle with the Palestinian Intifadah (uprising) and the last war in Lebanon. A large part of his work is also available in English, through the Ha’aretz English edition and its English website.

Amos Harel

Follow Shmuel Rosner on Twitter.

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