Видео

Shalom, I do give a shiur on Skype in the morning (Israeli time - late evening US time) but the problem is I give this shiur in Russian language. So I presume you don't know Russian and this would not be relevant. But feel free to contact me with any questions. My site is torahone.com, English part is under: www.torahone.com/index2.html. I also have a telegram channel t.me/tora613

Thank you, I did not know this.

By the way I am not surprised at all about what you wrote in the name of R Sa'adyah ga'on since he was not Yemenite and certainly his pronunciation of Gimel with dagesh was the same as other Egyptian and Babylonian Jews.

​@@chaimsunitsky6403 But remember teimanim have a babylonian masora for which reason s'firat ha'omer is recounted in aramit and not hebrew the former being lingua franca in bavel, and the סֶגוֹל segol (called today by teimanim פַֿתַּח סְגוּל fataḥ saghul) has the same vocalization as פַּתַּח pataḥ (spelled with pe r'fuya by teimanim so פַֿתַּח fataḥ) so for example moSHA not moSHE because it was the same diacritic in bavel no difference as there was no such thing as segol there, and if you see old manuscripts the niqqud used by teimanim was supralinear meaning ABOVE the letters which was babylonian punctuation, so perhaps j was just one of the traditions. Also the teimani way of אַלַף־בֵּא alaf-be (compare אָלֶף־בֵּית alef-beit) such as letters בֵּא be not בֵּית beit, דָּאל dol not דָּלֶת dalet, זַאן zaan not זַיִן zayin, עַַאן 'aan not עַיִן 'ayin, צַַאדּ ṣaad not צָדִי tzadi and so on may be a relic of bavel... except maybe for the spelling דָּאל dol since ramba"m does use it in hilchot y'sodei hatorah (chapter 6, clause 2), hilchot t'fillin (chapter 3, clauses 1 and 13) etc - although, mori qafeḥ zl does write in his peirush on mishne tora that ramba"m derived his nosaḥ hat'filla from the teimanim and brings proof from 9 places, so maybe this is really nosaḥ teiman which preserves babylonian tradition after all. In his peirush on sefer y'tzira, rav sa'adya ga'on mentions on more than one occasion that in hebrew we have PURE consonants which are not the result of a COMBINATION of consonantal sounds (j being one of them because j is really d + zh, and of course tz being t + s when really צ is a heavy, guttural s like in arabic and aramit). Oh and i subscribed, great content.

I am not sure how many Jews in Teimani community have any first hand knowledge about this. Most likely their knowledge is the same as anyone else's who studied the topic. There is enough written on it and some is available on the Internet. I am not sure why you are interested in this topic in particular? We know the Jews in Galut experienced terrible times in both Chrisitan and Moslem countries. In particular in Yemen there were times when not just the orphans but the whole community was forcefully converted. The famous Rambam's igeret teiman is about this decree. I personally try to concentrate on positive rather than mourn over the negative. We have Tisha BeAv to remember all our tragedies but the rest of the year to learn Torah. And there is so much to learn from Yemenite books. I often study Shulchan Aruch Hamekutzar which is a fantastic book on Yemenite Halacha. Also the writings of R. Yosef Kapih on Rambam are very useful. Sometimes Yemenite Nusach of Rambam's Mishna commentary or Mishne Torah is very important in understanding the text. But discussing various gezeiros in not the topic I usually choose for my videos.

@@chaimsunitsky6403 Rabbi, thankyou very much for your in-depth reply. It makes sense that you want your page to be a positive place that focuses on how and why of Judaism. I am struggling to find information about beyond Wikipedia and also I believe attention on the subject would be useful. There are those who seem to believe that before Zionism, Jews and Muslims lived in harmony and mutual respect. Especially indigenous Australians and First Nations Canadians need to hear about the orphans decree, since it's very like the sixties swoop and the stolen generation, with the pedophilia even more open (Muslim men who couldn't buy a Muslim woman to be his wife, could get a Jewish girl for free-as a bonus, she has been robbed of the protection of her family...) However you are right to keep your channel positive, which is why I am hoping someone who you might know in the Teimani community might do such a video.

IMHO this gezeira was not the worst that happened to us, and the terrible pogroms and forced conversions accompanied the Jewish people very often in Muslim countries as can be seeing in the writings of various Rishonim and Achronim. A good example is the letter of Shmad by the Rambam.

By yortzait I meant just the day of death. I did not imply absolutely anything else

@@chaimsunitsky6403 Thank you for clarifying!

The book I meant is a Likutim book based on various Divrei Torah of GR"A. It's a 2 volume compilation called HaMaro Hagadol.

Это не настоящий Раши. Там же сказано от имени Аризаля, а Аризаль был намного позже Раши. И у самого Аризаля в Китве Аризаль этого тоже нет. Но сама традиция может действительно на чем-то основана. Шломо же хетел испаривть мир в том числе через своих потомков ...

Shalom. You are asking a very complex question. There are definitely disputes in Halacha today and you can see some differences between for instance Sephardim and Ashkenazim and Yemenite Jews and within each group. The differences are generally not in fundamental laws but in the details. So compared to for instance Christian denominations, the Orthodox Jews don't have disputes about the most fundamental topics. Any Orthodox Jew can pray in a different Orthodox Synagogue or listen to the Torah read by someone from a different group albeit the pronunciation will differ. General laws of Shabbat and Kashrut are the same but the details may differ. For example there is a dispute how much time we need to wait until stars come out and Shabbat is over. Is it 72 minutes after sundown or somewhat less? But exactly how the halacha is decided in various communities is a very complex topic and cannot be explained "standing on one foot."

@@chaimsunitsky6403 thank you for your answer. I understand there is core Halacha that is accepted throughout all Orthodox communities, with some variances among them. Another question is, if someone with Jewish ancestry grew up in an entirely secular environment (I grew up in the USSR), are they obligated to become Orthodox and follow Orthodox Halacha? Or is it a personal choice?

Shalom. I can only answer you as an Orthodox Jew believes. I was also born in the USSR (Leningrad) and until 14 did not know anything about Judaism. At 14 I moved to New York and slowly started learning more. So the Orthodox answer to your question is that yes ideally we expect every Jew to try to become observant. This is not to say that everyone who does not is to be considered a "sinner" or "wicked." Obviously we are not G-'d secretaries and we don't know how G-d judges a person who grew up with no Torah exposure. Moreover in today's age of "hester panim" (when Divide providence is not very obvious), even if a person did have Jewish upbringing and chose not to continue observance, it's not clear how he or she will be judged. In my opinion it's a loss when someone is not observing, in most cases it's their personal loss. In case of most people (though unfortunately not all) living according to Torah can make the life better, happier and more fulfilling. By the way I have a site with a lot of material in Russian: www.torahone.com. Feel free also to contact me in telegram: Хаим Суницкий.

​@chaimsunitsky6403 that is a very sensible answer. But it isn't unusual for me to encounter Orthodox online, who seem to have a lot of anger and disdain at those who have Jewish ancestry but did not grow up with any Judaism. I don't understand it - how can they have so many negative feelings toward people who didn't do anything wrong ? Sometimes I think we're actually different peoples. Two peoples with a shared ancestry but very different fates.

Look, there are a lot of different people among Orthodox Jews. I can only tell you what I think and what I believe. I am sure you met plenty of non religious Jews that hate Orthodox Jews terribly. And in general there are many intolerant people out there. For instance many "progressives" hate anyone who does not agree with them and are almost ready to kill them. But I don't judge all non observant Jews because of them. Just as I don't judge all Germans because of the Nazis. At any rate in my opinion most Orthodox Jews are very kind to those who don't hold their views. How many observant people in Israel sacrificed their lives on October 7th to save the primarily non observant far leftist communities that were affected the most during this massacre? How many people here in America leave their nice settled orthodox communities to go in the middle of nowhere to try to bring Judaism to non affiliated Jews? (I would not be able to do this).

My apologies *Rabbi

And what did you do to them, Stasek? 🤔😉

Plishtim lived in the south western part of Canaan (originally the cities of Phlishitim were also Canaanite cities, See Bereshit 10:19 וַיְהִי גְּבוּל הַכְּנַעֲנִי מִצִּידֹן בֹּאֲכָה גְרָרָה עַד עַזָּה and later Plishtim came from Greek islands and conquered these). Anyway they have nothing to do with Palistine that Romans called for the entire Israel (it is true though that the word Palestine Romans chose is based on the original Land of Plishtim in the west). Avraham did live among them for a certain time. Later on other waves of Philistines came to the same area and at times they controlled the Jewish people like at the time of King Saul. None of this have anything to do with the Arabs that started calling themselves Palestinians in 20th century. Before that Palestinian meant a Jew, You can still see many references to Yerushlami (Talmud of the Land of Yisrael) as "Palestinian Talmud."

This is not clear at all. It seems most of them came from Arab lands in very recent times, see for instance the excellent research of Joan Peters "From Time Immemorial." There may be some "Jewish blood" in all kinds of nations including for instance Italians as the Jews is a very ancient people and most assimilated throughout history (and many were converted by force). At any rate what defines the nation is not just some common DNA, otherwise most Americans have some DNA from American Indians. Certainly the Jordanians are not Moabites and Ammonites even if some of their DNA comes from these ancient people. The Arabs that now call themselves Palestinians has nothing that distinguishes them from any other Arabs (except maybe the extra hatred towards Jews).

Shalom. I have a lot of videos in Russian on ruclips.net/channel/UC8vkK6fZbuAutxL8VtMJ9fw

@@chaimsunitsky6403 Thank you!

Of course. My point is that why would Chazal state the obvious: you cannot send someone trying to buy wheat to someone who never sold wheat. My guess is that this was a common joke of those who made fun of donkey drivers.

@@chaimsunitsky6403 jokes, i hardly get them , unless i am laughing

Thank you Boruch for your kind words.

In the 7th century AD, Hispano-Roman archbishop and scholar Isidore of Seville wrote his noted encyclopedic-historical treatise titled Etymologiae, in which he traces the origins of most of the European peoples back to Japheth - son of Noah.

Perhaps Gomer the son of Yafet.

Eisav edom red, rome

The second letter of our Aleph-Bet is Bet and it can accept a light Dagesh (a dot within a letter). Some Sephardic Jews pronounce Veit without dagesh like Beit with Dagesh (for example Jews from Syria) but most Jews pronounce letters with Dagesh differently than without Dagesh. There is also a letter Vav which most Jews pronounce as V but some pronounce closer to W.

Thank you for your kind words. I think today too people like yourself who have positive view of the Jewish people can do a lot to change the generally biased view of the world. A little bit of light can take away lot of darkness. Right now the Internet is full of comments and fake news accusing Israel that is fighting for survival against genocidal Hamas regime who are far worse than Nazis. Yet it's Israel that is accused of all kinds of crimes. Any person who can spread the truth and protect our people can help make the world a better place.

@@chaimsunitsky6403 Dear friend/brother I’m sorry I wanted to write back sooner but I couldn’t. Re what you said above, I learned the truth about Israel just a year ago. I grew up in Iraq during Saddam’s government and we all were taught Israel is an occupation that needed to end. In 2004 I came to the US and heard here about the two state solution so I thought this was the reasonable solution but I continued to think Israel was the problem and I never really looked into it. I didn’t understand how anyone supported Israel and thought those who did either had some morality problem or they just didn’t know what was going on. Only a year ago I came across a channel by an Israeli tour guide, and he talked about the conflict. Almost from the first video I thought hey this is very different from what I had thought or expected, and there is another story out there. This whole last year has been a leaning experience and even an eye opening, re Israel and Palestine, the Jewish experience and anti-semitism. Re what you said about light and darkness, it’s a nice analogy, but I don’t know. When I was younger I used to think most people are good and only a few are bad, but now - after some personal experiences, I see most people are bad and only few as good. Most people prefer to keep their eyes closed so they could hold on their believes, instead of choosing to see and hear the other person. Re, Jews and Judaism, I never held any negative views and I kind of always wanted to have some Jewish friends (after you hear about some people you like to meet and know them in person), though now I hold new admiration for and see them/you differently after all I’ve learned. I have been trying to share things on social media, but I don’t think I've been able to get anyone to listen or change their minds. However I don’t have many followers myself and I can’t write much or spend too much time online (I struggle with chronic illness /disability, and my online accounts used to be limited to awareness and medical info for certain health problems). On the plus side (trying to give a hopeful message here), I have found and been following many accounts of people - not just Jews and Arab Israelis, but also Palestinians, other Arabs, Middle Easterners, and some people from other Muslim countries, and I think most or almost all of them are like me, grew up with wrong story and then found out what’s really going on, and are now active online trying to disperse the lies and tell the truths. I've seen some who have been getting threats, and some even say their families and or friends have left them or stopped talking to them because of this but they're still continuing because they believe what they're doing is right. I’m really sorry you have gone and are still going through all this. it’s disheartening and angering to see all this hate. I used to have the same very negative view of Israel, but I didn't wish death or suffering for anyone there and I only hoped for peaceful solutions. I hope you at least realize some of those against Israel are good, well intentioned people who have just been given the wrong story and don't know what's happening, and if they learn the facts they'll change their views too. Though I don’t understand how people here in the US or the rest of the Western world could have gotten it this wrong (esp those who are active online or in protests etc, where they must have been confronted with some facts from the other side). -- P.s, sorry I wanted to write nicer but I've been feeling very distracted and unable to concentrate well today. Sometimes I struggle with getting thoughts organized in writing (you might have noticed that above). I thought I’d wait and write later but I didn’t want you think I ignored what you wrote. I hope you get the heartfelt message (despite it not turning out like what I wanted). - Happy passover (to you and your family and loved ones). Yours Ansam -- p.s.s I saw this on twitter today, and I thought it’s beautiful and wanted you to see it (this lady is one of the people I follow online, and I’m also including the link to the tweet). x.com/daliaziada/status/1782414721242534365 Dalia Ziada - داليا زيادة @daliaziada The Passover is one of my most favorite holidays in all religions. It is very linked to Egypt, and thus, my Jewish friends and I (an Egyptian) used to use it as an excuse to make jokes about our friendship. A close friend, every time I told him “Happy Passover,” he responded “Sorry we left you behind (meaning in Egypt).” This year, it is not a joke anymore. My friend, alongside other great humans, had to intervene a few months ago to get me out of my very own Egypt, a few hours before I was doomed to be killed or imprisoned in reprisal for my political opinion in support of Israel’s war on Hamas’ terrorism. Daring to condemn the October 7 attacks on Israeli civilians stirred credible death threats and state-sponsored persecution against me. On my way out of Egypt, I walked over the footsteps of pain and agony that were previously felt by the Jews who accompanied Moses across the Red Sea and the Jews who were forced later in the 1950s-60s to leave their homelands in Egypt and other Arab countries. Like them, I did not want to leave my homeland, which is now being occupied by extremists and Jew-haters. Like them, I had to suffer the bitter loss of my house, my work, my friends, and my family in a matter of few hours. Like them, I did not choose to leave Egypt, but I was forced to leave, not only out of fear of persecution but also in pursuit of freedom. Like them, I know I may never see Egypt again in my whole life, but my fond memories there will always remain in my heart and mind. Like the Jews who were forced to leave Egypt on different occasions in history, I know that I will soon recover from the pain of loss and thrive in life. I know that those who targeted me because of my stance in support of the truth will be defeated and humiliated. Like the Jews, I believe in the value of life, and I know I can make our world a better place.

Dear friend, Thank you for your wonderful letter. I am sorry I am responding so late. Your words are very true and very inspiring. While we cannot change most of the world, we can definitely do something. Even if your words did not have any affect on the listeners right away, they may have an affect later. Maybe when they hear this from different people, it will have a cumulative effect and they will eventually reexamine what they were taught. Running water after a while sharpens even stones. May you be blessed! Sincerely, Chaim.

ok, and he praised some tax collectors. do you think he meant any and every tax collector in the entire world and entire history?

@@ansamgroshongthat’s a zinger!!

Jesus himself was a Pharisee. That’s why he was criticizing them in the first place.