Al Reguel Ajat

From the time of the Bible to the time of the Talmud, the Jewish people did not celebrate the Bar Mitzvah ceremony. The Torah only mentions that one must be 20 years old to enter the army. The term “Bar Mitzvah” appears for the first time in the Talmud, in the tractate of Pirkei Avot (5:24), where it says: “At five years old a person must study the Scriptures, at ten years old the Mishnah, and at thirteen years old begin the fulfillment of the commandments, «ben shalosh esrei le mitzvoth.”

During the Talmudic period and until the beginning of the Middle Ages, minors were allowed to participate in religious ceremonies without restrictions. It was at the end of the Middle Ages that their participation in religious worship was limited. They could no longer be called to the Torah or put on tefillin. In the 16th century, in the Jewish communities of Germany and Poland, the custom of celebrating the Bar Mitzvah began. To do so, the boy had to be 13 years old to be able to put on tefillin and be called to the Torah, the two essential parts of the ceremony.

The Bar Mitzvah ceremony was also celebrated at home with a banquet and a religious speech, “drasha,” prepared by the celebrant. He would also sing the blessings, read a portion of the Torah and the Haftarah for that day. It was also established that at the end of the ceremony, the father would say the prayer: “Baruch shepatrani meionsho shel aze” (Blessed is He who freed me from being responsible for the actions of this young man).

Although the Bar Mitzvah ceremony is a significant event in the Jewish life cycle today, we see that it is only about 600 years old. The Bat Mitzvah ceremony for women is even more recent. In 1902, a Bat Mitzvah was performed by Rabbi Yechezkel Karo in Lvov, Ukraine. In the United States, the first Bat Mitzvah ceremony was that of Judith, the eldest daughter of Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan, on March 18, 1922. Kaplan’s primary goal, aside from celebrating the eldest of his four daughters, was to give Jewish women the opportunity to educate themselves in Jewish matters, just as men already did. Initially, its content was developed within the framework of Conservative Judaism, in a ceremony where women did not read directly from the Torah scroll but from a volume of Chumash. Over time, the ceremony was adopted by the Reform and Reconstruction movements.

However, this was not the case with the Orthodox movement. Rabbi Moshe Fainstein and other Orthodox rabbis said: “As for those who want to celebrate a Bat Mitzvah, it cannot be done in a synagogue in any way. This ceremony is optional and even trivial. If they want, they can do it at home, although it is not equivalent to a celebration like a Bar Mitzvah.”

Even so, the Bat Mitzvah ceremony has spread throughout the Jewish world. Its celebration, along with the Bar Mitzvah, is a further step, within Judaism, towards gender equality.

By Marcos Gojman.

Bibliography: Texts by Hayyim Schauss and other sources.

Judaism can be best understood if we think, figuratively, of it as a great structure made up of three great pillars. These pillars are: God, the Torah and the People of Israel. None stands out more than the other, the three are interdependent and the emphasis given to each has varied over time. God is the Creator, the One who is only One, the one who gave us the golden rule. For its part, the Torah represents the intellectual creation of Judaism, focused on studying, understanding and interpreting the sacred texts. Finally, Israel is the history of the culture and civilization of the Jewish people.

Conceiving Judaism as a monotheistic system, a literary tradition and a historical culture, presents us with three concepts full of meaning and open to a very wide range of interpretations, which inevitably causes some Jews to emphasize one concept more than another. The concept of God as the origin of universal ethics is interpreted as the force that moves people to act and gives meaning to each person’s life. It is what drives them to seek the good of the family, the community, humanity, the dispossessed and leads them to seek a better world. These are those who admire the wonder of Creation. It is in Reform Judaism where this pillar is most emphasized.

Others dedicate their efforts to studying the Torah and observing its commandments, since they consider it a privilege to be able to do so. They accept that ultimately it is difficult to understand God’s ways and the only thing left is to obey His law and the interpretations that the wise have made of it, without questioning His motives. Their spirit rejoices in fulfilling His precepts as best as possible. It is the Orthodox groups that give greater importance to this second pillar.

A third group fills their hearts with love for the Jewish people, for Israel. They admire their achievements and learn from their problems and difficulties. They suffer its hardships and rejoice in its blessings. They fulfill their desires by working for the good of their people and understand that Judaism is not something static but something that has evolved and will continue to evolve throughout history. It is the Conservative movement within Judaism that is most attached to this pillar.

Louis Jacobs tells us: “The rabbis in the Talmud teach us that just as no two human beings have the same physical characteristics, so too people are different in what they think and what they feel. So we should not be surprised by the differences and the emphasis that each Jew places on his Judaism. Each person, said a Hasidic sage, must discover his own path in Judaism and live it sincerely.”

One can be particularly inclined to one of the pillars of Judaism, but what cannot be accepted is that the other two are totally or partially excluded. A Judaism without God is not Judaism, a Judaism without the Torah is not Judaism, a Judaism without the People of Israel is not Judaism. It is the three pillars together that give value to its structure.

By Marcos Gojman

Bibliography: The Book of Jewish Belief, by Louis Jacobs; God, Torah, and Israel, by Abraham Joshua Hescheml and other sources.

Emancipation was the recognition that Jews had equal rights with other citizens of a country. It first reached the Jewish communities of Western Europe between 1760 and 1860.

Before emancipation, the political, economic, social and cultural rights of Jews were very limited. In principle, they were considered foreigners, even those born in the country in question. They lived tolerated by the authorities, since they were not given the right to reside where they wanted, since within the same country, often influenced by public opinion, there were local governments that did not allow Jews to live in their cities, as happened in Holland, where Jews could not live in Utrecht, Gouda and Deventer. Apart from restricting their residence, the authorities also charged them a special tax to have the protection of the king. In general, Jews were only allowed to work in financial matters and in trade, where they were the only agents who had contacts with the outside world for commercial exchange.

Socially, Jews lived in closed communities, where legal matters such as marriages, divorces, inheritances and disputes between individuals were handled internally and sanctioned according to the precepts of Jewish law. Family life, education and religious services also took place internally. Jews lived in isolation and contact with non-Jews was minimal, a result of convictions and restrictions both their own and those of their neighbors.

Emancipation did not happen suddenly but gradually. There were several factors that helped it happen. The first was the presence of Jews at court. They were wealthy Jews who managed to get important positions. Many took advantage of their position to help their communities, as in the case of Moses Mendelsshon and the Jews of Dresden. The presence of Jews at court also served to pass laws that helped their emancipation.

Another factor of change was in the organization of the Jewish communities. Until about 1650, the communities enjoyed a certain autonomy, since the authorities only sought to ensure that the Jews behaved well and that the corresponding taxes were collected. But new rules arose that implied greater government interference in their affairs, such as the provision that accounting be kept in German and could be reviewed, the appointment of community authorities and the granting of permits for weddings, in order to limit their growth.

The affectation of the autonomy of the Jewish community caused new problems for the authorities, and their only solution was to give the Jews citizenship rights. Rationalist ideas, the separation of church and state and the fact that Jews began to adopt cultural habits from the external environment were also factors that led to their emancipation.

Although Christians continued to avoid contact with Jews, they soon began to change their attitude, driven by the impact that the Jews had on the economy. Some justified this by saying that it was the way to convert them to Christianity. But eventually religious tolerance and acceptance of different systems and institutions paved the way for the emancipation of the Jews of Europe. But this did not happen overnight; it took more than 100 years.

By Marcos Gojman.

Bibliography: Out of the Ghetto, by Jacob Katz.

The mikveh is a small pool filled with water collected from natural sources, such as rainwater, a river, or a spring. Clean, warm water can be added to this water, which is called “otzar.” According to our sages, the mikveh is the most important institutional building in a community. If the Jews of a city need to build a synagogue and a mikveh, Jewish law dictates that the mikveh must be built first.

The Bible tells us in Leviticus 15:19-22 that a woman must keep herself separate (nidah) for seven days during her menstruation, while if anyone comes into contact with her or any object of hers, they must purify themselves ritually by immersing themselves in living water (mayim hayim). Although other purification rituals, the practice of which was associated with the Temple in Jerusalem, were cancelled by the rabbis after the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash, the practice of Nidah has been maintained to this day, with the variation that now it is the woman herself who must immerse herself in the mikveh.

During the Second Temple period, from 100 BCE to 70 CE, the Jewish population in Eretz Israel practiced the ritual of purification, immersing themselves in mikvaot (plural of mikveh). Many have been found in archaeological excavations dating from that period. However, there is no evidence that this practice was performed in earlier periods. The term mikveh was used in a general sense in the Bible to refer to a body of water of indeterminate size, water from a spring, or a water reservoir in Jerusalem. But in no case is there any mention of their being used for purification rituals.

All the rules regarding the mikveh were defined by the rabbis in the Mishnah, in a special treatise called “Mikvaot.” It is interesting to note that this treatise was not commented on by our sages either in the Talmud Jerusalemi or in the Babli.

Today the mikveh is primarily intended for use by women, who go to the mikveh before they get married, after their Nidah period, and after having a child. It is also obligatory for those who are converting to Judaism to use it. Some very religious groups customarily immerse themselves in the mikveh on the eve of Shabbat and holidays, especially Yom Kippur. The mikveh is also used to immerse cooking utensils that were purchased from non-Jews. (Numbers 31:22-23)

Today, the Tevilah (immersion) ceremony of a future bride has gone from being a ceremony attended only by the bride accompanied by her mother and sometimes by her mother-in-law, to a social event where the bride receives gifts from the attendees, especially from her mother-in-law. For this reason, the architectural space of the mikveh is increasingly resembling a spa. But one must not forget that the purpose of immersing oneself in it is not to cleanse oneself physically but spiritually. It may be a spa, but a spa for the spirit.

By Marcos Gojman.

Bibliography: Encyclopaedia Judaica, Jewish Standard Encyclopedia and other sources.

The Declaration of Rights of the State of Virginia (United States) is a document that was drafted in 1776 and proclaimed the inherent rights of man. Its content influenced not only the Declaration of Independence of the United States and its Bill of Rights (1789) but also the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, promulgated by the National Assembly of France in 1789. Its importance lies in the fact that it was the first time that individual rights were protected within a constitutional framework, which made them a universal precept with the force of law.

The French Assembly declared in Article X of the Declaration of the Rights of Man: “No one shall be molested on account of his beliefs or his religion, nor harassed in the exercise of his form of worship, provided that forms of worship do not disturb public order as established by law.” Furthermore, on September 28, 1791, the Assembly decreed that all Jews in France had the same rights as all active citizens. French Jews had been emancipated.

Emancipation is the recognition by a society that Jews have the same rights as all other citizens of a country. The French Revolution had granted them these rights, but it was Napoleon who made them a reality. In its military campaigns, the French army carried out the principles of the French Revolution, while opening the gates of the ghetto.

Michael Goldfarb, in his book “Emancipation,” tells us: “In Ancona, there was a good-sized Jewish community. The men were forced to wear a yellow badge on their hats, to further distinguish them from their neighbors. By the end of February 1797, Napoleon’s troops had taken the city. A platoon composed mostly of Jewish soldiers was sent to the Via Astagna and set to work demolishing the gates of the ghetto. When the gates were no longer open, they marched through the empty streets. Slowly people began to come out and look at the soldiers. One soldier shouted in Hebrew to one of the curious onlookers, “Come here.” A gasp of surprise spread through the growing crowd. “Are you Jewish?” “Yes.”

Jewish soldiers wearing the uniform of France, a Christian country? Yes, one of the obligations of an “active citizen” of a country is military service. There was more conversation in Hebrew, when suddenly, a soldier removed the yellow badge from the hat of one of the ghetto dwellers, took off his red, white and blue revolutionary ribbon and put it where the badge had been. Another soldier repeated the same gesture and then another. The Jews of Ancona had been emancipated. “

Napoleon not only opened the gates of the Ancona ghetto. He also did it in Turin, Milan, Rome and Venice. Virginia’s ideas had reached Ancona.

By Marcos Gojman.

Bibliography: Emancipation by Michael Goldfarb, the Jewish Religion by Louis Jacobs and other sources.

Moses ben Mendel was born in 1729 in Dessau, Germany. His childhood in the ghetto was like that of many poor young men who devoted themselves to the study of the Talmud, hoping to become rabbis, as some of their ancestors had done. He studied in Hebrew and spoke Yiddish at home. In 1743, his teacher, Rabbi David Frankel, was appointed chief rabbi of Berlin and Moses decided to follow him to that city.

With the help of his teacher, Moses was able to stay in Berlin. After a few years of living in poverty and devoting himself to study, he finally managed to become the tutor of the children of Isaac Bernhard, a wealthy silk manufacturer. This allowed him to eat regularly and, most importantly, to develop new circles of friends outside the Jewish community. Within five years, Moses ben Mendel had learned German, French, Greek and Latin. By breaking the language barrier, he had also broken the ghetto mentality.

He began to write about philosophy and soon became prominent in Berlin’s intellectual circles. It was then that he changed his name to Moses Mendelssohn. At that time he entered a philosophical competition organized by the Royal Academy in Berlin, where he won first place. Second place went to Immanuel Kant.

For anyone who came to Berlin, meeting Mendelssohn was a prerequisite for acceptance in intellectual circles. One such newcomer was Johann Kaspar Lavater, a German-speaking Swiss. In 1769, Lavater translated Charles Bonnet’s book “Palingenesis” into German. Lavater dedicated his translation to Mendelssohn, but it was more of a dedication than a challenge. He asked Mendelssohn to read the book and publicly refute the author’s arguments, which basically claimed that Christianity was the only valid religion, and if he could not refute it, he should do what should be the right thing to do: convert to Christianity.

For Mendelssohn, the challenge was a terrible event. It broke one of the paradigms of his life. For him, the way each person approaches God was a private matter and also implied respect for the religion of others. Now he was exposed to the eyes and comments of everyone. Mendelssohn answered him: “There comes a time in a person’s life when he has to decide on some fundamental issues. This happened to me a few years ago in relation to religion. I have read, I have compared, I have reflected and I have made a decision: there is nothing that will make me change my belief in Judaism. I have extraordinary friends who do not profess my faith and at no time have I heard them say that it is a pity that my soul is going to be lost for not belonging to their church.” Without offending Christians, Mendelssohn was true to his convictions.

Mendelssohn not only wisely faced the challenge of Lavater, but also the greater challenge of leaving the ghetto and integrating into civil society, and he did so without losing his Jewish roots at all.

Prepared by Marcos Gojman .

Bibliography: Emancipation by Michael Goldfarb, Encyclopaedia Judaica and other sources.

As Chassidism spread throughout Eastern Europe, its followers encountered a very strong opposition movement from the majority of the more traditional rabbis. They were called the Mitnagdim (contrarians). The leader of the Mitnagdim was undoubtedly Rabbi Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman, known as the Vilna Gaon (1720-1797), a brilliant scholar. He wrote around 70 works on various religious and secular subjects. Born in Vilna, the capital of Lithuania, the Gaon demonstrated extraordinary talent from childhood. By the age of twenty, rabbis were consulting him to resolve difficult halachic problems. Although he was unable to do so, he did succeed in getting a group of his students to make aliyah and settle in the Land of Israel.

When Chassidism came to Vilna, the Gaon, along with other rabbis, confronted it by issuing a decree of excommunication, “cherem,” against the Chassidim (1777). Bitterness and animosity ran deep in the two camps. Each group attended its own synagogue, had its own teachers, and generally only intermarried.

The Gaon was concerned that the Kabbalistic part of Chassidism would bring about the advent of another false messiah like Shabbetai Zvi. He also resented the Chasidic concept that God is in everything, making everything equally holy. He regarded the exaggerated veneration of the Rebbe or the Tzaddik as idolatry. And he was concerned that they did not devote themselves to deep Torah study. Chassidism was made up mostly of poorly educated Jews, and he feared that scholarship would be replaced by dancing and singing. A religion that for him was the synthesis of heart and mind could become pure heart with no mind at all.

These differences lasted for more than 30 years. Seen from a historical perspective, the battle against the Hasidim was a complete failure. Not only did Hasidism not disappear, but it spread even further throughout Europe. Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, the Gaon’s most prominent disciple, finally admitted that the Hasidim were not heretics and that the differences were more conceptual and in the way of educating. Rabbi Chaim himself founded the Yeshiva of Volozhin in his hometown, which revolutionized the way of studying the Torah. It moved away from the traditional informal way of studying, creating a structured system of learning, with well-prepared teachers. What began as opposing movements ended up sharing the same values.

By: Marcos Gojman.

Bibliography: The Jewish Encyclopedia and other sources.

In the 18th century, the Jews of Eastern Europe, mainly in Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine and other surrounding areas, were in a state of great depression as a result of the massacres of the Cossack Bohdan Khmielnicki, the persecution of the Church, the disillusionment with false messiahs such as Shabbetai Zvi and the negative treatment they received from the oligarchy that presided over the community, made up of rabbis, scholars and the wealthy.

In response to this, groups arose, especially among artisans, who broke away from the rabbinically dominated Kehilot and formed communities with their own synagogues and new forms of religious practices, such as meditation and lyricsless melodies, nigunim, for prayer. There also arose preachers who went from town to town, who did not teach Torah or Talmud, but a kind of popular Kabbalah, using Hasidic tales to convey profound messages with simple stories.

One of them was Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov (Besht) the “Lord of the Good Name” (1698-1760), who soon attracted these masses of poorly educated Jews. He maintained that all men were equal before God, both the ignorant and the great scholars, that purity of heart was more important than study and that devotion in prayer and fulfilling mitzvoth was more important than formal and cold practices. He said that Divine Energy was in everything.

The “Besht” must have been a very charismatic character, because he managed to unite the groups that opposed the rabbis and integrate them into the movement that we now know as Hasidism. Professor Abraham Rubinstein called it “the first great revolution in Judaism since the time of the Second Temple.” The Besht did not write any books and what we know of him is due to his disciples, who wrote down his teachings, despite the teacher’s opposition. After his death, his student Dov Ber of Mezhirich systematized his Hasidic teachings, aligning them with the mysticism of the great Kabbalist Isaac Luria and attracting a large number of followers.

The Besht’s disciples spread throughout the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe and established Hasidic groups that were led by a “Tzadik,” the spiritual leader. The members of these groups faithfully followed their Tzadik. Upon the death of a Tzadik, it was usually his son who succeeded him, thus giving rise to the great Hasidic dynasties, which exist to this day, such as the Satmer, Chabad Lubavich, Gur, Beltz and others.

The rabbis and leaders responded by forming an opposition movement, the Mitnagdim, opposed to the ideas and practices of the Hasidim. For a long time both currents coexisted simultaneously in the same places, each practicing their own style of Judaism. Hasidism had become established as a new way of understanding and practicing Judaism.

By Marcos Gojman.

Bibliography: “Yiddish Civilisation” by Paul Kriwaczek, “The Jewish Religion” by Louis Jacobs, The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia and other sources.

The history of Jews in Poland dates back more than a millennium. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in the world. Poland was the center of Jewish culture, thanks to a long period of religious tolerance and social autonomy. From its founding in 1025 until the years of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th century, Poland was the most tolerant country in Europe. It had become a refuge for Jews persecuted and expelled from Europe. By the mid-16th century, three-quarters of the world’s Jews lived in Poland.

The first great emigration of Jews from Western Europe occurred at the time of the First Crusade in 1098. In the 13th century, the Polish government encouraged Jewish immigration to colonize the country. Immigrants came from Bohemia-Moravia, Germany, Italy, Spain, and even Crimea. Refugees from Germany brought a dialect mixed with German and Hebrew that eventually became Yiddish, which Polish Jews spoke for centuries.

One factor that encouraged the arrival of Jewish immigrants to Poland was a series of edicts, such as the Magdeburg Law, which granted them certain rights and privileges. For example, they could define their own neighborhoods, mark their economic competition, and even establish monopolies. Another was the Kalisz Statute, which gave Jews freedom of worship, trade, and movement. In 1332 King Casimir II the Great further expanded the statute. Among other things, he established the death penalty for those who kidnapped Jewish children for the purpose of converting them to Christianity.

In 1388-89, Lithuania was merged into the Polish kingdom, extending the same privileges to Lithuanian Jews. In 1492, following the expulsion of Jews from Spain, Poland became a refuge for exiles from Western Europe. This influx of new immigrants, combined with the local Jewish population, made Poland the cultural and spiritual center of the Jewish people. The period of King Zygmunt I (1506-1548) is considered to be the most prosperous period of Polish Jewry. A number of great intellectual figures emerged in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Jewish academies were established in many Polish cities such as Lublin and Krakow. Although not before, by 1551 the Jewish community could elect its own chief rabbi. He could appoint officials and judges. After the merger of Poland with Lithuania, Poland annexed Ukraine and many Jews were sent to colonize the new territories.

Jews became the backbone of the Polish economy. They formed the middle class in a country where the general population was mostly made up of landowners and peasants. From the 16th to the 17th century, Jews enjoyed a form of self-government, the Council of the Four Lands, “Vaad Arva Artzot,” a kind of Jewish parliament. His decrees reflected the spirit of the Torah and its values. After the Land of Israel, Babylon, and Spain, Poland had become the fourth great center of world Jewry.

Prepared by Marcos Gojman.

Bibliography: Jewish Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Judaica, and other sources.

The idea that God rewards those who fulfill His commandments and punishes those who do not, is mentioned continuously in the Bible. These mentions are made despite how difficult it is to prove, since in many cases the righteous suffer and the wicked do well. This question is openly raised in the book of Psalms, in Ecclesiastes and especially in the book of Job, which deals with the subject in depth. Despite how difficult it is to find an answer, the basic belief in the concept of reward and punishment did not affect the fact that in many biblical passages it is mentioned that bad behavior affects not only the whole people, but also individuals. In all cases there is talk of reward and punishment here on Earth and in this life.

This changes in the Maccabean era, when men and women were killed for being loyal to the Jewish faith. In view of this clear contradiction, the sages began to address the concept that reward and punishment are not only here and now, but that they will primarily occur in the World to Come, the Olam Hava, where the soul of the person is supposed to arrive upon death. Maimonides emphasizes this point in his writings and incorporates it as one of the basic principles of Judaism. To this change is added the rabbinical concept that what we do in this world is to accumulate points so that our soul will do well in the world to come (Pirkei Avot 4:22).

Many thinkers of the Middle Ages dealt with the subject. Some understood that the ideal is for people to fulfill the commandments out of their own conviction and out of love for God, rather than for reward or punishment, although the latter was still the concept most accepted by the people.

Belief in the principle of reward and punishment was severely questioned by the Holocaust. The phrase “after Auschwitz” became the code for the position that doubts whether God really rewards and punishes. Richard L. Rubinstein, in his work “After Auschwitz,” is categorical in saying that he can no longer believe in the principle of reward and punishment. But on the other hand, Elie Wiesel maintains a position like that of Job, that of maintaining faith in God. The more conservative sectors maintain that we do not have the capacity to understand Divine Justice, that God does reward and punish, even though we often do not understand it that way.

Some thinkers such as Kohler, Kaplan and Buber say that we should not take the principle of reward and punishment literally and that rather than thinking that it applies to the individual, we should think that it applies to the entire social group. The concept of reward and punishment should be seen in the long term, where good actions lead us to a more just society, while the opposite leads us to a world full of evil.

Fulfilling the commandments for their intrinsic value, rather than for the expectation of reward or punishment, is more praiseworthy and attests to a person’s commitment to his or her values. You fulfill them because you are convinced. It’s that simple.

Prepared by Marcos Gojman

Bibliography: “The Jewish Religion, a Companion,” by Louis Jacobs and other sources.