Precious Things

“And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, 14 And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, 15 And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills…” Deuteronomy 33:13-15 KJV

The Hebrew word for “Precious things” (mentioned four times in these verses) is  מֶ֫גֶד ‘meged’ – meaning ‘goodness’, ‘quality’ and ‘tasting good’. Other translations use the word “choice”.

The “Ancient Mountains” and “Lasting Hills” mentioned in Deuteronomy 33 are Mount Gadur, Mount Seir, Mount Hermon and Jebel Mubarak.

1. Mount Gadur (Gilead), part of the tribe of Manasseh, is 1.250 meters high with 1,000 mm rain yearly. The rainwater fed the Jabbok and Yarmuk river.

2. Mount Seir (Southern Edom) is 1,700 meters high, with a yearly precipitation of 400 mm.

3. Mount Hermon, 2.224 meters high

4. Jebel Mubarak (‘Blessed Mountain) was part of Edom.

These mountains received more dew, rain and snow than any other mountains in eastern Israel.

Mount Hermon is known under different names:

a. Hermon – (Hebrew) – Sacred, holy mountain from early times. The Canaanites called it Baal Hermon (Judges  3:3)

b. Mountain of the Sheikh (Arabic)

c. Senir (Amorites)

d. Sirion (Phoenicians) – breastplate.

e. Snowy mountain

f. Gray-haired mountain

g. Mountain of Snow

e. Eye of the Nation – because of Israel’s military strategic early warning system

According to tradition, it was on Har Habtamim, on the slopes of Katef Sion (part of Mt. Hermon) that God promised Abraham to give the land to his descendants. An ancient tomb and oak tree were found at this spot. Hermon is also believed to be the mountain where Jesus’ transfiguration took place as Jesus was in the area of Caesarea Philippi with his disciples, which is near Mt. Hermon.

During the Six Day war of 1967, Israeli forces captured part of Mount Hermon and the Golan Heights. Israeli citizens were finally safe after having been harassed and murdered by Syrian snipers for 19 long years.

Mount Hermon, geographically separate from the Golan Heights, is the most northern and highest point in Israel (2800 meters above sea level). The only skiing site in Israel has a 620-meter vertical drop. Locals call it the only ‘real’ mountain in Israel – the others are seen as only high hills.

"Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes It is like the dew of Hermon,  which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore." Psalm 133 ESV

Mount Hermon has the honour of being THE mount of dew amongst Israel’s mountains. 

Because of its height, the difference in day and night temperatures create a high dew precipitation during the hot, dry summer months, while during the rainy season (November – April) there is a lot of rain and snowfall. And then, when the snow begins to melts, it will feed the springs and rivers merging into the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee.

 Blessings and life, all year round! 

Bells of Redemption

“Night after night the city sighed, as if its pulse was fading away, weaker and weaker, night after night. And with it sighed every nation and every people in the Holy City.” 

David Kimche, in The Last Year of the World War.

In 1917, the British Empire issued what became known as the Balfour Declaration, which stated that there was going to be a National Home for the Jewish people. At that time, England was the greatest empire in the whole world.  

1917. Jerusalem’s occupants were desperate. Since the beginning of the Great War, three years earlier, they had been subjected to famine, epidemics and destruction. This period of starvation and deprivation under Turkish rule in the final days of Ottoman authority was now coming to an end. After 400 years of Ottoman rule, Jerusalem had passed into British hands.

In the night of December 8, 1917, the Ottoman Turks abandoned the city of Jerusalem. 

The Turkish governor handed a letter of surrender to the mayor, Hussein al-Husseini. Carrying a white flag, accompanied by high ranking officers, the mayor eventually found the right British officers to hand over Jerusalem. (There are different accounts and myths on what actually happened.)

December 9, 1917, he first day of Hanukkah and two weeks before Christmas, the British Imperial Army entered Jerusalem under the command of General Edmund Allenby. 

It was the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Jerusalem. 

On December 10, a formal announcement was made in the British parliament. Throughout Europe, church bells (Bells of Redemption) pealed in thanksgiving and special prayers were held in synagogues. In the eyes of Jews and Christians, Allenby’s entry into Jerusalem was a historic event. The Jews called it a “Hanukkah miracle” while the Christian world regard it as a “Christmas present”.

On December 11, people streamed toward Jerusalem’s Jaffa Gate. Cheering crowds packed the roofs

and balconies lining Jaffa Road and people from different nationalities jostled for a good spot. General Allenby was accompanied by his staff (T. E. Lawrence ["Lawrence of Arabia"] among them), French and Italian officers, and various other international representatives. At the Jaffa gate he was greeted by an honour guard of Commonwealth and Allied troops; dismounting, he and his comrades entered the city on foot, as instructed.

Link to historic footage: http://www.colonialfilm.org.uk/node/6131

“Not a trumpet was sounded as the English army entered the Holy City. […] Hush! To avoid desecrating the sanctity of the Divine presence hovering over the Holy City. “ The Palestine News. 

Standing above the steps at the entrance to the Citadel of David, General Allenby was flanked by military officers and religious and civilian dignitaries. His proclamation, issued in several languages, was read out in English, Arabic, French and Italian.

The Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts literally ‘beat swords into plowshares’ by embellishing used shell cases with different decorative motifs. Christmas cards and souvenirs were sent out from the Holy City.

The British military administration took steps to establish new order and restore normal life. By imposing military administration (martial law, issues in seven languages) they also supplied food and water and began to collect taxes. As the Turkish postal services had collapsed, the British offered free civilian postal services in Jerusalem. They also outlawed Turkish money and introduced British coinage.

In December 1918, The Palestine News wrote:

“The Jewish neighborhoods are lit up tonight, the first candle of Hanukkah dancing joyfully in every window […] This time, they say the English were the Hasmoneans and general Sir Allenby was Judas Maccabeus.”

1918 Christmas card:

Residents of Jerusalem emerge from hiding at the sight of British warplanes hoeriing over the city. Associated with Isaiah’s vision, symbolizing the city’s miraculous deliverance from the Assyrian army in 701 BC and the sanctitiy of Jerusalem “As birds flying, so shal the Lord of Hosts defend Jerusalem.” Isiaiah 31:5

Conquest Babylonia – deliverance by the R.A.F.

7 times – 2520 years

“I will punish you yet seven times for your sins.” Lev. 26:24

“As birds flying, so shall the Lord of Hosts defend Jerusalem.” Isaiah 31:5

Exactly 100 years later, December 11, 2017, we had the privilege to witness the historic re-enactment of Allenby's entry into Jerusalem. Actors mingled with the many tourists and Israelis, and family members of the people who had been part of this event in 1917, were also in attendance.

In Genesis 12:3 we read what God promised Abraham: 

“I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you…”

However, instead of continuing to be a blessing to the Jewish people, the British Empire opted to become a curse to them by issuing the “White Paper” and giving 77% of the promised territory to the Arabs. 

Obadiah 1:15 says “The day of the Lord is near for all nations. And as you [nations] have done, it’s going to be done unto you. Your deeds will return upon your own head.” 

From 1948 onwards, the once powerful British Empire eventually lost everything.

But that’s another story...

Chanukah in Bergen-Belsen

“The Candle of God is the soul of man.” 

Proverbs 20:27

Towards the end of WWII, rabbi Shraga Shmuel Shnitzler, a Hungarian Chassid and Torah scholar was deported from Theresienstadt to Bergen-Belsen. 

Hungarian Jews

Despite the horrors he continued to suffer, he always tried to encourage his fellow inmates. 

"A Jew and despair are contradictory in essence; they cannot co-exist," he would often tell them.

Reb Shmelke, as he was called, managed to organize a minyan for the prayer times and at night told Chassidic stories to the men in his barrack. 

The SS assigned him the job of removing the dead bodies from inmates who had died during the night of illness and malnutrition.

Chanukiah made by a prisoner
in a forced labor camp
 in Upper Silesia

A few weeks before the Chanukah holiday, Reb Shmelke asked around if anybody had a bit of oil or something that could be substituted. Especially during these dark times, he wanted to light the Chanukah candles. It would bring much needed encouragement and hope to the Jews in the camp. There would be light shining in the deepest darkness. They would celebrate the victory of few over many and the pure over the impure. But there was nobody who could give him some oil, not even a drop to light the first Chanukah ‘candle’ for a few seconds.  

On the day before Chanukah, Reb Shmelke was ordered to go to a barrack where some people had died the previous night. While walking across a field, he almost tripped when his foot got stuck in a small hole in the frozen earth.

After a quick look around to make sure no Nazi guards saw him, he knelt to investigate. Inside the hole he found a jar with some liquid. Oil! Oil for Chanukah! he thought. 

But there was more. 

Carefully he pulled out a package. Inside the paper wrapping were eight little cups and eight thin strands of cotton.

Who buried this? he wondered. Where is he? Transported to another camp? Or did he die?

Perhaps the man will come back for his hidden treasure. 

Reb Shmelke quickly reburied the items. It would also have been too dangerous for him to keep them in his possession.

Every Jew he met during the day, he asked, “I found some oil and a menorah. Did you hide them?”

His fellow prisoners thought he had lost his mind. Nobody hid any oil or even a menorah.

On the first night of Chanukah, the men in Reb Shmelke’s barrack watched as he lit the first little light and recited the blessing. There were smiles and tears, as they silently watched the tiny flame fighting its eternal battle against the surrounding darkness. The spark of hope that was kindled in their broken hearts was rekindled for eight nights. 

Four very long months later, Bergen-Belsen was liberated by the Allied Forces. 

Religious Jews in the Bergen-Belsen DP camp,
after the war

Reb Shmelke returned to a city in Hungary called “Tchabe”, where he ministered to other Holocaust survivors. 

The “Tchabe Rov” eventually moved to London where he helped set up a Torah center for young scholars. In 1950 he came home to Israel, where he lived until he passed away in 1990 at the age of 90.

Reb Shmelke

While touring the USA, Reb Shmelke went to visit the Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum, in Brooklyn.

"I hear that you had the great honor of lighting Chanukah candles in Bergen-Belsen," the Satmar Rebbe said.

"How does the Rebbe know that?"

“I too was in Bergen-Belsen,” he told him. “By bribing camp officials, I managed to put together a package of oil, cups, and wicks, which I then buried in a field. I was never able to use them because I was rescued from that camp, four days before Chanukah.  But you know, I always believed that it would be found by someone who would know exactly what to do with it."

Quote from David Ben-Gurion 

Adapted from online articles:

http://shortjewishstories.blogspot.co.il/2013/11/chanukah-in-bergen-belsen.html

http://www.aish.com/h/c/s/h/Chanukah_in_Bergen_Belsen.html

http://www.tchabe.com