Kosher food is eaten by Jews and non-Jews. Some Jews don’t eat kosher food and prefer non-kosher items. But “kosher” is definitely Jewish, as defined in the Bible outlining which foods are permissible and not permissible for Jews.
Many Jewish men get circumcised at eight days old in a “bris.” A small percentage of Jewish boys are not circumcised because the parents do not like the custom. But a “bris” is definitely Jewish, a commandment laid out in the Bible.
Many Jewish homes have a menorah as do many synagogues. They are lit on the holiday of Chanukah per rabbinic tradition. Some Jews do not own or light a menorah, but it is definitely a Jewish religious article.
Religious married Jewish women go to a ritual bath, a “mikvah,” once a month. Most Jewish women are not Orthodox or do not have regular menstrual cycles and do not visit the mikvah. But a mikvah is definitely a Jewish bath and has been for thousands of years.
Roughly 45% of world Jewry lives in the land of Israel, while the majority do not live there. But the land of Israel is central to Judaism, the “promised land” to the Jewish forefathers of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants. It is central to the Jewish Bible and for Jews for 3,700 years.
Jews visiting the Jewish Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem
Whether a person keeps kosher, had a bris, visits a mikvah, lights a menorah, or lives in the land of Israel, has nothing to do with those items being integral parts of Judaism. Similarly, a person may never read the Talmud, but such action is irrelevant to the tractates inherently being a fabric of Jewish tradition.
So when a Jewish person says Jews shouldn’t live in Israel, it doesn’t negate that the land of Israel is central to Judaism; it just means that that particular person doesn’t believe it.
The next time you see members of Neturei Karta yelling that Zionism is terrible and the Jewish State should be destroyed, whisper in their ears that you are working to ban kosher meat and circumcision in America, as a gentle reminder that just because they may not appreciate how some people express their Judaism, they shouldn’t fight to ban it for others.
Members of ultra-Orthodox Neturei Karta protesting a march combating antisemitism, January 2020 (photo: First One Through)
The land of Israel, the city of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are deeply Jewish locations and have been for thousands of years. It makes absolutely no difference what any Jew or non-Jew says, and whether they are one side or the other of the Israeli-Hamas war. Parading “AsAJews” who fight against Zionism before cameras does nothing to negate the reality that Israel is an essential component of Judaism, much like keeping kosher and a bris.
The magnification of fringe anti-Jewish views held by Jews is a noxious tool used by Jew-haters to splinter the beleaguered minority-minority to become easier fodder for extinction. Shame on the media for making a deliberate point of doing so in these days of toxic antisemitism.
For the last few hundred years, Jews inserted three lines after their penultimate prayer in their daily services. Right after Aleinu and before the final mourner’s Kaddish, a sentence from Proverbs and two from Isaiah are found:
Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us. And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.
Al-Tirah
Roots Of Al Tira Prayer
Leaving synagogue was often a traumatic affair when Jews were scattered around the world. Inside of the synagogue, Jews were both together and felt connected to God; outside was a starkly different reality. Sometimes the local non-Jews would attack the Jews with pogroms and edicts, and at other times, Jews would be fortunate to find salvation.
Today, very few congregations actually recite the prayer despite its inclusion in prayer books.
I suggest that perhaps it is now time for all congregations to begin saying it.
Israel has responded to the Palestinian barbarity. It has killed and injured roughly one-third of the political-terrorist group Hamas in Gaza and has leveled much of the terrorist enclave. Hamas has claimed that nearly 30,000 Gazans have been killed at this point, with children accounting for over one-third.
On top of the frozen state of terror of Jews from the ongoing antisemitic attacks since October 7 is the sadness of watching the destruction of Gaza. Why did Hamas do this and why does the evil group insist that Israeli forces continue to pound Gaza rather than release the hostages and surrender the terrorists?
Hamas has an evil and twisted ideology rooted in a radical interpretation of Islam that demands the destruction of the Jewish state, believing its presence is an embarrassment for Muslims. As it states in its foundational charter “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it…. Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious… There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time… In face of the Jews’ usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised…. the Palestinian problem is a religious problem, and should be dealt with on this basis.”
For its part, Judaism has a different set of beliefs that stretches back thousands of years before the Islamic prophet Mohammed was born. It urges calm in the face of fear.
Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. (Proverbs 3:25)
Jews are carrying both the shock of October 7 in Israel and the sickening reaction of Hamas’s fans around the world. They are simultaneously witnessing the destruction of that enemy. It’s a lot to process – the “sudden fear” and the “desolation of the wicked” – and has led many Jews and Zionists to huddle together in synagogue, and hide symbols of being Jewish when they go outside.
Jewish Calendar And Numbers
The Jewish year 5784 is a Jewish leap year which adds another month, and the year 2024 in the secular calendar is also a leap year which adds a single day. Both the Jewish calendar and the secular calendars add the time in the winter to “correct” the calendar for the upcoming spring.
We are now in the first of two months of Adar. Jewish tradition holds that Adar is a month of happiness and when Jews defeated their mortal enemies who attacked the weakest Jews. The double month of Adar is meant as a moment of double celebration.
This year of 5784 is the eighth year of the 19-year Metonic cycle which marks leap years on the third, sixth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth, seventeenth and nineteenth year. Just as 2024 is the eighth year in the cycle, so was 1967, when Israel reunified Jerusalem, as was 1948, the year that the Jewish State was reborn. From 1948 to 1967 was one Metonic cycle and from 1967 to 2024 were three full cycles.
Numbers have significance in Judaism. One is connected to the singularity of God in the Jewish monotheistic faith. Three symbolizes Judaism’s founding fathers, the sections of the Shema prayer, three holidays of pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the three groups of Jews.
Eight is also meaningful. Beyond the day that Jewish males are circumcised to join the Jewish nation, tradition is that eight connects man in the natural to the supernatural world. While God made the world in seven days and had seven branches on the menorah in the holy Temple, eight is the step beyond. The seven branch menorah was for the Temple, while Jews light an eight branch menorah in their homes and synagogues today to connect to the miracle.
Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us. (Isaiah 8:10)
These months of Adar seem like important months to recite the oft-skipped prayer. A time to mark the third complete leap year cycle of Jewish control Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. It is a time to remember that God is with us and he is the sole source of fear.
Amalek And Arms Aloft Together
When the Jewish people left slavery in Egypt they were attacked by the nation of Amalek. During the battle, Jews looked up to Moses who held his arms pointing to the sky with the assistance of Aaron and Hur who held the elderly prophet’s arms. The Jews were empowered when they saw Moses praying to God to vanquish the enemy, and prevailed as God enabled their success.
And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you. (Isaiah 46:4)
Today, there is no Jewish leader like Moses to pray on behalf of the jews, and every Jew takes their own prayer book to talk to God. They gather in minyanim around the world to pray for Jewish soldiers fighting with weapons, and Jewish lay leaders who fight against Hamas’s supporters in governments, college campuses and everywhere.
Let us all recite Al Tirah together, holding the hands of the people to our right and left, and pray for God to deliver success in defeating all of our foes.
FirstOneThrough 