Marriages and Weddings

Jacob’s Dream  by Laya Crust

This week’s parsha, VaYeitze, tells the story of Jacob’s time in Padan Aram from start to finish. He left his family in Be’er Sheva to escape his bother’s wrath and seek a wife among his mother’s family. When he decided to return home he had two wives, two concubines, twelve sons and one daughter plus cattle and wealth.

When Jacob arrived in Padan Aram he saw his cousin Rachel at a well and fell in love with her. He promised to work for seven years for her hand in marriage. He was tricked by his Uncle Lavan and the morning after the wedding he discovered he had married Leah, the older sister. So Jacob worked an additional seven years in order to marry his beloved Rachel.

In this story we see the foundation of certain elements of the traditional Jewish marriage ceremony. Before the wedding ceremony under the chuppah we have the “Bedecken” when the groom sees the bride’s face before lowering her veil. This is to ensure the groom marries his chosen bride, and avoids the trick played on Jacob. As in ancient times there is an exchange of goods between the two families. The bride brings a dowry and the groom gives something of value to the bride’s family. In Isaac’s case his proxy, Eliezer, gave precious silver and gold and “raiment” to Rebecca’s family. In Jacob’s case he didn’t have valuables so he pledged to work for seven years for each of his brides.

Florentine Ketubah by Laya Crust

Over 2,000 years ago Jews began to use a written marriage contract. The ketubah, meaning “writ” in Hebrew, records the date and place of the wedding, the names of the bride and groom, and the financial obligations of each family. This legal document was the first legal document in history designed to ensure financial stability for a married woman.

Throughout time couples started to get decorated ketubahs. Now it is very popular for a couple to commission an original, hand written and painted ketubah, or to buy a poster-type ketubah on line.

I’ve been making ketubahs for decades and have designed and painted over 600 of them! The ketubah in still written in the ancient language of Aramaic and still mentions dowry and the husband’s responsibilities towards his wife and her well being.  Some traditions use actual dollar values and some ceremonially use ancient currencies.

 

Joy by Laya Crust ——- Tova and Cliel’s Stairway to Heaven by Laya Crust

Leah and Rachel, Jacob’s wives, didn’t have a ketubah. They were fortunate to be married to a man who took care of them and their children, honoured his obligations to his father-in-law, and was able to feed and shelter his large family. It’s true- there were jealousies and difficulties, but Jacob did take care of his own.

I love making ketubahs- discovering a couple’s dreams and preferences. If you want to see more examples of my ketubahs, maybe even order one or commission your own, take a look at my website: www.layacrust.com. 

Make sure to read this week’s Torah portion and enjoy. It’s the beginning of a world altering family saga! Have a Shabbat Shalom,

Laya

 

 

 

Bill Glied z”l

Bill Glied z”l,  1930 -2018

We are reading the first stories in the Book of Genesis, ספר בראשית.  After creating the world and creating humankind with the gift of free will, God saw that free will wasn’t a trait that always would be used for good purposes. Rather than using their choices for beauty and good, some of humanity showed themselves to be envious, greedy, violent,  and, well murderous. God found a man, Abraham, who had integrity and searched for truth. Together Abraham and his wife Sarah were chosen to begin a new nation, God’s chosen people the Jews.

In the Torah readings of “Lech Lecha” and VaYeira” we read some of the challenges that God put before Abraham. One of those tests was “Akeidat Yitzchak” the binding and threatened sacrifice of Abraham and Sarah’s precious son Isaac. There were personal repercussions, but Abraham retained his faith in God and his descendants are the Jewish people of today.

Bill Glied wrote the following poem which he read when he led groups to the concentration camp of Majdanek:

Bill Glied z”l was a wonderful man of faith. He was born  in 1930 in the town of Subotica, Serbia. In April of 1944 Hungarian gendarmes rounded up more than 400,000 Jews. Bill Glied and his family were among those Jews and were transported in cattle cars to Aushcwitz. His mother and 8 year old sister were killed immediately. He and his father were sent to a camp in Bavaria where they worked for 12 hours a day to build an underground airplane factory. Bill survived the camps and the war but tragically his father died of typhoid fever eight days before U.S. troops liberated the camp in 1945.

Bill was not a bitter man and devoted a great deal of time to teaching youth about the Holocaust, and making sure that the tragedy will not be forgotten.

He wrote a beautiful poem, “I AM A JEW” as a wake-up call and an inspiration to others.”I AM A JEW” is a lesson, a guideline, for what we, as Jews, are. It describes the best that we can strive for. It outlines the traits we should cultivate and can achieve.

I was honoured to be asked to write out the poem,  With the family’s permission I am reprinting it and showing the illustrated poem.

Bill Glied came to Canada in 1947,  and married Marika Nyiri in 1959. They had three daughters, Sherry, Tammy, and Michelle, eight grandchildren, and a great grandchild. His family carries on Bill’s love of the world and let’s all ensure that his name will be remembered as a blessing.

Have a Shabbat Shalom,   Laya

Tisha B’Av

art by Laya Crust, inspired by Miklos Adler

We will be observing Tisha B’Av this Saturday night, July 21, 2018 through Sunday evening, July 22. It is the anniversary of the destruction of both the First Temple (586 BCE) and the Second Temple (70 CE) in Jerusalem. Although they occurred about 655 years apart they occurred on the same day in the Hebrew calendar. Many other Jewish tragedies are also remembered on Tisha b’Av-  the day has been called the “saddest day in Jewish history”. We read the Book of Eicha which was written by the prophet Jeremiah, and other calamities are commemorated by reading kinnot (poetry of sorrow).

Tisha B’Av is treated as a day of mourning. We fast from sunset to sunset- unlike most other Jewish fasts which last from sunrise to sunset. We don’t wear leather, listen to music, swim, and we sit on the ground. One tradition is to eat a hard boiled egg dipped in ashes before the fast begins. The “Book of Lamentations”, “Eicha” in Hebrew, is read by candle light sitting on the floor.

We also read Jeremiah 8:13 – 9:23, a series of some of Jeremiah’s gloomiest prophecies.  Invasion, siege, famine, starvation, doom, devastation, death, lament, cruelty are the themes of this haftarah. The dirge is unrelieved by words of comfort. These words reflect the emotion of Tisha b’Av.  The image chosen for Tisha b’Av is based on a woodcut by the Shoah artist Miklos Adler. Miklos Adler was a Hungarian Concentration camp survivor who depicted the autrocities of the Shoah. He was born in 1909 and died in 1965 in Israel.He painted,drew and did woodcuts. His woodcuts can be seen in a powerful haggadah called “The Survivor’s Haggadah”.The picture I drew is based on one of his haggadah woodcuts. It shows Jews waiting at a train station, looking at smoke in the form of faces rising out of crematoria chimney stacks.

I hope you have a meaningful fast and that we all endeavour to make Israel strong, and make the world a better place. Maybe we will see peace… we can work towards that. If you have comments or reflections on Tisha B’Av or the imagery please post your ideas.I would love to hear from you.

Best, Laya

Living in a Wall- Shelach Lecha

Rahav and the Spies by Laya Crust

Joshua 2: 1- 24

This week the Torah relates the story of Moshe sending twelve spies into Canaan to see what the land was like. Joshua was one of those spies. The men came back from their mission laden with grapes, pomegranates and figs but were afraid to face the people who occupied the land. The spies called the people “giants” and thought the Israelites would be slaughtered. Only two men, Joshua and Caleb, believed that the Israelites would be able to possess the “land of milk and honey”.

In the accompanying haftarah Joshua was the leader of the nation. Two spies were sent to Jericho to investigate the city and the surrounding countryside. They went to an inn at the fortress wall owned by a local woman named Rahav. She hid them from the city guards in bales of wheat on her roof, then lowered them from a window so they could escape. The two spies gave her a red rope to hang from her window so that when the Israelites attacked Jericho her home and all those in her home would be saved.

Rahav didn’t only live by the wall, she lived in the wall- the defense wall surrounding Jericho at that. I wondered how that was possible. Defense walls are thick and were built so that soldiers could stand at the wall and fire defense weaponry on attackers. There were openings in defense walls so that the fighters could shoot arrows, guns, cannons, pots of boiling oil, or whatever their preferred weapon was. I didn’t understand how Rahav lived next to a wall with populated with soldiers, and she even had access to the open country.
I spoke to a historian about the walls. He told me that at times the walls were made 4 – 6 feet deep, with open space in that 4- 6 foot area. People would live there, probably those who were on the poorer end of the spectrum. They lived in smaller spaces farther from the centre of commerce and social life.

This is a drawing based on an excavation of Jericho. It reconstructs the moment when
the trumpet players blew their horns and the walls of Jericho began to crumble.

This illustration from the “Biblical Archeology ” website shows how there was room between an interior wall and another exterior wall. It was logical for Rahav to have an inn within or between the walls because it would be an inexpensive inn or drinking place on the edge of town, it would service common people who would be gossiping about the political situation,  it would be convenient for travelers just entering the city, and it would be convenient for a hasty escape or secret rendezvous.

As with so many bible stories this includes adventure, espionage, and bravery. It is fascinating to pay attention to the details and learn about life and circumstance in another age- like learning about living in a defense wall.

Have a good day and a good week.

P.S. The painting of Rahav and the Spies will be in the book of haftarah images that I am working on now. Stayed tuned for future updates!

 

 

Eikev

Eikev

Isaiah 49:14 – 51:3
Isaiah (prophet)- c. 740 – 681 B.C.E

This is the second haftarah of Consolation after Tisha B’Av.

Although B’nei Yisrael feel that God has abandoned them Isaiah tells the people that just as a mother cannot abandon her children God cannot abandon His nation. Interestingly the parsha begins with text reminding the Jews that if they obey and observe God’s rules He will reward them. The parsha stresses the importance of trusting in HaShem, even when the enemy seems unbeatable.

The Jews had been exiled from Judea to Babylon in 597 BCE and then again 10 years later. It’s possible Isaiah spoke these words to the Jews when they were allowed back into Judea – sometime after 538 BCE.

The first part of the haftarah describes B’nei Yisrael’s feeling that they have been abandoned and rejected by God. Isaiah says that G-d will never reject B’nei Yisrael, and promises the return of the Judeans to their land. “As for your ruins and desolate places and your land laid waste- You shall soon be crowded with settlers while destroyers stay far from you.” (Isaiah 49:19)

The quotation, “I will contend with your adversaries, and I will deliver your children.” made me think of times when B’nei Yisrael were in danger and afraid of the enemy but were saved by a seemingly impossible hero. One such incident was the battle between David and Goliath. I came across a unique and witty illustration from the Russian Museum of Ethnography, from the late 19th C, and showing David fighting Goliath. Goliath and the Pelishtim are depicted as Czarist soldiers and David is a Russian Jew. His cohorts are Hassidim complete with payot and hats. The picture is entertaining and unexpected- I never expected to see Davis as a Russian craftsman and Goliath as a Russian general. However it gives the same message as does the haftarah. Although the Jews were being persecuted in Czarist Russia – as they had been in Judea and Babylon – God had not forgotten them. Like David, they would not be vanquished by their enemies. (Illustration. P.161, The Illustrated History of the Jewish People edited by Nicholas de Lange)

Tisha B’Av

Tisha B’Av begins tonight, the 15th of July, 2013 which corresponds to the ninth of Av. It is the anniversary of the destruction of both the First Temple (586 BCE) and the Second Temple (70 CE) in Jerusalem. Although they occurred about 655 years apart they occurred on the same day in the Hebrew calendar. Other Jewish tragedies are also remembered on Tisha b’Av-  the day has been called the “saddest day in Jewish history”. We read the Book of Eicha which was written by the prophet Jeremiah, and other calamities are commemorated by reading kinnot (poetry of sorrow).

 

Tisha B’Av is treated as a day of mourning. We fast from sunset to sunset- unlike most other Jewish fasts which last from sunrise to sunset. We don’t wear leather, listen to music, swim, and we sit on the ground.One tradition is before the fast begins to eat a hard boiled egg dipped in ashes.The Book of Eicha is read by candle light sitting on the floor.

During the prayers a section from the Book of Prophets is read:

 

Tisha B’Av Shacharit

Jeremiah 8:13 – 9:23

This is a series of some of Jeremiah’s gloomiest prophecies. Doom, invasion, siege, famine, starvation, devastation, death, lament, cruelty are the theme of this haftarah. The dirge is unrelieved by words of comfort. These words reflect the emotion of Tisha b’Av The image chosen for Tisha b’Av is based on a woodcut by the Shoah artist Miklos Adler. Miklos Adler was a Hungarian Concentration camp survivor who depicted the autrocities of the Shoah. He was born in 1909 and died in 1965 in Israel.He painted,drew and did woodcuts.His woodcuts can be seen in a powerful haggadah called “The Survivor’s Haggadah”

The picture I drew is based on one of his haggadah woodcuts. It shows Jews waiting at a train station, looking at smoke in the form of faces rising out of crematoria chimney stacks.

If you have comments or reflections on Tisha B’Av or the imagery please post your ideas.I would love to hear from you.

Devarim

 

Devarim

 Isaiah I: 1- 27

Isaiah (prophet)- c.740 – 685 BCE

The Book of Isaiah is used for 18 haftarot through the year- more than any other book.

This haftarah always precedes the fast of Tisha B’Av  (the 9^th of Av). It is the last of the “Three Haftarot of Rebuke”. This may have been prophesied around 701 BCE, during the reign of King Sennacherib. Assyria had invaded Judah and had begun the siege of Jerusalem. It is a desolate haftarah where Isaiah recounts how God laments that His children – B’nei Yisrael – have rebelled against Him. They are corrupt, their prayers are empty and their sacrifices are meaningless.

He tells the nation their sins can become white as snow and the land can become fruitful and full again.  God asks Israel to “Learn to do well; Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.” (Isaiah 1: 17)

The haftarah is bleak, expressing God’s disappointment in His people and longing for them to improve. In searching for an image I wanted something that expressed God’s desires for His children.  I thought back to the survivors of the Shoah and how they had to be cared for.

As we know, Jewish immigration to Israel, their ancestral homeland, was severely restricted by the White Paper of 1939. Jewish survivors of the Shoah (Holocaust) had to enter mandate Palestine illegally and if they were caught were sent to D.P.camps. When Israel was declared a state in 1948 there were suddenly thousands of Jewish immigrants in the country needing food, clothing and shelter.

“Ma’abarot” (or temporary camps and cities) were set up to temporarily house survivors and refugees. In the early 1950’s they accommodated 130,000 expelled Iraqi Jews. By the end of 1951 there were over 220,000 people in about 125 different  areas.

The ma’abarot had problems and were not “perfect” solutions, but they were a genuine attempt to take care of the widows, the orphans and the needy when Israel was first established.

 The illustration is inspired by a photograph of a ma’abarah in 1952.

 

Masei

 

Jeremiah 2:4– 28; 3:4;  4:1-2

Jeremiah (prophet) c. 655 BCE -.586 BCE.

Haftarat Masei is called “The Second Haftarah of Rebuke” and is read during the “Three Weeks of Mourning. (17^th of Tammuz to the 9^th of Av).  I will discuss a number of aspects of admonition, Jeremiah the prophet, and parallels between the parsha and the haftarah.

The parsha begins with a description of the route the Israelites took as they were led through the desert by Moses and Aharon. The first 49 psoukim list all the places where they camped.  The next chapter of the parsha (perek 34) delineates the boundaries of the land of Canaan being awarded to B’nei Yisrael. It’s fascinating to see the mapping in the parsha and to read how accurately each encampment and each border is listed.

In the haftarah the prophet Jeremiah reminds B’nei Yisrael “how God led His people “out of the land of Egypt, through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death…. And into a land of fruitful fields…” (ch.2: 6,7).  So, I used a map of the route mentioned in both the parsha and the haftarah for this week’s painting. However, reproach is the real message of the haftarah.

Jeremiah was a prophet who lived through a tumultuous time in Jewish history. His life spanned the reign of 5 kings- Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. It was a time of idolatry and war. Jeremiah warned B’nei Yisrael that they were going to be punished for their idol worship, using very direct and damning language. At the end of his life, in 586 BCE, Judah was destroyed and Jerusalem was sacked by Nebuchadnezzar. The majority of Jews were exiled to Babylon. Jeremiah, who never married and was reviled for his messages, escaped to Egypt. He continued his prophecies from Egypt and died there.

In this haftarah he begins by reminding B’nei Israel how God brought them to Canaan. Then Jeremiah describes a litany of B’nei Israel’s sins. At the very end of the haftarah Jeremiah mitigates the message slightly by telling the people that if they return to God “in sincerity, justice and righteousness nations will bless themselves by you and praise themselves by you.”

The haftarah begins with the word “Shim-u”- “Listen” or “Hear” the word of God. The rabbis remind us that these words remind us of “na’asei v’nishma” –we will do and we will hear- the words B’nei Yisrael used at Sinai to affirm their covenant with God. Another word of note in the haftarah is “Eich”- How? “Eich” is used twice in the haftarah asking how Israel can have changed so much, turning to sinning and base behaviour. This reminds us of the word “Eicha”- the name of the book we read on Tisha B’Av.

In the midst of such negativity and sadness the image of the trek through the desert to the Promised Land is one of hope and the realization of God’s commitment to us.

 If you have any comments, please post them. I’d love to hear from you.

Pinchas

after the 17^th of Tammuz

Usually for Parshat Pinchas we read the haftarah from Kings I  ch 16: 46 –19: 21. It is about Eliahu (Elijah) and his confrontation with Queen Jezebel and King Ahab. They were wicked rulers, who endeavored to kill all the Jewish prophets in their kingdom of Israel.    G-d speaks to Eliahu and instructs him to confront Jezebel and Ahab.  It’s a very exciting haftarah, but not the one we will be reading this week.

The Prophet Jeremiah by Michaelangelo

This Shabbat is one of the three Shabbatot preceding Tisha B’Av. This period is called “The Three (Weeks) of Admonition (Tlat DePuranuta)”. We read the first of three haftarot dealing with G‑d’s disappointment with Israel’s lack of faith and the punishments they will receive if they don’t behave righteously.
This haftarah reading is from the beginning of the Book of Jeremiah and is usually read on Shabbat Mattot. The first sentences tell us that Jeremiah prophesied from the time of King Josiah in Judah until the time of Jerusalem’s exile at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.

We are introduced to the prophet , being told that G-d spoke to him even before Jeremiah was born, and that at that early point Jeremiah felt inadequate to speak for HaShem. In this narrative G-d shows Jeremiah first a budding almond branch, and then a steaming pot “tipped away from the north.” The budding almond branch is a symbol of G-d’s swiftness in attending to His people- just as the almond is the first tree to flower, HaShem is first to attend to us. The steaming pot tipped from the north represents the disaster that will befall B’nei Yisrael coming from the north.

The last few lines are comforting, stating that we will be attacked but not overcome.   G-d will always be present to save us.

The painting of Jeremiah is inspired by the style of the 13^th C North French Miscellany.

The steaming pot and the budding branch are to the left and right of Jeremiah.

Hukkat

Judges 11: 1 – 33

This narrative has a man named Yiftach as the central figure. Yiftach was the son of Gilead and a prostitute. He was driven out of the family by his half brothers- the “legitimate” sons of Gilead who said they did not want to share the land inheritance with him. When the Ammonites made war against B’nei Yisrael, the sons of Gilead called their half-brother Yiftach to lead them to battle as he was a great warrior and was known as being a good leader. Yiftach made an oath to G-d that if he won the battle he would sacrifice the first thing that crossed his path when he returned home- but that’s another story. A tragic story that is not included in this week’s haftarah.

 

Naturally I wanted to paint Yiftach leading the fighters into battle. I tried to find images of Jewish warriors in ancient paintings, medieval hagaddot and early manuscript paintings but there didn’t seem to be any images of Jewish soldiers. I came across this beautiful picture from

The “Duke of Sussex Pentateuch”. It was painted in 13^th C. Southern Germany, and shows the Jews dressed as soldiers in Crusader dress of the period.

It is intriguing that the Jewish artist had painted the leaders of the tribes of Israel as crusaders, but I assume that was the only context the Jews of Germany had for soldiers. But I liked that the Jews were portrayed as warriors. I gave them weapons and the flag of the Tribe of Menashe.

The “Duke of Sussex Pentateuch” can currently be found in the British Library.