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Heart and Soul
15-year-old Adin Stanleigh cleans palm branches used to cover a sukkah, or ritual booth, used during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, in Jerusalem, Israel, Oct. 11, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Ronen Zvulun.
JNS.org – Does it always rain on Sukkot, where you live? Here in South Africa, the farmers say as soon as the Jews put up their booths, the rains will come.
Besides the sukkah itself, on this beautiful, joyous festival, we also have the “Four Species”—the lulav, etrog, hadassim and aravot (palm branch, citron, myrtle and willows.) We recite a blessing on them daily, except Shabbat. The etrog is the most expensive by far of these four items. In most communities, you choose and pay for the etrog and the other three come free. Why is this?
There is an interesting teaching that each of the “Four Species” looks like a different part of the body. The tall, straight lulav resembles the spine. The roundish etrog represents the heart. The leaves of the myrtle look like the shape of our eye, and the willow leaves appear like our lips.
Naturally, each of these is very important. We need all four to observe the mitzvah correctly and to recite a blessing on them.
Now, each of these body parts is essential and necessary for our well-being—not only physically but spiritually as well.
A spineless individual is a nobody. Anyone without principles, without the courage of his or her convictions, cannot be a person of worth. “I have my principles,” said one fellow. “But if you don’t like them, no problem. I have others.”
The lips play such a valuable role in our lives. We just observed Yom Kippur, and we recited the “Al Chet” confessional over and over throughout the day. I counted at least nine different sins there all to do with speech. “Lashon hara” (gossiping), bad-mouthing people, speaking foolishly, scoffing, swearing falsely or in vain, and more.
Then there are the eyes. Several of the transgressions in the confessional concern the way we view things and people. Do we have a “begrudging eye?” Do we have a proud, haughty look? Do we look at the wrong things? Do we always look at others critically?
I remember back in my yeshivah days in Montreal, there was an older man in the synagogue, which was in the same building as the school. Somehow, he always complained about the students. So, we gave him a nickname; we called him “Left-Eyed Sam.” Why? Because we were always taught to look at people positively and give them the benefit of the doubt. In Chassidic parlance, this is called to look at another with your “right eye.” So, seeing as this gentleman always saw us negatively, we thought the appellation of “Left-Eyed Sam” was quite appropriate.
But while the spine, lips and eyes are very significant, the heart—represented by the etrog—is indispensable. We can live with back problems, we can survive with speech or vision problems, but without a heart, we’re out of business. No heart means no life.
May I suggest that one significant message from the “Four Species” of Sukkot is that we Jews, in particular, need a heart. A Jewish heart. A heart that pumps, and is vital and full of Jewish vigor. A heart that feels, and is warm and compassionate.
We have been described as “merciful and children of the merciful.” Compassion is in our DNA. If someone behaves sadistically, we might want to check out their Jewish credentials. Before Rosh Hashanah and Passover, I always do a Yom Tov appeal to assist needy families in our community, and a very generous response from the congregation always follows. We are thus able to help dozens of families enjoy a happier holiday. Compassion and charity are in our Jewish blood. And it is the same in every Jewish community around the world.
Let me share a story I told in my shul in Johannesburg before Yizkor on Yom Kippur. I heard it in the name of an eyewitness.
Tragically, one of our brave soldiers lost his life when entering a booby-trapped house in Gaza. After his death, his father was seen frantically searching for his son’s phone.
When they asked him why it was so important, he said he didn’t have any pictures of his son that he could use for the media, who were asking him for a photo. In all the photos he has, his son is bare-chested and full of tattoos. His son was, apparently, quite a wild, rough young man. The father was looking for his son’s phone, hoping to find a photo of him wearing a shirt and looking more respectable.
Later, at the funeral, a religious soldier asked for permission to speak at the service. The family didn’t know him but allowed him to speak out of curiosity.
This religious soldier then stands up at the funeral and tells them the story of how this young man died.
“In Gaza, when the chayalim enter buildings, the Israel Defense Forces policy is that there must always be two soldiers who work together. And they take turns being the first one to enter the building. Because if it is booby-trapped, the first one in will most likely be killed. So, to make it fair, they alternate.
“I was his partner in entering the houses in Gaza. We always took turns going in first, as is the policy. When it came to this particular house the other day, it was my turn to go in first. But my partner here insisted that he should go in first. I said, ‘No. It’s my turn.’
“But he argued with me. He said I have a wife and children, and he is single. And he insisted on going in first. I said it’s my turn, and he said he wanted to go in anyway, and so it went back and forth until he just picked himself up and went in himself.
“And the building was booby-trapped, and that is how he died.”
There at the funeral, with tears streaming down his face, the religious soldier cried out: “He gave his life for me!”
This ruffian, completely tattooed, whose father struggled to find one normal picture of him, became a Kadosh—a holy martyr for his people and his land! This rough and tough young man, who was far from religious and seemingly not all that respectable either, suddenly went from zero to hero! He gave his life for his partner.
Do you understand what a Jewish heart is? What every single Jew is made of? Even the wildest among us is a rough diamond, but a diamond nonetheless.
During the Yom Kippur War, the Lubavitcher Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson—said that every single soldier in the IDF is a tzaddik gamur, “perfectly righteous.” Anyone who puts on a uniform is putting his life in danger for others, for us. If he or she is prepared to give their lives for our people and our land, how much more righteous can you get? They are the “holy of holies!”
May we all learn from our courageous chayalim, our brave soldiers, whose full-blooded, warm and vital Jewish hearts are there for all to see.
May they be safe, and may we have a heart.
Chag Sameach!
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
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