After much pandemonium due to reportedly mixed messages from El Al about the cause of what turned out to be a more than a three-hour delay on the tarmac at JFK Airport on Thursday evening, the plane took off, despite the requests of many passengers to disembark for fear the flight would not make it to Tel Aviv before Shabbat.
The watchful passengers eventually did disembark prior to their scheduled destination, but not until hours later, when El Al announced that the flight would not, in fact, make Tel Aviv in time for Shabbat, and so diverted the plane to Athens.
While the decision caused some further confusion and consternation about how Shabbat would be kept in Athens on about an hour’s notice, the story for the most part at that point began to turn from worry and concern to relief and calm —and even elation for at least one of the passengers featured in a social-media post.
“This is going to be one of the most exciting, beautiful Shabbats ever,” said the jubilant man in a video posting standing among smiling fellow passengers in the baggage-claim area in Athens. “I am spending it with Yidden from everywhere. Everyone’s chipping in together. It’s going to be beautiful. We have … well, whatever we have, it’s not about the food. It’s going to be about the ruchnius [‘spirituality’] and achdus [‘unity’]. It’s about 120 people who got off the plane to be shomer Shabbat, and that is what counts.”
The mood change, largely generated by the certainty of being able to keep the weekly Jewish holiday even under extenuating circumstances, was further evident on one of the transport buses shuttling some of the passengers from the airport to their Shabbat destination.
There, mostly Chassidic passengers could be seen in a video dancing while chanting one of the well-known sections of the Friday-evening prayers: “Those who observe the Shabbat and call it a delight shall rejoice in Your Kingship,” as the English translations goes.
‘Our Gift and Our Inheritance’
What the passengers didn’t know at that moment was what was waiting for them at the hotel that the airline had booked: a full-course Shabbat meal, prayer-hall accommodations and arrangements for customary Shabbat learning sessions, compliments of local Chabad emissaries Rabbi Mendel and Nechama Hendel. The couple, who have co-directed the Athens Chabad center since 2001, were alerted about the incoming flight and situation around 11 a.m. (Athens time) on Friday. By 4 p.m., they had put together a lavish Shabbat spread for what was actually more like 150 people, according to the account of another passenger.
The travelers from all Jewish backgrounds—held together by the mutual desire to keep the Shabbat—had been told only on the plane that Chabad would be helping out once they arrived in Athens. To their further relief upon entering the hotel lobby while frantically rushing the reception desk to check in—clock ticking—they learned from hotel personnel that Chabad had a full Shabbat meal and program planned.
One of those passengers was Shalom Lipner, former foreign-policy adviser to the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem and currently a non-resident senior fellow at the center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute in Washington. He was on the flight with his wife, returning home to Israel after a trip involving a joyous occasion and business engagements.
Reflecting on the overall experience, he told Chabad.org: “Everyone was determined to make the best of things, which couldn’t have happened without Rabbi Mendel and Rebbetzin Nechama. People who would not normally have spent Shabbat together were suddenly thrust into an impossible situation that broke down barriers.”
Another passenger, Ben Chafetz, provided much detail about the whole flight and Shabbat stay that also focused on the theme of how Jews from far-flung factions came together under trying circumstances to create a positive experience.
“Chassidim had gotten off that plane—men with black hats, colored shirts, in T-shirts, in suits, women with sheitels and snoods [head coverings], no sheitels, in skirts, in pants,” related Chafetz. “Everyone coming off the plane was united in one thing: We believe in G‑d and Torah. Shabbat is our gift and our inheritance, and we would keep it.”
The travelers were from all Jewish backgrounds, brought together by the mutual desire to keep Shabbat.
He described the atmosphere once everyone was settled in at the hotel and Shabbat prayers beginning with one word: “beautiful.”
“We were all so happy to be able to keep Shabbat, and the davening [‘praying’]and level of simcha [‘joy’] was very high.”
He added: “After Kabbalat Shabbat, we walked through the hotel to the dining area, and I can tell you with 100 percent conviction that what I saw was beyond anything I could have imagined.”
He reported that the vast majority of the dining area was reserved for the Shabbat meal—tables set with bottles of wine, grape juice and challah rolls. “Where the hotel usually displayed its salad bars and assortment of cold meats was now filled with platters of gefilte fish, and six or seven large bowls with a variety of salads and dips. It was as if it had been planned for weeks in advance.”
Anything but true.
It was the work of the Hendels, honed and talented from years of welcoming large groups of expected and unexpected guests, with the grace of Shabbat hospitality.
After being alerted about the incoming flight by an assistant of passenger Rabbi Shalom Ber Sorotzkin, who heads Yeshivas Ateret Shlomo of Beit Shemesh, and shortly after by the local El Al office, the Hendel’s kicked into action.
“We started getting organized bringing in our kitchen staff from the kosher restaurant we have, plus additional help, and assessed the situation,” Hendel said. “What we had, what can be prepared in that short amount of time, what’s in our freezer. We already had 130 guests planned at the Chabad House anyway, and we always make extra food for unexpected guests. We also took some of that.”
They also arranged for a Torah scroll, prayer books and Chumashim (copies of “the Five Books of Moses”), Shabbat candles, materials for the concluding of Shabbat prayer, called Havdalah, “and whatever else was necessary for a proper Shabbat,” said Hendel. With the help of El Al, the couple was also lodged in the airport hotel, the Sofitel, a 45-minute drive from their Chabad center in downtown Athens—for the Shabbat experience.
“People were so appreciative of how beautiful the Shabbat turned out that when they learned we are in the middle of a mivkah [ritual bath] building project, they really wanted to help,” added Hendel.
He said that Rabbi Akiva Katz, head of the United Kashrut Authority in Jerusalem, who was on the flight, made an impromptu fundraising effort to help complete the project, with Rabbi David Derli, who heads Tiferet Tiberias institutions in Tiberias, pledging a significant amount personally and encouraging others to help.
“If by Divine Providence you find yourselves in Athens, it’s to help accomplish something positive,” Derli said in his pitch about the project, being built with help from Keren Mikvaot and the Rabbinical Center of Europe.
It was not easy to say farewell to their impromptu guests after all that developed over Shabbat, though happenstance brings new situations of similar nature on a regular basis and there’s always more to look forward to, said Hendel. The couple, with the help of their staff, packed up and went home.
As for their guests, upon return from the trip on a flight that departed late Saturday night and landed only a bit delayed this time— 1:45 a.m. Sunday in Israel—the group belted out louder than usual the standard end-of-flight cheers, then broke into song again on the theme of Shabbat delight, shared Lipner.
THE SHOMREI SHABBOS PASSENGERS, SHOULD IN THE FIRST PLACE, NEVER HAVE BEEN ON THAT FLIGHT ACCORDING TO HALACH.
I HAVE SAID THAT A FEW TIMES AND ALL THE RABBONIM AGREE WITH ME.
THAT YOU DO NOT TRAVEL TO ISRAEL ON A FLIGHT THAT DOES ARRIVE, THE LATEST TIME EARLY FRIDAY MORNING.
I SAY AGAIN IF YOU CAN NOT GIVE UP A DAY OF WORK IN NEW YORK, THEN STAY AT HOME.
A FRUM JEW WHO TRAVELS TO ISRAEL ON A LATE FLIGHT SHOULD NOT THINK THAT HE IS BETTER THEN EL AL AND THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT WHO DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE HOLY SHABBOS.
THE AVNEI NEZER ZY"A ONCE TOLD HIS GABAI THAT HE WANTS TO TRAVEL TO THE BRIS OF A CERTAIN SIMPLE YID.
THE GABAI ASKED,
" YOU DO NOT GENERALLY GO TO A BRIS THAT IS IN A DIFFERENT CITY. WHY DO YOU WANT TO GO TO THIS ONE ? "
THE AVNEI NEZER REPLIED, " THAT FATHER MADE A KIDDUSH HASHEM, THEREFORE I WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE BRIS . "
" WHAT KIDDUSH HASHEM DID HE MAKE ? " THE GABAI WAS INTRIGUED .
THE AVNEI NEZER EXPLAINED, " THE FATHER SAID TO ME , HASHEM HELPED ME, AFTER FIFTEEN YEARS OF WAITING, HASHEM GRANTED ME A SON.
THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME I HEARD SOMEONE SAY THAT THE SALVATION CAME FROM HASHEM. GENERALLY, I HEAR PEOPLE SAY THAT THEY RECEIVED THEIR YESHUAH FROM THE GERRER REBBE OR FROM THE KOTZKER REBBE, OR FROM RADZAMINER REBBE.
THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I HEARDSOMEONE RECOGNIZE THAT HASHEM PREFORMED THE MIRACLE.
" THIS RECOGNITION IS A KIDDUSH HASHEM, AND THEREFORE I WANT TO ATTEND THE BRIS, "
A young girl, presumably from a Southern town near the border that has been bombarded with rocket fire, asks viewers if they slept well the night before.
“Well I didn’t”, she says. “We were standing here in a bomb shelter, scared the whole night.”
“Are you crazy?!” she asks Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “You don’t do ANYTHING for us!”
“Gaza is shooting rockets and we are standing here like DOGS!”
Israel Municipal Runoff Election Updates – Sunday, 11/11/2018
Which Candidates Will Chassidim Back in Jerusalem Mayoral Race?
It is minhag that on the Shabbos before an election, that in the chassidish communities, the candidate backed by the rebbe is announced. This announcement did not come this past Shabbos despite the fact Tuesday is Election Day, presumably because there has not been an official announcement from Agudas Yisrael.
Towards the end of last week, Agudas’ Vaad of Eight gave the green light to begin negotiations with candidate Moshe Leon, towards determining if Agudah would officially back him in the upcoming runoff election, scheduled for Tuesday, 4 Kislev. However, that was short lived as Agudah decided to connect the elections in Tzefas, where Shlomei Emunim candidate Nachman Gelbech is running for mayor in the runoff election. Whatever the case may be, while in the first election Agudas Yisrael officially backed Yossi Deutsch, now, in the runoff election, there has not been any official word.
Some rumored that in Belz, it was to be announced the chassidus backs Moshe Leon, but no such announcement was made during Shabbos, and the same is true for Vishnitz and Boyan.
HaGaon HaRav Cohen Calls on Berkowitz to Drop Out of Jerusalem Race
HaGaon HaRav Shalom Cohen Shlita, head of the Shas Moetzas Gedolei Torah, told Jerusalem mayoral candidate Ofer Berkowitz “I love you – drop out of the race!”
Speaking at a Moshe Leon for Mayor election gathering, Rav Cohen warned that if Moshe Leon is not elected, the Chilul Shabbos in the capital will not only continue, but increase. He spoke of how he has already heard that opponent Ofer Berkowitz, the security candidate in the runoff election, will be permitting cafes to operate on the holy day.
Rav Cohen announced, “Berkowitz, I love you and I advise you to drop out of the race and create a major Kovod Shomayim.”
Regarding the chareidim who intend to vote for Berkowitz, Rav Cohen hinted “We don’t know how the Satan operates and at times, even persons with Yiras Shomayim will come and say ‘look what he does for us, what he is giving us, as we have holy interests and lose the whole world.”
Sadly, the rescue mission was unsuccessful, as it appears that cult leaders had moved the children to a different location in advance of the raid at the cult’s barbed-wire surrounded compound.
The horror stories involving Lev Tahor have only gotten worse following the death of the cult’s founder and leader, Shlomo Helbrans, in Mexico in 2017. Since then, the leadership has moved into the hands of his brother Nachman Helbrans, along with Mayer Rosner, Yankel and Yoel Weingarten, who are even more radical and aggressive than the late founder.
Lev Tahor practices include women and girls wearing black head-to-toe coverings day and night, arranged marriages between teenagers, and a violent form of Malkos.
Former members of Lev Tahor (who either escaped or were otherwise expelled) do not recall learning Mishnah or Gemara, nor any Mitzvos Bein Adam LeChaveiro. They spend the majority of the day in deep prayer and are only allowed to study certain sections of the Chumash, with Lev Tahor commentary.
Internal documents of Lev Tahor show that Shlomo Helbrans made his followers swear and sign to uphold the following principles among others.
(1) Everyone must negate his or her mind and mind thoroughly and completely, to the leader of Lev Tahor.
2) They must subjugate soul, spirit, and will.
3) Each man accepts upon his descendants and descendant’s descendants until the end of all generations to be subjugated under the will of Lev Tahor’s leader.. this should be said openly to the leader himself.
4) Everyone must be ready at any time and moment of 24 hours of the day, whether on the Shabbath and Yom Tov, summer and winter, healthy or sick, to do the will of the leader.
5) Whether the person is a young man or an old man, virgins and women they must accept to do the will of the leader.
6) They must agree to throw away all his physical needs, including eating sleep and rest until he fulfills the desires the leader.
7) It is the obligation of each of them at the beginning of the morning prayers to recite and accept upon themselves all of the above with full mouth and supreme joy.
In 2014 YWN ran an article titled “Cults and the War of the Jewish Magazines” in response to Mishpacha and Ami magazines running articles on Lev Tahor. Mishpacha Magzaine had run a fifteen page “expose” on the group, essentially describing Lev Tahor as a cult that has some serious issues involving medicating children, and behaviors that resemble child abuse. Ami Magazing claimed the exact opposite – and ran the following sentence below their headline “The unjust persecution of a group of pious Jews, and the unsettling silence of the Jewish community.”
Originally a citizen of Israel, cult leader Shlomo Helbrans went to the United States where he was convicted for kidnapping in 1994 and served a two-year prison term before being deported to Israel in 2000. He then settled in Canada.
In 1994 he was convicted in Brooklyn for the 1992 kidnapping of 13-year-old Shai Fhima Reuven, a Bar Mitzvah boy he was tutoring, and served a two-year prison term in the U.S. He was originally sentenced to four to 12 years in prison, but in June 1996 an appeals court reduced the sentence to two to six years. Three days later, he was placed in the work release program for prisoners less than two years away from the possibility of parole, where inmates are freed from prison if they have a job. After protests, he was moved back to prison.
The high-profile case drew much attention in the U.S., and gained further attention when Helbrans successfully convinced New York prison authorities to waive their requirement that all prisoners be shaved for a photograph upon entering prison, and to accept a computer-generated image of what he would have looked like clean-shaven instead. After the State Parole Board decided in November 1996 to release Helbrans after two years in prison, the case rose to near scandal with suspicions that the Pataki administration was providing him special treatment.
After his release from prison, Helbrans ran a yeshiva in Monsey, N.Y., and was deported to Israel in 2000. He then settled in Canada, where in 2003 he was granted refugee status, claiming his life was being threatened in Israel.
Helbrans and his followers had arrived in Mexico’s southern Chiapas province after spending three years in Guatemala. They had travelled to Guatemala from Canada, where child-protection authorities were moving to seize children allegedly suffering from neglect.
The group had been established on the outskirts of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, north of Montreal, for more than a decade before Quebec authorities began paying close attention. As they prepared to move in to protect children in the sect in late 2013, community members left en masse overnight for Chatham, Ontario. Before the next summer, they had moved on to Guatemala.
Court documents used by Quebec police to obtain warrants alleged that Lev Tahor girls as young as 13 and 14 in the community were routinely married off to much older men. The allegations in the documents, which became public after the sect had fled and were never proven in court, included sexual and physical abuse of children.
