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Extolling the virtues of our unique neighborhood - and why you should stay

Recap: Ezra takes Yishai to the Blennerhassett mansion and introduces him to Harman Blennerhassett. Yishai sees that the values of their host are not the right ones for his brother, but he doesn’t know how to guide his big brother away from a dangerous mistake.

It takes a lot of courage to move on. We don’t want to. We are not interested in cutting slack to those who have hurt us - and they have hurt us. Maybe unintentionally, but they should have known better, we think.

When my father had back surgery, he shopped around to nearly every top orthopedic surgeon in L.A. until he found one willing to cut into his ailing eighty-five-year-old frame and repair three levels of his lumbar vertebrae. We were overjoyed to see him recover from the spine operation, but soon thereafter he needed a knee replacement. Oy vey! For all his health issues, he still maintains his Dodgers and Lakers season tickets, trades on the stock market, and teaches a monthly Jewish history class. But his pleasure in life is sharply curtailed in what seems to be a cruel downward spiral of Job-like proportions.

I am a respected archaeologist who discovered an ancient scroll from around the period the Jews have dubbed “The Shoftim.” It was discovered on the road from an ancient country known as Moav, to a town, now in modern day Israel, called Beis Lechem.

The Rebbe of Klausenberg,

Rabbi Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam,

Was a spiritual giant

Of a man.

He lived 1905-1994,

A survivor

Of the Second World War,

Never sat shiv’ah

For the 11 children he lost,

Occupied with saving others

During the Holocaust.

He settled in America

For a time beforehand,

Eventually reaching the Holy Land,

In Natanya established

The Laniado Hospital,

Turned to blessing, his surviving

The unspeakable.

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, of Efrat,

In Williamsburg, witnessed something that,

Though a child, always stayed in his mind:

In the Klausenberger Shul

The Rebbe’s outlook was defined;

There, “The Rebuke” was being read,

The reader lowered his voice

As is custom.

But instead,

The Rebbe shouted, “Hecher, hecher!” (“Louder!”)

Let the Almighty hear

That the curses are fulfilled;

May only blessings now appear!

The birth pangs of Mashiach –

Cataclysmic, severe –

Have all materialized;

But at the end,

Hashem makes clear:

“I will remember My covenant

With Yaakov,

And also My covenant with Yitzchak,

And also My covenant with Avraham,

Will I remember;

And I will remember the Land.”

All negativity and darkness

Conceal sparks of good,

For them to reach us, as they should;

They descend to earth hidden

Under the guise of a curse;

For example, the following verse:

“Each man will stumble

Over his brother

Fleeing, as if from the sword.”

Guarantors for each other

In punishment and reward,

All Jews specific parts

Of one collective soul,

Mixed and pleasant

Parts of the whole,

May this recognition help heal

Our spiritual exile

To make all we’ve been through

Though harsh, seem worthwhile.

As the innocent souls

File through Heaven’s gate,

Enemies of Israel

Celebrate.

HaKadosh Baruch Hu,

We know all

Is from you, still

Please give us courage

To bear Your will.

May this curse atone,

May Your mercy be shown

To those lost and injured

In Meron.

By Sharon Marcus