Jewish tradition maintains that the history of Judaism begins with

the Covenant between God and Abraham (c. 1800 BCE), the patriarch and progenitor of the
Jewish people. According to the traditional Jewish belief, God also created another covenant with
the Israelites (the ancestors of the Jewish people), and revealed his laws
andcommandments (Mitzvot) to them on Mount Sinai in the form of the Written Torah. Traditional
Judaism also maintains that an Oral Torah was revealed at the same time and, after being
passed down verbally for generations, was later transcribed in the Talmud. Laws, traditions, and
learned Rabbis who interpret these texts and their numerous commentaries comprise the
modern authority on Jewish tradition. While each Jew's level of observance varies greatly, the
traditional practice of Judaism revolves around the study and observance of God's Mitzvot.
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The Western Wall is located in the Old City of Jerusalem at the foot of the western side of
the Temple Mount. It is a remnant of the ancient wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple's
courtyard, and is perhaps the most sacred site recognized by the Jewish faith outside of the
Temple Mount itself. Just over half the wall, including its 17 courses located below street level,
dates from the end of the Second Temple period. Constructed around 19 BCE byHerod the
Great, the works were probably not finished during his lifetime. The remaining layers were added
from the 7th century onwards. The Western Wall refers not only to the exposed section facing a
large plaza in the Jewish Quarter, but also to the sections concealed behind structures running
along the whole length of the Temple Mount, such as the Little Western Walla 25 ft (8 m) section
in the Muslim Quarter.
It has been a site for Jewish prayer and pilgrimage for centuries; the earliest source mentioning
Jewish attachment to the site dates back to the 4th century. From the mid-19th century onwards,
various Jews tried, without success, to purchase rights to the wall. In the early 20th century, the
wall became a source of friction between the Jewish community and the Muslim religious
leadership, and outbreaks of violence at the foot of the wall became commonplace. After the
1948 ArabIsraeli War the wall came under Jordanian control and Jews were barred from the site
for 19 years until Israel recaptured the Old City Six-Day War in 1967. (Read more...)
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... that the Jewish Orphanage of Berlin-Pankow (pictured)was originally intended to be

... that some of the most active parents in the Orthodox Jewish day school founded by
Rabbi David Rebibo in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1965 were members of the
local Reform temple?

... that Da-Don took the office of chief rabbi of Croatia in 1998, more than fifty years since
the last office-holder?

... that Peter Feldmann is the first politician of the Jewish faith to be elected mayor
of Frankfurt since World War II?

... that about 40 Jews live in Mauritius as of 2006?

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Beth Hamedrash Hagadol is an Orthodox congregation that was, for over 120 years, located in
a historicsynagogue building at 6064 Norfolk Street in Manhattan, New York, on the Lower East
Side. It was the first Eastern European congregation founded in New York City and the oldest
Orthodox Russian Jewish congregation in the United States. Founded in 1852 by Rabbi Abraham
Ash as Beth Hamedrash, it split in 1859, with the rabbi and the bulk of the members renaming
their congregation Beth Hamedrash Hagadol. Rabbi Jacob Joseph, the first and only Chief
Rabbi of New York City, led the congregation from 1888 to 1902 . The congregation's building,
a Gothic Revival structure built in 1850 and purchased in 1885, was one of the largest
synagogues on the Lower East Side, and was added to the National Register of Historic
Places in 1999. In the late twentieth century the congregation dwindled and was unable to
maintain the building, which had been damaged by storms. Despite funding and grants, the
structure was critically endangered. As of 2008 the Lower East Side Conservancy was trying to
raise an estimated $4.5 million for repairs, with the intent of converting it to an educational center.
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The Jewish General Hospital announces it will ignore the Quebec Charter of Values if
passed. (14 November)

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Michael Bloomberg is named the first recipient of the Genesis Prize. (21 October)

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Weekly Torah Portion

Miketz ()
Genesis 41:144:17
The Weekly Torah portion in synagogues on Shabbat, Saturday, 30 Kislev,
5776; December 12, 2015
Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, when out of the Nile there came up seven
cows (Genesis 41:1-2)
Pharaoh dreamed that he stood by the river, and out came seven fat cattle, who fed in the reedgrass. And then seven lean cattle came up out of the river and ate the seven fat cattle, and
Pharaoh awoke. He went back to sleep and dreamed that seven good ears of corn came up on
one stalk, and then seven thin ears sprung up after them and swallowed the good ears, and
Pharaoh again awoke.
In the morning, Pharaoh was troubled and sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt and
told them his dream, but none could interpret it. Then the chief butler spoke up, confessing his
faults and relating how Pharaoh had put him in prison with the baker, and a Hebrew there had
interpreted their dreams, correctly predicting the future. Pharaoh sent for Joseph, who shaved,
changed clothes, and came to Pharaoh. Pharaoh told Joseph that he had had a dream that none

could interpret and had heard that Joseph could interpret dreams, but Joseph said
that God would give Pharaoh an answer of peace.

Joseph Interprets Pharaoh's Dream (painting by Peter von Cornelius)

Pharaoh told Joseph his dreams, and Joseph told him that the two dreams were one, a
prediction of what God was about to do. The seven good cattle and the seven good ears
symbolized seven years of plenty, and the seven lean cattle and the seven empty ears
symbolized seven years of famine that would consume thereafter. The dream was doubled
because God had established the thing and would shortly bring it to pass. Joseph recommended
that Pharaoh set over Egypt a man discreet and wise, that he appoint overseers to take up a fifth
of the harvests during the years of plenty, and that he store that food for the years of famine.
Pharaoh told Joseph that inasmuch as God had shown him all this, there was none so discreet
and wise as Joseph, and thus Pharaoh set Joseph over all the land of Egypt. Pharaoh gave
Joseph his signet ring, fine linen, a gold chain about his neck, and his second chariot, and had
people cry before him Abrech. And Pharaoh renamed Joseph Zaphenath-paneah and gave
him Asenath the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On to be his wife.

Joseph in Egypt (painting by Pontormo)

Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, and in the seven years of plenty he
gathered up grain as plentiful as the sand of the sea. Joseph and Asenath had two sons, the first
of whom Joseph called Manasseh, for God had made him forget all his toil and all his father's
house, and the second of whom he called Ephraim, for God had made him fruitful in the land of
his affliction. The seven years of plenty ended and famine struck, and when Egypt was famished,
Joseph opened the storehouses, and sold food to the Egyptians. People from all countries came
to Egypt to buy grain, because the famine struck all the earth.
Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, asked his sons why they sat around looking at each
other, and sent them down to Egypt to buy some. Ten of Joseph's brothers went down to Egypt,
but Jacob kept Benjamin behind, so that no harm might befall him. Joseph's brothers came to
buy grain from Joseph and bowed down to him with their faces to the earth. Joseph recognized

his brothers, but they did not recognize him, for he made himself strange to them and spoke
roughly with them.
Joseph remembered his dreams, and accused them of being spies. But they protested that they
were not spies, but upright men come to buy food, ten sons of a man who had twelve sons, lost
one, and kept one behind. Joseph told them that to prove their story, they would have to send
one of them to fetch their brother, and he imprisoned them for three days. On the third day,
Joseph told them that because he feared God, he would allow them to prove themselves by
letting one of them be bound in prison while the others carried grain to their houses and brought
their youngest brother to Egypt. They said to one another that surely they were guilty concerning
their brother, and so now this distress had come upon them. Reuben said that he had told them
not to sin against their brother, but they had not listened. They did not realize that Joseph
understood them, for he used an interpreter, and Joseph turned aside and wept. When Joseph
returned, he bound Simeon before their eyes, and commanded that their vessels be filled with
grain and that their money be restored to their sacks.
They loaded their donkeys and departed. When they came to a lodging-place, one of them
opened his sack and found his money, and their spirits fell, wondering what God had done to
them. They went home and told Jacob all that had happened, and Jacob accused them of
bereaving him of his children, first Joseph and now Simeon, and told them that they would not
take Benjamin away. Reuben answered that Jacob could kill Reubens two sons if Reuben failed
to bring Benjamin back, but Jacob insisted that his son would not go down with them, for Joseph
was dead and only he was left, and if harm befall Benjamin then it would be the death of Jacob.
The famine continued, and Jacob told the brothers to buy more grain. But Judah reminded Jacob
that the man had warned them that they could not see his face unless their brother came with
them, so if Jacob sent their brother they could buy food, but if Jacob did not send him they could
not go. Jacob asked them why they had treated him so ill as to tell the man that they had a
brother. They explained that the man asked them directly about their kindred, whether their father
was alive, and whether they had another brother, and they answered him; how were they to
know that he would ask them to bring their brother down? Judah then asked Jacob to send the
lad with him, so that they could go and the family could live, and Judah would serve as surety for
him, for they could have been to Egypt and back by then if they had not lingered. Relenting,
Jacob directed them to take a present for the man, double money in case the return of their
payment was an oversight, and also their brother, and Jacob prayed that God might show them
mercy before the man and that he might release Simeon and Benjamin to them.
The brothers went to Joseph, and when he saw Benjamin with them, he directed his steward to
bring the men into the house and prepare a meal for him to eat with them at noon. When the
brothers were conducted into Joseph's house, they grew afraid that Joseph was going to hold
them as bondmen because they had taken the money that they found in their sacks. So they
explained to Joseph's steward how they had discovered their money returned to them and had
brought it back with them, plus more money to buy grain. But the steward told them not to fear,
for their God had given them treasure in their sacks; he had their money. The steward brought

Simeon out to them, brought them into Joseph's house, gave them water, and fed their donkeys.
When Joseph came home, they brought their present and bowed down to him. Joseph asked
after their welfare and that of their father. They said that Josephs servant their father was well,
and they bowed their heads. Joseph looked upon Benjamin and asked them whether this was
their youngest brother of whom they had spoken, and he prayed that God would be gracious to
Benjamin. Joseph left hastily for his chamber and wept, washed his face, returned, and called for
the servants to serve the meal.
Joseph sat by himself, the brothers sat by themselves, and the Egyptians sat by themselves,
because it was an abomination to the Egyptians to eat with the Hebrews. The brothers marveled
that the servants had seated them according to their age. And Benjamin's portion was five times
so much as any of his brothers.
Joseph directed the steward to fill the men's sacks with as much food as they could carry, put
every man's money in his sack, and put Josephs silver goblet in the youngest ones sack. At
dawn, the brothers were sent away, but when they had not yet gone far from the city, Joseph
directed his steward to overtake them and ask them why they had rewarded evil for good and
taken the goblet with which Joseph drank and divined. They asked the steward why he accused
them, as they had brought back the money that they had found in their sacks, and they
volunteered that the one with whom the goblet was found would die, and the brothers would
become bondmen. The ste