Many Israelis have recently been exposed to a short promotional video publicized by the Polish prime minister who seeks to capture Israeli awareness and persuade the public that "the Polish people are not to blame for Nazi crimes." The clip attempts to arouse empathy for the suffering of the Poles by the Nazis and establish the idea of German death camps for them inclusive.

Justice for Persecuted Algerian Jews

For many years it has been argued that the members of the Jewish community in Algeria, persecuted by the Vichy government during the Holocaust, never received due recognition and proper acknowledgement for the great suffering they were subjected to. The focus was always, very naturally so, on the mass decimation carried on against European Jewry, while the Algerian community was shunted to the sidelines.

Rain and Kinneret Watch

by Dei'ah Vedibur Staff

Our weekly report of the rain and the level of the Kineret - 5778.

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From Our Archives

Derech Eretz and Much Torah -- The Jewish Community of Syria by A. Ariel Now when Syria is so much in the news because of the (stalled) peace talks, it is a good time to recall the illustrious Jewish community that flourished for thousands of years in Syria. This first part reviews the history, and the second part presents biographies of some of Syria's major rabbonim.

They All Return to You by N. Beer Part III We have met the varied participants of the daily Daf Yomi shiur and how it has influenced their lives. Reb Feivel, in his eighties, is recuperating from a heart attack. The members take turns visiting him.

What is a Ben Torah? By HaRav Shimon Moshe Diskin zt"l Part II In the first part, HaRav Diskin developed several important yesodos. The Torah is the blueprint of the world and what it determines, is what happens and how things work. If the Torah says that the color of techeiles brings one to think of Hashem, then the similar color of kolo ilan will not do, and anyone who tries to substitute the latter is denying the full Divine aspect of the Torah. Similarly, when Hashem said that the makkas bechoros would force Pharaoh to release Bnei Yisroel, it acquired the power to do so, and only it. Thus it was Hashem's ability to determine exactly who was a bechor that ensured that the makkas bechoros actually was what it was supposed to be and therefore that ability forced Pharaoh to release Bnei Yisroel. Also a ben soreir umoreh only becomes hopeless when he completely loses his connection to Torah. A ben Torah is someone who follows these principles and is completely formed by the Torah. "Anyone for whom the Torah is his only guide in all he does is a ben Torah."

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