The Ba’al Shem Tov and "The Boy Who Did Not Know How to Pray”
Old men who remembered accompanying their parents to shul as children, young families who wanted a taste of their heritage after more than a half-century of Soviet persecution, and youth in their teens who barely knew they were Jewish, flocked to the main synagogue in Kiev.
[…] One Yom Kippur, the Baal Shem Tov was praying together with his students in a small Polish village. Through his spiritual vision, the Baal Shem Tov had detected that harsh heavenly judgments had been decreed against the Jewish people, and he and his students were trying with all the sincerity they could muster to cry out to G-d and implore Him to rescind these decrees and grant the Jews a year of blessing.
This deep feeling took hold of all the inhabitants of the village and everyone opened his heart in deep-felt prayer.
Among the inhabitants of the village was a simple shepherd boy. He did not know how to read; indeed, he could barely read the letters of the alef-beit, the Hebrew alphabet. As the intensity of feeling in the synagogue began to mount, he decided that he also wanted to pray. But he did not know how. He could not read the words of the prayer book or mimic the prayers of the other congregants. He opened the prayer book to the first page and began to recite the letters: alef, beit, veit - reading the entire alphabet. He then called out to G-d: "This is all I can do. G-d, You know how the prayers should be pronounced. Please, arrange the letters in the proper way."
This simple, genuine prayer resounded powerfully within the Heavenly court. G-d rescinded all the harsh decrees and granted the Jews blessing and good fortune
EXCERPT: [from Keeping In Touch by Rabbi Eliyahu Touger, published by Sichos In English]
(http://www.ascentofsafed.com/cgi-bin/ascent.cgi?Name=567-02)
Rabbi at Tel Aviv synagogue bars autistic child from attending prayers
Father records video of rabbi dismissing his 10-year-old son, saying, ‘With a child like that, you are not praying’; rights group says incident violates anti-discrimination laws. A rabbi at a synagogue in Tel Aviv has barred a father from entering the building with his autistic son, according to a Thursday report.
The father last year sought to pray at the Hafizov Synagogue in the southern part of the city with his 10-year-old son, who has been diagnosed with autism. The rabbi at the synagogue, Shlomo Tmaiv, blocked the boy from entering, saying he made noises and disturbed other worshipers.
תיעוד מבית כנסת "חפיזוב" בתל אביב: הרב שלמה תמייב מבהיר ליוני (שם בדוי), אבא של שי (שם בדוי), בן 10 עם אוטיזם, ששי לא רצוי בבית הכנסת -
האב: "עכשיו אם אני רוצה להתפלל מנחה וערבית. אתה אומר לי לא, אל תתפלל, קח את הילד שלך".
הרב: "אתה יכול להתפלל בבית, עם ילד כזה לא מתפללים בבית כנסת".
article from slimesofisrael disgustingly typical.
MORE OF THE SAME and THEY NEED A NEW EDITOR:
Cabinet minister and MKs visit flashpoint Temple Mount ahead of controversial march
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they like the word “contentious”!
At Jerusalem Flag March, chants of ‘Death to Arabs’ and assaults on Palestinians. Still, contentious event ends without major incident as thousands of religious nationalists participate; some attack Palestinians (terrorists!) and reporters, sing ‘May your village burn’.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/at-jerusalem-flag-march-chants-of-death-to-arabs-and-assaults-on-palestinians/
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Triumphalism and ethno-nationalism take center stage at Jerusalem Day events
Heartfelt joy for the return of the Jewish people to their ancient capital is being overshadowed by an antagonistic, nationalistic animosity toward Jerusalem’s Palestinians
https://www.timesofisrael.com/triumphalism-and-ethno-nationalism-take-center-stage-at-jerusalem-day-events/
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