Portrait of Hacham Shimon Agassi

Portrait of Hacham Shimon Agassi
Portrait of Hacham Agassi painted by Mrs Ruth Gila, Beit Meir , Israel

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Achad HaAm-Asher Ginzberg

 אחד העם- אשר גינזברג




The observance of the Shabbat is one of the most central, if not the most central tenants [after circumcision] on which Judaism is based and has ensured its survival over the centuries. Even a non-observant Jew, the famous author Ahad HaAm (Asher Ginzberg) wrote in support of a group of German liberal intellectual Jews in Berlin in 1898 who dissented from the idea of the then Jewish Reform Movement to move the Shabbat to Sunday in line with Christianity.

He wrote the following:

אין צורך להיות ציוני או מדקדק במצוות בשביל להכיר את ערך השבת… מי שמרגיש בלבו קשר אמיתי עם חיי האומה בכל הדורות, הוא לא יוכל בשום אופן - אפילו אם אינו מודה לא בעולם הבא ולא במדינת היהודים - לצייר לו מציאות של עם ישראל בלי "שבת מלכתא". אפשר לומר בלי שום הַפְרָזָה, כי יותר משישראל שמרו את השבת - שמרה השבת אותם
There is no need to be a Zionist or an observant performer of the commandments in order to recognize the value of the Shabbat…One who feels in his heart a connection with the life of the Nation throughout all the generations cannot in any circumstances-even if he does not admit it, not in the World to Come and not in the Jewish State- paint a reality of the People of Israel without the “Shabbat Queen”. One can say without any exaggeration that ”more than Israel have kept the Shabbat, the Shabbat has kept them.

More than Israel have kept the Shabbat-
The Shabbat has kept them
יּוֹתֵר מִשְּׁיִשְׂרָאֵל שָׁמְרוּ אֶת הַשַּׁבָּת - שָׁמְרָההַשַּׁבָּת אוֹתָם

4850=17=8
5410=10=1

Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵל

541=10=1

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