Hundreds of Hasidic Jews from across Europe, Israel and North America gathered on Mar. 10 in a small southeastern Polish town to honor a 18th century leader of their mystical branch of Judaism.
The pilgrims — the vast majority men sporting beards, side locks, wide-brimmed or fur hats and other traditional black Hasidic garb — assembled for 24 hours of ceremonies marking the anniversary of the death of Rabbi Elimelech in 1787.
The rabbi died in Lezajsk on the 21st day of Adar in the Jewish calendar, which fell this year on March 11.
PHOTO: AFP
The annual event includes a day of prayer which starts at sunset on Saturday — the Jewish Sabbath — marked by the dancing and singing which is the hallmark of Hasidic Jews, whose maxim is "worship God in joy."
The event brings Hasidic Jews back to one of the spiritual homes of their movement more than 60 years after most of its members were wiped out during the Holocaust.
Lezajsk was once a typical part of a swathe of largely Jewish towns and villages across what today are Belarus, Poland, Russia and Ukraine.
Before World War II, around half of the town's 6,000-strong population were Jews.
Few survived the German occupation, when the Nazis slaughtered six million Jews, around half of whom were from Poland.
After the war, Poland's Jewish population numbered only 280,000.
Like most of the rest of Lezajsk's Jewish cemetery, Rabbi Elimechel's tomb was destroyed during the war.
It was refurbished in the early 1960s thanks to a rabbi from Vienna, though work continued on it into the 1980s.
(AFP)
數百位來自歐洲、以色列與北美的哈西德派猶太人三月十日齊聚在波蘭東南部一個小鎮,紀念這個猶太神秘教派的一名十八世紀領袖。
朝聖者大多為蓄留鬍鬚與邊髮,戴寬緣帽或毛帽,並穿著傳統哈西德派黑衣的男性。他們為了歷時二十四小時的以利米勒拉比逝世紀念齊聚一堂。以利米勒拉比在一七八七年逝世。
這位拉比於猶太曆亞達月二十一日在列札斯克過世,今年國曆是三月十一日。
年度的活動包括猶太安息日(週六)日落時分展開的禱告日,以格言為「歡喜信奉上帝」的哈西德派猶太人之歌舞為特色。
這個活動帶領哈西德派猶太人重回六十多年前,哈西德運動的心靈歸依處所,當時多數教徒在納粹猶太人大屠殺中慘遭殺害。
列札斯克過去是一長串猶太城鎮與村落中的一個典型小鎮,位於現在的白俄羅斯、波蘭、俄羅斯與烏克蘭一帶。
二次大戰前,這個小鎮的六千人口中,半數為猶太人。
極少數猶太人在德國佔領時倖存。當時納粹屠殺了六百萬猶太人,其中半數來自波蘭。
戰後波蘭的猶太人口只有二十八萬人。
如同列札斯克多數猶太墓園一像,以利米勒拉比的墳墓在戰爭中遭到毀壞。
一名來自維也納的拉比在一九六○年代初期將他的墳墓重新翻修,工程持續到一九八○年代才完工。 (法新社╱翻譯︰賴美君)
A: Wow, three Taiwanese restaurants just won the 2024 “Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants” awards. B: Awesome! Which three restaurants? A: Taipei’s Logy at No. 22 and MUME at No. 34, and Taichung’s JL Studio at No. 33. B: Actually, there are many more great establishments in Taipei. How about other Asian cities? A: Singapore claimed nine spots this year, making it Asia’s new “food capital.” A: 2024「亞洲50最佳餐廳」名單揭曉了,台灣有3家餐廳上榜。 B: 好厲害,哪3家? A: 台北的Logy和MUME分獲第22和34名,台中的JL Studio獲第33名! B: 其實台北還有很多好餐廳,那其他的亞洲城市呢? A: 新加坡今年入選9家,可說是亞洲美食之都。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Let’s explore another delicacy primarily known to Tainan locals: floating milkfish in thick soup. Despite its peculiar name, this dish is another Tainan specialty that showcases the popularity of milkfish, which is made into fish paste and served in thick soup. Unlike the version with tutuo fish, which also adds other ingredients to its thick soup, the floating milkfish version primarily features the “floating fish” itself in its thick soup, ensuring that the fish paste remains the star of the dish. 讓我們來探索另一道台南人熟悉的美食:浮水魚羹。這道菜名奇特的美食,再再展現了台南虱目魚料理的多樣。浮水魚羹是用虱目魚漿做成的羹品,雖然和𩵚魠魚羹一樣是羹湯,但不像𩵚魠魚羹會在湯中加入其他食材,而是讓虱目魚漿成為這道料理的主角。 peculiar (adj.) 獨特的;古怪的 The belly of a milkfish is considered the most
The practice of freezing embryos as part of in vitro fertilization (IVF) was thrown into chaos in Alabama this year, when the state supreme court ruled that such embryos should be considered children, exposing clinics to wrongful death claims in the event they are destroyed in the thawing process. In 2021, more than 80 percent of US IVF procedures involved the transfer of frozen embryos, according to a recent report by the US Department of Health and Human Services. HOW IS EMBRYO FREEZING USED IN IVF? IVF uses high doses of hormones to stimulate ovaries to produce as many eggs as possible. Once
A situation puzzle is a game in which one person describes a scenario and asks the players to explain it. The situation is deliberately lacking in details, but the players may acquire more information by asking questions — however, these can only be answered with “yes” or “no.” A player wins by describing the approximate events that led up to the situation. To do so, they must use a blend of logical and lateral thinking. A famous example of this is sometimes known as “Turtle Soup.” Here’s the riddle: “A man in a restaurant orders turtle soup, tastes it