Jerusalm – In a recent interview recalling his stunning 114 years of life, the world’s oldest living Jew, and, oldest living Kurd, Rabbi Zechariah Barashi said he sees no similarities in the way Jews and Arabs co-exist in Israel today, and the relationships Jews and Muslim Kurds formed in Kurdistan when he was growing up, and that, “Today, everything is madness.”
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RUDAW.net (http://bit.ly/1fTLtvV) reports that Barashi said, “It was like the Garden of Eden then,” referring to the friendships he made with Arab children he grew up with.
Barashi, who lives in Jerusalem’s Baka neighborhood, about a mile south of the walls of the Old City, despite his advanced years still continues his daily rituals of prayer and Torah study, recalls with remarkable clarity almost novel-worthy details of his childhood, his family’s struggles and travels throughout much of the Middle East, and most impressively, how at the age of 18, he met his future wife on the dance floor.
Barashi states that he still receives visitors, and is always happy to pass along his three keys to a long and fulfilling life.
“There are three things,” Barashi said, “Always be happy, never jealous. Stay active. And never overeat, always leave the table a little hungry.”
As the song says, “these are the good old days”.
Rabbi Baradi, biz hundert-und-tzvansig mit gezundt und freid and may we see the arrival of Moshiach together in Yerushalayim
Thank you VIN for posting this article im sure you will get a lot of critic for telling the truth. That Jews and Arabs got along is well known what is not known to many vin readers that the Zionist in order to achieve their goal had no problem instigating Arabs against Jews.Just read what Rabbi Baruch Kaplan who was a principal of the Beis Yaakov Girls School in Brooklyn says about the hebron massacre in 1929 every word is a must read:
“When I was in Hebron in 1929, there occurred the tragic massacre of over twenty yeshiva students, great scholars, plus another forty members of the Jewish community. I would like to describe the error that has circulated in Jewish communities – a horrible error, that accuses the Arabs in Hebron of being murderers who attacked the Jews simply because the Arabs were “bad people.” In order to correct the record, this error must be corrected. The Arabs were very friendly people, and the Jewish People in Hebron lived together with them and had very friendly relations with them. They worked with Jews, and everybody got along just fine.
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“To take just one example, I used to have the habit of walking a mile or two out of town all by myself to visit a tree that was believed to be the tree where our patriarch Abraham met the three angels, as described in Genesis. I especially enjoyed visiting the tree in the summertime. Along the way I would talk to the Arabs, though it was mostly using our hands because I didn’t speak any Arabic. Interestingly enough, no one in the yeshiva ever told me it was dangerous to go by myself among the Arabs. We just lived with them, and got along very well.”
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“Therefore it’s necessary to set the record straight about the accusations that the Palestinians were terrible killers who liked attacking Jews. This was never the situation at all!
Today’s wicked Zionists are just like their predecessors, who were responsible for causing terrible suffering in Palestine with their wars with the Arabs, may G-d have mercy. At that time in 1929, the Zionists had a slogan arguing that the Western Wall in Jerusalem was a Jewish “national symbol.” Of course, the Arabs disagreed with this idea, considering that they had control of the location for over 1,100 years. However, the Zionist mobs were yelling that “The Wall is ours!” It’s hard to understand why they felt that way considering they have no connection to the Jewish holy places whatsoever. An argument erupted in the Jewish newspapers about establishing a permanent prayer area for Jews at the Wall. This provoked the Arabs, and the rabbi of Jerusalem at the time, Rabbi Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld begged them to stop and to be appreciative to the Arabs for allowing Jews to pray at the Wall for so many centuries undisturbed. “
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“However, the Zionists wanted a permanent setup under their control.
The Zionists refused to heed the calls of Rabbi Zonnenfeld, and they called a large meeting of Jews in Jerusalem – supposedly some 10,000 people showed up. One of the speakers was their “chief Rabbi” (Avraham Isaac Kook), who proclaimed, “Hear O Israel, the Wall is our Wall, the Wall is One” (which is a ridiculous pun on the blessing, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our G-d, the Lord is One”). This began the conflict at the time between the Zionists and the Arabs.”‘
And he goes on and on. Thanks again VIN
Beautifully said. Wonderful simple rules to live by. Life is made too complicated by self imposed imaginary needs.
Bifnei seiva takum, vehadarta penei zaken. This man is both. He speaks emes, both from his chochemah, and his long experience. He should be zocheh to continued arichas yamim v’shanim.
As the saying goes: don’t confuse me with facts my mind’s made up,hu?
Sorry to tell you the real truth but all i said was quoting rabbi Kaplan who knew far better than both of us being that he learned in hebron in 1929.
To Maven-Nos. 3,4,5, and 6″- Maven, why do you have to hog this site, with your FOUR consecutive postings? You could have combined what you wrote in 3,4,5, and 6, into one posting! incidentally, you may attempt to whitewash history, but you failed to mention the pogrom which occurred in 1936 in Hebron, as well as the massacre of dozens of schoolchildren in 1974, at a school in Maalot. In addition, there have been dozens of savage acts against civilians by Palestinian Arabs, for decades. However, according to your viewpoint, such acts “are the fault of the Zionists”. In other words, it would be a paradise living under Moslem rule. You should tell that to the nearly 1,000,000 Sephardic Jews who were forced to leave their homes and possessions and were expelled from such “tolerant Moslem countries” such as Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and Libya”, after being persecuted for many years!
In today’s commercialized orthodox culture, a rabbi meeting his wife on a dance floor would be a censored shanda of the month.
To #15 - The article did not actually state that Rabbi Barashi danced with his future wife. It merely stated that he met her at such an event.
By the way Mr. Maven, your facts are cockeyed. The Turks, not the Arabs, controlled haEretz for 500 years before 1918. Read a book, maybe. And the Arab atrocities against early aliyah Yidden (many frum, not Zionists) were caused by Arab Jew-hatred for trying to purchase, populate and cultivate empty lands. Ever hear of Josef Trumpeldor? So your arguments are based on melting ice, worth nothing…
I have already replied to Maven’s first comment- actually a literal Cut and Paste from Neteuri Karta- but wish to have this comment seen by all:
Rav Boruch Kaplan spent less than 7 months in Hebron, spoke neither Arabic nor Hebrew and did not know anyone but fellow bocherim in a school that had only been opened less than 4 years. He knew nothing about Hebron, life there or inter-personal and communal dynamics. He was a supporter of Neteuri Karta since it was founded in 1938 so that he was simply propagandising and desecrating the memoury of 67 Jews while doing so.
His fellow bocher, and fellow American citizen, Rabbi Benjamin Hurvitz, wrote to his own father Rabbi Yekusiel Rafael Hurwitz [sic] on August 21st, 1929 that ARABS were attacking Jews all over HaEretz and that because of British passivism had even desecrated HaKotel the last Yom Kippur. The letter was just 2 days before the pogrom began, and 3 days before Benjamin was killed.
As for Rav Kaplan’s claim that the school and Rosh Yeshiva were Anti Zionist? Both lies. The school, “K’nesset Yisrael,” (aka Slobodka Chevron) only existed for less than 4 years on land my grandfather leased to them. In 1925 Rav Yechezkel Sarna arrived from Slobodka, in Lithuania, and leased a tract with a building. Sarna was sent by Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel. The Rosh Yeshiva in Hebron was Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein but at the time he was in the US with a group of Litvishers soliciting donations for the Hebron project as well as other schools in Lithuania itself.
Moreover, not two generations went by in Hebron without Arabs slaughtering Jews. Did Zionists cause the pogrom of 1860? 1834? 1799? Bloodlibel of 1787? Shall I keep going?
Neteuri Karta violates Holochot Mesirah everytime it opens its mouth but to desecrate the memoury of 67 martyrs whose only “crime” was being a Jew? Shame on Neteuri and shame on you Maven. Educate yourself so that you cease your Chillul.