Jewish Newport: Does the Sphinx have a tail?

Does the Sphinx have a tail?

at Touro Synagogue

January 5, 2019

BY AARON GINSBURG

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Did you make any New Year's resolutions? Making them is easy, keeping them isn’t.

Rabbi Marc Mandel connected New Year resolutions to the parsha.

“Why did Pharaoh keep on changing his mind about letting the Jews go free? One day yes and one day no? He didn't really believe in the God of the Jews.

“We know this from the previous parsha [Shemot 5:2], ‘I don’t know God, and I don’t know Israel.’

“Pharaoh thought it was just a ploy by Moshe and Aaron to let the Jews leave Egypt and he wasn't about to lose all his slaves.

“Why can't we keep our New Year Resolutions? Why can't we stick to them? For the same reason, a lack of belief. This time, it is a lack of belief in ourselves. We don't really have faith in ourselves that we can make significant changes to our lives. We need to learn from Pharaoh to have faith-in ourselves!

“We can each do great things in our life’s journey if we have belief in ourselves.

”Shabbat Shalom.”

Speaking of journeys, the next morning at a Temple Israel Brotherhood of Sharon MA Shabbat breakfast I heard a talk at a Temple Israel Brotherhood of Sharon s by URI Professor Alan Verskin about a new book, ‘A Vision of Yemen: The Travels of a European Orientalist and His Native Guide, A Translation of Hayyim Habshush Travelogue.’ Just saying the title makes me lose my breath.

Hayyim Habshush accompanied Jewish French orientalist Joseph Halévy on a journey through Yemen. In the book, Habshush, a Yemenite Jew, described their 1869 travels through remote parts of Yemen. Halévy was the first European traveler to Yemen since the year 24!

One of the subjects Professor Visken spoke about was, “How should travelers react to things that they don’t like or think is wrong?”

Halévy and Habshsush visited a remote village that is now in Saudi Arabia. The Jews had adopted local customs as their own. Their host family was in the process of finding relatives to kill a pregnant unmarried daughter. This upset the travelers, but the villagers were convinced this was a Jewish custom. She told the travelers that she was impregnated by a married relative, and that it was impossible to tell this to anyone.

Habshush made various proposals to solve the situation. He offered to pay for an abortion. The relieved family said okay but Halévy convinced him this was not permitted. He offered to marry the woman. The family questioned his sincerity, but agreed. Halévy intervened and pointed out that Habshsush was already married. At that point they continued their journey.

Should travelers intervene, or just observe?

That evening I went traveling myself: Destination: Cairo, Egypt.

Cairo is very polluted. The sky is hazy, and the air smells acrid.

I spent a day going from one pyramid to the next. They are on a large plateau not far from the center of Cairo. When the haze lifts the view is magnificent. The pyramids are in three areas on the plateau. I was able to find the answer to a question I have had for a long time. “Does the Sphinx have a tail?”

Many years ago the Newport Daily News syndicated a column where people could send a question and get an answer. I wrote my question about the Sphinx. Shortly thereafter, when I was about 7 years old, I was in the Newport Hospital for two weeks with a case of pneumonia. In those days hospital stays were long, and when I felt better I started running around the ward and being a nuisance. When I got home I asked my parents if I had received a letter. They said yes, but did not think it was important, and threw it out.

I am now happy to report that the Sphinx does indeed have a tail, a rather large one, at that.

Another day was largely spent in Islamic Cairo. I visited a market that had been ongoing since 1187, and several mosques.

A highlight was a visit to the Maimonides Synagogue, which was built in the nineteenth century on the site of the synagogue that Maimonides attended. It was restored by the Egyptian government in 2010.