Showing posts with label Avraham Avinu. Show all posts

01 July 2025

Some of the aftermath of the Parashat Korach confrontation...

5 Tammuz 5785 | ה תמוז ה'תשפ"ה

This is no longer a video, but a picture.

To see my previous post having to do with this issue, click or press HERE.

הרס בחמש נקודות התיישבות ביו"ש מאז שעות הבוקר - חיילי צה"ל נשלחו לביצוע המשימה: "מסע נקמה חסר מעצורים

(Destruction in five settlement points in Judea and Samaria since morning - IDF soldiers were sent to carry out the mission: "An unbridled campaign of revenge")

** this occurred yesterday, Monday, 30 June 2025 **

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Blogger's note: This is the first time I'm using a video that isn't YouTube. It works, and is very short. Heavy on the Blogger system, though. Not for you, dear reader, but for me, the blogger. From what I can tell, you don't find material like this on YouTube. (Although, see below near the end of the post.)

This post could be called "IDF, who are you??? part 2." The Parashat Korach confrontation is what I'm calling what happened on this past Erev Shabbat near Binyamin, Samaria. The video above is a short selection about the response from the army yesterday, Monday, 30 June/4 Tammuz. They destroyed a number of communities in Samaria yesterday morning, according to the Hebrew I received from a friend. With the help of Google Translate, Grok and an additional friend or two, I hope a reasonable translation was made.

Somehow I think there was some miscommunication accusing the youth from the hilltop they were defending from Arabs...a jeep drove up near them, that turned out to be the battalion commander who apparently threatened to shoot them all dead and managed to shoot one, who is still in the hospital under intensive care, thankfully not dead, according to this early report, with an update at the end (H/T: Tomer Devorah.) -HDG

UPDATES BELOW!

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HEBREW -- עברית

English follows Hebrew

כוחות משטרה ומנהל אזרחי פשטו היום (שני) על גבעת מקנה אברהם בגוש עציון, החריבו את בתי המקום ודיר העיזים, והחרימו חומרי בנייה נוספים.

במקביל פשטו הכוחות על נקודת התיישבות נוספת הסמוכה לישוב מיצד והחריבו גם שם את המבנים, לצד החרמת ציוד. במהלך ההרס צחק אחד מעובדי הקבלן הערבים שהביא המנהל, ואמר בזלזול לתושבים "למה אני מגיע לכאן כל פעם? כי אני אוהב להרוס ליהודים"

זמן קצר לאחר מכן, כשהתושבים פונו מהשטח וכוחות המנהל האזרחי ופועלים הקבלן נשארו לבדם בגבעה, פרצה לפתע שריפה במקום שמשתוללת עד לרגעים אלו. בשעה זו תושבים וכוחות כיבוי נאבקים בלהבות במטרה להשיג שליטה על האש

בתוך כך, ביצעו כוחות צה"ל ומשטרה הרס נוסף בנקודת התיישבות ליד בת עין, לצד 2 פינויים בגזרת בנימין - בגבעה בהר חצור בה התרחש ירי המג"ד בשבת האחרונה, ובנקודת התיישבות נוספת בואדי חרמייה ששומרת על מבתרי כביש 60

בגבעת מקנה אברהם תקפו בחריפות את מסע ההרס שמתרחש בשעות האחרונות: "בניסיון נפשע לגבות את ירי המג"ד לעבר נערים יהודים בשבת, נכנסה המערכת כולה לסחרור ויצאה כעת למסע נקמה חסר מעצורים בהתיישבות כדי להסיט ממנה את הביקורת על התרת דם המתיישבים ולחפות על שקריה"

"גבעת מקנה אברהם שומרת בגופה על השמורה ההסכמית מפני השתלטות עויינת של הרש"פ באמצעות רעיית צאן וחקלאות, וכמו יתר הגבעות מהווה המחסום היחיד בפני תוכנית המדינה הפלסטינית. אנו קוראים מכאן לשרים כ"ץ וסמוטריץ' הממונים על המנהל האזרחי: עצרו מיד את הפגיעה בחלוצי ההתיישבות!", הוסיפו בגבעה

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Police and Civil Administration forces raided Givat Mikneh Avraham in Gush Etzion today (Monday), destroying the local houses and the goat pen, and confiscating additional construction materials.

At the same time, the forces raided another settlement point near the settlement of Mitsad and also destroyed the buildings there, along with confiscating equipment. During the demolition, one of the Arab contractor workers brought by the administrator laughed and said disdainfully to the residents, "Why do I come here every time? Because I like to destroy Jews."

Shortly thereafter, when the residents were evacuated from the area and Civil Administration forces and contractor workers were left alone on the hill, a fire suddenly broke out in the place that is raging to this day. At this time, residents and fire brigades are battling the flames in an attempt to gain control of the fire.

Meanwhile, IDF forces and police carried out additional destruction at a settlement point near Bat Ayin, along with two evacuations in the Binyamin sector — on a hill on Mount Hazor where the battalion's shooting took place last Saturday, and at another settlement point in Wadi Haramiyya that guards the dismemberment of Highway 60.

In Givat Mikneh Avraham, they sharply attacked the campaign of destruction that has been taking place in recent hours: "In a criminal attempt to justify the firing of the battalion at Jewish teenagers on Shabbat, the entire system has gone into a spiral and has now embarked on an unbridled campaign of revenge against the settlement in order to deflect criticism from it for allowing the blood of the settlers and to cover up its lies."

"Givat Mikneh Avraham guards the agreed reserve with its body against hostile takeover by the PA through sheep grazing and agriculture, and like the other hills, it constitutes the only barrier to the Palestinian state plan. We call from here to Ministers Katz and Smotrich, who are in charge of the Civil Administration: Immediately stop the harm to the pioneers of the settlement!" they added from the hill.

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My Hebrew-speaking friend tells me that the hill was named after Avraham Avinu (Abraham, our Forefather) out of gratefulness to him.

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I am wrong after all, and I'm happy to find: There is YouTube material on this topic! This is short, but longer than the video above. Here is more from a search on YT on Judea and Samaria in general. A lot of it is actually positive!

UPDATE: Finally, today (2 July 2025), we hear from Honenu — a law firm that takes donations because their usual clients aren't even middle class, yet they get the best representation. Here is Honenu's summary of the situation many have been trying to make sense of for days now, with photos and video clips.

Please pray for Assif Hallel ben Efrat, the 14-year-old youth who was shot.

UPDATE: Today, 3 July 2025, Assif was released from the hospital. The bullet was collected for evidence in the case. It had better not be "lost"!

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29 October 2021

Mashiah ben Rahel and Mashiah ben Leah...?

23 Heshvan 5782

In honor of the yom neshama (anniversary of the passing on) of Rahel Imenu just passed; also for the yom neshama of my uncle, Sam ben Nazira uMoshe, which was 20 Heshvan.

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The videos below, by the twin Ravs Shimon and Mendel Kessin, respectively, have been stewing around in my neshama for the last couple of weeks, and I thought I'd share a few of my thoughts from them.

Rahel Imenu (daughter of Lavan, who was Rivka's brother and Avraham and Sarah's great-nephew) played a large part in Jewish survival by doing several things related to family issues:

giving up her position as Yaacov Avinu's only wife, which she would have been if she hadn't given her sister Leah the secret codes and arranged for her go first.
giving up her place in the grave beside her husband, in Hevron, and being buried on the side of a road going out of Eretz Yisrael, so that she could cry for her descendants when they were forced out, and help them in times of trouble, even in our times. We still go to her grave during wartime, and Israeli soldiers have even seen and been helped by her. Here's another story on that. And yet another.
by doing all the above, she enabled us to survive galuth. She even passed on this trait to special people in her line of descent, like Esther haMalkah, who gave up her position among the Jewish People in Persia and the other 126 countries in the Persian empire in order to save them from Haman the Agagite (descended from Amalek).
and, by the way, we wouldn't have Yosef haTzaddik, the ancestor of Mashiah ben Yosef, without his mother, Rahel.

So what would hurt if we prayed for the revelation of Mashiah ben Yosef ben Rahel and Mashiah ben David ben Leah? Since we're praying for living people here, we usually identify them by their mother's name. Sephardim often identify passed-on people by their mother's name also.

The True Sacrifice of Rochel Imeinu

The Weapon of Mashiach Ben Yosef

Avraham Avinu and the Imperative to Do the Tikkun

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Thanks to SG for sending the videos.

01 June 2020

The Beit haMiqdash & the Corona Connection, and Other Connections

9 Sivan 5780

I wrote shortly before Pessah concerning how to deal with fear, and why we weren't able to attend our batei knesset/synagogues/shuls, positing that it is because we have not focused on requesting the Beit haMiqdash, mostly because we have been intimidated into not doing so.

Between then and now, Menachem Gottlieb authored and led these three (3) video shiurim, collectively titled The Beit HaMikdash / Corona Connection (the third one is a link because I couldn't embed it, like the rest. This is becoming a recurring intermittent problem lately...), regarding requesting the Bayit, based on II Shmuel Chapter 24 and 1 Chronicles Chapter 22.

part 1

part 2

Beit haMiqdash / Corona Connection Part 3

To ask questions or obtain source sheets, email Menachem: mengott at gmail dot com.

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Other connections:

The Rabbinical Congress for Peace, comprised of over 400 leading Israeli rabbis, have completed their appraisal of the current plan to apply sovereignty over Jewish communities in the Land of Israel – proudly presented by Prime Minister Netanyahu as part of the “Deal of the Century.” In response, the Council has decided to embark upon a widespread public campaign to inform the Israeli public of the plan’s shortcomings and dangers. - For more, click or tap here.

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Settler leaders have been meeting with right-wing lawmakers over the past week and presenting them with what they claim is a map of the Palestinian state envisioned by the Trump plan, which would encircle 15 Israeli communities in a manner they say is unacceptable.
The Yesha umbrella council of West Bank mayors passed a resolution earlier this month declaring that it would not accept the Trump plan’s green-lighting of Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank if it meant agreeing to the other key part of the proposal — the establishment of a Palestinian state. For more, click or tap here.

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Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Aryeh King: Whoever supports the Trump Plan supports the division of Jerusalem (Hebrew)

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IDF Radio: US tells Israel that annexation will define final borders.

So, choose wisely. Learn Avraham Avinu's lesson! This is the TRAP of the Century!

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Tawfik Abu Shomer is a Gaza-based author and journalist who analyzes Israeli society. he has worked for the Palestinian Ministry of Information.

His most recent article [Arabic -HDG] describes the antisemitism that has accompanied the coronavirus, and other recent antisemitic incidents, as reported in Israeli media. He does not deny that there is serious Jew-hatred in the world today.
In the end, he urges the world to abandon antisemitism. But not because it is immoral. No, his reasons that people shouldn’t attack Jews are perfectly Palestinian... - For more, click or tap here.

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The above is just a sample of the relevant news. The building of the Beit haMiqdash, sovereignty over our land, and wresting our land back from our enemies are all very important signposts on the path to geula. To regain our courage, we need to strengthen ourselves, and pray for the leader, the Go'el Tzedek (Righteous Redeemer) we've been expecting to help us get there!

Sanhedrin 20b says we need to appoint the king first, then annihilate the enemy, and only after that, build the Temple. The problem is, do we know where to begin taking the first step?

In the meantime, if you question why people today have been convinced that all the land around here belongs to the Arabs, and why it is really the other way around, in human-to-human terms...I highly recommend that we start with the book Battleground: Fact and Fantasy in Palestine by Samuel Katz (1973). I have the 2002 updated edition, which seems to be the latest one. Amazon | free PDF

And be prepared for the inevitable war, despite corona still being in our midst, whether we take sovereignty over one grain of sand or the whole of Yehuda and Shomron, and even Azza (which doesn't seem to be included in the Deal of the Century). I'm counting on the Arabs in our area preparing for it now, just as they did in the run-up to the 2nd intifada. And I'm advocating for taking the entire territory between the River and the Sea under our sovereignty, as Caroline Glick advocated in her book The Israeli Solution. Amazon | Goodreads | buy PDF

12 November 2019

Prayer – The ORIGINAL Soul Food

14 Heshvan 5780

UPDATE: SOMETHING TO PRAY ABOUT:

MISSLES ALL OVER THE WEST COAST OF ISRAEL | LIVE BLOGGING HERE
yes, we hit them where it hurts most! - how long did you expect us to keep taking murders, beatings, BDS and other attempts to WIPE OUT THE JEWISH PEOPLE in silence??? h/t NESHAMA

Jewish girls & women having their soul food! Source

by Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher

first posted here

The Talmud (Berachot 26b) says, "Tefilot Avot Tiknum" – "Prayer was established by the Avot." The Talmud then uses the following verse (Bereshis 19:27) to prove how Avraham established Prayer: "Vayaskem Avraham baboker el hamakom asher amad sham et pnei Hashem" – "And Avraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before G‑d."

The connection here is in the word "AMAD" – "Stood" and its association with the Amida Prayer. Strangely though, the Torah relates, just one chapter later (Bereshis 20:17), "Vayitpalel Avraham el Ha'Elokim" – "And Avraham prayed to G‑d." The word "VAYITPALEL" is directly related to "TEFILA" - "Prayer." When proving that Avraham established Prayer, why didn't the Talmud use this verse?

Furthermore, in the case of Avraham's Tefilah, G‑d answered his prayer and miraculously healed Avimelech, the King of the Plishtim, and his entire household. Why isn't this clear, explicit and successful Prayer our foundational model?

The Talmud's first proof text for Prayer offers us a profound lesson. Let's take a deeper look at our original proof text: "And Avraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before G‑d." What's so special about this place? This place was of deep significance to Avraham. It was the place where he stood, argued and confronted G‑d before the destruction of S'dom and A'mora.

This is the place where Avraham stood alone, face to face with the Creator of the Universe, mustered all his courage to demand (Bereshis 18:23), "Hashofet kol haaretz lo yaaseh mishpat?" – "Shall the Judge of the entire earth not do justice?" And Avraham continues to challenge G‑d, "Chalilah Lecha l'hamit tzaddik im rasha?" "How dare You kill the righteous together with the wicked?"

By using this verse as a foundation for Jewish Prayer, the Talmud teaches us that the place of Jewish Prayer is NOT centered on miracles or good fortune. Rather, Prayer is the place where we confront G‑d for what seems to us to be unfair and unjust. Prayer is the place where we struggle and argue with G‑d Who loves righteousness and justice but allows suffering, pain, and death of innocent children. Prayer's place is where we, like Avraham, stand and see the distance between the world as it is and the world as it could be.

This is where our Prayer begins. In our daily AMIDAH in the paragraph beginning with Shema Kolenu, one should add his personal pleas and petitions. The Yaaros D’vash emphasizes that such personal prayers may be in any language or style, for our feelings and devotion are more important than the form of the prayer! This is where hope begins, and where redemption begins. We have a lot of work to do. Let's get started by having a daily conversation with G‑d and telling Him our troubles. He yearns to hear from us. It's the best therapy there is, and it's free! Prayer is the ORIGINAL Soul Food!

Through Prayer, we become G‑d's partners and messengers to demonstrate how to handle life's difficult tests. We show our family and friends how to have Emunah and Bitachon (Faith and Trust in G‑d), despite our pain and suffering.

How does Emunah (Faith) differ from Bitachon (Trust)? Emunah means to believe that whatever happens to us, good or even G‑d forbid, tragedies, ALL comes from G‑d. Bitachon (Trust) is a higher level than Emunah alone, for even in the tragic events in life, I TRUST G‑d that somehow these happenings are also part of G‑d's Plan for the Ultimate Good.

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13 November 2016

Assassination of Leaders and Nations - R' Nachman Kahana

12 Heshvan 5777

BS”D Parashat Lech Lecha and Vayaira 5777
Rabbi Nachman Kahana

From Abraham’s Journey from Ur to Canaan, 1850, by the Hungarian artist József Molnár. Wikiart.

Assassination of Leaders and Nations

Part One

A: Two Jewish leaders were assassinated within a period of five years. My brother Harav Meir Kahana on the 18th of Cheshvan 5751 (Nov. 5, 1990) and Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin on the 12th of Cheshvan 5756 (November 4, 1995).

B: In parashat Lech Lecha, HaShem informs Avraham that Sarah will give birth to a son, Avraham is traumatized and replies: “lu Yishmael yich’ye le’fanecha” – “May Yishmael (who was already born) live before you”. Avraham comes to the defense of Yishmael and requests future equal rights for his son born of Hagar, the Egyptian woman.

In next week’s parasha Vayera, Yitzchak is born and Sarah perceives the unbridgeable spiritual divide between the two half-brothers. Sarah demands that Avraham send Yishmael away (Beraisheet , 21:10): “Chase away this maidservant and her son, for this son of the maidservant will not inherit together with my son Yitzchak”

Sarah instinctively sees the evil and wildness in the soul of Yishmael, and knows that neither Yitzchak and Yishmael nor their offspring will ever be able to live together.
HaShem tells Avraham to abide by Sarah’s request, for she is correct in declaring that Yishmael’s progeny will maintain everlasting enmity towards the future descendants of Yitzchak.

C: True to parashat Lech Lecha, up until he was murdered, Rabin adopted Avraham’s mistaken belief that Yishmael has spiritual qualities which could permit him to live harmoniously with Avraham’s future Jewish descendants. Toward this end, Rabin permitted the return to the Medina of the PLO murderers living in Tunisia and gave them forty thousand weapons.

Yitzchak Rabin was murdered on Motzei Shabbat of parashat LECH LECHA.
Harav Meir, adopted Sara’s divinely affirmed position that the souls of the two are hewn from vastly different worlds – Yitzchak is the ben-Torah and worthy to be a korban (sacrifice) for God on Mount Moriah, while Yishmael is a “pereh adam” (barbarian) who prefers death over life.

Harav Meir preached and pleaded that the people of Israel should see the future and take steps to prevent the tragedies we are witnessing to this very day. Rabin wanted to give them half of Eretz Yisrael, despite the words of our mother Sarah in parashat Vayaira that “the son of this maidservant will not inherit with my son Yitzchak”. History has played out in accordance with God’s command to Avraham to abide by Sarah’s wishes.

Rav Meir was murdered in the week of parashat VAYEIRA, the week of “Chase away this maidservant and her son, for this son of the maidservant will not inherit together with my son Yitzchak”.

Part Two
Rambam (Maimonidies) in his ‘Laws of Tshuva” (repentance) based on Tractate Yoma, enumerates the various ways one can achieve atonement such as confession, Yom Kippur, Temple sacrifices and difficulties in life, dependent on the severity of the sin. However, if a sin creates a chillul HaShem – a desecration of God’ holy name, then atonement can be obtained only after the above-mentioned stages plus the day one passes away.

There are many ways one can create a chillul HaShem, such as a religious person who is found to be corrupt or even impolite behavior by a person who is noticeably Jewish.
The Book of Samuel 1 chapter 17 records that the Jewish and Philistine armies were facing each other in the Valley of Elah, south of the present city of Bet Shemesh.

For a period of 40 days and 40 nights, whenever the Jews would recite Kri’at Shema, Goliath would advance to “no man’s land” and curse the Jewish God and His nation Yisrael.
Goliath obviously had defiled the name of HaShem. However, his was not the ultimate chillul HaShem at the time, there was a more severe desecration of the Holy Name. It was the fact that until David appeared on the scene no Jew dared to silence the defiler of HaShem’s holy name.

We too are witnessing an ongoing chillul HaShem that makes the absurd declarations of UNESCO pale before it.

In Parashat Lech Lecha, HaShem promises Avraham that his Jewish descendants would be the sole possessors of Eretz Yisrael. The promise was fulfilled when Yehoshua entered the land 3500 years ago.

The powers behind UNESCO’s declaration that the Jewish people have no connection with the Temple Mount or the Kotel gains legitimacy from the thousands of rabbis and spiritual leaders of all sorts who prefer to live in the exile rather than in the holy land.

What would our father Avraham and mother Sarah say if they saw the religious communities in the States? They would experience profound feelings of failure. Avraham would probably not enter into their succot, nor would the other 6 ushpizin, they would be too busy visiting the succot of the non-observant kibbutz succot here in Eretz Yisrael who struggle and sacrifice to maintain our presence in the Land HaShem promised to Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov.

Rav Meir Kahana and PM Yitzchak Rabin gave their “all” for the continued success of the Medina in the land which was promised to our forefathers; may the souls of both these men be united with the living souls in Olam Haba.

Shabbat Shalom,
Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5777/2016 Nachman Kahana

R' Kahana speaks about aliyah in English...

and in Yiddish.

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