Who is G-d's firstborn son? And more...

 24 Tevet 5782 | כ"ד טבת ה"תשפ"ב

Blogger's note: First of all, I should warn my gentle readers (and my not-so-gentle ones too😉) that what follows may seem, or even be, what I'm terming "religiously politically incorrect" for some of you. Nevertheless, I write with the hope that we all seek the truth, whether it be PC or not.

I do not imagine that only Jews read this blog. Perhaps most readers are, but not all.

And away we go...

***

According to a well-known law, or principle of Scripture, the Law of First Mention, one must find the first place where the question is answered. It will be the "simplest, most understandable reference from which the others build." (source)

The answer to our title question is in our previous parasha, Shemoth (the beginning of the book of Exodus), 4:22.

The context of this verse is a chapter where the Lord is commanding Moshe Rabbenu (Moses our Teacher) to go to Par'oh and speak with him about the matter of freeing the nation of Israel to go and worship Him in the midbar (wilderness. The specific detail of the celebration of G-d in the wilderness occurs in 5:1.).

A breakdown of the translation of the last three words in the Hebrew: The noun "b'chori" means "my firstborn," which is masculine, referring to "b'ni, "my son." "Is" is understood, and Israel is the object of the noun phrase, which in English is rendered "my firstborn son." 

Does this mean that Jacob, who attained the name Israel in Bereshith (Genesis) 32:25-30,  is G-d's firstborn son?

No. The first thing we learn from the principle of the firstborn son of HQB"H is that it refers to a nation and not to a particular person from within that nation (or a person from within any other nation, for that matter).

I repeat: Israel, as presented in the context of the ending of Egyptian slavery, does not refer to Ya'aqov (Jacob), but to his progeny, the nation of Yisrael.

There are no two ways about it, and no other way to interpret it. Israel — the Jewish People — is named by G-d as His firstborn son.

My search for the law of first mention brought only Christian sites. I know that Chabad teaches this too (my mom went to Chabad events for quite some time, and she taught it to me); and I imagine that this is common-sense enough that others would do the same as well, and have come up with it on their own. This would especially apply to those who believe in the infallibility of the Word of G-d in its original language.

(Anyone who can clarify this for me, please feel free to use the comment section. Thanks in advance!)

The main point to remember here is that we do not deviate from what is learned in the first mention. We may learn more details and elaborations on it, but we may not turn away from what it essentially means and make it something else.

Those who seek to use this tool properly need to be sure it does not lead in a direction that may not be warranted. It would probably be best to use more than one Scriptural reference, to make sure there is no conflict. I am about to present one here, that Christians bring upon themselves because, for them, all roads lead to Otoh haIsh (Yoshke/the J man).

The source above, which I'm linking again here, gives an example in the first mention of blood, Hevel's (Abel's) blood at the hands of Kayin (Cain) in Bereshith (Genesis) 4:10, and ends up with the one we call Otoh haIsh (Yoshke/J). The path they took completely missed the verse we're discussing here, thus coming to conflicting conclusions, creating more questions than answers.

This constitutes a violation of the law of first mention because it basically wipes out a whole lot of Scripture that explains the concept of the son of G-d, as explained above and, I'm sure, elsewhere. Not to mention that their whole understanding of sacrifice is skewed, and the unmistakably human sacrifice of Yoshke "for the sins of the world" is expressly forbidden.

As my rabbi from the States told me many years ago, long before I made aliyah: It took haShem close to 2,000 years to wipe out the human sacrifice of ancient times, and Xianity brought it back.

Who knew?

***

R' Shimon Kessin firmly believes that both Christianity and Islam are above us today because we are still in violation of our obligation to love our fellow Jews. Listen here to the one on Christianity:

The History of Christianity and the Exile

 ***

Official Israel proved this once again regarding a recent event in Dubai. A Jerusalem pavilion was created there, separate from the Israel pavilion — which presented Israel as a nondescript country, nothing particularly special — and labeled as belonging to "Palestine." Meaning, that Islam basically owns Jerusalem. 

Did our Ministry of Foreign Affairs do or say anything about it? The big question I have is...

Is this an accident, or is it a secret policy of our government to allow our ownership and responsibility for Jerusalem, our ancient capital, to be disavowed?

This question needs to be answered openly, publicly and honestly. We need to know the state of our governance, whether the system we live under can still serve us or not, on many levels and many issues besides this one. Basically, we cannot allow this desecration of our name and reputation to continue. Not only that, but we must be sure that we are ruled by those who have our best interest as a nation at heart.

Will we serve G-d or not?

We must do teshuva.

Avi Abelow introduced the following video:

Israel’s Foreign Ministry paid over $20 million to have a pavilion at the global expo in Dubai that is expecting 25 million visitors from around the world. Yet, instead of inspiring and exciting expo visitors with what makes the Jewish state of Israel unique and enticing to all of humanity, Israel’s foreign experts dropped the ball, big time. 

 

What bothers me more than the missed opportunity is the missing appreciation for their own heritage and homeland, that actually is what so many people around the world are so starving to experience on a visit to Israel.

 

 Israel's Foreign Ministry Missed Huge Historical Opportunity in Dubai

***

More...

A Huge Win for the Jewish People in our Holy City of Hevron (Video) |

Why does Yirmiyahu refer to Tisha B’Av as a Festival? (Rabbi Sprecher)

 7 Menachem Av 5781

 

 

 

 

 Why does Yirmiyahu refer to

Tisha B’Av as a Festival?



by Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher

On Tisha B'Av we mourn for the destruction of the first and second Holy Temples. The Talmud in Trachtate Taanit (p. 30) states that all Mitzvot that apply to a mourner during the Shiva also apply to the entire Jewish people on Tisha B'Av.

 

In other words, according to Halacha we are all sitting Shiva on Tisha B'Av. But, how can this be? For the Halacha states that if a close relative has died and we did not know about it until after 30 days, there will be no formal Shiva. We would sit Shiva symbolically for only an hour, and then get up and go about our regular routine. How then, can we sit Shiva on Tisha B'Av for tragic events that occurred thousands of years ago?

 

Rav Soloveitchik answers this question with a statement in Talmud Yerushalmi which states," Every generation in which the Holy Temple has not been rebuilt is like the generation in which it was destroyed again." Thus, we are not mourning on Tisha B'Av only for tragic events that happened thousands of years ago, but we are also mourning for the ongoing tragedy of not having the Temple rebuilt in our time.

 

Why is the Holy Temple so important to us as Jews? The Chofets Chaim explains that more than half of the 613 Mitzvot depend solely on the Temple. This means that for close to 2000 years we have been unable to fulfill the majority of Mitsvot. Therefore, we need the Holy Temple in order to become spiritually healed and whole again.

The Mitzvah to mourn on Tisha B' Av is only temporary, until it becomes a permanent day of joy in the Messianic Era as stated in Zachariah 8:19. Thus, Tisha B'Av is destined to be part of our Halachic tradition, but not as a day of eternal mourning. In the Scroll of Eicha, which is read on Tisha B’Av, Yirmiyahu (Eicha 1:15 and 2:22) refers to Tisha B’Av as “Moed” (a Festival). That is why we don’t say Tachanun and Selichot on Tisha B’Av (Shulchan Aruch 559:4).

 

What are the signs of the approaching Messianic Era? And how can we hasten Mashiach's coming? The Talmud states that the Jews returning from exile and the greening of the land of Israel is the key sign for the beginning of the Redemption. "There is no clearer sign then when the Land of Israel gives its produce abundantly, then the end of the exile is near, (Sanhedrin 98B, Rashi).

 

The Vilna Gaon told his disciples that Mashiach will come after the majority of the Jews in the Diaspora come to Israel. Thus, every Jew who makes Aliya hastens the Mashiach’s coming, thereby transforming the Fast of Tisha B’Av into a Feast.

For close to 2,000 years, our land rejected all would-be conquerors and remained desolate and barren. The Sifra explains that the Torah's curse of the land during our long exile, "I will make the land desolate," (Parshat Bechukotai) is actually a blessing in disguise because we didn't have to worry when we went into exile that our enemies would settle our land. Therefore, the greening of Israel is a clear signal that G-d's decree of "desolation" for the land is over and the Redemption is near. The Land of Israel had to go into "hibernation” waiting for us, her children, to return from exile.

 

The prophet Yirmiyahu saw the coming Redemption of the Messianic Era and its celebration as being an even greater event than the Exodus from Egypt. As the Prophet says in Yirmiyahu 16: 14, 15 – "Days are coming, says Hashem, when it will no longer be said, 'As Hashem lives Who took out Israel from Egypt,' but rather 'As Hashem lives, Who took out Israel from all the lands where Hashem dispersed them.' And Hashem will return them to their own land, which I gave to their forefathers."

 

According to HaRav Mordechai Eliyahu, זצ"ל and the Lubavitcher Rebbe, we are presently in the dawn of the Messianic Era. If Mashiach should arrive before Tish'a B'Av, then we will be feasting and celebrating on that day, instead of mourning and fasting.

************

With haShem's help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'בעזרת ה 

and

Happy Birthday, Yehonatan ben Malka! (Erev 9 Av)

Jacob's in trouble now. What to do? Part 3

the light of 15 Sivan 5781 | Full moon

I pray with a siddur just like this one, at home. It helps me keep focused on where I am and why I'm here.

 Part 1: Introduction | Part 2:  Lod On Fire | Part 3: What can we do, and what is best left to HQB"H?

 

I know this might seem counterintuitive, but hear me out: We probably can accomplish a lot more from where we are than from where our authorities are. After all, on the ground, more depends on how well we can work together with our neighbors and friends than on the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of the laws of the state, depending on their validity. 

And where do we get our measure of validity? From the Torah: the same source our Prophets got theirs, and that our Writers extolled.

This is one area which the Jewish nation is expected to excel, more than the other nations. And, it is the most attacked by the government. I expect that it feels it has the right to do so because of the money they throw at the religious establishment here, basically to keep them quiet. We know it was done in the beginning because there was such a small population, particularly of haredim, due to the Devastation* after World War II, that the government then didn't think they would thrive. Little did they know.

Am I reading this correctly? If so, I'm sure there's more where that comes from.

Besides that, in addition to the wisdom we get from the air in Eretz Yisrael, the smell of the corruption from the major organs of the state rises like that of rotten eggs, and it is encouraged by the way certain laws are enforced only against Jews, and no one else. If it hasn't become clear in the last few decades, it should be obvious just last week, when the cops and soldiers weren't defending the places where Arabs attacked Jews on the streets less than an hour from Tel Aviv for days on end.

I don't think this is because we don't know what's going on. It's because we, the Jewish people of Israel, feel helpless to do anything about it.

This is how we know that something has been wrong in Jerusalem these last 74 years. Maybe the right thing to do is insist that our government act like Mashiah, then wait for them to admit they can't?

Or, maybe they won't admit that they can't, they'll be proud that they won't?

Do they really want to preside over a living Jewish state, or over its death?

You really have to ask questions like this if you want anything in Israel to make sense, from pleading with Arabs to stay and benefit from the Jewish state in 1948, to more than one eviction of Jews from places in the Land of Israel that they refuse to administer (1982, from the Sinai and 2005 from Gush Qatif and northern Shomron are two that come off the top of my head; and I seem to recall writing about a more recent one as well), to not only refusing to defend Jews under direct fire on the streets of Haifa, Lod and other places near Tel Aviv, but actually arresting individual Jews who were defending themselves, just a week ago. Keeping Israel small, and Jews here and around the world defenseless and confused, doesn't help keep this people viable. It keeps us perpetually on the edge of extinction. 

***only ha qadosh baruch hu keeps us alive and viable ***

In addition, our government has become the bearer of broken promises and has become a glaringly obvious and embarrassing joke. The multi-national hodgepodge of a system we have does not serve the nation, and at this point we should consider abandoning it. We have been patient with it long enough. 

Do we really need all this to get us to return to the Creator of the Universe, to keep His laws, to be unashamed to call ourselves a Malchuth, with a real king, a descendant of Melech David, and not a Medinah? If we do, and we want to live to see the end of this, we have to do it NOW. And not just go to yeshiva or seminar (women's version) and learn the usual things that Jews learn the world over — our learning has to be deeper and encompass the land and the instruments of governance so that ALL of the Torah of Moshe Rabbenu can be kept here when the time comes and Mashiah is revealed. 

...and may it come quickly!

Pride and smirking should not be on the faces of those who, whether openly or secretly, run this country. They've proved that they can't even run a "normal," regular country, let alone the Nation of Israel, whose surviving people came straight from the Devastation* to their homeland. Or at least that's what a lot of people claim. In fact, the process of reestablishing our homeland in its place has been a long one and is still ongoing (and, no thanks to those who are directly involved in delaying us). At some point, we will have to turn our national elections, going on part 5 at this point, into a vote on which system we are going to live under. And the Biblical kingdom model had better be on the ballot.

I think we could be considering next steps, now that clarity has come to a great many of us that the Arabs among us have never intended to live in peace with us. Finally, at last, we get that. But it's not only the Arabs, it's also the Christians who take advantage of poor and struggling Jews to bring their "good news" to them. The Arabs hate us to death physically; the Christians love us to death spiritually. 

There are reasons that G-d, who gave the Jewish people this precious Land, didn't want us to allow idol worshipers and others who live foreign lifestyles to live here permanently; in Hebrew it's called, lo techanem (do not have compassion — from Deuteronomy/Devarim 7:2). We are seeing the results of that now. When are we going to acknowledge reality, even to the point of risking the opposition of the rest of the world?

Why not consider a kingdom, backed up by a Great Assembly of 120 men and a Kohanic system of 24 watches and a House to do their holy work and Levi'im to back them up with song?

But first, we need to make sure HQB"H is really the King in our lives.

When we pray and whatever else we do, particularly those of us who live in Eretz Yisrael, we must keep ourselves oriented to the fact that we are here in our Holy Land, regardless of where and what traditions we come from. 

I have an illustrative picture of the siddur I pray from at home in this post for a reason, and I wanted to write about it many months ago. Perhaps I still will, but at least this is a beginning.

We must not put up with injustices supported by our "justice" system. The Land can't stand it, and neither should we. 

A couple of recent examples:

- "To this day, no one has told me how my father lost his life." - Shai Tzfarti, who lost his father Moshe in Meron. And what about the families of the other 44 qorbanot? Where is the justice???

Also, you can now download the explosive new investigative report that the government doesn’t want you to read:

Meron: Accident or Murder? (PDF)

- We are at war today (cease-fires don't mean the war's over, by the way) because the government evicted every single last Jew — even the dead ones — from Gush Katif in 2005 and gave the land to the Arabs, who destroyed all the things they left for them. They've had a great place to shoot us from and otherwise make war for the last 16 years. And the High/Low Court can't bring itself to decide to resolve the decades-old problem in the Shimon haTzaddik/Sheik Jarrah neighborhood of Yerushalayim, whereby ARABS won't lower themselves pay rent to the mere JEWS who only own the property!!! - giving said Arabs the excuse to continue the war they've been waging, both openly and clandestinely, for the last 74 years.

Don't forget that Yitzhak Avinu lived in the Aza area during his lifetime, and he was commanded never to live outside of Eretz haKodesh because he was a living sacrifice!

When the Arabs quit their jobs or even look at their bosses funny, it should be remembered that Lavan the Wicked started looking at Yaacov Avinu strangely too, before Yaacov realized that he should leave and go home. 

In our case, we are home, so we should, as more than one business owner did on the "day of rage" that occurred on Isru Hag Shavuot, fire the Arabs who decide not to come to work, and look for Jews to replace them.

This is our last stand. We are home, and we're not going anywhere.

 One last word: 

Don't exaggerate the situation, but don't underestimate it, either...

...לא להגזים במצב, גם לא לזלזל בו

*direct translation of Shoah שואה (the Hebrew word for Holocaust). I am using the term "Devastation" in English because 1) it is one of its original Biblical meanings (see here and here) and 2) the word holocaust means "a sacrifice consumed by fire" (the implication being that the murder of as many Jews as possible was a "holy" project — an offensive description indeed; besides which, most of the murders were either shootings or gassings.) Thankfully, as the proverb says, we got up yet again...and, with G-d's help, we will keep getting up.

 

More reading:

 What about Israeli civilians? |  Covid-19, the Meron Tragedy, Hamas Missile Attacks, Rioting Yishmaelim, the Bleacher Tragedy in Givat Zev—What's the Underlying Message? | Rambam and Aliyah to the Temple Mount |  Israel is Stuck. | What's Next? | Wake Up, Israel! | Sovereign or Satellite? | No Doubt in My Mind | The State of Israel: G-d's Hand or Satan's? Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 |  Intended Consequences | A Letter to our Prime Minister and all 120 Knesset Members |

Jacob's in trouble now. What to do? Part 2

 7 Sivan 5781 | Isru Hag Shavuoth

 

 

Wreckage of a bus and car in Holon, Israel, after a rocket attack, 11 May (Wikipedia)

 Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Lod On Fire | Part 3:  What can we do, and what is best left to HQB"H?

 This article came to me already translated from Russian. If, like me, you happened to get it over WhatsApp first, you, too, appreciated that there was a translation to English AT ALL. I couldn't have done this myself; all I did was try to clarify the message and not make more mistakes in the process. 

The message speaks for itself. Emphases are mine alone. HDG

***

"Lod on Fire: Report from the Front Line"

by Alla Zohar

 My dear friends, every day I receive dozens of calls and messages from you, just to ask how things are in Lod. So I decided to answer everyone at once.

I want to name my post: "Lod on Fire" or "Report from the Front Line."

I think that all of you are more or less aware of what is happening in our country. I don't want to give any political assessments; I'll just tell you about our daily life.

Our mornings begin with questions in local groups: How can we get out of the city? Do doctors work? A child has high fever, how to get to the doctor so that they don't kill us on the way? Where are they shooting today? What's on fire? Where is being smashed? etc...

The rockets, which fall on our heads at the same time, already seem to be just child's play. It is much more terrible when every second you expect the thugs to break into your house and start killing your family. You can hide from missiles in a bomb shelter, but how do you protect yourself from those who break into your door, and it is just you against them? 

On the very first night in Lod, several houses were evacuated, in which Arabs and Jews lived together. When the rioters came, Arab neighbors guided them to Jewish apartments. People in the middle of the night jumped out into the street with children in their arms; they were forced to urgently evacuate. 

Does this remind you of anything?

Our husbands have not been sleeping for several nights, they guard our homes, and next to them are our sons. 

They have no weapons, they are absolutely defenseless in the face of thugs armed to the teeth. 

Settlers from Judea and Samaria come to us and stand next to our men, this is our protection. The police and the magawas (border police [mishmar hag'vul - HDG]) are not managing.

We see our cars and synagogues burning. 

People burst into burning synagogues to save sifrei Torah (Torah scrolls).

All night long automatic gun shooting does not stop. We cannot sleep. All Lod residents inform each other in various media groups what is happening on this or that street, where the crowds of pogromists have moved at the moment. We are afraid for our children, who are with us at home, and for our men, who are now trying to resist the crazed crowd on the street. Now we have again been warned that pogroms are expected after Friday prayers, be prepared (it was written on Thursday).

We live in constant fear, and mind you, all this is not happening somewhere in Syria, or beyond the so-called Green Line. All this is happening in our country, in its very center, a 20-minute drive from Tel Aviv.

Do you hear this on the news?

NO!!!

It all started from our city of Lod. We cried out for help! Nobody heard us. Now pogroms are already taking place in all Israeli cities with a mixed population.

If you have not yet understood, we have a war, a war for survival, and missiles falling from the sky will soon seem to us the lesser of two evils.

If the easy-going residents of Tel Aviv think that this misfortune will bypass them, I am afraid they are deeply mistaken. The situation is already getting out of control, and G-d forbid, the whole country can get set ablaze.

Remember, when people were evicted from Gush Katif? The people there shouted, "Come to your senses! What are you doing? If we are not there, missiles will fly to the center of the country."

That is what we are now witnessing.

People! Do not be silent, tell the whole world what is happening here.  

The world must know the truth! 

I want to end my post with the famous words of Martin Niemoeller:

When the Nazis came for the communists, I was silent, I am not a communist.

Then they came for the Social Democrats. I was silent, I am not a Social Democrat.

Then they came for the trade unionists, I was silent, I am not a union member.

Then they came for the Jews, I was silent, I am not a Jew.

And then they came for me, and there was no one to protest.

***

Part 3 is next.

Jacob's in trouble now. What to do? Part 1

 7 Sivan 5781 | Isru Hag Shavuoth

 

Israeli police forces in Lod, Israel, 11 May 2021 (Wikipedia)

 

Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Lod On Fire | Part 3:  What can we do, and what is best left to HQB"H?

The local WhatsApp group and I got a very disturbing message this morning, from Lod. To understand its importance, I'll have to do some explaining before I bring it here. It would be good to absorb this commentary first, while I type up the message. 

I have to do that because I have a policy not to synchronize my phone with my computer. They are separate entities as far as I'm concerned, and I type pretty fast. So, now to the comments.

***

First of all, I'd like to congratulate our military leadership on the masterful way in which many Gazan terrorists were led to their end in the "Hamas Metro," when the tunnel infrastructure inside Gaza was bombed where many were hiding last Saturday night, when Shabbat had ended (if one can believe this news report), as part of Operation Wall Guardians(1).

We know that the army can carry out effective missions when the leadership wants to.

The times when nuclear reactors and other potential nation-destroying weapons have been destroyed just in the nick of time before they were supposed to go on line are witness to this. The one in Iran was the most recent of them.

I understand that Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to bring these Arabs, both Israeli and from Gaza/the "West Bank" to surrender. I hope it's true, but I'm not counting on him having unimpeded access to that goal. 

Apparently, this was known some time ago. From Arutz-7, in September 2020, Saeb Erekat, ym"sh, claimed that Netanyahu "...does not want peace, but wants the Palestinian surrender..."

The heavy bombardment of fake news in the last half-decade or more makes people suspicious of any news item, even if it is true. So, kindly show us proof. A lot less will on their part to fight, whether from Gaza or on the streets of Israeli cities, would be a good start. 

Innocent civilians shouldn't have to protest constantly for a decent government to keep deadly, war-like violence from affecting ordinary people living ordinary lives, especially when it's their children who are fighting back.

Over time it has become apparent to anyone who has lived in Israel that those times are few and far between; and right now they are even fewer than ever, and the needs are greater. Either the governing apparatus has decided to give the impression that they are bumbling fools and have no overriding priorities in favor of the survival of Israel as a country, OR it has no overriding priorities of that kind, and the survival priorities are rather more personalized, if you will, toward certain groups over others.

If you understand the makeup of the country, you know that non-religious people from Jewish families from the Tel Aviv area tend to rule the important elements (e.g., education, media, laws and statutes) even when the more religious make up the majority, and they can't stand many of the other groups of Jewish people who inhabit this land, especially those who are happy and proud to be Jews and who couldn't care less about people who rule the parts of Eretz Yisrael that we currently hold, but who would just as soon give them up to local (Arabs) and not-so-local (such as the Vatican) non-Jews.

They clearly prioritize political correctness from outside Israel over proper provision of land for all of Israel's Jewish citizens.

But that doesn't explain why reports are coming in that the Blue and White police and border guards are not doing their jobs (or, not able to do their jobs) even in Haifa and Lod — generally among the places where Jews and Arabs live literally side-by-side, or even in the same buildings, and Tel Aviv, which promotes pro-Arab messaging but doesn't seem too concerned that not enough Arabs live there. Why would our government davka not express concern about the situation in the areas of Israel where compliance with the agenda put forth by it is greatest?

That would have to be explained by someone more familiar with these issues than I am. But it would seem to me that people above the Israeli government are either giving orders like these, or making it difficult-to-impossible to enforce proper orders. 

Or, it could be because of an agreement with another country. Here is an interesting-looking article: Litigation: Enforcement of foreign judgments in Israel, that might go some way toward a general explanation of the phenomenon.

Many other parts of the country are also suffering from lack of law enforcement, while most of us have access to the Pikud haOref  (Home-front Command; in American terms, Homeland Security) in one way or another, and are aware of the attempted or successful bombings of cities within and outside the "Gaza Envelope."(2) Considering the intense law enforcement of the last year due to "corona," this situation makes absolutely no sense. The message from Lod claims that there is NO news about this anywhere.

And neither does the behavior of law enforcement in Meron of recent memory (let us not forget). See what you think of this summary of research and posting of a sampling of evidence that something very different happened to cause the deaths of 45 and the many injuries on La"G laOmer. Here is the post it came from.

The message from Lod gives more specific details on this (but not too specific, I would assume, for safety reasons). (It seems we haven't heard from anyone in French Hill (Givah Tsafartit), a mixed neighborhood in Yerushalayim, and I wonder why.)

What I'm not talking about...

I'm not discussing the Sheikh Jarrah/Shimon haTzaddik housing rental issue in this series, if ever; that's a separate legal matter whose resolution has been put off by this war. 

Jerusalem is closer to the heart of it, but for some reason we seem to have been left alone since Yom Yerushalayim. This has to be some kind of trick. As I noted above, we haven't heard about our own mixed neighborhood.

Please let me know if I've left out something important in the comment section. 

Let me end this part with my translation from Hebrew of a WhatsApp post, again from this morning, that expresses the hopes and prayers of many, written by Kobi Bornshtein in Hebrew and forwarded to us:

Rosh haShana wasn't Rosh haShana
Simchat Torah wasn't Simchat Torah
Meron wasn't Meron
Shavuot wasn't Shavuot
Likewise, with G-d's help, Tis'ha be'Av won't be Tish'a be'Av.

***

😉

 (1) Note to English speakers: Guardian, in the singular, is an incorrect translation. In the original Hebrew term, Shomrei haKirot, both words are plural. Of course, if it refers to G-d, the singular would be correct —  it seems not to be the case here — as Shomer haKirot. I only wish it were so!  

(2) According to the Pikud haOref application, the Gaza Envelope (Otef Aza) extends out to four kilometers (4 km) from the borders of Gaza. A number of smaller communities live within this envelope.

An attack on Jerusalem and a war on the nation

bs"d 

44th Day of the Omer count | motzaei Yom Yerushalayim | 28 Iyyar 5781

Who do they think they are, who dare stop our celebrations, threatening war? Source

Was I living through the days before the 6-Day War again, this afternoon? I was 11 years old then, and living in the United States. Now I've been here in Yerushalayim for over 13 years, and the last time I heard a siren here was in 2014, during Operation Ssouk Eitan ("protective edge"). More here.

"Honey, what is going on?"

    "What do you mean?"

"What is this siren?" I asked.

    "It's...uh..."

"This is Jerusalem Day. Sirens aren't supposed to happen today. I think this is real. You need to come to my office. Now."  

That's the room we use for such emergencies. I have no outside windows there. It's as close to a protective room as we have.

A few seconds later we heard two thumps. This is what rockets sound like from some distance away (not saying where.). But last time I heard them, they didn't seem as close as they did today. I have to admit, I hadn't heard that we'd been warned by our enemies that we were going to be attacked if Jews weren't taken out of the Old City by 6pm (18:00).

Fortunately, no more sirens sounded here. G-d, backed up by our troops, was defending us.

War has been building up against us the whole month of Iyyar (which this year is Ramadan for them). We have one more day to go...

Now is the time for me to say something about what I think is behind the ever-present threat that underlies Jewish Israeli life and that has its effect on the Israeli personality. I'm sure I'm not the only one to have this come to mind. I have thought for years that...

 ...our government has been using the local Arabs to control the Jewish population. Which explains why the so-called "Palestinians" been getting away with murder for years, both of their own and of us.

Otherwise, we might have had the whole land already, for all I know. We might have had the courage to have all of Judea and Samaria, and even taken back Jordan, which was supposed to be ours before Britain decided, treacherously, to give it to a tribe of Saudi Arabs called the Hashemites. After the Six-Day War, we had courage aplenty because we were backed up by The One Above. But it was the government, here on earth, who destroyed it for us by not backing us up and by giving in easily to foreign governments (almost) each and every time pressure was placed upon them. 

And we wouldn't be in this situation either.

 (The Abraham Accords haven't helped, either. The nations who signed are already turning on us. Dr. Mordechai Kedar explains why.)

You know, when we try to get across that the "Palestinians" start trouble and then involve the news media only when we strike back, very few listen; basically, people who were already our friends. We don't win over people who were against us to begin with. It's a waste of time and energy.

Action speaks louder, and more persuasively, than words, theirs or ours. The US is no longer our friend, and this should not be news any longer. It is a broken reed, upon which we cannot rely. It is an opportunity for us to act with independent thought, backed up by prayer and mitzvoth.

It's time for this "Israeli" system (based on British/Ottoman law — not exactly a direct way to democracy, and even that is lacking...) to implode. 

We need Mashiah, this second, and the Kingdom of Israel! We cannot depend on any other system to be effective for us.

It seemed understandable for the nation to be afraid before June 1967. We have no excuse now. We know that if we turn to HQB"H, that He'll be on our side!

...An hour later, when I was fixing dinner, hubby said to me, 

"We'll be OK."

    "Be'ezrath haShem," I replied. (meaning, "with the help of G-d.")

"Amen." 

It looks like it'll be a rough next few days. But we'll be OK, with G-d's help...

and our courage to follow wherever He leads.

More reading: 

Let's finish this | Sirens wailing, rockets flyin' in the air | In the war zone | Another brick in the wall | If we want to leave Mitzrayim — we must have faith  | Can Israel stop "Palestinian" thieves from stealing its land? | The Jewish right to the land of Israel | What you won't read in western media about the Jerusalem riots | Today's blood libel | Recent events and their Geula basis |

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UPDATE: a MAJOR breath of fresh air:

Many thanks to Devash for the work she did separating this out from the long, long video it came from.

A mixed message: Miracle above, and what's going on below

 Light of 9 Heshvan 5781

 

Dedicated to the neshama of Yehuda Leab ben Aharon Yitzhak uShifra, whose petirah and levaya were today.

 

Several days ago in mid-afternoon (Tuesday, 20 October / 2 Heshvan) it rained pretty heavily in my Yerushalayim neighborhood for about an hour, then moved on elsewhere in the Holy City. I heard the rain before looking out the window, but I was way too slow. No pics of mine here. But you can see some here, thanks to Neshama, who also lives in Yerushalayim.

Consider this picture, taken for the Times of Israel (first link above). How many times has anyone seen a solitary cloud hanging over Jerusalem at the beginning of the rainy season? (I was hoping that the north of the country would also benefit; but, alas, it seems that no other part of our ancestral homeland did. I'd like to know if other parts of Israel got some precious rain as well.)

I don't know where it went from there, or if it just dispersed. 

Meanwhile, on the same day, while the ground was still drying from the rain and surfaces were still dripping, a Jerusalem neighborhood saw a young girl arrested and her face pepper-sprayed because she wasn't wearing a mask, in front of the apartment building where she lives. It's not in a strict haredi neighborhood, either. If you examine the video carefully (3rd tweet down; it's 1 minute, 36 seconds long), you'll see that her feet are bare. I think that means she wasn't going anywhere. 

We don't know how it ends because someone came home in a car and wanted to park in the parking lot out of our view; that's where the video stops.

Abba sheh'baShamayim, what's the message here, besides that we have a way to go yet before we can have an unmitigated redemption?

When a Rabbi is Right, He's Right! Land concession IS like wife sharing...

3 Tammuz 5780

A view of the Shomron (source)

Land concession is like wife sharing. That's how Rabbi Shlomo Aviner put it in a recent interview with Rabbi Mordechai Tzion regarding our side of the Peace and Prosperity Plan ("Deal of the Century") that the United States is proposing - not to mention all the proposals since 1948.

Here is what Rav Aviner said when asked whether Israel should agree with the deal, counting on the Arabs to refuse:

Q. Some say that politics is just talk anyway, and therefore we can agree to this deal, because for sure the Arabs will refuse, and then we'll come out the good guys and we'll reap the benefits.

A. Regarding the Land of Israel, even just talk of betrayal is a terrible sin. It would be like a man who says that he agrees to lend his wife to his neighbor a few days a week, in the knowledge that his neighbor won't agree; this is also betrayal.

We all remember the Rosh HaShanah story of Rav Amnon who, under pressure from the king to convert to Christianity, finally said that he would "think about it." When he realized the he had actually given the impression that he might consider converting, he had terrible regrets, repented of his sin – and died with great suffering.

Incidentally, there is no guarantee that the Arabs will not agree. There were cases in the past when they agreed. When it comes to our very existence and national soul, we don't gamble. After all, the ties between the Nation of Israel and the Land of Israel are not those of a peddler and his wares; they are rather like man and wife, a bond of life.

Read more from whence this passage was taken. This article was translated from Hebrew by Hillel Fendel.

I think that's at the heart of all the difficulties we have been having over our Land. Too many Jews here, especially the leadership of almost all the parties (Yamina being a notable exception), have had ambivalent feelings toward her at the very least. And the Arabs have always refused any deal with us until now.

Aretz/eretz ארץ is feminine, therefore the Land is feminine...so go ahead, call her Mother Eretz Israel. I suspect it's also where R' Aviner got his simile above.)

Surrounding these difficulties like a layer of heart tissue is the propaganda campaign initiated by the KGB and inculcated into Yasser Arafat to win the hearts of the world to his side, against us.

We can overcome this layer by examining the picture we each hold of the Land we love, and by increasing our love for her.

It isn't easy, as we saw recently in parashath Shelah Lekha שלח לך, Send for Yourselves. The people who lived on her at the time were intimidating. So are the people who lived here when we returned, some of whose descendants still live here now.

Lately, I've been reading over and over messages to the "settlers" of Yehuda and Shomron that they are interpreting the Plan wrong, and the maps as well. How many times over the last two-and-a-half decades have they been wrong? Actually, they have a better track record than the rest of the country. They also have the most "skin in the game."

They were correct to declare that we should never have abandoned Gush Katif and northern Shomron. We are still paying the price, fifteen years later; even as I type now, the denizens of Gaza have resumed their terror war against us (terror balloons, rockets, etc.(1): Our fellow citizens who live near the border fence can probably tell us it never stopped).

The Arabs do this because they have heard that we're offering them parts of our land, and they stand to benefit, if they pressure us enough!

They were correct to declare that we should not confine our borders as strictly as the Left would have us do today. Remember when Abba Eban called them "Auschwitz borders"? Even the Left knew better back in Abba Eban's day.

And the settlers are correct now, insisting that we should not give up the right to claim all, yes, ALL, of our territory and not leaving any of our towns and villages in enclaves where people who live there would have to abandon them or die, making things worse for ALL ISRAELIS. Let's not kid ourselves: The less we defend our rights to the whole Land (at least up to the Jordan River), the more the world will demand that we abandon ALL of it altogether, until there is NO MORE ISRAEL. How can any Jew anywhere in the world really stand that, after all we've been through in just the last century alone???!!!

And that's just the "derekh eretz" part of it, including simple logic and past experience. But we read a parasha every year, which we just read again last week, that spells out just how important our Creator thinks it is that we appreciate what He's given us here. The leadership that discouraged us was killed on the spot, and the rest of us had to spend nearly 40 years in the desert thinking about what we'd done wrong - which led to more wrong, as we'll see this week and the rest of the book of BaMidbar (Numbers).

Perhaps a lot of our troubles are still the part of the 40 years that we didn't spend in the actual desert, but are still suffering the loss? Are we still reaping the results of our lack of gratitude way back then, and since then?

And one more "derekh eretz" thought: Younger Jews, especially those who are not related to Holocaust survivors or those who perished, have not been bearing the loss of the Six Million (or more or less) as long as we older ones and are farther away from it, and so appear to be more vulnerable to suggestions that it wasn't as real as it actually was, and that it isn't as important now. It's something to think about, if for no other reason that after 72 years we still haven't recovered our numerical strength to where we were at the beginning of the Second World War, unlike the rest of the world, which has far outstripped us!

Eighteen million really isn't that large a number in the grand scheme of things, and we should have been there many years ago if we were like the other nations. This is what "assimilation" and "intermarriage" have done to us since the Holocaust.

In any case, all Israel (the people) is a family. At the very most, we divide ourselves by tribe, and not by race or other criterion. And we have a Land, much of which is still waiting for us to take it to our bosom with love.

Do we hear the land's melody within us? Rav Dovid Mark explains...there are no deals on Eretz Yisrael, you just won't hear the niggun. Land concession is like wife sharing. So, our "wife" will not share her songs with those who treat her like just any old dirt, to be bargained away to suit someone else's age-old agenda.

Also, remember when Jordan annexed the "West Bank"? They deny it now, but they did, to the disapproval of most of the world. Because it really did belong to someone else before, and that "someone else" is us.

The nations know it, or else they would have thrown out their Bibles long ago, or burned them in public as they did the Talmud in ages past. I dare them to try that again!

Here's what kind of enemy we're dealing with among us...https://youtu.be/xFJyptyJjrs - h/t to Avi Abelow from Israel Unwired, here. (Of course, Blogger wouldn't let me embed the video.)

Our Land should be free of people such as these; and we shouldn't be giving money to them!

And here are two very recent news posts, on Arutz 7: Dr. Hagai ben Artzi, world authority on the Tana"kh, declares that the Jordan Valley must be Israel's eastern border. And: a "black hole" has been embedded in the "Peace to Prosperity Plan." See the explanation by Orit Strook, former Member of Knesset.

As Dr. ben Artzi, PM Binyamin Netanyahu's brother-in-law, said to him:

"Bibi: Be courageous, move ahead. The Jordan Valley must be declared as the eastern border of Israel, and this will be your heritage."

Of course, I think we need to extend sovereignty over all of Yehuda, Shomron and Emek haYarden (Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley). See the video below!

(I would have embedded this video too, but Blogger wouldn't let me, once again!)

Applying Israeli Law in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley

https://youtu.be/FMb9OTX3F3Q

One last thing: Every last one of us Jews in this country needs to stop debasing ourselves, our religion and our land! The Lubavitcher Rebbe (his 26th hillula is today) noted (with much pain, I'm sure) -- in 1976:

“Never before have Jews turned themselves into Canaanite slaves! Since the religious Knesset representative is ashamed to say outright that he is a Canaanite slave, he calls this a religious accomplishment!

“The situation has reached such a low that they have agreed to surrender to the Arabs any piece of land that they will demand with the sole stipulation that they will draw this out for an extended time in order to show outwardly that they are taking a strong stand of resistance. If they were doing this in the name of Karl Marx, it would be well understood, but why are they doing this in the name of Torah?”

Read the rest here. And please, stop appeasing the goyim, including and especially the Arabs! No matter over how little land we extend sovereignty now, we will still get the same war. We might as well give them something to really cry about, and exercise all self-defense measures and even offensive measures, no matter how much the rest of the world objects!

And, while we're at it, let's take back our heart, Har haBayit, and reunite Yerushalayim too!!!

You know that if the goyim really loved, and were really following, HQB"H, they would have stopped objecting to our taking our land back years ago. So, let's be strong and take courage!

Land concession is like wife sharing...especially in a time when we are looking forward to the complete redemption. It's a sin to even speak of betraying our Land; all the more so to actually hand her over to another, G-d forbid!

(I almost posted a map of an Arab's view of Yehuda and the Shomron, complete with a flag of "Palestine" stamped on the territory of Binyamin, where Har haBayit is located. I wonder how my readers would have reacted to that.)

(1) All the news sources I reviewed note 2020 attacks only in January and February. All noted "Palestinian" rocket attacks on Israel are here.

Israeli Leaders, be warned! "One shot will disrupt the ceremony..."

23 Tevet 5780

The media has been warning us recently of threats made by "Palestinian" leadership, first published as an opinion piece in the Palestinian Authority's Al-Hayat Al-Jadida daily. Jerusalem Post | Palestinian Media Watch

The money quote is:

“One shot will disrupt the ceremony and one dead body will cancel the ceremony”

Just in case you thought it was lost on us ordinary citizens, we see that high-stakes murder has been threatened here in our fair city, King David's Capital.

Tomorrow is the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and its commemoration is being held later this week here in Jerusalem. Yad vaShem

 I have a message for all Israeli politicians, rabbis, police, media and others who support Israel's current political system:

If you let any kind of "incident" happen because "the system" -- you know, the one that allows Arabs to go around freely in Jewish areas while we Jews get big red signs warning us to stay out of Arab areas due to danger to our lives -- "forces" you to hold back on our security, remember that March 2nd is coming whether or not there is an election on that day.

As you should, every day, whether world leaders are here or not. Need I add that it is your job to make sure Jews can live in safety here? Any failure sends us a huge negative message.

We Israeli Jews are watching how you handle this international event. Everyone else in the world may be watching as well, but we are the only people who matter (aside from HaQadosh Baruch Hu), should the election occur, when it comes to whether you keep your jobs, or whether you get to greet Mashiah "at the end of the day" as part of the transition of governance. It is by no means the only criterion, but it is a big one.

Thankfully, Yad vaShem has not published a detailed event program. Apparently, the world leaders have been invited to the World Holocaust Forum on Friday the 24th as well. Jewish Press


I, along with my fellow Yerushalmim and others who live and/or work in Greater Jerusalem, won't have freedom of movement as usual for the next few days. Those of us in Israel who have internet and who watch the news will have plenty of time to keep an eye on you. We're not going anywhere.


Transit arrangements in English: Municipality of Jerusalem Languages available onsite are Hebrew, English, Arabic, French and Russian. All others use Google Translate (at your own risk). | Hat tip: Devash

The Day the Old City Gates Spoke

In honor of Yom Yerushalayim 5779...בכבוד יום ירושלים ה"תשע"ט

I hope we will be greeting Mashiah soon, here in Yerushalayim! The Rav will be able to serve in the Third Holy Temple, along with my husband, a Levi. (Can't find the source. Sorry.)

BS”D Yom Yerushalayim 5779 | Rabbi Nachman Kahana

reformatted slightly by HDG

IN HONOR OF THE 52nd YEAR OF RE-UNIFICATION OF YERUSHALAYIM – YOM YERUSHALAYIM

The following is a translation of a composition by Mr. Yitzchak Navon, in honor of Yerushalayim, written when he was serving as our 5th president.

In June 1967, the Six Day War broke out.  Israel’s soldiers fought bravely and won many victories. Soon they reached the Old City of Jerusalem. They prepared to fight for it, and to take it back from Jordan.  But they did not know through which of the seven gates to enter.  As they tried to decide what to do, each gate begged, one louder than the other, “Enter the Old City through me. Enter the Old City through me.”

Their voices reached heaven, but God and his angels could not decide which gate deserved to be the one through which the soldiers would enter.  Then the angel Michael spoke. “God in Heaven, All the gates are beautiful, and each deserves to be the one through which the soldiers will enter the Old City.  Let each gate speak and explain why it should be chosen.  Then You will decide which gate is most worthy.

God thought this was an excellent idea and asked each gate to speak for itself.  Sha’ar Yafo, the Jaffa Gate, spoke first.

 Two important roads go out from me.  One leads to the city of Yafo and to the Mediterranean Sea.  The other goes to Hevron where our ancestors Avraham and Sarah, Yitzchak and Rivkah, and Ya`akov and Leah are buried in the Me’a-rat Ha-mach-pe-lah.  Near me stands the Tower of David.  I will make sure that the soldiers of Israel enter the Old City safely.

Then Sha’ar Sh’khem, the Damascus Gate, spoke out in a loud voice and said:

I am the biggest and most beautiful of all the gates.  All roads leading north from Jerusalem start here with me.  Let the soldiers of Israel enter the Old City through me.

Sha’ar Tzion, the Zion Gate, was the next to speak:

God in Heaven, I am named for your holy city—Tzion.  Look at me.  I am bruised and broken from all the fighting around me.  It is only right that victory should come through me.  Choose me, choose me.

Raising its voice, Sha’ar HaAshpot, the Dung Gate, said:

Dear God, look at me.  I am miserable and ashamed.  For centuries, Jerusalem’s garbage was dumped on me.  Now don’t misunderstand, I would rather be covered with the garbage of Jerusalem than with all the precious jewels in the world.  Every day, I try to comfort the Kotel, which is right next to me.  It is sad because Jews cannot pray there now.  Make us happy and let Israel’s soldiers enter the Old City through me.

It was then the turn of Sha’ar HaPerahim, the Flower Gate:

It would not be right for the soldiers of Israel to enter the Old City through the dirty Dung Gate.  Let the soldiers of Israel enter through me and I will give them wreaths of flowers.  It should be through me, through me.

Next the voice of Sha’ar HeHadash, the New Gate, was heard.

I am the smallest and newest of the gates.  I am so new that I am not even counted as one of the seven gates.  I am near the Israeli side of the city, and every day I watch as Israel’s enemies fire upon her. I try to protect Israel, but I cannot.  Please let Israel’s soldiers enter through me.

Next in line to speak was Sha’ar HaRahamim, the Golden Gate. Its voice was muffled because it was closed in on both sides.

Master of the Universe.  For years my entrance has been sealed shut.  The other gates open and close, but large stones block me up. You promised that the Jews would return to rebuild the Beit HaMikdash through me, and that is why Israel’s enemies sealed me shut.  It is only right that the soldiers of Israel enter through me.

Only Sha’ar Ha’Arayot, the Lions’ Gate, was left to speak.  God pointed to it, but it remained silent.  Finally, it began to speak in a soft voice:

God in Heaven.  From all directions I see soldiers fighting and being wounded. My heart is breaking, and I cannot bear to watch any longer.  It doesn’t matter through which gate the soldiers enter. Just make the fighting stop.

God and the angels heard these words and whispered among themselves.  Then God turned to the Lions’ Gate and said:  All the other gates are interested in their own honor. But you care more about the soldiers of Israel than about yourself. Therefore, we have decided that the soldiers of Israel will enter the Old City through you.  Let them enter through the Lions’ Gate.  Their armored cars swept through the alleyways, and they set the city free.  At the Western Wall they blew a great blast on the shofar.  The blast was heard throughout the land and everyone knew that the gates of the Old City were once again open to Jews.  A miracle had occurred.  Jerusalem was united.

Dear Friends:

Chag Samayach to the entire House of Israel on the anniversary of one of the greatest miracles to ever have been performed by our Father in Heaven – and this in our own time – the re-unification of Yerushalayim. We are now sovereign over the holy city for the first time in over 2000 years, and it will never be taken away from us – be’ezrat HaShem

Shabbat Shalom | Nachman Kahana | Copyright © 5779/2019 Nachman Kahana