I received an email from someone who doesn't want to be identified, just before Pesach Sheni, which was erev Shabbat Emor as well, with the message I bring today. Even though the intent was to warn people on Pesach Sheni, it has come and gone and Mashiah has not yet arrived. And I am not actually quoting anyone else here, just my thoughts on the message and the people referred to therein.
***
I think it is still a good thing to carry this person's warning about a particular group, High on the Har, that has an agenda contrary to the Torah. Apparently they hang out on the Har (that is, Har haBayit or the Temple Mount) as part of their agenda.
That is, they are Christians. I am tempted to ask, what are they smoking on the Har? What are they thinking?😂
If Jews aren't allowed up there, NO ONE ELSE should be there at all.
To be clear: It is our Holy Father, the One Who created and made everything and everyone, Who is like an ever-fresh cypress tree (cf.Hoshea 14:9). What is the emphasis on a successor to take His place about? Even the nation of Israel, who is God's first born son, does not take the place of our Father in heaven.
He is ETERNAL. He bears neither sickness nor disease, nor old age. He is as strong now as He was in the beginning, and He will always be.
Just let's not get in His way!
HaShem will deliver us from all evildoers, including the ones who think they run the world today, and bring us to the final redemption in His time, which He can — or will — hasten (Isaiah/Yeshayahu 60:22).
The video below, produced by High on the Har, has at least one immodest woman with tattoos (a confusing message if I ever saw one, because the combined tattoos form the words to the "I believe in the coming of Mashiah" song in Hebrew...), just to warn the men who read my musings here as well as messages like this one.
It may be that no one will want to watch it. I cannot blame them. The video below it is much more suitable.
From the Temple Institute. Thanks to reader A. for the tip on that video this pic replaced.
I can't wait to find out.
They were shipped from Texas and delivered to the Temple Institute today. The comments on this video, mostly from Xians, are confusing and confused.
Maybe they'll find out that this is the ultimate refutation of their "religion" until Mashiah is revealed (which would be the real ultimate refutation, of course)!
Or, we'll wait a while longer...I just hope that none of them is pregnant or grows white or black hairs. The last time I heard about a red heifer, she ended up giving birth...and that's how my blog began.
(It also so happens that 15 years ago today (Hebrew date; the one-way flight was Monday-Tuesday then) my husband and I took off from the US to land here in Israel the next day. This year, it'll be on Shabbat. 😉)
We can't have a Holy Temple (Beit haMiqdash) until we have a Red Heifer (Parah Adumah). I'd say the chances of one out of 5 heifers being "the one" is a lot better than one out of one!
With the help of G-d!!!
***
P.S. To clarify: Only if G-d wants any of these heifers will they make it through the process without getting blemished. If the Christians who sent them here are acceptable to G-d, He'll keep the heifers from anything that might disqualify them. But if not...watch out. (Somehow, I think they're not. 😉)
I'm also wondering about the Temple Institute itself. Their site doesn't show them getting the five red heifers recently. It seems to me that we're not going to hear this news from anyone else other than Christians. NO FAIR - HDG, 5 November 2022
If readers hear otherwise, please comment! Many thanks in advance.
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.
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...
Two and a half weeks from now, Israel plans to take sovereignty over an as-yet-to-be-determined portion of the lands of Judea and Samaria (the map above is from 9 June 2020, and as far as can be determined, it is not final.).
Our representatives don't need to insult the president of the United States, or the leader of any country, or their teams, who are offering their advice, insisting that we not act on this decision over land that has been ours for centuries, and that was won back in the 1967 Six-Day War.
We can simply explain that, no matter who on the earth gives "permission" to the Jewish People to take back our Land, it is G-d who gives the land to us. No leader on earth has the right to place conditions on it because it is not their place to do so, no matter how many changes and versions they may come up with.
ויאמר להם זרבבל וישוע
ושאר ראשי האבות לישראל לא לכם ולנו לבנות בית לאלהינו כי אנחנו יחד נבנה
לה’ אלהי ישראל כאשר צונו המלך כורש מלך פרס:
And Zerubavel and Yeshuah and the rest of the family heads of Israel said to them: It is not for you together with us to build a Temple for our God, we (the Jews) will build (it) for HaShem, the God of Israel as Koresh, the King of Persia, has commanded us.
(The heart of the translation is by R' Nachman Kahana; I finished it according to the passage he quoted in Hebrew. - HDG)
Koresh told us to go home and build the Beit haMiqdash ourselves. It is the same today. As Rav Kahana continues (my emphasis):
Zerubavel evoked the eternal principle that in spiritual matters "three is a crowd." In matters between the Creator of heaven and earth and his chosen nation, Am Yisrael, no gentile hand is to be tolerated...The answer is crystal clear. Reject the American plan so as to remove
them from the process, and then declare annexation as Jewish – Israeli
right by virtue of our historic and Biblical rights to the land from our
sole benefactor, the God of Israel.
Since the nations are offering us free advice on how (or whether) to advance our agenda on "annexation" (extension of sovereignty is the proper legal term for it!...) of land that was ours to begin with, I offer this back to them (I'm looking at you, United Nations, European Union, and most of all, the Israeli Supreme Court[1]):
Leaders of the nations may only command what G-d demands; no more and no less. Beyond that is hubris; this is what Koresh taught Bible-readers. Not to us Jews, but to Him! Even if you are atheist and don't believe in Him, just try leaving us to "our own devices" on this one. Back off, and see what happens.
Perhaps you are hoping that our enemies will devour us once you leave us alone; but it doesn't matter what you think or hope (genuine worry would be nice of you; but I don't expect that, considering your track record.). With G-d's help, we are soon to have the majority of the Jewish population of the world right here in Eretz haQodesh. Only He can decide when that will occur, and this will have major effects on how world events will affect the Jewish Nation, as well as how we observe Jewish Law.
I have a special word for the Israeli Supreme Court. Because of your treasonous actions against the State of Israel and the Jewish People that you have gotten away with until now, especially since the 1995 ruling of then-Chief Justice Aharon Barak that "everything is justiciable," I propose that — instead of limiting the sovereignty plan as our Prime Minister is mulling over — we take sovereignty over ALL of Judea and Samaria. Never mind the Regulation Law that you just nullified, it won't be necessary once this is done. We cannot have a foreign state sitting on our land; we have seen the results of allowing people whose goal it is to rid the world of us to live here among us, to begin with, without it being official.
Banishment of our enemies would be better than war, if at all possible, with or without compensation. But if there is need for war, it should be conducted properly, without our soldiers having to get permission to shoot our enemies dead whether they come after us with weapons, or they plan to do so.
Back to my readers: The best way to understand why we need to do this all at once, and take such pains, is to expose how the Russians advised Yasser Arafat back in the 1960s how to keep us low, small and dependent, and how to turn the world against us seemingly forever. Read this history and let's stop being freierim, being submissive to the demands of our would-be murderers for political correctness' sake!
A question that has recently come up is whether the rest of the Arab world really has given up on the "Palestinians." Are they just saying that in order to fool us, or do they mean it? They shouldn't blame us for asking, given all the times they have indeed said things opposite to what they intend. And, in any case, we should not make any decisions on the basis of how the rest of the world, even the Arab world, feels about us or the non-Jews who live among us.
If they didn't have an issue with Iran, would they tire of the "Palestinians"? Would they need us? Personally, I would rather have friends and associates who don't need "issues" with others in order to cooperate with me, let me live in peace and give me space, in a place where everyone else has more than adequate room for their needs.
Another thing to remember is that other countries who have "Palestinians" living among them don't give them so much as the time of day, let alone cooperation, space, peace and enough to eat. But the world leaves them alone. It's not that they care about these Arabs; rather, they hate us, the Jews. I have a hard time believing that the rest of the Arab world really wants us around for any reason while they neglect the needs of "their" "Palestinian" siblings.
There is plenty of room to go around for all of us, even if we had all the land the San Remo Conference decision "gave" us in 1920.
Please, try not to worry too much about us offending the world. The world has offended us more than long enough. Standing up for ourselves and taking sovereignty from the river to the sea is the least we can do. The sowing of alarm among the nations should not stop us.
Only HaShem can give us the Land of Israel, and make it stick. We just have to gratefully receive it from His loving and holy hand alone!
[1] To the article linked to, I would only add that Israeli government officials who promote the negation of Jewish rights in our homeland, and to our homeland as delineated in the Bible, in favor of others should be tried and sentenced to an appropriate punishment, which I am not qualified to decide. After all, many have perished due to their decisions, overriding Knesset decisions against, to take bulldozers to Jewish towns and villages, leaving us vulnerable to every predation by our enemies who live too close to us! It is against their role as fellow citizens of the land, lacks common sense, and is the opposite of what is practiced in any other country for their citizens, let alone what G-d wants of us. And if the entire government is guilty, then so be it. Bring on Mashiah and the Jewish Law-based government!
Zecharya ch. 8 tells us that Tisha B'Av will become a joyous festive Yom Tov when Mashiach comes and builds the third and final Beit Hamikdash. The prophet Yechezkel deals with the construction of the Third and Final Temple in great detail.
A
major problem is that Yechezkel’s vision of the Third Beit Hamikdash in ch. 48
describes a Sanctuary Structure of enormous, gigantic dimensions. The Third
Temple Building will be so huge that Abarbanel claims it will be even larger
than the entire Temple Mount. The structure will be so humongous that the
Malbim in Zecharya ch. 2 claims that Yechezkel’s Temple will surpass even beyond
the borders of Jerusalem!
Is
there a way to bridge the gap between Yechezkel’s Heavenly vision of a
super-enormous sanctuary and his prophecy that very much seems to depict a
physical building that exists here on earth?
The
Minchat Yitzchak compares the relationship between Yechezkel’s Heavenly Temple
and the Earthly Temple to the relationship between the human body and the soul.
Just as the body is a product of this physical world, into which the Heavenly
Soul descends, so too, the Final Temple will be built in this world by
Mashiach, and then the Spiritual Heavenly Temple will descend into it.
Now,
just as the G-dly soul is not measureable in human terms in this world, so too,
the Heavenly Temple, which is so immense in Yechezkel’s vision, may not manifest
itself in the same way here on earth.
It
may be that the model of a spiritually enormous entity – the Heavenly Temple - occupies,
animates, and transcends the physically limited confines of a body or a
physical building, which is being described here by Yechezkel.
Thus,
all the pieces of the Final Temple puzzle may fit together. We can integrate Yechezkel’s
prophecy with the Heavenly Jerusalem and Final Temple, and the geographic
locations of Jerusalem and the Third Sanctuary.
All
of this makes sense in a Final Temple that is physically constructed by human
beings, but infused with a Spiritual Soul Temple sent by G-d from Heaven. This
is very similar to the G-dly Soul filling up a physical body.
This profound
idea should challenge us to realize that we, too, need to transcend our
physical limitations to reach a higher and more spiritual existence.
What happened at Har haBayit back on the 20th of Tammuz/14 July and its unfortunate reversal (temporarily, please G-d!) highlights an underlying dynamic in Israeli society: the lack of understanding of how Muslims treated Jewswhen we were subject to them, didn't have possession of our own homeland, or could not get here after we did; how they greeted the news when we finally came home; and how they are cooperating with other nations to make sure we don't keep the Land of Israel to pass on to our children and other descendants.
A hint, if you go to that last link: "pro-jihadi" means anti-Israel – and anti-everyone else the Muslims hate as well.
The Ashkenazic leadership never lived with Muslims ruling over them, as they did the Christians. Kindly note that there has never been a prime minister in Israel who is (even appears or acts as if he is) aware of this history. I hope they don't wait until the last living survivor of dhimmitude passes away (my own maternal grandparents were survivors, but left this world long ago. I was two years old at the time and never got to meet them.). We all need the feedback from those who remain, to hear their story; just as we encouraged Holocaust survivors and their children to speak out, it is vitally important to encourage those who came out of dhimmitude and their descendants to express themselves as well!
Back to the Ashkenazim: They think that Islam treated the Jews better than Christianity did. Of course, the Muslims would like the entire world to believe that. Don't confuse them with the facts! Unfortunately, their lack of knowledge informs their attitudes concerning our most confrontative enemies and makes world Jewry all the more vulnerable. While this is especially applicable in Israel, Jews elsewhere should not think themselves safe from Islamic plans and depredations.
The Muslims expected our subservient behavior because in their mind we are inferior to them (but then, isn't everyone supposed to be submissive to them?). I have long suspected that they don't even want us as dhimmis because the State of Israel — let alone the Kingdom of Israel to come, with the help of G-d, speedily within our lifetime! — is an unforgivable affront to them. Why do you think, dear reader, that they went straight to the war cry of "Slaughter the Jew!"? The Three Noes of Khartoum back after the Six-Day War meant essentially the same thing:
Every. Jew. Dead.
Most Israelis know better by now that giving in doesn't work. But we must also accept our destiny. Can we? Do we want to survive or not, as the Jewish People?
Do we care enough to pick up our heads and look around to see what's happening? Or are we so busy hating fellow Jews that we feel that they — and therefore we — are unworthy of better?
Then there's the issue of sovereignty under the present system. While I think that the drive for Jewish sovereignty is admirable, it does not seem certain whether the goal is possible to achieve while the current government system is in place, even when supported by religious Jews.The powers-that-be here seem to want to have it both ways: The fact that it took the 10 years following the destruction of Gush Katif for them to realize that it was a bad decision should tell us something; but, too late now. Are they going to go ahead with the abandonment of Yehuda and the Shomron anyway? Do they really think it might be a better choice to abandon Jews to the tender mercies of the Esav-supported Yishmaelim? Or, are they going to stick by the progress, recently made, of upgrading vital places within that portion of Eretz Yisrael (i.e., Hevron)? Official Israel cannot say "the land is ours" and "we're willing to give it up" at the same time, whether for "peace" or for some other excuse. I hope the matter becomes clear which side they've decided to be on, soon. They must not be stuck on this issue while something much bigger is breathing down our neck, anxious to make the "bone in our throat" choke us and thus achieve their goal of "Let us destroy them from being a nation, and the name of Israel will no longer be remembered" — may it never be, h"v.
One suggestion: Instead of assuming that we know what it takes to survive (this would be those who don't take G-d into account) or what G-d expects of the Jewish people (those who take Him into account), maybe all of us need to study. It will take learning basic Hebrew and then examining more closely the words we do not know — instead of relying on translations to languages we are comfortable with and, therefore, think we know what the Tana"kh (not to mention the Talmud, Torah's "other half") is saying.
(I am speaking as much to myself as to my gentle readers on this point. Not being a native Hebrew-speaker, reader or writer makes elucidation of the issues difficult, for me as much as for my readers. My only advantage now is my 10 years here (this very month, yay!), going to beit-knesset — synagogue — regularly and forcing myself to be engaged with Hebrew-speakers as much as possible.)
In addition, we might be better enabled to make informed decisions as to whether we should remain under the dhimmitude of the nations, spearheaded by the Muslims (the spiritual, if not the physical, descendants of Yishma'el) around us, supported by.the Europeans (including Russia -"we can't help you when your worst enemy is 10km from you") and Americans, the spiritual, if not the physical, descendants of Esav.
If our government is incapable of throwing off these shackles, maybe we would actually be better off without a government at all, crazy as this sounds, whether Mashiah steps in or not (best, of course, if he does; may it be so!)! Either way, though, we must act with faith, relying on HQB"H to come through for us.
May we make full use of the Hebrew month of Elul to make full teshuvah, before the Yamim Nora'im.
Rosh HaShana - Strict Judgement, or Let's Make a Deal? - R' Ephraim Sprecher
As followup to a topic I posted recently, I also note that the Xians at One for Israel Ministry have revealed that Theodor Binyamin Ze'ev Herzl had a Christian mentor (rather like "behind every great man there is a woman..."). Normally, I don't read these articles, but I had to go there this time and find out who he was, only because I have never read any of Herzl's works: William Hechler, born in Germany and raised in the UK.
Apparently the information came out of Herzl's writings; but, as noted above, I cannot confirm it. If this revelation has been passed along among Israelis, I cannot wonder that many Jews in Israel have been, and are now, enamored with "Christian Zionists." Particularly if my fellow Jews already knew this information, but I didn't until now. If you decide to go there and read it, it might become evident how the Xians claim to have victory because of it.
Our obsessive need to give thanks to everyone who seems to do us a favor, even if it is meant to be against us, their end being to rob us of our hold on the land — not to mention our confidence in what we know G-d wants of us — has us by the throat. It seems to me that it is a very fine line that separates our true friends from those who wish to trap us through appearing to be true. Do we really need a prophet or ruach hakodesh to tell us which is which? Or do we have any real friends at all?
On a personal level, I want to apologize now for having possibly offended or hurt readers who have not deserved my wrath, insult or opprobrium. It is the behavior, not so much who the people are, that incurs harsh commentary on my part at times. At least we can all repent of the behavior that hinders our progress, and head towards our ultimate goal with that stiff-necked determination we're so famous for. Yes, even I. 😉
I'll leave you with a look at a Talmud prophecy fulfilled (in part at least) concerning the generation when Mashiah will come...It's part of Sanhedrin 97a:4 in the Bavli (Babylonian) version. The bold text on the linked English page is translated from the original Hebrew/Aramaic text, both within the grey highlighting. Hamevin yavin.
May we all find our Father, our King in the field during the remainder of Elul.
For the first time since 1967, the Temple Mount has been abandoned by the Arabs who have dominated the site since General Moshe Dayan "gave the keys" to them after the Six-Day War. This is due to the murder of two Druze police officers, whom Arabs killed there last Friday, and our response — which was to place metal detectors on the site shortly thereafter.
Ascend the Mountain of the L-rd, but do not turn toward the Center of
the Complex up there that is do NOT turn toward the Golden Dome. There
is only kares [spiritual death or excision - CDG] if you cross over the Chiel separating the Southern Ct. of
the Gentiles from the East West line which contains within its borders
the Ezrat Kohanim, the Ezrat Yisrael, and the Ezrat HaNashim. In order
to stay on the Southern Court of the Gentiles when entering through the
Mughrabi Gate, either walk straight ahead or turn right toward the Al
Aksa Mosque. Go up with a Guide to make sure that you do not err. Also
separate from your spouse for three days prior, and go to a mikveh,
kosher for the removal of niddah tumah, the night before ascending.
Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher also adds: Even men must clean themselves thoroughly first before immersing in the mikvah, just as a woman does before she immerses and is permitted to her husband (this is from a class I attended approximately two years ago). Consult your mikvah-going wife if you have questions. 😉
"Thou shalt not murder" is the 6th of the 10 Commandments. Thank G-d that the clamping down was swift this time; and may the status quo be changed irrevocably.
Who knew it would be that easy to empty Har haBayit of those who defile it and would keep the Jewish People from its destiny! May Mashiah be revealed, even before the 9th of Av!
The big questions are: When HaShem clears the way this time, will we reject, or accept, His gift of Har haBayit and know what to do with it? Will Mashiah be able to enter the area and reign there when he is revealed and crowned (may it be now)?
UPDATE: I have been remiss in not thanking G-d immediately, directly, for the miracle written about here. THANK YOU, HQB"H AVINU MALKEINU, FOR THE CONTINUING MIRACLE OF THE CONTINUED ABSENCE OF NON-JEWS ON HAR HABAYIT as of 4 Av 5777 / 27 July 2017. May it continue! WE WANT YOUR PRESENCE AMONG US!
Originally I was going to ask: Why is it that every time our Prime Minister says something like, “Israel is firmly committed to the status quo which protects the right of Muslims to pray in the mosque, as well as the freedom of all people, Muslims, Christians, Jews and others, to visit the Temple Mount” – the situation only gets worse?
But then Mr. Netanyahu actually said something very important, that has the potential of turning that situation around. A lot of people said he misstated the role of the mufti of Jerusalem, ymsh”v, who played the catalyst for Hitler, ymsh”v, in accelerating the mass murder of the Jewish people in Europe, which was intended to spread worldwide — as has been well-documented and known for decades.
Not so fast. He later clarified, "I didn't mean to absolve Hitler of responsibility, but to show that the father of the Palestinian nation wanted to destroy Jews even without occupation (emphasis mine -CDG)." He actually brought Haj Amin al-Husseini’s part in the Holocaust, and the support given by Arabs all over the Middle East at that time as well as today, to the attention of the world. Long before the state of Israel was declared, long before the word “Palestinian” stopped referring to Jews and began referring to Arabs, the latter were clamoring, along with Hitler, for the extermination, the complete obliteration of my people. Massacres were rampant, though largely unreported. (On a personal level, this might be why my maternal grandmother, born and raised in Haifa, left for the United States in the 1920s.)
So, they can’t claim that their ancestors at the time of the Shoah were innocent bystanders; they were involved, they were at least cheerleading! And today, they revere the mufti and his legacy. So, they too are guilty, along with the Europeans. Also see this current threat to wipe out every single Jew...we won't take that lying down, that's for sure.
This revelation — even though the evidence has been there, most people didn’t know — changes the context of everything the “Palestinians” say and claim. If the government of Israel wants to be wise, it might take advantage of this and actually help the nation benefit from it. Realizing the full implications of the fact that Yishma'el is no better than Esav (or Amaleq, who is a unique combination of both of them) might even free us up to take back and rectify the spiritual center – the Mountain of the Temple, Har haBayit, from where the real House (makom מקום place), haShem, desires to dwell among us, His people. This is the prize we are keeping our eyes on.
But I am afraid they are stuck in that erev rav space and are more inclined to keep on the course they have been on since the Oslo Accords – even though it has now been made irrelevant by Mahmoud Abbas’s declaration.
This is why we need a change of system, not just government. Mr. Netanyahu, at the point when he becomes aware of this, must then make up his mind where he wants to be: Stuck with the old, or moving on with the new.
If we do any struggling to free haShem’s house, we must pray and study carefully first if at all possible, and then, whatever we do will be from a place of emunah – that haShem is with us. The Talmud Bavli Sanhedrin 20b outlines three steps to restore the Bayit:
Appoint a King (includes Torah governance): Mashiach.
Annihilate Amaleq.
Build haShem’s House.
We have some Biblical basis for this as well from the prophet Zecharya, chapter 12, in particular v. 8, but including 9 and 10 as well.
I do not attach the Mar- prefix to the month of Heshvan, even though this one is proving to be quite bitter indeed, because it is the month set aside in the (hopefully, not too distant) future for the dedication of the Third Beit haMiqdash – the Holy Temple.
I had a question for Reb Dov Bear regarding this verse:
8 On that day HASHEM will protect the inhabitant of Jerusalem; on that day even the weakest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like divine beings, like an angel of HASHEM before them. (Stone Edition)
At what point does this happen? What would it take?
He replied:
The central theme is that the appearance of Mashiach ben David is Ma'aleh min HaTeva [above nature or supernatural –CDG]. There is no derekh hateva [natural]way out of the present morass. As someone just sent me. [T]he "appearance" of Ben David has been tied by some to the month of Cheshvan because it is the 8th month, the first month that is Above Teva. So Ma'aleh min HaTeva Redemption at the End of Days begins in Cheshvan whose mazal [sign] is the scorpion. And as the Gemorrah [part of the Talmud] goes, there are three things that happen when you least expect it: Mashiach, Finding a Lost Object, and a Scorpion. The sting of a scorpion is like a cold knife. I think we got the scorpion....so far this Cheshvan. May the first thing in the list come just as unexpectedly. Amein.
And now they want to put poison on those knives. This is when you should start to scream at G-d. Right here.
Scream at G-d, I will. And you will. We all will, when we're scared enough and can't take it anymore. Not at beit-knesset, shul or synagogue, but at home, alone, as we fully appreciate the position we’re now in. (Reb Dov Bear has further remarks on this in the link above.) We’ve been taught that this redemption will be like Mitzrayim (Egypt). HaShem listened to our groaning and sighing and screaming then, and He’s listening for it now. When He hears it, we’ll be delivered from the whole world. This time, for sure and forever.
I hope my dear readers have had a good and worthwhile Chag season, and that you have had a good signing into the Book of Life.
Before all the bloody murder* ratcheted up again here in Israel — it never stopped and has not stopped even as I write — I was going to compose this post. I was, and remain, impressed by the powerful insight concerning sinath hinam (free-floating hatred between Jews) I found on the Jewish End of Days blog's post Avoiding the Tsunami of Edom vs. Paras:
The Yerushalmi [Jerusalem Talmud -CDG] says the Second Temple was destroyed because Jews love money and hate each other for no reason.
Love money – intoxication with wealth and the wealthy.
Hate each other for no reason – seeing a sin in somebody else that doesn’t exist.
...
Hashem is not asking us for ahavat hinam. He’s not asking us for v’ehavata l’recha c’mocha – that’s way too high a level. He’s not even asking us not to hate somebody if we have good reason to hate them. HaShem’s just asking us not to hate each other for no reason! A very low bar indeed!!
This is the tshuva the Jews need to do to get out of Exile. Don’t love money. Don’t hate another Jew for no reason.
If what I experience is anywhere near normative, we Jews are obsessed with this subject when it comes to the reason our exile continues. Many shiurim include it; or else I find myself discussing this topic with others on a regular basis, yet every year we seem to get no further than when we started, thus necessitating another round of shiurim and discussion. Do you think that with the above explanation we could finally get closer to resolution of this longest-standing issue in the Jewish world?
I do, and now I would like to focus on a few important issues. We need more unity, not less, than ever exactly now that we are more under attack than ever. However, there are some Jews whose mission in life seems to be to destroy us, and we need to have the assurance that we are in the right when we decide we just cannot include them; even more so when we find ourselves on opposite sides.
For instance: When soldiers were ordered to stand by while Arabs freely attacked Jews in the Shomron (Samaria) yesterday. We are told not to stand idly by our brother's blood. I cannot understand why our government would have able-bodied soldiers do nothing unless ordered. Lives were at stake! And who made these decisions? Jews in the government. How am I supposed to feel about them and what they are doing? How would you feel if this were your situation?
Here's an example of "racism" against settlers. If the cinder block attack Josh Hasten, Jerusalem Post reporter, describes here had happened near Tel Aviv, you bet a much speedier response would have been ordered. Thanks to Yaffa Ranells.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visits Adele Bennett in the hospital, after she was told "Die!" by Arabs as she ran for safety after being stabbed in her neck. English subtitles.
In any case, I have a lot to discuss with my rabbi. This could be the paradigm shift we need as to how we think about ourselves, and each other. Right now we can't think about the rest of the world. They will have to wait.
There is only One we can rely on no matter what. We do not have the option, nor do we want it, to commit suicide, either national or personal. And in case you are thinking, "Why don't you just leave there and go back where you came from?" I say to you: This is our land and I'm not going anywhere. Rashi told us how to answer that, commenting on Bereshith 1:1: G-d created the world and gave it out to whomever He wished; He took it from the seven nations who lived here previously and gave it to us. Me and mine included (in my own words). We are not thieves. Only a scoundrel would suggest such a thing.
Banishing Jews from their homes in Samaria, no matter whether you think they should be there or not, while war is waging is a luxury we cannot afford; so is barring Israeli Jewish government officialsfrom the Temple Mount, and so many other things large and small. Must we continue acting as though the barriers between us are real? The lion's share of the issues is exile-generated; and, whether we caused whatever issue in question to come forth or not, the nations have egged us on and encouraged all sorts of divisions and quagmires among us. Therefore, we must throw it all out the proverbial window. However we live now, we must not continue to hold it against another Jew who does things differently than we do and base our arguments on it. Any remaining disagreements between Jews must be
as private as possible (making allowances for times and situations when privacy is impossible because public figures are involved)
be based on actions that endanger us all, and nothing less
for the purpose of solving problems, many of which have proved intractable thus far.
Above all, we must look out for one another as much as possible, and take no abuse, whether speech or action, from anybody. Even other Jews. Especially those known for such abuse.
I hope this helps, even a little. I'm sure there is more, but this will have to do for now.
Now, I must turn to the Israeli government again because they are the most public of figures, and in Israel many of its members are well-known for their abuse of fellow Jews.
No Entry for Israelis sign within Israel, meant for Jews only.
Credit: ukmediawatch.org.
For starters, we, the citizenry of Israel, must not be made to be afraid to walk anywhere, live anywhere, and work anywhere within our borders that we wish: no "no-go zones" for Jewish Israelis. After all, any nation, including ours, must have a well-run government with proper priorities: If Arabs and Muslims have no "no-go zones," why should we?
It also made no sense to me as a 12-year old sometime after the 6-Day War that a Jew still could not walk in territory that we had rescued from the hands of our enemies, even though they started the fight and we won it fair and square.
Another: If the government divides Jew from Jew, as is the leftist philosophy, and hates some Jews more than our enemies, then how can the nation survive? I used to think that racism, for instance, didn't exist in Israel, and that they didn't even know what it is. In fact, Israelis think of racism in broader terms than Americans —from whence came the concept — do, and include more in the definition in that nasty word we share. The generalization of selected portions of the citizenry (as explained by Daniel Greenfield, aka Sultan Knish, who explains Israeli leftist racism better than I ever could, below) is rampant and comes from the top down; in other words, from the government itself. What I found reminds me of nothing less than what minorities in the USA often suffer at their own hands. Except, in the Israeli case one can hardly distinguish it from real white-on-black bigotry:
The left spitefully alienated every immigrant group from Holocaust survivors
to Middle Eastern Jews to Russian Jews. It also had slurs for each of them. The
Holocaust survivors were called 'Sabon' (soap) and the Middle Eastern refugees
were called 'Chakhchakhim'. That particular slur at an election rally cost
Peres and Labor the 1981 election. Another slur at an election rally now hurt
the left and boosted Netanyahu. But if you ask the left why it lost, it will
blame Israeli racism.
The Israeli left slurred Middle Eastern Jews as "primitives" and
used them as cheap labor to maintain the Kibbutz collectivist lifestyle until
they stood up for themselves and the experiment in 'equality' ended. It slurred
Russian immigrants as "prostitutes", Settlers in '67 Israel as
"bloodsuckers" and Ultra-Orthodox as "parasites".
And that's just the words. The actions have been worse in some cases, and explain why settlement building, even for natural growth, gets held up constantly in Judea and Samaria, Mizrahim are often left in poor development towns and more. I could take this and develop it, if desired. It is a large subject deserving its own post.
And can you believe they actually targeted HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS??? How can a Jewish society put up with such heavy, life-destroying hammering on fellow Jews by their own leadership and still survive? From my experience, we ignore them and go on with our own lives. They're lucky we're blessed with abundance of patience. HaShem has also paid us back by making us, in general, more fertile than they. We also have hope that when Mashiach comes, they will get their just desserts.
They have apparently forgotten that many people among the groups they mock are every bit as Ashkenazic as they themselves are. No wonder we call them "self-hating" as well as "erev rav." And if you want more insight, read this by Seth J. Frantzman (warning: your brain might get twisted up reading it).
Yet another that affected me personally: For most of my life I was afraid I would be intimidated by the "Israeli mentality" when I made aliyah, being apprehensive enough by my galut environment as it was. After many years of working on myself to stop being overawed and overwhelmed by the goyim, and afraid to even visit Israel, much less live here, I came — and I realized that through the years we have allowed ourselves, from the government on down, to be beaten down by our so-called friends, the US and the European Union, to the point that we have become absolute suckers, freierim muhlatim, absorbing the message that even our country is not ours, and being deathly afraid to offend the nations. There is no "New Jew" who is somehow better than the religious Jews in Europe and Arabia, or Jews in the United States, whether religious or not. If he ever existed, he folded the first time the nations said "NO! You're not allowed to win!"
Plenty of brave Jews serve in the Israeli armed forces. But let's face the fact that any attempt to create a purely fearless Jew straight from exile with no faith in G-d and our mission in the world has completely failed, especially when given orders to hold fire when it is absolutely needed and submit to increasingly untenable standards of "moral purity of arms." We must also resolve to forbid ourselves to listen to such nonsense as "if we give the Arabs among us more rights, more land, pay their bills, more...and more..., they will leave us alone." No, they won't. They'll keep going until the last Jew is dead as long as we let them. By the time this phase of the war reaches the rich suburbs surrounding Tel Aviv, it will be too late. Let the bravest Jews be brave: They know that G-d is with them, and they are with Him. Just ask Gid'on ben Yoash (beginning Shofetim 6).
And let the government choose its direction, whether for G-d or against Him; for the Jewish people or against us. As you can see, there are very good reasons to hate what people do, even if they're one of your group. If one persists in his/her actions and resists repeated rebuke and s/he keeps informing some dictatorial authority or putting us in jail for our every thought, then according to the Talmud above, we can hate him/her, or even a whole group of them (but I am trying not to dwell on it all the time unless we hear too much bad news and I can do something about it. It's very energy-draining.).And don't ask me to apologize, because only when I am sure my people and I will not perish from the overdose of hesed poured out on everyone else but us, will I even be able to think straight again.
G-d, help me. Abba, help us all!
Let Eliyahu start making his rounds; let the true Sanhedrin rise up and govern; and let Mashiach come and be crowned. Time for a paradigm shift. Ready or not, here it comes...
But, don't ask me when. It can't come fast enough for me!
P.S. It would be more beneficial, lifesaving and freeing If we can manage to transform our hatred of all things evil (as well as people) with our prayers to haQadosh Baruch Hu... I am there with you.
