Free, Free Invaderstine!

26 Tammuz 5776

I believe that people who support the Palestinians (and the Arabs who keep them as they are) — especially the Jews among them — should really know and think about what they are saying when they yell out "Free, Free Palestine!" I could be wrong, but I imagine that most of these people have no idea who the Palestinians are, what the name they have adopted means and where it came from, and why on earth they are doing nothing to build a country they say they want, except trying to clear a particular country of its people, namely the Jews of Israel. I suspect the answer to this last question is this.

As my many gentle and intelligent readers might have anticipated, I titled this post as I did because we can see that in Hebrew the root of the name Palestine (פלש palash) does indeed mean invade — and here are some English synonyms. So, when you watch videos of massive crowds screaming the chant above, what they are really saying, whether they mean to or not, is Free The Invaders to make "Invaderstine" out of whatever territory they can penetrate and seize!

If any of you participate in protests like this, Heaven forbid, is this what you really want? Take a look at Europe (and my European readers, take a look around you; you likely don't need links since you can see for yourselves) — the Muslim overrunning of these countries is exactly what Invaderstine is, even though they do not call themselves Palestinians. The cry to free Palestine is the cry to unleash the pillage and plunder of Israel, but don't think the world will escape in the end. It is already seeing the results of their quest upon themselves even more than upon us. Perhaps you might want to reexamine the propaganda you have heard and seen about Israel. Many Arabs and Muslims have done so, and these are only a couple of examples; here are a couple of searches you may draw from.

Free, Free Invaderstine!

Here's some insight on what they say about themselves.

Yesterday could have been my last. Thank G-d it wasn't.

12 Tammuz 5776

UPDATE BELOW...

Yesterday could have been my last day on earth. I am still processing an event that, although it was not carried out to its intended conclusion, may nevertheless have had a significant impact on how I look at the reality I live in.

It had to happen eventually. I had to be a near-witness to a near-terrorist act that turned out well only due to a miracle: HaShem brought the Palestinian would-be murderer to the attention of a light rail security guard, who brought the police and other security forces together to quash his plans. 

Yesterday morning started like most in Jerusalem: bustling, cheery, lots of car horns beeping, people going about their business. My husband and I were headed downtown on the light rail to perform an important errand earlier than usual.

After the errand, we went to get some breakfast. Hubby pointed out that there were police cars blocking car traffic at the intersections from Yaffa Street to Hillel Street along King George Street. We did not stop to stare and wonder what was happening.

Mind you, we did not see any real action; in fact, no one was even injured, thank G-d, except maybe the terrorist as he was being apprehended. In fact, I am reminded of our ancestors, the ancient Israelites, going through the desert, arriving at Arnon, at the border between Moav and the Amorim and seeing blood seeping from the mountain, wondering what that was about. Hearing the news later was like the body parts rising up out of the well (which we would not know about, but for Rashi's commentary. After all, HaShem just put in the words "...it is told about in the account of the Wars of the Lord, 'What He gave at the [Sea of] Reeds and the streams of Arnon.'" and left it to man to figure it out; Rashi could have had access to a scroll. Here is some commentary on it; but I cannot find a readable copy of the work itself. A lot of talk exists about a book no one can find, apparently.). Thankfully we will not be seeing body parts from this episode.

Later on, when we arrived at the OU Center for our Sunday afternoon class with Rabbi Sprecher, he, along with several friends, told us what had happened; and that some of them had been downtown at that time, unbeknownst to us.

My husband, not one to believe word of mouth alone, found an article on the Israel Broadcasting Authority site titled "Palestinian with homemade bombs arrested on Jlem light rail."  I don't know how long you will be able to see it at http://www.iba.org.il/world/.

Later on, we talked about how fortunate and thankful we felt to have lived to make it home, back to our comfort zone, to talk about it. As for me, I might not have made it to my first anniversary blogging - the Common Era date passed eleven days ago, but the Hebrew date is coming up, on the 20th of Tammuz. Thank G-d.



Many thanks to my blogging colleagues who also informed us of what had happened through links to articles, videos and pictures. Especially this article.

More Reading: In My Little Country ... the story isn't over yet.

UPDATE: The spot where the terrorist was captured is the very same corner where the Sbarro restaurant was blown up in August 2001, where many Israeli civilians were murdered, including Malki Roth. I had no idea until I read this article on This Ongoing War. This makes the miracle all the more palpable.

Shmittah Alert: Wine and Grape Juice Grown and Produced in Israel

27 Sivan 5776
in honor of Shabbath Korah (Israel) / Sh'lah Lekha (outside Israel)

L'iluy nishmatam Hallel Yaffa bat Rina v'Avihai, HY"D, R' Michael ben Avraham ben Adam**, HY"D, v'Eliezer ben Shlomo v'Sarah.
L'refuah shlemah shel Chava Rachel bat Ayelet haShahar, Tehilla bat Chava Rachel v'Pedaya Menachem ben Chava Rachel.

May we all get ourselves together, may  Mashiach be revealed, and may we know no more sorrow. 

[Blogger's disclaimer/disclosure: I am writing from the perspective of following the Otzar Beth Din at this time with regard to the practice of shmittah. To the best of my knowledge, groceries (m'koloth) in my neighborhood seem to follow either this method or that of Heter Mehira every seven years. I am not familiar with all of them.] 

Actual bottles of shmittah wine and grape juice. -CDG

I am just getting ready to discard my shmittah produce guide from the most recent sabbatical year in Israel. Why now, over 9 months later? Because each fruit and vegetable grown here — I am simplifying a great deal — is considered to have qedushath shvi'ith קדושת שביעית (the holiness of the seventh year) according to its growth cycle during the seventh year. Some items don't begin to have qedushah until very late in the year, so many of us keep guides on our refrigerators to help us keep things straight.

But, at least one thing is particularly problematic, guide or no guide. That is the set of foods known as wine and its non-alcoholic sibling, grape juice. OUKosher.org has an article about how the sabbatical year affects Jews the world over. It includes advice for Jewish shmittah-year visitors, and also those who are visiting in the year after, to ask questions about these foods, as well as olive oil — and discusses when we will be obligated to observe shmittah according to the Torah.

During Shabbath, while my back was turned, my husband said something about our wine being from the year 2015. I froze momentarily, then finished what I was doing. After he went to pray minhah I took the bottle in hand. On the front there was no indication other than the year. On the back I found the following:

  ללא חשש טבל וערלה עפ"י התר מכירה שע"י הרבונות הראשית לישראל

"[Have] no concern about tevel (ma'aser taken for various designees according to Torah) and orlah (fruit taken from the first 3 years of growth, or as declared by the rabbis — it depends on the fruit in question) according to the leniency based on sale ("heter mekhirah") given by the Rabbinic Authority of Israel."

One all-important word is missing from that sentence: Seventh (שביעית), referring to produce from the shmittah year. This word is often on food packaging here. It means we can treat the food as we usually do. But not if it has the seventh-year qedushah! When it comes to wine and grape juice, one must be sure to drink every drop and spill none of it! Big problems come about if you do!

I digress now. I can hear you all snickering now. "What fools you are. You know 2015 was a shmittah year, so why did you buy the wine?" It was on sale. OK, so we made a mistake. And I figured out how to drink every drop of that wine from then on, and shared it with him. When we finish a glass of this wine, we now put a little water in the glass, swish it around and drink. A lot better than agonizing about it. And, since we are not mashgihim (kashruth supervisors), we asked our rabbi "the question" today when we saw him (you know those videos I post weekly? That's him.). He says we don't actually have to do that because according to the heter mekhirah rules, we could treat it as though it were from someplace else, instead of Israel.

That's good, as long as our practice of shmittah is d'rabbanan, according to the rabbis, and not d'oraita, according to the Torah. The latter will occur when the majority of the Jews in the world live in Eretz Yisrael. In 2007, the year before the previous shmittah, the accepted figure was 41%. As of 2014, it was at nearly 43%. The Pew Forum states: "Over the next few decades, Israel is projected to pass the United States and become, by a sizable margin, the country with the largest Jewish population." By the way, according to Ynet, we are at about 16 million worldwide (I'm projecting to this year.). This is not such a big increase; but it's the most we've had in a long time. And, that's despite the world's wanting us all dead.

Baruch haShem! More, please!

Back to the topic: There's more regarding shmittah grape products. The same thing is happening with the grape juice, called tirosh (תירוש), or "new wine." The supermarket is selling 20 percent more free and my husband got a few shekel more off from a coupon. No year on the front of the bottle, but I found the same message on the back, with the word kosher beginning the sentence. Same solution as above, and we will keep our eyes open from now on.

Back of the grape juice bottle. I'm referring to the message in the double-outlined text box on the right. -CDG

The brand was Carmel, but Gefen, Manischewitz, Kedem and other kosher brands also could easily be involved. I haven't seen them, so check. In America and other English-speaking countries the notice might be in English and be authorized by other kashruth agencies.

My big concern goes beyond the details of kashruth, as important as they are. I have heard the stories about Israel shipping shmittah produce to other countries, where Jews who don't know how to handle it might buy it inadvertently — or even on purpose because it comes from Israel, but accidentally when it comes to the shmittah issue.

Even more than this, however, is the reason we go to all this trouble every seven years, extending the rules into the eighth year for appropriate items: To honor our beautiful, wide and spacious Eretz Yisrael, even though we don't have all of her yet.

In the parshioth we learned last week, both Sh'lah and Korah highlight the regard we are to have for our land. It was only when Moshe Rabbenu heard how the Land was slandered and Mitzrayim was exalted in the eyes of the people, that he said to haShem, "Do not accept their offering. I have not taken a donkey from a single one of them, and I have not harmed a single one of them." He had got down on his knees and begged Him to forgive the people for what they said about him; but, the word used for how upset Moshe became when he heard how they defamed the Land, yihar יחר, is a form of the same verb used in the second paragraph of the Shema', where we are warned that haShem will react to idol worship by stopping all rain, thus preventing all food growth and quickly driving us out of the Land! (We usually recite this silently because we certainly don't want to have that happen again!)

Today, as R' Nahman Kahana puts it, we have a lot of Korahs, although on a lot lower level than he. In these days of impending geulah shlemah, they'd better think 100 times before continuing on their path.

I pray that paying more attention to Shvi'ith products on the part of Israeli Jews (and Jews outside the Land, even though they are not obligated) will help us focus on our connection with Eretz Yisrael, and arouse the desire in all Jews everywhere to protect and defend her and our people from our enemies with haShem's help. We need to both honor our Land and her produce and honor and defend our people, no matter how much the world will hate us for it. We must combine prayer and action, honor and respect for who we are and the Land we are meant to live in.

**I don't know R' Michael Mark's parents' names and can't find them at this time.

Desiring Geulah Sh'lemah

16 Sivan 5776

What does it mean, that we've stepped through the Sha'ar Nun — the Fiftieth Gate? And what does it matter for most people of the world?

As Reb Dov Bear explained earlier, it has to do with the 50th Jubilee (in Hebrew, Yovel יובל) Year since Ezra (of Ezra and Nehemiah), known as the Sofer (the Scribe). We have just finished 49 years since the reunification of Yerushalayim, my beloved city, and are living in the 50th year. It also so "happens" that the Hebrew year 5727/1967 was the last Yovel year.

To take in the more full explanation, read here and here. Don't forget to come back!

During Erev Shavuoth, I attended a shiur at a friend's house by Rabbanit Esther KiTov, who teaches I believe is the widow of Rav Eliyahu KiTov, where she regaled us with her experiences as a young teenager at the time of the Six-Day War, along with our hostess' mother-in-law (sorry, no audio or video — it's not allowed on Hag). R' Pinchas Winston also tells the story in the video below. But don't sell him short; I believe this is the shiur to beat all shiurim, until now (skip to 3:30 to the beginning of the shiur).

R' Pinchas Winston helps us appreciate the wondrous times we are in! (H/T Shirat Devorah)

The main thing for us Jews now is to Desire Redemption — which includes doing something to show how much we desire it! Begin now by appreciating the times we now find ourselves in. Know that every deliverance we ever experienced only comes when there is a massive expression, through action as well as thought, of ratzon רצון (will) on the part of the contemporaneous Jewish collective (yes, the entire people alive in any given time — even if it is a small number, such as went out from Egypt/Mitzrayim. Which, if you look around, you see that the number of Jewish men in the world is similar to what it was then, if you assume a normal number of women and children.). The theme throughout is:

מֵאֵת יְהֹוָה הָיְתָה זֹּאת הִיא נִפְלָאת בְּעֵינֵינוּ: This was from G-d; it is wondrous in our eyes! (Tehillim 118:23)

R' Winston has told us for many years that one must desire the very dust of Eretz Yisrael, as it says in Tehillim 102:14-15:

14 You will rise, You will have mercy on Zion for there is a time to favor it [her]*, for the appointed season has arrived.		יד אַתָּה תָקוּם תְּרַחֵם צִיּוֹן כִּי עֵת לְחֶנְנָהּ כִּי בָא מוֹעֵד:
15 For Your servants desired its stones and favored its [her]* dust.		טו כִּי רָצוּ עֲבָדֶיךָ אֶת אֲבָנֶיהָ וְאֶת עֲפָרָהּ יְחֹנֵנוּ:

It is no different now. As one of the audience members in the video says toward the end: "It would be fair to say that if you're not "doing your hishtadluth" [making an effort], you don't have the ratzon."

May we all get the ratzon and merit to see it through to the end.

* I inserted this word, not only because the Hebrew words call for it, but also in keeping with my belief, given many words from the Torah, that the Land has a personality and desires our return, both to her and to HaShem. -CDG

At the Fiftieth Gate - By Default or by G-d's Design?

10 Sivan 5776

We're using this picture to demonstrate how Ya'aqov is above, Esav below. Credit

Well. According to Reb Dov Bear, we have arrived at the Sh’ar Nun, the Fiftieth (50^th) Gate, and the stage is set for the Final Redemption, as he says there was made evident over Shavuoth, the Feast of Weeks for the Jewish People. The event, he says, was the massacre of 49 homosexuals in a “gay” bar by an ISIS jihadist, himself equally evil, and his death at the hands of police, making 50 dead. (There were also over 50 wounded; we’ll have to leave the understanding of the 3 left over for later, if ever.)

The murderer’s name, Omar Mateen, is interesting (to me, at least) from the principle that we Jews derive significance from people’s names in Hebrew: It could be said (this is a quick translation/interpretation on my part) that this name could be rendered “I will declare it suitable (omar mateem אומר מתאים).” This isn’t as far-fetched as it looks: Aramaic does the same thing as Arabic with the nun sofit (ן) — n sound — which corresponds to our mem sofit (ם) —m sound. In this case the word is singular and happens to appear to be plural (to the non-initiate). I wonder whether this means anything! A commenter on Reb Dov’s blog who wished to remain anonymous suggests that the Sefirath haOmer (Omar = Omer; 49 dead besides him = days of the sefirah) is tied into this as well. I wish I had thought of that. And according to Zero Hedge, supported by videos (h/t to DS of Israel Truth Times), there was more than one shooter. We would have to take all the shooters' names into account, if we ever learn them, for the full message.

This — my observation, so far — is obviously not a compliment. HaShem seems to be saying that all of us, collected together, are, so to speak, just a hair above the non-Jewish world. It is enough for this moment (which for me will probably last as long as this post has its day in the sun). After we catch our breath, when we —the righteous Jews and Gentiles and may I be counted among them — realize that we are permanently separated from the rest of the world by virtue of the latter getting to the bottom of the barrel first, we’d better do as my mother, may she live and be well, puts it, “get on the stick.” That is, pay attention and do what we're supposed to do.

Just a few thoughts on that:

1. It may have been suitable for HaShem to signal to us via this mass murder that we were through the gate because, a few days ago, Tel Aviv had a gay pride parade: the same sort of people were involved on both sides. Fortunately we have the Land of Israel as our inheritance and heritage because she (has a personality – I’m sure another blog explains that better) protects those who strive to follow HaShem’s direction (Torah) from harm. Not so outside the Land. However, it is still necessary for us to begin rectification by stopping all public celebrations of sexuality, no matter what kind it is. How many have noticed that there is not one Jewish holiday that does this? No, not one.
2. Both secular and religious Jews must realize that they themselves have fallen short: The seculars have fully recognized neither HaShem nor Torah sufficiently (and in some cases, not at all), while the religious have not fully recognized the Land’s equal status with the Torah. Just because we were able to survive the loss of the Land through clinging to the Torah, nowadays many feel that we don’t need the Land at all, especially when run by Jews who do not live by the Torah. This cannot be so! Since no human on earth has lived more than 969 years (Metushalah/Methuselah) and certainly no one for many generations now, I believe it would have been impossible for Jews to survive the loss of the Land at all without the Torah, if we had been long-lived to that extent normally. Both are described in the written Torah as morasha, heritage/inheritance, and the Eim haBanim Semeicha¹ writes “Torah and Eretz Yisrael were said in a single utterance; they are two inseparable companions” ², putting them on the same level. Yes, I know that when we sing Dayenu on Pesach, we sing “If He had given us the Torah and had not brought us into the land of Israel — Dayenu!” — and not the other way around (and wrong time of the year to boot! Didn’t we just do this about…50-odd days ago from this writing?). But, would we have a home to come to if Eretz Yisrael had no importance at all? And do you really think that the same Torah that says, “This is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances that the Lord, your God, commanded to teach you, to perform in the land into which you are about to pass, to possess it…” would protect us forever while we live Outside That Very Land? Does not our G-d mean what He says??? Yes, I’m being harder on the religious, especially those who were born that way! They should know better. I think those of us “geula bloggers” in Israel hope that the opportunity afforded by recent events will not be lost on religious Jews, whether they were that way from birth or made teshuvah. Even if they are either of these and are rabbis.
3. I believe there will likely be (or seem like) a medium-length-to-long transition period to when geula will be obvious to everyone (including the goyim who make it — really, they’ll be Noahides or people open to this basic path); and I don’t think I’m alone in this belief, due to the Jewish people’s low average level of spiritual fitness (not to mention low average morale) at the time of passage through Sh’ar haNun (the 50^th Gate). Soon enough everyone will know who Mashiach is, after all the pretenders have been eliminated; but the real one will have to be watched closely to be sure he is the “real deal.” This is essentially Hezkath Mashiach, in simple terms: The presumptive candidate will go through a period of testing and will pass it in the end, the only one who will make it. (If you have an even better definition, please let me know!)

I mentioned the low levels because, after all this time away from closeness to haShem and true Jewish living, everyone is missing something; hopefully each of us will find what we’re missing soon.

An interesting development is already going on in Yerushalayim’s Old City, where the Israeli government, for once, has found that Arabs who have been stealing land and property from Jews are being kicked out of said land and property and is allowing Jews to enter and live there. I wonder what’s next in haShem’s plan to restore to our people what belongs to us, and I pray that it comes quickly. As the saying goes: When Esav goes down, Ya’aqov comes up. May we soon see how natural a law that is.

     4. Reb Dov Bear wrote the following provocative statement in the comments: B'itah [in its time, basically at the last minute], it is time to ditch the Erev Rav [people who follow the path of the original mixed multitude. See here.]. One of the advantages of the Qedushah of Yovel [holiness of the Jubilee], is that it provides an opportunity for HaShem to punish the wicked in Olam HaZeh's [this world's] inter-connective framework without causing the righteous to suffer. May we soon see how that is accomplished. Amen. I asked him the following question: So, how is ditching the Erev Rav done? Does it mean that our protests will be more effective? Voting would actually be counted correctly without corruption? Until now, every time we wanted a certain good to occur, double bad would happen.

And he came up with the following answer: Hopefully HaShem will fight that war. A derech hateva [natural] Civil War would be horribly bloody with too many good people dying. I am in agreement with my friend Dovid that as Edom and its world control and economy disintegrates, the Erev Rav will either flee, die, or go into hiding. In case they hide, Mashiach will have them executed for treason and other capital offenses. So the key to The Erev Rav's dismantlement of its power structure lies in the collapse of Western Civilization.

I would accept any help from HaShem on our behalf on this matter; He knows who should replace the ones who at first fought for our survival and ended up divesting themselves of any interest in a Jewish nation — thus encouraging Jews outside the Land as well as aiding and abetting the nations to boycott and sanction (in the sense of penalize or punish) us.

It occurs to me that the meanings of the word sanction oppose each other. I have been wondering why the BDS movement uses this word, since it also signifies authoritative permission or approval; support for a condition. Perhaps if we look hard enough, we can see HaShem winking at us, for now it is time for Him to sanction us according to its positive denotation.

Something else: Perhaps it was not meant for us to be at such a high level, so that HaShem would be able to be merciful to more people. I cannot say why, but perhaps a clue can be found thinking about why He gave us more land as we were able to handle it.

Other thoughts have been flitting about and refuse to present themselves long enough for me to write them down. Maybe more later, be"H, b"n (with G-d's help, no vows or promises!).

¹Rabbi Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal (1885-1945), whose last act was standing up for a fellow Jew on a train on the way to a death camp toward the end of WWII. He was murdered by the Nazis for that act. I am still reading the introductions and have not yet started the body of this work!

²Eim haBanim Semeicha, Foreword, p. 60. The verses referred to as the single utterance are Devarim (Deuteronomy) 33:4 and Shemoth (Exodus) 6:8. The text to this book used to be online, but it is no longer to be found there except for PDF copies.