 Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream US & CAN 1-866-4-ALIYAH | UK 020-8150-6690 or 0800-085-2105 | Israel 02-659-5800 https://www.nbn.org.il/ info@nbn.org.il It’s time to come home! Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream 1-866-4-ALIYAH |
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This is not your Corporate News from the Mainstream media (MSM) ! This is not your Corporate News from the Mainstream media (MSM) ! |
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Shira’s Answer17 December 2018 https://www.lazerbrody.net/lazer_beams/2018/12/shiras-answer.html Shira Ish-Ran, the Israeli woman who was severely wounded and lost her baby boy in a Palestinian shooting attack last week, displayed defiance and strength in the face of her tragic loss, vowing on Thursday to have “many more babies” in response to losing her baby to Palestinian terrorism.
Twenty-one-year-old Shira, who was 30 weeks pregnant when she was shot while waiting at a bus stop outside the community of Ofra, was seriously wounded in the shooting, and doctors delivered the infant in an emergency C-section. The baby died on Wednesday after several days in intensive care. Shira’s husband Amichai Ish-Ran sustained moderate injuries in the attack.
On Thursday, a day after her four-day-old son was laid to rest, Shira Ish-Ran was quoted by Hebrew-language media as saying, in her first remarks since the attack: “I will show them. I will bring many more babies into this world. Am Yisrael chai,” the Times of Israel reported
The baby was named Amiad Yisrael (my nation forever, Israel) before being buried in Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives cemetery. I SAY LET HER WORDS BECOME A MOVEMENTEvery Jewish women of child bearing around the world should have at least one more baby than planned and name the boy Ami Yisrael, and a girl Bat-Ami Yisraella in memory of her baby. Let these savages who kill Jews in the womb be answered with millions of new Jewish babies, all of who standing for “My nation forever, Israel.” [Edd: Many Haredim women have 17-21 Children in Jerusalem] PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. |
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 ישראכרט Isracard Tashlumim Explained3August 2017 https://www.kosherfrugal.com/2017/08/tashlumim-explained.html?fbclid=IwAR2bw-4eFEEIdSX18Z-5H2w4OyexQo9fo3fN4QbNUDwGiPag5XI72MgLd44 Welcome to Israel! It’s great that you’re here. I know life here can be confusing at times, so I’m going to try to help you decode everyday life a bit. Have you noticed how when you shop, you are often asked, “tashlumim?” as you hand over your credit card? Many new olim wonder what on earth this is. So here’s a quick rundown of what you need to know:
Tashlumim – Installments – break whatever your total for this particular purchase is into equal monthly installments. You will be asked “how many tashlumim?” and you’ll have to choose how many, if you are going this route. So if your bill is 2000nis, and you choose 10 tashlumim, you’ll be paying 200nis for each of the next 10 months (as an example). Tashlumim are only available when you use a credit card that was issued in Israel, even if they ask you when you use a foreign card. They just aren’t inspecting your card to see where it’s from!
Tashlumim are usually interest free. But not always. They can be “Credit” payments that come with a fee and interest (and it will be credit card interest, which is usually quite a high percentage)! Beware of paying water or electric or other bills in tashlumim – they are often “Credit”, as is the default at Ikea. Also, at self checkout in Shufersal, you may be given a “Credit” option! This is not regular tashlumim – it incurs fees and interest! Regular tashlumim do not incur a fee, since the BOI stepped in a few years ago and made them free. (That doesn’t mean there are no consequences, though, so please read on…)
Tashlumim do not allow you to make a purchase larger than your credit line. Your credit line is set by your bank – and you are not allowed to charge more than that amount on your credit card. Splitting a purchase into tashlumim does not mean that you can use next month’s credit line too: Your credit line is finite.
Let’s say your credit line is set at 10,000nis. You will be allowed to charge up to 10,000nis and NOT MORE on your credit card in a billing cycle. Then, when the money goes out of your checking account on a preset date (usually the 10th or 15th of the month), your credit line is cleared for more purchases. HOWEVER – if you split a purchase into Tashlumim, your credit line will be tied up.
Here’s how it works – you make a purchase for 5000nis, and choose to pay it in 5 tashlumim. Each installment is 1000nis. But 5000nis of your credit line gets locked away until the purchase is paid off in 5 months! So you won’t be able to make another large purchase, if it means you’ll exceed the 5000nis in credit line that you have left.
Sometimes paying in tashlumim make sense. Other times, it really doesn’t. I recommend never paying in tashlumim for every day purchases – rather, budget appropriately and make sure you’re not spending more than you can afford on the every day things. Once in a while, a large purchase comes up, and paying for it using a no-hassle, interest free payment plan (what tashlumim are, in reality) can make life easier. It certainly beats taking out a 5000nis loan to cover an expense. Don’t do it all the time, though. You’ll find you’ve overspent really quickly.
Tashlumim are not unique to Israel, by the way. They just get presented differently in other places (think of how many times you heard something would cost $X per month if you make 12 equal monthly payments – I’m guessing you’ve heard that – THAT, my friends, is “tashlumim” in a nutshell)! They are a way of making items FEEL more affordable, so be CAREFUL! I don’t like it when you look at prices for items, say furniture, and the price is the monthly payment they assume you would make, if you are paying in 12 tashlumim! I feel like people don’t bother to do the math and check how much they are ACTUALLY paying, because the monthly payment feels comfortable enough.
Don’t fall for it – do the math! Make sure you know how much you’re paying before you purchase. And ONLY use tashlumim if you are sure you can pay it off in a reasonable time frame and if this purchase warrants it.
Tip: Try to never have more than one purchase at a time on Tashlumim, and budget for it and make sure that there is enough money to cover the large expense over the next X number of months, in additon to your ongoing, regular expenses. And then WAIT before making another large purchase, until you’ve paid off the first one in full, and even longer, so you can build up some savings. |
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Basic Middle East factsHow Middle East realities are a reflection of the behavior of the Palestinians.Barry Shaw, 04February2020 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/25139 The Middle East is characterized by the following 14-century-old intra-Muslim features which can be summed up as:
No intra-Muslim peaceful coexistence, but constant unpredictability, instability, religious and ethnic fragmentation, violent intolerance, terrorism, subversion, and a drive to fulfill Islam-driven goals including the unacceptance of an “infidel” entity in the “abode of Islam.”
Most of the Middle East is not driven by a desire to improve its standard of living, but by religious/ideological visions.
Western imposed concessions, appeasement and gestures actually embolden them to more aggression and terrorism.
The assumption that a Palestinian Arab state could be effectively demilitarized and de-terrorized should be assessed against the track record of the Palestinian Arabs themselves.
The 1993 Oslo Accord and the 2005 Gaza Disengagement were supposed to demilitarize and de-terrorize the Palestinians in return for dramatically enhanced political and economic benefits. Instead, both events intensified terrorism in a dramatic manner.
A direct correlation exists between the degree of Palestinian Arab sovereignty and the level of Palestinian terrorism. For example, in 1968-70, Jordan provided the Palestinian Arabs with an unprecedented platform of operation. Consequently, they triggered a civil war, attempting to topple the pro-US Hashemite regime.
During the 1970s, the Palestinians initiated a series of civil wars in Lebanon.
In August 1990, the Palestinian Arabs collaborated with Saddam Hussein’s invasion of their host county (Kuwait), which triggered the 1991 and 2003 Gulf Wars.
Immediately after Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian civil,war erupted and Hamas usurped power, oppressed any opposition, destroyed the agricultural and community projects left by Israel, and turned Gaza into a network of terror bases, indoctrinated the people into violence, and launched thousands of rockets into Israeli civilian centers.
The assumption that granting Palestinians territory to develop a peaceful base for statehood and prosperity has become a classic oxymoron and is a terrible diplomatic mistake.
The Palestinians are agitated not by the size of the Jewish State but by its very existence. All sides of the Palestinian political divide call for the “liberation” of Palestine “From the River to the Sea,” the annihilation of Israel.
It is worth recalling past Arab voices. They are as relevant today as when they were spoken decades ago.
In October 1994 Jordan’s military commanders advised their Israeli counterparts: “That which the Palestinians sign in the morning they tend to violate by the evening.” They added that “A Palestinian state west of the Jordan River would doom the Hashemite regime east of the River.”
Former Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak (1981-2011): “Jordan’s King Hussein does not want a Palestinian state; Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are not concerned about the Palestinians.”
Former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (1970-1981): “Do I want a Palestinian state? Why should I want another Soviet base and another member of the Rejectionist Front?” (“No More War”)
Israeli affirmative action and the lack of global counter action.
In 1948/49, Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, unilaterally applied sovereignty to West Jerusalem and large parts of the Negev and the Galilee, in spite of US and global opposition.
In the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War, Israel’s Prime Minister Eshkol united the city of Jerusalem, notwithstanding US and global opposition.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) destroyed a nuclear reactor built in the northeastern Syrian province of Deir al-Zor in 2007.
In December 1981, Israel’s Prime Minister Menachem Begin asserted the Israeli law in the Golan Heights despite brutal pressure by the US, including the suspension of a major strategic pact.
In June 1981, Israel destroyed Iraq’s nuclear reactor, notwithstanding White House opposition. Begin’s unilateral action spared the US a nuclear confrontation in January 1991.
It is in Israel’s vital interest to annex both the Jordan Valley and the bulk of territory in Judea & Samaria, including all the high ground that dominates central Israel’s narrow, low-lying, coastal strip.
These facts are self-evident and essential to maintain the security and safety of Israeli citizens, if not the rest of the Middle East which, as this article proves, will continue to be a maelstrom of ethnic, tribal and religious violence.
With acknowledgement to Ambassador Yoram Ettinger for lighting the spark for this article. |
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 The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies BESA https://besacenter.org/ The Two Major Strategic Turning Points of 2018By Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen 25December2018 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Last summer’s events in the Gaza Strip cast serious doubt on the feasibility of a complete Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, as the proximity of that area to Israel’s main population centers and economic/strategic assets ensures its transformation into the main combat zone should it undergo a militarization process similar to that experienced by Gaza and Lebanon. The question is whether the IDF has an effective response to the advent of parallel major threats on several fronts.
Major wars tend to produce clear and visible strategic turning points. But less dramatic events often generate no lesser shifts, albeit in a subtler and less detectable fashion. Such were the two major turning points in Israel’s security situation that took place in 2018.
The first relates to the growing threat to the northern front posed by the Iran-Syria-Hezbollah axis. The recovery of the Assad regime and the reassertion of its control over most of the country has brought the Syrian army back to the Golan Heights, where it was joined by Iranian and Hezbollah forces, as well as by Tehran-backed Shiite militias. The situation was further complicated by the Russian military presence in Syria and the constraints it imposed on Israel’s operational freedom, especially after the September 2018 downing of the Russian plane (by Syrian air defense forces).
The second turning point was the Hamas-initiated months-long confrontation along the Gaza-Israel border, in which the Islamist terror group reverted to calculated and well-executed brinksmanship tactics (including massive missile attacks on Israel’s population centers) that tested the continued relevance of Israel’s military superiority vis-à-vis the organization.
These turning points challenge the underlying assumptions of Israeli security thinking over past decades. Since the conclusion of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty in 1979, the IDF has been geared towards a decisive victory on the northern front on the assumption that existing geopolitical circumstances would enable the concentration of effort in that direction. The Oslo process was similarly based on the belief that threats from the prospective Palestinian entity in the West Bank and Gaza would remain highly limited, enabling the IDF to continue focusing on the northern front.
It is here that the main significance of the recent Gaza events lies. For while the security threat that has evolved in the Strip is still secondary to that of the northern front, it has nevertheless cracked the Israeli conception regarding the use of force. Thus, for example, Hamas exploited Israel’s overwhelming preoccupation with the northern front to escalate the situation to the brink of war while keenly recognizing the constraints that would prevent an Israeli decision in favor of a large-scale operation. In doing so, Hamas successfully changed the strategic equation with Israel in its favor.
This (temporary?) strategic shift becomes all the more relevant given the dogged insistence of most former members of Israel’s military and security establishment on the need for complete IDF withdrawal from the West Bank as part of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. In their view, the very act of separating Israelis from Palestinians and setting an internationally recognized border between them will bring about peace and stability. In the improbable situation in which the nascent Palestinian state will prove to be a security threat to Israel, they reason, the IDF will readily bring its overwhelming superiority to bear and remove this security threat within days.
This assumption couldn’t be further from the truth. Since the onset of the Oslo process in 1993, the balance of power between Israel and the Palestinians has substantially changed in the latter’s favor, as starkly demonstrated by Hamas’s above noted successes. No less important, the nature of warfare has undergone substantial changes in recent decades, notably the relocation of the fighting to the civilian urban space with the active participation of the local population, which makes conventional military operations far more difficult and complex. The operational difficulties faced by the Western armies in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, especially in densely populated, built-up areas, illustrate the callousness of ignoring the potential security-strategic threats attending total West Bank withdrawal. If it took the US-led coalition forces nine months of fighting to clear Mosul of ISIS forces, how realistic is it to expect the IDF to capture a heavily militarized Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza within days?
It is mindboggling how proponents of West Bank withdrawal so cavalierly ignore the likely threats attending this move. So strong is their fixation on the necessity of withdrawal to the pre-June 1967 lines that it has made them totally oblivious to realities on the ground.
Last summer’s events in the Gaza Strip should cast serious doubt on the feasibility of complete Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, if only because the proximity of this area to Israel’s main population centers and economic/strategic assets ensures its transformation into the main combat zone should it undergo a militarization process similar to that experienced by Gaza and Lebanon. The question is whether the IDF has an effective response to the advent of parallel major threats on several fronts. View PDF An earlier Hebrew version of the article was published in the December 2018 issue of The Liberal.
Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen is a senior research fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. He served in the IDF for forty-two years. He commanded troops in battles with Egypt and Syria. He was formerly a corps commander and commander of the IDF Military Colleges.
BESA Center Perspectives Papers are published through the generosity of the Greg Rosshandler Family |
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Is Trump Facing A 1960s-Style Revolt?by Tyler Durden 29 October2019 https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-facing-1960s-style-revolt Sunday morning, President Trump announced that the world’s worst terrorist, the head of the ISIS caliphate who had raped an American woman, had received justice.
About to be captured and carried off in a helicopter by U.S. special forces, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi blew himself up with an explosive vest in a compound in northwest Syria. The long search for the sadist and fanatic had ended in triumph. No U.S. troops were lost.
That evening, Trump went out to the fifth game of the World Series between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros. As his face was flashed on the big screen, the stadium erupted with people booing and chanting, “Impeach Trump!” and “Lock him up!”
That Trump is not cheered at a D.C. baseball game is not odd, for the spectators are not working-class Trumpians. Series tickets cost hundreds, even thousands, of dollars, and the spectators are drawn from a town that gave Donald Trump 4% of its votes in 2016.
The mutual distrust in this city was on display when Trump told the press yesterday morning that he had not alerted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the impending U.S. raid, because he was afraid of leaks.
The Russians, however, were alerted we were coming, as they control the airspace over the compound we were targeting. And Trump thanked the Russians for their cooperation.
Also left out of the loop was the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, one of the “Gang of Eight” that is almost always given a heads-up about major military operations. Schiff is conducting secret hearings to drum up support for Trump’s impeachment and removal for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
It is imprecise to say this city is divided over Trump. It is rather almost solidly united behind what millions of Middle Americans believe to be a deep state-media conspiracy to overturn the 2016 election and effect a coup d’etat against a president whom this city detests but fears it cannot defeat in 2020.
A week ago, this writer noted the astonishing number of foreign capitals that were on fire with protests that go beyond marching and demonstrating — to riot, rebellion and even revolution. As with the “yellow vest” protests that shut down Paris on many weekends this past year, and the disorders in Hong Kong, the epidemic had spread to Beirut, Barcelona and Santiago, Chile.
In Iraq, over 200 have been killed and thousands injured in protests this month against the Baghdad regime. In Algeria, now six months after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was forced to step down, rioters still battle the army.
The thread common to these uncivil, often-violent disruptions?  Washington DC hate Andy Ngo YT A conviction that the cause the protesters are advancing is so critical, noble and necessary that democratic rules may be dispensed with and law and order suspended in pursuit of the cause.
Saturday’s Washington Post describes the mindset that is taking hold in D.C. among militants, using as an example the Extinction Rebellion group’s dragging of a boat into the street at 16th & K to block traffic for hours to call attention to rising sea levels.
She cites sociology professor Dana Fisher:
Fisher continues:
Who wins when leftists go lawless — in liberal citadels like D.C.?
This thinking echoes the famous “bodies upon the gears” speech of Mario Savio at the famous 1964 University of California, Berkeley campus riot:
After Berkeley came civil disobedience; the burning of ROTC buildings; and urban riots marked by looting, shooting and arson. Out of that came Richard Nixon’s 49-state landslide, Ronald Reagan, and Republican triumphs in five of six presidential elections starting in 1968.
Bring it on. |
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How to combat the looming perfect storm for antisemitism in AmericaJew-hatred, also described as antisemitism, is becoming mainstream in America.By Adam Milstein September 7, 2019 https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Antisemitism/How-to-combat-the-looming-perfect-storm-for-antisemitism-in-America-600673
 How to combat the looming perfect storm for antisemitism in America A.F.BRANCO In the decades following the Holocaust, “Never Again” was repeated by millions who had no idea they needed to do something about it. Somehow, in front of our eyes, “Never Again” is becoming “Again and Again” as radical movements that threaten all Americans but are united in their hatred toward Jews are growing stronger in broad daylight.
Antisemitism is growing, and it’s going to get much worse. A perfect storm of circumstances is elevating the dangers significantly. Jew-haters are taking advantage of the radicalization of our society, utilizing the biased mainstream and social media to amplify their message and enjoy unparalleled access to weapons to attack our communities in frightening ways.
How did we get to this place?
Jew-hating looks different today than it did in the past. In medieval times, people hated Jews because of their religion. In the 20th century, Nazism viewed Jews as a race to be eradicated. Today, the new antisemitism, fueled by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, is disguised as hatred toward Israel – the world’s only Jewish state.
However, with the assistance of many useful idiots – some of them Jews – the BDS movement promotes hatred toward all Jews globally, radicalizes all the extreme movements and promotes violence against Jews and other minorities.
With new allies across the political spectrum, Jew-haters have found friends in unlikely places. Antisemitism no longer comes from fringe groups. Instead, an alliance of Jew-haters has been forged by the radical Left, radical Muslims and the radical Right. This three-headed monster of bigotry is best exemplified in the unlikely alliance between white supremacist David Duke and Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Antisemites today also enjoy an unparalleled ability to amplify their hateful ideas – through biased news articles, social media and niche channels – to billions of people at the click of a button. This ranges from antisemitic lies on mainstream media to posts on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter that celebrate attacks against Jews and threaten violence.  Councilman Deutsch @ChaimDeutsch Anti-Semitism isn’t just Jews getting punched in the face. It’s videos like this, that paint religious Jews as the “other”. I am shocked that the Rockland County GOP approved this ad. This video says a lot more about the people who made it than the people it seeks to condemn.
Click to Play Video
The threat we face is a danger not only to Jews but to all Americans, as it threatens to undermine and destroy the freedoms of religious liberty, prosperity and security that we all hold dear. We must do everything in our power to stop this enormous storm before it is swallows America whole. There is still time to turn the tide back to protect the Jewish people and safeguard American values.
What can each of us do to stop it?
Combating hate starts with accepting personal responsibility and changing our approach from defense to offense. For years, our strategy to defeat antisemitism was purely reactive and defensive, relying entirely on others to protect us. The fact that Jew-hating continues to rise has proven how much our existing methods failed us. We must do more, and do it differently. We must get personally involved, go on the offensive and deploy out-of-the-box strategies.
To do so, we as a community must adopt several principles.
• First, we must embrace and support the State of Israel without any preconditions. Israel, the Jewish people’s homeland, may not be perfect, but it’s where our traditions, history, heritage and courage originated from, and it is dedicated to safeguarding the Jewish people around the world. Israel is our insurance policy. Without Israel, the Jewish people are weak and defenseless. Without Israel, “Never Again” is meaningless. • Second, we must do a better job harnessing our community’s strength to protect ourselves. We are the single most successful immigrant community in US history, and we should not hesitate to leverage our position to fight Jew-hatred. Our leadership, resources and influence have the potential to become a real game changer in putting Jew-haters on the defensive. • Third, it’s a rare time in history when our enemies are also the enemies of so many other communities. We must embrace our allies and build a broad coalition to fight Jew-hating and other forms of bigotry. We must become active partners in the coalitions that are fighting hate, bigotry and racism in America. After all, antisemitism is not only a Jewish problem, it’s also an American problem.
As we go on the offense, we must secure the resources to support and expand strategies and tools developed to fight back and put Jew-haters on the defense, including familiarizing ourselves with the bad actors’ finances, agendas, goals, objectives, networks and future plans.
Financial resources should be invested in developing research that will enable us to combat Jew-hatred by naming and shaming antisemites, exposing their illegal activities and their violent plans, and promptly alerting the authorities and the media.
We must financially support organizations which go on the offensive against Jew-haters, use out-of-the-box strategies and engage those who are willing to collaborate and work synergistically to multiply our efforts.
StopAntisemitism.org, for example, monitors Jew-hatred on the ground and on digital and social media. It leverages an unmatched technology to develop communication channels through which Americans can be engaged to report incidents of Jew-hatred, and develop actionable strategies to counter and prevent hate and violence.
Though a perfect storm of antisemitism of the worst kind is looming, we should not be seeking shelter. It’s time we work with allies and fight back at all cost. When it comes to Jew-hating, we can’t be passive and risk-averse any longer. It’s time to take the jump from defense to offense. Let’s think outside of the box. Let’s act affirmatively. Let’s make an impact.
Reader comments: Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream US & CAN 1-866-4-ALIYAH | UK 020-8150-6690 or 0800-085-2105 | Israel 02-659-5800 https://www.nbn.org.il/ info@nbn.org.il |
Jerusalem Cats Comments: Is it time to come home to your true homeland, Israel. It is time to make Aliyah. It’s time to come home! Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream 1-866-4-ALIYAH www. nbn.org.il |
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There are so many resources such as: https://remaxjerusalem.com/ +972-2-673-1661 |
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 Assosication of Americans and Canadians in Israel 972-2-5661181 37 Pierre Koenig, corner of Poalei Tzedek Talpiot, Jerusalem Assosication of Americans and Canadians in Israel.Except now we serve the entire English-Speaking community in Israel! |
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 https://www.janglo.net/ https://www.janglo.net/ Israel’s largest online community for English speakers. Janglo is the Anglo community’s top information source for jobs, housing, sales, events, deals, news, businesses, and so much more. We’ve helped tens of thousands of olim survive and thrive in Israel. |
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Despite media narrative, Palestinians are far from ‘woke’By Adam Levick on 26December2018 https://ukmediawatch.org/2018/12/26/despite-media-narrative-palestinians-are-far-from-woke/ Here’s the headline accompanying a Dec. 25th Independent article about Palestinian reaction to upcoming Israeli elections, written by their Mid-East correspondent Bel Trew.
 Here’s the headline accompanying a Dec. 25th Independent article about Palestinian reaction to upcoming Israeli elections, written by their Mid-East correspondent Bel Trew.
At first glance, the headline likely wouldn’t seem controversial. However, if you reflect upon the assumption of the text, you can see an illustration of a larger pattern of media bias in their coverage the region. The headline is culled from a paragraph in which a Palestinian Christian named Sami laments the prospects for peace and a two-state solution if another Likud government is formed – a government the Indy reporter described as “the most right-wing” in Israeli history.
Leaving aside the question regarding whether the current government is indeed the most right-wing in history, this framing, which permeates the article, sets up a dichotomy between putatively ‘far-right’ Israelis – in the context of a media which normally uses the word “right” as a pejorative – and, presumably, the more ‘progressive’ Palestinians who “fear” Israel’s dangerous rightward lurch.
Though this political contrast is the subtext of the article, Trew never explicitly assigns an ideology to the Palestinians, which is consistent with the manner in which reporters refrain from analyzing the ideology of Palestinians and their leaders – an omission nurtured by the tendency to view Palestinians as victims only, devoid of agency. The media frame the conflict almost exclusively in terms of what Israel does or doesn’t do, which denies news consumers a fuller understanding of the conflict.
If journalists were to take Palestinian views and decisions seriously, their readers would see that Palestinians and their leaders are far more ‘right-wing’ than Israelis and their leaders on matters ranging from the treatment of women, support for violence and attitudes towards minorities. Polls from Pew Global and Anti-Defamation League (in 2013 and 2014) reveal the following:
Palestinians, it seems, are not quite the peace and social justice warriors of media lore. They are arguably ‘far-right’, and certainly far from ‘woke’.
Whatever the outcome of the upcoming Israeli elections, we suggest taking with a grain of salt ideological characterisations of the new coalition, and treating with even a greater degree of skepticism idealized depictions of Palestinians that serve to reinforce the desired media narrative, yet have little if any relationship to reality. |
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Pvt. Ori is Using Her Disability to Teach Others About TolerancePublished on: Two months before she put on her uniform for the first time, Pvt. Ori had already been to the base where she would eventually serve several times. “I went to the base to study it,” she explains. “My cane can only tell me where obstacles are – it doesn’t guide me. It was really frustrating. It was hot and I had to walk the same route over and over again so many times, but my desire to enlist gave me the energy to do it. I always insisted on being independent on base, so I wouldn’t need help.”  IDF Pvt. Ori
Pvt. Ori was born blind, but she never let that stop her. She attended a regular high school, took matriculation exams, went on annual trips with her classmates, and even took part in a trip to Poland. “When others see me going about my day like everyone else and that I don’t feel sorry for myself, then they treat me like an equal,” she says.
Therefore, enlisting to the IDF with the rest of her classmates was only natural for her, and for everyone who knew her. “My friends enlisted to the IDF and it was obvious to them that I would enlist too. I’ll have a regular service like everyone else,” she says.
“There are people who tell me that I could’ve easily avoided serving, and that I didn’t have to volunteer to serve, but I have no doubt that I did the right thing. I grew up with brothers who were combat soldiers, who never stopped talking about their experiences in the IDF. I always wanted to enlist – to give back to the country and at the same time to develop my independence and myself. I really feel like I did the right thing,” she says.
“I enlisted to be an Education NCO. I am going to give tours and lead workshops for soldiers about values.” The values that are most important to her to emphasize are equality and tolerance. “When I was in high school, I took part in a radio show and it was only at the end that I told the listeners that I was blind. I wish that in real life, like on the radio, we got to know people according to who they are, not their looks or whether they have a cane or not.” |
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Most Palestinians think Israel intends to forcibly expel themApril 23, 2018 http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2018/04/most-palestinians-think-israel-intends.html In answer to the question “What do you think is the long run aspiration of Israel?” more than half think that Israel’s goals coincide with the Kach party – that was outlawed by Israel.  The recent PCPSR poll of Palestinian Arabs shows that they are completely brainwashed as to Israel’s goals. Again, the Western media won’t report on this – because it seems racist to show that an entire population of Arabs is so delusional. So 70.5% of the PA Arabs want Israel to expel them. We can’t disapoint them. Rabbi Meir Kahane was right! הרב מאיר כהנא צדק!
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The chief culprit is the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court is today’s most harmful factor affecting the Jewish state and its values. Concerning Amona, the courts favored the petitioners over the Jewish residents, only because they are Arabs.Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, 11/12/16 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/19894 Last week, I dealt with the issue of clarifying the mitzvah of ‘eshet yefat toar‘ and the inherent moral ‘tikkun‘ (improvement) it embodies: on the one hand, as opposed to the conventional legal situation in the world where it was permitted to do anything with prisoners of war, the mitzvah of ‘eshet yefat toar‘ represented an enormous improvement; on the other hand, the Torah teaches us that it was a transgression permitted bediavad (after the fact), and seeing as ‘aveira goreret aveira’ (one sin leads to another) it was liable to cause conflicts in the family and result in bearing children who are rebellious (Tanchuma Ki Tayzeh 1).
Regarding this, our Sages said: “The Torah only provided for human passions: it is better for Israel to eat flesh of animals about to die yet ritually slaughtered (a doubtful prohibition), than the flesh of dying animals which have perished (a definite prohibition)” (Kiddushin 21b). In this way, the Torah gradually elevates a person until he reaches a complete ‘tikkun‘.
In contrast, the members of the media who ridiculed the Torah’s mitzvot, and the women members of Knesset who petitioned the High Court against the Chief IDF Rabbi’s appointment, defamed the Torah. Besides slandering the word of the living God with their remarks and actions and the tradition of their ancestors who sacrificed their lives to guard it – no less severe, they harmed the welcome moral influence of the Torah in ‘tikkun olam’. Arrogance and SuperficialityTheir behavior is a direct result of their arrogant and superficial worldview which, out of good intentions, offers the world “new religions” and “moral solutions”, that in practice, cause destruction and devastation. Consequently, in order to help the poor, one movement offered the world the “religion of communism” whose followers denounced property rights, initiated murderous wars, and created an evil, dictatorial regime.
Correspondingly, in order to strengthen the rights of the individual, another movement offered the world the “religion of liberal democracy” whereby, regardless of a country’s national character or social circumstances, come what may, the democratic system is expected to always bring about peace and prosperity – and thus, out of blind devotion to the “religion of democracy”, America helped Khomeini establish an evil regime in Iran, and caused havoc and wars in every country they attempted to offer assistance (Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan, etc.).
At the same time, inwardly, the “religion of freedom and egalitarianism” caused the breakup of the family and community, decreeing loneliness and misery on countless numbers of people, demonstrated by the constant and alarming decrease in demographics.
The values in whose name they speak, such as justice, brotherhood, equality and freedom are sacred values whose foundations stem from the Torah, but when they emerge out of a superficiality rooted in arrogance and contempt for other values and cultures, as well as ignoring the infinite complexity of human life, they cause immense suffering to countless numbers of people.
It is precisely the Torah that is intended to guide all of us through the complexities of life, teaching us to choose well within a complicated reality. The Fault of the Legal EstablishmentUnder normal circumstances a libel suit should have been brought against those who slandered the Torah and Rabbi Krim for allegedly not respecting moral values. But to whom can one appeal? Indeed, the entire legal establishment is contaminated! The Supreme Court judges accepted the petition on the grounds that presumably the allegation that Rabbi Krim supported attacking women during wartime was true.
They should have rejected the petition out of hand for one of two reasons: A) it is not a matter for the court to intervene in administrative decisions, as long as there is no criminal allegations. B) There is no feasibility of truth in the actual petition itself. After all, at no time in history was there ever a Torah commentator who claimed that the taking of an ‘eshet yefat toar’ was a good thing, and it’s illogical to presume that precisely Rabbi Krim would all of a sudden say it was a mitzvah from the Torah. Instead, the judges agreed with the petitioners, accepting the libelous slander that perhaps the Torah actually says so, and consequently, a rabbi could give such a directive.
Having not rejected the petition, they became partners in the slander, similar to what we have learned concerning those who hear loshon ha’ra (evil speech) that they are also considered sinners. For it’s not only the mouse that is a thief, but also the hole encouraging him to enter. The lawyer representing the government whose job it was to defend the Chief IDF Rabbi’s appointment, muttered some nonsensical arguments demonstrating ignorance, disrespect, and mistrust of the Torah and rabbis.
The aim of the petition was to humiliate the laws of the Torah and its adherents, and to show everyone that the secular law is above the Torah, and since the legal establishment volunteered to be part of this, the primary blame lies with them. The Case of AmonaAlso with regard to Jewish settlement in the community of Amona, the legal establishment acted similarly. Ignoring the mitzvah of yishuv ha’aretz (the commandment to settle the Land) and the vision of its redemption in Torah, the Prophets, and Jewish heritage, from the very beginning the courts gave priority to the flimsy claims of the petitioners, which even if they do exist, not once did any of their family members ever purchase these lands, or settle them. The only advantage the petitioners have over the settlers is that they are Arabs, whereas the settlers are Jews; consequently, the court ordered the demolition of their homes. Harm to the Jewish Identity of the StateIn a continuous process, the legal establishment has gnawed away at the country’s Jewish identity. Let’s now recall their main decisions and orders in this issue: 1) In a series of decisions the courts weakened the importance of Shabbat, permitting increasing public desecration of Shabbat (cinemas, shopping centers in outlying areas, etc.); 2) Despite the Knesset passing the “Foundations of Law” statute, whereby in a case of any legal question undecided by Israeli law, the court must decide in accordance with the values of Israel’s heritage – in practice, the Supreme Court depleted this law from all content; 3) the courts harmed Jewish family values by recognizing the adoption of children by same-sex couples; 4) they recognized Reform conversions performed outside of Israel; 5) the courts recognized in practice (de facto) civil marriage ceremonies conducted outside of Israel, including same-sex “marriages”; 6) They harmed the status of the Hebrew language as the official national language of the country by nearly equating Arabic to Hebrew; 7) they prevented the disqualification of the Balad party and anti-Zionist candidates for Knesset, and this, in opposition to the opinion of the Elections Committee who relied upon the Basic Law of the Knesset prohibiting a party that negates the Jewish identity of the state to run for election; 8) the court system forced the participation of women singers and actresses in official and semi-official ceremonies, without taking into account the position of halakha and the religious Zionist and haredi communities. Harm to the Rabbinate and Religious Courts1) In a series of decisions, the Supreme Court intervened in the discretion of municipal Chief Rabbis regarding the provision of kosher certification; 2) they obligated the religious courts to decide according to secular law in monetary matters; 3) prohibited national religious courts from serving as arbitrators according to the Arbitration Law; 4) established courts dealing with family issues, designed to compete with the religious courts. Harm to the Importance of Yishuv Ha’aretzFor over 150 years, a national struggle has ensued between the Jews and the Arabs over the Land of Israel. In order to redeem and settle the Land, the ‘Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael’ was established, and afterwards, the State of Israel. However in a gradual process, the Supreme Court has hindered the ability of the State of Israel to fulfill its mission. 1) The Supreme Court prohibited the government from allocating state-owned land for settlement exclusively by Jews. 2) Prohibited giving incentives to Jewish communities in the Galilee and Negev (“making the Galilee and Negev Jewish”), thereby invalidating the ideal which accompanied the Zionist movement from its inception. 3) Even with respect to the lands owned by the ‘Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael’ which were purchased exclusively with Jewish money, as a result of deliberations in the Supreme Court, the then Attorney General Mr. Mazuz, ordered not to give further preference to Jewish settlement. 4) As a result of petitions by leftist organizations, the Supreme Court hastened to intervene, demanding the evacuation of Jewish outposts in Judea and Samaria, while breaching the rules of deliberation obligating a legal process of clarification of ownership of the land before a District and Magistrates court. 5) The courts prohibited the state from crop-spraying to shower pesticides on illegally-planted plots of land by Bedouins in the Negev, despite this being a proven method of restraining their seizure of state-owned lands. 6) As a result of pressure from the courts, the Attorney General obligated the state to divert the route of Nahal Hevron in the northern Negev at the cost of 30 million shekels, claiming the sewage that the Palestinian Authority spilled into it, inconveniences the illegal Bedouin outpost ‘Um-Bitin’ located next to the path of the stream. 7) In the latter part of his first term, the courts prohibited Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu from closing the ‘Orient House’, claiming that his government was a ‘provisional government’; on the other hand, they deferred a similar petition against the peace talks in Taba at the end of Ehud Barak’s tenure. Harm to Israel’s Security1) The courts prohibited the shaking method of interrogation of suspects by the Shabak (Secret Service), including cases of “ticking-bombs”. 3) The court placed severe restrictions on the IDF, tying their hands in the harming of terrorists about to carry out an attack; 4) The courts disqualified a law – despite being passed in the Knesset – allowing the incarceration of ‘hard’ terrorists for a period of two weeks without seeing a judge, despite the security needs for such a procedure in order to obtain information from them; 5) In opposition to the opinion of the defense establishment, the Supreme Court instructed the dismantling and relocation of sections of the ‘security fence’ and settlement’s security fences in several locations, and also the opening of roads and removal of roadblocks, in full knowledge that this would likely cause a security risk; 6) In a series of decisions, the courts and the legal establishment forced the IDF to enlist women soldiers in combat units, in opposition to the opinion of professional committees. On occasion, the mere fact that the Supreme Court starts hearing a petition leads governmental agencies to cancel their plans. For example: the Supreme Court held discussions on petitions brought by leftist groups against reducing the supply of gas, electricity, and other goods to Gaza, and subsequently, the then Attorney General Mr. Mazuz, ordered the government to fold up its plans. Strengthening those Loyal to the Nation and the LandThis short overview is as much as necessary to determine that the legal system is currently the most alienated and most harmful institution in Israel in its affront of Jewish and Zionist values.
Nevertheless, it should be noted that within the legal establishment there are also many positive aspects: it acts in the field of ‘derech eretz’ which precedes Torah, and its very existence helps in keeping law and order, and allows the normal functioning of social and economic frameworks.
It should also be pointed out that we, members of the religiously observant community, are also guilty for the current situation, by not offering a proper alternative to the legal system. I hope to expand on this issue in my next column. In the meantime, let us thank those lawyers, judges and advisors who, out of a deep-seated loyalty to the values of Torah, the nation and the Land, attempt to do their jobs within the existing legal system, thus paving the beginning of the path to correcting the situation.
This article appears in the ‘Besheva’ newspaper, and was translated from Hebrew. Other interesting, informative, and thought-provoking articles by Rabbi Melamed, including all his books on halakha and Jewish thought in Hebrew, and a few in English, can be found at: |
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10 commandments of Marriage 1. Don’t blame (let bygones be bygones) 2. No sarcasm 3. No yelling 4. The word divorce is forbidden 5. Don’t go to sleep angry 6. Politeness must reign supreme 7. Don’t use charged words 8. Have a united front, stick up for your spouse 9. Everyone in the world has 10 faults 10. Keep up the routine |
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IDF In TedMed – IDF Leadership And Saving Lives |
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Israeli humor – Hope kindergarten |
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ISRAEL START-UP NATION |
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Technion Nation – Building Israel the Start-Up Nation |
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the reason Why Israel can’t withdraw to its pre ’67 borders line |
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Israeli Ministry of Immigrant Absorption Ad – Abba |
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Israeli Ministry of Immigrant Absorption Ad – What Holiday? |
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Israeli Ministry of Immigrant Absorption ad – Boyfriend |
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Move to Israel, Get a Free Degree (FUNNY and Quite Tempting!)Global Index ranks Israel fourth best place to raise children25August2015 https://www.internations.org/expat-insider/2015/family-life-index Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20160406045521/https://www.internations.org/expat-insider/2015/family-life-index Israel has been ranked as the 4th best place to raise children by the Family Life Index Methodology The Family Life Index ranks countries according to their results in these subcategories: availability of childcare and education, costs of childcare and education, quality of education, family well-being, as well as childcare and education options. This year, a question regarding available leisure activities for kids was included in the Family Well-Being subcategory.
In total, 41 countries are included in this index. In order to be included, each country needed over 30 survey respondents raising kids abroad who rated the above factors on a scale of one to seven.  family life index_short
The Mitzvah to Live in Eretz Yisrael
Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream US & CAN 1-866-4-ALIYAH | UK 020-8150-6690 or 0800-085-2105 | Israel 02-659-5800 https://www.nbn.org.il/ info@nbn.org.il It’s time to come home! Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream 1-866-4-ALIYAH |
Why I support Israel – תרגום לעברית |
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The Birth of the Israeli Air Force |
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Miracles in Gaza – IDF – The Israeli Defense Forces |
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Israeli soldiers dancing before Gaza entry: “We Have No one Rely Upon Except Our Father In Heaven”
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Rav Chaim Dovid Stern of Bnei Brak message regarding Rav Berland Rav Chaim Dovid Stern Bnei Brak message Rav Berland Throughout the last three years’ of Rav Berlands exile, there were many indications from other leading figures and tzaddikim that the situation facing Am Yisrael was as bleak as indicated by Rav Berland himself. One such person was the kabbalist and Rosh Yeshiva from Bnei Brak, Rav Chaim Dovid Stern. In 2014, Rav Stern told his attendant that the previous year, he’d seen terrible decrees being made in Shemayim in relation to Israel’s enemies – so bad, that he’d even started telling the people who were visiting him that they didn’t need to worry about money any more, and that they should start giving all of their money away to tzedaka, because shortly there would be such a period of chaos and destruction descending on the world that money wouldn’t be worth the paper it was printed on.
Day after day, Rav Stern described how he could see how these decrees were gathering steam – until Rav Berland decided to take upon himself the terrible shame and criticism, and to leave Eretz Yisrael and go into exile abroad. According to Rav Stern, Rav’s Berland self-sacrifice is what cancelled these terrible decrees.
He continued that if there had been a tzaddik before World War II who’d have taken such harsh suffering upon himself, then there wouldn’t have been a holocaust. Unfortunately, none of the Tzaddikim who were alive at that time could have withstood such a difficult test. When Rav Stern heard from one of his yeshiva students how Rav Berland had been praying alone for hours in the African jungle, in places where no other person would come without an armoured jeep and a gun, Rav Stern said: “It’s because of his incredible kedusha! The animals don’t have any permission to harm him – not the animals, and also not the human beings!”
Over the last three years, Rav Stern has spoken out about Rav Berland on many different occasions. When he was giving a pep talk at the Chut Shel Chesed Yeshiva to the students of Rav Shalom Arush, Rav Stern gave over the following serious warning: “Woe to whoever speaks ill of Rav Berland, for they will be punished severely. All those who dare to speak ill of this tzaddik should fear for their lives, for they will all, without exception, receive severe punishments from Above. I knew him 40 years ago, and the way he learned with the Steipler was unmatched by any other. He is entirely holy.”
On another occasion, he said: “The final test before Moshiach comes is Rav Berland. Anyone who talks against him, or who believes the rumours being circulated about him, won’t merit to witness the imminent redemption of our people.”
Around the time that Rav Berland was detained in Holland, on his way to Uman just before Rosh Hoshana, Rav Stern told Rav Shalom Arush that the people who were slandering the Rav and spreading rumors about him should make some serious Teshuva, if they wanted to avoid the terrible fate that would otherwise await them. Rav Stern said: “I believe that Rav Berland could even hold his hand in the fire, and not be burned! [because of his high level of holiness].” (That’s actually what happened in Johannesburg on one occasion, when the Rav was reciting havdalah together with his followers, and realized that some of them were struggling with serious doubts and confusion about where the truth lay, in relation to the false accusations that had been made about him. After he’d said havdalah, the Rav placed his hand in the flame of the burning candle, and held it there for a good while, without his hand being at all burnt. The Rav turned to his confused followers and told them: “Don’t let all the suspicions and the rumors burn you up!”)
Rav Stern concluded: “The whole subject involving Rav Berland’s exile is connected to the deepest secrets of the redemption of Am Yisrael.” |
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From Rabbi Lazer Brody:
New Height of Treachery: USA Exposes Israel’s Nuclear Secrets26March2015 http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2015/03/new-height-of-treachery-usa-exposes-israels-nuclear-secrets.html  US satellite image of Dimona Reactor in Israel from 1968, declassified by USA and now plastered all over cyberspace and the world – courtesy of globalsecurity.org via jewishpress.com
Above image – US satellite image of Dimona Reactor in Israel from 1968, declassified by USA and now plastered all over cyberspace and the world – courtesy of globalsecurity.org via jewishpress.com
The ink isn’t even dry on our emuna-news op-ed from yesterday, Mr. V Exposed, where I wrote that the disappointed, angry and frustrated White House now wants to revenge against Israel for reelecting Bibi. Well here it is folks – put a grenade in the hand of an arrogant and frenzied individual and there will soon be shrapnel all over the place.
The President of the United States has just betrayed Israel in the most inconceivable way: he has just revealed a stunning amount of information on some of Israel’s most closely guarded secrets, including our nuclear program, complete with photographs. You can believe that there’s dancing in the streets of Tehran, Damascus and Beirut this morning. We thank The Jewish Press and our good friend Mark R. from Haifa for the tipoff.
Does anyone still have any doubt about the treachery in Washington, DC? How can any Jew support a regime that intentionally endangers 6 million Jews (does the number sound familiar) in Israel?
One thing I’m delighted about – our prophets said that once the Geula begins, Israel will stand alone with no friends. Terrific, let’s get on with the full redemption of our people. Brothers and sisters wherever you are, please come home soon – it’s time to leave your Egypt while you still can. Today, your president betrays us, tomorrow he’ll betray you. Like I said yesterday, BHO’s anti-Bibi psychosis is really anti-Israel, and the anti-Israel is really anti-Semitism. It’s all coming down, and things are happening faster than we can write. |
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“Middle East for Dummies”Beauty Pageant Selfie Provides a ‘Middle East for Dummies’ TutorialJonathan S. Tobin 20january2015 https://www.commentarymagazine.com/jonathan-tobin/beauty-pageant-selfie-provides-a-middle-east-for-dummies-tutorial-miss-universe-israel-lebanon/ The Miss Universe Pageant is a rather silly made-for-television event owned by entrepreneur and celebrity Donald Trump. But this piece of junk food for the mind has nevertheless provided the universe, or at least the portion of it that includes this planet, a tutorial in the realities of the Middle East that one cannot get from reading, say, the editorials of the New York Times or the statements about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians that come out of the mouths of people like President Obama or Secretary of State John Kerry. And all it took was one selfie from Miss Israel.
The controversy arises from an incident during a photo session before the Miss World festivities began during which the contestants were also talking photos of each other. Miss Israel, Doron Matalon, took a photo of herself and a few other participants, including Saly Greige, Miss Lebanon, in which the young ladies are all smiling while dressed in shirts with their country’s names. The photo was predictably circulated on social media but the reaction involved more than the usual appreciation for the sight of a few pretty girls. Lebanese who saw it were enraged at Greige, who was reviled for treason for being depicted as engaging in normal friendly relations with an Israeli.
This sort of thing had happened once before when the 1993 version of Miss Lebanon was pictured next to that year’s Miss Israel. She was subsequently stripped of her title and ostracized as a traitor.
So to save herself from such an ignominious end, Greige claimed that she had been photo-bombed by the Israeli and then posted a new version of the same picture with Matalon cropped out. Perhaps that lame story will be enough to keep her out of the soup in a country that is dominated by terrorist militias like Hezbollah and where hatred for Israel and Jews is endemic. In response, Matalon merely said she was “sad” that her Arab counterparts were not allowed to put aside official hostility for even the three weeks of the event.
But there’s more to this story than just an embarrassing and potentially dangerous moment of fraternization for one Lebanese woman.
The exchange encapsulated the essence of why peace in the Middle East has eluded generations of diplomats.
The problem between Israel and Lebanon, which is a more cosmopolitan place than many other Arab countries, isn’t a matter of borders or disputes over settlements. Many Lebanese may hold grudges about Israel’s intervention in their civil war and its occupation of a portion of that country that ended in 2000. But any umbrage about that must be tempered by the knowledge that the dispute was caused by the willingness of the Lebanese to let the southern portion of their country be used as a terrorist base of attack by the Palestinians, who operated a state within a state in the south, for many years. The same is true now of Hezbollah, which embroiled all of Lebanon in a pointless and bloody war against Israel in 2006 because of their cross-border terror raids.
Nor are the Lebanese particularly exercised about Israeli settlement policies or the plight of Palestinians in Hamas-run Gaza. Indeed, the Lebanese are, as a result of their own experiences with armed Palestinian militias and terror cadres during the civil war, even less sympathetic to the Palestinians than Israelis.
The problem is a spirit of intolerance and rejection for the idea of a Jewish state no matter where its borders might be drawn. That is a hatred so deep that it can’t be bridged by creative diplomacy or gestures of goodwill, such as those that infuse international events like the Miss Universe contest.
It is a cliché for contestants at such competitions to say they wish for world peace when asked for their opinions about the issues of the day. But what happened to Miss Lebanon illustrates that the divisions of the Middle East run so deep and are so primal that no amount of global hooey like a beauty contest is enough to make the Arab and Muslim world forget about their antipathy for Israelis.
That one picture was worth a million words of nonsense about the Middle East conflict being a misunderstanding or a problem that could be solved with enough good will on the part of both sides. The State Department should consider it a free “Middle East for Dummies” tutorial. Until Lebanese beauty contestants are not afraid to have their pictures taken with Jews, the diplomats should not bother trying to pretend their efforts will be enough to solve the problem. |
Understanding the collusion between the left, radical Islam,the liberal media, and the Vatican7march2015 http://kabbalahwisdom.org/2015/03/07/understanding-the-collusion-between-the-left-radical-islam-which-includes-all-the-arab-terrorists-they-are-not-christens-the-liberal-media-as-well-as-the-establishment-of-major-christen-faiths-li/ It may not be well know – but as documented by BBC journalist Alan Hart in his book “Arafat peacemaker or terrorist” (based on extensive interviews with Arafat) before Arafat would do a terrorist attack he would always consult with a Catholic Priest (which was directly connected to the Vatican – it is well know the Vatican, apart for over a millennia of brutal anti-Semitism, collaborated with the Nazis, as well as refused to recognize Israel and is behind the sick goal of trying to create Jerusalem as an international city – in other words, get rid of Jewish sovereignty.)
All these groups share the same disease – delusions of grandeur.
The left – well, are basically delusional snobs.
Radical Islam – delusional (which is only natural) Muslims – for Islam considers all that don’t follow it as kufers, infidels, “descendants of pigs and apes” – in other words, they, like the Nazis, consider themselves the super-race (which in fact are obligated to annihilate or subjugate or forcibly convert all others.)
Arab terrorists are not always radical Muslims, but have a 4,000 year old hatred of Jews (starting from Yishmoel’s banishment – you don’t need to be Freud to realize that Mohammed’s changing the story of Yishmoel, not Isaac, being bound at the Akeda, means they never got over their “inferiority” complex, but they use the languages of Islam, to justify themselves.)
The liberal media of course are delusional (for any type of arrogance – which is why so many liberal professors (and having taught in university I personally saw this) become antisemetic (including Jewish ones, like Noam Chomsky) for they become delusional, by thinking they are somehow smarter, wiser, more prestigious than the riff-raff in the streets) and likewise those without humility, when they are given power, as the Alter Rebbe teaches (“when you give a humble man something he becomes more humble) but when you give an arrogant man something (especially power) they become even more arrogant! hence deluded by their status, they are grandiose.
And major Christian faiths, such as the Vatican and others (though Christians themselves are not) are also delusional, for they too have reached so-to-say, the pinnacle of their groups.
All in all, as Jewish mysticism teaches, pride is the basis of anti-Semites.
It works like this:
By nature people like people.
In fact, when people are kind, they admire Jews – which is why, conversely, we see, as society became kinder, many hundreds of millions contain admiration for Jews – however, when someone is delusional they regress – like a toddler they become incensed by not getting what they want (for according to them they are deserving) this sense of anger, makes a person feel miserable – from misery they become jealous of Jews who through God’s grace, after thousands of years of humility (much induced through their horrid oppression) can be content. |
The French Enlightenment is About to EndBy: Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh 1January2015 http://www.rabbiginsburgh.com/2014/01/01/the-end-of-the-enlightenment/ Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20141023214445/http://www.rabbiginsburgh.com/2014/01/01/the-end-of-the-enlightenment/  Rabbi Schneur Zalman, founder of Chabad on the right; Napoleon Bonaparte, on left For Part 1, read “The Rabbi and the Emperor” See below:
Fleeing from the SerpentRabbi Shneur Zalman’s decision to flee from Napoleon is reminiscent of Moses’ reaction to the serpent at the Burning Bush in the Torah portion of Shemot (the last portion that was read in Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s lifetime). God told Moses to throw down his staff. When it suddenly turned into a snake, Moses immediately, “fled from it”?an instinctive human reaction to an encounter with a snake!
Before Moses’ rendezvous with this snake, the previous appearance of a serpent is in the Torah portion of Bereishit, where, together with Adam and Eve, it appears as one of the main characters in the Garden of Eden. There, the snake does not appear as a physical enemy to mankind but as a spiritual enemy?one that seems to have man’s best interests at heart. But instead of the unassuming animal that it pretends to be, it is representative of the persuasive evil inclination. The snake’s smooth-tongued honey-sweet promise is that, “you shall be like God, knowing good and evil.” The snake’s primary intention is that mankind no longer be subservient to God.
From a deeper perspective, the secret of the snake’s lure is in its wrapping of a pseudo-logic puffed up by man’s ego (when the serpent suggests that Adam and Eve adopt a self-consciousness that is separate from God, instead of the Divine consciousness that they had been immersed in previously).[1] The emphasis here is that this is faulty logic, because a rectified inner intellect does not propose heresy nor self- aggrandizement, but stands in humility and wonder before God.
However, Eve did not stand up to this seductive package of both heresy and desire, and the rest is history… What should Eve have done? She should have fled in order not to be tempted by the clever claims of that inciter to sin. Like Rabbi Shneur Zalman, we need to simply block our ears and not even sit down to a “peace-talk” to hear his propositions (even if our only intention is to argue against them). Perhaps Rabbi Shneur Zalman learnt this tactic from the Almighty himself, who, after the sin, did not give the serpent a chance to defend himself before passing judgment on it. Since then, mankind has developed a natural instinct to flee from snakes (this is true of any form of seduction). So, Moses was right when he fled from the snake. This teaches us that you should not believe the snake even if a moment before it had been an innocent staff in your hand. As the teaching goes, “[even to] the best of snakes, [you should] smash its brain.”[2] That is, unless you have an explicit command and Divine assistance that paralyzes the snake, and turns it back into a staff!
The model example of someone who withstood a test, and was not seduced to eat from the forbidden fruit, was the righteous Joseph. Joseph’s test with Potiphar’s wife is the epitome of seduction in the Torah, and Joseph—who identified the serpent hissing before his very eyes—took the correct step: “and he fled and went outside.”[3] This is exactly what Moses did when he saw the snake. In fact the word “and he fled” (????????) appears only in these two contexts in the Torah: the first in reference to Joseph, and the second in reference to Moses. Regarding Joseph, the temptation was also accompanied by heresy. Even though this wasn’t verbalized, Potiphar’s wife’s implicit message to Joseph was: “There is no judgment and no Judge, so why should you take into consideration the ancient convention that adultery is forbidden. Only you and I are present, we are free people and we can do as we like.” Joseph’s response was, “How can I do this greatly evil thing and sin to God!?”[4]
Napoleon’s proposition to the Jews?the Enlightenment and the emancipation that were born then?was the serpent’s venom in its modern incarnation. After generations of darkness under oppression by the countries where Jews lived, after oppressive laws and annihilation, poverty and torture, hatred and rejection, the non-Jewish nations finally offer us a new, welcoming face (from their point of view, this was a step in the right direction). With a seductive hiss they say, “You no longer need to be a ‘nation that dwells alone.’[5] Come along with us and we will become a united nation, and instead of the old God who oppressed you, let’s coronate mankind and his intellect as the ruling power.”
This is why Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s initial, healthy reaction (like Joseph before him) was “and he fled.” Although there are select individuals who need not fear their personal welfare against the Enlightenment,[6] nonetheless, for the general public who guarded their Yiddishkeit throughout the generations, there was a definite danger that their natural Jewish sincerity will be threatened. In particular, the greatest danger is for the young children (Joseph was also a youth at that time, a teenager of seventeen). Jewish education needs to be purely holy and not a game with dangerous vipers.
Since everything that happens in the world is Divinely ordained, an allusion can be found for this idea in Napoleon’s name. As mentioned above, the tzadikim already found an allusion in the first letters of Napoleon’s name to the fact that “he will surely fall.”[7] Now, we will complete this allusion by referring to the last three letters of Napoleon’s name (on, ????), which is a reference to the ego which boasts by saying, “I will rule.”[8] This can also be seen as a reference to Potiphar himself, who was “a priest of On.”[9] The ancient Egyptian culture worshipped On (i.e., power worship, like Pharaoh who idolized himself). A synonym for “iniquity” (?????) is also spelled with the same letters, as in the phrase, “The wicked shall give up his way, and the man of iniquity his thoughts, and he shall return to God.”[10] This suggests that beneath the highfalutin words of liberty and fraternity, there are also “iniquitous thoughts” that burst out murderously like a fatal snake-bite. It is remarkable to read the words Rabbi Shneur Zalman, wrote to his chassid who spied for the Russians, Rabbi Moshe Meisels, regarding the comparison to the two sides in that war:
This is how Rabbi Shneur Zalman argues in a profoundly intellectual way why the French—who were confident in their own power and wisdom—would lose the war. Indeed, it is a well-known fact that it was Napoleon’s arrogance that subsequently brought his downfall. Catch Him By His Tail!The end result was that Napoleon was defeated and fled Russia by the skin of his teeth with the remnants of his army (although Rabbi Shneur Zalman paid ten years of his life for it, as explained in Part 1). In contrast, although the conditions for Western European Jewry still worsened during that era, the Russian victory offered a precious reprieve for Eastern European Jewry that lasted until the Enlightenment reached them.
From there, let’s skip to the new stage we have reached today. Above, we mentioned that Moses fled from the serpent, but God taught him that the goal is to catch it: “And God said to Moses, extend your hand and grasp its tail. And he extended his hand and caught it, and it turned into a staff in his palm.”[14] Normally, we say to kill the snake by bashing its head, as God said to the snake, “He [man] will crush your head.”[15] But here, the allusion is that when we reach the end, the serpent’s tail, we will succeed in catching the snake by its tail. At that time, not only will we hold onto the snake, but we will fearlessly control it as well!
How will this happen? One great principle in the Torah’s inner dimension states that every “husk” exhausts itself, eventually falling and dying. The French Revolution, and the Enlightenment that fed the entire development of the modern world, is about to reach its end. More exactly, the evil side of it is gradually exhausting itself completely. The attempt to place mankind on a Divine pedestal, to worship human intellect and success, and to use it as the only gauge for truth and judgment, is gradually losing its appeal. After shattering all the old myths, the statue of mankind who coronated himself is crumbling to dust. So much so that in today’s post-modern world (or perhaps, post-post-modern) we are hearing completely different tunes than what were heard during the French Revolution.
Now, in our generation in particular, we are witnessing a vast upheaval. Since the Enlightenment, traditional Judaism has been on the defense, and even receded in a constant process of retreat. Many communities fell captive to the winds of the Enlightenment, and it seemed traditional Jewish observance was being cast away by this self-confidence wave of secularism. At the time, it appeared that this trend would continue; showing religious observance to be something outdated and irrelevant. Yet amazingly, a generation of teshuvah (returnees to God and His Torah) has arrived, and the serpent once again lies helpless to the “hand of Moses” in our generation.
At the final showdown, the serpent itself will become a Divine staff. All the beauty and symmetry, all the wisdom and intelligence that has been discovered since the French Revolution, will be refined and brought under the auspices of holiness: “And an infant shall play over the hole of a snake, and over the den of an adder a weaned child shall stretch forth his hand. They shall neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mount, for the land shall be full of knowledge of God as water covers the sea bed.”[16] Which Contendent Is Alexander?We will conclude with an interesting anecdote that is related to Napoleon and the Czar of Russia. Napoleon reported that he saw the figure of a red-headed Jew who went out before him in battle; and in his merit, he knew that he would win the battle. However, at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon’s final defeat, he no longer saw this figure before him. Chassidim say that this figure was Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Riminov, who was indeed a redhead. The Battle of Waterloo took place on the 10th of Sivan 5575, less than a month after the passing of Rabbi Menachem Mendel, Napoleon’s spiritual advocate, on 19th Iyar.
This story echoes the well known episode about Alexander III of Macedonia (“Alexander the Great”) who, when he met Shimon Hatzadik (who approached to appease him), behaved as follows: “[Alexander] descended from his carriage, and bowed down to him [Shimon Hatzadik]. They asked him, ‘A great king such as yourself bows down to this Jew?’ He replied, ‘[The presence of] his image [causes me to be] victorious in my battles.”[17] Alexander is acknowledged favorably in Jewish tradition, and as a result of his positive attitude towards the Jews, many Jews were named after him.
In fact, there is great similarity between Alexander of Macedonia and Corsican Napoleon. Both of them were talented military generals who were devoted to education and esthetics; and both succeeded in ruling an expansive or global empire in a relatively short time. The sages enumerate Alexander the Great as one of the ten kings who ruled the world from “one end to the other.” (The next in line for this title is Mashiach, followed only by God Himself.)[18] Any great king who has followed Alexander (before the coming of Mashiach) purports to follow in his wake as his new edition. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Riminov validated this comparison of Napoleon as the Alexander of his times by praying for him to be victorious in his battles, and thus appearing in a vision before him during the war. However, Rabbi Shneur Zalman ruled in favor of Czar, whose name was Alexander. Of this Rabbi Shneur Zalman held that “Our Master Alexander” is the one who inherited the spark of Alexander the Great in that generation, which is why he won the war.
Alexander represents the desired meeting ground between the Jewish People and the nations of the world. He is able to truly appreciate the sanctity of the Jewish People, unlike his successors, such as the evil Antiochus. Shimon Hatzadik was able to refine Alexander’s good spark, so much so that his name has become an accepted Jewish name. Shimon Hatzadik is the successor of Yosef Hatzadik (the righteous Joseph), however here he did not come up against a temptation that he needed to flee from, but achieved the correct balance in his meeting with a foreign nation as in the prophecy: “And I will make you as a covenant of peoples and a light unto the nations.”[19]
Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi determined that the Russian Czar was the true Alexander who had to defeat Napoleon, thus “consuming” Napoleon’s own spark of Alexander, and implanting it instead into the Czar’s Alexander. Dedicated to our dear friend, Alexander Levin, may he continue to serve the needs of the Jewish People and the Torah
[1] See our article The Tree of Consciousness in our book (in Hebrew), The Inner Dimension (???? ??????). [2] Yerushalmi, Kiddushin ch. 4, h. 11. Based on the verse from Genesis 3:15. [3] Genesis 39:12. [4] Ibid 39:12. [5] Numbers 23:9. [6] They can enter safely and leave safely like Rabbi Akiva in the Pardes; eating the fruit of the pomegranate and discarding its skin. [7] See The Emperor and the Rabbi Part 1, note 7. [8] I Kings 1:5. [9] Genesis 41:45; Rashi ad loc. [10] Isaiah 55:7. [11] Obadiah 1:4. [12] Deuteronomy 8:17. [13] For some fun, “own power” could be seen as a pun for “own on” (???? ????) according to the explanations brought here. [14] Exodus 4:4. [15] Genesis 3:15. [16] Isaiah 11:8-9. [17] Yoma 69a. [18] Pirkei D’rabbi Eliezer, ch. 10. [19] Isaiah 42:6. |
24th of Tevet: The Rabbi and the EmperorDec 27th, 2013 by admin http://www.rabbiginsburgh.com/2013/12/27/24th-of-tevet-the-emperor-and-the-rabbi/ Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20141023192349/http://www.rabbiginsburgh.com/2013/12/27/24th-of-tevet-the-emperor-and-the-rabbi/ Rabbi Schneur Zalman, founder of Chabad on the right; Napoleon Bonaparte, on left Two-hundred-and-one years ago, on Motzei Shabbat (the night following Shabbat), 24th of Tevet 5573, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi passed away. He was the author of the Tanya and a code of Jewish law. He did not die of old age on his bed at home, but while on a hasty escapade that took place in the height of the severe Russian winter.
What connection is there between Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi and Napoleon Bonaparte? These two figures, whose lives seem so far removed from one another, lived during the same era. In fact, the clash between them was perhaps the real war that took place behind the scenes of the French Revolution.[1]
In his boundless thirst for power, after conquering almost all of Europe, the French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, set out on a huge war expedition and invaded Russia in the summer of 5572 (1812). As the French invaders where approaching Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s town, he transported his entire family in wagons, and fled with them into the depths of Russia. This was a last resort to avoid surrendering to the French rule. His concern for the fate of the Jews, together with the perils of the hazardous journey, cut short Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s life. His descendants even said in his name that these events shortened his life by ten years.
Throughout the war, Rabbi Shneur Zalman expressed unwavering fidelity to the Russian authorities. He fervently prayed for the health of the Czar. Moreover, he kept contact with senior commanders of the Russian military and procured vital information for them regarding the location of the enemy forces and their upcoming plans. The Russians, for their part, accredited his role in their victory.[2] One of his greatest followers even endangered himself by spying on behalf of the Russians from within Napoleon’s closest command! It is a well-known fact that Napoleon attributed great importance to Jewish leaders, and it is related that he expended effort to meet Rabbi Shneur Zalman in person. However, Rabbi Shneur Zalman for his part made every effort to avoid any meeting with Napoleon. He even took pains to ensure that none of his personal belongings would get into Napoleon’s hands.
Praying for the Welfare of the KingdomBefore we explain this peculiar battle in which one side wanted to meet the other, but the other side fled like wildfire from meeting him, let’s first ask why Rabbi Shneur Zalman was so adamantly pro-Russian? It’s not as if under the auspices of that Russian “bear” we got to taste much “honey”; neither before Rabbi Shneur Zalman, nor after him…
The simple reason for Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s choice was the golden rule of thumb that Jews have adopted wherever they wandered in the lands of the Diaspora: remain loyal to the ruling power. This was already true in the times of the Prophet Jeremiah, who warned the exiles in Babylonia, “And seek the peace of the city where I have exiled you and pray for it to God, for in its peace you shall have peace.”[3] Similarly, the sages teach us to, “Pray for the peace of the kingdom.”[4] This is why prayers for the welfare and success of the ruling powers and the king were instituted as part of the siddur (Jewish prayer book).This is also why we want the country we live in to be successful, even though it may appear spiritually dark.
However, Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s decision to prefer the Czar over Napoleon had broader considerations. Rabbi Shneur Zalman resolved that the Jews would benefit most by continuing to live under Russian rule rather than under French rule. Subjugation is better than EmancipationLet’s read Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s own justification to his follower who spied on behalf of the Russian army:[5]
On the scales were two possibilities, each one worse than the other. This was a historic junction between the old medieval world and a promising new one. The French Revolution professed to announce the end of feudalism and the oppressive rule of Christian theocracy, and an end to ignorance and superstition. In their place, it promised to bring “liberty, equality and fraternity” to humankind, and an industrial revolution that would change people’s lives. Napoleon’s conquests spread this new spirit of emancipation to the entire world. Breaking down all the old conventions and partitions brought promise to the Jews in its wake―the day would come when they would have equal rights, and could merge into a modern world without racial discrimination. Indeed, with this goal in mind, Napoleon advocated the rights of the Jews under his rule.
Let’s suppose that all these promises would indeed be realized. Would this new world be a better place for Jews? Retrospectively, we know very well that, alongside emancipation and the improved conditions under which the Jews lived in the West, there followed a corresponding decline in Jewish observance. This forms a sad equation: equal rights for the Jews plus more secular education equals leaving traditions behind. Additionally, a weakening of Torah and mitzvah observance often leads to complete assimilation, God forbid. This was the danger that emancipation held in store for the Jews. Torah giants of all kinds identified this hazard, and they were all wary of it. They wanted neither the honey nor the sting of emancipation.
On the other hand, “our master Alexander,” the Russian Czar, represented the old world, and medieval times at their peak. Rabbi Shneur Zalman was under no delusion: the Czar’s rule had been and would be bad for the Jews: “the Jewish People will become poorer, and they will be more humiliated,” but Judaism would flourish. While materially they would remain poor, spiritually it would be beneficial for the Jews. The walls of the ghetto, the hatred and the alienation would guard the Jewish community well against the winds of assimilation, and the heretic spirit of the enlightenment would not easily penetrate the Jewish fortresses.
One explicit source for Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s decision in favor of the Russian Czar can be found in the Midrash regarding the Covenant Between the Pieces. Abraham received the announcement that his descendants would undergo a long and cruel exile: “And they will enslave them and torture them for four-hundred years.”[6] On this verse, the sages state that the Almighty told Abraham to choose how his descendants should be punished if they do not follow the Torah. The two options were either Hell or being oppressed by the non-Jews, “Abraham sat and pondered that entire day, which should I choose, Hell or the non-Jews?” For Abraham, the archetypal soul of love, the choice was a very difficult one. But in the end, he decided that oppression was preferable. This was the only way to guard the special character of the Jewish People, and the only way to preserve its eternal existence.
Nonetheless, the matter of who to side with was a great controversy among the Chassidic masters of the time. In contrast to Rabbi Shneur Zalman, there were those who said that it would be better that the French win the war. Their hope was that this was the War of Gog and Magog that would overturn the world and bring the redemption (even if there would be great suffering involved). This was the viewpoint held by the Maggid of Kaznitz and Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Riminov. Although some small-minded people might ask, “who asked them?” We know that God’s Providence takes into consideration the opinions of the tzadikim. Therefore, there was definite competition between Rabbi Shneur Zalman, and Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Riminov and his colleagues, concerning whose opinion would be accepted in Heaven, and whose prayers would be the most effective. According to Lubavitch tradition, the spiritual battle that determined the outcome was on Rosh Hashanah 5573, since on Rosh Hashanah the verdict is given in Heaven for the entire year. On that day, Rabbi Shneur Zalman made haste to sound the shofar (ram’s horn) in the early hours of the morning, intending to signify Napoleon’s downfall (preceding the other tzadikim who lingered over the spiritual preparations before blowing the shofar). Then the tzadikim sensed that the decree had been decided in the Heavenly tribunal that Napoleon would fall.[7]
The far-sighted will realize that Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi was not a lone fugitive on the battle field. Not only did he assist the Russians on the tactical plane, he and his colleagues literally headed the battle and determined the most crucial strategic processes. [1] Main and recommended sources: the book, Beit Harabi; Igrot Kodesh (the Alter Rebbe, the Mittler Rebbe and the Tzemach Tzedek) p. 150; 237-247; Reshimot IV p. 24; article by M. Ziggelbaum in Beit Mashiach magazine, 28th Av 5752; Yitzchak Alphasi, Bisdeh Hachasidut p. 249-260,
[2] A letter sent by Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s wife, after her esteemed husband’s passing, has recently been published (Segulah journal, Av 5770 edition) in which she mentions this fact, “the military officers used him [Rabbi Shneur Zalman] to locate the camps of the enemy forces and as a result of his successes in this field, he merited a medal from the military secretariat.” [3] Jeremiah 29:7. [4] Avot 3:2.
[5] See different versions in Igrot Kodesh (Rabbi Shneur Zalman), noted in footnote 1.
[6] Genesis 15:13.
[7] Although the accepted opinion is that the Maggid of Kaznitz was pro-Napoleon, he apparently changed his mind towards the end of the war. One tradition states that during the Torah reading of Parashat Yitro, he interpreted the words, “You will surely wither” (נָבֹל תִּבֹּל) to read the similar sounding, “Fall, Napoleon” (נַפּוֹלִיאוֹן תִּיפּוֹל). Another tradition holds that he said this on Purim with reference to the words in Megillat Esther “You will surely fall” (נָפוֹל תִּפּוֹל). Both these occasions were after the passing of Rabbi Shneur Zalman.
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Baby from Apropo Cafe bombing is all grown up – and joining the IDFEitan Glickman04Janury2015 http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4611100,00.html” Shani Winter was only 6 months old when her mother was killed in a terrorist attack while shielding her daughter with her body. Today, the policewoman who carried Shani from the wreckage is accompanying her as she joins the army.
When Shani Winter arrived at the IDF’s induction center on Sunday to enlist in the army, she was accompanied by her family and close friends who came to say goodbye. But one woman could not be there: Her mother. Shani lost her mother, Anat Winter-Rosen, at the age of six months in a terrorist bombing at Café Apropo in Tel Aviv 18 years ago.  Policewoman Ziona Bushri carrying baby Shani after the bombing On March 21, 1997, on the eve of Purim, Anat and her baby daughter Shani arrived at Café Apropo to meet with Anat’s good friend Yael Gilad.
At 1:40pm, a suicide bomber entered the cafe and set off his bomb. Anat and Yael were instantly killed, along with Dr. Michal Avrahami, while 48 others were wounded.
Baby Shani, who was in her stroller, was saved. “Mom simply covered me with her body. It was more important to her to protect me than herself,” Shani told Yedioth Ahronoth in an interview published two weeks ago.
 All grown up: Shani at the IDF induction center with policewoman Ziona (Photo: Shaul Golan)
Shani was only lightly wounded. Shrapnel from the bomb left two small scars in her leg and hand.
The first to notice her after the explosion was a man who came out of a nearby store. He got the baby out of the wreckage of the cafe and entrusted her to traffic policewoman Ziona Bushri who arrived at the scene.
The photo of the young policewoman carrying the baby dressed as a clown moved the entire country when it appeared on the cover of Yedioth Ahronoth.
Almost 18 years have passed. “I’m the baby from the Café Apropo bombing, and I’ll carry that for the rest of my life,” said Shani, who was raised by her father Micky. “I’m jealous of my friends who have mothers. I don’t know what it’s like to have a mother. On the other hand, I find comfort in the fact my mother saved me. That I was a part of her, and she protected me.”  Shani with a picture of her parents (Photo: Yedioth Ahronoth) Shani arrived at the Tel HaShomer IDF induction center on Sunday morning, where her mother’s absence was acutely felt as all around her other mothers were saying goodbye to their daughters who were also joining the army
“I’m very excited about this new journey and the interesting and challenging role I’ll have in my army service,” Shani said. Zehava Rosen, Shani’s grandmother, also came to see her granddaughter off. “After the hard years we’ve been through, we’ll all come to wish her luck with a big hug.”
 Shani at the IDF induction center (Photo: Shaul Golan) Since the attack, Shani and her grandmother have been keeping in touch with policewoman Ziona Bushri. “It was very important to me to locate Ziona after the attack, and I’ve since adopted her as part of the family,” Zehava said.
In 1997, Staff Sergeant Ziona Bushri was a traffic policewoman in the Tel Aviv Police Department. Today, she’s a senior staff sergeant major and serves in the Tel Aviv District’s Prosecution Division. Ziona, 46, is a mother of two girls and a boy, and lives in Yavne with her family.
Ziona and Zehava talk on the phone on a regular basis, sometimes even several times a day. Ziona has been there for Shani throughout her life, calling her on her birthday every year, and attending memorials for Shani’s mother Anat.
Throughout the years, Ziona has been there to say a kind word, give advice, and support Shani. On Sunday, Ziona was there to accompany “her baby” to the induction center, along with Shani’s father and family members.
“Memories of this awful bombing accompany me every day,” Ziona said. “I will never forget the moment I picked Shani up and ran to search for her family. And here she is, the baby we all remember has grown up and is joining the IDF. I embrace her and cross my fingers that she succeeds.” Comment:
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The real demographic balance between Israelis and Palestinians. |
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The Rat is Out of the Bag21November2014 Okay I admit the original cliché says “cat” not rat. But cats are too respectable an animal to be a parable for the barbaric conniving evil ghouls of the current events & what’s behind the scenes on the mundane material levels we are talking about at first. Yes they are messengers, “wood shed switches”, “cattle prods” of HaShem, and this higher level we will Be’ezrat Hashem talk about further on.
Back to our rat. For decades the publicly aired ploy was “It’s an issue of land”. So we had since 1919 pressures for “Land for Peace”. Ask history if letting Hitler take over the Sudentenland gave peace to Europe! Ask the Iroquois, the Sioux, Algonquin, Seminole, Delaware, Ishi, Sequoia, Cherimoyas, Lena-Lenape etc if “Land for Peace” is a viable option!
During the past 95 years Israel tried “Land for Peace” 6 times to NO AVAIL! Zero nada! It only made the renewed Jewish community in The Holy Land more vulnerable, & reinforced the exile-servile mentality.
The “2 state option” was actually the 1st attempt at a purported peace agreement. It’s nothing new. It failed, miserably.
The Peel Committee decided to divide The Jewish Homeland in Palestine of the Balfour Declaration into 2 states. Over 3/4 went to establish a new artificial, never before existed “Hashemite Kingdom of Trans-Jordan”. The small remaining 1/4 was left for the Jews.
Yet this “Land for Peace” did not bring peace at all. For the Trans-Jordanian legions (along with several other Arabic states’ armies) violently illegally attacked fledgling Israel the day it was declared. The openly acclaimed goal was to overrun the new LEGAL state, mercilessly slaughter every Jew, man woman child & aged, there & take all the land to divide among Egypt, Trans-Jordan & Syria. In that illegal imperialistic xenophobic war, Trans-Jordan forcefully, illegally stole over 1/3 of the small portion of the original Balfour Declaration Jewish Homeland that remained for the Jews from the Peel Committee partition.
Israel did not raise hell in the U.N. to regain the stolen land but rather let itself be lulled by another “Land for Peace”.
However, it did not bring peace at all. Trans-Jordan, now with its stolen land renamed Jordan, became a base for decades of many bloody unprovoked cruel terror attacks on Israeli citizens, & as usual – mostly on civilians! Note well that we are here talking about BEFORE 1967, when the “West Bank” & Gaza strip were in Muslim hands! When the “refugees”, (most of whom were laborers or children of laborers, who had come to proto-Israel to work for the Jews due to better pay & MUCH better worker conditions than they had in their native lands of Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, Saud Arabia etc) who were actually muslims who had heeded the calls of the “Conquering Armies of Islam” to vacate the new state of Israel so as to make way for that combined vicious assault by their “brethren” to facilitate the planned mass slaughter of all the Jews. They were promised to soon return to inherit the conquered land as princes. But instead their “muslim brethren” kept them in squalid concentration camps in order to (mis/ab)use them as political pawns & cannon fodder in a long term plot to someday finally realize the Islamic Imperial dream of conquering that small slender strip of land of Israel. Even those who went to lands they or their fathers had come from were refused the right of return to their homelands by their “brethren” but rather they too were interred in those U.N. supported concentration camps.
“Land for Peace”, “return the stolen land” (hey who stole what land?) was cried out for decades. Oslo, Camp David, Sinai – Yamit, Gush Katif, Gaza, West Bank. All these names scrape sorely the souls of Jews who know the truth & who see the painful fallacy of “Land for Peace”.
For decades various have muslims cried out for more & more land to be given to them from Israel. As if Islam lacks land masses. Just in the Middle East alone Islam has over 100 times the land mass of Israel. Add North Africa & other places in the world, & the ratio is so out sight it’s absurd!
A few months ago the present Pope (who believes he is the harbinger of their “savior”, you know the “savior” who didn’t get into college because he got ‘hung up on the boards’) visited this region. His 1st stop was the Jordan & the P.A. where he openly unabashedly gave full sympathy & support the ravenous canine land hunger at the expense of the Jews.
Behind closed doors this has been going on for a decade including with Rat-singer the previous Pope in cahoots with the muslim terror masters.
That Esav chases after Yaakov/Israel to con & then kill him is nothing new, as we see in Genesis
In Torah & commentaries on the verse, Genesis 28:9, we learn of conspiracy of Esav with Ishmael, ultimately against Yaakov/Israel. We know that what is written in Torah is not mere history, it is information & teachings for all generations to eternity. As for Ishmael we learn in Genesis 16:12 that he is a wild ass & infiltrates settles upon. In 21:20 we learn that he will be a sniper, a rifle shooter. The sniper rifle with a 2 kilometer range which Hamas et al have been using is called the Ghoul. Ghoul in Arabic means monster. Further reading on Ishmael we see in 25:18 after he buried father Abraham he fell upon all his neighbors/brothers. Earlier we read that he dwelled with his brothers, and then later that he fell upon them. Sound familiar?
By now, with what’s been happening in the past years, what a barbaric cruel dyed in the wool imperialistic berserk terrorist Ishmael is should by now be obvious to the entire world.
The inherent murderous hatred by Esav against Yaakov/Israel, as well as his tactic of 1st coming up as a “loving brother”, is also told to us by the Torah.
It is becoming more openly known that for a good number of years there have been underhanded, back room machinations between specific members of the Israeli government & the Vatican to turn over the Holy Site of King David’s tomb to the Vatican. Under the building is the burial caves complex of the kings of united Israel & of Judea. Yet, by way of the quite improper shenanigans the xtians have been encroaching on the entire Tomb building, doing more and more to make prayer by Jews impossible there.
Now with these Torah world pattern lessons recently being shown to us we have the current events of the past 2 weeks, the weeks of these Torah readings portions, as follows:
An arab in a delivery truck on a quarter mile long rampage runs down several pedestrians, rams several cars, drives onto a light-rail station & runs down more people waiting for the next tram then gets out & attacks with a long crow bar, another arab shows up shooting. Several innocent civilian Jews were murdered and maimed plus a Druze police officer was murdered in that incident.
Many cases of cars & buses having stones, rocks, Molotov “cocktails” thrown at them, with much damage & many injuries.
A young lady murdered in cold blood at a bus stop.
3 young men run down in a bus stop.
A young soldier stabbed to death in Tel Aviv.
Several yeshiva boys severely ill, one died, from poisoned food which the yeshiva bought from a store with arab workers.
2 muslim ghouls, one an employee of the local grocery shop, violated a Jewish house of prayer in the midst of the morning prayer services brutally cruelly horrifically massacred and maimed men deep in prayer. There was so much blood on the floor that the 1st paramedic to enter, under fire, slipped on a pool of blood & broke a leg &dislocated a shoulder as he ducked being shot at by one of the terrorists. As said in Torah, the wild man who falls upon his neighbors shooting at them.
The following day several xtian arabs violently attacked Jews solemnly peacefully praying at King David’s tomb! Esav & Ishmael together against Yaakov-Israel.
An old woman stabbed in Gilo neighborhood of Jerusalem. A young Torah seminar student pepper-sprayed in his face a zero range & then beaten unconscious with iron bars.
There are more the same 2 weeks….
Too boot, this week, finally, openly in English, not just in arabic & Hebrew the “Land for Peace” “peace partners” announced that it is NOT a strife for land but in truth a war for total Islamic control of the little pass of land called Israel. Newly published Palestinian Authority maps unabashedly show the land of Israel as muslim land, with the wording that it will soon be all theirs (G-d Forbid). They call again, as in 1948 for total conquest, turn the land into a bath of Jewish blood, no Jewish survivors, must kill all the Jews (G-d Forbid). They have announced fully openly JIHAD, a Koran based & commanded religious war to the death. This follows the commandment in their Koran that anyone not a muslim is automatically an enemy who must be converted, enslaved, or killed. It is what has already been seen in history with the Barbary Pirates, & the barbaric mass murderous mass destructive invasions of Spain by muslim Berbers in the days of Rav Shmuel Hanagid O.B.M. & of the Ramba”m O.B.M..
This is their admitted plan for Israel!
They now openly admit that their true goal all along is what the battle cry was 66 1/2 years ago. “Death to all the Jews. Make the land a blood bath of Jewish blood & take conquest for Islam – Jihad!”
And know that the Roman Catholic church (starting with the previous pope), the Armenian & Greek Orthodox churches are in cahoots with them!!!
The Rat(zinger) is out of the bag!
But we know & accept that this is all under total supervision of HaShem. HE has HIS reasons & plans for everything. And it is all for the final eternal good.
Heavenly Accounts are being settled. Chaff is being sifted out. We are being pushed into a situation where we will realize without a doubt that we have none to trust or turn to other than HaShem.
We will be forced to learn that we must change drastically our world view & how we treat each other. Among other things increased concentration on the service of the heart, the interpersonal relationships, the total stoppage of racism & divisiveness within our people, personal contact with HaShem.
Yes we see that people do things. Some do evil. Some to stupid. Etc etc But it’s all HaShem.
Be’ezrat HaShem more on this part another day. It’s 4 AM now have to get some sleep. Shabat Shalom Rav Yaakov B |
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Elder of Ziyon logo http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/
The misery of Jews of Morocco, 180530ovember2014 http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-misery-of-jews-of-morocco-1805.html Today is Israel’s national day of commemorating Jewish refugees from Arab lands and Iran.  Ali Bey al Abbasi Muslims like to pretend that they treated Jews in their lands well throughout history. As we have shown a number of times, that is not at all true. In some cases the Jews were treated reasonably, in others they were treated horribly. Ali Bey al Abbasi was a pseudonym of a European traveler who disguised himself as a Muslim prince in order to explore the Muslim world from Morocco to Mecca between 1803 and 1807.
Here is his account of the Jews of Morocco, from Travels of Ali Bey: In Morocco, Tripoli, Cyprus, Egypt, Arabia, Syria and Turkey : Between the Years 1803 and 1807:
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A Black South African on Israel and ApartheidPublished on Oct 13, 2014 Is Israel an “apartheid state,” as its enemies claim? Who better to answer that charge than a Black South African who lived through apartheid? Kenneth Meshoe, a member of the South African parliament, fits that bill. He examines the evidence against Israel and draws a compelling conclusion.
You can support Prager University by clicking https://www.prageruniversity.com/dona… Free videos are great, but to continue producing high-quality content, even small contributions are greater. Do you shop on Amazon? Now you can feel even better about it! Click https://smile.amazon.com and a percentage of every Amazon purchase will be donated to PragerU. Same great products. Same low price. Charity made simple. Visit us directly! http://www.prageruniversity.com |
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Why Does Hamas Use Palestinian Civilians as Human Shields? |
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Downfall of the Government10December2014 http://yeranenyaakov.blogspot.co.il/2014/12/geula-update-from-rav-fish-vayeshev-5775.html
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Rav Chaim Kanievsky Shlit”a to Kiruv Worker: Return from Odessa Immediately; Mashiach is at the Doorstep03March2014 http://yeranenyaakov.blogspot.com/2014/03/rav-chaim-kanievsky-shlita-to-kiruv.html UPDATED Kikar reports (my translation): In Odessa, a port city and the fourth largest in population in Ukraine after Kiev, Kharkov, and Dnepropetrovsk, live dozens of Jews. Since the riots in their country, the concern is growing among the community members of a crisis in the security situation.
Yesterday (Sunday), one of the members of the community who is considered a famous Kiruv worker in Odessa, requested from a special messenger in Israel to approach Maran Hagaon Rav Chaim Kanievsky and ask in his name whether to return to Israel due to the riots occurring in Ukraine.
The rav answered adamantly that it is incumbent upon him to pack his things and return back to Israel. The messenger explained to the rav that we’re dealing with a Jew whose entire mission is to bring people back to Teshuva. However, Rav Kanievsky repeated his answer again and added, “The Mashiah is at the doorstep. On the way, there will be other harsh things. It is incumbent upon you to return immediately back to Israel.” [UPDATED BASED ON KIKAR CHANGING RAV KANIEVSKY’S WORDING] “For already many years, I think that all Jews need to be in Eretz Yisrael because Mashiah is on the way. Therefore, regarding your question, if you say that there is a danger there, Kal VaHomer you need to return to Israel.”
That rav – the Kiruv worker from Odessa – packed his things and at 7PM Israel time, boarded a plane on his way to Israel, as he moved to the Land of Israel. UPDATE Rav Shteinman seems to say differently. Rav Shteinman Shlit”a: Recent Troubles are Hevlei Mashiah
Rav Shternbuch Shlit”a Continues About Crimea and Geula
Rav Kanievsky Shlit”a: We are in Hevlei Mashiah
More Statements Pointing Toward Geula Soon
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 Fly in Coffee … a Fly in Coffee…..
The Italian – throws away the whole cup and leaves in a rage
The Frenchman – throws away the fly and drinks the coffee
The Chinaman – eats the fly and throws away the coffee
The Russian – drinks the coffee with the fly… in silence
The Israel – sells the coffee to the Frenchman, the fly to the Chinaman, buys a fresh cup of coffee for himself, and with the money left over designs an apparatus that prevents flies from getting into the coffee
The Palestinian – accuses the Israeli of throwing the fly into his coffee, and protests Israeli aggression at the UN, is given a forgivable loan from the European Union to buy a fresh cup of coffee, he then buys explosives with the loan, and then gets blown up in his coffee shop…….
[then] The Italian, Frenchman, Chinaman and Russian try to explain to the Israeli that he’s obliged to give his coffee to that poor Palestinian….”
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 Fly in Coffee |
Mr. Happy is not happy about all the fighting between Jews! We need to care for each other! I don’t care who you are. Don’t start Cat Fights over power or self honor or avoda zorah! Love your fellow Jew!
Kotel Rabbi: Please Don’t Fight Herehttp://www.israelnationalnews.com/ Rabbi asks “zealots on both sides” to take their discord elsewhere.Gil Ronen, 25April2013 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/167482 Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich, Rabbi of the Kotel and Holy Sites, issued a call Thursday not to turn the Kotel into a place of discord.
Rabbi Rabinovich reacted to a decision by the District Court Judge, to ask the Attorney General for his opinion on the ruling regarding the demand by the Women of the Wall to pray in the Women’s Section in ways that are not acceptable to the Orthodox stream.
“The Kotel is the last unifying place that we have left,” he said in a statement. “It is easy to set the Kotel Plaza alight with the fire of discord. It is much more difficult to find the middle ground, which will enable everyone to continue to feel that they belong and are wanted at the Kotel.
“I implore the state authorities and the silent majority, which holds the Kotel dear to its heart, to prevent zealots from all sides from turning the Kotel Plaza into a place of strife between brothers,” the Rabbi added.
Judge Moshe Sobel ruled Thursday that by donning a tallit, or prayer shawl, and reading the Torah in the Kotel Plaza, the Women of the Wall are not disobeying the High Court’s ruling. |
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JerusalemCats Comments: The Women of the Wall are not Jewish. Just like the Evangelicals practice replacement theology, they also practice replacement theology with their statement of “that G-d “rejected” them (the religious people) and using the Meron tragedy as proof that “G-d no longer wants their way.” The Government gave them the 450-square-meter platform section called Ezrat Yisrael which they do not use which is in the Robinson’s Arch section outside the Security Gates of the Kotel (Western Wall).
Fights break out at Western WallWomen of the Wall arrive to hold monthly prayer session, are entangled in disagreements.Arutz Sheva Staff , 11June2021 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/307894 Women of the Wall (WOW) on Friday morning arrived at the Western Wall to hold a prayer session in honor of the start of the new month of Tamuz, together with “Rabbi” Sergio Bergman, President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ).
The women were stopped at the security gate to the Western Wall after they attempted to bring a Torah scroll into the plaza, to use for a bat mitzvah girl who had arrived together with them.
The Western Wall has its own set of Torah scrolls and does not allow any scrolls to be brought in from outside.
After WOW left the Torah scroll at the gate, the women claimed that a group of men began cursing and pushing them, while taking a suitcase with prayer books, breaking it, and ripping the prayer books.
Leah Aharoni, founder of Women For the Wall (a traditionalist organization promoting the preservation of the status quo at the Western Wall), who was also at the Western Wall at the time, said that there was “violent pushing and grabbing” and that a WOW leader screamed “at the top of her lungs” at religious people at the Wall, claiming that G-d “rejected” them and using the Meron tragedy as proof that “G-d no longer wants their way.”
Aharoni also said that one of the WOW women “violently pushed and grabbed” her, and only police involvement prevented actual injury.
Yochi Rappaport, WOW CEO, said: “The traditional public understands that we are close to achieving our goal – equal prayer at the Western Wall – and is worried about losing their monopoly on Judaism. For 32 years already, Women of the Wall has been fighting to free the Western Wall, and we will not cease until we reach our desired equality.”
The Western Wall Heritage Foundation said: “The Western Wall Heritage Foundation is dismayed at the agitated spirits. Western Wall stewards did everything they could to separate those fighting and to calm the atmosphere. The Western Wall Heritage Foundation calls to remove all disagreements from the Western Wall Plaza, and to preserve the site as one which is unifying.” |
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The unused Reform area of the Kotel,Ezrat Yisrael, is now Orthodox. The whole reform protest is just politics.
Orthodox prayer at the ‘Reform’ section of the KotelNew initiative to pray and learn Torah at the Ezrat Yisrael plaza, complete with a partition.Yehonatan Gottlieb, 15July2021 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/309931  Orthodox prayer in the Ezrat Yisrael In the last few days, activists from the Joint Committee for the Sanctity of the Kotel have been arriving at the Kotel Hama’aravi (Western Wall), along with several rabbis, to pray the afternoon and evening prayers (Minchah and Maariv) at the Ezrat Yisrael section at the site.
Several years have passed since the site was designated as a place for those who wish to pray without division between men and women, but the site is almost always empty, with religious and secular Jews alike opting to pray at the main prayer section.
The activists have been bringing with them a makeshift mechitzah (partition) made of canvas that they erect to separate between men and women, which has infuriated the Women of the Wall, even though this feminist, leftist group always conducts its prayer services in the women’s section of the main plaza, where its ultimate objective is to see the mechitzah there torn down.
In addition, every evening Torah classes are being held in the Ezrat Yisrael section, which is located in the southern part of the plaza. This Thursday night, Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, the dean (rosh yeshivah) of the Ateret Kohanim yeshivah, will be giving a Torah class. Those giving classes in recent days have included Rabbi Moshe Ben Abu and Rabbi Meir Ne’eman.
According to the activists, “We understand that the Kotel is one of the main objectives of those who want to change the nature of the State of Israel. The battle over the Kotel is really a battle over the character of the State – whether it will remain a Jewish state or whether it will become a ‘state of all its citizens.’”
“The Kotel is ours, too,” they add. “Especially now, when all those associated with the Reform are celebrating what they see as their victory and planning their next moves to undermine Judaism – conversion, religious courts and more – it’s vital that we stop them in their tracks and act, here at the Kotel, in order to prevent Reform elements from gaining control over this holy site and over other places that are central to Judaism.”
Oren Henig, head of the Liba Center, an organization that is dedicated to enhancing the Jewish character of the State of Israel, stated: “At a time when a left-wing government established by [Prime Minister Naftali] Bennett together with [Yair] Lapid, [Mansour] Abbas, and [Arab Labor MK Ibtisam] Mara’ana, is selling out the state to the Reform movement, we at the Liba Center are calling on everyone to whom Judaism is important to arrive here and strengthen our hold over the Kotel and protect its sanctity.”
As noted above, the Women of the Wall are incensed at this new initiative. “It is inconceivable that we should accept the violence and incitement created by these extremist Religious Zionist elements in their disgusting power grab over the Ezrat Yisrael.”
According to them, “The Liba Center, Chotam, and other such extremist organizations who call themselves the Committee for the Protection of the Sanctity of the Kotel, are doing exactly the opposite of protecting its sanctity. They are debasing the sanctity of this holy place and behaving in exactly the opposite way to what they should have learned from history – from the events that led up to the destruction of the Holy Temple, times of baseless hatred among the Jewish People.
“We are appealing to whoever is responsible for ensuring order and preventing violence at the Western Wall to do what they should be doing, and prevent the holding of prayers at the Ezrat Yisrael. Those making decisions at the site and anyone who has eyes in his head should learn from this event, as well as from the violent occurrence that happened on Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, when extremists tore the pages out of prayer books belonging to the Women of the Wall. They have to realize who are the people really making the disturbances there, inciting and committing acts of violence – and who are the people who only want to pray there in their own way.”
In their response to the latest developments, Tenuat Ne’emanei Torah ve’Avodah issued a statement: “Instead of working toward unity among Jews and bringing them closer to G-d, these organizations are trying to forcibly gain control over the Ezrat Yisrael that was established in order to provide a place for those who want to pray in their own manner. It is sad to see ‘Protecting the sanctity of the Kotel’ turning into a protest in the form of Torah classes. We hope that this issue of the Kotel will be resolved in a manner that invites every Jew to connect with G-d in his own way.” |
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Rav Medan Shlita Speaks Out on Behalf of the Chareidim13May2013 https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/167788/rav-medan-shlita-speaks-out-on-behalf-of-the-chareidim.html
Rav Yaakov Medan Shlita, a Rosh Yeshiva in Yeshivat Har Etzion speaks out following Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein addressing the ‘exclusion of women’, attacking the chareidi way of life and declaring gender separation illegal.
 Rav Yaakov Medan Shlita Rav Medan explains that the decision to declare these areas of life illegal is no accident, but “malice”. In his column in the weekly Makor Rishon the rav states “I posit the attorney general would not take the same measures against Muslims or Druse which are also careful to maintain a standard of modesty between men and women. I believe it is being done against the chareidim davka at this time, because he now feels the blood of the chareidi tzibur is hefker as a result of statements from Finance Minister Yair Lapid and his assistant, Mickey Levi.”
“The attorney general at present permits himself to set guidelines for people brushing against one another in a line, on a bus or elsewhere, and this is no mistake – it is malice. Chareidim already view themselves persecuted for their beliefs vis-à-vis the government, and they are already entrenched in their homes, and we are now in danger of losing the achievements, the integration seen to date in the IDF and society at large.”
Rav Medan adds “We are the ones who should be shouting, not the chareidim for after they are taken out of the picture we will be next in line.” (YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Comments
Yaakov says: BS”D I did some research & found that my suspicions are correct. WOW’s founders & leaders are “reform” (read deform) & “conservatives plus a fake orthodox woman or 2 (maybe lesbie’s?). The facebook blog of 1 of them shows definite “reform” anti-Torah tradition direction; e.g. objection to the states current standing that only orthodox conversion is legit, & posted a photo of a reform fake convert woman very immodestly “dressed” hugging her would be groom to try to prove the “injustice” of refusing marriage license to her. One must keep in mind that the founder of the “reform” movement was mocked by his xtian priest friends who told him to decide whether he wants to be a Jew or a xtian, his 2 daughters converted out & married xtians, of his followers so many became xtians that of them there were 10,000 pastors or priests by WW2. The reform clichee’ of “be a Jew at home & a human being outside” was used by the nazis as “proof” that “the Jews admit they are not humans”. Also the “chief rabbi” of the re/deform movement was the power behind stopping Roosevelt from lifting the immigration quota for European Jews during the Holocaust! He feared an influx of Torah life Jews would ruin his power/money base.So with roots like that what can on expect the results to be?? |
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Serving the same G-dFrom Rabbi Lazer Brody: The Melitzer Rebbe shlit’a told me the following story about his great grandfather, Rebbe Meir’l of Promiszlan. Keep it in mind before allowing yourself the “luxury” of feuding with a fellow Jew:
Serving the same G-d
Rebbe Meir’l of Promiszlan and Rebbe Yitzchok of Strettin were engaged in a long, drawn-out feud. Knowing that dissension serves no purpose, Rebbe Meir’l approached Rebbe Yitzchok and attempted to make peace. The latter only turned his face to the wall. “Please, Strettinner Rebbe, allow me to tell you a tale,” said Rebbe Meir’l, and told him the following story:
During the time of the Spanish Inquisition, a Marrano* suspected of secretly being Jewish became deathly ill. The Inquisitors called the local priest, and told him to go see if the dying man would make last confession, proving that he’s a Catholic, or else otherwise be burned at the stake as a Jew. The Priest and the Henchman entered the sick man’s room, and the sick man turned his face to the wall, refusing to reject his true faith in Hashem during his last minutes on earth.
The Inquisitors said, “Ahah, he’s a secret Jew!” The priest said no, he’s embarrassed to confess in front of others. Everyone must leave the room!
Only the dying man and the Priest remained in the room. The priest, a Marranno himself, whispered in the man’s ear, “You can say Shma Yisrael now, and express your belief in Hashem before you die. You no longer need to turn your back on me, because we both serve the same G-d.” With his dying breath, the Marrano utterred, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our G-d, the Lord is one!”
“So you see, Strettinner Rebbe,” said Rebbe Meir’l, “You no longer have to turn your back on me, because we serve the same G-d!” The feud ended on the spot.
*Marranos – the Spanish Jews who posed as Catholics on the outside, and secretly continued to practice their Judaism behind closed doors |
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From Yeranen Yaakov website: Geula Update from Rav Fish – Mas’ei 577424July2014 http://yeranenyaakov.blogspot.co.il/2014/07/geula-update-from-rav-fish-masei-5774.html Miracles to and via Badatz MashgihimBadatz Mashgihim needed to find wheat fields whose wheat was not invalid for Shemura Matza and due to the rain around Shavuot time, many wheat fields were invalid. These Mashgihim were forced to go to fields far away – close to Kibbutz Sufa with other G-d-fearing Jews with tractors to harvest the wheat. During their work, there were many rocket attacks. Miraculously, no Mashgihim were hurt doing their holy work. When they found out later about the tunnel infiltration by terrorists that happened in the area, and that the IDF spotted them and thwarted their plan, the Mashgihim knew what had occurred. The terrorists’ plan was to hide in the very tall wheat that was near the opening of the tunnel, but to their surprise, the tall wheat was gone – it was cut a few days earlier by these people cutting wheat for next year’s Matza. And in fact, one of the farmers in the area called up the Mashgihim and based the entire miracle on the merit of cutting wheat for Matza for Pesah. ושמרתם את המצות has a whole new meaning now. Iron Dome is a MiracleRav Eliezer Piltz Shlit”a, the Rosh Yeshiva of Tifrah, instructed his students not to look at the sky during the Iron Dome shooting down rockets since it is forbidden to get benefit from miracles. He told his students that it’s all a miracle and not Kohi Ve’otzem Yadi |
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From Rabbi Lazer Brody’s Lazer Beams website:The Last Rosh Hashana?11August2014 http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2014/08/the-last-rosh-hashana.html  Rabbi Dov Kook shlit’a of Tiberias The holy Rabbi Dov Kook shlit’a of Tiberias (image, left) said this morning that every individual must make every effort to be righteous, for this coming Rosh Hashana could be the world’s last Rosh Hashana. Rabbi Kook is no headline-grabbing alarmist, but quite the contrary – a holy tzaddik who stays far away from the limelight. A word to the wise is sufficient; teshuva is definitely the order of the day.
Hashem doesn’t send us these types of messages to scare us. With the Gaza War and the missiles reaching everywhere, Hashem has certainly been sending us a lot of wake-up calls lately. He only wants our best – to bring us close to Him. Only fools ignore repeated messages |
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From Rabbi Lazer Brody’s Lazer Beams website:Portrait of Ishmael, 2014By: Rabbi Lazer Brody http://www.breslev.co.il/articles/society/current_affairs/portrait_of_ishmael__2014.aspx?id=26354&language=english
 Portrait of Ishmael-2014
A recent issue of Mishpacha Magazine in Hebrew featured an article about the Klausenberger Rebbe, Rabbi Yekutiel Yehuda Halberstam of saintly and blessed memory, one of this past generation’s greatest tzaddikim. Among other things, the Rebbe was quoted in the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War, when all of Israel was euphoric with the IDF’s dazzling victory. Even the young men of the Klausenberger Yeshiva were singing the praise of the IDF generals, temporarily sidetracked from the sages of the Gemara. The Rebbe warned them: “Don’t think that the Arabs will always run away; Ishmael will return, resiliently strong. Our ultimate war with him will be a difficult one; we shall not prevail by way of military means…”
Nobody understood the Rebbe back then. Only six short years later, Israel suffered surprise attacks from Syria and Egypt in the Yom Kippur War, in which over 2,500 Israeli soldiers were killed. Only a miracle saved Israel from catastrophe…
The Klausenberger Rebbe said more then, as well: “The Nazis killed my wife and my eleven children. I suffered from them in ways that defy description. Yet, the Ishmaelites outdo the Nazis when it comes to cruelty. I shudder to think what will be.”
Worse than the Nazis?! Holy eyes see far. Today, we more than understand what the Klausenbereger Rebbe prophetically alluded to.
the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (Syria), known as the ISIS, is the radical Islamist movement that is leading a shock offensive all through Iraq and Syria, having taken control of large segments of both countries. their express goal is to create one big Islamic Caliphate, or empire, in the Middle East. Any of their enemies – even fellow Sunni Moslems – fall by the sword. Wherever they go, they leave a trail of the worst atrocities imaginable. Says Bruce Riedel, an analyst at the Brookings Institution and a former CIA official, the ISIS atrocities “seem to have shocked not only the American intelligence community but intelligence communities across the globe.” The Western media and intelligence agencies never dreamed of such atrocities.
According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the ISIS fighters have publicly executed and crucified both rival Jihadists and Assad loyalists inside Syria in recent weeks.
Like a steamroller, the ISIS has now become the world’s richest terrorist organization, having taken control of major oil fields in Syria and in Iraq. The ISIS also seized tremendous amounts of gold bullion from the Iraqi banks, which were left unguarded in the chaos accompanying the militants’ takeover of Mosul, one of Iraq’s main oil centers.
The ISIS is so radical that they regard Al Qaeda as squeamish and compromising. In fact, they have weakened Al Qaeda, for many of the latter’s fighters have moved over to the ISIS. Recently, its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has changed the group’s name from the previous “Islamic State of Iraq and Ash-Sham” to “Islamic State.” He has also appointed himself “caliph” and declared the re-establishment of the caliphate.
Will he succeed?
Our sages seem to think so.
How can we fight him?
Emuna is the only answer.
The Midrash tells how in the end of days, Ishmael (aka Arabs, Kedar) will challenge the Jews on the Temple Mount:
“Israel will say to the king of the Arabs, ‘Take silver and gold and leave the Temple.’
The king of the Arabs will say, ‘You have nothing to do with this Temple. However, if you want, choose a sacrifice as you did in the past, and we will also offer a sacrifice, and with the one whose sacrifice is accepted, we will all become one people.’ The Jewish people will offer theirs, but it will not be accepted because the Satan will lay charges against them before The Holy One, Blessed is He. The descendants of Kedar will offer theirs, and it will be accepted…
At that time, the Arabs will say to Israel, ‘Come and believe in our faith!’
Israel will answer, ‘We will kill or be killed, but we will not deny our faith!’ At that time, swords will be drawn, bows will be strung and arrows will be sent, and many will fall… (Sefer Eliyahu, Pirkei Moshiach, p. 236).”
Rabbi Chaim Vital substantiates the above Midrash. “At the End of Days, Israel is destined to experience the Ishmaelite exile. This fifth and last exile will be the most difficult of all. It is the exile of Ishmael”.
Our faith will be tested in the most difficult way. As Job prophesied, the world will be like a great carpet that Hashem will shake, but those who hold on with emuna will prevail.
Our sages promise that emuna will both guarantee our future and our victory over Ishmael. Focusing on emuna should now be our highest priority. * * * |
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The Million Man Atzeret – JerusalemDate: Yom Rishon, 1 Rosh Chodesh Adar II (Sunday, March 2nd) Time: 16:00 4:00 pm Place: Yirmiyahu Street and expanding towards the String Bridge. The Atzeret to pray Tehillim asking G-d to remove the evil decrees against the Jews will be in Jerusalem. Please attend and show Jewish Love and Unity. It does not matter who you are or what you wear, just come Tehillim-1Million Man Atzeret-3March2014
 The Million Man Atzeret-Tehillim-2-March-2014 Jerusalem: Joint Councils of Aguda, Degel, & Shas
 The Million Man Atzeret-Tehillim-2-March-2014 Jerusalem-Religious Zionist Rabbanim This will be an atzeres tefilla only and there will not be a bimah since there will not be any speeches, just the recitation of Tehillim. There will be a small podium for the person reciting tehillim. CommentsDevash said: HaRav Shmuel Eliyahu Shlita Comments following the Million Man Atzeres
…There are always voices seeking to unite and those trying to divide and we must seek to be among those seeking to unite. Yaakov says:
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Will the IDF Really Accommodate Chareidim?
Will the IDF Really Accommodate Chareidim?18February2014 https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/214194/will-the-idf-really-accommodate-chareidim.html At a time when one might think the IDF would be dotting its “i”s and crossing its “t”s regarding religious issues, it is clear that the military is what it is and according to many, it will never be a suitable environment for chareidim.
An instructor in a krav maga (hand-to-hand combat) unit refused to supervise a female soldier placed under his command. The father of the female soldier complained against the instructor, accusing him of discrimination. The instructor was censured and it was decided that his service in the IDF would be cut short and he was ousted from the military – all because he was unwilling to be a supervisor of a female in a hand-to-hand combat course.
The instructor’s officer did not back him or show any regard for his sensitivities, but was quick to cover his own career, sending a letter that accused the subordinate of behavior that is simply not in line with IDF ethics. In his letter to all instructors and commanders in the unit under his command he warned against discrimination, explaining that is why he is making them familiar with the case, citing there will be zero tolerance for discrimination.
The sergeant who was ousted tried to explain it was not the place for the woman in the course, but he was faced with an ultimatum, to accept the female soldier or leave the unit. The young man stuck to his principles and was ousted.
The IDF Spokesman preferred not to comment. One can only wonder what will occur if and when tens of thousands of chareidim are serving and complaints against them for discrimination become a commonplace occurrence. |
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Chareidi Soldiers: IDF Breaking its Promise Regarding Religious Practice20February2014 https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/214583/chareidi-soldiers-idf-breaking-its-promise-regarding-religious-practice.html New chareidi inductees in the IDF’s Shachar program report that pre-induction promises made to them regarding religious practice are not being kept. They were promised they would be permitted to leave the Tzrifin base to toivel for Shabbos in a mikve, in line with their regular religious practice. However, now that they are on the base in the midst of basic training, they were not permitted to leave as promised.
Last Shabbos morning commander told the soldiers the gate to the camp is electric so there was no way of accommodating them without Chilul Shabbos. The soldiers however explain the gate is sufficiently open every Shabbos, as soldiers on the base are aware. Soldiers who returned from tefilos off the base on Shabbos confirmed the gate was open the entire day. Some soldiers then went back to their commander and asked permission to go to mikve on Shabbos, citing they know for a fact the gate is open. His response was “no”.
It was then that many decided to defy orders and go for prior to entering the military they toiveled daily and now they are not even permitted to toivel for Shabbos. upon their return they were told they would be punished but basic training ended this week and fortunate for them, no punishment this time around.
When asked to comment, the IDF Spokesman stated “The soldiers are not permitted to leave for mikve”. Comments
Rabbis Slam IDF for Targeting Hareidi SoldiersNahal Hareidi rabbis criticize ‘drastic’ jailing of soldiers in the Brigade for part in social protest, note rapid decline in enlistment.Ido Ben-Porat, Ari Yashar, 04/07/14 07:55 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/182501#.U7ZjBFGk2b8 04July2014
Rabbis of the Nahal Hareidi Foundation voiced their criticism Thursday after four soldiers of the Nahal Hareidi Brigade were jailed earlier in the day for calling to “eliminate the terrorists,” part of an online protest following the murder of three Israeli teens.
Two of the four posted a picture on Facebook of themselves standing behind a sheet of paper with a message that said “Bibi, let us eliminate the terrorists,” using the nickname for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. They were sentenced to ten days in jail, after the IDF on Wednesday threatened to use a “strong arm” punishing soldiers calling for revenge.
“There’s no argument that the act the soldiers did is unacceptable, but at such a sensitive time for hareidi IDF enlist, after the IDF published figures on the rapid decline in hareidi enlistment, and amid hundreds of soldiers who posted similar statuses – it’s not right to punish and publish specifically the hareidi soldiers,” said the rabbis in a statement.
Indeed, Rabbi Avraham Baron, former Chairman for 25 years of the Hesder Yeshivas Association which combines IDF service and Torah study, last week called on the Supreme Court to cancel the Enlistment Law, citing the IDF figures and saying “no hareidim are enlisting.”
In their statement, the Nahal Hareidi Foundation rabbis added that they “spoke about the incident with the soldiers and explained to them that it’s unacceptable. Along with that, we intend to continue discussing with the soldiers about it in the framework of Torah classes that we give them, and in the framework of private discussions.”
“However, we would expect from the IDF to exercise extra sensitivity with the hareidi soldiers. The Enlistment Law severely harmed the number of draftees and their morale. Taking additional drastic steps and publishing them – it may be the right act but it really is not beneficial,” noted the rabbis.
“The state doesn’t back the soldiers”
Shmuel (Zangi) Meidad, director of the Honenu legal aid organization, likewise criticized the arrest of the soldiers.
“The state of Israel is sending its soldiers to the front, but doesn’t understand or doesn’t want to understand their condition, and therefore judges and punishes them, and doesn’t back them. It does this to ingratiate itself and to look good in the eyes of hostile foreign elements, some of which are outright anti-Semitic, and does all this at the expense of its soldiers,” remarked Meidad.
The Honenu director added “this situation is a clear and present danger, it hinders our position against the enemy, and it must be changed immediately.”
For her part, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni has established a “hotline” at the Justice Ministry for public complaints about “incitement to racism” after the calls for revenge against the terrorists. The Ministry on Wednesday launched a criminal investigation against inciteful statements on the social networks.
Investigators have already reportedly started an investigation of two nationalist activists, one for a two-year-old post online saying Arab residents of Israel used to fear Jews, and now the opposite is true.
“The statements that these two activists were interrogated over are statements that a democratic country does not question people over,” said Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir who represents the two.
“In recent years, we filed innumerable complaints against leftists and anarchists who demanded that settlers be castrated, that nationalists be hurt and other incitement, but Attorney General Shai Nitzan shelved the complaints and claimed the right fredom of speech had been exercised. It is not surprising that specifically when there is an awakening of nationalists on the web, the Attorney General’s people are quick to stifle others, and are conducting a witch hunt,” Ben-Gvir added. |
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Border Police use excessive force on haredi youthVideo circulating on social media shows Border Police using brutal force on haredi youth suffering from mental disability. Arutz Sheva Staff, 23May2019 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/263574
 Avi Mimran-tweet-22May2019-Border Police officers using-excessive-force on a haredi youth suffering from mental retardation Border Police officers were filmed Wednesday night using excessive force on a haredi youth suffering from mental retardation.
At the time of the arrest, the boy was recorded bleeding and crying: “Mommy, I want to go home.” The video was distributed on social networks accompanied by severe criticism of the conduct of the officers.
Journalist Avi Mimran wrote on Twitter: “The heroes of the Border Police against an autistic boy. He shouts: ‘Mommy, mommy, I want to go home …’ The citizens tell them that he is a mentally retarded boy, who is a student at ‘Siach Sod’ [an educational system for special needs youth] … and them? Judge for yourself. ”
“The neighborhood of Makor Baruch According to eyewitnesses, there was no demonstration at the site, but a minor disturbance of children in front of police officers about the dismantling of a bonfire …. The terrible thing about this story is that dozens of civilians are shouting to the police that the boy is mentally handicapped … They did not stop for a second to look at his face,” he said.
Media personality Melech Zilbershlag tweeted: “Big honor for Israel Police. I have no idea what happened there, but nothing in the world justifies so many big men beating up an autistic youth. This horror will pass in silence and no one will take care of it, I wish I were wrong.” |
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What the generals don’t know and an ordinary IDF soldier doesFrom my own personal experience in the army, there is a tendency for many mid-to-high level officers to confuse what’s written on paper with the reality on the ground.Joshua Pacht, 26December2018 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/23221
From my own personal experience in the army, there is a tendency for many mid-to-high level officers to confuse what’s written on paper with the reality on the ground. One notable incident I remember from my active-duty service: during a new Assistant Battalion Commander’s (a Major in rank) first speech, he talked about how during his posting there would be no more lack in equipment, no more training exercises forced to go ‘dry’ due to lack of ammunition, no more lack of any kind; as he put it “There is no such thing as we don’t have it”.
When we got back to our barracks, we all laughed, the running joke in the Battalion became “there is no such thing as we don’t have it”. The joke was, that we knew that there would continue to be a lack in equipment and the ‘dry’ training exercises would continue; To be clear, it wasn’t that we doubted that the army had or was
But it’s more than just a case of improper allocation it’s a much deeper problem and it’s the small things that don’t make it to the generals’ desks that prove it; It’s the gun sight that takes 4 months to be repaired, it’s the inability of army warehouses to organize work uniforms by size, it’s the hoarding and stealing of equipment, it’s the forgetting of soldiers on guard duty for hours, and it’s the hours it can sometimes take to organize a lift from a base to the field.
These are only some of the many problems that anyone who served in the bottom rung of the army sees daily, and it all points to one thing: a considerable lack of organization at the very foundations of the army.
If the army wishes to remain at its best, we need an organizational revolution at the foundation. We need more digitization, the creation of simple and easy to use organizational systems, more professional soldiers, commissioned and non-commissioned, to oversee and carry out the organization day to day, and we need more communication.
Maybe I’m no general who sees the big picture, but from down here I can see the details. Joshua Pacht works at Arutz Sheva’s 24-Hour News Desk and is a student studying International Relations and Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he is also a former combat soldier with the IDF’s 603 Combat Engineering Battalion. |
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Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream US & CAN 1-866-4-ALIYAH | UK 020-8150-6690 or 0800-085-2105 | Israel 02-659-5800 https://www.nbn.org.il/ info@nbn.org.il It’s time to come home! Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream 1-866-4-ALIYAH |
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Koyaanisqatsi TOP |
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Mr. Happy is not happy about the moral collapse of the US and Diaspora. Do you really want to raise children in this environment?
100 Facts About The Moral Collapse Of America That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believehttp://thetruthwins.com/archives/100-facts-about-the-moral-collapse-of-america-that-are-almost-too-crazy-to-believe By Michael Snyder, on April 9th, 2014 http://thetruthwins.com/archives/100-facts-about-the-moral-collapse-of-america-that-are-almost-too-crazy-to-believe
The collection of facts and statistics that you are about to read is highly controversial. A lot of people are going to be greatly upset by it. Why? Because they don’t like to be confronted with the truth about America. Most people tend to believe that we can “fix this country” by getting the right politicians into power or by implementing certain economic or social reforms. But the reality of the matter is that our problems go far deeper than that. A moral collapse is eating away at the foundations of our society like cancer. If it continues to go unchecked, it will inevitably destroy America. Unfortunately, fixing moral decay is far more difficult than switching out political parties, because it is in the hearts of hundreds of millions of individual Americans. And most people don’t want to hear anything about a “moral collapse”, because most people like to think that the United States is setting a “good example” for the rest of the planet. But as you will see below, that is not the case at all.
And if we are honest with ourselves, we see the evidence of this moral collapse all around us every day. Just consider a few of the news stories that we have seen recently…
What would cause a high school kid to take two kitchen knives and go on a stabbing rampage through his school?
What would cause a topless woman to ransack a McDonald’s in St. Petersburg, Florida?
What would cause two 18-year-old boys to beat a 30-year-old mentally-disabled man to death with a baseball bat just so they could get his XBox?
What would cause a new father to put his 6-week-old daughter in a freezer to keep her from crying?
A lot of people regard those kinds of stories as “isolated incidents”, but as you will see below, they are actually representative of a much larger trend. As a society, we are decaying from the inside out, and we need to start facing the truth if we are ever going to get this turned around. The following are 100 facts about the moral collapse of America that are almost too crazy to believe…
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Sales Of Hitler’s Mein Kampf Are Surging…Submitted by Tyler Durden on 9January2014 – https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-09/sales-hitlers-mein-kampf-are-surging Submitted by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
The headline of this post is one that I am not sure how to interpret, but undoubtably marks something of significance. Personally, there have been many occasions throughout my youth, as well as my adult life, where I had a desire to read Mein Kampf. I was always curious to get into the mind of one of humanity’s greatest sociopaths. To get a glimpse of the thought process of a man capable of such cruelty and evil. To understand the types of words he used and the various psychological tactics he employed to manipulate an economically destitute and politically demoralized German population.
While I never got around to reading it, I did read part of one of Hitler’s speeches from before the war. It was interesting to not how he did not openly speak as a raging psychopath on his way to destroying much of Europe. Rather, he attempted to appeal to his audience as rational, passionate leader there to protect and exalt the German people back to greatness. That was the scariest thing of all.
This is what the top sales chart on iTunes’ category Politics and Current Events looks like.
 This is what the top sales chart on iTunes’ category Politics and Current Events looks like.
At this point I’d like to remain hopeful that these sales trends spring from a similar curiosity on behalf of the population, rather than from a darker more hateful place.
From Time:
Full article here. |
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Where The Homeless Are in AmericaWhere The Homeless Are (And Are Not)Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/27/2014 https://www.zerohedge.com//news/2014-01-27/where-homeless-are-and-are-not
With food-stamp recipients dominated by ‘working age Americans’ for the first time in history; and 1.4 million having recently dropped off the benefits rolls, we suspect, extremely sadly, that the following breakdown of homelessness in America is about to get worse. Los Angeles has by far the greatest number of unsheltered homeless in America and New York City the largest population – at around 65,000 – of homeless people in the US. One wonders at the State of the Union tomorrow…
 Homeless in USA
Via Vizual-Statistix,
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The Jewish people have come home
 Netanyahu redline
“We will never be uprooted again.”https://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=11099 Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20130804214501/http://www.israelhayom.com:80/site/newsletter_article.php?id=11099 [EDD: See full article below] Mr. Happy’s comments: From the Amidah which we pray three times a day: קיבוץ גלויותתְּקַע בְּשׁוֹפָר גָּדוֹל לְחֵרוּתֵנוּ, וְשָׂא נֵס לְקַבֵּץ גָּלֻיּוֹתֵינוּ, וְקַבְּצֵנוּ נוסח אשכנז: יַחַד מֵאַרְבַּע כַּנְפוֹת הָאָרֶץ כל השאר: מְהֵרָה יַחַד מֵאַרְבַּע כַּנְפוֹת הָאָרֶץ לְאַרְצֵנוּ . בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ , מְקַבֵּץ נִדְחֵי עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל Ingathering of the exiles: Sound the great shofar for our freedom; raise a banner to gather our exiles, and bring us together from the four corners of the earth into our land. Blessed are You L-rd, who gathers the dispersed of His people Israel. So you pray three times a day for the ingathering of the Exiles. So Nu. What are you? Chopped Liver? Call Nefesh B’Nefesh already and start to live!  Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu response to Arab MK who said that they were here first – We Will Never be Uprooted Again -Israel Knesset … The Jewish people have come home.
 Shofar sounding as Jewish Olim land on a Nefesh B’ Nefesh flight to Israel
WATCH: Netanyahu’s response to Arab MK who said Arabs were here firstArab MK rejects Jews’ claim on the land in late-night Knesset debate: “We were here before you; we will be here after you” • This prompts the prime minister to deliver a rebuttal: “The first part is not true and the second will never take place.”
Late Wednesday night, the Knesset voted on a bill to make the controversial “referendum law” a basic law, which would necessitate a national referendum on any peace deal that would require territorial withdrawals
During the plenum debate, Arab MK Jamal Zahalka (National Democratic Assembly) said that the bill was irrelevant because it referred to “occupied territory, and as such, what applies is international law; the referendum should apply to the nations of the world.” חובה לצפות: תמצית הסכסוך בפחות מדקה | The Conflict in Under a Minute (Captioned)1August2013 IsraeliPM Zahalka was subsequently heckled by Habayit Hayehudi lawmakers, who said, “You are the foreigners in this land,” to which Zahalka responded, “We were here before you and we will be here after you.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen in the video immediately raising his hand to be allowed a response from the Knesset podium.
“I did not plan to speak but I heard what MK Zahalka had to say. You said ‘We were here before you and we’ll be here after you’re gone.’ The first part is not true and the second part will never take place,” the prime minister said, slamming his hand on the podium and leaving.
Netanyahu’s comments were met with applause from much of the Knesset, even though Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein asked MKs to refrain from clapping.
Zahalka later clarified that his attack on Habayit Hayehudi MKs was directed “against racists, not Jews.”
On Thursday, the Prime Minister’s Office released the video of Netanyahu’s comments, as well as tweeting them, under the heading: “The conflict twitterized.”
Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly in 2012, Netanyahu said: “The Jewish people have lived in the land of Israel for thousands of years. Even after most of our people were exiled from it, Jews continued to live in the land of Israel throughout the ages. The masses of our people never gave up the dreamed of returning to our ancient homeland. Defying the laws of history, we did just that. We ingathered the exiles, restored our independence and rebuilt our national life. The Jewish people have come home. “We will never be uprooted again.” |
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Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream US & CAN 1-866-4-ALIYAH | UK 020-8150-6690 or 0800-085-2105 | Israel 02-659-5800 https://www.nbn.org.il/ info@nbn.org.il It’s time to come home! Nefesh B’Nefesh: Live the Dream 1-866-4-ALIYAH |
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Jews, come home to the land of IsraelWhy do Jews insist on their right to live as Jews in countries that don’t want them or in countries where they are afraid to outwardly identify as Jews?by Dror Eydar Published on 2019-05-02 14:00 https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/jews-come-home-to-the-land-of-israel/
 Muslim rioting in Europe. 1 It’s been 74 years since the war ended and a large part of our people are still living on foreign soil. On the day when we remember the millions of our people who were murdered in the enormous Holocaust, we hear the phrase “never again.” Never again like lambs to the slaughter. Never again the wretchedness of the Jewish fate. That’s correct. But if there is any lesson in the horror our people endured last century, it doesn’t end with what will not be but with what will. Yes to aliyah. The Holocaust marked an end to the chapter of exile in our people’s long history – in other words, the attempt to justify the Jewish people living in foreign lands.
What those who foresaw Zionism in earlier centuries and what Theodor Herzl saw and what the Zionist leaders of the early 20th century saw – that the Jewish people have no hope other than to return to their land and establish an independent state in their ancient homeland – we are seeing today much more clearly, especially after the Holocaust. 2 Why do Jews insist on their right to live as Jews in countries that don’t want them, or in countries where they are afraid to outwardly identify as Jews? Until 71 years ago, we were tossed about throughout the world, standing like beggars in the doorways of the nations of the world, seeking their protection and sponsorship. That is what we did for hundreds of years and every time we thought all right, they’ll leave us alone, as started to get used to a place and its landscapes and the language, a new generation would arise in that country “who did not know Joseph” and kick us out. And so we continued to wander. For all that time, this land waited for us, its legal heirs, and when we returned over the past few generations, it began to bloom and settle, like a mother who keeps her milk for her beloved lost son. 3 In the generation that came after the great national destruction of the first century C.E., Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah – who had served as a Levite in the Second Temple and accompanied his teacher, Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, when the Jerusalem was destroyed – taught that “if the Jewish people do not make teshuva, God will raise up another despot whose decrees will be as severe as those of Haman.” Some 1,800 years later, Rabbi Judah Alkalai, the Sephardi rabbi of Semlin in Serbia, created a revolution in the term “teshuva” (repentance and return). He taught that the repentance or return that the Torah, the prophets and our sages talked about, was not necessarily a return to observing the commandments (which he called “personal repentance”) but first and foremost a “general (i.e. national) repentance, in which they will return to the holy land of Israel.” This was the condition for our salvation: returning home, or as Rabbi Alkalai put it: “For us to go back to the land we left, because it is the home of our lives.” All his life, Rabbi Alkalai preached that and even published a book detailing his political vision of founding a national home for our people in the land of Israel. The shamash (beadle) in Rabbi Alkalai’s synagogue, who would blow the shofar, was Shimon Leib Herzl, the grandfather of Theodor Herzl. 4 Fifty years later, when Herzl was following the Dreyfus affair, he realized what his grandfather’s rabbi had realized: that our people would never rise again unless we returned to our land to establish an independent state. The people who heeded these calls and made aliyah changed history. But before the Holocaust, relatively few Jews did so. Our people chose to remain in exile, and in Europe, a “king whose decrees were as severe as those of Haman” did rise to power. The exile ate away at us not only physically but caused us to assimilate into the peoples through whom our path took us.
More than any other day of the year, on Holocaust Remembrance Day we have an obligation to repeat the call that is still living and breathing: Dear Jews, brothers and sisters, in every Diaspora, do right and save yourselves and your descendants, not only physically but also nationally and spiritually. Come home. Make aliyah to Israel. |
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Complaints, Complaints!26 May 2014 13 Sivan 5773 http://palmtreeofdeborah.blogspot.com/2014/05/complaints-complaints.html  Universal Complaint Department Angel Angel in Charge of Complaints (AICOC): “The Universe Complaint Department is now open, who will be first?” Chairman of the ‘Palestinian’ delegation: “We, the ‘Palestinian’ people wish to lodge an official complaint against the Israelis. They have stolen our land!!” AICOC: “Whom did you say you represent, sir?” Chairman: “The ‘Palestinian’ people of the State of Palestine.” AICOC: “Sorry, I don’t find you here. According to my records, there is no such people and no such ‘state.’ That being the case, you never had possession of the land in question; therefore, I am unable to register your complaint. Next!” UN Representative accompanied by a delegation from the EU: “Yes, good morning. I’d like to file a formal complaint against the Israelis. They pay no heed to our demand to cease settlement expansion and refuse to return to the 1948 borders. They show no respect whatever for international law.”
[EDD:
AICOC: “Sir, here we all answer to a Higher Law, which, I must tell you, may differ somewhat from your ‘international’ law. Let us have a look, shall we?” (Opens a book. To self: “Hmmm, uh huh, yes.”) (Turning book so the UN Rep can see it.) “Right here,” pointing. “Bamidbar 33.53 – it says: ‘You shall clear out the Land and settle in it, for I have given you the Land to occupy it.'” “Now, as to borders…,” flipping pages. “Yes, here it is – Breishit 15.18: ‘To your seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt until the great river, the Euphrates river.'” “Whoa, looks like they’re actually only occupying a very small portion of what is actually theirs. If you want my advice, boys, quit while you’re ahead. Next!” US Ambassador: “We don’t like to complain. Maybe this is not the right department for our issues. Perhaps some type of arbitration is in order.” AICOC: “State your problem and then I’ll know better how to assist you, sir.” US Ambassador: “Well, seeing as how our democratic form of government, free-capitalistic economy and pluralistic culture is the best in the world and the envy of all who behold us, we naturally want everyone to be just like us. In fact, we believe in it so much that we have gone completely around the world subverting existing regimes and offering bribes in the guise of ‘aid’ in order to bring the entire world in line with our ‘values.’ But, the Israelis are an intransigent bunch. Some are on our side, but many more are not – mainly the so-called ‘religious’ ones. Something has got to be done about them.” AICOC: “Alright, then. Here are your options. You can file this as a complaint of non-compliance with previous agreements, although that might be hard to establish considering the characters of those with whom you made previous agreements, Oslo, etc. It’s not clear that they had any right to act on behalf of the nation in this regard, or you could apply for relief with the Department of Justice.” US Ambassador: “Thanks for your help. I’ll take this back to my boss and see how he would like to proceed.” AICOC (chuckling to himself): “I already know how my Boss will want to proceed.” AICOC (peering over at a group heatedly arguing among themselves in the corner: “Will there be anyone else?” A group of Israelis rush up, stumbling over each other, pushing and shoving and arguing over who has the right to speak for the rest. They are made up of prominent Members of Knesset, ambitious military and security officers and even a few ‘rabbis.’ By the sheer force of his amazing presence, Yair Lapid takes charge, saying, “Since I am the most intelligent, most knowledgeable, most experienced, most beautiful and most likely to become the next Prime Minister, I will speak for us all.” Lapid: “We most assuredly wish to make a complaint – against the Ultra-Orthodox, those Chareidim and anyone else who thinks and acts as they do. They don’t pay taxes! They don’t serve in the army! They won’t listen to women singing and force them to sit at the back of the bus! They wear black!! We, the tax-paying, army-serving majority who enjoy the ladies and walk bear-headed and are hard-hearted when it comes to prying the yeshiva bochurim from the batei midrash – we demand satisfaction.” AICOC: “What is it specifically, Mr. Lapid, that your group wants from this department?” Lapid: “I believe that I speak for the tax-paying, army-serving, etc. etc. majority when I say that we won’t carry the burden of those people any longer.” Lapid’s group ( in unison, for once): “That’s right! We want them off of our backs and out of our lives – FOR GOOD.” AICOC: “I’m sure some accommodation can be arranged. Please wait here while I consult my Superior.” (Agitated whispering all around the Israeli group until the AICOC returns.) AICOC: It seems that a prior complaint has already been filed by an aggrieved party against you and your cohorts, Mr. Lapid. Lapid: What!!?? AICOC: “Yes, that’s right. The God-fearing Jews of Eretz Israel have already lodged a complaint, well, several actually… Here. Here it is right here… numbers 1 through…. Oh my! Let us just summarize it as an attempt to prevent the nation from fulfilling it’s Divine destiny. Lapid: “What does that even mean?” AICOC: “It means, Mr. Lapid, that when your group’s complaints are weighed against the complaints of the God-fearing people of Israel, you come up a bit short, to say the least. However… I believe we can find a solution which answers the needs of both populations.” Suddenly, the Angel in Charge and his Complaint Department disappear and Yair Lapid and the Israelis are looking around in shock, trying to identify their location. Then someone squints into the distance. “Is that a road sign over there?” They all start running at the same time. Lapid was the first to get close enough to read the sign – Kampala 250 km. The others caught up and one queried, “Where the heck is Kampala!?” Lapid slapped his hands to his head and moaned, “UGANDA!!” From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda_Scheme
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From Beis Moshiach Magazine: 
“WHO IS A JEW?” OR “WHO IS AN ISRAELI?”3April2014 http://beismoshiachmagazine.org/articles/who-is-a-jew-or-who-is-an-israeli.html
Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry 1. It may sound a bit strange, but lately the members of the Knesset have appeared to take on an approach of supreme knowledge. They had made the decision on what is best for the ultra-Orthodox community, including a callous intrusion into the educational content of their children’s studies to release them from the “burden” of learning Torah. Now, they have adopted the role of the chief rabbis of Israel, and every Knesset back-bencher is certain that he knows the opinion of Torah better than these leading Talmudic scholars. Rabbanim are no longer the ultimate authority that decides on the issue of conversion. They have been replaced by the country’s political representatives.
According to the new legislation introduced by the Netanyahu-Lapid-Bennett coalition government, every potential convert can choose which rabbinical authority will perform his/her conversion, including Reform and Conservative rabbis. In practical terms, Knesset Member Elazar Stern’s proposal seeks to tear down the last remaining guardrail of government conversion laws. Among the opponents to this legislation is Rabbi Chaim Druckman – the same rav who received a “lifetime achievement” award for his work as director of the Israel Conversion Authority, which has turned this field into a colossal mess. Now, however, even he has come to his senses. The person who has represented a matador’s red cape on the conversion issue, arousing the fury of leading Torah giants, has finally stepped forward to prevent passage of a new law that can destroy everything. But the Knesset Members aren’t all that interested. With the encouragement of journalists who are convinced that the ultimate truth and justice lies with them, coalition MKs have come with a full frontal attack against the final bastion of the crumbling conversion system in the chief rabbinate of Eretz Yisroel.
In this determined atmosphere against all that holy is in Israel, everything is permissible. After the minister of religious affairs, the person entrusted with guarding the principles of the Jewish faith, embraced the Reform movement and gave it official sanction at the Kosel, it should come as no wonder that they would dare to push forward this new bill proposed by another kippa-wearing Knesset Member.
According to Bayit Yehudi MK Orit Struk, MK Elazar Stern doesn’t move an inch on this legislation without first consulting with the Reform people. Mrs. Struk was also among those who succeeded in stopping the decree and delaying a vote before the Knesset. In the compromise worked within the coalition, the government’s version of the legislation won’t be as bad as the legislation proposed by MK Stern, designed to give full recognition to the Reform movement. However, there’s no way of knowing what Bennett and his cohorts are preparing for us. They have already taken several steps towards Reform Judaism, which they see as its ideal partner. 2. Knesset Member Stern has been privileged to acquire one tremendous merit from Heaven. For the first time since last year’s Knesset elections, the rabbanim of the ultra-Orthodox and religious Zionist sectors have managed to unite. Two weeks ago, many prominent rabbinical figures from the knitted-kippa community gathered in the office of Eretz Yisroel’s chief Sephardic rabbi, HaRav Yitzchak Yosef, for a joint discussion on methods for halting this dangerous statutory initiative. Among the participants was Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, who has tried long and hard to stand up against the chairman of the Bayit Yehudi Party and his efforts to create further damage to the country’s conversion system.
In the end, Mr. Bennett was forced to stand behind the rabbanim and put the proposal on hold. The threat made by the chief rabbis, that they would resign if the law passed, made it quite clear that this was a line they were not prepared to cross. From the point of view of ultra-Orthodox Jewry, official recognition of the Reform movement in Eretz Yisroel would compel the more observant sectors of the population to produce texts on genealogy as a means of redefining “Who is a Jew.”
To understand the new legislative initiatives the Bayit Yehudi chairman is trying to advance, we need to go back to his proclamations from before the elections. Bennett didn’t hide his opinions. He repeatedly said, “There are hundreds of thousands of immigrants today from the former Soviet Union who are not Jewish according to Halacha, however, it is possible to convert them in a much easier fashion… Yet, the institution of the rabbinate is killing them. For example, you have someone who emigrated from the Ukraine, serves in the army, lives like a Jew, wants to be a Jew, and is ready to do a series of activities in order to become a Jew. However, he’s not prepared to be humiliated and [then] rejected. I say: Come, let’s bring them in to us. Who will fight for this today? Only we will.”
Here’s another statement Bennett made often during last year’s campaign: “Who will ensure that the country will be Jewish and Zionist? Who will ensure the conversion of the hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the former Soviet Union who today are not allowed to convert? Who will make certain that the majority of the traditional Sephardic community will receive a Jewish Zionist education, not a chareidi education? Who will ensure this? Only we will.” But above all, there was Bennett’s real election promise: “The party will make it possible for a young couple that wants to get married to see a Zionist rabbi, and not a non-Zionist rabbi.” And when Bennett says “non-Zionist,” he means an ultra-Orthodox rav who will make certain to maintain the protective walls of Judaism and not marry couples without first ascertaining their status as Jews.
As a result, no one can really come with any complaints against Mr. Bennett. After all he had made certain promises, and now he wants to fulfill them. The real question is: Where were all these rabbanim until now? Maybe they hadn’t supported him openly, but neither did they make any effort to block his road to electoral victory, or at least impose conditions for their support. 3. The problem did not begin with Knesset Member Stern’s legislative proposal or even with the weakness of the Bayit Yehudi Party and its leaders. The Knesset’s legislative system takes positions on Judaism that are far too independent. Therefore, as long as MKs fail to internalize that they are not the authority in determining Torah matters, we will continue to have a serious problem with their agenda of social activism on religious issues. This system is trying to eat away at the country’s holiest institutions, offering a perilously new interpretation of the basic principles of Torah. Regrettably, many of the politicians in Eretz Yisroel fail to understand the difference between an Israeli and a Jew. Again and again, we hear about the efforts to redefine who is a Jew according to the national definition of a citizen of the state of Israel. The fulfillment of Torah and mitzvos is no longer the formula for belonging to the Jewish People; instead it’s the fervent devotion to the nuances of Israeli culture.
It was regarding this issue that the Rebbe wrote to David Ben-Gurion in 5719: “It is precisely in Eretz Yisroel that there exists the danger that a new generation will grow up, a new type bearing the name of Israel but completely divorced from the past of our people and its eternal and essential values; and, moreover, hostile to it in its world outlook, its culture, and the content of its daily life; hostile – in spite of the fact that it will speak Hebrew, dwell in the land of the Patriarchs, and show growing enthusiasm for the Tanach.”
This letter was a continuation of the Rebbe’s reply on the issue of converting children to Judaism who were born of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother. “This is in reply to your letter regarding my opinion on the registration of children of mixed marriages, when the father is a Jew and the mother a non-Jew who did not undergo conversion before the birth of the child,” the Rebbe wrote him.
The Rebbe related to Ben-Gurion’s question whether to show leniency in the conditions for conversion in the Jewish homeland: “The above applies not only to children whose parents or guardians declare their desire to register them as Jews, but to whoever comes forward to declare his wish to change his status in order to enter the Jewish community. Such a declaration has no force whatsoever unless he actually fulfills, or has fulfilled, the appropriate conversion procedure as laid down in the Jewish codes of the Shulchan Aruch.”
In addition, the Rebbe noted several points at the conclusion of his correspondence. Among these points, the Rebbe wrote the following:
“The question of registration, or however it may be described, is not a matter confined to Eretz Yisroel alone. It goes without saying – as explained in your letter – that no one may raise a barrier between the Jews of Israel and those of the Diaspora. On the contrary, all our brethren, wherever they may be, have constituted one people, from the moment of their emergence in spite of their dispersion in all the corners of the world. Consequently, the solution of the problem must be one that is acceptable to all members of the Jewish People everywhere, one that is capable of forging and strengthening the bounds between unity of all Jews, and certainly not one that would be cause, even the remotest, of disunity and dissension. Accordingly, even if you may argue that the present conditions in Eretz Yisroel call for a special study of the abovementioned question, those conditions do not restrict the problem to Eretz Yisroel, but, as noted, constitute a matter of common concern to every Jew everywhere.”
“The belonging to the Jewish People was never considered by our people as a formal, external matter. It has always been defined and delineated in terms of the commitment of the whole being of the Jew, something intimately linked with his very essence and innermost experience. Accordingly, any movement which disregards or belittles any of the procedures in this connection degrades the feeling of belonging to the Jewish People and cannot but be detrimental to the serious and profound attitude toward the Jew’s inner link with his people.”
“To ease the conditions of transition and affiliation to the Jewish People – particularly in the special circumstances of Eretz Yisroel, surrounded by countries and peoples unsympathetic towards it (that is an understatement) – is to endanger considerably the security of Eretz Yisroel.” |
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Everyone is with David HaNachlawi “David the Nahal Soldier” כולם עם דוד חייל נחלFrom mashiach’s wife
Transforming Hearts and Minds Before Mashiachhttp://mashiachswife.blogspot.co.il/2014/05/transforming-hearts-and-minds-before.html B”H 1 Iyar 5774 The following is a very positive reflection of where the people are holding in preparation for the revelation of Mashiach. They are now realizing that the political State has no answers and that we can no longer continue living with this status quo. “David the Nahal Soldier” goes viral. Army chief: Facebook is not a tool of command
…The uproar isn’t just the result of army policy; it is also rooted in the actions of the political class.
…Many Israelis are fed up with the song and dance surrounding the talks with the Palestinians. They don’t have any idea what is on the table, what is being discussed, and what the true final objectives are.
…These actions don’t happen in a vacuum. They happen, and they are on the rise because young Israelis wonder why the law they are required to uphold and obey is not being enforced on the Arab street. They wonder why Palestinian terrorists, mainly from Hamas and Hizb al-Tahrir, can barricade themselves inside Al Aqsa with no action by Israeli law enforcement. When the “we are with David the Nahal soldier” generation watched the news April 29, they saw thousands of people marching through Ramallah, carrying green Hamas flags and shouting “Ya Qassam, Ya Qassam, destroy Tel Aviv!” Asking why they must accept this, and finding no answer from the Israeli establishment, this generation is providing its own answers.
Ultimately, the problem lies with the lack of leadership in Israel, where the rule of law is weak. …the soldiers supporting David aren’t willing to be tools in a political agenda. |
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‘Son, Don’t Listen to Stupid Orders’Yizhar Shai , 04May2014 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/180249#.U7Djx1Gk2b9 Arutz Sheva has decided to publish a letter from a father to his son, who is serving in a combat unit. The father, Yizhar Shai, a hi-tech man who serves as an officer in the reserves, penned the missive in the wake of the “David the Nahlawi” protest – a first-of-its-kind Facebook protest in which a huge number of Israelis, including thousands of soldiers, expressed support for a soldier who refused to back down from a confrontation with Palestinian Arab provocateurs. This is the text of the letter: “Lior, my dear son, “Don’t listen to the stupid instructions that allow a hostile young Palestinian man with brass knuckles in his hand come within arm’s length of an IDF soldier. Raise your weapon and threaten, with toughness, whoever dares come close to you or to the soldiers under your command, and make threatening gestures.
“The IDF Spokesman said yesterday that ‘the soldier’s behavior was anomalous and out of line with what is expected of him.’
“I am telling you, Lior, that the IDF Spokesman’s behavior was anomalous and out of line with what is expected of him.
“I would expect the IDF Spokesman not to issue such a ridiculous announcement, which mocks the imposible situation that the state of Israel sends our boys to face every day and every hour. I would expect that the Israeli government and IDF commanders would give full backing to the soldier on the ground – in this case, a combat soldier carrying out fuzzy orders in an impossible situation. But predictably, they did not do so.
“This outrageous story proves, again, the absurd, dangerous and impossible nature of the situation we’ve put our heads into, in controlling a hositle civilian population.
“If you should find yourself in such a dangerous predicament, in which Palestinian youths approach you to within touching distance, I – your father – command you to do the right thing. I was in similar situations many times, in the past, and I know how dangerous they can be, I trust you and the values you were brought up on, and which you have adopted as your own, never to hurt the innocent, never to exhibit cruelty, never to humiliate a man. But I also trust you to take care of yourself and of your soldiers.
“And if, G-d forbid, you have to do what needs to be done, I swear that I will defend you against whoever fails to give you backing, whoever evades responsibility, all of those who won’t stand up for the soldiers that they themselves send to defend a bad policy that makes no sense.
“My dear Lior, I prefer to see you cock your gun and maybe even shoot, rather than see a single hair fall from your head. “Love you, Dad.” |
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Yad L’Achim Calls for Thorough Probe of Anthroposophy Schools17February2012 https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/118352/yad-lachim-calls-for-thorough-probe-of-anthroposo%E2%80%8Bphy-schools.html In the wake of a recent Jerusalem District Court ruling ordering the closure of a school that teaches Anthroposophy, Yad L’Achim has asked the Education Ministry to investigate other schools that adhere to the cult’s guidelines.
Anthroposophy, founded by German philosopher Rudolf Steiner, advocates use of meditation to reach spiritual levels that allow one to “comprehend his own eternality and be born again.”
There are dozens of kindergartens in the center of the country that teach Anthroposophy. Dr. Ilan Gur-Ze’ev, of Haifa University, has warned that parents “are sending their children to participate in an experiment whose effects are unknown. It definitely raises questions regarding the responsibility of these parents.”
In the recent court case, an Anthroposophy school in Kibbutz Revadim asked the court to overturn an Education Ministry order shutting it down. The ministry’s decision followed a special report filed by one of its senior supervisors who visited the school and raised serious questions about its program.
“The school principal has no training or educational experience (with the exception of a seminar at the Yellin College in Anthroposophy) and the two teachers lack experience in anything to do with working with children.”
If that weren’t enough, the report highlighted other serious flaws in the program. For example, a “boy in first grade is not required to acquire the ability to read and write.” Moreover, the principles of the cult take priority over normative educational goals.
The court rejected the cult’s petition, removing the last hurdle to the school’s closure.
In response, Yad L’Achim chairman Harav Yisrael Lifschitz wrote Education Minister Gideon Saar asking that he conduct a thorough check of other schools run by the cult.
“There is no doubt that an investigation will produce identical findings in other schools as regards the qualifications of principals and teachers, the nature of the unacceptable educational experience and the dubious messages that are transmitted to the students.”
Yad L’Achim reminded the education minister that France and Belgium set up commissions that sharply criticized Anthroposophy and asked, “Why in Israel are these cults allowed to wreak havoc with young, delicate souls?”
Yad L’Achim this week expressed hope that its appeal will fall on receptive ears and that an end will be put to the spread of the Anthroposophy movement, which, despite its setback in the court, has every intention of expanding its school network and spreading its poisonous message. |
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EU Recommends Boycott Against Israelis in YeshaThe European Union has formally recommended its 27 members “prevent” Israeli activity in Judea and Samaria through an economic boycott.Chana Ya’ar , 26Febuary2013 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/165670  The Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses is the model for the current EU guidelines for boycotting Israeli products. Leftist policies are, by their very nature, totalitarian in impulse and execution http://moshe.blogit.fi/luokka/countries/israel/boycott/
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EU Reveals its True Colorsby Peter Martino July 24, 2013 http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3867/eu-israel-directive
Last week, the European Union issued guidelines regarding the use of EU funds in Israel. From now on, Israeli institutions cooperating with the EU or benefitting from EU funding must demonstrate that they have no direct or indirect links to Judea, Samaria, East Jerusalem or the Golan Heights. The guidelines, drawn up by the EU bureaucracy in Brussels, bind the EU, a supranational organization of 28 European nations, and one of the world’s largest donors of development aid. The guidelines also forbid any funding, cooperation, awarding of scholarships, research funds or prizes to anyone residing in Jewish settlements in Israeli territories outside Israel’s 1967 borders.
Only the 500,000 Jewish inhabitants of Judea, Samaria, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights are singled out in this respect. The EU guidelines are clearly anti-Semitic: they are a unique set of guidelines crafted for the occasion of targeting Jews. The EU does not ask similar guarantees of Chinese institutions regarding their links with Chinese occupied Tibet, nor does the EU forbid any funding, cooperation, awarding of scholarships, research funds or prizes to ethnic Chinese residing in Tibet. Neither has the EU issued similar guidelines regarding Turkey and Turkish occupied Northern Cyprus, Morocco and Moroccan occupied Western Sahara, Indonesia and Indonesian occupied Western Papua, or territorial disputes anywhere else in the world.
In issuing the guidelines, the EU has come out in full support of the so-called “BDS” movement, which advocates “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” against the Jewish presence in Judea, Samaria, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
The EU decided to draw up the guidelines last December, shortly after a group of 22 political NGOs, all of them supporting BDS, called on Brussels to join the BDS actions. Ironically, many of these political NGOs, despite their involvement in a delegitimization campaign against Israel, have themselves for years been beneficiaries of millions of euros of EU money. In effect, the EU has been funding political NGOs whose main objective it was to pressure the EU member states into adopting anti-Semitic policies.
That a supposedly politically neutral organization, such as the EU, sponsors political groups that aim to force this organization to adopt certain policies is in itself irregular. As Prof. Gerald Steinberg of NGO Monitor points out, “The new EU guidelines are evidence of the influence of political NGOs – some funded by the EU – on the EU’s policies. The practical results are worrisome and reflect a faulty and one-sided agenda.”
However, that these policies are directed against one specific ethnic group, namely Jews, makes them not just irregular and worrisome, but outrageous. And the fact that taxpayers’ money is used to this end, including taxes paid by the Jewish citizens of the EU states, makes them shameful and repulsive.
Given the EU’s support for politicized attacks against Israel and its discrimination against, for example, Jews living in East Jerusalem, the EU can no longer be considered a neutral body in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The new EU guidelines bolster the Palestinian claim to all territories east of the 1967 borders. The guidelines have angered Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who said: “We will not accept any outside diktat about our borders.” The EU guidelines are not helpful to the peace process either, since they attempt to predetermine the outcome of negotiations before the Palestinians even agree to sit at the negotiating table. There is little doubt that the EU diplomats are aware of that. They also know that the 1967 borders, which confine the state of Israel to the territory west of the 1949 armistice line, make the borders of the State of Israel militarily virtually indefensible. It is also clear that if the Golan Heights are returned to Syria, these strategic lands will fall into the hands of either Hezbollah or al-Qaida – organizations which have sworn to destroy Israel and drive the Jews into the sea.
Yet, that seems to be how the EU would love to have Israel: Indefensible and as small as possible. The EU guidelines indicate that Brussels denies Israel the right to an adequate and effective self-defense.
Considering the immense suffering which many of the current EU member states inflicted on the Jews seventy years ago, Brussels, rather than undermining the safety of the Jewish State, should insist on guaranteeing Israel a right to safe and viable borders. Sadly, by issuing guidelines steeped in anti-Semitism, it is doing exactly the opposite.  Nazi Swastika I totally agree with labeling products. All products from Europe and the US should require a Nazi Swastika on it and a total ban on European and US Cars and other products. This is besides the standard labeling laws for GMO products which should be banned anyway. Israel needs to have a Crash Emergency program to develop the IAI Lavi Fighter and reverse engineer any product that is imported into Israel.
 Sacto Right to Know GMO Labeling
This is besides Prayer, Tuvah and Tzedakah. That should wake someone up. שיר אירופי מחתרתי לחג המולד Underground European Song for ChristmasThing are looking up! Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon orders that any EU request relating to Judea, Samaria and Gaza be turned down because of its latest ban. |
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US requires Judea-Samaria goods to be labeledMail from US Customs reveals products from Judea and Samaria are not to be labeled as being from ‘Israel,’ on pain of sanctions.By Ari Yashar 28January2016 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/207210#.VqrNez_ANTA  Mail from US Customs reveals products from Judea and Samaria are not to be labeled as being from Israel A mail from the Cargo Systems Messaging Service of the US Customs and Border Protection dated to this Saturday, and revealed by Channel 1‘s “Mabat” show on Thursday, shows the US is now required products from Judea and Samaria to be labeled differently.
In new instructions on marking requirements sent out to American importers, goods from Judea and Samaria are not to be marked “Israel.” Those who do not comply are to be sanctioned.
“West Bank Country of Origin Marking Requirements,” reads the title of the mail, which begins by clarifying that “the purpose of this message is to provide guidance to the trade community regarding the country of origin marking requirements for goods that are manufactured in the West Bank.”
“Goods produced in the West Bank or Gaza Strip shall be marked as originating from ‘West Bank,’ ‘Gaza,’ ‘Gaza Strip,’ ‘West Bank/Gaza,’ ‘West Bank/Gaza Strip,’ ‘West Bank and Gaza,’ or ‘West Bank and Gaza Strip.'”
“It is not acceptable to mark the aforementioned goods with the words ‘Israel,’ ‘Made in Israel,’ ‘Occupied Territories-Israel,’ or any variation thereof,” warned the mail. It threatened that such goods that are marked as products of Israel “will be subject to an enforcement action carried out by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.”
The instructions were published on Saturday, apparently due to complaints by Palestinian Arabs and leftist organizations in the US, who claimed there is no enforcement of the 1995 American law on marking goods from the region.
The US State Department confirmed the details of the mail, and explained that the labeling does not distinguish between Jewish and Arab goods from the region, instead simply defining the entire area as not part of “Israel.”
The Obama administration gave support to the EU decision last November to label Jewish products from Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights. In December the EU double-standard in the move was put on display as a top European court struck down a trade deal with Morocco in the occupied Western Sahara, and the EU responded by petitioning the ruling.
Legal experts revealed the ruling undermines the EU’s claims that its labeling of Israel and taking other punitive actions are due to a principle of “non-recognition,” since the court decision shows that it can and does do business with “occupiers.”
Last Tuesday US State Department spokesperson John Kirby indicated the Obama administration also supports the EU’s controversial resolution from the day before, according to which EU agreements with Israel no longer apply over the 1949 Armistice lines.
Regarding the legal status of Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria, and consequentially of products from the region and agreements in it, the 2012 Levy Report proved that Israel’s presence is legal according to international law.
However, despite being commissioned by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, two consecutive coalition governments led by him have yet to adopt the findings of the report. |
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Boycotting the Boycotters: Israel fights back against European blacklist campaignby Breitbart Jerusalem 19 November 2015 http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2015/11/19/boycotting-boycotters-israel-fights-back-european-blacklist-campaign/ JERUSALEM – Israel has decided that it will not stand idly by in the face of the European Union’s decision to label all goods produced in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
It will take measures against 16 European countries that backed the initiative, likely damaging relations between Israel and the EU, Israeli website Ynet reported.
Some of the 16 countries backing the labeling, including Italy and the Netherlands, have better relations with Israel than others, so measures against these countries will be less harsh than countries that have been more hostile towards Israel such as Ireland and Sweden.
Steps include reexamining the EU’s role in the peace process and restricting meetings between EU ambassadors to lower tier government figures. Ambassadors from all 16 countries will receive official censure from Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
“In addition, any foreign delegations seeking to visit the West Bank and Gaza will undergo a much stricter process for entry and may even be prevented from entering those areas entirely. Official representatives from said governments may be denied meetings with the prime minister or the president.
“From now on we will be very measured in how we behave with these visitors,” a senior Israeli official said. “We will control the flow of [passage] and will not authorize things automatically.”
Ynet further reported thatIsrael will be more stringent regarding which EU projects it allows in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, thereby diminishing the EU’s influence in those areas.
“They lead many projects which need our support, but you can’t act against us and then expect that everything will continue as normal,” said the official. Finally, dialogue between the EU and Israel – especially on crucial topics like strategy, fighting terrorism, and handling immigration – will be reduced, postponed, or halted.
“Whoever takes hostile measures against us will pay the price,” said the source. He was quick to add, however, that no measures will be taken if they harm Israel’s own interests. “We had to walk a tightrope between things we wanted to do so that they would get the message and not hurting ourselves.”
Meanwhile, EU’s ambassador to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, persisted on Wednesday with his claim that the decision to label Israeli products does not mean Europe is boycotting Israel or the settlements.
“I’ve been shocked to hear claims of anti-Semitism and historical comparisons or analogies to the persecution of Jews in Germany in the’30s and’ 40s,” Faaborg-Andersen said at the Jerusalem Post’s Diplomatic Conference in Jerusalem. “In my mind this is a distortion of history and belittlement of the crimes of the Nazis, and the memory of their victims.”
“The European Union has been accused of a variety of sins, including today from this podium,” Faaborg-Andersen lamented. “Anti-Semitism, hypocrisy, immorality, rewarding terrorism, destroying Palestinian jobs. These allegations have been made by people coming from the highest echelons in this country.”
Faaborg-Andersen also accused Israel of hypocrisy. “How is the stated commitment to a two-state solution compatible with continued building in settlements, including in many settlements beyond the separation barrier that would not be part of Israel in any peace agreement?
“True, settlements are certainly not the only problem [in regard to peace] – but they are definitely a significant and crucial problem.”
Earlier in the week, Breibart Jerusalem reported on Faaborg-Andersen’s contradictory explanation for the labeling.
On the one hand he insisted Israel was not being singled out and the practice was part of a “uniformed standard” that applied to products from all over the world, but when he was presented with the fact that other disputed regions – of which there are over 200 globally – were not subject to the same labeling Faaborg-Andersen rationalized that those situations were different from Israel’s. |
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Commentary Magazine-logo https://www.commentarymagazine.com/ EU’s Economic Hold over Israel WanesEvelyn Gordon /3December2015 https://www.commentarymagazine.com/foreign-policy/middle-east/israel/european-union-trade-israel/ The deputy prime minister of Vietnam visited Israel on Wednesday, prompting Jerusalem Post reporter Herb Keinon to delve into some fascinating trade statistics. Bilateral trade between Israel and Vietnam totaled almost $1.1 billion last year, a fivefold increase in just five years, and is now more than double Israel’s trade with Austria and four times its trade with Norway. In fact, Keinon later tweeted, Israel’s trade with Vietnam now exceeds its trade with 21 of the European Union’s 28 member states. And Vietnam is just one country; Israeli trade with other Asian countries has also burgeoned. All of which goes to show that one of Israel’s biggest Achilles’ heels – its economic dependence on an increasingly hostile Europe – is swiftly disappearing.
Taken as a whole, the EU is still Israel’s largest trading partner, but its lead has been shrinking rapidly as Israeli trade with other parts of the globe expands. Moreover, many of the European countries most hostile to Israel are among its least important trading partners. Norway, Sweden, and Ireland, for instance, would star in any list of the most hostile countries, yet each of them conducts less trade with Israel than Vietnam does. In other words, the countries that are most hostile to Israel tend to be those with relatively little ability to cause it economic harm.
Israel has long since ceased to count on Europe for diplomatic support. In international forums, many European countries reflexively back even the most outrageous anti-Israel resolutions, while even Israel’s best friends in Europe rarely do more than abstain. This past May, for instance, every EU country voted for a UN resolution declaring Israel the world’s worst violator of health rights (perhaps they think Israeli hospitals should stop treating Syrian war victims or cancer patients from Hamas-run Gaza?).
Nor does Israel depend on Europe militarily. As Haaretz reporter Anshel Pfeffer pointed out after Britain threatened to suspend arms exports to Israel during last summer’s Gaza war, such threats are so old hat that Israel long ago dropped Britain as a major military supplier. Ditto for most other European countries (the two exceptions being Germany and Italy). Today, Israeli defense imports from Britain consist mostly of spare parts that it could easily obtain elsewhere if necessary.
Thus, the one stick Europe still has with which to threaten Israel is economic. And as the recent decision to impose discriminatory labeling requirements on Israel show, the EU bureaucracy is increasingly seeking to wield this stick.
Israel obviously can and should push back against such measures, and it has already scored some successes against the labeling decision. Hungary, for instance, flatly announced it will ignore the directive; Greece has also come out against it; Germany’s ruling party has denounced it, as has the president of the German parliament; and when German department store KaDeWe hastened to apply the new directive, the resultant outcry forced it into humiliating retreat a day later. All this fits a pattern I’ve noted before: Elected politicians, whose voters expect them to produce economic growth, tend to be much less enthusiastic about economic sanctions against Israel than EU bureaucrats, who aren’t answerable to any electorate.
Nevertheless, EU bureaucrats still wield a great deal of power, and they are likely to come up with more anti-Israel measures in the future. Thus over the long term, Israel’s best defense is to sharply reduce its economic dependence on Europe. And as the trade statistics with Vietnam show, Israel is making rapid strides toward doing exactly that. |
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Jewish Culture, Revelation and ContinuityPosted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog Monday, November 25, 2013 http://sultanknish.blogspot.co.il/2013/11/jewish-culture-revelation-and-continuity.html
 Star of David Pendent The Pew survey, like the various more specific surveys of the Jewish community that come out from time to time, has told everyone in the Jewish organizational world what they already know. There is nothing in the survey that hasn’t been predicted, belabored and denied for decades. If its meaning had to be summed up in a single sentence, it would be that there can be no religion without revelation, no community without culture and no continuity without all of these.
It really is that simple which is why so many insist on making it so complicated.
What the Pew survey really says is that there are really two Jewish communities in America. One that is an actual structured community and the other uses that name but is a community in name only. Most of the responses go right past that obvious point to arguing about semantics, theology and the number of Jews who can dance on the head of a pin.
Daniel Gordis had a passionate and moving piece on the decline of Conservative Judaism that is also fundamentally wrong.
Gordis states, “What really doomed the movement is that Conservative Judaism ignored the deep existential human questions that religion is meant to address.” That confuses religion with philosophy. Religion does address existential questions, but it does so through faith.
The F-word, “Faith” only appears once in Gordis’ entire essay. “Non-Orthodox Judaism is simply disappearing in America. Judaism has long been a predominantly content-driven, rather than a faith-driven enterprise, but we now have a generation of Jews secularly successful and well-educated, but so Jewishly illiterate that nothing remains to bind them to their community or even to a sense that they hail from something worth preserving.”
Gordis hits the point and then drives away as quickly as he can. American Judaism is content-driven, but its content has to be driven by faith or the content has no integrity.
“Looming unasked in Conservative circles is the following question: Can one create a community committed to the rigors of Jewish traditional living without a literal (read Orthodox) notion of revelation at its core? Conservative Judaism could have been the movement that made an argument for tradition and distinctiveness without a theological foundation that is for most modern Jews simply implausible,” Gordis writes.
The Pew survey already answers that question. Religion without revelation has no integrity of content. Without revelation, religion is mere philosophy. If the religion is not of divine origin, then it’s merely philosophy. And you don’t build a community around concepts only a fraction of its people would be interested in or understand.
Religion without revelation is random intellectual inquiry packaged as something more. Without a Divine core, it is reduced to searching for the “divine in all of us”. If there is no G-d who spoke to man and conveyed specific words, instructions and ideas, then all that remains is an aimless spirituality that provides no reason for maintaining the specific integrity of a community around it.
Gordis’ remedy is “deep existential and spiritual seriousness”. And no doubt this will appeal to divinity students. But you can’t build a religion around that. Not even in a community as literate as those to be found within American Judaism. “Deep existential and spiritual seriousness” is surprisingly boring when you have to actually sit through it. It’s not particularly engaging.
“While these laypeople were busy seeking a way to explain to their children why marrying another Jew matters, how a home rooted in Jewish ritual was enriching, and why Jewish literacy still mattered in a world in which there were no barriers to Jews’ participating in the broader culture, their religious leadership was speaking about whether or not the movement was halakhic or how one could speak of revelation in an era of biblical criticism,” Gordis says.
But if your laypeople are trying to figure out why these things matter, then your religious stream has already failed. In Orthodox Judaism, most laypeople are not trying to figure out how to explain these things; they take them for granted. It’s in the air they breathe and the water they drink. Likewise, they aren’t looking for serious existential answers. They absorb them early on and take them on faith.
That’s between a religion that is so embedded that it’s culture and a religion that is swimming upstream against culture.
If you dispense with Divine revelation, then all you have left is culture and community. You might be able to build a community around culture. American Jews have done so. But the culture depended on eroding differences. The more those differences eroded, the more American Jewish culture just became the Jewish contribution to America.
You don’t need to be Jewish to read and appreciate Bernard Malamud, Saul Bellow and all the other big names. You don’t need to be Jewish to watch a Neil Simon play. And their contemporaries who appeal to American Jews in their twenties and thirties either tend to be so cynical and toxic that they make Philip Roth seem downright Judeopositive or detached enough that they represent little except echoes of distant memories.
No one is going to stay Jewish for Michael Chabon and Jonathan Safran Foer. Despite their tattered drabs of Jewish culture, they’re less Jewish than their literary forebears who at least had a direct connection with the culture of the immigrants. And when you’ve exhausted Jewish-influenced memoir fiction, what’s left? YIVO Yiddish revivals? The Klezmatics? Documentaries about Jewish life in the twenties? Jerry Seinfeld? Another revival of Fiddler on the Roof with a more positive take on intermarriage? A Woody Allen retrospective?
The public secular Jewish culture of neurotic humor is common property. It doesn’t maintain communities. It more often disintegrates them. It’s laughing at the abyss by people who no longer remember why the abyss is a bad thing. From a defensive response to pain, Jewish humor has become nihilistic. It no longer remembers the pain it is laughing at and so its laughter has become senseless.
Culture is a powerful means of continuity when it is immersive.
The Orthodox child doesn’t play with Dr. Seuss picture books. She plays with picture books that illustrate the importance of doing good deeds. Instead of being taught nursery rhymes, she’s taught to chant Brachot; blessings to thank G-d for the food that she eats. The music she listens to and the cartoons she watches will also teach her religious values.
Then she’ll graduate to pop music that will consist of biblical verses set to catchy tunes. The Orthodox Jewish music industry is big business. It encompasses most modern music and often casually borrows tunes from popular music (though in all fairness, much of popular music does the same thing) and sets it to religious devotions or sayings.
While her secular Jewish counterpart hums a Lady Gaga song, she’s humming, “The G-d who created joy and happiness” or “Oh Lord, open my lips so that my mouth may sing your praises.” The music may not be all that different. But the ideas are very much so.
When she reads? It’s less likely to be 50 Shades of Grey because there are Orthodox comics, mystery novels, teenage detectives (of both genders), biographies, historical novels, romance novels, self-help books, novels and the whole variety of alternative literature.
I won’t claim that this Orthodox popular culture is of a high caliber; but then neither is the popular culture that it’s displacing.
That’s not to say that pop culture doesn’t still penetrate Orthodox communities; but it does so to a lesser degree depending on the cultural integrity of the community. Modern Orthodox Jews like me are more likely to be familiar with both worlds. On the other end of the spectrum, Chassidic Jews may even reject the Orthodox pop music as inappropriate, opting for something more classical.
Communities also require private languages. Instead of empty Yiddish revivals, in much of the Orthodox Jewish world, a form of Judeo-English has arisen that is the counterpart of the Judeo-German known as Yiddish, the Judeo-Spanish known as Ladino or the Judeo-Aramaic of the Talmud or the Judeo-Arabic that Maimonides wrote in.
Derived from the language of scholarship, “Yeshivish” is a jargon full of inside jokes and wry humor referencing the techniques of study and the practices of the religion. It mixes Hebrew and Yiddish to create a new language.
The common denominator in all these things, from the religious pop songs, to the novels, which inevitably have religious morals built in, and the language, which is built around religious values, is that they integrate the assumptions of faith into daily life. They make religion into culture. And they make faith into culture.
The Orthodox Jew casually says “G-d willing” and “Thank G-d” to everything; inculcating the assumptions of faith into daily life. That used to be a common habit among Jews in Europe.
The hypothetical girl may still end up leaving, but she’s less likely to do so because she is part of a community with its own culture and values. And even its own language. She’s not there for the deep existential seriousness. The seriousness has always been a part of her life. But it’s overlaid with a private cultural language that encompasses the everyday communal experience.
Faith isn’t an external assumption imposed on her everyday life that is foreign to it. Faith is her culture. It’s not expressed in high-flown language of sermons, but in the everyday language of her life.
To emerging generations of liberal Jews, their own religion is foreign to them. They have to conquer the instinctive skepticism bred into them by a secular culture to be part of it. Orthodox Jews have to conquer an instinctive skepticism of secular culture to leave. And that’s a major difference.
Orthodox Judaism in America would have failed all over again, as it did before WW2, without the creation of a cultural community that could speak to young people. Its leaders put the emphasis on the construction of an educational complex, and indeed that is very important, but Modern Orthodoxy shows that an educational system that doesn’t permeate into the home environment is more fragile.
And these solutions are not unique.
Evangelical Christianity has its own set of songs, novels and cartoons with the same goal; the maintenance of an immersive moral culture that makes a religious community viable in a secular culture.
Any liberal streams of Judaism that reject the premise that a community is maintained through an exclusive culture and that religion is built on faith in revelation cannot survive. And they can’t duplicate Orthodox Judaism’s success without adopting those assumptions.
Liberal Judaism discarded the idea that Jews were a race. Then discarded the idea that Judaism represented a unique Divine revelation. Then discarded communal exclusivity and integrity.
With those three things thrown away; what possible basis for continuity can there be?
If Jews are not part of a single family, as the Bible specifies, and only a religion, then why not intermarry as long as the other partner adopts the religion or works out some joint arrangement? If Judaism does not possess an exclusive revelation from G-d, then why stick with it because of an accident of birth into a people that is nothing more than a cultural community?
And if Jewish culture consists of novels that anyone can take out at the library, Woody Allen movies eating Chinese food on Christmas, questioning things and talking a lot with your hands; why bother maintaining a culture that anyone can be a part of and that, therefore, no one needs to be a part of?
The racial, religious and communal reasons for maintaining the Jewish people are interwoven. You can’t discard one without toppling the whole thing. And if you discard all three, then you certainly aren’t going to keep it going with a copy of the The Yiddish Policemen’s Union and an interfaith Passover seder with passages commemorating civil rights and LGBT liberation.
The liberalizing fallacy has been that each generation could make concessions to modernism by discarding some things that “no modern person takes seriously anyway” while assuming that the next generation would want to keep the things that they kept, instead of throwing away more things to adapt to a modernity that was continually becoming more hostile to traditional religious values.
Eventually throwing things away became Liberal Judaism. And that Judaism became the nothingness it sought to be. The liberal impulse made that Judaism into liberalism, its synagogues into community activist groups and its theology into social justice. Its Rabbis excelled at the language of moral seriousness; but like all Western liberal clergy they had nothing to be morally serious about.
“As Conservative writers and rabbis addressed questions such as ‘are we halakhic,’ ‘how are we halakhic,’ and ‘should we be halakhic,’ most of the women and men in the pews responded with an uninterested shrug. They were not in shul, for the most part, out of a sense of legally binding obligation. Had that been what they were seeking, they would have been in Orthodox synagogues. They had come to worship because they wanted a connection to their people, to transcendence, to a collective Jewish memory that would give them cause for rejoicing and reason for weeping, and they wanted help in transmitting that to their children,” Gordis writes.
No doubt they did indeed want those things. But you can’t have those things without binding obligations.
Connections come from binding obligations, not casual ones. To cry and be happy, you need an emotional connection that is more than just an event of convenience. Peoplehood, like marriage, must be forever if it is to mean anything at all.
People who casually want deep spiritual experiences and community will never find them without making permanent commitments.
Judaism is a commitment of faith. It is a religious civilization upheld by an ancient family that builds its phantom kingdoms of faith in every place of its wanderings and then packs them up again into its invisible knapsack of faith. That is its culture and its meaning.
The Jew exists because of faith. Without faith, there are no Jews. Without faith, there are only archeologists of Judaism poring through the ruins and bones of what used to be a religion and wondering how they can make it live again.
Without faith, culture and community have no meaning. Without integrity of culture and community, faith has no means of maintaining its expression.
Faith is not grappling with difficult existential questions. It is best expressed in the dialogue between the Prophet Ezekiel and G-d. “And He said unto me: ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ And I answered: ‘O Lord GOD, Thou knowest.” (Ezekiel 37:3)
And so faith answers its own question.
That is the essential humility that is the true character of the prophet. Liberal streams of Judaism claim to focus on prophetic value of social justice. But the calls of the prophets for justice did not come from them. They came from G-d. In their natural state they were humble men, like Moses, who did not strive to impose their will on others, but waited to hear what G-d would tell them to do.
That humility of action is faith. And without that humility, there is no room for faith or G-d.
Consider this discourse from Kaufmann Kohler, a Reform Rabbi from a century ago. “The issue
today is no longer between Reform and Orthodox, but between a world with G-d and a world without G-d. How, then can the destinies of home and communities, the guardianship of souls and the future of humanity be entrusted to men who, in a time when the foundations of morality are shaken and the peace of the world quivers under the fierce contest of ideas, lack power and principle, wavering and oscillating between agnosticism and belief, between Judaism and Unitarianism and a dozen other isms?”
Having said all that, Kohler then went on to argue that Judaism was just the shell for a kernel of ethical and moral truth and that the essence of religion was social justice. But one does not need religion to propound social justice. That is something that Kohler’s successors know, but are unable to do anything about because their religion is the common modern secular faith of political activism.
There is no prophetic vision without G-d. The prophetic vision of movements that have abandoned G-d is nothing but men who have made themselves into gods, prophesying their own prophecies.
Kohler indicted Orthodox Jews for failing to “impart life to the dry bones of Judaism”. But life comes from faith. That is the essence of the Ezekiel prophecy that Kohler went right past in the search for prophetic social justice. The issue is still between a world with G-d and a world without Him.
The Pew survey makes it clear that the future of the Jewish community belongs to those who build communities based on a world with G-d whose leaders and people don’t waver in their beliefs.
The Judaism of those who trade the birthright of faith for the pottage of social justice has no future. Judaism is not the kernel for a handful of ethical concepts. Its ethical concepts are part of it just as its community, its religion, its culture and its people must be one organic entity. |
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The return to God during the HolocaustHundreds of documents collected by Shem Olam Institute point to fascinating phenomenon in the shadow of horror: Assimilated Jews, some of whom had converted to Christianity, decided to go back to Judaism and die as religious JewsTali Farkash |Published: 02January2014 , https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4483080,00.html “I, the undersigned, Dr. Friedrich Eisner, son of the late Friedrich and Theresa (Abelles), born March 5, 1884, hereby declare in a decisive and clear manner that I am returning to Judaism and out of my free will returning to Jewish law.”
During the Holocaust, while some Jews abandoned religion and stopped believing in God, and others strengthened their faith, a unique phenomenon took place in the shadow of the horror: Assimilated Jews, some of whom had actually converted to Christianity, rediscovered their Judaism.
Back to Jewish faith at time of distressThe aforementioned letter, as well as other documents and testimonies obtained by the Shem Olam Institute, reveal this unknown narrative in the history of the Holocaust.
This surprising revelation has been exposed by Rabbi Dr. Avraham Krieger, a historian and director of the Shem Olam Institute for education, documentation and research of the Holocaust.  Dr. Eisner’s return to Judaism. ‘It’s like you show me that being Jewish is an obstacle in my life, and in response I go back – in public,’ says Rabbi Krieger (Photo: Shem Olam Institute)…
Dr. Eisner’s return to Judaism. ‘It’s like you show me that being Jewish is an obstacle in my life, and in response I go back – in public,’ says Rabbi Krieger (Photo: Shem Olam Institute)
“The story is not just loss of faith, but the profound questions those people ask,” says Rabbi Krieger. “Profound questions about God, as we know, are familiar to the world of Judaism. A classic example is the mass murder in Betar during the days of the destruction of the Second Temple; Israel’s wise men really struggle with the words ‘the great, brave and terrible God.’ And they also ask: ‘Where is his greatness?’ ‘Where is his terribleness?’ They can’t say those words in a prayer.
“Faith is not robotics. The questions must be asked, and they must even be made present inside the religious language.”
So what really happened there, that people felt the need to get closer to Judaism and religious faith again?
“It’s really one of the most fascinating phenomena, that alongside people who presented very difficult questions or whose faith disappeared, opposite radical phenomena took place. Jews who were at the margins of the Jewish world, who suddenly decided to adopt their Jewishness blatantly.”
According to Rabbi Krieger, “The situation non-religious Jews were hurled into made many of them feel that ‘if I am already here just because I’m Jewish, I should at least check what it means.’
“A journal of an anonymous person from the Warsaw Ghetto, from an assimilating background of the ‘Zionist circles,’ as it says, is filled with expressions reflecting a sort of yearning and thirst to learn about his Jewishness. He feels the absurdity over and over, that the Jewish world is now present around him, but he doesn’t know what this baggage means to him.
“There were also people who arrived at the ghettos according to the Nazi racial laws, but were Christian. After all, Jews were defined as such up to three generations backwards. Seemingly, they could have kept the religion they were born into or were converted to from a young age. They could have also developed a hope that perhaps their religious status would save them, and perhaps the pope would wake up and deliver, and among them of all people many times we find a reversed process. People who arrived at the ghetto, at death, and wanted to go back to Judaism.”
‘Return to Judaism’ ceremony at Lodz GhettoOne of the documents Rabbi Krieger and his researchers found comes from the Lodz Ghetto. It tells the story of Dr. Eisner, who converted to Christianity in the 1920s. Eisner was affiliated with a church in Vienna, which he visited every Sunday. But when he arrived like many others from Austria at the Polish ghetto, he asked the rabbis to undergo a process of “returning to Judaism,” mainly a declarative act which reflects the change in his religious opinions.  Diary from Warsaw Ghetto: ‘If we could hold a referendum on this question, we would have received a unanimous response: That we would not put our sons and daughters through the strange fire’ (Photo: Shem Olam Institute) Diary from Warsaw Ghetto: ‘If we could hold a referendum on this question, we would have received a unanimous response: That we would not put our sons and daughters through the strange fire’ (Photo: Shem Olam Institute)
Eisner was murdered eight months after the process, as a religious Jew, in the Chelmno extermination camp.
How does one ‘measure faith’ in ghetto?Shem Olam is defined today by the New York State Archives as one of the biggest research archives on life during the Holocaust. The institute has a collection of some 800,000 documents and testimonies about ideological and ethical dilemmas during the Holocaust, and is constantly in a race against time, trying to collect testimonies and stories about life and its meaning within death.
“In my eyes, these are the significant lessons which are relevant to our times too,” says Rabbi Krieger. “When you only deal with death and physical survival, the ethical questions and dilemmas remain untreated and undocumented.”
According to the rabbi, no “measurable and significant” studies have been conducted until now on the issue of religious faith or lack of. “From the few studies conducted on changes in opinions on religion and faith, the trend actually pointed to a tie. In other words, some would leave and others would join.
“However, it’s important to remember that we are talking about a completely different reality, in which all the regular measurement rulers which define what a ‘religious’ or ‘faithful’ person means simply don’t exist. Today you can check religious commitment, like observing Shabbat or kashrut. Each of these things didn’t even exist there, so how exactly can one ‘measure faith’ in such situations?
“My father, a Holocaust survivor, once told me something which I needed five minutes to recover from – what returning to normative life meant for him: ‘I went back to eating with a knife and fork.’ We can’t imagine five years of living outside civilization, of existing in a reality of a subhuman, an animal. Pardon me – an animal is in a better position. It’s incomprehensible. So this return to the normative world is difficult and is even almost impossible.”
Rabbi Krieger explains that after the Holocaust the survivors were thrown into a new reality, “and most did not try to restore the norms they had lived according to before the war. Some defined it as ‘I lost my faith,’ so as not to start dealing with the questions and with what happened once again.
“And here, at an elderly age, we suddenly hear testimonies from survivors who feel that they are in fact stuck in the same point in time on the eve of the Holocaust, and they are still ‘there,’ at least in spirit. They didn’t really leave or make a change, but today, decades later, with a family, grandchildren and even great grandchildren, it’s not easy to go back.” Incomprehensible religious fanaticism“People in the ghetto began talking about the option of converting. An opportunity has been created to send the children to Christian systems, thereby saving them, but knowing that they will be lost to their people… I am sure that if it were possible for us to hold a referendum on this question, we would have received a unanimous response from the entire people: That we would not put our sons and daughters through the strange fire. Some of the movement leaders agreed, while some objected and some hesitated.” (December 1942, Warsaw Ghetto)
The anonymous journal of the member of the Zionist circles in the Warsaw Ghetto reveals in full an ethical dilemma on seven pages of precious paper. It focuses on proposals from the church to hand over the children from the ghetto, who will be hidden in convents, at the price of conversion.
Krieger says he is uncertain that the words of that person reflected the state of mind in the ghetto. “There were probably many who would object. I showed this segment of the diary to Major-General Yossi Peled, who was saved this way. He was shocked at the idea that if everyone had shared that writer’s thoughts, he would not have been alive today.
“On the other hand, the actual indecision is fascinating. Identity is a weighty question for them at least as much as life itself, and giving up is not obvious. It points to their deep commitment to their religious and national identity.”
How much of a hold did religion have in those dark places? Rabbi Krieger says it sometimes bordered on complete irrationality and incomprehensible fanaticism.
“It could have reached places which were close to bizarre, this desire to maintain the religious lifestyle even a little bit. Like not eating certain things and nearly putting one’s life in danger.
“But also abandoning religion after the war wasn’t always rational. During a conversation we documented between two survivors, one asked his friend what had eventually led him to abandon religion – after fighting for it in the camps. His answer was: ‘The experience of wealth is more difficult than the experience of poverty.’ In other words, that wasn’t necessarily rational either.”
Narrative vanished or concealed?The documents and testimonies collected by the institute raise profound questions about the absence of these narratives in the story of the Holocaust, as we know it.
“There is no doubt that the Holocaust story was engraved in the Israeli society in a very particular narrative,” Rabbi Krieger admits, “and that’s only one aspect of the story that isn’t told.”  The entrance to the Auschwitz concentration camp (Image credit: Getty/ Bettmann) Some people are still torn as a result of what they had to cope with, Rabbi Krieger says. Auschwitz (Photo: EPA)
“The motto of Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day is the most famous one of them. Today we know that heroism has many faces, which do not necessarily include holding a weapon in one’s hand. A mother who protected a child from the reality of hunger is as heroic as that fighter in the ghetto.
“Shem Olam, like other research institutes, is trying to make other narratives present in the story of the Holocaust, because the current one is mainly bubble-like and is missing many parts, and by not talking about them we present a false picture, and falsity will eventually be refuted.”
Was there a guiding hand here, in your opinion?
“I’m trying not to blame. It doesn’t always come from a conscious place, although there is no doubt that some of the concealment was intentional. History is a tool for shaping the present. It presents heroes and conceals others, and we see it also in the late documentation of the wars of Israel, for example.
“The questions of faith and ‘other’ narratives could have disrupted the classic story we are being told, like that ‘the Diaspora world was never optimal compared to the Land of Israel ideal.’ So speaking about strength of spirit in this world may subtract part of the ethos built on their back.
“In addition, the story of the Holocaust was in the hands of historians who were unfamiliar with this world, the religious world. I once sent material on the matter to one of the Israeli professors who specialize in it, and he answered me: ‘I dealt with issues close to my heart, you deal with issues close to your heart.’ And indeed, that’s what happened, but while people were busy commemorating the parts close to them, the other parts simply disappeared from the discourse.”
Rift in Jewish identity has yet to healRabbi Krieger says that during his trips to Poland and other countries, he meets people who are victims of the same identity struggle.
“I Lodz I was approached by a priest in a church, no less, whose mother told him before she died that she was Jewish. He was in a crazy dilemma and didn’t know what to do. I found out later that he stood in front of the entire community in church, told them that he was Jewish, and left everything. He hasn’t found himself to this very day, and he’s not the only one.
“It’s important to know that some people are torn until now as a result of what they had to cope with there. My goal is to raise the ‘other’ stories. It took a while before the survivors could even talk about the Holocaust, and it probably takes longer to talk about what didn’t match the dominant narrative. I believe these stories must emerge, and that from there history will already balance itself.” |
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DARKNESS IMPLODINGSEPTEMBER 13, 2021
By Rabbi Boruch Merkur  frightened one Darkness Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, implodes, raising the question of the effectiveness of mixing in to foreign affairs, spending billions of dollars and at the cost of human lives.
With regime change, there’s never a shortage of armchair politicians and military strategists.[1] On the other hand, the age-old debate of how to best attain peace is discussed in the Torah itself, advice that is directly relevant to peace in our lives. * Having been freed from slavery, the Jewish people journeyed to Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, the formula for peace on earth.[2] The obstacle in the way of freedom and peace was the Egyptian military in hot pursuit. The Jewish people voiced four different responses to the threat, four different steps to securing the ultimate peace.[3]
First, rather than face the adversary, “Let’s throw ourselves into the sea.” Being forced back into slavery is not an option. This group argues that the indignation of capture and (forced) transgression must be avoided at all costs, including, if necessary, self-sacrifice.[4] That way, nothing – no enemy or foreign agenda – can possibly impede our singular devotion to Hashem.
In reaction, the pendulum of dialectics swings the other way: “Let’s return to Egypt.” The command to serve G-d on Mount Sinai will have to wait. Seeing their predicament, this group reasons that it is G-d’s will for Jews to temporarily return to Egypt for further plunder, increasing the spoils from the land of their bondage.
A third position seeks to temper the two extremes – not to surrender our lives to avoid transgression, nor to risk assimilation by returning to Egypt to redirect its resources towards a holy purpose, but – “Let’s wage war with them.” There is no question that facing the enemy comes with extreme danger, but it enables the possibility of victory, freedom from their enemy through their complete annihilation.
The final approach, “Let’s cry out against them,” deals with the enemy, but not by engaging them – not by battling them outright in war, nor by returning to their land to transform it. “Crying out” means to climb above conflict, to a height, a frequency, where nothing opposes G-d’s will.
Moreover, the impact of bypassing conflict through t’filla is immediate. Unlike war, which requires intense effort but a relatively short span of time, and unlike returning to the land to transform it, which takes a long time, authentic prayer brings instant peace:
“Let’s cry out against them” – To counter the threat of the enemy, there is no need for war; all that is required is to daven to G-d. This approach automatically cancels the opposition.
In fact, the expression used here, “Let’s cry out against them,” “nitzvach k’negdan” – not “nispalel l’Hashem,” “let’s pray to G-d.” “Cry out” emphasizes that prayer is (not only d’veikus to Hashem, cleaving to G-d in prayer, tangibly experiencing a connection to the Divine, but) also the effect it has “k’negdan – against them” (to vanquish the threat of the Egyptians).[5]
The function of t’filla to bring peace in this way calls to mind the interpretations of “nitzvach k’negdan” as: 1) a strategy in warfare, whereby the soldiers “tzavchin b’kolan,” “cry out with their voices,” to frighten the enemy; or 2) to strike them down mystically with Divine names.*
But according to these interpretations, “nitzvach k’negdan” is an act of war (and therefore included in the third approach, “Let’s wage war with them,” and not the fourth), whereas according to what we’re saying here, “nitzvach k’negdan” is crying out to Hashem, t’filla, prayer, not an act of war. And the effect of “k’negdan” – does not engage the Egyptians (in war), but – is accomplished b’derech m’meila, of its own accord.
*“Nitzvach k’negdan” alludes to Moshiach, of whom it says, “With the breath of his mouth he kills the wicked,” for this approach was to attack them with Divine names.[6] [7] * “Nitzvach k’negdan” is peace in the world brought about through t’filla, prayer, elevating oneself to a state of uniting and cleaving to G-d – “standing before the King, King of Kings, Hashem.” For in such a state, there is no possibility for opposition to Elokus, Divinity. Rather, the existence of opposition automatically implodes …
This is not by way of adding something to the world, enhancing its natural condition. It is, rather, bringing to light in the world its true state – that it is not possible to oppose Elokus (and it is automatically nullified. The entire purpose of opposition is only to reveal G-d’s power.) This is accomplished through connecting and cleaving to Hashem in t’filla, being uplifted to such heights where there is no possibility for opposition to Elokus.[8]
This also expresses the supremacy of transforming darkness into light (rebellious transgressions being considered like meritorious acts), whereby the darkness of its own accord transforms into light.[9] * NOTES: [1] If only we were as impassioned about those matters we do have a say in. If anything we should feel most secure about world affairs. After all, “The hearts of kings are in the hands of Hashem,” as Moshiach reveals. [2] Rambam’s Laws of Chanuka, end. [3] Although Moshe Rabbeinu advised how to take each level a step higher, that was prior to receiving the Torah. Thereafter, these four approaches are not negated. Rather, they achieve perfection in their own right. (Seifer HaSichos 5751, pg. 856, and FN 172) [4] as Shaul HaMelech reasoned in taking his own life (Seifer HaSichos 5751, pg. 841 FN 50). [5] Seifer HaSichos 5751, pg. 842 [6] Merkavas HaMishna to the Mechilta; Yad Yosef [7] Ibid FN 61 [8] Seifer HaSichos 5751, pg. 844-845 [9] Seifer HaSichos 5751, pg. 854 FN 149. See LS 9, pg. 66. |
THE MYTH OF THE DEMOGRAPHIC THREAT
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ARE WE STILL IN EGYPT?April 2, 2014 Rabbi Gershon Avtzon http://beismoshiachmagazine.org/articles/are-we-still-in-egypt.html
Dear Reader sh’yichyeh, This week we begin the month of miracles, the month of Nissan. It is a month in which we celebrate the dedication of the Mishkan and the liberation from Mitzrayim. It is a month that we focus on Geula and Moshiach, as Chazal teach us “ “B’Nisan Nigalu, U’B’Nisan Asidim L’gael” – In Nisan we were redeemed, and in the future we will be redeemed in Nissan.
Chassidus teaches us that the Geula from Mitzrayim was the first catalyst for the Moshiach. As a matter of fact, the redemption from Mitzrayim is still not complete until the final Geula.
With this understanding, the Rebbe (Chaya Sara 5752) explains a fascinating thing: When Hashem asked Moshe to take the Jewish people out of exile, Moshe responds “Please send your other messenger.” Rashi explains that he is referring to Moshiach.
At first glance, it is puzzling: We all know that Hashem knows best. Why would Moshe argue with Hashem’s decision?
The Rebbe explains: Moshe wasn’t arguing whether he should accept the responsibility or not. He was asking that Hashem connect his mission of taking the Jewish people out of Egypt with the mission of Moshiach to take the Jewish people out of exile to Eretz Yisroel. It is one continuous journey.
That also explains a rather grammatically puzzling Pasuk. The Pasuk says (Micha 7:15) כימי צאתך מארץ מצרים אראנו נפלאות “As in the days of your Exodus from Egypt, I will show [the people] wonders.” The obvious question is: Why does it say “days” in a plural form if we really left Mitzrayim in just one day? The answer – based on the above – is simple: We are still in the midst of the journey of leaving Mitzrayim.
Once we are talking about the connection of Yetzias Mitzrayim and Moshiach, it is important to clarify the following:
We find that the accepted Halachic opinion is that we will continue to mention the exodus even in the times of Moshiach. The Mishna (Brachos 1:8) retells of an interesting discussion among the sages: “Said R. Eliezer ben Azariah: behold I am about seventy years old, and I have never been worthy to [find a reason] why the exodus from Egypt should be mentioned at night time until Ben Zoma expounded it, for it says, ‘that you may remember the day when you came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.’ [Had the text said,] ‘the days of your life’ it would have meant [only] the days; but ‘all the days of your life’ includes the nights as well. The sages, however, say: ‘the days of your life’ refers to this world; ‘all the days of your life’ is to include the remembrance of the exodus even in the days of Moshiach.”
This Halacha obviously demands explanation: Being that the reason behind the Mitzva is to reinforce our belief in Hashem, it would seem superfluous to have this Mitzva in the times of Moshiach. The prophet Yirmiyahu describes the times of Moshiach (31:34) “And no longer shall one teach his neighbor or [shall] one [teach] his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know Me from their smallest to their greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will no longer remember.” Similarly, the Rambam writes (Hilchos Melachim 12:5): “Therefore, the Jews will be great sages and know the hidden matters, grasping the knowledge of their Creator according to the full extent of human potential, as Isaiah 11:9 states: ‘The world will be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the ocean bed.’”
The Rebbe gives a fascinating explanation:
While the time of Moshiach is a time of serenity and spiritual fulfillment, there is one component missing – the struggle to conquer our evil inclination. Why do we need this conquering? Why not simply transform the impurity rather than conquering it first? This subjugation has an advantage in that, as the Alter Rebbe writes in the Tanya, a person is a true servant of G-d when he is constantly battling against and subduing his nature. It is a battle which brings G-dly light into the world.
The situation is similar to that of a king who distributes all of his treasures to his soldiers so that they can fight a war. In peace time, these treasures would never have been touched, much less, spent so freely. This war is the battle with the animal soul, and the victory brings treasures of Divine Revelation.
This is another reason why the Egyptian exodus will be mentioned in the Era of Moshiach. By mentioning the struggles of the exodus – and the personal struggles that we had in exile – we will continue to draw-down these special “spiritual treasures.” In the times of Moshiach these treasures will be totally revealed.
Let us finish with the words of the Rebbe (Nissan 5751):
“Simply put: All Jews, men, women and even children, have the responsibility to increase their efforts to bring our righteous Moshiach in actual reality!
“Therefore, it’s obvious there’s no place for relying on others or imposing the work on someone else instead of doing it one’s self – but this is the task of every man and woman; everyone must themselves do their job, ‘to serve my Maker’ (for the sake of which ‘I was created’), and certainly one has the ability (since ‘I do not ask except according to their ability’).
What this duty consists of is also simple: increasing one’s Torah and mitzvos. This means learning both the open aspects of the Torah and the inner aspects of the Torah and performing the mitzvos with distinction… All of this should be done with an intense anticipation and desire for the Redemption – ‘I anxiously await his coming every day.’ As we say every day in the prayers: ‘May our eyes behold Your return to Zion in mercy’ and (on weekdays) – ‘Speedily cause the scion of David Your servant to flourish.’ This has been mentioned many times.”
Rabbi Avtzon is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Lubavitch Cincinnati and a well sought after speaker and lecturer. Recordings of his in-depth shiurim on Inyanei Geula u’Moshiach can be accessed at http://www.ylcrecording.com. |
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Probably The Most Important Chart In The WorldSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 03/23/2014 http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-23/probably-most-important-chart-world Having discussed the links between economic growth and energy resource constraints, and with the current geo-political fireworks as much about energy (costs, supply, and demand) as they are human rights, it would appear the following chart may well become the most-important indicator of future tensions…
 Self-sufficient rate of energy by country in 2010 source: Goldman Sachs This is not the first time we have discussed “self-sufficiency” – As none other than Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio noted in a slightly different context:
And here we discussed, What If Nations Were Less Dependent On One Another?
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Fundamentally Freund: The Arab pogrom that started it allBy MICHAEL FREUND 03April2014 http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Fundamentally-Freund-The-Arab-pogrom-that-started-it-all-347419  BRITISH POLICE officers corral Jewish men during the 1920 Jerusalem riots Arab assailants proceeded to attack innocent Jewish men, women and children on the streets, punching, kicking and beating them, as well as hurling stones.Today marks an important anniversary, that of a tipping point in the modern Middle East which not only continues to shape our current reality but also serves to remind us of some very important truths about the nature of the ongoing conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Jews.
It was the middle of the morning on April 4, 1920, precisely 94 years ago, during the intermediate days of Passover, and the Jews of Jerusalem thought the danger hanging over them had mostly receded.
Muslims were marking the third and final day of the Nebi Musa festival, and despite fears of large-scale Arab violence, the holiday had thus far passed more quietly than anticipated.
But all that was about to change.
Tens of thousands of Arabs gathered in Jerusalem’s Old City and several speakers began firing up the horde, including the nefarious Haj Amin al-Husseini, who would subsequently be appointed the city’s Mufti.
Amid chants of “Palestine is our land and the Jews are our dogs!” the crowd descended into a violent frenzy and went on the offensive.
Arab assailants proceeded to attack innocent Jewish men, women and children on the streets, punching, kicking and beating them, as well as hurling stones and other objects.
They broke into Jewish homes, raped Jewish women, and plundered property. Cemeteries and yeshivot were also attacked, with tombstones and Torah scrolls falling victim to the Arab mob’s fury.
Arab policemen, whose task was to maintain order, instead joined in the fray, while the British Mandatory authorities responded with their characteristic lethargy and incompetence.
Over 100 Jews were injured in just the first few hours, and the rioting intensified the following day, leading the British to impose martial law. Finally, after several more days of unrest, the violence was finally quelled.
When the dust had settled, a total of five Jews had been killed and more than 200 wounded, while four Arabs were dead and 25 injured.
Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann along with a senior British military officer insisted that the British Mandatory authorities had actively encouraged Arab leaders to incite the violence due to their hostility towards Zionism.
One month later, in May 1920, the British government dispatched a commission of inquiry, known as the Palin Commission, to investigate.
In predictable fashion, the final report sought to place blame on both sides, criticizing the Zionists for “impatience to achieve their ultimate goal,” as if that would somehow justify an Arab pogrom.
Nonetheless, the commission did note that it was clear that “the incidence of the attack was against the Jews and… was made in customary mob fashion with sticks, stones and knives. All the evidence goes to show that these attacks were of a cowardly and treacherous description, mostly against old men, women and children, and frequently in the back.”
The repercussions of the riots were profound.
Among other things, they led to the organization and establishment of more Jewish self-defense units which became the core of the Hagana, thereby accelerating the process of Jewish independence.
And among the Arabs, the riots crystallized the formation of a “Palestinian national consciousness.”
As Dr. Daniel Pipes noted in “The Year the Arabs Discovered Palestine” (Middle East Review, Summer 1989), “In January 1920, Palestinian nationalism hardly existed; by December of that critical year, it had been born.”
But beyond the fact that we are still feeling the impact of the riots even today, it is worth recalling what happened so long ago in the streets of Jerusalem because it serves as an important reminder of what the Arab-Israeli conflict is truly all about.
Simply put: it has nothing to do with Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria and everything to do with Jews.
Unless they had extraordinary paranormal powers enabling them to gaze into the future, the Arab rioters of 1920 did not spill innocent blood because Jews would later settle in Beit El and Kedumim in the 1970s and ’80s.
And they did not go on the rampage because they believed in two states, Arab and Jewish, living side by side in peace and security.
They attacked Jews then, as they do today, because they are unwilling to accept a permanent and sovereign Jewish presence in the region.
Their dream today remains what it was back in 1920: to scare us off and clear us out.
Then, as now, the Palestinian Arabs are unwilling to recognize the biblical, historical and moral right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel.
And then, as now, they are willing to employ violence and terror to advance their goals.
And this is why all the plans, from the Rogers plan to the Reagan plan, from the Oslo accords to the Kerry plan, have accomplished little, because they ignore the cold, hard truth that has been staring us all in the face for the past century: there can be no peace because the Palestinian Arabs do not want peace. What they want is Israel.
The writer served as deputy communications director in the Prime Minister’s Office under Binyamin Netanyahu during his first term. |
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Before Kerry’s “Apartheid” was Kerry’s “Poof”, which Followed Rav Ovadia’s “Poof”April 29, 2014 https://yeranenyaakov.blogspot.com/2014/04/before-kerrys-apartheid-was-kerrys-poof.html  Arab Demands: DEATH TO ALL JEWS! John Kerry “Could you at least meet him half way?” Secretary of State John Kerry has gotten himself into lots of trouble lately. His latest faux pas of saying Israel is heading towards being an apartheid state if the accursed “2-state solution” doesn’t pan out – on the eve of Yom Hashoah no less – has brought him well-deserved condemnation from the (Jewish) House Majority Leader, an outspoken Texas Senator, an op-ed on Fox News, and pretty much any person who understands the meaning of the word and its incongruity with anything that is happening or could happen in Eretz Yisrael. Mr. Kerry subsequently issued a clarification, but not really an apology, and even the clarification left a bad taste in the mouths of those who really do know what Israel is all about. But even before the “Apartheid” speech was the “Poof” speech, where, talking about the final batch of murderous prisoners to be released, he said:
This generated headlines in the Jerusalem Post, for example, of “Israel ‘deeply disappointed’ with Kerry’s ‘Poof Speech’“. That was putting it mildly. It was downright shameful.  Rav Ovadia Yosef ZT”L (September 24, 1920 – October 7, 2013) Not to worry, though. Secretary Kerry’s “Poof Speech” was – by almost 13 years – preceded by Rav Ovadia Yosef ZT”L’s “Poof Speech”. In 5761, Rav Ovadia ZT”L prefaced his remarks by bemoaning then-former PM Netanyahu’s and then-current PM Sharon’s lack of courage when talking to foreign leaders. Speaking during the time when Arabs were blowing up buses all over Israel, killing and maiming hundreds of Israelis R”L, Rav Ovadia ZT”L described what Mashiah would do to these people (my translation):
So, just as the Jewish people’s Shekalim precede Haman’s Shekalim and nullify them every month of Adar, similarly, Rav Ovadia’s “Poof” preceded Secretary Kerry’s “Poof” and we hope and pray that it nullified it. May his words and the words of our prophets be fulfilled speedily in our days, Amen. |
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John Kerry is an anti-Semite!
From Caroline Glick John Kerry’s Jewish best friends29April2014 http://carolineglick.com/john-kerrys-jewish-best-friends/  Abu Mazen embarrassed Anti-Semitism is not a simple bigotry. It is a complex neurosis. It involves assigning malign intent to Jews where none exists on the one hand, and rejecting reason as a basis for understanding the world and operating within it on the other hand.
John Kerry’s recent use of the term “Apartheid” in reference to Israel’s future was an anti-Semitic act.
In remarks before the Trilateral Commission a few days after PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas signed a unity deal with the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror groups, Kerry said that if Israel doesn’t cut a deal with the Palestinians soon, it will either cease to be a Jewish state or it will become “an apartheid state.”
Leave aside the fact that Kerry’s scenarios are based on phony demographic data. As I demonstrate in my book The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East, Israel will maintain a strong and growing Jewish majority in a “unitary state” that includes the territory within the 1949 armistice lines and Judea and Samaria. But even if Kerry’s fictional data were correct, the only “Apartheid state” that has any chance of emerging is the Palestinian state that Kerry claims Israel’s survival depends on. The Palestinians demand that the territory that would comprise their state must be ethnically cleansed of all Jewish presence before they will agree to accept sovereign responsibility for it.
In other words, the future leaders of that state – from the PLO, Hamas and Islamic Jihad alike — are so imbued with genocidal Jew hatred that they insist that all 650,000 Jews living in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria must be forcibly ejected from their homes. These Jewish towns, cities and neighborhoods must all be emptied before the Palestinians whose cause Kerry so wildly champions will even agree to set up their Apartheid state.
According to the 1998 Rome Statute, Apartheid is a crime of intent, not of outcome. It is the malign intent of the Palestinians –across their political and ideological spectrum — to found a state predicated on anti-Jewish bigotry and ethnic cleansing. In stark contrast, no potential Israeli leader or faction has any intention of basing national policies on racial subjugation in any form.
By ignoring the fact that every Palestinian leader views Jews as a contaminant that must be blotted out from the territory the Palestinians seek to control, (before they will even agree to accept sovereign responsibility for it), while attributing to Jews malicious intent towards the Palestinians that no Israeli Jewish politician with a chance of leading the country harbors, Kerry is adopting a full-throated and comprehensive anti-Semitic position.
It is both untethered from reason and libelous of Jews.
Speaking to the Daily Beast about Kerry’s remarks on Sunday, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki was quick to use the “some of his best friends are Jewish,” defense.
In her words, “Secretary Kerry, like Justice Minister [Tzipi] Livni, and previous Israeli Prime Ministers [Ehud] Olmert and [Ehud] Barak, was reiterating why there’s no such thing as a one-state solution if you believe, as he does, in the principle of a Jewish state. He was talking about the kind of future Israel wants.”
So in order to justify his own anti-Semitism – and sell it to the American Jewish community – Kerry is engaging in vulgar partisan interference in the internal politics of another country. Indeed, Kerry went so far as to hint that if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is forced from power, and Kerry’s Jewish best friends replace him, then things will be wonderful. In his words, if “there is a change of government or a change of heart, something will happen.” By inserting himself directly into the Israeli political arena, Kerry is working from his mediator Martin Indyk’s playbook.
Since his tenure as US ambassador to Israel during the Clinton administration, Indyk has played fast and dirty in Israeli politics, actively recruiting Israelis to influence Israeli public opinion to favor the Left while castigating non-leftist politicians and regular Israeli citizens as evil, stupid and destructive.
Livni, Olmert, Barak and others probably don’t share Kerry’s anti-Semitic sensitivities. Although their behavior enables foreigners like Kerry to embrace anti-Semitic positions, their actions are most likely informed by their egotistical obsessions with power. Livni, Olmert and Barak demonize their political opponents because the facts do not support their policies. The only card they have to play is the politics of personal destruction. And so they use it over and over again.
This worked in the past. That is why Olmert and Barak were able to form coalition governments. But the cumulative effects of the Palestinian terror war that began after Israel offered the PLO statehood at Camp David in 2000, the failure of the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, and the 2006 war with Lebanon have brought about a situation where the Israeli public is no longer willing to buy what the Left is selling.
Realizing this, Barak, Livni and others have based their claim to political power on their favored status in the US. In Netanyahu’s previous government, Barak parlayed the support he received from the Obama administration into his senior position as Defense Minister. Today, Livni’s position as Justice Minister and chief negotiator with the PLO owes entirely to the support she receives from the Obama administration.
Neither Barak nor Livni ever lost sight of the cause for their political elevation, despite their electoral defeats.
Livni – again, like Barak in Netanyahu’s previous government – has been able to hold her senior government position and exert influence over government policy by claiming that only her presence in the government is keeping the US at bay. According to this line of thinking, without her partnership, the Obama administration will turn on Israel.
Now that Kerry has given a full throated endorsement of anti-Semitic demagoguery, Livni’s leverage is vastly diminished. Since Kerry’s anti-Semitic statements show that Livni has failed to shield Israel from the Obama administration’s hostility, the rationale for her continued inclusion in the government has disappeared.
The same goes for the Obama administration’s favorite American Jewish group J Street. Since its formation in the lead up to the 2008 Presidential elections, J Street has served as the Obama administration’s chief supporter in the US Jewish community. J Street uses rhetorical devices that were relevant to the political realities of the 1990s to claim that it is both “pro-peace and pro-Israel.” Twenty years into the failed peace process, for Israeli ears at least, these slogans ring hollow.
But the real problem with J Street’s claim isn’t that its rhetoric is irrelevant. The real problem is that its rhetoric is deceptive.
J Street’s record has nothing to do with either supporting Israel or peace. Rather it has a record of continuous anti-Israel agitation. J Street has continuously provided American Jewish cover for the administration’s anti-Israel actions by calling for it to take even more extreme actions. These have included calling for the administration to support an anti-Israel resolution at the UN Security Council, and opposing sanctions against Iran for its illicit nuclear weapons program. J Street has embraced the PLO’s newest unity pact with Hamas and Islamic Jihad. And now it is defending Kerry for engaging in rank anti-Semitism with his “Apartheid” remarks.
J Street’s political action committee campaigns to defeat pro-Israel members of Congress. And its campus operation brings speakers to US university campuses that slander Israel and the IDF and call for the divestment of university campuses from businesses owned by Israelis.
On Wednesday, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations is set to vote on J Street’s application to join the umbrella group as a “pro-peace, pro-Israel” organization.
Kerry’s “Apartheid” remarks are a watershed event. They represent the first time a sitting US Secretary of State has publically endorsed an anti-Semitic caricature of Jews and the Jewish state.
The best response that both the Israeli government and the Jewish community can give to Kerry’s act of unprecedented hostility and bigotry is to reject his Jewish enablers. Livni should be shown the door. And the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations should reject J Street’s bid for membership.
Caroline B. Glick is the author of The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East.
Originally published in The Jerusalem Post. . TOP |
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Hezbollah and Israel’s Lawyers-in-ChiefFrom Caroline Glick June 13th, 2014 http://carolineglick.com/hezbollah-and-israels-lawyers-in-chief/  Dick: The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.
 Iraq crisis: ISIS militants: Iraq execution Al-Qaeda militants The Middle East is rapidly changing. Indeed, it is convulsing. After generations of stasis, where strong, despotic central governments ruled with an iron fist and everyone knew who he was and who he was not, today everything – borders, regimes, identities – is in flux.
Take Iraq. Last week, residents of Mosul lived under Iraqi government control. On Tuesday, they lived under al-Qaida control.
Today national governments throughout the Islamic world are incapable of defeating strategically minded and aggressive jihadist militias like al-Qaida and proxy forces for the likes of Iran.
The most prominent example of an organization that is strategically flexible and capable of evolving and learning is Hezbollah. Since Iran founded the Shi’ite terrorist organization in 1982, Hezbollah has operated on multiple levels simultaneously.
Today it is an international terrorist organization with cells throughout the world. It is Iran’s foreign legion. It is a member of the Lebanese government.
It controls south Lebanon. And it fields its own formidable military force that now serves as the core of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s military forces in the Syrian civil war.
All of these disparate tasks require an enormous capacity for organizational flexibility and learning.
This brings us to Israel.
Leaving aside Iran’s nuclear weapons program, Hezbollah is the greatest looming threat Israel faces. In his address this week before the Herzliya Conference, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz said that Hezbollah has the sixth most powerful military in the world.
Not only does it have a missile arsenal capable of destroying strategic targets in Israel including air force bases and electrical stations, Hezbollah’s experience in Syria has provided its commanders with the capacity to carry out sophisticated ground operations unlike any Israel has seen.
Yet according to an article published in the latest issue of the IDF’s journal Ma’arachot by IDF intelligence officer Lt.-Col. N., the IDF’s assessment of Hezbollah’s war-fighting strategy remains frozen in time.
According to N., Israel’s preparations for a future war with Hezbollah have been focused on improving its responses to Hezbollah’s operations in the Second Lebanon War eight years ago. In that war, Hezbollah was unfettered by military commitments in Syria or elsewhere. It had all the time in the world. And so, its goal was to wait Israel out and maintain the capacity to continue attacking it with missiles and rockets until the last moment of the fighting. That is, Hezbollah’s aim was to win the war by not losing it. And as N. explains, Hezbollah accomplished its mission.
Since then, Israel has focused its efforts and resources on preventing Hezbollah from repeating its achievement by developing the means to destroy hundreds of targets at the same time.
The problem, N. explains, is that Hezbollah has moved on. Hezbollah is not the same organization it was eight years ago. It has new capabilities and new responsibilities. There is no reason for Israel to assume that Hezbollah will operate by the same playbook today that it used in 2006.
Based on speeches by Hezbollah commanders in recent years in which they called for a conquest of the Galilee, and given their expanded responsibilities and capabilities in Lebanon and Syria, N. argues that Hezbollah may prefer a short war involving a combination of missile assaults on military targets and a ground invasion of the Galilee.
N. pointed to a number of vulnerabilities in Israel’s defenses that owe to some degree to our leadership’s focus on winning the last war rather than adapting to our to enemies’ changing capabilities and developing a full spectrum of options for defeating them.
His article has received wide attention. But it is far from clear that his wake-up call will be heeded.
Adapting the IDF’s strategic concept to one capable of confronting Hezbollah today requires the IDF’s senior commanders to be flexible and willing to take risks. Yet Israel’s General Staff is conservative, rigid and, most importantly, risk averse.
N. wrote that most IDF officers and soldiers were deeply disappointed and distressed about Israel’s performance in the 2006 war with Hezbollah, because they recognized that the IDF’s failure to defeat Hezbollah rendered the jihadist force the victor.
But one faction of Israeli society viewed the war as an out-and-out victory. That faction is the legal fraternity.
Due to the widespread outrage over the war’s progression, then-prime minister Ehud Olmert was compelled to form the Winograd Commission to study the military and political leadership’s stewardship of the war.
In testimony before the Winograd Commission, then-attorney-general Menahem Mazuz extolled the war as “the most ‘lawyerly’ in the history of the State of Israel, and perhaps ever.”
It wasn’t that IDF commanders put legal considerations ahead of operational and strategic goals. It was worse than that.
According to Mazuz, the generals and the political leaders limited their goals from the outset to what they hoped would conform with perceived legal restrictions. This restraint, he bragged, was “the result of a sort of education and internalization that have taken place over the years.
“I remember periods when there was a great deal of friction with the senior military level regarding what is allowed and what is prohibited. But today I think there is more or less an understanding of the rules of the game, and I can’t identify any confrontation… or… demands to ‘let the IDF win.’” According to then-IDF military advocate-general Brig.-Gen. Avi Mandelblit and Mazuz, legal advisers were present at all levels of command in all the relevant service arms and in the security cabinet.
At each level the lawyers were asked to judge the legality of all the proposed targets and planned operations before they were carried out. And as the two explained, in their decisions, these lawyers were informed not by the goal of winning the war but by their interpretation of international law.
Law professor Ruth Gavison, who was a member of the commission, found their testimony deeply disturbing.
“I find this analysis harsh,” she chided. “I think that you have ignored the fact that international law is plagued with problems of selective enforcement and that the application and use of international law in the context of international conflicts is very biased and very political…. Therefore, [reliance on international law] seems to me to be a position that is possible to argue on a rhetorical level, but to internalize it as a real position, that looks to me like a strategic danger.”
Unfortunately, Gavison’s warning fell on deaf ears. Not only has the power of radicalized lawyers with a distorted view of the laws of war not been rolled back in the intervening years. It has expanded, to the point where today, staff officers in the military refuse to carry out lawful instructions from the government.
For instance, according to Haaretz, on Sunday Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was scheduled to meet with the heads of the military government’s Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria to consider ways of sanctioning the Palestinian Authority, which is now led by a Fatah- Hamas government in material breach of the agreements the PLO signed with Israel.
The civil administration was supposed to present recommendations for such sanctions for Netanyahu’s approval. But last Thursday, the civil administration’s staff officers rebelled. At a preparatory meeting, they decided to offer the prime minister no recommendations. According to Haaretz, among other things, they said they couldn’t sanction the Palestinians because it is their duty to help them. They further argued that sanctions “will be difficult to defend from a legal standpoint.”
In other words, radicalized staff levels of the IDF openly defy the government when it tries to provide for the common defense by taking action against Israel’s enemies. They then justify their actions by hiding behind amorphous and contrived legal restrictions.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Consider the long-term consequences of the Mavi Marmara incident.
In May 2010, IDF naval commandos boarded the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara to prevent it from unlawfully breaching Israel’s maritime blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Terrorists aboard the ship attacked the soldiers with knives, clubs and other weapons with the intent of killing them. The soldiers defended themselves and killed nine terrorists.
The blame-Israel-first crowd, otherwise known as the international community, accused Israel of committing war crimes.
Rather than simply reject the slanderous accusation, led by the legal fraternity, Israel played along.
As a consequence, Israel formed the Turkel Commission charged with determining whether Israel’s system of investigating charges of war crimes meets the requirement of international law.
In the event, in February the commission submitted a 1,000-page report to Netanyahu. It concluded that Israel’s system does abide by the requirements of international law.
Yet, despite this fact, it recommended removing the authority to investigate war crimes allegations from the IDF and transferring it to the attorney- general and the military advocate-general who would no longer be subordinate to the IDF chief of General Staff.
Moreover, the commission recommended that Israel’s political leadership and General Staff be held criminally culpable “for violations committed by their subordinates, if they do not take all reasonable measures to prevent these violations or do not bring those responsible to justice when they find out about violations after the fact.”
The strategic implications of the Turkel Commission’s recommendations are earth shattering.
They mean that from now on, when defending Israel from its enemies, both government ministers and generals will be at the mercy of a self-appointed, radical, unaccountable legal fraternity whose interpretation of the laws of war has but a glancing relationship with the laws of war.
As Mazuz explained its interpretation back in 2007, “The laws of war, or international humanitarian law doesn’t concern itself with relations between two states, but with the relationship between civilians and states. That is, it places the two warring states on one side of the divide and the citizens of the two states on the other side, and the goal of international law is to protect the citizens of the two states and to say: You’re big kids. You want to fight, go fight, you have rules… and the rules aim to minimize as much as possible the consequences of the war.”
In other words, just as the civil administration officers argued, following international law means caring more about enemy populations than you care about your own. Civilian and military leaders who seek to secure Israel are now being subordinated to lawyers whose primary concern is the enemy.
This is a recipe for disaster.
At a time when the threats against us quickly change, grow and change again, we need political and military leaders who are courageous, creative and willing to take calculated risks. But due to our leaders’ unwillingness to challenge our imperial legal guild, we find ourselves at this dangerous juncture with no means of adjusting to strategic shifts.
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From Caroline Glick website:
Israel, Hamas and Obama’s foreign policy29July2014 http://carolineglick.com/israel-hamas-and-obamas-foreign-policy-2/ When US President Barack Obama phoned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday night, in the middle of a security cabinet meeting, he ended any remaining doubt regarding his policy toward Israel and Hamas.
Obama called Netanyahu while the premier was conferring with his senior ministers about how to proceed in Gaza. Some ministers counseled that Israel should continue to limit our forces to specific pinpoint operations aimed at destroying the tunnels of death that Hamas has dug throughout Gaza and into Israeli territory.
Others argued that the only way to truly destroy the tunnels, and keep them destroyed, is for Israel to retake control over the Gaza Strip.
No ministers were recommending that Israel end its operations in Gaza completely. The longer our soldiers fight, the more we learn about the vast dimensions of the Hamas’s terror arsenal, and about the Muslim Brotherhood group’s plans and strategy for using it to destabilize, demoralize and ultimately destroy Israeli society.
The IDF’s discovery of Hamas’s Rosh Hashana plot was the last straw for any Israeli leftists still harboring fantasies about picking up our marbles and going home. Hamas’s plan to use its tunnels to send hundreds of terrorists into multiple Israeli border communities simultaneously and carry out a massacre of unprecedented scope, replete with the abduction of hostages to Gaza, was the rude awakening the Left had avoided since it pushed for Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza.
In other words, in their discussion Sunday night, Netanyahu and his ministers were without illusions about the gravity of the situation and the imperative of winning – however defined.
But then the telephone rang. And Obama told Netanyahu that Israel must lose. He wants an unconditional “humanitarian” cease-fire that will lead to a permanent one.
And he wants it now.
And by the way, the eventual terms of that cease-fire must include opening Hamas-controlled Gaza’s borders with Egypt and Israel and ending Israel’s maritime blockade of the Gaza coast. That is, the cease-fire must allow Hamas to rebuild its arsenal of death and destruction quickly, with US political and financial support.
Until Obama made the call, there was lingering doubt among some Israelis regarding his intentions. Some thought that US Secretary of State John Kerry might have been acting of his own accord last Friday night when he tried to force Israel to accept Hamas’s cease-fire terms.
But then Obama made his phone call. And all doubts were dispelled.
Kerry is just a loyal steward of Obama’s foreign policy.
Obama is siding with Hamas, and its Muslim Brotherhood patrons in Qatar and Turkey, against Israel, and its Sunni Arab supporters – Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
It is Obama who demands that Hamas have open borders so it can resupply, and receive billions of dollars – starting with an immediate cash injection of $47 million from US taxpayers – so it can pay North Korea for more missiles and import building materials to reconstruct its tunnels.
The fact that the US’s current preference for genocidal, Jew-hating jihadists over the only liberal, pro-American, stable US ally in the Middle East is a White House position, rather than that of a rogue Secretary of State was actually exposed even before Obama’s phone call.
Sunday CNN’s Candy Crowley interviewed Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes. She asked him what the administration thinks Israel can do to prevent civilians from being killed in Gaza beyond what it is already doing. Rhodes replied, “I think you can always do more.”
In other words, Rhodes said that no matter what precautions Israel takes to try to minimize Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza, the administration will never be satisfied. The White House will never acknowledge that Israel is in the right, or that it is fighting a moral war against a barbaric foe. And since the administration will never be satisfied, Israel can expect to be condemned by various UN bodies, including the Security Council, because no matter what it does to try to earn the support of the administration, it will never receive such support.
The discovery that the Obama administration is entirely in Hamas’s corner hit all of Israel hard. But it hit the Left the hardest. Few on the Right, which recognized Obama’s hostility from the outset of his presidency, were surprised.
As for political leaders, the government cannot risk giving the administration justification for its anti-Israel policies, so senior ministers have all said nothing.
Consequently, the harshest criticisms of the administration’s pro-Hamas position were heard from quarters where rarely a peep of criticism for Obama has been heard.
The Israeli Left went ballistic.
Haaretz, the far-left broadsheet that has seldom taken issue with even the harshest rejections of Israel’s rights, went bananas after its reporter Barak Ravid received the details of Kerry’s cease-fire agreement. As Ravid put it, Kerry’s document, “might as well have been penned by Khaled Mashaal. It was everything Hamas could have hoped for.”
Ravid continued, “What Kerry’s draft spells for the internal Palestinian political arena is even direr: It crowns Hamas and issues Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with a death warrant.”
And that is really the crux of the issue. The crowd at Haaretz is far more wedded to the PLO and Mahmoud Abbas than it is to the government of Israel. And the administration’s support for Hamas exposed the PLO as an irrelevance.
As the paper’s Amos Harel wrote the next day, Kerry’s pro-Hamas behavior convinced the Egyptians and other actors that the administration is “continuing its secret love affairs with the Muslim Brotherhood in the region.”
The Left understands that the administration’s behavior has destroyed it.
Leftists can no longer say that Israeli territorial withdrawals will win it international support.
They can no longer say that Israel will receive US support if it places the security of Palestinian civilians above the security of its own civilians and military forces.
They can no longer say that the PLO is the answer.
The Israeli Left has been Obama’s ace in the hole since he first ran for office, fresh from the pews in Jeremiah Wright’s anti-Semitic church. They were the grease in the wheels that legitimized the administration’s anti-Israel pressure group J Street. They were the ones who could be counted on to tell the US media and the American Jews that Netanyahu is to blame for Obama’s hostility.
Yet, rather than backtrack, and try to save the Israeli Left, the administration doubled down on Monday, releasing a series of statements condemning the Israeli media’s condemnations of Kerry’s pro-Hamas position.
By Monday afternoon, the administration went so far as to say that by criticizing Kerry, Israel’s media were endangering their country’s alliance with the US.
In other words, through his actions, Obama demonstrated that his “love affairs with the Muslim Brotherhood in the region,” are so central to his foreign policy calculations that he is willing to destroy the Israeli Left in order to strengthen the Brotherhood.
And this leads us to the larger point about Obama’s foreign policy, which his Sunday night telephone call to Netanyahu revealed. As rattled as Israelis are over Obama’s decision to support Hamas against Israel, Netanyahu made clear in his remarks Monday night that Israel has no choice but to keep fighting until we defeat this barbaric enemy.
Netanyahu didn’t mention Obama, but it was obvious that he was respectfully refusing to hand Israel’s head on a platter to Hamas’s friend in the White House.
And while it is hard for Israel to ignore Obama, it is impossible for Americans to ignore him. He runs their foreign policy.
Americans are the ones who need to be most alarmed by what Obama’s actions on behalf of Hamas reveal about the general direction of American Middle East policy under his leadership.
For the past five years, Americans from all quarters have concluded that the manifold failures of Obama’s Middle East policies – from Iraq to Iran, Libya, Afghanistan, Egypt, Syria, Israel, the Palestinian Authority and beyond – owe to a combination of Obama’s personal disinterest in foreign affairs and his presumed preference for withdrawal and isolationism over engagement.
Obama himself has often encouraged this perception with his endless golf games and his talk about fighting “the war at home.”
Obama’s open, public engagement in Hamas’s war against Israel shows that the popular assessment is wrong.
Obama is as involved in the Middle East as all of his immediate predecessors were. He is personally leading US policy on every front. Kerry is not an independent actor.
The problem is that in every war, in every conflict and in every contest of wills that has occurred in the Middle East since Obama took office, he has sided with Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, against America’s allies.
Under Obama, America has switched sides. |
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How to Get Our Boys Back Homehttp://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Message.aspx/5849#.U6HYtVGk2b8 By Tamar Yonah 15June2014  The names of the three boys who were kidnapped on Thursday night 12June2014 ט״ו בְּסִיוָן תשע״ד have been cleared for publication. They are Naftali Frankel, 16 from Nof Ayalon near Modi’in; Gilad Shaar, 16, from Talmon in the West Bank near Ramallah, and Eyal Yifrach, 19 from Elad in central Israel near Petah Tikva. Naftali Frankel is a dual American-Israeli citizen. Please Pray for Them Yaakov Naftali ben Rachel Devorah Gilad Michael ben Bat Galim Eyal ben Iris Teshurah  The ‘Palestinians’ continue to celebrate the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers as if they won the World Series. Here are a couple of pictures posted on Facebook by David HaIvri. 17June2014  Palestinians pass out candy to celebrate kidnapping of 3 teenagers 15June2014 We are all distraught at the brutal and inhumane kidnapping of our three teenage boys. Everyone is talking about what can and should be done. Below are steps the Israeli government can do to retrieve our kidnapped boys;
1) Offer a $1 million dollar reward. We all know what police detectives say, that one ‘shtinker’ (squealer) is better than the ‘top of the line’ forensic laboratory. Offer a million dollar reward and give them a one way ticket to Oslo, Norway, where the Oslo accords were made, -or to any other Western country that will take him/her in. 2) Put a complete ‘seger’ or closure on all Arab towns in Judea & Samaria where nothing will come in or out, until they give us our back our sons. 3) The Hamas and Fatah are united into ONE P.A. government now. Make it extremely uncomfortable for its leadership and it’s population which produces, raises and harbors terrorists like this. Make it so uncomfortable for them, that THEY demand that their terrorists release and deliver the boys unharmed and back to freedom. 4) Let there be no mistake, we are in a war. This is not a war that we waged. This is a war that the Arabs have waged against us. In war, infrastructure is taken out as needed, until the enemy surrenders. All P.A. infrastructure should be taken down, including radio & television. Electricity should be cut off. Water can also be cut off if need be. 5) Last, but certainly not least, we must PRAY, do more good deeds, and improve on our observance of the commandments of the Torah.
The Arabs are gleeful. Instead of going out into the streets to hand out sweets in jubilant celebration of these kidnappings, the Arabs should be cowering in their homes, wondering what the Israelis are going to do to them because they produced and support these terrorists.
For those who complain that we cannot do this because we are in negotiations, then let us remember that when Germany was suing for peace towards the end of WWII, the Allies were still being attacked by the Nazis. War was still on. Attacks were still being perpetrated, and the Allied Forces were fighting hard as the war was still on. The Allies did not accept the Nazis peace terms. The Allies demanded a total and complete surrender. And they got it, but only after the Nazis were crushed. Only after Germany felt that it was not in their interests anymore to fight. Only when they had no hope of winning. Only when they realized it was smarter to stop and live in peace, did they submit to total surrender. The Allies had won. Europe and the world was again at peace. Japan would soon offer a complete surrender as well. And though the actions taken were not palatable for news headlines, the Good Guys knew that evil had to be destroyed. Period. America went into Germany, the Germans were re-educated and the continent enjoyed peace. There was no diplomatic solution (as we are lectured to today by the International Community), there was only a military solution.
Israel has negotiated ‘peace plans’ until it was blue in the face. Camp David Accords (1978)The Reagan Peace Plan (September 1, 1982) Madrid Conference of 1991 Oslo Accords (1993) Wye River Memorandum (October 23, 1998) The Clinton Peace Plan (December 23, 2000) Mitchell Commission (Plan) ( October 17, 2000 ) The Tenet Plan (June 10, 2001) Camp David 2000 Summit (2000) Taba summit (January, 2001) The Zinni Plan (March 26, 2002) Elon Peace Plan (2002) Arab Peace Initiative (March 28, 2002) The 2002 Nusseibeh-Ayalon Principles The People’s Voice (July 27, 2002) March 2002 Saudi Peace Initiative Geneva Accord (October 20, 2003) Sharm el-Sheikh Summit of 2005 (February 8, 2005) 2006 Franco-Italian-Spanish Middle East Peace Plan Binational solution Two-state solution Saudi peace proposal Red Sea Summit The Road map
There will not be peace, when evil doers are rewarded and not punished. There has to be justice and law and order to have a safe and a righteous society. Let me share a story:
A soldier who just finished his 3 year stint in the IDF told me that if an IDF soldier who is driving a hummer or some other army vehicle, and accidentally hit something or damaged the vehicle, it is an automatic ‘mishpat’ -he must stand trial for the damage. Even if it was an accident and he never meant to do it. When Arabs purposefully throw rocks at drivers on the road, with the intent of killing them or at least doing bodily harm to them and have them crash their vehicles, ….nothing happens to them. They get away with it. Very rarely is an Arab brought to trial for throwing rocks. Rockets are launched into Israel weekly, sometimes daily, and a few toilets are blown up in Gaza by the IAF. No real damage to end the capability of these terrorists is done. Why, you may ask? There is a ‘price tag’ for doing so, and the government perhaps thinks that it is worth it to absorb the blows and the hits, as long as too many people aren’t hurt or killed, in order to keep things at a low simmer, rather than risking an escalation that would force us to go in and clean up in a major operation. It saddens me to say, that only when the population is hunkering in bomb shelters and schools need to be closed and life cannot go on, does the Israeli government go to more meaningful action – which, as soon as we are making headway, is stopped in its tracks with the U.S. Secretary of State running to the region to broker a cease-fire, where it ends up that we cease, and they fire. After a brief pause, it is back to the same old, same old, and rockets and attacks against Israel resume.
Again, let me refer to a piece I have written some years back, on the only way to have peace, and that is called, ‘The Isaiah Plan’. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Message.aspx/5006#.U51TH5SSxIE [EDD: See Below:] If former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert can go to jail for taking bribes, if the former Israeli Ministers Aryeh Deri, Avraham Hirschson, Shlomo Benizri, Gonen Segev, can all be brought up on charges and convicted of taking bribes or siphoning funds and go to jail, then surely so can these Arab Palestinian Authority Officials who are members of murderous terrorist organizations – the Fatah and the Hamas, et al, -who by the way, are also rumored to be criminals taking bribes and stashing money, sent from the international community, into their own bank accounts (those are your tax dollars and euros you pay in the USA and Europe, by the way). Certainly this corrupt and terrorist entity should and must be dismantled, and its criminal leadership brought to justice. It’s time. (It was time 20 years ago.)  Albert Einstein definition of insanity  Albert Einstein Hebrew quote “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” אי שפיות זה לעשות אותו דבר פעם אחד פעם ולצפת לתוצאות שונות Repeating the same behavior over and over again and expecting different results is madness, as the old saying goes. Oslo is Dead. It is a cold corpse. You can put lipstick on its lips, you can put red rouge on its cheeks, but a corpse is still a corpse. Bury it. Dismantle the Palestinian Authority and bring it’s leadership to justice. Some Arabs will thank Israel for this, for they know better than anyone, how corrupt their leadership is.
Now, we pray some more for our sons who are waiting for us to rescue them. Yaacov Naftali ben Rachel Devora, comment:
Here is one Jew’s response to the IDF’s #hashtag campaign.
California Muscle Jew Boy said…
Many Others have asked…
Mr. Happy’s comment: This is how to get our boys back homeK9 unit: Who ever you find, eat-em!
 Missile Attack on Jerusalem Israel Color Red Alert Siren
Who ever you find, eat-em! A Facebook page that calls for a terrorist to be killed every hour until the three kidnapped Israeli teenagers are returned has garnered nearly 20,000 likes since being posted on Saturday. https://www.facebook.com/lehaselmehabel In addition to exposing Facebook pages belonging to terrorists, the page also discusses (in Hebrew) how other countries deal with terrorists. Here’s an example. |
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The Isaiah Plan: The Only Formula for PeaceTamar Yonah , 07March2012 18:07 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Message.aspx/5006#.U51TH5SSxIE The Isaiah Plan. This is the only formula that will bring peace.(This is a re-post of a blog I wrote back in 2007 around the time of the Annapolis peace talks. However, I believe it is still pertinent today, and I talked about this on my most recent radio show.)
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is coming to the region for yet ANOTHER stab at peace. -The establishment of a Palestinian State. It’s not enough that there are at least 22 Arab states already in existence, and only 1 tiny, tiny Israel. They want to chop us up some more, slice us to bits like salami, and place a Moslem ‘Palestinian Terror State’ right in the belly of Israel.
This is where I live, this is where my house is, this is where my children were born and raised. This is where my ancestors lived. This is the region that G-d gave to the 12 tribes of Israel. They want to cut our heart out, wrest Jerusalem from us, and make it into a Palestinian state. Dig down in the earth here, you will find JEWISH, not Arab artifacts. This is where Jewish Kings ruled. There were never any ‘Palestinian’ kings, and a country of ‘Palestine’ never existed. Palestine was the Jewish Homeland. My father was a ‘Palestinian’. Most Arabs came in to this ‘Jewish’ region looking for work as more and more Jews came home and joined their brothers who were here for centuries. These Arabs would be insulted if they were called, ‘Palestinians’ which meant JEW. They were either Egyptians, or southern Syrians.There was never even an Arab Palestinian currency in all these centuries. The REGION known as Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire (1299 to 1922) and therefore used TURKISH currency. When the British came in after WWI, they made the Land of Israel the ‘British Mandate of Palestine’, and the Egyptian pound was used until 1927. Egyptians swarmed into Israel for jobs, as the Arabs living in Gaza do today, crossing into Israel where they earn higher wages.
Though my father is not in this photo, here is a picture of Palestinian Jewish Parachutists in World War II. British Palestinian Pound with English, HEBREW, and Arabic on it. There was no such thing as an Arab Palestinian currency. There was never any country called Palestine.The currency of 1948 with HEBREW. Palestine was JEWISH.
The ‘Road Map’ peace plan and the ‘Two State Solution’ peace plan are just another re-hashing of a failed policy, the formula of ‘land for peace’.
Each peace plan that has been shoved down the throats of the Israeli people in the last 30 years, has failed, and they have all been based on the ‘land for peace’ formula.
Here are some of the latest peace plans and summits from the last 30 years that have all been based on the formula of ‘land for peace’. All have utterly failed and literally ‘bled’ Israel. Camp David Accords (1978) Did you skip over reading all those peace plans and summits? No fair. Read them each, and concentrate on them. We bled and paid a high price for each one of those ‘solutions for peace’.
What we should be saying to the U.S. administration is that we appreciate them wanting to make peace in the region, but they’ve gotten nowhere, except for weakening Israel and emboldening the Moslem Arab countries and terrorists. Thanks America, but no thanks. We’ll handle it from here on out.
Our great prophet, Isaiah said in 32:17: “The product of righteousness shall bring peace; and the effect of righteousness, quiet and security forever.” Got it? I think our great prophet was smarter then Bush & Co., Clinton & Co. and Carter & Co.
So, I propose we stop with all these peace plans. We should aim for justice and righteousness. We should pursue, not ‘peace’, but our enemies. Israel must crush the terrorist infrastructure. Israel must bring the Arab nations who conspire against her to their knees until they beg us for peace and give us an unconditional surrender. The only way to stop this war, is to WIN it.
The corrupt Palestinian Authority has forfeited its right to exist. It has encouraged, born, fostered, and sponsored terrorism. It has violated it’s commitments it made in every peace treaty signed, which was to stop their violence and terror. We should mete out justice to those Arab terrorists and leaders who have spilled our people’s blood, to those Arab leaders who hold our soldiers captive, and to all the Arab and Moslem nations who conspire against us with threats of annihilation.
Justice we should pursue. We should demand the immediate criminal prosecution of the MUSLIM WAQF in JERUSALEM for destroying the Temple Mount.
We should bring PA leader Mahmoud Abbas to justice for his terrorist past, his involvement in the Massacre of our young athletes in the 1972 Munich Olympics. He wrote his Ph.D. dissertation, later published as a book, by denying the Holocaust.
We should also bring to justice any of our own leaders (whom I shall not name here) who have become corrupted, accepted bribes, armed our enemies, and released convicted terrorists. To these politicians who have sold themselves out, well, as an acquaintance of mine says, “They give ‘working girls’ a bad name. The Knesset today is the biggest brothel in Israel.”
By pursuing justice and righteousness, the world will be a better place, a safer place, and a more peaceful place.
So to all those planning the slicing up of Israel like a salami in Annapolis this November, I say, “Peace off!” We are going with the ‘Isaiah Plan’. Righteousness.
And the result of pursuing righteousness will bring us peace.
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Natan Sharansky Reaches Israel Natan Sharansky with Prime Minister Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, and Ariel Sharon, upon arriving in Israel. 11February1986 Photo: Moshe Shai/FLASH90 https://israeled.org/natan-sharansky-reaches-israel/ February 11, 1986
Born in 1948, Sharansky earned a degree in applied mathematics. He became a human rights activist after the Soviet Union refused to let him emigrate and make aliyah to Israel in 1973. Sharansky reprimanded the Soviet leadership for nullifying the “universal human rights its constitution professed.” He was charged with treason and espionage in 1977 and sentenced in 1978 to 13 years in a gulag labor camp. A child chess prodigy, he kept his mind strong during periods of solitary confinement by playing chess matches in his head.
As his wife, Avital, campaigned for his release, Sharansky became a symbol of the plight of the Soviet Union’s Jewish refuseniks and their yearning to escape repression and anti-Semitism. Jews in the United States and Western Europe rallied to his cause and that of the nearly 3 million other Jews living behind the Iron Curtain. That pressure combined with the new openness brought by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev after he took power in 1985 to make Sharansky’s release possible.
In Israel, Sharansky writes a memoir of his time in captivity, “Fear No Evil,” which is published in 1988. He and fellow Soviet Jew Yuli Edelstein in 1995 found Yisrael BaAliyah, focused on the issues of absorbing some 1 million Soviet immigrants, and the party wins seven Knesset seats in 1996. Sharansky serves in the Knesset from 1996 to 2003 and again in 2006. His Cabinet positions include minister of industry and trade, minister of the interior, minister of Jerusalem affairs and deputy prime minister. After leaving politics, Sharansky is the chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel from 2009 to 2018. |
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What do you say about the way in which the Russians freed four of their embassy employees who were kidnapped in Lebanon?
How to Deal With Hostage Takers: Soviet LessonsBy Eugene Girin September 2, 2014 https://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/article/how-to-deal-with-hostage-takers-soviet-lessons/ The recent videotaped beheadings of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff by the bloodthirsty savages of ISIS bring to mind a story which took place in Lebanon almost 30 years ago. On September 30, 1985, a group of gunmen seized four Soviet diplomats and embassy workers (Arkady Katkov, Valery Myrikov, Oleg Spirin, and Nikolai Svirsky) in Beirut. During the kidnapping right outside the embassy, Katkov was wounded in the leg.
The abductors called themselves “The Khaled Al-Walid Force” and the “Islamic Liberation Organization”. According to SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service) Colonel Yuri Perfilyev, who at the time was the KGG rezident (station chief) in Lebanon, the kidnapping was orchestrated by infamous Hezbollah operative Imad “Hyena”Mugniyeh in response to an offensive by Syria-backed leftist militias in the Lebanese city of Tripoli. The Shiite radicals demanded that Moscow force Damascus to suspend the Tripoli offensive and close its embassy in Beirut. To demonstrate that they meant business, only two days after the kidnapping, Mugniyeh murdered the wounded Katkov by riddling him with machine gun bullets and left his body in a Beirut rubbish dump.
Perfilyev then met up with Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Fadlallah, then spiritual leader of Lebanese Shiites and told him: “A great power cannot wait forever. From waiting and observing, it can proceed to serious action with unpredictable consequences”. Met with silence from Fadlallah, the KGB station chief spoke bluntly:
The visibly shaken Fadlallah responded after a moment of silence: “I think everything will turn out well”. Later, his closest advisor “Hassan” (Nasrallah?) told Yuri Perfilyev that no one dared to talk to the Grand Ayatollah in such a fashion.
But the ominous threat against one of the holy cities of Shiism was only one prong in the Soviet strategy. According to Benny Morris, who was Jerusalem Post’s diplomatic correspondent at that time and later became famous as a brilliant historian, in tandem with the threats, the Soviets took sharper action:
Soon thereafter, the surviving three hostages were dropped off by the Soviet embassy “from a late-model BMW that couldn’t drive away fast enough” and never again was a Soviet (diplomat or otherwise) kidnapped in Lebanon. As Benny Morris put it: “This is the way the Soviets operate. They do things – they don’t talk. And this is the language the Hezbollah understand.” Not only Hezbollah, but ISIS and every other Muslim terror group. Eugene Girin is a New York-based attorney and commentator. |
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From the Jewish Press.com
Nadia Matar: Hitching is dangerous? outrageous!Have we started running away from danger? If so, better stay off the bus. And away from Afula. And…and…By: Meir Halevi Siegel Published: June 18th, 2014 https://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/nadia-matar-hitching-is-dangerous-outrageous/2014/06/18/ Since Eyal Yifrah, Gil-Ad Shayer and Naftali Frenkel were kidnapped Thursday, the internet and punditocracy have been alive with pointed fingers – at the boys, for not being aware enough while hitchiking, at a “settler” culture of which hitchhiking is a central feature, and especially at the boys’ parents.
“What sort of parent lets a 16-year-old hitchike?”, goes the argument in more editorials and Facebook comments that one would care to mention.
As usual, Women in Green founder Nadia Matar presents a voice of reason and conviction. In a public email distributed on a community-wide email list Tuesday, Matar says simply that life in Judea and Samaria is impossible without “tremping” – hitchhiking – as anyone who lives in Judea and Samaria with teenagers can attest. It’s a tough point to argue – bus service to the yishuvim is infrequent, and often scheduled at inconvenient times.
Even more critical to understand, however, is that hitchhiking is far from the only “dangerous” activity in which Israeli teens routinely take part.
“If we demand our kids to stop hitchiking because of what happened, why don’t we tell people to stop taking buses? You may recall that the Arabs blew up buses by the dozens just a few years ago. And remember Private Eden Attias? He was an IDF soldier stabbed to death by an Arab last November… on a bus near Afula
“Have we lost our mind? Should we stop taking buses?
In addition to the notion that people should avoid buses because of the supposed “danger”, Matar continues to suggest people stop walking down the street to go to a job interview? It’s a dangerous business, Israeli streets, and you wouldn’t want to wind up like Shelly Dadon, the young woman who was killed in November on her way to a job interview.
That’s two Jews in six months, murdered by Arabs in Afula. Perhaps we should pull up stakes and pull out of Afula? And remember another teenager by the name of Gilad Shalit? He, and our other MIAs, were all kidnapped not while hitchhiking but serving in the army. Perhaps the answer to that dangerous activity is to fold up the IDF Instead of running from every “dangerous” situation, Matar proposes asking only two relevant questions;
“There are many answers to these questions-,” she writes, “all related to once and for all getting rid of the Oslo mentality and returning Israel to the path of Zionism and Jewish sovereignty over its land.
“Until such time as our leaders understand that point, we, Am Yisrael, must continue to live as a free people in our land. We must continue to build, settle, plant, walk and drive and take buses in Eretz Yisrael and yes, also to continue to hitchike. “Safely. Period.” |
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The Israeli Government’s war with Hashemby Mr. Happy 19June2014 This is the Yom Kippur War version 2. Since the Israeli government has basically said in words and deeds that it does not believe in HaShem and that it is fighting Hashem by drafting Yeshiva students and cutitng off all kinds of funding to everyone that is religious, we basically have the same root cause as the Yom Kippur War. Which is: “Believe in the State and not in HaShem.” Israel is not at war with Hamas or the PA, it is at war with HaShem. Something that the Government needs the think about.
Why ISIS Won’t Stop With IraqBy Claude Salhani | Tue, 17 June 2014 http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Why-ISIS-Wont-Stop-With-Iraq.html The slaughterhouse that Iraq has become in the past week is the stuff that nightmares are made of. And this is just the beginning.
The threat emanating from the group calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is so serious to the stability of the region — and beyond – that even Iran said it would not oppose U.S. military intervention if it were aimed at the Islamists who have embarked on a rampage of murder and looting across Iraq.
The stunning and unexpected victories by the Islamists are very worrisome. In a region that is no stranger to conflict, this one is particularly frightening and has far-reaching consequences, including the threat of spin-off groups similar to ISIS taking root in surrounding nations.
A militarily successful Islamist force straddling over parts of Iraq and Syria will pose a real threat to the security and stability of those countries’ immediate neighbors. Even Syria, where government forces are fighting their own civil war, has offered to send troops to Iraq.
Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and, of course, Israel, would be the first to feel the effect of a takfiri victory. But so would Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Oman and Yemen. If ISIS is successful in Iraq, there is little reason to believe they would stop
Left unchecked, the Islamists could eventually threaten the stability of countries in Central Asia.
Here’s why the threat goes beyond Iraq and Syria.
In English-language news reports, there are at least two ways in which the group is referred to: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.
In Arabic, of course, neither words – “Syria” or “Levant” — are used; instead, the word “Sham” is used. The closest translation of that into English is “Greater Syria.”
Many in the West are fooled by the use of the word “Syria,” and may fail to see the real dimensions of the threat because they think of Syria in the modern geographic sense. But that word, in Arabic, is “Souriya.” Related Article: Oil-Rich Kurdistan Capitalizes On Iraqi Chaos Most Middle Easterners, when they hear, “Sham,” or “As-Sham,” know it refers to Greater Syria. What’s the difference?
Modern Syria is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan and Israel to the south and Lebanon to the west.
“Greater Syria” incorporates most of the territories of each.
“This is what “Syria” means in the mind of Middle Easterners, says Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, and author of the respected blog SyriaComment.com.
“If we can teach people that so many Arabs still think of Syria as Greater Syria, they will begin to understand the extent to which Sykes-Picot remains challenged in the region,” said Landis.
Sykes-Picot, of course refers to the secret agreement drawn up by two British and French diplomats — Sir Mark Sykes and Francois George-Picot — at the end of Word War I dividing the spoils of the Ottoman Empires between Britain and France by drawing straight lines in the sand.
To this day, many Arabs refuse to accept that division and think of “Syria” as “Greater Syria.” Some go so far as to include the Arab countries of North Africa – which from the Nile to the Euphrates forms ‘the Fertile Crescent,” the symbol of many Muslim countries from Tunisia to Turkey. And some even go as far as including the island of Cyprus, saying it represents the star next to the crescent.
Given that, anyone who thinks ISIS will stop with Iraq is delusional. By Claude Salhani of Oilprice.com |
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The Biggest Foul-up Since the Yom Kippur WarBy David Ha’ivri 18June2014 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Message.aspx/5864#.U6JQNVGk2b8 We have great admiration for your tireless efforts to #BringBackOurBoys, but we don’t appreciate your claims that it wasn’t your fault. It was; you were not prepared, and still haven’t figured this out, nearly one week later. This might be the biggest foul-up since the Yom Kippur War. The people of Israel are united in prayer, praying that you #BringBackOurBoys quickly and punish those responsible for making their mothers cry.
I’m sorry to have to bring this up, but reports indicate that all security services have been briefed during recent months in preparation for a possible kidnapping scenario. In spite of these briefings, when it happened, they were all caught sleeping on the job, with no concerted intelligence effort on the identity of the cell who ultimately pulled this off.
Almost a full week into the search and investigation, we still have no major break through to speak of – and that’s with the back-up of the entire IDF, a house to house search of 1000 homes, and the arrests of 250 of the usual suspects. Some big people need to face the nation and declare, “We failed you.”  BringBackOurBoys-Pictures leaked by police as seen on Ynet Pictures leaked by police as seen on Ynet |
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Mekubal Rav Adas: The Kidnapping Due to President Peres’ Prayers in the Vatican22June2014 – See more at: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/242185/mekubal-rav-adas-the-kidnapping-due-to-president-peres-prayers-in-the-vatican.html#sthash.HR3TQiEO.dpuf Mekubal Rabbi Yaakov Adas , who is admitted to Shaare Zedek Medical Center, hinted on Friday night the kidnapping of the youths was due to President Shimon Peres taking part in a prayer service with Pope Frances and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) during his recent visit to the Vatican.
Rav Addis was hospitalized on erev Shabbos Shelach 5774 after collapsing at the Kosel, the result of numerous fast days last weeks on behalf of the captive youths.
Kikar Shabbos reports learning that on Friday night after davening maariv in the medical center’s shul, he requested to be taken back to the shul to deliver a message to the tzibur. He hinted in his words the kidnapping is the result of the prayer service involving the president, the pope and PA chairman.
He explained that prayer has the opposite effect and as the three prayed for peace, the opposite occurred to the three youths. He explained that this shows just how must a prayer in such a tamei venue, one of idol worship, results in the opposite occurring and when they prayed for peace, this received the kidnapping.
The rav was visited by his father HaGaon HaRav Yehuda Adas on motzei Shabbos. The rav was released late motzei Shabbos but returned to the hospital after he did not feel well during the predawn hours. The rav did manage to daven neitz on the balcony of the medical center. Names for Tehillim: 1. Yaakov Naftali ben Rachel Devorah 2. Gilad Michael ben Bat Galim 3. Eyal ben Iris Teshurah |
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Kidnapped Jewish Teens and Search and Rescue18June2014 http://esseragaroth.blogspot.co.il/2014/06/guest-post-kidnapped-jewish-teens-and.html Yekutiel Ben-Ya’akov There is unprecedented unity in Israel as millions pray for the immediate release and safety of the three Jewish teens who were abducted by Arab terrorists from Gush Etzyon.
There are many lessons to learn from this incident. As long as we allow our enemies to live amongst us they will continue to plot against us. The IDF continues to blame police for their inexcusable late response, only many hours, after they received notice from one of the boys that he was kidnapped. The police actually received notification minutes after the abduction. However, the GSS (Shabba”k) and IDF were only tipped off by police many crucial hours later.
We warned the Knesset State Controller’s Committee, 4 months ago, Feb. 18th when I was asked to testify before a special Committee convened to investigate police treatment of missing people searches. My first words to the Committee were about the extreme delay in police response to missing people reports and how the police commence searching far too late, losing vital and critical time that could translate into life or death for the missing subject. See page 5 of that Knesset Committee transcript. We have offered our services to the Commander of the Missing Persons Unit in the army and we may yet be called in to help in the search with the use of our specially trained dogs.
Canine training this week tomorrow in Beth Shemesh at 3 PM, Tapuach at 6 PM, Leshem at 9.30 PM (Call for days)
Thursday special SAR training on rubble sight at 7 PM
Our Israeli Dog Unit is in need of more volunteers and in need of finding to maintain our canine units. Maginei Eretz LMaan Hazulat Esser Agaroth (2¢): And, by the way, did anyone think that the kidnappers had to have stolen an orange, Israeli license plate to replace their green, “P” license plate, in order to disguise their car??
Curiouser and curiouser…
It would be very interesting, indeed, if the Shabba”k came up as the heroes of the hour, successfully rescuing these boys, the same Shabba”k, albeit a different “Jewish” department, feared by so many settlers. Perhaps they will then be convinced that they need the Shabba”k in their lives. |
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Examples of constant warning to Israel
Message from Rabbi Nir Ben Artzi, shlita, Pesach – 20 Nissan תשעדhttp://absolutetruth613.blogspot.co.il/2014/04/message-from-rabbi-nir-ben-artzi-shlita_23.html בס”ד
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The IDF needs to be very vigilant! Do not hitchhike. The gentiles are posing as orthodox taxi drivers, using various methods and using Israeli numbers on their cars. On all the borders, keep your eyes wide open; because, they are also digging tunnels from Sinai.comment:
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The Politically-Incorrect Truth
#BringOurBoysBack Three Rabbis Reveal the Politically-Incorrect Truth שלושה רבבנים מגלים את האמת של התורה שמתנגדת לתרבות המערב20June2014 http://esseragaroth.blogspot.com/2014/06/bringourboysback-three-rabbis-reveal.html From Esser Agaroth ערב שבת קודש פר׳ קרח תשע״דלעברית צפו את הסרטון השני למטה.
Here are three Torah lectures, posted here in an attempt to wake up my fellow Jews: Here are three Torah lectures, posted here in an attempt to wake up my fellow Jews:
The first video is from Rabbi Yossi Mizrachi, currently residing in the U. S., may he and his family join us here in Israel soon! Parashat Shlach (Death Penalty to Terrorists)(Tip: The Torah Revolution) This next lecture is in Hebrew about the recent abduction of , and given by Rabbi Yehudah Richter of Elon Moreh at the Rechalim Junction. That’s right! Out in the middle of the main highway through the Shomron (Samaria). This junction was the site of the murder of Rachela Druk hy”d from Shiloh, some 20 years ago, as well as the attempt abductions of Jewish teen girls, hitchhiking through our Land *Rechalim Junction is located with the City of Ariel to its northwest, K’far Tapu’ah just to the north, and Eli and Ma’aleh Levonah to the south. רב יהודה ריכטר שיעורו השבועי בצומת רחלים על חטיפת הנערים כ’ סיון(Tip: The Torah Revolution) This last video is by Rabbi David Bar-Hayim, Head of Machon Shilo in Jerusalem. The Torah Imperative to Destroy Evil – Thoughts on the Abduction of 3 Jewish Teenagers |
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From Rabbi Lazer Brody’s Lazer Beams website:Why the Kidnapping?29june2014 http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2014/06/why-the-kidnapping.html Animals react with instinct, for they lack the power of reason. If a dog is hit with a stick, it will growl at or bite the stick. Yet, the stick is not responsible for hurting the dog; the person who wields the stick is.
Much of the Israeli media has been blaming the police and the secret services here for all types of operative breakdowns that enabled the tragic kidnapping of the three Gush-Etzion yeshiva students, Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaer and Naftali Frenkel. So who is responsible?
Hashem is. The first principle of our faith as brought down by the Rambam is that Hashem alone, did, does and will do every deed. So, with emuna in mind, Hashem is responsible for the kidnapping and Hashem is also responsible for the three young men’s safe return home from captivity, wherever they are. Hashem is responsible for the success of our security forces and is also responsible for their failure. Knowing this important fact, we no longer waste time on useless blame games but instead ask Hashem why He is doing this to us. By soul-searching and uprooting the spiritual reason that led to the kidnapping, we are doing the best we possibly can to bring Eyal, Gilad and Naftali home.
These three young men are absolute tzaddikim and are suffering for the sins of the Jewish People. This past year has been exemplified by unprecedented intramural Jewish hate, spearheaded by self-serving populist politicians. Hashem can’t stand dissenion among His children. Yet, since the three yeshiva boys were kidnapped 17 days ago, all talk of dissension has ceased. The entire nation has come together. If the Hamas (or whoever else committed the crime of the kidnapping) knew that they’d contribute so much to Jewish unity in the Land of Israel, they’d have never allowed this to happen.
Today begins the new month of Tammuz. The notorious Three Weeks begin in another 17 days. Now is the time to love and accept one another and to uproot the ugly sinat chinam, the senseless intramural hate and dissension that caused both the Destruction of our Holy Temple and the kidnapping of our three cherished young men. G-d willing, with ahavat Yisrael, love and tolerance of one another, we’ll get them back together with the bonus of Moshiach and our rebuilt Holy Temple, soon, amen. – See more at: http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/lazer_beams/2014/06/why-the-kidnapping.html#sthash.ELOdExia.dpuf |
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Update:5774,ג’ בתמוז30June2014 ברוך דיין האמת Baruch Dayan HaEmet Blessed is The True Judge
There are no words to express our pain, our sorrow, our anger. Our boys, the boys who united the Jewish People, have been brutally murdered. May Hashem avenge their blood.
Tonight is Gimmel Tammuz, the date of the hishtalkus of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The Rebbe once said “We can only face evil with faith.” Even now? Especially now!
Should we be angry, of course we should be. But we must find the path of channeling our anger, our sorrow, our pain into our connection with our Father in Heaven. If there is one lesson we learned from the Rebbe, it’s that everything can be turned into a drive for good.
Good does not mean turning the other cheek nor trying to make peace with murderous barbarians. It does mean remembering these Jewish boys, building in their name, doing good in their help. Helping others, giving charity, doing a mitzvah.
But for now we mourn. Our dead are lying before us. We cry out, when will the cup of tears be full? We try to console the inconsolable.
Already we hear the cries to act with restraint, but we ask where was the restraint of the murderers? We hear cries to not cause collective punishment, but were the boys not a collective punished for the perceived honor of the murderers? When we are kind to the cruel we are cruel to the kind.
ENOUGH! We do not call for revenge, revenge is for the Hand of Hashem. BUT WE DO SCREAM OUT FOR WISDOM IN DEALING WITH BARBARIANS, MURDERERS, THOSE WHO DO NOT VALUE LIFE.
Ribono Shel Olam, we call out – is it not enough? Bring us your righteous Moshiach now and end this unbelievable evil.
There are no words, but some have spilled forth with our tears. May their families be comforted among the mourners of Tziyon and Yerushalayim. And may Hashem avenge their blood.
[For those who did not hear – the 3 boys kidnapped over 2 weeks ago in Israel by “Palestinians” from Hebron were found this afternoon murdered. |
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BD”H – The Legacy of Eyal, Gil-ad, and Naftalihttp://yeranenyaakov.blogspot.co.il/2014/06/bdh-legacy-of-eyal-gil-ad-and-naftali.html 30June2014 We all have received the heart-wrenching news that Eyal, Gil-ad, and Naftali were murdered, Rahmana Litzlan, by the inhumane Pereh Adam creatures that took them from the hitchhiking spot in Elon Shvut 18 days ago. Their bodies were found near Halhul, which is north of Hevron.
Here is a roundup of various organizations’ responses to this tragedy. While some have rightfully called for revenge, revenge belongs to G-d – via His army, the IDF, or via other means. I believe that for the vast majority of us who are not warriors, the response should be what the heavenly message is for us and how we can implement an ongoing Teshuva strategy.
There were unprecedented amounts of Ahdut in Kelal Yisrael in the past 18 days. All segments of Jewish society – in Israel and throughout the world – came together in solidarity and to beseech Hashem for salvation. We all knew that we are one people, but sometimes it takes something like this to be reminded. What a Zechut that these boys had to have caused such a mass Teshuva movement so great that it even caused Yair Lapid to search for his grandfather’s Siddur and pray!
The mothers and the fathers of the murdered boys were incredibly strong. Facing such harrowing circumstances, it’s hard to imagine what they were going through – and what they’re going through now. They each showed such Emuna and Bitahon in HKB”H that their hope lifted the nation and the world. Rachel Frankel’s statement that HKB”H doesn’t work for us also hit home – especially now. הצור תמים פעלו.
Rav Chaim Kanievsky Shlit”a said:
Rav Shalom Cohen Shlit”a said:
Rav David Lau said:
Two weeks ago, Rav Mordechai Malka Shlit”a from Elad told Eyal’s parents that he was chosen as a Korban for Kelal Yisrael and that he appears to have a high and special soul.
The amount of Ahdut, prayers, and Teshuva surely made an impression in Heaven, and hopefully enough to have hastened the Final Redemption, which we all desperately await.
May Hashem very quickly #BringBackOurBoys when the Final Redemption and Tehiyat Hameitim occur speedily in our days, Amen. |
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Israel’s Iron Dome Is a ‘Total Failure’ at Its Most Important Job, Experts Sayfor MIT Technology Review 12July2014 http://mashable.com/2014/07/11/israel-iron-dome-failure Even though Israel’s U.S.-funded “Iron Dome” rocket-defense interceptors appear to be hitting Hamas rockets in recent days, they are almost certainly failing in the crucial job of detonating those rockets’ shrapnel-packed explosive warheads, expert analysts say.
As a result, rockets fired from Gaza are probably plunging to the ground with intact explosives. The fact that they aren’t causing injuries or deaths in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities is mainly a matter of luck, the analysts add.
On July 10, the Israel Defense Forces said missiles from the system had intercepted 56 rockets fired out of Gaza, preventing strikes in several cities. Yet Richard Lloyd, a weapons expert and consultant who is a past Engineering Fellow at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, says that because these interceptions had almost certainly not detonated the rockets’ warheads, “it’s pretty much a total failure.”
The Iron Dome system — meant to hit rockets traveling tens of miles from launch to landing — is a smaller cousin to the Patriot system, which attempts to hit much longer-range, faster incoming missiles. Iron Dome fires interceptors six inches wide and 10 feet long and uses sensors and real-time guidance systems to try to zero in on the rockets.
When an Iron Dome interceptor gets close to an incoming rocket, a proximity fuse triggers the interceptor to detonate, spraying out metal rods that are intended to strike and detonate the warheads on the incoming rockets, neutralizing their ability to maim people and destroy things on the ground.
Ted Postol, the MIT physicist and missile-defense expert who aided Lloyd’s analysis and who in 1991 debunked claims by the U.S. Army that its Patriot missiles were successfully shooting down Iraqi Scud missiles during the first Gulf War (see “Postol vs. the Pentagon” and “Preventing Fratricide”), agrees that they were failing in this crucial warhead-detonation job.
Postol had been an admirer of Iron Dome after initial reports of its performance during previous rocket assaults in 2012 (see “Why Israel’s Iron Dome Missile Defense System Actually Works”). But later analyses of interceptor contrails showed that its guidance system was behaving erratically. Instead of smoothly rising to meet their targets, the interceptors were making sharp turns and engaging from the side or behind, he says.
Those problems appear to be continuing, he says. “We expected that after more than a year and a half of time, whatever problems there were in the system related to guidance and control would be mitigated, or somewhat mitigated,” he says. “As it turns out, this is not the case. As far as we can tell, it is behaving in the same erratic way as it did in November 2012.”
The Iron Dome interceptors need to hit an incoming rocket head-on to have much hope of detonating a warhead, Lloyd says. And initial visual analysis of the engagements in recent days shows that the interceptions that are occurring are from the side or behind, which provide “essentially a zero chance of destroying the warhead,” based on the basic physics of such engagements, he added.
Hamas rockets in late 2012 were going as far as 75 kilometers (47 miles), but some are now able to go twice as far. |
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Hamas Attacks Israeli Soldiers with Explosive DonkeyPublished on: July 19, 2014 https://www.idf.il/en/articles/hamas/hamas-attacks-israeli-soldiers-with-explosive-donkey/
On the evening of July 18, IDF forces operating in the Rafah area spotted an explosives-laden donkey approaching their position. The soldiers opened fire, causing the explosives to detonate.  Hamas attacks Iisraeli soldiers with explosive Donkey Sending an animal to its death to serve terrorist purposes may seem shocking, but last night certainly wasn’t the first time Palestinian terrorists adopted this despicable tactic.
Up-to-date ISA intelligence alerted the IDF that terror organizations in the Gaza Strip intend to strap explosives to animals and send them in the direction of ground forces. On the night of July 18, there was at least one such attempt, in which a donkey suspiciously began to approach forces. The forces approached the donkey and it exploded at a safe distance, whereas no injuries were sustained by the IDF as a result.
This cruel incident is the most recent attempt by Gaza terror organizations to make such an abominable use of animals as explosives couriers. The IDF first encountered an animal-borne terrorist attack in June 1995, when a Palestinian terrorist rode an explosives-laden donkey cart toward an IDF position west of Khan Yunis and detonated the explosives. The terrorist and the donkey were killed, but the soldiers were left unscathed. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
During the Second Intifada, Hamas and other terrorist organizations stepped up their exploitation of animals for the purposes of terror. In 2001, a terrorist rode a bomb-laden donkey cart toward an IDF position in the southern Gaza Strip and detonated the charge. In 2003, a Palestinian terrorist strapped a bomb to a donkey and then exploded it remotely on the road between Jerusalem and Gush Etzion. No humans were injured in the attack.
In June 2009, Palestinian terrorists approached the Karni crossing, located between Gaza and Israel, with several horses carrying mines and explosives. In May 2010, terrorists in Gaza detonated a donkey cart loaded with explosives near the border fence.
Most of these attacks involved donkeys and horses carrying carts loaded with explosives. However, IDF soldiers in the field reported multiple incidents where Hamas terrorists had strapped explosive belts to dogs. |
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Report: Hamas executes tens of tunnel diggers11August20014 http://israelmatzav.blogspot.co.il/2014/08/report-hamas-executes-tens-of-tunnel.html In order to ensure that their secrets are never disclosed to Israel, Hamas is executing tens of tunnel diggers according to a report on the Hebrew website Mako.
Several tunnel diggers were captured by Israel during Operation Protective Edge. It sounds like they were the lucky ones. |
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Egypt Fed Up With Hamas, Army threatens to them in attack Gaza |
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 The Gaza War The Media’s Role in Hamas’ War Strategy05August2014 https://www.the-american-interest.com/2014/08/05/the-medias-role-in-hamas-war-strategy/ Hamas’ PR strategy can only work if international news media follows the script, whether willingly or under coercion.In this most recent exchange of hostilities between Hamas and Israel, a number of commentators have noted Hamas’ unusual war tactics. Jeffrey Goldberg asks, “Is Hamas Trying to Get Gazans Killed?” Even Mahmoud Abbas queried, “What are you trying to achieve by sending rockets?” As Bob Schieffer put it with a touch of euphemism:
The dark strategy has even inspired Israeli Children for Peace to appeal to Palestinian children and a Francophone Israeli to reach out to a bereaved Palestinian mother.
It appears to some, like Michael Oren, that Hamas deliberately maximizes its own people’s suffering for PR. To others, such a strategy would be so base and unthinkable, that they consider the very suggestion of it “racist and reprehensible.” Hamas’ Khaled Mashaal officially denies that Hamas engages in such a heinous policy, even as other Palestinian Jihadis brag about media-assured benefits derived from their own civilians’ deaths. And now, the IDF has possession of a Hamas training manual that advises its combatants to use civilian shields.
According to its critics, Hamas’ war strategy works like this:
No matter what the Israeli response, the Hamas strategy is win-win. If the Israelis abort a strike to avoid civilian casualties (as they often do), then Hamas is spared the blow; if an Israeli strike causes civilian casualties, Hamas has dead babies to parade before the cameras. And eventually, the bloodletting will get so bad, the pictures so damning, that Israel will stop. Hamas’ endgame goals, at least at this stage of its asymmetrical war, are actually threefold: tie Israel down with constraints on its use of power, delegitimize and demonize it in the eyes of the world, and stir an aggressive “Muslim Street” in the West, where genocidal chants can lead to pogroms against the Jews worldwide.
This time, however, this “dead baby” strategy, despite a pedigree of decades, has become increasingly apparent to the observant, perhaps because Hamas has resorted to ever-more obvious tactics to victimize their own people: storing its weapons and firing them from residential areas, hospitals, schools and mosques and even, hiding its leaders under Shiffa hospital. Asked about this, UN official John Ging readily admits: “Yes the armed groups are firing their armed rockets into Israel from the vicinity of UN facilities and residential areas, absolutely.” Indeed, in some cases, while journalists speak to the camera, often following Hamas’ script, Jihadis fire rockets right nearby—live, as it were.
The pattern consistently demonstrates what one Gazan from Tal Awad described to an Italian journalist in 2009 during Operation Cast Lead: “They wanted the [Israelis] to shoot at the [the civilians’] houses so they could accuse them of more war crimes.” The importance of these rockets is not where they’re aimed, but whence they’re fired. They’re a reverse target, designed to create the carnage that will rouse Western indignation.
Israel, operating in these terrible conditions expends considerable resources on an elaborate and multi-staged system of warnings encouraging civilians to leave, right down to calling the residents of houses on their cell phones. Hamas in response calls on people to make themselves human shields, and when they demur, Hamas orders and coerces them to stay. When refugees do flee to UN Schools and other shelters, Hamas follows them there, firing at Israel repeatedly from their midst, drawing Israeli fire toward the shelter. Almost every Israeli strike on or near a hospital or school was a direct result of fire emanating from the facility.
At the same time as Hamas draws Israeli return fire down on Palestinian civilians, Palestinian Jihadis fire their own rockets so wildly that 10-25 percent of their own rockets land in Gaza.  280 Rockets fired from Gaza have fallen within Gaza
This happens so often that Hamas has cleaners who clear out their own munitions debris before the Western media are allowed on the scene. During Operation Pillar of Cloud (2012), a Hamas rocket misfired and exploded among civilians. AP reporter Karen Laub noted at the time: “Neighbors said local security officials quickly took what remained of the projectile, making it impossible to verify who fired it.” The same crews get a mention in a tweet by an Italian journalist, offered as “proof” of Hamas’ responsibility for the shelling: “militants rushed and cleared debris.” With all these own-goal rockets, casualties pile up: people not just trapped into getting killed by their purported enemy but getting killed by their supposed “defenders.”
In Beit Hanoun and Shati Refugee camps, own-goal strikes kill dozens of Palestinian men women and children. The news media run images of their suffering on the presumption of Israeli guilt. But when the dust settles and analysts do an honest reckoning of the casualty figures, sifting out the impact of propaganda on the statistics, even the most pro-Palestinian figures will show that Hamas killed many more Palestinian civilians with their rockets than they have killed Israelis. Where Palestinian casualties caused by Israelis will likely approximate a low urban warfare 1:1 civilian/combatant ratio, those caused by Hamas will have a much higher ratio. The Western News Media’s Scripted RoleOf course, Hamas’ strategy, what Elie Wiesel characterizes as child sacrifice, can only work if it has the sustained cooperation of the international news media, which must fulfill two key tasks in the strategy: 1) broadcast to the outside world the suffering the conflict causes; and 2) implicitly or explicitly blame Israel for that suffering. Without the first, there is no sense of outrage and urgency. Without the second, the world might not intervene on the Jihadi side.
Hamas shows full cognizance of the media’s importance. It has even issued detailed directions to Gazan “social media activists.” And although Hamas addressed them to Palestinian social media activists, the guidelines clearly apply to their media “fixers,” who direct all the foreign journalists working in Gaza. One might call these directives the “Hamas media protocols.”
So consistently has the media played these scripted roles that it has become a mere pawn in a predictable game. Jeremy Bowen explains: every conflict plays out between the time the Israelis go in to stop the rocketing until the time that Western outrage at civilian casualties gets them to stop. The more victims, the greater the pressure. Anticipating the ground invasion, Christiane Amanpour asks Tony Blair during Operation Cast Lead: “The civilian casualties in Gaza are obviously going to put huge pressure on Israel. How long can Israel withstand this pressure?” It is a main goal of the activist media to emphasize Palestinian suffering to such a degree that Israel will stop.
And that emphasis indeed pervades the coverage: all the news Hamas sees fit to print. The overwhelming majority of the images on the television screens feature injured and dead Palestinians. As Michael Oren explained Hamas’ media strategy to CNN, for example, the viewer saw wall-to-wall Palestinian suffering, especially children. No one, apparently not even the State Department, can watch this coverage, no matter how inaccurate, without succumbing to its subliminal message.
Take, for example, the shelling of Shaati refugee camp in Gaza City and adjacent Shiffa Hospital on July 28. Newsrooms featured the ten innocent refugees, including eight children killed. The IDF denied responsibility for this carnage. But it didn’t matter what Israel said, nor did it matter that its evidence involved the tracking technology of Iron Dome. UN’s Ban Ki Moon called it “shameful, outrageous and unjustified,” while UNRWA’s General Commissioner lamented “the world stands disgraced” (presumably by Israel’s wanton slaughter of innocents). The belated tweet of an Italian reporter (to which we shall return below), confirming that Hamas rockets had hit the school, excited the Zionist blogosphere, but had no effect on the mainstream discussion.
One gets the distinct sense that these journalists don’t think they’re assisting Hamas in maximizing the human casualties. Some seem to think that their aggressive rush to judgment, invariably against Israel, is a form of “peace journalism,” designed to end the carnage as quickly as possible. They take for granted that their job is to nail the Israelis for their disproportionate brutality. Journalists publicly exult in their victory: “Gripping Gaza images upend balance of PR power in Middle East.” And in so doing—whatever their reasons—they not only thoroughly misinform their audiences, but do so precisely as Hamas would want. Intimidation and Advocacy Motivate Media’s CooperationThe single most compelling reason for the near-unanimity of the media’s cooperation with Hamas is not advocacy, which alone could not create such a consensus, but rather intimidation. Like all systems of omertà this one covers its tracks; and appears primarily through its notable absences. Some observers have pointedly asked, for example, why the mainstream news media has conveyed so few images of Hamas “militants.” The New York Times responded that out of the hundreds of photos from weeks of warfare, their award-winning photographer and his crew had provided only two blurry ones. Is this sheer incompetence? Or is it because, as one journalist, just out of Gaza told an Israeli off-the-record: “If we ever dared point our camera at them, they would shoot at us and kill us.” Asked to say that on camera, the journalist “refused and almost ran away.”
But in the Twitter age, evidence of cover-up abounds for those who care to look. Several journalists have reported receiving a wave of SMS threats when they even tweet about Hamas using human shields. Accused of being informants or fifth columnists who are lying and fabricating for Israel, these journalists rapidly learn how seriously Hamas considers their trade a weapon of war and their non-compliance a form of treason. The subsequent disappearance of many of those tweets indicates just how far Hamas’ threats reach.
Occasionally, a really telling piece of evidence appears. Two days after the shelling of Shaati and Shifa, that had “disgraced the world,” an Italian journalist tweeted:
So, just as Israel had claimed, jihadis had killed their own women and children, cleaned the site, and then brought in journalists to blame Israel. It was indeed disgraceful on many counts, none of which concerned Israel. And yet we only know about this, if we do at all, because this one journalist felt himself beyond Hamas’ reach.
In a dramatic episode, Palestinian-born French journalist Radjaa Abou Dagga found himself summoned to Hamas offices (inside Shifa hospital), alternately accused of working for Abbas or the Israelis, and expelled from Gaza with instructions to work no more. Libération published his account, which makes it clear that such intimidation is common. Indeed, a colleague refused him shelter for the night because he, too, had received these threats: “You don’t mess with these people during a war.” Three days later, Libé took down Dagga’s article at his request. With family in Gaza, he clearly did not feel beyond Hamas’ reach.
If true, why does this terrible tale of civilian victimization and journalistic intimidation go untold? Some answer, because it’s not true: “Hamas does not use human shields,” BBC’s Jeremy Bowen assures us. Nor, insists CNN’s Karl Penhaul, do “any of the militant movements and factions here in Gaza,” give journalists “any form of instruction.” For one CNN analyst, it’s “complicated”, but, insists James Fallows, we owe our reporters respect. After all, would they all misinform us? Or is their intimidation and cowardice a public secret they won’t admit? Missing Corrective: Media Self-criticismReporters thrown into the Gazan PR furnace must go through a great deal of mental anguish. On the one hand, as journalists who want to be taken seriously, they cannot avow the threat for violating Hamas Protocols (including forbidding the mention of these rules). Imagine Western audiences viewing a segment from Gaza while below a streamer informed: Report produced under severe conditions of Hamas censorship? On the other hand, they have to live with the knowledge that they daily violate their vocation’s fundamental principles, and that, in so doing, they turn a blind eye to terrible deeds, betraying both their audience at home and the Palestinian people (not to mention Israel).
It is should be one of the great agenda items of professional journalists to develop a special branch of research and ethical discussion on the problems of covering 21st-century asymmetrical wars in which the weak side systematically intimidates journalists and the strong side has democratic commitments to a free press. We can’t ask journalists to seek out martyrdom in the cause of Truth (even if their code does call for courage), but we ought to be able to hope that they would let us know, subtly if necessary, just how deep the intimidation goes.
Most of the time, it seems like the media reacts to criticism of its forced collaboration with Hamas’ war strategy with indignation and a rapid call to change the subject. Instead, they depict Israel as trying to censor, intimidate, and kill journalists, and themselves as bravely resisting this intimidation. CNN’s Karl Penhaul rejected as “obscene,” the mere suggestion that “we [journalists] would show dead, wounded, and dying to make headlines,” then denied any Hamas “instructions” on what to and not to report. On the contrary, tweeted one beleaguered journalist, Western journalists in Gaza feel bullied not by Hamas, but their Zionist critics in cyberspace who accuse them of doing Hamas’ bidding.
In a recent op-ed Michael Oren warned:
When Bill Clinton told an Indian journalist that Hamas “knows it cannot lose politically with this strategy” of forcing Israel to kill its own people, he assumed (as does Hamas) that the media will always cooperate. Were our journalists to recover even a fraction of the courage and honesty that we assume they, as professionals, exercise on a daily basis, things would look very different on this troubled planet of ours. They might start the sobering task by answering the following questionnaire from Harry’s Place.
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 United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) How the UN and the international community (including the US) keep Hamas going08August2014 http://israelmatzav.blogspot.co.il/2014/08/how-un-and-international-community.html  UNRWA – United Nations Rocket Warehousing Agency |
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Claudia Rossett has a devastating expose on how the United Nations and international community keep Hamas going.
The United States is UNRWA’s largest donor. And rather than reevaluate, some Americans have a vested interest in keeping it that way.
What could go wrong? |
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Israel is safe because we careFrom Arutz Sheva- Israel National News
Bus Driver Spots Suspicious Passenger, Police Find Knife07August2014 אב 11, 5774 , 07/08/14 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/301027#.U-Q3q7uk2b8 A bus driver leaving Beit Shemesh called the police emergency 100 line and reported that there was a passenger that had aroused his suspicions. Beit Shemesh squad cars located the bus while it was en route, signaled the driver to pull over, and removed the passenger from the bus. The suspect turned out to be an Arab male who was here illegally.
When police searched his belongings, a knife was found in his bag. The suspect was handed over for additional questioning. |
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Moishela: “I Have Been Given Permission to Reveal to you Future Events”22 Elul 5774 17September2014 http://absolutetruth613.blogspot.co.il/2014/09/moishela-i-have-been-given-permission.html BS”D Discussion with Moishela (with his family) Oy Mommy, Oy Tatti, what can I tell you? I’m sorry that I have made you in the last few weeks a little bit unnerved, but I must admit that the world is changing at the speed of sound, and from day to day or from minute to minute, we don’t know what’s going to be. We used to live in a world that was at least semi organized. We could predict, sometimes anyway, what the next day or the next minute might bring. Today we are all confused, never knowing where another tragedy, Shelo Naida, another bang will come from. Tatti, Mommy, the next few weeks are going to be very, very frightening. The next few weeks will be full of changes that will make our heads spin, changes all over the world, frightening changes and also frightening happenings.
By the time we get to Rosh Hashana we are going to all be in a somber mood, a mood for Davening very hard, for begging Hashem to save us and declaring Him our King. So we must prepare ourselves not to be too blown away by the happenings of the near future and always remember the only way to steady ourselves and keep ourselves in a state that we can overcome spiritually and physically the times to come, is by holding on to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, so-to-speak, holding on to the rope, spiritual rope that connects us Am Yisroel to our Creator. So as I said, in the next few weeks until Rosh Hashana there will be amazing new news for all of us, for the whole world and there will be news that people will not understand. They will stand and wonder what in the world is going on, but as time goes on we will realize what the plan of the evil ones really is.
After Rosh Hashana during the Aseres Yimei Teshuva will be a time of gathering our strengths together and crying to Hashem like we have never cried before. By the time that Yom Kippur comes around, I’m afraid that our tears might have been spent already from worrying what’s going to be, and we will try to squeeze out a few more in order to try to save ourselves. By the time Succos comes we will be quite worn out for our efforts, and I believe that Succos, at least for a short time, will bring a semblance of balance, a semblance of joy in the Yom Tov, but Simchas Torah will bring us back to the cruel reality, and we will dance with the Torah with tears in our eyes. We will hold the Torah close to us so it can’t separate from us, so we won’t separate from it. We will dance and we will dance and we will beg Hashem through our dancing to always keep us close to Him, and we will keep the Torah close to us, and when Simchas Torah is over the real wars will begin.
Am Yisroel you know that there is something in my words. In the last two or three years you have seen such crazy tragic things happening. We know that the world has become an insane asylum and as Harav Dessler put it the people taking care of the inmates are the inmates themselves. So it’s a world of the mentally ill. There are some Jews which do try to separate themselves from the Sheker, from the lie and on those few Jews the world of the Geula Shelaima will be built by Hashem. We Am Yisroel must hold on and never let go.
We will go farther. After Succos, Simchas Torah the world will become so so different, so horribly different that it will be absolutely unrecognizable. The only thing we will recognize is our Kesher (linkage, connection) with Hashem. The only thing that will be real will be our Kesher with Hashem, His Torah, and His Mitzvos.
Am Yisroel, the ones in Chutz La’aretz, the ones outside of Eretz Yisroel, pack your bags if you can. Pack your bags and come. Do so. It’s not an Aveirah (sin). Coming to Eretz Yisroel is a great Zechus, but don’t come if you don’t really want to go higher in your Yiddishkeit. Don’t come just to save your lives, because it won’t work. You have to believe, believe that Hashem is Hakol Yachol. Ain Od Milvado (He is everything, there is None other than Hashem). You have to believe it with all your heart and your soul. You have to believe that there is nothing greater than our Torah. You have to believe that Moshiach is going to come and there is going to be Techias Hameisim (the resurrection of the dead) and you have to believe in every single one of the Yud Gimmel Ikrim. You must believe in that. That is your ticket to eternity. You must with all your heart and soul believe in it.
After Simchas Torah there is going to be a giant Birur (Hebrew: בירור “Sifting/Clarification”) and that Birur is going to be very hard, but it won’t be hard for those who understand the Truth, for those who cling to Hashem, for those who cling to the Truth. It won’t be hard. So please Am Yisroel please, please if you feel up to it, if you feel that you want to rise spiritually, come to Eretz Yisroel, not Medinas Yisroel, that’s going to fall very soon, but Eretz Yisroel, come to Eretz Yisroel, and even though it could be very difficult and even though you don’t know where you are going to live and even though you don’t know where your income will come from, still you are better off here than there if you truly want to be close to Hashem. If you truly want, for spiritual reasons to come close to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, to actually greet Moshiach Tzidkainu then come to Eretz Yisroel now. Anyone with Gashmiusdik (materialistic) ideas about the Geula, forget it. Stay where you are.
I also want to reiterate that every Jewish soul will be saved. Every Jewish soul that stood at Har Sinai and said Na’ase Venishma, we will do and we will say, every Jewish soul will be saved. Hashem will make sure that even if a Jew thinks he doesn’t accept Emes (truth), in the end he will. Hashem will force him to accept Emes, and he will become a great believer, but he will suffer on the way, but those who are close already, those who believe with all their hearts and souls in Hakol Yachol, in Hakodosh Boruch Hu, in the Ribbono Shel Olam, they will not have difficulties almost at all. It might be frightening to see what’s happening, but they themselves will not suffer. So Am Yisroel, we are coming to Rosh Hashana. Please do Teshuva (repentance). Please do Teshuva now. Get your heads straight. Get your minds on the right things. Teach your children how to react when the terrible wars really start. They have started already, but the really bad part is soon to come. Teach your children how to hold on to Hashem. Teach your children what reality is, what the Geula Shelaima means, what the Bais Hamikdosh (Temple) means, what the Korbanos (sacrifices) mean. Teach them not to be afraid because Hashem is Hakol Yachol. He took us out of Mitzrayim (Egypt), which was an amazing, amazing Ness (miracle), and He will take us out of this terrible, terrible Golus and bring us to the Geula Shelaima.
I want to tell you something else Mommy and Tatti. I love you all very much. I know how much you are doing for me and how you care for me. I know I sometimes make you both a bit upset with my moods. I go a bit crazy myself with the double life that I have been living. One part of my life, a little boy with little boy needs, and the other part of my life I am a greater person a much more adult person. So please I ask you Mechila (forgiveness) for anything I have done to make it difficult for you and tell you how much I appreciate how you’ve taken care of me, and how I imagine you will continue to take care of me up to when Moshiach comes. At that time I won’t need your help anymore, Be’ezras Hashem (with the help of Hashem). I know that very soon we are going to see the Truth. So don’t get discouraged and don’t get taken down. Just know that all of our troubles are going to disappear and really you shouldn’t be worried about all these things that are happening in the house, buying and selling apartments, taking care of me, and all the other grandchildren who have this problem, that problem, or the other problem, or my aunts and my uncles that have all kinds of problems. Just know that it’s almost over, almost over.
To Am Yisroel I want to tell you that when we come to Chanukah we are going to have very great spiritual happenings that will remind us of the Maccabees, that will remind us of our greatness, will remind us of our Bais Hamikdosh, even though we will be very frightened and we will be such a tiny little group surrounded by huge amounts of wild people with terrible weapons, but still our hearts will be full of joy because we will feel again what the Maccabees felt even though we will be terribly afraid. It will seem impossible to ever get out of that situation, but Hashem will help us and we will, and after that will come Asara B’teves and we will mourn like we never mourned before. We will cry and beg like we never did on Tisha B’av, beg and beg Hashem to rebuild our Bayis our Bais Hamikdosh, and not let the Goyim do the most outlandish thing of destroying the Dome of the Rock and instead building Chas Veshalom there a temple to the Avodah Zorah of their new Religion Chas Vesholom, Yemach Shemam Vezichram. That is their plan to build on top of Har Hamoriah, Har Habayis a temple to the Avodah Zorahs (idols), the worst Avodah Zorahs.
Then we will come to Purim and we will beg Hashem to save us from Haman and we will have a Haman here, a Haman that we will have to be saved from and we will have to fight, fight our fears, beg Hashem to save us from this awful terrible horrific person and his armies and his police. We will have to beg very hard. Hashem will save us.
He will save us, and then will come Pesach and we will be a tattered bunch of tired people when we sit around the Seder table, with Matzoh and wine miraculously provided for us by Hashem and we will beg Hashem to save us. We will beg Hashem. We will beg Hashem to bring the Geula Shelaima. On Shvii Shel Pesach we will hear the Shofar. We will hear the Shofar and on Leil Haseder each house will see Eliyahu Hanavi, all the Jews that are Emesdik will see him and it will give us strength, but it still won’t be the time of redemption. I can’t go on farther than that to explain, but when we see Eliyahu Hanavi we will know that very soon this terribly long Golus will be over, and we will be finally free. From that moment on, there will be more and greater wars. There will be false prophets and false messiahs, but we will hold on to Hakodosh Boruch Hu and to the seed of Dovid Hamelech, to our Moshiach Tzidkainu, our true Moshiach. He will reveal himself and we Motzai Shviis will walk into the Bais Hamikdosh and be Makriv Korbonos and be happy and be dancing with the greatest joy ever felt in the whole world, even though around us two thirds of the world will have been destroyed, and very few Yidden and even fewer Goyim will survive.
I have been given permission to reveal to you these future events in order to give Am Yisroel strength and courage to get through these very difficult times. I beg Am Yisroel from the bottom of my heart to feel that every Jew is responsible for the other Jew. Every true Jew feels responsibility for another Jew, feels that he wants to do Chessed for another Jew. That’s how you know he’s really a Jew. I love Am Yisroel so much that just saying it makes me cry, and I beg you please make it easy on yourselves. Come back to Hashem. Take away the Gashmius which is so senseless, all the toys, all the adult stupid toys, all the videos, all the things that make us waste our time and instead put our efforts into growing spiritually. The best way to grow spiritually is when times are difficult. We don’t want times to be difficult, but we must use the future hard times to help us grow. Please let us put our hearts and our souls and our strength, into growing even though around us will be death and destruction. Please keep growing. Please keep coming closer and closer to Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
Q: Do we have to be afraid of the ISIS? A: That group of murderers were created by the Reshoim (evil ones) to frighten the world. They have no real tangible strength. It’s all a farce and the Europeans definitely don’t want them around and probably will try to get rid of them as fast as possible. However they will go underground and they will cause destruction in the world because they as individuals can blow up hundreds of places in Europe, America, not only the Mideast. As an army they aren’t an army. They are just a group of vicious people. They are using the scare tactics of chopping peoples’ heads off, Lo Aleinu, or murdering them in other terrible ways to make people afraid, but don’t pay attention to them. It’s all not something real. Yes people are killed and they are very vicious, but they have no strength and Hashem will destroy them.
There is nothing to add right now. I’m giving you kind of a preview. Up to now we the autistics, have written many things and they’ve all come true, however, we never really gave a timeframe because people still had to schlep through many years without this kind of Chizuk. There was no point in giving a timeframe, because people would say, “Oh well we still have ten years, so let’s just party until then. We have time to do Teshuvah!” There’s no time now, so let’s do it now now, now!
There is one more thing I want to say. In the next near future the State of Israel, the Medina is going to crumble. It’s already crumbling from its own decadence. That is what’s going to happen IY”H. Very soon the chaos is going to rage here until the Goyim take over. Then Moshiach will take control from the Goyim and the Geula Shelaima will begin Be’ezras Hashem.
I don’t have anything else to write now. |
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From Israel Matzav
US embargo of Israel during Protective Edge was totalOctober 17, 2014 http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2014/10/us-embargo-of-israel-during-protective.html
You might recall that the US stopped shipments of hellfire missiles to Israel during Operation Protective Edge. Maariv now reports that for ‘days’ the US totally cut off all communications with the Israeli Defense Ministry purchasing agent in the US.
The cutoff started ten days after the war began(!) when the Obama administration decided that too many civilians were being killed in Gaza.
Maariv reports that the order to cut off supplies came from the White House itself and that similar cutoffs happened in 1982 (First Lebanon War) and 1973 (Yom Kippur War).
However, the US continued its strategic cooperation with Israel, and did allow Israel to use weapons that were stored in Israel.
For those who read Hebrew, read the whole thing. I don’t have time now to translate. Shabbat Shalom. UPDATE SUNDAY 11:44 AM I have now been told that this was not from Maariv, that the NRG website is now owned by Israel HaYom and that it acts de facto as the front page of Makor Rishon. |
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Obama’s Embargo Gave Birth to Improved Israeli Rocket Now Tested by US ArmyDavid Israel 1 Elul 5779 – September 1, 2019 https://www.jewishpress.com/news/us-news/obamas-embargo-gave-birth-to-improved-israeli-rocket-now-tested-by-us-army/2019/09/01/ The US Army has been testing Rafael’s Spike Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) anti-tank guided missile as a solution against the Russian surface-to-air missile systems, Defense News reported last week.
In the middle of the 2014 Gaza War, the Obama administration stopped deliveries of Hellfire missiles to the Israeli Air Force’s Apache helicopters, in an attempt to pressure the Israelis to stop their operation in Gaza.
And so, as part of the lessons of that war, the Israeli Air Force and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems adapted their fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile Spike to be launched from Israeli Apache helicopters, to prevent dependence on American goodwill in future wars.
Now the Americans want to use the same Israeli missile on their own Apache helicopters. The US Army is anxious to improve their choppers’ ability to shoot at relatively distant targets, with the aim of reducing the risk to said choppers. Turns out the Israeli missile has the range that the American missiles currently lack.
Obama drama…
Spike is an Israeli fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile and anti-personnel missile with a tandem-charge HEAT warhead, currently in its fourth-generation. It was developed and designed by the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and is available in man-portable, vehicle-launched, and helicopter-launched variants.
In addition to engaging and destroying targets within the line-of-sight of the launcher (“fire-and-forget”), some variants of the missile are capable of making a top attack profile through a “fire, observe and update” guidance method (essentially lock-on after launch). The operator tracks the target, or switches to another target, optically, through the trailing fiber-optic wire (or RF link) while the missile is climbing to altitude after launch.
An early version of the Spike was offered by Rafael as a possible contender for the US Army JAWS missile program in 1996. It was not picked up. |
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Column One: Corbyn’s portents for IsraelThere is no point in being diplomatic. If Corbyn forms a government, diplomatic niceties will get us nowhere. If the current violence between Israel and the Hamas terrorist regime in Gaza escalates into a full-scale war, one thing is certain. The main thoroughfares of the West’s great cities will be filled with thousands of protesters marching in support for Hamas and its strategic goal of annihilating Israel.
The anti-Israel demonstrations this time around will dwarf all those that preceded them.
We also know with mathematical certainty that Jewish institutions and Jews will be violently assaulted from London to Melbourne, Paris to San Francisco.
Every public demonstration in support of Israel, indeed, every public demonstration of Judaism, including Jewish people walking to synagogue on Shabbat – will become a focal point for attacks.
We also know with absolute certainly that just as the violent assaults against Jews in the West during Operation Protective Edge in 2014 dwarfed the attacks from earlier wars, so the violence directed against Jews and Jewish institutions in Europe and the US in the next war will dwarf all that preceded it.
We know that the anti-Israel demonstrations will be bigger and violence against Jews more widespread now than in the past because over the past four years, leftist antisemitism has grown in scope and extremism throughout the Western world.
Hatred of Jews, based in a rejection of Israel’s right to exist and expressed first and foremost through the demonization of Israel’s supporters as racists, has become more widespread. Its expressions have become more extreme and more violent.
Consider the situation in Britain. Last month, US President Donald Trump paid a visit to the US’s closest ally. The Red-Green alliance of the Left and the Muslims was beside itself. Its queer, feminist, jihadist and animal rights members banded together to organize a major demonstration against Trump in London.
As British Jewish writer and activist David Collier documented on his website, two aspects of the demonstrations stood out. First the marchers weren’t against Trump. They were anti-American.
As far as they were concerned, Trump is just a manifestation of America’s inherent evilness. His predecessor Barack Obama was also terrible.
The second notable aspect of the supposedly anti-Trump, Red-Green rally in London was the prevalence of anti-Israel messages. Collier posted videos of crowds at every corner happily shouting out chants calling for Israel to be destroyed, (“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free,”) and supporting Hamas, (“From Palestine to Mexico, racist walls have got to go!”).
It’s worth asking how the protesters at an antiTrump rally naturally gravitated towards anti-American and antisemitic messages.
Why did the people who supposedly hate Trump snap up “Free Gaza” stickers like hotcakes? What possesses British feminists to support a jihadist regime that routinely attacks Israel for no reason and treats women like property? The answer is simple enough. They aren’t thinking. They are following.
And over the past 15 to 20 years, hatred of Israel and support for its enemies, including Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah, has moved from the margins of the Left to become its signature foreign policy. What was once the cause célèbre of the Left’s radical fringes has now become the default position of politicians and activists associated with the Left throughout the Western world.
Take for example Sen. Cory Booker’s recent participation at the annual Netroots Nation conference, which took place last weekend in New Orleans. The conference, first convened during Barack Obama’s presidency, bills itself as “a political convention for American progressive political activists.” It has become a key tool for fundraising and political organizing for Democratic politicians. Would-be presidential candidates cannot afford to miss it.
Given its “progressive” pedigree, the only foreign policy position the participating groups advocated on behalf of was abandoning US support for Israel and replacing that support with support for the Palestinians. To this end, the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, (USCPR) was a major participant in the conference.
Booker’s political roots are in the pro-Israel community.
And until Obama concluded the nuclear deal with Iran three years ago, Booker was one of the most outspoken supporters of Israel in the Democratic party.
Booker smiled broadly in the picture he took with the USCPR members. In the photo, Booker happily clutches a sign which reads, “From Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go.”
When asked about the photo by reporters, Booker’s spokesman insisted that Booker hadn’t read the sign.
But USCPR activists dispute his position. They told The Intercept that they spoke to him before snapping the photo. One of the members in the photo is wearing a t-shirt that says, “Palestine is a queer, feminist, refugee, racial justice issue.”
If he didn’t read the sign, he should have been able to guess it wasn’t an ad for a kosher deli.
THIS BRINGS us back to Britain.
Two weeks ago, in an unprecedented move, Britain’s three national Jewish newspapers closed ranks and jointly published the same front-page editorial.
The editorial dealt with the growing prospect of a Labour government under the leadership of Labour Party chairman Jeremy Corbyn. The papers referred to that possibility as “an existential threat to Jewish life in this country.”
According to the joint editorial, “With the government in Brexit disarray, there is a clear and present danger that a man with a default blindness to the Jewish community’s fears, a man who has a problem seeing that hateful rhetoric aimed at Israel can easily step into antisemitism, could be our next prime minister.”
The Jewish newspapers were driven to publish the joint warning by the Labour Party’s refusal to adopt the same definition of antisemitism as the British government, 130 local governments and dozens of other countries have adopted. The definition, which was drafted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, (IHRA) enumerates eleven examples of antisemitism to enable authorities to properly identify anti-Jewish discrimination.
Included in the examples is the allegation that Israel is inherently racist and comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany. Labour based its rejection of the IHRA definition on the presence of those examples.
As far as Corbyn’s Labour party is concerned, it is not necessarily antisemitic to argue that Israel is inherently racist and therefore has no right to exist or to compare Israel to Nazi Germany.
Labour’s refusal to accept IHRA’s definition on these grounds is not merely a testament to the fact that the view that Israel the illegitimate, modern incarnation of Nazi Germany is commonplace in the party today. Indeed, Corbyn and his close advisors have been repeatedly documented voicing such views.
It is also a declaration of intent for the future.
By refusing to say that it is antisemitic to claim that Israel is inherently racist, Labour is justifying, and to a degree, inviting open discrimination and persecution of Jews.
If Corbyn becomes Britain’s prime minister, Labour’s position will open the door to institutional discrimination against Jews. Due to their Zionism – that is, their “racism” – British Jews are liable to find themselves boycotted, fired, socially, academically and professionally shunned and sued. After all, if they are Zionists, they are evil.
British Jews aren’t the only ones who need to be alarmed by Corbyn’s rise, and the Left’s ever-growing embrace of antisemitism. Israel also needs to be deeply concerned.
Not long ago, Corbyn referred to terrorists from Hamas and Hezbollah as “my friends.” If he becomes British prime minister, not only can Israel expect his government to suspend all security cooperation. Israel can reasonably expect Britain to start funding – and transferring strategically significant information – to Corbyn’s “friends.”
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The main threat Corbyn poses to Israel stems from Britain’s alliance with the US.
In the century that preceded Trump’s presidency, the British used their close relationship with Washington to diminish US support for Israel. In the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks for instance, then British prime minister Tony Blair convinced then-president George W. Bush to limit the scope of his anti-terror campaign to terror groups that didn’t primarily attack Israeli Jews. Due directly to Blair’s intervention, in his September 20, 2001 speech before the joint houses of Congress, Bush declared war on terror organizations “with global reach.”
Thanks to Blair, given the “local” nature of their terror war against Israel, Palestinian terrorists received ever expanding political, military and financial support from the Bush administration.
Indeed, two months after Sept. 11, then secretary of state Colin Powell became the first senior US official to officially express support for Palestinian statehood.
IF CORBYN rises to power while Trump is still in the White House, he will speed up the ongoing radicalization and legitimize the antisemitic trajectory of the Democratic Party. But his immediate effect on US policy towards Israel will be limited.
If, on the other hand, Corbyn serves in parallel to a Democratic president, given the radicalization of the Democratic Party, a Corbyn government will have a poisonous effect on US-Israel relations.
In light of the stakes, Israel needs to work on three levels simultaneously.
First, Israel needs to fight for British Jewry. The Foreign Ministry, and national institutions like the United Israel Appeal, and even regular Israelis on vacation in Britain – need to be as outspoken in criticism of Corbyn as the Jews of Britain are.
There is no point in being diplomatic. If Corbyn forms a government, diplomatic niceties will get us nowhere.
British Jews now courageously fighting Corbyn with everything they have are not being alarmist.
As the three papers noted, until recently, the Labour Party “was the natural home for our community,” but “Corbynite contempt for Jews and Israel,” has eroded “its values and integrity.”
Second, Israel needs to prepare for the day after Corbyn wins the next general election. Any longterm strategic projects Israel may have with Britain should be wound down now. New projects should not be initiated.
Israel-based anti-Israel NGOs with ties to the Labour party should be followed very, very closely.
As far as the US is concerned, given the ongoing radicalization of the Democratic party and its ties with Britain’s Labour Party, Israel’s continued strategic dependence on US military aid is looking less and less responsible.
Israel should use Trump’s tenure in office as an opportunity to transform our military dependence into a military partnership. We should exchange aid for US investments in joint weapons research and development projects. By transforming our relationship into a partnership, Israel will minimize the chance that the next Democratic president will feel comfortable walking away from Jerusalem in lockstep the party’s radical grassroots and his or her British counterpart Corbyn.
The growth and escalation of antisemitism in the Western Left is a strategic threat to both Israel and the Jewish communities in Western nations. For the future of Western Jewry and of Israel, we need to recognize the threat and take action to limit its consequences. |
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More evidence: The plan is to commit “election terrorism” this NovemberSeptember 03, 2020 by: News Editors https://www.naturalnews.com/2020-09-03-the-plan-is-to-commit-election-terrorism.html (Natural News) The plans for the 2020 election have been in the works for a long time, and Donald Trump and Joe Biden are both playing their roles well. There have already been promises of a horrifying and violent election response, and if we pay attention, we already know who is going to “win.”
(Article by Mac Slavo republished from SHTFPlan.com)
Since we know that our votes don’t matter, the elitists choose the president and most of Congress and the Senate, we can look at their “secret election model” to see what they have planned for after the election. It’ll be nothing short of inorganic terrorism committed by the government at the commands of the Federal Reserve against the American people.
Their model predicts that the worst case scenario will be a win for Trump in the electoral college with Biden getting the popular vote. It won’t matter though, because neither side will accept the results, they’ve already said as much, and now Trump is saying that his supporters should try to vote twice to “test” the mail in voting system.
You can’t make this stuff up! This entire system is such a scam, it’s getting a little sad that people aren’t seeing this. Most people are going to vote showing the system they support the illusion and their own enslavement.
It’s continually getting worse too. Donald Trump has proposed that voters in North Carolina cast their ballots twice to test the state’s mail-in voting system, prompting criticism that he promoted the same “fraud” his detractors insist was impossible, according to a report by RT. “Well, they’ll go out and they’ll vote, and they’re going to have to go check their vote by going to the poll and voting that way, because if it tabulates, then they won’t be able to do that,” the president told reporters during a visit to North Carolina on Wednesday when asked about his confidence in mail-in voting.
Trump’s suggestion prompted cries of “voter fraud” from leftists. They are gearing up for voter fraud and a contested election from both sides.
We are being played. The only way to win their rigged game is to refuse to play anymore. Stand up, be aware of what’s going on, prepare, and refuse to live in fear. That’s the best solution right now. It isn’t easy to wake up and realize you’ve been played but it’s imperative if you do not wish to be a slave to the elitists. Read more at: SHTFPlan.com |
