Some friendly advice to readers I am sure that not every section in this weekly Drasha interests you. There is a section or two on Halacha, the weekly Parsha, Stories of people, Inyanay Diyoma which has things related to
Yehudit bat Sara Peshe passed away.
Yosef Shalom ben Chaya Musha (Harav Hagaon Yosef Shalom Elyashiv Shlit"a)
For this Shabbos only either some Tehillim (Psalms) or a Mishabayach in the Schul –
Emunah Rachel b-t Gittel Esther (Emi) who had an abscess close to her brain removed.
Sarah Leah b-t Maya Elonit (a little girl who just had a brain tumor removed)
Shayna Hindel b-t Aviva (a little girl with a skull fracture and cranial bleeding)
CHAYA BAS
An Epilogue to my personal medical miracle: In my Schul two heart specialist pray – one a retired doctor and the other Dr. Vilna whom I mentioned in my post about finding a heter to fast on Yom Kippur. Dr. Vilna pointed heavenward when he heard my story and said, “HE is the ONE who can heal the best.” He once told me the story of identical twins with hepatitis. One used the ancient method of healing by sneaking in doves into the hospital and placing them on his stomach, the other one trusted in modern medicine. Guess who got cured – the man who used doves as described in the Talmud – how it works and why it works no modern practitioner could explain by either logic or scientific means.
Ruling regarding Shabbos Elevators: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3782981,00.html
Having studied both physics and working for years with electronics; I have based my Psak on Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach TzZal and have not changed my opinion. I hold that a healthy person should not use such an elevator – however, if the healthy person is needed to accompany a confused elderly person, to push a wheel chair, my ruling is more lenient. A disabled person, hospitalized person in a weak state, a person suffering from an illness which would endanger him to exert himself climbing what in some cases can be many flights of stairs, should be treated with leniency. THERE IS NO PHYSICAL DIFFERENCE WITH USING AN ELECTRICAL VEHICLE BY “GRAMA” THEN THAT WHICH THE ANTI-ELEVATOR RABBIS PSAK BUT THEY HAVE PERMITED THE VEHICLE FOR USE VS.THAT RULING FOR THE SHABBOS ELEVATOR. In my humble opinion and I go with Rabbi Auerbach against my own Rabbis and Teachers today that the Shabbos Elevator can be used with the restrictions and exceptions mentioned above.
To explain GRAMA it is what we call the power of my power. The electronic vehicles that are permitted to use on Shabbos base themselves on the principle that one turns a switch with a spring and the compressed spring then ignites the electronic vehicle after a certain interval. The vehicle turns off after idling for such and such an amount of time so as not to over use the battery for the invalid or cripple.
The same principle can be used in a preset gas stove timer which allows burner A to keep the soup war Friday Night and then shut of the gas while burner B with an 18 hour time shuts off the gas under the hot beans, onions and meat or the kugel for the meal the timer in this case is set before Shabbos.
An aside note: There are many leniencies for hot plates on Shabbos with dry food and one should purchase a book that explains this in detail or attend some classes given on the subject by your local Orthodox Rabbi. There was about book out about 38 to 35 years ago on how to take care of children on Shabbos and Yom Tov which explained this.
NOTE: ONE CAN NOT USE AN ELECTRIC TIMER TO START A HOT PLATE ON SHABBOS EVEN IF PREPARED EREV SHABBOS for a further explanation consult your local Orthodox Rabbi. (I know that some of my readers go out and start learning heterim that do not exist.
Parshas Beresheis
Last year, I wrote about the almost latest scientific theories of creation including “spontaneous evolution” of species. As promised this year I plan to go into the Spiritual Aspects of Creation. I am not a great scholar of Kabbala so my writings will be elementary. I am far from an expert in this area and my explanation may even be a bit weak. Many practical people take Kabbala with a grain of salt and the whole spiritual realm is often above the thinking process of the average human who is living in a confined three or four dimensional world. One cannot view the other 7 dimensions that modern physics claims exist. The basis for last year’s www.rabbipauli.blogspot.com was based on Professor Natan Aviezer’s books as well as my own knowledge.
I have mentioned in my writings the four basic forms of Kabbalistic life. Inanimate objects (see the motor cycle story below), plants, animals and “Midaber” aka speakers or human beings. Every morning in our prayers we state that “HE renews daily the acts of creation”. What is in the subatomic particles and their vibrations that hold the inanimate physical world together is unknown to mankind but since everything comes from G-D there is some sort of sustenance that the inanimate receives. The Kabbala brings down in the process of reincarnation of the wicked that sometimes a soul is placed into an inanimate object to let it atone for certain things. For Example: The person slaughtered 7000 sheep in his life and they were all non-kosher but he sold them as kosher. That person might be made as a soul repair to have his soul placed within a kosher slaughtering knife and until 7000 sheep were slain with it, he would have to be imprisoned within the essence of the knife. As I wrote in the past only the extremely wicked people would get such punishments.
I will try to select color coding so that one does not get confused with the commentaries. In my Chutzpa, I have placed my explanation before that of Rashi (purple) and the Malbim (brown) most likely using my words condensed and with the Zohar’s explanation condensed in my own words (blue). Please note that the translation of the Malbim “Beginning and Upheaval by Zvi Faier is 72 pages just for the first five lines of Torah so I am uncertain if I will independently go into the Medrash or Zohar on this as I am being to see just from my work with the Malbim condensation quite a few pages popping up below just on the first five lines of Torah. I can only recommend going back via google to the blog of last year for a general commentary.
Last but not least, I have not taken into account current internet Rabbis with their commentaries or the long commentary of May Am Loez in English the material is too vast. I have not decided how I plan to contend with the material to keep it as one big class forum for a long time with a few words on the regular Pasha or not. Just going with the Malbim on Beresheis and Noach if done properly will take weeks and will turn into a Shuir.
1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The whole Big Bang whether the molecules traveled in above the speed of light waves throughout the universe in seconds or it took as the Kabbala indicates billions of years.
In the beginning: Said Rabbi Isaac: It was not necessary to begin the Torah except from “This month is to you,” (Exod. 12:2) which is the first commandment that the Israelites were commanded, (for the main purpose of the Torah is its commandments, and although several commandments are found in Genesis, e.g., circumcision and the prohibition of eating the thigh sinew, they could have been included together with the other commandments). Now for what reason did He commence with “In the beginning?” Because of [the verse] “The strength of His works He related to His people, to give them the inheritance of the nations” (Ps. 111:6). For if the nations of the world should say to Israel, “You are robbers, for you conquered by force the lands of the seven nations [of Canaan],” they will reply, “The entire earth belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He; He created it (this we learn from the story of the Creation) and gave it to whomever He deemed proper When He wished, He gave it to them, and when He wished, He took it away from them and gave it to us.
In the beginning of God’s creation of: Heb. בְּרֵאשִית בָּרָא. This verse calls for a midrashic interpretation [because according to its simple interpretation, the vowelization of the word בָּרָא, should be different, as Rashi explains further]. It teaches us that the sequence of the Creation as written is impossible, as is written immediately below] as our Rabbis stated (Letters of R. Akiva , letter “beth” ; Gen. Rabbah 1:6; Lev. Rabbah 36:4): [God created the world] for the sake of the Torah, which is called (Prov. 8:22): “the beginning of His way,” and for the sake of Israel, who are called (Jer. 2:3) “the first of His grain.” But if you wish to explain it according to its simple meaning, explain it thus: “At the beginning of the creation of heaven and earth, the earth was astonishing with emptiness, and darkness…and God said, ‘Let there be light.’” But Scripture did not come to teach the sequence of the Creation, to say that these came first, for if it came to teach this, it should have written: “At first (בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה) He created the heavens and the earth,” for there is no רֵאשִׁית in Scripture that is not connected to the following word, [i.e., in the construct state] like (ibid. 27:1):“In the beginning of (בְּרֵאשִית) the reign of Yehoiakim” ; (below 10:10)“the beginning of (רֵאשִׁית) his reign” ; (Deut. 18:4)“the first (רֵאשִׁית) of your corn.” Here too, you say בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אלֹהִים, like בְּרֵאשִׁית בְּרֹא, in the beginning of creating. And similar to this is, “At the beginning of the Lord’s speaking (דִּבֶּר) to Hosea,” (Hos. 1:2), i.e., at the beginning of the speaking (דִּבּוּרוֹ) of the Holy One, Blessed be He, to Hosea, “the Lord said to Hosea, etc.” Now if you say that it came to teach that these (i.e., heaven and earth) were created first, and that its meaning is: In the beginning of all, He created these-and that there are elliptical verses that omit one word, like (Job 3:9): “For [He] did not shut the doors of my [mother’s] womb,” and it does not explain who it was who shut [the womb]; and like (Isa. 8:4): “he will carry off the wealth of Damascus,” and it does not explain who will carry it off; and like (Amos 6:12): “or will one plow with cattle,” and it does not explain: “if a man will plow with cattle” ; and like (Isa. 46: 10): “telling the end from the beginning,” and it does not explain that [it means] telling the end of a matter from the beginning of a matter-if so, [if you say that Scripture indicates the order of creation] be astounded at yourself, for the water preceded, as it is written: “and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the water,” and Scripture did not yet disclose when the creation of water took place! From this you learn that the water preceded the earth. Moreover, the heavens were created from fire and water. Perforce, you must admit that Scripture did not teach us anything about the sequence of the earlier and the later [acts of creation].
God’s creation of the heavens and the earth: But it does not say “of the Lord’s creation of” (i.e., it should say “of the Lord God’s creation of” as below 2:4 “on the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven”) for in the beginning it was His intention to create it with the Divine Standard of Justice, but he perceived that the world would not endure; so He preceded it with the Divine Standard of Mercy, allying it with the Divine Standard of Justice, and that is the reason it is written: “on the day the Lord God made earth and heaven.”
The Malbim looks at the writings of Rashi and interprets that the initial act is the creation of light. Rashi and the Malbim have no problem with the Big Bang theory. I also assume that the earth being unformed until the Big Bang. The Ralbag, Rambam and Ramban interpret Beresheis in a different way; they seem to be saying that be beginning means that there is an ending after it. This appears to be similar to the dispute between Rabbi Yehuda who said that light was created first and Rabbi Nechemia who said the world was created first. The Big Bang Theory is a vote in favor of Rabbi Yehuda. Cutting the Malbim short – Rav Nechemia explains: “2.4 These are the generations of the heaven and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven.” Meaning on the same ‘day’ that they were created, the produced generations – as I noted below and last year, without the earth being captured by the Sun which is on the fourth ‘day’ we could not have a 24 hour time system as reference. Having just recently experience my own medical miracle, if you want to say that a day is 24 hrs vs. the eons of years of the Kabbala; I will not argue with you. One way indicates that HASHEM created the laws of physics as we know them and the other implies miraculous violations of the laws of modern physics as we observe today.
Rabbi Yehuda rebutted Rabbi Nechemia as we have “Day one, second day, third day, etc.” to which he replied that the days are like pickers of figs that come in the seasons as they ripen. The explanation of Rav Nechemia does imply that on the first ‘day’ the atoms collected into stars, galaxies, planets, etc. then came along the other days - so essentially both are explaining the Big Bang theory from different angles. Rav Nechemia also implies that the Will of G-D was behind the movement from the initial light and the creation was following the will to continue on with the generations within the first day. We see this in the Medrash of Adam and Chava as Kayn and Hevel were born in Gan Eden immediately before Shabbos – the implication being that intercourse and immediate production of off spring without 9 months of labor. I believe this is written in Tractate Taanis where Rabban Gamliel has to teach a doubting student and he says – “Go outside and see the Caper Bush which has buds, flowers and fruit on it simultaneous.” All this is written without even trying to place the existence of the 10 Sefiros in the Universe underneath the will of AYN SOF (EVERLASTING) or (UNENDING) so forgive me as I am not a “Rabbi Berg” who does hocus – pocus to extract money from Movie Starts and wealth in this world.
Rav Nechemia contested that everything was essentially created on the first day “Yesh may ayin” or something from nothing but did not spring forth until the day mentioned and was created on the first day. Thus the potential was there by the thought of G-D. On the other hand, Rav Yehuda contended that new things were created “Yesh may ayin” or something from nothing each of the 7days something else was created from nothing. For no where else do we find “Resheis” for beginning and the word “terem” (not yet or in the sentence before man was there to till the ground). However, we do have later on in the Nach the saying “Resheis Chochma Yeras HASHEM” (The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the L-RD). I am not disputing the Tana as he knew the Nach inside out but he was essentially pointing out the unusual language here.
Rav Yehuda furthers his point by saying – that since everything according to Rav Nechemia came into existence on the first day then why is mentioned subsequent creation. The Rambam contends that on the first day HASHEM created from nothing two substances – light and lack of light. The Rambam was influenced by the Greek philosophers and therefore postulated a basic material what everything could be made out of. Something like one subatomic particle from which one could make mesons, quarks, neutrinos, gamma rays, electrons, neutrons, protons, atoms, etc. (Remember the Rambam lived around 900 years ago so all of modern science he could not have taken into account – the Malbim on the other hand passed away slightly before WWI so his understanding is that of a modern Rabbi and but not one of today’s Orthodox Jewish scientists. Rabbi ‘Don’ Yitzchak Abarbanel wrote that the creation was in thought but hidden and not even endured and had only potential at this time. Heavens refer to the great Spheres or orbital frames of the ancients (Galaxies – constellations that existed in his day known to be of different distances from the Sun, Moon, and Planets relative to the earth), by the fourth day there were separate bodies of light unlike the earth. The solidification of the planets and the collecting of heavier spewed out elements together are probably described in the book that I mentioned last year “The first three seconds”.
The Malbim cannot settle for the ancient philosophy held by the Rambam and talks about a host of spheres revolving about different orbits. He mentions within Ether (which was held common before the advent of Einstein’s physics). Also modern astronomers do not believe in a 5th form of matter like the ancients. The Malbim was still basing his thoughts on “air, fire, earth and water” which I translate as gas, plasma, solid and liquid.
If we adhere to Rabbi Nehemiah’s ideas then “Yesh may ayin” only occurred on the first day. BARA – create – VAYOMER – said according to the Radak this only occurs with one who said or saying. Thus the Radak expresses that the first thing G-D did was create and said nothing for there was no creation to talk to. Then after there was creation we read VAYOMER. The placing of the earth – solar – lunar system in order was a thought out process of nothing or no system and creating the system.
The Malbim takes the side of Rabbi Nehemiah on the fact that everything was created or the potential created on the first day. There according to the Malbim on the fourth day the earth, moon and sun had been created. However, the VAYOMER is needed to command these bodies (and the other planets) to go into orbit and distances on the fourth day. Here is where I differ with the interpretation of Rav Nechemia as this would imply that the sun-moon-earth system was created on the first day per the Malbim and only on the fourth day would the sun gain luminous properties. Rabbi Yehuda has no problem with sun being created like today we see new stars forming in galaxies on the fourth day and the system being put into place on the forth day and no idea is known whether the earth captured the moon and then the sun captured both or the sun captured the earth and later, the earth captured the moon on the fourth day. From the Kabbala it is the fourth eon while the simple Pshat is the 4th period of 24 hrs.
The Malbim goes on to bring down the interpretation of Rabbi Akiva - that the heavens and earth were the two basic substances for creating further things. The ET and the Hay used in this sentence raised a grammatical question in Hebrew. How can the reinforced definite article “Hay = the” be inclusive of both substances? This is to prevent us from thinking that heaven and earth are divinities.
Upon the advice of my former roommate, Zev, from Yeshiva Haichel HaTorah; I am leaving off the details here. I only covered less than 8 of the 72 pages of the first five lines here so you can see the vast
2 Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. The physical description here is a planet which is fully covered by water and the crust of the earth is basically the surface of a sphere like a molded rubber or plastic ball – smooth in nature which has a covering layer of water held down by gravity and spinning in the void of space.
Astonishingly empty: Heb. תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ. תֹהוּ is an expression of astonishment and desolation, that a person wonders and is astonished at the emptiness therein. Astordison in Old French; [étourdissement in modern French], astonishment. בֹהוּ an expression of emptiness and desolation. (This does not appear in all editions.)
On the face of the deep: on the face of the waters which were on the earth.
And the spirit of God was hovering: The Throne of Glory was suspended in the air and hovered over the face of the water with the breath of the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He and with His word, like a dove, which hovers over the nest, acoveter in Old French, to cover, hover over.
This hovering was like a mother bird over the next to protect it.
3 And God said: ‘Let there be light.’ And there was light.
We can physically assume that having an absence of light, there would be absolute darkness. G-D then analyzes this aspect of creation and comes in the next line to a conclusion about light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
We are talking here about the space continuum where there are dark areas between the stars and areas of light near the stars and galaxies. The conclusion is that the absence of dark is light and visa versa.
And God saw the light that it was good, and God separated: Here too, we need the words of the Aggadah: He saw it that it was not proper for the wicked to use it; so He separated it for the righteous in the future. According to its simple meaning, explain it as follows: He saw it that it was good, and it was unseemly that it [light] and darkness should serve in confusion; so He established for this one its boundary by day, and for that one its boundary by night.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
As I mentioned previously there is really no specific time limit for the earth here as the earth has not be captured by the sun and the moon has not be captured by the earth for this period. The earth at this point is floating around in space between light areas and dark areas so the day is unknown.
One day: According to the sequence of the language of the chapter, it should have been written, “the first day,” as it is written regarding the other days, “second, third, fourth.” Why did Scripture write “one” ? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, was the only one in His world, for the angels were not created until the second day. [i.e., יוֹם אֶחָד is understood as ‘the day of the only One’] So is it explained in Genesis Rabbah (3:8).
6 And God said: ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.’ 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
Aaron Ovadia sent me this on the water and I decided to incorporate it in the Drasha: In describing the creation of light on the first day Hashem says: KI TOV,” …it was good”. (Gen. 1,4) On the second day, when Hashem divided the waters, it does not say that it was good. Traditionally, the explanation given is that when there is a division, it is not good. Since on the second day there was such a division the Torah does not mention that it was good.
The problem with this explanation is that there was also a division in the first day between light and darkness and we do find the words “that it was good.”
There is a difference between these two divisions. In the first day the division was between two different things. One was light, the other was darkness. They can and should be separated. This division was good. The second day deals with a division between two things that are the same. This is not good.
We can make a distinction between Jews and non-Jews since these two believe in two different religions. However, among Jews there should be no division since we are all Jews of the same faith even though we may interpret the religion differently. We are, nevertheless, all Jews and are responsible for each other and should live in peace with each other.
14 And God said: ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth.’ And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
Finally a 24 hour time frame was established but perhaps not used yet by G-D. The Malbim at this point explains the relationship of the orbits of the planets to the order of things perhaps some future date I will go into this.
24 And God said: ‘Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind.’ And it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth after its kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every thing that creeps upon the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good. 26 And God said: ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ 27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.
Recently in the news there has been a lot of media hype of Ardi who out dates Lucy as the missing link. For those of you who have followed the story and have not seen my posts on this evil-lution story here are goods. Professor Yoel Rak of the
28 And God blessed them; and God said unto them: ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that creeps upon the earth.’ 29 And God said: ‘Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed—to you it shall be for food; 30 and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creeps upon the earth, wherein there is a living soul, [I have given] every green herb for food.’ And it was so. 31 And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
It appears to me that the carnivorous animals were satisfied by some unknown vegetable that was digestible by them and supplied the needed nutrients.
2:1 And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it He rested from all His work which God in creating had made.
4 These are the generations of the heaven and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven. 5 No shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground; 6 but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. 7 Then the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. 8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward, in
I mentioned in previous years that there are no two accounts of the story of creation. One is general and this one is specific – it is like reading the Torah then the Mishnah then the Talmud and finally the practical Halachic for the Mitzvah.
3:1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman: ‘Yea, hath God said: Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’ 2 And the woman said unto the serpent: ‘Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said: Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.’ 4 And the serpent said unto the woman: ‘Ye shall not surely die; 5 for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.’ 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves girdles.
For a partial explanation of repairing the sin and what it destroyed read this:
http://forums.torah.org/viewtopic.php?p=102214#102214
…17 And unto Adam He said: ‘Because thou has\ hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying: Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
Adam was created with a lot of knowledge he was not a Cro-Magnon or Neanderthal type with no knowledge. He obvious knew cooking from Hevel's sacrifice. Was it cooking only for HASHEM or for eating too, remains unintelligible to me due to lack of information. Also Adam knew how to crow crops and make bread - obviously he was created with that knowledge.
20 And the man called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them.
Before the flood, it appears that the ground supplied stronger fruits and vegetables. The sacrifice of Hevel aka Abel was a lamb. So perhaps meat was eaten before the flood. Not every peeps that Adam did for 930 years or Methushalah did in 967 years is written down and documented like we do today to presidents and prime ministers. In the over-all picture of things whether Adam had a hamburger or cheese burger nobody really cared.
After the flood when the fruits and vegetables were weakened then certainly Noach was permitted meat.
Kosher meat is not a compromise. It is a system like we are what we eat. If we eat mild animals we behave in a mild manner. If we eat snakes, lions, tigers, pigs - then ...
Also that is only perhaps the reason for why certain animals and birds and not others and not sea mammals. However, we keep Kashrus because HASHEM who created us says this is what we can and cannot eat and no reason is needed.
… 4:1 And the man knew Eve his wife; and she conceived and bore Cain, and said: ‘I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.’ 2 And again she bore his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. 4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering; 5 but unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect.
The vegetarian state of affairs appears to be in Gan Eden once kicked out of Gan Eden did we become meat eaters or was the forbidden food meat which we ate???
… 5:28 And Lamech lived a hundred eighty and two years, and begot a son. 29 And he called his name Noah, saying: ‘This same shall comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, which cometh from the ground which the LORD hath cursed.’ 30 And Lamech lived after he begot Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begot sons and daughters. 31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years; and he died32 And Noah was five hundred years old; and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
…
6:3 And the LORD said: ‘My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for that he also is flesh; therefore shall his days be a hundred and twenty years.’
G-D saw that man was losing the battle between the Neshama (soul) and the Goof (body). Being in the world led to the generation of the flood deteriorating into thievery, lewdness, idolatry and bloodshed so G-D had to destroy them – Noach fortunately was influenced by one of the few Tzaddikim left, Methushalah. As soon as he passed away in the year 1656 and the 7 days of mourning were finished, the flood occurred. Methushalah imparted upon Noach what he had heard from Adam and perhaps told these things to Shem during the first 100 years of his life. Grandparents have a lot of influence on their grandchildren and perhaps even great grandchildren as they only play with them, heap on love and rarely if ever discipline them.
… 5 And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
When the L-RD saw that man had become depraved and only evil was being produced, he repented for making man. The affluence, orgies, etc. of the Roman Empire eventually led to its downfall. Benyamin and Yonatan Netanyahu were front line soldiers but the next generation is shielded more. Many of the rich families in Tel Aviv and other places manage to have their children avoid army service. The decadence of the Soviet Union eventually led to its break-up and the
6 And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart.
The generation before the flood, mankind became strong producing giants and arrogance. As my Rosh Yeshiva used to start off his sentence: All I can tell you is (I am writing to further the memory of Rabbi Yacov London of saintly memory) that Gay Pride and Audacity here and there will bring about the upheaval of Moshiach for the Righteous soon as the behavior existing now cannot be sustained any more before G-D. The loose morals of today cannot continue forever. Corrupt policemen cannot continue to obtain favors from prostitutes and others for non-arrest. Society will undergo an upheaval of scale we cannot imagine. In Sotah 49B it is written “The truth shall be absent!” but if you only open your eyes the truth is out there.
7 And the LORD said: ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and creeping thing, and fowl of the air; for it repents Me that I have made them.’
Bestiality led to the depravity of all so that all flesh basically became corrupt. Thus they had to blotted out too for that depravity.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD
The whole genealogy given in chapter 5 and the beginning of Chapter 6 is basically a continuation for the deluge which will be in next week’s Parsha.
Essentially because of the righteousness of Noach, he moved G-D’s attributes of Chessed and Gevurah to save Noach and the uncorrupted animals from the flood. When the Migdal Bavel occurred at the end of next week’s Sedra, it was Avraham who was able along with Shem, Ever, and a few others to keep the original language. The seed of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yacov were to be bred to raise mankind back to level of Gan Eden as a “light unto the Nations”. Only in the time of Moshe was the people mellow enough to receive the 613 Mitzvos to raise back the world from the mundane to the spiritual.
Rabbi Mordechai Shirabi of saintly memory and the Shabbosdika Motor Cycle.
This story was told to me perhaps 23 to 25 years ago by now Rabbi Boaz Baruch Shlita. Boaz, himself, started out as a traditional Sephardic soldier – not eating real trafe but not caring about many Mitzvos. One of Boaz’s friends convinced him to go to Rav Shirabi for a blessing. The Rav had a Tzedakah box where people gave to before going in to see the Rav. As a soldier he put in a little amount of money and Rebbitzen Shirabi added a bit for him. Upon seeing the Tzaddik and being influenced by him, Boaz came back again and again to bask in the radiance and Torah of the Rabbi. Soon Boaz was exacting on his Shabbos Observance, Terumah and Maaser, Tefillin and Torah Learning.
Boaz once visited Rabbi Shirabi’s house and forgot something and wanted to return to go inside again. The Rebbitzen told him that the Rabbi could not be disturbed. Boaz noticed a glow coming out from under the door of the Rav and a strange feeling of peaceful calm. He then drew the conclusion especially after speaking to other followers of the Rav that he actually learned with the spiritual presence of Eliyahu HaNovi.
One Shabbos, the Rav was walking back home from Schul when a fellow of a motor cycle passed by with a loud vroom – vroom. The people said to the Rav that the fellow was a no good rascal. The Rav without batting an eye said, it is not the fault of the fellow but that of the inanimate motor cycle. As soon as the Rav said that it was as if the non-living motor cycle feared the Judgement of G-D. The motor cycle sputtered and splat and was silent. The fellow began to dismantle the motor cycle and clean out everything and then rebuild it. Again nothing worked and he could not figure it out so again he began cleaning and greasing the parts. It became later in the day and the poor fellow was getting nowhere. Somebody from the congregation invited the fellow into the Synagogue for Mincha and the third meal as being out doors all afternoon the fellow must by now be hungry and thirsty. Another fellow mentioned that after Havdallah he could take the fellow home and the motor cycle too. The fellow went to pray, eat, sing Shabbos Songs and after Maariv and Havdallah went back to his motor cycle. Wonder of wonders Vroom – Vroom full blast and he was off and driving. The next week on Shabbos, the motor cycle broke down again and Motzei Shabbos was back in shape without any playing around. The fellow got the message and became a Torah Observant Jew. So when I wrote about the non-living substances above there is something from the spirit and will of HASHEM Yisborach inside of them.
Halacha
The Mitzvah of Thinking: It's a Mitzvah to believe that Hashem is One and that He has no partners helping Him run the world. One must believe that Hashem is One, and He does not have a physical aspect and has no "parts" to His being. This is a fundamental belief of Judaism. Applies all the time, to males and females everywhere. One fulfills it every time one thinks about it. Pasuk: Shema Yisrael... Hashem Ehad (Devarim 6:4) Source: The Chafetz-Chaim's Sefer haMitzvot haKatzar; Positive Mitzvah 2 Some Christians even though they talk about a trinity often think of everything being one. The question is if a Goy is allowed to believe in a partner to G-D? To us certainly the Shechina is only a manifestation of HASHEM upon us and is an interactive aspect of the L-RD with us and not considered separate - like a different Spirit.
No Chametz (leaven) is allowed to be seen on Jewish property during the 7 days of Passover. (Eight days in the Diaspora.) This applies to Chametz belonging to a Jew, as well as Chametz belonging to a non-Jew for which the Jew is responsible for. Applies to males and females everywhere, during Pessach. Pasuk: No Chametz may be seen in your property... for seven days (Shemos 13:7) Source: The Chafetz-Chaim's Sefer haMitzvot haKatzar; Negative Mitzvah 2
No Chametz (leaven) should be located on Jewish property during the 7 days of Pessach. (8 days in the Diaspora.) One who buys Chametz and hides it, or who makes Chametz-dough on Pessach, transgresses twice: once for seeing leaven and once for having it on his property. Chametz belonging to a non-Jew for which one has no responsibility is allowed onto ones premises during Pessach. Applies to everybody, everywhere during Pessach.
Pasuk: Seven days leaven should not be found in your homes (Shemos 12:19) Source: The Chafetz-Chaim's Sefer HaMitzvos HaKatzar; Negative Mitzvah 3
If one starts or finishes a meal on Rosh Chodesh or Yom Tov, one adds Ya'a'leh VeYavo - יעלה ויבא - during the 3rd Bracha of Birkat Hamazon. This week on Motzei Shabbat will be the first of 2 days of Rosh Chodesh Marcheshvan. If the third Shabbat meal continues into the night, one says both Retzei - רצה and Ya'a'leh VeYavo - יעלה ויבא. However, some are opinions that saying both would be self-contradictory. It is therefore recommended to not continue eating the third Shabbat meal after dusk, this week. Source: Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 44:17
It's a Mitzvah to love Hashem with all ones heart, soul and resources. The way to acquire this love is by studying His beautiful world. By appreciating the intricate and amazing ways the world is run one starts to appreciate what Hashem does for us, and to love him. Included in this Mitzvah is to behave in such a way that other people also start to keep His Mitzvoth. Applies to everybody all the time, everywhere. Pasuk: And you shall love Hashem with all your heart, soul and resources. (Devarim 6:5) Source: The Chafetz-Chaim's Sefer HaMitzvos HaKatzar; Positive Mitzvah 3
Since Mussaf on Shemini Atzeret (last Shabbat) we have been praising Hashem for the wonderful gift of rain, by adding Mashiv HaRu'ach Umorid HaGeshem - משיב הרוח ומוריד הגשם - into the second Bracha of the Amida. If one forgets to add this? If one has not yet finished the 2nd Bracha then one adds it after any of the many phrases of this Bracha. If one wishes, one may restart the Bracha and say it in it's correct place. If one already finished the 2nd Bracha? - If you have the custom of adding "Morid haTal" - מוריד הטל - during the summer, then continue as usual. No amendment is required.
- If you do NOT have the custom of adding "Morid haTal" - מוריד הטל - during the summer, then you have to restart the Amida from the beginning. This is because the first 3 Brachot of the Amida are considered as a single entity. One continues saying V'Ten Bracha - ותן ברכה - in the 9th Bracha of the Amida until the 7th Marcheshvan in Israel and the 4th or 5th December in the Diaspora depending upon the year and once every so and so many years on Dec. 3rd. Source: Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 19:1, 2, 5
Note a permanent resident of Israel being outside of Israel on the 7th or a permanent resident of the outside of Israel in Israel on the 7th has the option of following the local custom or saying the custom of his regular abode. However, an Israeli upon returning before Dec. 4th must pray the Israeli way and if I remember correctly a non-Israeli leaving the country must continue praying like an Israeli if he started praying the Israeli way. However for Shaliach Tzibur
From Rachel Levy the Bnei Yisrael and Pashtun Jews: http://www.road90.com/watch.php?id=wh5iFB8GTd
Found this during Chol HaMoed: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3785275,00.html
From Gene Alberts: The chief justice of the supreme court once notified the country that he is making his routine checkup on all the courts in the country that are working under him to check if they follow the law in its detail.
In one of the small cities the judge there went into a panic. Because his jail was empty!
“What should I tell the supreme court?” he thought. “If I’ll tell him that everyone is good, he’ll never believe me”… he’ll say that it’s impossible, and that I probably accepted bribery, and that I probably did something illegal”.. What should I do to keep my position” he worried.
He then thought of an idea. He went to the city to the stingy men and told them, “My friends, who ever agrees to sit in jail for a week, I’ll pay them one thousand coins”.
To his great surprise, not one man jumped at his offer. Desperate, he went over to one of the men and told him “Do me a favor; I am desperate for someone to sit in jail”. The man answered “I am not ready”.
Seeing this the judge said “I‘ll pay you hundred thousand coins if you sit for a week in jail”.
“I am not ready” said the stingy man.
He refused, even when the judge doubled the price. The judge left upset and empty-handed.
After a while, this stingy man was caught stealing. He was brought to court and put to trial with this particular judge. He was sentenced to prison. As the police was taking him to jail he called out angrily
“You are not ashamed of yourself?? For thousands of coins I did not agree to go to jail, and now you are taking me for free, no money??”
Accepting hardship many times could be a great remedy for the times we really deserve punishment. That's what we are going to do tonight, to go to a semi- Galus (exile) but we are all happy, we're enjoying it even though it's not our comfortable home.
It's a practice through the whole year and hopefully our lifetime when things go wrong it's uncomfortable and things bother you, you should not forget to stay happy and calm because Hashem is hovering over you just like the Sukkah.
Hag Sameach
Binyamin Jadidi
I saw this on Facebook in German from a non-Jewish site here is the English translation:
The university professor challenged his students with this question. “Did G-d create everything that exists?”
A student bravely replied, “Yes, He did!”
“G-d created everything?” The professor asked.
“Yes sir”, the student replied.
The professor answered, “If G-d created everything, then G-d created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are, then G-d is evil”.
The student became quiet before such an answer. The professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Jewish faith was a myth.
Another student raised his hand and said, “Can I ask you a question professor?”
“Of course”, replied the professor.
The student stood up and asked, “Professor does cold exist?”
“What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?” The students snickered at the young man’s question.
The young man replied, “In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (
The student continued, “Professor, does darkness exist?”
The professor responded, “Of course it does.”
The student replied, “Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can use
Finally the young man asked the professor, “Sir, does evil exist?”
Now uncertain, to professor responded, “Of course as I have already said. We see it every day. It is in the daily example of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.”
To this the student replied, “Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of G-d it is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of G-d. G-d did not create evil. Evil is not like faith, or love that exist just as does light and heat. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have G-d’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.”
The professor sat down.
The young man’s name--- Albert Einstein
Hag Samayach, Binyamin Jadidi
Zvi: Professor Judah
Orthodox Jew runs for the FL Senate – FL residents in the 954 area code check out his credentials & ideas: www.ABetterFlorida.com
Inyanay Diyoma
Outside of a war breaking out this out does the ring of fire earthquakes that have occurred recently:
A NEW WAY FOR ISLAMISTS TO EXPLODE THEMSELVES & THOSE AROUND THEM by Emanuel A. Winston,
At the risk of seemingly to predict what Terrorists will do, I observed the following several years ago, I chose not to write about the technique because I did not want to give them new ideas, G-d forbid.
As you no doubt know, drug traffickers used to use "mules" (people) to carry narcotics past security checkpoints. One technique was to fill waterproof condoms with cocaine, heroin, etc. Then the designated "mule" would swallow the filled condoms and carry them in his or her stomach. (I cannot tell you how it was later disgorged.) Some had it inserted anally or vaginally.
The thought crossed my mind that explosives such as Semtex, C-4, and other liquid or powdered explosives could be carried the same way. The electronic fuse would be very small and virtually undetectable. Any device, such as a cell phone or even a remote control that turns on a toy could trigger the fuse.
Lo and Behold! The whole scheme appeared, with animated pictures, on FOX NEWS today September 30th, so I can publish it without worry about introducing a "new" idea to violent people.
SOLUTIONS: The present screening Xray which has been objectionable up to now as a matter of insulting the people’s privacy may have to be made more stringent and mandatory.
Ethnic profiling of all Middle Easterners would also be made mandatory - despite objections from the ACLU - types.
Every passenger would go through a chamber that looked like an ordinary small room. A frequency signal covering all known frequencies would rotate - which would be completed in 30 seconds. Any explosive trigger that would respond to an electric or electronic signal would explode. Since the quantity of explosives carried inside a person would, by necessity, be small, the ensuing explosion could be contained with this room or passage. The walls would, of course, be ballistic materials adequate to contain an explosion.
The clean-up of the mess would be the airport’s problem.
BUT, advertising the use of such a system should be sufficient warning to stop such a brutal suicide bomber in his or her tracks.
###
Some news over the past two weeks since my last blog: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/cair-leader-tied-to-nazi-style-islamist-mosque/ http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/133674#atssh-facebook http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6314
Reuven sent me this it is like the LBJ add in ’64 but here it hits home: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtDb1S2xKjw&feature=player_embedded
Israeli Naval upgrade: http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6300
Jackie Mason on Politics a few nice woids: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIugyLb4kpM&feature=player_embedded#
From Meir – if
The world is being suckered by the nations that control the U.N. regarding
First, the prior sanctions have not worked and the U.N. accepted their failure as ‘business-as-usual’ and ignoring Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s repeated threats to wipe
The U.N. head of the I.A.E.A. (International Atomic Energy Agency), Mohamed ElBaradei, is an Egyptian. On the U.N. Nuclear Inspection Team his behavior seemed more like a partner with
With that out of the way, let’s take a look at present talks with
So what? What difference will that make to see a few thousand centrifuges spinning merrily day and night? What will this clever, stalling inspection prove? The real inspections should be unannounced with surprise inspections at the dozens of other sites in Iran - some of which are charged with developing the components of Nuclear Bombs and/or Nuclear Warheads for the missiles Iran shows off in her frequent photo Ops.
You can see for yourself where most of
Clearly, the nations of the world artfully avoid pinning down
As I have opined before, the U.N., the E.U. and the Saudis want
Boycotts, severing relations and whatever other punishments against
I wonder if Obama and his pro-Arab State Department, the Europeans will then proclaim
It has been reported (so far) that Obama’s negotiators have not even brought up sanctions against the Iranians to the rest of the world’s nations - many of whom are at risk IF
Since Obama caved in to
Having failed at everything he has touched or promised in his first 9 months, Obama is demonstrably not to be trusted as an Ally to any country - especially not for
Between Obama’s self-anointed Czars cum Commissars and such anti-Semitic advisors, as Zbigniew Brzezinski, James Baker III, General James Jones - plus his Court Jews like Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, Israel would be wise to bomb Iran’s Nukes before Obama orders the U.S. fleet to launch missiles at Israel to assist his Islamic friends.
One can only be reminded of Neville Chamberlain, who returned from a meeting with Hitler, burbling inanities about how he secured "Peace In Our Time - followed shortly by Hitler’s assault on the world to initiate his
###
1. "A Nuclear Debate: Is
2. "Obama’s French Lesson" by Charles Krauthammer NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE October 2, 2009
3. "The ‘Obama’ Blows It, AGAIN!" by Bob Kunst Shalom International www/defendjerusalem.net October 2, 2009
4. "Meaningless Progress in
by Rick Moran AMERICAN THINKER October 2, 2009
5. "Negotiating with
6. "American Training Will Be Utilized to Kill Jews: Muslim Gunman Issue Dire Warning" by Aaron Klein WorldNetDaily.
From both Annie and Heather: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Shariah-is-our-enemy_-not-Afghanistan-8333135-63313602.html
From the same page on the side, I picked up this: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/McChrystal_s-strategy-won_t-win-Afghanistan-8294967-61455827.html
Some Raz Metaz to keep the enemy at bay. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3785854,00.html
The word in Hebrew for ‘why’ is Lama and that is what I am asking. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3786221,00.html
Computer password problems: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,560880,00.html?test=latestnews
Islam in the
Remember G. W. Bush telling us that Islam is the religion of peace. Lyn sent me a few quotes: (Koran 4:23-24) 3. Non-Muslims are sworn enemies of Muslims and Islam (Koran 4:101) (Koran 9:5) 6. Only GUARANTEED way to enter “heaven” is to kill non-Muslims (Koran 9:111) Koran 2:106)9. Non-Muslims pick one: 1. Die, 2. Convert, 3. Pay Extortion Money to Live (Koran 9:29). (Koran 98:6)This is LAW IN ISLAMIC COUNTRIES AND IT IS FOLLOWED -The Sharia Lobbyist in
This could be big brother watching you: http://www.corbettreport.com/articles/20091008_transhumanism.htm
AHWAZI ORGANIZATION:
Clearly, U.S. Intel and thus President Obama has the following information BUT, it remains unclear if he will allow the U.S. military to do anything about it.
Can this President, with no military experience, protect America’s national security interests - or, worse yet, is he deliberately squelching any U.S. plans to stop Iran? And, if so, WHY?
COMMENTS BY EMANUEL A. WINSTON
###
AHWAZI ORGANIZATION:
On October 5, 2009, Alarabiya.net posted an interview with an Arab Ahwazi man who was presented as a former undercover agent for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The man claimed that 40,000 well-trained operatives, mostly Shi'ites, are in the service of
This interview is in line with a July 14, 2009 intelligence report posted by the Ahwazi Islamic Sunni Organization on its website (www.sonnaalahwaz.org). The organization claimed that the report was based on classified Iranian Air Force information, according to which
The report also revealed a purported IRGC plan to carry out terrorist operations in the Gulf countries, and alleged that
It should be noted that this organization claims to be operating with Saudi backup and support.
Following are the main points of the report :(1) "In direct cooperation with the National Research Center in Ahwaz, and with direct support of the Saudi National Association [sic], we have succeeded in obtaining an important classified document issued by Iranian air force headquarters, signed by the commander [Gen. Hassan Shah Safi] and sent to the commander of the airbase in the city of Al-'Amidiyya, known as 'Airbase No. 5.' In addition, we disclosed a plan by IRGC [to attack the Gulf countries from its military bases located] near the city of
MiG-31 Warplanes Expected to Arrive at Al-'Amidiyya Airbase
According to the report of the Ahwazi Islamic Sunni Organization, on November 2, 2008, Iranian Army Air Force commander Gen. Hassan Shah Safi sent Al-'Amidiyya airbase commander Shahryar Hosseini Nejad a classified military document with instructions to prepare for the arrival of three MiG-31 warplanes. The instructions stated that all the pilots on base must prepare for special military maneuvers, and that all the information –– "photos, films, and geometrical maps indicating the storage and deployment of missiles with chemical warheads –– [must be forwarded to] Ali Qaramlaki, chief expert on weapon manufacture."
The Ahwazi organization went on to state that the Al-'Amidiyya airbase houses three F-7 jets launched from underground installations equipped with special tunnels for takeoffs and landings. It assessed that the expected arrival of the MiG-31 warplanes is proof that they were purchased by
The Islamic Ahwazi Sunni Organization's report stated: "In the past, numerous reports by [various] elements claimed that, in addition to nuclear weapons, Iran has a program to develop chemical weapons inside Iran," in violation of the Treaty for the Prevention of the Proliferation of Nuclear and Chemical Weapons [sic, probably NPT and CWC]. Furthermore, "after the April 15, 2005 intifada [the Ahwazi rebellion against the Iranian regime], it was repeatedly reported that chemicals were conveyed to southern
The organization stated that in
The Al-Hamidiyya Plan: Attacking Targets in the
The Ahwazi organization also reported that the IRGC had established, in the western Ahwaz city of
According to the report, these forces had been trained to carry out operations in the Gulf countries, particularly
The organization said that the bases' supreme leadership belonged to the IRGC, but were actually led by Hizbullah, and that their training methods were identical to the defense and warfare methods used by Hizbullah. It said that this was because of a decision by
According to the report, the four bases in Al-Hamidiyya are:
1) A base in the south of the city, for logistical support, with civil and military services such as garages for repairing military vehicles, a hospital with a full medical staff, and mobile hospitals for time of need.
2) South of the above base is a base belonging to it, with fortified storehouses of weapons, equipment and fuel; it is heavily guarded by IRGC special forces.
3) A base north of the city, also for providing logistical support; in
4) A base with hidden warplanes and missiles equipped with warheads banned by international treaties, as well as surface-to-surface missiles.
The path leading to the military bases in western Ahwaz Province
The Iranian Special Forces
The Ahwazi Islamic Sunni Organization notes in its report that Iranian special forces are responsible for training birun marzi ("outside the country") forces operating outside Iran, such as Hizbullah, Hamas, and Houthi (Yemen) forces, as well as sleeper cells in the Gulf and Arab countries. It says that these forces can provide their operatives with diplomatic passports, and possess advanced weaponry and the latest vehicles. Their operatives speak several languages, including fluent Lebanese Arabic, and are responsible for assassinating senior officials. The organization adds that these forces have the capability to carry out operations using biological or chemical weapons, and that they have a direct line to the IRGC leadership and coordinate with Iranian intelligence apparatuses. These forces, it says, have received and deployed dozens of platforms for launchers equipped with Fajr-2 and Shihab-2 missiles that can reach southern
The organization also says that in October 2008, three military maneuvers were held that included all aerial and land forces in the four bases at Al-Hamidiyya with the participation of Arab army personnel under IRGC command –– including Hamas, Hizbullah, and special Iranian forces, and several groups of independent Iranian sleeper cells in
Hizbullah and Iranian special forces training buildings:
Discovery of Chinese Radar Systems at Al-Hamidiyya
The organization claimed that six months ago, the IRGC had obtained a sophisticated Chinese radar system (originally called Rakib) and had installed it at the Al-Hamidiyya bases, and that its radar covered most of the western and southern areas of
In conclusion, the organization states:
"The dangerous armament programs now being prepared and implemented in Ahwaz [province] attest to the beginning of impending conflict, in which Al-Ahwaz will serve as a base and starting point for attacking our brothers across the Arab homeland, and in particular in the Arab Gulf. Accordingly, the Ahwazi Islamic Sunni Organization [appeals to] the Saudi National Association [for Human Rights] with the following demands:
"1) To [lobby for] international intervention to inspect the Al-'Amidiyya base, the Arajeri plant situated between Al-'Amidiyya and Behbahan, and the Shaznad plant in northern
"2) To take steps to dismantle chemical weapons that Iran is producing in Ahwaz, because those harmed first by this are the Ahwazi people and the land of Ahwaz, and after that the Gulf countries and the Arab Gulf.
"3) To take serious steps to condemn
"4) To take steps to dismantle
"5) To protect the Ahwazi Arab people from the consequences of [the military nature of life] in Al-Ahwaz."
Endnote:
(1) The full report was posted at http://www.sonnaalahwaz.org/Central-Archives/Al-Q/20090714-04.html.
More News: http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6313 http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6312
Beware of the Shigella infection: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1254861912449&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
From Kim who is Allah? Warning this is a non-Jewish site just substitute anti-Moshiach in certain places towards the end. http://networkedblogs.com/p14206052
WAKE UP WORLD THIS CAME FROM ALEX please lower your sound blaster so as not be deaf: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZEUJs7jxrA
Time for a shareholder revolution against
An army is only as good as its equipment: From Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely: Sept. 25: U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Gerrad Mitchell patrols in Afghanistan with comrades from 4th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery Regiment.
WASHINGTON — In the chaos of an early morning assault on a remote U.S. outpost in eastern Afghanistan, Staff Sgt. Erich Phillips' M4 carbine quit firing as militant forces surrounded the base. The machine gun he grabbed after tossing the rifle aside didn't work either.
When the battle in the small
Which raises the question: Eight years into the war against the Taliban in
Despite the military's insistence that they do, a small but vocal number of troops in
A week ago, eight
Army Col. Wayne Shanks, a military spokesman in
Complaints about the weapons the troops carry, especially the M4, aren't new. Army officials say that when properly cleaned and maintained, the M4 is a quality weapon that can pump out more than 3,000 rounds before any failures occur.
The M4 is a shorter, lighter version of the M16, which made its debut during the Vietnam war. Roughly 500,000 M4s are in service, making it the rifle troops on the front lines trust with their lives.
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. a leading critic of the M4, said Thursday the Army needs to move quickly to acquire a combat rifle suited for the extreme conditions
U.S. special operations forces, with their own acquisition budget and the latitude to buy gear the other military branches can't, already are replacing their M4s with a new rifle.
"The M4 has served us well but it's not as good as it needs to be," Coburn said.
Battlefield surveys show that nearly 90 percent of soldiers are satisfied with their M4s, according to Brig. Gen. Peter Fuller, head of the Army office that buys soldier gear. Still, the rifle is continually being improved to make it even more reliable and lethal.
Fuller said he's received no official reports of flawed weapons performance at Wanat. "Until it showed up in the news, I was surprised to hear about all this," he said.
The study by Douglas Cubbison of the Army Combat Studies Institute at
Cubbison's study is based on an earlier Army investigation and interviews with soldiers who survived the attack at Wanat. He describes a well-coordinated attack by a highly skilled enemy that unleashed a withering barrage with AK-47 automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
The soldiers said their weapons were meticulously cared for and routinely inspected by commanders. But still the weapons had breakdowns, especially when the rifles were on full automatic, which allows hundreds of bullets to be fired a minute.
The platoon-sized unit of
Cpl. Jonathan Ayers and Spc. Chris McKaig were firing their M4s from a position the soldiers called the "Crow's Nest." The pair would pop up together from cover, fire half a dozen rounds and then drop back down.
On one of these trips up, Ayers was killed instantly by an enemy round. McKaig soon had problems with his M4, which carries a 30-round magazine.
"My weapon was overheating," McKaig said, according to Cubbison's report. "I had shot about 12 magazines by this point already and it had only been about a half hour or so into the fight. I couldn't charge my weapon and put another round in because it was too hot, so I got mad and threw my weapon down."
The soldiers also had trouble with their M249 machine guns, a larger weapon than the M4 that can shoot up to 750 rounds per minute.
Cpl. Jason Bogar fired approximately 600 rounds from his M-249 before the weapon overheated and jammed the weapon.
Bogar was killed during the firefight, but no one saw how he died, according to the report.
THE FOLLOWING STORY IS SIMILAR TO WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE 2ND LEBANESE WAR DUE TO FAULTY FOOD DELIVERS TO THE IDF TROOPS IN THE FIELD.
American soldiers serving in
Many feel that they are risking their lives — and that colleagues have died — for a futile mission and an Afghan population that does nothing to help them, the chaplains told The Times in their makeshift chapel on this fortress-like base in a dusty, brown valley southwest of Kabul.
“The many soldiers who come to see us have a sense of futility and anger about being here. They are really in a state of depression and despair and just want to get back to their families,” said Captain Jeff Masengale, of the 10th Mountain Division’s 2-87 Infantry Battalion.
“They feel they are risking their lives for progress that’s hard to discern,” said Captain Sam Rico, of the Division’s 4-25 Field Artillery Battalion. “They are tired, strained, confused and just want to get through.” The chaplains said that they were speaking out because the men could not.
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The base is not, it has to be said, obviously downcast, and many troops do not share the chaplains’ assessment. The soldiers are, by nature and training, upbeat, driven by a strong sense of duty, and they do their jobs as best they can. Re-enlistment rates are surprisingly good for the 2-87, though poor for the 4-25. Several men approached by The Times, however, readily admitted that their morale had slumped.
“We’re lost — that’s how I feel. I’m not exactly sure why we’re here,” said Specialist Raquime Mercer, 20, whose closest friend was shot dead by a renegade Afghan policeman last Friday. “I need a clear-cut purpose if I’m going to get hurt out here or if I’m going to die.”
Sergeant Christopher Hughes, 37, from
The only soldiers who thought it was going well “work in an office, not on the ground”. In his opinion “the whole country is going to s***”.
The battalion’s 1,500 soldiers are nine months in to a year-long deployment that has proved extraordinarily tough. Their goal was to secure the mountainous Wardak province and then to win the people’s allegiance through development and good governance. They have, instead, found themselves locked in an increasingly vicious battle with the Taliban.
They have been targeted by at least 300 roadside bombs, about 180 of which have exploded. Nineteen men have been killed in action, with another committing suicide. About a hundred have been flown home with amputations, severe burns and other injuries likely to cause permanent disability, and many of those have not been replaced. More than two dozen mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles (MRAPs) have been knocked out of action.
Living conditions are good — abundant food, air-conditioned tents, hot water, free internet — but most of the men are on their second, third or fourth tours of Afghanistan and Iraq, with barely a year between each. Staff Sergeant Erika Cheney, Airborne’s mental health specialist, expressed concern about their mental state — especially those in scattered outposts — and believes that many have mild post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). “They’re tired, frustrated, scared. A lot of them are afraid to go out but will still go,” she said.
Lieutenant Peter Hjelmstad, 2-87’s Medical Platoon Leader, said sleeplessness and anger attacks were common.
A dozen men have been confined to desk jobs because they can no longer handle missions outside the base. One long-serving officer who has lost three friends this tour said he sometimes returned to his room at night and cried, or played war games on his laptop. “It’s a release. It’s a method of coping.” He has nightmares and sleeps little, and it does not help that the base is frequently shaken by outgoing artillery fire. He was briefly overcome as he recalled how, when a lorry backfired during his most recent home leave, he grabbed his young son and dived between two parked cars.
The chaplains said soldiers were seeking their help in unprecedented numbers. “Everyone you meet is just down, and you meet them everywhere — in the weight room, dining facility, getting mail,” said Captain Rico. Even “hard men” were coming to their tent chapel and breaking down.
The men are frustrated by the lack of obvious purpose or progress. “The soldiers’ biggest question is: what can we do to make this war stop. Catch one person? Assault one objective? Soldiers want definite answers, other than to stop the Taliban, because that almost seems impossible. It’s hard to catch someone you can’t see,” said Specialist Mercer.
“It’s a very frustrating mission,” said Lieutenant Hjelmstad. “The average soldier sees a friend blown up and his instinct is to retaliate or believe it’s for something [worthwhile], but it’s not like other wars where your buddy died but they took the hill. There’s no tangible reward for the sacrifice. It’s hard to say Wardak is better than when we got here.”
Captain Masengale, a soldier for 12 years before he became a chaplain, said: “We want to believe in a cause but we don’t know what that cause is.”
The soldiers are angry that colleagues are losing their lives while trying to help a population that will not help them. “You give them all the humanitarian assistance that they want and they’re still going to lie to you. They’ll tell you there’s no Taliban anywhere in the area and as soon as you roll away, ten feet from their house, you get shot at again,” said Specialist Eric Petty, from
Captain Rico told of the disgust of a medic who was asked to treat an insurgent shortly after pulling a colleague’s charred corpse from a bombed vehicle.
The soldiers complain that rules of engagement designed to minimize civilian casualties mean that they fight with one arm tied behind their backs. “They’re a joke,” said one. “You get shot at but can do nothing about it. You have to see the person with the weapon. It’s not enough to know which house the shooting’s coming from.”
The soldiers joke that their Isaf arm badges stand not for International Security Assistance Force but “I Suck At Fighting” or “I Support Afghan Farmers”.
To compound matters, soldiers are mainly being killed not in combat but on routine journeys, by roadside bombs planted by an invisible enemy. “That’s very demoralizing,” said Captain Masengale.
The constant deployments are, meanwhile, playing havoc with the soldiers’ private lives. “They’re killing families,” he said. “Divorces are skyrocketing. PTSD is off the scale. There have been hundreds of injuries that send soldiers home and affect families for the rest of their lives.”
The chaplains said that many soldiers had lost their desire to help
“If we make it back with ten toes and ten fingers the mission is successful,” Sergeant Hughes said.
“You carry on for the guys to your left or right,” added Specialist Mercer.
The chaplains have themselves struggled to cope with so much distress. “We have to encourage them, strengthen them and send them out again. No one comes in and says, ‘I’ve had a great day on a mission’. It’s all pain,” said Captain Masengale. “The only way we’ve been able to make it is having each other.”
Lieutenant-Colonel Kimo Gallahue, 2-87’s commanding officer, denied that his men were demoralized, and insisted they had achieved a great deal over the past nine months. A triathlete and former rugby player, he admitted pushing his men hard, but argued that taking the fight to the enemy was the best form of defence.
He said the security situation had worsened because the insurgents had chosen to fight in Wardak province, not abandon it. He said, however, that the situation would have been catastrophic without his men. They had managed to keep open the key
At morning service on Sunday, the two chaplains sought to boost the spirits of their flock with uplifting hymns, accompanied by video footage of beautiful lakes, oceans and rivers.
Captain Rico offered a particularly apposite reading from Corinthians: “We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; perplexed but not driven to despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”
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Within minutes a squad of police arrived at his doorstep to warn him of the consequences of his defiance. He replied: "I built my sukkah in order that it should stand, not in order that it should be demolished." This time the judge sent the tzaddik a summons.
When this too was ignored, the judge decided to descend on his victim himself. He ordered the tzaddik in harsh terms to dismantle the sukkah immediately, and warned him of the severe punishment which any further disobedience would earn him. These threats and warnings did not shake the tzaddik's equanimity in the slightest. He simply answered coolly in the same words that he had told the policemen - that he had built his sukkah in order that it should stand, not in order that it should be demolished.
The judge was incensed and was about to pout more vituperation upon the tzaddik, whereupon the latter remarked, "I would like you to know that Rebbe Meir'l of Premishlan was my great-uncle."
The judge flew into a rage: "Who cares who your great-uncle was? Just demolish that thing, and that's all!" The Nadvorner now repeated what he had just told the judge, then asked him calmly to wait a moment; he wanted to tell him an interesting story.
The judge, taken by surprise, signified his assent with a brief nod, and R. Mordechai began:
"Once there lived a priest who had ten sons, all of them as robust and strong as cedars. He owned a beautiful big park, full of trees that delighted G-d and man alike. One day he decided that he would add grace to this grove by planting a little flower garden next to it. So he uprooted some of his trees, and in their place he planted fragrant flowers. But no sooner had he finished this work than his sons fell ill, one after the other. First the oldest weakened and died, then the second, and so on, until the very youngest fell ill. The priest was at his wit's end. He summoned the most expert doctors, and even consulted sorcerers, but to no avail.
At this point several people advised him to make the journey to visit Rebbe Meir of Premishlan. Who knows? Perhaps salvation might come through him, for he was reputed to be a holy man. By now there was no alternative open to him, and he was desperately eager to save the life of his last surviving son.
So with a heavy heart he traveled to Premishlan. "Arriving there he told the holy man of all the trials that had befallen him - and now even his last son was mortally ill, and no physician cold cure him. Heaven alone could help him now.
"'You had a beautiful garden full of goodly trees,' Reb Meir told him, 'but because you wanted a flower garden as well, you chopped down the trees of G-d. And that is why He has now chopped down your trees, "for man is a tree of the field." But since you have already come here, and your time has not yet run out completely, I promise you now that your youngest son will be helped from Above, and will soon be cured.'
The holy man then prayed that the Almighty heal the priest's son, in order that His Name be sanctified wherever people would hear of his story. This prayer was accepted, and the son grew to manhood...
"I want you to know," Rebbe Mordecha'le concluded his story to the judge, "that you are the son of that very same priest…So, tell me, now, is this the way you repay the kindness that my great-uncle showed you by saving your life?"
The judge fell at his feet, and wept. "True, true, I know it all!" he sobbed. "Forgive me, Rabbi, for what I've done to you. You can build even ten of those things - but only promise that you will forgive me!" The promise was given, the chastened judge went his way, and the Rebbe of Nadvorna enjoyed his sukkah in peace. Note: Years Later, Rebbe Mordechai Of Nadvorna died on The First Day Of Sukkos. Good Yom Tov, Good Shabbos Everyone.
All the Jews were being killed, and Henryk's nanny did not think for a moment that the father, Joseph would survive the infamous destruction of the Vilna Ghetto. He would surely have been transferred to Auschwitz -— and everyone knew that nobody ever came back from Auschwitz. She therefore had no scruples about adopting the boy, having him baptized into the Catholic Church and taught catechism by the local priest.
It was Simchas Torah when the boy's father surprised everyone and came back to Vilna to reclaim his son. The heartbroken nanny had packed all his clothing and his small catechism book, stressing to the father that the boy had become a good Catholic. Joseph took his son by the hand and led him directly to the Great Synagogue of Vilna.
On the way, he told his son that his son was a Jew and that his name was Avraham. Not far from the house, they passed the church and the boy reverently crossed himself, causing his father great anguish. Just then, a priest emerged who knew the boy, and when Henryk rushed over to kiss his hand, the priest spoke to him, reminding him of his Catholic faith. Everything inside of Joseph wanted to drag his son away from the priest and from the church. But he knew that this was not the way to do things. He nodded to the priest, holding his son more closely.
After all, these people had harbored his child and saved the child's life. He had to show his son Judaism, living Judaism, and in this way all these foreign beliefs would be naturally abandoned and forgotten.
They entered the Great Synagogue of Vilna, now a remnant of a past, vibrant Jewish era. There they found some Jewish survivors from Auschwitz who had made their way back to Vilna and were now rebuilding their lives and their Jewish spirits. Amid the stark reality of their suffering and terrible loss, in much diminished numbers, they were singing and dancing with real joy while celebrating Simchas Torah. Avraham stared wide-eyed around him and picked up a tattered prayer book with a touch of affection.
Something deep inside of him responded to the atmosphere, and he was happy to be there with the father he barely knew. He held back, though, from joining the dancing.
A Jewish man wearing a Soviet Army uniform could not take his eyes off the boy, and he came over to Joseph. "Is this child... Jewish?" he asked, a touch of awe in his voice. The father answered that the boy was Jewish and introduced his son.
As the soldier stared at Henryk-Avraham, he fought to hold back tears. "Over these four terrible years, I have traveled thousands of miles, and this is the first live Jewish child I have come across in all this time. Would you like to dance with me on my shoulders?" he asked the boy, who was staring back at him, fascinated. The father nodded permission, and the soldier hoisted the boy high onto his shoulders. With tears now coursing down his cheeks and a heart full of real joy, the soldier joined in the dancing. "This is my Torah scroll," he cried.
So, when we are dancing with the Torah this Simchas Torah, let us all reflect on how lucky we are to live free countries where we can learn Torah without fear. Good Yom Tov, Good Shabbos Everyone.
Mr. Wolfberg’s Shabbos sponsored by: Refuah Shleima to Mordechai Menachem Mendel ben Tziporah Yitta Refuah Shleima to Tsviah bas Bracha Leah
In memory of Shosha Malka bas R' Avrohom 21 Cheshvan Refuah Shleimah to Chana Ashayra bas Dodi
Be well and have a great Shabbos. Chodesh Tov a good month to all. Stay healthy,
Rachamim Pauli
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