An additional name was added to one of the individuals on the list with a terrible disease: Chai Zvi Moshe ben Miriam Rachel, who was flown to the USA for treatment.
Some Miracles
From Valerie it was more than a double miracle for the baby was swept by the Tsunami out of the hands of the mother and the rescuers barely heard the infant: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1366155/Japan-earthquake-survivor-reunited-baby-daughter--tsunami-warning-sounds.html
As told to me by my wife: The terrorist entered first an empty house on Itamar. The owners were supposed to have lent the house in their absence to a couple visiting a Bar Mitzvah. However, the woman 7 months pregnant had a problem breathing and had to go to the hospital and thus they survived.
Strontium 90 an Editorial
I was thinking of Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing when I heard that people on the West Coast to the East Coast of the USA are in Panic and buying up Iodine Pills. So I wish to remind today’s panicking youngsters that anybody born between 1945 and 1964 when open air Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs were tested was exposed for years to doses of radiation and Strontium 90 in the milk and all sorts of garbage on fruits and vegetables and even DDT. I am not praising this but I would like to remind doomsday people that the panic is ridiculous as more radiation is absorbed by one x-ray for a bone or a sinus check-up or for that matter an MRI, CT and Osteoporosis test. Relax I would be more worried about what a geologist said recently that there are signs that in Southern CA a large earthquake could occur soon.
Parsha Vayikra Part 2 and Parsha Tzav
Rabbi Shlomo Mimran Shlita brought down a few words on the Korbanos from Daas Zekaynim on the Baal HaTosfos.
What are Korbanos they are essentially a device to clean the slate of a person who has sinned. To what is this like? It is like a person who got a stain on his garment and he puts it into the wash and cleans it. However if he would have several stains such as ketchup, mustard, tahini and something else that fell on the garment one begins to say so what the garment is so dirty. That is why the Korban has to be offered up as soon as possible before the person becomes used to the sin or sins.
The Kabbalah on the Offerings
I ask my vegetarian readers to bear with me on this and read this through to the end.
There is a big misunderstanding if one looks at the Sacrifices from this physical world. One thinks the Korbanos are just psychological atonement for either the Nation or Individuals. To really understand the Korbanos one must look into the spiritual elements involved. Thanks to the Drasha of HaRav Barak Kochavi Shlita.
First we have to go into the four Kabbalistic elements involved in life.
1) Domaim = Inanimate: The minerals and ground of the planet, the Sun, Moon and Stars are the elements here.
2) Tzemach = Plant Life: Algae, grass, fruits, vegetables and various leaves that feed the higher life forms.
3) Chaya = Animal Life: Fish, invertebrates such as plankton, birds, mammals which feed on the lower plant life.
4) Midaber = Speaking: Humans
When a plant absorbs minerals from the world it brings into a life form substance to the inanimate. Fish, Birds and land Animals feed on the plants and mankind eats both of these. When a Jew slaughters an animal for food by saying a blessing “…WHO has commanded us on the mitzvah of slaughter” the soul of the animal is raised. [If one recalls the story of the two butchers who repented in the days of the Shah HaKodesh as I wrote in the name of Rabbi Yehuda Yosefi Shlita. The animals that needed slaughtering were human souls who had reincarnated in the form of animals to atone for terrible sins. The kosher slaughtering with the blessing and the blessing over the meal was enough to make atonement for them to return to human form. I don’t want to go into souls that are so bad that they become trapped in Domaim or Tzemach forms. Now can you imagine a poor soul in a sheep just waiting to be kosher slaughtered and the Tikun becomes a Korban before HASHEM what rejoicing of the lost soul.]
For if one were to look only like an observer from outer space of an animal being slaughtered and bleeding one could see no difference except between the relaxed animal that was slaughtered al pee Halacha and the grimace of the animals electrocuted, head chopped off or shot dead by the non-kosher methods. Both had blood spilling, both have to be flayed and the sight is not pleasant. However if the outer spaceman had a Neshama measuring device, he would see a halo of joy in the kosher slaughtered Neshama vs. a darkish light of the non-kosher slaughtered animal or human Tikun soul.
The whole purpose of life in this world and the management of man over that life is not eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. Rather, humans are placed in this world to bring it up to a spiritual level. Man was created from the ground and from the Image of G-D. Man is to make the mundane into the spiritual. He can harness nuclear power, make metal into automobiles, grow massive amounts of food and even make luxuries for this life – but the whole purpose in the end is that all which is harnessed raise the physical into the spiritual. If one harnesses electricity to run a brothel he has failed in his mission on this world but if the same electricity is used to cook for and light up a Beis Medrash and Maturity Ward, he has succeed in his mission in this world.
Every man has a choice to be a flesh eater or a vegetarian but if the vegetarian munches on the fruit of the ground or the tree without making a blessing, he has failed miserably in his mission on this earth. While the flesh eater who eats a kosherly slaughtered animal and blesses HASHEM for it has succeed in his purpose in this world.
I would like all my readers now to look at Vayikra, Tzav and Shemini as one great Parsha for they are all dealing with the dedication of the Mishkan.
1:4 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.
The placing of the hands on the Korban are symbolic of transferring all his sins or the sins of the nation onto the Korban.
5 And he shall kill
Hugh! Such a lousy translation – the translation should read slaughter with a special knife, in the proper way and with the proper blessing and intent.
the bullock before the LORD; and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall present the blood, and dash the blood roundabout against the altar that is at the door of the tent of meeting.
I prefer sprinkle the blood with an Ezov = Zarta = Marjoram Branch. The sprinkling of the physical blood is not the same as the terrorists who killed the Jordanian Prime Minister in 1970 and drank from the blood but the blood which carried the animal’s or human reincarnates’ blood onto the altar and the Tikun of the Neshama becomes complete and the whole world is elevated one small spiritual notch. Can you see the difference between the physical and spiritual realms or does your concept of physical reality blind you. Most of the so-called reality TV shows are staged and the relationship between that and the real world are far-far apart. There are people who think that the TV show the Bachelor where he spends an all-night date alone with a woman is OK but to slaughter before THE HOLY ONE BLESSED BE HE a sacrifice is barbaric has to realign his brain waves to the TRUE WORLD AND UNIVERSE. In another two months I plan to go again into brain waves moving into any place at any instant in the universe and back into ones head and call it ESP, Prophecy or just a gift from HASHEM for the moment.
6 And he shall flay the burnt-offering, and cut it into its pieces.
This is the physical outer shell of what we see done with the Korban. It is the peeling of Kelipos or shelling of the physical and enabling us to see the spiritual. As Rav Yosefi Shlita says, “One who eats oranges without a blessing not only leaves Kelipos in this world but also in the next – garbage truck after garbage truck.” One who eats an orange with a blessing over the fruit of the tree returns the organic fertilizer into the earth and raises the plant life into a higher physical and spiritual realm. For the orange provides vitamin C for the body and allows one to study Torah and do Mitzvos in health and removes cholesterol from the brain.
7 And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay wood in order upon the fire.
The dead Tzemach aka wood is put on the altar and the minerals from the Domaim and the Tzemach now fly up heavenward.
8 And Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall lay the pieces, and the head, and the suet, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar; 9 but its inwards and its legs shall he wash with water; and the priest shall make the whole smoke on the altar, for a burnt-offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the LORD.
The whole business of offering is not presenting a meal before G-D but a symbol of presenting ourselves before HASHEM. All the parts of the Korban are out physical bodies and when given wholeheartedly with our soul that makes the sweet savor unto the L-RD and not the roasted meat per sec.
10 And if his offering be of the flock, whether of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt-offering, he shall offer it a male without blemish.
Kayn did not look for a male without a blemish or the largest male. On the contrary he offered up a hodge-podge sloppily put together Korban. The Cohanim had to inspect the Korban for the best of the best to be offered. One should always ask himself about a flesh and blood guest or King visiting him. Would you serve the smallest chicken you could find to an important guest? From this we see that a Sacrifice had to be special for it goes before the KING OF KINGS.
… 2:1 And when any one brings a meal-offering unto the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon.
Meal offerings went with each and every Korban but in some cases the financial status. A Jewish Billionaire or Multimillionaire would have to bring from the Cattle. A person of moderate income would bring from the flock and a very poor person would bring from a meal offering. For the Korban was likened unto man’s soul. The first Korbanos mentioned were from the Chai now the Korban here is from the Tzemach.
2 And he shall bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests; and he shall take thereout his handful of the fine flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, together with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall make the memorial-part thereof smoke upon the altar, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the LORD.
Today we know that natural coarse fiber flour is the best for mankind but here we are talking about hand ground and sifted with loving care flour. The finer the more effort going into making it. {We see this today with the level of making Matza Mitzvah – machine ground and machine made, 18 minute cleaned machine ground and machine made, machine ground and handmade and hand ground and handmade.} According to the effort and the heart is the reward. When I was poorer after my move to Israel years ago, the effort to purchase 18 minute Matzos was probably much more than if I purchased and even made handmade from hand ground flour today. This is how the L-RD looks down and reviews the reward. Hevel gave the best of the best fruits, vegetables and grains unto the L-RD and it was a sweet savor.
3 But that which is left of the meal-offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’; it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire. 4 And when thou bring a meal-offering baked in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers spread with oil. 5 And if thy offering be a meal-offering baked on a griddle, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil. 6 Thou shalt break it in pieces, and pour oil thereon; it is a meal-offering. 7 And if thy offering be a meal-offering of the stewing-pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. 8 And thou shalt bring the meal-offering that is made of these things unto the LORD; and it shall be presented unto the priest, and he shall bring it unto the altar. 9 And the priest shall take off from the meal-offering the memorial-part thereof, and shall make it smoke upon the altar—an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the LORD. 10 But that which is left of the meal-offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’; it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire. 11 No meal-offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven; for ye shall make no leaven, nor any honey, smoke as an offering made by fire unto the LORD. 12 As an offering of first-fruits ye may bring them unto the LORD; but they shall not come up for a sweet savor on the altar. 13 And every meal-offering of yours shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meal-offering; with all thy offerings thou shalt offer salt.
Salt was an integral part of each Korban.
14 And if thou bring a meal-offering of first-fruits unto the LORD, thou shalt bring for the meal-offering of thy first-fruits corn in the ear parched with fire, even groats of the fresh ear. 15 And thou shalt put oil upon it, and lay frankincense thereon; it is a meal-offering. 16 And the priest shall make the memorial-part of it smoke, even of the groats thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
To fully appreciate the offering, one should try to go to a hand Matza factory in Kfar Chabad or other places to watch the effort, teamwork and strictness in the preparation. Speed and quality is off the essence and one can just imagine the effort involved. Corn here is old English for grain and in the case of Korbanos was not the five species but only Wheat and Barley. This wheat and barley had to be the finest and best quality. Semolina was used.
… 4:14 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 15 If any one commit a trespass, and sin through error, in the holy things of the LORD, then he shall bring his forfeit unto the LORD, a ram without blemish out of the flock, according to thy valuation in silver by shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt-offering. 16 And he shall make restitution for that which he hath done amiss in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest; and the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt-offering, and he shall be forgiven.
The emphasis on all Korbanos is sin with error except the Thanksgiving, Female bringing Doves after giving birth, first born and Pessach. For if a sin is committed on purpose the Korban would only suspend the punishment unto death would either obtain forgiveness or have to still atone in the next world.
Parsha Tzav
For your information Tzade Vav is to command and that is our Parsha but sounding the same is Tzade Bet and that means Turtle.
During the days of the Dedication of the Mishkan, Moshe went over each Korban with the Cohanim and how and where to slaughter it and place it on the Mizbayach (altar). I began thinking about all the different Korbanos and their effect on the Sefiros in the Spiritual World. For each sin causes a negative reaction in Chessed, Gevurah, Tiferes, etc. so each atonement via the Offerings causes the Spiritual World to elevate by the true repentance. I am not learned enough to say that this Korban or that one will effect a rise in Chessed or Malchus, etc. I can only guess about the Yom Kippur Korbanos and each one and an educated guess is not the Emmes (truth).
6:1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 2 Command Aaron and his sons, saying: This is the law of the burnt-offering: it is that which goes up on its firewood upon the altar all night unto the morning; and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning thereby.
I want to reiterate at this point the elevation of Tzemach world of the wood to be on the Mizbayach and the Chai, the animal Korban burning over the wood all by the hand of Midaber.
3 And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh; and he shall take up the ashes whereto the fire hath consumed the burnt-offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar.
I have mentioned a number of times that the pants of the Cohain under the gown/robe were a symbol of modesty as most men from Arabia through Scotland do not wear underwear under their gowns, tunics or kilts. Pants and underpants among men and women are a symbol of modesty which at that time was only required by the Cohanim but later became part of the Jewish People.
4 And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place.
The ceremony of inauguration the Mishkan was similar to the Yom Kippur Ceremony in the changing of the garments between each Korban. Here we see nothing about bathing between Korbanos.
5 And the fire upon the altar shall be kept burning thereby, it shall not go out; and the priest shall kindle wood on it every morning; and he shall lay the burnt-offering in order upon it, and shall make smoke thereon the fat of the peace-offerings. 6 Fire shall be kept burning upon the altar continually; it shall not go out.
An Eternal Flame which is carried on in many cultures like at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
7 And this is the law of the meal-offering: the sons of Aaron shall offer it before the LORD, in front of the altar. 8 And he shall take up therefrom his handful, of the fine flour of the meal-offering, and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meal-offering, and shall make the memorial-part thereof smoke upon the altar for a sweet savor unto the LORD. 9 And that which is left thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat; it shall be eaten without leaven in a holy place; in the court of the tent of meeting they shall eat it. 10 It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their portion of My offerings made by fire; it is most holy, as the sin-offering, and as the guilt-offering. 11 Every male among the children of Aaron may eat of it, as a due for ever throughout your generations, from the offerings of the LORD made by fire; whatsoever touches them shall be holy.
Even the simple meal offering requires to be eaten in holiness.
… 22 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 23 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying: Ye shall eat no fat, of ox, or sheep, or goat.
This is not fat upon the muscles but Chelev which is forbidden fat which is on the internal organs and the tail fat (Aliyah) is forbidden elsewhere.
24 And the fat of that which dieth of itself, and the fat of that which is torn of beasts, may be used for any other service; but ye shall in no wise eat of it. 25 For whosoever eateth the fat of the beast, of which men present an offering made by fire unto the LORD, even the soul that eateth it shall be cut off from his people.
This is one of the 36 Kares prohibitions which is cutting off from the nation in the next world. FYI violations of Shabbos, Family Purity, Adultery, Incest etc. are parts of this category.
26 And ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings. 27 Whosoever it be that eats any blood, that soul shall be cut off from his people.
Not only did we have the blood libel for centuries but we are forbidden to eat blood with the penalty of Kares.
Parsha Zachor – Rabbi Meir Kahane HY”D
After what happened to the murders of the sleeping Fogel Family last week how could we forget!
Remember what Amalek did to you, on the way, when you were leaving Egypt, that he happened upon you on the way, and he struck those of you who were hindmost, all the weaklings at your rear, when you were faint and exhausted, and he did not fear G-d. It shall be that when Hashem, your G-d, gives you rest from all your enemies around, in the Land that Hashem, your G-d, gives you as an inheritance to possess it, you shall wipe out the memory of Amalek from under the heaven – you shall not forget!” (Deut. 25:17-19, Maftir of Shabbat Zachor)
Amalek’s sin is the great and eternal sin of those who refuse “to know Hashem” and to accept His yoke upon themselves, and who thereby desecrate His Name. The Children of Israel were on the way, and the word ba-derekh (“on the way”) appears here twice, indicating that they were both on the way out of Egypt and on the way to the Land of Israel: both of these components together prove G-d’s power and might in the eyes of the nations, so that they would accept the yoke of His sovereignty. And now Amalek, the foremost and most brazen representative of “I do not know Hashem” launches himself against Israel, in an attempt to demonstrate both to Israel and to the rest of the world that G-d has no power, and that He is not the G-d of history. (Peirush HaMaccabee, Sefer Devarim, Chapter 25)
This is the key to understanding why G-d was angrier at Amalek than at any other nation. . This was the awful sin of Amalek, regarding which it is said (Ex. 17:16), “The hand is on G-d's throne. The L-rd shall be at war with Amalek for all generations”.
Our sages also comment (Pesikta Rabbati, Ch. 12):
“The hand is on G-d's throne”: R. Levi said in the name of R. Chama of the school of R. Chaninah, “So to speak, as long as Amalek's offspring are on earth, G-d's name is not complete [In the verse, “G-d” is represented by the short form yud-kei], neither is His throne complete [represented by kes rather than kisei]. Once Amalek's seed is uprooted, G-d's throne is complete and His name is complete”.
King David said, “Enemy! The waste places are come to an end forever, and the cities which you did uproot, their very memorial is perished” (Ps. 9:7). What follows? “But the L-rd is enthroned forever. He has established His throne for judgment.”
Amalek set out to annihilate Israel, as our sages said (Tanchuma Yashan, Yisro 4), “Why was it called 'Amalek'? Because it is am lak, 'the nation that licks'. Amalek set out to lap up Israel's blood like a dog.”
Even more than this, however, Amalek came openly to insult G-d and blot out His name. Mechilta (Ibid, Parsha 1) comments regarding (Ex. 17:8), “Amalek arrived”: “Amalek came openly. In all their other attacks they came in stealth...but not here.”
Amalek attacked G-d's throne, as our sages said (Tanchuma, Ki Tetzel, 11):
One verse reads, “You must obliterate the memory of Amalek” (Deut. 25:19), and another reads, “I will totally obliterate the memory of Amalek” (Ex. 17:14). How can the two verses coexist? Until Amalek attacked G-d's throne, Israel were commanded to obliterate them. Henceforth, however, G-d said He would do so Himself. Can flesh and blood attack G-d's throne? Rather, because they destroyed Jerusalem, of which it says (Jer. 3:17), “At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the L-rd”, G-d said He would obliterate them.
Amalek's sin is the waging of brazen warfare against G-d, as they did when Israel left Egypt. Yet when any other nation, as well, curses and fights G-d, Amalek's sin clings to them and they become like Amalek.
Thus, although Amalek, the nation, did not destroy Jerusalem, our sages say that Jerusalem's destruction constituted Amalek attacking G-d's throne. This teaches that whoever attacks G-d's throne is called Amalek. We must understand and remember this principle for our own times.
Since, in the nations' eyes, Israel's weakness and lowliness, and their suffering at the nations' hands, are interpreted as G-d's weakness and inability to save His people, and that is a Chillul Hashem, it follows that Israel's power, exaltation and victory over their own enemies and the blasphemous enemies of G-d is a Kiddush Hashem.
Do you want to know how the Name of G-d is desecrated in the eyes of the mocking and sneering nations? It is when the Jew, His people, His Chosen, is desecrated! When the Jew is beaten, G-d is profaned! When the Jew is humiliated – G-d is shamed! When the Jew is attacked – it is an assault upon the name of G-d!
What he [the non-Jewish persecutor] is really saying is: “There is no L-rd, there is no G-d of Israel and if there is, He is an impotent and helpless god. For if He truly existed as the Omnipotent and All-powerful Sovereign of the Universe, His people would not be in exile, they could not be at my mercy, they could not be beaten and shamed and humiliated by me.”
This is the desecration of G-d's name.
Every pogrom is a desecration of the Name. Every Auschwitz and expulsion and murder and rape of a Jew is the humiliation of G-d. Every time a Jew is beaten by a gentile because he is a Jew, this is the essence of Chillul Hashem.
An end to Exile – that is Kiddush Hashem. An end to the shame and the beatings and the monuments to our murdered and our martyred. An end to Kaddish and prayers for the dead. A shaking off of the dust of the Exile and its shame and a return to a Jewish state of our own created with the fire and the spitting of Jewish guns. A Jewish fist in the face of an astonished gentile world that had not seen it for two millennia. This is Kiddush Hashem. Reading angry editorials about Jewish “aggression” and “violations” rather than flowery eulogies over dead Jewish victims. That is Kiddush Hashem. The State of Israel came into being not because the Jew deserved it, but because the gentile did. It came into being not because the Jew was worthy of it but because the Name of G-d had reached its fill of humiliation and desecration. “I do this not for your sake, O House of Israel, but for Mine holy Name's sake which ye have profaned among the nations”. [...]
G-d established a principle that as long as Israel possesses a sovereign government with the power to blot out Amalek's memory, it is a mitzvah and a duty for them to do so.
For this reason our sages said (Sifri, Reeh, 67):
Israel were commanded regarding three Mitzvos for when they entered the Land: to appoint a king, build the Temple and destroy Amalek's seed. I would not know which one comes first if not for Scripture saying, “The hand is on G-d's throne. The L-rd shall be at war with Amalek for all generations” (Ex. 17:16). As long as a king sits on G-d's throne, we destroy Amalek's seed. How do we know that “G-d's throne” refers to a king? It says (I Chronicles 29:23), “Solomon sat on G-d's throne to reign”.
We must understand that today, with G-d kindly having restored our land and sovereignty, we must once more share with Him in blotting out Amalek if its existence is clear to us.
Compiled by Tzipora Liron-Pinner from “The Jewish Idea” of Rabbi Meir Kahane, HY”D, with quotes from his books “Peirush HaMaccabee, Sefer Devarim” (translation by Daniel Pinner), and “Listen World, Listen Jew”
B'H
" Zachor”
"Sabbath of "Remember"
This is the only Shabbat each year that (according to most authorities), every man and woman are obligated by Torah law to go to Synagogue. On this day, the three verse passage [Deut. 25:17-19] that starts "Zachor" is appended to the weekly Torah reading. By hearing it read publicly on the Shabbat, immediately preceding Purim, we fulfill the Torah commandment in it, "Remember what Amalek [the ancestor and inspiration of Haman, the villain of Purim] did to you."
Anyone, who is unable to be present at this reading, should make an extra effort to hear the Torah reading [Ex.17] that takes place immediately before the morning Megillah reading on Purim, or at least to hear "Zachor" read when it comes up in the Shabbat cycle of Torah readings, as the final verses of the portion, Ki Teitze.
Amalek is the national embodiment of baseless, irrational challenge.
Only when the Jewish people had succumbed to the "Amalek" within them, could they be threatened by the armies of Amalek the nation, as when Amalek attacked Israel "on the road, on the way out of Egypt" as they were headed toward Mt Sinai to receive G-d's Torah, and their mandate as His people. It was when the Jewish people challenged G-d, saying "Is G-d amongst us or not?", Then came Amalek and attacked Israel".
This is why Amalek and what he represents, constitutes the arch enemy of the Jewish people and their mission in life. Truth can refute the logical arguments offered against it. Truth can even prevail over man's baser instincts, over his selfish drives and desires: for intrinsic to the nature of man is the axiom that "the mind rules over the heart", that if a person truly understands and appreciates a truth, it is within his power to implement it in his behavior and ingrain it in his character. But man's rational powers are not equipped to counter the onslaught of an Amalek who brazenly mocks the truth and cools man's most inspired moments with a casual "so what?"
Amalek the embodiment of self gratification, greed, anger, the quest for power and lust may get the better of us. As long as we are imprisoned in our own personal [Mitzrayim], Egypt where our truth was enslaved along with our souls, we face being attacked over and over again by this fierce
opponent.
So how do we respond to Amalek?
How is one to deal with the apathy, the cynicism, the senseless doubt within?
With Faith, not to be attained, but only to be uncovered, as it is already woven into the very fabric of the soul's essence. Through Faith in G-d, one can transcend Amalek in its totality. Through truth of G-d, one can cast Amalek down to the abyss and win over our own personal AMALEKS inside each and everyone of us.
The Jew's response to Amalek is to "remember", to call forth his soul's reserves of super-rational faith, a faith which may lie buried and forgotten under the mass of his mundane involvement's and entanglements. A faith which, when remembered, can meet his every moral challenge, rational or not.
"Remember what Amalek did to you,
Do not forget."
Sources: Exodus 17:7-8, Zohar 111 P.224a, Tanya ch.12, Maimonides' Laws of Repentance 10:2, Deuteronomy 25:17-19.
Yaffa
"Beyond all of the differences that stand between us, we are all the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We are all one family, with one land, and one destiny."
Best recorded image of a Jew in Shushan after Hama was hung: http://media.photobucket.com/image/clown/sschwien/Snake%20Saturday%202011/030.jpg?o=54
A Shtickle Torah from Rabbi Salid Shlita for Your Shabbos & Purim Table
It is basic to Jewish thought to look for causes, not symptoms. We all know about the evil of Amalek and his infamous descendant Haman, and the Torah's directive to exterminate them. Very little is revealed about their origin. The Torah tells us that Timna, the concubine of Elifaz, bore Amalek. The Gemara relates that this Timna went to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to convert her to Judaism, and they all declined. She so yearned to cleave to the seed of Avraham that she lowered herself to become a concubine to Elifaz, the disreputable great grandson of Avraham. The product of this union was Amalek, the eternal foe of Israel. The Gemara concludes that the Patriarchs should have accepted Timna. Failure to do so resulted in thousands of years of distress for their progeny. FROM THIS WE LEARN how critical it is NOT to drive away a potential candidate applying for closeness to G-d and Torah. Any negative action we commit that turns someone off is a crime. We must be ever sensitive to the feelings of those less observant than us and make sure we say or do nothing that will offend. The truth is that we should never hurt ANYONE. If in hurting someone we drive them further away from Torah and Yiddishkeit, our guilt is further compounded. This is truly an inspiring thought! This Shabbos, when we remember the mitzvah to destroy Amalek, let us reflect on his origin. Let us remove the mistakes that created him. Above all, let us resolve to be super sensitive to others' feelings, and not do or say anything that may drive anyone away.
We are entering the festival of Purim, a joyous festival in which we witnessed the salvation of the Jewish nation via Queen Esther.
The background to the Purim story actually started when the Babylonian King, ‘Belshazzar,’ held a grand feast, featuring wine and food. During this party he was hosting, he witnessed a mysterious hand writing on the wall; however no one was able to interpret what was written except for the famous prophet, Daniel.
Daniel interpreted that the writing was stating three crucial things; that Belshazzar’s full number of day’s as king was finishing on that night, G-d weighted out what the Babylonians was worth in his eyes and that the Babylonian kingdom would be split up on that night, between the Mede’s and half to the Persians.
On that very night, Belshazzar was murdered and King Cyrus, King of the Mede’s, took the empire of Babylon for himself.
Cyrus, during his reign as King, allowed the Jews to rebuild the temple, however during the start of the rebuilding of the second temple, other sectors slandered the Jews to the King, which in turn resulted in a halt to the building of the second temple.
After King Cyrus had ruled, King Ahasuerus became the King.
The Book of Esther begins with a 180 day drinking banquet provided by king Ahasuerus, for the army of Persia and Media, for the 127 provinces of his kingdom, at the conclusion of which there was a seven day drinking feast for the locals of Shushan, rich and poor with a separate drinking feast for the women made by his wife, Queen Vashti.
King Ahasuerus disgracefully used as part of his utensils for the feast, items from the first Temple and even wore the Kohen Gadol outfit!
However as the Jews did also take part and furthermore, failed to protest within regards to this desecration, trouble was to befall the Jews!
At the end of the banquet, the King became drunk and ordered his wife, Queen Vashti, to dance naked, proving to the other princes of the 127 provinces, that he had the most beautiful wife.
She refused to appear naked, the Midrash suggests this was because she was suffering from leprosy, so she would in turn, be ashamed to appear in front of everyone, despite being known as a very immoral person. This caused huge embarrassment for the King as Vashti refused his orders.
After receiving advice from Haman, King Ahasuerus executed Vashti, a decision he would regret the next day. Vashti, however, was by no means a ‘nice’ queen, she used to torment the Jews and force them to work on Shabbat, if they refused, and she would order people to beat them.
Ahasuerus needed to find a new queen, He then ordered all young ladies to be presented to him, and so he could select a new queen to replace Vashti.
One of the girls in line was Esther, in fact her name before was Hadassah, she changed it in order to hide the fact that she was Jewish. Esther who was orphaned at a young age and was adopted by her Uncle, Mordechai, who according to opinions later on became her husband.
Esther didn’t reveal that she was Jewish as she had prophecy that she would be the person to be the salvation for the Jews, in turn, by revealing her identity, would wreck this potentially.
Ahasuerus appointed Haman as his prime minister. Haman was a descendant of Agag, in turn making a him a descendant of Amalek.
Mordecai, always sat at the palace gates, he found Haman's disfavor as he refused to bow down to him. Haman discovered that Mordechai was Jewish, and then planned to kill not just Mordecai but the entire Jewish people in the empire. He was a massive anti Semite.
Haman obtained Ahasuerus' permission to execute this plan, against payment of ten thousand talents of silver, and Haman then went on to cast lots to select the date on which this execution could take place - the thirteenth of the month of Adar.
When Mordecai found out about the plans he ordered widespread repentance and fasting. Esther then discovered what had transpired; she requested that all the Jews have to fast and pray for three days together with her, and on the third day she would seek an audience with Ahasuerus, during which she invited him to a feast in the company of Haman.
By going to the King, she was in turn risking her life. Also the Gemara gives ten reasons why Esther requested for Haman to accompany them at a banquet, reasons including, to not make the Jews too confident in her; and also to make the King jealous of Haman.
As Esther fasted for three days, we fast for a single day before Purim.
During the feast, she asked both of them to attend a further meal the next evening. Meanwhile, Haman was again offended by Mordecai as he again refused to bow, and built gallows for him to later on be hanged.
That night, Ahasuerus couldn’t sleep; he was paranoid that Haman was out to kill as Esther invited him to a banquet.
The court's records were read to him to help him sleep, while reading them, he learned of the services rendered by Mordecai in a previous plot against his life.
Where two Persians were plotting to kill the King, Mordechai prevented this and was never rewarded. Ahasuerus was then told that Mordecai had never received any recognition for saving the king's life.
Just then, Haman appeared, and King Ahasuerus asked Haman what should be done for ‘the man that the King wishes to honor.’ Haman was thinking the man that the King wishes to honor is himself, Haman replied that the man should be dressed in the king's royal robes and led around on the king's royal horse.
To Haman's horror, the king instructed Haman to do this for the man he hates, Mordecai.
The next day, after Haman paraded Mordechai in a Royal manner around the city, Ahasuerus and Haman attended Esther's second banquet, at which she revealed that she is a Jew and that Haman was planning to kill her people, which included her.
Ahasuerus, believing his life to be at risk also, swiftly ordered Haman to be hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Everything Haman planned against the Jews befell on him at the end.
Instead of the Jews being destroyed on the 13th of Adar, the Jews were allowed to kill the people plotting against them and those that hated them. A second day was granted on the 14th of Adar, where a total in the two days of 75,000 anti-Semites were killed.
Mordecai then went on to assume a prominent position in Ahasuerus' court, and instituted a yearly commemoration of the delivery of the Jewish people from being annihilated. This festival is known as Purim. In the Jewish year 3408, the son of Esther, King Darius permitted the rebuilding of the second temple.
This Dvar Torah is in the merit of ‘Ahuva Bat Chiria Chaya’ to get better as she is currently in hospital with health problems, please everyone pray for her to get better!! Hope you all have a great Purim, Chag Samayach! Michael Zaroovabeli.
A serious word about Purim especially for people who do not drink: One can obtain the Mitzvah of Purim by “Not distinguishing between Haman and Mordechai” by taking a half hour nap and not getting soused to the gills. One can take some alcoholic beverage in moderation to be lively (Chai) but there is no need to be completely High or drunk.
See also: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4041118,00.html
Regarding Purim Monica posted this cute film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTLHk7hh50k&feature=player_embedded
Purim Torah check out whom you are friends with on Facebook for example:
Halachos of Meshecta Stuyos: When one goes into a Pub near Purim Time he must check out if it is an Orange or Green Pub as he does not want to be caught with an Orange Tie in a Green Pub or Vice Versa. The results of such an encounter cannot be mended by a chiropractor.
One should not give his dog beer on Purim prior to his walk because he may take his master on a trip the nicest dog smell miles away and the drunk master may be lost for days. When giving his dog beer after the walk make sure that it is Glatt Chametz and that the dog will be capable of drinking it before Pessach. The beer should be made of Yashan (old) Barley and bought for a fair price according to Rabbis Scrooge & Marley. Tiny Tim says one who has too much beer on Purim is likely to say the Bracha Asher Yatza a lot. Tom Cratchett says, “One must not leave over Whiskey until Erev Pessach and he should finish the 5th on Purim.”
Now how do the Rabbis solve the dispute between Tiny Tim and Tom? Rabbi Gin Toni says, “One gets a big mitzvah if he drinks both and gets completely sick to his stomach”. The Vodkadike Ruv says, “Nothing doing one should select one drink and have 10 cups full in remembrance of the Ten Sayings from Sinai”. Talmud Torah Omer “Where on Har Sinai did we get the mitzvah of Shmita”? No answer could be found for the Sanhedrin was on a sabbatical leave.
Various Costumes for Purim cute wowie kazawie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRLPW8RlUvE
Got Problems call the Husband Gemach 1-800-HUSBAND: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRRoWOvKklQ
Since the Destruction of the Temple,
Prophecy is found in the hands of Fools and Children
-The Talmud
Purim which begins after Shabbat is the joyous holiday celebrating the victory of the Jewish people over their enemies led by Haman in the fourth century BCE Persia (Iran).
It is a holiday of revelry and joy where we seem to go out of our way to deliberately dull our senses and blur our vision. It is the only day of the year where we are told by the Talmud to get drunk. And not just a little tipsy but really drunk; so drunk that one cannot clearly differentiate between "Blessed is Mordechai (the hero of the story) and Cursed is Haman." While this is not a blanket condoning of consumption of alcohol, especially for those who cannot use it for a proper purpose, getting drunk can at times have its benefits. Interestingly, those opposite phrases in Hebrew, Baruch (Blessed is) Mordechai and Arur (Cursed is) Haman happen to have the same Gematria - the numerical system whereby letters are assigned number equivalents, thereby giving words a sum total when all the letters/numbers are added up. Both phrases add up to 502 and the implication is that we can very well confuse the two.
This theme of mystery and confused identities expresses itself in many areas on Purim:
- Esther is given explicit instructions by Mordechai not to reveal her Jewish roots to King Achashverosh. It is never explained why Mordechai is so adamant about this.
- We wear masks and dress up in costumes on Purim, hiding (or revealing) our true selves to the outside world.
- It is Mordechai riding in the King's Rolls Royce with Haman as the chauffer and not the other way around.
- The Talmud reveals how we have the very holidays mixed up. It makes a play on the name, Yom Kippur, calling it Yom K'Purim - literally "a day like Purim". This is very odd as you cannot get more opposite days in the Jewish calendar. Yom Kippur is the most serious day during the year and Purim seems to be the least. Yom Kippur is somber whereas Purim is levity and carnival. On Yom Kippur we do not eat, drink, or wash, and we stay in synagogue all day reviewing our foibles and begging for forgiveness; on Purim we eat and drink to excess, and party with our friends. No two holidays could be more polar opposites of one another and yet the Talmud has the audacity to somehow say that they are joined at the hip.
Perhaps the mysterious nature of Purim is an expression of a larger confusion that is prevalent in our lives. Purim tells us that much of what we see, perceive and experience is backwards and that the only way of righting our vision is to turn ourselves upside-down and inside out. It asks us to realign our sight patterns so that we are able to see things from a different and sometimes opposite perspective than we normally are accustomed to.
Purim is the only book of the Bible where God's name is never explicitly mentioned and thereby the events of Purim very much mirror our own day and age where God's face is hidden, Hester Panim in Hebrew. Indeed, the Hebrew term for "hidden", hester sounds and shares its roots with Esther, the heroine of Purim. With God's face hidden, good, truth and reality are relegated to the background, and all their opposites come to the fore. In a world of hester panim, black is white, good is evil, and false is true.
Unfortunately we often witness upside-down realities in our world. Ten months ago, Israel successfully defended itself from an act of aggression during the infamous Gaza Flotilla debacle. It received world condemnation for it. There were protests in far flung places that have nothing to do with Israel. There were UN condemnations, and even a special Goldstone report assigned to investigate. Turkey threatened to break off relations and things have not been the same between those two nations ever since. Yet this past week an innocent family was literally butchered in Israel, including a three month old infant, but the world remains almost completely silent about the affair exhibiting none of the moral outrage it expressed when those nine people died on the flotilla.
Israel Apartheid Week is presently being played out on campuses all over the world. At the same time the New York Times travel writer, Joe Sharky blithely writes about the hoops women must go through when visiting Saudi Arabia. He writes of a branding consultant who happily purchases an abaya before she touches down in that country and how women on the plane change their clothes and don the same when they get into Saudi airspace. He further writes that she is fully aware that women are not allowed to drive and that she will require a driver. Additionally she apparently does not seem bothered that the women are forced to eat in a separate room from the men. There is no hint or suggestion of any discriminatory behavior in his article. Nobody seems to be seizing on these well-known realities to create a Saudi Arabia Apartheid Week.
We can go on and on about the numerous inconsistencies in behavior and attitudes toward Israel and I highly recommend Melanie Phillip's fantastic book, The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth and Power to get a full perspective on this prevalence in our society.
So on Purim we get drunk, suspend our false notions of what is real and don our masks to become the truth that is hidden away throughout the year. Purim gives us the opportunity to turn things upside down, and thereby turn them right side up. It is the time where we suspend the so-called realities of life and grasp hold of the hidden truths that are buried under the lies of media, social pressure and fear. Purim gives us the opportunity to look at our false priorities and, through our drunken lenses, stare and behold Truth and Good in all its reality - a clarity normally reserved for children and fools who are able to view life without any preconditions and with a purity that can propel one to the highest levels of awareness - prophecy itself.
Rabbi Tzvi Nightingale
Halachos from Danny Shoemann
One of the Mitzvos of Purim is Mishloach Manos; sending at least two food items to one fellow Jew. These 2 food items need to be ready to eat. For example fruit, wine, cake or cooked meat. It’s commendable to send Mishloach Manos to a lot of people, but it’s even better to spend more on Matanos La’Evyonim to the poor and needy.
Both men and women need to send Mishloach Manos. Men should send to men, women should send to women. A mourner (in the 12 months for parents or 30 days for siblings, spouse or child) also needs to send Mishloach Manos. One does not send Mishloach Manos to a mourner unless there are no other Jews around. One may give Matanos L’evyonim to a needy mourner. Source: Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 142:1, 2, 4, 7
One of the 613 Mitzvos in the Torah is to obey the Torah Sages. The Sages instituted Purim and its Mitzvos. One of the Mitzvos of Purim is Matanos La'Evyonim - to send gifts to at least two needy people. This gift is usually money. Even somebody who lives off charity needs to fulfill this Mitzva. One needn't hand the gifts directly to the needy; one can send them via messenger (or charity organization). Purim is the only day of the year one does not check credentials; anybody who asks for charity on Purim is given something. Both men and women have an obligation to give Matanos La'Evyonim. Men may send Matanos La'Evyonim to women and vice versa.
Source: Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 142:3-4
Regarding Charity to the Poor
USA
. . בייה. . .
.-Chessed Tzedaka -''Michael Levin ז''כרו לברכה ''Esther Hadassah Jewish queenסודות-of the Persian king Ahasuerus Iran. Purim PIKUA NEFESH שלום יהודי פורים משלוח מנות מזון סלים לאביונים Matanot l'Evyonim Gifts to the Poor The Megillah (The Book of Esther) prescribes "the sending of portions one man to another, and gifts to the poor" (.9:22). According to halacha, each adult must give two different foods to one person, and two charitable donations to two poor people. The food parcels are called mishloach manot ("sending food portions").To fulfill the mitzvah of giving Tzedaka to two poor people, one can give either food or money equivalent to the amount of food that is eaten at a regular meal. It is better to spend more on charity than on the giving mishloach manot .Providing monetary support for the poor is probably the most important of all the Mitzvot of Purim. Yet it tends to be minimized. Proper observance of Purim would require the spending of at least as much on this Mitzvah of Purim as on any of its other Mitzvot.These gifts should be given by day. It is proper to give the gifts to the poor after the Reading-of-the-Megillah. If one sets aside a tithe,ten percent, from his income for Charity, these gifts should not be included in that amount. If, however, he gives some slight sum from his own funds and wants to add his tithe, he may do so.If one has set aside money for gifts to the poor on Purim, he may not change their intended purpose and give them to another Charity.A person cannot free himself, through his gifts to the poor on Purim, from the general obligation of 'Tzedakah' (Charity) which the Torah places upon him. The gifts should be given in sufficient time for the poor to utilize them during Purim and for their Purim meals. The poor person may do as he wishes with the gifts, however.This year (2011 -5771), Ohel Sarah will be distribute the Free Purim Matanot La'evyonim to needy families in Brooklyn,Shaton Ma.boston Ma. Philadelphia and Jerusalem on Purim (Sunday) and out of Jerusalem (Monday) so any donation, no what matter the size would be greatly appreciated. A generous donation of $18 will sponsor a decent meal of Purim.Please remember the poor in Jerusalem when you give Matanot La'evyonim this Purim.Contributions are deductible tax should be made payable to Chizuk Hatorah for Matanot La'evyonim in Jerusalem Contributions are deductible tax should be made payable to Ohel Sarah for Matanot La'evyonim to needy families in Brooklyn,Shaton Ma.boston Ma. Philadelphia Any donation will help a needy family celebrate Purim with joy are for Matanot La'evyonim Campaign and mailed to; Rabbi Uri Zohar c/o Rabbi Issac polansky Rabbi Abraham baruch-1483-E 10-street-Brooklyn New York, NY 11230. United Sates . Donations can send Kosher Food for Pesah Passover ,furniture, clothing’s ,or donate pc or car or simply donate your time to does chessed given food for Shabath and Yom Tov not only send check for-Pesah Campaign send yourself to be shelia chessed in your street town city some closde to you need you chessed ,Daven Learn Torah plus does chessed every dayFor more information, contact Rabbi Uri Zohar הקדוש ברוך.לתת לך כל מה שאתה צריך וכל מה שאתה רוצה. ב פרשה זו. בחודש זה. ובשנה זו דרך אגב אתה לומד תורה אתה עושה חסד- בכל יום
Israel – HaRav Chaim Fuchs, Keren Erzrat LeYelidim, Sderot Uziel, Ezor Gimmel, Ashdod Israel
Rabbi A. L. sent me a Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak of Lubavitch story:
Chess As A Spiritual Paradigm of the Universe
Once, at a Sabbath gathering (farbrengen in Yiddish), in 1948, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, zt”l, in recognition of the presence of Sammy Reshevsky (world-famous chess master), explained the spiritual meaning behind the chess game.
The Chess Game
There is one king. All of the other pieces revolve around him and their entire mission is to protect and serve him. G-d is the King, all else was created by Him, given the opportunity to connect to His truth and to serve Him.
The queen represents the feminine manifestation of the divine, known as the “Shechina,” intimately involved with every aspect of creation, granting vitality and substance to every existence. The queen is the most practically affective piece, often sent into the lines of fire, even placed in danger. Likewise, G-d risks His own dignity, as it were, by investing Himself in every creature and existence, subjecting Himself to the vicissitudes of the human condition.
Then there are bishops, rooks, and knights. They are swift, free, not limited by the squares immediately surrounding them; they can “fly” around freely, without constraints. These are symbolic of the angels-in their three mystical categories we discuss in the daily morning services, “seraphim,” “chayos” and “ofanim,” represented by the bishops, rooks, and knights.
In order for there to be free choice in the world, there are two teams, the white and the black. One team representing G-dliness and holiness; the other team representing everything antithetical to G-dliness and holiness. The teams are engaged in fierce battle. And for the confrontation to be meaningful each team contains, at least on the surface, all the properties contained in the opposite team. Both teams pretend to have a king, queen, bishops, rooks and knights.
Finally, there are the pawns. They are very limited in their travel, moving only one step at a time, only in a singular direction, and they constantly get “knocked off.” But… when they fight through the “board,” arriving at their destination, they can be promoted even to the rank of the queen, something that the bishop, rook or knight can never achieve.
The Pawn represents the human being living down here on earth. We humans take very small steps, and we are so limited in every aspect of our journey and our growth. We also constantly make mistakes and get “knocked down.” But when man perseveres, and overcomes the angst and despair of his or her own failings and mortality, when we fight the fight to subdue darkness and to reveal the presence of the “king” within our own bodies, our own psyches and the world around us-the human being surpasses even angels; the pawn is transformed into a queen! The human life reunites with its source above, the queen, the Shechina, experiencing the deepest intimacy with the King Himself.
The bishops, rooks, and knights, though spiritually powerful and angelic, are predictable, and limited by their role. There is no room for real promotion, no substantive growth, no radical progression. Yes, they fly around, but only within their own orbit. The angels on high, as well as the soul alone on high, before entering the body, are powerful yet confined by their own spiritual standing. It is the limitations of the human person that stimulate his or her deepest growth. The limits of our existence create friction, causing us to strain against the trials and disappointments of life.
"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass... it's about learning how to dance in the rain."
"For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible."
Muslims to Boycott all Jewish Products
Sad commentary on an insane individual and interesting retort - Thanks M. Chas A short time ago, Iran's Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged the Muslim World to boycott anything and everything that originates with the Jewish people. In response, Meyer M. Treinkman, a pharmacist, out of the kindness of his heart, offered to assist them in their boycott as follows:
"Any Muslim who has Syphilis must not be cured by Salvarsan discovered by a Jew, Dr. Ehrlich. He should not even try to find out whether he has Syphilis, because the Wasserman Test is the discovery of a Jew. If a Muslim suspects that he has Gonorrhea, he must not seek diagnosis, because he will be using the method of a Jew named Neissner.
"A Muslim who has heart disease must not use Digitalis, a discovery by a Jew, Ludwig Traube. Should he suffer with a toothache, he must not use Cocaine, a discovery of the Jews, Widal and Weil. If a Muslim has Diabetes, he must not use Insulin, the result of research by Minkowsky, a Jew. If one has a headache, he must shun Pyramidon and Antypyrin, due to the Jews, Spiro and Ellege. Muslims with convulsions must put up with them because it was a Jew, Oscar Leibreich, who proposed the use of Chloral Hydrate. Arabs must do likewise with their psychic ailments because Freud, father of psychoanalysis, was a Jew. Should a Muslim child get Diphtheria, he must refrain from the "Schick" reaction which was invented by the Jew, Bella Schick.
"Muslims should be ready to die in great numbers and must not permit treatment of ear and brain damage, work of Nobel Prize winner, Robert Baram. They should continue to die or remain crippled by Infantile Paralysis because the discoverer of the anti-polio vaccine is a Jew, Jonas Salk.
"Muslims must refuse to use Streptomycin and continue to die of Tuberculosis because a Jew, Zalman Waxman, invented the wonder drug against this killing disease. Muslim doctors must discard all discoveries and improvements by dermatologist Judas Sehn Benedict, or the lung specialist, Frawnkel, and of many other world renowned Jewish scientists and medical experts.
"In short, good and loyal Muslims properly and fittingly should remain afflicted with Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Heart Disease, Headaches, Typhus, Diabetes, Mental Disorders, Polio, Convulsions and Tuberculosis and be proud to obey the Islamic boycott."
Nechemeyah wrote on his FB page:
Inyanay Diyoma
The Arabs are looking for a new Intifada: http://www.debka.com/article/20754/
Did the Axis of the earth shift a little? http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/japan.earthquake.tsunami.earth/index.html?hpt=T1
In case you did not see sweets handed out in Gaza on 9/11 here is a rerun after the Fogel Family was murdered: http://undhimmi.com/2011/03/12/palestinians-hand-out-sweets-in-celebration-of-massacre-of-jewish-family/?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d7bef2c13dfe6c6%2C0
I was an IDF paramedic and dealt with stuff here and there but I don't have the strength to post a photo of a stabbed 3 year or a 3 month old. I still remember the sniper at the toddler Shalevet Pass and my neighbor on crutches saying Kaddish for his toddler killed by a hand grenade. Google Israel Government Information Fogel Family (HY”D).
Middle East Democracy: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/03/an_interview_with_an_arab_diss.html
Stabbing a Toddler through the heart is done by heartless creatures: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4041942,00.html Still worse than the stabbing of the 3 year old was what was done to the 3 month old: http://www.debbieschlussel.com/34299/israeli-baby-decapitated-by-palestinian-partners-for-peace/
The West is completely clueless that Al Qaeda as well as Democrats are rebelling in Libya and Iran in Bahrain: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142900
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=274857
This time it was not fair and balanced reporting. http://www.debbieschlussel.com/34223/which-response-to-fogel-family-massacre-is-sicker-hamas-or-wall-st-journals/
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/27776/the-dumb-israeli-loyalty-oath-freezing-israeli-settlements/
A Ukraine run ship (remember the Hamas Terrorist seized in the Ukraine) that went via Turkey and Syria with goods from Iran was intercepted by the IDF: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4042591,00.html
From Lynette: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/shocking-poll-european-views-israel_554683.html
Netanyahu By CAROLINE B. GLICK
The most effective way to defend Israel against Obama is to boldly assert, defend and implement a unilateral Israeli plan.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is stuck between a diplomatic rock and a political hard place. And his chosen means of extricating himself from the double bind is only making things worse for him and for Israel.
Diplomatically, Netanyahu is beset by the Palestinian political war to delegitimize Israel and the Obama administration’s escalating hostility. That hostility was most recently expressed during President Barack Obama’s meeting with American Jewish leaders on March 1. Insinuating that Israel is to blame for the absence of peace in the Middle East, Obama scolded Jewish leaders, telling them to “search your souls” over Israel’s seriousness about making peace.
Obama’s newest threat is that through the so called Middle East Quartet, (Russia, the UN, the EU and the US), the administration will move towards supporting the Palestinian plan to declare statehood. That state would include all of Judea and Samaria, Gaza and eastern, southern and northern Jerusalem. Since it would not be established in the framework of a peace treaty with Israel, and since its leaders reject Israel’s right to exist, “Palestine” would be born in a de facto state of war with Israel.
To credit this threat, Obama has empowered the Quartet to supplant the US as the mediator between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Buoyed by Obama, Quartet representatives and American and European officials have beaten a steady path to Netanyahu’s door over the past several weeks. Their message is always the same: If Israel does not prove that it is serious about peace by giving massive, unreciprocated concessions to the Palestinians, then they will abandon all remaining pretense of support for Israel and throw their lot in completely with the Palestinians.
For the past year and a half Netanyahu’s policy for dealing with Obama’s animosity has been to try to appease him by making incremental concessions.
Netanyahu’s rationale for acting in this manner is twofold. First, he has tried to convince Obama that he really does want peace with the Palestinians. Second, when each of his concessions is met with further Palestinian intransigence, Netanyahu has argued that the disparity between Israeli concessions and Palestinian rejectionism and extremism demonstrates that it is Israel, not the Palestinians, that should be supported by the West.
To date Netanyahu’s concessions have included his acceptance of Palestinian statehood and the two-state paradigm for peace; his temporary prohibition on Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria; his undeclared prohibition on Jewish building in Jerusalem; his undeclared, open-ended prohibition of Jewish building in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem after his temporary building ban expired; his agreement to drastically curtail IDF counterterror operations in Judea and Samaria; his move to enact an undeclared abatement of law enforcement against illegal Arab construction in Jerusalem; and his decision to enable the deployment of the US-trained Palestinian army in Judea and Samaria.
Netanyahu’s declaration of support for Palestinian statehood required his acceptance of the Palestinian narrative. That narrative blames the absence of peace on Israel’s refusal to surrender all of Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem. Having effectively accepted the blame for the absence of peace, Netanyahu has been unable to wage a coherent political counteroffensive against the Palestinian political war.
NOW, IN a bid to head off Obama’s newest threat to use the Quartet to back the Palestinians’ political war against Israel, Netanyahu is considering yet another set of unreciprocated concessions to the Palestinians.
For the past week and a half, Netanyahu has been considering a new “diplomatic initiative.”
According to media reports, he is weighing two options. First, he may end IDF counterterror operations in Palestinian cities in Judea and Samaria.
Such a move would involve compromising all of the IDF’s military achievements in the areas since 2002, when it first targeted the Palestinian terror factories from Hebron to Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield.
The second option he is reportedly considering involves announcing his acceptance of a Palestinian state with non-final borders. Such a move would render it difficult if not impossible for Israel to conduct counterterror operations within those temporary borders. It would also make it all but impossible for Israel to assert its sovereign rights over the areas.
Supporters of this initiative argue that not only will it stave off US pressure; it will strengthen Netanyahu’s political position at home. Recent polls show that Netanyahu’s approval numbers are falling while those of his two main rivals – opposition leader Tzipi Livni and Foreign Minister and Israel Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman are rising.
Netanyahu reportedly believes that by moving to the Left, he will be able to take support away from Livni and so regain his position as the most popular leader in the country. Given this assessment, Netanyahu’s supporters argue that making further concessions to the Palestinians is a winwin prospect. It will strengthen Israel diplomatically and it will strengthen him politically.
Sadly for both Israel and Netanyahu, this analysis is completely wrong.
Since Obama came into office, he has consistently demonstrated that no Israeli concession will convince him to support Israel against the Palestinians.
So, too, the fact that every Israeli concession has been met by Palestinian intransigence has had no impact on either Obama or his European counterparts. Netanyahu correct claims that the Palestinians’ intransigence shows they are not interested in peace is of interest to no one.
And it is this lack of interest in Palestinian intransigence rather than Palestinian intransigence itself that is remarkable. What it shows is that Obama and his European counterparts don’t care about achieving peace. Like the Palestinians, all they want is more Israeli concessions.
Since taking office, Obama has only supported Israel against the Palestinians twice. The first time was last December. After months of deliberate ambiguity, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the administration opposes the Palestinian plan to unilaterally declare independence.
Then last month the administration grudgingly vetoed the Palestinian-Lebanese draft Security Council resolution condemning Israeli construction in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.
In both cases, the administration’s actions were not the result of Israeli appeasement, but of massive congressional pressure. Congress issued bipartisan calls demanding that the administration torpedo both of these anti-Israel initiatives.
What this this shows is that Netanyahu’s strategy for contending with Obama is fundamentally misconstrued and misdirected. Obama will not be moved by Israeli concessions. The only way to stop Obama from moving forward on his anti- Israel policy course is to work through Congress.
And the most effective way to work through Congress is for Netanyahu to abandon his current course and tell the truth about the nature of the Palestinians, their rejection of Israel, their anti- Americanism and their support for jihadist terror.
At the same time, Netanyahu must speak unambiguously about Israel’s national rights to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, our required security borders, and about why US national security requires a strong Israel.
The stronger the case Netanyahu makes for Israel, the more support Israel will receive from the Congress. And the more support Israel receives from the Congress, the more Obama will be compelled to temper his anti-Israel agenda.
AS FOR domestic politics, Netanyahu’s attempt to appease Obama is a major cause of his falling approval numbers among voters. Likud voters do not expect him to outflank Livni from the Left.
They voted for Likud and not Kadima because they recognized that Kadima’s leftist policies are dangerous and doomed to failure.
Kadima’s recent increase in domestic support owes more to the breakup of the Labor Party than to Netanyahu’s failure to carry out Kadima’s policies of territorial surrender and diplomatic kowtowing to the UN, EU and Obama. The main beneficiary of Likud’s eroding support has been Leiberman.
While Netanyahu has maintained his allegiance to the false, failed, unpopular-outside-of-themedia “peace with the Palestinians” paradigm in the foolish hope of winning over Obama, Leiberman has seized control of the Right’s political agenda. While Netanyahu accepts the legitimacy of the Palestinian leadership that rejects Israel’s right to exist, Leiberman presents himself as the leader of the majority of Israelis who oppose the Left’s agenda of land for war.
Moreover, when Netanyahu shunts aside his own party’s most popular politicians such as Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya’alon in favor of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, he demoralizes his party faithful and his voters.
And not only does Barak hurt Netanyahu with voters, this week he took an ax to Israel’s most important diplomatic asset – congressional support.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Monday, Barak said that Israel may ask Congress to increase US military support for Israel by $20 billion. Given the US’s economic woes, and Congress’s commitment to massive budget cuts, at best Barak’s statement represented a complete incomprehension about the basic facts of US domestic politics. At worst, it was a supremely unfriendly act towards Israel’s friends in Congress who are trying to maintain the current level of US military aid to Israel in the face of a popular push to slash the foreign aid budget.
Beyond that, the plain fact is that Barak’s statement was wrong. Israel’s steady economic growth and its recently discovered natural gas fields should make it possible for Israel to decrease the military aid it receives from the US. This is true even though the revolutions in Egypt and throughout the Arab world will require Israel to massively increase its defense budget.
If Netanyahu is serious about surmounting his diplomatic and political challenges, his best bet is to abandon his present course altogether. The most effective way to defend Israel against Obama is to boldly assert, defend and implement a unilateral Israeli plan.
Netanyahu himself gave the broad outlines for such a plan this week when he stated that to defend itself, Israel will need to maintain perpetual control over the Jordan Valley. If Netanyahu were to announce a plan to apply Israeli law to the Jordan Valley and the major blocs of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, he would accomplish several things at once. He would advance Israel’s national interests rather than the Palestinians’ interests against Israel. He would force the US and Europe to discuss issues that are grounded in strategic rationality rather than leftist- Islamist ideology. Finally, he would take back the leadership of his own political camp from Leiberman and augment his political power domestically.
So, too, if Netanyahu fired Barak and replaced him with Ya’alon, he would energize his political supporters in a way he has failed to do since taking office.
Netanyahu is reportedly considering unveiling his new diplomatic initiative in a speech before Congress in May. If he were to use that venue to unveil this plan and also announce a plan to wean Israel off US military aid within three years, not only would he blunt Obama’s power to threaten Israel. He would secure popular US support for Israel for years to come.
And if he did that, he would restore the Israeli voters’ support for his leadership and stabilize his government through the next elections.
caroline@carolineglick.com http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=211666
From Nancy:
t victims" in Gaza .
Obama funds $20M in tax payer dollars to immigrate Hamas Refugees to the USA . This is the news that did not, and will not, make the headlines.
By executive order, President Barack Obama has ordered the expenditure of $20.3 million in "migra...tion assistance" to the Palestinian refugees and "conflict victims" in Gaza .
The "presidential determination" (ain't that nice?) which allows hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with ties to Hamas to resettle in the United States , was signed and appears in the Federal Register.
Few on Capitol Hill, or in the media, took note that the order provides a free ticket replete with housing, transportation and food allowances to individuals who have displayed their overwhelming support to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the parliamentary election of January 2006.
Now we learn that he is allowing thousands of Palestinian refuges to move to, and live in, the US at American taxpayer expense.
These important, and insightful, issues are being "lost" in the blinding bail-outs and "stimulation" packages.
Doubtful? To verify this for yourself:
www.thefederalregister.com
My readers from the Aircraft Industries will know how active I was in the union to try to save jobs and keep the Lavi Project alive and that I have a good relationship with MK Chaim Katz for this. But our union made a lot of sacrifices to keep the company afloat and had many people go on early pension give up vacation and certain privileges such as attending conferences for Engineers and Academics and a wage freeze. What is going in in Wisconsin by public employees soaking the tax payers is completely wrong. I received this from Mike Huckabee and could not agree more with him. Wisconsin: This Is What Anarchy Looks Like
Well, so much for that "new civility" talk. We now know that when "Progressives" win an election, they throw a party. And when they lose an election, they throw a tantrum.
This past Wednesday night, the Wisconsin Senate used a perfectly legal legislative maneuver to finally pass the bill that reins in public workers' union contracts without the need for a quorum. Democrats are complaining that it was passed without debate, which is odd, considering they had two weeks to debate it, and instead, they ran away to Illinois.
Immediately after the vote, protesters streamed into the Capitol building, in violation of a judge's order, and reportedly chained some doors shut and ripped others off their hinges. The next day, they tried to physically block Republicans from the lower house from coming to work. The FBI is even tracking down death threats made against the governor and GOP Assembly members. The protesters finally had to be dragged out of the Capitol by police, so the Assembly could vote. The bill passed. Unions are calling for general strikes and more unrest, while wealthy anti-capitalist Michael Moore did his best Bugs Bunny impression and declared, "This is war!"
You know, it's ironic that when this first started, one of the most popular signs among the protesters read, "This is what democracy looks like." No, democracy looks like the people's elected representatives defying death threats to cast a vote. Their reaction to democracy was what anarchy looks like.
Thank You Melvin Bledsoe
Rep. Peter King has begun his hearings into terrorist groups' attempts to radicalize and recruit Americans to launch homegrown attacks. Unfortunately, what should be a rational and obvious step in protecting the safety of all of us is being colored by emotion and claims of anti-Muslim bigotry. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee accused Republicans of trampling the Constitution and boosting al-Qaeda recruitment. And Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson urged everyone to be very careful in choosing their words, to make sure we don't make our enemies hate us even more. You know, there's a running joke among comedians that if anything you don't like happens, then the terrorists have won.&nbs p; But it's gone beyond a joke. Terrorists want to frighten us into giving up our freedoms, including freedom of speech. If we're so terrified of what the terrorists might do if we call them terrorists, then the terrorists really have won.
Probably the wisest thing said at the hearings came from Melvin Bledsoe. His son was enticed into a radical Islam movement, isolated from his family, and ended up going on a deadly shooting spree at an Army recruitment station right in my hometown of Little Rock. Mr. Bledsoe said, "We're talking about stepping on their toes, and they're talking about stamping us out. Why don't people take their blinders off?"
Now for Matis Wolfberg’s Good Shabbos Stories “Sacrifice Yourself” and “Are you Jewish?”
Good Shabbos Everyone. The primary discussion in this week's Torah portion Vayikra is regarding the Korbanos - sacrifices which we brought in the Mishkan - tabernacle and later in the Beis HaMikdash - Holy Temple, in Jerusalem. The root of the word Korban is "Karov" meaning closer. Today we do not have the sacrifices to grow closer, but often times, when we make personal "sacrifices" we grow closer to Hashem.
A married couple recently revealed how they turned their backs on their violent neo-Nazi past – after discovering they were both Jewish. The one-time skinheads grew up as part of a hate-filled white power gang in Warsaw, the capital of Poland and once the site of the largest Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Europe. But now they are devout members of an Orthodox Jewish synagogue.
The truth about their roots had been buried by their parents to escape persecution from first the Germans and then the Soviet-controlled post-war government. Even when the couple started spewing anti-Semitic slogans and attacking Jews, their parents still kept silent about their heritage. Pawel and Ola Bromson met at school when they were twelve and married at eighteen.
By then they were heavily involved in the neo-Nazi movement that was rife in Warsaw’s concrete jungle housing estates. Just 350,000 Jews remained in Poland after the war, a tenth of the population from before the Holocaust, and many fled in the quarter of a century that followed. For those that remained, parents often decided it better to keep their true faith a secret.
But Ola remembered something her mother once let slip about her Jewish heritage. And when she checked at Poland’s Jewish Historical Institute she learned the truth – that not only was she a Jew, but so was her husband. She was in shock.
‘Something told me to do it. It was unbelievable. ‘It turned out that we had Jewish roots. It was a shock. I didn’t expect to find out that I had a Jewish husband.’ She said she did not know how to tell Pawel the truth. ‘I didn’t know how to tell him. I loved him even if he was a punk or skinhead, if he beat people up or not.’ When she did, a disbelieving Pawel confronted his parents. He said he had been a skinhead and a nationalist ‘100 per cent’. ‘It was all about white power and I believed Poland was only for Poles. That Jews were the biggest plague and the worst evil of this world,’ he said.
It was difficult to describe the emotions he felt at learning he was Jewish, he said. ‘My first thought was what am I going to tell people? What am I going to tell the boys? Should I admit it or not? I was angry, sad, scared, unsure.’ He was unable to look in the mirror, he said, because he hated what he saw – a Jew. But as he came to terms with his identity he approached Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich, who became a mentor to the couple.
Pawel (now Pinchas) added that he does have regrets – ‘but it’s not something that I walk around and lash myself over’. ‘I feel sorry for those that I beat up but I don’t hold a grudge against myself,’ he explained. ‘The people who I hurt can hold a grudge against me.’
Today, the couple are active members of the Jewish community in Warsaw. Pinchas is studying to work in a slaughterhouse killing animals according to the Jewish Kosher requirement and Ola is working in the synagogue’s kitchen as a kosher supervisor.
Rabbi Shudrich paid tribute to them for having the courage to turn their lives around. ‘The fact that they were skinheads actually increased the amount of respect I have for them,’ he said. ‘That they could’ve been where they were, understood that that was not the right way, then embraced rather than run away the fact that they were part of the people who they used to hate. ‘I think also it says on a personal level, never write somebody off. Where they may be 10 years ago doesn’t have to be where they are today. And the human being has this unlimited capability of changing and sometimes even for the better,’ he added. Good Shabbos Everyone.
Good Shabbos Everyone. This week's parsha begins with the word Tzav. Rashi explains that "Tzav" indicates "zerizus" - alacrity. Alacrity - moving quickly - is an important aspect of serving Hashem. Because, one who does mitzvahs with an eagerness, will be able to do more mitzvahs and do the mitzvahs more completely. Furthermore, one who is lazy in his spiritual life, will accomplish little..
Rabbi Schuster is one Rav who exuded "zerizus" throughout his 40+ years in Kiruv - bringing Jews back to "the fold." Rabbi Schuster and his Rebbetzin, the former Esther Garfinkle of Monticello, New York, were married in 1967, six months after the Six Day War. Three months later, in March 1968, they came to Israel, for a year of Torah study in the Mir Yeshiva. As if to foreshadow the kind of impact the Schusters would eventually have on so many young Jews, they decided to extend their stay—for four decades! The Schusters settled in the Ezras Torah neighborhood of Jerusalem and had four children.
Not long after moving to Israel, Rabbi Schuster and his old friend Chaim Kass were at the Kosel where they a saw a young man wearing a backpack who was obviously deeply touched by his encounter with the Wall.
Reb Chaim went over to the young man and asked if he would be interested in learning about Judaism, and the young man responded that he was. Unbeknownst to anyone at the moment, that young man who had been moved to tears at the Kosel, represented the beginning of a revolution.
For the next two weeks, Reb Meir and Reb Chaim kept returning to the Kosel to try to interest more people in exploring Judaism. By nature, Rabbi Schuster is particularly quiet and reserved, an introvert not naturally given to conversation, and so Reb Chaim initially did the talking. Within a couple of weeks, however, Rabbi Schuster began to take the lead, and he never, ever looked back.
Rabbi Schuster, in his unassuming yet confident way, would walk up to people and begin by engaging them with the simplest of questions; “Are you Jewish?” These questions became doorways to conversations that eventually led to other questions; “Have you ever experienced a Shabbos meal?” “Would you like to meet a wise man?” And so Rabbi Schuster would meet people—first dozens, then hundreds and eventually thousands—and he would arrange for them to be hosted for a Shabbas meal, or to take their first taste of Judaism at Aish HaTorah, Ohr Somayach, Neve Yerushalayim, Dvar Yerushalayim, the Diaspora Yeshiva or wherever he felt was the appropriate place for that particular young man or woman.
For forty years, day in and day out—day after day and night after night—Rabbi Meir Schuster was a fixture at the Kosel. The following is a true story told in the first person by one person whose soul was touched by Rabbi Schuster...
"As part of a trek across Europe, I detoured to the Middle East, wandered through Israel and made my way to the Kosel one summer afternoon. In the Kosel Plaza area, I was confronted by a friendly, rather thin gentleman who spoke somewhat hurriedly and asked me just one question, "Are you Jewish?”
To this day, I do not know why I felt so secure in answering that question, considering how Orthodox he looked with his long, wiry beard and his jacket draped over his shoulders. But I answered in the affirmative and before long we were chatting about Toronto, from where I hail. Eventually, he asked me if I'd be interesting in having a Shabbat meal the next weekend. I accepted the offer thinking that it would be one of those experiences I could share with my friends and family back in Canada. ("Hey, I had a Shabbat meal with a real live Orthodox family!") I must have changed my mind a dozen times before Friday came along. When it finally did, I felt I had no choice but to show up.
The rabbi had set me up with a young family of ba’ale teshuvah living in the Ma'alot Dafna area of Jerusalem, with whom I spoke for hours that night, while enjoying the heimishe food and lovely hosts.
That led to my visiting Ohr Samayach for a few days the next week before resuming my trip across Europe. But the die had been cast. Little did I know when I left Israel that I'd be back in yeshivah the next year and, in time, living an Orthodox life in Israel and helping out in the area of outreach as well. And all because someone had the strength, conviction and courage to ask me one simple but profound question: "Are you Jewish?"
For years, I enjoyed bumping into Reb Meir at the Kosel and telling him what I was up to, reminding him of his part in all that I was doing - including raising my own Torah-observant children and affecting others through my writings and lectures. In typical Reb Meir fashion, he would smile and encourage me but gave all the credit for his accomplishments to G-d. I also delighted in hearing him lead a minyan which he did with all the energy he had, unabashedly letting G-d know how much he loved Him and appreciated all that He did for him.
Rabbi Schuster has unfortunately ceased his outreach efforts of late. He needs a refuah sheleima - a speedy and full recovery from a debilitating disease which has crippled his mind and body, Hashem should protect us all. Please daven for Reb Meir Tzvi ben Merka! For more information and to help support his family: see http://www.rebmeirschuster.org/ Good Shabbos Everyone.
Have a safe and wonderful Shabbos, Remember what Amalek did and if your memory is foggy try to picture the Fogel family in your mind, Purim Samayach to all,
L’Chaim and Be well, Rachamim Pauli
