Rabbi Rachamim Pauli Drasha: Parsha Devarim, stories, news, good Shabbos Story

Prayers for Men: Eliezer David HaCohain ben Naomi, Avraham HaCohain ben Yocheved, Asher ben Esther Malka, Avraham ben Devorah, Zvi Yechezkel ben Leah, Naphtali Moshe ben Tziporah, Shalom Charles ben Gracia, Yoel ben Esther, Zev ben Rachel, Yehonatan ben Malka, Zvi ben Chava Sandy, Shlomo Chaim ben Basya Raiza, Shmuel ben Zahava Wendy, David Zvi ben Sarah Leah Rachel, Yosef ben Shifra, Yisroel Alter ben Chava Chana, Ariel ben Ruth, Zusha ben Sara, Yehuda ben Gittel Perel, Mordechai Chai ben Bracha Yehudit

Women: Karen Neshama bas Esther Ruth, Chaya Melecha Rachel bas Baila Alta, Rachel bas Chana, Hodaya Nirit bas Mazel, Rivka bas Idit, Kayla Rus bas Chaya Rachel, Tsvia Simcha bas Devorah Yachad, Miriam bas Irene Taita Malka, Henshi bas Nashe Rachel, Naomi Esther bas Tziporah Rachel. Hena bas Gezella, Bella Chava bas Pearl Leah, Miriam bas Basha Aharon, Chana bas Yocheved and a non-Jew who is in Israel and wants to convert asked for prayers Noreen bas Beverly

The following people are recovering from long term non-threatening injuries and need Psalms. Binum Benyamin Tuvia ben Chana Friedel, Adele Chaya bas Edva, Adina bas Sara,

Miracles are hidden from the eye but still happen: The kidnapping and murder of the three Yeshiva Boys was not in vain. The Prayers and Unity of Am Yisrael helped us behind the scene. After the murder of the Arab Youth, the Jihad against the wishes of Hamas started shelling and rocketing Israel. It was not long before the Hamas needed honor and stepped into the fray as it was in their eyes weakness on our part that we did not reply. The tunnel attacks did the trick and Protective Edge was launched. Among the captured prisoners and documents it was revealed [I have two versions of the story one says 200 and one says 2000] that a large number of terrorists wanted to penetrate Israel via the tunnels on Rosh Hashanah and go on a massive killing spree including blowing up part or all of the Knesset Building by stealing vehicles. No mention was made of the captives that they planned to take alive etc.

Another Miracle a large bomb was on its way to Yerushalayim: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4550545,00.html

NINE YEARS TO THE EVACUATION OF GUSH KATIF ON 7^TH OF AV! I would have preferred to say that I was wrong instead of I told you so!

Sefer Devarim

The Sefer deals with the last 40 days of the life of Moshe Rabbaynu from the end of Teves 2488 to Zayin B’ Adar 2488 and is time wise the shortest Sefer of the Five Seforim of the Chumash.

1:1 These are the words which Moses spoke unto all Israel beyond the Jordan; in the wilderness, in the Arabah, over against Suph, between Paran and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Di-zahab.

These names are between Eilat and Yarden in modern times but it appears closer to Har Nevo much further north or closer to the Golan from the previous narrative. These are the words? The words just happen to contain 200 Mitzvos or 32.6% of all the Mitzvos in the Torah which is different from Beresheis with only 3 Mitzvos even though the time period was after the creation of Adam 2238 before the entrance of the Bnei Yisrael until Mitzrayim or 2368 years until the period of slavery started. It ended somewhere in between with the death of the last brother for Yosef died young in 2310 and Levi out lived him by close to 20 years or about 2330. We do not know how long Dina lived according to our tradition unless I err.

2 It is eleven days journey from Horeb unto Kadesh-barnea by the way of mount Seir.

Mt. Seir is opposite Eilat and Kadesh-barnea in modern times is the continuation of the Philadelphia Road on the Egyptian Border or about 20 to 25 KM from Rafah Gaza what is probably the end of road 40 in the south at Nitzana. I found this interesting map of the travels in the last year from Kadesh-barnea to the Golan at his non-Jewish site: thhttp://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-exodus-route-kadesh-barnea-jordan.htm

3 And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them; 4 after he had smitten Sihon the king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who dwelt in Ashtaroth, at Edrei; 5 beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, took Moses upon him to expound this law, saying:

Most of the men of the previous generation passed away in the desert even if we believe that 15,000 survived on the last year on Tu B’Av. The address is therefore to the new generations about the history and included are Mitzvos not previously put in writing although they might have been oral Torah.

6 The LORD our God spoke unto us in Horeb, saying: 'Ye have dwelt long enough in this mountain; 7 turn you, and take your journey, and go to the hill-country of the Amorites and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the Arabah, in the hill-country, and in the Lowland, and in the South, and by the sea-shore; the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.'

You will have this as a basis for conquering the land.

Behold! I have set [the land before you]: With your own eyes you can see [this]: I do not tell you this from guessing or hearsay (Sifrei). Go in and possess [the land]: No one will contest the matter, and you will not need to go to war. If they [the Israelites] had not sent the spies, [but had trusted God] they would not have needed weapons of war (Sifrei). To your forefathers: Why does he [Moses] further mention Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob [when the reference “your forefathers” clearly indicates them]? [Their names are mentioned to show that] Abraham is worthy [of God’s oath] by himself, Isaac is worthy by himself, [and] Jacob is worthy by himself (Sifrei).

9 And I spoke unto you at that time, saying: 'I am not able to bear you myself alone; 10 the LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.—

As a leader with approximately 2 – 3,000,000 men, women and children standing in front of him it was an over-whelming sight to the humblest of men to every walk the earth.

11 The LORD, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as He hath promised you!-- 12 How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife? 13 Get you, from each one of your tribes, wise men, and understanding, and full of knowledge, and I will make them heads over you.' 14 And ye answered me, and said: 'The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do.' 15 So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and full of knowledge, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, tribe by tribe.

The division of authority helped Moshe manage the nation.

16 And I charged your judges at that time, saying: 'Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. 17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; ye shall hear the small and the great alike; ye shall not be afraid of the face of any man; for the judgment is God's; and the cause that is too hard for you ye shall bring unto me, and I will hear it.'

You will not favor a Torah Elder vs. a 13 year old in a case, nor a poor man against a billionaire but rather give a true judgement. Of course in some cases the Rabbi asks one of the sides to compromise for the sake of peace. It once happened that there came before Rabbi Mimran Shlita a complaint of a person against a caterer. The person claimed that the caterer ruined the wedding. The other side of the wedding party did not join the lawsuit. Rabbi Mimran could not figure out who was lying. Finally he asked the caterer to give the man compensation of which we only deserved half because the wedding was paid half and half and it was whittled down to a small sum that would not effect the caterer nor could the complainer talk against the reputation and the compromise was reached. Both Rabbi Mimran and I quoted Shakespeare “Much Ado about Nothing”.

18 And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do. 19 And we journeyed from Horeb, and went through all that great and dreadful wilderness which ye saw, by the way to the hill-country of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.

Moshe recalls the incident of the spies and the rebellion and this is in the shape of a warning to all.

35 'Surely there shall not one of these men, even this evil generation, see the good land, which I swore to give unto your fathers, 36 save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, he shall see it; and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children; because he hath wholly followed the LORD.' 37 Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying: Thou also shalt not go in thither; 38 Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before thee, he shall go in thither; encourage thou him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 39 Moreover your little ones, that ye said should be a prey, and your children, that this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it. 40 But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.'

Moshe now recalls the men who repented and wanted to take the land but they were told not to do so and became the “dry bones” envision in Yechezkel 37:1-14.

… 46 So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.

2:1 Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as the LORD spoke unto me; and we compassed mount Seir many days. 2 And the LORD spoke unto me, saying: 3 'Ye have compassed this mountain long enough; turn you northward. 4 And command thou the people, saying: Ye are to pass through the border of your brethren the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir; and they will be afraid of you; take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore …

Moshe sums up more of the 40 years and then he ends with the most recent events.

3:1 Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan; and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, unto battle at Edrei. 2 And the LORD said unto me: 'Fear him not; for I have delivered him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.' 3 So the LORD our God delivered into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people; and we smote him until none was left to him remaining. 4 And we took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we took not from them; threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. … 7 But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey unto ourselves. 8 And we took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of Arnon unto mount Hermon-- 9 which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir-- 10 all the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salcah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.-- 11 For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbah of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.--

The Medrash likes to picture him as a kilometer high but human bone struction cannot withstand such forces even the 60 feet high people of Guliver’s Travels would have had weak or broken bones. Here the Pshat is having a bed that contained the giant at about either 12.5 feet or 4.5 meters long which always contains the sleeper inside and the width was sort of standard king size double bed. Having this in mind he must of have been very tall but I cannot believe him much longer than the tallest man in the book of Guiness. The tallest man in medical history for whom there is irrefutable evidence is Robert Pershing Wadlow (USA) (born 6:30 a.m. at Alton, Illinois, USA on 22 February 1918), who when last measured on 27 June 1940, was found to be 2.72 m (8 ft 11.1 in) tall. Wadlow died at 1:30 a.m. on 15 July 1940 in a hotel in Manistee, Michigan, as a result of a septic blister on his right ankle caused by a brace, which had been poorly fitted only a week earlier. He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Alton in a coffin measuring 3.28 m (10 ft 9 in) long, 81 cm (32 in) wide and 76 cm (30 in) deep. His greatest recorded weight was 222.71 kg (35 st 1l b) on his 21st birthday and he weighed 199 kg (31 st 5 lb) at the time of his death. His shoe size was 37AA (47 cm (18.5 in) long) and his hands measured 32.4 cm (12.75 in) from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger. http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records-3000/tallest-man-ever/

12 And this land we took in possession at that time; from Aroer, which is by the valley of Arnon, and half the hill-country of Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites; 13 and the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half-tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob--all that Bashan is called the land of Rephaim. 14 Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, unto the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called them, even Bashan, after his own name, Havvoth-jair, unto this day.-- 15 And I gave Gilead unto Machir. 16 And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the valley of Arnon, the middle of the valley for a border; even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon;

This by Hamat Geder by the foot of the Golan Heights and it runs into the Yarden River it is the border today between Syria, Yarden and Yisrael.

17 the Arabah also, the Jordan being the border thereof, from Chinnereth even unto the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah eastward. 18 And I commanded you at that time, saying: 'The LORD your God hath given you this land to possess it; ye shall pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all the men of valor. 19 But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle--I know that ye have much cattle--shall abide in your cities which I have given you; 20 until the LORD give rest unto your brethren, as unto you, and they also possess the land which the LORD your God gives them beyond the Jordan; then shall ye return every man unto his possession, which I have given you. 21 And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying: 'Thine eyes have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto these two kings; so shall the LORD do unto all the kingdoms whither thou go over. 22 Ye shall not fear them; for the LORD your God, He it is that fights for you.'

G-D will fight your battles and save you!

On Perkei Avos and Tisha B’Av

In the past years I have written on these subjects. While I was lying in the bed in the hospital I read two chapters of Perkei Avos and thought this and that were nice to review and bring down to my readers but my own health concerns made me forget that. When I saw that the doctors were more concerned about my condition than I; my self-confidence was a bit shaken and my head went from Torah to concern for myself. As for Tisha B’Av there are many customs. Motzei Shabbos some make Havdallah on wine, others on grape juice, others like myself on tea depending on the custom that you established for yourself if a Baal Teshuva or your family tradition. So if you need more information here are the sources that can help you. www.torah.org, www.aish.com, www.chabad.org and www.ou.org

War Stories

Avigdor Kahalani who was the hero of the Yom Kippur War who fought until he only had 3 tanks left under his command and down to his last shell managed with his men to save the northern part of the Golan Heights. He lost a brother in another tank coming to his rescue and his brother-in-law in the war. He rose to the rank of general and was a minister in one of the governments. He was talking to 16 year olds about army service. He told them sure I was scared if anybody tells you that they are not scared, they need to be put away in an institution. I had three tanks coming at me not from 200 yards but from 25 yards (I used 1meter equals a yard here). It was matter of who ever fires faster survives. My crew and I managed to neutralize the three tanks and that is one of the reasons I am here today. You become brothers in blood with your living comrades and even 40 years afterwards remember the names and faces of those you have lost. My wife and I after the war used to cry in the middle of the night over our lost brothers.

By the way Avigdor Kahalani was thrown out of Officer Candidate's School as not showing leadership quality! I could be at the time he was a Yemenite and Yemenite Jews were considered primitive back in those days.

Disclaimer: I make no Halachic pronunciations on the behavior of the people below one who died on a Kiddush HASHEM

One of the young men killed was living with his girlfriend as common-in-law wife because he had no money at his age to purchase an apartment and start a family. I believe that she will receive widows’ benefits but am uncertain.

Lt. Itai is an officer in the Nahal Brigade. He pulled off an operation with the blessings of his commanders for a few hours. One of his men was a professional photographer and another a professional video photographer together they made a surprise with the commanders of Lt. Ilana to give her a short time off from her job as financial helper for families of soldiers and soldiers. She was taken on a trip to Ashdod I believe with some of her soldiers to the ruins of Melech Shlomo’s Port aka King Solomon’s Port. When she climbed up the ruins to the top she spotted Itai and she was happen to see him then she spotted at her feet a red carpet and a bucket with ice water and President’s Wine = Israeli Champaign after the initial hug, he got down on one knee and opened up a box containing a diamond ring. They hugged and kissed. Itai has a Yarmulke on his head but like I said sometimes in war some of your Halachic considerations are put aside to boost the morale of front line soldiers. That is why it says in Perkei Avos “Don’t judge a man until you are put in his situation”. The story was broadcast on Arutz 2 or www.Mako.co.il other live TV can be view in English, French, Hebrew, Russian from www.iba.org or Hebrew from www.nana.co.il !

Note the original Rabbi Tilles Story was supposed to be on the Ari Zal who passed away on 5^th of Menachem Av

Linking Battlefield and Yeshiva by Rabbi Yerachmiel Tilles http://ascentofsafed.com/cgi-bin/ascent.cgi?Name=870-48

As an officer he felt concerned for his soldiers, so he requested that the boys in the yeshiva in Safed should pray and study for them.
This happened last week.
Rabbi Yekutiel ("Kuty") Medovnik teaches at the "Machon Technologiya" ("Technical Institute") of Tsfat, a school for older yeshiva students where they study Torah topics in the morning and the rest of the day study those subjects which will qualify them for a career in technology. A man living in the South district of Tsfat whom Kuty had befriended and influenced to increase in mitzvah observance telephoned him to inform him that he had been summoned for milu'im (reserve duty) and would be leaving soon for the Gaza war front. As an officer, he felt concerned and responsible for the soldiers in his unit and asked that the boys in Kuty's yeshiva should pray for them and study extra Torah for them.
Kuty agreed immediately, of course, and asked the officer to supply the Jewish name and mother's name of each of the boys in his unit (about 30). Armed with this information, he then posted the list on the yeshiva bulletin board and asked the students in his classes (about 30) to each sign next to one of the names and keep that soldier in mind in their prayers and dedicate to them the merit of their Torah study.* All the yeshiva students were excited to do so.
A few days later the reserve officer called Rabbi Kuty Medovnik again. He was upset and frantic. One of his soldiers had just incurred a life-threatening wound from a fragment of a bomb that had pierced his skull. Please, the yeshiva boys should pray and study more and harder for this endangered young soldier!
Kuty made the announcement in the yeshiva to the entire student body, and then went to check his list of names. When he went to speak privately to the boy who signed next to this particular soldier's name, he found out that this very morning, unusually, the student had slept late, and thereby had missed the morning minyan and first study session!
The boy was momentarily paralyzed with grief and guilt. But grief and guilt never helped anybody. He leapt into action. He took upon himself the responsibility of organizing extra Torah study and Psalm-reciting sessions throughout the day, and exhorted his fellow students to do so with extra feeling and concentration. Every two hours he called the hospital to check the status of "his" injured soldier.
Finally, later that day, they received word received word that the soldier was out of danger. In the evening, the soldier's parents called to thank the yeshiva staff and student body and to request that the boys continue the special prayers and Torah study on behalf of their son, because clearly it was having a beneficial effect.
That was the situation as of a few minutes before candle-lighting on Friday last week. I'll send around an update bulletin when more becomes known this week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: My son, Yehuda, and other friends and acquaintances of Kuty Medovnik who heard the story directly from him.
* Editor's note:
This pairing arrangement is the norm in yeshivas in Israel. Sometimes it is on a yeshiva to military division basis, rather than individual student to individual soldier, and more often it is initiated by the students, although in the above case it was requested by the soldiers. This particular war seems to have tugged extra hard on soul strings, and perhaps the widespread use of internet and cellphone technology plays a part, for now we see these individual pairings springing up everywhere, not just in yeshivas in Israel but abroad also, and for that matter not just with yeshiva students but with lay people too. Anyone who is interested to join in and help to spiritually protect our dedicated young heroes can receive an IDF combat soldier name via //shmiraproject.com.

Dr. Harry wrote about faith and among other things he brought down an example of lack of faith and the Jew:

Here’s what Woody Allen said in a recent interview:
•“I firmly believe — and I don't say this as a criticism — that life is meaningless.”
•“There have been many great minds far, far superior to mine that have come to that conclusion. Both early in life and after years of living and, unless somebody can come up with some proof or some example where it's not [meaningless,] I think it is. I think it is a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. That's just the way I feel about it.”
•“I'm not saying one should opt to kill oneself, but the truth of the matter is when you think of it, every 100 years ... there is a big flush and everybody in the world is gone, then there is a new group of people, then that gets flushed, then there is a new group of people and this goes on interminably for no particular end — I don't want to upset you — there's no end and no rhyme or reason.”

This is what happens to assimilated, cultural Jews! He is pathetic, his movies are full of despair, and he should be pitied and prayed for. Judaism is not about lox and bagels, the Holocaust memorial, and Steinfeld. It is about a belief that you were created for a holy purpose. So, each morning wake up, say the Shema, and then in your own words and language say,

Rav Eliyashiv’s Unusual Trip By Tzvi Yaakovson http://www.yated.com/rav-elyashiv-s-unusual-trip-to-telz-stone.7-1286-7-.html

I used to see Rav Shlomo Lorencz zt”l almost every day. He lived at 17 Rechov Ponim Meiros in the same building as Rav Uri Zohar, with whom I have maintained a daily learning session over the past 20 years.

In his later years, I made it a habit of visiting Rav Lorencz to say hello. Sometimes that “hello” took only a few minutes, while at other times it took longer. He almost always had a good vort to share about something he had learned that morning, and sometimes we engaged in political discussion. I even managed to gain a few interviews from those meetings, although he insisted that they not be published during his lifetime, since he didn’t want others to challenge him about the fact that he had agreed for me to interview him but had turned them down.

We had known each other for a long time. As a child, I used to visit his home in the Lorencz orchard in Bnei Brak, which is the location of today’s Ramat Elchonon neighborhood. He was the political leader of the Yeshuv of Be’er Yaakov, where I was raised. My father zt”l was the mara d’asra there for fifty years.

Rav Lorencz was a member of the Knesset from 1961 to 1984. He was the chairman of the Knesset’s Finance Committee for many years (during the Eighth Ninth, and Tenth Knesset) and was one of the most highly respected members of the Knesset.

In the Knesset’s official records, Rav Lorencz is described as follows: “An activist in Aliyah Bet on behalf of Agudas Yisroel of Hungary (1938-1939), one of the founders of the collective community of Komemiyus in the Lachish region (1948), one of the founders of Agudas Yisroel’s construction and development company (1956), founder and president of the Sdeh Chemed and Chazon Yechezkel children’s villages, chairman of the Yegia Kapayim network of vocational schools, chairman of the council and advisory committee of Bank Yisrael (1987-2002), and member of the administrative council of Chinuch Atzmai.” At his request, I personally added two of his many accomplishments to the list at the end of his life.

His seforim about gedolei Yisroel, titled Bemechitzosom, have been widely distributed and read. They have been translated into English as well. Another sefer that he wrote, Shalmei Shlomo, was printed in a limited edition. Of course, he presented me with a complimentary copy as soon as it came out, complete with a warm inscription. The sefer includes letters that he wrote to a number of gedolim, along with their responses. Among them is a copy of his correspondence with Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt”l, whose second Yahrzeit is this week and who was a mechutan of Rav Lorencz.

Rav Lorencz told me, “In 5763, I had the privilege of receiving a letter with divrei Torah from Rav Elyashiv. It had been a number of years since he had written, since it took time to write and that time could be put to use for learning. Consequently, Rav Elyashiv decided that he would stop writing letters.”

It is unclear whether this was Rav Lorencz’s own interpretation or he actually heard this from Rav Elyashiv.

“I had sat with him and spoken with him for a long time about a particular subject, and finally I said, ‘If it is easier for the rov, I can summarize the issue in a letter and the rov can respond.’ Rav Elyashiv agreed. Later, he told me that he never responds to anyone in writing, but in this case he did because he had agreed to my suggestion and he wasn’t sure if it was a neder.”

“I have a similar story to tell,” I revealed to Rav Lorencz.

• • • • •

It was the month of Menachem Av, 5756, exactly 18 years ago, and the situation in the country was the same as it is today. The headlines in Haaretz described a study conducted by Peace Now, which had determined that there were about 145,000 Jews residing in “settlements,” including 2,380 in Kiryat Sefer and 4,880 in Beitar Illit.

Ehud Yatom, a senior official in the Shin Bet, had admitted in an interview that he had killed the two terrorists who were captured on a bus in Ashdod, an incident that mushroomed into the “Bus 300 Affair” and remained on the public agenda for many years.

Israel’s foreign minister, David Levi, met at the Erez Crossing with the head of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat.

There was a bitter conflict between Mafdal and Shas over which party would receive the Religious Affairs portfolio, and each party was threatening the prime minister, Bibi Netanyahu, that it would resign from the government.

The Yediot and Maariv newspapers were enmeshed in a full-scale war, including clandestine eavesdropping and arrests. The bodies of the two missing soldiers, Yosef Fink and Rachamim Alshich, were returned ten years after their capture and were brought to burial in Israel. Violent protests were taking place on Rechov Bar Ilan and the police were beating chareidim mercilessly. Rav Avrohom Ravitz was leading the protestors and was involved in an altercation with Aryeh Amit, the police commander in the Yerushalayim district. The Minister of Police, Avigdor Kahalani, announced that he believed the police had gone too far. The headlines in Maariv proclaimed, “Feverish Efforts to Prevent the Ministers of Mafdal and Shas from Leaving the Government.”

On Tuesday, the 29th of Tammuz, 5756/July 16, 1996, my wife gave birth to a baby boy. Like many other happy new fathers, I hurried to hire the legendary mohel, Reb Yossele (Yosef Dovid) Weisberg zt”l, and to submit a request to Rav Elyashiv’s household for him to be the sandek. Fortunately, my requests were accepted. The bris was scheduled for eight days later, on the seventh of Av, in a shul on Rechov Sorotzkin.

The morning of the bris, I received a telephone call from Rav Chaim Cohen, one of Rav Elyashiv’s closest confidants and his personal driver. “We have a problem,” he said. I imagined that I knew what the problem was: Shas was in the newspaper headlines, and Aryeh Deri, who was the leader of the Shas party, was certainly going to be in attendance at the bris. The media, which was always well aware of where the best photos could be taken, certainly knew that they could find him at the bris that morning. Presumably, Rav Elyashiv did not want to be sandek at a bris where dozens of secular reporters and photographers could be expected to be present.

Nevertheless, I asked, “What is the problem?”

Rav Cohen explained, “Last night, Rav Elyashiv did not feel well and we called a doctor, so his entire schedule was thrown off. On a regular day, he gets up to learn at 2 a.m., and then he lies down to rest after davening. Then he gets up on his own to go to the brissos where he is the sandek. Today, I’m not sure if he will be able to get up on his own at the time the bris is taking place, so I wanted to inform you now that there is a chance he may not come.”

I didn’t know whether I should believe him, but I later learned that everything he said had been completely accurate. He made sure to add that it was possible that Rav Elyashiv would indeed attend the bris. If he got up in time, he would come. But one thing was certain: No one would wake him up!

“What should I do?” I asked.

“Have a backup sandek come,” he replied.

It sounded like a simple solution, but it wasn’t simple at all. It is not very pleasant to tell someone that he will be a sandek “conditionally.” I called my friend Sholi (today known as Rav Sholom) Scheinberg, a grandson of Rav Chaim Pinchos Scheinberg, and shared my dilemma with him. “Is it at all possible that your grandfather would agree to be our backup sandek?” I stammered uncomfortably. Rav Sholom consulted with his grandfather and then returned to the phone. “It is not a problem. My grandfather says that it is not a problem.” Since Rav Scheinberg lived nearby, he asked me to notify him immediately before the bris.

In the end, Rav Scheinberg indeed served as the sandek. Dozens of media photographers swarmed around him and the other dignitaries who received kibbudim, and a picture of Aryeh Deri was plastered across the pages of every newspaper the next day, along with a story about the continuing coalition crisis.

During the bris, I was surprised to see that Rav Chaim Cohen and Rav Yosef Efrati arrived. “We wanted to tell you that the rebbe [Rav Elyashiv] got up, but it was impossible for him to leave the house,” they informed me. “We came here to make sure you realized that this was not a political decision.”

I knew that their arrival had been at Rav Elyashiv’s behest; they did not make a single move without him ordering them to do so. They added, “The rebbe asked us to tell you that he will be the sandek for your next son, be’ezras Hashem.”

Three years later, I remembered that promise after my next son was born on the 14th of Elul, 5759/ August 26, 1999.

Once again, I notified Reb Yossele Weisberg that I needed a mohel and I called Rav Chaim Cohen to ask for Rav Elyashiv to serve as sandek. Once again, I managed to make both calls in time and I received the consent of both parties. The day before the bris, I called Rav Cohen and informed him that the bris was scheduled to take place in the convalescent home in Telz-Stone for mothers after birth.

“Telz-Stone?” he exclaimed. “Impossible!”

“Why?” I asked, startled.

“Aren’t you aware that the rebbe hasn’t left Yerushalayim for two years already?”

In fact, I had not been aware. Had I known, perhaps I would not have scheduled the bris to take place in Telz-Stone. I tried to remonstrate with him, pointing out that it was only a 15-minute drive from Yerushalayim, but he remained adamant. “The rebbe doesn’t leave the city. Don’t waste your time.”

At that point, I remembered what he had told me three years earlier. “Chaim,” I said, “tell Rav Elyashiv that he himself said three years ago that he would be the sandek for my next son.”

Ultimately, to many people’s astonishment – including Rav Cohen and Rav Efrati – Rav Elyashiv traveled to Telz-Stone and served as the sandek at my son’s bris. The baby was named Yosef Shlomo after the Ponovezher Rov, Rav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman zt”l.

Unsettling trends that have infiltrated Orthodoxy not Liberal Orthodoxy but http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2014/07/27/open-orthodoxy-and-the-rebirth-of-the-conservative-movement/

Inyanay Diyoma

Updates after my news in my blogspot Israeli and Yehuda and Shomron Arab occupiers: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4549900,00.html

From Dennis S. on Dr. Prager’s article: http://www.jewishjournal.com/dennis_prager/article/why_do_people_hate_israel

Yair Ashkenazi HY”D http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4549845,00.html

Oron Shaul body parts identified but not the full body. Announced at 17:30 Erev Shabbos http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4549927,00.html

Pilots frustrated that they cannot help our soldiers all the time: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183352#.U9Jq9saKDIU

My grandson is in an area which has been attacked a lot. He sleeps in a caravan and he did not have the strength to wake up this morning and go to the shelter. A large piece of shrapnel fell near the store in his area. My wife and I gave it to him verbally but nicely. The Yeshiva is on war footing and wants the young fellows to learn and pray more on Shabbos. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183352#.U9Jq9saKDIU

IDF Special Unit kills arch terrorist: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4549920,00.html

Motzei Shabbos July 26th = 28^th of Tammuz 5774

There was a ‘humanitarian’ cease fire that lasted from 8 AM to 8:03 when the areas surrounding Gaza were shelled followed by some to Ashdod, Gedera, Ashkelon and more. The Cabinet is meeting right now as I write: http://debka.com/article/24131/Israel-and-Hamas-reject-Kerry’s-ceasefire-bid-The-IDF-awaits-orders-for-next-stage-of-Gaza-operation

Our Soldiers continued dying as Shabbos came in: http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/IDF-confirms-three-more-deaths-bringing-death-toll-to-40-368982

Photos of the 4 killed on Friday: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4550183,00.html

Ed-Op Israel will have to relocate non-combatants: http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Into-the-fray-Why-Gaza-must-go-368862

Police have now asked to remove her immunity: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183363#.U9QHzMaKDIU

Protective Edge Day 20 = 27^th July =29^th Tammuz 5774

Another Miracle a large bomb was on its way to Yerushalayim: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4550545,00.html

If Hamas wants a cease fire, they will have to play the game according to Egypt and not anybody else. We will not let Obama and Kerry undermine Egypt: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4550748,00.html

Hamas now wants a cease fire on their terms in the meantime their army officers sent off from their houses barrages of rockets oops no housing. NETANYAHU IS SLOW TO RESPOND THIS TIME TO THE CEASE FIRE FOR THE ABOVE REASON AND THE FACT THAT THE LATEST PUBLIC OPINION POLL SHOWS THAT 85% OF THE ISRAELI POPULATION DOES NOT WANT A CEASE FIRE AT THIS TIME! http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183396#.U9UcWcaKDIU

They violate their ceasefire: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4550611,00.html

Egypt destroys 13 Hamas Tunnels on their side and we blast a few from the air for good measure: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4550797,00.html

Tank with a defensive shield: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4550677,00.html

July 28^th = Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av 5774

Last week, the former chief Rabbi of the IDF told everybody that 9 years ago on the expulsion from Gush Katif he was promised by Sharon 40 years of quiet. Not quite by a long shot after 3 wars.

The electronic intelligence battle: http://debka.com/article/24133/IDF-set-for-electronic-and-signals-control-of-Hamas-Islamic-Jihad-command-centers-after-rocket-fire

Hamas hacked: http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/Hackers-break-into-Hamas-web-sites-post-pro-Israel-video-369094

Flotilla II from Turkey may be on it’s way with a war ship; http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/Palestinian-Authority-blasts-Kerry-for-appeasing-Qatar-Turkey-at-Ramallahs-expense-369091

Hitting Hamas between rockets and cease-fires that are ineffective. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4550824,00.html

Hannity takes care of Hamas: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183409#.U9VU6caKDIU

The Defense Minister strengthens the Defense of Israel by spiritual means: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183416#.U9XcFMaKDIU

Ed-Op http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Into-the-fray-Why-Gaza-must-go-368862

Devout Muslim pressures Israel for an Id-Al-Feta Ceasefire??? while they fired a rocket at Ashkelon: http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/In-phone-call-to-Netanyahu-Obama-stresses-need-for-immediate-Gaza-cease-fire-369113

Big Brother is watching you more efficiently: http://www.buildyourbestcloud.com/72/openstack%E2%80%99s-contributions-nsa%E2%80%99s-it-operations-agility-flexibility-and-scalability

Video Terror Tunnels in your backyard: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183425#.U9XhpMaKDIU

I have received so much mail that I am over-whelmed. My in-box is 5100 pieces and I don’t have a secretary! Liab told me to ship the reporters out of Gaza. Gail sent me this last week: Son Of Texas Killed In Gaza By Mordechai Ben-Menachem

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/07/22/stories-from-the-battlefield-son-of-texas-killed-in-gaza/#ixzz38K6WEQ8S Posted By Guns and Gear On 4:24 PM 07/22/2014 In | - The Daily Caller - http://dailycaller.com -

The stories tell us, and historians apparently agree, that Texans have a history of extraordinary bravery. Perhaps that is also true today, certainly, I am not qualified to have an opinion on that. Our story of one Son of Texas is a story of extraordinary bravery; that, and a great deal more.

Nissim Sean Carmelli made Aliyah (immigrated to Israel) a few short years ago. He came at first on a trip with his family, fell in love with the country and decided to make it his home. He then came alone. He joined the army and volunteered to serve in the Golani Brigade. He was what we call a Lone Soldier.

At the beginning of Operation Protective Edge he was lightly wounded. He returned to continue to fight with his friends and comrades. The day before yesterday, he became the second American citizen to give his life in this iteration of the War with Hamas.

Nissim Sean Carmelli left us an awe-inspiring legacy.

This Lone Soldier draws a clear line between the extraordinary bravery of the Alamo and his own in Gaza; draws a clear line between the Lone Star on the flag of Texas and the Lone Star on the flag of Israel. His life, as short as it was, represents much more than his bravery; it represents respect for freedom and dedication to the ideal that a free people have a right to defend themselves from barbarism.

Nissim Sean Carmelli was killed in Gaza, in the neighborhood of Sajayiah. I fought in the same city 44 years ago. I was wounded in the same neighborhood, on the same street. I was also a Lone Soldier in the Army of Israel.

Nissim Sean Carmelli fought and died in an attempt to uproot the terror tunnels built by Hamas. Tens of kilometres of tunnels, tens of thousands of tons of sand excavated. The Gaza Strip is all sand. No tunnel can exist without shoring it up with concrete – massive amounts of concrete. The financial side of those tunnels is a fascinating story. At least ninety percent of the concrete for those tunnels was ordered, purchased and paid for by UNWRA. That’s right, by your tax dollars – the United States finances 36 percent of the UNRWA budget.

Nissin Sean Carmelli was buried yesterday, in Haifa. Twenty thousand people came to his funeral because his friends were afraid that as a Lone Soldier with no family in Israel, he would be ‘insufficiently’ respected on his last road.

There are no Lone Soldiers in Israel. I was not alone 44 years ago. Nissim Sean Carmelli was not alone. The Lone Star of Texas is not alone.

Mordechai Ben-Menachem is a former researcher/lecturer at Ben-Gurion University and an author of 30 books ranging from engineering to poetry. He is also an ordained clergyman and a former soldier.

Israel Is the Victim of Mohammed’s War Against the Jews By Daniel Greenfield (Sultan Knish)

Hamas isn’t shooting rockets at the Jews because of persecution, isolation or occupation. The Sunni Islamic terrorist group is doing it for the same reason that Sunnis and Shiites are killing each other in Iraq and Syria. And why its Muslim Brotherhood core group is killing Christians in Egypt.

To understand why, let’s step into a time machine and go back to the spring of 632. The Byzantine Emperor Heraclius is engaged in the first of a series of wars with Mohammed’s maddened followers. England is divided into seven quarreling kingdoms. Across the water, the Merovingians are killing each other in ways that would give George R.R. Martin nightmares. Meanwhile in a more civilized part of the world, China’s fading Sui Dynasty fields an army of over a million men in a failed effort to invade Korea.

Back in Medina, Mohammed had come down with the sniffles. He had a fever and a headache and there wasn’t any Tylenol around for miles. Mohammed hadn’t been a very good man and he made a very bad patient. Upon being told that he had pleurisy, he claimed that only people possessed by Satan came down with that disease so he couldn’t possibly have it and instead blamed the Jews for poisoning him.

His own homemade cures, such as bathing in seven skins of water from seven different wells, didn’t help. But before he died, he managed to make the Middle East an even worse place by ordering the ethnic cleansing of Jews and Christians.

“Two deens (religions) shall not co-exist in the Arabian Peninsula,” Mohammed declared. “If I live, if Allah wills, I will expel the Jews and the Christians from the Arabian Peninsula.”

There could be only one.

Mohammed didn’t live, but that didn’t matter. His bigotry had long ago been coded into the theological DNA of Islam. Islam isn’t built on matters of the spirit, but the sword. Its theological proof is in the Muslim supremacist subjugation of non-Muslims.

The Bible begins with the creation of the universe. The Koran starts off with curses and threats aimed at non-Muslims and Muslims who aren’t Muslim enough. There is no greater contrast between the sublime and the tawdry than G-d creating the universe and Allah yelling at his followers like a frustrated fishwife with a bad temper.

Over a thousand years later, Muslims are still killing each other, along with Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and countless others, to prove that their flavor of Islam is right and everyone else’s religion is wrong.

Theological consensus can only be achieved by the suicide bomber, the sniper, the Sarin nerve gas shell and the death squad. If England and France have come a long way since then, the Middle East hasn’t. Mohammed’s way or the highway is still the rule of the road. And Mohammed’s way is whatever the man with the most guns and Korans says it is.

Destroying Israel has nothing to do with the so-called plight of the so-called Palestinians. They weren’t an issue in June 632. It was about oppressing and killing Jews then. It’s about the same thing now.

Israel’s critics start their historical record in 1948 while insisting that before that everyone lived in peace. They zoom in on a country that could be dropped into New Jersey without inconveniencing Jersey Shore surfers while ignoring all the Muslims around it killing each other & any surviving non-Muslims that still haven’t run away.

The truth about what is happening in Israel becomes obvious if you pull back to take in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. And after viewing those three bloody battlefields, we can go on a little tour of the region.

In Algeria, Muslims are protesting the possible reopening of a synagogue because it will “Judaize” the country. Most of the synagogues have already been seized and turned into mosques.

In 1994, the Armed Islamic Group vowed to eliminate Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims whom it accused of “colonizing” Algeria. That same year it met with Bin Laden. Its plot to crash an Air France jet on Christmas Eve into the Eiffel Tower was said to have inspired September 11.

Over 1,300 years after Mohammed called for the ethnic cleansing of Jews and Christians, Muslims were still carrying out his will.

In Yemen, a handful of Jews still live in a ghetto. Between a third and two-thirds had already died in the 17^th century after they were ethnically cleansed due to yet another deathbed decree from an Islamic leader. The dying Imam Isma’il based this on Mohammed’s original ethnic cleansing Hadith from 632.

Events like these were and are the normal course of life for Jews under the shadow of Mohammed.

Hamas is not firing rockets at Jews because of some tricky bit of territory that can be swapped at the negotiating table. Its charter, like the Koran, begins by cursing the Jews. It declares that “Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it”.

Not Palestine, Islam. Not the 1948 territories, but everything. Article Seven envisions an “end times genocide” that will entirely eliminate the Jews. “The Jews hide behind trees and stones, and each tree and stone will say: ‘Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.’”

The source of that is not some distressed refugee from Gaza. It’s another ancient Islamic Hadith.

Ignorance of history is the greatest ally of Islamic terror.

The rockets falling on Jews are only the latest phase in an ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing by Muslim colonists against the indigenous peoples of the Middle East. It’s a campaign that long predates any territorial debates about the West Bank and Gaza.

The same is true of September 11 and 7/7, both of which emerged from an Islamic theocratic worldview rooted in the seventh century that predates the United States and the United Kingdom. The causes of Islamic terror are not rooted in the recent present, but the ancient past.

And it is this past and its burden of bigotry that we are fighting.

The world has changed a great deal since June 632, but the Middle East hasn’t. The armies of Islamic raiders have traded camels and horses for pickup trucks. They recite their boasts over Twitter and share their grisly trophies using smartphones. But the fundamental attitude that drives their violence has been preserved in museum quality terror.

Israel’s critics are at war with context. They want to talk about Gaza, not Hamas. They don’t want to talk about the worldwide Muslim Brotherhood which Hamas is part of. They don’t want to talk about the Muslim Brotherhood’s invasion of Israel in 1948. They don’t want to address the Muslim Brotherhood’s declaration that “Jews are the historic enemies of Muslims”. Or its Secretary General’s statement that “Every Jew is a Zionist… the Zionist question is but a Jewish question with all that the word entails.”

“Would they (Muslims) fight the Jews as he had fought them and eject them from the Holy Land… as their ancestors had ejected them from the Arab Peninsula?” Secretary General Salih Ashmawi asked.

Once again everything returned to Mohammed’s original sin of ethnic cleansing.

Instead of pretending that a few territorial concessions by Jews to the regional Sunni Muslim majority will change anything, we have to address the political and religious territories of 632. Unless Muslims reject that ugly act of ethnic cleansing, their cycle of supremacist violence against Jews and Christians will continue.

Gail also brought down Arlene Kushner who mailed this: OBAMA TO THE RESCUE OF HAMAS by CAROLINE GLICK

“We have known for years that tunnels were a central component of Hamas’s logistical infrastructure. What began as the primary means of smuggling weapons, trainers and other war material from Hamas’s sponsors abroad developed rapidly into a strategic tool of offensive warfare against Israel. “As we have seen from the heavily armed Hamas commando squads that have infiltrated into Israel from tunnels since the start of the current round of warfare, the first goal of these offensive tunnels is to deploy terrorists into Israel to massacre Israelis.

“But the tunnels facilitate other terror missions as well.

“Israel has found tunnels with shafts rigged with bombs located directly under Israeli kindergartens. “If the bombs had gone off, the buildings above would have been destroyed, taking the children down with them.

“Other exposed shafts showed Hamas’s continued intense interest in hostage taking...” http://carolineglick.com/obama-to-the-rescue-of-hamas/

Dear Family & Friends,

Shavua Tov from Jerusalem, Israel. We did have a quiet Shabbat due to a 8 or 12 hour cease-fire, depending upon who you read. But, we began to hear the “Az’aka” notices at about 10 pm on the radio, the Red Siren with the towns, villages & cities where people have from 15 to 60 seconds to seek a protected room – a Miklat (shelter) or usually a Mamad (secure room), reinforced room.

The sad casualty count of our killed soldiers has risen to 40. I’ll try to keep up with their pictures & short stories – along with what seems newsworthy & interesting – sometimes really vital.

Have a very quiet & peaceful night & day, All the very best, Love, Gail/Geula/Savta/Mom

July 28th = Ohr of 2^nd Menachem Av 5774

Originally I started this for tomorrow with a little less news a trickle of rockets here and there. But they had a round of mortars that fell hitting some civilians in the Eshkol Region that came because of the “we cease for 36 hours while they fire” because of the calm to bring joy to the residents and presents for the soldiers. 4 are dead and 8 wounded. A number of terrorists infiltrated Kibbutz Nahal Oz and 4 were killed. So that is one of the many tunnels that we missed. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183440#.U9aVPsaKDIU My wife told me Nahal Oz but here it says Shaar Ha Negev http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4551343,00.html and this says Nahal Oz http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/5-Hamas-terrorists-killed-trying-to-penetrate-Kibbutz-Nahal-Oz-369192

Elsewhere the IDF investigation with a drone photo shows our shot to the empty school courtyard and then Hamas’s shot to filled UNWRA courtyard. Well today they sent off two Fajr rockets towards Ashkelon around 5 PM one in a playground with children by the outpatient clinic of Shifa Hospital. That one with 45 kg of explosives went off during the launch and I have little sympathy for those who use children and the ill as human shields. After more missiles another tunnel the mission continues: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183442#.U9aWPcaKDIU and http://debka.com/article/24137/Four-Israelis-killed-in-Eshkol-by-Hamas-mortar-Hamas-Fajr-5-blows-up-prematurely-outside-Shifa-hospital

Netanyahu prepare for a long war: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183446#.U9aXmMaKDIU

At 7:10, rockets were fired at the Hadera and Binyamina region, not far south from Haifa. And then from Lebanon sirens went off in Ramat Naphtali, Yiftach and another border area but nothing fell on our side.

More mortars about every half hour or so and the IAF replies. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183429#.U9ZC3MaKDIU

From Chaim B. Mensch of the Day in the Senate: http://www.israellycool.com/2014/07/22/pro-israel-mensch-of-the-day-marco-rubio/

Yehuda and Shomron: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183429#.U9ZC3MaKDIU

Kerry’s by-pass Egypt and the PLO did not work: http://debka.com/article/24135/Netanyahu’s-dilemma-Back-Obama’s-save-Hamas-policy-or-fight-for-its-downfall-with-Egypt-and-Saudis-

In fact Kerry/Obama caused long-term damage: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183430

More of we cease and they fire until we fired back and our death toll is at 43 and another soldier wounded: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4551101,00.html

A letter to a friend in Gaza: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4549711,00.html

Child labor builds the tunnels and they often die there: http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/At-least-160-children-died-digging-tunnels-for-Hamas-369138

Regarding the treasonous MK: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183433#.U9aVy8aKDIU

Also Chaim B. Gaza IS the two-state solution and Hamas is the result.

Europe is in an uproar. Frankfurt, Germany is rioting, along with France, the UK and in other places where it’s Springtime for Hitler all over again.

But even over here in America the streets are filling up with hateful marches and slogans against the Jewish State.

Much of this is triggered by Muslims who arrive here with a grudge and stay with a grudge. But also…television termite Jon Stewart sleeps comfortably in his own bed but can find no heart for a million Jewish children who must spend half their lives running for cover as rockets keep raining down from Gaza.

Thousands of Israeli children have been so traumatized over the years from relentless bombardment that they’re afraid to leave their bomb shelters – ever.

Television imbecile Geraldo Rivera has likewise been heard from – a self-proclaimed “passionate Zionist” so long as the Jewish State refrains from defending herself.

Over there in Europe once again it’s Kristallnacht. It is a safer world when that continent goes bonkers over soccer, a game where nothing happens for 90 minutes and people think it’s exciting. Yes, it’s Springtime for Germany for winning the World Cup, and it’s Springtime for Europe whose multitudes are back on the streets howling bitterly because this time around, unlike the 1930s and 1940s, the Jews are fighting back.

OMG – they have a country!

The final solution turned out to be the Land of Israel and it is driving them crazy.

These mobs are the “humanitarians” – the good, the noble, the refined who chant “Peace.”

Israel gave peace a chance. Instead, the Jewish State got more than 1,000 rockets a year since she gave away Gaza to the Arabs in 2005.

Gaza IS the two-state solution and Hamas is the result.

So please spare me the pieties and the righteous indignation of those “good people” protesting throughout Europe against Israel’s defensive operations in Gaza.

Now you’re up and about? Now you speak? Where were you when, throughout the years, thousands of Jihadist bombs fell on Israel? The streets of Europe were empty. There were no pictures in the newspapers of grieving Jewish mothers and fathers. You called it “peace” as long as the Arabs were doing the killing and the Jews were doing the dying. All was well with the world.

Suddenly, as Israel answered back, you found your CAUSE – and how self-righteous you are in your CAUSE.

You are the best and the brightest of Europe. You are educated. You attended the finest schools. You care for the birds, the bees, the bears, the trees. You favor free speech and freedom of religion. Strange it is, that the one and only place in the Middle East that shares your world-view, is Israel, and it is Israel that you slander.

Israel is a Jewish State. Is that your problem? At the first hint of Jewish self-defense, how quickly you show your true colors.

I’ve seen the photos of your candlelight vigils along the streets and boulevards of Europe, all of it, all these tears, in the service of those terrorists whom you call your brothers. Indeed you are related to Hamas (and Fatah) as once before, a mere generation ago, you were related to Hitler’s storm troopers. Your angelic faces are touching – and disgusting. Your hypocrisy is transparent and nauseating.

You speak of disproportion. You want proportion? Give Israel 22 countries. There’s plenty of “proportion” coming from your BBC, which delights in presenting one side of the story and picks up where Der Sturmer left off. Now, with this type of “news,” we know how Europe was conditioned for a Holocaust.

Already we see nights of broken glass. Thank you, Europe, for reminding us why America was discovered just in time and why Israel was redeemed many generations too late. You dare judge Israel? In your deportations, your expulsions, your forced conversions, your inquisitions, your pogroms, finally your Holocaust you have no moral authority over Israel or even within your own borders. You gave all that up from 1492 to 1942 and beyond.

To those on the Left who sought Peace, well dear Peace Lovers – Peace brought this on. “Land for Peace” and “Painful Concessions” made this war. As for those “innocent civilians” in Gaza, they were given a choice and they chose Hamas. They chose this pestilence.

God bless the IDF!

Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. Engelhard wrote the int’l bestseller Indecent Proposal that was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. New from the novelist, the anti-BDS thriller Compulsive. Website: www.jackengelhard.com

This was written before the attack on the Eshkol region: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4550979,00.html

Rabbi Pauli analysis: There are a lot of Likud leading Primary Contenders voicing internal opposition to Netanyahu for not being firmer and his constant cease fires. Some even accuse him of begging Obama to issue the ceasefire ultimatum this morning Israel Time. Netanyahu came out weakened within his own party by the conflict more than the public perception of him. However, he is most likely going to have to face Sivan Shalom, Gideon Saar and perhaps Yisrael Katz in the primaries. One thing is for sure, most of the Likudniks in my area are not going to vote for him and most likely will turn to Yisrael Katz.

July 29^th – 2^nd Menachem Av 5774

10 soldiers died yesterday 6 in battle and 4 in a solders’ briefing by a mortar: http://debka.com/article/24137/High-IDF-death-toll-in-Hamas-upsurge-of-violence-on-“ceasefire”-day-Israel-expands-Gaza-counter-offensive Different account with a film of the special forces in action: http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/Five-IDF-soldiers-killed-during-attempted-terror-tunnel-infiltration-369241

The Israeli Press criticized John Kerry and had caricatures of him being stoned by Al-Sisi, Abu-Masen and Netanyahu. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4551431,00.html

Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and the center at 2 AM last night as more rockets disturbed sleep of the people.

July 29^th = Ohr to 3^rd Tammuz 5774

I got this from Reuven. Earlier, I tried to share a report of someone who escaped being kidnapped at an Arab's hands in 'Emeq Refaim, a main drag with lots of shops in southwest Jerusalem. WARNING!! Be very careful who you hail for a taxi ANYWHERE IN ISRAEL! You never know what passions may motivate the driver. It is necessary to be very alert and careful when you travel here, especially if you travel alone! [This area is not far from the old train station but also close to an Arab Neighborhood.]

From Joyce: Miami is not exempt from anti-Semitism - http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/synagogue-vandalized-jewish-family-targeted-in-miami-beach-hate-crimes

The gloves have come off. Last night their TV Station was hit and now their power plant that supplies the underground city. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4551526,00.html Correction only one fuel depot of the power station but not the power itself.

The cat is out of the bag and Netanyahu’s friend is calling for unity: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183445#.U9dy426KDIV

This is not main stream Charedim but the extreme Iran loving types: http://www.jpost.com/National-News/IDF-reservist-in-uniform-attacked-by-haredi-extremists-in-Beit-Shemesh-369266

Barry sent me his Ed-Op: http://israeltheviewfromhere.blogspot.co.il/2014/07/why-kerrys-ceasefire-proposal-was-shot.html

This afternoon 5 terrorists emerged from a tunnel entrance and were eliminated in Gaza. An anti-tank weapon was fired and the threat then eliminated. More soldiers injured by mortars and a heavy artillery barrage in that direction followed. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183493#.U9flmG6KDIU

When Beit Shemesh and the environs were attacked up to Chevron, I delayed taking out my dog for a walk in case of a greater barrage. Again in the morning there were more attacks in the center of the country. The 2:30 AM attack my grandson and his roommates slept through as they were up until 2 AM. I told him to get some good sleep and not such a deep one from exhaustion. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4551975,00.html

Chinese Hackers managed to penetrate one of 3 plants to get some data. However, the main data is secure in an unlinked area. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4551848,00.html

Soldiers seize a large amount of weapons http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/IDF-forces-kill-five-terrorists-who-emerged-from-Gaza-tunnel-entrance-369301

From Stephanie: More Miracles - Before the lesson began a man got up to say a few words, He has not sure if it is a relative or friend who mans the iron dome just outside of Tel Aviv. There was and incoming rocket which was heading towards the Azrieli Center. They used the iron dome to intercept it but it did not work they tried again and again it did not work.......then an amazing thing happened the rocket changed course and headed for the sea. B"H so many miracles. PS: David just gave me another snippet of information this morning about the iron dome guy. After seeing the miracle of the wind changing direction taking with it the rocket out to see now wants to keep Shabbat.

The cabinet meets again with another we cease and they fire agreement from Obama and Kerry. Yesterday, 9 out of the 10 dead were soldiers stationed on pre-1967 borders: http://debka.com/article/24141/Nine-out-of-10-Israel’s-war-dead-Monday-died-on-Israeli-soil-–-a-microcosm-of-the-IDF-operation

July 30^th = 3^rd of Menachem Av 5774

Last night in the Great Synagogue there was a ceremony for the 30^th day since the murder and then burial of the three boys by the Hamas. Note that the boys were taken and murdered on June 12^th but it took a while for the burial hence the thirtieth day. The murderers have not been found as of now.

Last night Israel targeted 80 terrorists sites as their death toll rises to 1200 and scores injured but for them the Shahid is an institution and the more the merrier. Total rocket count on civilians in Israel was 80: http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/IDF-strikes-Gaza-power-plant-Haniyehs-home-369353

Milchem Jihad itbach Yehud = Jihad War and slaughter the Jews now what does Bibi and his Cabinet not understand with these statements and released film??? http://debka.com/article/24143/In-face-of-truce-bids-Hamas’-Deif-gives-Gaza-war-fresh-impetus-makes-it-a-religious-jihad- This is the IDF film after the death of 5 soldiers: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4552236,00.html Here is their film minus the gore of 5 dead Jews: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183510#.U9jNYG6KDIU

While El Al was ticket scalping and others boycotting BA continued to fly to Israel: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183513#.U9jKOG6KDIU

Bibi is afraid for himself: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183512#.U9jKo26KDIU

As for the soldiers in Gaza they are doing next to nothing some progress and some tunnel exits being destroyed along with houses but that is about it. The army because of the politicians begging for a cease-fire is literally frozen. This is one time that I believe Kerry: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4551927,00.html

Ed-Op on Netanyahu and is losing standing in the Likud: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4551722,00.html

July 31^st = 4^th of Menachem Av 5774

Yesterday Lt. Itai pulled off an operation that would stun most people that will be in my stories after my Torah Drasha. rabbipauli.blogspot.com I did cut short the news from Gail Winston below but brought down three of the five Ed-Ops in full as I did not have the source. She brings down other thoughts that I don’t cover on the war effort and it is worth-while reading or glancing these opinions her posts follow mine.

After seeing a 90% or more consensus in favor of the operation and with the exception of Arab Knesset Members there is literally no real opposition only the extreme of the extreme left in Israel like “Betzalem” “human” but never Jewish rights and a few others. Another 16,000 soldiers were called up last night. I assume to back-up and relieve our fighting force for a home refresher in case they need a few hours to refresh at home. ISRAEL has less PTSD because the soldiers can get home every few weeks and refresh their moral even if it is just a few days or hours like the Itai and Ilana story from Gaza in my blog (above).

I was listening to interviews of soldiers. One was a chief who had a wounded brother from Golani with shrapnel in his legs and his father driving a truck or semi-trailer to the war zone. (It is not uncommon for such things – my oldest was in Lebanon and I was patrolling the Egyptian Border at the same time). Who suffers the most - IT IS THE WOMAN OF THE HOUSE FILLED WITH CONCERN AND WORRY.

Yesterday, the death toll reached 56 with one of the hundreds of booby traps being set off in a tunnel exit with more explosives in the house above causing the death of three soldiers and many wounded around them. CONSIDERING THE AMOUNT OF BOOBY TRAPS OUR PRAYERS ARE WORKING MIRACLES TO SAVE THE SOLDIERS WHO GO DOWN INTO THE TUNNELS AND HOUSES. In fact from the captured enemy the brigade commanders were given specific houses that were booby trapped and from the outside they would place explosive charges to set off the ones inside before checking for the tunnels. But of course intelligence gathering does not know everything. The booby trap was in an UNWRA building of course: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183542#.U9nNK5uKDIU

The TV announced that 33% of all European Jews are planning Aliyah with the growing Arab Populations and anti-Semitism. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4552150,00.html

Last night, the left-wing Arutz 2 commentator Amnon Abramovich mentioned below in an editorial was attacked by right-wing demonstrators. Amnon is often in a debate with Military Correspondent Ronny Daniel. Both of them were wounded in the Yom Kippur War Amnon was given a medal for heroism and was burnt on Ramat HaGolan. As much as I don’t appreciate him, I do not call him a traitor and would want to beat him up. A little sanity is required patriots there were lynch parties often for Moshe Rabbaynu as we have seen in our Torah reading and my commentary.

20 people were murdered by Hamas for protesting them in Gaza for bringing on ruination to sections of Gaza.

In the container from the Turks to Gaza there were ball bearings to use in their explosives in order to kill and maim and they want to play peace broker!

Psalm 120 I will speak peace and they are for war. With the amount of cement poured into those tunnels in the last four years, the Palestinians could have built four modern hospitals, 20 schools or 100 kindergartens. http://debka.com/article/24145/Three-Israeli-soldiers-killed-in-action-in-Gaza-and-27-injured-Cabinet-orders-operation-expanded

Son of Hamas calls for the finishing off of Hamas who could know better: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183551#.U9nweJuKDIU

Watch him speak on Hannity: http://video.foxnews.com/v/3705506247001/hamas-founders-son-speaks-out-against-terrorist-group/#sp=show-clips

Defense Secretary Charles Hagel opened up the US emergency supplies and is supplying Israel with mortars and shells that are about to expire their use date for use in Gaza. More weapons were also opened up for Israel to replenish our supplies.

Iran on Hamas willing to resupply rockets and weapons: http://video.foxnews.com/v/3704646723001/irans-supreme-leader-calls-for-the-destruction-of-israel/#sp=show-clips

Dear Family & Friends,

Israel is persevering, Baruch HaShem (Thank G-d). We will choose Life. The Arabs are choosing death – as is their sad pattern – guided by their religion. But, they are causing our young men to die. How unfair is that? Our soldiers will defend our country & her people with their last measure of devotion, courage and skill. Can this be the last time we must fight irredentist Terrorists from Gaza? Or will the world insist we quit before we’ve stopped Hamas from killing us, & killing their own? Can we destroy their vicious underground tunnel city, with tunnels that reach into our own communities? They planned to invade from these tunnels on our Rosh Hashanah, our coming New Year, to murder, kidnap children, women & men. We found the IDF uniforms, the handcuffs, tranquilizers, holding cells for captured victims & their plans to do so. The timing of this Gaza War is part of a miracle by G-d - that we discovered their plans so soon before they implemented them & therefore, could stop them. We could show the world – if only they & their ‘leaders’ had eyes & heart to see.

Thirty days ago our three teenage boys who were kidnapped and killed in cold blood were laid to rest. Today is the Shloshim. For 18 days we all searched, prayed, said Tehillim, baked Challah and lit our Shabbos candles 15 minutes early – hoping that our mitzvahs would help pierce the Heavens for mercy and they would return alive. They were all three “our” boys. We will always love them and cry for them. Their three families were the bravest, most dignified, inspiring 6 adults I have ever seen. This wonderful country united as it too often has in times of tragedy and hope.

This unity holds us still, as we are all praying for all our brave young men to come home safe & sound. Yet, as of now, I think the cruel number is 56 dead. Unknown numbers wounded, some grievously. They face dedicated Terrorists who kill Jews because their religion taught them to. Our soldiers have amazing technology to find, search and destroy them. But, it is still the valiant human body that must go into battle against a sworn enemy. Pray fiercely for their strength & ours.

Have a peaceful, quiet, safe night, Love, Gail/Geula/Savta/Mom

Yoni Yalon and Nitzi Yakov: Some 1,000 people attended a memorial event Tuesday at the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem to mark 30 days since the burial of kidnapped and murdered teens Gil-ad Shaer, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach. President Reuven Rivlin, who also attended, condemned Hamas terrorism and said: "In these days, we must safeguard the value of life. Now that time has passed and the terror tunnels have been discovered, we can clearly see the deep ties between Hamas in Gaza and Hamas in Hebron. The strategy of evil is what ties together the workings of the murderers of Eyal, Gil-ad and Naftali and the perpetrators of the infiltration attacks planned by Hamas into Nir Am, Kissufim, Kfar Aza and Kerem Shalom. To kidnap indiscriminately, to murder indiscriminately to cause pain and horror. Despite the cynicism of Hamas' engineers of death, we must insist on life and on the value of life. We must remind ourselves that there is another way."

Rivlin commended the bereaved parents for their courage, saying, "Dear Bat-Galim and Ofir [Shaer], Avi and Rachel [Frenkel], Iris and Uri [Yifrach]. You insisted on life. Not only on that of your children, but also on the value of life that surrounds you. You reminded us and continue to remind us at all times that there is another way. You are role models in your love for the country and love for other people. You raised your children to be the same way. You raised Gil-ad, Naftali and Eyal this way. Thirty days after receiving the horrible news, we are sad, we cry and we are proud along with you. In the name of the entire nation of Israel, I thank you for being guiding lights of mutual responsibility and unconditional love, even as you dealt with crisis."

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said, "The legacy the boys left is that our strength is in our unity. This strength, the likes of which the world has never seen, is what powers the Israel Defense Forces in this campaign. This is the order given to us by the boys."

Ed- Op from Shaul Mofaz former Chief of Staff: Gaza Demilitarization is Vital: Operation Protective Edge marks the third round against Hamas in the last five years. In reality, we are in one long never-ending war of attrition, whose intensity is only growing. This war is eroding Israeli deterrence against its near and distant enemies, and it must end decisively.

The security situation demands an unequivocal victory. Israel must not repeat the mistake of the "Pillar of Defense understandings." Understandings of this kind should be rejected outright. They don't hold water and Hamas is doing everything in its power to undermine them. In every sense of the word.

To return security to Israelis and to residents of the south in particular, we must reach a situation where Gaza has been disarmed of missiles, rockets and attack tunnels. We must secure an end to this war of attrition, and we have the full legitimacy to do so. There isn't a country out there that wouldn't agree that if a terrorist organization was camped on its border, it would disrupt the everyday lives of its citizens, endangering their lives over the years. Demilitarization is a must. If it isn't done through a political arrangement, it must be executed through force. Three weeks ago, during a session of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, I presented the idea of demilitarization as a definitive answer for Israeli security needs. It was at the beginning of the operation, yet agreement was already widespread. Netanyahu was very attentive in subsequent meetings, and ever since he has firmly promulgated, without compromise, the Israeli demand that our country shall no longer live under threat.

The results weren't late in coming -- Western countries were recruited and have demanded that Hamas disarm. But this demand must involve a trade on Hamas' part, a package that is economic, humanitarian, and significant enough to have an impact on Gazan citizens, while ensuring Hamas has no access to it. In other words, money that would be transferred from partner countries for an arrangement that would be funneled into infrastructure, welfare, health care, housing and employment. Such a package has strategic potential. It is important that Palestinians in Gaza will have something to lose; it is important that they be convinced that if terrorism ceases, they will benefit, greatly.

Demilitarization through international diplomatic means is a tricky business, but the advantages significantly outweigh the risks. A process such as this affirms Israeli determination to quash terrorist groups and significantly bolsters future Israeli legitimacy. Demilitarization would both bring about stable security and lay the foundations for a long-term regional arrangement, after the war. In any future agreement with the Palestinians, the principle of demilitarization will be a cornerstone, from the security perspective.

If they'd told us a year ago that Syrian President Bashar Assad would agree to remove chemical weapons from Syria, we would have snickered skeptically in response. But it has been proved that the mechanism of combined military and international pressure -- the carrot and the stick -- works. It will work in Gaza, too. Obviously Hamas will object, but it is forbidden for Israel to concede its security demands. We must utilize the fact that we are not alone: The moderate Arab nations have a clear interest in Gaza's demilitarization, as does Egypt, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the U.S. and other Western nations. We are all wary of extremist Islam and we are all interested in weakening Hamas, to say the least.

We are in the midst of a very difficult battle, which has exacted a heavy and painful price from us. The IDF has forcefully struck against terror and the nation of Israel has united behind the army; tremendous pride wells up in our hearts. But now it's up to us to exhaust all military actions against Hamas. We must force its back to the wall, where it will have no choice. The opportunity to demilitarize through a diplomatic arrangement exists, the civil infrastructure is ready and Israel is united behind its position. In any case, if estimates of the situation predict that diplomatic efforts will fail, Israel could always make the bold decision to pay a higher price and demilitarize Gaza by force.

Today marks 30 days since the three teenage boys who were kidnapped and killed in cold blood were interred. Our national mourning continues to pour forth with the flow of bad tidings, with every flower that is plucked. We bite our lips in pain over the Israeli heroes who never made it off the battlefield, and we remember their legacy -- a strong nation of Israel, a victorious country.

MK Shaul Mofaz is the chairman of the Kadima party and a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Dror Eydar: The left too shall sober up

Last Thursday, an article by analyst Amnon Abramovich entitled "Between Camus and Nir Am" graced the ragged newsstands of Brooklyn, on the front page of the very newspaper that forcefully pushed the Gush Katif communities toward destruction, and which today mostly regales us with stories.

So, one of the tunnels that Hamas dug and reinforced with the humanitarian cement Israel handed over under the pressure of "human rights" groups (not Jewish rights) just about reached Kibbutz Nir Am, which Abramovich's parents helped establish. When it hits close to home, the sense of alarm is greater.

"Kibbutz Nir Am was founded on rocky soil, upon which no man had ever set foot, and not a single Arab was dispossessed of it."

Did you hear, dear terrorists, that this land wasn't stolen? Moreover, the land in question is rough terrain, in which you have no interest, but we made it bloom. This is not Judea and Samaria, and these are not settlers. Don't you get it?

They get it, all right. From the perspective of the Arabs in Gaza, Judea and Samaria or the rest of the crazies in the Middle East, there's no difference between Nir Am and Habima Square in Tel Aviv, Ariel and Talmon.

"The land of Palestine has been an Islamic Waqf throughout the generations and until the Day of Resurrection, no one can renounce it or part of it, or abandon it or part of it. We cannot forfeit it or any part of it, give up on it or on any part of it," reads the Hamas charter (Clause 12). Still, we must discuss "a political arrangement."

Well, here you go: "There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by jihad. The initiatives, proposals and international conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility" (Hamas charter, Clause 13).

"Moderate" Fatah meanwhile, upholds the Palestinian National Covenant (which has never been rescinded), and Clause 20 states: The Jews are not a nation, but rather a religion (unlike the Palestinian nation which has existed since the Big Bang). Religions cannot claim for themselves either land or country. Just this week, we saw how Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' grandson was educated by his father, who said the demand to return to Safed was valid and relevant.

Nevertheless, Abramovich should tell his friends why he has situated himself alongside the Israeli Right (sort of) during the current war. For that reason, he recruited author Albert Camus, who according to Abramovich wrote against French control of Algeria (yet again, the foolish comparison of our home, our lifeblood, with Algeria, which wasn't French at all), though the opposition hid bombs in the buses in which his mother traveled. "If that is justice, then I prefer my mother."

Come on. If Camus said it, then Abramovich can also be a nationalist, even just for a moment.

But here is Camus for advanced students, and he is speaking directly about the international and Israeli Left. In Camus' book, "The Plague," the city of Oran in Algeria is overrun by a plague. The city represents global civilization, which was under siege at the time during World War II by an enemy who took advantage of Western naiveté, just as Hamas and the rest of the Islamic fundamentalists cannot see anything beyond the total annihilation of those standing in their way and control over the entire region:

"When a war breaks out, people say: "It's too stupid; it can't last long." But though a war may well be "too stupid," that doesn't prevent its lasting. Stupidity has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves.

"In this respect our townsfolk were like everybody else, wrapped up in themselves. In other words they were humanists; they disbelieved in pestilences. A pestilence isn't a thing made to man's measure, therefore we tell ourselves that pestilence is a mere bogey of the mind, a bad dream that will pass away. But it doesn't always pass away and, from one bad dream to another, it is men who pass away, and the humanists first of all, because they haven't taken their precautions."

My friends on the levelheaded Left, what else must happen for you to change your conceptions?

Boaz Bismuth: We too are in a tunnel

We, too, are in a tunnel. Not a terror tunnel, God forbid, but a time tunnel. It has taken us back to the summer of 1967, when there was consensus throughout the home front, very similar to what we are seeing now. On the front lines our soldiers fought bravely to defend our home and return victorious. The will of the soldiers to win, just like then, has not changed.

Even if we would like to stay and reminisce a little more with the generation of 1967 and revere the more than 700 heroes who could not return home, we are forced to come back to the present and to the war taking place here and now. And we are proud of our soldiers, who have emerged just as heroic as their predecessors.

The enemy has since changed, as has the type of war we are fighting. The type of warfare we have seen in other parts of the world has reached our doorstep, with Gaza becoming a type of Vietnam. The one big difference, of course, which has bolstered our soldiers' motivation, is that missiles were not being launched at the United States from Vietnam. It is not surprising then that our army today feels it is fighting for its home. It is not surprising that our soldiers want to win.

The irony is that in 1967 against the armies of Syria, Egypt and Jordan, augmented by Iraqi, Libyan, Algerian and Moroccan units, it was possible to reach a decisive, overwhelming outcome. It is more difficult to do this today against 18,000 guerrilla fighters hiding behind civilians and children or deep underground in their tunnels.

Regardless, the challenge did not unnerve our forces, who feel "an impossible mission" does not exist here. They only asked one thing of us: Let us do the job!

The world, however, has changed in the meantime and has also become an obstacle. The most moral soldier in the world, the Israeli soldier, has been labeled a barbarian, while the barbarian has been portrayed by the foreign press as some sort of enlightened freedom fighter. The Israel Defense Forces deserves an enemy with a little more honor.

What do the warriors of today seek, if not for the same badge of respect as their predecessors? The fighter from 1967 expanded the country's borders. The fighter in 2014 is not seeking to expand any borders, but to ensure that the residents of Kibbutz Yad Mordechai and Kibbutz Nahal Oz can continue living in the south of the country. This is not a battle for our home; it is a battle for our country.

They tell us it will end any time now. What will the soldier of 2014 tell his grandchild? He will talk of victory, and maybe of some inequitable person in America who sought to dictate the rules of the game.

There were times in Israel, and they have been rekindled. We no longer need a tunnel to go back in time. There were also times in America. Let us wish for them and for us that they one day return.

July 31st = 4^th Menachem Av 5774 afternoon

Via the grapevine: The reason why Iron Dome did not knock down the missile heading for Yahud before the airlines boycotted us was because we were afraid to shoot down a plane in the air at that time.

From Stan a 27 year old woman living around Gaza and has about 5 seconds to get to a shelter: http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/every-single-person-needs-to-hear-this-girl-speak

From Barry Shaw: "Jews remember Khaybar! The army of Mohammad is returning!" "Allah loves those who die in Jihad!" "We are Hamas! We are Jihad!" "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!" "I'm going to kill you, and all you fucking Israelis!" No. Not in Gaza. This was the hate speech, anti-Semitic incitement, and violence going unchallenged on the streets of America. United West exposes CAIR and Hamas Jihad supporters in downtown Miami. http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2014/07/26/Miami-HAMAS-Attacks-Jewish-Reporter

From Rabbi A. L. Shumra Matzah is guarding the Matzah from the production of the wheat. It was in a wheat field around a Kibbutz that the Hamas infiltrators were caught. THE EQUATION GOES – GUARD THE MATZOS AND THEY WILL GUARD YOU!

Wednesday saw about 80 rockets and Thursday does not look far behind. They will terrorize us to the last rocket.

UN or Useless Nazis do not recognize Jewish Holidays only other religions: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4552606,00.html

From Barry Shaw: Part of the conversation between Obama and Bibi leaked to the Israeli media.Obama; "I trust in Qatar and Turkey and you’re not in any condition to decide..."
Additionally to this was the Kerry blundering. Before he got here Hamas was pinched between Israel, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority with the approval and the Arab League. Qatar and Turkey had tried to muscle in for Hamas but had been pushed aside. Then Kerry began to push the Hamas ceasefire terms backed by Q & T. This provoked anger from the strange new partnership I described.

Bibi finally talks tough: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183556

From Valerie: Part of this film appeared on Israeli TV shows arms cache and the dangers inside and outside civilian houses: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=804774446230183&set=vb.162605330447101&type=2&theater

Maashal is trying to get some many extremist groups involved that there will be no ceasefire. In the meantime, the Egyptians only want Israel, Abu Mazen and a two man Hamas delegation which has not yet arrived. Egypt wants them to sweat it out. In the meantime water is low and electricity is almost non-existent outside of the hospital and underground network.

Rocket stowage Mosques hit the Hamas supply is getting lower and lower they are using longer range rockets sparingly in the meantime around Gaza through Ashkelon or Beer Sheva they are being targeted: http://debka.com/article/24146/Israeli-Air-Force-takes-out-40-mosques-cum-rocket-stores-brings-new-drone-into-Gaza-operation

Only up to 40 Km from Gaza being compensated Tel Aviv and other places: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183563#.U9pLfpuKDIU

I mentioned this aid from Turkey earlier: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4552825,00.html

George W. Bush writing a book about George H. W. Bush http://www.aol.com/article/2014/07/30/george-w-bush-writes-book-about-father/20939599/?icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl20%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D509082

If you are talented you can get out of being homeless slowly but surely from riches to rags but perhaps on his way back: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/29/marc-roth-learning-shelter_n_5630805.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl35%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D508325

Why Jews should leave Europe while the going is good. You can sell your Euro’s now for when the Jews leave the economy falters it is as if all the blessings left the land. http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/Belgian-doctor-refuses-treatment-to-Jewish-patient-369591

What close encounter of the Hamas kind: http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/WATCH-IDF-infantry-forces-come-face-to-face-with-Hamas-terrorist-and-kill-him-369576

Robots scan tunnels: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/07/31/israel-deploys-robots-to-clear-hamas-tunnels/

Now for M. Wolfberg's Good Shabbos Story "On the road again"

Good Shabbos Everyone. In this week's parsha Masei, the Torah details the journeys of the Bnai Yisroel (Children of Yisroel) as they traveled through the desert. Why is it so important for the Torah to describe in such great detail the wanderings of the Jewish people? The commentary Maor Eynayim explains that there is a reason for every place that we must go in life. Namely, we must go to that certain place to elevate the sparks of holiness, which lay there, waiting to be elevated. We elevate the sparks of holiness in that place, by serving Hashem in that place. This is especially true in places with little or no Jewish communities. The following inspiring true story illustrates one Jew's journeys in this world.
         Reb Yitzchok Flohr was a man who was privileged to learn under the tutelage of Reb Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, referred to by many as the architect of Torah in America. Reb Yitzchok was a G-d fearing Jew, and his love for mitzvos was well known. He often went to great lengths to fulfill Hashem's commandments, even when it meant incurring an expense or inconveniencing himself to do so.
         As an importer of esrogim from Italy, Reb Yitzchok often had to travel to Europe to supervise the cutting of the esrogim. Reb Yitzchok usually made sure that he had his tefillin with him on the flight so he could use them while davening shacharis (praying the morning prayers) on the plane.
         On one return trip to the United States, Reb Yitzchok boarded the plane, made his way down the narrow aisle to his seat and started to arrange his belongings. As he looked through his carry-on bag, he suddenly realized that his tefillin were nowhere to be found. He must have forgotten to remove them from his luggage before boarding the flight. Reb Yitzchok was distressed at the thought of davening shacharis without tefillin. But since he would be arriving home in the afternoon, there would be ample time after claiming his luggage to put on his tefillin before nightfall. Feeling somewhat calmer, Reb Yitzchok sat back comfortably in his seat and began to relax.
         After a short time, Reb Yitzchok was startled by an announcement over the plane's loudspeaker. "Ladies and gentlemen, we will be making an emergency landing in Portugal due to engine trouble. Everything is under control, and there is no need for concern. Please remain seated and stay calm. We will be landing shortly." The plane erupted into a din of hushed hysteria. The crew circulated the cabin, trying to reassure the nervous passengers. Reb Yitzchok's mind immediately turned to his tefillin. Perhaps, he thought, he would be able to retrieve his luggage in Portugal and bring the tefillin on board the plane when the flight resumed.
         The plane landed in Portugal without further incident. The passengers exited the aircraft and were directed to another terminal, where they were told that there would be a delay of a few hours. Naturally, no one was pleased with this situation. For some, this meant missing an important meeting or appointment; others were simply frustrated that things weren't going smoothly.          And Reb Yitzchok? He, too, was concerned. For with this additional delay, he would not arrive in the United States in time to put on his tefillin. Yet how could he let an entire day pass without donning tefillin. Reb Yitzchok approached the nearest desk. "Excuse me," he said to the ticket clerk. "I left an important item in my checked luggage. Is there any way I can retrieve it while we're waiting?" "Just a minute, sir, I'll check that for you." The woman glanced at his ticket and pressed several keys on her keyboard, then looked up with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Mr. Flohr, but I'm afraid your luggage is on the cargo plane, headed to New York. The delay didn't affect your baggage, since it goes separately." "Thank you," Reb Yitzchok said somberly, and then walked back to his seat in the waiting area. He needed a pair of tefillin. Where does one get tefillin in Portugal-particularly when he doesn't know anyone in that country? No easy solution came to mind.
         Perhaps, Reb Yitzchok thought, he could find an earlier flight to the United States. Once in New York, he could easily call a friend and borrow a pair of tefillin. Reb Yitzchok began to walk from one terminal to the next, checking the departure times for every airline. It soon became clear that his own flight was the earliest one to the States. He already knew that it would be arriving too late. As he passed a departure screen, a new idea occurred to him. There was a flight leaving very soon to London. A friend of his lived there, and fortunately enough, he had the man's phone number on him.
         Reb Yitzchok quickly exchanged a few dollars for the local currency, then headed for the nearest public phone. "Hello?" came the English voice at the other end. "Hello, this is Yitzchok Flohr calling." "Reb Yitzchok! Shalom aleichem! What brings you to call me?" His friend was surprised, though pleased, to hear from him. Reb Yitzchok explained his problem and made his request. His friend was happy to help. Soon, the arrangements were made. The friend would come to the arrival gate in London with a pair of tefillin. Reb Yitzchok would don the tefillin and then be on his way for the next leg of his journey, back to America.
          With the necessary arrangements in place, Reb Yitzchok went to the ticket desk. "I was on the flight that made an emergency landing here," he explained. "I would like to get on the next flight to London, and then travel from there to New York."
         The agent tried not to show her puzzlement at the unusual request. "Okay, sir, I'll try to book that for you." She got busy with her keyboard. "Fine," she said finally. "There were still a few seats left on each flight. I'll just need to stamp your ticket with the change and you'll be all set. But are you sure you want to do this, sir? It's quite expensive." "How much is it?" Reb Yitzchok asked. "Eight hundred dollars." "I'll take it!" he said enthusiastically, handing her the ticket to be stamped. Reb Yitzchok walked to the gate joyfully.
         The flight was uneventful, and he met his friend in London right before nightfall. Reb Yitzchok put on the tefillin with intense happiness, thankful to Hashem for giving him the resources to fulfill such a holy mitzvah, despite the odds against him. (From Reb Yosef Weiss, Visions of Greatness p.197)
          Sometimes in life, we find ourselves in far-flung places; we should know that it is no coincidence. Rather, we must go there to elevate spiritually the holiness which lays there. Good Shabbos Everyone. M. Wolfberg is sponsored by: L'illui Nishmas Aryeh Leib ben Avrohom and Malka bas Tzvi Refuah Shleima to Reb Mordechai Mendel ben Tziporah Yitta Refuah Shleima to Leah bas Tziporah

This week’s Good Shabbos Story has not arrived yet so I brought down the old one.
A healthy and peaceful Shabbos to all and pray for the people of Yisrael.
Rachamim Pauli

Rabbi Rachamim Pauli Drasha

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Parsha Devarim, stories, news, good Shabbos Story

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