Parshiyos
Nitzavim-Vayelech
The
second Drasha of Moshe in his last 40 days started with Re’eh and ended with the
blessings and curses of Ki Savo. We are now on the morning of the 7th
of Adar 2488 and Moshe is handing the reigns over to Yehoshua Bin Nun only
Chazak V’ Amatz (be strong and fortified) which appears here and from HASHEM in
Sefer Yehoshua Chapter 1.
This
is Moshe’s last opportunity to see Am Yisrael and the reverse is true. The sun
(Moshe) is about to set and the moon (Yehoshua) is about to rise. The torch of
the generations is being passed on. The leadership is not made up of youngsters
both Kalev and Yehoshua are in their 80’s but still strong in their leadership
roles. Elazar is Cohain Gadol and this new leadership is going to conquer the
land of Eretz Yisrael. This is the
generation that will place giant stones in the Yarden which three of them will
still exist in the days of the Talmud.
29:9
Ye are standing this day all of you before the LORD your God: your heads, your
tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel, 10 your
little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in the midst of thy camp, from
the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water;
The
woodcutters and water drawers were very hard professions and consider the lowest
most boring and menial work. (Different from the days of Rivka in Beresheis
where she is elevated for it or Yacov removing the stone from the well or Moshe
meeting Tziporah by the well.)
Both
your woodcutters [and your water drawers]: [The mention of these people separate
to the main community of Israel] teaches us that in the days of Moses,
Canaanites came to convert [to Judaism], just as the Gibeonites came [to
convert] in the days of Joshua. This is the meaning of the verse regarding the
Gibeonites,“And they also acted cunningly…” (Josh. 9:4), [i. e., pretending that
they had come from a far away country. When they were discovered, Joshua made
them woodcutters and water drawers for Israel (see Josh. 9:3-27). Likewise here,
the Canaanites attempted to deceive Moses,. but they did not succeed, and Moses
did not accept them to be Jews. Rather,] Moses made them woodcutters and water
drawers [i.e., slaves for Israel]. — [Tanchuma 2; Yev. 79a; see Rashi Gittin
23b]
Approximately
2, 500,000 people are looking at Moshe Rabbaynu for the last time. Some will
remember this occasion so that decades later they will describe this gathering
as their forefathers described to them the thundering and lightning of Mt. Sinai
when the Torah was given and the splitting of the sea which they saw with their
own eyes. But alas our generation is so far removed from this. However, there is
home that the miracles of this generation some caught on film will remain for
the next ones to view after us and my oldest grandson has been passed this
tradition which he heard and saw in news photos.
11
that thou should enter into the covenant of the LORD thy God--and into His
oath--which the LORD thy God makes with thee this day;
That
you may enter: Heb. לְעָבְרְךָ.
[Meaning,] “That you may pass through [i.e., enter] the covenant.” One should
not understand this verb [to be in the causative conjugation,] to mean “to cause
you to pass through,” [but rather, the verb is in the simple conjugation, and
means that you yourselves will pass through]. This is similar to the expression,
לַעֲשׂתְכֶם, “that you
[yourselves] should do them” (Deut. 4:14). That you may enter into the covenant:
[lit.] “that you may pass through the covenant.” This was the method of those
who made covenants: They would set up a demarcation on one side and a
demarcation on the other, and [the respective parties of the covenant] “passed
through” between [these partitions], as the verse says, “[when] they cut the
calf in two and passed between its parts” (Jer. 34:18).
12
that He may establish thee this day unto Himself for a people, and that He may
be unto thee a God, as He spoke unto thee, and as He swore unto thy fathers, to
Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
HASHEM
has established his covenant with you and you will be HIS people in HIS land.
13
Not only with you am I making this covenant and this oath; 14 but with those
standing with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that is not
here with us this day—
This
is for all of Am Yisrael. You standing here today should know that the oath was
not only for the Avos and not only for you but for future unborn
generations.
15
for ye know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the midst
of the nations through which you passed; 16 and you have seen their detestable
things, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were with them--
17 lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose
heart turns away this day from the LORD our God, to go to serve the gods of
those nations; lest there should be among you a root that bears gall and
wormwood; 18 and it come to pass, when he hears the words of this curse, that he
bless himself in his heart, saying: 'I shall have peace, though I walk in the
stubbornness of my heart--that the watered be swept away with the dry';
This
happens to many a character who justifies themselves. Adulterers are famous for
making up excuses, lies and manipulating things. I am sure that those who murder
their co-religionists and innocents including children in the name of Allah also
justify their actions with their hearts of stone.
19
the LORD will not be willing to pardon him, but then the anger of the LORD and
His jealousy shall be kindled against that man, and all the curse that is
written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name
from under heaven; 20 and the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the
tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that is written in
this book of the law.
We
do believe that eventually the 10 lost tribes will be found but they have been
lost for a good reason and will have to reaffirm the bris as those claiming to
be from certain tribes today in Afghanistan and Pakistan are practicing Muslims
and nobody knows how their marriages and intermarriages and divorces work so
until Eliyahu comes they will remain where they are.
21
And the generation to come, your children that shall rise up after you, and the
foreigner that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues
of that land, and the sicknesses wherewith the LORD hath made it sick; 22 and
that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and a burning, that it is
not sown, nor bears, nor any grass grows therein, like the overthrow of Sodom
and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger, and in
His wrath; 23 even all the nations shall say 'Wherefore hath the LORD done thus
unto this land? What means the heat of this great anger?'
A
century and a half ago Yisrael was barren and only the return of the students of
the Vilna Gaon, some Sephardim, Moshe Solomon and Montefiore did the land slowly
start to re-blossom again. With my eyes I have seen the dunes of Ashdod turn
into a city with trees and parks, Modiin a bunch of rocks the same story and
more places spring into being.
24
then men shall say: 'Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD, the God of
their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them forth out of the
land of Egypt; 25 and went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods that
they knew not, and that He had not allotted unto them; 26 therefore the anger of
the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curse that is
written in this book; 27 and the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger,
and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it
is this day'.—
Those
who visited the area where I live 30 years ago could not imagine that a year ago
86,000 lived in Modiin and 60,000 in Modiin Illit with about 10,000 in the
little Yeshuvim throughout the area which was barren when I took my paramedic
course 38 years ago and we used the area for field
training.
28
The secret things belong unto the LORD our God; but the things that are revealed
belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this
law.
One
good thing is reading this passage before Rosh Hashanah and remembering WHOM it
is that is able to read and understand thoughts, hearts, kidneys and the rest of
the functions in the human being.
30:1
And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the
blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt bethink
thyself among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, 2 and
shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and hearken to His voice according to all
that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul; 3 that then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and
have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the peoples,
whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.
The
continuing bigotry in our people and groundless hatred between eastern European
Jews and Western European Jews and contempt for the Sephardim or Ashkenazim or
Yemenites. Although most of this has stopped in the last two generations it is
still out there and the reason of groundless hatred still exists. Only
groundless love will finally bring Moshiach but we are finally on our way as the
Kassams, Scuds, Katyushas, etc. have started binding us together. In a tank or
ground force your life depends on the next fellow no matter what black, white or
oriental Jew.
4
If any of thine that are dispersed be in the uttermost parts of heaven, from
thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee.
There
are Jews in Siberia, Alaska, Hawaii, Australia, New Zeeland, Chile, Peru,
Africa, China etc. We see different colors among us from the blonds of northern
Europe to the Lemba and Kaifeng Jews.
5
And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed,
and thou shalt possess it; and He will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy
fathers. 6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy
seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that
thou may live. 7 And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine
enemies, and on them that hate thee, that persecuted thee. 8 And thou shalt
return and hearken to the voice of the LORD, and do all His commandments which I
command thee this day. 9 And the LORD thy God will make thee over-abundant in
all the work of thy hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy
cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good; for the LORD will again rejoice
over thee for good, as He rejoiced over thy fathers; 10 if thou shalt hearken to
the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which
are written in this book of the law; if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul. 11 For this commandment which I command thee
this day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in
heaven, that thou should say: 'Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it
unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?'
Don’t
go around looking for a new and better Torah or a change in the Torah for HE who
created the atoms to the great super galaxies created the eternal Torah before
HE created mankind. The Torah will never be replaced and it is
firm.
13
Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou should say: 'Who shall go over the sea
for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?'
If
you send a submarine to the depths of the sea or a probe to mars and the planets
will you find a new or better Torah?
14
But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou
may do it.
Rather
the Torah is here in your heart and the words in your mouth like Shema Yisrael
to observe it. Therefore look into the Torah and understand
it.
15
See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil, 16 in
that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in His ways, and
to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances; then thou shalt
live and multiply, and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither
thou goest in to possess it. 17 But if thy heart turn away, and thou wilt not
hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; 18 I
declare unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish; ye shall not prolong
your days upon the land, whither thou passest over the Jordan to go in to
possess it. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness
against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing
and the curse; therefore choose life, that thou may live, thou and thy seed; 20
to love the LORD thy God, to hearken to His voice, and to cleave unto Him; for
that is thy life, and the length of thy days; that thou may dwell in the land
which the LORD swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to
give them.
The
Pshat here is quite clear. It is being said on the 7th of Adar 2488
which is Moshe’s last day on earth. The final call to the people that Torah is a
tree of life and the length of our days and we are to follow it. If not we will
end up dying from discarding the Mitzvos. Only through Torah and Mitzvos will
you be free men in your own land! Parsha Haazinu is that call and these
inanimate objects will be instruments in punishing violators of the
Torah.
Rashi
comments on Pasuk 19 but I have lumped also 20 together with it:
This
day, I call upon the heaven and the earth as witnesses: For the heaven and earth
exist for ever, and when the evil befalls you, they will be witnesses that I had
warned you regarding all of this. Another explanation of “I call upon the heaven
and the earth as witnesses, etc.”: The Holy One, Blessed is He, said to Israel,
“Look at the heavens which I created to serve you. Have they ever changed their
ways? Has the sphere of the sun ever failed to rise from the east to illuminate
the entire world, as it is stated, ‘The sun rises, and the sun sets’ (Ecc. 1:5)?
Look at the earth which I created to serve you. Has it ever changed its ways?
Have you ever sown [in] it that it did not grow? Or have you ever sown wheat and
it yielded barley? Now, they [heaven and earth] were created with neither reward
nor loss in mind-for if they are meritorious [by fulfilling their purpose for
which I created them], they nevertheless do not receive reward [for this]; and
if they sin, they are not punished. And yet [even with this lack of incentive],
they have never changed their ways! So you, who will receive reward if you are
meritorious and who will be punished if you sin-how much more so [should you
fulfill My will]!”- [Sifrei 32:1] You shall choose life: [God says: “Even though
you have free choice, nevertheless,] I instruct you to choose the portion of
life.” It is like a man who says to his son, “Choose for yourself a fine portion
of my estate,” and then directs him to the best portion, saying to him, “This
[is the portion which] you should choose for yourself!” And regarding this, the
verse says, “The Lord is my allotted portion and my cup; You guide my destiny”
(Ps. 16:5). [The last clause, אַתָּה תּוֹמִיךְ
גּוֹרָלִי, literally means “You laid upon my lot.”
That is to say:] “You laid my hand upon the good lot, saying, ‘Take this for
yourself!’”
31:1
And Moses went and spoke these words unto all Israel. 2 And he said unto them:
'I am a hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in;
and the LORD hath said unto me: Thou shalt not go over this Jordan.
My
time has come to be gathered unto my forefathers. My time is
up.
3
The LORD thy God, He will go over before thee; He will destroy these nations
from before thee, and thou shalt dispossess them; and Joshua, he shall go over
before thee, as the LORD hath spoken.
The
L-RD has appointed Yehoshua to be your leader and therefore follow his commands
as you have followed me.
4
And the LORD will do unto them as He did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the
Amorites, and unto their land; whom He destroyed.
These
mighty kings with well-trained armies and equipment in fortified cities have
been destroyed by you. The same will be for the people of
Canaan.
5
And the LORD will deliver them up before you, and ye shall do unto them
according unto all the commandment which I have commanded you. 6 Be strong
and of good courage, fear not, nor be affrighted at them; for the LORD thy
God, He it is that doth go with thee; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.'
The
theme of Sefer Yehoshua Chapter 1 is a reiteration of this Chazak V’ Amatz.
7
And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel:
'Be strong and of good courage; for thou shalt go with this people into
the land which the LORD hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou
shalt cause them to inherit it.
Chazak
V’ Amatz
8
And the LORD, He it is that doth go before thee; He will be with thee, He will
not fail thee, neither forsake thee; fear not, neither be dismayed.' 9 And Moses
wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, that bore
the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and unto all the elders of Israel. 10 And
Moses commanded them, saying: 'At the end of every seven years, in the set time
of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, 11 when all Israel is come
to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which He shall choose, thou shalt
read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people, the
men and the women and the little ones, and thy stranger that is within thy
gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God,
and observe to do all the words of this law;
Both
the born Bnei Yisrael and the Gerim in the midst shall hear this song. (You
might ask who was a Ger at the time according to the Medrash Serach bas Asher
was a Giyores and so was Basya the daughter of Pharaoh who raised Moshe. I
assume that there were many more too not listed in the Torah some of whom were
the wood-cutters and water carriers mentioned above just to be part of Am
Yisrael.)
13
and that their children, who have not known, may hear, and learn to fear the
LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over the Jordan to
possess it.' 14 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Behold, thy days approach that
thou must die; call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that
I may give him a charge.' And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in
the tent of meeting.
Moshe
hands over the reins of leadership to the most qualified person not dynastic
like the Kahuna but on merit.
15
And the LORD appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud; and the pillar of cloud
stood over the door of the Tent. 16 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Behold, thou
art about to sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go astray
after the foreign gods of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will
forsake Me, and break My covenant which I have made with them.
I
am retiring you for eternal rest until I will need a spark from your soul to be
Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and later the Ari HaKadosh. You have had rebellions and
have kept the people under control but with your passing the nation will grow
weaker until generations later they will go astray.
17
Then My anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake
them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many
evils and troubles shall come upon them; so that they will say in that day: Are
not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us? 18 And I will
surely hide My face in that day for all the evil which they shall have wrought,
in that they are turned unto other gods.
This
is one of the reasons we have to look deeper in place for the hidden miracles
today as both from the religious and especially from the completely
non-religious, HASHEM is hiding HIS face.
19
Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach thou it the children of
Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against
the children of Israel.
Haazinu
Song will be a covenant Song for the people of Yisrael to follow and
obey.
20
For when I shall have brought them into the land which I swore unto their
fathers, flowing with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten their fill, and
waxen fat; and turned unto other gods, and served them, and despised Me, and
broken My covenant; 21 then it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles
are come upon them, that this song shall testify before them as a witness; for
it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed; for I know their
imagination how they do even now, before I have brought them into the land which
I swore.'
If
you follow the covenant it will be good if not woe unto you and your
children.
22
So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel. 23
And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said: 'Be strong and of good
courage; for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I
swore unto them; and I will be with thee.'
Chazak
V’ Amatz
24
And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law
in a book, until they were finished, 25 that Moses commanded the Levites, that
bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying: 26 'Take this book of the law,
and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it
may be there for a witness against thee. 27 For I know thy rebellion, and thy
stiff neck; behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been
rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death? 28 Assemble unto
me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these
words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them.
Although
the little ones would sing it for the future, the elders were the members of the
Sanhedrin and they would be the judges to enforce the Torah after crossing the
Yarden.
29
For I know that after my death ye will in any wise deal corruptly, and turn
aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the
end of days; because ye will do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD, to
provoke Him through the work of your hands.'
This
is the evil of the destruction of both Beitei Mikdashim that were destroyed and
we were sent into exile. This is not the
end of days of the Noviim when we shall repent and return.
30
And Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this
song, until they were finished:
Parsha
Haazinu
The
last gift of Moshe to Yehoshua Bin Nun and Am Yisrael is this song to guide
them.
32:1
Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my
mouth.
A
few years ago I brought down a story written by my great-great grandfather bases
on Talmud Niddah called the “Pit and the Weasel”. If one calls to witness
inanimate objects or animals, they are used as instruments of HASHEM to enforce
the breaking of a contract. Therefore violation will be brought about by any
instrument such as lighting, wind or rains from heaven or earthquakes,
landslides, crevices or a combination of both.
2
My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew; as the
small rain upon the tender grass, and as the showers upon the herb. 3 For I will
proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe ye greatness unto our God. 4 The Rock,
His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice; a God of faithfulness and
without iniquity, just and right is He. 5 Is corruption His? No; His children's
is the blemish; a generation crooked and perverse.
Since
HASHEM is perfect and we are imperfect we must obey without
question.
6
Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? Is not He thy father
that hath gotten thee? Has He not made thee, and established thee? 7 Remember
the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask thy father, and he
will declare unto thee, thine elders, and they will tell thee. 8 When the Most
High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of
men, He set the borders of the peoples according to the number of the children
of Israel. 9 For the portion of the LORD is His people, Jacob the lot of His
inheritance.
If
one does not remember history such as the first exile then history will repeat
itself with the second exile. One must learn well their lessons and take heed
and most of all –REMEMBER WHO CREATED HEAVEN AND EARTH AND HAS MADE A COVENANT
WITH AM YISRAEL AND WHAT WE ARE REQUIRED TO DO.
10
He found him in a desert land, and in the waste, a howling wilderness; He
compassed him about, He cared for him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. 11
As an eagle that stirs up her nest, hovers over her young, spreads abroad her
wings, takes them, bears them on her pinions-- 12 The LORD alone did lead him,
and there was no strange god with Him. 13 He made him ride on the high places of
the earth, and he did eat the fruitage of the field; and He made him to suck
honey out of the crag, and oil out of the flinty rock; 14 Curd of kine, and milk
of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and he-goats, with
the kidney-fat of wheat; and of the blood of the grape thou drank foaming wine.
This
is if you follow the Mitzvos.
15
But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked--thou didst wax fat, thou didst grow thick,
thou didst become gross--and he forsook God who made him, and contemned the Rock
of his salvation. 16 They roused Him to jealousy with strange gods, with
abominations did they provoke Him.
However,
if you have a large inheritance from your fathers who became wealthy through the
blessing of HASHEM be wary lest you provoke your G-D.
17
They sacrificed unto demons, no-gods, gods that they knew not, new gods that
came up of late, which your fathers dreaded not. 18 Of the Rock that begot thee
thou were unmindful, and didst forget God that bore thee. 19 And the LORD saw,
and spurned, because of the provoking of His sons and His daughters. 20 And He
said: 'I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end shall be; for
they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faithfulness. 21 They
have roused Me to jealousy with a no-god; they have provoked Me with their
vanities; and I will rouse them to jealousy with a no-people; I will provoke
them with a vile nation. 22 For a fire is kindled in My nostril, and burns unto
the depths of the nether-world, and devours the earth with her produce, and set
ablaze the foundations of the mountains.
May
we return completely unto HASHEM that nuclear disaster mentioned here happen to
our enemies and blot them off the face of the earth. For what is described above
perhaps was not nuclear but torching the land by the Romans and the evils below
therefore we must realize what can happen
if we are over satiated and diverge from Torah, Mitzvos, Tephilla,
Tzeduka and review of our deeds leading to Teshuva.
23
I will heap evils upon them; I will spend Mine arrows upon them; 24 The wasting
of hunger, and the devouring of the fiery bolt, and bitter destruction; and the
teeth of beasts will I send upon them, with the venom of crawling things of the
dust. 25 Without shall the sword bereave, and in the chambers terror; slaying
both young man and virgin, the suckling with the man of gray hairs. 26 I thought
I would make an end of them, I would make their memory cease from among men; 27
Were it not that I dreaded the enemy's provocation, lest their adversaries
should misdeem, lest they should say: Our hand is exalted, and not the LORD hath
wrought all this.' 28 For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no
understanding in them. 29 If they were wise, they would understand this, they
would discern their latter end. 30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put
ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had given them over and the LORD had
delivered them up? 31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies
themselves being judges. 32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the
fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter;
33 Their wine is the venom of serpents, and the cruel poison of asps. 34 'Is not
this laid up in store with Me, sealed up in My treasuries? 35 Vengeance is Mine,
and recompense, against the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of
their calamity is at hand, and the things that are to come upon them shall make
haste.
It
will appear as complete vengeance from HASHEM but in truth it will be a fatherly
punishment. Do not think that a father who hits is son with a rod or strap hates
him but rather it is a chastisement. However, according to the sin – measure for
measure – shall the chastisement be and sometimes it is very harsh.
36
For the LORD will judge His people, and repent Himself for His servants; when He
sees that their stay is gone, and there is none remaining, shut up or left at
large. 37 And it is said: Where are their gods, the rock in whom they trusted;
38 Who did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their
drink-offering? let him rise up and help you, let him be your protection.
For
those who have great questions about the Shoah of which many of the human Rabbis
have no answer for read the above and see the answer
below:
39
See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with Me; I kill, and I make
alive; I have wounded, and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of My
hand.
Perhaps
this is the answer to the question that my friend Jack K. with the Auschwitz
Number on him asks “Why me? Why did I survive when I had righteous parents and
siblings and only I survived?”
40
For I lift up My hand to heaven, and say: As I live forever, 41 If I whet My
glittering sword, and My hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to
Mine adversaries, and will recompense them that hate Me.
This
is a good reason to love the L-RD your G-D with all your heart, all your soul
and all your might (money).
42
I will make Mine arrows drunk with blood, and My sword shall devour flesh; with
the blood of the slain and the captives, from the long-haired heads of the
enemy.' 43 Sing aloud, O ye nations, of His people; for He doth
avenge the blood of His servants, and doth render vengeance to His adversaries,
and doth make expiation for the land of His people.
But
in the end, the Nations of the World will be judged from the State Department of
friends and their head to the vicious enemies of
Yisrael.
44
And Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people,
he, and Hoshea the son of Nun. 45 And when Moses made an end of
speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 he said unto them: 'Set your heart
unto all the words wherewith I testify against you this day; that ye may charge
your children therewith to observe to do all the words of this law. 47 For it is no vain thing for you; because it is your life, and
through this thing ye shall prolong your days upon the land, whither ye go over
the Jordan to possess it.'
This
is where the Song Haazinu ends and Moshe climbs the mountain to see the Promised
Land. I assume that it was not only a physical view all the way down to the
coast and up into Lebanon and Syria and to the Sinai but like the Ari and Baal
Shem Tov a spiritual and deeper insight also into the future
time.
48
And the LORD spoke unto Moses that selfsame day, saying: 49 'Get
thee up into this mountain of Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of
Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give
unto the children of Israel for a possession; 50 and die in the
mount whither thou go up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother
died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people. 51 Because
ye trespassed against Me in the midst of the children of Israel at the waters of
Meribath-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified Me not in the
midst of the children of Israel. 52 For thou shalt see the land
afar off; but thou shalt not go thither into the land which I give the children
of Israel.'
Moshe
climbs the mountain and goes into a cave. The Medrash will state how he gets a
kiss from HASHEM. I assume that some earthquake triggers a landslide that hides
the entrance to the cave forever so that it will not become an object of
worship.
Rosh
Hashanah
One
thing that I like about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the aleph-bet acrostic
that we sing or say. The Yom Din Tephilla before Kedusha or in the repeat about
HASHEM ruled, rules and will rule and Melech Elyon Tephilla and Shir. Arousing
words and song to bring us higher and higher.
Of course we have the Ten Tokef Prayer which is the height of prayers
before the Kedusha – who will live and who will die, who by earthquake, who by
sword … The sword was brought home this year with the death of the reporters and
prisoners of war in Iraq and Syria by barbaric forces.
This
week I received a message that brought home the prayer of Rav Amnon HY”D
http://www.ou.org/holidays/rosh-hashanah/unetaneh_tokef/
translation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unetanneh_Tokef Translating
the middle section only: On
Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur will be sealed - how many will
pass from the earth and how many will be created; who will live and who will
die; who will die at his predestined time and who before his time; who by water
and who by fire, who by sword, who by beast, who by famine, who by thirst, who
by upheaval, who by plague, who by strangling, and who by stoning. Who will rest
and who will wander, who will live in harmony and who will be harried, who will
enjoy tranquility and who will suffer, who will be impoverished and who will be
enriched, who will be degraded and who will be exalted. But
Repentance, Prayer, and Charity avert the severe Decree!"
A
number of years ago, the parents of Rebbitzen Rothman who had worked so hard
volunteering for Yeshiva Mercas HaTorah passed away from Carbon monoxide one
cold Yerushalayim Night that was like strangulation and this month the parents
of my friend Kathy died when her father tripped setting off his gun which shot
him in the chest and her mother bending over to help him ended up being shot in
the neck and both dying instantly this is like the sword. We cannot understand
the working of HASHEM and why this form of death as an atonement vs. that form
of death or the couples that make the news when they pass away within hours in
their beds next to each other.
Sometimes
we do question why them and why now? Sometimes one has to see the bigger picture
that HASHEM sees of past, present and future of these souls. For the ways of
HASHEM are straight and brings joy to the heart. (Tehillim 19:8) It is up to us
to look into our inner small picture inside our souls, pour out our hearts and
return to HASHEM.
After
Midnight Guests:
Rabbi Hayim Pinto had a dream in which a great rabbi complained to him, "I sent
you my grandson happy, and you sent him back to me sad." Connection:
Seasonal--Saturday night, 26th Elul (2014: Oct. 21) is the 169th Yahrzeit of
Rabbi Chaim Pinto. By Rabbi Yerachmiel Tilles: http://ascentofsafed.com/cgi-bin/ascent.cgi?Name=877-55
Rabbi
Hayyim Pinto awoke every night to recite prayers and to make "requests of G-d."
Afterwards, he would study Torah until dawn. One day his daughter Mazal entered
into his room in the middle of the night and saw him studying with a man she did
not recognize. In the morning, he went to speak with her and asked her sadly,
"Why did you come into my room without knocking? You are not at the level to see
Eliyahu Hanavi (Elijah the Prophet). Now Heaven has decreed a punishment:
on the day of your marriage you will become blind."
A few years later, the grandson of the deceased Torah sage, Rabbi Khalifa Malka, came from Agadir to Mogador and went directly to Rabbi Hayyim Pinto's home. When he saw Mazal, she found favor in his eyes. Having already heard much about her excellent character and exemplary behavior, he asked Rabbi Hayyim to give his daughter to him in marriage, but the tzadik refused. He pleaded, he insisted, but the tzadik continued to refuse. The grandson of Rabbi Khalifa Malka returned to Agadir saddened and hurt because Rabbi Pinto had refused to let him marry his daughter.
Weeks later, Rabbi Hayyim Pinto had a dream in which he saw Rabbi Khalifa Malka, who told him, "I sent you my grandson happy, and you sent him back to me sad."
Rabbi Hayyim responded, "Your honor is aware that my daughter Mazal saw Eliyahu Hanavi when she shouldn't have and a decree was issued that on the day of her marriage she will become blind. This is why I refused to consider letting her marry your grandson." Rabbi Khalifa replied that his grandson would accept this decree and still want to marry her. All this dialog occurred during the dream.
The next day, Rabbi Pinto sent a special messenger to Agadir asking that the grandson of Rabbi Khalifa Malka should come to him again. When Rabbi Hayyim saw him, he explained what would happen to his daughter on the day of her wedding. The young man quickly responded that even so, he still desires to marry her and no one else.
The young couple married, and then, thanks to the merit and righteousness of both of them, the decree of blindness was annulled. They had children and lived to ripe old age, eventually passing away in the same week.
~~~~~~~~
When Rabbi Hayyim Pinto would arise every night to study Torah, his shamash (attendant), Rabbi Aaron Ben-Hayyim, would also arise and prepare him a cup of coffee. Once, Rabbi Aaron awoke a little late and therefore hurried to prepare a cup of coffee for the Rabbi, when suddenly he heard two voices coming from the inner room. He then went and prepared an additional cup for the unexpected guest.
In the morning, Rabbi Pinto asked his attendant, "Why did you prepare two cups of coffee during the night?"
"I heard two voices and I thought to prepare a second cup for the guest."
Rabbi Hayyim told him, "Happy are you, my son, you who had the merit to hear the voice of Eliyahu Hanavi. However, I decree that you repeat this secret to no one while I am alive."
It was not until after the death of the tzadik that the shamash recounted this incident to the inhabitants of the city.
~~~~~~~~
Rabbi Maklouf Ben Lisha once needed to discuss with Rabbi Hayyim Pinto matters of importance for the community of Mogador. Due to the seriousness of the matter, he went directly to the Rabbi's room in the middle of the night. Entering, he was astonished by the "illuminated" face of Rabbi Pinto and the presence of someone else who resembled an angel. He wanted to approach closer, but was seized with such great fright that he fled to his home.
The next day the tzadik told him, "Fortunate are you, my son, who had the merit of seeing the face of Eliyahu Hanavi."
Rabbi Maklouf lived a long time, to the age of 110, and he described this incident in his prayer book.
~~~~~~~~
On the day of Rabbi Hayyim Pinto's passing (see "Biographical note" below), he promised his disciples that those who would invoke his name on the day of his Hilula would see their prayers answered.
~~~~~~~~
Source: Adapted by Yerachmiel Tilles from the rendition on //www.hevratpinto.org, based on the book, The Light of the Righteous.
Biographical note:
Rabbi Hayyim Pinto Hagadol ("the Great") [Tammuz 15, 5509 - Elul 26, 5605 (July 1, 1749 - September 28, 1845)], a descendant of Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto--the "Rif" of Ein Yaakov--was born in Agadir, Morocco on the 6th Hilula of Rabbi Hayyim Ben Attar. At age 20, he became the head rabbinical judge in Mogador, exercising this function for more than 70 years. The greatest Torah scholars of the generation esteemed him, and Jews and Muslims alike venerated him. It is said that Eliyahu Hanavi revealed himself regularly to him and studied with him. On the day of his passing, at age 96, he promised his disciples that those who would invoke his name on the day of his Hilula would see their prayers answered.
Connection: The 171st yahrzeit of Rabbi Hayyim Pinto Hagadol (2014: Sat. night, Sept. 21).
A few years later, the grandson of the deceased Torah sage, Rabbi Khalifa Malka, came from Agadir to Mogador and went directly to Rabbi Hayyim Pinto's home. When he saw Mazal, she found favor in his eyes. Having already heard much about her excellent character and exemplary behavior, he asked Rabbi Hayyim to give his daughter to him in marriage, but the tzadik refused. He pleaded, he insisted, but the tzadik continued to refuse. The grandson of Rabbi Khalifa Malka returned to Agadir saddened and hurt because Rabbi Pinto had refused to let him marry his daughter.
Weeks later, Rabbi Hayyim Pinto had a dream in which he saw Rabbi Khalifa Malka, who told him, "I sent you my grandson happy, and you sent him back to me sad."
Rabbi Hayyim responded, "Your honor is aware that my daughter Mazal saw Eliyahu Hanavi when she shouldn't have and a decree was issued that on the day of her marriage she will become blind. This is why I refused to consider letting her marry your grandson." Rabbi Khalifa replied that his grandson would accept this decree and still want to marry her. All this dialog occurred during the dream.
The next day, Rabbi Pinto sent a special messenger to Agadir asking that the grandson of Rabbi Khalifa Malka should come to him again. When Rabbi Hayyim saw him, he explained what would happen to his daughter on the day of her wedding. The young man quickly responded that even so, he still desires to marry her and no one else.
The young couple married, and then, thanks to the merit and righteousness of both of them, the decree of blindness was annulled. They had children and lived to ripe old age, eventually passing away in the same week.
~~~~~~~~
When Rabbi Hayyim Pinto would arise every night to study Torah, his shamash (attendant), Rabbi Aaron Ben-Hayyim, would also arise and prepare him a cup of coffee. Once, Rabbi Aaron awoke a little late and therefore hurried to prepare a cup of coffee for the Rabbi, when suddenly he heard two voices coming from the inner room. He then went and prepared an additional cup for the unexpected guest.
In the morning, Rabbi Pinto asked his attendant, "Why did you prepare two cups of coffee during the night?"
"I heard two voices and I thought to prepare a second cup for the guest."
Rabbi Hayyim told him, "Happy are you, my son, you who had the merit to hear the voice of Eliyahu Hanavi. However, I decree that you repeat this secret to no one while I am alive."
It was not until after the death of the tzadik that the shamash recounted this incident to the inhabitants of the city.
~~~~~~~~
Rabbi Maklouf Ben Lisha once needed to discuss with Rabbi Hayyim Pinto matters of importance for the community of Mogador. Due to the seriousness of the matter, he went directly to the Rabbi's room in the middle of the night. Entering, he was astonished by the "illuminated" face of Rabbi Pinto and the presence of someone else who resembled an angel. He wanted to approach closer, but was seized with such great fright that he fled to his home.
The next day the tzadik told him, "Fortunate are you, my son, who had the merit of seeing the face of Eliyahu Hanavi."
Rabbi Maklouf lived a long time, to the age of 110, and he described this incident in his prayer book.
~~~~~~~~
On the day of Rabbi Hayyim Pinto's passing (see "Biographical note" below), he promised his disciples that those who would invoke his name on the day of his Hilula would see their prayers answered.
~~~~~~~~
Source: Adapted by Yerachmiel Tilles from the rendition on //www.hevratpinto.org, based on the book, The Light of the Righteous.
Biographical note:
Rabbi Hayyim Pinto Hagadol ("the Great") [Tammuz 15, 5509 - Elul 26, 5605 (July 1, 1749 - September 28, 1845)], a descendant of Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto--the "Rif" of Ein Yaakov--was born in Agadir, Morocco on the 6th Hilula of Rabbi Hayyim Ben Attar. At age 20, he became the head rabbinical judge in Mogador, exercising this function for more than 70 years. The greatest Torah scholars of the generation esteemed him, and Jews and Muslims alike venerated him. It is said that Eliyahu Hanavi revealed himself regularly to him and studied with him. On the day of his passing, at age 96, he promised his disciples that those who would invoke his name on the day of his Hilula would see their prayers answered.
Connection: The 171st yahrzeit of Rabbi Hayyim Pinto Hagadol (2014: Sat. night, Sept. 21).
The young soldier very much regretted that he would not be able to go to the grave of his grandfather, Moshe Mendelevich, an Aliya activist in Riga, Latvia – which was under Soviet control in the 1970s – on his yahrzeit, 16 Tamuz, the eve of the Three Weeks leading up to Tisha Be’av. Also on that day, Mendelevich’s father, Yosef, wished to be in contact with his son, to give him tefillin with a special story.
BY 1980, Yosef had already been imprisoned in Leningrad for 10 years, for attempting to hijack a Soviet plane & flee to Israel. At the same time, a special envoy of Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson arrived in the Soviet Union to show solidarity with the Prisoners of Zion. The envoy was impressed with the extreme devotion of the younger generation, & told Rabbi Yitzhak Kogan, a Chabad underground activist, that he would report back to the Rebbe what he had witnessed & ask him to specially bless Kogan. But Kogan surprised the envoy, & instead insisted the Rebbe bless Yosef Mendelevich.
“He has been on a hunger strike for 55 days, demanding they give him back the Chumash & Siddur they confiscated from him,” said Kogan. “His physical condition is very bad. The Rebbe must pray for his immediate release from the prison.”
The Rebbe’s prayer was in fact answered, & within a few months Yosef was flown straight from the prison to Israel. On a stopover in Vienna, the redeemed prisoner was brought to the Israeli Embassy in Austria. “What is your first request?” the ambassador asked him. “I need a set of tefillin to put on before sunset.”
The ambassador looked at his embassy staff members – which of them would still have tefillin? Suddenly, there stepped forward Rabbi Israel Singer, then director of the World Jewish Congress.
“IT WAS very interesting,” recalls Singer. “After hearing about the release of Mendelevich, I was supposed to fly out to welcome him. Before that, I contacted the Rebbe & asked him, ‘What I should take for the freed Yosef?’ “‘Take him tefillin,’ the Rebbe answered. “‘And here are the tefillin I have brought you on the orders of the Rebbe,’” Singer told Yosef that day in Vienna. & so, for the first time in his life, Yosef put on tefillin.
AFTER HE arrived in Israel, the tefillin disappeared. Yosef was heartbroken. But on the day his son was being sent to the Gaza Strip, the tefillin were suddenly found with a nephew, Ronen Lisitzin. The moment Yosef got the tefillin back, he began to think about how to get them to Mendelevich, to grant him special protection. It turned out it was not possible to send tefillin to the battle area, but as is known, God turns good intentions into deeds – & Yosef hoped that thanks to all that, the tefillin would begin to perform their mission.
Contact with Mendelevich was very difficult. With entry into the battle zone, cellphones were taken from the combatants. In brief sallies to the rear for equipping the tank with ammunition & for repairs, Mendelevich would contact his parents on the unit commander’s phone. Every such conversation was a gift from Heaven, & caused great excitement in the family. His mother asked her son to observe all safety regulations, & his father asked him to read from the Book of Psalms (Tehillim) every day.
In the neighborhood where Battalion No. 7 was located, fierce battles were taking place. The terrorists were using anti- tank missiles as well as snipers, attacking from the tunnels.
On Rosh Hodesh Av, there was a powerful flash of light in the tank, followed by the sound of a huge explosion. The tank filled with smoke. Over the intercom it was announced, “Tank No. 3 has been destroyed.” Mendelevich said later that he was deafened by the explosion. He didn’t know whether he had been wounded & what had happened to his companions. A minute later he heard the commander shouting: “Are you all alive?” They were all alive. At that moment, they received the order to return fire, scoring a direct hit on the terrorist who had fired the missile. WHAT HAPPENED next was nothing short of a miracle, in Mendelevich’s telling.
“There was a cease-fire, & we retreated to a safe position to rest. The commander gave us permission to leave the tank. We had spent 48 hours inside the tank; it was very hot & we were exhausted.
“But I decided to remain in the tank. I had promised my father I would read Psalms every day. & I had to read the psalm for Monday, Psalm 30: ‘1. A Psalm; a song at the dedication of the house of David. 2. I will extol Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast raised me up, & hast not suffered mine enemies to rejoice over me.’ “And because I didn’t go out, my fellow crew members also remained with me inside the tank. “Even though we were hidden inside an olive grove, the Hamas lookouts spotted us. They shot at us, apparently with a Sagger guided anti-tank missile.”
In reality, there was no chance of escaping from this missile. But the Hamas operative & the missile struck exactly the rear of the tank. So, at first, they thought that we had been hit.” When the crew emerged from the tank, Mendelevich looked at the place in the tank turret where he was supposed to have stood during the rest period. All the equipment was burnt; the missile had passed within one meter. Returning from war, at a welcome-home meal in his parents’ Jerusalem home, Mendelevich told of the miracle he had experienced thanks to the Guardian of Israel, & to the Psalms of King David. His father, Yosef, then stood up & told everyone about the tefillin which the Rebbe had sent him 33 years before, which had turned up just when it was needed – during Operation Protective Edge. ■
Translated by David Herman. FREEMAN CENTER BROADCAST For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace & for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest.” Isaiah 62. FREEMAN CENTER FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES P.O. Box 35661 * Houston, Texas 77235-5661OUR WEB SITE < www.freeman.org >
What
could happen next year the Shmita year Sanhedrin 97A:
Our Rabbis taught: in the seven year cycle at the end of which the son of
David will come-in the first year, this verse will be fulfilled: And I will
cause it to rain upon one city and cause it not to rain upon another
city;2 in
the second, the arrows of hunger will be sent forth;3 in
the third, a great famine, in the course of which men, women, and children,
pious men and saints4 will
die, and the Torah will be forgotten by its students; in the fourth, partial
plenty;5 in
the fifth, great plenty, when men will eat, drink and rejoice, and the Torah
will return to its disciples; in the sixth, [Heavenly] sounds;6 in
the seventh, wars; and at the conclusion of the septennate the son of David will
come. R. Joseph demurred: But so many septennates have passed, yet has he not
come! — Abaye retorted: Were there then [Heavenly] sounds in the sixth and wars
in the seventh! Moreover, have they [sc. the troubles] been in this
order7 !
Taken
from the Soncino Talmud http://www.come-and-hear.com/sanhedrin/sanhedrin_97.html
K.J.
who is interesting in Converting wrote: I have never heard a Christian Sermon on
Yechezkel 18:21 But if the wicked turn from all his sins that he hath committed,
and keep all My statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely
live, he shall not die. 22 None of his transgressions that he hath committed
shall be remembered against him; for his righteousness that he hath done he
shall live. 23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? says the
Lord GOD; and not rather that he should return from his ways, and
live?
I
replied: Do you know why you never heard it because
they hold somebody died for your sins no ownership like Obama. Unfortunate Satan
is a banker and if you don't repent he keeps your sins in his vault. This means
that Yechezkel is saying “Face up ownership and
repent!”
This
is neither what happened to Yehoshua bin Nun nor Chicken Little but a nice rare
view:
http://www.aol.com/article/2014/09/16/rare-meteor-sighting-on-the-east-coast/20963145/?icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl29%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D530027
Surprise-surprise
a suspect corrupt politician: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185242#.VBqFapscTIU
Esav
and Yacov were twins to I think that when Esav saw him he was so shocked after
34 years that he saw a very old man that he realized that he might die on the
same day as Yacov for twins are in the same Mazel: http://mom.me/in-the-loop/14791-sisters-give-birth-hours-apart/?icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl23%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D530176
MK
Chaim Katz deserves congratulations as his son rises to the rank of Lt. Col. In
the 8200 Unit.
Tony
Bennett and Lady Gaga visited Israel this week: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/Lady-Gaga-and-Tony-Bennett-team-up-at-Tel-Aviv-concert-375261
Inyanay
Diyoma
A.
Perez posted this and I copied: DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ISIS AND ISIL, VERY IMPORTANT
YOU KNOW:
Why does Obama insist on calling ISIS the alternate term of ISIL? Well, it's for sinister reasons. The "S" in ISIS stands for Syria; the "L" in ISIL stands for Levant. Levant is the land bridge from Turkey to Egypt, and INCLUDES ISRAEL. By using the term ISIL, the Imam in the W.H. is signaling the world of Islam that he recognizes their claim to the land occupied by Israel. The Son-of-Islam is cunning, evil, and is aiding and abetting the Islamic quest to Islamize the entire world
Why does Obama insist on calling ISIS the alternate term of ISIL? Well, it's for sinister reasons. The "S" in ISIS stands for Syria; the "L" in ISIL stands for Levant. Levant is the land bridge from Turkey to Egypt, and INCLUDES ISRAEL. By using the term ISIL, the Imam in the W.H. is signaling the world of Islam that he recognizes their claim to the land occupied by Israel. The Son-of-Islam is cunning, evil, and is aiding and abetting the Islamic quest to Islamize the entire world
Friday
had me planting with its earth some flowers that I bought before the Shmita
(Sabbatical) Year. I had to take things early in the sun and do only a little. I
am beginning to get that feeling that I am no longer 41 years old that I was
when we moved into our house here.
On
Shabbos my friends and I were having a non-betting pool if Hamas is going to
re-start the war on the 29th of Elul, 1st or
2nd day of Rosh Hashanah as they usually break the ceasefires early.
The weekly B-Sheva Newspaper was writing about the war - breaking out again
soon.
Turkey
is the monkey wrench in the gears against ISIS: http://debka.com/article/24262/Grave-setbacks-for-Obama’s-strategy-Turkey-backs-out-of-US-led-war-on-IS-Germany-UK-say-no-to-air-campaign
Wrong
turn in Yerushalayim becomes a death defying act. One has to be careful it once
happened to me bad signs. This week I twice passed by Isawiya going back and
forth to the Dead Sea. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185037#.VBKySpscTIU
IDF
needs an update badly after the budget cuts and the Gaza War which the
government recognizes only as a campaign to save compensation money to
businesses. Ed-Op: Last year, I published an article about
the defense budget with a title pointing to its content: A clear, concrete
danger. I explained that the IDF was bigger (both in manpower and in weapons –
planes, tanks, cannons, etc.) than the British or French or German armies, while
the Israeli defense budget was four to five times lower than the defense budget
of each of these countries. So where is the army's "fat"
hiding?
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4569978,00.html
Israel
has the soldiers probed in order to stop UN Probe: http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Rule-of-Law-Ready-for-a-fight-375144
Into
the Fray Part 2 continued from last week: http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Into-The-Fray-The-war-in-Gaza-Canards-continued-375141
This
is what happens when you take leftist Israelis into intelligence. The Shin Bet
wants them against the right but it back-fires big time on them: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4570256,00.html it
happens that out of the 43 only 10 were in intelligence the rest were only
helpers in the unit.
Cyber-Dome
to protect the internet, water and electric works. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4570114,00.html
Netanyahu and Steinmetz do not sleep well at night over this: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4570209,00.html
YOUR
ISRAELI LEFTIST ATTORNEY GENERAL: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185038#.VBL7KJscTIU
Haden
warns of the bad guys doing damage: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4570076,00.html
Bennett
accused of moving to the left to be Prime Minister as he will get between 19 to
20 seats: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185034#.VBL7vJscTIU
Muslim
Student Association vs. David Horowitz thanks to Shirley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fSvyv0urTE
Even
the center-left finds the extreme leftist in the intelligence Corp Reserve
refusal as repulsive: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185060
Will
there be elections or will the Charedim join the government? http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4570519,00.html
Senator
Ted
Cruz walked off the stage last night Thurs 9/11 after hecklers
booed his words in support of Jews and Israel at a Washington dinner sponsored
by In Defense of Christians, a group that seeks to raise awareness of the
persecution of Christians and religious minorities in the Middle East.
Sen.
Cruz said:
"When
I spoke in strong support of Israel and the Jewish people, who are being
persecuted and murdered by the same vicious terrorists who are also slaughtering
Christians, many Christians in the audience applauded. But, sadly, a vocal and
angry minority of attendees at the conference tried to shout down my expression
of solidarity with Israel.
"They
cannot shout down the truth. And we should not shy away from expressing the
truth, even in the face of - especially in the face of - ignorance and bigotry.
I told the attendees that those who hate Israel also hate America, that those
who hate Jews also hate Christians.”
General
Allen to head anti-ISIS fighters: http://debka.com/article/24271/US-Gen-John-Allen-named-to-lead-coalition-war-on-ISIS-but-allies-deterred-by-Obama’s-ambiguities-
Britain
to send the Kurds more anti-tank weapons and arms after this
beheading:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185065#.VBUInJscTIU
Ed-Op
Minister Eldan World forgetting Holocaust:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4570062,00.html
I
get Gail Winston’s updates daily if I put down only half, I would have to start
a news blogspot. However, I do bring down some articles in full.
Dear
Family & Friends,
Thus
it is still 9/11 in the USA, my old home country. I was just interviewed on
Franklin Raff’s radio show at 1590, WCGO – Chicago. That it was 9/11 resonates
here in Jerusalem. Many more Websites & informationals for you to enjoy over
the coming Shabbat & Sunday.
Mainly,
get a grip on how Israel is leading the fight against a determined enemy. We’ve
won against Hamas – for now. Everything is back to the new normal here. Quiet,
no “Az’akas”, (sirens) but the knives are out to get us in the UN & the
world MSM: MainStreamMedia.
Have
a quiet night. All the very best, Gail/Geula/Savta/Mom I
wanted to add that the ambulances no longer sound like ice-cream trucks and are
back to normal however, two idiots with motor cycles going by appear to me to be
the preliminary revving up of the siren. A mature person on a motor-cycle does
not make noises like this as often a real motor-cycling tour group comes by on
Shabbos and they may be ‘rolling thunder’ but not that
sound.
Reality
check: Why Egypt offered to solve the 'Palestinian Problem'
By
Caroline B. Glick Published Sept. 10, 2014
something extraordinary has happened.
On
August 31, PLO chief & Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told an
audience of Fatah members that Egypt had offered to give the PA some 1,600
kilometers of land in Sinai adjacent to Gaza, thus quintupling the size of the
Gaza Strip. Egypt even offered to allow all the so-called "Palestinian refugees"
to settle in the expanded Gaza Strip.
Then
Abbas told his Fatah followers that he rejected the Egyptian
offer.
On
Monday Army Radio substantiated Abbas's claim.
According
to Army Radio, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi proposed that the
Palestinians establish their state in the expanded Gaza Strip & accept
limited autonomy over parts of Judea & Samaria.
In
exchange for this state, the Palestinians would give up their demand that Israel
shrink into the indefensible 1949 armistice lines, surrendering Jerusalem, Judea
& Samaria. Sisi argued that the land Egypt is offering in Sinai would more
than compensate for the territory that Abbas would
concede.
In
his speech to Fatah members, Abbas said, "They [the Egyptians] are prepared
to receive all the refugees, [and are saying] 'Let's end the refugee story.'"
"But," he insisted, "It's illogical for the problem to be solved at
Egypt's expense. We won't have it."
In
other words, Sisi offered Abbas a way to end the Palestinians' suffering &
grant them political independence. & Abbas said, "No, forget statehood.
Let them suffer."
Generations
of Israeli leaders & strategists have insisted that Israel does not have the
ability to satisfy the Palestinian demands by itself without signing its own
death warrant. To satisfy the Palestinian demand for statehood, Israel's
neighbors in Egypt & Jordan would have to get
involved.
Until
Sisi made his proposal, no Arab leader ever seriously considered actually doing
what must be done. Indeed, the rejection of this self-evident Israeli claim has
been so overwhelming that in recent years, every Israeli suggestion to this
effect was met with raised eyebrows & dismissal by Israelis & foreigners
alike.
So
what is driving Sisi? How do we account for this dramatic shift? In offering the
Palestinians a large swathe of the Sinai, Sisi is not acting out of altruism. He
is acting out of necessity. From his perspective, & from the perspective of
his non-jihadist Sunni allies in Saudi Arabia & the United Arab Emirates,
the Palestinian campaign against Israel is dangerous.
Facing
the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran, & the rise of jihadist forces from
al-Qaida to the Islamic State to the Muslim Brotherhood, the non-jihadist Sunnis
no longer believe that the prolongation of the Palestinian jihad against Israel
is in their interest.
Egypt
& Jordan have already experienced the spillover of the Palestinian jihad.
Hamas has carried out attacks in Egypt. The Palestinian jihad nearly destroyed
Lebanon & Jordan. Egypt & Saudi Arabia now view Israel as a vital ally
in their war against the Sunni jihadists & their struggle against Iran &
its hegemonic ambitions. They recognize that Israeli action against Sunni &
Shi'ite jihadists in Hamas, Hezbollah & Iran serves the interests of
non-Jihadi Sunnis. And, especially after the recent conflict in Gaza, they
realize that the incessant Palestinian campaign against Israel ultimately
strengthens the jihadist enemies of Egypt & Saudi Arabia like
Hamas.
Apparently,
Sisi's offer to Abbas is an attempt to help the Palestinian people & take
the Palestinian issue out of the hands of Palestinian
jihadists.
Unfortunately
for Sisi & his fellow non-jihadist Sunnis, Abbas is having none of this. In
rejecting Sisi's offer Abbas stood true to his own record, to the legacies of
every Palestinian leader since Nazi agent Haj Amin el-Husseini, & to the
declared strategic goal of his own Fatah party & his coalition partners in
Hamas. Since Husseini invented the Palestinians in the late 1920s, their
leaders' primary goals have never been the establishment of a Palestinian state
or improving the lives of Palestinians. Their singular goal has always been the
destruction of the Jewish state, (or state-in-the-making before
1948).
Sisi
offered to end Palestinian suffering & provide the Palestinians with the
land they require to establish a demilitarized state. Abbas rejected it because
he is only interested hurting Israel. If Israel is not weakened by their good
fortune, then the Palestinians should continue to
suffer.
For
Israel, Sisi's proposal is a windfall.
First
of all, it indicates that the Egyptian-Saudi- UAE decision to back Israel
against Hamas in Operation Protective Edge was not a fluke. It was part of an
epic shift in their strategic assessments. And if their regimes survive, their
assessments are unlikely to change so long as Iran & the Sunni jihadists
continue to threaten them. This means that for the first time since Israel
allied with Britain & France against Egypt in 1956, Israel can make
strategic plans as part of a coalition.
Second,
Sisi's plan is good for Israel on its merits. The only way to stabilize the
situation in Gaza & comprehensively defeat Hamas & the rest of the
terrorist armies there is by expanding Gaza. If, as Sisi offered, the
Palestinians of Judea & Samaria accept limited autonomy, Israel will no
longer be demographically challenged. As a consequence Israel could apply its
laws to Area C, ensuring its long-term security requirements & safeguarding
the civil rights of all of its citizens. Sisi's plan is a boon for Israel as
well because it calls Abbas's bluff.
Abbas
is genuflected to by the US & the EU who insist that he is a moderate. The
Israeli Left insists that he is the only thing that stands between Israel &
destruction. Yet here we see him openly acknowledging that from a strategic
perspective, he is no different from the last of the jihadists. He prefers to
see his people wallow in misery & poverty, without a state to call their
own, than to see Israel benefit in any way. Abbas's rejection of Sisi's offer
demonstrates yet again that he & his Fatah comrades are the problem, not the
solution. Continued faith in the PLO as a partner in peace & moderation is
foolish & dangerous. He would rather see Hamas & Iran flourish than
share a peaceful future with Israel.
The
only reason that Abbas is able to continuously reject all offers of statehood
& an end to Palestinian suffering, while expanding his diplomatic war
against Israel & supporting his coalition partner's terror war, is because
the US & Europe continue to blindly support him. The final way that Sisi's
offer helps Israel is by showing the futility of the West's strategy of
supporting Abbas.
According
to Army Radio's report, both Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu & the Obama
administration have been briefed on the Egyptian plan. The Americans reportedly
support it. Netanyahu's position on the Egyptian proposal was not reported. But
his recent statements indicate that he views the Egyptian proposal as a sea
change that may facilitate a diplomatic breakthrough. During his press
conference following the conclusion of the cease-fire in Gaza a week & a
half ago, Netanyahu was asked about the prospect of renewing the peace process
with Abbas. Netanyahu responded vaguely that prospects of the peace process are
better now, in light of regional shifts. With the Egyptian proposal now out in
the open, & assuming that this is what Netanyahu was referring to, his
remarks were accurate.
Sisi's
offer, even with Abbas's rejection of it is a gift to Israel. & Israel's
challenge in the weeks & months ahead is to make the most of it. If the
Americans force Abbas to accept Sisi's offer, Israel & the Palestinian
people will benefit. & if Abbas successfully scuttles it, Sisi's offer
will show that Israel is correct that it cannot satisfy Palestinian demands on
its own, & indeed, it demonstrates how unreasonable those demands are.
Sisi's offer demonstrates that for non-jihadist Sunnis, not only is Israel not
the problem in the Middle East, a strong Israel is a prerequisite for solving
the region's troubles. Here is a major Arab leader willing to stand with Israel
even if it means discrediting the PLO .
As
a consequence, Sisi's offer is a challenge to the US & Europe. Sisi's offer
shows Washington & Brussels that to solve the Palestinian conflict with
Israel, they need to stand with Israel, even if this means abandoning Abbas. If
they do so, they can take credit for achieving their beloved two-state solution.
If they fail to do so, they will signal that their primary goal is not peace,
but something far less constructive.
JWR
contributor Caroline B. Glick is the senior Middle East Fellow at the Center for
Security Policy in Washington, DC & the deputy managing editor of The
Jerusalem Post, where her column appears. Read more at
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0914/glick091014.php3#FGq6wFlckeEtydwF.99
Terror
Plot in Uganda: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/09/13/us-govt-warns-citizens-terror-plot-in-uganda/
Nigeria
wins a battle against terror: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/09/13/soldiers-defeat-islamic-fighters-in-north-nigeria/?intcmp=latestnews
Part
two of interview with General Hayden: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4570553,00.html
Islamic
Genius Rabiya Shahade, an Israeli Arab from Nazareth, is described by those who
knew him as a brilliant student with both Christian, Jewish friends – now he
seems to be fighting with ISIS, vowing to 'drink blood' in video.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4570574,00.html
75
years after the outbreak of WWII, Germany to lead the fight against
anti-Semitism: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185069#.VBUt9ZscTIU
Danger
in the Galil as Hezballah could take over some of the Galil and what would
happen to civilians??? http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185097#.VBXQgZscTIU
Investment
in Defense spurs the economy:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4570936,00.html
Last
week I brought down articles about black Africa and the various Muslim Groups
making their area into a Caliphate. Today about North Africa and ISIS while
abandoning Al Qaeda. The world likes to be on a winning team and so far the west
is not yet in it to win but to contain. Containment did not work for Hitler in
Czechoslovakia in 1939 and it will not work here. Some of you will get the
article with my comments in green sent to me by Gail and will not know what I
wrote and what J.E.Dyer wrote. We start off with Turkey. The only reason that
they are in NATO is for their own defense but they are not allies of anybody but
themselves. The sooner the west realizes what the Cypriots found out years ago
and the Greeks know the better off they are. Although I talk about ISIS
threatening Yarden it is of a real concern for
Yisrael.
Turkey
prefers the Sunni Jihadists as they are fighting the Shiites and the west better
wake up: http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Analysis-Turkey-balks-at-helping-West-prefers-Sunni-jihadists-375353
Yesterday,
Israel announced that if ISIS crosses into Yarden, it would be caucus belli
and Israel would come to the rescue as we cannot have ISIS controlling our
eastern front. The statements from the little king are sometimes obnoxious but
there has been since the Six Day War peace with the kingdom. I will not get into
whom the land belongs to at this point as the future holds HASHEM’s will which
will be done in the proper time. I got this from Gail Winston and she
opens up as follows: From:
JE Dyer: I can’t tell you how much I wish this didn’t have to be such a
negative analysis. But there’s no positive spin to put on it. I am gravely
concerned at the prospect of Obama’s proposed strategy & impending
deployments in Iraq. It has gone from bad to worse just in the last 48 hours.
Partly because ISIS has taken the Syria option out with a blitzkrieg. Maps at
the link. http://libertyunyielding.com/2014/09/13/isis-promptly-outflanks-obamas-new-strategy-neutralizes-syrian-opposition/
ISIS
promptly outflanks Obama’s new strategy, neutralizes Syrian opposition By J.E. Dyer on September 13,
2014 at 5:47 am
Iraqis
flock to ISIS during conquests earlier this summer. (Image via Tea Party
Tribune)
ISIS
is busy neutralizing the Syrian factions that might make common cause with the
United States. On Thursday, Breitbart London reported that several dozen
leaders of Syrian rebel factions opposed to ISIS, who were gathered at a meeting
in northwestern Syria, were killed in a massive explosion on
Wednesday.
Huffington
Post on Friday evening summarized
reports that ISIS has signed a non-aggression deal with a separate
group of rebel factions in Syria, nominally so that all of the factions can
continue to fight the Assad regime.
According
to the Dubai-based Arabic news site Orient News, one of the
signatories to the agreement is the Syrian Revolutionary Front (SRF),
a group that has received U.S. support & has been touted as a likely partner
for a U.S. strategy to oppose ISIS in Syria.
The
SRF has been losing ground in recent weeks, suffering a major blow when one of
its top commanders was
killed at the end of August. At the same time, the SRF was reported
to be fighting alongside al-Qaeda-affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra in southern Syria,
including the battle for the
crossing point with Israel in the Golan over which the rebel factions
claimed control on 27 August.
Now
it appears that the non-aggression pact with ISIS was brokered by Jabhat
al-Nusra. None of this comes as a surprise to those who’ve been following along
with Patrick Poole at PJ Media. On 3 September, Poole outlined the
continuing cooperation of
factions in the Free Syrian Army with ISIS & Jabhat al-Nusra –
cooperation that has resulted in a flow of U.S.-supplied weaponry to the latter
two armies. On 9 September, he expounded on a
report from the Los Angeles Times that one of the “vetted
moderate” groups, Harakat Hazm, is quite open about fighting alongside
Jabhat al-Nusra.
The
U.S. has already given this group anti-tank missiles. Appended to Poole’s
analysis is the tweeted text of an alliance agreement concluded by “vetted
moderate” faction Harakat Hazm & other similar groups with Jabhat
al-Nusra. The text was tweeted on 8
July.
It’s
not just credible, it’s highly bloody likely that some of the rebel factions –
including U.S. client SRF – have indeed made a pact with ISIS. The fact that it
won’t be worth a bucket of warm spit ought to serve not as an encouragement to
U.S. delusions of a meaningful alliance in Syria, but as a warning.
The
evanescent quality of alliances & deals among factions in Syria is a
terribly unpromising condition for Obama’s proposed mode of passive-aggressive
U.S. military operations there. So is the ease with which ISIS (almost
certainly) has just blown nearly 50 of their leaders
up.
It’s
hard to issue the warning about this trenchantly enough – & a similar
concern must apply in Iraq as well, given the parlous state of national unity
& regional cohesion. Iraq may look simpler & less like a free-for-all,
but ISIS is already there, & with each day that passes is able to build a
more extensive network of clients & affiliated cadre around the area in
which the U.S. plans to operate.
This
would be one thing if we were going in in force. But we’re not. Our posture in
northern Iraq will bear no resemblance to what we’ve been used to in Afghanistan
for the last five years. In Afghanistan, we have tens of thousands of troops
still, & sizable, heavily fortified redoubts to quarter them in. The size
of our forces & their level of protection are still prohibitive for the
Taliban outside the fences.
To
view the map click here: http://libertyunyield.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/ISIS-strat-3.jpg
Overview
of ISIS control, early Sep 2014. (Map via BBC)
Overextending
It
cannot be overemphasized that that will not be the case in Iraq. We aren’t
sending in a force with overwhelming superiority. In fact, we’re actually going
to be putting a small concentration of troops who aren’t professional
ground-pounders in a very vulnerable position in one place in particular: the
air base at Irbil (or Erbil) in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, where we
will reportedly be basing
strike-fighters.
I’m
really not sure why we’re doing this. I mean, I know why: the Turks won’t let us
use their air bases to launch strike-fighters for attacks in Iraq or
Syria. Comment – in the previous analysis from the
Jerusalem Post we know why Turkey does not let the States use their bases. In
fact they are in NATO for their defense only and nothing more! To operate
Air Force F-15s or F-16s in either country, the most convenient operating base
will therefore be in Iraq. (Up to now, Air Force strike-fighters have been using bases in
Kuwait & Qatar. Navy F/A-18s have been operating from
USS George H. W. Bush (CVN-77) in the Persian Gulf. This makes for long
flights & abbreviated availability on-station,
however.)
We
have had a small number of combat helicopters
& MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft at Irbil since early August,
providing air support for Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq. (Drones are
presumably being flown out of Irbil as well.) It’s not that we don’t have a
small concentration of troops & high-value weaponry there already. It’s
that we’re going to be expanding the size of it, but without changing the basis
for our presence or operations.
Irbil
is an exposed & poorly defended facility, especially for a guerrilla force
that quite probably is armed with antitank missiles (which can be used
effectively against anything big with a nice heat signature) & a variety of
shoulder-fired & battlefield rockets. The New York Times has been
posting a useful set of graphics throughout the ISIS campaign (here),
& has an excellent generic view of the approaches to Irbil (below; the
original annotations relate to events in early
August).
Of
particular note is the short distance between Irbil & the line of ISIS
control to the west, which today is about 35 miles. The darker shaded areas on
the terrain view indicate spots where ISIS-led fighters have recently conducted
attacks on Kurdish forces.
Click
here to see map: http://libertyunyield.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/ISIS-strat-4.jpg
Vulnerable
approaches to Irbil. Forward line of ISIS control in red; locations of recent
attacks in darker shade. (Graphic: NYT; author annotations added)
The
next map shows the larger strategic vulnerability of Irbil, with Sunni enclaves
to both the west & south, & an uncertain mix of conditions to the east,
on the other side of the Iranian border. The Sunni areas are ISIS’s recruiting
grounds; the enclave of Sulaymaniyah & its corridor from Iran are big
question marks in terms of friendliness to the U.S. presence.
http://libertyunyield.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/ISIS-strat-2.jpg
Demographics
of the Iraqi terrain. (Map via BBC)THIS IS THE OIL
RICH AREA OF IRAQ and perhaps that is what woke up the west out of their
slumber.
The threat problem here is not that ISIS will be able to conquer & occupy
Kurdish territory, but that it will be able to infiltrate Kurdish territory to
conduct attacks on the U.S. forces in Irbil as well as the Kurds. (One form of
attack, we must not forget, is the use of anti-air missiles. The one thing a
guerrilla force with shorter-range, lower-altitude missiles usually has trouble
doing is getting close to the airfield where the aircraft have to take off &
land. Oops.)
The
size & character of the U.S. contingent that will be in Irbil are not suited
for taking the fight to guerrilla troops operating in the local area. Our force
will have to rely on the Kurds for that: for keeping ISIS fighters too far away
to inflict significant damage on us. We’ll have air assets to support them with,
but security for our base is not something we’ll have the final say over, in
terms of its operational priority in the fight or the comfort level we might
prefer.
We’ll
be depending on a condition we may very well not have, at least not for long:
i.e., that Irbil doesn’t need to be heavily fortified or built up. Besides the
helicopters (it’s not clear if we have standard-issue Apaches, Black Hawks, or perhaps
special forces helicopters based at Irbil) & the Ospreys, we’ll be moving in
ground support for strike-fighters & large batches of weaponry, along with
the airframes themselves. The attractiveness of the Irbil air base as a
target will increase dramatically. & even if we harden the facility
itself, hardening the approaches to it – keeping a guerrilla force from being
able to get close to it – is going to be difficult, if there is any breach in
the Kurds’ defense of Irbil as an urban stronghold.
There
won’t be a secure ground line of communication (GLOC) between Irbil &
the rest of Iraq. But this will not be like the 2001 entry into Afghanistan,
which we made with a clear-cut & measureable purpose, & for which we had
the prior buy-in of a key neighbor: Pakistan. Expanding our footprint at Irbil,
with no GLOC & no formal relations with the nearest neighbor, Iran, is one
of the longest-tether & most exposed things we’ve ever
done.
Now
add to that mix the likelihood that an unusually well-organized, well-funded
ISIS can exploit shifting loyalties – or at the very least can wield
intimidation – among every local faction that is not Kurdish, & perhaps it
will be clear the kind of danger we are courting. ISIS isn’t going to just sit
still while we increase our footprint & ramp up bombing operations, while
not changing our methods or operational objectives.
Inside
our “OODA
loop”
In
fact, ISIS hasn’t sat still. Once Obama made his speech on Wednesday,
the option of mounting coordinated attacks on ISIS’s strategic rear in Syria
immediately became a major threat posed by the U.S. If we could do it
effectively, we could force ISIS to defend its rear: shift resources away from
the campaign in Iraq, & perhaps even rework its overall
strategy.
So
ISIS promptly took out nearly 50 opposition rebel leaders & signed its
non-aggression agreement with America’s potential partners in
Syria.
Remember
that ISIS doesn’t have to show good faith over time with any of those Syrian
factions. It just has to preempt their cooperation with the United States. The
mechanism for that is straightforward. We’re an easy read – ponderous making
decisions, easily spooked, committed to at least perfunctory public transparency
– & our president is a slow learner.
If
ISIS can prevent anyone in Syria from cooperating with the U.S., ISIS can
concentrate its effort in Iraq, where our forces on the ground will be: small,
scattered, un-concentrated, embedded with local groups which may not all
be fighting for the same objectives. Remember this also: Obama is determined
not to overlay an obtrusively coherent U.S. framework on this operation. Kurds
fighting in northern Iraq & Sunnis fighting along the Euphrates in Anbar –
each with a separate ill-defined connection to the struggling Shia-majority
government in Baghdad – will have the lead.
Even
in Vietnam & Somalia, I don’t think we’ve ever backed into anything with
our hindquarters flapping quite so egregiously in the breeze. Military
success doesn’t just happen. It’s as much a matter of political will, & a
coherent strategy & operational plan, as it is of training, expertise, &
weapons superiority at the tactical level. Assuming we do go ahead with the
plan-deficient, few-boots non-war the Obama administration has been proclaiming
for the last 72 hours, I am very concerned that American troops could
find themselves vulnerable under fire & fighting for their lives within
weeks.
I
would actually feel better at this point if we weren’t enlarging our footprint
in Irbil at all, but instead planned to just keeping flying strike-fighters from
Kuwait & Qatar. There are sound operational reasons to be gravely concerned
about Obama’s decision to dismiss the advice
of his military leaders & go with a toxic brew of half-measure
objectives & exposed deployment situations.
The
rapid, cynical, homicidal initiative shown by ISIS in seeking to neutralize
Obama’s Syria option is a pretty good indicator of what we’ll be up against.
Pundits & officials who are vocally criticizing the president are not just
showing partisan sour grapes. This is real, & it’s
bad.
One
of the few times that I concur with Harry Reid:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185111"Hamas
and IS are both vicious, corrupt, hateful, evil groups. And both are extreme.
Yet, for some reason, Hamas' brutality doesn’t elicit the same horror from the
international community as ISIS. How can that be?"
The
security cameras make it easier to catch the rioters who torched the gas
station:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185098
Ed-Op
the west is living in La-La Land regarding the Muslim
Brotherhood http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4570874,00.html
Israel
is the 4th most Educated Country in the World and after seeing the
Russian Education we are probably the third: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185103#.VBZ2DZscTIU
Algerian
revolutionaries leave Al Qaeda for ISIS: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4570980,00.html
ISIS
is being funding by $3,000,000 a day by various methods: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4570968,00.html
38
minute movie on the world’s greatest fraud = Palestine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU7K1JjiiBo
Baruch
Dayan Emmes blessed be the true Judge:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4571243,00.html
Smuggling
attempt a dry run? http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185131
No
more UN peace keepers as Al-Nusra Jihad takes over: http://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-3082,00.html
Jewish
and travelling to Sinai, Turkey or Europe then watch out: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4571220,00.html
Time
to raise the Defense budget by billions: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185140
UFO
spraying something seen over the western US could it be a biological
weapon?
http://www.wnd.com/2014/09/mystery-streak-of-light-across-u-s-west/
The
Goyim are worried about our Shmita “Motzei Shmita Ben David Ba” –Sanhedrin 97
A:
http://www.wnd.com/2014/09/shocker-7-year-biblical-cycle-affecting-everything/
Not
quite global warming:
http://www.wnd.com/2014/09/antarctic-sea-ice-hits-all-time-record-high/?cat_orig=education
This
is what is going on in Gaza and this incitement will never bring peace:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185158#.VBexXJscTIU
On
the political front Hamas is changing its tactics to become more popular as a
public opinion poll showed if elections were held 61% would want Hamas and 32 or
34% the PLO on the west bank. In my opinion (RP) that means that an intifada has
started in Yerushalayim the kidnapping of the three Yeshiva Boys and the
consequent murder of the 16 year old Arab Boy was enough to spark that off:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4571119,00.html
US
government is not going to launch vehicles into space they are going to fund
private companies to do the job more efficiently: http://www.aol.com/article/2014/09/16/nasa-announces-boeing-spacex-manned-spaceflight/20963074/?icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl13%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D530148
Tuesday
saw the first mortar shell in the south since the war and Hamas deals with break
of discipline: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185188#.VBl_kZscTIU
The
Golan is not quiet either: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185213#.VBmAtJscTIU
Iran
the real threat which the EU does not understand: http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Steinitz-ahead-of-nuclear-talks-Iran-is-Israels-greatest-threat-not-ISIS-or-Hezbollah-375587
The
Rabbi did not leak information to Bennett, he gathered it himself from the field
about the tunnels. Yaalon and Netanyahu are trying to control the Cabinet and
hiding information: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4572093,00.html
Yaalon
lying: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185209#.VBmB9JscTIV
A
planned axe murder and a full murder in the Yerushalayim area:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185246#.VBqD1ZscTIU
IDF
and NSA exchanged information so two countries are more secure:
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Report-NSA-gave-Israeli-military-intelligence-personal-info-about-relatives-of-Palestinians-in-US-375677
Australia
arrested 15 of 60 suspected terrorist planning to murder by beheading innocent
civilians and in NJ a College Student on his way home was shot and killed by a
cold blooded person interested in Jihad for revenge on the USA. This is savage
madness and in Lebanon the extreme Sunnis are beheading captured Shiite soldiers
for demands that will never be met. http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/09/18/australia-terror-raid-prompted-by-isis-plans-for-public-killing-pm-says/
There
will be more Fort Hood workplace shootings of course PC not a hate crime:
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/09/17/law-enforcement-bulletin-warned-isis-urging-jihad-attacks-on-us-soil/
Israel
offers help in fighting ISIS: http://www.jpost.com/International/US-Israel-talks-continue-in-Washington-375675
The
war in the south is not over for the residents and it is just a matter of time.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185231#.VBqKP5scTIU
Real
members with Likud Philosophical Beliefs are leaving Netanyahu and Yaalon to the
left of the membership. Minister Gilad Erdan was expected to quit the government
over his opposition to Netanyahu to become UN Ambassador but the big surprise
came from his top rival in the Likud for role as Prime Minister Gideon
Saar:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4572326,00.html
The
newspaper suspects that Erdan might stay if offered Interior Ministry:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4572418,00.html
Raphael Ahren is the diplomatic correspondent at The Times of Israel.
Israel’s air force commander gave an apparently unintended insight into his priorities & preoccupations, when he remarked during comments about the defense budget that Israel might need to send its attack planes to Tehran at very short notice.
Speaking about the imperative for the government to allocate additional funding to the armed forces, Israel Air Force chief Major-General Amir Eshel declared that “there’s no one in this room who’d be prepared to ride in a car as old as our planes. I’m telling you, no-one. Yesterday these planes were in Gaza, & tomorrow we may send them to Tehran.”
Eshel’s comments, broadcast Sunday on the local Channel 2 News, came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu & Finance Minister Yair Lapid sparred over the national budget, with Netanyahu earlier Sunday asserting that, in the wake of the summer’s 50-day Israel-Hamas conflict, “We need a significant increase of several billion in the defense budget.”
Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed that Israel will prevent Iran from attaining a nuclear weapons capability, acting alone if necessary. In a major address last week in which he highlighted Israel’s role in confronting worldwide jihadist terrorism, & expressed Jerusalem’s full support for the American-led offensive against the Islamic State organization, the prime minister took pains to stress that the struggle against Sunni radicalism should not lead the world to neglect the threat of Shiite extremism, championed by Iran.
The greatest threat to world peace, Netanyahu said, would be a nuclear-equipped Iran. “You would see things you never imagined could be possible,” he said, describing a scenario in which the regime in Tehran succeeded in obtaining nuclear weapons. “Horrors you couldn’t even contemplate come to fruition. The ultimate terror. A terrorist regime with the weapons of the greatest terror of them all. We must not let that happen.”
In an address to the UN General Assembly last October, Netanyahu said Israel would act on its own if necessary to stop Iran attaining nuclear weapons. There should be no confusion over this, Netanyahu said, warning that “Israel will never acquiesce to nuclear arms in the hands of a rogue regime that repeatedly promises to wipe us out… If Israel is forced to stand alone” against that threat, “Israel will stand alone,” he said, though it would know that it was also defending others.
Gail
also sent me two articles on the Kurdistan front: At the Kurdistan Front by
Jonathan Spyer The Weekly Standard September 12,
2014
http://www.meforum.org/4808/at-the-kurdistan-front
The
Conditions of Victory & Peace by Shoshana Bryen http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4682/victory-peace
Gail
Winston published an excerpt by Gil Ronen on this article. Cruelty in
Islam: http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/6540
She
also brought this article from Arlene Kushner:
http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-rebels-seize-un-weapons-golan-ambassador-193552981.html
Assad
has still many chemical weapons: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4572692,00.html
This
public opinion poll was taken before Gideon Saar Resigned: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185266#.VBsUVpscTIU
A
calling for an Intifada: http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Jailed-Fatah-leader-Barghouti-Gaza-war-was-victory-for-Palestinians-375739
I
am happy that my siren application is only on the Modiin Area Only as 5 false
alarms go off during Hamas Seals training drill. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185251#.VBsVqZscTIU
Army
officer arrested for taking bribes to bring in illegal Arabs:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185262#.VBsWO5scTIU
B”H
thousands fleeing Gaza. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185267
FBI
warns that ISIS grows with US airstrikes: http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/09/17/usa-security-homeland-idINKBN0HC1KL20140917
Ana
in Holland sent me this translated from Dutch by Bing. Antwerp
police chief wants army to Jewish institutions
Editorial
– 18/09/14, 14u37 − source: Belga © belga. Serge
Muyters
Police
Chief of the Antwerp local police Serge Maher asks the Federal Coalition
negotiators to make it possible to deploy the army in the protection of Jewish
institutions. Maher did that call yesterday on a security Congress between the
police top and the Antwerp Jewish institutions, reports Joods Actueel
today.
The
police confirm the statement, but stressed that it was going to be a
collaboration with the army and only when there is a prolonged period of an
increased terrorist threat level. …
If
an Israeli or US Passport is stolen this can happen: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4572875,00.html
From
on high the army has orders against Jewish Settlers know this before casting
your ballot!!! http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185300#.VBvziZscTIU
Trying
to blot out history as the Babylonians destroyed Yerushalayim and the Romans
destroyed us so ISIS now comes and destroys their remains it will not change
history only makes them more barbaric. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4572885,00.html
Ed-op
on choosing the chief of staff of the IDF:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4572283,00.html
The
elderly Jews in southern Ukraine remain with the Cossacks: http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Unable-to-flee-elderly-Jews-remain-behind-in-eastern-Ukraine-375806
Now
for M. Wolfberg’s Good Shabbos Story “Real Royalty”
Good Shabbos
Everyone. In this week’s portion Ki-Savo Hashem tells us if you observe the
commandments of Hashem, your G-d, and you go in His ways. Then all the peoples
of the earth will see that the Name of Hashem is proclaimed upon you, and they
will honor you. (Devorim 28:9-10) The verse teaches us that when we Jews act
according to the Torah, the nations will recognize that we are a holy
people.
The following amazing true story shows how we Jews can be "a light unto the nations."
In 1908, Queen Wilhelmina of Holland went for a brief vacation to the popular resort area of Marienbad, Austria, near the German border. Since this was not an official state visit, she only had a small entourage of people with her, and there was no welcoming ceremony on her arrival at the train station in Marienbad.
As the Queen got off the train, she noticed a large crowd on the platform. Obviously, a prominent personality had just arrived. Everyone was gathered around trying to get a glimpse of the famous person.
Queen Wilhelmina asked and was told that a great Jewish personality, the Munkaczer Rebbe, Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Spira (1845-1914) had just arrived. Many of the Rebbe’s Chassidim had come to greet him at the train station.
The Queen then asked what a Rebbe is. She was told that a Rebbe is a very holy man of great wisdom who gives blessings and advice to his many followers. Thousands seek his counsel and ask the Rebbe to pray on their behalf. Often the Rebbe’s prayers are answered and those who seek his blessings live to see their wishes fulfilled.
When the Queen heard that the Rebbe had spiritual power, she immediately thought of her own situation. The Queen and her husband Prince Hendrik were childless. Both she and her husband were concerned that the Dutch monarchy should continue in their family. Without children, the royal line would end with Queen Wilhelmina.
The Queen and her entourage left the train station. Later that day, the Queen asked one of her attendants to try to arrange for her to meet the great Rebbe privately. The next evening, the Munkaczer Rebbe was brought to a secluded area of a beautiful park just outside of the city. Queen Wilhelmina was accompanied by two attendants and the Rebbe came with two bochurim (yeshiva students).
As the Rebbe and the Queen sat down, the Queen sensed that the man sitting opposite her was a personality of great stature. She spoke candidly to the Rebbe about how sad she was about being childless.
The Rebbe listened attentively and told the Queen not to worry. Her monarchy would continue. As the Queen was about to depart, the Rebbe cited a verse from the Torah saying that the Queen’s kingdom will not be severed until Shilo comes. (Genesis 49:10) Meaning, the Queen will have descendants until the coming of the Moshiach.(the Messiah)
The next year, in 1909, the Queen had a little girl and named her Juliana. It was the only child that the Royal couple ever had. (Thirty-nine years later, in 1948, Juliana became Queen of Holland. Her daughter, Beatrix is presently the Queen of Holland.)
A little more than 30 years after the Munkaczer Rebbe had given Queen Wilhelmina a blessing for a child, a black cloud descended over Europe. World War II had begun. The Germans sought out Jews in every country where they could find them.
Rabbi Yakov Tzvi Katz was one poor Jew who was caught in the German net. During the War, Rabbi Katz was sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Rabbi Katz’s 18 year old son Shmuel was deported from the ghetto and never heard from again. 12 volumes of Rabbi Katz’s writings on halacha (Jewish law) were burned.
After the war was over Rabbi Katz returned to his native Hungary, in an attempt to put his life back together. He quickly saw that there was no future for the Jews in post-war Hungary. Many Jews at the time were trying to emigrate to Holland. Rabbi Katz tried, but he was denied entry into Holland twice. Holland was only accepting those Jews who had professions which would benefit the country. There were already plenty of rabbis in Holland.
One day, Rabbi Katz decided to write a letter directly to Queen Wilhelmina. He explained the hardships he and his family had experienced in the war. He then wrote, Surely Your Highness remembers the very momentous meeting that preserved the course of royalty in Holland.
He detailed the Queen’s encounter with the Munkaczer Rebbe in Marienbad, almost 40 years previous. Rabbi Katz continued writing in his letter to the Queen that the Rebbe had insisted that two boys come along with him for the meeting with the Queen.
The Rebbe would need an interpreter since the Queen would be speaking German. Rabbi Katz wrote, I was that 18-year-old boy who accompanied the [Rebbe], and it was I who transmitted to the Queen the wonderful news from the saintly Rabbi that [the Queen] would bear a child within a year.
The letter which Rabbi Katz had sent to the Queen was written in Yiddish. Although Rabbi Katz could have written the letter in German, he was concerned that one of the Queen’s attendants would intercept the letter, read it, and then prevent it from getting to the Queen. Therefore, when the letter in Yiddish arrived, and old Russian chazan named Rabinowitz was summoned from his synagogue in The Hague and asked to translate the letter. The chazan read the letter. Realizing its significance, the chazan translated the letter with all the emotion he could manage. The translated text was brought to Queen Wilhelmina.
After reading the note, the Queen saw to it that Rabbi Katz be granted immigration papers swiftly. Then he was able to rebuild his life which had been largely destroyed. (from: Echoes of the Maggid, R. Pesach J. Krohn p.95-99)
We see from this amazing story the power of a Jew to make a good impression on the nations. As the verse tells us, If you observe the commandments of Hashem, your G-d, and you go in His ways. Then all the peoples of the earth will see that the Name of Hashem is proclaimed upon you, and they will honor you. (Deuteronomy 28:9-10) When a Jew acts according to the Torah, he shines with the holiness of Hashem.
The Munkaczer Rebbe and Rabbi Yakov Tzvi Katz showed the nations the beauty of a Torah observant lifestyle. Let us all learn from their examples and then we will truly be a light unto the nations. As the Prophet tells us, ... I will strengthen your hand; I will protect you; I will set you for a covenant to the people, for a light unto the nations...(Yishayahu 42:6) 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
A healthy
and peaceful Shabbos to all and pray for the people of Yisrael. As the year
closes please see this as a personal blessing to each and every reader: A
healthy, happy, joyous, wonderful, successful, prosperous, fruitful,
wisdom-filled, and Torah filled Shmita Year with all the sweetness that HASHEM
can offer. Keep safe during these pre-Messianic Times and return with all your
heart and soul unto HASHEM.The following amazing true story shows how we Jews can be "a light unto the nations."
In 1908, Queen Wilhelmina of Holland went for a brief vacation to the popular resort area of Marienbad, Austria, near the German border. Since this was not an official state visit, she only had a small entourage of people with her, and there was no welcoming ceremony on her arrival at the train station in Marienbad.
As the Queen got off the train, she noticed a large crowd on the platform. Obviously, a prominent personality had just arrived. Everyone was gathered around trying to get a glimpse of the famous person.
Queen Wilhelmina asked and was told that a great Jewish personality, the Munkaczer Rebbe, Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Spira (1845-1914) had just arrived. Many of the Rebbe’s Chassidim had come to greet him at the train station.
The Queen then asked what a Rebbe is. She was told that a Rebbe is a very holy man of great wisdom who gives blessings and advice to his many followers. Thousands seek his counsel and ask the Rebbe to pray on their behalf. Often the Rebbe’s prayers are answered and those who seek his blessings live to see their wishes fulfilled.
When the Queen heard that the Rebbe had spiritual power, she immediately thought of her own situation. The Queen and her husband Prince Hendrik were childless. Both she and her husband were concerned that the Dutch monarchy should continue in their family. Without children, the royal line would end with Queen Wilhelmina.
The Queen and her entourage left the train station. Later that day, the Queen asked one of her attendants to try to arrange for her to meet the great Rebbe privately. The next evening, the Munkaczer Rebbe was brought to a secluded area of a beautiful park just outside of the city. Queen Wilhelmina was accompanied by two attendants and the Rebbe came with two bochurim (yeshiva students).
As the Rebbe and the Queen sat down, the Queen sensed that the man sitting opposite her was a personality of great stature. She spoke candidly to the Rebbe about how sad she was about being childless.
The Rebbe listened attentively and told the Queen not to worry. Her monarchy would continue. As the Queen was about to depart, the Rebbe cited a verse from the Torah saying that the Queen’s kingdom will not be severed until Shilo comes. (Genesis 49:10) Meaning, the Queen will have descendants until the coming of the Moshiach.(the Messiah)
The next year, in 1909, the Queen had a little girl and named her Juliana. It was the only child that the Royal couple ever had. (Thirty-nine years later, in 1948, Juliana became Queen of Holland. Her daughter, Beatrix is presently the Queen of Holland.)
A little more than 30 years after the Munkaczer Rebbe had given Queen Wilhelmina a blessing for a child, a black cloud descended over Europe. World War II had begun. The Germans sought out Jews in every country where they could find them.
Rabbi Yakov Tzvi Katz was one poor Jew who was caught in the German net. During the War, Rabbi Katz was sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Rabbi Katz’s 18 year old son Shmuel was deported from the ghetto and never heard from again. 12 volumes of Rabbi Katz’s writings on halacha (Jewish law) were burned.
After the war was over Rabbi Katz returned to his native Hungary, in an attempt to put his life back together. He quickly saw that there was no future for the Jews in post-war Hungary. Many Jews at the time were trying to emigrate to Holland. Rabbi Katz tried, but he was denied entry into Holland twice. Holland was only accepting those Jews who had professions which would benefit the country. There were already plenty of rabbis in Holland.
One day, Rabbi Katz decided to write a letter directly to Queen Wilhelmina. He explained the hardships he and his family had experienced in the war. He then wrote, Surely Your Highness remembers the very momentous meeting that preserved the course of royalty in Holland.
He detailed the Queen’s encounter with the Munkaczer Rebbe in Marienbad, almost 40 years previous. Rabbi Katz continued writing in his letter to the Queen that the Rebbe had insisted that two boys come along with him for the meeting with the Queen.
The Rebbe would need an interpreter since the Queen would be speaking German. Rabbi Katz wrote, I was that 18-year-old boy who accompanied the [Rebbe], and it was I who transmitted to the Queen the wonderful news from the saintly Rabbi that [the Queen] would bear a child within a year.
The letter which Rabbi Katz had sent to the Queen was written in Yiddish. Although Rabbi Katz could have written the letter in German, he was concerned that one of the Queen’s attendants would intercept the letter, read it, and then prevent it from getting to the Queen. Therefore, when the letter in Yiddish arrived, and old Russian chazan named Rabinowitz was summoned from his synagogue in The Hague and asked to translate the letter. The chazan read the letter. Realizing its significance, the chazan translated the letter with all the emotion he could manage. The translated text was brought to Queen Wilhelmina.
After reading the note, the Queen saw to it that Rabbi Katz be granted immigration papers swiftly. Then he was able to rebuild his life which had been largely destroyed. (from: Echoes of the Maggid, R. Pesach J. Krohn p.95-99)
We see from this amazing story the power of a Jew to make a good impression on the nations. As the verse tells us, If you observe the commandments of Hashem, your G-d, and you go in His ways. Then all the peoples of the earth will see that the Name of Hashem is proclaimed upon you, and they will honor you. (Deuteronomy 28:9-10) When a Jew acts according to the Torah, he shines with the holiness of Hashem.
The Munkaczer Rebbe and Rabbi Yakov Tzvi Katz showed the nations the beauty of a Torah observant lifestyle. Let us all learn from their examples and then we will truly be a light unto the nations. As the Prophet tells us, ... I will strengthen your hand; I will protect you; I will set you for a covenant to the people, for a light unto the nations...(Yishayahu 42:6) 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
Rachamim Pauli
