Caught by surprise. I guess in about 90% of the years Parsha
Shekelim occurs at the beginning of Adar followed by the three other Parshiyos.
This year I was caught by surprise.
Parsha Mishpatim Part 2
I decided that there were many worthwhile Halachos in our Parsha
and by cutting it in two I would cover it better rather than skip over it.
20 And if a man smite his bondman, or his
bondwoman, with a rod, and he die under his hand, he shall surely be punished.
21 Notwithstanding if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished; for
he is his money.
Although we don’t go into corporal
punishment today, sparing the rod and spoiling the child was a family directive
for centuries. The slave may have stolen from his master or done something
horrific. However, he views and legally so the slave as his property to do with
him as he would like to do. Modern people view this differently but killing of
a human was never viewed in a faThvorable light and the Torah.
22 And if men strive together, and hurt a
woman with child, so that her fruit depart, and yet no harm follow, he shall be
surely fined, according as the woman's husband shall lay upon him; and he shall
pay as the judges determine.
This is a horrific loss especially
to the pregnant woman. Her compensation for his actions is financial as we
cannot make the man pregnant and for him to have children.
23 But if any harm follow, then thou shalt
give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for
foot, 25 burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
That is to destroy something it
can only be compensated by financial means. One cannot go around removing eyes
of the accidental loss or even of a wicked person doing something like that but
financial compensation has to be made.
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a burn for a burn: Heb. כְּוִיָּה, a burn caused by fire. [Rashi probably alludes
to מִכְוַת-אֵשׁ in Lev. 13:24.] Until now
[the Torah] spoke of an injury that decreases the value [of the victim], and
now of [an injury] that does not decrease the [victim’s] value [as a slave]
but causes pain, for instance if he [the assailant] burned him [the victim]
on his nails with a spit, they [the judges] compute how much [money] a person
like him would be willing to take to endure such pain. -[From B.K. 84a,
Mechilta]
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a wound: Heb. פֶּצַע, a wound that bleeds, where he wounded his [victim’s] flesh,
navredure in Old French, all according to what it [the wound] is. If it
decreases his value, he [the assailant must] pay [for the] damage; if he
falls into idleness, he [must] pay for idleness, and for healing, shame, and
pain. This verse is superfluous [because there is no difference between a
wound and a burn. Whatever damage he inflicts he must pay]. In [the chapter] הַחוֹבֵל (B.K. 84a), our Rabbis interpreted it as
making one liable for [the victim’s] pain even where there is [permanent]
damage [which he must pay for], because although he pays him [the victim] the
value of his hand, we do not exempt him from the [payment compensating for
the victim’s] pain, reasoning that since he [the assailant] purchased his
[the victim’s] hand [by giving the victim payment for its value], he may
amputate it with whatever he wants. We say, however, that he should amputate
it with a medication that lessens the pain. However, [if] he cut it off with
[an] iron [implement] and caused him pain [he must give the victim
compensation]. -[From B.K. 85a]
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a bruise: Heb. חַבּוּרָה. This is a blow in which blood collects
but does not come out. It only reddens the flesh on that spot. The term חַבּוּרָה is equivalent to tache in Old French
[meaning] a spot, like “or a leopard its spots (חִבַרְבֻּרֹתָיו)
” (Jer. 13:23). Its Aramaic translation is מַשְׁקוֹפֵי,
an expression of beating, batedure in Old French, [meaning] beating,
knocking, and so, שְׁדֻפוֹתקָדִּים (Gen.
41:23) [is translated by Onkelos as:] קִדּוּם
שְׁקִיפָן, [which means] “beaten by the [east] wind,” and similarly,
“on the lintel (עַל הַמַשְׁקוֹף)” (Exod. 12:7), [is
given this appellation] because the door bangs against it [the lintel]. [See
commentary on Exod. 12:7.]
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26. And if a man strikes the
eye of his manservant or the eye of his maidservant and destroys it, he shall
set him free in return for his eye,
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the eye of his manservant: [This refers to] a
Canaanite, but a Hebrew [slave] does not go out with [the loss of his] tooth
or [his] eye as we have stated on “she shall not go out as the slaves go out”
(Exod. 21:7).
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in return for his eye: And so it [the law] is
with the twenty-four tips of limbs: [i.e.,] the fingers and toes, the two
ears and the nose, and the רֹאֹש הַגְּוִיָה,
which is the male organ. Why were [both] a tooth and an eye mentioned [when
the Torah could have mentioned only one]? Because if it had mentioned an eye
and did not mention a tooth, I would say that just as an eye was created with
him [at birth], so [does this apply to] everything that is created with him,
but a tooth was not created with him [at birth]. [Therefore, I would say that
if the master knocked out his slave’s tooth, the slave would not be freed.]
If it mentioned a tooth and did not mention an eye, I would say [that] even
[if the master knocked out] a baby tooth, which would be replaced [by the
natural growth of another tooth, the slave would be freed]. Therefore, it
mentions the eye [which cannot be replaced, to teach us that if the master
knocks out a baby tooth, the slave is not freed]. -[From Kid. 24a]
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This is followed by laws of how to deal with a thief or robber.
… 37 If a man steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it, he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.
22:1 If a thief be found breaking in, and be smitten so that he dies, there shall be no blood guiltiness for him. 2 If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood guiltiness for him--he shall make restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft
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2. If the sun shone upon
him, [it is as if] he has blood; he shall surely pay. If he has no [money],
he shall be sold for his theft.
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If the sun shone upon him: This is nothing but a
metaphor [meaning] if the matter is clear to you that he [the thief] is
peaceably disposed toward you-similar to the sun, which represents peace in
the world-so it is obvious to you that he has not come to kill [you]. Even if
the owner of the money rises against him, for instance, if a father breaks in
to steal his son’s property, it is known that the father has mercy on his
son, and he has not come with the idea of murdering [him]. -[From Sanh. 72a,
Mechilta]
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he has blood: He [the thief] is
considered as a live person, and it is [considered] murder if the property
owner kills him.
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To have the thief pay for his crime as a deterrent to others – slavery to somebody on a 24/7 with no pay and only a Canaanite wife is no pleasurable thing. In the end the children belong to his master and his wife is lost to him unless he redeems her through purchase at the end of his 7 years. On Shabbos he cannot rest, he is sweeping the floor, washing the dishes, cleaning the table, setting up chairs if there are guests and waiting upon everybody. He does have one advantage, if the man has only one pillow and blanket he gets that before the householder.
13 And if a man borrows aught of his neighbor, and it be hurt, or die, the owner thereof not being with it, he shall surely make restitution. 14 If the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good; if it be a hireling, he loses his hire.
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If its owner is with him: Whether he [the animal’s owner] is
with him [the borrower] doing the same work, or if he was with him doing a
different work. If he [the animal’s owner] was with him [the borrower] at the
time of the loan, he [the owner] need not be with him at the time the limb
was broken or the animal died [to make him exempt from payment]. -[From B.M.
95b]
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if it is a hired [animal]: If the bull was not borrowed but
hired, [and] it came to be hired into the hands of this hirer [for a fee] not
through lending And he [the hirer] does not have complete benefit [of the
animal] for he used it through its hire, and he does not have the status of a
borrower to be liable for accidents beyond his control. [The Torah, however,]
did not specify what his status is, whether he is judged like an unpaid
custodian or like a paid custodian. Therefore, the Sages of Israel differed
concerning him: How does a hirer pay [in the case of an accident]? Rabbi Meir
says: Like an unpaid custodian. Rabbi Judah says: Like a paid custodian. -[From
B.M. 90b]
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This din applies to car rental and other rentals today and the courts act accordingly.
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15. If
a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall
provide her with a marriage contract as a wife.
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If a man seduces: Heb. יְפַךְתֶּה,
he speaks to her heart until she yields to him. And so is its Aramaic
translation: וַאִרֵי יְשַׁדֵּל. שִׁדּוּל in
Aramaic is the equivalent of פִּךְתּוּי in
Hebrew [and both signify persuasion].
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He shall provide her with a marriage contract: He shall
stipulate for her a dowry, as is the custom of a man to his wife, that he
writes for her a Ketuba, and he shall marry her. -[From Mechilta]
This is a seduced woman and not a rape victim which Devarim
(Deut.) deals with. Here she was willingly in love with the man and is happy
to marry him. . If the woman was engaged then both she and he in our case
here would get the death penalty or a divorce if there was only one witness.
With the rape victim, I do not envy the man who falls under her vengeance and
he cannot divorce her all his days. She’ll make him shape up
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…19 He that sacrifices unto the gods, save unto the LORD only, shall be utterly destroyed. 20 And a stranger shall thou not wrong, neither shall thou oppress him; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. 21 Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. 22 If thou afflict them in any wise--for if they cry at all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry-- 23 My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
Ok bully take on the widow and the orphan as they are easy victims but be warned soon your wife may very well become of widow because of it. The last laugh is on ME for I am the L-RD.
24 If thou lend money to any of My people, even to the poor with thee, thou shall not be to him as a creditor; neither shall ye lay upon him interest. 25 If thou at all take thy neighbor's garment to pledge, thou shall restore it unto him by that the sun goes down; 26 for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin; wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he cries unto Me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.
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If you take… as security: Heb. חָבֹל
ךְתַּחְבֹּל. No expression of חִבָלָה means
security given at the time of the loan, but [that which] is exacted from the
debtor when the debt becomes due and he [the debtor] does not pay (B.M. 114).
(חָבֹל ךְתַּחְבֹּל the Torah repeats the
taking of the security [implying that one may take security] even many times.
The Holy One, blessed is He, said: “How much you owe Me! Yet your soul
ascends to Me every night, gives an account, is found guilty before Me, and I
return it to you. You too, take and return, take and return.” ) -(Tanchuma
16.)
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until sunset you shall return it to him: [For] the entire day
you shall return it to him until the sun sets, and when the sun sets you may
again take it until the next morning arrives. This verse speaks of a garment
worn by day, which he does not need at night. -[From Mechilta, B.M. 114b]
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26. for it is his only covering; it is his garment for his
skin. With what shall he lie? And it shall be [that] if he cries out to Me, I
will hear because I am gracious.
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for it is his only covering: This is a cloak. -[From Mechilta]
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his garment: This is a shirt. -[From Mechilta]
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With what shall he lie?: [This comes] to include a spread.
-[From Mechilta]
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23:1 Thou shall not utter a false report; put not thy hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
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You shall not accept a false
report: Heb. לֹא תִשָׂא,
as the Targum [Onkelos renders]: You shall not accept a false report. [This
is] a prohibition against accepting slander (Mechilta, Pes. 118a, Mak. 23a),
and for a judge [it dictates] that he should not hear the plea of one
litigant until his opponent arrives (Mechilta, Sanh. 7b).
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do not place your hand with a
wicked person: who files a false claim against
his neighbor, for whom he had promised to be a false witness.
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2 Thou shall not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shall thou bear witness in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to pervert justice;
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You shall not follow the
majority for evil: There are [Halachic]
interpretations for this verse given by the Sages of Israel, but the language
of the verse does not fit its context according to them. From here they [the
Sages] expounded that we may not decide unfavorably [for the defendant] by a
majority created by one judge. They interpreted the end of the verse: אַחִרֵי רַבִּים לְהַטֹת, “after the
majority to decide,” [to mean] that if those [judges] voting [that the
defendant is] guilty outnumber those voting [that the defendant is] innocent
by two, the verdict is to be decided unfavorably according to their [the
majority’s] opinion. The text speaks of capital cases [i.e., in regard to the
death penalty] (Sanh. 2a). [Note that in monetary cases, the court requires a
majority of only one judge in order to convict someone.] The middle of the
verse וְלֹא-תַעִנֶה עַל-רִב, they [the Rabbis]
interpreted like וְלֹא-תַעִנֶה עַל-רַב [and
you shall not speak up against a master], meaning that we may not differ with
the greatest of the court. Therefore, in capital cases they [the judges]
commence [the roll call] from the side, meaning that they first ask the
smallest [least esteemed] of them to express his opinion (Sanh. 32a).
According to the words of our Sages, this is the interpretation of the verse:
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You shall not follow the
majority for evil: to condemn [a person] to death
because of one judge, by whom those who declare [the defendant] guilty
outnumber those who declare [him] innocent.
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And you shall not speak up
against a master: to deviate from his words.
Because the “yud” [of רִיב, meaning quarrel]
is missing, they interpreted it (רִב)
in this manner [i.e., like (רַב)].
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After the majority to decide: [signifies that] there
is, however, a majority after whom you do decide [the verdict]. When? If
those [judges] who declare [the defendant] guilty outnumber by two those who
declare him innocent. And since it says: “You shall not follow the majority
for evil,” I deduce that you shall follow them [the majority] for good. From
here they [the Rabbis] deduced that in capital cases, we decide through [a
majority of] one for an acquittal and through [a majority of] two for a
conviction. Onkelos renders [this verse]: Do not refrain from teaching what
appears to you concerning a judgment. The Hebrew wording according to the
Targum is interpreted as follows: And you shall not respond concerning a
quarrel by turning away. If someone asks you something concerning the law, do
not answer by turning aside and distancing yourself from the quarrel, but
judge it honestly. I, however, say, [differing from the Rabbis and Onkelos]
that it [the verse] should be according to its context. This is its
interpretation:
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You shall not follow the
majority for evil: If you see wicked people
perverting justice, do not say, “Since they are many, I will follow them.”
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and you shall not respond
concerning a lawsuit to follow, etc.: And if the litigant asks
you about that [corrupted] judgment, do not answer him concerning the lawsuit
with an answer that follows those many to pervert the judgment from its true
ruling But tell the judgment as it is, and let the neck iron hang on the neck
of the many. [I.e., let the many bear the punishment for their perversion of
justice.]
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3
neither shall thou favor a poor man in his cause - in his lawsuit.
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Neither shall you glorify: You shall not bestow
honor upon him [the destitute man] by deciding in his favor in his lawsuit,
saying, “He is a poor man; I will decide in his favor and honor him.”
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…6 You shall not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.
This is not a contradiction for a rich man can be prompted by lawyers and the poor man has nobody but HASHEM and his own honesty to lean upon.
7 Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not; for I will not justify the wicked. 8 And thou shall take no gift; for a gift blinds them that have sight, and perverts the words of the righteous.
And do not kill a truly innocent person or one who has been declared innocent, for I will not vindicate a guilty person.
The story goes on about Rabban Gamliel and his sister who purposely wanted to show that a non-Jewish judge who was known as fair and appointed by Caesar was a bribe taker. It is in the Talmud and at the end of the judgement it went on with her saying because she gave the judge a lamp – may you be enlightened to my cause and her brother saying my donkey kicked over your lamp.
9 And a stranger shall thou not oppress; for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
This applies to both the Ger Toshav (non-Jew who follows the 7 Commandments of Noach and lives in Eretz Yisrael) and of course the Ger Tzeddek who is a full Jew.
10 And six years thou shall sow thy land, and gather in the increase thereof; 11 but the seventh year thou salt let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of thy people may eat; and what they leave the beast of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shall deal with thy vineyard, and with thy olive yard.
This is the Shemita year.
12 Six days thou shall do your work, but on the seventh day thou shall rest; that you ox and your ass may have rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.
These laws regarding Shabbos were given to people who witnessed the plagues in Egypt, crossed the sea of reeds, heard the voice on Har Sinai, were eating Man (Manna), ate the quail and saw water come out of a rock and made potable by a tree thrown in it. These were the people who received the warnings and Mussar (ethical sayings) about Shabbos. All the more so to those who purposely violate it today in the name of “being modern”. (Being Modern also entitles throwing off their clothing in public to protest furs for they don’t like the idea that G-D made skin garments for Adam and Chava when they were thrown out of Gan Eden – primitives.)
17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.
Three times, etc.: Since the context deals with the seventh year, it was necessary to say that the three pilgrimage festivals would not be uprooted from their place. -[From Mechilta] all your males: Heb. כָּל-זְכוּר. All the males among you. כל זכורך: הזכרים שבך: 18. You shall not sacrifice the blood of My sacrifice with leaven, and the fat of My festive sacrifice shall not stay overnight until morning.
Why only the males? I offer 2 solutions to this problem. 1) Women are at home raising children in a Torah lifestyle and therefore just as an emergency doctor, soldier, fireman, etc. would be exempt so too Torah Education which is one of the biggest Mitzvos out there. (2) Modesty for Women may or may not have their period. If most of the women came and so and so did not, chatter would break out that she has her period.
18 Thou shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of My feast remain all night until the morning. 19 The choicest first-fruits of thy land thou shall bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shall not seethe a kid in its mother's milk.
This is not only cruel and violates cruelty to animals it also teaches us not to cook milk and meat together.
20 Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee by the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
Behold, I am sending an angel before you: Here they were informed that they were destined to sin, and the Shechina would say to them, “For I will not ascend in your midst” (Exod. 33: 3). - [From Exod. Rabbah 32:3] that I have prepared: to give to you. This is its simple meaning. Its midrashic interpretation is: "That I have prepared": My place is already recognizable opposite it. This is one of the verses that state that the heavenly Temple is directly opposite the earthly Temple. [From Midrash Tanchuma 18]
We might not be deserving of the Shechina because of our sins, but instead of the Holy Spiritual connection to G-D we will have an Angel – for HE keeps HIS promises to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yacov.
21 Take heed of him, and hearken unto his voice; be not rebellious against him; for he will not pardon your transgression; for My name is in him.
MY angel is MY Ambassador between you and I so heed the Ambassador.
…12 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Come up to Me into the mount and be there; and I will give thee the tables of stone, and the law and the commandment, which I have written, that thou may teach them.'
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Come up to Me to the mountain
and remain there: for forty days.
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The stone tablets, the Law and
the commandments, which I have written to, instruct them: All 613 mitzvoth are
included in the Ten Commandments. In the “Azharoth” that he composed for each
commandment [of the Ten], Rabbaynu Saadiah [Gaon] explained the mitzvoth
dependent upon it [each commandment]. [from Jonathan, Num. Rabbah 13:16]
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I do not know what business Joshua had here, but I would say that the disciple [Joshua] escorted his mentor [Moses] until the place of the limits of the boundaries of the mountain, for he was not permitted to go past that point. From there Moses alone ascended to the mountain of God. Joshua pitched his tent and waited there for forty days. So we find that when Moses descended, “Joshua heard the voice of the people as they shouted” (Exod. 32:17). We learn [from there] that Joshua was not with them.
I have seen this with Talmidim longing to be with their Rabbi for his teachings and others for his advice or blessing.
14 And unto the elders he said: 'Tarry ye here for us, until we come back unto you; and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you; whosoever hath a cause, let him come near unto them.'
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And to the elders he said: upon his departure from
the camp.
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Wait for us here: Wait here with the rest
of the people in the camp [so that you will] be ready to judge each person’s
quarrel. Hur: He was Miriam’s son, and
his father was Caleb
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To say the Ten Commandments, and [in
fact] Moses and all Israel were standing [and listening to the Ten
Commandments], but the text bestowed honor upon Moses [by mentioning only him].
Others say that the cloud covered Moses for six days after the Ten Commandments
[were given], and they [these days] were at the beginning of the forty days
that Moses ascended to receive the tablets (Yoma 4a). It teaches you that
whoever enters the camp of the Shechina requires six days separation [seclusion
from society] (Yoma 3b)
This only makes my argument stronger that the people who received the Torah wanted to be Shomer Shabbos, Honoring Parents, Not Adulterers or Liars and they were so infatuated with G-D they did not covet their neighbor’s wife or possessions.
18 And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud, and went up into the mount; and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.
This cloud was a kind of smoke, and the Holy One, blessed is He, made a path (another version A canopy) within it. -[From Yoma 4b]
Parsha Teruma
This Parsha comes after the last few Parshiyos with their Mitzvos.
Now that we acquired Mitzvos we have acquired some semblance of holiness. It is
time to get back to the whole purpose of Beresheis and the creation of mankind.
Man was created from heaven and earth. An earthly body and a heavenly soul were
to make the mundane holy prior to the sin of disobedience of Adam. Now in order
to reverse the process we are told to build a Mishkan and later on “A place …
to [be] chose[n]”. The people are asked to donate from their heart.
This week we start our with the donations for the Mishkan (Tabernacle).
From
the Torah MiTzion weekly: Chazal compare the four main kelim (the
utensils/implements used in the Mishkan) to four different aspects of
serving Hashem:
·
The Menorah (the Candelabra) signifies chochmah (wisdom) and ruach
HaKodesh (Divine spirit).
·
The Shulchan (the Table), which holds the Lechem Hapanim (the
showbread), represents parnasa (subsistence) and sovereignty over this
world.
·
The Misbayach (the Altar) denotes dveikut (loosely, attaching
oneself to Hashem, or communion), which today is achieved through tefillah
(prayer).
·
Lastly, the Aron (the Ark), which contains the Luchot HaBrit,
symbolizes the Torah.
What we know from the Torah later
on in the building of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) that Moshe had no idea
whatsoever of how to make the Menorah, Aron (Ark) or other things that the L-RD
told him to do but skilled women and men did no how to build these objects.
Moshe was no engineer and he never took a course in logistics. Yet HASHEM who
created these fields planned everything out for Moshe.
This week on my vacation in a hotel
in the Salt Sea aka Dead Sea a man mentioned to me things written by the Chatam
Sofer. (In my words) Normally when an engineer/architect designs a house he
does so from the bottom up with the materials needed, the siding, walls, roof,
etc. Only after the house his complete or during the process is the kitchen,
bathroom titles, flooring design, etc. chosen and at last the furniture and
what will be used in the kitchen. Here HASHEM orders in line 6 items for later
use: Oil, spice and incense. (My words) At the end of the deed is the first
thoughts.
And have them take for Me: Heb. לִי. [I.e.,] dedicated to My name. -[from Tan. 1] offering: Heb. ךְתְּרוּמָה, separation. They shall set apart from their property an offering for Me. תרומה: הפרשה, יפרישו לי מממונם נדבה: whose heart inspires him to generosity: Heb. יִדְּבֶנּוּ לִבּוֹ, an expression of נְדָבָה, which is an expression of good will, present in French, [a] gift. ידבנו לבו: לשון נדבה, והוא לשון רצון טוב, פרישנ"ט בלעז [מתנה]: you shall take My offering: Our Rabbis said: [The word ךְתְּרוּמָה, mentioned three times, denotes that] three offerings are mentioned here. One is the offering of a beka [half-shekel] per head, from which they made the sockets, as is delineated in [Exod. 38:26, 27, in the parsha] “ אֵלֶּה פְקוּדֵי, These are the accounts.” Another is the offering of a beka per head for the [community] coffers, from which to purchase the communal sacrifices, and another is the offering for the Mishkan, each one’s [Israelite’s] donation (Talmud Yerushalmi, Shekalim 1:1; Meg. 29b). The thirteen materials mentioned in this section [i.e., this chapter] were all required for the work of the Mishkan or for the garments of the kohanim, [as you will find] when you study them closely (Tan. 5, Song Rabbah 4:25).
This is the way G-D inspires taxes. They come from the heart and not taken by force or grudgingly given. It is true that in good financial times, I don’t really care if a whole bunch of people knock on my door with good or bad credentials, I give. But when times turn hard, my bell does not stop ringing and all sorts of characters from cigarette addicts to people wanting to case the joint start knocking on the door. Our Synagogue got so many that I ran out of small change. The situation becomes absurd. The only thing that I can think of is to donate more to soup kitchens for the real needy, Keren Ezra LeYelidim for needy children and their education and to various Yeshivos. A donation of 5 NIS per approximately 100 people who knock on my door sometimes annoys them or will just buy them almost a pack of cigarettes but a donation of 300 or 500 NIS to a Torah Institution or Soup Kitchen can make a difference. These donations went for the cause promoted by G-D for all of Am Yisrael and the people gave truly from the heart knowing that it was going to make a difference and not some wise cracker supporting some habit of his from gambling, cigarettes, alcohol or drugs. (All the time I get letters from the Vaad of Miami letters about swindlers using printed photo shop Vaad recommendations for a worthy cause and all the time the true people are stated by the Vaad to prevent swindling of the public.)
3 And this is the offering which ye shall take of them: gold, and silver, and brass;
gold, silver, and copper, etc.: They were all given voluntarily; each person [gave] what his heart inspired him to give, except [for] the silver, which they gave equally, a half-shekel for each individual. We do not find throughout the entire work of the Mishkan that more silver was required, as it is said: “The silver of the community census was…a beka per head…” (Exod. 38:25, 26). The rest of the silver, which was given there [in the work of the Mishkan] voluntarily, they [the workers] made into service utensils.
A person usually tends to hoard his gold, silver and brass but in this instance everything was given from free will.
4 and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair;
blue…wool: Heb. תְכֵלֶת, wool dyed with the blood of the chillazon [animal], which bears a blue color. — [from Men. 44a, Tosefta Men. 9:6] ותכלת: צמר צבוע בדם חלזון, וצבעו ירוק: purple…wool: Heb. וְאַרְגָּמָן, wool dyed with a kind of dye named אַרְגָּמָן. וארגמן: צמר צבוע ממין צבע ששמו ארגמן: linen: Heb. שֵׁשׁ. This is linen. — [from Tosefta Men. 9:6] ושש: הוא פשתן: and goat hair: Heb. וְעִזִים, the hair of goats. Therefore, Onkelos rendered: וּמְעַזֵי, [i.e.,] what comes from the goats, but not the goats themselves [i.e., not the goat skins], for Targum’s [Onkelos] translation of עִזִים [goats] is עִזַיָא (Gen. 30:32).
The blue was rare and quite expensive.
5 and rams' skins dyed red, and sealskins, [giraffe and not a seal] and acacia-wood;
dyed red: Heb. מְאֳָדָּמִים. They were dyed red after being tanned. מאדמים: צבועות היו אדום לאחר עבודן: tachash skins: This was a species of animal that existed only for a [short] time, and it had many hues (גַּוָּנִים). Therefore, [Onkelos] renders [it] סַסְגּוֹנָא, because it rejoices (שֶׁשָׂשׂ) [ס and שׂ are often interchangeable] and boasts of its hues (גַּוָּנִים). -[from Shab. 28a, b] תחשים: מין חיה, ולא היתה אלא לשעה והרבה גוונים היו לה, לכך מתרגם ססגונא, ששש ומתפאר בגוונין שלו: and acacia wood: Where did they get these [trees] in the desert? Rabbi Tanchuma explained that our father Jacob foresaw with the holy spirit that the Israelites were destined to build a Mishkan in the desert, so he brought cedars to Egypt and planted them. He commanded his sons to take them with them when they left Egypt. — [from Mid. Tanchuma 9]
I have identified this multicolor animal that was kosher to be a Giraffe. It was not a seal.
oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense;
oil for lighting: Pure olive oil to continually kindle the light. Spices for the anointing oil: which was made to anoint the vessels of the Mishkan and [for] the Mishkan itself to sanctify them, and spices were required for it, as is delineated in [the parsha] כִּי תִשָׂא (Exod. 30:22-33). בשמים לשמן המשחה: שנעשה למשוח כלי המשכן והמשכן לקדשו, והוצרכו לו בשמים כמו שמפורש בכי תשא (שמות ל כג - כה): and for the incense: Heb. וְלִקְטֹרֶתהַסַּמִּים, which they burned every evening and morning, as is explained in [the parsha] וְאַךְתָּה ךְתְּצַוֶּה (Exod. 30:7, 8). The word קְטֹרֶת means the raising of smoke (קִיטוֹר) and columns of smoke ךְתִּמְרוֹתעָשָׁן.
7 onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate.
shoham stones: Two were needed there [in the Mishkan] for the ephod, mentioned in [the parsha] וְאַךְתָּה ךְתְּצַוֶּה (Exod. 28:9-12). filling: Since they make for them a seat out of gold, like a sort of hole, and the stone is placed there to fill the hole, they are called filling stones. The place of the “seat” is called מִשְׁבֶּצֶת, a setting. for the ephod and for the choshen: The shoham stones for the ephod and the filling stones for the choshen. The ephod and the choshen are explained in וְאַךְתָּה ךְתְּצַוֶּה they are types of ornaments [worn by the kohanim].
8 And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
And they shall make Me a sanctuary: And they shall make in My name a house of sanctity.
9 According to all that I show thee, the
pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the furniture thereof, even
so shall ye make it.
This was the engineering design and
mind drawings that Bezalel and others received by prophecy of the Shechina
resting upon them.
The Staves would have had to be treated so that centuries would go by without the wood rotting. Not to be removed at all from the Ark at all. Based on the weight of the wood and the amount of gold used, the ark would be very heavy. It normally took 6 Leviim to lift it – some say that it floated or levitated by miracle – see the commentary on Yehoshua of the crossing of the Yarden by the Bnei Yisrael.
16 And thou shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. 17 And thou shall make an ark-cover of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
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10. They shall make an ark of
acacia wood, two and a half cubits its length, a cubit and a half its width,
and a cubit and a half its height.
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They shall make an ark: like the chests that are
made without feet, made like a sort of chest called escrin [in Old French,
ecrin in modern French], (i.e., a chest or box), which rests on its bottom
[without being raised off the floor by the attachment of legs].
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11. And you shall overlay it
with pure gold; from inside and from outside you shall overlay it, and you
shall make upon it a golden crown all around.
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from inside and from outside
you shall overlay it: Bezalel made three arks, two of
gold and one of wood. Each one had four walls and a bottom, and they were
open on the top. He placed the wooden one inside the golden one and the
[other] golden one inside the wooden one. He covered the upper rim with gold,
thus it is found that [the wooden one] was overlaid from inside and from
outside [with gold]. — [from Yoma 72b, Shek. 16b]
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a golden crown: Like a sort of crown
surrounding it above its rim. For he [Bezalel] made the outer ark higher than
the inner one, until it extended upwards opposite the thickness of the ark
cover and slightly higher than it, so that when the ark cover lies on the
thickness of the walls, the crown extends slightly over the thickness of the
ark cover (Yoma 72b). And that [the crown] is the symbol of the crown of the
Torah (Tan. Vayakhel 8, Exod. Rabbah 34:2).
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12. And you shall cast four
golden rings for it, and you shall place them upon its four corners, two
rings on its one side, and two rings on its other side.
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And you shall cast: Heb. וְיָצַקְךְתָּ, an expression of casting, as the Targum
[Onkelos] renders.
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its…corners: Heb. פַּעִמֹתָיו. As the Targum [Onkelos] renders: זִיוְיָתֵיהּ, its corners. They were attached on the
upper corners, close to the ark cover, two from here and two from there,
across the width of the ark, and the poles were placed in them [the rings].
The length of the ark separated the poles, two and one-half cubits between
[one] pole and [the other] pole, so that the two people carrying the ark
would walk between them [the poles]. So it is explained in Men., in the
chapter entitled שתֵּי הַלֶּחֶם (98b).
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two rings on its one side: Heb. וּשְׁתֵּי טַבָּעֹת, lit., and two rings. These are the four
rings [mentioned] in the beginning of the verse, and [Scripture now] explains
to you where they were [to be placed]. This “vav” is superfluous, and it is
to be interpreted as שְׁתֵּי טַבָּעֹת,
two rings. But you can reconcile it [by interpreting it] in this way: and two
of these rings [shall be] on its one side, [meaning, and two of the four
rings mentioned in the beginning of this verse shall be on one side, etc.].
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its…side: Heb. צַלְעוֹ, its side.
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13. And you shall make poles
of acacia wood and you shall overlay them with gold.
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poles of: Heb. בַדֵּי, poles.
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14. And you shall bring the
poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark with them.
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15. The poles of the ark
shall be in the rings; they shall not be removed from it.
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They shall not be removed from
it: forever.
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I received an e-mail regarding a Gentile Archeologist who discovered buried deeply the ark and dripping blood. He suspected that it was the blood of a certain Jew who lived around 2100 years ago according to Jewish sources or 2020 years ago according to possible Jewish and definitely non-Jewish sources. For me that would be the blood of the Prophet Zachariah. (See the Medrash and other commentaries on Yechezkiel) The Gentile’s possible discover is not far from a 2nd Temple source but far enough away from where the Arabs tried to dig out the Temple Mount with 200 truckloads of material per day for a year or more. They found nothing and blame the Jews that their precious Shekutz on Har HaMoriah could cave in.
A
second take on Raiders of the Lost Ark this week's Drasha of Rabbi Pinchas
Winston Shlita
For,
according to Jewish tradition, Shlomo HaMelech, when building the Temple, had
the Aron HaBris put on a platform which could be lowered down into a tunnel
system if the Temple was ever over run. In 423 BCE, though Nebuchadnetzar's
troops destroyed the temple and carried off Temple treasures, there is no
mention of the Aron anywhere, probably because it was lowered into the cave
system below and hidden away by the Leviim.
There are some prominent rabbis today who claim to have seen the room in which the Aron is hidden, just before the Arabs sealed off the area with their wall. The Arabs have claimed to have done this to protect their own places of worship above ground, but it is obvious that the finding of the Aron would be a big blow for the other major religions, including their own, immediately verifying the Torah's version of history, and the Jewish people as the Chosen People.
Contrary to what some people may think, Harrison Ford did not really go looking for the Aron HaBris, and he certainly did not find it. Furthermore, we can safely assume that it is not hidden today in some huge warehouse owned and monitored by the America Government in some restricted area in the United States. That is Hollywood's make-believe version of the story.
Rather, it is probably hidden under the Temple Mount, as the Talmud said it is:
To what does this refer? If you say to the First Temple, did they have the Paroches? Rather, it must refer to the Second Temple. But, did they have the Aron? It is taught in a bryesa: When they hid the Aron they hid with it the jar of Mann, the container of Shemen HaMishchah-Anointing Oil, Aaron’s staff that blossomed, and the container in which the Philistines had placed gifts for the God of Israel, as it says, "And take the Ark of God and place it into the wagon; and the articles of gold, which you shall return to Him as a trespass-offering, and place it in a box beside it." (Shmuel 1:6:8). Who hid them? Yoshiahu, king of Yehuda (3285- 3316/475-444 BCE). What did he see to compel him to do this? He found a verse: "God will drive you and your king whom you will place over you to a nation you do not know." (Devarim 28:36). So, he hid them. (Yoma 52b)
Furthermore, it says that once a Cohain happened to stumble on a loose floor stone in the Temple, but before he could tell anyone, he mysteriously fell and died. It was not yet time to reveal the Aron HaBris, so those who knew where it was were denied the opportunity to reveal it. It belongs to another level of reality, and when it comes time for that level of reality to take over and become our reality, the Aron HaBris will be found and revealed.
However, according to Yirmiyahu, that time is when God gathers in His people to Eretz Yisroel in mercy. Certainly that has been happening over the last 70 years, and especially over the last decade. At the same, talk has increased regarding the location of the chamber in which the Aron HaBris sits and waits for the moment in time that it, once again, will prove to the world that God alone is God, and the King of all kings.
May it happen quickly in our time.
There are some prominent rabbis today who claim to have seen the room in which the Aron is hidden, just before the Arabs sealed off the area with their wall. The Arabs have claimed to have done this to protect their own places of worship above ground, but it is obvious that the finding of the Aron would be a big blow for the other major religions, including their own, immediately verifying the Torah's version of history, and the Jewish people as the Chosen People.
Contrary to what some people may think, Harrison Ford did not really go looking for the Aron HaBris, and he certainly did not find it. Furthermore, we can safely assume that it is not hidden today in some huge warehouse owned and monitored by the America Government in some restricted area in the United States. That is Hollywood's make-believe version of the story.
Rather, it is probably hidden under the Temple Mount, as the Talmud said it is:
To what does this refer? If you say to the First Temple, did they have the Paroches? Rather, it must refer to the Second Temple. But, did they have the Aron? It is taught in a bryesa: When they hid the Aron they hid with it the jar of Mann, the container of Shemen HaMishchah-Anointing Oil, Aaron’s staff that blossomed, and the container in which the Philistines had placed gifts for the God of Israel, as it says, "And take the Ark of God and place it into the wagon; and the articles of gold, which you shall return to Him as a trespass-offering, and place it in a box beside it." (Shmuel 1:6:8). Who hid them? Yoshiahu, king of Yehuda (3285- 3316/475-444 BCE). What did he see to compel him to do this? He found a verse: "God will drive you and your king whom you will place over you to a nation you do not know." (Devarim 28:36). So, he hid them. (Yoma 52b)
Furthermore, it says that once a Cohain happened to stumble on a loose floor stone in the Temple, but before he could tell anyone, he mysteriously fell and died. It was not yet time to reveal the Aron HaBris, so those who knew where it was were denied the opportunity to reveal it. It belongs to another level of reality, and when it comes time for that level of reality to take over and become our reality, the Aron HaBris will be found and revealed.
However, according to Yirmiyahu, that time is when God gathers in His people to Eretz Yisroel in mercy. Certainly that has been happening over the last 70 years, and especially over the last decade. At the same, talk has increased regarding the location of the chamber in which the Aron HaBris sits and waits for the moment in time that it, once again, will prove to the world that God alone is God, and the King of all kings.
May it happen quickly in our time.
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Two and a half cubits its
length: like the length of the ark. Its width was like the
width of the ark, and it lay on the thickness of the four walls. Although
[Scripture] does not give a measure for its thickness, our Rabbis explained
that it was a handbreadth thick. — [from Succah 5a]
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18 And thou shall make two cherubim of gold; of beaten work shall thou make them, at the two ends of the ark-cover.
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Cherubim: Heb. כְּרֻבִים. They had the features of a child. —
[from Succah 5]
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you shall make…of hammered
work: [This means] that you should not make them separate
and then join them at the ends of the ark cover after they are made, as
smiths do [in a process] called solderez [in Old French], soldered. Instead,
you should take a large quantity of gold at the beginning of the construction
of the ark cover and beat it with a hammer and with a mallet in the center
[of the mass of gold] so that its ends protrude upward, and [then you should]
form the cherubim from the protrusion of its ends.
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hammered: Heb. מִקְשָׁה, batediz in Old French, hammered, like
“knocked (נָקְשָׁן) one against the
other” (Dan. 5:6).
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19 And make one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end; of one piece with the ark-cover shall ye make the cherubim of the two ends thereof. 20 And the cherubim shall spread out their wings on high, screening the ark-cover with their wings, with their faces one to another; toward the ark-cover shall the faces of the cherubim be.
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The cherubim shall have their
wings spread upwards, shielding the ark cover with their wings, with their
faces toward one another; [turned] toward the ark cover shall be the faces of
the cherubim.
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Their wings spread: [This means] that you
shall not make their wings lying down [resting next to their bodies], but
spread high alongside their heads, so that there should be ten handbreadths
in the space between the wings and the ark cover, as is stated in Succah
(5b).
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21 And thou shall put the ark-cover above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shall put the testimony that I shall give thee.
And into the ark you shall place the testimony: I do not know why it was repeated, for it already said: “And you shall place into the ark the testimony” (verse 16). We may say that it comes to teach that when it [the ark] is still an ark alone, without an ark cover, he [Moses] should first put in the testimony and then place the ark cover over it. So we find [that] when he [Moses] erected the Mishkan, it says: “And he placed the testimony into the ark,” and afterwards, “and he placed the ark cover on the ark from above” (Exod. 40:20).
The Aron contained the broken Tablets and the second Tablets, the snake of brass up until the time of Hezkieyahu HaMelech, the original Sefer Torah written in ancient Hebrew and not our Assyrian Letters of today, Aaron’s rod, etc. as mentioned above. Another name for the Ark was the Ark of Testimony aka Witness to the past events such as the Mann, etc.
22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will speak with thee from above the ark-cover, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
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I will arrange My meetings with
you there: When I arrange a meeting for
you to speak with you, [it is at] that place that I will arrange for the
meeting where I will come to speak to you.
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And I will speak with you from
atop the ark cover: But elsewhere it says: “and the
Lord spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying…” (Lev. 1:1). That is the
Mishkan, outside the dividing curtain [whereas the ark was within the
dividing curtain]. The two verses are found to contradict one another. The
third verse comes and reconciles them. "And when Moses came into the
Tent of Meeting…he heard the voice speaking to him from atop the ark
cover" (Num. 7:89). [The solution is that] Moses would enter the Mishkan
and as soon as he came within the doorway, a voice would descend from heaven
to [the place] between the cherubim, from where it emanated and was heard by
Moses in the Tent of Meeting. — [from Sefrei, end of Naso]
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23 And thou shall make a table of acacia-wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.
90 to 100 cm long by 45 to 50 cm wide by 67.5 to 75 cm in height which is the specific specification for the table.
24 And thou shall overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about.
A golden crown: symbolic of the crown of kingship, for the table represents wealth and greatness, as they say, “the royal table.” - [from Yoma 72b]
Try to picture a table with a crown around it with the above mentioned dimensions.
25 And thou shall make unto it a border of a handbreadth round about, and thou shall make a golden crown to the border thereof round about. 26 And thou shall make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof. 27 Close by the border shall the rings be, for places for the staves to bear the table.
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The rings shall be opposite the
frame: on the legs, inserted opposite the ends of the
frame.
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As holders for the poles: Those rings shall be
holders in which to insert the poles.
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As holders: Heb. לְבָתִּים, for the purpose of holders.
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For the poles: Heb. לְבַדִּים, as the Targum [Onkelos] renders: אַתְרָא לַאִרִיחַיָא, a place for the
poles.
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Transportable through the desert into Eretz Yisrael into the resting places of the Mishkan.
28 And thou salt make the staves of acacia-wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them.
Shall be carried with them: Heb. וְנִשָׂא-בָם, the passive voice. The table shall be carried with them [by the poles].
29 And thou shall make the dishes thereof, and the pans thereof, and the jars thereof, and the bowls thereof, wherewith to pour out; of pure gold shall thou make them.
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its spoons: Heb. וְכַפֹּתָיו. They were the spoons in which the
frankincense was placed. There were two [spoons meant] for the two handfuls
of frankincense that were placed beside the two stacks, as it is said: “And
you shall place beside the stack pure frankincense” (Lev. 24:7). -[from Men.
97a]
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its half-pipes: Heb. וּקְשׁוֹתָיו. They are sort of half-tubes, hollow and
split along their length. They are similar to the tubes made of gold. Three
[tubes] were arranged over each bread, so that each bread would rest upon
those tubes. They would separate one bread from the other so that air would
enter between them and they [the bread] would not grow moldy. In Arabic, any
hollow thing is called kaswa. — [from Men. 96a, 97a] … Other Sages of Israel
say that קְשׂתָיו refers to the branches,
which harden (מְקֻשוֹת) it [the showbread]
and strengthen it so that it does not break, and מְנַקִּיוֹתָיו
refers to the pipes, which clean (מְנַקִּין)
[the bread] so that it should not become moldy (Men. 96a). But Onkelos, who
rendered [מְנַקִּיוֹתָיו as] מְכִילָתֵיהּ, understood it in a similar way to the
words of the one [Sage] who says [that] מְנַקִּיוֹת are
branches.
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Showbread: Heb. לֶחֶם פָּנִים, lit., bread of faces, [given this appellation] because it has faces, as I explained [on verse 29]. The number of breads and the order of their stacks are explained in [the parsha of] אֱמֹר אֶל הַכֹּהֲנִים, “Speak to the Cohanim” (Lev. 21:1).
We learn from the Mishna that the breads were baked on Friday and placed on the Table from week to week and would leave the Table warm and fresh as if they had been baked a few minutes before and not the previous week. This was one of the miracles of the Mishkan and Mikdash.
31 And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure
gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made, even its base, and its
shaft; its cups, its knops, and its flowers, shall be of one piece with it. 32
And there shall be six branches going out of the sides thereof: three branches
of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the
candle-stick out of the other side thereof; 33 three cups made like
almond-blossoms in one branch, a knop and a flower; and three cups made like
almond-blossoms in the other branch, a knop and a flower; so for the six
branches going out of the candlestick. 34 And in the candlestick four cups made
like almond-blossoms, the knops thereof, and the flowers thereof. 35 And a knop
under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two branches of one
piece with it, and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, for the six
branches going out of the candlestick. 36 Their knops and their branches shall
be of one piece with it; the whole of it one beaten work of pure gold. 37 And
thou shalt make the lamps thereof, seven; and they shall light the lamps
thereof, to give light over against it. 38 And the tongs thereof, and the
snuffdishes thereof, shall be of pure gold. 39 Of a talent of pure gold shall
it be made, with all these vessels. 40 And see that thou make them after their
pattern, which is being shown thee in the mount.
The items from the Mishkan/Mikdash can been seen here: http://www.templeinstitute.org/vessels_gallery.htm
This is the cleaning vessel
for the Menorah: http://www.templeinstitute.org/vessels_gallery_7.htm
The oil pitcher http://www.templeinstitute.org/vessels_gallery_8.htm
Small golden flask http://www.templeinstitute.org/vessels_gallery_8a.htm
And last but not least the Menorah itself for
more of the items go and search starting from the first link and clicking next:
http://www.templeinstitute.org/vessels_gallery_11.htm
Ble Neder in another year I will
discuss the curtains and claps the board
of the table, gate of the court, wooden altar and other items covered in
chapters 26 and 27. Some of the information used was from 5769 and 5770 prior
to the acquisition of close to 1000 new readers.
Rabbi A. L. sent me the following stories by Shaya Yaroslawitz:
1) Several Gadolei Yisrael
which included Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman, The Gerrer Rebbe and others, saw
the need to meet and discuss important issues
regarding Klal Yisrael.
They decided it would be best to meet in the home of the Gadol Hador
Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv. A few hours before the meeting Rabbi Aryeh
Elyashiv, grandson of the Gadol Hador, noticed something was bothering
his grandfather. He asked his grandfather what was wrong.
Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv
responded, “I am worried about today’s meeting. Everyone that is attending is a
Gadol BeYisrael and I am responsible to honor each one of them. If so,
how can I sit at the head of the table, when all the other important guests sit
around me?”
Rabbi Aryeh Elyashiv tried to
convince his grandfather that its fine and no one would get insulted, in addition
its customary that the baal habayit sits at the head of his table. Reb
Elyashiv was not convinced and still bothered.
Rabbi Aryeh Elyashiv then came
up with an idea of using a round table, in which there is no head, every seat
is exactly the same. The Gadol Hador liked it and said, “That is a Great
idea.”
Rabbi Aryeh Elyashiv ran to a
local Kollel to burrow a round table. When the table was brought in,
Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv was filled with happiness. Rabbi Aryeh Elyashiv
told over, that he then saw his grandfather go into the closet, take out a
table cloth and put it on the round table. He then heard his grandfather Rabbi
Yosef Shalom Elyashiv say in an ecstatic voice, “Ah, now everyone is sitting at
the head!”
2) Subject: Rabbi Chaim Epstein –
Stopping A Chillul HashemUnfortunately a Jew
once went into the office of Yeshiva Zichron Meilech and stole a blank check.
This person then wrote out the check for $3000 and cashed it, stealing from the
Yeshiva. When it was found out and told to the Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim
Epstein, he said don’t dispute the charges, because it will cause a Chillul Hashem. The bank will see that
a Jew stole from another Jew and this will cause a Chillul Hashem. Rabbi
Chaim Epstein did not want the Yeshiva to lose $3000 on his account of stopping
a Chillul Hashem from occurring, so he took off part of his paycheck for
a few years till the entire $3000 was paid back to the Yeshiva.
3) Rabbi Shimon Schwab
To Rabbi Shimon Schwab the
performance of Mitzvot was of great importance. He would put on his hat
and coat prior to doing any Mitzvah, whether big or small. Rabbi Shimon
Schwab has a special love for the Mitzvah of Kiddush Levanah,
also known as Birkat HaLevana. Rabbi Schwab would state that
saying Kiddush Levanah ensures that good things will happen to a person
during that month, a sort of life insurance policy as stated in Beer Heiteiv,
Orach Chaim 426:2.
Rabbi and Rebbetzin
Schwab spent a Shabbos in Philadelphia attending the Bar Mitzvah of a
grandchild. Rabbi Schwab planned to leave and go back home to Washington
Heights right after Shabbos. Their son Rabbi Meyer Schwab was honored with
driving them.
After Rabbi Shimon Schwab had
sat in the car, he noticed the new moon. Even though he had a painful arthritic
condition in his knee, he quickly pulled himself out of the car and said Kiddush
Levanah. He then asked his son, if he said Kiddush Levanah. Rabbi
Meyer, not wanting to delay the trip, told his father he had plenty of time to
say it at another night throughout the week.
Rabbi Shimon Schwab told his
son, “No, say it now, before we start our trip.” Of course Rabbi Meyer listened
to his great father and said Kiddush Levanah right away and then started
driving on their journey home.
As they came to the exit for the
George Washington Bridge, Rabbi Meyer stepped on the brakes before the
tollbooth. He realized he was driving on black ice and had no traction. His car
was spinning and skidded very quickly towards the tollbooth. His car then made
a 360 degree turn and came to a full stop, just inches away from the tollbooth.
Miraculously all the passenger survived without a single scratch.
Rabbi Shimon Schwab then turned
to his son and said, “Nu?”
There was no need to say
anything further. Rabbi Meyer realized the importance of why his father told
him to say Kiddush Levanah before they started on their journey. Whoever
says Kiddush Levanah is ensures that good things will happen to a person
during that month - a lifesaving insurance policy.
Heartwarming story of the week: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4628607,00.html
The Torah
Organization has a tremendous prayer list called Cholim. There are other things
on their prayer list. I have mentioned the couple Shaul ben Rivka and his wife
Michal Rachel bas Geula who are childless here are three more names plus
prisoners and missing in action: Praying for Zara Chaya V'Kayama (The Blessing
of Children):
Batya Leah bat Hindi, Penina Chaya bat Malka Rivka, Sara Rachel bat Chaya Basha (and Doron ben Dora)
Agunos: Rivka Bracha bas Shulamis
Batya Leah bat Hindi, Penina Chaya bat Malka Rivka, Sara Rachel bat Chaya Basha (and Doron ben Dora)
Agunos: Rivka Bracha bas Shulamis
Imprisoned
here and abroad: Dina Chedva bat Chaya Henna (positive outcome of her case), Menachem
Yehudah ben Leah Miriam (held on false charges in a foreign country), Sholom
Mordechai ben Rivka (Shalom Rubashkin), Yehonason ben Malka (Jonathon Pollard),
Robert Levinson (being held in Iran), Warren Weinstein (held captive by al-Qaeda
for more than 2 years in Pakistan)
ISRAELI MIA'S: Guy ben Rena, Ron ben Batya, Tzvi ben Penina, Yekutiel Yehuda Nachman ben Sara , Zecharya Shlomo ben Miriam
ISRAELI MIA'S: Guy ben Rena, Ron ben Batya, Tzvi ben Penina, Yekutiel Yehuda Nachman ben Sara , Zecharya Shlomo ben Miriam
The
environment of Israel is out of whack this year: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191603#.VOans039nIU
Minister
Uri Orbach passes away at the age of 54 he was a writer for the major papers
and then became an MK and afterwards the Minister who cared for the elderly.
Also
passed away this week the young child Adele Chaya: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191466#.VONttU39nIU
Diane
Weber Bederman wrote an editorial on this: http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/obama-eichmann-and-the-banality-of-evil/
- Kashrus advisory on Ricola cough products
- Kashrus alert on Thai Treats, North Miami, FL
- Kashrus alert about Simon C Firemen Community (Trilling House), Randolph, MA
- Kashrus alert on Berentzen Apple Liquor
- Health alert on Hines and Harris Teeter Walnut Halves and Pieces
- Health alert on Elite White Fish Salad
- Additional peanut allergy alert on Pride Of Szeged Sweet Hungarian Paprika
- Health alert on Organic Sacha Inchi Powder
- Clarification of change in certification of Friendly Farms Cottage Cheese & Sour Cream
Remember Brian Williams saying that he was escorted in a
helicopter over Israel with a four star general? Well guess what our Chiefs of
Staff are no more than three stars as we have a change of the guard. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191390#.VOHB_k39nIU
Most of
Israel approaches the average rainfall with more rain due this week. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191378#.VOG5tE39nIU
Having
heard tapes about the Beis Din Shell Maalah and the bringing back of clinically
dead Jews this is no surprise to me: http://www.aol.com/article/2015/02/09/boy-came-back-to-life-after-icy-death/21140777/?icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl22%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D610530
ISIS and
Iraqi Govt. destroying Jewish Graves: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191306#.VN-Itk39nIU
Secret
political deal makes Regev ill: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191312#.VN4RDi5Rf2U
50 grades of organic fertilizer: I didn’t print movie reviews up
until now. (In fact on the last plane flights I was busy writing the blogspot
or sleeping and had no time to see a free good new movie that is about how much
I go. In fact I did not see a free “Hobbit” on my TV). Before you swallow a
sick urge to see a sick non-romantic manipulation of a young woman read this
blog. My wife heard the hype when the book came out in Hebrew “best seller”
romantic. And my wife reads things like that. No romance just sick and she read
about 20 to 25% of the book and called it organic fertilizer in print. In all
my time married I heard reviews of boring, dull, fantastic, nice, etc. but
never fertilizer. This is a movie review by a woman who succumbed to peer
pressure and went: http://www.bonbonbreak.com/letter-children-fifty-shades-grey/ And from a movie critic: boring
two-hour excuse for promotion of sex slavery and domestic violence. This
painful-to-watch movie pimped women on this idea for two hours: ugly, mousy
women can nab billionaires and live the good life . . . if they only submit to
being hit, handcuffed, tortured, and treated like animals. … This movie is
creepy, boring, degrading, and just plain awful. Fifty Shades of Incredibly
Stupid. The “acting” is hilarious, but the lines in the movie are even more so. http://www.debbieschlussel.com/77193/wknd-box-office-fifty-shades-of-grey-the-kingsmen/
Inyanay Diyoma
This time
it was not Debka who said that Herzog-Netanyahu have a pact to have a
government and leave most of the other parties out of it. This time it came
from Lieberman. Netanyahu has avoided at all cost having a narrower loyal right
of center government but prefers either Labor or Livni but not the right. May I
ask why? It is obvious to me that he is not right of center in fact he is more
center-left in his building freeze in the Shomron which continues. He makes a
lot of political declarations before the elections and then switches over
afterwards. We have seen this now 3 times and this will be the 4th
is the alternative to voting more for the right over the Likud worse? Surely
not!
Obama,
Labor and the proxies overplayed their hand against Netanyahu and is backfired
on them: http://debka.com/article/24401/Netanyahu’s-Facebook-act-goes-viral-vaults-Likud-over-rival-campaigns
Denmark
gets a taste of terror: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191329#.VN-MrE39nIU
From the
pictures you get the idea what ISIS and Islam did to the Kurdish Cities and
Villages: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4626469,00.html
Bibi,
Barak, Boehner and Bomb an Ed-Op: http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Into-the-Fray-Bibi-Boehner-and-Barack-and-oh-yes-the-bomb-390891
From David
M. L. The truth is out there: http://www.examiner.com/article/kayla-mueller-exposed-martyr-was-propagandist-for-gaza-islamists
Gail’s Ed-Op: Dear Family &
Friends, “A bad deal is worse than no deal”.
The
current ‘deal’ for Iran really smells bad. OK, it stinks. It’s not
a polite exchange of opinions. It could too easily lead to a vicious
exchange of Nukes – by Iran’s ICBMs with Nukes against America &
Europe. Or, like in Tom Clancy’s “Sum of All Fears”, a dirty bomb hidden
in a vending machine that takes out Baltimore & the President’s plane with
an EMP, Electro-Magnetic Pulse that downs all airplanes by shocking all computers
& electrical devices – sending us back to the Stone Age.
Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? Well, we all should be sufficiently
afraid to take the proper defensive stance. Remember: “Whether
tis nobler in the mind to accept the slings & arrows of outrageous fortune
or by taking up arms, end them.” (Thank you Will Shakespeare.)
Shabbat
is a coming in with a wild rain storm here in Jerusalem, washing away the dust
& mud from 2-3 days of a vicious duststorm. No time for the Index
& spell-checking. Have a wonderful night, sweet day. Shabbat Shalom
All the very best, Gail/Geula/Savta/Savta Raba x
2/Mom Why is Yemen
so important to Israel? When the Houti Rebels captured control of Yemen’s
capital Sana’a, the Iranians who support, sponsor & control the Houtis now
can control & close at will the Bab El Mandab Straits which are a true
bottleneck to shipping for the Suez Canal, as well as Israel’s Eilat &
Mediterranean Ports.
Copenhagen
Synagogue attacked at midnight gunman eventually shot dead: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4626584,00.html
Israel
has a bunker mentality which is perhaps good for civilians but not good for the
army. How to minimize time in the bunkers is being developed: http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Security-and-Defense-Revolutionizing-rocket-warnings-390900 But an ex-general talking big as a politician
mentions bring the war to the enemy instead of sitting in bunkers: I don’t
think it was the Defense Minister but the Prime Minister who lacked the guts: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-Elections/Israels-would-be-defense-ministers-slam-Yaalon-for-not-defeating-Hamas-391019
IAF Chief
Major General Eshel we may have to send planes to Iran tomorrow. http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-air-force-chief-we-may-have-to-send-planes-to-iran-tomorrow/
From
Jerome: What do you expect from an Indonesian Madrassa? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO8qZP_iU9I
The
negotiations in Munich aka Neville Chamberlain Obama-Israel will not be another
Czechoslovakia. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191341#.VOBO3039nIU
Thanks to
Gail: Why are they converting to Islam by Dr. Mordechai Kedar: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/16461#.VOBWey5Rf2U
Also from Gail an article by L. Liebovitz: Last week, I had some unkind words for the New York Times, whose
account of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress had to be
amended to reflect the fact that Bibi accepted the invitation after the White House was informed, not
before. No sooner had the piece run than friends, colleagues, & assorted
observers began to frantically assail me with the idea that while the Times had issued a correction, the question
of whether Bibi accepted the invitation before or after wasn’t important after
all. The real issue, they scolded me, in increasingly exasperated &
acrimonious language, was & remains Bibi’s flaunting of the established
rules of respectful behavior.
In the Calvin & Hobbes comics, Calvin enjoyed playing a very
special game called Calvinball, in which he made up the
rules as he went along to make sure he was always winning. Reading the
continuous coverage of Bibi’s visit in the last few days makes you feel that
the White House & its supporters are now playing their own version of
Calvinball; let’s call it “protocol,” which is the official-sounding scare-word
they use to imply that Bibi’s behavior was thoroughly out-of-bounds. … March 24 is the deadline for the
framework agreement in the ongoing negotiations with Iran. As Michael Doran, a
former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense & senior policy director
in charge of the Middle East at the National Security Council, has shown in his factually grounded analysis of Obama’s Iran policy, when it comes to negotiating with
the Islamic Republic, the Obama Administration is committed to keeping everyone
in the dark. Unaware that he was being recorded, Benjamin Rhodes, a key Obama
national security adviser, told a gathering of Democratic activists last year
that Obama is hoping to keep Congress out of the loop as much as possible.
“We’re already kind of thinking through, how do we structure a deal so we don’t
necessarily require legislative action right away,” Rhodes said. …
Bibi forswore an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities because
of the stated commitment of the past two U.S. administrations to U.N.-approved
sanctions whose stated goal was to eliminate Iran’s capacity to build nuclear
weapons. Now, it seems, American policy has swung 180 degrees in the opposite
direction—toward embracing the idea of an unreconstructed Iran as a key U.S.
ally in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, & beyond. Instead of eliminating Iran’s nuclear
weapons capabilities, the Iranians will be able to retain a large proportion of
their centrifuges & facilities, while sanctions will be
lifted—strengthening the current regime, & allowing the Iranians to buy
more of whatever they want to buy.
The whole article is available at: http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/188940/new-york-times-protocol
Anatomy of a Bad Iran Deal: A Preliminary Assessment by Dore Gold
The lead editorial of the Washington
Post on February 5, 2015, expressed the growing concern in elite
circles with the contours of the emerging nuclear accord between Iran and the
P5+1 (the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany).1 Part
of the concern emanates from the change in the goals of Western negotiators:
rather than eliminate Iran’s
potential to build nuclear weapons, they now want to restrict Iranian
capabilities, which would leave Tehran in a position to break out of any
restrictions in the future.2
The best way to evaluate the impending nuclear agreement is to
look at the statements of high-levels officials who have been involved in the
negotiations. While not all of the details of the agreement have been made
public, elements have been disclosed in the international media that are deeply
worrying.
For example, there is the issue of the number of centrifuges
that Iran will be allowed to retain. A centrifuge is a machine that separates
uranium gas into two isotopes: U-238, which does not release nuclear energy,
and U-235, which, when split, can release the energy for either a nuclear
reactor or an atomic bomb. The enrichment process involves producing uranium
with increasing percentages of U-235. At 90 percent purity, the uranium is
characterized as weapons-grade.
Iran currently has 19,000
centrifuges, 9,000 of which are running and 10,000 that are installed but not
operating. Israel's position is that Iran should have zero centrifuges. The reason is that if
Iran truly needs enriched uranium for civilian purposes, it could import
enriched uranium as do roughly 15 other countries, such as Canada, Mexico, and
Spain. The Israeli position is in line with six UN Security Council resolutions
that were adopted between 2006 and 2010, with the support of Russia and China.
If Iran eliminated all of its centrifuges and then chose to build new
centrifuges, the process would take four to five years. There would be ample
time to detect Iran's efforts to enrich uranium beyond what is needed for
civilian purposes and to organize an international response.
According to
Gary Samore, President Obama’s former non-proliferation adviser, at the
beginning of the current round of negotiations, the United States was demanding
that Iran significantly reduce its stock of centrifuges to 1,500, but in doing
so dropped the longstanding U.S. policy that Iran eliminate its centrifuges
completely.3
The numbers are important. In a scenario of "breakout,” in
which the Iranians race to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for their first
atomic bomb, the number of centrifuges largely determines the amount of time
the Iranians will need to accomplish this goal.
In addition to the number of centrifuges that Iran has, there is
also the issue of the amount of enriched uranium that Iran has already
stockpiled. With enough low-enriched uranium, Iran can make a final push to
weapons-grade uranium for an atomic bomb. Robert Einhorn, the former special
advisor for nonproliferation and arms control during the Obama administration,
has calculated that if Iran uses 1,500 kilograms of low-enriched uranium and
inserts it into 2,000 centrifuges, Iran will have one bomb’s worth of
weapons-grade uranium in 12 to 14 months.4
But from what we know today about the impending nuclear deal,
Iran will need much less time to "breakout" to a bomb. According to
multiple press reports, Western negotiators have raised the ceiling for the
number of centrifuges that Iran will be allowed to have: they have gone from 1,500 to
4,500, and they now appear to be ready to let the Iranians have 6,000
centrifuges.5 According to Einhorn’s calculations mentioned above, with 1,500
kilograms of enriched uranium and 6,000 centrifuges, Iran can produce enough
weapons-grade uranium for an atomic bomb in six months.6
David Albright, formerly
with the International Atomic Energy Agency, has estimated that with just
2,000-4,000 centrifuges Iran could achieve "breakout" in six months.7
Others suggest that the breakout timeline is even less than six months. For example, Congressman
Ed Royce, Chairman of the HouseForeign AffairsCommittee, has warned that on the
basis of expert testimony given to his committee, should Iran be permitted to
keep just 4,000 centrifuges, it would have a breakout time of only three months.8
There are other factors that can shorten this breakout time even
more. Iran has second-generation
IR-2 centrifuges that are more sophisticated and powerful which have not been
activated yet. The IR-5, with an even higher rate of enrichment, is in advanced
stages of research and was already tested last fall.9 If these
advanced centrifuges are activated, the Iranian breakout time will be cut
precipitously.
Albright concluded that a six-month breakout time would be the
minimum needed to allow for an effective international response – presumably
U.S.-led – to an Iranian violation. Thus, the 6,000 centrifuge limit that the
P5+1 negotiators are presently proposing will not allow sufficient time to
respond to an Iranian breakout.
However, if
the Obama administration decides to proceed, countries in the Middle East are
likely to conclude that under these conditions, the United States has reached a
bad agreement with Iran. The evaluation here is largely based on the number of
centrifuges the agreement allows.
There are other dimensions to the nuclear deal with Iran that
are no less important. Dennis Ross, who also served in the Obama administration
and worked on the Iran file, co-authored an article on Jan. 23 expressing
similar concerns. "During the course of the nuclear negotiations over
the past year, Iran has been the beneficiary of a generous catalogue of
concessions from the West," Ross wrote. "The 5-plus-1 has
conceded to Iranian enrichment, agreed that Tehran need not scale back the number
of its centrifuges significantly or dismantle any facilities and could have an
industrial-size program after passage of a period of time."10
Undoubtedly, other countries in the Middle East will react to
these concessions by accelerating their own nuclear programs. It was not
surprising to see the news report on Feb. 10 that Egypt was to procure a new
nuclear reactor from Russia.11 Nuclear proliferation is likely to
spread to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Turkey, and others. A multi-polar Middle East,
which is currently facing a radical Islamist wave, will have none of the
stability of the East-West balance during the Cold War. A bad agreement with
Iran, in short, will leave the world a much more dangerous place.
The Danes
arrest two more suspected terrorist: http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Report-Danish-police-raid-Internet-cafe-arrest-2-in-terror-attacks-investigation-391088
US has
stopped updating Israel: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191374#.VOD2Mk39nIU
From
Shona: This is an ex-marine talking about the fall of Yemen: http://allenbwest.com/2015/02/marines-ordered-destroy-weapons-fleeing-us-embassy-yemen-obama-broadcasts-everything-hes-not-going-isis/
From Gail an article by
Caroline Glick: US President Barack Obama is mainstreaming anti-Semitism in America.
This week, apropos of seemingly nothing, in an interview with Mathew Yglesias from the Vox.com website, Obama was asked about terrorism. In his answer the president said the terrorism threat is overrated. & that was far from the most disturbing statement he made.
Moving from the general to the specific, Obama referred to the jihadists who committed last month’s massacres in Paris as “a bunch of violent vicious zealots,” who “randomly shot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris.”
In other words, Ahmedy Coulibaly, the terrorist at Hyper Cacher, the kosher supermarket he targeted, was just some zealot. The Jews he murdered while they were shopping for Shabbat were just “a bunch of folks in a deli,” presumably shot down while ordering their turkey & cheese sandwiches.
No matter that Coulibaly called a French TV station from the kosher supermarket & said he was an al-Qaida terrorist & that he chose the kosher supermarket because he wanted to kill Jews.
As far as the leader of the free world is concerned, his massacre of four Jews at the market can teach us nothing about anything other than that some random people are mean & some random people are unlucky.
And anyway, Obama explained, we’re only talking about this random act of senseless violence because as he said, “If it bleeds, it leads.” The media, desperate for an audience, inflates the significance of these acts of random violence, for ratings.
Obama’s statement about the massacre of Jews in Paris is notable first & foremost for what it reveals about his comfort level with anti-Semitism.
By de-Judaizing the victims, who were targets only because they were Jews, Obama denied the uniqueness of the threat jihadist Islam & its adherents pose to Jews. By pretending that Jews are not specifically targeted for murder simply because they are Jews, he dismissed the legitimate concerns Jews harbor for their safety, whether in Diaspora communities or in Israel.
If nothing distinguished Coulibaly’s massacre at Hyper Cacher from a mugging or an armed robbery gone bad, then Jews have no right to receive unique consideration – whether for their community’s security in London or Paris, or San Francisco – or for Israel’s security.
As subsequent statements from administration spokespeople made clear, Obama’s statement was not a gaffe. When questioned about his remarks, both White House spokesman Josh Earnest & State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki doubled down on Obama’s denial of the anti-Semitic nature of the massacre at Hyper Cacher. Earnest said that the Jews who were murdered were people who just “randomly happened to be” at the supermarket.
Psaki said that the victims didn’t share a common background or nationality, pretending away the bothersome fact that they were all Jews.
Just as bad as their denials of the anti-Jewish nature of the attack on Hyper Cacher, were Psaki’s & Earnest’s belated revisions of their remarks. After coming under a storm of criticism from American Jews & from the conservative media, both Psaki & Earnest turned to their Twitter accounts to walk back their remarks & admit that indeed, the massacre at Hyper Cacher was an anti-Semitic assault.
Their walk back was no better than their initial denial of the anti-Jewish nature of the Islamist attack, because it amplified the very anti-Semitism they previously promoted.
As many Obama supporters no doubt interpreted their behavior, first Obama & his flaks stood strong in their conviction that Jews are not specifically targeted. Then after they were excoriated for their statements by Jews & conservatives, they changed their tune.
The subtext is clear. The same Jews who are targeted no more than anyone else, are so powerful & all controlling that they forced the poor Obama administration to bow to their will & parrot their false & self-serving narrative of victimization.
The administration’s denial of the unique threat Jews face from jihadists is not limited to its anti-Semitic characterizations of the attack at Hyper Cacher.
It runs as well through Obama’s treatment of Israel & its actions to defend itself against its jihadist enemies from Hamas to Hezb’Allah to Iran.
Today, the most outstanding example of Obama’s exploitation of anti-Semitic tropes to diminish US support for Israel is his campaign to delegitimize Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ahead of his scheduled speech before the joint houses of Congress on March 3.
As we belatedly learned from a small correction at the bottom of a New York Times article on January 30, contrary to the White House’s claim, Netanyahu did not blindside Obama when he accepted Speaker of the House John Boehner’s invitation to address the Congress. He informed the White House of his intention to accept Boehner’s offer before he accepted it.
Netanyahu did not breach White House protocol.
He did not behave rudely or disrespectfully toward Obama.
The only one that behaved disrespectfully & rudely was Obama in his shabby & slanderous treatment of Netanyahu. It was Obama who peddled the lie that Netanyahu was using the speech not to legitimately present Israel’s concerns regarding the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran, but to selfishly advance his political fortunes on the back of America’s national security interests & the independence of its foreign policy.
It was Obama & Vice President Joe Biden who spearheaded efforts to coerce Democratic lawmakers to boycott Netanyahu’s speech by announcing that they would refuse to meet with the leader of the US’s closest ally in the Middle East during his stay in Washington.
So far only 15 members of the House & three Senators have announced their intention to boycott Netanyahu’s speech. But even if all the other Democratic lawmakers do attend his speech, the impact of Obama’s campaign to defame Netanyahu will long be felt.
First of all, if all goes as he hopes, the media & his party members will use his demonization of Netanyahu’s character as a means to dismiss the warnings that Netanyahu will clearly sound in his address.
Second, by boycotting Netanyahu & encouraging Democrats to do the same, Obama is mainstreaming the anti-Semitic boycott, divestment & sanctions movement to isolate Israel.
Moreover, he is mobilizing Democratic pressure groups like J Street & MoveOn.org to make it costly for Democratic politicians to continue to support Israel.
There is another aspect of the Hyper Cacher massacre, which was similarly ignored by the White House & that bears a direct relationship to Obama’s attempt to destroy the credibility of Netanyahu’s warnings about his Iran policy.
Whereas the journalists murdered at Charlie Hebdo magazine were killed because their illustrations of Muhammad offended Muslim fascists, the Jews murdered at Hyper Cacher were targeted for murder because they were Jews. In other words, the Islamist hatred of Jews is inherently genocidal, not situational.
If Islamists have the capacity to annihilate the Jews, they will do so. & this brings us back to Obama’s statement to Vox.com. As is his habit, Obama refused to use the term Islamic to describe the “violent, vicious zealots” who randomly targeted Jews at the Hyper Cacher.
Since the outset of his presidency, Obama has vigilantly denied the connection between Islamism & terrorism & has mischaracterized jihad as peaceful self-reflection, along the lines of psychotherapy. Last week his denial of the Islamist nature of jihadist assaults worldwide rose to new heights when in his remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast he compared today’s jihadists to the Crusaders from a thousand years ago. & whereas he identified the Crusaders as Christians, he refused to acknowledge that today’s mass murdering zealots act in the name of Islam.
Obama’s stubborn, absurd & dangerous refusal to mention the word Islam in connection with the war being waged worldwide by millions in its name, coupled with his eagerness to always compare this unnamed scourge to the past evils of Western societies, indicates that his defense of Islamic supremacism is not merely a policy preference but rather reflects a deeper ideological commitment. The perception that Obama either does not oppose or embraces Islamic extremism is strengthened when coupled with his appalling attempts to ignore the fact of Islamic Jew-hatred & its genocidal nature & his moves to demonize Netanyahu for daring to oppose his policy toward Iran.
It is in this policy & in Obama’s wider Middle East strategy that we find the real world consequences of Obama’s denial of the unique victimization & targeting of Jews & the Jewish state by Islamic terrorists & Islamist regimes.
Loopholes in Obama’s interim nuclear framework deal with Iran from November 2013 have allowed Iran to make significant advances in its nuclear weapons program while still formally abiding by its commitments under the agreement. Iran has stopped enriching uranium to 20 percent purity levels, & sufficed with enriching uranium to 3.5% purity. But at the same time it has developed & begun using advanced centrifuges that enrich so quickly that the distinction between 3.5% & 20% enrichment levels becomes irrelevant. Iran has made significant advances in its ballistic missile program, including in its development of intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads. It has continued its development of nuclear bombs, & it has enriched sufficient quantities of uranium to produce one to two nuclear bombs.
According to leaked reports, the permanent nuclear deal that Obama seeks to convince Iran to sign would further facilitate Iran’s ascension to the nuclear club. Among other things, the deal will place a time limit on the already ineffective inspections regime, thus blinding the world entirely to Iran’s nuclear activities.
At the same time that Obama is facilitating Iran’s emergence as a nuclear power, he is doing nothing to stop its regional empowerment. Today Iran controls Syria, Iraq & Yemen & holds sway over Lebanon & Gaza. It threatens Saudi Arabia, & its Muslim Brotherhood allies threaten Egypt & Jordan.
As for Obama’s allied campaign against Islamic State in Syria & Iraq, the largest beneficiary to date of the US-led campaign has been Iran. Since the US-led campaign began last fall, Iran has achieved all but public US support for its control over the Iraqi military & for the survival of the Assad regime in Syria.
The trajectory of Obama’s policies is obvious. He is clearing the path for a nuclear armed Iran that controls large swathes of the Arab world through its proxies.
It is also clear that Iran intends to use its nuclear arsenal in the same way that Coulibaly used his Kalashnikov – to kill Jews, as many Jews as possible.
Perhaps Obama is acting out of anti-Semitism, perhaps he acts out of sympathy for Islamic fascism.
Whatever the case may be, what is required from Israel, & from Netanyahu, is clear. Speaking to Congress may be a necessary precondition for that action, but it is not the action itself. www.CarolineGlick.com
This week, apropos of seemingly nothing, in an interview with Mathew Yglesias from the Vox.com website, Obama was asked about terrorism. In his answer the president said the terrorism threat is overrated. & that was far from the most disturbing statement he made.
Moving from the general to the specific, Obama referred to the jihadists who committed last month’s massacres in Paris as “a bunch of violent vicious zealots,” who “randomly shot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris.”
In other words, Ahmedy Coulibaly, the terrorist at Hyper Cacher, the kosher supermarket he targeted, was just some zealot. The Jews he murdered while they were shopping for Shabbat were just “a bunch of folks in a deli,” presumably shot down while ordering their turkey & cheese sandwiches.
No matter that Coulibaly called a French TV station from the kosher supermarket & said he was an al-Qaida terrorist & that he chose the kosher supermarket because he wanted to kill Jews.
As far as the leader of the free world is concerned, his massacre of four Jews at the market can teach us nothing about anything other than that some random people are mean & some random people are unlucky.
And anyway, Obama explained, we’re only talking about this random act of senseless violence because as he said, “If it bleeds, it leads.” The media, desperate for an audience, inflates the significance of these acts of random violence, for ratings.
Obama’s statement about the massacre of Jews in Paris is notable first & foremost for what it reveals about his comfort level with anti-Semitism.
By de-Judaizing the victims, who were targets only because they were Jews, Obama denied the uniqueness of the threat jihadist Islam & its adherents pose to Jews. By pretending that Jews are not specifically targeted for murder simply because they are Jews, he dismissed the legitimate concerns Jews harbor for their safety, whether in Diaspora communities or in Israel.
If nothing distinguished Coulibaly’s massacre at Hyper Cacher from a mugging or an armed robbery gone bad, then Jews have no right to receive unique consideration – whether for their community’s security in London or Paris, or San Francisco – or for Israel’s security.
As subsequent statements from administration spokespeople made clear, Obama’s statement was not a gaffe. When questioned about his remarks, both White House spokesman Josh Earnest & State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki doubled down on Obama’s denial of the anti-Semitic nature of the massacre at Hyper Cacher. Earnest said that the Jews who were murdered were people who just “randomly happened to be” at the supermarket.
Psaki said that the victims didn’t share a common background or nationality, pretending away the bothersome fact that they were all Jews.
Just as bad as their denials of the anti-Jewish nature of the attack on Hyper Cacher, were Psaki’s & Earnest’s belated revisions of their remarks. After coming under a storm of criticism from American Jews & from the conservative media, both Psaki & Earnest turned to their Twitter accounts to walk back their remarks & admit that indeed, the massacre at Hyper Cacher was an anti-Semitic assault.
Their walk back was no better than their initial denial of the anti-Jewish nature of the Islamist attack, because it amplified the very anti-Semitism they previously promoted.
As many Obama supporters no doubt interpreted their behavior, first Obama & his flaks stood strong in their conviction that Jews are not specifically targeted. Then after they were excoriated for their statements by Jews & conservatives, they changed their tune.
The subtext is clear. The same Jews who are targeted no more than anyone else, are so powerful & all controlling that they forced the poor Obama administration to bow to their will & parrot their false & self-serving narrative of victimization.
The administration’s denial of the unique threat Jews face from jihadists is not limited to its anti-Semitic characterizations of the attack at Hyper Cacher.
It runs as well through Obama’s treatment of Israel & its actions to defend itself against its jihadist enemies from Hamas to Hezb’Allah to Iran.
Today, the most outstanding example of Obama’s exploitation of anti-Semitic tropes to diminish US support for Israel is his campaign to delegitimize Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ahead of his scheduled speech before the joint houses of Congress on March 3.
As we belatedly learned from a small correction at the bottom of a New York Times article on January 30, contrary to the White House’s claim, Netanyahu did not blindside Obama when he accepted Speaker of the House John Boehner’s invitation to address the Congress. He informed the White House of his intention to accept Boehner’s offer before he accepted it.
Netanyahu did not breach White House protocol.
He did not behave rudely or disrespectfully toward Obama.
The only one that behaved disrespectfully & rudely was Obama in his shabby & slanderous treatment of Netanyahu. It was Obama who peddled the lie that Netanyahu was using the speech not to legitimately present Israel’s concerns regarding the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran, but to selfishly advance his political fortunes on the back of America’s national security interests & the independence of its foreign policy.
It was Obama & Vice President Joe Biden who spearheaded efforts to coerce Democratic lawmakers to boycott Netanyahu’s speech by announcing that they would refuse to meet with the leader of the US’s closest ally in the Middle East during his stay in Washington.
So far only 15 members of the House & three Senators have announced their intention to boycott Netanyahu’s speech. But even if all the other Democratic lawmakers do attend his speech, the impact of Obama’s campaign to defame Netanyahu will long be felt.
First of all, if all goes as he hopes, the media & his party members will use his demonization of Netanyahu’s character as a means to dismiss the warnings that Netanyahu will clearly sound in his address.
Second, by boycotting Netanyahu & encouraging Democrats to do the same, Obama is mainstreaming the anti-Semitic boycott, divestment & sanctions movement to isolate Israel.
Moreover, he is mobilizing Democratic pressure groups like J Street & MoveOn.org to make it costly for Democratic politicians to continue to support Israel.
There is another aspect of the Hyper Cacher massacre, which was similarly ignored by the White House & that bears a direct relationship to Obama’s attempt to destroy the credibility of Netanyahu’s warnings about his Iran policy.
Whereas the journalists murdered at Charlie Hebdo magazine were killed because their illustrations of Muhammad offended Muslim fascists, the Jews murdered at Hyper Cacher were targeted for murder because they were Jews. In other words, the Islamist hatred of Jews is inherently genocidal, not situational.
If Islamists have the capacity to annihilate the Jews, they will do so. & this brings us back to Obama’s statement to Vox.com. As is his habit, Obama refused to use the term Islamic to describe the “violent, vicious zealots” who randomly targeted Jews at the Hyper Cacher.
Since the outset of his presidency, Obama has vigilantly denied the connection between Islamism & terrorism & has mischaracterized jihad as peaceful self-reflection, along the lines of psychotherapy. Last week his denial of the Islamist nature of jihadist assaults worldwide rose to new heights when in his remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast he compared today’s jihadists to the Crusaders from a thousand years ago. & whereas he identified the Crusaders as Christians, he refused to acknowledge that today’s mass murdering zealots act in the name of Islam.
Obama’s stubborn, absurd & dangerous refusal to mention the word Islam in connection with the war being waged worldwide by millions in its name, coupled with his eagerness to always compare this unnamed scourge to the past evils of Western societies, indicates that his defense of Islamic supremacism is not merely a policy preference but rather reflects a deeper ideological commitment. The perception that Obama either does not oppose or embraces Islamic extremism is strengthened when coupled with his appalling attempts to ignore the fact of Islamic Jew-hatred & its genocidal nature & his moves to demonize Netanyahu for daring to oppose his policy toward Iran.
It is in this policy & in Obama’s wider Middle East strategy that we find the real world consequences of Obama’s denial of the unique victimization & targeting of Jews & the Jewish state by Islamic terrorists & Islamist regimes.
Loopholes in Obama’s interim nuclear framework deal with Iran from November 2013 have allowed Iran to make significant advances in its nuclear weapons program while still formally abiding by its commitments under the agreement. Iran has stopped enriching uranium to 20 percent purity levels, & sufficed with enriching uranium to 3.5% purity. But at the same time it has developed & begun using advanced centrifuges that enrich so quickly that the distinction between 3.5% & 20% enrichment levels becomes irrelevant. Iran has made significant advances in its ballistic missile program, including in its development of intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads. It has continued its development of nuclear bombs, & it has enriched sufficient quantities of uranium to produce one to two nuclear bombs.
According to leaked reports, the permanent nuclear deal that Obama seeks to convince Iran to sign would further facilitate Iran’s ascension to the nuclear club. Among other things, the deal will place a time limit on the already ineffective inspections regime, thus blinding the world entirely to Iran’s nuclear activities.
At the same time that Obama is facilitating Iran’s emergence as a nuclear power, he is doing nothing to stop its regional empowerment. Today Iran controls Syria, Iraq & Yemen & holds sway over Lebanon & Gaza. It threatens Saudi Arabia, & its Muslim Brotherhood allies threaten Egypt & Jordan.
As for Obama’s allied campaign against Islamic State in Syria & Iraq, the largest beneficiary to date of the US-led campaign has been Iran. Since the US-led campaign began last fall, Iran has achieved all but public US support for its control over the Iraqi military & for the survival of the Assad regime in Syria.
The trajectory of Obama’s policies is obvious. He is clearing the path for a nuclear armed Iran that controls large swathes of the Arab world through its proxies.
It is also clear that Iran intends to use its nuclear arsenal in the same way that Coulibaly used his Kalashnikov – to kill Jews, as many Jews as possible.
Perhaps Obama is acting out of anti-Semitism, perhaps he acts out of sympathy for Islamic fascism.
Whatever the case may be, what is required from Israel, & from Netanyahu, is clear. Speaking to Congress may be a necessary precondition for that action, but it is not the action itself. www.CarolineGlick.com
Egypt
does not play games with ISIS like the USA they like Jordan bomb them. After
the beheading of the Copts, Egypt tares them apart: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4627037,00.html
Iran is
apocalyptic in its vision: http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Yaalon-Iran-has-apocalyptic-messianic-ambition-391169
Over 1000
Hezballah troops and countless Iranians on the Golan trying to get close to
Israel’s border: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191366#.VOG-tU39nIU
From
Naomi: The Alarm is going off about radical Islam and there are a lot of deaf
ears: http://newsblaze.com/story/20150215194315nurg.nb/topstory.html
The new
chief of staff and what he has to face an Ed-Op the right man at the right
time: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4627321,00.html
Hezballah
and Iran against ISIS one radical Islam for the second. http://debka.com/article/24406/Thousands-of-Afghan-Pakistani-Shiites-in-Hizballah’s-advance-on-Golan
PLO on
the Temple Mount http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191472#.VOOlB039nIU
Eisenkot’s
first wall will be for the budget: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4627655,00.html
Obama’s
it’s in the bag agreement with Iran: http://debka.com/article/24410/Information-about-the-US-Iranian-nuclear-dialogue-is-no-longer-“sensitive-”-For-Obama-it’s-a-done-deal
We should
have cut off power and water to Gaza ISIS is not Israeli and punishes Muslims
too: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191500#.VORQwU39nIU
No more
Gush Katif from an Israeli Government Pledges the Rabbi of Eli Yeshai: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191495#.VORR4E39nIU
From
Moshe C. Anti-Semitism form Swedish Radio: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191488#
Uncle Joe
creeps some people out: http://www.aol.com/article/2015/02/17/biden-gets-too-close-for-comfort-while-swearing-in-new-defense-secretary/21143683/?icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl17%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D614612
Jihad - Admiral
Lions or Lyons speaks up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqkZBWd6-nI#t=95
Republicans
and some Jewish Democrats welcome Netanyahu: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191540#.VOWUIk39nIU
ISIS is
at the gateway to Europe: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4628475,00.html
London
the anti-Semitic female dog in photo of BDS: http://daphneanson.blogspot.co.il/2015/02/in-london-jewish-human-rights-watch.html?spref=fb
From
Pamela Gravestones desecrated in New Zealand: http://www.jta.org/2015/02/17/news-opinion/world/jewish-gravestones-vandalized-in-new-zealand?utm_source=Newsletter+subscribers&utm_campaign=7bccbdd059-JTA_Daily_Briefing_2_18_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2dce5bc6f8-7bccbdd059-27068621
Lost and
found dept. Chemical Weapons in Iraq http://conservativetribune.com/iraq-chemical-weapons/
Iran and
Hezballah approaching the Golan Heights and where is Israel? http://debka.com/article/24412/Syrian-“friendly-fire”-kills-scores-of-Iranian-Hizballah-soldiers-on-way-to-Golan
ISLAM run
amok at http://tobtr.com/s/7360199.
#BlogTalkRadio
Suing the terrorist money away: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/191597#.VObf3E39nIU
I found this in my 5769 Sefer Shemos Drasha: TZIPI LIVNI’S "BIRD" COSTUMES by Emanuel A. Winston,
Mid East analyst & commentator
Israel’s Foreign Minister Tzipi
Livni once again displayed her numerous "bird" costumes. (Note: Tzipi
is a nickname for Tzippora, which means "bird".)
First, she flutters her wings as a
"dove". She never was a "hawk".
Then, in a twinkling she becomes a
"tweety bird", chirping about a "cease-fire" in a righteous
war that leaves the Muslim Arab Palestinian Hamas Terrorists fully loaded with
long range missiles and no closure of the smuggling tunnels which are enabled
by Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak.
One is reminded of the sophomoric
President George W. Bush, looking into Vladimir Putin’s eyes and seeing his
"good soul".
However, when you look into Tzipi
Livni’s eyes, all you may see is the back of her skull, with no visible brains
to interfere. Livni may be the dumbest Foreign Minister Israel ever had.
Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, the malicious friend of the Muslim Arab Palestinian
Terrorists, loves Livni because for her it’s no trouble to insert into the
vacuum of Livni’s mind, any deal Rice wants.
We all recall the stupid bumbling
of Livni agreeing to the Summer 2006 Lebanon War cease-fire UN Resolution 1701,
which put Hezballah into the hands of UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in
Lebanon) and the immediate re-building of Hezballah arms and Terrorist militia,
without a peep from the empty-headed Livni.
Instead of learning from her
egregious errors, Livni has signed on to the same useless deal to end the Gaza
War, UN Resolution 1860, which was prepared by Rice.
Livni is a clear and present danger
to the Jewish nation, her soldiers, civilians - even to herself.
Now, if you should look into the
eyes of Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (resigned due to imminent criminal
indictments but, still in power) and Defense Minister Ehud Barak (whose
election campaign posters proclaim he isn’t "nice"), you could see
twisted wires, short-circuiting their thinking - except for a few remaining
connections which are connected to their self-serving drive to survive with the
power of their offices.
No sacrifice of others would be too
great.
This group of uglies act as if they
were infected by the dreaded Ebola virus that liquefies brains, among other
bodily organs.
A short review of the last few
days from Gail Winston Dear Family
& Friends,
Some pertinent articles about
our political system that must be improved…followed by Destruction of Migron despite no Arab claims to the land it was on.
Giullo Meotti astutely pins the blame on the donkeys who caused Adelle Biton’s
death by rock. They were no “Lone Wolves”. They’d been spawned & educated
by virulent Jew-Haters. That the current American President has filled all of
his National Security Agencies with Muslim Brotherhood members does not
surprise me. It was soo obvious. So, of course, Israel has not been briefed by
what’s really in the upcoming agreement for Iran to continue to nurture its
snaky path to Nuclear Empire, called a Global Caliphate run by Sharia Law that
beheads, stabs, slices, shoots, burns its intended victims – with NUKES?!
Depends on Obama?? Enjoy the snow. Stay warm. Drive safe if you have to be on
the streets.
Have a wonderful night, a fun
day, make a snow-man with your kids (or borrow some).
All the very best,
Gail/Geula/Savta/Savta Raba/Mom
Now for M. Wolfberg’s Good Shabbos Story “The big house”
Good
Shabbos Everyone. Anyone who has ever been to Yerushalayim can testify to the
strong feelings a Jew experiences when visiting the holiest city in the world.
The center of holiness in Yerushalayim is the Har Habayis, where the Bais
HaMikdash stood. Yerushalayim is the main pipeline through which all prayers go
up to heaven. And the Bais HaMikdash was the faucet for that
pipeline. Unfortunately the Bais HaMikdash was destroyed and we speedily
await its rebuilding every day. Thankfully, Hashem has promised us that even
without the Bais HaMikdash, we can still reach Him with prayer. The primary
place for prayer is now with a minyan in our shuls.
Our shuls are mini-sanctuaries which temporarily take the place of the Bais HaMikdash in Yerushalayim. As the Prophet Yechezkel tells us “Thus said the L-rd Hashem/G-d: Though I have removed them far away among the nations and though I have scattered them among the lands, yet I have been for them a small sanctuary” (11:16) The commentator Metzudas Dovid explains the verse to mean: Even though we may be exiled among the nations and we are far away from the Bais HaMikdash in Yerushalayim, we should build small sanctuaries - shuls so that Hashem may dwell among them. Just as the Bais HaMikdash was a dwelling place for Hashem’s holy presence, so too are our shuls the dwelling place of Hashem.
The idea that we must build shuls for Hashem is hinted to in a verse in this week’s Parsha Terumah: "Make for Me a holy house and I will dwell in them." (Shemos 25:8) The simple meaning of this verse according to Rashi, is that the Bnai Yisroel must build the Bais HaMikdash.
Grammatically, it would seem to make sense that verse should say: "Make for Me a holy house and I will dwell in it." Commentators note from the fact that the verse states: “and I will dwell in them," that the verse is hinting to Hashem’s desire to dwell not only in the Bais HaMikdash, but in every holy house that we build for Hashem, namely shuls. That is why the verse uses the plural “them.”
Just as the Bais HaMikdash was a dwelling place for Hashem’s holy presence, so too are our shuls the dwelling place of Hashem. Therefore, walking into a shul we should keep in mind that we are walking into a Mikdash Me’at, a miniature version of the Bais HaMikdash in Yerushalayim. The Bais HaMikdash was so great that merely seeing it had the power to put a Jew on the proper path in his service of Hashem. (Rav Avrohom Shorr) We should therefore be struck with awe (moirah) when coming into Hashem’s house.
After the passing of Reb Menachem Mendel of Kotsk, his Chassidim took upon themselves the leadership of Reb Yitzchak Meir of Ger, who lived at the time in Warsaw. After a few years in Warsaw, Reb Yitzchok Meir thought it preferable that he move to a small town. The number of Chassidim coming to visit him and to hear his teachings had grown to thousands, and he did not think it advisable that the younger scholars should spend long periods in a big city.
The word spread like wildfire, and from all directions came requests from representatives of communities that Reb Yitzhok Meir become their spiritual leader. None of these invitations were accepted, until an invitation came from the small town of Ger (Gora Kalwaria) near Warsaw, and this the rebbe accepted at once.
At first the rebbe lived in the house which the people of Ger kept for the local rav, and his Chassidim studied and prayed in the community's beis midrash. Seeing, however, that this building could not accommodate the thousands of Chassidim who streamed there from all parts of Poland, the more prosperous amongst the Chassidim undertook to build a fitting residence for their rebbe, and next to it a spacious shul for his Chassidim. At the festive dedication of the Shul the rebbe entered the grand edifice for the first time, surrounded by huge crowds of Chassidim, and his joy at the completion of the mitzvah was beautiful to see. His address for the occasion spoke of what entering a beis midrash can do for a Jew.
He began with the Mishnah which explains: that on the day that Rabban Gamliel was removed from the office of nasi, they removed the guard from the door of the House of Study, and permission was granted to all talmidim to enter. When Rabban Gamliel had been nasi, he used to announce: “Any talmid whose inside does not match his external appearance - let him not enter the Bais Midrash.” On the day that Rabban Gamliel left office, many benches were added in the Bais Midrash, because many students who had been denied admission were now let in. Rabban Gamliel saw this and was in distress.
Why was Rabban Gamliel in distress? "Rashi," continued Reb Yitzchak Meir of Ger,” explains this last phrase by saying that Rabban Gamliel was worried that he would be punished for not having allowed those talmidim - students to enter while he was in charge. The question, though, still stands: what changed Rabban Gamliel's thinking? What made him regret his earlier policy of not letting in talmidim who were not inside as they appeared outside?
And the answer is as follows: Rabban Gamliel watched what happened to these latter talmidim as they entered the study hall: their very entry there made them immediately fix their avairas. And this explains Rabban Gamliel’s worry. He regretted not having let them in earlier, for then they might have done teshuvah long before.” (A Treasury of Chassidic Tales on the Torah, p. 264 Reb S.Y. Zevin, Meir Holder, trans.)
With all the turmoil going on in the world, we can look to our shuls and our study houses as safe houses where we can go to learn Hashem’s Torah and talk to Hashem.
And as we pray towards Yerushalayim in our shuls, we ask Hashem to answer our prayers and bring better times. As Yishaya prophesied: And it shall come to pass in the end of days that the mountain of Hashem’s house shall be set over all other mountains and lifted high above the hills and all the nations shall come streaming to it. And many peoples shall come and say: Come let us go up to the Mountain of G-d to the house of the G-d of Jacob and He will teach us His ways and we will walk in His paths. For out of Tzion shall go forth the Torah and Hashem’s word from Yerushalayim. (2:2-3) Good Shabbos Everyone. M. Wolfberg is sponsored by: In Memory of Leah Wolfberg, OBM, Yohrzeit this Shabbos, forever in our hearts. L'illui Nishmas Aryeh Leib ben Avrohom and Malka bas Tzvi Refuah Shleima to Reb Mordechai Mendel ben Tziporah Yitta
Our shuls are mini-sanctuaries which temporarily take the place of the Bais HaMikdash in Yerushalayim. As the Prophet Yechezkel tells us “Thus said the L-rd Hashem/G-d: Though I have removed them far away among the nations and though I have scattered them among the lands, yet I have been for them a small sanctuary” (11:16) The commentator Metzudas Dovid explains the verse to mean: Even though we may be exiled among the nations and we are far away from the Bais HaMikdash in Yerushalayim, we should build small sanctuaries - shuls so that Hashem may dwell among them. Just as the Bais HaMikdash was a dwelling place for Hashem’s holy presence, so too are our shuls the dwelling place of Hashem.
The idea that we must build shuls for Hashem is hinted to in a verse in this week’s Parsha Terumah: "Make for Me a holy house and I will dwell in them." (Shemos 25:8) The simple meaning of this verse according to Rashi, is that the Bnai Yisroel must build the Bais HaMikdash.
Grammatically, it would seem to make sense that verse should say: "Make for Me a holy house and I will dwell in it." Commentators note from the fact that the verse states: “and I will dwell in them," that the verse is hinting to Hashem’s desire to dwell not only in the Bais HaMikdash, but in every holy house that we build for Hashem, namely shuls. That is why the verse uses the plural “them.”
Just as the Bais HaMikdash was a dwelling place for Hashem’s holy presence, so too are our shuls the dwelling place of Hashem. Therefore, walking into a shul we should keep in mind that we are walking into a Mikdash Me’at, a miniature version of the Bais HaMikdash in Yerushalayim. The Bais HaMikdash was so great that merely seeing it had the power to put a Jew on the proper path in his service of Hashem. (Rav Avrohom Shorr) We should therefore be struck with awe (moirah) when coming into Hashem’s house.
After the passing of Reb Menachem Mendel of Kotsk, his Chassidim took upon themselves the leadership of Reb Yitzchak Meir of Ger, who lived at the time in Warsaw. After a few years in Warsaw, Reb Yitzchok Meir thought it preferable that he move to a small town. The number of Chassidim coming to visit him and to hear his teachings had grown to thousands, and he did not think it advisable that the younger scholars should spend long periods in a big city.
The word spread like wildfire, and from all directions came requests from representatives of communities that Reb Yitzhok Meir become their spiritual leader. None of these invitations were accepted, until an invitation came from the small town of Ger (Gora Kalwaria) near Warsaw, and this the rebbe accepted at once.
At first the rebbe lived in the house which the people of Ger kept for the local rav, and his Chassidim studied and prayed in the community's beis midrash. Seeing, however, that this building could not accommodate the thousands of Chassidim who streamed there from all parts of Poland, the more prosperous amongst the Chassidim undertook to build a fitting residence for their rebbe, and next to it a spacious shul for his Chassidim. At the festive dedication of the Shul the rebbe entered the grand edifice for the first time, surrounded by huge crowds of Chassidim, and his joy at the completion of the mitzvah was beautiful to see. His address for the occasion spoke of what entering a beis midrash can do for a Jew.
He began with the Mishnah which explains: that on the day that Rabban Gamliel was removed from the office of nasi, they removed the guard from the door of the House of Study, and permission was granted to all talmidim to enter. When Rabban Gamliel had been nasi, he used to announce: “Any talmid whose inside does not match his external appearance - let him not enter the Bais Midrash.” On the day that Rabban Gamliel left office, many benches were added in the Bais Midrash, because many students who had been denied admission were now let in. Rabban Gamliel saw this and was in distress.
Why was Rabban Gamliel in distress? "Rashi," continued Reb Yitzchak Meir of Ger,” explains this last phrase by saying that Rabban Gamliel was worried that he would be punished for not having allowed those talmidim - students to enter while he was in charge. The question, though, still stands: what changed Rabban Gamliel's thinking? What made him regret his earlier policy of not letting in talmidim who were not inside as they appeared outside?
And the answer is as follows: Rabban Gamliel watched what happened to these latter talmidim as they entered the study hall: their very entry there made them immediately fix their avairas. And this explains Rabban Gamliel’s worry. He regretted not having let them in earlier, for then they might have done teshuvah long before.” (A Treasury of Chassidic Tales on the Torah, p. 264 Reb S.Y. Zevin, Meir Holder, trans.)
With all the turmoil going on in the world, we can look to our shuls and our study houses as safe houses where we can go to learn Hashem’s Torah and talk to Hashem.
And as we pray towards Yerushalayim in our shuls, we ask Hashem to answer our prayers and bring better times. As Yishaya prophesied: And it shall come to pass in the end of days that the mountain of Hashem’s house shall be set over all other mountains and lifted high above the hills and all the nations shall come streaming to it. And many peoples shall come and say: Come let us go up to the Mountain of G-d to the house of the G-d of Jacob and He will teach us His ways and we will walk in His paths. For out of Tzion shall go forth the Torah and Hashem’s word from Yerushalayim. (2:2-3) Good Shabbos Everyone. M. Wolfberg is sponsored by: In Memory of Leah Wolfberg, OBM, Yohrzeit this Shabbos, forever in our hearts. L'illui Nishmas Aryeh Leib ben Avrohom and Malka bas Tzvi Refuah Shleima to Reb Mordechai Mendel ben Tziporah Yitta
Good Shabbos everybody please keep warm and have a healthy,
peaceful Shabbos,
Rachamim Pauli
