Friday, May 4, 2018

Parsha Behar, Editorial, stories


Maybe a number of readers thought that I was a bit off of my rocker when I wrote this but the second news item below unfortunately proves that I was all too correct: Two weeks ago in the Parsha on Lev. 18:23 And thou shalt not lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith; neither shall any woman stand before a beast, to lie down thereto; it is perversion.
http://www.wwl.com/articles/louisiana-law-ban-sex-animals-wins-senate-vote-25-10 I have warned and continue to warn that this is the agenda of the antireligious groups. They started out with female Rabbis, intermarriage, homosexuality. Why the ten votes on what should be beyond a doubt abuse of animals. Obviously there is a group that wants to dumb the population with internet games, over lewd acts etc. into accepting domination by the elite thinkers. Wake up and fear the L-RD!
 http://shoebat.com/2016/06/10/canada-legalizes-sex-with-animals-what-an-evil-wicked-generation-full-of-the-devil-and-on-the-road-to-hell/ The article comes from Wahid Shoebat a well know journalist with a reputation to uphold.


IYI or intellectual yet idiot. In the book “Understanding Trump” By Newt Gingrich he explains the concept introduced by Taleb of people achieving high prestigious degrees from the top Colleges – Princeton, Yale, Harvard, etc. He explains that these people earn top salaries and tend to live among their peers in clusters in either the Northeast or California. They can write beautiful essays and analyze things according to their concepts. He gives a number of examples. One was a Brigadier General who analyzed the defeat of the Polish Army by the Nazis. He concluded that they should have used trucks to move the troops to save the horses to fight the tanks. General Marshall had him retired that same day. People can write an article on how to save money.

President Trump gave an example of the geniuses in the State Dept. The US Embassy was located on prime land in the heart of London. They sold the land and were proud of themselves for making $250,000,000 and proceeded to choose a horrible place to build the Embassy for $1,000,000,000. Penny wise and pound foolish and location foolish. IYI.

The whole concept of Political Correctness drove the American Voter out in droves and that was the basis for the Trump Revolution. He is not resting on his laurels but campaigning for a Senate and House that he can work with in the swamp or cesspool of Washington D.C.

My whole life I have been fighting stupidity and it has gone even into the Rabbinute with Conversion, Beisei Dinim. The original concept of trustworthy Hechsirim has been replaced by “Glatt Kosher”. I have been told by Rabbi Gewirtz Shlita of the Star-K that there is a lot of corruption and hanky-panky as there is too much Glatt for the number of cows slaughtered and characters tried to pass by the Sephardic Standards for they were “Franks” aka what did they know. One becomes sick with what goes on in this world.

I say to you readers the following. Keep honest and true to the Torah and Halacha as best you can. You have no Kavannah in the daily prayer – go to the Synagogue try, listen and think. It might be hard. 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years out of the Yeshiva and in the rat race. One lost his Kavannah long ago in the battle to punch a time clock and earn for his family. Don’t give up, take a section or two and work on them. I’m embarrassed to say in this world some of my own bloopers in prayer that I have caught and corrected over the past few years. Some from my Baal Teshuva days and others made over time and with haste. One cannot be a worker, soldier, parent etc. without external pressure and speed led to errors. An example was somebody I know who got the wrong e-mail address and repeated it over and over again. It was written Telphoto and the person wrote Telephoto. Each time with the error message came back despite checking it over. The error just repeated itself due to a wrong concept.

I received a willing reply from Liab HaCohain that I had to share.                                      "My whole life I have been fighting stupidity..."
Why do you fight what G-D gave them?  If you are clever, you propose the question so that when the person chooses the answer in his favor, then he is also choosing the way of HASHEM.  Either that, or you've been fighting yourself? He has a logical point here. It is like the foolproof invention the fools are clever enough to get around the safety device.


Parsha Behar


We have been taught a number of the Mitzvos of the land. We had Teruma, Ma’aseh, Orlah, Bikurim, Peah (corner of the field), and I believe Leches (dropped crops) plus Shichah (forgotten sheath) for the poor but not Shmita or Yovel. Our Parsha comes to teach us about the Shmita, Yovel and valuations for vows to the Mishkan or Mikdash.

25:1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying: 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a Sabbath unto the LORD. 3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the produce thereof. 4 But in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath unto the LORD; thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.

Even the land has its own Shabbos. It is a Kabbalistic Concept that inanimate objects have some molecular life from HASHEM. It is something of Kabbalah: Inanimate, Plant, Animal and Communicator aka Midaber. Nobody know how much life is in the land. We see plants change and animals breathe and move. A geologist once wrote a book “The living earth”. If we take into accounts changes with dust, glaciers, earthquakes, volcanos, floods, etc. we do have a dynamic planet. The resting on the seventh year could not be made up by mankind looking for a profit. It had to be a DIVINE Command. For what agricultural society person would want his field to lie fallow every seven years?

5 That which grows of itself of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, and the grapes of thy undressed vine thou shalt not gather; it shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. 6 And the Sabbath-produce of the land shall be for food for you: for thee, and for thy servant and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant and for the settler by thy side that sojourn with thee;

Whatever grows by itself in your land or left over from the sixth year will suffice you.

7 and for thy cattle, and for the beasts that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be for food.

And your cattle and sheep shall it in the fields instead of pens and because of this fertilizer will be spread by natural means.

8 And thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and there shall be unto thee the days of seven Sabbaths of years, even forty and nine years.

In addition to the Shmita, after 7 Shmita years, in the 50th year will start the Yovel. Is it after 49 years we celebrate the Yovel which is also the first year of the next Shmita cycle. It appears to be so.

9 Then shalt thou make proclamation with the blast of the horn on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day of atonement shall ye make proclamation with the horn throughout all your land.

The last time I heard a horn on Yom Kippur was 5734 which was right after the Shmita year and according to the calculations of the Rabbi Eliezer Weissfish was the Yovel. It was not an ordinary horn but a siren and nobody was proclaiming liberty throughout the land.

10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

When Am Yisrael entered the land in 2488, we were an agriculture society. It would take Yehoshua a number of years to conquer and divide the land to tribes and families. So one fellow from one tribe became weak, he sold he inheritance for the remainder of years until the Jubilee. It was essentially rent and he returned to his land after this time.

11 A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you; ye shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of the undressed vines.

Since the Yovel always followed the Shmita, one would have two years in a row of the land lying fallow. It would mean that one needed to store in the 6th year enough food for three years and seeds for planting in the third.

12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy unto you; ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. 13 In this year of jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession.

The family property from the original division of the land.

14 And if thou sell aught unto thy neighbor, or buy of thy neighbor’s hand, ye shall not wrong one another.

It sounds logical that it is some closer family who is a neighbor from the same area of inheritance. One in Yehuda in the Negev would not want to rent from Dan near Mount Hermon.

15 According to the number of years after the jubilee thou shalt buy of thy neighbor, and according unto the number of years of the crops he shall sell unto thee. 16 According to the multitude of the years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of the years thou shalt diminish the price of it; for the number of crops doth he sell unto thee.

Although this is called a sale, it is a long-term rental agreement. It is good that a non-agricultural person with land can rent the land to a farmer and return either get crops or money.

17 And ye shall not wrong one another; but thou shalt fear thy God; for I am the LORD your God.

This is love thy neighbor as thyself in proper behavior attitude.

18 Wherefore ye shall do My statutes, and keep Mine ordinances and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.

This a precursor to Bechukosai meaning if you want to live in the land safely you have to observe the commandments.

19 And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat until ye have enough, and dwell therein in safety.

Do what you are told on faith and you shall be rewarded.

20 And if ye shall say: 'What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we may not sow, nor gather in our increase'; 21 then I will command My blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth produce for the three years.

Trust in HASHEM, do the Mitzvos and reap the reward this time literally reaping.

22 And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the produce, the old store; until the ninth year, until her produce come in, ye shall eat the old store.

The amount of food after the Yovel will last until the 9th year or shall I say the 51st year that is the second year of the next Shmita-Yovel cycle.

23 And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity; for the land is Mine; for ye are strangers and settlers with Me. 24 And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.

Ancestral lands from the days of Yehoshua but not houses in a city that can only be redeemed in a short period. Not as we do today otherwise our current society could not function.

… 29 And if a man sell a dwelling-house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; for a full year shall he have the right of redemption. 30 And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him that bought it, throughout his generations; it shall not go out in the jubilee. for the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, the Levites shall have a perpetual right of redemption.

… There is a way of misinterpreting the English translation of stranger below. Perhaps outside of the family. Therefore, the Torah specifies that the Ger is a non-Jewish Ger Toshav.

47 And if a stranger who is a settler with thee be waxen rich, and thy brother be waxen poor beside him, and sell himself unto the stranger who is a settler with thee, or to the offshoot of a stranger's family, 48 after that he is sold he may be redeemed; one of his brethren may redeem him;

We have an awkward situation of a Jew becoming a servant/slave to a non-Jew due to financial stress.

49 or his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or if he be waxen rich, he may redeem himself.

This is well and a Mitzvah to help a family member that has no control over his spending get out of debt. However, he may be tempted to repeat his mistake. In that case, he is beyond the help of the family and must remain either with the non-Jew or if he is lucky a richer Jew. Nowadays, our employment situation is similar in that we work for others and with a little luck have a pension plan or enough for us to save ourselves.

50 And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he sold himself to him unto the year of jubilee; and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years; according to the time of a hired servant shall he be with him.

His price is accordingly and he does deserve in Biblical Terms workers compensation.

51 If there be yet many years, according unto them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for. 52 And if there remain but few years unto the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him; according unto his years shall he give back the price of his redemption.

If times are better or he can save up something, he can redeem himself after a number of years. In modern terms he gets to change jobs and a different contract.

53 As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him; he shall not rule with rigor over him in thy sight.

Having worked for years in a large company, not only can bosses put excess demands on their workers so that they can step upon them to a higher paying job or they can act as if it their father’s company and abuse workers by demanding over-time and not giving out raises on some pretext.

54 And if he be not redeemed by any of these means, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, he, and his children with him.

A Jewish servant with his Jewish family but not if he was married to a non-Jewish slave by his master. In which case, he would have to redeem them.

55 For unto Me the children of Israel are servants; they are My servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
The reason why the Jewish Servant or Slave should be treated well is given emphatically by HASHEM. Even if slavery was brought back tomorrow in Yisrael, we would have to treat them as we treat salaried workers today. The only exception is that they are on contract to the Shmita or Yovel depending.

26:1 Ye shall make you no idols, neither shall ye rear you up a graven image, or a pillar, neither shall ye place any figured stone in your land, to bow down unto it; for I am the LORD your God.


Today we laugh at this but back in the day it was the biggest Yetzer. They were missionizing us then and do it now too with a different idol.

2 Ye shall keep My Sabbaths, and reverence My sanctuary: I am the LORD.

Shabbos Kodesh has kept us a people and guards over us. So in turn we too must treasure the Shabbos.

Holocaust Letter thanks to Dr. Harry

The father told the son of the letter's existence back in 1946, right after the war, but the son, who was 11 years old, did not want to read it. He avoided even seeing it.

"I was scared of the letter," said the son, then known as Misa Grunwald and now Frank Grunwald.

Grunwald, who survived a Nazi concentration camp, is now a retired industrial designer living northeast of Indianapolis on Geist Reservoir. He is 85. "I was curious about the letter," he said, "but at the same time afraid, I think, for its sadness."

Grunwald's mother had written the letter to Grunwald's father moments before she, with Grunwald's older, crippled brother and hundreds of other Jews, entered the gas chamber at Auschwitz on July 11, 1944.

Ten sentences, scribbled in pencil on cheap paper, yet so extraordinary the letter is now in a museum in Washington, D.C. 


Vilma Grunwald wrote the note, folded the paper in half and wrote on the outside: "Dr. Grunwald F Lager." Kurt Grunwald, her husband, Frank's father, was also a prisoner at sprawling Auschwitz concentration camp. He was at one of the work camps. A physician, his job was to treat prisoners' injuries so they could return to work. F Lager was the barracks where he was kept.

She handed the note to a German guard, and in what seems miraculous, the guard personally delivered it to her husband, Kurt Grunwald told his son later. What kind of Nazi concentration camp guard would do that?

"My mother was a great reader of personalities," said Frank Grunwald. "She must have sensed this guard had some compassion. He was older; he was 50 or 60."

Auschwitz was liberated seven months later. Some time after that Kurt Grunwald was reunited with his surviving son, and said: I have a note here from your mother.

"I didn't want to see it, I was too upset," said Frank.

In 1951 the surviving Grunwalds moved to New York City. The father practiced medicine in Forest Hills. The son went to the Pratt Institute and studied industrial design. He got a job with General Electric in Syracuse and married his wife, Barbara. The couple had two children.

Kurt Grunwald died in 1967 at age 67, and it was while going through his father's belongings that Frank came across the letter. "He had it in a desk in his bedroom," Frank said.

"The paper had turned yellow. I saw it and knew what it was right away. I recognized my mother's handwriting."

The Grunwalds were Czechoslovakian, and Vilma had written in her native language. Frank read it. 

The Grunwald Letter at the United States Holocaust
The Grunwald Letter at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Photo: United States Holocaust Museum)

What struck him was its tone.

"There's not a word of anger or hatred or resentment or bitterness against the Nazis," he said. "It's all focused on my father and me, on the future."

He took the note home and put it in a desk. For two decades he showed it to no one, not even Barbara. Every few months he retrieved it and re-read it in privacy.

In the 1990s he showed it to his family. Four years ago he gave it to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

"I thought, 'Why not expose it so that others can see it?'" he said. "One of my biggest concerns has always been, 'Once I'm gone, who will remember my mother?' Now I believe that fear is neutralized."


More than 40 million people have visited the museum, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this week.

Over the years the museum has received donations of thousands of personal artifacts. But Vilma Grunwald's letter stands alone.

"I'm always reluctant to say it's the only such document ever created," said Judith Cohen, the museum's chief acquisitions curator, "but to the best of our knowledge it is — it is the only one we have ever seen. Auschwitz, in the moments before gassing. In the extermination camps it was almost impossible to write material that was preserved."

The quality of the paper used by Vilma Grunwald was poor, composed mostly of wood pulp, said Jane E. Klinger, the museum's chief conservationist. For preservation purposes, the letter is rotated out of the museum's gallery every six months. It is replaced by a facsimile, which is marked as such.

In its off time, the original is stored "unfolded and in inert, archival materials," Klinger said. It is handled only by gloved hands.

Intrinsically, it's just a piece of old paper. It's Vilma Grunwald's words that are powerful. But the object itself matters, said Cohen, because "it's authoritative documentation — it seems inconceivable, but people still deny the Holocaust, there are people doubting Auschwitz existed.


"But when you see the physical letter, you can't deny it. When you see the actual, physical paper, you say, 'This is proof, this is reality, this is what happened to her, and this is how she responded.'"

Vilma Grunwald's note of July 11, 1944, to her husband:

“You, my only one, dearest, in isolation we are waiting for darkness. We considered the possibility of hiding but decided not to do it since we felt it would be hopeless. The famous trucks are already here and we are waiting for it to begin. I am completely calm. You — my only and dearest one, do not blame yourself for what happened, it was our destiny. We did what we could. Stay healthy and remember my words that time will heal — if not completely — then — at least partially. Take care of the little golden boy and don’t spoil him too much with your love. Both of you — stay healthy, my dear ones. I will be thinking of you and Misa. Have a fabulous life, we must board the trucks.

"Into eternity, Vilma.”


From Facebook Friends - Milestone: At 97, this woman, Judith, who survived the Holocaust and was a personal friend of the late Barbara Bush, passed away. I am honestly not into designer handbags but her story is fascinating afterwards Obituary. https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a17293/judith-leiber-from-holocaust-to-handbag-icon/ https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/designers/a20106280/handbag-designer-judith-leiber-dies/








Inyanay Diyoma




80 years late. Austria takes blame.

4 Firebombers and explosive throwers die and 800 plus wounded in Gaza protest as three manage to cross the border for a short time. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5244233,00.html






Ed-Op Yemeni Global Press ignores Swastika Kites. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5240805,00.html

Terrorist tries to break security camera. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/245125











Extremely large explosion hits Iranian Air Transport Depot. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5246144,00.html




Remember when Debka wrote about the Iranian Missile General who blew up testing an atomic warhead on the launch pad and 20 km radius was cordoned off!




Both the President and Ted Cruz speak about the catastrophe of the Iranian Deal. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/245245





New polls Religious Sephardim split pushes them out of politics. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/245297



Haifa area, Modiin area ban bonfires. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5248771,00.html

Ultra-Orthodox innocent drug courier. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5248865,00.html

Ed-Op Yemeni there is method in his madness. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5246226,00.html

Ed-Op’s by Diane Bederman. Latest articles she asked me to share:
White Privilege: Who are these people? https://dianebederman.com/white-privilege-who-are-these-people/
Main stream media think “hate speech” is far more dangerous than death threats. https://dianebederman.com/main-stream-media-think-hate-speech-is-far-more-dangerous-than-death-threats/
Should Bernie Farber, Amira Elghawaby apologize to CBC’s Natasha Fatah? https://dianebederman.com/should-bernie-farber-amira-elghawaby-apologize-to-cbcs-natasha-fatah/

Rabbi Daniel Korobkin puts the spotlight on antisemitism in Quran, history of Islam


Trump claims that he could get rid of the National Debt. By end of second term. https://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/02/politics/donald-trump-national-debt/index.html

Analysis by Ben Yishai. Iranian – Syrian base attacked by ground forces and not Israel. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5246431,00.html

Ed – Op Hendel – Netanyahu’s show might not convince Trump. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5249005,00.html



After kites with firebombs tactics of snipers will change. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5250491,00.html






Leftist Ed-Op is Netanyahu looking for a war with Iran? https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5248879,00.html

Have a healthy and peaceful Shabbos,
Rachamim Pauli