Friday, August 3, 2018

Parsha Vaeshanan 2, Parsha Eikev, Golan Situation, Story, news


In this issue, I will bring down some of my reflections on my visit to the Golan Heights that started quiet enough but ended in a few very loud booms. But first the weekly Torah.


Parsha Vaeschanan Part 2


4 Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one.
Shin Mem Ayin (Shema) this is the DIVINE NAME and the 70 NAMES. Aleph Chet Dalet (Echad) The Dalet with the Ayin means witness that the L-RD is one and the Dalet represents in Kabbalah air, fire, earth and water or in modern language gas, plasma, solid and liquid. Also inanimate, plant, animal and talking. North, South, East and West. Sun, Moon, Planets and Stars.

5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Heart, soul and money or power giving HASHEM everything that you have into his service.

… 13 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; and Him shalt thou serve, and by His name shalt thou swear.

Wherever you are you shall fear G-D. Fearing heaven will save you from the fear of man.

14 Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples that are round about you;

You shall not run after the local gods to be on the safe side neither under the threat of death shall you go after Yeshu or Allah as a god. Even though essentially Allah is no longer the moon god of Mecca and monotheistic today, still for a Jew or Ben Yisrael it is strange worship or Avoda Zara!

… 20 When thy son asks thee in time to come, saying: 'What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which the LORD our God hath commanded you?

While preparing for the Seder or during the Seder he/she may ask you this question or a similar one.

21 then thou shalt say unto thy son: 'We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his house, before our eyes. 23 And He brought us out from thence, that He might bring us in, to give us the land which He swore unto our fathers. 24 And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. 25 And it shall be righteousness unto us, if we observe to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as He hath commanded us.'

In the tersest of terms, you were given commandments follow them to keep alive.


7:1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before thee, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; 2 and when the LORD thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and thou shalt smite them; then thou shalt utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them;

It does not matter that they are stronger and larger than you, they will be delivered into your hands.

… 8 but because the LORD loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, He is God; the faithful God, who keeps covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations; 10 and repays them that hate Him to their face, to destroy them; He will not be slack to him that hates Him, He will repay him to his face. 11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command thee this day, to do them.

Because the L-RD loved your fathers and you, you were brought out of Egypt, he will guard over you and destroyer the haters.


Parsha Eikev

This week the first Mussar Drasha turns into the positive effects of carrying out and observing what commands that HASHEM has given us.

7:12 And it shall come to pass, because ye hearken to these ordinances, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep with thee the covenant and the mercy which He swore unto thy fathers,

First of all, the L-RD will have mercy upon you.

13 and He will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee; He will also bless the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land, thy corn and thy wine and thine oil, the increase of thy kine and the young of thy flock, in the land which He swore unto thy fathers to give thee.

Secondly, you will receive HIS love and be blessed. Your family will grow and be blessed too.

14 Thou shalt be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.

Today about 15% of Am Yisrael is barren. Another percentage of Israel never marries or marries at an age too late to really have a family. Some with the miracle of modern medicine are capable of having children. But, if we truly observed, not a male or female would be barren!

15 And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness; and He will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou know, upon thee, but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.

Imagine a society that observes properly the Mitzvos and does not have diseases at all!

16 And thou shalt consume all the peoples that the LORD thy God shall deliver unto thee; thine eye shall not pity them; neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee.

During the Six Day War, those disgusting Mosques on Har HaBeis were delivered into our hands but that one-eyed Defense Minister ate too much Tumay non-kosher food and made his brain Tumay too that he left them to serve their Allah and become a snare to us unto this day.

17 If thou shalt say in thy heart: 'These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?'

The War of Independence had 600,000 Jews with a few mortars, no automatic weapons, perhaps 4 rag tagged armored vehicles in the beginning and no planes when the war broke out. Yet, Israel managed to hold office massive armies that were trained soldiers with a handful of militias and holocaust survivors. The Six Day War had 3,000,000 Jews against 150,000,000 Arabs. This time Israel made an impressive victory. The surprise attack on Yom Kippur was horrible but left us on the other side of the Suez Canal with the third army surrounded and Israel 25 km from Damascus.

18 thou shalt not be afraid of them; thou shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt: 19 the great trials which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, whereby the LORD thy God brought thee out; so shall the LORD thy God do unto all the peoples of whom thou art afraid. 20 Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and they that hide themselves, perish from before thee. 21 Thou shalt not be affrighted at them; for the LORD thy God is in the midst of thee, a God great and awful. 22 And the LORD thy God will cast out those nations before thee by little and little; thou may not consume them quickly, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.

That the coyotes, wolves, hyenas, panthers, Syrian Bears, and perhaps a lion among the mammals. Snakes and scorpions are still found nowadays and as written in the Pasuk hornets, bees, wasps, yellow jackets, etc.

23 But the LORD thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and shall discomfit them with a great discomfiture, until they be destroyed. 24 And He shall deliver their kings into thy hand, and thou shalt make their name to perish from under heaven; there shall no man be able to stand against thee, until thou have destroyed them. 25 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire; thou shalt not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein; for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. 26 And thou shalt not bring an abomination into thy house, and be accursed like unto it; thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.

You shall remove their kings and destroy their idols. You shall detest their silver and gold which that turned into idols.

8:1 All the commandment which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers. … 3 And He afflicted thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knew not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every thing that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. 4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.

Can you imagine wearing a garment for 40 years! I have training pants that I wear only at the gym for perhaps 2 hours a few times a week. I have had them for a few years. I have to search for a new pair soon.

… 8 a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates; a land of olive-trees and honey;

These are the 7 species of Eretz Yisrael.

11 Beware lest thou forget the LORD thy God, in not keeping His commandments, and His ordinances, and His statutes, which I command thee this day; 12 lest when thou hast eaten and art satisfied, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; 13 and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;

You should only realize that your wealth comes from HASHEM and the blessings you have are from Shabbos Observance.

17 and thou say in thy heart: 'My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth.'

This is what the wicked, non-Shabbos or Kashrus Observers, calling themselves “leaders” felt before the Yom Kippur War – the results were close to a complete loss on the first day of the war. Had it not been for the atonement done by the majority of the soldiers and those in the rear in the Synagogues, we would have surely lost.

18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God, for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore unto thy fathers, as it is this day. 19 And it shall be, if thou shalt forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I forewarn you this day that ye shall surely perish.

It is not the IDF, planes, tanks and artillery that defend us but Tehillim 120 “Shomer Yisrael”.

9:1 Hear, O Israel: thou art to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, 2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom thou know, and of whom thou hast heard say: 'Who can stand before the sons of Anak?' 3 Know therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is He who goes over before thee as a devouring fire; He will destroy them, and He will bring them down before thee; so shalt thou drive them out, and make them to perish quickly, as the LORD hath spoken unto thee.

If you are in the right, your fear of HASHEM will enable you to stand up to taller bullies or enemies. David 5 foot 2 inches against a fighter 9 feet tall. Yet David had HASHEM with him.

4 Speak not thou in thy heart, after that the LORD thy God hath thrust them out from before thee, saying: 'For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land'; whereas for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee. 5 Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thy heart, dost thou go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that He may establish the word which the LORD swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 6 Know therefore that it is not for thy righteousness that the LORD thy God giveth thee this good land to possess it; for thou art a stiffnecked people. … 12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul; 13 to keep for thy good the commandments of the LORD, and His statutes, which I command thee this day?

The recipe to conquer, live in and remain in the land is to know that everything you have is from HASHEM. You should love, worship and be in awe of HIM.

… 16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

In Kabbalistic language it is get rid of the shell or outer skin of the fruit of your heart and let the soul speak from your heart. (The Kabbalah calls this Klipah)

17 For the LORD your God, He is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the awful, who regards not persons, nor taketh reward. 18 He doth execute justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.

In a recent trial on tax evasion in the States the government wanted to make a case that the rich man had expensive clothing and was in contact with Oligarchs. The Judge ruled that one cannot blame a man for being wealthy or doing business with wealthy people. We already had in the Torah about not favoring the rich because they are influential or the poor because they need more money. I had two friends who were trampled upon by their wives in divorce proceedings because they were orphans and one had no family backing whatsoever. We shall see this later in Parsha Shoftim that Judges have to be fair, not subject to bribes.
Justice-justice we are told to pursue (16:20).

19 Love ye therefore the stranger; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. 20 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; Him shalt thou serve; and to Him shalt thou cleave, and by His name shalt thou swear.

You don’t have to go overboard loving the stranger. Just make him/her welcome and not take advantage of their lack of knowledge. {I will not forget that on my first job in Israel, a character who spoke English told me how to ask my female co-worker for a towel but he used a similar word Gonorrhea so I had to ask her in my broken Hebrew please give me …}  

21 He is thy glory, and He is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and tremendous things, which thine eyes have seen. 22 Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.

This section of the Mussar is for preparation for the conquest of Eretz Yisrael. First of all you have a massive army now and HASHEM is fighting for you. What you conquer you shall keep. (Not like certain “leaders” today who “give back land” to a people who never were given the land but claimed part of Eretz Yisrael when we were expelled. I still hope in my lifetime to see Eretz Yisrael from the river in Egypt to the Eurphrates.)

…11:22 For if ye shall diligently keep all this commandment which I command you, to do it, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave unto Him, 23 then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. 24 Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness, and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the hinder sea shall be your border. 25 There shall no man be able to stand against you: the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as He hath spoken unto you.


A day plus on Ramat HaGolan for


Friday we set out to pick up our forester child, our nephew Menashe, from his camp to travel to the Bar Mitzvah of his Nephew on Ramat HaGolan. Aytan Yishai was born between Tisha B’Av and the tenth as Gush Katif was being evacuated. Wow it also shows the age of this blogspot as I covered that at the time in Inyanay Diyoma!

Aytan brought us to the apartment where we were supposed to stay for Shabbos. The Golan was quite Pastoral. Once we drove up to the heights, it was good almost flat farming and grazing land. We got to our destination in the middle of the Golan Heights. A place that was established after the Six Day War and over-ran during the first day of the Yom Kippur War. Fortunately, the people were evacuated first.

It took me a few minutes to unpack and I ran quickly to the Erev Shabbos musical and slide show (power-point) party. It had too much milk products but I did manage to eat the latest Jewish Food Crazy since Chinese Food and that is Sushi! My grandnephews play instruments with the oldest on the Guitar and Aytan playing the piano. My Nephew put out a bottle of Johnny Walker Gold and other good things for mature crowd. Most of the folks invited outside of the family were army social workers from Northern Command who help soldiers and their families daily or heaven forbid families of the wounded or injured.

In the middle of my nephew’s speech, introducing a song and telling how Aytan got his name for it means standing firm and Aaron as making peace in a divided nation, a few medium sound booms were hear to the east and south. He said, “Welcome to the living conditions on the Golan Heights.”

We watched the lunar eclipse at night and saw flashes in the south east near the moon from the battles going on out of earshot by the tri-border area. Sometimes the booms were medium to weak and one lady, who was a bit hard of hearing, did not hear anything only the large explosions or a relatively near artillery reply.

I decided to tell my family where to shelter in our Shabbos house under the staircase just in case of siren, which wasn’t. All in all, the Shabbos was very pleasant. The locals as well as ourselves were not moved by the booms. As we were leaving a couple very loud booms were heard and I wondered if they were barrel bombs or out artillery shooting at some Iranian or Hezballah.

Before the weekly story which has some Torah meaning, not just a bit of a routine that the Golan residents have, I wanted to mention some administration trivia. The whole purpose of this blogspot is to bring Torah, Israeli and Jewish life, ethical stories and mostly Israeli or Jewish news to all. For the last few weeks, I have not advertised on all my usual Facebook Groups. It takes a lot of time. However, I wanted to see if it was worth the hour to two of copying and pasting in many groups. When I lost 700 readers, I attributed it to the ending of College and summer vacations that start in the beginning of July. However, after another 700 did not open up the blogspot the week before last, I have to go back to advertising on the groups.

Finding the Positive – Twice! By Rabbi Yerachmiel Tilles


A boy from a religious family in Bnei Brak left the path of Torah and mitzvot observance and moved in with an irreligious cousin somewhere else in Israel. His situation became progressively worse and he became engaged to a non-Jewish girl. Even his irreligious cousin became quite upset with him, but was unable to convince him to break the engagement. However, he did manage to convince him that since taking such a step would mean cutting ties with his family as well as with the Jewish people, he should at least go home once again after his two-year absence, and face to face tell his parents what his plans were.
He agreed and invited himself home for a Shabbos on "his terms." Friday night was spent smoking on the back porch and Saturday found him again on the porch on his iphone.
In the afternoon his father politely invited him to attend a class he was going to, given by the esteemed elderly Torah sage, Rabbi Aharon-Leib Shteinman. Much to everyone's surprise, he agreed to go.
After the lesson, his father brought him over to Rabbi Shteinman to say 'Good Shabbos.' He informed the great rabbi that unfortunately his son is no longer Shabbos observant.
Rabbi Shteinman turned to the young man and asked,

"How long has it been that you are not keeping Shabbos?"
"Two years."
The Rabbi probed further. "During that period did you ever have thoughts of teshuva - of returning to observance?"
"Yes."
"How many times?"
"About four times."
"And how long did the thought of repentance last each time?"
"Approximately 10 minutes."
"Ah, concluded the Rabbi, smiling warmly. "So, it turns out that for 40 minutes during the last two years you were 'in the place that a person who wishes to return to God stands, even the most righteous cannot stand.' Of that I am jealous! Good Shabbos."
The boy went home with his father, but immediately after Shabbos returned to his cousin's house. However, Rabbi Shteinman's compassionate reply left him no peace. The engagement was broken, and from there his life turned around. Today he is, thank -G-d, fully mitzvot observant.
His family of course understood that it was Rabbi Shteinman's wisely chosen words that influenced him to return to Shabbos observance, but they couldn't even guess what came over him that he agreed to go to the Rabbi's class. "You were smoking and using your I-phone on Shabbos ('G-d have mercy!'), yet you agreed to participate in a serious Torah lesson?!"
He replied that if anyone else had been the teacher he wouldn't have gone or even considered going. But...when he was in fourth grade, in cheder, his class was taken to be tested by Rabbi Shteinman. Their teacher they found out afterwards had requested an easy exam, so the boys were asked very simple questions. Each boy, upon answering a question received a candy from Rav Aron Leib.
When this boy's turn came he did not know the answer to the question. So Rabbi Shteinman asked him an easier question. Again he did not know. The Rabbi then asked him the most elementary possible question, but still he was unable to answer. As a result, when the testing was over, everyone had a candy besides him.
As the boys were respectfully filing out, Rabbi Shteinman motioned for him to come over. He told the boy, "In Torah and Judaism we reward for effort, not results. All the other boys put in an effort for one question so I gave them one candy; you put in the effort for three questions so you are getting 3 candies." And with a smile, he handed him 3 candies!"
~~~~~~~~~
Source: Submitted by my loyal assistant for //ascentofsafed.com, Mrs. C.R. Benami. Lately featured in various WhatsApp groups and probably other social media. Edited and supplemented by Yerachmiel Tilles. (Photo credit: Hidabroot.com)
Biographical note:
Aharon Yehuda-Leib Shteinman (Nov. 13, 1914 - December 12, 2017), originally from Brisk, was one of the preeminent leaders of the Lithuanian yeshiva world in the late 20th and the 21st century until his passing at age 104 (!). He was the only member of his family to survive WWII. In 1945 he was able to leave Europe for Bnei Brak, Israel, where in 1964 he became the head of the Ponevezh Kollel. Among his many published works are the Ayeles HaShachar series, on the written Torah ("Bible") and on the Talmud. His kindness and compassion to all Jews were well known and considered astonishing. After the passing of leading arbiter of Jewish law Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv in 2012 (at age 102), who almost always deferred to Rav Shteinman on issues of public policy, Rabbi Shteinman faced fierce opposition. Because of his pragmatic positions on different public matters, some considered him too moderate compared to previous Lithuanian leaders. Despite them, his funeral at age 104 in Bnei Brak was attended by hundreds of thousands (600,000 according to police estimates).

Connection: Weekly Reading of Ekev - "You shall teach them (limaditam) to your children" [Deut. 11:19 ]. Rashi: your own children. Last week's reading [ibid. 6:7]: "You shall teach them (limaditam) to your child(ren)." Rashi: your students.

Hundreds of Jews visit the grave of the prophet Amos. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/249609

What is Israel’s Nationality Law? http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/249673

Turkey doesn’t know that Trump is not Obama. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/249678



Druze officer suspended for two weeks over protest the army has no room for politics. (But tell that to Maj. Gen. Golan) http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/249831

High Court of Injustice vs. the Torah Sages. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5320408,00.html




Inyanay Diyoma


Fishman: Hamas’s explosive drones.  https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5318598,00.html



Israel did not kill two Hamasniks in an explosion.  It was a work accident. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/249682




Ron Ben Yishai on Israel losing her deterrence on both borders. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5318196,00.html








IDF decision to fire and destroy correct. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5319232,00.html



Unnecessarily endangering soldiers exposed. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/249753




Leah Goldin asks for conditions for humanitarian aid to Gaza.
As a gesture to the USA, Israel releases Turkish Woman who worked for terrorists. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/249786




Document Forger close to Labor Party. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5319801,00.html

Syria ISIS abducts 20 women and 16 children. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5319610,00.html


Russia claims that Iran will be 85 km from the Israeli border but can we trust the Russians? https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5320601,00.html






Martin Sherman disagrees with me but I leave you to his opinion. I agree with Rabbi Gafni, Arens and Begin. I also wonder why we needed this law in the first place unless it is for the high court. http://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/arens-youre-wrong-about-the-law/
I explained my reasons and also complained about the problems that the minorities feel on equality. His reply to me is in Blue and I hope the explains his view to other readers and people on the right where the law is not clear to them.
The very fact that rabid anti Zionists oppose it so vehemently is proof of its necessity. There is growing pressure to challenge the status of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. No civic equality has nothing to do with national identity If civic equality is a concern then need to legislate a separate Basic Law that ensures it



Druze officer suspended for two weeks over protest the army has no room for politics. (But tell that to Maj. Gen. Golan) http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/249831

High Court of Injustice vs. the Torah Sages. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5320408,00.html


Defense Min. halts fuel shipment after more fire balloons. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5321152,00.html





UN coordinator trying to prevent another Gaza War. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5321751,00.html

Copt submitting complain of harassment killed by Egyptian Police. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/22530

Dr. Mordechai Kedar writes about the Iranian Crown Prince and secularism. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/22528

Good Shabbos all enjoy the summer vacation but don’t neglect the Torah,
Rachamim Pauli
Posted by Rabbi Rachamim Pauli at 11:01 AM