This year is a rare year that I have time to devote to a Rosh Hashanah Special.
Ed-Op: Mismanagement a tragedy of errors.
You can say that I am an armchair quarterback. I worked in industry. If industry or a mom and pop store were run like the Israeli government they would be bankrupt immediately.
After the first lockdown in Israel, it was clear what the government had to do. First they had to establish and epidemic background research center. Since May they have had close to five months to train soldiers to check backgrounds. The soldiers are supposed to be ready Nov. 1st. Is this acceptable? If we were at war with a physical enemy, they would be ready immediately. So why not war with a virus. A week, a month?
There were supposed to be isolation hotels with transport to them and to return the patient. The criteria for testing is getting harder so that more positives are considered as the definition changed. In the west there are 29 subtests that can eliminate somebody but in Israel 37 tests. The definition of a serious case has changed. It used to be on oxygen or life support if the blood level was less than 82 now it went up to 92 making too many cases serious.
Last but not least penny wise and pound foolish. For approximately 50,000,000 NIS doctors, nurses could be Corona trained and more departments opened. Instead the hospitals owe a lot of money and are behind the 8 ball financially. So therefore we must close down the economy at a cost of at least 20,000,000,000 NIS with suicides and perhaps attempted assassination of politicians by people suicidal from the lockdown.
There was one point that public and the police were wrong. The police should have kept giving fines one after the other for lack of masks. Instead they gave out for a day or two and stopped. The public went to weddings and other places without masks.
The result of the lockdown will result in deaths from drinking, suicide, drugs, heart attacks, strokes and even murder of spouses by frustrated people. Most likely we will see deaths that will not be attributed to Covid19 but will be caused by the lockdown and probably on a wider scale. Lockdown does not help one iota if the politicians return their insanity of doing the same thing and not changing anything but expecting different results. – R.P.
The scary analysis that I read this week came from Italy from a lovely lady named Monique M.B. She compared Antifa to the brown shirts of Adolf and Company in the early 30’s. Both in violence the propaganda of Goebbels with certain fake news organizations. She wrote “If you learn your lessons from history, it will repeat itself.”
Special Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur Machzor Prayers Explanation
During the 10 days of repentance, the regular Shemona Esray changes with certain words such as “HaMelech HaKadosh” instead of “Ha ’Kale’ HaKadosh” and HaMelech HaMishpat. Sentences or words are added. So I will try to explain what I can regarding the simple meanings of sections that repeat each other.
Avinu Malkaynu Prayer (Our Father our King Prayer)
(The Ark is opened.)
Our Father, our King, we
have sinned before You. We
want to return to you clean of sin.
Our Father, our King, we
have no King but You. We depend upon you be magnanimous.
Our Father, our King, act
[benevolently] with us for the sake of Your Name. We ask for your help to make us proper
subjects but not through punishment.
Our Father, our King, renew
for us (on fast days: bless us with) a good year. Renew
the year of good for all of Am Yisrael.
Our Father, our King,
remove from us all harsh decrees. Please only good decrees.
Our Father, our King, annul
the intentions of our enemies. Stop
their intentions and turn them upon the enemies.
Our Father, our King, foil
the plans of our foes. Confound
our enemies.
Our Father, our King, wipe
out every oppressor and adversary from against us. Destroy our enemies before they can harm us.
Our Father, our King, close
the mouths of our adversaries and accusers. Make
their mouths as if they were filled with water that they cannot speak against
us.
Our Father, our King, remove pestilence, sword, famine, captivity, and destruction from the members of Your covenant. Up until the recent reports of ‘Dever’ from China and California we thought this disease the others to be fully under control. In the age of rockets and missiles or the holding of the bodies of soldiers were quite obvious from our enemies or weather destruction of food.
Our Father, our King,
withhold the plague from Your inheritance. It took the Corona disease to remind us that
every word of the prayer is relevant.
Our Father, our King, pardon and forgive all our iniquities. We ask for a complete pardon and most of us
try to rectify our deeds but things like wasting Torah Time or what is
considered even dust of gossip we can get involved in by will or by accident.
But we must try to improve.
Our Father, our King, blot out and remove our transgressions from before Your
eyes. We want our sins to be erased. Sometimes we
must request like a beggar complete mercy and compassion from our father.
Our Father, our King, erase
in Your abounding mercies all the records of our debts [sins]. We truly want our debts to G-D to be forgiven
and start a new page in a new year. We are asking as a child asks a loving
parent. It reminds me of I guess my oldest grandchild who was given the ‘last’
cookie of the night after the meal but wanted one more and asked for ‘Acheron
B’ Emmet’ (the truly last cookie).
Our Father, our King, bring
us back to You in wholehearted repentance. Punishing
sinners and the fire & brimstone of other religious is not really what G-D
wants to do. HE wants observance of the Mitzvos and true repentance. HE knows
what we are worth or perhaps worthless but HE wants us to try.
Our Father, our King, send
a complete healing to the sick of Your people. This year more than other years there will be
greater Kavanah on this part of the prayer.
Our Father, our King, rend
the evil [aspect] of the verdict decreed against us. Please rip up all the evil degrees against us
even if we
Our Father, our King, remember us with a favorable remembrance before You.
Between Rosh
Hashanah and Yom Kippur:
Our Father, our King, inscribe us in the book of good life.
Our Father, our King, inscribe us in the book of redemption and deliverance.
Our Father, our King, inscribe us in the book of livelihood and sustenance.
Our Father, our King, inscribe us in the book of merits.
Our Father, our King, inscribe us in the book of pardon and forgiveness.
On
a public fast day (except on the fast of Gedaliah):
Our Father, our King, remember us for a good life.
Our Father, our King, remember us for redemption and deliverance.
Our Father, our King, remember us for livelihood and sustenance.
Our Father, our King, remember us for merits.
Our Father, our King, remember us for pardon and forgiveness.
Our Father, our King, cause
deliverance to flourish for us soon.
Our Father, our King, exalt the glory of Israel Your people.
Our Father, our King, exalt the glory of Your anointed one.
Our Father, our King, fill our hands with Your blessings.
Our Father, our King, fill our storehouses with plenty.
Our Father, our King, hear our voice, have pity and compassion upon us.
Our Father, our King, accept our prayer with mercy and with favor.
Our Father, our King, open the gates of heaven to our prayer.
Our Father, our King, let it be remembered that we are but dust.
Our Father, our King, we beseech You, do not turn us away from You
empty-handed.
Our Father, our King, may this hour be an hour of mercy and a time of favor
before You.
Our Father, our King, have compassion upon us, and upon our infants and
children.
Our Father, our King, do it for the sake of those who were slain for Your holy
Name.
Our Father, our King, do it for the sake of those who were slaughtered for Your
Oneness.
Our Father, our King, do it for the sake of those who went through fire and
water for the sanctification of Your Name.
Our Father, our King, avenge the spilled blood of Your servants.
Our Father, our King, do it for Your sake, if not for ours.
Our Father, our King, do it for Your sake, and deliver us.
Our Father, our King, do it for the sake of Your abounding mercies.
Our Father, our King, do it for the sake of Your great, mighty and awesome Name
which is proclaimed over us.
Our Father, our King, be gracious to us and answer us, for we have no
meritorious deeds; deal charitably and kindly with us and deliver us.
I normally would have a lot to write here I had to finish up certain things before the lockdown so you should take some time and reflect on the words during the 10 days of Teshuva. I did have more to write below including an original story.
(The Ark is closed.) https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4491743/jewish/Avinu-Malkeinu-HebrewEnglish-Text.htm
U’ Netaneh Tokef
https://www.ou.org/holidays/full_text_of_unetaneh_tokef/
Let us now relate the power of this day’s holiness, for it is awesome and frightening.
Today I and my family are being judged who will live, die or be born.
On it Your Kingship will be exalted; Your throne will be firmed with kindness and You will sit upon it in truth. It is true that You alone are the One Who judges, proves, knows, and bears witness; Who writes and seats, (counts and calculates); Who remembers all that was forgotten. You will open the Book of Chronicles – it will read itself, and everyone’s signature is in it.
Don’t remember doing this, that or the other thing? Here is the video or your behavior.
The great shofar will be sounded and a still, thin sound will be heard. Angels will hasten, a trembling and terror will seize them – and they will say, ‘Behold, it is the Day of Judgment, to muster the heavenly host for judgment!’- for they cannot be vindicated in Your eyes in judgment.
If Angels who have no Yetzer HaRa tremble, all the more so us.
All mankind will pass before You like members of the flock. Like a shepherd pasturing his flock, making sheep pass under his staff, so shall You cause to pass, count, calculate, and consider the soul of all the living; and You shall apportion the fixed needs of all Your creatures and inscribe their verdict.
Often in the prayers under the shepherd’s crook is repeated to emphasize that we and the sheep are no different on this judgement. [In fact trees, plants earth and rocks in earthquakes, floods, landslides, etc. that could be ordained.]
On Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur will be sealed how many will pass from the earth and how many will be created; who will live and who will die;
We are told in Sefer Devarim to choose life but have we the merits to continue on?
who will die at his predestined time and who before his time;
Nobody wants to die before his time. But there are sins that cause this to happen. Sometimes just being relatively unjust with another person or animal could cause one to have an early death.
who by water and who by fire,
Even taking a State like California sometimes there are long periods of droughts that bring on fires and then when the rains come flooding or landslides so these forms of death are found there not to mention earthquakes that are later on in the prayer.
who by sword,
Today terrorist use knives, guns, rockets to murder but I cannot tell which sin brings on which or which mitzvah causes a miracle to happen. Try working on doing as many Mitzvos as possible.
who by beast,
Although with modern medicine and antidotes such things are rare a year or so ago, by the Kinneret, a camper was bitten twice by a snake and the ambulance arrived without enough time to administer antidotes and breathing. Farmers have been accidently killed by cattle and one person a number of years ago succumbed to rabies for not getting an injection.
who by famine,
This is generally in the third world countries. However, Jeb Bush let a retarded woman starve to death and from heaven he lost his chance to be president. Years ago the owner of Hadar Cookies died of famine. He said, “HASHEM gave me enough flour to feed all of Yerushalayim but a digestion disease that I shall die of famine.” – from Rabbi Y. Boyer
who by thirst,
Living in a desert country this is all too real.
who by storm,
Being the son of a man who died shoveling snow and watching the fact that storm hurricane 22 is developing with 23 possibly developing on Rosh Hashana one has to be aware of this.
who by plague,
Last Rosh Hashana some might have thought that with modern medicine in 5780 this should be no problem. However, nobody took into consideration a genetically engineered virus that does not go away seasonally.
who by strangulation,
This is one of the death penalties incurred for violating the Torah. Who would have thought that the body could react with antibodies to Covid to strange itself to death and only strong steroids could prevent this?
and who by stoning.
Stoning can be a vehicle collision or a landslide or avalanche.
Who will rest
Who will rest peacefully at home.
and who will wander,
and who cannot collect money for the poor as the Synagogues are closed and has to wander from place to place to try to obtain food, used clothing or financial donations between closures and people avoiding contact.
who will live in harmony
There are a few and rare minutes here and there that couples enjoy but take care of a greater family and one loses this. Also Rabbis have no rest in this world as they can get questions 24/7.
and who will be harried,
Just bring in a child or forester child into the house or become a single parent one feels this.
who will enjoy tranquility
One might long for this, but if one goes 40 days in tranquility it means that he has no place in the world to come. For there is not a righteous man who is not disturbed in this period.
and who will suffer,
We pray to avoid this but as I just mentioned above we can welcome some minor things for that shows we have a place in the next world.
who will be impoverished and who will be enriched,
Panosa or income/employment is in the hand of HASHEM fortunes can be made or broken not only by investment mistakes or sudden changes.
who will be degraded and
We live in a world that a lot of politicians think highly of themselves not realizing that they are eventually being degraded by lack of paying attention to the people.
who will be exalted.
Sometimes humility and plain hard work gets a person exalted.
But REPENTANCE, PRAYER and CHARITY Remove the Evil of the Decree!
Only Teshuva, Tephillah and Tzeduka have the possibility of removing the evil decree.
Shofar Blowing
The primary shofar-blowing consists of the following 30 blasts:
Tekiah is one long blast. Shevarim are three shorter blasts that equal time of one Tekiah blast. Teruah is at least 9 but up to 18 very short blasts equal in time to three Shevarim or about one Tekiah.
Tekiah-shevarim-teruah-tekiah
Tekiah-shevarim-teruah-tekiah
Tekiah-shevarim-teruah-tekiah
Tekiah-shevarim-tekiah
Tekiah-shevarim-tekiah
Tekiah-shevarim- tekiah
Tekiah-teruah-tekiah
Tekiah-teruah-tekiah
Tekiah-teruah-tekiah gedolah (extra long blast)
Rosh Hashanah Night Time Kiddush
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/418881/jewish/Rosh-Hashanah-Evening-Kiddush.htm
On Shabbat, begin here.
The sixth day. And the heavens and the earth and all their hosts were completed. And G‑d finished by the Seventh Day His work which He had done, and He rested on the Seventh Day from all His work which He had done. And G‑d blessed the Seventh Day and made it holy, for on it He rested from all His work which G‑d created to function.1
On weeknights, begin here.
Glance at the wine and say:
Attention, Gentlemen!
Blessed are You, L-rd our G‑d, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine. [Amen]
On Shabbat, add the words in parentheses.
Blessed are You, L-rd our G‑d, King of the universe, who has chosen us from among all nations, raised us above all tongues, and made us holy through His commandments. And You, L-rd our G‑d, have given us in love (this Shabbat day and) this Day of Remembrance, the festival of holy assembly,2 a day for (the remembrance of) sounding the shofar, (in love,) a holy assembly, commemorating the Exodus from Egypt. For You have chosen us and sanctified us from among all the nations, and Your word, our King, is true and enduring forever. Blessed are You L-rd, King over all the earth, who sanctifies (the Shabbat and) Israel and the Day of Remembrance. [Amen]
When Rosh Hashanah occurs on Saturday night, add the following:
Blessed are You, L-rd our G‑d, King of the universe, who created the lights of fire. [Amen]
Glance at the festival lights, then continue:
Blessed are You, L-rd our G‑d, King of the universe, who makes a distinction between sacred and profane, between light and darkness, between Israel and the nations, between the Seventh Day and the six work days; between the holiness of the Shabbat and the holiness of the Festival You have made a distinction, and have sanctified the Seventh Day above the six work days. You have set apart and made holy Your people Israel with Your holiness. Blessed are You L-rd, who makes a distinction between holy and holy. [Amen]
Blessed are You, L-rd our G‑d, King of the universe, who has granted us life, sustained us and enabled us to reach this occasion. [Amen]
Pour some wine from the cup to be distributed to those listening, and drink at least 2 ounces of the remaining wine while seated.
Rosh Hashanah Daytime Kiddush https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3460370/jewish/Rosh-Hashanah-Daytime-Kiddush.htm
Before the Rosh Hashanah daytime meals, the challah bread is covered and the following text is recited over a cup brimming with wine: THIS YEAR WE ADD SHABBOS MORNING KIDDUSH.
תִּקְעוּ בַחֹדֶשׁ שׁוֹפָר
בַּכֵּסֶה לְיוֹם חַגֵּנוּ
כִּי חֹק לְיִשְׂרָאֵל הוּא מִשְׁפָּט לֵאלֹ-הֵי יַעֲקֹב
סָבְרִי מָרָנָן
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלֹ-הֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא
פְּרִי הַגָפֶן
Transliteration:
Tiku bachodesh shofar, bakeseh liyom
chageinu.
Ki chok liYisrael hu, mishpat
leE-lohei Yaakov.
S avri maranan.
Baruch atah Ado-nai E-loheinu melech ha'olam borei
pri hagafen.
Translation:
Sound the shofar on the New Moon, on the appointed time for the day of our
festival.
For it is a statute for Israel, the
judgment of the God of Jacob.
Attention, Gentlemen!
Blessed are You, L-rd our G‑d, King of the
universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.
After the wine is drunk, the assembled wash their hands and begin the meal with Hamotzei over the bread, which is dipped in honey.
The Dog
This story I heard 49 years ago from the person who heard this from the original owner of the dog. A man raised a German Shepherd puppy and loved him. When World War II broke out his beloved dog was taken away from him by the Nazis and he was sent by them to a camp.
One day or night, he made a break for it. Three German Shepherds were tracking him down. He yelled out the name of his dog on a chance that the one of the dogs might be his. The dog knew what to do. He killed the other two shepherds pursuing the man and at the cost of his own life, started attacking the Nazis. The dog did not get honored in this world but fulfilled his mission on earth with great honor.
The Shofar of the Cracked Bell by Chaya-Haberstam Evers
Via Rabbi Yerachmiel Tilles. http://ascentofsafed.com/cgi-bin/ascent.cgi?Name=1188-51
Watch out for this fellow, Asher Meza, and his unapproved Beit Din. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpAq2UokXR0&t=10s
Hotel Association on Lockdown. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287130
Mincha Prayer at the White House. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287393
Yeshiva Student buys El Al. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287496
Inyanay Diyoma
Some Ministers are opposed to lockdown. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287096
Explosion in Iranian shop. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287074
Iran weighs assassinating US Ambassador. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287177
Win-win deal. https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/HkJyIm9Nw
US preparing for civil war between Antifa and the right. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287122
Netflix promotes Pedophilia. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287117
UAE fib about stopping annexation. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/SyVh9A74D
Oman approves of Bahrain deal. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287130
Israel’s lockdown proposal. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/SynUIAdEw
Money allocated to bring 2000 Ethiopian Converts. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287084
Police capture renegade parents. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287061
Syrian Missile Production Site damaged. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/SkQHBxhEv
Fishman Crises in Israel Defense Industries. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/SyDqHJSNP
90 Peacekeepers with Covid. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287178
Iran has 1044 Centrifuges. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287176
Hungarian FM joins in DC ceremony. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287174
Glick UAE and the Democrat CAIR. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287133
Corona: serious cases rise. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/BkuKzEaVD
Bahrain is the first Shiite Nation to make peace with Israel. https://www.debka.com/bahrain-is-first-shiite-majority-nation-to-establish-ties-with-israel/
Protected by 5th fleet from Iran. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287266
Down under police brutality. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287239
Ganz interview no second fiddle. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287263
Yemeni Rebels threaten Israel, Bahrain. https://www.debka.com/socotra-figures-in-multiple-threats-to-israel-following-uae-bahraini-pacts/
Bennett whoever doesn’t wear a mask is stupid and selfish. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287536
Ed-Op Jonatan S. Tobin. https://ejpress.org/what-does-dangerous-for-israel-and-the-jews-mean-to-biden/
Israel’s ‘leadership’ has failed us former Likud Minister. Ed-Op. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/r13ON0n4P
Dr. Martin Sherman Oslo as political Kryptonite. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287517
Corona case update. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/H1llK611Hv
Current lockdown a sham. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/ByZ7NslBP
Pay Cuts and more restrictions soon. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/H1DI8XbBP
Diamond Exchange Agreement. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/S1kKO1brw
New life in the Foreign Ministry. https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/H1caPzbBv
Who is next for peace? https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rkq0oQ04P
Dubai bids for port privatization. https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/SJsNCUJSP
PLO faces a reckoning. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/B1d11MEAND
Saudis have enough Uranium for Nuclear Fuel. https://www.timesofisrael.com/study-said-to-find-saudis-may-have-enough-uranium-to-make-own-nuclear-fuel/
Chassidim stuck on Ukrainian Border refuse to fly home. https://www.timesofisrael.com/hasidic-pilgrims-at-ukraine-border-refuse-to-return-despite-israels-plea/#gs.ggv01x
THE POPULATION OF ISRAEL. https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-population-up-to-9-25-million-but-growth-rate-immigration-down/#gs.ggvdaj
Hezballah Spy. https://www.timesofisrael.com/east-jerusalem-woman-arrested-for-allegedly-spying-for-hezbollah/
Lockdown a mistake and a disaster. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287400
Violent Bank Robbery. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287403
Calls for Charedim to take to the Streets over lockdown. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287410
Dershowitz lawsuit against CNN. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287409
Bennett Miracle in Ashdod. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287372
Netanyahu hides the cost of peace. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287360
Terror hit and run. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287543
Senior Doctors warn that Israel is becoming like Italy. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287544
Yeshiva Student buys El Al. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287496
Mincha Prayer at the White House. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/287393
I will feel a bit let down again if the Moshiach has not shown up by Rosh Hashanah as another year went by and we did not deserve redemption.
Wishing everybody a good Shabbos and a healthy, happy, wonderful, peaceful, joyous, fruitful, plentiful, successful, beautiful, bountiful, pleasant year, a year filled with Mitzvos, good deeds with plenty of Torah and learning,
Rachamim Pauli
