Last week, I could have put the
finishing touches on the Drasha when my great grandson, whom I had not seen
since Purim came. There is a vast difference in development of the infant
between two months and almost six months. Sometimes there are things that can
be delayed as Torah is timeless. I want to produce a quality Drasha not
quantity. It is called a little bit of pleasure for an elderly couple. The
little one we spoiled with many outfits from the States and a giant Teddy Bear
that was on sale for mother’s day. The Teddy made his day.
Parsha Chukas Part 2
We continue with the Parsha after
the passing of Miriam. At this point the nation is marching northwards towards
Eretz Yisrael from the east. The people are encamped in the Eilat-Aqaba plains
and looking to move northwards. The reddish mountains east of them is the land
of Seir where Esav resides. Rabbi Pinchas Winston Shlita mentioned this in what
I used as an Ed-Op last week.
14
And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom: 'Thus saith thy
brother Israel: Thou know all the travail that hath befallen us; 15 how our
fathers went down into Egypt, and we dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the
Egyptians dealt ill with us, and our fathers; 16 and when we cried unto the
LORD, He heard our voice, and sent an angel, and brought us forth out of Egypt;
and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border.
Kadesh is an area today on the
border between Yisrael and Egypt and close to Gaza. It is south of Sde Boker
where Ben Gurion is buried and the Ein Avadat Canyon and Nahal Zin. However,
this site indicates that it was what is modern Petra. https://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-exodus-kadesh-barnea-southern-border-judah-territory.htm
17
Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy land; we will not pass through field or
through vineyard, neither will we drink of the water of the wells; we will go
along the king's highway, we will not turn aside to the right hand nor to the
left, until we have passed thy border.'
Whether at the modern Kadesh or
Petra, both are north of what we call the red hills of Esav near Aqaba. What
appears to me is that the Cloud Pillar took the Bnei Yisrael east and then
possibly south before returning on the eastern side northwards. The other
possibility is that Edom was from Aqaba to almost Har Hor and from Petra they
went north. What we think about today may have been a different location then.
18
And Edom said unto him: 'Thou shalt not pass through me, lest I come out with
the sword against thee.' 19 And the children of Israel said unto him: 'We will
go up by the highway; and if we drink of thy water, I and my cattle, then will
I give the price thereof; let me only pass through on my feet; there is no
hurt.' 20 And he said: 'Thou shalt not pass through.' And Edom came out against
him with much people, and with a strong hand. 21 Thus Edom refused to give
Israel passage through his border; wherefore Israel turned away from him.
Since they were “brothers”,
the Bnei Yisrael does not make war with
them.
22
And they journeyed from Kadesh; and the children of Israel, even the whole
congregation, came unto mount Hor. 23 And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron
in mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying: 24 'Aaron shall be
gathered unto his people; for he shall not enter into the land which I have
given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against My word at the
waters of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up unto
mount Hor. 26 And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his
son; and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there.'
Aharon would return his Neshama to
the CREATOR now and he with the help of Moshe and Eleazar began to remove his
garments. The Tzitz with Holy unto HASHEM was removed and the Ephod, Avnet and
the other garments of the Cohain Gadol.
27
And Moses did as the LORD commanded; and they went up into mount Hor in the
sight of all the congregation. 28 And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and
put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount; and
Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount. 29 And when all the congregation
saw that Aaron was dead, they wept for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of
Israel.
Moshe and Eleazar when with Aharon
up the mountain. He removed his garments and lay down. Suddenly a blinding
light went to Aharon’s lips and his Neshama departed with a kiss from HASHEM.
Eleazar was now dressed in the garments of the Cohain Gadol and the two walked
down the mountain as a small earthquake sealed the entrance to Aharon’s cave.
The clouds of glory departed from about the camp of Yisrael.
21:1
And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the South, heard tell that
Israel came by the way of Atharim; and he fought against Israel, and took some
of them captive.
What did Melech Arad hear? He heard
that the clouds of glory that were above the camp of Am Yisrael had departed. Canaan
King? No, he was Amalek but pretended to be from Canaan. He thought the 700
meter above Sea Level decline to close to 400 meter below Sea Level would give
him a height advantage over the Bnei Yisrael as he cowardly would try to pick
off rear stranglers. But instead, like all bullies, he would meet his fate.
2
And Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said: 'If Thou wilt indeed deliver
this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.' 3 And the
LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and
they utterly destroyed them and their cities; and the name of the place was
called Hormah.
Sometimes the fear of war scares
people. They need fortification to stand up to the enemy Chezuk in Hebrew.
Vowing the vow was the extra oomph (Chezuk) to over-come their fear of the war
and do what they had to do for fighting Arad and the environs.
4
And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to compass the
land of Edom; and the soul of the people became impatient because of the way.
By way of the Sea of Reeds. Since Aaron had died and this war had come upon them,
they retreated by way of the Sea of Reeds, this being the way they had turned
when the decree resulting
from the report
of the spies was decreed on them, as it says: “journey into the desert, toward
the Sea of Reeds,” and now they traveled back seven stations, as it says: “The
Israelites journeyed from the wells of Benei Yaakan to Moserah. There, Aaron
died.” Did he then die at Moserah? Did he not die on Mount Hor? Scripture says that he died at Moserah only because upon their return there, they mourned for him and
eulogized him as if he had
died now
in front of them. Go and check the account of their journeys and you will find
seven stops from Moserah to Mount Hor. To circle Edom - for he did not allow them to pass through his land.
The people became disheartened
(lit.) in the journey- i.e., because of the exertion of the journey, which
became too severe for them. They said: “We were now close to entering the land,
and now we are turning back! Our fathers also turned back and spent 38 years in
the desert until today!” Therefore, they became disheartened by the setbacks of
the journey; in Old French: “encrut lor” (“it was too much for them”). It is not possible to say that וַתִּקְצַר נֶפֶשׁ הָעָם בַּדָּרֶךְ means: “the people became disheartened while they were on the
journey,” without specifying from what they become disheartened, for wherever
you find קִצּוּר
נֶפֶשׁ “being disheartened” in Scripture, it is
explained there from what they were disheartened, such as: וַתִּקְצַר נַפְשִׁי בָּהֶם “I was
disheartened with them,” and such as: וַתִּקְצַר נַפְשׁוֹ בַּעֲמַל יִשְׂרָאֵל “He was
disheartened by Israel’s trouble.” The term קִצּוּר נֶפֶשׁ (lit.,
“short of soul”)
applies to anything too difficult for a person, like a person upon whom a burden comes
and his mind is not broad enough to accept it, and he has no room in his heart for that pain to
rest; for a bothersome entity is referred to as “large,” for it is too
great and heavy for that person, as in: “their soul also swelled up within Me”–
i.e.,
was too much for Me, and “It is so great that You hunt me as if I were a lion.” To sum
up this explanation: anywhere the term קִצּוּר נֶפֶשׁ is
used about a matter, it means that one cannot tolerate it, that the mind cannot
bear it.
5
And the people spoke against God, and against Moses: 'Wherefore have ye brought
us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and there
is no water; and our soul loathes this light bread.'
They have been eating Mann for over
39 years. Most of the population never tasted bread or Matzo at all. Where does
this complaint come from? It must have been from their parents who described
fresh baked bread as the shewbread in the Mishkan they probably could not smell
and only Cohanim could taste.
Against God and against Moses. They mistakenly equated the servant with his Master. Why have you brought us up? - implying
that
they are both equal. And
we are weary. This
term also denotes disheartening and disgust. Of this light bread. Because the manna was absorbed into their limbs, they
called it “light,” saying, “This manna will eventually explode in our stomachs;
can a human being ingest food and not expel any waste?”
6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the
people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7 And the
people came to Moses, and said: 'We have sinned, because we have spoken against
the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that He take away the serpents
from us.' And Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the LORD said unto Moses:
'Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass,
that every one that is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.'
People hissed at Moshe with forked
tongues so they got snakes.
9
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the pole; and it came to
pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of
brass, he lived. 10 And the children of Israel journeyed, and pitched in Oboth.
11 And they journeyed from Oboth, and pitched at Ije-abarim, in the wilderness
which is in front of Moab, toward the sun-rising. 12 From thence they
journeyed, and pitched in the valley of Zered. 13 From thence they journeyed,
and pitched on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness, that
cometh out of the border of the Amorites.--For Arnon is the border of Moab,
between Moab and the Amorites;
The Talmud asks “Does a brass
serpent kill or cause to live?” Rather: “When the people turned their eyes heavenward
and saw heaven above the staff with the serpent, only then could they be cured.
But without remembering their FATHER IN HEAVEN they died.
14
wherefore it is said in the book of the Wars of the LORD: Vaheb in Suphah, and
the valleys of Arnon, 15 And the slope of the valleys that inclines toward the
seat of Ar, and leans upon the border of Moab.-- 16 And from thence to Beer;
that is the well whereof the LORD said unto Moses: 'Gather the people together,
and I will give them water.'
The pictures I have seen on the
internet of Arnon is a waterfall and a run off or well below.
17
Then sang Israel this song: Spring up, O well--sing ye unto it-- 18 The well,
which the princes dug, which the nobles of the people delved, with the sceptre,
and with their staves. And from the wilderness to Mattanah; 19 and from
Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth; 20 and from Bamoth to the
valley that is in the field of Moab, by the top of Pisgah, which looks down
upon the desert.
The song had some of stops in the
desert so that the national would remember the journey for teaching even to
their children.
21
And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, saying: 22 'Let me
pass through thy land; we will not turn aside into field, or into vineyard; we
will not drink of the water of the wells; we will go by the king's highway,
until we have passed thy border.'
We want only to use the kings
highway to get from here to there.
23
And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border; but Sihon
gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the
wilderness, and came to Jahaz; and he fought against Israel.
He did not trust the Bnei Yisrael
and he was a powerful nation on the main highway. So he viewed them as an
invading force. The Midrash indicates that he had a defense treaty with Canaan
that he would hold off an invasion from the east. Therefore, he would stop the
Bnei Yisrael from invading Canaan.
24
And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from
the Arnon unto the Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon; for the border of
the children of Ammon was strong. 25 And Israel took all these cities; and
Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the
towns thereof. 26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites,
who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of
his hand, even unto the Arnon. 27 Wherefore they that speak in parables say:
Come ye to Heshbon! let the city of Sihon be built and established! 28 For a
fire is gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it hath devoured
Ar of Moab, the lords of the high places of Arnon. 29 Woe to thee, Moab! thou
art undone, O people of Chemosh; he hath given his sons as fugitives, and his
daughters into captivity, unto Sihon king of the Amorites. 30 We have shot at
them--Heshbon is perished--even unto Dibon, and we have laid waste even unto
Nophah, which reaches unto Medeba. 31 Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the
Amorites.
So the Bnei Yisrael conquered his
land and took over his cities and the wealth and animals therein.
32
And Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they took the towns thereof, and drove out
the Amorites that were there. 33 And they turned and went up by the way of
Bashan; and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people,
to battle at Edrei. 34 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Fear him not; for I have
delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt
do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.'
35 So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none
left him remaining; and they possessed his land.
Og was a giant of a man. His bed
size is mentioned in Devarim. I assume from that he might have been between 8
and 9 feet tall with room to stretch. People feared him for his size but with
HASHEM was with Moshe and Yisrael and he was slain with his warriors and his
cities conquered. They then went down from the Golan Heights and returned to
where the camp with the women and children were for the two battles.
22:1
And the children of Israel journeyed, and pitched in the plains of Moab beyond
the Jordan at Jericho.
We shall see that during the last
year of Moshe’s life and Yisrael’s journey, they ended up encamping in the
plains of Moav opposite Yericho.
Parsha Balak
Why would HASHEM put a Parsha on
the name of a wicked person like Balak Ben Tzipor? Because when he used
divination about Am Yisrael with a tongue of a live bird (Tzipor) into a brass
or metal idol bird, he released that the nation in his vicinity was a nation
guided by HASHEM. Therefore, he turned to the prophet Bilaam, who was able to
communicate directly with HASHEM and could curse or bless somebody with the
help of the L-RD. His turning to HASHEM, even if he was up to no good, gave him
the merit to have a Parsha on his name.
22:2 And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to
the Amorites.
Balak son of Tzipor saw all that
Israel had done to the Amorites. Balak, being aware of the arrangement between the
Canaanite kings and Sichon and Og, said to
the Moabites:
“These two kings, Sichon
and Og,
upon whom we relied to
protect us from invaders,
could not stand up to them; all the more is this true for us, should they attack us.” Therefore, upon realizing that their protectors were now gone, “Moab became terrified.”
3
And Moab was sore afraid of the people, because they were many; and Moab was
overcome with dread because of the children of Israel.
These fierce warriors could not be
overcome in a battle. Balak did not know that they were incamping to push
westward. He and Midian were afraid of the Bnei Yisrael expanding eastward.
4
And Moab said unto the elders of Midian: 'Now will this multitude lick up all
that is round about us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.'--And Balak
the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.-- 5 And he sent messengers
unto Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the River, to the land of
the children of his people, to call him, saying: 'Behold, there is a people
come out from Egypt; behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over
against me.
These people are millions and they
are against me. Bilaam knows how to talk directly to HASHEM.
6
Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty
for me; peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may
drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom thou blessed is blessed, and
he whom thou cursed is cursed.' 7 And the elders of Moab and the elders of
Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came
unto Balaam, and spoke unto him the words of Balak.
We want you via HASHEM to curse
them. Funny thing, the nations of the world have their idols, but when push
comes to shove, they know how to turn to HASHEM. Unfortunately, some people
from a stiffnecked nation can’t open up their eyes like a lowly idolater. WHY DO
YOU THINK HAMAS INVADED? BECAUSE INSTEAD OF SIMCHAS TORAH THE SUPERNOVA FESTIVAL
HAD A STATUE OF BUDDHA IN THE MIDDLE!!!
8
And he said unto them: 'Lodge here this night, and I will bring you back word,
as the LORD may speak unto me'; and the princes of Moab abode with Balaam. 9
And God came unto Balaam, and said: 'What men are these with thee?'
This is to open up the
conversation. Just as with Kayn there was a question “Where is your brother?”
So, in our case, G-D is putting Bilaam at ease.
10
And Balaam said unto God: 'Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent
unto me [saying]: 11 Behold the people that is come out of Egypt, it covers the
face of the earth; now, come curse me them; peradventure I shall be able to
fight against them, and shall drive them out.'
He is talking straight to G-D as if
HE is unaware of the fact. This is unlike Yacov or Dovid who sort of say, “Because
of all your Chesed towards me, I am afraid that I have used up my merits and
there will be no more Chesed.”
12
And God said unto Balaam: 'Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse
the people; for they are blessed.'
You cannot go to curse them for
they are blessed!
13
And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said unto the princes of Balak: 'Get you
into your land; for the LORD refuses to give me leave to go with you.'
His Bnei Yisrael hatred has blinded
him and ruined his speech. So instead of say, “G-D said that the people are
blessed therefore I cannot go.” He says basically that at this time I cannot
go. Perhaps if he spoke the truth, Balak would have made a peace treaty with
the Bnei Yisrael. But instead the fear and hatred will continue.
14
And the princes of Moab rose up, and they went unto Balak, and said: 'Balaam
refuses to come with us.' 15 And Balak sent yet again princes, more, and more
honorable than they. 16 And they came to Balaam, and said to him: 'Thus saith
Balak the son of Zippor: Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto
me; 17 for I will promote thee unto very great honor, and whatsoever thou say
unto me I will do; come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people.'
This time, he sends instead of an ambassador
a few ministers and greater wealth.
18
And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak: 'If Balak would give
me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the LORD
my God, to do anything, small or great. 19 Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye
also here this night, that I may know what the LORD will speak unto me more.'
Bilaam had the chance to say they
are blessed and therefore I cannot go. But his antisemitic hatred is so deeply
rooted he continues onwards. (It is like the modern day Candice Owens. She was
a nobody, whom Ben Shapiro build up into a name. Once she had a name for
herself, she no lower needed Ben Shapiro and her antisemitism that was dormant
became dominant.)
20
And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him: 'If the men are come to
call thee, rise up, go with them; but only the word which I speak unto thee,
that shalt thou do.'
G-D at first tries to stop a man
from sinning, however, if he has fallen deep under the Yetzer HaRa, G-D will
let him fall where his heart leads him. But since we are dealing with Am
Yisrael, G-D is going to each Bilaam and Balak a lesson on who put speech into
Bnei Adam.
21
And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the
princes of Moab. 22 And God's anger was kindled because he went; and the angel
of the LORD placed himself in the way for an adversary against him.--Now he was
riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him.-- 23 And the ass saw
the angel of the LORD standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand;
and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field; and Balaam
smote the ass, to turn her into the way.
The dumb donkey sees the danger but
Bilaam is blinded by antisemitism and going to try a curse a people that is
blessed. He is doing the most illogical and ridiculous spiritual thing based on
his original encounter with HASHEM, but still he goes in folly and makes it
look like he has the power to curse.
24
Then the angel of the LORD stood in a hollow way between the vineyards, a fence
being on this side, and a fence on that side. 25 And the ass saw the angel of
the LORD, and she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot
against the wall; and he smote her again.
The stones in the fence were left
over from Gal-ed from the time of Yacov and Lavan. Since a descendant of Lavan
was coming against a descendant of Yacov his leg banged into the stones.
26
And the angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow place, where was
no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. 27 And the ass saw the
angel of the LORD, and she lay down under Balaam; and Balaam's anger was
kindled, and he smote the ass with his staff.
He is furious at this behavior of
the donkey.
28
And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam: 'What have
I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?'
Three Regelim (times) against the
three Regelim or going up by foot to Mishkan/Mikdash in Yerushalayim for the
Yomim Tovim of Pesach, Shavuos and Sukkos.
29
And Balaam said unto the ass: 'Because thou hast mocked me; I would there were
a sword in my hand, for now I had killed thee.' 30 And the ass said unto
Balaam: 'Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden all thy lifelong unto
this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee?' And he said: 'Nay.'
The conversation also implies
according to the Midrash that the donkey acted like a wife for Bilaam. He needs
a sword against a poor donkey whom he used as a wife. Yet he comes to curse a
blessed nation!
31
Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD
standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed his head,
and fell on his face. 32 And the angel of the LORD said unto him: 'Wherefore
hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I am come forth for an
adversary, because thy way is contrary unto me; 33 and the ass saw me, and
turned aside before me these three times; unless she had turned aside from me,
surely now I had even slain thee, and saved her alive.'
Since the donkey was not given
speech and spoke, she died but had she continued moving in the way of the
world, Bilaam would have died.
34
And Balaam said unto the angel of the LORD: 'I have sinned; for I knew not that
thou stood in the way against me; now therefore, if it displease thee, I will
get me back.' 35 And the angel of the LORD said unto Balaam: 'Go with the men;
but only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak.' So
Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
Now he realized as his donkey dies
what a fool he has been. But now the angel tells him to continue but he is now
a puppet in the hands of HASHEM.
36
And when Balak heard that Balaam was come, he went out to meet him unto Ir-Moav,
which is on the border of Arnon, which is in the utmost part of the border. 37
And Balak said unto Balaam: 'Did I not earnestly send unto thee to call thee?
wherefore come thou not unto me? am I not able indeed to promote thee to
honor?' 38 And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Lo, I am come unto thee; have I now any
power at all to speak anything? the word that God puts in my mouth, that shall
I speak.'
Now he is saying the truth, but it
is deceiving to Balak for he thinks that Bilaam will curse and Bilaam knows
they are blessed.
39
And Balaam went with Balak, and they came unto Kiriat-huzoth. 40 And Balak
sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and to the princes that were
with him. 41 And it came to pass in the morning that Balak took Balaam, and
brought him up into Bamoth-baal, and he saw from thence the utmost part of the
people.
From this spot, he could see the
extent of the people.
23:1
And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here
seven bullocks and seven rams.'
Seven altars with seven bulls and
seven rams. Seven days of the week and therefore this is the reason.
2
And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar
a bullock and a ram. 3 And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Stand by thy
burnt-offering, and I will go; peradventure the LORD will come to meet me; and
whatsoever He shows me I will tell thee.' And he went to a bare height. 4 And
God met Balaam; and he said unto Him: 'I have prepared the seven altars, and I
have offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.'
He is speaking to G-D and telling
G-D what is obvious.
5
And the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said: 'Return unto Balak, and
thus thou shalt speak.' 6 And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his
burnt-offering, he, and all the princes of Moab. 7 And he took up his parable,
and said: From Aram Balak bringeth me, the king of Moab from the mountains of
the East: 'Come, curse me Jacob, and come, execrate Israel.'
Curse Jacob for me, and come, invoke [God’s] wrath
against Israel. He had told him to curse them referring to both their
names, in case one of them is not distinct enough.
8
How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? And how shall I execrate, whom the
LORD hath not execrated?
How can I curse whom God has not cursed - i.e., even when Israel ought to have been cursed, they were not cursed:
When their father mentioned Simeon and Levi’s sin – “for in their anger they killed a man” –he cursed only
their anger, as it says: “Cursed be their rage.” When their father Jacob came with cunning to his
father, he deserved to be cursed, yet what does it say there?
“He will indeed be blessed.” In the instructions for blessing them, it says: אֵלֶּה
יַעַמְדוּ לְבָרֵךְ אֶת הָעָם “the following tribes will stand for the Levites to bless the people,” yet in the instructions for cursing it does not say: וְאֵלֶּה
יַעַמְדוּ לְקַלֵּל אֶת הָעָם “and the following will stand…to curse the people,” but עַל הַקְּלָלָה “for the curse,” for He does not wish to describe the act of cursing as being directed at them. God has not been angered. My power is only that I can precisely determine the moment when
the Holy One, blessed be He, is angry, but He has not been angry during all
these days since I came to you. And this is the meaning of what it says: “My people, remember now what King Balak of Moab planned and what Balaam answered him…so that you may recognize
the righteous deeds of God.”
9
For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo,
it is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the
nations. 10 Who hath counted the dust of Jacob, or numbered the stock of
Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let mine end be like his!
Who can count the dust of Jacob… “Dust” here means as Onkelos translates it: דַּעְדְקַיָּא דְבֵית יַעֲקֹב וכו׳ “Who
can count
the infants of the house of Jacob, about whom it is said: ‘They will be as numerous as
the dust of the earth’?”
His translation of רֹבַע יִשְׂרָאֵל is חֲדָא מֵאַרְבַּע מַשִּׁרְיָתָא – one of the four divisions of the Israelite camp. Another explanation of “the dust of Jacob”: One
cannot calculate the commandments that they fulfill with dirt of the earth: “You must not plow with both a work-bull and a
donkey,” “you must not sow your
field
with a mixture of species,” the ashes of the red cow, the dust used in the trial of the suspected adulteress, and other commandments similar to them. And the number (lit.) of a quarter of Israel - means: their copulations (רְבִיעוֹתֵיהֶן), i.e., the offspring produced by their marital relations. May my soul die the death of the upright - among them.
So in the end the soul of Bilaam
wants to died a righteous death like an ordinary Ben Yisrael. [Ladies this also
means Bas Yisrael.]
11
And Balak said unto Balaam: 'What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse
mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether.' 12 And he
answered and said: 'Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD puts in
my mouth?'
I cannot speak for myself I speak
for the L-RD of lords, KING of kings and I cannot turn to the left or the right
to do anything else.
13
And Balak said unto him: 'Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from
whence thou mayest see them; thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and
shalt not see them all; and curse me them from thence.'
Maybe today, they have a lucky star
or the place is good for them. Let’s look elsewhere for our antisemitism.
14
And he took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven
altars, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.
The names imply viewing spot on the
top of the mountain.
15
And he said unto Balak: 'Stand here by thy burnt-offering, while I go toward a
meeting yonder.' 16 And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and
said: 'Return unto Balak, and thus shalt thou speak.' 17 And he came to him,
and, lo, he stood by his burnt-offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And
Balak said unto him: 'What hath the LORD spoken?' 18 And he took up his
parable, and said: Arise, Balak, and hear; give ear unto me, thou son of
Zippor: 19 God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that
He should repent: when He hath said, will He not do it? or when He hath spoken,
will He not make it good? 20 Behold, I am bidden to bless; and when He hath
blessed, I cannot call it back. 21 None hath beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither
hath one seen perverseness in Israel; the LORD his God is with him, and the
shouting for the King is among them.
He has not seen any iniquity in Jacob. Its meaning is as Onkelos translates it: “I have looked [and found that] there are no
idolaters in Jacob.”
Another explanation: According to its contextual meaning, it can be expounded
with a fitting Midrash: The Holy One, blessed be He, does not look at any sin
that Jacob possesses. When they transgress His words, He is not particular with
them by paying attention to their iniquity and their perversity in contravening
His law.
22
God who brought them forth out of Egypt is for them like the lofty horns of the
wild-ox. 23 For there is no enchantment with Jacob, neither is there any
divination with Israel; now is it said of Jacob and of Israel: 'What hath God
wrought!'
Because there are no diviners in Jacob - i.e., they are worthy of blessing because there are no
diviners of auspicious omens or soothsayers among them. Just like then, it will be said to Jacob…. i.e., in the future, there will again be a time when God’s affection for them will be manifest to all, just
like it is at this time of the Giving of the Torah, for throughout
the messianic age
they will be seated before Him studying the Torah directly from Him, located
closer to Him than His
own ministering
angels, and the
angels
will ask them: “What has God wrought?” About this it says: “and your eyes will
see your Teacher.” Another explanation: יֵאָמֵר לְיַעֲקֹב is
not in the future tense but in the present continuous: They have no need for diviners or soothsayers, for
whenever Jacob and Israel must be told what the Holy One, blessed be He, has
wrought and what He has decreed on High, they need not consult diviners or soothsayers;
rather, what the Omnipresent has decreed is communicated to them directly by
their prophets, or the urim and tumim inform them. Onkelos,
however, did not translate it like this.
24
Behold a people that rises up as a lioness, and as a lion doth he lift himself
up; he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the
slain. 25 And Balak said unto Balaam: 'Neither curse them at all, nor bless
them at all.' 26 But Balaam answered and said unto Balak: 'Told not I thee,
saying: All that the LORD speak, that I must do?' 27 And Balak said unto
Balaam: 'Come now, I will take thee unto another place; peradventure it will
please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence.'
Change your place and change your
Mazel (luck).
28
And Balak took Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looks down upon the desert. 29
And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here
seven bullocks and seven rams.' 30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and
offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar. 24:1 And when Balaam saw that it
pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at the other times, to meet
with enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness. 2 And Balaam
lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling tribe by tribe; and the spirit
of God came upon him. 3 And he took up his parable, and said: The saying of
Balaam the son of Beor, and the saying of the man whose eye is opened;
As antisemitic as Bilaam was, he
was not stupid. He might not have gotten the message in the dream or on the way
with the donkey but after two times with intentions to curse, he now gave up
and willing was able to bless.
4
The saying of him who heareth the words of God, who sees the vision of the
Almighty, fallen down, yet with opened eyes: 5 How goodly are thy tents, O
Jacob, thy dwellings, O Israel!
How good are your tents. He praised the tents because he saw that their openings did not face one
another. “your encampments,” as Onkelos translates it, i.e., your organized division into tribes. Another explanation: מַה טֹּבוּ אֹהָלֶיךָ – How good will be “the Tent (Sanctuary) of Shiloh” and the permanent Temple when they are
established, for there they offer sacrifices to atone for themselves. They are beneficial even when they are destroyed, because they serve as
collateral (מַשְׁכּוֹן) for them, such that their destruction achieves
atonement even for capital
offenses involving their very souls, as it says: “God used up His rage” – and how
did He use it up? “He set fire to Zion.”
6 As
valleys stretched out, as gardens by the river-side; as aloes planted of the
LORD, as cedars beside the waters; 7 Water shall flow from his branches, and
his seed shall be in many waters; and his king shall be higher than Agag, and
his kingdom shall be exalted. 8 God who brought him forth out of Egypt is for
him like the lofty horns of the wild-ox; he shall eat up the nations that are
his adversaries, and shall break their bones in pieces, and pierce them through
with his arrows. 9 He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a lioness; who
shall rouse him up? Blessed be every one that blessed thee, and cursed be every
one that cursed thee.
Like a wild ox or rising lion you
shall be blessed and everyone who curses you shall be cursed.
10
And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together;
and Balak said unto Balaam: 'I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold,
thou hast altogether blessed them these three times. 11 Therefore now flee thou
to thy place; I thought to promote thee unto great honor; but, lo, the LORD
hath kept thee back from honor.'
Each time instead of cursing them,
you have blessed them.
12
And Balaam said unto Balak: 'Spoke I not also to thy messengers that thou didst
send unto me, saying: 13 If Balak would give me his house full of silver and
gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the LORD, to do either good or bad of mine
own mind; what the LORD speaks, that will I speak? 14 And now, behold, I go
unto my people; come, and I will announce to thee what this people shall do to
thy people in the end of days.'
He told him that if they get the
Bnei Yisrael to do things in their fertility cult, the anger of the L-RD will
be kindled against them and that in the end the Moshiach will come from a
daughter of a Moav King. However, he did not foresee that Ruth would be modest
and convert. He only saw a fuzzy picture of the future.
15
And he took up his parable, and said: The saying of Balaam the son of Beor, and
the saying of the man whose eye is opened; 16 The saying of him who heareth the
words of God, and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of
the Almighty, fallen down, yet with opened eyes: 17 I see him, but not now; I
behold him, but not nigh; there shall step forth a star out of Jacob, and a
scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite through the corners of Moab,
and break down all the sons of Seth. 18 And Edom shall be a possession, Seir
also, even his enemies, shall be a possession; while Israel doeth valiantly. 19
And out of Jacob shall one have dominion, and shall destroy the remnant from
the city. 20 And he looked on Amalek, and took up his parable, and said: Amalek
was the first of the nations; but his end shall come to destruction. 21 And he
looked on the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said: Though firm be thy
dwelling-place, and though thy nest be set in the rock; 22 Nevertheless Kain
shall be wasted; How long? Asshur shall carry thee away captive. 23 And he took
up his parable, and said: Alas, who shall live after God hath appointed him? 24
But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim, and they shall afflict Asshur,
and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall come to destruction. 25 And Balaam
rose up, and went and returned to his place; and Balak also went his way.
He went back to Aram from whence he
came.
25:1
And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit harlotry with the
daughters of Moab.
Now Moav-Midian let loose their
fertility cult. These females were masters of allure. The Yeshiva type bumkin
who had not learned of these types was so innocent to fall victim to them.
2
And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods; and the people
did eat, and bowed down to their gods. 3 And Israel joined himself unto the
Baal of Peor; and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.
They did not call for sacrifices
but the way of worship was to defecate in front of the idol. The only public
toilets had a statue of this idol in the place. They fed the men beets, spinach
and other things that acted the medicine ex-lax.
4
And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them
up unto the LORD in face of the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn
away from Israel.' 5 And Moses said unto the judges of Israel: 'Slay ye
everyone his men that have joined themselves unto the Baal of Peor.'
These people who went whoring and
worshipped idols had to be weeded out.
6
And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a
Midian woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of
the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the door of the tent of
meeting.
Now Zimri, price of Shimon, came
before Moshe. He shouted, “You married a woman from Midian. So shall I.” The
difference being that Yisro made a marriage before HASHEM and this was idolatry
and lusting before an idol.
7
And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he
rose up from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand. 8 And
he went after the man of Israel into the chamber, and thrust both of them
through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was
stayed from the children of Israel.
He went into the tent of Zimri and
Cozbi in the middle of their relations. He stabbed them so that people could
view what had taken place and the spear was strong enough and G-D gave him the
strength to pull them out as they were still alive so as not to have contact
with the dead. What a series of miracles and all of Yisrael could witness.
9
And those that died by the plague were twenty and four thousand.
These 24,000 came from the tribe of
Shimon.
THE THREE WEEKS
Between the 17th of
Tammuz and the afternoon on the 10th of Menachem Av there are three
weeks of mourning for both the first and second Temples.
Haircuts are forbidden and many
do not listen to any music during this period. Up to Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av
it is permissible to get engaged. However, one should get a haircut prior to
this period. It is permissible to pare or cut the nails for Shabbos. (Reminder
per Segula [treasured secret] from the Talmud/Kabbalah one cuts the nail of the
left ring finger or toe, the index nail, pinky, middle then left thumb followed
by the right index, ring, thumb, middle and pinky) This is a spiritual help for
one’s memory. The nail parings are gathered and either burnt or flushed down
the toilet. Also one does not do the toes and fingers the same day. When it
comes to Kabbalistic treasures, one has not more logic than the Parah Aduma and
if you are a believer follow the rules. Just as in the army it is a good idea
to follow the general’s orders so too it is a good idea to follow the rules
given in the oral Torah to our teach Moshe.
In the course of the next few
weeks some Halachos will be brought down. Including the fact that Erev Tisha B’Av
will be Shabbos.
The Girl Who Refused to Die by Sarah Pachter
https://aish.com/the-girl-who-refused-to-die/
Judith Kallman fell
into darkness—into hiding, into horror, into silence—but every time, she found
her way back to life. This is her story of survival and strength.
Judith Kallman was
born in Piešťany, Czechoslovakia, into a picture-perfect childhood. Her home
was filled with the mouthwatering aromas of her mother’s cooking, and she and
her siblings were always dressed in elegant, custom-made clothes. Each Friday
night, their father would bless them with heartfelt warmth and love.
“As the youngest child of six, my father would
place me in his lap to bless me. I’d watch my mother cover her eyes while
reciting the blessing over the candles. After, she would hug us and I would
gaze into her loving eyes. Decades later, I can still bask in that look—and I
wonder how she was able to hide her fear from us,” remembers Judith.
Then everything
changed overnight.
One Friday evening,
during a quiet Shabbat meal, a rock was hurled through their window, shattering
their tranquility. That was the beginning of the end.
By the summer of 1940,
the government had announced that all Jews were to be evicted from the
country’s economic structures.
“The safety of the world shrank daily…with
each restriction set in place, the worries of my parents grew and their options
narrowed.”
At first, her father
used his connections to secure a hiding space for the family in the winter of
1941 in a peasant’s farmhouse.
One day, as soldiers came
scouring the property for Jews, Judith and her family scurried to their hiding
spot. Judith, only four years old, needed to go to the bathroom. Her mother
adamantly refused, fearing the soldiers would spot her.
Eventually, she
allowed Judith to use an outhouse designated for workers. It was a simple
wooden shed, with a hole in the floor that hovered over a stream. A wooden
plank was nailed across the hole to form the “seat.”
I didn’t think I was
going to survive. I was trying to grab onto anything to get out of the sewage.
While climbing up
towards the seat, Judith lost her balance and fell into the hole. Her small
body became caught in the stream of sewage. Nearly drowning, she screamed but
no one could hear her. The current kept pulling her under and she knew she
couldn’t hold out for much longer.
“I didn’t think I was going to survive,”
Judith says, “but I had the will to live. I was trying to grab onto anything to
get out of the sewage.”
Suddenly, Judith saw
light seeping through the planks and she spotted a nail poking out. She managed
to grab it and then another. Nail by nail she slowly lifted herself up out of
the filth. She ran back to her hiding family and had to remain covered in
sewage for hours until the soldiers left.
A few months later,
the family was asked to leave the farm. They ran from place to place, hiding
wherever they could. Eventually they landed in Zilina living with false papers
as non-Jews, trying to make themselves invisible.
“Mama taught us to light candles in our heart.
We disguised who we were but we never denied our faith,” explained Judith.
While Judith and her
family were hiding as gentiles, Nazis were paying locals to report hidden Jews
to be rounded up by the thousands and be deported to Auschwitz.
Neighbors suspected
Judith’s family was Jewish and reported them. The SS came to check their
papers. While the children were at school, the SS arrested her parents for
holding false papers.
Neighbors suspected
Judith’s family was Jewish and reported them.
Three of Judith’s
siblings were in school when the SS pounded on her parents’ door to check
papers. Judith and two of her siblings watched the soldiers snatch the papers
and examine them. “We’ll be back!” they barked.
While the SS was gone,
Judith’s parents quickly brought Judith to her school and returned home. When
the SS returned to the house, they arrested her parents and two remaining
siblings for holding false papers. The SS knew that four children were missing.
Judith and her siblings were now fugitives being hunted down by the SS.
After a few weeks,
word got out that Judith’s parents would be deported on October 20, 1942. “The
event was being publicized as a ‘picnic’ to attract a crowd of onlookers.”
Judith and her brother
went to the railway station to try to find their parents. Not knowing that the
train was headed to a death camp, the children decided they would try to join
them. Judith saw her parents being shoved towards the cattle cars and began to
scream.
Her father looked up,
saw his children, and yelled, “‘Go away!”
Judith later learned
that her father was offered an exemption to get off the train. But he refused
to leave his wife and two children and all four were murdered in Auschwitz.
“My life stopped when
the train pulled away with my parents. That day my childhood abruptly ended.
For a while I believed that my parents would come back and get me, even after I
learned where they had gone. This was my fantasy, one I held on to well into my
teenage years, for I simply could not grasp the concept of never seeing my
parents again.”
Their paternal aunt
arranged for Judith and her remaining three siblings to find safety.
Keeping them together
made it even more dangerous, so she and her brother were separated from her two
siblings and traveled with a peasant guide by foot to her mother’s sister in
Hungary. It was a long and arduous journey.
They finally arrived,
shivering and exhausted, at the doorstep of the house in Budapest. Their aunt
answered their knock and was shocked to see the children standing before her.
Because an edict
stated that no one was allowed to take in fugitives, their aunt denied them
entry. “She cried as she sent us away.”
Because an edict
stated that no one was allowed to take in fugitives, their aunt denied them
entry. “She cried as she sent us away.” Today, Judith does not harbor any anger
towards her aunt and has fully forgiven her.
“She survived the war, along with her
children. I have no idea what my own choices would have been under such
circumstances, so I cannot attempt to judge her. We were very real threats to
my relatives’ survival.”
The peasant who
brought them there had no intention of caring for the two children. “She
brought us to a park in Budapest and left. It wasn’t her fault that her special
delivery was rejected. She did what she thought was right.”
The siblings huddled
together on the park bench, unsure of what to do next. Eventually, a policeman
came over and spoke to them. When he heard them respond in Czech, he took them
to the Conti Street Prison. The children were then used as entertainment for
the other inmates. They were abused and tortured, unable to defend themselves.
Judith described the jail as a “blessing disguised as Hell.”
Each day bled into the
next and they wondered how they would survive. “What I remembered most was the
horrible smell. It was a mix of corrupt odors, disease, filth, sweat, vermin,
excrement, and death. The smells filled us with terror. Equally frightening was
the way people grabbed at me when we were brought to the courtyard each day for
some air and a bit of exercise.”
Judith was a beautiful
child with blonde hair and big, green eyes. “I was used to being an object of
attraction to adults, but not the kind of menacing, perverted, salacious
attraction aimed at me in the repulsive hellhole…The men who scared me the most
were the ones who seemed no longer human.”
Word got out to the
Jewish community that orphaned children had been imprisoned. Miraculously, the
children were extracted with the help of community leadership. They were
adopted by Maurice and Ilonka Stern, a wealthy Jewish couple that were
childless and owned a famous kosher restaurant in Budapest.
Life became secure
once again for Judith and her brother. The Sterns loved them like they were
their own.
Soon after, Hungary
was invaded by the Nazis and the Jews were again being deported to Auschwitz.
But this dreamlike
existence was short-lived. Soon after, Hungary was invaded by the Nazis and the
Jews were again being deported to Auschwitz.
Judith was only seven
years old when she had to again hide with her new family – this time in a glass
factory, under the protection of the Swiss Red Cross. At one point, they were
discovered and ordered to line up on the street. Soldiers began shooting people
one by one. Judith anxiously held her adopted father’s hand tightly.
“Don’t be scared,” he told her as his own
voice quivered. But Judith had a plan. When my turn comes, she thought, I will
make believe I am dead and lie on the floor.
Moments before the
guns were aimed at her, out of nowhere, a Red Cross vehicle came careening
around the corner, its occupant waving official papers, yelling at the soldiers
to stop shooting.
Just like that,
Judith’s life was spared again.
In May 1945, Budapest
was liberated from the Germans. Shortly after the war, Mrs. Stern became sick
and passed away. Her husband remarried a woman who did not want children. “She
sent clear signals that I was not wanted and the marriage underscored that.”
Judith was sent to a
Jewish orphanage in Czechoslovakia ran by the Vogel family. The Vogels were
kind and generous, but housing the orphans put a strain on them financially.
When nuns approached the Vogels and offered to let the children attend their
Catholic school for free, they jumped at the opportunity.
In exchange for free
tuition, the Jewish students were forced to attend Catholic Mass. Judith found
herself crossing her heart in the name of the Holy Trinity.
In 1947, Rabbi Dr.
Solomon Schoenfeld arrived at this Catholic school. He had been given Judith’s
information and informed her that she would be joining his final Kindertransport
to England.
Rabbi Schoenfeld
rescued hundreds of children hidden in Christian institutions. He would visit
monasteries hiding Jewish children. The nuns would claim that there were no
Jewish children left. The Rabbi thanked them and began to leave, but as this
Rabbi passed their bed frames he would loudly recite, “Shema Yisrael…” Many
children heard his voice and joined in the prayer they remembered from their
childhood. This was how he discovered these Jewish children and rescued them.
After several years of
living in England, Judith discovered that her siblings were living in Israel
and she wanted to join them.
She moved to a children’s
village called Kfar Batya, run by Amit. She was one of the few English-speaking
students and was tasked with touring donors and dignitaries, like Eleanor
Roosevelt.
She transferred to a
vocational school in Tel Aviv and continued her education, but she still
volunteered for Amit. One day, a young philanthropist named Howard Alter came
to visit, and Judith was asked to guide him. He was immediately smitten with
her, but the feelings were not mutual. Howard did not give up.
On his way back home,
Howard stopped over in Paris and sent designer sunglasses and a beautiful
letter to Judith. He wrote that meeting her was the best thing that ever
happened to him, and he hoped to correspond with her.
Over time, feelings
developed between them both. They were eventually married in Israel, and Howard
brought Judith back to America. Life in America was different but wonderful for
Judith.
Together Judith and
Howard raised three children but, shortly after her oldest son’s bar mitzvah,
Howard passed away from skin cancer. Judith was only 36 years old.
Eventually, Judith
remarried Irwin Kallman, a wonderful man who had two children of his own.
Over the past few
decades, she had the honor of meeting all types of dignitaries and politicians,
such as President Clinton, Golda Meir, President Herzog, among others. Never
could she have imagined that God would extract her from such hellish
experiences and bring her to heights of luxury and acclaim.
“While I was in the jail cell, I could not see
past the moment but, as a teen, I began to dream that my life would be better.
I was seeking happiness, and I made up my mind that I would do everything in my
power to achieve it.”
He, too, has since
passed away. “I feel so blessed to have had two men who truly loved me with all
their heart.”
After so much
difficulty and loss, Judith describes her tools for resilience. “You must
always have faith, whether you believe in God or not. You must overcome. You
must think about tomorrow. Today may be cloudy, but tomorrow the clouds will
disappear and the sun comes through. I always felt that whatever bad things
were happening to me, God was with me. He was going to save me. I always looked
forward and didn’t dwell on the negative in life.”
While Judith has
tremendous faith, she also has lasting trauma. Whenever a police car pulls her
over, she relives the fear.
Despite mourning so
many in her life, Judith still has the courage to love others, and is cherished
by her many children and grandchildren. “The pain can be overcome with love… I
was going from country to country. I was going from orphanage to orphanage. I
needed love. I was missing it. I realized that even if I didn’t have the
security I needed as a child, at least I survived and could provide it to the
ones I love. That too is a gift. That too is a victory.”
Click here to order Judith’s autobiography, A
Candle in the Heart.
Solica: The Jewish
Martyr of Morocco by Nissan Ratzlav Katz
https://aish.com/solica-the-jewish-martyr-of-morocco/
In Fez, Morocco, there is a large, beautiful, 200-year-old
Jewish cemetery. Among the pristine white graves sits a blue-tinted tomb
venerated by both Jews and non-Jews. It is that of a 17-year-old girl known as
Solica Hagouel (Hatchuel) or Sol HaTzaddikah (“Sol the Righteous”), who was
executed by Muslim authorities in 1834 for refusing to renounce her faith.
Solica’s tomb, with three green-topped turrets and a horseshoe
arch, includes
an epitaph in both French and Hebrew. The French version says:
“Here lies Miss Solica
Hatchuel, born in Tangier in 1817. Refusing to convert to the Islamic religion,
Arabs killed her in Fez in 1834. She was torn from her family and the whole
world misses this saintly girl.”
The Hebrew says:
“The gravestone of the
righteous Solica Hagouel, a virgin maiden who publicly sanctified the Name of
Heaven and was martyred in the glorious city of Fez in the year 5594. Here she
is buried. May her merit protect us. Amen, may it be God’s will.”
To properly understand Solica’s incredible story, we need to
first place her life in its broader historical context.
Jewish life in Morocco, like in much of the Diaspora, swung
between flourishing and persecution. One of its brighter chapters
came under King Mohammed V, who reigned during World War II. Defying the
Nazi-aligned Vichy regime, he refused to deport Morocco’s 225,000 Jews,
protected their rights, and preserved their synagogues and cemeteries — a
legacy honored decades later by Jews in New York.
But that legacy stands in contrast to earlier eras. Morocco’s
first independent Muslim ruler, Idris I, violently suppressed Jews, while his
son Idris II adopted a more tolerant stance, turning Fez into a hub of Jewish
life. That stability shattered in 1033 with a massacre of 6,000 Jews under
Abu’l Kamal Tamim. Persecution returned under the Almohads in the 12th century,
forcing conversions and exiles. The Marinid dynasty that followed offered relative
tolerance but confined Jews to walled ghettos, or mellahs.
Periodic violence continued — including mass killings in the
1400s — though Jews fleeing the Spanish Inquisition briefly revived Moroccan
Jewish communities. Sultan Mawlay al-Yazid (1790–1792) renewed the brutal
choice: convert to Islam or die. His successor, Sultan Moulay Abd al-Rahman,
ruled from 1822 and enforced the standard discriminatory laws of dhimmi status,
without curbing local persecution.
It was into this fraught world that Solica Hagouel was born —
and where, at just 17, she would be asked to choose between Islam and death.
Solica (“Sol”) was the daughter of Haim and Simcha of Tangier,
and little sister to Yissachar. Writing in 1863, the Romanian Jewish explorer
Israel Joseph Benjamin said that her Arab neighbors thought it was “a sin that
such a pearl should be in the possession of the Jews....” Similarly, the
Spanish writer Eugenio María Romero wrote that Solica’s “surpassing charms
gained her the homage of crowds of admirers, who thought themselves happy in
obtaining even a passing sight of this prodigy of Nature’s work....”
Lalla Sol ha’tsaddiqa (Solica), by Prosper Trojman
Romero wrote one of the most detailed accounts of Solica’s final
days, El Martirio de la Jóven Hachuel, ó, La Heroina Hebrea, after returning
from a trip to Morocco. First published in 1837, it is based on interviews with
Yissachar, Haim, Simcha, and other eyewitnesses. It is from this source that we
will draw most of the story that follows.
Haim was a businessman, as was his son, while Simcha kept the
family home running smoothly. In that role, she insisted her daughter Solica
remain fully engaged in household chores and off the streets, which led to some
strain in their relationship. In search of a sympathetic ear, the young
17-year-old found herself periodically visiting the home of a Muslim neighbor
named Tahra Mesmudi and sharing what was on her mind and in her heart.
As Romero notes, “Amongst the Arabs, the conversion of an
infidel (by which name they designate all those who do not conform to their
creed) is esteemed an action in the highest degree meritorious. This conquest
to their faith, therefore, they make wherever an opportunity is open to them,
by the most indiscriminate and unscrupulous means….”
So Tahra took full advantage of Solica’s tears to suggest that
salvation from her mother’s unfair treatment was to be found in conversion to
Islam.
The innocent Solica refused, according to Jewish sources.
But that was not the end of Tahra’s efforts. She went to the
pasha (governor) of Tangier and claimed that the young Jewish maiden was on the
verge of accepting Islam – if only she could be removed from the influence of
her family. A soldier was immediately sent to tear the girl away from her parents
and bring her before the pasha.
In a private audience, the pasha declared, “The great Allah has
sent forth a ray from his transcendent light to win you to his religion, and to
turn you from the errors of your own. This hour gives birth to your happiness.”
When Solica remained silent, the pasha was surprised and
confronted her with Tahra’s claims regarding her desire to convert to Islam and
gain his protection.
With characteristic forthrightness, Solica responded: “You have
been deceived, sir. Never did I express such a wish. Never did I yield to the
entreaties and proposals of Tahra Mesmudi. I was born a Hebrew and a Hebrew I
desire to die.”
The pasha would not be appeased. Based solely on the Muslim
woman’s testimony, he declared Solica “convicted of a crime that death itself
could scarce atone for.” However, he sent her to be confined in his own opulent
residence, hoping his family and their wealth would make an impression on the
young Jewish woman.
For three days, members of the pasha’s household tried to coax
Solica with promises of a rich, powerful husband, a thousand slaves, and “all
the precious things of Asia and Arabia” if she would but convert to Islam.
Still she refused. “Never will I abandon my God.”
Hearing of her response, the pasha again ordered Solica to be
brought before him. If the carrot would not work, perhaps the stick would.
“I will load you with
chains,” he threatened. “You will be torn by wild beasts and see no more the
light of day. You will lie, perishing with hunger, and lamenting the rigor of
my anger and indignation, for you have provoked the wrath of the Prophet, and
slighted his laws.”
Solica replied, “I will submit tranquilly to the weight of your
chains. I will allow my limbs to be torn asunder by wild beasts. I will
renounce forever the light of day. I will die of hunger. And when every torture
you can command has been endured, I will scorn your anger and the wrath of the
Prophet since they are unable to conquer even a weak woman, and do but show
your impotence in the sight of Heaven, whose strength you boast, to gain one
proselyte to your creed.”
With that, the pasha condemned her to a dungeon on the edge of
town. A narrow window in her tiny cell overlooked the street and it was through
this that Solica one day heard the desperate voices of her parents. She called
out to them and quickly reached through the bars to grasp their hands, weeping
bitterly.
After some time, Haim and Simcha gently asked if Solica intended
to accept Islam.
“Never!” she answered,
saying that she regarded her suffering to be atonement for failing to respect
her mother.
Bribing the Muslim guard to look the other way, Haim, Simcha and
Yissachar spent the nights speaking with Solica through the bars.
Romero describes the scene poetically:
“Who shall describe these
afflicting interviews? Tears, sighs, broken words, every emotion of love and
pity succeeded each other in quick succession; but the night vanished as
rapidly as the day had wearily withdrawn, and the moment of separation arrived
– the Muhammadan prison-keeper admonishing them to depart. They did so, torn
with emotions that none but those who have loved, none but those who have
suffered, none but those who are parents, can comprehend, and this night, and
the day that followed, were spent in grief and agony.”
Solica once again refused to convert to Islam, the pasha ordered
further torture. Chains bound her hands and feet, an iron collar was placed
around her neck, and she was dragged to a dark, dank subterranean cell. Though
she was in constant pain, unable to stand, and her only bed was the damp
ground, Solica was not broken.
In the meantime, the Hagouel family sought the assistance of
anyone and everyone who could help get their daughter released. Eventually,
they approached the Spanish vice-consul in Tangier, Don José Rico, who was
touched by the suffering of the teenage captive. He petitioned the pasha on her
behalf, noting ominously that the public was already very agitated over
Solica’s fate.
The pasha, for his part, said that the matter was out of his
hands. The Sultan of Morocco himself, Moulay Abd al-Rahman, had taken an
interest in the case and demanded that Solica be brought before him in Fez. The
pasha then called in Haim Hagouel, informed him of the situation, and coldly
demanded that he pay the costs of transporting (and possibly executing) his
imprisoned daughter. Hearing this, the righteous José Rico paid the required
sum.
Five soldiers were assigned to convey that one young Jewish
woman to her fate. But there was another, undercover escort as well. The family
had hired a man to travel along with the odd caravan and keep an eye on Solica.
As Romero wrote, “About three miles of the journey were
completed when there encountered them, as though by accident, a man who joined
himself to the travelers.” Saying he was a trader on his way to Fez, he feigned
interest in the prisoner’s story and even appealed to her to embrace Islam “as
he himself had done.” But the supposed trader revealed to Solica through hand
signals and Hebrew expressions the true goal of his presence there, while she
asked him to convey her love and concern to her parents.”
All who saw the prisoner on the road, and were made acquainted
with the particulars of her situation, earnestly exhorted and even implored her
to become a proselyte to their faith,” according to Romero. “She heard them
with quiet diffidence, and replied modestly to all the arguments directed to
her that she would rather sacrifice her life than change her religion. So much
courageous perseverance was the admiration of all who conversed with her, and
her situation excited the greatest interest and sympathy wherever she passed.”
After six days, the entourage arrived in Fez and Solica was
taken to the women’s quarters in the royal palace to rest, bathe, and prepare
to meet the Sultan. After questioning the prisoner, the Sultan appointed a qadi
(a judge in Islamic law) to rule on the obstinate Jew’s case. The qadi,
realizing that intimidation by Muslims would not work, summoned a delegation of
local rabbis to appeal to the girl. He added a threat of his own against the
local Jewish community for good measure. One version of the rabbis’ interaction
with Solica says that they indeed suggested she pretend to convert, while another
version has it that they encouraged her to remain faithful to Judaism. In any
case, she once again refused her captors’ exhortations.
Before the qadi announced his ruling, one of the Sultan’s sons
was reportedly so taken by Solica’s beauty that he intervened to offer her the
option of marrying him and becoming a princess – on the familiar condition that
she accept Islam.
Yet again, Solica rejected the offer and said she would not
betray her God.
The execution order was handed down immediately thereafter.
Solica was to be publicly beheaded in the center of Fez. Romero described the
atmosphere: “The Moors, whose religious fanaticism is indescribable, prepared,
with their accustomed joy, to witness the horrid scene. The Jews of the city...
were moved with the deepest sorrow, but they could do nothing to avert it.”
Before landing the fatal blow, the executioner used his blade to
draw a little blood and then offered Solica one last chance to convert.
“Do not make me linger.
Behead me at once,” the brave young woman called out, “for dying as I do,
innocent of any crime, the God of Abraham will avenge my death!”
Solica HaTzaddikah was brutally martyred in 1834, but her legacy
lives on in many ways. First and foremost in the many people around the world
who carry her name and descend from the Hagouel family of Morocco. They may be
called Sol or Solica and bear the family name Hagouel, Hatchuel or even the
English-sounding Hatchwell.
Arab and Berber Moroccans refer to the Jewish teenager as Lalla
Solica (“the holy lady Solica”) and believe that her tomb has the power to
bring healing and fertility to the afflicted. For Jews, of course, the tomb is
a site of prayer and veneration spanning generations.
Over the years, Solica’s story has been captured in various
artistic and literary forms. While Romero’s account is a 19th-century
documentary, there have also been novelizations, poems, ballads, artwork, and
stage performances in a variety of languages commemorating her self-sacrifice.
The Jews of Morocco were a frequent subject of the
mid-19th-century French artist Alfred Dehodencq, who lived in North Africa for
an extended period of time. One of his most well-known paintings is called Exécution
d'une juive, au Maroc (“Execution of a Jewess in Morocco”), of which he created multiple versions. Many art
historians and scholars believe it was inspired by Solica’s well-known
martyrdom, as it was being told and retold among the Jewish and Arab Moroccans
he met.
Mark Goldstein Published this AI
Story about power of prayer on a Facebook Group. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXtpxEXPaQU
Also on Parsha Balak: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZDZPHvHffM
The Telegram that saved a Life by Rabbi Yerachmiel
Tilles
https://ascentofsafed.com/cgi-bin/ascent.cgi?Name=1439-41
On Yud-Beis (12th)Tammuz 5687
(1927), the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, R. Yosef-Yitzchak ('HaRayatz')
Schneersohn, was released from prison in Stalinist Russia. Ever since
then, the date has been celebrated as a major holiday among Chabad-Lubavitch
chasidim.[1]
Rabbi Berel Baumgarten always cherished this occasion. He
himself was very close to the Rebbe Rayatz, and in the 1940's completed many
missions according to the Rebbe's directives.
In 1955 the son-in-law and successor of the Rebbe
Rayatz, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, sent R. Baumgarten to be the first
Chabad representative in Argentina. During his 23 years there, he often made
the long journey to the USA specifically to spend 12-13 Tammuz at
770 [Eastern Pkwy, Brooklyn, Lubavitch World Headquarters). The highlight
always was being part of the packed congregation of thousands, participating in
the Rebbe's special farbrengen for Yud-Beis Tammuz.
In those years that he was unable to fly, he used the holiday as an opportunity
to spread awareness of Chasidism and the Rebbe to his fellow Jews in Argentina.
One year, however, he was forced to travel from Argentina to
Brazil, and realized that on Yud-Beis Tammuz he would be in
the middle of his trip. Disturbed at the prospect of spending this auspicious
date far from anyone with whom he could share his feelings, he sent a telegram
to the office at 770 before he left home, asking to be remembered by the Rebbe
on that date.
While in Brazil, in order to reach his destination Rabbi
Baumgarten had to cross the Iguacu River by ferry -- a boat with an open deck
covered by an awning, with several heavy-duty rafts tied together to carry cars
and cargo. Together with several others, the rabbi followed instructions and
drove his car onto the raft.
As soon as the cars were parked, he and the others left their
vehicles and enjoyed the fresh air beneath the awning. He was happy to find
that two of his fellow passengers were Jews. But his joy soon turned to
consternation when he discovered that the two were totally alienated from their
heritage, and had no desire to hear about Jewish practice or ideas. One of them
brazenly flaunted a ham sandwich before him, making it clear how little Judaism
meant to him.
Feeling that further conversation would be futile, and offended
by their actions, Rabbi B. returned to his car and opened his books to study.
Suddenly, there was a powerful jolt -- a banana boat had slammed
into the raft! Huge beams that had been piled in a corner of the raft began
tumbling down, pushing cars off the raft and into the Iguacu River. To his
shock, his own car also began to move. He slammed his foot on the brake, but
was powerless to stop the car's forward motion. It too crashed into the waves
and started to sink!
R. Berel Baumgarten was a big man, over six feet tall and more
than 250 pounds. Yet, as large and strong as he was, he couldn't open the car
door; the water pressure was simply too great. suddenly the door opened--how?
he never understood--and he found himself out of the car and in the water,
slowly rising upward.
His troubles, however, were far from over. Yes, he had escaped
the sinking vehicle, but R. Baumgarten had never learned to swim! Frantically
kicking and flailing his arms for what seemed like hours, he was at the end of
his strength when his head suddenly broke through to the surface.
Exhausted, he could only bob helplessly up and down; he couldn't
figure out what was keeping him afloat, but there he was. Between waves, he
could see the raft close by, but was powerless to move towards it.
To make matters even worse, he could hear a rumbling thunder in
the distance, and realized with horror that the river's powerful current was
beginning to pull him away from the raft, and towards a waterfall!
As the white water crashed over him and he was unsure if he
would survive, he pictured the Rebbe's face before his eyes Then he looked up
towards shore and B'H, he saw a man there about to heave a life-preserver in
his direction. It splashed into the river just within reach.
He grabbed the life-preserver and drew it close. He tried to put
it over his upper body, but was unable to. He simply was too broad. Though his
strength was giving out, he realized there was no alternative; he would have to
hold on by hand.
After he had been hauled into the raft and was able to regain
his composure, the two Jews whom he had met previously approached him, overcome
with remorse. They acknowledged it was because of them that the rabbi had
returned to his car. They apologized for their previous conduct. Not only that,
the man who had flaunted the sandwich even promised to keep kosher from that
time onward!
After Rabbi Baumgarten reached the far shore, he began to
contemplate his situation. He had no explanation for the life-saving miracles
that had occurred.
Days later, he was able to gain clarity. Someone who overheard
told him that during that year's Yud-Beis Tammuz farbrengen, the
Rebbe had turned to Berel's brother, Rabbi Mendel Baumgarten, and asked
"Where is Berel?" He also instructed him to toast l'chaim.
When Reb Berel heard this, he sped to his brother to ask what
time this occurred. Calculating the difference in time-zones, he realized that
the Rebbe must have been reading the telegram at precisely the time that his
car had been dislodged from the raft and he had been under water!
All these calculations, however, came later; at the moment,
alive but stranded, he had more immediate concerns. His personal belongings had
all been lost with the car, and he was far from any Jewish community. Where
would he find a Tallis and tefillin with
which to pray?
In Brazil [and in all of the southern hemisphere], the Jewish
month of Tammuz falls in the winter and the days are short. R. Baumgarten found
that there was a small airport nearby, but no flights were scheduled until late
afternoon; he would not be able to reach another city before sunset. He did not
know what to do, being unable to conceive of letting the day pass without
putting on tefillin.
He inquired about hiring a private plane. Although the cost was
exorbitant, he was able to find a pilot who could fly him to another city
before sunset. He sent a telegram to the leaders of the Jewish community there,
asking them to meet him at the airport with tefillin.
There was a mix-up in communications, however, and no one
greeted the desperate rabbi at the airport. With less than an hour left before
nightfall, he grabbed a cab and told him to hurry to the nearest synagogue.
Unfortunately, night fell before he could get there. Broken-hearted, he stopped
the cab, sat down on a nearby park bench and cried.
At his next yechidus (private meeting), he
asked the Rebbe how he could atone for not putting on tefillin that day. Before
answering his question, the Rebbe looked up at him and asked: "Well, did I
think about you? Yes or no?"
He then instructed Rabbi Baumgarten to study the laws of
tefillin in the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch, and the discourses in chasidic
thought that speak about the subjugation of heart and mind, the spiritual
message associated with the mitzvah of tefillin.
Rabbi Baumgarten lamented that a pocket-sized Siddur and Tanya
which he had been given by the Rebbe were now at the bottom of the Iguacu
River. "Could the Rebbe please replace them?" he asked.
"Why? Is it my fault?" replied the Rebbe with a soft
smile.
"And am I to blame?" replied Reb Berel.
To this the Rebbe smiled broadly, removed from a drawer in his
desk a Siddur and a Tanya, and handed them to Rabbi Baumgarten.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: Adapted by Yerachmiel Tilles from "To Know and
to Care" by Rabbi Eliyahu and Malka Touger, vol. 2, ch.13. and
expanded with two paragraphs near the end from a feature article in Derher
Magazine.
Why this Week? Yud-Beis (12th) Tammuz, the celebration of the
release from prison in Stalinist Russia of the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi
Yosef-Yitzchak ('HaRayatz') Schneersohn, this year will start this year on
Monday July 7, sunset, until Wednesday nightfall, July 9.
Biographic note:
Rabbi Shalom-DovBer "Berel" Baumgarten [25 Menachem-Av
5682 (August 1922) - 16 Adar 5738 (March 1978)], a native New Yorker, was
'drafted' by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in 1955 to be the first Chabad emissary to
Argentina, where he served energetically, faithfully and with great success for
23 years, until he died of a sudden stroke at the young age of 56. He is buried
in Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, NY, three rows behind the Rebbe.
Testimonial (extracted and rewritten from "How Chabad Took
Root in Argentina: The-Early-Years" on Chabad.org):
Throughout his years in Argentina, Rabbi Baumgarten would serve as a rosh
yeshiva, a school teacher, a rabbi, and the chaplain of a Jewish senior home
and orphanage. Thus, he had a vast impact on the spiritual and material life of
Argentine Jewry. His genuine chasidic joy and warmth, coupled with his breadth
of Torah scholarship, made him a magnet for Argentine Jews wherever he went and
left a lasting impression.
After Reb Berel's passing in 1978, Argentine native Rabbi Tzvi Grunblatt
returned to the country with his wife, Sterna, to take his place as chief
Chabad emissary. Under his stewardship, Chabad of Argentina has grown to become
a network of 52 synagogues, schools and social-service organizations.
It was as a child that Grunblatt first encountered Chabad in the form of Rabbi
Baumgarten, a looming, bearded American chasid who looked out of place on the
streets of Buenos Aires. "When the Jews here saw him," attests
Grunblatt, "they looked at him as an angel from G D; they had never seen
someone like him."
Indeed, nearly all of the Chabad representatives in that first generation grew
up and were trained under the tutelage of Rabbi Berel Baumgarten.
Footnote: [1] For more information on this annual chasidic celebration, see
stories #555 & 1021, in the ASCENT story archives, or go to Chabad.org.
Milestone: S. Daniel
Abraham, 100, an American billionaire who grew his fortune on his diet company
Slim-Fast Foods and spent his life advocating for peace between Israel and its
neighbors in the Middle East, died on June 29. https://www.timesofisrael.com/s-daniel-abraham-slim-fast-inventor-who-advocated-for-mideast-peace-dies-at-100/
Inyanay Diyoma
July 5th and 6th
Day 638 and Day 639 start of week 92
I was listening to Keith Segal about the
hostages. I keep thinking that we have a ceasefire with Lebanon and Iran and
from time to time, we deal with things quietly or openly. So why can’t we do
the same with Gaza and bring the 20 live people home along with the 30 bodies?
We lost 20 young men in June and many wounded for the 20 live hostages and
already three men died in July. How much longer must the 20 and the families
suffer?
The Puma armored personnel carrier is a tank
from WWII not designed against RPG’s or terrorists on semi-suicide missions
with grenades to be thrown into hatches. There are new APCs but the right hand
of the army has to coordinate with the left hand side to replace the old Pumas.
Last week, there was a news item of
a MD who in cooperation with the Weitzman Institute found a cure for his
daughter’s genetic disease. Only 38 individual suffer from the disease so that
Big Pharma has no reason to produce a vaccine. He went to “Hovshit Yad” and
need 10,000,000 NIS for a cure for the few individuals. Sofar, he raised 5,500,000
Shekels. Today we googled in Hebrew the name and donated too.
I am going to the tragedy in TX prior to the
news that remained from Friday in Italics. 850 rescued, 27 children from Camp
Mystic founded 1926 missing.
News that I learned of
after I wrote the above prior to the publication of the blogspot.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/27/africa/trump-drc-rwanda-peace-deal-intl
Sergeant
Yair Eliyahu, aged 19, from Ezer, a Combat Engineering soldier in the Northern
Brigade, fell during combat in the northern Gaza Strip, it was cleared for
publication Friday morning. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411132
Just before Sundown on Friday we lost another
soldier in Southern Gaza. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411148
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar informed the
Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Korniychuk, yesterday (Thursday), that
he had instructed his ministry to provide Ukraine, through MASHAV (Israel’s
national aid agency within the Foreign Ministry), with an aid package that will
provide drinking water systems to serve hundreds of thousands of people in
areas affected by Russian bombings. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411134
Dead Sea Houthi missile sirens: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-860083
Old Syrian Army Posts demolished. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411210
The
political-security cabinet approved the creation of humanitarian aid zones in
Gaza, designed to separate the population from Hamas. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411184
The
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced on Friday that it has
withdrawn its inspectors from Iran due to safety concerns. The move comes after
Iran suspended cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog earlier this week.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411144
Hamas Naval Commander eliminated: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411214
AD: 104F=40C in a tent soldiers. "We just
got back from a 12-hour sweep. It's 104°F in this tent. No air, just heat.
We're drenched in sweat, trying to rest, but it's like lying in an oven. If
someone out there can send us an AC… I don't even know you, but I'll never
forget it. We need this. Badly." Been there done
that in an adobe type building less air than a tent. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411205
An
attempt on Friday Night to burn Jews in Prayer: Jewish communities across
Australia are experiencing heightened fear and distress following a sharp rise
in anti-Semitic incidents in recent months. Community members describe a
“relentless” wave of hatred that has targeted children, schools, and places of
worship. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411218 https://www.timesofisrael.com/man-charged-with-setting-fire-to-melbourne-synagogue-as-police-probe-terror-motive/
The
UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported on Sunday that a commercial
vessel came under attack in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen near the
Houthi-controlled port of Hodeida. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411215
Spin and deception: Channel 12 Arab affairs
correspondent Ohad Hemo expressed strong skepticism on Sunday regarding recent
claims that five sheikhs from Hebron proposed establishing a sovereign emirate
in the city. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the
sheikhs allegedly suggested cutting ties with the Palestinian Authority,
aligning with the Abraham Accords, and forming an independent governing body. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411216
Meuhedet
Health Services has launched a new artificial intelligence system designed to
revolutionize how members interact with their HMO. The service, Meuhedet AI,
enables members to ask questions, receive information, and perform
medical-related tasks explained in simple terms, without navigating complex
menus or seeking where to look. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/article-859774
Ukraine-Russia: https://www.jpost.com/international/internationalrussia-ukraine-war/article-860145
A
comprehensive report on the sexual violence committed by Hamas terrorists will
be published on Tuesday, 21 months after the October 7 massacre. According to
the Sunday Times, the report prepared by the Dinah Project, dedicated to deal
with the world's silence about the sexual atrocities that day, found they were
"widespread and systematic" and included rape, and gang rape in at
least six locations along the Israel-Gaza border. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hjp11f6wsex#autoplay
Successor Terrorist could be released. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/syqr9rdsxg
Company that shaped hi-tech turns 100. https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/sjfm3twbel
July 7th
Swords of Iron Day 640 already 19 months
A few words of faith regarding the
Texas Flood in which more than eighty people died. https://www.jpost.com/environment-and-climate-change/article-860191
An Atheist will tell you global
warming or freaky Nature. Instead of 1.27 average inches of rain in July there
was 13.5 inches in a 48hour period.
In Psalms (Tehillim) it says 127:1 Except
the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it; except the LORD
keep the city, the watchman wakes but in vain. It is not our place to question why as the soul is
eternal and has certain achievements and tasks to complete in each ‘life’ cycle
and when complete is gathered back to the source. Spiritually it is moving from
that neighbor to this neighborhood but in the physical world of today it is
devastating. For a family who lost a loved one or one of 883 soldiers that died
since Oct.7th or the man who committed suicide this morning from
PTSD it is horrendous. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-860189
What is Nature or Teva in Hebrew. Teva
is in Gematria (Numerology) Tet = 9 Ayin = 70 Bet = 2 and Hey = 5 a total of
86. 86 just happens to be the Gematria of ELOKIM. I use K instead of H in case
people print and discard this blog. Yes it is Nature but then again what is
Nature? No other than the will of G-D.
The Houthis fire back two missiles. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411239
Trump thinks there is a good chance for a deal
this week. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411236
Hamas's
internal security "deterrence" unit announced it carried out a series
of "high-quality" operations last week, during which 12 individuals
were executed for alleged collaboration with Israel and involvement in criminal
activity. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411238
Taiwan’s
representative in Israel, Abby Ya-Ping Lee, arrived this morning (Sunday)
together with MK Ohad Tal of the Religious Zionism party for a tour of the
Binyamin Regional Council. She met with Binyamin Regional Council Governor and
Chairman of the Yesha Council, Yisrael Ganz. On behalf of her country, she
presented a financial donation to the Nanasi Medical Center, currently under
construction in Shaar Binyamin. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411231
According
to Yaari, Hamas currently finds itself “in a vortex of chaos and confusion,”
grappling with internal power struggles of a kind not seen since the terror
group’s founding in late 1987. Despite the dysfunction, Yaari believes there is
still a potential path for the return of hostages. However, he cautioned that
the second phase of the process—transitioning from a ceasefire to discussions
on dismantling Hamas' armed wing and establishing new governance arrangements
in Gaza—could prove to be a significant stumbling block. “These are two issues
that could require an enormous amount of time, with no guarantee that
agreements can be reached,” he warned. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411208
https://www.algemeiner.com/2025/07/04/american-jews-and-jews-around-the-world-need-to-wake-up/
July 8th
Swords of Iron Day 641
Besides a personal trainer I had other things
to do today so delayed a bit.
The death toll rises 888 soldiers killed in
action as 5 more die a scout and four Charedi Soldiers. When you hear of a scout killed that means that
these fellows were opening up the path. The rescue vehicle with the Medics came
under fire and 14more injured in the extraction process. https://www.timesofisrael.com/5-idf-soldiers-killed-14-injured-by-roadside-bomb-in-northern-gaza/
I’m wounded but we won’t break. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411307
The tragedy in Texas has more rain and the death toll at least 104 with
more missing and 30 bodies still unidentified. https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/texas-floods-latest-updates-july-7
https://www.foxnews.com/us/parents-desperate-chase-foils-brooklyn-kidnappers-sinister-plot
https://www.timesofisrael.com/group-of-europe-based-imams-visits-israel-bearing-message-of-peace/
Israel is at the forefront of treating Alzheimer’s Disease with newly
approved drugs that slow the disease’s progression—but only for patients who
can afford the steep price tag. The groundbreaking medications, which are not
covered by the national health basket, can cost up to NIS 13,000 (roughly
$3,500) per month, leaving most patients without access to them. https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/syrg6kysgl
https://www.timesofisrael.com/yemens-houthi-rebels-claim-cargo-ship-they-attacked-sunday-has-sunk/
The
IDF struck and eliminated the terrorist Ali Abd al-Hassan Haidar, a commander
in Hezbollah's 'Radwan Force', on Monday in the area of Deir Kifa in southern
Lebanon. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411313
https://www.timesofisrael.com/lufthansa-carrier-group-to-resume-flying-to-israel-starting-august-1/
Hard-right
lawmakers are advancing a far-reaching bill to allow police more discretion in
probing suspected incitement, while chipping away at state attorneys’ oversight
of investigations into such cases. https://www.timesofisrael.com/far-right-mks-push-bill-allowing-police-to-probe-incitement-without-state-attorneys-go-ahead/
Israel preparing for more daring Hamas attacks.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411306
https://www.foxnews.com/us/ice-agents-targeted-2-ambush-attacks-recent-days
AI impersonation of Marco Rubio. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411323
Extremist
left-wing figure Yisrael Frey caused a public uproar today (Tuesday) after
posting a tweet on social media in which he supported the death of five IDF
soldiers killed last night in the Gaza Strip. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411329
The
IDF Spokesperson's Unit reported that this afternoon (Tuesday), the IDF, using
Air Force aircraft, targeted a key Hamas terrorist in the Tripoli area of
northern Lebanon. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411330
Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has nominated US President Donald Trump for the
Nobel Peace Prize. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411301
BREAKING: TRUMP AND NETANYAHU TO MEET REGARDING
THE HOSTAGES AT 6PM DST 1AM YISRAEL.
Senator
Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Monday vehemently denounced the visit of Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, D.C., for a meeting with US
President Donald Trump. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411296
A
security official from the Hamas terrorist organization claimed that the
group’s internal security forces had seized espionage devices planted by Israel
at various sites throughout the Gaza Strip, with the help of local
collaborators. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411290
Iran has reportedly begun receiving Chinese surface-to-air missile
(SAM) batteries, moving swiftly to reconstruct its air defense capabilities
significantly degraded during a recent 12-day conflict with Israel, Middle
East Eye reported on Monday.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411295
An
Israeli father and his son were killed during a mountain trek in Austria after
falling from a significant height in the Tyrol region. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411289
The
European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) announced Monday evening that it
has lifted all flight restrictions to Israel and United Air July 21st.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411297
The
IDF Spokesperson's Unit announced that yesterday (Sunday), IDF soldiers
operated under the direction of the ISA to apprehend a terrorist in Salem in
Samaria who was a central arms dealer involved in multiple weapons and drug
deals. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411274
July 9th
Swords of Iron Day 642
Of course the war in Gaza and Iran are our main
stories in Israel. But Jews know well the Medrash that when the Egyptians were
drowning by the Sea, G-D would not let the Angels sing Shira with Miriam, Moshe
and Am Yisrael. Why because his creation was drowning all the more so innocent
children and adults in their sleep.
Chabad of Texas is out there helping where they can. The death toll in
Texas is now 111 but the number of missing persons are 172. https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-jewish-camps-express-grief-condolences-after-flooding-disaster-at-camp-mystic-in-texas/
Ahead
of their
first meeting on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented US
President Donald Trump with a unique and symbolic gift: a mezuzah shaped like
an American B-2 bomber. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411353
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei, stated
on Tuesday that Tehran has not requested any meeting with the United States,
according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411360
The
Croatian singer Marko Perkovic, who is known for his far-right sympathies, led
nearly half a million concertgoers in a pro-Nazi salute in Zagreb on Saturday
night. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411362
In a
joint operation by the IDF and ISA, IDF forces operated in the village of
Al-Yamun in the Jenin area and arrested a terrorist who planned to establish a
regional terror organization. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411363
The
IDF on Tuesday night struck and eliminated terrorist Hussein Ali Muzhir, head
of Firepower of the Zahrani sector in Hezbollah's Badr Unit, in the Al-Babliyah
area in southern Lebanon. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411364
July 10th
Swords of Iron Day 643
This news broke around 2PM. A 20year old guard
was stabbed and his gun stolen and used against him by 2 terrorists. A 20-year-old
Israeli man was killed in a combined shooting and stabbing attack at the Gush
Etzion junction in the West Bank, Magen
David Adom confirmed Thursday. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-860604
A crane driver was attacked by terrorists. They
tried dragging him alive into a tunnel. The killed him and shortly thereafter,
they were killed. https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-soldier-killed-during-attempted-hamas-abduction-in-southern-gaza-idf-says/
He was killed 3 months after his wedding. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411412
Terror tunnel destroyed: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-860583
In Lebanon soldiers found an arms cache. The
question is if it was one we missed or a new one for Hezballah revival? https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411380
As for me, I was just saying the Modeh Ani
Prayer upon awaking and standing on my feet at 05:15 as I sleep half awake for
Houthi Alerts when the alert sounded. I had time to wash my hands and grab a
drink and my wife and I were down in the shelter. The poor TV girl was in the
middle of make-up and her eyes looked terrible By 6AM she looked pretty again. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411426
During IDF
activity in Kfar Rumana, a terrorist stabbed an IDF soldier and moderately
injured him. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411435
The
city of Rehovot on Thursday morning announced the death of Corporal Liel
Shoham, a soldier in the 12th Battalion of the Golani Brigade, who fell while
performing his duties. The soldier had been questioned by the Military Police
hours before being discovered. The IDF clarified that the soldier had not been
investigated for involvement in any incident with Palestinian Authority Arabs,
but for other unrelated suspicions. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411437
Senator Graham
expressed strong backing for Israel’s stance that Hamas must be fully removed
from Gaza as a condition for any peace agreement. He also emphasized that Iran
must recognize Israel’s right to exist before any negotiations can move
forward. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411423
Musk shuts down X’s AI after smart-ass Nazis take it over. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411427
Traitor arrested we are at war! https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411404
Under
the command of the 162nd Division, the Givati Brigade combat team has joined
the 99th Division forces and begun operations to encircle Beit Hanoun in the
northern Gaza Strip. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411392
After
43 years, French prosecutors are moving to bring six individuals to trial
before a special terrorism court in connection with the deadly 1982 attack on
the Jo Goldenberg Jewish restaurant in Paris, Reuters reported on
Wednesday. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411430
Arab
affairs commentator Zvi Yehezkeli warns that Israel is conceding too much to
Hamas in the ongoing hostage release negotiations - and the murderous terrorist
organization is exploiting the situation to its advantage. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411428
I managed to report the Temu advertising today as
it treats women’s bodies as 50 to 60 kilograms of flesh if they keep popping up
by google please do the same.
US
President Donald Trump has escalated his global trade pressure on Wednesday,
threatening Brazil with a "crippling" 50% tariff on its goods beginning
August 1. Truth Social, explicitly links the punitive economic measure to
ongoing charges against Brazil's former right-wing president, Jair Bolsonaro. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411424
Despite
the relative progress in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas, according
to sources with knowledge of the matter, there are still several sticking
points that are difficult to overcome. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411402
A
delivery that consisted of dozens of Military D9 bulldozers and other equipment
for the IDF's Ground Forces were received and unloaded on Wednesday at the
Haifa Port as part of a joint operation led by a Ministry Defense procurement
delegation in the United States, the IDF's Planning Wing, and the Procurement
Directorate's unit for international transport. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411389
Hundreds
of Russian drones and more than a dozen missiles rained down
on the Ukrainian capital early on Thursday, killing two people in a second
massive airstrike on Ukraine in two days as Kyiv seeks critical aid from its
partners at a meeting in Rome. https://www.jpost.com/international/internationalrussia-ukraine-war/article-860605
German
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul expects Iran to exert its influence over Houthi terrorists in Yemen to stop attacking ships in the
Red Sea, he said on Thursday. https://www.jpost.com/international/article-860611
Rescuers
pulled three more crew members and a security guard alive from the Red Sea on
Thursday, maritime security sources said, a day after Houthi militants sank the
Greek ship Eternity
C and said they were holding some of the crew still missing.
https://www.jpost.com/international/islamic-terrorism/article-860586
Reform Rabbis. When does Judaism and Jewish
Identity overcome progressivism? https://www.algemeiner.com/2025/07/09/progressive-rabbis-support-mamdani-wheres-the-push-back/
https://www.algemeiner.com/2025/07/09/iran-is-weakened-will-it-persecute-minorities-as-a-result/
Ted Cruz on TX rescue: https://www.foxnews.com/video/6375471320112
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/david-marcus-wake-kerrville-flood-locals-ignore-blame-game
https://www.foxnews.com/us/aoc-red-light-district-ruled-violent-migrant-gang-taken-down-feds
https://www.timesofisrael.com/a-new-strategy-for-destroying-hamas/
Shabbos Candle Lighting: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/shabat
July 11th
Swords of Iron Day 644
Next week I am taking a brief vacation so the
news might be cut slightly short. Too much action and for the sake of wife who
deserves restaurants instead of cooking so much.
Yesterday’s murderers were PLO Police. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-860679
The victim was 22years old. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411471
The
IDF Spokesperson's Unit cleared for publication on Friday morning that Captain
Reei Biran, aged 21, from Shorashim, a squad commander in the Golani
Reconnaissance Unit, Golani Brigade, fell during combat in the southern Gaza
Strip.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411495
The Rubicon hip hop festival in Bratislava has announced the
cancellation of Kanye West's upcoming performance, initially set for July 20, AFP
reported on Thursday.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411492
Mahmoud
Khalil, a Columbia University graduate, is seeking $20 million in damages from
US President Donald Trump’s administration after over 100 days in immigration
detention. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411488
Reminds me of David Servile singing
“Wicked-wicked, cruel-cruel world”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H6qbQLTJVA&list=RD4H6qbQLTJVA&start_radio=1
The
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Knesset will convene next week for
an urgent session following serious allegations from the parents of soldiers in
the 605th Battalion regarding ongoing safety failures in the Puma APC used in
the Gaza Strip. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/411438
A healthy, happy, peaceful and
restful Shabbos,
Rachamim Pauli
