BARUCH HASHEM! It's My Aliyahversary!!

18 Nisan 5779
3rd Day Chol HaMo'ed - Day 3 of the Omer
Moadim l'simchah!

Special thanks to HaKadosh Baruch Hu who delivered us from the Mitzrayim of today (the United States) 23 years ago today! And in those 23 years, I have been especially blessed to never having cause to leave the borders of Eretz Yisrael. 

If He had only made us Jews - Dayenu!
If He had only brought us up to Eretz Yisrael - Dayenu!!
If He had only settled us in the Holy City - Dayenu!!!

I am truly awed and grateful.  THANK YOU HASHEM!!

MAKING SEDER

17 Nisan 5779
2nd Day Chol HaMo'ed - Day 2 of the Omer
Moadim l'simchah!

In the beginning, everything was mixed up (formless and void).  And the Creator set about making seder - order.  Three nights ago we sat around our tables and made seder out of the events in our nation's history.  By making seder, we emulate our Creator.  Making seder requires creating separations.  Think of it like sorting laundry - "each thing after its kind."

At Pesach, Hashem made seder by separating one nation from within another nation - He took Am Yisrael out of the midst of Mitzrayim and brought us into the desert where nothing else existed.  His goal was to bring us to a land where we would live independently of the other nations and depend entirely upon Him alone.

3,331 years later and all the evidence points to nearly complete assimilation - a complete mixing up of Am Yisrael (even and especially within Eretz Yisrael) with the other nations of the world.  This is so whether we are talking about politics, religion, culture or economy.  When faced with the extent of our failure to make seder among ourselves, it is both shocking and sickening.

I kept seeing references to "A Lion King Passover." I generally avoid these Yeshiva-type groups of guys who make holiday songs out of mixing Jewish themes with goyishe music - you know the kind of thing Aish HaTorah loves to promote, Maccabeats, etc.  But when I saw it in the Jewish Press, I finally gave in and clicked on it.  

Just 35 secs into a 5 min video, I had to quickly shut it down. I know I saw that movie when it first came out (1994), but I don't remember the details.  I suppose the guys singing Mah Nishtanah to the Lion King theme song were acting out some scene from that movie but when one dipped his finger in a cup of wine and smeared it across the forehead of another, what I saw in my mind was the Catholic priest dipping his finger in ash and making the sign of the cross on a congregant's forehead on Ash Wednesday.  

I have never set foot in a Catholic church and have never witnessed such a scene personally (at least not in this lifetime), but the image created such a visceral reaction that I was compelled to just shut it down as fast as I could before I could see what was coming next.  

This was supposed to be something nice created by religious Jews as a contribution to the celebration of Passover.  It's become a trend among various Orthodox singing groups, but it is one that I have decried for many years as an assimilationist tool that has no place in our nation. How much more so now when the main focus of the holiday is to make a seder?

God's Holy War on Eisav

16 Nisan 5779
1st Day Chol HaMo'ed - Day 1 of the Omer
Moadim l'simchah!

If Nebuchadnezzar was God's hammer on Am Israel, how much more so ISIS on the Christians. (Reference Yirmiyahu , chapter 25)

For behold, with the city upon which My name is called, I commence to bring evil, and shall you be cleared? You shall not be cleared, for I call a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord of Hosts.

Idolatrous statue of the mother
 of (the xian) god broken in half

 At least 156 killed in Easter Sunday terror attacks in Sri Lanka

...Easter Day bomb blasts at three Sri Lankan churches and three luxury hotels killed at least 156 people and wounded more than 400, police said,....

[UPDATE: 321 killed with 500 injured.]

“Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, and upon the kingdoms that do not call up Your name.”  (Passover Haggadah)

CHAG SAMEACH and SHABBAT SHALOM!

14 Nisan 5779
Erev Shabbat-Pesach

The 4/5ths Who Did Not Leave Egypt

13 Nisan 5779

Apparently, they still haven't learned...
(H/T Dr bsd)

AJC Donating Funds to Help Rebuild Notre Dame

NEW YORK, April 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- American Jewish Committee (AJC) announced today that it will donate funds to help repair Notre Dame Cathedral, severely damaged in a massive fire.

"Whether Catholic or not, Notre Dame Cathedral is an integral part of our shared legacy and soul. It represents centuries of French and European faith, culture, history and imagination," said AJC CEO David Harris.

AJC, the global Jewish advocacy organization, is a longstanding pioneer in interfaith relations, and a longtime friend of France. AJC maintains an office in Paris. "We share the pain of the French people and Catholics worldwide in watching this landmark house of worship burn," said Harris.

In hearing the Passover story, have you ever wondered why so many did not want to leave Egypt?  It's hard to fathom, I know.  But, this is a perfect example of the kind of thinking that led to their ultimate demise during the plague of darkness.  Any Jew who donates to the restoration of a church or feels sympathy for its loss, is so stuck in Egypt that they are never getting out.

"Therefore, through this shall Jacob's iniquity be atoned for, and this shall be the fruit of his sin's removal: When he makes all the altar stones [places of false worship] like ground chalk stones, and Asherah-trees and sun-idols [Son-idols] arise no more." (Yeshayahu 27.9)

Rashi: Therefore: Now, too, with this, Jacob’s iniquity would be atoned for, to merit to be redeemed as then.
            asherim and sun images shall not rise: So that they shall not retain their idolatry.

Notre Dame: A Down Payment on What is Owed

11 Nisan 5779

This is no random, "tragic" incident - especially not when it occurs during "Holy Week" and on the 10th of Nisan.

Christians and art buffs are devastated over the potential loss of nine centuries of history and masterpieces

France is mourning the obliteration of one of the most prominent symbols of its national heritage just days before the Easter celebrations.

But in a glimmer of hope, Paris' Mayor Anne Hidalgo said cops and rescuers formed a human chain the save some of the artworks - including the crown and tunic of Saint Louis.

France’s Interior Ministry said firefighters are optimistic they can save the main structure and the building’s two bell towers, despite the steeple being destroyed.

Shocking pictures show the collapsed roof and smoke-filled interior of the iconic building.

Among the most celebrated artworks inside are its three stained-glass rose windows, placed high up on the west, north and south faces of the cathedral.

Notre Dame’s most precious treasure, a relic venerated as the Crown of Thorns worn by [Yeshu], is understood to have been saved from the fire.

The Crown of Thorns, which is considered Paris’s equivalent of the Crown Jewels, is stored at the end of a nave of the cathedral, not readily visible to visitors.

It is encased in an ornate gold and glass container commissioned by Napoleon and is only brought out on Fridays during Lent and on Good Friday.

While the authenticity of the relic has not been certified, historians have dated it back to [Yeshu's] crucifixion.

The relic originally came from Jerusalem and was carefully placed in the nearby Sainte-Chappelle, a chapel built in the 13th century specifically for the crown.

The massive South Rose glass window is an awe-inspiring sight inside the famous cathedral.

Originally a gift from King St. Louis IX, the window was created in 1260 and is dedicated to the New Testament.

It was removed from the facade of Notre Dame during the Second World War when the French feared the Germans would target it and was replaced in the Sixties.

The cathedral’s website boasts that its three rose windows “constitute one of the great masterpieces of Christianity.”

But it is not yet know what damage the smoke and falling debris could have on the artwork.

...The iconic cathedral was first commissioned in 1163 by King Louis VII and completed in 1345, nearly 200 years later.

...Dramatic drone pictures show the devastation caused by the savage blaze which has already laid waste to the 850-year-old church's spire and much of its Gothic roof.

Emmanuel Gregoire, the deputy mayor of Paris, said the cathedral had suffered "colossal damages" and that emergency workers were trying to salvage the priceless pieces stored inside.

Scaffolding that had been set up around the building has been decimated along with large parts of the cathedral, including the spire, which dates back to the mid-19th Century.

A "stray flame" linked to £5 million renovation work is thought to have sparked the inferno in the loft at around 5.30pm local time on Monday. (Source: The Sun)

France will not get any expressions of sympathy from me. I'm thrilled to see a major symbol of the false, idolatrous and antisemitic religion crash and burn.  And so may be the fate of every place of worship for false gods.

Pesach Prep Disrupted by Early Easter Celebrations

9 Nisan 5779

On the first day of the last week before Pesach with preparations in full swing and just at the hour those working jobs need to get home, the Christians are being allowed to shut down the main hub in the center of Jerusalem for a "Palm Parade."

I went early to take care of urgent business and had forgotten this was their so-called "Palm Sunday" until I saw what looked like Sukkot decorations up and down the train track outside the Christian Quarter of the Old City.  Could the Christians of the Holy Land be more stupid?  I mean those who live here and see the Sukkot celebrations every year have to see the connection to the palm branches.  But, since their Bible says the crowds waved palm branches in front of Yeshu the Sunday before Passover, they can't question its infallibility.

It's the same with their claim to Yeshu being the "Passover Lamb," despite the fact that those lambs were slaughtered because they were an Egyptian deity and their blood never atoned for anyone's sin, nor was it intended to.  

Willful ignorance is a tragic and pitiful thing to behold, but we are the ones who always pay the price for it. Two-thousand years later and they are still disrupting life for Jews in Jerusalem at the worst possible time with their nonsense religion.

"BEFORE REDEMPTION"

7 Nisan 5779
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Metzora - HaGadol

Shabbat Hagadol - Before Redemption - Rabbi Meir Kahane

For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the wicked people and all the evildoers will be like straw... (Malachi 3:19)

Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome Day of Hashem. And he will turn back [to G-d] the hearts of fathers with [their] sons and the hearts of sons with their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with utter destruction. (Malachi 3: 23,24)

Then you will return and see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves G-d and one who does not serve Him. (Malachi 3:18)

Before us, then, there is a fundamental principle regarding the future of the Jewish People: Redemption can come by one of two ways. If we merit it, through repentance and deeds worthy of it – especially faith and trust in G-d, without fear of the non-Jew – it can come through G-d hastening it, quickly, immediately, “today, if we hearken to His voice”. Not only will it come quickly, but with glory and majesty, without the suffering or Messianic birth pangs of which both Ula and Rabbah said (Sanhedrin 98b), “Let it come without my seeing it”. If we do not merit this, however, then the Messiah will certainly come and the Redemption with him, but only later on, “in its time”. This redemption will be accompanied, G-d forbid, by the terrible suffering of Chevlei Mashiach, Messianic birthpangs.

We seem to have two contradictory redemption processes before us; [...] but there is no contradiction. Rather, both are possibilities. That is, either can happen, but not both. As for which it will be, that depends on the Jewish People and their deeds. If they prove worthy, they will merit redemption “in haste”, glorious and majestic, without Messianic birth pangs. Otherwise, a different process will occur, a process that does not have to be – complete redemption through unparalleled suffering, and all because of our sins and our stubbornness. Only the blind and those who refuse to see will fail to understand that today we are right at the very heart of the Ikveta DeMeshicha, “the footsteps of the Messiah”, the beginning of the redemption. This State of Israel is the beginning of G-d's wrath against the nations who do not know Him and who have profaned His name with scorn and derision. Yet, it is clear that a redemption whose beginning is based exclusively on redemption “in its time”, on, “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel” (Ezek. 36:22), on, “Not for your sake do I do this, says the L-rd G-d. Be it known unto you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel (Ezek. 36:32) has concealed within it tragedies and Messianic suffering from the Supreme King of Kings; and whoever says that G-d concedes shall concede his life (Bava Kamma 50a).

There will be no “hasty” redemption (Isaiah 60:22), glorious and majestic, devoid of dreadful suffering, unless the Jewish people return to their Father in Heaven, accept His yoke, and chiefly, unless they trust in Him completely and are ready to sanctify His name through self-sacrifice. The redemption which began despite our sins in order to sanctify G-d's name before the nations in might and splendor, has, in the hands of an “ungrateful, unwise nation” (Deut. 32:6), turned into a profanation and a blasphemy carried out precisely by those whom G-d sought to redeem. If the beginning of the redemption and the state served to sanctify G-d's name, then the only way to move on to “hasty” redemption is to continue reinforcing the Kiddush Hashem which the state's very establishment constituted. The Divine imperative is continued Kiddush Hashem through trusting in G-d, and liquidating the Chilul Hashem without fear of the non-Jew, without fear of flesh and blood. Every retreat, every submission, every concession to the non-Jew, every hand raised against the Jew, every attack, let alone murder, of a Jew in the Land, every taunt and curse by a non-Jew in the Land is a Chilul Hashem. Now, instead of continuing to reinforce the Kiddush Hashem process, the Jewish people retreat and profane G-d's name.

Whoever does not allow Jews to live everywhere in the Land, whoever ties their hands [...], profanes G-d's name and profanes the great miracle and the powerful dream realized by G-d at the start of the redemption.

A time will come when G-d sees that to the nations and most of Israel, it seems that “His power is gone” - He is impotent. He will see that for many Jews and non-Jews, He is “nothing”, non-existent, Heaven forbid. For many others who pay lip service to His existence, He will appear “hindered”, powerless to act, a king “caught in tresses” (Song of Songs, 7:7), without connection or relevance to the world. He will see that there are masses of Jews who keep rituals, who keep the practical mitzvot by rote, yet who in times of danger, at the moment of truth, abandon their faith and trust in G-d.For them, G-d will become like one “abandoned”, and no Chilul Hashem could be greater. G-d will then wish to sanctify His great name, transformed by faithless heretics to “nothing, hindered, and abandoned.”

Listen well, my friend, to a great axiom of redemption. Ostensibly, those who ridiculed the mourners of Zion, who mocked those who believed in redemption, were the nations. Clearly this is so, yet also countless Jews do not believe, and they ridicule those who look forward to redemption, and, in general, the whole concept of redemption and the Messiah. Do not let your brother, friend or the rabbi to whom you feel closest lead you astray by saying that redemption will come without suffering or tragedy, for that is impossible without repentance and trust in G-d through bold deeds without fear of the nations.

Redak's quotation from Isaiah is part of the following (Isaiah 26:20-21): Come, My people, enter your chambers and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a brief moment until the wrath is past. For the L-rd shall leave His abode to punish the earth's inhabitants for their sin. With this, G-d informs Israel that before redemption comes, before G-d leaves His abode to punish the nations for their sin, there will be a moment of wrath; that is, a period of wrath and suffering. This clearly is referring to the war of Gog and Magog. Although it says, “Hide yourself for a brief moment”, and Redak commented that they would “suffer briefly”, woe to us for that brief moment, for it will include Jerusalem's conquest and accompanying atrocities, [...] and the nations' conquest of Eretz Israel for nine months, and in G-d's eyes, that, too will constitute just a “brief moment”. Who can measure the suffering and anguish which that moment will generate, if it comes through redemption “in its time”? All the same G-d, Who has control over time and place, has the power to transform that “moment” into a very short time, if redemption comes “in haste”. This is a major principle regarding the Messianic birthpangs, and we must not forget it.

If Israel heed G-d's voice and follow in His ways, He will subdue Gog and Israel's enemies “kim'at”, like the kim'at rega, the “brief moment” of Isaiah 26:20. Then, redemption will come quickly and “forever”.

Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, says Hashem, Master of Legions… (Malachi 3:7) And this is a repetition of the same promise that is given in Zechariah 1:3, in a tremendous oath! The redemption will come to the extent that we long for it and demand it.

Parashat Metzora – Insights from Rabbi Meir Kahane's 'Peirush HaMaccabee'

The Kohen shall command; and for the person being purified there shall be taken two live, clean birds; cedar wood, crimson thread, and hyssop. (Lev. 14:4)

The Kohen has to take two birds, and slaughter one of them such that its blood drips into an earthenware vessel with flowing water, and dip cedar-wood, hyssop, crimson thread, and the other bird into the flowing water which is mixed with the blood of the slaughtered bird. He then sprinkles this over the metzora (“leper”) or the house seven times, after which the live bird is set free. Now the whole subject of the metzora carries tremendous morals: the Talmud says: These afflictions come because of seven things: lashon ha-ra’, blood-shed, swearing false oaths, sexual immorality, arrogance, robbery, and stinginess (Arakhin 16a).

A person who sinned by committing robbery and being stingy is condemned to sitting alone outside of the camp, thereby losing money because he is unable to work; and sometimes, his house becomes afflicted and has to be destroyed. And if he shed blood, he is reminded of this sin by having the bird’s blood sprinkled over him; he is afflicted with bodily suffering as a punishment for having afflicted bodily suffering on someone else. As a punishment for pursuing sexual immorality he becomes physically repulsive, such that no woman will want him. As a punishment for having spoken lashon ha-ra’ and thereby causing division among people, he is now divided from everyone else and dwells alone.

It goes further: he guarded his tongue neither from lashon ha-ra’ nor from swearing falsely; so the Talmud says, What makes the metzora unique, that the Torah commands him to bring two birds to purify himself? – G-d said: His actions were the actions of a chatterer, therefore the Torah enjoins him to bring [birds which are] chatterers as a sacrifice (Arakhin 16b). And for his sin of arrogance he brings the wood of the cedar tree, one of the tallest and proudest of all trees, together with hyssop, one the smallest of all plants, on which the Midrash explains: Why is the metzora cleansed with the tallest of the tall and the lowliest of the lowly?... – Because he is afflicted with tzara’at for having aggrandised himself like a cedar tree; so when he humbles himself like a hyssop, he is cured (Pesikta Rabbati, Parah 14, 60b). The sinner thereby purifies his sin which was as red as the crimson thread and makes it as white as snow. It seems to me that his arrogance is the source of all his sins, and all the other sins are a result of it, as I shall show immediately.

These two birds represent important concepts. The Torah commands him to bring two birds, live and pure (Leviticus 14:4), which the Midrash expounds upon: Rabbi Yosé the Galilean says: Specifically a bird which lives outside of town. And which bird is this? – A swallow (Sifra, Metzora 5:14). And the Sifra further says: The birds must be live, and not slaughtered; pure, and neither impure…nor non-kosher (ibid. 1:12). The swallow, whose Hebrew name is צִפּוֹר הַדְּרוֹר, tzippor ha-dror (literally “bird of freedom”) which must be a clean fowl, serves to symbolise the person: every person is born pure, clean of all sin, unblemished; like the swallow, the tzippor ha-dror, the bird of freedom, free to go in any direction he desires, free to choose good or evil. If he does good, he will live and receive his just reward; and if he does evil, he will be punished. And the way to achieve the good is through humility and modesty, whereas arrogance and callousness lead to denying G-d and shaking off His yoke. And this being the case, it is good for a person to be modest and humble and quiet, not to raise his voice and his head – because what is he? – Dust and ashes, decay and maggots! And what are we?! (Exodus 16:7). G-d will punish anyone who transgresses His commandments, thereby transforming his pure and beautiful and wondrous soul into something ugly. And since it is impossible to see the ugliness of a soul, G-d afflicts him with tzara’at, making him physically ugly for all to see, symbolising the ugliness of his soul (and sometimes, G-d afflicts only his garments or his house, for him to see his soul reflected therein). And he – this man who wanted to aggrandise himself above all others – is then forced to humble himself, to dwell in solitude, this man – who wanted only bodily pleasures – suffers bodily afflictions. Thus he takes two birds; one of them he slaughters, and the other one he sets free. Two birds, symbolising his free choice – good or evil.

The Abravanel comments there: The purpose here is to indicate that both the birds were previously alive – and at G-d’s command and word one of them died. Such it is with humans: one can fall sick and die, while another one remains alive. Everything depends upon G-d’s decree. And this is why He commanded [the Kohen] to slaughter the bird into earthenware vessels, alluding to the human who is as an earthenware vessel, fashioned by the hands of the Potter, blessed be He… And the bird is slaughtered over flowing water in the vessel to symbolise the Torah…because the bird who was slaughtered died because of the Torah which was not kept properly… And the Torah says that in the end “he shall send out the live bird free over the field” (Leviticus 14:7) – that is to say, to roam free in its natural habitat – symbolising that the purified person returns to the camp, there to roam free as and when he pleases, no longer to be confined. And I would add to this final detail that what this means is that he is hereby given a new opportunity for free will – if he will only learn his lesson.

Source: "Peirush HaMaccabee" on Shemot, Chapter 2, English translation by Daniel Pinner

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