NOT "Just Another Synagogue"

Haaretz features an article on the imminent completion of the rebuilding of the "Hurva" Synagogue with the following caption:

If the Vilna Gaon was right, the 3rd Temple is on its wayJerusalemites worried restored house of prayer, Hurva, will be just another synagogue.

The way the author of the piece portrays it, the "Zionist Orthodox" and the secular public prefer the site remain more of a museum for tourists to visit than a house of prayer and study for Jews. Anyone who spends much time in the Old City can testify to the fact that already our holiest places of prayer are so overrun with "tourists" that it's hard for a Jew to squeeze in; whether it's Har Habayit, the Western Wall or the tunnels opposite the Kedosh Hakedoshim.

Imagine if the Holy Temple would be rebuilt in today's "PC" climate. These people would want to turn it into a life-sized model for tourists to tramp through rather than the House of G-d.

Have you noticed lately how the lines are really be drawn in big, bold and black strokes as Israeli society divides itself basically into two camps---the Hellenists vs Torah-True Jews? How appropriate for this time of year!

The Light of Redemption is Shining Brightly

As more dastardly deeds done in darkness are uncovered and exposed for all to see...

(If you don't know why it matters, think of this. Based on the hoax of global warming, ThePowersThatBe were about to institute a global carbon tax that was going to be used to fund our new "global" government.)

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Government Taking Newborn DNA Samples Without Permission

Haredim demand 'kosher' certification for Arab workers

US Army toyed with telepathic ray gun

H1N1 'Flu News

"Numbers of infections being systematically over-reported"

Why is this of interest to a redemption-oriented blog?

The light of redemption is a spiritual light that exposes and thereby destroys the world of lies. The fact that so much darkness is now coming to light (I love that phrase) is proof that the complete redemption is almost here.

See the videos HERE. And ask yourself "why?"

Study revisits lab origin for H1N1

The situation in Israel

Sad Anniversary

Today is the Hebrew date anniversary of Jonathan Jay Pollard's arrest and incarceration---8 Kislev---24 years ago.

He's serving a life sentence.

Please remember him in your daily prayers and ask Hashem for a miracle release for Yehonatan ben Malka.

Don't give up the fight

This is a reminder that we can't let down our guard for even a moment. No "rest" breaks are allowed in the midst of battle.

Have you noticed a new increase in the power and activity of the yetzer hara recently? A very big effort is underway in the spiritual realm to bring about the revelation of Mashiach. We can help push it through by staying faithful to the fight and not giving up. Even if we fall down, we have to immediately get right back up and keep going. The ball is rolling so fast, that falling down puts you behind the game, but this race doesn't go only to the swift, but to everyone who continues until the finish line.

Remember, the war against the yetzer hara is a fight to the death---his or ours.

R Levi Hazan Parsha Commentary

BS"D PARSHAT TOLEDOT
4 Kislev 5770/20-21 November 2009

THE ARROGANCE OF ESAU

"This is very grave, very grave indeed", said the President as his voice echoed throughout the rose garden. "Get me Hillary at 'State' at once", and a moment latter Ms. Clinton was on the line. "Yes, Mr. President", said a very tired Clinton at 3 AM. "We have a 'situation' Hillary", said the President, "the CIA has just informed me that MK Michael Ben-Ari will be delivering a speech in the Israeli Knesset in just a few short hours on the life and times of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane." "Ahh", said a stunned Ms. Clinton, "this is very grave indeed, we must stop him at all cost." "But how?" asked the President, "you know these people, they are not like the rest of them, they do not listen to us." "I know", said the Secretary of State, and after a moment she said, "Let's call Rivlin over at the Israeli House and have him stop Ben-Ari." "Great", said the President, and now, for the first time in over an hour since he heard the report his hands stopped shaking. Get-it-done Hil!

And later that morning: “Rivlin, this is special envoy Mitchell here”. Wow, said Rivlin to himself, George Mitchell himself actually calling me, I must be important. "W-w-w-what can I do for you, sir?" said a shocked Rivlin. "Well," said Mitchell, "we have a problem here. You see, MK Ben-Ari is scheduled to speak today in the Knesset about Rabbi Kahane, and I don’t have to tell you how this can derail the peace talks." "Oh," said Rivlin, finally understanding the gravity of the situation. "Tell the President that I will take care of it." "The President will not forget this", said
Mitchell, hanging up, "and maybe you will receive the next Nobel Prize for your help."

In this week's parsha we are introduced to the character of brother Esau selling his birthright for a pot of soup, hunting, killing, adultery, just to name some of his nicer traits. These and more the Jewish people have felt on their bodies for the past 2000 years, while we were guests in the home of Esau's descendents. But at the end of the day, Esau claims that he did it all out of brotherly love, with the best intentions.

Esau was given the task by Isaac to rebuke and bring Jacob back to the right path when he strayed, as the Torah tell us: “By your sword you shall live, but your brother you shall serve, yet it shall be that when you will be aggrieved you may remove his yoke from upon your neck.” But Esau and his descendents went beyond the call of duty - way beyond. As the Tanchuma teaches us" “In the world to come G-d will sit in judgment over the kingdom of Edom (Esau) and ask them: Why did you subjugate My children? They will reply: Was it not You who delivered them into our hands? G-d will then say I delivered them into your hands, but you showed them no mercy. As the prophet tell us: “Upon the aged have you very heavily laid your stroke.”

Another cunning response by Esau is brought down by the Talmud. In the future G-d will ask Edom: How did you occupy yourselves? They will reply: Master of the universe, we established many marketplaces, built many bathhouses and amassed much silver and gold, all just for Israel so they would study Torah. G-d will retort: Fools, everything you did, you did for your own sakes. You established marketplaces to set harlots in them, bathhouses to pleasure yourselves. As for silver and gold, they are Mine.

Daily we say in our prayer books: “The saviors will ascend Mount Zion to judge the mountain of Esau, and the kingdom will be Hashem's.” The day is not far off when judgment on brother Esau will take place for all of his deeds against Jacob, and then the words of the prophet Obadiah will be fulfilled:“The House of Jacob will be fire, the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for straw, and they will ignite them and devour them. There will be no survivor in the house of Esau, for Hashem has spoken.”


With love of Israel,
Levi Chazen

R Nachman Kahana Parsha Commentary

BS"D Parashat Toldot 5770

Aisav, the world’s first Reform Jew
The gemara (Yuma 83b) relates that Rabbi Meir was able to discern the basic character of a person from his name. And it is cited in various rabbinic works that when a parent names a child it is considered a nevu’a ketana - minor prophecy. So much so, that there are people who read lists of names at the brit at and when the baby open his eyes it is a sign that the name touched the soul of the child.

In our parasha the world’s most illustrious twins were named by their parents as Ya’akov and Aisav.

Aisav means free growing grass, weeds or herbs, and Aisav is described as "a man of the field" - eesh ha’sadeh. Yaakov, taken from the Hebrew aikev (heel) implies consistency, as when walking one foot follows the other with cadence and precision, and Ya’akov is described as "the dweller of the tents" - yoshev o’halim.

These descriptions serve to elaborate on the names and characters of the two brothers. A field is an open area permitting unhindered free access to wherever one wishes to go. There is no obligation or responsibility to any one point or area in a field, so when it becomes uncomfortable one can just move on. A field contains any assortment of weeds, grass and herbs intertwined or growing alone depending on how the wind scattered the seeds.

The open fields have no order. No law except the law of the jungle.

Just pick and choose whatever appeals to you at that given moment and discard what is disturbing and irritating.

This was Aisav - the man of the field. He discarded the responsibilities that come with being a first born, selling it for a pittance. He returns from the field so tired that he implores his brother Ya’akov to feed him lentils. The details are a drag on him, just give him the pleasures without the effort.

Aisav sees no importance in living a disciplined life because, as he says to Ya’akov (B’rayshiet 25:32):

ויאמר עשו הנה אנכי הולך למות ולמה זה לי בכרה:

I will soon die,why do it need the birthright

Aisav is the spiritual father of the reform movement and assimilation. Discard what is inconvenient, like shabbat, kashrut, family purity, marrying within the Jewish nation - and certainly the embarrassment of a Jewish State in Eretz Yisrael where Hebrew is spoken, and the chosen people take the Bible seriously. With so much Judaism in the way , it becomes uncomfortable to be with one’s gentile neighbors and more difficult to become assimilated in their ways.

If lentils were good enough for Aisav, son of Yitzchak and Rivka, then shrimp and lobster are good enough for them and their children. The wild weeds grow in their temples in the form of same sex marriages, and the "rabbi" who performs Joey and Jane’s wedding together with the local minister. The reform leader who services the whims of his congregant, and counts them as Jews when one parent is Jewish. Wherever the money and convenience is, there you will find the many Aisavs of reform.

Ya’akov is different. He lived a structured life where consistency is the rule of the day. He is the "tent dweller" which demands conduct suitable for living in a demarcated life style. Structured davening three times a day. Laws pertaining to what and when one eats. Moral and ethical conduct between people in accordance to the value system revealed by HaShem. The acceptance of responsibility without escaping through rationalizations based on weakness and fear.

Aisav cannot be Ya’akov any more than Ya’akov can be Aisav. Their dispositions, characters and ambitions are reflections of their souls. Rivka felt this when each child was aroused in her womb - Ya’akov, upon passing a place of Torah study, and Aisav when passing a place of avoda zara (idolatry).

The dichotomy of Ya’akov and Aisav is clear cut. Ya’akov clings to HaShem through Torah and mitzvot from which he derives his lifeblood of existence, whereas Aisav sees his survival through his ability to stalk his prey in the field with his bow and arrows. He has no need for HaShem for he is the master of his own life and future.

Now with the distinction between the God fearing, responsibility taking Ya’akov and the anarchistic, hedonistic Aisav so clear it would be true to conclude that the two cannot thrive together. One is either in the "orthodox" camp of Ya’akov or in the "reform-assimilated" camp of Aisav.

But things are not that tidy.

There can be a generation where the God fearing students of Ya’akov share in the bitter waters of Aisav.

It can occur in a generation when HaShem imposes great challenges before the Jewish nation, but a segment of "orthodox" Jews escape their national responsibilities with flimsy excuses based on so-called Torah principles, when in fact their evasion of responsibility stems from personal weakness and fatigue of Aisav and the desire for solace and comfort.

At this time in our history, HaShem has placed before His children of Israel the huge historic challenge of restoring our national independence within the borders of Eretz Yisrael, in preparation for the next stage of world history. This stage will witness the execution of Godly justice upon those nations which dealt so cruelly with Am Yisrael, while the Jewish people will be under HaShem’s protective wing in Eretz Yisrael.

But confusion is king. Not much different from the time of Chanuka, which we will be celebrating this month. Then as now, Am Yisrael was faced with an existential threat. A large percentage of our people were drawn to Hellenism and discarded the Torah. Each Jew was faced with the personal challenge to the depths of his faith - join with the Maccabim at the risk of your life or be a bystander in the life and death struggle for the soul of Am Yisrael.

Through the sacrifices of the strong and courageous, HaShem awarded us independence from foreign rule for 200 years. And it is the mesirat nefesh of those holy people that we celebrate the holiday of Chanuka.

At this juncture in our history, each Jew is again faced with the choice to be Ya’akov or Aisav. To pick up the gauntlet of the strong and courageous or to back off from the responsibility of a bechor.

The choices are: To join in the struggle to rebuild our nation in Eretz Yisael or to cringe in the corner behind the apron strings of one’s fears.

It is no secret that I have little patience or respect for the weak and meek of spirit. Not only do they not contribute to the advancement of Am Yisrael, they are a hindrance today as were the 80% of the Jews who refused to follow Moshe into the wilderness and died in Egypt, and those who caused the death of an entire generation by refusing to enter the land at the episode of the meraglim (scouts).

It is not easy to be a "Ya’akov" in a world surrounded by Aisavs, but it is the Ya’akovs who survive and guarantee the eternal existence of Am Yisrael.


Shabbat Shalom
Nachman Kahana