The Only Person Saying Anything Worth Hearing

13 Tammuz 5786  

And not afraid to say it!!

A Critical Week Ahead

13 Tammuz 5786 

The anniversary of the Second Lebanon War is coming up on the 16th of Tammuz.  Here we are twenty years later, repeating the same mistakes, expecting a different outcome.  

...On 11 August 2006 [Av 17], the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 (UNSCR 1701) in an effort to end the hostilities, which called for disarmament of Hezbollah, Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, and for the deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces and an enlarged United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the south. The Lebanese Army began deploying in Southern Lebanon on 17 August and the blockade was lifted on 8 September.  On 1 October, most Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon, although the last of the troops continued to occupy the border-straddling village of Ghajar.

Both Hezbollah and the Israeli government claimed victory, while the Winograd Commission deemed the war a missed opportunity for Israel as it did not lead to disarmament of Hezbollah.

The Parashah for the week when the war broke out was Pinchas, whose haftarah [Yirmiyahu 1.1 - 2.3] famously includes these words:  "From the north the misfortune will break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land."

This is also the week of Parashat Pinchas, as well as the Fast of Shivah Asara b'Tammuz on Thursday [Yom Chamishi], culminating with America's 250 anniversary celebration, the 4th of July on Shabbat Kodesh!!

Speaking of Shabbat, the War on Torah is ongoing with more forced Shabbat desecration.  It never ceases, even for a day, and especially not for Shabbat. Furthermore, they care not that it is a northern city under missile and drone alerts...

Hundreds Rally in Tzfas to Protest Public Bus Service on Shabbos; Six Arrested

...Participants included observant Jews from across the spectrum of Torah-observant communities in Tzfas, who gathered to express their pain over the public operation of transportation on Shabbos and to call on the relevant authorities to halt the service.

Organizers said the protest remained orderly throughout. Demonstrators sang Shabbos songs and voiced their opposition peacefully, despite several attempts by individuals opposed to the demonstration to provoke confrontations.

...Following the demonstration, organizers issued a statement expressing satisfaction with the turnout.

“We are filled with satisfaction over the tremendous success of the gathering of such a large ציבור to cry out publicly before all that our holy Shabbos will not become trampled in the streets of the city, and over the kiddush Hashem that atones for the sin of chillul Hashem. Our intention is to continue these demonstrations and increase the number of participants as long as the transportation lines continue to operate.”

At the same time, local community activists have opened discussions with the relevant government officials in hopes of reaching an agreement that will end the ongoing Shabbos bus service in the city.

In advance of the protest, large notices posted throughout Tzfas called on residents from all of the city’s kehillos to participate in the demonstration.

In related news...

Government Secretary Pushes Bill to Freeze Arrests of Yeshivah Bochurim, Warns Israel Is ‘Approaching Civil War’

... Government Secretary Yossi Fuchs has urged Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman MK Boaz Bismuth to fast-track emergency legislation that would suspend for three months the arrests and criminal proceedings against yeshivah bochurim and bnei Torah subject to military conscription. Fuchs warned that the ongoing arrests are deepening tensions with the chareidi community and could lead to an unprecedented national rift.

In a letter sent to Bismuth, Fuchs argued that arresting bnei yeshivah has failed to advance enlistment and is instead producing the opposite effect.

“These arrests of Torah learners do not advance enlistment among the chareidi public; rather, they distance enlistment, and there is a real concern of severing the bond with the chareidi public to the point, chalilah, of reaching a civil war, and this less than a week before the beginning of the Bein HaMetzarim period,” he wrote.

Fuchs said recent developments have shown growing unrest even among chareidi families whose sons already serve in chareidi military frameworks, including combat units and chareidi hesder yeshivos. According to him, many parents had previously accepted military service by some of their sons as long as other children were able to remain in yeshivah learning. Now, however, the prospect that full-time bnei Torah could be arrested at any moment has caused many of those same families to oppose additional enlistments.

In other news...

We Are Heavy on Reward But Light on Punishment

11 Tammuz 5786

Erev Shabbat Kodesh

Parashat Balak 

I've said this before, but it's worth repeating.  

The laws of giving the benefit of the doubt and the concept of tinokot shenishbu, as well as the laws forbidding lashon hara are not fully understood and are often erroneously applied.  We lean too far to the side of chesed and shy away from judgment.  

We see this played out in the real world by the massive floods that occur all over the planet - unrestrained, destructive water is a perfect image of unbounded chesed.  It indicates an imbalance in the world.  Maybe this is what is behind the idea of justice being represented by scales, something that traces back to ancient Egypt.

The Torah shows no hesitancy, however.  This parashah describes how King Balak of Moav hired the gentile prophet Bila'am to curse Klal Yisrael.  When HKB"H would not allow that, Bila'am had to settle for explaining to King Balak the facts of life - entice Klal Yisrael to sin, rupturing the covenantal relationship with HKB"H and His wrath would fall upon them.  They would lose their Divine Protection and become vulnerable to attack and defeat.

Let's look at how it plays out at the end of Parashat Balak (Bamidbar 25.1 - 9)...

Israel settled in Shittim, and the people began to commit harlotry with the daughters of the Moabites.  They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and prostrated themselves to their gods.  Israel became attached to Baal Peor, and the anger of the Lord flared against Israel. 

The Lord said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of the people and hang them [the idol worshipers] before the Lord, facing the sun, and then the flaring anger of the Lord will be removed from Israel. 

Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Each of you shall kill the men who became attached to Baal Peor.  Then an Israelite man came and brought the Midianite woman to his brethren, before the eyes of Moses and before the eyes of the entire congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. 

Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the kohen saw this, arose from the congregation, and took a spear in his hand.  He went after the Israelite man into the chamber and drove [it through] both of them; the Israelite man, and the woman through her stomach, and the plague ceased from the children of Israel. 

Those that died in the plague numbered twenty four thousand.

Justice, weighted towards mercy, is HKB"H's way of dealing with His world and we are bidden to imitate His ways and pursue justice.  When justice is too weak or is even missing altogether from man's society, the result is pure disorder and chaos, just like a flood washing through and destroying everything in its path.  If you need a concrete example, just look to the tsunami of unchecked immigration across Europe.  Way too much chesed!!!

Haftarat Balak (Micah 6.8)...

He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord demands of you; but to do justice, to love loving-kindness, and to walk discreetly with your God.

~SHABBAT SHALOM ~ 

When Injustice Is Normalized - Doom Awaits

10 Tammuz 5786

We are one week out from the Fast of 17th Tammuz - the beginning of the Three Weeks countdown to Tisha b'Av.  You can feel the pressure and the darkness that wants to spread over us.  

I'm not sure how many people are really taking in how unjust this "draft" persecution has become.  I imagine that the vast majority of the Israeli public thinks the students deserve what is happening to them simply because they personally have never understood or agreed with their exemption from military service in the first place. 

I wracked my brain trying to think of an analogy most people could identify with and the following is the best I could come up with.  

Private car ownership is not afforded to every citizen of Israel, but there is ample public transportation available.  Now don't confuse the issue with whether citizens should even be allowed to own private cars when the roads are so overcrowded.  

Imagine that you are a new car owner and you wake up one day and the government has decided to disallow private vehicle ownership retroactively to the beginning of the calendar year.  The media reports that "road hogs" have been stealing time and space from the public by clogging up the traffic.  Overnight, you have become a criminal in the eyes of your neighbors and countrymen and are condemned to financial penalties through the loss of the car and fines imposed until proof is given that it has been disposed of.  And if you are caught continuing to drive, you will be immediately hauled off to prison.  

The State has given and the State has taken away.  What is legal today can be criminalized tomorrow.  Yesterday's yeshivah students on legal deferrals are suddenly today's "draft dodgers' or "draft evaders" and the hatred against them, through no fault of their own, is being raised to heretofore unimagined heights.

Tax Authority to Move Against Yeshivos, Threatening Tens of Millions in Lost Funding

A new Israeli government initiative targeting the Torah world is expected to begin in the coming weeks, as Israel’s Tax Authority prepares to strip tax benefits from chareidi nonprofit organizations that support yeshivos attended by students classified by the military as draft evaders.

ANTI-CHAREIDI INCITEMENT: Violence Erupts Against Chareidi Protesters Returning From Convoy Demonstration

A series of violent incidents targeting chareidi participants in Wednesday’s nationwide convoy protest has intensified concerns over rising anti-chareidi hostility, with several confrontations reported across the country and one particularly disturbing altercation taking place on Highway 1 as demonstrators returned home.

The most serious incident occurred Wednesday evening when a motorist was filmed attacking a vehicle carrying chareidi protesters traveling on Highway 1 toward Tel Aviv. Video footage circulated online shows the enraged driver smashing a side mirror and attempting to assault those inside the vehicle

Warning Issued Against “Middlemen” as Organization Says 48 Yeshivah Bochurim Are Currently Held in Military Prison

The head of an organization that assists bnei yeshivah in dealing with Israel’s military authorities warned Wednesday night that attorneys and self-described fixers are exploiting the distress of yeshivah students and their families, charging large sums of money while often leaving the bochurim in even greater legal jeopardy.

I'm afraid they are coming for the the religious girls' exemption next...

Several haredi rabbis protesting women in IDF tank units skip meeting with IDF chief Zamir

...In general, Zamir and the IDF have sought to reach out for a dialogue with the opposition rabbis. But to date, these rabbis have made cutting off contact regarding the issue part of their strategy and a sign of their resolve to resist the change.

Regarding the rabbis present, Zamir told them about the IDF’s desperate need for additional soldiers, from any sector of society, noting that women are a critical part of the pool for soldiers within Israeli society.

Hundreds of female IDF officers to Zamir: ‘Exclusion of women threatens national security’

Officers warned pressure from outside religious actors is damaging military discipline and operational effectiveness, while Zamir told rabbis army needs every combat soldier, male and female, to meet its operational needs.

I can hear it now from the Moderns, the Zionists, and the Western advocates, so what is wrong with that?

May HKB"H have great mercy upon us and send us Mashiach NOW!!!

* * *

Cutting Loose From Our Roots Is A Death Sentence

9 Tammuz 5786

I try to stay informed, but somehow this got past me.  Until now, I had not registered an entity calling itself the October Council.

The October Council is an Israeli activist organization formed by hundreds of bereaved families, former hostages, and other citizens directly affected by the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught.

The council is primarily known for leading a sustained, high-profile public campaign demanding the formation of a formal, independent State Commission of Inquiry to investigate the systemic failures that led to the October 7 massacre.  (Source)

This is what sparked my interest now...

October Council announces day of protest marking 1,000 days of war on July 2     [Shiva Asar b'Tammuz - 17th of Tammuz!]

The October Council announced it will hold a day of protest next Thursday, July 2, marking one thousand days since the start of the war. The day of protest will include ceremonies, demonstrations, protests, convoys, a nationwide moment of silence and a central rally at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.

Instead of quiet fasting, contemplation, repenting and internalizing our sins, as well as the sins of our ancestors, as our 3500-years tradition requires, this is what the Zionist State of all its citizens looks like - nothing "Jewish" about it at all!! 

Yes, there is a split in the nation and it developed according to a plan by the rebels against Hashem and His Torah.  But the religious are not to blame.  It is these who purposely go a different way - their own selfish way - and thereby create this division which did not exist before.  

They have the gall to call the faithful-to-Torah religious public to give up the Torah and join them in the name of unity of brothers!!  Surely, they know the significance of this day, but they must strip it of everything truly meaningful and substitute something newfound and created in their own image and according to their own goyishe "values."

They are not our brothers because they have removed themselves from the covenant that binds us together as brothers!!!!

The greatest tragedy of these past 1000 days since October 7, 2023 is that the same people still have not learned the true meaning behind it.  Their rebellious hearts are not prepared to accept it.  It would mean humbling themselves before their God and this they are not prepared to do.  The ego of I never did anything to deserve this is too strong.  It implies either that there is no God in charge or that He is unjust in His ways.  Either way they condemn themselves and others who follow in their wake.

Let the Truth Frame the Narrative!

9 Tammuz 5786

People who continue to argue whether chareidi men have any Torah obligation to serve in a Jewish army to protect the Jewish people are missing the point altogether.  Israel is not a "Jewish" State and there is no "Jewish" army, and what they are trying to force these young men to do is join their fight against their own families and institutions which, when it comes down to it, is actually war against HKB"H himself!!  

They mean to assimilate chareidi Jews out of existence in their so-called "Jewish" State that's not!

Police Reviewing ‘Urban Intifada’ Remarks After Goldknopf Demands Criminal Investigation

Israeli police have begun reviewing calls for an “urban intifada” against the chareidi community after United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzchok Goldknopf demanded a criminal investigation into former Arad Mayor Nissan Ben Hamo over remarks he said amounted to incitement.

...The outcome of that examination remains unclear, and no decision has yet been announced regarding whether a formal criminal investigation will be opened.

Soldiers’ Wives Are Outraged By Photo Of Mixed Sleeping Arrangements In Lebanon

The wives of soldiers serving in Lebanon published a photo showing mixed sleeping arrangements in the quarters of an armored battalion commander in Lebanon, Arutz Sheva reported.

The footage shows a female soldier sleeping next to male soldiers in close proximity, with the foot of her bed literally touching the male soldiers’ beds.

The footage, which reached the wives of soldiers in the battalion, caused a public uproar.

The wife of one of the soldiers wrote: “The battalion commander is religious. I send my husband to fight and trust him 100 percent, but this is inanity and an abnormal situation that he is forced to sleep in the same room with a woman, head-to-toe. Where are the elected officials? Where is the Chief Military Rabbi?”

The following excerpt was publicized via the "Anglos for Bennett" Facebook group today...

“In order to repair Israel, a New Contract is needed - a reconstruction project for state systems - that restores Israel as safe and successful. We know exactly how to do this and restore hope for the people of Israel.”

....“There will be a New Contract here when it comes to integrating the ultra-Orthodox. Under this new contract, we’ll dismantle the ultra-Orthodox state within a state. We’ll build here one Jewish state – democratic, prosperous and strong.”

“Look - when it comes to the state’s relationship with the ultra-Orthodox, we’re on a slow-walking path towards suicide. Over the years, an independent, anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox state has arisen under our noses, funded by the state. It’s insane!”

This campaign of rebranding yeshivah students as criminals - "draft dodgers/ draft evaders" - is a tactic for destroying the Torah world.  As such, it must be fought by every Torah-loving/Torah observing Jew!  

I'm unconvinced that Kaplan-style protests or automobile caravans are the way to do it, but at least somebody is trying to do something and hopefully, as a result, Hashem will take mercy on us and bring us Mashiach to lead and guide us on what should properly be done.
_________________________________

RELATED:  Bennett calls to dismantle illegal settlement outposts

...“What’s on state land, and is done in a legal manner, I give it my blessing. I’m in favor of legal settlement in Area C,” he maintained.

...“In my vision, ultimately Area C will be part of the State of Israel, Areas A and B will be part of a Palestinian autonomy,” Bennett told Kan.

We Are All On Shaky Ground

8 Tammuz 5786

I woke up from a nightmare this morning and found myself literally trying to climb the wall next to my bed.

My regular readers will know that I'm not in the habit of sharing dreams (aside from the one about the moon), but this one I knew immediately carried an important message that had to be shared.

The beginning is blurry, but I was trying to do something important and I hired a person to help me, but every time I turned around, I had to hunt them down and redirect them from tasks that I had not assigned.  All around me people were busy doing things, but each was in his own little world.  People were not united around a single task but each was off on his own agenda and working very hard and very diligently at it.

At some point I was outside the building where I had been working away and as I was walking back towards it, the ground appeared to rise up like an undulating wave.  I thought to myself what a strange optical illusion and commented on it to someone nearby.  My body felt the slightest tremor, like I was imagining it, and I said, it's weirdly like an earthquake.  Then the shaking got real and I was back inside the building.

An earthquake struck and rubble was falling from the ceilings, floors were canted up at weird angles and debris blocked the halls.  Everyone was stumbling around looking for a way out, but every approach to an exit was blocked.  At first it would look like a way out and just as we got to it, it became blocked for one reason or another.

I kept asking people for help, to organize to come up with a solution, but no one would cooperate. 

Finally, I saw that this was yad Hashem and that unless we did teshuvah and ask for His help, we had no chance to survive.  I started yelling for people to come and listen, to gather and give their attention so I could tell them that.  

People filled the room but they were all talking at the same time but not to each other and no one seemed to be listening.  I saw a woman with no clothes on* complaining about being disturbed.  If we had the nerve to call everyone "right now" then we had to accept her in whatever state she was in at the moment and she had no shame about it.

One man said in a regretful voice that he had left his shoes someplace and really wished he had them now.  Somehow I knew where they were and we went and got them, then I realized that I also had no shoes on and that it was dangerous to walk around barefoot in all the debris.

The next moment, an idea occurred to me, a place where we still might be able to get out of the building, a place with a stable connection to the building where we could all get out.  The land had kept shifting and falling away all this time and it was like we were nearly afloat, only tethered at one point.  I went and found it and though I yelled and yelled to people to come and help me, only one woman was nearby, and she just would not do anything to help.  No one was coming.  

Next to the building was like a boardwalk with posts at intervals.  The land was splintering off at the point where it connected to the building.  Now, it began to slide and I was clutching at the boards on the other side trying to keep us from sliding away.  I think this is the point when I begin to pray as earnestly as I have ever done.

Until then, there had been time for all of us to climb out of the building to safety on the other more stable side.  I thought if only someone would help, we could throw some rope over to tie the building to one of those posts and that would buy us crucial minutes more, but the slide was gaining momentum and I saw nothing close to that was ever going to happen.  That's when I tried to save myself by hoisting my body over to the boardwalk and woke up flailing at the wall in my bedroom.

*I immediately connected the vision of that naked woman to the most disturbing video I had seen this week.  It was at one of the chareidi hafganot, yeshivah boys in their suits and hats blocking a highway and an older woman in only the skimpiest underwear walking among them, confronting them, pushing her body against them, one after another, just wandering with a smug smile on her face.  The boys tried to get away from her, turning this way and that, shoving her off themselves.  No police interfered with her.  They were busy elsewhere,  viciously beat our sons and brothers, dragging their pants off of them and leaving them in their underwear.

This was the real world and the double exposure was also a message.

If you did not see it, this might sound like another nightmare and it was, but a waking one.  It really happened, and it was the most shocking thing I have seen yet and still it does not appear to make an impression on anyone.  Nothing changes.  

I keep expecting people to wake up to how dire our current situation is.  The information is out there and the images to prove it.  I've tried to spin recent events positively in my own mind, because there is a positive side, no doubt about it.  But, we can't just ignore the negatives.  They must be recognized, confronted and corrected or we are all going to pay the price of ignorance and apathy.

The Hidden Genius of Trump

8 Tammuz 5786

It's so subtle, we could be forgiven for doubting that second line...

I wrote my first blog post on Trump on August 3, 2016.  I called it Donald J Trump:  Demagogue or Demigod?   I determined that he is a demagogue wanting to be a demigod.  Interesting that "gog" appears in that word!  My opinion has never wavered.