Dominance of the Alien Culture: "One New Man"

24 Menachem Av 5773

To the left you see a piece of jewelry that you can find for sale in many Judaica stores in Jerusalem. Need I say that they cater to the Xian tourist crowd? But, a Jew might buy it for the symbolism of the menorah and the Star of David without understanding the significance of the fish on the end, if they even realize that it is a fish.  Since their god commanded them to be "fishers of men" (i.e. go 'fishing' for the souls of men), the fish is considered an ancient symbol of Xianity.  And this joining of the "ancient symbol" of Xianity and the ancient symbol of Judaism at the center with the Star of David is a Xian invention to symbolize the One New Man:

(Xian Bible)...But now...you who once were far away have been brought near....[by the one] who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside...the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two [i.e. Jew and Gentile], thus making peace....Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,...."

This idea is at the center of all interfaith works and all heretical teachings.  It's also a pillar of the alien Western culture, although they say it in Latin - e pluribus unum - "from the many, one."  If it were ever practically accomplished, the Jewish people would no longer exist - so we're talking about genocide by other means.  And unfortunately, it appeals to many Jews for various reasons. Some are victims of their own egos; some feel uncomfortable with the truth in this politically correct age, especially when they have assimilated the 'democratic values' of the West; some risked close contact with those Hashem warned us to remain apart from and they succumbed to the errors Hashem warned would follow; and for some, it's just about the money. Many rabbis get caught up in it because, face it, if a rabbi can be turned, he can mislead hundreds, if not thousands of followers.

If anyone, rabbi or not, comes bringing a message or teaching that there is no difference between Jews and gentiles, practically speaking, and that there is any benefit in forming relationships between the two or that it is desirable to break down any separation barriers existing between the two - run very quickly in the other direction.  Don't give him a 'fair hearing,' any more than you would to a missionary peddling idolatry and apostasy.  The fact is, despite the claims of the alien culture, all people are not created equal:

Excerpted from Derech Hashem, Part II, Chapter 4 by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto~

...One of the deepest concepts of God's Providence involves Israel and the other nations.  With regard to their basic human characteristics, the two appear exactly alike.  From the Torah's viewpoint, however, the two are completely different, and are treated as if they belonged to completely different species.

...The human race initially had a chance to permanently regain its original [Adamic] state and rectify the spiritual damage that had been done.

During the period of time allowed for this, Avraham was the only one who "succeeded in elevating himself [and] was therefore permanently made into a superior excellent Tree, conforming to man's highest level" and as a result, his entire lineage through Yitzchak and Ya'aqov did as well.  From the giving of the Torah at Har Sinai until now, only individuals who are capable of doing what it takes to fully convert sincerely can reach this level along with those born to it.

[Note:  When one says that a convert has been "born again" in the waters of the mikvah, it is not just a poetic saying, it is reality.]

The nations still have the human aspect, blemished though it may be, and God desired that they should at least have a counterpart of what was actually appropriate for all mankind. He therefore granted them a Divine Soul (neshamah) somewhat like that of the Jew, even though it is on a much lower level.  They were likewise given commandments through which they could attain both material and spiritual advantages appropriate to their natures.  These are the seven {universal) commandments given to the Children of Noah.

...In the World to Come, however, there will be no nation other than Israel.

The souls of righteous gentiles will be allowed to exist in the Future World, but only as an addition and attachment to Israel.  They will therefore be secondary to the Jew, just as a garment is secondary to the one who wears it.  All that they attain of the ultimate good will have to be attained in this manner, since by virtue of their nature they can receive no more.

It is on the basis of this concept that gentiles in the past were forbidden to learn Torah, save for what they needed to know about their sheva mitzvot, and forbidden to take upon themselves to perform Jewish mitzvot and rituals.  Some have taught in the past that because of the nature of the gentile soul, the Jewish mitzvot that they perform have no value - no practical significance upon the world - and could even possibly harm their souls by diverting them from perfecting those mitzvot intended for them.

I emphasize "in the past," because the trend today is not only to allow gentiles with no intent to fully convert to perform Jewish mitzvot and rituals, but even to encourage it.  You've already got Hebrew Roots/One New Man and Ephraimite/Messianic/Lost Israelites teachers running all over the world telling anyone who will listen that they are really Jews and are obligated to 613 mitzvot, now, instead of setting the lies straight with the truth, we've got rabbis jumping on the bandwagon.

We're not doing ourselves or anyone else any favors by lying to them in order to stroke their egos, afraid of how they will handle the truth.  Someone has got to explain the real facts of life before Israel is overrun by the hordes of would-be Jews who are not interested in converting.



Florida International University religious studies professor Tudor Parfitt (himself a gentile) recently conducted a research expedition to Papua New Guinea, where he studies the Gogodala, a tribe of former cannibals who believe they are one of the Lost Tribes. The Gogodala are hunter-gatherers in area of western Papua New Guinea with very little connection to the outside world. But from the very first encounters with western explorers in the 17th century, the idea took root that ancient Israelite communities were to be found in the islands of the Pacific. Later, Australian missionaries further propagated the idea.

At the request of tribe leaders, a decade ago, Parfitt conducted DNA testing on the Gogodala to see if he could establish any link to the Middle East. The tests were inconclusive. Nonetheless, the Gogodala have continued to embrace Judaism. During this visit, he was surprised to see the extent to which Jewish practice has developed in the tribe.

“The bedrock of the religious identity of the Gogodala remains in some respects, their traditional belief system, upon which has been grafted Christianity, which was introduced to the tribe in the 1950s by missionaries,” Parfitt said. “On top of that has been grafted a kind of Judaism. More and more of the Gogodala wear yarmulkes and prayer shawls. They’ve started celebrating Jewish holidays and they are using more Hebrew.”

Hear the Gogodala, formerly cannibals, currently Yeshu worshipers, recite the Shema. God help us all!

Why Won't They Believe Him?

23 Menachem Av 5773

UPDATE! Moshe Feiglin: I Believe Netanyahu

I believe Netanyahu. He has consistently said in the most straightforward fashion that he intends to establish a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria. I advise everybody to take him seriously.


********


Why is everyone surprised when Bibi Netanyahu does exactly what he's been saying he was going to do for a few years now?

Netanyahu Assures CFR of His Cooperation
08 July 2010

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu assured the New York-based Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) on Thursday that he is willing to further the council’s agenda for the Middle East by supporting an Israeli retreat from Judea and Samaria. Netanyahu further claimed that all core issues could be discussed in direct negotiations, and that if it were up to him, a peace deal between Israel and the American-backed Palestinian Authority could be signed by the end of 2011.

“If it’s up to me, we’ll have an agreement,” he said.

CFR video on current round of peace talks: A hint of things to come?

Dominance of the Alien Culture

22 Menachem Av 5773

Last time, I wrote about the danger of unrestrained chesed.  Unfortunately, this is a growing problem for the Jewish people as they assimilate more and more of the dominant alien culture.  America has been called a "Medina shel Chesed."  I suppose a case could be made for unrestrained chesed being at the core of all the permissiveness evident in that culture today.  This is not a good thing.  It's a recipe for chaos. In fact, if it continues, it will ultimately destroy the whole world.  It's based on everyone being allowed to do anything he wants - mothers can murder their children in the womb, homosexuals can perform a perversion of a wedding ceremony, people can walk naked in the streets like animals and fornicate in public places.  Nothing is forbidden, nothing is barred. Everyone is entitled to his own 'truth.'

Is this the situation desired by the Creator of the World?  Historically, the Truth has been the domain of the chosen few.  Let's take a look back for a moment...

[T]here arose people - false prophets - who told [the people] that God had commanded them to say: Serve this star - or all the stars - sacrifice to it, offer libations to it, build a temple to it and make an image of it so that all people - including the women, the children and the common people - could bow to it.

...People would gather together and bow down to them and the [false prophets] would say: This image is the source of benefit or harm. It is appropriate to serve it and fear it. Their priests would tell them: This service will enable you to multiply and be successful. Do this and this, or do not do this or this.

Subsequently, other deceivers arose and declared that a specific star, sphere, or angel had spoken to them and commanded them: Serve me in this manner. He would then relate a mode of service [telling them:] Do this, do not do this.

Thus these practices spread throughout the world.

As the years passed, [God's] glorious and awesome name was forgotten by the entire population.

(This was the world Avraham Avinu was born into.)

Abraham was forty years old when he became aware of his Creator. When he recognized and knew Him, he began to formulate replies to the inhabitants of Ur Kasdim and debate with them, telling them that they were not following a proper path.

...he began to call out in a loud voice to all people and inform them.... He would go out and call to the people, gathering them in city after city and country after country, until he came to the Land of Canaan. ...he would explain to each one of them according to their understanding, until they turned to the path of truth.

...He...composed texts about it, and taught it to Isaac [who] taught it to others...and also taught Jacob and appointed him as a teacher.

[Jacob] taught others and turned [the hearts] of all those who gathered around him [to God]. He also taught all of his children. He selected Levi and appointed him as the leader. He established him [as the head of] the academy to teach them the way of God and observe the mitzvot of Abraham.

(Then we went down into Egypt.)

...Within a short time, the fundamental principle that Abraham had planted would have been uprooted, and the descendants of Jacob would have returned to the errors of the world and their crookedness. Because of God's love for us, and to uphold the oath He made to Abraham, our patriarch, He brought forth Moses, our teacher, the master of all prophets, and sent him [to redeem the Jews]. After Moses, our teacher, prophesied, and God chose Israel as His inheritance, He crowned them with mitzvot and informed them of the path to serve Him, [teaching them] the judgement prescribed for idol worship and all those who stray after it.  (Rambam, Hilchot Avodat Kochavim v'Chukkoteihem, ch. 1)

...In general, people have limited powers of understanding, and not all minds are capable of appreciating the truth in its fullness. [Accordingly,] were a person to follow the thoughts of his heart, it is possible that he would destroy the world because of his limited understanding. (Rambam, Hilchot Avodat Kochavim v'chukkoteihem, ch. 2)

Today, the tools of destruction are unrestrained chesed and ahavat chinam.  Because of these two, it has become impossible to maintain Israel's holiness and purity - her separateness.  Since the days of Shechem, there have been gentiles who wanted to mix in with the Family of Israel.

And Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city, and they spoke to the people of their city, saying,"These men are peaceful with us, and they will dwell in the land and do business there, and the land behold it is spacious enough for them. We will take their daughters for ourselves as wives, and we will give them our daughters." (Genesis 33:20-21)

But we were forbidden from the very beginning to mix with the gentiles:

"I am Hashem, your God, Who has separated you from the nations.  ...I have separated you from the nations to be Mine." (Vayikra 20:24,26)

"You shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughter to his son nor take his daughter for your son." (Devarim 7:3)

This does not go down well with those who preach against separation and divisions and discrimination among peoples. They invented a worldwide religion based on the principle that among their adherents all are equal and no differences exist:

(New Testament) "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one...."

(New Testament) "Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— remember that at that time you were separate.... But now...you who once were far away have been brought near....[by the one] who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside...the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace....Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,...."

They preach a 'god of love' who sacrificed himself for the sins of mankind saying that man was powerless before sin.  In this religion, God is no longer ONE for He is ahavat chinam with no justice whatever. In this religion, no barriers or differences are allowed.  All are equal and everything will be forgiven. This is the religion of unrestrained chesed and its god is not HKB"H whose chesed is tempered by justice and whose justice is tempered by chesed. This is the religion of the "alien culture" which seeks to  assimilate all.

IN EVERY GENERATION, FALSE PROPHETS AND DECEIVERS HAVE GONE OUT TO WREAK HAVOC AND DESTRUCTION IN THE WORLD. TODAY IS NO DIFFERENT.

(Devarim 13:2-4)  If there should stand up in your midst a prophet (or a rabbi) or a dreamer of a dream, and he will produce to you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes about, of which he spoke to you, saying, "Let us follow gods of others that you did not know and we will worship them!" --- do not hearken to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of a dream, for Hashem, your God, is testing you to know whether you love Hashem, your God, with all your heart and soul.

In these days, many of our people are attracted to the 'values' of the foreign, alien culture which dominates the western world (including Israel).  Some of them come, saying they've had a new revelation and others come, saying they've rediscovered ancient knowledge, but it all runs counter to the Torah and to the tradition received from our fathers.

You must know and understand and take to heart that "Hashem, your God, is testing you to know whether you love Hashem, your God, with all your heart and soul."

In the coming days, God willing, we will look at a few specific examples.

You first, Mr President

(President's house superimposed over Negev landscape)

22 Menachem Av 5773

No offense to anyone already living there or planning to move there, but it's already taken me 20 years to get where I am today and with God's help, I'm not going anywhere else!

Pres. Peres Calls for 100,000 Yesha Jews to Migrate to the Negev

President Shimon Peres called on Jews from Judea and Samaria last week to send a cohort with their strength and skills to settle the Negev.

Addressing an event to mark the 70th anniversary of Kibbutz Revivim – located deep in the Negev – Peres noted that at present, there are only 6,500 residents in the Ramat Hanegev region.

Even if half the Jews living in Judea and Samaria (Yehuda and Shomron) lived in the Negev, Peres said, the regions would look different.

“There would be another 100,000 people here,” Peres said. The president apparently had not considered the fact that nearly 400,000 Jews now live in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

Jewish towns and cities in those regions are blossoming with boutique wineries, specialized industries and tourism-oriented activities for families.

By contrast, In the Negev, which comprises some 60 percent of the land mass of Israel, there are few Jewish communities and bus routes are still relatively sparse. There are no real train lines through the area, with the exception of one branch line to Dimona that reaches to the main transporation hub in the central major city of Be’er Sheva – considered the “capital” of the south. The other major city is the tourist capital of the south, Eilat, at the tip of the country, along the Red Sea coast.

"Gov't Approves Release of 104 Terrorists"

21 Menachem Av 5773

We interrupt our regularly scheduled posting to bring you this message.

Journalist: ‘Heavy Heart’? Don’t Believe It

Reports Sunday morning of a close vote on a decision to free terrorists are nothing more than government spin, journalist Amit Segal of Channel 2 has said.

Segal wrote a “Guide to the New Political Spin” on his Facebook page on Sunday morning.

“Don’t believe any emotional report of drama in the Cabinet meeting,” he warned readers. “There has not yet been a decision that the Prime Minister wanted to pass that his ministers rejected.”

“Don’t get excited if the vote ‘hinges on a single vote,’” he advised.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu himself is behind the supposed controversy within the government, he accused. Netanyahu has made a deal with the heads of parties in his coalition “to make it look hard,” he said.

“Don’t buy certain right-wing ministers’ emotional statements about how releasing terrorists is a disaster. If they thought it was such a big disaster – let them have some dignity and step down,” he suggested.

“Or maybe they think stepping down would be an even bigger disaster than freeing terrorists with blood on their hands,” he added.

Cabinet approves referendum bill

The cabinet approved on Sunday a new Basic Law requiring a referendum on peace agreements that affect sovereign land.

NOTE!  THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE JUDEA AND SAMARIA!!!!

AND THERE IS NO END TO THE TREACHERY!!!!

Cabinet: IDF to Encourage Induction of Religious Women

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein told the government the move was necessary in order to really be fair.

"There's a War on for Your Mind"

21 Menachem Av 5773

Ever since George W. Bush first popularized the phrase "a war for hearts and minds," I knew this was an apt description of the war in which we of the Information Age are engaged.  It's why people complain that Israel's lack of a good hasbara is a handicap in today's media-driven cultures.  In short, this war is the classic battle between Good & Evil when Good is defined as Truth and Evil is defined as Lie. The Creator is calling the whole world to do teshuva and teshuva in this age is to turn from Lie to Truth and to embrace it without reservation or regret.

Incidentally, I think this is one of the main reasons for the rush to push yeshiva students into the army.  In Israel, where private, religious education cannot be circumvented and where much of the population still does not attend university pt own televisions, the army will serve as the indoctrination tool for The Powers That Be.  However, TPTB do not reckon with HKB"H.

Oh, NO!

21 Menachem Av 5773

Does no one learn anything at all from the parsha???  First, the land is not ours to give away, OR VOTE AWAY!  It belongs to God who bequeathed it to all the generations of Israel, not just this one.  Second, without it, we can not complete our mission in the world.  Such a backward move will condemn all mankind to more untold suffering.  Third, it implies that it is proper to change God's laws and dictates by a majority vote - and one which will include goyim sworn to our destruction.

Instead of standing up and speaking the TRUTH that it is forbidden to give this land away AND it is forbidden to vote on it, the right-wing is gambling on some political game and hoping and praying that they will get the "votes" to prevent it. And if it goes the other way, God forbid!  Once they've legitimized the vote, how can they protest the outcome?????

This is a BIG mistake.  It's a shanda and most importantly, it is a chilllul Hashem!!

We should be tearing kriyah and sitting in sack and ashes. God, have mercy on your poor children and save us NOW!!!!!!

Why Left and Right Agree on Referendum

With negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority about to begin, many have turned to a new debate: if the negotiations yield an agreement, should the nation have a chance to turn it down via a national referendum?

Support for the idea of a referendum is mixed across the coalition, with some MKs in favor and some opposed in each faction.

(Read the rest here.)

Parshat Eikev 5773 - Shabbat Shalom

19 Menachem Av 5773

Parashat Eikev: “To walk before God in the Light of Life…”
by Daniel Pinner

The entire Book of Deuteronomy has three themes: it is a summary and restatement of what has gone before, it prepares the Children of Israel for their rapidly-approaching new national life in the Land of Israel, and it is Moshe’s emotional and passionate farewell and parting from the nation he loved and led and nurtured. The rhetoric of this Book glides seamlessly between these three themes which interweave with each other and which complement each other.

Over and over again in the Book of Deuteronomy, Moshe reiterates to us that the purpose of the mitzvot is to inherit the Land of Israel. “And now, O Israel, hearken to the laws and the statutes which I teach you to do, so that you will live and you will come and inherit the Land which Hashem, God of your fathers, gives you” (Deuteronomy 4:1). Again: “You shall ensure to do as Hashem your God has commanded you…in the entire way which Hashem your God has commanded you, you shall go, so that you will live and it will be well for you and you will prolong your days in the Land which you inherit” (5:28-29). And again: “You shall do the straight and the good in Hashem’s eyes so that it will be well with you, and you will come and inherit the good Land which Hashem has sworn to you fathers” (6:18). And again: “Ensure to do the entire mitzvah which I command you today – so that you will live and multiply and come and inherit the Land which Hashem swore to your fathers” (8:1). And again: “Justice, justice shall you pursue so that you will live and inherit the Land which Hashem your God gives you.” (16:20)

There are dozens more, but we have got the message. The purpose of keeping the mitzvot is to inherit the Land of Israel.

In this week’s parashah, Moshe gives us this message yet again: “You shall keep the entire mitzvah which I command you today so that you will be strengthened, and you will come and inherit the Land to which you are passing across to inherit, and so that you will lengthen your days on the Land which Hashem swore to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants – a Land flowing with milk and honey.” (11:8-9)

And then, in the next sentence, Moshe continues by describing some of the characteristics of the Land: “Because the Land to which you are coming to inherit – it is not like the land of Egypt which you left, where you would plant your seed and water it on foot like a vegetable garden. The Land to which you are passing over to inherit is a Land of mountains and valleys; you will drink water from the rain of the Heavens; a Land which Hashem your God seeks out; the eyes of Hashem your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.” (11:10-12)

The difference between Egypt and the Land of Israel is that Egypt is well-watered by the River Nile. There is no shortage of water there, no danger of drought, no fear of a catastrophic crop failure due to the land drying up. Israel, by contrast, relies on rain and dew from Heaven. If there is insufficient rain during the winter, then the earth dries up, the crops wither, and people die in the ensuing famine.

It was no arbitrary decision of Hazal to select the next section as the second paragraph of the Shema: “It will be, if you will diligently hearken to My mitzvot…to love Hashem your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul – then I will give the rain of your Land in its appropriate season, the first rain and the last rain, and you will gather your grain, your wine, and your oil….” (11:13-14)

This induces a very obvious puzzlement. The inference of this is that Egypt is actually superior to Israel: after all, Israel periodically suffers droughts while Egypt has no such danger. Does a country whose agriculture is irrigated by a perennial river (the Nile) not seem to be more secure – more blessed – than a country whose agriculture relies on capricious weather?

Rashi dispels this notion: “‘…where you would…water it on foot’ – in the land of Egypt you would have to bring water from the Nile on foot to water it, so you would have to lose sleep to work; the lowlands were irrigated [by the Nile] but not the highlands, so you would take the water from the lowlands up to the highlands. But in this Land ‘you will drink water from the rain of the Heavens’ – while you sleep in your bed, God will irrigate both the lowlands and the highlands, the exposed areas and the unexposed areas alike” (Commentary to verse 10).

Rashi’s commentary here seems to be abstracted from Sifrei Devarim, Eikev 38: “‘it is not like the land of Egypt’ – the land of Egypt drinks from the lowest sources, while the Land of Israel drinks from the highest of sources. In the land of Egypt the lowest drink while the highest do not drink, in the Land of Israel the lowest and the highest both drink. In the land of Egypt the lowest drink and only afterwards the highest, in the Land of Israel the lowest and the highest drink together. In the land of Egypt that which is exposed drinks while that which is unexposed does not drink, in the Land of Israel the exposed and the unexposed both drink. The land of Egypt first drinks and afterwards is planted, the Land of Israel drinks and is planted, is planted and drinks – it drinks every day and is planted every day. The land of Egypt – you have to work it with mattock and axe and lose sleep working it, but if not, it is worthless; but the Land of Israel is different: they sleep soundly in their beds and God Himself sends down rain.”

The Midrash (Mechilta de-Rabbi Shimon bar Yochay Chapter 16), in an exposition about the manna which God would send down day by day from Heaven, gives a parable: “‘…Each day’s portion on its day’ (Exodus 16:4) – Rabbi Shimon says: He gave them ‘each day’s portion on its day’ because of His love for Israel. This can be explained with a parable of a human king who was angry with his son, and said: Never come to see me! Only at the beginning of each year he would provide him with his sustenance. Thus he would have his sustenance for the entire year, but when he collected it he thought: If only I could see my father, and not receive sustenance! When [the father] was reconciled with him, he said: Let him come to me every day and receive his sustenance. The son said: It is worth it for me just so as I will see the king every day! So it was with Israel: because of His love, He gave them their sustenance day by day, so that they would greet the Shechinah [the Divine presence] every day.”

Rebbe Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (1787-1859), perhaps the sternest and harshest and most uncompromising of all the Hassidic masters, used this Midrash to understand the curse that God cast upon the snake in the Garden of Eden: “On your belly you shall walk, and dust you shall eat, all the days of your life” (Genesis 3:14). What a peculiar curse! His sustenance will always be at hand. The snake will never be hungry – is that a curse?

Yes, said the Kotzker Rebbe. The snake’s sustenance – dust – is always available. He will never have to search for his food. God provides for the whole of His creation – and the snake’s sustenance is such that he will never have to work for it. He will never have a relationship with God, never have to pray to God for sustenance.

This is the difference between Egypt and Israel. Egypt has the River Nile to provide it with all the water it needs. Israel depends upon the Heavens to provide water – rain and dew – commensurate with our mitzvot. It is indeed “a Land which Hashem your God seeks out; the eyes of Hashem your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.” (Deuteronomy 11:12)

On the phrase “…a Land which Hashem your God seeks out”, the S’forno (Rabbi Ovadyah S’forno, Italy, c.1470-1550) comments: “He supervises the deeds of those who dwell in it, whether or not they deserve rain. So know this, because it is indeed true.”

And the Malbim (Rabbi Meir Leibush ben Yechiel Michael Weiser, Volhynia, Poland, and Romania, 1809-1879) writes: “The Land is under His supervision, and He does not ‘seek it out’ just once a year; ‘the eyes of Hashem your God are always on it’ because the growth of its fruits depends upon constant individual supervision, and this supervision depends upon [humans’] deeds, if they are good or bad.”

And on the phrase “from the beginning of the year until the end of the year”, Rashi, following the Talmud (Rosh ha-Shanah 8a), comments: “From Rosh ha-Shanah, it is decreed how [the year] will end”. And the Ba’al ha-Turim (Rabbi Ya’akov ben Asher, Germany and Spain, c.1275-1343) notes that the word “me-reishit” (“from the beginning of”) contains the same letters as “mi-Tishrei” (“from Tishrei”).

Ever since the yearly cycle of Torah readings was standardised towards the end of the Second Temple era, and the fixed calendar as calculated by Hillel II (Hillel ben Yehudah, Nasi or Head of the Sanhedrin) was adopted in 4119 (359 C.E.), Parashat Eikev is always read after the 9thof Av, in these last few weeks before Rosh ha-Shanah.

So appropriately for this season, it exhorts us to reject the sin of the spies that brought on us the disasters of the 9th of Av by returning to the Land of Israel. And also appropriately for this season, less than two weeks before Elul, the month of penitence, begins, it combines Torah with the Land of Israel by instructing us, yet again, that the purpose of the mitzvot is that we enter and inherit the Land of Israel.

When the Philistines seized David in Gath (long before he was King David, when he was still a rebel against King Saul), David composed a prayer which would later become the 56th Psalm: “For the Conductor, regarding the far-away silent dove, a Michtam, when the Philistines seized him in Gath…”. The “far-away silent dove” was David himself, far away from the Land of Israel, and when surrounded by the Philistines who sought to kill him, was forced to be as a silent dove (Rashi, Radak, and Metzudat David ad. loc.).

David concluded his prayer by thanking God: “Because You have rescued my soul from death, indeed my feet from stumbling, to walk before God in the Light of Life” (Psalms 56:14).

On the phrase “to walk before God in the Light of Life”, the Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, France, c.1160-c.1235) says simply: “‘to walk before God’ – this means the Land of Israel; ‘in the Light of Life’ – this means the Garden of Eden”.

The Talmud tells us that “the Garden of Eden is called ‘Life’, as it says ‘…I will walk before God in the Land of Life’ (Psalms 116:9)… The Land of Israel is called ‘Life’, as it says ‘I will bestow splendour upon the Land of Life’ (Ezekiel 26:20)” (Avot de-Rabbi Natan 34:11).

To return to the Land of Israel – to return to the Garden of Eden. To rectify the sin of the spies – to rectify the sin of Adam. The one leads to the other, the one is bound up with the other.

UNRESTRAINED CHESED

17 Menchem Av 5773

This is a picture of unrestrained chesed, also called ahavat chinam.  Chesed is represented by water, but boundaries have to be set for it or it will go everywhere and cause inestimable damage. How would we be able to drink without a container to hold it? Avraham Avinu was known to be a man of chesed and he also had a problem with this:

(Ohr HaRa'ayon, Vol. II, ch. 20)

...Clearly, Sarah demanded Ishmael's ouster...first, so that Isaac would not learn from his ways, and, second, because it would be impossible for Ishmael not to be filled with jealousy over the Land, which he saw as belonging also to him, and he would surely fight Isaac to take it away from him.  Tanchuma, Shemot 1 concludes, "From here we learn that Abraham was inferior to Sarah in prophetic powers."

Likewise, foolish, groundless love spoils the normal order of things.  As Bereshit Rabbah 53:12 teaches, regarding Abraham's not wishing to send Ishmael away, "This belongs to 'shutting one's eyes to evil.' (Isaiah 33:15)"  That is, Abraham, due to his inappropriate love, turned a blind eye to Ishmael's evil, and only Sarah saw it through her prophecy.

And don't we see the same situation repeated with regard to Yitzchak and Rivka's dealings with Eisav?

Sarah was right in not taking the path of groundless love, and Abraham ultimately banished both Ishmael and the other concubine's sons.  It is true that Ishmael continued to hate Isaac, as Shemot Rabbah, 5:1 teaches:  "We have always learned that Ishmael hates Isaac."

Equally, we've learned  "it is a halachah that Eisav hates Ya'aqov."

Even so, better a brother that hates you from far away than lives close by.

In the coming days, I hope to focus more attention on some ways in which misguided, misplaced and boundless chesed is wreaking havoc on the Jewish world.  And who knows but that this is the cause of all the flooding in the natural world, which is certainly not unaffected by what occurs in the spiritual realm and is quite often a reflection of it.

A CHALLENGE TO YOU

17 Menachem Av 5773

Muslim Anger over Virtual ‘Third Temple’
A website with a simulation of a Third Temple has been met with an angry backlash from the Arab and Muslim world.

A Jewish website that aims to teach Israelis about the Temple has been met with an angry backlash from the Arab Muslim community.

The Har Hakodesh (lit. “The Holy Mountain”) website includes educational material about the history of the Temple Mount, which was the site of the First Temple and Second Temple. The Temples were the focus of divine service for the Jewish nation.

The site also includes stunning photographs of the Temple Mount, including pictures taken by a non-Jewish photographer from parts of the Mount which Jews may not enter.

What has caused upset in the Muslim world is a representation of the Temple Mount as it would appear with a rebuilt Jewish Temple atop it rather than Al-Aqsa Mosque that currently stands there.

The site has been repeatedly targeted by hackers, and has been the focus of criticism in the Arab media. Sheikh Raed Salah, who heads the hardline northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, has called for an “Islamic awakening” in response to the website.

Arutz Sheva spoke to Boaz Yaakovi, from the Lev Hauma NGO behind the website. “We didn’t do this to provoke or to annoy the Arabs,” Yaakovi insisted.

“We’re presenting history as it was,” he argued.

When asked whether he sees the simulation of the Third Temple as provocative, he said, “If someone wants to get angry, what can I do? Because he’s angry, I should ignore my truth?”

If this blog has one central motivation it is this - the proclamation and dissemination of the Truth.

Wasn't it Hitler,y"sh or his communications officer Goebbels, y"sh, who advised, "Tell a lie often enough and the vast majority of people will come to believe it."  Whether it's that no Jewish Temple ever stood on Har Habayit or that Jews are newcomers and interlopers in the area, or that "a two-state solution is th eonly alternative, or .....  If we fail to counter the Lies in this Olam HaSheker and support those who stand up for Truth, the vast majority of people will have no other option than to believe them.

It's not necessarily our task to complete the work, but neither are we free to abstain from it.  (Rough paraphrase.) We have an obligation to do our share, in whatever way is available to us.

I challenge everyone reading here to join in and link either to this blog post, to the Temple website or to the Arutz Sheva article and to copy and paste the picture everywhere you can. They can't hack us all!

Also FYI: Jewish Rosh Hodesh, Muslim Religious Event on Collision Course

Historical Highlight

16 Menachem Av 5773

From Winston Churchill to the Colonial Secretary and Chief of Staff Committee, 6 July 1945:

The whole question of Palestine must be settled at the peace table, though it may be touched upon at the conference at Potsdam. I do not think we should take the responsibility upon ourselves of managing this very difficult place while the Americans sit back and criticise. Have you ever addressed yourselves to the idea that we should ask them to take it over? I believe we should be the stronger the more they are drawn into the Mediterranean. At any rate, the fact that we show no desire to keep the mandate will be a great help. I am not aware of the slightest advantage which has ever accrued to Great Britain from this painful and thankless task. Somebody else should have their turn now. However, the Chiefs of Staff should examine the matter from the strategic point of view.

War on Another Front - Conclusion

17 Menachem Av 5773

WHICH SIDE OF THE FENCE ARE YOU ON?

Jeezus-worshipers are idolaters. No matter how well-intentioned, it is absolutely forbidden to bring them and settle them in Eretz Yisrael. Those who persist in these efforts will fail in the end because HKB"H will not allow it to succeed, but all of us will have to answer for which side we stood on while it was happening.

PART 1, PART 2, PART 3

Ohr HaRa'ayon, Vol II, Ch. 20 - The Non-Jew in Eretz Yisrael

Eretz Yisrael is called that because it is the Land of Yisrael, the People of Israel. Whoever is not of the holy, chosen people of Israel has no portion in Eretz Yisrael.

...Eretz Yisrael was given by G-d as a vessel to house Israel so they could be separated from the abominations of the nations and from their alien culture, and so they would establish there a holy, pure and complete society and state according to G-d's mitzvot and under His Heavenly yoke.

...All this being so, would it occur to any sane person that a non-Jew should be given any opportunity to influence the land and the state?

...It is clear that there is an absolute prohibition on giving a non-Jew mastery over Eretz Yisrael, and that a non-Jew, whoever he may be, has an entirely different status from that of Israel, who are the owners of the Land, Eretz Yisrael. The non-Jew is nothing but an alien, a stranger, a temporary occupant, and not an owner. Only within well-defined principles and laws is it permissible for him to dwell in Eretz Yisrael, even as an alien and occupant.

...Every non-Jew is certainly prohibited from living in Eretz Yisrael unless he obeys definite restrictions, and this due to the influence his alien culture may have on the supreme, holy nation.

...If G-d demanded our separation from the nations, why allow non-Jews to live in the Land? The answer is that G-d wished to eradicate idolatry as much as possible, thereby sanctifying His name among the nations so that they would accept the yoke of His kingdom. If a non-Jew sincerely wishes to be a resident alien, to abandon idolatry and undertake the seven Noahide laws, thereby sanctifying G-d's name, better that he should do this and live in Eretz Yisrael than to live outside the Land as an idolater and profane G-d's name. Clearly, however, all this applies only if he accepts conditions and guaranteeing that he remain isolated from Israel, and ensuring his understanding that Eretz Yisrael is the exclusive land of the Jewish people and that he only has the right to reside there.

...we are allowed - not obligated - to let such a non-Jew live in Eretz Yisrael. If, for any reason, we fear danger or deception, then we are certainly permitted and required to forbid every non-Jew, even the resident alien, to live in the Land (after all, even converts were rejected during certain periods for certain reasons).

...Besides undertaking tribute and servitude, the non-Jew who is permitted to submit, must also cast off his idolatry and accept the seven Noahide laws. He is then what most poskim call a ger toshav, a resident alien. A non-Jew who worships idols is forbidden to live in Eretz Yisrael altogether, as it says, "Do not allow them to reside in your land, since they may then make you sin to Me. You may even end up worshiping their gods, and it will be a fatal trap to you." (Ex. 23:33)

The Future of the Jewish People is in Israel

16 Menachem Av 5773

War on Another Front - Part 3

PART 1
PART 2

15 Menachem Av 5773

Anyone with half a brain can see that Yisrael is rising in the world while Eisav and Yishmael are falling apart.  Surely the complete redemption cannot be far off.  For this reason, both to escape the chaos coming to the rest of the world and to lay a claim to Israel's glorious inheritance and future, although not through conversion, but through subterfuge, many, many people among the nations are trying to acquire a foothold in our land.

We've already seen how Xians claiming to be from the Ten "Lost" Tribes of Israel are already here staking their claims and preparing the way for many others to follow.  (We didn't even get into the fake "anusim" who claim 'Jewishness' as the offspring of conversos many generations removed. Most of them are Xians, too.)  Some rabbis are impressed by the diversity and wide geographic location of those who are making these claims and feel it must be evidence of a real phenomenon.  However, they don't know that since this new theology was developed thirteen to fourteen years ago, its adherents have traveled all over the globe teaching other Xians about their "Jewish roots" and encouraging them to lay claim to 'their portion' in Israel's inheritance.

Now, we've got an Israeli rabbi teaching gentiles that if they aren't part of the ten lost tribes, no matter.  Maybe they are part of the gerei toshav who were exiled with the ten lost tribes and they along with the ten lost tribes have to be brought back. The kicker to this, however, is that those who want in on it have to at least have made a pretense of giving up their idolatrous worship of Yeshu.  For those who can't bring themselves to do this, there is being developed a way to enable Xian Aliyah!

See in this report from Jewish Israel:

Infamous U.S. Christian leader "rabbi" Jamie Cowen, who managed to make aliyah in 2011, has changed his name to Cohen and established the messianic law firm Cohen, Pex and Brosh, with its main branch in Petach Tikvah.

The Messianic Times reports that the law firm is comprised solely of "dedicated followers of Yeshua the Messiah" but as of this writing, none of that appears on the Cohen, Pex and Brosh website.

Before immigrating to Israel, Jamie Cowen was the charismatic leader of the large Christian messianic congregation, Tikvat Israel, in Richmond Virginia. Dedicated to evangelizing the Jewish people, Cowen served for several years as president of The Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC) and is currently listed as a member of the Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council

As mentioned, as of this writing, none of Cowen's "messianic" background information appears on attorney Jamie Cohen's profile, as seen on his firm's website (although there is mention of his studies at a Catholic University and school of theology).

What is featured prominently in the law firm's section under Areas of Practice is "Immigration to Israel":

"All issues of immigration to Israel: Aliyah according to the Law of Return – 1950. Permanent residency. Temporary Residency. Work Visas. Student visas. Tourist visas. Volunteer visas. Clergy visas. International Refugee Law according to the UN convention (Asylum seekers)."

This is of major concern to Jews worldwide but especially in Israel. A number of evangelical/messianic lawyers in Israel have put interpreting the Law of Return to favor messianic Christian aliyah at the top of their agenda, and they are making inroads. In fact, another Israeli messianic law office, the Jerusalem Institute of Justice (JIJ), has recently issued pro-bono advice, which is being widely disseminated online and in email, geared for the throngs of believing Christians who want to make Aliyah. This will be the subject of JewishIsrael’s next report.

It was Calev Myers, Chief Counsel for JIJ, who represented Cowen's daughter Amy in a ground breaking case in 2008. Myers clever maneuver turned the intent of the Law of Return on its head, enabling several messianic Christians to make aliyah because they were not Jews as defined by the Law, but rather because they were the offspring of Jewish fathers. At the time Amy Cowen declared:

"This legal precedent not only guarantees rights to those represented in the case, but also paves the way and opens immense doors to unhindered Messianic Jewish aliyah (with Jewish ancestry on the father's side)".

Like her father, "messianic Jewish" Amy Cowen is a Christian missionary. The Jewish Agency was informed of Amy Cowen's background prior to her aliyah. According to Counter-missionary professional Penina Taylor, Director and Founder of Shomrei Emet Institute:

"Amy Cowen received her missionary training at Michael Rudoph’s Gateways missionary training school in Cyprus and she went on a mission to convert Jews in Ethiopia."

Jewishisrael had noted before that messianic missionaries continue to focus on the Ethiopian community once they've arrived in Israel.

Jamie Cowen has worked closely with messianic attorney Calev Myers in the past and, while serving as president of the UMJC, was apparently able to "pressure" a certain Member of Knesset serving on the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus (KCAC). The following is a telling excerpt from a report in the April/May 2006 edition of the Messianic Times:

"The opportunity arose when the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, formed in 2004, began recruiting evangelicals to help with humanitarian needs in Israel, where more than 25 percent of the people now live below the poverty line. The first encounter that Cowen had with another Knesset member involved in the Caucus didn’t go well when Cowen asked if the caucus was open to working with Messianic Jews, Cowen said.

The MK replied that the caucus would not work with any group that “proselytized Jews,” according to UMJC leaders, speaking on a UMJC Web site podcast. 'I said, ‘OK, we’ll go tell all our friends in the Church world that you won’t work with us, so they shouldn’t work with you,' Cowen said. 'He (the Israel MK) stormed out of the meeting...upset.'

But several months later, a representative of the caucus called the UMJC and expressed a desire to work with the organization on humanitarian projects.

That’s when the unnamed MK emerged and invited Resnik and Cowen on a tour of some of the aid projects that he is helping to coordinate. 'They have received support from the Christian community outside of Israel and now are interested in engaging in fundraising with the Messianic Jewish community outside of Israel as well,' Resnik said. Israeli Messianic attorney Calev Meyers, who has represented several believers in civil rights lawsuits against the State of Israel, accompanied Resnik and Cowen...."

Theodore Herzl wanted to convert all the Jews to Xianity.  Now, the pendulum has swung the other way.  Many Jewish rabbis and leaders feel the time has come to make everyone Jewish. They won't succeed.  Hashem is still running the world.  But that does not relieve us of our responsibility to uphold the Truth of our Torah and inform all who will listen.

CONCLUSION

Am Kadosh - A Holy People

14 Menachem Av 5773

Part and parcel with everything we have been telling you over the past few days, about the Ephraimite-version-of-xianity's intrusion into Israe,l is the New Judaism whose aim is the same - to break down the wall that divides xians and Jews, as if this were the key to world redemption.  Nothing could be further from the Truth!

I'm sorry to say that (too) many Israeli rabbis and Jewish leaders are sitting down, not with proven Noahides, but with Jews for J- to be interviewed on missionary TV, and appearing for speaking engagements in their churches, not once, but on a regular basis! This is nothing less than a spiritual holocaust!!

This goes far past just interfaith "dialogue" for then the differences between us were still acknowledged, but now we've sunk so low that hundreds of Jews in leadership positions (Anglos almost without exception) are willing to erase all differences and embrace the western democratic "ideal" of complete equality and go further than anyone has dared to go before and proclaim that this is even a necessary step to achieving the complete redemption, God forbid!

In fact, the very reverse is true:

G-d established two great and fundamental principles for Israel, namely, 1) separation and isolation from the nations, and 2) clinging to G-d.  Israel must separate themselves from evil and from the nations to the precise degree that they are commanded to cling to G-d.  (Ohr HaRa'ayon, Vol II, ch. 25.)

Another fundamental: God and His Torah do not change.

Continuing to quote from Ohr HaRa'ayon, Vol II, ch. 25:

...G-d decreed upon holy Israel that they must be separated from impurity and from the impure nations.  The idolatry and foreign culture of the nations cannot coexist with G-d's Torah or with G-d himself.  It therefore says, "You shall be holy to me for I, the L-rd, am holy, and I have separated you out from among the nations to be Mine." (Lev. 20:26).  Our sages comment, " 'I have separated you out from among the nations to be Mine:' If you are separated from the nations, then you are Mine, otherwise, you belong to Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylonia and his associates" (Torat Kohanim, Kedoshim, 9)

...G-d established that there must be no unity between Israel and the nations.  They must not mix or mingle together.  The walls separating them must never come down.  Rather, there must be separation, borders, a division.  This separation, indeed serves the purpose of unity, but genuine  unity of a world under Divine sovereignty, for a united world of falsehood is not G-d's will.

...[Israel's role] is not to be carried out through assimilation and intimacy with the nations in order to be a false light unto them, as the ignoramuses and distorters say.  Rather, it will occur through isolation and separation from them, through creation of a holy nation that will provide a real and different example.  

The sin of Ba'al Pe'or at Shittim is cited:

...The argument of the nations here is that we must achieve unity and break down the walls of separation.  Is this not fair and logical according to the false thinking of the worshipers of foreign culture?  Is not the unity of all nations and the disappearance of the differences between Israel and the nations the goal of the Hellenists, who in any event have already put an end to every logical and intellectual difference between themselves and the nations?  

...They have distorted the concept of Israel being a "covenant of the people, a light to the nations" (Isaiah 42:6).  In their hands, this has turned into a demand that we depart the Land of our isolation and cling to the nations in the exile, living there with them in order to serve as their beacon.  To achieve this, we are supposed to abandon unpleasant, "unacceptable" concepts and laws, lest these make the nations hate us, and all this in the name of unity.  That is, we are supposed to assimilate for the sake of unity.

...Certainly, G-d's goal is world unity, but not based on falsehood and evil, and not through acceptance of abominable concepts of coexistence and tolerance which pave the way for equating holiness and abomination, good and evil.  Unity is desirable, but only after goodness reigns in the world and all accept G-d's sovereignty.  When G-d's truth and mastery reign on earth, there will be real unity.  It will come precisely through separation.

Havdalah is a supreme, Divine value which entered the world at Creation in order to separate between entities whose combination together is bad for them and bad for the world.

...Our sages said (Tanchuma, Naso, 7):

G-d said, "In this world, I loathed all the nations because they are of the seed of impurity, and I chose you {Israel] because you are the seed of truth....  In the future, as well, I shall choose you alone, for you are the seed of holiness, blessed by the L-rd [and their offspring with them]" (Isaiah 65:23).

Great harm is being done to Israel and to the process of redemption by those who have jumped the gun and act as though the redemption has already arrived.

Just to Get Your Attention

14 Menachem Av 5773

US wilting in a heat wave somehow stuck in reverse

The oppressively hot weather in the Northeast has surprised meteorologists: It's moving backward across America, something that rarely happens.

Normally U.S. weather systems move west to east. The western Atlantic high pressure system behind the hot dry weather started moving east to west last week and by Tuesday was centered over lower Michigan, said Jon Gottschalck, the operations chief at the National Weather Service's prediction branch.

"It's definitely unusual and going the wrong way," Gottschalck said Thursday. "This is pretty rare."

The Brits are suffering, too...

Heatwave: city centre road melts and wildfires blaze across Britain

With wildfires spreading across the country and even some roads melting, the death toll from Britain's heatwave continues to rise. ...it is predicted that next week temperatures could reach up to 35C.

"The Wicked Witch is Dead"

14 Menachem Av 5773

Helen Thomas is Dead

Helen Thomas, the veteran White House journalist who ended her career with an anti-Semitic tirade, died on Saturday at the age of 92.

...Thomas, a daughter of Lebanese immigrants, told the rabbi that Israel should "get the hell out of Palestine," and that the Jewish people should go home to "Poland, Germany ... and America and everywhere else."

Shabbat Nachamu - Parshat Va'etchana 5773

12 Menachem Av 5773

Parashat Va'etchanan - Some Halachot regarding non-Jews in Eretz Yisrael

When Hashem, your G-d, will bring you to the Land to which you come to possess it, and He will thrust away many nations from before you [...], you shall not seal a covenant with them nor shall you show them favor (“lo techanem”). (Deut. 7:2)

[Regarding this we find in] Avodah Zarah 20a: “You must not give them any consideration ” (Deut. 7:2): Do not give them a foothold [“chanayah”] on the land. Alternately: Ascribe to them no charm [“chen”. Rashi: “Do not say, 'How fine this non-Jew is!'”]. Alternately: Give them no free [“chinam”] gift. Later on the Talmud concludes, “All are valid.” 

An additional restriction appears in Rambam, Hilchot Avodah Zarah 10:3,4: We do not sell them houses and fields in Eretz Yisrael... neither do we lease fields to them... Why were our sages strict regarding fields? It is because [leasing them to non-Jews] has two [negative results]: It diminishes the tithes and gives non-Jews a foothold on the Land. We are allowed to sell them houses and fields outside the Land because it [any foreign land] is not our land. It is thus clear that there are two reasons for the Torah prohibition against selling houses, or even leasing fields, to any non-Jew, even if he be one of the righteous gentiles [a ger toshav].

Rambam mentioned both in discussing the prohibition against leasing fields (Hilchot Avodah Zarah 10:4): “It diminishes the tithes (1) and gives them a foothold on the land (2).”

(1) Since Eretz Yisrael is holy and we are duty-bound to sanctify its soil through tithes (besides all the other mitzvot that are dependent on the land), how can we dare sell or lease land to any non-Jew? A non-Jew is not bound by tithes, and by our action, we diminish the scope of the mitzvah, and, so to speak, the holiness that is thereby added to this soil.

(2) A non-Jew, by buying or renting land in Eretz Yisrael, takes a portion of the land and has a sort of ownership over it, and it is forbidden to give him this foothold. What, after all, is this “foothold”? Surely it is the feeling in the non-Jew's heart that he has found a place to live, a place to call his own.

Rambam wrote explicitly (Ibid.):Why do we not sell to them? It says, “Do not give them any consideration” (Deut. 7:2). Give them no foothold on the Land. As long as they have no land, their residence there is temporary. In our own time, Rabbis have struggled over this, and for various reasons, to our chagrin, some have ruled that it is permissible today to sell fields and houses to non-Jews. I have no doubt whatsoever that they are erring regarding the great foundation of the Land and People of Israel, and that there is no difference at all as far as giving non-Jews a foothold in the land and ascribing to them charm, between the seven nations, plain idolaters and ger toshav. [The difference between these groups is that a ger toshav is essentially permitted to live in Eretz Yisrael, though without owning land, without a “foothold”, whereas members of the seven nations or those equal to them today (unless they submit to very specific conditions) and all plain idolaters may not live in Eretz Yisrael at all.]

“Ascribe them no charm”:  From the verse, “These are the laws that you must set before [Israel]” (Ex. 21:1), we derive that even if non-Jews judge the same way as Jews, it is forbidden to use their courts. The reason is that the very acceptance of the non-Jew or his laws, even if they are like Torah law, is a chilul Hashem. A Jew is forbidden to accept upon himself either non-Jewish law or a non-Jewish judge, as it says, “Their powers are not like our Mighty One, although our enemies sit in judgment.” Rashi comments (Ex. 21:1), “When our enemies sit in judgment, it testifies to the superiority of their deity” [or religion, or value system, as we encounter today in the form of Arab Muslim judges in Israel or in the case of Jews outside Israel using non-Jewish courts even in internal Jewish matters!] Here is decisive proof for the prohibition against appointing a non-Jewish judge over Israel, even if he judges according to Torah law.

Some have sought to approve non-Jews serving in positions of authority over Israel, and they bring proof from the Mishnah (Avot 1:10): “Shemaya and Avtalion received the oral tradition from them [Yehuda ben Tabai and Shimon ben Shetach].” In other words, Shemaya was the prince and Avtalion the head of the Sanhedrin, despite their having been converts, and how could they have held these posts when according to the Talmud and poskim it is forbidden to appoint a convert [meaning a ger tzedek, a complete convert to Judaism] to a position over Israel. HaKnesset HaGedolah answers this (Choshen Mishpat, mahadura kamma, siman 7), saying that if Israel accepted a convert over them, then it is permissible.
Based on this, in this orphan generation, reeling from fear of the nations and an inferiority complex regarding what Hellenists will say about the holy laws separating Israel and the nations, some have declared that there is no prohibition against appointing even non-Jews (and not just converts) to positions over Israel, if Israel accept them upon themselves. G-d forgive them! According to their opinion, can a non-Jew be appointed even king or prince if he is accepted? Can an elected government have a non-Jewish majority, or even a number of non-Jews that will enable them to place their imprint on the character of the state? And if one non-Jew can be appointed, why not a majority or such a large number that they will be able to decide on such issues as who is a Jew, Sabbath desecration, pig farming, mixed marriages, missionizing or the dissemination of the false, alien culture – and all in the name of the alien, abominable concept of “democracy”? Let the heavens be astonished! Shall those who condone this not understand the gravity of their error?

If our sages permitted the appointing of a convert by mutual agreement, that is because the law that a convert is unfit for positions of authority over Jews is just based on an exposition brought by our sages and is not explicit in any verse. Yet, the restriction forbidding the non-Jew from positions of authority is explicit in a verse and serves to separate him from Jews. It is part of his servitude and constitutes a declaration that he has no right to authority over G-d's holy people. A convert, by contrast, is a Jew in every way and is restricted only because authority over Israel must be held exclusively by the elite and not by those who were non-Jews and have now converted. Therefore, perhaps we could say, with some reservations, that because a convert has accepted the Torah and is a Jew in every way, and there is no reason to separate him from Israel, him being part of Israel and keeping the mitzvot, then if the community agrees, he may serve in positions of authority. Yet, none of this has any connection to the non-Jew, whose reason for being unfit for positions of authority over Israel differs entirely. The non-Jew is not a part of the Jewish People. He has no portion in the Land, and no one can seriously claim that he can be granted authority over Israel.

If G-d demanded our separation from the nations, why allow non-Jews to live in the Land? The answer is that G-d wished to eradicate idolatry as much as possible, thereby sanctifying His name among the nations so that they would accept the yoke of His kingdom. If a non-Jew sincerely wishes to be a resident alien (ger toshav), to abandon idolatry and undertake the seven Noahide laws, thereby sanctifying G-d's name among the nations, better that he should do this and live in Eretz Yisrael than to live outside the Land as an idolater and profane G-d's name. Clearly, however, all this applies only if he accepts conditions guaranteeing that he remain isolated from Israel and ensuring his understanding that Eretz Yisrael is the exclusive land of the Jewish People and that he has only the right to reside there.

A non-Jew does not become a ger toshav until he stands before a Jewish court and accepts the seven Noachide laws. As Rambam wrote: “Whoever accepts them is the person called a ger toshav throughout the Talmud, assuming he accepts them before a court of three” (Hilchot Melachim 8:10). It certainly does not suffice for him to reject idolatrous beliefs or actual worship, if it is not accompanied by a court declaration. [Regarding this] Ritva ruled (Makot 9a): A ben-Noach [as opposed to a ger toshav, see above] is one who did not undertake these mitzvot in Jewish court, yet we know that he keeps them on his own... We are not commanded to sustain such a person... The stam goi [plain non-Jew] is one who does not keep the seven mitzvot [and who is not permitted to live in Eretz Yisrael under any circumstances]. From these rulings it emerges that only a non-Jew who undertook before a Jewish court to keep the seven Noachide laws is called a ger toshav, and only he can be allowed to live among us in Eretz Yisrael. This implies that a non-Jew must accept the seven mitzvot upon himself as being part of the Torah [and not for any other reason]. That, after all, is why he appears before the Jewish court.

Never forget the following rule: With all we have said about the non-Jew who undertook [...] the seven Noachide laws being called a resident alien (ger toshav), and being allowed to live in the Land, there is no duty applying to us whose omission renders us sinners. Rather, the law is just a dispensation, to make it easier for the non-Jew to come closer to the Divine truth. In other words, we are allowed - not obligated - to let such a non-Jew live in Eretz Yisrael. If, for any reason (i.e. security precautions), we fear danger of deception, then we are certainly permitted and required to forbid every non-Jew, even the resident alien (ger toshav), to live in the Land. (after all, even converts were rejected during certain periods for certain reasons).

You shall observe the commandment, and the decrees and the ordinances that I command you today, to perform them. (Deut. 7:11)
-
[Source: compiled by Tzipora Liron-Pinner from 'The Jewish Idea' of Rav Meir Kahane, HY"D]

War on Another Front - Part 2

11 Menachem Av 5773

(PART 1.)

Ariel University is a democratic Israeli institution of higher education located in the city of Ariel in the Shomron.  Like all such institutions, they do not discriminate based on religion, etc.  Therefore, they pride themselves on the fact that Jews and the Arabs who would murder them and the Xians who would convert them are sitting side by side, learning together in their classrooms. It provides wonderful opportunities for assimilation coexistence.

The following report was written by Geula Girl of Eisav Exposed:

Heartland Studies is a learning program at Ariel University that is open to anyone in the world; however, it is Ephraimites who sign up. They receive a one year visa for this program, instead of the usual three months, and are able to live in the Shomron for a year. Apparently they can sign up year after year which allows them to live here indefinitely.  The program offers Hebrew and Jewish/Israeli history courses and touring.

According to the website:

 Our students live in and among the Jewish cities and villages of Samaria and learn to respect local Jewish customs.  They learn Hebrew in order to deepen their relationships with their neighbors and to read the promises made to Avraham, Yitzak and Yaakov on these very mountains in the Hebrew language.

Ephraimites believe that xians and Jews have to be reconciled and reunited into one people before yeshu will return and that the "promises made to Avraham, Yitzak and Yaakov" apply to them also, including Eretz Yisrael. This is the reason they are coming here any way they can. As Daniel Botkin an Ephraimite teacher put it, they believe in "inclusion theology" not "replacement theology". What they don't tell you is that to be "included" you have to believe in yeshu.   They believe that to do this, xians must "return to Torah and mitzvot" and Jews must accept yeshu as messiah/g-d then we can be one big happy family living in Israel. Once this is accomplished, they believe, yeshu will return to rule over us from Jerusalem.  It should also be pointed out that they consider the Oral Torah to be something created by the Rabbis; therefore, it must be done away with.

The Heartland Studies offers a "mini-course" of 3 weeks but there is an added bonus with this program.

Our mini-course students will enjoy living and learning on Mount Geruzim in the Jewish village of Har Bracha.

Wow!  With Hayovel volunteers and Heartland students, Har Bracha must have xians living there at all times.

How do I know these are Ephraimites?

From the Ephraimite website, Sighted Moon, Joseph Dumond writes:

The past couple of weeks we have been letting you know why we need to be planning to head back home to Israel, but one of the major problems we still have amongst many others, is the language.

Two years ago a number of people organised a Hebrew teaching course at Ariel University in the heart of Israel in the West Bank. I even gave money to make sure the course got started.

It is being marketed to Ephraimites.

Wanda Barr, a student, writes:

I had heard about the Heartland Studies Program from Eddie Chumney’s YouTube video.

Eddie Chumney is an Ephraimite teacher/leader who was involved with Joel Bell in the Worldwide Biblical Zionist scam that was supposed to pave the way for millions of xians to settle in Israel. (See 2009 post here.)

The Heartland Studies program was presented in 2011 at the L'Chaim Ephraim Succot Festival run by Rimona and Ephraim Frank, known missionaries and long-time residents of the Shomron.  Ramona is an Israeli Jew who believes in yeshu and Ephraim, her husband, is a goy who believes in yeshu. They have been involved with Ephraimite teaching since its inception. Their blog is called Shevet Achim.

From a letter posted on an Ephraimite website written by former Heartland student Barb Hemphill:

We have been especially blessed to have Stephen and Virginia Spykerman in our community and to have Stephen give us many teachings. I will admit that it might be very hard to live here without that and not knowing the language. Now that we are getting a grasp on the language and greet and talk to the citizens here, we are finding them much more friendly and chatty, but at first it was a bit difficult for sure.

Israelis are not outwardly friendly people by nature but once you get to know them and they feel comfortable with you they are truly wonderful and friendly and helpful. It is very easy to learn to love our Jewish brothers here! I know I am going to miss them.

I should also mention other teachers that have come to visit and speak with us, Rico Cortez, Ephraim and Ramona Frank, Jim Barfield (Copper scroll project), Tommy Waller and Avi ben Mordechai will be visiting us very soon. So we have received a lot of spiritual meat too!

As mentioned above Stephen Spykerman was not only a student, but he has written several books based on Ephraimite theology including Christians and Jews: The Two Faces of Israel.  He is also listed as a teacher on the Ephraimite website Jerusalem Calling, which also links to Avraham Feld's Kol Hator page.

Rico Cortez is one of the more famous teachers/leaders in the Ephraimite movement.  He claims to be from Sefardic Jewish descent, of course there is no proof of this.

Ephraim and Ramona Frank are Ephraimite leaders living in Israel as stated above.

Avi Ben Mordechai is an Ephraimite teacher/leader who lives near Afula. His statement of faith:

The Two Houses of Israel - ”Ephraim” and “Judah,” as taught in Ezekiel 37, is a valid teaching. “Gentiles” that wish to join themselves to the corporate body of Israel are to be welcomed in but they must agree to observe the commandments of the Holy Written Torah and walk in the Ruach of YHWHin order to connect to the blessings and to the promised inheritance that belongs to all Israel through YHWH’s promised Covenant to all Israel. Gentiles who say that they are Israel but do not believe that they have to keep and do the commandments that were given to the collective and corporate body of Israel are essentially stealing from YHWH and all Israel; forcefully taking the blessings and leaving behind the responsibilities of those blessings. Sound biblical doctrine teaches that blessings come as a result of living by faith in the Ruach which is always understood to be living by faithfulness to the Word.

Concerning the land of Israel, it is the promised inheritance for all twelve families of Jacob forever, IF THEY KEEP THE COVENANT of YHWH. This includes any foreigner who joins himself or herself to the people of Israel (see Isaiah 56). Together, at some future date, we will all live in a very different and new, and expanded Eretz Israel during the reign of YHWH through His Messiah – ben David. Again, this is the inheritance of the people of Israel ON CONDITION that they walk in the promised Covenant as it was given to all Israel at Mount Sinai. There will be no inheritance (physical or spiritual) for those who will not hear and do the Covenant, or for those who seek to replace or supersede those teachings with the commandments of men. This was confirmed by Yeshua in Matthew 7:21-23 and Matthew 5:17-20.

From the Heartland Studies website:

   By Frank Mecklenburg, freelance journalist

    November 29, 2011

Leah Ziv of the Har Bracha Settlement in Samaria is known as the Mother of Widows. She herself was the first widow of Har Bracha who was widowed when a terrorist killed her husband while he was on guard duty. During the 25 years that she has lived in Har Bracha she has been providing aid and comfort to other widows in the community. She is a working mother of ten children and does not have time to harvest the olives from their trees planted by her second husband ten years ago. Also because her husband is a fulltime bus driver, he does not have much time to devote to the olives.

This year because they were worried that the olives would go to waste they advertized in Har Bracha for volunteers. When Rivka Eliron who teaches Modern Hebrew at Ariel University Center (AUC) saw the request for volunteers, She told her students about the opportunity to volunteer harvesting olives.

So this afternoon sixteen foreign students from Ariel University Center and their families traveled to Har Bracha in a chartered sheroot to harvest olives for three hours. The result was seven bags of olives in Leah’s car to be taken to an Itamar olive factory where oil is made. She then sells the oil. 

Leah said, “I so appreciate what you have done and I want to thank you so much.” She also said, “When the olives are ready they need to be harvested and it must be done before they are ruined by the heavy rains or remaining on the trees too long. If we had more volunteers to help us with the olive harvest then enough could be harvested to add even more for income for the families.”

The volunteer students are part of the Heartland Studies program at Ariel University Center chaired by Mr. Kobi Pinhasov. The group was made up of one couple in their early 70s, five other pensioners, four middle-aged adults, three teenagers, and two primary school age children. No matter what age they as a team worked outdoors with a beautiful view of the Itamar Settlement and the beautiful hills of Samaria.

I really don't understand how religious Jews can justify making money off of free labor provided by children and old people, even if they are idolaters.

There is a lot of crossover between the Messianic movement and the Ephraimite movement because most Ephraimites were previously messianics.  Gentiles in the Messianic movement got tired of feeling like second class citizens to the born Jews within the movement so the Ephraimite theology, which claims Jew and Gentile are equal within the "commonwealth of Israel", was born.

(PART 3)