27 Kislev 5775
3rd Candle of Hanukah
3rd Candle of Hanukah
Many seem to be sensing that there is something very different about the election season this time around.
A Times of Israel article says...
Israel’s political system is in chaos. A new order is materializing, and its shockwaves are being felt in nearly every corner of the political map. ...The change is coming from the street....A New York Times article says...
...Israel has had critical elections before, but this could be its most important, because the Israeli right today is no longer dominated by security hawks and free-marketeers like Netanyahu. It is dominated by West Bank settlers and scary religious-nationalist zealots....
...“The importance of the 2015 election cannot be too highly emphasized,” Ari Shavit, the Haaretz columnist wrote last week. “This time the question isn’t about the price of an apartment or cottage (cheese), but whether there will be a home for us at all. This time the struggle isn’t about convenience but about the core of our existence. Because this time the forces threatening Israeli democracy and the Zionist enterprise from within are unprecedented in their power.”As I said before, I don't know if we will even reach to elections, but the birur happening now is mind-boggling. That alone is a sign that we are really reaching the end of the whole redemption process. If elections do take place, I do not expect a Torah-values party or consortium of parties to make a majority in the Knesset. Simply put, those who love and are committed to the Torah way of life are very, very few. Mashiach is not going to be the next Prime Minister!
Already the democratic leftists and rightists together are seeking a way out for themselves. Netanyahu has manipulated Moshe Feiglin out of running for party head. Having a woman on Tekuma's list is causing a problem for Uri Ariel's faction to join up with Eli Yishai's new party. And the police have already raided Rabbi Dr. Michael Ben Ari's Otzma Yehudit offices.
This is not about winning power through a democratic process.(Israel isn't even a true democracy.) It's about showing G-d that we are ready to follow Mashiach. It's about taking a public stand with the people who represent the Torah way of life in this country. Whenever the true Torah Jews see another hand go up, it builds and strengthens their faith in Hashem and in each other and in the way of life we have chosen.
While this thing plays out, just keep this in mind...
In the period that will precede the coming of Mashiach, insolence will increase and costs will soar. The vine will yield its fruit yet wine will be costly, and the government will turn to heresy and there shall be no rebuke [meaning that figures of legitimate authority, including parents, will be afraid to rebuke those who stray from correct behavior, including their children]. The [erstwhile] meeting place [of sages] will be used for harlotry…. The wisdom of scribes will decay and those who dread sin will be despised and truth will be absent. Youths will shame the faces of elders; elders will stand in the presence of minors…a man’s enemies [will be] the people of his household…. Upon what, then, can we lean? Upon our Father in Heaven. [Sotah 49b]If it all goes to hell in a handbasket, gam zu l'tov.
