"It is explained in the Torah, and again in the Prophets, and yet again in the Writings of our Sages, that many great and terrible troubles will come upon us near the time of the Coming of Moshiach.
"Why did they write and reveal all of this; would it not have been enough to experience the trouble when it occurs? They only did it so that we can strengthen ourselves, for there is no comparison between someone who, G-d forbid, suddenly experiences sorrow and fear, and someone who knows in advance and prepares himself for it. The heart of the one who prepares himself will not become as emotionally distraught, and he will have the strength to withstand it. Therefore, we must prepare all means and weapons in matters of faith and trust in Hashem..."
(Shulchan HaTahor, page 76, as quoted in Redemption Unfolding by Alexander Aryeh Mandelbaum, Feldheim Publishers.)Ultimately, this blog post is going to be about teshuvah - maybe the most important act of teshuvah we can make this Erev Rosh Hashanah 5780.
It requires us to hark back to the story of Bila'am and the incident with Ba'al Pe'or in Bamidbar (22-25). Surely, you know the story...
Israel settled in Shittim, and the people began to commit harlotry with the daughters of the Moabites. (Rashi: As a result of Balaam’s advice, as is stated in [the chapter entitled] "Cheilek’ (Sanh. 106a).
They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and prostrated themselves to their gods. (Rashi: When his urge overcame him, and he said to her, Submit to me,” she took out an image of Peor from her bosom and said to him, “Bow down before this.” - [Sifrei Balak 1]As you well know, the incident involving Bilaam and Balak includes the famous passage describing the Kochav miYa'aqov - a reference to the End of Days. Could this be a hint that this same plan would be brought and executed once again in the period just before Mashiach?
Israel became attached to Baal Peor, and the anger of the Lord flared against Israel. (Rashi: He sent a plague upon them.)
During the very days of repentance in the lead-up to Judgment Day for the whole world through Yom Kippur, when the deeds of Am Yisrael are being weighed in the balance, like Bila'am before them, an evil plan has been hatched to bring Hashem's anger down upon His people through a massive display of avodah zarah and pritzut.
CALLING ALL WORSHIPERSA strategic movement is forming to rebuild the Tabernacle of David. Last year 500 believers from 200 nations gathered in Jerusalem for three-days of worship and prayer.
This year hundreds more are gathering in the Holy Land for 72 hours of prayer and worship with key Christian leaders. It’s time to unite. It’s time to rebuild. #ItstimeforJersalem.
AWAKE JERUSALEM TOURBishop Robert Stearns and the Eagles’ Wings team will lead hundreds of believers from across the nations on an unforgettable journey across the Holy Land. We will visit biblical sites such as the Sea of Galilee, Mt. Carmel, the Jordan River, and of course Jerusalem. The tour will include the 3-day global Awake Jerusalem worship event.
[*Without Jews even noticing, the southern steps of the Temple Mount have become a regular place of Christian worship!]AWAKE JERUSALEM EVENTHosted in Jerusalem, this 72-hour event will include worship at the Southern Steps of the Temple Mount*, a prayer walk on the walls of Jerusalem, a celebration in the Garden Tomb, and a special service with our Christian Arab brethren in Bethlehem. This is an event not to miss!
This is a Dominionist-led event taking place for the second year running. Regarding last year's event, Jose Diaz said, "...Jerusalem, the place where it all started and what’s incredible is we’re having this big prayer gathering with a 1000 something Christians and Jewish leaders, people who don’t even believe J**** is messiah yet. Rick Pino described it as 72 hours of "... round the clock worship, round the clock prayer, round the clock exalting of J****."
Then there is the ALL NATIONS CONVOCATION JERUSALEM, also run by Dominionists. Bear in mind as you read that every reference to "God" and "King" refers specifically to "JC." While we, the true children of HKB"H, are crowning HASHEM King, they will be giving that honor to the false god Yeshu.
The All Nations Convocation Jerusalem and Watchmen’s Tour of Israel is a modern-day 24/7 “Upper Room” gathering of worshipers, intercessors, and church leaders from all nations, over the 10 days of Awe in Jerusalem, from the Feast of Trumpets until the Day of Atonement, and prayer touring around Israel until the eve of the Feast of Tabernacles.
It is a multifaceted ministry of prayer, worship and teaching corporate prayer tour of Israel, bringing all the nations to Jerusalem, the City of the Great King, in fulfillment with biblical prophecy.
For 23 years God has been using ANCJ to gather people from every nation to proclaim, pray and praise the God of Israel in Jerusalem, the City of the Great King and to increase the prayer covering over Israel.
We can testify to the fruit we have seen, both in the land of Israel and around the world, as a direct result of these convocations. Unity between Israel and the Body of Messiah worldwide has been strengthened, helping to prepare the way for the King of Glory!”
All Nations Convocation and Watchmen’s Tour of Israel aims to gather leaders from all spheres of life. It’s a multifaceted gathering of about 150 nations over the past 25 years for 24/7 prayer, worship and teaching bringing all the nations to Jerusalem, the City of the Great King in fulfillment of biblical prophecy.
We have no way of knowing how many more such activities are taking place, perhaps on a smaller scale, and this does not include their plans for the period of Sukkot!
This next one, which is by far the worst I've seen to date, only came to my attention a few days ago! And it is even happening on SHABBAT - next Shabbat!!
On 2012, Day Zero began as a celebration of Mayan culture at the dawn of a new beginning in a jungle cenote in Tulum.
In 2019, the event, which has gone on to become a phenomenon will begin a new phase and add a new location for the first time since its inception.
On Friday, September 27th, Day Zero will celebrate the thousands of wandering nomads and Bedouin people that have traveled through and settled around the Dead Sea region of Israel with a new experience that will take place at the foot of the historical and ancient mountain of Masada.
Day Zero Masada: Dwellers of the Dead Sea will bring a gathering of party people from all around the world to this unique world heritage site in the desert, just a stone's throw from the Biblical ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Like it or not, we are a nation of people responsible for each other - arevim zeh lazeh. In the lead-up to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, it's important to examine our own personal list of sins and midot that need correcting, but in addition to that, we have to answer to Hashem for the sins of our nation as well.
This time of year always reminds me of the question: How can we do real teshuvah if we don't know what we need to do teshuvah for? In this case, I think the answer is, on a national level, we need to repent the sin of APATHY, i.e. being lax in our observance of all the details of the mitzvot, not caring to exert ourselves over the hard issues or the ones that seem impossible, and just accepting things the way they are, except, they don't stay that way, they get worse unless we intervene.
The things you just saw above did not suddenly appear like mushrooms popping up after a summer rain. Many of the organizers brag about how many years this has been in the making. I know I have personally been begging people to listen and act since at least 1999 to stop the flow of missionary money and influence into the State of Israel. From hareidi to dati to chiloni, who cares? A handful! God help us!
You can't view those videos and not shake in your boots at what God must be about to bring upon us. And this time, the "leaders" will "hang" because there is no Pinhas with the ability to stop a scourge on this scale. A plague is surely coming, unless we do real teshuvah for this mess right now!!
For the entire time that Am Yisrael will be standing under judgment by Hashem, idolatry will be running rampant across our land with our tacit permission, if not with our cooperation or participation. Although there are those who will even do that, God help us!
Someone dear to me pointed out that the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, which has its hand on every one of these events, has recently stopped marketing the Land of Israel as the "Holy Land" and has "re-branded" it as "The Land of Creation."
As this video makes perfectly clear, all the kedushah has been stripped right out of it. This is a vision of the Land of Eisav, not the Land of Bnei Yisrael.
I take no kind of pleasure in writing about these matters that appear on this blog, but someone has got to do it. I learned that if you recognize a problem, you can't ignore it and just hope someone else will take care of it. You have to do what you can to correct it. Well, I'm pretty limited to just shouting out into the world from this internet platform.
So, what can we do? What does Hashem want from us? Excellent questions!
Caring to know, caring to ask, caring to do something about it, this is the beginning of real teshuvah.
We have to repent our prior apathy to our sorry condition, and our sense of helplessness over what is happening in our nation, and pour out our broken hearts to Hashem with full faith that He will hear and respond favorably to our cries. This is the most opportune time to do it - while the "King is in the field." [Our King, not "theirs."]The Chofetz Chaim wrote (Kuntras Likutei Amarim, Chapter 10): "All the many troubles that have fallen upon us, from which we have still not been saved, are because we don't scream and increase our prayers in response to them. If we had prayed [properly], we would not have returned empty-handed. And it is not enough that [one] prays the Shemoneh Esreh prayer three times a day; several times daily he must pour out his requests in solitude, in his house, from the depths of his heart. The three regular prayers are so routine that one does not really concentrate during them - which is not the case if each person would contemplate in solitude his own plight... then he would pour out his heart like water to HaShem. Such a prayer would emerge with very deep intent, with a broken heart, and with great humility. Such a prayer will certainly not go unanswered...!" (As quoted in Redemption Unfolding by Alexander Aryeh Mandelbaum, Feldheim Publishers.)
And the Lord said..., "Pass through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and you shall mark a sign upon the foreheads of the men who are sighing and moaning over all the abominations that were done in its midst." (Yechezkel 9.4)Everybody else was marked for death, only these survived. So it matters very much how we feel and how we express our concern for the deeds that are done in our name, without our consent. Hashem keeps a record!
We have a clear responsibility and obligation to protest these activities, even if only to Hashem in our prayers, as explicated by the Stone Edition Chumash Commentary on the parashah just past:
Blessings and Curses/Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. (Parashat Ki Tavo, Devarim 27.11-26)
As soon as the Jews entered the Land, they were to assemble at two mountains (see 11.29-30) for a new acceptance of the Torah. There, twelve commandments would be enumerated, and the people would acknowledge publicly that blessings await those who observe them and curses will befall those who spurn them. Six tribes would stand on one mountain and six tribes on the other, with the Ark, the Kohanim, and the elders of the Levites in the valley between them. The Levites in the valley would loudly pronounce the blessings and curses, and the tribes on the mountaintops would call out "Amen!" Thus, the very entry into the Land would include a pledge of allegiance, as it were, to the Torah that constitutes the essence of Jewish nationhood.
These twelve subjects of the blessings and curses are acts of the sort that transgressors could do secretly. Thus, the nation would proclaim that it abhorred stealthily committed sins and acknowledged that God would punish those who commit them (Rashbam, see Or HaChaim). Accordingly, the entire nation would inaugurate its occupation of the Land by declaring that there can be no contradiction between public and private morality; a nation that considers it acceptable to sin in private will inevitably see erosion in its moral integrity.
Sforno comments that these twelve are the sort of sins that are committed by powerful and influential people, who are often beyond the reach of the law. Accordingly, Moses wanted the people to declare that they despised such deeds, so that the masses would not be punished for the corruption of those they cannot restrain.
"...'Accursed is one who will not uphold the words of this Torah, to perform them.' And the entire people said, 'Amen.'" (Devarim 27.26)
The nation accepted a curse upon anyone who does not uphold all of the Torah (Rashi). Ramban explains this to mean that every Jew must accept the Torah's validity in full, and dare not claim that even one of its commandments is not relevant. However, this curse is not imposed on any Jew who commits a sin, only on one who denies that a part of the Torah is God-given or relevant.
Ramban cites approvingly a view in the Jerusalem Talmud (Sotah 7:4)) that this source applies to anyone who can influence others to be loyal to the Torah, but does not care to do so, especially people in positions of authority, who have the power to mold the behavior of others. Even someone who studies the Torah and is rigorously observant, but is unconcerned about the shortcomings of others, even though they can help them, is included in this curse.
This verse also implies the obligation upon every individual to support Torah study,....I propose that in addition to doing teshuvah for not caring enough about the degradation of our Holy Land, our Holy City, and Hashem's Holy Name - not caring enough to raise a cry or a protest or even to weep over it in the quiet of our own hearts... I propose that, in keeping with Torah precedent, that we each individually, in our own way, and in our own words make a declaration before Heaven that we have no part or share in these actions and had we the power to do so, we would put an immediate stop to all of it, and cast these sinners from our midst, and out of our land, as the Torah demands.
In light of the seriousness of this situation, I believe this might be the most important act of teshuvah we can do before Judgment Day. If we want to be counted worthy to survive into Days of Mashiach, we are going to have to get a lot more serious with Hashem than we have been until now. We have to stop with the apathy already.
Continued HERE.
To those who are interested, I write J**** C**** or "JC" because 1) it is assur al pi halachah to speak the names of false gods, and 2) the sight of them written out offends some readers. Rabbi Mizrachi calls him "JC Penney".
ReplyDeleteI didn't do the same for B*** P*** because no one worships him today and nobody would have known immediately who I was referring to.
Thank you for taking the time to write such an extensive post, ad gather all of this material.
ReplyDeleteIt is, of course, much worse than apathy.
Many Jews actively seek out the friendship of these and other Christians. Even though they clearly believe they are HaShem's true inheritors, just as much as the Muslims do, "Zionists" simply believe that they'll come around, or they'll just see the truth when Mashi'ah comes. They are in denial about their true motivations, and the damage they will continue to do in the meantime, or they know and just ignore it.
Thank YOU for taking the time to read it. Please pass it on.
DeleteKetivah v'chatimah tovah!
For 1000's of years the land of Israel has been beset by foreigners and their idolatry ways. What has changed since the various colonies were established - the German, Armenian, the Muslim, the Bahai, the Greek Orthodox, the Mormons and others. We are surrounded by foreign influences on every level of daily living. Anywhere you go you will see it and hear it in the language itself which no longer is Hebrew proper but some butchered version. The dream is over, the visions are gone. What is left are the dry bones in the valley. We are stripped bare, nothing is sacred and we are downtrodden. But the illusions are many that there is a *country* and there is a *Israel*. Redemption now seems clear to be first and foremost the instillation of new life within each soul. If we can manage to stay alive and awake for this process, the illusion of what we believed Israel to be will collide with the new reality. If we can manage to clothe ourselves with holiness during this process, there's no doubt that as we survived so many years of opposition and persecution, these final throes of anguish as well. https://www.chabad.org/multimedia/video_cdo/aid/3386369/jewish/The-Secret-of-Jewish-Survival.htm
ReplyDeleteWow! Those 'Israelis' will be meted out the same onesh as the evildoers themselves (those who join with these avoda zoraniks). To stand by and allow this to happen is beyond comprehension, unless Jews understand this is the work of the Erev Rav in complete alliance with Esav/Yishmael. H' waits. There are meteorites out there, Kochav Yaaksov is waiting in the wings! You are absolutely right. every real Jew must warn his real Jewish neighbor, relative, friend, etc., so we can really show H' through our most heartfelt tefilot how much we care with all our hearts & souls that we not only want Moshiach tzdkeinu, but need him; it's a matter of chaim vs. ....., then the world will know there's only H' - Ain Od Milvado. Hoping all real Jews wake up already!
DeleteK'tivah v'Chatimah Tovah (may it be Shnat Geulateinu
B'Rachamim)
Dear Tomer Devorah, This Old Autist has a SIMPLE suggestion to BEGIN doing what you advise above CLEAN UP THE GARBAGE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOODS. "We want Moshiach". "We want Moshiach". Do we REALLY ??? Do we REALLY want to see The Land of Israel looking like a Third World Garbage Dump ??? Do we REALLY want Moshiach to come into Chareidi neighborhoods STREWEN with garbage ??? AND UGLY UGLY UGLY no flower boxes in the windows ??? Does that sound SUPERFICIAL or GOYISH ??? Mashiach is HERE. ALREADY. RIGHT NOW. Time for the Entire Land Of Israel to "put on its Shabbat clothes". Time for Israelites to walk UPRIGHT with SELF-RESPECT. An Israelite who has NO respect for the Land of Israel has NO respect for himself. For the Torah of Israel. The People of Israel. For the GOD of Israel. Get OFF your tuchuses, OUT of your yeshivot and batei knesset and GET TO WORK RIGHT NOW cleaning up God's Promised Land so it does NOT look like a Garbage Dump in a Slum in Bangladesh !!!
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Delete"...Encountering (korchecha) you along the way: Yet another explanation is that it is language of "kur v'chum" (cold and hot), as if to say that he made you cold and lukewarm after you had been boiling. For, all the nations were afraid to war against you and this one came and led the way for others. It is like a boiling hot bath into which no living being could enter, until a wild person came and jumped into it. Although he scalded himself, he made it cooler for others (Rashi, Devarim 25:18) - reducing the need for moral responsibility. For, as the Midrash explains, Amalek's intention in attacking the Jewish people was to 'cool' them down spiritually,...."
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DeleteI'm truly sorry for your troubles, Leah. And I'm sure everyone who reads this will join me in praying for your child. I can totally understand why you would feel like nothing more can be done at this point except wait for Mashiach, but trying to bring others down to your level is not the answer. Instead, you must call out to Hashem and to your fellow Jews, as you have done now, to ask for us to help lift you up out of despair.
DeleteMashiach wants to come even more than we want him to come, but he needs our help. We can't throw up our hands and sit down to wait. We have to keep hacking away at the thorns that block his path until he can burst through. And we have to show HKB"H, through complete teshuvah that we are ready for Mashiach.
All of us together will pray and ask Hashem to resolve your situation for the very best for you and your child. Our children have their own tikkunim to make and it is often hard on us, too. To get through it, we have to increase our emunah to believe without any doubt that Hashem knows and is completely involved and will rescue every Jewish neshamah.
Yesterday was the 4th yarhzeit of my daughter. I posted the below on Facebook in protest of the way people come dressed to shul. I know I was preaching to the choir, as 2 particular women whose husbands have been seriously ill and almost died are among those who do not dress properly and they have not commented or "liked" my post, and they are regulars on there so I am sure they have seen it. The problem is that you can't tell people these things directly or you're accused of "judging" or being fanatic. So you have to drop hints, and hope they are not unnoticed, and in their own quiet way, they may be doing teshuva. Please pray with me that this is the case. The below is my post:
ReplyDeleteL’iluy nishmas Kayla Rus bas Bunim Tuvia & Chaya Rochel:
My daughter Kayla Rus loved Shabbos and we tried to light early as often as possible. But the other main attribute that comes to mind about Kayla Rus was her tsnius, her complete modesty. Modesty not only in her dress, which was of course important to her, but also in her behavior, the way she carried herself. This is something we could all take lessons from. She didn’t need to be the center of attention, didn’t want to be loud and let everyone know she was in the room. She was refined, a true Bas Melech, daughter of The King. She always got dressed properly to daven to Hashem, even if she would be alone in the house all day, even if she was in the hospital. You would mistake her dress for office attire. Just another day in the job of being a Bas Melech. Skirts always A-line and 4 inches past the knees so as to cover them even while sitting... sleeves always way past the elbow, and of course necklines to the collarbone. And nothing skin-tight. She explained that the body is holy, and holiness needs to be covered up, to respect the dignity of Hashem’s daughter, and to respect Hashem’s presence. She was always careful also to look “like a Jew,” not to follow secular modes of dress and styles. And yet she always looked elegant and beautiful. This is something we can all learn from, especially when going to shul, and especially this time of year. It is usually freezing in shul, air conditioned way past necessary, and with the weather cooling off this time of year, it would be so wonderful to see more of my friends covered up l’kavod Ha’Shechinah, especially while davening. At least think why you are choosing a certain garment, what message you are trying to send, and to whom. This is not about “judging,” it is about halacha. Many of us, (myself included, years ago), don’t realize that it is not optional to cover up. We are just so desensitized to dressing like the secular world, where, the more skin shows, the better, that we think the Torah’s tsnius rules no longer apply. But this is not true. Just as we can’t change the laws to allow driving on Shabbos to accommodate the “modern world,” we also shouldn’t adapt the modern way of dress (or un-dress, as is the case). Just some food for thought as we approach Rosh Hashana. As a favor to me, in honor of my daughter on her yahrzeit, and to elevate her neshama, won’t you please consider taking on an increase in tsnius in shul? (This goes for men as well, by the way, dress Shabbosdik on Shabbos, no short sleeves or khakis, a suit and if it is your minhag, a tie, no skinny skinny pants, etc.). If you can do this for one week or two, or maybe through Yom Kippur, perhaps Hashem will be honored and will bestow honors upon His nation. Thank you for reading. Shana tova umetuka to all.
Rachel that was beautifully written. There is no doubt in my mind that this will touch many people, maybe not the ones you had in mind but others whom you don't even know. The important thing is you cared, and you didn't let the yetzer hara convince you that it would be a waste of time and that it was useless to say anything. Kol hakavod! You did something!
DeleteI have added this to my prayer list and I will surely join my voice to yours to ask Hashem to help your words go into the hearts of our sisters in the spirit in which it was given. I did also bring in my Shabbat 15 minutes early for the elevation of Kayla Rus's neshamah, may she soon be returned to you in joy at techiyat hameitim.
Amen, thank you so much!
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