The End of an Era

 22 Elul 5782

Since not everyone got the message at the end of the last blog post...

One final note:  Rabbi Richter's lectures are back and can be seen regularly on this Youtube channel.

The Final Tikkun: Revisiting the Golden Calf

15 Elul 5782

Shootings, rock attacks and riots are increasing in Samaria.  I began warning people over two decades ago (starting with Sondra Oster Baras) against the various "bridging" initiatives being formed to bring Jews and Evangelical (and Messianic) Christians together and the danger it presented.  

I guess it is about 13 years ago now when I first began to warn that allowing Christian "visitors" and "volunteers" to establish worship of Yeshu (outright idolatry) in and around the yishuvim where they were living and working would remove the Divine protection the Jews had previously enjoyed.  And I was not the only one to sound the alarm.  However, nothing was done and nothing is being done, so the situation just deteriorates further.  

You may be wondering what this has to do with the Golden Calf and I would say - everything!

Worship of the Golden Calf was the source of the first sin committed after receiving the Ten Commandments and it brought the entire nation down from the high spiritual level it had just attained and rendered it unfit for the first set of luchot.  Would it not be logical to think that it may be the last sin to be rectified before the completion of the final redemption?

I'm going to bring here much of the commentary that the Stone Edition Chumash offers on the subject and let you take it to heart and understand how this applies to us today - right now!  And then, I will, hopefully, tie it all together with a bow at the end.

…the Jews who truly worshiped it as an idol were a tiny minority of only three thousand people, …and even they were the Egyptian rabble, Eirev Rav, that flocked to join the Jews when they left Egypt.   These erstwhile Egyptians proclaimed when the new god emerged from the flames, “This is your god, O Israel.”   They did not refer to it as our god, because they were outsiders who were addressing the Jews.

 [They "reveled" around the Calf.]

To revel.   The term implies the three cardinal sins of idolatry, licentiousness, and murder. In addition to their worship of the Golden Calf, they committed immoral acts and they had murdered Hur, who attempted to restrain them (Rashi).   This was the nadir of the tragic episode, the point at which error turned to wantonness.

…the original intent in making the calf was not to worship it as a god, … the initiators of the project were the Eirev Rav, and … only an infinitesimal proportion of Jews actually worshiped it.   However, the sin was most grievous, nonetheless.  As is clear from verse 27 [Shemot, chapter 32], there were Jews, few though they were, who were guilty of idolatry. The rest of the people did not resist the Eirev Rav or the Jewish worshipers.  This constituted either silent acquiescence or lack of faith, which was a condemnation of the nation as a whole.

It is a stiff-necked people.  This is the familiar simile for stubbornness, referring to one whose neck is too stiff to turn; consequently, he will never look backward once he has embarked on a course (Ibn Ezra; Sforno).  Such a person will refuse to listen to criticism or admit a mistake. This was the trait that nearly doomed Israel.   Even after describing their sin in the starkest terms (v. 8), God did not say that they should be destroyed; error can always be corrected if the will is there.  But if the people are too stubborn to listen to reason, what hope is there for them?

[Moses and Yehoshua both heard the sounds from the camp up on the mountain.] 

…It was a sound that was distressing to Moses, because it indicated that the people were enjoying and celebrating the blasphemous and immoral behavior to which they had sunk as they sang and gyrated around their new god (Rashi).   Indeed, Sforno (to v. 19) comments that it was the rejoicing that most disturbed Moses.  He despaired of changing and perfecting people who were wildly enjoying sin.

Atonement. Moses had to rid the nation of its sin before he could beseech God to let them regain the Tablets and the spiritual role they had forfeited.  First, he had to purge the nation of the sinners, who, though relatively few, had had an influence on the nation as a whole.

[Apparently, among the Christian ideas assimilated into Jewish minds in the Western Diaspora is this idea that it really does not matter what you do, God forgives everything, and they really don’t believe there will be any punishment meted out to them.]

He made them drink. There were three categories of sinners and hence corresponding categories of punishments (Yoma 66b): (a) Those who had been warned by witnesses not to serve the idol and did so anyway were liable to a judicially imposed death by the sword (vs. 26-28); (b) those who did so intentionally before witnesses, but had not been warned – and therefore could not be punished by the court – died in a plague (v. 35); (c)…The unfaithfulness of the last group to God was like that of an adulterous wife, so Moses imposed upon them a test like that given a sotah, a wife accused of adultery….   He had them drink from water mixed with the particles of the ground-up Golden Calf (Avodah Zara 44a).   Only those who had worshiped it died, like the sotah who was guilty of the charge (Rashi).

Moses turned to Aaron,… “Granted that you may have had no choice but to make the Eigel, [after they murdered Hur] but the worst part of the sin was that they rejoiced with it, and that happened because you proclaimed a festival (v. 6). Why did you have to compound the sin by causing them to celebrate it? (Sforno)  Aaron put the sin into the perspective that the long years of exposure to Egyptian idolatry has predisposed the nation toward such disgraceful behavior.  Then he viewed their demand and his attempt to stall for time.  Although Aaron did not wish to describe the catalogue of sins that ensued, Moses had already seen enough.  Aaron had exposed the shame of the people, for not only the sinners were at fault, but those whose failure to respond had made it possible. This revealed the ignominy of the nation, for they had been disloyal to God and Moses.

Whoever is for Hashem, join me!  Moses asked the Jews to make a decision and stop straddling the fence. [Shades of Eliyahu HaNavi at Mount Carmel!]  Their response showed the depth of their spiritual fall, for only the Levites stepped forward; though the rest of the people were loyal to God, they would not dedicate themselves uncompromisingly to His service.  Haamek Davar accounts for the relatively poor response to Moses’ plea.  By calling upon these volunteers to carry out death sentences against the idolaters, Moses was about to expose them to great physical danger.  Only those who were absolutely loyal to God would receive Divine protection, and the Levites were the only ones confident enough to accept the risk.

And on the day that I make My account.  Mercifully, God consented not to punish the entire nation at that time, but He declared that whenever they would sin in the future, they would suffer some of the punishment that they should have received in retribution for the sin of the Eigel (Rashi).  The sense of this teaching is that the sin of the Golden Calf cannot be completely erased, because it left an indelible stigma on the people. Thus, whenever national sins are committed, they are due in part to the spiritual residue of the Golden Calf. Sin does not take place in a vacuum; we are heirs of our history.

[On why Moshe Rabbeinu felt compelled to break the first tablets...]

Moses reasoned that if it is forbidden for a heretic to eat the pesach-offering..., surely a nation of heretics (meaning the masses of the nation that stood by complacently in the face of organized idolatry) cannot be given the entire Torah (Rashi from Shabbos 87a).

In this season of teshuvah, who is going to wake up enough to accept responsibility for this sin and make a complete once-and-for-all atonement for it!!!!  Lives are literally at stake!!!!

We do not have a missionary problem so much as we have a Jewish problem.  Every missionary endeavor in this country was introduced by Jews.

Whoever encourages relationships between Jews and idolaters or whoever makes it possible for idolaters to perform their idolatrous worship in Eretz Yisrael or who knows of such actions but refuses to condemn them, stands guilty before HKB"H!!

Some leading "settler" rabbis have spoken up, but it seems the word is not getting around to the klal.  The following is from a TOI 2012 article about HaYovel...

...The presence of the Evangelicals has kicked up opposition from some prominent settler rabbis.  Among the fears, rabbis are worried the volunteers will do missionary work and look for converts.

Moshe Tsuriel, a prolific writer on issues of Jewish law and a spiritual mentor to yeshiva students, came out against the volunteers in an article published earlier this year.  “On the one hand, they declare that they are helping us in our war against the Arabs,” Rabbi Tsuriel wrote.  “[But] there is a big risk that [Jewish] souls will become closer to Christianity.”

In an interview with the same news website, The Jewish Voice, Shilo’s rabbi, Elhanan Bin Noon, called for a halachic ruling on the issue of accepting help from Evangelical Christian groups.  “When these people are invited to perform acts of assistance, for them it’s a religious worship.  How can you be interested in something like that?”  He also accused the group of blurring the distinction between Judaism and Christianity.

Shortly before Rosh HaShanah, Rabbi Dov Lior, another prominent settler rabbi, issued a general halachic ruling against accepting material assistance beyond money from Christian groups because they practice idolatry.

However, the Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, the rabbi of Har Bracha, the settlement where the volunteers are based, has said that they aren’t missionaries. Hayovel has also gotten backing from David Haivri, a spokesperson for the Samaria regional council.

Kol hakavod to Rabbi Tsuriel, Rabbi Bin Noon and Rabbi Dov Lior, as well as Rabbi Yehudah RIchter of Elon Moreh who has also protested.

What if Mashiach is announced and his first words to the public are "Mi l'Hashem elai!!?"

How will you be able to answer?   

~ ~ ~

This is likely the final blog post here at Tomer Devorah.  I'll qualify it with a b'li neder.  This is my intention, but if HKB"H has other plans,  I remain open to that.  The blog will, of course, remain here as an archive and there are fifteen years of almost daily posts to refer to on various subjects of Jewish interest.  

I feel I have said everything there is to be said - and then some - and I really want to spend less time on the computer.  When the month of teshuvah arrives and the New Year is on the horizon, we all begin to think more about how to improve ourselves and make changes for the better.  I need this for my own growth and personal improvement.  I hope the readers will understand.  

It has been my distinct privilege and pleasure to share my learning and my thoughts with you over these many years and to receive yours in return.  I wish for everyone who reads this a Sweet New Year, and may all your prayers be answered affirmatively.  Here's hoping we meet very soon at the rebuilt Beit Hamikdash in Yerushalayim HaKodesh.

Ketivah v'Chatimah Tovah and Chag Sameach!!

Important Background to Review

15 Elul 5782

In preparation for what is very likely to be my last post on this blog, I strongly urge the readers to review these two earlier ones.  

How much trouble can be made by "unfaithful men?"   27 Av 5769

"Inquiring Minds Want to Know..."   9 Elul 5773

And watch for the follow-up to come.

Thank you and Shavua Tov!

"...Against Your Enemies...."

13 Elul 5782
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Ki Teitzei 

Excerpted from a longer shiur by Daniel Pinner - here.

...On the phrase “when you go out to war against your enemies…”, the Midrash picks up on the seemingly irrelevant words “...against your enemies…”, and asks: “What do the words ‘...against your enemies…’ mean? [i.e., would one then go to war against his friends? ‘When you go out to war’ is by definition ‘against your enemies’.]  God said: Go out against them as enemies!  Just as they have no mercy on you, so too you shall have no mercy on them!  See what they say: ‘Come, let us cut them off as a nation, so that the name of Israel will never again be remembered’ (Psalms 83:5) – the name of Israel, of whom it is said ‘Blessed be Hashem, the God of Israel’ (Psalms 106:48).  Therefore go out against them as enemies!  Israel said: Sovereign of the Universe!  How long will they continue to stand against us? – as it says, ‘God, wanton sinners have risen against me, and a gang of tyrants seek my life’ (Psalms 86:14).  [God] said to them: And not against you alone have they risen but also against Me, as it says ‘the kings of the earth and the princes stand firm, conspiring against Hashem and against His anointed’ (Psalms 2:2).  And therefore it is written, ‘When you go out to war against your enemies’” (Tanhuma, Shoftim 15).

~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~ 

You Just Never Know

11 Elul 5782 

I have a theory which is based on some really good evidence.  I believe that a lot of the Erev Rav, who followed us out of Egypt, are found among American Jewry today.  I believe that these are the ones leading the way to religiously-observant assimilation by creating a new form of "Judaism" which is most aptly termed Judeo-Christianity.  As their name implies, the Erev Rav are a mixture from among the nations and their goal is to mix Klal Yisrael with the nations.  They pay only lip service to the Torah and they are dangerous because they assume leadership positions in order to mislead the klal, much the same way that they did with the Eigel HaZahav.

As the moderator of Tzvi Fishman's recent Aliyah Conference, Josh Wander had the ultimate responsibility to eject the missionary/provocateur Chaim Malespin (see previous blog post), and now we know why he did not.  He has no problem with idolatry or idolatrous people.  And this is the way of the present-day Erev Rav.  

The thing is, your Creator, the One you claim to be in covenant with as a religious Jew, does not share your opinion and He expects you to conform to His viewpoint.  Otherwise, you are not His.  

Who Is Josh Wander?

He actually has a Wikipedia page.  I have to admit that I was a bit shocked.  Even I did not expect this...

Josh Wander is an American perennial candidate who was the Republican nominee for Mayor of Pittsburgh in the 2013 general election.  He was also featured in a segment on the reality television Doomsday Preppers.  He is also a public relations consultant representing projects in, and around the Old City of Jerusalem.  He holds dual citizenship in the United States and Israel.

In an episode of the National Geographic Channel program Doomsday Preppers, Wander was quoted as saying that he was concerned "about a series of catastrophic terrorist attacks which will fundamentally change our lives as we know them."  He founded the "Bring Them Home" organization to encourage Diaspora Jewry to relocate to Israel. He is a certified NRA arms instructor and gun rights advocate.

In 2003 Wander started a website to mobilize support for shipping the Statue of Liberty back to France. In a National Public Radio interview he discussed the alternate possibility of decapitating the statue and sending back "just her head" because "then they'll [France] really know we're serious."

And there are just so many more like him!  Israel365 seems to be a meeting place for them.  All of the ones I am aware of are associated with it in some way, and they in turn are associated in some way with all the missionary groups in Israel.  Go figure!

[See "...Israel 365's Josh Wander and Bridges for Peace"]

Why are we talking about this now, nearly halfway through Elul?  Repentance!  We are commanded to separate from the Erev Rav and not to share in their sin.  (Shemot 32:33-34) 

"...the war against the erev rav is the most difficult and most bitter, and we must use all our remaining forces to win this war. Whoever is not engaged in actively fighting the erev rav becomes an automatic partner to the husk of the erev rav, and whoever this may be it would be better for him had he not been created." (Kol HaTor, chapter II, part II, section II)

If you feel you have been misidentified as Erev Rav, you need to repent for acting like one.  The tree is identified by its fruit.
____________________________

More on Israel365:  This is the Scariest Time to Be Alive,  Sinning For the Sake of Redemption,  The Bridge Between Jews and Christians

REVIEW OF THE CHAFETZ CHAIM ON IDOLATRY*

From The Concise Book of Mitzvoth complied by the Chafetz Chaim:

• To entertain no thought that there is any other god except the blessed God.
• To make no idol to worship.
• Not to make any idol to be worshiped [by himself or by anyone else], even for a heathen.
• Not to bow down and prostrate oneself to an idol.
• Not to worship an idol in any way that it is usually venerated.
• Not to swear in the name of an idol.
• Not to lead a town in Israel astray to worship in idolatry.
• To eat or drink nothing from an offering to an idol.
• Not to turn one's attention to idolatry.
• To have no benefit from any decoration of an idol or from its ornaments.
• To have no benefit from an idol, from its offering or its attendants, or anything done on its behalf. [Considering that this is the basis upon which Hayovel offers its services to Israeli farmers, that means no Jew may have benefit from the grapes they pick or the wine that comes from them.]
• Not to intermarry with a non-Jewish person. 
• To have no mercy on idol-worshipers.
• Not to pay any heed to a person prophesying in the name of an idol.
• To entice no one in Jewry to worship an idol. [Enticing Jews to form loving relationships with idolaters is so close as to be right on the edge!]
• For the enticed person not to relinquish his hatred for the enticer.
• Not to rescue the enticer if one sees him in danger of death.
• Not to prophesy in the name of an idol.
• Not to settle idol-worshipers in our holy land. [Har Brachah???]                  

* Although the translator of the book this is taken from chose to use the word idolatry, the Hebrew original actually uses the term avodah zarah, which includes anything that is outside the bounds of the Torah's instructions.  This is a broader term as, for example, it would include Islam which is not considered to be idolatry.

Aliyah As a Missionizing Opportunity

10 Elul 5782

Missionary Speaker at Aliyah Conference 

There is no question but that this man's activities are a capital offense according to Jewish Law.  When Mashiach is our leader, maybe he will only deport them all.

The Nation Deserves Better Than More of Netanyahu

10 Elul 5782

Surely there is someone from the right who can replace Mr. Binyamin Netanyahu.   Aren't you just sick of him?  Of all of these career politicians??  Why are there no term limits here???

Netanyahu has a lot to answer for, but clearly he has no sense of guilt over any of his crimes and no intention whatever of paying for them.  And what of the people who will continue to support him and vote for him, in full knowledge of how he has hurt the nation.  I guess they just don't see it either, or else they are very forgiving people.  

Not the least of his poor judgment was his rush to make Israel into the "Vacci-Nation" by paying three times the price per vial of COVID-19 vaccine in order to be the first country to fully vaccinate.  And how he bragged about it to the world, acting as if he was Moses parting the Red Sea.  Netanyahu, together with his buddy Bourla, must have reaped quite a reward for their efforts.  Of course, there is plenty of blame to go around and plenty of people with a right to their share in it.  But, he was the face of it to the world and the leader of the country.  The buck stops there.

Exclusive: Proof that Israel found serious safety problems with the COVID vaccines then deliberately covered it up

They all think they will fool God the way they believe they have fooled everyone else.  It's possible they've even fooled themselves, but that won't serve as an excuse before the Throne of Judgment.  What a shock awaits them.

Let's Stop Pretending that Israel Is a Jewish State

9 Elul 5782

Israel may have a Jewish-majority population, but that does not make it a Jewish country (why do we call it a "State"?).  It is most definitely NOT a "Jewish" State.  If it were, only Jews would be allowed to have citizenship in it.  Even while we were a nation in exile, citizenship was attained through birth or conversion - no difference really from any other country (their naturalization process includes many of the same steps as conversion).  That's how it has been since the inception and that's how it will be in a truly Jewish country.  And not least, Torah would be the law of the land.  The sooner the majority of Jews wake up to the facts, the closer we will be to actually creating one here.  It will, of course, be led by Mashiach, because only he will have the honesty, the wisdom, the courage and the faith, as well as the authority, to carry it out.  Just, right now, get your heads wrapped around it.  

Would This Be Allowed to Happen in a Real Jewish State?

Would THIS Keep Happening Over and Over Again in a
Truly Jewish State??

~ ~ ~

I have to say here a huge todah rabbah and Baruch Hashem to HKB"H for saving me from the biggest, blackest, ugliest scorpion I have ever seen just about an hour ago.  Still makes me shiver!  

"On Jewish Government"

6 Elul 5782

Erev Shabbat Kodesh

Parashat Shoftim

Parashat Shoftim: On Jewish government

by Daniel Pinner

Parashat Shoftim contains 41 mitzvot, 14 positive and 27 negative.  Among these are some of the most fundamental rules for how a Jewish state is to be governed, who the leaders are, what their responsibilities are to society and society’s responsibilities to them, the limitations of their powers, and so forth.

The parashah begins:  “Judges and officers you shall place for yourself at all your city-gates which Hashem your God gives to you – to your tribes – and they shall judge the nation with righteous justice”.

The judges decide on justice, and the officers enforce justice. The Targum Yonatan paraphrases:  “Judges of truth and physically strong officers you shall appoint….”   The task of the officers is to use physical strength – violence when necessary – to enforce the decisions of the judges.  Obviously a court’s decisions – the entire legal system – are only relevant insofar as the court is able to enforce those decisions.

Rashi explains the phrase “all your city-gates” to mean “in every single city.”   He continues to explain that the expression “to your tribes” connects to the phrase “you shall place for yourself.”  Hence the Torah here commands us to appoint judges for each tribe separately, and for each city separately.

This follows the Talmud (Sanhedrin 16b) which expounds: “From where do we derive that we appoint judges for each individual tribe? – From the words ‘judges…you shall place…to your tribes.’   From where do we derive that we appoint officers for each individual tribe? – From the words ‘officers…you shall place…to your tribes.’  From where do we derive that we appoint judges for each individual city? – From the words ‘judges…at all your city-gates.’  From where do we derive that we appoint officers for each individual city? – From the words ‘officers…at all your city-gates.’  Rabbi Yehudah says: One is appointed over them all, as it says ‘you [singular] shall place for yourself [singular].’  Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: ‘to your tribes – and they shall judge’ – each tribe has the mitzvah to judge its own tribe.”

Rashi comments on this: “ ‘One is appointed over them all’ – this is the Great Sanhedrin. ‘Each tribe has the mitzvah to judge its own tribe’ – the members of one tribe are not to go to a court of another tribe.”

An interesting model for governing the Jewish state arises.  There is indeed a centralised legal system – the Great Sanhedrin, consisting of 71 judges, which rules over the entire state, over all the tribes.  As befits the Jewish State’s Supreme Court, the Great Sanhedrin convenes in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

The Great Sanhedrin arbitrates only for matters of national importance: it appoints a king, it appoints the minor Sanhedrin of 23 judges in individual tribes and cities, it tries an entire tribe which has been led en masse to apostasy (Deuteronomy 29:17), it tries someone accused of being a false prophet (Deuteronomy 13:2-6) and a Kohen Gadol (High Priest) accused of a capital crime, it tries an Elder who is accused of rebelliousness (Deuteronomy 17:8-13, in our parashah), it has the sole authority to expand Jerusalem’s city limits and the boundaries of the courtyard of the Holy Temple, and it authorises a voluntary war (Rambam, Laws of Sanhedrin 5:1). The Great Sanhedrin would also try a king of Judah who was accused of a crime (Sanhedrin 19a), and its members would also constitute the ad hoc court which would decide when the new month began and when to declare a leap year and intercalate an extra month of Adar.

But issues of local importance come under the jurisdiction of the local Sanhedrin.  Criminal and civil cases are to be adjudicated by denizens of the same city and sons of the same tribe as the litigants.  This guarantees that justice is administered not by some remote, aloof, anonymous judge – as happens in Israel, and indeed in most countries today – but rather by a kinsman.

Thus according to the Tosafot (Sanhedrin 16b, s.v. shoftim le-khol shevet ve-shevet), “If there are people from two tribes in a single city, then we establish two Sanhedrins.”

If the judge is to administer genuine justice, then he has to be a kinsman, and genuinely feel himself to be a kinsman, of the litigants. He has to know and be part of the society in which the litigants live; he has to understand what drove the defendant to commit the crime, and he has to understand what the plaintiff has suffered by being a victim of that crime.

A few – a very few – countries have come close by adopting the jury system in trials, ensuring (at least in theory) that the defendant is tried by a jury of his peers.  The Torah mandated, thousands of years ago, not only that the judge or judges be the peers of the litigants who stand before them, but also that the officers who enforce the law also be their peers.  Such a system can only reinforce justice.

The Torah system of governing the Land of Israel also has a well-calibrated system of checks and balances.  Each tribe has a high level of autonomy both in its judiciary and in its law-enforcement.  These local Sanhedrins, all independent of each other, constitute one level of government.

Another level is the Great Sanhedrin in Jerusalem.  As we have seen, the Great Sanhedrin would deal with national issues; it also functioned as an appeals court – a kind of check on the authority of the tribal and city Sanhedrins.

Independent of the Sanhedrin is the king – indeed the Talmud rules that “a king may not be appointed to sit on the Sanhedrin” (Sanhedrin 18b), which the Rambam cites as halachah in practice (Laws of Sanhedrin 2:4).  The rationale is that disobedience to the king qualifies as rebellion; hence if the king sits on a Sanhedrin, then all the other judges would be forced to give the same decision as the king, making justice impossible.

The result, then, is a clear separation of power between the Sanhedrin and the king, both of whom represent temporal authority.  Separate from both is the Kehunah (the Priesthood), representing spiritual authority.

Of these three organs of rule, the Kehunah is purely hereditary: the son of a Kohen is automatically a Kohen (assuming of course that the Kohen married a woman whom he was permitted to marry).  Specific tasks in the Kehunah, however, up to and including the Kohen Gadol, were apportioned by merit.

The kingship, similarly, was hereditary, usually though not always to the king’s eldest son.

The Sanhedrin alone was not hereditary at all, and relied solely on merit.  Any Jew who achieved a sufficiently high degree of learning and character could become a rabbi and a judge on the Sanhedrin.

This Torah system of government provided both separation of powers and local (tribal and city) autonomy, the combination of which are a very powerful bulwark against corruption and tyranny.

And then there was an additional branch of authority – the institution of prophecy.  After providing the legislation for establishing the monarchy (17:14-20) and commanding that the tribe of Levi (including of course the Kohanim) have no portion and inheritance with Israel (18:1-2) – thus both ensuring separation of temporal and spiritual authority and also ensuring that the Kohanim and Levites could never become a form of landed aristocracy – Moshe informs the nation that God will send other prophets:  “A prophet from among your midst, of your brothers, like me, will Hashem your God raise up for you; listen to him” (18:15).

In Moshe’s final days in this life, he reassured the nation:  Though I am about to die, God will not leave you leaderless.  There will be other prophets like me, prophets who will lead you, who will castigate even kings if they become corrupt, prophets who will be God’s mouthpiece crying out for justice and compassion.

For most of the first Jewish Commonwealth, this system worked remarkably well.  In the second Jewish Commonwealth the Maccabees, the Hasmoneans who were Kohanim, after defeating the Hellenists and restoring Jewish independence in Israel, then arrogated to themselves the office of king.  This inevitably led them within two generations to tyranny and corruption.

It was the eminent British historian and politician Lord Acton (John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton) who back in 1887 said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.  Great men are almost always bad men.”   Millennia ago, the Torah recognised this great, if unfortunate, truth and legislated for us a system of government which, if only applied properly, would guarantee that no one man or group of men would ever have too much power.

______________________________

With prayers that a proper Torah system of governance will very soon be installed in Eretz Yisrael with no further delays!

~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~

Electricity Is the Lifeblood of Technology

5 Elul 5782

NOTE:  Check out the comments on the previous post.  There is some important information there.

Further to what's called the Disaster Cycle, I've updated the graphic to show where we stand in the process at the moment...

I hope you have all seen the short video here, and that you won't miss the longer one over here.  In case you aren't really up with what's happening with the "earth effects", i.e. weather extremes, heat, flood, drought, storm, etc., here is a sampling:

July 10, 2022  Australian communities grapple with multiple damaging floods this year

August 18, 2022  Europe in Ruins! Scary Storm in France, Italy and Spain

August 26, 2022  Europe: Record drought & heat wave threaten harvest | World News

August 27, 2022  WION WIDEANGLE | Scorched: Summer of droughts

August 30, 2022  Over 1,000 dead due to catastrophic flooding in Pakistan

 August 30, 2022  The Major Flooding Sweeping the U.S. Could Get Worse | WSJ

August 30, 2022   China's brutal heatwave breaks records, sparks wildfires | ABC News

September 1, 2022  South Asia seeing more frequent extreme weather | DW News

There most definitely is "climate change" but although they know the real cause - the pole shift and solar micronova - they are hiding that information from the general public and blaming it on CO2 emissions.  

Note that the next phase will be the downfall of the god of technology that the whole world worships.  Electricity is its lifeblood.  When it is taken down by the sun's outburst, that will be the end of their re-creation of HKB"H's world in their own image.

LOOK WHAT OUR SUN JUST DID! / Solar Flares and Plasma Filament Eruptions

NO MATTER WHAT

4 Elul 5782 

Politics dominates the news.  It can really spoil your appetite.  Such losers!  The number one concern of politicians is not the needs of the citizenry which they represent, but getting and keeping their seats!!

I'm so sick of their antics, especially Netanyahu.  At least the secular leftists and Arabs are honest about who they are and what they want.  I despise the hypocrites who pretend to be "right-wing" but who still carry out the agenda of "the left" (for wont of a better term). 

Netanyahu can approve expulsions and enforce building freezes, commit harlotry with Christian missionaries and defile God's name and yet still be lauded as a great "right-wing" patriot by the so-called "national-religious" types.  And, here he is trying to capitalize on bringing "unity" to Am Yisrael, having meetings and twisting arms, making the usual empty promises; however, it's only in order to return to power.  It's all about those 61 seats!  

Someone please tell me, what is he going to accomplish now that he never did in 13 years of hogging the power??!!  Why would anything be different?

Disgusting!!!  Despite all the appeal to "unity," which in any case is nothing but a fraud and an illusion, the birur continues as the real "religious" Jews - those of real faith and authentic Torah - are forced to divide over principles which cannot be compromised.  For their trouble, they are labeled "extremists" - the most hateful epithet anyone can suffer in today's world.  It means you are not worthy of life itself; that the world would be better off without you in it.  Watch your head, the next drone might be for you.

The trouble today is that the entire world, both "left" and "right" politically, has moved so far to the extreme left that the traditional center - that balanced place where the Torah rules with mercy and justice - only appears by comparison to be at the extreme opposite pole.

How can any person of real faith who believes in the authentic Torah participate in a system which summarily disqualifies anyone matching that description from the electoral process as a "racist" and "extremist?"  We are an oppressed minority with no right to representation within the current government system!!  The only choice we are allowed is dumb and dumber, evil and less evil!!!

I mean, think about it!  How can The Jewish State be headed by a treif-eating Shabbat desecrator??!!!  IT'S NOT JEWISH!!!!!  As a Jew living in Eretz Yisrael, I should have the right to insist that, at the very least, the leader of my country be observant of Torah law.  Jewish identity depends on adherence to the Torah!

Why would you cast a vote for someone who dismisses you and your right to live and be represented in your own country?  That's not a government worth supporting.  It's not even a government worth recognizing.  Of course, the system itself is fatally flawed.  But, so are those who are eligible, by their very lack of principles, to put themselves forward to run it.  

It's all a distraction, a side-show, a bunch of clowns cavorting with self-importance.  They have no real existence, no real substance, and certainly no real impact or effect on this nation's destiny.  Their pompous, self-absorbed speeches are like so many buzzing insects - annoying and irritating.  Give us a world free of political speeches and endless, useless, meaningless elections.

No matter what they think, no matter what they believe, no matter what they say or don't say, do or don't do, those who cling to this system, this process, will never be able to stop the earth-shattering change that is coming, when those who hate the system will be vindicated in their abandonment of it and delivered from its vile legacy.

Judgment Day Is Coming And It's Almost Here

For lo, the sun comes, glowing like a furnace, and all the audacious sinners and all the perpetrators of wickedness will be stubble.  And the sun that comes shall burn them up so that it will leave them neither root nor branch, says the Lord of Hosts. 

And the sun of mercy shall rise with healing in its wings for you who fear My Name.  Then will you go forth and be fat as fatted calves.  And you shall crush the wicked, for they will be as ash under the soles of your feet on the day that I will prepare, says the Lord of Hosts.  

Keep in remembrance the teaching of Moses, My servant - the laws and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel. 

Lo, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord,....  (Prophet Malachi, chapter 3)

This World of Lies Has An Expiration Date

It's going to happen, no matter what.  The days of the wicked are numbered, including the politicians!  On that day we will truly and finally be an Am chofshi b'Artzeinu - "a free people in our own Land."

Ken, yehi ratzon!!

Crimes Committed in Your Name: Are You Guilty, Too?

2 Elul 5782

America has been out of control for quite some time now.  Her citizens - by and large - have no idea what crimes are being perpetrated in their name, yet their sacred oath that it is a government of, by and for the people it represents makes them all culpable in these crimes.

What's even worse is that the Torah learning and mitzvot performed by the observant Jews living there are an important source of power for them.

We are all headed for Judgment Day on Rosh HaShanah.  Everybody will have to give an answer.  The following documentary exposes but a tip of the iceberg.  It is a must watch for every American, especially American Jews, and anyone else who doubts that America richly deserves the fate that awaits her.

The Coming War on China? (Military Power Documentary)

SHANAH TOVAH!!

1 Elul 5782
Rosh Chodesh

I don't have to look any further than my front garden to know what time of year it is... 

And this tune starts running through my head...

The King is now in the field. Find Him and tell Him it's time to reveal Mashiach!!!

And let me be the first to wish you all a sweet new year. Besorot tovot!!

Of False Prophets and Idolaters

29 Menachem Av 5782
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Re'eh - Rosh Chodesh

The Midrash says on Parashat Re'eh:

...Moshe explained to the Jews: "Eretz Canaan is full of objects pertaining to idol worship. You cannot build a Land of holiness, with a Beit Hamikdash in its midst, while surrounded by the artifacts of idolatry." 

"Eliminate everything associated with idolatry - such as altars, stones, or trees - by whatever method is most effective. Demolish them, burn them, or cast them into the sea. Leave no trace of idolatry! If a place was named after idols, change its name."

While it is a mitzvah to eliminate idols in any country (where Jews have the legal power to do so), in Eretz Yisrael the obligation goes further: The Jews are required not only to destroy all known idols, but must search for and demolish all the hidden ones as well.

The Torah repeatedly emphasizes that idolatry is the severest of sins. There could be no greater audacity than using one's intellect, which is capable of inferring the presence of the Creator, to deny G-d's uniqueness and attribute the vast intelligence that obviously activates all of creation to powers other than Him [even another human being.]

...The Torah declares that besides the inherent evil of worshiping idols, G-d hates the wicked rites of the idolaters. A Jew must therefore distance himself from all idolatrous practices.

...Moshe warned the Jews, "If any 'prophet' - whether Jewish or otherwise - ever arises in your midst and claims that a deity other than Hashem gave him a prophetic message, or even claims that Hashem Himself ordered the permanent abrogation of any mitzva of the Torah, know that he is an imposter. ...Do not attribute any truth to his words, even if he performs wonders in heaven or on earth. [Even if he says he is here to "stand with Israel."] ...G-d is testing your loyalty to Him. 

...The Torah enacts very strict laws against a maisis, a (Jewish) "instigator" or "missionary" who attempts to persuade our people to accept strange gods.

He is not included in the law of "loving a fellow Jew." Rather, it is a mitzva to hate him, in accordance with "Hashem, do I not hate those who hate You?" (Tehillim 39.21) He may also not be judged favorably, not treated mercifully, and in his case, Beit Din is exempt from its usual obligation to find exonerating factors for someone condemned to death.

...Rambam comments, "By not favoring a rasha and not covering up for him, we bring peace upon the Jewish people." 

Even if you want to say that xianity is allowed to the gentiles - it is NOT ALLOWED to gentiles in Eretz Yisrael!! And even if you believe that they have "pure" motives, we are forbidden to allow them to perform xian worship on holy soil. How much more so to invite them to do so and to participate in it or even observe it!

In Sefer HaMitzvot it is written, "It is a negative commandment 213 not to turn astray after idol-worship, neither in thought nor in word, nor even by watching."

Sefer HaChinuch Negative Commandment 426 - "show no mercy to idol-worshippers (we should have no kind feelings for those who worship idols, and nothing about them should be good or pleasing in our eyes; in other words, we should remove far from our mind, and it should not [ever] arise in our speech, that there could be anything of value in one who worships in idolatry, and he should find no grace or favor in our eyes)

I've said this before, but it's worth saying again and again and again if I can get this idea across. The extent to which this sounds harsh or extreme to you is the extent to which you have assimilated Western values which stand in contradiction to Torah law.

Hashem says His thoughts are above our thoughts. It's up to us to align ourselves with the Torah and not to try to change it to fit "the times." We've become too complacent about this matter and too accepting of xianity even to the point of denying that is even idolatry. 

~ Shabbat Shalom - Chodesh Tov ~

Right on Schedule

27 Menachem Av 5782 

I don't know if you've been keeping up, but judging by the massive wave of severe and extreme weather striking the US, Europe and other places right now, as well as the uptick in activity to our north here in Israel, it would appear that the geulah train is still on track for this shmitta cycle.  Oh, and today is Ukrainian Independence Day, so there are big expectations on that front as well.  Stay alert.  This is your heads up.

(CLICK IMAGE FOR STORY)

Even if Nasrallah claims to limit the potential war over the gas field to a single day, and even if Israel claims to be uninterested in war, the intensity of a potential military conflict between the two sides will be much greater than what we've become accustomed to during IDF's campaigns in Gaza. It will be difficult for Israel to control the situation once shots are fired, and an all-out war, which both sides are trying to avoid, might be inevitable. (Source)

 

Israeli Defense Chiefs Call for Assault on Iran’s Proxies

Israel’s defense chiefs are advising the government to launch an intensive assault on Iran’s terror proxies. In a dramatic strategy shift, a new report calls for diverting resources from Iran strike preparations to focus on preemptive attacks on Tehran’s regional allies.

The sensitive document was recently submitted to Israel’s leadership, N12 News reports. Until now, the IDF focused on upgrading its capabilities to attack Iran.

However, the security chiefs believe that targeting Tehran’s forward bases in Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq should be prioritized. This would greatly weaken Iran’s power and ultimately make it easier to attack its nuclear project.

The new strategy would require Israel to launch a series of short but intense strike operations against Iran’s Mideast proxies. Israel will aim to immediately escalate any military clashes instead of focusing on restoring quiet, the report said.

The overall Israeli objective would be to destroy the capabilities of Iran’s militias quickly, to prevent Iran from rebuilding its regional terror armies.

Israel’s defense establishment is urging this strategic shift shortly after the successful preemptive assault on Islamic Jihad in Gaza. In parallel, Defense Minister Benny Gantz warned that the IDF could initiate military action against Hezbollah in Lebanon to thwart attacks on Israel’s new gas rig.

Notably, a leading strategic expert predicted earlier that Israel will shift to a preemptive war doctrine to neutralize Iran’s military buildup on its borders.

Construction Area: Hard Hats Required

25 Menachem Av 5782 

More and more people across the entire spectrum of humanity are sounding the alarm.  If you have ears to hear it, then listen closely to the warnings:  financial crash, food shortages, chaos in the streets, nuclear threats, world war, more and more natural disasters - if it's not a flood, it's a drought.  

The pendulum of history is swinging to crazy extremes.  It's interesting that the War on Terror has morphed into a war against "extremism" which is defined by TPTB as anyone who disagrees with their vision of our future.  

However it appears, what we are witnessing and experiencing are the simultaneous death throes of the Old World of Lies and the birth pangs of the New World of Truth.  

If we are honest, we have to admit that it is already the end of the world as we've known it. 

This generation has the questionable privilege of living through a major rehab of not only society but the entire planet as well.  As you can well imagine, there are going to be some anxious days ahead until the renovation is complete.  

Watch your heads!

The Old World Order Is About To Collapse

"You Are What You Eat"

22 Menachem Av 5782
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Ekev - Mevorchim 

"...not by bread alone does man live, rather by everything that emanates from the mouth of God does man live."  (Devarim 8.3)

That would include all the laws of kashrut.

The prohibition against eating insects is Min HaTorah (Biblical). If one eats an entire insect, even if it is less than a kezayis, he is punished with malkus (lashes). This applies to any insect that is visible to the naked eye. Insects that can only be seen under a microscope are not included in this prohibition.

The need to check fruits, vegetables, fish, and even water for insects is actually nothing new. The Gemara raises the issue in Maseches Chullin (67b) and the Shulchan Oruch devotes an entire siman (chapter) in Yoreh Dea’h (Si. 84) to it. The Pri Chadash actually writes: “I cannot contain myself from mentioning and making it known to the nation of Hashem regarding the severity of the prohibition of tolaim (insects). It has become light in the eyes of people and once a person becomes accustomed to a certain transgression it becomes ‘permissible’ in their eyes. Even the Chachomim are not careful enough in this matter.” (Source)

No doubt there will be plenty of "kosher" voices who will try to tell us there are all kinds of exceptions and help to pave the way for the "green revolution" in eating.  Be careful!  Everything on the WEF's agenda is part of their war against God and their desire to subjugate mankind.  

Follow the Divine Manufacturer's instructions and you won't go wrong.

~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~

"If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em"

21 Menachem Av 5782 

The evidence is clear that the Sitra Achra's chosen pathway for the destruction of the Jewish People at the End of Days is through massive assimilation.  Some examples...

The Erev Rav regime is doing all it can to thwart Orthodox religious aliyah while encouraging all others, including non-Jews of false religions.

The Erev Rav regime is bending over backwards to take in as many non-Jewish "refugees" as it can in the name of "humanity."

Predominantly "Anglo" Jews and "Anglo" Jewish organizations are recruiting questionable converts into the rabbinic ranks and actually sponsoring "missionary" activities towards "outreach" to non-Jews.

A massive number of loosely-affiliated Jews are depending on the internet for their Jewish education.  Tragically, much of the worst heresy in the modern Jewish world is waiting there to entrap and mislead them.

HASHEM YERACHEM ALEYNU!!

BE AWARE!!  FOREWARNED IS FOREARMED!!!

Where Is The Comfort?

19 Menachem Av 5782
Baruch Dayan Emet

Just when I thought we were about to catch the glimmer of light evidencing the end of the dark tunnel, the darkness settled around us like a suffocating blanket.

Jerusalem bus careens out of control: Mother, two daughters killed

‘Screams of terror’: 7 hurt, including 2 seriously, in shooting near Western Wall

Soldier who killed comrade Monday apparently followed open-fire policy, IDF says

In the first case, a family from Ofakim was visiting Yerushalayim for bein hazemanim. The expectant mother wanted to shop for a bar mitzvah gift and new baby things with an eye to needs for the upcoming high holidays. The father and son of the family was onsite as well as extended family who were witnesses. There are just no words, Hashem save us!

The second case also involved an entire family, visiting from New York, again an expectant mother among the wounded, but thank God!, everyone has survived.  It happened near Kever David on Motzaei Shabbat.

Now, this morning comes the news that the soldier who was killed last night near Tulkarem was killed by "friendly fire."  He reportedly went to pray and was shot and killed by his fellow soldier as a suspected terrorist infiltrator upon his return to post.  

These were the best of us.  If it could happen to them, then no one can feel any sense of security.  The only comfort I can find in the current situation is that perhaps - perhaps! - this can be compared to the period when we thought we were about to be redeemed in Egypt and suddenly it all got a lot worse as we were forced to find our own straw to make the bricks.  Though, in my mind, the loss of life and the terror can't compare.

I'm hanging by a thread and I truly do not know how I am going to be able to keep standing if this continues.  Hashem, please help!

"Nachamu Ami"

15 Menachem Av 5782
Erev Shabbat Kodesh - TU b'Av 
Parashat Va'etchanan - Shabbat Nachamu

"For Hashem, your God, is a merciful God, He will not abandon you nor destroy you, and He will not forget the covenant of your forefathers that He swore to them."

7 Things to Know About Shabbos Nachamu

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com

So what are the top seven things to know about Shabbos Nachamu?

#1. Firstly, being joyous and celebrating Shabbos Nachamu is a custom with deep historical roots. The Maharil (1365 – 1427) in his Minhagim (27) explains that the entire nation should rejoice on this special Shabbos. He further writes that we should express our faith and conviction in the arrival of the redeemer who will surely comfort us.

#2. Because of this, it is worthwhile to treat this Shabbos differently than another Shabbos. Indeed, the Sefer entitled Drashos Eben Shoiv (Parshas VoEschanan) states that we should treat Shabbos Nachamu like a Yom Tov. This Sefer was written by a student of the Rashba.

The Ritvah (Taanis 30b) indicates that the food preparations on this Shabbos should be like Yom Tov – in other words, the food should be more elaborate than for a regular Shabbos.

#3. Many Shuls recite special Piutim on Shabbos Nachamu as well.

#4. Shabbos Nachamu also represents the first of the seven Shabbaths of consolation that is to come prior to Rosh haShana. But aside from being the first, Shabbos Nachamu is different than the others. Of all the seven, it is only Shabbos Nachamu which contains this remarkable “Yom Tov” nature.

#5. Another aspect of the Yom Tov nature of Shabbos Nachamu lay in the fact that the Torah reading is always Parshas V’Eschanan – when we lein the Aseres haDibros – the Ten Commandments. This is a convention enacted by Chazal. The Chofetz Chaim (in his Biur Halacha to Orech Chaim 428) explains that this was enacted so that during the week immediately before Tisha B’Av we can read the reproach of both Moshe Rabbeinu in Parshas Dvarim as well as that of Isaiah in the Haftorah.

Certainly, this is an important reason, to enable us to get the most out of Tisha B’Av and help direct our Teshuvah.

#6. But perhaps there is another reason, as well. Chazal tell us that there is no Simcha, there is no joy like Torah. Last week we read Yisamach Yisachar beOhalo – Yissachar, he who dedicated himself to Torah study will rejoice in his tent. The Abarbanel, as others, explains that there is no Simcha, there is no joy like the joy of Torah. This then may be another reason for why Shabbos Nachamu is always on Parshas VoEschanan. The reading of the Aseres haDibros gives us joy. It uplifts, nourishes, restores.

There is something different about Klal Yisroel – The collective neshama of the Torah nation is configured with a different operating system – one that finds joy and meaning in Torah itself. We are only truly happy, we only thrive on account of Torah.

We have just witnessed grave tragedies. The day that commemorates the destruction of both palaces of Hashem – the Batei HaMikdash. Klal Yisroel needs a reprieve, a salve for our affliction and ailments. There is no better salve than that of Torah, and the receiving of it.

#7. Many have the minhag to immerse in the Mikvah on Shabbos Nachamu – even those who do not do so normally on a Shabbos morning. And, of course, the Minhag is to honor the Rav of the Shul with the Aliyah of the reading of the Aseres HaDibros (See Mogain Avrohom 428:8). These Minhagim reinforce the joy and exultation of the day.

It is suggested that just as the Chofetz Chaim tells us that this special enactment was made so that the Haftorah will inform the impending day of Tisha B’Av, so too should we look at this Haftorah to inform how we conduct ourselves. We should once again serve Hashem in happiness. The period of mourning is over, and we should once again find the joy in our lives.

As in every Yom Tov, indeed, in every venue of human endeavor, the more we prepare for something the more meaning we ultimately can derive from it.

So, while it is still early, let’s go out and shop for a few extra delicacies for Shabbos Nachamu. Let’s hug our children. Let’s enjoy our older relatives. Let’s be tolerant of the foibles of others. Let’s appreciate the gifts that HaKadosh Boruch Hu bestowed upon us – especially the gift of Torah that is embodied in the reading of the Aseres HaDibros. And most importantly – Nachamu, nachamu Ami.  (YWN)

~ SHABBAT SHALOM UMEVORACH ~

"Everlasting Love"

14 Menachem Av 5782

Every 15th of the month which falls in a time of trouble, I am haunted by the vision I had in a dream of a missile attack on Eretz Yisrael which happened under a full moon.  Given the time and events, I can't help thinking it might actually materialize in a matter of days.  But, if it has to happen, it couldn't come at a more propitious time of the year to receive the maximum amount of mercy from HKB"H.

We have now entered the days of mercy, repentance, forgiveness and consolation.  Tonight begins the holiday of TU b'Av - the 15th of Av - the "Love" holiday.  

The Mishnah tells us that: "No days were as festive for Israel as the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur." (Tractate Ta'anit) What is Tu B'Av, the 15th of the Hebrew month of Av? In which way is it equivalent to Yom Kippur?

Our Sages explain: Yom Kippur symbolizes God's forgiving Israel for the sin of the Golden Calf in the desert, for it was on that day that He finally accepted Moses' plea for forgiveness of the nation, and on that same day Moses came down from the mountain with the new set of tablets.

Just as Yom Kippur symbolizes the atonement for the sin of the Golden Calf, Tu B'Av signifies the atonement for the sin of the Spies, where ten came bearing such negative reports which reduced the entire nation to panic. As a result of that sin, it was decreed by God that the nation would remain in the desert for 40 years, and that no person 20 or older would be allowed to enter Israel. On each Tisha B'Av of those 40 years, those who had reached the age of 60 that year died – 15,000 each Tisha B'Av.

This plague finally ended on Tu B'Av.

...That last year, the last 15,000 people got ready to die. God, in His mercy, decided not to have that last group die, considering all the troubles they had gone through. Now, when the ninth of Av approached, all the members of the group got ready to die, but nothing happened. They then decided that they might have been wrong about the date, so they waited another day, and another...

Finally on the 15th of Av, when the full moon appeared, they realized definitely that the ninth of Av had come and gone, and that they were still alive. Then it was clear to them that God's decree was over, and that He had finally forgiven the people for the sin of the Spies.

This is what was meant by our Sages when they said: "No days were as festive for Israel as the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur," for there is no greater joy than having one's sins forgiven – on Yom Kippur for the sin of the Golden Calf and on Tu B'Av for the sin of the spies. In the Book of Judges, Tu B'Av is referred to as a holiday (Judges 21:19). (Source)

It's fine that TU b'Av is associated with marriages and betrothals and the love between a man and a woman.  That definitely has its place in our tradition.  But, there is no greater love than that bestowed on Klal Yisrael by HKB"H.

"From long ago, the Lord appeared to me [Rashi: ...and told me to say to the congregation of Israel]; With everlasting love have I loved you; therefore have I drawn you to Me with loving-kindness." (Yirmiyahu 31.2)

Scary events are looming on our horizon, but they have one purpose only - not to destroy us, but to drive us to teshuvah so that as many as possible can survive to live in the Days of Mashiach which are dawning even now.

At the heart of the sins of our ancestors was their lack of faith in HKB"H's love.  They accused Him of bringing them into the wilderness in order to kill them there.  They said their children were going to Eretz Yisrael to die.

Never, ever, ever allow such thoughts to cross your mind - that HKB"H has brought us back to Eretz Yisrael just to let our enemies overrun and destroy us.

TRUST IN HIS LOVE FOR HIS PEOPLE!  HE MEANS ONLY GOOD FOR US - LIFE, HEALTH, BLESSINGS IN ABUNDANCE...  

Too many of us have become comfortable with the "status quo"; therefore, HKB"H must bring us to a situation where we will cry out for deliverance, just as we did in Egypt, and He will answer that cry, as He did then, by sending us a deliverer.

"Mashiach, when are you coming?"

"Today, if you will but heed my voice."

~ Wishing us all a very joyous TU b'Av ~