This Is What Makes It All Worthwhile

1 Sivan 5782 - Rosh Chodesh
45 Days of the Omer 

For better or for worse, we are all in this together...

LIVING AS JEWS IN ERETZ YISRAEL

The Third Month

1 Sivan 5782 - Rosh Chodesh
45 Days of the Omer 

THE MONTH OF SIVAN

Sivan is the third month of the Jewish calendar, corresponding approximately to the Gregorian month of June. The name itself is of Babylonian origin. In the Bible, it is simply referred to as ‘the third month’.

Sivan includes one day of Rosh Chodesh (celebration of the new moon) and is always 30 days long. The great event of the month of Sivan is the holiday of Shavuot, which corresponds with the receiving of the Torah by the Children of Israel on Mt. Sinai. Shavuot is commemorated in Israel on the sixth day of the month, and on the sixth and seventh days in the Jewish Diaspora (outside Israel).

The three days preceding the giving of the Torah: the third, fourth and fifth days of Sivan, are known as Shloshet Yamei Hagbalah (the Three Days of Limitation). On the first of these days, Moses set demarcation lines beyond which Jewish people were not allowed to approach the holy mountain. On the second, Jewish men were commanded to separate from their wives so that both men and women could purify themselves for the giving of the Torah.

The Torah was originally meant to have been given to the Jewish people on the sixth day of the month, 50 days after the beginning of the exodus. Moses added an extra day of preparation to ready the people, and God agreed to this initiative. So the Torah was actually given on the seventh day of Sivan. Jews commemorate the holiday of Shavuot on the sixth day, because God’s original plan was to give the Torah on the sixth of Sivan.

The permutation of God’s name through which light flows during this month is YVHH—yud vav hey hey.  Yud and vav are the masculine letters in the name, while hey represents the divine feminine. The female and male letters are thus separated in the name, as men and women were separated before receiving the Torah. This is intended to clarify that every Jewish person deserves to receive God’s light as an individual, not merely as part of a couple or family.

Sivan is referred to as ‘the third month’ in the Torah. After the children of Israel left the land of Egypt during the third month, they entered the wilderness of Sinai (Ex.19:1) The Talmud comments: “Blessed be our God who has given a threefold Torah [Torah, Prophets, Writings] to a three-fold nation [Kohanim, Levites, and Israelites] through one who was third [Moses, the third child after Aaron and Miriam] … in the third month.”

The limb associated with Sivan is the left leg. This complements the month of Nissan, whose limb is the right leg. Passover, occurring in Nissan, is a holiday of skipping: God skips over the houses of the Israelites, and Israel skips suddenly out of slavery. During Sivan, Jews receive the ability to walk, strongly and steadily, on two legs. They receive the Halachah, Jewish Law, whose name is derived from the word for walking, ‘halicha’.

The astrological sign of the month of Sivan is twins. This is associated with the central event of the month; the giving of the Torah. Through the giving of the Torah, human beings and God became like twins. People were given a path to draw close to God’s thoughts, as twins do, through their ascribed extra-sensory perception.

The 20th of Sivan was a day on which European Jews suffered a series of tragedies. In 1171, a Jew was accused of drowning a child, and 32 Jews were ordered killed. They died singing the Aleinu prayer. Their bodies, thrown into the fire, did not burn. Rabenu Tam declared this day a public fast day. In 1650, the day was reconfirmed as a fast after thousands of Jews were killed by Cossack marauders in 1648-49.

During Sivan, the drama which began with the exodus culminates with the giving of the Torah. Israel gains the ability to walk, and becomes like God’s twin. (Source)

~ CHODESH TOV ~ 

IN HONOR OF YOM YERUSHALAYIM

28 Iyyar 5782 
43 Days of the Omer

An Internal Mental Account of the Attitude Towards Jerusalem Day

Whoever is truly anxious for the glory of God in the world knows that just as he is commanded to fight all the evil that is here, so is the commandment to be thankful for all the good that God has showered on us  (Note: This is an auto-generated translation)

Rabbi Yehuda Epstein 

22 Iyar 5752 - 23/05/2022

In a few days, Jerusalem Day will be celebrated, marking the 55th anniversary of the liberation of our Temple, the place of inspiration of the Divine Presence and the place to which our eyes have been fixed for nearly two thousand years, and we could only dream of it. Apart from this, we will also mention the miraculous salvation from death to life, as everyone who knows a little about the history of times knows. The adults among us can even tell from personal experience the terrible feeling that accompanied the settlement in those days before the war, when only a little more than twenty years after the Holocaust of European Jewry, there was a grave fear that even the Holocaust would perish, and the cruel and savage Arab enemy did not even try to hide it. But under the gas chambers of the 'enlightened' Germans, their Ishmaelite allies presented us with knives and axes in the best of their tradition. And here, as if in a flash of a moment - everything turned upside down! Not only did they not succeed in their plot, but we were privileged to destroy the enemy armies, and first and foremost the Egyptian Air Force, we tried them backwards, and conquered vast expanses in our holy land, those parts we failed to conquer in the War of Independence, And first and foremost - the place of our temple, the pet of our eyes. It was not for nothing that the Mashgiach from Ponivez, one of the greatest believers in the generation, the late Rabbi Yechezkel Levinstein, said at the time that the miracles we saw did not fall from the parting of the Red Sea! It was an uplifting and wonderful feeling, to see the providence of God with our own eyes, to feel the faith in the senses, to say with a heart full of longing - if our mouths were full of singing ... we are not enough ... ".

In those days there was a real sense of exaltation among the public, and especially among the God-fearing public, who know how to thank those whose confession. Over the years, however, an unfortunate accident has happened to us, the ultra-Orthodox public, and we see the results in one of the sins that Sages have exacerbated, and that is the lack of gratitude, and in its most serious form - the lack of gratitude towards Shamaya. We have forgotten that God performed miracles for us, and if he chose secular personalities to clothe those miracles in the ways of nature - we say this every morning in prayer - "and who will tell you what you will do?" And so an absurd situation is created, that if an ultra-Orthodox person is ambushed by terrorists and is a step between him and death, and suddenly an IDF jeep emerges and saves him - he will bless the retribution and make a great confession, and often praise the same miracle. , And not only did we take advantage, but we gained those glorious achievements, and we received the place of our temple as a gift from God - there the degree of "frumkeit" is measured by the degree of ignoring the miracle! And you have no better overturning than this!

It's time to know how to look at reality in a mature and informed way. It's time to know how to distinguish in each area, to differentiate between different topics. It is time to realize that even if we are in a bitter war against the government's attempts to change our lifestyles and harm all that is sacred and precious, this has nothing to do with the fact that God brought us into his land in visible miracles, we were immediately saved from the cruel Arab enemy -So we must thank him with a full mouth!

Even if it can be argued that a secular state was established on May Day, and there is a bad day involved in the good end of British rule and the establishment of Jewish rule in Israel, and even if it is difficult for some people in our public to rejoice on Independence Day due to the negative diagnosis. Sleeping so as not to celebrate Jerusalem Day? A day full of thanksgiving to God for the miraculous salvation and the tremendous salvation! It is known that many of the great men of Israel did celebrate that day, and the great genius Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevich, Rosh Yeshivat Mir, the giant of Torah and piety, was holding a special feast that day, and many did well, but those with a certain view took care to silence the matter. And dwarf it, and thus built for them a world of their own, in which the perfect Tzaddik is the one who atones for the good of a place, while the one who thanks God for most of his goodness and grace is considered one who 'cools the bath', half-Zionist.

But the truth is Torah through it, and anyone who is truly anxious for God in the world knows that just as he is commanded to fight all the evil that is here, so is the commandment to be thankful for all the good that God has showered on us despite, not because, of secular rule.

"This is the day that HASHEM has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it."

"Dear Jew, you are precious to G-d!"

26 Iyyar 5782
41 Days of the Omer
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Bamidbar - Mevorchim 

Dear Jew, you are precious to G-d! – Rabbi Meir Kahane

Hashem spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai ..., saying: Take a census of the entire assembly of the Children of Israel according to their families, according to their fathers' household, by numbers of the names, every male according to their head count. (Num. 1:1-2).

Tanchuma, Bamidbar, 20, teaches: A man had glass vessels, and he would take them to the market, set them out and gather them back up without ever counting them. Because they were of glass, he did not keep track of them.  He had other merchandise, fine pearls, which he would count before taking to the market, before setting them out, and before gathering them back up.  Because they were pearls, he loved them.  In the same way, so to speak, G-d said, “I did not count the nations, since they have no importance for Me, as it says, 'all the nations are as nothing before Him, they are accounted before Him as things of naught and vanity' (Isaiah 40:17).  Yet, you, Israel, 'are borne by Me from birth, carried by Me from the womb' (Isaiah 46:3).  Therefore, I count you constantly.” Thus it says, “Make a tally of the male firstborn among the children of Israel” (Num. 3:40)

Israel are G-d's “reIshit”, first and foremost among all the nations, and superior to them all.  Israel are also G-d's firstborn, as it says, “You must say to Pharaoh, 'This is what the L-rd says: Israel is My son, My firstborn'” (Ex. 4:22).  The word for firstborn, bechor, is close to the terms bachur and nivchar, connoting selection, because the firstborn is the one G-d selects, and then “the birthright – bechora – is legally his” (Deut. 21:17), the bechira, i.e. selection. It is probable that the word bechira, selection, which includes examination and thought about what and whom to choose, is close to the word bakar, a root meaning to examine, clarify and choose, as in the verse, “No distinction must be made – lo yivaker – between better and worse” (Lev. 27:33).  Israel are G-d's chosen people, His treasure, His children, majestic and royal.  As R. Shimon said (Shabbat 128a), “All of Israel are the children of kings.”  And R. Ashi said in Zevachim 19a: Huna bar Natan told me, “I was once standing before [the non-Jewish] King Izgadar, and my sash was too high and he lowered it, saying: 'The Torah calls you "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation"' (Ex. 19:6).

My father and teacher [Rabbi Yechezkel Shraga Kahane ztz”l] once pointed out to me that, unfortunately, a large segment of the nation, and perhaps a majority, acknowledge their Jewishness only because of the hatred of the non-Jews who do not allow them to assimilate and disappear.  For this, a Jew who keeps Torah and mitzvot is obligated to recite the blessing “She lo assani goy” (“Who didn't make me a non-Jew”) which [also] can be translated “That not the non-Jew made me [be a Jew]”.  Rather, I myself, chose to be part of the Jewish People because of G-d's Torah.  Israel endures forever!  And why?  What do they have that the nations of the world lack?  Is their skin different?  Is there no wisdom among the nations?  Surely, our sages explicitly said (Eicha Rabbah, 2:13), “If a person says, 'There is wisdom among the nations', believe him.”  Rather, there is only one difference between Israel and the nations. There is only one logical, rational reason for a person to be proud of his being a Jew: The Torah.  As our sages said (Torat Kohanim, Bechukotai, 8:11): “What remains to them that has not become vile and loathsome?  Were not all the fine gifts that were given to them taken away?  If not for the Torah that remained with them, they would be no different from the nations at all.”  This is the secret of Israel's uniqueness and exclusiveness. Only this Torah hallows, exalts and sets Israel apart from all the nations. All the rest, nationalism and national pride, are nothing but a meaningless farce.

Yet, since G-d chose Israel to be His holy people and to fulfill His Torah, they were granted extraordinary love and a special status, and they became the mate and partner, so to speak, of Him Whose word brought the world into being.  The Jew called up to the Torah blesses loudly and with joyous devotion, the One “Who chose us from all the nations and gave us His Torah.”  Regarding our sages' utterance (Bava Metzia 85b) that the Second Temple was destroyed because Israel “did not recite the blessing over the Torah before studying Torah,” a great rabbi once commented that they did not make sure to say “Who chose us from all the nations,” which is the content of the blessing recited before reading from the Torah.  So great is Israel's selection from among all the nations!

How great is our duty to be happy and thank G-d every single moment for our having been born as part of the chosen people, supreme and holy!  Our sages established that each day before morning prayers we must say, “Happy are we! How good is our destiny, how pleasant is our lot, how beautiful our heritage!”  How disgraceful it is that a Jew is ashamed of taking pride in his role and in his exalted spiritual level, fearful of what the nations will say, trying to belittle the importance and definition of Israel as a chosen, supreme people!  Consider the blight of exile and servitude.  Observe how it has made the alien culture rule over us and harmed our healthy spirits.  What healthy nation would not want to be chosen, treasured and unique?  It was in response to this that King David said, “In You did our fathers trust; they trusted, and You did deliver them.  Unto You did they trust, and were not ashamed” (Ps. 22:5-6).  Faith and trust in G-d must be without shame.  What times these are, when belief and trust have turned into something “illogical” that a Jew is ashamed to talk about openly.  Likewise, the concept of chosenness has become a source of mockery and scorn.  Under the sway of the alien culture, it has become a negative, racist concept and many good people have been ashamed to take pride in it; hence the separation between Israel and the nations has been blurred.  Listen, my friend, and cast off all your shame regarding the superior status given you.  Rejoice in your exalted inheritance!  The way the Hellenists and assimilationists fear the nations' reaction is just part of what compels them to deny Israel's selection.  Infinitely worse is the influence of the alien culture which has so penetrated their bones that the idea that there really is a nation chosen from all the rest and spiritually superior appears to them an abomination.  Surely they are hostages of the nonsensical concept of equality, which brings everything – goodness and evil, wisdom and folly, the genius and the simpleton – to one standing.  Nothing brings greater ruin than this foolishness, and regarding this alien culture it says, “Do not bring any offensive idol into your house, since then you may become just like it.  Shun it totally and consider it absolutely offensive, since it is taboo” (Deut. 7:26); and, “Let nothing that has been declared taboo there remain in your hands” (Ibid., 13:18).  A thick wall divides Israel from the nations, a Divine partition which separates between the sacred and the profane, between Israel and the nations. 

Indeed, holiness and separateness descended upon us from Heaven as a beloved pair, bound to one another by Divine decree.

Our sages said (Tanchuma, Kedoshim 5): G-d said to Israel, “I am not like mortal man.  With mortal man, non-royalty are forbidden to have the same name as the king.”  As proof, when a person wishes to get his fellow man into trouble, he can call him by the emperor's name, and that man's life will be forfeit.  Israel, however, were called by G-d's name.  Every lovely name G-d had, He called Israel by it.  He called Himself Elokim and He called Israel Elokim, as it says, “I said that you are elohim [G-d-like beings]” (Ps. 82:6). G-d was called chacham, wise, as it says, “He is wise of heart and mighty in strength” (Job 9:4), and He called Israel chacham, as in, “This great nation is certainly a wise and understanding people” (Deut. 4:6). He was called dodi, “my beloved”, as it says, “My beloved is white and ruddy” (Song of Songs 5:10), and He called Israel His beloved, as it says, “Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved” (Ibid., v. 1). G-d was called bachur, “select”, as it says, “select as the cedars” (Ibid., v. 15), and He called Israel select, as it says, “The L-rd your G-d selected you” (Deut. 7:6). He was called chassid, “saintly”, as it says, “I am saintly, says the L-rd” (Jer. 3:12) and He called Israel saints, as it says, “Gather My saints together unto Me” (Ps. 50:5).  He was called holy, as it says, “Holy, holy, holy is the L-rd of hosts.!” (Isaiah 6:3); and, “For the L-rd our G-d is holy” (Ps. 99:9), and He called Israel holy, as it says, “You must be holy” (Lev. 19:2).

Consider what our sages said about the greatness, holiness, supremacy and belovedness of Israel – that even though G-d is the G-d of all living creatures, He still associated His name exclusively with Israel.  As Shemot Rabbah, 29:4, teaches: “G-d said to Israel, 'I am the G-d of all creatures on earth, but I did not associate My name with any but you.  I am not called the G-d of the nations but the G-d of Israel.”  Pesikta Rabbati (10) teaches, “G-d said to Moses, 'Moses, exalt this nation as much as you possibly can, for it is as though you exalt Me.' " (Source)

~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~
YOM YERUSHALAYIM SAMEACH

All Eyes on Yerushalayim

25 Iyyar 5782
40 Days of the Omer

Eyes all over the world are being focused on Yerushalayim as the day we celebrate her return to Jewish hands approaches this Yom Rishon.  Our constant hope and fervent prayer is to see the ultimate liberation - the release of Har Habayit from Muslim domination - and with it, our own ultimate liberation from this never-ending exile.  And so may it be His will!

The Foundation of the World - HAR HABAYIT

22 Iyyar 5782

37 Days of the Omer

...And it shall come to pass on that day that I will make Jerusalem a stone of burden for all peoples; all who bear it shall be gashed, and all the nations of the earth shall gather about it. ...On that day I will make the princes of Judah as a fiery stove among wood, and as a brand of fire among sheaves.  And they shall consume on the right and on the left all the nations round about, and Jerusalem shall still stay in its place in Jerusalem.  (Zechariyah 12.3,6)

~ 

Police Ignore Court Ruling, Detain Jew Who Bowed on Temple Mount

Following the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court Sunday’s ruling that it is permissible for Jews to recite the “Shema Yisrael” prayer and bow on the Temple Mount..., Israel Police on Monday morning detained for questioning a Jew who came to the Temple Mount and, according to witnesses, bowed before his father in Heaven. Two other Jews were stopped when they tried to enter the sacred compound with a tallit and tefillin.

Judge Zion Sahrai wrote in his decision on the appeal by the Honenu legal aid society regarding boys who uttered the Shema Israel on the Temple Mount that it’s not possible to say that bowing and reciting “Shema Yisrael” raises a reasonable suspicion of behavior that could lead to a violation of the public peace. The judge cited Policed Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai, who told the media that the police allow anyone who comes to pray on the mountain to hold their religious service.

“Under these circumstances, when the conduct of the appellants is made in keeping with the public announcement of the Police Commissioner and in accordance with the Preservation of Holy Places Act, they cannot be suspected of committing a criminal offense,” the judge ruled.

However, the court emphasized that the decision does not constitute an intervention in the work of the police and the matter of freedom of worship at the compound.

The Bennett government’s Secretariat was quick to issue a statement that “there is no, nor is it planned to change in the status quo on the Temple Mount.... The decision of the Magistrate’s Court deals exclusively with the matter of the conduct of the minors brought before it, and it constitutes no lateral determination as to the freedom of worship on the Temple Mount.”

Bennett’s government added that “with regard to the specific criminal case in question, the government was informed that the state would file an appeal to the district court.”

Minister for Regional Cooperation Issawi Frej (Meretz) told Reshet Bet radio Monday morning that the court’s decision to lift the police restriction on saying “Shema Yisrael” on the Temple Mount is “conduct bordering on stupidity.”

“It reminds me of the saying that one fool can burn an entire forest,” Frej said. He is right, Jerusalem is surrounded by forests that have been burned down by Arab terrorists. Hundreds of acres of forests have also been burned by the Arabs of Gaza, as well as by the Negev Bedouin. But Frej was not concerned with Arab violence. Indeed, he treated that component as a given, a part of nature, if you will. It’s the Jews who decide whether the Arabs release a fiery storm in response to their reciting a line from their prayer book.

“Everyone has their own place of worship,” Minister Frej repeated the line that’s supported, unfortunately, not only by the Arabs but by the majority of Jews in Israel and elsewhere. “The Al-Aqsa Plaza is a place of worship for Muslims and the Western Wall for Jews.”

See how he turned the Temple Mount compound into the Al-Aqsa Plaza? The whole thing is now Al-Aqsa, boys and girls. Only a couple of decades ago, the Muslims were referring to the place as Bayt al-Maqdis, Arabic for the Hebrew Beit HaMikdash, Temple Mount. But even the communist politician Issawi Frej has now adopted the Islamic bon ton, wiping away three millennia of Jewish worship on the holy mountaintop.

“The majority wants things to continue as they are,” Frej said, and he is absolutely right. “We are not allowed to play with fire,” he said, meaning Arab rage. Because once we dare provoke the Arabs’ rage, who knows what might happen, as Israel has learned in June 1967, when the rage of three Arab countries was directed at it. OK, it ended with the annihilation of three Arab armies, but that didn’t count.

Come to think of it, that’s how Israel liberated the Temple Mount, only to shed this divine gift like used rags. One wonders what else Israel could liberate in the face of the next Arab rage. Of course, it won’t happen with Islamist wannabes like Issawi Frej in government.

~ 

Hamas Threatens Israel: “We Won’t Accept This Talmudic Nonsense”

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyah on Sunday threatened that the terror group will fire rockets at Israel if the Jerusalem Flag March goes ahead as planned next Sunday.

“I warn the enemy against committing such crimes and these steps,” he said in a statement.

“Our Palestinian people and their resistance in Jerusalem and the West Bank do not and will not accept the occurrence of this Talmudic Jewish nonsense. All Israeli cities will be targeted by our missiles if the flag parade passes through Sha’ar Shechem.”

Internal Security Minister Omer Barlev announced last week that this year’s march will pass through Sha’ar Shechem as it is customary, following the recommendation of Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai.

Last year, Israel Police recommended that the march avoid Sha’ar Shechem, a move that failed to prevent the outbreak of Operation Guardian of the Walls. Due to last year’s cancellation, the march is expected to draw particularly large crowds this year.

The Flags March was a source of conflict in the Cabinet meeting on Sunday morning, with Meretz MKs and several other coalition members decrying the decision to allow the march to pass through Sha’ar Shechem. Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg called the march “a provocative act for political purposes.”

However, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett insisted that the march will pass through Sha’ar Shechem because “it has always been that way.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Out of everything written here, which is all very tragic, this is the saddest comment of all:  “The majority wants things to continue as they are,” Frej said, and he is absolutely right.

Does anyone who knows HKB"H's will, as revealed to us in His Holy Torah, really think this is acceptable to Him?  And so it should not be acceptable to us.  What is that phrase, "Be the change you want to see?"  First, you have to want change!!  

Dai!!  Enough!!  There is no such thing as "status quo," this world is constantly in flux.  We are either progressing forward or sliding backwards.  That bolded paragraph tells us exactly which direction we are headed right now.  Do any of us really want to continue that trajectory?  I certainly don't!!!

It's (Unfortunately) Still Relevant

19 Iyyar 5782

Erev Shabbat Kodesh

Day 34 of the Omer

Reposting from seven years ago...

Parshat Bechukotai

by Geula Girl

Vayikra 26:3 - "If you will follow My decrees and observe My commandments and perform them; then I will provide your rains in their time, and the land will give its produce and the tree of the field will give its fruit."

Vayikra 26:14-18 - "But if you will not listen to Me and will not perform all of these commandments; If you consider My decrees loathsome, and if your being rejects My ordinances, so as not to perform all My commandments, so that you annul My covenant—then I will do the same to you; I will assign upon you panic, swelling lesions, and burning fever, which cause eyes to long and souls to suffer; you will sow your seeds in vain for your enemies will eat it. I will turn My attention against you, you will be struck down before enemies; those who hate you will subjugate you—you will flee with no one pursuing you. If despite this you do not heed Me, then I shall punish you further, seven ways for your sins."

Anti-semitism is one of the tools Hashem uses to punish us. Harav Naftali Hoffner explains it clearly in his book Our Faith, Our Strength:

COMMUNAL PUNISHMENT.  ANTISEMITISM AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

a. The real reason for anti-Semitism (which would seem to be completely unjustified) is clearly explained by the following Midrash (in connection with what happened before the exodus from Egypt): “When Yoseph died, they [i.e.the children of Israel] did away with the Brith Milah Mitzvah, claiming let's be like the Egyptians!

...Because of this the Almighty turned the affection which the Eyptians had for Israel into hatred as it says: ‘He turned their heart to hate His nation, to plot against His servants’”

b. Likewise in our times, in reaction to the tendency of a considerable section of our people to be ‘like the other nations’ (a process which starts with ignoring the Mitzvoth – and gradually moves toward assimilation and intermarriage with the goyim) we are faced by communal punishment (according to the measure –for- measure principle) of anti-Semitism (which impedes assimilation).

c. The purpose of communal punishment is-- to serve as a clear warning to all of us to improve our ways, before our situation deteriorates further. Note: for instance, when the Nazi regime came to power in Germany more than 60 years ago (then according to the ‘measure-for-measure’):

1. During the first month of power, they prohibited all mixed marriages between Jews and non-Jews (at the time, the rate of such marriages had reached 50% in some places!!).

2. About 2 months after he seized power, on April 1st, ’33, which fell on a Shabbath, he ordered SA-guards to stand at the entrance of each Jewish-owned store, open on that Shabbath, to warn any potential customer that the store was owned by a Jew and should therefore be boycotted. –There could have been no clearer warning against the desecration of the Shabbath!!

I don’t think anyone is unaware of the increase in antisemitism around the world in the past decade. However, I think most are unaware of the increase in interfaith relations in the same time period and their correlation. It is shocking to me how many Jews believe interfaith dialogue, breaking down the walls of separation between Jew and non-Jew and building bridges between “faith communities” is the solution to anti-semitism when it is actually one of the causes. After all, they say, there is really no difference between us and them and once we show them this, peace will reign in the world.

The most disturbing part of this issue are the so-called “religious” Jews, even Rabbis, that are not only involved in this interfaith movement but leading it. They have put a new spin on things. Instead of assimilating amongst the goyim, they are trying to assimilate the goyim amongst Am Yisrael. They may be able to fool some people with their righteous claim of being “a light to the nations” but Hashem is not fooled. The goal is the same: to mingle and become one with the goyim (by making the goyim into quasi-Jews) and to destroy Judaism (by corrupting halachah or claiming it is no longer relevant at all and infusing Torah with foreign ideas and philosophies).

These xian-loving Jews disregard the halachah, the ways of our forefathers and the words of our sages regarding relations with non-Jews. They are new Jews and their Judaism is all about love and tolerance and becoming one with the goyim. They have traded our covenant with Hashem for a covenant with the goyim. We are to be “ovdei Hashem”, but they are more focused on the religious experience they get from Judaism than serving and obeying Hashem. These Jews take the exalted mission of our people to be a nation of priests who serve Hashem and have degraded it into being a nation whose purpose is to serve the goyim. Of course in reality these Jews only serve themselves. We are taught to fear Hashem, to obey Hashem and to be in awe of Hashem.

...In this week’s parsha, Bechukotai, Vayikra 26:21 - "If you behave casually with Me and refuse to heed Me, then I shall lay a further blow upon you—seven ways like your sins."

In the commentary it is written: "(קרי) Casually. The translation follows Rashi’s primary interpretation according to Sifra. It means that despite the punishments, your performance of the commandments will be haphazard and erratic; you will treat them as a matter of choice and convenience, rather than as divinely imposed obligations."

...Hashem is loving and merciful, but He is not a liar. He will punish us for our sins as he said in this week's parsha. It is just a matter of time. Do teshuva now before it is too late.

~Shabbat shalom~ 

We Hold the Solution in Our Hands

18 Iyyar 5782

L"G BaOmer 

Chai Iyyar!  The day Rabbi Akiva's students stopped dying. 

What will save us?  When will we stop dying from the plague of Arab/Muslim terrorism?  

We hold the solution in our own hands.  We just fail to implement it due to fear of what the nations will say and do.  We have a faithless leadership who do not trust in HKB"H, but we are a faithless people as well, who do not demand that they act in accordance with the instructions of Torah miSinai!

"...you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their temples, destroy their molten idols, and demolish their high places. You shall clear out the Land and settle in it, for I have given you the Land to occupy it. ...But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the Land from before you, then those whom you leave over will be as spikes in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they will harass you in the land in which you settle. And it will be that what I had intended to do to them, I will do to you." (Bamidbar 33)

Gush Katif was the down payment on this warning:  "And it will be that what I had intended to do to them, I will do to you."

HKB"H's patience is running out...

Gantz Warns: Israel Will Lose The North and South To The Arabs

As Arab violence and rampant crime grows increasingly worse over the years, Defense Minister Benny Gantz recently warned that in the future, the Jewish part of Israel will be limited to the center of the country, Yisrael Hayom reported.

In a closed Blue and White meeting last week, Gantz read a Whatsapp message which recently went viral in Israel, containing threats by anonymous Arabs to turn Israel into Palestinian territory. Gantz said that the message “isn’t far from reality” and that he believes that “in a few more years we’ll be in a situation where the Jewish state will be between Gedera and Hadera [an Israeli term for the center of the country].”

The message states: “Keep cursing; you have no chance against Allah. Slowly but surely we are taking bites out of your state. What will you do? This is Palestinian territory in actuality, and the moment one tractor comes – we will use the left-wing organizations such as ‘Peace Now’ and ‘B’Tselem,’ who will go to the country’s true ruler (the Supreme Court) to issue an injunction. We will send children and teenagers to throw stones and barricade themselves in until you scatter away like mice.”

“The Galil, with the grace of Allah, will also be ours soon. We are buying one dunam [0.2 acres] from the [Israel Land Authority] for 50,000 shekels [$14,677] while the Jew buys [one dunam] for 1,150,000 shekels [$337,577]. Already today, we are 85% of the population of the Galil and are quickly seizing control, building homes on every corner without permits. Who’s going to do anything about it? The Jews who live in the Galil all flee to the center of the country because they suffer from harassment, violence on the roads, organized gang crime, shootings, theft, and robbery.”

“The government tells you that the Galil and Negev are Jewish; I tell you that in reality, this is Palestinian territory. Any new business in the Negev is paying us a protection tax, no neighborhood will be built without paying protection.”

The statements in the above message are not an exaggeration as the north and south, especially the south, has turned into the “Wild West” in recent years.

Almost 300,000 Bedouins live in the Negev and the area is rife with lawlessness, warring tribes, drugs, illegal weapons, protection rackets and stabbings. The Bedouins smuggle billions of shekels of drugs into Israel every year from the Sinai and also earn ample income from the protection money they demand from all business in the area – located only several miles from Be’er Sheva, Israel’s eighth most populous city.

What a chillul Hashem!! Do you hear the echoes of Goliath's taunting voice in the words of these present-day Philistines?! Where is our David who not only understood the solution but had the faith to carry it out and was willing to implement it?

And David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with sword, spear and javelin, and I come to you with the Name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel which you have taunted.  This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I shall slay you, and take off your head, and I shall give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines this day, to the fowl of the air and to the beasts of the earth, and all the earth shall know that Israel has a God.  And all this assembly shall know that not with sword and javelin does the Lord save, for the battle is the Lord's, and He will deliver you into our hand." (Shmuel Alef 17)

A Return to Netanyahu-Rule Is Not A Solution

16 Iyyar 5782

31 Days of the Omer 

God save us from the "status-quo"!  It is killing us - both physically and spiritually.  We are under attack physically by the Muslims (Yishmael) occupying our land, as well as under attack spiritually by the Christians (Eisav) among us, all under the protection of the Erev Rav regime whose rule is dedicated to promoting assimilation and destruction of the Torah.  God help us!

At least there is some sense among the nation of the threat the Muslims pose to our continued existence, but to this day, few are willing to acknowledge, if they know anything at all, that Christianity may pose an even greater threat,  if for no other reason than the ignorance that abounds about it, not to mention the sheer numbers of so-called "Orthodox" Jews supporting and facilitating their work here.

The missionaries in our midst have some very good friends in our government, like Minister Matan Kahana and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, but they have proliferated and spread like a cancer across our nation under Netanyahu's watch (see Netanyahu Ally John Hagee).  He even hired one of them - self-proclaimed IDF missionary Chananya Naftali!  

Listen to Chaim Malespin of the Aliyah Return Center, an organization dedicated to converting lone IDF soldiers, brag about Israeli government sanction of his missionary activity...

But, they swear they do not proselytize!  Make no mistake!  This klippot has to fall away and be replaced by Torah Truth!!

Pesach Sheini - The Second Chance

14 Iyyar 5782
Day 29 of the Omer

Quoting from the book Sefiros by Rabbi Yaacov Haber:

Chesed She-be-Hod
Kindness within Beauty

"Today is Pesach Sheini, the time when those people who were impure or on a distant journey were given a second chance to bring the Pesach sacrifice. Those who were outside the camp and unable to join with the rest of the Jewish people were now brought in.

...It is written in the Zohar: The Jewish people receive illumination from above on the first night of Pesach. This illumination lasts for thirty days. After the thirty days there is an announcement in Heaven. "Whoever has not received the illumination of Pesach can do so now, on the fourteenth of Iyar, for seven days and the Heavens will open up for you. After that they will close again...." 

Have a happy Pesach Sheini and don't forget to eat a piece of matzah!! 

Conflagration - The Spark That Ignites the Fire?

12 Iyyar 5782
27 Days of the Omer
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Behar (Pesach Sheini)

Either one of these could do it, but taken together, it could be more like dynamite.

Ahead of Friday funeral of Al Jazeera journalist,...

Abu Akleh, 51, was shot dead early Wednesday morning amid clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen during an IDF raid in Jenin. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has accused Israel of “executing” Abu Akleh.

...bu Akleh was born in East Jerusalem to a Palestinian Christian family and her funeral is slated to pass through Jaffa Gate and the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City.

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to take part in the funeral for Abu Akleh, who was a well-known face in the Arab world for her decades of reporting for Al Jazeera.

The procession is expected to depart around 2 p.m. from her family’s home in the Beit Hanina neighborhood of Jerusalem and eventually culminate at the Christian Mount Zion Cemetery.

A police official told the Kan public broadcaster that every effort is being made to ensure the funeral proceeds without interruptions.

“The whole world is looking at us and at this event,” the official was quoted as saying. “The goal is to prevent as much as possible any friction.”

Concern has also been voiced about potential clashes atop the Temple Mount, the flashpoint holy site that has been the location of repeated unrest over the past month.

According to the Quds News Network, Hamas has called on its followers to barricade themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque atop the mount and prevent any Israeli forces from entering.

Israel Police Prepare for Arab March in Lod Marking Anniversary of Anti-Jewish Pogroms

Israel Police are beefing up their forces to contend with an Arab march slated for Friday (May 13) in Lod.

The march is intended to mark the one-year anniversary of Arab pogroms against Jews that wracked that city and others with mixed populations during Operation Guardian of the Walls, the 11-day mini-war launched by Hamas against Israel.

...“On Friday, the Arabs of Lod will mark the anniversary of the “Events of Honor,” the Arab nickname for the 1947 riots,” wrote Yedidya Zuckerman in a tweet. “I find it delusional that the State of Israel allows rioters to celebrate a year of riots. It is delusional that the State of Israel, which knew how to stop buses for demonstrations against Oslo and the (2005) Disengagement (from Gaza), allows buses from Nazareth, Umm al-Fahm and from all over the country to reach Lod,” he wrote.

“In recent days, posters have been published on social media and in the Arab press, promoting the ‘V’aad Ha’Am in Lod’ (People’s Council of Lod) calling on the public to attend the event to mark the ‘anniversary of the Events of Honor,’ which are disturbances perpetrated by Arabs against Jews in the cities involved during Operation Wall Guard.”

For the believing Jew, there is no fear, however, as he/she knows who is ultimately in control.  Ayn od milevado!!

~ ~ ~

Hashem spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying: "Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them:  When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall observe a Sabbath rest for Hashem."  (Vayikra 25:1)

The commandment of the Sabbatical Year has a special relationship to Mount Sinai.  At Mount Sinai, God's majesty and power were so manifest that it was clear that the determining factors in human material success are God's will and man's worthiness.  The land's rest in the seventh year, too, teaches that the primary force in the universe is God, not the law of nature.  (Stone Edition Chumash Commentary)

TIME IS RUNNING OUT...

11 Iyyar 5782
26 Days of the Omer

THE STATE OF OUR STATE TODAY

Are We Witnessing the Making of Mashiach?

8 Iyyar 5782
23 Days of the Omer 

THE MAKING OF MASHIACH?

RELATED: Israel Returns Bodies of Hadera Murderers to Families in Umm al-Fahm

THE ONLY PEACE OUR ENEMIES DESERVE

 5 Iyyar 5782
20 Days of the Omer
Erev Shabbat Kodesh

AD MATAI?!?!?!

"The Omer: Countdown to Faith"

5 Iyyar 5782
20 Days of the Omer
Erev Shabbat Kodesh

Parashat Emor - The Omer: Countdown to Faith 
Rabbi Meir Kahane

When you come to the land that I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, you must bring an Omer of your first reaping to the Kohen. He shall wave it in the motions prescribed for a wave offering to the L-rd so that it is acceptable for you. The Kohen shall make this wave offering on the day after the first day of the [Pesach] holiday [see Torat Kohanim, Emor, Ch. 12] .... You shall then count seven complete weeks after the day following the [Pesach] holiday when you brought the Omer as a wave offering, until the day after the seventh week, when there will be [a total of] fifty days. [On that fiftieth day] you may present new grain as a meal offering to the L-rd. (Lev. 23:10-11, 15-16)

In order to reinforce the principle of a holy nation, G-d tied Pesach, the time of national liberation, to Shavuot, the time of the Giving of the Torah, via the Sefirat HaOmer, the “counting of the Omer”. The counting is also tied to the Land, for it begins with the harvesting of the Omer. This is why our sages declared (Menachot 83b), “All communal and individual offerings can come from the Land of Israel or from outside of it, from new grain or from old, except for the Omer and the two loaves of Shavuot, which can only be brought from new grain and from the Land.” The mitzvah of the Omer bound Pesach to Shavuot and the people to their holiness. It completed the creation of Israel as a holy nation and ensured that this holy nation would merit Eretz Yisrael. Our sages said (Vayikra Rabbah, 28:6): Never take the mitzvah of the Omer lightly, for Abraham merited through it to inherit the Land. It says, “To you and your offspring will I give the land where you are now living as a foreigner. The whole land of Canaan” (Gen. 17:8), and this was so that Abraham “would keep G-d's covenant” (Ibid., v. 9). By fulfilling the mitzvah of the Omer, which ties Pesach to Shavuot, and thereby becoming a holy nation, Israel merited to inherit the Land from the nations; for had they not agreed to be a holy nation, why should G-d have taken the Land from the nations and given it to them?

Our sages ask why the Torah was not given immediately or shortly after Israel left Egypt, and they answer (Kohelet Rabbah, 3:[11]2): When Israel left Egypt, they were worthy of receiving the Torah immediately. Yet ... G-d said, “My children have not yet attained their lustre. They emerged from an enslavement of mud and bricks, and shall I give them the Torah? Let them enjoy two or three months of the Manna, well-water [Miriam's well that miraculously followed Israel] and quails, and then I shall give it to them.” Nonetheless, the nation's faith was weak and abated very quickly. As our sages (Shemot Rabbah, 5:14): “Moses and Aaron then went to Pharaoh” (Ex. 5:1): And where did the elders go that they were not mentioned together with Moses and Aaron, when G-d had previously said to Moses, “you and the elders will go” (Ex. 3:18)? Our sages answered, “The elders went with them, yet they stole away... and disappeared. By the time Moses and Aaron reached the palace, not one remained.” Numerous other sources testify to Israel's lack of faith then. G-d, therefore, demanded of them at least a small sign of faith, albeit fleeting, before He would redeem them, because faith and trust are the root of serving G-d. Without them, without faith in the King, Redeemer and Savior, there is no Torah. Therefore, the counting of the Omer not only underscores the bond between the people and holiness, between a holy nation and its holy land, but also establishes the formation of the people on the basis of faith. The Omer was harvested from the new grain, and until then it was forbidden to eat new grain and forbidden even to harvest it. As Rambam wrote (Hilchot Temidim U'Musafin 7:13), “It is forbidden to harvest in Eretz Yisrael any one of the five species of grain before the Omer is harvested.” Through this, we proclaim that G-d gives bread to all flesh and that we depend on Him for this grain, for His blessings, for His dew and His rain. Therefore, the first cutting is given to G-d as the meal offering, as an announcement that we have placed our hope in Him with faith and trust, and as an acknowledgment and giving of thanks for blessing us with this harvest.

This idea is also alluded to in the law that this Omer comes from barley (Menachot 68b), an animal food, as with the meal offering of the Sotah, the suspected adulteress, and of the Sotah we find: All of the meal offerings come from wheat [a food consumed by humans] but [the meal offering of the Sotah] comes from barley [consumed by animals]... R. Gamliel says, “Just as her deeds were bestial, so is her offering from the food of the beast.” (Sotah 14a). All this is so even though the Omer meal offering is not entirely like the Sotah offering, since the former requires oil and frankincense, whereas the latter does not. Furthermore, the former is brought as geresh, the finest grade barley flour (not normally consumed by animals), whereas the Sotah barley offering is brought as regular barley flour, the way animals eat it. Even so, G-d wished to hint to us at the start of the new grain that man, like the animal, depends on G-d's mercy. As King David described in Psalms (104:27), “All of them wait for You, that You may give them their food in due season.” Our sages furthermore said (Vayikra Rabbah, 28:3): It says, “Neither say they in their heart: 'Let us now fear the L-rd our G-d, Who gives the early and late rain in due season'” (Jer. 5:24). [Let him not say], “Once G-d gives you everything, you no longer need Him.” “Who keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest” (Ibid.). G-d will protect us from evil winds and evil dews. When? During the seven weeks between Pesach and Shavuot. In other words, we should not think that since the winter has passed and there was rain, and there is already grain, there is no more need to pray to G-d regarding this grain. Even when there is grain, if during harvest time rain falls and there are evil winds and evil dews, the grain will be ruined. As Samuel said, “Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call unto the L-rd that He may send thunder and rain... and all the people greatly feared the L-rd and Samuel” (I Samuel 12:17-18). For this reason, the Omer meal offering is waved, as our sages said (Vayikra Rabbah 28:5): How would he wave it? R. Chama bar Ukva said in the name of R. Yossi bar Chanina, “He passes it back and forth, and up and down. He passes it back and forth for the One Who owns the entire universe, and he raises it up and down for Him Who owns those in Heaven and earth.” R. Simon, son of R. Yehoshua says, “He passes it back and forth to cancel harsh winds, and he raises and lowers it to cancel harsh dews.” The main point here is that faith is a fixed component of the Omer meal offering, because the meal offering itself symbolizes faith. Indeed, G-d established this interlude between national liberation and sanctification in order to exalt and refine Israel with mitzvot and values, precisely those of faith and trust in G-d – the manna, the well and the quail. All three served as signs that the sustenance and survival of man on the individual and national level are solely in G-d's hands.

As our sages said (Pesikta Rabbati, 18):G-d said to Israel, “My children, when I used to give you the Omer [of manna that fell for each person], I would give each of you 'an Omer per person, according to the number of people each man has in his tent' (Ex. 16:16). Now that you are giving Me the Omer, you give Me only one Omer from all of you collectively.” We see that the waving of the Omer, which makes the new grain permissible, serves as a reminder of the Omer of the manna, and as a symbol of Israel's faith and trust in G-d. From here, we learn that even physical and national liberation do not make the people fit to assume the mantel of holiness. After all, a secular nation, like all the nations, surely thinks exclusively in nationalist, “realistic” terms. For such a nation, only the size of its army and the quantity of arms and allies can make them secure. They must advance to this by keeping mitzvot which express concepts, values and trust in G-d, which refine and elevate the nation from base secular nationalism.

-

[Source: Compiled by Tzipora Liron-Pinner from "The Jewish Idea" of Rabbi Meir Kahane HY"D]

~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~

WE THANK HASHEM...

4 Iyyar 5782
Yom HaAtzma'ut (Commemorated) 

On this day, we give thanks to HKB"H with special kavannah for the mercy He showed us in 1948 when He freed us from the rule of the nations and delivered us from the hands of our enemy attackers.  It was a major step on the road to redemption.

However, to our sorrow, due to our many sins, we remain under the domination of foreign powers as the Erev Rav rule over us.  Due to our many sins, the so-called "Jewish" State has become a daily chillul Hashem.  How much longer can it last?

The Ukrainian son hoping to take Israel to Eurovision Victory

Israel is doing what it does best this week and strutting its stuff with an LGBTQ embracing anthem – “I.M” – in the first rounds of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Performed by Michael Ben David, an openly gay graduate of Tel Aviv’s prestigious Beit Zvi School, the song which is a call for celebrating self-affirmation will bring camp energetic fun to the contest up to the semi-finals on May 12 – and beyond if it goes Ben David’s way.

We have a lot to be thankful for, but nothing to celebrate. 
We should hang our heads in shame before the Master of the Universe
for what we have done with the gifts He entrusted to us.

WE NEED INDEPENDENCE FROM THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT
THEY ARE UNFIT TO RULE OVER AM YISRAEL

WE REMEMBER...

3 Iyyar 5782
Yom HaZikaron 

Messianic "Brilliance" Shines in the Month of Ziv

1 Iyyar 5782

Rosh Chodesh II

16 Days of the Omer

(Reposting from three years ago)

I have written in the past about Three Messianic Wars, two of which have both occurred in the month of Iyyar or Ziv, as the Torah calls it. So, there is reason to believe that the third and final one, which is yet to be, will also occur in this month. 

It is related in the Prophets (Kings I, 6:1) that King Solomon began the building of the First Temple. “In the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the House of G-d.” The Radak explains: “The month Ziv is the month of Iyar… and it is called Ziv, as our sages explain, because of the splendor of the trees, namely the brilliance of the flowers and buds.” Ziv means “splendor” or “brilliance.” In this month of “brilliance” King Solomon “began to build the House of G-d.”

The two names of the month, Ziv and Iyar (from ohr, the primary word in Hebrew for “light”), are indeed two synonyms for “light.” They both relate to the special light that shines in this second month of the Jewish calendar. In particular, Iyar refers to the light source (or to the light within and proximate to its source), whereas Ziv refers to the expansion of radiant-energy as it shines far from its source. With regard to G-d’s Divine light, the Ziv is that radiance which descends from its source to shine on the Jewish soul as enclothed in a physical body on earth, and to awaken in it the desire to build a House for G-d (within the context of physical reality, far removed, as it were, from the source of Divine light).

...During Iyar, the “lower reality” is slowly refined to become a proper vessel able to receive the revelation of the essence of the “higher reality.” This is accomplished by fulfilling the commandment of sefirat ha-omer (“the counting of the omer; the word for “counting,” sefirah is from the same root as “saphire,” the brilliant stone known as even sapir, denoting the light scintillating from within lowly materiality). (Source)

Since the First Messianic War, which saw the return of Jewish sovereignty to a small part of Eretz Yisrael, took place on 5 Iyyar (20th Day of the Omer - Yesod in Tiferet) and the Second Messianic War, which saw the return of Jews to the mountains of Israel, the cities of the Patriarchs and Holy Jerusalem, took place on 28 Iyyar (43rd Day of the Omer - Chesed in Malchut), I have often wondered if the Third Messianic War, which is destined to bring us the East Bank of the Jordan River, as well as establish our sovereignty over the Temple Mount, will take place somewhere in the middle. Like the Sefirot themselves: one to the left, one to the right, and one the balance between the two.

The most obvious date would be 14 Iyyar - Pesach Sheini (29th Day of the Omer - Chesed in Hod) with its obvious connections to redemption and second chances.  If we were looking for geulah on Pesach in Nisan, but were found undeserving, perhaps one month of counting the Omer might confer enough merit to bring geulah on Pesach Sheini 

On the other hand, a case could be made for any one of the days of the weeks during which we count the Sefirot of Netzach (Days 22 - 28 of the Omer) and Hod (Days 29 - 35 of the Omer). Day 33 of the Omer is, of course, L"g baOmer, the day the Zohar, which also alludes to brightness, was revealed.

...We will now describe the third group of sefirot which we will call the "tactical" sefirot; they are netzach, "victory," and hod, "awe."

When we call these sefirot "tactical," we mean that their purpose is not inherent in themselves, but rather as a means for something else.

For example, if I wish for my son, whom I love with all my heart, to make something of himself, I may have to be strict and stern with him in order to teach him discipline or insure that he applies himself to his studies, etc. The "strictness and sternness" is tactical -- that is, it is the means by which I endow the child with the benefits that I want him to have. But my intrinsic intent is that of kindness -- of giving him an education and teaching him values.

In another instance, I may use the tactic of kindness, though my intent may be antagonistic. I could lure an enemy into a trap by inviting him with a smile and a pleasant demeanor. The exterior façade of the act is pleasantness, its interior is punitive.

Understanding these two attributes of netzach and hod gives us a new perspective into understanding what is happening in the world. No longer do we merely look at an act at face value, and attempt to understand it as such, but we must look at it also in terms of "a means to an end."

...For instance, the suffering of the righteous may be a test in order to heighten their reward, or a way to cleanse them in this world of their few sins so that they are pure and perfect in the World to Come. The wicked may be prospering in order that their feeling of complacency forestalls their repentance or in order that they should receive their entire reward on earth so their later destruction can be total.

There are other possibilities too; the main point is that there is more to God's actions than what appears to be happening at surface level. (Source)

Quoting SEFIROS: Spiritual Refinement Through Counting the Omer by Rabbi Yaacov Haber:

For the Sefirah of Netzach...

...While the first three sefiros are primarily about internal relations, both netzach and hod are midos that connect with the outside world.

Netzach gives the long term view.  It sees events as part of a much bigger story. 

...Netzach and hod are very closely connected.  The two keruvim, the golden cherubs on top of the Ark of the Covenant, which provided the interface between God and humanity, represented netzach and hod.  Similarly, the two pillars at the entrance to the First Beis HaMikdash were called Yachin and Boaz, and also represented netzach and hod.

...Netzach is closely associated with the Written Torah, while hod is connected to the Oral Law.

...Netzach is personified by Moshe Rabbeinu.

For the Sefirah of Hod...

...Choice is associated with hod because any choice can only be for the moment.  Just like hod, free choice focuses on the present, while ultimately affecting the future.

Aharon HaCohen personifies hod.

Hod in netzach is on Day 26 of the Omer - 26 being significant for the gematria of yud-kay-vav-kay.  That day is Yom Chamishi which corresponds to the fifth aliyah of Parashat Behar  (Vayikra 25) ...

29  And when a man sells a residential house in a walled city, its redemption may take place until the completion of the year of its sale. Its [period of] redemption shall be a full year.

30  But if it is not redeemed by the end of a complete year, then that house which is in the city that has a wall, shall remain permanently [the property] of the one who purchased it throughout his generations. It will not leave [his possession] in the Jubilee.

31  But houses in open cities, which do not have a wall surrounding them, are to be considered as the field of the land. It may have redemption and shall leave [the purchaser's possession] in the Jubilee.

32  And, [regarding] the cities of the Levites, the houses of their inherited cities shall forever have a [right of] redemption for the Levites.

33  And if one purchases from the Levites, whether a house or an inherited city, will leave [the possession of the purchaser] in the Jubilee, because the houses of the cities of the Levites, are their inherited property amidst the children of Israel.

34  And a field in the open areas of their cities cannot be sold, because it is their eternal inheritance.

35  If your brother becomes destitute and his hand falters beside you, you shall support him [whether] a convert or a resident, so that he can live with you.

36  You shall not take from him interest or increase, and you shall fear your God, and let your brother live with you.

37 You shall not give him your money with interest, nor shall you give your food with increase.

38  I am the Lord, your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, to be a God to you.

It's all about redemption and return of the land.  In fact, the entire parashah is about redemption and restoration. How appropriate to the Third Messianic War!

Shabbat is Day 28 of the Omer - Netzach in Malchut.  The number 28 is the gematria of koach (power) and is twice yad (hand)  as in HKB"H acting with the power of both hands to redeem Yisrael.  The seventh aliyah...

47  If a resident non-Jew gains wealth with you, and your brother becomes destitute with him and is sold to a resident non-Jew among you or to an idol of the family of a non-Jew.

48  After he is sold, he shall have redemption; one of his brothers shall redeem him.

49  Or his uncle or his cousin shall redeem him, or the closest [other] relative from his family shall redeem him; or, if he becomes able to afford it, he can be redeemed [on his own].

50  He shall calculate with his purchaser [the number of years] from the year of his being sold to him until the Jubilee year; then, the purchase price shall be [divided] by the number of years; as the days of a hired worker, he shall be with him.

51  If there are still many years, according to them, he shall return his redemption [money] out of the money for which he was purchased.

52  But if only a few years remain until the Jubilee year, he shall make the [same] calculation; according to his years [that remain until Jubilee], he shall return the redemption [money]._

53 He shall be with him as an employee hired year by year; he shall not enslave him with rigor in your sight.

54 And if he is not redeemed through [any of] these [ways], he shall go out in the Jubilee year he and his children with him.

55  For the children of Israel are servants to Me; they are My servants, whom I took out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord, your God.

The commentary on this parashah says...

The commandment of the Sabbatical Year has a special relationship to Mount Sinai [Behar].  At Mount Sinai, God's majesty and power were so manifest that it was clear that the determining factors in human material success are God's will and man's worthiness.  The land's rest in the seventh year, too, teaches that the primary force in the universe is God, not the law of nature.  ...The Torah emphasizes, therefore, that it is God Who gives the land.

And as if that were not enough!  The haftarah comes from Yirmiyahu 32:6-27 and begins as follows...

6  And Jeremiah said: The word of the Lord came to me, saying:

7  Behold, Hanamel, the son of Shallum your uncle, is coming to you, saying: Buy for yourself my field that is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.

8  Then Hanamel, my uncle's son, came to me in the prison yard, according to the word of the Lord, and said to me; Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, that is in the country of Benjamin, for the right of inheritance is yours, and you have the right of redemption; buy it for yourself." And I knew that this was the word of the Lord.

...14  So said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel; Take these scrolls, this deed of purchase and the signed one and this open scroll, and put them into an earthen vessel so that they remain many years.

15  For so says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be purchased again in this land.

...37  Behold I will gather them from all the lands where I have driven them with My anger and with My wrath and with great fury, and I will restore them to this place and I will cause them to dwell safely.

38  And they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

...44  Men shall buy fields for money and inscribe deeds and sign [them] and appoint witnesses in the land of Benjamin and in the environs of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah and in the cities of the mountain and in the cities of the lowland and in the cities of the southland, for I will restore their captivity, says the Lord.

So may we see the complete fulfillment of this prophecy and the complete restoration of all our land and people.  

Netzach means "eternal" and "victory." May the Holy One, blessed be He, reveal our righteous Mashiach now and grant us an eternal victory over all our enemies.