The word that the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet. Tell among the nations and let it be heard and raise a standard; let them hear and do not hide it. Say, "Babylon has been taken, Bel has been shamed, Merodach is dismayed, her images have been shamed, her idols have been dismayed.
For a nation has marched against her from the north; he shall make her land a desolation,.... For behold I am arousing and bringing up upon Babylon an alliance of great nations from the north land, and they shall set themselves in array against her, from there she shall be taken;...And the [land of the] Chaldeans shall become a prey; all who prey upon it shall be sated, says the Lord. Because of the wrath of the Lord, she shall not be inhabited, and all of her shall be desolate; whoever passes by Babylon shall be amazed and hiss about all her plagues.
Set yourselves in array against Babylon all around, all you who bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrow, for she has sinned against the Lord. Shout against her all around; she gave her hand, her foundations have fallen, her walls are torn down, for it is the Lord's vengeance; wreak vengeance upon her: as she did, do to her. ...The sound of war is in the land and great destruction.
How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken? How has Babylon become a desolation among the nations? ...I laid a snare for you, and you were also taken, O Babylon, and you were unaware; you were discovered and you were also seized, for you have stricken against the Lord.
The Lord has opened his treasury and has taken out the weapons of His fury, for the Lord God has work in the land of the Chaldeans. Come against her from the border, open her gates, thresh her like stacks of grain and utterly destroy her: let her have no remnant. Slay all her bulls with the sword, let them go down to the slaughter; woe is to them for their day has come, the time of their visitation.
Hearken to those fleeing and escaping from the land of Babylon to tell in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance of His Temple.
Gather archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow, encamp against her all around. Let her have no escape. Recompense her according to her deed; according to all that she has done, do to her, for she has dealt wickedly with the Lord, with the Holy One of Israel.
Just as vengeance has been achieved for the destruction of the First Beit HaMikdash, so, too, will the destruction of the Second Beit HaMikdash be avenged!!!
Burying our children is 1000 times worse than a "thorn in the side," how can we continue to bear this?!!!
"Thorns In Our Sides" - Rabbi Meir Kahane
"But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the Land before you, those of them whom you leave shall be barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they will harass you upon the Land in which you dwell. And it shall be that what I had meant to do to them, I shall do to you." (Num. 33:55-56)
Regarding Eretz Yisrael [...], non-Jews are divided up into only two groups. The first is non-Jewish nations who were in the Land when Israel arrived there to conquer and occupy it. The second is all the rest of the non-Jewish nations, including idolaters, descendants of Noah, and foreigners and alien residents. The Torah saw a twofold danger in the nations who dwelt in the Land before Israel arrived to conquer it, namely the seven Canaanite nations. On the one hand, like all the nations, the Canaanites constituted a spiritual danger to Israel, who had been commanded to establish a Divine, Torah-oriented state in Eretz Yisrael, isolated and set apart from the abominations of alien cultures. Moreover, the Canaanites posed a unique danger in that they viewed Israel as conquerors who had taken their land. They would hate Israel forever and would forever dream of revenge and seek opportunities for reconquest.
Following is the great commentator Abarbanel (on Ex. 34:11-12): Verses 11-12 inform us that since G-d is driving out the Amorites and the other nations, it is improper for Israel to forge a covenant with them. If a nobleman helps someone by fighting his battles and banishing his enemies, it is morally inappropriate for that person to make peace with them without that nobleman's permission. So, too, with G-d driving out Israel's enemies, it is inappropriate for Israel to forge a covenant with them, for that would profane G-d's glory. This is especially so considering that this friendship and this covenant will not succeed. With Israel having taken their land, there is no doubt that they will constantly seek Israel's downfall. This is why it is said, “[the land] where you are coming.” Since Israel came to the land and took it from its inhabitants, and they feel that is has been stolen from them, how will they make a covenant of friendship with you? Rather the opposite will occur. “They will be a fatal trap for you.” When war strikes you, they will join your enemies and fight you. How exalted and true are Abarbanel's words! This is the real reason for the approach taken by Halachah to the seven nations. G-d understood the mentality of these nations. He knew that they would view Israel as conquerors and thieves and would forever relate to them with resentment and hatred. The Torah explicitly commanded, at least regarding driving out the Land's inhabitants, because if they remain via a peace treaty, they will become “barbs in your eyes... causing you troubles in the Land.” (Num. 33:55). Not in vain are the words “yerushah” - inheritance, and “horashah”- driving out, so similar in Hebrew. G-d knew that without driving out the nations of the Land, the Land would not be an inheritance for them. Rashi explained the same way: (on Num, 33:52-53): “Vehorashtem”: Drive them out. “Vehorashtem et ha'aretz”: If you first “clear out the Land of its inhabitants”, then - “viyeshavtem bah” - you will be able to survive in it. Otherwise, you will be unable to survive in it.
And Or HaChaim writes (Ibid., v. 55): “They shall cause you troubles in the land” (Num. 33:55): Not only will they hold on to the part of the land that you have not taken, but the part which you have taken and settled as well. “They shall cause you trouble” regarding the part that you live in, saying, “Get up and leave it.” It follows that those same laws that applied to the seven nations apply to all the nations that live in Eretz Yisrael in every age. This includes those of our day, who view Eretz Yisrael as their own land and soil, and who view the Jewish People as a nation of conquerors, robbers and thieves. That same danger looms over the Jewish People and its control over Eretz Yisrael in our time as then. After all, what difference is there as far as G-d's warning that “those who remain shall be barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, causing you troubles in the Land” (Num. 33:55), between the seven nations and between any nation that dwells in the Land, views it as its own, and then Israel come and conquer it from them? Surely, it will feel that same hatred and that same fierce will for revenge as did the seven nations, as explained by Abarbanel (quoted above).
What does that mean for us and for today's situation in Israel?
AsRav Binyamin Ze'ev Kahanepoints out in his commentary on theParashah: While it is true that the national religious movement in Israel has put forth great efforts in the fulfilling of themitzvah «Yishuv Ha'Aretz»(the settling of the Land), it is important to point out that they are familiar with only half of themitzvah.For the mitzvah of «Yishuv Ha'Aretz» has two sides to it. Well known to us all is the first side — the establishing of settlements. That's the «nice» part of themitzvah. But it is the other side that has been totally ignored by those who proudly wave the banner of«Yishuv Ha'Aretz». [...]Settling the Land and expelling the gentiles in it are not only two sides of the samemitzvah, but each side is actually dependent on the other. The Torah constantly warns us about the impossibility of fulfilling just half of themitzvah: «If you do not drive out the inhabitants of the Land from before you, those who remain shall be barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, causing you troubles in the Land you settle» (Num. 33:55)Another settlement is not the answer to the Arab terror, but rather the Arab terror is the result of our being content with making settlements and not completing the entire mitzvah.
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Praying for the entire Zinman Family refuah shleimah and may the Holy One, blessed be He, grant them peace and comfort and speedily restore their child to them in techiyat hameitim with the coming of our righteous Mashiach to finally drive out the wild animals who slaughter at will on the highways and roads of our Holy Land.
Wishing all the readers Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov - may all our fast days be turned to days of joy and celebration.
For this commandment which I command you this day, is not concealed from you, nor is it far away.
It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will go up to heaven for us and fetch it for us, to tell it to us, so that we can fulfill it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us and fetch it for us, to tell it to us, so that we can fulfill it?"
Rather, this thing is very close to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can fulfill it. (Devarim 30.11-14)
It has been said that while the ancient world was destroyed by water through the Flood, the End of the World as We Know It will be by Fire.
There is no question that climate change is happening, but is it really caused by human activity?
Interestingly, nearly every news report about the heat includes a photo of a blazing sun in the sky.
Very interesting, because it is, in fact, the sun causing the heat, not human activity. (See Update: Nibiru)
"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." (Malachi 3:19-20)
(NOTE: Because the Earth's magnetic shield has been steadily losing strength in preparation for the pole flip, it would not require a "Carrington-sized Event" to cause such devastation.)
THIS IS NOT GOING TO STOP UNTIL THE WORLD HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED!!!
One may say that the spirit dominating the universe right now is one of unity, hence the New World Order where all are accepted save those who wish to remain apart. After so many eons of division among the nations of the world, what most people would assert is the cause for all the wars, now the emphasis is being put on coming together in common cause ignoring the differences which exist among us.
The apostle Paul thought Christianity was the answer to the 'problem' of separateness...
Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2, New Testament)
Helena Blavatsky thought Theosophy would be the answer to this 'problem'...
The most basic teaching of theosophy, according to the Theosophical Society, is that all people have the same spiritual and physical origin because they are "essentially of one and the same essence, and that essence is one—infinite, uncreate, and eternal, whether we call it God or Nature." As a result of this oneness, "nothing... can affect one nation or one man without affecting all other nations and all other men."
The Three Objects of Theosophy
Form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or color
Encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy, and science
Investigate unexplained laws of Nature and the powers latent in human beings
The Creator of the World, HKB"H, however, began His creating by making divisions (read Genesis 1), as the Havdalah service tells us:
"Blessed are You, our G-d, King of the Universe
Who separates between holy and profane, between Light and darkness,
Between Israel and other nations, between the Sabbath day and the six working days...."
Torah and mitzvot are the protective fence which divides between Israel and the other nations. And those Jews who wander outside that fence (by rejecting it entirely or by accepting part, but not all of it) and yet cry for "unity" with their brothers need only to come back inside the fence to be one with us; otherwise, it is the Torah itself which divides us and they are the ones who have broken that unity. Only they can repair it.
We are in a very, very dangerous period of time. The Sitra Achra has pulled out all the stops to confuse and mislead us here just as we are reaching for the finish line. Don't fall down now!! Stay true to HKB"H and the Torah as it has been passed down to us. Do not deviate into strange and treacherous waters. Test everything you hear, no matter who says it.
The pervading spirit in the universe is to absorb, assimilate, integrate - choose your word - the Jews out of existence, in short, to create a unity between Israel and the other nations. The only way to do that is to compromise the Torah. Learn it so no one can misrepresent its words or teachings to you.
G-d decreed upon holy Israel that they must be separated from impurity and from impure nations. The idolatry and foreign culture of the nations cannot coexist with G-d's Torah or with G-d Himself. It, therefore, says, "You shall be holy to Me, for I, the L-rd, am holy, and I have separated you out from among the nations to be Mine" (Lev. 20;26). Our sages comment, "'I have separated you out from among the nations to be Mine': If you are separated from the nations, then you are Mine, otherwise, you belong to Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylonia and his associates" (Torat Kohanim, Kedoshim, 9).
This marks a highly significant turning point in the geulah process and it comes on the day we are observing the 17th of Tammuz fast. The End is (Indeed) Near!
Life has become a daily unremitting, unrelenting war.
Our minds, bodies and spirits are under constant bombardment whether it be from...
poisoned food and water
experimental medical therapies
constant exposure to RF and EMF waves
anti-God propaganda
kulturkampf
corruption of the Torah and Mesorah
mass media-generated distractions, fear, chaos and confusion
The only escape, the only refuge in which to rest and regroup, is within the shelter of the holy Shabbat, our own arba amot when we stand before HKB"H in prayer or when we sit and learn Torah. Only through our direct connection to HKB"H can our souls be infused with the power to overcome all that stands opposed to us.
This Is An Urgent Message To The Jewish People
We have been warned already many times, but now is the time to heed those warnings. We are in the biggest test of all time and there is only one way to guarantee we'll pass it.
There is a certain segment of Orthodoxy, probably well-meaning, which is claiming that we have already entered into the messianic light and as a result, new rules apply, and it involves coming together with our gentile "brothers and sisters" in order to bring about the final redemption. It claims that they are an essential part of the process which cannot be completed without their involvement. Notably, it does not demand that they abandon their idolatry and, in fact, does not appear to recognize false religions as idolatry at all.
I've said it before, and now, I say it maybe for the last time: Abandon both right and left, both Yishmael and Eisav, both Democrats and Republicans, both right-wing and left-wing, both liberalism and conservatism, both communism and capitalism...
We, as the Am Kadosh have no place among the nations of the world and their false divisions. We are separate and elevated to the space occupied by Torah and mitzvot. There we walk a narrow center-balanced, 'non-aligned' path whose foundation is pure Emet.
Lies are proliferating exponentially and the darkness it brings is engulfing the whole world. It's a given that we must cut ourselves off from the secular, goyische world, but today, when "most of the rabbis are from the Erev Rav," we must be very suspect of anything in the Torah world that is "modern" and "innovative" and hold it at a distance until it can be verified and substantiated with proven, reliable and established sources. Be especially wary of those who bring a message of "unity" with non-Jews.
You will be tempted, but we must not make common cause with the nations, or any portion thereof, under any circumstances, whatever the justification or rationalization!!
These are not the days of King Solomon when Israel was a sovereign nation, respected and admired by the world. These are the days of a looming Gog uMagog onslaught - the last attempt at a Final Solution.
We have no need of interaction with them, no need of any information that they may share, or advice which they might offer, or demands that they may make upon us. When we are connected to HKB"H, we have everything we need, including Divine protection. When we pray, we talk to Him, when we learn Torah, He speaks to us. In that line of communication is simply everything necessary to survive and thrive.
Most of us have been playing games with HKB"H until now, convincing ourselves that we were really doing our best, or at least the best that we were capable of under the circumstances, but this is just the yetzer hara. Know that to the degree he fights you on the changes you know you need to make in your life to come into compliance with the expectations of HKB"H, that is the same degree to which they are going to benefit you and allow you to survive when the world turns over.
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The above was originally published on the 6th of Tammuz, but after some instruction by Rabbi Richter, I removed it, edited it and have now resubmitted it today. I decided to add some pertinent quotes which I had blogged previously and how interesting is it that those quotes were published on 11 Tevet this year and this follow-up, so-to-speak, is appearing 18Tammuz?
The Jew’s safety raft is supported by three points. The top point is the Holy One, may He be blessed, with whom we are joined by faith and properly observing the Shabbat. The second point is the holy Torah, by means of which we are connected to Hashem through loving and studying it. The third point is the People of Israel who act in accordance with Jewish lawand unite to sanctify the Heavenly Name byseparating themselves from the airev rav and the gentile culture.
[Many are familiar with the quote from the Chafetz Chaim about the three wars of Gog uMagog, but how many have heard the whole thing?]
“During the First World War many came to the Chafetz Chaim and asked him if this is the ‘End of Days’ and the war of Gog and Magog. The Chaftez Chaim answered: ‘After this war there will be a pause and then there will be another war and then another pause. Then, there will be another war and with that war the Mashiach will come…the last war will be the beginning of the redemption, and a Torah-true Jew who is completely separated from the non-Jews will not be subjugated, as we find that in Egypt when two people drank from the same cup, one (an Egyptian) drank blood and the other (an Israelite) drank water. This shows that in fact there is no rule whatsoever over a Jew who is separated entirely from the non-Jews” (Rabbi Aharon Kotler, in the name of the Chafetz Chaim, Leket Reshimot Channukah by Rabbi Noson Wachtofogel, p. 40).
I have a tradition passed down from one to another in the name of Maran HaGaon Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin, z”l, that in the final war before the arrival of Mashiach all of the righteous Jews will be saved.Who are ‘righteous Jews’?Those who are separated from the non-Jews!It does not mean that they must be one of the 36 righteous individuals, ratherthey must be separated from the ways of the non-Jews and have no contact with their culture! Not with their newspapers, their music and books; to be entirely separated from them.Then Hashem will say: You are Mine and you are under a different authority so no one else will rule over you”(Ibid., p.41)
FromOr HaRa'ayonby Rabbi Meir Kahane, Chapter 15 - "Faith and Trust"...
...The Jew who believes and trusts in G-d,...will arrive at truth and faith and tranquility, whereas he who trusts in man, in human strength, will arrive at falsehood and tragedy. This is because someone who trusts in G-d will attain the spiritual level of, "Israel shall thus dwell securely, alone" (Deut.33:28); whereas someone who relies on his own arrogance or on the nations will arrive, G-d forbid, at, "How does the city sit alone" (Lam.1:1).
We must know and grasp this great principle, which isthekeytospeedy, magnificentredemption,without suffering or tragedy.A brilliant redemption, in which G-d's promise of "haste" (Isa.60:22) is fulfilled,will come onlywhen the Jewish People are alone, set apart, in isolation, and trusting fully in G-d to defeat our enemies.
Think deeply and carefully about what this means for us... here... today. What must HKB"H do to bring us to this situation - the situation we must be brought to in order that the complete and final redemption may come? Think about what Israel relies on in place of HKB"H and imagine those things gone.
Have an easy, meaningful and successful fast!
Since most of the English-speaking world is Ashkenazi, the Sephardi English-speakers get overlooked. As the observance of "The Three Weeks" begins today, here is everything the Sephardi or Sephardia needs to know...
While it is already Parashat Pinchas here in Eretz Yisrael, the Diaspora is reading Parashat Balak. So, since we just read it and they are reading it now, the following is highly relevant.
Even after Eisav spurned his birthright (and all that went with it, including Leah Imeinu) and sold it to Ya'aqov, our Sages tell us that his progeny got another shot at it when the Torah was offered to them before it even came to us. Just like their forefather, the Edomic nations spurned that, too. However, we are told that HKB"H left the door open to individuals from those nations - the offspring of Eisav - to enter into the covenant as converts in the future.
Bila'am's prophecy of the End of Days is always of special interest as it alludes to the End of Days. According to the commentaries, not only Ya'aqov's, but Eisav's future figures largely in it. Here are some quotes for your consideration.
From the Stone Edition Chumash commentary, Bamidbar 24:18-24:
"...Edom shall be a conquest and Seir shall be the conquest of his enemies - and Israel will attain success. One from Jacob shall rule and destroy the remnant of the city."
He saw Amalek and declaimed his parable and said: "Amalek is the first among nations, but its end will be eternal destruction."
He saw the Kenite and declaimed his parable and said: "Strong is your dwelling, and set in a rock is your nest. For if the Kenite should be laid waste, till where can Assyria take you captive?"
He declaimed his parable and said: "Who will survive when He imposes these! Big ships from the coast of Kittim will afflict Assyria and afflict the other bank - but it, too, will be forever destroyed."
18. His enemies. Seir and Edom - the two names of Esau's descendants - will fall to his enemy, Israel, and become its possession. Verse 19 concludes this aspect of the prophecy by saying that Israel will dominate Edom and destroy its most prominent city (Rashi). This describes the End of Days, because the current dispersion is called the Edomite Exile, during which Israel is considered to be under the dominion of Edom. This will end when Edom's power is broken (Ramban).
20. Amalek is the first among nations. Amalek was the first to attack Israel (Rashi). Alternatively, Amalek ranked first in military prowess (Ramban). Later commentators interpret that Amalek, the primary offspring of Esau, is the first in that it is the embodiment of intense evil, just as Israel, its implacable foe, is charged with being the embodiment of good (Resisei Laylah).
24. Big ships from the coast of Kittim. The warships of the Roman Empire [Kittim] will bring its legions to conquer Assyria and the nations on the other side of the Euphrates. Thus Rome is identified as the "fourth beast" in the vision of Daniel (Daniel 7:11), who foretold the future exiles of Israel until the final redemption (Rashi).
Everyone knows what happened next. Bila'am came up with an insidious plan for Balak...
The Midianites had correctly identified Israel’s weak point: having tried and failed to hire the Gentile prophet Bil’am (Balaam) to curse them, they instead took his advice and sent their womenfolk to seduce the Jewish men (see Numbers 31:16).
“[Bil’am] said to them [the Midianites]: The God of these ones hates sexual immorality, and they crave linen. Come, I’ll give you some advice: Make tents for them and put harlots inside – an old woman outside and a girl inside, and sell them linen garments…” (Sanhedrin 106a). And then follows a long and detailed account of how the Midianite women and girls seduced the Jewish men, and used their powers of seduction to entice the Jews into idolatry.
Bil’am’s ploy succeeded to a frightening extent: “The nation began to commit harlotry with the daughters of Moab, and they called on the nation to sacrifice to their gods; the nation ate and bowed to their gods. Israel became attached to Ba’al-Pe’or, and Hashem’s fury flared against Israel… And those who died in the plague were 24,000” (Numbers 25:1-9).
Tanchuma, Balak 18, also tells us how it went down:
" [A Moabite girl lures an Israelite into her store.] Following that, the girl says [to the Israelite], 'You are like one of the family. Sit! Choose what you like!' and a jug of Ammonite wine is sitting by her. The wine of the nations had not yet been prohibited [later on, our sages forbade their wine to prevent intermarriage, wine being a factor in generating intimacy]. The girl comes out in jewelry and perfume, and entices him, saying, 'Why do we love you but you hate us? Take this vessel for free! Surely we are all descendents of one man, Terach, father of Abraham.' "
And it is all for the purpose of mixing with us and blurring the boundaries that HKB"H established in order to ultimately assimilate us and thereby destroy us.
In the future, Esau will wrap himself in a tallis, sit down next to Yakov and say to him, "You are my brother"....Yakov will say to him, "My brother, you will not be like me. I will lead you to death, I will be the pestilence that leads you to Sheol (Hoshea 13,14). Had I upheld the decrees that you promulgated against me, I would have been guilty at the eyes of Heaven. Had I violated them, you would have killed me (Yalkut Shimoni, Yirmiahu 333).
"That was Esau's intention when he told Yakov, 'Let us travel together and I will go before you' (Genesis 33,12). He wanted them to join together in both this world and the world to come, to meet each other halfway, with each modifying his conduct until they were alike (Yalkut Shimoni, Genesis 133).
I'd say this has been fulfilled in Joe Biden and Yair Lapid. (Further proof that Yair is from the Erev Rav.)
Nothing has changed, but those offspring of Eisav who wanted to join with Ya'aqov have done so through conversion. Then, there are the actual God-fearing, righteous gentiles who obey the Sheva Mitzvot, but both groups are comparatively small in number. The progeny of Eisav, as a whole, will never do teshuvah. Eisav is doomed, and rightfully so.
We've already seen how some of the worst abominations were initiated in America and exported to the rest of the world. Here are some more. Please take it back!
HKB"H doesn't want it here and WE don't want it here either.
“There are currently about 50 halachicly committed communities in Israel, and are on the continuum of gender equality,” Dr. Rabbi Avital Hochstein, President of Hadar in Israel, said.
...Established in 2018, the Hadar Institute set a goal to “be a home for vibrant communities committed to halacha [Jewish law] and gender equality, who are interested in a spiritual and community life connected to life and facing the challenges of the hour,” according to the organization’s website.
The Israeli branch is affiliated with Yeshivat Hadar, a traditional, egalitarian Torah study center on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The yeshiva, established in 2006 by rabbis Shai Held, Elie Kaunfer and Ethan Tucker, is considered to be “open-orthodox” and is a liberal institution that broke many boundaries in the traditional Orthodox world.
Calling it/her/him "Orthodox" doesn't make it so...
No shame!
And this is what is attempting to decide our very future!!
Go back to America - the Land of the Frei and the Home of the Depraved - and don't come back!!!
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Dear Readers: My most profound apologies. I've just found a good number of comments from the last three months in the Blogger spam folder. I will try to be more mindful of checking for errant messages in the future. All have now been published.
In 1989, a newspaper article appeared which featured an interview with a man identified as Dr. David Golander in which he claims to have brought a "A Warning to the American-Jewish Community" from a band of "secret kabbalists" in Jerusalem.
“I have come here to warn the Jews and to call upon them to move to Israel; for those who will not (move to Israel) will be harmed. This will happen due to anti-Semitism that will in a short time spread throughout the United States. Anyone who trivializes the signs of the coming anti-Semitism will be lost, similar to those who were lost during the plague of darkness that struck Egypt (during the Exodus). With this same energy, the process of the redemption begins, and soon after this will be revealed the one who is to lead it.”
Among the list of signs he predicts will be seen at this time is the following:
...Israel will have war with seven western nations and Russia. The United States will abandon us, as they did Vietnam and Lebanon. The war will begin with a gas attack; every event in the Land will be tied to gas.
This statement immediately conjures up the image of gas masks, but what if it's not talking about chemical warfare? The crazy amount of news coverage devoted to "gas" right now might indicate something else entirely.
There is definitely a message in here somewhere, if only we could discern it.
When the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade last Friday, reversing 50 years of precedent by eliminating the constitutional right to abortion, far-right activists celebrated the fact that the court had powerfully boosted their efforts to impose their radical Christian nationalist agenda on the nation.
On Friday night, white nationalist Nick Fuentes dedicated his livestream to explicitly making that case, declaring that the United States must be governed by “Christian law” and that Jewish people should not be allowed to serve in government.
Fuentes, who in addition to be racist and misogynistic, is also deeply antisemitic, took aim at the concept of the United States being a “Judeo-Christian” nation, insisting that America is strictly a “Christian nation” and that people “that don’t serve Jesus Christ” should not be allowed to hold public office.
“Catholics were put on the Court to overturn Roe v. Wade and Jews stood in the way,” Fuentes said. “Let me ask you this: Who was the last justice that died to make this happen? Not to be glib about it, but who is the last justice to die? Who is the last Jew that was replaced with a Catholic on the Supreme Court that allowed abortion to be overturned? Because guess what, if Ruth Bader Ginsburg—who was a Jew on the Supreme Court—if she didn’t die last year so that Amy Coney Barrett, a Catholic woman, could be appointed in her place, Roe v. Wade would still be the law of the land. Think about that.”
“Now you tell me that this is a Judeo-Christian country,” Fuentes continued. “Now you tell me that this is a Judeo-Christian movement. You tell me that it doesn’t matter that you have a lot of these Jewish people in government. Tell me that it doesn’t matter after a decision like this. Tell me that with a straight face; that it doesn’t matter that we had a court that had four Jewish people on it and we subtract one Jewish woman and increase one Catholic woman and now Roe v. Wade is overturned and 100 million Americans will live in states with no abortion because of that change.”
“Tell me religion doesn’t matter,” he stated. “Tell me that this dispute between Judeo and Christian doesn’t matter. It absolutely matters. It makes all the difference.”
“This is why it’s Christian nationalism,” Fuentes declared. “We need a government of Christians. We need a conservative movement, a nationalist movement, led by Christians that obey the Bible and obey God and serve Jesus Christ. Tell me why we need people in government that don’t serve Jesus Christ. Is that the argument? ‘Well, here Nick, here’s why we need Jewish people in government that don’t serve Jesus.’ Sorry, you’re never going to win that argument. You’re never going to convince me that we need people in government that don’t serve Jesus Christ, the Son of God. You will never convince me of that.”
“Insofar as there’s one God, and he has one son, and there is one way to salvation, and one way to the truth, then that’s the way that the people running our society and writing the laws need to be and no other way,” Fuentes bellowed. “So this Judeo-Christian thing has got to stop. We don’t live in a Judeo-Christian country—or at least if we do, we no longer want to live in that country. We want to live in a Christian country. We want to live in a Christian country with Christian rulers and Christian legislators and Christian judges and Christian law and Christians. And Jewish people can be here, but they can’t make our laws.”
We always have trouble with Nazis when we fail to maintain the Divinely-ordained separation between Jews and Gentiles. If you think Nick Fuentes is expressing a fringe opinion, let me assure you, he is not. All those evangelicals who American Orthodox Jews think are their greatest defenders agree with him 100%, without reservation. All those traditional, "mainline" denominations who support BDS and condemn Israeli "apartheid" agree with him. And need we even ask about the Catholics??? The head of their church rules the world as a king from a throne in a palace in Rome!
[BD"E, Tomer Devorah joins with Klal Yisrael in mourning the passing of Dr. Ze'ev Zelenko, may his memory always be a blessing.]
Tammuz marks the lead-up (or down) to that dangerous period of the year when terrible things happen to us as a nation - the Three Weeks begin on 17 Tammuz and continue until 9-10 Av. There is one glimmer of hope: we won't be fasting this year on 17 Tammuz or 9 Av. Both of them fall on Shabbat this year, so the fasts are deferred until the following day in each case. I think HKB"H is as anxious as we are to finish with this business of fasting and mourning - and dying.
This week's parshah begins with a reminder of how we fell down from the lofty level we had achieved at Har Sinai. The laws regarding the preparation and administration of the ashes of the Red Heifer, which purify one from the impurity conferred by a corpse are enumerated and described. Chazal say that it's like the mother (the Red Heifer) coming to clean up the mess her son (the Golden Calf) had made. Death could have ended then and there, but with our failure in the affair of the Golden Calf, we succeeded in ensuring its continued existence until the End of Days; hence, the need for the ashes of the Red Heifer.
As if that were not bad enough, the parshah continues to recount some of the worst events of our early days as a nation. It describes how we arrived at the Wilderness of Zin "on the first new moon" and "Miriam died there" and "there was no water". This led to the usual general outcry and recriminations directed against Moshe and Aharon who turned and fell on their faces before the Presence of Hashem at the Mishkan, whereupon HKB"H instructed them to go and "speak" to the rock to give forth water for the people and their animals. And you already know what is coming...
Moshe and Aharon err by hitting the rock instead of speaking to it. As a result of this error, neither Moshe nor Aharon will be allowed to enter the Land of Israel. What a let-down for all involved! Remember that as a result of the Golden Calf debacle and Korach's rebellion, the nation and its leadership both would already have been in an emotionally difficult place, but to add to all that the sudden loss of Miriam and her well. Is it any wonder that everyone was so upset and making regrettable mistakes? They were no longer completely focused on the mission, but on their pain and loss. That causes a breakdown - a breach - in our emunah.
And after all that, the nation was then face to face with Edom - our eternal foe - who dispassionately refused to let us cross their territory - kacha - just because. After they saw they would have to go the long way around, suddenly Aharon is taken from them. And Moshe is left alone, without his beloved brother and sister.
The mourning for Aharon is barely finished before the King of Arad attacks. Hashem delivers the nation from this enemy, but the people again fall to complaining. And the biting serpents came killing many.
Well, the story continues and you'll be reading it soon enough, if you haven't already.
Oh Lord, how things have not changed in 3500 years!
But, the most incredible thing that I take away from this story is that no matter how bad it got - how much pain and how much suffering and how many mistakes and how many times they had to do teshuvah for the same things over and over - they kept getting up and packing up and moving on to the next stop. They kept putting one foot in front of the other. They never quit.
Yes, Lord, how many things have not changed in 3500 years!!
