"The Jew Is Never Mediocre"

26 Menachem Av 5784
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Re'eh - Mevorchim

BS"D

THE JEW IS NEVER MEDIOCRE
by Rabbi Binyamin Kahane, ztz"l, Hy"d 

To be a Jew is a great responsibility. It comes with great privileges, but there are great obligations as well. This double-edged sword hovers over the Jew and obligates him from the moment he is born til the moment he dies.

But what if a Jew doesn't want the responsibility? Can a Jew get up one day and say, "I didn't choose this destiny, I didn't ask for it, I don't want any part of it"? Perhaps a Jew doesn't want to be "chosen" or "special." He simply wants to be a member of "humanity," free to do as he pleases, without being restricted by the 613 mitzvot of the Torah and the countless ordinances of the Rabbis. Is he allowed to opt out?

The answer, as we all know, is "NO." If a person is born a Jew, he remains a Jew - with all the rights and obligations. He is similar to a prince. Despite the grandeur and honor that is intrinsically his the minute he is born, he is also subject to all kinds of restrictions. Throughout history we have seen people born into royalty who despised their destiny and felt miserable. And yet, they had no real choice- they were bound forever. A prince may embrace his position and achieve greatness or reject it and live an ignominious life. One thing he can't do, however, is be "ordinary" and live an "ordinary" life.

The same is true of the Jew. As the Torah states, "Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse - a blessing if you obey the commandments of the L-rd, your G-d...and a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the L-rd, your G-d" (Deuteronomy 11:26-28). What is the meaning of such a choice? Does it mean that a Jew is given the right to choose his own way in life, to determine his own destiny? Not quite.

The commentary of the Sforno on this verse is revealing: "Behold: Your affairs will not be ordinary, or run-of-the-mill, like those of other nations. Rather, 'I set before you this day a blessing and a curse' - which represent two extremes: the blessing is tremendous success beyond what you need, while the curse is an affliction of inadequacy. One or the other will be your fate, depending on what you choose." 

In other words, G-d gives us two options. The first option is to be blessed, the second option is to be cursed. There is NO THIRD OPTION. There is no option of mediocrity - of being neither blessed nor cursed, "just one of the guys." Either a Jew fulfills his destiny, and is blessed, or he fails to fulfill his destiny, and is consequently cursed and punished.

The truth is that a Jew who wants to escape his destiny can only be pitied. He really is an unfortunate nebbish - not because he was born a Jew, but because he does not understand the special greatness for which he was intended. He is like a mentally crazed man who finds gold and throws it away in disgust.

(Darka shel Torah 1993)

~ Shabbat Shalom ~

"OUTBREAK" - The Truth About Polio in Gaza

25 Menachem Av 5784

There are unconfirmed reports (meaning the government denies) that a ceasefire will go into effect in Gaza to allow for mass vaccination against polio.  There has been an "outbreak" of Polio - Type 2 declared by international organizations based on one confirmed case which only appeared after a determined search was conducted.  

And what is "Type 2" Polio anyway.  Never heard of it before.  The following JPost article was very informative on this subject.  My remarks are interspersed in brackets.

Gaza virus outbreak: Understanding the threat of Type 2 Polio

A recent case of type 2 polio in a 10-month-old baby in Gaza has sparked urgent concern among global health organizations. This is the first case of type 2 polio in the territory in 25 years, highlighting the severe risks of a potential outbreak in the region, particularly amid the ongoing conflict.

[One case in 25 years "highlights the severe risks of a potential outbreak"?  How exactly??  It's a nonsense claim meant to be swallowed without chewing first.]

On July 16, 2024, the Global Polio Laboratory Network (GPLN) reported the detection of six cVDPV2 isolates in environmental samples collected from Deir al-Balah and Khan Yunis in Gaza. These samples showed a close genetic linkage, indicating that the virus circulating in Gaza may have been introduced as early as September 2023 and that the virus appears genetically related to the strain circulating in Egypt in late 2023.

[Back in July, they went looking for evidence of polio in the sewage.  They don't tell us how many samples were collected, but six isolates doesn't seem very many for a potential outbreak.  Note that it was, by their own admission, likely introduced via Egypt before the war even started - at least a year ago!!! - but it's all set up now for Israel to be blamed for this as well.  Took it a year to infect one baby.]

Type 2 polio, also known as circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2), is one of three poliovirus strains. Unlike the naturally occurring form of the virus, wild poliovirus, cVDPV2 emerges from the oral polio vaccine (OPV). The OPV contains a weakened, live form of the poliovirus, which replicates in the intestines and builds immunity by triggering an immune response.

During this replication process, the vaccine virus is excreted and can spread within the community, particularly in areas with inadequate sanitation, offering passive immunization to others. However, in rare cases, especially in areas with low immunization rates, this weakened virus can mutate into a more contagious form and begin circulating in the population.

[This is a desired effect of the vaccine administration even with the knowledge that some percentage of the population will acquire the disease as a result.]

...cVDPV2 has been responsible for most polio outbreaks in recent years.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) and other UN agencies have announced plans to vaccinate over 640,000 children in Gaza with more than 1.6 million doses of the polio vaccine, specifically targeting this variant. The campaign is set to begin in late August and September 2024. However, its success is contingent on achieving a humanitarian pause in the fighting, which would allow the safe delivery and administration of the vaccines.

So the logical solution to a 25-year lapse in polio in Gaza followed by an "outbreak" of one 10-month-old infant who is sick with the VACCINE-induced form of the disease is to VACCINATE more than half a million more children???

They'll do anything to achieve an end to the war and our ultimate defeat.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved "limited pauses" in fighting to allow for polio vaccinations for children in Gaza amid calls from international aid organizations, according to an Israeli official familiar with deliberations. - ABC

END the CURSE!

24 Menachem Av 5784 
Week of Parashat Re'eh

"See, I present before you today a blessing and a curse.  The blessing:  that you hearken to the commandments of Hashem, your God, that I command you today.  And the curse:  if you do not hearken to the commandments of Hashem, your God, and you stray from the path that I command you today, to follow gods of others, that you did not know."  (Devarim 11.26-29)

Stone Commentary:  "He [Moshe] begins his recitation by putting the commandments into perspective, saying that the choice of whether or not to accept the Torah in its totality is nothing less than the choice between blessing and curse."

Nothing proves this in miniature more than what happened on the last day we rejoiced with our Holy Torah as a nation - Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah,  October 7, 2023.  Besides it being the annual holiday, it was the holy weekly Shabbat as well.  Some like to call it the "Black Sabbath."  I refuse to call it that.  It was only "black" for those who blackened it with their own sinful behavior.  

Face it.  Those who suffered the most were the most to blame.  The people at the Nova Festival weren't innocent kids just having fun.  Instead of rejoicing with the Torah, they were desecrating it in a hundred different ways. 

We like to say it was a failure of the "concept," or it was overconfidence in technology, or some kind of conspiracy and it might have been all those things, but it succeeded only because we as a people failed to keep the Torah.  

And what of the towns and villages and kibbutzim?

"...If Hashem will not guard the city, in vain is the watchman vigilant."  (Tehillim 127.1)

How true this is, as proven by how many warnings were given by those entrusted with guarding the cities and yet the warnings were in vain.  We know that the places where the Shabbat was guarded were spared.  Those places where Shabbat and Torah were disrespected and disregarded due to their replacement with false gods of ideology suffered the consequences.  They nurtured their own enemies and freely opened their gates to them.

"If in one of your cities that Hashem, your God, gives you in which to dwell, you hear, saying 'Lawless men have emerged from your midst, and they have caused the dwellers of their city to go astray, saying, 'Let us go and worship the gods of others, that you have not known' - you shall seek out and investigate, and inquire well, and behold! it is true, the word is correct, this abomination was committed in your midst.  You shall smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword; lay it waste and everything that is in it, and its animals, with the edge of the sword.  You shall gather together all its booty to the midst of its open square, and you shall burn in fire completely the city and all its booty to Hashem your God, and it shall be an eternal heap, it shall not be rebuilt.  No part of the banned property may adhere to your hand, so that Hashem will turn back from His burning wrath; and He will give you mercy and be merciful to you and multiply you, as He swore to your forefathers, when you hearken to the voice of Hashem, your God, to observe all His commandments that I command you today, to do what is right in the eyes of Hashem your God."  (Devarim 13.13-19)

Stone Commentary:  "...the Torah discusses a city so spiritually corrupt that all or most of its citizens were persuaded to worship idols.  The entire city is declared a Wayward City...; the guilty parties are executed by the sword and the city and all its property - even that of the non-sinners - is destroyed.  Finally, the city must remain a desolate heap, never to be rebuilt.  But, if less than a majority of its people succumb to this sedition, they are treated as individual idolaters and are subject to stoning, the regular death penalty for idolatry, provided they were properly warned and their sin was witnessed."

Where is the mercy?  As we were told in the beginning.  This was to be a coordinated attack across the entire country; however, God's mercy confined it to a small area, as a warning.  Some reports said that the Festival attracted the attention of Hamas.  They could see it from the fence where they broke through.  It was quite a public display of chillul Hashem.  

The most important questions now are: have any lessons been learned?  have any hearts been turned??  will we ever stop protesting our innocence and finally take responsibility???

END THE CURSE NOW!!!

"Jewish" State or Israeli State

23 Menachem Av 5784

It's high time we set this record straight!  The terms Jew and Zion were coopted by the Erev Rav in order to capitalize on the inherent kedushah of the concepts they represent.  They knew it was the only way to get actual Jews involved and committed to its existence, without whom their plans would never succeed.  But, as it evolved, they began to believe more and more that they no longer depended on those Jews and could very well do without them altogether.  They believed early on that these Jews would eventually assimilate, but facts on the ground were proving them wrong.  

In the past three decades, they have filled our Land with gentiles:  migrants, "asylum-seekers", criminals, murderers, thieves, prostitutes, practitioners of foreign religions, promoters of foreign culture, all the while shrinking its borders.  They gave away our land, traded away our birthright for empty words, worthless promises and a pat on the head from the world.

The Israeli State has itself become an existential threat to the Jews who live here.  They have stolen it from the real owners no less than the Arabs.  Therefore they must be recognized as the enemies they have proven themselves to be and must be forcefully opposed if we truly value our lives, our identity and our God-given destiny.

Israeliness v. Jewishness

"SHOWTIME" Follow-Up

22 Menachem Av 5784 

It is a criminal, illegitimate government which purposely and scandalously

abandons its own sovereignty and its own citizens' welfare.

It has no right to continue to rule!!!

~ ~ ~

I knew when I chose the title yesterday that it could go one of two ways.  Either this would be a real advance toward our geulah goalpost or it would be just another show to keep the status quo going.  Unfortunately, we are stuck in a rut that benefits all those in power:  the United States, the Erev Rav regime in Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah leadership.  It's to their benefit to artificially drag this out for as long as possible.  It gives Hamas and Hezbollah relevancy, that's clear.  However, those who not only started it, perpetuate it and could put an end to it today - the US and Israel - are using it to bring the Jewish people to despair and hopelessness so that they will agree to anything to get out of the rut.  

Our only consolation here is that ultimately HKB"H is the One orchestrating everything.  In the end, it doesn't matter what these entities plot or plan, only His plan is the one which will succeed and our salvation will come from the unlikeliest of sources.  No one can anticipate how it will happen.  All we have to know is that IT WILL HAPPEN!  

Giving up is not an option!!  

Every promise of our deliverance will be fulfilled and in a magnificent way.  We just have to strengthen our emuna, understand that this is the final test and know that we can pass it by holding tightly to our faith and trust in HKB"H and that He always keeps His promises.  

~ ~ ~

‘Don’t call’: Northern leaders say they’re cutting off contact with government

Leaders of northern regional councils announce they are ceasing contact with the government until it delivers a full plan to return their residents safely to their communities and rehabilitate the region.

“We haven’t interested you for 10 and a half months, and from now on, you don’t interest us. Don’t call, don’t come, don’t send messages. We have managed alone until now, we will manage,” a joint statement by Mateh Asher Regional Council head Moshe Davidovich, Metula Mayor David Azoulay, and Upper Galilee Reginal Council Giora Zaltz reads.

The message comes after leaders expressed their outrage at the government that Israel’s preemptive strike on Hezbollah this morning was aimed at preventing attacks on central Israel, while the military has not shown such initiative while their communities have been under fire since October 8.

SHOWTIME!!!

21 Menachem Av 5784
Shavua Tov! 

(This was yesterday.  He is already here.)

A Time of Testing

19 Menachem Av 5784
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Eikev

Moshe Rabbeinu continues to speak to Am Yisrael, 3296 years down through history...

The entire commandment that I command you today you shall observe to perform, so that you may live and increase, and come and possess the Land that Hashem swore to your forefathers.  You shall remember the entire road on which Hashem, your God, led you these forty years in the Wilderness so as to afflict you, to test you, to know what is in your heart, whether you would observe His commandments or not.  He afflicted you and let you hunger, then He fed you the manna that you did not know, nor did your forefathers know, in order to make you know that not by bread alone does man live, rather by everything that emanates from the mouth of God does man live.  (Devarim 8.1-3)

He might just as well say to us today, "Your God has been leading you these 75 years of the State of Israel 'so as to afflict you, to test you, to know what is in your heart, whether you would observe His commandments or not.' "

We have been through a time of testing and it's not over yet.  Today, as well, we are afflicted with hunger - a hunger for real Torah leadership and a hunger for a life of authentic Judaism in a society and a culture stamped kosher by Hashem. 

But, here is the promise.  We need only recognize the hunger and know to Whom to turn to be fed and we will have our hunger satisfied in a way that we could not possibly have anticipated or imagined.  Who in the desert could have conceived of manna falling from the sky?

As the haftarah for Eikev recounts...

And Zion said, "Hashem has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me." [And Hashem answered], "Can a woman forget her nursing infant, withdraw from feeling compassion for the child of her womb?  Even if she could, still I will not forget you...."

"Your children shall hasten to repent, [every real Jew will repent and be saved] but your spoilers [Erev Rav] and your destroyers [Eisav and Yishmael] must depart from you."

HKB"H has not forgotten us, He wants to be with us even more than we desire to be with Him. What we are experiencing now is the prelude to the best of times, the clarification which proves which group each person belongs with when the righteous are separated out for redemption. 

~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~

Thinking Outside the Box

18 Menachem Av 5784 

The ballot box that is.  Democracy is a failed experiment.  The idea that this is progress for mankind is simply not true.  It comes from the idea that humanity is moving from primitive society to advanced society when the reverse is actually true.  The further we travel from the Har Sinai experience, the more degraded we become.

When we are ready to concede that what calls itself democracy is not suited to a Torah-based national life, we will finally be prepared to be redeemed.

(Hoshea 3:5)  Afterwards shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God and David their king, and they shall come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness at the end of days.

(Yechezkel 37:21-28)   And say to them, So says the Lord God: "Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side, and I will bring them to their land.

And I will make them into one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be to them all as a king; and they shall no longer be two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms anymore.

And they shall no longer defile themselves with their idols, with their detestable things, or with all their transgressions, and I will save them from all their habitations in which they have sinned, and I will purify them, and they shall be to Me as a people, and I will be to them as a God. And My servant David shall be king over them, and one shepherd shall be for them all, and they shall walk in My ordinances and observe My statutes and perform them.

And they shall dwell on the land that I have given to My servant, to Jacob, wherein your forefathers lived; and they shall dwell upon it, they and their children and their children's children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever.

And I will form a covenant of peace for them, an everlasting covenant shall be with them; and I will establish them and I will multiply them, and I will place My Sanctuary in their midst forever.

And My dwelling place shall be over them, and I will be to them for a God, and they shall be to Me as a people.

And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, Who sanctifies Israel, when My Sanctuary is in their midst forever."

(Yirmiyahu 30:1-25)   The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:

So said the Lord, the God of Israel, saying: "Write for you the words that I have spoken to you, on a scroll.

For, behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will restore the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will restore them to the land that I gave their forefathers and they shall possess it.

And these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah.

For so said the Lord: A sound of quaking we have heard, fear, and there is no peace.

Ask now and see whether a male gives birth. Why have I seen every man [with] his hands on his loins like a woman in confinement, and every face has turned to pallor?

Ho! For that day is great, with none like it, and it is a time of distress for Jacob, through which he shall be saved.

And it shall be on that day, says the Lord of Hosts, [that] I will break his yoke off your neck, and I will break your thongs, and strangers shall no longer enslave them.

And they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will set up for them.

And you, fear not, My servant Jacob, says the Lord, and do not be dismayed, O Israel, for behold I save you from afar and your seed from the land of their captivity, and Jacob shall again be silent and at ease, and no one will frighten them.

For I am with you, says the Lord, to save you, for I will make an end of all the nations where I dispersed you, but of you I will not make an end, but I will chasten you in measure, and I will not completely destroy you.

For so said the Lord: Your injury is painful, your wound grievous.

No one deems your wound to be healed, you have no healing medicines.

All your lovers have forgotten you, they do not seek you, for I have smitten you with the wound of an enemy, cruel chastisement, for the greatness of your iniquity; your sins are many.

Why do you cry about your injury that your pain is severe? For the magnitude of your iniquity, since your sins are many, I have done these to you.

Therefore, all who devour you shall be devoured, and all your adversaries, yea all of them, shall go into captivity, and those who plunder you shall be plunder, and all who prey upon you I will give for prey.

For I will bring healing to you, and of your wounds I will heal you, says the Lord, for they called you an outcast, that is Zion whom no one seeks out.

So said the Lord: Behold I am returning the captivity of the tents of Jacob, and his dwellings I will pity, and the city shall be built on its mound and the palace on its proper site shall be established.

And thanksgiving and the voice of those making merry shall proceed from them, and I will multiply them, and they shall not be diminished, and I will increase them, and they shall not become few in number.

And their children shall be as of old, and their congregation shall be established before Me, and I will visit evil upon all their oppressors.

And their prince shall be from them, and their ruler shall emerge from their midst, and I will bring him near, and he shall approach Me, for who is it who pledged his heart to approach Me? says the Lord.

And you shall be My people, and I will be your God.

Behold a storm from the Lord has gone forth with fury, yea a settling storm; on the heads of the wicked it shall rest.

The kindling of the Lord's anger shall not return until He has executed it, and until He has fulfilled the plans of His heart. At the end of the days you shall consider it.

At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.

[On vs. 5 Rashi says: "A sound of quaking we have heard": Some interpret this as alluding to the tidings of Babylon, from which those exiled there quaked. But the Midrash Aggadah explains it as an allusion to the war of Gog and Magog.] 

[On vs. 7, "that day" - the day of the downfall of Gog.]

SO HAS IT BEEN WRITTEN,
SO SHALL IT BE DONE.

Nothing Is What It Seems

17 Menachem Av 5784 

The "most right-wing government in Israeli history" took power on December 29, 2022 and immediately recommitted itself toward fulfilling the Death Process aka Peace Process.  Likud has always been the "piecemaker" giving up the Sinai, giving away Gush Katif, freezing new settlements and refusing to annex Judea and Samaria.  

The Jews of Eretz Yisrael are caught in a deadly, destructive loop from which we can't break free because they put their faith in elections and keep re-electing the same people who are dedicated to losing.

Do you remember hearing about this?  I don't.

Aqaba Joint Communique

February 26, 2023

At the invitation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Jordanian, Egyptian, Israeli, Palestinian and U.S. Senior Officials met in Aqaba, Jordan today, 26 February 2023.

Following comprehensive and frank discussions, the participants announced the following:

1. The two sides (Palestinian and Israeli sides) affirmed their commitment to all previous agreements between them, and to work towards a just and lasting peace. They reaffirmed the necessity of committing to de-escalation on the ground and to prevent further violence.

2. The five parties recognize the importance of upholding unchanged the historic status quo at the holy sites in Jerusalem in word and practice, and emphasizes in this regard the Hashemite Custodianship / special role of Jordan.

3. The Government of Israel and the Palestinian National Authority confirmed their joint readiness and commitment to immediately work to end unilateral measures for a period of 3-6 months. This includes an Israeli commitment to stop discussion of any new settlement units for 4 months and to stop authorization of any outposts for 6 months.

4. The five parties agreed to convene again in Sharm El Sheikh in March to achieve the goals listed above. (Continued here...)

An Arab media article published a day later "Explained: What is the Aqaba Communique and why is it controversial?" paints a picture that looks very much like the one we've seen throughout the hostage release negotiations.  Despite the doublespeak, obfuscations, and denials, the next meeting continued per agreement.

Joint Communique from the March 19 meeting in Sharm El Sheikh

March 19, 2023

The following text reflects the Joint Communique following today’s meeting in Sharm El Sheikh Egypt:

At the invitation of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Jordanian, Israeli, Palestinian and U.S. political and security senior officials met in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt today, 19 March 2023, in furtherance of the understanding reached in Aqaba, Jordan on 26 February 2023.

The five Parties held thorough discussions on ways and means to de-escalate tensions on the ground between Palestinians and Israelis, in order to pave a way forward towards the peaceful settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Towards achieving this purpose, and beginning implementation, the Parties have agreed to the following:

1 – The Parties reaffirmed their commitment to advancing security, stability and peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike, and recognized the necessity of de-escalation on the ground, the prevention of further violence, as well as of pursuing confidence building measures, enhancing mutual trust, creating political horizon, and addressing outstanding issues through direct dialogue.

2 – The Government of Israel and the Palestinian National Authority reaffirmed their joint readiness and commitment to immediately work to end unilateral measures for a period of 3-6 months. This includes an Israeli commitment to stop discussion of any new settlement units for 4 months, and to stop authorization of any outposts for 6 months.

3 – The two sides reaffirmed, in this regard, their unwavering commitment to all previous agreements between them, in particular, the legal right of the Palestinian National Authority to carry out the security responsibilities in Area (A) of the West Bank, in accordance with existing agreements, and will work together towards realizing this objective.

4 – The two sides agreed to develop a mechanism to curb and counter violence, incitement, and inflammatory statements and actions, which will report to the quintet leadership in April, in a resumed session of the meeting in Sharm El Sheikh.

5 – The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to all previous agreements between them, and reaffirmed their agreement to address all outstanding issues through direct dialogue.  (Continued here...)

These communiques were issued by the US State Department.  I might think they misrepresented the Israeli government position except for the fact that Israel continued to meet.  Furthermore, and what's more critical, is that their actions, even after the Simchat Torah Massacre of October 7th and up to this very day, prove that they are still adhering to this US-mediated plan.  Just like they are continuing to send representatives to ceasefire negotiations even when the other side has refused to even make an appearance!  And this is likely why no pre-emptive action was taken despite the threat Hamas posed prior to October 7th.

If you like the reality of life in the post-Oslo era, keep pinning your hopes on new elections and keep giving your votes to "right-wing" parties.  In fact, just keep supporting the Democratic State.  But, if you want to escape this deadly, destructive loop we're stuck in, begin to think outside this box!!

The Historic Problem of Iran

16 Menachem Av 5784

We did not just begin to have problems with Iran when the Islamic regime was established there 45 years ago as the following information, initially posted in 2019, will attest.

~ ~ ~ 

It will be no surprise to you to learn, if you didn't already know, that the word Iran comes from the word Aryan, which should be familiar to anyone who has heard of the Nazi Master Race. Therefore, it will equally be no surprise that they should hate Jews.

The Origins of Aryan People

I am Darius, the great king, the king of kings

The king of many countries and many people

The king of this expansive land,

The son of Wishtaspa of Achaemenid,

Persian, the son of a Persian,

'Aryan', from the Aryan race

"From the Darius the Great's Inscription in Naqshe-e-Rostam"

The above scripture is one of most valid written evidences of the history of the Aryan race, and as can be seen, Darius I (Dariush in Persian), the Achaemenian king, in the 5th century BCE, declares himself a Persian and from the Aryan race. Herodotus, the father of history, writes (in his book: "History of Herodotus") at the same times: "In ancient times, the Greeks called Iranians "Kaffe", but they were renowned as Aryans among themselves and their neighbors". In another part of his book, Herodotus writes that the Medians were known as Aryans during a certain period. So in two of the oldest written human documents, the race of the Iranians have been mentioned as Aryan.

Denial of Holocaust nothing new in Iran / Ties to Hitler led to plots against British and Jews

... Iran and Iranians were strongly connected to the Holocaust and the Hitler regime, as was the entire Islamic world under the leadership of the mufti of Jerusalem.

Iran's axis with the Third Reich began during the prewar years, when it welcomed Nazi Gestapo agents and other operatives to Tehran, allowing them to use the city as a base for Middle East agitation against the British and the region's Jews.

...Relations between Berlin and Tehran were strong from the moment Hitler came to power in 1933. At that time, Reza Shah Pahlavi's nation was known as Persia. The shah became a stalwart admirer of Hitler, Nazism and the concept of the Aryan master race. He also sought the Reich's help in reducing British petro-political domination.

So intense was the shah's identification with the Third Reich that in 1935 he renamed his ancient country "Iran," which in Farsi means Aryan and refers to the Proto-Indo-European lineage that Nazi racial theorists and Persian ethnologists cherished.

The idea for the name change was suggested by the Iranian ambassador to Germany, who came under the influence of Hitler's trusted banker, Hjalmar Schacht. From that point, all Iranians were constantly reminded that their country shared a common bond with the Nazi regime.

Shortly after World War II broke out in 1939, the Mufti of Jerusalem crafted a strategic alliance with Hitler to exchange Iraqi oil for active Arab and Islamic participation in the murder of Jews in the Mideast and Eastern Europe. This was predicated on support for a pan-Arab state and Arab control over Palestine.

During the war years, Iran became a haven for Gestapo agents. It was from Iran that the seeds of the abortive 1941 pro-Nazi coup in Baghdad were planted. After Churchill's forces booted the Nazis out of Iraq in June 1941, German aircrews supporting Nazi bombers escaped across Iraq's northern border back into Iran.

Likewise, the mufti of Jerusalem was spirited across the border to Tehran, where he continued to call for the destruction of the Jews and the defeat of the British.

His venomous rhetoric filled the newspapers and radio broadcasts in Tehran. The mufti was a vocal opponent of allowing Jewish refugees to be transported or ransomed into Jewish Palestine. Instead, he wanted them shipped to the gas chambers of Poland.

In the summer of 1941, the mufti, with the support of key Iranian military and government leaders, advocated implementing in Iran what had failed months earlier in Iraq. The plan once again was for a total diversion of oil from the Allies to the Nazis, in exchange for the accelerated destruction of the Jews in Eastern Europe and the Nazis' support for an Arab state. Through the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., Iran had already been supplying Hitler's forces in occupied Czechoslovakia and Austria.

Now, the mufti agitated to cut off the British and the Allies completely and supply Germany in its push against Russia.

In October 1941, British, USSR other allied forces invaded Iran to break up the Iran-Nazi alliance. Pro-Nazi generals and ministers were arrested, and the shah's son was installed in power. The mufti scampered into the Italian embassy, where he shaved his beard and dyed his hair. In this disguise, he was allowed to leave the country along with the rest of the Italian delegation.

Once the mufti relocated permanently to Berlin, where he established his own Reich-supported "bureau," he was given airtime on Radio Berlin. From Berlin and other fascist capitals in Europe, the mufti continued to agitate for international Jewish destruction, as well as a pan-Islamic alliance with the Nazi regime.

He called upon all Muslims to "kill the Jews wherever you see them." In Tehran's marketplace, it was common to see placards that declared, "In heaven, Allah is your master. On Earth, it is Adolf Hitler."

When the mufti raised three divisions of Islamic Waffen SS to undertake cruel operations in Bosnia, among the 30,000 killers were some volunteer contingents from Iran. Iranian Nazis, along with the other Muslim Waffen SS, operated under the direct supervision of Heinrich Himmler and were responsible for barbarous actions against Jews and others in Bosnia. Recruitment for the murderous "Handschar Divisions" was done openly in Iran.

Iran and its leaders were not only aware of the Holocaust, they played both sides. The country offered overland escape routes for refugee Jews fleeing Nazi persecution to Israel -- and later fleeing postwar Iraqi fascist persecution -- but only in exchange for extortionate passage fees.

Thousands of Jews journeyed to Israel via Iran both during the Holocaust and during the years after the fall of Hitler, when Arab leaders, especially in Iraq, tried to continue Germany's anti-Jewish program. Iran profited handsomely.

Since the shah's downfall, Iran has become a center for organized international Holocaust denial and has helped elevate the endeavor from fringe hate speech to a state-approved pseudo-intellectual debate.

In international forums and on state-controlled radio, Iranian university experts and journalists help validate the revisionist views that Jews were never gassed or murdered in great numbers during the Holocaust.

Indeed, Iran has become a refuge for the biggest names in European Holocaust denial. When in 2000, revisionist author Jürgen Graf was sentenced in Switzerland to 15 months in prison for Holocaust falsification, Graf fled to Tehran "at the invitation of a group of Iranian scholars and university professors who are sympathetic to Holocaust revisionism," according to the Institute for Historical Review, a denial clearinghouse.

What's more, in May 2000, Iran's embassy in Vienna granted asylum to Austrian Holocaust denier Wolfgang Fröhlich, who testified as a so-called expert witness during Graf's 1998 trial. This saved Fröhlich from Austria's severe anti-Holocaust denial statutes. Fröhlich argued that evidence proved no Jews were killed by Zyklon B gassing.

Earlier, about 600 journalists and 160 members of the Iranian parliament signed petitions supporting French revisionist Roger Garaudy, who was fined $40,000 by French authorities for his book claiming the Holocaust was a myth. When Garaudy landed in Iran, the country's supreme spiritual leader, Ayatollah Sayyad Khamenei, granted him an audience and lauded his work.

Iran has played a leading role in the Holocaust drama and now tries to deny it. That should be very hard in a nation that was named for Hitler's master race.

~ Iran is an implacable enemy and will remain so until it falls at The End of Days. ~

71 Years Ago Today...

15 Menachem Av 5784
Happy TU b'Av! 

[Note the similarities to what has been happening here in Israel, first with judicial reform, then with the hostage families...]

Coup in Iran
(19 August 1953)

"...Three Strikes...You're Out!"

14 Menachem Av 5784 

Holy Trinity? Or Three Strikes

and You’re Out? |Rabbi Richter

We Have to Be Ourselves, Not An Imitation of the Gentile World

12 Menachem Av 5784
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Va'etchanan - Shabbat Nachamu

Parashat Va'etchanan - Some Halachot Regarding Non-Jews in Eretz Yisrael

When Hashem, your G-d, will bring you to the Land to which you come to possess it, and He will thrust away many nations from before you [...], you shall not seal a covenant with them nor shall you show them favor (“lo techanem”). (Deut. 7:2)

[Regarding this we find in] Avodah Zarah 20a: “You must not give them any consideration ” (Deut. 7:2): Do not give them a foothold [“chanayah”] on the land.  Alternately: Ascribe to them no charm [“chen”. Rashi: “Do not say, 'How fine this non-Jew is!'”].  Alternately: Give them no free [“chinam”] gift.  Later on the Talmud concludes, “All are valid.”  An additional restriction appears in Rambam, Hilchot Avodah Zarah 10:3,4: We do not sell them houses and fields in Eretz Yisrael... neither do we lease fields to them...Why were our sages strict regarding fields?  It is because [leasing them to non-Jews] has two [negative results]: It diminishes the tithes and gives non-Jews a foothold on the Land.  We are allowed to sell them houses and fields outside the Land because it [any foreign land] is not our land.  It is thus clear that there are two reasons for the Torah prohibition against selling houses, or even leasing fields, to any non-Jew, even if he be one of the righteous gentiles [a ger toshav].

Rambam mentioned both in discussing the prohibition against leasing fields (Hilchot Avodah Zarah 10:4): “It diminishes the tithes (1) and gives them a foothold on the land (2).”

(1) Since Eretz Yisrael is holy and we are duty-bound to sanctify its soil through tithes (besides all the other mitzvot that are dependent on the land), how can we dare sell or lease land to any non-Jew?  A non-Jew is not bound by tithes, and by our action, we diminish the scope of the mitzvah, and, so to speak, the holiness that is thereby added to this soil.

(2) A non-Jew, by buying or renting land in Eretz Yisrael, takes a portion of the land and has a sort of ownership over it, and it is forbidden to give him this foothold.  What, after all, is this “foothold”?  Surely it is the feeling in the non-Jew's heart that he has found a place to live, a place to call his own.

Rambam wrote explicitly (Ibid.): Why do we not sell to them?  It says, “Do not give them any consideration” (Deut. 7:2).  Give them no foothold on the Land.  As long as they have no land, their residence there is temporary.  In our own time, Rabbis have struggled over this, and for various reasons, to our chagrin, some have ruled that it is permissible today to sell fields and houses to non-Jews.  I have no doubt whatsoever that they are erring regarding the great foundation of the Land and People of Israel, and that there is no difference at all as far as giving non-Jews a foothold in the land and ascribing to them charm, between the seven nations, plain idolaters and ger toshav.  [The difference between these groups is that a ger toshav is essentially permitted to live in Eretz Yisrael, though without owning land, without a “foothold”, whereas members of the seven nations or those equal to them today (unless they submit to very specific conditions) and all plain idolaters may not live in Eretz Yisrael at all.]

“Ascribe them no charm”:  From the verse, “These are the laws that you must set before [Israel]” (Ex. 21:1), we derive that even if non-Jews judge the same way as Jews, it is forbidden to use their courts.  The reason is that the very acceptance of the non-Jew or his laws, even if they are like Torah law, is a chilul Hashem.  A Jew is forbidden to accept upon himself either non-Jewish law or a non-Jewish judge, as it says, “Their powers are not like our Mighty One, although our enemies sit in judgment.”  Rashi comments (Ex. 21:1), “When our enemies sit in judgment, it testifies to the superiority of their deity” [or religion, or value system, as we encounter today in the form of Arab Muslim judges in Israel or in the case of Jews outside Israel using non-Jewish courts even in internal Jewish matters!] Here is decisive proof for the prohibition against appointing a non-Jewish judge over Israel, even if he judges according to Torah law.

Some have sought to approve non-Jews serving in positions of authority over Israel, and they bring proof from the Mishnah (Avot 1:10):  “Shemaya and Avtalion received the oral tradition from them [Yehuda ben Tabai and Shimon ben Shetach].”  In other words, Shemaya was the prince and Avtalion the head of the Sanhedrin, despite their having been converts, and how could they have held these posts when according to the Talmud and poskim it is forbidden to appoint a convert [meaning a ger tzedek, a complete convert to Judaism] to a position over Israel.  HaKnesset HaGedolah answers this (Choshen Mishpat, mahadura kamma, siman 7), saying that if Israel accepted a convert over them, then it is permissible.

Based on this, in this orphan generation, reeling from fear of the nations and an inferiority complex regarding what Hellenists will say about the holy laws separating Israel and the nations, some have declared that there is no prohibition against appointing even non-Jews (and not just converts) to positions over Israel, if Israel accept them upon themselves.  G-d forgive them!  According to their opinion, can a non-Jew be appointed even king or prince if he is accepted?  Can an elected government have a non-Jewish majority, or even a number of non-Jews that will enable them to place their imprint on the character of the state?  And if one non-Jew can be appointed, why not a majority or such a large number that they will be able to decide on such issues as who is a Jew, Sabbath desecration, pig farming, mixed marriages, missionizing or the dissemination of the false, alien culture – and all in the name of the alien, abominable concept of “democracy”?  Let the heavens be astonished! Shall those who condone this not understand the gravity of their error?

If our sages permitted the appointing of a convert by mutual agreement, that is because the law that a convert is unfit for positions of authority over Jews is just based on an exposition brought by our sages and is not explicit in any verse.  Yet, the restriction forbidding the non-Jew from positions of authority is explicit in a verse and serves to separate him from Jews.  It is part of his servitude and constitutes a declaration that he has no right to authority over G-d's holy people.  A convert, by contrast, is a Jew in every way and is restricted only because authority over Israel must be held exclusively by the elite and not by those who were non-Jews and have now converted.  Therefore, perhaps we could say, with some reservations, that because a convert has accepted the Torah and is a Jew in every way, and there is no reason to separate him from Israel, him being part of Israel and keeping the mitzvot, then if the community agrees, he may serve in positions of authority.  Yet, none of this has any connection to the non-Jew, whose reason for being unfit for positions of authority over Israel differs entirely.  The non-Jew is not a part of the Jewish People.  He has no portion in the Land, and no one can seriously claim that he can be granted authority over Israel.

If G-d demanded our separation from the nations, why allow non-Jews to live in the Land?  The answer is that G-d wished to eradicate idolatry as much as possible, thereby sanctifying His name among the nations so that they would accept the yoke of His kingdom.  If a non-Jew sincerely wishes to be a resident alien (ger toshav), to abandon idolatry and undertake the seven Noahide laws, thereby sanctifying G-d's name among the nations, better that he should do this and live in Eretz Yisrael than to live outside the Land as an idolater and profane G-d's name.  Clearly, however, all this applies only if he accepts conditions guaranteeing that he remain isolated from Israel and ensuring his understanding that Eretz Yisrael is the exclusive land of the Jewish People and that he has only the right to reside there.  A non-Jew does not become a ger toshav until he stands before a Jewish court and accepts the seven Noachide laws.  As Rambam wrote: “Whoever accepts them is the person called a ger toshav throughout the Talmud, assuming he accepts them before a court of three” (Hilchot Melachim 8:10).  It certainly does not suffice for him to reject idolatrous beliefs or actual worship, if it is not accompanied by a court declaration.  [Regarding this] Ritva ruled (Makot 9a): A ben-Noach [as opposed to a ger toshav, see above] is one who did not undertake these mitzvot in Jewish court, yet we know that he keeps them on his own...  We are not commanded to sustain such a person...  The stam goi [plain non-Jew] is one who does not keep the seven mitzvot [and who is not permitted to live in Eretz Yisrael under any circumstances].  From these rulings it emerges that only a non-Jew who undertook before a Jewish court to keep the seven Noachide laws is called a ger toshav, and only he can be allowed to live among us in Eretz Yisrael.  This implies that a non-Jew must accept the seven mitzvot upon himself as being part of the Torah [and not for any other reason].  That, after all, is why he appears before the Jewish court.

Never forget the following rule: With all we have said about the non-Jew who undertook [...] the seven Noachide laws being called a resident alien (ger toshav), and being allowed to live in the Land, there is no duty applying to us whose omission renders us sinners.  Rather, the law is just a dispensation, to make it easier for the non-Jew to come closer to the Divine truth.  In other words, we are allowed - not obligated - to let such a non-Jew live in Eretz Yisrael.  If, for any reason (i.e. security precautions), we fear danger of deception, then we are certainly permitted and required to forbid every non-Jew, even the resident alien (ger toshav), to live in the Land.  (After all, even converts were rejected during certain periods for certain reasons).

You shall observe the commandment, and the decrees and the ordinances that I command you today, to perform them. (Deut. 7:11)

[Compiled by Tzipora Liron-Pinner from 'The Jewish Idea' of Rav Meir Kahane, HY"D]

Imagine the depth of sin which has been committed by those who have allowed and enabled the treacherous, idolatrous Waller Family and their volunteers to live in our Holy Land and worship their false god in its midst, as well as all the Christian missionary organizations which the government of the State of Israel has established here in order to take Jews away from their Father in Heaven!!!

The Zionist State was ostensibly founded to create a home for Jews but has instead become a haven for non-Jews who seek both the physical and the spiritual destruction of the Jews in their own land.  If there is a decree of utter destruction hanging over us, it is for this cause - to rid the Land of all those who are unworthy to live in it.

~ Shabbat Shalom ~