Klal Yisrael : Avenger of Hashem's Name

18 Tammuz 5786
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Pinchas

IMORTANT INFORMATION FOR AMERICAN JEWS...
(Courtesy of Aryeh Yosef ben Meir)

"This Will Be The Most Dangerous
Fourth Of July Yet - Here's What's Coming"

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[Excerpted from "Parashat Pinchas: Peace Through Vengeance" by Rabbi Meir Kahane as compiled by Tzipora Liron-Pinner.]

...Since G-d leaves it to good men to further the cause of goodness, after Pinchas took G-d's revenge against Zimri ben Salu and Kozbi bat Tzur, Moses appointed Pinchas leader when he sent G-d's hosts to take His revenge against the Midianites (Num. 31:6): 

“Moses sent forth the thousand men from each tribe as an army, along with Pinchas son of Elazar the Kohen.”  

Who won the “covenant of peace”, the everlasting reward of peace, if not Pinchas?  Pinchas acted zealously on G-d's behalf, taking G-d's revenge, and becoming the first “mashuach milchama”, or Kohen anointed to lead the nation in war (Deut. 20:2-4). 

Yet G-d said (Num. 25:12), “Tell him that I have given him My covenant of peace”.  Here we have a reward well-suited to the deed.  Precisely he who gives up his peace and tranquility, devoting himself to G-d's battle and to taking G-d's revenge, merits everlasting peace.  And precisely he who rebels against G-d, treating His command to fight and root out evil and evildoers with contempt, will never have peace, for there is no peace for the wicked, those who cast off their yoke.

Today, people have risen up to destroy us who are smitten with the alien [Western secular] culture.  Tragically, these include even Torah scholars and learned Jews who have pronounced that, halachically speaking, there is no state of war between us and the Arabs in our land, hence we are forbidden to treat them as enemies.  They have gone so far as to rule that if an Arab tries to attack or even to kill a Jew with a stone or weapon and flees, one may not kill him, but may only catch him and deliver him to the authorities, our impoverished regime which is better off ceasing to exist.  If someone renders a halachic ruling that there is no state of war between us and the Arabs in our midst, that we are obligated to treat them with mercy, and that it is forbidden to kill one of them even after he tries to attack and kill a Jew, that person is nothing but a “rodef” [one who attacks with the intent to kill], who collaborates with the gentiles in the killing of Jews.

[As Rav Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane puts it in his commentary on Parashat Pinchas]:  Pinchas' act of killing Zimri and afterwards meriting the peace covenant teaches us that the Torah's way of bringing peace is by making the world a better place.  The first step towards this goal is the uprooting of evil and evil-doers from the world.  “Depart from evil” (Ps. 34:15) – this is the first step in making the world a better place.  On the other hand, making peace with evil, or even worse, giving in to it, is the very opposite step that one can take if he wants to arrive at peace.  Peace is not the mixing of good and evil and the attempt to create a co-existence between them, as we have been trained to think!  The very opposite. There is no co-existence between good and evil, nor is there partnership between good people and evil people!  The Master of the Universe demands of the righteous that they burn out the evil from the world - “and you shall burn out the evil from thy midst”, the Torah commands us in so many places, for only in such a way will peace reign in the world.

~ ~ ~ 

Since we have now entered the period of the Three Weeks between 17 Tammuz and 9 Av, the regular haftarah of Pinchas is replaced with the one from Parashat Mattot -- the first of the "three haftarot of affliction."

It comes from Jeremiah 1:1 - 2:3 and includes this chilling warning... 

"I hasten My word to accomplish it.  ...From the North shall the evil loose itself upon all the inhabitants of the Land."

~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

17 Tammuz 5786
The Fast of Shiva Asar b'Tammuz 

Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah Calls for Reciting Avinu Malkeinu Throughout Bein HaMetzarim

The Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah of Shas has issued a special public proclamation calling on Jews to add the tefillah of Avinu Malkeinu to both Shacharis and Minchah throughout Bein HaMetzarim, citing what it describes as growing persecution of Torah scholars and disrespect for the Torah world.

In their letter, the members of the Moetzet write that recent weeks have seen “harsh decrees” directed against those who devote themselves to Torah study. Quoting the words of Eichah, they lament that “The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, have come to be regarded as earthen vessels, the work of a potter’s hands.”

The rabbonim recalled a similar directive issued years ago by Maran Rav Ovadia Yosef zt”l after the Israeli Supreme Court struck down the Tal Law. They wrote that “It has happened before, when bnei Torah were persecuted and efforts were made to restrict them,” and noted that at the time Rav Ovadia “cried out with a great and bitter cry.”

The proclamation states that Rav Ovadia had instructed that during periods of hardship for the Jewish people—and especially during Bein HaMetzarim—Avinu Malkeinu should be added to both Shacharis and Minchah.

The members of the Moetzet now call upon the public to follow that directive once again. “Just as then, so too now, we call upon each and every individual to fulfill his holy words by adding the prayer of Avinu Malkeinu during these days of Bein HaMetzarim, beseeching our Father in Heaven to remove from us all harsh and evil decrees.”

The proclamation also designates the upcoming fast of the Seventeenth of Tammuz as a special day of tefillah and supplication on behalf of Klal Yisroel and the Torah world. The Moetzet urged communities to gather during Minchah on the fast day for public assemblies of prayer, calling for “great and bitter outcries over the humiliation of the Torah and the persecution of those who study it.”

The letter concludes with a heartfelt blessing from the members of the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah: “May it be Hashem’s will that these days be transformed for the House of Israel into days of joy and gladness, and may we soon merit the complete redemption in the merit of the holy Torah and those who study it.”

(Courtesy of Matzav.com)

Shiva Asar b'Tammuz in the Year of Our Redemption 5786

17 Tammuz 5786

The Fast of Shiva Asar b'Tammuz

[Excerpted from Parashat Balak and the 17th of Tammuz by Daniel Pinner]

...“Five things happened to our fathers on the 17th of Tammuz… The Tablets of Stone were smashed; the Tamid [the twice-daily Burnt-Offering of two sheep, one in the morning and one at dusk] was stopped; the city-walls [of Jerusalem] were breached; Apostomos burnt the Torah; and set up an idol in the Holy Temple” (Ta’anit 4:6).

This is the reason that the 17th of Tammuz has been ordained as a fast-day for the generations. 

...The first of these disasters, the smashing of the Tablets of Stone, happened when Moshe came down from Mount Sinai and saw the Jews worshipping the golden calf.

The second, the cessation of the Tamid sacrifice, happened both during the First Temple and the Second.

According to the Rambam (Laws of Fasts 5:2) and the Mishnah Berura (549:1), the Mishnah speaks of the Tamid having ceased in the First Temple, under the reign of Tzidkiyahu (Zedekiah), the last king of Judea, who was besieged by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. “All the priests’ officers and the nation betrayed greatly, like all the abominations of the other nations, and they defiled the House of Hashem” (2 Chronicles 36:14). The Divine punishment was the invasion of Judea by the Babylonian army – and the rest is history.

According to Rabbi Ovadia of Bartenura, the Mishnah speaks of the Second Temple period, when there were no sheep to sacrifice when Jerusalem was besieged.

The Talmud describes the situation vividly: “When the Hasmonean kings fought against each other, Horkenos was outside [of Jerusalem besieging it], and Aristobolos was [besieged] within. Every day, [those inside the city] would send money out [and those outside would send sheep in; and those inside Jerusalem] would sacrifice [those sheep] for them as their Tamid offerings. There was a certain old man [inside Jerusalem] who knew Greek philosophy. He mocked them…telling those [who were outside]: As long as they occupy themselves with the Temple Service, they will never fall into your hands. The next day, when they sent their money out, they sent in a pig" (Sotah 49b, Baba Kama 82b, Menahot 64b).

Horkenos and Aristobolos were brothers, sons of King Alexander Yanai. Both claimed the throne, and led Israel into civil war. Horkenos, commanding the forces outside of Jerusalem, made a pact with the Romans, and a contingent of Roman soldiers collaborated with him in besieging Jerusalem. With the help of the Roman army, Horkenos eventually defeated his brother Aristobolos; Horkenos became king, the monarchy became incorrigibly corrupt and Roman control over Israel increased until the ultimate destruction of the Holy Temple.

The third disaster, the breaching of Jerusalem’s walls, occurred when Rome invaded in the Second Temple era, the result of a Jewish civil war.

(As Jeremiah 39:2 records, the Babylonian army breached the walls of Jerusalem on the 9th of Tammuz, which was commemorated as a day of mourning at the time. After the Romans breached the walls on the 17th, the two commemorations were combined.)

The fourth disaster, Apostomos’ burning of the Torah, occurred during the Greek-Hellenist occupation of Israel. The Tiferet Yisrael explains that Apostomos, the Greek ruler, burned the Sefer Torah which Ezra the Scribe had written, and which was kept in the Holy Temple. This Sefer Torah was the most accurate and reliable one in existence, and all others were copied from it – which is why its destruction was so catastrophic.

And the fifth disaster was the erection of an idol in the Temple. The Talmud (Yerushalmi Ta’anit 4:5) quotes two opinions. According to one, it was Apostomos who erected it upon conquering Jerusalem in the Hasmonean period (Second Temple); according to the other, the reference is to King Menashe, in the final century of the First Temple (2 Kings 21, 2 Chronicles 33).

The last four of these disasters reflect the sin of and punishment for the golden calf very clearly: they were violations of the Holy Temple and its sanctity. It is central to Judaism that our sins are always punished measure for measure, and these disasters were indeed appropriate punishments for the original sin of 17th Tammuz – the original perversion of worship of Hashem. For the fathers’ distortion of the Temple sacrifice, the sons were punished – on the same day, centuries and millennia later – by having the Temple sacrifice brutally ripped from them.

After forgiving the sin of the golden calf, God told Moshe: “Now go and lead the nation to where I have told you; behold – My angel will go before you. And on the day that I will remember, I will remember the sin for them” (Exodus 32:34). Rashi, based on a long narrative in Sanhedrin 102a, comments: “Currently I hearken to you, not to destroy them all together. But forever, forever, whenever I will remember their sins to them, I will exact from them part of the punishment for this sin, together with their other sins. And every punishment that ever comes upon Israel includes some of the punishment for the sin of the calf”.

The three-week period of mourning which the 17th of Tammuz ushers in concludes with the 9th of Av – the day which commemorates, among other disasters, the destruction of both Holy Temples and the fall of Beitar (Ta’anit 4:6).

The defeat of Israel by the Roman Empire began on 17th Tammuz when, after a four-year siege, four Roman legions (the Fifth, Twelfth, and Fifteenth to the west, and the Tenth on the Mount of Olives to the east), commanded by Titus (who nine years later would become Emperor of Rome) and his lieutenant, the renegade Jew Tiberius Julius Alexander, breached the First (innermost) Wall and captured the Antonia Fortress.

The defeat culminated with the destruction of the Holy Temple three weeks later, on the 9th of Av 3830 (70 C.E.).

But even then the Jews were not defeated, and continued fighting for their freedom for generations.

The final defeat only came on 9th of Av 3895 (135 C.E.). Bar Kochba’s forces retreated from Jerusalem to Beitar, a town in the foothills of Judea, 11 km (7 miles) south-west of Jerusalem, which became their final stand against the might and fury of Rome. 

😢

May Hashem consider our punishment fulfilled
and bring us swiftly to the Geulah Shleimah!!!

Iran and the USA: Two Spectacular and Historic Events Simultaneously

16 Tammuz 5786

...Iranian officials announced that funeral and burial ceremonies for the former Supreme Leader will take place between July 4 and July 9, 2026, following a long delay since he was killed in a joint US-Israeli air strike on his compound in February. Khamenei's death was confirmed by the Iranian government on March 1, after the February 28 strike, and the regime announced 40 days of mourning at the time.

...Officials have acknowledged that fears of an aerial strike on the funeral itself, or of a mass casualty crowd crush of the kind that killed dozens at Qassem Soleimani's 2020 funeral, forced extreme logistical and security preparations. Now, against the backdrop of reports of an emerging peace agreement between Iran and the United States following months of fighting, the regime appears to feel secure enough to move forward with the massive event.    (More details here.)

20 MN Mourners, Helicopters On Standby!
Ali Khamenei's Funeral Planning Will BLOW Your Mind!

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The United States is celebrating its 250th birthday (Semiquincentennial) with historic multi-day festivities, massive block parties, and record-breaking firework spectacles across the country. 

• Freedom 250 in Washington, D.C.: Anchored at the National Mall, this massive event features military tributes, keynote addresses, and attempts to break the world record for the largest fireworks display with a 40-minute spectacle involving 850,000 fireworks. 
• America's Block Party: Organized by the official America250 commission, this multi-day initiative (July 3–5) spans local communities, backyard cookouts, and town festivals nationwide. 
• Los Angeles Star-Studded Concert: The L.A. Memorial Coliseum is hosting a massive benefit concert headlined by Chris Stapleton and The Smashing Pumpkins, hosted by Queen Latifah. 
• Local Parades & Festivals: Towns and cities nationwide are hosting their own enhanced celebrations, such as the Salute to Independence Parade in Merrimack, New Hampshire, and the McKenzie Freedom Festival in Tennessee.
  
  10 Best Events in Washington DC
  This Summer for America 250
  
  
   

Global Preparation for the Reign of Mashiach

15 Tammuz 5786 

Winds of change are blowing, not just in America and not just in Europe, but across the globe. This change is being fueled by the process of redemption which is going to bring humanity back under the rule of one sovereign - the anointed agent of HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

The United States is widely recognized as the world's oldest continuous modern democracy.  Its democratic tradition began with the ratification of the US Constitution in 1789, establishing a system of representative government that has functioned without interruption for over two centuries. (Gemini)

Democratic rule by the people is of recent origin and is not as widespread as people living in them seem to think.

...only about 8% to 12% of the global population lives in a "full" or "liberal" democracy.

...Liberal democracies continue to be the rarest form of government in the world, with numbers falling back to 2009 levels – only 29 in total. (Source)

Furthermore, recent attempts to spread democracy throughout the world have largely failed.

Democracy is under pressure. As authoritarianism tightens its grip, democracies are struggling to maintain public confidence, putting their future at risk. (Source)

In just four days' time, Americans will be celebrating 250 years of their democratic legacy, but even the United States is not immune to this pressure. 

The United States received special attention in the 2025 V-Dem report, which identified the country as undergoing the ”fastest evolving episode of autocratization the USA has been through in modern history”. Although the data and metrics used for the report only extend through the end of 2024, researchers still included alarming findings regarding the U.S. following the election of Donald Trump, who is testing the limits of executive power at an “unprecedented scale”.

The U.S. president has employed several typical autocratic tactics such as expanding executive authority, weakening the power of Congress, launching attacks on independent institutions, undermining oversight bodies and the media, and purging and dismantling state institutions.

Following the report’s publication, US News interviewed Staffan Lindberg, an author and editor of the report, founding director of the V-Dem Institute, and a professor of political science at the University of Gothenburg. According to Lindberg, the United States will “definitely” be downgraded and reclassified in next year’s assessment. “At the pace at which it is happening”, he noted , “I would say that before the end of the summer, you no longer qualify as a democracy in the United States”, adding that “it would mean that the rule of law, the constraints of the executive, critically, that they would be gone to such an extent that we can no longer talk about even a constitutional republic.”   (Source)

So, what is the alternative? 

Leading Non-Democratic Forms of Government

Electoral Autocracies: This is currently the most widespread type of authoritarianism globally. While they maintain the facade of a democracy with institutions like parliaments and polling places, the ruling party systematically manipulates the electoral process and media to ensure they remain in power.

Single-Party States: Widely recognized as one of the most durable forms of autocracy. In this system, one political party completely monopolizes the state, and all opposition is legally suppressed. A prominent contemporary example is the People's Republic of China, which is governed by the Chinese Communist Party.

Absolute Monarchies: A system where a single monarch holds unconstrained supreme power. This hereditary rule is highly prominent in the Middle East, with examples including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. (Gemini)

Interestingly, there are 43 sovereign states in the world with a monarch serving as the head of state.  Because multiple nations share the same ruler, these 43 countries are ruled by a total of 28 distinct monarchs. (Wikipedia)

Even more interesting is a growing movement in the United States with monarchist goals...

America split from monarchy 250 years ago. Trump’s presidency is testing how far it’s come

The 250th anniversary of America’s liberation from a king kicked off with a campaign-style rally on the National Mall by President Donald Trump, whose face already stares down from banners fluttering from federal buildings across the nation’s capital.

The images illustrate how the Republican president has dominated daily life since returning to power and, to some, evoke more the style of a monarch than the leader of the world’s oldest democracy. But it’s also how he has wielded that power that has led to comparisons of an imperial reign.

Since returning to office in January 2025, Trump has nominated one of his personal lawyers to serve as attorney general, ordered the Department of Justice to pursue his political enemies, deployed the U.S. Marines to the nation’s second largest city and leveraged the presidency to enrich himself and his family.

He has demanded that comedians who mock him be fired, has slapped his name on the Kennedy Center, has pushed to seize control of elections, has filed lawsuits against news organizations whose coverage he disliked and has sued his own government seeking $10 billion in taxpayer money.

...When King Charles III visited Trump this year, the official White House X account posted an image of the two men with the caption “TWO KINGS.” At the start of his second term, Trump declared he had ended a New York City transportation program and posted: “LONG LIVE THE KING.” The posts also seemed to indicate a willingness to leverage the label and the reaction it provokes in his critics.

It is no coincidence that the main resistance movement in Trump’s second term adopted the slogan “No Kings.” Ezra Levin of Indivisible said activists were thinking ahead to 2026 and the America 250 celebration when they chose the label.

“It looks like the same kind of tyranny we were rebelling against 250 years ago,....

It might sound like "Trump Derangement Syndrome" to many, but it's not just in America...

...there are monarchist movements in most European countries, even those that did not exist with their current borders or names when there were thrones to sit on. Sometimes these movements are dangerous, as the Reichsburger movement in Germany, which sought to overthrow the government several years ago, demonstrates. Others are incredibly niche. The Danubian Restoration Movement (DRM), for example, is a youth-led organization of students in the United States, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, and Austria that seeks to resurrect the Austro-Hungarian empire by organizing Habsburg descendants. They might not march through Paris, but they do organize on Discord, a gaming and messaging board app, on Facebook and Reddit, and advertise on YouTube via “The Monarchist Channel.”

And now these European movements, which seek to resurrect a glorious past over the tumultuous present, have been joined by a growing number of American monarchists. These groups are seeking to install a kingly (or Caesar-like) ruler in the Land of the Free. Though the historical contrast with Europe is striking, American monarchists have also found a good number of historical, legal, and political precedents to work with. That, combined with anarcho-capitalist visions of a decentralized, federalist state, gives the monarchist movement in the United States a distinctly—and terrifying—American character all of its own.

...Curtis Yarvin and Neoreaction 

No one has a better claim to having kick-started the American wing of modern monarchism than tech-advocate and far-right blogger Curtis Yarvin (sometimes better known by his old pen name, Mencius Moldbug). Yarvin, who has catapulted into mainstream political discussion over the last 10 years, started out as a blog writer in the early 2000s by discussing the downsides of modern culture, rejecting democracy in favor of monarchism, and advocating for the necessity of embracing corporatization and technological revolution as a means of fixing global politics. The impact of his ideas on the New Right is hard to overstate. Most notably, the concept of “the Cathedral,” which he argues is the amalgamation of mainstream liberal news media, universities, politics, and national institutions, has become a powerful rhetorical construct within the illiberal right’s lexicon. “The Cathedral” has been echoed by now powerful Silicon Valley tech giants like Peter Thiel, and politicians like Vice President J.D. Vance, who have cited Yarvin as an influence, and are currently working hard to dismantle the ephemeral “deep state” that “the Cathedral” embodies.

His early writings, which were picked up by and expanded on by far-right figures like accelerationist Nick Land, became the foundation of the “Dark Enlightenment” philosophy that has swept its way across the intellectual milieu of Western right-leaning political thought. The advancing wave of “postliberal” thinkers, who espouse a variety of illiberal ideals, both draw on and influence the broad umbrella of “Dark Enlightenment” thought that people like Yarvin helped craft. Patrick Deneen, a prominent postliberal thinker, has recently articulated a vision for how a techno-populist (or DOGE-MAGA) alliance might work.

It goes on.  I highly recommend reading the article in its entirety here:  Modern Monarchists and the Roots of American Illiberalism.

Further to the above...

The Dark Enlightenment is an anti-democratic political philosophy that emerged in the early 2010s. It is also known as the Neoreactionary Movement (or NRx).

Core Ideology

Anti-Democracy: It completely rejects democracy, viewing it as an unstable, inefficient system that leads to societal decay.

Pro-Autocracy: It advocates for a return to authoritarianism, traditional absolute monarchies, or corporate-run city-states.The "Cathedral": It claims media, academia, and government form a unified liberal entity that enforces political correctness and controls public thought.

Techno-Absolutism: It proposes that society should be run like a technology company, with a CEO-like dictator or "sovereign" maximizing efficiency.

Anti-Egalitarianism: It rejects the idea of human equality, instead embracing strict social hierarchies and biological determinism.

Not exactly the pattern presented by the prophets and kings of ancient Israel, nor the one we are expecting from our righteous Mashiach, but it's a step in that direction and demonstrates how these winds of change really are blowing in this day and time and that they are bringing with them the restored Kingdom of God with its Davidic ruler.  The world is being prepared and it won't be in vain.

It Costs a Lot of Money NOT to Win a War

14 Tammuz 5786 

June 29, 2026  2:30 pm

The Answer to the War on Torah Learning

14 Tammuz 5786

The answer to the war on Torah learning is to increase Torah learning!! 

HaRav Landau: “Protests Are Not Our Derech And Cause A Chillul Hashem”

HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau spoke on Thursday night at a gathering at his home of dozens of Roshei Yeshivos from across Israel.

HaRav Landau said: “The Chazon Ish wrote in a letter that ‘the country of Poland, where the yeshivos are established and where the saintly Chofetz Chaim and other Gedolei haTorah reside, has the din of Eretz Yisrael, while the other countries have the din of Chutz L’Eretz.’

“In recent generations, the center of Torah has been in Eretz Yisrael,” HaRav Landau continued. “Bnei Torah from Chutz L’Eretz come to study Torah in Eretz Yisrael, and the center of Torah in Eretz Yisrael spreads Torah to every location.

“The burning Ahavas HaTorah that we saw in America and throughout the world (during the Rosh Yeshiva’s Keren Olam HaTorah trip) is inspiring. Their hearts and hands were open to support Lomdei Torah in Eretz Yisrael. These generous supporters understand well that if, chalila, Limmud Torah in Eretz Yisrael—the world’s center of Torah—would diminish, Limmud Torah elsewhere will also be diminished.

“Avreichim are the crown of creation, and the finest of Lomdei Torah. Certainly, in such a difficult time, avreichim in Eretz Yisrael must be mechazeik even more in their limmud, for they are the elite Lomdei Torah in the world’s center of Torah.

“And I have heard that the leading Roshei Yeshivos are calling to avreichim to be mechazeik themselves by studying Torah continuously, and there is no doubt that every chizzuk of Limmud Torah will help counter all the decrees.”

“All kinds of other forms of protest that we never heard from our Rabbanim of previous generations are not our derech. Very often, these protests cause a Chillul Hashem, rachmana litzlan.”

“And must also remember that the most important thing of all is complete immersion in Limmud Torah—laboring in Torah, iyun, and delving deeply into Torah. This is how Lomdei Torah continue to grow and elevate themselves. This is the greatest Kiddush Hashem, and the highest form of deveikus to Hashem—through Limmud Torah b’iyun, with depth and true toil.”

“May it be Hashem’s will that He quickly save us from all our troubles, and may we merit the complete redemption speedily in our days. Amen.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

Know This: There Is a Judge and There Is Judgment!

14 Tammuz 5786 

These are the traditional depictions of Jews and Chr*stians and if you wander around the Old City of Jerusalem, you will see that it's not caricature.  It's very true to life.  But, just like the Jews are represented in many other groups distinguishable by a wide gamut of style and dress, so, too, the Chr*stians.  Some of them even go so far as to wear cowboy attire.  Don't let it fool you though.  There is still one essential element which creates an unbridgeable divide between Jews and Chr*stians and that is the cursed cross which represents everything that is ugly and perverse and alien in that God-forsaken religion.  That will never change!!  It applies in all cases for all times.

For years this blog has documented the rise of the Hayovel Chr*stian Ministry from the beginnings at Har Brachah where they misled (according to him) the rabbi of the yishuv, claiming to be righteous gentiles, up to the blessed day when HaRav Dov Lior issued a psak din forbidding Jews to have any relations or involvement with this organization.  

Now, there is no more Hayovel.

With the deceit typical of Chr*stian Ministries, they rebranded themselves as The Israel Guys and the next generation inherits the spoils taken in contravention of Torah Law.  Here is the latest iteration of their sordid saga.  Note the logo remains the same...

Like the klipot they are, they only reap success through the auspices of Jews to whom they have attached themselves.  Every non-Jewish enemy successfully settled on our Land, has done so via the kedushah inherent in the Jews who have enabled them.  Those reshaim gamurim have much to answer for and they will most certainly be called to account.  No amount of money, kavod or "friendship" with the idol-worshipers can ever make up for what is coming their way... and soon!

The Only Person Saying Anything Worth Hearing

13 Tammuz 5786  

And not afraid to say it!!

A Critical Week Ahead

13 Tammuz 5786 

The anniversary of the Second Lebanon War is coming up on the 16th of Tammuz.  Here we are twenty years later, repeating the same mistakes, expecting a different outcome.  

...On 11 August 2006 [Av 17], the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 (UNSCR 1701) in an effort to end the hostilities, which called for disarmament of Hezbollah, Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, and for the deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces and an enlarged United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the south. The Lebanese Army began deploying in Southern Lebanon on 17 August and the blockade was lifted on 8 September.  On 1 October, most Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon, although the last of the troops continued to occupy the border-straddling village of Ghajar.

Both Hezbollah and the Israeli government claimed victory, while the Winograd Commission deemed the war a missed opportunity for Israel as it did not lead to disarmament of Hezbollah.

The Parashah for the week when the war broke out was Pinchas, whose haftarah [Yirmiyahu 1.1 - 2.3] famously includes these words:  "From the north the misfortune will break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land."

This is also the week of Parashat Pinchas, as well as the Fast of Shivah Asara b'Tammuz on Thursday [Yom Chamishi], culminating with America's 250 anniversary celebration, the 4th of July on Shabbat Kodesh!!

Speaking of Shabbat, the War on Torah is ongoing with more forced Shabbat desecration.  It never ceases, even for a day, and especially not for Shabbat. Furthermore, they care not that it is a northern city under missile and drone alerts...

Hundreds Rally in Tzfas to Protest Public Bus Service on Shabbos; Six Arrested

...Participants included observant Jews from across the spectrum of Torah-observant communities in Tzfas, who gathered to express their pain over the public operation of transportation on Shabbos and to call on the relevant authorities to halt the service.

Organizers said the protest remained orderly throughout. Demonstrators sang Shabbos songs and voiced their opposition peacefully, despite several attempts by individuals opposed to the demonstration to provoke confrontations.

...Following the demonstration, organizers issued a statement expressing satisfaction with the turnout.

“We are filled with satisfaction over the tremendous success of the gathering of such a large ציבור to cry out publicly before all that our holy Shabbos will not become trampled in the streets of the city, and over the kiddush Hashem that atones for the sin of chillul Hashem. Our intention is to continue these demonstrations and increase the number of participants as long as the transportation lines continue to operate.”

At the same time, local community activists have opened discussions with the relevant government officials in hopes of reaching an agreement that will end the ongoing Shabbos bus service in the city.

In advance of the protest, large notices posted throughout Tzfas called on residents from all of the city’s kehillos to participate in the demonstration.

In related news...

Government Secretary Pushes Bill to Freeze Arrests of Yeshivah Bochurim, Warns Israel Is ‘Approaching Civil War’

... Government Secretary Yossi Fuchs has urged Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman MK Boaz Bismuth to fast-track emergency legislation that would suspend for three months the arrests and criminal proceedings against yeshivah bochurim and bnei Torah subject to military conscription. Fuchs warned that the ongoing arrests are deepening tensions with the chareidi community and could lead to an unprecedented national rift.

In a letter sent to Bismuth, Fuchs argued that arresting bnei yeshivah has failed to advance enlistment and is instead producing the opposite effect.

“These arrests of Torah learners do not advance enlistment among the chareidi public; rather, they distance enlistment, and there is a real concern of severing the bond with the chareidi public to the point, chalilah, of reaching a civil war, and this less than a week before the beginning of the Bein HaMetzarim period,” he wrote.

Fuchs said recent developments have shown growing unrest even among chareidi families whose sons already serve in chareidi military frameworks, including combat units and chareidi hesder yeshivos. According to him, many parents had previously accepted military service by some of their sons as long as other children were able to remain in yeshivah learning. Now, however, the prospect that full-time bnei Torah could be arrested at any moment has caused many of those same families to oppose additional enlistments.

In other news...

We Are Heavy on Reward But Light on Punishment

11 Tammuz 5786

Erev Shabbat Kodesh

Parashat Balak 

I've said this before, but it's worth repeating.  

The laws of giving the benefit of the doubt and the concept of tinokot shenishbu, as well as the laws forbidding lashon hara are not fully understood and are often erroneously applied.  We lean too far to the side of chesed and shy away from judgment.  

We see this played out in the real world by the massive floods that occur all over the planet - unrestrained, destructive water is a perfect image of unbounded chesed.  It indicates an imbalance in the world.  Maybe this is what is behind the idea of justice being represented by scales, something that traces back to ancient Egypt.

The Torah shows no hesitancy, however.  This parashah describes how King Balak of Moav hired the gentile prophet Bila'am to curse Klal Yisrael.  When HKB"H would not allow that, Bila'am had to settle for explaining to King Balak the facts of life - entice Klal Yisrael to sin, rupturing the covenantal relationship with HKB"H and His wrath would fall upon them.  They would lose their Divine Protection and become vulnerable to attack and defeat.

Let's look at how it plays out at the end of Parashat Balak (Bamidbar 25.1 - 9)...

Israel settled in Shittim, and the people began to commit harlotry with the daughters of the Moabites.  They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and prostrated themselves to their gods.  Israel became attached to Baal Peor, and the anger of the Lord flared against Israel. 

The Lord said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of the people and hang them [the idol worshipers] before the Lord, facing the sun, and then the flaring anger of the Lord will be removed from Israel. 

Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Each of you shall kill the men who became attached to Baal Peor.  Then an Israelite man came and brought the Midianite woman to his brethren, before the eyes of Moses and before the eyes of the entire congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. 

Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the kohen saw this, arose from the congregation, and took a spear in his hand.  He went after the Israelite man into the chamber and drove [it through] both of them; the Israelite man, and the woman through her stomach, and the plague ceased from the children of Israel. 

Those that died in the plague numbered twenty four thousand.

Justice, weighted towards mercy, is HKB"H's way of dealing with His world and we are bidden to imitate His ways and pursue justice.  When justice is too weak or is even missing altogether from man's society, the result is pure disorder and chaos, just like a flood washing through and destroying everything in its path.  If you need a concrete example, just look to the tsunami of unchecked immigration across Europe.  Way too much chesed!!!

Haftarat Balak (Micah 6.8)...

He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord demands of you; but to do justice, to love loving-kindness, and to walk discreetly with your God.

~SHABBAT SHALOM ~ 

When Injustice Is Normalized - Doom Awaits

10 Tammuz 5786

We are one week out from the Fast of 17th Tammuz - the beginning of the Three Weeks countdown to Tisha b'Av.  You can feel the pressure and the darkness that wants to spread over us.  

I'm not sure how many people are really taking in how unjust this "draft" persecution has become.  I imagine that the vast majority of the Israeli public thinks the students deserve what is happening to them simply because they personally have never understood or agreed with their exemption from military service in the first place. 

I wracked my brain trying to think of an analogy most people could identify with and the following is the best I could come up with.  

Private car ownership is not afforded to every citizen of Israel, but there is ample public transportation available.  Now don't confuse the issue with whether citizens should even be allowed to own private cars when the roads are so overcrowded.  

Imagine that you are a new car owner and you wake up one day and the government has decided to disallow private vehicle ownership retroactively to the beginning of the calendar year.  The media reports that "road hogs" have been stealing time and space from the public by clogging up the traffic.  Overnight, you have become a criminal in the eyes of your neighbors and countrymen and are condemned to financial penalties through the loss of the car and fines imposed until proof is given that it has been disposed of.  And if you are caught continuing to drive, you will be immediately hauled off to prison.  

The State has given and the State has taken away.  What is legal today can be criminalized tomorrow.  Yesterday's yeshivah students on legal deferrals are suddenly today's "draft dodgers' or "draft evaders" and the hatred against them, through no fault of their own, is being raised to heretofore unimagined heights.

Tax Authority to Move Against Yeshivos, Threatening Tens of Millions in Lost Funding

A new Israeli government initiative targeting the Torah world is expected to begin in the coming weeks, as Israel’s Tax Authority prepares to strip tax benefits from chareidi nonprofit organizations that support yeshivos attended by students classified by the military as draft evaders.

ANTI-CHAREIDI INCITEMENT: Violence Erupts Against Chareidi Protesters Returning From Convoy Demonstration

A series of violent incidents targeting chareidi participants in Wednesday’s nationwide convoy protest has intensified concerns over rising anti-chareidi hostility, with several confrontations reported across the country and one particularly disturbing altercation taking place on Highway 1 as demonstrators returned home.

The most serious incident occurred Wednesday evening when a motorist was filmed attacking a vehicle carrying chareidi protesters traveling on Highway 1 toward Tel Aviv. Video footage circulated online shows the enraged driver smashing a side mirror and attempting to assault those inside the vehicle

Warning Issued Against “Middlemen” as Organization Says 48 Yeshivah Bochurim Are Currently Held in Military Prison

The head of an organization that assists bnei yeshivah in dealing with Israel’s military authorities warned Wednesday night that attorneys and self-described fixers are exploiting the distress of yeshivah students and their families, charging large sums of money while often leaving the bochurim in even greater legal jeopardy.

I'm afraid they are coming for the the religious girls' exemption next...

Several haredi rabbis protesting women in IDF tank units skip meeting with IDF chief Zamir

...In general, Zamir and the IDF have sought to reach out for a dialogue with the opposition rabbis. But to date, these rabbis have made cutting off contact regarding the issue part of their strategy and a sign of their resolve to resist the change.

Regarding the rabbis present, Zamir told them about the IDF’s desperate need for additional soldiers, from any sector of society, noting that women are a critical part of the pool for soldiers within Israeli society.

Hundreds of female IDF officers to Zamir: ‘Exclusion of women threatens national security’

Officers warned pressure from outside religious actors is damaging military discipline and operational effectiveness, while Zamir told rabbis army needs every combat soldier, male and female, to meet its operational needs.

I can hear it now from the Moderns, the Zionists, and the Western advocates, so what is wrong with that?

May HKB"H have great mercy upon us and send us Mashiach NOW!!!

* * *

Cutting Loose From Our Roots Is A Death Sentence

9 Tammuz 5786

I try to stay informed, but somehow this got past me.  Until now, I had not registered an entity calling itself the October Council.

The October Council is an Israeli activist organization formed by hundreds of bereaved families, former hostages, and other citizens directly affected by the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught.

The council is primarily known for leading a sustained, high-profile public campaign demanding the formation of a formal, independent State Commission of Inquiry to investigate the systemic failures that led to the October 7 massacre.  (Source)

This is what sparked my interest now...

October Council announces day of protest marking 1,000 days of war on July 2     [Shiva Asar b'Tammuz - 17th of Tammuz!]

The October Council announced it will hold a day of protest next Thursday, July 2, marking one thousand days since the start of the war. The day of protest will include ceremonies, demonstrations, protests, convoys, a nationwide moment of silence and a central rally at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.

Instead of quiet fasting, contemplation, repenting and internalizing our sins, as well as the sins of our ancestors, as our 3500-years tradition requires, this is what the Zionist State of all its citizens looks like - nothing "Jewish" about it at all!! 

Yes, there is a split in the nation and it developed according to a plan by the rebels against Hashem and His Torah.  But the religious are not to blame.  It is these who purposely go a different way - their own selfish way - and thereby create this division which did not exist before.  

They have the gall to call the faithful-to-Torah religious public to give up the Torah and join them in the name of unity of brothers!!  Surely, they know the significance of this day, but they must strip it of everything truly meaningful and substitute something newfound and created in their own image and according to their own goyishe "values."

They are not our brothers because they have removed themselves from the covenant that binds us together as brothers!!!!

The greatest tragedy of these past 1000 days since October 7, 2023 is that the same people still have not learned the true meaning behind it.  Their rebellious hearts are not prepared to accept it.  It would mean humbling themselves before their God and this they are not prepared to do.  The ego of I never did anything to deserve this is too strong.  It implies either that there is no God in charge or that He is unjust in His ways.  Either way they condemn themselves and others who follow in their wake.

Let the Truth Frame the Narrative!

9 Tammuz 5786

People who continue to argue whether chareidi men have any Torah obligation to serve in a Jewish army to protect the Jewish people are missing the point altogether.  Israel is not a "Jewish" State and there is no "Jewish" army, and what they are trying to force these young men to do is join their fight against their own families and institutions which, when it comes down to it, is actually war against HKB"H himself!!  

They mean to assimilate chareidi Jews out of existence in their so-called "Jewish" State that's not!

Police Reviewing ‘Urban Intifada’ Remarks After Goldknopf Demands Criminal Investigation

Israeli police have begun reviewing calls for an “urban intifada” against the chareidi community after United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzchok Goldknopf demanded a criminal investigation into former Arad Mayor Nissan Ben Hamo over remarks he said amounted to incitement.

...The outcome of that examination remains unclear, and no decision has yet been announced regarding whether a formal criminal investigation will be opened.

Soldiers’ Wives Are Outraged By Photo Of Mixed Sleeping Arrangements In Lebanon

The wives of soldiers serving in Lebanon published a photo showing mixed sleeping arrangements in the quarters of an armored battalion commander in Lebanon, Arutz Sheva reported.

The footage shows a female soldier sleeping next to male soldiers in close proximity, with the foot of her bed literally touching the male soldiers’ beds.

The footage, which reached the wives of soldiers in the battalion, caused a public uproar.

The wife of one of the soldiers wrote: “The battalion commander is religious. I send my husband to fight and trust him 100 percent, but this is inanity and an abnormal situation that he is forced to sleep in the same room with a woman, head-to-toe. Where are the elected officials? Where is the Chief Military Rabbi?”

The following excerpt was publicized via the "Anglos for Bennett" Facebook group today...

“In order to repair Israel, a New Contract is needed - a reconstruction project for state systems - that restores Israel as safe and successful. We know exactly how to do this and restore hope for the people of Israel.”

....“There will be a New Contract here when it comes to integrating the ultra-Orthodox. Under this new contract, we’ll dismantle the ultra-Orthodox state within a state. We’ll build here one Jewish state – democratic, prosperous and strong.”

“Look - when it comes to the state’s relationship with the ultra-Orthodox, we’re on a slow-walking path towards suicide. Over the years, an independent, anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox state has arisen under our noses, funded by the state. It’s insane!”

This campaign of rebranding yeshivah students as criminals - "draft dodgers/ draft evaders" - is a tactic for destroying the Torah world.  As such, it must be fought by every Torah-loving/Torah observing Jew!  

I'm unconvinced that Kaplan-style protests or automobile caravans are the way to do it, but at least somebody is trying to do something and hopefully, as a result, Hashem will take mercy on us and bring us Mashiach to lead and guide us on what should properly be done.
_________________________________

RELATED:  Bennett calls to dismantle illegal settlement outposts

...“What’s on state land, and is done in a legal manner, I give it my blessing. I’m in favor of legal settlement in Area C,” he maintained.

...“In my vision, ultimately Area C will be part of the State of Israel, Areas A and B will be part of a Palestinian autonomy,” Bennett told Kan.

We Are All On Shaky Ground

8 Tammuz 5786

I woke up from a nightmare this morning and found myself literally trying to climb the wall next to my bed.

My regular readers will know that I'm not in the habit of sharing dreams (aside from the one about the moon), but this one I knew immediately carried an important message that had to be shared.

The beginning is blurry, but I was trying to do something important and I hired a person to help me, but every time I turned around, I had to hunt them down and redirect them from tasks that I had not assigned.  All around me people were busy doing things, but each was in his own little world.  People were not united around a single task but each was off on his own agenda and working very hard and very diligently at it.

At some point I was outside the building where I had been working away and as I was walking back towards it, the ground appeared to rise up like an undulating wave.  I thought to myself what a strange optical illusion and commented on it to someone nearby.  My body felt the slightest tremor, like I was imagining it, and I said, it's weirdly like an earthquake.  Then the shaking got real and I was back inside the building.

An earthquake struck and rubble was falling from the ceilings, floors were canted up at weird angles and debris blocked the halls.  Everyone was stumbling around looking for a way out, but every approach to an exit was blocked.  At first it would look like a way out and just as we got to it, it became blocked for one reason or another.

I kept asking people for help, to organize to come up with a solution, but no one would cooperate. 

Finally, I saw that this was yad Hashem and that unless we did teshuvah and ask for His help, we had no chance to survive.  I started yelling for people to come and listen, to gather and give their attention so I could tell them that.  

People filled the room but they were all talking at the same time but not to each other and no one seemed to be listening.  I saw a woman with no clothes on* complaining about being disturbed.  If we had the nerve to call everyone "right now" then we had to accept her in whatever state she was in at the moment and she had no shame about it.

One man said in a regretful voice that he had left his shoes someplace and really wished he had them now.  Somehow I knew where they were and we went and got them, then I realized that I also had no shoes on and that it was dangerous to walk around barefoot in all the debris.

The next moment, an idea occurred to me, a place where we still might be able to get out of the building, a place with a stable connection to the building where we could all get out.  The land had kept shifting and falling away all this time and it was like we were nearly afloat, only tethered at one point.  I went and found it and though I yelled and yelled to people to come and help me, only one woman was nearby, and she just would not do anything to help.  No one was coming.  

Next to the building was like a boardwalk with posts at intervals.  The land was splintering off at the point where it connected to the building.  Now, it began to slide and I was clutching at the boards on the other side trying to keep us from sliding away.  I think this is the point when I begin to pray as earnestly as I have ever done.

Until then, there had been time for all of us to climb out of the building to safety on the other more stable side.  I thought if only someone would help, we could throw some rope over to tie the building to one of those posts and that would buy us crucial minutes more, but the slide was gaining momentum and I saw nothing close to that was ever going to happen.  That's when I tried to save myself by hoisting my body over to the boardwalk and woke up flailing at the wall in my bedroom.

*I immediately connected the vision of that naked woman to the most disturbing video I had seen this week.  It was at one of the chareidi hafganot, yeshivah boys in their suits and hats blocking a highway and an older woman in only the skimpiest underwear walking among them, confronting them, pushing her body against them, one after another, just wandering with a smug smile on her face.  The boys tried to get away from her, turning this way and that, shoving her off themselves.  No police interfered with her.  They were busy elsewhere,  viciously beat our sons and brothers, dragging their pants off of them and leaving them in their underwear.

This was the real world and the double exposure was also a message.

If you did not see it, this might sound like another nightmare and it was, but a waking one.  It really happened, and it was the most shocking thing I have seen yet and still it does not appear to make an impression on anyone.  Nothing changes.  

I keep expecting people to wake up to how dire our current situation is.  The information is out there and the images to prove it.  I've tried to spin recent events positively in my own mind, because there is a positive side, no doubt about it.  But, we can't just ignore the negatives.  They must be recognized, confronted and corrected or we are all going to pay the price of ignorance and apathy.