4 Nisan 5774
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Metzora: Leprosy and Israel
by Daniel Pinner
Dedicated to the memory of Barry (Baruch Leib) Hoffmann z”l, who passed away last Friday, 26th Adar II (28th March). Yehi zichro baruch.
The Torah began speaking about tzara’at (usually, though inaccurately, rendered as “leprosy”) back in Parashat Tazria (13:1), and this somewhat unappetizing subject will continue until the end of Chapter 14 – about two-thirds of Parashat Metzora – after which the Torah will continue with male and female bodily discharges and their aftermaths.
After dealing with the tzara’at-affliction of human bodies, the Torah continues by speaking about the tzara’at-affliction of houses: “Hashem spoke to Moshe and to Aaron saying: When you come to the Land of Canaan, which I give you as a holding, and I will give a tzara’at-affliction in a house of the Land of your holding, then he whose house it is will come and tell the Kohen [Priest] saying: Something akin to an affliction has appeared to me in the house” (Leviticus 14:33-35).
Coming in the midst of the subject of tzara’at-affliction – and the equally unappetizing subjects that the Torah deals with in somewhat gruesome detail both before and after – the phrase “when you come to the Land of Canaan…” seems out of place.
The Ibn Ezra (Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra, Spain, Morocco, England, Israel, and France, 1092-1167) explains: “The implication of ‘when you come to the Land of Canaan’ is that this applies solely in the Land, because of the great elevatedness of the Land, because there the Holy Temple is in their midst, and [God’s] glory is in the midst of the Holy Temple”. Like so much of what the Ibn Ezra writes, this comment is like a flash of lightning: brief, burning in its intensity, and so dazzling in its brilliance as to illuminate an entire landscape.
Clearly, the affliction of tzara’at affects people and houses solely within the Land of Israel. So here, we have a simple way of avoiding this most hideous of afflictions: stay outside of Israel. Remain in the desert, remain in Egypt (or America, or France, or England, or wherever), and you will never have to face this disgusting disfigurement.
This does not seem to be a particularly good marketing ploy for Aliyah: “Come to Israel – and experience bodily disfigurements, pus, sores, and boils! Only in the Holy Land can you undergo the novelty of God turning your house, your garments, and your body weird colours if you disobey certain Mitzvot!” I venture to suggest that any advertising executive would strongly advise Nefesh B’Nefesh or the Aliyah Department of the Jewish Agency that this is poor salesmanship. Was this really the best timing for telling the Jews what awaited them in Israel?
I suggest the following explanation: the phrase el eretz K’na’an (“to the land of Canaan”) occurs only twice in the entire Torah – here, and in the verse “Hashem spoke to Moshe in the plains of Moab, by the Jordan, at Jericho, saying: Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: When you pass over the Jordan to the land of Canaan, you shall dispossess all the inhabitants of the Land before you, and eliminate all their figured stones, and all their molten images shall you eliminate, and all their idolatrous altars shall you demolish” (Numbers 33:50-52).
This, too, seems to be a somewhat discouraging message: after forty years wandering through the desert, the Jews surely wanted to enter the Land of Israel peacefully, to rest at last, to start building for their future. But God instructs Moshe to warn them that immediately upon entering their Land, they would have to wage war. Is this really the best message to give? Come home to Israel – and there, instead of living in tranquility as you do in the desert, with no enemies around you, you will have to fight for your lives and for your homes, you can have the privilege of having friends and family – perhaps yourself! – killed in battle. Is this really the sort of message that is designed to promote Aliyah?
The answer is a resounding Yes! The very words “to the land of Canaan” should evoke in every Jew such a yearning, that he will long even for these tribulations. “God gave the Jews three wonderful gifts, but all can be acquired only through suffering: the Torah, the Land of Israel, and the World to Come” (Brachot 5a, Shmot Rabbah 1:1, and Tanhuma, Shmot 1), and undergoing the suffering to earn any of these gifts is not merely a worthwhile price to pay, but an honour to undergo.
Basic training may not be everyone’s idea of fun – but it is an honour to have undergone that grueling mission for the sake of the Land of Israel. The affliction of tzara’at may be unappealing, but better to suffer this affliction in Israel than to be bodily healthy anywhere else. True, you can avoid it completely by remaining in the desert, in exile – but then, neither will you experience the sanctity and glory of the Shekhinah, which can exist solely in the Land of Israel.
Indeed, other midrashim give an added dimension to the three divine gifts: “God gave the Jews three wonderful gifts, and the nations of the world lust after them, and all can be acquired only through suffering: the Torah, the Land of Israel, and the World to Come” (Mekhilta de-Rabbi Yishma’el, Yitro 10; Sifrei, Deuteronomy 32; Yalkut Shimoni, Exodus 303).
Over and over again in the two parashot Tazria and Metzora, the Torah decrees that only a Kohen is authorised to pronounce whether or not a disfigurement constitutes tzara’at. As the Rambam expresses it in the Mishneh Torah, “Even though all are qualified to see the afflictions, ritual impurity and purity depend upon the Kohen. How does this work? – If a Kohen does not know how to see [and identify the signs], then a Sage looks and tells him: ‘Say it is impure!’, and the Kohen says, ‘Impure!’. [The Sage says], ‘Say it is pure!’, and the Kohen says, ‘Pure!’. [The Sage says], ‘Isolate him!’, and he isolates him, as it says ‘according to their [the Kohanim’s] word shall be every controversy and every affliction’ (Deuteronomy 21:5)” (Laws of Tzara’at-Affliction 9:2).
The Midrash relates that “a certain Kohen who would see the tzara’at-afflictions became impoverished, so he decided to leave Israel. He called his wife and said to her: Because people have become accustomed to come to me for me to see their tzara’at-afflictions, it is difficult for me to leave them. So come, and I will teach you so that you will be able to discern the signs of the tzara’at-afflictions: if you see that the well-springs of a person’s hair have dried up then you will know that he is affected, because God has created a separate well-spring [in medical terms, a follicle] for every single hair to drink from. If the well-spring dries up, then the hair dries up. His wife said to him: Well, if God has created a separate well-spring for every single hair to drink from, then you, who are a human – how many hairs do you have?! And your children rely upon you for their sustenance! Will God not all the more so ensure your income?! And so she did not allow him to leave Israel” (Tanhuma, Tazria 6).
This Kohen’s wife understood – and taught her husband – that we can learn God’s love and protection for us even from the laws of tzara’at and the signs of its afflictions.
The Land of Israel is such a wonderful gift that every Jew should be willing to live here, even knowing that here he will be punished for his sins in a way that cannot happen anywhere else. Because here, every Jew will also receive rewards that he cannot even conceive of anywhere else; and here, and nowhere else, every Jew can bask in the holiness of the Shekhinah.
04 April 2014
03 April 2014
America Run Amok
3 Nisan 5774
Iraq, Afghanistan, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Ukraine - these are some of the nations who have experienced "regime change" brought about through U.S. machinations. Like I learned in my senior U.S. government class in high school - "War is big business." And rebuilding after the wars is even bigger business.
The public doesn't know the half of what the U.S. is doing around the world. Here is another example:
US Secretly Built ‘Cuban Twitter’ To Stir Unrest
The U.S. government masterminded the creation of a “Cuban Twitter” — a communications network designed to undermine the communist government in Cuba, built with secret shell companies and financed through foreign banks, The Associated Press has learned.
The project, which lasted more than two years and drew tens of thousands of subscribers, sought to evade Cuba’s stranglehold on the Internet with a primitive social media platform. First, the network would build a Cuban audience, mostly young people; then, the plan was to push them toward dissent.
Yet its users were neither aware it was created by a U.S. agency with ties to the State Department, nor that American contractors were gathering personal data about them, in the hope that the information might be used someday for political purposes.
...USAID and its contractors went to extensive lengths to conceal Washington’s ties to the project, according to interviews and documents obtained by the AP. They set up front companies in Spain and the Cayman Islands to hide the money trail, and recruited CEOs without telling them they would be working on a U.S. taxpayer-funded project.
“There will be absolutely no mention of United States government involvement,” according to a 2010 memo from Mobile Accord Inc., one of the project’s creators. “This is absolutely crucial for the long-term success of the service and to ensure the success of the Mission.”
...At a 2011 speech at George Washington University, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. helps people in “oppressive Internet environments get around filters.” Noting Tunisia’s role in the Arab Spring, she said people used technology to help “fuel a movement that led to revolutionary change.”
..."Mock ad banners will give it the appearance of a commercial enterprise,” one written proposal obtained by the AP said. Behind the scenes, ZunZuneo’s computers were also storing and analyzing subscribers’ messages and other demographic information, including gender, age, “receptiveness” and “political tendencies.” USAID believed the demographics on dissent could help it target its other Cuba programs and “maximize our possibilities to extend our reach.”
The United States has no respect for other nations' sovereignty. Read the entire report here.
Iraq, Afghanistan, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Ukraine - these are some of the nations who have experienced "regime change" brought about through U.S. machinations. Like I learned in my senior U.S. government class in high school - "War is big business." And rebuilding after the wars is even bigger business.
The public doesn't know the half of what the U.S. is doing around the world. Here is another example:
US Secretly Built ‘Cuban Twitter’ To Stir Unrest
The U.S. government masterminded the creation of a “Cuban Twitter” — a communications network designed to undermine the communist government in Cuba, built with secret shell companies and financed through foreign banks, The Associated Press has learned.
The project, which lasted more than two years and drew tens of thousands of subscribers, sought to evade Cuba’s stranglehold on the Internet with a primitive social media platform. First, the network would build a Cuban audience, mostly young people; then, the plan was to push them toward dissent.
Yet its users were neither aware it was created by a U.S. agency with ties to the State Department, nor that American contractors were gathering personal data about them, in the hope that the information might be used someday for political purposes.
...USAID and its contractors went to extensive lengths to conceal Washington’s ties to the project, according to interviews and documents obtained by the AP. They set up front companies in Spain and the Cayman Islands to hide the money trail, and recruited CEOs without telling them they would be working on a U.S. taxpayer-funded project.
“There will be absolutely no mention of United States government involvement,” according to a 2010 memo from Mobile Accord Inc., one of the project’s creators. “This is absolutely crucial for the long-term success of the service and to ensure the success of the Mission.”
...At a 2011 speech at George Washington University, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. helps people in “oppressive Internet environments get around filters.” Noting Tunisia’s role in the Arab Spring, she said people used technology to help “fuel a movement that led to revolutionary change.”
..."Mock ad banners will give it the appearance of a commercial enterprise,” one written proposal obtained by the AP said. Behind the scenes, ZunZuneo’s computers were also storing and analyzing subscribers’ messages and other demographic information, including gender, age, “receptiveness” and “political tendencies.” USAID believed the demographics on dissent could help it target its other Cuba programs and “maximize our possibilities to extend our reach.”
The United States has no respect for other nations' sovereignty. Read the entire report here.
Muslims: "Syria is a Messianic War"
3 Nisan 5774
Apocalyptic prophecies drive both sides to Syrian battle for end of time
Conflict in Syria kills hundreds of thousands of people and spreads unrest across the Middle East. Iranian forces battle anti-Shi'ite fighters in Damascus, and the region braces for an ultimate showdown.
If the scenario sounds familiar to an anxious world watching Syria's devastating civil war, it resonates even more with Sunni and Shi'ite fighters on the frontlines - who believe it was all foretold in 7th Century prophecies.
..."If you think all these mujahideen came from across the world to fight Assad, you're mistaken," said a Sunni Muslim jihadi who uses the name Abu Omar and fights in one of the many anti-Assad Islamist brigades in Aleppo.
"They are all here as promised by the Prophet. This is the war he promised - it is the Grand Battle," he told Reuters, using a word which can also be translated as slaughter.
On the other side, many Shi'ites from Lebanon, Iraq and Iran are drawn to the war because they believe it paves the way for the return of Imam Mahdi - a descendant of the Prophet who vanished 1,000 years ago and who will re-emerge at a time of war to establish global Islamic rule before the end of the world.
According to Shi'ite tradition, an early sign of his return came with the 1979 Iranian revolution, which set up an Islamic state to provide fighters for an army led by the Mahdi to wage war in Syria after sweeping through the Middle East.
...Abu Hsaasan, a 65 year old pensioner from south Lebanon, said he once thought the prophecies of the end of days would take centuries to come about.
"Things are moving fast. I never thought that I would be living the days of the Imam. Now, with every passing day I am more and more convinced that it is only a matter of few years before he appears."
Apocalyptic prophecies drive both sides to Syrian battle for end of time
Conflict in Syria kills hundreds of thousands of people and spreads unrest across the Middle East. Iranian forces battle anti-Shi'ite fighters in Damascus, and the region braces for an ultimate showdown.
If the scenario sounds familiar to an anxious world watching Syria's devastating civil war, it resonates even more with Sunni and Shi'ite fighters on the frontlines - who believe it was all foretold in 7th Century prophecies.
..."If you think all these mujahideen came from across the world to fight Assad, you're mistaken," said a Sunni Muslim jihadi who uses the name Abu Omar and fights in one of the many anti-Assad Islamist brigades in Aleppo.
"They are all here as promised by the Prophet. This is the war he promised - it is the Grand Battle," he told Reuters, using a word which can also be translated as slaughter.
On the other side, many Shi'ites from Lebanon, Iraq and Iran are drawn to the war because they believe it paves the way for the return of Imam Mahdi - a descendant of the Prophet who vanished 1,000 years ago and who will re-emerge at a time of war to establish global Islamic rule before the end of the world.
According to Shi'ite tradition, an early sign of his return came with the 1979 Iranian revolution, which set up an Islamic state to provide fighters for an army led by the Mahdi to wage war in Syria after sweeping through the Middle East.
...Abu Hsaasan, a 65 year old pensioner from south Lebanon, said he once thought the prophecies of the end of days would take centuries to come about.
"Things are moving fast. I never thought that I would be living the days of the Imam. Now, with every passing day I am more and more convinced that it is only a matter of few years before he appears."
02 April 2014
Is the Gateway to Hell About to Open?
2 Nisan 5774
The United States thinks he sits supreme - that he can do as he pleases and no one can take him down: "The wickedness of your heart enticed you, who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says to himself, 'Who will bring me down to the earth?'" (Ovadia 1:3)
He thinks he can disrupt and destroy millions of lives around the world by "promoting regime change" for personal gain, legalize and promote "gay marriage" around the world and G-d alone knows what else, and there will simply be no consequences: "If you go up high like an eagle, and if you place your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says the Lord."
There is a bubbling cauldron already prepared at the gateway to hell. The United States - its people as well as its leaders - had better get some awareness of Who really rules the world and begin to do teshuva before it is too late...
Yellowstone Volcano Eruption in 2014? Are Animals Fleeing Park As ‘An Alert’?
SEE ALSO: Warning signs that Yellowstone may erupt
The United States thinks he sits supreme - that he can do as he pleases and no one can take him down: "The wickedness of your heart enticed you, who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says to himself, 'Who will bring me down to the earth?'" (Ovadia 1:3)
He thinks he can disrupt and destroy millions of lives around the world by "promoting regime change" for personal gain, legalize and promote "gay marriage" around the world and G-d alone knows what else, and there will simply be no consequences: "If you go up high like an eagle, and if you place your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says the Lord."
There is a bubbling cauldron already prepared at the gateway to hell. The United States - its people as well as its leaders - had better get some awareness of Who really rules the world and begin to do teshuva before it is too late...
Yellowstone Volcano Eruption in 2014? Are Animals Fleeing Park As ‘An Alert’?
SEE ALSO: Warning signs that Yellowstone may erupt
28 March 2014
Parshat Tazria - HaChodesh 5774
26 Adar Bet 5774
Parashat Tazria/Shabbat Hachodesh: Blood of Redemption
by Daniel Pinner
Dedicated to the memory of Dr Toni (Taube) Conrad z”l, born in Poland, survived the Holocaust, fought against the Nazis in Poland and Russia, survived a forced-labour camp in Germany, and passed away last Thursday, 18th Adar II (20th March) aged 91. May she rest in peace.
This year 5774, as in all leap years and only in leap years, Parashot Tazria and Metzora are read separately. And this year, as in about two-thirds of all leap years, Parashat Tazria coincides with Shabbat Hachodesh.
Shabbat Hachodesh is the Shabbat which either coincides with or immediately precedes the first of Nisan. The Maftir-reading is Exodus 12:1-20, the immediate prelude to the Exodus: “Hashem said to Moshe and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, This month shall be the beginning of your months, it is the first of the months of your year” (Exodus 12:1-2).
This, the mitzvah to institute and calibrate a calendar, is the first national mitzvah that God ever gave us.
God continues with His charge to Moshe and Aaron: “Speak to the entire Congregation of Israel saying, On the tenth of this month they shall take for themselves – each man – a lamb or kid for each family, a lamb or kid for each household… You shall keep it under guard until the fourteenth day of this month, then they shall slaughter it – the entire community of the Congregation of Israel – towards evening. Then they shall take of its blood and daub it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they will eat it. They shall eat the meat on that night, roasted in fire, and matzos; they shall eat it with bitter herbs” (vs. 3-8).
This was an act of defiance, difficult for us to comprehend. God commanded the Jews to take a lamb or kid (the Hebrew word “se” connotes either), the god which the Egyptians worshipped, to keep it under guard for three days, tied to their bed-posts (Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, Parashat Hachodesh s.v. dabru; Yalkut Shimoni, Bo 191) before slaughtering it in sight of the Egyptians.
For a nation that had been enslaved by the Egyptians for generations, conditioned to defer to them and cringe before their whips, trained throughout their lives to relate to the Egyptians as overlords with the power of life and death, slaughtering their erstwhile masters’ god in public provided the catharsis they needed to smash the last emotional and spiritual chains binding them to Egyptian servitude.
The Midrash has a very beautiful and very moving allegory. “Why did the Torah decree that the Pesach sacrifice be taken four days before its sacrifice? – Rabbi Mattia ben Cheresh said: [The prophet] said, ‘I passed above you and I saw you, and behold, your time was a time of love’ (Ezekiel 16:8). The time had come for God to fulfil His oath to Abraham our father, that He would redeem his descendants. But they had no mitzvot to perform in whose merit they would deserve redemption, as [the prophet] continues, ‘your breasts were full and your hair was grown, but you were bare and naked’ (ibid.) – naked of all mitzvot. So God gave them two mitzvot – the mitzvah of the Pesach sacrifice and the mitzvah of circumcision – for them to perform so that they could deserve to be redeemed, as [the prophet] said, ‘I passed above you and I saw you wallowing in your blood, and I said: In your blood you shall live, and I said: In your blood you shall live’ (v. 6)” (Mechilta de-Rabbi Yishmael, Bo, Masechta de-Pis’cha 5 s.v. ve-hayah lachem le-mishmeret).
The prophet Ezekiel repeats the phrase “in your blood you shall live”, suggesting that we would “live” – meaning be redeemed – in the merit of two mitzvot involving blood: the blood of the Pesach sacrifice and the blood of circumcision.
God had commanded Abraham to circumcise himself and all the males of his household when he was 99 years old, and all his male descendants were commanded to be circumcised at age eight days from that day henceforth (Genesis 17:10-27). However, God formally gave the nation as a whole the mitzvah of circumcision 402 years later, in the opening verses of Parashat Tazria: “A woman who conceives and gives birth to a male…on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised” (Leviticus 12:2-3).
The Ohr ha-Chayim (Rabbi Chayim ben Atar, Morocco and Israel, 1696-1743), commenting on Parashat Tazria, asks why God saw necessary to repeat the mitzvah of circumcision here, after He had already given it to Abraham and his descendants. “If it is in order to tell us that we must circumcise by day [‘…the eighth day…’] and not by night, and if it is to inform us to circumcise [on the eighth day] even if that day is Shabbat…then this is still puzzling: why did God not write the details of these laws back in the section of the circumcision in Parashat Lech Lecha? Maybe God did not decree these details when He commanded Abraham so that no one should think that God subordinated Shabbat to circumcision only for the forefathers who had not received the Torah and the severity of Shabbat, but that Israel, who had been commanded by God that ‘those who desecrate [Shabbat] will be put to death’ (Exodus 31:14), were not to over-ride Shabbat” (commentary to Leviticus 12:3).
The Talmudic tractate Kritot begins by listing all 36 sins which are punishable by karet (literally “being cut off”). Karet is variously explained as dying prematurely (Sifra, Emor 14:4), either before the age of 50 (Moed Katan 28a, Yerushalmi Bikkurim 2:1, Semachot 3:8, Tosafot Shabbat 25a) or between the ages of 50 and 60 (Rabba’s opinion in Moed Katan 28a). Karet is also explained to mean being “cut of” both in this world and in the next world (Sanhedrin 90b, Sifrei Shelach Lecha 112); also that “if he has children he will bury them, if he has no children he will die childless” (Yevamot 55a).
Of the 36 transgression which incur karet, 34 are negative – that is to say, the Jew incurs karet by committing a specific forbidden action, such as worshipping an idol, eating forbidden fats (chelev) or blood, eating chametz during Pesach, or eating on Yom Kippur.
The only two positive commandments which incur karet for transgressing them are circumcision and the Pesach sacrifice – that is to say, these are the only two mitzvot for which a Jew can incur karet by doing nothing.
During the centuries of Egyptian subjugation, most of the Jews had abandoned the mitzvah of circumcision; only the Tribe of Levi were still circumcised, resisting assimilation when times were good and persecution later on (Shemot Rabbah 1:8 and 19:5).
Now, on the very threshold of redemption, God told Moshe and Aaron to give the Children of Israel two mitzvot, both of which involved blood, in whose merit they would earn their redemption. Circumcision and the Paschal sacrifice – two mitzvot which are intimately intertwined.
The Midrash depicts this beautifully: “When Israel saw that uncircumcised men were forbidden to eat of the Pesach sacrifice, all Israel arose without delay and circumcised their servants and their sons and all those who were to leave with them… This is like a king who made a banquet for his beloved friends. The king said: If my seal is not on every one of the guests, then none of them may enter! Similarly, when God made a banquet of meat roasted in fire with matzos and bitter herbs upon redeeming them from suffering, He said to them: If Abraham’s seal is not in your flesh, you may not taste of it! Immediately all those who had been born in Egypt were circumcised without delay… The blood of the Pesach sacrifice mingled with the blood of the circumcision, and God passed above them and took each one of them and kissed him and blessed him, as it says ‘I passed above you and I saw you wallowing in your blood, and I said: In your blood you shall live, and I said: In your blood you shall live’ – you will live in [the merit of] the blood of the Pesach sacrifice, you will live in [the merit of] the blood of circumcision” (Shemot Rabbah 19:5).
And the intimate connexion between circumcision and redemption continues: “Shimon the Yemeni says, in the merit of circumcision I split the sea for them” (Mechilta de-Rabbi Yishmael, Beshallach, Masechta de-Vayehi 4, s.v. vayomer Hashem el Moshe; Mechilta de-Rabbi Shimon bay Yochay 14; Yalkut Shimoni, Exodus 233).
And forty years later, when Joshua led us across the River Jordan into the Land of Israel on the 10th of Nisan (Joshua 4:19), forty years to the day after they had been circumcised in Egypt. And immediately after entering the Land, “Hashem said to Joshua: Make stone knives [alternatively: sharp knives] and circumcise the Children of Israel again” (Joshua 5:2), because the Children of Israel had neglected the mitzvah of circumcision during the forty-year desert trek due to the hardships and dangers of circumcising while travelling (vs. 4-8).
Now, back home in their Land and about to offer the Pesach sacrifice for the first time in a generation, they perforce had to prepare themselves by being circumcised.
At that time and under those circumstances, circumcision demanded considerable self-sacrifice. For our generation today, circumcision is so acceptable and well-organised that it demands minimal self-sacrifice.
The Pesach sacrifice, by contrast, is infinitely harder. True, one who is forcibly prevented from offering the Pesach sacrifice on the Temple Mount is exempt from the obligation (Pesachim 9:1; Rambam, Laws of Pesach Sacrifice 5:1-2). Given the unfortunate reality today, every Jew is forcibly prevented from offering the Pesach sacrifice on the Temple Mount by the combined forces of the Waqf and the Israeli police.
Nevertheless, we can pray and – more importantly – actively strive to bring the Pesach sacrifice on the Temple Mount. The Pesach sacrifice can be offered even without the Holy Temple having been built yet: it can be slaughtered anywhere on the Temple Mount (Zevachim 5:8) and its blood dashed against an altar 1 cubit by 1 cubit (about 45 cm or 18 inches) and 3 cubits high.
Now it is frequently argued that the Pesach sacrifice cannot be offered by a Jew who has contracted the ritual uncleanness that derives from a dead body, and since we all have this uncleanness today, and it can be cleansed solely by means of the Red Cow (which constituted last week’s Torah-reading), it would appear that consequently today we cannot offer the Pesach sacrifice.
However the Mishnah tells us that “the Pesach sacrifice that is brought in ritual uncleanness is eaten in ritual uncleanness, because its sole purpose in being brought was to be eaten” (Pesachim 7:5), which is the halachah in practice (Rambam, Laws of Pesach Sacrifice 7:5).
The Mishnah continues: “If the [entire] Congregation, or the majority of it, became ritually unclean, or if the Kohanim are ritually unclean but the Congregation is ritually clean, the [Pesach sacrifice] is performed in ritual uncleanness” (Pesachim 7:7), which again is the halachah in practice (Rambam, Laws of Pesach Sacrifice 7:1 and Laws of Entering the Temple 4:12).
This, indeed, was the halachic ruling in recent generations of Torah giants such as Mahara”tz Chayot, Rabbi Ya’akov Emden, Rabbi Akiva Eiger, Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Kalischer, and Rabbi Yehoshua of Kutna.
And as the Midrash tells us, “in the merit of the blood of the Pesach sacrifice and the blood of circumcision you were redeemed from Egypt, and in their merit you will in the future be redeemed from the fourth Kingdom” (Yalkut Shimoni, Ezekiel 354).
Parashat Tazria/Shabbat Hachodesh: Blood of Redemption
by Daniel Pinner
Dedicated to the memory of Dr Toni (Taube) Conrad z”l, born in Poland, survived the Holocaust, fought against the Nazis in Poland and Russia, survived a forced-labour camp in Germany, and passed away last Thursday, 18th Adar II (20th March) aged 91. May she rest in peace.
This year 5774, as in all leap years and only in leap years, Parashot Tazria and Metzora are read separately. And this year, as in about two-thirds of all leap years, Parashat Tazria coincides with Shabbat Hachodesh.
Shabbat Hachodesh is the Shabbat which either coincides with or immediately precedes the first of Nisan. The Maftir-reading is Exodus 12:1-20, the immediate prelude to the Exodus: “Hashem said to Moshe and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, This month shall be the beginning of your months, it is the first of the months of your year” (Exodus 12:1-2).
This, the mitzvah to institute and calibrate a calendar, is the first national mitzvah that God ever gave us.
God continues with His charge to Moshe and Aaron: “Speak to the entire Congregation of Israel saying, On the tenth of this month they shall take for themselves – each man – a lamb or kid for each family, a lamb or kid for each household… You shall keep it under guard until the fourteenth day of this month, then they shall slaughter it – the entire community of the Congregation of Israel – towards evening. Then they shall take of its blood and daub it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they will eat it. They shall eat the meat on that night, roasted in fire, and matzos; they shall eat it with bitter herbs” (vs. 3-8).
This was an act of defiance, difficult for us to comprehend. God commanded the Jews to take a lamb or kid (the Hebrew word “se” connotes either), the god which the Egyptians worshipped, to keep it under guard for three days, tied to their bed-posts (Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, Parashat Hachodesh s.v. dabru; Yalkut Shimoni, Bo 191) before slaughtering it in sight of the Egyptians.
For a nation that had been enslaved by the Egyptians for generations, conditioned to defer to them and cringe before their whips, trained throughout their lives to relate to the Egyptians as overlords with the power of life and death, slaughtering their erstwhile masters’ god in public provided the catharsis they needed to smash the last emotional and spiritual chains binding them to Egyptian servitude.
The Midrash has a very beautiful and very moving allegory. “Why did the Torah decree that the Pesach sacrifice be taken four days before its sacrifice? – Rabbi Mattia ben Cheresh said: [The prophet] said, ‘I passed above you and I saw you, and behold, your time was a time of love’ (Ezekiel 16:8). The time had come for God to fulfil His oath to Abraham our father, that He would redeem his descendants. But they had no mitzvot to perform in whose merit they would deserve redemption, as [the prophet] continues, ‘your breasts were full and your hair was grown, but you were bare and naked’ (ibid.) – naked of all mitzvot. So God gave them two mitzvot – the mitzvah of the Pesach sacrifice and the mitzvah of circumcision – for them to perform so that they could deserve to be redeemed, as [the prophet] said, ‘I passed above you and I saw you wallowing in your blood, and I said: In your blood you shall live, and I said: In your blood you shall live’ (v. 6)” (Mechilta de-Rabbi Yishmael, Bo, Masechta de-Pis’cha 5 s.v. ve-hayah lachem le-mishmeret).
The prophet Ezekiel repeats the phrase “in your blood you shall live”, suggesting that we would “live” – meaning be redeemed – in the merit of two mitzvot involving blood: the blood of the Pesach sacrifice and the blood of circumcision.
God had commanded Abraham to circumcise himself and all the males of his household when he was 99 years old, and all his male descendants were commanded to be circumcised at age eight days from that day henceforth (Genesis 17:10-27). However, God formally gave the nation as a whole the mitzvah of circumcision 402 years later, in the opening verses of Parashat Tazria: “A woman who conceives and gives birth to a male…on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised” (Leviticus 12:2-3).
The Ohr ha-Chayim (Rabbi Chayim ben Atar, Morocco and Israel, 1696-1743), commenting on Parashat Tazria, asks why God saw necessary to repeat the mitzvah of circumcision here, after He had already given it to Abraham and his descendants. “If it is in order to tell us that we must circumcise by day [‘…the eighth day…’] and not by night, and if it is to inform us to circumcise [on the eighth day] even if that day is Shabbat…then this is still puzzling: why did God not write the details of these laws back in the section of the circumcision in Parashat Lech Lecha? Maybe God did not decree these details when He commanded Abraham so that no one should think that God subordinated Shabbat to circumcision only for the forefathers who had not received the Torah and the severity of Shabbat, but that Israel, who had been commanded by God that ‘those who desecrate [Shabbat] will be put to death’ (Exodus 31:14), were not to over-ride Shabbat” (commentary to Leviticus 12:3).
The Talmudic tractate Kritot begins by listing all 36 sins which are punishable by karet (literally “being cut off”). Karet is variously explained as dying prematurely (Sifra, Emor 14:4), either before the age of 50 (Moed Katan 28a, Yerushalmi Bikkurim 2:1, Semachot 3:8, Tosafot Shabbat 25a) or between the ages of 50 and 60 (Rabba’s opinion in Moed Katan 28a). Karet is also explained to mean being “cut of” both in this world and in the next world (Sanhedrin 90b, Sifrei Shelach Lecha 112); also that “if he has children he will bury them, if he has no children he will die childless” (Yevamot 55a).
Of the 36 transgression which incur karet, 34 are negative – that is to say, the Jew incurs karet by committing a specific forbidden action, such as worshipping an idol, eating forbidden fats (chelev) or blood, eating chametz during Pesach, or eating on Yom Kippur.
The only two positive commandments which incur karet for transgressing them are circumcision and the Pesach sacrifice – that is to say, these are the only two mitzvot for which a Jew can incur karet by doing nothing.
During the centuries of Egyptian subjugation, most of the Jews had abandoned the mitzvah of circumcision; only the Tribe of Levi were still circumcised, resisting assimilation when times were good and persecution later on (Shemot Rabbah 1:8 and 19:5).
Now, on the very threshold of redemption, God told Moshe and Aaron to give the Children of Israel two mitzvot, both of which involved blood, in whose merit they would earn their redemption. Circumcision and the Paschal sacrifice – two mitzvot which are intimately intertwined.
The Midrash depicts this beautifully: “When Israel saw that uncircumcised men were forbidden to eat of the Pesach sacrifice, all Israel arose without delay and circumcised their servants and their sons and all those who were to leave with them… This is like a king who made a banquet for his beloved friends. The king said: If my seal is not on every one of the guests, then none of them may enter! Similarly, when God made a banquet of meat roasted in fire with matzos and bitter herbs upon redeeming them from suffering, He said to them: If Abraham’s seal is not in your flesh, you may not taste of it! Immediately all those who had been born in Egypt were circumcised without delay… The blood of the Pesach sacrifice mingled with the blood of the circumcision, and God passed above them and took each one of them and kissed him and blessed him, as it says ‘I passed above you and I saw you wallowing in your blood, and I said: In your blood you shall live, and I said: In your blood you shall live’ – you will live in [the merit of] the blood of the Pesach sacrifice, you will live in [the merit of] the blood of circumcision” (Shemot Rabbah 19:5).
And the intimate connexion between circumcision and redemption continues: “Shimon the Yemeni says, in the merit of circumcision I split the sea for them” (Mechilta de-Rabbi Yishmael, Beshallach, Masechta de-Vayehi 4, s.v. vayomer Hashem el Moshe; Mechilta de-Rabbi Shimon bay Yochay 14; Yalkut Shimoni, Exodus 233).
And forty years later, when Joshua led us across the River Jordan into the Land of Israel on the 10th of Nisan (Joshua 4:19), forty years to the day after they had been circumcised in Egypt. And immediately after entering the Land, “Hashem said to Joshua: Make stone knives [alternatively: sharp knives] and circumcise the Children of Israel again” (Joshua 5:2), because the Children of Israel had neglected the mitzvah of circumcision during the forty-year desert trek due to the hardships and dangers of circumcising while travelling (vs. 4-8).
Now, back home in their Land and about to offer the Pesach sacrifice for the first time in a generation, they perforce had to prepare themselves by being circumcised.
At that time and under those circumstances, circumcision demanded considerable self-sacrifice. For our generation today, circumcision is so acceptable and well-organised that it demands minimal self-sacrifice.
The Pesach sacrifice, by contrast, is infinitely harder. True, one who is forcibly prevented from offering the Pesach sacrifice on the Temple Mount is exempt from the obligation (Pesachim 9:1; Rambam, Laws of Pesach Sacrifice 5:1-2). Given the unfortunate reality today, every Jew is forcibly prevented from offering the Pesach sacrifice on the Temple Mount by the combined forces of the Waqf and the Israeli police.
Nevertheless, we can pray and – more importantly – actively strive to bring the Pesach sacrifice on the Temple Mount. The Pesach sacrifice can be offered even without the Holy Temple having been built yet: it can be slaughtered anywhere on the Temple Mount (Zevachim 5:8) and its blood dashed against an altar 1 cubit by 1 cubit (about 45 cm or 18 inches) and 3 cubits high.
Now it is frequently argued that the Pesach sacrifice cannot be offered by a Jew who has contracted the ritual uncleanness that derives from a dead body, and since we all have this uncleanness today, and it can be cleansed solely by means of the Red Cow (which constituted last week’s Torah-reading), it would appear that consequently today we cannot offer the Pesach sacrifice.
However the Mishnah tells us that “the Pesach sacrifice that is brought in ritual uncleanness is eaten in ritual uncleanness, because its sole purpose in being brought was to be eaten” (Pesachim 7:5), which is the halachah in practice (Rambam, Laws of Pesach Sacrifice 7:5).
The Mishnah continues: “If the [entire] Congregation, or the majority of it, became ritually unclean, or if the Kohanim are ritually unclean but the Congregation is ritually clean, the [Pesach sacrifice] is performed in ritual uncleanness” (Pesachim 7:7), which again is the halachah in practice (Rambam, Laws of Pesach Sacrifice 7:1 and Laws of Entering the Temple 4:12).
This, indeed, was the halachic ruling in recent generations of Torah giants such as Mahara”tz Chayot, Rabbi Ya’akov Emden, Rabbi Akiva Eiger, Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Kalischer, and Rabbi Yehoshua of Kutna.
And as the Midrash tells us, “in the merit of the blood of the Pesach sacrifice and the blood of circumcision you were redeemed from Egypt, and in their merit you will in the future be redeemed from the fourth Kingdom” (Yalkut Shimoni, Ezekiel 354).
27 March 2014
Discussion with Moishela: "They Want to Destroy Yiddishkeit"
25 Adar Bet 5774
BS"D
Discussion with Moishela (with his family)
A Handicapped child
2 Adar 2 5774 (Mar 3, '14)
They Want to Destroy Yiddishkeit
I will speak about the very impressive Tefillah that was yesterday in Yerushalayim.
Undoubtedly it was something very special, something that could only have been done with so many Frum Yidden coming together to say Kriyas Shema and Amen to one of the most special Brachos that exists for Yidden. Of course they Davened Mincha and so on but these were the two highlights of the day. This gathering of all the different groups of Am Yisroel together in one place without arguing and fighting over silly things, but coming together with one purpose, to Daven to Hakodosh Boruch Hu to ask Him to save us from the dreadful Amalaikim and Erev Rav that are running the State of Israel. But beyond all that, just seeing everyone Davening together in unison not caring whether the Baal Tefillah is a Chassidisha or a Litvisha or a Sephardisha, just Davening to Hashem together it's unbelievable! Other people felt that politics are still there behind all of this, and that because of this, this gathering cannot fulfil its true purpose because supposedly the undercurrent of what is happening is political.
However, even though it is not yet perfect, it definitely is a start and even if it doesn’t happen again until Moshiach comes still it is bringing in a new era for Am Yisroel. It is bringing in an era in which the main goal is to be willing to have Mesiras Nefesh. We have to be willing to give even our lives, (hopefully we should never need to do that,) and be willing to do anything to hold on to our Yiddishkeit.
We are surrounded by evil people. We are surrounded by people that want to destroy Yiddishkeit, not only in Eretz Yisroel. You must understand it's not only the Erev Rav and the Amalaikim and the Edomim that are running this country, it's also in every country of the world. The evil ones want to phase out Frum Jewry. In their minds the religious Jews are a danger and must be gotten rid of. All over the world these evil ones also want to get rid of not only the Jews, they also want to get rid of all religious Christians. They want to get rid of all Christians that are willing to die in order not to be enslaved or forced to be something that they know is wrong. They want to get rid of every religion in the world, anyone that adheres to any religion. However Judaism is at the top of their list, because it’s the most dangerous, because it’s the only true belief and Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the only true G-d. There is no other G-d, only Him. The rest is all a figment of people's imaginations. Hakodosh Boruch Hu is Emes and therefore we are at the top of the list for being separated from our belief in the only one and truly G-d, Chas Vesholom.
Therefore Eretz Yisroel has become the place where these evil ones want to rule, want to rule the world from here as I've said before. They have managed to infiltrate the government to the very top and soon they will be infiltrating every governmental building, every governmental office in the country. They have infiltrated even the army and they want to destroy us the Chareidim, the Frum.
We've been living a life of ease. Monies run through our hands easily. We haven’t been in want of anything since we arrived in this Medinas Yisroel. I would say that after the Tzena, no one has been in want. We always had food, we always had everything we needed, and if we didn’t have, we just hopped on a plane and went and Shnorred in America or in England or in Europe and usually we came back with our pockets full. However the world has changed. Money is not so readily gotten, and these evil ones have started a war against Am Yisroel, the true Am Yisroel, the real Jewish Neshomas, the ones that are trying to live and do Ratzon Hashem. This is very terrible and it's going to get worse. They are already planning, all the terrible laws they want to pass in order to destroy our Yiddishkeit, and it will be up to us to hold together and say, "No, we will never, never go against Hakodosh Boruch Hu, never, no matter what." We have to fight it by refusing, by closing ourselves away in our own areas, putting up Mechitzas between us and the evil ones. We must make our own Botai Din and make sure that our Mohalim are not the doctors that they want to send. We must make sure that a Ger Tzedek becomes a Ger Tzedek in the proper way, and we must be sure that among us there are no Malshinim. We must, try very hard to only live by Ratzon Hashem. We must not fight with each other. We must not go against the Truth. We must hold together with the values that always kept Am Yisroel alive.
There has never been a Rasha that attacked Am Yisroel whether within or without, that wasn’t punished in the worst way. No one that raises his hand against us ever lives. He is always destroyed. So these evil ones who are supposedly so intelligent, don’t even know basic history that shows clearly that anyone that raises an arm to destroy the Yidden will be destroyed himself. They don’t even know what to be afraid of. Their hatred for Yaakov is so strong that they are willing to commit suicide to get rid of us, but it won't help them because these are the final hours of the Golus. We can all feel it already. We can taste it with our mouths. We can smell it with our noses. We feel it on our skin, and the taste is very bitter, but we will succeed, and we will go higher, and we will stay with Hashem, and we won't let go, and we won't give in to them. We, Am Yisroel, are going to survive Be'ezras Hashem, and we are going to greet Moshiach Be'ezras Hashem, but you Reshoim unless you do Teshuva, which I doubt very much that you can, you are not going to make it. You are going to realize at the end your terrible mistake. There are those among you, that even when you realize your mistake, you won't do Teshuva. And there will be those that at the last minute will try do Teshuva, but will fail because they don’t know what Teshuva means and therefore will never have Olam Habah.
So we are going into a different era now. The materialism won't flow like it did. It has already stopped flowing like it used to. We are going to be persecuted for our beliefs in every place in the world. You Jews in America and in England and in Europe, don’t think that you are not going to be persecuted also! We are all going to be persecuted. They are going to try to take away our Kashrus, our Shechita, our Bris Mila all the usual things that they attack when they try to take away our Yiddishkeit, the base of our Yiddishkeit. They'll try to take away our Torah learning. They'll try to take away our Davening, our Shuls, our Torahs, anything they can do to stop us from making connection with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. They are going to bring a new Avodah Zorah into this world, instead of all religions. The greatest evil that ever was is now going to burst forth on the earth. It has already covered the earth but it's just not so evident. It will be evident when every bit of evil comes out and shows itself to the world, then Hashem will completely destroy it from its deepest roots. It will be destroyed forever.
So Am Yisroel make preparations. I don’t mean that you have to save food. I mean your preparations should be doing Teshuva. Pesach is coming. We have to clean not only our houses, but our hearts and our minds, clean them out with a tweezer, get every inch of dirt out, so when we come to greet Moshiach we will be sparkling, sparklingly pure.
BS"D
Discussion with Moishela (with his family)
A Handicapped child
2 Adar 2 5774 (Mar 3, '14)
They Want to Destroy Yiddishkeit
I will speak about the very impressive Tefillah that was yesterday in Yerushalayim.
Undoubtedly it was something very special, something that could only have been done with so many Frum Yidden coming together to say Kriyas Shema and Amen to one of the most special Brachos that exists for Yidden. Of course they Davened Mincha and so on but these were the two highlights of the day. This gathering of all the different groups of Am Yisroel together in one place without arguing and fighting over silly things, but coming together with one purpose, to Daven to Hakodosh Boruch Hu to ask Him to save us from the dreadful Amalaikim and Erev Rav that are running the State of Israel. But beyond all that, just seeing everyone Davening together in unison not caring whether the Baal Tefillah is a Chassidisha or a Litvisha or a Sephardisha, just Davening to Hashem together it's unbelievable! Other people felt that politics are still there behind all of this, and that because of this, this gathering cannot fulfil its true purpose because supposedly the undercurrent of what is happening is political.
However, even though it is not yet perfect, it definitely is a start and even if it doesn’t happen again until Moshiach comes still it is bringing in a new era for Am Yisroel. It is bringing in an era in which the main goal is to be willing to have Mesiras Nefesh. We have to be willing to give even our lives, (hopefully we should never need to do that,) and be willing to do anything to hold on to our Yiddishkeit.
We are surrounded by evil people. We are surrounded by people that want to destroy Yiddishkeit, not only in Eretz Yisroel. You must understand it's not only the Erev Rav and the Amalaikim and the Edomim that are running this country, it's also in every country of the world. The evil ones want to phase out Frum Jewry. In their minds the religious Jews are a danger and must be gotten rid of. All over the world these evil ones also want to get rid of not only the Jews, they also want to get rid of all religious Christians. They want to get rid of all Christians that are willing to die in order not to be enslaved or forced to be something that they know is wrong. They want to get rid of every religion in the world, anyone that adheres to any religion. However Judaism is at the top of their list, because it’s the most dangerous, because it’s the only true belief and Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the only true G-d. There is no other G-d, only Him. The rest is all a figment of people's imaginations. Hakodosh Boruch Hu is Emes and therefore we are at the top of the list for being separated from our belief in the only one and truly G-d, Chas Vesholom.
Therefore Eretz Yisroel has become the place where these evil ones want to rule, want to rule the world from here as I've said before. They have managed to infiltrate the government to the very top and soon they will be infiltrating every governmental building, every governmental office in the country. They have infiltrated even the army and they want to destroy us the Chareidim, the Frum.
We've been living a life of ease. Monies run through our hands easily. We haven’t been in want of anything since we arrived in this Medinas Yisroel. I would say that after the Tzena, no one has been in want. We always had food, we always had everything we needed, and if we didn’t have, we just hopped on a plane and went and Shnorred in America or in England or in Europe and usually we came back with our pockets full. However the world has changed. Money is not so readily gotten, and these evil ones have started a war against Am Yisroel, the true Am Yisroel, the real Jewish Neshomas, the ones that are trying to live and do Ratzon Hashem. This is very terrible and it's going to get worse. They are already planning, all the terrible laws they want to pass in order to destroy our Yiddishkeit, and it will be up to us to hold together and say, "No, we will never, never go against Hakodosh Boruch Hu, never, no matter what." We have to fight it by refusing, by closing ourselves away in our own areas, putting up Mechitzas between us and the evil ones. We must make our own Botai Din and make sure that our Mohalim are not the doctors that they want to send. We must make sure that a Ger Tzedek becomes a Ger Tzedek in the proper way, and we must be sure that among us there are no Malshinim. We must, try very hard to only live by Ratzon Hashem. We must not fight with each other. We must not go against the Truth. We must hold together with the values that always kept Am Yisroel alive.
There has never been a Rasha that attacked Am Yisroel whether within or without, that wasn’t punished in the worst way. No one that raises his hand against us ever lives. He is always destroyed. So these evil ones who are supposedly so intelligent, don’t even know basic history that shows clearly that anyone that raises an arm to destroy the Yidden will be destroyed himself. They don’t even know what to be afraid of. Their hatred for Yaakov is so strong that they are willing to commit suicide to get rid of us, but it won't help them because these are the final hours of the Golus. We can all feel it already. We can taste it with our mouths. We can smell it with our noses. We feel it on our skin, and the taste is very bitter, but we will succeed, and we will go higher, and we will stay with Hashem, and we won't let go, and we won't give in to them. We, Am Yisroel, are going to survive Be'ezras Hashem, and we are going to greet Moshiach Be'ezras Hashem, but you Reshoim unless you do Teshuva, which I doubt very much that you can, you are not going to make it. You are going to realize at the end your terrible mistake. There are those among you, that even when you realize your mistake, you won't do Teshuva. And there will be those that at the last minute will try do Teshuva, but will fail because they don’t know what Teshuva means and therefore will never have Olam Habah.
So we are going into a different era now. The materialism won't flow like it did. It has already stopped flowing like it used to. We are going to be persecuted for our beliefs in every place in the world. You Jews in America and in England and in Europe, don’t think that you are not going to be persecuted also! We are all going to be persecuted. They are going to try to take away our Kashrus, our Shechita, our Bris Mila all the usual things that they attack when they try to take away our Yiddishkeit, the base of our Yiddishkeit. They'll try to take away our Torah learning. They'll try to take away our Davening, our Shuls, our Torahs, anything they can do to stop us from making connection with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. They are going to bring a new Avodah Zorah into this world, instead of all religions. The greatest evil that ever was is now going to burst forth on the earth. It has already covered the earth but it's just not so evident. It will be evident when every bit of evil comes out and shows itself to the world, then Hashem will completely destroy it from its deepest roots. It will be destroyed forever.
So Am Yisroel make preparations. I don’t mean that you have to save food. I mean your preparations should be doing Teshuva. Pesach is coming. We have to clean not only our houses, but our hearts and our minds, clean them out with a tweezer, get every inch of dirt out, so when we come to greet Moshiach we will be sparkling, sparklingly pure.
Discussion with Moishela: "Only Hashem's Army Can Win"
25 Adar Bet 5774
BS"D
Discussion with Moishela (with his family)
A Handicapped child
Adar 1 21 5774 (Feb 20, '14)
Only Hashem's Army Can Win
I am so upset even though I really shouldn’t be, because I know that this is only part of the process, only part of the process of throwing off the yoke of this world of lies, and being able to greet Moshiach and march into the world of truth. However I'm still only a human being and the things that are happening lately are so disturbing to me, so absolutely disturbing that I cannot find peace anywhere.
This Medinas Yisroel is getting on my nerves already. This product of the sinister Erev Rav that built a state that from the beginning was intended to be totally Chiloni and totally not connected to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, and now we are seeing the true face of this so-called state of Israel. We are seeing that although it manages, or rather the leaders of the State of Israel manage to play on the heartstrings of Temimusdik Jews who have suffered tyranny and death at the hands of angry Goyim, jealous angry Goyim that want to destroy Am Yisroel and deny Hashem's existence. These same people that desired a homeland where they could be true Jews and come close to Hashem, just doesn’t exist, because the leaders were and are not today believers. Not only are they not believers but they are bent on destroying all belief in Hashem, The Ruler of The World. They want to be The Ruler of The World. They want to be the Hakol Yachol, Chas Vesholom, but that is totally absurd and impossible.
However their great plan is coming into view, and all of those Jews that don’t understand this are going to pay a heavy price. We the true Jews that our Neshomas were at Har Sinai, that we said together Na'aseh Venishma, we are going to be called upon to resist all of the plans of this government of Erev Rav to destroy Am Yisroel and its Torah. We're going to be called upon to say, "No, we will not let our baby boys enter the Bris with Hakodosh Boruch Hu, with a doctor instead of a Mohel doing the Bris." No, we are not going to send our sons to the army that is full of loose uncouth non-believers and in very many instances many soldiers are Goyim. We cannot expose our sons to an army that condones foul language and loose morals and a hatred of Hashem and His Torah. We're going to have to say, "No, we are not going to eat Hechshers that are controlled by the State of Israel, by the non- Frum who have their own ideas about what Kosher should be." We're going to have to say no to every so-called law that according to the non-Frum logic requests from us to put our Torah aside, our Mesorah aside, our 613 laws aside, and do what they tell us to do. We're going to be called on to say, "No, absolutely not!" Therefore I am very worried and very afraid. I don’t know how many Yidden of today have the strength to say no, especially when so many of us have fallen so low. I just hope and pray that the Jewish Neshoma, the strong Jewish Neshoma will come to the forefront and we will all together shout and scream at the top of our voices "Shema Yisroel Hashem Elokainu Hashem Echad!"
Mr. Lapid thinks that he can tell us who is shouldering more or less of the responsibility for the country. I suggest to Mr. Lapid that he should also let everyone share the responsibility by making the Chilonim serve as we are supposed to serve three years in the army, and they also like us should give that many years as well to learning Torah in a real Yeshiva, because there's not been one war since 1948 that hasn't been won by pure miracles and nothing more. So really the only army is Hashem's army. Only Hashem's army can win the wars. Therefore part of their training has to be the true Jewish training which is to learn to Daven and, to learn Gemorah and so on and so forth. It's just not fair not to teach them, not by Chiloni teachers, but by experts in their field, true Rabbonim, true Talmidai Chachomim, true Shomrei Mitzvos. Yes, Mr. Lapid you think that a Shikkur that jumps on a table in a pub and dances, has enough Sechel, enough Chutzpah to say to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, to the people of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, trying at least to live the right way, no you have to share, have to share in what we decide is responsibility to the state, a state that should never have come into existence in the first place.But it did come into existence, and of course Hashem has His plans but without Hashem it never would have been.
I can only say that looking at the people that are behind all of this, I can only say in a very sad way that none of them seem to have Jewish souls. They have no sensitivity to their Judaism or to the Talmidai Chachomim or to anything. True we are living in a confusing time when many Chareidim are doing things that once would be absolutely forbidden. True today even some of our Rabbonim are making Halachic Rulings that are far from rigid. We have seen a very great fall in Tznius and in learning. Oh, people are learning but it's not the highest level, and it's not very often with a heart and a soul. We see very many Frum Jews not Davening the way they should be. We see very many weaknesses in our own Frum society. But Mr. Lapid with your mug of beer and your dancing on the table in a pub like a Goy, you're not going to make it. No one, no one including your father, including everyone in this State of Israel, including all of the biggest Reshoim in all of history anyone who has gone against Hakodosh Boruch Hu has fallen, and so will you. But one thing I'll tell you, you won't succeed. You'll never succeed, not you and not your Prime Minister, and not your President, and not anybody else that’s backing you, not any other person in the whole world from the biggest to the smallest, no one will succeed against Hakodosh Boruch Hu. He will only with a slight movement destroy all of you, and you will never have Netzach (eternity). I warn you not to start with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. You could do all kinds of Aveiros, but to fight against Hakodosh Boruch Hu directly, you'll never win and you're going to fall so hard that I really don’t envy you.
And now, I just want to say to our Yidden, to the true Yidden that we're going into a very very difficult time. Be strong. Don’t give up. Know that you're going to have to sacrifice and hold out and not forget that we the have responsibility to keep every single Din every single commandment of Hashem, and not weaken on any one of them. We must not give in to any of the demands of Yidden who are questionable as far as being Yidden. I am begging Am Yisroel and telling you the only way to survive the terrible destruction that’s going to be in the whole world is firstly to try to be in Eretz Yisroel. The Jews of America, England, Europe or wherever, the true Jews, the true Erlicha Yidden will be saved, but it will be very hard. Whoever's here in Eretz Yisroel will have it easier in many ways, even if the initial coming might be difficult, but at the end of the day it will be easier.
Secondly we have to close ourselves off. In the past the Goyim put us into ghettoes, but we envied those who could get out of the ghettoes and live among the Goyim. The moment that the Goyim allowed the Jews to leave the ghetto, the Jews went streaming out trying to shake off their Yiddishkeit and become like the Goyim. But we, Am Yisroel now in Eretz Yisroel, we have to build the walls of the ghetto back up, and go inside and lock the door and not try to be with any of the groups that are trying to be part of the Goyisha, Hellenistic world. The sons of Esav, the descendants of the Greeks and the Romans are trying to take over Eretz Yisroel and they seem to be managing it. There will soon be foreign troops on this soil, and when that happens you'll know that everything I'm telling you is correct. We already have foreign troops on this soil, but soon we are going to have many more, and I want you to remember what I say. Go into your homes. Stay close to your Shuls. Stay close to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Put up the walls of the ghetto, and don’t let the foreigners in. Keep them out, and let us stay close always to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. That’s what He wants. He wants us to be different. He wants us to be close to Him. He wants us to do his Ratzon and to live only for that.
I want to say that very soon it's going to seem like the world is turned up-side-down. In the end, Be'emes the world will be turned up-side-down, but remember this world is only an illusion. This world of ours now that we were born into is only an illusion. Every single bit of it from the stars in the heaven to the earth below, it's all an illusion. And when we get to the time of Moshiach, we're going into a new reality that we never saw before, that we never dreamed of before. Even those who are big Talmidai Chachomim will suddenly feel what it to means to be released from the bonds of the Yetzer Hora, no Yetzer Hora. You don’t understand how that is going to affect us. You can't realize, because you don’t know every little corner in our beings that the Yetzer Hora gets to, and once we're free of that we'll all be confident and happy and calm and open only to the spiritual world and we'll be so close to Hakodosh Boruch Hu and that will be our total Simcha. That’s what we're going to love the most, just basking in the light of Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
I want to say to all Am Yisroel, be strong of spirit, of mind, and of soul. We're coming to the end. Just hold on to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, Kivyachol, and don’t let go, and we will all be saved.
BS"D
Discussion with Moishela (with his family)
A Handicapped child
Adar 1 21 5774 (Feb 20, '14)
Only Hashem's Army Can Win
I am so upset even though I really shouldn’t be, because I know that this is only part of the process, only part of the process of throwing off the yoke of this world of lies, and being able to greet Moshiach and march into the world of truth. However I'm still only a human being and the things that are happening lately are so disturbing to me, so absolutely disturbing that I cannot find peace anywhere.
This Medinas Yisroel is getting on my nerves already. This product of the sinister Erev Rav that built a state that from the beginning was intended to be totally Chiloni and totally not connected to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, and now we are seeing the true face of this so-called state of Israel. We are seeing that although it manages, or rather the leaders of the State of Israel manage to play on the heartstrings of Temimusdik Jews who have suffered tyranny and death at the hands of angry Goyim, jealous angry Goyim that want to destroy Am Yisroel and deny Hashem's existence. These same people that desired a homeland where they could be true Jews and come close to Hashem, just doesn’t exist, because the leaders were and are not today believers. Not only are they not believers but they are bent on destroying all belief in Hashem, The Ruler of The World. They want to be The Ruler of The World. They want to be the Hakol Yachol, Chas Vesholom, but that is totally absurd and impossible.
However their great plan is coming into view, and all of those Jews that don’t understand this are going to pay a heavy price. We the true Jews that our Neshomas were at Har Sinai, that we said together Na'aseh Venishma, we are going to be called upon to resist all of the plans of this government of Erev Rav to destroy Am Yisroel and its Torah. We're going to be called upon to say, "No, we will not let our baby boys enter the Bris with Hakodosh Boruch Hu, with a doctor instead of a Mohel doing the Bris." No, we are not going to send our sons to the army that is full of loose uncouth non-believers and in very many instances many soldiers are Goyim. We cannot expose our sons to an army that condones foul language and loose morals and a hatred of Hashem and His Torah. We're going to have to say, "No, we are not going to eat Hechshers that are controlled by the State of Israel, by the non- Frum who have their own ideas about what Kosher should be." We're going to have to say no to every so-called law that according to the non-Frum logic requests from us to put our Torah aside, our Mesorah aside, our 613 laws aside, and do what they tell us to do. We're going to be called on to say, "No, absolutely not!" Therefore I am very worried and very afraid. I don’t know how many Yidden of today have the strength to say no, especially when so many of us have fallen so low. I just hope and pray that the Jewish Neshoma, the strong Jewish Neshoma will come to the forefront and we will all together shout and scream at the top of our voices "Shema Yisroel Hashem Elokainu Hashem Echad!"
Mr. Lapid thinks that he can tell us who is shouldering more or less of the responsibility for the country. I suggest to Mr. Lapid that he should also let everyone share the responsibility by making the Chilonim serve as we are supposed to serve three years in the army, and they also like us should give that many years as well to learning Torah in a real Yeshiva, because there's not been one war since 1948 that hasn't been won by pure miracles and nothing more. So really the only army is Hashem's army. Only Hashem's army can win the wars. Therefore part of their training has to be the true Jewish training which is to learn to Daven and, to learn Gemorah and so on and so forth. It's just not fair not to teach them, not by Chiloni teachers, but by experts in their field, true Rabbonim, true Talmidai Chachomim, true Shomrei Mitzvos. Yes, Mr. Lapid you think that a Shikkur that jumps on a table in a pub and dances, has enough Sechel, enough Chutzpah to say to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, to the people of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, trying at least to live the right way, no you have to share, have to share in what we decide is responsibility to the state, a state that should never have come into existence in the first place.But it did come into existence, and of course Hashem has His plans but without Hashem it never would have been.
I can only say that looking at the people that are behind all of this, I can only say in a very sad way that none of them seem to have Jewish souls. They have no sensitivity to their Judaism or to the Talmidai Chachomim or to anything. True we are living in a confusing time when many Chareidim are doing things that once would be absolutely forbidden. True today even some of our Rabbonim are making Halachic Rulings that are far from rigid. We have seen a very great fall in Tznius and in learning. Oh, people are learning but it's not the highest level, and it's not very often with a heart and a soul. We see very many Frum Jews not Davening the way they should be. We see very many weaknesses in our own Frum society. But Mr. Lapid with your mug of beer and your dancing on the table in a pub like a Goy, you're not going to make it. No one, no one including your father, including everyone in this State of Israel, including all of the biggest Reshoim in all of history anyone who has gone against Hakodosh Boruch Hu has fallen, and so will you. But one thing I'll tell you, you won't succeed. You'll never succeed, not you and not your Prime Minister, and not your President, and not anybody else that’s backing you, not any other person in the whole world from the biggest to the smallest, no one will succeed against Hakodosh Boruch Hu. He will only with a slight movement destroy all of you, and you will never have Netzach (eternity). I warn you not to start with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. You could do all kinds of Aveiros, but to fight against Hakodosh Boruch Hu directly, you'll never win and you're going to fall so hard that I really don’t envy you.
And now, I just want to say to our Yidden, to the true Yidden that we're going into a very very difficult time. Be strong. Don’t give up. Know that you're going to have to sacrifice and hold out and not forget that we the have responsibility to keep every single Din every single commandment of Hashem, and not weaken on any one of them. We must not give in to any of the demands of Yidden who are questionable as far as being Yidden. I am begging Am Yisroel and telling you the only way to survive the terrible destruction that’s going to be in the whole world is firstly to try to be in Eretz Yisroel. The Jews of America, England, Europe or wherever, the true Jews, the true Erlicha Yidden will be saved, but it will be very hard. Whoever's here in Eretz Yisroel will have it easier in many ways, even if the initial coming might be difficult, but at the end of the day it will be easier.
Secondly we have to close ourselves off. In the past the Goyim put us into ghettoes, but we envied those who could get out of the ghettoes and live among the Goyim. The moment that the Goyim allowed the Jews to leave the ghetto, the Jews went streaming out trying to shake off their Yiddishkeit and become like the Goyim. But we, Am Yisroel now in Eretz Yisroel, we have to build the walls of the ghetto back up, and go inside and lock the door and not try to be with any of the groups that are trying to be part of the Goyisha, Hellenistic world. The sons of Esav, the descendants of the Greeks and the Romans are trying to take over Eretz Yisroel and they seem to be managing it. There will soon be foreign troops on this soil, and when that happens you'll know that everything I'm telling you is correct. We already have foreign troops on this soil, but soon we are going to have many more, and I want you to remember what I say. Go into your homes. Stay close to your Shuls. Stay close to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Put up the walls of the ghetto, and don’t let the foreigners in. Keep them out, and let us stay close always to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. That’s what He wants. He wants us to be different. He wants us to be close to Him. He wants us to do his Ratzon and to live only for that.
I want to say that very soon it's going to seem like the world is turned up-side-down. In the end, Be'emes the world will be turned up-side-down, but remember this world is only an illusion. This world of ours now that we were born into is only an illusion. Every single bit of it from the stars in the heaven to the earth below, it's all an illusion. And when we get to the time of Moshiach, we're going into a new reality that we never saw before, that we never dreamed of before. Even those who are big Talmidai Chachomim will suddenly feel what it to means to be released from the bonds of the Yetzer Hora, no Yetzer Hora. You don’t understand how that is going to affect us. You can't realize, because you don’t know every little corner in our beings that the Yetzer Hora gets to, and once we're free of that we'll all be confident and happy and calm and open only to the spiritual world and we'll be so close to Hakodosh Boruch Hu and that will be our total Simcha. That’s what we're going to love the most, just basking in the light of Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
I want to say to all Am Yisroel, be strong of spirit, of mind, and of soul. We're coming to the end. Just hold on to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, Kivyachol, and don’t let go, and we will all be saved.
The Whole World Has Become 'Egypt'
25 Adar Bet 5774
Do you need any further proof? (Note that everyone except 'Paro' himself is wearing the pyramid on his/her lapel.)
(H/T The American Dream blog)
Do you need any further proof? (Note that everyone except 'Paro' himself is wearing the pyramid on his/her lapel.)
(H/T The American Dream blog)
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