BS"D
YESHIVAT HARA'AYON HAYEHUDIJerusalem, Israel
HaRav Yehuda Kreuser SHLIT"A, Rosh Yeshiva
PARSHAT TRUMAH (view on Youtube)30 Shvat-1 Adar I 5771/4-5 February 2011
LET'S GET IT DONE!
"And you shall build Me a Sanctuary, that I may dwell within."
Nobody will argue that the main thrust of our weekly parsha is the building of the tabernacle and all its vessels. The Rabbis bring down that this commandment was not just a one-time event for the generation of the desert, but rather a commandment for all generations.. As the Rambam writes: "It is a positive commandment to build a house for G-d, dedicated to offering sacrifices, where we celebrate three times a year."
And as in all commandments given to us by G-d, one is obligated to take all measures to ensure that the commandment gets done. Take, for instance, the mitzvah of sitting in a succa (booth): One must first build the succa according to Jewish law, and then dwell in the succa for the entire week. It would be totally absurd to wait around for a succa to appear out of nowhere, or to search the skies for one to fall out of heaven. If one acted in this manner, he would surly be sent to the nearest insane asylum right away, but this is exactly what we do when it comes to the commandment of building a House for G-d.
It just might be for this reason, that in our parsha the Torah, understanding the Jew only too well, commands us to build the Tabernacle and its vessels not once, not twice not even three times - "You shall build, you shall make, you shall do" - but over one hundred and forty times. This leaves us with no doubt that we have the obligation to make sure that the House of G-d gets done. Our Rabbis have taught us that in every generation that the Temple is not built, it is as if the Temple was destroyed in that generation.
We find that when the Jews returned from their 70-year exile from Babylonia, their first act was to rebuild the Temple and reinstate the sacrificial service. Sure, they could have said: We don’t know how it's done, we don’t understand the prophesies of Ezekiel who prophesied on how the Temple must be built. They also did not say: Hey, heads up y'all, the Temple is falling out of the sky, or we have to wait for Mashiach to build it, or one of the many other excuses that we hear today, for the gates of excuses are never closed. Rather, upon arrival in the Land of Israel, they got right down to work - understanding that a commandment is something that must be done by man.
For the past two weeks, the "Green Bay Packers" have spent countless hours going over strategies, poring over films in their preparation for the big game to bring the Lombardi trophy home in the "Super Bowl", knowing what is at stake, and that over 100 million people will be watching the big game. Can we as Jews do any less for the House of the living G-d? Can we prepare any less than the Packers and Stealers do for their game, when it comes to G-d's commandments? I think not!
The prophet Haggai rebuked us for our lack of effort to build G-d's House, saying: "How can you dwell in your well-built houses, when the House of G-d lies in ruins?" Upheavals throughout the world that we see today, extreme weather, etc. is all part of His plan, all coming from Him, to awaken us to return to out Land and rebuild His House! This is what the parsha is talking about: DO, BUILD, MAKE. Not once or twice - but 140 times!
Blessings,
Levi
07 February 2011
Aliyah Wrap-Up (for now)
3 Adar `א
Moriyah comments:
Devash,
Why don't you write about true articles spelling the problems in EY by the Israeli pro-Arab government, the anti-olim attitude by the many Sabras in EY, the anti-religious seculars in EY, the school violence that happens so often in Israeli religious and secular schools, so that when olim from America come to EY, they won't be culture-shocked and demand to return to their host countries?
Arutz Sheva is a Zionistic media outlet, and so are your views.
Moriyah comments:
Devash,
Why don't you write about true articles spelling the problems in EY by the Israeli pro-Arab government, the anti-olim attitude by the many Sabras in EY, the anti-religious seculars in EY, the school violence that happens so often in Israeli religious and secular schools, so that when olim from America come to EY, they won't be culture-shocked and demand to return to their host countries?
Arutz Sheva is a Zionistic media outlet, and so are your views.
For several reasons, Moriyah, first of which, although I've faced many challenges here, the things you name have not been among them. I have no experience with what you describe.
Second, there are problems no matter where you live. I had many more troubles with the educational system in America than I've had here. "Problems" of one sort or another are unavoidable. They are part of the "package" that Hashem gives us in order to accomplish whatever growth or tikun is designated for us in this world.
Third, I don't think such discussions can prevent culture shock. Everybody who travels, even on vacation, undergoes culture shock. It's also unavoidable, but it's not fatal. People adjust. They recover.
Finally, Moriyah, as I've tried to point out before. It's completely irrelevant. A Jew performs a mitzvah because it's been commanded by Hashem and issues external to that are simply not part of the equation. Whatever is here has been allowed by Hashem for His own reasons.
The seven nations were the worst of the worst, but Hashem did not say "Oh, children, stay in the wilderness until I remove the seven nations. You don't want to be exposed to their tumah." No! He told us to come home to the Land promised to our forefathers and to begin work immediately to remove the tumah ourselves. And nothing has changed!! Hashem expects us to do the work and the Jews still in chu"l have no right to shirk their portion of the responsibility. (Not unlike the two and a half tribes who wanted to settle over the Jordan.)
Don't you see that the key to overcoming the Erev Rav regime is large numbers of Torah-believing (Torah-acting) Jews to come home? It is a war to conquer the Land. The Erev Rav brought 300,000 goyim from the CIS and now they are bringing all kinds of "refugees." If our religious brothers and sisters won't come and help do their part to conquer the Holy Land for Torah, what else can we do?
At least in Eretz Yisrael we have the right (and the obligation) to conquer it for Torah. In chu"l, you're just a (tolerated) guest in someone else's home.
Yesterday I quoted a letter from Mishpacha magazine written by a reader irate that an entire magazine issue was dedicated to the issue of aliyah. I'd like to end this current discussion of the topic with a portion of a letter from this week's edition of Mishpacha written in response to one of the aliyah articles. It was authored by a rabbi whom I love and respect and whom I feel greatly privileged to know personally---Rabbi Sholom Gold of Har Nof, Yerushalayim:
"...I was profoundly disappointed that the one crucial and vital imperative that brought me on aliyah in 1982 was totally absent from the roundtable [featured discussion]. I came on aliyah because it is a mitzvah----plain, simple, period. A mitzvah! The only role "tafkid" can play is as a temporary exemption from the mitzvah.
The Chazon Ish writes: 'The halachah has already been decided like the Rambam and the Ramban, that it is a mitzvah to live in Eretz Yisrael, and it is well known how much the Chofetz Chaim longed to come to Eretz Yisrael.' It couldn't be clearer or more emphatic than that.
Before I left the Young Israel of West Hempstead, I flew to Toronto to meet with Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, who was visiting there at the time. We had a fascinating, wide-ranging conversation during which, in response to a question I asked, he said (the words are engraved on my heart and mind), 'Sholom, I hold that it is a mitzvah to live in Eretz Yisrael now, as it always was, and if I could, I would go to the airport right now and get onto a plane, but I can't...'
...American Orthodox Jews need to hear a clear clarion call to come home, and soon. They should come face-to-face with the reality that Eretz Yisrael is ours, it is accessible, it is Hashem's great gift to His people. Everyone knows the words of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, that Hashem gave three good gifts to His people, and all three were given through toil and sacrifice: Torah, Eretz Yisrael and Olam HaBa. No one would ever say, 'Okay, Hashem, Torah is a good gift, but no thank you, it's not for me.' Nor would one ever dismiss Olam HaBa. But Eretz Yisrael seems to get in the way of many people's "tafkidim,' so it is not on the agenda. That is a pity."
Amen!
06 February 2011
Second American Revolution (Part 2)
3 Adar `אI have to say that my feelings are mixed when it comes to encouraging Western, particularly American, Jews to make aliyah. Invariably, they want to drag America with them when they come. They want to strengthen democracy and tolerance. They view the Israel/America relationship as sacrosanct and perpetuate the xian image of the Jewish G-d. All things which I personally abhor. It is the American immigrants who have made the shidduchim whereby missionaries and "right-wing" politicians have gained entre to Israeli society.
Take Mike Huckabee for example. The English news division of Arutz Sheva (American immigrants by and large) is gaga over him. (Do a search and se how many articles have been written about him for A7.) An American Jewess, who visits Israel frequently, came into my workplace the other day and raved on and on about getting her picture taken with Huckabee. They call him "a solid supporter of Israel;" wants to move the American Embassy to Jerusalem (please don't!); says the Arabs have 22 other countries to live in (yes, but what about the Israeli Arabs?).
It so happens that Mike Huckabee is one of those new revolutionaries who wants to take the US back to it's true xian roots. If the theocrats in America can take over the political landscape by infiltrating all the higher offices, they don't need to resort to a coup.
Huckabee: Change the Constitution to bring it in line with "G-d's standards" (as defined by xians, of course)
Vigilante justice in Huckabee's America: Execute whoever leaked Wikileaks cables
Huckabee on the Peace Process: The best way to make peace with the Palestinians is to provide them with good jobs
Settler leader praying to see Huckabee in Oval Office
If settler leader Dani Dayan could vote in the 2012 United States presidential elections, he would throw his support behind possible Republican contender Mike Huckabee.
“Our prayer is to see you [Huckabee] in the Oval Office,” said Dayan, who heads the council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.
Huckabee met up with a group of Christian tourists who were traveling with him. The whole group was then entertained by country music played by the Waller brothers from Tennessee.
The Wallers are self-admitted missionaries and Mike Huckabee is a Baptist minister. Huckabee would of necessity oppose any move on Israel's part to tighten anti-missionary laws or to remove the Arabs from Israel. This so-called settler "leader" has his head screwed on backwards.
In this there will be no difference between an Obama and a Huckabee. Israel will have a "friend" in the White House as long as she is attached to Edom and acts as a virtual pipeline for Western culture to the Middle East. On the day that any Israeli leader, i.e. Mashiach, refuses to continue to cooperate, it won't matter if it's a Republican or a Democrat and we have already seen this all played out over and over again in recent history, but for a people whose refrain is "never again!", the Jews seem to have a very short memory.
I think there must once have been a time when Jews would have steered clear of any politician openly professing the religious views that Huckabee espouses, but that day appears to be over. There's no telling how many "right-wing" and "Orthodox" Jewish Americans would vote for him given the opportunity, out of fear of Obama.
Huckabee's allegiance to his man-god Yeshu will trump any loyalty to rights protected under the constitution. Not allowed? Just amend it! All Jews have to gather in Israel before Yeshu will come back? So send them on over. It'll be doing them a favor!
And fortunate they will be if their fate follows the model of Medieval Spain and not 20th-century Europe! G-d forbid!!
To finish this subject, I'd like to draw your attention to the flyer pictured at the top. It says:
THE AWAKENING!
Because our Faith matters...Because our Freedom matters.
Raising Our Voices: Equipping and Empowering a New Revolution
They mean to do it. They've been working at it for many, many years and they are getting very impatient to see it accomplished now. Watch the following video and imagine you're a Jew living in an America ruled by these people.
Answering "M's" Question
2 Adar`א
M said...
Hello Devash,
What do you recommend for a Jew that is a Israeli Citizen who lived abroad for over 10 years and is only a Toshav Chozer....really no rights like an Oleh other then tax break and customs break. Add to that an upside down mortgage (house worth less then paid for), no money in savings, credit cards bills, car bills on top of mortgage payment and other misc. bills and 3 kids. How does someone in that situation move to Israel? Can not even afford the plane ticket and has no family to go to in Israel. This Jew does have faith and loves HKB"H, but is just too poor to go. What do you suggest to do?
You see Jews all over the world are panicking but they can at least do Aliya....some can't, what is a Rabbi like Nir Ben Arzi suggest to do? If all Jews can make Aliya on there own and even Israeli citizens can return and can they should right away...I know we are all in danger, but destitute Jews or sick Jews that take care of elderly parents for example, can't. What are they to do? I guess just trust in HKB"H to come and pick them up, right?
Please answer. M
First of all, let this be a lesson to those who would make aliyah and then after two or three years turn around and go back. (Not to imply that this is what “M” did. But if you think it is difficult coming the first time, try doing it two or three times and I speak from personal experience.)
Get this if you get nothing else: Jews of the West are building homes and lives on a slowly sinking ship. The end is coming, faster every day. It’s not by accident that they say the housing market is “under water”! People speak about aliyah as if they actually have a choice. Believe me, that is only an illusion. The only choice you have is to do it the easy way or the hard way, sooner as opposed to later.
"...I shall take you out of the peoples, and I shall gather you from the lands in which you were scattered, with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with poured out fury. And I shall bring you to the wilderness of the peoples, and I shall contend with you there face to face. As I contended with your forefathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I contend with you, says the Lord God. And I shall cause you to pass under the rod, and I shall bring you into the transmission of the covenant. And I shall separate from you those who rebel and those who transgress against Me; from the land of their sojournings I shall take them, but to the land of Israel they shall not come, and you will know that I am the Lord.
...But on My holy mount, on the mountain of the height of Israel, says the Lord God. There all the house of Israel-yea, all of them-will serve Me in the land; there I will accept them, and there I will require your heave offerings and the first of your food with all your hallowed things. With a pleasing savor I shall accept you when I take you out of the nations, and I shall gather you from the lands in which you were scattered, and I shall be hallowed through you before the eyes of the nations. And you will know that I am the Lord when I bring you to the land of Israel, to the land that I lifted My hand to give to your forefathers." (Yechezkel 20)
There is no question that there are Jews who feel that they truly cannot come, but I guarantee you that they will come in the end, because Hashem has promised that He will not leave any behind. As far as sick parents go, are there no doctors or hospitals or nursing homes in Eretz Yisrael? And they will be better cared for as Jews. If tomorrow, the Jews woke up in 1938 Germany, knowing what was coming, I guarantee you that they would find a way to leave. But the trouble with Western Jews is that despite what their eyes see and what their ears hear, they honestly don't believe that the exile will ever end. And forget about any belief in yishuv ha'aretz as a mitzvah. There are rabbis telling people all day, every day, that it's simply a matter of personal choice.
(Hang tight, M, I promise I'm getting to your question.)
Recently, the Mishpacha magazine did a feature on aliyah and one man wrote a letter of protest, not even embarrassed to sign his name to it. I excerpt it here (without the name) for your edification:
...I was not only disappointed [with the issue] - I was offended!
Aliyah is a real issue and topic, to be sure, but an entire magazine issue revolving around it? How presumptuous of you! Do you honestly think that your readers spend hard-earned money and invest precious time reading to be insulted this way? What if, for whatever reason, aliyah isn't relevant to me? Do I not deserve a single article that speaks to me? [Note: I read the issue in question and all the regular weekly articles were there and did not deal with aliyah at all.] Or has Mishpacha decided for us that aliyah is relevant to evey single Jew, and thus it is our responsibility to know all about it? Do you really think I buy the magazine to feel like I'm being preached to?
Forgive my harsh tone, but this week's issue has left me reeling, and perhaps underscores the entire "supremacist" attitude of those who have made aliyah, the patronizing way that they view us "still here" in comfortable, secure America, as second-class citizens.
He might as well say that Yehoshua ben Nun and Calev ben Yefuneh had a "supremacist" and "patronising" attitude toward the other ten spies. This is the voice of a rebellious son in the extreme. "What if aliyah is not relevant to me?" Aliyah is relevant to every Jew in this generation. Every Jew belongs in Eretz Yisrael. In this generation, the whole Jewish world is divided into those who've made aliyah and those who have not yet made aliyah. Those who've already made aliyah have passed a major test of Jewish life. There is no question about that. That they call to their brothers to join them, assuring them that the water is fine and the land is good is an act of goodwill and caring, not the evil thing so many on the "wrong" side of the ocean are trying to accuse them of. If you are one of those who have this bad, mad attitude, get over it! It's HKB"H you have to contend with and you are already on the losing side. Submit your will to His, and get used to the idea that you have no more choice in this matter. The world as we've always known it is ending. A new reality is dawning.
Now, tachlis. "M", I'm not a rabbi, so I'm not speaking here halachicly. The Jews have had since 9/11 to get their affairs in order and make their aliyah arrangements. All during that time, Nefesh b'Nefesh operated offering cash incentives and making it easier than ever to make aliyah from the West. I don't mean to be insulting to you "M" , but we've arrived to a time when we have to speak very frankly to one another. When you left Israel at that time, it was the worst thing to do and now it is going to cost you to correct that mistake. There are perfectly legal things you can do to get out of the situation that your bad judgment created for you. People all across America are doing it. I don't see why the Jews shouldn't also take advantage of it.
You can stop making your house payments and let the house go back to the bank. I know of people who have been two years in their homes without making a payment. They are banking that money in the meantime. In your case, you can use it to buy your tickets and get a fresh start in Israel. Cars can be given back to the bank and bankruptcy can eliminate the credit card debt. It doesn't take care of student debt, but that payment can be deferred for a good period of time in order to allow you to get resettled.
So many people see parnasah as the biggest obstacle, but really it's lack of faith that is the biggest obstacle. The same Hashem who provides your paycheck in chu"l can find you in EY and deliver it personally.
The only people I see who have a real problem without a good solution are those who are divorced and paying child support or can't remove their children from the country without the court's approval. Those who do not lie to Hashem when they pray every day to return to Zion, who truly want to come but really can't, if they ask for His help, Hashem will provide some way for them.
Also, "M", I've heard this from others as well, but no Jew should ever say "I have no family in Israel." All Jews are family and even more so in Eretz Yisrael.
The following links should prove helpful:
Drastic Drop in Returning Israelis
...Absorption Minister Sofa Landver is now calling on the government to fund a second wave of benefits.
“We’re at a crossroads today on the issue of aliya and returning Israelis,” she said at Sunday’s cabinet meeting. “The State of Israel must take advantage of the window of opportunity that has been created and invest much greater funds in taking advantage of the enormous human potential available to us. We have to act before it’s too late.”
In response to the new figures, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday ordered the establishment of a joint committee of Absorption Ministry and Prime Minister’s Office officials that will develop a new benefits program for returnees within 30 days and present the plan to the government for funding.
Spending on returnee benefits enjoys a broad consensus among government officials, especially in the powerful Budgets Department of the Finance Ministry, because returnees tend to be highly skilled, educated and of working age, including a higher-than-average percentage of academics, scientists and those working in technical professions.
Jewish Agency reaches out to Israelis abroad
Tourism fair to offer 2,000 jobs
"M", I wish you much mazal, brachah and hatzlachah to bring your family and return to the only Jewish homeland.
With love from your Israeli "Savta,"
Devash
M said...
Hello Devash,
What do you recommend for a Jew that is a Israeli Citizen who lived abroad for over 10 years and is only a Toshav Chozer....really no rights like an Oleh other then tax break and customs break. Add to that an upside down mortgage (house worth less then paid for), no money in savings, credit cards bills, car bills on top of mortgage payment and other misc. bills and 3 kids. How does someone in that situation move to Israel? Can not even afford the plane ticket and has no family to go to in Israel. This Jew does have faith and loves HKB"H, but is just too poor to go. What do you suggest to do?
You see Jews all over the world are panicking but they can at least do Aliya....some can't, what is a Rabbi like Nir Ben Arzi suggest to do? If all Jews can make Aliya on there own and even Israeli citizens can return and can they should right away...I know we are all in danger, but destitute Jews or sick Jews that take care of elderly parents for example, can't. What are they to do? I guess just trust in HKB"H to come and pick them up, right?
Please answer. M
First of all, let this be a lesson to those who would make aliyah and then after two or three years turn around and go back. (Not to imply that this is what “M” did. But if you think it is difficult coming the first time, try doing it two or three times and I speak from personal experience.)
Get this if you get nothing else: Jews of the West are building homes and lives on a slowly sinking ship. The end is coming, faster every day. It’s not by accident that they say the housing market is “under water”! People speak about aliyah as if they actually have a choice. Believe me, that is only an illusion. The only choice you have is to do it the easy way or the hard way, sooner as opposed to later.
"...I shall take you out of the peoples, and I shall gather you from the lands in which you were scattered, with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with poured out fury. And I shall bring you to the wilderness of the peoples, and I shall contend with you there face to face. As I contended with your forefathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I contend with you, says the Lord God. And I shall cause you to pass under the rod, and I shall bring you into the transmission of the covenant. And I shall separate from you those who rebel and those who transgress against Me; from the land of their sojournings I shall take them, but to the land of Israel they shall not come, and you will know that I am the Lord.
...But on My holy mount, on the mountain of the height of Israel, says the Lord God. There all the house of Israel-yea, all of them-will serve Me in the land; there I will accept them, and there I will require your heave offerings and the first of your food with all your hallowed things. With a pleasing savor I shall accept you when I take you out of the nations, and I shall gather you from the lands in which you were scattered, and I shall be hallowed through you before the eyes of the nations. And you will know that I am the Lord when I bring you to the land of Israel, to the land that I lifted My hand to give to your forefathers." (Yechezkel 20)
There is no question that there are Jews who feel that they truly cannot come, but I guarantee you that they will come in the end, because Hashem has promised that He will not leave any behind. As far as sick parents go, are there no doctors or hospitals or nursing homes in Eretz Yisrael? And they will be better cared for as Jews. If tomorrow, the Jews woke up in 1938 Germany, knowing what was coming, I guarantee you that they would find a way to leave. But the trouble with Western Jews is that despite what their eyes see and what their ears hear, they honestly don't believe that the exile will ever end. And forget about any belief in yishuv ha'aretz as a mitzvah. There are rabbis telling people all day, every day, that it's simply a matter of personal choice.
(Hang tight, M, I promise I'm getting to your question.)
Recently, the Mishpacha magazine did a feature on aliyah and one man wrote a letter of protest, not even embarrassed to sign his name to it. I excerpt it here (without the name) for your edification:
...I was not only disappointed [with the issue] - I was offended!
Aliyah is a real issue and topic, to be sure, but an entire magazine issue revolving around it? How presumptuous of you! Do you honestly think that your readers spend hard-earned money and invest precious time reading to be insulted this way? What if, for whatever reason, aliyah isn't relevant to me? Do I not deserve a single article that speaks to me? [Note: I read the issue in question and all the regular weekly articles were there and did not deal with aliyah at all.] Or has Mishpacha decided for us that aliyah is relevant to evey single Jew, and thus it is our responsibility to know all about it? Do you really think I buy the magazine to feel like I'm being preached to?
Forgive my harsh tone, but this week's issue has left me reeling, and perhaps underscores the entire "supremacist" attitude of those who have made aliyah, the patronizing way that they view us "still here" in comfortable, secure America, as second-class citizens.
He might as well say that Yehoshua ben Nun and Calev ben Yefuneh had a "supremacist" and "patronising" attitude toward the other ten spies. This is the voice of a rebellious son in the extreme. "What if aliyah is not relevant to me?" Aliyah is relevant to every Jew in this generation. Every Jew belongs in Eretz Yisrael. In this generation, the whole Jewish world is divided into those who've made aliyah and those who have not yet made aliyah. Those who've already made aliyah have passed a major test of Jewish life. There is no question about that. That they call to their brothers to join them, assuring them that the water is fine and the land is good is an act of goodwill and caring, not the evil thing so many on the "wrong" side of the ocean are trying to accuse them of. If you are one of those who have this bad, mad attitude, get over it! It's HKB"H you have to contend with and you are already on the losing side. Submit your will to His, and get used to the idea that you have no more choice in this matter. The world as we've always known it is ending. A new reality is dawning.
Now, tachlis. "M", I'm not a rabbi, so I'm not speaking here halachicly. The Jews have had since 9/11 to get their affairs in order and make their aliyah arrangements. All during that time, Nefesh b'Nefesh operated offering cash incentives and making it easier than ever to make aliyah from the West. I don't mean to be insulting to you "M" , but we've arrived to a time when we have to speak very frankly to one another. When you left Israel at that time, it was the worst thing to do and now it is going to cost you to correct that mistake. There are perfectly legal things you can do to get out of the situation that your bad judgment created for you. People all across America are doing it. I don't see why the Jews shouldn't also take advantage of it.
You can stop making your house payments and let the house go back to the bank. I know of people who have been two years in their homes without making a payment. They are banking that money in the meantime. In your case, you can use it to buy your tickets and get a fresh start in Israel. Cars can be given back to the bank and bankruptcy can eliminate the credit card debt. It doesn't take care of student debt, but that payment can be deferred for a good period of time in order to allow you to get resettled.
So many people see parnasah as the biggest obstacle, but really it's lack of faith that is the biggest obstacle. The same Hashem who provides your paycheck in chu"l can find you in EY and deliver it personally.
The only people I see who have a real problem without a good solution are those who are divorced and paying child support or can't remove their children from the country without the court's approval. Those who do not lie to Hashem when they pray every day to return to Zion, who truly want to come but really can't, if they ask for His help, Hashem will provide some way for them.
Also, "M", I've heard this from others as well, but no Jew should ever say "I have no family in Israel." All Jews are family and even more so in Eretz Yisrael.
The following links should prove helpful:
Drastic Drop in Returning Israelis
...Absorption Minister Sofa Landver is now calling on the government to fund a second wave of benefits.
“We’re at a crossroads today on the issue of aliya and returning Israelis,” she said at Sunday’s cabinet meeting. “The State of Israel must take advantage of the window of opportunity that has been created and invest much greater funds in taking advantage of the enormous human potential available to us. We have to act before it’s too late.”
In response to the new figures, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday ordered the establishment of a joint committee of Absorption Ministry and Prime Minister’s Office officials that will develop a new benefits program for returnees within 30 days and present the plan to the government for funding.
Spending on returnee benefits enjoys a broad consensus among government officials, especially in the powerful Budgets Department of the Finance Ministry, because returnees tend to be highly skilled, educated and of working age, including a higher-than-average percentage of academics, scientists and those working in technical professions.
Jewish Agency reaches out to Israelis abroad
Tourism fair to offer 2,000 jobs
"M", I wish you much mazal, brachah and hatzlachah to bring your family and return to the only Jewish homeland.
With love from your Israeli "Savta,"
Devash
03 February 2011
The Second American Revolution is Being Prepared
Rosh Chodesh
30 Shevat 5771
What if Democracy is just an historical aberration? What if all the quasi democracies in the Middle East are about to go Islamic while the Vatican bails out the EU in exchange for a revival of the Holy Roman Empire. Maybe the whole world will prepare for Mashiach's worldwide reign by reverting each one to a theocratic society.
And what about America? Will it undergo a second revolution to install the theocracy that the Christian Right has been drooling for?
Don't think it's possible? Maybe it's just flying beneath your radar screen. Pay attention now.
The photo inset is taken from a video titled "Reclaim 7 Mountains of Culture." The video lays out a plan by which the Church can take over America and the world. It speaks of "enemies of the gospel" and "advancing the Kingdom of God." It lays out each mountain to be conquered by identifying its "good" and "evil" sides. For the Mountain of Religion which it depicts with a cross (see above) it says: "The Mountain of Religion, where people worship God in spirit and in truth...", i.e. the "good" way (the xian way); "...or settle for a religious ritual," i.e. the "evil" way (any other way, and that would, of course, include Judaism).
Read up on The Family:
"...The organization has been described as one of the most politically well-connected ministries in the United States. ...Although the organization is secretive, it holds one regular public event each year, the National Prayer Breakfast held in Washington, D.C. Every sitting United States president since President Dwight D. Eisenhower, up to President Barack Obama, has participated in at least one National Prayer Breakfast during his term. The Fellowship's known participants include ranking United States government officials, corporate executives, heads of religious and humanitarian aid organizations, and ambassadors and high ranking politicians from across the world. Many United States Senators and Congressmen who have publicly acknowledged working with the Fellowship or are documented as having done so work together to pass or influence legislation."
And its "C Street" connection.
"...Despite their political differences—[Senator Tom] Coburn and [Representative Zach] Wamp are Republicans, [Representative Bart] Stupak and [Representative Mike] Doyle are Democrats—they had pledged to hold one another to a life lived by the principles of Jesus, and they considered the Tuesday supper gatherings at C Street an inviolable ritual."
And what about the Tea Party Movement whose language is reminiscent of revolution?
Tea Party, Meet the Religious Right
...the tea-party movement is no longer merely populist, libertarian, or anti-government, if it ever was. It is theocratic. Indeed, after several months in which the religious right seemed lost and dispirited, it has found a way to ride the tea-party express into renewed relevance.
From the beginning, of course, there's been overlap between the tea parties and the Christian right. Both have their strongholds in the white South, and both arise out of a sense of furious dispossession, a conviction that the country that is rightfully theirs has been usurped by sinister cosmopolitan elites. They have the same favorite politicians -- particularly [Sarah] Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann, who is also speaking in Nashville. Glenn Beck, the media figure most associated with the tea-party movement, has a worldview deeply shaped by apocalyptic Mormonism; he is contemptuous of the idea of church-state separation and believes the United States was founded to be a Christian nation. (As they all do!)
...enterprising theocrats would look to the tea parties for salvation. And [Rick] Scarborough, for one, is nothing if not enterprising. ...The author of books like In Defense of … Mixing Church and State and the pithier Liberalism Kills Kids, Scarborough spent the Bush years organizing conferences that brought together conservative Republicans with preachers and activists working for the imposition of biblical law. (according to the xian interpretation, of course).
They even have a standing army waiting in the wings to enforce their version of "biblical law."
[2019 update: Video removed due to channel deletion.]
So what does all this portend for the Jews? "Behold I will send for many fishers, says the Lord, and they will fish them, and afterwards I will send to many hunters and they will hunt them from upon every mountain and upon every hill, and from the clefts of the rocks." (Yirmiyahu 16.6)
The American theocrats believe that the time for the "fishers" is ending and the time for the "hunters" is about to begin. Is this to be the "humiliating" end of American Jewry that Rabbi Nir Ben Artzi speaks about? Will American Jews be hunted, rounded up and shipped to Israel like so much cattle, forced to leave everything behind?
Fishers and Hunters by Rachel Tabachnick
...For decades apocalyptic Christian Zionists have demonized Jews as the source of evil in American society while wrapped in the protection of an Israeli flag. No single source demonstrates this better than the book "Let My People Go," written by Tom Hess, a major Christian Zionist figure for three decades. ...Hess claims that American Jews have failed to fulfill God's purpose because of their attachment to the fleshpots of America:
"...the Jewish people today are in slavery to many false gods in America.... My prayer is that American Jewish people become aware of the bondages to these gods and break free from them.. They must make Aliyah (return) to Israel before greater judgment or plagues come upon America. The Jewish people in America must be freed from this slavery to materialism in all of its forms in order to escape to Israel. Because of the way the Jewish people have prospered and been blessed in America, this struggle is even greater than it was to leave Europe more than seventy years ago."
This demonizing of "liberal or secular" Jews has become such an acceptable part of Christian Zionism that this rhetoric is now widely used by those Jewish leaders and writers who partner with them. This is apparently done without consideration of the danger to all Jews, left and right, secular or observant, as these slurs become more acceptable and are increasingly applied to any Jewish person that does not support the Christian Zionist agenda.
...(Hess) "There is so much blood on American soil, it is a miracle we have not already been destroyed as a nation! Many secular, reformed and conservative Jews have encouraged abortion despite the fact that the killing of their future generations will affect the future of the Jewish people. There is little difference today between child sacrifice in the Old Testament and abortions today."
Hess goes on to warn his "Jewish friends" of what will happen to them if they do not leave their attachments to the sins of the United States. He uses the now infamous fishers and hunters example, claiming that Christian Zionists are the fishers trying to encourage Jews to leave the United States and other countries around the world before the hunters come after them. There are echoes of John Hagee's "Hitler as God's hunter" sermon, also exposed in a video by Bruce Wilson.
(Hess)"...People ask: Why did God allow the Holocaust in Europe? For years, a loving God warned the Jews to leave through Jewish Zionist prophets, but ninety percent of them refused to leave before it was too late! If more than ten percent of the Jews leave America before it falls or becomes a lesser power, it would be one of the first times in history. Zechariah 12:8 said that two thirds of the Jews in the world would be killed. One third of them, six million have already been killed in the Holocaust. I am concerned that six million more could be devastated in America unless they return soon.
God says in Jeremiah 16:16 that he will send for many fishers to warn and help them return to Israel. In Europe, the fishers were the Zionist and the hunters were the Nazis. Today in America the fishers are the Jewish prophets as well as the Christian Zionists. May the Jewish people respond to the fishers today or the hunters may soon come. In America they could be the KKK, Islamic terrorists or others.
This book is written with a deep love to warn the Jewish people to escape the Daughter of Babylon (USA) because it is about to be greatly devastated. Precious Jewish people, if you don't leave immediately, you may go back with no money, you may be killed or may not be able to go back at all."
The book was first published in 1987 with six additional editions published in several languages.
...For these apocalyptic Christian Zionists, "good Jews" are those who act in accordance to the role assigned to them in this end time drama while "bad Jews" or those that stay in their respective countries for reasons of greed, materialism, and other evils. Likewise, they view Jewish leaders who work in conjunction with Christian Zionists as doing God's will, while those Jewish leaders who resist their assigned roles in this apocalyptic drama are supposedly avoiding God's will due to their attachment to evil, usually described as being of a liberal or secular nature. Those Jewish leaders who veer from the Christian Zionist narrative become vilified as obstacles to God's will, regardless of their previous partnership.
Hess' book has been used in Russia and Eastern Europe in coordination with extensive Christian Zionist efforts to encourage Jews to make aliyah as well as proselytizing Jewish communities.
...The introduction to Let My People Go was written by the late David A. Lewis, founder of a previous organization called Christians United for Israel. From the introduction:
"Very frankly, if I were a Jewish person, I would take Tom Hess message very seriously. Having a love for Israel and the Jewish people, it would give me deep pain for some of my Jewish friends to leave these shores and make aliyah to Zion. I think, however, that the pain of staying could conceivably be worse. I do recall that the Jews of Germany were saying that it couldn't happen right up until the time of the unleashing of the Holocaust. After 911, the USA will never be the same. Also, if we should see a financial collapse in America, there will be a search for a scapegoat. The history of western civilization demonstrates that the scapegoat usually, if not always, turns out to be the Jew."
Like the sailors on the storm-tossed ship carrying Yonah HaNavi, the storm-battered gentiles of the world are going to figure it out---that everything that happens in the world is for the sake of the Jews. When they realize that their only hope for survival will be to toss the Jews overboard, then look out!
30 Shevat 5771
What if Democracy is just an historical aberration? What if all the quasi democracies in the Middle East are about to go Islamic while the Vatican bails out the EU in exchange for a revival of the Holy Roman Empire. Maybe the whole world will prepare for Mashiach's worldwide reign by reverting each one to a theocratic society.
And what about America? Will it undergo a second revolution to install the theocracy that the Christian Right has been drooling for?
Don't think it's possible? Maybe it's just flying beneath your radar screen. Pay attention now.
The photo inset is taken from a video titled "Reclaim 7 Mountains of Culture." The video lays out a plan by which the Church can take over America and the world. It speaks of "enemies of the gospel" and "advancing the Kingdom of God." It lays out each mountain to be conquered by identifying its "good" and "evil" sides. For the Mountain of Religion which it depicts with a cross (see above) it says: "The Mountain of Religion, where people worship God in spirit and in truth...", i.e. the "good" way (the xian way); "...or settle for a religious ritual," i.e. the "evil" way (any other way, and that would, of course, include Judaism).
Read up on The Family:
"...The organization has been described as one of the most politically well-connected ministries in the United States. ...Although the organization is secretive, it holds one regular public event each year, the National Prayer Breakfast held in Washington, D.C. Every sitting United States president since President Dwight D. Eisenhower, up to President Barack Obama, has participated in at least one National Prayer Breakfast during his term. The Fellowship's known participants include ranking United States government officials, corporate executives, heads of religious and humanitarian aid organizations, and ambassadors and high ranking politicians from across the world. Many United States Senators and Congressmen who have publicly acknowledged working with the Fellowship or are documented as having done so work together to pass or influence legislation."
And its "C Street" connection.
"...Despite their political differences—[Senator Tom] Coburn and [Representative Zach] Wamp are Republicans, [Representative Bart] Stupak and [Representative Mike] Doyle are Democrats—they had pledged to hold one another to a life lived by the principles of Jesus, and they considered the Tuesday supper gatherings at C Street an inviolable ritual."
And what about the Tea Party Movement whose language is reminiscent of revolution?
Tea Party, Meet the Religious Right
...the tea-party movement is no longer merely populist, libertarian, or anti-government, if it ever was. It is theocratic. Indeed, after several months in which the religious right seemed lost and dispirited, it has found a way to ride the tea-party express into renewed relevance.
From the beginning, of course, there's been overlap between the tea parties and the Christian right. Both have their strongholds in the white South, and both arise out of a sense of furious dispossession, a conviction that the country that is rightfully theirs has been usurped by sinister cosmopolitan elites. They have the same favorite politicians -- particularly [Sarah] Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann, who is also speaking in Nashville. Glenn Beck, the media figure most associated with the tea-party movement, has a worldview deeply shaped by apocalyptic Mormonism; he is contemptuous of the idea of church-state separation and believes the United States was founded to be a Christian nation. (As they all do!)
...enterprising theocrats would look to the tea parties for salvation. And [Rick] Scarborough, for one, is nothing if not enterprising. ...The author of books like In Defense of … Mixing Church and State and the pithier Liberalism Kills Kids, Scarborough spent the Bush years organizing conferences that brought together conservative Republicans with preachers and activists working for the imposition of biblical law. (according to the xian interpretation, of course).
They even have a standing army waiting in the wings to enforce their version of "biblical law."
[2019 update: Video removed due to channel deletion.]
So what does all this portend for the Jews? "Behold I will send for many fishers, says the Lord, and they will fish them, and afterwards I will send to many hunters and they will hunt them from upon every mountain and upon every hill, and from the clefts of the rocks." (Yirmiyahu 16.6)
The American theocrats believe that the time for the "fishers" is ending and the time for the "hunters" is about to begin. Is this to be the "humiliating" end of American Jewry that Rabbi Nir Ben Artzi speaks about? Will American Jews be hunted, rounded up and shipped to Israel like so much cattle, forced to leave everything behind?
Fishers and Hunters by Rachel Tabachnick
...For decades apocalyptic Christian Zionists have demonized Jews as the source of evil in American society while wrapped in the protection of an Israeli flag. No single source demonstrates this better than the book "Let My People Go," written by Tom Hess, a major Christian Zionist figure for three decades. ...Hess claims that American Jews have failed to fulfill God's purpose because of their attachment to the fleshpots of America:
"...the Jewish people today are in slavery to many false gods in America.... My prayer is that American Jewish people become aware of the bondages to these gods and break free from them.. They must make Aliyah (return) to Israel before greater judgment or plagues come upon America. The Jewish people in America must be freed from this slavery to materialism in all of its forms in order to escape to Israel. Because of the way the Jewish people have prospered and been blessed in America, this struggle is even greater than it was to leave Europe more than seventy years ago."
This demonizing of "liberal or secular" Jews has become such an acceptable part of Christian Zionism that this rhetoric is now widely used by those Jewish leaders and writers who partner with them. This is apparently done without consideration of the danger to all Jews, left and right, secular or observant, as these slurs become more acceptable and are increasingly applied to any Jewish person that does not support the Christian Zionist agenda.
...(Hess) "There is so much blood on American soil, it is a miracle we have not already been destroyed as a nation! Many secular, reformed and conservative Jews have encouraged abortion despite the fact that the killing of their future generations will affect the future of the Jewish people. There is little difference today between child sacrifice in the Old Testament and abortions today."
Hess goes on to warn his "Jewish friends" of what will happen to them if they do not leave their attachments to the sins of the United States. He uses the now infamous fishers and hunters example, claiming that Christian Zionists are the fishers trying to encourage Jews to leave the United States and other countries around the world before the hunters come after them. There are echoes of John Hagee's "Hitler as God's hunter" sermon, also exposed in a video by Bruce Wilson.
(Hess)"...People ask: Why did God allow the Holocaust in Europe? For years, a loving God warned the Jews to leave through Jewish Zionist prophets, but ninety percent of them refused to leave before it was too late! If more than ten percent of the Jews leave America before it falls or becomes a lesser power, it would be one of the first times in history. Zechariah 12:8 said that two thirds of the Jews in the world would be killed. One third of them, six million have already been killed in the Holocaust. I am concerned that six million more could be devastated in America unless they return soon.
God says in Jeremiah 16:16 that he will send for many fishers to warn and help them return to Israel. In Europe, the fishers were the Zionist and the hunters were the Nazis. Today in America the fishers are the Jewish prophets as well as the Christian Zionists. May the Jewish people respond to the fishers today or the hunters may soon come. In America they could be the KKK, Islamic terrorists or others.
This book is written with a deep love to warn the Jewish people to escape the Daughter of Babylon (USA) because it is about to be greatly devastated. Precious Jewish people, if you don't leave immediately, you may go back with no money, you may be killed or may not be able to go back at all."
The book was first published in 1987 with six additional editions published in several languages.
...For these apocalyptic Christian Zionists, "good Jews" are those who act in accordance to the role assigned to them in this end time drama while "bad Jews" or those that stay in their respective countries for reasons of greed, materialism, and other evils. Likewise, they view Jewish leaders who work in conjunction with Christian Zionists as doing God's will, while those Jewish leaders who resist their assigned roles in this apocalyptic drama are supposedly avoiding God's will due to their attachment to evil, usually described as being of a liberal or secular nature. Those Jewish leaders who veer from the Christian Zionist narrative become vilified as obstacles to God's will, regardless of their previous partnership.
Hess' book has been used in Russia and Eastern Europe in coordination with extensive Christian Zionist efforts to encourage Jews to make aliyah as well as proselytizing Jewish communities.
...The introduction to Let My People Go was written by the late David A. Lewis, founder of a previous organization called Christians United for Israel. From the introduction:
"Very frankly, if I were a Jewish person, I would take Tom Hess message very seriously. Having a love for Israel and the Jewish people, it would give me deep pain for some of my Jewish friends to leave these shores and make aliyah to Zion. I think, however, that the pain of staying could conceivably be worse. I do recall that the Jews of Germany were saying that it couldn't happen right up until the time of the unleashing of the Holocaust. After 911, the USA will never be the same. Also, if we should see a financial collapse in America, there will be a search for a scapegoat. The history of western civilization demonstrates that the scapegoat usually, if not always, turns out to be the Jew."
Like the sailors on the storm-tossed ship carrying Yonah HaNavi, the storm-battered gentiles of the world are going to figure it out---that everything that happens in the world is for the sake of the Jews. When they realize that their only hope for survival will be to toss the Jews overboard, then look out!
02 February 2011
As Foretold...
"...And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and they shall war one man against his brother, and a man against his friend,...." (Yeshayahu 19.2)
Violent Scenes As Egyptians Turning On Each Other
Protests in Cairo turned violent on Wednesday afternoon, with protesters throwing large rocks at each other as pro-Mubarak demonstrators tore down anti-Mubarak banners that have decorated Tahrir Square for three days. Tanks on the periphery of the square were starting to move in anticipation of unruly crowds.
Live video broadcast by Al Jazeera showed men on camels and horseback hitting people in the square with whips as they rode through the crowds.
Women and children were hiding behind tanks in the streets as men in suits threw stones at each other. The protests have not been this violent in nearly a week. The army was using tear gas to disperse crowds.
Violent Scenes As Egyptians Turning On Each Other
Protests in Cairo turned violent on Wednesday afternoon, with protesters throwing large rocks at each other as pro-Mubarak demonstrators tore down anti-Mubarak banners that have decorated Tahrir Square for three days. Tanks on the periphery of the square were starting to move in anticipation of unruly crowds.
Live video broadcast by Al Jazeera showed men on camels and horseback hitting people in the square with whips as they rode through the crowds.
Women and children were hiding behind tanks in the streets as men in suits threw stones at each other. The protests have not been this violent in nearly a week. The army was using tear gas to disperse crowds.
01 February 2011
Both Hemispheres Getting Socked!
27 Shevat 5771
"...Fire and hail, snow and vapor, a storm wind, performing His word...." (Tehillim 148)
Katrina-like storm aims for Australia
CANBERRA — Military helicopters evacuated hospital patients Tuesday as authorities ordered thousands of people to flee a powerful, "life-threatening" cyclone roaring toward waterlogged northeast Australia.
Cyclone Yasi was forecast to directly hit the far northern city of Cairns late Wednesday with wind gusts up to 155 mph, the Bureau of Meteorology said. Up to three feet of rain could fall on communities in Queensland state already saturated from months of flooding.
"This storm is huge and it is life-threatening," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said. "I know many of us will feel that Queensland has already borne about as much as we can bear when it comes to disasters and storms, but more is being asked of us — and I am confident that we are able to rise to this next challenge."
The Queensland floods killed 35 people since November, damaged or destroyed 30,000 homes and businesses and left Brisbane, Australia's third-largest city, under water for days.
Yasi is expected to generate winds of up to 175 mph when it hits the northern coast of tropical Queensland early on Thursday, matching the strength of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005.
Bligh warned the system was still intensifying and picking up speed on its path, with destructive winds expected on Wednesday morning.
Historic Winter Superstorm to Cripple Large Parts of US
CHICAGO — A monster storm had the central U.S. gearing up its defenses on Monday against a potentially deadly mix of sleet, snow and ice that could affect 100 million people by the time it blows through the Northeast and mid-Atlantic.
St. Louis, Kansas City and Milwaukee could be hardest hit, with expected midweek snowfalls of up to 2 feet and drifts piled 5 to 10 feet. Even hardy Chicago could be in for 20 inches — its third-worst blizzard since record-keeping began.
"I wouldn't want to be on the road in open areas tomorrow night," said forecaster Tom Skilling of Chicago television station WGN. "I don't think I'd want to be driving in the city either. The fact is people die in these things. They skid off the road and go wandering around in whiteout conditions."
Several airlines were allowing travelers affected by the weather to change flights without fees.
While record snowfalls have pounded the Northeast in what's shaping up to be one of that region's most brutal winters, the Midwest has been comparatively unscathed — until now.
"...Fire and hail, snow and vapor, a storm wind, performing His word...." (Tehillim 148)
Katrina-like storm aims for Australia
CANBERRA — Military helicopters evacuated hospital patients Tuesday as authorities ordered thousands of people to flee a powerful, "life-threatening" cyclone roaring toward waterlogged northeast Australia.
Cyclone Yasi was forecast to directly hit the far northern city of Cairns late Wednesday with wind gusts up to 155 mph, the Bureau of Meteorology said. Up to three feet of rain could fall on communities in Queensland state already saturated from months of flooding.
"This storm is huge and it is life-threatening," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said. "I know many of us will feel that Queensland has already borne about as much as we can bear when it comes to disasters and storms, but more is being asked of us — and I am confident that we are able to rise to this next challenge."
The Queensland floods killed 35 people since November, damaged or destroyed 30,000 homes and businesses and left Brisbane, Australia's third-largest city, under water for days.
Yasi is expected to generate winds of up to 175 mph when it hits the northern coast of tropical Queensland early on Thursday, matching the strength of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005.
Bligh warned the system was still intensifying and picking up speed on its path, with destructive winds expected on Wednesday morning.
Historic Winter Superstorm to Cripple Large Parts of US
CHICAGO — A monster storm had the central U.S. gearing up its defenses on Monday against a potentially deadly mix of sleet, snow and ice that could affect 100 million people by the time it blows through the Northeast and mid-Atlantic.
St. Louis, Kansas City and Milwaukee could be hardest hit, with expected midweek snowfalls of up to 2 feet and drifts piled 5 to 10 feet. Even hardy Chicago could be in for 20 inches — its third-worst blizzard since record-keeping began.
"I wouldn't want to be on the road in open areas tomorrow night," said forecaster Tom Skilling of Chicago television station WGN. "I don't think I'd want to be driving in the city either. The fact is people die in these things. They skid off the road and go wandering around in whiteout conditions."
Several airlines were allowing travelers affected by the weather to change flights without fees.
While record snowfalls have pounded the Northeast in what's shaping up to be one of that region's most brutal winters, the Midwest has been comparatively unscathed — until now.
MSNBC is reporting it as "The biggest storm this country has ever seen, affecting 100 million people." Does anyone else get the idea that the situation in the world just went up another level?
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