THEY ARE STILL MANIPULATING THE NUMBERS!

 12 Tishrei 5781

AND MANIPULATING THE LANGUAGE AS WELL.  YOU HAVE TO READ VERY CAREFULLY.

For the first time, Israel’s daily coronavirus deaths per capita have surpassed those of the United States, a military task force said in a report published Tuesday morning.

The task force, which belongs to the Israel Defense Forces Military Intelligence Directorate and advises the Health Ministry, already included that statistic in a diagram in a report published on Sunday but only highlighted it as a first on Tuesday, for an unknown reason.

Tuesday’s report also noted that Israel’s daily confirmed new cases remain the highest in the world.

The daily deaths per capita are calculated by the task force as an average of the last week. According to the data, Israel’s daily death rate over the last week has been 3.5 per million people, while the US rate was some 2.2 per million.

Israel is way ahead of other countries in daily new cases per capita due to very high testing rates. However, even for the percentage of positive test results out of all tests, Israel is also ahead of other countries included in the report for comparison. (Source)

THE BIG PICTURE TELLS QUITE A DIFFERENT STORY... 

(Source)

Knesset member Matan Kahana (Yamina):  "Israel has the highest corona death rate in the world."  THIS IS AN OUTRIGHT LIE!  BUT, HOW MANY PEOPLE EVEN KNOW THE TRUTH?!  

YOM KIPPUR 5781 - "Ki Anu Amecha"

9 Tishrei 5781
Erev Yom Hakippurim

To all whom I may have offended or hurt over this past year, I beg your forgiveness as it was entirely unintentional.  My prayer is that I may be forgiven as I have freely forgiven all who have wronged, offended or hurt me.

This is my favorite piyut of the Yom Kippur service.  I love the words...

May our fast be easy and our atonement be complete.  Chag sameach!

R. NIR BEN ARTZI ON EREV YOM KIPPUR 5781: "On this Day of Atonement, every single Jew must ask the Creator of the world for our righteous Messiah. A Jew who is connected to Judaism and tradition will seek our righteous Messiah now in mercy! HaKadosh-Baruch-Hu believes in His children, the people of Israel, in their prayers on this special Yom Kippur, that they will ask for the Messianic King at the closing time! Let them ask for the Messianic King at the time of Neilah! That's the main thing!"

See also: Songs for the Soul – Preparing for Yom Kippur

SHABBAT SHUVAH - PLUS

7 Tishrei 5780
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Ha'azinu - Shabbat Shuvah

Shabbat Shuvah / שבת שובה

The Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is called Shabbat Shuvah because its special haftarah reading begins with the words Shuvah Yisrael ["Return O Israel"] from the prophecy of Hoshe'a.  It is also referred to as Shabbat Shuvah because it falls during the ten days of Teshuvah - Repentance.

...It is customary in almost all Jewish communities for the rabbi of the city or congregation to expound on teshuvah, and to emphasize the severity of transgression so that the people turn their hearts toward repentance.  Our Sages have said that when the wise address the people, God forgives the sins of Israel.

...on Shabbat Shuvah one should be especially careful to concentrate entirely on Torah, prayer, and reflection on teshuvah, thereby attaining forgiveness for whatever unfitting behavior may have marred other Sabbaths.

--- Book of Our Heritage by R. Eliyahu Kitov

PLUS: THE REGULATIONS FOR THE HOLIDAY CLOSURE IN ISRAEL INCLUDING WHAT IS "PERMITTED" FOR THE RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE OF THE HOLIDAYS

~ SHABBAT SHALOM AND CHAG SAMEACH ~

MASSIVE CHILLUL HASHEM DURING THE DAYS OF AWE!!

 6 Tishrei 5781

Maybe the chareidi politicians are just too used to the wheeling and dealing of their game.  Perhaps they felt it was a safe gamble - that the god of democracy was too dear to the hearts of the Israelis to ever give up on the public demonstrations - so they felt safe saying, "We'll agree to the ban on public prayers on Yom Kippur if the demonstrations are equally banned."  They've been playing the politics game too long.  It has damaged their souls to the point that they don't even see the CHILLUL HASHEM in conceding to banning public Yom Kippur prayers REGARDLESS OF ANYTHING ELSE!  

Not only that.  Imagine the repercussions from the Israelis when the government explains that they have to suspend civil liberties because of the religious Jews.  Of course, we know all of this is just getting right down to the nitty gritty of the BIRUR on the spiritual level, but we live in the physical world and our mitzvot are physical acts; therefore, we have to determine how to respond to these situations on the physical level as well. 

The Knesset is ready to concede outdoor prayers up to 20 people.  We've been living with that for awhile now.  However, Netanyahu wants to ban prayers altogether and he and his cohorts are threatening to take the matter out of the hands of the Knesset if they don't get their way.  That says to me that the order has come down from the head(s) of the NWO who are also orchestrating all these signed agreements with Arab countries at the very same time.  Do you not understand that they know the power of our prayers and that they are trying to destroy the mitzvot of the holidays in order to weaken us to the point that they can finally obliterate us as a nation?

The whole world is watching, listening as they announce that Israel is the only country to be locked down a second time.  They are asking what's wrong with us that it is so bad here, when in reality it is not at all the way it is being portrayed.  They are watching and listening as it is being reported that the holy days will be cancelled and Yom Kippur prayers will be banned outright in the entire public sphere.  They are asking how it is that the Jews in Eretz Yisrael are taking this lying down, without a peep of protest and even the "leadership" - rabbis and rabbinical organizations - are stating publicly that they intend to abide by the dictates of these 'authorities.' (Who has the authority to stop prayer?!)  What a CHILLUL HASHEM!  There is no hope for such 'rabbis'!

We have to draw a line somewhere.  We have to cling tenaciously to our Torah and mitzvot and in the merit of doing so with mesirut nefesh, and primarily to stop the desecration, perhaps HKB"H will see fit to send the Redeemer to Zion without any further delay!  May it be His will!!

DECLARATION OF WAR!!

 5 Tishrei 5781

I had not intended to post unless an emergency arose, and this, my brothers and sisters, is such an emergency.

At this hour, the evil ruling regime of the tragically misnamed 'Jewish' State is voting to lock every beit knesset and in addition TO FORBID PRAYER - EVEN IN THE OPEN AREAS - ON YOM KIPPUR!!!!

Since the Master of the Universe is the ONE Who has commanded us in this mitzvah, it is a war against HKB"H and these Amalekim - haters of God and His Torah - will not survive this!!  

THEY CAN'T LOCK THE OUTSIDE and THEY CAN'T BE EVERYWHERE AT ONCE!!!!!!!!!!!

IT'S TIME FOR MELECH HAMASHIACH TO REVEAL HIMSELF!!!!!! 

IF NOT NOW, THEN WHEN????!!!

G'MAR CHATIMAH TOVAH! GUEST POST

 3 Tishrei 5781

"Yom Kippur - Don't Be A Wimp" by Rav Yehudah Richter

Halfway through there is a second part entitled "Why the Gentiles Can't Repent."  (See further here, here and here.)                      

SHANAH 5781 TOVAH!

29 Elul 5780
Erev Rosh Hashanah

On the Day of Judgment, as the King sits to open the books - who will live and who will die - may He overlook our shortcomings and count our steadfast loyalty to Him and to His Holy Torah as worthy of continued life and service to Him in the coming year 5781.  

The best is yet to come!

Ain od milevado!

Wishing Klal Yisrael the most heartfelt Yom Kippur and Sukkot holidays as well.  God willing, I am taking a vacation from Tomer Devorah for the duration.  

Chag Sameach!!

THE DAY OF HASHEM - WHO WILL SURVIVE?

27 Elul 5780

(Originally written 3 Kislev 5765, but it works in Elul, too.)

"Turn to Me and be saved, all ends of the earth, for I am G-d and there is no other." (Yeshaya 45:22)

We have a tradition that many prophecies given to Israel were not included in our canon of scripture because they were intended only for the people of their time and were not relevant for future generations.  Consequently, it is understood that the record of prophecy which is contained in our Tanakh, even if it describes events long past, has relevance for the future.  The language of Tanakh refers to calamitous days of judgement as "The Day of Hashem."

Wail, for the day of Hashem is near; it will come like a sudden attack from the Almighty... Behold, the day of Hashem is coming; [a day] of cruelty, rage and burning anger, to make the land desolate; and He will annihilate sinners from it. (Yeshaya 13:6, 9)

...Hashem, Master of Legions, has a day against every proud and arrogant person and against every exalted person -- and he will be brought low, ... Humankind's haughtiness will be humbled and men's arrogance will be brought down; and Hashem alone will be exalted on that day.  (Yeshaya 2:12, 17)

For the day of Hashem upon all the nations is close; as you have done [so] shall be done to you; your requital shall return upon your head. (Ovadya 1:15)

I will set wonders in the heavens and on earth; blood and fire and pillars of smoke; the sun will turn to darkness and the moon to blood [red] before the coming of the great and awesome Day of Hashem. (Yoel 3:3-5)

The Day of Hashem is a transitional period which bridges the gap between the world in its current state of outright rebellion to the messianic era in which the entire world will be at peace, a reality that cannot materialize until all rebels against G-d's Law (sinners) have been eliminated. The way this comes about is completely at the discretion of the Creator. He has not asked for our input, so we do not have a vote in the proceedings. Neither will He be held accountable to human standards of morality and justice for His ways are completely moral and His methods are absolutely just.

This time period will be such a calamity that it is difficult to imagine anyone surviving it, and much less so when we factor in the low spiritual state of our generation. However we are assured over and over that a remnant will survive, but only a remnant:

It will be on that day that the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the House of Jacob will no longer rely on its attacker, but will rely on Hashem, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty G-d. For even if your people Israel will be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of it will return; [for] an intense destruction will surge forth, with justification. For an intense devastation does the Lord Hashem/Elokim, Master of Legions carry out in the midst of the Land. (Yeshaya 10:20-23)

Since we are the generation facing the most critical stage in world history, it's time Jews began to ask the question that the Chr*stians have been pressing on us for two thousand years: "What must I do to be saved?" The answer might surprise you:

And it will be that anyone who calls on the Name of Hashem will escape. (Yoel 3:5)

There will be in all the land --- the word of Hashem --- two portions [of the population] will be cut off and perish, and the third will be left in it. I will bring that third into fire and purify it, as one purifies silver and as one refines gold; it will call out in My Name and I will answer it. I have said, 'it will be My people' and it will say,'Hashem is my G-d.' (Zekharya 13:8-9)

And it will be that anyone who calls on the Name of Hashem will escape for on the mountains of Zion and in Jerusalem there will be refuge as Hashem said, and among the survivors whom Hashem summons. (Yoel 3:5)

Some with chariots, and some with horses; but we, in the Name of Hashem, our G-d, call out. They slumped and fell, but we arose and were invigorated. Hashem save! May the King answer us on the day we call. (Tehillim 20:8-10)

Hashem is close to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him sincerely. The will of those who fear Him He will do; and their cry He will hear and He will save them. (Tehillim 145:18-19)

But there is a caveat to this. "Seek Hashem when He can be found; call upon Him when He is near." (Yeshaya 55:6) No doubt, by the time it becomes obvious what is happening, it will already be too late to change one's fate.

In an indisputable reference to messianic times, the prophet Yeshaya says:

...the fruit of the land will be for pride and glory for the survivors of Israel. Of every remnant that will be in Zion and every remaining one in Jerusalem, 'Holy' will be said of him. Everyone who is inscribed for life in Jerusalem. When my Lord will have washed the filth of the daughters of Zion and rinsed the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, with a spirit of judgement and a spirit of purging. (Yeshaya 4:2-4)

Note the phrase---"Everyone who is inscribed for life...." This brings to mind an event recorded in chapter nine of Yechezkel's prophecy. It describes the prophet's view of the spiritual reality co-existing with the physical reality at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple:

He [Hashem] called to the man clothed in linen [the angel Gavriel according to commentary], ...And Hashem said to him, "Pass through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and mark a sign on the foreheads of the men who sigh and moan for all the abominations that are done within it."

Then He said to those within my earshot, "Pass through the city behind him and smite; let your eye not spare and do not have compassion. Old man, young man and maiden, children and women, shall you slay to utter destruction; but do not approach any man upon whom is the sign. Begin from My Sanctuary! So they began with the elders who were before the Temple. (Yechezkel 9:3-6)

According to the commentary, this sign on the forehead of the righteous was to protect them from the fate of the sinners. Note how the "righteous" are defined---"[those] who sigh and moan for all the abominations that are done within [the city]." The purge started with the "elders" because they were the ones who had the power to correct the situation before it got out of hand.

...while they were smiting, I remained and I fell upon my face and I cried out and said, "Alas, Lord Hashem/Elokim! Are you destroying the entire remnant of Israel as You pour out your wrath on Jerusalem?" Then He said to me, "The iniquity of the House of Israel and Judah is very, very great --- the land has been filled with bloodshed and the city has been filled with injustice, for they have said, 'Hashem has forsaken the land' and 'Hashem does not see.' So, I too, My eye will not spare nor will I have compassion; I have placed their way upon their head. " (Yechezkel 9:8-10)

In our day, "bloodshed" has its equivalence in terrorism and "injustice" is enshrined in our Supreme Court. The phrase "they have said" can apply to words or deeds which speak as loudly as any words. Besides the fact that we can draw parallels between the matzav then and the matzav today, how do we know this passage has relevance for our time? Chapter 11 makes the connection:

I will assemble you from the nations and gather you in from the lands where you have been scattered, and give you the Land of Israel. They will come there and remove all its detestations and all its abomination from it. I will give them an undivided heart and I will place a new spirit in them; I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh so that they may walk in My decrees and observe My laws and fulfill them. Then they will be a people unto Me, and I will be a G-d for them. But those whose heart follows the heart of their detestations and abomination. I will place their way upon their head --- the word of the Lord Hashem/Elokim. (Yechezkel 11:12-21)

The last pasuk is a qualifier which lets us know that not everyone will receive this new spirit. At the end of days, there will still be those who choose to go their own rebellious way and their end will be like that of the sinners of Yechezkel's own time---"I will place their way upon their head." Why then should we not imagine that the protection of the righteous will also follow the same pattern? Perhaps the following describes the defining event which separates between the righteous and the sinner:

Behold, I send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of Hashem. And he will turn back [to G-d] the hearts of the fathers with [their] sons and the hearts of sons with their fathers [for fear that] I come and strike the land with utter destruction. (Malachi 3:23-24)

This change of heart will 'mark' the righteous---the non-rebel---for survival. It is well-known that both Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach and also the Lubavitcher Rebbe were instrumental to the teshuva movement which has brought untold numbers of Jews back to the path of observance. And further to that are the Discovery programs of Aish HaTorah and the personal endeavors of many unnamed rabbis all of whom together have functioned in the spirit of Eliyahu HaNavi. If so, then how short the time must be.

We do not look forward to the destruction that we know is hurtling toward us like a runaway freight train, any more than a woman looks forward to many hours of grueling labor in the effort to birth her child. But we anticipate the bliss on the other side of that event and hope to survive to see it just as the mother looks past the pain to the moment that she will embrace her child.

The sober reality that confronts us should put us in awe anew of the Holy One, Blessed is He, and of His majesty and power. It should inspire us to redouble our efforts to be counted worthy to survive and to try to inspire those within our realm of influence as well.

May Hashem have mercy on us on the day we call out to Him. Amen!
_______________________

And at no time is He more approachable than in Elul when "The King is in the field."