Let's Finish This

29 Iyyar 5781
Erev Rosh Chodesh-Yom Kippur Katan
44 Days of the Omer 

UPDATE: [2:00 AM] "Hamas says it's suspending planned attack as Israeli forces leave Temple Mount."  

[10:00PM]  Rocket salvos are being shot at Ashqelon and Sha'ar HaNegev, as well as Eshkol about every ten minutes.  Rioting continues at Damascus Gate and on Har Habayit, while demonstrations are reported in Yafo, Haifa, Nazareth and other places across the country.

[9:05 PM]  Launching 10 rockets to Ashqelon

                  [8:42PM]  

Islamic Jihad threatens to renew rocket fire at 9 p.m.

THE FUTURE OF JERUSALEM

28 Iyyar 5781
43 Days of the Omer 

UPDATING:  (6:30 PM)  The Knesset was evacuated.  I won't be able to keep this up.  It's gonna be a long night.  Keep abreast of the news.  

This is a good Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/ignis_fatum

To get Red Alerts: https://t.me/CumtaAlertsEnglishChannel

(6:27 PM) Alarms on Ashkelon Beach, Negev Gate, Sderot and surroundings

(6:14PM) Israel Police: An alarm was recently sounded in the city of Jerusalem. Police forces, organized in the Western Wall plaza, among others, began evacuating hundreds of those present to safe places.

(6:12PM) Sirens in Jerusalem and surrounding areas:  "#BREAKING

Interceptions , impacts from Kiryat Gat through Beit Shemesh, and Jerusalem "

~ ~ ~

13 mins to zero hour...

ISRAEL GOES ON HIGH ALERT: Air Traffic Diverted, Hospitals On Standby, Bomb Shelters Opened, Fears Of Imminent Hamas Attack

Happy Yom Yerushalayim - commemorating the wondrous miracle of a reunited Jerusalem.  Another step closer to the ultimate reunification between the Beit HaMikdash Lema'alah and the Beit HaMikdash Lematah.

Will the Third Messianic War Arrive with Mashiach ben Yosef?

R. Richter: The State of Israel: G-D's Hand or Satan's? Finally, a Guide for the Perplexed - Part 2

27 Iyyar 5781
42 Days of the Omer

The State of Israel: G-D's Hand or Satan's? Finally, a Guide for the Perplexed - Part 2

 

Don't overlook the comments section on the previous blog post.

"A Year Later: Regaining Direction"

27 Iyyar 5781
42 Days of the Omer
Shavua Tov!

A Year Later: Regaining Direction : HaGaon Rabbi Yaakov Hillel  March 10, 2021  (17:12 mins)

 

"HELP!"

25 Iyyar 5781

40 Days of the Omer

Erev Shabbat Kodesh 

Parashat Behar/Bechukotai - Mevorchim

Parashat Behar/Bechukotai - Help! - Rabbi Meir Kahane

If your brother becomes impoverished and his means falter in your proximity, you shall strengthen him – proselyte or resident – so that he can live with you.  Do not take from him interest and increase; you shall fear your G-d and let your brother live with you. (Lev. 25:35,36)

King Solomon said (Prov. 21:13), “He who stops his ears at the cry of the poor shall also cry himself but shall not be answered.  ”Anyone who deserts a person who needs him, will in turn be deserted by G-d.  This is what happened to Elimelech:  Elimelech was one of the leaders of the nation and sustainers of the generation. Yet when the years of famine arrived, he said: All Israel are gathering around my door, each one with his basket [asking for donations]. He got up and ran away from the Land (Ruth Rabbah 1:4).  And he was punished for this by dying – he and both of his sons – in exile.  Anyone who forsakes the divine commandment of lovingkindness – G-d will forsake him, measure for measure: Thus says Hashem: You have abandoned Me, and I, too, have abandoned you (2 Chronicles 12:5).

Kindness and kind deeds are a general category that includes many individual mitzvot like charity, marrying off a poor girl, visiting the sick and comforting mourners.  Truthfully, the potential for kind deeds is immeasurable.  Anything one does for his fellow man, even offering a single kind word, is part of the kindness that builds the world.  In other words, every good deed one does for his fellow man is called good because of the kindness it contains, because kindness is the fundamental kernel within all good.  Loving one's fellow Jew is a mitzvah of global importance.  Love, respect and reverence for our fellow Jew, created in G-d's image and sanctified at Sinai as G-d's elect, is the duty of every single Jew, because he is part of that chosen people.  Every Jew must grow spiritually by showing love and respect for his fellow Jew. In that way, he expresses his esteem for someone holy and select, created in G-d's image and chosen at Sinai to be G-d's special treasure. In effect, he gains self-esteem as well.  These benefits are secondary to the main benefit accrued: Though such behavior one suppresses the evil impulse and breaks down his ego.  This is man's purpose, and doing so exalts and sanctifies him.  It says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  The moment a person equates someone else – through the love and respect he shows him – with himself, thereby ceasing to view himself as the center of the world, his own ego will begin to grow smaller.

Kindness for one's fellow man, even for someone who is not one's relative and whom one does not know at all, is the trait that separates man from beast.  It is this which elevates man to a level just beneath the angels, and perhaps just above them.  Man's ability to give and to sacrifice his property and time for his fellow man is what G-d wished to implement on earth when He created it, and for this he created man.

R. Elazar said (Succah 49b), “Charity is only rewarded according to the kindness it contains, as it says (Hosea 10:12), 'Sow charity for yourselves, reap according to kindness.'” Rashi comments, “The giving is charity. The trouble taken is kindness, for example, bringing the money to the poor person's house, or taking the trouble that it should help him a lot... in short, paying full heed to the poor man's welfare.” How true are Rashi's words! Once more we have clear proof that the purpose of charity and kindness is its influence on the soul of the one offering it.

Make no mistake. Kindness, per se, is not the main purpose of creation or of Torah.  Rather, it is the most outstanding, pronounced expression of modesty, self-abnegation, subjugation of the evil impulse and acceptance of G-d's yoke discernible in man.  Man, by giving, nullifies his sense of taking.  By worrying about his fellow man, he suppresses his selfishness, arrogance and lust.  There is nothing great or praiseworthy about the poor person receiving kindness or charity.  In taking and benefiting, one performs no mitzvah.  The mitzvah is entirely in that the giver gives, that the kind person's mercy wells up and he forgets himself, his property and his selfishness, suppressing his ego and giving of his money or time to someone else.  In doing so, he reinforces the humility within.  By suppressing his evil impulse and lessening his lust, arrogance and selfishness, he fulfills his task on this earth. For this he was created.  It is patently obvious that the main purpose of kind deeds is not that the receiver receive but that the giver give.  Regarding tzedaka (“charity”), Chazal said a great thing which holds true regarding all mitzvot between man and his fellow man: The poor man does more for the donor than the donor does for the poor man.  For as Ruth said to Naomi, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz” (Ruth 2:19).  It does not say “who worked with me,” but “with whom I worked”. She said to her: Many good deeds have I done with him today for the slice that he gave me (Leviticus Rabbah 34:8).  True, the simple meaning is that the master receives greater income from G-d than what he gives in charity.  But Chazal take this far deeper: the greatness of the mitzvah of tzedaka is not that the poor man receives, but that the giver gives.  There is no greatness in a person receiving something material – but great is the person who gives to someone else, thereby relinquishing the benefit that he could have received from his money.  Performing this mitzvah affects his soul. He elevates and sanctifies it by removing the selfishness that encrusts it.  Therefore Ruth said, Many good deeds have I done with him today.  The same applies to any form of kindness that a person performs for his fellow-man: the greatness lies, not in the receiving, but in the active performance of giving.  This is the great difference between Torah and socialism: Torah emphasizes the giving, whereas socialism emphasizes the receiving – and receiving only increases the selfishness of the recipient, who will never be satisfied with what he has received. The Jews who distort the Torah are so influenced by the alien culture that they turn kindness and mercy into goals in and of themselves.  By such means they elevate them above all the mitzvot, necessarily diminishing the value of all other mitzvot.  They also push the concepts of kindness and mercy to foolish and dangerous extremes, while they themselves include wicked enemies of the Jewish People. The real meaning of kindness and truth is that these principles are only part, albeit an exceedingly marked and conspicuous part, of the Torah's main purpose and goal – self-abnegation and suppression of our evil impulse and arrogance.  All the mitzvot were given for this purpose, but kindness and mercy are the most direct path to this goal, as I have explained.  Such acts express the Torah's essence, breaking down one's ego.  The word mercy – “rachamim” in Hebrew – comes from “rechem”, womb.  There is no mercy like that of a mother for the child of her womb.  There is an inseparable bond between them because the child is part of her body, “flesh of her flesh” (Gen. 2:23).  Just so must be a Jew's mercy for his fellow Jew (if that fellow is worthy). It should resemble a mother's mercy for her child.

Compiled from “The Jewish Idea" and "Peirush Hamaccabee - Shemot" of Rav Meir Kahane, HY”D

(Source)

~ SHABBAT SHALOM ~ 

ONE-HUNDRED PERCENT

24 Iyyar 5781
39 Days of the Omer 

יהונתן פולארד סופד ליהודה גואטה הי"ד

AMEN, Yehonatan!!  And may all the korbanot, taken in order to arouse Klal Yisrael to teshuvah before that great and awesome day, merit to return to life speedily at techiyat hameitim and enjoy all the Days of Mashiach.

~ ~ ~

Most of the people who read here know that we are in a birrur process which was prophesied to occur before the coming of Mashiach.  By its very definition, it is a clarifying process which through various tests that Hashem puts us through, makes it clear who is 100% with Hashem and His Torah and who is not.  Does that mean we have to be 100% perfect in all that we are doing?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!  It means that we have to have 100% faith and trust in HKB"H with no doubts whatsoever!  We have to believe 100% that ayn od milevado! 

If you put your faith in HKB"H, but add something more alongside Him, like the protection of a vaccine, or the Israeli army, or the help of Christians, or the support and approval of other nations, this is NOT 100% faith and trust in HKB"H and whether you can admit it or not, it is a form of idolatry.  This needing something alongside Hashem was the basis for making the Golden Calf.

The birrur by its nature makes a division between those who are on the right side and those who are on the wrong side.  You have to look at it through the lens of "Mi l'Hashem elai!"   This was Moshe Rabbeinu's call to the nation to separate out those who opposed the Golden Calf from those who were for it.  Mattityahu HaChashmonai made the same call to his family and neighbors and from there to the whole nation when he called upon them to make their choice - they could be a Jew or they could be a Greek, but there was no such thing as mixing the two together as Hellenism demanded.

Here we are again with the nations who would dominate us urging us to deny our Torah and mitzvot in order to come closer to them and be counted among the family of nations, rather than being set apart as Hashem's special chosen people - set apart to serve Him and set an example for the rest of humanity.  Instead of them asking us to show them the way to reach our elevated state, they demand that we lower ourselves to their level in order that we all become one - one in rebellion against the Creator of All, G-d forbid!

It's a death trap prepared for us by the Angel of Death himself.  I'm just here to beg you not to fall into that trap!!  ANYTHING (or anyone) that calls upon Jews to join together with gentiles - for ANY reason - means to keep you on the wrong side of that call that echoes down through all the generations - Mi l'Hashem elai!"

Now, I'm not talking about anyone's Olam Haba - that's a judgment only Hashem can make.  But, it's already been established that those who are not 100% with HKB"H will not survive the birrur for who will merit to remain with Mashiach when nearly the whole world will be destroyed.

"Mi l'Hashem elai!"  It has always been the minority who responded favorably to this call, never the majority.  There has always been this division between those who were for Hashem and those who were for themselves.  This is why Avraham Avinu found himself on one side - the Ivri - and the entire rest of the world was on the other side.  But the joy of it is that he was not alone.  He was with HKB"H - 100%!!

"What We Need to Do Until Shavuot"

24 Iyyar 5781
39 Days of the Omer 

I know the Rav is right because I was telling someone just the other day that I knew I was guilty of not showing HKB"H enough respect during davening, being distracted by other things and not making more of an effort to concentrate on what I was saying.  That's two warnings for me.  We have to get serious with our teshuvah.  Time is almost up!  That's why we had this big wake-up call at Meron!!  Something worse may be coming!!!

In the Aftermath of Meron: What We Can Do? -62- HaGaon Rabbi Yaakov Hillel

And if you missed this one earlier...

The Tragedy in Meron -61- HaGaon Rabbi Yaakov Hillel

'EGGS'-TRAORDINARY

24 Iyyar 5781

39 Days of the Omer

The blog post reprinted below was originally written in 2013.  It came to mind when I first heard the news that Yair Lapid was likely to be handed the mandate if Netanyahu failed to form a government.  Now, it is official.  It also came to mind when I was reading Rivka Levy's blog post from today, about how the truth of what happened in Meron is sure to come out.

The eggshell has some large cracks in it.

Basically, everything that is happening here which destroys the Am's faith in all the modern idols of our time - particularly State institutions which oppose the Torah - is another crack in the eggshell.  If the most anti-Torah Judaism politician in the land becomes the leader of the secular Zionist State with the help of an Islamic Arab party, that will be the end of Zionism as we've known it.  Whatever good sparks it contained will have all been expended and all that will be left is a useless shell.

29 Elul 5773

Which Came First, the State or the 'Egg'?

If you ordered a scrambled egg and it came with eggshell mixed with it, you'd no doubt be more than a bit surprised, to say the least.  Everyone knows that you crack an eggshell, extract the egg and throw the shell away.  It's only there to contain the egg until it's ready for use or in the case of a fertilized egg, to protect the developing chick until it's fully formed and ready to hatch.

The present State of Israel is like that eggshell.  It is not the egg.  It is no less a creation of the Creator, as is everything in existence, but it is only a means to an end, not the end in itself.

Rav Aryeh Carmell wrote:

...the first to predict the rise of a secular Jewish state as prelude to the coming of the Messiah is Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel of Prague (1525-1609) known as "Maharal", in his discussion of the rise of "the Kingdom of the Messiah".

Maharal affirms that the coming of the Messiah is not, as often thought a sudden event; it is a process. The "Holy kingdom of Israel" - Maharal's term for the reign of the Messiah will emerge from an earlier, non-holy kingdom.

...Maharal, in a telling parable, describes the relationship between the embryonic "kingdom of Israel" and its "Edomite" environment: Fruit grows within a husk; when the fruit ripens the husks falls off... So it is with Israel. Their kingdom emerges and grows from within the kingdom of the nations i.e., from the existential power of the kingdom of the nations, and from their level, it raises itself to a higher level. And when the kingdom of Israel reaches complete maturity the kingdom of nations is removed, just as the husk is removed, and falls off when the fruit reaches its perfection.

For our purposes, we'll continue with the egg analogy since the concept is the same. The first sign that the chick has become viable and is ready to hatch is when it begins to crack and peck holes in the shell. The shell, which has been home for many weeks is now too uncomfortable, so the chick begins to break his way out and let me tell you, it is a long, hard struggle to break free of that shell.

We can learn many lessons from this for our own time and our own situation here in Eretz Yisrael.  

My first thoughts are: Why are we so comfortable inside the shell that we don't care about breaking out into a new reality?  Are we afraid? Or do we just lack vision and faith to get there?  Are the current "decrees" against the Torah-observant community a way for Hashem to say "It's time to hatch, little chick?"