Succot 5769 — The Redemption: Promise, Unity and Fulfillment

Filed under: News Reports, Commentary & Human Interest on Friday, October 10th, 2008 by moshe | No Comments


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By Moshe Burt

Having emerged from Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and, hopefully we have all been inscribed and sealed for a happy, healthy, successful and meaningful year and years ahead, we find ourselves in the midst of Succot.

During Succot, the B’nai Yisrael, as an Am Segula (a nation apart and unique from the other nations), as Hashem’s special, chosen people, visit, bond, and celebrate our special and unique relationship with HaKodosh Borchu.

Prominent in our thoughts during Succot are the Haftorahs which the prophecy of the War of Gog and Magog, Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima (the Redemption) and the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash are pronounced. Or, as the expression goes among baseball fans each springtime — right down to the fans of the most hapless MLB team; “Hope springs eternal.”

But the question can be asked; What relationship is there between the War of Gog and Magog and the simanim of Succot and Lulav, Etrog, Hadassim and Aravim?

We learn about the simanim; the Lulav, Etrog, Hadassim and Aravim and how they represent the attributes of man and the world. And we learn, as Shem Mishmuel explains; the 4 Species (the Arba Minim) that we take on Succot equate with the three Cardinal Sins for which a Jew must be prepared to give up his life rather than commit, plus one.

He explains that the etrog (citron), like one’s head which corresponds to idolatry, but whose fruit and bark taste alike symbolizing that Hashem is one and his name is one. He explains that the lulav (palm branch), like one’s spine, equates with lust and man’s ability to overcome these lusts; that the hadas (myrtle), like one’s eyes, corresponds to murder for which the ultimate cause is jealousy and which we overpower once we view our fellow Jew as a brother, an extension of self. And finally, the aravah (willow), like one’s lips, corresponds with the speaking of loshen hora and conveys our ability to prevail over our tendencies toward malicious gossip and rumor-mongering and to channel our speech toward Torah and Mitzvot. (Shem Mishmuel, Succot 5674, pages 442-444)

From eating, drinking, sleeping and doing our daily activities in the Succah, we learn that man and the entire world are under the jurisdiction of Hashem. We learn that seemingly impregnable stone, brick or steel walls, buildings and roofs are as nothing before the Almighty. In recent history, 9/11 clearly showed us that. And it gave fresh meaning to what we say daily in tefillah;

Hashem annuls the counsel of nations, He balks the designs of people. Many designs are in man’s heart, but the counsel of Hashem — only it will prevail. The counsel of Hashem will endure forever, the designs of His heart throughout the generations.

Further testimony to the jurisdiction of Hashem can be found in a mushal from perek Cheilek in the gemura Sanhedrin 10b as rendered in the Schottenstein edition, the discussion of the habitat of clean birds with the righteous;

All of the doves’ needs were provided for by Noach in the Teva… Yet, it returned with an olive branch in it’s mouth to demonstrate that it preferred a bitter olive leaf plucked from the wild, and thus obtained directly from the hand of Hashem, to dependence on a human being, even one as magnanimous as Noach. This should serve as a lesson to humans, for whom it is infinitely more embarrassing to be dependent upon others. Living simply and within one’s means is preferable to by far to indulging in luxuries and being assisted by others.

If only the entire B’nai Yisrael would contemplate and internalize the fundamental Jewish lesson of Unity, love for one’s Jewish Brethren and Kiddush Hashem, as opposed to self-indulgence in self-centured luxury, agendized disdain for Torah and Jewish heritage, political corruption and self-aggrandizement, then hopefully we all will emerge from Succot with a renewed understanding of why there is an Eretz Yisrael and why they, we are all here.

And so we ponder the War of Gog and Magog;

“When Gog, all his army and all of the nations attack israel, even in a redemption ‘in haste,’ Israel will tremble with fear. Afterward, G’d will rise up and destroy the nations in the final redemption, as in the first one.” (”The Jewish Idea”, by Rabbi Meir Kahane, Z’l, Vol. 2, page 984)

“Our sages said (Tanchuma, Re’eh, 9);

“…In the future, Gog and Magog will attack Israel, and they too will be burnt up with one fire, as it says, ‘I will punish him with pestilence,blood and torrential rain […fire and brimstone]. At that moment, I will magnify and sanctify Myself, and make Myself known to many nations.’” (Yecheskel, 38.22-23 in part, as quoted from”The Jewish Idea”, by Rabbi Meir Kahane, Z’l, Vol. 2, page 984)

May we, the B’nai Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently settled and be made totally whole, that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard, captive Gilad Shalit and the other MIAs be liberated alive returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem and that we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nai Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Yom Hashem V’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bim hay v’yameinu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!

L’Shana Tova, Chag Same’ach and Good Shabbos! — may all who read this be inscribed and sealed for a healthy, happy and prosperous 5769 and every year thereafter to at least 120!!

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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of the Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
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Friday War News: Gaza Tunnels Still Operating; Arabs Hurl Rocks at Jerusalem Yeshiva, at Jewih Cars Near Bethlehem, Shechem, Four Terrorists Nabbed

Filed under: News Reports on Friday, October 10th, 2008 by moshe | No Comments

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Despite PR Blitz Gaza Tunnels Still In Full Operation [Should This Amaze Anyone?]

3 Arab Youths Hurl Stones at Jerusalem Yeshiva; None Hurt

Stones Thrown at Israeli Vehicle Near Bethlehem

Arabs Stone Car Near Shechem

IDF Troops Arrest Four Palestinian Fugitives

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What and Who Drove Ex-IDF, Mossad Officials’ Video Supporting Obama?

Filed under: News Reports, Iran, Expulsion, Eviction, Disengagement, Protexia on Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 by moshe | No Comments

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Commentary;

This author has thought long and hard as to whether to blog on this travesty. Ordinarily, an election in the US seems not to be appropriate for blogging here, for the truth is that policy and actions undertaken here emanate here in Israel.

Further, there was a time when Israeli leaders stood up defiantly when America attempted to dictate policy as this recent Jerusalem Post report dating back to Prime Minister Menachem Begin indicates.

Regarding the issue behind the gyrations and machinations surrounding whether or not Israel hands over of land to her enemies and expells thousands, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of Jews from their homes, as they did to the Jews of Gush Katif and the four Shomron towns; the issue did not and does not emanate in Washington nor does Washington facilitate implementation of such actions. The handing over of Jewish Land, of Jewish Divine Inheritance is an issue evolving from right here in Israel — from a determined policy of de-Judiacizing Israelis by any and all means from brainwashing, to educational dumbing-down to police and IDF psychological training and regimentation as well as brutality toward their fellow Jews.

What motivated these retired Israeli Generals and senior Mossad operatives to be part of video when a simple google search by any one of them for the Jewish Council for Education & Research would have netted #1 Google placement to JCER’s site, an organization blatantly political and supportive of Barack Obama for American president?

Were they duped? Or was participation by such noted retired generals such as former deputy chief of General Staff Maj.-Gen. Uzi Dayan, Brig.-Gen. Giora Inbar, the former military commander in south Lebanon, former Prime Ministerial candidate Maj.-Gen. (Ret.) Amram Mitzna and former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy facilitated by the Israeli leftist effete elites for the purpose of advancing Obama’s election as president? Did Israeli leftist elites take part and endorse Barack Hussein Obama for President in order to put in place long-term shelter, under the rationale of “American pressure,” in order to convey that perception to Israelis?

This comes on the heels of the American Jewish leadership’s fiasco in confronting Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad regarding Iran’s well-advanced efforts in developing nuclear weapons. Rather than orchestrating a show of bi-partisanship in confronting Ahmadinejad, instead, the Jewish left displayed, to Israel’s detriment, politically agendized partisanship toward Obama who would unconditionally talk to Ahmadinejad, rather than strike against and destroy Iran’s nuclear development and nuclear capabilities.

The bottom-line is, when one looks at who was involved in this pro-Obama video, contrary to their claims of being duped, these leftist former high-ranking generals and spies appear as a highly motivated who’s who of Israeli leftists and leftist agendization and anti-Torah dogma.

In this light, check out these two agendized reports below giving special attention to the part in the first report about what a “great friend” we have in Senator Joe Biden who once would have America offer Iran financial aid and who once threatened Israel regarding foreign aid.

In fact, the whole tone of the report; There Are Reasons Why There Are so Few Jewish Republicans is meant to lull American Jews, and more importantly Israel, into a false sense of complacency with a bogus characterization that the war on Israel by Islam is at the bottom of both candidates’ lists of priorities. This couldn’t be more diabolically opposed to the truth as has been witnessed all too often.

Regarding the JCER’s Response to their controversial video;

The purpose of the film is to educate Jewish voters about support within Israel’s security establishment for policies Obama has advanced regarding Israel. JCER is a non-profit organization created to develop and disseminate information to voters in the United States regarding issues of concern to the Jewish community.

Look again at JCER’s website and see that, rather than it’s being educationally objective in its presentation of information and facts to the Jews as they portray, JCER is blatantly political and supportive of Barack Obama for American president. MB

There Are Reasons Why There Are so Few Jewish Republicans, by Marty Peretz (Jerusalem Post)

Full Text;

Let’s face it: Peace between Israel and the Palestinians is not at the top of the agenda of either of the two nominees for president of the United States. A columnist in what is the other Israeli newspaper for Americans wrote recently that, according to advisers to each of the candidates, a solution to the century-old dispute between Jews and Arabs is far down any of their litanies of urgent matters. For John McCain there are 30 global crises ahead of yours…and mine. For Barack Obama there are 42. Not to worry. This is good.

As many folk, including me (right here in The Jerusalem Post) have pointed out, the only high American official who is still motivated to cajole Israel and plead with disingenuous Palestinians is Condoleeza Rice. She is desperate. One reason for this is that she is without achievements: the rest of her foreign policy is a mess. The relationship with Russia, for example: the only substantial cooperation between the two countries right now is in the matter of Arab piracy of a ship filled with tanks and other weapons that the buccaneers intended to sell to Somalian terrorists.

Then there is North Korea, which would rather flay its people than feed them and which insists on providing nuclear arms capacity to states that want to agitate their neighbors.

And, yes, Venezuela, for which she and everybody else in the Bush administration have had zero time, despite the ambitions of Hugo Chavez to foment troubles in the southern salient of the western hemisphere, Monroe Doctrine territory, as it happens.

I don’t mean to leave out Iran, which has scarcely been impressed by the sanctions regime. As for the United Nations, well, the less said the better. I’ve just watched the circus in New York where the president of the General Assembly made abundantly clear his view of both Israel and America, which still pays a giant part of the organization’s bills. The State Department might have kept Mohammad Ahmadinejad out of American territory just by putting him on a watch list as it did Kurt Waldheim and as Irwin Cotler, Alan Dershowitz and I have proposed, many times.

I’d like to know what John McCain thinks about the Rice-Scowcroft foreign policy on the Middle East, which is what Bush foreign policy has become. In any case, I don’t think that he is going to win.

Jews should not be dissenters when America is about to start a new chapter in the long and painful book of group relations. The new chapter will be both liberating and illuminating, and Jews played a significant role in the prologue and in every installment along the way.

Sociologically, Jews are not in the camp of ignorance or of bias. The sad fact is that although McCain is a civilized and educated man and a real friend of Israel, his camp is the camp of ignorance and bias. It is against science; it is against tolerance; it is against egalitarian law; it is against the tradition of the prophets; it is against religious and intellectual liberty; it is hypocritical. There are reasons why there are so few Jewish Republicans. Die-hard Republicans (which no longer include true free marketeers) are mostly not of our rational kin and their thinking is not in our spiritual ken. These are people, after all, who don’t believe in evolution or in genetics. For Jews, however, evolution and genetics tell at least half the story of our survival.

The Democratic Party is not perfect, far from it. It also has its fantasists, people who believe that the United Nations is the path to Eden. People who recognize no enemies of America except our best friends. The truth is that the Democratic Party was once held captive by these people: George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Jesse Jackson being their tribunes.

Bill Clinton and Al Gore put an end to this captivity. And Barack Obama and Joseph Biden have made this end permanent. Remember that the racial question was one of the main factors that animated the reign of unreason among the Democrats. There are still racial questions in America. But they can now be faced truthfully and openly, without intimidation or fear by anyone. There are reasons why the Republican Party is so lily-white. These reasons are not pleasant ones.

Of course, American Jews vote as individuals. But they also vote both as Americans and as Jews, as American Catholics vote and as Cuban Americans vote and as every citizen with a double-barreled identity votes. This is only natural. The American electorate is so pro-Israel that it would not let any administration betray the people’s devotion to and identification with the Jewish state.

The Republicans are still tied to their failures of the last eight years that are based on the assumption that the Palestinians actually want a livable peace with Israel. But do they? Commenting on Secretary Rice’s single-minded pursuit of discarded formulas, Dennis Ross has observed that the only individuals he knows who are in synch with her are Olmert and Abbas… to whom I add a few columnists from Ha’aretz. Have any of these individuals an answer to the following question: what happens when rockets are aimed at Jerusalem from Ramallah?

So what one has to trust in the candidate of one’s choice is not whether he or she has fidelity to peace-making. The real test is whether one’s candidate has fidelity to Israel if peace-making turns out to fail as it has now for decades. And not because Israel has been chintzy in its negotiating but because the Palestinians won’t settle for anything less than everything.

Senator Biden said in his debate with Governor Palin last week that “no one in the United States Senate has been a better friend to Israel than” himself. I’m a careful observer of these matters, and this is the truth. He went on: “I would never, ever have joined this ticket were I not absolutely sure Barack Obama shared my passion.” That goes for me, too. And I’m a stickler on this, even a bit fanatical.”

JCER Responds to Reported Controversy Over Video

[Hat Tips to Israel Resource News Agency and IMRA]

Full Text;

Mik Moore, co-executive director of the Jewish Council on Education and Research (JCER), released the following statement today with regard to the film launched by the group this weekend, featuring seven members of Israel’s security establishment:

“In the film released this weekend by the Jewish Council on Education and Research, retired members of Israel’s security establishment express support for Senator Barack Obama or his policies and provide relevant analysis.

The purpose of the film is to educate Jewish voters about support within Israel’s security establishment for policies Obama has advanced regarding Israel. JCER is a non-profit organization created to develop and disseminate information to voters in the United States regarding issues of concern to the Jewish community.

The Israeli producers have assured us that all participants were fully informed of the nature of the project. While JCER has endorsed Barack Obama for President, neither the film, nor any of our subsequent remarks imply that those interviewed are endorsing Obama’s candidacy. This film is not an advertisement and will not be used as an advertisement. We are willing to work with the film’s producers to address any new concerns now being raised by any of the participants.

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Emergency Update: Israeli Government Handing Over Hevron Security to PA

Filed under: News Reports, Commentary & Human Interest, Shas and Jerusalem on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 by moshe | No Comments

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Commentary;

Received this email tonight from Mattot Arim — Cities of Israel. In their typical blundering, suicidal political expedience, it appears that the Olmert/Livni Regime is intent wreaking havoc upon the Jews of Hevron, Again. MB

Emergency update. Very soon, crazy as this may seem to you, the Israeli Government intends to transfer responsibility for security in Hebron to the Palestinian Authority. This, the Israeli government assures us, is going to ensure that the Hamas terror organization does not take control of of Hebron.

Related report; PA Official: Israel Has Agreed to Allow Over 1,000 PA Troops into Hebron [During Chol HaMoed Succot], by Dr. Aaron Lerner (IMRA)

Now, there are 2 things that we actually know about the PA: First, their own “policemen” have numerous times been involved themselves in terror attacks against Israelis — by some accounts, more terror attacks than the Hamas initiates. Second, the Palestinian Authority, motivated as they are when it comes to attacking Israelis and Jews, have absolutely no ability to fight against the Hamas (as we saw in Gaza). So, this is yet another ridiculous idea on the part of the government, but it needs to be taken seriously and stopped NOW, because we are informed that the Palestinians may be given control in about a week (during Succot).

This is the third time that an Israeli government is trying to put Hebron into the hands of the Palestinians, hoping that a miracle will happen and the Palestinians will have miraculously turned into Belgians or Canadians. The first time, the Palestinians shot at Jews in Hebron for a year and a half. When the Palestinians shot Baby Chalhevette to death, the government finally realized that the IDF had to take over, but it was too late for the little baby’s grieving parents, of course. The second time, 12 Israeli soldiers and security men lost their lives in one day - including the renowned Aluf Mishne Dror Veinberg. The government hastily sent the army to re-enter Hebron, however it was too late, a Hebron suicide bomber had already made his way to Haifa and 17 more Haifa people were killed when this Hebron bomber exploded himself a little while later in their city. 29 dead due to one foolish and avoidable government decision.

As usual, the Shas ministers can easily handle this problem by shouting loudly that they will go to early elections if the Government of Israel dares to put Jewish lives into the hands of a bunch of killers for a third time. So, as we have done in the past, we need to persuade Shas to take a stance here. If everybody could please contact Eli Yishai and say he cannot just stand by and let Israelis and Jews get killed by giving Hebron as a present to terrorists — that will be very helpful. Remind him 29 people got killed last time — this must be on his conscience.

Eli Yishai’s phone number at home is 02-651-0259 (till midnight tonight, or till 3 PM before Yom Kippur; or from 1 hour AFTER the fast till midnight, or any time Friday till Shabbat comes in, or any time Motsei Shabbat night till midnight, or of course any time Sunday on). Almost always, an answering machine is on. Leave a message — even in English. Or use all 3 of the following fax numbers: 02 6513655 026662909 02-6662907

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Parsha Ha’azinu 5769: Hashem’s Hester Panim — Then and Now?

Filed under: News Reports, Commentary & Human Interest on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 by moshe | No Comments

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by Moshe Burt

Shem Mishmuel describes Ha’azinu as;

A poem which Moshe Rabbeinu recited to Klal Yisrael… It discusses the uniqueness of Klal Yisrael, their future, how they should conduct themselves, how they will stray, and how Hashem will treat them mercifully. (Shem Mishmuel, Rabbi Shmuel Bornstein, Parsha Ha’azinu, pge 433)

He further indicates that there has been connection, since the Mabul — “the great Flood” between the original 70 souls of B’nai Yisrael and the 70 primary nations which emerged after the Mabul to where the B’nai Yisrael, were they to achieve individual and collective full spiritual potential and righteousness, would impact for good upon the nations to which they were connected.

Rabbi Artscroll (Sefer Devarim, Perek 32, p’sukim 7-9) cites S’forno recalling from history that Hashem created the world so that all of the nations would join together in achieving Hashem’s goal of righteousness, but when they failed, He chose B’nai Yisrael as the paradigm of that goal. Hashem gave them a Land where they could serve Him according to Torah’s laws with simcha, success and prosperity. But when the B’nai Yisrael rebelled, forgot and forsook Hashem for other counsel and avodah zora, they deserved destruction, but to avoid Chillul Hashem — desecration of His Name, Hashem, in His mercy, only exiled them in order that they be redeemed in times of Moshiach and the Ge’ula Shlaima.

The Ha’azinu poem asks (Sefer Devarim, Perek 32, posuk 30) regarding Israel’s conquest by its enemies;

“For how could one pursue a thousand, and two cause a myriad to flee?”

But L’lmod U’Lamed, (L’lmod U’Lamed, Rabbi Mordechai Katz, Parsha Ha’azinu, p. 189-190) notes by this posuk, that;

Moshe reminds B’nai Yisrael how when they find themselves capable of defeating a vastly superior army, it was Hashem Who is responsible for their victory.

L’lmod U’Lamed continues by describing contemporary instances where Hashem protected Israel, in the Six Day War; the paratrooper why parachuted into Yerushalayim and was hit by snipers and emerged uninjured — a bullet lodged in his Tefillin bag, and in the Yom Kippur War when a tank crew recited Tehillim and then confronted what it thought was enemy tanks and it’s cannon jammed when attempting to fire. Turned out that these “enemy tanks” were actually manned by the fellow Jews who had captured them in battle and were now returning to their base.

How far we have fallen, how much the B’nai Yisrael has rebelled such that it’s military was incapable, in the Lebanon conflict, of defeating a lesser foe? In fact, can it be said that Israel lost the conflict in that the nation is now left in an even more vulnerable position than before with so-called “UN peacekeepers” impinging on Israeli sovereignty and freedom of military action — that Hashem on a collective level denied them his favor? Has the national governance not been an evolvement of forsaking Hashem, our roots, our heitage for other counsels and avodah zora?

And do we see the same playing out in Gaza, in the government’s total preoccupation with abandoning and handing over Jewish Lands, including Jerusalem, to avowed Arab enemies implaccably bent upon our destruction? Do we see all of this playing out as a result of the complacency and preoccupation of the masses with their own individual issues and Matzavim while Israel’s governance plots, based on principles of divide and conquer, the eradication of all vestiges Torah and Yiddishkiet from its population?

May we, the B’nai Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently settled and be made totally whole, that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard, captive Gilad Shalit and the other MIAs be liberated alive returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem and that we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nai Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Yom Hashem V’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bim hay v’yameinu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!

Good Shabbos! L’Shana Tova — may all who read this be inscribed and sealed for a healthy, happy and prosperous 5769 and every year thereafter to at least 120!!

Moshe Burt is an Oleh, writer and commentator on news and events in Eretz Yisrael. He is the founder and director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network.

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Monday, Tuesday War News: Hundreds of Tunnels at Rafiah Border of Gaza, Egypt; 1,000 PA Troops in Hevron for Succot, 6 Pipe Bombs Found in Jenin, 28 Terrorists Nabbed in 2 Days, Bomb and Gun Found Near Bethlehem

Filed under: News Reports on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 by moshe | No Comments

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Smuggling Tunnels [by the Hundreds] Make Rafiah a ‘Swiss Cheese’

PA Official: Israel Has Agreed to Allow Over 1,000 PA Troops into Hebron [During Chol HaMoed Succot]

IDF Reveals 6 Pipe Bombs During Jenin Operation

IDF Arrests 19 Terror Suspects [in Tulkarim, South of Shechem, Near Bethlehem, Hevron]

IDF Troops Find Bomb and Gun During Operation Near Bethlehem

IDF Nabs Tanzim Fugitive in Downtown Ramallah, by Hana Levi Julian (Israel National News)

Eight Wanted Terrorists Arrested [in Shechem, Hevron, Near Bethlehem]

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Judaism, Torah and Israel’s Security Ditched by Israeli Governance

Filed under: News Reports, Commentary & Human Interest, Protexia, Israel's Branding and Hasbara on Sunday, October 5th, 2008 by moshe | No Comments

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Commentary;

In case this blog’s readers haver wondered about the dearth of commentary here, it is increasingly difficult to churn out thoughts regarding the myriads of ways in which religious Jews are being undermined and degraded and the ways in which Israel’s security and sovereignty is being damned by leftist elites and their cronies and stooges of Israeli governance. MB

Here is a selection reports and commentaries making that very point;

Olmert’s Parting Blows, by Caroline Glick (Jerusalem Post)

Putin’s Unholy Land Grab: Red Square In Jerusalem, by Zalmi Unsdorfer (Jewish Press)

Excerpt;

“Tzipi Livni’s office is in the final stages of quietly transferring 9 acres of prime Jerusalem property to Vladimir Putin. It is neither Livni’s or her government’s to give - nor Putin’s or his government’s to claim. Read about this shady deal, and how it could be stopped.”

Jerusalem: The Dangers of Division

Editor’s Notes: National Maturity [or Lack Thereof], by David Horovitz (Jerusalem Post)

[Barack Hussein] Obama Good for Israel, Say Former Israeli Generals, by Yitzhak Benhorin (Ynet)

IDF Evacuates Residents of… Shvut Ami (Ynet)

Girls in Bikinis Can’t Take Place of Serious Work in Arguing Israel’s Case, by Dr. Aaron Lerner (IMRA)

While Official PR Hypes Israeli Bikinis and Homosexuals Left-Wing Rights Group B’Tselem to Establish U.S. Representation [to Undermine the Jewish State Even More] Dr. Aaron Lerner (IMRA)

Frying Pan to Fire - Giora Eiland Proposes Jordanian Army Deploys Next to Kfar Sava, by Dr. Aaron Lerner (IMRA)

Giora Eiland: Has Israel Determined Can Retake Golan in Emergency or that War From Hula Valley Acceptable?, by Dr. Aaron Lerner (IMRA)

Iran, Livni And The Price Of Political Stability, by Caroline B. Glick (The Jewish Press)

Army ‘Punishes’ Jews for Leadership’s Lack of Response, by Hillel Fendel (Israel National News)

[Bogus Kadima Primary] Irregularities Found in 71 of 115 Kadima Polling Stations, by Ze’ev Ben-Yechiel (Israel National News)

Psychologists Cited for Helping Brainwash IDF, by Hillel Fendel (Israel National News)

Poll: Israelis Resilient Despite Threats

Commentary 2;

How many times must one keep keep talking and writing about it in an atmosphere where the pen IS NO LONGER mightier than the sword. How long before the masses of Jews reject the politics of “what’s in it for me” and show Hashem how much they seek a true Jewish State?, if they even do or if they have the backbone and fire in the belly to merit Divine intervention. MB

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Yom Kippur 5769: As Kohanim to the Jews; The Jews to Mankind

Filed under: News Reports, Commentary & Human Interest on Sunday, October 5th, 2008 by moshe | No Comments

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By Moshe Burt

The Mussaf portion of any prayers; Yom Tov, Rosh Chodesh, Shabbos represent the essence, the main point of that day.

On Yom Kippur, the essence of the service, the ikar is the avodah of the Kohen Godol. So much so is this the case that the Mussaf service centers around the order of the Kohen Godol’s service in the Kodosh Kodoshim (the Holy of Holies in the Beit HaMikdash). The service includes all of the preparations which the Kohen Godol makes prior to the service, the clothing he must wear at each step of the avodah, the number of times that the Kohen must bathe himself prior to each change of clothing and before each step of his service, the drawing of lots determining which goat is for Hashem and which for The Mountain of Azazel (the goat designated by lot to bear the burden of death to rectify B’nai Yisrael’s sins) and more. And by virtue of our being Hashem’s “most favored nation”, The Kohen Godol is to the Jews a paradigm of Hashem’s blueprint of what the Jews are to represent to the other nations of Mankind.

Just as the Kohen Godol will be the Kli in praying for forgiveness of sin when we will again have the Beit HaMikdash, the Kohanim are the Kli of the Avodah of Tefillah, of prayer, both for service to Hashem and for conveying Divine Brachot upon B’nai Yisrael in our times in Galut when we still lack our Beit HaMikdash. By extension, the role of B’nai Yisrael, of all of us, is to be as Kohanim, as Priestly to the gentile world, to be examples of upright morality, closeness to Hashem rather than a factionalized, equivocating, hypocritical, anti-Torah, disunified group.

I can recall the times in my life, at age 60, when gentiles expressed to me admiration for an Israel which didn’t quake, quiver or waver before an Arab foe bent on her destruction, that she did what she had to do to defeat the foe decisively and totally. And I also still recall how, when I entered traffic court to fight a ticket on the Eve of the first Gulf War, that gentile policemen came to me to ask that we Jews pray for America in that war.

But sometime in the past few generations, particularly over the past 20 years, we forgot Torah and abandoned HaKodosh Borchu as was stated in Parsha Vayeilech (Sefer Devarim, Perek 31, posuk 16);

Hashem said to Moshe. “When you go and lie with your ancestors this nation will rise up and stray after the [false deities] of the land into which they are coming. They will thus abandon Me and violate the covenant that I have made with them.

We forgot Torah; we forgot why there is an Eretz Yisrael, why it was given to the Jews for all times, why it is that we are living here now, why the land laid totally fallow in the years that our aveirot brought Hashem to banish us from it and how it is that Eretz Yisrael has thrived and flourished ONLY upon our return. We are blinded, even now — over 3 years later, to the fact of how Jews returned to Gaza making it bloom and how, ater the expulsion, Gush Katif is nothing like the beautiful, flourishing place that it was. And so, uncomfortable Jews question “…whether Hashem created us or whether we conceived of him.” (Excerpt from “On Jews and Judiasm”, Selected articles of Rabbi Meir Kahane, “The Ultimate Axiom” January, 1978)

K’rachaim av al banim, kain Tirachem aleinu…” Like the mercy of a father on children, may You (G-d) have mercy upon us… [Liturgy] On Yom Kippur, despite our sins which may be as dark as the night, we need to remember that Hashem (G-d) loves us infinitely and is waiting to hear our prayers and give us what we need. Hashem waits for us, for Am Yehudi with open arms to lovingly receive us, just as a parent will always yearn for a child to return. (Ideas taken in part from weekly D’var Torah: Yom Kippur put out on email by Rabbi Baruch Lederman, Congregation Kehillas Torah, San Diego, CA)

Undoubtedly, not many Gentiles can admire an Israel whose anti-Torah, anti-Jewish governance quake before the nation’s existential enemies, reject all connection to Hashem and Torah, who shamefully turn their backs on their every ally; from Jonathan Pollard, to the South Lebanese Christians, to the Druse, to the Arabs who supply them intelligence, to their allies in the U.S. Congress. Not many Gentiles can admire an Israel, perceived based on such governance; as cowardly, as utterly lacking in national pride and self-image and giving away its land as but “another piece of real estate” in order to eradicate anything Jewish from the Israeli soul — national security and survival be damned.

May we pour our hearts out to Hashem on Yom Kippur with purity and deep sincerity leaving “nothing in the lockerroom” on a national level as well as individuals. May Hashem grant us a happy, healthy and sweet new year, a new year where Jewish governance of national pride and self-image replaces the current shameful state of Israeli governance. As Rabbi Moshe Ungar would always say before a fast back in Philly, back in the “old country”, “Daven hard, fast easy” — Tefillah Kasher V’Tzom Kal!

As Yom Kippur approaches, we hope, that in the merit of our Teshuva and Vidui, we are sealed in Hashem’s Book of Life for a year of Simcha, Health and success in our individual and collective endeavors. May we be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently settled and be made totally whole, that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard, that captive Gilad Shalit and the other MIAs be liberated alive returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem and that we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nai Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Yom Hashem V’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bim hay v’yameinu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!

L’Shana Tova — a sweet year to Kol Yehudim!

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Moshe Burt is an Oleh, writer and commentator on news and events in Eretz Yisrael. He is the founder and director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network.

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Sunday War News: Another “Pal” Caught With Pipe Bombs, 9 Terrorists Nabbed, Molotovs Tossed at Jewish Autos at 3 Locations, North Korean Weapons in Enemies’ Hands, “Hezbollah Brigades” Operate Amongst Palestinians

Filed under: News Reports on Sunday, October 5th, 2008 by moshe | No Comments

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Palestinian Caught in Possession of 2 Pipe Bombs at Hawara Checkpoint

IDF Troops Arrest Nine Palestinian Fugitives

Bombs Thrown at Israeli Vehicles [at El Khader Junction in Gush Etzion, Near Beitar Ilit, Outside Jenin]: No Injuries, Damage

Israel: North Korea Supplies Weapons to Our Enemies

New Military Group Calling Themselves “Hezbollah Brigades” to Begin Operation [in Palestinian Areas]

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Friday War News: Jewish Family Run Down by Arabs Near Eli, 2 Terrorists Nabbed — Arab Weapons, Ammo Cache Seized by IDF, 7 Terrorists Nabbed, Islamics Toss Rocks Near Hevron, Kalkilya

Filed under: News Reports on Friday, October 3rd, 2008 by moshe | No Comments

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‘Accident’ Was Attack, Injured Family Says

Excerpt;

“Ilan Epstein, his wife Tamar, and their two young children were driving near the town of Eli in Samaria when a car driven by a local Arab swerved into their lane. Tamar managed to avoid a collision by veering to the right, hitting the guardrail.”

IDF Seizes Rifles, Ammunition Near Bethlehem; 2 Palestinians Arrested

Palestinians Hurl Rocks at Israeli Car in Hebron; No Wounded

IDF Arrests 7 Palestinian Terror Suspects [in Hevron, Shechem]

Rock Attack near Kalkilya

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