Yom HaAtzmaut -- Israel is 61!

On the 5th of Iyar, 5708 (1948), G-d's Name was sanctified. For the first time in two thousand year, the Jewish people had a state in their homeland. Two millenium after the Roman emperor Hadrian burnt our Temple, razed Jerusalem, sold the Jews into slavery and arrogantly declared 'Judea capta! (Judea is captured), the Third Jewish Commonwealth was established. After centuries of oppression and persecution, Crusades and pogroms, Inquisitions and Holocausts, the Jewish people had finally returned home to the land of their forefathers.

When the Romans crushed the Jewish rebellion in 70 CE and destroyed the Temple, they carried out the majority of the Jews into exile. They built a huge victory arch in Rome showing the Temple utensils being taken as spoil. The Romans minted coins depicting a conquered a mourning Jewess, along with the words 'Judea capta'. In their minds, the Jewish people had been crushed. The Roman Catholic Church, which became the official religion of Rome, taught as doctrine that the Jews had been replaced and rejected by G-d, never to return to Israel. The Church, along with the scholars of Islam, mocked the Jews and taunted them over their abasement, claiming that their continued exile was proof of their replacement in G-d's eyes. Incredibly, while the Roman empire today is nothing but dust, Jews are once again living in the Jerusalem, the city of King David, in Judea and Samaria, where the Patriarchs lived and in the Galilee, where Bar Kochba and his brave Zionist rebels fought for liberty.


"A song of ascents. When the Lord returned the captivity of Zion, we were like dreamers. Then our mouths were with laughter and our tongues with songs of praise; then they will say among the nations, "The Lord has done great things with these."" (Tehillim 126) Truly, we were like dreamers. Is there any clearer proof of G-d's sovereignty and majesty, of His guiding hand in history, than in the survival of the Jewish people in graveyards of the exile and in our return to the Land of Israel? Has there ever been such a thing in the entire annals of mankind, for a nation to have survived the sword and the stake, the racks of the Inquisition and the Crusading lance, the Cross and the Crescent, the killing fields and the gas chambers, to be returned home? Only by the might and mercy of G-d, through the brave pioneers and committed Zionist leaders, were we able to revive our ancient language, Hebrew, to re-settle the desolate cities, drain the swamps and make the deserts bloom. "For the Lord shall console Zion, He shall console all its ruins, and He shall make its desert like a paradise and its wasteland like the garden of the Lord; joy and happiness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and a voice of song." (Yishayahu 51:3) The land, empty and desolate, bereft of her children, which called out longingly for them for over two thousand years, now blossoms and is settled. For too long did Zion cry out for her sons and daughters in captivity, trampled on by a foreign oppressor.

From the four corners of the Earth, the Jews have begun to return home. "Fear not for I am with you; from the east I will bring your seed, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, "Give," and to the south, "Do not refrain"; bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the end of the earth."" (Yishayahu 43:5-6) Out of the mellahs of Morocco and Tunisia and the shtetls of Russia and Poland, Jews came home. The same Jews who declared year after year their fervent hope and desire of 'Next Year in Jerusalem!' were privileged to see their dream become a reality. From the farthest and most remote reaches, the Land of Israel beckoned Jews home. Jews from Yemen and Ethiopia walked thousands of miles, trekked through dangerous deserts and hazardous terrain, braved intense dangers because they senses the impeding Redemption. When the Iron Curtain fell, the cry of 'Let my people go!' saw fruition as millions of Russian Jews fled the prison that was the Soviet Union and came to Israel to live lives of dignity and freedom. The Ingathering of the Exiles has begun as Jews from Iran and Turkey, Greece and Lithuania, Ukraine and Hungary, India and Afghanistan now live, mix and mingle, in peace together in the State of Israel.


In fire and blood Judea fell and in fire and blood Judea arose. In 1948, and again in six spectacular days in 1967, the myth of the passive Jew whose life was cheap and blood was the gentile's for the taking, was forever crushed. The nation that for so long had been associated with sheep to the slaughter, with massacres and weakness, had arisen like a lion and fought for its life. In 1948, one million crack Arab soldiers, dedicated to driving the Jews into the sea and destroying the fledgling state, were attacked the 600 000 inhabitants of the Jewish yishuv. Just as in the days of David and Goliath, the defenders drove the enemy out. The defenders were outnumbered, farmers and citymen, Holocaust survivors given a rifle as they got off the boat. Some come with horses and some come with chariots but we invoke the name of HaShem our G-d! As the ovens and furnaces of Europe were still giving off their horrible stench, as the smoke was still emerging from the chimneys of Auschwitz, the Jewish state had arise with strength and power. The dry bones that had been murdered and annihilated in Europe had been reborn in the Land of Israel. ""Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel. Behold they say, 'Our bones have become dried up, our hope is lost, we are clean cut off to ourselves.' Therefore, prophesy and say to them, So says the Lord God: Lo! I open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves as My people, and bring you home to the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and lead you up out of your graves as My people. And I will put My spirit into you, and you shall live, and I will set you on your land, and you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and have performed it," says the Lord." (Yechezkel 37:11-14)


61 years after the awesome day in Tel-Aviv, we can sit back and feel pride over our many accomplishments. The Jewish language, Hebrew was revived, a feat never before accomplished. Cities and settlements were created. A vibrant and modern democratic state was built. Israel has one of the best and most powerful armies in the world. Close to half of the world's Jewish population now lives in the Jewish state. Israel is a world leader in science and technology and contributed a disproportionate amount to high-tech, medicine and science worldwide. Despite all of Israel's many problems, it has accomplished more in its mere 61 years of existence than most other countries around the world. The State of Israel is far from the fulfillment of the Prophets and there is a long journey to the Ultimate Redemption. Yet, in the words of Herzl: "If you will it, it is no dream." Just as it seemed impossible for there to be a sovereign Jewish state, as it seemed impossible for Jerusalem to be reunited as the capital of the Jewish people, so too will we reach all of our goals. A nation that waited two thousand years to return home is not afraid of a long and difficult struggle.

"Behold days are coming, says the Lord, that the plowman shall meet the reaper and the treader of the grapes the one who carries the seed, and the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will return the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall rebuild desolate cities and inhabit [them], and they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their produce. And I will plant them on their land, and they shall no longer be uprooted from upon their land, that I have given them, said the Lord your God." (Amos 9:13-15) May we see the complete fulfillment of the Jewish Dream, of the Prophets of Israel, of a world where "out of Zion will go forth Torah, and the word of HaShem from Jerusalem", very soon. May we merit the day when "nations will not lift up swords against each other, neither shall they learn war anymore". May the Complete and Final Redemption come speedily in our days, in mercy and love, amen!

Parshat Shemot: The Eternal Nation

This week's parsha of Shemot details the descent of the Jewish people into slavery and the beginning of their redemption. Pharaoh, alarmed over Jewish growth and prosperity, sets out his Final Solution to the Jewish problem. He afflicts the Jews with horrendous suffering and labour and decrees the death of all male babies. The future saviour of the Jewish people is hidden in a basket in the Nile and eventually found by Pharaoh's daughter, who nurses and mothers the baby.

The Torah recounts, in one of the most beautiful episodes in the Tanach, how G-d reveals Himself to Moses from a burning bush. The Torah tells us that "behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed" (Ex. 3:2). This powerful metaphor is symbolic of the Jewish people. Suffering under harsh taskmasters controlled by a tyrant who would bathe himself in Jewish babies' blood, the Jewish people seemed to be on the brink of extinction. The mighty Egyptian empire would surely outlast the Jews, the dregs of existence. Pharaoh's wicked enforces would cement Jewish babies into the walls of his monuments if the required amount of bricks were not met by the Hebrew slaves. Despite all this, G-d promised that His nation would endure. Out of this tremendous affliction came the Divine response: "I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their slave drivers, for I know their pains. I have descended to rescue them from the hand[s] of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land, to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivvites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression that the Egyptians are oppressing them." (Ex. 3:7-9) G-d had not forsaken His people. He would redeem them from Egyptian bondage.

Throughout history, the Jewish people has been tested under fire. We went through the "holy" fires of the Inquisition, which burned our holy books and our bodies at the stakes, tried for being true to our faith. The Nation of Israel was subjected to the ovens and crematorium of Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek, Belzec, Sobibor, Bergen-Belsen and the other mass graveyards of Europe. Even today, the State of Israel remains under constant bombardment from jihadist rockets. Our enemies continue to proclaim the eventual destruction of the Jewish people. Like the Pharaoh of old, Hamas, Hizbullah, al-Qaeda, Iran and the like continue to plot out demise and annihilation.

As much as the Egyptian oppressed Israel, so the Jews prospered and multiplied. "But as much as they would afflict them, so did they multiply and so did they gain strength" (Ex. 1:12). They sought to break our backs and our spirit but our resolve only strengthened. This is Jewish history in a nutshell. Only two generations ago, we went from Auschwitz and built Jerusalem. We emerged from the ashes, from the graveyards and sites of death and established ourselves anew in our land. "Son of man, can these bones live?'... these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say: Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off. Therefore prophesy, and say unto them: Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel." (Ezek. 37:3,11-12) The dry bones, left for dead, scorched by the raging fires of anti-semitism and hatred, arose and had live breathed into them again. Today, our resolve is tested by rockets, bombs, condemnations and threats. We will not be broken! Just as the Egyptian failed to break us, so will we not be broken by Hamas or any other murderous terrorists. From their attacks we will grown and be strengthened.

Our trials and tribulations are increasing right before the advent of the Messianic Era. G-d said to Moses: "Go and assemble the elders of Israel, and say to them, 'The Lord God of your forefathers has appeared to me, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, "I have surely remembered you and what is being done to you in Egypt." ' And I said, 'I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt, to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivvites, and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.'" (Ex. 3:16) The same thing will happen again in our days, when G-d will remember our affliction and bring us out of our current captivity. We are the eternal nation, the bush caught in the flames but is not consumed.

Am Yisrael Chai! The Jewish Nation lives!



Cross-posted to Stop Raping Israel

Our Two-Pronged War

Its open season on Jews in Paris. Saturday, as they were walking home from Mincha prayers, three counselors of the Bnei Akivah youth group were brutally attacked by a gang of Muslims. The counselors were walking when they had chestnuts thrown at them. When they protested, anti-semitic slurs were hurled. 10-12 gang members then joined in and beat them with brass knuckles.

This was the second attack near the Bnei Akivah branch in two months. In June, another 17 year-old Jew wearing a kippah was beaten up by a Muslim gang. And a few months ago, a neighbourhood store was caught selling shirts that read, in German and Polish, "Jews forbidden in the parks". Anti-semitic attacks are very common in France. The radical Muslim population is growing exponentially, veiled women from head-to-toe are a very common sight, and mosques are popping up all over the place. The same pattern is repeating itself in the UK, in Germany and all over Europe. This Islamic fundamentalist Jew-hatred combined with "the new-anti-semitism" of the anti-Zionist Left is lethal to Europe's remaining Jews. Many Jews no longer feel comfortable enough to wear kippot in public or to identify themselves as Jews. Entire communities are under siege as going to synagogue literally becomes an ordeal amidst intense security, guards and routine checks. Synagogues, monuments and Holocaust memorials are routinely vandalized. A few weeks ago, a video was placed on YouTube (and subsequently banned) showing a group of Greek students in Rhodes urinating on a Holocaust memorial with violent rock and anti-semitic lyrics in the background. The Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin was defaced for the tenth or so time.

Europe's tragic history is repeating itself. It feels eerily like 1938 for Europe as attacks on Jews reach a fever pitch. Not only are Jews violently attacked by Muslim anti-semites but the Jewish State is regularly demonized, delegitimized and condemned. The writing is on the walls for the Jews of Europe as Muslim sonei yisrael as well as Leftist anti-semites work tirelessly to make Jewish lives miserable. The Jews of Europe face an existential threat as the radical Muslim influence is growing. In mosques all over Europe (and the world), Jews are dehumanized, compared to insects and diseases and threatened with extermination. Millions of young Muslims are indoctrinated with Jew-hatred and the terrible fruits of this preaching are being reaped in Europe, as well as against Israel. Esau soneh et Yaakov. Once again, the Jewish nation finds itself in dire straights as the world sits silently by and allows anti-semitism to take hold and grow.


We Jews are in between a rock and a hard place. As Yishmael plans to destroy our bodies, Esau deceives us into giving up our souls. The World Evangelical Alliance, "Israel's best friends", have restated their goal to convert the Jewish nation to Christianity. Coming from the city in which the Final Solution of 6 million Jews was orchestrated, the Berlin Declaration calls for the evangelization of the Jews of Europe. "Everyone needs to hear this message including the Jewish people. Proclamation to Israel was Jesus’ priority. It also reflects the apostles’ practice of going to the Jew first. Nothing has occurred since Jesus came that changes the need for Israel and the nations. "

It is astonishing that hundreds of years after the public disputation at the order of the Church in which Jews were threatened with expulsion, death or forced conversion, Jews are again called upon to defend the validity and integrity of their faith. The Jews of Europe, when not being beaten up by anti-semitic mobs, will be swamped with pamphlets and missionaries urging them to convert. The Berlin Declaration in essence says that Judaism has no value and offers no salvation. The Jew who follows authentic Judaism is worthless and is condemned to the fires of hell unless he becomes a Christian. Jews are forced to explain themselves to Christians and to stand up for their faith. Evangelicals claim to be motivate by love for the Jewish people but in reality, they only reject anti-semitism as a means to further their hold on the Jewish soul. Hardly no strings attached! A real love for the Jewish people would be accompanied by a respect for Judaism's validity and choseneness, and the recognition of the legitimacy of Jewish tradition and belief. To issue this declaration of apostasy from the Nazi capital in which Hitler's henchmen orchestrated and planned the annihilation of the Jewish people is the height of insensitivity and callousness. By teaching that Judaism is incomplete and misguided, Evangelicals offer a surefire recipe of hatred and mistrust for the Jewish people.

With barely 15 million Jews in the world today, growing anti-semitism in Europe and North America, an existential threat against the State of Israel, rampant assimilation in the United States and an obsessive drive by Evangelicals to convert Jews, the Jewish future is difficult. We are caught between those who wish to kill us physically, to rob us of life, and those who wish to destroy our unique spiritual heritage by baptizing us. Whether by gas chambers and pogroms or by missionizing and assimilation, the ultimate goal is the same: the eradication of the Jewish people from the face of the Earth. We must take heart G-d's promise in the Torah that the seed of Abraham shall never cease to be a nation. The end chapter has been written. All that remains for us to decide is how many of us will make it to the finish line. The Jewish nation will outlive all of its tormenters and oppressors, the assimilationists and peddlers of foreign faiths. G-d will surely vindicate His people.

Cross-posted to The Truth about Moshiach

From the Farthest Reaches

"Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries." (Ezek. 6:8)

"If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back." (Deut. 30:4)

"I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' And to the south, 'Do not hold them back.' Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends of the earth" (Isa. 43:6)

In our times we are literally witnessing the reversal of Jewish exile and the fulfillment of the promises of ingathering. In the past century, especially in the last 60 years, Jewish communities from Russia and Poland, Morocco and Iran and even as far flung as Ethiopia, have been gathered in the Land of Israel. Communities that were scattered over 2000 years ago with the destruction of the Holy Temple have made their homes once more in Israel. Close to half of the world's Jews live in Israel.

In the ancient city of Kaifeng in China, once home to a thriving Jewish community, close to 1000 Jews have begun to reconnect with their heritage, learn about their traditions and reclaim their Jewish roots. Several have made aliyah and more are considering going so. Their history (which can be found here) is a long one of exile and dispersion from Israel to finding a new home and thriving in China, until assimilation finally took its dreadful toll. HaShem has awakened the hearts of this historic and once-proud community to return to their origins and make their way home.

Since the summer of 2005, over 700 Jews from Brazil have made aliyah, many choosing to reside in Beer Shevah. But how did they come to be in the Amazonas? And what's Morocco have to do with it? Well, as the story goes, about 150 year ago, when the world's rubber industry was starting to develop, several Moroccan Jews – rubber tradesmen – arrived in South America.

They made their way up the Amazonas River, from Brazil to Peru, where they were able to cultivate rubber trees – or as they are called - Hevea Brasiliensis – the Pará rubber tree.

In those days, foreigners found it difficult to travel safely though the jungles and the native Indians were their guides. The Jewish merchants had no wives, and ended up marrying the local Indian women. Only recently have many undergone halachic conversions in an attempt to return to the Jewish people. There is a growing movement among bnei anousim (known derisively as 'marranos'), Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity during the Spanish Inquisition but kept Judaism in secret, to learn about their roots. Hundreds have attended conventions for bnei anousim and even made aliyah. A tour of 16 bnei anousim from Spain, Portugal and Italy recently finished touring Israel. Around the world, descendants of those who were forced to abandon their faith are reclaiming and embracing their Jewish heritage.

In a landmark decision, PM Olmert has given permission for all 7 232 Bnei Menashe Jews living in Northern India to make aliyah. The Bnei Menashe are descendants of the Tribe of Menashe who made their way to India following the exile of the Ten Tribes by the Assyrians. They preserved many Jewish customs and traditions. In the past two centuries, they were converted to Christianity by missionaries because they recognized elements of their ancestral religion in the new faith. However, in the past few decades, they have embraced their Judaism. Several hundreds will make aliyah every month.

HaShem is gathering His beloved children from the farthest reaches of the Earth. In anticipation of the coming of the Moshiach, Jews are returning to the Land of Israel from every corner of the world. Those who had their heritage ripped from them by missionaries and assimilation or persecution and torture have taken back what was stolen from them. They have triumphed over their oppressors and adversaries and proudly declare that they are Jews.

Blow the great shofar for our freedom and raise a banner to gather our exiled. Gather us together from the four corners of the Earth. Blessed are You, HaShem, who gathers the dispersed of His people Israel." Amen! May we be in-gathered from our exile speedily in our days.

Cross-posted to Jewish Vengeance

The US's Fatal Obsession

The US is in a global struggle against radical Islam. It is still fighting a very bitter war in Iraq. The US is committing resources to rebuilding war-torn Afghanistan and defeat the resurgent Taliban. Several American airport carriers are in the Persian Gulf in the event of an Iranian missile strike against it or its allies. There is a huge potential for a conflict between Russia and the United States over Russia's military involvement in Georgia. And what country has Condie made her seventh trip this year to? Israel, of course!

Bush and Condie seem intent on carving up Israel and literally having her implode, hopefully before his term ends. They are in a frenzied rush to create a terror state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, evict hundreds of thousands of Jews from their homes and re-partition Jerusalem.

From Arutz-7:

Negotiations between Israel and PA continue at a "crazy" pace, agreement on dividing Jerusalem is "closer than ever," and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is pushing for a nearly-complete agreement on a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria by January. So reports Aaron Klein of WorldNetDaily (WND).

Secretary Rice, completing a visit to the region today (Tuesday), has been pressing Israel to sign a document by the end of the year that would divide Jerusalem. Rice says Israel must agree to a Palestinian state capital in Jerusalem - Israel's own capital - and a full Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

According to the agreement, Israel would withdraw from East Jerusalem, including the Old City (and the Kotel/ Temple Mount!) within 1-5 years.

What is this obsession with pushing Jews out of their homes and creating a terror state in half of Israel? It seems that the only is that G-d is hardening the heart of the leaders of Edom to bring punishment upon them. Hurricanes are smashing apart the US Gulf, off-shore oil platforms, and natural disasters seem to be occurring each month. Whoever creates exiles in the Land of Israel will suffer exile a thousand-fold. Time's up. HaShem is going to destroy Edom for its cruelty towards Am Yisrael. Get ready!

Chag Kasher v'Sameach!

I wish all of Am Yisrael, and the entire world, a happy and kosher Pesach. May HaShem fill every empty seat at the table and send us eternal joy. May HaShem be pleased with our fulfilling of the mitvzah of recounting the Exodus from Egypt. In the merit of our commemoration of the redemption from Egypt, may HaShem send us the Geulah Sheleima in mercy and may our seders be brightened with the glowing countenance of Eliyahu HaNavi and our Righteous Moshiach.

Chag kasher v'sameach!

With love of Israel and Torah,

BK

Yearning for the Redemption

"I believe in perfect faith in the coming of the Moshiach and even though he may tarry, I will await his coming every day."


The coming of the Moshiach is a fundamental concept in Judaism. Somebody who denies the coming of Moshiach has no place in the World to Come. The Talmud relates to us that one of the first questions that a person is asked in Heaven is: "Tzipita la'yeshua? - Did you anticipate the Redemption?". It is not merely waiting passively for the Redemption, but anticipation, getting excited over it. King David writes of the Geula: "My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning; yea, more than watchmen for the morning." Just as a watchman stands guard and looks for any sign of the breaking of dawn, so too must we keep watch for the coming of the Redemption. Every single event must be interpreted as a sign of the coming of the Moshiach.

Being the month of Nissan, it is fitting to increase our yearning for the Moshiach. To be able to desire his coming properly, we must first learn about the whole concept of Moshiach. A fantastic resource is Moshiach.com.

Traits of the Moshaich:

He will be descended from King David:
"And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a twig shall grow forth out of his roots." -Isaiah 11:1

He will be a man of this world, an observant Jew with a fear of G-d:
"The Spirit of the L-RD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the L-RD." -Isaiah 11:2

He will ensure that All Israelites are returned to their homeland:
"And He will set up an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the dispersed of Israel, and gather together the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth." -Isaiah 11:12

He will include and attract people from all cultures and nations:
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, that standeth for an ensign of the peoples, unto him shall the nations seek; and his resting-place shall be glorious." -Isaiah 11:10

Once he is King, leaders of other nations will look to him for guidance; He will Ensure peace among the Nations:
"And he shall judge between the nations, and shall reprove many peoples: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." -Isaiah 2:4

Evil and tyranny will not be able to stand before his leadership:
"But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the land; and he shall smite the land with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." -Isaiah 11:4

He will be a messenger of peace:
"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger of good tidings, that announceth peace, the harbinger of good tidings, that announceth salvation; that saith unto Zion: 'Thy God reigneth!'" -Isaiah 52:7


He will then perfect the entire world to serve God together:
"For then will I turn to the peoples a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve Him with one consent." -Zephaniah 3:9


In the Time of the Moshiach:

The Sanhedrin will be re-established:
"And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning; afterward thou shalt be called The city of righteousness, the faithful city." -Isaiah 1:26

The peoples of the world will turn to the Jews for spiritual guidance:
"Thus saith the L-RD of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying: We will go with you, for we have heard that G-d is with you.'" -Zechariah 8:23

Knowledge of G-d will fill the world:
"They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the L-RD, as the waters cover the sea." -Isaiah 11:9

The whole world will worship the One G-d of Israel:
"And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; and the L-RD alone shall be exalted in that day." -Isaiah 2:17

The ruined cities of Israel will be restored:
"And thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, and thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate."- Ezekiel 16:55

The Temple will be rebuilt resuming many of the suspended Mitzvot:
Ezekiel 40-42

Nations will end up recognizing the wrongs they did to Israel:
"Behold, My servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high." -Isaiah 52:13

Weapons of war will be destroyed:
"And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall make fires of the weapons and use them as fuel, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the hand-staves, and the spears, and they shall make fires of them seven years." -Ezekiel 39:9

Death will be swallowed up (i.e. cease to exist) forever:
"He will swallow up death for ever; and the L-rd G-D will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of His people will He take away from off all the earth; for the L-RD hath spoken it."- Isaiah 25:8

All of the dead will rise again:
"Thy dead shall live, my dead bodies shall arise--awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust--for Thy dew is as the dew of light, and the earth shall bring to life the shades." -Isaiah 26:19

The Jewish people will experience eternal joy and gladness:
"And the ransomed of the L-RD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." -Isaiah 51:11

In the merit of our yeaning and longing, may HaShem send His Moshiach speedily in our days, amen.

Separation and Redemption

As history has shown, the natural trend of the Jews is towards assimilation. We don't want to be different. We want to fit it, to belong, to be like everyone else. Even when Jews are prepared to assert themselves, we want allies and friends. Many Jews do not see themselves as members of the Jewish nation but rather "Americans (or Canadians, or British, or French) of the Mosaic Persuasion". As the old saying goes, be a man on the street and a Jew at home. Such was the tragic thinking of the Jews in Egypt.

On Pasuk, (Shemot 1:7) "And the land was filled with them (the Jews)," the Yalkut stated: "If the Egyptians went to the theater, it was full of Jews; if they went to the circus, again, the place was full of Jews." As soon as Levi, the last surviving brother, passed away, the Jews moved away from the customs and ways of Ya'akov and moved out of the shtetl, into cosmopolitain Egypt. The Jews began assimilating in ernest. Pharaoh used their desire for integration and acceptance to his own benefit, as he said (1:10), "Come, let us outsmart them." Pharaoh announced a new public works project for the good of Egypt and invited all of the Jews and native Egyptians to participate. Being loyal citizens, the Jews joined with the Egyptians in this new and glorious project. Pharaoh even set the first brick! As all the Jews had gathered to work, free of charge in order to gain acceptance, Pharaoh brought in the taskmasters who forbade the Jews to stop working. He tricked Am Yisrael into slavery!

To the degree which the Israelites tried to integrate into Egyptian society, they were violently thrown out. Being rejected, they turned insular and returned to their roots. The Midrash tells us that in the merit of the Jews keeping their Jewish names, Jewish language and Jewish garb, they merited the Redemption. Assimilation brought slavery and oppression while separation and self-identification heralded divine compassion and great miracles. G-d took the Jewish people out of Israel to separate us from the other nations, to remove us from the influence of idolatry and of wickedness, to end the foreign influence over us.

"And you shall be holy to Me, for I, the Lord, am holy, and I have distinguished you from the peoples, to be Mine." (Vayikra 20:26)

"So I said to you, You shall inherit their land, and I shall give it to you to possess it a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your G-d, Who has separated you from the peoples." (Vayikra 20:24)

Sadly, the nation of Israel seems intent today on committing the same foolish sin. Hillel, the Jewish organization on campus, has recently announced that it is opening its doors to non-Jews for membership. According to the report, "the organization is throwing open its doors to everyone, designing programs that appeal to Jews and non-Jews and hyping its contribution to university -- not only Jewish – life." Reportedly, more and more non-Jews are serving on Hillel boards. Whereas the group's mission statement before 2006 was to increase the number of Jews "doing Jewish with other Jews," it now seeks to "enrich" Jewish student life, the Jewish people and the world.

"Most of the students that we have are not interested in doing Jewish with other Jews," a Hillel campus head told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. "They're interested in doing Jewish with their friends who are doing Catholic and Puerto Rican and Turkish -- their friends and their family. The challenge for us is how do you create expressions of Jewish life that students will deem to be authentic at the same time as they are not exclusive or tribal."

Hillel, which purportedly claims to seek to enrich Jewish life on campus and to bring Jews together, is opening the door to assimilation and spiritual destruction. Already, in the United States, every second Jew that gets married is opting out of Judaism, and marries a non-Jew. What is it about Jews that we want to seem tolerant and accepting at all costs, even putting ourselves at jeopardy? (Could it be that being in exile too long has led us to forget that we too have rights?) This is the same dangerous thinking that leads Jews to shun Jewish schools because they are too "sheltered", for the Israeli government to continue its suicidal tendencies at the behest of the United States or to persue policies that put Jewish life in danger in order to gain acceptance by the anti-semitic United Nations. It is this mindset that demands that we continue to allow non-Jews, Evangelical Christians, to support us, even though this gives them a foothold in the Land and brings on the more serious problem of missionization and spiritual erosion.

Jews, we cannot be part of the United Nations, to assimilate among the goyyim. We are a "people that dwells alone and among the peoples is not reckoned" (BaMidbar, 23:9). This is a mitzvah! By relying on non-Jews, we postpone the Ultimate Redemption which will only when we are so pitifully alone, when it will be obvious that Israel has no one to rely on except for HaShem. Rabbi Meir Kahane HY"D wrote: "For so long as the Jew has even one ally, he will be convinced - in his smallness of mind - that his salvation came from that ally. It is only when he is alone - against all of his own efforts and frantic attempts - that he will, through no choice, be compelled to turn to G-d." We do not want acceptance or to integrate. We do not want to be the same or to fit in. Jews, we cannot give up our heritage. Such is a crime and postpones the coming of the Righteous Moshiach. The Redemption from Egypt only occured when it was clear that no one would stand up for the Jews, when Pharaoh arrogantly boasted: "Who is HaShem that I should obey Him and let Israel go?" (Shemot 5:2). Only then did HaShem unleash His full fury and wrath against Egypt and humble the wicked. The plagues and the splitting of the Sea proclaimed to the entire world "There is none like Me on all the earth! (9:14)"

"Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who separates between holy and secular, between light and darkness, between Israel and the nations, between the seventh day and the six days of labor. Blessed are You, Hashem, who separates between the holy and the secular."

Rosh Chodesh Nissan- Renewal

Tomorrow is Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the beginning of the month of Nissan. The Hebrew calendar is determined by the moon, which is a symbol for the nation of Israel. Just as the moon waxes and wanes, yet always regains its strength, so too does the people of Israel. Rosh Chodesh, the New Moon, represents renewal and regrowth. Though today the situation may seem bleak and the Jewish people appear defeated, we will arise like a phoenix from the ashes. Despite the numerous challenges and difficulties we face, both from the inside and out, we will triumph. The Jewish nation lives forever!

Our Sages teaches that just as we were redeemed in Nissan, the month of the Exodus from Egypt, so too are we destined to be redeemed again in Nissan. A hopeless and pathetic rabble of slaves, a broken and lifeless collection of individuals and tribes, were transformed by G-d's mighty hand into a powerful nation. A people that appeared dead were energized and filled with life by the Almighty. Just like the growing crescent of the moon, the nation of Israel was redeemed and renewed. By giving us the power to determine the timing of the New Moon (since a New Moon could only be declared if the court in Jerusalem ruled it so), G-d gave us mastery over time. While other greater and more powerful nations have come and gone, leaving behind only dust and traces, the Jewish people remains. Time has no effect on us as time only exists in this world, while we belong to a different world.

'Will these dry bones live again?', asks the poor Jew. G-d answers him that He has chosen this nation from all others, and that its success is in His hands alone. Today, we are surrounded by a sea of bloodthirsty foes whose hatred knows no bounds. We may seem lethargic or apathetic as assimilation and intermarriage reeks its horrible toll, creating a spiritual genocide. Nonetheless, know that like the moon, we will be renewed. Once we are re-energized, there will be no limit to the accomplishments of Am Yisrael. The nations will stand in amazement as the people that they took for dead, that they did their best to murder and destroy, rape and pillage, convert and assimilate, stands proudly once again and asserts its rights. Our redemption is now. It is a time for comfort.

"Turn Thou us unto Thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old."

On the Brink

Brothers, Am Yisrael is in dire straits. The sword of heavenly judgement is on our necks. Our people is in grave danger and our lives literally are held in the balance.

- The Hezbollah have around 30,000 rockets (according to the minister of security advertised on the news) and Iran and Syria are continuing to supply them with weaponry.

- Among the weapons are advanced, long-ranged Iranian rockets that are a threat to all major populated areas in Israel; power stations, airports, harbors, etc. the range extends all the way to the nuclear plant in Dimona ("Ha'aretz", March 2, 2008).

- There is an even greater threat from Iranian and Syrian missiles carrying biological or chemical weapons, something for which Israel is completely unprepared.

- Syria is boosting up forces along its northern border and calling up reserves in anticipation of a possible conflict with Israel. On Wednesday, the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi reported that Damascus was preparing for a large-scale Israeli attack against Syria and Hizbullah and has begun increasing its presence along its border with Lebanon, as well as calling up reserve forces.

- Al-Qaeda No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, pledged Wednesday night to do his utmost to strike Jews all over the world and to extend the Jihad to Jerusalem. "We promise our Muslim brothers that we will do the best we can to harm Jews in Israel and the world over, with Allah's help and according to his command," he said.

- Israel's leaders are still exhibiting suicidal tendencies in a misguided "peace" process, wanting to tear tens of thousands of Jews out of Judea and Samaria and to bring Arab rockets even closer to Israeli cities.

What can we do? How can we save ourselves from these threats of destruction?

Let us recognize that we have no one to rely on except HaShem. The US cannot save us, and neither can the Israeli army. Our only strength and protector is the Rock of Israel, HaShem.

We are taught that whenever evil decrees are upon Am Yisrael, we must all don sackcloth and ashes, fast and most importantly, pray for salvation and do teshuva. We must immediately return to HaShem, do complete teshuva, confess our sins and recommit to HaShem's Torah. The sword is upon Israel's neck, slated for destruction, G-d forbid, and nobody has any answers. The government has admitted that Israel is completely unprepared for an Iranian or Syrian biological or chemical attack. Our lives are in danger! There is no time to lose!

Simulataneous prayer services are being help in 40 cities in Israel and in Monsey, NY, Thursday. Traditionally, whenever the Jewish people have suffered tremendous tribulations, we have put on sack and ashes and fasted. The Patriarch Jacob, Moses, the nation as a whole several times during the period of the Judges, Mordechai and Esther- these are but a few examples of the proper response to divine judgement.

This is also what is written in Shulchan Aruch:

"All the people [of Israel] gather together, covering themselves in sacks… one of the people takes the ashes… each and every person takes from the ashes and places it upon his head. After that they bring one of their older wise men… and he says capturing words (words that capture the hearts of the listeners and arouse them to teshuva)… until their hearts surrender (to HaShem) and they then do complete teshuva."

Please my brothers, we have no time to lose. We have tried every secular option- of surrendering 'land for peace', of fighting the terrorists, of negotiating, of bombing our enemies- yet all have failed. We cannot make peace without HaShem.

"Oh that My people would hearken unto Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries." (Psalm 81:14-15)

While most of us cannot pick up a weapon and fight against our enemies, there is something that we each can do. The strength and weapon on Israel is prayer and mitzvot. The Arabs may have tilim (rockets) but we have a far greater power: tehillim (Psalms). A mitzvah, a G-dly deed, has the power to reach deep into the core of our being--where we are all one, and the physical distance between us is of no consequence. At this core, a positive deed on our part will help bring salvation to a brother and sister in distress. As the Rambam taught, a single good deed is enough to tip the scale in our favour and turn the tide.

Here are some suggestions. You can make a difference.

- Torah Study: The Torah is our true strength. HaShem promised that if we study and follow the Torah, our enemies will have no power over us. (Daily study)

- Heartfelt prayer: Say some Tehillim, pour out your heart and beg HaShem to have mercy on His people. "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will make mention of the name of the LORD our God." (Psalm 20:8)

- Charity and acts of kindness: Put a coin in a charity box, give a gift of money to a fellow in need or to a charitable cause, or extend a helping hand to someone who needs it. G-d loves nothing better than Jewish unity.

- Tefillin: The Torah promises that in the merit of the mitzvah of tefillin, "all the nations of the world will see that the name of G-d is called upon you, and they will fear you" (Deuteronomy 28:10). Every Jewish male must don tefillin every morning when praying.

- Mezuzah: If you have not placed mezuzot on your doors, do so. As our Sages have said: "A human king sits inside his palace and his servants guard him from the outside. But you sleep on your beds, and G-d guards you (i.e. through the Mezuzah on your doorposts) from the outside." (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Avoda Zara 11a.)

- Shabbat candles: We are told by HaShem: "If you kindle for me the lights of shabbat, I will kindle for you the lights of Zion". Before sunset on Friday nights, every Jewish woman must light candles in honour of the holy shabbat.

"Bring us to Zion, Your city, with joy and to Jerusalem, Your Holy Temple with the joy of the world."





*** Please help publicize this important message.

Cross-posted to Jewish Vengeance

HaShem Reigns!

Hear O Israel, HaShem is our G-d, HaShem is the One and Only. HaShem is G-d. HaShem reigned, HaShem reigns, HaShem will reign for all eternity.

HaShem is the One and Only power in this world. There is none other besides Him. He sent us down to this world with the purpose of us getting to know Him. He's waiting for you. You need only take the first step and recognize His majesty.

"And you shall know today, and set it firmly in your heart,
that Hashem is the G-d in heaven above and on earth below, there is no other." (Deuteronomy/Devarim 4.39)

"The Holy One said, open for me a door as big as a needle's eye and I will open for you a door through which may enter tents and camels." (Midrash Rabbah, The Song of Songs, 5.3) Open the door for Him.

Parshat Vayikra

(Hat tip to Devash)

Excerpt from Rabbi Sitorsky's shiur on Parashat Vayikra. Hear it in it's entirety here.

"...we find ourselves now exactly like then [the first Purim] at a time when there's a tremendous hester panim, greater even than in the time of Purim. They had a Mordechai, they had an Esther, they had neviim---they had hester panim, but they had such great people. Today, we have none of that, so the hester panim is a lot greater.

... a person shouldn't think that Purim is something that happened in the past. It's NOW! What they did then is what we have to do NOW! And intensify our emuna and bitachon and know that there IS going to be a third Beit Hamikdash and we ARE going to bring korbanos and there IS going to be a yeshua and every Jew has to intensify his tzipiti hayeshua [expectation of redemption] and his emuna and bitachon in the geula which will come im yirtza Hashem very, very soon and this is a very special year and we really shouldn't, chas v'shalom, allow this year to pass with nothing happening. We don't know what's going to happen, no one knows what's going to happen, but this is certainly a very great year--- tav shin samech ches---- and its exactly... the way it was then, the year that...the nes of Purim occurred...."

Please listen to Rabbi Sitorsky's shiur and in the merit of our Torah study and emuna, may we be redeemed.

Eternal Hatred

"O foolish people and not wise" (Deut. 32:6) when will we ever learn? How long will we continue to put out faith in the Nations, in the UN, in the US, in the EU, in the Evangelical Zionists, in the "moderate" Arabs? Will we never wake up?

"Esau soneh et Yaakov- Esau hates Jacob", the Talmud declares. This is a rule and an eternal principle. It is the month of Adar when Haman decreed his evil plot to exterminate the Jews. When the proclamation came from Achashverosh to all 127 provinces of the Persian empire, nobody stood up and said: "that's not nice. You can't do that". They easily rationalized that the Jews were disloyal, that they lived by their laws and they disobeyed the laws of Persia. When the 14th of Adar came, thousands gladly took part in the attacks on the Jews. They were all too happy to finally solve the Jewish Problem.

60 years ago, as the Jews were being gathered up from every land for destruction, nobody stood up. The world was silent as our grandparents suffocated in the gas chambers of Auschwitz or were burnt. The Pope closed his eyes and stopped up his ears as all of the Jews of Rome were being rounded up, right under his window. The Poles and the Czechs, the French and the Latvians, the Lithuanians and the Russians were collaborators with the murderers and they joyfully informed on their former friends and neighbours. The world shrugged and said that Hitler was a Jewish problem. They told themselves that if the Jews hadn't been so rich, so powerful, so different, so poor, so weak, so assimilated, so universalist, so closed... they wouldn't have been killed. It was the Jews' fault. Many Christians argued that it was their just reward for rejecting their god. Other claimed that the Jews had brought it upon themselves unleashing Communism upon the world. Esau hates Jacob.

8 innocent teenagers studying Talmud and Torah, the very books that form the foundation of Western civilization, of ethics, of morality, were cut down by a cruel and barbaric Arab animal. And the world remains silent. Its a "cycle of violence". You see, Israel defending itself against Arab rockets brought this tragedy upon them. If Israel would have just allowed Qassams to rain down on Sderot, these boys would be still alive. Its the Occupation. Its the Apartheid. Its the genocidal policies of the state of Israel. The Jews! The Jews! They brought it upon themselves. The yeshiva was the flagship of the colonialist and racist settler movement. The Arabs don't know any better. What would you do if you had to live under the harsh circumstances that Israel imposed on them?

Excuses. Excuses, justifications and rationalization for murder. Those boys were murdered because they were Jews and the world closes its eyes because they were Jews. Esau soneh et Yaakov. Jews, are you still counting upon your friends in the UN? When they see how the Arabs danced at the bloodbath, they'll be on our side, right? Right? Right? No, Jews. You've been misled. Esau hates Jacob. He hates him with his utmost hatred, and dances when his blood is spilled. We have nobody to rely on except Avinu sheBashamayim, our Father in Heaven, and to have His help, we need to act first. We must protect ourselves and let the world condemn what it wishes. Let the goyyim wag their tongues and flap their gums. "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn." (Isaiah 54:17). They will get their due revenge from Borei Olam. Why should any Jew concern himself with the sanctimonious pronouncements of the assemble of United Jew-haters? We must put ourselves first and do the utmost to protect Jewish lives. And if the goyyim call us racists or denounce the Occupation? Let us laugh in their faces. "Why are the nations in an uproar? And why do the peoples mutter in vain? The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against His anointed: 'Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.' He that sitteth in heaven laugheth, the Lord hath them in derision.
Then will He speak unto them in His wrath, and affright them in His sore displeasure:" (Psalm 2:1-5). Jews, be strong and courageous. Do not fear, my servant Jacob!

One day, as Haman paraded through the streets, he noticed that Mordechai was not in his usual place. He asked around for him and he was told that Mordechai was in the school, in the beit midrash. When Haman entered the beit midrash, he saw Mordechai teaching children the Torah, studying and learning with them. It was then that he understood that he would not succeed, that the Jewish people could not be beaten. That is our strength. Even though the cursed murderer tried to silence 8 young voices learning Torah, he will never succeed. There is an empty void as there are no longer 8 sould engaging in G-d's law, doing mitzvot and acts of kindness. The murderer failed. Let us all commit to learning extra Torah, keeping more mitzvot and giving more tzedakah le'ilui nishmatam, in their memory. Let the goyyim scream and shout.

Am Yisrael Chai!



Cross-posted to Jewish Vengeance and Goat's Barnyard

Letter to HaShem

May the Rock of Israel have mercy on the souls of those murdered al Kiddush HaShem at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva and avenge their blood, speedily in our days.


HaShem,

Rock of Israel, You swore to our Father Avraham long ago that You would bless His descendants and make of them a great nation. You gave to him and his descendants after him the entire land of Israel and swore by Your great and holy Name that they would inherit the gates of their enemies. Abir Yaakov, You redeemed us in Your infinite mercy from Egypt and drowned our oppressors in the sea. You wrought great signs and wonders in Egypt and took us out of slavery with a mighty hand and an outsretched arm. You planted us in You Inheritance and there we lived according to Your Torah. Av HaRachamim, when we sinned and worshipped foreign gods, You sent the wicked ones to scatter and punish us and we were dispersed to the four corners of the earth, our Temple burnt and our homeland lost. And yet, amid this, Your Shechina left into exile with us. In all our suffering, You have been there with us. You were burnt at the stake and murdered in pogroms, You were oppressed and suffocated in gas chambers, along with Your precious children, seed of Your beloved. "But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art Mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." (Isaiah 43:1-2) We were taunted, humiliated, disgraced, massacred and slaughtered, all for Your holy name. HaShem, we have not forgotten You, please do not forget us.

In Your eternal kindness, following the evil slaughter of millions of Jews by the cruel and barbaric foes in the lands of Europe, You returned us to our land and reestablished our sovereingty. HaShem, once again old men and women sat in the streets of Jerusalem, Yerushalayim habenuya, and the deserts bloomed once more. In six heroic days, Your children liberated their ancient homeland and we ran to the site of Your desolate Temple. You have been so kind and gracious to us, that the previous generation and our generation have merited to witness the first flowering of the Redemption.

And yet, G-d of Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov, "Thine enemies are in an uproar; and they that hate Thee have lifted up the head. They hold crafty converse against Thy people, and take counsel against Thy treasured ones. They have said: 'Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.'" (Psalm 83:3-5). Your enemies, foes of Your people, children of the wild ass of a man, oppress Your sons and threaten the Inheritance that You have given them. HaShem, they spill our blood like water and rejoice about it. The nation of Israel lives in fear as the evildoers kill and maim at will, and good men are hard to find. In these Chavlei HaMoshiach, the Birthpangs of the Moshiach, sorrow has increased, pain is abundant, the Torah is mocked and Your nation faces extermination. Rock of Israel, just as You have done to Pharaoh, do to them.

It is Rosh Chodesh of the month of Adar in which You reversed the council of Haman HaRashah and the day that was meant for sorrow and mourning became a day of salvation and rejoicing. HaShem, renew our days and turn our tears into laughter. Let us merit the fulfillment of the prophecy "He will swallow up death for ever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of His people will He take away from off all the earth; for the LORD hath spoken it." (Isaiah 25:8) If not for our own sake, HaShem, if our sins be too great, the for the sake of Your great and glorious name which Your enemies blaspheme and curse, redeem us. Let not the nations ask mockingly: "where is their G-d?". Comfort the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem and let them not know suffering any longer. Send us Moshiach Tzidekeinu to redeem us, to ingather our exiles, crush our enemies, bring us back to Your holy Torah, rebuild the Beit HaMikdash and reestablish the Kingdom of David. Fulfill in us the verse: "The Jews had light and gladness, and joy and honour." (Esther 8:16) and may we see the glorious Geulah speedily in our days, amen.

With love of the Land, Nation and Torah of Israel,

Your Servant

Shleimut HaAretz - Territorial Integrity

Here the words of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, one of the greatest Jewish leaders of the century, explain why Israel cannot surrender any land to the Arabs.

Cross-posted to Goat's Barnyard

Messianic Musings

Friends, I proudly state that I am a Messianic Jew. In fact, it is one of the Thirteen Principles of Judaism: "I believe in perfect faith in the coming of the Moshiach, and even though he may tarry, I await his coming ever day." I also know that the Moshiach has not arrived yet and the many pretenders to this claim have all failed or not fulfilled the requirements of the Moshiachood. It's important in these discussions to clarify what the Jewish belief in Moshiach is. After all, the Jews were the ones to whom the concept of Moshiach was originally given, at a time when the rest of the world was praying to sticks and stones. It goes without saying that the Jewish people possess the true knowledge of the Moshiach as opposed to descendants of pagans.

What is the moshiach? The Jewish tradition of "The Moshiach" has its foundation in numerous biblical references, and understands "The Moshiach" to be a human being - without any overtone of deity or divinity - who will bring about certain changes in the world and fulfill certain criteria before he can be acknowledged as "The Messiah". The criteria are:

- He must be Jewish- "...you may appoint a king over you, whom the L-rd your G-d shall choose: one from among your brethren shall you set as king over you." (Deuteronomy 17:15)

- He must be a member of the tribe of Judah- "The staff shall not depart from Judah, nor the sceptre from between his feet..." (Genesis 49:10)

- He must be a descendant of King David and King Solomon- "And when your days (David) are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall issue from your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will make firm the throne of his kingdom forever..." (2 Samuel 7:12 - 13)

- He will redeem the Jewish people and ingather the exiles -"And he shall set up a banner for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." (Isaiah 11:12)

- He will rebuild the Beit HaMikdash, the Holy Temple, in Jerusalem- "...and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever and my tabernacle shall be with them.." (Ezekiel 37:26 - 27)

- He will bring world peace - "...they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." (Micah 4:3)

- He will bring the Jewish people back to perfect observance of the Torah - "My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow My ordinances and be careful to observe My statutes." (Ezekiel 37:24)

- He will spread the rule of G-d and belief in Him around the world, to all peoples - "And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, says the L-rd" (Isaiah 66:23)

All of these criteria are best stated in the book of Ezekiel Chapter 37 verses 24-28:

And David my servant shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. they shall also follow My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Yaakov my servant, in which your fathers have dwelt and they shall dwell there, they and their children, and their children's children forever; and my servant David shall be their prince forever. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them, it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, which I will give them; and I will multiply them and I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. And my tabernacle shall be with them: and I will be their G-d and they will be my people. Then the nations shall know that I am the L-rd who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary will be in the midst of them forevermore.

Judge for yourself: Has any man fulfilled all of these requirements? Keep in mind that the Torah says that the Moshiach will accomplish his task in one try. The Moshiach "shall not fail nor be crushed, till he have set the right in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his teaching" (Isaiah 42:4).

When will Moshiach Tzidkeinu (the Righteous Moshiach) appear? "Today, if you hearken unto His voice!" (Psalm 95:7). He can come today or tomorrow, and every righteous act, mitzvah or good deed accomplished brings his coming closer. Isaiah (60:22) says about G-d, "in its appointed time, I will hasten it". The Rabbis asked how could it be possible for HaShem to hasten the coming of the Moshiach, since he would no longer appear in his appointed time. They resolved this difficulty by saying that if Israel does teshuva and the world is worthy, the Moshiach will come via signs and wonders, miracles and great things, immediately, and if we are not worthy, he will come in his appointed time, through natural means.

How will we recognize the Moshiach? The Rambam in his Hilchot Melachim (11:4) writes:

If a king will arise from the House of David, who, like David his ancestor, delves deeply into the study of the Torah and engages in the mitzvos as prescribed by the Written Law and the Oral Law; if he will compel all of Israel to walk in [the way of the Torah] and repair the breaches [in its observance]; and if he will fight the wars of G‑d; - we may, with assurance, consider him Moshiach.

If he succeeds in the above, defeats all the nations around him, builds the [Beis Ha]Mikdash on its site, and gathers in the dispersed remnant of Israel, he is definitely the Moshiach.[3]

He will perfect the entire world, [motivating all the na­tions] to serve G‑d together, as it is written (Zephaniah 3:9), "For I shall then make the peoples pure of speech so that they will all call upon the Name of G‑d and serve Him with one purpose."

What will life be like? Again, we turn to the Rambam's Hilchot Melachim (12:4-5)

The Sages and prophets did not yearn for the Messianic Era in order that [the Jewish people] rule over the entire world, nor in order that they have dominion over the gentiles, nor that they be exalted by them, nor in order that they eat, drink and celebrate. Rather, their aspiration was that [the Jewish people] be free [to involve themselves] in the Torah and its wisdom, without anyone to oppress or disturb them, and thus be found worthy of life in the World to Come, as we explained in Laws of Repentance (9:2).

In that Era there will be neither famine nor war, neither envy nor competition, for good things will flow in abundance and all the delicacies will be as freely available as dust. The occupation of the entire world will be solely to know G‑d. The Jews will therefore be great sages and know the hidden mat­ters, and will attain an understanding of their Creator to the [full] extent of mortal potential; as it is written (Isaiah 11:9), "For the world will be filled with the knowledge of G‑d as the waters cover the ocean bed."

May HaShem send His righteous Moshiach speedily in our days. Amen, ken yehi ratzon.

A Safer Redemption

Oh, how I wish that I could leave the galut behind and make aliyah! My heart is in the east and I am at the edge of the west.

"I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Moshiach and even though he may tarry, I will await his coming every day." Learn those words. Live by them.

May it be Your will, HaShem, my G-d and the G-d of my forefathers, that the Holy Temple be rebuilt speedily in our days, and there we may serve You with awe as of eternity and the days of old, and the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to You as of eternity and the days of old." Amen.

Bush: Don't Touch My Annointed

(Courtesy of Lazer Beams)



I do have a dilema, though. How can we expect G-d to redeem us if we sit put?

"The sons of Korach said to G-d: 'Until when will You say, Return O wayward sons(Jeremiah 3:14) and they [Israel] say to You, 'You return first,' as it says, Return O Lord, until when? and relent...(Tehillim 90:13). And You say, 'No Israel must take the initiative'. You will nor return by Yourself and we will not return ourselves. Rather, both of us will return simulateneously, as it is written, You have returned the captivity of Yaakov... Return us O G-d of our salvation." (Midrash Tehillim 85:3)

The Israeli gov't is willing to compromise on the Redemption and to give away Jerusalem. Many remain silent. What can we do? How do we bring the Geula? Prayer is not enough. We must couple it with protest, with outrage, with letters, with something. We are not in power so we cannot be expected to do what is impossible. Each of us in our own way must blow the shofar of teshuva, emuna and Torah.

Cross-posted to Goat's Barnyard

Letter to a Skeptic

The news is getting a bit depressing and I'm feeling overwhelmed. As its almost shabbat, I thought that I would share with you a response that I recently wrote to an agnostic friend of mine. Enjoy and shabbat shalom.

Dear Skeptic,

I cringe whenever Judaism is reduced to a simply 'be nice' humanism. Judaism is more than just about being an ethical person. Christians can be ethical, as can Muslims, Buddhists, Shintoists or even atheists. Rather, Judaism is about inviting G-d into the world, making this world a more holy place. We are called upon to elevate the material into the spiritual. You write :" It makes no difference if there is a god or not, we are called to higher moral accountability by our faith, we are made to think about each and every action and act we engage in, no matter how trivial, and we are called to invest these actions and all our thoughts and deeds with "holiness" which, to me does not mean anything related to a deity, but holiness in the sense that it sets us apart, makes us think, makes us different than animals who merely exist and consume and procreate." However, I don't see how any of that is true without G-d. Why should I bother myself to help others? If we believe that we are simply evolved animals in a struggle of 'survival of the fittest', it is not in my best interest of helping somebody 'less fit' than me. Why should it be wrong to steal or right to give charity. If anything, if I am stronger, I have the right to take what I see fit. As for chairty, I shouldn't weaken myself for another as this contradicts our most basic drive to survive. In short, there is no 'good without G-d'. In the atheist world, one cannot say that murder is 'wrong' or kindness is 'good'. Not to insinuate that atheists are bad people, G-d forbid, but according to atheism, morality is simply a social construct which can change with time. During the time of the Greeks and Romans, weak babies were discarded in forlorn mountains and left to die. The Roman write Tacitus remarked with wonder that among the Jews 'It is a deadly sin to kill a born or unborn child'. See how morality is subject to change with time but with Torah, a G-d-based morality, it is fixed! In the atheist world, there is no accountability for our deeds and no real reason to do good as opposed to evil (or even if good and evil exist at all!).

Of course, religion has been used as an excuse for violence throughout history. Nontheless, the greatest of history's murderers and perpetrators of atrocities were motivated by atheism. Hitler (yimach shemo) said " The Jews have inflicted two wounds on the world: Circumcision for the body and conscience for the soul. I come to free mankind from their shackles." Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, all were no believer in G-d. None of these people felt any remorse for what they did because they had no fear of accountablity to a Heavenly Deity. Atheism offers no hope for a better future but only offers despair at a meaningless world deaf to your prayers. Without religion, people will find many more reasons to kill each other, whether it is race, colour or over a parking spot. The concept of world peace was only introduced to the world by the prophets of the Jewish people. The prophet Yishayahu (2:4) offers a beautiful future in which "they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." He speaks of (11:6) the time when "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the basilisk's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."

Nobody can answer for G-d why there is so much suffering in this world. However, the fact that this suffering bugs us means that deep down we know that a Just G-d must exist who rules His world in fairness. Otherwise, against whom are we upset. Do we cry 'where are you?' to the emptiness of the godless universe? Questioning does not imply doubt. Avraham said to G-d "shall not the Judge of all the earth do justly?" (Bereishit 18:25). Moses cried out "Lord, wherefore hast Thou dealt ill with this people? Lama hareota la'am haze?" (Shemot 5:22) And yet, these were the greatest of believers. When Iyuv asked G-d to explain the suffering, G-d responded "Where were you when I laid the Earth's foundations...Can you send an order to the clouds for an abundace of water to cover you?... Can you hunt prey for the lion and satisfy the apetite of the king of the beats. Is it by your wisdom that the hawk grows pinions, spreads his wings to the south?" You may call G-d's answer a cop-out but I think that we should remember that, just like someone who sees a second of a movie cannot judge the entire film, so too we can't judge G-d's Justice from our limited viewpoint. We must question, ask for G-d to explain Himself, but in the end we need faith.

"The end of the matter, all having been heard: fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole man. For G-d shall bring every work into the judgment concerning every hidden thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil" (Kohelet 12:13)

I'm also sorry to bend your eye. I can go on and on too.

Shalom,

BK

Cross-posted to Goat's Barnyard

Where are You? Arise!

The Tenth of Tevet isn't simple a day to commemorate a historical occurence. The siege of Jerusalem wasn't something that happened thousands of years ago. The siege continues today, as long as Jews aren't in full sovereingty over our entire land, and as long as this like this continue:

From Arutz-7:

Jewish worshippers Tuesday were stunned to find Arabs had desecrated the graves of the Biblical Joshua, Caleb and Nun (Joshua’s father).

Joshua served as the Jewish Nation's Prime Minister from the year 2488 until 2516 on the Hebrew calendar (1272 BCE - 1300 BCE).

Members of the One Shechem organization that organizes visits to the graves arrived in the village of Timnat (Kifl) Haress, near Ariel in Samaria, to prepare for a special prayer gathering, discovered that Arab vandals had desecrated the village’s Jewish tombs. The tombs of Yehoshua (Joshua) ben Nun, Nun, and Calev (Caleb) ben Yefuneh were covered with garbage and feces – both human and animal, and anti-Semitic and Nazi slogans and symbols had been painted in the area.

Nevertheless, worshippers gathered at the tombs Tuesday night for special prayers on the tenth of Tevet, the day Kaddish and other prayers are recited for those whose date of death is unknown, such as Calev ben Yefuneh. Organizers had cleaned up the damage and attendees reported a positive experience.



Hamas flags were flying over the tomb of Yehoshua, the conquerer and liberator of Israel! This desecration cannot continue. The day will come when Yehoshua will again liberate the Land.

Tehillim 44:

"For the Leader; [a Psalm] of the sons of Korah. Maschil. O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us; a work Thou didst in their days, in the days of old. Thou with Thy hand didst drive out the nations, and didst plant them in; Thou didst break the peoples, and didst spread them abroad. For not by their own sword did they get the land in possession, neither did their own arm save them; but Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance, because Thou wast favourable unto them. Thou art my King, O God; command the salvation of Jacob. Through Thee do we push down our adversaries; through Thy name do we tread them under that rise up against us. For I trust not in my bow, neither can my sword save me. But Thou hast saved us from our adversaries, and hast put them to shame that hate us. In God have we gloried all the day, and we will give thanks unto Thy name for ever. Selah! Yet Thou hast cast off, and brought us to confusion; and goest not forth with our hosts. Thou makest us to turn back from the adversary; and they that hate us spoil at their will. Thou hast given us like sheep to be eaten; and hast scattered us among the nations. Thou sellest Thy people for small gain, and hast not set their prices high. Thou makest us a taunt to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us. Thou makest us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples. All the day is my confusion before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me, For the voice of him that taunteth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and the revengeful. All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten Thee, neither have we been false to Thy covenant. Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy path; Though Thou hast crushed us into a place of jackals, and covered us with the shadow of death. If we had forgotten the name of our God, or spread forth our hands to a strange god; Would not God search this out? For He knoweth the secrets of the heart. Nay, but for Thy sake are we killed all the day; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord? Arouse Thyself, cast not off for ever. Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly cleaveth unto the earth. Arise for our help, and redeem us for Thy mercy's sake."