But It Is MY Ox! January 19, 1990 - 22 Teveth 5750

Once upon a time, there was a man who owned several beautiful oxen. They were strong and well-mannered and just a delight. He had a neighbor, however, who was a bad man and very jealous of the beautiful oxen, because the bad man’s oxen were ugly and ill-tempered. And the jealousy of the bad man gave him no rest, so that one day he deliberately let his ill-tempered oxen into the field where the beautiful oxen were grazing and they gored one of them, killing it. The owner of the dead ox was angry at this terrible and deliberate outrage that, in the middle of the night, he entered the field where the ill-tempered oxen were and killed one of them.

The neighboring villagers and cattle people were very moral and ethical people and they were aghast at the man who had taken revenge on the ill-tempered ox and its bad owner. Their leader, Mr. Morality, was especially indignant. “What you did was very immoral,” he told the poor man. “You cannot sink to his level. And you cannot enter someone else’s field even if there is a dangerous ox there. You cannot take the law into your own hands.”

In vain did the poor fellow protest that someone had to teach the bad fellow a lesson and that unless that were done, he would do it again. Nothing helped. Mr. Morality was adamantly ethical: “You do not take the law into your own hands; you do not enter other people’s property; you do not sink to his level.” And with that, Mr. Morality and his merry band of ethical cattlemen walked off, heads high and breasts filled with a sweet sense of righteousness.

The poor man was so beaten that he could not bear the thought of continuing as before. He was so depressed that he decided to sell the rest of his beautiful oxen to anyone who would buy them. To be sure, there was no lack of buyers and, in the end, it was Mr. Morality himself who offered the highest price. Beaming, he took possession of the beautiful, quiet, well-mannered and delightful oxen.

But the change in ownership had not changed the way the bad man felt. Every time he would see the beautiful oxen, he was blinded by jealousy and envy. And so, one night, when he could no longer contain his jealousy, he sent his ugly and ill-tempered oxen into the field of Mr. Morality and they again killed one of the beautiful oxen.

When Mr. Morality heard of what had happened, his anger knew no bounds. And without a second thought, he took a number of his merry ethical friends, entered the field of the bad man and killed not one, but two of his oxen.

When the original owner of the oxen heard of this, he hurried over to Mr. Morality. “I do not understand. What did you do? When I did the same thing, you told me that one does not take the law into one’s own hands; one does not enter other people’s fields and one does not sink to their level. What happened now?”

Mr. Morality looked with pity on the poor, uncomprehending man. “I see that you really don’t understand, poor fellow. Let me explain. There is a difference between your going into his field and my going into his field. In your case, you really should not have done such a thing. In this case, it was my ox…”

I wallow in glee over events in Panama and Romania. O, Panama! O, Romania! I watch as the United States troops go into someone else’s field, invade a foreign country with 25,000 troops, shoot up its capital city, kill some 70 Panamanians, and install their own government.

And then I remember Israel’s invasion of Lebanon after years of attacks on Jewish towns from that country; after scores of Jews were murdered by attacks launched from that land; after life was made a living hell for the Jews of Kiryat Shmona, one third of whom fled the city. And I remember Israeli troops reaching Beirut and installing their Lebanese as President in order to put an end to murder and attacks upon Jews.

And I remember Messrs. Morality! ALL of them! President Reagan, Vice-President Bush, the State Department, the Defense Department and all the merry, ethical Americans (and British and French and, and, and, ad infinitum. Ad nauseum). How they condemned and how they railed and how they moralized and how they ethicalized! Merrily. “You do not sink to the level of the PLO. You do not enter someone else’s field (land). You do not take the law into your own hands.” Messrs. Morality, Post Office Box One Million, Washington, DC.

And so now there is Panama. And should any simple-minded type ask President Morality, High-minded Bush of morality, why he did everything he told Israel it should not do – he would give a sympathetic nod to the poor simpleton who really does not understand, and the answer would be: But it is my ox…

I remember Israeli troops entering the field of Lebanon to capture a Moslem Sheikh who was leader of a group of Moslem Shiite thugs holding Israelis as hostages; and President Morality and his merry ethical State Department cattlemen with their shouts of condemnation! And now I see the same moralists invading the field of Panama to try and catch a thug named Noriega because he deals in drugs that harm Americans and because he tweaks America’s nose. And I finally understand the difference and can even hear President Morality say it: But it is my ox…

And I remember the outcry by all the democrats and anti-racist equality types demanding that William Nakash be extradited from Israel to France and rising up in righteous indignation over the thought that just because someone is a Jew, he should not be extradited. After all, all human beings are equal and being Jewish is no reason to refuse to hand him over to strangers. And what would the world say to any such tribalism! And then I read that under Panamanian, law, a Panamanian cannot be extradited to a foreign county and I understand the difference: But it is my ox…

I watch as, in Romania, the dictator is captured and he and his wife are shot in secret trial, with summary justice dealt out within less than two days and no appeal allowed. And I know that Israel did not give the death penalty to any murdering terrorists and goes through elaborate procedures of “justice” in order that terrorists sit and eat and drink at our expense until they are exchanged for hostages. And I know what the outcry from Romania and other ethical nations would be if Israel would do to murdering terrorists what Romania did to its former President. But I have already learned the difference; THIS IS MY OX…

And having said all that, I do not – as so many professors and intellectual doers on the right – merely weep, complain and wring my soul. I have no intention of wasting a precious few moments of my finite life in the House of Eternal Kvetching, in which so many of the right-wing spend their lives. The lesson for me in this morality lesson of Whose Ox is gored? is not that there are hypocrites in this world. Boker Tov! Good morning! There are hypocrites in the world! Surprise…

For me, the only lesson here is that there is, indeed, a difference. Not the one that the moralists of hypocrisy give, but the objective and eternally true one of divine Torah Law. There is a difference, the one that cannot be grasped unless one has knowledge and sense. In the words of the rabbis, “Im ein da’at havdala minayin?” “If one has no knowledge, how can he differentiate?”

The lesson is that there is objective good and objective evil, objective truth and objective falsehood, and the same action taken against the one is good while the same act done against the other is wrong and evil. Yes, it is good and right and a mitzvah to go into Panama to eliminate the slime named Noriega and yes, how much more so was it right and a mitzvah to enter Lebanon and eliminate the PLO and other Moslem terrorist swine. And yes, it was wrong and evil for the Russians to do exactly the same in Afghanistan and for the Chinese to invade Tibet. Yes, the German bombing of Coventry and London is not the same as the Allied bombing of German cities and yes, the hanging of evil criminals is good and that of decent people, bad, and anyone who does not understand this havdala, differentiation, needs a good grounding in knowledge. Divine knowledge. Torah knowledge.

Until then, at the very least, let the Jew learn the simple message of normal gentiles who – when their basic interests are threatened – do not hesitate to enter strange fields and to kill evil oxen. It is time the Jew learned there is nothing for which to apologize or retreat when his people are killed and his interest threatened. It is time that he learned to tell President Morality and any other merry ethical type: “But it is my ox and no one touches it; understand?”

 
By Rabbi Meir Kahane

So Easy To Forget

THE NEW YORK TIMES - Monday, June 16, 1975
By Rabbi Meir Kahane

Time is always on the side of the tenacious. Conversely, it is the enemy of the weary and pushes tired men into the search for compromises that are often more the product of despair than of common sense. This is precisely what is occurring today in Eretz Yisroel, the Land of Israel.

Eight years after 2.6 million Jews were saved from extinction, and less than two years after the near-catastrophic Yom Kippur war, larger and larger numbers of those who were almost slaughtered seek to return again to the moment of truth.

Forgotten is the insanity of ments from Cairo, Damascus, Amman, Beirut, Baghdad and Fatah. Forgotten are the pledges to throw us into the sea, wash Tel Aviv clean with Jewish blood and eliminate the “gangsterstate” of Israel.

Forgotten are the insanity of borders that saw the coastal strip with its million Jews under the guns of Arab armies just miles away. Forgotten are our own projections of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians dead.

Forgotten are the borders that saw settlements on the plain lying naked beneath the Golan Syrian guns; the Sinai with its Egyptian armada within spitting distance of our cities. But most often forgotten are the hatred, the solemn pledges of extermination, the school textbooks with their poisonous venom, the days of May and early June, 1967, when the mobs were lashing about in an agony of anticipation of the great Jihad, about to begin.

What were the demands in those days when there were no June 5, 1967 borders to which to return? What were the Arabs marching to war about then? Forgotten is the reality of Arab refusal to recognize an Israel that is even one dunam square. Forgotten is the never-changing reality of Hebronism.

What is Hebronism? It is the Arab policy of extermination of the Jew who seeks to live in his own land. It is the reality of that summer day of 1929 that saw Jewish men, women and children slaughtered in the streets, homes and shops of Jewish Hebron. Hebronism is the Arab policy that would be the rule for us every Monday and Thursday could our enemies only accomplish it.

We are inundated with all kinds of illusions and elusions. Let us return this land or that and we will have peace. Let us not dare to settle Jews in Eretz Yisroel lest it anger the Arabs and jeopardize peace. Let us recognize the existence of a Palestine people, for that will bring peace. Let us reach peace and brotherhood with the Arabs by territorial concessions and by giving them electricity and indoor toilets.

What kind of a Jew believes that he can buy Arab national pride with an indoor toilet? What Jew does not, after all these years, recognize that the Arab will not compromise on that which he considers to be his land, and who views every Jewish kindness as a weakness to be exploited?

Our enemy, in the long run, is weariness. It is against this that we must struggle, against the weariness that rises to a crescendo with the frustrating cry of : When will it finally end?

Only weak people surrender to time. Strong and tenacious people know that there may never be an end to the struggle and the sacrifice but they also look about and see what their refusal to surrender has accomplished.

There is now a state – and today a big one – in much of our Eretz Yisroel; a Jewish state with nearly three million souls and many more to come. None of this would have come about had we listened to the intellectual precursors of our modern-day “doves.” In the name of peace there would be no Jewish state; in the name of morality there would be no free Jewish nation.

Eretz Yisroel, the Land of the Jewish people exists. Perhaps peace will come some day, but until that time let us not listen to delusions. Strength, tenacity and trust in G-d; this and this alone assures Jewish survival.

 
By Rabbi Meir Kahane

For Truth's Sake

by by Tzipora Liron

(IsraelNN.com) “I have done justice and righteousness - leave me not to those who oppress me.”
For a long time, I stare at the words in my little Tehillim (Psalms) book. Something about them touches me.
Only recently I began to learn about the life and teachings of Rabbi Meir Kahane. It was at a lecture last Shavuot, about the sanctification and desecration of G-d's name. The lecturer quoted from a book by Rabbi Kahane. At that point, about half of the audience suddenly got up and left.
This reaction fascinated me, so I stayed until the end and listened intently. Then, I scraped together all my courage and asked the lecturer to lend me the book. It was Listen World, Listen Jew. I've read some more of Rabbi Kahane's books since and warmly recommend them all, by the way.
Actually, that was not my first contact with the rabbi's ideas. When I converted to Judaism overseas, one day our teacher suddenly drove us to a shooting range.
There, he just said: "I will not let any one of you go to the conversion Beit Din unless you learn to shoot a gun first. You want to be Jewish, fine. A Jew has to know how to defend himself. And if you say you can't do this because you are afraid or a pacifist or whatever, I demand from you that you do it, for me and my family that was murdered by the cursed Nazis.”
I never forgot that lesson. Our teacher sometimes mentioned Rabbi Kahane's name, but, thanks to pressure from the synagogue's establishment, he never went into the details. Because of the establishment's reaction, I always thought that “Kahane” meant something unspeakably radical, a taboo topic beyond any range of normal discourse, something one best stayed far away from.
I'm glad that now, after my Aliyah, I got a second chance to learn more about the life and teachings of a man who literally gave himself to his people. He upheld Jewish pride into the face of a world that, for 2,000 years, had shamelessly persecuted and murdered Jews. He taught disaffected, lost teenagers that “Jewish is beautiful”. He fearlessly fought anti-Semitism and challenged anyone daring to harm Jews, from American neighborhood bullies to the Soviet Union and Arab terrorists. He went to jail again and again on behalf of his people; often enough jailed even by his own people. Could there be a more intensive way of living Ahavat Israel?
And Ahavat HaShem. For years, I had been saying the Sh'ma Israel prayer day after day, but I never really understood what it means when it says, “...with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your resources. Let these words that I command you today be on your heart.” It was only from Rabbi Kahane's teachings that I understood that this really means placing G-d's will above our own, to transform it into our own; that you can't keep anything for yourself because your life is not your property, but a deposit from G-d. Accepting Ol Malchut Shamayim ("the Yoke of Heaven") - I never before understood how beautiful this concept is.
Rabbi Kahane lived it. He loved G-d and held up the Torah uncompromisingly. He acted not out of personal considerations, but in order to fulfill G-d's will and to restore the Jewish people to their task as G-d's chosen nation on Earth, destined to live in a society of Divine holiness in Eretz Israel.
Last Sunday, on the 18th of Cheshvan, was Rabbi Kahane's 18th yahrzeit. I had the honor to attend the graveside ceremony held at Har HaMenuchot and the assembly in Jerusalem after that. At the assembly, Rabbi Yehuda Kroizer, dean of the Yeshiva of the Jewish Idea, encouraged the audience to spread knowledge about Rabbi Kahane's teachings, especially his major work Ohr HaRaayon - The Jewish Idea. He said that “like there is a Chabad house in every city, you should make your house a 'house of the Jewish idea' wherever you are... and learn, even with just one study partner.”
Well-known right wing activist Baruch Marzel, in his speech, called out to the audience: “If Rabbi Kahane was with us today, he surely wouldn't want us to waste an entire evening on a memorial ceremony. He would get up and say what needs to be done tomorrow morning.” Marzel then did exactly this by reminding the audience of the urgent need to prevent the impending expulsion of the Jewish families living in the Shalom House in Hevron and announcing the planned march with Israeli flags through the Israeli-Arab village of Umm el-Fahm, which is scheduled to take place in about two weeks.
Rabbi Kahane's teachings live on among the Jewish people and what he did has left a lasting impact beyond the close circle of his followers. I'm convinced that many around the country feel that he was right and admire him, even if they don't dare to admit it openly. They are afraid. Given the hate campaign by the media and some government officials against the right-wing and the settlers of Judea and Samaria, that's no wonder. A huge, precious and dedicated part of our own people, and among them especially the followers of Rabbi Kahane, are slandered, harassed and even, absurdly, depicted as a greater threat than Arab terrorism. All this in order to embrace the real deadly enemies, for the sake of unrealistic peace accords and the next “disengagement” under the watchful eyes of America and Europe.
What if that's not how we want things to be? One aspect of countering this detrimental development is indeed education and outreach. Of course, it's not the only aspect, but it is important as a foundation. It is precisely the people standing outside, drenched in the “rain” of the left-wing media hate campaign who need to be reached. They need to know the alternative. Authentic Jewish values have to be brought back into the mainstream - and that's a task for all who care about Israel, not only the followers of Rabbi Kahane. It can succeed even by simple means.
If a single, well-prepared lesson on a few clear Jewish concepts worked wonders on me, it can work on others, too. Perhaps I'm too optimistic, but something inside me doesn't want to give up and doesn't want to return to obediently swallowing the media propaganda stew, and to silently watching Israel undermining it's very existence.
I look back at my Tehillim booklet, at the outcry of King David: "I have done justice and righteousness - leave me not to those who oppress me."
Let the voice that dared to speak the truth not be silenced. Rabbi Meir David Kahane gave everything for the Jewish people; may G-d avenge his blood.

Israel – There Are No Moderates

“Moderates.” “Moderates.” There are no Arab moderates. There are only clever Arabs and stupid ones. The stupid ones say exactly what they mean: eliminate Israel. The clever ones (and more and more are becoming so) mean exactly the same thing but they are clever. After defeats in four wars and numerous clashes they have learned the secret: say nice, moderate things to guilt-ridden Jews, and they will love you. They will throw money at you. And the Sinai. And hopefully, the “occupied lands”…
There are no Arab moderates. And one salutes in awe the ability of Arafat the arch-murderer, to persuade the Jews of lemmingism of his “change of heart,” of his “moderation.” He must surely be a candidate for the Nobel Prize for not laughing, for not rolling on the floor in hysteria.
He has renounced “terrorism?” Of course, but he firmly maintains that to attack the Zionists who “occupy his country” is not terrorism, but rather a war of national liberation. He accepts UN resolutions 242 and 338? To be sure, but within the context of all the UN resolutions on “Palestine,” including resolution 181, the one that the “poor Palestinians” rejected in 1947, the one that originally established a Jewish State. Today, Arafat accepts it. He is good. Having been humiliated militarily he accepts it, knowing that it would bring the Jews back to the boundaries of 1947. He accepts all the UN resolutions, including the ones calling for Israel to allow the “refugees” to return to their homes in Israel if they desire to. All the “refugees” who were part of the “poor Palestinians” who attempted to wipe out Israel in 1948. Today, thanks to the 40 years of birth, there are more than two million of them.
He has recognized the existence of Israel. True. Much in the same way that we all recognize the existence of earthquakes, disease and roaches. Of course we recognize them, because they exist. We recognize their existence in order to put an end to their existence. So too with Arafat. He recognizes Israeli existence…
Arafat; the PLO; the “Palestinians:” the Arab states. Models of deceit and deception, paragons of duplicity and perfidy. Hands of blood and tongues of pretense. They plan new a Holocaust as they speak peace.
No, there are no Arab “moderates.” They are liars who cannot live together with themselves, let alone Israel. They all believe that the Jewish State of Israel is a bandit, settler state, that has stolen “Palestine” from them. And because of that, and with deep sadness, one knows that there will be no peace. And let none of the comfortable denizens of Peace Now in Beverly Hills or the woodpeckers of Hollywood or the pompous pulpiteers of Reform liberal temples screech in indignation. Kahane does not want peace! Kahane does not want peace? Where do I live and where do they live? I, who live in Israel and serve in its army and whose children serve in the army, desire peace a great deal more than the shallow liberals and leftists of Peace Now and those paragons of Reform shallowness, Alexander Schindler and Balfour Brickner, who regularly trumpet declarations of suicide through Peace.
There will be no peace because the “poor Palestinians” do not wish peace. They wish “Palestine”. All of it. And that includes Israel. So let us not delude ourselves and let us not believe in delusions. The great Rebbe of Kutzk once said: “It is a sin to deceive one’s neighbor. It is a crime to deceive oneself.”
Wishing peace, yearning for peace does not mandate committing suicide for peace. And for all those who cry that Israel has been fighting for 40 years, let it be stated flatly that the Jewish people have been fighting for 4,000 years and had our forefathers been as depressed as some of their present day children, we would have been long since gone as a people.
Cease the weeping and wailing! We have a state of our own and it can be a glorious one and let us give thanks to the Almighty for it. And let us understand clearly that a state is not given on a silver platter; neither is it won by writing a check. A state is a precious thing that is won by sacrifice and blood, and if there are those who are not prepared for this, let them walk away and leave it to those who are – unafraid, who have both faith in G-d and the willingness to climb the ramparts in battle.
We are weary? We are weary of having to serve in the army each year to defend our state? How much would a Jew in Auschwitz have given for the opportunity to see a Jewish army, a Jewish tank, a Jewish plane – and with what joy he would have agreed to serve each year in a Jewish army of a Jewish State, created so as to help guarantee that never again will there be an Auschwitz for its Jewish citizens!
Peace? Of course we want peace. Who does not want peace? It is not the monopoly of the guilt-ridden and self-hating hypocrites, the artists and intellectuals (sic) of the left. We all wish peace; we all fervently pray for peace. We all look for the day when the nations shall beat their swords into ploughshares. But, meanwhile, as they continue to have swords with which to destroy us, let us not be so mad as to wave ploughshares.
Give up land. For “peace” that the “poor Palestinian” is prepared to grant us? The ultimate peace of the dead? Are we mad? The ones who launched four wars of aggression against Israel and lost for wars of aggression, dictate terms to us? The ones who launched four wars of aggression and a thousand terrorist attacks, who slew thousands of Jews, and who lost – now present us with demands? They insist that we, who won, give up land? Let the Arab aggressors and murderers learn a very basic rule of life: Losers lose. Winners win. Losers and especially losers who launched wars of murderous aggression, do not dictate terms. Aggression is not a game in which one attempts to wipe out innocent people, loses and then returns to “Go”. No, aggression is a gamble and if the aggressor loses – let him know the full bitterness of his reality – that he has lost. Then, perhaps, he will think deeply and carefully before embarking on another adventure. For let the “poor Palestinian” know in every fiber of his body, that he had best leave well enough alone. Let him accept a peace that will see him establish a state of his own in Jordan, if he can do it. For should he be so foolish as to begin another murderous war of aggression, let him be certain that that which he still possess in Jordan will be ours too.
Land for peace? By all means. The Jews who were the victims of countless efforts to destroy them and who are the rightful owners, will keep the land and be prepared to graciously give the murderous Arabs, peace
And above all, no guilt! What causes a Jewish people that has suffered thousands of dead and tens of thousands of wounded and maimed at the hands of the Arabs, fail to understand that they are a cruel and implacable enemy, bent on destroying Israel and decimating the Jews? What causes Jews who see the brutality and treachery and viciousness with which Arabs massacre each other, refuse to see what our fate would be if we would be so mad as to give them the slightest opportunity to do to us what they dream to do to us? Above all, what makes a Jewish people that has only one land and has returned to that land, to feel guilty over it and to accept the myth of a “Palestine” and a “Palestinian people?”
There is no Palestinian people and there is no Palestine! There is not, there never was, and please G-d there will never be.


Rabbi Meir Kahane
Excerpts from Kahane - The magazine of the authentic Jewish Idea
May-June 1989  Iyar-Sivan 5740

The ‘Guilt’ of Jews Threatens Israel

Jerusalem

      No one, no people has so sadly honed guilt to a finer art than we Jews.  There are, invariably, those liberal Jews who instinctively feel guilty about everything – whether they had anything to do with what’s wrong or not.  It is a fascinating form of pathology, worthy of a dissertation in abnormal psychology and suggesting the need for some form of national couch.
      And, of course, it is this corrosive guilt that lies at the heart of the ideological disintegration of Israel today, a process that threatens the very existence of the Jewish state.  “We are occupiers and conquerors; we oppress innocent people; our national soul is being corroded; we are, above all, guilty!”
      Lo, the poor Arab of the West Bank and other “occupied territories,” that simple innocent ground under the heels of the Jewish occupation army.  Lo, the poor territories of 1967, which have become the “major obstacle to peace” because of Israeli intransigence.  Lo, the racism and latent fascism that is at the very heart of a Zionism that favors Jews in a thing called the Jewish state.
      What in the world can possess Jews in Israel to forget the massacres of Jews by Arabs in 1920.1921 and 1929?  And why, in their intellectual minds, did they occur? Could the murder of 67 Jews on one day in Hebron 60 years ago have been caused by Arab anger over the occupied lands of 1967?
      And when more than 500 Jews were massacred in Arab pogroms stretching from 1936 to 1938, was it Israeli refusal to return the lands of 1967 that was at the heart of the problem?
      And when the Arabs turned down the United Nations Partition Plan of 1947 – which would have set up a tiny, grotesque Jewish state and an Arab one that might have been called Palestine – was the Six-Day War of 1967 the root of their decision to try to wipe out the then 600,000 Jews in the land.
      What causes Jewish liberals to take the Arab position on every issue?  What causes them to babble about “the occupied lands” of 1967?  Do they not know that the Arabs see the entire area of 1947 and all the Jewish cities and towns within the pre- 1967 state as “occupied” also?  Do they not realize that to the Arab, Tel Aviv and Haifa, the golf course at Caesaria and all the kibbutzim of the enlightened left are also occupied?
      Of course the humanists and moralists of Israel know that and that is precisely the problem.
      Deep in their hearts and minds, the Jews on the left and of liberal bent secretly fear that the Arab is right, that the Jew really had no right to come to a “Palestine” that had a majority of Arabs and make it into a Jewish state.
      The terrible ghosts of Jewish guilt gnaw away at the tortured Jewish liberal soul with the thought that perhaps the Jews are indeed “occupiers” and colonialists.  This Jewish secular liberal agonizes with himself daily because along with his guilt, he lacks the courage to give up his kibbutz to the oppressed Arab.  He wallows in a corrosive guilt that rapidly becomes self-hate.
      And so he must take the Arab position on every issue in the pathetic hope of winning from the Arab a crumb of forgiveness.  He must fight for their right to get part of the “stolen” land so he can keep his part of the “theft.” What a pathetic creature, and how dangerous is:  He seeks to commit national suicide but would take all of us with him.
      Here is one Jew who feels not the slightest guilt for choosing to live, for winning, for telling a world that gave us such universal benefits as Crusades and Inquisitions and pogroms and Auschwitzes:  Never again – and who cares what you think?
      Guilt?  Hardly.  There is no “Palestine.”  It is the Land of Israel.  It belongs to a Jewish people that was given it by its Father in Heaven and in which they lived 3,000 years ago.  It belongs to a Jewish people that, unlike the Arab one, does not have 22 states but just one:  the Land of Israel. Guilt?  Only the sick suffer from it.
      For Jews, the moral imperative is to live and guarantee a home for a Jewish people that will not only remove itself from the exile but will remove the exile, with all its aberrations, from itself.  Faith in G-d and a powerful Jewish arm – that is the Jewish way 


Rabbi Meir Kahane
 The New York Times, Friday, April 7, 1989

“…So You Shoot the Messenger”
Excerpts from Rabbi Meir Kahane’s last speech urging American Jews to make emergency Aliyah

I was born in this country, and I can’t recall ever, in my life, as much open and vicious Jew-hatred as I have seen in our time right now, in this country. I travel around from city to city, and in every city Jews tell me it is unbearable. Attacks upon synagogues, attacks upon Jews, all of which are of course buried. Because the synagogue doesn’t want it to be know. The ADL wants to report “there were 55 incidents this year in the United States”, when actually, there were 55 incidents in one hour in the United States. On radio programs which I am on – the telephone calls – open, open (anti-Semitism).

Two Reasons for Increased Anti-SemitismWhat has happened? What has happened in natural terms? Of course, in divine terms, the Almighty is ending it for us. But what is happening in natural terms? Two basic changes have taken place in this country over the last twenty years. It began slowly, now it is reaching its crescendo. We have seen the death of what I call the “Auschwitz syndrome”. What is the “Auschwitz syndrome”? After World War II, it was hard to be an anti-Semite, even for an anti-Semite. It was just difficult. And then the years passed – ten years, twenty years, twenty-five years, thirty years, and a generation arose which was not born at that time. And the “Auschwitz syndrome” began to fade away, and the guilt began to fade away. No matter how many Holocaust programs were shown on television, every year they had less and less impact. Indeed, they reach a point whereby they encourage anti-Semitism, whereupon the anti-Semite says: “ Hey, you know, I know Jews, and the Nazis, and they were probably right.” That’s what happens today. It fades away. And to help things along, there was the rise of a strong Israel. Suddenly, Israel was winning. And that allowed the anti-Semite to cut the albatross. Now it was OK. You see, the Jew are Nazis, and they persecute the Palestinians, and now it was OK. So the “Auschwitz syndrome” faded, and it’s gone for all practical purposes. And you hear people speak about the holocaust that the Israelis are perpetrating upon the Palestinians. A Holocaust…So all the Israelis and all the Jews who ever called me a Nazi and didn’t realize that when you call a Jew a Nazi, you cheapen the Holocaust. And you cheapen the concept of Nazi, which is a very unique thing. And by you calling a second Jew a Nazi, what you are telling the world is” Jews can also be Nazis. Foolish people and tiny dwarfs and pygmies, grasshoppers.
So the “Auschwitz syndrome” is gone. And another thing has happened. After World War II, and until perhaps ten years ago, the American people lived in an economic luxury such as we have not seen ever in world history. No Roman emperor lived as well as the average American did from World War II on, until fairly recently. Life was good. And when life is good, the anti-Semite hates Jews quietly. It’s not a big deal to him. He hates Jews, but he’s too interested in the Monday night football game. I myself am amazed that so many people are here tonight that don’t want to see the Giants massacre the Colts…

The Economic CrisesSo when times are good and he has his job, he has his beer and he has his TV set, he has everything – he hates Jews, but it’s not that important to him. But as the economic sands of time begin to run out, and as things get bad and they get worse and suddenly there is a chill, there is a fear. I can sense a fear in this country – people are afraid of what is going to happen, and they have every right to fear it. This is a country which is on the verge of economic horror, horror. In two years they expect the national debt to go from 3.7 trillion to 5 trillion dollars, so they work for months and months – this fiasco between Congress and this administration – and they say, “we are going to cut 500 million dollars in five years”. Five years! It is a joke – It’s a drop in the bucket. This is a country which is dying because the thing that was saving it was the fact that the Japanese are buying Rockefeller Center, Rockefeller Plaza – don’t be angry. If they stopped buying it, no one is going to cover the national debt. And they are stopping.
The dollar is a weak dollar today. Can you imagine: The Israeli shekel has held its own against the dollar now for a year. Don’t clap! It doesn’t mean that the Israeli shekel is strong. The shekel is weak; the dollar is just as week. The Japanese don’t want dollars anymore, they want German marks. And they’re investing now in South Korea, Thailand, Singapore. The banks here are shaking, they’re tottering. In their greed, in the 1960’s and 70’s, they gave loans to anybody. The Congo came – you want money, take the money. Mexico came – take 100 million dollars – take, take it, take. Suddenly, the Congo couldn’t pay back. If that’s what a banker is…did he expect the Congo to ever pay back in total? So hundreds of millions of bad loans are being held by major banks: Chase Manhattan, Citicorp – and they are in deep, deep trouble today. And on top of that, suddenly the real estate market has collapsed and they are now holding several more hundred million dollars of bad mortgages. That’s the tragedy. That’s why suddenly, there’s a hurry talk bout Chase merging with City.
There’s a myth that your money is insured for $100,000. If the FDIC had 60 cents for every hundred dollars that you have, I’ll swim back to Israel. There is a myth that they are going to bail out the Savings & Loan with 40 billion dollars. If they can make it with less than half a trillion, it will be a miracle.
So for years, the new economists said, “Don’t worry about deficits, it doesn’t matter. Deficits don’t matter? I know that when my bank account is in deficit, it matters to me. The bank calls me up and says, “Rav Kahane, we have a little problem. Would you like to come and cover it?” A city can go a little deeper into debt than I can, and a state deeper yet, and a country can go a little deeper yet; but, in the end you have to pay the piper. So, America has lived beyond its means – extra credit, credit cards – and give anybody credit, give kids credit cards – anybody. Now it’s time to pay the piper, there is no money, there is no money. And should the economic collapse come it is the Jew who will be blamed. It is the Jew. You can hear it already. You can small it in the air.

The Racial tension – In all ColorsI was on a radio program in Chicago. Every single caller blamed the Gulf oil crisis on the Jews. Every single call. What you have now is the getting together of all these crises – the economic crisis, the racial crisis – and there is a serious racial crisis in the country. It’s a serious one. It is a dangerous one. Whites hate Blacks and Blacks hate Whites and they both hate Jews. It is a terrible, terrible thing. It’s not just Whites and Blacks. Now in the West, it’s the Hispanics and the Anglos – tremendous crises, which only proves all the more the myth of the melting pot. Uh nechtiga tag –what melting pot? A melting pot is fine until there is a terrible crisis and then two “objects’ occupy the same job at the same time. That’s a law of physics, which I’ve changed a bit…
So it’s not an accident that Jesse Helms is now putting on TV ads talking about the unfairness of quotas. Quotas are unfair. Of course, that is his trump card. People are angry about quotas and affirmative action, etc. And Blacks are angry. You think that Blacks have no argument? You think they are all bad? – that everything the Blacks do is wrong? You think that Bob Grant is your kind of guy? G-d forbid! This Jew-hating fascist type. That he says something good many, many times –you’re right. You think that bad people don’t often say correct things? Of course they do – but watch him, watch him and be careful of such people! People who are anti-Black will always be anti-Jewish too. One doesn’t have to love Farrakhan or Jesse Jackson to realize that he should be careful of racism of all kinds – White and Black – be careful, because we get stuck in the middle. Because the Whites and Blacks hate us both.

The Pre-War Depression: Not a CriteriaWe have a serious problem – the economic crisis cannot be averted. There is no way. This country is in for terrible, terrible times. People tell me in the depression it was also bad. It’s true. But first of all, who knows what would have happened in this country if World War II had not ended the depression? If you think that Roosevelt ended it, you don’t know history. World War II ended it. It gave jobs finally, but more to the point, it was a different era back then. The American people at that time were a much stronger people in character. Today, after 40-50 years of good life and soft life, and the materialistic life, people are into themselves. Unbelievable ego. Everything is me, me – my life, my body, my-me, my-mine. People are incapable today of making sacrifices and that’s the great, great difference between today and what happened in the depression. The person who is fairly poor and gets poorer – not so terrible. The person who has it and lost it becomes a wild animal, a raging animal. He’ll not accept it and will look for a scapegoat. He’ll look for some target to blame. We Jews are the most visible, the most highly visible in terms of power, in terms of money. Of course, Wasps have more money than Jews have. Certainly, Jews are not into U.S. Steel and banking and so on, and the real, real money is not Jewish money, but that doesn’t matter because Jews are in those professions that are most visible.

How to Gauge anti-Semitism: Go to a BarSo in the bars, it sits the jealousy and the envy of the Jews which leads to hate. The tragedy as I’ve said a million times is that the average Jewish leader in this country has no idea what people say ago about Jews in bars, because the average Jew doesn’t go into a bar – and he should; he should be compelled to go into a bar. Every rabbi before getting “smicha”, before being ordained, should be compelled to go into a bar and find out what the real world is like. It isn’t a joke. I’m serious. To hide in some little ghetto, you never know what the world is. They hate us with a passion out there, with a virulence which is frightening to see and to hear. On every radio program I go on, I hear, “why should we give you guys three billion dollars a year”? Anytime some fellow from the Israeli consulate is asked that question, he comes up with the answer, “well, we help you too, etc.” Baloney! The only way to get rid of that question is to answer as I do, “I don’t want the money! I want Israel to be a free enterprise state and allow private enterprise to flourish and then we don’t want your money, I don’t want your charity.” So, that of course gets rid of the question, but it doesn’t get rid of the anti-Semite. He’ll go home mutter in his beer and pretzels. He’s still there. He’s still there.

Role of the Prophet – To See It and say ItThe rabbis tell us that G-d told Moses and Aaron. “I’ll make you Jewish leaders on one condition that if they throw stones at you, you’ll accept it.” Rather to be pelted with stones and not with dollars. That’s what a Jewish leader has to be! Say the bitter truth, even though they won’t like you. They won’t like you; they’ll attack you, but tell the Jews the truth if you love them. If you love Jews, tell them the things which will make them angry, but which can save their lives. That’s what you have to do! Think carefully about what I’m saying, and that is why we created this group called ZEERO, Zionist Emergency Evacuation Rescue Organization. It’s a name that provokes. And we hope that as we spread this idea it will provoke Jewish leaders to attack so we can debate the controversy that arises. People will say he’s right; he’s wrong, and so on. Of course, this is probably the worst thing you can ever tell any Jewish leader, any Federation leader – that he should leave here, and go to Israel. What’ill do there? .
The rabbis say: “Who is wise? He who sees the future”. It’s no big deal to see “today.” A Jewish leader has to see tomorrow.

Living in Israel – Difficult; Living Elsewhere – ImpossibleIt is coming here! It is coming here! Friday night I spoke in Brooklyn in shul, and I had to walk through Bensonhurst, a white neighborhood – nice people, because they’re white…Watching the people, the kids, you can smell the violence, you can see the hate, you can see the envy – frustrated, bored, looking for action. You can see it. Those are the potential mobs. And G-d forbid, we will see it. So ZEERO is a very serious project of Kach, and I mean a serious one. And I know how hard it is to go to Israel – it is really hard. Hard to make a living. My son goes into the army every single year. It’s dangerous and so on. All of it is true. Everything that’s all true. That’s all true. It’s hard to live in Israel, but it will be impossible to live here, and if we go to Israel, at least there we can change the country. Of course we can change it and make it better and make it tremendous and make it safe. Of curse we can do that if we have the power in the government, but here there is nothing you can do to change it, it’s out of our hands. We are a minority and we are strangers here. We’re stranger in this land, no matter how many years we’ve been here.
It’s not an accident that so few German Jews survived the camps. The Polish Jew did better. Why? Because the Polish Jew wasn’t surprised. It didn’t shock him that gentiles could behave like this. It didn’t surprise him, so he wasn’t shattered inside, he wasn’t’ broken. But the German Jew was psychologically shattered. How could this be? I’m a German. I’m a German. How could it be? How can you do this to me? The Pole knew he was a Jew. The German was broken because his whole illusion was shattered. And that’s how the American Jew lives. “I’m an American”. It’s the gentile who will teach you so quickly that you’re a Jew.
It’s no just in the bars, in the working class bars the anti-Semitism that you see. When you see the news media and their attitude towards Israel; it’s not anti-Israel – it’s anti-Semitism. Do you know why they hate Jews? Because among intellectuals there is a jealousy of Jews. When Truman Capote, the famous author, a sickness, a disease who represents all that is sick about Western culture – when he spoke about the publishing business being a Jewish mafia – you can see the jealousy. [He writes] how Jews are over represented in publishing, in broadcast, in movies, etc. Of course it’s so – they have talent. Untalented people don’t like to think it is because of talent. They like to think they run it because their friends, their uncles, their aunts and so on and so forth. The hate runs across the board. You can see Peter Jennings’ anti-Semitism. You can see it! And when I hold press conferences in Israel and I see them sitting around, you can watch them all – the hatred.

(Eighteen years after the Rabbi spoke the above warnings, the economic collapse came to American. The anti-Semitism took a dangerous escalation- the Jews fear for their future. Will they come home to Israel?)

The "Israeli-Arab" Uprising Comes Ever Closer

It's been a long time in coming, and it may even take just a little longer to break out in all its fury, but as this article from Arutz Sheva reminds us, the prospect of a new, "Israeli-Arab" intifada gets closer ever day...

A while ago - towards the end of the war with Hizballah - I wrote an article on this blog, entitled "The "Israeli-Arab" Uprising Could Come Sooner Than You Think...," with a few predictions of mine with regard to this topic. I am somewhat surprised at how things are slowly working out almost exactly as I had predicted!

Amazing!!!

...Ok fine, I'll admit: anyone with their eyes open and half a brain could have seen it coming. But I still think it's quite interesting how closely developments today mirror what could clearly be seen more than a year ago...

What is even more amazing though, is that the Israeli govt and mainstream media are still trying their hardest to ignore the prospect of what could potentially be the most harmful and bloody "intifada" of them all (G-D forbid)...!

Please Stay Tuned - Back in a Few Weeks...!

My apologies for not having posted in a while, but for a few weeks I will not have much access at all to this blog (if at all).

Please do stay tuned, however, and keep your eye on this blog, which will be updated again in a few weeks time G-D-Willing.

Meanwhile, keep watching the still-developing "Kahane Resource" page (a project by hameir.org), which will also be updated and developed in the coming weeks.

Shalom U'vracha,

Ivri

Israeli Authorities Plan to Expel Jews From Shalhevet Neighbourhood (in Hebron) This Coming Sunday/Monday

From the Jewish Community of Hebron:

Today, the 78th anniversary of the 1929 riots and massacre in Hebron, which left 67 dead and the surviving population expelled from the city, Defense Minister Ehud Barak personally decided to expel two more families from the city, from their homes in the Shalhevet neighborhood (the shuk).

The Hebron Community council expresses deep pain and protest at the desecration of the memories of the 1929 victims and the continuation of forced expulsion, this time not by Arabs, rather by Jews, expelling their brothers.

According to information received by the community, about 1,000 police, riot squad forces and soldiers will execute the expulsion late Sunday night - early Monday morning. The community calls on anyone to whom Hebron and Eretz Yisrael are important to, to flock to Hebron as early as this coming Saturday night, following Shabbat, in order to take an active role in the protest and struggle. Most likely Israeli security forces will close all roads leading to Hebron sometime Monday, so it is important to arrive as early as possible.

Eikev: Blessings Over Bread and Torah

Two Blessings from the Torah

While most blessings are of rabbinical origin, there are two blessings that are derived directly from the Torah itself. They are Birkat Hamazon, recited after meals, and the blessing said before learning Torah.

The obligation to bless God after eating bread comes from the verse, "When you eat and are satisfied, you must bless the Lord your God..." [Deut. 8:10].

The Talmud [Berachot 21a] derives the blessing before studying Torah from the verse, "When I call out God's name (or: read God's teaching), ascribe greatness to our God" [Deut. 32:3].

These two blessings differ not only in the source for our feelings of gratitude - one is for physical nourishment, the other for spiritual sustenance - but also in when they are said. Why is Birkat Hamazon recited after the meal, while the blessing for Torah study is recited before studying?

Two Benefits of Food

Food provides two benefits. The first is our enjoyment from the act of eating, especially if the food is tasty. This is a fleeting pleasure, but it nonetheless deserves to be acknowledged. The primary benefit from eating, however, is the sustenance it gives our bodies, enabling us to live. This primary benefit reflects the nutritional value of the food, regardless of its taste.

Our recognition of the principal benefit of eating should take place after the meal, as the body digests the food. Since Birkat Hamazon expresses our gratitude for physical sustenance, it logically belongs is at the end of the meal.

Parenthetically, we also recite blessings before eating. These blessings acknowledge our pleasure in the act of eating itself. We recognize this secondary benefit of eating with rabbinically- ordained blessings.

Two Benefits of Torah Study

Torah study also provides us with two benefits. The first is the knowledge acquired in practical areas of Halacha, enabling us to live our lives according to the Torah's wisdom.

The second benefit from Torah lies in the very act of learning Torah. Torah study in itself is a tremendous gift, even if it does not have any practical applications. When we learn Torah, the soul is elevated as the mind absorbs the sublime word of God.

Which benefit is greater? The Sages taught that the unique sanctity of the Torah itself is greater than all deeds that come from its study: "One who studies Torah for its own sake is raised and uplifted above all actions" [Avot 6:1]. The benefit of practical knowledge is important, but is only a secondary gain.

Therefore, we recite the blessing over Torah before studying. If the blessing was meant to acknowledge the practical benefit of how to perform mitzvot, then it would be said afterwards, since this knowledge is gained as a result of Torah study. But the blessing over Torah refers to the principle gift of Torah study. When we bless God before studying, we acknowledge the spiritual elevation that we enjoy in the very act of contemplating God's Torah.

Now we can understand why the source for this blessing reads, "When I call out God's name." Why does the verse refer to the Torah as "God's name"? This blessing requires that we recognize the sublime inner essence of the Torah - Torah as "God's name." When we are aware of the true nature of Torah, its study can enlighten and uplift us "above all actions."

[adapted from Ein Eyah vol. I, p. 103]

Va'Etchanan: With All Your Soul

By Rabbi Chanan Morrison

Rabbi Akiva's Martyrdom

When the Romans decreed that teaching Torah is a crime punishable by death, Rabbi Akiva's reaction was not surprising. The pre-eminent scholar, who had supported Bar Kochba in his revolt against Rome, gathered people together and gave public Torah lectures.

Before long, Rabbi Akiva was charged and convicted. When the rabbi was taken out for public execution, it was the hour for reciting the Shema prayer. As the executioners flayed his skin with iron combs, Rabbi Akiva recited the Shema, concentrating on fulfilling its words: to love God "with all your heart, soul, and might."

The Talmud [Berachot 61b] records Rabbi Akiva's final conversation before his death. His students questioned him, "Our master! Even to this extent?"

The scholar responded:

"All my life I have been troubled by this verse, "You shall love God.. with all your soul." As I have explained its meaning: "all your soul," even if they take your life. I have always wondered: will I ever have the privilege of fulfilling this mitzvah? And now that the opportunity has finally arrived - shall I not seize it?"

This exchange between Rabbi Akiva and his students requires clarification. What exactly did his disciples mean when they asked, "Even to this extent?"

The Purpose of Shema

One might think that the daily recitation of Shema is a preparatory act. Each day we accept upon ourselves the reign of Heaven, and prepare ourselves to love God, even at the cost of our lives. This daily declaration ensures that we will have the necessary reserves of courage and commitment should there arise a need for the ultimate sacrifice of martyrdom.

Therefore, the students were surprised. Their teacher had already withstood the test. He had accepted martyrdom with a noble and resolute love of God. Even the cruelest instruments of torture had not deterred him. What need, then, was there for Rabbi Akiva to recite this final Shema? Why prepare for that which he was now already fulfilling?

Rabbi Akiva, however, understood the intrinsic value of Shema. This declaration of love for God and acceptance of His rule is not just a tool to train the spirit. Each recitation of Shema is in itself a wonderful act. Every time we whole-heartedly declare God's unity, our souls are uplifted in holiness and closeness to God. The Shema is not just a means by which we prepare ourselves; its very recitation brings a spiritual elevation.

Until his final declaration of Shema, Rabbi Akiva had recited the Shema with the thought that he was willing to sacrifice his life - "with all your soul" - for love of God. His entire life, he had wondered whether he would be able to fulfill the mitzvah of Shema in its most extreme, most demanding, form. "Will I ever have the privilege of fulfilling this mitzvah to its utmost?" At the hands of the Romans, he was able to accept the reign of Heaven while sacrificing his life - not just as a mental vision, but in real life.

His Soul Departed With Echad

The Talmud relates that as Rabbi Akiva concentrated on the last word of Shema, his soul departed.

Rabbi Akiva breathed his last with the word Echad - "God is one." A master of Jewish law, the scholar was able to infer legal rulings from the smallest markings in the text of the Torah [Menachot 29b]. In the final analysis, however, all the detailed laws and myraid explanations that he had propounded during his lifetime were all part of a single harmonious system. Everything Rabbi Akiva had taught shared the same underlying theme: how to live life according to the supreme principle of God oneness. It was thus fitting that his final word should be Echad.

[adapted from Ein Eyah vol. II, pp. 344-345]

The Holocaust That Is Overshadowed by the Destruction of the Temple

Written by Rav Binyamin Zev Kahane z"tl h"yd (1996)

Translated by Lenny Goldberg

The revolution against the Romans and siege on Jerusalem which resulted in the destruction of the Second Temple, produced one of the worst holocausts in Jewish history. According to the testimony of Yosef Ben Matitiyahu (Yosefus Plabius), about one million Jews were killed in Jerusalem, and 100,000 prisoners were taken captive to Rome.

Despite this chilling fact, it is only a footnote in the history of this era. While every child knows that on Tish A B'Av the Temple was destroyed and we were exiled from our land, many Jews are less aware of the physical holocaust which accompanied it.

And how puzzling are the words of our sages, who tell us that that G-d had mercy upon the Jewish People, pouring out his fury on wood and stones (the Temple) instead of on the Jews themselves who had sinned. If this is so, the question is two-fold:

1. One million Jews killed shows us that "G-d poured his fury on wood and stones"? 2. Why has the death of so many Jews become marginal in our Tisha B'Av mourning? Is human life less important than the wood and stones of the Temple?

To answer these questions, we must free ourselves from our western mindset. For according to the Jewish idea, physical existence is NOT the ultimate value, but rather there is a purpose to the life of a Jew, and without this purpose, the reason for his existence becomes less significant.

This is the reason that the massive slaughter of Jews that took place during the siege is dwarfed in importance when compared to the destruction of the Temple and the exile of the Jewish People from their land. Because when the People of Israel are not in the land of the living, Eretz Yisrael, and when their Temple is destroyed, the Jew can no longer properly fulfill his destiny in the world. His life, so to speak, loses its meaning.

This explains the startling stories of many Jews who lost their faculties upon seeing the Temple burning in flames, and simply cast themselves into the fire, burning themselves alive! They could not grasp a reality of "Am Yisrael" without the Holy Temple.

After 2,000 years of exile, this idea seems a bit extreme. Is it really the end of the world when the Temple is burned down? Don't we at least fulfill mitzvot in the exile? Can't we fulfill our destiny as Jews without a Temple? The answer to this is clear: No. The entire reality of observing mitzvot in the exile is "B'diavad" - that is, it is undesired, but must be done because of lack of choice. For the Torah was given to the Holy People to be performed in the Holy Land, and in the exile we became a mere religion comprised of individuals. For this the sages tell us that the purpose of fulfilling mitzvot in the exile is only so that we won't forget them when we return to the Land of Israel, where the fulfillment of mitzvot take on their full significance.

Now we can answer the two questions we posed: When Israel sinned,desecrating the Holy Temple and turning it into a "discotheque", G-d wasreally supposed to destroy us all, G-d forbid. But since G-d loves us and ties His Name (His existence, so to speak) to the name of the Jewish People, He determined that we will never be totally wiped out. Therefore, he destroyed the wood and stones of the Temple instead of destroying those who desecrated it. But this does not negate the possibility that the Jewish People will be severely punished with the likes of holocausts and exiles (which is the harshest punishment of them all). Indeed, total annihilation will never be, and in the end there will be redemption, with the Jewish People returning to fulfill it's destiny in a complete way in its land and Temple.

Now it can be understood how the massive killing of Jews in Jerusalem can be viewed as a marginal event in relation to the destruction itself. Because the moment the Jewish People are exiled from their land and there is no Temple - life itself becomes less significant. More than that, all the tragedies of the exile - the Inquisitions and Holocausts, are secondary to the exile and the destruction itself. In fact, the spiritual vacuum of the Temple is the reason for the physical tragedies that befall us, for one is dependent upon the other!

Therefore, all efforts for "Eretz Yisrael", for the building of the HolyTemple and for the purifying of the Temple Mount which is the life-center for "Am Yisrael", are not reserved just for "those interested in politics". All those who fear G-d, love Israel and are pained by the exile of the Divine Presence must make these issues the center of their lives. For the fulfillment of the mitzvot are dependent on them. The return of the Jewish People to life is dependent on them!!

The "Crybaby Culture" of Modern-Day Israel

Reading Ynet doesn't usually feel like a breath of fresh air. In fact, I usually finish off wondering why I bothered reading such an anti-Jewish piece of trash. But finally I can breath a sigh of relief, knowing that I have not been completely wasting my time looking for there a worthwhile read.

How right this man is when he states:

Crybabies don't win wars

I don't know who this "Ron Ben-Yishai" guy is, and it would probably be safe to assume that he is himself no "Kahanist." But the simple fact is that practically everything in this article is spot on.

How many times have I pointed out and lamented the fact that almost every single form of PR/propaganda that is emitted by Jews from left to right (both politically and religiously) consists mainly of sad music, crying, and an undeniably effeminate focus on how sad just about everything is!? ...Oh yeah, and it always seems to end off with an almost laughably-weak attempt at optimism. Something along the lines of: "Baruch HaShem we're still existing"!

Of course, that's all we ever aspire to as a nation nowadays: "existing." Victory? Yeah right! That's far too brutal and would mean way too much killing for our delicate collective Jewish stomach to handle!

So when this guy makes the observation that the Lebanon War of last summer was "the war of evacuating the wounded," he is 100% correct - but the worst thing is that so many Jews are proud of that fact! It's almost as if we have grown so accustomed to being oppressed, that - in an almost never-ending orgy of masochism - we have come to revel in it somewhat. The ailment of which Rav Meir Kahane spoke so long ago - of the knee-jerk Jewish reaction to feel guilty every time we win - still exists and is our not-so-secret shame. In fact, it is so "not-so-secret" that just about everyone knows about it, and thus we can now understand why Hizbollah would ever think of launching their war in the first place. Quite simply: not only did they know that we didn't have the stomach for it, but they knew that - whilst they would settle at the very least for a symbolic victory over the IDF - the Jews would be more than happy to weep over some brave, dead soldiers, and get all teary-eyed over all those stories of their "heroism under fire." To be honest, losing doesn't bother us all that much. It wouldn't be so bad if this attitude was limited to the realm of sports and such. But, needless to say, when this attitudes pervades the entire national spirit and is inherent within our national policy, we must realise that it is destined to bring us one tragedy after another...

This is a national ailment, and it's time we got rid of it once and for all. I'm, sick and tired of hearing Israelis talk like Golda Meir, who once said "It is true we have won all our wars, but we have paid for them. We don't want victories any more." Olmert has said similar things many times - as have many other "leading" Israeli establishment members; but it seems that this attitude has long ago filtered through down to the average Israeli, and even the average Jew. In fact, judging from the way that we consistently act as a nation, it has probably been there since the beginning of our long exile...

My answer to such people is simple: If you don't like winning then by all means commit suicide - just don't take the rest of us with you!

But let's forget the leaders for one moment. For better or for worse, we have reached the stage where everyone hates those who hold the reigns of power. Whether it is because of their corruption, their immorality, their ineptness at leading the nation, or their policies in general. They are already discredited.

I am talking about the Jewish PEOPLE!

Another thing I've often expressed such confusion over, is how in Israel a minority community (the Arabs) can be so aggressive towards the majority (the Jews), and yet suffer little (if anything) in the way of revenge attacks or some kind of grassroots backlash. There is something seriously wrong when we just take the punches like such good xtians (and let me just remind you - we aren't xtians...!)

If the establishment and leadeship - religious, political and even military - will not work to change this mentality, then perhaps it is time we did so ourselves.

59 Years Since the Sinking of the Altalena

The story of the massacre of the crew of the Altalena is a very important one which must never be forgotten. It reveals the hypocricy of the left when they talk of how terrible "the murderer" Yigal Amir was for killing one man (who, as it so happens, was one of the murderers who opened fire on the Altalena), whilst at the same time they whitewash and even glorify the actions of the Marxists within the Palmach, who killed so many good Jews on the Altalena; it reminds us of the lengths that these people will go to prevent the rising of a real, proud Jewish State; and it shows us how naive and stupid some people are for their overwhelming belief that pacifist actions will suffice when fighting against the injustices perpetrated by these people.

Never forget.

Time To Arise From The Ground

BS"D

YESHIVAT HARA'AYON HAYEHUDI
Jerusalem, Israel
HaRav Yehuda Kroizer SHLIT"A, Rosh Yeshiva

PARSHAT DEVARIM/SHABBAT CHAZON
6 Av 5767/20-21 July 2007


TIME TO ARISE FROM THE GROUND

If our sages of old were alive in our generation, certainly the laws of mourning, that vast quantity of laws limiting our joy up to the Ninth of Av - the destruction of our holy Temple - would not be needed. All one would have to do would be to listen to the latest news broadcast to get into the spirit of Tisha B'Av. From Shimon "the man behind Oslo" Peres becoming President of the State of Israel, to Olmert releasing 250 murdering terrorists, to the brilliant new plan of "Pucker lips" Ramon to throw out some 100,000 Jews from their homes in Yesha and give it over to the Arabs. Based on the same model of the"disengagement" that worked out so well in Gaza, just ask anyone in Sderot today. To President Bush’s address on the Middle East, telling Israel to remove illegal building from Yesha and that
the Jews should instead build up the Negev (that’s nice of him). To the giving of some 190 million dollars to the PA's "moderate" terrorists, and the planning of a regional conference this fall to tighten the noose around the neck of Israel.

Yes, during these days one can become very disheartened, as they see the great dangers threatening the Jewish State and how our leaders walk blindly into the darkness. Still, in bygone days, when there was not much people could do to help their situation, such as leaving the exiles and returning home to the Land, or the building the holy Temple in Jerusalem, our sages imposed upon us many decrees to help us feel the mourning period. Starting from the seventeenth of Tammuz throughout the three-week period until the Ninth of Av, our sages added decree after decree, from no shaving and haircuts to no wedding bells, to no swimming, all the way to no wine and meat. For, in any case, a Jew who was thousands of miles from his Land, and with no means to return, could only sit and weep.

But if our sages were here today, when a flight to the Land of Israel is only hours away and takes place daily, or where millions of Jews already live in the Land, even if each one would bring just one small stone to the Temple Mount, they could build the Temple today. What would our sages tell us today: To continue to sit on the floor - or to get up and act?

The holy Vilna Gaon teaches us in "Kol Hator" that one needs to know in advance that this period before Redemption will have a lot of hardships, but from these very hardships will come forth salvation. So one must not become disheartened when the difficulties arise or if his path is blocked, but he must overcome them and continue to work towards Redemption.

What, then, are we waiting for? Could there be a clearer path of the Redemption process that is unfolding before us today? Does one sit in the exiles of NY or LA and mourn the destruction, when he could get up and come home in a few hours? What does he think, that Moshiach will be a travel agent giving out tickets to El-Al flights? ("Hi, this is Moshiach, I booked you on the Monday night flight to Tel Aviv")??!!

It's in our hands to act and make the change. Certainly, we have to feel the loss of our holy Temple, but more important - much more important - is to start the rebuilding process. This is what the Torah wants and demands of us. Don’t be left out, for time waits for no one. It is time to get up off the floor and act!

With love of Israel,
Levi Chazen

Returning To Chomesh!!!

This will take place this coming Motzei Shabat 21 July and Sunday 22 July. You can get a head start by spending Shabbat in the area.

You MUST MUST MUST register beforehand for buses:



Jerusalem 0525802274
PetahTikva 0524239940
Raanana 0526771719
Rehovot 0509866046
BetShemesh 0544995023
BatYam 0507855134
RamatGan 0528434263
NofAyalon 0524088650
BetEl 0546713704
Hasmonaim 0525789704



0524627118Haifa&North 0524295132KiryatArba

Nitzan 0542240931




*For Shabat hospitality in the yishuvim close to Homesh: 1599544444 (teens, separately for boys & girls, and also adults)

*For rides from cities and locations other than those listed above: 1599544444



*For contributions to Homesh (very very important since money does not grow on trees): 052-6302222

*Can't come? Then please take the time -- starting right now -- to call the police and army and express your support for the march to Homesh (public pressure really works in getting the police and army to be more fair -- every phonecall or fax of yours can save some kid from getting beaten up or arrested so please...take the time):

02-9970200 Tel. 02-9970436 Fax of Commander of Judea & Samaria (Ugda in Hebrew)

02-5305333 Tel. 02-5305741 Fax of General of Central Command (Aluf Pikud Merkaz)

Judea & Samaria District Police Station Tel. 02-6279279 Fax 02-6279297

Talking points:

a. "As a mother of a soldier, I think that..."

b. "The settlers were right about the hitnatkut and the country was dead wrong -- so why does it make sense to go against the settlers??"

c. "Yes I know the Hitnatkut law says these people, as Jews, aren't allowed to be in Homesh -- there used to be a law against homosexuality too, did anyone ever enforce that one??"

d. ""From where I'm sitting in (name of city), I don't understand why you people are going after the settlers..."

Devarim: Moses Speaks!

By Rabbi Chanan Morrison



The Salesman and the King

The Book of Deuteronomy consists mainly of Moses' farewell speeches, spoken to the Jewish people as they prepared to enter the Land of Israel. The eloquence, passion, and rhythm of Moses' discourses are breathtaking. And we cannot but wonder: is this the same person who claimed to be "heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue" [Ex. 4:10]?

The Sages were not unaware of this anomaly. The Midrash [Devarim Rabbah I:7] explains that eloquence is a relative matter, using the following parable to explain:

"This is like a man selling purple cloth, who announced, 'Here is purple for sale.' Hearing his voice, the king peeked out and called the salesman over. 'What are you selling?' asked the king. 'Nothing.' 'But before I heard you say, 'Here is purple for sale,' and now you say, 'Nothing'?


"Oh no!" exclaimed the salesman. "I am selling purple, but by your standards, it is nothing."

This same concept, the Midrash concludes, may be applied to Moses and his speaking abilities. When standing before God, Creator of faculties of speech, Moses announced, "I am not a man of words" [Ex. 4:10]. When it came to speaking to the Jewish people, however, the Torah records: "These are the words that Moses spoke..."

Who May Be a Prophet?

In order to properly understand Moses' claim of inferior oratory skills, we need to first examine a basic question regarding the nature of prophets and prophecy.

In chapter 7 of Yesodei HaTorah, Maimonides describes those character traits and intellectual qualifications necessary to be a prophet. He then writes:

"One who has perfected himself in all of these traits and is in perfect health, when he enters the Pardes [i.e., he studies esoteric wisdom] and is drawn to those lofty and distant matters .. Immediately the prophetic spirit will come to him."

This description seems to indicate that prophecy is purely a function of one's moral and spiritual preparation. Once one has attained the necessary spiritual level, he automatically merits prophecy.

However, Maimonides later writes that those who strive to attain prophecy are called "the sons of prophets" [see 2 Kings 2:15]. "Even though they direct their minds, it is possible that the Divine Presence will inspire them, and it is possible that it will not" [ibid. 7:5]. This second statement indicates that attaining prophecy is not dependent only upon one's initiative and efforts. Even those who have attained the appropriate spiritual level are not assured of receiving prophecy.

How can we reconcile these two statements?

Natural or Supernatural?

Many aspects of the spiritual realm corresponds to the ways of the physical world. We find that the physical world is governed on the whole by set laws of nature and physics; only on occasion does Divine providence require that the laws of nature be overridden. The same holds true for the hidden resources of the soul. There are set, general rules that govern their functions. But there are also situations that are beyond the natural faculties of the soul.

We may thus rephrase our question as follows: is prophecy a natural spiritual talent (for those who prepare themselves appropriately)? Or does it fall under the category of the supernatural, and is only a matter of Ratzon Hashem, God's will at that time to perfect the world by way of prophetic message?

Ruach HaKodesh and Nevu'ah

To resolve this dilemma, Rav Kook distinguished between two levels of prophecy. The first is an inner revelation in thought and mind, called Ruach HaKodesh. This is Divine knowledge attained naturally, a result of the soul's greatness and its concentration on lofty matters. This form of prophecy is a natural talent that God established in the soul in its initial formation.

There is, however, a second, more external level of prophecy. This is Nevu'ah, from the word niv, meaning expression or utterance. Nevu'ah is the completion of the prophetic experience; prophecy goes beyond thought and is concretized in letters and words. This form of verbal prophecy is not a natural faculty of the soul. It reflects a miraculous connection between the spirit and the physical, the supernatural phenomenon of Divine Will commanding the prophet to relay a specific message to the world.

Now we may resolve the apparent contradiction in Maimonides' writings. When he wrote that the prophetic spirit will immediately come to him, Maimonides was referring to the prophetic knowledge of Ruach HaKodesh. From his description, it is clear that he is speaking about prophecy of the mind: "His thoughts are constantly attuned to above; they are bound under God's Throne, to understand those holy and pure images, perceiving God's wisdom (in all aspects of creation)."

When, on the other hand, Maimonides referred to Nevu'ah, he wrote that even though the prophet directs his mind, the Divine Presence will not necessarily dwell upon him. This form of prophecy is dependent upon God's Will and not on the soul's natural talents.

Moses' Mistake

Now we can better understand Moses' claim that he was not "a man of words." Moses was certainly aware of his stature as a prophet. Maimonides teaches that a prophet "recognizes that he is no longer as he once was; but rather that he has been elevated above the level of other wise individuals." Moses was aware of his spiritual state - but only as one worthy of Ruach HaKodesh in prophetic thought. He assumed that the greater level of Nevu'ah would be similarly recognizable by one who merited such a level. Since Moses did not feel within himself this level of prophecy, he stated that he was not a "man of words" - i.e., one meriting verbal prophecy.

Moses' assumption, however, was flawed. Since the inner prophecy of thought is a natural talent of the soul and the result of the prophet's spiritual efforts, the prophet is aware that he merits Ruach HaKodesh. The external prophecy of Nevu'ah, on the other hand, is dependent upon Ratzon Hashem, according to the dictates of Divine providence at that time. While the first level is comparable to the laws of nature in the world, the second is like the supernatural miracles performed on special occasions. Thus it does not reflect any inner quality of the prophet's soul.

God's response to Moses is now clearer. "Who gave man a mouth? .. Who made him blind? Was it not I, the Lord?" [Ex. 4:11] The world has two sides, the natural and the supernatural. The mouth belongs to the natural, whereas blindness is a special condition. Both, God explained, come from Me. Just as you attained the natural level of Ruach HaKodesh, so too it is My will that you will attain the supernatural level of Nevu'ah.

The Prophetic Nature of Devarim

We are left with one last issue to resolve. Why is it that the Midrash only clarifies Moses' oratorical skills in the book of Deuteronomy? The answer to this question is to be found in the difference between the prophetic nature of Deuteronomy as opposed to the other books of Moses.

Regular Nevu'ah occurs like this: the prophets would first hear the Divine message; then the Divine Spirit would come to them and they would relate what they had heard. The prophecy of Moses, however, was totally different. The Shechinah would 'speak through his throat,' even as he spoke to the people. Moses was just a mouthpiece for the Divine Presence.

As a result, the other books of the Pentateuch do not reflect Moses' oratory talents. Unlike other prophets, his speeches were not even a repetition of what he had heard. The book of Deuteronomy, on the other hand, is a reflection of Moses' talents in the same way that the prophetic books of other prophets reflect their personal talents.

Were it not for Deuteronomy, we could have taken Moses' claim at face value and understood that he was literally "heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue." But after reading the eloquent discourses of Devarim, we realize that Moses was in fact referring to his prophetic capabilities. Moses meant that he was unworthy of verbal Nevu'ah. As in the Midrashic parable, only with regard to the King was Moses "heavy of mouth."

[adapted from Otzarot HaRe'iyah vol. II pp. 131-133 (originally published in Itur Sofrim)]