Redeeming the Beautiful Soul

REDEEMING THE BEAUTIFUL SOUL

By Roy S. Neuberger

“Achos katana … The little sister…. She prepares her prayers and proclaims her praises. Oh

G-d, please heal her ailments. Let the year and its curses conclude!”

What kind of year is coming? This one has been so difficult!

Many of us fear the days and years ahead. The world is staggering.

I saw an article recently in the Yated about electronic attacks on the computer systems of American cities and towns. We are so vulnerable! The entire world now operates electronically. Everything is so fragile, so far beyond our control. What happens if the system fails, either through accident or malice? Who can fix it?

My friends, we need to know that “ain od milvado … there is none beside Him!” (Dvarim 4:35)

“In the period which will precede the coming of Moshiach … Upon what … can we lean? [Only] upon our Father in Heaven!” (Sota 49b)

Rabbi Yehuda Schiff showed me the words of the Or Hachaim on Parshas Ki Seitzei, where he discusses the “aishes y’fas to’ar … the woman of beautiful form.” (Dvarim 21:11) Following the approach of “remez,” the Or Hachaim explains that this sugya refers to the beautiful soul of man which has been captured by our enemy, theyetzer hara. When we leave the Upper World to come to this world, we must be “prepared for battle….” According to Or Hachaim, “This, [even more than physical warfare,] is [accurately] called a battle, [for it requires greater effort than physical warfare. This is] in accordance with that which [the Sages] say (Avos 4:1) ‘Who is mighty? He who conquers his yetzer hara,’ for [in fact] there is no mightier feat than this.”

I once thought that a person can have peace in this world. Before I became observant, I joined the “peace movement” during the Vietnam War. But, no matter how much I demonstrated and distributed pamphlets, there was no peace at all. There was no peace in my life until I discovered Shabbos. On the day in which we are one with Hashem, there is a taste of peace in this world.

Why is the last bracha in Shemoneh Esreh “shalom?”

My friends, shalom comes at the end. The Or Hachaim is telling us that life is a continuous battle, in which, “if [a person] will relax [even for a moment], the enemy will rise up and strike him dead!” If we expect peace, then we are in mortal danger. 

This season is wholly devoted to teshuva. This is a fight for our lives. Our embrace of the King, our submission to the King, our obedience to the King will determine life or death. We must redeem our beautiful soul from the clutches of the enemy! 

But the Or Hachaim reassures us that, if we recognize the battle and fight the battle, then, “although the [yetzer hara] is stronger than the human power, Hashem will nonetheless deliver him into our hand.”

Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch once told me, “Yisroel, you are a soldier, and you must go where the battle is!”

May Hashem soon lead us to victory. “Let the year and its blessings begin!”

Each year at this time, it is my custom to express my gratitude to Artscroll/Mesorah Publications. With their permission, I constantly avail myself of their beautiful, accurate and literate translation of Holy Writings. May Hashem bless them for all they have done to glorify and magnify His Name and may they continue their great work with much hatzlacha!

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Roy Neuberger, author and public speaker, can be reached at roy@2020vision.co.il.

© Copyright 2019 by Roy S. Neuberger

Rabbi Winston – Parashas Nitzavim and a Shana Tovah!

But not only with you am I making this covenant and this oath, but with those standing here with us today before G–D, our G–D, and [also] with those who are not here with us, this day. (Devarim 29:13-14)

TALK ABOUT BEING born into servitude! At least the Amish, after making their children keep their very strict traditions to a certain age, give their children a year off when they reach a certain age to do as they please, and then to choose to remain Amish, or not.

I don’t know how many Amish teenagers actually leave their traditions behind, but I imagine that many do not. But at least if they DO that and then return, it is of their OWN volition, not because they were threatened with all kinds of horrible consequences for straying in the first place, as our Torah does to Jews.

Aside from the halachic issue of imposing an oath on people who have yet to be born to even agree to take it, there is the philosophical aspect. What are we saying here? Are we saying G–D did not trust future generations to be able to make the right decision, so He took it away from them?

The bigger question is, did it really accomplish much? Millions of Jews have lived who haven’t believed in the oath, or didn’t even know about it in the first place! The only people it seems capable of impacting are those who believe in it enough that it makes them think twice before turning their backs on G–D and Torah, the so-called Torah “fence-sitters.”

This reminds me of the first Rashi of the Torah. Rashi asks why the Torah began with G–D’s creation of the world, and not the first mitzvah. After all, Rashi reminds us, the Torah is primarily for teaching Jews about mitzvos, not a history lesson about Creation.

Rashi answers that the Torah “deviated” in order to tell the world that G–D made Creation, and that He is the One Who designates who gets which land. The gentile nations have to remember this, the Torah is saying, any time they want to call the Jewish people “thieves” who stole Eretz Yisroel from other nations. We did not steal it. The Creator of EVERYTHING gave it to us. 

Great. The only problem is that the people who need to hear this the most don’t believe it is true. It’s not like they bring this point up at the UN, where the Jewish people are regularly called “thieves” by many of its members. The only people who actually HEAR the message are those who already believe in it, and who certainly want to! 

So again, what is gained by such obligatory words?

To answer this question, let’s answer an even more important one. 

The Talmud tells us that when G–D “offered” the Torah to the Jewish people, it was really an offer we could not refuse, unless we wanted to die on the spot. Apparently, when G–D said, “Do you want My Torah,” He lifted up Mt. Sinai, held it over the heads of the people, and basically said, “If you say no, this is your burial place” (Shabbos 88a). If you wanted to remain living, there was really no way NOT to accept the Torah. 

So what was the point of the choice if it really wasn’t a choice? The answer is on the same page of the Talmud, and it says that the continuance of Creation is based upon the Jewish people’s acceptance of Torah. It’s not that Creation is just TORAH-less if the Jewish people do not accept it. It’s that Creation becomes CREATION-less if the Jewish people do not accept Torah.

In other words, lifting the mountain over the heads of the Jewish people was meant to emphasize to the Jewish people how dependent Creation and history is on their ongoing acceptance of Torah. Saying no to Torah, G–D told them, was like saying no to Creation, and that just wasn’t an option. 

Likewise, when the Torah begins with the creation of the world to teach that the land was given by G–D to the Jewish people, it is to emphasize this very point. He is the One Who has the nations of the world accept this, as was the miracle of Koresh and much later, the UN vote, and He is the One who tells the gentiles when to accuse us of stealing the Land. When they make such accusations, it is G–D’s way of telling US that WE are not making it clear enough to the world that He made Creation.

Likewise, when, in this week’s parsha, G–D tells the Jewish people that the oath is binding on future generations, He is telling us the extent of our responsibility to make sure that future generations know this. It is the obligation of the existing believing generation to make sure that the one that follows has all the necessary knowledge and tools to believe likewise on their own. The failure of the next generation is really the failure of the previous one.

There is another level to this discussion. There were only three million actual “Jews” at Mt. Sinai. The rest were souls only. Thus, the “deal” was made with souls, and they NEVER forget their obligations…even if the body they occupy at the time is not yet conscious of what the soul recalls. 

This is probably what drives many secular people to become ba’alei teshuvah. It may just seem random, or accidental, but more often than not something talks to them on a deeper level once they hear it, and makes them come back for more in the face of a society that says “don’t do it.”

It’s also what keeps people who have always been observant, or have become Torah observant that way. The bris made with the soul is always there in the background, like a foil to all that we do. Some might call it conscience, and they would not be far from the truth, because it is the truth of the bris to which the soul is committed that provides conscience. 

Thus, it is quite fitting that this parsha is read just in advance of Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and all the days in between, are to put us in touch once again with that soul commitment. You can’t really do teshuvah properly unless you are truly in touch with it, because then it is our love of our bris with G–D that makes us want to change for the better, not just a fear of losing money in the stock market, etc.

Shannah Tovah uMetukah. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to continuing on with Perceptions next year, b”H. 

Meir Ettinger on Teshuva (Ivrit)

העת לתשובה ציבורית

אפשר לטעון שמה שהניע את המפלגות בקמפיין הבחירות "ממשלה חילונית" היא שנאה ותיעוב לדת. אולם מאיר אטינגר סובר שזוהי פרשנות נוחה לא נכונה. קראו מה שיש לו להגיד

יש עוד הרבה מאד מה לכתוב על הבחירות ועל תוצאות הבחירות, על הצפוי לנו בעתיד הקרוב ובעתיד הרחוק. מילים רבות נכתבו על הצד הפוליטי של הסיפור – החיבורים והאחודים, קמפיינים, שרפת קולות, וכדו'. לדעתי, שכתבתי אותה כבר כאן בפעם קודמת, הניסיון ארוך השנים מלמד שלפוליטיקה הזו מעבר לריח הצחנה העולה ממנה ומעכיר את ניחוחות ימי אלול, יש משמעות פחותה מזו שמייחסים לה.

אוכל לומר בזהירות שהתוצאות שעלו מוכיחות יפה טענה זו. הוויכוחים עליהם נשרפו כאן שעות יקרות שהיו יכולות להיות מנוצלות לעשייה התגלו כחסרות ערך. לשם משל: אילו היו מצרפים את קולות 'עוצמה-יהודית' ל'ימינה' המפה לא היתה משתנה, ולהפך. גם כל קונסטלציה שונה של הציבור הדתי-לאומי לא היתה מספקת את החסר. שוב הוכח שהתהליכים החברתיים גדולים על ההנדסה הפוליטית.

אם נחזור לתהליכים החברתיים שהביאו למצב הנוכחי, אפשר לזהות לדעתי שלושה (מן הסתם ישנם הרבה יותר) נושאים שהיו משמעותיים ביותר בבחירות האחרונות. בשלושתם השקיעו ארגוני שמאל משאבים רבים, אם כי לא כולם היו יוזמה של אותם ארגונים.  השלושה הם: מאבקי דת-ומדינה והקרע בין דתיים וחילונים. הברית שבין ערביי ישראל לשמאל. והאתיופים.

על ערביי ישראל צריך לכתוב טור נפרד. ההבנה של ארגוני השמאל שלא יוכלו יותר להשיג רוב יהודי, הניעה אותם לבנות על השותפות עם הערבים כברית על מנת להשפיע על צביונה של המדינה. אזהרת התורה על 'לשיכים בעיניכם ולצנינים בצידכם' מתממשת לעינינו. חוסר נכונותו של הימין להכיר בסכנת הזהות השנקפת מערביי ישראל, שבאה לידי ביטוי באמירות אומללות כמו זו של נפתלי בנט: 99% נאמנים למדינה, מסכנת כיום כפשוטו את עתידו של העם היהודי. לבעיה זו ישנו רק פתרון אחד, שכדי להגיע אליו צריך לפעול בחזיתות רבות ואמצעי הסברה מגוונים – להגיע לחקיקה/הסכמה גורפת שעתידו של העם היהודי יקבע רק על ידי רוב יהודי.

הפעם אני רוצה להתמקד בנושא שלכאורה היה המכריע ביותר בבחירות האחרונות – יחסי ה'דת ומדינה'. כוחו הגדל של ליברמן, ההישג של 'כחול-לבן' נזקף לקמפיין שהביא לידי ביטוי את החשש של חילונים רבים מפני השינוי הדמוגרפי לטובת ה'חרדים' והאימה מפני מדינת הלכה.

הקמפיין של מפלגות ה"ממשלה חילונית" כמו ישראל ביתנו וכחול לבן, הדגיש שוב ושוב שאין להם שום דבר נגד היהדות, אלא אך ורק נגד מדינת הלכה. ליברמן התפאר באשתו וביתו ה'דוסיות', ב'כחול לבן' יצאו למסע פרסום בציונות הדתית, ובני גנץ הצטלם בבית כנסת ובכותל.

אפשר לטעון שמדובר בתרמית, ודמגוגיה, ובאמת מה שהניע אותם זו שנאה ותיעוב לדת. לטעמי זוהי פרשנות נוחה אבל לא נכונה

מעטים מאד היהודים שיש להם אנטי ליהדות היום. בשונה מלפני חמישים שנה, הפעילות הענפה של תנועות התשובה, מפעל השליחות האדיר של הרבי מליובאוויטש, קריסתה של תפיסת העולם החומרנית-קומוניסטית ועוד, הפכו את הרוב המוחלט של הציבור היהודי למסורתי, אוהב יהדות, מתרגש לשמוע קול שופר ונמס להניח תפילין. ברמת התשובה הפרטית – גם מצביעי ליברמן ייענו ברצון להצעה להניח תפילין, או ליטול לולב.

הפחד מהדתיים או מהחרדים מתחיל כאשר עוברים להיבט הציבורי, בעוד העולם הדתי הפרטי, מגיע עמוס ברוחניות, נוגע בפנימיות. במישור הציבורי, היהדות משווקת כחוקים, פוליטיקה, גדרות וחומות. המחשבה של יהודי חילוני-מסורתי על מה יהיה כאן כאשר תהיה מדינה יהודית היא מבעיתה, הוא מדמיין משהו בין סעודיה לאיראן. הוא שואל את עצמו על מה תתבסס הכלכלה אם יהיה רוב לחברת אברכי כולל, ומי ישמור על המדינה, אם כל הבחורים יהיו בישיבה.

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לפחד הזה יש אשם מרכזי – והוא הציבור הדתי עצמו, שבעצמו לא יודע להגיד כיצד תראה מדינה יהודית, על אחת עמה וכמה להסביר מדוע זה טוב. המפלגות החרדיות-דתיות נאבקות על הסטטוס-קוו, כדי לומר: לא באנו לשנות, אנחנו רק שומרים על עצמנו. אבל לא רק שזה לא משכנע, זה מרתיע עוד יותר – כי אם הרוב יהיה עסוק בהגנה על עצמו, אז מי יגן על המדינה? אם הם עצמם לא יודעים להגיד מה הם רוצים שיהיה, סביר להניח שמבלי משים תרחישי הבלהות שלנו יתממשו.

הפחד הזה מתרגם לעשרות נושאים הנמצאים בליבת יחסי הדת ומדינה: מה יהיה כאן בקשר למעמד האישה, לייצוג נשים בכנסת, מי יתגייס לצבא, איך זה ישפיע על גובה התמ"ג, האם יסגרו התיאטרונים?, הם תהיה תקשורת חופשית? הילדים שלנו יעברו בגרות? וכו'. קל חומר כאשר מכניסים למשוואה את החולאים האמתיים של החברה הדתית שמשודרים לצופה החילוני ללא הרף.

אי אפשר לזלזל בפחד הזה, ולו בגלל העובדה שציבור הדתי והחרדי כציבור עצמו אין מענה. והשתיקה מתפרשת כהודאה – בגרוע מכל מבחינם של החילונים.

בצומת דרכים זו ישנם שתי אפשרויות.                                           

אפשרות אחת שמוצעת זה זמן רב היא לחזור ולהצניע את היהדות בתוך בית הכנסת, להציג 'יהדות מקרבת ומכילה', כזו שתחום עיסוקה היחיד הוא רוחניות, ויש לה להציע לאדם רק מענה לבעיותיו האישיות. לחדול מדיבורים על בית המקדש, או על משפט עברי, ממאבקים או כל ניסיון להנהיג.

אפשרות כזו אינה באמת רלוונטית, פירושו של דבר הוא השלמה עם הגלות, שהרי מהי הגלות? אם לא התכנסותה של התורה לד' אמותיה. אבל לא רק ויתור על חזון אדיר, על חלום דורות יש כאן. אלא גם סכנה כפולה: ראשית, בדורנו זניחת המרחב הציבורי למהרסייך ומחריבייך תחריב את היהדות, ללא הגנה על הקיים, הכוחות הפועלים כבר היום שרק ילכו ויגדלו יקעקעו את עולם היהדות. ושנית, המציאות מוכיחה ששיטה זו לא עובדת, המפלגות החרדיות שנזהרות כמעט ולא לתבוע דבר, מואשמות יותר מכל בכפיה דתית.

האפשרות השנייה והמתבקשת היא לעבור מתשובה פרטית לתשובה ציבורית.

למה הכוונה תשובה ציבורית? בדיוק כמו בתנועת התשובה, ללמד כיצד נראית מדינת התורה, (לשם כך כמובן צריך ללמוד), להפיץ, לדבר, להעמיק, להוציא סרטונים, מודעות, קמפיינים, שיסבירו למה זה טוב, ולמה זה נכון, וכמה זה אור.

במקום לברוח מהעיסוק בסוגיות ה'נפיצות' לכאורה, לחתור למגע, ללמוד וללמד. הרי אם אנחנו באמת מאמינים שהתורה היא תורת-חיים, זה נכון לא רק בסוגיות הפרט אלא בסוגיות הכלל. גם שם דבריה "נחמדים מזהב ומתוקים מדבש ונופת צופים".

המפגש של היהודי החילוני המצוי כיום עם היהדות בנשואי הציבור הוא נטול עומק, נטול פנימיות, הסוגיות הציבוריות הצפות בכלי התקשורת נתפסות כחקיקה שרירותית, וכמאבקים פוליטיים, אפילו המאבקים על ארץ ישראל עבור מהמישור החזוני-רוחני לביטחון והשרדות.

האם עיסוק בנושאים כאלו לא עלול להעיר את הדובים, האם הוא לא עלול לגרוף התנגדות? בוודאי. אבל כמו בכל מאבק ללא חתירה למגע מפסידים ללא קרב.

הגענו לימים בהם עיסוק בתשובה פרטית אינה מרגיעה את החשש מהמדינה היהודית העלומה והמאיימת. ימים שבהם בעתיד הקרוב שומרי התורה והמצוות ייעשו לרוב מסוים ואז ללא שנדבר גם חלוקת סופגניות הופכת למאיימת, ותורה מקרבת לחשש ממדינת הלכה. זו העת לתשובה ציבורית.

Rabbi Kahana – Nitzavim: Where is the Avraham of our Generation?

BS”D 

Parashat Nitzavim 5779

Rabbi Nachman Kahana

Where is the Avraham of our generation?

Parashat Nitzavim: The last Shabbat of the year 5779

Our rabbis have taught that HaShem put Avraham Aveinu through ten tests. The ninth was the “binding of Yitzchak” (Akeidat Yitzchak) and the tenth, the negotiations between Avraham and Efron the Hittite for the purchase of Ma’arat Ha’machpela as a burial site for Sarah.

Since logic dictates that each succeeding test should increase in difficulty, what is it about the last test set before Avraham that made it more trying than the Akeida?

Was it the necessity to deal with worldly matters of “real estate” while in the midst of a profound emotional crisis at the loss of his beloved Sarah? Was it his being taken advantage of by the unscrupulous Efron, who charged 400 shekels for a burial site which was not worth nearly that much?

These were indeed aggravating realities, but the hard core of the test, I believe, ran far deeper into an area which was to impact upon Jewish history.

A fundamental religious principle appears in many of our classical commentaries and responsa:

מעשה אבות סימן לבנים

The actions of the fathers (Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov) guide their children (the Jewish people) along the path to redemption.

The moment of truth came when Avraham, despite the dangers inherent in what he was presently going to do, stood up before the Hittite council of elders and proclaimed:

גר ותושב אנכי עמכם

I am a stranger and a resident among you.

Rashi quotes the Midrash that explains Avraham’s intent:

אם תרצו הריני גר ואם לאו אהיה תושב ואטלנה מן הדין שאמר לי

הקב”ה ‘לזרעך אתן את הארץ הזאת’

If you wish [to sell the burial site], I will act as a stranger who recognizes your rights over the area; but if you do not [sell me the burial site], I will implement my right of sovereignty and seize the land by virtue of God’s promise to me, “And to your children will I give this land.”

At the time when Avraham was told by HaShem to leave his land, his birthplace and his father’s home to take up residence in a land which HaShem would identify later, Europe was mostly desolate, as were most parts of Africa and Asia, not to speak of the Americas. But instead of sending Avraham to establish a Jewish State in some unpopulated area where there would be no protest, Avraham was directed to the most populous area in the world; a thin sliver of land at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea populated by seven pagan nations numbering in the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions.

Each of these peoples descended from Cham, son of Noach, who had arrived in the land much before Avraham. They cultivated its fields, constructed buildings and established places of worship, which taken together served as a common civilization.

At this junction in their history, a stranger arrives from the east and declares that he is the true sovereign over all the land. Not just the area of Canaan, but of all the lands from the Euphrates in the north and east to the Nile in the south and west, and from the Mediterranean to Mesopotamia!

By this statement, Avraham was challenging the rights of countless people who considered themselves the owners of these lands by virtue of conquest and purchase. This was an act of immense courage, because from that moment on, Avraham was perceived by all those people to be a threat to their way of life and to their very existence.

We were here before you! You are a foreign implant in the Middle East. We do not tolerate other beliefs! Does this not sound strangely familiar? Don’t we hear it daily from Arab spokesmen, echoing the feelings of the ancient children of Cham when reacting to Avraham’s declaration of sovereignty. These anti-God, latter-day advocates of denial spew their venom in the media, on campus, in the Security Council, on Capitol Hill and on the Temple Mount.

However, on Sunday we were witness to an immense chillul HaShem when representatives of the four Arab Knesset parties arrived at the president’s residence to discuss who they would support for Prime Minister.

The spokesman, Dr. Achmed Tibi stood before President Rivlin as a proud Arab and stated, “We are not guests in this country, we are the ba’alei batim – owners of the land”.

And the President did not respond!

Here was a reverse scenario of the Avraham and Hittite episode;  when instead of Avraham the Jew stating proudly and emphatically that he is the God given possessor of all these lands, it is a sworn enemy of the Jewish nation standing before the President declaring that the Arabs are the possessors of the Land of Israel.

Were I the President, I would have directed the security people to put him and his entourage on the first plane out of the country with no right to ever return.

And we ask ourselves: where is the Avraham of our generation who will stand up before the world and declare that Eretz Yisrael is our God-given heritage?

This is obviously too huge a test for today’s Jewish leaders. It makes no difference whether they be great talmidei chachamim who almost to a  man advocate a low profile when dealing with Yishmael in the east and Eisav in the west, or secular Jews who believe that our ties to the land are historic and do not stem from God’s promise to our forefathers.

Were I to merit the opportunity to stand before an international forum, I would shout the words of Avraham Aveinu, that although we recognize certain individual rights of non-Jews in the Holy Land, God and His people Israel are the sovereigns over the entire land between the two great rivers.

The denial of our sovereignty over Eretz Yisrael as God-given is the root of all our problems today in Eretz Yisrael. In the wake of the 1967 Six Day War, when HaShem presented to Am Yisrael the entire area of Eretz Yisrael west of the Jordan river on a silver platter, the Jewish thing to have done would have been to immediately:

1- Erase the Moslem entities from the Temple Mount,

2- Annex all the areas of Shomron, Yehuda, Aza, and the Golan Heights into the State of Israel,

3- Open the bridges over the Jordan River and help, facilitate, assist, and inspire all the Arabs to leave the country,

4- Begin an ambitious project of resettling the newly acquired lands between the “Ocean” and the “River”.

5- Open ever wider the gates of Aliya for the millions who would have returned had the government acted according to the first four.

However, since our leaders then lacked, and still lack, the Jewish pride which filled Avraham Aveinu, we are witnessing the negation of everything which is right.

1- The Temple Mount has become the focal point for Moslems in Eretz Yisrael, when on each Friday in Ramadan 300,000 Moslems ascend the Mount and turn their backs on Yerushalayim and face Mecca.

2- Official government policy is to plan together with the United States the establishment of one more Arab state in the area of Shomron, Yehuda and Aza.

3- Instead of decreasing the Arab population, our government does everything to increase it, as they turn a blind eye to the multiple Arab marriages, so that a Bedouin family can number from 50 to 75 and more children, and slowly take over the entire Negev.

4- The government creates multiple hardships for people wishing to settle in our liberated areas.

5- The long-awaited in-gathering of all Jews to Eretz Yisrael has not crystallized  because of the weakness of the “children” compared to the pride and strength of Avraham Aveinu, when he declared our God-given sovereignty over every millimeter of this Holy Land.

Our prayers before Hashem at the onset of this new year 5780, are that as in past desperate periods in our history, HaShem will send a leader who exhibits the Jewish pride exemplified by Avraham Aveinu.

It will happen again in our time. And when that day comes, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and all the other would-be Hitlers who slither around the planet will be no more. And the banners of the twelve Jewish tribes will be raised by the people who have returned to take possession of all of Eretz Yisrael.

Shabbat Shalom,

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5779/2019 Nachman Kahana

Angry Walrus Sinks Russian Navy Boat In Arctic

Don't Mess with Mother Nature!
What is Nature?

 It is G-d Who Created All of Nature and is the Hidden Aspect of “Nature”

A female walrus protecting her calf has attacked and sunk a Russian naval vessel 

in the Franz Josef Land archipelago.

HOWEVER, Humans have long known that it's inadvisable to mess with Mother Nature. And, as a group of researchers from the Russian Geographical Society just learned, it's also apparently inadvisable to mess with a mother walrus.

The scientists were aboard a Russian Navy tugboat known as the Altai on an expedition to the Franz Josef Land archipelago in the Arctic Ocean this week right before the unusual human-animal interaction occurred. They boarded a small rubber landing craft and were en route to the shore to study its flora and fauna when a female walrus attacked, sinking the vessel.

"During the landing at Cape Heller, a group of researchers had to flee from a female walrus, which, protecting its cubs, attacked an expedition boat," the Russian Military's Northern Fleet said in a press release.

The Russian military appeared to be flying a drone above a group of walruses on a nearby beach to take scientific photographs, which may have spooked the animal, igniting its maternal defense instincts. A gallery posted by the Northern Fleet following the incident shows images of walruses gathered on the Franz Josef Land.

And, while the attached report makes no mention of a navy boat sinking, it does note that "serious troubles were avoided thanks to the clear and well-coordinated actions of the Northern Fleet servicemen, who were able to take the boat away from the animals without harming them."

According to National Geographic, walruses near the Arctic Circle can weigh in at as much as 1.5 tons, reaching between 7.25 and 11.5 feet – twice the size of a human. And while these animals are not naturally aggressive, they will use their massive tusks to defend themselves from larger predators.

This is a lesson in the mighty strength of the Al-mighty when He punishes the evil ones

A Jew Does Not Leave Passengers Stranded

Insane Israeli Bus Driver Story 

A bus driver employed by the Netiv Express Company driving from Meron to Jerusalem, stopped and announced a ten-minute break. According to the statements from passengers, he ended the break and drove off ten minutes later, taking off with three small children on board, but leaving their mom behind.

The event, which occurred on Tuesday, went viral on social media, with angered and shocked passengers expressing their opinion regarding the unacceptable actions of the driver.

Passengers explain the bus stopped for a break of ten minutes in a gas station, and the driver “left on the dot, without waiting”, leaving a number of passengers behind, including a mother of small children – whose children were alone on the bus. The children began shouting as did other passengers, but their pleas fell on deaf ears as the driver continued on his route, ignoring their cries.

Transportation Minister Betzalel Smotrich got his message out via twitter, promising the driver’s days at the wheel have ended. He acknowledged that drivers operate under considerable pressure and schedule considerations, but the actions of this driver were unacceptable.

YWN

Mekubal R’ Yitzchak Kaduri’s Alleged Prediction

Mekubal R’ Yitzchak Kaduri’s Alleged Prediction Spreads On Israeli Social Media

A report in Israel’s daily Yisrael Hayom this week addressed a report that’s been spread recently on Whatsapp groups and social media that Rav Yitzchak Kaduri, z’tl, predicted the current situation of the deadlock between Likud and Blue and White and the fights between the right and left.

The message on social media says that ” a sefer named “U’Shevuato L’Yishchak,” which R’ Yitzchak Kaduri, z’tl wrote in his youth was recently found in in the yeshiva of mekubalim, Nachlas Yitzchak. A prediction was found in the sefer saying: “On the eve of the year 5780, the year of tikkunim, there won’t be a government in Israel for an extended period of time. The camps will quarrel greatly with each other without reaching any decision. And then, on the day of Rosh Hashana, the sitra achra will fight with the sitra d’kedusha in Shamayim, and Hakodash Baruch Hu and His legions will decide between them. This is all I can reveal, and from herein on I swore not to reveal more secrets.”

The report adds that: “In the ancient sefer ‘The Bris of the Persimmon’ written by the mekubal R’ Sasson Chai Shoshani who was called the ‘the Navi from Mitzrayim,’ there’s a wonderful quote which has special meaning during these days: ‘The day will come that two ministers will win the government in Israel. The name of both will be Binyamin and neither will succeed in establishing a government. On that day, you should know and understand that Moshiach is already standing by the door and on the Shabbos afterward, he will come and reveal himself.'”

Yisrael Hayom spoke to Moshe N., who is the assistant of Rav Yosef Kaduri, R’ Yitzchak’s Kaduri’s grandson and the Rosh Yeshivah of Nachlas Yitzchak. “In the yeshivah, there’s all types of handwritten documents from Rav Kaduri with holy names and similar things that we keep in the safe,” Moshe said. “These are things that are passed down from generation to generation, secretly – only between the mekubalim – and it’s forbidden to reveal them.”

“In writings based on the kaballah of R’ Sasson Chai Shoshani, R’ Kaduri speaks about the geulah and that before Moshiach comes they won’t be able to form a government. So what was publicized [on social media] is very close to what’s written in the documents, but the wording of the published report is not exact. The chavrusa of R’ Kaduri, Chacham Menachem Menashe, the author of Ahavas Chaim, wrote similar things. He wrote in the name of R’ Sasson Chai Shoshani in Parshas Ki Savo, the parsha we read this past Shabbos, on what will be at the end of days, how there will be a war with the erev rav about Shabbos and how the erev rav will have the majority.”

“The documents of Rav Kaduri say something similar but it’s written in a more detailed way and it speaks specifically about this year as a year that can turn into a year of geulah. It doesn’t say “elections” – that’s an interpretation – but it writes about the fight between two different sides in Am Yisrael, that this is a stop on the way to geulah and one of its signs. Ultimately, the geulah is dependent only on us, Am Yisrael.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

As it Goes in England, So Goes America

Eldest UK Rosh Yeshiva: “This Is A Decree Of Shmad Where One Is Required To Sacrify His Life Over It”

Six months after an historic meeting with the British Minister of Education, the Rosh Yeshivah Horomo, Rabbi Elyakim Schlesinger is sending a moving letter to the heads of educational Mosdos calling on them to stand firm in the face of the education decree that hovers over the Haredi Jews in the United Kingdom (full letter attached).

The letter that shakes up Haredi Jews in Britain: The eldest Rabbi and Rosh Yeshiva in the United Kingdom, the HaGaon Rabbi Elyakim Schlesinger shlit”e, is currently sending a special letter to the leaders and teachers of the Haredi educational institutions in the United Kingdom, where he ruled that one may not compromise and carry out any negotiations for the authorities to intervene in the content of the learning in the Jewish educational institutions in the kingdom.

One may recall that for the past three years; the local Ministry of Education has been requiring Jewish educational institutions to add to its curriculum unworthy curricula as a result of the heavy pressure exerted on it by anti-religious organizations. For example, educational institutions are required to incorporate in other studies theories of the creation of the world, alongside other prohibited studies that do not conform to the Haredi way of life, which is based on the rules of modesty. The Ministry of Education’s guidelines put the educational institutions in a state of uncertainty about their future and the future of thousands of students, which is a serious threat to the Torah world throughout the United Kingdom and the very existence of the ultra-Orthodox of the public in the kingdom.

Throughout the period, the concern grew, and the educational institutions examined ways to deal with the severe crisis, especially in light of the threatening messages sent to them by observers from the Ministry of Education.

About six months ago, as part of efforts to soften the position of the Ministry of Education, the head of the Yeshiva Horomoh Rabbi Schlesinger’s meeting was scheduled for a historic meeting with the British Minister of Education and his office at the British Parliament House in the Westminster district of London. The meeting – signed with the promise of the Minister of Education that he will act on it – was added to the great activity of the Gaon Rabbi Schlesinger, who, out of deep concern for the future of the Torah world, decided to go into all its forces to the thickness of the beam, and lead the campaign without any compromise. “The Gaon of Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, and the rabbi of Manchester, the Gaon of Rabbi Gabriel Kraus are standing by him in this non-compromising battle.

As it became known later the meeting had a direct impact on the Ministry of Education’s new guidelines for the coming year, with minimal relief for the curriculum in ultra-Orthodox educational institutions.

After the publication of the new guidelines, the Haredi leadership continues to see no way out, and on Erev Rosh Chodesh Av, a special meeting was held in London on the participation of rabbinic leaders and 500 Talmidei Chachomin, activists, public figures and institutional administrators. At the end of that meeting, after examining the new guidelines that came before him, the Gaon Rabbi Schlesinger wanted to send a decisive letter, which is now being submitted by the Committee of activists of holy communities in England, led by Rabbi Schlesinger.

Rabbi Schlesinger starts his letter: “For many months now Charedi Judaism in this country is in deep perplexity over the Government’s proposed law on the teaching in all the schools in this country – including our educational schools, Charedi schools, whether boys’ Talmud Torah or girls’ schools.”

“Those in charge are an organisation named “Ofsted” an anti-religious group who deny God and whose lifetime’s ambition seeks the entire education in England to follow their opinions, when they openly declare that their intention is to uproot the Torah belief from the education of our sons and daughters. They have taken control over the government’s Ministry of Education and on their behest this new law was designed to educate the pupils in a gradual process of total apostasy in the basic elements of holy Torah – until transgression of the three cardinal sins!”

Rabbi Schlesinger addresses the ways of dealing so far examined by some of the institution’s directors: “To our anguish, the negotiations on possible compromises have no basis in Torah law. Since their scheme has already penetrated deep into the Mosdos and its bad influence is already progressing and shifting for the worse with no Torah input or ruling delivered on this challenge, among growing objections and confusion of the public, I have been asked by God-fearing and learned scholars what the Torah opinion is about this,”

In his comments, Rabbi Schlesinger expresses his resolute stance, stating that “where the ultimate intention of those imposing this decree is to uproot the principles of our faith, it becomes a decree of Schmad against Judaism and it is forbidden to agree to anything! God forbid Choliloh to modify the traditions of our Chinuch. One must sacrifice his life over this – even on the trivialities of Arkesa D’mesani shoe-strap. All the more so here, where we are not required to surrender one’s life chas vesholom, and only need insist that we will not comply and remain firm in our stance that this is forbidden for us.”

The Gaon Rabbi Schlesinger seals his letter, saying: ” To conclude; this is the Torah opinion and its clear ruling that it is forbidden to acquiesce to them and to obey these laws regarding the education of our sons and daughters, and it is also forbidden to tell them, even supposedly as if we accept their words, but we must openly tell them that although we are commanded to keep their laws according to Dina Demalchisa Dina, we will however not accept something that is against the explicit Torah commandments, as ruled by all our sages.”

“And on the governors and teachers” the rabbi continues, “the responsibility rests in their holy work to carry on teaching the pupils without any adjustment whatsoever, and it is forbidden to increase or to diminish [anything], and they should not fear threats against the existence of the Mosdos because these institutions were established for the upkeep of Torah and not, God forbid, for its destruction.”

As mentioned, the letter from the eldest Rosh Yeshiva provokes a fierce uproar among Haredi Jewry in Britain, leaving no doubt for the institution’s administrators how to act in this matter. The Governors’, for their part, are responding with great satisfaction, because the letter gives them a great deal of courage in order to stand up and safeguard.

Read the article and Letter here at YWN

Israel Police: Drinking Water? . . . and Jay Walking?

What has happened to helpful and kind Israeli Police who save lives of  babies locked in cars and cats stuck up in trees?

When did the police become the “POLITZIA” - “europeanish” in “anti” demeanor and rationality?

Arresting someone for “drinking water on Har HaBayit?” and accosting a haredi female for “jay-walking”?

Chareidi Woman Violently Arrested in Bnei Brak For Jay-Walking YWN

According to multiple reports, a female police officer asked her to identify herself, the woman refused and began to run away from the officer. Due to her refusal and resistance, she was arrested. The location is known to have traffic police monitoring the street for infractions on a consistent basis. In videos that were spread around social media, two violent police women are seen choking and dragging the woman while a crowd gathered around them and began yelling at them: “What is wrong with you? Leave her alone or you will sit in prison.”

A passerby attempted to calm the tensions and ask the officers why they don’t just give her a ticket. The officers responded that they cannot do so unless she identifies herself, something she refused to do. Due to the unrest of the gathered crowd, a large number of police reinforcements were called to the scene to assist in dispersing the crowd.

Bnei Brak Mayor Avraham Rubinstein and some of his staff members personally went to the police station in order to ask demand her release. “It is inconceivable that a Charedi woman would be arrested in such a violent manner without reasonable cause,” Rubinstein said. BeChadrei Charedim reported that after she was identified at the police station, she was issued a ticket for jay-walking and then was released.

ANOTHER “POLICE” INCIDENT
YWN: Jerusalem police arrived at a home on Strauss Street where a chareidi family whose sons regularly take part in area protests reside. When police knocked on the door, the young teen panicked and jumped from the window from his first floor apartment. Seeing him run, police believed he was the wanted suspect. They apprehended him and placed him under arrest. Only after realizing they were after his brother and not him, was he released from the Russian Compound station.

HAREDIM WHO STAND UP FOR THE TORAH PRINCIPLES ARE BEING ARRESTED

NO WONDER THEY ARE AFRAID OF THE “POLITZIA”

The number of anti-Haredi attacks occuring in Israel is very troubling indeed. Ever since the fiasco of anti-religion pre-election politics, these attacks have increased. Will the non-Jewish Jews start replicating European anti-religion Of days gone by?

Seven Things ... An Analysis

7 things to know as Rivlin tries to impose unity coalition on Netanyahu, Gantz

timesofisrael Analysis

1. Monday night’s interaction initiated by President Reuven Rivlin marked the first working meeting between Likud head Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz since Gantz stepped down as chief of staff in 2015, at the end of a term that Netanyahu, then, as now, prime minister, had extended to a fourth year, in appreciation of his skillful command.

In the campaigns ahead of last week’s and April’s elections, by contrast, Netanyahu condemned Gantz as a weak man of the left, who cannot be trusted to keep Israel safe. Gantz, for his part, has declared that Netanyahu has become a despotic liability to the country, and should leave the stage to deal with the corruption allegations against him.

2. During Sunday’s and Monday’s consultations with the representatives of the nine parties that won Knesset seats on September 17, Rivlin returned time and again to the imperative to establish a stable government and avoid a third round of elections.

Sources at the President’s Residence quoted on Israel’s Channel 13 news on Monday night said Rivlin believes he has “ideas” that could help encourage Netanyahu and Gantz to forge a unity coalition, including a formula by which they could rotate the premiership. Whatever he pitched, it was evidently sufficient to persuade the two candidates to keep talking: he invited them to come back on Wednesday, with their negotiating teams getting together on Tuesday.

If there is to be a unity government and a leadership rotation, some reports suggest that it may come with legislation aimed at preventing the premature demise of such a coalition before each man has served his time as PM, possibly by requiring the support of 80 of the 120 MKs to bring down the government.

3. Anonymous sources close to Rivlin told Channel 13 that the president has not made up his mind who to charge first with the task of building a coalition. “He does not have a name in his head,” the TV station quoted an unnamed source as saying.

The president has until Wednesday, October 2 to make a choice — which happens to be the same day as Netanyahu’s hearing pending indictment. Rivlin could choose one of the two to form a government as early as this Wednesday or Thursday, the TV report said, but would be perfectly prepared to wait another week, enabling them to reflect on his unity appeal during the two-day Rosh Hashanah holiday, which begins Sunday.

4. If Netanyahu and Gantz cannot agree between themselves on a process of coalition building, Rivlin will indeed face a complex choice. Neither would-be prime minister has majority support or a clear path to a coalition. Fifty-five MKs (from Likud, Shas, United Torah Judaism and Yemina) have recommended Netanyahu as prime minister, compared to 54 for Gantz (from Blue and White, Labor-Gesher, the Democratic Camp, and 10 of the 13 Arab MKs from the Joint List). By that measure, Rivlin could opt to give Netanyahu the first shot at mustering a majority. But Blue and White party has 33 seats, compared to 31 for Likud. So that favors Gantz.

In 1984, when elections also produced political deadlock, the Labor Alignment had 44 seats to Likud’s 41, and the Alignment’s leader Shimon Peres took the first two years as prime minister, before the role rotated to Likud’s Shamir.

5. While both Netanyahu and Gantz have professed to seeking a unity arrangement, Netanyahu and his ultra-Orthodox and right-wing allies have also agreed to negotiate as a single bloc, prompting Blue and White to dismiss his unity overtures as disingenuous spin. Gantz, for his part, while seeking to partner with Likud, has said he will do so only when it has ditched Netanyahu.

Gantz also initiated a meeting earlier Monday with Liberman, and is said in some unsourced Hebrew media reports to be so closely coordinated with the Yisrael Beytenu leader as to have already begun discussing the distribution of ministerial posts. Netanyahu blames Liberman for precipitating these elections, by refusing to join his coalition after April’s vote, and now routinely disparages his former ally as a man of the left. And Liberman has said he will not sit in a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox parties to whom Netanyahu is bound.

If Rivlin can somehow cut through those and other complexities, and foster a Netanyahu-Gantz partnership, he will be a true political magician.

6. Adding to the scale of the president’s task is the fact that he has a famously difficult relationship with Netanyahu. Rivlin is a former Likud MK and Knesset speaker whom Netanyahu sought to prevent becoming president, and who has repeatedly, if implicitly, criticized Netanyahu for his divisive political tactics. The “bad blood” between the two runs so thick, one political analyst noted in a TV report Monday night, that Netanyahu will be inclined “to think of any proposal from Rivlin as aimed to bring about the end of his career.”

7. TV reports as the triumvirate met on Monday raised all kinds of speculative notions about how a Netanyahu-Gantz rotation of the prime ministership might work, including one under which Netanyahu would serve as prime minister first, with the obligation to step down if he is indicted in any of the corruption cases against him. But such thinking assumes their readiness to defy expectation and agree to a partnership.

It is far more likely that for all of Rivlin’s efforts, each will still insist on trying to build a government without the other, though they themselves may not yet have decided whether it is smarter to take the first shot at such an effort, or hold back and wait for their rival to, hopefully, fail.

Thus Rivlin, forced to make his Solomonic decision, may be choosing between two candidates who may not have figured out if they even want to be chosen


Me: I think there is so much animosity between the parties and their rivals that we may again end with a stalemate! A third election should be not even considered. What comes next is anyone’s guess ... anyone?

Vilna Gaon on REDEMPTION – R’ Mizrachi on Erev Rav vs Mashiach REPOST

REDEMPTION, explained the Vilna Gaon, is kind of two-steps forward, one-step back process. But, even the step backwards, he added, is really a step forwards as well, when everything is taken into account.

It just looks to us as if it is backwards. What this means is that history can be difficult to read, from a redemption point of view. It can be hard, even impossible to properly interpret everyday events, and what they ultimately mean to the redemption process.

. . . the person with an eye to redemption knows that [there] are signs of the Geula [era], not just something else randomly catching the attention of the public.

Rabbi Pinchas Winston shlit”a

Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi shlit”a on The Erev Rav Against Mashiach (shiur given in Bnei Brak)
הרב מזרחי בבני ברק - מלחמת הערב רב נגד המשיח (in Ivrit)



What the Gemara Says About the End Days:
Moments Before The End (What Will Happen In The World In End Of Days) (English) [omit the politics]



Machiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David
by Avi Vilner TorahMiZion (Tanach, Gemara)

In this week’s haftara we read the verses that provide the basis for the symbol of the State of Israel,
“Then the angel who talked with me returned and wakened me, as a man is wakened from his sleep. He asked me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lights on it, with seven channels to the lights. Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”…This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.” (Zecharya 1)

The haftara relates how the High Priest Yehoshua purifies himself from his “impurities”, i.e. that he had married non-Jewish wives, and, by doing so, was able to reach a spiritual level close to that of angels. In the same chapter we find mentioned Tzemach, the Messianic King (who is Zerubavel according to the commentaries). What needs to be understood is why do we need two leaders? The continuation of the prophecy also seems to emphasize the number two: two olive trees, two sheaves, the two sons of Yitzharwho stood by the side, as if, of the Almighty?

HaRav Kook, in his essay “The Misped in Jerusalem” speaks about a different verse in Zecharia, “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great, like the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.” (Zecharya 12, 10)

The chapter focuses on the period of redemption in which G-d will wrought vengeance on the nations of the world and will save the Jewish people. Nevertheless, the eulogy and agony of that day will be great. Yonatan ben Uziel interprets this to refer to two leaders of Israel, and that the eulogy would be as great as the one in the time of Achav in his war against Hadad upon the death ofYoshiahu HaMelech in the Megiddo Valley.

The Gemara records that at the moment Yonatan ben Uziel explained this verse the entire land of Israel trembled and a heavenly voice exclaimed, “Who revealed this secret to my children?” Yonatan ben Uziel stood up and said it was he, and that he had not done so for any personal honor. He only wanted to decrease acrimonious dispute among the Jewish people. It is necessary to understand what is the great secret that Yonatan ben Uziel revealed to us?!

HaRav Kook explains that the Jewish nation has a “body and soul” just like a human being. The “body” refers to the necessities of being like any other nation with a language, flag, culture, stable economy, national security, etc. This is the objective of Zionism. However, the body cannot exist without the soul. This is the unique nature of the Jewish people that reposes in its Torah. This construct finds a parallel in the contrast between Yehuda and Yosef. Yosef supports his family during the famine and knows all seventy languages – indicative of his equality with the nations of the world. Yehuda represents the uniqueness of the Jewish people.

During the period of the First Temple this objective was not achieved. The Kingdom of Yehuda and the Kingdom of Ephraimseparated and even fought between them. The Northern Kingdom rapidly disintegrated into idolatry because it did not have proper spiritual guidance, “Ephraim mixes with the nations…” (Hoshe’a 7,8).The spiritual power of Yehuda was also weakened due to the lack of physical support, and, he too, went after Israel, “Judah also stumbles with them” (Hoshe’a 5,5).

As such, the Midrash says that G-d called to Yeravam ben Navat, King of Israel to repent and that he and Ben Yishai would walk together in the Garden of Eden. Nevertheless, Yeravam refuses when he hears that Ben Yishai would be at the head. Yonatan ben Uziel corrected this mistake by revealing “the secret” in order to decrease argumentation among the Jewish people. Achavrepresents love for the nation of Israel. He builds a new city in the land of Israel and remains till the end of the battle in spite of his being wounded so that the army would not lose and flee. However, he does not recognize the uniqueness of the Jewish nation, and therefore he turns to “other gods”. Yoshiahu does recognize this spiritual individuality, perhaps, too much. He does not heed the words of Yirmiyahu to allow the warring nations to pass through the land. He is killed in the Megiddo Valley by Pharaoh.

Zechariacalls to the Jewish people upon their return to the Land not to repeat these mistakes! There are two leaders and each one is responsible for his sector. They must remember that each one reinforces the work of the other. “Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jehozadak. Tell him this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the LORD . It is he who will build the temple of the LORD , and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two” (Zecharya 6). According to Sanhedrin 38a Zerubavel is Nechemia who was responsible for the rebuilding of the walls of the Beit HaMikdash and their protection. He was an officer of Yehuda and succeeded in alleviating the economic burden of the people, he “blossomed”! The Navi exhorts Zerubavel that he should never forget, “’Not by might and not by power (shall one succeed), but by My spirit,’ says G-d…” The King must acknowledge that “Ben Yishai” should lead!

Our tradition teaches us that there will be two Messiahs, Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David – each one strengthening the other. Zecharia describes a situation (based on the first source quoted by HaRav Kook) that, in spite of the salvation, Mashiach ben Yosef will die. HaRav Kook explains that the verse compares this to young parents who do not yet know how to raise children, and, as such, make mistakes that cause the death of their first born son.

The Jewish people have returned to their land after two thousand years of exile without the knowledge of how to “conduct affairs of state”. “The eulogy of Yerushayim” is that we do not know how to integrate the two dimensions represtented by Achav andYoshiahu. We, as Orthodox Jews, have the responsibility to strengthen the hands of our brothers and sisters in the Land of Israel – to increase belief and holiness in order to guarantee that “Mashiach ben Yosef” will not die, Chas Veshalom . Those two olive trees that provide oil for the Menora represent the institutions of priesthood and kingship that are consecrated with the anointing oil. They stand together with the Menora which represents the spiritual confluence that permeates the world and illuminates it through Am Yisrael when it dwells in its Land and keeps the mitzvot of G-d!