Rabbi Weissman – More Erev Rav Corruption

Erev Rav Yosef corrupts the Torah again, and more establishment lies

October 7: 1,500 rockets fired within the first 20 minutes

But they were too surprised to respond for 8 hours. 

It's absurd even at face value that a year later they suddenly discover how many rockets were fired.  The fact that they expect people to believe this nonsense shows how dumb and brainwashed they think people are, and how little those who aren't will do.  And they're right.

*   *   *

And then there's this:

"Videos and images shared by the Israel Fire and Rescue Authority on Telegram show large plumes of smoke billowing into the air over an open field, and shattered glass inside a train station in Modi’in, a city between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem."

Don't ask how a missile that landed in an open field outside Tel Aviv shattered glass in a train station in Modiin.  You're not allowed to ask questions, the burden of proof is always on you, no information you share will ever qualify as evidence, but the word of the regime alone IS evidence.

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Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef: 'To rabbi who opposes hostage deal, think like it was your child'

In other words, rabbis should change their honest assessment of halacha based on imagining that they were compromised by a personal vested interest, and then rule according to the personal vested interest.  If you're not corrupted by bribes, biases, and personal interests, corrupt yourself.

This is consistent with Yosef's history of halachic rulings.  His words have no greater authority than those of a Reform pastor.

It should also be noted that Yosef ruled that people should take the poison shots in order to protect others — sacrifice your life for the “public good” — and now he is ruling in favor of the public sacrificing their lives in favor of the interests of individuals.  Make it make sense.

For more on Yosef and the Chief Erev Rav, see Chief Rabbi of Israel: The Quintessence of Controlled Opposition.

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3 women arrested after placing hostage flyers at synagogue where Likud MK prays

Bring Them Home Now is a psy-op, but the people involved in this incident are just useful idiots, so leave that aside.

The controlled media is framing this incident as a political arrest, yet another manufactured left/right issue to divide the people.  The truth is that they were arrested — in far less time than it took the IDF to respond on October 7 — because they got too close to someone from the ruling class and disturbed him. 

The police are a private security force whose responsibility is to protect the ruling class from the peasants.  That's all this was about.

Everything you read in the media is lies and spin.  So turn off the media.

__________________________

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Rabbi Glatstein: The Secret of the Number of Pesukim at the End of the Torah

Torah Down Under: Melbourne

Some Down Country News

ALABAMA resident "IT IS HAPPENING HERE TOO!" This is SERIOUS..

 

Springfield Ohio Preacher "It's Worse than the media says"

Eli Katzof: Reporters notebook: Embeded in Gaza

Soldiers in a volatile region.. Gaza 

My perspective Very recently, I had the rare opportunity to embed with the 8119 Reserve Battalion inside the Gaza Strip. Right on the front lines of this war. Unlike the usual press tours, where journalists meet with top generals, I wanted to experience the reality on the ground. My goal was to understand what it truly feels like to be a soldier in one of the most volatile areas of the ongoing conflict with Israel. And something I should mention is that while following this Battalion, I was not with an IDF spokesperson or anything even remotely similar. This was truly just with a bunch of reservist soldiers on the ground in a war zone.    

What struck me the most was the claustrophobic nature of their day-to-day life. These soldiers spend much of their time in small, dark spaces, often underground in tunnels, as they navigate the complex battlefield against Hamas. I produced two versions of the video from this trip: one offers my personal perspective, with commentary on the emotions and challenges I faced, while the other is a more straightforward documentary for *The Times of Israel*, focusing on the facts without personal reflection. Both versions use similar footage but tell the story in slightly different ways, offering a glimpse into the grueling reality these soldiers endure

In this version, my commentary helps to add a bit of context and emotion to the experience. If you want a deeper understanding of the feelings of what it means to embed with this unit, this version is worth looking at.

https://www.elikatzoff.com/

**************

NOTES ON UT CHANNEL:

In this short news documentary, I follow a brigade of soldiers on the front lines within the Gaza Strip, offering an unfiltered look into the intense and precarious nature of life in a war zone. Through candid footage and personal interviews, I aim to capture the emotional and physical toll the conflict takes on these soldiers as they navigate daily survival, constant threat, and the camaraderie that sustains them. The short documentary reveals what it truly feels like to live and fight in one of the world’s most volatile regions. * Revision Note: At about 22 seconds I meant to say that Tel Aviv is the largest metropolitan area in Israel. Unfortunately I cannot correct on YT without breaking the link. Apologies.

The Messiah will be Groomed in Arabia

Rabbi Daniel Glatstein

"When Hashem commanded Moshe to write….."

 ‘When Hashem commanded Moshe to write the parsha of the ‘wayward and rebellious son’ and his fate, in the Torah, Moshe understood that there is no such eventuality in the world, as what father would bring his son to the Bet Din, for him to be killed.

‘He therefore perceived that the whole parsha of the ‘wayward and rebellious son’, was an allusion to Israel who are ‘sons to Hashem, and, as they are destined to transgress, Hashem will judge them by the judgement of ‘the wayward and rebellious son’.

‘Moshe, therefore, asked Hashem not to write the parsha in the Torah; at that time, Hashem directed the Angel of the Torah, to reveal to Moshe, how to expound the psukim for the benefit of Israel.

‘If a man will have’:this alludes to Hakadosh-Baruch-Hu, who is called ‘man’: 

Hashem is a MAN of war’; 

‘a son’: Israel who are called ‘sons to Hashem’; 

‘who is wayward and rebellious’: who has strayed from the laws of Hashem; 

‘who does not hearken to the voice of his father and the voice of his mother’: the voice of Hashem, our father, and the voice of the shechina, ‘the mother of the clal Israel;

’and they discipline him’: he is rebuked by the Prophets, with words of mussar; 

‘but he does not hearken to them’:and persisted in his bad ways; 

‘then his father and mother shall grasp him’: Hashem and the shechina;

’and take him to the elders of the city and the gate of his place’: to be judged before the Heavenly Bet Din.

‘They shall say to the elders of his city:This son of ours is wayward and rebellious; he does not hearken to our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard’:

these words are intended to teach zechut for Israel, as what caused them to be ‘wayward and rebellious’,

 is being in galut, amongst the nations that chase the delights of gluttony, and thereby cause Israel to learn from their ways.

‘Therefore, the Torah writes:’’And the men of his city shall pelt him with stones, and he shall die’: meaning: instead of Hashem pouring His wrath on Israel, He pours it on Jerusalem and the Bet Hamikdash, and ‘all the men of his city’: the populace amongst whom Israel are in galut, ‘Will pelt him with stones’: Alluding to Jerusalem, and the stones by which they brought down the walls, and destroyed the Temple, and this will be deemed as if Israel were killed, ‘and you shall remove the evil from your midst; and all of Israel shall hear and they shall fear’.

‘When Moshe heard this exposition from the Angel, he agreed to the parsha being written in the Torah.’

From Parshas Ki Tetse of Reb Daniel Ginsbourg

Down Under in Melbourne with Rabbi Glatstein

Davar Yafeh B'ito - Connecting Parshas Ki Seitzei With the Zman Hashana

What Was Food Like In Biblical Times? - Mysteries Of The Bible Unlocked - Biblical Food

 I have been wonder8ng about this very subject. 8n all the books I have been reading over the 🥵 summer, the most I’ve gathered are barley bread (pita type slapped on the inside of ovens), wheat and solet, lentil stew/porridge, a type of cheese, olive oil, wine, dates, figs, rimonim. And of course everyone carried a water pouch. So I was happy to find this.

Rabbi Weissman – Unrepentant Judenrat and Useful Idiots

This was posted on a Beit Shemesh group.  The enemy regime that rules our land supplies electricity, food, money, concrete, and — let's be frank — weapons and ammunition to Gaza, but Jews enslaved by the IDF, sent into death traps to be maimed and killed, need citizens who are taxed to the bone to donate cold food.   

If you still think this is a "milchemes mitzva", that joining the IDF and otherwise serving the state is some sort of religious imperative, that we are still not allowed to ask questions, and that this "war" has anything to do with benefiting the Jewish people, you share in the responsibility for all those who are maimed and killed, and you help enable the next October 7.

No, feeding these slave soldiers is not a mitzvah.  Feeding them only enables their continued enslavement before they are sent to be maimed and killed for nothing.  Let them starve, get disgusted, and leave.

Would we make a barbecue for Jews and dance with them to boost their morale before they willingly go to Auschwitz, or would we better support them by bursting their bubble about what's really going on and perhaps discourage them from willingly going to Auschwitz?    

You really want to support the soldiers?  Save them from getting maimed and killed for nothing, or prosecuted if they fight too successfully without getting maimed and killed for nothing.

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Who's really firing rockets on the people of Israel?

The same people who let thousands of Jews get massacred on October 7, poisoned the population, and conducted medical experiments on children, fired upwards of 30 Iron Dome rockets at Tzfat and claimed it was actually Iron Dome intercepting Hezbollah rockets. Do you trust them?

Naturally, they provided no video evidence of this, but they did provide video of what they claimed was a retaliatory strike in Syria. Funny how they have video of one but not the other. Attached is a citizen's video of the Iron Dome rockets being fired over Tzfat, which generated fear, started fires, and potentially could have injured and killed more Jews from within.

See the attached video, read the official state media narrative here, and think for yourself what's really going on.

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Shmuel Sackett is one of those "religious Zionist" aliya cheerleaders who mouths off about being tough on our Arab enemies and conquering the land far and wide, but fundamentally worships the Erev Rav state no matter what evil they perpetrate on the Jewish people. The State of Israel is their golden calf.

Pretty much all the "religious Zionist" cheerleaders, they pushed the covid tyranny and poison shots with religious cultish zeal.  Sackett doubled down on that in a conversation with our friend, Rafi Farber (see here).  

The October 7 state narrative never made sense.  On October 8 I shared a wealth of factual information and witness testimony demonstrating this.  On October 9 someone forwarded this to Shmuel Sackett.  He replied as follows in a group email:

"This is NOT the time for these emails!

The nation needs to be strong and you are causing people to be weak and lose faith. May HaShem curse all people who send these emails and weaken the Nation of Israel! Yes, there are many questions that need to be answered but NOT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stop this immediately.

-Shmuel"

The next day he published an article on Arutz Sheva and in the Jewish Press declaring that now is "not the time for questions" (see here).  It's not a particularly thoughtful piece, but tough-talking war-mongers are not known for their sophistication of thought.  They are one-trick ponies.

It is now almost a year later.  More Jews have been maimed and killed in Gaza since then than in the Yom Kippur War and the Six-Day War, with nothing tangible to show for it aside from state propaganda.  I emailed Shmuel Sackett and he replied as follows:

"I remain committed to what I said." 

That was it.

I replied:

On what basis?  When and under what conditions are the peasants allowed to ask questions of their overlords?  Who gets to decide?  How many more Jews have to be slaughtered in the Gaza meat grinder under orders from traitors until we are allowed to question them?

 

You share in the guilt.

We exchanged a few emails in which he went off on tangents and tried to make a hypocrite out of me for paying taxes and walking streets built by Israel, but made no effort to explain why he doubled down on his position a year later.  Finally, I wrote him as follows:

You voluntarily and proudly ordered Jews not to ask questions and rush into death traps by traitors who enabled and orchestrated the October 7 massacre.  Only cultists and Communists order people to rush into death traps without the right to ask questions.  It's a year later, and more IDF soldiers have been maimed and killed in little Gaza than in the Yom Kippur War...with absolutely nothing gained. Which was the point all along.  You share responsibility for that. I don't care how many times you were arrested.  You betrayed the Jewish people.  And you have no defense for yourself.

Your virtue signaling about having been arrested and put on trial in the past only highlights your Stockholm Syndrome in playing the useful idiot now.  Aside from the fact that you're barely coherent.

Suddenly he went mute.

I gave him one more chance to validate his position:

Just like the people who enabled and orchestrated the October 7 massacre must be held accountable, you must be accountable for the consequences of your actions as a public influencer. 

You have a responsibility to either publicly retract your inexcusable demand that people not ask questions and do teshuva for assisting in the maiming and slaughter of thousands of our finest people for absolutely nothing as a result, or to publicly reiterate your demand that people continue to not ask questions in spite of it all and attempt to justify it. 

Your choice.

I will share your response.  What will it be?

The tough-talking war-monger who never backs down from a confrontation remained mute.  He insists that we STILL don't have the right to ask questions, but he himself will not take questions about that position.  Don't ask questions, and don't ask questions about being prohibited to ask questions.

It is high time we stopped covering for Judenrat and useful idiots in our midst who push cultism, statism, Stockholm Syndrome, and idolatrous attachments to evil.  They have caused and continue to cause tremendous damage to the Jewish people, even if they are confused and their hearts are in the right place. 

It is time to call them out and hold them accountable.  And this is something ALL of us need to do.  Including you.

__________________________

chananyaweissman.com/

rumble.com/c/c-782463

Buy my books on Amazon here or contact me to purchase in Israel.

Download Tovim Ha-Shenayim as a PDF for free!

If you received this from someone else and want to receive future articles directly, please send a request to endthemadness@gmail.com.

*   *   *

If the government can kidnap and imprison people without evidence, why should we need evidence to disprove their every lie?

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Amalek prevails upon the masses to believe it's intellectual, enlightened, and avant-garde to challenge longstanding conventions and champion far-out ideas (such as atheism, evolution, gender bending, WEF offering of the day), while also prevailing upon the masses to mock and curse those who go against the “conventional” position and challenge THEIR sacred cows.

Ever noticed that?

*   *   * 

A blast from the past.

Saving the Pecan Orchards

Rabbi Sinclair – This is a true story whose facts have been verified independently. Just two weeks ago during the last week of bein hazmanim…..

 

Rebbetzen Tziporah – The Real War

 Dear friends,

How are you managing with the war? For a change, I don’t mean the war against the Hamas in Gaza. I mean the war that the parshah hints at. The narrative of the parsha’s beginning tells about a tragic situation. 

A man is at war. He finds himself attracted to a beautiful woman, and the Torah isn’t going to tell him to “just say no” – it says that he can have her, but he must take her home, let her mourn her distance from her entire world – her parents, her belief system that we assume to be idolatrous. 

She has to grow her nails (which in that era was seen as unkempt), cut off her hair, and remove the exotic clothing. After the initial time, she is offered the opportunity to either convert or to be returned to the country from which she came.

This narrative tells you about how the Torah addresses itself to real people who are caught up in real situations where they can't bridge the gap between the part that demands immediate gratification and the part of him that wants decency. Still, you may be left wondering why the eternal Torah sees this very particularized response to a situation that the vast majority of Jews in exile will never face as being one that we all must study. 

Ohr HaChaim provides two glimpses into what is happening below the surface. The two “characters in the play”, the soldier and the woman he takes back to a land that is foreign to her in every sense of the world teach you two very different but relevant messages.

THE WOMAN

Even before the world began its entrance to reality, Hashem created the souls of the future Jews. As time moved on, He chose to put some of these pre-destined Jewish souls into non-Jewish bodies. That means some people will never feel totally comfortable in their own skin. This spiritual restlessness can take him in various directions. An example of that was Senator Daniel K. Inyoue. 

He was a native of Hawaii, and until the moment Hashem led him in a direction he had never imagined, he had never met a Jew. In the course of a long hospitalization as a consequence of a serious injury he suffered as a member of the American forces in WW2, he ended up in the hospital for a long time. He had never met a Jew, but he heard plenty about us. The Jews are crooked, clannish, cheap, etc. 

This caricature didn’t match the Jewish doctors he met in the hospital. He did the serious reading that a serious seeker would make in that circumstance, and ultimately considered conversion. He didn’t take that step – he couldn’t bring himself to face what that would do to his family. He did, however, resolve to keep the 7 Noachide laws, to serve Hashem in whatever way he could, and to be of service to His people whenever possible. 

Years passed, and he ended up in a high-profile position in the American senate. He kept his word. Making a long story short, he is the one who midwifed the foreign aid that made the Neve campus possible.

Hashem was the shadchan between him and the Jewish doctors in Honolulu. 

The woman in the Torah’s narrative also was introduced to Him and His Torah. It didn’t come about by means she had chosen. It was chosen for her. Her tragedy ended up being the source of her soul finally breaking out of its prison.

WHAT DOES HER LIFE HAVE IN COMMON WITH YOUR LIFE?

The queen of Sheba asked Shlomo HaMelech “Now that Hashem finished the act of creating the universe, what does He do all day?” The wisest of men answered, “He makes shidduchim”. She replied anyone could do that, and arranged a large number of her male servants to marry her female slaves. 

The next morning, hatzalah would have had their hands busy (if they only existed at the time…). There were acts of violence and heavy doses of unbridled fury. Taking the story to a deeper place, Hashem is always making shidduchim, between you and your life circumstances. You are “introduced” to His world via your birth parents, and move on via the shidduch between you and your potentials and your environment these shidduchim (unlike the ones made by the Queen of Sheba) are done for your benefit. 

You won’t see the shidduch as it comes into fruition (could Inouye had known when he was wounded where this would take him in his life?). What that tells you is that you can learn to notice the shidduch and to question where it can lead. The 13 attributes of mercy are descriptions of what Hashem’s motivation in his hashgachic interactions with His world really are. 

He is always there, past present and future, which is what the first middah tells you – He is eternally compassionate. The second middah, which is also alluded to by the second invocation of His name is to tell you something very deep. Hashem never changes. He is compassionate even after we sin, He is still the One who Is Was and Will be full of outpouring mercy. All the shiduchim are means by which He gives you the key to making maximum use of each individual second of your life.

THE MAN

Is fighting what the Torah defines as a “millchemet reshut” a war that it’s not mandated as an obligation according to the Torah. A mandatory war is one fought for the taking Eretz Yisrael or defending it. An optional war can be, for instance, a pre-emptive war. Why fight a war you don’t have to? This narrative talks to you about the war of you against you, which is fought in the world of dealing with things that are permitted. 

Ramban teaches that the mitzvah of “Be Holy” means even when you deal with the coarser issues of life, don’t be a glutton on kosher food or a drunkard on kosher wine. And now (drum role), he says, “Don’t drown in materialism.” This is not a commandment given to make you feel choked. It is to free you to discover other kinds of happiness. 

The woman in the story is a symbol of the yetzer hara, who is accessible, exotic, and somehow different the “ordinary” women. What is the remedy? De-glamorize it (get rid of the exotic clothing) strip your heart of imagery that translates into never facing the limiting and somewhat false image of you trapped by rigid system, forgetting that the One who made this system loves and knows you better than you will ever know or love yourself. 

You may have a moment of truth hundreds of times throughout your life. The soldier is told “Bring her home” – take your yetzer hara to shul for a shiur, take it to your kitchen when you are saying a brachah on challah. Make it part of what you are doing in your stay on the planet.

If you can touch the part of you that knows Hashem’s rachamim when you feel overwhelmed by His mitzvot, it will give you the strength to make good choices.

Love,

Tziporah

Eliezer Meir Saidel: Off Balance – Ki Teitzei

 

Off Balance – Ki Teitzei

זָכוֹר אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לְךָ עֲמָלֵק בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּצֵאתְכֶם מִמִּצְרָיִם (דברים כה,יז).

 

Parshat Ki Teitzei contains more mitzvot than any other (single) parsha in the Torah, 74 in total. One of these mitzvot appears at the end of the parsha - the mitzva to remember what Amalek did to us and to wipe out the memory of Amalek.

 

In previous shiurim (Vayishlach 2021 and Va'etchanan 2024) we discussed the origins and defining characteristics of Amalek in great depth. What I would like to do in this shiur, is to explore the precursor to Amalek, the trigger that causes Amalek to rear his ugly head in the world.

 

There is a machloket in the Gemara (Brachot 10a, Yevamot 4a) and in the Midrash (מדרש ההלכה, במדבר פיסקא קלא) whether it is an acceptable practice לִדְרֹשׁ סְמּוּכִין, or not. In other words, can one infer a principle based on the proximity of two paragraphs in the Torah? For example, in parshat Emor, the paragraph of the מְקַלֵּל immediately follows the paragraph describing the Lechem HaPanim. Is the fact that these two paragraphs are adjacent of any significance or not?

 As stated above, this is a machloket between R' Akiva and R' Yehuda. According to R' Akiva we do use the tool of דּוֹרְשִׁים סְמּוּכִין to infer principles and halachot. According to R' Yehuda we do not. The third opinion, R' Yosef, says that although R' Akiva and R' Yehuda disagree whether you are allowed to use דּוֹרְשִׁים סְמּוּכִין in the other books of the Torah, in sefer Devarim, they both agree that this tool is permissible.

 

If so, let us examine the paragraph immediately preceding Amalek in our parsha.

 

לֹא יִהְיֶה לְךָ בְּכִיסְךָ אֶבֶן וָאָבֶן גְּדוֹלָה וּקְטַנָּה. לֹא יִהְיֶה לְךָ בְּבֵיתְךָ אֵיפָה וְאֵיפָה גְּדוֹלָה וּקְטַנָּה. אֶבֶן שְׁלֵמָה וָצֶדֶק יִהְיֶה לָּךְ אֵיפָה שְׁלֵמָה וָצֶדֶק יִהְיֶה לָּךְ לְמַעַן יַאֲרִיכוּ יָמֶיךָ עַל הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר ה' אֱ-לֹקֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ כִּי תוֹעֲבַת ה' אֱ-לֹקֶיךָ כָּל עֹשֵׂה אֵלֶּה כֹּל עֹשֵׂה עָוֶל (דברים כה-טז).

 

This paragraph discusses the subject of "just measurements". You shall not have in your "pocket" two stones, one with the true weight and the other with a false weight. You shall not have in your home two different "eifa" measures (a measure of volume, much like a measuring cup for baking), one with the true volume and another with a false volume. Instead, you should have one complete and true stone and one complete and true eifa measure.

 

On the surface, the level of the pshat, it appears that this sugya is talking about integrity and honesty in commerce. According to the Kli Yakar (ibid.) one should not have two different "stones" (weights, used for weighing goods), one with the true weight (which is used when the person purchases goods for himself – to make sure he is given the correct amount), and the other with a smaller (false) weight (which he uses when selling goods, to give his customer less than the true weight, so that he can save money). Similarly, one should not have two different size measuring cups (used for measuring goods using volume, not weight), for the same purpose.

 

From the pshat of these psukkim it seems that they are addressing people who buy and sell goods, like shopkeepers, that they should be honest in their business dealings and not shortchange and swindle the customer by giving them less that is actually owed. For example, the packaging says 1kg, but in reality only contains 920g.   

 

If that were the case, the two psukkim should be combined, the weights (אֶבֶן) and the volumes (אֵיפָה) and the single passuk should be לֹא יִהְיֶה לְךָ בְּעִסְקְךָ אֶבֶן וָאָבֶן, אֵיפָה וְאֵיפָה גְּדוֹלָה וּקְטַנָּה. Instead, the two psukkim are separated and the location given for the weights is בְּכִיסְךָ, while the location for the volume measure is בְּבֵיתְךָ, and the question is why?

 

Sefer Meir Panim (פרק טו, ע' קסד) brings the principle that Chava "picked" 1 eifa measure of "fruit" from the עֵץ הַדַּעַת (which was wheat), which she ground into 1 isaron of solet and made from that a chametz bread. One bread she ate herself and the second, she later gave to Adam to eat. This is what, sefer Meir Panim says, the passuk means לֹא יִהְיֶה לְךָ בְּבֵיתְךָ אֵיפָה וְאֵיפָה. See also the shiur on Kedoshim 2024.

 

In this shiur I would like to explore a different, but connected, perush to these psukkim and explain the link between them and Amalek.

 

The Gemara (Brachot 28a) describes how Rabban Gamliel posted a "guard" at the entrance to his Bet Midrash that would only allow the talmid in, if תּוֹכוֹ כְּבָרוֹ, his "inside" was like his "outside". This guard had a special "sense" that enabled him to detect if the talmid entering was pretending to be someone different to who he really was, i.e. putting on a façade for the outside world, while in his heart he was something else.

 

The Kli Yakar (עוללות אפרים קמ"ב) says that this is why the Luchot were transparent, that it did not matter from which angle you looked at them, you could read what was written on them, to teach us that we should also be "transparent", that our "inside" should match our "outside".

 

Why does the passuk above use the word בְּכִיסְךָ, your "pocket" - לֹא יִהְיֶה לְךָ בְּכִיסְךָ אֶבֶן וָאָבֶן? The word כִיסְךָ is not alluding to the pocket in your pants or jacket, but to something much deeper - it is referring to your mouth and your heart. The gematria of בְּכִיסְךָ is "בְּפִיךָ" and also "בִּלְבָבְךָ בִּלְבָבְךָ", (twice the word בִּלְבָבְךָ), as it says in the passuk referring to the Torah ... בְּפִיךָ וּבִלְבָבְךָ לַעֲשֹׂתוֹ (דברים ל, יד). What comes out of our mouth usually originates first in our heart.

 

(Incidentally, the gematria of בְּכִיסְךָ is also "אֶבֶן וָאָבֶן". What are the statistical chances of that? Zero. Just another wondrous illustration that the Torah is not written by man, all of Tanach is encoded in a Divine code with myriad interconnections).

 

The Torah is teaching us that one should not have two "stones" in our heart (or two hearts). The gematria of אֶבֶן is "הוֹגֶה בַּלֵּב", a thought process in your heart. A person should not have two conflicting thought processes in their heart, which is then externalized in speech, through the mouth. Instead, a person should have only one, integral thought process in their hearts and mouth אֶבֶן שְׁלֵמָה וָצֶדֶק יִהְיֶה לָּךְ.

 

The following passuk is referring to a similar principle, except this time, it is not בְּכִיסְךָ – in your heart and mouth, but בְּבֵיתְךָ - in your home. The gematria of אֵיפָה is "אֶבֶן הָאָזֶל" and "פִּיו", a direct link to the preceding passuk. An אֶבֶן הָאָזֶל is a "signpost" (שמואל א, כ, יט) that points you in a certain direction.

 

The Torah is teaching us, do not have conflicting "signposts" in your home, or conflicting things coming out of your mouth. If you want to educate your children correctly, the signposts in your home need to all be pointing in the same direction, the parents cannot have conflicting "signposts", standards, as this is transmitted to the children as confusion and lack of clarity. 

If you want to educate your children correctly, whatever comes out of your mouth must apply equally to you. You cannot educate children with "do as I say, not as I do". You cannot say to your child "Stop eating junk food, it is bad for you", but during lunch break at work, you pile into a Big Mac. The gematria of אֵיפָה is "בְּחִנּוּךְ".

 

HKB"H wants each and every one of us to be like the Luchot, totally transparent and consistent, within and without. He wants our homes to be the same and by extension, the entire Am Yisrael. If we are like that, as individuals and as a nation, we will live long lives in the land He promised us. HKB"H despises lack of parity in Am Yisrael, כִּי תוֹעֲבַת ה' אֱ-לֹקֶיךָ כָּל עֹשֵׂה אֵלֶּה כֹּל עֹשֵׂה עָוֶל, when there is אֶחָד בַּפֶּה וְאֶחָד בַּלֵּב, pretense.

 

Immediately following this is the paragraph about Amalek. In other words, as a result of lack of parity in Am Yisrael, Amalek rears his ugly head, it is a cause and effect.

 

Let us now examine the previous time Amalek is mentioned, in parshat Beshalach. The passuk says וַיִּקְרָא שֵׁם הַמָּקוֹם מַסָּה וּמְרִיבָה עַל רִיב בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְעַל נַסֹּתָם אֶת ה' לֵאמֹר הֲיֵשׁ ה' בְּקִרְבֵּנוּ אִם אָיִן (שמות יז, ז). Immediately following that וַיָּבֹא עֲמָלֵק וַיִּלָּחֶם עִם יִשְׂרָאֵל בִּרְפִידִם (שם, ח).

 

When Am Yisrael reached Refidim, there was no water to drink, so Am Yisrael complained to Moshe, "Give us water to drink! Why did you take us out of Egypt, to die of thirst in the Midbar?"

 

Why is that not a legitimate claim? Am Yisrael were thirsty, is it not legitimate to ask for water? A person cannot survive more than a day or two without water! The Or HaChaim (ibid.) says the claim was illegitimate, because they were asking Moshe for water, instead of asking HKB"H directly. Did Moshe have extra water reserves in his tent that he could give the entire Am Yisrael to drink? But, no! וַיָּרֶב הָעָם עִם מֹשֶׁה they placed the blame on Moshe – אַתָּה אָשֵׁם!

 

 What did Am Yisrael say? הֲיֵשׁ ה' בְּקִרְבֵּנוּ אִם אָיִן. That could mean a number of things.

 

It could mean that all of Am Yisrael were doubting whether or not HKB"H was watching over them or not.

 

It could mean that only part of Am Yisrael doubted whether HKB"H is watching over us, while the other part believed that HKB"H is watching over us. (The Malbim makes a distinction who complained - the 70 elders did not complain, it was only the remainder of Am Yisrael).

 

It could mean that part of Am Yisrael believed that HK"BH's Shechina resided within them, while another part questioned HKB"H's very existence!

 

It could mean that part of Am Yisrael believed that HKB"H's Shechina resided in their part, but not in the other part of Am Yisrael.

 

This disparity resulted in Amalek – cause and effect.

 

When we understand this principle, it should cause chills to run up and down our spines. This shocking principle is a 1:1 reflection of what happened to Am Yisrael on the 7^th of October.

 

Prior to October 7^th there was (and still is) a very vocal and powerful minority in Israel who were saying one thing with their mouths but their hearts harbor something else entirely. This minority, sensing a threat to their hegemony, began a campaign of delegitimization of the democratically elected government, headed by Bibi Netanyahu. In their hearts the thought process was (and is) – "We have to retain control, no matter what, no matter how many red lines we cross".

 

However, that is not what came out of their mouths. The slogans that issued forth were רַק לֹא בִּיבִּי, there is nothing that Bibi can ever possibly do that is right – he is rotten and evil to the core and must be removed. But that in itself is a lie, because it is not just Bibi. It is also Smotrich and Ben Gvir. 

But that too is a lie, because it is not just Smotrich and Ben Gvir, it is also everyone who voted for them, in other words the majority vote of the citizens of Israel. When this hegemonic minority are delegitimizing Bibi, Smotrich, Ben Gvir, the Charedim etc., they are in fact delegitimizing the democratic majority in Israel. 

They chant slogans like "We are protecting democracy!" when in fact there is no red line that they will not cross to trample democracy. To them democracy and the rules of democracy are only relevant as long as they are in power. If they are not in power, the rules go out the window. That is "protecting" democracy? They call the right wing "messianic", when it is their very "messianic" philosophy of "peace at all costs" that has brought us to this debacle.

 

This is a perfect, vivid example of לֹא יִהְיֶה לְךָ בְּכִיסְךָ אֶבֶן וָאָבֶן.

 

This hegemonic, non-democratic minority (none of its institutions are democratic in any way – the justice system, academia, the higher echelons of the military, the economic sector) have a dual set of standards – one for themselves, the left wing and another for the opposing faction of citizens of Israel, the right wing. 

They have two different sets of standards in the courts for the left wing and right wing. They have two sets of standards for how the police handle left and right demonstrators. They have two sets of standards for left wing youngsters who seek exemption from military service and for Charedi youngsters who do the same.

 

This is a perfect vivid example of לֹא יִהְיֶה לְךָ בְּבֵיתְךָ אֵיפָה וְאֵיפָה.

 

Prior to (and following) October 7^th Israel is experiencing a persistent malady of הֲיֵשׁ ה' בְּקִרְבֵּנוּ אִם אָיִן.

 

Part of Am Yisrael believes in HKB"H and that He watches over us, while another part believes that HKB"H cares nothing about us (He allowed 6 million of us to die in the Holocaust).

 

Part of Am Yisrael (some factions of Charedim) believe that HKB"H's Shechina resides only in them and not in any other part of Am Yisrael. To such an extent they are prepared to demonstrate together with Hamas on the streets of New York and to meet with leaders of Iran. Yet other Charedi factions try to delegitimize Dati Leumi candidates for the position of the Chief Rabbi of Israel.

 

Part of Am Yisrael believe that HKB"H does not exist at all and that any exhibition of Judaism must be erased from the public arena – no public tefilot in Tel Aviv on Yom Kippur, no religious expression in the IDF, etc. Their "woke" counterparts overseas have no qualms joining pro Hamas demonstrations in the street and on university campuses. Just like Am Yisrael in Refidim complained against Moshe, so too do they chant incessantly against Bibi – הוּא אָשֵׁם.

 

Precisely everything that HKB"H despises - כִּי תוֹעֲבַת ה' אֱ-לֹקֶיךָ כָּל עֹשֵׂה אֵלֶּה כֹּל עֹשֵׂה עָוֶל.

 

It is a simple cause and effect. If this is the state of Am Yisrael, then Amalek rears his ugly head, which he has, in full force, on multiple fronts. HKB"H warned us of this in the Torah and Am Yisrael did not heed the warning.

 

Am Yisrael should have woken up after October 7^th, instead all the different factions had a brief, temporary flicker of awakening, but soon after reverted back to their previous ways.

 

Am Yisrael is in a mess. And there seems to be no way out of the mess.

 

Those of us who believe in HKB"H and want things to change for the better, need to begin doing one thing and one thing only. We need to pour our hearts out to HKB"H and say "Ribono Shel Olam, this is beyond us, we cannot fix this rift in Am Yisrael, only You can".

 

There are things that only HKB"H can do, but there are also things that only we can do. One of these things is the war on Amalek. We cannot rely on HKB"H to do this for us. HKB"H gave this task to us to perform (in our parsha). The more we persist and continue doing this task, the closer the solution will be.

 

Interestingly enough we have the same phenomenon occurring in Edom. You have one candidate for president who has one thing in her heart and another coming out of her mouth. You have the second candidate who is WYSIWYG, "what you see is what you get", totally transparent – for better or for worse. 

Neither is such a "groyse metsie", but Jews in Israel (and in the USA) better daven that HKB"H has mercy on us and that the latter gets in. קמלה means "wither and disappear" (ישעיהו יט, ו), b"H.

 

 As we approach Yom HaDin, we need to repeat over and over, multiple times a day in all our tefilot - אֵין לָנוּ עַל מִי לְהִשָּׁעֵן אֶלָּא עַל אָבִינוּ שֶׁבַּשָּׁמַיִם and beg HKB"H to send a wave of דַּעַת ה' to wash over our nation and bring about reconciliation and achdut and help us to triumph over our enemies.

 

Shabbat Shalom

Eliezer Meir Saidel

Machon Lechem Hapanim

www.machonlechemhapanim.org