A New Year Message From Rav Ginsburgh

A Message for the New Year 5773

On Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new Year, we traditionally eat foods whose names carry a positive symbolic connotation. Just as we taste foods as positive symbols at the festive table on Rosh Hashanah, so we can find good signs in the year’s number too. As Rosh Hashanah 5773 (ה' תשע"ג) approaches, let’s take a look at the good signs that this year’s number reveals to us.

Fָirstly, 773 (תשע"ג) is the numerical value of the phrase, “Open my eyes and i will see wonders [of Your torah]," Psalms119:18).

Moreover,the initial letters of just the first two words in this phrase

(גלֵעיַניְוַאִּביָטהִנְפָלאֹות]ִמּתֹוָרֶתך)

( “Open my eyes,” (ֵעי ַני ַּגל )

equal 73, thus the sign of the initial letters of the new year 5773 can be interpreted as “May it be a year of Gal Einai” (ֵעי ַני ַּגל ְׁש ַנת ְּת ֵהא ).

We join in King David’s prayer that God will open our eyes to see wonders, both the wonders of the Torah by revealing its most profound secrets, and miraculous wonders with every step that we take by power of the Torah.

The plural “wonders” refers to two types of wonder within God’s wisdom imbued in the Torah. The first is that the Almighty’s own supernal pleasure manifests as the Torah’s wisdom. Pleasure is the most ethereal super- conscious sense of the soul, yet it hiddenly motivates all the soul’s conscious powers. The Creator’s pleasure, as it were, is the motivating force behind creation and God’s guidance of reality. The wonder is that this pleasure itself becomes the Torah’s wisdom and can actually be comprehended in our human minds allowing us in turn to take delight in God.
the second type of wonder is that the Torah’s wisdom descends further and serves to unite between different extremes. We hope and pray that this year we will see true unity amongst Jews, of all hues and opinions.

  

Another phrase that equals 773 (תשע"ג) is, “My heart tingles with something good”

(ָר ַח ׁש ִל ִ ּבי ָ ּד ָבר ט ֹוב ) (Psalms 45:2).

While the verse, “Open my eyes” focuses on eyes and wisdom, this phrase focuses on the heart, tingling with something good that is about to issue forth from the heart. This phrase calls upon us to initiate a movement in the innermost depths of our heart, bringing with it a profound demand to seek God’s revelation as in the verse, “For Your sake [God] my heart says: ‘Seek My countenance’; Your countenance, God, I shall seek” (Psalms 27:8).

What is the good thing stirring in our heart? The verse continues, “I say: ‘My deeds are for the king, my tongue is a quick writer’s pen.’” All that I do is for the sake of the king, for the sake of Malchut Yisrael (the kingdom of Israel), which reveals God’s sovereignty over the world.

This verse is particularly connected with Rosh Hashanah, the day on which we coronate God as King over us, the day on which good thoughts, good words begin to stir, to move, and to flourish within us. Every Rosh Hashanah, a new light descends into the world that has never been experienced before; it is like the birth of a new soul. this is why Rosh Hashanah is a opportune time for the barren to conceive, as the sages teach us that “On Rosh Hashanah, Sarah , Rachel, and Channah conceived” (Yevamot 64b). indeed, the initials of these three names (ַח ָּנה ָר ֵחל ָ ר ַח ׁש) (”spell the word “tingles ) ָׂש ָרה

The most important birth that we anticipate is the birth of Mashiach. He is the subject of “My deeds are for the king,” he is the one to whom this entire psalm is dedicated. Mashiach is the “something good” that will happen to the Jewish people and to the entire world. Furthermore, the word “something” (ּד ָבר ָ ) in the sages’ terminology, also alludes to a leader, as in the idiom, “A generation has [but] one leader” (ַּד ָּבר ֶא ָחד ַל ּדֹור ) (Sanhedrin 8a).

The gematria of ”something good” (ָּד ָבר טֹוב ) is equal to that of the phrase, “this is the thing” (ַה ָּד ָבר ֶזה ) the introductory words to Moshe Rabbeinu’s prophecy, indicating a clarity and precision in hearing God’s words not merited by any other prophet. The coming of Mashiach unveils the very same level of Divine certitude that can erase all the doubts and delusions plaguing our faith.

Together with our prayers for the revelation of the Torah’s wonders and the miracles in reality they will bring, let us decide to act diligently and conscientiously on behalf of Malchut Yisra’el (the kingdom of Israel) and for true unity amongst Jews that will, God willing, bring about the revelation of Mashiach, speedily and in our days.

With blessings for a good and sweet year and for a ketivah vechatimah tovah (a good inscription and seal) for the entire Jewish people,

Harav Yitzchak Ginsburgh

A New Year, A New Neshoma

The author of the Shem MiShmuel* writes:

While the shofar is sounding, Hashem is breathing life into you for another year. Have in mind that Hashem is breathing that into you through the mouth of the shofar, with a new soul coming out the wide end. Why?

The ram that was bound instead of Yitzchak – Avraham removed both its horns, its shofars. Hashem saved them for two special occasions: one was used at the giving of the Torah; the other one is reserved for heralding the Resurrection of the Dead.

Each year, says the Shem MiShmuel, Hashem resurrects you in some small way, gives you something that has never happened for you before.

(*From Rabbanit Mizrahi, Rosh HaShana Shiur)

A Night to Remember

A Night to Remember

On the Essence of Rosh Hashanah

Rabbi YY Jacobson

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~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Coronation Night” – that is how one of the great spiritual masters would define the night of Rosh Hashanah.

In a 1974 sermon, Rabbi Yosef Dov Soleveitchik (1903-1993), one of the great Jewish thinkers of the last century, related that when he was a young child learning in cheder (Jewish day school), in the Russian village of Chaslavitch, in the days preceding Rosh Hashanah, he could recognize in his teacher an extraordinary sense of trepidation.

“Our teacher, who was a Chabad Chassid (disciple), said to us: ‘Do you know what Rosh Hashanah is? The Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek would call the night of Rosh Hashanah – ‘Karanatzia Nacht’ (‘Coronation Night’).

“Do you know whom we will be coronating?” the teacher asked the children.

The young Soleveitchik prodigy responded in jest: “Nicholas”. (This was a number of years before the 1917 Russian Revolution, when Nicholas still served as the Russian czar).

And the poor teacher of Chaslavitch responded: “Nicholas? He was coronated years ago, why do we need to coronate him again? Besides, he?! He is not a real king...”

“Tonight, my dear children, we coronate G-d; we place a crown on G-d…

“And do you know who places the crown?” The teacher continued. “Yankel the Tailor, Berel the Shoemaker, Zalman the water-carrier, Yossel the painter, Dovid the butcher…”

Rabbi Soloveitchik concluded: Over the years I have given many sermons and written many discourses on the concept of Rosh Hashanah, but nothing ever made me feel the true depth and power of the day as the words of my childhood teacher. Every year, when I recite in the Rosh Hashanah prayers the words, ‘Rule over the whole world in Your glory,’ I remember my teacher in Chaslavitch.

The Essence

How much of Judaism is compressed in this brief conversation between teacher and students? In a few words, a poverty-stricken Jewish teacher in a small shtetl in Russia gave his seven-year-old students the core, the essence, the very marrow of Jewish existence, of Jewish thought.

Now he needed not explain to them why they should marry Jewish girls, continue living as Jews, be proud of their Jewishness, as so many teachers and educators today. It was more than obvious: Who would want to miss out on the opportunity of coronating G-d…

***

But why does G-d need us to coronate Him? If G-d created us, does He really need us to declare Him king; He is the boss regardless?

And what does it mean that G-d is our king Imagine you assemble 1,000,000 ants and declare yourself king over them. When 50,000 of them then turn left instead of right, you kill them in a single instance. Does that make you king over them? G-d gave us our entire existence; our entire being and life force are from Him. Relative to Him we are far smaller and far les significant than an ant in the presence of a human. Can He then said to be our king? Is that not an insult for Him?

Yet here lay one of the great and daring ideas of Judaism. G-d, the perfect endless one, desired to be king not through power or by the dictates of nature. He desired to be chosen as king; He wanted a relationship with someone distinct of Him who would freely choose to construct a bond with G-d.

So an infinite, omnipotent G-d suspends His infinity, suppresses His endlessness and concealed His omnipotence, in order to allow space for an intelligent, independent and self-oriented human being who is then capable of choosing G-d as his or her king.

The Night

This, the spiritual masters explained, is the meaning of Rosh Hashanah, the day when the first human was created. It is the day when small, frail, vulnerable and lowly human beings invite G-d to serve as their King.

G-d could place His own crown on His head, but then He would be a dictator, not a king; the relationship would be coerced not chosen. So G-d waits all year for this great moment for which the entire universe was created – the moment when you and I coronate Him as our king.

Rosh Hashanah is the most moving day in the Jewish calendar. More than any other day, it embodies the meaning of human existence and the vulnerability of a G-d who linked His fate to man’s.

Happy Coronation Night.

VIDEO: LIKKUTEI SICHOS -- ROSH HASHANAH
NEW!

Why Did Chanah Appear Drunk?

Good News

Malka Fleisher, who writes for the Jewish Press, brings us good news about the world's Jewish population:

"The global Jewish population grew by more than 88,000 people over the past year, and now stands at 13.75 million, according to a new study published y Professor Sergio DellaPergola of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Though the huge number of simchas is a boon to the Jewish people, it pales in comparison to the growth rate of the rest of the world. While the Jewish population grew by 0.65% in 2012, the global population grew by almost double that – 1.26%. According to the study, one out of every 514 people in the world is Jewish – less than 0.2% of the world population.

"The report noted that the largest Jewish population in the world resides in Israel – 5.97 million, accounting for 43% of the world’s Jews. 5.46 million – 39% – live in the United States. The number of Jews living outside of Israel shrunk by over 10,000 people, due to intermarriage and aliyah. Intermarriage is a significant factor in US Jewish population rates, due to the fact that over 50% of Jews who married in the last year married outside the faith."

This morning's Jerusalem Post, on page 5, reports that one set of triplets, and seven sets of twins were born over the weekend (Shabbat I imagine).

Slowly, the master plan for the Geula is shaping before our eyes. Israel's population is growing, the ingathering is continuing, with America's Jews being the most resistant to returning Home. And now the righting of an historical wrong is getting started today:

'I am a Refugee' Campaign Launch Monday

First international conference to highlight the issue of the Jewish refugees from Arab lands being held in Jerusalem.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in conjunction with the Ministry of Pensioners Affairs and the World Jewish Congress, will hold the first international conference to highlight the issue of the Jewish refugees from Arab countries Monday at the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem. Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon will speak about a plan of action to make the issue prominent in the international arena, including placing it on the United Nations' agenda and passing resolutions in parliaments around the world." read more at I Am a Refugee

Backtracking, Backstabbing, Leaking: Ordinary Israeli Intrigue

Does this spell

P o l i t i c a l ..... R e s h u f f l i n g?

Haaretz's Amir Oren reported that Barak opposes launching an attack on the eve of the U.S. elections, and that he may be aiming to join a party headed by Tzipi Livni and to become defense minister in a Livni government. (i.e., someone in the White House is furious with Israel's Prime Minister, and now wants him replaced. So we see the same duo ganging up on Bibi.)


Yuval Steinitz: “Barak has stung twice in the past. The first time he stung the members of Kadima and former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the second time he stung his friends at the Labor party – Ben-Eliezer, Herzog and Braverman. He may sting again.” (Sounds like he is more devoted to Netanyahu, and maybe is hinting that the leaks cam from the Defense Minister himself. A good enough reason to replace him.) Arutz Sheva news.

Now Gil Ronen: Barak Backstabbed Bibi on Bombing? Something caused Netanyahu to start talking about red lines instead of imminent attack. Did Barak flip-flop?

What happened to the Prime Minister's urgency to stop Iran at all costs? Who had his ear"

"Netanyahu faces an extremely hostile and unabashedly political press at home that militantly opposes an Iranian strike by Israel, as well as pressure by the U.S. and other nations, to refrain from such an attack. However, as long as he had Barak by his side on this matter, he had the political maneuvering room to carry out the attack despite these pressures." More at INNews

Personally, I believe that Israel will not attack Iran. That there will have to be a 'crisis' in the air, and then we will see more prophecies play out in the Geulah scenario. Am Yisrael must come to the level of fear that produces tremendous teshuva. Our Rabbis promised miracles like those in the days of Yetzias Mitzrayim. This is what I will wait for.

Does this possibly answer the question of

WHO LEAKED THE SECURITY CABINET DISCUSSIONS?

Hot Air From Charlotte Moves North

UPDATE: tornadoes in New York City, darkened tens of thousands of homes in the Washington, D.C., area and flooded New England streets turned a normal day of rest into a day of cleaning up for many East Coast residents on Sunday.


Strange, but after all the depletions and insertions in the DNC platform, I guess the "Great Weatherman" threw a couple tornados into coastal New York, Queens and Brooklyn, while Maryland and Virginia saw funnel clouds:

The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado touched down in Canarsie, Brooklyn and a tornado touched down in Breezy Point, Queens Saturday morning. The National Weather Service categorized the tornado that touched down in Canarsie as an EF1 tornado. Tornadoes in that category have the potential to reach speeds of up to 110 miles per hour."





"... estimates the tornado that touched down in Queens was 50 yards wide and 600 feet long. The tornado was classified as an EF0 tornado, which has wind speeds between 65 and 85 miles per hour."

"I was showing videos of tornadoes to my 4-year-old on my phone, and two minutes later, it hit," said Breezy Point neighborhood resident Peter Maloney. "Just like they always say, it sounded like a train."

"Tornado-like funnel clouds were reported in Fairfax County, Va., and in Prince George's County, Md., but had not been confirmed by Saturday evening, meteorologist Andy Woodcock of the National Weather Service said."

Welcome to Liberal New York

The Brody File, David not Lazer

The following is from the Brody File, a CBN News Blog:

Democrats Drop 'G-d' From Party Platform

"Guess what? G-d’s name has been removed from the Democratic National Committee platform.

"This is the paragraph that was in the 2008 platform:

“We need a government that stands up for the hopes, values, and interests of working people, and gives everyone willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God-given potential.”

"Now the words “G-d-given” have been removed. The paragraph has been restructured to say this:

“We gather to reclaim the basic bargain that built the largest middle class and the most prosperous nation on Earth – the simple principle that in America, hard work should pay off, responsibility should be rewarded, and each one of us should be able to go as far as our talent and drive take us.”

*******

Meanwhile 4.9 Million are out of work, and 45,753,078 are using food stamps

Boy, are the Demoncrats in trouble!

First it was Jerusalem, now it's the G-d of the Universe,

at least they realize they go together.

Tower of Babel anyone?

"The Government Is The Only Thing We All Belong To"

Charlotte-Nburg* and Charlotte-NoCarolina

Photo: Reuters

This was a headline on page 7 of today's Jerusalem Post:

Four German girls verbally attacked Jewish girls near their Orthodox school in Charlottenburg, Berlin.

Doesn't that make you think of "Charlotte, N(orth Carolina)" and the turn of events at the Leftist convention? Charlottenburg?

Could not pass by this remarkable juxtaposition of events. This headline should have been on the front page next to the Demo...n Convention in Charlotte-No Carolina.

These were the blaring words on the Front Page of the Jerusalem Post. Why didn't they put the above article next to this one on the same front page? How could they miss the connection?

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM REMOVES REFERENCE TO JERUSALEM AS ISRAEL'S CAPITAL

... and out of the other side of the Democratic mouth is "Obama's 'unshakable commitment to Israel's security'."

The Jewish Leftists ( self-hating ) are truly laying a platform for dissent, deception, disaster. Lee Rosenberg? What a contrast from the days of a strongly-aligned AIPAC and the nightmare of AIPAC's agenda today. Regardless of what those guys say about being "arguably the most pro-Israel platform language that has ever been in a party platform," such talk is vapor escaping into the air.

When it came time to aid and protect Israel, it was Truman and Nixon who demonstrated their integrity through their actions in Israel's defense. We don't need flattery and buttery words to conceal a two-sided diplomatic policy to the Jewish people. Obama's democratic (euro-socialist-minded czars) policies will try to slip and slide the Israelis into giving in to the Arab agenda.

"Barack knows the American Dream because he's lived it," Mrs. President, America doesn't need any more "dreams," they feel as if they are in a really bad one right now.

They want reality, integrity and honesty.

Oh, and "Don't make Israel a wedge issue in 2012" as Gil Troy wrote, No, just put a wedge between the Jewish People and Jerusalem, with the above omission.



The large headline at the top of the same page 7, another glaring Berlin attack:

Austrian Rabbi: Nazi Hooligan Verbally Attacked Me

"IN BERLIN - An extremist right-wing soccer hooligan verbally attacked a Vienna rabbi last week, giving the Nazi salute and yelling “Jews get out."

According to the rabbi, the police officer told him 'come on, it is soccer today'. He said he then approached a second group of police officers, who told him they did not see anything. When he explained to the second contingent of officers that 'at least 20 witnesses saw it,' the police responded that they could not help him..."

Doesn't this bring to mind the 'joyful spirit' of the old Gladiator sports arenas?

Jerusalem Post, I think you need a snappy Front Page editor. Might sell more papers. More of all of this at JPost.com.

I Believe ...

I believe that anti-semitism must increase to unprecedented levels in all countries of the world, except for Israel, because the Geula needs almost all Jews in Israel to actualize, i.e., the Promised Land needs Am Yisrael and Yidden studying Torah daily to be elevated to the status of the Geula. Then we will see wonders and niflaos.

The Jews need to be 'chased out' of all foreign lands, and back to their natural Homeland. And those within Israel who are undeserving and in their own way rishus will be chased out or otherwise.

Robust and Powerful Words

This is amazing. I don't think the American People have witnessed this side to Mitt Romney, hopefully the next President of the United States. I viewed this on Life in Israel and as usual Rafi brings us many outstanding perspectives on life in Israel, and the American component is equally important.

Today Migron, Tomorrow Jerusalem ...

Photo: Marc Israel Sellem, Jerusalem Post

Look Out French Hill, Ramat Eshkol, Arzei HaBira, Ramat Shlomo, Gilo, Neve Yaakov, Pisgat Zeev, East Talpiot, all so-called Israeli settlements. Tel Aviv is not far behind!

"Tyranny begins in Migron"

Michael Freund

"What happens today in Migron could very well happen tomorrow in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv or Beersheba. On Tuesday, a fateful hearing took place at the Supreme Court to determine the destiny of the Jewish community of Migron.

"The complicated history of the site, and the legal wrangling surrounding it over the past six years, have left many people wondering where right begins and wrong ends.

"...the state is willfully choosing to ignore the legal purchase of land by its citizens and is prepared to expel them from their homes.

"Needless to say, this is nothing less than an outrage."

Read all of Michael Freund's Opinion Piece

MAP, JERUSALEM RING ROAD

How did I miss this!!!!!!

I go out almost every day in Yerushalayim, and I missed this!!!!

What is Cruelty and Insanity?

The headline on page 10 of Wednesday's Jerusalem Post:

"State prosecutor to high court: Migron outpost can be evacuated in a few days...

Regional Council engineer: New site won't be ready for a month."



Do they want to forcibly evacuate these 50 families, so that they are not eligible for the new housing?

To punish these brave pioneers for securing a strategic hill, for trying to legally purchase this land? Why is it that they declare the land belongs to Jews? Is the court not acknowledging their claims? Is the court taking sides, the side of the Arabs against the Jews? Where are the real answers?

Is this an act of vengeance against "settlers" on the part of ... who?

Yonatan Ben Nava

Please say tehillim for Yonatan Ben Nava

"Addressing IDF commanders, she said, "I want to send a message. First of all, make sure that they will not be so tired, so they will not have to just plunk themselves down and sleep so hard that they can't even hear a tank approaching. Secondly, they should make sure not to let them sleep in a tank field, they should sleep in an organized manner."

"Yonatan, or Yoni, is "an amazing, wonderful guy," she said. "A tzaddik who sanctifies the Name of Heaven wherever he goes. A combat soldier in Golani who insisted on going into combat."

"An initial inquiry showed that the Merkava tank that ran over Yoni was moving backward and its crew did not see the soldier, who was sleeping on the path used by tanks."

An Electric Visionary

The following comes from a site called 'Kickstarter' which appears to help raise money to fund 'great projects.'

A short video of Nikola Tesla's life, a preview of the film they are hoping to produce.



“ELECTRICITY” is a film - a docudrama about the life of Nikola Tesla, the creation of electricity and many other important inventions we now enjoy in our modern lives. This film tells a story about the importance of one man and his many technological gifts to the world, and how his name and legacy were removed from America's history.








We are creating a docudrama that will crack history wide open to expose Dr. Nikola Tesla an inventor, scientist, scholar and visionary who from 1856 – 1943 changed our lives forever.

Dr. Tesla’s legacy is defined and ever present through his many inventions and patents, such as the (A/C) alternating current electric power generator, used to this day to deliver on demand electricity to our homes and businesses, robotics, remote control, radio, neon light, wireless communication, wireless energy, X-ray and many more important inventions that shape our lives daily and our future.

It has been stated that; mankind would be one-hundred years behind in technology today, if it were not for Dr. Nikola Tesla’s vision and inventions. Amazingly, even today in our electric powered modern society, Dr. Tesla is not taught in our schools at any level, and in fact- you probably have never heard of Nikola Tesla. This is one of the most important stories of all time.

To read more about Dr Tesla, who was a friend to Mark Twain, visit The Tesla Society

Two Graduates From Harvard

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.*

The Longer Shorter Way**

Two Graduates of Harvard

Two Paths, Two Souls

I read an amazing interview on the Times of Israel *** site about a young Arab that became, in his words, "the luckiest man I know." While reading this, I immediately thought of another young man who might also think himself lucky. But first,

One man from the fields of the Galilee to Brandeis Univ., Johns Hopkins, then Harvard Business School.

Hussein Forsan, 34, explains how the opportunity for a full education scholarship presented: "After his mother called him with the news..."

'I was on the construction site. I was wearing jeans and dirty boots and a dirty T-shirt....I apologized for my appearance [to the scholarship committee]. I explained that I had come from work and only got home at weekends. I said that, ‘If you really want to know me, please allow me to speak Hebrew. I won’t be able to express myself in English. I promise you, if I get the scholarship, I’ll learn English in a few months.’ They looked at each other, and said okay, and I was off ."

The interviewer explains:

"Throughout our conversations, installments of his biography were often followed by a rapid switch into the subject Hussein wants to talk about much more — the need for Israel’s Jews and Arabs to shed the defensiveness and the paranoia, to spend more time in each other’s company, to build a country together."

“[Hussein] I am empathetic of the Jewish mentality of fear. The Holocaust, the Arab wars, and previous tragedies — I wouldn’t wish that on anybody. But that history and cycle of paranoia dictates today’s attitudes. By building walls, by shielding yourself from others, you lose sight of them…. My dream and vision is to work on the business side of peace — to be an ambassador for Israel in the Arab countries, and for the Arab countries in Israel. One day.”

This is the long but short way, a lengthy path to bring understanding to two peoples, to build, to share, to improve the world.


The other man from Hawaii/Kenya/Indonesia to Columbia Univ. and then Harvard.

According to Wikipedia, Barry Soweto went to schools in Honolulu, Jakarta, Los Angeles, New York City, and Cambridge, where he graduated from Harvard in 1991. For three years he worked in Chicago as a community developer between Columbia and Harvard. After Harvard he returned to Chicago and got involved with Chicago politics, and where he taught constitutional law at the Univ of Chicago Law School. In 1997, he became an Illinois Senator. In 2004, he was elected to the U.S. Senate. In 2008, Barack Obama ran for and was elected President of the United States of America, being the first African American to be elected President.

Short sweet success.

In an amazingly short period of four years, little Barry Soweto has become a divisive tornado raging through American society, with policies that are dismantling business, society, politics, and people's personal lives. To me, this was a very short path to achieve his goals to decimate the unique founding principles of a great nation, and with his like-minded personal cabinet of czars has forced his personal vision of socialism [some say Marxism; see also Top 7 Policies] onto the once great prosperous country of America, putting it into a long, long, road to recovery back to its founding principles in 1776.

These principles gave its people a "Declaration of Independence, a Constitution, a Bill of Rights, a body of laws to endow the people with 'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,' meant to exemplify the 'inalienable rights' with which all human beings are endowed by their Creator and for the protection of which they institute governments."

This is the "short but long way." A short path of destruction and a long way to recovery.


______________________

* The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost.

** in life there is a "short but long way" and a "long but short way," Tanya, The Longer Shorter Way.

*** While the intent of the writer of this story seems to be "an indictment" aimed at the Government of Israel and its leaders, in my estimation it really portrays the failure of this man's own community leaders for not taking a different path, a path to improve the lives of its people, to eliminate hate, and to educate their young to 'reach for the stars' instead of the guns and bombs. No people in the world has rebuilt their lives and communal infrastructure successfully, so many times, after being persecuted and crushed in country after country for thousands of years more than the Jewish People. It can be done.

Amazing ... Breathtaking

Glenn Beck brought together some interesting experts specifically to discuss Israel and our situation.

Go to gbtv.com sign up for a free subc go to the area for his 5PM daily show, search for the Friday, Aug 24 show and click on 'show archive' and you can watch the Friday program.

Very interesting because of the strength of their commitment to Israel and the Jewish People. Even with the evangelical and other xtian supporters, this scenario has I believe overwhelmed those sincere G-d fearing people. Only those who know the Jewish Bible, are religious, and have a righteous soul could even consider siding with the people who are at the center of this turmoil. What Pastor Hagee states reveals that he understands so much more than our Jewish leftist brothers and sisters.

It's amazing what they know and think.

If Israel attacks Iran, there G-d forbid will be an all-fronts bombardment of my Homeland.

HaShem Yerachem!

Not Only in Israel: Illinois, Chicago, New York, Boston ...

In case you didn"t read this in the Friday Jerusalem Post Magazine section, here it is in toto:

Education begins at home

by Israel Kasnett

Schools in Israel need to get their acts together and crack down on violent behavior in a manner that educates – and not only punishes – delinquents.

Judging by the headlines over the last few days, it would be easy to deduce that the country is in an uproar over an incident that took place in Jerusalem last week.

Eyewitnesses said that approximately two dozen Jewish teenagers surrounded an Arab youth on Thursday night in Zion Square and began to beat him, continuing to kick him even after he fell unconscious to the ground. A New York Times article read, “Hundreds of bystanders watched the mob beating, the police said – and no one intervened.” Other media outlets made the non-intervention of bystanders a major part of the story, as if to say that Israelis are indifferent to the beating of Arabs.

Those who believe that this is out of the ordinary are mistaken. Take a look around the world and you will notice numerous cases of mobs attacking a victim as bystanders do nothing.

In June 2011, CBS Chicago reported that Kris Wilkowski was attacked by a mob of teenagers right across the street from the downtown campus of Northwestern University. Bystanders stood by and did nothing to assist him.

In another report, a man named Anthony Adams was brutally beaten in a Chicago YMCA parking lot by a group led by a classmate as others stood by. In a separate incident, Derrion Albert, who was beaten to death by a mob, could have been saved by bystanders. Then too, no one intervened.

Last year, an ABC News report covered the beating of a woman by four thugs on a busy street in Boston as witnesses walked by. In July, a girl was molested and beaten by a mob of men in Guawahati, India, while people stood and watched. It took police from a nearby station 45 minutes to act.

In April 2010, ABC News also reported an incident that took place in New York. Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax, a homeless man, collapsed on a sidewalk after he was stabbed several times by a mugger, but not a single passerby bothered to help or to alert the police – until he had been lying there bleeding to death for over an hour. The incident, captured on a surveillance camera, began when Tale-Yax attempted to thwart a mugger who had attacked a woman on the street. The mugger stabbed him and then more than 20 people passed his wounded body on the sidewalk. In fact, one man rolled Tale-Yax over and then walked away, and another used his cell phone to photograph the dying man.

The same report repeats one of the most notorious and recent examples of indifference, which took place in China in 2011 when a toddler was run over – not once, but twice – and ignored by at least 18 pedestrians and cyclists.

Clearly, the phenomenon of non-intervention by bystanders is not one that can be defined as solely an Israeli problem. At the root of all this is, as Jeff Brumley writes on Jacksonville.com, what social scientists call the bystander effect – or Genovese Syndrome – after a 1960s incident in which a woman was stabbed and raped as neighbors watched.

ABC News refers to it as “a psychological phenomenon where people fail to act instead of listening to their moral compasses” and “is a common inhibitor of altruism.

Psychologists have demonstrated that if one person is spurred to take action, others will follow. But if nobody makes that first move, others may not either.”

CLEARLY, SOMETHING is amiss in Israeli society, but the media’s effort to make it seem as though it is a racist, Israeli-Palestinian conflict-related issue is definitely off the mark. The fact is, violence is universal and the bystander effect is a worldwide phenomenon.

People need to realize that education begins at home, and apparently Israeli parents are raising violent children. Blame it on TV, blame it on Israeli culture. Blame it on anything, but it is inexcusable.

The “death to Arabs” refrain is, unfortunately, a common one at local soccer games and continues to go relatively unchallenged by authorities, although there have been recent efforts to curb this type of behavior.

That being said, it is impossible to judge a society – any society – by its teenagers. No society is represented by its young hooligans, but rather by the success of its education system and its justice system. Society is judged by its values and moral standards and by those who contribute to society.

According to SOS Violence – The Israeli Center for Violence Studies, some of the issues that exacerbate youth violence include eagerness of the media to create sensationalist stories, public desire to find shortterm solutions, politicians’ desire to be seen as the ones dealing with the problem, and a “zero tolerance” policy.

All of these, the report says, actually contribute to the problem of violence. Rather, what is needed is an investment in “a supportive policy which could provide tools and support for youth.”

The center suggests “focusing on reducing alienation within the classroom as part of training workshops for teachers and students” and proposes that teachers “focus on training students and providing tools to cope with negative dynamics of individuals and groups in the classroom.”

The center also offers “an alternative model to the balance of power in the class. If today students perceive aggression as an effective tool for achieving/promoting/maintaining social status, the SOS Center and the students in the classroom work together to create a different model in which the tool to achieve those things will be reversed.”

Schools in Israel need to get their acts together and crack down on violent behavior in a manner that educates – and not only punishes – delinquents. But first, parents need to raise their kids properly. Education begins at home.

With A Mighty Hand ...

Today, the JPost reads "a reportedly large Hezbollah military drill held in southern Lebanon is part of an Iranian orchestrated preparation for a confrontation with Israel, a senior Israeli security analyst said."

Ok, first we had Egypt militarily moving into the Sinai. That's our Southern Front.

Now, we have Hezbollah militarily exercising it's muscle in southern Lebanon. That's our Northern Front.

Iran is still feverishly preparing their (nuclear) missiles to bombard Israel from the East.

What's left, the Mediterranean sea? Who's going to approach us from there? Hamas?

Just a month ago, there was a Russian submarine parked right off the coast of Georgia, that's Georgia, USA. Unnoticed while it collected all the data it was sent for.

That was the local news watch

In the rest of the world,

Circumcision and Shechita are being attacked, precisely because they are Jewish rituals of identification. We are getting it from all around us. Why not just forego our rituals for something benign, like those of the anti-Semites of the world, suggested one European? Why not try to banish the Muslim rite of circumcision and Hallal? Beware!

And when it comes to combatting terror, America convenes a Global Counterterrorism Forum, but excludes the one country living under terror way over 64 years. That's us, Israel. But maybe it's a good idea to eliminate terror from the rest of the world first, so the poor repressed people of the world can breathe again. This would then give them credibility, instead of being labeled hypocrites.

Caroline Glick says it succinctly, "Not only did the US exclude Israel, at the GCF’s meeting last month in Spain, Maria Otero, the State Department’s under secretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights, seemed to embrace the Muslim world’s obscene claim that Israelis are not victims of terrorism because terrorism against Israel isn’t terrorism."

"So despite the fact that Israel is a major target of terrorism, and despite the fact that many of the states the US invited to its forum condone terrorism against Israel and support terrorist groups that murder Israeli Jews, Israel is better off being excluded, because the anti-Jewish governments invited by the Obama administration will somehow totally change their perspective on anti-Jewish terrorism as long as they don’t have to suffer the irritation of sitting in the same room as real-live representatives of the Jewish state."


Do we need any more hints that we need to cry out to God to forgive us and take away our enemies quickly in a massive show* of "a mighty hand," "an outstretched arm," "with great fear," "with signs" and "with wonders"



*from our Pesach Haggadah