Secrets of the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron

Secrets of the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron

A new video shares first-hand account of a visit to the cave itself, where bones and artifacts from First Temple times were discovered.


Source: The Land of Israel on Arutz Sheva.

Nostalgia: The Jewish Americans

The Jewish Americans (1 & 2): They Came to Stay; A World of Their Own

The Jewish Americans (3): The Best of Times, 

the Worst of Times

The Jewish Orthodox Community of New York (Chassidim)

A Film by Michael Daum, narated by Leonard Nimoy and Jessica Parker

A World Apart 

[Williamsburg, Boro Park, Crown Heights in the early days, their rebirth from the Shoah, the more innocent days]

Between “then” and “now” so much has changed. 

I’m so glad to be here in Eretz Yisrael B”H

Nostalgia on Postcards: 1880–1924 Exhibition at Museum of Eldridge Street

Exhibition at the Museum of Eldridge Street

The Jewish Ghetto in Postcards from Eastern Europe to Downtown Manhattan

Photo Credit: Courtesy The Blavatnik Archive

From 1880 to 1924, one-third of the Jewish population of Eastern Europe left shtetls and cities for the United States, fleeing persecution and seeking economic opportunity. Most settled on the Lower East Side making it the most crowded neighborhood in the world. On these shores, Jewish immigrants found themselves in a new kind of densely urban neighborhood. Still, echoes of the old country could be found in the cries of the marketplace, the plaintive tunes of the synagogue, and most of all in the shared Yiddish language of neighbors.

The Blavatnik Archive and the Museum at Eldridge Street “The Jewish Ghetto in Postcards” exhibition, through March 8, 2017, presents rarely seen images of shtetls in Europe that were wiped out during the Holocaust, and the “Ghetto” of the old Jewish Lower East Side. In captivating color and stark black and white, these vintage postcards provide snapshots of vanished places that are at the heart of the twentieth-century Jewish experience.

The caption on this postcard reads
 “New Jewish Market on the East Side, New York.”

The Jewish Ghetto in Postcards features fifty postcard images, interpretive texts, oral histories, and a digital component that allows visitors to enlarge and examine the postcards and historic materials.

The bulk of the exhibition features images of New York’s Lower East Side, long an immigrant gateway. Images of bustling streets with pushcarts and horse-drawn carriages, a pickle vendor, and a surprisingly beautiful view of tenements with laundry suspended from one tenement to the next recall a by-gone era.

The Lower East Side is described on both the front and back of postcards as “The Ghetto” or “Judea.” During the first decades of the 20th century, the term “the Ghetto” was understood as the place where the Jews lived in New York City.



Read more of the article and Museum info, at the Jewish Press online: Jewish Ghetto in Postcards ….

Just in Time for Chanukah: Holy Temple Myth Busters: Part I - Introduction

Just in Time for Chanukah: Holy Temple Myth Busters: Part I - Introduction

Revelation of the Inner Soul of Torah – the 19th of Kislev: Some Background

Rosh Hashanah of Chassidism – the Revelation 

of the “Inner Soul” of Torah

The 19th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev is celebrated as the “Rosh Hashanah of Chassidism.” It was on this date, in the year 1798, that the founder of Chabad Chassidism, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745–1812), was freed from his imprisonment in czarist Russia. More than a personal liberation, this was a watershed event in the history of Chassidism, heralding a new era in the revelation of the “inner soul” of Torah.

The public dissemination of the teachings of Chassidism had in fact begun two generations earlier. The founder of the chassidic movement, Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (1698–1760), revealed to his disciples gleanings from the mystical soul of Torah which had previously been the sole province of select Kabbalists in each generation. This work was continued by the Baal Shem Tov’s disciple, Rabbi DovBer, the “Maggid of Mezeritch”—who is also deeply connected with the date of “19 Kislev”: on this day in 1772, 26 years before Rabbi Schneur Zalman’s release from prison, the Maggid returned his soul to his Maker. Before his passing, he said to his disciple, Rabbi Schneur Zalman: “This day is our yom tov (festival).”

Rabbi Schneur Zalman went much farther than his predecessors, bringing these teachings to broader segments of the Jewish population of Eastern Europe. More significantly, Rabbi Schneur Zalman founded the “Chabad” approach—a philosophy and system of study, meditation, and character refinement that made these abstract concepts rationally comprehensible and practically applicable in daily life.

In its formative years, the chassidic movement was the object of strong, and often venomous, opposition from establishment rabbis and laymen. Even within the chassidic community, a number of Rabbi Schneur Zalman’s contemporaries and colleagues felt that he had “gone too far” in tangibilizing and popularizing the hitherto hidden soul of Torah.


In the fall of 1798, Rabbi Schneur Zalman was arrested on charges that his teachings and activities threatened the imperial authority of the czar, and was imprisoned in an island fortress in the Neva River in Petersburg. In his interrogations, he was compelled to present to the czar’s ministers the basic tenets of Judaism and explain various points of chassidic philosophy and practice. After 53 days, he was exonerated of all charges and released.

Rabbi Schneur Zalman saw these events as a reflection of what was transpiring Above. He regarded his arrest as but the earthly echo of a heavenly indictment against his revelation of the most intimate secrets of the Torah. And he saw his release as signifying his vindication in the heavenly court. Following his liberation on 19 Kislev, he redoubled his efforts, disseminating his teachings on a far broader scale, and with more detailed and “down-to-earth” explanations, than before.

The nineteenth of Kislev therefore marks the “birth” of Chassidism: the point at which it was allowed to emerge from the womb of “mysticism” into the light of day, to grow and develop as an integral part of Torah and Jewish life.

Source: Chabad.org

Mazal Tov CHABAD: Leshana Tovah Belimud HaChasidus – Yud Tes Kislev!

Leshana Tovah Belimud HaChasidus ve Darchei HaChasidus, Tikosaivu VeTichosaimu!

CrownHeightsInfo

Today, Yud Tes Kislev, “The Rosh Hashanah of Chassidus,” marks 218 years since the release of the Alter Rebbe, R. Schneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of Chasidus Chabad, from prison in the year 5559 (1798). 

This year also marks 204 years since the Alter Rebbe’s Histalkus. In honor of this auspicious day, which is referred to by Chasidim as the “Holiday of Holidays,” Farbrengens are being held around the world!

Safer Haminhagim:

Yud-Tes-Chaf Kislev, the Festival of Liberation:594

——————
The 19th and 20th of Kislev are the Rosh HaShanah of Chassidus.

The following is the festive greeting used on these two days: “A good Yom-Tov! May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year in the study of Chassidus and in the spiritual lifestyle of Chassidus.”[598]

——————
The 19th of Kislev is the yahrzeit of our saintly master, R. DovBer, the Maggid of Mezritch, who [as successor to the Baal Shem Tov] was the mentor of the second generation of the chassidic movement – from 5521 (1761) until his passing on the third day of the week of Parshas Vayeishev, Yud-Tes Kislev, 5533 (1772). His resting place is in Anipoli.[599]

——————
R. Shneur Zalman [of Liadi, author of the Tanya], known as the Alter Rebbe, founder and first leader of the Chabad chassidic movement from 5533 (1772) until [his passing on the 24th of Teves in] 5573 (1812), was released from his first imprisonment on the 19th of Kislev, late in the afternoon of the third day of the week of Parshas Vayeishev, 5559 (1798).[600]

From a letter of the Alter Rebbe: “This indeed must be made known, that on the day which G-d made for us – on the 19th of Kislev; on the third day of the week (concerning which the Torah twice writes ‘It is good'[601]); on the yahrzeit of our holy master [the Maggid of Mezritch], whose soul reposes in Eden; – on that day, while I was reading the verse in the Book of Tehillim that begins, ‘He has redeemed my soul in peace,'[602] and before I began the following verse, I went forth in peace through the G-d of Peace.”[603]

The following statement, [handed down by the oral tradition of elder chassidim of that time,] was made by the Alter Rebbe in connection with Yud-Tes Kislev:[604]

(First Version:) “This day will be fixed as an everlasting festival for Israel, a day on which the great Name of G-d will be exalted and hallowed. The hearts of thousands of Jews will be aroused in repentance and the service of the heart (i.e., prayer), for this episode is engraved in the heart of the Israel of the World Above, and inscribed in the heart of Israel in This World.”

(Second Version:) “This day will be fixed as an everlasting festival for Israel, a day on which the great Name of G-d will be exalted and hallowed. The hearts of thousands of Jews will be aroused in repentance and the service of the heart (i.e., prayer), for when this episode will be engraved in the heart of Yisrael Sava,[605] it will be inscribed in the heart of Israel in This World.”

——————
From a letter of the Rebbe Rashab:[606] “Yud-Tes Kislev,…the festival on which ‘He redeemed our soul in peace,’ and the light and vitality of our souls were given to us, is the New Year for Chassidus – which our saintly forebears, [the Rebbeim of their respective generations,] have bequeathed to us – i.e., the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov.[607]

”[We read in the Machzor:] ‘This is the day which is the beginning of Your works.'[608] [G-d’s] true and ultimate motive for creating man upon earth is [His desire] that man cause the light of the innermost dimension of our holy Torah to be revealed. On this day, that light is forthcoming in a general way for the entire year. On this day, therefore, it is our duty to awaken our hearts to an inward and elemental desire and yearning, within the very core of our hearts, that G-d illuminate our souls with the light of the innermost dimension of His Torah.“

——————
”One ought to prepare oneself for the approach of the Rosh HaShanah of Chassidus in ways that recall the days of Selichos and the month of Elul.“[609]

”For a chassid, Yud-Tes Kislev is the day of his [spiritual] circumcision.“595

One does not say Tachanun on the 19th or 20th of Kislev, nor at the Minchah that precedes the 19th of Kislev.

”It is customary for chassidim to immerse in a mikveh before Shacharis on the 19th of Kislev, in keeping with the practice handed down by the earliest chassidim in the name of the Baal Shem Tov – that with the approach of Shabbos and Yom-Tov, and on Shabbos and Yom-Tov mornings, one immerses in a mikveh.

“The elder chassidim of Chabad have received an oral tradition handed down by the earliest chassidim of the Alter Rebbe, that the celebration of Yud-Tes Kislev as a Yom-Tov is crucial to the manifestation of the joy of this day, which the Alter Rebbe drew down to this world by means of his own self-sacrifice for the sake of the customs of Chabad chassidim.”[610]

“This is a day for farbrengen and for resolving to set aside fixed times for the study of Torah in public, both its revealed planes (nigleh) and its hidden dimensions (Chassidus). It is a day for the strengthening of the spiritual lifestyle of chassidim in a spirit of brotherliness.”[611]

The Rebbe Rashab used to make an appeal for charitable purposes during the farbrengen of Yud-Tes Kislev.[612]

——————
It is customary to distribute the tractates of the Talmud which various individuals undertake to study in the course of the coming year, in accordance with the letter of the Alter Rebbe, beginning Hocheiach Tochiach, that closes Kuntreis Acharon at the end of Tanya. (The tractates are commonly apportioned on Yud-Tes Kislev.[613])

The following is the relevant passage: “Complete the study of the entire Talmud every year and in every community, the tractates being apportioned by lot or by consent. In a city where there are numerous synagogues, each congregation should complete the Talmud. And if a congregation is too small to implement this, they should join forces with men of a larger one. This program shall be neither violated nor varied.”

Those who belong to a community which, for whatever reason, is “too small” to cope with the entire Talmud, customarily participate in the distribution of tractates that is arranged by the Machne Israel organization in the beis midrash of the Rebbe Shlita.

——————
On Yud-Tes Kislev one recommences the annual cycle of daily readings in Tanya, as divided by the Rebbe Rayatz.[614]

In the letter which he appended to his study guide he referred to “the readings in Likkutei Amarim – Tanya as apportioned for each day of the year, from the Rosh HaShanah of Chassidus, Yud-Tes Kislev, until next year’s Yud-Tes Kislev. (May it greet us and all our Jewish brethren with goodness and with blessing, both materially and spiritually.)”[615]

——————
Extract from a letter of the Rebbe Shlita:

“The practice has become widespread[616] to hold the main farbrengen of Yud-Tes Kislev on the eve of the 20th, because the Alter Rebbe was released from prison on the 19th at Minchah time, and for the following three hours he found himself in the home of an antagonist to Chassidism, where he suffered spiritual anguish.[617]

”In many places, nevertheless, people foregather for a farbrengen on the eve of the 19th as well – and may chassidic blessings light upon them.

“In general, the farbrengens of any city are arranged in either of two ways:

1. they can be spread out in many locations, so that people who would not travel far afield should also participate; or

2. all those interested can meet at one location, for ‘In a multitude of people is the King’s glory.'[618] Such a farbrengen should be steered by the venerable elders and the men of stature within the community.

”Abundant quantity or superior quality?[619] Their relative merits are the subject of a classic debate.[620] For comparable cases see: Shabbos 127a; Megillah 3a (in Tosafos, s.v. mevatlin besofo); Avos 3:15 hakol lefi hama’aseh), and see Peirush HaMishnayos there); Iggeres HaKodesh, Epistle 21; and other sources. These are obviously not exact parallels to our case, but space does not permit further elaboration.

“At any rate, I would recommend that on the first night, the eve of the 19th, farbrengens should be held in various places (where the following night’s gathering should be announced), and the next evening all concerned should assemble in one place.

”It goes without saying that what matters ultimately is that people should rouse themselves and ‘resolve to set aside fixed times for the study of Torah in public, both its revealed planes (nigleh) and its hidden dimensions (Chassidus), and strengthen the spiritual lifestyle of chassidim in a brotherly spirit.’ “[621]

Footnotes:

594. [In the original, ”the Festival of Liberation“ appears as Chag HaGeulah.]

598. A facsimile of the letter of the Rebbe Rashab that discusses Yud-Tes Kislev as the Rosh HaShanah of Chassidus is reproduced in Kuntreis U’Maayan (Heb. edition only), p. 17 [and translated below]; the background to its first appearance is described in an extract from the Diary of the Rebbe Rayatz, op. cit., pp. 15-18; the above-quoted festive greeting appears in HaYom Yom (p. 113), which also reproduces the text of the letter (p. 4).

599. HaYom Yom, p. 4. On his life-work see: HaTamim, Issues 2 and 4-8; Sefer HaSichos 5703, p. 155ff.; Likkutei Dibburim (according to the Index); Beis Rebbe, p. 61ff.; and elsewhere. [For a biography in English, see: R. Jacob Immanuel Schochet, The Great Maggid (Kehot, N.Y., 1974).]

600. HaYom Yom, p. 4. See Megillas Yud-Tes Kislev; the sichos of the Rebbe Rashab in Toras Shalom; the sichos of the Rebbe Rayatz and of the Rebbe Shlita on the occasion of each year’s Yud-Tes Kislev; Kuntreis Limud HaChassidus, ch. 6ff.; Beis Rebbe, Part I; Sefer HaMaasar VehaGeulah; and other sources, [including, in English: The Arrest and Liberation of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (Kehot, N.Y., 1964), a translation by R. Jacob Immanuel Schochet of the Hebrew original by R. Avraham Chanoch Glitzenstein; R. Nissan Mindel, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (Kehot, N.Y., 1971)].

601. [Cf. Rashi on Bereishis 1:7.]

602. [Tehillim 55:19.]

603. HaYom Yom, p. 4.

604. Reproduced at the beginning of Megillas Yud-Tes Kislev. [For the historical background to this statement see Likkutei Dibburim (and likewise in English translation), Vol. I, ch. 2a, sec. 9, and footnotes there.]

605. A gloss in Megillas Yud-Tes Kislev notes that the Alter Rebbe was accustomed to using the word Sava (saba; lit., an elder, or sage) to describe baalei mochin and baalei de’ah, in the spirit of the expression [paraphrasing the Zohar], saba da’ati, sasim umyushav [”Israel of the World Above“ and Yisrael Sava (in the original, Yisrael dele’eila and Yisrael saba, respectively) are Kabbalistic terms for certain partzufim.]

606. [See footnote 598, above.]

607. This sentence is quoted and expounded at length in Likkutei Sichos, Vol. IV, p. 1252.

608. [This phrase is borrowed from the Mussaf prayers of Rosh HaShanah; Machzor, p. 135.] See the maamar beginning Zeh HaYom, 5710 (in Sefer HaMaamarim 5710).

609. From a sichah of Yud-Tes Kislev, 5707 (Sefer HaMaamarim 5711, p. 145).

610. Sefer HaSichos 5702, p. 19.

611. [From the letter of the Rebbe Rayatz that appears at the beginning of the booklet entitled Yud-Tes Kislev.]

612. Sefer HaSichos: Toras Shalom, p. 243.

613. From the year 5663 (1902) onwards, because of lack of time on Yud-Tes Kislev, the distribution of the tractates [in the original: chalukas HaShas] in Lubavitch was carried out on the 24th of Teves, the yahrzeit of the Alter Rebbe. In 5713 (1952), fifty years later, the Rebbe Shlita restored the custom in various places to its original date, Yud-Tes Kislev.

614. HaYom Yom, p. 4. [See also p. 42 in the above section on The Chitas Study Cycles.]

615. Foreword to the daily study guide entitled Moreh Shiur [which appears as the first appendix to all current editions of the Tanya, as published by Otzar HaChassidim]. [See also its English translation (Kehot, London, 5735).]

616. See the sichos of Yud-Tes Kislev, 5692 and 5693. (Note of the Rebbe Shlita.)

617. [See Likkutei Dibburim (and likewise in English translation), Vol. I, ch. 2a, sec. 20; and R. Nissan Mindel, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, pp. 182-183.]

618. [Mishlei 14:28.]

619. This is also related to the difference between the two phrases, mah rabu (”How manifold are Your works!“ – Tehillim 104:24) and mah gadlu (”How great are Your works!“ – ibid., 92:6); this is discussed in the second maamar beginning Vaeira in Torah Or, p. 56b. Another example of such contrasts: oros merubim (”intense lights“) vs. Keilim merubim (”capacious vessels”); this is discussed in the maamar beginning Matzah Zu, 5667. (Note of the Rebbe Shlita.)

620. See Lekach Tov by Rabbi Y. Engel, Klal 15. (Note of the Rebbe Shlita.)

621. These concluding words are quoted from the letter of the Rebbe Rayatz that appears at the beginning of the booklet entitled Yud-Tes Kislev. (Note of the Rebbe Shlita.)

Ode To A Brave Olah

Goodbye Rachel, the First Biblical Sheep to Arrive in Her Ancient Home Eretz Yisrael

Flooding threatens to destroy biblical sheep projectIt took two years to get the Jacob‘s sheep from Canada to Israel; now, after heavy storms, the first sheep, Rachel, has died, and 40 are sick

These sheep have been nurtured for thousands of years and now they are in peril here in the Land of Israel, Yaakov Avinu’s prize possession.

Rachel has gone to sheep heaven*

Two weeks of foul weather in Israel have decimated their temporary quarantine site, with heavy rains flooding the sheep pens and strong winds toppling their shelters, leaving the sheep shivering in the cold.

(courtesy Gil Lewinsky)

“Our first sheep, Rachel, died [Sunday] morning and more are going to die,” said Jenna Lewinsky. 

“At least 40 or 50 of the sheep are sick, and there’s flooding. 

We called the Israeli Agriculture Ministry for help and they have no sympathy whatsoever. We’re shocked at how little they care about animals.”

(Courtesy Gil Lewinsky)

“In the end we’ll only have 10 animals to show,” said Jenna Lewinsky. 

“There are so many people in North America who spent so much time with this and are very angry with Israel. People from around the world are writing to us and saying, ‘This can’t be happening. How can Israel do this to the sheep?’ We want the best for the animals but we’re being held hostage.”


Source:Times of Israel

Meir Ettinger ט"ו כסלו התשע"ז 15.12.2016 15:23

טוב שיש את הקול היהודי

ט"ו כסלו התשע"ז 15.12.2016 15:23 Meir Ettinger

טוב שיש תקשורת שבה יודעים להבחין בין טפל לעיקר

אני עוד באמצע לכתוב את סיפור מעצרנו לפני חמש שנים בדיוק בפרשה שכונתה "פרשת המרגלים", סיפור שמן הסתם יהיה הרבה לקחים ללמוד ממנו למאבק על עמונה ת"ו.

אבל לפני שאני יסיים (מקווה שעוד היום) רציתי לחלוק את תחושת ההודאה שגואה בי היום על זה שיש לנו את הקול היהודי.

מי שעקב בחודש האחרון אחרי הקמפיין העקבי של כלי התקשורת המקבילים בציבור הדתי לאימוץ הסכם הכניעה של נפתלי בנט, את הכותרת שהנציח ערוץ 7 עם ההסכם על פינוי עמונה "הישג לבנט" מאמרי הדעות הקוראים לעמונה להתקפל, ובעיקר הסיקור המגמתי והמוטה של ההכנות למאבק יודע להעריך עד כמה טוב שיש את 'הקול היהודי' - אתר תקשורת שלא רוקד לפי החליל של חברי הכנסת או הפוליטיקאים. אתר שלא נותן כתף קרה למתיישבים שבמסירות נפש החליטו שארץ ישראל היא לא עניין למשא ומתן, ולנוער שעזב הכל כדי להתגייס למערכה על כבוד הארץ.

בטח יהיו עוד הרבה חידושים היום. אבל כאשר הכותרת הראשית בערוץ 7 היא קריאה לנוער "לכו ללמוד לבית המדרש", מזל שיש אתר שהכותרת הראשית בו היא קריאה לכוחות הביטחון לסרב פקודה.

אפשר לחלוק ולהתווכח כיצד היא צורת המאבק הנכונה, מה משתלם יותר ומה משתלם פחות. אבל טוב שיש תקשורת שבה יודעים להבחין בין טפל לעיקר.

ARABS MOVE TO AMERICA: “Life here in the village is quaint, but it’s not for me.”

WHOLE ARAB VILLAGES IN JUDEA AND SAMARIA STAND EMPTY AS RESIDENTS FLEE TO AMERICA 

Many of the luxury homes in Silwad stand empty

More Amona Hypocrisy

According to reporter Assaf Gibor, Route 60, which runs from Afula, on Israel’s side of the “green line” through Jenin, near Shechem, through Ofra and outside Ramallah to Jerusalem and then through Gush Etzion, past Hebron all the way to Be’er Sheva, features ghost villages on either side of the highway. The Jewish settlers of Ofra and Amona have been wondering what has happened to neighboring Arab villages such as Silwad, three miles from the main road and about 8 miles north-east of Ramallah. A visitor happening inside the village can see numerous, luxurious villas, that are deserted.

Gibor, who describes those empty homes as “white elephants,” met in Silwad a man in his 79s named Salah, who sat with him over a cup of coffee and revealed that he’s been living in Puerto Rico for 52 years. Having left in 1964, before the Israeli liberation of 1967, Salah got his BA in Puerto Rico and MA in Tennessee, and now he is retired and living off his rental property on the island.

Hamza Awada, 21, who lives with his parents in Arizona, met Gibor in Dir Dibwan, not far from Silwad. He is visiting to conclude a two-year wife search. It’s an arranged marriage, and after the wedding the happy couple will move to America. Hamza has lived in New York City and in Arizona, as well as in Jordan. “Life here in the village is quaint, but it’s not for me.”

Arab immigration from Judea and Samaria has been going on for decades. Official Palestinian Authority figures suggest there are three million Arabs living there. In reality, the figures are lighter by at least one million, according to many experts. Since 1997, Israel is no longer operating the census there, and the PA count does not abide by international norms, whereby a person who has been absent for a year or more from his country is no longer counted. Demographers Yaakov Feitelson and Yoram Ettinger suggest the figure of 1.8 million Arabs in Judea and Samaria, as opposed to the PA claim of 2.9 million.

Source: ARAB VILLAGES IN JUDEA AND SAMARIA ARE EMPTY!

The Sadistic Animus of the Leftists Toward Judaism / Jewish Lives (a/k/a Settlers)

Photo and article YWN

[*Read Dr. Michael Ben Ami Amazing Interview (video) at bottom]

Amona is Another Opportunity to Tar the Entire Settlement Enterprise as Criminal

www.davidmweinberg.com

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Know-Comment-Those-who-take-pleasure-in-pummeling-Amona-475555
I am experiencing déjà vu as the Amona saga moves toward a heartrending end, because of old hateful rhetoric that has been released into public discourse.

Left-wing rabble-rousers have peppered the debate over Amona with settler-hating epithets such as “land robbers,” “lawbreakers,” “violators” and “corrupt manipulators.”
Hundreds of seething academics have published fervid anti-Amona petitions in the newspapers.

Listening to some of these spokesmen on radio this week you could feel the hatred oozing from every pore of their enlightened democratic souls and legally-pure minds.

Anything related to settlers, settlements and the Netanyahu government draws out the ghastliest poisons. There was no sympathy expressed for the plight of Amona residents – who settled there with full government support and on the understanding that the State of Israel had title to the land.

Instead, I smelled the whiff of pogrom. I could almost hear the sharpening of pitchforks with which to impale the settlers of Amona, and the spinning of wool for torches with which to burn their homes to the ground. I could sense the glee of radical leftists at the looming spectacle of mounted special-forces policemen charging at settler women and children and bashing their heads with batons, as happened previously in Amona (2006) and Migron (2012).

This is dreadful. Only those whose hearts are closed, and whose who ideological hatreds have overwhelmed their judgment, can speak and think this way.

THE ISSUE FOR the hard Left, of course, is not the upholding of Supreme Court decisions or the rule of law – although that is what they swear the current controversy is all about. Neither is it the issue Palestinian land rights, to which they also swear fealty.

I know this because the political Left has gone back to repeatedly challenge “irrevocable” Supreme Court decisions when it suited its agenda (over immigration-infiltrator legislation, Beduin land evacuations, and the natural gas deal, for example). I know this because even the left-wing NGOs that petitioned the High Court over Amona know that no Palestinian ever lived there, or will.

So again, the vehemence that has accompanied the assault on Amona can’t be explained by slick reference to principles of “upholding law” and “protecting the Supreme Court.”

Rather, the issue for the ideological haters that came out of the woodwork this month is the uprooting of the settlement movement life’s work; the destruction of the power of the ideological right-wing, especially the national-religious right-wing.

Tearing down an icon of the settlement movement – that is what this is all about.

I recognize, of course, that the case specifics of Amona are different from previous settlement controversies. This is not a rerun of the Gaza disengagement in 2005, when an ideologically left-wing government was making a distinct diplomatic move, without any concern whatsoever for the fate of the Zionist pioneers in Gush Katif.

The Netanyahu government of today, by contrast, is deeply sympathetic to the settlers, and has worked hard to solve the crisis within the narrow straights forced upon it by the court (although perhaps not hard enough). And it is moving toward “regularizing” land issues in Judea and Samaria so that hostile actors can’t easily pull legal shtick to retroactively delegitimize entire neighborhoods over the Green Line.

But for the hard-core combatants of the Left, Amona is something else altogether.

It’s another opportunity to tar the entire settlement enterprise as criminal; another opportunity to brand all settlers as violent fanatics; another opportunity to show that settlements, writ large, can and will be wiped off the face of the Palestinian homeland.

JUST AFTER THE disengagement from Gaza, I accompanied a group of Canadian newspaper editors on a tour of Israel. We met with, among other, the man who at the time was the editor-in-chief of Haaretz, David Landau. Landau explained to the Canadian journalists why he thought the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza was a good thing.

It’s not because Israel freed the Palestinians from occupation, he said. And it’s not because the Israeli army won’t have to patrol any more the alleyways of Jabalya refugee camp, he said.

The reason why he, David Landau, thought that the disengagement from Gaza was a great and historic thing was 

“because we tore down the settlements of the national- religious public and we crushed the political power of religious Zionism!” he thundered.

I heard some of that thunder and animus again this week in the execrations of hardleft spokesmen celebrating their imminent “victory” over Amona. How disgusting. How tragic.

David M. Weinberg is director of public affairs at Bar-Ilan University's Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, and senior advisor to The Tikvah Fund in Israel. He has been senior advisor to deputy prime minister Natan Sharansky, coordinator of the Global Forum Against Anti-Semitism in the Prime Minister's Office, spokesman of the Herzliya Conference on National Security, and spokesman of Bar-Ilan University.

Comment to this article:
Thanks, David Weinberg, for a brilliant article. Like Mr. Weinberg, my heart bleeds for the Amona residents, who have been offered alternative housing close by, but without a firm commitment from the government that they will not be evicted from the new housing after a short period of time. What the Amona community is facing is the possibility of two evictions, (if the second eviction from their new housing cannot be avoided), and it is not surprising that they rejected this proposal.

The unfairness of the eviction seems very obvious, when bearing in mind that "that no Palestinian ever lived in Amona, or will", but were settled quite comforably in nearby villages, until they were coerced by left-wing (Jewish) organisations, like Yesh Din, etc., to insist that they had rights to the land, and therefore the Jews, who had lived there for 20 years would have to be thrown from their homes.

As Weinberg put it, "the issue for the ideological haters that came out of the woodwork this month is the uprooting of the settlement movement life’s work; the destruction of the power of the ideological right-wing, especially the national-religious right-wing. Tearing down an icon of the settlement movement – that is what this is all about".

I totally agree. These "ideological haters" (regrettably helped in their goals by the left wing Supreme Court) are disgusting, and can be called traitors to the state.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Netanyahu: Demolish illegal Arab Construction
Prime Minister Netanyahu orders that the law be enforced over illegal Arab construction without double standards.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/221814
During the discussions, Netanyahu instructed the relevant officials to work to issue demolition orders for the illegal structures, located in Arab towns in northern and southern Israel, as well as in eastern Jerusalem. “There will be no double standards regarding construction,” […] “There will be equal enforcement of the law in Israel for both Jews and are Arabs.”

Comment to this article from DBL:
France might be leaning to vote in the UN in early January, but the Invented People are open to either possibility, December or January

Now this is what keeps Bibi up at nights because he has no faith. So rather than taking decisive action to nullify the Supreme Court ruling dealing with Amona, he worries and dithers about the upcoming UNSC vote. That upcoming vote causes him to freeze and wither because Mi SheMa'amin lo mefached (The one who believes is not afraid) while those who don't believe freeze up and wither before Mankind.


Demolishing a community is worse than desecrating the Sabbath'
Former MK Yaakov (Ketzaleh) Katz says the solution for Amona was “a total lie”.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/221821
The whole outline is a lie, there is no Regulation Law, Netanyahu promised but did not keep his promise,” he said. “Even if the Regulation Law passes, the Supreme Court will overturn it as it did with the Arutz Sheva Law. The Knesset passed the law, but the Supreme Court canceled it and imposed harsh decrees on us.

"Netanyahu does not want the Regulation Law, and I do not know if he secretly made an agreement with Bennett and Attorney General [Avichai] Mandelblit that the law will not pass. The public is not buying a ripoff,” continued Katz, who said that he believes that demolishing a community is more serious than desecrating the Sabbath.





1,500 Youths Arrive At Amona During The Night and Among those present is former MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari, a follower of Rabbi Meir Kahane HY”D
Ben-Ari feels the residents understand the deal is nothing but “empty promises”, adding “Ofra is Eretz Avos, Gideon… People are still living in caravillas from Gush Katif. We have learned a lesson. There is something about standing on one’s principles, even if it is taken away by force, but standing on that which one believes instead of compromising…Look what occurred in Migron and the Ulpana area of Beit El. Netanyahu and the exact same plan as [former Likud MK Tzipi] Livni [of Machane Tzioni]. He wants to create a State of Palestine between Shechem and Ramallah and this is his master plan, which he no longer hides. Let the world see that an entire yishuv is being uprooted by a so-called right-wing government. Let us see the reality as it is and not try to claim there is a difference between Netanyahu and Livni”.

Pain Free in Exile – Parshas Vayishlach

PAIN FREE IN *EXILE

By Roy S. Neuberger

My personal physician has a good sense of humor. The first time I met him, he told me, “If you wake up one morning and you don’t have a new pain, dial 911!” I thought this was just a good line, until I realized its wisdom. Over the years, I have frequently awakened with new pains, often in limbs I didn’t know existed. I realize that one can actually bless Hashem for all these pains, because they mean that you are alive!

A famous surgeon once told me, “Pain is a gift. Cancer comes without pain.”

At the leviah of Rabbi Moshe Dov Stein zt”l, the late revered posaik of Yeshiva Sh’or Yoshuv, a son recounted a recent conversation with his father:

“Tatty, how are you feeling today?”

“Worse, baruch Hashem.”

Do you hear this! This from a man whose days were numbered, and he knew it! “Worse, Baruch Hashem!” These words never left me.

This week’s Parsha describes Yaakov Avinu’s epic struggle: “Yaakov was left alone and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. When he perceived that he could not overcome him, he struck the socket of his hip, so Yaakov’s hip socket was dislocated as he wrestled with him…. The sun rose for him as he passed Penuel and he was limping on his hip. Therefore the Children of Israel are not to eat the displaced sinew on the hip socket to this day, because he struck Yaakov’s hip socket on the displaced sinew.” (Beraishis 32:25-33)

I have suffered over the years from sciatica. I know what it means to be “limping on one’s hip.” Sometimes, when in pain, I think about Yaakov Avinu and I am comforted.

It is vital to know that suffering has a purpose. It is vital to know that everything – everything! – in life is l’tova. A great rabbi told me, discussing the tribulations of the Avos and Imahos, that often it seems there is simply no way out of tzouris. Sometimes problems seem so overwhelming that you feel as if  “this mountain can never be climbed.” Then, you daven and do your hishtadlus, and time passes. Somehow you go onward. Years later, you look back, and you see that Hashem was holding your hand the entire time. You may even see why it was beneficial that you suffered, and you see before your eyes a whole world of goodness which Hashem arranged for you, and somehow you understand that you couldn’t have arrived there without the tzouris.

Several years ago I had surgery. I suffered afterwards. I was weak and dispirited. I felt I will never be myself again. Then, suddenly, I had a dream. I was in the Bais Hamikdosh! The kohanim were squeezing fruits in a press with a long wooden handle. The droplets and beautiful aroma filled the air. The kohanim kept repeating, “Pri Etz Hadar…. Pri Etz Hadar … Fruit of the Beautiful Tree ….” 

Our daughter said to look for a mekor for this dream, and I found that Chazal tell us it is good to “see an esrog in a dream … for it is written, [with reference to the esrog], ‘You shall take for yourselves] pri etz hadar … the fruit of a beautiful tree…..’” (Berachos 57a) These were the exact words the kohanim were saying in the dream!

I felt as if I had been transported inside the Gemora! Somehow, I knew that I could never have entered without the tzouris. I needed the tzouris to arrive at this holy destination.

In our world, we sometimes wish we could be pain free. This attitude we learn from the surrounding culture. Recently, in a doctor’s office, I saw a magazine called “Pain Free.” This is the fantasy of the surrounding culture, but we know that we will not be pain free until we arrive at the Geulah Shelemah.

Next week we read the words, “Vayeishev Yaakov … Yaakov settled in the land of his father’s sojournings …. (Beraishis 37:1), on which Rashi comments, “Yaakov wished finally to settle down tranquilly…. But Hashem says, ‘Are the righteous not satisfied with what awaits them in the World to Come that they expect to live at ease in this world?”

My friends, if we expect to live pain free in Golus, then that means we want to be satisfied with Golus, and we will cease to yearn with all our hearts for the Geulah! The surrounding nations are trying to make a Gan Eden out of the Golus they have created. They think, “only a little more technology and this will be the Garden of Eden.” In reality, their empty, amoral culture is lurching at every moment closer to self-destruction.

“Until the time of Yaakov, there was no sickness. [Yaakov] beseeched [Hashem and from then on] sickness came into being.” (Sanhedrin 107b; Bava Metzia 87a) In Gan Eden, there was no death, so one did not need to prepare for it. But, in our world, death has come because our ancient parents rebelled against their Creator and we have continued the rebellion.

We will overcome pain only when we return in teshuva to the Ribono shel Olam, and not a moment sooner. “The angel of evil has no power except at night, and Yaakov’s power is in the daytime. Therefore the [angel] said, ‘Let me go, for the dawn has broken, and I am now in your power.” (Zohar 1:170b)

On that day, “Hashem … will eliminate death forever and … erase all tears from all faces. He will remove the shame of His nation from upon the entire earth, for Hashem has spoken!” (Yeshiah 25:6ff) May we all soon witness the Great Dawn breaking on the eastern horizon!

“PAIN FREE LIVING” MAGAZINE

* * * *

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

© Copyright 2016 by Roy S. Neuberger

* edited by Mr Neuberger

Evil Travesty of Amona and the Impotency of the Government

Illegal Arab outpost still standing after 8 years

The Regavim organization petitioned High Court against illegal Arab building on state land which remains intact 8 years after construction. […] "This building was constructed on state land and, despite a case being opened against the construction nearly a decade ago, nothing was enforced. In the meantime, the place has become an outpost, growing and threatening the continued development of the Leshem community in accordance with its approved plans.”

“[…]Yossi Dagan, head of the Shomron regional council, said that "the discrimination against Judean and Samarian residents had never been clearer. At a time when we are all crying over the 50 houses in Amona which the state hurries to destroy, the state acts neglectfully towards one single house which is situated on state land for a decade. This is negligence on the part of the bureaucrats and harms the rights of residents of Leshem and Alei Zahav. This strange policy leads to the thought that somebody has an interest in harming the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria. I call on the relevant authorities to do their job properly.” Illegal Arab Housing

'In the final stretch, we were left alone'

Residents of Amona hold press conference to explain their opposition to the government proposal. "State did not commit to us on anything.” Left Alone

Finally, Someone Speaking Like a Mashiach:

'Do not participate in razing Amona’

Leading rabbis have called on security forces not to participate in the destruction of Amona.
"In a rabbinic letter publicized Thursday morning, the organization wrote "We encourage the dear residents of Amona at this time when the sword of exile is hanging over them, heaven forfend. May G-d guard and protect you within His nation and His land. The town of Amona resides on land belonging to the people of Israel as is written in the Torah, land which was redeemed from foreigners who conquered our country when we were forcibly exiled from it.”

"We call on the public to join the protest against the injustice. We call on members of the security establishment to act according to justice and integrity and not to blindly fulfill every command. The halakha states that 'If a king decreed to violate a mitzvah, one does not obey him" (Maimonides, Laws of Kings). Even according to the laws of the country, one should not fulfill an order which is implicitly illegal. May we merit true leadership which stands firm in the way of the Torah for the sake of the people of Israel and the land of Israel.'” Do Not Participate



EVIL (straight from the dictionary) means:

bad

corrupt

destructive

hateful

heinous

hideous

malevolent

malicious

nefarious

ugly

unpleasant

vicious

vile

villainous

wicked

base

foul

low

offensive

poison

reprobate

wrong

angry

atrocious

baneful

calamitous

damnable

depraved

disastrous

execrable

flagitious

harmful

iniquitous

injurious

loathsome

maleficent

no good

obscene

pernicious

rancorous

repugnant

repulsive

revolting

spiteful

stinking

unpropitious

Rabbi Pinchas Winston – 777 Parshas Vayishlach

**777 Parshas Vayishlach

The Talmud 'wanted to learn that learning Torah' is greater than fulfilling the mitzvah of honoring one’s father and mother. The proof: Yosef was absent from home for 22 years as punishment for Ya’akov’s being away from home for the same amount of time.

The problem with this pshat is that Ya’akov only left Eretz Yisroel in fulfillment of the mitzvah of Kibud Av v’Aim. His parents had sent him. Why would Ya’akov be penalized for this, and how can it be proof of the Bavli’s assertion?

The Chizkuni provided one explanation, but this led to other questions. This is a different explanation, and it raises questions of its own. One such question is, why was Ya’akov Avinu forced to “steal” the blessings in the first place, which resulted in his exile? Ya’akov may have been following his mother’s orders, but this led to the Hashgochah Pratis that necessitated such an approach to the future of the Jewish people?

Root Problem

It seemed like the most obvious thing to do. As the firstborn son of Yitzchak, Eisav was destined to be the future leader of the Jewish people. Just as there was destined to be four mothers, there was supposed to have been four fathers. There would have been, had Eisav not completely deviated from the path of Torah.

It was hard not to notice who Eisav had become, even for Ya’akov Avinu who buried himself in Torah learning in the Bais Midrash. Therefore, when the opportunity presented itself to take the right of the firstborn away from Eisav, Ya’akov did not hesitate and bought it for a pot full of lentils.

It was a clever move on Ya’akov Avinu’s part, but perhaps the source of all his problems. It set in motion a religious struggle that continues until this very day, one that can be translated into a fight for the right of the firstborn. Whether talking about the Crusades of the past or Jihad of the present, the war against the Jews is a war about who is the true firstborn of God.

What, if anything, should Ya’akov Avinu have done instead? Outreach? Was Eisav even open to any kind of positive spiritual change? Hardly. Ya’akov Avinu clearly took what seemed to have been the most expeditious route to becoming the people of God, and should certainly not have been penalized for that.

Then again, the Talmud, quite remarkably, says:

Rav Acha b’Rebi Chanina said: “Never did a favorable word go forth from the mouth of The Holy One, Blessed is He, of which He retracted for evil, except for this. It is written, ‘God said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a [letter] Tav upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that are done in its midst, etc.” ’ (Yechezkel 9:4). The Holy One, Blessed is He, said to Gavriel, ‘Go and put a Tav of ink upon the foreheads of the righteous, so the destroying angels won’t have power over them, and a Tav of blood upon the foreheads of the wicked, so the destroying angels may have power over them.’ 

The Attribute of Justice said before The Holy One, Blessed is He, ‘Master of the Universe! How are these different from those?’
‘They are completely righteous people, and the others are completely wicked,’ He answered.
‘Master of the Universe!’ it continued, ‘they had the power to protest but did not.’
‘It is well known that had they protested they would not have listened to them.’
‘Master of the Universe!’ it said, ‘This may have been revealed to You, but was it revealed to them?’
Thus it says, ‘[Completely kill] the old man, the young and the
maiden, and little children and women. But do not go near any man upon whom is the mark, and begin at My Sanctuary. Then they began with the elders which were before the house’ (Yechezkel 9:6).” (Shabbos 55a)

According to this, outreach does not begin only where there seems to be a chance of success to bring people closer to G–d. It simply begins because someone is NOT close to G–d. That is the mitzvah incumbent upon all those who know better. Success in any endeavor, the Talmud states, is totally in the hands of Heaven (Brochos 33b).

It is not clear if Ya’akov ever tried to bring Eisav back to the way of God. It could be that he bought the right of the firstborn only after all attempts at kiruv failed. It could also have been that being a person who dwelled all day in the tents of Torah study that he did not take it upon himself to mekarev his evil brother.

If it is assumed that Ya’akov did NOT try and bring Eisav back and should have, it could explain why all of his troubles began. It could be why he was forced to buy the “bechor” in the first place, setting up the need to later steal the blessings from Eisav. This led to Eisav’s increased hatred of Ya’akov, forcing Ya’akov to flee his family, his home, and Eretz Yisroel to save his life.

One of the greatest acts of Kibud Av v’AEim that Ya’akov Avinu could have done would have been to at least try to mekarev his brother. Not doing this forced him into a situation in which he could not actually perform the mitzvah of Kibud Av, being in the Diaspora.

In the end, though, the correlation of Yosef’s 22-year absence to Ya’akov’s 22-year exile in Padan Aram would not support the Bavli’s assertion of Torah learning being greater than the honoring of one’s parents. The concept may be true, but Ya’akov’s stay in Chutz L’Aretz would not be a proof of it.

In Summary

The discussion cannot end here. The Bavli made a statement. It cannot be wrong, per se. It can represent a different point of view, but it can’t be in error. This is Chazal we are talking about.

The answer in the end may have to do less with going to Padan Aram than going to the yeshivah of Shem and Eiver. After all, did his parents send him there first? It seems as if Ya’akov went on his own. Yitzchak and Rivkah may not have been against it, but it certainly seems from the story as if their main concern had been for Ya’akov to get as far from Eisav as possible, as soon as possible.

In the yeshivah of Shem and Eiver, however, Ya’akov remained at risk the entire 14 years he stayed there. While there, he could also not fulfill the mitzvah of Kibud Av, but he was not punished for this. Thus, it can be seen from this that learning Torah is greater than the mitzvah of honoring one’s parents.

If so, then why mention Ya’akov’s stay in Padan Aram as punishment for not fulfilling the mitzvah of Kibud Av v’Aim? Because, it shows that even though Ya’akov Avinu could not fulfill the mitzvah because of the reality of living in the Diaspora, he was still punished for being in a situation that denied him the opportunity to do as mentioned earlier.

If Ya’akov was punished for a lack of Kibud Av in a place where he technically could not fulfill the mitzvah, then how much more so should he have been punished for the lack of mitzvah in a Land in which he could fulfill it! Why wasn’t he? Because he was learning Torah, and that superseded the mitzvah of Kibud Av.

After this discussion, it may help to understand something that Rashi mentions in this week’s parshah in a different, perhaps more accurate light. Rashi explains the following verse as:

He commanded them, saying, “You shall say to my master to Eisav, ‘Your servant Ya’akov says, “I have sojourned—garti—with Lavan, and I have delayed until now.’ ” (Bereishis 32:5) “Garti” has the numerical value of 613, to say: “I lived with the wicked Lavan, but I kept the 613 commandments, and I did not learn from his evil deeds.”

What was Ya’akov intimating with this hint, especially if mitzvos did not apply in Padan Aram?

Eisav may have counted on the reality of the Diaspora with respect to mitzvah observance to have weakened Ya’akov’s connection to God. He may have hoped that Ya’akov had become like him over the 22 years he was outside the Land, leveling the spiritual playing field, so-to-speak, and greatly reducing his Divine assistance.

Interestingly, the Hebrew word Ya’akov uses is “shamarti,” which means “guarded.” If he meant to say that he had FULFILLED the mitzvos in Chutz L’Aretz, he could have, and should have, used the word “kiyamti,” which means, “I fulfilled.” Why the difference?

In next week’s parsha we will see the word “shamar” in a different context. After Yosef reveals his second dream to his father and brothers, his father rebukes him while his brothers become even more jealous of Yosef. Nevertheless, the verse ends by saying:

So his brothers envied him, but his father awaited—shamar—the matter. (Bereishis 37:11) Awaited the matter: He was waiting and looking forward in expectation of when [the fulfillment] would come. (Rashi)

Based upon this explanation, perhaps Ya’akov was letting Eisav know: I may not have been able to fulfill the mitzvos while away from Eretz Yisroel, but I kept doing them while there, to “protect” them from becoming lost from me. Thus, now that I am back in Eretz Yisroel where mitzvos count, I am as a proficient as I was before I left, as if I never left Eretz Yisroel. If anything, Ya’akov was telling his brother, my merit has increased since returning home.

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*[Me:  Also check in with Reb Dov Bar Lieb for his second installment in this Yaakov/Eisav series of adventures, so important in understanding these days we are living thru.]


** This installment of the weekly Parshiot is numbered ‘777’ and I included it in the title because we are in the year ‘777’ and these experiences of Yaakov with Eisav have always been studied by our Sages in their dealings with the non-Jewish world throughout our history. 

ALSO:  Listen to Rabbi Mizrachi as he explains in the beginning of this shiur about the young Jewish  boys and girls who are thirsting for Torah and have returned to being Shomer Shabbat.