A Glimpse Into Parshas Chayei Sarah

A glimpse into Parshas Chayei Sarah:

The Arizal explains the following about the relationship between Sarah and Hagar:

Know that Sarah and Hagar correspond to the brain and its membranes, and just as the membranes precede the brain, so Hagar gave birth before Sarah…. Indeed, the gematria of Hagar [הגר ] is 208, the same as the gematria of Isaac [יצחק ], both of them represent judgment. For the membranes are harsh judgments. The ancient kings [the sefirot of the World of Chaos] died because they were not sweetened and they were from the root of evil, from Cain. Thus, Sarah placed an evil eye on Hagar’s [first] pregnancy and she miscarried, because that child was only from the aspect of evil…. Sarah wanted to sweeten [Hagar’s second pregnancy] with goodness and to augment the good and submit the evil, and so Abraham told her: “[Here is your maidservant,] do with her whatever you see to be good,” and the stress here is on the “good.” This was the reason that Sarah tormented Hagar, in order to submit the evil in her and to strengthen the good. And this is also why the angel told Hagar, “Return to your mistress and be tormented by her.”

We see from the Arizal’s explanation that even in the pregnancy of Ishmael, it was Abraham’s mercy that was able to sweeten the harsh judgment that was part of Sarah’s character. While at first Sarah had cast an evil eye on Hagar causing her to miscarry, the second time, thanks to Abraham’s merciful nature, she was able to use the harsh judgments in a constructive way so as to rectify Hagar (at least to some extent).

Salve ... Buongiorno ... Здравствуйте!

Eisav's Search for Alien Life

Award Winning Photographer Martin Pugh

[not from Hubble]

“The Pontifical Academy of Sciences is holding a conference on astrobiology, the study of life beyond Earth, with scientists and religious leaders gathering in Rome this week. For centuries, theologians have argued over what the existence of life elsewhere in the universe would mean for the Church: at least since Giordano Bruno, an Italian monk, was put to death by the Inquisition in 1600 for claiming that other worlds exist.

Among other things, extremely alien-looking aliens would be hard to fit with the idea that God “made man in his own image”.”

Geeky Gear: When E.T. Phones the Pope

The Vatican's five-day conference is chaired by the religious leader of the highly regarded Academy, Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo. Scientists (many of them nonbelievers) are offering presentations on subjects as varied as how life might have begun on Earth; what newly found "extremophile" microbes living in harsh places on our planet might tell us about possible life on others; and how life forms might be detected in our solar system, or how their bio-signatures might be found on and around the many distant exoplanets.

Having overcome the giggle factor of most things extraterrestrial, astrobiologists are telling a scientific story to an audience that may someday use it to defend -- or enhance -- its faith.

Read more here

A Defining Moment in History

"And it came to pass after these things,

that G-d tested Avraham"

(Genesis 22:1)

One aspect that surfaces from the Parsha (Vayeira) this last Shabbos, is how Avraham Avinu successfully passed the Ten Tests that Hashem tested him with. You may have noticed that Parshas Lech Lecha (the previous week's sedra) and Parshas Vayeira are very similar in certain aspects: Pharoah and Avimelech; Leave your country/family and Leaving Eretz Canaan from a Famine; Sarah Imeinu being wrongly abducted and then released with gifts from foreign Kings. The one dividing moment between the two was Avraham's Bris Milah. After which the Final Test was the Akeida (the binding of Isaac).

These tests were important, and they created the defining moment in the History of the Jews.

The same is true today. Hashem is continually testing all of us. Each time an "obstacle" rises up to confound your plans, or prevents you from fulfilling some action - this "obstacle" demands your attention. This is a test that your "neshoma" must deal with and not one to ignore and hope it will go away.

I believe the entire world is being tested now, and your success is determined by how you deal with those challenges, obstacles, barriers that surprise you.

People that believe in G-d and are sincere in their moral outlook are also keen to what is happening in the world. The following article is written by a non-Jew, Nathan White from Atlanta, Georgia, on the subject of Globalization and the Tower of Babel, which appears on his blog.

I think it is worth reading and present it here, with minor editing [in brackets]:

The Tower of Babel
We’re all familiar with the story of the Tower of Babel found in Genesis 11. Essentially, the whole earth had one language, and all the world’s population had migrated to the same location. The whole world then joined together to build a great city, and had aspirations of building a tower that reached the heavens. Not much detail is given in regards to what exactly their great sin was, but [G-d] came down and confused their language, so that they no longer understood each other, thus the people of the city of Babel were dispersed throughout the earth.

Though the text isn’t explicit in regards to their sin other than God saying “this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them” (Gen 11:6), the greater theological implications of the story are many. I do not intend to explore the implications today, but I would like to consider the concept of globalization in regards to this narrative.

Globalization
I first studied cultural globalization in an anthropology course I took last year at Kennesaw State University. It was a topic that I found very interesting. According to Wikipedia, Globalization “can be described as a process by which the people of the world are unified into a single society and function together.”

Related to this globalization is acculturation, which is “the process of adopting the cultural traits or social patterns of another group.” Essentially, this is when one culture adopts the traits of another culture because of their exposure to it. Westernization, for example, is one clear form of this, as the western way of living –things like industry, technology, law, politics, economics, lifestyle, diet, language– spread from America and Europe into Eastern societies.

Globalization and the Tower of Babel
I think it is safe to say that human depravity and it’s outward manifestation of evil flourishes most in large cities, in the larger concentrations of population. This isn’t the case every time without exception, but with the concentration of a large population in one location, the influence and opportunity for evil is greatly multiplied. Add to this the prosperity provided by living in [a] location where work is plentiful, and there is soon little to restrain any and all outward manifestations of [a] sinful nature.

I think one aspect of the sin of the city of Babel was the fact that they were determined to all live in [one] location; one giant city, with one common culture. Forming one such culture, while rejecting the command to ‘be fruitful and multiply (spreading the knowledge and worship of G-d), would lead to such an abundant of sinfulness, that ‘nothing that they propose (sinfully) will be impossible’.

The City of Babel = The City of this World
If you haven’t noticed, in our day, the world is rapidly unifying in culture. One thing emphasized in the textbook that I studied was the unfortunate downside of all our technological advances in this day. It is unfortunate because pretty soon, anthropology, the study of social customs and human behavior, will will no longer have much to study given that we’re all becoming exactly alike! There won’t be any primitive tribes and their customs, or relatively unknown clans and their unique preferences of food; the entire world will be the same all over, and pretty soon we’ll find no group of people living out of reach of a local McDonalds.

This globalization started on a large scale with worldwide mail and the telephone, where we could almost instantly communicate with others all the way across the globe. Next it was air-travel, opening up global travel in a way like never before. Now, with the internet and 24hr news stations, we are experiencing a globalization at a growth rate unprecedented in all of human history (except, maybe, in the case of Babel). To put it simply: there is a breaking down of cultural distinct[ions], and we are rapidly moving toward a one-world, one-city, largely one culture society. We are becoming, quite frankly, a modern-day, worldwide, Tower of Babel.

Conclusion
[...] Simply put, I think the western influence on culture is largely a good thing. There are many aspects of globalization that are very good.... But, what I fear, and what I thought about while watching this video, is how this movement toward one-culture (notice that China will soon become the number [one] English speaking country in the world) will indeed multiply sin and the opportunity of sin on the earth. With the growth of the population, and the spread of information made possible by the internet and other media, there will be no shelter from all forms of wickedness for even the most remotest of people on the earth. Indeed, though the internet has been a great means of spreading [good], the accessibility of evil it has provided is enough to make any [person, parent] shudder.

Indeed, one unfortunate downside to our technology is the fact that “this is only the beginning of what WE will do. And nothing that WE propose to do will now be impossible“.

ADDENDA:

Was the Tower of Babel a Nuclear Powered Spaceship?

"And it came to pass when they traveled from the east, that they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there." (Gen. 11:2)

[...] Acording to Rabbi Eliezer Ben David ... they did not find a valley, a Bik'a; but rather they found a Bik'ia... The Hebrew word Bik'ia also means nuclear fission. Both the Torah text and our Sages commentaries seem to imply that the ancient technology ... later discovered by the Builders of Babel was nothing other than the secrets of nuclear technology... this might not be so wild and unnbelievable as we might initially think." Read on here

At Fort Hood

Sympathy ...

with teleprompters.

A look of sympathy ...

or of discomfort?

Before Persia there was Egypt

Jewish genealogy traces Jews from Adam HaRishon to: fast-forward to Egypt, where they lived the Passover story. When the Jews were led out of Mitzrayim by Moses, others came along. Fast-forward to:

LONDON – MI6, Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, has established that the greatest living Holocaust denier, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, comes from a Jewish family whose genetic line stretches back hundreds of years and whose members came to Iran when Cyrus the Great liberated them from slavery in Babylon in 593 BC, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

The man who has spent his years in power calling for Israel to be wiped off the face of the earth has managed to keep totally secret his family history until now.

Family members worshipped at the synagogue in Aradan, a small country town where they were known as "Sabourjian" – a Jewish surname meaning cloth weaver.

The 52-year-old Iranian president was born in a small house above the family cloth-weaving workshop where he was introduced to the tenets of the faith. They baked their bread for Sabbath, and celebrated all the Jewish festivals.

By the age of four his friends were children of a mixture of Hassadin, Orthodox and Marmos Jews. Like his friends he was circumcised.

Keep in touch with the most important breaking news stories about critical developments around the globe with Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence news source edited and published by the founder of WND.

Since Ahmadinejad came to power he has taken extraordinary steps to hide his background as he shocked the world with his calls for Israel to be destroyed.

Some intelligence analysts have said that his determination to build nuclear weapons is rooted in his wish to hide the truth about his ancestry.

MI6 has discovered that Iran's ruthless Revolutionary Guards have posted their own agents in Aradan. Members of the family have been moved to an undisclosed area in Iran, said an MI6 source.

Full article at WorldNetDaily.

SUBWAY ATTACK NYC

BRITISH SPIES HELP PREVENT AL QAEDA-INSPIRED ATTACK ON NEW YORK SUBWAY

British spies have foiled a terrorist plot by a suspected al Qaeda operative to blow up the New York Subway.

This innocent looking young man in implicated in this dastardly accusation.

Najibullah Zazi, from Denver Colorado

The plan, which reportedly would have been the biggest attack on America since 9/11 was uncovered after Scotland Yard intercepted an email.

Full article at Subway attack

AND then the US State Department has the audacity to issue a report that Israel is not a tolerant society! [I guess the 'audacity' virus has infected them. Maybe they need some swine flu vaccine]

Israel has done more for all peoples on the earth just by being! They have contributed to more life-saving inventions than any other people. Have created military objects and methods to save lives while defending their people from hateful, murderous attacks.

Resistance is the Alternative

Assad: "If Golan talks fail, we'll turn to Resistance"

Speaking at Organization of Islamic Conference economic forum in Istanbul, Syrian president says if 'occupied Syrian Golan' is not returned by Israel through peaceful means, 'this automatically means resistance is the alternative solution'

[…] According to Assad, "Resisting the occupation is a national duty. It is our legitimate and moral obligation to support it, and it is an honor that we take pride in.

This does not contradict the constant desire to achieve a just and inclusive peace on the basis of the restoration of the occupied lands, starting with the occupied Syrian Golan." YNetnews

This is not a ‘prediction’ but an observation. This man in my estimation is the man of which it says: “… the least among all the kings […]He is very tall, has a long face with a wide forehead, thin, thin thighs.” But of course I could be wrong, which I am not adverse to admit. Once before we were attacked from the NORTH, and the area where Syria is located is north of Eretz Yisrael and has ties to Hizbolla.

Need we be reminded of this historical event: US President Barack Obama reiterated his support for the Saudi Mideast peace initiative in a meeting with King Abdullah,

that put impetus into many forces within the Muslim World :

Especially after Saudi Monarch Visits Syria: Saudi King Abdullah’s three day visit to Damascus this week is being seen as marking the end of the bitter dispute between the two countries. It’s also seen as a sign that the Saudis want distance themselves from the policies of the Bush Admin. Israel National News

Schizophrenia or

... Defending a People and Making a

Kiddush Hashem

Two States Now!

Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who failed to find a solution to actualize an agreement with the PA as prime minister, is now suggesting a new formula, the immediate declaration of the State of Palestine, leaving the “core issues” to be worked out at a later date, after the fact. ... Barak stated that at first, the PA state would be declared, without defining its exact borders, but with an assurance that within a maximum of two years, all remaining core issues must be resolved. This would include the status of Yerushalayim, borders, security and refugees.[...]

Sovereignty Now!

Annexing Judea and Samaria the only viable road map to peace, stability …

Moshe Dann

It's time to end the confusion and ambiguity over what rightfully belongs to the Jewish people. This is not a matter to be decided by the US, EU, or UN. Or is it?

Demanding that Israel stop all construction in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem implies it's all "illegally occupied." But, then, to whom does it belong? What are Israel's legal and historic claims? Jewish reverence for Jerusalem is special because it is the spiritual center of the Jewish people; but Jews have no less affection for and identity with hundreds of historic places throughout Judea and Samaria. The Land of Israel isn't an amusement park of sentimentality, or Hollywood of memories and museums. It is at the core of Jewish consciousness. Sacrificing some communities in order to save others, amputating hilltops and settlements to assuage Arabs and the international community only encourages more radical demands and undermines Israel's raison d’être. [...]

Unbelievable ...

237 Millionaires in Congress

"Talk about bad timing.

As Washington reels from the news of 10.2 percent unemployment, the Center for Responsive Politics is out with a new report describing the wealth of members of Congress.

Among the highlights: Two-hundred-and-thirty-seven members of Congress are millionaires. That’s 44 percent of the body – compared to about 1 percent of Americans overall.

CRP says California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa is the richest lawmaker on Capitol Hill, with a net worth estimated at about $251 million. Next in line: Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), worth about $244.7 million; Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), worth about $214.5 million; Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), worth about $209.7 million; and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), worth about $208.8 million.

All told, at least seven lawmakers have net worths greater than $100 million, according to the Center’s 2008 figures."

PEGOSI: Buy a $15,000 Policy or Go to Jail

JCT Confirms Failure to Comply with Democrats’ Mandate Can Lead to 5 Years in Jail

Friday, November 06, 2009

Asleep at the Wheel of Hashgacha Pratis!

THIS IS WHAT GOD SAID:

"God said to Abram ... Go forth for yourself from your country”… “and from your birthplace” … “to the Land which I will show you” …”I shall make a great nation out of you” … “I shall bless those who bless you” … ”and all the families of the world will receive a blessing thanks to you.” (Bereshis, Parsha Lech Lecha)

"FOR IF THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD SHOULD SAY TO ISRAEL":

“You are robbers, because you have siezed by force the lands of the seven nations” (Canaan) they could say to them, “The entire world belongs to the Holy One, Blessed Be He, He created it and gave it to whomever it was right in his eyes. Of His own will He gave it to them and of His own will He took it from them and gave it to us.” (Yalkut, Ex 12.2)

NOT THE LIES THAT A PALESTINIAN HISTORIAN

OR A SENIOR PLO OFFICIAL WHEN HE SAYS

WE WERE NEVER IN THE LAND

AND THAT THEY ARE THE RIGHTFUL OCCUPIERS

Are we Jews asleep at the wheel of hashgacha pratis!

The first Rashi in the Torah should speak to us loudly.

Rashi tells us what to say “when” and not “if” they call us robbers; Rashi tells us to ‘be NOT TIMID, be PROUD OF OUR YERUSHA, STAND UP AND ANNOUNCE TO THE WORLD THAT Eretz Yisrael is our God-given HOME.’

The Bible states Hashem gave it to us, now we have to EARN IT.

Now, the Nations of the World are in fact calling us “robbers,” the Nations of [36,025,880 million] Arabs are challenging our God-given yerusha of Eretz Yisrael.

Rashi gave us the text, now we must stand firm behind these words. The Muslim and non-Muslim world is waiting for our collective pronouncement by the State of Israel and by the People of Yisrael.

Arab unrest is dauntingly challenging our sovereignty over the Jewish Holiest place in the entire world, our Har Habayit, the Temple Mount and what the Holy Torah (Bible) says. Every non-Jew that has read the Old Testament of their Bible knows this to be true.

David Kirshenbaum wrote an excellent JPost op-ed (excerpts follow):

“The characterization of those who seek to change the status quo on the Temple Mount as "post-Zionists," "messianic followers" of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and "Third Templars" is false. A number of synagogues in my hometown of Beit Shemesh schedule regular visits to the Temple Mount. The vast majority of the members of those synagogues are immigrants from Western countries. We yearn to pray on the Temple Mount and not be muzzled and followed every step of the way by the religious bigots of the Wakf.” [full article here.]

Why are Israeli citizens being deligitimized and called:

“Wild-eyed messianics? Cultists? After we come down from our visits to the Temple Mount, we can be found at our day jobs as doctors in this country's hospitals, university professors, educators at prominent religious institutions, participants in the country's thriving hi-tech industry and lawyers at the most prominent law firms and financial institutions. ...”

“SIMILARLY, EVEN the most cursory good faith check would expose the speciousness of the "post-Zionist" and "messianic" labels the Post uses to deride the many rabbinical figures who are advocating that Jews be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount. “ …

Hashem gave us an inheritance. We need to earn it and keep it … to make a real Kiddush Hashem. But we have been in golus so long that our minds are incapable of realizing and believing and acting on this gift we were given and the fact that the Land was waiting for us and is now responding to our presence, to the developing and working the Land. One needs only read Eim Habanim Semeichah and understand what Rabbi Teichtal wrote as his gift to us from out of the Holocaust.

Gently we have been directed back to our Heritage. Pioneers returned to the Holy Land in the 19th Century to dig, plant and prepare. Then the world and UN was moved to legislate that Jews return to their Homeland. A movement rises to facilitate REsettlement and development of areas for future population. Shefa from Shomayim showered down to create incentive in the minds and hearts of many to sacrifice and dedicate their lives to REcreating a vibrant Homeland and Haven for all Jews.

Differing segments of Israeli society are grieved over many aspects of the early years in the blossoming of Eretz Yisrael. It wasn’t perfect and no it wasn’t without injustices. If you have not read this amazing book, please do: Eim HaBanim Semeichah*, on Eretz Yisrael, Redemption, and Unity by HaRav Yisachar Shlomo Teichtal zt”l [Av Beit Din and Rosh Yeshiva in Pishtian] and can be found online here. (*see intro below)

The Israeli Government formulated incentives and financial assistance to help make the transition less stressful because it is a mind-altering experience to live among our people again. Realizing a 2000 year yearning and simultaneous ‘conditioning’ which is a result of living in every country in the world EXCEPT your own Homeland, is not easily overcome. When Jews from each of these myriad countries with their social mores and various life experiences come together there is a vibrancy that requires much patience and understanding.

And today, we have Nefesh B’Nefesh that literally does the paperwork and swoops up Jews on the Wings of El Al and brings them to their ancient Homeland and their new home.

Cognitive dissonance is still wrapped around 80% of world Jewry, so much so that they turn against their heritage, their fellow Jews, their religion, and against Hashem. They are unfortunately in a deep dark sleep? Perhaps the same darkness that enveloped the 80% in Mitzrayim.


* * * *

*Eim Habanim Semeichah, written in 1943, is Rabbi Teichtal’s comprehensive treatise on Settlement in Eretz Yisrael, Messianic Redemption, and Jewish Unity. Rabbi Teichtal’s personal history lends significance to this work.

Born in 1885 to a respected Rabbinic family, Rabbi Teichtal studied under the tutelage of some of the noted scholars of his day and was recognized at an early age as a talmid chacham. He served as the Rabbi of Pishtian, Czechoslovakia where he established the Moriah Yeshiva. His opinion on halachic matters was sought by many throughout Europe, and his responsa were published in a three volume work entitled Mishneh Sachir. During his 20 years in Pishtian, Rabbi Teichtal became a recognized Rabbinic leader of the so-called “Ultra Orthodox” world and shared the prevalent anti-Zionist sentiments of that community.

After Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia, Rabbi Teichtal became active in relief activities in an effort to ease the plight of his community. When deportations began in 1942, he and his family went into hiding. At this point, Rabbi Teichtal came to the realization that the neglect of Eretz Yisrael had been a serious mistake. There, in the attic in which he was hiding, with virtually no books at his disposal, Rabbi Teichtal began the writing of Eim Habanim Semeichah, which he completed in one year. Unfortunately, Rabbi Teichtal did not survive the holocaust, dying Al Kiddush Hashem on a train on the way to the Mathausen concentration camp in January, 1945. His book, however, was deposited with a gentile family and retrieved by his daughter after the war. Thus his legacy and his teachings survived.

Eim Habanim Semeichah presents classical sources in support of the settlement of Eretz Yisrael and the unity of the Jewish people as necessary preconditions for the Messianic redemption. Rabbi Teichtal advocates the concept of natural redemption that had been posited 80 years earlier by Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Kalischer. He also finds merit in the settlement efforts of the non-religious chalutzim, although he exhorts them to adopt Torah observance. The settlement of Eretz Yisrael is, according to the author, the beginning of a process of repentance and unification that will result in the Messianic Era. Rabbi Teichtal acknowledges his previous rejection of active settlement of Eretz Yisrael and engages in a psychological analysis of the ongoing rejection of this idea in the Orthodox world in spite of the grave situation of the Jews of Europe.

Many of the sources and ideas in Eim Habanim Semeichah are as relevant today as they were when the book was written. It is an important contribution that this work has been made available to the English speaking public.

We only have to open our eyes and read some of the headlines:

Antisemitic ECJ Legal Ruling:
an advisor to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg by Advocate-General Yves Bot ruled [ here and here] that products manufactured in “settlements” and PA autonomous areas are not entitled to customs benefits … The items in question arrived in the Port of Hamburg, marked as “Israel” being the source of origin, but the ruling stated otherwise. While the goods received provisional customs benefits, pending an investigation into the origin, as is the practice with goods arriving from Israel, goods originating in the “West Bank”, Golan Heights, [previously Gaza] and the eastern capital are not are not viewed as originating in “Israel”.

The Israeli Sanhedrin chastises the UN. Arutz Sheva

BARAK DECLARES: Two States Now!
Barak Presents his Master Plan for an Agreement with PA

MOSHE DANN COUNTERS: Sovereignty Now!
Annexing Judea and Samaria the only viable road map to peace, stability ...

ARABS ACCELERATE CONSTRUCTION in Israel's Mountainous Heartland
here: Under pressure from the United States, Israel has been discussing and at least partially implementing a freeze on construction in Yehudah and Shomron (Judea and Samaria), its mountainous heartland. The PA Arab authority there, meanwhile, is doing the the opposite, gearing up for a building drive in areas designated as 'Area C' in the Oslo agreements – even though these areas are under Israeli security and administrative control. [ARABS OK TO BUILD: BUT JEWS ARE NOT TO BUILD. ARABS BELIEVE IT ALL BELONGS TO THEM:] PA Prime Minister Salam Fayad said that the PA does not see any difference between Areas A, B or C, and that it objects to the Israel claim that Area C is a disputed zone. “While Israel invades A Areas by military force, we invade C Areas through construction,” he explained.

DR BEN ARI DECLARES:
Follow King David's Advice on Gaza:
“... Israel should follow King David's advice from the Eighteenth Psalm regarding Gaza: ‘I will chase my enemies and catch up to them and I shall not return until I annihilate them.’ The conflict will be decided on the political level,” Ben-Ari predicted. "In the end, the Arabs' pleas for a ceasefire will be heeded before we break the enemy's will to fight, just like our humiliating defeat in the Second Lebanon War and Resolution 1701."

More here:
Arab Manipulation of the Media

Valuable Information

WHAT WESTERN DEMOCRACIES

(if there are any left)

MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT JIHAD

Hebrew University Prof. Moshe Sharon, a world renowned authority on Islam, sheds light on Jihad in Islam against Israel and the West (2007):

"Jihad is the strategy and, therefore, agreements are a (tactical) interlude in the war (against the infidel),” he writes.

Sharon also notes the following: "Islam came to being as a fighting religion. Mohammed imposed his authority by means of his military strength…Islam was born in order to rule, as is only fitting for the religion of Allah which is one and exclusive”

"Any territory that was ever Muslim becomes sacred to Islam,” Sharon further notes. “If the territory is conquered by enemies of Islam, like Spain, Palestine and parts of Europe, it is incumbent upon Islam to do everything to restore it to Islamic rule.”

Finally, Sharon explains that "The laws of Jihad…form the basis of the relations between the Muslim world and the West…The only possible relations between Muslims and non-Muslims are war or a limited ceasefire.”

“Any sign of weakness is a clear call to renew Jihad,” he says. “An agreement which contains anything beyond a limited armistice or ceasefire is null and void. The only agreement with non-believers that is permitted by Islamic law is one that enables Islam to strengthen itself, so that when the time comes it can resume Jihad in better conditions.”

Meanwhile, according to Prof. Bernard Lewis, the world's leading expert on Islamic history, "the Muslims believe that they had caused the fall of the Soviet Union (in Afghanistan)…Dealing with the soft, pampered and effeminate Americans would be easier…”

"The Muslims are now convinced that terror is the most effective weapon in their arsenal. They found out that they can kill civilians without being punished,” Lewis adds. “Muslim terrorists are encouraged by 'experts,' who keep repeating: 'There's no military solution to terror.”

At this time, Israel is the West's First Yard Line of defense. A strong Israel deters Jihad; a weakened Israel fuels Jihad.

Full article at the Ettinger Report.

Avraham's Revolution

Sefer Bereshis is by far the most exciting with the adventures of our Avos and Imahos (biblical fathers and mothers). The lessons to be learned never ends, and portends the lives we experience to this day. Each week's Parsha contains valuable simanim applicable to either current personal or world events. Following is Rabbi YY Jacobson on Parshas Vayeira. (Genesis 18:1-33)

Angels and Mustard

The opening of this week's Torah portion (1), Vayeira, relates the tale of Abraham sitting during a hot day at the entrance of his tent and observing three men standing nearby. He ran toward them and insisted that they come relax at his tent.

Abraham was very specific (2): "Let some water be brought and wash your feet, and recline beneath the tree. I will fetch a morsel of bread so that you may sustain yourself." The three men consent and accept Abraham's invitation.

At this point, the Bible gives us a detailed account of what transpired during the following moments (3):

"Abraham rushed to the tent to Sarah and said, 'Hurry! Three measures (4) of the finest flour! Knead it and make rolls! Then Abraham ran to the cattle, took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the young man who rushed to prepare it.

"He took cottage cheese (5) and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed these before them; he stood over them as they ate under the tree." "They asked him, 'Where is Sarah your wife? And he said, 'Behold — in the tent!'"

"'I will return to you this time next year,' said , 'and your wife Sarah will have a son.'"

The continuation of the narrative makes it clear (6) that these three visitors were no simple men, but rather spiritual energies, or angels, manifested in the bodies and the guise of men. These angels were sent to carry out three monumental tasks described in the continuation of the story: A) to inform Abraham that Sarah would give birth; B) to overturn the evil city of Sodom and, finally, C) to rescue Abraham's nephew Lot and his family who lived in Sodom (7).

A few questions should be asked:

1) Since two of the three angels came to carry out tasks unrelated to Abraham, why did these two angels come to Abraham's home first (8)?
2) Why does the Torah find it necessary to inform us of the exact words and tasks of Abraham upon greeting the guests, including the exact menu of what he served them? If the Torah wished to teach us about his extraordinary hospitality, couldn't it have simply stated that Abraham took care of all their needs?
3) The question the men asked Abraham — "Where is Sarah your wife?" — seems amiss, since after Abraham told them where she was, they did not proceed to address her, and continued speaking to Abraham. Why did they ask this question (9)?

I once heard a moving homiletical interpretation to this biblical episode, based on the writings of Chassidic masters (10).

According to Jewish tradition (11), there exists in each generation a tzaddik, a great spiritual giant, who serves as a bridge between heaven and earth. This is a human being who carries the burden of history on his shoulders and always has his finger on the pulse of the generation. While others plan their vacations and retirements, this person cannot sleep at night as long as there is one soul in G-d's universe hurting.

In his times, Abraham served as this tzaddik, the Rebbe (spiritual master) of the world. When three angels were dispatched to pay a visit to planet Earth, they were determined to visit this extraordinary human being. They longed to be touched by his soul, inspired by his spirituality and ignited by his passion. The angels craved to encounter the majesty of holiness at its peak.

When the three angels approached Abraham's tent, they expected to discover a soul burning with a sacred flame, steeped in heavenly meditation, melting away in infinite ecstasy. They expected to find a spirit dancing with the divine, free of any trace of the mundane, suspended above the crassness of the physical universe and its materialistic trappings. The angels anticipated an encounter with a human being of serene transcendence engulfed in an aura of paradise.

What was the reality the angels actually encountered?

"Let some water be brought and wash your feet, and recline beneath the tree," the great Rebbe, Abraham, declared. "I will fetch a morsel of bread so that you may sustain yourself," were the words that came out of G-d's ambassador to planet Earth.

"Abraham rushed to the tent to Sarah and said, 'Hurry! Three measures of the finest flour! Knead it and make rolls! Then Abraham ran to the cattle, took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the young man who rushed to prepare it. He took cottage cheese and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed these before them; he stood over them as they ate under the tree." A man of infinite ecstasy? Not a glimmer. A man of celestial vision? Not a trace. A man of uninhibited passion? Not a glimpse. A good chef who knows how to run a smooth kitchen — that is what they saw in Abraham.

"We thought we were coming to a Rebbe," they must have thought to themselves. "Instead, we ended up at a butcher…"

In lieu of finding the light of the divine radiating from Abraham's tent, they discovered an old man running around, tongue and mustard in his hands (12)! "We must have come to the wrong location," the angels mused. Then a thought came to their mind that perhaps when they heard in heaven that Abraham was the tzaddik of the generation, it was actually referring not to him but to his counterpart, Sarah. She might be the real master of the generation and Abraham merely her attendant.

So the narrative continues: "They asked him, 'Where is Sarah your wife (13)?" Perhaps we can get a glimpse of your wife and we will finally encounter the presence of authentic holiness. "And he said, 'Behold — in the tent!'" What Abraham was telling the angels is that if they did not 'get it' henceforth, seeing Sarah wouldn't do the job either, for she is even more concealed than Abraham. She is concealed in the tent. Her true identity is not easily appreciated.

At that moment, for the first time, the angels realized how deeply they had erred. In their longing to encounter holiness, they missed the ultimate point: that the authentic majesty of human holiness consists of a person's daily acts of love, selflessness and graciousness performed amid the stress and lowliness of a physical existence. The angels failed to recognize that the genuine experience of serving G-d means not to soar to the heavens searching for angels, but to be there for another human being in a very physical and pragmatic way.

"Hurry! Three measures of the finest flour! Knead it and make rolls!" In these words one can encounter the most profound expression of human holiness. "He took cottage cheese and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed these before them; he stood over them as they ate under the tree." In this simple, mundane behavior, one comes in contact with the grace and depth of the human experience: discovering the light of G-d within your interactions and constructing a fragment of heaven within the earthly framework of your existence.

"I will return to you this time next year, and your wife Sarah will have a son," came the response of the angel. This was not merely a communication of G-d's earlier promise to Abraham; it was also a response of an angel in awe of the revolution that Abraham introduced to the world, in which a human being in his ordinary daily behavior can build a home for G-d. Abraham's revolution, the angel insisted, must have a future in the form of a family, and, ultimately, a people, charged with the mission to teach the world how to generate a romantic kiss between heaven and earth.

The angels never forgot that visit. Abraham gave them not only a sobering lesson in what real life is like, but also a lesson of what it meant to be authentically spiritual.

True spirituality, Abraham was communicating to the angels, lies not in man's attempt to escape the trappings of the world, but rather in his commitment to draw down light and beauty into the darkness of life. It is only here -- not in Pluto -- where you can create the real atmosphere.

This explains an enigmatic change in the biblical language. In the beginning of the narrative detailing the visit of the angels we read: "vehinei shlosha anoshim NITZAVIM ALOV," meaning that the angels were standing OVER him. Later, when the guests are being served by Abraham, we read: "VEHU OMED ALEIHEM,” meaning that Abraham stood OVER them (14).

It was through this act of hospitality which Abraham transcended the angels; he was now standing over and above them. For it is through simple human kindness practiced on earth that man reaches far beyond the most spiritual angels.

Footnotes:
1) Genesis chapter 18.
2) Ibid. 18:4.
3) Ibid. 18:6.
4) Se'ahs in Hebrew. This is equivalent to around 30 cups or 9 pounds of flour!
5) Chemah in Hebrew. See The Living Torah (by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan) for the various translations of the word.
6) Genesis 19:1. Cf. referenced noted in the following footnote.
7) These three tasks are explicitly stated in the biblical narrative. Our sages point out that the third angel who rescued Lot also healed Abraham after his circumcision at the age of 99 (Bava Metzia 86b; Bereshis Rabah 50:2; Rashi Genesis 18:2).
8) According to the sources in the previous footnote, two of the angels were given tasks related to Abraham. Still the question remains, why did the third angel go to Abraham's home?
9) See Rashi Genesis 18:9 (from the Midrash and the Talmud) for three possible answers to this question.
10) The germ of the idea I heard from Rabbi Yisroel Twersky (Lakewood, NJ), who heard it from his relative, the distinguished Jerusalem Rabbi Baruch Shimon Schneerson (1912-2001), Rosh Yeshiva of Tshebin, and son-in-law of the famed Tshebiner Rav, Rabbi Dov Berish Weinfeld (1881-1966).
11) See Talmud Yuma 38b (based on Proverbs 10:25); Bereishis Rabah 56:7; Tikkunei Zohar Tikkun 69 (p. 114a).
12) See Talmud Bava Metziah 86b; Rashi to Genesis 18:7: Abraham prepared three bulls in ordet to feed them three tongues with mustard.
13) This also explains why the angels felt the need to specify to Abraham in their question that Sarah was his wife ("Where is Sarah your wife"?). Surely, Abraham, knew who Sarah was! Yet the angels were explaining why they could have erred in thinking that Abraham was the tzaddik, though it was really Sarah, since they were connected as one, as a husband and wife.
14) See Degel Machane Ephraim on the verse.

Arab Media Manipulation

“One need not destroy one's enemy. One need only destroy his willingness to engage. “ Sun Tzu*

I am moved to comment on an excellent article

(in part):

Dr Alex Grobman : The Arabs carry on a continuous "war of nerves", cleverly using the press, UN and Western gullibility --or seminal Anti-Semitism--to isolate Israel and weaken it from psychologically from within and without. Here's how:

“The recent Arab riots on the Temple Mount and inside Jerusalem’s Old City, the Goldstone Report, academic and economic boycotts, etc. are part of the familiar ongoing war against Israel.

"The Arabs employ a number of psychological techniques to demoralize Israelis in order to convince them that their county has usurped Arab lands, is unjust and morally bankrupt. Their ultimate objective is for Israel to be internationally vilified, isolated and ultimately for it to cease to exist.

"It behooves us to study their techniques so as better to counter them. In this “war of nerves,” the Arabs borrow from revolutionaries including Carlos Marighella, a leader of the Brazilian guerrilla organization ALN. Marighella urged his followers to use the mass media, foreign embassies, the U.N., international commissions, and Vatican representatives to spread their lies and false rumors in order to discredit the government. Acts of terror, assassination, sabotage and kidnappings further create an environment of uncertainty, anxiety and apprehension.

"During the first Intifada (December 1987 to October 1991), the Arabs manipulated the international press by placing individuals affiliated with the PLO and other Islamic political groups into their media bureaus. Rather than hide these connections, the Arabs used them to enhance their attraction to their employers.

Semantics is another weapon used against Israel. Instead of describing insurrections as riots, the Arabs call them demonstrations.

Contrived shootings, protests, arrests for the Western media is another technique Arabs use. Arabs instructed the journalists when and where to stand in order to get the best shot.

“Pallywood” is a term coined to describe pernicious productions staged by Palestinians in front of (and often with cooperation from) ... camera crews.

The eagerness with which the media seize upon anything negative about Israel, and the reluctance with which they reveal anything negative about the Palestinians, have radically skewed the world's view of what's going on here.”

"In Rhetoric, Aristotle claimed that 'Men have a sufficient natural instinct for what is true, and usually do arrive at the truth.' When it comes to the Arabs, many in the West and Israel have yet to use that natural instinct."

* * *

A silent complicity is under way by the ‘friend of Israel’ (a phrase wearing thin) in their delegitimizing their own descendants of the settlers and settlements that made America one of the greatest Nations on the Earth, founded on the principles of freedom to worship and freedom to live in peace. And this same myopic perspective is projected to delegitimizing the settlers and settlements of the Children of Hashem, who want nothing more than to live in peace in their God-given Homeland.

On the scene comes another generation of Nimrod*, a group of united nations in a world momentum to turn everything into a socialist network with slaves to the organizing powers, a movement that has been in the making for many years, from out of the jealousies of Freedom Lovers and Wholesome People Who Believe in God. Just like the original Tower of Babel, this is a war against God.

Who could be so foolish to overestimate their egotistical ambitions and underestimate their Opposition.

However, Islam is going to get in the way of their deceitfulness and then we will witness Edom and Eisav fight it out to the bitter end …

or will it be the beginning for the remnant of the chosen ones.

*Genesis: Who was Amrafel (אמרפל)? Rashi says Amrafel was actually Nimrod, who said (אמר) to Avram: Fall (פול) into the fiery furnace [אמר and אמרפל = פול]. "...He started to be a rebel [against God] in the land. He was a powerful trapper [of people's minds, turning them] against God. Therefore, it is said [about rebellious people that they are] 'like Nimrod, a powerful trapper against God'" [Bereshis 14:1]

*Sun Tzu, The Art of War. The book is not only popular among military theorists, but it has also become increasingly popular among political leaders and those in business management. Despite its title, The Art of War addresses strategy in a broad fashion, touching upon public administration and planning. The text outlines theories of battle but also advocates diplomacy and cultivating relationships with other nations as essential to the health of a state. {Wikipedia]