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20 September 2012
WORLDWIDE JEWISH PRAYER FOR PEACE WITH MASHIACH
19 September 2012
A New Year Message From Rav Ginsburgh
A Message for the New Year 5773
Fָirstly, 773 (תשע"ג) is the numerical value of the phrase, “Open my eyes and i will see wonders [of Your torah]," Psalms119:18).
Moreover,the initial letters of just the first two words in this phrase
(גלֵעיַניְוַאִּביָטהִנְפָלאֹות]ִמּתֹוָרֶתך)
( “Open my eyes,” (ֵעי ַני ַּגל )
equal 73, thus the sign of the initial letters of the new year 5773 can be interpreted as “May it be a year of Gal Einai” (ֵעי ַני ַּגל ְׁש ַנת ְּת ֵהא ).
We join in King David’s prayer that God will open our eyes to see wonders, both the wonders of the Torah by revealing its most profound secrets, and miraculous wonders with every step that we take by power of the Torah.
The plural “wonders” refers to two types of wonder within God’s wisdom imbued in the Torah. The first is that the Almighty’s own supernal pleasure manifests as the Torah’s wisdom. Pleasure is the most ethereal super- conscious sense of the soul, yet it hiddenly motivates all the soul’s conscious powers. The Creator’s pleasure, as it were, is the motivating force behind creation and God’s guidance of reality. The wonder is that this pleasure itself becomes the Torah’s wisdom and can actually be comprehended in our human minds allowing us in turn to take delight in God.
the second type of wonder is that the Torah’s wisdom descends further and serves to unite between different extremes. We hope and pray that this year we will see true unity amongst Jews, of all hues and opinions.
(ָר ַח ׁש ִל ִ ּבי ָ ּד ָבר ט ֹוב ) (Psalms 45:2).
While the verse, “Open my eyes” focuses on eyes and wisdom, this phrase focuses on the heart, tingling with something good that is about to issue forth from the heart. This phrase calls upon us to initiate a movement in the innermost depths of our heart, bringing with it a profound demand to seek God’s revelation as in the verse, “For Your sake [God] my heart says: ‘Seek My countenance’; Your countenance, God, I shall seek” (Psalms 27:8).
What is the good thing stirring in our heart? The verse continues, “I say: ‘My deeds are for the king, my tongue is a quick writer’s pen.’” All that I do is for the sake of the king, for the sake of Malchut Yisrael (the kingdom of Israel), which reveals God’s sovereignty over the world.
This verse is particularly connected with Rosh Hashanah, the day on which we coronate God as King over us, the day on which good thoughts, good words begin to stir, to move, and to flourish within us. Every Rosh Hashanah, a new light descends into the world that has never been experienced before; it is like the birth of a new soul. this is why Rosh Hashanah is a opportune time for the barren to conceive, as the sages teach us that “On Rosh Hashanah, Sarah , Rachel, and Channah conceived” (Yevamot 64b). indeed, the initials of these three names (ַח ָּנה ָר ֵחל ָ ר ַח ׁש) (”spell the word “tingles ) ָׂש ָרה
The most important birth that we anticipate is the birth of Mashiach. He is the subject of “My deeds are for the king,” he is the one to whom this entire psalm is dedicated. Mashiach is the “something good” that will happen to the Jewish people and to the entire world. Furthermore, the word “something” (ּד ָבר ָ ) in the sages’ terminology, also alludes to a leader, as in the idiom, “A generation has [but] one leader” (ַּד ָּבר ֶא ָחד ַל ּדֹור ) (Sanhedrin 8a).
The gematria of ”something good” (ָּד ָבר טֹוב ) is equal to that of the phrase, “this is the thing” (ַה ָּד ָבר ֶזה ) the introductory words to Moshe Rabbeinu’s prophecy, indicating a clarity and precision in hearing God’s words not merited by any other prophet. The coming of Mashiach unveils the very same level of Divine certitude that can erase all the doubts and delusions plaguing our faith.
Together with our prayers for the revelation of the Torah’s wonders and the miracles in reality they will bring, let us decide to act diligently and conscientiously on behalf of Malchut Yisra’el (the kingdom of Israel) and for true unity amongst Jews that will, God willing, bring about the revelation of Mashiach, speedily and in our days.
With blessings for a good and sweet year and for a ketivah vechatimah tovah (a good inscription and seal) for the entire Jewish people,
Harav Yitzchak Ginsburgh
A New Year, A New Neshoma
The author of the Shem MiShmuel* writes:
The ram that was bound instead of Yitzchak – Avraham removed both its horns, its shofars. Hashem saved them for two special occasions: one was used at the giving of the Torah; the other one is reserved for heralding the Resurrection of the Dead.
Each year, says the Shem MiShmuel, Hashem resurrects you in some small way, gives you something that has never happened for you before.
While the shofar is sounding, Hashem is breathing life into you for another year. Have in mind that Hashem is breathing that into you through the mouth of the shofar, with a new soul coming out the wide end. Why?
The ram that was bound instead of Yitzchak – Avraham removed both its horns, its shofars. Hashem saved them for two special occasions: one was used at the giving of the Torah; the other one is reserved for heralding the Resurrection of the Dead.
Each year, says the Shem MiShmuel, Hashem resurrects you in some small way, gives you something that has never happened for you before.
(*From Rabbanit Mizrahi, Rosh HaShana Shiur)
15 September 2012
A Night to Remember
A Night to Remember
On the Essence of Rosh Hashanah
Rabbi YY Jacobson
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“Coronation Night” – that is how one of the great spiritual masters would define the night of Rosh Hashanah.
In a 1974 sermon, Rabbi Yosef Dov Soleveitchik (1903-1993), one of the great Jewish thinkers of the last century, related that when he was a young child learning in cheder (Jewish day school), in the Russian village of Chaslavitch, in the days preceding Rosh Hashanah, he could recognize in his teacher an extraordinary sense of trepidation.
“Our teacher, who was a Chabad Chassid (disciple), said to us: ‘Do you know what Rosh Hashanah is? The Rebbe the Tzemach Tzedek would call the night of Rosh Hashanah – ‘Karanatzia Nacht’ (‘Coronation Night’).
“Do you know whom we will be coronating?” the teacher asked the children.
The young Soleveitchik prodigy responded in jest: “Nicholas”. (This was a number of years before the 1917 Russian Revolution, when Nicholas still served as the Russian czar).
And the poor teacher of Chaslavitch responded: “Nicholas? He was coronated years ago, why do we need to coronate him again? Besides, he?! He is not a real king...”
“Tonight, my dear children, we coronate G-d; we place a crown on G-d…
“And do you know who places the crown?” The teacher continued. “Yankel the Tailor, Berel the Shoemaker, Zalman the water-carrier, Yossel the painter, Dovid the butcher…”
Rabbi Soloveitchik concluded: Over the years I have given many sermons and written many discourses on the concept of Rosh Hashanah, but nothing ever made me feel the true depth and power of the day as the words of my childhood teacher. Every year, when I recite in the Rosh Hashanah prayers the words, ‘Rule over the whole world in Your glory,’ I remember my teacher in Chaslavitch.
The Essence
How much of Judaism is compressed in this brief conversation between teacher and students? In a few words, a poverty-stricken Jewish teacher in a small shtetl in Russia gave his seven-year-old students the core, the essence, the very marrow of Jewish existence, of Jewish thought.
Now he needed not explain to them why they should marry Jewish girls, continue living as Jews, be proud of their Jewishness, as so many teachers and educators today. It was more than obvious: Who would want to miss out on the opportunity of coronating G-d…
***
But why does G-d need us to coronate Him? If G-d created us, does He really need us to declare Him king; He is the boss regardless?
And what does it mean that G-d is our king Imagine you assemble 1,000,000 ants and declare yourself king over them. When 50,000 of them then turn left instead of right, you kill them in a single instance. Does that make you king over them? G-d gave us our entire existence; our entire being and life force are from Him. Relative to Him we are far smaller and far les significant than an ant in the presence of a human. Can He then said to be our king? Is that not an insult for Him?
Yet here lay one of the great and daring ideas of Judaism. G-d, the perfect endless one, desired to be king not through power or by the dictates of nature. He desired to be chosen as king; He wanted a relationship with someone distinct of Him who would freely choose to construct a bond with G-d.
So an infinite, omnipotent G-d suspends His infinity, suppresses His endlessness and concealed His omnipotence, in order to allow space for an intelligent, independent and self-oriented human being who is then capable of choosing G-d as his or her king.
The Night
This, the spiritual masters explained, is the meaning of Rosh Hashanah, the day when the first human was created. It is the day when small, frail, vulnerable and lowly human beings invite G-d to serve as their King.
G-d could place His own crown on His head, but then He would be a dictator, not a king; the relationship would be coerced not chosen. So G-d waits all year for this great moment for which the entire universe was created – the moment when you and I coronate Him as our king.
Rosh Hashanah is the most moving day in the Jewish calendar. More than any other day, it embodies the meaning of human existence and the vulnerability of a G-d who linked His fate to man’s.
Happy Coronation Night.
VIDEO: LIKKUTEI SICHOS -- ROSH HASHANAH
NEW!
Why Did Chanah Appear Drunk?
10 September 2012
Good News
Malka Fleisher, who writes for the Jewish Press, brings us good news about the world's Jewish population:
"The global Jewish population grew by more than 88,000 people over the past year, and now stands at 13.75 million, according to a new study published y Professor Sergio DellaPergola of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Though the huge number of simchas is a boon to the Jewish people, it pales in comparison to the growth rate of the rest of the world. While the Jewish population grew by 0.65% in 2012, the global population grew by almost double that – 1.26%. According to the study, one out of every 514 people in the world is Jewish – less than 0.2% of the world population.
"The report noted that the largest Jewish population in the world resides in Israel – 5.97 million, accounting for 43% of the world’s Jews. 5.46 million – 39% – live in the United States. The number of Jews living outside of Israel shrunk by over 10,000 people, due to intermarriage and aliyah. Intermarriage is a significant factor in US Jewish population rates, due to the fact that over 50% of Jews who married in the last year married outside the faith."
This morning's Jerusalem Post, on page 5, reports that one set of triplets, and seven sets of twins were born over the weekend (Shabbat I imagine).
Slowly, the master plan for the Geula is shaping before our eyes. Israel's population is growing, the ingathering is continuing, with America's Jews being the most resistant to returning Home. And now the righting of an historical wrong is getting started today:
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in conjunction with the Ministry of Pensioners Affairs and the World Jewish Congress, will hold the first international conference to highlight the issue of the Jewish refugees from Arab countries Monday at the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem. Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon will speak about a plan of action to make the issue prominent in the international arena, including placing it on the United Nations' agenda and passing resolutions in parliaments around the world." read more at I Am a Refugee
"The global Jewish population grew by more than 88,000 people over the past year, and now stands at 13.75 million, according to a new study published y Professor Sergio DellaPergola of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Though the huge number of simchas is a boon to the Jewish people, it pales in comparison to the growth rate of the rest of the world. While the Jewish population grew by 0.65% in 2012, the global population grew by almost double that – 1.26%. According to the study, one out of every 514 people in the world is Jewish – less than 0.2% of the world population.
"The report noted that the largest Jewish population in the world resides in Israel – 5.97 million, accounting for 43% of the world’s Jews. 5.46 million – 39% – live in the United States. The number of Jews living outside of Israel shrunk by over 10,000 people, due to intermarriage and aliyah. Intermarriage is a significant factor in US Jewish population rates, due to the fact that over 50% of Jews who married in the last year married outside the faith."
This morning's Jerusalem Post, on page 5, reports that one set of triplets, and seven sets of twins were born over the weekend (Shabbat I imagine).
Slowly, the master plan for the Geula is shaping before our eyes. Israel's population is growing, the ingathering is continuing, with America's Jews being the most resistant to returning Home. And now the righting of an historical wrong is getting started today:
'I am a Refugee' Campaign Launch Monday
First international conference to highlight the issue of the Jewish refugees from Arab lands being held in Jerusalem.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in conjunction with the Ministry of Pensioners Affairs and the World Jewish Congress, will hold the first international conference to highlight the issue of the Jewish refugees from Arab countries Monday at the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem. Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon will speak about a plan of action to make the issue prominent in the international arena, including placing it on the United Nations' agenda and passing resolutions in parliaments around the world." read more at I Am a Refugee
09 September 2012
Backtracking, Backstabbing, Leaking: Ordinary Israeli Intrigue
Does this spell
P o l i t i c a l ..... R e s h u f f l i n g?
Haaretz's Amir Oren reported that Barak opposes launching an attack on the eve of the U.S. elections, and that he may be aiming to join a party headed by Tzipi Livni and to become defense minister in a Livni government. (i.e., someone in the White House is furious with Israel's Prime Minister, and now wants him replaced. So we see the same duo ganging up on Bibi.)
Yuval Steinitz: “Barak has stung twice in the past. The first time he stung the members of Kadima and former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the second time he stung his friends at the Labor party – Ben-Eliezer, Herzog and Braverman. He may sting again.” (Sounds like he is more devoted to Netanyahu, and maybe is hinting that the leaks cam from the Defense Minister himself. A good enough reason to replace him.) Arutz Sheva news.
Now Gil Ronen: Barak Backstabbed Bibi on Bombing? Something caused Netanyahu to start talking about red lines instead of imminent attack. Did Barak flip-flop?
What happened to the Prime Minister's urgency to stop Iran at all costs? Who had his ear"
"Netanyahu faces an extremely hostile and unabashedly political press at home that militantly opposes an Iranian strike by Israel, as well as pressure by the U.S. and other nations, to refrain from such an attack. However, as long as he had Barak by his side on this matter, he had the political maneuvering room to carry out the attack despite these pressures." More at INNews
Personally, I believe that Israel will not attack Iran. That there will have to be a 'crisis' in the air, and then we will see more prophecies play out in the Geulah scenario. Am Yisrael must come to the level of fear that produces tremendous teshuva. Our Rabbis promised miracles like those in the days of Yetzias Mitzrayim. This is what I will wait for.
Does this possibly answer the question of
WHO LEAKED THE SECURITY CABINET DISCUSSIONS?
Hot Air From Charlotte Moves North
UPDATE: tornadoes in New York City, darkened tens of thousands of homes in the Washington, D.C., area and flooded New England streets turned a normal day of rest into a day of cleaning up for many East Coast residents on Sunday.
Strange, but after all the depletions and insertions in the DNC platform, I guess the "Great Weatherman" threw a couple tornados into coastal New York, Queens and Brooklyn, while Maryland and Virginia saw funnel clouds:
The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado touched down in Canarsie, Brooklyn and a tornado touched down in Breezy Point, Queens Saturday morning. The National Weather Service categorized the tornado that touched down in Canarsie as an EF1 tornado. Tornadoes in that category have the potential to reach speeds of up to 110 miles per hour."
"... estimates the tornado that touched down in Queens was 50 yards wide and 600 feet long. The tornado was classified as an EF0 tornado, which has wind speeds between 65 and 85 miles per hour."
"I was showing videos of tornadoes to my 4-year-old on my phone, and two minutes later, it hit," said Breezy Point neighborhood resident Peter Maloney. "Just like they always say, it sounded like a train."
"Tornado-like funnel clouds were reported in Fairfax County, Va., and in Prince George's County, Md., but had not been confirmed by Saturday evening, meteorologist Andy Woodcock of the National Weather Service said."
Strange, but after all the depletions and insertions in the DNC platform, I guess the "Great Weatherman" threw a couple tornados into coastal New York, Queens and Brooklyn, while Maryland and Virginia saw funnel clouds:
The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado touched down in Canarsie, Brooklyn and a tornado touched down in Breezy Point, Queens Saturday morning. The National Weather Service categorized the tornado that touched down in Canarsie as an EF1 tornado. Tornadoes in that category have the potential to reach speeds of up to 110 miles per hour."
"... estimates the tornado that touched down in Queens was 50 yards wide and 600 feet long. The tornado was classified as an EF0 tornado, which has wind speeds between 65 and 85 miles per hour."
"I was showing videos of tornadoes to my 4-year-old on my phone, and two minutes later, it hit," said Breezy Point neighborhood resident Peter Maloney. "Just like they always say, it sounded like a train."
"Tornado-like funnel clouds were reported in Fairfax County, Va., and in Prince George's County, Md., but had not been confirmed by Saturday evening, meteorologist Andy Woodcock of the National Weather Service said."
05 September 2012
The Brody File, David not Lazer
The following is from the Brody File, a CBN News Blog:
"Guess what? G-d’s name has been removed from the Democratic National Committee platform.
"This is the paragraph that was in the 2008 platform:
“We need a government that stands up for the hopes, values, and interests of working people, and gives everyone willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God-given potential.”
"Now the words “G-d-given” have been removed. The paragraph has been restructured to say this:
“We gather to reclaim the basic bargain that built the largest middle class and the most prosperous nation on Earth – the simple principle that in America, hard work should pay off, responsibility should be rewarded, and each one of us should be able to go as far as our talent and drive take us.”
*******
Meanwhile 4.9 Million are out of work, and 45,753,078 are using food stamps
Boy, are the Demoncrats in trouble!
First it was Jerusalem, now it's the G-d of the Universe,
at least they realize they go together.
Tower of Babel anyone?
Charlotte-Nburg* and Charlotte-NoCarolina
Photo: Reuters
This was a headline on page 7 of today's Jerusalem Post:
Four German girls verbally attacked Jewish girls near their Orthodox school in Charlottenburg, Berlin.
Doesn't that make you think of "Charlotte, N(orth Carolina)" and the turn of events at the Leftist convention? Charlottenburg?
Could not pass by this remarkable juxtaposition of events. This headline should have been on the front page next to the Demo...n Convention in Charlotte-No Carolina.
The Jewish Leftists ( self-hating ) are truly laying a platform for dissent, deception, disaster. Lee Rosenberg? What a contrast from the days of a strongly-aligned AIPAC and the nightmare of AIPAC's agenda today. Regardless of what those guys say about being "arguably the most pro-Israel platform language that has ever been in a party platform," such talk is vapor escaping into the air.
These were the blaring words on the Front Page of the Jerusalem Post. Why didn't they put the above article next to this one on the same front page? How could they miss the connection?
DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM REMOVES REFERENCE TO JERUSALEM AS ISRAEL'S CAPITAL
... and out of the other side of the Democratic mouth is "Obama's 'unshakable commitment to Israel's security'."
The Jewish Leftists ( self-hating ) are truly laying a platform for dissent, deception, disaster. Lee Rosenberg? What a contrast from the days of a strongly-aligned AIPAC and the nightmare of AIPAC's agenda today. Regardless of what those guys say about being "arguably the most pro-Israel platform language that has ever been in a party platform," such talk is vapor escaping into the air.
When it came time to aid and protect Israel, it was Truman and Nixon who demonstrated their integrity through their actions in Israel's defense. We don't need flattery and buttery words to conceal a two-sided diplomatic policy to the Jewish people. Obama's democratic (euro-socialist-minded czars) policies will try to slip and slide the Israelis into giving in to the Arab agenda.
"Barack knows the American Dream because he's lived it," Mrs. President, America doesn't need any more "dreams," they feel as if they are in a really bad one right now.
"Barack knows the American Dream because he's lived it," Mrs. President, America doesn't need any more "dreams," they feel as if they are in a really bad one right now.
They want reality, integrity and honesty.
Oh, and "Don't make Israel a wedge issue in 2012" as Gil Troy wrote, No, just put a wedge between the Jewish People and Jerusalem, with the above omission.
The large headline at the top of the same page 7, another glaring Berlin attack:
Austrian Rabbi: Nazi Hooligan Verbally Attacked Me
"IN BERLIN - An extremist right-wing soccer hooligan verbally attacked a Vienna rabbi last week, giving the Nazi salute and yelling “Jews get out."
According to the rabbi, the police officer told him 'come on, it is soccer today'. He said he then approached a second group of police officers, who told him they did not see anything. When he explained to the second contingent of officers that 'at least 20 witnesses saw it,' the police responded that they could not help him..."
Doesn't this bring to mind the 'joyful spirit' of the old Gladiator sports arenas?
Jerusalem Post, I think you need a snappy Front Page editor. Might sell more papers. More of all of this at JPost.com.
04 September 2012
I Believe ...
I believe that anti-semitism must increase to unprecedented levels in all countries of the world, except for Israel, because the Geula needs almost all Jews in Israel to actualize, i.e., the Promised Land needs Am Yisrael and Yidden studying Torah daily to be elevated to the status of the Geula. Then we will see wonders and niflaos.
The Jews need to be 'chased out' of all foreign lands, and back to their natural Homeland. And those within Israel who are undeserving and in their own way rishus will be chased out or otherwise.
02 September 2012
Robust and Powerful Words
This is amazing. I don't think the American People have witnessed this side to Mitt Romney, hopefully the next President of the United States. I viewed this on Life in Israel and as usual Rafi brings us many outstanding perspectives on life in Israel, and the American component is equally important.
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