JUDAISM UNDER ATTACK: THE ORWELLIAN HIJACK OF TIKKUN OLAM

JUDAISM UNDER ATTACK: THE ORWELLIAN HIJACK OF TIKKUN OLAM

The Principal value of Judaism is justice itself (with compassion a close second). Contemporary “social” justice, however, hijacks the word and evacuates it of meaning. JPost 

by *Melanie Phillips

Throughout the west, the left has a big problem with Israel. This much is well established.

In America, the Jewish community has a big problem with galloping assimilation, intermarriage and the steady abandonment of Judaism by its children. This much is also now all too obvious.

What’s less appreciated is the extent to which the two are symbiotically linked, and the disturbing implications of how that link works.

It’s not just that so many Jews are leaving the faith. It’s not just that the loss of connection to Judaism produces in addition a loss of connection to Israel or even hostility towards it. 

Far worse, so many Jews, particularly in America, are turning against not just the state of Israel but Judaism too – surreally, in the name of Judaism itself.

This astonishing state of affairs has been analysed in barnstorming detail by Jonathan Neumann in his recently published book, To Heal the World.

The fact that so many American Jews are on the “progressive” side of politics – some 70 per cent vote Democrat – is of course nothing new.

The American thinker Norman Podhoretz wrote an entire book asking Why Are Jews Liberals? (the title surely should have been instead Why Are American [ital American] Jews Liberals?).

Their watchword is the Hebrew phrase tikkun olam.  Loosely translated as “repair of the world,”  this has become synonymous with “social justice” and is the leitmotif of American Jewish liberals.

In his book, Podhoretz described how the Jews who came to America from eastern Europe got involved in labor activism and radical politics, thus effectively converting from Judaism to Marxism. 

Neumann’s devastating insight is that the social justice movement has reversed this process. “Tikkun olam is not about turning Jews into Marxists. It’s about rebranding Marxism as Judaism.”

As Neumann has it, American Jews have been led to believe that “the purpose of the Jews in the world is to campaign for higher taxes, sexual permissiveness, reduced military spending, illegal immigration, opposition to fracking, the banishment of religion from the public square and every other liberal cause under the sun – all in the name of God”.

As he asks: “Isn’t it just a little bit incredible for the teachings of the ancient faith of Judaism to happen to comprise without exception the agenda of the liberal wing of today’s Democratic Party?”

Incredible indeed – because it isn’t true. Remorselessly, Neumann charts the way in which progressive American rabbis have grossly misinterpreted or distorted the ancient faith of Judaism, both its religious texts and rabbinic sources, in order to claim falsely that maxims which are in fact hostile to Jewish precepts represent Jewish moral and ethical teaching.

Everything about tikkun olam as social justice is bogus. The phrase doesn’t mean what the Jewish left says it means – and “social justice” is neither just nor very social.

Neumann is not the first to point out that the apparent origin of tikkun olam in the mystical “aleinu” prayer has been fundamentally misrepresented. In the context of that prayer, it is the Almighty himself in whom hope is invested to “perfect the world under the kingdom of God.” 

In other words, tikkun olam isn’t the province of man at all; it is instead the work of God. The Jewish social justice warriors would therefore appear to have replaced God by man. Far from giving practical application to Judaism, then, they are repudiating it from the start.

Neumann’s dense analysis of Jewish sources to show how these have been misused has been criticized as inaccurate by some of the Jewish leftists he has targeted. Regardless of these scholarly disputes, his argument that the social causes claiming the mantle of tikkun olam are in fact a repudiation  of Judaism – owing more to Marxism, moral relativism and paganism – is overwhelming. 

THE PRINCIPAL value of Judaism is justice itself (with compassion a close second). Contemporary “social” justice, however, hijacks the word and evacuates it of meaning. 

For what it boils down to is group “rights” which fragment society into interest groups fighting each other for power and privilege and using bullying, smears and intimidation to do so; “victim culture” under which certain approved groups claim victim status which gives them a free pass for their own bad deeds; and giving everyone the right to identical outcomes regardless of their own behavior or circumstances.

In other words, “social justice” is all about self-interest and takes an axe to responsibility, duty and social order. It is therefore inimical to Judaism.

Neumann’s book prompts one further question. Why has tikkun olam become such a feature of Jewish life in America but not in Britain (or anywhere else, for that matter)? To put it another way, the question is not just why so many American Jews are liberals but why they have now become so determined to make liberalism Jewish.

The answer lies perhaps in the fact that, over the past few decades, liberalism has itself mutated into its own antithesis. Far from enshrining personal morality, it has been hijacked by Marxism which stands for the absolute negation of morality – a transformation which, in suitably Orwellian manner, liberals now call “social justice.”

There is thus an absolute head-on confrontation between Judaism and Marxist “social justice.” And so, in order to resolve this crisis, American Jews for whom secular liberalism is their real religion have branded social justice tikkun olam – and thus rebranded Marxism as Judaism.

As a result, they are also turning not only anti-Zionism but also anti-Judaism into Judaism, thus frying the brains of American Jewish children.

This has now become an existential crisis for American Jews, and by extension a threat to the entire Jewish world.

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*The writer is a columnist for The Times (UK)
This is an excellent analysis and worthy of a NYT front page (halavai)

Melanie has also written a new book:  

Melanie Phillips is a British journalist, broadcaster and author. Her weekly column, which currently appears in The Times of London, has been published over the years in the Guardian, Observer, Sunday Times and Daily Mail. She writes for the Jerusalem Post and Jewish Chronicle, is a regular panellist on BBC Radio's The Moral Maze and speaks on public platforms throughout the English-speaking world.

Her best-selling book Londonistan, about the British establishment's capitulation to Islamist aggression, was published in 2006 by Encounter, New York. She followed this in 2010 with The World Turned Upside Down: the Global Battle over God, Truth and Power, with a foreword by David Mamet and also published by Encounter. The updated edition of Guardian Angel, her memoir, was published in August 2016. Some of her books can be found at Amazon

Reflections on the Homosexual Parade

Reflections on the Homosexual Parade

An outcry from the soul of the holy city itself

by Tzvi Fishman (2007 – 11 years ago)

The city of Jerusalem is up in arms over the homosexual parade scheduled to take place this week. This righteous uproar comes not only from the city's religious community, but it is an outcry from the soul of the holy city itself against the blasphemous parade that threatens to desecrate her holy streets

In a previous article, I expressed my opinion that while homosexual parades in the Holy Land are abominations that should be outlawed, they should be seen as one more outbreak of the plague of immorality that Western "culture" has brought to our shores. We are made painfully aware of the problem when the homosexuals insist on publicly flaunting their sexual deviation through the streets of the holy city, but, in truth, the epidemic goes on all year 'round in its variant strains without drawing any media attention. I am talking about the brazen, immodest dress of Jewish women on the streets, the promiscuous singles nightlife of our cities, the smut of cable television in hundreds of thousands of homes, and the scourge of Internet pornography that is poisoning the minds, hearts, and souls of our nation's youth (and a great number of their parents) in such enormous proportions that absolutely no one knows what to do in order to vanquish the plague.

What distinguishes sexual sin from other transgressions?

You can say that the problem in Israel is no worse than anywhere else, and this may be true, but this is the land of the Bible, and G-d expects more of the Jewish People than he does of other nations, especially in the Holy Land. The Zohar teaches that there is no behavior that angers the Holy One Blessed Be He as much as transgressing the sexual covenant (Vayikra 26:25). Throughout our history, our prophets and sages have warned us concerning the perils that immorality brings to the nation. This was the strategy employed by the wicked Bilaam to strike at the Jewish People when he sent the daughters of Midian to seduce the Israelites, saying, "The G-d of these people hates licentiousness." While only Zimri committed a public sin, 24,000 Jews died in the Divine plague that followed, merely for having taken Gentile women into their homes, ready to follow after their leader's example if he escaped from his debauchery without punishment.

For some time now, Kabbalists in the Holy Land have been telling students that the terrorist attacks on our streets, the Kassam rockets in the south, and the Katyushas in the north, have all come upon us because of the unholy breach of modesty in our Land. 

In a similar light, the Midrash teaches, "Wherever there is immorality, indiscriminate destruction comes into the world and kills the good with the wicked." (Bereshit Rabbah 26) Like a prophet of old, the elder Kabbalist Rabbi Eliahu Leon Levi has been warning people, whenever and wherever he speaks, that the Holy One Blessed Be He is slow to anger about everything except for immorality.

What distinguishes sexual sin from other transgressions? It is because the manifestation of G-d is most directly revealed in the creation of life. In the act of procreation, man becomes G-d's partner. Thus, the marital union must be invested with supreme holiness and reverence. The forces involved contain the esoteric secrets of the universe. The Kabbalah teaches that semen, the holy life force of creation, contains all the letters of the Torah. This is why wasting it in any unsanctified manner is such a severe transgression. Therefore, the Almighty has bound us with a Covenant of sexual purity that obligates us to act with modesty and holy restraint, according to the guidelines of the Torah.

When the powerful forces connected with sexuality are separated from their true purpose of procreation and marital bliss, they can push people to terrible forms of degradation like homosexuality and sex out of wedlock. Engaging in sex purely for the purpose of personal pleasure shows a callous disregard for the preciousness of life, and the living souls that are wasted in the process. Homosexuality, in its essence, is anti-Creation, in defiance of G-d's plan for the world.

Can offspring come from such perverted unions? What is the difference between their behavior and the behavior of mules? This is why homosexuality is an abomination hated by G-d. The same is true of sex out of wedlock, no matter how in vogue it may be in the West.

This is what King David was saying, when he taught (Tehillim 32:9), "Don't be like the horse, nor the mule," the most lustful of animals, "that have no understanding" and behave in their couplings like beasts with no thought for the generation to come (Zohar, Vayikra 80A). And the solitary viewing of porn on the Internet, and the wasteful spilling of seed that results from it, has no connection with procreation at all.

Yes, it is fitting and proper that Jerusalem is up in arms against the desecration of her streets. But this protest is not enough. We must wake up to the danger not only of homosexual parades, but of the daily and equally pernicious outbreaks of immorality that have seemingly become an accepted part of our lives. For the Holy People in the Holy Land, this is an act of moral surrender that must be reversed.

Source: arutzsheva

Tzvi Fishman was awarded the Israel Ministry of Education Prize for Jewish Culture and Creativity. He has co-authored 4 books with Rabbi David Samson, based on the teachings of Rabbis A. Y. Kook and T. Y. Kook.

__________________________

Compare this “Reflections” on the parade that was 11 years ago to the enormous parade now taking place in Israeli cities. What does this say about the efforts to educate those in the government and public, that this is a devastating event. Not much progress has occurred. This was 3 years before we made aliya, and the first time I saw and ‘heard’ them I didn’t know what was happening. It just gets bigger and bigger each year. Hashem is being so patience; I’m afraid of when there will be no more patience. Today they are talking about “a lot of work needs to be done.” How insidious their deviation.

Parshas Ekev – A PINHOLE

A PINHOLE 

By Roy S. Neuberger

We are now in the Season of Teshuva. Next Shabbos is Rosh Chodesh Elul, but – after all – the entire summer is a time of teshuva. Is this not what The Three Weeks are all about? 

“The objective of the fast is to arouse the heart to focus on the steps [necessary] for teshuva. This shall serve as a reminder of our evil deeds as well as the deeds of our forefathers … to the point that they caused these calamities to befall them and us….” (Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 121:1)

How do we save ourselves? 

Chazal tell us, “Amar Hakadosh Baruch Hu … So says Hashem: My children, open up for me an opening like the eye of a needle and in turn I will enlarge it to be an opening through which wagons can enter.” (Shir Hashirim Rabbah 5:2)

This is tremendously encouraging. It is easy for a sensitive person to become discouraged. I personally am constantly battling my own sense that I am failing and that the task is more than I can handle. Well, this is one of the major tactics of the Yetzer Hara, which is to discourage us to the point that we want to give up, chas v’Shalom.

Hashem tells us: all I need is the tiniest evidence of your sincere desire to come Home to Me. Just look at yourself honestly. Don’t say you’re a tzaddik. 

If we are “mo’de al ha emes,” if we speak truth to ourselves, then Hashem will help us expand the pinpoint of our desire to be close to Him into an opening wide enough for wagonloads of teshuva and Torah. 

I don’t want to dwell unnecessarily on the subject of my recent illness, but I cannot ignore the lessons I learned from it. How does cellulitis come into this? The doctors told me that bacteria were probably introduced under the skin through a tiny hole caused by a needle. I had received injections a week prior to the infection right next to the area that later became infected. They were administered by a competent physician, but this tiny hole was nevertheless sufficient to allow bacteria to enter, and a potentially serious infection resulted. 

My ever-vigilant chavrusa, Rabbi Shaul Geller, showed me a relevant Rashi on Parshas Masei which discusses how iron is capable of causing death even in the tiniest quantity of mass. “Iron can cause death through the smallest amount, even a needle!” (Rashi on Bamidbar 35:16)

That is exactly what happened to me, some nine hundred years after Rashi!

This is a powerful moshul for the Yetzer Hara. All it takes is a tiny opening for the Deadly Enemy to enter. As Dovid Hamelech says, “Who can discern mistakes? From unperceived faults cleanse me!” (Tehillim 19:13) In Gan Eden Chava made a “slight” error. She allowed herself to entertain a “tiny” doubt concerning whether Hashem’s Torah was completely applicable in all situations. Perhaps she “knew a little better” than Hashem. From this tiny opening flowed death itself: destruction, war, hatred, sickness, disease, moral and physical pollution, chaos … all the tzouris the world has known until this very day. 

That’s how dangerous a needle can be! One pin-hole can cause catastrophe.

By exactly the same process, one pin-hole can bring about salvation!

I have told you before, but it bears repeating: at the age of twenty-three, when I was a newly-married college student and our world seemed to be exploding into hopeless chaos, a pinhole provided our means of salvation. It was 2 a.m. on January 10, 1966, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was crying alone, my world literally collapsing into a bottomless pit, when a mental “feather” brushed my face, a “tiny” thought, just a thought. And that thought was: Perhaps there is a G-d! 

Think about it. I did not accept the Torah. I didn’t even know there was a Torah! I did not want to admit I was a Jew! I was as stubborn as they come – and probably still am. Check with my wife! – but my world was collapsing, and in that situation you want to save yourself. So I opened that pinhole of belief, that tiny entrance which Hashem so graciously, mercifully and magnificently enlarged until – eight years later, when we met Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis – it had opened wide enough to admit wagonloads of Torah! Can we understand the cosmic chessed emanating from the Ribono Shel Olam?

My friends, on Tisha B’Av we recite a Kinnah composed by the Maharam of Rothenberg, whose kever in Worms, Germany, my wife and I were privileged to visit. The Maharam writes about the destruction by fire in Paris of 24 wagonloads of handwritten Gemoras in the year 5002 (1242). During this same period, terrible pogroms erupted all over Europe, and two years later there was a massacre by Turkish and Egyptian troops in Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh. (Source: Jewish Timeline Encyclopedia) “Oh [Torah], consumed by fire, seek the welfare of your mourners, of those who yearn to lodge in the courtyard of your dwelling …those who yearn to roll in the dust of [the Holy Land] … those who walk in the darkness of Golus [and] wait hopefully for the light of day ….” (Kinnah 41) 

Amidst the darkness, there is a tiny opening. Even one thought of teshuva will open the gates! 

“For … with fire You consumed her and with fire You will rebuild her, as it is said, ‘I will be for her, the words of Hashem, a wall of fire around and I will be glorious in her midst.’ (Zechariah 2:9). Blessed are You, Hashem, Who consoles Tzion and rebuilds Yerushalayim.” (Tisha B’Av Mincha Shemoneh Esreh)

May we all soon see the consolation of Yerushalayim!

Kever of the Maharam of Rothenburg, Worms, Germany 

*          *          *          *

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

© Copyright 2018 by Roy S. Neuberger

ANTI–SEMITISM IN EUROPE

KRAKOW POLAND?

New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) is asking the U.S. State Department to look into the arrest and assault on a Brooklyn resident by policemen in Krakow, Poland. Yaakov Gluck was arrested and beaten in the courtyard of a synagogue in front of witnesses, then taken to the police station where a uniformed officer Sieg Heiled him.

“Regardless of what Mr. Gluck has been charged with, a policeman in Poland giving him a Hail Hitler salute is beyond outrageous!” said Hikind. “This action alone must be looked into and should certainly say something about the nature of these charges and how this man was beaten.”

Yaakov Gluck, age 40, the son of Rabbi Edgar Gluck, a respected rabbi from Brooklyn who is also recognized as the Chief Rabbi of Galicia, is a frequent traveler to Krakow. “There’s a tiny Jewish population that still exists here,” said Gluck, “but Israelis visit and I often bring them around. That’s what happened yesterday – I was showing a visiting couple the Kupa Synagogue when I was arrested.” Gluck said he visits the Kupa Synagogue frequently but on this occasion, the caretaker summoned the police.

“We were in the synagogue’s courtyard when the police arrived and I was thrown down on the concrete, cuffed, and beaten,” said Gluck. Gluck was then taken into custody and detained for 8 hours. While in custody, he said a uniformed policeman taunted him with the Sieg Heil salute. Although there were witnesses and security camera footage, which Gluck says will exonerate him, Gluck was charged with assaulting a police officer. “In addition to calling on the State Department to look into this, I will certainly stay on top of this issue and continue to report back on it,” said Hikind. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

WARSAW POLAND: Israeli students targeted by explosive.
Israeli students targeted while visiting Warsaw orphanage. Education Ministry: 'No question' incident was intentional. An explosive was thrown at Israeli students visiting Janusz Korczak's orphanage in Warsaw, Poland, Maariv reported. The explosive was thrown on Wednesday from a neighboring building at students of Arad's Ort School who were touring Poland on their annual trip. arutzsheva


GERMANY, AUSTRIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, and SWITZERLAND

 (commentary from a reader:) Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic consider a Nazi Salute to be a criminal offense. But not the Swiss.

Swiss court rules that Nazi salute may be ‘personal statement’, not racism. Switzerland’s federal tribunal argues that gesture made in public is a crime only if it is being used to spread racist ideology
Associated Press in Geneva.

A Nazi salute is not illegal racial discrimination provided that it is intended as a personal statement, Switzerland’s top court ruled.

The federal tribunal’s ruling, entitled Hitler salute in public not always punishable, said on Wednesday that the gesture was a crime only if someone was using it to spread racist ideology, not simply declaring one’s own conviction.

The ruling by the Lausanne-based court overturned the conviction last year by a lower court of a man who was charged with racial discrimination after he took part in an August 2010 demonstration with 150 participants.

The demonstration took place a week after Swiss National Day was marked on the Rütli meadow above Lake Lucerne where, according to legend, the Swiss Confederation was born in 1291.

The court said the man substituted the Swiss oath with a 20-second Nazi salute. But it said the gesture was only punishable if it was being used to spread, advertise or propagate racist ideology with the intention of influencing others.

The gesture is a criminal offence in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. A Swiss law in 1995 forbids racist symbols to be displayed to promote racist ideologies.

For more than a decade, the Swiss have grappled with right-wing extremists disrupting Swiss National Day celebrations on Rütli with Nazi symbols.

The August 2010 incident occurred two months after the Swiss federal council of seven ministers, including the president, decided not to ban the Nazi salute and swastika symbol in Switzerland. A federal anti-racism commission called that a bad decision that would have “serious consequences”.

REMEMBER THE SWISS GUARD WHO SLAPPED A JEWISH CHILD IN HEVRON?

By the way, SWEDEN is on fire, just like California, and what was in Greece. Looks like punishment to me.

Parshas Aikev

Parshas Aikev  by Rabbi Winston

If you listen to these judgments and observe and do them, then G–D, your G–D, will keep the covenant and kindness with you which He made with your fathers. 

(Devarim 7:12)

MANY THINGS IN Judaism seem to be a two-edged sword. For instance, it is a relief it is to have the Three Weeks behind us, even though dealing with a mountain of unwashed laundry pales compared to what the Jews of the destruction had to live and die through. People can’t help but feel good to get on with the summer without the restrictions of mourning.

On the other hand, the Three Weeks over, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are now in their final stretch. They’ll be here, b”H, in just six weeks. Just SIX weeks! Yikes! We have to behave ourselves the rest of the summer. We don’t want to add to the list of things to ask forgiveness for, more than we already have!

Relying on good deeds to counterbalance questionable acts is not a good idea either:

Rebi Yitzchak further asked: “What is the meaning of the verse, ‘He who goes after tzedakah and mercy finds life, righteousness and honor’ (Mishlei 21:21).  Because a man goes after tzedakah, he finds righteousness? The purpose of the verse, however, is to teach us that if a man is anxious to give charity, the Holy One, Blessed is He, gives him money with which to give it.” 

Rebi Nachman bar Yitzchak says: “The Holy One, Blessed is He, sends him men who are fitting recipients of charity, so that he may be rewarded for assisting them.” 

Who are unfit? Those mentioned in the exposition of Rabbah, when he said: “What is the meaning of the verse, ‘Let them be made to stumble before You; in the time of Your anger deal with them’ (Yirmiyahu 18:23)? Yirmiyahu said to The Holy One, Blessed is He: ‘Master of the Universe, even at the time when they overcome their evil inclination and wish to do charity before You, cause them to stumble through men who are not fitting recipients, so that they should receive no reward for assisting them!’.” (Bava Basra 9b)

As Tosfos points out, Yirmiyahu wasn’t referring to ALL of the Jewish people, just to the Bnei Anasos. Anasos was the name of one of the Levitical cities given to “the children of Aharon” in the tribe of Binyomin (Yehoshua 21:13-18; Divrei Hayomim 6:54-60). It was also Yirmiyahu’s home, and it was the people Anasos who plotted against him. Hence, his request to G–D.

The point here is how it is possible for a person to think they are doing a mitzvah, and yet not be accomplishing what they think. As they give their tzedakah, they may think they have done something worthy by helping someone truly in need but may be very wrong. It is not only a merit to give tzedakah, but it is a merit to give it to the right person as well. 

The same is true of any mitzvah. Each mitzvah has to be done properly with the proper intention. If it isn’t, then we can lose the merit to do another mitzvah we want to do the right way. When that happens, then the person not only loses the mitzvah they did not care to do correctly, and the one they did. They end up with NO mitzvos per se, which is a very dangerous thing come Rosh Hashanah. 

Now is the time to take stock of where we hold with respect to all mitzvos, and to do each one with care, even if it doesn’t speak TO us. This way, when we stand before the King on Rosh Hashanah, all mitzvos will speak FOR us.

Part 2: Sha’ar HaGilgulim, 3: As it is known, man unifies all four worlds of ABY”A. Therefore, by necessity, sections from each of the four worlds must exist within him, each section being called one of the five names: Nefesh Ruach, Neshamah, Chayah, and Yechidah, as we will explain. 

Commentary: THE FOUR LETTERS ABY”A are the first letters of the names: Atzilus, Beriyah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah. They mean, respectively: Emanation, Creation, Formation, and Done, the lower four levels of existence. The highest level of Creation, not included here because it is to spiritual, is “Adam Kadmon,” literally, “First Man.”

Most people may not think about it often, but they aware that there are different levels of consciousness. One of the amazing things about life is how two people can stand in the same physical space, and yet be on two different plains of reality, as if in different worlds altogether.

It is no coincidence that there are five levels of soul and five levels of reality. There is a direct correspondence between level of soul and level of reality because it is from each level of Divine light that the corresponding level of soul emerged. Therefore, when a person accesses a higher level of soul, they actually access a higher, more sublime level of reality, which will manifest itself in the person’s priorities and actions.

It is difficult for a person on a lower level of soul to relate to a person on a higher level of soul. A person’s perception of reality is based upon their current level of consciousness, and anything beyond that will seem strange or out of place to them. But, if they ascend to a higher level of consciousness, they will wonder why their new perspective previously seemed so strange to them.

This correspondence of soul to level of reality allows for ongoing spiritual interaction between a person and the world around them. They may not be able to see it at work, but eventually, the results will filter down into the physical world as well.

NEWSFLASH: Arutzsheva News Briefs

ARUTZSHEVA NEWS BRIEFS as they happen ...

• ...Avi Salman, who is running for Mayor of Jerusalem, on a secular ticket, not only said he would not attend but called for the parade to be canceled. […] He claimed to be in possession of a survey finding that 90 percent of Jerusalem residents, not including the ultra-Orthodox community, were opposed to holding the pride parade in the city. timesofisrael

• Opposition head Livni: 'Pride marches are not enough'Addressing the LGBT Pride parade in Jerusalem on Thursday, the Knesset's Opposition head, Tzipi Livni (Zionist Union) said that "pride marches were not enough" in bringing change. "The real fix will be with legislation and profound social and political change," Livni said. Arutzsheva News Briefs

• Israeli police are engaged in security preparations for an upcoming protest in Tel Aviv this Saturday night against the recently passed nationality law. Arutzsheva News Briefs

• Religious Zionist weekly sued for refusing to run LGBT ad The Religious Zionist Makor Rishon weekly was sued after it refused to a pro-LGBT ad over fears that it would offend their readers. The ad was signed by dozens of people hailing from Religious Zionism who opposed a recent open letter from senior National-Religious rabbis against the LGBT community.  arutzsheva

• Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, head the religious pre-army academy in Eli, spoke of the destruction of the "family unit" at a protest against the LGBT Pride parade in Jerusalem. "The television channels cooperate in destroying the family unit," said Rabbi Levinstein at the protest, which is being held at the entrance to the city. "I want to strengthen all the brave people who have come here in a reality in which anyone who talks about a pure and holy family unit is an object of ridicule.” Arutzsheva News Briefs

• Police arrest 4 counter-protesters of Jerusalem's LGBT Pride march

• Chief Jerusalem Rabbi to join protest of LGBT Pride march

• Police and demonstrators face off at Jerusalem Pride Parade

• Lehava: Police delaying investigations of counter-protesters to Pride Parade

The Erev Rav are fomenting the spreading and widespread governance of immorality

The Vilna Gaon says:  

• THERE WILL BE A FLOOD OF IMMORALITY BEFORE THE COMING OF MASHIACH

• THE EVIL INCLINATION CONCENTRATES ON THE LEADERS OF OUR NATION 

• THE EREV RAV WERE THE SORCERERS AND MAGICIANS OF EGYPT WHO MOSES TOOK OUT OF EGYPT IN SPITE OF G-D’S WARNING NOT TO TAKE THEM ALONG

• JUST AS THE EREV RAV (THE MIXED MULTITUDE) WERE PRESENT AT THE TIME WHEN THE JEWS LEFT EGYPT, SO IN OUR TIMES MOST OF OUR LEADERS BELONGTO THE SAME CATEGORY 

• THE EREV RAV BRING THE WORLD TO THE STATE OF TOHU VABOHU 

• WHEN AMALEK AND THE EREV RAV ARE EXTERMINATED, G-D WILL REVEAL HIMSELF AND THE WORLD RENEWED

• AT THAT TIME THE SHECHINAH WILL NO LONGER BE UNDER THE YOKE OF THE EVIL SIDE

• ALL THE SUFFERING AND THE EXILE COME THROUGH THE EREV RAV

• THE EVIL ONES OF THE JEWS WILL BE AMONG THOSE WHO FIGHT AGAINST THE MASHIACH

• THE TRIAL FOR THE JEWS IN THE LAST 70 YEARS OF EXILE And this is the trial with which the Jews shall be tested during the 70 years of the final exile. For a poor man is considered like a dead man, and as if he had given up his soul [NOTLIM NAFSHO] The body the soul and money are all considered equal. And with that which is most beloved to the person, that part he has to sacrifice for the love of His Master. And at that time when he sacrifices himself he ties the word AHAVA [LOVE] which is BERESHIT (For BERESHIT in Gematria is 913 and in small numbers equals 13 just like the word AHAVA equals 13). And he who is not ready to give up his body, his soul or his money to His Master at the time of destruction SHMAD is considered as if he had reversed the world to TOHU va BOHU

Tikkune Zohar, Hakdama 

Parshiot Va’etchanan-Eikev-Re’eh 5778

BS”D

Parshiot Va’etchanan-Eikev-Re’eh 5778

Rabbi Nachman Kahana

Am Yisrael, Torat Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael

Questions:

• Why is the first paragraph of kri’at shema (the standardized recitation of Shema Yisrael) worded in the singular, while the second is in the plural?

• Why did HaShem not give the Torah to the Patriarchs — Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov?

• Why must a Gentile convert in order to be obligated to keep the Torah? Why is there no option for him to voluntarily obligate himself to keep the Torah? Quite the contrary, a Gentile who keeps the Shabbat is liable for the death penalty.

On the verse (Devarim 4:9)

רק השמר לך ושמר נפשך מאד פן תשכח את הדברים אשר ראו עיניך ופן יסורו מלבבך כל ימי חייך והודעתם לבניך ולבני בניך:

“Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen, and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons”.

Rashi comments:

אז כשלא תשכחו אותם ותעשום על אמתתם תחשבו חכמים ונבונים ואם תעוותו אותם מתוך שכחה תחשבו שוטים:

“When you will not forget (the Torah) and will abide truthfully, you shall be perceived (as) clever and wise; but if you corrupt them (the Torah), you will be perceived as being fools”.

Why are we perceived as fools if we “forget” Shabbat or kashrut? What does it matter to the non-Jews?

I submit:

A schematic breakdown of the three parshiot, Va’etchanan-Eikev-Re’ei discloses the only authentic “Holy Trinity”: The Torah, Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael – the law as revealed by HaShem at Mount Sinai, the Nation of Israel and the Land of Israel. These three components are repeatedly emphasized as the sides of the triangle representing God’s interest in this world.

The substance of this emphasis is that we, the Jewish people, are not a “religion” in the accepted sense. We are a nation. One can be a Christian while his nationality is American or Russian. They can go to war and kill each other and still be considered “good” Christians.

Not so for the Jewish people.
We began as a family and were forged into nationhood by virtue of our numbers, and through a common historical experience of suffering and miraculous freedom from bondage, when HaShem selected us to be His Chosen People. Our nationality preceded our spiritual encounter with the Creator.

At Mount Sinai, HaShem revealed and commanded the Torah to a NATION standing at the foot of the Mount – not to the 600,000 or several million individuals present at that singular event; but to all Jews, even those who were destined to be born 3000 years later, anywhere on the globe, by virtue of being a part of the Jewish nation.

This understanding forms the basis for the answer to the questions posed above.

The reason the first paragraph of kri’at shema is formulated in the singular and the second paragraph in the plural is stated in Tractate Brachot: the first paragraph proclaims one’s acceptance of ol malchut shamayim, “the yoke of the heavenly kingdom”, which is the obligation of every human being, Jew or Gentile, by virtue of one’s recognition that he is a creation of God. Hence, it is a personal, individual proclamation between man and his Maker and as such is worded in the singular.By contrast, the second paragraph of kri’at shema is the acceptance of the “yoke of mitzvot” which is a parochial, particular Jewish matter, and hence is worded in the plural to express the fact that the Torah and mitzvot were not given by HaShem to individuals, but to the collective nation of Israel.

The Torah was not commanded to Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov, because, notwithstanding the greatness of our forefathers, they were individuals; whereas HaShem desired to make the Torah the essence of the Jewish nation, and therefore, binding upon every individual Jew by virtue of his or her being a part of the Jewish nation.

A Gentile cannot voluntarily obligate himself to keep the 613 mitzvot of the Torah, because the Torah is the sole obligation of the Nation of Israel; and without adherence to the Nation through halachic conversion, the Torah has no relevance to the Gentile. And, indeed, a Gentile who keeps the Shabbat is punishable in the same manner that a Jew who is a non-Kohen is punishable for entering an area of the Temple which is off limits to him.

We are perceived as fools by the other nations when we, in Eretz Yisrael, feel our “nationhood” but “forget” the spiritual obligations of that nationhood when we relinquish parts of God’s Holy Land. The Jews in the galut are perceived as fools by knowledgeable non-Jews who read the Bible and know that Jews belong IN the Holy Land.

There are essential conclusions that beg to be drawn from the vectors of Am Yisrael, Torat Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael. 

I submit three, but there are many more:

The success of any generation is not measured by the relatively minute number of great ga’onim (geniuses) that the generation produces. The two Temples were destroyed in the presence of the great Sanhedrin, and the Shoah enveloped us in areas where great talmidei chachamim lived. The Torah was presented to Am Yisrael, and not to individuals, and God told Moshe that through the Torah He wished to create a mamlechet kohanim ve’goi kadosh– a kingdom of kohanim and a holy nation — and thus the Torah is obligatory upon us by virtue of our belonging to Am Yisrael. HaShem essentially told Moshe that what He wanted is not a few great Torah Olympic gold medalists, but a whole nation of observant Torah Jews.This changes the way we should view yeshiva and kollel education. The Olympus of the Jew’s world is not to sit in a yeshivishe ivory tower, but to answer the call of the spiritual needs of the rank and file of the nation. Yerushalayim and Bnei Brak are no panaceas for the ills of Am Yisrael, as long as Tel Aviv and Dimona are lacking in yirat shamayim (the fear of Heaven). It is better to learn one page less and teach one more youngster how to live as a Jew.

Am Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael. Let us remember and never forget the teachings of the great RaMBaN (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman) on the verse in Vayikra 18:25, where he states emphatically that the Torah was given to be kept in Eretz Yisrael. We are commanded to keep the Torah in the galut, not for its own sake, but rather to ensure that upon our return home, the laws of the Torah will not be unfamiliar to us. This is something on the order of a dress rehearsal in preparation for the real thing. All that you do and study and observe anywhere outside of Eretz Yisrael is a dress rehearsal, but never the real thing.

Am Yisrael, Torat Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael: all three are to be cherished, loved and defended. Just as it is sinful to sit idly by when a Jewish life is in danger, or to do nothing when the Torah is being defiled; so too is it sinful to stand aside when the Land of Israel is being threatened. I am referring not only to those who live in Eretz Yisrael and for insincere and unfathomable reasons shirk their military responsibilities; but also to every young, able bodied Jew wherever he may have been born or lives today. It is his responsibility as a member of Am Yisrael to view himself as a soldier in King David’s army and to come here to serve in Tzahal in defense of our homeland.

Shabbat Shalom,
Nachman Kahana
Copyright © 5778/2018 Nachman Kahana

The Vilna Gaon’s Words About the Erev Rav

Adapted from sefer Even Shelaimah (of the GRA), chapter 11 (6-8) 

The Vilna Gaon’s Words About the Erev Rav

Footnotes are from the “biur” on the bottom of the sefer, they are likkutim*

6) Grain contains three parts which get thrown away: the chaff, the straw, and the rest of its remains which are unfit for consumption. The nation of Yisrael, who is compared to grain – as is written in Yirmiyahu1, “The beginning of her wheat” also contains three disposable parts to her grain: Yishmael, Esav, and the Erev Rav.

From Avraham came Yishmael, and from Yitzchok came Esav; but the two Messiahs will also come them [Avraham and Yitzchok] – one Messiah will come from Yosef, and the other Messiah will come from Dovid2 – and they will eliminate the ‘chaff’ and ‘straw’ from amidst Yisrael. They [Esav and Yishmael] will then be like the chaff that is blown away by the wind, as it is written, “And it will be that the house of Esav will be like straw.”

However, the ‘grain’ [Yisrael] will not be totally purified until the “Erev Rav” has been sifted out from it; they [Erev Rav] represent the remaining unwanted material from the grain, and they cling strongly to the grain. They [Erev Rav] are the undesirable parts left over from Yaakov; they represent the evil powers of bittul Torah (wasting time from learning Torah) and throwing off the yoke of Heaven.

They [Erev Rav] are very attached to Yisrael, and therefore Yisrael learns from their evil deeds. They are wealthy and are arrogant because of their wealth; of them, it is stated3 that “Ben David [Messiah] will not come until the arrogant ones among Yisrael are destroyed.”
Just as the undesirable parts of the grain cannot be separated unless the grain is first grinded well, so is it impossible to separate the Erev Rav from Yisrael without first going through the difficulties of the exile.

7) As the generations go on, the spiritual level of the generations decrease, and the Erev Rav grows stronger. For this reason, the Sages throughout all the generations have to make decrees and new rules, in order to circumvent the breaches that the Erev Rav causes.4
1 Yirmiyahu, chap. 1.
2 Tikkunei Zohar HaChadash, 36a; the two Messiahs each represent the positive commandments and the negative commandments (ibid).
3 Sanhedrin 98a
4 Tikkunei HaZohar 34a

8) There are five kinds of Erev Rav5 that are in Yisrael: 1) Those who seek strife and slander on others; 2) Those who seek lusts, 3) Those who are “tzevuim” (lit. “colored ones”), fakers who are not the same on the inside as they are on the outside; 4) Those who chase after honor to make for themselves a name; 5) Those who run after money.

The worst type from all of them are those who seek strife; these are called “Amalekim.” Ben David [Messiah] will not come unless they are destroyed from the world. Arguments that are not for the sake of Heaven are caused by Erev Rav, who jump to give rulings on matters so they can gain the crown of glory.

5 In Tikkunei HaZohar 41b, it is brought: “They [Erev Rav] are identified as “Nega Ra”, “Evil Affliction;” Nega Ra stands for Nefilim, Giborim, Amalekim, Refaim, and Anakim. The Nefilim are those who seek lust...the Giborim are those who seek to gain an honorable name for themselves, even building synagogues and donating items for the Sefer Torah so that their name can be honored... Amalekim are those who are at the heads of the nation of Yisrael during the exile, and they steal from the poor Jews.... Refaim are those who slacken off from doing kindness and charity with those who learn Torah... Anakim are those who ridicule Torah scholars...
...”All of the brazen and wicked ones of the generation are reincarnations of the souls of the Erev Rav, descending from Kayin. All of the exiles, suffering, and destruction of the Temples are all because Moshe accepted the Erev Rav into the nation, thinking that they had converted earnestly....
“Yishmael and Esav are the chaff [that must get separated from the grain], while the Erev Rav are like the “yeast in the sourdough” that remains. The chametz (remaining yeast) must be burned on Erev Pesach, six hours into the day, since they [the Erev Rav] made the Golden Calf at six hours into the day. They [the Erev Rav] are worse than all the idol-worshippers of Yisrael, because Yisrael is drawn after their influence, whenever they see that the Erev Rav is enjoying success. This is the reason for the lengthiness of the exile.” 

Source: bilvavi.net

STANDING FIRM . . . WE PROTEST

WE PROTEST

We, the undersigned Jewish bloggers, hereby protest – in the strongest terms possible – the parading and glorification of an “alternative lifestyle”, one that is classified in the Holy Torah as an abomination, especially through the streets of the holy city of Jerusalem. 

The Torah demands that we live by a certain code of sexual morality, and as such, we are forbidden from certain relationships that a moral society cannot tolerate.  These include incest, adultery, bestiality, and homosexuality.  All these are considered grave sins in Judaism and incur the punishment of Karet, or excision from the Jewish people.  An act performed with witnesses during the time of the Sanhedrin would incur an even worse consequence – namely, capital punishment. 

And this is only on an individual level.  When the sin is committed on a societal level, it is much worse.  The Torah and our sages record how these acts were catalysts for both the Great Flood during Noah’s lifetime and the destruction of the Five Cities of the Plain.

As such, we consider any attempt to glorify acts that the Torah vehemently forbids by parading any such lifestyle through the streets with horror and utter disdain.  Such parades in New York and San Francisco would be bad enough, but through the streets of the Holy Land of Israel is a thousand-fold worse.  The Torah specifically warns us not to act in sexually abominable ways lest we be vomited out of the land.  One can only imagine how it is viewed in Heaven when people brazenly display to G-d how abominable one can be.  And if the Land of Israel cannot tolerate such acts of utter gall, all the more so in the holy city of Jerusalem, a city that is overwhelmingly religious. 

We in no way wish to minimize the struggles in temptation some may have in this area and view with positivity those who have such inclinations and bravely overcome them.  But those are not the people irreverently parading through the streets with rainbow flags, who show utter contempt for the Holy Torah and all we hold dear.

We therefore vehemently protest the “Pride” Parade in Jerusalem and everywhere else in the world where they may occur.  We hope and pray that those who take part in such parades do a complete Teshuva for their actions, and may we see a rebuilt Jerusalem, speedily in our days, Amen.

Signed,
(in alphabetical order)

CDG from Hava HaAharona

Cosmic X from Cosmic X in Jerusalem

Dassie from Myrtle Rising

Devash from Tomer Devorah

Dov Bar Leib from End of Days

DS from Israel Truth Times

Goldie ZP from Geula613

Rabbi Lazer Brody from Lazer Beams

Yaak from Yeranen Yaakov

Yechezkel Hirshman from Achas L'Maala V'Sheva L'Matta


Source: Yeranen Yaakov

While I did not sign this Protest I am in total agreement, and have posted consistently about this. My fellow bloggers are righteous and honest bloggers who stand tall in their Avodas HaShem. May HaShem shine HIS holy Shefa upon them to strengthen their Emunah and Bitachon.

LIVE STREAMING: B”H Special Ceremony Inaugurating "Yemenite village"

השקת פרויקט שימור בית הכנסת התימני העתיק בכפר השילוח


Ateret Cohanim held a special ceremony Wednesday inaugurating the project to preserve and uphold the ancient synagogue of the "Yemenite village" in the Shiloach area of Jerusalem, near the Old City.

The Yemenite Village is an area which was settled by Jews who immigrated from Yemen in the 1880s. The Jewish residents were forced to flee their homes during the Arab Revolt of 1936. In the last few years Ateret Cohanim has been purchasing homes and structures to have Jews return to historic Jerusalem

Also read: THE HISTORIC CHARACTER OF THE OLD YEMENITE VILLAGE OF SHILOAH, DESTROYED BY ARAB RIOTS & POGROMS 1929 & 1936-7 Yemenite Village Synagogue

Bless the Al-mighty that we are rebuilding Yerushalayim while the world around us is mired in devastation.

RESPECT FOR TORAH NECESSITATES PROTEST OF PRIDE PARADE

Rabbi Levinstein:

'Demonstrate against the march'

Eli pre-army preparatory program head Rabbi Yigal Levinstein calls to demonstrate against the gender disorientation parade to be held in central Jerusalem on Thursday, the Walla website reported.

In an article he published on the subject, Rabbi Levinstein explained, "A vocal minority group has arisen in the Jewish State that tries to turn male relations into a legitimate act and to recognize such relations as a family and to bring in children, and force the Bible Nation to agree to such a shocking thing."

Rabbi Levinstein writes, "There is a small but vocal and verbally-violent minority that calls itself 'the LGBT organization', which encourages deviation and distorting sexual orientation. It works in every way trying to bring an entire country to recognize by law male relations - abominable relations - as a legitimate family."

Rabbi Levinstein also referred to the issue of surrogacy raised recently: "As if this wasn't enough, they also demand that male couples be allowed to bring children into the world and raise them in a reality of moral distortion. It's now clear to all that the struggle isn't about individual rights. 

This is a struggle over the character of the Jewish State."

Source: ArutzSheva


INFORMATION FOR THURSDAY:

Marchers will gather in Liberty Bell Park from 3:45PM. At 5:30PM the march will begin, going from Liberty Bell park - Keren Hayesod - King George Street - Hillel Street - Menashe Ben Israel Street - Independence Park. At 8PM, there will be a concert at Gan Ha'atzmaut with Dana International, Ninet and Miri Mesika.  More info at Final Details for Thursday


For Street Closings and Bus Route Changes:
Traffic And Bus Changes For The Jerusalem Pride March Thursday

You can also check HERE

Israel is Funding Immorality

In Historic Move, Israel Radically Increases Funding for LGBT Community

The government is radically increasing ministry funding to meet the specific needs of the LGBT community, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon announced Wednesday. A leading LGBT nonprofit called the move historic. Haaretz and acri

The Midrash Rabba states:

"Rabbi Huna in the name of Rabbi Joseph [said]: "The generation of the flood was not obliterated from the world until they wrote marriage contracts from males and beasts.”"[9]