Rabbi Kahana – Lech Lecha – The Final Stage...

BS”D Parashat Lech Lecha 5783

by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Nov 4, 2022

The Final Stage in Our Clash with Civilizations

 

Our parasha relates the beginning of the eternal covenant between the Almighty and the father of the Jewish nation, Avraham Aveinu (Beraishiet 15,7-21):

ז( וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אֲנִי ה’ אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאוּר כַּשְׂדִּים לָתֶת לְךָ אֶת הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת לְרִשְׁתָּהּ:

ח( וַיֹּאמַר ה’ ה’  בַּמָּה אֵדַע כִּי אִירָשֶׁנָּה:

ט( וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו קְחָה לִי עֶגְלָה מְשֻׁלֶּשֶׁת וְעֵז מְשֻׁלֶּשֶׁת וְאַיִל מְשֻׁלָּשׁ וְתֹר וְגוֹזָל:

י( וַיִּקַּח לוֹ אֶת כָּל אֵלֶּה וַיְבַתֵּר אֹתָם בַּתָּוֶךְ וַיִּתֵּן אִישׁ בִּתְרוֹ לִקְרַאת רֵעֵהוּ וְאֶת הַצִּפֹּר לֹא בָתָר:

יא( וַיֵּרֶד הָעַיִט עַל הַפְּגָרִים וַיַּשֵּׁב אֹתָם אַבְרָם:

יב( וַיְהִי הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ לָבוֹא וְתַרְדֵּמָה נָפְלָה עַל אַבְרָם וְהִנֵּה אֵימָה חֲשֵׁכָה גְדֹלָה נֹפֶלֶת עָלָיו:

יג( וַיֹּאמֶר לְאַבְרָם יָדֹעַ תֵּדַע כִּי גֵר יִהְיֶה זַרְעֲךָ בְּאֶרֶץ לֹא לָהֶם וַעֲבָדוּם וְעִנּוּ אֹתָם אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת שָׁנָה:

יד( וְגַם אֶת הַגּוֹי אֲשֶׁר יַעֲבֹדוּ דָּן אָנֹכִי וְאַחֲרֵי כֵן יֵצְאוּ בִּרְכֻשׁ גָּדוֹל:

טו( וְאַתָּה תָּבוֹא אֶל אֲבֹתֶיךָ בְּשָׁלוֹם תִּקָּבֵר בְּשֵׂיבָה טוֹבָה:

טז( וְדוֹר רְבִיעִי יָשׁוּבוּ הֵנָּה כִּי לֹא שָׁלֵם עֲוֹן הָאֱמֹרִי עַד הֵנָּה:

יז( וַיְהִי הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ בָּאָה וַעֲלָטָה הָיָה וְהִנֵּה תַנּוּר עָשָׁן וְלַפִּיד אֵשׁ אֲשֶׁר עָבַר בֵּין הַגְּזָרִים הָאֵלֶּה:

יח( בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא כָּרַת ה’ אֶת אַבְרָם בְּרִית לֵאמֹר לְזַרְעֲךָ נָתַתִּי אֶת הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת מִנְּהַר מִצְרַיִם עַד הַנָּהָר הַגָּדֹל נְהַר פְּרָת:

יט( אֶת הַקֵּינִי וְאֶת הַקְּנִזִּי וְאֵת הַקַּדְמֹנִי:

כ( וְאֶת הַחִתִּי וְאֶת הַפְּרִזִּי וְאֶת הָרְפָאִים:

כא( וְאֶת הָאֱמֹרִי וְאֶת הַכְּנַעֲנִי וְאֶת הַגִּרְגָּשִׁי וְאֶת הַיְבוּסִי:

 

7 HaShem said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” 8 But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” 9 So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” 10 Abram brought all these to Him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other. The birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep; and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.

15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at an old age. 16 In the fourth generation, your descendants will return here; for the sin of the Amorites has yet to reach its full measure.”

17 When the sun had set and darkness fell, a smoking oven with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day, the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

I submit that the covenant must be viewed on the background of HaShem’s vow never again to bring a deluge to destroy all mankind.

As a result of the decision to refrain from destroying mankind, HaShem, as it were, put Himself in a corner. Man was now free to give vent to all his evil instincts without fear of Divine retribution. The powerful could now control the weak, and the rich could now buy favors and influence. Evil would replace good, and immorality heralded in the halls of academia as “Man’s inherent right to freedom”. G–D would become many G–Ds clashing with each other in the heavens and leaving them no time to take notice of lowly man. 

Dictatorship, atheism, torture, authorized murder, incest, war, slavery – these would be the new world order while HaShem’s hands would be tied through His own self-constraint. Who would police the new world? Who would defend the rights of the downtrodden and oppressed? Who would show mankind the way back to HaShem?

Towards these ends, HaShem declared that He would appoint a chosen segment of humanity to create a clash of civilizations necessary for the return of man to HaShem. This nation would bear the wrath of mankind as it fights to negate the messages of right and wrong battering on the doors of their conscience.

For 2000 years, the world, by its evil actions and philosophies was in dire need of such a nation. Its forbearer would have to be a man who recognizes evil for what it is and was determined to strike out against it regardless of his personal risks. He would have to be a man of great personal integrity, with love of fellow man, and spiritual in his basic nature.

The search was completed when Avraham Aveinu went to war against four standing armies in order to secure the release of innocent captives. Avraham did all this, despite the numerical superiority of the enemy, with no logical basis to believe that he could win except his belief that justice would triumph over evil.

As with all things regarding the Creator, the essence of the covenant is metaphysical and absolutely beyond the natural processes of this world. That, at some time in infinity, HaShem suddenly decided to create a world is beyond our comprehension. That HaShem created matter from nothing is beyond all human understanding. That HaShem makes contact with lowly man is incomprehensible. And that He chose a particular nation to be His is also incomprehensible.

The essence of the covenant is that the Jewish people would agree to live like Avraham in a manner defying all human understanding and that HaShem would reward us in an unnatural way.

Brit Bain Habetarim (the Covenant of the Divided Parts) declared that the Jewish nation would be the reconnaissance unit of HaShem, whose task would be to meet the enemy and engage it in battle until the end. HaShem would involve Himself in world affairs through His proxy – Am Yisrael.

The Jewish nation would willingly relinquish its ambitions to be an empire. Until the Mashiach comes, we would always remain small in numbers. Our homeland, Eretz Yisrael, sits on the edge of the desert and is surrounded by natural wealth in the ground of our neighbors but little for us. Our future, Avraham is told, would be replete with episodes of slavery, the torch and oven, and dark nights. Our mission as HaShem’s proxies would be to clash with the world’s civilizations, shatter their essence and disclose the lies within them.

We would meet the Egyptian superpower and drown him in the Red Sea. We would clash head on with the overwhelming numbers of idol-worshipping peoples of Canaan and destroy them. Our existence would baffle the historians and philosophers as we encountered the pagan Greek and weakened his image as the bearers of truth. We would also fall before the Babylonians and Romans who would destroy our Temples, but we would rise from the dust when no Greek or Roman would be around to tell his story.

The Covenant guarantees that if we willingly relinquish our worldly life for an unexplainable existence at the hand of G–D, we will receive everlasting life in this and the next world.

In the last century alone, we have clashed with the most evil of human doctrines. The Germans and their eager Christian allies sought to annihilate the Jewish nation, but they were brought to their knees. The USSR was determined to destroy Judaism, but they were forced to open their doors to let millions of Jews leave. We are now clashing with the worst enemy of man and G–D – Islam. The vulgar love of death in the Islamic mind is a degradation to the efforts of mankind to ascend from the pits of barbarianism and savagery. The Muslim does not love G–D, nor does he believe in Him – he uses G–D as a weapon as one would use a whip.

We have now entered the final stage in our clash with civilizations. We have survived in a miraculous manner, as promised by HaShem to Avraham, and have reached the end of the stated covenant:

“When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking oven with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces (the Shoah). On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt (the Nile) to the great river, the Euphrates (flowing from Turkey to the Persian Gulf). The land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

HaShem is deep in the process of keeping His side of the Covenant. He has guided us through 3500 years of unnatural existence until this very day. The enemies of the Jewish nation are the enemies of HaShem. Iran, Syria, Turkey, the Christian world which seeks to convert the Jews, and most of mankind for that matter will soon realize the implications of the Covenant as we return home to a future beyond our wildest imaginations.

Shabbat Shalom

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5783/2022 Nachman Kahana

Tziporah Gottlieb – Lech Lecha

Dear friends,

Imagine walking down the street minding your own business. Suddenly a complete stranger approaches you. He looks like a completely typical fellow, whose face you forget before you finish looking at him. He asks you, “Can you give me directions?” “Sure,” you reply. “Where do you want to go?”  He answers, “I don’t know.”

Could you help him? Could anyone?

Do you really know where you want to end up?

Figuring out where you want to head isn’t always easy. For some of us, false starts are a way of life. Hashem forced Avraham to ask the Big Question. In this week’s Parshah, Lech Lecha, Hashem told Avraham, “Go to you”, “Go for your benefit”, which is, as Rashi points out, what was being conveyed. You can ask yourself why Abraham had to be sold into going where Hashem wants him.

The simple answer is that leaving Ur Kasdim and Charan meant leaving success by any definition behind him. He had developed a religious system that brought belief in one G-d to the masses. He had literally tens of thousands of followers. It would be only human to be reluctant to abandon everything he had spent his life building. He had every reason to think that he knew where he was going. Hashem told him that he was wrong, that he has to rejoin the army of seekers. If you were told to move on when you were fulfilled would you be able to do it? Maybe or maybe not.

This past Shabbos we were in Kiryat Sefer. The occasion was the sheva brachot of my granddaughter Esti, my daughter Devora’s “little girl”. At one point the upstairs neighbor came down. He apologized for his wife and himself not attending the wedding that had taken place on Thursday. They had the best possible “excuse”. Their own child was getting married that night. The mother was my student in Neve. She had carved out a niche for herself in the performing arts, and at some point, she had to ask herself, “Where am I heading?” It was clear that the place she was seeking wasn’t the opera. She found herself asking, “Where does Hashem want me to be?” and reached her conclusions.

Avraham was not you or me. He had long before defined success as being who Hashem wanted him to be, and doing whatever that meant. This is why the Alsheich takes the words lech lecha literally. Hashem was telling Avraham that by traveling this road, he would discover himself.

The words self-discovery can be a bit pompous. Imagine telling a five-year-old that you are trying to find yourself. He would tell you that you are right there. The truth is that he would be right. The trouble with this sort of reductionist simplicity is that you are far more than your body, and figuring out who the rest of you is, and where you are headed can leave you with a labyrinth of possibilities. You can end up like the man in the street who wants directions but doesn’t know where he wants to go.

Many aspects of you claim the title “ME”. Your body is definitely yours; if I spill tea on your lap, it hurts you, not me nor anyone else. The body alone has no real goals. It cannot provide you with direction. Your mind and your emotions (which are the “children” of the thoughts that feed them) give your body direction. They can potentially connect you to your higher self, the part of you that is unique, eternal, and transcendent. When Avraham was told, “Go to you” that is where Hashem was telling him to go – to his soul’s root, to ultimate self-discovery.

If you don’t happen to be a navi, how do you find yourself? One of the great contemporary thinkers was Rav Shlomo Wolbe zt”l. He was a genuine master of mussar and conducted vaadim (mussar meetings) over many decades. Many of these vaadim were later published in a book called Alei Shor. When he addressed this question, he began by quoting the Vila Gaon. 

The Gaon wrote, “In earlier times the way that you could determine what your path in life is, the path that will express who you are, was consulting your local Navi. There was a time when prophecy was so common that there were literally hundreds of neviim to choose from. They had “yeshivas” for aspiring young prophets who were called “bnei neviim”. 

Imagine telling your friend that your son is studying at Zechariah’s beis midrash! The neviim could look into your inner reality and relate to your soul root, and using these insights direct you on the path that you should take to give your life purpose. When that era ended there were still people who could try to find their deepest level of identity through their own efforts. 

This gave them access to what the Gra calls the “spark of Ruach Hakodesh” that every Jew has (whether she is aware of it or not). The problem that arose is that you can be wrong. You can misjudge your aspirations and deceive yourself into thinking that your ego or subconscious desires are the inner voice of your soul. 

For that reason, he says, the way to figure yourself out is by letting your deeds change you. The positive and negative mitzvot give you self-expression (through doing) and the ability to learn to say no to your baser self (through choosing to say no – which is how the negative mitzvos make it possible to become genuinely human – animals can’t say no to their instincts. You can). Your personality, background, physical capacities, intellect, the era in which you were born, and your environment, all make you unique. The worst mistake, he says, is forgetting that there never was or will be someone who can do your job.

 

Notice when doing what’s right feels good, and let that pleasure lead you to yourself.

Love,

Tziporah

Reb Neuberger – B’CHOL L’VAVCHA ... WITH ALL OUR HEART

 

B’CHOL L’VAVCHA … WITH ALL OUR HEART

The Torah warns us not to go after “our hearts and our eyes,” but rather to look at the tzitzis. 

But we have to know: the Torah is not telling us to ignore our heart. 

Just the opposite. 

“Hakodosh Baruch Hu liba boie … Hashem desires the heart!” (Sanhedrin 106b) 

Hashem does not want us to ignore our heart, but rather to elevate it by subjugating “the desires and thoughts of the heart to His service….” (Seder hanachas Tefillin) 

The other nations do not understand this, and, for that reason, their hearts are filled with violence and cruelty. But we are different. 

This week we meet Avraham Avinu. 

Our Father Avraham elevated service of the heart so it became the foundation of the world. “Only your forefathers did Hashem cherish to love them, and He chose their offspring after them –you! – from among all the peoples, as this day. You shall cut away the barrier of your heart and no longer stiffen your neck …. (Dvarim 10:16-17

What did Hashem see in Avraham? 

“Hashem … selected Avram, brought him out of Ur Kasdim and made his name Avraham. [He] found his heart faithful … and … sealed the covenant with him ….” (Nechemiah 9:7ff) 

Hashem made a covenant with our Father Avraham because his heart was faithful! 

The Ari Hakadosh said, “Every morning, before he starts praying, every Jew must say, ‘I am taking upon myself as a mitzvah to love every Jew as I love myself.” Indeed, there is a mitzvah to “love every Jew as yourself,” (Vayikra 19:18) about which Rabbi Akiva said, “This is a great principle of the Torah.” 

I knew a Yid named Amos Bunim, may he rest in peace. He cried aloud during every davening, maariv, Shacharis and mincha. He felt the words in his heart. He knew that he was davening for his life. 

We don’t even realize the dangers that surround us. Rabbi Matisyahu Solomon Shlita”h once said that, if a Jew returns from the street alive, it is a major miracle. Hashem is saving our lives every minute and we do not realize!

Every time we say “asher yatzar” we are acknowledging that Hashem saved our life!

Every time that we make a bracha on food, we are acknowledging that Hashem is keeping us alive! 

“Anyone who does not mourn for Yerushalayim will not witness her joy [at the Redemption].” (Taanis 30b) 

Avraham Avinu was the paragon of chessed, and chessed cannot exist unless one feels for another Jew. “Olam chessed yibonei … the world is built on kindness.” (Tehillim 89)

I believe that, if we don’t feel the words, then our davening is deficient. 

If we survive this tumultuous path to Moshiach, it will only be because we have cried out to the Master of the Universe to save us the way our ancestors cried out in Mitzraim.

The greatest men in history knew how to cry. 

“Then Yosef … wanted to weep, so he went into the room and wept there.” (Beraishis 43:30) Dovid ha Melech said, “Every night I drench my bed; with tears I soak my couch….” (Tehillim 6) “Al naharos Bavel … by the Rivers of Bavel, there we sat and also wept when we remembered Tzion….” (Tehillim 137)

“Even though the Gates of Prayer have been locked, the Gates of Tears have not been locked.” (Berachos 32b) If our tefillos are not getting through, maybe it is because we have forgotten how to cry. Please forgive me, my friends, but I see people rush through davening so they can open a sefer. 

But why did they rush through davening? Hashem wants the heart. 

“Hashem said to Shmuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at his tall stature, for I have rejected him. For it is not as man sees – man sees what his eyes behold, but Hashem sees into the heart.’” 

Hashem is waiting for us to serve Him “b’chol levavcha … with all our heart” as our Father Avraham served Him, and through Avraham every bracha entered the world. 

Ur Kasdim, the birthplace of Avraham Avinu

The Rivers of Babylon – The Tigris

Amos Bunim (left) with Rabbi Malkiel Kotler Shlita”h

The author with Rabbis Yisroel Chaim Belsky zt”l (left) and Matisyahu Solomon Shlita”h

GLOSSARY

Asher Yatzar: Blessing said after using the bathroom 

Avraham Avinu: Abraham, father of the Jewish People 

Bavel: Babylon 

Davening: Prayer

Maariv: The Evening Prayer service

Mincha: The Afternoon Prayer service

Sefer: A book of Torah or commentary

Shacharis: The Morning Prayer service

Tefillos: Prayers

Tzitzis: fringes worn by Jewish men on four-cornered garments

Rabbi Weissman – Torture Has No Place in Israel, or Anywhere

I was a guest once again on the Glazov Gang and spoke about torture, specifically the horrifying case of Amiram Ben Uliel.  This is an issue that the stooges in our government ignored during the election theatre, which tells you all you need to know.  If there is going to be real justice and real change, the catalyst needs to be us.

The video is available here.  Please watch and share.  You can also read more about the case here and here.

There needs to be an international outcry and extreme pressure to free Amiram Ben Uliel, end torture, and punish everyone involved with this sadism.  If Amiram Ben Uliel were tortured and imprisoned like this by any other country, the Jews would rally to have him freed.  The sham of a Jewish state shouldn't get a free pass.

Shame on everyone who obsesses over the latest round of government musical chairs, who deludes himself that the latest configuration of Erev Rav will bring us to the promised land any more than the previous configurations did, while the state routinely tortures and even murders dissenters with the blessing of the Sodomite courts.  

Seriously, if we spend more time talking about Ben Gvir than Ben Uliel, what good are we?

If we lived in a better world, 100,000 people would march into the prison, politely ask the guards to step aside, and take him home themselves.  

Hundreds of thousands of people drop everything to attend funerals of prominent rabbis.  Why can we organize for the sake of the dead, but not for the sake of the living?  I'm all in favor of showing honor for the Torah and sanctifying Hashem's name, but whether 5000 or 500,000 people show up for a funeral, it doesn't change anything; the rabbi will still be dead.

If the Jewish people mobilized to save Amiram and end these atrocities, it would be more meaningful than attending a thousand funerals.  It would be something for us to really be proud of, and maybe even get Moshiach's attention.

After all, those who strive to redeem others deserve to be redeemed as well.

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Rabbi Winston – Parshas Lech Lecha – Part I

 

R Winston – Lech Lecha

IT USED TO be important to me to make Torah and science square with each other. When you are involved in outreach, the issue often comes up because many secular people treat science like it is absolute truth. If they see a contradiction between Torah and science, they assume the Torah is wrong, having been written long before science had come to know so much about how the world works. 

Of course, that doesn’t make a difference if G–D authored the Torah, a fundamental of Torah belief. He made the world, He made science, and nothing man can ever discover or work out can exist outside His knowledge base, which is infinite. He is all knowledge, and He knew everything science would ever come up with at the time He gave the Torah to the Jewish people in 1313 BCE. A secular person however does not yet believe this, and this has forced outreach professionals to make Torah jive with science.

Science has a blinding advantage. It deals with the here and now, a world of which we are part and can participate in. The Torah, on the other hand, deals with ancient history and includes many events that we have not witnessed, making them hard to believe. I certainly felt a slight boost in my emunah when I read in Josephus that the pillar of salt that Lot’s wife became was still visible in his time. It was kind of scientific verification of a biblical event. 

The ironic thing is that the modern world’s advantage is also its shortcoming. When it gets something right, and that is not always the case, it is only dealing with the present. The only way it can apply its knowledge of the present to the past is by making the huge assumption that everything back then was more or less the way it is today. It has to assume that the rules haven’t changed much, and we’re just discovering today what has always been. 

But is it? Even the world of science on occasion has found reason to question this, especially since the Dark Ages shut down technological advancement for about 500 years. The modern secular world today, for the most part, was born in the 1500s during the Renaissance Period. Until 500 years ago, mankind groped in intellectual darkness, more than enough time to lost track of what came before. 

Then there is the G–D factor again. He runs the world and He directs history, sometimes overtly, mostly covertly. He decides what man can know, controlling the flow of knowledge in every generation. It’s easy to write G–D out of history. It’s just not accurate to do so, because leaving Him explains so much about the path of mankind over the ages. Just because a person can’t see how, or worse, doesn’t want to see how, does not mean that G–D isn’t pulling all the strings.

At the end of the day, this is what made Avraham who he was. This is what separated him from the rest of the world around him. While the rest of his world was only interested in coping with the reality in which they found themselves, and looking for ways to use it to their material benefit, Avraham was only interested in truth, the truth, G–D’s truth. 

THE MOTHER SUDDENLY realized that she might have undercooked. She worried that she had more guests than food, and to avoid an embarrassing situation she told her children, “When I offer the chicken, say you’re already full and you don’t want any, okay?” The children happily agreed because normally, they could not get out of having the main course. They did as they were told and has hoped there was just enough food for the guests. Everyone was happy except, that is, when the mother came out with the dessert and said, “Anyone who did not have chicken can’t have dessert!”

It is called making aliyah—ascending. Israel may not be the highest land geographically, but it is spiritually, so no matter which land you come from, it is always called making aliyah. Someone wanted to say that that just as receiving an aliyah on Torah reading days is by invitation only, likewise you have to be invited by Heaven to make aliyah to Eretz Yisroel. This is what G–D did when He told Avraham, “Lech-Lecha…”

There are still many people who do not mind not being “invited” to Eretz Yisroel. For many, the reasons for not going are really just excuses because, quite frankly, they don’t want to go. Even burdens that keep them pinned down in the Diaspora are acceptable because they consider it to be a bigger burden to make aliyah. Whatever merit there might be for living there, they believe, can be offset by the merit of what they are doing while living in the Diaspora. 

Until it comes time for “dessert.” That’s when G–D will reveal to all of us, those who made aliyah and those who did not, the benefit of having done so before Moshiach comes. That’s when G–D will say, “Anyone who did not make aliyah (or at least consider it) before Moshiach came can’t have ‘dessert’,” meaning all of the benefits that will follow after the “main course,” history as we know it now, will finally end. 

Because as the Gemora says, G–D works measure for measure (Sanhedrin 90a). You get what you pay for with Torah, mitzvos, and above all, mesiras Nefesh—self-sacrifice. That’s why right after G–D tells Avraham to make aliyah, He also promises him children, fame, and money. These are things, Rashi explains, that traveling can deny a person. The same will be true for those who made aliyah while it was still a choice, and those who did not. 

Thus the Midrash says that after Moshiach comes and rights the world, all remaining Diaspora Jews will willingly come to Eretz Yisroel and be astounded by the level of the Jews already living there. They won’t just say, “Oh well, we’ll just have to do with less, a small price to pay for having been able to live in the Diaspora until the end.” They will instead bitterly complain to Moshiach about the inequality. It will be too little to late. 

Skeptical? They’re only midrashim? 

A little skepticism is a good thing, they say. Too much can kill you. And then there is what you might call uninformed skepticism, the kind that rises from not knowing enough and thinking that you do. It is amazing how quickly a few facts can make believers out of skeptics, and turn lives completely around. 

For example, it says in this week’s parsha: 

(continued)

Rabbi Winston – Parshas Lech Lecha – Part 2

 (continued)

For example, it says in this week’s parsha: 

The valley of Siddim had many clay pits, and the kings of Sdom and Amorrah fled and they fell there, and the survivors fled to a mountain. (Bereishis 14:10) 

There were many pits there from which they took earth for the clay for building. The midrashic explanation is that the clay was kneaded in them [i.e., in the pits], and a miracle occurred for the king of Sdom that he escaped from there because some of the nations did not believe that Avraham had been saved from from the fiery furnace in Ur Kasdim. Since this one escaped from the clay, they believed in Avraham retroactively. (Rashi)

That’s the human condition ever since we absorbed the yetzer hara into our being. It makes mountains out of molehills and vice-versa (Succah 52). It takes a real chacham, the Gemora says, to be able to project into the future (Tamid 32a), not just intellectually but emotionally as well. 

I remember seeing a comic strip many years back. A young genius boy is building a sophisticated house of cards. His slightly older and bully of a sister comes over and menacingly asks him, “What would you do if I destroyed your house of cards?” But without looking the least bit concerned, he casually answers her, “Nothing for now. But when you and your future husband will later ask me to cosign on a mortgage, I won’t do it.” Needless to say his sister does nothing and just walks away. 

For now, people feel no loss living away from Eretz Yisroel. Later they will feel just the opposite. Fortunate is the person who can correctly come to terms with the future, in the present.  

SPEAKING OF GETTING what you pay for, it works the same way for getting married and building a family. 

Last week’s parsha made a point of telling us that Sarah was barren. This week’s parsha tells us that G–D promised Avraham children, but that didn’t happen for years after. The promise came to Avraham when he was 70, but he didn’t have Yitzchak until he was 100, just after he questioned G–D about it: 

Avram said, “G–D, what will You give me, since I am going childless, and the steward of my household is Eliezer of Damascus?” Avram said, “You have given me no seed, and behold, one of my household will inherit me.” (Bereishis 15:2-3)

I often quote the Leshem, but there is an amazing story about him. Being the great mekubel and tzaddik that he was, people came from all over to receive a brochah from him, particularly when they were having difficultly having children. One day his own daughter came to him and said, “You are giving your brochah to all of these families to have children, and I still have none. Give me your brochah too!” He told her, “Not only will you have a son, but what a son you will have!” 

And the Leshem was right. Her son grew up to be one of the greatest rabbis of his generation, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, zt”l. And even though his last name was not Elyashiv, he took it on in deference to his grandfather. The only question is, why did she wait so long to ask for her father’s brochah, and why did it take so long for her to have a son? 

The son himself was the answer. Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, zt”l, was destined to be a Gadol HaDor, and for that to happen, the spiritual circumstances had to be right. Every day we change, some for the better, some for the worse. And since G–D works measure for measure, changing for the better brings “better” hashgochah, and the opposite is true as well. To give birth to a Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, his father and mother had to be spiritually just so…the world had to be just so. When it was, G–D set in motion the events that would make her ask for the brochah right when she did, which played a part in the process as well.

The same thing was even truer about Yitzchak. Not only was Yitzchak destined to be a Gadol HaDor, he was destined to a forefather, an extraordinary thing to be born. A Yishmael could be born about any time, but a Yitzchak could only be born when the world could support such a great individual. The 29 years between blessing and birth were directed by G–D specifically to make that happen.

As the Gemora teaches, anyone who forces a moment will end up being pushed off by the moment, that is, they won’t succeed. But anyone who allows the moment to push them off will see the moment pushed off for them (Brochos 64a). As Shlomo HaMelech wrote in Koheles, everything has its moment, and it might not always be the one we choose. It usually isn’t. When it comes to emunah, patience is more than just a virtue. 

Ain Od Milvado, Part 24

EVERYONE KNOWS THAT lying is bad. It might be easy to do, or to rationalize, but we know it is the wrong thing to do. Lying distorts reality, or at least the perception of it, and we even have a mitzvah to distance ourselves from it. 

On the other hand, we are told, lying might be the higher truth in some situations. There are times when you can lie to save your life, or even just your marriage. But not, according to the Torah, when you have done something for which you should take responsibility and suffer the consequences. If a person lies to escape that, the Torah warns, G–D will find a way to get the truth out anyhow. The consequences have often been worse than if the person had admitted the truth from the start.

Part of the problem with lying is that it is a violation of ain od Milvado. We lie because we are afraid of the consequences of telling the truth, as Avraham said in this week’s parsha:

Now it came to pass when he drew near to come to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Now I know that you are a beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife,’ and they will kill me and let you live. Please say [that] you are my sister, in order that it go well with me because of you, and that my soul may live because of you.” (Bereishis 12:9-13)

G–D had saved Avraham from the fires of Ur Kasdim. Could G–D not have saved him from Pharaoh too? Where did his trust in G–D go? Why did he think Pharaoh had the power to kill him if G–D didn’t want him dead? What was the difference now, especially since Ur Kasdim was before G–D spoke to him, and this was after?

The difference was that in Ur Kasdim it was only Avraham, and it only required a one-person miracle. Now the situation included Avraham, Sarai, Lot, and the rest of their entourage, and that meant a multi-person miracle. Each person added to the story added an additional mazel and impacted the overall divine providence equation. The rule is, you can decide to trust in G–D to save you from danger, but you can’t make others do the same, at least to the same extent, if they don’t will it for themselves.

But rather than blame others for the situation, Avraham took the blame himself. He made it seem that he was concerned for his own welfare, telling Sarah, “in order that it go well with me because of you, and that my soul may live because of you.” Some fault Avraham for this anyhow, but as far as the Torah seems concerned, he had acted in a fitting manner.

Leah From Itamar – Lech Lecha

ABRAHAM, THE FIRST ZIONIST 

The mobilization of the National Religious Party to actualize on core issues of the bringing to fruition of Zionism and settlement, was and is the banner we hold from the time of its inception. As a young American just learning about Gush Emunim, I worked for Dor Hemshech at the Jewish Agency on Park Avenue and 60th street in Manhattan. Oblivious to really what religious Zionism was, I was embedded in a Divine Providence way, way back then even before our Aliyah in 1985 when I heard a rumor that Jewish pioneers were out in the Land of Yehudah Shomron setting up and just sprouting. 

When you walk the streets of the city it’s hard to feel the rebirth of that place – Israel, as I was distracted by the pulse of NYC, but something tugged at me in a way that shaped my future forever – I dreamt it. I imagined biblical scenes of Lech Lecha – Abraham – the first to “come home” from another land, staff in hand, hand in hand with his wife Sarah over bald mountains and craggy green creeks, of sheep and tents and leathered faces. The abyss between the living breathing life cycle of religious Zionism in Israel and the orthodox community in the USA and other countries was and is for a large fact- enormous. Few are the communities like Teaneck New Jersey and some in the Five towns of Long Island that continue to teach the ideals of return to Zion in an integrity pro-active way.

As Judaism thrives all over the world, religious Zionism in Israel has been through one of the hardest tests in that its own government ditched its integrity, causing implosion from within in the total abandonment of our heritage and holy sites and capitulation to the enemy that has been armed and financed by brokering nations and even Israel. For the bulk of the Jewish diaspora – we settlers became a disclaimer, being brainwashed by the progressive left in influential media in the USA and here in Israel, we have been regarded as taboo. This also resulted in catastrophic losses of swaths of land and lives, precious ones I knew. 

The lack of enforcement that spilled into major Israeli cities began to awaken concerned Israelis that did not live in Judea or Samaria. People here began to question what the heck was going on. If the Mapaai socialist – leftist government of Israel preached equality for all – it was the Jews of Judea – Samaria that were discriminated against and the territory of the heart of Israel given over as cities of refuge to the enemy. Almost unbelievable to even read but these are the facts. We came to a land unsow, the passuk from Jeremiah comes to mind: “לכתך אחרי במדבר בארץ לא זרועה”, “You followed me in the desert in an unsown land.” We remained steadfast despite the abnegation. A stiff necked people we are out here.

Let’s rewind, The ultra-left-wing party in the days of the British mandate, The United Kibbutz Movement headed by Yitzchak Tebenkin opposed vehemently the division of Eretrz Yisrael, and fought to retain its completeness. Interesting to see the corrosion of the Israeli left and its willingness to throw Jews under the bus for zero ideology, much like the rise and fall of King Saul who started out OK but then fell to the evil side. We played music for the left as David did and tried to soothe the ailment in the resonance of birds chirping again here, and the racket, when allowed – of bulldozers building on our ancient legacy. Barely cutting off a tiny piece of their garment in retaliation of the atrocity against us – the left just crumpled up, imploding from within after barely after a year of a quasi-government that had most Israelis regardless of where they live–fed up. Fresh waters have come to revive our souls.

Halleluyah!

 

Here’s the thing, the Land IS sown now. We’ve held our heads up. What gave us strength? Yiddishkiet, nationalism, faith, knowing with every grapevine that stands in witness to this great event – opposition to it – come what may, the nation of Israel has said their word! And YOU dear friends- thank you for standing with us! Exactly, we say- we are not a vassal state. The nation in Israel has said its word – OPTIMISM has held our heads above the bereavement and political treachery. This is the power of democracy (in the words of Yair Lapid, who tried to shut down the only conservative news channel, channel 14 and did not succeed!) We have finally been redeemed from the noose on our necks. Without the back up and pitch from the major mainstream media, Bibi and the national religious Zionism party have been reinstated.

We hope our brethren in the countries outside of Israel come to see what has been hidden for the last twenty years as the tragedy of Oslo, as it covered over our lifeblood and crux of identity. This is a time for true tikkun- in sync with Abraham and Lech Lecha as our Rabbis tell us- Lech Lecha means GO TO YOURSELF – go to your mission, your inner candle, light up the world. The victory of the religious Zionist nationalist camp is far more than a political achievement, it is a grand slam on Hashem’s plan to bring prophecy true in our days.

What are your dreams?

Shabbat Shalom xoxoxoxox Leah

Rabbi Weissman – Lessons from Lech Lecha

 

This week's Torah class: Amazing lessons from Lech Lecha  (below)

Here is a recording of a recent event by Macabim: Stand for Hashem Event on Covid and the Elections.  I only listened to Dr. Pierre Kory's presentation, and it was terrific (nothing against the other presenters, who I'm sure were great as well).

Here are a few short thoughts on Israel's latest election theatre.  I shared the first two before election day, but you can file them away for the next round.  

1. This vapid campaign slogan from Smotrich is a punchline waiting to happen.  "You get what you vote for."

2. Don't waste your vote.  Vote for someone who literally tried to kill you over someone else who literally tried to kill you, because this one isn't quite as bad.

3. If you engage in machinations instead of voting with your conscience, don't complain when you get leaders who do the same.

4. If Moshiach ran for election, people wouldn't vote for him, because they would figure he wouldn't get enough votes to get in, and they wouldn't want to waste their vote.

__________________________

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THIS SHABBOS – Rochel Imeinu Yahrzeit …and... Rabbi Kessin on the Hilula

 Rachel Imeinu cries for her children in exile

Rabbi Kessin & the Hilula of Rachel Imeinu - a Personal Story

And NOW The Fight Begins . . . What Kind of Govt. Will Survive?

 

*Minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen responds to exit polls: We will not sit with Netanyahu and will do everything we can to prevent an extremist government.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/362103

*Vote count points to narrow victory by right-wing bloc

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/362101

*Deputy Jerusalem Mayor: I will not be surprised if Netanyahu leaves Ben Gvir out

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/362100

NOW THE (awful) FIGHT BEGINS:

The seat allocations are estimates based on the current status of the vote count 
and will change as the remaining ballots are counted.

Likud - 23.21% (31 seats)
Yesh Atid - 17.92% (24 seats)
The Religious Zionist Party - 10.31% (14 seats)
National Unity Party - 8.91% (12 seats)
Shas - 8.41% (12 seats)
United Torah Judaism - 6.22% (8 seats)
United Arab List (Ra'am) - 4.35% (5 seats)
Yisrael Beytenu - 4.33% (5 seats)
Hadash-Ta'al - 3.92% (5 seats)
Labor - 3.57% (4 seats)
Meretz - 3.20%
Balad - 3.05%
Jewish Home - 1.17%
B'Omtez Beshvilcha - 0.32%
Economic Freedom - 0.29%
New Economic Party - 0.28%
Tzeirim Boarim - 0.15%

*https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/362101 – The results as of 9:55 a.m. Wednesday morning with 4,057,052 votes (84.3% of the total) counted.

The Real Israelis who Elected Ben-Gvir

by Rabbi Prof. Dov Fischer 

I previously have published here my strong support for Itamar Ben-Gvir (and Bezalel Smotrich and their Religious Zionism party). I am disgusted by this era’s tactic by leftists in Israel — and in America — to depict their opponents on the right as Nazis.

In Israel they compare Ben-Gvir to Hitler. In America, they compare Donald Trump to Hitler. Interesting:

1. Did Hitler have a daughter whom he loved who converted to Orthodox Judaism and whom he continued to love?
2. Did Hitler have an Orthodox Jewish son-in-law whom he brought into the German government’s highest echelons?
3. Would Hitler have moved the Nazi embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem?
4. Would Hitler have had a Nazi embassy in Tel Aviv either?
5. Would Hitler have recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights?
6. Would Hitler have pulled Nazi Germany out of the United Nations Human Rights Council because of their anti-Semitism?
7. Would Hitler have closed down PLO offices in Berlin?
8. Would Hitler have cut off funding for the UNRWA?
9. Would Hitler have named the likes of David Friedman as his ambassadors?
10. Would Hitler have initiated the Abraham Accords to bring Israel greater acceptance in the Arab world?

Tough questions. Really tough. Hard to know the answers. What would Hitler have done?

That is the Left’s formula: “This is the end of democracy!” Trying to prevent Elon Musk from buying Twitter while supporting Jeff Bezos buying the Washington Post. For the Left, that is the only way to protect democracy — by denying conservatives their democratic rights to vote. It is the only way to protect freedom of speech — by denying conservatives the right to speak.

And that is the way the Left operates in Israel.

The only way Yair Lapid could have shoved his Lebanon maritime give-away down everyone’s throats was by manipulating Israel’s democracy to bar the Knesset from voting on it.

The only way Oslo could have happened was by Yitzchak Rabin overriding the will of the public and buying off Raful Eitan’s right-wing-party Knesset members with ministries and personal limousines.

Israeli democracy in action, accepting personal bribes and pay-offs to imperil the country and its citizens — and the same Leftists want to prosecute Netanyahu over cigars and champagne?

Itamar Ben-Gvir is a perfectly worthy Knesset member, and he is as qualified to be a cabinet minister as is any other party head or co-head. Over the course of five election cycles in three years, he has played by the rules, has campaigned as a parliamentarian would, has not had backers terrorize voters. It is irrelevant what he did or did not do 25 years ago. Liberals forgave Ted Kennedy much sooner than that after Chappaquiddick. Liberals elected Bill Clinton amid Gennifer Flowers, Paula Corbin Jones, Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey, and Monica Lewinsky. (I think I have the order right.) They forgave Michael Richards (Cosmo Kramer in “Seinfeld”) after his terrible racist rant — because they like his humor. So Ben-Gvir circa 2022 is what matters, not circa 1994.

It has always been the Israeli Left’s way to demonize and lie for political gain, even at the expense of Israel’s very security. They brazenly lied about Deir Yassin to win points against the Irgun for the Labor Party’s pre-State predecessor, the Haganah. They sank the Altalena and murdered Jews aboard that ship that was importing weapons to save Jerusalem from being seized by Arab armies. They depicted Menachem Begin as a Hitler who would end Israeli democracy. That was their campaign slogan against Begin for thirty years.

Itamar Ben-Gvir is fine and worthy. He wants to expel Arab Muslims who are traitors to Israel and who support terror. That is reasonable. He wants to have Arab terror murderers executed. That, too, is perfectly reasonable. Others may differ, but that is how democracy works, and Jews in Israel have voted this time more demonstrably for the right wing. Indeed, if not for the personality hate that Avigdor Liberman and Gideon Sa’ar harbor against Benjamin Netanyahu, there now would be a coalition of 73 or so Knesset seats in a broad all-right-wing government.

So who elected Ben-Gvir anyway? Was it Netanyahu, who engineered an agreement between Bezalel Smotrich and Ben-Gvir to assure that right-wing votes would not be wasted? No.

Ben-Gvir was elected by those who hate the Arab Muslim Jew-haters and terrorists who have been trying to destroy the Jewish state and to murder its Jewish inhabitants, with almost-daily acts of terror. Also the Hamas terrorists in Gaza who fire rockets and even incendiary balloons into southern Israel as their way of showing gratitude to Israel for handing them Gaza unilaterally and uprooting Gush Katif in 2005. It is they — Arab Muslim Jew-haters within Israel and on her borders — who have bred a new mindset to take hold in Israel that can be summarized as “This garbage has got to stop.”

That is who elected Ben-Gvir, perhaps to become an Israeli cabinet minister. An expression of Israeli democracy.

Last Era of This World - How to Survive Through Gog Magog

 

Rabbi Kessin – Avraham Avinu's Role in the Divine Agenda

 

Vote Them Out of Israel!

 Wonder if the vax went to her head and caused neurologic confusion?

Labor Leader Merav Michaeli Withheld New Transport Plans for Judea and Samaria, Says It Won’t Be Part of Israel’

Like DeSantis and Abbot, maybe we should ship some illegals to her neighborhood and open a half-way house for them to acclimate to the area!

In America her action would be called ‘treason’.