Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook: Maintaining a Friendship of the Spirit – part IV

#266 – part IV

Date and Place: 11 Shevat 5670, Yafo

Recipient: Rav Pinchas Hakohen Lintop, the rabbi of a Chassidic community in Lithuania. He had learned Kabbala with Rav Kook when Rav Kook was in Boisk. The two were very deep and like-minded thinkers. We have previously seen a letter between them (#184), written a year earlier.

Body: [The discussion had just turned to philosophical matters. In the background, Rav Lintop apparently critiqued Rav Kook’s recent article, “Derech Hatechiya”]

The feeling of belief in Hashem, which is so strong, comes first. We need to strengthen it specifically at this time to make it as broad, general, and all-encompassing as can be. Afterward, we can begin clarifying concepts that have developed to the left and to the right. This requires extracting the impurities that lost their efficacy when they strayed too far. It also requires removing internal chaff from the estate of Jacob, the pure man who is missing nothing. It even has the substance that “draws out the undesirable parts of a pot of food, which it absorbed during cooking.” It is worthwhile to maintain the nation’s honor and present its impurities to it in privacy, so that it can maintain its ability to march forward with valor, using its spirit, which knows its purity and truthfulness.

However, why should I speak in this venue (i.e., his recent article) about the difference between humanity in general and the unique nation and between the collective and its individuals. All of these points are special subsets of the overall enquiry; they are very appropriate when the time comes for details, but they have no special place when one first just looks into basic, broad ideas. The specific distinctions melt away when the overarching generalities shine in bright light. It is not that the individuals melt away or that “existence” gets any closer to earth, as Hashem is “a sun and a protector” (Tehillim 84:12), and Hashem “created the world to be inhabited, not to be void” (Yeshayahu 45:18).

However, the contrasting differences are responsible for a situation whereby every individual interferes with his peer, every piece of logic contradicts another, each group has a certain enmity toward a different group, and each individual has the attitude of “I alone shall rule.” This form of void can be fixed by shining objectivity [at the misconceivers]. The divisive people who damage the world and commit iniquities cannot look at all-inclusive light and are broken by the power of their own destructiveness.

We must present many high-quality introductions before we make the world capable of understanding how special Hashem’s revelations through miracles are. The divine good, stands strongly in the heart of the only nation which, from its inception, carries Hashem’s banner and prepares the world to recognize the phenomenon of miracles. It is a pity that there should be a spiritual leader whose soul is not connected to the light of Hashem’s wonders that were done in the past and does not look forward to see their light in the future.

[We should understand] the gradual manner in which the spirit of life will return to the heart of our nation, which is fainting with a thirst for the clearly pronounced word of Hashem. It is through the straightening of the path of the wellspring of life which flows through the nature of the Jewish soul. This is connected to the belief, from the nation’s infancy, in unfathomable miracles, which can exist even during historical developments that hide the light of Hashem. These too are revelations of Hashem in the physical and spiritual world, as the world progresses in straightforward and complex ways. We must constantly have the inclination to appreciate goodness. The divine goodness that is revealed through harsh judgment will, in the future, appear with lightning bolts of glowing light more powerful than the superficial good that is revealed from sentimental love that will not conquer the paths of life or lead human society in all the ways of its life.

The Nations’ Rebirth Is the Foundation of Great Repentance

by HaRav Dov Begon,
Rosh HaYeshiva, Machon Meir

“All the prophets commanded Israel to repent - and only through repentance can Israel be redeemed” (Rambam, Hilchot Teshuvah 7:5). Rabbi Yehuda Alkalai explains that Rambam is referring to the total repentance of Israel that will take place after they return to Eretz Yisrael (Kitvei HaRav Alkalai, page 324).

This interpretation matches with our reading of Devarim (30:2-5): “You will return to the L-rd your G-d... The L-rd will then bring back your remnants and have mercy on you. He will once again gather you from among all the nations.... He will then bring you to the land that your ancestors occupied, and you too will occupy it.”

Rav Avraham Yitzhak Kook, as well, explains that “the rebirth of the nation is the foundation of the edifice of the great repentance, the lofty repentance of Israel and the repentance of the whole world which will follow” (Orot HaTeshuvah 17:1). In accordance with Devarim (30:6), which continues, “The L-rd will remove the barriers from your hearts and from the hearts of your descendants, so that you will love the L-rd your G-d with all your heart and soul,” Israel’s repentance will be “repentance out of love, greater than any other form of repentance” (Or HaChaim, Ibid.).

There is personal repentance, wherein an individual repents from his sins. To do so he must confess his sins, express contrition, and resolve not to sin in the future. There is also the general repentance of the Jewish People which begins with Israel’s returning to the Land of Israel (Rav Yehuda Alkalai, Ibid.).

Right now, we are in a period of the ingathering of the exiles, about which the sages said, “Great is the day of the Ingathering of the Exiles, but difficult as well” (Rashi, Ibid.). We are at the start of the great return, the start of the formation of the nation in its land after two thousand years of exile. As is known, all beginnings are hard. We are in the stage of, “I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land” (Yekhezqel 36:24). The day is not far off when the continuation of the prophecy will be fulfilled as well: “Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean... A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you” (Ibid., v. 35-36).

The Jewish People - in their rebirth - may be compared to a newborn infant. At first, the parents worry about the infant’s physical needs - that it should gain weight and grow. Later, when the child has grown and become a lad, his main development is spiritual.

It is the same with the Jewish nation. The Ingathering of the Exiles is part of Israel’s physical development. In the next stage, the nation will progress onward to issues involving its spirituality and destiny, i.e., the historic destiny of the nation. That destiny will involve them spreading light to the world and being benevolent to them, as in G-d’s blessing to Avraham, “You shall become a blessing... All the families of the earth will be blessed through you” (Bereisheet 12:2-3).

Besorot Tovot,
With the Love of Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael,
Shabbat Shalom,
Ketiva V'Chatima Tova.

Yeshivat Machon Meir: Leading Up to The Brit (video)

What we actually do, matters

by Rav Binny Freedman

It was a narrow winding road, barely paved, and I was definitely nervous; the constricting alleys of Beit Romano, deep in the heart of Hebron, is not my normal comfort zone.

As I drove deeper into the largely Arab populated villages, I passed the occasional Israeli soldiers on guard in their guard-posts, and I had the sense they thought I was mad. But I was on a mission. Our youngest son Yair, who at the time was in his initial training in the regular army (he is now a Paratrooper Commando Officer in the reserves), along with his commando squad of paratroopers, had been sent to spend Shabbat guarding the roads and back alleys of Hebron, and they had a short window in which I could find them all before they headed out for guard duties and patrols.

One of the boys’ parents had managed to get and send us all some photos, taken by one of the commanders, of their insane week of combat training in the hot desert sun. One image of Yair carrying a fellow-soldier (who seemed to be twice his size) across his shoulders as they simulated a retreat under fire, kept playing through my head; the sheer exhaustion on his face seeming to be incongruous with the smile and determination in his eyes… he had ‘celebrated’ his birthday just two days earlier with all-night treks and running, combat exercises and no sleep, so I wanted to spoil him and his unit with a little birthday spirit; they had all earned a little pampering.

The look on his face and the grins from ear to ear on all of his fellow soldiers’ faces when I showed up with a trunk-full of cold cans of soda, nosh, home cooked food for Shabbat and especially a cooler full of his favorite Ben & Jerry’s ice creams was simply indescribable.

After a precious half an hour hanging out with him, he had to go back on duty, and I was left with my thoughts as I navigated the narrow alleys again and headed home for Shabbat.

The whole way back I wondered what motivated these boys to put their lives on hold and choose such a difficult course of service as an elite unit within the already elite paratroopers. It seemed like just yesterday he was four years old playing with his friends in the pool in Boca Raton where we spent a few years on shlichut (educational mission) in Florida, or with his cousins in the summer playground in Efrat or New Rochelle, and today, no less than five of them (!) are all serving in the paratroopers. Where does that level of commitment and service come from?

It can’t be the result of growing up in Israel; three of these boys grew up in the States. And I don’t think it’s the result of a religious upbringing (whatever that means) as one look at a photo of Yair’s commando unit (most of whom have no kippot on their heads) would make abundantly clear; so what is it?

There is a fascinating detail in this week’s portion, Nitzavim, which may suggest a way of understanding this phenomenon.

This week’s portion is viewed by many as the consolation of G-d for the difficult verses in last week’s portion, Ki Tavoh. After hearing all of the calamitous events (the “Tochacha” or curses”, see chapter 28 of Devarim ) that will occur to the Jewish people in the event they stray from their mission, this week, suggests Rashi, Moshe comforts and assuages the pain of the Jewish people by telling them:

“Atem Nitzavim HaYom Kulchem Lifnei’ Hashem Elokeichem….”
“You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your G-d….” (Devarim 29:9)

No matter what you will or may go through, and how you may disappoint G-d, He will always love you, and you will remain (standing) close to Him.

Which is what makes the verses that follow this encouraging opening so difficult:

“You have seen the abominations (of idolatry) in Egypt… perhaps there is amongst you a man or woman… whose heart turns away today from being with Hashem, to serve the gods (idols) of other nations… lest there be amongst you a Shoresh Poreh’ Rosh Ve’Le’anah, a root flourishing with gall and wormwood… G-d will not forgive him (such a person)….” (29:15-19)

This is comforting? In the midst of telling the people that despite it all, there will always be a close relationship between G-d and the Jewish people, Moshe adds what awful consequences will befall (29:19-28) anyone present who does, nonetheless, stray again towards idolatry (and all of its practices). Hasn’t G-d already made the point? How is this meant to be, as Rashi (29:12) suggests, a comfort to the Jewish people?

Rav Avigdor Nevehnsahl, in his Sichot Le’Rosh HaShanah, suggests that the comfort is nonetheless, that despite it all, we will eventually come back to G-d, and home to Israel, as the verses continue in chapter (Perek) 30: “Ve’Shavta’ Ad Hashem Elokecha’…” The day will come when “you (we) will return”.

But this remains difficult; how are the consequences of a person’s straying from the true and narrow path, not to mention the suggestion that someone present is still preparing to do such things, a comfort to the Jewish people (as Rashi suggests)?

One verse in particular suggests a point worth considering:

“Lest (“Pen”) there be amongst you a Shoresh Poreh’ Rosh Ve’Le’anah, a root flourishing with gall and wormwood….” (29:17)

This cannot mean that there is still someone who is actually an idolater, standing amongst the Jewish people prior to their entry into the land of Israel. After all, everyone who had followed the pagan path of Baal had already been excised and was long gone. (Devarim 4:3) So, this verse must not be speaking of someone who has actually done anything wrong, but rather refers to what a person might be thinking!

Further, it is not even that there is an active process that has already consumed a person’s thoughts, but rather, simply the root of such thoughts. The beginnings, or stirrings of curiosity or desire, seem to be the target of Moshe’s challenging words here. If this is true, as Rav Nevehnsahl suggests here, then we are not speaking of actions, we are rather referring to character traits.

This is why the verse speaks of a person “Asher Le’vavo Poneh”, “whose heart is turning”, (29:17) as well as describing this phenomenon as a root; because we are speaking here of the beginnings of something which will lead a person down a path that will eventually result in disaster.

As an example, witness the story of the revealing of the imminent birth of a son to Abraham and Sarah, who are respectively 100 and 90 years old. (Bereisheet 18:12-15).

Hashem reveals to Abraham and Sarah that they will have a son born to them a year later. And Sarah (verse 12) laughs inside (“Va’Titzchak Be’Kirbah”, (meaning there was no visible action, but rather an internal disbelief.). But when Hashem tells Abraham that she has laughed, Sarah denies it!!

“VaTe’chachesh Sarah Le’mor: Lo’Tzachakti, Ki’ Yere’ah….”
“And Sarah denied (laughing), saying: “I did not laugh”, for she was fearful.”

This is nothing short of incredible! According to Jewish tradition, Sarah herself was a prophetess, so how could she deny something that G-d says she did? Unless of course, she really didn’t do it. But then why is Hashem saying she did do it? And, even more to the point, if there is something Sarah didn’t do or even did, why is Hashem, in the midst of giving them such joyful news, giving Sarah (who obviously has earned such a miracle, so must herself be on a fairly high and spiritual level) such a hard time?

The truth is, here too, Hashem is not saying Sarah actually physically laughed; she didn’t. Which is why, perhaps misunderstanding the question, Sarah emphatically points out that she did not laugh. In point of fact, she did not actually laugh, “Ki’ Ye’reah’”, read not that she was afraid but that she was a Yere’ah, someone who sees things on a different level (from the same root as Lirot, to see.). Precisely because she was a woman filled with the awe of all of G-d’s wonders, she was capable, upon discovering that she would have a child at the age of 90, of not actually laughing.

But that is not what Hashem is referring to. Hashem is speaking about that slight aberration, un-noticeable to all but G-d, of surprise or even disbelief, hidden deep inside of Sarah. In fact, this thought might have been so deeply hidden inside Sarah’s thought process that she herself might not have even been aware of it. But G-d was, and He let her know just how dangerous the raw and bare beginnings of such a process might be.

This is a crucial lesson, directly from G-d.

Most people presume that what matters is what you do, not what you think, or feel, and that ethics is measured only in behavior, and not in thoughts and feelings.

But the Torah is telling us that ‘it just ain’t so’.

What we actually do, matters. We can pay as much lip service as we want to charity; if we don’t actually give Tzedakah, it does not mean a whole lot. But good actions also begin with good thoughts, and all negative and unhealthy behavior has at its roots, unhealthy and negative character traits (middot) that need to be examined and corrected.

Hence Maimonides, in his Hilchot Teshuvah speaks not only of Teshuvah (getting back or undoing) for our actions, but for our character flaws as well.

“… Chovah Le’Pashpesh Gam Be’De’ot HaRa’ot.”
“…We are obligated to examine our negative character flaws as well.”
(Laws of Repentance 7:3)

Sometimes, a character flaw may be so small, and so unnoticeable that the person does not even know it is there. But what the Torah is saying here is that if we are willing to struggle with the introspection necessary to take a hard look at ourselves, we can catch these character flaws before they become the actions we so regret later in life. And this is the comfort Moshe offers the Jewish people here at the beginning of our portion.

Know that deep inside each of one of us are the sparks for good and evil, love and hatred, kindness and judgment, love and lust. And the raging fire of feelings and emotions that can consume us can also be the beacons of light that illuminate a better world. The decision is really up to us.

These incredible boys, thousands of them wearing the green uniforms of the IDF elite combat units, who as you read these words, are putting themselves on the line with every ounce and fiber of their being, long ago had a spark, a glimmering of will to give, to make a difference, and to do so in a way that would allow them to become the best they could be.

And somehow, their families, schools and communities cultivated those sparks, in Jewish classrooms and summer camps, in bar and bat-mitzvah trips and Shabbat morning Synagogue sermons, until they burst forth in a storm of will and passion to make a difference.

And we, the Jewish people, are riding on their shoulders.

This year, as we approach the Days of Awe, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, let us hope that we succeed, each in our own way, in finding the passion and will to do good and to contribute, deep inside ourselves , along with ways to cultivate such desires until they become an unstoppable force for good.

And at the same time, let us isolate the barely discernible negative character traits, the desire to complain, to see things through negative lenses, and to judge others harshly, and quench such flaws before they ever have a chance to become issues we struggle with.

May the soldiers stay safe, the hostages soon come home, the injured healed and the families of the fallen be comforted. And may we all, soon know and see easier times … Shanah Tovah!

Best wishes for a sweet, happy, healthy and above all peaceful New Year.

Be’Virchat Ketivah’ Ve’Chatimah Tovah.

The Yishai Fleisher Israel Podcast: TOTAL CLARITY, TOTAL VICTORY

SEASON 2024 EPISODE 38: Yishai and Malkah Fleisher discuss the uptick in the war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Then, surprise! Someone in the world, in this case Australian journalist Erin Molan, has a moral backbone. Also, Ambassador David Friedman speaks with Yishai about his vision, and new book, called "One Jewish State"! And finally, Ben Bresky on the story of the World Choir Festival and International Harp Contest in Israel.

When will Moshiach finally come?

by Rabbi Pinchas Winston

WITH THE YEAR since October 7 coming to an end soon and the dark events of that day still very fresh in our minds, I am going to (hesitatingly) share something I came across last Shabbos, b”H. I don’t know how much, if any, comfort it will provide, especially for those directly affected by the horror. But it is an important idea to know moving forward.

The idea is part of some research I am doing these days into a very central concept in Kabbalah, and life in general. The Kabbalistic term for this process that basically directs all of history from behind the scenes is Aliyas M”N, or the elevation of M”N. But people generally refer to it as the elevation of holy sparks.

Very long story very short, sparks are spiritual individual packages of Divine light. God’s light, at its source, is infinite and indivisible. But for the sake of Creation and so man can be involved in history, God allowed His light to become finite amounts of infinite light that we can elevate through our prayers and mitzvos.

As I have mentioned many times before, history is like an upside-down hourglass. The sparks, unlike the grains in an hourglass, are in the lower chamber, that is, our world. It is our opportunity to elevate them to the upper chamber, Heaven, and when the last spark has been elevated to its proper place above, Moshiach comes.

So, the correct answer to the question, “When will Moshiach finally come?” is, “When the last spark is out of the Klipos.” When will that be in history? The answer to that question depends on our progress in spark elevation.

What are the Klipos? Pure evil. We see lots of physical people doing lots of evil things, but they’re really just the front men. The Klipos inspire evil, promote it, and even make it easy to do. They work in tandem with the Sitra Achra and a person’s yetzer hara to make people spiritually stumble. They have to because it’s their job, what they were created to do. Without their input into history, man would not have free will at all.

But just as we need holy sparks to live and do good things, they need the same sparks to survive and do evil things, making life a spiritual tug-of-war between good and evil. The bad news is that this, in the meantime, has led to a lot of destruction of good. The good news is that it eventually leads to the destruction of all evil.

This is because even though evil seems to triumph from time to time, it can never interfere with God’s master plan for Creation. He makes sure of that. It can sure look as if they have, but if we could see history from God’s perspective, we would see that they never have, and never will. It’s just that sometimes we fall so far behind in our spark redemption program that it has to happen through alternative means to make up for lost time. That’s when life can get brutal.

This is how the Arizal explained what happens when we fail to keep the world straight, sins increase, and evil gets stronger:

“Corresponding to the elevation of M”N of the Malchus (holy sparks), he said [in the Zohar] their bodies will be given over to the “Other Malchus.” This means that through the actual suffering of their body to elevate M”N from the Malchus they are given over and sink into the Klipos called the “Other Malchus” corresponding to the Malchus d’Kedushah. Since their bodies are given over to the evil Malchus of the Klipos, they are able to gather souls from the Klipos called M”N that are there, and elevate them to the holy Malchus, as explained on the verse, “a time that a man ruled over [another] man for his [own] harm” (Koheles 8:9). It is also explained at the beginning of Sabba of Mishpatim. The Sitra Achra is Adam Bliya’al who rules over Adam of Kedushah, kidnapping souls from him. But this is [in the end] “for his [own] harm” of Adam Bliya’al, like [what happened regarding] the Aron [that] the Pelishtim [stole].

It’s similar to when an enemy takes captives, only to find out that those captives end up being the means to free other captives who could not have escaped on their own. When the Pelishtim (Philistines) captured the Holy Ark, they thought it was a great victory over the Jewish people. In the end, the Ark caused them so much trouble that they returned it on their own, and with gifts. Hitler, ysv”z murdered six million plus Jews, but he also freed those soul sparks from this world. That probably led to our return to Eretz Yisroel shortly after as part of the final redemption and eventual destruction of all evil.

The best way to elevate sparks and rectify Creation is to learn enough Torah and perform enough mitzvos with the requisite amount of self-sacrifice. If we don’t, then sin increases in the world, and sparks get lost among the Klipos. If, God forbid, that happens, then just as we have to physically go among the Klipos (Gaza) to free kidnapped people, we have to spiritually go among the Klipos to free “kidnapped” souls.

As the Arizal, based upon the Zohar explains, that is why the Ten Martyrs we mention in the Mussaf of Yom Kippur died as they did. Being given over to the Romans and suffering at their hands was tantamount to being sunken into the Klipos. But by dying Al Kiddush Hashem, they not only elevated their own souls but so many others sparks trapped in the Klipos at the time, saving Creation from destruction until this very day.

But given what has happened since their time, it seems that additional sacrifices have been necessary to make up for what the generation itself has not. Unlike the Ten Martyrs, they may not always have understood why they had to go through what they did, but it still had a similar impact. They suffered, the families mourned their terrible losses, but the celebrations of the enemy are empty. Unwittingly, they expedited their own demise.

Don’t miss the “City of Refuge Summit” on Wednesday, September 25, from 4 - 9 pm, Israel time (I am speaking at 5 pm, b”H), just in time for Rosh Hashanah. To register, use this link: https://oremunaenergy.com/refuge/.

​Good Shabbos
Kesivah v'Chasimah Tovah.

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Rav Kook's Ein Ayah: Improving Those Whose Intentions Are Not Complete

(based on Berachot 2:41)

Gemara: May it be Your will, Hashem … that you shall put peace in your legions above and below and between the students who are occupied with Your Torah, whether those who do so with proper intentions (lishma) or those who do so not lishma. And may it be Your will that they will occupy themselves lishma.

Ein Ayah: The reason for this prayer is that general human peace depends on Israel’s peace. Since Torah scholars increase peace in the world, it should be His will that there be peace between them, so that they reach the level of peace that enables them to increase peace within Israel.

Those who study lishma will have peace because they recognize the truth. The prayer extends to those who do not study lishma. Although they did not yet merit to purify their hearts to be occupied lishma, they still need to not be so corrupt as to pervert the straight truths and make arguments based on ideas antithetical to Torah’s truth. As these people still act like one who studies Torah lishma, their actions facilitate peace as if they learn lishma, despite the incomplete purity of their hearts. This is not totally dependent on one’s capabilities, for Hashem can purify the hearts of those who are lacking. Thus the prayer asks that Hashem raise the spirits of those who study not lishma so that they should do so lishma. 

You are Standing Today, All of You

by HaRav Mordechai Greenberg
Nasi HaYeshiva, Kerem B'Yavneh

"You are standing today, all of you, before Hashem, your G-d." (Devarim 29:9) The primary purpose of the Jewish nation is to stand before G-d. On the pasuk, "You are my witnesses – the word of Hashem – and I am G-d" (Yeshaya 43:12), Chazal comment: "If you are My witnesses – then I am G-d; if you are not My witnesses – it is as if I am not G-d." (Yalkut Shimoni vol. II, 455) We are the only ones in the world who represent G-d. Through us, G-d reveals Himself in the world, as Rav Kook zt"l writes: "Knesset Yisrael clothes the G‑dliness that is revealed in the world." (Orot) Every Jewish person has to dedicate himself to this goal, since there is no other nation in the world that will do it.

This needs to be our intention in the Yamim Hanoraim prayers. They should not be for our personal issues, but rather for the terrible desecration of G-d's Name. So long as the world has not reached its purpose, there is wickedness and folly, and the nations of the world can ask Israel, "Where is your G-d?" – this important role is still placed upon us. Therefore, we pray, "Reign over the entire world with Your glory," "They will all accept the yoke of Your reign," "All creatures shall fear You," etc.

R. Chaim of Volozhin explains in this vein the Mishna's comment regarding the war against Amalek: "When Israel would look upwards they would be victorious," i.e., when they would look upwards, towards the suffering of the Divine Presence.

Chazal comment on the pasuk: "All the siach (shrubs) of the field were not yet on the earth" – all the siach (talk) of people is only about the earth, [whether] it produced fruit or not. However, the prayer of Israel is entirely about the Temple. Master, when will the Temple be built?"

Siach hasadeh has two meanings: 1. Talk about matter of the field, the produce of the field, the economic profit from the field. 2. Prayer about the Temple, as it says about Yitzchak: "Yitzchak went out lasuach basadeh (to talk/pray in the field)." Chazal interpret the field as an allusion to the Temple, which Avraham called a mountain, and Yitzchak called a field. Am Yisrael and the other nations are differentiated through this. The nations talk and are interested only about earthly matters, whereas Israel's centrality of life is the Temple; the whole goal of their prayers is only for the honor of the Shechina and its revelation in the Temple.

This also explains Chazal's statement: "Whoever establishes a place (makom) for his prayer, the G-d of Avraham is his help." If a person's primary goal in prayer is for the purpose of Makom – G-d, who is the place of the world – then the G-d of Avraham is his help, since it says about Avraham, "to the place where he stood there before Hashem." This was Avraham's primary intention – for Hashem's honor.

It further says in Pirkei Avot: "Do not make your prayer set, but rather pleadings before Makom, and do not be wicked before yourself." Your primary intention in prayer should be for the purpose of G-d, not about you alone.

We say in Shemoneh Esrei: "Remember us for life, O King who desires life, and inscribe us for life on your behalf, Living G-d." We are saying: All our prayers are on Your behalf, O G-d.

The Zohar writes sharply about this:

"It was one day: The angels came to stand before Hashem." (Iyov 1:6) "It was one day" – this is Rosh Hashana. "To stand before Hashem" – to claim His insult. All scream like a dog, "hav, hav" (Give! Give!). Give us life! Give us children! Give us food! Give us forgiveness and atonement! No one pays attention to claim the insult of his Master, and His name [that] is desecrated among the nations, as it says: "For the Hand is on kes Y-ah (the Throne of G-d)" – the Name is not complete and the Throne is not complete.

"To stand before Hashem," the Zohar explains, means to stand in order to serve Him; to complain about the desecration of Hashem's Name, and not to ask like a dog, hav hav – "Give! Give!" for personal needs.

It is true that throughout the year the prayers contain requests for material needs, but these requests are formulated in plural, about Klal Yisrael. Requests about Klal Yisrael are requests for Divine honor, since Israel and G-d are one, and Israel's honor is the Divine honor.

King Yoshiyahu said about this: "Now, serve Hashem, your G-d, and His people Israel." (Divrei Hayamim II 35:3) Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook zt"l asks: This seems to contradict Chazal's statement that anyone who combines G-d's Name with something else is uprooted from the world!" (Succah 45). How is it possible to serve Hashem, and together with Him, Israel? This is joint worship, which is prohibited?! He explains: "The service of His nation Israel is identified and unified with the service of Hashem." "His nation Israel" and G-d are not different things, but rather one revelation and one awesome expression. (Sichot of Rav Zvi Yehuda #71)

Rav Kook zt"l similarly writes (Ikvei Hatzon, p. 155): "Then the essence of G-d's worship is decorated and girded with the strength of the service of the nation – 'Serve Hashem, your G-d, and His nation Israel.'" He would commonly sign his writings, "A servant to the holy nation on the holy land."

We can also explain: "You are standing today, all of your, before Hashem, your G-d," in this same way. On this day, on Rosh Hashana, we should stand before Hashem, ready to serve Him, on his behalf, to fulfill the Divine goal of creation. Even a person's personal requests should only be for help in achieving this goal – "on your behalf, Living G-d."

The Mussar Masters advise that the way to this is: "I am sitting amongst my people." (Melachim II 4:13) Some explain that a person should hide on the Day of Judgment and not stick out. Others explain that the intention is to be included in Klal Yisrael, to seek its welfare, and not to focus on personal individuality. The Sfat Emet writes (5635): "'You are standing today, all of you' – The entirety of Israel is forever standing before G-d, and the service of each individual is to submit himself to the whole."

Rav Kook on Parashat Nitzavim: Two Levels of Teshuvah

The Torah portion of Nitzavim is always read before Rosh Hashanah, a fitting time to speak about reflection and repentance. Often we have a strong desire to make changes in our lives. We may want to be better parents, better spouses, and better people. We aspire to greater spirituality in our lives, to devote more time to Torah study, to be more thoughtful in our interpersonal relationships. And yet, circumstances may make such resolutions very difficult to keep. Our goals may seem unattainable, and our personality faults beyond correction.

National Teshuvah
The Torah describes the national teshuvah of the Jewish people as they return to their homeland and their faith:

“Among the nations where the Lord your God has banished you, you will reflect on the situation. Then you will return up to the Lord your God.... He will gather you from among the nations... and bring you to the land that your ancestors possessed.  God will remove the barriers from your hearts... and you will repent and obey God, keeping all of His commandments.... For you will return to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.” (Devarim 30:1-10)

Twice, the verse states that “you will return to God.” Is there a purpose to this repetition? A careful reading reveals a slight discrepancy between the two phrases.

After reflection in the exile, the Jewish people will return to the land of their fathers. Here the text says, ‘וְשַׁבְתָּ עַד הֹ — “you will return up toGod,” using the Hebrew word ‘עד’ ('ad').

After returning to the Land of Israel and God removes the barriers of their hearts, they will learn to fully love God and keep His commandments. This time the Torah says, כִּי תָשׁוּב אֶל ה — “you will return to God,” using the preposition ‘אל’ ('el').

Illustration image: ‘The ship Exodus is moored to the wharf’ (colorized photo from Palmach Photo Gallery, 18 July 1947)

Two Stages of Teshuvah
How are these two types of national return different? What is the difference between 'ad' and 'el'?

The first teshuvah is the physical return to their homeland, to their language, and to their national essence. This is returning “up to God” — approaching, but not fully attaining. Thus the Torah uses the preposition 'ad,' indicating a state of “up to, but not included in the category” (a Talmudic expression, ‘עד ולא עד בכלל'). This is a genuine yet incomplete repentance, obscured by many veils.

After this initial return, the Jewish people will merit Divine assistance that “will remove the barriers from your hearts.” This will enable the people to achieve the second stage of return, a full, complete teshuvah, all the way “to God.” This is an all-embracing return to God “with all your heart and soul.”

Thoughts of Teshuvah
It is important to recognize and appreciate these different levels of teshuvah. This lesson is also true on a personal level. We should value even partial efforts to change and improve. Chazal praised even hirhurei teshuvah, the mere desire to improve (Pesikta Rabbati 44). Perhaps we are unable to fulfill our spiritual ambitions to the extent we like. Nonetheless, we should view our desire to change and improve as tools that purify and sanctify, leading us on our way to attaining complete spiritual elevation.

(Gold from the Land of Israel, pp. 339-341. Adapted from Olat Re’iyah vol. I p. 335; Orot HaTeshuvah 17:2 by Rav Chanan Morrison)

Jewish Covenants

by Rabbi Dov Berel Wein

Towards the conclusion of his long final oration to the Jewish people, our teacher Moshe refers once more to the covenant between God and Israel. A covenant is much more than a relationship or an agreement. Covenants, in the Jewish sense of the word, are not altered by changing times and differing circumstances. A covenant has the ring of eternity, not only in time but also in content.

Covenants are immutable and unchangeable. They have a binding quality that ordinary agreements or even contracts do not possess. And this is true from the beginning of the story of the Jewish people, and maybe even from the beginning of history and God's relationship to human beings as Creator. We find in the story of the flood and the rainbow, that the relationship is always based on a binding and unchangeable covenant.

The Jewish people have always sensed the gravity of the covenantal relationship with God. It is the sole explanation for all the events and patterns of Jewish history from the time of Abraham until today. We are a covenantal people and are bound by restrictions and fueled by prophetic vision and utopian hope.

Only a people who feel themselves part of and bound by an eternal covenant, would have the strength and the ability to survive and even prosper under the circumstances of persecution and enmity that have surrounded the Jewish world from time immemorial. It is no cause for wonder why the circumcision ceremony in Jewish life is always called the covenant, for it represents in a physical manifestation, this binding covenant between God and the Jewish people.

It is well understood why Moshe fills this final oration to the Jewish people with references and lessons, explicit and implicit, to the covenant and to Sinai as the basis of Jewish existence. Only the power of a covenant is strong and mighty enough to guarantee the survival and resilience of the Jewish people. But the shepherd knows very well the weaknesses and strengths of his flock. The 40-year sojourn in the desert has been a learning experience for Moshe, and through his example, for all future leaders of the Jewish people in all times and under all circumstances.

The one thing that Moshe feels is deeply implanted within his people is this idea of a covenant. It is this covenant that creates within us the feeling of being special, chosen and bound by a mission that is far greater than the mundane activities of even life itself. The covenant contains many harsh conditions and predictions. It also portrays an exalted future and a continual message of productivity and influence, that will permeate Jewish society. The vital behavior of the Jewish people, its ability to rise to all occasions, is based on our appreciation of the covenantal relationship between God and Israel. Individually, there are many Jews that may not feel bound or even be aware of the existence of this covenant. But within the Jewish soul, as part of our DNA so to speak, we know that we are a covenantal people, and we are charged to think and behave accordingly.

Rape is Resistance and Beepers are Genocide

by Daniel Greenfield

The myth that Israel’s tactics not its existence is at issue died with the murdered Jewish families on Oct 7 and the Hezbollah terrorists taken out by pagers on September 17 and 18.

No sooner did the encrypted communications devices handed out to members of the Islamic Jihadist group begin exploding than human rights experts and the UN began condemning the single greatest targeted attack on a terror group as a violation of international law. Those same organizations and activists had nothing to say about the Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israeli towns and villages that turned tens of thousands of Jews into refugees in their own country.

There is no legitimate way for Israel (or any non-Muslim country) to take out an Islamic terrorist. No amount of warnings, phone calls and dropped leaflets and roof knocking warning bombs were enough of a precaution. Even hostage rescue operations were condemned for killing terrorists who in the usual Hamas medical department parlance turned into innocent children.

And there’s also no such thing as an illegitimate Muslim way to kill Jews. Oct 7 proved that. Nearly a year later, Islamic groups are celebrating the orgy of butchery, kidnapping and rape. The Democratic Socialists of America, which boasts 5 allied members of Congress including Rep. Rashida Tlaib, has taken to arguing in favor of “armed resistance” and Hamas.

More Democrats have taken to social media to condemn a Detroit News cartoon which implied that Rep. Tlaib’s support for terrorism may have led her to worry about her pager than two recent Muslim terrorist plots to massacre Jews in synagogues in Vegas and New York City. The Democrat political establishment can’t seem to get around to condemning the Islamic groups attacking synagogues and marching through the streets praising the rape and murder of Jews.

The liberal establishment accepts the Islamic terrorist cause but rejects the Israeli one.

That’s why when it comes to Islamic terrorism, it emphasizes the cause over the tactics, but when it comes to Israel, it emphasizes the tactics over the cause. Every Israeli tactic is illegitimate because the cause, a Jewish State, is illegitimate, but no Islamic tactic is ever truly illegitimate because its cause, replacing Israel with an Islamic state, is legitimate.

No matter how often the Arab Muslim invaders occupying parts of Gaza and the West Bank pledge their allegiance to terror, we are told that their ultimate cause is just and inevitable. And that the killings, kidnappings and rapes don’t truly represent the moral righteousness of it.

While every time Israel takes out a terrorist, the media links it to the Jewish ‘occupation’ of those parts of Israel that the terrorists demand for themselves. Since Israel’s existence is wrong, any tactic that it uses to fight the terrorists trying to take it over is a human rights violation.

The Marxist mobs in the street are at least honest about their ideological orientation. They define all Jews living in Israel as “settlers” who are fair game for genocide. Whether Israel takes them out with drone strikes, exploding beepers or Barney songs played on a loop doesn’t much matter except as it’s useful for propaganda materials calling for the destruction of Israel.

The liberal anti-Israel establishment in D.C., human rights groups and the media have played a cynical game of focusing on Israel tactics as if they actually cared how Israel takes out terrorists and as if there were any means of taking out terrorists that would win their approval. A generation of the Israeli military jumping through every possible hoop has yielded only angrier and more sanctimonious condemnations every time another terrorist bites the dust.

Israel has wasted a lot of the lives of its soldiers and civilians on its side in the hopes of achieving some phantom ‘purity of arms’ that included an extensive approvals process for strikes that crippled its aerial response on Oct 7. Afterward things got better and worse. The pager attack was brilliantly calculated and yet crippled by an obsessive need to take out specific targets rather than inflicting as much damage on the Hezbollah terrorists as possible.

The painstaking efforts to monitor the terrorists to minimize collateral damage and to focus on specific targets did not change the inevitable condemnations that came rolling Israel’s way.

The real lesson of the pager attacks was that an innovative Israeli attack on Islamic terrorists will be cheered by the right people and condemned by the wrong ones. Israeli Hasbara is a fundamentally misguided effort to explain the need for a war whose hand wringing signals weakness and guilt. What makes people cheer for Israel are accomplishments, winning a war in six days, rescuing hostages from Africa, taking out an Islamic nuclear program on July 4th, and detonating the communications devices of a terrorist group responsible for killing Americans.

No one except the occasional military expert who tours the battlefield is impressed by Israeli restraint. And restraint will win not a single concession from the same establishment that can’t bring itself to condemn by name the mobs waving Hamas flags and assaulting Jewish students.

Israel has been held hostage trying to win over those who cannot be won over. Much of the liberal establishment has either become radicalized into permanently opposing Israel or has become complicit with those who do. The only narrative it will accept is the same demands that Israel be dismantled piece by piece and parceled out to Islamic terrorists in exchange for peace.

That the peace has never come, that the negotiations are worthless and that the only product of two generations of concessions is endless war will not change a single mind. Just as the implication of the revelation that Hamas planned to murder Israeli hostages before handing them over in exchange for live Islamic terrorists was hardly even discussed in the media.

After nine months of demanding a deal with Hamas at any cost, the Biden administration has belatedly decided that the terrorist group is not serious about a deal, but that news hasn’t changed Kamala’s set talking point about the urgent need to end the war and cut a deal. Nor will it change her policy should she be in a position to stop talking and start making the rules.

Israel has been divided by the need to balance winning wars against winning over public opinion, but the public opinion of the establishment was never winnable and if it is winnable, it can only be won by winning wars. The Biden administration’s policymakers will never admit it, but they were far more impressed by the pager attacks than by 9 months of negotiations. The same is more obviously true of Arab Muslim countries who despise Hezbollah and fear Iran.

No one cheers weakness, they only respect strength.

Israel will never have even the grudging acceptance of those who believe that rape is resistance and beepers are genocide. Accommodating military tactics to their accusations has led to a loop of defeatism that culminated in the deadly infiltration, invasion and massacres of Oct 7. But it can best be a player on the world stage by showing its strength rather than its weakness.

One Pagergeddon was worth a hundred Nova documentaries and exhibitions about the unhappy victims who were assaulted at the dance festival to morale, national security and the reputation of a nation built on repudiating the helplessness and victimhood of its long exile.

Oct 7 incited the dark glee of a movement that believes it can taste Israel’s destruction. Protestations of innocence and victimhood only feed its triumphalism. What it fears isn’t a documentary about the atrocities of Oct 7, but the destruction of its Jihadist armies.

The issue was never Israel’s tactics, but Israel’s existence. The only way to win… is to win.

The final Shabbat of 5784

BS”D
Parashat Nitzavim-Vayelech 5784
by HaRav Nachman Kahana

A meisa (story) for Rosh HaShana
Now, it came to pass that the shammes (sexton) in a little shtetel passed away leaving an elderly widow. The community volunteered to support her, but she refused to take a “hand out.” So, an agreement was reached whereby she would receive a good wage for doing her diseased husband’s job of awakening the town’s people for slichas (selichot: daily early-morning prayers recited before Rosh Hashana).

She was given the wooden gavel used for the task and set off at three in the morning to awaken the men of the community for slichas.

In this town lived a man who was called “Binyamin Apikores” (Binyamin the scoffer), because once thirty years ago on Rosh HaShana he did not participate in reciting tashlich (custom of casting off one’s sins). The first house that the shamesta arrived at was occupied by Binyamin Apikores. At the knock of the gavel, Binyamin called out to ask who was at the door. The shamesta identified herself and called “shtay uf far slichas” – “get up for slichas“. Binyamin, despite all his shortcomings, was a compassionate man. He then said to the shamesta, “It is three o’clock in the morning, the snow is piled up and you are not in the best of health. Give me the gavel and go home. I will wake up the people for slichas.”

The shamesta went home, and Binyamin Apikores took the gavel and proceeded to the next house. At the sound of the gavel, a voice called out asking who was there. Binyamin Apikores answered that it was he coming to awaken every Jew in the town to slichas.

At that moment, the man in the house shouted, “You have the audacity, Binyamin Apikores, to waken me for slichas? You are nothing but an apikores (scoffer), and I am a God-fearing man. I will not lower myself to answer your call to slichas.”

This scenario repeated itself in every house in the shtetel; so much so that, at the beginning of the davening, only two people showed up – the rabbi and Binyamin.

About 130 years ago, a non-observant Jew by the name of Binyamin (Theodore) Herzl organized the Zionist Movement to arouse the Jewish people to return home and establish a national State of our own.

He was rejected by the main body of religious Jewish leadership who said, “Who are you, Apikores, to tell us about Eretz Yisrael. We will not come to your Eretz Yisrael.” So, at the end of the day, who came? Non-observant Zionists and a paltry number of yiray shamayim (God-fearing Jews) who remained part of the Zionist Movement.

This distorted view of Jewish history is rife to this very day. Too many wonderful frum Jews are living abroad because their rabbi said, “Don’t go to Eretz Yisrael. Here in Boro Park and Eastern Parkway, it is easier to educate your children. Here we have no army service, no economic crisis, no chilul Shabbas!”

Israel is a democracy, and numbers decide the way the land will be governed. If only a percentage of our frum brothers and sisters would break away from the spiritual paralysis imposed upon them by myopic leaders and come up to Eretz Yisrael, we could turn our society around in one or two generations. And by rebuilding the land, we would rebuild ourselves as HaShem’s chosen people.

There is still so much to be accomplished. HaShem drew the minimum borders of the land to be from the River Prat (Euphrates) until the Nile. The Syrians, Jordanians, Lebanese and Egyptians in the Sinai Peninsula are all occupiers of our holy soil. We have much to do!

No one knows what the future holds, but one thing is certain. Eventually, the “apikorsim” in Eretz Yisrael – they or their children – will return to the Torah. The signs are out there. After 120 years of life, when the big question is asked of every individual Jew “tze’pee’ta leyshua?” (did you actively anticipate My salvation?), we will proudly affirm, “Yes, we were the ones who paved the way for Your return to Am Yisrael.

The coming year of 5785 will be a crucial one for all Jews. Make no mistake about it. We will defeat all our enemies to the amazement and dismay of the world. Our status of “chosen people” will advance before the enlightened family of nations.

Iran Plans, HaShem Intervenes

אבינו מלכנו הפר עצת אויבינו

Our Father, our King, annul the (evil) intentions of our enemies

In our world, the good and the bad, the sweet and the bitter are often so intertwined that the majority of people who are intellectually and emotionally myopic cannot see the forest because of the trees. The grief and pain caused by the death of our soldiers, by the savage slaughter of our fellow Jews, and by those taken hostage almost a year ago on Shemini Atzeret shroud HaShem’s ongoing miracles which saved the other seven million Israelis and the Jewish State.

We uncovered a plan designed by Iran and agreed upon by the Arabs in Gaza to the south, in Lebanon to the north, in Judea-Samaria to the east, by the anticipation that the 350,000 Bedouins in the Negev and many of our own Arab Israeli citizens; would attack Israel from three sides at a pre-determined time in order to eliminate the Jewish State and murder its seven million Jews. The plan would have elevated the Arabs to the new title holder – presently held by Germany – of murdering the greatest number of Jews in the shortest period of time.

To this day, it is still unclear why the others did not join in with Hamas. There are theories and speculations of all sorts, but we are the only ones who truly know:

אבינו מלכנו הפר עצת אויבינו

Our Father, our King, annul the (evil) intentions of our enemies

We have no way of knowing how often HaShem has saved the Jewish people from the vicious plans of Esav and Yishmael, beginning 3000 years ago when the allegorical “lamb” was surrounded by 70 gentile wolves.

The Prophet Yeshayahu (11,6) refers to a time in the future when peace shall reign in the world, and says:

ו) וגר זאב עם כבש ונמר עם גדי ירבץ וגו” ועגל וכפיר ומריא יחדו ונער קטן נהג בם)

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.

I fully agree and await the fulfillment of the great prophecy with one caveat: that we will become the wolf, the leopard and the lion.

Shabbat Shalom – Ketiva va’chatima tova,
Together, with HaShem’s help, we shall be victorious,
Nachman Kahana
Copyright © 5784/2024 Nachman Kahana

Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook: Maintaining a Friendship of the Spirit – part III

#266 – part III

Date and Place: 11 Shevat 5670, Yafo

Recipient: Rav Pinchas Hakohen Lintop, the rabbi of a Chassidic community in Lithuania. He had learned Kabbala with Rav Kook when Rav Kook was in Boisk. The two were very deep and like-minded thinkers. We have previously seen a letter between them (#184), written a year earlier.

Body: [The discussion had just turned to philosophical matters. In the background, Rav Lintop apparently critiqued Rav Kook’s recent article, “Derech Hatechiya”]

The feeling of belief in Hashem, which is so strong, comes first. We need to strengthen it specifically at this time to make it as broad, general, and all-encompassing as can be. Afterward, we can begin clarifying concepts that have developed to the left and to the right. This requires extracting the impurities that lost their efficacy when they strayed too far. It also requires removing internal chaff from the estate of Jacob, the pure man who is missing nothing. It even has the substance that “draws out the undesirable parts of a pot of food, which it absorbed during cooking.” It is worthwhile to maintain the nation’s honor and present its impurities to it in privacy, so that it can maintain its ability to march forward with valor, using its spirit, which knows its purity and truthfulness.

However, why should I speak in this venue (i.e., his recent article) about the difference between humanity in general and the unique nation and between the collective and its individuals. All of these points are special subsets of the overall enquiry; they are very appropriate when the time comes for details, but they have no special place when one first just looks into basic, broad ideas. The specific distinctions melt away when the overarching generalities shine in bright light. It is not that the individuals melt away or that “existence” gets any closer to earth, as Hashem is “a sun and a protector” (Tehillim 84:12), and Hashem “created the world to be inhabited, not to be void” (Yeshayahu 45:18).

However, the contrasting differences are responsible for a situation whereby every individual interferes with his peer, every piece of logic contradicts another, each group has a certain enmity toward a different group, and each individual has the attitude of “I alone shall rule.” This form of void can be fixed by shining objectivity [at the misconceivers]. The divisive people who damage the world and commit iniquities cannot look at all-inclusive light and are broken by the power of their own destructiveness.

We must present many high-quality introductions before we make the world capable of understanding how special Hashem’s revelations through miracles are. The divine good, stands strongly in the heart of the only nation which, from its inception, carries Hashem’s banner and prepares the world to recognize the phenomenon of miracles. It is a pity that there should be a spiritual leader whose soul is not connected to the light of Hashem’s wonders that were done in the past and does not look forward to see their light in the future.

[We should understand] the gradual manner in which the spirit of life will return to the heart of our nation, which is fainting with a thirst for the clearly pronounced word of Hashem. It is through the straightening of the path of the wellspring of life which flows through the nature of the Jewish soul. This is connected to the belief, from the nation’s infancy, in unfathomable miracles, which can exist even during historical developments that hide the light of Hashem. These too are revelations of Hashem in the physical and spiritual world, as the world progresses in straightforward and complex ways. We must constantly have the inclination to appreciate goodness. The divine goodness that is revealed through harsh judgment will, in the future, appear with lightning bolts of glowing light more powerful than the superficial good that is revealed from sentimental love that will not conquer the paths of life or lead human society in all the ways of its life.

Be"HY, we continue next time.

The Significance of War

by HaRav Dov Begon,
Rosh HaYeshiva, Machon Meir

“When a great war takes place in the world, Messianic forces are involved... The larger the war in quality and quantity, the greater our anticipation of advances in the Messianic process” (Orot 3, Rav Avraham Yitzhak Kook).

There is a connection between redemption and wars, as our sages said, “In the seventh year will come wars. In the eighth year, the son of David will come” (Megillah 17b). “The Master of wars... causes salvation to spring forth” (blessings preceding the morning Shema). The prophets are full of descriptions of the War of Gog and Magog - that terrible war in which the enemies of Israel suffer resounding defeat in their attempt to conquer Jerusalem, and out of which G-d’s name shall be magnified and sanctified in the world. Indeed, when we recite the Kaddish, we open with, “Magnified and sanctified be G-d’s great name.” And when will His great name be magnified and sanctified? When the enemies of Israel suffer a resounding defeat. G-d’s glory will then be magnified and sanctified in the world, when Israel’s glory is magnified in the world.

Today we are in a war which began before the State’s establishment, with the first Aliyot to Israel. The symbol of heroism of those days was Yosef Trumpeldor, who sacrificed his life for our hold on the Galilee. Our enemies today attempt to make use of similar ploys to those they used back then. When they were repulsed by Trumpeldor and his comrades, they tried treachery, approaching Trumpeldor with their hands outstretched as if in friendship. Yet once they had penetrated the fortified courtyard of Tel Hai, they murdered Trumpeldor and his comrades.

Now, as well, our enemies are attempting, by means of terror, to weaken and subjugate us, with the goal of driving us out of our land. When they see that they are not succeeding, they will try to make use of the weapon of “peace”, with the aim of taking bites out of our land while planning for the next stage of the war. We can console ourselves and have faith that we will be victorious in battle. In order to be victorious, we need not just tanks and jets, but faith and spirit, as well as knowledge of what we are fighting for, and why. We have to realize that we are fighting in order to sanctify G-d’s name publicly.

Israel’s hold on Eretz Yisrael and its capital Jerusalem brings light to the world, through G-d’s kingdom being revealed on earth, and through the divine bounty produced. As Yeshayahu said, “For out of Tzion shall go forth the law, and the word of G-d from Jerusalem” (Yeshayahu 2:3).

Our enemies are attempting to extinguish the light, but the children of light shall defeat the children of darkness.

Besorot Tovot,
With the Love of Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael,

Shabbat Shalom.

Yeshivat Machon Meir: The Essence of Bikurim (video)

Being upright

by Rav Binny Freedman

Chapter 28 in this week’s portion of Ki Tavoh is one of the most difficult and harrowing chapters in the entire Torah.

Yet, along with chapter 30 of the book of Devarim contained in the next week’s portion of Nitzavim, it is actually one of the two chapters in the entire Torah, along with chapter 28 here in Devarim, that most speak to me personally.

To be sure, chapter 28 of the book of Devarim starts out well:

“And if you will hearken to the voice of Hashem your G-d, and do all of the mitzvoth…then all of these blessings shall come to pass… you will be blessed in the city, and blessed in the field… blessed in your coming and in your going…” (28:1-6)

For fourteen magnificent verses, the Torah speaks of all the good and blessings we will enjoy if we will only follow the recipe as laid out in the Torah and then, in verse fifteen, the Torah presents us with the frightening reverse side of the picture :

“And if you will not hearken to the voice of Hashem your G-d, and do all of the mitzvoth…then all of these curses shall come to pass… you will be cursed in the city, and cursed in the field… cursed in your coming and in your going…” (28:15-17)

And what follows are fifty-three of the most difficult and painful verses in the entire Torah. Indeed, so horrible are these ‘curses’ or ‘verses of reprove’ (‘Tochacha’), as they are known, that the tradition is to read them in a lower tone in the Synagogue as if to signify our pain and horror at even hearing all the terrible predictions that they contain.

To me, and I stress here, to me, these verses chillingly speak of the terrible events of the Holocaust, more than any other period in Jewish history.

Interestingly, there is a very similar chapter of curses, predicting suffering and pain for the Jewish people, in the book of Vayikra, specifically, chapter 26 in the portion of Bechukotai. Both of these chapters are known as Tochacha, or ‘reproval’ and they are both terrifying.

Yet, there is a significant difference between them: Bechukotai speaks to the entire Jewish people as a whole; here in Ki Tavoh, the chapter is communicated in first person singular: we are being spoken to as individuals.

Read every year in the weeks preceding Rosh Hashanah we are being exhorted as individuals to heed carefully these terrifying words.

“Hashem will make you as a plague before your enemies…and you shall be as an embarrassment (or a horror) to all the kingdoms of the land.” (28:24-26)

From 1933 until 1940, Hitler (as outlined in Mein Kampf) was not at all intent on destroying the Jews; he simply wanted them out of Europe. But no one would take them.

In 1940, in Evian, the Europeans convened a conference to tackle the problem of refugees, which everyone understood was a euphemism for the Jews. Incredibly, not one single country present, including the United States, offered to reduce its quota by even one single additional refugee.

Each country had a different reason for refusing to allow even a single Jew to enter their borders, but the most incredible response, (contained in the minutes of the meeting on display at Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust Museum) came from Australia.

“We have no anti-Semitism in our country”, claimed the Australian representative,
“And if we allow Jews in, we will be encouraging the spread of anti-Semitism.”

Sixty years ago, we were an embarrassment to the entire world, which preferred to pretend we weren’t even there.

“And your carcasses shall be food for the birds and the beasts, and no-one will even tremble.”(28:26)

One of the most powerful photos to come out of the Warsaw ghetto, is a photograph of a couple, walking down the street amidst throngs of passerby, sharing a moment amidst the destruction and deprivation of the ghetto.

What is chillingly apparent from a closer look at the faces of all the people in the streets, is that no-one even takes notice of the bodies strewn about the streets and being loaded into a wheelbarrow.

“And you shall grope around in the noonday sun, as a blind man gropes in the darkness, and you shall not find your way, and you shall be oppressed and robbed every day, and none will save you.” (28:29)

The verse here does not seem to make sense. What difference does it make to a blind person whether he is groping around in light or darkness? Perhaps the difference is that when he stumbles in the darkness, he also knows that no one else sees his struggle, and so no one will come to his aid. During the nightmare of the Holocaust we were screaming and stumbling in broad daylight, but no one wanted to see….

“And you will become mad from the sights which your eyes shall see.” (28:34)

Eli Weisel, in his book Night, tells of the day he arrived on the platform at Auschwitz-Birkenau, not long before his bar Mitzvah.

The Jews starved and exhausted were made to stand in their first selection, and none other than the angel of death himself, Josef Mengele, awaited them at the front of the long line. Although the Nazis tried to camouflage what they were really doing, it didn’t take a genius to figure it out. All the young and strong and healthy looking men and women were going one way, and all the old and sick and small children were going the other way. You knew which line you had to get on.

A few people ahead of Eli Weisel, was a woman with two small boys, and as she reached the head of the line, Mengele stared at her with his evil sneer. He said nothing, merely grinning and pointing with one finger in each direction. But she didn’t understand, so he screamed at her “Ein!” (One). And she still didn’t get it, so he screamed again, all the while with that horrible smile, “You choose….”

The woman, finally understanding what he was asking her to do, began screaming, and went mad on the spot. And so they carted all three of them off to their deaths.

And on and on, and on….

“Sons and daughters will you bear, but they will not be for you for they shall be enslaved. (28:41)

And the stranger in your midst shall rise up higher and higher above you and you shall be forced lower and lower…” (28:43)

In the camps, the non-Jewish criminals became the kapos and guards and thus the masters over the Jews who were at the lowest strata of life.

“And you shall serve your enemies… in hunger and thirst, naked, and with nothing left.” (28:45)

“And G-d shall lift over you a nation from afar… as the eagle flies, a nation whose tongue you cannot hear (and understand” (28: 49)

As the German troops, emblazoned with the golden eagle, the symbol of Nazi Germany, swept through Europe and deep into Russia, Jews who never imagined the Holocaust ever reaching them were caught completely by surprise….

A brazen nation who will show no favor to the aged, nor grace to the young…” (28: 50)

“And he will lay siege to your gates until the mightiest and highest of your walls and fortresses come crashing down …” (28: 52)

All of the faith that was placed in the Maginot line of France disappeared in a single afternoon in early 1940….

“And G-d will scatter you amongst all the nations, until the ends of the earth.” (28:64)

After the war, Jews spent years traveling the world to countries as far off as Cuba and Venezuela, the Siberian North, all over Europe and Africa and of course America and Canada, in search of family members scattered throughout the world….

“In the morning you will say’ when will the night come’, and in the night you will say ‘when will the morning come, from the fear in your heart and the things that your eyes will see.” (28:67)

To me, this chapter, in all of its pain and horror, speaks of the Holocaust. It is all of the questions we can never fathom, let alone answer, and all of the pain and horror, which can become part of life and which we are perhaps not meant to understand.

If this was the end of the story, it would be tremendously disheartening, leaving us empty and barren, with no direction, much as the Jewish people were, for the most part, in the shadows of the gas chambers in 1945.

But there is a conclusion; a partner to this terrible chapter in the Torah, and for that matter in Jewish history, and that is chapter 30 of Devarim, in next week’s portion, Nitzavim.

“And it shall come to pass, when all of these things shall come upon you… and you shall return to your hearts amongst all the nations of the world wherein G-d has scattered you.

“And G-d will return your remnant, and gather you in from amongst all the nations where you have been scattered.

“If your remnant shall at the ends of the heavens, even from there will G-d gather you in; even from there will He take you in.

“And G-d will bring you back to the land that your ancestors inherited, and will do good and make you greater even than your ancestors…” (30: 1-6)

If chapter 28 of the book of Devarim seems to speak of the Holocaust, then chapter 30 is all about the birth of the State of Israel.

There will come a time, says the Torah, when we will finally come home. After two thousand years of dreaming, the time will finally come to rebuild.

For two thousand years, ever since the Romans put torch to the temple, we have dreamed of coming back.

At every Jewish wedding, and at every Jewish funeral, after every meal, and three times a day in our prayers, at the height of our greatest joy, and in the depths of our greatest tragedies, we have never stopped dreaming of Jerusalem and the land of Israel.

Seventy-five years ago, in one of the greatest experiments in the history of the world, a people that had never given up, began their incredible return. From South America and Eastern Europe, form darkest Africa, and the land down under, Jews speaking just about every language on the face of the earth began making their way back.

And the first line of next week’s portion suggests both the challenge, and the solution:

“Atem Nitzavim HaYom Kulchem…”
“You are, all of you, standing here today.” (29:9)

There is a difference between being be’amidah and being ‘nitzav’, though both are words which refer to standing up.

La’amod, means to stand, and refers to being upright as opposed to sitting or being downtrodden.

But to be nitzav, relates to the root of yatziv, to be stable. It is not just about your body being upright; it is about what you are standing on. It is to recognize that we are standing here, in the streets of Tel Aviv and Yerushalayim, on four thousand years of Jewish history. And it is the type of standing which can only come as a result of being Kulchem…” “All of you”. All of us; together.

The single greatest response we can give to those who once again rise up to destroy us, is to be ‘gathered in’ to be together, firm in who we are, and in what we have to share with the world.

This year, as we face the challenges that lie ahead, may Hashem bless us with the strength and the wisdom to become re-connected once again with the dream of who we are and who we can be, all of us, together, at long last, in the land of Israel.

Best wishes for a sweet, happy, and healthy year,

Shabbat shalom.

Iran's Ayatollahs driven by fanatic – not financial – anti-US ideology

by Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger

The US State Department has contended that the diplomatic option toward Iran’s Ayatollahs - along with hundreds of billions of dollars of financial benefits and lavish diplomatic gestures - could induce the Ayatollahs to accept peaceful coexistence with their Sunni Arab neighbors, become good faith negotiators, and abandon their fanatic religious ideology, which has traumatized the region and the globe.

Moreover, the State Department suspended and softened mega-billion-dollar worth of economic sanctions, eagerly seeking another nuclear accord, refraining from the redesignation of the Houthis as a terrorist entity. Furthermore, Foggy Bottom has feebly reacted to the Houthis' closure of the critical Europe-Asia trade route, and has responded in a frail manner to the systematic bombing of US, Saudi Arabia and UAE installations by Iran and its proxies.

However, the US diplomatic option and its mega-benefits to the Ayatollahs, have accelerated the transformation of Iran from the “American Policeman in the Gulf” to a venomous octopus, stretching its hands throughout the globe, and increasingly in the American continent, including US soil.

In fact, the Ayatollahs have been the chief engine of a multitude of terror proxies, including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthi.

Since February 1979, when they toppled the Shah of Iran, the Ayatollahs have intensified their anti-US global terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering, the proliferation of advanced military systems, and the development of nuclear military capabilities. According to the Ayatollahs’ value system, a 1,400-year-old ideology transcends dramatic financial and diplomatic benefits, chartering and navigating their rogue conduct in the Persian Gulf, the Middle East at-large, Central Asia, Africa, Latin America - which the Ayatollahs consider the soft underbelly of “The Great American Satan” - and the US mainland.

For example:

*Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei frequently issues a potential death sentence to all pro-US Sunni Arab regimes, especially Saudi Arabia, which is the site of the two holiest sites of Islam, Mecca and Medina, and is the rival of Iran over the hegemony of Islam and the control of the Persian Gulf oil (48% of proven global oil reserves), as well as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

*Thus, Khamenei refers in his public pronouncements to the core of the Ayatollahs' vision: the 14-century-old confrontation between the Front of Ali (the first Shiite Caliph) and the Front of Yazid (the Sunni Caliph), which mandates the toppling of all Sunni pro-US regimes, and then turning to the subjugation of the "infidel" West, led by "The Great American Satan."

*The confrontation between the Front of Ali and the Front of Yazid was triggered by the 680 AD Battle of Kerbala, when the small military force of Hussein, son of Ali and grandson of Mohammad was massacred by the mighty military force of Yazid. For the Shiite Ayatollahs it is a role model of Sunni treachery, mandating Shiite vengeance. It has been commemorated annually by Shiites in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and other Shiite centers, including major Western cities, featuring bare-chested males flagellating their chests and backs with iron bars.

*The Ayatollahs consider the 1979 Islamic Revolution – and the 1978 toppling of the pro-US Shah of Iran – as a crushing victory over despotism and the US, a prelude to global Shiite domination.

*This precept of Shiite Islam – which has dominated the day-to-day Ayatollahs’ policies – is bolstered by the 1979 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has been the roadmap of the Ayatollahs’ global strategy, laying the foundation of the systematic, rogue, fanatic, domestic, regional and global conduct of Iran’s apocalyptic Ayatollahs since assuming power in February 1979. It has been the guideline for the exportation of the Islamic Revolution through subversion, terrorism, fueling of civil wars, and the proliferation of ballistic technologies, drug trafficking and proselytization, aiming to establish a universal Shiite society, based on the teachings of Ayatollah Khomeini, and bring to submission the Sunni “apostates” and the Western “infidels.”

*As documented by the Ayatollahs’ Constitution, education system and the systematic rogue track record of Iran’s apocalyptic regime, it is driven by a fanatic, religious and megalomaniacal vision, which has always transcended the “money talks” approach.

*The Ayatollahs’ school curriculum has been – just like the Palestinian Authority school curriculum - an effective production-line for terrorists and suicide bombers. It is consistent with their constitution, domestic repression of ethnic and religious minorities, the subjugation of women, and the proliferation of anti-US terrorism in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. It provides a roadmap for an apocalyptic commitment to a global, anti-US Islamic revolution.

*For instance: “Iran is fighting a global war and calls on oppressed Muslims and non-Muslims to unite under Islam and the Islamic Republic of Iran to overthrow the evil regimes [of the “infidel” West led by the US and the “heretic” Sunni regimes]. The Islamic Revolution knows no borders; it applies to the whole world (Literature and Humanities, Grade 12, 2021‒2022, page 110).

*Since the November 1979 takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran – which entailed holding of over 50 US hostages for 444 days – “The National Day of Fighting Arrogance [the USA]” is commemorated annually on November 13th, when the public, especially pupils and students, declaring their hatred toward “the bullying and oppressive USA” and chanting “Death to America.” “This disavowal and declaration of disgust yields unity and homogeneity, bolstering resistance of the enemy” (Islamic Education, Grade 6, 2021‒2022, page 33; Defense Readiness, Grade 9, 2021‒2022, page 31).

*The US is described as a Satanic enemy of Islam and the Ayatollahs’ Islamic Revolution (Defense Readiness, Grade 9, 2021‒2022, page 30). [The US] must be defeated and humiliated, as demonstrated in Iran’s history (Qur’an Learning, Grade 2, 2021‒22, page 67; Persian Language, Grade 5, 2021‒22, page 60).

*The anti-US reality of the Ayatollahs, on the one hand, and the assumption that the Ayatollahs are amenable to negotiation and peaceful coexistence, on the other hand, constitutes an oxymoron. The reality of the Ayatollahs has been inconsistent with the diplomatic option and the alternate reality of the State Department. In fact, the prevention of geo-strategic volcanic eruptions mandates a reassessment of the diplomatic option, and the consideration of the regime-change option.

Israel is Settling America’s Scores With Islamic Terrorists

by Daniel Greenfield

The exploding pagers that reportedly wounded thousands of Hezbollah terrorists came within 3 days of the 40th anniversary of the Islamic terrorist group’s attack on an American embassy.

On September 20, 1984, a Hezbollah terrorist drove a Chevy station wagon fitted with diplomatic plates and Soviet rockets at the US embassy in Beirut and detonated it, wounding the US ambassador and killing two Americans, Chief Warrant Officer Kenneth V. Welch and Petty Officer First Class Michael Ray Wagner, while wounding five other Americans.

The Biden-Harris administration marked the 40th anniversary of the Hezbollah attack by dispatching Amos Hochstein, its envoy, to pressure Israel into turning over land to Hezbollah in exchange for some temporary quiet. A previous Hochstein deal saw Israel turn over gas fields to Hezbollah only to see the terror group launch thousands of rockets at northern communities in Israel. 60,000 Israelis have been displaced by these attacks and cannot return home.

But the Biden-Harris administration decided that the best way to honor the hundreds of Americans killed by Hezbollah, including the 220 Marines in the Beirut barracks bombing in 1983, the brutal torture of Colonel William R. Higgins, who had his tongue pulled out and was castrated before being dumped in front of a mosque, and Navy diver Robert Stethem who was beaten to death on TWA Flight 847, was by demanding that Israel surrender to the terrorists.

But the Israelis have been settling not only their scores, but our scores for us.

In 2008, an Israeli car bomb took out Imad Mughniyah, Hezbollah’s chief of staff, who had been among the monsters jumping up and landing on Stethem’s body.

“They were jumping in the air and landing full force on his body. He must have had all his ribs broken,” a stewardess on the hijacked plane described. “I was sitting only 15 feet away. I couldn’t listen to it. I put my fingers in my ears. I will never forget. I could still hear. They put the mike up to his face so his screams could be heard by the outside world.”



Mughniyah had been attending an Iranian reception celebrating the Islamic takeover of the formerly free nation, only to find that his car’s tire had been loaded with explosives. The reported joint Mossad-CIA operation was also the last hurrah before the Obama takeover and the beginning of a new D.C. policy of appeasing Iran while undermining the Jewish State.

Fuad Shukr, Mughniyah’s close ally and a top Hezbollah figure, had been responsible for the Marine Barracks bombing that killed 241 U.S. military personnel and wounded 128 others, as well as the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 where Stethem was brutally murdered by the terrorists.

Iran marked the 40th anniversary of the Marine Barracks bombing in October with over 170 attacks on American military personnel across the region. The Biden-Harris administration tried to talk tough, launched a few airstrikes and then backed down. Israel however did not.




After a Hezbollah attack on an Israeli soccer field killed 12 kids, Shukr, who still had a $5 million reward on his head from the State Department for the Marine Barracks bombing, was taken out by an Israeli airstrike.

The Israelis had infiltrated Hezbollah’s communications system and placed a call asking him to go up to the 7th floor of the building where he had been hiding out to escape detection.

He did and never left again.

After Shukr’s death, Hezbollah accelerated its shift away from high-tech communications and toward pagers. Cellphones were banned in favor of pagers. The terror group began performing spot checks to see if its terrorists were carrying phones. “Today, if anyone is found with their phone on the front, he is kicked out of Hezbollah,” a Reuters story claimed.

“Abandon your phone, disable it, bury it, lock it in a metal box, for a week, two weeks, a month,” Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah had warned his terrorists. “Allah knows how long this situation will last.”

Replacing large numbers of phones with pagers however created its own security risk.

The wave of pager explosions that swept through Beirut near the 40th anniversary of Hezbollah’s attack on our embassy should have come from us, but it likely came from Israel.

The Israelis had targeted Hezbollah’s communications system to cripple the terror group’s operations, first infiltrating the hardwired fiber optic landlines set up for it by Iran, then its cellphones and now its pagers. Each attack has forced Hezbollah to retreat from high speed communications methods and to move further toward a dependency on human couriers.

The couriers carrying code words for the day are hard to crack but slow down any response. Forcing Hezbollah to use medieval means of communications will make it difficult for the terror group to operate across long ranges, to coordinate with its masters in Iran and with other members of the Islamic terror network including the Houthis in Yemen and the militias in Iraq.

The pager attack represents the single most devastating targeting of an Islamic terror group in history, taking out hundreds of its personnel and crippling its communications. It’s also a long overdue payback for Hezbollah’s attack on the U.S. embassy some forty years ago.

On September 20, 1984, Hezbollah struck in a Christian area of West Beirut where the American embassy had relocated after the Iranian-backed terror group had bombed the previous embassy location, killing 17 Americans, and kidnapped, tortured and killed other Americans.

The embassy was under the protection of the Christian Phalangist militia members who would later be sold out by D.C. diplomats in pursuit of a deal with Islamic terrorists. Together with the American military personnel and the British ambassador’s security, they tried to stop the car bomb before it hit the embassy. Bullets hit the Islamic terrorist driving it, he fell over, the car bomb turned and blew up before it could hit the embassy and kill hundreds of people.

The blast still blew a massive crater and left rubble everywhere. The British ambassador, who was visiting, was buried under debris and had to be dug out. Two Americans were killed.

A torn part of the American flag from the embassy was brought home to Chief Warrant Officer Kenneth Welch‘s mother who was one of the dead. Welch had volunteered for duty in Vietnam where he earned a Bronze Star. He had been friends with some of the American hostages taken in Iran and had tried to recover MIAs while on duty in China. His last medal was a Purple Heart.

Israel is not just fighting its war against Islamic terrorism, it’s fighting our war too.

On the 40th anniversary of the Islamic terrorist attack against the American embassy in Beirut, the pager attacks that devastated Hezbollah settled not only Israel’s score, but ours as well.