Dear Limor (redux)

(editor's note: This post has been updated and rerun from the previous April posting due to the events surrounding the shloshim to mark the brutal murder Ben Yosef Livnat, HY"D).

Dear Limor:

First and foremost I wish you raichumim (condolences) on the brutal and savage murder of your nephew, Ben Yosef Livnat. This week marked the shloshim or 30 days since his brutal murder. I did not know him but the passing of any young Jewish soul is tragic and all the more so because of the senseless, hateful act that took him. Your sentiments at the time were absolutely correct. This was cold-blooded murder, pure and simple by terrorists who happened to be wearing police uniforms. No excuse of lack of coordination can condone the act of "shoot first and ask questions later" especially when the subjects are four Breslov Chasidim who only wanted to pray at Kever Yosef (Joseph's Tomb).

Do not expect any justice in this situation. The lies that were propagated was that this was an "unauthorized infiltration" that the Jews threw stones, that settlers are not normal people, etc., etc. There will be no justice. No suspects will be found or if they are, they will be given a mock trial under "Palestinian Justice", sentenced immediately to an upscale prison or hotel and then found to have mysteriously escaped when someone left the door/window open with keys in the waiting car. No, there will be no justice for Ben Yosef Livnat from the Arabs unless Israel decides to enforce it. And this, as you are well aware is doubtful at best as Israel is loathe to enforce its sovereign rights to protect Jewish worshipers as Jewish holy sites such as Joesph's Tomb or Har HaBayit (the Temple Mount) while allowing Arabs, Christians, Druze etc., full and unrestricted access to their sites. It was not enough that your nephew was killed and the other three wounded. No, in an orgy of unrestrained replacement theology, the Tomb was set on fire after the murder and the dome on top painted green.

As you may be aware, the holiday of Pesach that we celebrated some five weeks ago documents the only time in history one nation was born while in the clutches of another. The nation of Israel was born despite the servitude to the Egyptians. Now of course, this was a miraculous occurrence via Gd and yet the government you sit in (along with those that came before them) are insisting in doing its version of imitatio dei by trying to birth an illegitimate Palestinian state carved out of the living heart of Israel (please see Gandhi, re:Pakistan from India for more information). The horrific murder of your nephew along with the recent butchering of the Fogel family should give you and the current Likud leadership pause in what your Prime Minister just proposed to the US Congress. The rationale of course being that if we don't do it ourselves, the world will do something worse (see Sharon and the rationale for the Gaza retreat that Israel is still paying for).

It was a disgrace of national proportions this week when a planned visit to Shechem of various Knesset MK’s to commemorate the shloshim was cancelled because the IDF feared Arab threats of rioting and could not guarantee the safety of these MK’s. To quote INN, “Yesha Council head Danny Dayan was reminded of the shameful and tragic incident in 2000, in which an Arab mob overran the Tomb and ransacked it. A wounded IDF soldier, Medhat Yousef, was left behind at the tomb rather than risk a large scale confrontation with the mob. The PA promised to rescue him but did not, and Yousef bled to death”. And “Samaria local authority head Gershon Mesika said that it is “absurd and unacceptable” that "the political leadership prevents the IDF from exercising Israeli sovereignty and guarding Knesset members who wish to pray at a spot like the Tomb of Joseph because of sundry threats”. Strangely, you have been very silent on all this.

Limor, the sad reality is that Israel has no peace partners. It has people with a mythical nationality given legitimacy by a series of mistakes and weakness of successive Israeli leaders. And most of these people, as studies regularly show, want nothing more than to push the Jews into the sea. The more you give, the more they want and the more they murder. Israel must stand on its own feet but in order to do that, it will need the leadership with the will to be strong against the pressure that the world will bring, especially in light of the Arab world meltdown that is currently playing itself out. That leadership is to be found inside the Likud embodied in a man that because of bad advice from those around you, you tried to eject from the Likud. It may now be time to embrace that man as you did when his son lay critically injured in the hospital.

May you and your family only know simchot (happiness) in the future. And may you find the strength to do what needs to be done to insure Israel's survival continued growth towards the true Jewish state.

The Arab Spring is a Great Opportunity for Israel

By Moshe Feiglin

21 Iyar, 5771
May 25, '11

Translated from the Makor Rishon newspaper

There is a strange factor common to the developing revolutions in the Arab world: They present no real alternative to the existing regime; no ayatollah in exile in Paris is waiting to take the reins of government in any particular country.

The 22 pseudo-states that the West established in the Arabian expanse - states that never really functioned - are simply crumbling before our eyes. Everybody is waiting to see what will develop, but there is just one possibility that is not being considered: The possibility that nothing will develop. In other words, it could be that what we are witnessing is not a process of change - and certainly not a democratic spring, but rather a process of disintegration. It could be that no other national regime will replace the regimes that have fallen or are falling and that the house of cards that somehow functioned for the 70 years since the British and French left the Middle East will simply collapse in a cloud of dust, to be replaced by the old tribal disarray.

It is now approximately seventy years since the notion of artificially attaching state-nation status to Arabian tribes was invented. It has held up for about the same amount of time that the Soviet Union prevailed, and it seems that it will end the same way that Bush's attempt to suture democracy to the Iraqis ended. It will be quite comical to see how the UN will decide to establish an additional Arab state in September, when the 22 others are in advanced stages of collapse.

What does all of this portend for Israel? Great danger and an even greater opportunity.

If we can internalize the fact that we are facing one, large, tribal Arab nation that does not think in terms of national sovereignty, but rather in terms of religious sovereignty, we will be able to develop a completely new foreign policy. The question is not where our border with Syria will lie, but what dominant forces will rule the region.

If when the dust settles, all that will be left of the Arab states is one large Moslem expanse, there is no doubt that Ahmadinijad, Erdogan and other good meaning fellows will be more than happy to stand at the top of the new Moslem caliphate that will stretch from the Euphrates to the Nile. Somehow, I think that this is exactly what they are considering right now. Historically, both these nations have ruled the Mid-East.

September is not the danger. September is simply a milestone in the process of surrounding Israel. The collapse of the Arab state structure will release potent energy and re-arrange the way things have worked until now. Every ruler who will attempt to unite the Arab world around him will use the one proven method to achieve his goal: hatred of Israel.

The economically shaky Western world will want its foothold in the oil-rich expanse and will come to the aid of the Palestinians. If Obama will be re-elected, he will have no qualms about creating a peace coalition that will set sail in our direction. The dissenting congressmen in Washington will not impress him much. Here in Israel the leftist elites will be waiting for the Obama flotilla with open arms.

We can prevent this entire horror movie from playing itself out if we go on the diplomatic offensive. In the immediate political sense, Likud MK Danny Danon's proposal to declare Israeli sovereignty over the settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria is an excellent place to begin and has the backing of many other Likud MKs.

Nationally, we have to internalize the fact that there is life after America. Israel is a regional power in its own right. It is stronger both militarily and economically than any other force opposing it and can extract an intolerable price from any nation in the world that will threaten its sovereignty.

The world will "do business" with whoever takes regional responsibility and knows how to protect itself from external threats. How does America relate to leaders who do not do so? Just ask Mubarak.

Rav Nachman Kahana on Parashat Bechukotei 5771

BS"D Parashat Bechukotei 5771

It was in 1967, two days after reading parashat Bechukotei that the Six Day War erupted. Two days after that, on Wednesday, HaShem restored the holy city of Yerushalayim to its rightful owners - the Jewish people. Two days after that, on Friday, all the area east of the Jordan River was liberated by the holy soldiers of Medinat Yisrael. and the following day, Shabbat, the entire Golan Heights was liberated.

Forty three years later, on Thursday, two days before parashat Bechukotei, Barak Hussein Obama, the US President, faced the world and declared that we must relinquish the holy soil of Eretz Yisrael that was liberated with the blood and courage of our holy soldiers.

Every Jew in whose veins flows the blood of those who stood at the foot of Mount Sinai when HaShem declared that we are His chosen people, is devastated at the very thought that the major areas of the TaNach could be Judenrein, when handed over to those who openly declare that they would finish what Hitler began.

But like all things in life we try to find a Torah source for what occurs.

Not what Obama is saying interest us. What is essential is what HaShem is telling us through the words of this man.

So I submit.

The Gemara (Sanhedrin 97b) quotes the great Tanna Rabbi Yehoshua who says:

הקדוש ברוך הוא מעמיד להן מלך שגזרותיו קשות כהמן, וישראל עושין תשובה ומחזירן למוטב.

HaShem appoints (over the Jewish people) a king who decrees are as brutal as those of Haman, and the Jews will do teshuva and return to the ways of the Torah.

No one can predict the future. It is possible that Obama is not the man referred to by Rabbi Yehoshua and his words will pass by like last year’s snow. But it is possible that he was sent by HaShem to place the Jews in Eretz Yisrael in the impossible position, beyond borders which Abban Eban once called "Auschwitz Borders."

If the time that Rabbi Yehoshua referred to has indeed arrived, Jewish suffering will not be limited to us in Eretz Yisrael; it will be felt by every Jew in the world because the purpose of this evil is to bring the Jews to teshuva. And teshuva for Jews in the galut is their return to the holy land of Eretz Yisrael.

Nachman Kahana

A Jewish Response to President Obama by Moshe Feiglin

Lag Ba'omer 5771 / May 22, '11

This film is in Hebrew with English subtitles.
English transcript of film below.

A Jewish Response to President Obama

President Obama,

In your speech to the people of the Middle East, you referred time and again to the principle of liberty. It is on this principle that you aim to base US policy in our region; a region that you rightly defined as the cradle of human culture.

Your words reflected your understanding that it is not only humanity's past that is bound up with this area, but its future, as well. The instability in the Middle East generates great danger for humanity, perhaps the greatest danger since World War II. The fate of humanity is inextricably linked to the expanse upon which Abraham, our forefather, started out on his trek to human liberty. As such, America's attempt to stabilize our region on the foundation of these values is commendable.

Yes, the Nation of Israel and the American nation share very deep values. But as you mentioned, these shared values must not prevent us from telling the truth. And the truth, as every Christian and Moslem well knows, is that the entire Land of Israel belongs exclusively to the Nation of Israel. The Creator promised it time and again to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – to them and their descendants.

The simple truth is that there is not a "Palestinian nation" and there never has been. Under every stone that you turn over in the Promised Land, you will find remnants of the history of the Nation chosen by the Creator to proclaim His message of liberty. In no place in the Holy Land will you find "Palestinian" history, simply because it does not and never did exist.

If liberty is truly what you want for the nations in our region, you must understand that genuine liberty cannot be founded on falsehood. There is truth, with which most Americans identify and which they sense; and there is falsehood, which they abhor. There is good to which the unique American nation wishes to cling, and there is evil, which it wishes to eliminate.

The American nation did not hesitate to dance in the streets when the evil Bin Laden was eliminated. Values like peace and liberty cannot thrive on a foundation of falsehood and surrender to evil. He who desires these values must be capable of clinging to the truth, and if necessary, of fighting evil.

You demand of the Nation of the Bible, of the nation chosen by G-d from amongst all the nations, the nation to which G-d gave the Land of Israel from which to proclaim liberty to the entire world – to retreat from the heartland of the Promised Land. You demand that we leave the proclamation that is supposed to emerge from Zion in the hands of those who invented the suicide bomber! In the hands of those who went out to celebrate in the streets when Bin Laden destroyed the Twin Towers! In the hands of a culture that sanctifies death!

Do you honestly believe that this is what will bring peace to the world?

Please note, Mr. Obama, that before we, the Israelis, succumbed to American pressure and recognized the Arab demands on the Land of Israel in the Oslo Accords, the world had never heard of a suicide bomber. From the moment that this culture of death got a foothold in Jerusalem – the genie was out of the bottle. There, on the White House lawn, the fate of the Twin Towers was sealed.

How then, should the free world relate to the situation in the Middle East?

The attempt to suture democracy to Islamic Arab culture has led to a horrifying trail of blood and has accelerated the economic downturn in your country. Wouldn't it be wise to learn this lesson before another attempt to duplicate it with the rest of the Arab nations? Why do you think that what was a resounding failure in Iraq will succeed with the other Arab nations, whose Islamic culture is diametrically opposed to the values of liberty?

We must make an honest attempt to understand the significance of the events and changes in the Middle East, to admit the truth to ourselves and to act in accordance with reality - and not with wishful thinking.

Yes, the popular uprisings in the Arab countries have engendered amazement and global sympathy. But historical precedent and the reality on the ground show that this process will likely result in an outcome completely opposite to what you are trying to effectuate. The revolution that brought Khomeini to power in Iran also began with freedom-seeking young people, and we all saw how that culminated. Today, as well, we can clearly sense where the current revolution in Egypt is leading. It is steering Egypt to more religious extremism, to the undermining of the peace accords, to mass demonstrations of hatred outside the Israeli embassy, to the empowerment of the Moslem Brotherhood and Islamic fundamentalism – that all have nothing to do with the values of liberty.

All the revolutions taking place now in Arab states are missing the main actor – the alternative. There is no Khomeini waiting in Paris to take the reins of government, as there was thirty years ago in Iran. All the current revolutions aim to overthrow the existing regime, but offer no alternative regime. If elections do take place there, it is completely clear that they will be a one time affair, because the winners will be the most extreme Moslem factors.

It is very likely, Mr. Obama, that we are not witnessing an Arab spring. It is more reasonable to assume that we are witnessing the disintegration of the Arab nation-states. The modern structure of nation-state that was forced upon the nations of the region by the powers that won World War I never really fit with Islamic culture. It could very well be that our region is simply returning to its natural structure; a tribal Moslem expanse – Dar al Islam as they define it, instead of the national political expanse that the Western nations attempted to create for it.

The vacuum that is being created is an irresistible enticement for rulers like Ahmadinijad. The modern-day Hitler is already planning the new Islamic caliphate that will stretch under his control from the Euphrates to the Nile, including the Land that G-d promised to Abraham.

Mr. Obama, there is no chance that with your approach, the United States will be able to stop this process. With the course that you are leading, the free world will rapidly find itself facing an Iranian Middle East. From this horror scenario, it is just a short distance to a terrible war that will encompass the entire world. You may want peace, but I regret to tell you that just like Chamberlain, you are also pushing the world down a slippery slope to the most horrifying of wars.

Only a significant force that will extend its influence over the area, motivated by a set of values opposite to those that Iran is attempting to dictate; only an entity that is here to stay and not to flee after another failed attempt at Arab democracy – can save the free world from this nightmare.

There is a force like that in the Middle East. There is a nation in the region that is here for eternity; a nation that miraculously returned to its Land after 2000 years of exile; precisely as our G-d promised in His Torah - and our prophets - throughout the Bible.

Israel's tremendous contribution to humanity; its contribution of values, technology and security – is immeasurable. Israel is the strongest power in the Middle East – economically, militarily and most importantly – ethically, Israel is the most just and strong.

So, Mr. Obama, before you pressure Israel to relinquish the Promised Land to the Arabs, it is important for you to look at the wondrous Jewish history and to understand that if the US wants to succeed, it must stand at Israel's side. The flip side of that is that every action that opposes the Creator's promise to His Nation – will bring about catastrophe.

"And I will bless those who bless you," said the Creator to Abraham. This is the secret of America's success to date. "And those who curse you I will curse," G-d adds and warns.

The Creator's promise to His Nation will be completely fulfilled – and we will yet see the Holy Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem – there is no doubt about that.

All that is left is for me to bless your nation: May you be wise enough not to pressure Israel. May you free our brother, Jonathan Pollard, who has been imprisoned in your country for half a Jubilee. And in the future, may you stand on the blessed side of G-d's promise to Abraham.

Parashat Hashavuah: What Remains When All Is Lost?

Harav Shaul Yisraeli - from Siach Shaul, pg. 352-353

[This sermon was delivered toward the end of World War II, when a stark picture of what was happening in Europe was taking form. The combination of the period and a parasha foreboding destruction are fertile ground for harsh soul-searching and very relevant to what is happening today.]

“And even with all of this… I [Hashem] did not despise them and rid Myself of them to destroy them” (Vayikra 26:44). The midrash(Yalkut Shimoni, Bechukotai 675) asks: what consolation it is for Israelto not be despised if all their blessings are taken away from them? It answers that they are left with the Torah.

What is left for us, and what purpose do we have in life? What is the value of the signs of a reawakening in Israel if the all of the life-sources of our nation are destroyed with such barbarianism and venom? Is there a purpose for our hopes and indeed for our lives? May we take comfort in anything or is that dancing on the graves? In fact, we have but one consolation – the Torah.

While so many gifts were taken from us and smashed cruelly with millions of Jewish lives, there is one thing that was not taken away from us, and in some ironic measure, was even returned. Granted, it was not returned in a gentle manner, but it was returned, as we will explain. There was a time when the nations of the world claimed that they have a nicer theology than we have. Some claimed that our sense of morality was insufficient, and that there was a need for a more complete person than the Jew. Now it is all clear. The ruthless killing machines of our enemies have returned things to their previous status, as the masquerade of our rivals’ challenge to our moral status has been removed.

A world that is divided into murderers and those who stand idly by with cynicism, arrogance, and chutzpa as blood is being spilled cannot be the proper world. Our entire life and soul cannot agree to such a thing. We believe that man was given a lofty soul that goes far beyond base instincts. This belief brings us to believe in a Creator and Leader of the world. It can be no other way. If so, matters are different. We should not allow our spirits to drop because of the torture our nation is undergoing. If the evil can see success, then certainly we can see success. If those who follow His word can be afflicted, then certainly those who violate His word will have to pay the price (see Bereishit Rabba 65:22). We may have to wait with the patience of steel, grit our teeth, and look for better days in the future. We still have the Torah, and we know more clearly than ever what the source of the hatred toward us is. We know why we need to suffer and that the day of redemption is close.

“If in the path of My statutes you shall go” (Vayikra 26:3) refers to the statutes upon which Hashem created the heavens and earth (Vayikra Rabba 35:4). The laws of the Torah are the laws upon which the world was created, and the world will be built based on Torah. If we do not understand the earlier stages of world history, at some future point all will become clear.

Are the Jews the Chosen People?

If I were religious, I would agree with this wholeheartedly. The Bible says it, after all

By Dennis Prager

I assume that the type of person who reads columns such as this one has wondered at one time or another why, for thousands of years, there has been so much attention paid to Jews and why, today, to Israel, the one Jewish state.

But how do most people explain this preoccupation? There is no fully rational explanation for the amount of attention paid to the Jews and the Jewish state. And there is no fully rational explanation for the amount of hatred directed at Jews and the Jewish state.

A lifetime of study of this issue, including writing (with Rabbi Joseph Telushkin) a book on anti-Semitism ("Why the Jews? The Reason for Antisemitism") has convinced me that, along with all the rational explanations, there is one explanation that transcends reason alone.

It is that the Jews are God's chosen people.

Now, believe me, dear reader, I am well aware of the hazards of making such a claim. It sounds chauvinistic. It sounds racist. And it sounds irrational, if not bizarre. But it is none of these.

As regards chauvinism, there is not a hint of inherent superiority in the claim of Jewish chosen-ness. In fact, the Jewish Bible, the book that states the Jews are chosen, constantly berates the Jews for their flawed moral behavior. No bible of any other religion is so critical of the religious group affiliated with that bible as the Hebrew Scriptures are of the Jews.

As for racism, Jewish chosen-ness cannot be racist by definition. Here is why: a) The Jews are not a race; there are Jews of every race. And b) any person of any race, ethnicity or nationality can become a member of the Jewish people and thereby be as chosen as Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah or the chief rabbi of Israel.

And with regard to chosen-ness being an irrational or even bizarre claim, it must be so only to atheists. They don't believe in a Chooser, so they cannot believe in a Chosen. But for most believing Jews and Christians (most particularly the Founders who saw America as a Second Israel, a second Chosen People), Jewish Chosen-ness has been a given. And even the atheist must look at the evidence and conclude that the Jews play a role in history that defies reason.

Can reason alone explain how a hodgepodge of ex-slaves was able to change history -- to introduce the moral God-Creator we know as God; to write the world's most influential book, the Bible; to devise ethical monotheism; to be the only civilization to deny the cyclical worldview and give humanity belief in a linear (i.e., purposeful) history; to provide morality-driven prophets and so much more -- without God playing the decisive role in this people's history?

Without the Jews, there would be no Christianity (a fact acknowledged by the great majority of Christians) and no Islam (a fact acknowledged by almost no Muslims). Read Thomas Cahill's "The Gifts of the Jews" or Paul Johnson's "A History of the Jews" to get an idea about how much this people changed history.

What further renders the claim for Jewish chosen-ness worthy of rational consideration is that virtually every other nation has perceived itself as chosen or otherwise divinely special. For example, China means "Middle Kingdom" in Chinese -- meaning that China is at the center of the world; and Japan considers itself the land where the sun originates ("Land of the Rising Sun"). The difference between Jewish chosen-ness and other nations' similar claims is that no one cares about any other group considering itself Chosen, while vast numbers of non-Jews have either believed the Jews' claim or have hated the Jews for it.

Perhaps the greatest evidence for the Jews' chosen-ness has been provided in modern times, during which time evil has consistently targeted the Jews:

-- Nazi Germany was more concerned with exterminating the Jews than with winning World War II.

-- Throughout its 70-year history, the Soviet Union persecuted its Jews and tried to extinguish Judaism. Hatred of Jews was one thing communists and Nazis shared.

-- The United Nations has spent more time discussing and condemning the Jewish state than any other country in the world. Yet, this state is smaller than every Central American country, including El Salvador, Panama and even Belize. Imagine if the amount of attention paid to Israel were paid to Belize -- who would not think there was something extraordinary about that country?

-- Much of the contemporary Muslim world -- and nearly all the Arab world -- is obsessed with annihilating the one Jewish state.

In the words of Catholic scholar Father Edward Flannery, the Jews carry the burden of God in history. Most Jews, being secular, do not believe this. And many Jews dislike talk of chosen-ness because they fear it will increase anti-Semitism; they may be right.

But it doesn't alter the fact that the obsession with one of the smallest countries and smallest peoples on earth, and the unique hatred of the Jews and the Jewish state by the world's most vicious ideologies, can be best explained only in transcendent terms. Namely that God, for whatever reason, chose the Jews.

Deterrence Peace and Utopian Peace

By Moshe Feiglin

"If you walk in the ways of my statutes and keep my commandments and perform them".

"And I will give peace in the Land and you will lie down and nothing shall frighten you and I will cause evil beasts to cease from the Land and a sword shall not pass through your Land. 7. And you will pursue your enemies and they will fall by the sword before you. 8. And five of you will pursue one hundred and one hundred of you will pursue ten thousand and your enemies will fall by the sword before you". (From this week's Torah portion, Bechukotai, Leviticus 26)

The vision of 'peace' in this week's Torah portions seems to have a lot to do with war and victory. This can be confusing. Most people think that peace is about white doves and everybody merging into one happy global village.

Here in Israel, we have developed a quest for utopian peace; not the peace promised us by the Torah. We will settle for nothing less than the Messianic promise of the nations turning their swords to plowshares. To achieve this utopian state, we are willing to do anything to convince our enemies to make 'peace' with us.

But the peace in this week's Torah portion is pre-Messianic. It is a peace of deterrence. If we live our lives according to the Creator's rules, we will have peace because five of us will be able to pursue one hundred enemies. When we put our Land on the slicing board, there is no reason for us to get peace in return. The peace that Israel must strive for at this stage in our history is not utopian, Messianic peace, but rather peace based on deterrence. It is this peace that will foster our progress toward a Messianic existence.

Shabbat Shalom

Throw Achmadinijad into the Sea

By Moshe Feiglin

14 Iyar, 5771
May 18, '11

Translated from Ma'ariv's NRG website

When news of Arafat's terminal illness became public, I hurriedly put up a sign on my car that read: "Kill Arafat Now." I wrote an article entitled: Quick! Kill him Before he Dies and put an ad in the newspaper with the same message. The country was up in arms. Major headlines announced that the Attorney General was considering putting me on trial (again) for sedition.

I was reminded of this entire episode after Bin Laden's assassination.
"Justice has been done," Obama declared. How unusual to hear a Western leader speak of justice. And not just any justice, but justice attained by eliminating the enemy and throwing his body into the sea. The Americans killed him before he could die. They didn't send him a computer virus to unwind his centrifuges. They dragged his body out to sea, threw it overboard and went out to celebrate the great sedition, the sweet taste of revenge, in the streets.

The Americans celebrated the stability that they found in positioning their crumbling world on the foundation of justice. They celebrated a just act of heroism that since the days of Oslo, we in Israel have been brainwashed to think is completely foolish and will ignite a war.

Obama's supporters and opponents are united now in celebrating a tiny historical moment in which they decided to be just and not necessarily smart. There will be Americans who will pay the price of the assassination - that is quite clear. There would have been many more that would have had to pay the price of surrender.

The Holocaust did not begin with the outbreak of World War II. It began six years earlier, when the German leader came into power and initiated a campaign to de-legitimize the Jews. In his venomous speeches, Hitler, may his name be blotted out, created the "Jewish Question." When a Jew is forced to justify the air that he breathes - to pay to stop the Iranian nuclear installations - the door is wide open for the physical destruction that follows.

Achmadinijad is currently following exactly the same pattern and timetable. He, like Amalek, is the first to openly speak about the destruction of Israel. He was also originally viewed as a fanatical and deranged demagogue espousing his hateful views to strengthen his local interests. In his case as well, the Jews prefer to be pragmatic, as recommended by former Mossad Chief Meir Dagan - to be practical, to deal with the technique and not with the substance.

The result is the same as over sixty years ago. Just look at the state of our existential legitimacy. Who is the demagogue and who is melting away?

"Don't be just - be smart" our Mossad Chiefs, foreign ministers and other suits and decorated officers remind us. "Why take a risk if an Iron Dome or anti-centrifugal virus can take care of the problem? Let the rest of the world fight for us. After all, it is in their best interest. What can be stupider than attacking Iran just before it will be neutralized by others?"

What they do not understand is that the real danger stems not from the nuclear weapons, but from the loss of our sense of justice, fostered by the legitimacy given to the calls to destroy us. Today, respectable universities throughout the world openly debate how the world will look without Israel. The Jewish Question of 60 years ago has morphed into the Israel Question of today.

An Israeli attack on Iran can still restore our sense of justice and save us from the destructive process that is well under way. We must learn from the Americans and throw Achmadinijad into the sea. The extent of our success does not matter. And yes, we must be willing to absorb any reaction. Achmadinijad's nuclear weapons are not the danger. The question mark that he has hung over our right to exist is. As long as we do not respond to it, the question mark will grow and grow.

When it comes to justice, you cannot lose. The results on the ground are not as important as the red line that you can once again draw for the entire world to see; the red line that says that there is no Jewish Question or Israel Question that must be solved.

It is high time to throw Achmadinijad into the sea - and to go out to celebrate in the streets.

The Holocaust Yet to Come

By Moshe Feiglin

9 Iyar, 5771 (May 13, '11)

Translated from the NRG website

This article is not about the Holocaust that happened. It is about the Holocaust that is liable to come knocking on our door. If you are weak of heart, stop reading now. But if you are staying with me, please take a deep breath, forget about secondary political issues and internalize what I am writing. The trains to Auschwitz did not have separate cars for Right and Left, Haredi and secular.

It is popular to pontificate on the lesson of the Holocaust. Every person takes the Holocaust to the place that is comfortable for him. I would like to discuss a very basic lesson that I have never seen disproved: The Western world will not try too hard to close down the gas chambers. Not only that. It will even indirectly stoke them.

True, after the Holocaust, in a rare moment of good will, the world voted to partition the Land of Israel and to recognize the fledgling Jewish state. But this recognition had no practical implications. Seven Arab armies invaded the tiny area allocated to Israel. The world did not lift a finger. The Egyptian army got to within thirty kilometers of Tel Aviv, murdering and destroying every person and settlement in its path. They cut through the Negev and reached Beit Lechem. The Jordanians were just twenty minutes away from Israel's coast. The Syrians captured Mishmar Hayarden – and destroyed it, of course.

Three years after the Holocaust, the Western world waited once again for the Arabs to finish off the dirty work. It did nothing to help Israel. But then, with G-d's loving grace, the situation turned around. The nascent IDF stopped the Arab armies. On the southern front, Yigal Alon commanded over some brilliant maneuvers that more or less eliminated the Egyptian army. The IDF forces got all the way to El Arish inside Egypt.

When that happened, Britain threatened that if the IDF would not retreat, it would invade Israel. America pressured, Ben Gurion gave in and the new norm was set: When the Jews are in danger, the world waits patiently. When they start to win, the world stops them.

The Western world – upon all its beauty and advantages – will always act as a static anvil for the murderous hammer descending upon the Jews from above – be it the Nazi hammer, the Arab hammer or any other murderous, anti Jewish hammer.

The time when we will have to decide if we are willing to entrust our fate to the very same West that will always be happy to be rid of the "Israel Problem" is rapidly approaching. We see ourselves as an inseparable part of the Western world. It is difficult for us to accept that the West, our cultural patron, will simply close its eyes with relief when six million Jews in Israel will once again be facing wholesale slaughter.
But that is precisely the direction that events are taking. The only difference between 1948 and today is that then we were a rabbit that thought it was a lion and today we are a lion that thinks it is a rabbit. In 1948, our physical weakness invited invasion. Today, our mental weakness invites invasion.

What invasion am I talking about? If we were not living in denial, the media would be abuzz about Samantha Power, head of the National Security Council, who advocates taking the funds that the US now invests in the IDF and investing them instead in the 'Palestinian' army. In no uncertain terms, she discusses a possible US invasion of Israel – to keep the peace, of course. When that goal is accomplished, Power advocates leaving us here to enjoy the loving kindness of the righteous souls in Ramallah.

As surrealistic as all of this sounds now, it is most important to remember that only terror organizations and Arab states used to deny Israel's right to exist. Now this concept is coffee table talk throughout Europe. The denial of the right to exist always precedes physical annihilation. That is another important lesson of the Holocaust.

Tony Blair, the European Union's envoy to the Mid-East, recently said that Europe would accept the Hamas as a negotiating partner, refusing to make that contingent on Hamas recognition of Israel's right to exist. When officials of the stature of Power and Blair make these statements, they are charting the course for Western policy.

After the UN will recognize a Palestinian state at the 1967 borders, the Arabs will demand an Israeli retreat. To make sure we know they mean business, they will punctuate their demands with missiles on Israel's cities. Israel will be forced to respond and the international coalition will rev up its motors to come save the peace.

All signs point to the fact that Israel is currently building the foundations for a Palestinian state and is planning an instant, southern-Lebanon-style retreat from Judea and Samaria. Something like, 'Get on the buses now and we'll explain later.'

But the Arabs don't really want a state. All that they want is to end Jewish sovereignty in Israel. Their demands will intensify after Israel's retreat from Judea and Samaria as per the Gush Katif aftermath model. They will demand the Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, right of return for their 'refugees', compensation payments, an international peace keeping force and what not. In the meantime, they will continue to bombard us with missiles. Israel's military response will serve the West with its excuse to intervene. At this point, an exhausted Israel will have to decide: Either open the Ashdod port to the US Navy forces or fight against the entire world.

All of Israel's 'enlightened' elites will unequivocally support opening Israel's gates to the
'Peacekeeping' forces. From the President all the way down to the writers in the major newspapers, they will have no other solution. "And what is better?" they will ask. "Living in the shadow of the West, or fighting a war being forced upon us by Jewish fundamentalists?" The patriotic declarations being sounded today in the Likud will turn into 'pragmatic' rhetoric. The West is the very air that we breathe and the lesson of the Holocaust will be ignored.

The last thing that the policy-makers are capable of thinking is that we are a nation in our own merit, a nation that relies on its own ethical code. They will never come to terms with the fact that we are not Western or Eastern; we are simply Jews who, as opposed to 1948 – are not weak at all. We are a formidable economic and military power and are capable of extracting a terrible price from any country in the world that will threaten our sovereignty.

We will never even think that the entire problem does not exist in reality, but only in our minds. In other words, our psychological dependency on the West actually invites this scenario. No Western country would challenge our sovereignty if it had the slightest fear of an Israeli response. We are a lion that thinks it is a rabbit. But knowing this country, I do not expect that we will respond to threats on our sovereignty in the manner that any normal nation would respond. Instead, Israel will open its gates to the 'Peacekeeping' forces. The IDF will be disbanded and the rest of the story has already been experienced by the Jewish People throughout its long and painful history.

As a believing Jew, I pray that our Father in heaven will perform a miracle and that one year from now, you will be able to take this article and laugh at me. I am a great believer in the Nation of Israel and anticipate that unexpected energies will emerge in the nick of time to prevent this scenario.

Post Independence Day, we must say loudly and clearly: There is life after America. The struggle is not for the settlements. The danger is much more existential and all-inclusive. It is not military danger. It is not economic danger. The danger is our total collapse in a process that is all-too reminiscent of the fall of Czechoslovakia. The moment that a state entrusts its existence to other states that have other interests, its existence becomes transient.

It is urgent to cut the psychological ropes binding us to the West. We are not Americans. We are Israelis and we have an independent and strong faith and culture from which we draw our own existential legitimacy – not from the West.

There is life after America. Put it on stickers. Blog it. Write it on your social media. Broadcast it at rallies and wherever you can. We do not need American aid. All that we need is to return to our tried and true Jewish identity.

Judaism, Capitalism and Socialism

By Moshe Feiglin

And if your brother becomes poor, and his means fail with you; then you shall uphold him: as a stranger and a settler shall he live with you. 38: I am Hashem, your G-d, Who has brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the Land of Canaan, to be your G-d. (From this week's Torah portion, Behar, Leviticus 25)

This week's Torah portion gives us the key to the solution for the ongoing debate between socialism and capitalism. In our Torah portion, we learn about the sanctity of a parcel of the Land of Israel to its owner and the directive to the ostensibly autonomous farmer to leave the corners of his field un-harvested so that the poor can come and partake of his crop. The Torah also commands us to return entire parcels of land that we have purchased to their original owners in the Jubilee year.

On one hand, the Torah is extremely capitalistic. The property of a Jew in the Land of Israel is not mere real estate; it is designated - actually consecrated - to him and if need be, must be redeemed in the same procedure as is used in the yibum (levirate marriage) of a childless widow. A Jew cannot turn his consecrated land into a commodity for trade. He must relate to his property as being on lease from the Creator - according to Divine conditions.

This approach maintains the delicate balance between liberty and capitalism on the one hand and compassion and what socialism was supposed to have created on the other. It preserves the liberty of personal ownership and a person's inherent right to his life and his possessions, while requiring him to serve G-d exclusively - and not those who forcibly re-distribute the property of others as if it were their own.

True liberty is acquired by accepting G-d's authority. Judaism is capitalistic to the extreme on the human plane and socialistic to the extreme on the Divine plane, leaving the allocation of all property to He to whom all property belongs.

Shabbat Shalom

Rav Nachman Kahana on Parashat Behar 5771

BS"D Parashat Behar 5771

A:

At 11 A.M. today, Memorial Day for the 22,867 fallen Israeli soldiers in the wars that were forced upon us, sirens from across the land will begin their eerie, wailing signal for a two-minute suspension of all activity. Wherever they are, drivers will bring their vehicles to a stop, get out and stand on the road in silent communion. The city streets, teeming with the cacophony of Israelis who have returned home from over 100 different lands, will become enveloped in speechless silence as the bustling, hurrying public comes to a halt with heads bowed, deep in thought.

As many others, I too will recite the prayer for the deceased (Ai’l Malay Rachamim) and recall the soldiers whom I knew personally who fell on the altar of Medinat Yisrael.

These two minutes of national silence go beyond the ideal that these young men and women and their sacrifice will never be forgotten. For it is a time of great national unity of our people who do not share like ideas and dreams. Words, sentences, speeches, all act as deterrents to unity. Words fall to the ground, amassing height and bulk that form barriers of misunderstanding and conflict at a time and place that demand unanimity of thought and actions.

Unfortunately, unity is achieved among us only in our silence.

Silence cannot be quoted or misquoted. It is the universal catalyst that binds people together.

The Torah points out that when Aharon’s two sons - Nadav and Avihu - died at the consecration ceremony of the Mishkan, Aharon’s reaction was absolute silence "Va’yidom Aharon". His silence turned his personal grief into the grief of all Israel.

Today at 11 AM, as in every year that I can recall - as we stand in silence as "one man and one heart" - there will be some who will not join with us, but will demonstratively continue on their way, seemingly oblivious to their surroundings.

They are invariably either Arabs or members of some Haredi sect or cult. They themselves are totally different. The Arab is our enemy, the Haredi our brother, but their message is similar: "We are not part of you".

I have no problem with the Arab. His god is not my God; his soul is not my soul. For him I have only one answer - he cannot be here.

I know that in the near future, the total financial collapse of the United States will cause great numbers of Jews to come home to Eretz Yisrael. They will displace the Arabs whom HaShem has positioned in a custodial role until the time when the Jewish population will be sufficiently large to settle all the land (See: Zohar, end of parashat Va’ai’ra)

But what pains me are the Haredi brothers whose sects and cults propagate teachings that corrupt and pervert HaShem’s holy Torah. The members of these cults declare themselves to be the true Jews, while even the great talmid chacham who recites Hallel on Yom Ha’atzma’ut (Independence Day) is not. They do not need the Holy Land of HaShem; they can make do with a little shtiebel in the golus. They mock and ridicule our holy soldiers, who risk their lives so that we will not be blown up by a suicide bomber or killed in a terrorist attack.

They believe that their rabbi is instilled with "da’as Torah." However, "da’as Torah" is no longer the driving religious force it once was, if it ever was. When the great Vilna Gaon said "no" to Chassidism, while other great rabbis said "yes" to Chassidism, "da’as Torah" became the way that individual rabbanim evaluated a situation through their personal halachic outlook.

Granted, there are also wonderful Haredim whom I make great efforts to emulate – those such as HaRav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, the rosh yeshiva of Kol Torah and renowned posek who have room in their hearts for HaShem and for all their fellow Jews. A student, who was once beset with problems, requested permission to be away for a week in order to visit the graves of the righteous in the Galil. The great rabbi replied, "Why trouble yourself to go so far? One kilometer away is the military cemetery on Har Herzl, there are hundreds of tzaddikim buried there."

When one studies parashat Behar - indeed every parasha of the Torah - one thing becomes crystal clear. The Torah relates to us as Am Yisrael - the Nation of Israel: men, women, children, converts, wealthy, indigent, freemen, servants, scholars, the ignorant, the righteous and the less-than observant.

The tzibur (collective community) of our nation are the Jews in Eretz Yisrael who are aware that they are living a miracle every day of their lives.

Of the Jews who stand in silence when remembering those who gave their lives in defense of our holy land and holy people, many stand and recall their own close encounters with death while serving in Tzahal. The bullet that missed by a millimeter. The mortar shell that landed in the place where he was a moment ago. The tank that ran over an exploding mine with no damage. And the miracles are endless. What do these people think when they see a Haredi who does not stand, even for a minute, to think of the kedoshim who gave their lives for all of us? It certainly does not contribute to a positive attitude toward the Torah of Israel. A more exact term would be - chillul HaShem.

I would venture to conjecture that if these creators of chillul HaShem would leave for Vienna, Antwerp or Brooklyn’s Williamsburg, the quantitative and qualitative gap would be quickly filled by many of today’s "secular" Israelis who would then return to the Torah.

　

B: Yom Ha’atzma’ut

HaShem created our physical world based on the two dimensions of time and space, and the circumstances of human life on the two dimensions of decision making and implementation. In the realm of our lives, the more laborious of our two dimensions is arriving at decisions, while implementation is mostly taken up with technical matters.

One can never escape the necessity of decision making from the mundane choices of what to wear and what to eat to the life-defining ones, such as where to learn Torah, whom to marry, where to live and what kind of head covering to don.

A major example is a Jew’s decision to leave his birthplace, his native language and culture, and come to the land that is promised to him by the Creator Himself.

The moment of decision is, for most people, overwhelming, but after it has been reached, Hashem "takes your hand" and turns the obstacles into benefits.

Let’s go back more than 3000 years to when our fathers and mothers stood at the edge of the Red Sea, or two weeks ago at Pessach when we are supposed to envision a deja-vu experience as if we too stood there.

The situation was one of an irresistible force - the Egyptian army, about to converge on an immovable object - HaShem’s promise that the Jewish people will exist forever. The Jewish people had no viable options – to fight, capitulate, pray?

HaShem took the Jewish nation to the edge of the abyss, with one foot over the top and quickly losing their balance. And then Moshe commanded in the name of HaShem that the nation leap into the churning waters of the Sea. The people did the impossible - they obeyed and leaped into the very uninviting waters. The waters divided and the rest is miraculous factual history.

Now let’s return 63 years ago, to May 14, 1948 at the Tel Aviv Museum. Gathered there were members of the Jewish Agency leadership - the representatives of the Jewish yishuv (public) - to cast their vote for or against the establishment of the State of Israel.

It was a formidable task, with little reason to envy the people who had to make these providential decisions.

The United States and our European "friends" strongly recommended that we do not declare a state, and gave credence to their recommendation by imposing an arms embargo on the yishuv.

In addition, the armies of seven Arab countries were poised at the gates of the Holy Land ready to invade if we should declare a state. The men who were gathered at the historic meeting had to decide if they were to plunge the 650,000 Jews who comprised the yishuv into a war where - according to any military logic - we had no chance of surviving. And this was only three years after the Holocaust when the Jewish nation had lost a third of its sons and daughters.

This situation was no less intense and portentous than when the Jewish people stood before the Red Sea.

Hashem blessed those assembled with the spirit of valor and courage, and just as their fathers had done 3000 years previously, they took the leap of faith and declared, against all reason, they chose to establishm a Jewish homeland, to be called Medinat Yisrael. HaShem blessed their courage when they defeated the seven Arab armies, greatly increasing the physical boundaries of the Medina.

This same couragous choice was repeated when we made a pre-emptive air strike in the Six Day War, and were rewarded with the gift of Yerushalayim.

It was repeated again when we sent our soldiers 5000 kilometers to rescue the Jews in Entebbe, and yet again when we sent ten planes to destroy the Iraqi nuclear reactor.

And it will be repeated in the future when the State of Israel is called on again to make the leap of faith in the name of the God of Israel.

This is what Medinat Yisrael is all about - the sanctification of the name of the God of Israel.

Shabbat Shalom

Nachman Kahana

Give Credit Where Credit is Due

By Michael Fuah

Holocaust Day, commemorated last week, is the day that we memorialize what happened when G-d turned His face from us and allowed the Holocaust to happen - a major desecration of His Name in the world. "And they desecrated My Holy Name when it was said about them, 'These are G -d's nation and they have gone out of His Land.'" The exile itself is a desecration of G-d's Name, says the prophet in Ezekiel 36:20.

But Ezekiel continues his prophecy: "And I will say, 'It is not for your sake that I do this, House of Israel, but for the sake of My Holy Name that you have desecrated among the nations. And I will sanctify My great Name that is desecrated among the nations, and the nations will know that I am G-d, says Hashem Elokim. And I will take you from the nations and I will gather you from all the lands and I will bring you to your Land."

Israel's Independence Day represents just the opposite of the Holocaust: a sanctification of G-d's Name. On the ground, however, things seem to have gone awry. Since the establishment of the State of Israel and particularly when most of our Land was liberated in the Six Day War, we did not officially acknowledge and thank G-d for His miracles. The "My might and power of my hand" syndrome has not yet been dispelled. As a nation, Israel has yet to recognize that it was G-d behind the momentous and miraculous events that gave birth to the State of Israel.

G-d's directing hand, though, does not allow us to deceive ourselves for long. Our attempts to solve the "Jewish problem," to "normalize" the Jewish Nation and to transform it into a nation like all other nations is shattering before our eyes. The more that we try to be normal and the more that we lose our connection to our Jewish identity - the more that we lose our national legitimacy.

This year we will celebrate Independence Day with thanks to G-d for the wonderful opportunity that He has given us. In addition, we must promise ourselves to work hard to establish Jewish leadership that will give credit where credit is due: to the Holy One, Blessed Be He. We need real Jewish leadership that will help us to be ourselves: the Jewish Nation, the children of the Creator, who are working to perfect the world. Our independence and freedom depend on it.

Shabbat Shalom

The Dangers of Make-Believe

By Moshe Feiglin

Rabbi Moshe Talbi, may G-d avenge his blood, was murdered on the same day that the bomb exploded near Jerusalem's Binyanei Ha'umah. His body was discovered near Revava in the Shomron. The police hurried to announce that he had committed suicide, opened the roadblocks that had already been put into place and caused immeasurable pain and grief to the widow, orphans and murder victim's relatives and friends. Actually, after the Arabs murdered Rabbi Talbi, the police murdered his memory once again. The beleaguered family, however, did not give up. They hired professional investigators, who brought undeniable evidence that Rabbi Talbi had indeed been murdered. This week, the police were forced to re-open the conveniently closed Talbi file.

"The IDF rightfully relates to the incident as a serious mishap and not as an act of terror," the Ha'aretz editorial explained how to relate to last week's murder of Ben Yosef Livnat, may G-d avenge his blood, in Shechem.

The approach that shows understanding for the murder of Jews and places the blame on the victims is not new. "What were they doing there in the first place?" asked former Labor party minister Chaim Bar Lev after six yeshiva boys were murdered in Hebron back in the eighties.

"He went to look for a bargain on eggs," PM Yitzchak Rabin scoffed after Chaim Mizrachi, may G-d avenge his blood, from Beit-El was murdered while trying to do business with his Arab neighbor.

In all these cases, reality was studiously disregarded. Let us claim that in one case the victim committed suicide, in another it was his fault in the first place and in a third that he was being greedy (and that he deserved what he got). We will hide behind sophisticated technology and we will make believe that there is no problem at all.

The pathological response that avoids the truth at all costs, blaming the victim to ensure that the facts do not get in the way of our perceptions - is not new. It is the same pathology that motivated a group of local celebrities to declare 'Palestinian' statehood in Tel Aviv last week. The flip side of the same pathological coin invents dubious solutions for Israel's security, like missiles against missiles instead of exacting a steep price of our enemies every time a rocket explodes in one of Israel's cities or towns.

This mentality reminds me of an article that I wrote over five years ago:
He had come for a visit in Israel, and we met in a Jerusalem hotel. We talked about Jewish identity, my analysis of today’s reality in Israel, about the need for belief-based leadership that can deal with the challenges facing our nation. We also talked about how hard it is to change the public’s perspective on reality – even when time and again the facts disprove the illusion. We talked and talked. The man had a remarkable grasp of the truth and I hardly noticed the time that had passed. Unexpectedly, he turned silent. He looked out the window and his eyes misted over. “I want to tell you something,” he said.

“It was Shabbat, and I was in the synagogue with my father. Our seats were near the center. Mine was an aisle seat. It was the central synagogue. The congregation prayed fervently and a warm atmosphere of holiness enveloped us all. True, there were a lot of rumors that had reached the Jews of Hungary, but nobody took them seriously. We relied on our rabbis, our community leaders and politicians. Life seemed stable and reassuring.

Suddenly, the door burst open. A black specter stood in the entrance. I was a young boy, and I thought that it was the angel of death. It was dressed in rags and looked like a skeleton that had re-emerged from its grave. The words of our prayers hung in mid air. Everybody gazed in horror at the figure in black. It ascended the synagogue platform and banged on the table. ‘I escaped from there,” rasped the specter. I escaped from Auschwitz to warn you. Your leaders do not want to meet with me, so I came to speak with you, dear Jews, directly.’ And then he began to scream, ‘Run away! They are burning all the Jews with gas!!!’

My entire body shook. I clutched my father’s hand, mesmerized by the ghastly scene just three steps away from me. The synagogue leaders hurriedly ascended the platform, gripped the hands of the poltergeist and dragged him, screaming, out of the synagogue. As they passed me, the specter touched me. Later, I, myself, was in Auschwitz. But the horrific smell of that man as he was being dragged away has remained etched in my memory forever.” (Excerpted from: The Specter in the Synagogue, June 2006 by Moshe Feiglin)

We have not learned the lesson of the Holocaust. The attempt to buy quiet by ignoring the tragic situation of those who find themselves on the front lines always leads to widespread tragedy. The destruction of Gush Katif was preceded by the destruction of the home of Livnat Ozeri, widow of Nati Ozeri, may G-d avenge his blood, who was murdered in his Hebron home by an Arab terrorist. Just two short months after the murder, the widow and her five small children were driven out of their home by Israel's police on a cold, rainy night, and dumped on a sidewalk in Jerusalem. Their home was destroyed. The faith-based public by and large ignored the outrage.

Avoiding the facts and shirking responsibility for our war against the murderers of Jews only tightens the international noose around Israel's neck. When the IDF insists that the murder of Jews in Shechem is nothing more than an unfortunate mishap that does not require it to hunt down the murderers - the lives of Jews in Tel Aviv are in danger.

Bin Laden's One Mistake

By Shmuel Sackett International Director, Manhigut Yehudit One thing made Osama bin Laden public enemy #1. One thing made him a target for America's hit squad. One thing - and only one thing - made his assassination justified and praised by world leaders. He didn't just kill Jews. Had he limited his terrorism to Jews only, he would not have been targeted. The same world leaders who today take great pride in his death would have celebrated his life. He would not have been killed by President Obama; he would have dined with him. He would have been invited to the United Nations. He would have had a worldwide speaking tour. He would have won the Nobel peace prize. Think I'm crazy? Mahmoud Ahmadinijad is the President of Iran. His resume' includes a lot more than just politics. It has been alleged that he participated in the attacks against the Jewish community of Argentina where hundreds of Jews were killed. He has stated - time and again - that he wants to destroy Israel. He wants to kill the 6,000,000 Jews (interesting number) who live here and he is feverishly working to build a bomb that will do just that. Has he been targeted? Is this animal on any one's "hit list"? Actually, just the opposite is true. He recently spoke in the UN. He was a guest speaker in Columbia University. Why? Because he is only interested in killing Jews. Khaled Mashaal is the leader of Hamas. Hamas is a sworn enemy of Israel. It has killed and maimed thousands of Jews since the “peace process” came about. It has fired over 5,000 missiles into Israel, aiming for Jewish homes and hoping to kill Jewish children. Has he been targeted? Is this beast on anyone's "hit list"? Actually, just the opposite is true. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently invited Mashaal to Moscow. Former US President Jimmy Carter has embraced Mashaal and considers him a “partner for peace”. Why? Because he is only interested in killing Jews. Yasser Arafat was the leader of the PLO for almost four decades. He has more innocent blood on his hands than bin Laden. Yet this murderer was a guest at the Clinton White House more than any other world leader! He spoke in the UN. He was accepted around the world as a leader and spoke in over 30 countries. He won the Nobel Peace Prize. Why? Because he was only interested in killing Jews. His successor, Abbas is a Jew murderer, as well. Although I can go on, I will give just one final example: Adolf Hitler. The world knew about his plans for the Jews as early as 1933. The world knew about Kristallnacht back in November of 1938, and of the concentration camps shortly thereafter. Yet the entire world called this monster “Herr” Hitler. They gave him respect. They recognized him as a leader. All that changed when Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. From that point on he became an enemy. Why? Because until that day he was only interested in killing Jews. Osama bin Laden violated the golden rule: In addition to killing just Jews, he also killed non-Jews. That is why he was targeted and for no other reason! The message to Jews - and the State of Israel - is very clear. Learn to defend yourself. Learn to take revenge yourself. The world will not help you with Iran, Hamas or the PLO/PA. Ahmadinijad, Abbas & Mashaal will not make the same mistake as Bin Laden. They will continue to be accepted and embraced by the world. Understand this, accept this and deal with this. "We have no one on whom to rely, other than our Father in Heaven". May today's Jewish leaders - and the brave warriors of the IDF - engrave this on their hearts. And may they - very soon - do to these terrorists exactly what was done to Bin Laden.

Gerry Ziering's Monthly Zionist Letter

We have now finished the holiday of Pesach in which we recall the miraculous events of leaving Mitzrayim on our way from slavery to freedom. Incredibly we have kept the command of the Torah to celebrate the chag each year and to eat Matzoh and tell the story to our children year after year. We Jews are scrupulous in our observance of these mitzvoth and many others such as kashrut and tefillin, but others we relegate to a lesser status. When HaShem gave us the 613 mitzoth, he did not say that some were strong and some were weak, he did not say that some we should do all the time and some we have an option to pick when and if we want to do them. Yet when we are all sitting around the Pesach table talking about how we left Egypt and and how Hashem split the sea in order for us to reach Har Sinai and subsequently how we journeyed in the wilderness for 40 years until we reached Eretz Yisrael, we do not feel that we need to be in Eretz Yisrael.

What has happened to the relevance of Eretz Yisrael? Why does it seem like it’s a nice vacation spot, a nice place to tour or visit relatives but not a place for us to live. Why is it that when we spend time in Israel we feel so comfortable amongst our brothers and sisters, that we can wear our kippot without being self-conscious, we can stop to daven mincha on a street corner, that we can discuss a dvar Torah with our cab driver and say Shabbat Shalom to everyone we meet? Yet, we are ready to get back on the plane, return home to our higher paying jobs, and large homes and leave the real essence of life behind. Have we become so comfortable in our ivory towers, that meaning has become marginalized?

Let me remind you of the relevant posukim:

"I have descended to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land, to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivvites, and the Jebusites.

And I said, 'I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt, to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivvites, and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.' (Shemot 3:8, 17)

"I will bring you to the land, concerning which I raised My hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you as a heritage; I am the Lord.'" (Shemot 6:8)

The Ramban says that it is a mitzvah to conquer and settle Eretz Yisrael, and it applies in all generations. The Sefer HaCharedim, similarly, counts it as a mitzvah d’oraisa that applies at all times. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, who ruled that it is a mitzvah today, but only a voluntary one. (One does not have to wear a four cornered garment, but if one chooses to, he needs tzitzis.) If we would look at a person who doesn’t wear tzitzit because it is only a voluntary mitzvah, we would probably conclude he is not a yirei shamayim. He is not a person looking to do mitzvoth. How much time and money is spent on acquiring a kosher mezuzah, adhering to all the laws of kashruth, buying the best tefillin, inspecting and purchasing a mehudar etrog. In every normal mitzvah we take care to be as medakdek as possible to be yotzei all the shitot. Yet we don’t find the same attitude when it comes to yishuv ha’aretz.

There is no doubt that living in Eretz Yisrael is something that involves a tremendous amount of expense and hardship. Accordingly, there are three factors that may exempt one from the mitzvah of yishuv ha’aretz: finances, safety, and one’s level of spirituality. Will you be able to survive in Eretz Yisrael financially? Would your safety be seriously jeopardized by coming here? Would your religious standards suffer by moving here. If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then perhaps you have a heter from moving here. For everyone else, if there is a will there is a way. The economy of Israel is quite strong and improving all the time. If the importance of living as a Jew in the Jewish homeland and being able to do all the mitzvoth dependent on the land is of more importance to you than having a bigger house or a fancier car, than it is time to make aliya. What is the standard of living that the Shulchan Aruch has in mind that would exempt a person from a mitzvah in which he is otherwise obligated? How proper is it to maintain a life style that prevents you from keeping mitzvoth? The same Ribono shel Olam that privides a parnasah for you chutz l’aretz, can provide you one in Eretz Yisrael. If your parnasah is not so good chutz l’aretz, all the more reason to come to Israel.

So, we have just finished our sederim in which we thanked Hashem for bringing us out of Mitzrayim and yet some of us are still sitting in “Mitzrayim” 3500 years later. We should be praying fervently for our redemption, for G-d to bring us to the “land of milk and honey”. It is an upside down world when the punishment of exile has become a blessing. This does not apply to those who are truly yearning for and trying to move to Eretz Yisrael, but rather to those of us who have become enslaved with the “golden handcuffs” and are rebelling against the “King” by refusing to do the mitzvah of yishuv ha’aretz. May Hashem grant us all the zchut and the strength to be able to live in our land and fulfill the mitzvoth. When our children and grandchildren ask us years from now; how were we so fortunate to be able live in Israel? We will be able to smile and think back to that momentous decision we made to move there. Let us hope that we do not have to answer to our future generations when they ask us why is it that despite our love for Israel and the commandment to settle the land, we are still not living there?

Gerry Ziering