On the Threshold of Greatness: Do You See what's Real?

By Tuvia Brodie

The Jewish nation is unique.  More than 2300 years ago, the content of our Bible‹the Tanach‹was selected and approved. Since that moment, Jews everywhere have had before them the recorded predictions of G-d: Jews living in Israel would sin grievously; they would be exiled; they would be scattered among nations; they would be persecuted; their land of milk and honey would become desert; that land would remain a desolation for all who entered; the Jews would return to their land; the desert would blossom again; Hebrew as a language of everyday use would be reborn; a Jewish religious revival would occur;  Israel would become distinctive; she would be a success; she would rise like a lion against her enemies;  and finally, in the days preceding Israel¹s ultimate Destiny, the nations of the world would turn against her.

These are the words of our Tanach. These are predictions Jews have read and re-read for 2,300 years. These predictions are now fact.

No other nation can tell such a story of dispersal, desolation, persecution and rebirth. No other religion can match such a record of ancient prophesies fulfilled. No other people have returned to a land filled with surviving historic evidence of their ancient glory. No other G-d has such a list of promises kept.

The G-d of Israel lives. The proof is before us. History is our witness: at least fourteen ancient prophecies have become fact.  Promises recorded more than 2,300 years ago have become history.

And yet, denial is stronger than truth.  Man's commitment to denial‹his irrational pseudo-religion‹is so strong that, no matter the weight of the accumulated historic evidence, many refuse to hear. They refuse to see. They refuse to affirm that the G-d of Israel has indeed foretold our history. Instead, they affirm that the G-d of Israel cannot exist. Why do they deny?  The evidence is before them: G-d has turned prophesy into fact. What could be better proof of G-d¹s Truth than that?

It doesn't matter. The power of denial destroys Man's intellect: the Tanach cannot be correct. It cannot be real. G-d Himself can't be real because the Jewish narrative of Israel is a lie. It must be a lie‹for otherwise, the G-d of Israel lives; and as we all know, there can be no G-d.

Really? What happened to Man¹s rational capacity to observe, consider evidence and acknowledge truth--however uncomfortable that truth makes him? When rational Man sees more than a dozen ancient prophecies become historic fact across 2,300 years, does he honestly acknowledge such truth or does he use his intellect to reject reality?

G-d accurately foretells 2,300 years of Jewish history; Man denies it. G-d declares that Israel is His beloved; Man denies it. Instead of acknowledging reality, Man rejects it. Fourteen prophecies come true; Man scorns the G-d of Israel. Man will not acknowledge G-d's Power because he turns against G-d's beloved. Man calls Israel intransigent and cries for Justice‹but only for aggressor Arabs who have brought sorrows upon themselves by repeatedly starting wars they lose.  As G-d shows He is True, Man uses his intellect to delegitimize G-d's chosen. Man will not confront G-d. But he will empower those who want to destroy Israel.

Man blinds himself with denial. Irrationally, he denies history. He chooses lies‹and then celebrates his intellect.

Here's proof:  in the last two years alone, the Arab has asserted that there has never been Jewish ownership of the Temple Mount, Rachel¹s tomb is a mosque, Joseph's Tomb is Islamic, Hevron has no Jewish roots and Judea-Samaria has no connection to Jews whatsoever. These assertions celebrate Man's intellectual capacity because only Man has such power to choose lies over truth. Only Man-the-self-appointed-supreme can believe that Arabs are innocent victims, Jews are immoral oppressors and the G-d of Israel doesn't exist. Only Man can design a peace that posits that Jews are Zionists; their Zionism causes terrorism; and peace is possible only after the cause of terrorism is destroyed.

Only Man can celebrate the Arab lie over G-d. Only Man can celebrate denial.

But when Man denies, we should remember: Man is irrational. He is not supreme. He lies. It is the Jewish Tanach‹not Man‹that accurately predicted how Jewish history would unfold over more than 2,300 years. It is the Jewish Tanach‹not Man‹that identifies Jerusalem as our capital. It is the Jewish Tanach‹not Man‹that declares that the G-d of Israel will record in his Book of Deeds who is for Israel, who against; who is for truth, who lies.

Today, Israel does not stand as an outcast before Man. Man lies. Israel stands--as predicted-- at the threshold of her Destiny. Everyone has his role to play in the unfolding drama of our Destiny and, as recorded more than 2,300 years ago, each player plays his role as foretold.

Do not follow Man. Man is irrational. Man cannot foretell. Instead, he lies. Follow G-d. Read your Tanach.  Read‹and marvel at the virtual statistical impossibility of so many ancient prophesies becoming real.

Marvel at G-d's Power.

It Smells Like Elections

The Prime Minister survived the Ulpana crisis with the generous help of the settlers. It is still not clear how the draft crisis will be resolved, but one way or another, we have entered a new elections phase. The entire political system is working on this assumption.

Manhigut Yehudit is not part of this scene. Since we entered politics, we have set clear goals for ourselves. For years, we have been tirelessly working toward these goals without getting off track. When the political system works from within itself, for itself and without any purpose above and beyond itself – the chaos that we are now witnessing is born. We are not great politicians: But it has become clear that the presence of a goal and perseverance in reaching it are a first class political asset.

Manhigut Yehudit's political power is growing all the time. Moshe Feiglin is growing stronger and it is clear that when the time comes for elections, Moshe will be there, a distinctly unique factor in the leadership arena.

As in every election season, people become confused and fall once again into the honey trap of enchanting sectoral candidates. It is a seasonal phenomenon. Just as the sun shines, so new rightist parties are born before every election. It is always a great temptation to shorten the road. It is tempting to remain in the comfortable sectoral niche and to think that you are influencing something; to think that the Religious Zionist under-representation is due to certain personalities and is not essential. It is tempting to think that if we would only unite, if we would only find the most talented leader, we will return to the days of glory of yesteryear. In short, it is tempting to think that we can declare our affinity to the Return to Zion but to evade taking responsibility to lead it.

"Feiglin always fails," says National Union MK Aryeh Eldad. Eldad and his friends never fail – simply because they are not in the arena where the competition is taking place. They haven't failed because from where they are, they cannot fail. But they cannot succeed, either.

We are steadily progressing toward leadership of the national camp and of the nation. This is a revolution that frightens many Religious Zionists, who will do everything they can to thwart it. In the previous elections, we proved that it is possible to approach the Nation of Israel with the truth as we see it, to present it through a candidate with a kippah on his head and to merit tremendous backing. There are no magic solutions; not for the settlements and not for the other basic problems from which Israel suffers. The only real solution is the establishment of a clear goal coupled with new, faith-based leadership for our country. The fact that we have established this goal and are progressing step by step has greatly influenced the political arena. It helps the settlements more than any other attempted solutions. But we must not be blind to reality: As long as we have not reached the leadership position, we can do no more than influence on the tactical plane. Until then, we will not be able to stop the strategic deterioration. 

The Real Peace Plan

By Moshe Feiglin


Pinchas the son of Elazar the son of Aharon the Kohen has turned My wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was very zealous for My sake among them, so that I consumed not the children of Israel in My jealousy. And so I say, behold I give him my covenant of peace. (From this week's Torah portion, Pinchas, Exodus 25:11-12)

Surprisingly, Pinchas' zealotry and his uncompromising battle to preserve Israel's separatism and national identity advance peace.

Sometimes, it may seem that a blurred identity and essence will foster peace. The entire "peace process" and the "New Middle East" strategy are based on trashing the concept of borders and identities (Shimon Peres, The New Middle East, page 72 in the Hebrew edition). But the Torah teaches us that just the opposite is true. Only he who knows his own identity is capable of living at peace with himself and his neighbors.

To highlight this point, this week's Torah portion ends with a section on the Sukkot sacrifices, in which all the nations of the world take part. When the Nation of Israel is settled securely in its Land, holy city and Holy Temple and makes G-d King of His world, we enjoy true peace. The world is waiting for us to be ourselves, to fulfill our destiny – for it. Then we and the entire world will merit a genuine, lasting peace.
Shabbat Shalom

HaRav Nachman Kahana on Balak and Pinchas 5772

BS"D 

Balak and Pinchas 5772

A:

The 17th of Tammuz, is the day when we solemnize five disastrous events in our history, as we also do for the calamitous 9th of Av, in three weeks hence. Both are fast days, with the 9th of Av following closely behind Yom Kippur in its halachic severity.

However, this year we will not fast, because both days fall out on Shabbat.

Two days ago, on the 17 of Tamuz, while sitting at the Shabbat seuda (feast) as I will do on the 9th of Av, the prophesy of Zecharia (8:19) came to my mind:

כה אמר ה' צבאות צום הרביעי וצום החמישי וצום השביעי וצום העשירי יהיה לבית יהודה לששון ולשמחה ולמעדים טובים והאמת והשלום אהבו

Thus said the Lord of Hosts: The fast of the fourth month (17th of Tammuz), and the fast of the fifth (9th of Av) and the fast of the seventh (Fast of Gedalia), and the fast of the tenth (10th of Tevet), shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love truth and peace.

Although, Zecharia is referring to the future when all the Rabbinic fast days will be annulled, this year we have an opportunity to indulge a bit in what that very near future will bring. How do I know it will come about in the very near future? Because the entire eighth chapter of Zecharia is referring to our times, as follows:

2 Thus said the Lord of hosts: I am zealous for Zion with great zealousness, and I am zealous for her with great wrath.

(HaShem drove out the Turks and the British in order for us to establish the Medina, and has granted the Jewish army incredible victories over enemy forces many times larger, better equipped and with Russian advisors).

3 Thus said the Lord: I will return to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called The city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts. The holy mountain.

(The Jewish nation has returned to Eretz Yisrael and is sovereign over Yerushalayim for the first time in over 2000 years, an event unprecedented in human history).

4 Thus said the Lord of hosts: Old men and old women will again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand. 5 And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets.

(Come to Yerushalayim or to any place in the Holy Land and see the words of the prophet coming to life before your eyes. The longevity of our elders is obvious and the very large families where 10 children are not a rarity).

6 Thus said the Lord of hosts: If it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, it will be marvelous in my eyes, said the Lord of hosts.

(We who have returned are filled with wonderment at how we have turned this desolate land into a wonderland. And Hashem, too, is amazed at how His children have been able to overcome 2000 years of Galut and return home as fresh and as vital as ever).

7 Thus said the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country;

(HaShem has returned His children to the Land, from east and from west; from over 100 different lands).

8 And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.

(There is more Torah study and sincere observance in Yerushalayim than in the rest of the world combined).

9 Thus said the Lord of hosts: Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets that were in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, even the temple, that it might be built.

(There are ongoing preparations for the third Temple, both on the theoretical and practical levels).

12 For there shall be the seed of peace; the vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.

(The land is rich with agricultural produce, which is a mighty sign that the redemption is close by).

13 And it shall come to pass that, as you were a curse among the nations, Oh house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong.

(The gentiles have blamed the Jews for all the ills of the world and we have been unable to defend ourselves. Today the Medina is at the cutting edge of science and technology to help cure the ills of humanity. We are a blessing for the world).

16 These are the things that you shall do: speak every man the truth with his neighbor; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates;

17 and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, said the Lord.

19 Thus said the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love truth and peace.

(Nullification of the rabbinic fast days, when we will soon participate in the full redemption of the Jewish people).

20 Thus said the Lord of hosts: It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities;

(Gentiles from New York, Moscow, Rome, Mecca and Shanghai).

21 And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to entreat the favor of the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also.

22 Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of the Lord.

(The gentiles will ultimately throw away their false religions and accept the seven Noachide laws)

23 Thus said the Lord of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men out of all the languages of the nations, shall take hold of the garment of a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.

As time progresses, we in Eretz Yisrael will realize the fulfillment of all the prophetic destiny of the Jewish people. Our Father in Heaven and His devoted children in the Holy Land have passed the point of no return in our relationship. He has no choice but to show His mercy to His chosen people, who have demonstrated loyalty far and beyond what could be expected from fragile human beings.

We are eating the fruits of the sacrifices made by the last 80 generations of our fathers and mothers. May we be worthy of their sacrifices.

B:

In the week of parashat Balak, the world’s scientific communities were in ecstasy. After spending billions of dollars and thousands of great minds who participanted in the project, they finally proved empirically the existence of the Gibbs-Boson. Josiah Gibbs was the American physicist who theorized how sub-atomic particles (photons etc.) which are otherwise similar in their physical properties (bosons), have different masses, which is expressed in the speed of the particle.

What is the great discovery?

Picture a room full of people, and one person who is friends with all the others. This individual wishes to get to the other end of the room. But since he personally involved with each person he will stop and make small talk, resulting in his reaching the other end of the room in ten minutes. Enter a stranger who wants to reach the far corner of the room. He will do it in one minute, because he does not interact with anyone in the room.

Scientists’ claim that was proven, is that the entire creation is totally filled with a certain entity, like water that fills all the space in a pool. The various sub-atomic particles interact with this entity to different degrees. The sub-atomic particle that causes light (photon), does not interact at all with the surrounding entity, therefore it travels at the maximum speed of 300,000 kilometers a second (speed of light). Other sub-atomic particles cannot reach the speed of light, because they interact with their surroundings. The degree of interaction determines the mass or speed of the particle.

The principle behind the discovery is that the more a particle interacts with its surroundings, the more stunted is its advancement, and it ultimately will never reach the ultimate speed of light.

Now, why did the Creator open up this secret just on the week of parashat Balak? The answer lies in the parasha, since all happens during a week is alluded to in its parasha.

Bilaam was as devious as he was evil. He looked out at the Jewish people and understood the secret of our existence as God’s chosen people:

עם לבדד ישכון

A nation that dwells alone.

The Jewish nation can achieve the goals that HaShem has set down for it, only to the extent that the Jews do not interact with the surrounding gentiles and their cultures. Bilaam advised Balak to create an interaction between the holy Jewish nation and the profane daughters of Midian and Moav, with the unfortunate result that 24,000 Jews who sinned and died, which set the nation back spiritually.

The physical world meets the metaphysical as we delve deeper into the hidden areas of our existence.

Sub-atomic particles gain speed to the degree that they do not interact with their surroundings, and the Jewish nation achieves kedusha (holiness) when we are free of external gentile influences.

The Tanach is replete with admonishments of the prophets to refrain from alliances with foreign powers, as we see when Yirmiyahu warned Tzidkiyahu, the last king of the Davidic lineage who ruled at the time of the first Temple’s destruction, not to depend on Egypt.

One need not be a great historian to know that when the Jews dwelled alone in the ghettos, Judaism was secure, but when "emancipation" was granted to us we escaped the Torah with a vengeance.

American Reform, Conservative and un-affiliated Jews will disappear by the "kiss of death" of their gentile surroundings. Even the religious in the galut have perverted the principles of Judaism because of their interaction with their surroundings, and the desire of many of them to be accepted into American society or at the very least to be able to live the "great American dream" without too much anti-Semitism. Very few American religious Jews visit Eretz Yisrael, and it is not politically, socially or financially correct to speak of aliya, or to appear as enthusiastic devotees of the State of Israel. And with time Israel will become for them an object of disdain and even hate.

Even in Eretz Yisrael, one can trace our problems to our interaction with the gentiles. Our dependency on the United States paralyzes our government from implementing actions which are necessary for our security and survival. The United States warns Israel, "Don’t build in your Biblical areas of Yehuda, Shomron and the Golan. Don’t build a security fence. Don’t over-react when hundreds of rockets and missiles are fired at your cities. Don’t sell military equipment. Don’t build the Lavie aircraft. Don’t attack Iraq in the first Gulf War. Don’t attack Iran even though they have explicitly stated their intention to eradicate you. Just prepare to disappear.

Not only in the political arena is our interaction with America and the gentile world detrimental to our Judaism. Even their culture of music, art, films, dress etc., has permeated into our society to the detriment of the holiness of our nation.

No wonder the Rambam states that one of the features of the Messianic era will be the freeing of the Jewish people from foreign influences of all sorts.

It began with Bilaam and continues to our day, victimizing our people and scarring our national consciousness.

Now since we live in a reality where we cannot escape interacting with gentiles and their cultures, Israel would do well to draw away from its Western orientation and seek a more balanced relationship with the gentile world. To begin with by growing closer to China and other nations of the east, until that time when we will be independent of other nations and be dependent only on HaShem.

C:

In our parasha, Moshe is commanded to lead the Jewish army into war with Midian and destroy them as a nation.

War is never a good option, but in this case it was a personal challenge for Moshe.

Moshe lived many good and happy years in Midian. His father-in-law was the noted Yitro, and through him Moshe became acquainted with the intelligentsia and the "who’s who" of Midian society. Moshe’s wife was born there as well as his two sons.

Moshe is now being told to make war upon the people he knows and with whom he feels some degree of kinship.

This is no easy task. But the ever faithful eved HaShem (servant of God) did not falter for a moment, and fulfilled HaShem’s command despite the difficulties.

The lesson of this episode is one of allegiance. Where does you allegiance as a Jew lay? With the foreign nation where you were born? To the culture that feel so right? Or with the dictates of the Torah?

Every Jew is tested in his life. That’s one of the reasons we were brought to this world.

Avraham was told by Hashem to break the three bonds that define allegiance: leave the land where you now dwell, leave the land where you were born and leave your family.

As difficult as it might seem, our generation was chosen to restore the honor of HaShem and the Jewish people by returning to the Holy Land to lay the groundwork for the rebuilding of the holy Temple and the Messianic era.

A sincerely religious Jew who does not lie to himself has no way of escaping his responsibilities at this unprecedented juncture in our history.

So don’t believe the lies perpetuated by modern day meraglim (spies), regardless of their titles or outward appearance. But most important do not lie to yourself which is tantamount to spiritual and intellectual suicide.

Shabbat Shalom

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5772/2012 Nachman Kahana

Does Israel Really Need A Compulsory Draft?

By Moshe Feiglin

The State of Israel is bickering over nothing. It is like a fight between a seller who has nothing to sell and a buyer who has no intention of buying. They shout at each other, call the police, go to court when all they really want is attention for reasons of their own. One thing, however, is for sure: No deal will be struck between the two.

The Left does not want the Ultra-Orthodox in the army. The legions of Religious Zionists make it feel pressured enough, as it is. The sane majority of Israelis does not want Arabs in the army, either. Anybody with a tad of intelligence can understand that when the Arabs' quintessential representative, MK Ahmad Tibi, opposes the construction of a Space Center in the Arab town of Taibeh because it is to be named after the late Israeli astronaut, Ilan Rimon z"l, who was also a combat pilot, the basic loyalty of Israel's Arabs is not to the State, but to their people - who aim to destroy it.

So the Right doesn't really want this compulsory draft and the Left doesn't, either. More ridiculous is the fact that not only is the IDF not interested in this draft, but it really doesn't need it, either. Drafting the Ultra-Orthodox en-masse will require the IDF to establish new frameworks and to adopt standards in which it is not interested. As far as not needing it, here are some statistics:
In 2006 the IDF presented the Ben Basat Commission established to investigate reduction of active service with the following numbers:

Approximately 23% of men of draft age are not inducted into the army from the outset.

18% of those drafted drop out of the army during their service.

For all practical purposes, the compulsory induction law applies to only 59% of Israel's young men. According to the Shefer Commission report, there are ten different types of arrangements with the army that shorten the soldiers' term of service. So of the 59% who enter the army, most do not serve the full 36 months of compulsory service. In other words, in total contrast to the ethos of the "People's Army", less than one third of the men in every induction cycle truly bear the full burden of army service. This is without taking into account the fact that only a minority of those men are actual combat soldiers.

The gap between the myth of the People's Army and reality is even more pronounced in the reserves. In the year 2000, approximately 32,000 soldiers served the full period of reserve duty (26 days). This is only 4%(!) of all the men who could theoretically be serving in the army.

It is important to note that the IDF's elite units (Golani infantry, air force and navy) boast an over-abundance of volunteers to their ranks. In other words, our youth is highly motivated to serve in combat units.

The Compulsory Induction Law requires the IDF to draft everyone; even those it does not need and does not want.
The result is problematic in many ways:

1. Idleness: Too many soldiers in the army have nothing to do. This is a well-known fact and can be observed on most army bases.

2. Economy: Too many people out of the work force, burdening the economy.

3. Security: Naturally, the IDF relies on cheap labor instead of professionalism and technology. This damages our security situation. The disparity between the Air Force, which is essentially a professional volunteer force – and the rest of the army clearly highlights this problem.

4. Most important of all – Liberty: Compulsory induction contradicts the fundamental Jewish value of liberty.

5. Internecine Hatred: Compulsory induction has always been a trigger for internecine hatred, pitting those who serve against those who do not.

The real solution for this problem is to make the IDF a professional volunteer army. Not all at once and not in a rush. We need a long-term plan in which every stage is examined before moving on to the next stage. The ultimate goal of this plan is to nullify compulsory induction.

In this plan, each and every Jew would be inducted into the army and would do basic training of a number of days at least and 30 days at most. The training will be tailored to the needs of the various sectors: There will be completely separate bases for women, the training will take place during vacation from the yeshivahs and universities, and the like.

Those who are not interested in volunteering will finish their service at this point. They can and will be drafted in emergency situations for guard duty, civil defense and if necessary, for more advanced training.

A soldier who chooses to volunteer in the IDF, and whom the IDF chooses to accept (!) will receive a good salary, truly professional training that includes an academic degree and most important of all – the admiration of Israeli society (as opposed to the situation in the US).

I have no doubt that the supply will outstrip demand and that many of the volunteers will receive a negative answer. The IDF will be able to choose who it really wants and to invest all its resources in those who are actually improving our security instead of vast amounts of soldiers who are not really necessary.

Only one problem will remain: What will we fight about next?  

Yitzchak Shamir, o.b.m.

All four of the prime ministers elected from the ranks of the Right in Israel were blessed with important talents and characteristics. But Yitzchak Shamir was the most talented of all. He was the only one of the four who did not surrender a grain of the Land of Israel to foreigners. Shamir also expressed his disappointment with the fact that the Religious Zionists were not taking responsibility to lead the nation.

Shamir was not free of mistakes – even strategic mistakes. His decision to leave the response to Sadaam's scuds to the nations of the world was his most serious error. (See Moshe Feiglin's article, "Learning the Lessons of Shamir's Mistakes )
But in these days of surrender to pressure from within and without; days in which our government capitulates to every threat and passing temptation, we will all miss the little man who was as strong as the emery (shamir) stone.
 

Do They Lie?

By Tuvia Brodie

In April, 2011, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank both declared that the Palestinian Authority (PA) was “capable of managing the economy of an independent nation” (see Int’l Monetary Fund, World Bank: PA ready for statehood, Chana Ya’ar, Arutz Sheva, April 7, 2011). Both of these world-class financial institutions had undertaken separate studies and both presented the same conclusion at a meeting in Brussels. The statement quoted above came out at a time when the PA was starting its unilateral push for UN-approved statehood, and because of the reputations of the IMF and the World Bank, the statement served as a strong, credible endorsement of the PA.

It was exactly what Arabs and their supporters wanted to hear.

This endorsement, however, surprised those of us who actually live in the Middle East because even inattentive amateurs here could see that the PA was completely incapable of managing any kind of sustainable economy. The evidence was everywhere: high unemployment, mind-boggling corruption, an unnaturally high reliance on financial help from others and budget shortfalls had persisted so long that they had created an unending economic plague for Ramallah. ‘Economic viability’ was a joke.

Three months later, Evelyn Gordon, writing in Commentary magazine (“The myth of the Palestinian Authority’s readiness for statehood”, July 5, 2011), spot-lighted the reports’ jaw-dropping pronouncement with a simple reference:  ”one requirement for being a functioning state rather than a failed one,” she wrote, “is being able to pay the bills”—which, she pointed out, the PA has a persistent problem doing. The IMF and the World Bank didn’t see this?

Well, actually, they did see it. But they appear to have sugar-coated their findings. What they did was similar to a doctor looking at a patient on his death-bed, and telling the family, ‘this patient is capable of managing a healthy life’.

It’s worse than that: as Patrick Clawson and Michael Singh have pointed out (“Is the Palestinian Authority really ready for  statehood”, Jerusalem Post, April 24, 2011), that optimistic IMF/World Bank statement depends entirely on two rather stunning assumptions, neither of which have any likelihood of becoming reality anytime soon. First, there must be sustained Israel-Palestinian cooperation. But instead of cooperation, the PA shows nothing but contempt for Israel: Abbas threatens to haul Israel ‘before international institutions’ (April 2012), local Arab TV broadcasts songs yearning for a world without Israel (February, 2012),  the principal Palestinian religious leader, the Mufti Muhammad Hussein, declares that the killing of Jews by Muslims is an Islamic goal (January 2012), and, perhaps most telling,  when a meeting between Abbas and Israeli official Shaul Mofaz was announced  (June, 2012, to discuss peace), protests in Ramallah were so violent that the meeting was cancelled.

Cooperation? Don’t count on it.

The second stunning assumption is that Gaza returns to PA control. This is necessary if the PA is to create a viable state because Hamas in Gaza is ‘famous’ for its corruption; any state that includes Hamas would become a failed state. But the reality is that the PA is not worried about taking over Hamas; it worries about the opposite--if elections were held today among Arabs under PA control, Hamas could win and throw out the PA—as it had done in Gaza.

Don’t count on the PA taking over Gaza; worry instead that Hamas will take over the PA.

The IMF/World Bank assumptions require such extraordinary impossibilities to occur that they defy reality. They remind one of that doctor who, with a straight face, tells the family of a patient on his death-bed that the patient can indeed manage a healthy life-- provided two assumptions are met: he sits up to tie his shoes by himself, and he balances his check-book.

Neither one of those things is ever going to happen. No competent doctor would dare speak that way; and the same should be true for the economic case for PA statehood.

The true economic case for the PA is that it survives on a life-support system called ‘donations from foreigners’; they have no economic stability of their own and cannot survive as an independent nation—and the IMF and World Bank know that.

In fact, on July 2, 2012, the IMF itself denied a PA request for money (for ‘technical’ reasons)—and two days later, the Jerusalem Post reported that the PA faces not only another financial crisis, but the worst such crisis in its history; they have no money to pay their 160,000 employees and they cannot settle their obligations to private contractors. In the fifteen months since that glowing IMF/World Bank pronouncement, the PA’s financial situation has gotten worse, not better; every month, they seem to provide additional evidence they are one of the world’s worst financial basket cases. Today’s crisis threatens to collapse the PA.

The IMF/World Bank reports were not economic; they were political. But their politics are dangerous because their misrepresentations support the creation of a failed state that could destabilize more than just the Middle East.

There is also a second danger: HaShem, the G-d of Israel, watches everyone. He watches over his beloved Israel. He watches how nations and the powerful ‘vote’ on the question of Israel. He sees, who is for Israel? He listens, who bends reality to support Israel-haters?

The G-d of Israel watches. He records in His book of deeds. The verbal trickery of the powerful always has consequences; and in this case, the failure to be honest could create a disaster of Biblical proportions. 

Do these organizations lie? Yes, they lie. Can lies destroy? Yes, they can.

Does the G-d of Israel watch? You tell me.

Parashat Balak: A Gd called Mammon

By Michael Hirsch

In this week's Torah portion, Balak, we have the famous story of the non-Jewish prophet, Bila'am, and his donkey enroute to the king of Moab, Balak, and encounter the Satan along the way. The donkey sees Satan; Bila'am does not. One must ask, of course, how is it that a supposedly wise man cannot see Satan, but his donkey can?!

I believe we have to delve further into Bila'am's psyche in order to explain the unexplainable. Time and again, we see references to wealth—gold, silver, riches—being proffered to Bila'am by Balak and his agents in order to induce him to make his services available. At one point, in fact, Bila'am adapts an air of false modesty and proclaims that even if Balak were to offer him a house full of silver and gold, he Bila'am could not perform counter to G-D's wishes. The clear implication being—try it, give me unlimited wealth; maybe I can overcome G-D's wishes.

The dialogue is rife with references to a line made famous by Cuba Gooding, Jr.: "Show me the money!" Bila'am had a one-track mind—money, wealth, riches. As the saying goes, he had dollar signs in front of his eyes.

So, when G-D finally grants him permission to go to Balak, all he can see are those dollar signs, in a manner of speaking. He is blinded to the real world. He is so focused on attaining wealth, the Satan can be standing in front of him, and he cannot see him. An animal, yes; Bila'am, no.

Turn to the present: examine yourself, family, friends, and society as a whole—how many of us are in the grasp of the god Mammon? How many of us interpret the Golden Rule to be: he who has the gold rules? How many of us are blinded to reality, as was Bila'am, to the degree that matters of substance pass us by, and we are totally oblivious to them?

Think about it—do you rule your money, or does your money rule you?!?!

Shabbat Shalom

How's Your Donkey Vision?

By Moshe Feiglin




"And the donkey saw the angel of G-d" (from this week's Torah portion, Balak, Numbers 28:25)

Sometimes even a donkey clearly sees what smart people can't. It is no surprise. Human intelligence is always accompanied by human fault. Moreover, true wisdom is not possible without humility, currently known as intellectual honesty.

Even donkeys understood where the Oslo Accords would lead. The masses protested and warned of the consequences. But the eyes of the "wise" men were blinded and they were unable to see the drawn sword of the angel of reality who was standing in their path.

The entire country is bickering over the question of the draft for the ultra-Orthodox and Arabs. Even a donkey can see that there is no reason for compulsory induction of either of these groups. In other words, we are about to bring down our government over a problem that doesn't exist and a demand that behind which nobody really stands.

But that is how it goes when human drives overshadow wisdom. Even a donkey will see what you no longer can perceive.
Shabbat Shalom

Feiglin: Israeli Return to Sinai Inevitable

Jerusalem Post: 5 Tamuz 5772 (June 25, '12)
Feiglin: Israeli Return to Sinai Inevitable

By Gil Hoffman

Recapturing the Sinai Peninsula that Israel gave to Egypt in the 1979 peace treaty is a foregone conclusion following the victory of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsy in Egypt’s presidential election, far-right Likud activist Moshe Feiglin said Sunday night.

Feiglin said he was not surprised by the Brotherhood taking over Israel’s neighbor to the South. He noted that the peace agreement, which then-prime minister Menachem Begin signed with then-Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat, was never implemented on the Egyptian side even though 4,500 Jews living in Sinai lost their homes. “There never was peace,” Feiglin said.

“Those who still dream sweet dreams of Begin’s Camp David Accords and Yitzhak Rabin’s Oslo agreements need to wake up and see that what happened in Egypt is the continuation of the Iranian revolution, and Islamic fundamentalism will take over the entire region. It is clear that in the end, reality will require Israel to return to where we were before [Sinai] and unfortunately withdrew.”

National Union MK Michael Ben-Ari called Morsy’s victory “the final nail in the coffin of the illusion of the peace with Egypt that we paid a heavy price for.”

Opposition leader Shelly Yechimovich said that peace with Egypt is of the highest strategic importance, and Israel must do everything in its power to maintain it.

“Despite the complexity involved, we must conduct a dialogue with whoever is elected to lead Egypt,” she said.

Labor MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said last week that Israel must make overtures to Morsy and his Brotherhood if they won.

“We have no choice but to find a way to start a dialogue with the Muslim Brotherhood,” Ben-Eliezer said. “We need to help Morsy understand that it is in Egypt’s interest to maintain peace with us, no less than Israelis realize that it is in our interest to maintain peace with them.”

Egypt: The Party's Over

By Moshe Feiglin

14 Tamuz, 5772
July 4, '12

This week, during Russian president Putin's visit to Israel, President Peres emitted the following pearl of wisdom: "The peace treaty with Egypt saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides."

Of the two states that fought the last all-out war with Israel – Egypt and Syria – only Egypt made "peace" with us. According to Peres' logic, we should have had hundreds of thousands of fatalities on the Syrian front since the Yom Kippur War. But just the opposite is true. The Golan Heights that border on Syria are actually the quietest frontier in Israel, with zero fatalities. By contrast, Israel's south is bleeding – and has been for years.

For those who did not cheer the emperor whose new clothes were conspicuously absent – both in Menachem Begin's Camp David and in the Rabin/Peres Oslo Accords – the current developments in Egypt come as no surprise. There is not and never has been peace between Israel and Egypt. Iran and Syria fight us in the north through their Hizbollah proxy. Egypt fights us in the south with its Hamas proxy. If the Egyptians had wanted to, they could have stopped the convoys of Katyusha rockets and all the other armaments streaming into Gaza from the Sinai.

Many Israelis, both soldiers and civilians, have lost their lives on the Egyptian border. Israel's entire southern region is now under fire by merit of this "peace." And this is without even mentioning the civilian price that we have paid for "peace" with Egypt: trafficking in drugs and women, infiltrators from Africa and other miserable side effects.

The Israeli "peace industry" made sure to keep up the adulation for the emperor's new clothes. They blocked the development of Israeli gas fields so that Israel would continue to purchase oil (that was discovered in the Sinai and developed by Israel after the Six Day War) and gas from Egypt. This arrangement padded the pockets of Egyptian top brass and also those of some select Israelis, who made sure to present a thin façade of pseudo-normal relations with Egypt. We are still paying the price of this arrangement with our outsized electric bills and severe air pollution.

The entire lie of peace with Egypt is now exploding in our faces, and that is just fine. Hopefully, it will not cost lives to restore our southern border to the kind of peace we have on our Syrian border: peace based on the IDF's deterrence. 

A Few More Words on the Ulpana Hill

By Moshe Feiglin




Those who read my book, Where There Are No Men already know that no real struggle can be conducted by the Yesha Council. We understood that the hard way when we established the Zo Artzeinu movement and we have since explained how we reached this conclusion in detail.

Nevertheless, during the Expulsion from Gush Katif, I abstained from publicly voicing my opinion on the Yesha Council. I hoped that perhaps I was mistaken, and in the face of the approaching struggle I did not want to create conflict. We did all that we could to organize a parallel struggle against the Expulsion – without entering into conflict with the Yesha Council. The organizers of our struggle, who established the Bayit Haleumimovement, sat in jail for many long months and were the object of contempt and castigation at the hands of Motty Alon and other Yesha establishment leaders.

The end of the Yesha Council's "great struggle" against the Expulsion was the Kfar Maimon farce and the channeling of the young people's anti-Expulsion energies into sobbing in the Gush Katif synagogues. Since then I have a guilty conscience over the fact that I, who had written a book on this very topic, didn't warn everyone of the end that was already determined at the beginning of the struggle.
Approximately a month ago, we held marathon meetings with government ministers to convince them to vote in favor of the Regulation Law. After a few meetings, I began to once again smell the same old smell. I understood that the deals were all being struck in a different place – not inside the political system and not in the grassroots struggle. Once again, shadowy leaders were making deals behind the backs of the public.

I decided to publicize my view, doing so in two separate sector-based articles and in our weekly update. Apparently, the things that I wrote touched upon the most sensitive nerves in the Yesha Council, which embarked upon a campaign to restore its legitimacy. The sector's media filled up with adoring articles for the Yesha Council, petitions supporting each other, mutual praise gatherings and of course – a scathing attack on me and distortion of my words.

From the attacks it is clear that what bothers the Yesha establishment more than my opinion on the Ulpana Hill is the fact that I am in the race for chairmanship of the Likud. On the surface, there is no connection between the two and it is not clear why they are lumped together. If there is a political strategy that has aided and abetted the settlements from within the Likud, it is the fact that I am running for chairmanship of the party. This in turn has fostered mass registration for the Likud in Judea and Samaria and has given the settlers political power in the party. Without this move, it is questionable if the settlers would have received such generous proposals in exchange for a quiet evacuation.

In truth though, those who cannot create an alternative always remain captive to the current leadership and will necessarily conduct themselves in the manner about which I warned. They are fighting for their positions as the arms-bearers of the existing leadership. Manhigut Yehudit is their downfall. It is inherently opposed to their very essence. When they lose the confidence of the public they strike out at me: justifiably so.

The more that faith-based leadership consciousness grows, the more the Yesha Council becomes extraneous. That is why they have opposed me, working tirelessly for Netanyahu in the previous elections for head of the Likud (and in past elections, as well) in an expensive campaign that encouraged Likud voters to stay home and not vote.

I do not retract what I wrote in my articles on the Yesha Council. The arguments in those articles were precise and it is important that they are in writing. But I would like to clarify that on a personal level, I have absolutely nothing against those people attacking me at the present. I value their dedication, do not want to take away from their many merits and am friendly with some of them. The debate between us is on matters of essence and those people who, even after Gush Katif and Kfar Maimon, still want to cling to the same methods and the same leaders – have every right to do so.

I have no intention of getting sucked into a sectoral political debate. From the moment that the fate of Ulpana Hill was determined, I see no reason to continue to deal with the subject. 

Hatikva

By Tuvia Brodie

The dream of Zionism no longer exists.  Israel’s Left says so. Their reasoning is simple: as soon as modern Israel was born, Zionism fulfilled its dream. It was no longer something imagined. The dream had become reality.  We now need a new dream. We must move beyond Zionism.

It’s a good argument, except for one thing: it’s fake. To say that the moment Israel was born, the idea of Zionism ended is like saying the moment you get married, the idea of marriage ends. Maybe that’s how marriage works for Leftists. That could explain their view of Zionism. But for the rest of us, the idea of marriage only begins the moment you get married—and the idea of Zionism only began in earnest the moment Israel was created.

In truth, not only does Zionism still exist, it is a dream not yet realized. Consider our national song, “Hatikva”. It is as pure a statement of the dream of Zion as you’ll find. In that song, we sing, ‘to be a free people in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem’. But we are not a ‘free’ people. Freedom means many things, of course, but it seems always to include the ability to live in peace without fear of being attacked. To test this definition, ask anyone who lives in a neighbourhood where they fear being killed should they leave their homes. Ask a woman living alone surrounded by thugs who taunt and attack her: is she free? More important, does she feel free—or does she feel imprisoned, trapped in her house?

She is not free.

Israel is that woman.

Israel’s Left tells you that the moment Israel was created, our Jewish dream ended; but the truth is, the moment Israel was created, that dream stalled because the Arab nations surrounding her attacked. Their war to annihilate Israel has never ended. We are trapped in our house.

“Hatikva” declares that we will be a free people in our land. That includes Judea-Samaria. According to legal agreements signed at San Remo and the League of Nations-- agreements which are still binding by law—Judea-Samaria is our land.  But we are not free in our land. The United Nations, the European Union and now the United States lead the Arab charge against Israel to strip our land  away from us. Literally every week, sometimes every day, someone in the world declares that this is notour land. Indeed, they affirm that we must give our land away.

We sing about our land in  “Hatikva”. But a Leftist Civil Administration and a Leftist High Court not only deny Jews from living freely in our land, they make those determinations without asking for evidence.

The Left rejects Zionism. They seek a divorce almost immediately after the wedding, rejecting all marriage commitments. They wish to move beyond marriage.

“Hatikva” celebrates ‘the land of Zion and Jerusalem’ as the apex of the Zionist dream. Sixty-four years after Israel announced its independence, we are told that Zionism is oppression and Jerusalem doesn’t belong to us. We declare Jerusalem as our nation’s capital and nearly every nation in the world tells us, ‘no, it isn’t!’ We declare that Zion is our joy and the world declares that Zion is racist; Zionists, the Leftists demand, must be destroyed for world peace to occur.

The Left is wrong. The dream of Zion isn’t over. The dream hasn’t fully come to life. Instead of living freely, Zion chokes on the venom of world-wide anti-Zionism. It gags on Jewish self-hate. “Hatikva” is our hope, our aspiration to be free. But for one million of us, that freedom lasts only fifteen seconds before a rocket explodes on our sovereign land. In mid-June 2012, 130-160 rockets were fired into Israel; since 2005, we have been hit another 12,000 times.

Where is our freedom when we must sprint to bomb shelters? How can we move beyond something that hasn’t fully taken root? Yes, we sing of Jerusalem. But when has Jerusalem been ours to build as we please?

The dream of Zion hasn’t ended. It is still in front of us, waiting.

“Hatikva” is our theme song. It tells us who we are. The Left tells us who we shouldn’t be, what we can’t do and where we cannot live. They mislead us. They insist Zionism is dead. But we know better. We will not seek marriage advice from people who reject marriage and we will not seek our Zionism from people who reject Zion.

Israel is not free. The Left sees to that. They hate our freedom and our land.

But we reject that hate. “Hatikva” is our anthem: we yearn to be free-- in our land. That’s our goal.

It is the goal we must never forget. It is the goal the Left never understood.

Oil, Lies—and a Piñata

By Tuvia Brodie

Have you ever been to a piñata party? The piñata is stage-centre at the party. Its purpose is to get whacked, usually by a stick. Party-goers take turns whacking until someone bursts open the hollow, releasing the candy. The moment the piñata bursts, everyone cheers.

It’s a lot of fun—except for the piñata. Nobody mourns  the piñata. They’re too busy diving onto the floor for candy.

So it is with Israel.  A poster in the Guardian of England declares, “For world peace Israel must be destroyed.” The world wants peace -- and they want Israel for their piñata. They’ve been whacking at Israel for years. Now, it’s party-time. The party even has a guest-of-honour—the ‘Palestinians’.  They can’t wait to burst Israel open, to scatter the contents.

But the moment this political piñata bursts, the Arabs will not be scrambling for candy. It’ll be oil—and the celebrants will not be ‘Palestinian’. The ‘Palestinians’ will be crushed. They’ll be sacrificed for the oil. Ask American Attorney Mark Langfan. He’ll even spell it out for you in three-D ( Jerusalem Post, A walking three-dimensional advocate, Arieh O’Sullivan, May 27, 2012; and Arutz Sheva, Three dimensional kits make Israel’s case crystal clear,  staff, May 29, 2012)). According to Langfan, the dream of destroying Israel comes with a nasty side-effect: it will trigger a nightmare for everyone.

You can read about Langfan in the articles above. What’s important here is that he highlights what Maurice Ostroff (The Times of Israel, May 29, 2012) and Melanie Phillips (Daily Mail, May 28, 2012—see calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com)  both wrote about during the same week the Langfan stories appeared: in today’s  world, truths about Israel are called lies, and lies are truth; Langfan shows us the consequence of building international peace policy on lies about Israel.

His thesis begins with the unpopular observation that Israel does not cause Middle East instability. Instead, he argues, Israel creates stability, for its presence keeps the Region from going up in flame. Why would the Region go up in flame?  If Israel disappeared, there would be war. Her territory would become the desired crown jewel for Egypt, possibly Syria (depending on the outcome of the current chaos there) and certainly Iran, all far more powerful than the ‘Palestinians’. Langfan may not go in this direction, but we know from an Israel Radio interview (see Israel capable of producing 250 billion barrels of oil, Ben Bresky, Arutz Sheva, March 20, 2012), that the chief scientist of Israel Energy, LTD (a retired chief scientist of Royal Dutch Shell) believes that within Israel’s land borders there lies perhaps 250 billion barrels of shale oil. This is a reserve—separate from the sea discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean—that equals Saudi Arabia’s reserves.

In other words, ‘Palestinians’ aren’t the only Arabs lusting for Israel.

Langfan says that Egypt has 80 million people whose average annual income is approximately $4,000USD. Egyptians starve. Langfan may not say this, but Egypt will be desperate for that oil--to feed herself. One Muslim Brotherhood candidate for the Egyptian presidency has already announced that if he wins the Egyptian presidential election, the capital of Egypt will no longer be Cairo, but Jerusalem (Arutz Sheva, Muslim cleric: Jerusalem to be capital of Egypt under Mursi rule, June 9, 2012). Iran will want that oil because that asset, added to her current reserves, would make her the world’s greatest oil-producing country.  Iran wants a world Caliphate, and by occupying Israel’s geography-and-oil, she could attempt to control world oil prices, as part of her drive to defeat the Satanic West.

In the world of Middle East oil politics, ‘Palestine’ isn’t even an afterthought.

Based on this assessment, one could conclude from Langfan that the ‘Palestinians’ would lose everything. They would either become part of Egypt or be taken over by Iran. Either way, they lose their autonomy. They will certainly celebrate Israel’s destruction. But they’ll then become a vassal-state to Arab tyranny that will be far, far worse than Jewish ‘occupation’. ‘Statehood’ will transform  ‘Palestine’ into a virtual ‘refugee camp’.

With Israel gone, regional Arab powers have much to gain killing each other for that oil. But if Israel disappears, the West suffers. Israel’s demise would be an Arab dream-come-true—and the West’s horror-show.  Why? As Melanie Phillips suggests (above, ibid), the world sees Israel through a prism of lies. Every truth is distorted. If the West sees Israel through such a prism, it will not protect her. For Langfan, however, Israel isn’t some expendable wasteland. She is the linchpin for world security. In a world based on oil, Israel is the geopolitical-military keystone that assures world economic stability. She keeps tyranny at bay. The longer she lives, the more stable the world remains. Read Langfan’s presentation. Do you understand what happens when you destroy an arch’s keystone?

The truth is, the world prepares a catastrophe for itself—and ‘Palestine’-- on lies about Israel. If nations insist upon uniting against Israel, the price they pay could be of Biblical proportion.

You should remember that the next time you talk about Israel.