HaRav Nachman Kahana on Parashat Ki Teitzei 5773

BS”D 

Parashat Ki Taitzai 5773

Part A

Halacha recognizes two types of war – milchemet mitzva (obligatory war) and milchemet reshut (optional war).

Milchemet mitzva is defined by the Rambam as the war against the seven Canaanite nations lead by Yehoshua bin Nun in Eretz Yisrael, and war against any enemy which is threatening Jews and war against Amalek.

Milchemet mitzva does not need the consent of the Sanhedrin, thus the king or government may declare war and draft soldiers. Two options are offered the enemy: to leave the area completely or remain as our slaves, or the alternative to wage war in which case we will destroy every man, woman and child of that nation.

Milchemet reshut is a war of expansion for territorial or economic interests, and conditional on the consent of the Sanhedrin. If the enemy rejects our conditions for peace, we are required to destroy all the men but not the women and children.

Our parasha begins with milchemet reshut and ends with the war against our sworn enemy Amalek, which is a milchemet mitzva.

Part B
Tractate Ta’a’nit 9a:

אשכחיה רבי יוחנן לינוקא דריש לקיש, אמר ליה: אימא לי פסוקיך!

Rabbi Yochanan found [met] the young son of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, and asked the boy to recite the Torah verse he learned that day

אמר ליה: ‘עשר תעשר’

The boy replied “aser ta’a’ser” (Devarim 14:24 the mitzva of separating 10% tithe for the Levites from the yearly crops)

. אמר ליה: ומאי עשר תעשר? – אמר ליה: עשר בשביל שתתעשר

RY asked the boy to explain the repetition of the words “aser ta’aser”. He replied: “separate the tithes and in return HaShem will bless one with great wealth (play on the Hebrew words tithe and wealth)

אמר ליה: מנא לך? – אמר ליה: זיל נסי

RY asked the boy for proof that the reward for tithes is great wealth, and the boy answered “Test Hashem, and see if its true”

אמר ליה: ומי שרי לנסוייה להקדוש ברוך הוא? והכתיב +דברים ו’+ לא תנסו את ה’!

RY replied that the Torah prohibits one to test Hashem.

אמר ליה: הכי אמר רבי הושעיא: חוץ מזו, שנאמר (מלאכי ג) הביאו את כל המעשר אל בית האוצר ויהי טרף בביתי ובחנוני נא בזאת אמר ה’ צבאות אם לא אפתח לכם את ארבות השמים והריקתי לכם ברכה עד בלי די

To which the boy responded: “It is generally true that one may not test Hashem, however the case of tithe is an exception, as stated by the prophet Malachi (3,10):
“Bring the tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing until you will say ‘enough’”

Part C

Although the halacha permits testing the promise of Hashem only with regard to the tithe, the reality of our history demonstrates the truth and exactitude of HaShem’s directives to His people, and needs no more testing verification even for the skeptics among us.
The Torah states (Bamidbar 33,51-56)

במדבר פרק לג
(נא) דבר אל בני ישראל ואמרת אלהם כי אתם עברים את הירדן אל ארץ כנען:
(נב) והורשתם את כל ישבי הארץ מפניכם ואבדתם את כל משכיתם ואת כל צלמי מסכתם תאבדו ואת כל במותם תשמידו:
(נג) והורשתם את הארץ וישבתם בה כי לכם נתתי את הארץ לרשת אתה:
(נד) והתנחלתם את הארץ בגורל למשפחתיכם לרב תרבו את נחלתו ולמעט תמעיט את נחלתו אל אשר יצא לו שמה הגורל לו יהיה למטות אבתיכם תתנחלו:
(נה) ואם לא תורישו את ישבי הארץ מפניכם והיה אשר תותירו מהם לשכים בעיניכם ולצנינם בצדיכם וצררו אתכם על הארץ אשר אתם ישבים בה:
(נו) והיה כאשר דמיתי לעשות להם אעשה לכם:

51 “Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: ‘You will cross the Jordan into Canaan,
52 And you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you and possess it. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places.
53 Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess.
54 Distribute the land by lot, according to your families. To the larger give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller a smaller one. Whatever falls to them by lot will be theirs. Distribute it according to your ancestral tribes.
55 But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those who will remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you anguish in the land where you live.
56 And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.’

Reciprocity

We were commanded to liquidate the enemy as a preemptive act, for in accordance to their religious faith and culture they are devoid of any and all feelings of human compassion and will have no mercy on our women and children.

The great Yehoshua, who followed Moshe Rabbeinu as the religious and military head of the Jewish nation, gathered together the nation’s rabbis and tribal heads to instruct them how to lead the nation after his demise. The Jewish people had liberated much of the land but not all, and there still remained pockets of idolatrous Canaanites (the Book of Shoftim chapter 3, states that HaShem left them here in order to test the Jewish people’s degree of loyalty to the Torah).

Yehoshua said:

(א) ויהי מימים רבים אחרי אשר הניח ה’ לישראל מכל איביהם מסביב ויהושע זקן בא בימים:
(ב) ויקרא יהושע לכל ישראל לזקניו ולראשיו ולשפטיו ולשטריו ויאמר אלהם אני זקנתי באתי בימים:
(ג) ואתם ראיתם את כל אשר עשה ה’ אלהיכם לכל הגוים האלה מפניכם כי ה’ אלהיכם הוא הנלחם לכם:
(ד) ראו הפלתי לכם את הגוים הנשארים האלה בנחלה לשבטיכם מן הירדן וכל הגוים אשר הכרתי והים הגדול מבוא השמש:
(ה) וה’ אלהיכם הוא יהדפם מפניכם והוריש אתם מלפניכם וירשתם את ארצם כאשר דבר ה’ אלהיכם לכם:
(ו) וחזקתם מאד לשמר ולעשות את כל הכתוב בספר תורת משה לבלתי סור ממנו ימין ושמאול:
(ז) לבלתי בוא בגוים האלה הנשארים האלה אתכם ובשם אלהיהם לא תזכירו ולא תשביעו ולא תעבדום ולא תשתחוו להם:
(ח) כי אם בה’ אלהיכם תדבקו כאשר עשיתם עד היום הזה:
(ט) ויורש ה’ מפניכם גוים גדלים ועצומים ואתם לא עמד איש בפניכם עד היום הזה:
(י) איש אחד מכם ירדף אלף כי ה’ אלהיכם הוא הנלחם לכם כאשר דבר לכם:
(יא) ונשמרתם מאד לנפשתיכם לאהבה את ה’ אלהיכם:
(יב) כי אם שוב תשובו ודבקתם ביתר הגוים האלה הנשארים האלה אתכם והתחתנתם בהם ובאתם בהם והם בכם:
(יג) ידוע תדעו כי לא יוסיף ה’ אלהיכם להוריש את הגוים האלה מלפניכם והיו לכם לפח ולמוקש ולשטט בצדיכם ולצננים בעיניכם עד אבדכם מעל האדמה הטובה הזאת אשר נתן לכם ה’ אלהיכם:
(יד) והנה אנכי הולך היום בדרך כל הארץ וידעתם בכל לבבכם ובכל נפשכם כי לא נפל דבר אחד מכל הדברים הטובים אשר דבר ה’ אלהיכם עליכם הכל באו לכם לא נפל ממנו דבר אחד:
(טו) והיה כאשר בא עליכם כל הדבר הטוב אשר דבר ה’ אלהיכם אליכם כן יביא ה’ עליכם את כל הדבר הרע עד השמידו אותכם מעל האדמה הטובה הזאת אשר נתן לכם ה’ אלהיכם:
(טז) בעברכם את ברית ה’ אלהיכם אשר צוה אתכם והלכתם ועבדתם אלהים אחרים והשתחויתם להם וחרה אף ה’ בכם ואבדתם מהרה מעל הארץ הטובה אשר נתן לכם:

1 After a time the Lord had given Israel respite from all their enemies around them, Joshua, by then a very old man,
2 summoned all Israel—their elders, leaders, judges and officials—and said to them: “I am very old.
3 You have seen what the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; it was the Lord your God who fought for you.
4 Remember how I have allotted as an inheritance for your tribes all the land of the nations that remain—the nations I conquered—between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea in the west.
5 The Lord your God himself will push them out for your sake. He will drive them out before you, and you will take possession of their land, as the Lord your God promised you.
6 “Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right or to the left.
7 Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them.
8 But you are to hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have until now.
9 The Lord has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you.
10 One of you routs a thousand, because the Lord your God fights for you, just as he promised.
11 So be very careful to love the Lord your God.
12 But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them and associate with them,
13 then you may be sure that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land, which the Lord your God has given you.
14 Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.
15 But just as all the good things the Lord your God has promised you have come to you, so he will bring on you all the evil things he has threatened, until the Lord your God has destroyed you from this good land he has given you.
16 If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.”

HaShem, through both Moshe and Yehoshua directed the Jewish people how to deal with the enemies in Eretz Yisrael. It is a question of “either them or us,” there is no third alternative, we cannot live with the enemy nor share the land with him, in any generation.
To do so would be an ungracious act of disloyalty to HaShem and a disruption of the heavenly plans which HaShem has set into motion for His people Yisrael.

In the War of Independence, we had the opportunity to execute a population exchange, when we gathered in hundreds of thousands of Jews who were thrown out from Moslem lands in exchange for the Arabs who were here. Had the government abided by the letter and spirit of the Torah, we would not be in the position we are today.

The opportunity presented itself again during the Yom Kippur War, when we could have ridden ourselves of the hostile Arab population, but again the leaders did not have the courage to walk in the ways of the Torah.

What would Moshe and Yehoshua say to the idea of freeing hundreds of murderers, as our leaders are willing to do today?

It would not be wrong to say that Moshe and Yehoshua would claim that the rightful place for these murderers is not to be free, nor is it to be in prison. Their place is to be in Gehhenom now.

We are not permitted to test HaShem; however, the longer we live, the truth of His commandments become revealed in our day to day life.

It is not only the rasha (evil person) who denies the words of Hashem, it is also the righteous well-meaning fool.

Shabbat Shalom

Nachman Kahana
Copyright © 5773/2013 Nachman Kahana

The Two-State Solution: A Case of Everybody and Nobody

By Tuvia Brodie

Benjamin Netanyahu has a problem. He can’t say, ‘no’ to the President of the United States. He can’t say, ‘no’ to the President of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Stories circulate that the United States has been disclosing secret intelligence that damages Israel (see israelmatzav blog, “Targeting Israel,” August 4, 2013; and Jonathan Tobin in Commentary Magazine as reported in love of the land blog, August 2, 2013).  The United States says it is Israel’s best friend. But its behaviour suggests otherwise.  

Still, Mr Netanyahu cannot say, ‘no’ to the United States when the US demands he surrender land to people who speak openly of destroying Israel.

Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, never wavers. When everybody talks ‘peace’, he pads his anti-Israel resume by honoring terrorists who murder Jews (Gil Ronen, ‘Fatah honors terrorist for Murdering 61 Israelis,’ Arutz Sheva, July 25, 2013). When new ‘peace talks’ were announced, Abbas declared that there would be no ‘Israelis’ in his new ‘Palestine’ (“Abbas: there will be no Israelis in ‘Palestine’”, news brief, Arutz Sheva, July 30, 2013).

In a region where religion is important, Abbas rejects religious freedom. In a world that advertises ‘Human Rights’, Abbas denies Rights to Jews.

Mr Netanyahu cannot say ‘no’ to Abbas.  

Obama and Abbas unite: the Arabs must have peace. But neither criticizes Muslim clerics who call to kill Jews. Neither comments on Arabs attacks against Jews during ‘peace’ talks. Neither speaks of vicious anti-Jew TV programs during the holy month of Ramadan (see “Khaybar: deception is the creed of the Jews, conspiracy their religion,” elderofzyion blog, August 1, 2013).  

Obama and Abbas may speak of peace. But neither bothers to explain how vicious Arab Jew-hate can lead to peace.  Apparently, they don’t care.

President Obama insists that Mr Netanyahu surrender Judea, Samaria and parts of Jerusalem. Netanyahu can’t say, ‘no’. Mr Abbas wants to do ethnic cleansing against Jews. Netanyahu can’t say, ‘no.’

Abbas shows everybody maps with ‘Palestine’ in place of Israel.  Nobody speaks out.

Nobody cares.

To prepare for peace, Obama makes demands on Israel. Abbas does the same thing.

Nobody pressures Abbas. Nobody cares.

Everybody demands peace. Nobody asks how Israel can transfer 450,000 Jews to bring that peace—and remain viable.

Nobody cares.

Mr Netanyahu acts as one who yearns to find acceptance in a world where everybody scorns him. He acts like he cares about what everybody thinks. His problem is, nobody cares what he thinks.  

In our Tanach (Jewish Bible), G-d tells Israel it will be different from everybody. Israel will stand apart. Israel doesn’t have to care about what everybody thinks. Israel’s job is to care about G-d.  

King David understood this. He stood strong before a scornful Goliath. He confronted his enemy by speaking G-d’s name. He became King.

Mr Netanyahu does not speak G-d’s name to his enemies. He does not follow King David.

G-d is greater than everybody. But it is everybody whom Mr Netanyahu appears to fear most.

Everybody laughs at G-d.  Mr Netanyahu sees that. Everybody tells him he must listen only to them. He hears that. He acts like he fears their rejection. But the more he acts like he fears everybody, the more everybody rejects him.

Instead of turning to G-d like a King David, he turns to everybody else. But nobody is interested in him. They just want him to surrender land to those who hate him.

When he tells everybody such surrender is dangerous, they  scowl. Nobody cares if his surrender is dangerous.  

Even Jews don’t care. For example, Tzipi Livni, the chief Jewish negotiator for the new peace talks, has argued that Israel has no choice but surrender. She, too, acts like she is afraid. She believes we cannot leave the negotiation table without a signed agreement because, she says, failure to sign would mean the end of Israel.    

She rejects G-d’s written promises. She embraces what  everybody says. Everybody wants Arabs to stand on the Judean mountain-ridge. Apparently, so does she.

Arabs are smart. They know that once they stand on that mountain ridge, they will look down at Israel’s coastal plain, just nine miles away. They will see on that coastal plain more than half of Israel’s population. They know that firing into that population from such high ground will be easier than shooting fish in a barrel.

Nobody cares about that.

The Arab is smart. He wants Israel. He demands a forced marriage.

Suddenly, everybody smiles. Nobody scowls.

Everybody pushes Israel to the altar. Everybody says that Israel can be forced to marry. Nobody objects.

Everybody smiles. What a pretty bride Israel makes! Her land is beautiful. She is wealthy. The Arab will be pleased.

Everybody wants Israel on the altar. Nobody cares what will happen to her.

With the two-state solution, beware when everybody smiles and nobody cares.

The Next Prime Minister Of Israel Will Bring His Own Dishes To The Sink

By Jeff Kelman


Barbara and I were privileged to host Moshe Feiglin, the newly installed Deputy Speaker of the Israeli Knesset, for a very special meeting in our home. Moshe is in the US while the Knesset is not in session, on a most important information sharing program and fund raising mission.

Moshe arrived at our home following a rather tiring day of meetings. He was supposed to have dinner before the get together but there was not enough time. At the conclusion of Moshe's most inspiring message, which was attended by close to 30 very special people from our community, we were able to sit down to the wonderful dinner Barb had prepared. It was past 10:30PM when we finally finished eating. All of a sudden Moshe Feiglin, the next Prime Minister of Israel, stands up and brings his dishes from the dining room to our kitchen sink.

Can you imagine any other world leader doing such a thing? Can you imagine Barak Obama bringing dirty dishes to your sink, in your home? These are the qualities of the man who I pray will be the next Prime Minister of Eretz Yisrael. But most importantly, this how Moshe behaves during this time when he himself fully believes that he WILL be our next Prime Minister.

In every way possible, Moshe Feiglin's actions last evening left me even more convinced than ever that this man will be a Blessing for every Jew in the world.....not only for Israel.

Pragmatism and Ideology

 By Moshe Feiglin

Translated from Makor Rishon

During the week that the EU announced its planned sanctions against Israel, one of the dedicated Land of Israel lobbyists requested that I add my signature to a petition of MKs to the Prime Minister to request the renewal of construction in Jerusalem. 32 highly respectable signatures of loyal MKs from the center and right of Israeli politics already adorned the petition. But after a cursory glance at the petition, I clearly could not sign:

Wednesday, 10 Menachem Av/17.7.2013

To MK Binyamin Netanyahu

Prime Minister

Re: Renewal of Construction in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria – Now

We turn to you regarding the above issue as follows:

1. In these days, we are witness to another attempt by the European Union to terrorize the State of Israel and to damage its vital interests. This attempt may thwart any chance for a political breakthrough and foil the efforts of Secretary of State Kerry to renew the diplomatic negotiations.

2. On the backdrop of this attempt and its results, there is no place to wait any longer and it is imperative to immediately renew construction in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

3. We request that you give the appropriate instructions for renewal of construction.

Respectfully,

“I can’t sign,” I gently said to the lobbyist. “I have a problem with the wording.”

“What’s the problem?”

“This document implies that we must renew construction in Jerusalem so that Kerry can succeed in the diplomatic process. But I think that we must build in Jerusalem for entirely different reasons and I am absolutely opposed to the diplomatic process.”

The lobbyist tried to convince me that this is pragmatic politics: This is the argument around which we can now achieve a consensus. “I also don’t like it,” he explained, “but that’s politics.”

The respectable number of MKs signed on the letter proved, on the surface, that he was right. One week later, John Kerry succeeded in renewing negotiations between Israel and the “Palestinians.” Thirty two MKs, the most loyal to the Land of Israel – from the Likud, the Jewish Home, Yisrael Beiteinu and even Shas, are now signed on a document that implies that there is no reason any more to renew construction in Jerusalem. Our common goal - renewal of “peace” talks – has already been achieved. 

Would a leftist MK ever dream of signing his name to this type of convoluted document that fundamentally contradicts his entire worldview in the name of political pragmatism?

Which politics ultimately determine Israel’s agenda? The ‘pragmatic’ politics of the Right or the ideology of the Left?

It is time for the Right to connect its politics to its ideology. 

Character Traits

By Michael Hirsch


We are familiar with the Thirteen Attributes of G-D (merciful, kind, etc.). As G-D’s People, we are expected to mirror those traits. 

A perfect example is presented to us in this week’s Parasha. The Torah (Deuteronomy 20:5-8) lists four reasons why a man will be exempted from serving in the army, as it is about to go out to war. 
1) Someone who has built a home, but not yet moved in; 
2) someone who has planted a vineyard, but not yet harvested the first crop; 
3) a man who has become engaged to a woman, but has not yet married her and; 
4) one who is fearful, deathly afraid of participating in battle.

Rashi (20:8) relates the Talmudic discourse that this fourth type of individual, the weak of spirit, is sent back home with the other three types, so he will not be embarrassed. Someone seeing him leave the army camp will assume he either built a home, planted a vineyard, or became engaged.

A concrete lesson for all of us as to the lengths we must go to ensure that we not embarrass our fellow man. It’s “human” to tease someone, to razz them, to make them the brunt of our jokes, but G-D has made it clear through the machinations He designed to protect the feelings of the “rach lei’vav” (the weak of heart/backbone) how far we must go to protect our fellow human beings from embarrassment. “He who causes the color to go out of his friend’s face has no share in the World to Come”!!

Shabbat Shalom

Torah Thoughts for Parashat Shoftim

By MK Moshe Feiglin  

  

  Eradicate Evil 

"And you shall eradicate the evil from your midst." (From this week's Torah portion, Shoftim, Deuteronomy 17:7)

I do not always accept court decisions. It is good that President Katzav was sent to prison, but defining his actions as 'rape' seems more like surrender to the media/feminist lynch than a serious judgment. The same is not true, however, with Rabbi Motti Alon. This time it seems that the verdict is serious and fairly free of extraneous considerations. A very serious punishment is in order.

Death Penalty for Terrorists? 

Should Israel institute the death penalty for terrorists convicted of murder? There is a G-d, and there is good and bad. Our Sages say that we must kill a person threatening to kill us before he has a chance to carry out his plan. This is true morality - based on the knowledge that there is a G-d in the world

HaRav Nachman Kahana on Parashat Shoftim 5773

BS”D 

Parashat Shoftim 5773

Devarim 21,7

ידינו לא שפכה שפכו את הדם הזה ועינינו לא ראו

“Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it”

Part A:

The parsha ends with the mitzva of egla arufa (the beheading of the heifer), which entails the following details:

1- The body of a murdered Jew is found outside a city in Eretz Yisrael.

2- Five members of the Sanhedrin are sent from Yerushalayim to ascertain by land measurement which city is closest to the corpse.

3- The high court (23 judges) of that city go to a bed stream where they behead the heifer.

4- The court and the city’s elders wash their hands over the beheaded heifer, and declare:

ידינו לא שפכה שפכו את הדם הזה ועינינו לא ראו

Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it”

Meaning: We did not see this man when he left the city, hence we are not culpable for not providing him with food and accompaniment.

5- Kohanim then declare:

כפר לעמך ישראל אשר פדית ה’ ואל תתן דם נקי בקרב עמך ישראל

Accept this as atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, Lord, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person.

Part B:

The enlightened part of the world sighed a sigh of relief at the German defeat in 1945, except for the Jewish nation for whom there was no relief because the Shoah did not cease. It, in fact, expanded to areas in the world where the Germans never reached, and the number of victims have, by now, exceeded the body count of our people in the war.

This Shoah has many names. Some call it assimilation, others call it intermarriage, and detached, uninvolved intellectuals call it acculturation; but by any name the stench is the same.

In 1945, we numbered under 12 million people, and today 70 years later, despite the fact that normal nations increase geometrically not arithmetically (one by one), we number even less than at the end of the war. Of the estimated number of Jews in the United States, half are non-halachik. They have either converted by the reform movement, or recognized by the reform as being Jewish by virtue of a Jewish biological father.

Every occurrence of a Jewish man or woman marrying a gentile is for the Jewish nation not less than the death of that person. The Jew or Jewess and their offspring are forever lost to the nation, and they frequently become anti Semites.

This “death” can be compared in many ways to the corpse that is found in the episode of the egla arufa (the beheaded heifer), but with a major difference.

The rabbis in every city where an intermarriage takes place cannot wash and say “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.”

They cannot say “Our hands did not shed this blood”, because these spiritual leaders are responsible to a great degree for the diluting of Jewish blood which was passed on from Sinai with the blood of gentiles whose relatives spilled Jewish blood.

They cannot say “nor did our eyes see it,” because they could not have escaped seeing and feeling the spirit and compulsion of assimilation in the streets, in the media, in the universities.

All the sermons, lectures and shiurim regarding Shabbat, kashrut or lashon hara, or daf hayomi cannot stem the tide of assimilation. Even within orthodox communities, there is barely a family that does not have a relative who left Yiddishkeit to marry a gentile.

There is no panacea for assimilation in a land where Jews mix freely with gentiles and with their culture in universities and in the work place. Not to speak of the other gentile habits the Jews adopt, such as alcoholism, drugs, sexual perversion down to marital infidelity all which exist even in religious communities, as was related to me by people who deal with these matters.

A Jews who lives among gentiles will eventually adopt their ways. Slowly and subtly, at first, then after he will run after their avoda zara. The cultural yetzer hara is determined and compulsive even attacking learned Jews, as recorded in the Gemara (Sanhedrin 102b).

Rav Ashi, editor and compiler of the Babylonian Talmud, once referred to Menashe the idolatrous King of Yehuda, in a very glib manner as “our colleague Menashe”. That night Menashe appeared to Rav Ashi in a dream, and took issue with the too familiar manner in which he was referred to. In that dream, Menashe, the infamous distorter of the Torah proved himself to be even more knowledgeable than the great Rav Ashi. When Rav Ashi asked the King how he became so enmeshed in idolatry? Menashe replied, “Had you lived in my times you would have grabbed your coat and run to worship idolatry”.

There are no shortcuts or easy answers in the battle to maintain a holy Jewish soul. Adding another day school or building another mikva is nice but does little in keeping the next generation of galut Jews from decreasing in numbers and in religious fervor.

The chareidi Jew who encloses himself from the all absorbing gentile influences by dressing in a certain garb and speaking Yiddish can succeed in pushing off the day when his offspring will leave the fold, but they will leave as they did in Eastern Europe.

The only antidote is to escape from the gilded gentile cage. To come home as long as the opportunity to do so still exists.

I am certain that most rabbis who deal with the public in galut agree that the answer is to come to Eretz Yisrael, despite the fact that we too have our problems. However, the difference is like standing in a downpour of yetzer hara vs. standing in a drizzle of the yetzer.

However, the obstacles blocking the way of spiritual leaders to making the leap of faith or to even encourage their communities to escape the slippery slope of the galut are too many and too difficult for most rabbis to overcome.

If in the matter of egla arufa kohanim pray to Hashem:

כפר לעמך ישראל אשר פדית ה’ ואל תתן דם נקי בקרב עמך ישראל

Accept this as atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, Lord, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person.

The spiritual leaders in galut cannot so easily dismiss the reality of the Jewish assimilation by beseeching HaShem with the words, “Accept this as atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, Lord, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person.

The teshuva of the spiritual leaders of communities and yeshivot in galut, must set the example of overcoming personal weaknesses and return home to Eretz Yisrael.

And here we shall pray and await the day when Am Yisrael will close and lock the gate on our 2000 year punishment, and “assimilation” will be when we all speak one language of Ivri, and Ashkenazi marries Sefaradi, and we all pray in one nusach (liturgical text) and stand as one man with one heart in the Bet Hamikdash on the Temple Mount.

Shabbat Shalom

Nachman Kahana
Copyright © 5773/2013 Nachman Kahana

Feiglin: I Won't Let Up on Temple Mount

News

Elul 2, 5773, 08/08/13 01:16

MK Moshe Feiglin: MKs must keep up the pressure on Netanyahu in order to restore Israeli sovereignty on the Temple Mount.

Elad Benari & Eliran Aharon

Dozens were in attendance on Tuesday evening for American for a Safe Israel’s (AFSI) annual memorial tribute to Ze’ev Jabotinsky, which was held in New York.

Speakers included AFSI Chairman and regular Arutz Sheva op-ed contributor Mark Langfan, Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Executive VP Emeritus of the National Council Young Israel. The final speaker was Likud MK Moshe Feiglin.

Speaking to Arutz Sheva during the event, MK Feiglin brought up the issue of Jews not being allowed to worship on the Temple Mount and promised that he will not let Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu alone until this issue is taken care of.

“It’s not only me who's not allowed on the Temple Mount,” he pointed out. “The entire Interior Affairs Committee of the Knesset, led by Miri Regev, asked to go and was not allowed.”

Feiglin said that it appears as though Netanyahu “has agreed to officially give away sovereignty of the Temple Mount to the Muslims as part of an agreement which is being prepared behind our backs.”

He called on other MKs, in the Likud and in the Bayit Yehudi, to stand up and take action in order to restore Israel’s sovereignty on the Temple Mount, by voting against the coalition, as he had done with the budget.

Langfan, who put together a series of maps explaining the dangers of Israel giving away parts of Judea and Samaria to the Arabs, told Arutz Sheva that a safe Israel means a safe America.

“Israel is the tip of America’s sphere in the Middle East, and if Israel is somehow harmed, what will be harmed is not just Israel but the entire Western civilization,” he warned.

“I see Israel as the very element that is saving Western civilization from being washed by a terrible Islamic tidal wave,” said Langfan.

“The Arab Spring did not begin in January of 2011,” he added. “The Arab Spring began in 1948, when there were Jews in the British Mandate. Those Jews brought light unto the Arabs and unto everyone that was around that area.”

Also speaking to Arutz Sheva was radio host Charlie Bernhaut, who noted that Langfan’s maps are a great tool to explain how small Israel is and what kind of danger it would be under if it gave up 35% of its land to Arabs.

I See the Process that Led to the Gush Katif Expulsion Again Taking Place Before My Eyes

Translated from the Srugim website

MK Moshe Feiglin, who voted against the budget, laments the hesitance of his Likud and Bayit Yehudi colleagues to do the right thing to prevent the release of jailed terrorists. In an interview with Srugim, he says: We were sent to serve in the Knesset by people who do not want to see the release of terrorists. “If another 3 or 4 MKs would have done what I did (voted against the budget) it would not have happened. The budget would not have been rejected, because Netanyahu would have backtracked.

By Tomer Nir
Feiglin: I asked one of my colleagues from the Likud today if 4 or 5 additional MKs would have done what I did, would the decision have passed. He answered that it would not have passed. It is important to understand: If you do not use your political power in a truthful manner, as expected of you by your voters, in order to prevent this terrible act – we all know its results – then you have done nothing. You have achieved nothing.

In the Likud and the Jewish Home they will tell you that a Coalition MK who votes against the budget will face repercussions and sanctions, such as those that have already been applied to you: No legislative proposals, no cooperation from the coalition – nothing.
I don’t know what they are afraid of. We were sent to the Knesset by people who do not want to see terrorists being released. So what are they afraid of?

I look at the Arab MKs and see how they persevere for every house, every crumb and for everything. I see the process that led to the expulsion from Gush Katif taking place in front of my eyes. Each time, people think that if we let the murky wave wash over us and cooperate with it, at least we will still be here to deal with the next wave. But then you have less legitimacy and less power to deal with it. In the final stage, when you already have to say no, you will be exchanged for the Labor party, or other parties. And then what? It will be very embarrassing.

We could have stopped the terrorist release on Sunday and the entire “peace process” that is taking place. Instead, all the good MKs – and they are good – make do with beautiful declarations about killing terrorists and how much they oppose the planned release. But when it comes to implementing the political act that can actually help, I am alone. It is very painful.

This is the juncture at which the public that believes in the Land of Israel and the Nation of Israel must pressure its representatives in the Knesset to do what they were sent to do. I assume that you also understand the implications of 100 vicious murderers being released. If another three or four MKs would have done what I did today, it would not have happened. And if there would have been sanctions against Israel as a result? It would be fine.

What is the alternative? Let us assume that the Jewish Home leaves the government. The Labor party or Ultra-Orthodox parties will join, and we will not be able to influence anything.
The other alternative is that we surrender sovereignty at the Temple Mount, that we do not build in Jerusalem or Judea and Samaria and that we release terrorists while we are in the coalition. That’s an alternative? If you did not use your political power to block this process, then you are responsible – there’s no getting around it. 

The budget law would not have been struck down, because Netanyahu would have backed down from the decision to release terrorists. 

Video: Moshe Feiglin Gets to the Root of Antisemitism

Moshe Feiglin at the Antisemitism Caucus in the Knesset (English subtitles)

Terrorists in Exchange for Construction

By Moshe Feiglin


Last week the media publicized the "deal" between the Jewish Home party and the Prime Minster. The Jewish Home did not vote against the budget, which would have prevented the terrorist release, in exchange for construction authorization in Judea and Samaria. 

The path to the expulsion from Gush Katif was paved with deals like this between Sharon and the settlement leadership. "You were given the choice between war and dishonor," said Churchill to his nation after the Munich Agreement. "You chose dishonor and you will have war." 

To paraphrase Churchill, I regret to say: You were given the choice between construction and dishonor, you will get both dishonor and expulsion.

I Believe Netanyahu

By Moshe Feiglin


I believe Netanyahu. 

He has consistently said in the most straightforward fashion that he intends to establish a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria. 

I advise everybody to take him seriously.

Civil Liberty and the Governance Act

 By Moshe Feiglin

Yesterday, I received an anxious phone call from a Coalition MK. Due to a mix-up in the Knesset scheduling, he left early for a vacation overseas.

"They want me to come back to Israel because of you," the affable MK said to me, while in the background, I could hear children playing.

"What did I do wrong?"

"You are going to vote against the Governance Act. It is a Basic Law and the Coalition needs 61 votes to pass it. If you plan to vote against the law, as you did the last time it was voted upon in the Knesset, they will force me to come back to Israel to vote."

It was a very awkward moment. The MK is a friend of mine.

"Look," I said to him, "my problem with this law is not the raising of the votes threshold (required to win a Knesset seat). I actually support that measure. I also have no problem with limiting the number of ministers in the government. On the contrary, I would be pleased if they would lower the number of ministers to fewer than ten. My problem is with the part of the law that requires 61 signatures in order to submit a no-confidence measure in the Knesset. This will actually neutralize the no-confidence option, because if you have 61 signatures, you already have a new coalition; no need for no-confidence. In this situation, I am terribly sorry to say, you will have to come back to Israel. There is no way that I am going to vote in favor of legislation that eliminates the Opposition just to be nice to a friend. But let me check once more. Perhaps the 61 clause was taken out of the legislation. In that case, with or without your vacation troubles, I will support the law."

I called MK David Rotem, head of the Constitution Committee in the Knesset.

"Please explain to me exactly what the new version of the law says," I asked of him. "Does it still require 61 signatures for a no-confidence vote?"
"No," MK Rotem replied. "The new version allows for the submission of a no-confidence measure just like it is now, except that instead of allowing for it once a week, it will be once a month. In addition, the PM will have to be present during the deliberations. (I agreed to that immediately). "If you have 61 signatures," Rotem added, "you will be able to submit the no-confidence measure in the same week - no need to wait a month."

I was very pleased. For one, I am happy that my MK friend will not have to cut his vacation short. But more than that, I am happy because I know that I have a part in the transformation that this law underwent: from a bad law to a just and even important law. The farce of bountiful no-confidence votes, which keeps the entire government running back and forth to the plenum in the middle of their week's work in order to reject every hiccup from Ahmad Tibi, was in dire need of balance. On the other hand, those in the government who thought that they could take advantage of this problem in order to undermine civil liberty - also had to change.

"Enjoy your vacation and don't forget to bring me a souvenir," I happily announced to the anxious MK. 

What a ‘Palestine’ birth announcement might look like

By Tuvia Brodie

Today, people everywhere turn to Mahmoud Abbas and Benjamin Netanyahu.  Mr Abbas, who currently serves in the eighth year of his four-year elected term as President of the Palestinian Authority, has joyously coupled with Mr Netanyahu, who serves as Prime Minister of Israel. Together, they now prepare to announce the birth of a baby called, ‘Palestine’.

The birth is scheduled to take place in Washington, DC. The midwife will be United States Secretary of State John Kerry. The Godfather is Barack Hussein Obama. The doting aunt is Israel’s Minister of Justice, Tzipi Livni.

Upon birth, the child will be wrapped in a blanket of newspaper headlines. He will be dressed by former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk. The baby’s dressing gown will be made of the words, “two states, living side-by-side, in peace and security” (Paul Lewis, “Former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk to oversee talks with Palestinians,” The Guardian, July 29, 2013).

Immediately after birth, the baby will be placed into a basket made of promises. The basket will then be placed after dark—secretly--at the doorstep of the United Nations.

A birth announcement and a letter of introduction will be placed into the basket beside the baby. The letter will be addressed to Ban Ki-Moon, currently Secretary-General of the United Nations. In the letter, the baby’s parents will not be fully identified. Instead, the letter will instruct that, whenever the baby is mentioned, only Mr Abbas’ name be used. The letter will also contain instructions that no Jewish hands ever touch the baby.

The delivery to the UN doorstep will be made by Former Ambassador Indyk. Mr. Indyk had arrived at the labor room just hours before the birthing announcement, and his arrival was cheered. He had been invited to the birth conference because, Secretary Kerry has said, the birthing of such a child would be tough. Mr Indyk was needed specifically because he knew how to ‘carry the load’ for the United States during any labor involving Israel. His skill is considered important because Mr Abbas has already suggested that he has a load for Mr Netanyahu. Mr Indyk has been invited to be the envoy to deliver that load.

After Mr Indyk fulfils his role, the baby will be declared ‘destitute’. He will become a ward of the United Nations.

Following the birth, there will be much rejoicing. The baby is expected to facilitate the cleansing of Jews from Judea-Samaria and Jerusalem. Mr Abbas will take personal responsibility for this purification.

Mr Abbas expects many celebrations. To encourage this joy, he has given his blessing to Jew-cleansing. He has already announced that there will be no Israelis in his new Palestine.

Mr Abbas, 78, is also known as Abu Mazen. He has received the Soviet equivalent of a PhD from the Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow. His dissertation topic was, ‘The Other Side: The Secret Relationship between Nazism and Zionism.’ He has dedicated his life’s work to destroying Israel. He understands Nazism. He hates Zionism. He will train his new baby to destroy the Zionist state.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, 63, is close to becoming the longest-ruling Prime Minister in Israel’s history. He has been extremely popular. He heads the Likud Party, which is dedicated to protecting ancestral Jewish homeland in Judea-Samaria and Jerusalem. However, in a diplomatic coup, Godfather Obama has persuaded Mr Netanyahu that joy will come not from Likud, but from the new baby.

Related to the baby are its aunt and uncle, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Both Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, like Mr Abbas’ Fatah, are committed to the destruction of Israel. Mr Abbas expects these relatives to join his rejoicing—if they don’t overthrow him for coupling with a Jew.

Mr Netanyahu does not know how his own relatives will react. He faces two issues. First is his coupling with Abbas. He does not expect much negative reaction to this. Many Jews in Israel find Mr Abbas attractive. 

The second issue for Mr Netanyahu is the baby. Many in Israel will argue that the baby should never have happened; Mr Netanyahu should have been more careful. Some will want to embrace the poor orphan. Others will feel only shame.

It is possible that the baby will never come to the Middle East. There are rumours that the G-d of Israel is not pleased to see Israel couple with Mr Abbas. Other rumours say that if Mr Abbas continues to negotiate with Israel, Arabs will assassinate him because negotiations with Jews defile the Arab dream.

In Israel, Mr Netanyahu watches polls. He trusts in them the way some trust in G-d. There are rumours he looks worried.  

Mr Abbas, however, delights in his anticipation. He celebrates as labor begins. He does not care if the G-d of Israel is angry.

He asks everyone to join his celebration.

Feiglin Declares 'It's Time to Flood the Temple Mount'

News

Av 25, 5773, 01/08/13 10:53

Feiglin: If the Right does not fight for the Temple Mount, it will be given over to Islam.

Maayana Miskin, Chana Ya'ar

Israelis who believe the Temple Mount should remain in Israeli hands must take urgent action, Likud MK Moshe Feiglin warned Thursday.

Feiglin, who heads the Jewish Leadership faction of the Likud party, visited the Temple Mount on Thursday despite knowing he would find it locked to Jews, as a display of protest.

In an "unprecedented" move, police on Wednesday informed Jewish groups that the Temple Mount will be closed to all non-Muslims until at least the end of Ramadan, on 11th August. The announcement has provoked renewed anger over anti-Jewish discrimination on the Temple Mount, and sparked calls by activists for a mass-protest on 7th August, at the start of the Hebrew month of Elul.

Temple Mount activists had complained that for the past three days the Temple Mount - the holiest place in Judaism - remained inexplicably closed to non-Muslim visitors. The only "explanation" offered was a bland sign which simply read "Today the Temple Mount will be closed to visitors." Those restrictions did not, however, apply to Muslim visitors, who continue to receive unrestricted access.

On Wednesday, Police Commander Avi Bitton finally informed representatives of the Organisation of Temple Movements - an umbrella of various Temple Mount groups - that the sign would remain up for at least another two weeks, until after the Muslim festival of "Eid", which marks the end of Ramadan.

Feiglin told Arutz Sheva on Thursday that the closure of the holy site to Jews for the Ramadan holiday is a real cause for concern. The unprecedented move is linked to diplomatic talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, he confirmed.

“There’s a process here of taking sovereignty over the Temple Mount into Islamic hands, and it’s part of an agreement that [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu and [Justice Minister] Tzipi Livni are going to build in the upcoming months,” he warned.

The political right must realize that unless it is willing to sacrifice for the sake of Jewish access to the holy site, nothing will happen, he added. “I call for everyone who hears us to come here, to understand that they are giving the very heart of Jerusalem to foreigners, to Islam,” he called.

Taking a conservative approach will not help, he said. “This isn’t a matter of policy, of authorizations – we’ve already tried all the accepted routes. We need to understand that there needs to be sacrifice here, that one thousand people show up ready to make sacrifices, ready to be arrested,” he explained.

Jews Must Protest En Masse to Prevent Surrender of Temple Mount

By Moshe Feiglin

 

  

The Temple Mount has been closed to Jews and other non-Moslems for the next 11 days - at least. Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount is steadily being transferred to Islamic hands. This is part of an agreement that PM Netanyahu and Tzipi Livni are going to construct in the upcoming months. We must understand that unless we are willing to sacrifice for the sake of Jewish access to and sovereignty on the Temple Mount, we will lose it. We need masses of people to come to protest at the Temple Mount - willing to be arrested, if need be.

The Jerusalem Experience

A Torah Thought for Parashat Re'eh 

By Rabbi Mordechai Rabinowitz

  

In explaining why a person may eat Second Tithe only in Jerusalem, the Torah (Devarim 14:23) states: "in order that you learn to fear Hashem". Sifrei (quoted by Tosafos, Bava Basra 21a) explains: "A person remains in Jerusalem until he finishes eating all his Second Tithe, and sees everyone engaged in Heavenly pursuits and the Temple service, and he too resolves to fear G-d and study Torah".

Not only is a visitor to Jerusalem exposed to the Temple, he also encounters the greatest sages of Israel, members of the Sanhedrin that convened on the Temple Mount. Because he can subsist on his Second Tithe, he need not worry about making ends meet, and is free to take advantage of the Torah capital of the world by devoting himself entirely to sacred endeavors. By restricting the consumption of Second Tithe (and certain other foods) exclusively to Jerusalem, the Torah thus insures that at least part of the year, a family representative is given time off from his daily routine, for spiritual enrichment in Jerusalem. And on his return, his entire family benefits in learning from him what it means to "fear G-d." (Sefer HaChinuch, mitzvah 360).

 

HaRav Nachman Kahana on Aikev and Re’ai 5773

BS”D 

Aikev and Re’ai 5773

This morning I was witness to an episode which took no more than the time to say three small words, but which encapsulated all that I have been writing these 11 years.

I entered a small cafe in the center of Yerushalayim for a cup of coffee. Queuing in the line before me were 4 youngsters from Baltimore who had just graduated from yeshiva high school and were here on a visit. The sales girl was a young woman who spoke perfect American English, and one of the boys asked her in a tone of disbelief, “What are you doing here?” To which she replied very simply, “I’m being Jewish”.

Dear reader, do you understand what she meant when she said “I’m being Jewish”?

She did not have 12 years of yeshiva education behind her, as these four young men from Baltimore had. Yet they could not understand why a young Jewish woman from America would want to live here, while for her it was so plain, that to be Jewish means to live in the Jewish homeland.

Twelve years of yeshiva education and you end up with a hollow neshama, while this young lady’s neshama is so sincerely attached to Hashem and being Jewish.

This incident reinforces and intensifies my observations over these many years that you either “have it” or you don’t. That the will to be a totally dedicated and committed Jew, of which living in HaShem’s holy land is a fundamental condition, is located in the deep recesses of an authentic Jew’s neshama.

I would even go so far as to state that a Jew in chutz la’aretz – not withstanding his position or erudition – is in principle no different than a conservative or reform Jew who picks and chooses the mitzvot which suit him.

Part A:

We are now witnessing events of biblical proportions, although they are being played out by little people. For at the end of the day, the Jewish nation will have advanced dramatically in our trek towards the final geula (redemption).

The little people are Tzipi Livni the Jewess, Arakat the Moslem, and Obama whose personal loyalties are a carefully guarded secret, in coordination with the hypocritical Christian nations of Europe.

Livni is the daughter of our righteous forefathers. Arakat serves as the messenger of that uncivilized, untamed “pereh adam” Yishmael, and Obama lives the life of the hypocritical Aisav with his devious European friends.

The entanglements and rivalries of the Biblical personalities are being enacted on the national and international stage by the State of Israel vs. the cruel and murderous Islam under the so-called auspices of the “impartial” United States administration and the European Union.

We were forced to the negotiating table under threat of economic boycott by Europe and by the veiled threats of the American Secretary of State Kerry.

To learn the true nature of the Arab mind, one need not go any further than Syria, Egypt and North Africa to see what they do to their own people in order to understand what they would do to us if they had the opportunity. Obama and the Europeans know this, yet they pretend to uphold our interests while forcing us to give the Arabs more and more concessions which threaten our people.

It is Yishmael in the guise of Islam who drives the Arabs to do all in their power to uproot the Jews from Eretz Yisrael, and it is Aisav in the guise of Christianity who cynically and dubiously plans, step by step, to erase the name of Israel from the map of the world.

Part B:

On this background, HaShem is providing the renowned rabbis and roshei yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael with an unprecedented opportunity to sanctify His great name. I say “in Eretz Yisrael” because those in the galut are irrelevant to what is and will happen in the Holy Land.

Both the gedolim of the religious Zionist persuasion and the gedolim of the chareidi camp learn the same texts. But where the highest ideal of the chareidi  is to separate from the world and be totally engrossed in texts and theory, the religious Zionist gedolim merge our national life with the Torah to solve the halachic problems that arise in maintaining a modern nation.

HaShem is presenting the two camps with the rare opportunity to share the same stage of leadership.

In parashat Aikev, Moshe Rabbeinu implores the people not to be intimidated by the facts on the ground. The enemy is many. His strength is legendary. He is a giant and fortified in great walled cities. But despite the circumstances where logic dictates that the Jewish people have little, if any, chance to liberate the Holy Land, Moshe dictates that we must believe that HaShem will make us victorious over all our enemies, as follows:

(טז) ואכלת את כל העמים אשר ה’ אלהיך נתן לך לא תחוס עינך עליהם ולא תעבד את אלהיהם כי מוקש הוא לך ס

(יז) כי תאמר בלבבך רבים הגוים האלה ממני איכה אוכל להורישם

(יח) לא תירא מהם זכר תזכר את אשר עשה ה’ אלהיך לפרעה ולכל מצרים

(כ) וגם את הצרעה ישלח ה’ אלהיך בם עד אבד הנשארים והנסתרים מפניך

(כא) לא תערץ מפניהם כי ה’ אלהיך בקרבך אל גדול ונורא

(כב) ונשל ה’ אלהיך את הגוים האל מפניך מעט מעט לא תוכל כלתם מהר פן תרבה עליך חית השדה

(כג) ונתנם ה’ אלהיך לפניך והמם מהומה גדלה עד השמדם

(כד) ונתן מלכיהם בידך והאבדת את שמם מתחת השמים לא יתיצב איש בפניך עד השמדך אתם

16 You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God gives over to you. Do not look on them with pity and do not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
17 You may say to yourselves, “These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?”
18 But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt.
19 You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear.
20 Moreover, the Lord your God will send the hornets among them until even the survivors who hide from you have perished.
21 Do not be terrified by them, for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God.
22 The Lord your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you.
23 But the Lord your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed.
24 He will give their kings into your hand, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand up against you; you will destroy them.

Today’s leadership of the Medina does not have the strength and endurance to stand up to the pressures being applied by the United States and its European allies. The Jewish people has existed from time immemorial through our emunah (belief) that the Holy One Blessed Be He will give us life and we shall overcome all our enemies.

The courage to say “no” can come only from a united religious leadership who, through their conviction in the holy word of HaShem, can bolster and give support to the currently secular leadership of the country.

This can be the finest hour of religious Jewry in Eretz Yisrael, when under the umbrella of the Torah the government says “no” to dividing Yerushalayim, says “no” to giving away even a centimeter of the Holy Land to our most vicious enemies, and says “no” to any building limitations anywhere in Eretz Yisrael.

For sure it will not be easy, but here is the ultimate test of belief that HaShem is applying on us.

If the chareidi leadership slides back to bowing before the threats of Yishmael and Aisav, their people will suffer. They have not yet internalized the reality that the galut ended with the establishment of the Medina, and if so many Jews are still in the galut it is no longer a punishment for the sins of yesterday but it is per se the committing of a new sin every day they do not return home.

What ever the chareidi gedolim choose to do, the religious Zionist gedolim will defend the legitimacy of HaShem’s promise to our forefathers that the Holy Land belongs solely to their children and that they will return to reclaim the land in accordance to the boundaries described in the Torah.

In this week’s parasha Re’ai, we are given the choice of life or death. Life is the gift presented to those who cling to HaShem, and death is for those who lead their lives according to the guidelines of human logic without faith and emunah in HaShem.

Shabbat Shalom

Nachman Kahana
Copyright © 5773/2013 Nachman Kahana

Israel Must Not Rely on America

By Moshe Feiglin

A neighbor contacted me this morning after learning that the murderer of one of his family members is on the list of terrorists set to be freed.

The ease with which we release the murderers of our children (in exchange for nothing) and the unwillingness of Obama and Kerry to concomitantly release Pollard shows something (not good at all) about us and about them. Since we have recognized the competing sovereign over the Land of Israel - the PLO - we have lost our own sovereignty and regressed to the community mentality that we had adopted in the exile. 

We will all be looking like Pollard if we continue to rely on America.