The Jewish Power Drive

A Torah Thought for Parashat Korach
By Moshe Feiglin

And they gathered upon Moses and Aaron and they said to them, ‘It is too much for you, for all the congregation is holy and G-d is among them, and why should you lord over the congregation of G-d?’ (From this week’s Torah portion, Korach, Numbers 16:3)

Korach’s struggle against Moses and Aaron was the classic power struggle. A leader rises who is determined and delineates a goal. He is an exemplary role model and leads the people successfully. Nevertheless, some people are dissatisfied and question his authority. “Why should you lord over us?” Korach and his assembly ask Moses and Aaron. “True, you strive for a lofty goal, but your motivation is nothing more than power driven arrogance.”

What is wrong with them? Didn’t they see what happened to the king of the only superpower in the world (Pharaoh) when he dared to defy Moses? What did they see that we can’t see?

The answer is simple. They didn’t see anything because they were blinded by the strongest of all human drives: the drive for power.

The uninitiated cannot understand this. A person who has not tasted the taste of power – someone for whom the safety catch on the power grenade has never been pulled – cannot comprehend just how strong this drive is. But people are willing to die for power; they are willing to kill their children and their wives to achieve it. The human race has experienced no stronger drive.

In order to ensure the continuity of life, the Creator embedded the drive for procreation in both humans and animals. And to ensure the continuity of human society, the Creator created an even stronger drive; the power drive. There is no society without leadership and few would be willing to assume the weight of the community on their shoulders without the motivation fostered by this drive. Without the drive for power, human society would return to a state of chaos.

Just as we cannot give birth without the drive to procreate, so we cannot lead without the drive for power. The challenge is not how to eliminate it, but rather, to serve G-d with all our hearts. In other words, to enlist both our good inclination – the aspiration for liberty and responsibility – and our evil inclination – the aspiration for power, to achieve our goals. The good inclination must lead and chart out the course, the framework and the rules, while the drive for power must provide the energies necessary to succeed.

Shabbat Shalom.

Let each man encourage his neighbor

By HaRav Dov Begon
Rosh HaYeshiva, Machon Meir

(Ed. note: Rav Begon gave this shiur in 2013. Given the events of the past week, it resonates today even more than it did then)

“The Canaanite king attacked Israel and took some captives” (Numbers 21:1). Rashi explains, “He captured only one maidservant.” 

What was the people’s reaction to the capture of the Israelite maidservant? They vowed to wage all-out war against the Canaanites, and that is what occurred. 

For the sake of one maidservant does one have to go to war? Here the Jewish People displayed their solidarity and unity, all of them as one man, with one heart. They had a strong awareness that someone who hurts one Jew hurts them all. They related to each individual Jew as an inseparable part of the aggregate. The pain and sorrow of each individual were not a private matter, but a problem demanding the responsibility and concern of the whole nation G-d had so lovingly selected. Such was the spirit that lived in the people. 

The call of the hour is to strengthen our nation’s solidarity. It is only natural that every single Jew in Israel and throughout the world should feel responsibility and concern and pain over the plight of every other Jew, wherever he may be. This is especially so regarding those Jews who face daily danger that their blood will be spilt like water, in our settlements, in the streets of our cities, and in the dark cellars where they are being held captive by Lebanese terrorists. A Jew must feel that when someone hurts a Jew, we and our whole nation are being hurt. In order to strengthen solidarity, it is not enough to feel. We must also do. We must visit the settlers and help them, adopting them and hosting them and their children. 

Let each man encourage his neighbor, and through this will be fulfilled the blessing, “Blessed are You, O L-rd, who smashes our enemies and defeats the wicked.” 

Looking forward to complete salvation, 
Shabbat Shalom.

We should be World Leaders in Legislation against Terrorism

By HaRav Yisrael Rosen 
Dean of the Zomet Institute

"And the Canaanite, the King of Arad, who lived in the south, heard that Yisrael came, following the scouts, and he waged war against Yisrael. And he took a captive from them. And Yisrael made a vow to G-d: If You give this nation into my hands, I will consecrate their cities. And G-d heard the voice of Yisrael, and He gave the Canaanites over to them, and they consecrated them and their cities. And they called the area Chorma (a desolate place)." [Bamidbar 21:1-3].

Terrorism Again and Again

Once again we have been struck by terrorism. Once again, we cry out at the funerals of victims of terror, asking for mercy from heaven – bring our suffering to an end! I write this article with a deep feeling of grief and sighing, between the funerals of the young girl Hallel-Yaffeh from Kiryat Arba, who was murdered by a knife-wielding attacker, and that of Rabbi Mickey Mark from Otniel, who was killed on the road by human beasts while others in his family were injured. Let G-d avenge the blood of the dead and bring the injured ones back to full health.

The immediate security responses by Israel are very minor, including an announcement by the Minister of Defense that he is immediately publishing a tender for construction of dozens of new apartments in Kiryat Arba (which is quite meaningless, since these were already published in the past), and cancellation of work permits for the Arabs who live in the same village as the terrorists (for how long? a day, a week?). Indeed, there is some value to symbolic reactions which might be considered "a proper Zionist response." And there is some value, albeit a minor one, to refusing to return the give the bodies of dead terrorists, and to other minor punishment of this type. However – in general, our hands are highly constrained by both the Israeli and the international legal systems.

The Need for Regional Punishment

The only way to achieve substantial deterrence is by punishing the circles which support terrorism before a murder and which then go all out praising it after the horrible act. This would include the immediate family, the "chamula" – the broader clan – the village, the entire tribe, and so on. There is some hope and some past evidence that the "surroundings" can prevent, delay, or even expose evil plans in advance, in order to avoid being harmed by the reaction. Even the terrorist himself might take notice of the suffering he will cause to his dear ones, and put a stop to his actions. However, we have heard much about the limitations put on us by international agreements – in terms of wide-ranging expulsions from the land, large-scale confiscation of property, cancelling Bituach Leumi payments – for all those who support, encourage, and are thrilled by the terrorism. As of now, any suggestions for such moves serve as nothing more than empty proposals by politicians and powerless "advisors" like me. No such proposals can ever be implemented because of legal limitations on our actions.

It is no secret that the shameful surrender to the terrorists who were on the "Marmara" which was accepted a few days ago, including paying them compensation, was not merely a political surrender to Turkey in order to benefit from regional interests. It was also a form of insurance to protect Israeli soldiers from personal legal action in the international court in the Hague, after they physically blocked the ship full of terrorists.

The entire (Western?) world is in the sights of ISIS, the murderous crime organization which masquerades as an "Islamic Caliphate" and ignites beastly flames in the hearts of "believers," who have become captivated by Islamic romanticism which crushes everything in its path. There is no end to the horrors of those who plan attacks of blood and fire, who have sworn their loyalty to this movement, which is nothing more than the enemy of mankind. These people give up their lives to commit their crimes in unstoppable suicidal actions. There is no alternative to novel legal inventions in order to deal with this situation – and Israel should lead the world by passing national legislation and encouraging similar international action. I am well aware of the weak track record of Israel in trying to "lead" such movements, but we must remember that our entire existence is based on performing a moral mission. And the main task of the world today is to eradicate terrorism.

I propose that the best of our national legal minds should be brought together for this purpose. Let them draft a "Law for Eradication of International Terrorism." This will include definitions of various levels of terrorism (incitement, encouragement, support, and so on), and permitted "regional" and "collective" punishments. Prominent Israeli legal experts will spread these concepts in international legal forums, in conferences, professional publications, using political pressure, and so on. Is there any possibility of accomplishing such a task, or can it be that the leadership of the Israeli justice system is not "nationalistic" enough to do it? Or are they perhaps infected with the religion of "humanism," which for its believers takes precedence over everything else? Is there anyone among us who will pick up this gauntlet?

* * * * * *

"Until Chorma"

In this week's Torah portion quoted above, Yisrael, on the verge of entering the land, encounters a sophisticated enemy: Canaanites dressed as Amalikites (Rashi: Their dress was like the Amalekites, and their language was that of Canaan). They did this in order to frighten the people of Yisrael, since Amalek had a record of success in attacking their "trailing edge." Indeed, at first the enemy succeeded, and "took a captive from them." As Rashi notes, the sages interpreted this to mean that "one female slave" was captured. The nation rose up to war in order to rescue her, not willing to give up even one lone captive, even if it was merely a lowly slave. This led to a declaration of a war of eradication with no holds barred, spurred on by a prayer to G-d reminiscent of the one in the war on Amalek. "And, when Moshe raised his hand, Yisrael became stronger" [Shemot 17:11]. The result was a resounding victory: "They destroyed them and their cities. And they called the area Chorma."

Hallel Ariel’s Murder “Directly Related” to Muslim Sovereignty on Temple Mount, Says Mother

By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz

“And also the Glory of Israel will not lie nor repent; for He is not a man, that He should repent.” I Samuel 15:29 (The Israel Bible™)

View on Dome of the Rock mosque in Jerusalem and Israeli flags from a balcony during a cloudy winter sunset. (Photo: Shutterstock.com)

The stabbing that killed 13-year-old Hallel Ariel last week has led the young teenager’s family to take that horror and turn it into a message of hope and holiness centered around the Temple Mount. In a controversial call for Jews to ascend to the Temple Mount next Tuesday, her parents hope to counter the terror that killed their daughter.

Visitors who came to console Rina Ariel on Sunday expected to see a woman overcome with the most powerful grief a mother could experience. Instead, they were greeted with a moving message of hope.

“By coming here, by living here, we are showing that we will win,” the grieving mother told visitors. “I am married to a kohen (priest). I am the daughter of a kohen. The way we continue, is to show that if we go up to the Temple Mount and work hard to build the Temple, our own houses will not be destroyed,” said Hallel’s mother.

“My sister lives on Mount of Olives near the Temple Mount,” she continued. “I live far from the Temple, near Hebron. So our story starts in Hebron but it will end in Har Habayit (The Temple Mount).

“We have to continue,”  she insisted. “We have to plant the grapes and drink the wine.”

Rina then quoted the Book of Samuel.

וְגַם נֵצַח יִשְׂרָאֵל לֹא יְשַׁקֵּר וְלֹא יִנָּחֵם כִּי לֹא אָדָם הוּא לְהִנָּחֵם

And also the Glory of Israel will not lie nor repent; for He is not a man, that He should repent. I Samuel 15:29

In the homiletical teaching of Psalms, this verse is spoken by God to comfort the Nation of Israel after Yom Kippur, by assuring them that, by virtue of the mitzvot (Torah commandments), their enemies will never overcome the Jews.

During a condolence call paid by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Rena spoke with the leader about the connection between the murder of her daughter and the Temple Mount.

“It is forbidden that a private household should be destroyed, but we must direct our concerns to the House of God,” Rina was quoted as saying by the Temple Institute. “It is wholly untenable to allow the Muslims to have control of the Temple Mount.”

Rina explained to the prime minister that the real cause of terror was the Muslim monopoly on the Temple Mount.

“There is a direct line from there to the murder of my daughter,” she told Netanyahu. “This is not something disconnected. It is one and the same. If they receive a prize, if they violently riot and I [as a Jew] am chased off the Mount [by my government], then they come to my house and murder my daughter.”

As a reminder that Muslim violence is directly connected to the Temple Mount, an anonymous Israeli hung a photo of Hallel with her family, posing in front of the Dome of the Rock, on the locked gate preventing Jews from going up to the Temple Mount.

“Hallel longed for the redemption,” Rina said. “From an early age she ascended the Temple Mount. When we build the Holy Temple and it serves as a light to the nations, there will be no more murder.”

Yael Kabillo, Hallel’s aunt, is the chairperson for Women of the Holy Temple. From the first day of the mourning period, the two women began planning a mass ascension to the Temple Mount in honor of Hallel.

“The terrorist stabbed a young Jewish girl deep in her heart,” Kabillo told Breaking Israel News. “We have to awaken our hearts to the heart of our nation, which has always been Temple Mount.

“That they have the nerve to enter a private home, we need to gather the nerve to enter into the House of God, the Temple Mount, not to be afraid, but with tremendous courage to say,

Hallel Yaffa Ariel, 13, and her mother before Hallel was murdered by a terrorist. (Courtesy Hebron Fund/Photo by Adam Propp)

Zvi Aranoff uncle, Rena’s brother and Hallel’s uncle, spoke toBreaking Israel News about the reaction to the murder.

“My sister [Rina] is responding with love and light,” he explained. “She wants people to see what a Jewish response is, that we don’t celebrate death, not even the death of our enemy. It’s unfortunate that the other side isn’t like that. They celebrate death.”

The Ariel family has called for a mass ascension to the Temple Mount next Tuesday, July 12, at 8:30 AM. A short ceremony will be held beforehand in memory of Hallel. They have requested that people around the world pray at that time for the Jewish people to return to their home on the Temple Mount.

U.S. Bankrolling Hezbollah

By Majid Rafizadeh

• Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, said that U.S. sanctions would have no impact on the organization, as it already obtains complete financial and weaponry assistance from the Islamic Republic of Iran.
• After the flimsy and uncompleted nuclear agreement, the Obama Administration immediately began transferring billions of dollars to Iran's Central Bank. One of the payments included $1.7 billion transferred in January 2016. $1.4 billion of this sum came from American taxpayers.
• Thanks to President Obama and the continuing lifting of sanctions, the money that Iran is receiving from the U.S., from international trade, and from increased oil sales is most likely being directed toward Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's major beneficiaries, which keep attempting to scuttle U.S. foreign policy objectives in the region.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (left) hugs and kisses Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Nearly 34 years after its inception, Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shiite militant group, has publicly admitted that it is fully receiving its money and arms from the Iranian government.

Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, ridiculed the recent U.S. sanctions targeting Hezbollah. His speech was broadcast by the Al-Manar, the Shiite party's TV station, which is funded by the Iranian government. Nasrallah said that the U.S. sanctions would have no impact on the organization, as his group already obtains complete financial and weaponry assistance from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

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HaRav Nachman Kahana on Parashat Chukat 5776: Why are some attracted to the Holy Land and others not?

BS”D 
Parashat Chukat 5776
HaRav Nachman Kahana

Authentic Neshamot and Real Torah

Every tractate of the Babylonian Talmud begins with page 2 (the letter bet). Why?

The reason I suggest is that even one who has studied the entire Talmud has not yet reached the first alef of the “real” Torah. “Real” Torah is not in the beit midrash. It is in the application of what is studied in the beit midrash to the realities of life and the challenges that HaShem places before every Jew and before the collective nation of Am Yisrael.


Elie Wiesel Z”L, Rabbi Sacks, Former Chief Rabbi of the UK, HaRav Michael Mark ZT”L and Hallel Yaffe Ariel A”H

Elie Wiesel, concentration camp survivor, Nobel Peace Prize winner and author who was regarded as one of the most powerful voices in Holocaust literature, has died in the US at the age of 87.

He was quoted as saying, “Memory has become a sacred duty of all people of goodwill.” And Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “Israel and the Jewish people mourn the passing of Wiesel. Through his unforgettable books, moving words and personal example, Elie personified the triumph of the human spirit over the most unimaginable evil.”

Through his words and his work, Wiesel spent his life preparing future generations for the day when there would no longer be a living witness to the Holocaust.

Using his personal story as both a testimonial and departure point for his writing, he earned a reputation as the leading spiritual archivist of the Nazi persecution of the Jews.

He never put to rest a question that had haunted him since the war: Why did those who knew about the Nazis’ effort to exterminate the Jews not do more to prevent it?


Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, is the former Chief Rabbi of the UK, a renowned religious leader, philosopher, award-winning author and respected moral voice.

He was recently named the winner of the 2016 Templeton Prize in recognition of his “exceptional contributions to affirming life’s spiritual dimension.”

Since stepping down as the Chief Rabbi – a position he served for 22 years between 1991 and 2013 – Rabbi Sacks has held a number of professorships at several academic institutions including Yeshiva University and King’s College London.

Rabbi Sacks is a frequent and sought after contributor to radio, television and the press both in Britain and around the world.

He has authored over 30 books. His most recent work, Not in God’s Name, was awarded a 2015 National Jewish Book Award in America and was a top-ten Sunday Times bestseller in the UK. Past works include The Great Partnership and The Dignity of Difference, winner of the Grawemeyer Prize for Religion in 2004 for its success in defining a framework for interfaith dialogue between people of all faiths and of none.

Rabbi Sacks and the late Elie Wiesel are distinguished personalities in Jewish life, and theirs words and actions have meaning.  However, I find disturbing contradictions, inconsistencies and discrepancies in the conduct of these two men in one specific but very crucial area.

Rabbi Sacks is currently serving as the Ingeborg and Ira Rennert Global Distinguished Professor at New York University. He resides in the US – not in Eretz Yisrael.

Mr. Wiesel, who suffered so greatly at the hands of gentiles, who were incited against the Jewish people by Christianity in its many forms, chose not to live with his own people in Eretz Yisrael, but lived out his life among gentiles. Perhaps it was all the flattering he received from the gentiles – who sought in some small way to assuage their consciences – that blunted and dulled his Jewish sensitivities to the fact pointed out by Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai as quoted in the midrash (Sifrei Bamidbar Be’ha’alotcha chap. 69):

ר”ש בן יוחי אומר הלכה בידוע שעשו שונא ליעקב

It is a well-known Halacha (absolute ruling) that Aisav (the gentiles of Europe) despises Ya’akov (the Jewish people).

Rabbi Sacks’ and Elie Wiesel’s mutual negation of HaShem’s Holy Land intensifies the message that neither murderous Nazi anti-Semitism nor Torah merged with Western intellectualism leads to the conclusion that the place for a Jew is in our ancient God-given homeland of Eretz Yisrael.


Why are some attracted to the Holy Land and others not?

Rabbi Berel Wein Shlita, the noted Jerusalem scholar, historian, speaker and educator wrote last week for Arutz Sheva 7:

“To a great extent the Jewish people have always had an easier time dealing with the study and observance of Torah than with the primacy of the Land of Israel in Jewish life and thought.

For various reasons, throughout our history we have always had difficulty dealing with the reality of being an independent, self-governing national entity living within the borders of the country that the Lord assigned to us.

Even before ever entering the Land of Israel, as we read (in parshat Shlach) the Jewish people shied away completely from entering that land and establishing their home there. They preferred living in a trackless desert to having to face the realities of nation building and a problem-laden challenging existence…

All later generations of Torah scholars and biblical commentators have attempted to understand what the driving force was that made the Jewish people so resist their entry into the Holy Land.

Though there are many incisive and psychologically penetrating thoughts advanced on this subject, after all is said and done, the question remains a perplexing and disturbing one. Why is it that the generation (our generation) that saw so many miracles – in fact lived a miraculous existence on a daily basis and pledged themselves and their descendants to live a unique and moral lifestyle – should somehow have balked at entering the Land of Israel. Like most questions that begin with the word “why,” there are no easy or convincing answers to this difficult issue…

There are, unfortunately, many Jews within the Jewish world today who still do not recognize the Land of Israel as being a central tenet of our faith and our existence. It is almost irrational, certainly inexplicable, why after all of the events of the past two centuries of Jewish life this should be so…

So, all we can do is recognize that this has been a constant problem in Jewish society since the days of Moshe and that basically all we can do is acknowledge the situation while continuing to persevere in building and populating the Land.”

Rabbi Wein poses the age-old question concerning why so many Jews distance themselves from the Holy Land of Eretz Yisrael – greatest gift HaShem presented to our forefathers for their future generations. He concludes that the question has always been beyond our ability to reach a satisfactory answer.

With Rabbi Wein’s permission, I would suggest that the answer to his question is indeed beyond our intellectual reach, indeed beyond the range of worldly factors. It is in the realm of the neshama.

Although we know very little of the neshama, we can say that they are distinguished between the neshamot which are attracted to spirituality in HaShem’s Holy Land and those who are not, for reasons known only to their Creator (Borei neshamot).

Avraham was attracted to the Land. His brothers Nachor and Haran were not; and, therefore, they did not accompany Avraham in his journey to the Land.

Yitzchak felt the pull. Yishmael did not and therefore journeyed to the eastern countries.

Ya’akov had the attraction, but his brother Aisav did not and settled in the land of Edom.


HaRav Michael Mark ZT”L and Hallel Yaffee Ariel A”H

Last week an Arab entered the Ariel home in the Ramat Mamrey section of Kiryat Arba and murdered 13-year-old Hallel Yaffe Ariel. The following day, Arabs shot and murdered Harav Michael Mark and seriously wounded his wife Chava Rachel bat Ayelet Hashachar. These kedoshim (holy martyrs) were added to the too-long list of kedoshim who preceded them.

There are people who will be judged in Heaven by what they suffered for being a Jew. Others will be judged on the merits of what they do in life. Rabbi Michael and the young Hallel have entered Gan Eden because of who they are.

They are a son and daughter of this Holy Land, who have reached the level of “real Torah” which they lived to the fullest from the moment they were born to their dying breath.

These are the authentic neshamot of Am Yisrael who cling to the Land and develop her according to the letter and spirit of “real Torah”.

The tractates of their lives begin with the letter alef.

Shabbat Shalom,
Nachman Kahana
Copyright © 5776/2016 Nachman Kahana

SHUT UP, ELIZABETH WARREN

America doesn’t need two Hillary Clintons.

By Daniel Greenfield

 

  

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam.

Elizabeth Warren has been coddled ever since Fordham Law Review insisted on believing that the blonde blue eyed woman was Harvard Law School’s “first woman of color”.

She has as much “color” in her pale face as she does principles, ideas, wit, ethics and speaking skills. 

Warren isn’t a good speaker. Her speeches are inept, her cadence is uneven and she ends sentences on a squeak. She stumbles breathily through prepared texts, seemingly confused to be up on stage as if she’s waiting for everyone to realize that there was a mistake and replace her with someone competent.

Sadly that never happens. All this might be excusable if she had something to say, she doesn’t.

If Elizabeth Warren ever had a single original thought in her head, it long ago died of starvation. She achieved national fame by claiming that no one got rich on their own because the police protect factories. That was probably a more compelling argument back when the stereotypical millionaire got rich from factories. But Warren was cribbing from the twenties because she has no new ideas.

Either that or she imagines that Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg and Mark Zuckerberg became billionaires by having a lot of factories in Lowell.

These days she tours as Hillary Clinton’s attack Chihuahua lobbing piercing insults at Trump. Like the time she accused Trump of being “greedy”. Then she charged him with having a “goofy hat”.

But the media cheers every squeaky insult from the former Republican turned Democrat and class warrior turned millionaire as if she were the anemic half-assed second coming of Don Rickles.

In the same media echo chamber where Jon Stewart was a mighty smirking destroyer and John Oliver makes for compelling television, Elizabeth Warren’s tepid putdowns can be described as devastating assaults. (Or as NPR’s Nina Totenberg dubbed her, a “pugilist” which is how people who don’t watch or like boxing describe boxers today.) But outside it, Warren is a joke wrapped in its own punch line.

Take the hilarious chutzpah of Elizabeth Warren accusing Trump of greed and money-grubbing at a Hillary Clinton event. Say what you will about Trump, but unlike Hillary he didn’t shake down the Boys and Girls Club for a quarter million for a speech. The Clintons ripped off everyone from earthquake victims in Haiti to public universities controlled by their former associates. Bill and Hillary would steal candy from a baby if they could fly a private jet to and from the scene of the crime.

The Clintons have more money than even they could figure out how to spend in the next two decades. Their only child is married to an investment banker. They keep grifting money they have no need for. But they have so little self-control that they had to return property to the White House after leaving. Bill and Hillary can’t stop grubbing and stealing. This isn’t greed. It’s a mental illness.

Bill and Hillary made a fortune through corruption and conflicts of interest. They are the least qualified people in the world to hurl accusations of greed and grubbing at anyone. And trotting out Harvard Law’s “first woman of color” who got paid $350,000 to teach a single course is almost as bad.

Elizabeth Warren attacked Trump for conflicts of interest. Warren is a living conflict of interest. She ranted about student debt after singlehandedly eating up the tuition fees of seven students.

After her star turn on the Daily Show attacking financial interests, she went right to fighting against asbestos victims on behalf of an insurance company, before clutching her blood money and then making a bid to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to protect consumers from people like her.

Elizabeth Warren hates banks and hedge funds, except one particular fund that may just have a way of profiting from her agenda. But Warren also keeps finding ways to profit from her rhetoric.

If any of this sounds familiar, it should. Elizabeth Warren is just a less successfully slimy Hillary Clinton.

Imagine Hillary without Bill, without the detour to Arkansas, the fake accents and the sideways climb to power and you have Elizabeth Warren. Unlike Hillary, Warren never learned to talk to more conservative voters or operate outside the corridors of power in a handful of major northeastern government blocs.

Elizabeth Warren took the path Hillary was on before she married Bill, maneuvering through a shadowy incestuous world where academia, government and special interests bleed into each other and can turn bland hacks like her into power brokers. But that means she lacks even the elementary political skills that Hillary was forced to learn along her long journey to becoming the inevitable nuisance-in-waiting.

The only question then is why Hillary Clinton would want a more inept version of herself tagging along.

A Saturday Night Live skit did have its version of Hillary Clinton boasting that she would be her own vice president. If nothing else, picking Warren would give the country two Hillary Clintons to endure. And next to Warren, Hillary Clinton seems polished, competent and coherent. Elizabeth Warren could be Hillary’s Biden. A terrible choice who exists to make the top of the ticket look better by comparison.

Progressives will feel the old familiar thrill every time Warren calls for purging the kulaks before boarding another private jet back to her three-story Victorian mansion in Cambridge or her $740K Penn Quarter D.C. condo. And Hillary Clinton will clap supportively as Warren stumbles through another speech accusing Donald Trump, Wall Street and everyone except her greedy new boss of being greedy while trying not to roll her eyes.

And mostly succeeding.

Like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren is a pathetic joke. Both senators are greedy class warriors buzzing with a million plans that they have no ability or interest in actually implementing. The difference is that Bernie sold himself cheaply to Revolution Messaging and got a few months of flying private jets. Warren held out for Hillary and is hoping for four to eight years of flying private jets to denounce private jet flyers.

Hillary may just be stringing Warren along. A few appearances with the progressive great hope whom Bernie was just temporarily stepping in for before letting her know that it’s not going to happen.

If Hillary Clinton wants to win, she’s going to have to turn out minority voters. And Elizabeth Warren is as popular with minority voters as Bernie Sanders. Warren Democrats are rich, old white men. Bringing her on board would make the Hillary ticket as diverse as a ticket with two Hillarys on it can possibly be.

America doesn’t need two Hillary Clintons. It doesn’t even need one.

And it doesn’t need another boring leftist with nothing to say being coddled by the media as a wondrous wit for spewing sonorous clichés. That’s what we have John Oliver and Stephen Colbert for.

Back when Scott Brown brought up Warren’s $350K payday for teaching a single course, Elizabeth Warren complained, “I want to talk about the issues. Senator Brown wants to launch attacks.”

Now Warren has come full circle, ignoring the issues while launching feeble attacks that miss by a mile. It’s a fitting end to the political life of a political hack. Like many progressives, Warren liked to pretend that she was better than politics. But Elizabeth Warren wasn’t better than politics. She was worse.

America doesn’t need her. Massachusetts doesn’t need her. No one needs her. Almost.

Because somewhere an insurance company looking to put one over asbestos victims or a university seeking a celebrity minority professor to score $350K for teaching one course does.

Sybaritic West Surrenders to Islamists

By Giulio Meotti

• The West should be proud of what the Islamists call "decadence." For the West, "decadence" is synonymous with freedom. The problem is that we, postmodern Westerners, have sacrificed the very values that ensure our survival, and have exchanged them for "decadence."
• The problem is that the West does not desire life. The West is ready to surrender its love of life to those who want to take it away from them.
• "Islam manifests what Nietzsche called 'great health': there are young soldiers ready to die for it. What are the values of our civilization? Supermarket and e-commerce, trivial consumerism and egotistical narcissism, vulgar hedonism or scooters for adults?" — Michel Onfray, French philosopher,
• In the Netherlands, the minister of education decided to impose the teaching of LGBT courses in migrant centers. Germany has published guidelines, leaflets and cartoons to communicate to immigrants the new sexual norms to follow. Is that all we have to offer to these people?

Mohammed Atta (left) leader of the 9/11 terrorists, along with four of the other hijackers, were entertained by dancers in Las Vegas nightclubs several times during the summer of 2001. Omar Mateen (right) deliberately chose to attack the Pulse gay nightclub, where he slaughtered 49 "infidels." Many Islamist terrorist attacks around the world have seemingly aimed to achieve a catharsis, by spilling blood in our comfortable promiscuity, in the dark of a nightclub.

Omar Mateen did not choose the Pulse gay nightclub because it had few security guards or because it was an easy target. He could have targeted a supermarket or a school. No, Mateen chose Pulse because it is a nightclub, where he slaughtered 49 "infidels" and wounded 53 more.

Before murdering 2,977 people, the leader of the 9/11 terrorists, Mohammed Atta, along with four of the other hijackers, made several trips to Las Vegas during the summer before the attack, where they were entertained by dancers in nightclubs.

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The Political Blame Game: Pulling Tricks to Deny the Obvious

By Douglas Murray 

• Immediately after the massacre in Orlando, the gay press was full of articles that adamantly refused to admit the reality of Islamic homophobia.
• The same organisations that obsess over which bakeries in the U.S. and Europe will or will not bake wedding cakes for gay couples, and rightly have no trouble berating homophobic Christian pastors, seemed wholly uninterested in the motivations of the Pulse nightclub killer. Instead, these papers and websites were filled with articles, petitions and joint letters, enjoining people not to notice the Islamic element.
• These gay activists have a vision of the world where only "patriarchal" white males of Jewish or Christian heritage can cause the world's problems.
• A small minority of very vocal "far-left" activists are now using their LGBT status as a smokescreen not to advance gay rights but to advance "far-left" politics.

The recent shootings at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando Florida have already begun to be submerged by the news cycle. Shock at the worst mass-shooting in American history -- which saw the death of forty-nine people and the wounding of even more, fifty-three -- has been further dulled by various distractions in the debate. This time, these have included a debate on America's gun laws and speculation around the sexuality of the gunman.

All of these matters have been fought backwards and forwards and should certainly be components of any argument. But the part of the debate that has been the most important and -- as usual -- the most covered over, has been the religious motivation of the gunman. This, and the response it has entailed, is worth dwelling on: it reveals a concerted effort not to learn from events.

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Cisco highlights global confidence in Israel

By Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger

1. During January-June, 2016, Israeli companies were acquired by global companies for $2.4BN, compared with $3.4BN during the whole of 2015. For example, the California-based $60BN Cisco, the largest networking company in the world, acquired Israel’s cyber technology Cloudlock for $293MN, Cisco’s 2^nd Israeli acquisition in 2016 (Leaba Semiconductor - $375MN) and its 13^th acquisition in Israel, since 1998, totaling $2.2BN....

2.  According to Cisco’s Chairman, John Chambers: “Israel is the most innovative country, producing the best startups…. Cisco invested $150MN in 30 Israeli startups, $60MN in four Israeli venture capital funds and acquired 13 Israeli companies since I became Cisco’s CEO....”

3. Bill Gates made his first investment in Israel, along with Boston Scientific....

4.  June, 2016 highlighted the appeal of Israel’s startups to foreign investors. For example....

5.  The terms of Israel’s acquisition of the F-35 – which is the most expensive military transaction in Israel’s history -  underline Israel’s unique  role as the most effective battle-tested laboratory of the US defense industries, and Israel’s contribution to the US national security and economy....

Please click for the entire document.

Muslims and "political correctness"

No matter who is at fault, the Jews are punished - in the name of "politically correct" dialogue and talk about human rights.

By Rabbi Eliezer Melamed

'Har HaBayit' (The Temple Mount)
On Monday, the Israeli police announced that the Temple Mount would be closed to Jews and tourists until the end of Ramadan. The reason: incessant violent rioting by Arabs against visitors to the site, and police officers. The rioters amass stones, bottles, iron bars and who knows what else in the al-Aqsa Mosque, in order to attack Jews, tourists, and anyone they define as enemies of Islam from within the mosque.

Justifiably, this situation calls for the closure of the Temple Mount to all Muslims, but unfortunately, the Israeli government continues to uphold the long-standing tradition founded during the cursed days of our exile: if the Jews riot, the Jews are punished; if the Gentiles riot, the Jews are punished.

In other words no matter what, and just to be on the safe side, the Jews must be punished because somehow or another, the Jews are always guilty. The next day Jews were banned from going up to the Temple Mount, so instead, the Arabs threw stones down at the Western Wall and an elderly, seventy-three-old woman was slightly injured.

Why Isn't the Al-Aqsa Mosque Closed?
When the Israeli police suspected there were some students in Yeshiva 'Od Yosef Chai' in Yitzhar who were allegedly conspiring to commit a crime, they broke in to the Yeshiva in the name of the law, removed all the students, meticulously searched every room, and took over the study hall for a year and three months, despite it being a sacred place of prayer and Torah study.

If this is the way the police act in the name of law and justice towards a Yeshiva and a synagogue in a Jewish state and in a case of unproven allegations, kal v'chomer (by even greater force of logic) should they act similarly when it is evident that the Al-Aqsa mosque functions as a focal point for global incitement, where small arms and light weapons are stored, and also serves as a regular shelter for rioters; how much more so should the police take over the mosque, remove all destructive weapons, arrest and imprison the rioters and inciters, and close it for a few years until it becomes crystal clear to all wishing to pray in its gates that they must not to dare incite or riot ever again. 

Instead, it was the Jews who were expelled from our holiest place in the world for no crime on our part – other than our being Jewish, anathema to the Muslims who forcibly seized the Temple Mount with murderous violence.

Not only did the government not close the mosque, but they continue to allow Muslims to destroy the remains of the Temple, degrade the holy site with soccer games, parties, riots and the uttering of blasphemies. All this under the pretext that the status quo which the Israeli government undertook requires it. All over the State of Israel the status quo concerning the laws of Shabbat, kashrut, weddings, the status of the religious courts, and anything to do with Judaism has been eroded and undermined in the name of human rights, but only on the Temple Mount is the status quo is preserved meticulously – contrary to all rules of justice and human rights.

In short, we continue to accept the basic premise of anti-Semitism that no matter what, a Jew's status and rights are always inferior to any other claim.

A Wonderful Illustration
Here is the opportunity to relate a happy story I heard from an eyewitness to the incident. A traditionally religious couple, both wise and educated, were unable to have children for a several years. They had undergone various medical tests, but could not find a cure for their problem. A relative of theirs suggested that the woman immerse herself in a mikveh (a ritual bath), go up to the Temple Mount according to the laws of purity, and there, whisper a prayer in her heart – perhaps she would be worthy of getting pregnant. After a few months the woman decided to take his advice, and that very same month she became pregnant.

Truth be told, this is not surprising. After all, the Temple Mount is the holiest site in the world, the 'talpiot' [a compound of the Hebrew words tel (hill) and piyot (mouths)] – "the hill to which all mouths turn in prayer" – and consequently, on the Temple Mount, prayers have more of an impact than anywhere else.

From the Temple Mount to Orlando
The problem on the Temple Mount, the site of our Holy Temple, is the source and prototype of the problem facing the world in recent years. In Orlando, Florida, a Muslim murdered forty-nine people, and wounded dozens more. During the attack, the murderer swore allegiance to ISIS and Islam, declaring that he had killed in their name. In response, U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama and his associates, saw fit to address the issues of gun control, hatred of LGBT, and mental health problems of those suffering from unemployment – but by no means would he agree to utter the words "Islamic terrorism." When a problem is not identified, it cannot be solved.

It's fair to assume that if Israel were to deal properly with the difficult problem of the Temple Mount, closing the mosques and arresting inciters and rioters at the slightest trace of disturbances or agitation, we could serve as a moral and a practical example to the entire world about how to deal with riotous, violent and murderous Islam. The entire world looks to the State of Israel which, from its inception, has had to deal with Arab hatred and terrorism. But when we act feebly on the Temple Mount, many moral and decent people throughout the world believe the problem is unsolvable, and the terrorist attacks continue and are intensifying.

Britain and the European Union
The same problem (Islamist violence), whose name it is forbidden mention according to a considerable number of world leaders, led the majority of UK citizens to vote in favor of leaving the European Union. Even the pollsters and commentators are apparently forbidden to mention the name of the problem, and thus, were wrong in all their assessments.

Stemming from a policy of multiculturalism, equality, and aiding the powerless, the leadership of the European Union in Brussels urges EU countries to accept millions of Muslim immigrants, ignoring the incitement voiced by many of the Muslim immigrants against European culture, while at the same time they adopt a tolerant approach towards increasing acts of Muslim violence. In practice, out of a belief in values they feel are liberal, the EU ignores the terrible moral injustices that breed hotbeds of crime, violence, exploitation, prostitution, drug trafficking and terrorism.

They fail to understand that the conflict is not a result of different types of food or music, or even because of differing languages or religious practices, but because there are numerous Muslims who hold a fundamental, religious position of hatred and contempt for those who are not Muslim, and this belief permits them to exploit non-Muslims without remorse. This was how they behaved in the past, and there is absolutely no reason for them to act differently in the future.

Blindness in Analyzing the Results of the Referendum
When I read the results of the referendum and the media commentaries surrounding it, I could not believe how "political correctness" had blinded the commentators, to the point where even the so-called "experts" are incapable of analyzing the results correctly. All of them mentioned that among the young voters and the residents of London, a majority were in favor of remaining in the EU, implying that it was the marginal British population that had decided for the "real" Britain – the Londoners – and that adults had decided on the future of the young generation, without having to bear responsibility for their own decision.

I was forced to conduct my own search for various sources of information on the Internet, and I found that by the year 2012, it was already evident that the white British population had become the minority in London, with their numbers standing at 44.9% of the cities' residents. Since that time, hundreds of thousands of immigrants have moved to London. I also found that the proportion of Muslims in all of Britain is approaching 5%, and that the percentage of young people among Muslims is much higher than among the British, such that the young Muslims total about 10%, while among adults, they number only a few percent.

Based on these facts it can be assessed that in London as well, the majority of Brits voted for leaving the Union, but for obvious reasons, the Muslims and other immigrants voted in favor of remaining. However, "political correctness" has stupefied the commentators and politicians' opinions, and as a result, they talk about all different types of reasons – everything except the main problem - the EU's position about Muslim immigrants.

Israel also suffers greatly from the EU's position, which does not recognize our national rights to our own homeland, just like their refusal to recognize European peoples' right to maintain their national character. Should this console anyone – the first ones to suffer from this policy are the EU citizens themselves.

The Settlers: The Vanguard in the Struggle for Morality and Justice
A reader might ask: What can I do in face of all this? There are a number of answers: First, to strengthen ourselves in the study of 'Torat emet' (true Torah); to continue fulfilling the mitzvah of yishuv ha'aretz (settling the land); to go up to the Temple Mount in purity according to halakha; and at election times, to vote for trustworthy representatives who are capable of advancing appropriate positions.

The learning of 'Torat emet' is the type of study which aspires for 'tikun olam' (repairing the world), i.e., the realization of the values ​​of justice and truth – for the 'clal' (the collective) and the 'prat' (the individual); for Israel, and for all of the nations.

Through the mitzvah of 'yishuv ha'aretz', we fulfill the Torah's values ​​in practice, because all the beautiful ideas in the Torah have no meaning if there aren't Jews who are willing to fulfill them with devotion. In the face of lies, violence, terror and hatred of Israel, stand the settlers; inhabiting the neighborhoods around the Temple Mount and throughout Judea and Samaria, and in their very being, declare to the entire world that there are still men of truth and faith who refuse to capitulate to terror, hatred, and boycotts.

Their enemies falsely accuse them of every sort of libel in the world, but they remain true to their beliefs and values, continuing to work, and to succeed. They do not give up on the right, the mitzvah, or the obligation to settle the land bequeathed by God to their forefathers and themselves, but on the other hand, do not wish ill for any Arab or Muslim willing to act decently.

When the people of Israel, by way of its' Torah scholars and settlers, succeed in withstanding all the pressures, and are able to expand the settlement of Judea and Samaria, this provides all the positive forces in the world the faith, power, and ability not to submit to terrorism and violence, and to be prepared to fight for justice and faith.

The stronger we become in the mitzvah of settling of the land and recognizing its value, the more instrumental we will be in helping the entire world to fight the wicked, and to base their lives on justice, morality, and peace.

Dr. Irving Moskowitz, of Blessed Memory
This column is dedicated to the 'ilui neshama' (elevation of the soul) of the late philanthropist and physician, Dr. Irving Moskowitz z"l, one of the exceptional people who accurately diagnosed the ills of Western society, and understood that the remedy for these maladies comes from the most holy places – from Jewish settlement surrounding the Temple Mount, and from the study halls of the Torah of Eretz Yisrael.