The Similarities Between Tetzaveh and Purim

by Rabbi Dov Berel Wein

There seems to be great similarities between this Torah reading and the reading of the book of Esther on Purim. Throughout the entire Torah, we find that the name of our great teacher Moshe (after his birth) is found in each weekly portion, with one lone exception. In Tetzaveh Moshe’s name never appears, even though we are aware that Moshe is the one who wrote this portion of the Torah and taught it to the Jewish people for all eternity. We are aware that Moshe is the hidden author, the director of events behind the scenes.

There are many comments by the scholars of Israel over the ages who try to explain why this is so. But for the purposes of this short essay, it is sufficient simply to realize that Moshe is the teacher of the Torah par excellence, who is hidden from us. As we will soon see, we are made aware of the value of people and ideas remaining hidden, and not always exposed to the light of human inspection and society. The ability of Moshe to remain hidden and the benefit of his anonymity, is one of the blessings of his noble character and humble greatness.

In the same vein, we also find that in the book of Esther the holy name of God is not there. There is no reference whatsoever made of the intercession and interference of Heaven in the events described in the written record of the story and miracle of Purim. The book of Esther reads as an exciting, completely rational and understandable story of political intrigue, of psychologically damaged individuals, unforeseen salvation and as an example of the twists and turns that make a mockery of human certainties and predictions.

Once again, there is an unseen and unmentioned director of events that is controlling the narrative of this story. Purim is the holiday that commemorates this concept. There is no flash of lightning nor roar of thunder, no volcanic eruptions or plagues of locusts that mark this miracle. Yet, it is obvious that when we piece the whole story together, the miracle of the event becomes obvious and revealed, no matter how hidden it was while it was being enacted (read the words of the Rabbis in the Al Hanisim prayer recited on Purim). Perhaps this is the reason why Purim is such a day of unmitigated joy because it represents the joy of thousands who have discovered and unraveled a mystery, the solution of which was not originally understood by many. It is the delight of the discovery of the hidden Director that fills us with both merriment and joy. When a hidden treasure is revealed, humans are usually overcome with a feeling of happiness and achievement.

The great Chasidic master of Kotzk continually maintained that truth is always hidden from public view. He said that if it were revealed, it would be criticized, reviled, and discounted, for we live in a false world, to use the phrase that the Talmud chose to describe human existence. Ultimate truth can only be found within one's own self, and it takes an enormous amount of effort and searching to find it. Only the hidden eventually proves to be true, accurate, and eternal.

Falsehoods are wherever we turn. It is not only ‘fake news’ that confounds us, but it is also that we live in an era where society is shaped by the opinions of others, with their human weaknesses. The Torah wishes to give us a direction as to where truth can be found. It hid the name of Moshe in this week's Torah reading, and hid the name of God, again, in the book of Esther.

If one wishes to find God he or she needs to search within one's own self. The same is true of understanding and appreciating the Torah that Moshe wrote, gave and taught us. The Torah shows us that we are not that distant from truth. But it cannot be found on the surface, but only within our own souls. So be it.

“Aharon Will Arrange them”

by HaRav Shaul Yisraeli, zt"l
Rosh HaYeshiva, Mercaz HaRav
Rosh Kollel, Eretz Hemdah
Chaver, Beit Din HaGadol Yerushalayim

based on Siach Shaul, p. 280

The first p’sukim of our parasha command to take special olive oil and have Aharon and his sons arrange and light the candles in the Mishkan (Shemot 27:20-21). What can easily be missed is that Aharon’s involvement in this mitzva is raised in a matter-of-fact manner before the mention that Aharon will have a special role in the operation of the Mishkan, which comes up only in Perek 28. How does the mitzva of the oil and the lighting end up in the middle of the blueprints of the Mishkan, in between the description of the structure and its holy vessels and that of the glorious holy garments of the kohanim?

The concept that is the key to our understanding seems to already be planted by Rashi in last week’s parasha. The Torah writes: "Into the ark you shall place the testament that I will give to you" (Shemot 25:21). It actually appears another time, and Rashi inquires as to what this is supposed to teach us. His answer is confusing: First, one puts the luchot (testament) into the aron (ark) before the kaporet (covering) is on it, and only later do we put the kaporet on top. The obvious question is what the lesson of that is – could we think that we would be able to put the luchot in while the kaporet is covering the aron and obstructing access to it?

The lesson seems to be the following. It is possible for there to be a covering of a beautiful golden kaporet, with keruvim emanating from it, and everything will be clean and bright, and that will be enough for people. Who needs the luchot inside, after all, everything on the outside is bright and shiny?! That’s why the Torah had to repeat itself and say: "No, the aron must contain the luchot!" There is a value to the all-gold ark, but its value is only when there is a testament inside. There is value to glorious garments of the kohanim, including the eight pieces of the kohen gadol and the urim v’tumim. But there is a clear prerequisite. "Aharon must arrange the lights." If he knows that he will have a clear mitzva agenda to carry out, then there can be value in his special clothes. If he knows the showiness is not the main thing, then he can have the garments that display his greatness and closeness to Hashem. It is in that way like the kaporet for the aron, bringing it glory, which is appropriate only when the luchot are in it.

The Covid Cult and the Ten Commandments

Who is your ultimate Lord and master - and protector

by Rabbi Chananya Weissman



In June of 2020 I outlined how self-proclaimed “progressives” are 0 for 10 when it comes to the Ten Commandments (see the article here). The emergence of the covid cult since then begs a look at how its devotees fare with these fundamental mitzvos. (Those who are members of both groups can go for a double whammy.)

1) I am the Lord your God.

This commandment is simply a declaration. The existence and rule of God is so apparent that it would be beneath Him to even command us to recognize it. God simply identifies Himself, and the obligation to recognize this most basic truth is self-understood.

Inductees into the covid cult must check their recognition of God at the door, assuming they ever recognized Him to begin with. There are certainly “religious” people who've joined the cult, but they recognize other authorities as their ultimate lords and masters, while shunting God to the side. These other authorities claim to speak on behalf of God, but in reality they seek to displace Him as the arbiters of objective truth and morality. They decide who shall live and who shall die. They decide whose right to earn a living is “essential” and who is a useless eater.

Covid cultists have been duped into believing that they cannot survive in this world unless they enslave themselves to medical diktats forever. God will not protect them any other way. The wonderful body in which He placed our soul cannot remain healthy any other way. Therefore, no one has the right to rely on God and the wonderful body He created for us in His infinite wisdom. We must have other lords watching us and ruling over us at all times in order to survive.

To covid cultists, God has no practical role in our lives, and might as well be referred to as God Emeritus.

2) You shall not have any other gods. You shall not make an image and worship it.

Even those who retain a vestige of reliance on God have subordinated themselves to other gods as well. In addition to the aforementioned lords and masters, they worship the god of “science”. This is not the science of God's nature, but the science of replacing nature with artificial substitutes. It is the science of singing hymns to vaccines and performing pagan rituals.

Then there are masks, which also have their roots in ancient idolatry. Covid cultists believe masks will ward off illness, even though they obviously cannot, and in fact harm people in many ways. The mere image of masks on people's faces gives covid cultists a feeling of safety and security. They wear masks even when it makes no sense according to their own science fiction. They shriek in terror and boil with rage when they encounter a bare human face – the one that was created in the image of God.

3) You shall not invoke My name falsely / in vain.

Covid cultists invoke God's name only for the purpose of whitewashing their cultish behavior. Their faith in God has been co-opted by charlatans who berate them with religious rhetoric and refuse to take questions. God wants them to listen to everything the “experts” say, proclaim the false prophets who are on the payroll of these same “experts”. These wretched phonies have said that even if the crapcines kill tens of millions of people – more than we lost in the Holocaust – we still must take it, for the great rabbis have spoken! That is God's will!

Those who are truly connected to God immediately recoil from this corruption of His word. If God is our Lord, we have blind obedience for no one, certainly not those who command us to abandon truth and life in God's name.

4) Observe the Sabbath.

The essence of Shabbos is recognizing that God created the world and is the Master of all creation. Clearly this is incompatible with the covid cult.

False prophets have taken it a step further and encouraged Jews to violate Shabbos to take the shots. Jewish law allows one to violate Shabbos to save a life. The false prophets urge us to violate Shabbos to sabotage a life.

5) Honor your father and mother.

Covid cultists threw this one right out the window. It's not enough that they cajoled and pressured their parents to take death shots. The most devoted cultists have cut ties with parents who refuse to take the shots. This is not tough love, but cruel emotional abuse. (They will be betrayed in turn by their own children, if they all live long enough.)

6) Do not murder.

No commentary necessary.

7. Do not commit adultery.

This one is admittedly a bit of a stretch, but not too much. Shmuel I 2:22 states that the sons of Eli, the Kohen Gadol, slept with the women who brought sacrifices to the Mishkan. Chazal teach us that they did not literally commit such a grievous sin. However, they delayed the sacrifices of women who had recently given birth, which caused the women to remain separated from their husbands without justification. The Torah therefore condemns them as if they committed adultery.

The high priests of the covid cult have destroyed marriages and broken up families in many ways. If the sons of Eli can be likened to adulterers, the cultists are like serial rapists.

8. Do not steal.

The high priests have stolen our freedoms, including the ability of so many people to earn a living. They have imposed fines for breaking their tyrannical rules, raised taxes to bleed the people dry, and even imprisoned people in “hotels” and “camps” at their own expense. They have also created shortages of basic supplies and caused extreme inflation. They have made it impossible for the average person to get by, and they have done it on purpose.

There is another level to this. Chazal teach that this commandment is really referring not to stealing money, but stealing people – kidnapping, enslavement, and human trafficking. The high priests of the covid cult have essentially turned our lands into large prisons, where all our movements are restricted. They have turned ordinary citizens and normal human behavior into criminal offenses. Is arresting ordinary people for engaging in normal human behavior, forcibly taking them away, and imprisoning them not a violation of this commandment?

Chazal teach us that this is a capital offense.

This is irrespective of the credible accusations that the high priests of the covid cult engage in real human trafficking, with a special interest in children...

9. Do not bear false witness against your fellow.

Conspiracy theorist. Anti-vaxxer. Anti-science. Not listening to the rabbis. Ignorant. Selfish. Crazy. Liar. Not credible. Baseless. Spreading misinformation. Murderer. Terrorist.

Did I miss any?

10. Do not covet your fellow's possessions.

You will own nothing, and they will be happy.
*
In sum, covid cultists strike out on all of the Ten Commandments. These include the most fundamental crimes against God and Man, upon which all of civilization rests. Those who have been ensnared by this cult must abandon it and return to God. Those who run the cult must be exposed and brought down.

Then there will be true joy upon the earth.

Biden Should Be Ashamed of His Treatment of the UAE

by Con Coughlin

• "After the terrorist designation was lifted, it is clear the Houthis believed they could resume their terrorist operations because no one was prepared to stop them." — A senior Gulf security official, to the author.
• Emirati leaders have publicly called on US President Joe Biden to reimpose Washington's terrorist designation against the Houthis, a move Gulf officials say would ultimately disrupt Iranian attempts to supply the rebels with sophisticated weaponry.
• In addition, Washington should also pay heed to the Emiratis' request, and that of other oil-rich potential targets in the Gulf, for enhanced defence capabilities to counter the Houthi threat.
• At the very least, therefore, the Biden administration should make amends for its ill-conceived decision to lift the terrorist designation against the Houthis, and provide the Emiratis with the sophisticated weaponry they require to defend themselves against the deadly threat posed by the Iranian-backed rebels.
• The continuing escalation by Iran and the Houthis is -- as most likely is their intent -- threatening to destabilise the region. If they are not stopped, and quickly, the Biden legacy, along with its catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan, will consist of appeasing and emboldening groups that draw on terrorism -- for instance the Houthis, the Palestinians and possibly the Taliban -- as well as hostile regimes, including Russia, China and Iran.
• The Biden administration should hang its head in shame over its February 2021 decision to lift the terrorist designation imposed on Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, in the wake of the deadly attacks launched last month against the United Arab Emirates (UAE), one of Washington's key allies in the Gulf.
• Ever since US President Joe Biden made his controversial decision to lift the Houthis' designation as a terrorist organisation shortly after he took office last year, there has been a marked escalation in the Houthis's terrorist activities.
• Gulf security experts say the Houthis have increased their attacks against the Saudi-led coalition, of which the UAE is a key member, since the terrorist designation was lifted. These have included the use of missiles and drones supplied by Iran, which has emerged as the Houthis' main military backer.

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War by Another Name

by Rabbi Steven Pruzansky

Let us posit that violence against innocent people, or damage to the property of other innocent people, is wrong, criminal and worthy of punishment. Such has been inculcated in all decent people since our earliest youth. Much has been made in the last few months of alleged “settler violence” against innocent Arab residents of Judea and Samaria and undoubtedly some of these alleged actions have occurred. Critics and moralists contend that this violence has threatened Israel’s international standing, ruined its good name, undermined the settlement enterprise and reflect the poor education and abandonment of Torah values by these Jewish miscreants.

Less discussed, and seemingly less disturbing to these critics and moralists, have been the incessant attacks on innocent Jews and their property for many years, and something that persists on a daily basis. Hardly a day goes by without the stoning of Jewish vehicles, physical attacks on Jews, the burning of their fields and property and the encroachment on their (and state) land. The lawlessness in Judea and Samaria has extended to the Negev and the Galil, with the government evincing little desire to arrest it and a profound interest in making the problem go away by acquiescing to it. These crimes are documented and available to all, although they only receive media attention if there is a death or serious injury involved. Conversely, Jewish perpetrators of minor crimes are castigated and hunted down, while Arab perpetrators of major crimes are rarely pursued.

In the Shimon Hatzadik neighborhood of Yerushalayim just this week, one Jewish resident’s car was torched for the ninth time. Crimes against Jews and their property usually go unprosecuted and unpunished, as if they were taking place in Manhattan and not Yerushalayim, Israel’s eternal capital. The theft of vehicles in central Israel that are then driven and disappear into Ramallah – a veritable plague – is not even investigated. How do we understand this blatant discrimination – and is all the hand-wringing justified?

One persistent problem is the “soft bigotry of low expectations,” a phrase coined in the United States to reflect the paternalistic attitude on the left that civilized behavior cannot be expected from what they deem to be the lower classes. Where theft, plunder and violence are construed are normal modes of expressing frustration or ways of idling away time on a boring day, then we cannot expect any better or more productive forms of behavior. Few dare to express this openly but it underlies the anger against violent Jews but not against violent Arabs.

Additionally, there remains the prevalent notion on the left that Israel is an occupying nation, which after all prior Israeli governments essentially conceded during the disastrous Oslo Accords. As such, Arab violence tends to be rationalized but is always understood. Jewish crimes, such as they are, are never tolerated, born as they were in the original sin of victory during the Six Day War. Thus the disparity in treatment lingers and distorts our perception.

Nonetheless, there is a more fundamental misconception that needs to be addressed. Jewish settlers are castigated because of their alleged perpetration of crimes. The law bans attacks on people and property, and to the extent that these actions occur, they are violating the law and are subject to punishment. But there is another way of approaching these matters, one that strikes me as essentially true, that puts an entirely different perspective on these events, and one that behooves us to understand well.

Rather than analyze these actions as alleged crimes that should be adjudicated in the criminal justice system, what if we perceived them to be what they really are: belligerent acts that are taking place in the context of an ongoing war? For that is indeed what they are.

There are wars that are fought with armies, aircraft, tanks and infantry, all of whom share the objective of weakening the enemy’s aggressive capabilities and/or seizing the enemy’s territory. A war for territory is effectuated with the advance of one’s forces on to the enemy terrain, seizing it and holding it. The loss of a nation’s land to its adversary signifies it defeat. That is the traditional type of war fought since time immemorial.

There is a war going on today in the land of Israel but it is not being fought with armies, aircraft, tanks and infantry. It is a war (also over territory) that is being fought with bullets, stones, Molotov cocktails and matches. In Judea and Samaria, every Jewish vineyard that is torched and every Jewish field that is laid waste is a victory in battle for the enemy. Every dunam that is illegally seized and farmed – in the Negev and Galil, as well – is territory that is intended to be lost to the Jewish people, and in the short term is lost. Every attack on a Jew in an outpost is an attempt to remove him from our land. Every military destruction and evacuation of an outpost is a victory to the enemy because it is land lost to the Jewish people and state.

It matters not at all whether land is seized by an army – or by farmers and shepherds, by stone throwers and arsonists. It is all land that is lost to the State of Israel. Since the enemy has no viable military option, all that remains in their militant toolbox is the opportunity to disrupt Jewish settlement and to commandeer as much land as they can before the Jews wake up. If they wake up.

The grievous error that is being made is adjudicating the acts of the settlers as crimes that need to be prosecuted rather than defense of the homeland. To be sure, wanton acts of violence against innocent people are unpleasant and unseemly, but war too is unpleasant and unseemly. It was Cicero who said that “In times of war, the law falls silent.” His point does not preclude the existence of conventions that attempt to regulate the conduct of war but rather to assert that conduct in war does not fall under the jurisdiction of the civilian criminal justice system.

The current conflict is not perceived as a war but instead as a series of unfortunate crimes by misguided youth because our government has an interest in the latter assessment and none in the former. If we understood that a war for territory is being fought right now then the government would have to take affirmative steps to protect Jewish land, promote settlement, encourage vigilance, and weaken the enemy. (In fact, the early Zionist settlements over a century ago developed in just such a way.) But neither this government nor the prior one is interested in that, preferring to try to keep a lid on a boiling pot even as land is lost, sovereignty is diminished, and most unfortunately, in the absence of effective governance, people are compelled to defend themselves and engage in a private war on behalf of the nation. That is a long term formula for chaos – but Israeli governments have long been noted for prioritizing short term “stability” (even if it appears feckless) over long term instability.

Prosecutions don’t work, as normal people will always defend their lives and property, and rightly so. No one will show restraint in the face of relentless assaults on people and property. Similarly, appeasement also doesn’t work, as if the problem will wither on its own (or be displaced by newer and worse problems). Paralysis that results from fear of bad press, tendentious UN resolutions or riots is appeasement. Ideally, the government should assert itself and its sovereignty over the land of Israel it is sworn to protect. It is futile to pretend that a struggle over the land of Israel is not occurring before our eyes, one that we can win or lose. Leon Trotsky may have been wrong about many things but about this he wasn’t: “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.”

Israel can fight the war (a low level conflict that is surely preferable to the alternative), deny the war or fight the people who are fighting the war (the current policy). But denying the conflict will not make it disappear nor will it dissuade those constantly assaulted from defending themselves. The downside is that violence often begets more violence in which even more innocents suffer, and uncontrolled violence is simply chaos. The upside is that this is a war that is fought and won not with guns and tanks but with fields and houses, by farmers and shepherds.

Perhaps it is our fate today to be a light onto the nations in the appropriate manner of waging asymmetric wars. But it is surely a “war” that can be preempted if it is “fought” cleverly, with determination, insight, and moral strength. And this will render vigilante justice superfluous and unnecessary, and our light can then illuminate the world in the pursuit of justice, peace and godliness.

Rav Kook's Igrot Hare’aya: Follow-Up Questions, part II

#90 – part II

Date and Place: 17 Shevat 5665 (1905), Yafo

Recipient: A young Moshe Zeidel. A close disciple of Rav Kook, from their time in Boisk, he asked Rav Kook many philosophical questions. He would become Dr. Zeidel, a philologist and philosopher.

Body: [We will see some of the questions that he asked in a letter that was for the most part a response to questions and comments of Zeidel to Rav Kook’s letter (#89).]

I refer now to that which you were asked about what I wrote on the reason behind the prohibition of sha’atnez. [Rav Kook wrote that the use of wool for garments has a somewhat negative moral element in that man “steals” a living thing’s hair to use for himself, which should be separated from the use of linen, which is made with man-planted vegetation, which contains no negative element.] You were asked: why then is it not forbidden to mix in fabrics of wool and cotton (which, like linen, is a man-raised fabric)?

In order to answer the question, I need to raise the general issue of inquiring into the reasons behind mitzvot. The practical mitzvot are like the form of the letters and words through which we are able to understand the concepts. If one word would be sufficient to understand the concept, is it possible to ask why there was not also another word that could express the same idea?

Certainly, the word that is engraved with the light of the world must be seen as clearly as can possibly be. In order to fully appreciate this, we must pursue knowledge of Hashem, and the highest level of thought must be etched in the image of the choicest of people. The idea [of not mixing the morally problematic with the morally fine] is properly connected to the concept of clothing, which is something that is worn for honor and grandeur, and not just for covering up that which is unseemly or protecting from the cold. The latter are related to the low and vulnerable side of man and also come about due to moral deterioration, which we believe will be redirected positively through the power of Torah. Therefore, linen, which comes from flax, was the most adorning garment in the ancient world, and thus appropriate for the unification between practice and the very lofty concept behind it. This is better than to connect the concept to lower-level garments, which are results of necessity and weakness.

Finally I will relate to what you wrote regarding Rashi’s opinion, that Hashem remembered [at the time of Noach] the merit of the animals that did not ruin their moral standing [by interbreeding]. This merit is the foundation behind the fact that certain animals were chosen to survive and others were not. Because their moral tendencies were not subverted, they were fit to be involved in populating the world.

This has nothing to do with free choice, just as having the merit of coming from righteous antecedents has nothing to do with free choice. On the other hand, there is no basis for the claim that animals have no elements of free choice. Certainly, their free choice is much more limited than that of mankind. However, for every living thing, according to its level of advancement, there is also an element of choice that it has. This is also the foundation of its development in the future until the time about which it is said, “They will not do evil and will not destroy on My whole mountain of sanctity” (Yeshayahu 11:9).

In fact, the newest studies of the animal kingdom increasingly corroborate that which I have said, although they have actually been preceded by the Torah, by means of the prophets, at length. Indeed, the word of Hashem will remain true forever.

The Yishai Fleisher Israel Podcast: Whooping Whoopi and Teaching the Ten

Season 2022 Episode 5: Yishai and Malkah get at what Whoopi Goldberg meant when she said the Holocaust was not about race. Then, Rabbi Shalom Schwartz on how to make the Ten Commandments a central pillar of societal life. Finally, Table Torah on the why God showed Moses a menorah of fire!

A fixed place at the center of the Jewish universe

by Rav Binny Freedman

The radio squawked, and the voice over the other end began issuing commands; it was our company commander, and we were preparing for an unexpected mission op. It was an innocuous moment; I had to take my pen & pad out of my pocket to write down a list of code words for map locations that I would then need to translate into coordinates for our impromptu mission: where was our drop off point; who would I be rendezvousing with, on what frequency, at what time, and so on. This was a procedure that was part and parcel of being a combat officer in the field and was really not a big deal. If anything, relative to some of the pressures that most probably lay ahead later that evening it was a moment most soldiers, especially in Lebanon in 1985, would not think twice about.

But for me it was a watershed moment. Because I was being asked to write down a list of coordinates on Shabbat, and I had never, in my entire life, ever lifted up a pen to write on the Sabbath. It’s usually not the big events that stop you in your tracks, because you’ve had time to think about them; life gives you pause in the little details. As a religious solider I knew what I had signed up for and had given much thought to the fact that I would be protecting Jewish lives and would need to drive and use the radio on Shabbat, and it was for me not the violation of a religious principle, but the upholding of one. But I was still caught unprepared when I realized I would need to write in a pad, with the pen in my pocket, on Shabbat.

A list of questions and doubts unexpectedly assailed me. I had no doubt that halachically speaking, I was in the right, and it was permissible to transgress the Shabbat whilst on active duty and with even the possibility that what I was doing was protecting lives. Rabbi Shimon in the tractate of Shabbat, suggests clearly that it is better to transgress one Shabbat in order to preserve a life and with it the ability to fulfill many more Shabbatot in the future.

What I was more worried about was how it might affect my desire to continue celebrating Shabbat in the future? If Shabbat was suddenly the same as any other day, and if on Shabbat I was driving, using the radio, writing down coordinates, and so, what would be left of Shabbat for me after a year or more on active combat duty? It suddenly hit me that in Lebanon, Shabbat was like any other day; the terrorists and the Syrians don’t allow you to stop on Shabbat; so what would become of my Shabbat and with it my Jewish journey, in the process?

This week’s portion of Terumah, introduces a new concept; the idea of a sanctuary, a tabernacle, the forerunner of the Temple designed to create a space for G-d in the world.

The Zohar suggests this is meant to be a “dirah ba’tachtonim”, a dwelling place for G-d down below.

But how and why would we be commanded to create a physical space for G-d? As no less than Shlomo Hamelech (King Solomon) suggested at the dedication of the first Temple:

“But will G-d really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!” (I Kings 8: 27)

As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks suggests in his Covenant and Conversation:

“Making a home in finite space for an infinite presence seems a contradiction in terms.”

Interestingly, while the Tabernacle is clearly the predecessor to what will eventually give way to the building of the Beit ha’Mikdash, the Temple, in Jerusalem, there is a fundamental difference between the two:

The Temple would stand in a fixed place at the center of the Jewish universe, in Jerusalem, whereas the Mishkan (the Tabernacle) would travel with the Jewish people without a pre-determined set location. Even today, Jews pray facing the site of the Holy Temple, while there is no such custom regarding the place of the Tabernacle.

In fact, Rav Avraham Yitzchak haKohen Kook was once asked why a Jew would be allowed to travel through the Sinai desert when he might accidentally walk on the site where the holy of holies once stood. His response (in his Mishpat Kohein) is that the sanctity of the Mishkan was temporary; once the Jewish people moved on there was no lasting sanctity to the places where it once stood.

Which is in direct contrast to the Temple on whose direct site all the authorities agree no Jew can traverse today.

Rashi suggests that the commandment to build a Mishkan was actually a result of the debacle of the sin of the Golden Calf. And while that topic is too lengthy for this article, one might suggest that at the foot of Sinai the Jewish people, feeling distant from Moshe, felt the need to create a physical tangible manifestation of G-d’s presence in order to create a reminder that G-d is with them, always. Indeed, the Hebrew word for calf: Egel is also the word for a circle (igul), the closest physical manifestation of perfection in this world. The Jewish people, so soon after the revelation at Sinai had not forgotten G-d, they simply had no idea how to manifest G-d in a physical tangible reality.

So, according to Rashi, G-d gave us a Mishkan, a place that would travel with us, which was really less about where it stood than about where we stood. It was a call to the Jewish people to create holy space wherever we were. And for a people destined to wander the face of the globe for millennium it was the beginning of the secret to our survival. In fact, one might suggest that this was the predecessor to the Jewish synagogue.

The synagogue is called a Beit Knesset, which really means a house, not of worship but of gathering. The Hebrew word kanes means to collect or gather, as Esther suggests to Mordechai in the Purim story:

“Lech Kanos et Kal ha’yehudim…” “Go and gather all the Jews…”

Judaism teaches us that we can create an environment of sanctity which can deeply impact us, by gathering together, and we create this space not by where we are, but by who we are. Which is perhaps why the space of the Mishkan was only holy when it was with the Jewish people; once we moved in the desert, which is not really a place, it did not remain sanctified.

And for thousands of years of exile we created our synagogue spaces wherever we were, and more than we maintained the synagogue, the synagogue space maintained us. And we learned that what we can create alone will never match what we can create together.

The Beit Hamkidash (Temple in Jerusalem) was designed to create an environment the way it was meant to be, and the Mishkan was designed to teach us that we could start working on creating such environments wherever we were.

Which is why the verse commanding us to build such a sanctuary alludes to this:

“Ve’asu lim mikdash ve’shachanti be’tocham.”
“They shall make a sanctuary for Me, and I will dwell in them [betocham]”

The verse should have said ‘I will dwell in it’ not ‘I will dwell in them’.

The Torah is teaching us that Hashem does not dwell in a building; Hashem lies deep inside each one of us; the Mishkan and the Synagogue is just a taste of that experience as it is meant to be.

And in Lebanon back in 1985, I discovered that whether making Kiddush in the mud before an ambush or singing the Shabbat services to myself while patrolling what we called death valley in the Beka, Shabbat is not about where you are, it is really about who you are, and it is with you wherever you go; all you have to do is let it in ….

.Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem.

"They shall make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell among them"

by HaRav Dov Begon
Rosh HaYeshiva, Machon Meir

"They shall make Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them. You must make the tabernacle and all its furnishings following the plan that I am showing you" (Shemot 25:8-9). Our sages derive from here that man is like a model of the structure of the tabernacle and its vessels. All parts of the Mishkan are hinted at in man:

"The essence of holiness and the sanctuary and G-d's presence resting on us is man himself. If a person sanctifies himself properly by way of mitzvah fulfillment, then he, himself, literally becomes the sanctuary, and inside him is G-d. As it says, 'G-d's sanctuary! They are G-d's sanctuary!' (Yirmiyahu 7). Our sages had just this in mind when they said, "The deeds of the righteous are greater than G-d's creation of Heaven and Earth… for regarding Creation it says, 'My hand has laid the foundation of the earth. My right hand hath spread out the heavens (Yishayahu 48:13). Yet regarding the deeds of the righteous, it says, 'Your hands found G-d's sanctuary' (Shemot 15). The righteous, by way of their deeds, desirable before G-d, themselves become G-d's sanctuary. G-d's entire purpose regarding the tabernacle and its vessels is only to hint to us for us to learn from it. Through our good deeds, we can make ourselves like the tabernacle and its vessels. All our deeds should be holy, making us worthy for G-d literally to rest his Presence in our midst. This is the meaning of, 'They shall make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell among them.' We must make ourselves into a sanctuary." (see Nefesh HaChaim, Sha'ar 1, Chapter 4).

Today, just as G-d chose the Jewish People to rest His Presence in their midst, and from there to shower the world with light and goodness, so did He choose Eretz Yisrael, Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and the Temple, itself, to cause his Presence to rest there, and through these, to illuminate the path of the entire world. As it says, "G-d chose Zion. He desired it as His abode" (Tehilim 132:13)). Moreover, as Yishayahu said (2:3), "For out of Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the word of G-d from Jerusalem."

In the exile, when we were one people, scattered and dispersed amongst the nations and sunken in darkness, the righteous and saintly elite built themselves up like a tabernacle and a sanctuary, as Rav Chaim of Volozhin said in Nefesh HaChaim (see Sha'ar I, Chapter 4). Today, however, in the generation of national rebirth, the generation of the ingathering of the exiles, our ambition, and our path must be not only for the spiritual elite, the saintly individuals to build themselves spiritually but for the Third Temple to be built by the Jewish People, literally. This can occur if we all unite together, as one man with one heart, and increase groundless love, the opposite of the groundless hatred that brought about the destruction of the Second Temple.

The way to unite and strengthen the nation is by a return to our unifying roots. Just as with a tree, the roots unite all the branches, so too the return to Torah, to tradition, with love and faith, will bring about the building of the Third Beit HaMikdash – soon in our day. Through us will be fulfilled, "A new light shall shine over Tzion, and may we speedily merit its light." (Shachrit prayers).

Looking forward to salvation,
With Love of Israel,
Shabbat Shalom.

Yeshivat Machon Meir on Parshat Terumah: Inner secrets of Hashem's Table

True happiness comes from self-fulfillment not self-indulgence

by Rabbi Pinchas Winston

Friday Night
The Ba’al HaTurim points out that the word terumah is the word Torah with a Mem, which equals 40. This teaches us that only those who learn Torah given in 40 days can eat terumah. Well, the truth is, they also have to be a kohen, because a non-kohen would be punishable by death for eating terumah.

But there are different kinds of terumah, which only means an elevated offering. This parsha is not about giving terumah to the kohanim, but about making contributions to the construction of the Mishkan. And this terumah seems to be less about what was actually given as opposed to how it was given, with the heart. Called nedavos haleiv, this terumah was a heart offering. The actual physical contribution was just the way to reveal it.

Tzedakah is another example. How much you give is less important than how you give it. True, the one collecting would rather have a large amount than a lot of heart with it. They didn’t come to strengthen their self-dignity. They came to better their financial standing, and they are perfectly willing to swallow their pride if, it means they will receive more.

Unfortunately, they usually go hand-in-hand. People are only generous when they want to give generously, and that usually affects the way they give it. The person in the street or at the door does not usually have a choice between one or the other.

I can see it at my own door. There are people who come collecting who make you wonder if they should be. There is a lot of fraud out there, and in many cases, the halachah might be not to give, at least not significantly. But it is hard to know on the spot, so you end up giving kind of begrudgingly, and not very generously.

There is an older man who comes around once a year only (he starts off by reminding us of this). He’s collecting for a yeshivah of ba’alei teshuvah, but there is a certain sincerity and chayn about him that makes you want to make him happily. Invariably, I end up contributing more than I would have had he come once a month for a whole year.

But it’s not just the amount of money. I noticed that even though we only know each other from our one-a-year-at-the-door meetings, I feel connected to him. I feel like I’ve known him for years, and am concerned about his well-being. I walk away feeling good about what I gave when he walks away feeling good about what I gave.

In most other cases, when I’m not so inspired to be financially super-generous, I learned a long time ago that, just asking the person if they want a drink goes a long way too. You can tell they’re used to asking for a donation, getting some small amount, then just moving on. Taking an extra second to say, “Can I get you something to drink?” makes them change tracks. They usually seem surprised, caught off guard, and respond with gratitude in their voice. One person once told me it was a less common “gift,” and very much appreciated.

Shabbos Day
IT’S NO DIFFERENT with tefillah. The Shema tell us to love God with our heart(s), life, and possessions. Prayer is our main opportunity each day to talk to God with our heart, life, and possessions. How many people do that?

Taking time out of your busy schedule to doven cannot really be called terumah. It’s an obligation. We have to pray three times a day. But how much a person puts themself into their tefillah is up to them, and can transform their tefillah into a terumah. The sefer Shoresh HaAvodah explains that just saying the words can take prayer only so high in the sefiros. It is a person’s kavanah—intention, that takes it higher, perhaps even the rest of the distance so that God can hear and answer it.

As we say, it is the heart that God wants. A despot doesn’t care what their subjects think of them, just as long as their subjects do what they’re told and don’t step out of line. But God is not a despot. He made man to be the recipient of His love and care, and gave man the opportunity to care back for man’s own good. He doesn’t need anything from us, but He gives us the opportunity to give back to Him to our benefit.

Obviously, it is for our own good, since God does not gain anything from what we do. He certainly doesn’t require us to do anything just for the sake of doing it, as tyrannical rulers often require of their subjects. Everything we get ourselves to do can only be for our own good when it is in keeping with God’s will. But how?

Let’s start with the obvious: mitzvos earn us reward in the World-to-Come. The better and more sincerely we perform them, the more reward they earn us. We can’t emotionally appreciate that now, but we can intellectually. My parents made me save my Bar Mitzvah “earnings” for the future, though I had big plans for them at the time. I could not appreciate at the time why their idea was better than mine, but I certainly could years later when the money came in handy to do far more important things with my life.

But we don’t have to wait until Olam HaBa to see the wisdom in giving terumah now. We are here to elevate Creation. We live to elevate Creation, to take the mundane and use it for something meaningful. One dollar may buy a pack of gum which will taste great and last a certain period of time. It might even have an expiry date on it.

But one dollar given to someone in need may be the difference between someone going hungry that day, or being able to eat something. Together with other’s contributions, it might feed a whole family, or allow someone to wear decent clothes, etc. Because that is what God wants, it becomes infused with holiness, even if everything remains the same physically. Gold looks great in watches and can make a person feel rich. But the same gold given to build the Mishkan where man can serve God makes the giver wealthy…forever!

This is the important point. When a person gives terumah, they eat terumah. Not with their mouths, but with their being. The greatest thing about giving sincerely to benefit someone or something else is that it gives back to us. Reward in the World-to-Come, which is priceless, and completion in this world, which is personally fulfilling.

It’s one of the ironies of life that the yetzer hara has blinded so many people to. We think we are saving ourselves by being stingy, but every time we act selfishly, we save ourselves nothing. On the contrary, we cost ourselves a lot more than we save. It’s like working hard to make money and rather than buy food with it, the person starves to death trying to save it. What was the point of that?

This was the fundamental difference between Ya’akov and Eisav. As Rashi points out in Parashas Vayishlach, their confrontation ended up being an ideological one, two points of view on how to use this world. Eisav was a hoarder of wealth and power for its own sake because he believed the more he kept for himself, the more he had. Ya’akov understood that possessions are only meaningful as a means to bring out our personal greatness. That meant using them in an elevated manner, which he did. Everything he owned was only valuable in terms of its ability to be some kind of terumah at the right time, even as a gift to Eisav.

The rule is, when it comes to the material world, the more you keep the less you truly have, which is why such people tend to want more even beyond what they could ever enjoy. It sounds counterintuitive, but that’s only because we’re used to listening through the ears of the yetzer hara.

But when it comes to the spiritual world, the more spiritual greatness you accumulate, the more life you live. Spiritually giving is getting. And as the Kli Yakar explains on the brochah Yitzchak gave to Ya’akov, not just in the next world but in this world as well. Yitzchak made sure of that when he blessed Ya’akov with gifts from God.

Shalosh Seudot
THE TRUTH IS, as we saw back in Parashas Yisro, the entire Jewish nation is called a “Nation of Kohanim.” That does not entitle non-kohanim to eat the terumah of produce grown in Eretz Yisroel, but it does teach us that other kinds of terumah are available to us to “eat.” As we say each day:

These are the things that when a person does them, he eats from their fruits in this world, while the primary reward waits for him in the World to Come… (Peah 1:1)

It’s not talking about just anything, but about specific mitzvos, and really all mitzvos in general. On one hand, a mitzvah is the performance of specific act commanded by God. Giving charity because a person likes to give needy people is a really nice thing, even godlike. But giving it because God said to makes it into tzedakah, and a mitzvah.

What’s the difference? When a person does an act for themself, it doesn’t elevate the act or what they use. If a person does an act, even the exact same one, as a function of the will of God, then the act and what they used are elevated, and Creation is rectified.

One feeds the body while the other feeds the soul. A multi-billionaire can give away half of his money to charity, but if it is self-serving in any way, it may benefit the body but not the soul. And like all physical pleasures, the benefit will be fleeting. If it earns them any reward in the World-to-Come, it certainly will not be anything close to the amount they gave because, in the end, they didn’t give that much. It’s the heart that counts, not the amount of zeroes, unless those zeroes are a measure of how much heart was given too.

In the Mishkan, and then later the Temple, the altar corresponded to the heart of a person. The Kodesh Kodashim and the Aron HaKodesh corresponded to the head and brain of a person, but the mizbayach corresponded to the heart. It was the place that we gave our heart to God through sacrifice to remind us that this is what we’re supposed to be doing in life even away from the Mishkan.

This is what it means that the God dwells within a person. When a person clears their heart of foreign desires and leaves the space for only the will of God, then God is said to dwell within the person. They don’t abandon their own will but, in the words of the Mishnah, make their will like God’s will. And to the extent that a person does this is the extent to which they eat the terumah they have brought, in this world and the next one.

As my good friend Ithiel Snyder just reminded me, “True happiness comes from self-fulfillment not self-indulgence.” That’s Ya’akov versus Eisav right there, and getting it right is the way to become a personal Mishkan for God.

Rabbi Ari Kahn on Parashat Terumah: Fulfillment of an old vow

Standing Together

by Victor Rosenthal

I still follow the rabbi of the largest (Reform) synagogue in the small California city where I lived before returning to Israel some 8 years ago. Yesterday, I saw that he wrote on his Facebook page that he and his institution, and I presume others of good will, “stand together,” against racial, religious, and anti-LGBTQ+ hatred, and “against all those who seek to divide us…all those who make people into ‘others.’”

He wrote this in response to a news report that several historically black colleges had received bomb threats for the past two days.

I don’t mean to suggest that he is insincere about deploring various forms of prejudice, but could there be an emptier gesture? I was tempted to suggest that if he really wanted to take action, he should send a busload of congregants to the nearest historically black college where they could spend the day checking dumpsters and bus shelters for bombs, as I recall doing during my army reserve duty.

Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), in a perversion of its name and mandate, has established what Amb. Alan Baker calls “a permanent inquisition” against the State of Israel. With a large staff and budget, this “Commission of Inquiry” will proceed to demonize and delegitimize the one Jewish state. Even for the UN, such a one-sided “inquiry” is unprecedented, and its outcome will be used to justify prosecutions, sanctions and perhaps even expulsion from the international body for the Jew Among Nations.

I did not see that the rabbi mentioned this on his Facebook page. Again I was tempted to ask what he thought about it, since one of the first acts of the Biden Administration, for which at least 80% of his congregation voted, was to rejoin the UNHRC.

I also did not see any mention of Amnesty International’s vicious, antisemitic smear of Israel as an apartheid state, which will certainly be used as “evidence” by the UNHRC in its indictment of Israel. Amnesty’s report calls for the arrest and prosecution of Israel’s leaders whom it deems guilty of “crimes against humanity” [!] and sanctions against the country and any other countries that support it. It manages to almost entirely leave out the hundred-year long war against the Jewish presence in the Land of Israel that has been waged by Palestinian and other Arabs and their supporters (with the help of the Nazis, the Soviet KGB, and other interested parties). Even the Union for Reform Judaism, to my surprise, found the Amnesty report scandalous.

If there were ever a group that suffered from being made “others,” it would be the Jewish people. In addition to Israel’s confrontational enemies like Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, and the grass-roots antisemitism that appears to be popping up everywhere lately, there is also an organized and heavily funded international campaign against the Jewish state. Participants include the UN, the EU, and their allies in the so-called human rights industry, like Amnesty. If you read the Amnesty report, you will see that they will not be satisfied with anything less than the replacement of Israel with an Arab state. Anything else would deny the “human rights” of the millions of descendants of 1948 refugees. What would happen then to the Jewish people, inside and outside of Israel?

American Jews, some 90% of whom are non-Orthodox, make up the second largest Jewish community in the world (Israel recently surpassed it for the top spot). If they would “stand together” as the rabbi suggests, and present a unified political front to defend the Jewish state, it would be a powerful counterforce to the international conspiracy – there is no other word – against the State of Israel.

But unfortunately, they seem to care much more about every other identifiable group – blacks, LGBTQ+ people, Muslims, and even Palestinian Arabs. When will we see the liberal Jewish establishment demand that its constituency “stand together” … for Israel?

Iran's Ayatollahs – the epicenter of global anti-US terrorism

by Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger

The anti-US strategy of Iran's Ayatollahs
The Congressional Research Service highlights SOUTHCOM Commander Admiral Kurt Tidd's statement that “as a state sponsor of terrorism, Iran’s nefarious involvement in the Western Hemisphere is a matter for concern." The Admiral noted that Iran expanded ties with Latin America.

Moreover, according to the Washington, DC-based Lawfare Institute: "…. U.S. authorities believed that Hezbollah [Iran's proxy] helped the Sinaloa cartel build smuggling tunnels under the US-Mexican border, drawing on expertise from Hezbollah’s work digging tunnels under the Lebanese-Israeli border [and Hamas' experience in building tunnels from the Sinai Peninsula to Gaza and from Gaza to Israel, smuggling weaponry and terrorists]…. Hezbollah has been suspected of partnering with Mexican drug cartels such as the Sinaloa cartel, the preeminent drug trafficking organization in that country for much of the 2000s…. Iran’s area of influence is not limited to its region. Over the past decade, it has launched operations, either through Hezbollah or its own agents, around the world—including in Latin America, Eastern Europe, East and South Asia, Western and Central Africa, and within the United States itself…."

*Notwithstanding their soothing diplomatic talk, the violent walk of Iran's Ayatollahs - since the 1978/79 Islamic Revolution - attests that the worldview of this rogue Shiite regime is not amenable to Western values and institutions such as peaceful-coexistence, democracy and human rights, nor good-faith negotiation.

*Iran's Ayatollahs have been preoccupied with guns rather than butter, since the February 1979 Islamic Revolution, which transformed Iran from "the American policeman of the Gulf" to the anti-US Islamic Republic of Iran.

*Iran's Ayatollahs have not been driven by despair and frustration (supposedly triggered by global sanctions and non-recognition as a major regional power), but by their 1,400-year-old fanatic, imperialistic Shiite vision, which transcends the subjugation of the Persian Gulf and the Middle East, extending all the way to the American continent.

*Iran's Ayatollahs are determined to export the Islamic Revolution world-wide, and establish a global entity, ruled by Shiite Islam, vanquishing (peacefully or militarily) the "apostate" and "heretic" Sunni regimes in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan and Egypt, as well as the "infidel" West, and especially the US, "The Great Satan."

*The attempt to induce moderation by showering the Ayatollahs with diplomatic and financial gestures and concessions ignores the Ayatollahs' pernicious track record, including the tendency to bite the hand that feeds them (e.g., terrorizing the US as a follow up to President Carter's 1978/79 critical assistance to the Islamic Revolution). The Western courting of the Ayatollahs is perceived by them as weakness, which whets their rogue appetite.

*Thus, the 2015 Iran nuclear accord (the JCPOA) provided Iran's Ayatollahs with a diplomatic and financial bonanza, but– as expected – it did not moderate their conduct. In fact, it was harnessed to bolster their subversive and terroristic ventures, accelerate the development, manufacturing and proliferation of military technologies, and expand the Ayatollahs' global network of anti-US proxy forces through training, financing and supply of military systems and technologies (e.g., ballistic missiles, predator drones, improvised explosive devices and tunnel construction).

The anti-US global terrorist network of Iran's Ayatollahs
The Atlantic Council reported: "…. A narcoterrorism conspiracy involves dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), drug cartels in Mexico, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah [Iran's proxy] …. The Hezbollah crime-terror network moved to Colombia and to the Tri-Border Area between Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina…. Hezbollah’s External Security Organization has co-opted many Lebanese families throughout Central and South America as well as the Caribbean…. It is tied to a vast transnational criminal network that includes an array of businesses in Latin America, laundering illicit funds…. In October 2018, the US Justice Department named Hezbollah alongside three major Mexican cartels and the Central American gang MS-13 as transnational criminal organizations…. A logistical air bridge exists between Caracas, Damascus, and Tehran. Thus, more than 300,000 Venezuelans reside in a city called As-Suwayda in southwestern Syria (“little Venezuela”), many of them dual-nationals. Hezbollah has helped the Maduro regime become the central hub for the convergence of transnational organized crime and international terrorism in the Western Hemisphere, multiplying the logistic and financial benefits for both…. Hezbollah’s influence within, and infiltration of, Lebanese expat communities gives Iran a gateway to grow its footprint in Venezuela….

"Iran has deep-rooted connections in several African nations—through its own agents or those of Hezbollah…. In 2017, the US Justice Department charged two naturalized U.S. citizens, holding Lebanese passports, with providing material support for Hezbollah's targeting of military installations and airports in New York City…."

The Congressional Research Service (ibid) notes special Iranian operations – including drug trafficking, money laundering, terrorism and intelligence – in the Tri Border Areas (Argentina-Paraguay-Brazil and Chile-Peru-Bolivia), Ecuador, Uruguay, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Mexico, focusing on leftist governments that share the goal of reducing U.S. influence in the region. In 2012, Iran launched a Spanish-language satellite TV network as part of its ideological, cultural and religious campaign. An Iranian intelligence network was established in Guyana.

According to the State Department Iran Country Report, 2020, the Iranian government continued supporting terrorist plots. For instance, Albania, Belgium, and the Netherlands have either arrested or expelled Iranian government officials implicated in terrorism on their soil. Iran remains unwilling to bring to justice senior al-Qaeda members residing in the country, allowing them to operate a core facilitation pipeline through Iran since at least 2009, and enabling them to move funds and fighters to South Asia and Syria. In Bahrain, Iran supports and trains local Shia terrorists. In Yemen, Iran has provided weapons and advanced equipment such as unmanned aircraft systems, training, and other support to Houthi militants, who have engaged in attacks against Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Iran supports various Iraqi Shia terrorist groups, which have targeted US installations, while committing human rights abuses against Sunni civilians. Iranian forces have directly backed militia operations in Syria with armored vehicles, artillery, and drones. Iran has supplied Hezbollah in Lebanon with thousands of rockets, missiles, and small arms, advanced weapons systems and technologies, as well as assisting the group in creating infrastructure that would permit it to indigenously produce rockets and missiles to threaten Israel from Lebanon and Syria. Iran has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in support of Hezbollah and trained thousands of its fighters at camps in Iran. Hezbollah fighters have been used extensively in Syria to support the Assad regime…."

The bottom line
*The well-documented domestic and external rogue track record of Iran's Ayatollahs should not take a backseat to speculative assessments of their future track record. Such an error of judgement threatens the survival of all pro-US Arab regimes, and undermines the national security and homeland security of the US.

*The track record of Iran's Ayatollahs, on the one hand, and the assumption that they are good-faith negotiators constitutes a self-destruct oxymoron.

*When dealing with the rogue Iranian regime, one should not exclude the military option or the regime-change option. Such an exclusion generates a robust tailwind to Iran's Ayatollahs, while betraying Iran's oppressed ethnic and religious minorities.

*While there may be substantial cost to a military option, it would be dwarfed by the regional and global cost of a nuclear Iran, including the cost to the US national and homeland security.

“I will dwell within them“ and if not, then Expulsion from Medinat Yisrael

BS”D
Parashat Terumah 5782
by HaRav Nachman Kahana

Part One: “and I will dwell within them“

Shemot 25,8:
ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם:
Make for me a sanctuary and I will dwell within them


There is a problem with this verse. Should it rather say?

ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכו
Make for me a sanctuary and I will dwell within it

I suggest:

Tractate Yoma 69b relates that Ezra the Scribe, the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) of the time and builder of the Second Temple, acted to eradicate the obsession for avoda zara (idolatry), which was the root cause of the first Temple’s destruction and the exile of the majority of the Jewish nation.

Ezra and his colleagues fasted for three days and nights, after which they saw the fiery form of a lion cub exiting from the Kodesh K’doshim (the Holy of Holies) of the Temple. It was the corporeal form of the human compulsion for avoda zara, which from that time on, although present, was very much weakened.

This requires an explanation:

1) Why was the dwelling place of avoda zara in the Kodesh K’doshim?

2) How did the emanation (expulsion) of the drive for avoda zara from the Kodesh K’doshim influence the national Jewish psyche?

For the answers to these questions, we have to turn to our parasha of Terumah.

HaShem commands Moshe to construct a portable Beit Mikdash – the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and its accompanying vessels.

The basic structure of the Mishkan consisted of two rooms: the Kodesh K’doshim (Inner Sanctum, Holy of Holies), which was off limits to all except the Kohen Gadol four times on Yom Kippur, and the Kodesh (sanctum). This two-room structure was enclosed in a courtyard called the Azara.

The three elements of Kodesh K’doshim, Kodesh and Azara, were present in the Beit Mikdash (Temple) of King Shlomo and of Ezra the Scribe (and Herod) and will be present again in the next Beit Mikdash which we will soon build, with HaShem’s help.

At the time of the Mishkan and first Mikdash, the Kodesh K’doshim contained the Holy Ark. However, towards the end of the first Temple period, King Yoshiyahu removed the Ark and concealed it in the depths of the Temple Mount. As a consequence, the Kodesh K’doshim in the subsequent Temples was an empty room.

In all the sacred structures, the Kodesh (the room in front of the Kodesh K’doshim) area contained three vessels: the Menorah, the Altar for burning of the aromatic Ketoret (spices), and a Table for the Lechem Ha’panim (showbread).

Upon leaving the Kodesh and passing through the Ulam (a vestibule), the kohen would enter into the Azara (courtyard), which contained the large altar for burning the innards of the respective sacrifices.

The higher-level sacrifices (Kodshei Kedoshim) such as the Olah, Chatat, and Asham, are required to be slaughtered, and their blood collected in the northern area of the Azara.

Now imagine that you are standing in front of a mirror. What do you see? Your head, two eyes, a nose and a mouth. Look down and you will see your neck and throat which lead to the internal areas of your chest and abdomen.

On the surface, you see the human structure. However, looking closer reveals one of the most profound creations in HaShem’s world – a miniature Beit Hamikdash, with all of its elements contained in the human structure.

The head is the uppermost part of the human body, consisting of the brain with its hidden and private thoughts – your kodesh k’doshim (inner sanctum). Just as in the Kodesh K’doshim of the Mishkan and Beit Hamikdash, no one can enter your thoughts without your permission. (It is interesting to note that the brain is enclosed within a double membrane, and the entrance to the Kodesh K’doshim in the second Temple was through a double curtain).

Now look at your face.

You are looking in your outer sanctum (kodesh), containing all the elements of the Temple’s Kodesh. Your eyes parallel the Menorah. Your nose with its sense of smell parallels the Altar for the aromatic Ketoret. Your mouth is the Table for the Lechem Ha’panim (showbread).

We leave your kodesh and pass through the big doors (throat and neck) leading to your azara (courtyard), which contains your digestive organs. Just as the altars of the Mishkan and Batei Hamikdash burn and digest the flesh placed upon it by the Kohanim to give sustenance and nourishment – to the world, so do your internal organs sustain and nourish your body.

When the kohen would exit the Beit Hamikdash, he would face east with his back to the west. In order to get to the north where the higher korbanot (sacrifices) were slaughtered, he had to turn to the left. When you look from your face down to your chest, your heart is to your left. It is there in your heart that the upper korbanot and higher emotional feelings are processed.

However, there was an area in the Temples which was holier even than the Kodesh K’doshim. At the top of the Kodesh K’doshim was a totally empty room called the “Aliya”, to which the kohen would ascend only once every seven years to examine the structure of the walls.

What parallels the Aliya room to the human structure?

Tefillin of the head, which is placed above our personal kodesh k’doshim. It contains four separate compartments, each one housing a different section of the Torah written on a small piece of parchment. The brain’s cerebral cortex is also divided into four sections:
The frontal lobe associated with reasoning, motor skills, higher level cognition, and expressive language.
The parietal lobe associated with processing tactile sensory information such as pressure, touch, and pain.
The temporal lobe for interpreting sounds and the language we hear.
And the occipital lobe associated with interpreting visual stimuli.

We are indeed all virtual, living, walking, breathing Batei Mikdash (Holy Temples)!

But there is more. The kodesh k’doshim (minds and inner thoughts) of all Jews are connected by invisible conduits to the Kodesh K’doshim of the Heavenly Beit Hamikdash, and the outer sanctums indelibly forged on our faces are connected to the Kodesh area of the heavenly Beit Hamikdash.

When Ezra the Scribe removed the yetzer hara of avoda zara from the inner sanctum of the Beit Hamikdash, the effect was its removal from all our “workstations” connected to the “main frame” in the Kodesh K’doshim in Yerushalayim.

The implications are far reaching. Something died within us when the Beit Hamikdash was destroyed. Our connection to the earthly Beit Hamikdash was cut off and we are now connected only to the heavenly one.

How can we restore the earthy Beit Hamikdash?

It can be achieved by purifying our inner and outer sanctums, and all our other organs. However, it is only in Eretz Yisrael that this re-connection can be forged, because it is only here that HaShem and the Jewish nation maintain a continuous dialogue, as stated in the Torah (Devarim 11,12):

ארץ אשר ה’ א-להיך דרש אתה תמיד עיני ה’ א-להיך בה מרשית השנה ועד אחרית שנה:
It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.

Part Two: Expulsion from Medinat Yisrael
Over the last years there has been a growing number of leaders of Israel’s radical left organizations who have made yerida (opposite of aliya). One who comes to Eretz Yisrael performs aliya [ascent]. One who leaves performs yerida [descent]. He/she leaves the country for greener, gentile pastures.

The far left newspaper, Ha’aretz, in May, 2020 printed an eye-opening article dedicated to those former leaders, and why they left and are still leaving. The article dealt with the leading radical leftist organizations which are funded by NGOs from Europe and the U.S. which seek to sever the umbilical cord that sustains the people of Israel and its connection to the holy land of Eretz Yisrael.

These organizations are well known to the public here. They include: The New Fund for Israel, the insidious Shovrim Shetika, Betzelem, Women’s Coalition for Peace, Matzpun, and too many others who bad-mouth the State, vilify Tzahal and malign all the good that is here as they maliciously feed our enemies (i.e., the NY Times) falsehoods and confidential security information.

There are reasons why they leave.
1) Their realization that the people of Israel don’t want to commit spiritual, historic and physical suicide; so, their leftist anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist messages have a hollow ring.
2) The Medina has become too “Jewish”.
3) And others are infected with the virus of self-hatem that begins with detachment from the Jewish way of life, from Shabbat , tzinut (modesty), Torah study, etc., and extends to their loathing of anything that would distinguish us from the gentiles of the world.

This is the simple explanation, but it goes much further and deeper.

The Torah (Vayika 18,28-30) states:

כח- ולא תקיא הארץ אתכם בטמאכם אתה כאשר קאה את הגוי אשר לפניכם:
כט- כי כל אשר יעשה מכל התועבת האלה ונכרתו הנפשות העשת מקרב עמם:
28: And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.
29: Everyone who does any of these detestable acts will be cut off from his people.

HaShem presented the holy land unconditionally to the collective nation of Israel, the descendants of Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov. However apart from the collective nation, the individual Jew lives here as a privilege, and not as an unconditional right. The privilege is extended to those of us who are aware of our great and noble ancestors and act accordingly. Those who cross the red line, seeking to sever the spiritual umbilical cord that connects the children to the motherland, are regurgitated from the holy land. So, we find the leaders of these self-hating anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish organizations settled in nicely in Berlin, London, and Paris, indulging in their inner feelings of moral superiority for having the courage to leave the “apartheid”, elitist, belligerent, racist county called Israel for the “righteous gentiles” of the galut.

Now, if this premise of HaShem expelling unwanted individuals is accurate, then the same applies to its corollary; that Jews who staunchly remain in the galut are not yet invited and privileged by HaShem to climb the mountain of Zion. And this is indeed regrettable because there are many good people out there whose presence in mother Eretz Yisrael would be a blessing to themselves, as well as to the land and its people.

Shabbat Shalom
Nachman Kahana
Copyright © 5782/2022 Nachman Kahana

ADL Hires Director for Jewish Outreach Who Hates Jews

“Jews have to be ok with Palestinians explaining why some turn to terrorism.”

by Daniel Greenfield



Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terror.

After the Hamas, kidnapping and murder of three Israeli Jewish teens, resulting in Israeli forces aggressively pursuing the Islamic terrorist group over the horrifying atrocity, Tema Smith retweeted and praised an article titled, "There Are No Good Guys In The Gaza-Israel Conflict".

The article, among other things, claimed that, "Hamas — and the Palestinians as a whole — have desperately real and legitimate grievances against Israel."

She also retweeted another piece urging Jews to, “repent for Gaza’s dead.”

“Here’s the thing: Jews *have* to be ok with Palestinians *explaining* why some turn to terrorism,” Tema Smith insisted two years ago.

Now, the ADL has chosen Tema Smith as its Director of Jewish Outreach. As a Jewish activist on Twitter quipped, “Whom do the Jews hire as Director of Outreach to the ADL?”

It’s a valid question since Smith, in her own words, has said of her role, “I educate the Jewish community on race and racism as a speaker and writer.”

Rather than educating anyone about the threat of antisemitism, she tells Jews they’re racists.

The ADL’s idea of “Jewish Outreach” is an identity politics hire who spends her time castigating Jews for opposing critical race theory and intersectionality because of its inherent antisemitism.

In an op-ed for the extremist Forward site, Tema Smith argued that black anti-semitism didn't really exist because "antisemitism in the black community is shown to be the symptom of the structures of racism in the United States". Last year, she attacked Jewish institutions that "platform speakers who call Critical Race Theory and antiracism inherently antisemitic."

Tema’s views on Israel come as no surprise. She was a fellow at the Israel Policy Forum. The IPF was J Street before the Soros group even existed and engages in anti-Israel activism. The self-described, “red diaper baby” refers to Israel’s “occupied West Bank and Gaza”, and repeatedly attacks the Jewish State for defending itself against Islamic terrorism.

The latest ADL outrage comes after a series of horrifying moves by its boss, Jonathan Greenblatt, which include ties to anti-Israel activists and minimizing BDS. But the hiring of Tema Smith outraged so many Jewish activists because it conveyed the ADL’s disdain for the Jewish community. Whom, they wonder, is the ADL reaching out to by hiring Tema?

But the ADL’s new constituency isn’t the Jewish community, it’s the anti-Israel Left.

Six years ago, Greenblatt wrote of BDS activists, “we should acknowledge the earnestness of their motives.”

Five years ago, the ADL touted Rep. Ilhan Omar as “inspiring”.

Four years ago, the ADL came out against security grants for synagogues. That same year,

Jonathan Greenblatt opened an ADL conference with a vocal defense of George Soros, and invited anti-Israel activists to the conference while a panel accused "some in the Jewish community" of labeling "almost all expressions that are deemed 'anti-Israel' as anti-Semitic".

Two years ago, Greenblatt and the ADL stood with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch against Israel. They cosigned a Black Lives Matter letter alongside anti-Israel hate groups like JVP. This was one of several anti-Israel letters or letters with anti-Israel groups that the ADL had signed on to that year.

Even while the ADL has undermined Israel and the Jewish community, it has waged a war on authentic pro-Israel groups like the Zionist Organization of America and Canary Mission.

The ADL’s embrace of Tema Smith is part of its repudiation of Israel and Jews. Tema Smith isn’t just terrible on Israel, but on even the most obvious and basic forms of antisemitism.

Two years ago, British Jews protested antisemitism by Wiley, a British rapper who claimed that, "there are two sets of people who nobody has really wanted to challenge Jewish and KKK" and ranted, “Why did Hitler hate you? For nothing?”

Tema Smith posted that "the Jewish community's reactions to antisemitism coming from black people is inherently tied to (implictly racist) fears of black violence."

Academy Award nominated screenwriter Lee Kern noted that, "Tema helped antisemites rather than British Jews when she slandered us as the racists for symbolicly leaving twitter for a day in protest of someone who champions Nazi talking points."

Even as synagogues boost their security in the face of antisemitic violence, Tema Smith hadcontended that "security agencies uphold white supremacy through profiling, etc” and defended claims that “Jews uphold white supremacy.”

Smith cheered the idea that the Muslim murderer of Sarah Halimi, a retired Jewish kindergarten director, who had shouted Allahu Akbar after violently beating her and throwing her out of the window, was the real victim.

On Twitter, Smith endorsed a claim that the "Jewish community press" are out to "maximize outrage and minimize understanding" of the Halimi murder case.

Smith agreed that the "sources on this have been misleading and inflammatory"

The ADL frequently complains abut inappropriate Holocaust analogies, but Smith retweeted an attack on the Holocaust Museum for daring to condemn AOC's comparison of llegal alien detention to the Holocaust.

Tema Smith is a wholly inappropriate choice for any organization that still occasionally claims to be pro-Israel and to be dedicated to fighting antisemitism. But the ADL is actually neither.

The ADL is far more interested in Black Lives Matter and transgender activism than Jews.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL's new boss, a veteran of the Obama administration who many blame for the organization's hostility to Israel and Jews, tweeted, "Mazel tov to @temasmith. Kudos for being honored for your vital voice in the movement to empower & include Jews of Color."

Tema Smith’s leftist politics and her identification as a black woman matter far more to the ADL than her position on any Jewish issues.

The ADL’s hiring of Tema Smith comes after its Never Again Is Now summit last year invited anti-Israel figures who had falsely accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" and blamed the Jews massacred in the Mumbai terror attack for their alleged attitude which "gives the sense of an elite club for Jews alone, is part of what provoked the terrorists to target them for the attack.”

I titled my coverage of that abomination of a conference, "The ADL Convenes a Summit of Anti-Semites to Fight Anti-Semitism."

Now the ADL has hired a Director of Jewish Outreach who hates Jews.

Rav Kook on Parashat Terumah: The Tachash and the Erev Rav

The Gemara gives an account of the enigmatic Tachash, a mysterious creature whose beautiful multicolored hide was used as a covering for the Mishkan:

“The Tachash that lived in the time of Moshe was a unique species. The Sages could not determine whether it was domesticated or wild. It only appeared at that time for Moshe, who used it for the Mishkan. Then it vanished.” (Shabbat 28b)

What is the significance of this unique animal? What was its special connection to Moshe, that it made its appearance only during his lifetime? And why did Moshe incorporate the colorful Tachash in the Mishkan, albeit only for its outermost covering?

Mixed Blessings from Mixed Multitudes
In Aramaic, the Tachash is called Sasgona, for it was proud (sas) of its many vivid colors (gona). According to Rav Kook, the multihued Tachash is a metaphor, representing Moshe’s desire to include as many talents and gifts as possible when building the Jewish people — even talents that, on their own, might have a negative influence upon the people. The metaphor of the Tachash specifically relates to Moshe’s decision to allow the Erev Rav— “mixed multitudes” from other nations — join the Israelites as they left Egypt.

The Erev Rav were the source of much grief. They instigated the Sin of the Golden Calf and other rebellions against God in the wilderness. And their descendants throughout the generations continued to bring troubles upon Israel. Nevertheless, at the End of Days, all the troubles these difficult and diverse forces caused will be revealed as having been for the best, as the absorption of the Erev Rav served to enrich the Jewish people.

One disturbing aspect of the Erev Rav is the phenomenon of many dynamic forces abandoning the Jewish nation during its long exile among the nations. Yet this is not a true loss, since only that which was foreign to the inner spirit of Israel is cast off. These lost elements of the Erev Rav were ultimately incompatible with Knesset Yisrael, the national soul of Israel; thus they were unable to withstand the pressures and hardships of exile. It saddens us to lose that which we thought was part of Israel, but in fact, they were never truly assimilated within the nation’s soul.

This outcome benefits the world at large. As these ‘fallen leaves’ join the other nations, they bring with them much of what they absorbed from the holiness of Israel. As a result, other peoples have become more receptive to Israel’s spiritual message.

Could the Tachash be Domesticated?
The Sages were in doubt as to the ultimate fate of the multi-talented Erev Rav. Would they be truly absorbed within Israel, enriching the people and remaining forever a part of it? Or would they only serve as a positive influence on the world, outside the camp of Israel?

The Sages expressed this uncertainty by questioning whether the Tachash was a domestic creature. A wild animal cannot be trained and will not permanently join man’s home. It can only be guided indirectly. A domesticated animal, on the other hand, is completely subservient to man and is an integral part of his household. Would the Erev Rav ultimately be rejected, like wild animals which can never be truly at home with humanity? Or would they be domesticated and incorporated into the house of Israel?

Moshe and the Tachash
Just as the Tachash only made its appearance in Moshe’s time, so too, this absorption of foreign talents was only possible in Moshe’s generation. No other generation could have taken it upon itself to accept alien forces into the nation. Once the contribution of the Erev Rav to Israel is complete, the nation’s spiritual restoration requires that they will be purged from the Jewish people. “I will purge your dross... and then you will be called the city of righteousness, faithful city” (Yishayahu 1: 25-26).

We usually avoid destructive forces which may delay and hinder the ultimate good. However, a far-reaching vision can detect the underlying purpose of all human activity, as all actions ultimately fulfill the Divine Will. The great hour of Exodus resonated with the highest vision; the first redemption of Israel initiated the historical process that will culminate with the final redemption. Moses, the master prophet, “the most faithful of all My house,” saw fit to include those varied forces that ordinarily would be rejected. And yet, like the skins of the Tachash, they were only suitable for the most external covering.

“The new heavens and the new earth which I will make are standing before Me.” (Yishayahu 66:22)

All of the wonderful forces of the future — “the new heavens and the new earth” — are not really new. They already exist. Even now, they are “standing before Me.” By accepting the Erev Rav, Moshe planted these diverse gifts within the Jewish people. Like seeds, they decay in the ground; but ultimately they will sprout and bring forth new life. The brilliant future light, with all of its spectacular colors and breadth, is not new; it was secreted away long ago. This resplendent light is hidden, like the multi-hued Tachash, until the time will come for it to be revealed once more.

(Sapphire from the Land of Israel. Adapted from Ein Eyah vol. III, pp. 105-107 by Rav Chanan Morrison)