Fear of G-d

By Michael Fuah

The German nation was the crowning glory of human culture: Equality, culture, respect for every individual and even concern for animals typified pre-World War II German society. Only one thing was missing: "Just that there is no fear of G-d in this place." (Abraham on why he feared being murdered by the Plishtim, Genesis 20:11). Soviet Russia, motivated by its ideology to perfect the world and its concern for the simple worker – produced Stalin. Both the Germans and the Russians had rectified laws, but their lack of fear of Heaven brought about the murder of millions. 

Technological advances, progressive legislation, war against corruption and more cannot prevent the "State of Law" from perpetrating terrible crimes. Conscious recognition of the existence of G-d is an existential prerequisite not only on an individual level but more importantly, on a public level. This is what the Torah warns us: "And you shall keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and you shall do them and the Land will not vomit you out." (Leviticus 20: 22-23)

Shabbat Shalom

Jerusalem Post: Feiglin: Turkey Should Apologize for Sturma

Feiglin: Turkey Should Apologize for Struma
By LAHAV HARKOV 04/02/2013
 
Turkey must apologize for sinking a ship and killing nearly 800 Jews in 1942, MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud) said over a week after Israel apologized to Turkey for the 2010 raid of the Mavi Marmara.

Feiglin recounted in a Facebook post the tragic story of the ship filled with Jews hoping to immigrate to pre-state Israel.

The merchant vessel Struma left the Romanian port of Constanta in December 1941 at the initiative of the New Zionist Organization and the Betar Zionist youth movement. Its 781 passengers hoped to sail to Mandatory Palestine despite British-imposed Jewish immigration quotas, and escape the fascist regime of Romanian dictator Ion Antonescu.

The ship docked in Istanbul on December 16, 1941, due to engine failure. Waiting at the port, the Struma’s passengers learned the British would not give them visas to enter Mandatory Palestine and that they could not disembark in Turkey.

After a 10-week impasse between British and Turkish diplomats over the refugees, during which the Jewish community of Istanbul provided them with food, the Struma was towed into the Black Sea. The vessel was abandoned about 16 kilometers from the shore. On February 24, 1942, the Soviet Submarine Shch-213 torpedoed the ship, which sank quickly.

The only survivor of the Struma’s sinking was a 19-year-old refugee, David Stoliar. The ship’s wreck has yet to be found.

“This was the greatest tragedy in the history of ha’apala [illegal Jewish immigration to mandatory Palestine],” Feiglin wrote. “On the Turks’ giant peninsula, known as Asia Minor, a real continent, they could not find a permanent place of refuge for the refugees of fascism. The Turkish expelled the immigrants to their death.”

Still, Feiglin concluded that Israel does not need Turkey’s apology or money.

“The Jewish people have a special talent. – They remember,” he wrote.

President Obama’s Israel trip: what you might have missed

By Tuvia Brodie

If you were not in Israel for Barack Obama’s first Presidential visit, you might have missed some of the action. Here’s an on-the-spot review:

Beginning Monday, March 18, 2013, two days before Obama’s arrival, Arabs in Bethlehem started protesting. They threw shoes and garbage at an American ‘advance’ team that had entered Bethlehem to prepare sites and confirm security. They defaced and destroyed Obama posters.

Tuesday afternoon, the day before Obama landed, Israel Highway 1 from Ben Gurion Airport to Jerusalem was intermittently blocked off. US Secretary of State John Kerry’s motorcade raced to Jerusalem.

Next day, Wednesday, traffic disruptions continued on Highway 1 for several hours, to accommodate the arriving motorcade for the President and his entourage.

In Jerusalem, several major streets in city-center were declared closed to traffic and parking from Wednesday morning to Friday afternoon. For those same three days, light-rail transport and city-wide bus schedules were disrupted.

Also on Wednesday, it was announced that portions of Highway 60—from Jerusalem to Bethlehem--were scheduled to close Friday to all traffic. The Highway was to become ‘sterile’ for a motorcade to Bethlehem. No vehicles would be permitted. That included ambulances. Emergency service would be available only by helicopter.

Over 1,000 journalists came to Israel to cover the visit. The President's entourage brought another 600.

Still Wednesday, the official Palestinian Authority news outlet published an editorial blaming America for the 9/11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Center.

Jewish residents of Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter complained bitterly that security arrangements for President Obama were putting them into a ‘siege’ situation. Food deliveries, which were done daily, were stopped. Residents were told that there would be no deliveries into the Quarter for any items for the rest of the week, Wednesday through Friday. Passover preparations were going to be severely disrupted. Shabbat preparations would be nearly impossible.

On Wednesday, the President landed at Ben Gurion Airport—and got stuck. The limousine brought to transport him would not start. Someone had filled the gas tank with the wrong fuel.

When Mr Obama shook hands with Israeli officials upon his arrival, two Members of Knesset spoke to him, asking that he free Jonathan Pollard. He replied to one of them, ‘nice to meet you.’

Former POW captive Gilad Shalit wrote a publicized letter to President Obama calling for the release of Jonathan Pollard, whose stay in a US prison was approaching 10,000 days.

 A community in Judea announced they would name a neighbourhood after Jonathan Pollard.

The women of the Rachel’s Tomb Foundation wrote a letter to Mr Obama asking him to release Jonathan Pollard.

As the President’s motorcade entered Jerusalem, signs captioned, ‘Welcome Mr President. Please Free Jonathan Pollard’ lined a portion of his route.

Israel President Shimon Peres asked President Obama to pardon Jonathan Pollard.

Thursday morning, prominent Rabbis marched in Jerusalem with the intent to ask President Obama to pardon Jonathan Pollard in time for Passover.

Arabs in Gaza fired rockets into Israel.

Arabs in Ramallah protested Obama’s arrival there to meet with Mahmoud Abbas.  The Palestinian Authority announced it would impose a 'curfew' in Ramallah for the President’s visit.

Arab lawyers announced that they would file a request with the Palestinian Authority prosecutor-general demanding that the US President be arrested during his stay in Ramallah because of the US army’s responsibility for the death of a Palestinian journalist in Iraq, in 2003, some five years before Mr Obama became US President. An Arab speaker told a crowd of protesters gathered in Ramallah that, ‘the US and Obama were the number one enemy of Islam and Muslims.’

In Gaza, protesters set fire to US and Israeli flags. Signs at the protest called Obama the ‘Hitler of the 21^st Century’.

In Iran, the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei chose this day to announce that the Islamic Republic of Iran would destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa if Israel attacked it.

In Hevron, Leftists from Europe joined Arab demonstrators to attack Israeli security personnel. Police arrested several Arabs and deported the Leftists.

In Thursday’s speeches in Ramallah and Jerusalem, Obama said that Jewish settlements in Judea-Samaria were an obstacle to peace; the only way Israel could thrive as a Jewish democracy was to recognize ‘the state of Palestine’; Palestine deserves to be a state; peace is possible; Israel cannot negotiate with people who are dedicated to its destruction; Mahmoud Abbas is a partner for peace.

At his Thursday speech in Jerusalem, Mr Obama was interrupted by a heckler. Reuters news service reported that the heckler had shouted at the President ‘in Hebrew’. Israel news interviewed the heckler, who turned out to be an Arab who called Obama’s speech ‘extremist and Zionist.’ Reuters had neglected to mention that.

On Friday, Mr Obama went to Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Memorial to place a memorial wreath. He was then scheduled to fly by US helicopter to Bethlehem while others in his entourage would motorcade through the 'sterile' Highway 60. But an intense sandstorm had arrived. Heaven and earth were blotted out. The Presidential helicopter was grounded. The President had to ride a hostile gauntlet through clusters of Arab protesters holding signs along Highway 60, the most creative of which said, 'Gringo, return to your colony.'

Here’s a picture of Bethlehem from 2:00 pm Friday local time, just before Obama’s arrival. The picture is from The Times of Israel, which credited Israel Channel 2 TV. If you have ever wondered what a Biblical-style sandstorm looks like, this is it:

In Bethlehem, just meters away from the Church that Mr Obama visited, a Muslim cleric declared that ‘the US is Satan and Obama is its head.’ Crowd control just before Obama arrived began to ‘get ugly’.

Friday’s plan to hold a departing ceremony at Ben Gurion Airport was cancelled: the sandstorm was too strong. Herb Keinon of the Jerusalem Post asked (from the airport) in a twitter, ‘what does the mother of all sandstorms at the end [of Obama’s visit] signify?’

Late Friday afternoon, as President Obama ran up the steps of Air Force One, Israel news reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to apologize to Turkey for the deaths of Turks killed when they attacked Israeli soldiers during the 2010 Gaza Mavi Marmara flotilla affair.

After the love-fest that began the Presidential visit, this parting declaration felt more shocking than loving. For some, it soured the love.

So it is that, as a Biblical-like sandstorm blotted out reality, US President Barack Obama left Israel. Perhaps, as we contemplate our First Redemption and think about the ten plagues of ancient Egypt post-Passover, we can also discuss the question, was the blinding sand-storm a Divine message--or reaction--to Mr. Obama?

Passover has ended. We are still slaves. Here’s the proof.

By Tuvia Brodie

Now that Passover is over, here’s a quiz: what’s the Haggadah about?

If there’s one thing most Israelis want, it’s to be free and safe. But in today’s world, that’s exactly what Israel does not have. This is where our Passover Haggadah comes in—to show us the secret to freedom and safety.

Did you notice that at your Seder?

The Haggadah is not just about Egypt and Jews. It’s about G-d. That’s the secret, one that doesn’t sit well with some people. They don’t like reading about G-d. In fact, they don’t like G-d.

That’s too bad, because according to a new Haggadah, (prepared by Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon ,The Shirat Miriam Haggadah, trans. Rabbi Dr Shmuel Himmelstein, published by Mosad Harav Kook and Halacha Education Center, Jerusalem, 2012), the Haggadah is not only about Jews, slavery and freedom. It’s about G-d’s role in our life. In fact, the obligation at our Passover Seder is not just to tell and remember what happened, but to thank G-d for it (ibid, p130, quoting Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik)—and to know that the road to our freedom depends upon our connecting to our G-d (ibid, 142-149). It’s right there in front of us: because we committed to the G-d of Israel by displaying the courage to slaughter an Egyptian god (a sheep), G-d redeemed us.

It’s a formula: when we as a people commit to Him; He commits to us. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.

Some Jews reject this. They lack the courage to commit. They choose to depend on Man or, more precisely, non-Jews. In some profoundly fundamental way, they discard what ‘Jewish’ Jews say and embrace what non-Jews say. The irony is, this ‘anti-Jewish’ Jew is the one most frustrated about Israel’s lack of freedom and safety. He wants that safety. He demands it. But because he rejects G-d he is frustrated. He doesn’t feel free. He doesn’t feel safe. He doesn’t feel joy. Instead, he feels shame.

In the Shirat Miriam Haggadah (ibid, p. 144), we see shame in the Passover story.  This ancient shame is the shame of our modern anti-Jewish Jew. It is the shame of enslavement. It is a shame that brings bitterness--a bitter herb that comes from being constrained and then hated by those who enslave you.

A slave, you feel shame. You become bitter.

The anti-Jewish Jew, we realize when we read the Haggadah in this way, is indeed a slave to all that is non-Jewish—its philosophy,  culture and beliefs. Committing to this foreign world-view locks us into an enslavement we cannot get away from. It is a psychic, toxic  Velcro: that which hates you clings to you until its breath becomes your breath.

Those who are religious and pro-Israel experience a bitterness and a bread of affliction once a year, at the Passover Seder, while celebrating our story of slavery-to-freedom. But for the anti-Jewish Jew, there is bitterness and affliction every day.

It is the bitterness of slavery.

Look at them: they worship the ‘not-Jewish’. They accept what the non-Jew demands. They cringe with fear when the non-Jew denounces Israel. They help the non-Jew to act against Jews; and to earn non-Jewish approval, they even tax Jews to support those who hate Jews.

For example, this past week, in the middle of our Passover holiday, anti-Jewish Jews in Israel announced that Israel will release to the Palestinian Authority (PA) taxes collected by Israel from some 80,000 Arabs who work in Israel. That’s fine. This regular transfer of funds is a courtesy one nation extends to another, especially when citizens of one place work in another place. The problem is, part of the monies to be released include dollars Israel had discussed withholding in 2012 to settle a 730-million NIS (Israel Shekel) debt the PA will not pay.

You see, Israel provides electricity to the PA. It’s a business arrangement: electric power in exchange for an agreed-upon payment. Consumers and businesses make this arrangement every day—and live up to their obligation.

The PA might hate Israel, but without Israel, the PA has no electric power. It cannot sustain itself. It must contract with Israel for its electricity. It takes that electricity—and then refuses to pay for it.  Last year, Israel announced that it would, in essence, garnish the tax transfers in order to satisfy the debt. Anti-Jewish Jews, however, have decided--on Passover no less--that Israel will allow the PA debt to remain uncollected.

As a consequence, the Israel Electric Company announced, also during Passover, that it will now seek to raise rates for everyone (mostly Jews) by 3% for (perhaps) a year in order to recoup financial losses incurred by this non-payment—this, on top of an average twenty per cent increase already imposed on consumers in the last year. Essentially, this amounts to a tax imposed on Jews to support those who hate Jews so much they refuse to honour even basic agreements.

The Haggadah teaches us that those who worship others lose their future, and those who make themselves subservient to their enemies lose their freedom. The anti-Jewish Jew teaches us that the Haggadah is correct.

So it is that anti-Jewish Jews enslave us. So it is that Israel does not enjoy safety or freedom.

HaRav Nachman Kahana on Parashat Shemini 5773

　

BS"D

Parashat Shemini 5773

A:

At the most dramatic moment in our parasha, when Nadav and Avihu, the two eldest sons of Aharon haKohen haGadol placed sacred fire on the incense altar, our parasha relates (10:2-3)

ותצא אש מלפני ה' ותאכל אותם וימתו לפני ה'

ויאמר משה אל אהרן הוא אשר דבר ה' לאמר בקרבי אקדש ועל פני כל העם אכבד וידם אהרן:

And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.

Moses then said to Aaron, "This is what the Lord spoke of when he said: "‘Among those who approach me I will be proved holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored. And Aharon remained silent.

Aharon remained silent because he understood the message that HaShem had sent to the Jewish people.

B:

Now, at the close of Pessach the holiday of freedom, we should take the time to consider what the holiday meant for each of us.

A fundamental principle of the Hagada is that each Jew should see in his mind’s eye that he too was liberated from Egyptian slavery. In addition to being a fundamental principle it is also a convenient and functional one albeit not in the manner that our rabbis had intended. But leave it to the Jewish genius, imagination and ingenuity to round off the corners and square the circles of Halacha and tradition to fit the convenience of the moment.

This same principle can be utilized for each Jew to see himself as if he too was with Yehoshua Bin Nun when storming the city of Yericho. He can remain in Boro Park today, close his eyes and see himself as if he too is living in Eretz Yisrael, defending its borders and connect with the Jews who are building Torah and the land.

It sounds absurd, but the opinions within the religious communities in galut abound with greater absurdities!

I am writing this, as always, with full knowledge that the Jews in galut, except for a trickle, will not return home. In the USA, the reform and conservatives are on a slippery slope to assimilation. Others like Satmar and the "Yeshivishe" world who would not eat in the home of an "orthodox" Jew and view marriage with the "orthodox" as shmad (conversion to another faith), are close to declaring themselves as the "Real Am Yisrael", not very different from the early Christians who declared themselves as the "New Israel" with a new testament, abandoned Yerushalayim for points west, and declared the rabbis and majority of Am Yisrael as rejects.

The remaining "Orthodox" - OU, Young Israel, Yeshivah University - will wake up but, I am afraid, too late.

C:

A RETURN TO MEGILAT ESTHER

Probably the most intriguing dilemma regarding the Megila, the 24th book of the TaNaCh is its total absence of HaShem’s name. However, I believe that the absence of His name was not a literary, historical or religious oversight on the part of Mordechai and Esther, but was intentionally eliminated in order to emphasize that HaShem’s was present at every moment and in every place in the episode, in every line and in every word and in-between them all.

The Megila consists of short "vignettes" conveniently and coincidentally pieced together to create a most improbable drama. While, in fact, the dramatic links were forged by Hashem and then welded together, as the Master stands invisibly in the background.

How often do we search for HaShem in our private and national lives, but with nary a realistic hope of finding Him. How totally wrong! HaShem is on the front, middle and last pages of every newspaper in Eretz Yisrael, which serve as commentaries to the Megilot of our lives.

To demonstrate this, I choose at random the front page of the Jerusalem Post, of the 20th of Nisan (March 31, 2013).

Headline: GAS FROM TAMAR RESERVOIR (offshore of Haifa) BEGINS TO FLOW INTO ISRAEL

What does it really mean?

Following WWII, an Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry was sent to Palestine to study conditions there and report to the UN. At that time there were about 600,000 Jews and a non-stipulated Arab population, the vast majority of whom had come from neighboring Arab countries in search of work at the Jews initiatives. The findings of the Committee cover three volumes; but one conclusion is most interesting. The learned committee concluded that in terms of available water, Palestine could not support any more people.

It was announced last week that the population of the Medina has surpassed 8 million (6 million of them Jews), and I don’t know anyone who is thirsty!

What the learned members of the committee were not aware of was the Gemara (Gitin 57a) that explains the expression "Eretz Zvi" (translated as either A Land of the Deer or A Beautiful Land), which the prophet Yirmiyahu used to describe Eretz Yisrael.

A deer’s skin grows to any dimension necessary to cover the animal as long as it is alive; but when the deer is no longer alive and the skin removed, it shrinks and can no longer cover the area it did before.

The Prophet Yirmiyahu states that Eretz Yisrael expands and contracts according to the number of Jews living here. When the nation is in galut, the land turns into a desert unable to support more than a few camels, but when Am Yisrael is present in the Land, it expands to supply the needs of every Jew here.

The discovery of gas in the two reservoirs - Tamar and its much bigger brother Leviatan - makes us energy independent in terms of natural gas; and beneath the gas is oil. We will be energy independent until the Mashiach comes, and will soon be a major exporter!

I have often written in these weekly messages that, based on the words of the prophets, we in Eretz Yisrael are destined to be materially the wealthiest nation in the world - followed by a return of the entire Jewish people to the Torah.

The gifts of HaShem will free us from our dependence on gentile "friends" and from the goodwill of Jewish communities in the galut who will be sending their "shnorrers" here for financial assistance.

In Shemot chap 6 HaShem tells Moshe:

לכן אמר לבני ישראל אני ה' והוצאתי אתכם מתחת סבלת מצרים והצלתי אתכם מעבדתם וגאלתי אתכם בזרוע נטויה ובשפטים גדלים:

ולקחתי אתכם לי לעם... והבאתי אתכם אל הארץ אשר נשאתי את ידי לתת אתה לאברהם ליצחק וליעקב ונתתי אתה לכם מורשה אני ה'

ֳI am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment...

And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD’.

It has come to pass in our days. HaShem has handpicked everyone in Eretz Yisrael to turn the dream into reality.

Indeed, how fortunate we are!

Another headline on the same page:

US SAYS IT TAKES NORTH KOREA THREATS SERIOUSLY

Why just now?

1- The new-old US administration has decided to flex its pro-Islamic muscles in order to force Israel to make suicidal concessions to the Amaleki Arabs. To this end, the American Secretary of State, who it seems has nothing else to do with his time, will be coming to Israel every two weeks to make sure that we free more murderers from our jails and do not put another nail in a wall in Judea and Samaria.

But as the Yiddish saying goes, "a mensch tracht und Gut lacht" - "Man plans and God laughs".

HaShem is making sure that the President and his cabinet will be so busy with Korea, China and Japan they would have no time for that thorny little Jewish country in "Palestine".

2- It is the feeling here that the US administration is perfectly aware of Iran’s intention to build a nuclear device, but the President is creating smoke screens in the form of sanctions and boycotts to give them the time they need.

Israel is under threat but it does not ring any bells in the steeple of the White House.

Comes HaShem and behind the scenes places the US in a similar position, so that now Obama will have some derech eretz for Binyamin Natanyahu, and act to sever the tenticles of the evil axis of Iran and North Korea.

How great is the salvation of our God1

3- The article states that the US is sending to the area warships and planes, including those that can carry nuclear bombs. If the N. Korean verbal threats gather impetus and enter into the realm of "pushing", the US will begin calling up its reserve military; and the President and his new Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will restore the military draft.

I have sent this warning several times before. Your sons and daughters will be inducted into the US army. Religious observance by woman or "divinity" studies will not be ample reasons for exemption as they were in the past.

In the book "With All Your Might" , I wrote:

"Now, one might guess that I am suggesting Aliya to Eretz Yisrael as an alternative; but what kind of a solution is that, for here too your sons must serve in the army. True! But what a difference it makes when your brigade commander, a colonel, is a Yeshiva bocher who doesn’t shave during the sefira period; who understands that the regulation time of half an hour for shacharit is not enough; who makes sure that what you and he eat is kasher; who will not let you violate the Shabbat unless it is halachically permitted, when the Colonel, who is unapproachable for a regular soldier, davens with you and even blesses you with birkat kohanim.

When your flab turns into muscle and you get calloused feet as the ground you march on are the hills of Yehuda and Shomron, as did your forefathers 2000 years before you in the defense of Eretz Ha’Kodesh.

A member in my bet knesset told me of his first day in the US army in 1957. The first night before going to sleep, the sergeant called out to all the men, "Be very careful with your personal belongings. For all you know you might be sleeping near a Jew".

I recall a poem we learned in high school. It described two soldiers in the First World War who were shooting at each other. One was a soldier in the German army and the other a soldier in the Russian army - both were Jews. The stanzas revert from the thoughts of one soldier to the other. The German Jew asks HaShem why he has to serve the Kaiser, and the Russian Jew asks HaShem why he has to serve the Czar.

Both take careful aim and mortally wound each other. With their waning strength, they both crawl out to meet the man who is taking away his life. When they are very close, one says, "Sh’ma Yisrael". The other says, "HaShem Elokaynu". And then gripping each other's arms both call out, "HaShem Echad".

So tonight, go into your son’s bedroom and look at him sleeping so peacefully.

Don’t forget to pull up the blankets. You wouldn’t want him to catch cold."

　

It is incumbent upon each Torah Jew to try and understand the messages HaShem is constantly sending us, as Aharon was able to do at the demise of his two sons.

In totality, HaShem is telling us, "Jew! Beware! The world is a dangerous place for you, except in your homeland - Eretz Yisrael".

If world affairs continue to deteriorate, the Jews in the galut could find themselves in a most regrettable situation, with no way of escape.

Shabbat Shalom

Nachman Kahana

Copyright © 5773-2013 Nachman Kahana

　

　

Moshe Feiglin's Freedom for Pollard Bike Trek

The unseasonably hot weather didn't stop Moshe Feiglin and 25 determined cyclists from pedaling uphill for 28 kilometers in their Freedom for Pollard Bike Trek. The 28 kilometers represent the 28 years that Jonathan Pollard has languished in prison. The message of the trek was "Yes you can!" to US President Obama. "Yes you can free Jonathan Pollard!"

On their way to the US consulate in Jerusalem, the cyclists stopped to visit Manhigut Yehudit's Michael Fuah, who is hunger-striking for Pollard (pictured here). Fuah's hunger strike was later featured in the New York Times, proving, Moshe Feiglin wrote on Manhigut Yehudit's Facebook page , that when people work for a cause with self-sacrifice, they set the agenda.

Moshe Feiglin summed up the day by saying that every little bit of effort comes together to achieve the ultimate goal of freedom for Jonathan Pollard. May that happen soon! (Picture: In front of the American Consulate in Jerusalem)
 

From Bondage to Liberty

By Moshe Feiglin


15 Nissan, 5773
March 25, '13

Translated from the B'Sheva newspaper

The results of the recent elections expressed a new national social agenda. The world of Left-Right to which we have become so accustomed is melting away. In the national consciousness, the old debate between peace and security has become irrelevant. Nobody really has expectations from the "peace process" and most Israelis don't really care about the settlements. The new agenda is on the continuum between existence and destiny: Civil identity as opposed to Jewish identity.

The Knesset seats that could have gone to the Likud, skipped straight over to Lapid and Bennett. The Likud, which avoided speaking about its own ideology and did not even bother publicizing its platform, has leaned on the Left for years. As long as there were leftists, the Likud could identify itself as not-Left. Prior to the elections, the splintered Left masked its ideology (with the exception of Meretz). The Left was no longer left. It looked like a Likud victory was going to be easier than ever.
But just the opposite happened. The Likud no longer enjoyed the energizing leftist contra. It no longer had the synagogue where it would never pray. The Likud remained identity-less, while on both its sides, parties that offered Israeli society identity – civil or national - flourished.

When Yitzchak Rabin's granddaughter, Noa Rotman, blamed me this week for responsibility for her grandfather's assassination, she brought society's conversation back to that bad place. My first reaction was to ignore her accusations, but on second thought, I understood that I had no choice but to demand her apology. I am not a private person: The struggle against the Oslo Accords encompassed a huge swath of society that was very seriously harmed and suffered a painful process of demonization and dehumanization. It is not about a personal insult, but rather an insult to a broad public. I do not have the right to forgive this insult in its name. If I were to do so, the demonization would never end. It is specifically the fear of a libel suit that will prevent more of these statements and will clear the public domain so that we may continue the positive process of a shared search for meaning – a process that is already well under way.

More and more, I understand that the deep meaning of Judaism is embodied in the vision of liberty. The message of the holiday of Pesach – the message of liberty from bondage to humans so that we may shoulder the yoke of Heaven, is the quintessence of Judaism.

The struggle for Israeli sovereignty on the Temple Mount, the site of the holy Temple, the place chosen by the King of the world as the dwelling place for His Divine Presence - is actually humanity's struggle for liberty from enslavement to other men. It is no coincidence that the Exodus from Egypt has become the symbol of liberty and was the model for the founding fathers of the United States.

This is the place to which we must lead the new Israeli consciousness: From bondage to liberty. 

Dangerous Exit from Comfort Zone: Passover Offering on Temple Mount

By Moshe Feiglin


Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them: 'Draw out, and take lambs according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb.
And you shall observe this matter for an ordinance for you and your sons for ever. (Exodus 12)


Soon, with G-d's help, we will establish Jewish leadership for Israel. Please be forewarned that when that happens, our familiar, comfortable Pesach holiday will be radically changed. We will have to forget about the Pesach sederwith the extended family at the home of the family balabusta. Instead, we will be face to face with the Korban Pesach (Passover offering) at the Temple Mount.

For those who have forgotten, the Korban Pesach is a positive commandment, equal in its importance to the mitzvah of brit milah (circumcision). The mitzvah of circumcision is a personal covenant between a Jew and his Father in heaven. The Pesach offering is the national covenant between the Jewish Nation and its Father in heaven. These two commandments forged the Jewish People as the unique nation of the Creator – both as individuals and as a collective.

Today, a Jewish policeman stands at the entrance to the Temple Mount and explains to the Jews that they are prohibited from praying there. A request to bring a sacrificial lamb is out of the question. When we will finally establish Jewish leadership for Israel, though, the same policeman will stand at the entrance to the Temple Mount and cheerfully explain what you need to know, ensuring that you are well-versed in the Jewish laws that must be observed during your momentous visit.

In truth, it is not the policeman who blocks our entrance to the Temple Mount. It is the observant Jews whose Torah and faith are still in exile. They/we feel more comfortable when our covenant with G-d remains exclusively in the realm of the individual. It's great to be religious in your home and "Israeli" in public. The people subscribed to this mode of living will go to great lengths to avoid being a complete Jew in the complete Land of Israel – both in private and in public. In other words, at some level, all of us have a little policeman in our hearts, blocking the entrance to the Temple Mount. That is why we have a full-sized, flesh and blood policeman at its gates.

When we establish Jewish leadership for Israel, all of this will be distant memory. The prime minister and his cabinet will ascend to the Temple Mount with their sacrificial lambs. The entire national mentality will change, and there will be no more lame excuses for not bringing the Pesach offering.

Instead of sitting in the comfort of our living rooms and chewing on matzah that symbolizes the Pesach offering, we will joyously sit in the streets and alleys surrounding the Temple Mount, eating our roasted sacrificial lamb.

The international uproar will be deafening. How will we be able to conduct "peace" negotiations when the entire Jewish Nation is at the Temple Mount with their Pesach offerings? And who will protect us from Iran? And what will Obama do? And how will Russia react? And what about the European Union? What will we explain?

'And you shall say: It is the sacrifice of G-d's Passover, for He passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses.'
Happy Festival of Freedom

HaRav Nachman Kahana on Parashat Tzav, Shabbat HaGadol and Pesach 5773

BS"D 

Parashat Tzav Shabbat HaGadol 5773

A:

Shemot 12:17

ושמרתם את המצות כי בעצם היום הזה הוצאתי את צבאותיכם מארץ מצרים ושמרתם את היום הזה לדרתיכם חקת עולם:

And you shall guard the matzot, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.

And Rashi comments:

ושמרתם את המצות - שלא יבאו לידי חמוץ מכאן אמרו תפח, תלטוש בצונן. רבי יאשיה אומר אל תהי קורא את המצות אלא את המצוות, כדרך שאין מחמיצין את המצה כך אין מחמיצין את המצווה אלא אם באה לידך עשה אותה מיד:

And you shall guard the matzot that they should not become chametz... R. Yoshiah says do not read the word "matzot" to mean only matzot, but read it to refer also to the mitzvot (commandments), and just as one must not procrastinate while baking the matzot and thus cause them to be chametz, one should not procrastinate in keeping a mitzva but must fulfill the mitzva immediately.

B:

The definitive difference between a free person and a slave is, in one word - time.

If one is evil and clever, and wishes to enslave another human being, or another nation, chains and whips are not the best method; one need only to control the victim’s time.

A very prevalent example of this is the lender-borrower relationship. The borrower must spend his time earning the money to return the debt, as Shlomo HaMelech says (Mishlay 22,7)

עשיר ברשים ימשול ועבד לוה לאיש מלוה

The rich rule over the poor,

and the borrower is slave to the lender

Hitler conquered Europe with tanks and planes; modern Germany is conquering countries like Greece, Spain and soon Italy by granting them loans, which will force them to work and slave to repay the debts.

This is perhaps one of the reasons that the Shemitta year cancels debts, because the Jewish people are freemen.

Many seemingly free people are in fact captives, in the sense that every moment of their lives is filled with things they are coerced to do or would prefer not do. A freeman is one who can choose how to spend his time in a manner desirable to him. People work and save for the "golden years" when they will be "free" to do all the things which were out of reach in their younger years, then find that their time is not theirs but dominated by visits to the doctor or worse.

Time is allusive. It cannot be defined. The past is no longer here, the future has yet to arrive, and the present exists only in a billionth of a second before turning into the past. Yet the Torah shows us the way to petrify time, to make it infinite. By using time to perform a mitzva which is never forgotten in the real world, thus time becomes a part of eternity.

This is the meaning of HaShem "mekadesh et hazmanim, (HaShem sanctifies time), by commanding us to perform mitzva in the time He allots us in this world.

How fleeting time is and how much we have to value the opportunities that HaShem awards us is magnified by the lesson taught by Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha (thought by many to have been the son of rabbi aAkiva) in the Gemara (Berachot 7a)

כך אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה: כשרציתי לא רצית, עכשיו שאתה רוצה איני רוצה

So said the Holy One Blessed Be He, "When I wanted you did not want, now that you want I do not want".

Meaning: At the miraculous episode of the Burning Bush, HaShem spoke to Moshe who turned his face away from seeing that which no man before was permitted, as the verse says (Shemot 3,6):

(ויאמר אנכי אלהי אביך אלהי אברהם אלהי יצחק ואלהי יעקב ויסתר משה פניו כי ירא מהביט אל האלהים:

Then He said, "I am the God of your father,the God of Avraham, the God of Yitzchak and the God of Ya’akov. And Moses hid his face, out of fear of seeing the omnipotent God.

However, after the sin of the Golden calf when Moshe returned to stand before HaShem on Mount Sinai to beg forgiveness for the Jewish nation, he requested of HaShem (ibid 33,18-20)

ויאמר הראני נא את כבדך... לא תוכל לראת את פני כי לא יראני האדם וחי

Then Moses said, Now show me your glory.

And the Lord said,... you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.

That is to say: "When I wanted you did not want, now that you want I do not want".

A major characteristic of our great biblical ancestors was their appreciation of the limits of time. Avraham rose early in the morning to begin the journey to Mount Moriah where he was commanded by HaShem to offer up his son, Yitzchak, as a sacrifice. The character trait of acting quickly in face of the unknown dictates of time was passed down to by Avraham to his Jewish descendants.

In the Book of Melachim 2 (Kings2) King David tells Natan, the reigning prophet of the time, of his intention to erect a Holy Temple for HaShem in Yerushalayim.

That very night Hashem appeared to Natan with a command that he go immediately to David with the message that HaShem does not want David to be the builder of His Temple.

The Midrash explains (Yalkut Shimoni Shmuel B 143) that HaShem knew that once David decided to do a mitzva there will be no hesitation, and by the time morning would come David will have already made a vow to build the Temple and will have already hired all the workers.

Time is the essence of Pessach.

In Egypt, each family was commanded to take a young lamb or goat, on the 10th of Nisan, and then sacrifice it on the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan. The meat was to be eaten no later than midnight, or according to another opinion no later than dawn on the night between the 14th and 15th of Nisan. At the crack of dawn the Jews were rushed out of their homes to leave Egypt, and the dough they were preparing for the journey did not reach the 18 minute time necessary for it to rise into bread, so we have natza.

The whole slavery experience was planned to be for 210 years and it ended in 210 years.

HaShem "works" with a stop watch.

The qualities that comprise an authentic, unspoiled Jew are courage, perseverance, alacrity, and promptitude - the recognition that when dealing with spiritual matters time does not work in our favor - the most dominant.. These are the building bricks of the Torah personality, without which the most one can hope for in Torah study and in the fulfillment of mitzvot is mediocrity.

The 80% of the Jewish nation that refused to leave Egypt that morning in order to follow Moshe into the wilderness lacked those character qualities. The 20% who left were instilled with these qualities, but not to the degree necessary to enter Eretz Yisrael and make battle with the Canaanites, but requested to delay their aliya to some future time, succumbed in the 40 years of our desert experience. Their children inherited the qualities necessary to begin our 3500 year unending connection with Eretz Yisrael, and they fulfilled HaShem’s time table of 7 years of conquest and anotherv 7 years of dividing the land.

World history evolves with nothing permanent but change itself, except for one entity which has never lost its essential qualities - that part of the Jewish people who are courageous, persevering, maintain alacrity, and promptitude. Those Jews who feel the pulse of history beating in the Jewish heart, and have no more patience for the galut.

Those who have these qualities are reliving the Exodus experience, here in Eretz Yisrael not after 210 years but after 2000 years of oppression.

C:

Take a wide look at the Jewish world today, with Medinat Yisrael as the center of the Jewish solar system with the various world Jewish communities revolving around it, each with its own characteristics and dilemmas. The conclusion of my observations is that the vast majority of what ails the Jewish nation lies in the ill "timing" of our leaders. The Jewish State is 100 years too late in its creation. Had the Medina been established in 1848 rather than 1948, our nation would look today very very different. The founding fathers of the 1848 Medina would have been great religious leaders, and the constitution would have been the Torah. The Nazi horror would have not fallen on six million Jews, because the majority of our people would have been in Eretz Yisrael.

But for the ideology that lead the religious of that time and is still rampant in certain segments of religious society to do nothing for our own emancipation other than wait for the mashiach, our lives would have been very different today.

But it seems that HaShem reached the limits of His patience with the religious leadership, and in the beginning of the 20th century, He opened the door for the secular Zionists and some religious Zionists to drain the swamps, establish settlements, build a military force to defend the Jewish inhabitants against the Arab murderers, lay down the infrastructure of the new State, and on May 14, 1948 (Iyar 5, 5708) declare the establishment of the State of Israel.

But it was too late to save the Jews from the physical holocaust, and the subsequent spiritual holocaust we are witnessing today of widespread assimilation in the galut.

It’s all in the timing!

The gates to the Medina are still opened for any Jew who wishes to come. And with the state of the world becoming evermore belligerent and hostile there will be Jews who will be caught in the lava of the world’s upheavals.

Courage, perseverance, alacrity, and promptitude - the recognition that when dealing with spiritual matters time does not wait for any man.

As in the words of R. Yoshia"

R. Yoshiah says do not read the word "matzot" to mean only matzot, but read it to refer also to the mitzvot (commandments), and just as one must not procrastinate while baking the matzot and thus cause them to be chametz, one should not procrastinate in keeping a mitzva but must fulfill the mitzva immediately.

This year in Yerushalayim - and in Shechem, Yericho, Chevron, Bet Lechem. Next year in all the lands of Eretz Yisrael, as stated in the Torah.

Shabbat shalom ve’chag Pesach kasher ve’samay’ach

Nachman Kahana

　

　

Let's Do Some Jewish Math

By Shmuel Sackett


As we approach the holiday of Pesach, I want each and every one of you to do some simple Jewish math. Don't worry; it is easy and won't take much time away from your cleaning and shopping.

Here it is: How many verses – in the ENTIRE Torah – deal with Pesach?
I don't know the exact answer but my educated guess would be about 20.
Now, how many verses in the Torah deal with the Mishkan/Bet HaMikdash?
Once again, I am not certain but I feel it is around 800.
Hmmm. Pesach 20 verses and the Mishkan/Bet HaMikdash 800.
Now, how long do you prepare to get ready for Pesach?
Add the times for cleaning the house, office and car.
Add the times shopping for food, Matza and wine.
Add the times shopping for clothes and other Pesach items.
Add the times for learning Hilchot Pesach, preparing for the seder, doing bedikat/biur/selling chametz, koshering/tovelling pots, doing all the cooking etc.
Using my guessing head, I would say that these times add up to at least 100 hours.
OK, almost done.
Now, based on my calculations above – that there are 40 times more verses in the Torah dealing with the Mishkan/Bet HaMikdash than Pesach - it should take you 40 x 100 hours to properly prepare yourself for the Bet HaMikdash.
According to my calculator, that equals 4,000 hours of prep time (which is over 166 days, working at this 24/hrs each day!!!)
Is that what you are doing???

I know what you're thinking. This guy is nuts. First of all, there is no Bet HaMikdash today so what is there to prepare for? Second of all, even if we do need to prepare, what is the comparison? Pesach is one thing and the Bet HaMikdash is something else. What is the connection?

Let me answer these two questions together. Sadly, it is true that there is no Bet HaMikdash today but that does not stop the obligation from studying, understanding and truly knowing every single thing that went on in that incredible House of Hashem. (Note: Even without having the Bet HaMikdash and with the entire nation being in a halachic state of impurity the overwhelming majority of opinions hold that the Korban Pesach can be brought in our day!) Unfortunately, however, many of us – Rabbis included – simply brush off anything to do with the Bet HaMikdash by saying, "These things don't apply today. We will learn these Halachot when Moshiach comes." With all due respect, this is absolutely wrong.

In many of his books, the holy Chofetz Chaim wrote about the need to, not only study, but actually master these concepts - today - even without the Bet HaMikdash. He said, over and over again, that if we truly want Moshiach to come, we need to be ready – and "being ready" does not mean preparing after his arrives. it means being ready NOW! This is similar to the analogy above about Pesach. Can you imagine cleaning, shopping and studying everything about Pesach only when Pesach is already here? Who would dare do such a thing?

But there's more. Pesach and the Bet HaMikdash are more than just a way to compare things. In reality, the two are deeply connected and – unfortunately – the Pesach we have today has almost nothing to do with the Pesach at the time of the Temple. During those 830 years, plus the 400+ years of the Mishkan, Pesach was celebrated differently than the way we do it today.

First of all, while cleaning is important, 90% of the Jews did not clean at all. Instead, they travelled – mostly by foot – from all over Israel to be in Jerusalem on time for Erev Pesach. Many of these Jews left their homes weeks before Pesach! They took their entire families with them, packed large quantities of food for the way and trekked across the country with their Pesach offering, Chagiga offering and many other Korbanot they chose to bring with them. These animals had to be watched carefully so they would not be blemished along the way. Then, on Erev Pesach, instead of what we are accustomed to doing, they entered the holy Bet HaMikdash in purity to offer the Korban Pesach. At night, they sat around a seder table and, after the usual reading and learning, ate an entire roasted lamb! After that, they went to sleep in the homes of complete strangers! The next morning, they, once again, had to go to the Bet HaMikdash to offer their Korban Chagiga. The next day it was back to the Bet HaMikdash to witness the Omer offering. In short, our Pesach commemoration is significantly different from what was – and from what WILL BE – when the Jewish people rebuild the third and final Bet HaMikdash in Jerusalem.

I am not saying that cleaning for Pesach is not important- it is! I am not saying that proper tovelling of dishes is not important – it is! What I am saying, however, is that we need to refocus and understand that being in the "Galut" means a lot more than we think. It is time for us to seriously plunge into the deep waters of what the future holds. The Jewish nation will soon return to Israel from the four corners of the globe. Very shortly after that we will have a Sanhedrin. After that comes the restoration of prophecy. That prophet will anoint a king. That king will build the Bet HaMikdash and then Jewish life as we know it will be changed back to what was originally planned.

And now for the good news: This process has already begun! 65 years ago Hashem gave the greatest gift to the Jewish nation in 2,000 years. He restored us to our Land! He gave us our inheritance and began the process of returning the exiles. This was not just some simple land swap or homeland for broken Jews from the Holocaust, it was the beginning of the process we have dreamed and prayed for since the first Tisha B'av! The children have returned home and our Father and King has welcomed us back into His palace. As you read these words, more than half of all halachic Jews are already living in Israel today!

This is what "Next Year in Jerusalem" means when we say it at the end of the seder. Therefore, before concluding this article, go back to the beginning and do that math once again. Figure out how much time and energy you – and I – need to invest into understanding what Hashem really wants from us and then - go and do it! 

President Obama versus Passover

By Tuvia Brodie

If you plan to go into Jerusalem this week, be forewarned: there’s trouble afoot.

This is the week before the Jewish holiday of Passover. In Israel, Passover is not a minor holiday. It’s not even a major holiday.

It’s a gigantic holiday.

When you walk the streets of Jerusalem this week, you might deduce that every Jerusalemite has chosen to rush onto the city’s sidewalks at the same time. People are everywhere.  You cannot avoid them. They rush. They don’t stroll. They don’t lounge. They are not in ‘vacation mode’. They are on the streets with a purpose. They march—each to his own beat. They have stores to go to, things to buy, shopping lists to attend to.

If you watch these crowds and listen carefully, you can guess what they’re shopping for: dish racks, glassware, plasticware, tableclothes, towels, linens, clothing, the Passover Haggadah—you name it and everyone’s either looking for it, talking about it or carrying it.

Even shopkeepers join the crowds: they arrange displays out in the sunlight. They hang ‘SALE’ signs on each display rack. Everything you need for the holiday is before you. Indeed, if you don’t buy it today—right now-- it will be gone tomorrow; just don’t linger too long outside a store fingering merchandise because you’ll attract an elbow or two from the stream of people pushing past you on narrow sidewalks.

This is a week of preparation. In this, the most Jewish of the world’s cities, Jews rush to complete their duties much as they have done for more than 2,000 years. There is excitement in the air. There is an energy you can feel. Everyone is animated.  

Passover is the celebration of freedom. It is, as our liturgy says, the ‘Time of our Redemption’. It is the time for joy—and you can feel that sense of joy growing from day-to-day as the week unfolds and the holiday pulls closer and closer.

This is our time. We work at it. We enjoy it. Today, you might see people shopping. But this is no ordinary shopping. It’s shopping with a purpose—a Jewish purpose.

When we compare the prophecies of our Tanach (Jewish Bible)with actual events of Jewish history, we learn that this is exactly the energy and spirit that the enemies of Israel want to destroy. These enemies have always had one goal: to come into Jerusalem to parade as conquerors. In modern parlance, that means driving through the city of Jerusalem in some kind of parade or motorcade that blocks and disrupts the Jew in order to show the world who wields power over the Jew.  The Jew may want to celebrate. But the enemy of the Jew aims to invade Jerusalem to spoil that celebration.

So it is written. So it has happened: The Crusades. The Christians. The Muslims. The pagans.

So it is today yet again. You see, this is not only the week Jews of Jerusalem crowd into their city streets to prepare for their Passover celebration; it is also the week that United States President Barack Hussein Obama has chosen to drive into Jerusalem on his first Presidential visit to Israel. So it is that, along with advertisements and announcements about sales and Passover family activities, Jerusalemites must now deal with warnings: your shopping could be disrupted. Your preparations for joy could be interrupted or curtailed altogether if you don’t pay attention. Streets will be closed. Pedestrian and vehicular traffic will be re-routed or even stopped completely. Neighbourhoods could be blocked. Business deliveries and distribution routes could be changed or stopped—all in order to accommodate the President’s motorcade.

You better get to Jerusalem before Wednesday. After that, good luck getting to where you want to go. If you are in the wrong street at the worst hour, your three most important pre-Passover shopping days could be devastated.

In our Tanach, there is one future scenario where Jerusalem is blocked off. No one is able to leave.  Jews are trapped as those who wish to conquer the Holy Basin shut down the city.

As it is in our Tanach, so it is today: if you plan to leave Jerusalem in order to get to the airport during the President’s visit, you might not make it. The highway out of Jerusalem could be shut down. You could be trapped, unable to leave the Holy city. The leader of the west’s most powerful nation, a descendant of the ancient Edom, will have caused Jerusalem to be shut down.

So it is that we see a miniature ‘attack’ of Jerusalem by the leader of Edom. He will motorcade as if triumphant through the Jewish city. He will ride as if a conqueror while Jews will be trapped.

As your Passover Seder begins, let this be your holiday lesson: Edom lusts for your Jerusalem.

Barack Obama, Jonathan Pollard and Passover in Israel

By Tuvia Brodie

This week, US President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Israel. There appear to be at least five storylines that have begun to swirl around his arrival. Taken together, they could make for an interesting Passover, which follows the President’s visit.

First, the US has declared that this trip will not be political. The President will not come with a peace plan. He won’t speak to the Knesset. If you believe the White House, this trip will be closer to kissing babies than doing business.

The second storyline says that Obama isn’t going to kiss anybody in Israel. He’s coming to kick butt, most particularly that of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  According to this storyline, Obama has an agenda. He will threaten Israel. He wants to see a ‘state of Palestine’ in place of Judea-Samaria, and he wants it now. His message to Benjamin Netanyahu will be simple: it’s my way or else.  

That ‘or else’ could be withholding US help for Israel against Iran; withholding military assistance;  cutting aid to Israel; threating to increase military aid to Israel’s enemies—or all of the above.

The third storyline suggests Netanyahu at his best—or worst. This storyline highlights the trouble Netanyahu has had forming a coalition. That ‘trouble’ has been in Israel’s news for weeks. Yes, he’s finally got his coalition. But it’s shaky. It’s built around two newcomers, Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennet. These two have been tough, according to Israel news. They have pushed Netanyahu to the wall. They give Netanyahu a coalition--but it’s not the one he wants.  These men are not dependable.  They could embrace Obama and endorse whatever Netanyahu agrees to-- or, they could reject Obama’s agenda and collapse the coalition.

But such a ‘shaky’ coalition could be Netanyahu’s ace-in-the-hole. His supposed ‘troubles’ could be a pre-mediated game-plan to prepare for any American ultimatum. You see, if Obama pushes too hard, Netanyahu can now push back: reduce your demands and deal with me, he can claim-- or, provoke my delicate coalition to collapse and force new elections. Then, you could end up dealing with two loose cannon balls. His argument will be as simple as Obama’s: better the devil you know than the two devils you don’t know.

The fourth storyline leading to Obama’s arrival is about Jonathan Pollard, who is now closing in on 10,000 days of incarceration in the US for spying for Israel. No spy in US history has served so much prison time. The President has refused to release him; still, some talk openly about Pollard playing a key role in the Presidential visit.

Given the tough stance many say Obama will take towards Israel on this trip, some speculate that the President might use a Pollard release as his own ace-in-the hole. It would be brilliant politics to announce that Pollard will indeed be released just as Obama demands—perhaps-- an immediate surrender of land for a new Palestine. The impact of such a double declaration could be tectonic. It could rival the celebration over Gilad Shalit’s release. It certainly would consume reams of newsprint and hours of gushing TV news stories just at a time when Israel could be facing its greatest existential political challenge.

A Pollard release could be the ticket that gets ‘Palestine’ into Judea-Samaria.  Look at Israeli poll numbers. Depending on whose numbers you look at, some 45 - 52 per cent of Israelis appear ready  today to accept ‘Palestine’. If a Pollard release is played right, how many Israelis would jump over to a pro-Palestine vote?

Will Obama play the politician and attempt to trade Pollard for Palestine—or will he be Pharaoh and harden his heart?

The last storyline is unusual. It falls well below most everyone’s radar screen. This story posits that Barack Obama will play an active role in the Jew’s Final Redemption. Most people reject such talk. The West might indeed be considered related to the descendants of Biblical Edom, and America might be a Western leader. But few connect such ‘religious’ talk to the real world of modern international politics: Obama is a politician, not a Jewish history figure.

But then, it’s certainly a coincidence that Obama arrives at Passover, the time of ‘our Redemption’.  Could there be a connection?

For many, ‘coincidence’ is not an accident; it’s another name for ‘Hand of G-d’. Whatever you believe about politics and religion, headlines about Obama, Pollard, the new Israeli coalition—and Passover—all converging at the same time seems odd. Obama coming into Israel with a Pharaoh-like hardness towards Israel seems just as odd. Then there’s Israel: in December 2012, how many of you expected to see a new Netanyahu government containing Tzipi Livini, Amir Peretz and the son of Tommy Lapid arriving as if on cue with the impending pre-Passover visit of Obama who, because of timing, will be forced, along with his entourage, to eat kosher for Passover food in the King David hotel?

"Free Jonathan Pollard" Bike Trek with Moshe Feiglin

Friday, 4 Nissan, 5773/ March 15, '13

"Free Jonathan Pollard" Bike Trek with Moshe Feiglin
from Latrun to US Consulate in Jerusalem

Join Moshe Feiglin this Friday, 4 Nissan/March 15 for a bike trek, 28 km from Latrun to the US consulate in Jerusalem. In front of the consulate, we will call upon the US president to free our brother, Jonathan Pollard. The twenty eight kilometers reflect the 28 years that Jonathan has been suffering in prison.

We will be leaving at 7 am sharp from Eshtaol junction, exit from route 38 to route 395. (See map below for exact route.) The route is on paved roads.

For those few people who cannot ride their bikes fast uphill for 28 kilometers in the heat, you can meet up with Moshe and the other riders along the way, or at Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem at about 12 pm. (See map).

Remember, this is a tough trek and it's supposed to be very hot on Friday. Safety and hydration are the responsibility of the participants. Bring lots of water and high spirits. We look forward to seeing you!

Bring on the Bourekas

4 Nissan, 5773
March 15, '13

Translated from the Makor Rishon newspaper

Dear Leftists,

Do you really think that retreat from the very foundations of our lives will bring us quiet?

How is it that you don't understand that the struggle for the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is the struggle for your home in Tel Aviv?

Yes, you are very afraid of war. Of course you are afraid. Who wants a war? But look where you have led the Nation of Israel with the disgrace of Oslo. Did you lead us to peace?

You have chosen the path of dishonor. It is the approach that dictates that we do not have any holy places; that all is simply real estate and that there is nothing worth dying for. Not even for what is most holy to the nation – the object of all our longing, the foundation of our identity and our destiny. Has your cowering surrender to the belligerence of Moslem riffraff brought us peace?

"You were given the choice between war and dishonor," said Winston Churchill after Chamberlain signed the Munich pact. "You chose dishonor and you will have war."

"Only Moslems can enter here," said the Moslem wakf guard at the entrance to the Dome of the Rock, which, until two years ago, had been a tourist attraction for one and all. "This is Moslem territory," the police officer concurred. "It belongs to the wakf. Your entrance is prohibited – even if you are a representative of the Israeli parliament."

"Feiglin went up to the Temple Mount according to law and in keeping with his personal faith and tradition. Ben Ami (the television interviewer) saw that as a ridiculous act, as if his Feiglinite demon had come out. Ben Ami was relatively gentle. Moshe Nussbaum, also in the studio, was much more aggressive and determined when he condemned Feiglin's actions. It was as if he was personally offended. Nussbaum's reports generally reflect the police establishment view and this time he sounded as if he was talking from their mouths. All they want is for there to be quiet in Jerusalem so that they can continue to eat their bourekas. Feiglin, as usual, responded with clear and interesting answers. But Ben Ami and Nussbaum did not listen. "
(Ha'aretz: Television critique from this past week)

If Chamberlain's dishonor got him World War II, what will we have to go through in exchange for a good bourekas?

The British learned the lesson. They went to war with Argentina over the remote Falkland Islands, across the ocean. This is how the mother of Western enlightenment understands the importance of earth under its feet. But for us Israelis, connection to our Land is the connection to the burdensome identity that we have been trying for so long to discard.

The Canaanite experiment that relates to the return to Zion as a pagan connection that skips back in time over the Bible, landing in ancient Canaanite culture – has failed. We cannot be connected to our Land without a connection to G-d. That is why we keep trying to give our Land to the Moslems. We will make do with only the outer shell – with the Kotel, the supporting wall of the Herodian expansion. We will cling to the religious wall, to the graves of the righteous, to trees and stones, instead of connecting to the only place that G-d actually did choose for His Presence.

"He who controls the (Temple) Mount controls the country," said Uri Tzvi Greenberg, the poet of accusation and faith. And we have given up the innermost heart of Jerusalem so that the police can keep eating their bourekas.

Israel is facing its biggest challenges ever. Until the eighties, the state struggled for its security and financial existence. From the eighties, the threat of direct destruction has melted away. Today, there are no more Arab armies on our borders. Parallel to that development, Israel's economy has been going from strength to strength. The massive Russian aliyah quickly adapted to a competitive market, catapulting Israel to the forefront of world economy.

The security and economic challenges are making room for the next challenge: the spiritual challenge.

The threat to our existence is not from the Iranian bomb. First and foremost, it is the result of the flourishing deligitimization of Israel's right to exist. The Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, is the temple of our mere existence. But it no longer fulfills its role. The VIPs who are led there no longer blame themselves for the sins of their fathers - and they are right. They want real answers to justify the Zionist "occupation" in Sheikh Munis – an occupation that threatens world stability. We must make the move from the Temple of existence to the Temple of destiny.

When we retreat from our identity and destiny, both embodied by the Temple, we have no chance to justify our existence in Ramat Aviv (Sheikh Munis). Not to ourselves and not to the world.