When Erev Pesach Falls on Shabbat

by HaRav Eliezer Melamed
Rosh HaYeshiva, Har Bracha

Erev Pesach occurring on Shabbat is special, for out of the sanctity of Shabbat, the idea of ​​Pesach can be understood in deeper way * The Fast of the Firstborn is moved up to Thursday, and the common custom is to attend the meal of a siyyum, and thus, not have to fast * The solution to Shabbat meals: eat bread outside, and then continue the meal inside with food and utensils kosher for Pesach * Se’udat Shlishit is fulfilled with various fruits, or meat and fish, and should be eaten before three hours after midday

This year we are privileged to enter Chag Pesach (the Passover holiday) straight from the kedusha (sanctity) of Shabbat, and indeed, this is something special, for out of the sanctity of Shabbat, the idea of Pesach can be comprehended in a deeper way. At the same time, it is important to familiarize ourselves with the special halachot for this year.

Bedikat Chametz and Biur Chametz
The time of bedikat chametz (search for chametz) each year is on the night of the 14th of Nisan, and when the 14th of Nisan falls on Shabbat, bedikat chametz with a bracha is moved forward to the night of the 13th of Nisan. After the search, chametz not found in the search is nullified as in any other year. On the following day, Friday, chametz that was found, is burned. It is best to burn it by the sixth seasonal hour of the day like in any other year, so that people will not mistakenly come to think it may be burnt in other years at a later time (SA 444:1-2).

Unlike other years, however, the formal declaration of bitul chametz is not said immediately after biur chametz (disposing of chametz), since bread must be left for the first two meals of Shabbat.

Ta’anit Bekhorot (The Fast of the Firstborn)
Every year Ta’anit Bekhorot is on the 14th of Nisan, but when it falls on Shabbat, the fast is moved forward to Thursday, the 12th of Nisan (SA and Rema 470:2).

Today, almost all bekhorim usually participate in a siyyum masechet (the celebration of the end of a Tractate) instead of fasting. Although for the rest of the fasts there is absolutely no heter (halachic permit) to eat by way of holding a siyyum masechet, for Ta’anit Bekhorot, the siyyum benefits all the participants because it is a Minor Fast. The other fasts were instituted by our Sages, whereas Ta’anit Bekhorot is a minhag (custom) practiced by the firstborn, but was not fixed as an obligatory fast, and can therefore be broken by the joy of a mitzvah, such as participation in a siyyum masechet.

The Problem of Shabbat Meals on Erev Pesach that Falls on Shabbat
Every year after biur chametz, no chametz remains in the house, but this year we must fulfill the mitzvah of three Shabbat meals, the first two of which it is obligatory to eat bread with lechem mishneh.

If it were permissible to eat matzah on the eve of Pesach, so as not to enter into a problematic situation because of the chametz, we would eat matzah at Shabbat meals. However, our Sages forbade eating matzah on Erev Pesach, so we would cherish eating it at the Seder. Therefore, we must find a way to fulfill the mitzvah of the Shabbat meals, but on the other hand, be careful to make sure that chametz crumbs do not come into contact with the Pesach utensils and food.

The Solution
In order not to make things difficult with chametz foods, the common custom is to cook kosher for Pesach food for Shabbat, start the meal with Kiddush and eating bread with a salad spread or a bit of fish in one of the rooms of the house that is not intended for eating on Pesach, or on a balcony. After eating the bread, one’s hands, clothes and the floor should be cleaned of chametz remnants and thrown into the garbage. After this, move over to the regular place for the meal that is already kosher for Pesach, and there, eat the kosher for Pesach food on Pesach utensils. At the place where the meal is finished, Birkat HaMazone is said.

Biur Chametz In the Middle of the Morning Meal
Like the se’udah (meal) in the evening, in the morning, Kiddush and eating bread should be done in a place that is not intended for eating on Pesach. In the morning, however, the time for biur chametz arrives. Therefore, before continuing to eat the kosher for Pesach food in kosher for Pesach utensils, one must shake his clothes well, brush his teeth from all remains of chametz, thoroughly clean the place where chametz was eaten from all chametz crumbs, and gather up all the remaining chametz remnants in order to remove and destroy it from the home. If only a very small amount of chametz remains, it can be removed and destroyed by throwing it in the toilet, and flushing it down. If a lot of chametz is left over, it should be thrown in the public trash bin, and it is correct to damage the chametz with soap beforehand. However, even if the chametz is not damaged, when thrown in the public bin, this constitutes biur, since the bin is filthy, and any food thrown in it is already considered disgusting and unfit for eating (Peninei Halakha: Pesach 5: 5).

The chametz utensils: If one ate on disposable utensils, they should also be gathered up in a bag and thrown in the public trash. If regular chametz dishes were used, they should be washed and put away with the other chametz dishes.

After biur chametz from the home is done, the bitul chametz (declaration of nullification of chametz) should be said, thus fulfilling the nullification of the chametz completely, eradicating in deed and thought.
Final Time of Eating Chametz and its Elimination

From the Torah, it is forbidden to eat chametz from midday on the fourteenth of Nisan, and in order to distance a person from transgressing, our Sages forbade eating chametz two hours beforehand, thus, it is permissible to eat chametz until the end of the fourth seasonal hour of the day.

As known, there are two opinions about how to calculate these hours. According to Trumat Ha-Deshen, (commonly referred to as ‘zeman Magen Avraham’), the hours are calculated from amud ha-shachar, i.e., from the first light in the east, and in the opinion of the Gra (Gaon of Vilna) and the majority of poskim, the hours are calculated from sunrise. Since this law is d’rabanan (rabbinical), the halakha goes according to the lenient opinion. Therefore, sof zeman achilat chametz (final time to eat chametz) this year is 10:40. Those who wish to be machmir (stringent) and follow the method of Magen Avraham, should finish eating chametz by 10:15.

Sof zeman biur chametz (final time of elimination of chametz) is at 11:41, and for those who wish to be machmir, until 11:29.

What to eat at Se’udah Shlishit (Third Meal)
Although ideally one should eat bread at Se’udah Shlishit, on Erev Pesach that falls on Shabbat, we cannot do so, as it is forbidden to eat chametz already two hours before midday, and matzah is forbidden to be eaten all day. Thus, Se’udah Shlishit is fulfilled by eating meat, fish, or various kinds of fruit (SA 444:1).

When to Eat Se’udah Shlishit
Se’udah Shlishit is eaten half an hour after midday – 13:15.

Le–chatḥila (ideally), on Shabbat that leads into Yom Tov, one should have Se’uda Shlishit relatively early – more than three hours before the end of the day, in order to enter Yom Tov with an appetite. If one did not manage to do so, Se’uda Shlishit should still be eaten, even if it is close to Yom Tov. However, one should eat minimally, in order to have an appetite for the Yom Tov meal (Rema 529:1; MB ad loc. 8).
Eating Mezzanot Kosher for Pesach at Se’udah Shlishit

One who wishes to eat mezzanot at Se’udah Shlishit may eat kneidlach cooked from matzah flour. As far as cake baked from matzah flour is concerned, the poskim differ. Some say that since it is made from matzahflour, just as it is forbidden to eat matzah on Erev Pesach, cake made from matzah flour is also forbidden (Gra, Rabbi Kook, Chazon Ish). On the other hand, some permit it since the cake no longer resembles matzah in form, and its blessing is ‘Mezzanot’ and not Ha-Motzi (so it appears from the words of Rema 471:2, and MB 19-20). Since the law is d’rabanan, whoever wishes to, may be lenient.

Matzah Ashira
“Matzah ashira” (“rich matzah” – colloquially known in English as “egg matzah”) is made from flour kneaded with fruit juice. In principle, matzah ashira is not chametz. Sephardic Jews are accustomed to eat it, while Ashkenazi Jews refrain from eating it due to various concerns. Today, however, doubts have been raised about the kashrut of matzah ashira produced in factories, as it was discovered that water is mixed in, and thus, concern of leavening exists. Therefore, many poskim today are machmir in this issue for Sephardic Jews as well (Peninei Halakha: Pesach 8: 1).
Not to Prepare from Shabbat to Yom Tov

When Yom Tov begins as Shabbat departs on Saturday night, we must take care not to prepare on Shabbat for Yom Tov. Shabbat is meant to be holy and restful, not a day to prepare for another day. Making efforts on Shabbat in order to prepare for a weekday or Yom Tov is an affront to its honor (see Peninei Halakha: Shabbat 22:15-16).

Therefore, washing dirty dishes on Shabbat in order to use them on Yom Tov is forbidden. Only after Shabbat may they be washed for Yom Tov use. It is also prohibited to clean the table on Shabbat to honor Yom Tov; however, it is permitted to clean it so that it looks nice on Shabbat, even though it will also be helpful to have the table clean for Yom Tov.

One may sleep on Shabbat in order to gather strength in preparation for Seder night, but le-chatchilla, it is preferable not to say explicitly that this is the purpose of sleep. However, there is no prohibition to do so, since the main prohibition is to talk on Shabbat about something that is forbidden to do on Shabbat. Nor is there in this speech that much harm to the honor of Shabbat, since it is for the purpose of a mitzvah.

One who leaves for synagogue while it is still Shabbat may take a machzor (holiday prayer book) with him. He should look at its contents a bit on Shabbat, so that his taking it will have served a purpose on Shabbat.

Preparations for Seder Night Food
In order not to delay the Seder, it is correct to prepare everything needed for Seder night from Friday: cook the food, prepare the charoset, the maror, and zero’ah, and put them in the refrigerator. After Shabbat is over take them out of the refrigerator, because it is forbidden to prepare from Shabbat to Yom Tov.

Contemporary poskim disagree about whether one may remove food from a freezer on Shabbat to be used for a Yom Tov meal. As a practical matter, under extenuating circumstances, such as if waiting until after Shabbat will cause anguish and a considerable delay to the beginning of the Yom Tov meal, food may be removed on Shabbat. However, absent such necessity, one should be stringent and not remove food from a freezer on Shabbat for use on Yom Tov (Peninei Halakha: Moadim 2: 12).

Candle Lighting
It is forbidden to light the Yom Tov candles before tzeit ha-kochavim, rather, one should wait until after Shabbat has departed, then the woman should say “Baruch ha-mavdil bein kodesh le-kodesh” (“Blessed is He who distinguishes between holy and holy”), and light the candles.

Since it is forbidden to light a new fire on Yom Tov, it is necessary to prepare a candle before Shabbat that will light for more than twenty-four hours, from which one may light candles on Yom Tov. If they were not prepared, one should take fire from neighbors to light the Yom Tov candles.

One may force the candles into the candlesticks even though this may shave off a bit of the candles. There is no prohibition of Meḥatekh (cutting), because the shaving is done with a shinui (in an irregular manner). It is also permitted to use a knife to remove wax left in the candlestick, if it is getting in the way of putting in the new candles. Similarly, if one uses tea lights or votive candles, he may pry the little metal discs left over from the previous night out of the glass cup. If one uses floating wicks, they may be inserted into the cork disks that hold them. However, one using candles may not melt the bottoms to make them stay in the candlestick, as this is a derivative of Memaḥek (smoothing). Similarly, it is forbidden to cut the bottoms or sand them in order to stick the candles into the candlesticks, because this is a violation of Meḥatekh (Peninei Halakha: Moadim 2:3).

Rav Kook's Igrot Hare’aya: The Need to Be Connected to our Past, Part II

Letter #18 – part II

Date and Place: Adar 5665 (1905), the holy city of Yafo

Recipient: An open letter

Summary of Part I: Last time we saw the beginning of Rav Kook’s public rebuke of the editor of the Hashkafa periodical. The latter had written that the Zionists for Zion who accused the Ugandists of turning their back on their pasts were hypocrites because all Jews, except the extreme religious, turned their backs on their past, and he is proud of that.

Body: I am judging in a meritorious light our “hanging limb” (i.e., one who is not properly connected to the “body” of the nation), the editor of Hashkafa (Eliezer Ben Yehuda). His dreams are purely a function of the musings of his heart. His Jewish name perhaps already has rotted by him, and it may be that he already does not feel any connection to our past. Perhaps he can comfortably say that he has turned his back on it (in truth, when withering leaves like these fall from the tree, it does not cause great loss to the “orchard of the House of Israel”).

In his type of outlook, there is no other [legitimate] viewpoint in the world other than his own, and whoever opposes him must be a member of the “Searching for Sin” (a term Ben Yehuda used for zealous religionists), whom he portrays as monsters and the symbol of people who do not fit in with society. Let us leave him to dream as he wishes. However, when he comes to testify that all of us are hanging limbs like he is and that we all say that we have turned our back on our past, which is the source of our life that is connected to our present and our future until eternity, then we are required to protest. We must announce that this is not in our hearts, but that these ideas that blaspheme “ma’archot Yisrael” (the term Goliat used in mocking the G-d of Israel – Shmuel I, 17:10) emanate from his heart.

I am not at all getting involved in the argument between the “Zionists of Zion” and the “Ugandists.” There are certainly, in both factions, people who are honest and truly love their nation, who do not at all turn their back on the past, just as there are such people among those who oppose the Zionist movement as a whole. It is a bad sign for a faction if it thinks that only within it is there a “source of life,” or that it contains all of the wisdom and the integrity, and that anyone else is full of vanity and bad spirit (based on Kohelet 2:17).

Therefore, there is no need whatsoever for the Ugandists to defend themselves with this pronouncement, i.e., that they turn their back on their past. They are Ugandists without that claim. It is only the imagination of the editor of Hashkafa and the few who “drink his water” to find support for their desire to turn their back on the past, like “writing on the horn of a bull that they have no part in the G-d of Israel” (what the Greeks demanded of the Jews to do – Yerushalmi, Chagiga 2:2).

We continue next time from this point.

Rabbi Ari Kahn on Parashat Vayikra: Mindfulness

 

Israel and the China Dilemma: Are the opportunities greater than the risks?

by Joseph Puder



In the late spring of 2020, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Israel. His visit came after Israel formed a coalition government between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White Party. Pompeo, while endorsing Israel’s rights to Judea and Samaria, had a blunt message for his Israeli friends: “Beware of China.” Pompeo added, “We don’t want the Chinese Communist Party to have access to Israeli infrastructure, Israeli communication networks, and the kind of things that endanger the Israeli people and the ability of the US to cooperate with Israel.”

Pompeo’s gently expressed admonition to Israeli officials was not new. In the 1990’s, the US pressed Israel to cancel a deal to sell the Phalcon Intelligence surveillance aircraft to China. Israel backed down, and was compelled to return the $250 million to Beijing that the Chinese had invested in the project.

For Israel, the situation was terribly uncomfortable. It was forced to choose between its closest and most trusted ally – the US, and a great business opportunity with China. There was little hesitation however, on Israel’s part. The US will always be Israel’s top priority.

In fact, almost immediately following Pompeo’s warning, the Israeli government decided to pass on a bid by the Israeli affiliate of the Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchinson, to build a $1.5 billion water desalination plant in southern Israel. The contract was awarded instead to a local Israeli company named IDE Technologies.

American culture is so pervasive in Israel that many Israelis might quip that Israel is the 51st state of the United States. Every American fad and fashion is almost immediately adopted in Israel. Thankfully for Israel, the US and Israeli interests in the region, although not identical, they come as close as two countries can be. Israel moreover, has voted with the US more often than practically any other country.

While the US views China as a rival, and by some in the US establishment as a potential enemy, Israel sees China as an opportunity. China is now the second largest economy after the US. Yet, insofar as Israel’s security is concerned, China is also a primary supplier of arms, technology, and probably intelligence to Iran, Israel’s major enemy.

The US considers China as a threat in various ways: strategic, commercial, and technological. Today, China is no longer confined to its own region. It operates in Africa, throughout Asia, in Ecuador (Latin America), and is seeking to expand its commercial deals, political influence, and national interests globally, including the Middle East. China has upgraded its military, and has laid claim to the Paracel and Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, which are also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. China took over Hong Kong and is suppressing democracy there. Taiwan is under constant threat from Beijing.

Commercially, China’s e-commerce giant company, Alibaba, outstrips America’s Amazon in worldwide sales. With its Belt and Road ventures, China is penetrating into global markets by extending loans, particularly to poor countries that often lag in repayments. When this occurs, China takes over the project by leasing it for 99 years. That is how China is obtaining strategic outposts, and commercial assets. China is also stealing technology (intellectual property) everywhere, particularly from the US. Israel’s high-tech is also an important target for Beijing.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s state visit to China in 2013 opened the door to more extensive commerce between the two countries. During that time, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing contributed $130 million to open a branch of Israel’s highly acclaimed technological institute – Technion (Haifa), in Shantou, the Chinese city of over 5 million people, located 230 miles northeast of Hong Kong.

Currently, four state owned Chinese companies are involved in major infrastructure projects in Israel. They are operating on the following projects: a) the expansion of the Ashdod port; b) partial construction of a new terminal by the Haifa port (the Chinese have operation rights for 25 years); c) construction and operation of the Tel Aviv light rail; d) digging of the Carmel (Haifa area) tunnels.

Haifa and Ashdod are Israel’s main shipping ports on the Mediterranean, where 99% of its trade goes through the sea. The Tel Aviv light rail will be running close to the Kirya - where Israel’s Defense Force (IDF) main headquarters is located. This could expose Israel to a cyber intelligence attack. China would have an opportunity to conduct surveillance, and given China’s close relations with Iran - Israel’s arch enemy, Israel must consider the risks. Furthermore, one of the Chinese companies working on Israel’s infrastructure projects is CCCC Dredging and its subsidiary includes CHEC, which has worked with the Chinese military, and is now partaking in developing the Ashdod port, located next to an IDF naval base.

The chief of Israel’s General Security Service (Shabach) or Shin Bet, Nadav Argaman, warned (January, 2019) that, “Chinese influence in Israel is particularly dangerous in terms of strategic infrastructure and investments in larger companies.” Argaman argued that the Knesset needs to pass legislation to monitor foreign investments in Israel. He added, “There are gaps in Israeli law in regards to its security needs in terms of overseeing foreign investments.”

Israel cannot afford to let a Chinese company operate the port of Haifa. Should Israel be in a war situation with Iran or Hezbollah, it would constitute a disastrous situation for Israel’s security. Additionally, the US warned Israel that should China run the port of Haifa, the US Six Fleet might limit its visits there.

Chinese companies currently control or influence a quarter of Israel’s high tech sector. Huawei, a giant Chinese telecommunications company that has been investigated by the US Congress, is also invested in Israel. The New York Times reported (10/8/2012) that the House Intelligence Committee, after “a yearlong investigation, it had come to the conclusion that the Chinese businesses, Huawei Technologies and ZTE, Inc., were a national security threat because of their attempts to extract sensitive information from American companies, and their loyalties to the Chinese government.” Apparently, all Chinese companies are required to report to the Chinese government…

Israel needs to adopt a more comprehensive policy to address both US sensitivities and its own national security considerations. Australia and Canada have done it. They have tightened their foreign investment oversight regimes. Israel must do likewise. In recent years, Israel has not done anything that looks like defense deals, or something that can be considered of dual use with China. Israel, however, must look ahead and consider that China might become a threat to the region. The Chinese military already has a presence at the mouth of the Red Sea in the Horn of Africa, in Djibouti, and is seeking to have a role in Syria.

Opportunistic commercial deals with China notwithstanding, Israel must consider its security first. The Jewish state needs to devise a clear plan that specifies what can and cannot be sold for strategic reasons. Mike Pompeo’s warning, “Beware of China,” must guide Israeli policymakers.

Vayikra is not just being called; it’s a calling.

by Rav Binny Freedman

It wasn’t the danger, or the tension, or even the uncertainty of what lay ahead that was the most challenging part of being in Lebanon, it was the drain of the routine. Day in, day out, patrol after patrol, eight-hour shift after eight hour shift, Lebanon had a way of wearing you down, until it all became one big blur of green.

Which was probably why he slipped by me. Every time we went out on patrol my responsibility as the Officer On Duty (O.O.D.) was to brief and inspect the men.

Twenty years later I can still do it in my sleep: ammunition, cartridges, special weapons check, dog tags, canteens, passwords, orders for opening fire, radio frequencies, personnel check, emergency systems…all done so many times it became a routine you barely needed to keep your eyes open for.

Sometimes, despite having a list of the men going out, a name would change because someone switched duty with someone else, and this was such a day. One of the guys had a pass, and found someone to switch with him, which was how this fellow, we’ll call him Uri, showed up for our patrol.

Under normal circumstances if a personnel change occurs before a patrol, you have a responsibility to be sure the new man is sufficiently trained and able to fulfill his duties, but after so many patrols, you just assume that anyone on patrol is trained for combat and knows what is involved before agreeing to walk the back roads south of Tsidon (below Beirut). Which was why I was shocked to suddenly realize, half- way through the patrol that the reason this particular soldier, a wisp of a fellow, looked so familiar, was that he was the assistant to the Battalion rabbi, in charge mainly of keeping the kitchen kosher who thought it would be a lark to go out on a patrol! In fact, he wasn’t even combat-trained!

So what do you do? We had a responsibility to finish our patrol as our mission was to make sure there were no mines or booby-traps hidden on the sides of the road and people’s lives depended on us keeping to our time schedule. We were in a hot- zone full of hostile activity, so Israeli army vehicular traffic was forbidden at night, and every stretch of road was only opened in the morning when the foot- patrols issued the “all clear”.

On the other hand, having an untrained soldier along put everyone else’s life at risk; how would he react in the event of combat?

Sometimes we make decisions by not being able to decide, and this for me this was one of those moments; I just kept walking.

About an hour later our tracker saw something in the sand by the side of the road, and, clearly puzzled, suddenly shouted at everyone to hit the dirt.

Now, if you were walking along on a beautiful country trail in the middle of a wide-open area and someone yelled at you to hit the dirt, you would probably think he was mad. But if you are on a patrol in Lebanon, and your army tracker, normally an unflappable fellow, suddenly screams at the top of his lungs for you to get down, you would drop and roll on a dime, which was exactly what we did: one minute we were walking along in the beautiful, still cool morning air enjoying the sunshine, and the next minute we were all rolling out for cover in the dust.

You don’t really have time to thin k about it, you just fall back on the hundreds of times you have practiced this exact maneuver, and everyone did exactly what they were supposed to do. Rolling for cover with weapons ready, it took about ten seconds until they opened up on us – three terrorists behind a low hill who had snuck over the border and were just waiting for us to get into their kill- zone. I was too busy splitting off my cover fire unit, directing fire, reporting to battalion, situating the medic, and preparing for an assault, so it took me a few seconds before, with horror, I remembered that ‘Uri’ was with us. And then I felt panic in the pit of my stomach as I realized that he had been carrying the extra ammunition for the heavy machine gun, a critical weapon at a moment like this.

Needless to say, when I looked across the road Uri hadn’t known to make sure he was near the man with the machine gun, and in fact I wasn’t even sure he knew he had the ammo the machine gunner needed. It was just one of those things you take for granted on a patrol, everyone knows what a box of 7.62mm ammunition is for, and what to do with it in the event of attack.

With the cover fire unit getting positioned, and fire still pouring down the hill from the three terrorists above, it was too noisy to yell across to Uri, but as I was resigning myself to the fact that we would just have to let this one work itself out, Uri must have suddenly figured it out because he suddenly jumped up, grabbed the ammo boxes and ran, under fire, across the road to the machine gunner. I watched him for a moment, struggling to open up the boxes, and then turned back to the task at hand, leaving G-d to work it out.

I have often thought about that moment, and what it must have taken for that rabbinical assistant to run under fire across that road.

Sometimes, heroes are the most ordinary people, who rise to the most extraordinary occasions.

This week’s portion, VaYikra, introduces what is essentially an entire book of the Torah almost completely dedicated to the concept of sacrifices in the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and later, the Temple. Nearly a quarter of the Torah is dedicated, apparently to the how, when, where and what of animal offerings. It is interesting to note, therefore that this topic is introduced with a rather unique occurrence. We often find in the Torah, that G-d speaks to Moshe, telling him what to say and teach to the Jewish people. At the beginning of this week’s portion, however, before speaking to Moshe, G-d decides to call him:

“Vayikra el Moshe, va’yedaber elav me’Ohel Moed le’mor:
“Daber el B’nei Yisrael ve’amarta a’lehem: adam ki yakriv mekem Korban la’Hashem, min ha’be’hemah, min ha’bakar, u’min ha’tzon takrivu et korbanchem.”

“And He called to Moshe, and He spoke to him from the tent of meeting (the Ohel Moed) saying: “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: a man who offers up (brings close) from amongst you a sacrifice to G-d, from animals from the cattle or from the flock (sheep) offer up (bring close) your sacrifice (offering).” (Vayikra 1:1-2)

Why here, does G-d suddenly decide to call Moshe before speaking to him? How often have we read in the Torah “G-d speaks to Moshe saying…”? So why does G-d suddenly feel the need to call Moshe before speaking to him? In fact, what exactly is the difference between speaking to Moshe and calling him? After all, if G-d is calling Moshe, isn’t He by definition already speaking to him? Indeed, what is the purpose of G-d calling, or even speaking to Moshe at all? Can’t G-d simply choose what to put into Moshe’s thoughts?

Further, why does G-d specifically choose to call Moshe (as opposed to just speaking to him) here, just as the Torah is introducing the concept of sacrifices? Is there some connection between the sacrifices and the call of G-d?

Rashi suggests that in fact, this was not a unique occurrence, because whenever G-d spoke to Moshe, he first called to him, as an act of Chibah, love. But this doesn’t really answer our question, it just changes the focus: even if G-d always called Moshe prior to speaking with him, there is still the question as to why the Torah chooses to express this idea here, at the beginning of Vayikra.

Perhaps one way of approaching this topic is to draw from an interesting peculiarity that occurs at the beginning of the portion (Vayikra) in an actual Torah scroll: the word Vayikra is written with a small aleph. Jewish tradition explains this detail as the result of a fascinating dialogue between Moshe and G-d. It seems that Moshe, described in the Torah as “the most humble man on the face of the earth” (Bamidbar (Numbers) 12:3), was uncomfortable with the fact that G-d the Omnipotent was calling him. After all, the nature of humility is that Moshe felt he was unworthy of the honor of being called by G-d, so he felt it more appropriate to write the word Vayaker, (without the aleph) meaning that G-d happened to appear to him, but G-d insisted on saying He called Moshe directly. So Moshe wrote the word, but with a small aleph, indicating his discomfort with this honor.

In fact, Rashi points out here that Bilaam, a non-Jewish prophet of much lesser stature, was not called directly and the word for G-d’s encounter with him is indeed “Vayaker” (Bamidbar (Numbers) 23:4, 16).

In other words, the book of Vayikra, which introduces the concept of sacrifice and opens with the phenomenon of Moshe being called by G-d, flows from the idea of humility as represented by Moshe, the most humble man to have ever lived.

In order to understand the concept of sacrifices, and the reason that this concept begins with the idea of man being called upon by G-d, we must first understand the concept of humility in general.

Most people think that humility is to believe that I am nothing, but in truth, humility is much more about recognizing that Hashem (G-d) is everything. As an example, one might think that if a great and yet humble artist was asked if he was great, he would answer that he was not, because to be humble means to know you are nothing. But that is not true. To be humble is not to believe that you aren’t great; on the contrary, imagine that one night Leonard Bernstein falls ill and the New York Philharmonic is set for a performance in the White House. So Zubin Mehta is called to take his place because only a great composer could fill such shoes. And imagine Zubin responds that he is not a great composer at all, and declines. This is not humility; it is self-effacement.

If you are a great composer, then you should know you are great; the essence of humility is not believing that you are not great, or gifted, or talented, when you really are. Humility is recognizing that that your greatness has nothing to do with you, it is a gift from G-d, and your challenge is what to do with it.

Imagine, at the end of last week’s portion (Shemot (Exodus) 40:35) we read that Moshe is not allowed to enter the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and now he is being called by G-d! In fact, this is not something which is new to Moshe; the first time Moshe is called by G-d is way back at the Burning Bush (Shemot (Exodus) 3:4), when G-d calls Moshe forth to become the redeemer of the Jewish people, and ultimately of the world.

Vayikra is not just being called; it’s a calling.

Moshe, all alone shepherding his flock in the deserts of Midian, sees a Burning Bush, but ultimately it is what he hears that is of paramount significance; he hears the voice of G-d, coming from deep within him, calling upon him to stand up to the challenge of who he was meant to be.

One of the greatest pitfalls in the human experience is the confusion between who I really am, and what I do. We live in a society that judges people primarily based on what they do, or how much they earn. But what we do is not who we are, it is just what we do. Indeed, we are each given a particular role as represented by what we do, only because through that role we can offer to the world the true gift of who we are. And if tomorrow we can no longer do whatever it is that we do, it does not take away at all from who we are, it merely challenges us to figure out what role we are now meant to play and how we can slide into that role to continue to make the world a better place.

And if this is true, then the reason Rashi suggests that Moshe is called every time G-d speaks to him (and not just here at the beginning of Vayikra), is because the difference between a calling (Keriah) and a coincidence (Mikreh) is only in our minds. Indeed, everything that comes into our lives is a calling of one type or another, because everything in this world flows from Hashem, who created everything to begin with. Ultimately, G-d is putting on a play called the history of the world, and we are characters and understudies in the great play. And if we choose not to play our character role, we’ll be missed, but the play will go on without us.

Indeed, Moshe might easily have viewed the Burning Bush as a fascinating occurrence; what made him Moshe was that he understood that it was a calling. Indeed a close look at the verses there reveals quite clearly that Hashem does not call Moshe until after he approaches the Burning Bush. Perhaps how often we feel we are ‘called upon’ by G-d, is really a function of whether we are able to recognize everything around us as a calling emanating from Hashem’s voice.

So where does this ability to see the hidden calling in everything around us come from? Maybe it stems from the trait of Anavah, humility. Indeed, one sees this in every step of Moshe’s development.

For example, consider Moshe’s dialogue with G-d at the same Burning Bush we are discussing. G-d essentially wants Moshe to go back to Egypt to redeem the Jewish people; and Moshe resists this idea and argues with G-d about it for seven days! Imagine, the Jewish people are in agony, lives are being lost daily, and Moshe is still in Midian arguing with G-d! How could Moshe resist such a calling, delaying the redemption of the Jewish people by a week while he argues with G-d?!

The Torah tells us that Moshe feels that Aaron, who is his older brother, and a great prophet, as well as having been with the Jews in their pain and suffering for the past forty years should be the redeemer of the Jewish people. In other words, if G-d’s play is the redemption of the Jewish people, then what is the difference which one of us (Moshe or Aaron) plays that role? And precisely because Moshe’s life was never about Moshe, but always about how he can enhance the Great play through his character (role), then obviously he wants to give the role (and all the honor with it) to his older brother Aaron.

This is why Hashem’s answer to Moshe is “Ve’ra’achah, ve’Samach Be’Libo’, when Aaron sees you he will rejoice in his heart. In other words, Aaron is already there, in tune with the fact that it’s not about himself or you, but about the redemption of the Jewish people.

And the root of many of the challenges in this world, whether theological, existential, or practical all stem from this place.

Ever notice how sometimes people lose faith with G-d because they prayed for something personal, and “it just didn’t happen; G-d wasn’t listening”? When was the last time you heard someone say: “I have been praying for world peace, and it just isn’t happening, so I don’t believe in G-d.?” This person is only praying for himself and if the center of your universe is yourself, then obviously there is little room for G-d….

What was so incredible about Moshe was not that he was an Anav (humble person) but that, with all that he did, he remained an Anav.

Perhaps this is the hidden essence of what the Korbanot, the sacrifices, were all about. If I can take the physical world and all that I am given in it and recognize that what is really important is not the cars or the money, but where they come from (gifts with which to fulfill my purpose) and what I am going to do with them, then I become a partner in bringing Hashem into the world. And this is part of the meaning of taking the animal, representing both the physical world around me, as well as the role I am given in that physical world, and seeing that its challenge is how I succeed in offering it back up to G-d.

This is why this concept appears here. Right after the Jewish people build the Mishkan (Tabernacle) for G-d, they are ready to learn how to serve in it, just as, each individual Jew, when we gets out of our own Egypt, we are ready to learn how to serve Hashem in the great Mishkan that is the world.

Twenty years ago, I watched a boy who was barely a man hear from deep inside himself, above all the gunfire, a calling, and I watched him live up to the awesome potential of that moment, under fire, with an entire squad in the balance.

There is nothing more powerful, and more meaningful than the gift of hearing that voice that calls us to who we are meant to be and living up to its challenges; may we all be so blessed.

Shabbat Shalom.

The Yishai Fleisher Show - Judean Jedi and Samurai Seder

Yishai reveals how to make a powerful Passover Seder, talks staying positive in the face of negative conspiracy theories, and on the victory of nationalist thinking in the upcoming election. Also: Czech Republic and Kosovo moving their embassy to Jerusalem, and the majesty of getting muddy in Judea.

 

Why You Should Make Aliyah

by Victor Rosenthal

Even before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem there were colonies of Jews living outside of Eretz Yisrael. It’s true that they were unable to fulfil the mitzvot that were incumbent upon them, because they couldn’t participate in the three festivals that require a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and they couldn’t offer sacrifices for other purposes. But still many of those who for various reasons found themselves more or less permanently living somewhere else still identified with their homeland and still observed other mitzvot, like circumcision and some form of kashrut. At least for a few generations and in many cases until today, they felt themselves part of the Jewish people.

After the loss of the Temple, rabbinic Judaism codified a way to be fully Jewish wherever you were physically located. Different customs arose in different places, but Jews usually stayed Jews. They knew where they were from and how they were set aside from non-Jews. Of course there was attrition. Some Jews became Christians, and after the advent of Islam much later, some converted to that faith. Others faded into pagan cultures. But – really quite remarkably, I think – the Jewish people persisted as a people. Indeed, I believe that the history of the Jewish people serves as a paradigm for other groups that see themselves as a people, with our unique language and religion, and our common memory of our origins, as we express it in our observation of Pesach.

Starting around the period of the Enlightenment, the late 18th century, the phenomenon of secular Jews appeared, people that still identified as Jews but did not practice Judaism. Some of them were mechanistic rationalists whose cosmology didn’t leave room for a supreme being, and some were reformers who created a new religion based on Judaism, but with enough essential variations to make it conceptually distinct. Some of these Jews assimilated into local cultures, but some maintained their connection to the Jewish people despite their disconnection from Judaism.

Until the period leading up to the founding of the state of Israel, the option of living in Eretz Yisrael was sometimes a possibility and sometimes not, but it was always extremely difficult from a practical point of view. That is no longer the case. Jews can live in Eretz Yisrael if they want to, without starving, getting malaria, or being interned by the British. Any migration is somewhat uncomfortable, but the discomfort today is negligible compared to what it was 100 or even 70 years ago.

I want to argue that for both observant and secular Jews, it is advantageous to live in Eretz Yisrael, both from the point of view of the individual Jew and that of the Jewish people as a whole.

Observant Jews in the diaspora can meet their religious needs if they are prepared to live in very circumscribed locations in a few cities where they can find kosher food, a mikva, and at least a small Jewish community. Even so, several European countries have banned or are considering banning kosher slaughter and circumcision. Antisemitic harassment is growing in Europe along with its Muslim population. In the US, historical (as well as newly-created) Jew hatred among blacks is expressing itself more and more frequently in the large cities where large numbers of Jews live. Identifiably Jewish (i.e., observant) Jews are targeted. In addition, observant Jews are faced with astronomical costs to send their children to Jewish schools.

Even secular Jews face difficulties from antisemitism. Universities everywhere are less comfortable for Jews, where both pro-Palestinian Muslim students and leftists try to push them out of student organizations and generally harass them, and not only if they are outspokenly pro-Israel. In the US in particular, Jews are caught between white supremacist crazies and an anti-Jewish black/left/Muslim alliance (Jewish leadership seems to recognize the danger from the former while ignoring the latter). The Jewish connection of the secular or liberally religious majority becomes more attenuated day by day. What’s left is a few Yiddish expressions and jokes about gefilte fish. The consequences of this include large-scale assimilation, a decline in the number of diaspora Jews, and a growing political divide between Jews in Israel and the diaspora.

Life in the diaspora for Jews will not get better. The deterioration is proceeding differently in North America, Europe, the UK, and in other places, but it will only get worse.

By contrast, in Israel a new, specifically Israeli form of Jewish culture is developing from the interaction of Jews from all parts of the world and all Jewish traditions. There is no other place in the world that this can happen. Because of this, Israel is the guarantor of the spiritual continuity of the Jewish people as well as their physical protector. Jewish education is paid for by the state, and even in the secular schools, there is significant Jewish content. For those who want to develop and expand their Jewish identity, either religiously or culturally, there is no comparison between the diaspora and the Jewish state.

While diaspora Jews played a very important role in supporting the state before and shortly after its creation, they have become progressively less important as the state has grown more powerful and prosperous. As diaspora communities decline, their influence declines as well. And as the political gap between diaspora and Israeli Jews grows, the independence of the state from external support becomes more important. Jews that want to support the Jewish state can do so more effectively by contributing to the Israeli society and economy than by advocating from outside.

The state has been in existence since 1948 and many of its inhabitants have a hard time imagining what it would be like if there were no Jewish state. Someone who has experienced the insecurity and lack of belonging that a Jew experiences in the diaspora brings an appreciation for it that may be lacking in someone that has had it all their life. This is another kind of contribution that an immigrant can make.

Many Jewish people are comfortable in the diaspora. Change is hard. But ask yourself this: what will it be like in five or ten years? What will it be like for my children? Will I still feel at home here? Will I be sorry?

How a Foundation Obsessed With Communism is Leading the War on Israel

by Daniel Greenfield

In 2013, the Puffin Foundation issued a grant for what was described as a "Soviet Yiddish Songbook". The CD, later issued as “City of the Future: Yiddish Songs from the Former Soviet Union”, is accurate only in that its songs, like Red Army and The Song of the Collective Farmer, are indeed in Yiddish. Otherwise they’re propaganda for a brutal antisemitic regime that killed countless Jews, including one of the men who wrote the song lyrics, and Yiddish culture.

The CD was working off an album titled For Youth, meant to be used to indoctrinate Jewish students who had been forced to attend the Soviet Union’s Yiddish schools. The Yevsektsia or the Communist Party’s Jewish Section tasked with destroying Jewish life in the USSR had worked to ban Hebrew, Zionism, and Judaism, while treating Yiddish as a legitimate language.

The Communist Party eventually purged its Jewish collaborators and a secret Hebrew revival began to take off among Jewish youth in the USSR. Meanwhile, leftists in America tried to keep Soviet Yiddishism alive long after the Russian Jews it was meant to indoctrinate had rejected it.

The Puffin Foundation has a great deal of fondness for the USSR. It sponsored a screening of American Reds which is described as, “The Communist Party USA, despite its grievous faults and failings, and its willful blindness to the tyranny of the Soviet Union, still had a vision of a better world.”

There's Red Father, the "story of a Communist lawyer, from fighting for civil rights in the U.S. and against fascism in Spain", At Home in Utopia, which highlights co-ops "where many of the residents were Communists or sympathetic to the communist movement", and Pete Seeger’s Legacy which, it emphasizes, includes "a sizable segment on Seeger’s communism".

A theatrical production in Baltimore states, “Our great achievement in the production was discovering how we could make a show about capital “C” Communism and still have it feel like something Michael Bay or Disney might create.”

You don’t have to be Roy Cohn to spot the agenda here.

There was a show at the Museum of the City of New York, a frequent Puffin venue, celebrating the Communists of the Lincoln Brigade which featured a can belonging to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg better known as the Atom Bomb traitors.

The New York Times noted that, "Perry Rosenstein, the president of the Puffin Foundation, the main sponsor of the exhibition, writes of these fighters: 'They represented the best of our country and the best of our conscience.'"

"Did they?" The New York Times' art critic asked skeptically. You know you’ve gone too far when it's the Times that has to slam on the brakes by quoting Ronald Radosh and George Orwell.

Until recently, the Puffin Foundation, and its affinity for all things red, had, unlike its namesake bird, flown under the radar of most people. But then the Puffin Foundation decided to revive a Communist rag that had been boycotted for praising the rape and murder of Jews.

Jewish Currents, a spinoff of the old Communist Party's Yiddish paper, the Morgen Freiheit, had been all but abandoned by the old lefties, until the Puffin Foundation decided to revive it. And most of the attention was garnered by Peter Beinart’s name splashed all over its hateful pages.

While most of the coverage has focused on Beinart’s use of Jewish Currents to continue his old war against Israel, less attention has been paid to the paper’s old Communist roots. Or its support for the murder of Jews. When the old Freiheit had endorsed the Hebron Massacre of Jewish men, women, and children, with the headline, “The Arab Uprising is Spreading - Zionist Fascists Have Provoked the Arab Uprising”, Jewish communities burned copies of the paper.

Writers for the Communist rag were assaulted on the streets. Newspaper vendors, back then often Jewish, refused to sell the paper. Advertisers were forced to boycott it. When the Freiheit endorsed the Hitler-Stalin Pact, its remaining writers were taunted as “Communazis” and greeted with chants of, “Heil Hitler”. That should have been enough for any decent person.

But the Puffin Foundation decided to fund a reboot of the antisemitic Communist rag under a non-profit, the Association for the Promotion of Jewish Secularism. Jacob Plitman, a former deputy director of the anti-Israel campus hate group J Street U, headed the reboot. Beinart, a longtime anti-Israel activist, became its marquee name, and Bernie Sanders, an old friend of all things red and antisemitic, contributed an editorial about antisemitism.

Jewish Currents promotes BDS, attacks the Jewish State, and promises to expose Jewish power. Pieces at the hate paper take up the old Freitheit banner by accusing Jews of fascism and Nazism. Meanwhile the media blandly treats Jewish Current as just another paper.

Even while the Puffin Foundation funds the glamorization of Communism, its money comes not only from capitalism, but from one of the few outposts of the survivors of Communism. Perry Rosenstein had sold Brighton-Best Socket Screw Manufacturing to a Taiwanese consortium.

Rosenstein died last year of the coronavirus, but not before funneling money from the Taiwanese sale into Puffin. The millionaire leftist was never able to fulfill his dream of joining the Lincoln Brigade, but did fund the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives which spins off Common Core lesson plans about the Communist brigade intended for schools. Born to Bundist parents, he was a red diaper baby who spent his money supporting the radical extremists he loved.

The orbituatries called him a philanthropist or a social activist continuing the long tradition of ignoring what was right in their faces. Rosenstein and the Puffin Foundation easily bridged the gap between radicalism, leftism and liberalism. Rosenstein and Puffin were major backers of The Nation and In These Times, but they also handed out "creative citizenship" awards to William Barber, Bill McKibben, Ben Jealous, Tony Kushner, Colin Kaepernick, and Parkland activists. Even while the media inveighs against extremism, Beinart and Jewish Currents continue to appear in favorable media mentions without being called what they really are.

In a sea of leftist foundations, the Puffin Foundation stands out for its remarkable obsession with maintaining and preserving the products of bygone Communist propaganda, art posters, theatrical productions, and propaganda broadsheets. It does so often with little to no distance from its poisonously murderous subject matter without ever being held accountable for it.

Jewish Currents was recreated to be an incubator for the murderous leftist hatred of Jewish life, religious community, and nationhood that killed countless Jews under Soviet Communism. A leading writer at Currents, and the secretary of its parent foundation, the Association for Promotion of Jewish Secularism, is Naomi Dann, a founder of one of the most antisemitic chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine in the country, and a media program manager at Jewish Voice for Peace, which sponsored talks by a bigot who claimed Jews drink blood.

That’s exactly what anyone ought to expect from a hate sheet whose origins were in a Communist Party rag that was burned in the streets for celebrating the murder of Jews.

But the Puffin Foundation, glutted with Taiwanese cash from the sale of Rosenstein’s business, will continue. And the leftists who call themselves progressives or even liberals will pretend not to notice its awkward interest in Communism while applauding it for funding “progressive” ideas.

Like antisemitism.

Editor David Klion, formerly of Al Jazeera America, funded by a state sponsor of Hamas, which was sued over its antisemitism, recently tweeted, "At @JewishCurrents, we are launching a dedicated investigative reporting fund to do hold (sic) Jewish institutional power to account."

The hit pieces on Jews will be funded by the Puffin Foundation.

The question is when will the institutional power of the Puffin Foundation be held to account?

Jewish and Democratic

by Rabbi Steven Pruzansky

Israel has long identified as a Jewish and democratic state (or democratic and Jewish, depending on one’s preferences). It is a point of distinction and pride, and notwithstanding that the definitions occasionally collide and sometimes co-exist uneasily, it is an admirable aspiration. They are certainly not incompatible although care should be taken to fully understand the areas of tension. The sources of law of each are different. A Jewish state contains within it some element of religious coercion even as a democratic state contains within it even a larger element of secular coercion.

A key societal debate is the question of which definition will prevail in case of conflict: will Israel’s Jewishness be whittled down in order to accommodate its democratic yearnings or will some principles of democracy be minimized in order to maintain its Jewishness? This is a worthy debate that is almost never had.

In fact, it is assumed by the elitists that democracy is the greater value. Their desire is that Israel be Jewish but not too Jewish, Jewish enough to distinguish itself from the rest of the world but not too Jewish that the practices, ideals and true values of the Torah should be incorporated in the governance of the State except in some loose, platitudinous way. In other words, Jewish in name but not in fact. Great care is taken that the “Jewish” part of the equation does not dominate and encroach on the “democratic” part, and that is a persistent interest and endeavor of the High Court. The State’s Jewishness, and its effect on the citizenry, are constantly measured.

It is the “democratic” element that is rarely assessed, and that bears some analysis.

We should be mindful of Winston Churchill’s aphorism that “democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” Nevertheless, clichés aside, it is certainly true that we are subject to “rule (kratos) of the people (demos)” in some form. The repeated elections foster the illusion that the people are ruling when in fact we are just voting, not ruling. The elections are usually inconclusive and there is no guarantee that the party we vote for will maintain its platform or principles once the election has passed. (Ariel Sharon’s “the fate of Netzarim is the fate of Tel Aviv” is only the most egregious example of a campaign promise not just violated –that always happens – but literally turned on its head.) It is merely being pointed out, without commenting on the merits, that despite Prime Minister Netanyahu’s campaign assertion that the other parties similar in ideology to his “will form a coalition with Lapid,” to date he is the only prime minister to actually “form a coalition with Lapid,” something he did in 2013. Again, this is not a comment on the merits, just on the facts.

It is also true that people’s patience for democracy wavers with the results. The ubiquitous protests against Prime Minister Netanyahu always call him a “threat” to democracy, perhaps unmindful, certainly unappreciative, of the fact that the demos keeps returning him to power. That is democracy, like it or not. Which is not to say that such a result is actually democratic, for the reality is that because of the vagaries of the parliamentary system of government, the Likud ruling party in the last election received less than 30% of the vote. That means that more than 70% of Israelis preferred someone else as prime minister, one reason that fuels the endless demonstrations.

The more important breach of democratic norms occurs in the disproportionate power wielded by the judicial branch of government. The power of the Attorney-General is almost unbridled. He and he alone can decide whom to prosecute and for what crimes, which ministers can serve in the Cabinet, which laws should be passed by the Knesset and which laws he will overrule and many other vital aspects of governance. Proposed Knesset legislation is often quashed without a vote being taken for fear that the law in question will not pass muster with the AG, who after all is unelected to his position. He sits in judgment of Cabinet decisions and Knesset legislation. That is undemocratic.

If the real source of power is unelected and irremovable, then democracy becomes a cliché and not a reality. On some level, it makes these incessant elections superfluous. We would be better off randomly choosing 120 teudot zehut numbers to serve in the Knesset and voting on who should be the Attorney-General as the kratos – the real rule and source of authority – rests with him. That is undemocratic.

Ditto the imbalanced power of the Supreme Court that rules Knesset laws unconstitutional without there being a formal constitution. Those are the laws that are passed by the people’s house, the one true element of pure democracy. But the people’s house has been neutered. The unlimited standing rules give almost immediate access to the Court to anyone with a grievance. It allows the Court to sit in judgment of military decisions, budget issues, traffic patterns, matters of halacha, Knesset legislation, political appointments and a host of other matters not generally within the purview of a nation’s highest court. It is also unelected and for the most part, despite efforts to reform it, its members still have undue influence in appointing their successors. Politicians who question this setup often find themselves under investigation. That has stifled reform efforts. Prosecution becomes persecution when it lasts for years and years and is applied capriciously. There are no checks and balances. Power is in the hands of the unelected. The people get to vote again and again –but nothing changes. This too is undemocratic.

For all the fear on the left of the Jewish state becoming too Jewish, there is not enough attention paid to the democracy becoming undemocratic. The ease with which individual and civil liberties were stifled in the past year in many democracies across the world, including in Israel, is actually mind-blowing, frightening in its scope and implications. Destroyed businesses, lost jobs and income, shuttered schools and shuls, troubled homes and children, home confinement and inability to travel all came from the heavy hand of government – all in the name of safety and all with uncertain results, as the latest literature confirms. Places without Draconian lockdowns fared as well or even better than places that drastically curbed their citizens’ freedom of movement. All the while, the political class largely did not feel itself bound by these same regulations, routinely took liberties, and when caught apologized profusely but without real consequence.

It is as if it is enough to extol “democracy” without actually being one, just like it is enough to declare we are a Jewish state without actually being one. It was Ahad Haam who first pointed out the difference between a Jewish state and a state of Jews. The latter is a refuge; the former is the fulfillment of the prophetic vision. How then do we ensure Israel’s success as a Jewish and democratic state?

Power must be restored to the people, first by passing the Override Law that limits the Supreme Court’s review of Knesset legislation. Second, the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court must be rigorously defined and unlimited standing curtailed. Not everyone with a grievance should have access to the highest court in the land but only those with “cases and controversies,” people directly affected by legislation or an official act and not just those who are offended by something. Third, the existence of both an Attorney General and a Minister of Justice is redundant and, under present conditions, just enables the mischief of the former – whoever he or she might be – in the form of unchecked pronouncements and power grabs. If he is to be the most powerful person in the land, then let the people vote on him.

Israel’s definition as a Jewish state also needs to be reinforced. With fundamentals of Judaism under assault in Israel – the sanctity of Shabbat and the definition of Jewish identity are at the top of the list – Israel is becoming less and less a Jewish state even as it is becoming less and less a democracy. Shabbat must be observed in public as that is an essential definition of Jewishness. All organs that have a state imprimatur rest on Shabbat. Certainly, a government that closed stores and malls for two months for health reasons of dubious validity can close malls and stores every Shabbat for spiritual reasons of proven validity. What people do in private should remain private, the province of each person, nor should the state restrict anyone’s public enjoyments. Those are matters of conscience.

Matters of Jewish status must, of course, be controlled by Torah, not secular, authorities, as those are based on the Torah and not on legislation or court rulings. And a Jewish state – and not just a State of Jews – would have delayed the start of summer time until two days after the Pesach seder and not two days before it. (Whose idea was that?)

Above all, a Jewish state fulfills G-d’s declaration that “This nation, I created for Me; it will relate My praise” (Yeshayahu 43:21, this week’s haftarah). It evaluates each deed, legislation and diplomatic venture on the basis of its furtherance of G-d’s praise. It elevates above all the purpose of life as the essential objective of statecraft rather than just revel in the appurtenances of life. Certainly this involves respect for Torah study and observance of mitzvot but also care of its neediest citizens, humanitarian assistance to others, the development of technology that benefits all of mankind, and an effective military that focuses exclusively on defense and not at all on social engineering.

It is not that Israel is neither Jewish nor democratic today. Perish the thought. It is that both definitions can be enhanced in ways that better the lives of our citizens in all spheres and bring glory to the Creator who has afforded us, after almost two millennia of exile, this wonderful opportunity to reclaim our sovereignty, assert our uniqueness, and perfect the world according to His prescriptions.

The Rationale of Sacrifices

by HaRav Mordechai Greenberg
Nasi HaYeshiva, Kerem B'Yavneh

After Sefer Shemot concludes with the construction of the mishkan and the dwelling of the Divine Presence in it, Sefer Vayikra opens with the sacrificial service in the mishkan. The Rishonim dispute the rationale of sacrifices:

The Rambam, in Moreh Nevuchim, explains that the sacrificial service comes to draw man away from idolatry. The Torah took man's nature into account, and since common practice then was to sacrifice on altars to the gods, the Torah did not want to detach Israel entirely from this service. "That would have been as if a prophet were to come in our time, who would call for the service of Hashem and say: "G-d commanded you not to pray to him, not to fast, and not to ask his salvation in times of trouble." Therefore, the Divine wisdom retained the form of service that they were accustomed to, and moved it to the service of G-d.

The Rambam brings proof to this from the pasuk in Parshat Beshalach, "G-d did not lead them by the way of the Philistines ... for G-d said, 'Perhaps the people will reconsider when they see a war and they will return to Egypt.'" (Shemot 13:17) G-d was concerned there that Bnei Yisrael were not yet accustomed to act as free men. Here, too, he did not forbid them from offering sacrifices, until they would be detached entirely from idolatry. In short: There is no inherent value to the sacrificial service, but rather it is a means to distance the people from idolatry. Thus, we find in many of the Prophets that there is no inherent purpose in sacrifices, but instead they say: "Does Hashem delight in elevation-offerings and feast-offerings as in obedience to the voice of Hashem?" (Shmuel I 15:22) "'Why do I need your numerous sacrifices?' says Hashem." (Yeshaya 1:11)

The Ramban objects strongly to the Rambam's view, since according to him the entire idea of sacrifices is only, "to counter the wicked and foolish [people] of the world," whereas the Torah says that they have a "pleasing fragrance." He also asks from the sacrifices that Hevel and Noach offered, even before there was idolatry in the world. Rather, the Ramban writes that it is more logical that all the actions in a sacrifice indicate that man deserves to have all of these actions done to him:

He sinned to his G-d with his body and soul, and he deserves that his blood be spilled and his body be burned, were it not for the mercy of the Creator who took from him a substitute. This sacrifice atones, so that its blood should be in lieu of his blood, a soul in lieu of a soul, etc.

However, the Ramban concludes that while this fits well in an Aggadic manner, in the Kabalistic approach, "there is a hidden secret to sacrifices" The Meshech Chochmah, in his introduction to Sefer Vayikra explains that "it is to draw close all the forces of the worlds. It is something electric, spiritual, which, through the actions of the priest, do wonders in the various worlds."

The Meshech Chochmah further explains that, in fact, there is no dispute between the Ramban and the Rambam. The Rambam talks about sacrifices on an altar, which are truly to wean from idolatry, while the Ramban talks about sacrifices in the Temple, which have inherent worth, and about them it says that they have a "pleasing fragrance." These are the sacrifices that Noach and Hevel offered, and even the Rambam agrees to this. He explains with this the reason why it is forbidden to offer on an altar after the destruction of the Temple. This is because then the desire for idolatry no longer exists, and therefore there is no reason to sacrifice on an altar.

Perhaps we can bring proof to his suggestion that the Rambam does not negate the Ramban's words that there is inherent rationale for sacrifices. The Rambam writes in Hil. Me'ilah (8:8) as follows: "All of the sacrifices are in the class of chukim (decrees). Chazal said that the world exists for the service of sacrifices."

Why is it so important for some people to always be right?

by Rabbi Pinchas Winston

Shabbos Night
WE WERE born to be free. Does anyone like slavery? Sadly, some can’t escape it, and perhaps even more tragically, some have come to accept it. But the bottom line is that humans in general, like the rest of living beings, do not like living in captivity.

The Jewish people even have a holiday that celebrates their freedom from slavery. We sit down to the Seder each year on Pesach to recount our servitude to Pharaoh, and how we left it to…serve God? As many have argued over the generations, wasn’t that just leaving one form of slavery for another?

It depends. It depends upon the definition of slavery. Is an athlete a slave to his training program that “whips” him into shape? Is a college student a slave to their professors who demand a high standard of work? Is a businessman a slave to his job if it pays his bills and allows him to save for retirement?

In each case it may feel like slavery, and some may refer to it as “slavery.” But in each case, the person though free to walk away from their program or job does not walk away. They loyally show up each day because they choose to.

Because they choose to. These are the key words. And why do they choose to continue? Because they believe that, in spite of the difficulties, it is ultimately for their own good. The moment “servitude” becomes in our best interest, it stops becoming servitude and instead becomes self-sacrifice for a higher cause.

This is really what is driving the Evil Son in the Haggadah. He questions the meaning of the avodah, which seems to him to not be for his good, and therefore he feels enslaved by it. He assumes that he sees clearly and understands life well enough to know what is in his best interest, and what is not. Everyone else, he assumes, is missing the boat.

He’ll find out differently one day. The only question is, will he find out in time?

Shabbos Day
Why is it so important for some people to always be right? It’s so important to them that they will argue to the finish even though they are proven wrong, and they would conserve energy and time by admitting it and moving on.

Some people are simply mistaken, and just don’t know it. They sincerely think they are right, and will continue to think this until it finally occurs to them that they are incorrect. They are interested in the truth, are willing to fight for it, but can end up fighting against it.

Others simply can’t afford to be wrong. They lack the self-confidence to be able to admit their error, and continue on the fight just to avoid having to admit they made a mistake. It’s as if rejecting their opinion is a rejection of them, and self-survival means keeping their opinion “alive.”

But pretending your knapsack is a parachute only works up until you jump out of the plane. In other words, the truth catches up to us all, and if were part of the fortunate few, sooner than later. You can’t fix what you think aint broken, and a lot of people go to the grave that way.

It’s the war of the Aleph versus the Ayin. When Adam Harishon was first created, he wore something called Kesones Ohr—Clothing of Light, “ohr” being spelled ALEPH-Vav-Raish. After he sinned, he lost his Kesones Ohr and instead wore Kesones Ohr—Clothing of Skin, “ohr” being spelled “AYIN-Vav-Raish.”

That was it. The whole difference between post-sin and pre-sin, an Ayin instead of Aleph. But conceptually, the difference was a great as night versus day, because it meant that man had descended from the level of absolute truth to one of relative truth. Once upon a time, a person could never lie or fudge the truth. Now many have to work hard to avoid lying or misrepresenting the truth.

Essentially, the fundamental difference was between the yetzer hara being outside of man, to becoming a part of him. Before the “partnership,” it was easier to be objective. After it, a person can never be objective, which is why the rabbis advise a person to have teachers to teach us truth, and friends to help us recognize it.

All of this is alluded to by the small Aleph at the end of the first word of the parsha. It’s the difference between “vayikra” and a close relationship with God as Moshe Rabbeinu had, and the word “vayikar,” which implies a distant one as what Bilaam had.

As for the rest of us, we’re all somewhere on the continuum that spans between the two of them, between vayikra and vayikar. Our position tends to change from day to day, and sometimes even from moment to moment, depending upon what we’re doing, and where we are.

Shalosh Seudos
Recently I saw a newly published diagrammatic book to help people learning Tractate Pesachim. I previously bought the one for Tractate Eiruvin, which is very detailed and quite helpful in understanding the different cases discussed by the Talmud.

I picked up the sample copy in the shul in which I doven and flipped through the pages. I love pictures and think in terms of graphics, so I actually get excited when I can see information in pictures. That was certainly the case with this book.

The difference here however was just how real the pictures of the slaughtering, skinning, etc. of the Korban Pesach were. The more I viewed them, the more I wondered how I would have survived the experience in real life, had I been there when it actually occurred in the flesh—literally. (We’re talking about someone who has difficulty looking at the cooked carcass of a chicken because it still looks too much like the original thing!)

And it made me think. It made me think about how theoretical everything is today, because we don’t actually carry out mitzvos like Korban Pesach for real, or bring a Korban Chatos, a Sin Offering when we sin. In fact, so much of life is really quite “theoretical,” because we don’t get to realize the consequences of our actions in this world.

Even when we suffer, we can’t really tell if it has anything to do with something we recently did wrong. For all we know, it is a tikun for something we did in a previous lifetime. This does not encourage many people to take their actions very seriously, like the Evil Son in the Haggadah, for example.

Too bad. It is that fear of Divine retribution that makes us think. It is when we think, that we learn things about ourselves and our lives, that we may have previously overlooked. When we learn those things, we develop the inspiration to enhance our lives, and personal fulfillment becomes possible. This is when we are truly empowered to fight back against the yetzer hara and take control of our lives.
Melave Malkah

The Evil Son would have called it the greatest con job in history. The Nazis, ysv”z, put a sign over the entrance to Auschwitz that said, “Work makes freedom.” It was a way to mock the Jews yet another time as they went to just the opposite on the other side of the sign.
In Pirkei Avos the rabbis have said that freedom is engraved on the tablets. But everyone knows, the Evil Son argues, that mitzvos are anything but liberating. Instead of serving the Egyptians, the Evil Son thinks, we have to serve God instead. What a con job, he complains.

There is a reason why the name of the nemesis of the Jewish people, Amalek, whose name has the same gematria as “suffek—doubt,” begins with an Ayin. The Evil Son, with his Amalekian way of thinking is thick-skinned, spiritually-speaking, the result of Kesones Ohr with an Ayin. He lives on the level of “vayikar,” and not “vayikra.” He is not free but a slave to his own yetzer hara, which has convinced him that working for it, is actual freedom.

But unlike God, Pharaoh, the yetzer hara, etc., NEEDS things. They WANT things, and they NEED us to help them succeed. They enslave us for THEIR benefit, not our own, all the while convincing us that they are really out for OUR best interest. They promise freedom, but they deliver slavery, and so few people are the wiser.

God needs nothing. He wants nothing, at least for Himself. He only made Creation and man within it because it is His nature to give good to others, and the very best good that His creations can enjoy. And everything He does to, and for us, must be to this end, otherwise it is meaningless to Him. It sounds like slavery, but as the Wise Son knows, God is the only One Who actually delivers freedom.

Spiritual Leadership and Political Leadership

by HaRav Dov Begon
Rosh HaYeshiva, Machon Meir

From the dawn of the history of the Jewish People in their land, already in the days of the First Temple, the national leadership was composed of both spiritual and political leadership. Sometimes, the political leader was also a spiritual person, like Joshua ben Nun or King David. At other times, the leadership was divided up between political leadership and spiritual leadership, as in the days of King Saul and the Prophet Samuel, or King Hezekiah and the Prophet Isaiah.

Right now, Israel is undergoing crystallization and rebirth after two thousand years of exile, and the national leadership is likewise changing from the religious-spiritual leadership which led the nation in exile when we had no state or army.

We have switched to political leadership, whose main preoccupations are the existential, military, and economic aspects of the State of Israel. In years past, and most particularly in recent times, we bear witness to the renewed strengthening of the religious, spiritual leadership, with tens of thousands of Jews heeding the rabbis more and more. Also, some of the politicians understand that the way to the hearts of the masses must pass via the rabbis.

Indeed, a change has taken place in Israeli society. Vast numbers are returning to tradition, returning to the synagogue, returning to the Sabbath and to the weekly portion, returning to the sources, returning to themselves, and as a result of all this, they are returning to G-d. Also, the political leadership, which desires to be elected and which takes public opinion polls in order to sense in which direction the wind is blowing, understands very well that they have to take into account the view of the spiritual leadership. The day is not far off when our nation will return to the natural, normal, state of affairs that existed in Biblical times, when the political leadership will occupy itself not just with the existential, military, and economic issues, but will take responsibility as well for the spiritual state of the nation. Noble leaders will rise up and will bestow upon us some of their pristine spirits. They will exalt and strengthen the spirit of the people and our eternal request will be fulfilled: “Return us to You, O L-rd, and we will return. Renew our days as of old” (Lamentations 5:21).

Looking forward to complete redemption,
With Love of Israel,

Shabbat Shalom.

The Shamrak Report: Anti-Semites are Funding Enemies Within and more...

by David Israel

According to an NGO Monitor report issued on Monday, between 2017 and 2019, 35 anti-Israel NGOs received a total of NIS 319,466,917 ($95.7 million) in donations, 58% of which ($55.5 million) came from foreign governments through direct and indirect funding, and 42% ($40.1 million) from private donors.

Twenty-two different governmental and intergovernmental entities (including the EU and the UN) fund 35 Israeli NGOs. Germany is the largest donor, providing NIS 43,636,794, followed by the European Union and the Netherlands.

Of the NIS 134,079,909 in private funding provided to NGOs, the New Israel Fund (NIF) provides 16%, Sigrid Rausing Trust 10%, Open Society Institute 7%, Rockefeller Brothers Foundation 3%, the Galilee Foundation 3%, and the Moriah Fund 2%.

A large percentage of the government-funded church bodies that disburse grants to the Israeli NGOs are themselves involved in anti-Israeli campaigns including BDS, lawfare, and other delegitimization campaigns against Israel and some engage in anti-Semitic rhetoric. (This has been going on for too long, but the government of Israel has still done nothing to stop the assault on the Jewish state)

Food for Thought

by Steven Shamrak
When a Zionist block wins an Israeli election, the press writes hysterically that Right-wing coalition could isolate Israel and increase tension with Palestinians. They do not write that the tension with Arabs has always existed, even before the establishment of Israel, and have never warned Israeli voters that a Left-wing coalition would betray the aspiration of the Jewish people and compromise the security of Israel! We must remember that Israel and Jews have always been isolated and condemned to destruction by anti-Semitic bigots, even before the creation of the Jewish state - many Christian countries have befriended their Islamic enemies, just to satisfy their pathological need to destroy Jews!

Let s Create International Terrorist Day (ITD)?
1. The Palestinian Authority s Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs held a ceremony in Gaza in honour of freed female prisoners on International Women s Day. (During ITD the PA, Iran and other terror sponsors will be able to demand release of their terrorists from other countries jails)

2. The salary that the Palestinian Authority (PA) pays to the Arab terrorists who murdered five members of the Fogel family is set to rise by 50%, from NIS 4,000 ($1,203) per month to NIS 6,000 ($1,806) per month. (The PA is the terrorist entity which Israel must remove from Jewish land together with its supporting population!)

Israeli Airspace Closed to Flights from Jordan
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ordered the closure of Israeli airspace to flights from Jordan after the Jordanians piled up difficulties on his flight to the UAE last week. The diplomatic incident with Jordan began last Wednesday, when Jordanian Crown Prince Hussein cancelled his visit to the Temple Mount, following an incident at the Allenby, when the Jordanians had not complied with the earlier agreement and had brought significantly greater security.

Kosovo Opened Embassy in Jerusalem
Kosovo opened an embassy to Israel for the first time on Sunday. Kosovo is the third country to have an embassy in Jerusalem, after the US and Guatemala. Kosovo is the first Muslim-majority country with an embassy in Jerusalem. Kosovo and Israel officially established diplomatic relations just last month, in a ceremony held over video conference.

Trump Factor: Czech Embassy Moving (slowly) to Jerusalem
Czech Republic opens de facto embassy to Israel in west Jerusalem, after opening a cultural and trade center in west Jerusalem two years ago. The opening of the diplomatic missions in Jerusalem occurred after the paradigm shift brought about by the US-brokered Abraham Accords, which led to Israeli normalization deals with four Arab countries. (Why are there such painful slow steps only in Israel?)

Things to Know about Fake Peace with Jordan
Israel and Jordan don't have a cold peace; they have a jittery peace...

Israel prevented Hashemite Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah from visiting the Temple Mount (due to the excessive number of his security entourage) a week ago. Jordan, in retaliation, refused to authorize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flight path to the United Arab Emirates, causing the trip's cancelation. ( The peace agreement Israel has signed with Jordan and Egypt were never really genuine ones just a "marriage of convenience"!)

Laser-Guided Mortar to Save Lives!
The Iron Sting 120mm mortar 120mm mortar completed trials and will bring greater firepower to smaller units while reducing collateral damage to non-combatants due to its high levels of accuracy.

Quote of the Week:
No public diplomacy campaign for Israel will work as long as people (Jewish self-haters) go around the world and say our land must be divided. The world respects people who want to keep their land. The world will be with us when we will stand up for ourselves. - Naftali Bennett, Bayit Yehudi leader.

No nation has so many self-hating members as the Jewish people. This unique trend is a result of generations of exposure to relentless anti-Semitism, which is still inspired by the Church and international political Jew-haters.  Jews must regain their self-respect and begin to appreciate the positive side of their uniqueness and stand up to international bigotry. I often say, Nobody respects one who has no self-respect.

Israel Must Stop Funding PA Terrorists
by Arutz Sheva Staff

In an urgent petition to the Supreme Court, families of terror victims state that in 2020 the Palestinian Authority paid about NIS 512 million to terrorists serving imprisonment in Israel and to released terrorists.

Most of these funds come from tax payments by PA residents working in Israel, and from funds that Israel transfers to the PA. "In doing so, the State of Israel is financing terrorism against itself," the petition reads.

The Knesset enacted a law in 2018 to put an end to this situation. The law stipulates that at the end of each year, the Defense Minister will submit a report to the Political-Security Cabinet for approval, detailing all the money paid by the PA to terrorists and their families last year, and more importantly - that this amount will be deducted and frozen from the funds Israel provides to the PA in the following year.

But "the government is not willing to act in accordance with the law," the petition said, while Defense Minister Benny Gantz has not yet submitted the report to the security cabinet for approval.

"The defense minister's failure stands in stark contrast to his duty under the law, and allows the continued financing of terrorism against Israel with money transferred by the State of Israel itself," the petition claims...

The Lavi organization stated: "The State of Israel continues to transfer large sums of money to the Palestinian Authority, which passes them directly and quickly to the most despicable terrorists in reward for the murder of Jews. This is a moral disgrace and a violation of Israeli law. We demand that the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense act in accordance with the provisions of the law as written and as worded, without tricks and lies."

The Choosing Life Forum stated: "We demand that the Minister of Defense and the government of Israel end this habit where on the one hand you pledge to fight terrorism and on the other hand do everything you can to help the PA financially and prevent real and quick offsets that could deter the PA from supporting terrorism and thus save the lives of Israeli citizens."

Shai Maimon stated: "We are experiencing an absurd situation where despite an explicit law directing the offsetting of terrorist money from the Palestinian Authority, since the beginning of 2019 the Israeli government has not acted according to the law. It is acceptable."

Im Tirtzu stated: "The Israeli public is tired of a cowardly defense minister and calls on him to have courage and to bring all the material to the cabinet for approval in order to stop transferring money to murderers of Jews - the sooner the better." (Israel has the means, but politicians talk nice, aseptically before elections, but do nothing to end the conflict once and for all!)

FOOT NOTE: Israel should allow lawsuits against the PA payments for all damages, with the payments to PA frozen until the court proceedings are done. And that includes all Israeli expenditures for health care to victims, and defence/police spending on fighting and preventing enemy terror!