Thursday, March 8, 2012

How Do We Prove that Judaism Is Not Racist?

Art: Raphael Nouril
Why Did Esther Not Refute Haman's accusations against the Jews?

by Rabbi Y. Y. Jacobson


"I wouldn't belong to a club that would have me as a member."
-- Groucho Marx

"The modern Jewish maxim is Incognito, ergo sum, 'I am invisible, therefore I am.''
-- Sidney Morganbesser.

The Case for Genocide
In the biblical book of Esther, Haman, the viceroy and second in command in the large and powerful Persian Empire, and whose defeat we celebrate on the holiday of Purim [this year Thursday, March 8th], makes a short but powerful presentation to the Persian king, Ahasuerus, attempting to persuade him to embrace his plan of Jewish genocide.

"There is a certain people," Haman says to Ahasuerus (1), "scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your realm. Their laws are different from all the other nations, and they do not observe the King's laws. Therefore it is not befitting the King to tolerate them. If it pleases the King, let it be recorded that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand silver talents … for deposit in the King's treasuries."

Haman's argument is straightforward and clear: Jews are different. They are alien, outsiders, an obstruction to normal society. They don't fit into the rest of the human family. They have their own faith and their own laws, which they feel are superior to the king's laws. They are a nuisance, a threat, a growth in an otherwise harmonious and integrated society. They ought to be disposed of.

The Talmud (2) records an oral tradition describing Haman's presentation in some more detail. "They don't eat from our food," Haman lamented to Ahasuerus; “they do not marry our women, and they do not marry their women to us [ironically, at this point they were both unaware that the King's wife was Jewish]. They waste the whole year, avoiding the King's work, with the excuse: Today is the Sabbath, or today is Passover."

Haman also discusses bad Jewish habits: "They eat, they drink and they mock the throne. Even if a fly falls in a glass of wine of one of them, he casts away the fly and drinks the wine. But if my master, the King, touches a glass of wine of one of them, that person throws it to the ground and does not drink it (3)."

The Jews, Haman argues, see themselves as superior to us; they will forever stand out. Who needs them?

Repeating Haman's Words
Some six centuries after Haman, these same words are repeated by Philostratus, a third-century teacher and resident of Athens and Rome, who summarizes the pagan world's perception of the Jews.

"The Jews," Philostratus wrote, "have long been in revolt not only against the Romans, but against humanity; and a race that has made its own life apart and irreconcilable, that cannot share with the rest of mankind in the pleasures of the table, nor join in their libations or prayers or sacrifices, are separated from ourselves by a greater gulf than divides us from Sura or Bactra of the more distant Indies (4)."

The same argument, in one form or another, would be repeated thousands of times throughout history. The greatest Roman historian, Tacitus, living in the first century CE, had this to say about the Jews:

"The Jews regard as profane all that we hold sacred; on the other hand, they permit all that which we abhor… toward every other people they feel only hate and enmity, they sit apart at meals and they sleep apart, and although as a race they are prone to lust, they abstain from intercourse with foreign women."

One example he mentions to describe the moral conflicts between the Romans and the Jews is worthy of note. "The Jews," Tacitus writes, "regard it as a crime to kill any newborn infant." The Romans, as the Greeks before them, killed mentally and physically handicapped infants. In their minds, keeping such children alive was pointless and unaesthetic (5).

First Lady Intervenes
Back to the Haman story of Purim. The viceroy's arguments persuade the King. A decree is issued from the Persian throne. Every Jewish man, woman and child living under Persian dominance would be exterminated on a particular date.

Then, in a delightful turn of events, the First Lady, the Jewish queen Esther, invites her husband and Haman to a drinking feast. As we recall, Esther, from all the thousands of young women who were brought from across the Empire as potential candidates for the role of queen, succeeded in gaining the affection and grace of the King. "The King loved Esther more than all the women, and she won more of his favor and grace than all other women; he set the royal crown upon her head (6)." Years later, during this wine feast, the King makes a pledge to Esther that he would fulfill every request and petition. She utilizes the opportunity to make the fateful pitch.

"If I have won Your Majesty's favor and if it pleases the King," Esther tells Ahasuerus (7), "let my life be granted to me as my request and my people as my petition. For we — I and my people — have been sold to be destroyed, slain and exterminated. Had we been sold as slaves and servant-girls, I would have kept quiet. The compensation our adversary [Haman] offers cannot be compared with the loss the king would suffer [by exterminating us, rather than selling us as slaves]."

Clearly, Esther is attempting to approach the issue from two sides, a personal one and an economical one. First, she exposes her Jewish identity. The queen is a member of the people condemned to death. Esther knows, however, that this alone may not do the trick, so she continues to discuss dollars and cents [Haman too, as recorded above, used a two-point approach in persuading the King: logic and money]. By selling the Jews as slaves, Esther argued, Ahasuerus would be profiting far more than by exterminating them. The money Haman offered him is miniscule vs. the potential profit from their sale into slavery.

The King, who never realized that Esther was Jewish, is outraged at Haman. He has his minister executed and his decree subverted. In subsequent conversations with Esther, Ahasuerus grants the Jews the right to self-defense against anybody who would dare to harm them. The entire climate in the Persian Empire toward the Jew is radically transformed. Esther's first cousin, a Jewish sage, Mordechai, is appointed viceroy, replacing Haman.

Yet, one question remains. Haman did not argue the case for Jewish extermination on the basis of senseless venomous passion. He presented what was to the King a sound and persuasive argument. The Jews, Haman argued, were an alien growth, a bizarre people, a separatist nation that would not accept the King's ultimate authority and even considered their law superior to the King's. A leader could not tolerate such a "superior group" in his empire.

This is a strong accusation. The King accepts it and as a result issues a decree demanding his subjects dispose of all the Jews — men, women and children. Yet nowhere in her entire dialogue with the King does Esther refute this argument. Why did Ahasuerus consent to the abolishment of his original plan if he believed Haman's outcry to be valid?

One might argue that Esther's charm and grace were the exclusive factors for the King's change of heart. Yet, as proved above, it is clear that Esther does not rely on this alone. That is why she presents a logical argument for slavery vs. genocide. She refutes the economic offer made by Haman by demonstrating that the king would lose money. How, then, could she ignore the powerful and persuasive argument of Haman advocating a "Judenrein" society?

What is more, Haman's accusation had some truth to it: The Jews indeed have their own set of laws which they will not break even if it contradicts the law of the King. The Jews are indeed a people who remain distinct from other nations! Esther needed to address these major issues.

When False Notions Face Reality
Some questions are canceled out via answers; some arguments refuted by counter-arguments. But there are those beliefs or notions that require neither debate nor dialogue to disprove them. Reality does the job. When reality is exposed, they dissolve into nothingness.

Haman's argument fell into this category. Esther responded to Haman's argument for Jewish genocide not by dialogue, but by her sheer presence. The moment she identified herself as a member of the Jewish people and as a product of the Jewish faith, Haman's previously attractive "thesis" vanished.

Ahasuerus knew Esther intimately. She was his wife. He sensed her soul, he touched her grace, he cherished her personality. He adored her body, her glow, her charm, and would do almost anything for her [as he explicitly told her]. He knew that Esther's character and values were noble, dignified and pure. He chose her from thousands upon thousands of young women, all of them not Jewish. Yet the king never realized that she was Jewish—a daughter of the Jewish people and a product of the Jewish faith.

When Ahasuerus suddenly discovered that she was a proud member of the Jewish people, an adherent of the Jewish faith, he immediately realized the falsehood of Haman’s arguments—not through dialogue and debate, but through Esther’s very living presence. Esther’s day-to-day life demonstrated, louder than any argument could achieve, the absurdity of Haman’s arguments that the Jews threatened society. Looking at Esther, seeing her refinement and inner beauty, and learning that this was a "product" of the Jewish people and the Jewish way of life, the King understood that this alien Nation who lived by another code, ought not to be loathed, but respected. They may be very different, but it is an otherness that elevates other nations rather than threatens them. [Leo Tolstoy wrote: "The Jew is that sacred being who has brought down from heaven the everlasting fire, and has illuminated with it the entire world (8)."] The Jew may be very different, but it is this "otherness" that has the power to inspire all of the nations of the world to live and love deeper, to encounter their individual path to G-d.

When the Persian King learnt that the royalty of Esther was a symptom of her Jewishness, he did not need to hear anything else. He got it. The last thing he needed to worry about was the Jewish people and their faith. If anything, they would prove to become the greatest blessing for his Empire. The decree was annulled.

Should We Hide?
The lesson for our times is clear. Sometimes Jews think that by hiding the “otherness” of Judaism and the Jewish people they will gain the approval of the world. Yet the facts prove otherwise: Assimilation, eclipsing the otherness of the Jewish people, has never assuaged anti-Semitism. Tradition tells us (9) that the Jews of Shushan [the capital of the Persian Empire at the time of the Purim story] were quite assimilated. Yet, this did not deter the Persian viceroy and king from believing that despite all of the Jews' compromises and attempts not to be "too Jewish," they were still strange, distinct and different.

This pattern has repeated itself in every milieu since. Never in history has assimilation solved the problem of Jew hatred. Jews in Germany were the most assimilated and integrated in mainstream society, yet it was in that very country where the worst Jew hatred in history sprouted.

Scores of great non-Jewish thinkers, sympathetic to Jews as well as to anti-Semites, saw in Jews and Judaism something different, bizarre and extraordinary. In Tolstoy's letter above he continues: "The Jew is the religious source, spring and fountain out of which all the rest of the peoples have drawn their beliefs and their religions." John Adams wrote that "the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation (8)." Friedrich Nietzsche, on the other hand, believed that the Jews introduced to the world the "slave virtues" like "pity the kind and helping hand, the warm heart, patience, industriousness, humility, friendliness," designated "for the weak and envious (10)." Hitler blamed the Jews for inventing the life-denying reality called conscience. Today, many academics and laymen believe that the Jews are responsible for the great conflict in today’s world.

As much as we attempt to run from our identity as Jews, the non-Jewish world reminds us of who we are and where we came from. The non-Jew senses that since the day the Jew stood at Sinai, he or she has been different.

The solution for the Jewish people is therefore not to deny its otherness. That will never work. Rather, the Jew ought to embrace his or her Jewishness, and just like Esther, be proud with the lifestyle and moral ethic of Torah. When we learn how to embrace our otherness with love and grace, rather than with shame and guilt, it will become a source of admiration and inspiration for all of humanity.

Just like Esther, the presence of a Jew who is permeated by the love and dignity of Torah and Mitzvos—speaks for itself. The grace of a true Torah Jew, the integrity, the innocence, the discipline, the modesty, the moral code, the sensitivity to all that is noble and dignified in life, the love for man and G-d which Torah inculcates in the Jew, the majesty of a Shabbat table and the depth of Torah wisdom—all these refute the arguments of Haman more than debate can ever hope to achieve.

Reb Chaim of Volozhin once remarked: "If a Jew doesn't make Kiddush [to sanctify himself by maintaining a distinctly Jewish lifestyle], then the non-Jew will make Havdalah for him [by making the Jew realize he is truly different]."

Israel, for example, will never succeed portraying itself to the world as “a regular country.” Its choice is either to run from its destiny or to embrace it, and thus become a source of pride for the entire world.

[This essay is based on a talk delivered by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Purim 5729; March 4, 1969 (11)]

To view the footnotes click here

Australia East Coast: Rains, Floods and Evacuations

The Murrumbidgee River is rising and threatening to breech levy banks and flood the city. A view of North Wagga
showing houses under more than a metre of water. Picture: Brad Newman Source Daily Telegraph
The flood crisis gripping huge swaths of the eastern states was likely to last for weeks, emergency services warned yesterday as evacuations continued for thousands of residents and consumers were told to brace for fruit and vegetable price hikes.

Read more: Wave of Destruction Hits

Do You See That Which You See....[Part 2]

by Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis
In my last column I described some of the prophesies, wake-up calls that would befall our people in the days of ikvesei d`Moshiach - in the days when the footsteps of Messiah can be detected. But unfortunately, we have yet to attune ourselves to the sound of those footsteps.

The following is a continuation:
Had you heard the prophesies of which I spoke in my last article when they were written centuries ago, you might have laughed and scoffed - even if you read them as recently as 1970, you would have been hard put to believe it, for of all the Moslem countries, the Shah's Iran was probably the friendliest. But today, the impossible has become possible, and events are unfolding so rapidly that we have difficulty absorbing their impact. So how are we to understand it all?

The Yalkut compares our suffering to birth pangs. But birth pangs are deceptive, when the contractions begin, it's easy to ignore them since they are mild and occur between long intervals. As the birth becomes imminent however, the contractions intensify and the pain becomes more intense. And just when it appears that the woman can no longer endure the pain, the baby is born and new life enters the world. It is these labor pains to which we are witness today, How long will the labor last? It's anyone's guess, but one thing is certain - please G-d, the birth is sure to take place. In the interim however, we may very well ask. Is it possible to ease the suffering? Is it possible to protect ourselves from these painful contractions?

Every woman in labor needs help to ease her pain and speed the birth of her child. So too, we need help to lessen our pain and hasten the coming of Moshiach. We have been blessed by our sages who are perfect doolas and have the perfect doola - the perfect formula to assure us an easy and painless birth.; "Let he who wishes be spared the birth pangs of Messiah occupy himself with Torah and gemilus chasidim [acts of loving kindness] and let him be scrupulous about Seudah Shlishis - the third Sabbath meal."

The first two recommendations - Torah and gemilus chasidim are self-explanatory and do not require much elaboration, for he who is committed to Torah and mitzvos and to reaching out with loving kindness, must, of necessity, become a better, more spiritual person. But eating a third Sabbath meal is not as readily comprehensible.

We are enjoined to have three seudos - meals - on the Sabbath, - Sabbath eve [Friday night], Sabbath noon [following prayer in the synagogue] and the third seudah - meal - in the late afternoon as the Sabbath Queen prepares to depart. Through these three meals, we honor the three Patriarchs, the three sections of our Holy Writ (Torah, Prophets, and the Writings), and we also recall the three Sabbath meals of manna that G-d provided us during our sojourn in the wilderness [Exodus 16:25].

This final Sabbath seudah is called Shalosh Seudos, which translated literally, means "Three Meals" rather than Seudah Shlishis - the third meal. Our sages explain that the reason for this is that all three Sabbath seudos are embodied in this one.

This third meal presents a most auspicious time for prayer. And to this very day, when I close my eyes, I can hear the sweet voices of my revered father and beloved husband of blessed memory, leading their congregations in singing Psalm 23, the psalm that is traditionally chanted at the Shalosh Seudos.

Hashem is my Shepherd, I shall not want..." The task of the shepherd is a lowly and lonely one. Day in and day out he is destined to wander from place to place, seeking pasture for his flock, and yet, David did not hesitate to refer to G-d as a Shepherd, for he perceived that G-d's love is so total, so encompassing, that when it comes to caring for His children, nothing is beneath Him. What a magnificent and fortifying thought - for no matter where life takes us, even if we have to walk in the treacherous valley overshadowed by death, we need not fear, for G-d, our Shepherd, will always be there to lead us to greener pastures, even if at first, we do not recognize that the pasture is green.

Still, it is difficult to comprehend how the mere eating of a third meal, singing Psalm 23, and discussing words of Torah could have such awesome power that they can actually protect us from the suffering that will accompany the birth pangs. But there is a profound lesson at the root of this teaching. The first two Sabbath seudos are eaten when we are hungry, but after a festive noontime seudah, we are hardly in the mood for yet another meal. So it is not to satiate our hunger that we gather around the Shalosh Seudos table. Rather, it is to celebrate the Sabbath and sing her praises, and that is why the Third Meal encompasses them all. The Third Meal is symbolic of the conversion of the physical to the spiritual and ultimately, that is our purpose - to become spiritual beings and to free ourselves from the shackles of materialism - and that is something that our generation, obsessed with materialism and the pursuit of pleasure, has yet to learn.

You might of course wonder, "Why must we experience birth pangs in order for Messiah to come? Why can't he just announce his presence?" But the Messianic period will be very much like Shalosh Seudos, when we sit around the table - not to satiate our physical hunger nor to glory in our materialistic achievements, but to celebrate our spiritual attainments.

In order for this to happen, we will have to divest ourselves of all the icons that we hold dear. Therefore, our hallowed institutions, the bastions of strength in which we placed our trust, will have to fall away. It is that painful disintegration to which we are witness to today. From the corporate - financial world to government to religious institutions to science and medicine, they have all failed us. And worse, we no longer feel safe or secure in our daily lives. Terrorists and suicide bombers have all become a reality of our existence and no army or police force is capable of shielding us from them. Shorn of all our defenses, we stand vulnerable and terrified, and wonder what life is all about as we see our idols crumble before our very eyes. Tragically, it never occurs to us that Hashem is calling us.... His message is loud and clear, so let us seize the moment and return to Him before the fire becomes an inferno that could, chas v`sholom, consume all of us.

How long will these birth pangs last? Until we recognize the simple truth - that "we can rely on no one but Avinu She'bashamayim - our Heavenly Father." So let us sound the shofar, awaken ourselves from our lethargy, and heed the voice of our Father calling us.

The Megillat Esther Code [video]

This is a video showing the story of the hidden code in Megillat Esther - the hidden message about Haman's 10 sons. A few versions of this video are available, this is the kosher version. [Hat tip Andrew]

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Purim: Edom -v- Paras

I wonder if there was a special message - a hint, if you like - in the gift of the Megillah from Bibi to Obama yesterday.....

Remembering that the Gulf War in 1991 ended on Purim, [as foretold by the Lubavitcher Rebbe], and the second Gulf War [Iraq] began on Purim 2003.

Will there be a Purim war in 2012?
It's certainly looking like it, and it's probably a good time for prayer.



[The following was received via email from Jacob]


The Righteous Tzadikim have said that when the Megillah says that the King couldn’t sleep it was referring to the King Of The Entire Universe.

There is a power in the world every Taanis Esther and on Purim to wake the King.

Every Jew must feel deep In his heart and in his soul the danger the Jewish people are in. We are literally in the same situation where the lives of every Jewish man, woman and child are in danger.  One doesn’t have to be a chacham to see that we are in deep danger.

Every man, woman and child must cry and scream TO WAKE OUR KING FROM SLEEP to draw down
His mercy from above upon us.  [The Rabbis actually say it is our sleep that makes it seem like the King is sleeping but when we arise like a lion the King Of Kings will rise and completely destroy our enemies. Amein Kein Yehi Ratzon.

It has been passed down that the prayer read by Esther to beg and plead to Hashem before approaching Achashveirosh was Tehillim [Psalm] 22.   This Psalm has the power to nullify harsh decrees.

The Tzadikim have said that through the Fast of Esther and the happiness of Purim, Klal Yisrael can and will destroy any decree upon Hashem’s beloved people.

May it be this year that our enemies, wherever they may be, whether within or without, be obliterated forever. Amen!!!


Tehillim 22

Psalms Chapter 22 תְּהִלִּים

א לַמְנַצֵּחַ, עַל-אַיֶּלֶת הַשַּׁחַר; מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד.
1 For the Leader; upon Ayeles ha-Shachar. A Psalm of Dovid.
ב אֵלִי אֵלִי, לָמָה עֲזַבְתָּנִי; רָחוֹק מִישׁוּעָתִי, דִּבְרֵי שַׁאֲגָתִי.
2 My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me, and art far from my help at the words of my cry?
ג אֱלֹהַי--אֶקְרָא יוֹמָם, וְלֹא תַעֲנֶה; וְלַיְלָה, וְלֹא-דֻמִיָּה לִי.
3 O my God, I call by day, but Thou answerest not; and at night, and there is no surcease for me.
ד וְאַתָּה קָדוֹשׁ-- יוֹשֵׁב, תְּהִלּוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל.
4 Yet Thou art holy, O Thou that art enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
ה בְּךָ, בָּטְחוּ אֲבֹתֵינוּ; בָּטְחוּ, וַתְּפַלְּטֵמוֹ.
5 In Thee did our fathers trust; they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them.
ו אֵלֶיךָ זָעֲקוּ וְנִמְלָטוּ; בְּךָ בָטְחוּ וְלֹא-בוֹשׁוּ.
6 Unto Thee they cried, and escaped; in Thee did they trust, and were not ashamed.
ז וְאָנֹכִי תוֹלַעַת וְלֹא-אִישׁ; חֶרְפַּת אָדָם, וּבְזוּי עָם.
7 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
ח כָּל-רֹאַי, יַלְעִגוּ לִי; יַפְטִירוּ בְשָׂפָה, יָנִיעוּ רֹאשׁ.
8 All they that see me laugh me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head:
ט גֹּל אֶל-יְהוָה יְפַלְּטֵהוּ; יַצִּילֵהוּ, כִּי חָפֵץ בּוֹ.
9 'Let him commit himself unto the LORD! let Him rescue him; let Him deliver him, seeing He delighteth in him.'
י כִּי-אַתָּה גֹחִי מִבָּטֶן; מַבְטִיחִי, עַל-שְׁדֵי אִמִּי.
10 For Thou art He that took me out of the womb; Thou madest me trust when I was upon my mother's bosom.
יא עָלֶיךָ, הָשְׁלַכְתִּי מֵרָחֶם; מִבֶּטֶן אִמִּי, אֵלִי אָתָּה.
11 Upon Thee I have been cast from my birth; Thou art my God from my mother's womb.
יב אַל-תִּרְחַק מִמֶּנִּי, כִּי-צָרָה קְרוֹבָה: כִּי-אֵין עוֹזֵר.
12 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
יג סְבָבוּנִי, פָּרִים רַבִּים; אַבִּירֵי בָשָׁן כִּתְּרוּנִי.
13 Many bulls have encompassed me; strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
יד פָּצוּ עָלַי פִּיהֶם; אַרְיֵה, טֹרֵף וְשֹׁאֵג.
14 They open wide their mouth against me, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
טו כַּמַּיִם נִשְׁפַּכְתִּי-- וְהִתְפָּרְדוּ, כָּל-עַצְמוֹתָי:
הָיָה לִבִּי, כַּדּוֹנָג; נָמֵס, בְּתוֹךְ מֵעָי
15 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; {N}
my heart is become like wax; it is melted in mine inmost parts.
טז יָבֵשׁ כַּחֶרֶשׂ, כֹּחִי, וּלְשׁוֹנִי, מֻדְבָּק מַלְקוֹחָי; וְלַעֲפַר-מָוֶת תִּשְׁפְּתֵנִי.
16 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my throat; and Thou layest me in the dust of death.
יז כִּי סְבָבוּנִי, כְּלָבִים: עֲדַת מְרֵעִים, הִקִּיפוּנִי; כָּאֲרִי, יָדַי וְרַגְלָי.
17 For dogs have encompassed me; a company of evil-doers have inclosed me; like a lion, they are at my hands and my feet.
יח אֲסַפֵּר כָּל-עַצְמוֹתָי; הֵמָּה יַבִּיטוּ, יִרְאוּ-בִי.
18 I may count all my bones; they look and gloat over me.
יט יְחַלְּקוּ בְגָדַי לָהֶם; וְעַל-לְבוּשִׁי, יַפִּילוּ גוֹרָל.
19 They part my garments among them, and for my vesture do they cast lots.
כ וְאַתָּה יְהוָה, אַל-תִּרְחָק; אֱיָלוּתִי, לְעֶזְרָתִי חוּשָׁה.
20 But Thou, O LORD, be not far off; O Thou my strength, hasten to help me.
כא הַצִּילָה מֵחֶרֶב נַפְשִׁי; מִיַּד-כֶּלֶב, יְחִידָתִי.
21 Deliver my soul from the sword; mine only one from the power of the dog.
כב הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי, מִפִּי אַרְיֵה; וּמִקַּרְנֵי רֵמִים עֲנִיתָנִי.
22 Save me from the lion's mouth; yea, from the horns of the wild-oxen do Thou answer me.
כג אֲסַפְּרָה שִׁמְךָ לְאֶחָי; בְּתוֹךְ קָהָל אֲהַלְלֶךָּ.
23 I will declare Thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee.
כד יִרְאֵי יְהוָה, הַלְלוּהוּ-- כָּל-זֶרַע יַעֲקֹב כַּבְּדוּהוּ;
וְגוּרוּ מִמֶּנּוּ, כָּל-זֶרַע יִשְׂרָאֵל.
24 'Ye that fear the LORD, praise Him; all ye the seed of Yaakov, glorify Him; {N}
and stand in awe of Him, all ye the seed of Israel.
כה כִּי לֹא-בָזָה וְלֹא שִׁקַּץ, עֱנוּת עָנִי-- וְלֹא-הִסְתִּיר פָּנָיו מִמֶּנּוּ;
וּבְשַׁוְּעוֹ אֵלָיו שָׁמֵעַ.
25 For He hath not despised nor abhorred the lowliness of the poor; neither hath He hid His face from him; {N}
but when he cried unto Him, He heard.'
כו מֵאִתְּךָ, תְּהִלָּתִי: בְּקָהָל רָב--נְדָרַי אֲשַׁלֵּם, נֶגֶד יְרֵאָיו.
26 From Thee cometh my praise in the great congregation; I will pay my vows before them that fear Him.
כז יֹאכְלוּ עֲנָוִים, וְיִשְׂבָּעוּ-- יְהַלְלוּ יְהוָה, דֹּרְשָׁיו;
יְחִי לְבַבְכֶם לָעַד.
27 Let the humble eat and be satisfied; let them praise the LORD that seek after Him; {N}
may your heart be quickened for ever!
כח יִזְכְּרוּ, וְיָשֻׁבוּ אֶל-יְהוָה-- כָּל-אַפְסֵי-אָרֶץ;
וְיִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לְפָנֶיךָ, כָּל-מִשְׁפְּחוֹת גּוֹיִם.
28 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the LORD; {N}
and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee.
כט כִּי לַיהוָה, הַמְּלוּכָה; וּמֹשֵׁל, בַּגּוֹיִם.
29 For the kingdom is the LORD'S; and He is the ruler over the nations.
ל אָכְלוּ וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲווּ, כָּל-דִּשְׁנֵי-אֶרֶץ-- לְפָנָיו יִכְרְעוּ, כָּל-יוֹרְדֵי עָפָר;
וְנַפְשׁוֹ, לֹא חִיָּה.
30 All the fat ones of the earth shall eat and worship; all they that go down to the dust shall kneel before Him, {N}
even he that cannot keep his soul alive.
לא זֶרַע יַעַבְדֶנּוּ; יְסֻפַּר לַאדֹנָי לַדּוֹר.
31 A seed shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord unto the next generation.
לב יָבֹאוּ, וְיַגִּידוּ צִדְקָתוֹ: לְעַם נוֹלָד, כִּי עָשָׂה.
32 They shall come and shall declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that He hath done it. 

Obama: Live Press Conference

President Obama will host a live press conference today at 1:15p.m. [about one hour from time of publishing this post] - 8.15 pm Israeli time

He is expected to discuss the situation in Syria, concerns about Iran's disputed nuclear program and the U.S. economic situation.

Click here for link to listen live:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/live

Spiderman Prepares for Purim

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Reports: Israel has already decided to attack Iran


Channel 2 in Israel, sourcing a “senior American official”, says that the decision has already been made by the Israeli government to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. “All U.S. intelligence officials are confident the Israeli leadership has already decided to attack Iran, unless a significant change happens in the coming weeks or months with the Iranian nuclear program...''

“All U.S. intelligence officials are confident the Israeli leadership has already decided to attack Iran, unless a significant change happens in the coming weeks or months with the Iranian nuclear program,” Channel 2 reports.

The report comes just hours ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to AIPAC in Washington.

Source: Algemeiner


Video: Obama Netanyahu meeting March 2012

The Meaning of Your Name

The Talmud [Berachot 7b] teaches that a Hebrew name has an influence on its bearer. Therefore, it is extremely important to name children after individuals with positive character traits who led fortunate lives and helped bring goodness to the world.

The Arizal writes that the nature and behavior of a person, whether good or bad, can be discovered by analyzing his or her name. For example, a child named Yehudah could possibly be destined for leadership, for Yehudah, the fourth son of Jacob, symbolized monarchy and most Jewish kings descended from the tribe of Yehudah.

It is said that parents are actually blessed with prophecy when naming their newborn babies.

According to the Arizal, even the numerical value of the Hebrew letters in one's name can be indicative of an individual's character. For example the gematria of the name Elisheva is equivalent to the numerical value of the Hebrew words yemei simcha, meaning "days of happiness," perhaps portending a joyous life for a baby girl named Elisheva.

It is precisely because the fortunes and misfortunes of mankind are concealed in the secrets of the letters, vowels and meanings of Hebrew names that a seriously ill person is given an additional name like Chaim, meaning "life," or Rafael, meaning "God heals," in order to influence his destiny. We hope and pray that the new name will herald a new mazel, or fortune, for the stricken individual.

Rabbi Elimelech of Lyzhansk, writes in his classic work on Torah "Noam Elimelech" (Bamidbar) that there is a profound connection between the soul of an infant and the soul of the person for whom he or she is named.

When a child is named after the deceased, the latter's soul is elevated to a higher realm in heaven and a spiritual affinity is created between the soul of the departed and the soul of the newborn child. That deep spiritual bond between these two souls can have a profound impact on the child.

Zocher HaBris 24:4, who also quotes Noam Elimelech on Bamidbar: “If they give him the name of a tzaddik who has already lived in this world, this will cause him also to become a tzaddik, because it has aroused the soul of the departed tzaddik in the Supernal World.

Discover the meaning of your name and your mission in life contained within it: click here
Purim special: $33 a name or three names for $75.00

Just supply your full name, plus the names of your parents [Hebrew names if Jewish, or in English if you do not have a Jewish name] and receive a complete, personal reading using Remez and gematria: the results are astounding - see for yourself.
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Slaughtering the Yetzer Hara


What will be the fate of the yetzer hara [evil inclination] in the future? The Talmud [Sukah 52a] explains:

"Rabbi Yehuda lectured: In the future, Hashem will take the yetzer hara and slaughter him in the presence of both the tzaddikim and the reshaim [wicked ones]. To the tzaddikim he will appear like a high mountain and to the reshaim he will appear like a thin hair. Both, however, will cry. The tzaddikim will cry "How could we have overpowered such a high mountain?" and the reshaim will cry: "How could we not have subdued such a thin hair?"

Rashi says that the tzaddikim will cry because they will see the yetzer hara and remember the difficult battles they had with him.

The Maharsha suggests that they will cry because in the past they received great merit for overpowering their yetzer hara, but now that he had been slaughtered, they will no longer get this reward.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe coments:

In the time of Moshiach the truth will be unveiled for everyone to see clearly. Then the tzaddikim as well as the reshaim will be able to see the yetzer hara as he really is. However, we need to understand:

1. Why will the tzaddikim and the reshaim see the yetzer hara differently? And what is the meaning of the hair/mountain metaphor?

2. Why was it necessary to say that Hashem will shecht [ritually kill] the yetzer hara? Why was it not enough to simply say that Hashem will destroy it?

The Talmud informs us how the yetzer hara operates. First, he entices a person to do a small sin [comparable to the thin hair], arguing that if the person indulges a tiny bit he will still remain as Jewish as before. A while later, the yetzer hara entices him to do another sin, and so on, until finally he leads him to avoda zara [idolatry]. To prevent this descent, the Jew had to hold firm from the very beginning, to stay connected to Hashem by not even crossing the first "thin hair".

"To the tzaddikim, the yetzer hara will appear like a mountain" - the greater a person is, the bigger is his yetzer hara. So the tzaddik's yetzer hara is symbolized by a mountain. Chazal say that a king has the power to uproot a mountain. Tzaddikim are called "kings" [Gittin 62a]. Therefore they have the power to uproot their yetzer hara even if it is as high as a mountain. This answers the first question.

To answer the second question, we have to understand what "shechting" an animal entails. When we ritually slaughter a live animal, we are elevating it to the level of a human by making it fit to be eaten by man. Another aspect of shechita is meshicha - drawing foward. According to halacha [Rambam Hilchot Mechira], the action of drawing is a means of acquisition. When an animal is purchased, the buyer acquires it through the action of drawing it towards him.

Hence, to shecht our yetzer hara means that we should acquire him and bring him into our domain. We should use the yetzer hara as our own property for the purpose of our service of Hashem. As it is written [Berachot 54a] "You shall love Hashem with your whole heart - with both of your inclinations" [see Igros Kodesh Vol.20 p.6]

We have the ability to shecht our yetzer hara. To do so, we have to apply the five main laws regarding the shechting of an animal to our own yetzer hara:

1. Shehiyah
We are not allowed to pause in the course of shechting an animal. Similarly, we cannot take a break while in the process of neutralizing our yetzer hara. We must be consistent. If on occasion we yield to our yetzer hara, the shechita is not proper and we have to start all over.

2. Chaladah
We are not allowed to cut the animal's neck without seeing what we're cutting. We cannot hide the knife. Similarly, we cannot hide our task of shechting the yetzer hara. We should not do mitzvos in hiding [in private], afraid to practice in public, nor should we be ashamed of performing the mitzvos "behidur" - with splendor - for fear of being sneered at. Furthermore, claiming to be so humble that one has to perform mitzvos secretly is false humility and can lead a person to sin.

3. Hagramah
We are not allowed to cut the animal's neck in the wrong places; we have to shecht the animal only in the right place [middle of the neck]. Similarly, it is not to our benefit to cut the yetzer hara where we are not supposed to. Depriving ourselves of necessities [such as food and sleep] in order to weaken the yetzer hara will only weaken our effectiveness in serving Hashem. By doing so we only fool ourselves into thinking that we are getting rid of our yetzer hara, when in fact it is still very much alive.

4. Derassa
We are not supposed to crush the animal's neck. We have to cut it gently. Analogously, we don't want to destroy our yetzer hara. Rather, we want to transform it and bring it to the service of our yetzer tov. We can use the yetzer hara's energy in the service of Hashem.

5. Ikur
We are not supposed to pull out the simanim [the esophagus and trachea]. Similarly, we can't just throw out our yetzer hara, but rather we have to turn it into a yetzer tov, as explained above.

If we shecht our yetzer hara properly, we elevate him to us and transform him into an ally. We should start this process now in order to prepare ourselves for the final shechting of the yetzer hara, which will be done by Hashem with the coming of Moshiach.

Source: Adapted from Sichos of the Lubavitcher Rebbe by the Students of Seminary Bais Menachem, Montreal Canada

Monday, March 5, 2012

Australia Floods: Thousands Homeless: Midda K'neged Midda ?

Last October, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd ''made a serious mistake and misjudgment about the Israeli-Palestinian dispute..... reducing Australia's potential to play a constructive role, harming the relationship with Israel and damaging the Gillard government'' when he criticized Israel's approval of 1100 new housing units in Gilo, an area of Jerusalem. [See Rudd Shouldn't Join Chorus Line of Israel Bashers]

Rudd's misjudgment has continued: Last week he resigned his post as Foreign Minister in an attempt to take back his former role as Prime Minister. He lost the vote 71 - 31 and is now relegated to the back bench.

So Kevin Rudd himself is now professionally homeless: he is neither Foreign Minister, nor is he Prime Minister. Quite an embarrassing state of affairs for him.

But unfortunately, it seems he is not the only one to suffer from his foot-in-mouth disease, and many thousands of Australians are also ''homeless'' as the flood waters rise around their properties.

The eastern side of Australia is currently experiencing its worst floods for 125 years. Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes, with the flood waters rising, and more rain predicted to fall.

We can only hope that Bob Carr, the new Australian Foreign Minister, does not follow in Kevin's footsteps.

Esther and the 72- letter name of G-d

by Rabbi Shlomo HaLevi Alkabetz From "Manos HaLevi"

Translation by R. Carmel Kehati [words in brackets are the translator's additions]

"And thus I [Esther] will approach the king." [Esther 4:16]

Rabbi Yosef Gackon writes, concerning Esther's three-day fast, that Esther [in fasting for exactly three days] had the following kabbalistic intention. Namely, that three days and nights contain seventy-two hours, and "B'chen" ["thus", in 4:16] equals seventy-two numerically [in letter-gematria], corresponding to the [exalted 72-letter] Name of G-d hinted in the three verses [that begin], "Vayisa", "Vayavo","Vayet" [Exodus 14:19, 20, 21, each of which contain seventy-two letters precisely]. It was with the power of this Name that G-d split the [Red] sea and had the Israelites cross over, and He guided them in His protection and they had no fear [of the enemy].

From that Name, [the flow of] the Divine life-force comes to Esther's supernal [corresponding]sefira; for Esther [as our Sages say] was greenish [olive skinned] in complexion [green is a color associated with the sefira Chesed, Divine kindness, as the life-flow descends through the upper worlds]. Esther, with the power of these seventy-two hours, approached [G-d], King of the world, in her prayers; for she was sure of His help [that He would answer her and save the Jews]. Then, in this [lowly physical] world, she approached King Ahasuerus.

Much more at: Secrets in the Book of Esther

[With thanks to Miguel for this link]

''Netanyahu, Obama, Moshiach 5772'' - Torah Codes

Why We Cling to Tzaddikim

Last week there was a discussion in the comments about praying at graves of tzadikim.  Here is an article which will help to explain this. [Article written by Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski]

Every person has a direct line with G-d, and we are not permitted to pray to intermediaries. Indeed, the propriety of prayers where we appear to be asking for blessings from angels or for their intervention on our behalf, is the subject of debate, and must be interpreted in such a way that does not violate our basic belief that we relate only to G-d as the One from Whom everything emanates.

Yes, there is also the concept of faith in a tzaddik, which is derived from the verse in Exodus [14:31] "They had faith in G-d and in Moses, His servant". The sages derived from this verse that believing in the leader of Israel is equivalent to believing in the Creator [Mechilta]. In addition, the Talmud states that if there is a sick person in one's household, let him go to a chacham [a wise man] to pray for his recovery [Bava Basra 116a]. Inasmuch as everyone has a direct contact with G-d and we do not work through intermediaries, why is the prayer of a tzaddik more potent that one's own prayer?

There are several ways in which we can understand the concept of faith in a tzaddik. First and foremost is that the opinion of a wise man, a tzaddik, as a Torah authority, must be accepted and followed even if we are in disagreement with it [Sifri, Deut 17:11].

There is also a concept of receiving a blessing from a tzaddik and this has its basis in a statement from G-d to Abraham "And you will be a blessing" [Gen 12:2] which the Midrash interprets to mean that G-d gave Abraham the power to bless people, and that gift has been given to other tzaddikim as well. Nevertheless, a person must understand that even though the tzaddik conveys the blessing, the origin of the blessing is G-d.

A woman once came to Rabbi Mordechai of Chernobel, pleading for a blessing to have a child. To the amazement of the bystanders, the Rabbi, who was exceptionally kind and benevolent, said brusquely to her "I'm sorry, I cannot help you". The woman left the room tearful and broken hearted.

Noting the bewilderment of his chassidim, Rabbi Mordechai said "Just wait a few moments, then go find the woman and bring her back here." The chassidim did as they were told and when the woman came back, the Rabbi asked her "What did you do when you left here?"

The woman replied "I turned my eyes to Heaven and I said "Dear G-d, the Rabbi refuses to help me. Now You are my only hope. Bless me that I have a child."

Rabbi Mordechai said to the chassidim "This woman believed that I had magical powers, and she was trusting in me rather than in G-d. When I refused her request, she placed her trust in G-d where it belongs. She will now be blessed with a child."

The primary function of a tzaddik is to assist people in the proper service of G-d, to help them recognize their character defects and show them how to do teshuvah.

The power of a tzaddik is in his strong belief in G-d, and anyone who has that strong a belief can bring about similar results. When the tzaddik prays for a sick person, for example, and says that G-d is the healer of the sick, his belief is so strong that it actually brings down the Divine healing upon the person. In fact, said Rabbi Mordechai, the prime reason for having a relationship with a tzaddik is to learn how to perfect one's belief in G-d.

Extracted from "Not Just Stories" by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski MD
Published by Shaar Press


Video: The Lubavitcher Rebbe would often answer requests by saying that he would pray for the person at the grave of his father-in-law, the previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

The Story of Obama and Israel

Barack Obama ran for president as a pro-Israel candidate -- but his record tells a different story.

HT: Israel Matzav

Conspiracy Theory: Obama had Breitbart killed



Andrew Breitbart's untimely death has sparked wild conspiracy theories that the publisher was murdered on the President's orders.

The Conservative blogger, who published the infamous tweets that brought down former Representative Anthony Weiner, died on Thursday after he suddenly collapsed on a sidewalk near his Los Angeles home.

Within hours of his death, the internet was awash with methods and motives invented by conspiracy theorists explaining how and why Obama had the author killed.

The theories are fueled by Breitbart's announcement at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington last month that he had a college video of Obama that that would blow the lid off his presidency.

'[We] are going to vet [Obama] from his college days to show you why racial division and class warfare are central to what hope and change was sold in 2008,' Breitbart told the CPAC, reports Yahoo News.

'The rest of us slept while they plotted, and they plotted, and they plotted.' he added.

Read more: Daily Mail

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Ahmadinejad and Haman: Revenge of a Bird

By: Rabbi YY Jacobson

A fascinating Midrash compares Haman to a foolish bird attempting to take revenge on an ocean which destroyed its nest. What this seemingly simple fable tells about the secret behind Anti-Semitism, the inner conflict within the Jewish psyche and the meaning of Jewish history. A journey into the heart of what it means to be a Jew.

The Frog
A lonely frog, desperate for any form of company, telephoned the Psychic Hotline to find out what the future has in store for him.

His Personal Psychic Advisor advises him, "You are going to meet a beautiful young girl who will want to know everything about you."

The frog is thrilled and says, "This is great! Where will I meet her, at work? At a party?"

"No," says the psychic, "in a biology class."

The Bird and the Sea
As our imagination is once again consumed by threats coming from Iran and its President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, let us pay heed to a Midrash about the Purim story which also occurred in Iran, in ancient Persia.

There is a fascinating Midrash [1] describing the plot of Haman, the villain of the Purim story:

“What is an apt parable for Haman the Evil One? To what can he be compared? To a bird which made its nest on the shore of the sea, and then the sea came and swept away the nest. The bird said: I will not budge from here until the sea becomes dry land, and the dry land becomes the sea. What did the bird do? It took some water from the sea in its mouth and dropped it on dry land, and took dirt from the land and dropped it into the sea. Its friend came and stood alongside. He said to the bird: You ill-fated, hapless one! How do you ever hope to succeed?

“Similarly, G-d said to Haman the Evil One: Fool of fools! I myself planned to destroy the Jewish people and was, as it were, unsuccessful, as it is written [2] ‘He intended to destroy them [and would have] were it not that Moses, His chosen one, stood before Him in the breach to return His wrath from destroying,’ and you, Haman, think you will be able to decimate and annihilate them?! I swear by your life, that your head will be in place of theirs; they will be saved and you will be hanged.”

At first glance, the Midrash is saying that the annihilation of the Jews is as impossible and ludicrous as the draining of the ocean, beak-full by beak-full, by a bird. The bird is so blinded by its anger at the sea for destroying its nest, that it does not realize the absurdity of its quest.

Yet the Midrash is perplexing.

1) The role of a metaphor in Midrashic and Talmudic literature is to explain and clarify a difficult concept. What is the concept being clarified via this metaphor of a bird attempting to drain an ocean? What component of the Haman story begs for enlightenment to be understood only via this metaphor?

2) In the Midrashic fable, the sea first sweeps away the bird’s nest, arousing its quest for revenge. What is the paralleled meaning of this sequence of events? What did the Jewish people – compared to the sea – do to Haman – compared to the bird -- pre-empting his desire to destroy them? Is the Midrash suggesting that we, the Jews, were guilty of his hatred [3]?

3) The bird was quite foolish in its strategy to dry an ocean drop by drop. It is a ludicrous proposition. Haman -- the viceroy of the greatest empire of the time, who had the full cooperation of the mightiest man in the world, King Achashveirosh – had a well-thought-out plan, and it came dangerously close to fruition. Why then is he compared to the bird trying to drain the ocean, defined as the “fool of fools?”

4) The Midrash relates that “G-d said to Haman the Evil One: Fool of fools! I myself planned to destroy the Jewish people and was unsuccessful.” How can G-d be “unsuccessful?” Who can possibly stop G-d from executing His plans?

Why the Jews?
It is here that we discover, once again, the untold layers of depth contained in the tales of Torah literature. A simple fable in the Midrash captures the secret behind Anti-Semitism, the inner conflict within the Jewish psyche and the ultimate meaning of the long Jewish story. In this Midrashic metaphor, we are invited on a journey into the heart of what it means to be a Jew [4].

What was it that really perturbed Haman about the Jewish people? What was it about the Jews that struck such a deep cord in so many Haman’s throughout the ages, including during our very own times? “Why the Jews?” is one of the oldest mysteries of civilization. Are we really that different?

The Midrash, in its own inimitable way, gives us a perspective. Like that little desperate bird trying to take revenge for a nest which the sea swept away, Haman felt that as long as the Jews were alive, the nest he attempted to build would be washed away.

One millennium before Haman was born, at the foot of a lone mountain, the Jewish people received a gift which transformed their destiny and changed the landscape of human civilization. It was an experience which imbued Jewish life with the nobility of transcendence, the majesty of Divine ethics and the grandeur of holiness. The gift of the Torah inculcated Jewish life with great moral and spiritual responsibility, but it simultaneously bestowed upon the Jewish heart, the Jewish home, the Jewish family and the Jewish community a piece of heaven, a glow of eternity.

But what is heaven for one person may spell hell for another; piano lessons for a 4-year-old Mozart is a paradise, while for another child the lessons may be a living purgatory. Heaven for the Jews was hell for the Haman’s of the world. If G-d exists, then the moral law prevails, and there must be limits to power and self-aggrandizement. If G-d exists the barbarian must vanquish himself. Haman felt that two diametrically opposing and mutually exclusive powers were competing for the heart of humanity. If his “nest” was to take root, the Jews must be obliterated [5].

2300 years later this notion was captured by a contemporary Haman, Adolf Hitler. He remarked that “The Jews have inflicted two wounds on the world: Circumcision for the body and conscience for the soul. I come to free mankind from their shackles."

But Haman, the avid student of history [6], knew that this was no simple task. He had seen many powerful and seemingly permanent “nests” washed away by the Jewish “sea.” He knew what had happened to Pharaoh, Sisera, Goliath, Sancheirav and Nevuchadnezzar; how they each attempted to “drain the sea,” to eradicate the Jew once and for all and how they each ended up eradicated and forgotten themselves. Like that poor frog which ends up having its moment of glory in a biology class, all of these cultures and civilizations today appear only in history classes…

Yet the Jew still remained. Not only in Wikipedia, but in real life as well. What was the secret of this “sea?”

It is here where Haman invented an ingenious strategy. Haman believed that he had the “final solution” which had eluded all of his predecessors; he knew how to solve the “Jewish problem,” this time for real. And that was by taking beak-full after beak-full of water, and dumping it on dry land.

Haman’s Final Solution
The key to this puzzle lies in reflecting on another Talmudic metaphor concerning “sea” vs. “dry land.”

The Talmud relates the following story [7]:

The Evil [Roman] Empire had prohibited Torah study. Pappus the son of Yehuda came and found Rabbi Akiva making large public gatherings and teaching Torah. Pappus said to him: Akiva! Aren’t you afraid of the authorities? And Rabbi Akiva replied: I will give you a parable.

A fox is walking along a river. He sees the fish frantically scurrying from one place to another.

He says to them: From whom are you running?

-- From the nets and traps of the fishermen.

Why don’t you come up to the dry land, and we will live happily together, just as our forefathers did!

The fish replied: Is it really you whom they call the cleverest of animals? You are not clever, rather a fool! If we are afraid in the place of our vitality, how much more so in the place of our death!

Rabbi Akiva concluded: If the life is tough as we are sitting and studying Torah, about which it is written “It is our life and the length of our days,” how much worse it will be if we cease to study Torah.

The Torah – Rabbi Akiva is saying -- is to the Jew what the sea is to the fish. It is his necessary habitat, the source of his vitality, it is where he can live, breathe, thrive and be most creative. Like a fish washed up ashore, the Jewish soul deprived of Torah, will struggle to find real endurable meaning on “dry land,” in an environment unsuitable for his spiritual DNA to flourish and express itself fully. He, like the fish, will flip and flop, experiment with different ideologies and lifestyles, desperately attempting to find solace for his aching soul. He may become a Darwinist, a Marxist, a Bundist, a Buddhist, a Global Warmist, or what have you, failing to realize that by his essential nature he must remain in his water.

Haman therefore understood that what he had to do was dry up the sea; sever the relationship between the Jewish people and their Torah. His goal must be to antiquate the Torah, to teach the Jews how to become “land animals.” He must invite them, in the words of the fox, to “live together with us in peace as our forefathers did.” Once the fish was out of the water, it would be vulnerable to destruction.

And the time seemed ripe for this endeavor.

Out of the Waters
The Talmud asks [8], why was annihilation decreed on the Jews of that generation? Because they enjoyed the feast of that wicked man (Achashveirosh, the Persian king).” As the book of Esther relates in its opening chapter, the Persian monarch threw a major feast, and the Jews of Shushan, the capital of the Persian Empire, enjoyed the feast.

Note the words: The Talmud does not state that they were guilty of eating non-kosher food (if so, it would not make a difference who was serving the meal – a wicked or a righteous person, nor is death the penalty for eating non-kosher food), in fact, the Talmud relates [9] that there was a designated kosher section at the king’s feast. The issue was that “they enjoyed the feast of that wicked man.” It was not the food; it was the psychological transformation of the Jewish psyche: Their dignity and sense of inner worth did not stem from their own soul and identity; it came from being invited to the Persian “White House,” from rubbing shoulders with the Iranian celebrities and from having their photos appearing on the front pages of “The Shushan Times.” As they took their places among the Persians, Medians, Babylonians, Chaldeans and the other nationalities at the feast, they felt that they finally “made it.” After seventy years of exile, they had set themselves free from the “Jewish stereotype,” they were now a member of equal standing in the family of nations at Achashveirosh’s table [10].

Alas, the fish left the water and it was given a royal welcome! Everybody was cheering for the fish which finally made it out of its “prison,” the fish was flipping and flopping to demonstrate its excitement. But inside – it was dying…

This, then, was Haman’s strategy: Dry up the sea, take the Jews out of the water, introduce them to dry land, and they will become vulnerable to destruction.

So “G-d said to Haman: Fool of fools! I myself planned to destroy them and was not able to do so … and you, Haman, thought you would be able to decimate and annihilate them?!”

This divine response captures the essence of Jewish existence. G-d Himself, so to speak, could not destroy the Jews. Why?

Because the relationship between the Jew and Torah is innate, intrinsic and essential, and it can never be severed; only eclipsed. Unlike the fish, the Jew can never really leave the water. What occurred at Sinai was that Torah had become part of the very DNA of the Jew; he can love it, he can hate it, but he can’t ignore it. He can embrace it, he can run from it, but he cannot stop being defined by it, if sometimes only negatively.

Jewish DNA
The Anti-Semites of the world never loved secular, modern and assimilated Jews any more than religious and observant Jews. They acutely felt that the Jewishness of the Jew is embedded into his or her very essence, no matter the amount of “nose jobs” or soul-jobs he or she undergoes.

And paradoxically, this very truth has become our very source of eternal life. Since the Jewish people can never sever their relationship from Torah, our sea can never dry, and our existence can never be obliterated.

This is what G-d is telling Haman: Even I have tried… When the Jews sinned, I planned to destroy them, but I could not, because My relationship with them proved deeper than all of our “issues” with each other. It is like the relationship between parents and children: Parents sometimes harbor deep resentment toward the behavior of children who make their lives miserable. Sometimes a parent is tempted to write-off a child, to stop helping him, even to stop loving him. But they can’t… The inner bond proves far more powerful. “A kind is a kind,” a child is a child.

Haman’s strategy was brilliant, but he failed to understand “vos eiz a yid,” what is a Jew. He did not realize that Torah to the Jew is what the piano was to Mozart. The fish will never fully leave the water, and the Jews will never die.

[This essay is based on an address by the Lubavitcher Rebbe on Purim 5724 - 1964]
_________

To post a comment on this article, or to view the footnotes, please click here: TheYeshiva.net

Friday, March 2, 2012

Remote Healing

Thinking about someone can actually change their lives. Thinking positively about someone can even heal them, especially if you are trained in Remote Healing.

New York-based Dr Harvey [Tzvi] Lang discusses the subject of Remote Healing.

''....thinking about a person that you know, you actually affect that person.''




Also see: Praying for Another

Eastern Australia: Towns Evacuated

Many towns either under water or under threat.

Residents of four towns have been evacuated as floodwaters covering an area the size of France sweep across NSW.



The Warragamba Dam in western Sydney, the catchment that provides Sydney's drinking water, is quickly nearing capacity and expected to overflow.


Thursday, March 1, 2012

Australia: A Land of Flooding Rains

Australia is living up to its description as a land of flooding rains, with parts of Victoria, the Northern Territory and almost three quarters of NSW affected by floods.

Read more: Brisbane Times

and News MSN


Do You See That Which You See, Do You Hear That Which You Hear

By Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis

We are in crisis, and with every day the crisis intensifies. There is a new Hitler on the world scene – Ahmadinejad, who unabashedly proclaims his plan to annihilate Israel, and he is preparing to do so. Some say that he is a few months away, and some say it will be a year or so ..... and still others say that he already has it in his hands. He has the arsenal that, in minutes, can do to an entire nation that which the gas chambers did to six million.

And what are we doing about it? “ Shockingly, NOTHING! Our world is crumbling and we are going on with “business as usual”

And should you be among those who take this threat to heart, you will quickly be assured that Ahmadinejad is a madman... not to be taken seriously.

Yes, I agree, he is a madman, and that is precisely why he should be taken seriously. We should be concerned. Madmen are mad enough to carry out their satanic plots.. Trust me– I know. I saw Hitler in action and I also saw a cruel, evil world willingly accept and participate in the barbaric extermination of our people.

Prior to Hitler’s conflagration, Hashem sounded the alarm. He sent us many wake-up calls, but we went back to sleep until the inferno consumed six million of our people. One would have imagined that we learned our lesson and would not allow this tragedy to be repeated. Hashem’s wake up calls have once again been sounded, but once again we have turned a deaf ear and shut our eyes. since Hitler’s conflagration was so recent and not something that occurred centuries ago, we would surely not fall into that trap again, but incredibly, we see it unfolding before our very eyes, We never absorbed the lesson. Tragically, we keep repeating the same mistakes and obdurately remain deaf and blind. Compulsively, we repeat the tragedies of the past. I have been speaking about this for many years, and there have been those who advise me to focus on “happier subjects” – subjects that are “entertaining”; subjects that are “light”. But I dare not remain silent, I dare not ignore the wake up calls and the catastrophe they portend, So my ensuing columns, which I ask all our readers to read with their hearts, will be devoted to this painful topic. I will limit myself to the wake up calls that we have witnessed in the last couple of years. But the wake-up calls commenced many years ago.

During the summer of 2002, a terrible tragedy occurred in a bungalow colony in New York’s Catskill Mountains, A mother had just bathed her infant and put her into her carriage for a nap. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a wild bear appeared, snatched the baby from her carriage, and made off with her. The shocking story appeared in newspapers and the media, but somehow it failed to make an impression, yet our Talmud clearly states that the generation that witnesses a wild beast snatching a baby from its cradle should sound the alarm with a shofar to awaken the people. But the shofar was not sounded and we were not awakened.

During the last few years, the number of catastrophes has multiplied to such an extent, that we have all but become immune to them. Natural disasters like tsunamis, Hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes [even in New York City], global warming, dead birds falling from the skies by the hundreds of thousands, dead fish and sardines washing up on the shores by the hundreds of thousands, wild animals..... lions, tigers, wolves, roaming the streets of Ohio, world economic crisis, devaluation of the dollar and the Euro, accompanied by crippling unemployment, high oil prices, hitherto unknown diseases, barbaric acts of terror, nuclear spill in Japan and today’s nuclear threat from Iran that threatens the very survival of our civilization, have all come to be accepted as the norm. “It is what it is,” we tell ourselves with resignation, and we go on with our lives as usual. But can all this be attributed to mere coincidence? Shouldn’t these afflictions give us pause? Shouldn’t we stop and take stock of our lives? But incredibly we remain blind deaf and dumb.

There is a story about a Hasidic rebbe who was walking with his disciples when he noticed a little boy behind a tree, crying bitterly.

“Why are you crying?” he asked.

“I’m hiding, and no one is looking for me.”

The words of the child were like a sharp knife in the heart of the rebbe. “Woe is us,” he said to his students, G-d is waiting for us to find Him, but we have failed to search for Him. Woe is us!”

Maimonides taught that, when suffering is visited upon us, we are commanded to cry out and awaken our people with the sound of the shofar, Everyone must be alerted to examine his or her life, and commit to greater adherence to Torah and mitzvos. Maimonides warned that, if we regard the tragedies that befall us simply as “the way of the world” – “natural happenings.” we will be guilty of achzarius – cruelty.

At first glance, it is difficult to understand why Maimonides would choose the term “cruelty” to describe those who view trials and tribulations as “natural happenings.” Such people may be unthinking, apathetic, foolish, blind or obtuse, but why accuse them of cruelty.

The answer is simple, If we regard our pain and suffering as “mere coincidence” we will feel no motivation to examine our lives, abandon our old ways and change. So yes, such an attitude is cruel, for it invites additional misfortune upon ourselves and others.

It would be the height of cruelty to dismiss that which is occurring in the world today as mere happenstance. Great Torah luminaries of past generations such as the Chofetz Chaim and Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman, told us that we are entering the final stages of history – a period in time called “Ikvesa DiMeshicha – Footsteps of the Messiah” Our Torah foretells four exiles through which our people would suffer: Egypt, Babylonia – Persian-Mede Empires, Greece and Rome – [the exile in which we presently find ourselves, for it was the Romans who exiled us when they destroyed the Second Temple].

In Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer, an early Midrashic work, it is written that, before the coming of Messiah, we will have to contend with a fifth source of tribulation that will come from Yishmael – the Arabs – who will inflict terrible suffering on the world and on our people. This teaching is reaffirmed by Rabbi Chaim Vital, the illustrious disciple of the Arizal, who wrote that before the final curtain falls upon the stage of history, Yishmael will inflict torture upon our people in ways the world has never before seen. One need not have great powers of discernment to recognize the painful veracity of these predictions, Consider only the suicide bombers, the decapitations, the hijackings, the missiles, the rockets and the constant, senseless, brutal acts of terror.

We are the generation that has been destined to witness the fulfillment of the prophecy given to Hagar the matriarch of the Arab-Moslem world [Genesis 16: 11-13]. “Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you shall name him Ishmael...and he shall be a wild ass of a man; with his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and over all his brethren shall he dwell.....”

The long arm of Ishmael’s terror has indeed reached every part of the world.

There is yet another amazing prophecy in the Yalkut Shimoni – a Medieval Midrashic compilation that eerily foretells the events of today and should give us all pause. Rabbi Yitzchok said: The year in which Melech HaMashiach will be revealed, all the nations of the world will be provoking each other, The King of Persia [Iran] will provoke the King of Arabia [Saudi Arabia] The King of Arabia will go to Edom [the leader of the Christian nations – the President of the United States] to take counsel and the King of Persia [Ahmadinejad] will threaten to destroy the entire world..

“The nations of the world will be outraged and panic . They will fall on their faces and experience pains like birth pangs...... Israel too, will be outraged and in a state of panic, ask, “Where do we go?”

“But say unto them, ‘My children, do not fear, The time of your redemption has come..... And this last redemption shall be different from the first that was followed by further bondage and pain. After this last redemption , you will not experience any further pain or subjugation” [Yalkut Shemoni, Isaiah 59].

The Klausenberger Rebbe, z”tl, referring to this teaching, said, “Remember these words. They are perhaps not understood now, but in time they will be, and will be a source of strength to our people.”

to be continued....

Part 2 here

A Mysterious Guest's Purim Secret

Rav Chaim Volozhin's Purim Secret From A Mysterious Guest

One Purim an old man appeared at Rav Chaim Volozhin's Purim seuda. Rav Chaim gave him a coin for tzedaka. The old man then said that if he gives him another coin, he will tell him a Chiddush in the Megila. Rav Chaim agreed and the old man asked a question.

The Medrash says that after the gezeira of Haman, Moshe Rabbeinu told Eliyahu HaNavi to go tell Mordechai to daven on earth while they will daven in Shamayim. Eliyahu told Moshe that he already saw that the gezeira was signed and sealed in Shamayim so there was no chance of salvation. Moshe asked, was the seal made out of earth or blood. Eliyahu said it was out of earth. In that case said Moshe Rabbeinu there is still hope.

Where, asked the old man, do we see in the Megila that the seal was not from blood? Rav Chaim didn't answer and the old man continued. The Megila says that Haman plotted to destroy the Yehudim, "U'Liabdam". If you break the word U'Liabdam into two words it says "V'Lo B'Dam", the decree was not sealed in blood.

Rav Chaim was so excited about this answer that when he went to visit his Rebbi the Vilna Gaon, he repeated it to him. The Vilna Gaon also became emotional upon hearing this and told Rav Chaim that the "old man" was none other than the old man who revealed this secret over 2,000 years ago during the story of Purim. It was Eliyahu HaNavi himself.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

The Seventh of Adar



"And you will command the Children of Israel" [Tetzaveh 27:20]

The Vilna Gaon asks why the verse begins with Hashem instructing Moshe "And you will command..." without first stating the standard opening "Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying..."

The answer, said the Gaon, is as follows:

The day of Moshe Rabbeinu's passing [and day of his birth] was the seventh of Adar. In most years, this day falls out during the week in which Parshas Tetzaveh is read. Now, in the entire Parshas Tetzaveh, Moshe's name is not mentioned, even once. This alludes to the fact that Moshe's demise took place during this week.

However, continued the Gaon, even though Moshe's name is not mentioned explicitly in Tetzaveh, it is nevertheless there in a hint:

There are 101 verses in the Parsha. If the letters that comprise the name "Moshe" - משׁה -are spelled out in their entirety, we would have the following:

מ the letters comprising Mem are מ מ -

שׁ the letters comprising Shin are שׁ י ן -

ה the letters compring Hey are ה א -

Total numerical value: 446

If we add up the numerical value of all these letters, and then subtract the numerical value of משׁה [Moshe: 345] - we will be left with the number 101 - the exact number of verses in the parsha.

Source: Rabbi Y. Bronstein

Amnon Yitzchak: Prepare for War

''Prepare the refrigerators, the war is at the doorway''

“The People of Israel are called to prepare the refrigerators and to buy a stock of canned goods and dried food products. We are located at the entrance on the way to a mess. I know things that you don’t know and it’s forbidden to me to reveal. I can only hint that you need to prepare the refrigerators. Iran is at the doorway!” so said Rabbi Amnon Yitzchak shlita this evening.

Source and more: Palm Tree of Deborah

Now that's a wedding ..... !

The Bobover Rebbe dancing at his son's wedding
The son of the Bobover Rebbe marries, in Brooklyn, some amazing photos and videos - here is the Mitzvah Tanz [mitzvah dance] - the rest can be found here: CrownHeights.info


Temple of Esther and Mordechai [video]

HT: Moriah

The iconic and legendary character of Esther, the Persian Queen, and the historical significance of the Temple of Esther and Mordechai in the City of Hamedan... A search of a non-Jewish Iranian filmmaker in the pages of the Persian cultural heritageand mythology relating to Esther, who is regarded as a savior of the Persian Jews. Today, the Iranian Jews are known as the children of Esther.

The Torah is Light

''To light up the lamp continuously'' [Tetzaveh 27:20]

The Ner Tamid  [perpetual candle] which the Kohen Gadol kindled in the Beis HaMikdash symbolized the Torah, as the verse states: ''The Torah is light'' [Mishlei 6:23]

In the same way that the Ner Tamid was never extinguished, and its light was a constant source of illumination, so too, the radiance of the Torah will always shine upon the world and its inhabitants.

Each and every individual is commanded to fulfill the precept of ''You should contemplate it day and night'' [Yehoshua 1:8].  By upholding this commandment we ensure that the Torah's light continuously shines and illuminates the world.

**********
The Vilna Gaon's diligence in Torah study was legendary. His days were spent in his room, delving into the depths of the Torah with every ounce of strength that he possessed.

On one occasion, the Gaon's sister arrived from a distant land in order to pay him a visit.  This was by no means a minor event, as the two had not seen each other for some fifty years !

The Gaon went out to greet his sister and, as the halachah dictates, recited the blessing that is said upon seeing an acquaintance that one has not seen for a long time - ''Blessed are You, Hashem... Who resuscitates the dead.''

After concluding the blessing, the Gaon said to his sister: ''My dear sister. I know that we have not seen one another for quite some time. However, when I leave this world and am called before the Heavenly Tribune, I will be asked to give an accounting for every single second of my life.  Each moment of time will be scrutinized and judged on whether or not it was utilized studying Torah and performing Hashem's mitzvos.  How, then, can I waste away the precious time that I have been allotted, by engaging in trivial conversations?''

''I therefore beg your forgiveness, but I must return to my room and resume my Torah study.''

Source: Rabbi Yisrael Bronstein

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

The Tikkunim of the Last Generation [before Moshiach]

Dreaming of Moshiach was one of the first blogs  to call our attention to the imminent coming of Moshiach: it's author [Nava] was way ahead of her time, and also the inspiration for a lot of us who followed in her footsteps.   [Other very early Geula bloggers include Dov Bar Leib , Mystical Paths and Yaak]

In November 2007, Nava blogged this:

In Gemara, Chazal tells us that three divisions of sufferings came down to the world.

The first division of suffering was placed on the generations of the seven holy shepherds: Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov Avinu, Moshe Rabenu, Aaron HaKohen, Yosef HaTzaddik, and Melech Dovid, zs'l.

The second division of suffering was placed on the remaining generations, excluding our generation.

The third division of suffering was placed on our generation, the last generation.

The first two sufferings were a gradual process but the last suffering, the third, is the hardest and harshest. Whether it's an illness, unnatural death in a family, livelihood, divorce, finding a spouse, having children, etc. Every Jew, regardless where, when, what, who, why, is suffering!

This is the reason Chazal wrote in Gemara that if a person is not suffering in the generation of the End of Days, know that this person is not a Jew!!! If someone tells you he is not suffering, he is not the son/daughter of Avraham Avinu, zs'l.

Why is this very harsh decree occurring specifically in our generation, all at once and so numerous? The suffering is a necessity required before the arrival of Moshiach Tzidkenu. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, zs'l, explains it further in the Zohar HaKadosh, as follows:

When Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, zs'l, (Rashbi) was hiding in the cave, he wrote the Zohar HaKadosh in Ruach HaKodesh (Divine Spirit). Thru Ruach HaKodesh, he saw that  the last generation will be in a large fire and he cried for us and said, ווי לון מאן דגרמי דיוזיל ליה Oy to the people who will live in the last generation. Rashbi saw that our generation will transgress the Torah and commit adultery, lust, promiscuity, stealing, heresy, secularism, etc. He cried because he saw that we will need to go thru so many tests and suffering.

But why so much suffering in our generation? Why is the Yetzer Hara (evil inclination) so powerful in this generation, more than in all past generations?

It is because HKB'H is so merciful and so generous!

The Zohar HaKadosh explains: Every soul comes into this world only for the reason to correct past lives for sins committed. HKB'H saw throughout all generations that many souls were unable to correct themselves and remained unworthy to enter Gan Eden. Even though they were reincarnated as humans, animals, inanimates, plants, food, etc., and also placed in Gehenom or Kaf Hakela. Yet, they were still unable to correct their souls.

Even after so many reincarnations, these souls were unsuccessful in their tikun and were placed in Heichal HaNeshamot (hall of souls).

The Zohar HaKadosh continues and says that HKB'H revealed Himself to the souls placed in Heichal HaNeshamot and the neshamot cried to HaShem, "Merciful Heavenly Father, help us correct ourselves, we want to succeed in cleansing our souls, we reincarnated as humans, plants, animals, we went thru Gehenom, Shaol Tachtit, Kaf Hakela... But we still have not properly corrected our souls...".

When Merciful HKB'H heard this, He said, "I'll place you all in one generation, a generation that will have much confusion, tests, suffering, and hardships, a generation where the truth will be absent, a generation where one will be easily trapped by the evil inclination. There will be many opportunities to get trapped into terrible sins; everything will be available to you in split seconds. It will be a generation that will feel exhausted from trying to do Teshuva, the evil inclination will be very powerful and adultery, lust, temptations, promiscuity, stealing, heresy, secularism, etc. will be everywhere."

"BUT, despite all these hardships, all neshamot that will succeed to pass these difficult tests and continue to have Emunah, will be tremendeously rewarded and will merit to live in the Geula."

This is the reason the holy Rashbi also said "אשרי מי שיהיה בדור הזה, Overjoyed is the person who lives in that generation."

Although it's difficult to comprehend, it's important to know: ALL PEOPLE IN THIS GENERATION: YOU, ME, HIM, HER, THEM, ARE FROM HEICHAL HANESHAMOT!!!

Read the complete post here: Understanding the Heels of Moshiach