Korea to Aim Missile at Australia, Obama Threatens Strong Response

• North Korea to test new rocket on April 15 [the 8th day of Pesach]
• Likely to have bigger payload, power
• US warns "aimed toward Australia"

A senior United States official says a long-range missile which North Korea plans to test next month will for the first time be aimed towards South-East Asia and Australia.

See: North Korea to aim missile test at Australia

SEOUL: North Korea will face a "strong response" if it launches a long-range rocket next month despite international calls to desist, a special adviser to US President Barack Obama said on Friday.

"If they go ahead anyway, we will want to work with our allies and partners for a strong response," Gary Samore, arms control coordinator at the National Security Council, told South Korea's Yonhap news agency in an interview.

The North's planned launch sometime between April 12 and 16 will be a key topic on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in Seoul next week.

See: US warns of 'strong response' if North Korea launches rocket

Toulouse Victims part of Illustrious Rabbinic Family

The murdered victims were scions of an illustrious rabbinic family. The date of the murders has eerie significance.

by Jacob Asseraf

Ed. note: This article appeared in an online Five Towns newspaper. The writer is not an English speaker. Minimal editing was done where the needed changes were obvious, the rest was left as written.

I am the uncle of the woman who lost her two children and husband in the killing and the cousin of the father of the girl Miriam Monsonego who also perished in the attack.

The 2 boys, Gabriel Issachar 6 years old and Arie 3 years old , who were killed with their father are the grand-grand sons of my father Issachar and the 8 years old girl Miriam Monsonego is the grand- grand daughter of my father's sister.

What is strange about this story is this drama happened on Adar 25, the day of the anniversary of the death of my son [sic] father Issachar and one of the boys is named after him.

Miriam Monsonego. She comes from a lineage of great rabbis family, the Monsonego Family, Av Beth Din From father to son since 1492 from Spain, and Great Rabbi of Morocco.

And also my cousin, Rabbi Aaron Monsonego, the Grand Uncle of Miriam Monsonego, is currently Great Rabbi of Morocco and the President since its existence of the Otzar Hatorah Institutions.

My niece Hava Malka and and her family have been sent by the Israeli government as shlouhim to teach in that Jewish school Otsar Hatorah

The French Government

I want bring some clarification on the behavior of the French nation and its authorities. For the first time I, like all the French Jewish community, have been very impressed with the solidarity and the support of the French nation of all religions and political parties together.

Even the French Arab and Muslim community has been very integral in these events with French Jewish community

How things happened

My niece is living in front of the school where she and her husband Rav Jonathan Sandler were teaching Limoudei Koddesh.[Judaica, ed.]

It was on Monday March 19th , my niece's husband was waiting with his 2 boys for the school bus for the nursery and kindergarden school to drive the boys to their school. Usually my niece would wait with them, but this day she did not and stayed with her 6 month old daughter at home.

Very strange that she and her daughter were saved on the day of my father's yortseit [anniversary of death].

While Rav Jonathan Sandler and his 2 boys were awaiting the bus, the criminal came towards them, to stand up in front of him and shoot him in the head before turning to shoot Gabriel Issachar, the 6 years old boy and Aryeh, the 3 years old boy.

The little girl Miriam that was waiting as well, was scared and started running, the murderer ran after her pulled her by the her hair, held her and shot her with a bullet in her head, what a criminal, one of the students, 17 years old, trying to save her has been shot also in the lung and the heart, he was saved after many [sic] surgery.

My niece Hava Malka, when she heard the shooting she ran downstairs and saw her husband and kids murdered in front of her, Aryeh the 3 years old boy was still living but died at the hospital.

The father of Miriam, Yaakov Monsonego, son of Rabbi Rahamim Monsonego, my cousin, was around saw his daughter murder in front of him , he collapsed.

My sister Fanny with her husband, living in Paris, took the first flight to Toulouse. I have been called the same day by my family while I was at the Far Rockaway Shoul Beis Yaakov davening Shachrit [morning prayers,  which it is the custom to lead on a yahrzeit, ed.] for my father's yortseit.

Both families, Sandler and Monsonego, are French and Israeli citizens. Prime Minister Netanyahu and the all the Israelis were deeply affected by this anti-Semitic murders.

The French president sent his Foreign Secretary of State Alain Juppe as well his Interior and Police Secretary of State to Toulouse to support the family. They also intervened not to let the Doctors make any autopsies to the murdered.

The Niftarim [dead] and their family have been boarded in a military Flight towards Paris, where President Sarkozy did a Special Ceremony for them before they leave to Israel.

President Sarkozy also sent his Foreign Secretary of State Alain Juppe [who is and always was a great friend of the Jewish Community] to fly with the families to Israel and to assist at the funerals which will take place Wednesday March 21st with the presence of the Israeli and French Governments at Givat Shaoul Har Hamenouhot where my Parents Issachar and Messda Assaraf, whose yortseit is also 28th Adar this week are buried.

They took the 11:55 Pm EL AL Flight from Paris to Jerusalem Tuesday 20th.

I have attached also the picture, of the Grandfather of the father of Myriam Monsonego, who was the uncle of my father from his mother's side and also his brother in law has married my father's sister .

Rabbi Yedidia Monsonego was always with the King Hassan II and his son Aaron as well. The King of Morocco never did anything without the advice of Rabbi Yedidiah.

Source and more, including video at: Israel National News

HT: Moriah

UN orders first-ever probe into ''illegal Israeli settlements''

The UN Human Rights Council [UNHRC] has passed a resolution which orders the first-ever probe to explore the impact of Israeli settlements on the occupied Palestinian territories.

Of the 47-member council, 36 voted in favor of the resolution on Thursday while 10 abstained from voting. The Untied States was the only member that voted against the measure.

The resolution called on Tel Aviv to help protect Palestinian civilians and property in the occupied territories as well as to prevent settler’s violence “including confiscation of arms and enforcement of criminal sanctions.”

“Steps like this do nothing to promote a just and lasting peace,” said the US envoy to the UN, adding that America is “deeply troubled by this council’s bias against Israel.”

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also criticized the UNHRC, saying that the Council “should be ashamed of itself” for approving such a measure.

Full article at: PressTV

Total Control

Related by Rabbi Zalman Shimon Dworkin a"h who heard it from Reb Shmuel Grunim a"h

by Rabbi Rafael Nachman Kahn, translated by Basha Majerczyk

A man once came to the Maggid of Mezeritch Rabbi Dov Ber and, before returning home, requested that the Maggid instruct him how to be a "baal habayis" - in full command and control of himself at all times.

"Go to Zhitomir" the Maggid told him, "and introduce yourself to my disciple Reb Zev. Tell him in my name to teach you how to be a baal habayis."

It was late one stormy night when the man arrived in Zhitomir and knocked on Reb Zev's door. There was no response, so he knocked again.  He finally peeked in through the window and saw, quite clearly, that Reb Zev was awake and about.  Still, he ignored the door.  Having no other option and being well after midnight by then, the man sat down on the doorstep to wait. He was soon drenched from head to toe.

An hour later the door opened and Reb Zev welcomed the visitor inside.  In response to his questions, the man explained that the Maggid had sent him to learn how to be a baal habayis. Reb Zev was silent and did not respond.

For a whole week the man was wined and dined by his host, but oddly enough, not once did Reb Zev mention the reason for his visit.  At long last the man could not contain himself, and asked Reb Zev why he failed to comply with the Rebbe's directive.

"Why, what do you mean?" Reb Zev replied in surprise. "I gave you a lesson the very first moment you arrived! A baal habayis only opens the door when he decides he wants to; when he doesn't, he keeps it closed."  The point was well taken. The guest understood that a person can prevent extraneous thoughts from intruding on his avodah.

[In another version, as related by the Rashag, a baal habayis is one who "stokes all the furnaces in his house early in the morning; in the evening he closes all the doors and latches his gate to prevent pigs from entering his domain".]

**************

It is said in the name of the Alter Rebbe that when Moshiach comes, all Jews will be on the level of Reb Zev of Zhitomir.  Reb Zev will ascend to the level of the Baal Shem Tov, and the Baal Shem Tov will attain a level that completely transcends human understanding.

Gabriel Holtzberg HY"D and Gabriel Sandler HY"D

HT: Klishlishi

Gabriel Sandler, 3, who was gunned down at point blank range in Toulouse on Monday, was named after Rav Gavriel Holtzberg, the Chabad emissary who was murdered in Mumbai just before he was born. Rabbi Shimon Rosenberg told Arutz Sheva that he was informed of this by a member of the Sandler family.

The rabbi said that the murder in Toulouse brings back the memory of the terrible day, 39 months ago, when he lost his daughter Rivki Holtzberg and her husband Rav Gavriel Holtzberg. The fact that one of the victims was named for Gavriel makes the event even more chilling for him, he said.

With a shaking voice, Rav Rosenberg quoted Psalms 30:10, which asks G-d: “What use is my blood, when I descend to the abyss?”

The rabbi then asked: “G-d, what do you want from our blood, which is being spilled all over the world?”

Rabbi Rosenberg thanked the Israeli government for bringing the bodies of the dead to burial in Israel. He called on people all over the world to join forces in fighting terror, and never to say “It won’t happen to me.”

Source: Arutz Sheva

Also see: The Zohar, France and the 5 Tzaddikim

America's Nightmare

Elke's Warning - She was born under Hitler ym''s, raised under the USSR's sovereignty in East Germany, and came to America as a young adult.

''They confiscated our lands... then we had nationalized health care.... [hitler ym''s started that].... no more private businesses.... everything was run by the government...... they confiscated the guns...... that's what happens under communism..... communism is anti-God.... so they took God out...... I see it happening in America..... he's taking over the health care, the banks......  I see it .....'' [Elke]

If you still can't see the similarities between Obama's plans and the above, see last week's post: Obama Preparing for.... Whitehouse releases new Executive Order: National Defense Resources Preparedness - giving them the power to basically do anything they like, and take control of everything and everyone.

Obama Bypasses Congress, Gives $1.5 billion to Muslim Brotherhood

''.... the news breaking now is that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will soon announce that President Obama will “resume funding for Egypt’s military, despite Congressional restrictions and objections from human rights and democracy advocates.”

[Congress had restricted and, in fact, halted military aid to Egypt until and “unless the State Department certifies that Egypt is making progress on basic freedoms and human rights.”]

You can read it all at Breitbart

Potential: A Gift of Fire

The sages tell us that out of one thousand students who embark on the path of Torah study, only one emerges worthy of rendering halachic decisions [Vayikra Rabbah 2:1]. Hashem endows some people with more natural gifts - such as superior intelligence and less of a propensity towards being distracted - than others.

Natural abilities are like a fire: if they're misdirected they become destructive.

Yichus is also a gift of fire. Torah is the vessel that can safely handle the fire, but if someone doesn't have Torah, then all his inherited talents and energy become a fire than can consume him. If he doesn't use his fire for Torah, then it will be used for other things, or will ultimately consume the person himself.

Source: Rabbi Mendel Kaplan

"Reb Mendel and His Wisdom" by Yisroel Greenwald