Learning to Listen - Feiglin (2008)

Tishrei, 5769
Oct. '08

The following article is translated from Moshe Feiglin's Hebrew article on the NRG website.

I believe that G-d speaks to us through reality. We simply have to learn how to listen. Sometimes, it is not easy to know what He is telling us. But sometimes G-d's involvement in the details of our lives is glaringly obvious. We all experience this throughout our lives. I would like to share a few such stories with you.

A wealthy American Jew told me that a few years ago, at the height of the terror attacks in Israel, he and his wife decided to travel to Israel for Shabbat. Everybody told them that they were crazy to go to Israel in the midst of the near-constant terror. But despite all the dire warnings, they came. They landed in Israel on Thursday and proceeded to the King David hotel. The hotels in Jerusalem were empty. Tourists were keeping far away from the city after scenes of exploding buses and bombed-out Jerusalem cafes were broadcast throughout the world.

When he arrived in Jerusalem, our friend approached a man dressed in Chassidic ultra-orthodox garb and asked him what time Shabbat would be starting. "At ten to five," the man answered, and hurried along his way. For some reason, when our friend entered the hotel, he asked about Shabbat candle lighting time once again. "At ten to four," the receptionist said. "But an ultra-orthodox man told me it would be at ten to five!" our friend countered. "He probably forgot that we are moving the clocks today," the receptionist answered.

Our friend started Shabbat on time. The next morning, he left the hotel to search for a synagogue. "The streets of Jerusalem were empty," he told me. "I felt an atmosphere of fear. I walked the desolate streets alone, all the while berating myself; 'How stupid can I be? I should have listened to my family and not come to Israel. Now, at any moment, a terrorist can turn up. Maybe he will be disguised as a soldier, maybe as an ultra-orthodox Jew. What will I do?' That's how I was walking up the empty Jerusalem streets, scaring myself to death."

"Suddenly, I spotted a man in ultra-orthodox garb walking in my direction. 'This is it,' I thought. 'Here is the terrorist who is going to get me.' I tried to melt into the background, but he spotted me and followed me. I didn't know what to do. I began to run and he ran after me. Finally, I ran out of steam and he grabbed me from behind. I braced myself for the stab of the knife or the explosion. But instead the terrorist said to me, 'Forgive me, forgive me, I am so sorry. I want you to know that this has been the worst Shabbat of my life. I didn't sleep all night. Even my wife can't find the words to calm me down.'

"I turned around and saw that it was the same Chasid that I had met the day before. 'You asked me what time Shabbat would begin and I told you ten to five,' the Chasid continued. 'I forgot that we were moving the clocks. You started Shabbat an hour late because of me. I am so sorry! And now, while walking down the street, I suddenly saw you and wanted to ask your forgiveness, but you started running!'"

Tell me, dear readers, what is the chance that these two people would have met again?
If you are not used to listening for G-d, you will probably classify the above story as coincidence. But for those people who listen for G-d, it is clear that the pure sorrow of the Chasid awakened heavenly mercy that brought about the second - improbable- meeting.

My grandfather, of blessed memory, inscribed the following on the siddur (prayer book) that he gave to me when I was 12: To our dear grandson Moshe Zalman - a gift from Grandfather Avraham and Grandmother Zelda. How many people in the world would know by that dedication that I was the recipient of the siddur? That siddur accompanied me through thick and thin. It is bloodstained. My grandfather has since passed away.

When I forgot my siddur at the Western Wall, I was deeply saddened. I tried looking for it, but to no avail. I knew that it would be nearly impossible to find a small siddur between the tens of thousands of prayer books and the hundreds of thousands of worshippers at the Western Wall. Three years later, one of the few people who know the identity of Moshe Zalman the grandson of Avraham and Zelda returned the siddur to me.

Again, if you are not used to listening, you will call it coincidence. But simple calculation shows that of the millions who visit the Western Wall, the chance that a person who could identify me by the dedication would actually pick up that siddur is almost nil.

The second tractor terror rampage in Jerusalem missed me by just a few meters. Early that morning, I had come to the Old City in Jerusalem for my monthly ascent to the Temple Mount. As I was searching for a parking space, a Jerusalemite said to me, "Don't bother searching, I'm leaving my parking space and you can have it." "Thank you," I said and then, before he drove off, he said to me, "You should know that I pray for you every day."

That night, after all the commotion over the terror rampage had calmed a bit, I suddenly remembered the Jerusalem Jew. Maybe I am alive because of his prayers? Thank you, dear Jew.

Everybody has many stories like these. I don't usually write about these topics, but the High Holidays are a unique time. Don't waste them. Don't let the noise from the outside world drown out your ability to listen for G-d. Even if you, like me, do not feel spiritually prepared for these lofty times, listen to your inner selves; listen for G-d and no matter where you are - pray. Pray from your home, from the synagogue, from the prayer book, from your heart and from all the above.

Someone above is listening and He understands. No prayer is for naught. Certainly not on these holy days.

Aliyah, Now, Soon or Never?

Golden years are approaching and we have no parachute and figure we will work....
But where? I prefer not to fall and break something.

I asked my wife where she thought we should move to escape the nothingness and bad weather of the Central NY area. She mentioned a lot of people were going to NC. I said NC? What the heck would draw me there? More moderate temperature...that's all?
Below the Mason-Dixon line...I don't think so!

I complain because I (we I hope) want to move to a place with less Winter and more Jews and more Jewish life. I would not want to live where the houses are close enough to Shul to walk on Shabbos.

Am I to old to make Aliyah? Is the weather to hot or we will love it as the circulation begins to slow down? Will I lose touch with my kids if they want to stay here? Is this simply the beginning of the end of days? Is the redemption coming? Is Moshiach guiding the events we see unfolding before our eyes?

My heart says we need to go to Israel, my mind tells me we need to go before it is to late!

I take for granted that Aliyah will always be allowable by the US or Israel.

The first steps will be the hardest and perhaps the last steps will rival them.

Why stay? Anti-Semitism remains through out the US and the World and the only place it may not exist is in Israel! Torah said if you can't bring all of your possessions to Jerusalem for the pilgrimage...to sell them and then come and buy food...

The real issues are completely different culture, older family members and children that are not yet on their own.  Torah also said to always listen to your crying children even over Torah..

So I wait........

Europe or Eurabia - Daniel Pipes 2008

The future of Europe is in play. Will it turn into "Eurabia," a part of the Muslim world? Will it remain the distinct cultural unit it has been over the last millennium? Or might there be some creative synthesis of the two civilizations?

The answer has vast importance. Europe may constitute a mere 7 percent of the world's landmass but for five hundred years, 1450-1950, for good and ill, it was the global engine of change. How it develops in the future will affect all humanity, and especially daughter countries such as Australia which still retain close and important ties to the old continent.

I foresee potentially one of three paths for Europe: Muslims dominating, Muslims rejected, or harmonious integration.

(1) Muslim domination strikes some analysts as inevitable. Oriana Fallaci found that "Europe becomes more and more a province of Islam, a colony of Islam." Mark Steyn argues that much of the Western world "will not survive the twenty-first century, and much of it will effectively disappear within our lifetimes, including many if not most European countries." Such authors point to three factors leading to Europe's Islamization: faith, demography, and a sense of heritage.

The secularism that predominates in Europe, especially among its elites, leads to alienation about the Judeo-Christian tradition, empty church pews, and a fascination with Islam. In complete contrast, Muslims display a religious fervor that translates into jihadi sensibility, a supremacism toward non-Muslims, and an expectation that Europe is waiting for conversion to Islam.

The contrast in faith also has demographic implications, with Christians having on average 1.4 children per woman, or about one third less than the number needed to maintain their population, and Muslims enjoying a dramatically higher, if falling, fertility rate. Amsterdam and Rotterdam are expected to be in about 2015 the first large majority-Muslim cities. Russia could become a Muslim-majority country in 2050. To employ enough workers to fund existing pension plans, Europe needs millions of immigrants and these tend to be disproportionately Muslim due to reasons of proximity, colonial ties, and the turmoil in majority-Muslim countries.

In addition, many Europeans no longer cherish their history, mores, and customs. Guilt about fascism, racism, and imperialism leave many with a sense that their own culture has less value than that of immigrants. Such self-disdain has direct implications for Muslim immigrants, for if Europeans shun their own ways, why should immigrants adopt them? When added to the already-existing Muslim hesitations over much that is Western, and especially what concerns sexuality, the result are Muslim populations that strongly resist assimilation.

The logic of this first path leads to Europe ultimately becoming an extension of North Africa.

(2) But the first path is not inevitable. Indigenous Europeans could resist it and as they make up 95 percent of the continent's population, they can at any time reassert control, should they see Muslims posing a threat to a valued way of life.

This impulse can already be seen at work in the French anti-hijab legislation or in Geert Wilders' film, Fitna. Anti-immigrant parties gain in strength; a potential nativist movement is taking shape across Europe, as political parties opposed to immigration focus increasingly on Islam and Muslims. These parties include the British National Party, Belgium's Vlaamse Belang, France's Front National, the Austrian Freedom Party, the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, the Danish People's Party, and the Swedish Democrats.

They will likely continue to grow as immigration surges ever higher, with mainstream parties paying and expropriating their anti-Islamic message. Should nationalist parties gain power, they will likely seek to reject multiculturalism, cut back on immigration, encourage repatriation of immigrants, support Christian institutions, increase indigenous European birthrates, and broadly attempt to re-establish traditional ways.

Muslim alarm will likely follow. American author Ralph Peters sketches a scenario in which "U.S. Navy ships are at anchor and U.S. Marines have gone ashore at Brest, Bremerhaven or Bari to guarantee the safe evacuation of Europe's Muslims." Peters concludes that because of European's "ineradicable viciousness," its Muslims "are living on borrowed time" As Europeans have "perfected genocide and ethnic cleansing," Muslims, he predicts, "will be lucky just to be deported," rather than killed. Indeed, Muslims worry about just such a fate; since the 1980s, they have spoken overtly about Muslims being sent to gas chambers.

Violence by indigenous Europeans cannot be precluded but nationalist efforts will more likely take place less violently; if any one is likely to initiate violence, it is the Muslims. They have already engaged in many acts of violence and seem to be spoiling for more. Surveys indicate, for instance, that about 5 percent of British Muslims endorse the 7/7 transport bombings. In brief, a European reassertion will likely lead to on-going civil strife, perhaps a more lethal version of the fall 2005 riots in France.

(3) The ideal outcome has indigenous Europeans and immigrant Muslims finding a way to live together harmoniously and create a new synthesis. A 1991 study, La France, une chance pour l'Islam (France, an Opportunity for Islam) by Jeanne-Hélène Kaltenbach and Pierre Patrick Kaltenbach promoted this idealistic approach. Despite all, this optimism remains the conventional wisdom, as suggested by an Economist leader of 2006 that concluded that dismissed for the moment at least, the prospect of Eurabia as "scaremongering."

This is the view of most politicians, journalists, and academics but it has little basis in reality. Yes indigenous Europeans could yet rediscover their Christian faith, make more babies, and again cherish their heritage. Yes, they could encourage non-Muslim immigration and acculturate Muslims already living in Europe. Yes, Muslim could accept historic Europe. But not only are such developments not now underway, their prospects are dim. In particular, young Muslims are cultivating grievances and nursing ambitions at odds with their neighbors.

One can virtually dismiss from consideration the prospect of Muslims accepting historic Europe and integrating within it. U.S. columnist Dennis Prager agrees: "It is difficult to imagine any other future scenario for Western Europe than its becoming Islamicized or having a civil war."

But which of those two remaining paths will the continent take? Forecasting is difficult because crisis has not yet struck. But it may not be far off. Within a decade perhaps, the continent's evolution will become clear as the Europe-Muslim relationship takes shape.

The unprecedented nature of Europe's situation also renders a forecast exceedingly difficult. Never in history has a major civilization peaceably dissolved, nor has a people ever risen to reclaim its patrimony. Europe's unique circumstances make them difficult to comprehend, tempting to overlook, and virtually impossible to predict. With Europe, we all enter into terra incognita.

Mr. Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum and Taube/Diller distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. He is in Australia for the Intelligence Squared debate to take place this evening in Sydney. This article derives from a talk he delivered yesterday (2008) to the Quadrant.

The Most Green POTUS Ever!

Original Post - 2008, with updates below....

The US election is over.
America faces these issues:

1) Nuclear War (Iran, N Korea, Russia, China, Pakistan, Terrorists)
2) Current Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan.
3) Economy - Do we Trickle up or trickle down the economy?
4) Health Care System overhaul
5) Congress with no holds barred.
6) Middle East "Crisis"
7) Class "Warfare" or Upper Class and diminishing middle class
8) Immigrants accepting American values, principles, and national priorities?
9) English - National Language?
10) Are the continuing breakdown of family and family values a threat to society?
11) Drug-use, youth violence, poverty and family abuses of all kinds
12) US Bailout, Global Economy...good or bad.
13) UN - Reform to blind vote to make the current Arab oil blackmail less relevant.


So we now have a rookie in the White House. He will surround himself with highly educated leaders. President Elect Obama appears to suffer from one major problem.
He make out that he actually believe that a peace in the Middle East is possible. I don't think he believes it. He can't actually think that any amount of money or land will change the Arabs from wanting to kill all Jews and destroy Israel. The Islamofacists that want us all dead, value death over life. How is it possible to talk to someone who wants you to either die or become Dhimmi.

I think that the approach Obama has advertised will be a disaster and the American Economy may become the best leading indicator on that.

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UPDATE -  Seems as if all issues are still on table.
Pretty sure that Obama has not surrounded himself with the best or the brightest...
It seems he has the reverse Midas touch, everything he touches turns to ...poop

Must Read - Obamas Ominous Storm Clouds FOR Israel....

Boy was Caroline right..and so were we.Obama is no friend of Israel.
He is of course the one, who wants to destroy  Israel.

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Column One: The perils ahead  Nov. 14, 2008
Caroline Glick , THE JERUSALEM POST

US President-elect Barack Obama has properly sought to maintain a low profile in foreign affairs in this transition period ahead of his January inauguration. But while Obama has stipulated that the US can have only one president at a time, his aides and advisers are signaling that he intends to move US foreign policy in a sharply different direction from its current trajectory once he assumes office. And they are signaling that this new direction will be applied most immediately and directly to US policy toward the Middle East.

Early in the Democratic Party's primary season, the Obama campaign released a list of the now-president-elect's foreign policy advisers to The Washington Post. The list raised a great deal of concern in policy circles, particularly among supporters of the US-Israel alliance. It included outspoken critics of Israel such as Zbigniew Brzezinski, who served as national security adviser under president Jimmy Carter, and Robert Malley, who served as a junior Middle East aide to president Bill Clinton.

Both men are deeply hostile to Israel and both have called repeatedly for the US to end its strategic alliance with Israel.
In the months that followed the list's publication, the Obama campaign sought to distance itself from both men as the president-elect's advisers worked to position Obama as a centrist candidate.
Brzezinski was cast aside in February when he headed a delegation to Syria to meet with President Bashar Assad. The purpose of his "fact-finding" mission was to castigate the Bush administration for its refusal to pursue Syria as an ally, and to decry Damascus's international isolation caused by its support for the insurgency in Iraq, its strategic alliance with Iran, its support for Hizbullah as well as Hamas and al-Qaida, its illicit nuclear program and its subversion of the pro-Western Lebanese government.

To Brzezinski's dismay, his mission was overtaken by events. The depth of Syria's support for terror was graphically displayed during his visit when arch-Iranian/Lebanese terrorist Imad Mughniyeh was killed in Damascus the day after he called on Assad.

Although he was a junior staffer in Clinton's National Security Council,
since 2000 Malley has used his Clinton administration credentials to pave his emergence as one of America's most outspoken apologists for Palestinian terrorism against Israel. Immediately after the failed July 2000 Camp David peace summit, Malley invented the Palestinian "narrative" of the summit's proceedings. While Clinton, then-prime minister Ehud Barak, and Ambassador Dennis Ross, who served as Clinton's chief negotiator, have all concurred that Yasser Arafat torpedoed the prospects of peace when he refused Barak's offer of Palestinian statehood, Malley claimed falsely that Israel was to
blame for the failure of the talks. 

In succeeding years, he has expanded his condemnation of Israel. He insists that not only Palestinian aggression, but Syrian, Lebanese and Iranian attacks against Israel are all Israel's fault. The Obama campaign distanced itself from Malley in May after the Times of London reported that he was meeting regularly with Hamas terror leaders. As the election drew closer, the Obama campaign expanded its efforts to present its candidate as a foreign policy moderate. Moderate foreign policy advisers such as Ross were paraded before reporters. Both Obama and his surrogates insisted that he supports a strong American alliance with Israel.

Obama abandoned his earlier pledge to withdraw all US forces from Iraq by 2010. He attempted to temper and later deny his public pledge to hold direct negotiations with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad without preconditions.
Due in large part to media credulousness, Obama's new image as a centrist was widely accepted by the public. And it is likely that he owes a significant portion of his support in the American Jewish community to the campaign's success in distancing Obama from men like Brzezinski and Malley. BUT NOW that the campaign is over, it appears that as his critics warned, Obama's moves toward the center on issues relating to the Middle East were little more than campaign tactics to obscure his true policy preferences. Two days after his election, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius gave a
sense of the direction in which Obama will likely take US foreign policy. And, apparently directed by Obama's campaign staff, Ignatius based much of his column on his belief that Obama's foreign policy views have been shaped by his "informal" adviser, Brzezinski.
Based on what Brzezinski and Obama's "official" campaign told him, Ignatius wrote that the two major issues where Obama's foreign policy is likely to diverge from Bush's right off the bat are Israel and Iran. Obama, he claimed, will want to push hard to force Israel to come to an agreement with the Palestinians as soon as he comes into office. As for Iran, Obama plans to move immediately to improve US relations with the nuclear-weapons-building ayatollahs.

As for Malley, an aide of his told Frontpage magazine this week that acting on Obama's instructions, Malley traveled to Cairo and Damascus after Obama's electoral victory to tell Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Assad that "the Obama administration would take into greater account Egyptian and Syrian interests."

In a related story, Hamas terror operative Ahmad Youssef told the
London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that in the months leading up to his election, Obama's advisers held steady contacts with the leaders of the terror group in Gaza, and had asked that Hamas keep the meetings secret in order not to harm Obama's chances of being elected.

Both Obama's transition team and Hamas leaders were quick to deny Youssef's statements. Yet, together with the earlier Times of London story about Malley's contacts with Hamas and the new revelations about Malley serving as Obama's unofficial Middle East envoy, the Al-Hayat report has the ring of truth.
Even more foreboding than these reports are statements by Obama's foreign policy advisers regarding his plans to open direct contacts with Iran. On Wednesday The Washington Post reported that Obama intends to move quickly to seek an accommodation with Iran regarding Afghanistan. Obama's advisers assert that such a deal is possible because as far as they are concerned, the Shi'ite Iranians oppose Sunni jihadists just as much as the US does.

But the facts do not support this view. Top US and British military
commanders have asserted repeatedly that Iran is a major sponsor of the Taliban and al-Qaida in their war against the Afghan government and NATO forces in the country. Since 2006, Iran has provided advanced weapons, money and political support to the Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents in the country.

The Obama team's rejection of the demonstrated reality of Iran's support for the Taliban and al-Qaida in favor of a policy based on the fantasy that it is possible to cut a deal with the ayatollahs will undoubtedly not be his last move in the mullahs' direction. It will likely be quickly followed by an offer to conduct direct, high level talks with Iran's leaders about their nuclear weapons program.
What is most disturbing about Obama's emerging foreign policy is not simply that it ignores the reality on the ground - a reality that clearly
demonstrates that Iran and its Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese surrogates are implacable foes of Israel and America and therefore not interested in being appeased. It is also not just the fact that it sends a signal of American weakness to Iran and its proxies just as Iran reaches the nuclear threshold. And Obama's emerging foreign policy is not merely disconcerting because by speaking with Iran and its proxies, Obama will be legitimizing the genocidal regime in Teheran. 

WHAT IS most alarming about Obama's emerging foreign policy toward Iran and its proxies on the one hand and Israel on the other is that it will cause actual harm to the Jewish state.

By pressuring Israel to cede land to Syria and the Palestinians, Obama's apparent foreign policy will provide Iran with still more territory from which to attack Israel both through its terror proxies and with its expanding ballistic missile arsenal. By embracing the Syrian regime in spite of its support for terrorism, its nuclear proliferation activities and its subversion of Lebanon, the incoming Obama administration will embolden Syria to increase its subversion of Lebanon and Iraq, while strengthening its ties to Iran still further.
As for direct talks with Iran itself, the question immediately arises, what could Obama offer Teheran in exchange for an end to its nuclear program that Bush hasn't already offered?

What it can offer is Israel.

Over the past few years, Obama's top nuclear nonproliferation adviser, Joe Cirincione, has repeatedly advocated placing Israel's nuclear arsenal on the negotiating table and offering it up in exchange for an Iranian pledge to end its nuclear program. Defense Secretary Robert Gates - whom Obama is considering retaining - insinuated in his 2006 confirmation hearings that Iran is only building nuclear weapons to defend itself against Israel. Gates, it should be recalled, has been instrumental in convincing Bush not
only not to attack Iran's nuclear installations, but not to support an
Israeli attack against Iran's nuclear installations. 

What is profoundly distressing about statements by men like Cirincione and Gates is what they tell us about the strategic reasoning informing the incoming Obama administration. Their views echo those voiced by advocates of American abandonment of Israel such as Professors Steve Walt and John Mearshimer. 

Walt and Mearshimer argue that Iran is not a threat to US
interests or to global security because in the event that the mullahs
acquire nuclear weapons, they are likely to view them merely as a deterrent against Iran's enemies. And as a result, Iran will respond as the Soviet Union did to a deterrent model based on mutually assured destruction. This view is contradicted by Iran's open advocacy of Israel's destruction, and its declared willingness to absorb a nuclear attack in return for destroying Israel. But assuming that this is how the Obama team views Iran, they should be the last ones advocating Israeli disarmament. Because if this is their view, then by their own reasoning, Israel's presumed nuclear arsenal is necessary to deter Teheran from attacking. And if as Cirincione advocates, Obama intends to place Israel's nuclear arsenal on the negotiating table, he will effectively be giving Iran a green light to attack Israel with nuclear weapons. 

All of the Obama team's post-election/pre-inaugural foreign policy signals place Israel's next government - which will only be elected on February 10 - in an extraordinarily difficult position.

It is not just that their positions make clear that the Obama administration will do nothing to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. 

The Obama team's pre-inaugural signals indicate strongly that Israel's next government will need to strike Iran's nuclear installations before two rapidly approaching deadlines.

The strike will have to occur before the mullahs enrich sufficient
quantities of highly enriched uranium to produce nuclear bombs. And Israel will need to neutralize Iran's nuclear program before the Obama administration begins implementing America's new foreign policy.

For Truths Sake - Kahane

by Tzipora Liron

He upheld Jewish pride.

“I have done justice and righteousness - leave me not to those who oppress me.”

For a long time, I stare at the words in my little Tehillim (Psalms) book. Something about them touches me. The lecturer quoted from a book by Rabbi Kahane. At that point, about half of the audience suddenly got up and left.

Only recently I began to learn about the life and teachings of Rabbi Meir Kahane. It was at a lecture last Shavuot, about the sanctification and desecration of G-d's name. This reaction fascinated me, so I stayed until the end and listened intently. Then, I scraped together all my courage and asked the lecturer to lend me the book. It was Listen World, Listen Jew. I've read some more of Rabbi Kahane's books since and warmly recommend them all, by the way.

Actually, that was not my first contact with the rabbi's ideas. When I converted to Judaism overseas, one day our teacher suddenly drove us to a shooting range.

There, he just said: "I will not let any one of you go to the conversion Beit Din unless you learn to shoot a gun first. You want to be Jewish, fine. A Jew has to know how to defend himself. And if you say you can't do this because you are afraid or a pacifist or whatever, I demand from you that you do it, for me and my family that was murdered by the cursed Nazis.”

I never forgot that lesson. Our teacher sometimes mentioned Rabbi Kahane's name, but, thanks to pressure from the synagogue's establishment, he never went into the details. Because of the establishment's reaction, I always thought that “Kahane” meant something unspeakably radical, a taboo topic beyond any range of normal discourse, something one best stayed far away from.

I'm glad that now, after my Aliyah, I got a second chance to learn more about the life and teachings of a man who literally gave himself to his people. He upheld Jewish pride into the face of a world that, for 2,000 years, had shamelessly persecuted and murdered Jews. He taught disaffected, lost teenagers that “Jewish is beautiful”. He fearlessly fought anti-Semitism and challenged anyone daring to harm Jews, from American neighborhood bullies to the Soviet Union and Arab terrorists. He went to jail again and again on behalf of his people; often enough jailed even by his own people. Could there be a more intensive way of living Ahavat Israel?

And Ahavat HaShem. For years, I had been saying the Sh'ma Israel prayer day after day, but I never really understood what it means when it says, “...with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your resources. Let these words that I command you today be on your heart.” It was only from Rabbi Kahane's teachings that I understood that this really means placing G-d's will above our own, to transform it into our own; that you can't keep anything for yourself because your life is not your property, but a deposit from G-d. Accepting Ol Malchut Shamayim ("the Yoke of Heaven") - I never before understood how beautiful this concept is.

Rabbi Kahane lived it. He loved G-d and held up the Torah uncompromisingly. He acted not out of personal considerations, but in order to fulfill G-d's will and to restore the Jewish people to their task as G-d's chosen nation on Earth, destined to live in a society of Divine holiness in Eretz Israel.

Last Sunday, on the 18th of Cheshvan, was Rabbi Kahane's 18th yahrzeit. I had the honor to attend the graveside ceremony held at Har HaMenuchot and the assembly in Jerusalem after that. At the assembly, Rabbi Yehuda Kroizer, dean of the Yeshiva of the Jewish Idea, encouraged the audience to spread knowledge about Rabbi Kahane's teachings, especially his major work Ohr HaRaayon - The Jewish Idea. He said that “like there is a Chabad house in every city, you should make your house a 'house of the Jewish idea' wherever you are... and learn, even with just one study partner.”

Well-known right wing activist Baruch Marzel, in his speech, called out to the audience: “If Rabbi Kahane was with us today, he surely wouldn't want us to waste an entire evening on a memorial ceremony. He would get up and say what needs to be done tomorrow morning.” Marzel then did exactly this by reminding the audience of the urgent need to prevent the impending expulsion of the Jewish families living in the Shalom House in Hevron and announcing the planned march with Israeli flags through the Israeli-Arab village of Umm el-Fahm, which is Rabbi Kahane's teachings live on among the Jewish people and what he did has left a lasting impact beyond the close circle of his followers. I'm convinced that many around the country feel that he was right and admire him, even if they don't dare to admit it openly. They are afraid. Given the hate campaign by the media and some government officials against the right-wing and the settlers of Judea and Samaria, that's no wonder. A huge, precious and dedicated part of our own people, and among them especially the followers of Rabbi Kahane, are slandered, harassed and even, absurdly, depicted as a greater threat than Arab terrorism. All this in order to embrace the real deadly enemies, for the sake of unrealistic peace accords and the next “disengagement” under the watchful eyes of America and Europe.

What if that's not how we want things to be? One aspect of countering this detrimental development is indeed education and outreach. Of course, it's not the only aspect, but it is important as a foundation. It is precisely the people standing outside, drenched in the “rain” of the left-wing media hate campaign who need to be reached. They need to know the alternative. Authentic Jewish values have to be brought back into the mainstream - and that's a task for all who care about Israel, not only the followers of Rabbi Kahane. It can succeed even by simple means.

If a single, well-prepared lesson on a few clear Jewish concepts worked wonders on me, it can work on others, too. Perhaps I'm too optimistic, but something inside me doesn't want to give up and doesn't want to return to obediently swallowing the media propaganda stew, and to silently watching Israel undermining it's very existence.

I look back at my Tehillim booklet, at the outcry of King David: "I have done justice and righteousness - leave me not to those who oppress me."

Let the voice that dared to speak the truth not be silenced. Rabbi Meir David Kahane gave everything for the Jewish people; may G-d avenge his blood.

It is not decency or goodness of gentleness that impresses the Middle East, but strength - Kahane

1) Above all, it is not decency or goodness of gentleness that impresses the Middle East, but strength.

Still appropriate today!

2) But the Jew is not a cripple. G-d made him with two legs, and the authentic healthy Jew walks on both of them.

Israel is ready to throw off the yoke of US Aid!

3) Every man judges his own happiness and satisfaction with life in terms of his possession or lack of possession of those things that he considers worthwhile and valuable.

Your soul, not material possession will go with you the next life.

4) For so long as the Jew has even one ally, he will be convinced - in his smallness of mind - that his salvation came from that ally. It is only when he is alone - against all of his own efforts and frantic attempts - that he will, through no choice, be compelled to turn to G-d.

Israel will soon be alone.

5) I know that elections must be limited only to those who understand that the Arabs are the deadly enemy of the Jewish state, who would bring on us a slow Auschwitz - not with gas, but with knives and hatchets.

No change here...

6) I see all this and know that if we are to save the Jewish state and its three-and-a-half million Jews from terrible horrors, we must rise up and demand a fundamental change in the very system of government.

Maniigut Yehudit is the ticket!

7) If we ever hope to rid the world of the political AIDS of our time, terrorism, the rule must be clear: One does not deal with terrorists; one does not bargain with terrorists; one kills terrorists.

I second that!

8) It is incumbent upon us to understand our greatness and believe in it so that we do not cheapen and profane ourselves.

Chosen people have to follow the Statutes

9) Jews have been in Egypt since Biblical times, and Alexandria had once been, at least partially, a Jewish city.

Not sure if any are left today.

10) Let us not suffer from a national amnesia that causes us to forget who and what we are.

Never forget

11) Life is essentially a question of values.

What are you doing when nobody is watching?

12) Love has its place, as does hate. Peace has its place, as does war. Mercy has its place, as do cruelty and revenge.

Fight fire with fire.

13) Never, ever deal with terrorists. Hunt them down and, more important, mercilessly punish those states and groups that fund, arm, support, or simply allow their territories to be used by the terrorists with impunity.

Seems fair

14) No trait is more justified than revenge in the right time and place.

It serves many purposes.

15) One of the great problems with Americans is that - being a decent people - they assume that everyone else is equally decent.

Apply that to Obama...

16) Only a people that believes that its G-d called the world and its inhabitants into being and controls and decrees their destiny, has any logical and intellectual reason to worship Him.

Makes sense.

17) Surely it is time for Jews, worried over the huge growth of Arabs in Israel, to consider finishing the exchange of populations that began 35 years ago.

Please begin NOW!

18) The banding together by the nations of the world against Israel is the guarantee that their time of destruction is near and the final redemption of the Jew at hand.

It is near... you can feel it. Is the Anti-Messiah here now?

19) The difference is that if we turn from the Gentile first, we will have the Almighty as the immediate staff and our comfort. If not, we will have neither the Gentile nor, for a terrible stage, the Almighty.

Trust in no man....

20) The fact is, that with the creation of the Jewish state in 1948, hundreds of thousands of Jews fled Arab countries, almost all of whom left behind all their property for which compensation was never paid.

The world has no problem with Jews being forced out of any country

21) The G-d of History, the G-d of the Jewish people, called the world into being for one reason only and that was for the sake of the Jewish people and the Torah of Israel.

And for us to be the Light Unto Nations to the 70.

22) The Jew does not wish to be isolated. He fears being alone, without allies.

Until we all make Aliyah....

23) The Jew is upset because the nations of the world - the United Nations - lash him, brand him as racist and evil, hate him and openly demonstrate their desire to destroy him.

But this is the way it was written

24) The Jewish nation is indeed, the heart of the world and there is no reason for the existence of empires, kings, rulers, masses or systems aside from their reaction to the Jewish people.

Boo-Yah

25) The observant Jew has his own sense of values. Torah Judaism is his blueprint for this life, his target for existence.

And so we can all follow the same path!

26) There is the illusion of the world and the reality of the Torah.

How true...

27) Today, Jewish defense is an accepted thing.

Dimona and more

We have our own values; we build our own special, our JEWISH life - and we are proud, so very proud.

So wear a Jewish Star and bagel everyone

A View from Heaven An interview with Rabbi Noah Weinberg, of blessed memory.

As a reporter here in Heaven, I occasionally have the chance to interview some very special people. I recently had the marvelous opportunity to speak with Rabbi Noah Weinberg and inquire about his unique perspective on the world, his legacy, and the Jewish People. The transcript of that conversation follows:

Heavenly Reporter: Rabbi Weinberg, welcome to your new world. We are fortunate to have you.
Rabbi Noah Weinberg: A great privilege to be here.
HR: I trust everything here is to your satisfaction.
RNW: I actually prefer the word "pleasure." I spent much of my life teaching people about how to attain real pleasure. But only now do I understand how true my words were.
HR: What do you mean?
RNW: Human beings are natural pleasure seekers. They are programmed that way. But a vast majority of them get confused. They end up attaining comfort instead of pleasure. Or they believe that life is all about physical or emotional pleasures, instead of spiritual ones. If only they could see me now. Boy, were they wrong!
HR: What exactly would they see?



From Heaven - Read More

Swedish Jewish activist Annika Hernroth-Rothstein has filed for asylum in her own country

In a drastic move designed to bring attention to anti-Semitism in Sweden, Swedish Jewish activist Annika Hernroth-Rothstein has filed for asylum in her own country Monday. The 31-year-old political adviser and mother of two took the unprecedented step to protest a series of measures in Sweden banning kosher slaughter, ritual circumcision, and possibly even the importation of kosher meat. 

Some say proposals in Sweden and Norway to ban ritual circumcision and a resolution by the Council of the European Union condemning the practice indicate rising anti-Semitism in Europe, and there is no shortage of discussions on the topic in public forums.

But Rothstein, who has also been active in helping to organize Jewish solidarity and pro-Israel rallies in Sweden, said she hoped her actions would help move the issue from being a discussion on Twitter, around dinner tables and in synagogues to something that political decision-makers are talking about as a problem that needs to be addressed.

“One thing that we are good at is having conversations among ourselves, but I don’t see this as a Jewish problem because I don’t think there are a lot of Jewish anti-Semites out there,” she told The Times of Israel in a phone interview on Tuesday. “It’s not our responsibility to solve this on our own. It is a political problem that needs to have political consequences and solutions.

Swedish Jew Files For Asylum...In Sweden

The Two State Solution is Obsolete

The Two State Solution is Obsolete






 The Peel Commission’s “two-state solution,” 1937. The Americans, the Europeans and the international community in general are constantly demanding the implementation of a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders. 

For example, when French President Francois Hollande spoke at the Knesset recently, he stated, “We need a compromise through a two-state solution.” He emphasized that Jerusalem should be a shared capital city of both the Jewish and Palestinian peoples and stressed that settlement construction should come to an end. Statements by US President Barack Obama, US Secretary of State John Kerry, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, and Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron are very similar to Hollande’s. However, any political analysis of the current situation on the ground in the Holy Land would suggest that such models are an obsolete way of thinking. For starters, the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority are not controlled by the same political entity. 

The Gaza Strip is controlled by the Hamas terrorist organization, who to date refuses to reconcile with the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority. By refusing to sign a reconciliation agreement with Fatah, Hamas has essentially ensured that there can be no united Palestinian leadership. If there is no united Palestinian leadership, there can’t be a unified Palestinian state.


TSS Obsolete - Read More 

The Peel Commission’s “two-state solution,” 1937. The Americans, the Europeans and the international community in general are constantly demanding the implementation of a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders. For example, when French President Francois Hollande spoke at the Knesset recently, he stated, “We need a compromise through a two-state solution.” He emphasized that Jerusalem should be a shared capital city of both the Jewish and Palestinian peoples and stressed that settlement construction should come to an end. Statements by US President Barack Obama, US Secretary of State John Kerry, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, and Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron are very similar to Hollande’s. However, any political analysis of the current situation on the ground in the Holy Land would suggest that such models are an obsolete way of thinking. For starters, the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority are not controlled by the same political entity. The Gaza Strip is controlled by the Hamas terrorist organization, who to date refuses to reconcile with the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority. By refusing to sign a reconciliation agreement with Fatah, Hamas has essentially ensured that there can be no united Palestinian leadership. If there is no united Palestinian leadership, there can’t be a unified Palestinian state.

Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/blogs/daughters-of-zion/the-two-state-solution-is-obsolete/2013/11/20/