Rabbi's Blog

More on Modern Media

2011-07-10T16:25:00.000-04:00

To restate the gist of my previous post:

Measles and societal decadence (apparent in the Eminem video in question) have something in common.

Both are communicative diseases.

Not all communication is benign. Just because an "artist" has the right to disseminate his "artwork" doesn't mean that it is wise or healthy for me or my children to view and absorb the message he is trying to communicate.

If you clicked on every spam email that enters your inbox, you'd infect your computer. No longer would your operating system operate the way it's supposed to.

Why is your mind any less sensitive?

For our $600 dollar laptop, we buy the fanciest antivirus and antispyware protection that money can buy. We delete suspicious or flagged attachments immediately, lest it damage or taint our precious hard drive.

Why don't we regard our psyche with at least the same degree of protectiveness?

According to the Torah, the product manual of the soul, exposure to licentious, immodest or violent imagery and lyrics taints our innocence and leaves an indelible blemish on our soul’s motherboard. It can possibly cause our soul’s most vital applications, i.e. thought, speech and deed, to malfunction.

Perhaps we ought to firewall ourselves from such undesirable communication?

Extreme Makeover

2011-06-28T00:47:00.002-04:00

Several months back, I blogged about some of the misleading terms used in our media to describe current events.

Here's another one: extremism. In fact, this one is my pet peeve.

The media's use of this term bothers me. Not because it insults me personally, whom many might consider to be an extremist of sorts.

The reason it's incorrect is because it implies that the extremist's core beliefs are okay. His only vice is that he (or she -- sorry for the gender profiling) is extreme in his convictions. If he'd only become less zealous, a bit more mellow and moderate, he'd be a great guy. "Your views are fine," we are telling the jihadist. "Just don't take them to such extremes."

I remember a decade back, shortly after September 11th, 2001, I was driving in my car listening to a radio talk show host bemoan the "religious extremism" of the Taliban. "As a matter of fact," he ranted, "they are so extreme, so barbaric... why, they even wear beards!" I listened thoughtfully while stroking my unkempt beard -- no, make that: my extremely unkempt beard.

My initial thought was to call the station and complain, but never got around to doing so. Instead, I devoted my Shabbat sermon to it. I explained to my congregants:

Extremism is not bad if you are being extreme about something good. Example: someone who is extemely charitable, excessively peace-loving, exceedingly modest, intensely studious, extraordinarily selfless, ultra kind, giving, humane, just, etc. Even if you're extreme about something that others might consider archaic, aberrant, or defiant of social norms, such as sporting an untrimmed beard, so long as your eccentricity causes no harm to yourself or to others, surely everyone should concede that such hairy "extremism" (if one could rightly call it that) is rather benign. To the smooth-faced moderates who deride bearded males as extremists, I say: "Live and let live."

However, if one is extreme about something bad, i.e. he believes in an extremely evil ideology, is extremely violent, extremely deceptive, extremely malicious, etc... then THAT is bad.

What's bad about this individual is not that he's extreme. It's that he's BAD. What makes him worse than a moderately bad person is that he is EXTREMELY bad.

So when our media refers to a jihadist as a "religious extremist," they are doing humanity a huge disservice.

Their description of the "extremist" masks the real underlying problem. The jihadist's problem is that his views are violent, malevolent and vindictive. By censuring "extremism," we are not confronting the real enemy, but instead are getting sidetracked by focusing on something irrelevant. In fact, we are emboldening him by acknowledging his right to his noxious ideology but merely pleading with him not to be so devout. This only reiterates his opinion of us, that we (i.e. the Western world) are spineless enemies of faith.

Instead of protesting his extremeness, we ought to refer to him by what he is: an Islamofascist hatemonger. Or, if he actualized his ambition and committed an act of terrorism, then he is an Islamofascist genocidal murderer.

He is not merely an "extremist." He is an enemy of G-d, an enemy of mankind.

To describe Ahmadinejad as an extremist is obscuring the facts. Fact: his main vice is that he is blood thirsty and an outspoken proponent of genocide. Why does it matter that he is extremely blood thirsty? And what if he were only moderately blood thirsty? Would we then sigh a breath of relief? Is mild genocide then okay?

So let's be honest and address the real issues. If someone believes that it's okay to murder a non-believer, his vice is not extremism. His problem is his abhorrent beliefs. If his religion sanctions murder, then he has a perverse religion. Calling him an extremist vindicates his blood thirsty religion. Instead, his only shortcoming has now been reduced to a mere lack of moderation.

Furthermore, the media often calls "settlers" like the Fogels' (may G-d avenge their blood) "religious fundamentalists" or "extremists" as well. Why not? The settlers have beards too.

So thanks to our wonderfully unbiased media, we now have moral equivalence between peace-loving Jews who are "extreme" in their views by insisting on their right to live anywhere in the world, including Samaria, and their blood-thirsty Arab counterparts who feel that Samaria ought to be Judenrein, whose stated objective is ethnic cleansing of the entire Levant, and who celebrate the most incomprehensibly brutal form of infanticide, all out of their extremely Islamofascist convictions.

Indeed, the media has created a moral equivalence between all settler Jews (99.9% of whom do not advocate violence or murder of any kind, and would love nothing more than to live in peace with their Arab neighbors) with jihadists (99.9% of whom advocate mass murder of Jews and ethnic cleansing).

In fact, all ultra-Orthodox Jews and fundamentalist Protestants, or any other extremely devout individual of another faith or creed, are now lumped together in the same boat as radical Islamists and Jihadists. (ultra = extreme). And since many people might consider me ultra-orthodox thanks to my ultra-non-conformist beard (in addition to the fact that I am extremely opinionated), I guess that makes me a fundamentalist extremist who is capable of hijacking a plane. Thank you media for another job well done at skewing everyone's perspective and corrupting our minds.

As you can see, I'm getting extremely irate. I think I'd better call it a day.

Have an extremely good night! :-)

PS Maimonides does write that extremism in any form, even in the benign sense of being extremely and excessively generous, extremely miserly, etc., are both incorrect, and that one ought to "take the middle path" and do everything in moderation. While this is an objective truth that everyone ought to strive toward, it has no bearing on what I wrote above. Even if someone is extremely serious or extremely light headed, both attributes negated by Maimonides as "extreme," he still is not an evil or dangerous villain. No one is his right mind would equate an extremely self-effacing but harmless hermit with an extremely blood thirsty Jihadist.

Just Say No

2011-06-24T09:29:00.000-04:00

Westboro Video Controversy, part II

Well, it looks as though the local controversy surrounding a teacher who showed an objectionable Eminem video to her seventh-grade class is now over.

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x1781765262/Westborough-teacher-resigns-after-video-incident

However, in reality, this issue is far from over. It continues to jeopardize our youth and our adults of all ages. (See previous post)

What particularly concerns me is the reaction of numerous local parents with whom I have discussed the matter.

One highly intelligent father remarked that he believes some (read: his) kids are mature enough to view anything and not be negatively influenced. Yet in the same sentence, he was infuriated that a teacher dare show such material to his or anyone's children. In his mind, an adult who shows such obscene images to children might well be a predator seeking to cause them harm.

I countered: "And what about the possibility that by simply viewing the video at home they might be causing themselves harm?"

While the dad agreed that not all material out there might be beneficial for children to watch, he emphatically maintained that "mature" kids must be granted the freedom to explore the world on their own. "Preventing their exposure to such videos," he asserted, "might be more damaging to their souls than their viewing of the video itself."

(Parenthetically, it is important to note that the teacher showed the video to students, some of whom had presumably viewed before, without audio. She merely played it in order to point out the unhealthy image of women in today's society. While I agree with the outraged parents that it was inappropriate to show in school, the irony can not be overstated. On one hand, many of these parents are allowing their teens to watch anything they wish, without any supervision or parental guidance. But when an experienced teacher attempts to point out the dangerous attitudes advocated by these videos, the parents are up in arms! If parent mustn't restrict freedom, lest he or she be viewed as too judgmental or controlling, and teachers are forbidden to discuss such issues, who will then teach the children how to discriminate between right and wrong?)

Here is a humorous episode I heard recently that sheds brilliant light on this issue:

A Chabadnik woman was shopping in the supermarket one day when she heard something most peculiar. A young African American child asked his mother, "Hey Mom, are these cookies kosher?" The mom replied no, and her son put the cookies back on the shelf.

The curious onlooker approached the mother, who did not seem to fit the stereotype of your average kosher consumer.

"Excuse me, m'am," she said, "are you Jewish?"

"No," replied the mom.

"Just curious, then, why do you keep kosher?"

"Oh, I don't really keep kosher," answered the woman. "I just borrowed the term."

She proceeded to relate the following:

"For years, my kids have been harassing me at the supermarket that they want this snack, that candy bar, etc. I had a hard time saying no, as the kids would just carry on and whine. One day while shopping, I overheard a most unusual exchange between an Orthodox Jewish mother and her own kids. It was at the check-out line where all the sweets are enticingly on display.

"'Could we get that, Mommie?' her kids asked.

"'Nope, we can't get it. It's not kosher.'

"The kids quietly accepted her response, and the conversation ended there. I was so impressed, I asked the Jewish mother how she was able to raise such obedient kids. My kids would have begun pleading and pouting. The woman explained that it wasn't about obedience, but simply the knowledge that the food wasn't kosher. Her kids knew that if it wasn't kosher, they don't eat it. Period.

"I was so jealous. What a brilliant idea, I thought to myself. From then on, I introduced the idea of 'kosher' and 'not kosher' to my own kids, even though we're not Jewish and don't keep kosher. When they want something and I say 'It's not kosher,' they know that they're not getting it and that's it."

If only modern-day parents could understand this simple idea. You owe it to your kids to teach them right from wrong, to inspire them to make the right moral choices in their own lives.

It's not about being too controlling or judgmental. By teaching your kids that some images and lyrics are simply not kosher, not fit for consumption, you are empowering them to make the right choices later in life.

More importantly than teaching them, we as parents ought to teach by example. If it's not kosher for kids or young adults, it's not kosher for adults either.

It doesn't matter if the viewer is mature or immature, whether or not he is firmly rooted in his values or not. If it is not kosher, we don't consume it. It's not up for negotiation.

And we'll be happier and healthier as a result.

Teacher your kids to "just say no."

Just a Measly Video

2011-06-21T03:07:00.008-04:00

Dear Friends and Readers,

By now I'm sure you've read last week's two disturbing news items involving our town, Westborough, MA.
I never imagined my sleepy New England town would make national or even statewide news. Not once, but twice in one day!

Most fascinating is the common theme of these two stories.

Here's news item number one:
A teacher in our local middle school was suspended after allegedly showing an objectionable video called "Superman" to a class of seventh graders.
Click here for Boston Globe story, or here to view all 35 news stories.

News item number two:
A case of measles in Westborough -- an employee at the local Bose Corporation has allegedly fallen ill with the contagious and potentially fatal disease. Here's a link about it.

Now, I must first state that I do not know the teacher or students personally, nor have I ever watched the Eminem video in question. In fact, until today, I didn't even know who "Eminem" was, nor do I care to know. All I know is what I've read, that the video contained lots of immodest, explicit and violent scenes. The superintendent acknowledged that the video was (sic) inappropriate.

As a rabbi in the community where this occured, I would like to make two comments and ask several questions:

Comment #1:
Isn't it uncanny that both news items reflect a contagion that threatens the health and well-being of not just Westborough locals, but our entire modern society?

Comment #2:
We immunize to protect people from diseases like measles. Should we be "immunizing" children to protect them from negative societal influences by exposing them to it in the form of Eminem videos? By doing so, are we immunizing them or predisposing them, or worse, poisoning them? A vaccine contains weakened or dead virus particles. Imagine injecting a healthy patient, child or adult, with live, virulent pathogens. Are you protecting your unsuspecting patient, or infecting him? Perhaps the best way to provide immunity to the diseased behaviors glorified in Eminem's videos is by teaching kids to avoid exposure entirely. Teach them to "Just say No."

Some questions about the video:
1. Is it only inappropriate for children, or is it inappropriate for adults too?
2. Is it only inappropriate for a teacher to show in school, but ok for kids to view at home?
3. Eminem is referred to repeatedly in the news articles as an "artist." Is "Superman" artwork?

A NY congressman recently lost his job and reputation because he sent inappropriate images of himself to a few individuals via electronic media. Why? Isn't he just an "artist" like Eminem? Of course, the latter is a much more seasoned "artist" because he sends similar images to not just several, but millions of individuals. And while the congressman reserved his "artwork" for several adult acquaintances, Eminem's "artistic" imagery and lyrics target minors, and lots of 'em. So why does a teacher and politician get canned, but the "artist" makes millions? What am I missing?

I know some of you are rolling your eyes. Come on, rabbi. It was just a measly video (pun intended) It's not for real. It's just harmless "art."

So let's consider the second news item about measles. What's the commotion? So what if one person caught the disease from a migrant worker in an isolated plant on Route 9. Why is that newsworthy?

The answer is obvious. This is a highly contagious disease. We are all at risk. If it's at Wall Street, it will trickle down to Main Street.

For the youth who is growing up watching videos by Eminem (and others of his ilk), the behaviors showcased in such pieces of "art" are now part of the young viewers' reality. His or her pure mind has now been infected with images of licentiousness, vulgarity, violence and misogyny. And thanks to the wonders of modern media, the contagion now spreads rapidly from friend to friend, tainting the minds of countless other young people.

Will all the young people who watch "Superman" try to emulate that behavior? Hopefully not. But then again, most people will survive measles too. Can we afford to take the risk?

The Torah exhorts us "Do not stray after your heart and after your eyes..."

Watching a video or listening to music is like consumption of food or drink. Just like the food has to be clean, healthy, nourishing and kosher, so too the videos we view need to be fit for consuption. Indeed, every image or lyric we consume becomes indelibly etched into the whiteboard of our mind, conscious and subconscious, in permanent ink.

Ever hear the cliche "You are what you eat?" Well, it really ought to be: "You are what you watch."

PS With regards to the Gibbons Middle School class, the facts have still not emerged, and it is entirely possible that the teacher is blameless. What I have written above is not an indictment against the teacher or school, nor is it an opinion about what has actually occured. Rather, it is a commentary on the reality that children all over (perhaps many children in that very class) are in fact viewing this video (and others like it) at home or elsewhere.

Correction on 67 Borders

2011-05-30T23:30:00.002-04:00

Ok, time for a correction. Thank you to several astute readers who brought this to my attention:

President Obama didn't exactly say that Israel should "return" to her "pre"-67 Borders.

Instead, he said: "We believe the borders of Israel and 'Palestine' should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps..."

I couldn't agree more. The borders of Israel should be based on the lines of June 10th, 1967, the cease-fire lines at conclusion of the Six Day War.

(See image. The 6/10/67 borders we refer to include the yellow and pale orange areas.)

Israel should definitely return to these borders, and without delay.

Firstly, by now it is obvious to everyone that the "peace" treaty with Egypt in 1979 brokered by Mr. Obama's predecessor, Jimmy Carter, is an utter failure. Although it is debatable as to whether the treaty was ever really honored by the Egyptians, it has now been flagrantly violated, as the border to Gaza is wide open and arms may be brought to Hamas in broad daylight. Hamas just moved their terrorist headquarters to Egypt, and terrorist activity is rising in the Sinai. Time to take back the Sinai and return to the armistice lines of June 10th, 1967.

Secondly, it is also painfully self-evident that Israel's disengagement from Gaza in '05 was a grave error. This blunderous move only enabled Hamas to take power and set up a inimical police state that fires Qassam rockets into Israel on a daily basis, targeting civilians. By returning to the borders of June 10th, '67, Israel could then do what it needs to to protect its civilian population: eliminate Hamas and restore security.

Thirdly, Israel gained nothing by evacuating Northern Samaria in '05, and stands to gain nothing by evacuating and uprooting 558,000 Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria. Not only will Israel not gain peace or security, Israel will only be advancing the front lines of her mortal enemies, those bent on her utter destruction. It would be purely suicidal from anyone's point of view! It is absurd that this needs to be articulated in public forum, it is so obvious.

Moreover, history has proven time and time again that contiguous borders with maniacal hate mongers yield disastrous results. Cases in point: Sudetenland in 1938; Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty in 1939, etc.

Borders with neighbors like Hamas or the PA are simply unacceptable. Would the US tolerate a border with a Muslim-Brotherhood-dominated police state? Does any sane, objective thinker really believe that such borders will bring peace or security?

Yes, Israel's borders should certainly be based on the 1967 cease fire line.

All the hostile, blood-thirsty Jew-haters and would-be terrorists who currently reside in Gaza, Judea and Samaria can be relocated to Arab Palestine (currently known as Jordan) on the east bank. This must be the "mutually agreed swaps" Obama was referring to.

Well said, Mr. President.

* * *

One more clarification:

Several readers have misinterpreted my previous post as a politically-motivated attack on President Obama. Some have even accused me of unfairly singling out Obama for having said something similar to what former President Bush had said.

Nothing could be further from the truth. First of all, I am not being unfairly critical of Obama. I have always been consistent. I deplored and criticized both statements.

Far be it from me to discriminate between presidents, black or white, Republican or Democrat. If a president is wrong, then he's wrong, regardless of which party he hails from or where he attended church or mosque.

I was completely disgusted by Bush's ill-advised policies toward Israel too, and was quite vociferous about it at the time. The Bush-inspired "Road Map" was nothing more than a dangerous collision course.

However, there is something far more troubling about this president's recent statements and his timing. Here we are dealing with a Hamas government, an admittedly terrorist organization. Hamas and the PA are seeking unilateral statehood. Israel faces greater existential threat than any time before in history. Mr. Obama stands by idly while Tehran races toward nuclear weapons and brazenly calls for Israel's destruction. To invoke the indefensible borders of pre-1967 at this critical time is nothing short of overt Antisemitism. "Mutually agreed-upon swaps" doesn't mitigate the gravity of what he said. There is no mutual agreement with Hamas, or even with Abbas. They just want to mass-murder us. They say it and they mean it.

Mr. President, what part of that don't you understand?

I am not a Democrat nor a Republican. I am a Jew and an American. I believe that any Jew and any American ought to have the moral fortitude to stand up and protest the president's foolish and malicious statements.

To all the American Jews who still support Obama, I say:

This is not about party lines or petty politics. Just because he's "your man" and you voted for him, it's time to stand up for the truth. The fate of Israel, no, the fate of the entire world hangs in the balance.

Today is exactly forty-four years since the beginning of the Six Day War. The world has learned little since then.

It's time to speak up for the truth. For ultimately, the truth will prevail.

* * *

One final point:

My intent in the previous post was not to ridicule Obama's call to return to the indefensible borders of the past, although I may have done so in the process. In light of current times, his call is so utterly ridiculous, it needs no pointing out. No need to state the obvious.

I merely sought to derive an inspiring lesson from his objectionable words.

And most importantly, with regard to Obama:

The real problem here is not the POTUS. He may say what ever he likes. In fact, that's his job. He needs to show his constituents that he's trying to make "peace." It is pointless to pressure the Arabs. They are inflexible. Conversely, Israel is flexible and willing to make concessions. So it's a no-brainer that any American president is going to place undue pressure on Israel.

The problem is Israel. Mr. Prime Minister, don't "engage." Just say no.

G-d gave us this land. Bibi, it is not yours to negotiate or use a political bargaining tool. It is the property of every Jew who ever lived and who ever will live. It is the property of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, Miriam, David, Solomon, me and you. You may go jump in the Mediterranean if you wish, but you may not dispossess me of what is eternally and inseparably mine.

Bibi, you said that Jerusalem is not negotiable. It is the "heart of our people" and will always remain one and undivided. If only you realized that the same is true of the entire Land of Israel.

Return to 67 Borders!

2011-05-25T01:16:00.024-04:00

Dear Friends,

In light of recent statements by President Obama, I feel it's necessary to veer from this blog's usual apolitical stance and share my thoughts on the matter:

Personally, I am in complete agreement with the president's audacious remark. I too earnestly believe that Israel needs to return to her pre-67 borders.

In fact, therein lies the solution to all of Israel's problems, and, in fact, all the world's problems. Return to the pre-67 borders will unquestionably bring peace to the Middle East and to the entire world. It will effectively end the plights of all displaced exiles and refugees, thereby alleviating their suffering, compensating them for their millenia of yearning and eons of wandering. Indeed, it will right all historical wrongs and establish a new world order.

That's right, my friends. All this can be accomplished, if only Israel is willing to return to her pre-67 borders.

Yes, Israel needs to return to the borders of before 67 CE, the year Vespasian embarked on his military campaign to conquer and lay waste to the land of Israel and ultimately destroyed the Holy Temple (in 68 CE).

What were the pre-67 CE borders, you ask?

Well, for one, these borders contained areas most vital to Israel's security and defense (e.g. Golan, Gaza, West and East Banks, part of the Sinai, etc.). Moreover, they contained the heartland of Biblical Israel, including Judea, Samaria, and even Transjordania.

In 67 CE, there was no "Palestine," but only Israel, land of the Jews. No "Aelia Capitolina." No "East" and "West," but only one united Jerusalem.

But that's not the main point.

The greatest thing about year 67 CE and prior is the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

What we need is a return to pre-67. We need to rebuild the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. And we need to do it right away!

The Third Holy Temple in Jerusalem will surely establish peace on earth and usher in the Messianic Era. It will end all violence, terror and injustice. "They shall neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mount, for the land shall be filled with the knowledge of G-d as the waters covers the sea bed." (Isaiah 25:9)

Obama was right! (Sort of. He was just 1900 years off. At least he had the last two digits right)

The expression "Israel needs to return to her... borders" is great too. It recalls the poignant words of Jeremiah (31:14) "A voice is heard upon high, bitter sobs...(Matriarch) Rachel cries for her children, she will not be comforted… (Says G-d) "Withhold your voice from crying and your eyes from tearing, for there is a reward for your actions… and your children will return to their border."

Fellow Israelites! Listen to our president. He is telling us to "return to our border" as prophesied in Jeremiah. It's high time to return to our roots. Let's bring Moshiach and "return to our border" once and for all!

Actually, the more I think about it, the 67 CE borders are not enough. What we really need is a return to the 67 BCE borders, back to the time that there was true Jewish sovereignty and independence from foreign domination, shortly before Pompeii invaded Jerusalem (during the civil war of the two Hasmonean brothers, Aritobulus and Hyrcanus, thereby commencing a long and painful period of Roman occupation). Now that would truly be something. Imagine an Israel free of foreign interference or prejudice. No UN bias, boycotts, or unfair pressure from US presidents. No foreign power telling Israel how or how not to protect her citizens.

Upon further reflection, I must now conclude that the pre-67 BCE borders are not enough either. What we really need is a return to the pre-567 BCE borders, before the ten northern tribes of Israel were exiled (in circa 556 BCE). Now here's a pre-'67 borders that would really solve our problems. Not only would it restore the territorial integrity of Israel, it would finally achieve true unity to the People of Israel by bringing back all lost and straggling Jews from all over the globe. The long-awaited ingathering of the exiles!

In fact, I must finally admit that I am not in agreement with Obama after all. What we need most of all right now is not a "return" to anything. We need to move forward, not backward.

The borders and conditions of 67 CE, 67 BCE, or even 567 BCE, etc., are not enough. No sir!

The Third Temple with be infinitely greater than its two predecessors, and the Third Commonwealth of the Messianic Era will be vastly and incomparably superior to anything we've ever seen in history. So no, we should not be returning or turning back the pages of history. Instead, it's time to move forward and achieve our destiny.

For then, and only then, mankind will achieve its destiny as well. All of humanity will turn to G-d together as one. No longer will there be war or intolerance, hatred or competition, disease or poverty. The occupation of the entire world will be to know G-d to the fullest of human potential.

Unlike some other deviant belief systems, the true coming of Moshiach doesn't involve any foreboding Armageddons, warlike Mahdis, or worlds coming to their end on Saturday at 4pm. Nor does it necessitate any cataclysmic tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes or nuclear fallout. Moshiach's coming is something that everyone can look forward to.

In fact, after the Redemption, there will no longer be any need for borders. "The Land of Israel is destined to spread over the entire world, and Jerusalem is destined to spread throughout all the Land of Israel." (Yalkut Shimoni)

Forget about 67 borders, or even defensible borders. We need an Israel with no borders.

Don't mean to border on sounding utopian or out of touch with reality. Quite the contrary. Realistically speaking, it seems painfully self-evident that the only better and safer option to Israel's current post-'67 borders is expanded borders. And the best and safest option is the Messianic description of no borders at all. A borderless Israel!

(Parenthetically, if you honestly believe that Israel sharing a border with a hostile, so-called "Palestinian" State is a solution, even a temporary one, then you are the borderline delusional. Maybe within the borders of your quixotic dreamworld, but not in the real world. In either case, this short-sighted viewpoint articulated by our president is alas more unrealistically utopian and dream-like than anything Isaiah, Jeremiah or the Yalkut Shimoni ever conceived of.)

If you truly wish to solve the Mideast crisis, and thereby solve all mankind's crises, personal, communal and global, for once and for all, let's discuss the only truly viable and lasting solution, the true and complete Geulah (Redemption).

So it's not about returning to borders, but about advancing and expanding our horizons to usher in a new era of Redemption.

So let's rephrase the president's ill-advised statement:

"Israel needs to advance to her destiny that will infinitely expand her borders and shine her light to the whole world."

Summary

2011-05-11T23:15:00.000-04:00

Some have commented that my previous post wasn't clear enough.
I shall state my position more concisely:

1. Should one rejoice over the elimination of Osama Bin Laden?
Yes.

2. Should we give thanks to G-d for OBL's death?
Yes.

3. Should we be proud of our military, and appreciate our government for their decision to do the right thing in eliminating OBL?
Yes.

4. Should we publicly celebrate?
No. The world is still a very unsafe place, with far too many OBLs who have yet to be eliminated.

Osama's Death, Part II

2011-05-08T22:28:00.067-04:00

We all agree that Bin Laden's demise is good news for mankind. The Torah tells us to rejoice and thank G-d for good news. That is a given.

The question remains, should we celebrate publicly?

This is a different matter entirely. I contend that it is not the time for celebration, but not for the same reasons others might have.

Let's use the Torah as a guide. In the case, the Biblical Scroll of Esther:

The glorious news of Haman's hanging was well publicized throughout Shushan. In fact, one could easily see his vile corpse dangling from a fifty-cubit gallows (80 feet high). Now that Haman was gone, Mordechai the Jew was elevated to prime minister in his place. Haman was dead, and all his power and wealth now belonged to Mordechai, who was now publicly identified as Queen Esther's own cousin! Yet the Jews of Shushan did not celebrate. Nor did Esther or Mordechai. Instead, they pleaded before the king for mercy.

You see, even after Haman's demise, his wicked decree still loomed over their heads. Still eleven months off, the date of Adar 13th was still set as a "Day of Rage" throughout the Persian Empire in which the Jews were slated for wholesale murder and destruction. So Haman's death was not a time for premature joy, or even to breathe a sigh of relief. It was a time to work even harder to ensure our survival as a people. It was an opportunity to plead from Ahasuerus to outlaw Hamanism altogether.

Unfortunately, the Persian emperor was not able to grant their request. Instead, however, he made an unprecedented gesture of support for the Jewish cause. He gave them the opportunity to arm and protect themselves. Moreover, the Jews were now allowed to act preemptively and destroy their enemies on the very day of Adar 13, the same day that had originally been designated for their own destruction.

Only at that point did the Jews celebrate. "And the Jews had radiance and joy, elation and glory."

Although the danger was not over, the light at the end of the tunnel was sighted. Granted the opportunity to eliminate their enemies, the Jews now had a means to survive. With G-d's help, they now knew that the Jews would prevail.

Following Esther's lead, we cannot celebrate a modern-day Haman's death, since the dangers of his particular Hamanism is very much alive. Instead, we need to use the opportunity to demand the ability to preemptively eliminate many more Hamans, until we can effectively uproot Hamanism and erase it from the face of the earth.

Simply stated, the reason why celebration is not called for is because we are still in grave danger from the Osama bin Ladens' of the world. The so-called "War on Terror" has not been won. In fact, it has barely begun.

When Israel feels free and unencumbered to effectively root out its enemies a la Operation Geronimo, then and only then shall we rejoice.

Meanwhile, the proper Jewish response to Bin Laden's elimination is to demand from our leadership to respect Israel's right to defend her citizens. It's high time for Israel to do what it really needs to ensure her survival. This means targeted assassinations, military incursions into Gaza, disarming and elimination of Hamas, preemptive attack on Hezbollah, etc.

Moreover, it's time to demand that our nation stops funding terror. That's right, the US currently funds Fatah to the tune of $470 million a year. Fatah continues to indoctrinate its children to hate. Funded by US taxpayers' dollars, Fatah continues to incite and encourage terror.

Most of all, we need to plead, beseech, demand, etc., that the US take an proactive role in disarming today's Persia and neutralizing its nuclear ambitions. And to the very least, if King Ahasuerus/Obama lacks the political will or courage to do so, then give a green light to Israel to preemptively eliminate the Persian Hamans of our times.

In addition, the government of Israel needs to rise to the occasion and show true leadership, in the spirit of Esther and Mordechai. Don't sit idly and celebrate the death of one Haman when millions of others are lurking in the shadows, ever ready to do what Hamans do. Don't wait for your enemies to act. Destroy them first. This is the lesson of Purim and a clearly stated law from Parshat Mishpatim. "הבא להורגך השכם להורגו" "If one is preparing to kill you, wake up earler in the morning and kill him first," i.e. before he leaves his home.

* * *

One final point about celebrating in the wake of OBL's long-overdue death.

When the Children of Israel sang joyous songs of praise to G-d at the Sea of Reeds, it was because they themselves had been saved while their pursuers perished.

Are we "out of the water" now that OBL is gone? Should I feel closure now that he is gone? Are we ready to turn a page on history?

Sadly, the answer to all these questions is no.

Remember that OBL was not the individual most responsible for the atrocities that occurred on September 11th. He may have paid for and orchestrated it from afar, but he did not personally murder anyone.

The actual mass murderers were nineteen Arab men. These men were products of a depraved society that breeds hatred. This society has not yet been transformed just because one mass murderer is dead. It cannot and will not be transformed on its own. It has sunken to the depths of depravity.

Until Western governments change their attitudes toward Muslim incitement, we are no where near "out of the water." Our Egyptian pursuers are still hot on our trail, so to say.

As long as we continue our ill-advised policy of appeasement, the terrorists will not stop.

With regards to our president, let's be clear:

Until Obama acknowledges the fallacy of the so-called "two-state solution," he is no hero, and certainly is no champion of peace. As long as Israel is expected to make tough concessions to hostile Arab neighbors while Iran races toward atomic weapons with impunity, there can be no celebration.

Osama's Death, Part I

2011-05-08T11:08:00.002-04:00

An unabashedly Jewish response.

The welcomed, long-awaited news of last week have left many searching for answers.

Bloggers and readers alike grapple with the moral dilemma: What is the appropriate Jewish response?

I have remained silent thus far, hoping that we would hear from "Jewish leadership." But alas, no such leadership has materialized. The vast majority of material on the internet sadly reveals a profound lack of moral clarity, and a complete obliviousness to reality.

Worst of all, we are hearing from self-proclaimed Bible experts who quote haphazardly from Proverbs and Midrashic literature to further add to the misinformation.

So let's address the issues.

Should Jews rejoice over the death of an incorrigibly wicked mass murderer?

The answer is a resounding "YES!"
The deaths of Haman, Pharoah's armies, Sancheiriv, are but few of many examples.

Should we be thanking G-d? Absolutely.

True, our Sages taught that G-d chastised the angels for wishing to sing songs of praise while the Egyptians were drowning at sea. However, this was WHILE they were drowning at sea. Death is always a serious issue, regardless of whose death. It's not a time for revealed joy.

Immediately after their death, however, Moses led the Jewish people in the happiest song in Jewish history, sung daily in synagogues and homes throughout the world.

When the wicked Assyrian general Sancheiriv and his army were eliminated, righteous King Chizkiyahu ought to have sung a song of thanks to G-d. In the Talmud, Chizkiyahu was criticized for his failure to do so.

In fact, Chizkiayahu had been deemed worthy of being the righteous Moshiach. Because of his above-mentioned oversight, he was rejected! And we his decedents continue to languish in exile to this day.

In Mishlei, the wise King Solomon observed: "When the wicked get destroyed, there is joyous song."

But what of Solomon's other proverb, "When your enemy falls, do not rejoice, and when he stumbles, your heart should not be glad..."?

Deeper analysis suggests that it does not refer to a generic enemy, but to "your" enemy.
Indeed, the problem lies in the fact that you are gloating over the falling of your own personal enemy. There is a subjective, personal agenda here, so Solomon cautioned us not to rejoice, lest G-d find fault with you and your self-absorbed perspective.

Did you view Osama bin Laden, may his name be erased and his memory obliterated, as a personal enemy of yours? Were you personally outraged because of Osama's audacious attack on YOUR country? Did you view it as a vicious slight to your country's honor? Were you overcome by an exultant feeling of pride and patriotism when you heard the news of OBL's death at the hand of our Navy Seals?

If your answer is "yes," then this second Proverb may be speaking to you.

Indeed, this would not be the proper Solomonic response.

Instead, one ought to have viewed bin Laden as a menacing threat to humanity and an implacable foe of G-d Himself, as it were.

What we witnessed on September 11th, '01, was not a blow to our patriotism or American pride. It was a heinous attack on humanity. It was evil in its rawest form. It was unprecedented suffering and unimaginable darkness. It traumatized an entire nation and the entire civilized world.

The wicked man who funded and masterminded this atrocity was not "your" enemy whose falling ought not inspire joy. He was the very embodiment of wickedness refereed to in our first Proverb. When he is gone, "there is joyous song," in Heaven and on Earth.

Moreover, even if you feel a tinge of personal satisfaction that Osama has been eliminated, you still may rejoice. It's not his death that gratifies us. It's not the fact that he was shot in the head, or that we as a nation had "settled the score."

It's much more basic than that. It's because the entire world can now sigh a breath of relief that an arch-terrorist is no more, and that justice has been met.

We as Americans ought to feel a profound sense of pride in our country and our military, not because we "got even" with "our" enemy, but because we were able to be G-d's agents in making the world a safer, more peaceful and just place.

* * *

After having written this, I feel the need to clarify another crucial point:

In today's confusing world of moral relativism in which Islamofascist genocidal murderers are portrayed as "freedom fighters" and innocent Jewish children in Samaria are dubbed as subhuman "settlers" or "occupiers," it is more important than ever to get your facts straight when it comes to the death of a truly evil and dangerous man.

Wake up!

There is no moral equivalence between hate-monger Arab cab drivers handing out candies to celebrate the horrific murder of babies in Itamar, and between Americans and all peace-loving citizens of the world rejoicing over the elimination of a mass murderer. If you see any equivalence between the two, then you are morally compromised.

Compassion for murderers means cruelty to the innocents who were murdered (or would have been murdered had the murderer not been eliminated).

"Give thanks to G-d, for He is good... He cast Pharaoh and his armies into the sea... He killed mighty kings... for His kindness is everlasting."

"When the wicked perish, there is joy." Period.

Reflections on Recent Events

2011-05-02T02:53:00.009-04:00

Osama's death has been confirmed.
Obama's birth has been confirmed.
America's dearth (of leadership) needs no confirmation.

Trump trumped.
Obama vindicated.
Alobama devastated.

Buffet buffooned.
Bin Laden harpooned.
America festooned.

Khadaffi bereaved.
Israel-bashing believed.
Americans deceived.

British wedding: meaningless but charming
Hamas-PA wedding: not surprising but alarming
Even less surprising: Hizballah rearming.

Syria in syrious trouble.
Tuscaloosa under rubble.
Our politicians living in a bubble

Shuttle grounded.
Deficit unbounded.
Israel hostilly surrounded.

Jihadist eliminated.
Islam humiliated. (what else is new?)

Pedophilia-era pope venerated.
Church degenerated. (what else is new?)

Lessons from Holocaust largely unlearned.
Nuclear Iran? World's unconcerned.

Never again? Ask the UN
Nukes in Tehran, not if but when.

Another observation

2011-03-23T19:10:00.001-04:00

An astute observation from one of our readers:

It's interesting that one little cartoon that's seen as anti-Arab mobilizes the entire Arab world against the "infidels," and the media portrays their violent rage as an expression of their justified indignation.
Here, we are discussing the gruesome massacre of innocent people and babies... and it garners NO response in the media.
It is pathetic.

War of Words, part IV -- "Incident"

2011-03-21T23:06:00.003-04:00

Ok, time to vent about another toxic word that has polluted our vocabulary with regards to last week’s atrocity in Itamar and other horrific jihadist murders of the recent past.

At first glance, however, the word seems rather benign, certainly nothing in comparison to the malevolent expressions used by the inimical world media we’ve discussed in previous posts (i.e. “settlers,” “cycle of violence,” etc.). In fact, I have heard this word used repeatedly by well-intentioned individuals.

Nevertheless, it is my contention that this is the most egregiously insidious of misleading words used with regards to this atrocity.

The word is “incident.”

Last week I called an Israeli friend and told him we were organizing a prayer vigil and memorial service for the Fogels’. I expressed outrage that the media had completely sidelined the story. He responded that he felt that in the midst of the catastrophic events in Japan, this (sic) incident takes a back-burner position. His callous use of this word deeply troubled me. I will tell you why:

The word "incident" implies that the event was "incidental," something of relatively minor importance, or something that happened by chance and was not calculated. Incident also implies an isolated event, one that can potentially trigger a much larger crisis.

The massacre in Itamar was not a mere incident of separate circumstance. It was not an isolated event.

It was part of a well-planned genocidal war which is being waged by Islamofascist leadership.

The fact that the media glossed over it is not incidental either. It is part of an ongoing overt attempt to marginalize and demonize Israel in the eyes of the world.

The so-called incident in Itamar was not a minor event that can potentially sparked a much larger conflict, or that has exacerbated an already-problematic situation. It has not contributed to the so-called “cycle of violence.”

It was part of an already ongoing genocidal war on the Jewish people. It was the most recent offensive in a decades-old war against humanity.

Would anyone in their right mind refer to the atrocities of September 11th as mere incidents?

Etymologically, the word incident comes from Latin incidere, which means to “happen” or “befall.” In means “on” and cidere means to “fall.” It was something just happened to befall us. Out of the blue. By chance.
Last week, Jews gathered in synagogues around the world and read the Biblical portion of “Zachor.” “Remember what Amalek did to you as you left Egypt, when he fell upon you (karcha) on the way…”

The Hebrew word “fell upon,” (karcha), derives from the word mikreh, a happening, an incident that happened by chance. “Mah karah?” means “what happened?” Etymologically, these expressions come from the word “keri”, which means haphazard or random.

Chassidic philosophy explains that the wicked nation of Amalek tried to poison the minds of the fledgling Jewish nation who had recently gone free from Egyptian bondage. After having witnessed awe-inspiring miracles and supernatural phenomena, the Israelites were inspired to proceed to Sinai and accept their Divine calling. Indeed, they were prepared and psyched to become G-d’s chosen people by receiving His Torah.

Enter Amalek, a distant cousin of the children of Israel. Amalek argued that the alleged miracles of the ten plagues and splitting of the sea were no more than random incidents, or should we say, coincidence. Hence, the Amalekites wished to demonstrate to the nations of the world that Israel is not invincible.

Rashi comments on the word “fell upon” (karcha), that it can also be read “cooled off,” from the word kor (קור), cold. Amalek cooled off the nations’ awe of Israel. In addition, Amalek cooled off Israel’s enthusiasm for receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai.

This is consistent with the literal meaning of karcha, “fell upon you.” Amalek cools off the proper emotional reaction to the events of the Exodus by calling them random and coincidental. Everything is random and haphazard, argues Amalek. There is no purpose, no reward or punishment, no rhyme or reason. No reason for a Torah. The polytheistic paradigm of survival of the fittest works just fine. Indeed, Amalek’s philosophy has persisted until modern times. It was most apparent in determinism of the 19th and early 20th century. The whole world is nothing but a “fortuitous concourse of atoms,” G-d forbid. (Its most destructive manifestation was in the Social Darwinism that brought us the Holocaust.)

This is why Amalek is the antithesis of everything Judaism stands for. There is no such thing as serendipity or fortuity. (We’ll discuss what mazel means a different time). Nothing is by chance. It is all by design. There is a deep lesson to be gleaned, a new motivation for growth and increase in efforts that make the world a better place.

Amalek is karcha, apathy and coolness to the suffering of another. Judaism is enthusiasm, warmth and vitality. Compassion and feeling for another’s pain.

All that from a three-letter word, karcha. Do you now see how powerfully instructive a single word can be?

Anyway, back to our dismal topic:

Amalek has reared it ugly head. Murder for the sake of murder. Infanticide. Blood thirst.

The world has been so poisoned by the contemporary Islamofascist Amalekites and their collaborators that we have begun to speak in Amalekite terms.

Don’t get so enraged, says Amalek. It’s merely incidental, a random occurrence that affected a couple of eccentric “settlers” who deserved it because they dared encroach on “Muslim” space. Anyway, this happened in the periphery, not in Israel proper. It doesn’t affect the rest of us.

That’s Amalek speaking. Shall we become his vile mouthpiece?

No, this was no incident. This was a cataclysmic atrocity that dwarfs the most horrendous natural disasters in history, even the recent catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Why do I say that?

I am not trying to minimize the loss and destruction wrought by this calamity. My prayers are with all the poor victims and their families.

However, while the recent tsunami was mother nature showing its ugliest, most destructive face, the massacre of five innocent Jews in Itamar was human nature showing its ugliest, most devastating and depraved face.

Mother nature has no free choice. It was never intended to be “bad” or “good.” While G-d is certainly behind it all, G-d’s involvement is concealed and completely masked within the guise of nature. Nature seems to operate with a mind of its own, at least from our limited perspective.

Mother nature was not created in G-d’s image. But man is.

A tsunami kills old and young, good and bad. It does not discriminate. Humans discriminate.

A human being capable of indiscriminately murdering a baby and young children is a human being gone awry. It is the most degenerate form of human life. It is a human who has devolved to the primitive mindset of a predator animal.

This is a tsunami of blind and depraved hatred that threatens to deluge the entire civilized world if we don’t act now.

War of Words, part III -- "Palestinians"

2011-03-17T23:36:00.002-04:00

3. “Palestinian State.”

Perhaps the most lethal weapon in our inimical media’s war of words against Israel is the expression “Palestinian.”

“Palestinian” means “from the land once referred to as Palestine.” While it is generally not used incorrectly, this term is still the source of much deception and misrepresentation of the facts. “Palestinian” means something in reality, but also has a perceived meaning that is not factual.

First let’s discuss the historical reality:

There are presently two Palestinian States. There is Jordan, a Judenrein Arab state which took the lion’s share of Palestine. Then there is Israel, a tiny segment of Palestine which was intended be a safe haven for Jewish Palestinians to live. All Israelis are Jewish Palestinians. Arabs who live there can be identified as Palestinian too, but that is rather misleading as it implies that they exclusively have this distinction. It also implies an ancient and ancestral identity. Neither impressions have anything remotely to do with fact.

Prior to the sixties, Arabs who lived in the West Bank were Jordanians. Prior to 1948, they were Arabs living in the British Mandate. Prior to that, they were privileged Muslims living in the Ottoman Empire. Prior to that, in the early to mid 1800’s, they did not live there. No one lived there, aside for a handful of Bedouins and Jews who scarcely survived amidst the unlivable deserts and swamps of Palestine. When European Jews began to arrive in Palestine, they began to hire migrant Arab workers. Arabs arrived in Palestine from all over; Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, etc. This is how the great majority of Arabs came to live in Palestine. Arafat himself was born in Egypt.

In 1947, the UN proposed a Jewish and an Arab state, not a “Palestinian” State. At that time, the Arabs utterly rejected the notion of Palestine. They regarded it as a Zionist invention. (Read article cited below for more historical data).

Nevertheless, we shall not deprive Arabs of their Palestinian identity. But they are no more Palestinian than all the millions of Jews who made their home in Palestine as well in recent generations. Furthermore, they are no more Palestinian than the millions of Arabs who live in Jordan.

A case in point: my cousin’s father was born in the West Bank before 1948. He is Jewish, a fifth-generation Jerusalemite. On his passport he is identified as being “Palestinian.”

Some modern historians argue that the Arabs of the West Bank and Gaza ought to be exclusively called “Palestinians” since they have no other national identity, while Palestinian Jews are now “Israelis,” etc.

While this might have been an acceptable and rational argument, the problem is that there is a false connotation, a particularly dangerous one.

You see, the perceived meaning of Palestinian implies something uniquely un-Jewish, even anti-Jewish. As if “Palestinian” Arabs are native to Palestine but Jews are not. It implies that Jews are colonists who encroached on the Arabs’ turf.

In practical terms, a “Palestinian State” implies that it must be Judenrein by very definition. There is no place for a Jew in a “Palestinian” State. Indeed, there seems to be an automatic understanding that if any sort of autonomy or statehood is given to “Palestinian” Arabs, all Jewish homes and businesses in the area must be uprooted and all Jewish residents banished and relocated within “Israel” proper. Muslims and Christians are welcome to live in Israel, but Jews cannot possibly be tolerated in “Palestine.” Never mind the fact that the Jew has lived there for forty years. Never mind the fact that his grandfather lived there in 1929, his great grandfather in 1890, his ancestors in 135 CE, his ancient ancestors in 1273 BCE, and his forefathers in 1713 BCE. (Indeed, the very expression “Palestine” implies that any Jewish historical connection with that land must be erased our collective memories).

“Peace” with “Palestinians” means the “peace” partner must accept that “Palestinian” lands are to be strictly Judenrein. By definition, “peace with Palestinians” means ethnic cleansing.

That is a “peace” that no morally conscious human being could ever possibly accept. That is, of course, as long as the morally conscious human being retains his intellectual objectivity, and does not get indoctrinated by the shamefully biased news media.

Indeed, Dr. Moshe Dann describes the ideology which he calls “Palestinianism.” In his article, he explains that Palestiniansim has no positive self-definition. It only means one thing: the utter rejection of a Jewish state of any form.

Indeed, the very notion of “Palestine” precludes the existence of the Jew. This is why we need a lexical paradigm shift.

Some argue that since the very reference to Palestine precludes Israel’s right to exist, Palestinian Arabs ought to be referred to simply as Arabs, just as they referred to themselves as prior to 1967. Others counter that it is too late; the proverbial cat is out of its bag. A national or geographical identity has been forged. Ignoring it serves no purpose.

Instead, they argue, we ought to correct the historical and ethical error inherent in the term, the notion that a Jew cannot possibly have lived in “Palestine.”

To them, Israel ought to be referred to as “Jewish Palestine” and Jordan as “Arab Palestine,” or “Lesser Palestine” and “Greater Palestine.” The Arabs who live in the West Bank or Gaza can be referred to as “anarchist Muslim Palestinians who don’t accept the sovereignty of Jewish Palestinians.” Even better, Arabs who can’t tolerate the presence of Jewish families in Itamar or Hebron can be called: “racist Judeophobic Muslims who advocate ethnic cleansing.”

A true Palestinian, then, is anyone who chooses to make his home in Palestine (Palestine is a historic designation referring to the entire coastal area of the Mediterranean Sea from the border of Modern Egypt to Turkey, including parts of Syria and the Transjordan. Even if we were to agree to the assertion that in postmodern times, “Palestine” only includes the land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean, the Jews of Israel are still native to “Palestine,” and are no less Palestinian than their Arab neighbors.)

(Thanks to my friend Zushe the Galilean for pointing this out repeatedly.)

That is one perspective.

However, in my opinion, Israel is the name we ought to call ourselves. We are not “Jewish Palestinians.” This is an insult. We are Israel.

What does Israel mean? What does it represent?

The Torah tells us why G-d changed our Forefather Jacob’s name to Israel. "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, because you have commanding power with an angel of G-d and with men, and you have prevailed." Etymologically, Israel connotes “commanding power” and “prevailing” over an angel of G-d and humans.

That’s a pretty powerful name. It commands awe and reverence. It reminds us that Israel will ultimately prevail over all her enemies, physical and spiritual.

It’s no mistake that everyone calls us Israel. Even our most vindictive enemies, the ones who incessantly plot evil against us, call us Israel. In their heart of hearts, they know that we are G-d’s people and are invincible. In some deep subconscious way, they intuit that their end is near, for G-d is with us.

Palestine, conversely, is a meaningless word. It was concocted by the Romans who wished to erase any vestiges of Jewish sovereignty over the land of Judea. So they fished up an ancient name, Philistia, a warlike pagan tribe that had vanished eight hundred years earlier. (It’s interesting to note that the ancient Philistines did not live in the “West Bank,” but along the coast). This was five hundred years before any Arabs or Muslims arrived in the Land of Israel.

So why would we wish to perpetuate the lie of the existence of “Palestine?”

So, while I might agree that calling the Jewish State “Jewish Palestine” might be more effective while trying to negotiate in the UN, or might score some points with the “pro-Palestinian” world media, it is still wrong.

There is no such thing as Palestine.

G-d gave us this land. We are His people Israel. So it is the Land of Israel. Period.

If we put it that way, if we speak with the moral clarity and conviction of the Torah, the nations of the world will surely understand.

More Thoughts on "Terrorism"

2011-03-16T20:41:00.002-04:00

An addendum to yesterday's post:

In spite of my aversion to "terrorism" and "terrorists," I will probably continue to use these expression for lack of better ones. "Islamofascist genocidal murderers" is too cumbersome to write or say. Maybe if we'd abbreviate it -- I.G.M. -- but then no one would understand whom or what we are referring to.

I must say, though, that their acts of terrorism do not terrify me. I am not fearful of them. I fear no one but G-d alone.

However, they are shockingly morally revolting to me. Their depravity stuns me. It boggles my imagination. How could a human being handfashioned in G-d's image be capable of such incorrigible wickedness?

They also inspire a feeling of intense rage, a desire to see them cease to exist, to be wiped away from humanity, to vanish from the collective memory of mankind.

It's not vengeance that I am feeling. It's beyond that. It would not please me to see them suffer. It would offer me some sense of relief to see them vanish. Instantly.

They are so detrimental to G-d's master plan for our world, or I should say, so irrelevant, that it would seem that G-d's world cannot be complete until they are gone and negated forever. In existential terms, it seems that the only purpose for their current existence is to stop existing.

Clearly, they don't exist for their own sake. Their existence is only a means to an end, but not an ends in themselves. They exist only because of us, the good guys. They exist only to evoke from within us a greater sense of commitment to G-d and His Torah, to flooding the world with goodness and kindness, to do the right thing to the point of self sacrifice. The exist only in order to inspire in us a more profound courage, an inner strength, if you would, to serve G-d against all odds and prevail.

Several other intense feelings I am feeling as a result of their nefarious deeds are trauma and searing pain. But this has nothing to do with the IGM's. They are powerless in G-d's world in the broader sense. G-d, in His infinite wisdom, planned the tragic demise of these virtuous and pure martyrs. The barbaric animals who perpetrated it were but chess pieces in G-d's hand. It is true that the vile and beastlike humans who committed these unspeakable acts exercised their free choice to do so, and for that they will be judged, as will the society who cultivated them. But that's between them and their Creator.

Another feeling I am experiencing is a sense of deep anxiety that our governments are not fulfilling their G-d-given charge to protect us. They are not recognizing the threat of the unprecedented evil we are witnessing, and, for reasons that I cannot understand, are not allowing our militaries to do what they need to do to keep us safe. If I dwell on this anxiety too much, that can produce despair. Both these feelings are not kosher, and should be suppressed, or, shall I say, sublimated. Instead of anxiety, I can proactively channel this emotive response and transform it into constructive action, to unabashedly speak the truth, to contact my politicians, to write a blog, to double my efforts on spreading Torah and mitzvot, and most importantly, to lend emotional and monetary support to the heroic men, women and children who risk their lives daily in order to dwell in places like Itamar, a vital part of the Promised Land bequeathed to our ancestors as an eternal heritage to every Jew. I can transform the despair into intense hope and yearning for better days, the era of Moshiach.

But again, the anxiety I might have felt was not caused by the IGM’s. It was caused by the ineptitude, cowardice and dysfunction of our governments that allow these beasts to develop and fester. So no, they do not traumatize me, nor do they terrorize me.

They simply disgust me.

Perhaps a more succinct description of jihadists, terrorists, IGM’s, is simply: “human scum, may their memories be erased.”

As far as the Fogels’ go, the correct term for them is not “victims of terror.” Instead, I would call them “holy and pure martyrs who died sanctifying G-d’s name. May their righteous memory be for a blessing, and may G-d avenge their blood.”

Can’t think of anything more concise.

Okay, tomorrow we'll examine the names "Israelis" and "Palestinians."
Stay tuned.

War of Words, part II -- "Terrorism"

2011-03-16T00:02:00.007-04:00

2. “Terrorism.”

This one has bothered me for a long time. What does “terrorism” mean?

Webster Dictionary defines it as “the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.” Terror is defined as “a state of intense fear.” Dictionary.com translates terrorism as “the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes.”

This term is inadequate here for numerous reasons.

Firstly, “use of terror” is too vague. Is my eight-year-old then a terrorist because her antics inspire fear amongst her sibling? I personally know numerous individuals who feel terrorized by their children, in-laws, ruthless bosses or supervisors at work, etc.

The Israelis can easily be accused of “terrorizing” suspicious Arabs at security checkpoints. Building homes for Jewish families in Jerusalem (or anywhere else in the West Bank)? Well, hardliner Arab nationalists feel terrified by that. So that’s terror too.

Speaking of security, my friend was terrified to fly because of the harassment he was subjected to at the airport. Can the TSA be rightfully called a terrorist organization?

Terror is in the eyes of the beholder. Indeed, CNN refused to acknowledge the obvious that the Itamar massacre was in fact terrorism. Instead, their article was entitled “Israeli family of 5 killed in ‘terror attack’, military says.” They made sure to encircle the words “terror attack” with quotations, suggesting that there is a doubt whether the brutal murder was indeed an act of terrorism. The body of the report said that “Five members of an Israeli family were killed in the West Bank early Saturday morning in what the Israeli military is calling a ‘terror attack.’” The Israeli military called it a terror attack, but the “unbiased” media leaves room for doubt.

“Terrorism,” therefore, is an ambiguous term that can be easily construed or misconstrued to fit anyone’s agenda. It allows for convenient moral equivalence to be drawn between the murderer and the victim. The disturbed employee who went on a killing spree at the post office felt terrorized by the federal government, so he “terrorized” them back.

Moreover, terrorism doesn’t do justice to the actual crimes committed. Whom would you rather be? The slain victim or the survivor? The term terrorism would suggest that the primary target of the terrorist act is the survivor who now is in an induced state of terror, whereas the actual victim is dead (and in some cases, died instantly or with momentary terror). The survivor should then be accurately described as the “victim” of terrorism. The slain victim is nothing more than a technicality. Calling it “terrorism” is effectively sanitizing the egregious act of mass murder.

However, all the above arguments aside, even if we will accept the definition of terrorism quoted above (“the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes”), this might pertain to the IRA or Russian nihilist anarchists of the 19th century. Contemporary extremist Islamists, however, are quite a different story.

You see, the modern-day jihadist doesn’t necessarily have a political or coercive objective in mind. He just wants to murder us. It’s his religion, as pathologically depraved as it sounds. Murder for the sake of murder.

Moreover, even if we were to be so naïve as to accept the LA Times’ outrageous assertion that this atrocity was in protest to the settlements, murder of Jews by Muslim jihadists cannot rightfully be described as terrorism for a specific political objective. Imagine that the terrorists were to accomplish this stated goal, the dismantling of all settlements. Does anyone seriously believe that there would be peace? Certainly not. The terrorists would continue to murder us until Israel would cease to exist. And then what? Then the Muslim Brotherhood could be free to take over where Hitler left off, Heaven forefend (לא תקום פעמים צרה).

In other words, the baby-slaying of last week was not a means toward a political end. It was the end in itself. The jihadist’s ultimate objective is genocide. His ruthless acts of murder are methodical and deliberate, consistent with his end goal.

In light of all the above, I feel that Muslim jihadists ought not to be called terrorists. Instead, why not just call them what they are? They are Islamofascist mass murderers.

Okay, so the problem with “mass murderer” is that it implies that the perpetrator personally murdered many victims. For example, Hitler, Eichmann or Arafat might be called mass murderers, but the low level Gestapo guard who murdered few might not.

So let’s create a new, more fitting description. They are Islamofascist genocidal murderers.

It doesn’t matter if they murdered one or five or more, G-d forbid. They carried out their dark deed as part of a determined and sustained effort to commit genocide. They participated in genocide, so they are genocidal murderers.

The modern jihadist movement is not a new phenomenon. It is part of the genocide movement begun by Hitler and Al Husseini, erstwhile Mufti of Jerusalem. The thousands of murders perpetrated by Arab “terrorists” since Oslo are not isolated acts of terror for particular political objectives. They are part of a consistent plan of the Muslim Brotherhood to commit genocide, a Final Solution, if you would.

May the Almighty protect us from their evil schemes. May G-d grant our leaders the wisdom to acknowledge the enemy for what it is and take the painful but necessary measures to deal with the threat effectively and responsibly.

Tomorrow we'll address another oft-misunderstood catchphrase, "Palestinians."

War of Words, part I -- "Peace"

2011-03-15T23:39:00.005-04:00

Semantics in the Israel-bashing Media

Recent examples of the mainstream media’s word choices and their subtle innuendo have deeply disturbed me.

In yesterday’s blog, we rambled about how BBC hijacked a story of an atrocious Arab murder and transformed it into a diatribe on Israel. In one fell swoop, with one stroke of ink, an innocent baby murdered in her crib became a generic settler. A horrific act of murder, of infanticide, became a justified reaction to “illegal occupation.”

Words are such powerful tools. In the wrong hands, like that of the BBC or Associated Press, they can be used to cause much damage and spread much falsehood.

In the prophetic words attributed to Mark Twain, “A lie can travel halfway round the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

Well, the BBC effectively sent a lie all the way around the world in seconds, with one carefully chosen word.

Hey, don’t get me wrong. I’m not anti-semantic. Some of my best friends are linguists. Really. :-)

I enjoy playing with words too. It’s not the semantics I deplore. It’s the propagandists who abuse it.

In fact, I don’t really mind writers choosing words to advocate their cause. It’s just when the news media-turned-propagandists use carefully nuanced words to further their own hidden (or not so hidden) agendas.

Anyhow, the more I think about it, many of the words we regularly use to describe the current state of affairs in the Middle East are largely inaccurate.

Let’s delineate a few:

1. “Peace Process.”

By now, any sane observer would come to the obvious conclusion that this process has nothing to do with peace. Indeed, while most Israelis would love to live in peace, it has become painfully clear that their partner does not really want peace, nor did they ever really want peace in the first place.

For the Arab leadership, peace was an artificially Western concept that had no place in their agenda. For them, it was hudna. In Muslim ideology, hudna means temporary cessation of hostilities, an opportunity to regroup and re-arm, until the jihad can be continued with greater effectiveness (read: more horrendous carnage).

This is the great fallacy of Oslo. In Rabin’s blissfully utopian mind, he was making painful concessions for peace. In Arafat’s sinister mind, he was gaining ground, advancing the front. His handshake for peace was in fact nothing more than a strategic and temporary delay of war. Like the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact or Neville Chamberlain’s “Peace in our Times!,” there was nothing peaceful about Oslo, the Roadmap, or any other foolhardy attempts at “peace.” So let’s stop calling it peace.

Likewise, the so-called “Peace Now” movement, which calls for a Muslim State alongside Israel, is not about peace. It is about war, bloodshed and prolonged misery.

So let’s be honest and call it the “War Process.”

Someone who still seriously believes that conceding more territory to Arabs will achieve “peace” is not pro-peace. He is pro-war. Such a person is not a dove, but a flightless ostrich with his head in the sand.

Tomorrow, we’ll examine another buzzword, “terrorism.”

Clarification

2011-03-15T13:47:00.001-04:00

Thank you to all for reading yesterday’s blog and for your comments.

To clarify my title:

The enemy is among us. We invite it into our living rooms and broadcast its message throughout our homes, cars and workplaces. We grant it prominent space on our PCs, BlackBerries, I-Phones and Facebook pages. We invite its message into our minds by allowing it to define our perception of reality.

The enemy is the mainstream media.

That is not to say that there aren’t bigger, more dangerous enemies. But they are formidable enemies nonetheless. Enemies that we ought to acknowldege.

Every time you visit their sites, tune into their programs, buying their products, etc., you are supporting their inimical cause.

I remember when Ted Turner made hideously anti-Israel remarks in public. In disgust, I promptly cancelled my subscription to AOL. I remember thinking to myself, would I pay to subscribe to Al Jazeera TV? Would I even wish to give them any clicks at all?

So why are we going to CNN or BBC for news?

Why are we funding propagandist organizations that tacitly endorse terrorism?

By the way, thank you to www.honestreporting.com and www.arutzsheva.com for keeping us apprised of the media's recent abuses. Personally, I stopped tuning to the above-referenced news sites years ago.

My challenge to all remains: when will Americans wake up to the reality that the "news stations" are feeding us with not just news, but with political indoctrination?

The Enemy Among Us

2011-03-14T20:28:00.003-04:00

Itamar Massacre and the Complicit World Media

Ok, that’s enough for me.

I have had it with the media. Enough is enough.

I used to think that the enemy was extremist Islam. Then I came to understand that the enemy includes “moderate” Muslim leadership. Then I learned that the United Nations and European Union endorse, support and collaborate with the enemy, and hence, are the enemy by collusion.

Now I am dismayed to discover that ostensibly “unbiased” US and British media outlets have deplorably aligned themselves with the Axis of Evil, the bestial and bloodthirsty thugs in Samaria, Gaza and around the world who would love nothing more but to continue the work of Hitler.

But from our media’s perspective, the war monger murderers are in fact victims, oppressed freedom fighters who seek peace. And the real victims, innocent babies and their loving parents, are villains by default. Of course they are villains. They are hardly human. The media has a great name for them. They are “settlers.”

“Five settlers killed” the headlines screamed. Then the articles proceed to report on illegal Jewish settlements. The atrocity, the merciless slaughter of young children and their parents, is sidelined with barely a mention.

Moreover, in the biased eyes of the BBC reporter, the subhuman murders and “illegal” Jewish settlements share a moral equivalence. Indeed, the reader is led to believe that the murders were in fact justified by well-deserved Arab rage over the existence of Jewish settlements.

The BBC piece is a classic example of obvious media bias. Not just bias, but complicity. The article aims to arouse worldwide sympathy for the terrorists and indifference to the slain victims, their family and community. This effort can only help in emboldening terrorists worldwide.

In my mind, the modern mainstream media is the re-embodiment of Nazi collaborators and supporters during the Holocaust. The Jew cannot be the victim. The Jew is the guilty by default. He is a “settler,” guilty of illegal occupation. He does not belong in Berlin, Warsaw, or the West Bank. He does not belong, period.

Never mind the fact that this settler was a three month old infant in her crib. That is irrelevant to the “story” (read: their agenda in reporting the story).

I remember asking my Hebrew School teacher at age ten, “Why did the Holocaust happen? How could G-d have allowed such unspeakable atrocities and such appalling loss of life?”

My teacher responded: “If I could offer you any reasons, any justifications, then I’d be as bad as Hitler.”

His words hauntingly echoed in my mind as I read the BBC’s article fraught with moral equivalence and subtle justification. Hmm. I thought back to my teacher’s remark about justifying evil.

On another occasion in my childhood, my mother and I were discussing the evil perpetrators of the Holocaust. I argued that just because Germans supported Hitler, this did not necessarily mean that they approved of the horrific crimes he was committing.

She responded: “Cannibals have a cannibal king.”

If you support or condone cannibalism, you are aiding and abetting cannibalism; in a sense, you are cannibal.

If the BBC or CNN can condone or rationalize murder, does that not constitute a tacit endorsement of murder?

(In fact, Associated Press did not even call it a “murder.” Instead, they reported that the settlers were “knifed to death,” and, elsewhere in the article, “killed.”)

Speaking parallels of West Bank 2011 and Europe of 1939-1945, here’s another spine-chilling one:

In 1939, following the horrors of Kristallnacht, Jews in Germany saw the writing on the wall, and many tried to flee Germany. Problem was, almost all countries had closed their doors to Jews. The US also had strict anti-immigration laws, and refused Jews entry.

A German vessel, the St. Louis, set sail from Germany with over nine-hundred Jewish passengers, mostly women and children. Turned away from every country they arrived at, they were turned away from American shores as well. With no other option, they returned to Europe. Hundreds of them perished in the German death camps.

U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull was opposed to letting the Jews enter the United States, apparently because Southern Democrats, who were anti-immigrants, threatened to stop supporting Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election.

While the St. Louis passengers were awaiting their fate, the Wagner-Rogers bill died in committee. It would have allowed twenty thousand Jewish children from Germany to come to the United States. When asked for her opinion of the bill, Laura Delano Houghteling, wife of the commissioner of immigration and a cousin of President Roosevelt's, remarked "Twenty-thousand charming children would all too soon grow up into twenty-thousand ugly adults."

BBC didn’t even need to repeat Houghteling’s telling observation. They just omitted any mention of the age of the victims and simply called them settlers. (“Illegal settlers” conjures up the image of ugly, belligerent adults).

So that’s it. In my book, Time Magazine, CNN, BBC, New York Times, etc., are not just sympathetic toward the enemy. They ARE the enemy.

That’s right, the world media, the Reuters, Associated Press, and all the rest. The ones who serve you your news and feed you your daily dose of information concerning world events. To be more precise, they are not reporting events. They are indoctrinating you with a poisoned and skewed view of reality. Their agenda is to advocate the enemy’s agenda. The media is no longer your friend (if it ever was). It is your ENEMY.

Sadly to say, this is plainly evidenced by the media’s coverage of recent horrific atrocities. If you haven’t figured this out yet, you’re simply not paying attention.

The West’s primary media outlets, presumably motivated by greed and moral bankruptcy, have “sold out” to the enemy.

For further reading on the subject:
http://honestreporting.com/baby-killers-bbc-butchers-the-real-story/
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142874
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142843

Reflections on a Decade of Zeroes

2011-01-01T22:11:00.000-05:00

Wow! We made it to the end of another year. 2010 will soon be history, and we shall embark on a new decade.

I recall eleven years ago as we entered year 2000. I remember thinking to myself, what shall we call the new decade? The "Zeroes?" After all these years, the glorious Seventies, Eighties and Nineties... Is that all we amount to now? Zero?

That year, New Year's Eve was Friday night and New Year's Day was Shabbat morning, just like this year. Everyone thought the world would come to an end at midnight of Y2K because of some sort of alleged computer glitch, and there was widespread feeling of discontent. Everything is returning to zero. Zilch!

Living in S Diego at the time, Dvora and I advertised a big Friday Night service and dinner. "End off the millennium in the right place," our flyer declared. "Don't worry about Y2K... it's Shabbat today!" Needless to say, we had a tough time competing with the nightclubs, in spite of Y2K apprehension.

The next morning in synagogue, our congregants seemed relieved that society didn’t shut down. At the kiddush, we discussed the above question, how shall we refer to the current decade? The Zeroes?

I explained that this is a powerful lesson in the purpose and nature of our existence. G-d created the world from absolute nothingness. In fact, ever since the moment of Creation, G-d has been continually recreating our universe from absolute nothingness, and is doing so each and every moment (more accurately, every infinitesimally small unit of time). If He’d stop, even momentarily, we’d revert to what we originally were, absolute nothingness. As such, explains Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the author of the Tanya, existence is not our natural state, but is rather artificial. Instead, the natural state of the universe is utter and complete nothingness. In other words, the whole world as we know it is really, in essence, one big Zero.

The only way a zero becomes meaningful is if there is a one in front of it. The oneness of “Hashem Echad” – “G-d is One.”

So that’s the meditation that pulled me through the Zeroes.

The most unsettling date that defined our national mindset in the Zeroes was the horrific tragedies of September 11th, ’01. It ended our sense of national complacency and invincibility. The towering World Trade Center, once a formidable symbol of our invincible economy, was reduced to Ground Zero.

It was during this decade that brutal dictators were toppled and others rose to take their place. And here we are at the close of the decade, when our enemies brazenly threaten nuclear attack on Israel, vying once more to destroy our nation and its six million inhabitants, may Hashem bless and guard them. And the whole world sits by quietly.

I remember thinking during the turbulent times of September ‘01, “Don’t despair. We may have been reduced to zero, but G-d is One. We will survive.”

Indeed, the world is zero. The “zero”ness (is that a word? Hey, I think I may have something in common with President Bush) of our world is meaningless if it places itself before the One, as in 01. But if we put G-d’s existence first, if we make the pursuit of revealing G-dliness the paramount purpose of our existence, then we become meaningful, as in the number 10 (remember the Ten Commandments?)

To be more precise, the world is zero, but we are not. “Who is like Your people Israel, one nation on earth!” cried King Solomon the Wise. Chassidut teaches that we are one because we proclaim the Oneness of G-d “on earth.” In a deeper sense, we are one when we are united. When we are not united, G-d forbid, we are zero.

Our enemies will not succeed in their evil designs, because G-d is One. And we are one.

Anyway, enough talk about zeroes. Let’s move on.

It’s the Teens now.

That sounds like a pretty formidable challenge. Everyone knows that raising teens is no small feat.

So will it be the Terrible Teens or the Terrific Teens? That is up to us.

Meanwhile, as the new secular year enters, the first numbers we encounter are 1/1/11. The lesson: let’s keep focused on those Ones. Enough with the zero’s already.

So I’ll see you in Shul tomorrow morning, 1/1/11, and together as one we’ll recite “G-d is One!”

Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Green

2010-06-08T10:55:00.002-04:00

Saying goodbye to Grandma

2010-01-05T22:26:00.001-05:00

Thank you to all my readers for your kind condolences, whether by phone, mail, email or in person.

Some of you commented that it sounds like she was an extraordinary person.

I agree. There was nothing ordinary about my Grandma. I have never met anyone even remotely like her. My blog articles do not begin to do justice to her. She was truly a unique character (a real character, in all senses of the word). That does not necessarily mean she was easy to live with, or even to visit or speak with on the phone.

One of Grandma's peculiar habits concerned saying goodbye.

You may have heard the old joke:

What's the difference between Jews and __________ (fill the blank with the ethnicity of your choice, i.e. Italian, Irish, etc.)

Answer: the Irish leave the party without saying goodbye, and Jews say goodbye but never leave the party.

Every time I hear this one, I think of Grandma.

For some reason, saying goodbye to Grandma was never an small feat, because she could never just let you say goodbye and hang up. She had to wish you all sorts of blessings, then tell you how much she loved you. You couldn't get a word in edgewise. And Grandma always had to be the last one to say goodbye. No one, but no one, ever got the last goodbye with Grandma. Even if she had already told you how much she loved you, and you'd respond "I love you too, Grandma," she would have to repeat how much she loved you again, never to be out-loved. This scenario could easily repeat itself numerous times in one conversation! I often tried to get the last goodbye, never with any success. Sometimes it seemed almost as though she waited on the line until she was sure you had hung up!

We often analyzed this rather bizarre tendency. Many explanations were offered by family members, but here's the most plausible:

As I mentioned in a previous post, my Grandma tragically lost her birth parents at a tender young age in a violent anti-Semitic pogrom in Ukraine. Certainly that loss left its indelible mark on her subconscious. Perhaps the anxiety of parting with a loved one was too much for her to bear. Perhaps her wounded soul had been silently grieving for decades, tragically deprived the ability to say goodbye to the parents who brought her into the world and raised her till she was three. Consequently, the theory goes, saying goodbye for Grandma was always fraught with angst and unease. Hence her separation anxiety, and her vital need to be the last one to say goodbye.

Whether our analysis is correct is neither here nor there.

But here's my afterthought:

As I left the cemetery last month after having paid my final respects to Grandma, it occured to me that after all these years, I finally got the last goodbye. In fact, I got the only goodbye. How could it be? How could Grandma have left the party without saying goodbye!?

But maybe, just mabye, it isn't so. Maybe Grandma is standing up there in heaven heaping blessings upon us, telling us how much she loves us, refusing to let us say goodbye.

Just as unforgettable as she was in her lifetime, may she belligerently stay alive in our minds and hearts, in all the mitzvos we do on her behalf.

And may her memory be for a blessing.

More about oranges

2010-01-05T19:31:00.001-05:00

Some of you may have missed an important comment from my cousin Haya on a previous post.

Here's the relevant quote:

"Wonderful thoughts cousin Michoel...
"I wanted to share a tag to your memory of the orange story. I think she said they were imported from south america, and so very expensive. She would take the orange that her father gave her, and go out into the neighborhood to meet her friends, who would gather around her in a circle to view this special delicacy.

"Grandma said that her friends would watch and wait in excited anticipation as she peeled her orange, and then she would give each friend one slice and they would savor it. She said that even though she wanted to eat the whole orange for herself, the one slice tasted sweeter for sharing the whole. They each ate their one slice slowly and appreciated it!" (click here to read her entire comment)

My comment:

Thanks Haya for sharing that. I don't recall that version, but I do rememer Grandma saying that food tastes better when we share it with others.

More Food for Thought from Grandma Toby a"h

2009-12-31T21:31:00.000-05:00

In a previous blog, I mentioned the biggest delight for my Grandma growing up in Russia. It was a little slice of an orange her Dad would bring home on extremely rare occasions.

The other day, I related this memory to my kids. “Yuck!” commented my five year old.

My seven year old daughter (notorious for her inexorable sweet tooth) had this to say: “Well, if it was only once a year, couldn’t he have at least brought home a clementine instead?”

That was it, I thought to myself. I’m going to teach my kids that even in today’s modern age of designer junk food, they could still enjoy the simple fruit my Grandma enjoyed when she was their age ninety years ago! So I went out to the supermarket and bought the most delicious-looking navel oranges (sorry Mom, they weren’t organic).

So we started snacking on oranges.

Now, the kids started calling them “Grandma Toby treats.” When ever anyone is hungry for an orange, they ask for a “Grandma Toby treat.” (Everyone, that is, except my five year old. He still calls it “Yuck!”)

* * *

On a serious note, I would like to mention one of my Grandma’s oft-repeated sayings.

It was quote from the Prophet Isaiah. She’d say it every so often, when ever she complained that we weren’t calling or visiting enough.

“Bonim romamti v’gidalti, v’haym poshu bee.”

The prophet echoed G-d’s complaint about His People. “Children I have raised and exalted, yet they have rebelled against Me.”

We always read that verse in the Haftorah of Shabbat Chazon, the Shabbos preceding Tisha b’Av, the day we mourn the destruction of the Holy Temple (and look forward to its rebuilding with the coming of Moshiach).

My Grandma’s quote implied a bit of a departure from the literal meaning. “Poshu” (rebelled) in Mishnaic Hebrew can also mean “neglected.”

So basically, Grandma was complaining that her kids were neglecting her.

How ironic that my Grandma would cite that verse. In recent years, as Grandma aged, her children were so responsible in caring for her. Especially her son, my uncle Randy, who cared for her with love and devotion until her final hours, and even after her passing.

But come to think of it, she never said it with bitterness. Maybe she meant it in jest. Maybe it was just a nudge to get us to visit more often. Or maybe she really felt neglected. Who knows?

Anyway, what I found cool in all of this is the fact that she chose a verse from TaNaCh to express her dissatisfaction.

She probably learned to do that from her father. It’s a typical scholarly thing to do in the Yeshiva world, i.e. to quote an appropriate verse or word from Scriptures to express a sentiment or to relate to a situation, especially when there’s a non-literal twist to it.

Sometimes she was a bit over the top. Like the time she insisted that “Pierre” comes from the Hebrew word of “L’hit-paer,” or that “cholent” is from “Chalons,” France (hey, maybe she was right about that one).

Reflecting about it years later, it seemed pretty cool to me that my Grandma had such a good knowledge of Hebrew and TaNaCh.

And that’s one thing sorely lacking today – Jewish literacy.

OK, enough blogging. Time for some Torah study (and an orange).

My Grandma, the Singer

2009-12-29T17:59:00.003-05:00

Some more melodious memories about my Grandma, Chaya Toiba bas Reuven haLevi, a”h (peace be upon her)

Speaking of unique versions of songs I heard from my Grandma, I’d like to share one more.

Grandma loved to sing me her repertoire of Yiddish lullabies. “Rozhinkes mit mandlen” (“Raisins and Almonds”) was one of her favorites. It symbolically refers to the study of Torah as “the best merchandise” one can possibly obtain in one’s life. Indeed, Grandma, would tell me, Torah study is the most precious commodity, even more than raisins and almonds. Presumably, that was a delicious and exquisite delicacy in those times. (How ironic that for today’s kids, raisins and almonds are just considered “yucky health food” ;-) But in my Grandma’s times, it was really the greatest thing there was. No, in fact, there was one thing even better.

Grandma told me that in her early childhood in Russia, the absolutely greatest and most coveted treat was a simple piece of orange! Her papa (Zaida Marcus) would bring home an orange on extremely rare occasions, maybe even less than once a year. The slices would be carefully rationed out, piece by piece, to household members and guests. Grandma said she considered herself lucky to get one single slice! (Funny, my kids won’t even touch an orange unless it’s seedless. Go figure)

But then Grandma would conclude that Torah study is even better than that!

I recall the part of the song she emphasized the most was “Vos vet zain zain baruf?”

The song was telling of a little white goat behind the little boy’s crib, that would some day go out to make a living. “Un vos vet zain zain baruf?” “What will be its calling?”

Grandma would always pause at “baruf” – calling – and explain to me what a life’s calling is, and that the most important calling of all is to study Torah.

Anyway, that was just parenthetical.

The song I’d really like to mention is her version of “Oifen Pripechuk.”

The song goes like this:

Oyfn pripetshik brent a fayerl, un in shtub iz heys.
Un der rebe lernt kleyne kinderlekh dem alef-beyz.

   Refrain:

   Hert zhe, kinderlekh, gedenkt zhe, tayere, vos ir lernt do,
   Zogt zhe nokh a mol un takke nokh a mol: Komets-alef: o!

Lernt, kinder, mit groys kheyshek, azoy zog ikh aykh on,
Ver s’vet gekher fun aykh kenen ivre, er bakumt a fon. (Refrain)

Hert zhe kinder, az ir vet elter vern, vet ir aleyn farshteyn,
Vifl in di oysyes lign trern, vifil geveyn. (Refrain)

Az ir vet, kinder, dem goles shlepn, oysgemutshet zayn,
Zolt ir fun di oysyes koyekh shepn, kukt in zey arayn! (Refrain)

Here is an English translation:

On the hearth a little fire is burning, and it is warm inside,
And the rebbe is teaching the little children, the Aleph Beis.

   Refrain:

   Listen, children, remember dear ones, what you learned here;
   repeat it again and again, “Kometz Aleph ‘oh’”

Study, children, with great desire, that is what I tell you;
The one who'll know Hebrew first will get a banner (for a prize). (Refrain)

Listen, children, when you get older, you will understand on your own
how in these letters lie so many tears, so much weeping. (Refrain)

When you grow weary, children, and burdened with exile,
you should draw strength from these very letters, so look into them! (Refrain)

Grandma loved to sing that song.

I could never understand the final line of stanza three.

Why are there “so many tears” and “so much weeping” lying in these letters? Whose tears are they, anyway? And why so much sadness? I just couldn’t relate.

In recent years, I even felt somewhat compelled to change the words to “viff’l simcha” and “viff’l frayd” (much joy, much laughter), instead of “tears and weeping.”

Something about this always bothered me. And it never made sense to me, that is, until recently, in the few days after my Grandma’s passing as I began to reflect on her life.

But first, I’d like to point out that my Grandma sang this line a bit differently than the commonly sung way. Here’s her version:
“Viff’l treren in di oisyes liggun, viffil gevain”

It doesn’t really make a difference or change the meaning, but it’s subtly different. Instead of “…how in these letters lie tears,” Grandma sang it: “…how many tears in these letters lie.” (emphasis on last word)
The first time I sang this lullaby to my own daughter a number of years ago, my wife pointed it out to me. She commented that the line ends with “treren” (tears) drawn out, as that is where the emphasis should be placed, in contrast to the way my Grandma sang it, in which “treren is sung more quickly and the word “liggen” (are lying) is drawn out.

Since that time, I researched all the variations of this song, but have never found anyone who sang this song Grandma’s way.

Time is short, so I’ll try to finish this thought later.

My Grandma, the Dove (part II)

2009-12-04T14:08:00.002-05:00

In continuation from my previous blog:

But you know, it couldn’t have been easy growing up as the only daughter of a fugitive Rabbi on the run from war-torn Communist Russia, or as an immigrant daughter of the first Orthodox Rabbi of Los Angeles, or as a housewife in the Valley of the forties and fifties trying to raise her kids Jewish, losing her house to misfortune, and especially losing her husband and two young grandchildren so tragically.

No, my Grandma did not have an easy life.

Many of you may know the most tragic part of my Grandma’s childhood, the loss of her birth parents due to a murderous pogrom targeting Jews at which she, my Grandma at age three, was present; her blind Grandmother’s inability to take care of her, and her ultimate adoption by the Marcus family, and subsequent flight from the Soviet Union.

My friends, my Grandma’s tragic story is not new or unique to the Jewish people. We have been singled out for slaughter and persecution for millennia.

Just one year ago, a young colleague of mine, Rabbi Gavriel Noach and his wife Rebbetzin Rivky Holtzberg, were cruelly murdered by Muslim terrorists, along with four of their helpless guests. Why? Simply because they were Jews who publicly celebrated their Jewishness.

But the miracle, perhaps the only consolation, is that their two year old, Moishele, survived the destruction. She was miraculously and heroically saved by his nanny, Sandra.

Moishele has become somewhat of a cause celebre in Israel today. The whole country is watching him grow up in the home of his loving grandparents, Rivkie’s mom and dad.. He just celebrated his 3 yr old birthday. Every media outlet in Israel covered the event, which was attended by thousands of wellwishers.

What is so captivating to the Israeli public about little Moishele?
It is because he is an אוד מוצל מאש, a firebrand plucked from the fire, the young survivor who survived the slaughter and will live to continue his parents’ legacy.
My friends, Grandma Toby is a Moishele, but ninety years later. Today we do not celebrate her third birthday, but mourn her passing. But at the same time, we celebrate her life, her accomplishments, the lessons she has taught us, all that she accomplished in the ninety years since the time she survived the pogrom at the age of three.
And just like Moishele had his nanny to save him and his grandparents to raise him as their own, so too our Taibeleh had the Marcuses, who lovingly cared for her and raised her as their own. And I’d also like to gratefully acknowledge the loving care and devotion with which her loving son, my dear uncle Randy, took care of her for the last number of years, during the difficult period in which she needed to be cared for, just like she did when she was three.
* * *

My grandma’s name is Chaya Toiba. Toiba means a “dove,” “Yonah” in Hebrew.
Why did Noah send a dove to find out if the world had survived the devastating flood?

Our sages tell us that the dove is the symbol of the Jewish people. The dove is one of the only species in the animal kingdom that stays loyal to its mate for its entire life.

So too, the Jews have stayed loyal to G-d since our humble beginnings, over 3800 years ago.

Noah sent the dove because he was symbolically showing that the world could never recover from the devastation of the flood until the Yonah found peace, a peaceful resting place to call its own.

The Yonah is the Jewish people. The Land of Israel is the spiritual baramoter of the cosmos. The world will not and cannot be at peace until Israel is at peace, until a Jewish child can walk freely and safely in our Promised Land.

Until that time, the world will be in chaos, beset by a deluge of hate and violence.

When the Yonah finds peace, the whole world will be at peace.

But sadly, at first, the dove did not find peace. Instead, she returned with an olive branch snatched in her mouth.

Most people erroneously believe that the olive branch is a symbol of peace. However, in Jewish tradition, it is just the opposite. The olive is the most bitter fruit. The only way to make use of it (short of pickling it) is by crushing it to get oil.

Said the Yonah to Noach (and by the way, my grandma has one great grandson named Yonah and one named Noach ;-)

No, the world is not ready for peace. Instead, my lot will be that of a wanderer, bitter and crushed in the long exile. I will not find solace, not even a resting place for my weary feet.

This is the story of the Jew in exile.

But the bright part of the story is, ironically, in that same olive branch.

Yes, we experienced the bitterness of exile, the crushing horrors of the Holocaust, pogroms, terrorist attacks, Inquisition, etc. etc.

But what happens as a result of all this crushing? What do you have? Pure olive oil that can be kindled to make a beautiful light, to illuminate the darkness of the world around us. This represents the sacrifice made by Jews throughout the ages to persevere, and even to flourish, even in the face of the greatest persecution and darkness.

Yes, it is the wandering Yonah, the dove who tasted the crushing bitterness of exile, who ultimately survives, flourishes, and ushers in the coming of our long awaited Moshiach.

My Grandma is the Toiba, the dove, the ultimate survivor.

Ninety years later. The White Russians are gone. The Soviet communists who tried to destroy Judaism, are no more, but rather a relic of the past.
But our Yonah has flown for ninety years, weathered the turmoil and storm of life, raised her Jewish kinderlach, produced three generations, has propelled Judaism into the 21st Century.

And now, the Yonah has flown away to her eternal home to be with her parents, Sarah and Reuven Levita, may Hashem avenge their blood, and with her beloved foster parents, Zaida Binyomin and Bubbe Ettel Marcus, and most of all, to be with Hashem.

Yes, our dove, our Taibeleh has finally found peace.

But the world still has not.

This will be accomplished by us, each of us in his or her own way, increasing in acts of goodness and kindness, Torah and Mitzvos, to bear aloft the banner of our people Israel (that was for you, Grandma) with pride and conviction. It’s time to throw the foolish Marku out of the marketplace once and for all, and rise above all our hindrances that are holding us back from doing Mitzvot and letting our true Jewish pride shine forth. And most of all, to get ready to greet Moshiach,

It’s time to find peace in our daily lives by increasing in Torat Shalom and Torat Emmet, “…and all its ways are peace.” Study Chassidic philosophy, the inner wisdom of the Torah, that makes peace between spirituality and physicality, between Heaven and Earth, between the storm struggles of our daily life with the inner light of our soul, which is a veritable part of G-d from above...
It’s time to bring Moshiach NOW. Thank you.

My Grandma, Toby Green 1916-2009

2009-12-04T13:30:00.000-05:00

I have shared my thoughts at many shivas, but this is the first one for me that is so close to home and so dear to my heart.

Especially for me personally, as I have regrettably not seen my Grandma for a number of years. My memories of her are of the vibrant & energetic grandma playing tennis with Grandpa Mo in the park, or of her as a feisty seventy-five-year-old going to work as a public school teacher, or of her leading the seder and telling us how bad of a man the evil Pharaoh was.

But I also have other memories of Grandma that I doubt many others have had.

I feel that I have always had a special relationship with my Grandma Toby, ע"ה.

You see, I am named after her father Rabbi Binyomin Mendel Marcus, which Grandma reminded me of almost every time she said my name. I am also the first rabbi in the family after him.

In my early days at Yeshiva, most of my family members could sadly not relate to my Yeshiva experience or what I was learning. In fact, some of my family members were even a little adverse to the idea.

But not Grandma.

I vividly remember spending Shabbos with my Grandma after I had begun attending Yeshiva. She asked me what I was studying. “Talmud,” I replied, not thinking that my seventy-year old grandma would even have a clue what that was.

“Oh, you’re learning Gemara?” she asked. “Which tractate?” She proceeded to review a difficult passage of Talmud, from the tractate “Bava Metzia,” word for word, by heart.

I was floored.

Of course, Grandma had studied Talmud with her father.

But it was not till years later that I discovered that her father, Zaida Marcus, had actually been raised as a Chabad Chassid in the Kherson region of the Ukraine.

This made a lot of sense to me, since in those days, most Orthodox Jews sadly did not think it was important for girls to study the deep wisdom of Jewish thought entombed in the Talmud. It was only Chassidim who believed girls should study just like boys, and that women should be learned just like men..

It was this rigorous Torah study from her youth that my grandma kept with her throughout her entire life.

I would like to share with you one other memory.

My grandma used to sing me Yiddish and Hebrew songs. “Hashomer Shabbat” was her favorite. But one time she taught me a melody with Ukranian words:

Ech di duren marku. Tshto ti yedish no yarmarku. Nye kuplayish, nye pradayish, tolko rubish s’varku.

Rough translation:

“You foolish Mark. Why do you come to the marketplace? You do not buy. You do not sell. All you do is cause trouble.”

Explanation:

Life is a yerid, a marketplace. The merchandise we need to obtain is Torah and Mitzvot. We have a relatively short time to be here at the fare, and we need to maximize our time here to accomplish what we need to accomplish. The foolish Mark is the evil inclination which besets each individual from the day he’s born to the day he dies. In the song we tell the foolish Mark: “Stop bothering me. You are here to neither buy nor sell. So get lost and let me serve Hashem without your interference.”

(By the way, nothing wrong with the name “Mark.” In Ukraine, that was a common name among Ukrainian peasants, kind of like “John Doe” for Americans.)

At the time, I did not understand the significance of this song, or even give it much thought.

Some time later, in my Yeshiva, I learned of an almost identical song, but with a Hebrew introduction I did not hear from my Grandma. It goes: “Tzama l’cha nafshi, kama l’cha bsori…” “My soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs for You, in a parched and arid land. So my soul envisions You in the Holy Temple, to gaze at Your might and glory.” Then it is followed by the Ukrainan words I learned from my Grandma.

However, this was no ordinary Chassidic melody. It was taught by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to his Chassidim at some point in the fifties, as the Chassidim in America at the time did not know it. The Rebbe was from the Nikolaiev region in Ukraine. The local Chassidim were known for their musical talent, and their unique Chassidic melodies. On a Simchat Torah night, the Rebbe taught the song to his crowd of followers, explained the deep significance of it, and translated the Ukrainian part. Ever since then, it has become a trademark melody sung by Chabad Chassidim at Chassidic gatherings all over the world.

How amazing it was to me that the Chabad Chassidim in Crown Heights did not know the melody, but my Grandma knew it, and knew what it meant too.

Obviously, it was because Zaida Marcus, who had had a Chabad upbringing in southern Ukraine (not far from Nikolaiev, where the Rebbe was born), learned this melody in his childhood and passed it on to my Grandma. Thanks to him, she possessed a vast knowledge relating to everything Jewish. But even greater than her knowledge was her passionate sense of identity and Jewish pride.
Every letter, every card she ever wrote me, always ended off, “May you merit to carry the banner of our people Israel.”
Indeed, Grandma didn’t just carry the banner. She lived it, and breathed it, in every waking moment. I can’t remember ever visiting her and not hearing her say (or observing) how much she loved the land of Israel, the Jewish people, the Torah, Shabbos, the Hebrew Language, etc.
And she passed this on to her kids, my aunts, uncle,and my mom. And that’s how I got it. And that’s why I am who I am today. And that’s why my kids, nieces, nephews and cousins, Grandma’s great-grandchildren, are growing up the way they are, all twenty (soon to be twenty-two) of them, בלע"ה., as proud Jews, proudly “carrying the banner” of our people and our Torah.

More thoughts about my Grandma to follow...

Larry David and Chabad

2008-09-25T18:35:00.006-04:00

Please click below to watch this video!

Dear Friend,

With High Holidays just around the corner, we would like take this opportunity to wish each of you and your family a very happy and sweet New Year. If you or anyone you know do not as of yet have plans for the High Holiday Services, please accept out heartfelt invitation to join with us. We've gotten a little help from Larry David to express our sincere desire that you take us up on our offer. Please... pass this invite and video clip to any of your friends that may be looking for a place for the High Holidays.
Click above to watch video. (Thanks to Chabad of BelAir for video)
Shana Tova,
Rabbi Michoel Green
Chabad of Westborough

Musings on Labor Day

2008-08-28T23:34:00.002-04:00

I never understood the concept behind Labor Day. It is a day honoring labor, and yet we celebrate it by resting? Shouldn't we have rather celebrated it by working overtime? (I hope my boss is not reading this ;-) Well, I for one, am NOT celebrating labor. In fact, I am absolutely dreading going back to work Tues. morning. Perhaps we ought to rename it "Un-Labor Day," or better yet, "Down-with-labor Day!"

Perhaps there is a deeper lesson here. "For man was born to toil," declared Job (no pun intended. The name is "Iyov." "Job" is an unprecise anglicization.)

But what kind of toil? The toil of the workplace? The toil to eke out a living? No, states the Talmud (Sanhedrin 99). That's not the toil that Job was refering to. Instead, he was refering to the "toil of Torah." From a Chassidic persective, this means exerting effort to rise to the spiritual challenges we all face from within and without, the struggle to refine and develop our character and the world around us, to transcend all obstacles and reveal the G-dliness inherent in everyone and everything.

Indeed, this is no simple task. It is HARD WORK. This is the toil for which we were created.

Shabbat epitomizes this concept.

Our Sages taught that when the Torah prohibits "work" on Shabbat, it refers to the so-called "Principal Labors." The Mishna (Tractate Shabbat) states: "The Principal Labors are forty missing one," and then proceeds to delineate them: "Sowing, plowing, harvesting..."

Questions:
Firstly, why couldn't the Mishna have said simply "thirty-nine?"
Moreover, the fact that the Mishna deemed it necessary to point out the number altogether (even though any student of the Mishna would presumably know how to count) implies that there is something significant in this number. And the fact that it says "forty minus one" instead of "thirty-nine" implies that the only reason 39 is significant is because it is one less than forty. If number forty is so significant, shouldn't there have been a full forty principal labors? Why did it need to be "missing one?"

Chassidus explains:
There are thirty-nine labors that we perform six days a week. However, we need to be conscious of the fact that these labors in and of themselves are "missing." Indeed, our toil in this world as an end in itself is deficient. The "one" labor that is missing is the "Melechet Shamayim" -- man's service of his Creator. There is a void, an emptiness that lies within the work, that needs to be filled with spiritual meaning. It is not easy to fill the void with meaning. Sometimes, this is tough, really tough. This is also known as the "toil of Torah." This "one labor" cannot necessarily be performed while you are in the midst of buying and selling, sowing or plowing. That's why it's forty minus one. But in the midst of all your material pursuits and effort, you gotta be aware that you're minus one, and that at some point during the day or week, you will complete the forty by performing the fortieth labor, one's service of G-d.

Herein lies a powerful insight into Shabbat observance. Shabbat is the day devoted to the "one" that was missing all week. On Shabbat, we rest from the mundane, but don't just sit passively all day. Instead, we exert effort into the areas that matter most in life: our relationship with G-d, with our loved ones, with our community and with our people. Prayer, meditation, Torah study, etc... going out of our comfort zone and into the transcendance of Shabbat.

Yes, Shabbat is a day of rest, but also a day of toil, the real toil for which we were created.

When I think of "Labor Day" and the peculiar disparity between what it celebrates and how it is observed, I am reminded of the dual nature of Shabbat, rest and toil

Perhaps Labor Day reminds us that there is more to work than work itself. That work is only meaningful if we can take a break from it and exert effort in the spiritual realm.

Oh well, enough said. Time to get back to work...

On the Road Again...

2008-08-01T12:03:00.006-04:00

Do you like to travel?
Yes? Then this week's Torah Portion is for you!
It's called "Journeys."
It lists forty two places the Jewish people journeyed to during their forty year trek in the vast desert. "And they journeyed from Raamses and they camped in Sukkoth..." x42.

I must confess, however, that I HATE traveling. In fact, when I do need to embark on a long trip, I brace myself for the discomforts, sea-sickness, air-sickness, traffic-sickness, you name it. The only reason I willingly submit to it at all is because of even my larger desire or need to reach the destination. Whether it's Miami to visit my folks, Vermont to relax in nature, or the supermarket to buy groceries, I tolerate the journey because of a greater specific need, e.g. my parents, the Green Mountains, or a bag of tomatoes.
Even you jetsetter types could relate in a certain way. Surely the trans-Atlantic flight is not your main objective, but the visit in Israel that awaits you at your destination.

If my above theory is correct, shouldn't the Parshah have rightly been called "Destinations" or "Encampments," since it primarily relates the places where they CAMPED! These were the forty two place in which the Israelites STOPPED during their journey out of Egypt.

The answer is obvious: the Israelites were not on a Tour de France (to borrow Senator McCain's expression). They were escaping Egypt. Every place they encamped in was not the ultimate objective of the journey there. The real purpose was to continue the journey at a subsequent time.

Here the Chassidic Master provide some deeper insight into the mystery of life. Life is a journey, a journey out of our own personal Egypts (Mitrayim in Hebrew, which shares a root with "metzar," i.e. "restrictions and limitations). Even when you park, when you settle down into a set routine, it's a temporary means of regaining your strength so that you may subsequently forge onward. "Journeying" in the spiritual sense doesn't necessarily mean moving to a new town or being promoted to a new job. It means spiritual growth, reaching beyond your status quo to connect to G-d in a higher way. It means propelling yourself forward to accomplish your soul's mission in this world. And each journey is a quantum leap and a complete departure from the old "you."

In this respect, every Jew is inherently a seasoned traveler. Historically, we've been wandering the globe for millenia, settling to create centers of Torah study and Jewish life, to refine the world around us, but subsequently being compelled to journey onward. On a personal level, our souls are hardwired to move, to grow and to influence. Such is our Divine calling -- to liberate the world from its present state of Egypt (=Galut, exile) and transforming it to a world of peace, justice, and heightened Divine conciousness. To bring the days of Moshiach.

In recent years, the Lubavitcher Rebbe announced that we are presently on the last leg of our journey, or more accurately, that we've basically arrived and are presently ready to disembark! Moshiach is here and the Messianic redemption is at hand.
But how can that be? I look around in all directions and all I see is the chaos of wilderness. I see suffering, injustice, violence, discord and disharmony. How could the Rebbe have asserted that we're ready to cross into the Promised Land?

To be continued...

(Come to shul this Shabbos and find out)

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Green

The Sinaitic Revelation

2008-01-24T21:44:00.000-05:00

This week in Shul, we will read about the revelation at Mt. Sinai.

The following is excerpted from a letter from Elie Wiesel about an interview the Rebbe had with some college students in 1951. Part of the letter included a discussion about Mt. Sinai:

Q: How can you explain scientifically the existence of G-d and the need for religion?

A: Let us take the "Chumash" (Torah) and open it. Before you are many words.
Suppose you had never heard of a printer nor seen a printing shop. Would you then say, not knowing how these words were formed, that they developed from a bottle of ink that was spilled by itself and formed these words? Or would you not say that these words were made on purpose? You would have to say that there was some force that created these words and put them back in order. Just as a pencil which contains billions of atoms, has to have some law of order governing it to exist, so too do the words in the "Chumash" need an order governing it to exist and to be understood.

We have established that the "Chumash" was made purposefully. When G-d gave the Torah to the Jewish people, they were given it directly from G-d and accepted it directly from Him. (Moses went halfway up Mount Sinai and G-d came down to meet him.) There were 600,000 Jews at Mount Sinai who heard what G-d said and who accepted the Torah. They passed on what they knew to be true from generation to generation. It is not very likely that a father in all his senses would tell his son a thing that is not so.

There have never been fewer than 600,000 religious Jews in Jewish history, and this chain of tradition has never been broken. There has never been an interruption in the constant regeneration of at least 600,000 religious Jews. In other religions, there is not to be found this unbroken chain of tradition.

Q: If all that is said above is true, what proof does one have that the Jewish religion is the true and only religion?

A: A scientific discovery is accepted when there is enough evidence or proof that the discovery is true. The more people who agree with the results of an experiment add support to that discovery. If 600 people performed an experiment using the same implements and 100 people performed the same experiment on the same basis, and the results showed that the 600 people stated a belief on the basis of their experiments, and the 100 people disagreed with them on the basis of their experiments, you would believe the 600 people more readily than the 100 people.
The Christian religion has only 12 witnesses to affirm its origin and prominence. The Buddhists had three witnesses. The Muslims had only one witness, and Mohammed was a mentally ill person. The Jewish people had 600,000 witnesses. On that basis you would say the Jewish religion has the greatest amount of witnesses and therefore the greatest amount of truth.

Q: Was there only quantity or quality too at Mount Sinai?

A: There was a great deal of quality. Jews from all walks of life were present; from all different occupations and professions (carpenters, bakers, scientists, philosophers). What greater quality of people can one assemble in one place?

World's Largest Menorah

2007-12-14T15:28:00.000-05:00

Click here to view world's largest Menorah, in Birobizhan, Russia:
http://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/608340/jewish/A-Far-East-Chanukah.htm

Problem is, however, it's not kosher for Chanukah -- in order to fulfill the mitzva, it has to be within 32 feet of the ground. Otherwise, it's too high up, not viewable to the average pedestrian unless you look up.

This teaches us a powerful lesson about Judaism in general and Chanukah in particular.
We need to see the miraculous in every aspect of our lives, even in the down-to-earth, daily routine. If it's too lofty, too sublime, too abstract... it's not helping us achieve the purpose for which we were created, to illuminate the darkness of the world with the light of Torah.

Our Jewishness ought to be expressed outwardly through the mitzvos we do in the realm of action as well, not just in speech and thought.

Happy Chanukah!

Smiling for a Change!

2007-11-27T21:04:00.000-05:00

After solemnly holding tight onto a pitchfork for over seven decades, the dour-faced Depression era couple is almost breaking into a “Happy Chanukah!” smile.
Indeed, the picture has changed as the stern stick-in-the-mud style has branched out right and left with warm and welcoming outreach to one and all. Lo and behold, the cold sharp iron implement has gracefully metamorphosed into a warm and bright Menorah.
When Grant Woods painted the austere rural American Gothic in 1930, he could never have imagined a Menorah standing in the center of his masterpiece. Neither could most of us envision that Chanukah would one day light up the contemporary American scene.
The festival of Chanukah has finally arrived, even here, deep in the heartland. Although once low profile and almost in hiding, the shy and bashful Chanukah is now embraced and celebrated, in homes, halls and malls across the country. Rather than restricted to a tiny notice tucked away in back of the religion section, Chanukah has now blossomed into a full color front page story.
It’s not that our smiling couple just discovered Chanukah out on the street. Note that they’ve already kindled their personal household Menorah in the window, and have come out front to publicly and proudly display a Menorah for all to see. The cherished Constitutional Freedom of Religion that we enjoy in this country is surely a good reason for us all to smile along.
These adorable folks may also be smiling at how times have changed since they starred in the original Gothic. Long past its heyday, the pitchfork has fallen into disuse, an archaic relic that rusts in the barnyard or is confined to museums. By contrast, the Menorah of twenty five centuries ago is full of energy, meaning and purpose. The vital and vibrant Menorah reflects the past and burns with a fiery passion for the future, shining forth as strong as ever.
The painting’s original expression of the precious values of Thrift, Endurance and Faith are depicted beautifully in the new rendition. But rather than standing stoically and tight lipped, Chanukah poignantly delivers a three pronged message that emanates warmth.
Thrift: The little cruse of oil that illuminated the Holy Temple in Jerusalem for eight days and nights demonstrates the victory of Quality over Quantity and the triumph of the few over the many.
Endurance: The Menorah highlights the brave and courageous Maccabees who struggled to overcome great challenges and obstacles.
Faith: Standing tall and proud, the Menorah encourages our faith in G-d and strengthens our confidence in Jewish destiny and future.
The Menorah inspires today, just as it inspired the Jewish people when they were liberated from Greek-Syrian oppression and influence. We preface the Menorah lighting by reciting the blessing for the miracles “in those days, in our time.” The Menorah’s bright rays help dispel the surrounding darkness and confusion and fear of war and terrorism in our time.
Retire, the old trusty pitchfork, must, but first with final respects to its association with the rich symbolism of Messianic universal peace. That is when “nations will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning shears.” (Isaiah 2:4)

By Rabbi Israel Rubin

Albany, NY

International Convention of Chabad Emissaries

2007-11-14T16:34:00.000-05:00

Four thousand hats, four thousand beards, sixty five countries, forty seven states. There is no hall large enough in the entire borough of Brooklyn, NY to hold them. They are gathered at Pier 94 on the west side of Manhattan, which has been converted in to a gigantic banquet hall.

Welcome to the International Convention of the World-Wide Chabad Lubavitch Movement.
The annual gathering of Chabad emissaries is the highlight of our year. Our mission to reach every single Jew is evident throughout the entire ballroom.

Rabbis from every corner of the world are here today, yet tomorrow they will be off to their faraway destinations, placing them within the reach of every single Jew in the entire universe.

The guest speaker is Mr. Levi Leviev, the powerful diamond magnate, who personally bankrolls hundreds of Chabad institutions in the former Soviet Union. He tells the tale of ten Chabad envoys who one hundred years ago arrived in Samarkand to inspire the Bucharian Jewish community. To their chagrin, only ten boys agreed to attend their small cheder. The entire generation was engulfed by a wave of assimilation, yet those ten boys in the cheder remained steadfast in their Jewish observance. One of those boys was Mr. Leviev's grandfather.

It was this committment to the individual, to every single Jew, that Chabad displayed to his grandfather and continues to display to every single Jew that inspires him to stand side by side with the Chabad movement, ensuring that no Jew will be left behind.

The highlight of his talk was the story of a girl from the country of Tatarstan who was born to a Jewish mother and non-Jewish father. The mother felt an obligation to give her daughter a Jewish education and enrolled her in the local Chabad day school. The father went along with it initially, but gradually changed his mind and decided to baptize her as a Christian. As they prepared for the ceremony on a Friday evening, the girl asked the priest for some candles, and he complied with her wishes. She took the candles, lit them and proceeded to say," Baruch ata adon-ai... Lehadlik ner shel shabbat kodesh .... Needless to say, there was not a dry eye in the audience.

May we all merit to reach every Jew and inspire them to give their children a love and passion for the Jewish faith.

By Rabbi Dov Mandel

World's Oldest Jew goes to Chabad!

2007-10-25T16:34:00.001-04:00

Breaking News

World's oldest Jew turns 107

The man believed to be the world's oldest living Jew celebrated his 107th birthday in Moscow. Boris Efimov, born Boris Fridland, worked as a political caricaturist until the early 1980s. He won two Soviet State Prizes and was named People's Painter of the USSR in 1967. Efimov had no Jewish education growing up. He began studying Judaism at the age of 100 at Moscow's Chabad-run Marina Roscha Center, where his birthday celebration was held this week.

From JTA News Website
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/104875.html

New Website!

2007-10-23T00:36:00.002-04:00

Please go to http://www.chabadhebrewschool.us/ and check out our new Hebrew School website!

We welcome your comments!

More Ramblings on 5768

2007-10-13T22:04:00.000-04:00

Another reflection on the current Jewish year, 5768:

What is the luckiest number in Judaism?

OK, there's no such thing as luck. But what's the most meaningful number you can think of?

For example, let's say you make a donation to Chabad of Westboro (click here, by the way, so this doesn't have to be theoretical :-) or to any Jewish charity of your choice.

Which sum would you choose to donate?

Could it be that you'd donate in units or multiples of 18?

Why? Because the number 18 is the numerical value of the Hebrew word Chai (Chet=8, Yud=10). And Chai means life, right?

Wrong. Chai actually is an adjective which means "alive."

"Life" as a noun would be "Chayim."

The numerical equivalent of "Chayim" is 68, the last two digits of this year.

So one could make the case that 68 is more "alive" than 18. 18 is merely a description of life, whereas 68 is life itself!

(Time to start increasing your tzedaka from 18 to 68 :-)

Anyhow, now that we've established that 68 is an important number, let's consider the number 57, the first two digits of this year.

Fifty-seven is the numerical equivalent of "Zan," which means "sustains," or "the one who sustains" (zayin=7, nun=50). 57+68, then, could mean "the One Who sustains life."

Or perhaps, we can use Gematriya (Hebrew numerology) a bit more liberally, and say that 68 is the English word, "now" (nun=50, aleph=1, vav=6).

In this sense, 57 and 68 means: "Life Now," i.e. now is the time for life, lliving life the way life ought to be. Living life to its fullest, by filling it with Torah and Mitzvot.

But in truth, life for a Jew can't be lived to the fullest until Moshiach comes and rebuilds the Bais Hamikdash. At that time, life will truly be meaningful, as we will live in a more real, G-dly reality. Indeed, at that time, human life will once more be eternal, as it was intended to be prior to Adam's sin. In Kabbalah, only immortal life is true life. (This is why, even nowadays, life is only truly meaningful when imbued with Torah and Mitzvot, which are eternal.) Likewise, although life is the synthesis of body and soul, it is the soul which makes the body live, and not vice-versa. For the soul is eternal whilst the body is not. When Mashiach will come, however, a deeper perception of reality will become evident. It is the raw physical existence of the human body, the nethermost end product of creation, that expresses the essence of G-d. Hence, the body will become eternal as well. In fact, there will be a great paradigm shift in the symbiotic relationship of body and soul. At that time, the body will sustain ("Zan") the soul, and not vice-versa, as it is today.

Anyway, sorry for digressing. Back to the point --

So 5768, "Life Now," really means:

"Moshiach Now!"

May it be this year! Amen.

"In the Beginning..."

2007-10-06T22:46:00.000-04:00

This week's Parsha is the first of the entire Torah. Quite appropriately, it is called "Bereshit" -- "In the beginning" -- because of its opening phrase, "In the beginning, G-d created heaven and earth."

But let's analyze that for a moment. Rashi objects to the translation "In the beginning" for the simple reason that "Reishit" does not mean "beginning" as a free-standing noun, but rather "beginning of" in construct state.

For example, "children" would be "banim" in Hebrew, but "children of..." (as in Children of Israel) is "b'nei" in construct. "B'nai" never stands alone in a Hebrew sentence. Only when there is a complement phrase or noun that follows (i.e. "Israel") can a construct be used.

Reishit is a word in construct form. Consequently, a more accurate translation of this oft-quoted passage would read: "In the beginning of _______, G-d created heaven and earth." (If the verse intended "In the beginning," the phrase should have been "B'rishona")

This begs the obvious question: in the beginning of what?

(Rashi offers several interpretations. See B'reishit 1:1, 2nd Rashi, at length)

Let's try a somewhat unconventional approach to this age-old question.

Perhaps "In the beginning of [blank]" is precisely what the Torah is trying to say.
The Torah is telling you, the reader, to fill in the blank with something new you are beginning. Any new activity or pursuit, either spiritual ("Heaven") or a material ("Earth").

For example, "In the beginning of my trying to keep Shabbat," or "In the beginning of my new job," or "In the beginning of my trying to have a meaningful relationship with so-and-so," and so on.

Indeed, all new beginnings are fraught with difficulties. All too often we are too set with the status quo, too set in our ways to adapt comfortably to change. Sometimes we don't know where to start, and feel overwhelmed with a sense of chaos and lack of clear direction. At times we may feel a sense of emptiness, as though we are missing the motivation to go forward.

So the Torah (comes from word "Horaah" -- instruction) comes to guide us through by demonstrating that the beginning of any new endeavor in life follows the same model of creation.

Firstly, be aware that "G-d is creating heaven and earth." If the challenge seems too tough and insurmountable, don't shy away. It's not an accident or coincidence that you happen to be in your current set of circumstances. G-d is creating you and your surroundings anew at this very moment.

Secondly, don't get discouraged if you encounter difficulties, darkness, chaos, or feeling of emptiness, in your first attempts. G-d experienced the same thing. "And the earth was astonishingly formless and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep..."

Did He get discouraged? No. Instead He said: "Let there be light!"

That's what you need to do. Turn the darkness into light. "A Mitzva is a candle and the Torah is light." A bit of light dispels much darkness. By imbuing your surroundings with the joy, meaning & wisdom of the Torah, the "void and darkness" we all encounter in life will instantly dissipate.

Once there is light, there is clarity and focus. It won't happen all at once, but in an organized, orderly fashion. Just like in creation: first there was mineral, then plant life, then animal life, and finally human life.

Your efforts will finally bear fruit, through thoughtful planning and dedication. All you need to do first is turn on the light.

And there will be light.

Happy Shabbat Bereshit!

This Year -- 5768

2007-09-20T23:49:00.000-04:00

This year is 5768
5 to 7 is two steps up
7 to 6 is one step down
6 to 8 is two steps up.
In life (like in the stock market) sometimes we take two steps up, then get discouraged when we have to take a step back. But don't despair! The purpose of this step back is only to be able to go again two steps up.

In Kabbalistic/Chassidic terminology: "Descent for the sake of Ascent"

May this be a year of revealed blessings, and may we ascend higher in all areas of life, materially and spiritually, with health, happiness and nachas, and most of all, with the ultimate ascent, the return to Eretz Yisrael and the building of the Beis Hamikdash, with the coming of Moshiach NOW!

Three-Day Marathon Holidays

2007-09-16T23:33:00.000-04:00

This year, Rosh Hashana, Sukkot and Simchat Torah are all "three-day holidays."

To be more precise, they're acutally two-day holidays like always. However, this year, since they occur on Thursday and Friday, these holy days flow seamlessly into Shabbos without any interruption of a mundane weekday.

What can we learn from these three-day marathon holidays, in which work is forbidden for three consecutive days?

In Judaism, three is an important number. It symbolizes permanence, consistency, endurance and sturdiness.

Permanence:
An occupant of a house can claim three consecutive years of undisputed occupancy as proof of ownership.

Consitency:
An ox that gores three consecutive times is considered a "goring ox," and it must be presumed that it will gore again in the future.

Endurance:
A three-ply twine is far more enduring than a two or single ply, and is not easily severed.

Sturdiness:
A table cannot stand on two legs, but can stand on three. Hence the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Due to the righteousness of this threesome, their progeny endures forever.

So what do we make of three days of consecutive holy days?

Simple! This year, holiness and the holy activities of Shabbat, i.e. prayer and Torah Study, Mitzvot observance, etc., ought be focused on as a greater priority than ever.

Indeed, our fixed times for Torah study must be:
permanent, consistent and enduring.

Soccer, karate, piano lessons and business calls, etc., can all wait. When your weekly or daily Torah study time arrives, everything else stops.

Even if the phone rings, don't answer it. It's like Shabbos. Three-days-worth of it.

Shmittah Year

2007-09-06T23:34:00.000-04:00

This coming Jewish Year is a Sabbatical Year called “Shmittah.” It is the last year in the seven-year cycle, and has its own special laws.
In the land of Israel, it involves a prohibition against all agricultural activity. Out of the Land of Israel, special laws apply to the eating of Israeli produce.
For Jews, the world over, another law applies as follows.
Any loans made before the Shmittah year may not be reclaimed after Shmittah, as the word "Shmittah" means "release."
The exact cut off date is the subject of differing opinions; some maintain it is at the beginning of Shmittah, whilst others maintain it is at the end of Shmittah.
During Temple times, this law was readily observed. However, later in history people became reluctant to lend money to other Jews in the months before Shmittah, for fear of not being able to reclaim the money later on.
It was Hillel the Elder who lived two thousand years ago who developed the idea of Pruzbul. This is a method that allows one to reclaim debts after Shmittah, by turning one's debts into public debts before Shmittah begins.
This is done quite easily by appointing a “court” of three adult Jews and declaring before them: ‘I hereby transfer to you all debts that are owing to me, so that I may reclaim them whenever I so desire’.
Go to http://www.chabad.org/tools/feedback.htm/aid/5212/jewish/Fill-Out-a-Pruzbul.html
and fill out the form. This should be done on or before Erev Rosh Hashanah, Wednesday 12 September, 2007.
We will also do the oral declaration of Pruzbul at the beginning of our Rosh Hashana service on Wed. 12 at Westborough High School, 90 W Main.
Please join us!
Shana Tova,
Rabbi Green

Uncle Shmuel wants YOU!

2007-08-31T18:35:00.000-04:00

... to come to Shul on Shabbat!

See you there :-)

Speeding Ticket Story

2007-08-21T23:14:00.000-04:00

Many people have gotten out of receiving a traffic ticket using all sorts of excuses. But no one ever had a better excuse than the woman from Crown Heights who was pulled over by a N.Y.C. traffic cop. Standing outside her open car window and watching her fumble for her license, the police officer caught sight of a picture of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, R' Menachem Mendel Schneerson, in her open purse.

"Excuse me, Ma'am," he asked, "are you one of the followers of this Rabbi?" She replied that she was.

"Let me tell you a story about that Rabbi," said the cop. "It's my favorite story, but I haven't told it to many Jewish people, in fact, I think that you are the first." He raised his voice over the din of passing cars.

"I used to be in the police escort that once a week escorted the Rabbi to the Montefiore Cemetery (where he would pray at the gravesite of his saintly predecessor, R' Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn). I got to know some of the young men who accompanied the Rabbi, and I learned a thing or two about Hasidim. They are very friendly people and we talked alot while the Rabbi was inside praying.

"They used to tell us all about the greatness of the Rabbi and how he tries to help people all the time. I was standing there with some of my buddies and I half-jokingly asked if the Rabbi helps non-Jews also.

"'Sure,' they said, 'The Rebbe helps anyone who asks. Why? Do you need something?'

"Later, in private, I told one of the young men, that my wife and I had been married for nine years with no children, and one week ago the doctors told us that we had no chance. We had spent a lot of money on treatments, seen all sorts of big professors, we were running around like crazy for the last six or seven years, and now they told us that they tried everything and there is no more hope. You can't imagine how broken we were. My wife cried all the time and I started crying myself.

"So this young man tells me, 'Listen, the next time that you escort the Rebbe to the cemetery, stand near the door of his car and when he gets out, ask him for a blessing.' And you know, that's just what I did! The next time I was in the escort, I stood by his door and when he got out I said to him, 'Excuse me, Rabbi, do you only bless Jewish people or non-Jews too?'

"I'll never forget how the Rabbi looked at me - like I was a good friend! He said that if he can, he tries to help anyone who asks. So I told him what the doctors said, and he told me to write down on a piece of paper my name and my father's name together with my wife's name and her father's name, so he can pray for us. I did it, although I did think it was funny writing down my father and father-in-law's names - real heavy-duty Irish names. But I did it and you know what? In a short time, my wife was expecting and nine months later she gave birth to a baby boy! The doctors went crazy, they couldn't figure it out, and when I told them that the only difference was a Rabbi's blessing, they just scratched their heads. Wow! It was unbelievable!"

The cop's face was truly glowing at this point. "But here comes the best part. Do you know what we called him? What name we gave our baby boy? We called him 'Mendel' after the Rabbi. Can you imagine? The only Irish 'Mendel' in the neighborhood - probably in the world! At first my wife didn't like the name because it didn't sound American. Hey, it doesn't even sound Irish! But I said, No! We're calling him Mendel!

"Of course, our parents objected when they heard the name. They said, 'With a name like that, all the kids will be cruel to him. Why make the kid suffer for no reason?' But they're missing the point. When he comes home and says that the other kids called him names and beat him up because he has a Jewish name, I'll tell him that I want him to learn from those other kids how not to behave. They hate the Jews for no reason, but you should love the Jews, you should help the Jews. You just tell them that without that Jewish Rabbi called Mendel you wouldn't be here at all, and then maybe they'll start thinking differently too!"

Needless to say, he did not give her a ticket.

(Adapted from an email received from Rabbi Michoel Seligson. I believe it was originally written by Rabbi Tuvia Bolton on Chabad.org)

The Torah -- Old-Fashioned?

2007-08-05T23:06:00.000-04:00

In every time and every generation, critics and pundits deemed the Torah old-fashioned. This is, and always has been, a factual error. “Old-fashioned” implies that it was once in fashion, and only later became old fashioned. The Torah, on the other hand, has never been in fashion. Its teachings have always been radically out-of-the-box and revolutionary, never conforming with the prevalent attitudes of every society and every age.

Indeed, for most of recorded history, the Torah’s very core principles of Monotheism and the Sinaitic Revelation pitted its practitioners at odds with most of the world’s inhabitants.

It was never fashionable to believe in the Torah’s eternal truths, to assert that G-d is One, infinite and all-transcendent, yet inseparably pervasive and intimately mindful of the most finite detail of our daily existence. No, it was never fashionable to abstain from all creative labors on the Sabbath, to observe the kosher dietary laws, and to observe the Torah’s supra-rational Mitzvot with the same devotion as its rational ones.

The Torah has always been far ahead of its time, so much so that the “times” still haven’t caught up with the Torah yet.

To be continued...

Lessons from a Thief

2007-07-29T13:15:00.000-04:00

The Mishna (Avot 4:1) teaches:

"Who is wise? One who learns from every man..."

Indeed, a holy man named Rabbi Zusia of Anipoli (18th century Ukraine) taught that one can learn seven lessons from a thief:

1. Work quietly. Don't show off your accomplishments.

2. Take risks. Being Jewish sometimes requires self sacrifice.

3. Every detail is crucial. Never overlook the slightest opportunity to do a good deed.

4. Work hard. Judaism requires effort!

5. Work efficiently. Time is of essence.

6. Be optimistic and ever hopeful. Believe that you will succeed and you will.

7. If the first attempt does not succeed, try and try again.

PS Don't steal. This is the wrong lesson to learn from the thief :-)

Living Together Before Marriage?

2007-07-18T12:02:00.001-04:00

Question:

My boyfriend and I are having some conflict over the issue of moving in together before marriage. I don't want to until we're married. He says that he wouldn't feel comfortable committing to someone he hasn't lived with first. It still doesn't seem right to me, but what can I say to him? He seems to have a valid point.

Answer:

Tell your boyfriend that you do not feel comfortable committing to someone who is prepared to live with someone without committing.

An enduring marriage is based on commitment first, which brings comfortability--not the other way around. If the comfortability brings the commitment, it is not a real commitment. What will happen if your shared life hits an area of discomfort? Actually, it's not a question of "if," but of "when": there is not a single married couple that doesn't encounter some uncomfortable moments in their life together. Do you jump ship? Or do you work on it because you made a commitment to each other, and to G‑d, that you're going too make this relationship work?

In this, marriage is very much like Judaism itself: our Sages tell us that when G‑d asked the Jewish people if they would accept the Torah, the people of Israel responded, Naaseh v'nishmah, "We will do and we will comprehend." We pledged ourselves to both of two critical elements of a meaningful relationship: the commitment to do whatever it takes to maintain the relationship, and the creation of the comfort zone that comes through knowledge and appreciation of the other. But we understood that for the relationship to have a good chance of enduring, the "do" element must come first.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe used to say: Being too close when you're supposed to be apart, causes you to be apart when you're supposed to be close.

Rabbi Green

The Three Weeks -- why are there 3 of them?

2007-07-11T22:48:00.000-04:00

The period of time we are in now is known as the "Three Weeks." This denotes the twenty-one days between the Fasts of the Seventheenth of Tammuz and the Ninth of Av. (The 17th of Tamuz was the day the walls of Jerusalem were breached, and the 9th of Av was when the Temple was finally destroyed, both the first Temple (c 425 BCE) and the second Temple (69 CE).

Besides for just being a shorter way of saying the amount of time, i.e. 21 days, there is deeper significance to why it is called the "Three" Weeks.

Three is a powerful number in Jewish Law. It reflects permanence and enduring strength. Three times constitutes a "Chazaka" in Halacha. For example, if an animal exhibits certain behavior three times consequetively, it is presumed that this behavior will be repeated in the future. Ownership of a contested property is granted to the occupant who can prove uncontested occupancy for three years. King Solomon the Wise once said: "A three ply cord cannot be easily rent." Three also implies sturdiness. A table of three legs can stand independently, while one of two legs cannot.

Question is, why is this mournful period of time traditionally known as the "Three Weeks?" Certainly this period is a temporary one. The destruction of the Temple began the period of Exile we still experience today, but will soon be terminated by the Redemption, i.e. Moshiach's arrival and the building of the Third Holy Temple.

So why should this time be called by such an imposing number?

The Lubavitcher Rebbe explained that this is no coincidence.

The reason it is known as the Three Weeks is to underscore the profundity of the sadness and the magnitude of the destruction. The fact that it is called three demonstrates the seemingly endless nature of this present Exile, one that has lasted for over 1930 years! The darkness of the present era is unprecedented in Jewish History.

On the other hand, the fact that this Exile has been so long and inexorable also reflects a message of intense hope and yearning.

You see, in the Chassidic perspective, the whole purpose of descent if the resultant ascent -- "Yerida l'tzorech Aliya." Consequently, the unfathomably apparent permanence ("Three Weeks") that characterizes this current exile indicates that the resultant Geulah -- redemption -- from this exile, will be a truly permanent one... an era of eternal and lasting good for all mankind.

Interestingly, the middle Shabbos of the Three Weeks is always the day we read Parshat (Matos) Massei and complete the Book of Numbers (Chumash Bamidbar) in synagogue.

Upon concluding the final words of the Parsha and Chumash, we sing in unison the words "Chazak, Chazak V'nischazeik" ("Be strong, be strong and let us strenthen ourselves!") along with the Torah reader.

Three times Chazak -- three times strength.

Indeed, the Torah gives us the strength to see how Exile is merely a stepping stone to the Redemption, how sadness is merely a catalyst to joy, and the destruction a prelude to the wondrous rebuilding and rebirth that follows!

And this is why the Holy Temple we look forward to is the third one. For it is a truly lasting one.

The Rebbe announced on countless occasions that we are the last generation of the exile and the first of the Redemption. As such, we will certainly witness the rebuilding the Third Temple in our times. May it be in the most immediate future, Amen!

2007-06-29T00:25:00.000-04:00

Today (June 28) is the 12th of Tammuz, the day of the liberation of the Previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn from Soviet imprisonment. It is celebrated by Chassidim throughout the world as a major chassidic holiday and as a victory of light over darkness and holiness over tyranny. Here is an excerpt from the story of his imprisonment and ultimate release.

The Previous Rebbe describes the details of his imprisonment in 1927 by the Soviet authorities for his efforts to spread Judaism and Chassidism among his fellow Jews. These recollections are significant not only as a historical record, but also because they reveal the inner spiritual dynamic of his imprisonment and redemption.

From the beginning of his imprisonment, the Previous Rebbe resolved that he would not be affected by the authorities who had imprisoned him.This resolution had implications beyond his commitment not to compromise in Torah observance. The Previous Rebbe did not perceive the Soviet authorities as having any power at all. In his eyes, they were "utter nothingness and void." He refused to cooperate under interrogation and responded to them with pride and integrity. Despite the physical discomfort and the blows he suffered at their hands, he was not intimidated, nor did he allow them to break his spirit.On Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, guards entered his cell and ordered him to stand. He refused. The guards explained that they had information for him and that the prison rules required that he stand to receive it. He again refused. They threatened to beat him, and when he did not obey them, they carried out their threat.

This scenario was repeated three times. Before the last blows were administered, one of the exasperated guards told the Rebbe, "We'll teach you a lesson!" The Rebbe responded, "The question is, who will teach whom...."Realizing that their attempts to intimidate him were ineffective, the Soviet authorities invited him into an office and informed him of his sentence - three years' exile in Kostroma. (On the desk before him, the Previous Rebbe noticed his file. He saw that his sentence had actually been commuted. He had at first been condemned to execution; the second sentence suggested was twelve years' hard labor; and only the final ruling, three years of exile, was delivered.)

The date was Thursday, the first day of Rosh Chodesh Tammuz. He was informed that he would be granted several hours at home and then he would depart by train to Kostroma. He asked the prison authorities when he was scheduled to arrive in Kostroma and was told that he would arrive on Shabbos.

He refused to go. One of the officials warned that if he did not comply with their orders, he would not be granted another opportunity to leave prison. He replied that he was prepared to stay in prison for as long as necessary; he would not travel on Shabbos.

Shocked by the Rebbe's defiance, the authorities paused for consultation with leading government officials. After some hours, they agreed to detain him in prison over Shabbos and allow him to travel on Sunday, the Third of Tammuz.

To learn more about the story of the 12th of Tammuz, visit www.sichosinenglish.org/books/timeless-patterns/45.htm

Some more humor

2007-06-22T14:24:00.000-04:00

Max Greenburg was at his favorite eatery, the Second Avenue Deli, when he called over the waiter. "Yes?" asked the busy waiter. "Are you sure you're the waiter I ordered from?" asked Max. "Why do you ask?" replied the waiter. The customer responded: "Because I was expecting a much older man by now."

A Little Humor

2007-06-13T19:25:00.000-04:00

A South American scientist from Argentina has discovered after a lengthy study that people with very low intelligence level, read their e-mails with their hand on the mouse!
Don't bother taking it off now, it's too late!

Think before clicking "Send"...

2007-06-06T22:06:00.000-04:00

Sometimes your computer can teach you a lot about life.

Allow me to explain.

The saintly kabbalists taught that the underlying theme of an entire Parsha is expressed through its name.

At the literal level, this week's Parsha is called "Send" ("Sh'lach") because it's all about the spies that Moses sent.

"Send forth men for yourself to scout out the Land of Canaan,"G-d commanded Moses. The spies were instructed by Moses to bring back a report of the land. And so they did. Unfortunately, though, their report was a slanderous one. The tragic consequences of this evil report are described in the ensuing chapters of the Parsha.

Rashi comments: "Why is the section dealing with the spies juxtaposed with the section dealing with Miriam? Because she was punished (with leprosy) over matters of slander, for speaking against her brother, and these wicked people witnessed it, but did not learn their lesson.

One of the major lessons of Sh'lach, then, is the devastating results of evil speech.

How does the name "Sh'lach" convey that message? What does the word "Send" teach us about the effect of speech?

That's where my computer comes in. You see, I have this seemingly innocuous little icon in my Outlook called "Send." It appears at the top of every email message I compose. I can type and type to my heart's content in total privacy, but once I hit the "Send" key, the message is out of my control. I can no longer modify or erase it. It's out there floating in Cyberspace, getting instantaneously sent to someone's email server. The recipient will get it exactly the way it appeared when I clicked "Send."

Did you ever click "Send" prematurely, before editing your message? Or perhaps you regretted what you wrote or how you wrote it? Too late now.

I once composed a private message intended for a certain individual. Somehow, however, I erroneously addressed it to several hundred recipients, and only became aware of this oversight after having clicked "Send." Oops! My erstwhile private information was now public. Thanks to that darned little Send button.

Much like the text we send in the present age of email and instant messaging, our spoken words leave our control once we say them.
Our words may be from us, of us and by us, but once they are spoken, they are no longer ours. Indeed, once they leave our mouth, they cannot be retrieved.

A Chassidic tale vividly illustrates the far-ranging consuquence of improper speech:

A man went about the community spreading evil gossip. Later he felt remorse and asked his rabbi how he could make amends. The rabbi instructed the man to cut open a feather pillow and scatter its feathers to the winds. After the man had complied with the strange request, the rabbi instructed further: "Now, go and gather the feathers. Because you can no more make amends for the damage your words have done than you can recollect the feathers."

Speech has been compared to an arrow. Once the words are released, they cannot be recalled. The harm they do cannot be stopped, nor can the harm always be predicted, for words like arrows often go astray.

On the other hand, a kind word, a blessing or prayer, can continue to yield results of healing and love, even long after they were spoken. Just as the tongue can be the most destructive tool, when used properly, it can be the most healing tool.

Think twice before pressing Send. Think three times before opening your mouth.

Forty Years Later...

2007-05-31T18:16:00.000-04:00

Itzik, Tzion & Tziki were among the first soldiers who arrived at the Western Wall during its liberation on June 7th, 1967 (Iyar 28). In their historic photo, one can see their awe and admiration of the hallowed stones of the Wall. This was the first time Jews were able to return to the Wall after 19 years of Jordanian occupation. On the fortieth anniversary, they visited again, along with the aged photographer of the original photo, David Robinger (sp?). Together they recounted the great miracles that occured and the raw emotions of that momentous experience.

That historic occasion triggered a new era of rebirth of Jewish life, with thousands of Jews from all over the world coming to the Kotel, putting on Tefillin, etc.

Before the advent of the great Messianic Era, the Prophets predict that "a great Shofar will be sounded," and all their will be a reawakening of Jews lost in the exiles. The Rebbe, who incidentally predicted the great miracles of the Six Day War weeks prior to its onset in June of 67, declared that the sounding of the "Great Shofar" began on this day. Prior to the war, the Rebbe had initiated a worldwide Tefillin campaign, and later added numerous other Mitzva campaigns.

To find out how you can get involved with these mitzva campaigns and be part of the ongoing miracle of Jewish revival, please contact me at rabbi@chabadwestboro.org. The time of the Redemption is now... let's be part of it!

Popular Misconception: "Ten Commandments"

2007-05-27T09:27:00.000-04:00

Someone recently joked that in today's day and age of moral relativism, the name ought to be changed to "the Ten Suggestions."

Obviously, we'd laugh at such a suggestion. Take 'em or leave 'em, but for crying out loud, don't rename them! Everyone knows that there are Ten Commandments, right?

Wrong.

For the sake of accuracy, let's debunk this myth once and for all.
There's no such thing as the "Ten Commandments."

Here's why:

1) There are 613 Commandments given at Sinai, not just ten.

2) The "Ten Commandments" is a poor translation of "Aseret Hadibrot." This term should properly be translated as the "Ten Statements." (Otherwise, it would have been called "Aseret Hamitzvot")

3) If you read the so-called "Ten Commandments," you will actually find 14 or 15 commandments mentioned therein.

A much better name for these famous ten statements is the Decalogue.

So what's all the hype about the Decalogue? Simple. These were the only part of the Torah that ALL the Jewish people heard at once and directly from G-d. (The rest was transmitted to us via Moses over the period of forty years).

That's why they're called the Ten Statements or Sayings ("Dibrot" comes from "Dibbur," speech), indicating that we heard them as they were verbalized by G-d.

Our Sages taught that by articulating these statements, the Almighty was in fact giving us the entire Torah, since the Dibrot are all-embracing and incorporate all 613 commandments in a general way.
Indeed, the Decalogue contains exactly 620 letters, corresponding to all 613 mitzvot and seven Rabbinical ordinances, or conversely the seven Noahidic mitzvot for all mankind.

Stay tuned for further misconceptions...

Breaking News!

2007-05-25T09:22:00.000-04:00

Hello all.

What’s new?

Can’t think of anything new?

Come to think of it, what do we consider new, anyway?

Doesn’t it seem as though the word "new" has become somewhat of a cliché?

Let's consider this oft-used word and its modern applications. Let's see. Massachusetts might be called "New England," but fact is that's the oldest part of the country. In fact, just last month I took a class to Newport, RI. Now THAT was old. So I guess "new" is a relative term.

What ever is called new will ultimately be old. Every new fashion will be old and outdated at some point. Of course, everyone enjoys reading the morning newspaper hot off the press with a cup of coffee. But alas, “news" is not really new at all. In fact, it's old by very definition -- it reported an event that happened. And the proof is that twelve hours after it arrives, it’s garbage. Oops, I mean, it’s recycling. Either way, it’s OLD.

So what else is new? (yawn)

New York? New Jersey? How about New Coke?

Someone once explained to me that a new car is new till you drive it off the lot. At that point, it becomes used (read “old”). Same with a new born baby. First she’s a newborn. Then suddenly, she’s one day old.

Can anything be considered “new” forever? Could something be new and stay new?

Sadly, but the whole idea doesn’t really exist in our world.

Said King Solomon the Wise: “Ein kol chadash tachat hashemesh” – “There’s nothing new under the sun.” What ever is born eventually dies. That’s just the way things go in an ephemeral world.

However, the Sages have another take on Solomon’s statement. There may not be anything new “tachat hashemesh,” under the sun. But OVER the sun, beyond the heavens, there’s something new. What comes from beyond the sun?

The Torah.

The Torah was new the day it was given, 3319 years ago, and it is new today, fresh and ever-relevant. Every year on Shavuot, even every day, we are given the Torah anew.

Every morning we recite the blessing: “Blessed are you G-d, who GIVES us the Torah” – not GAVE (past tense), but “who gives us the Torah” in the here and now.

There’s nothing new in this world, says Solomon, except for the Torah. Everything that comes to be is old a moment later. The Torah, however, is given to us anew every moment. It is relevant in every circumstance and every time, just as the day it was given at Sinai.

The Torah is the life-blood of the Jewish people. That is why we are the oldest people on earth and yet the most modern, the most deeply rooted in antiquity and at the forefront of progress, at the cutting edge of new discoveries.

Because of our connection to a timeless Torah, we are a timeless people.

See you in Shul on Shavuot as we celebrate our timelessness.

We will be starting on time, though :-)
(So what else is new?)

New Blog at the perfect time!

2007-05-17T20:08:00.000-04:00

Welcome to our new blog!

Our new blog and new-and-improved website couldn't have been launched at a more appropriate time.

You see, Shavuot, the holiday we are celebrating on May 23-24, is the ultimate time of renewal. Each year on Shavuot, we receive the Torah anew!

The first Shavuot took place on Shabbat, fifty days after the Exodus from Egypt, on the sixth day of the month of Sivan, 2448 years after the creation of the world (May 9, 1312 BCE), 3319 years ago. That day, at the break of dawn, G-d spoke the Ten Declarations.* (See next post entitled "Popular Misconceptions") Similarly, each year G-d gives us the Torah anew on Shavuot. We celebrate each year by going to Shul (this year, on Wed. May 23) and listening to the reading of the Ten Declarations & the giving of the Torah, thereby reliving the events of that momentous time. In addition, the night before, we remain awake late into the night studying the Torah, awaiting it's giving the next morning as we would a most cherished treasure.

So you see, Shavuot is a time of new beginnings.

In fact, new-ness is such an important theme of Shavuot that the Torah commands us to bring a "New Grain-Offering" to G-d on that day. On Shavuot, the first wheat offering of the year's new harvest was brought as an offering in the Holy Temple. It was also the time that people began to bring the first fruits as well.

Each Biblical holiday has agricultural/seasonal significance as well as historical significance. In fact, these two significances complement each other. The arrival of new wheat -- food for the body -- corresponds to the new gift of the Torah -- nourishment for the soul.

Hope this gives you some food for thought!

So nu? Please join us in shul on Wednesday as we relive the Sinai experience anew.
And thanks again for reading our new blog.

Sincerely,
Rabbi Green