who thinks?

"5% of the people think, 10% of the people think they think, and the other 85% would rather die than think." ~ Thomas A. Edison

nightmare

The difference between one's child becoming disabled through the whims of nature verses that through the action of an ignorant doctor that a parent trusted is like the difference between a nightmare from which one wakes verses that of a nightmare from which one never wakes.

Approbation by R' Yitzchok Elchanan Spektor

It is known among the tribes of Israel what has been achieved by that righteous man, the pious gaon Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, of blessed memory, late head of the beth din of the holy congregation of Frankfurt am Main, who dedicated his strength and energy to Israel and its Torah, in order to restore the crown of the Law to its ancient glory and to lead the hearts of tens of thousands of [the people of] Israel back to our Father in Heaven. This is the man who, until his extreme old age, devoted his whole life to [the task of] winning souls for the Torah and the Testimony, to support and uphold it, with his activities--"the labors of the righteous are life-giving" [Proverbs 10:16]--as well as with his wonderful, renowned books that are irradiated by the light of the Torah and the lamp of the commandments .... 

However, the light stored up in his books was hidden from those tens of thousands in Israel who do not know the German language .... Now ... I will offer my approbation and my blessing to my friend, the worthy R. Moses Zalman Aronsohn ... for the great and splendid work which he has now undertaken, namely, to translate from the German language into our sacred tongue . . . the great and wonderful Commentary on the Torah by the gaon Rabbi Samson [Raphael] Hirsch, of blessed memory. 

This is the precious and much praised commentary which is indeed a crown of glory, "the beauty of Israel" [II Samuel 1:19]. It is a most honored work, done for the sake of heaven, a lovely, choice treasure to exalt the Holy Torah, to give strength and honor to the religious heritage of the community of Jacob. The many original interpretations introduced by this gaon and sage, who was great in knowledge and who conveyed understanding in a manner that is lucid and in conformity with reason, are invaluable. Of equally matchless value is his demonstration of the complete unity of the Written Torah and the Oral Law, which he accomplished in a truly magnificent manner. ... 

How deep are his thoughts, which reveal the wonders and the wisdom concealed in the Torah of the Lord! He removes all the alien and doubtful ideas raised by would-be scholars from generation to generation, and demonstrates that the Torah of the Lord is perfect, the word of God stands forever, and that the light of the Written Torah and the Oral Law will live for all time. 

Kovno, Monday, the third day of the month of Marheshvan, 5656 (1895) 

(signed) ISAAC ELCHANAN, residing in this holy community 

[Approbation by R' Yitzchok Elchanan Spektor, (1817-96) to the Hebrew Translation of the Hirsch Commentary on Chumash that was started by R' Moshe Aronshon of Kovno in the 19th century, from The Pentateuch, Terumath Tzvi, Judaica Press]

The Lubavitcher Rebbe on the Importance of Teaching and Inspiring Gentiles

The Lubavitcher Rebbe on the Importance of Teaching and Inspiring Gentiles

Everyone in Your Surroundings

20 Menachem Av, 5745 • August 7, 1985

http://www.chabad.org

Linked Post from Chabad.org: Why and When Did Mourners Start Saying Kaddish Together?

Why and When Did Mourners Start Saying Kaddish Together?

By Yehuda Shurpin

Most surprising in this article is the finding that two famous Yekke's actually promoted - one temporarily - multiple people saying kaddish.

One of the first to mention the custom to have all mourners recite the Kaddish is Rabbi Yaakov Emden (1697–1776), who writes in his siddur that “with regard to various laws about who takes precedence for Mourner’s Kaddish among the Ashkenazim, I will not discuss it, as it is only a custom (and how good and right is the Sephardic custom that if there are many mourners, all merit and recite the Kaddish together, avoiding strife and disagreement) . . .”2 In other words, Rabbi Yaakov Emden felt that it would be wise for Ashkenazim to follow the Sephardic custom of reciting the Kaddish together and thereby avoiding strife.

Note from reader EA:

Rabbi Hamburger discusses this R. Emden approval of this minhag in his lecture found in YUtorah.org at minute 46 onwards: https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/789579/rabbi-binyamin-hamburger/the-development-of-kaddish-yasom/

measuring Ahavas and Yiras Hashem

Today, the fifth of Kislev, is the 80th Yartzeit of Hagaon Rav Baruch Ber Leibowitz Zatztal. His son-in-law Hagaon Rav Reuven Grozovsky Zatztal, related the following:

Rav Yisroel Salanter once remarked; Why do the wicked ones hate the righteous, more than the righteous hate the wicked? He answered; we are not as righteous as they are wicked. Rav Baruch Ber explained; the wicked ones hatred is based purely on bad character traits, thus no great effort is demanded to obtain the hatred. On the other hand, the despising that the righteous have for the wicked, is based on an abundance of Ahavas Hashem, which needs to be attained. He added; I measure my Ahavas and Yiras Hashem by the degree to which I despise evil.

When Bocherim who were protesting the actions of Zionist youth were hit by them, Rav Boruch Ber said; It is Min HaShamayim, in order that Bnei Torah should understand to distance themselves from Zionism. It is comparable to one who wants to distance his son from a dog, he incites the dog to scare his son, and this teaches him to stay away. He added; You see, this is Zionism, when you take-up the battle for Kovod Shamayim, then they strike you.

the Sentry 

Jeckes Museum

Jeckes Museum

"The German-Speaking Jewry Heritage Museum was founded in 1968 by the late Israel Shiloni, and prior to being moved to the Tefen Industrial Park in 1991, the museum was situated in the Nahariya Municipality's building. In 2004, a collaboration contract was signed between the museum administration and the administration of the Association of Israelis of Central European Origin, and one year later the new museum was inaugurated."

likely pretty reform and non-religious but i really don't know
it's near mt meron

For all who are fooled by secular politicians

A father appeared at an Al Taharas HaKodesh Cheder in Yerushalayim, and requested to enroll his two boys. As the Cheder learns in Yiddish, which the children don’t speak, the Menahel asked the father why he chose this type of school. The father related the following, hard to believe story; “I am a ba’al teshuva. I was visiting my father-in-law, who is Chiloni, and he told me; ‘Now the children are yours, in fifteen years they’ll be mine.’ When I asked him to explain this queer statement, he said; ‘The entire Chareidi community is in a downward spiritual spiral. According to the plans already in place [in the schools], in just fifteen years the Chareidim will be significantly secularized. At that time, your children will revert to respecting me [and my ideals]. Only one group, the students of Rav Auerbach, are holding their-own.’ I am taking his words seriously, and I would therefore like to enroll the children in this Cheder.” It seems like the shver is following the news, and has put together all the many pieces of the puzzle. Only, truth be told, the shver is not up on the news, rather, he is one of the main characters in creating it; for his name is none other than Binyamin Netanyahu.

The Sentry

Rav Moshe Sternbuch shlita on kiruv

The Kesef Mishne (end of Ch. 6 of H. Ovos Hatumah) writes that a mikveh does not effect purification for a person still immersed in it, but only he has left it. Similarly, those who engage in outreach work must realize that they cannot make do with delivering several shiurim in the hope that they will have the desired effect. Even those who become observant can fall by the wayside after the initial period, if they do not receive emotional support subsequently. Their mentors must follow in the footsteps of Avrohom ovinu. He did not make do with making speeches and inspiring his followers, but rather became a father for many thousands of his followers, who became members of his household. It is especially incumbent on kiruv organizations to ensure that young people find appropriate marriage partners.

Based on droshos by Rav Moshe Sternbuch shlita, raavad of Yerushalayim.  To receive these weekly divrei Torah email benipray@netvision.net.il.

Quotes from writer E.B. White

"One of the most time-consuming things is to have an enemy."

"Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts."

"The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an open doorway with an open mind."

"Explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog. You understand it better but the frog dies in the process."

"There's no limit to how complicated things can get, on account of one thing always leading to another."

"Don't write about Man; write about a man."

"Life is like writing with a pen. You can cross out your past but you can't erase it."

"To achieve style, begin by affecting none."

"We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or doing laundry."

"When an American family becomes separated from its toothbrushes and combs and pajamas for a few hours it considers that it has had quite an adventure."

"Everything in life is somewhere else and you get there in a car."

"Most people believe almost anything they see in print."

"By comparison with other less hectic days, the city is uncomfortable and inconvenient; but New Yorkers temperamentally do not crave comfort and convenience- if they did they would live elsewhere."

"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world."

"When your stomach is empty and your mind is full, it’s always hard to sleep."

Pleads the cause of the salvation of all mankind

"It is evident from the concluding verse of this Psalm that Asaph does not think here only of the Jewish people, but also pleads the cause of the salvation of all mankind on earth, all of whose existence and welfare is dependent, first of all, upon the proper enforcement of justice and right."

Hirsch Siddur, p. 214, Psalm for Tuesday

R’ Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz

"R’ Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz told his students in America, “I cannot understand how it is possible for an American yeshiva student to be Jewish without ‘The Nineteen Letters’” "(Klugman, 1998)

from Return to Basics: A Call to Revitalize R’ Hirsch’s Torah im Derech Eretz

Read more

Happy and glad of heart

Selections From Hayom Yom (Chabad) - 16 Adar II

"As one of his spiritual tasks, a businessman should arouse within himself the faith and absolute trust that He Who nourishes and sustains all flesh will grant him an ample living. He should be genuinely happy and glad of heart, as if his livelihood had already been placed before him."

Minhag ashkenas/yekke kenes (gathering)

Minhag ashkenas/yekke kenes (gathering)

B'nai Brak, Thursday, 5:30 pm mincha

Where: B'nai Brak, 25 Ben Yaakov St., very near the Coke factory, first stop on bus

Mincha followed by a drasha, then Maariv, than chazanus

People from yekke communities from all over Eretz Yisroel will be in attendance. Special sefarim will be on sale. There is a section for ladies.

https://adasbeitshemesh.blogspot.com

Study Torah as a businessman

Our task in life has no greater enemy, and there is no greater cancer on our present state, than ignorance. Study Torah thoroughly—Torah, the Prophets, Ketuvim (Hagiographia), Talmud and decisors. And do not study out of a desire to be a rabbi. Study Torah as a businessman, a tradesman, an artist, a doctor, or a scientist.

Collected Writings, vol. 7, pp. 157 [Ges. Schrift., vol. 5, p. 225] in Torah Leadership for Our Times, Jewish Action

We love Zion and therefore we are non-Zionists.

...truth compels us to state unequivocally that most certainly Zionism is not at all identical with Judaism that in fact it is diametrically opposed to it. Zionism is a political philosophy which considers the divine nation of the Torah a nation like all others, albeit with certain religious traditions which you are free to accept or reject as an individual, and which may or may not become part of the law of the Jewish land, subject to a majority vote of a democratic parliament. Zionism has transformed the holy land, the holy tongue, the holy nation into secular entities, according atheists and anti-religionist Jews at best equal status with firm believers. Zionism has created a sovereign state which is governed like all other states by its own man-made laws and not by the G-d given laws of the Torah. All these are dry facts which cannot be disputed. The term “Zionism” is derived from the name Zion (ציון) which is one of the most sacred words in our authentic Jewish dictionary:

ציון משכן כבודך

Zion is the dwelling place of G-d's glory. רחם על ציון כי היא בית חיינו Zion is the house of our life – Zion is the citadel of G-d, promised us by the Creator, for which we long in our daily prayers and which has never ceased to belong to us. Zion is the Sanctuary of the Torah, the holy city which surrounds it, the holy land of which it is is and forever – the abode of the Shechina on earth, from which the word of G-d shall come forth and over which a new light will shine – the Zion of David and Shlomoh, the Zion of our Prophets and Sages and singers and mourners and lovers – all this is very opposite of Zionism. No! A thousand times no! We love Zion and therefore we are non-Zionists. (R' Shimon Schwab, 1908-1993)

R' Shimon Schwab, Selected Writings (CIS: Lakewood, NJ, 1998), pp. 147-8.

Repentance, Prayer and Charity

In the Unesaneh Tokef tefillah on Yom Kippur we read: “U’tshuva, U’tfila, U’tzedaka ma’avirin es roah hagzeira.” “Repentance, Prayer and Charity remove the unfavorable decree.” Why would these three mitzvos remove the decree more than any other mitzvah?

Rabbi Rabbi Shaya Karlinsky presents some thoughts from the Maharal to explain. Teshuvah means return. Via proper teshuvah we return to Hashem. The Maharal explains that these three activities parallel the Torah, Avodah, and Gemillas Chasadim upon which the world stands (as listed in Pirkei Avos), which in turn parallel the intellectual, emotional, and physical domains of existence.

In Nesiv HaTeshuva, Ch. 5, the Maharal writes:

A principle and a foundation of Teshuva is that a person should be embarrassed over the sin he has done, and because of his embarrassment he is received in teshuvah. (Berachot 12b): “Rav Chinina Saba says in the name of Rav: ‘Anyone who commits a sin and is embarrassed, has all his sins forgiven…’ “

This is the intellectual component of the formula, a recognition that we have not lived up to our potential. Through confession to Hashem, we connect to Him in humility.

Now that we have an intellectual recognition, we turn to prayer. We give our hearts over to Hashem in humility. In Nesiv Ha’Avodah chapter 1, the Maharal writes:

When man prays before G-d, declaring his need and dependence, he shows that he belongs to G-d (the way a slave belongs to an owner because of his dependence). This is why prayer is the essence of service, as it demonstrates man’s complete dependence on and subjugation to G-d.

Lastly, we turn to tzedukah. Through the giving of tzedukah, we give our physical selves. We show our recognition that our possessions are gifts from above to be used in divine service. In Nesiv Hatzedaka, chapter 1, the Maharal writes:

Whenever one bestows charity on others, G-d assists him by providing more money that enables him to continue bestowing charity on others. This is because one who bestows on others is compared to a flowing spring whose waters flow great distances. G-d, who is the source of all bounty bestows resources upon this person in order that he should be able to bestow and share these resources.

Tzeduka connects us to the source of bracha by making us a conduit to the giving of bracha to others.

Orwell

Gems from George Orwell:

At fifty everyone has the face he deserves.

War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it.

On the whole, human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.

Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.

All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.

Early in life I had noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper.

It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it; consequently, the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied down to any one meaning.

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.

Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness.

But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.

Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.

If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever.

Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious.

Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.

The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.

Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

Nationalism is power hunger tempered by self-deception.

Gratitude

As the Esrog is compared to the heart, Rav Avigdor Miller zt”l suggests that when a person takes the Esrog on Succos he takes a moment to thank Hashem for his actual heart. According to the Mayo Clinic, the heart beats 86,400 to 144,000 times a day. That’s around 52 million times a year or over 4 billion in the average lifetime. Ideally, we’d thank Hashem for each one of those. As Rav Miller goes on to say, our primary obligation in this world is to thank Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That’s what Avodas Hashem really means, to express constantly our gratitude.

News flash: politicians lie

"I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again and again: Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars." 

Franklin D. Roosevelt, campaigning for a third term as US President, October 30, 1940, Boston

 "I am fighting to keep our people out of foreign wars. And I will keep on fighting."

Franklin D. Roosevelt, campaigning for a third term as US President, November 1, 1940, Brooklyn, New York

"Your national government ... is equally a government of peace -- a government that intends to retain peace for the American people."

Franklin D. Roosevelt, campaigning for a third term as US President, November 2, 1940, Rochester, New York

"Your President says this country is not going to war." 

Franklin D. Roosevelt, campaigning for a third term as US President, November 2, 1940, Buffalo, New York


"The first purpose of our foreign policy is to keep our country out of war."

Franklin D. Roosevelt, campaigning for a third term as US President, November 3, 1940, Cleveland

The election was held on Nov. 5. Within 14 months, the USA entered the war. By war's end, 291,557 American soldiers had been killed and 113,842 injured.

Should I add commentary? The quotes speak for themselves. You can't trust politicians,which is a sobering thought since we elect them to lead us. If we did our homework before electing them, if we gave them our votes for doing something more than being good looking or sounding, if we held them to account for their actions then we might find ourselves led by better people. But we as a group don't do that. FDR is the classic case. He lied his way into a war. Yet, the schools teach us that he was nearly a saint. 

FDR was re-elected by a landslide in 1944.

See this article by William Henry Chamberlin in the Institute for Historical Review. He gives a list of all the belligerent actions that FDR took during the next year, not actions that a nation would take if peace were its highest priority. Here are a few of them:

1. The exchange of American destroyers for British bases in the Caribbean and in Newfoundland in September, 1940. This was a clear departure from the requirements of neutrality and was also a violation of some specific American laws. Indeed, a conference of top government lawyers at the time decided that the destroyer deal put this country into the war, legally and morally.
2. The enactment of the Lend-Lease Act in March, 1941. In complete contradiction of the wording and intent of the Neutrality Act, which remained on the statute books, this made the United States an unlimited partner in the economic war against the Axis Powers all over the world.
3. The secret American-British staff talks in Washington in January-March, 1941. Extraordinary care was taken to conceal not only the contents of these talks but the very fact that they were taking place from the knowledge of Congress. At the time when administration spokesmen were offering assurances that there were no warlike implications in the Lend-Lease Act, this staff conference used the revealing phrase, "when the United States becomes involved in war with Germany."
4. The inauguration of so-called naval patrols, the purpose of which was to report the presence of German submarines to British warships, in the Atlantic in April, 1941.
5. The dispatch of American laborers to Northern Ireland to build a naval base, obviously with the needs of an American expeditionary force in mind.
6. The occupation of Iceland by American troops in July, 1941. This was going rather far afield for a government which professed as its main concern the keeping of the United States out of foreign wars.
7. The Atlantic Conference of Roosevelt and Churchill, August 9-12, 1941. Besides committing America as a partner in a virtual declaration of war aims, this conference considered the presentation of an ultimatum to Japan and the occupation of the Cape Verde Islands, a Portuguese possession, by United States troops.
8. The orders to American warships to shoot at sight at German submarines, formally announced on September 11. The beginning of actual hostilities may be dated from this time rather than from the German declaration of war, which followed Pearl Harbor.
9. The authorization for the arming of merchant ships and the sending of these ships into war zones in November, 1941.

He cites Professor Thomas A. Bailey who claims FDR had to lie to the American people because war was necessary and the ignorant masses would never step up to it if asked directly.

However, Chamberlain argues, correctly in my view, that war for the USA was not necessary and claims that Hitler, yimach shemo, was planning to attack the Americas have never been proven. "Not a single serious bit of evidence in proof of these sensational allegations has ever been found, not even when the archives of the Nazi government were at the disposal of the victorious powers." Even Great Britain was not in danger at that time.

Should some 18 year old boy from Ohio have to die in a conflict between European nations? I say no. You can say whatever you like (you of course were not the parent of that boy). Either way, we see what liars politicians can be. 

Remember that. It applies to every country, including the state of israel. They lie to you and the state 'historians'/propagandists lie after the fact. Be a fool at your own risk. Trust only the true gadolim.



Source: From The Journal of Historical Review, Nov.-Dec. 1994 (Vol. 14, No. 6), pages 19-21. This piece is excerpted from the anthology, edited by Harry Elmer Barnes, Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace (1953), Chapter 8, pages 485-491.

About the Author


William Henry Chamberlin (1897-1969) was an American historian and journalist. He was Moscow correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor in Moscow, 1922-1934, and Far Eastern Correspondent for the Monitor, 1939-1940. He contributed important reports and articles to leading American newspapers and periodicals, and for a time wrote a regular column for The Wall Street Journal.  Among his books were Soviet Russia (1930), Russia's Iron Age (1934), The Russian Revolution , 1917-1921 (in two volumes; 1935), Japan Over Asia (1939), The European Cockpit (1947), and America's Second Crusade (1950).

Remind you of anyone?

"What many Germans in their blindness or ill will did not want to see was recognized-by the foreign world: the German army was the mightiest weapon serving the freedom of the German nation and the sustenance of its children."

"He had not served in the army, even during the War he had not been a soldier, so that feeble and uncertain as he was in his whole nature, he lacked the only schooling which was capable of turning uncertain and soft natures into men."

"The People's State will have to consider the physical training of the youth after the school period just as much a public duty as their intellectual training; and this training will have to be carried out through public institutions. Its general lines can be a preparation for subsequent service in the army. And then it will no longer be the task of the army to teach the young recruit the most elementary drill regulations. In fact the army will no longer have to deal with recruits in the present sense of the word, but it will rather have to transform into a soldier the youth whose bodily prowess has been already fully trained."

"In the People's State the army will no longer be obliged to teach boys how to walk and stand erect, but it will be the final and supreme school of patriotic education. In the army the young recruit will learn the art of bearing arms, but at the same time he will be equipped for his other duties in later life. And the supreme aim of military education must always be to achieve that which was attributed to the old army as its highest merit: namely, that through his military schooling the boy must be transformed into a man, that he must not only learn to obey but also acquire the fundamentals that will enable him one day to command."

"The young boy or girl who is of German nationality and is a subject of the German State is bound to complete the period of school education which is obligatory for every German.
Thereby he submits to the system of training which will make him conscious of his race and a member of the folk-community. Then he has to fulfil all those requirements laid down by the State in regard to physical training after he has left school; and finally he enters the army. The training in the army is of a general kind. It must be given to each individual German and will render him competent to fulfil the physical and mental requirements of military service. The rights of citizenship shall be conferred on every young man whose health and character have been certified as good, after having completed his period of military service. This act of inauguration in citizenship shall be a solemn ceremony. And the diploma conferring the rights of citizenship will be preserved by the young man as the most precious testimonial of his whole life. It entitles him to exercise all the rights of a citizen and to enjoy all the privileges attached thereto. For the State must draw a sharp line of distinction between those who, as members of the nation, are the foundation and the support of its existence and greatness, and those who are domiciled in the State simply as earners of their livelihood there."

"The strength of the old state rested on three pillars: the monarchical form of government, the civil service, and the army. The Revolution of 1918 abolished the form of government, dissolved the army and abandoned the civil service to the corruption of party politics. Thus the essential supports of what is called the Authority of the State were shattered. This authority nearly always depends on three elements, which are the essential foundations of all authority."

Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf

R' Avigdor Miller - Calling a fool a fool

If people have wrong attitudes or wrong deeds, you have to say so, why not? Let say, if people in America, let’s say Modern Orthodox Jews, who come together with agunos – agunah conventions, so you say הני אמירקאנה טפשאי, “Those foolish Americans.” They come together and praise all the agunos. Some of these agunos are self-made agunos. How did they become agunos? She gets angry at her husband, and she calls in the police. So she drives drive her husband out of the house, and the police issue an order a protection. She throws her husband out of the house. Should he be happy? Certainly he doesn’t want to give her a gett. I don’t blame him. “It’s my house.” She drove him out of his house. So "הני עגונת טפשאי", and "בבלאי טפשאי" . Certainly, you have to condemn wickedness.

There’s a certain synagogue in Manhattan, where the rabbi hired two women as interns. Do you know what interns means? They spoke, and men were listening to them. Only bad things resulted from that. Later, after a couple of years, he stopped it, but it was too late already. It’s a terrible thing. A tipesh! A fool! That’s how you can describe that rabbi. What else should I say about him? He’s a shoiteh! Worse than a shoiteh! So we have to say clearly, the reformers are worse than shoitim. Some rabbis are even worse than shoitim. The ones who propose gay marriage - it’s hard to find adjectives even to describe that. We should say something about it. Absolutely!

Rabbi Avigdor Miller TAPE # E-234
transcription by TorasAvigdor.org

Pre-slichos kumztitz

Last night I sat in a pre-slichos kumztitz. There was a guitar and that usually means trouble. Whenever I see a guitar I know that the Zionism is close at hand. And sure enough, the rabbi went into a whole speech about the importance of living in Eretz Yisroel. He told us how he dreamed of this at a young age. He talked about having to give up materialism to do it. He seemed to think that everyone in America has a walk-in refrigerator. I don't know, maybe he lived like a king there. I didn't. The tuition payments alone soak up the income of most people I know. 

There are many idealistic people living chutz 'aretz. I know all kinds of kollel men in tiny apartments. I know Chassidic families in small homes struggling to feed their children. But this rabbi's remarks about people living chutz l'aretz were disparaging. To a rabid Zionist, these people are to be condemned because, you guessed it, they aren't living in the land. That's the most important mitzvah in the world to many Zionists. 

This is a black hat, black yarmulka rabbi. He would not call himself dati leumi. But he is dati leumi. He didn't talk about acquiring yiras shemayim before coming into Eretz Yisroel. He didn't talk about being punctilious b'mitzvos before coming into Eretz Yisroel. You have to be ready, be suitable, be on the level to come to EY.

Question: must one have a special spiritual preparation to go to Eretz Yisroel? And the an-swer is absolutely. (Yeremiah) HaNavi said,  וַתָּבֹ֙אוּ֙ וַתְּטַמְּא֣וּ אֶת־אַרְצִ֔י “You came and you defiled my land.” (Jeremiah 2:9) And therefore, it is of the most utmost importance that someone should be ready to behave, should learn how to conduct himself perfectly al pi HaTorah before he goes to Eretz Yisrael. And if he is good here, he must make a resolve to be even better there. There are no two ways about that. Well, it’s Eretz HaKodesh and it’s only for Jews who live b’kiddusah. Now if you’ll ask what about Arabs? And the answer is first of all Arabs don’t ask us any questions. And the second is an Arab we consider him just like birds. The birds that fly into Eretz Yisroel don’t have to have any kiddushah. An Arab or the gentile don’t have any tuma. They are like nothing to us. It’s like grass that grows there. But Am Yisroel they are pogem. When they do a sin, they cause great harm in the world. And therefore it’s of the utmost importance that a Jew before he goes to Eretz Yisroel, must make up his mind to be there b’kiddushah. Even just to visit. Nobody should go unless he’ll go b’kiddushah. If he takes along his wife, he must make sure that she is dressed completely properly because this is a land that vomits out the people who live there if they don’t suit her taste.  The land has to have something made to its taste. It’s אֶ֣רֶץ אֹכֶ֤לֶת יֽוֹשְׁבֶ֨יהָ֙ (Bemidbar 13:32) … Eretz Yisroel is finicky. It’s delicate. And only those people who behave properly can please the land.

Rabbi Avigdor Miller, “The Prophet Shmuel,” Tape #200 — 1:20 

Here is the order of life: first Torah, then Eretz Yisroel. If going into slichos, the rabbi talks only about the latter, then there is a problem. Don't we have teshuva to do? Isn't that the point of slichos? Maybe you want to say something about lashon hara, shmiras einayim, tznius, theft, selfishness, bitul Torah, or a 1,000 other sins. No, he talks only about living in the land. And weirdly, he did it to people who live there. It was like he was playing a tape from years ago, a speech he gave in some American city. Would have been better to say, now that you live here, be careful in mitzvos. Remember mitzvos? Does anybody remember mitzvos?

Here is how a proper rabbi talks:

It was not the land that Moses had been commanded to proclaim to his people at the outset of his mission as מורשה, as the inheritance they were to preserve (Ex. 6,8). The Law, to be translated into full reality upon that soil, was to be the true מורשה, the one true, everlasting inheritance, the one true center around which the nation and its leaders were to gather as one united community. Herein lay the goal and the destiny, the character and the significance of the people.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch "The Kehillah," Collected Writings, Vol. VI, p. 62

Who isn't a Jew?

"whosoever is not merciful to his fellow-men is certainly not of the children of our father Abraham" (Babylonian Talmud, Beitzah 32b)

מי שאינו מרחם על הבריות בידוע שאינו מזרעו של אברהם - ביצה ל״ב ב

Genuine Chassiduth

"Doubtless, the so-called German Jewishness with its "Torah im Derech Eretz" demand can stand up proudly before genuine Chassidism: to live up to the "Torah im Derech Eretz" precept in its true meaning is to follow the path upon which Chaassiduth greets us as the crowning glory of life. Thus, Rav Hirsch, and with him the great Torah leaders in Germany, were exemplary Chassidim sent to us by Divine Providence." R. Joseph Breuer

Wisdom from the gentiles: Queen Elizabeth II

Let us not take ourselves too seriously. None of us has a monopoly on wisdom.

Good memories are our second chance at happiness.

Work is the rent you pay for the room you occupy on earth.

There are long periods when life seems a small, dull round, a petty business with no point, and then suddenly we are caught up in some great event which gives us a glimpse of the solid and durable foundations of our existence.

It's all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you're properly trained.

[To the suggestion that Great Britain might someday want a Republic:] We'll go quietly.

I have no idea if these are really her words or those of writers (some goes for any leader or rich person), but being spoken by her  they are most pithy. 

Choir

The men's choir at Kehillas Adas Jeshurun in the German Jewish community in Washington Heights, New York City is legendary, a unique feature of the kehilla. 

Choirs even to this day are very popular in Germany. There are more than 60,000 of them. Recently, the mother of a 9- year old girl whose application to join the 500 year old all boys State and Cathedral Choir in Germany was declined tried to sue the choir for discrimination. Thankfully, a judge decided against the suit, saying the choir was not exercising discrimination in choosing a sound that required boys' voices. There are still a few judges left in the world who exercise common sense from time to time.

In my view, the KAJ choir adds a terrific dimension to the davening. It's worth experiencing for those who can get to Washington Heights for Shabbos. I believe that one of the yekke shuls in Zurich has a choir too. In Eretz Yisroel one can hear yekke choral singing at one of the kenesios organized by Rav Hamburger's shul in Bene Brak on each Chol Moed. 

It's not just about us

"My soul is my Master's. Taking into account all my iniquities, He has still chosen me for the eternal service of His work to train all of mankind, and He has taken me as His own for this purpose." Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch, Tehillim, 130:5-6


Gentiles matter and part of our purpose in this world is to help them find a higher path. If all one does is hold contempt for them, then he is falling short in his mission. If we Jews become a group that cares only about itself, then we have fallen short in our mission. A Jew is never to be selfish and rabid ethnocentricity is a form of collective selfishness. 

Preteens suspected of setting 70 fires around Beit Shemesh

Preteens suspected of setting 70 fires around Beit Shemesh

"Group of 12-year-olds, allegedly motivated by boredom and competition, caused damage to nature areas and forced evacuations of buildings."

I heard people proposing that Arabs were doing this which is not unreasonable in that Arabs in Gaza were triggering fires all over the South. But no, we find out that like the 100s of 'anti-semitic' threats that were made across America a few years ago, the culprits were Israelis (a dual citizen in that case). 

Chutzpah, chutzpah, chutzpah. Sadly, the chutzpah in Israeli society is like none other on the planet. And violence. Not very Jewish behavior. And these aren't even teenagers. They are PRE-TEENS! Little kids! They aren't playing with matches in the parking lot. They are setting massive fires that require the dropping of flame extinguishers from airplanes. 

What is the source of this chutzpah? Is it that Zionism from the outset was a rebellion against God? 

The teens, being Jewish,  are under house arrest. And if they were Arab? 

If one desires to change back

“Behold it is known that all the people of Poland, Hungary, and Russia…are children of Ashkenaz even Chasidim. And until Chasidus spread they all prayed with nusach Ashkenaz. However, the Chasidic leaders lead them to pray in a different nusach with various changes…They changed the customs of their ancestors and our great rabbis of Germany and France. The reason for the change is not clear nor how they permitted a change from the established nusach….If one desires to change back and pray in nusach Ashkenaz, since it is the nusach of our ancestors and rabbis, he is permitted as he is returning to what once was." Rav Moshe Feinstein, Igros Moshe Orach Chaim 4:24

The glorious frum community of Germany

"HaKodesh Baruch saw we had passed the test of oppression. Despite all the tzaras, despite all the hatred, all the oppression, we remained loyal. There were a few Jews, meshumadim who sold their souls in order to get glory among the gentiles. There were a few. There were so few that they are insignificant. But Klal Yisroel passed the test. Now Hakodesh Baruch Hu said, I see you passed that test [of persecution in Medieval times]. I'm going to try you with another test now. [The test of emancipation in modern times.] Let's see how you work out this test. Now, when I said it was a calamity, it doesn't mean that the test was a waste, no. It was a minority that passed this test too. And those that remained loyal, they were a glorious example of the Am HaKodesh. Those that remain to this day. Many went lost, yes it's true. But an example, in Germany where there was so much assimilation, a number of German Jews decided they are going to fight for the preservation of the Torah. And they built up an Orthodox kehilla that was excellent in every detail. They were machmir in everything. In some respects, they were more frum than the Jews in Russia and Poland were. And they had organized kashrus. Strict hashgacha. Not rabbanim who gave heksherim and were paid for it. No. The kehillias gave hashgacha and were very strict in every detail. And so the minority that withstood the test were a glorious fulfillment of the prophecy that the Am Yisroel will continue forever despite any circumstances." 

Rav Avigdor Miller, Recording #855 - "The Kiss of Esav," 11:48

Definitely not a theocracy

As many chilonim in their hysteria continue to rant that Israel is heading toward a theocracy, the Nazareth District Court last Sunday barred the municipality of Afula from holding a gender-segregated musical performance at a public park. The city holds something like 360 events a year. And the Orthodox Jewish community wanted to hold just one event and to set it up so men and women would be separate - you know, according to the halacha. But the court overruled them on the grounds that such was a violation of principles of equality. Some theocracy.

We see that left-wing talk about respect for all cultures only applies to liberal/decadent culture. We see that the charedim in Israel are not a powerful group and need the support of Jews worldwide. 

"Though liberals do a great deal of talking about hearing other points of view, it sometimes shocks them to learn that there are other points of view." William F. Buckley, Jr.

Trouble from the reformers

I found this fascinating tidbit on Chabad.org. A contemporary example of the hostility to Torah of the Jewish reformers and the tolerance of the gentile host society.

"In the city of Outremont in the Canadian Province of Quebec, a number of Orthodox Jews asked their city council for permission to build an eruv. The city council lead by its Jewish mayor refused even though about one quarter of the city's population was Jewish. A non-Jewish judge overruled the city, noting that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees that religion can be practiced openly. Cases have also arisen in the United States and other countries."

As we know, Rav Hirsch spent his entire adult life in battle with such people, trading in much of the time he could have spent on Torah study just to deal with them and the obstructions they made for Torah observant people. 

Dvir Sorek z'l

Baruch Dayin Emes. The body of Dvir Sorek, may his blood be avenged, a hesder yeshiva student from the Ofra settlement, was found today along the side of a road near Bethlehem. It appears that he was abducted and stabbed to death. Reportedly, he had gone to Jerusalem to buy books for his rebbe. He was found clutching those books. He was not in a uniform at the time of his death.



I know many people who act as though Area C is a safe place to be. (Area C is the Jewish part of the West Bank where the Gush, Beitar, and Modi'in Illit as well as all Jewish settlements are found.)  I know all kinds of people that wander around there at night, even women who do so. They act as if geulah has arrived, the result of religious Zionist propaganda no doubt. I know British and French people who moved to Israel for the reason that London and Paris have too many Arabs. Talk about illogical. No Arabs in the Middle East? More than half the population of Eretz Yisroel is Arab. And some of them are angry and very dangerous. Be careful out there.

May this young man rest in peace.

Minhag Ashkenaz/Yekke Minyan this Friday night in Beit Shemesh Ramat Aleph

Shabbos Chazon, parshas Devarim, 8 Av, Aug. 9, Friday night, Mincha 7:15 PM.

Write for address.

ennoblement of man

"The more the Jew is a Jew, the more universalist will his views and aspirations be, the less aloof will he be from anything that is noble and good, true and upright, in art or science, in culture or education; the more joyfully will he applaud whenever he sees truth and justice and peace and the ennoblement of man prevail and become dominant in human society." 

"Religion Allied to Progress", Collected Writings, Rav Samson R. Hirsch

Reform Judaism and feminism achieved a union of perfect moral bankruptcy

Since Rav Hirsch opposed reform Judaism and feminism, I post the following. Note, even as he advocated for traditional roles for men and women, his writings inspired Sarah Schneirer to start the Beis Yaakov movement. She employed Rav Hirsch's writings - with rabbinical help - as her guide. The entire Beis Yaakov movement has been credit by such gadolim as R' Aaron Kotler zt'l  and  Rav Yaakov Kamenestky zt'l as saving all of klal Yisroel. What inspired Sarah Schneirer were Rav Hirsch's depictions of the nobility and accomplishments of the Imahos. He very much believed in the potential for greatness in every woman and believed as well that this greatness is achieved only through the traditional role as described by the Torah and Chazal. And in his genius, he laid the groundwork for an educational program for women all the while keeping in line with traditional Torah sensibilities. So he opposed what we know today as radical feminism but was very much a supporter of women. 

On this day in 2019, Reform Judaism and feminism achieved a union of perfect moral bankruptcy. The Israeli web news site, The Times of Israel published an article that sang the praises of one Dr. Sara Imershein of Falls Church, Virginia. Dr. Imershein is a physician who has made it her life's work to perform abortions. She said

"abortion empowers women to have the families women want" 

You heard that right. Not to save the life of the mother but to go shopping, to give women "what they want." Buy this dress, throw that one in the garbage. Cut the other one up to make it shorter. It's all about making the woman so, so happy. Empowerment of women is the idol of the day. Empower them in every way possible. As abortions are also performed on female babies, this empowerment only applies to females over a certain age. The others are served up as child sacrifices on the idol of feminism.

Here is another gem from her, “I always said as a physician, when I grow up and retire, I’m going to do abortions because it was a way to use my techniques to alleviate suffering.” 

She rips living, heart-beating, blood-circulating, grasping, kicking, nervous system owning fetuses to pieces and claims that this alleviates suffering. 

These could be the most twisted, narcissistic, and selfish comments that I have ever heard a human being utter. She is intelligent enough to get through medical school and as stupid as only a person with higher intelligence can be. Simpler minds cannot invent such demonic logic and present it as idealistic. 

Imershein, a Jewish woman, bases her rationalizations on a misreading of the Talmud. She says, “Somewhere along the line, I learned the Talmud and Genesis back up the Jewish philosophy, that it is not when someone is conceived, but it’s a matter of when someone becomes human, and that’s clearly defined by the Talmud when the head is born, or the greater part, the nefesh becomes ensouled.”  In other words, she is perfectly comfortable killing a fetus in the last day of his or her 9th month during birth as long as the majority of the head has not emerged. In other words, she is comfortable killing a baby. 

She bases this on a total misreading of the Talmud which defines the parameters for abortion when necessary to save the life of the mother.  Otherwise, it is prohibited according to nearly all poskim. A handful of contemporary poskim permit abortion in the early weeks of the pregnancy in the case of extreme birth defects such as Tay-Sachs due to the inevitable suffering of the baby. Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach only permitted with the first 6 weeks for a fetus diagnosed with Tay-Sachs (Nishmat Avraham CM 425) and prohibited even testing for it after the first trimester. 

According to the great majority of authorities such as Tosafos (Sanhedrin 59a; Chullin 33a), Maharam Schick (YD 155), and more recently the world renowned gadol Rav Chaim Ozer Grodensky zt'l (1863-1940) abortion is a Biblical injunction as described explicitly by Tosafos (12th-14th centuries) as being encompassed under the Noachide laws (ie. laws for gentiles). 

Rebbe Ishmael (Sanhedrin 57b) derives the Noachidic prohibition from the wording of Genesis 9: 6. 

שֹׁפֵךְ֙ דַּ֣ם הָֽאָדָ֔ם בָּֽאָדָ֖ם דָּמ֣וֹ יִשָּׁפֵ֑ךְ כִּ֚י בְּצֶ֣לֶם אֱלֹהִ֔ים עָשָׂ֖ה אֶת־הָֽאָדָֽם:"Whoever sheds the blood of man through man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God He made man."

He translates this verse as "Whoso sheddeth the blood of man within man shall his blood be shed." R. Ishmael says, "Who
is a man within a man? . . . A fetus within the womb of the
mother." As Tosafos explain (Sanhedrin 59a), Jews are not permitted what is prohibited for gentiles. R' Ishmael's view is the normative halacha.

Any references in Torah literature to a fetus not being human until born mean not on the same level of human. The difference is very subtle. The Talmud often identifies nuances that it uses sometimes for halacha and sometimes for haskafa. People who are unfamiliar with Talmudic methodology can misunderstand and misuse. For example, there are different levels in the kiddushah of Eretz Yisroel depending on the time and place. Jerusalem has more holiness than the Galil. Does that mean the Galil isn't holy? Of course not. Kohanim are said to have more kiddushah that Yisraelim. Does that mean that Yisroelim are not holy? Of course not. According to Tosafos, the fetus is human enough that destroying it is prohibited if not done to save the life of the mother.  One has to know how to read the Talmud and understand its nuances. While allowing for abortion of a fetus to save the life of the mother, we are enjoined to violate Shabbos to save a fetus that is not presenting such a danger (the usual case). (Erchin 7a-b)

We recall the Talmudic statement "Anyone who teaches his daughter Torah teaches her tiflus" (Sotah 21b) According to Rashi, the word tiflus means lewdness or promiscuity, meaning such study leads a woman to sin. Bingo. 

A rabbi once explained to me that there are two problems with women studying the Talmud particularly if done with the intent of deciding halacha. The first is that they don't study in thoroughly. This applies to any person but it's a bigger issue with women who generally aren't so inclined to study it thoroughly and whose role doesn't afford them the time. The second is that their logic gets twisted by their emotions. This can happen to any person but is a bigger issue by women generally, even though many men today are excessively emotional. 

The great Talmudist and posek HaDor HaGaon HaRav Moshe Feinstein zt'l, ruled that abortion except to save the life of the mother is prohibited even to prevent birth of a baby with birth defects. (Iggros Moshe- Choshen Mishpat- 2:69) Furthermore, he ruled that even amniocentesis is forbidden if it is performed only to evaluate for birth defects for which the parents might request an abortion. Reb Moshe viewed abortion as murder. Myriad poskim share his view. Other contemporary giants include Rav Meir Simchah of Dvinsk and Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinksy (Teshuvot Achi'ezer, Wilno, 5699, III, 65, sec. 14.) According to R. Meir Simchah of Dvinsk (1843–1926), abortion is punishable by death at the hands of heaven. (Meshekh Chokhmah, Exodus 35:2)

Rav Chaim Ozer Grodensky

Rav Moshe Feinstein

Rav Eliyahu Mizrachi (1455 - 1525) as explained by R'  J. David Bleich says:

Most interesting is the sharply contested view advanced by R. Elijah Mizrachi in his commentary on Exodus 21: 12 that in principle feticide and murder are indistinguishable. The Biblical ban on murder extends equally to all human life, including, he claims, any fetal life which, unmolested, would develop into a viable human being. In theory, continues Mizrachi, feticide should be punishable by death since the majority of all fetuses will indeed develop into viable human beings. In practice it is technically impossible to impose the death penalty because punishment may be inflicted by the Bet Din only if the crime is preceded by a formal admonition. Since some fetuses will never develop fully, a definite admonition cannot be administered because it cannot be established with certainty that any particular fetus would develop in this manner. Noahides, on the other hand, require no such admonition. Therefore, since the major number of fetuses are viable feticide is to be punished by death under the Noachidic dispensation. (R'  J. David Bleich, "Abortion in Halachkic Literature, Tradition)

According to the world renown posek Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (1910-1995) the violation is committed not only by the physician but by the woman who hires the physician and makes herself available for the abortion. (Nishmat Avraham O.H. 656:1 at p. 92.) The woman also violates the Torah prohibition of "putting a stumbling block before the blind."

As Rabbi Bleich tells us, some authorities (a small minority according to Rabbi Yitzchok Breitowitz), consider abortion a rabbinic prohibition, but still very much prohibited. This doesn't mean that the Torah doesn't mind it but that for technical reasons it left it for the Sages to prohibit. Says R' Bleich, "Each of the diverse authorities heretofore cited considers the essence of the prohibition to be closely akin to that of homicide." A few consider it subsumed under other prohibitions such as wasting seed. a severe prohibition that is deemed by the Zohar to be one of the most severe sins.  

Shlomo Brody, the online editor for the Tradition journal blog wrote in the Jerusalem Post: "Judaism abhors the termination of any life, including that of a fetus. Procreation represents a definitive commandment and the notion that an abortion is simply a woman’s prerogative, advocated in some 'pro-choice' circles, is entirely absent from traditional Jewish sources."

Meanwhile, calling herself "religious" and "a woman of faith," Dr. Imershein studied - if you can call it that - with equally ignorant and lost people in the Reform Jewish movement.

Question: What drives a mind to such foolishness? Answer: Chutzpah. 

The Talmud says (Beitzah 25b) the Jews are "the most brazen of nations."

How can this be? Doesn't the Gemara say in Yevamos 79a that David HaMelech prohibited the Nesinim from marrying into the Jewish people because they failed to display the three signs characteristic of the Jewish people:  mercy, bashfulness (bushah), and kindliness?

The Maharal (Nesiv ha'Bushah 1) explains that the attribute of kindliness comes from Avraham, mercy from Yaakov, and bashfulness from Yitzchok who specialized in the attribute of yirah (fear and awe) from which bashfulness comes.

However, there are two types of Bushah. One type comes from a lack of motivation and assertiveness. This type results in the person who is easily discouraged from taking initiative.

The other type stems from a recognition that something is greater than you. This type results in submission to it.

The brazenness of the Jewish people corresponds to the first type of Bushah which they lack. The Jewish people have a great degree of initiative and assertiveness.

The Jewish people (meaning the truly religious ones) excel in the second type of bushah. They recognize the greatness of Hashem (G-d) and their own insignificance before Hashem. And so they submit to him. Dovid rejected the Nisinim because they lacked this bushah.  (Source: Insights into the Daily Daf, Kollel Iyun Hadaf of Yerushalayim)

In other words, chutzpah needs to be challenged properly. It cannot operate unbridled, unyoked. It needs to be paired with humility before Hashem and His Torah as taught by His great scholars. This crazy woman is the poster child of this Gemara. She possesses little of the proper bushah and is busting with the kind that needs to be kept in check by the proper kind. Her natural idealism, compassion, intelligence, and boldness have all been twisted into any ugly mess. Her kindness is cruelty. The yetzer hara has completed tricked her and now rules her life. All her strengths have become weaknesses.

Go ahead and read the entire article and ruin your day as I have just ruined mine. This is all the end destination of the haskalah, that is the so-called "enlightenment" and the departure from Torah life. It started off making a few changes to tradition and continues to the point where we don't even know what we are looking at. As upset as I am by the thought of this woman shredding babies to pieces, I am upset by how a Jewish woman can reach such a level of perversity. The haskalah, the reform movement, and feminism are all acts of rebellion against the Almighty, the Creator of life and justice. Every year, the rebels get more selfish and more twisted. In this crazy woman, it goes further than I ever though it could go. But the Times of Israel, a Zionistic Israeli news source, writes about her like she is some kind of heroic saint, so she is not an isolated nutcase. She is representative of an entire swath of the Jewish people today. The State of Israel in particular has the most liberal abortion laws in the world. Their heads are drunk with a potion of wild self-indulgence catalyzed with a sprinkling of misplaced idealism. Up is down, down is up, left is right, right is left, and wrong is right.

We mourn for the babies and we mourn for the souls of the lost and wicked people who kill them. May Hashem lead this woman to repentance. 

Incredible 4D video shows a baby DANCING, scratching its eyes, yawning and even waving in the womb

Side note, on the other extreme are the abortion laws in El Salvador which ban abortion under any conditions even to save the life of the mother. In a recent case, a woman who became pregnant via rape was sentenced to 30 years in prison when her pregnancy ended. She claims it ended by itself. Prosecutors claimed she performed an abortion on herself. The high court exonerated her after she served 33 months in prison. This case is as shocking as the one we just talked about, but in a different way. Like in the USA and especially the State of Israel, the abortion laws in El Salvador contradict those of the Torah.