Jew Haters - Their Ulterior Motive

Rashi teaches us (Bamidbar 10, 35) what Jew haters have churning in their souls. Those who hate Jews really engender a hate towards G-d.

Who, for example, rate among virulent Jew haters?

"Religious" Muslims.

Can Rashi be right? Could it be these Muslims, who commonly shout out "G-d is the strongest" before they do their killings or cause pain, actually hate the very G-d they invoke?

More likely they're rebelling against the G-d they deeply despise. Notice how they never speak lovingly about G-d. And when they die for their perverted cause, they have lust on their mind. Do they do their wickedness to be closer to G-d? These creatures are driven by emotion, not brains.

If not for Rashi, we might not have attributed hatred of G-d to "religious" perpetrators of evil. After all, they claim to be doing G-d's will. Rashi shows us - they live the lie.

There are 3 sorts of Jew hater.

1) Those who publicly gather for their anti-Jewish cause;

2) Those who follow the former in their fight but will turn heal and flee as soon as they feel threatened; And

3) Those who non-demonstratively or secretly bear their hatred.

See also previous posts: "The Psychology of Islam", and

"'Pereh' - the Probable Source of 'Prey'"

P.S. In a previous post I wondered how a person such as George Soros, a Jewish holocaust survivor, could support, nay promote, anti-Jewish causes. There too I relied on Rashi for an explanation. But this Rashi may provide the better clue. It may well be what Mr. Soros experienced during the holocaust brought him to hate G-d, and as a result, as Rashi here asserts, it automatically transfers to a hate of the Jewish people.

P.P.S. Here is a great short video of anger among Jew haters the world over and the Jewish existential phenomenon.

Seeing Sound

The Torah tells us of a peculiar revelation during the episode of the Ten Commandments. We're told the Jews "saw the sounds".
Rashi tells us, "They saw what normally was heard"

(Shmos, 20, 15).

Truth is normally heard. Truth is usually discovered during talking or study, and enters cognizance via the ears. Torah, for example, the ultimate source of truth, is learned and discussed, and the truth experienced therefrom first enters through the ears. [Even if in today's modern times books abound and can teach us truth, Torah truth still usually is learned and discussed in company of teachers or friends.]

During the historic event at Mount Sinai, G-d performed many miracles, such as healing all illnesses, providing "fireworks", sounding the shofar, invoking divine speech, etc. One other phenomenon Jews got the privilege of experiencing is - seeing the truth behind physicality. That is, they could visualize that everything in the world existed only because a divine source of energy gave all matter the cause for its existence. Physicality, they saw, only manifests as a result of the divine life-force that sustains it; Otherwise, without this spiritual generator, physicality would disappear from existence.

The truth of this concept, before and after the Mount Sinai event, could only be understandable through hearing it. But while Jews stood at Mount Sinai, they were actually given to see this truth.

[Adapted from The Rebbe's talks in 1985.]

A Contrast in Census-Taking

The census every several years, as is conducted in the U.S. for example, employs common folk or unemployed people who go door to door to count the country's population.

In sharp contrast, census of the Jews that took place in the desert, as in the year 2449 (2321 BCE), involved the most esteemed leaders of the nation. G-d commanded Moses, the most important person among the Jews, to count them, to be accompanied by Aaron, Moses's brother, the high priest and 2nd most important personage, together with the leaders of each of the 12 tribes.

These 14 highest-ranking figures visited every tent in the Israelite camp. They wore their Sabbath clothes and confronted each household with pleasant and cheerful countenances.

Counting, in itself, is a secular chore. However, counting Jews, each of whom harbors an actual spark of G-d, transforms such a chore into a holy activity. No less than the most important people of the generation were required to set aside their other committments in order to fullfil this holy task. Thus were counted the cherished people of G-d.

Shavuot - Why Youngsters Were Not Counted

The counting of Jews in the desert signifies their cherished status to G-d (Bamidbar, 1, 1 - Rashi). No matter their differences, each Jew counted as an individual. Why then did the counting exclude those under the age of 20 (Bamidbar 1, 3)? Were they any less cherished?

The commandment to teach kids Torah applies to all fathers, until the children reach the age of 20. Children and teenagers are urged to learn Torah, Mishna and Gemora (Pirkei Avot 5, 32). One of the reasons for this paternal obligation rests on the fact that prior to their receipt of the Torah, the Jewish people had to provide G-d with guarantors that Torah will be observed and studied - otherwise this gift would be withheld. And the only guarantors G-d accepted were the Jewish children.

It turns out, therefore, these youngsters are the very reason Jews have Torah in the first place. Their cherished status goes without saying - and goes without counting, simply because they serve as the very foundation upon which all others enjoy and live with Torah.

An appropriate analogy is - preparing for something important. It goes without saying we'd have to be alive to do that. We do not even conceive as needing confirmation of this fact. Similarly, the very fact we have Torah in the first place indicates the special role Jewish children have in guaranteeing its existence.

Shavuot is the festival that commemorates the day we Jews received our holy Torah. Happy Shavuot dear friends!

Can a PRINTER or COPIER Be a Risk?

Copy Machines, a Security Risk?
Yes, big time ! Watch this if you doubt it!
Perhaps printers with copy capabilities are a different breed than copiers per se, but more than likely higher grade printers fall into the same hard-disk category. Whatever, think twice before get rid of your printer or copier.

Laible Ben Moshe - Sings "Am HaOretz" & "Havdalah"

U.S. General Vallely - Alerts Israel to Summer War

Paul Vallely, a distinguished career general, alerts us to the full-blown preparations made by Iran, Syria and their regional terrorist factions to wage a brutal apocalypse on Israel this summer. He discusses the various Arab strategies in place and their sophistication. [LINK to PJTV video]

What Arabs (and others) have yet to realize is, that what purports to be a natural world really runs under supernatural auspices. What we pray several times every day, therefore, bears repetition here:
"Do not fear sudden terror, nor the pending holocaust by the wicked." (Zecharia 4, 9)
"Let them contrive a scheme or conspire a plot; It shall be to no avail because G-d is with us." (Mishlei 3, 12)

UPDATE (May 18, 2010): Read what Monkey in the Middle has to say regarding the new political winds quickly sweeping across the Middle East and its "obominable" American reinforcement: HERE.

The Stubborn Myth of Scientific "Explanations"

Science can only be used to describe events, pursue hypotheses, and to create useful technology and tools. But as an ultimate explanation - it fails miserably.

Back in 1911, the British physicist Rutherford proposed the structure of matter's most basic and indivisible "atom" - the very building block of all material. Based on his experiments, he theorized it comprised a nucleus, where most of its mass is concentrated, and electrons that orbit it.

It did not take even two years before this pleasing model underwent drastic change. Rutherford's elegant simplicity lost its validity to the more complex model proposed by Danish physicist Niels Bohr, which now included new theories of particle dynamics.

The nucleus, once believed to be solid, now was thought to contain an aggregate of components in tight formation. Other components of the atom also began to multiply and were identified as "quarks". These too were found to be "not so basic" as further discoveries of elements followed.

Today the new physics is even more radically transformed. The smallest element proposed is next to nil for its small size. What's more, the new theory is outside the realm of rational imagination (eg, see here). The smallest "atomic particle" today is a "reverberating string"; And its movement occurs in "10 dimensional space"! (Six of which are "hidden".) This new physics is called "String Theory".

That is to say, within the last 100 years our "understanding" of matter has gone from one level of abstraction to another, to the point where physics has metamorphosed into what resembles a mathematical spirituality. Previous understandings, in their turn, became misunderstandings.

The laughable aspect of all this is that common folk, who lag far behind in their scientific updates, still accept scientific "explanations" with an exaggerated dose of credibilty. For example, most lay people, or people in other professions, still swear by "evolutionary science" - when in fact no proof exists for it - whatsoever.

But this is a hard myth to crack - this widespread, stubborn belief that physical science can "explain" things. It may make good copy for the New York Times' "Science Section", where the writer can cite the best supports for his ludicrous claims (not just as "theories"), like the world began a "big bang" (material that miraculously expanded to billions of light years in length in a split second), or that the extrapolation of carbon-dating "proves" the world is billions of years old. Why physicists never ask the question that begs to be asked, "But where did that first matter come from?", of course, is never broached.

So, if you want to go from Point A to Point B, don't rely on science to get you there. Theoretically it's impossible because you can only reach a midpoint to your goal. No matter how close you get, there's always another midpoint you can reach before you get to your destination.

Chassidus explains that the finite world indeed does contain the tiniest finite element of matter. Moreover, were physics to succeed in splitting this element, its matter will transform into a spiritual state - whence it was derived.

To repeat then, science cannot explain underlying phenomena. For there always is a layer of infrastructure it cannot reach or fathom. The best it can do is describe what takes place, pursue hypotheses, and create useful technology.

The Active Ingredient in Chassidus

Every Jew constitutes "adequate soil" for absorbing Torah. No matter how old he or she is, no matter how many times it has been learned, Torah is unique in that it sheds new light each time it's studied. After all, Torah is an infinite fountainhead.

A seed, when planted in adequate soil, first undergoes a deterioration, a rotting, before it recovers and blossoms into a plant or tree. This is a powerful metaphor for a person who seeks to gain new spiritual heights. Before he can reach his lofty goal, he first must resolve to set aside his ego, as it were, so that it cannot interfere, in order to fully concentrate and absorb the new material. As long as he retains resistance to the ensuing climb, he'll not make it. In Chassidic terminology, it is "a descent for the sake of an ascent".

Another metaphor: No matter how clean the water that you pour into your cup, if you failed to remove the dirt left in the cup, the clean water also becomes dirty. Similarly, if you approach your new field of study with prejudices, you'll not only not advance, but you'll misconstrue what's being taught.

Yet another metaphor is the feat of the high-jump. In order for the athlete to perfect his trajectory over the bar, he first must take a few steps backwards before he thrusts himself forward and upwards. Only thereby will he ultimately succeed.

The single main difference between the Chassidic and other forms of Judaism manifests in the characteristic of humility, particularly by self-negation of one's own desires in deference to those of the righteous leader of his generation. It is not enough to know that every generation has its "Moses of the generation"; He must also acquiesce to the desires of that sage.