Two Israeli Tanks Helping Each Other

Thanks to "Life in Israel" blogspot

Heading South - to Help Our Soldiers

We Jewish folk are a special people, with a special land, a special mission (to embrace the Geulah), a special language and a special relationship with The One G-d!  [9 min.]

The Rebbe's Tactic for War

Said 32 years ago, the Rebbe tells how to deal with terrorists. Of course, what the Rebbe said then applies just as well today!



(Spoken Yiddish & Hebrew Subtitles.
1 min.)

Pictures Media Won't Show of War with Hamas

Note too the "disproportionate" behavior of Israeli soldiers, as compared with those who use children as shields.

Just Look at the Miracles

Just look at the miracles since operation "Cast Lead" until today, or from earlier, since Jewish settlements came under rocket fire by the Arab enemy. After thousands of rockets rained down, which could have left in their wake considerable damage, God forbid, by the grace of Hashem, when the sirens, noise and explosions faded away, all we saw were miracles.

Many rockets the "Iron Dome" smashed in mid-flight. Shrapnel therefrom caused little damage. Many other rockets God's unseen hand "diverted", guiding them to open spaces. Where a few rockets made direct hits, damage was inflicted upon material only, but not upon soul.

Also distinctly unique, we note that some glimmer of broad political favoritism gleamed our way from across the global spectrum.

Too, think about the raids terrorists tried to pull off under the thick of night. In one such move, 13 heavily armed Hamas/Palestinian operatives emerged from a tunnel they dug, the mouth of which opened within the borders of a kibbutz. Then there were nightly terror incursions we stopped that came in from the sea, also under cover of darkness. In Hashem's good, free grace, we nipped all these potential horror scenarios in the bud.

A couple, Chabad emissaries of the Rebbe living in central Israel, wrote to the Rebbe via his Igrot Kodesh. The wife, inasmuch as they had no "security room" available at their present locale, asked whether to move to where her parents live, where they have one. The Rebbe answered (vol. 7:161) "Regarding your question of moving from ... it seems entirely unnecessary ... besides not knowing which place is safer, soon anyways you will have overcome your worries with fear alone. And since fear depends upon one's will, you have the option not to fear at all and instead rely entirely on the good graces of Hashem, may He be blessed, free grace so no anguish shall come of it, God forbid."

We have much to be thankful for to God as He pours upon His people free charity.

The miracles and wonders we see make upon us a reciprocating demand: We need publicize the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach's declaration that "Israel is the safest place". We ought to check our Tefillin, our Mezuzot, if they were last checked long ago; Carry with us a Chitat (Chumash, Tehillim and Tanya - bound in one), as well as a charity box; Fix a charity box on every room wall in the house; Sign up for a letter for every living Jewish soul in a Sefer Torah; and learn about Moshiach, Geulah and the laws concerning the 3rd Temple, out of sheer joy that we are beyond the threshold and into the Era of the Final and Ultimate Redemption of the Jewish people.

A Unified Troop of 304,805 Soldiers

This is one way the Rebbe fights for Jews.

Thomas Jefferson & "The Book of Jihad"

If you came to this post because its title drew your interest, please read this fascinating piece of American history!

UPDATE;  In light of the above, Joke of the Day 7/30/14 here).

SMS Message

------ SMS Text ------

Rebbe:
"G-d desires and is concerned about the honor of Jewish people more than his own honor!"  We see how much honor, therefore, we must give each other.

G-d bless you.

Definition of HAMAS

I Googled "meaning of Hamas in Arabic".
Found this: "enthusiasm".

Now everyone knows Arabs, or rather Yishmaelites, and Jews go back 6 generations before Moses, when Hagar gave birth to Yishmael. So no wonder many words in Arabic have Hebrew as their source.

Hamas in Hebrew means robbery (Gen. 6:11 - see Rashi). But for Yishmael, the robber, it was more than that. He was enthusiastic about it. He was also a murderer and enthusiastic about that too (Gen. 21:9 - see Rashi). This latter fact the world can easily witness today as Muslims enthusiastically chop off heads, hands, mutilate, torture, hang, kidnap, rape, undermine, ... you get the enthusiastic picture.


So Hamas in Arabic went from meaning "robbery" to meaning "enthusiasm" in the course of time, as a natural progression for its lustful bloodthirst.

This is my conjecture of the lingual "coincidence".

See too:
The Psychology of Islam.

Muslim Hate for the World to See

Remember when Hashem first told Moshe go tell the Jews of Egypt they'll be emancipated? Moshe goes to the Jews, performs a few tricks, and - the people believed him (ויאמן העם).

Then Moshe turns to Pharoah to tell him to let the Jews free. But here he finds a negative response. From now on, says Pharoah, Jews will continue to fabricate bricks, the same quota, only they must find straw for themselves. Pharoah will no longer supply this material.

So the Jews are forced to hunt for straw where they can find it. They spread out over the land searching for straw. When the Egyptians see out their windows Jews prowling in their backyards and fields, they come out and attack the Jews with sickles, chopping off their legs.

The deep hate Egyptians harbored for their Jewish peers now becomes all too obvious.

And, as if no better time to go, Moshe disappears from the scene.

Moshe asks God, why this negative turn of events. Says God, I'll bring upon the Egyptians 10 plagues; They'll complain, saying, why punish us for Pharoah's sin; It is he who enslaved Jews. Why fault us?

Accordingly God set up a situation where the deep-seated hate of Egyptians came clear for all to see. When the 10 plagues arrived, every Egyptian knew exactly why he was being punished.

The 10 plagues and its aftermath visited upon ancient Egypt is also occurring in our days, as the current Era of Ultimate Redemption unfolds.

Rabbi Zimroni Chik of Bat Yam says we see the same phenomenon playing itself out today with the Arabs. The open and unabashed hate is there for the whole world to see. Arabs cannot complain they had nothing to do with it, it was strictly their leader's agenda. The world watches as Muslims behave hideously.

Take, for example, Israeli Arabs. It is plain to see they've long surpassed beyond all bounds the definition of "protest". Hundreds of Arabs, all over Israel, in "protest", have destroyed Israeli infrastructure, attacked cars with rocks and incendiary devices, butchered, kidnapped and lynched soldiers and babies, burned vehicles, grave sites, homes and forests, used knives, slingshots and sniper rifles, falsified pictures and videos, teach their newborn to despise, to commit suicide, etc., all because of their inherent bloodthirsty lust.

Also plain to see, for everyone in the world, how even among themselves, Arabs and Muslims are chopping off heads left and right, torturing, hanging, mutilating, first chance they get.

As they are annihilated, continue to be annihilated, and will be annihilated, these Muslims will know full-well exactly why they got their one-way ticket to Hell.

And God/Israel/Torah shall remain victorious.

The Essence of Anti-Semitism

How to Confront Anti-Semitism

If We Don't Grasp the Underlying Cause, We Can't Form a Healthy Response

By: Rabbi YY Jacobson

The Uniqueness of Jew-Hatred

Hatred of the Jew has been universal, permanent and deep (1). Death for the Jews has been desired and plotted by the tyrants of every age. Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Caesar, the Turks, the Christians, the Muslims, Stalin, Hitler and almost every great power that ever lived and flourished, defined the Jew as a target for abuse or complete annihilation. Jews have been expelled from nearly every country in which they resided—England, France, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Italy, Greece, Lithuania, Spain, Portugal, Bohemia, Moravia, Russia, Poland and the countries of the Middle East and North Africa, and of course, from their ancient homeland, Eretz Israel.

Throughout the centuries, many millions of Jews were murdered, including millions of infants and children. The Babylonians and Romans killed three million Jews. The Christians and the Muslims in their Crusades, inquisitions, conversion decrees, blood libels and general religious fervor over a span of 15 centuries slaughtered millions of Jews, often wiping out entire communities. Chmelnitzky and his bandits beheaded 300,000 Polish Jews during 1648-49, while Hitler put to death a third of our people, including one-and-a-half million children. In nearly every country, Jews have, at some time, been subjected to beatings, torture and murder, solely because they were Jewish.

And though many of us thought that the evil of anti-Semitism perished in a post-Auschwitz world, we have been rudely awakened during the last few years as it once again rears its ugly face, particularly among Arab nations and in Europe.

Why such hatred and fear of a people who never constituted more than a small minority? Why did almost every great culture and civilization see us as their ultimate enemy? Are we really such an evil people as to threaten the wellbeing of virtually every civilization for the past 4,000 years? Why is it that otherwise sophisticated and educated men and women of academia are filled with irrational hatred toward Israel for this or that wrong behavior, while ignoring the horrors perpetrated en masse by its Arab neighbors?

Most scholars and historians, including many Jews themselves, choose to view this ongoing obsession not as something uniquely connected to Jews or Judaism, but rather as a multitude of isolated events erupting as a result of distinct circumstances.

For example, why do millions of Arabs hate Jews today? Why are thousands of them inspired to burn Jewish babies alive? Because — the common explanation goes — we are occupiers occupying their country and they yearn for liberation. If Israel would only grant the Arabs independence and hope, the venom would dissipate.

But why did they kill us before the "occupation" of 1967? Why did six Arab countries try to destroy Israel at a time when there were no settlements or settlers? Because, during the War of Independence in 1948 between the newly created State of Israel and its Arab neighbors, hundreds of thousands of Arabs fled their homes and ended up in refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza. The Arabs were seeking to return to their homes inside pre-1967 Israel.

But why did the Arabs initiate this war against Israel in 1948 and thus create, through their own error, the refugee problem? Why did they not accept the United Nations' partition of Palestine and accept the reality of Jewish existence in the Jews' ancient homeland? And why were scores of Jews murdered during the 1920’s and 30’s? For this we must search for another explanation.

The attempt removes the notion of anti-Semitism from anything distinctly Jewish. The Germans, we are told, hated the Jews because they were scapegoats for a depressed economy, and so many Christians wanted the Jews dead because they claimed we killed their god. Stalin murdered Jews because he believed they were capitalists, while Europeans of the Middle Ages were repulsed by the Jew because of his economic success, and on and on.

Yet this approach is unconvincing. To deny that there is a single ultimate cause for all anti-Semitism, to reject that an underlying reason has sparked the hatred of billions of non-Jews for four millennia, contradicts both common sense and history.

Anti-Semitism has existed too long and in too many disparate cultures to tolerate a claim that each culture hated the Jews because of some distinct factor disconnected from being Jewish. To believe that Jew hatred is just another form of racial or religious bigotry, lunacy, ethnic hatred, lack of tolerance, xenophobia, resentment of affluence and professional success, is to turn a blind eye to the core cause of this unique loathing. Of course, various factors may exacerbate anti-Semitism and cause it to erupt at a given time, but these factors do not explain the origin and genesis of this hatred. In “Why the Jews?” Authors Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin put it well: Economic depressions do not account for gas chambers (2).

Haman's Attempt

The famous Purim story, recorded in the biblical Book of Esther and read during the upcoming Purim festival, relates one more attempt made some 2,400 years ago to reduce the Jewish people to a pile of ashes, this time by a Persian minister named Haman.

Haman approached the then-king of Persia, Achashverosh, and offered him a tremendous sum of money in exchange for permission to arrange a "Final Solution." He desired that every member of the Jewish nation, men, women and children, be put to death. The king responded (3): "The money is given to you (Haman), and the nation (of Israel) is yours to do with, as you see fit."

This interaction seems quite understandable to me. Achashverosh, a no less miserable anti-Semite than Haman, happily embraces the idea of a world devoid of Jews. Yet the Talmud apparently feels it necessary to illustrate the situation by means of a parable.

A Mound and a Ditch

Here is the Talmud's parable (4):

"Achashverosh and Haman are compared to two people, one of whom had a mound of dirt in his field, and another one who had a ditch in his field. The owner of the ditch said to himself, 'How I wish the owner of the mound would give me his mound in exchange for money, so that I can fill my ditch.' And the owner of the mound said to himself, 'How I wish the owner of the ditch would sell me the use of his ditch, so that I can remove the mound of dirt from my field and dump it into his ditch.'

"After some time," relates the Talmud, "these two men encountered one another. The owner of the ditch said to the owner of the mound, 'Sell to me your mound!' The owner of the mound responded: 'Please, take it for free.'"

The Talmudic illustration is clear. Achashverosh is compared to the owner of the mound—the mound being a metaphor for the Jewish people who lived under his rule. He desperately seeks to get rid of it. Haman is seen as the owner of the ditch, eagerly attempting to obtain the mound. When Haman offers to purchase the "mound" for money, Achashverosh gladly gives it to him for no payment at all, enthusiastically consenting to the annihilation of the Jews.

But here is the question: Parables quoted in Talmudic literature are never meant as entertainment, but rather as tools to clarify and crystallize an abstract or complex concept. But what is so difficult to understand about a story of two people who despise the Jews with similar intensity and eagerly cooperate to destroy them? Why do we need a parable about a mound and a ditch to clarify the situation between Haman and Achashverosh (5)?

And even if there is some difficulty in understanding what transpired between Haman and Achashverosh, how is it explained by means of this seemingly simple and superficial parable of a mound and a ditch?

What is more, the parable doesn't even fit the story it is attempting to illustrate. In the parable, the owner of the mound is seeking to dispose of his mound while the owner of the ditch craves to obtain the mound and fill his ditch with it. In the actual story, however, both the owner of the "mound," Achashverosh, as well as the owner of the "ditch," Haman, wish to dispose of the "mound" — the Jewish people — and get rid of it completely. You can't fill a ditch with a mound that you crave to annihilate (6)!

Two Layers of Anti-Semitism

What the Talmud is really attempting to convey via this parable is an answer to the question we raised at the onset of this essay: Why, nearly always and nearly everywhere, have Jews been hated? Why did Haman crave to kill every single Jew, down to an infant? Why would King Achashverosh be so eager to purge his country from all Jews? What have the Jews really done to attract such profound universal animosity?

It is this question — perhaps one of the great questions of history — that the Talmud is attempting to confront in this little passage.

Anti-Semitism, the Talmud is telling us, is multilayered; it contains a "body" and a "soul." The "body," or the outer, external layer of anti-Semitism personified by Achashverosh, sees Jews as a "mound." The inner, deeper and more complex layer of anti-Semitism personified by Haman views the Jew as the cause of a universal "ditch."

The external layer of anti-Semitism, harbored by many non-Jews throughout history, sees the Jew as a stranger in world history, a foreign creep, a "mound" that obstructs one’s free movement and enjoyment in his orchard. The Jew somehow “irks” him—and he is not even sure why. This Jew hater feels uncomfortable with the presence of the Jew. The Jew is a mount which does not belong here. The Jew may attempt to do everything possible to assuage the annoyance the anti-Semite feels toward him; he may sell himself, his soul, his people and his values, but it is usually to no avail: As long as the Jew is alive, he will remain, in many a non-Jewish eye, an irritable, cumbersome "mound." (6*)

But why? Why can’t they just see us as another ethnic group doing its own thing? This crude outer shell, or "body," of anti-Semitism, is born of a deeper and subtler space within the non-Jewish consciousness. Jewish existence opened a "ditch," a vacuum, in the heart of the human race, and every non-Jew, in one way or another, is aware of this inner void, causing him to look at the Jew either with admiration and affection, or with hate and repulsion, or with a mixture of the two.

Confronting a Ballad of Eternity

"What is the meaning," asks the Talmud, "of the term Mount Sinai? Sinai, in Hebrew, means hatred. Sinai is the mountain that gave birth to Jew-hatred." (Talmud Tractate Shabbat (7)).

Some 3,400 years ago, at the foot of a lone mountain, the Jewish people received a gift that transformed their life and destiny for eternity. No matter whether religious, secular or assimilated, that moment imbued Jewish life with a unique richness and nobility. The gift of Torah inculcated Jewish life with tremendous moral and spiritual responsibility, but it simultaneously granted the Jewish mind, the Jewish family and the Jewish community — rich and poor alike — a taste of heaven. The day to day life of the Jew became imbued with a depth of meaning and sense of purpose born of an appreciation of the Divine present in the heart of life, love, family, pain, values and money.

When the non-Jew encounters the Jew, he is, consciously or subconsciously, struck by a grandeur of spirit, a depth of living, a resonance of eternity and an echo of the Divine that is not easily described but very palpable. There is something about the Jew and Judaism that is larger than life and the non-Jew feels it, sometimes more acutely than the Jew.

The Jewish presence, challenging the world with a call from the infinite living moral G-d, opened a hole, a "ditch," a mental and emotional void, in the heart of humanity, craving the fullness and richness of life that the Torah has given the Jew. The Jewish people opened a profound wound in the civilization, causing it to wonder if the focus on the physical aspect of life was ultimately meaningless.

The non-Jewish response to this "ditch" exposed by the Jewish presence came—and still comes—in two different forms.

Many non-Jews, from various religions and cultures, responded by elevating their lifestyles to a higher plateau. They saw the Jew and his Jewishness as a model which they can, in their own way, emulate. They assuaged the feelings of emptiness by creating a life and value system grounded on the Torah's weltanschauung. The American nation is a great example of that. Founded on the Judaic ethic of respecting the liberty and individuality of every human being formed in the image of G-d, most of the Founding Fathers and so many of its citizens were and are authentic philo-Semites, cherishing and celebrating the Jew and his Jewishness.

John Adams wrote, "I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize man than any other nation." He wrote as a Christian, but added that even if he were an atheist and believed in chance, "I should believe that chance had ordered the Jews to preserve and propagate to all mankind the doctrine of a supreme, intelligent, wise, almighty sovereign of the universe, which I believe to be the great essential principle of all morality, and consequently of all civilization (8)."

Leo Tolstoy wrote: "The Jew is that sacred being who has brought down from heaven the everlasting fire, and has illuminated with it the entire world. The Jew is the religious source, spring and fountain out of which all the rest of the peoples have drawn their beliefs and their religions."(8*)

This path, though, requires extraordinary discipline and sacrifice. Living with the G-d of the Torah is a tremendous burden. It demands that one challenge his or her ego, laziness and selfishness on a daily basis; it requires one to surrender many instincts, cravings, lusts and natural dispositions. It is rewarding and fulfilling, but not easy.

Sadly, most non-Jewish cultures and civilizations in the past opted for an easier and more instinctive method through which to "fill" their mental and psychological "ditch": Rid the world of the Jew, they said, and the void will be gone.

This is the "soul," or the deeper, spiritual layer, of anti-Semitism, engendered by the very existence of the Jew—it is a resentment and hostility directed toward the cause of a profound emptiness in life. Adolf Hitler once remarked that his mission in life was to "destroy the tyrannical G-d of the Jews" and His "life-denying Ten Commandments (9)."

This, parenthetically, means that anti-Semitism is not only a "Jewish problem," it is a disaster for every moral and decent non-Jew as well. "Watch how a nation, religion, a political movement treats Jews, and you have an early and deadly accurate picture of that group's intention toward others. Anti-Semites wish to destroy the perceived embodiment of that higher call to the good, the Jews. But they do not hate the Jews alone. They hate whatever and whoever represents a higher value, a moral challenge (2)." Anti-Semites begin with the Jews, but they never end with the Jews alone.

Haman's Rage

Not all anti-Semites were aware of the "soul" of their hatred. Some, like Achashverosh, were only cognizant of the "body" component of their Jew hatred, seeing the Jew as a "mound" that disturbs and obstructs. They were unaware of the underlying drives behind their hatred.

Haman, on the other hand, was aware of this truth. He understood that he despised the Jews because they generated a "ditch" in the depth of his heart. That is why when the entire Persian elite bowed to Haman daily, with the exclusion of one Jewish rabbi, Mordechai, the Bible tells us (10) that Haman "was filled with rage."

Why? Imagine thousands of people prostrating themselves before you on a daily basis, except one old ultra-religious man with a white beard. Big deal! Why was Haman so perturbed by the sight of one obstinate Jew not falling on his knees to worship him?

Because Haman, in a very deep place, knew that Mordechai had it right. Mordechai's behavior resonated in Haman's inner heart. It exposed the truth that Haman was not a demi-god.

He thus approached Achashverosh and said: I have a ditch in my heart, which I cannot bear anymore. I must rid the world from its Jewish presence. Achashverosh, a far less intelligent and complex person, responded: Great! The Jews, for some reason or another, always irked me regardless. I'd be more than happy if you can remove this cursed mound from my presence.

The Conclusions

One of the many conclusions of the aforementioned idea is this. Appeasing and trying to bend over backwards to those who hate us will not supplant their hate with love. The animosity stems from too deep a place for it to be transformed through money or appeasement. It may be hard for us to accept, but the real Jew hater is driven by forces that are deeply powerful, as for him the Jew disturbs the core of his existence.

We can bend over backwards, but it will not change a thing. We can shorten our noses, we can assimilate, we can compromise—yet as long as we are alive, the anti-Semite will remain restless. There is nothing we can do or not do to change the anti-Semite. It is the anti-Semite who must change himself. It is he who must learn that as long as he lives with hate, he will deprive himself and his loved ones from a life of true happiness and nobility.

The proper method of dealing with Jew-hatred in all of its manifestations is not to attempt to eclipse or deny one's Jewishness and the unique role of the Jewish people in history. The gentile, instinctively and accurately, feels the "otherness" of the Jew; the non-Jew innately senses the holiness embedded within the Jewish soul. When the Jew denies this holiness, when the Jew, embarrassed by his Judaism, tells the world, "I am just like you," the non-Jew senses a lie, a secret conspiracy, and he despises the Jew even more. The world will forever dislike Jews who dislike themselves.

What can we do about anti-Semitism? We can and must stand guard against it. We must protect ourselves in every possible way. We must fight the hatred with unwavering determination, resolve, dignity and purpose. We must never duck or show weakness, which only intoxicates our haters into thinking they might prevail. We must never be ashamed with who we are and what stand for, as it is not our evil triggering the animosity; it is our goodness and holiness which drives our haters mad.

Most importantly, our primary and eternal hope remains in our relationship with G-d, the sole Master of the universe. As long as we are connected with the core of all reality, our existence is guaranteed.

That is why, when Mordechei and queen Esther learnt of Haman's decree, the first thing they did was engage in fasting, prayer, repentance and good deeds. Only after three days of fasting and introspection, did Esther use her position as the beautiful wife of the king and attempt to influence him, in the midst of a drinking party, to obliterate the decree against the Jews. Now, if Esther wished to impress her husband, she should have gone to a beauty-parlor not fast for three days!

The answer is, that Esther knew, as every Jew knows deep down in his heart, that salvation will not come from a man who sees the Jews as an eternal "mound." Salvation will come from G-d. Therefore, the first and foremost objective is to strengthen her relationship with G-d. Only afterward, are we called to follow the course of nature and attempt to influence world leaders to help secure the survival of the Jewish people.

Once we have secured our relationship with G-d, through the Torah and its Mitzvos, can we hope that G-d will manipulate the hearts of the Jew-haters to assist rather than destroy the Jews.

When the non-Jew encounters a Jew who is proud of his otherness, who cherishes and embraces his Jewishness and its unique role in history, more often than not the non-Jew is overtaken by sense of admiration and respect; he can begin to appreciate the Jew, learn from him and adore him. (11).

1) For a comprehensive discussion of this subject, the history and dynamics of antisemitism, as well as a convincing refutation of many of the popular reasons given for antisemitism, see Why The Jews? (Prager and Telushkin, Simon and Schuster, 1983.)
2) Ibid. p. 21.
3) Esther 3:11
4) Megilah 14a.
5) See Benayahoo to Talmud Megilah ibid. and Chasam Sofer - Toras Moshe L'Purim for their symbolic explanations of this parable.
6) Of course, one may answer that the parable is an imperfect one and it is just here to illustrate the point that the owner of the mound is willing to dispose of his mound without receiving payment. Yet anyone familiar with the Talmudic literature is aware of its extraordinary profundity and meticulousness. It is thus clear, that the comparison between Haman and an owner of a ditch seeking to fill it is precise and meaningful. Yet in the actual story, Haman's role is reversed, seeking to dispose of the mound and not have it remain in his territory?
6*) Perhaps we can add: The Mound represents significance & the dignity that Judaism confers upon all peoples; and that is why as a dictator who wanted to subjugate his populace he couldn't stand the Judaic disciple which affords such tremendous rights to all peoples.
7) Shabbas 89a. See Eyon Yaakov to Ein Yaakov ibid. -- The explanation for anti-Semitism that fallows has been articulated by Maimonidies in Igeres Taiman chapter 1.
8) For an elaborate discussion on this theme, See On Two Wings: Humble Faith and Common Sense at the American Founding, (Michael Novak, 2001).
8*) Quoted in Radican Then, Radical Now (Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, London 2000) p. 3 with reference noted there.
9) Quoted in Why The Jews? p. 30, see reference there. Cf Faith After the Holocaust (Eliezer Berkowitz, Ktav, 1973) pp. 114-127, where this point is brilliantly demonstrated.
10) Esther 3:5.
11) This essay is based on a talk by the Lubavitcher Rebbe presented on Purim 1965. (Sichos Kodesh 5725 pp. 444-454.)

The Apparent World Entropy

Some things even a blind man can see.

Maniacal Iran is approaching nuclear capability. America is disintegrating economically, politically and demographically. Europe too faces deterioration from within from its Muslim quislings. The Mideast Muslim nations live in an inferno. Poor Israel gets no calm from the world's nations, nor from its indigenous Arab haters. Nigerians are being butchered left and right, and nobody cares. North Korea is another hellhole that's liable to turn another country into a parking lot. Fukashima meanwhile continues to leak. Toxicity is in the air, in the earth and in the water. And so on.

People the world over are experiencing a silent tremor. They sense correctly that the world is in turmoil, tailspinning into chaos. Given the path that Nature takes, we are on the brink of WWIII, and were that to happen that would be the end of the world.

There's just one little detail left out of this panorama. The Jewish people are a Supernatural eternal people. And therefore, this horrible scenario cannot happen. The world was created for their sake and for their sake it will continue to exist.

What really is happening is that Israel will be squeezed into a corner by the Evil in the world and G-d will save the Jews and usher in for them the Era of the Ultimate Redemption. In the meantime the forces of Evil are separating out from the forces of Good, so as to give people everywhere the clear free choice to forge their own destiny. Because, when the clouds of smoke dissipate, the only ones left to enjoy the world will be the Jewish nation and those from the Good who sided with her.

The Jewish New York Times

Many Jews today, especially those who see themselves as elite, sophisticated or intellectual, a cut above the rest, read the New York Times. Are they ignorant of the bias this paper has against Jews? They may, in fact, not know this bias dates back to WWII when Jews were being exterminated by the millions, but certainly they ought to have sensed the bias by now, after all its commentary on all those wars Israel had with its enemies, until today. More likely they've fallen victim of their own self-worth by identifying with Sulzberger's paper that, after all, is also "sophisticated and intellectual".

The NYT will always downplay horror perpetrated on Jews. Their avant-garde readers are all too eager to join in with its rationale. As you would expect, Reform Judaism plays a key role. (Notice the "aristocratic" air of the Sulzberger pose. No sign of "Jewishness" here.)

Here's a well enunciated, well presented 12 minute clip of the stance the NYT took during the holocaust years, and why:

P.S. See here for the NYT's latest advocacy of terrorism against Israel!
P.S. (7/21/14) See here how NYT toes the line of Hamas' demands during Protective Edge war.
P.S. During war on Hamas ("Protective Edge") - here.
P.S. (8/6/14) NYT Rejects Ad by Eli Wiesel Condemning Hamas - here.
P.S. (9/1/14) NYT censors Breitbart.com/s anti-ISIS ad: here.
P.S. (3/9/15) NYT with some faux-pas photography (link).

Joseph Telushkin's Book on the Rebbe

Joseph Telushkin wrote a book about the Rebbe. Would the Rebbe approve this book by a "Conservative rabbi" (akin to a "Reform rabbi")? Not only does he dilute his own Judaism, he encourages its dilution for all his congregants.

Would the Rebbe want a book about him written by a rabbi whose synagogue features a "lady cantor"? This practice does more than scorn the halachah of Kol Ishah or mixed seating; It encourages the scorn, disgraces the Torah scroll and feigns a holy atmosphere. And of course there's a modesty issue. It's highly likely one must not enter such a place to pray in the first place.

Here's a Facebook ad [with my graffiti] where his synagogue heralds an upcoming Shabbat ("... join us to hear her beautiful voice"):

I come not to review the book because I'd never read it. Would you buy gold from a dealer who dilutes the precious metal?

No doubt this book is full of platitudes, portraying the Rebbe as a "great person", in which case he misses the whole point. He does not understand the Lubavitch chassidic movement's real purpose, with the Rebbe at its epitome, which is to raise the expectations and yearnings of the Jewish people for Moshiach in the latter generations!

There may well be a hidden agenda too, at least a subliminal one, and that is - to distance Jews from current Messianic expectations (so they approach his own view).

I, for one, think the Rebbe himself would never have endorsed this book. He probably would have trashed it.

The USS Missouri - And the Rebbe

The USS Missouri was the platform upon which World War II ended. Not on land - but on a gunboat of the United States. That's where General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, held the solemn ceremony, where the enemies formally surrendered.

Who was responsible for wiring this huge battleship? The Rebbe of Lubavitch.

I already recalled one story I heard about this work the Rebbe did back then, circa 1944, which I related here: Escorted by Generals.

Now I came across another such story. Here's the transcript of the video. At the end of this narrative I leave you with a link to the video to see 1st hand, and because of slight changes from the transcript.

(Interview of Milton Fechter with "My Encounter With The Rebbe".)

I worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard from January 1943 till June 1945. A retired admiral came to City College and said that they were desperately in need of engineers for the Navy Yard. They were building the battleship Missouri there - that's the battleship on which afterwards General MacArthur accepted the surrender of the Japanese in Tokyo Bay after the war - and they were also working on a smaller battleship, the Idaho, and one of the aircraft carriers, but I forget the name for that one.

So they gave me my diploma early and I came to work there, in Building 3, on Flushing Avenue and Vanderbilt. The building, it's a giant building, is still there. It was a huge operation - there were 77,000 people working there - and our section had about fifty engineers and craftsmen, evenly divided between Jews and Gentiles. I mention this because at the time, that was one of the things that was on the Gentiles' mind, always to look who is a Jew.

New York City in 1943 wasn't like today. Up in the Bronx, for example, was an Irish man named Joe McWilliams, he was a big anti-Semite and he had an organization called the Christian Front. Half the New York City police were Irish, and many belonged to the Christian Front. And they created a lot of trouble for Jews in the Bronx. In Brooklyn, Ridgewood, you had the Germans, and before the FBI broke up what they called the "Bund," they used to march at night in Hitler uniforms on Bushwick Ave.

There was this guy I went to school with for 5 years - I was 3 years with him in high school and then 2 years with him in City College. A fellow from a good family, with money. I'm sitting next to him in class. It's Friday, June 1940, the professor comes into the class, and he had a long face. Gentlemen, he says, I have some very sad news to report, it just came over the radio, that France had surrendered to Hitler. My heart fell all the way down.

This guy sitting next to me, turns around to me and his eyes are blazing hate. And here is what he says to me: "You'll get yours next." I tell you, I couldn't say a word. I was so stunned. Five years I go to school with him, and didn't know what was in him.

I'm trying to give you a picture of the times. It's different today. It's completely different today. Then, you're in a room with 50 people, everyone knows who the Gentiles are and who's a Jew. The fact that people were so busy working on the war effort had dampened a bit the anti-Semitism that had raged in New York City for a number of years prior to the war, but it was still there.

Our section was separated from the electrical section by a wooden fence about 3 feet high. And that section had about 300 men sitting at drafting tables. So I turn to the man next to me, and I said, what are they doing there? And he said they are all doing wiring diagrams for the ships, mostly the Missouri. So much electrical wiring goes into a ship, you have no idea.

I take a look, and you have 300 people in white shirts, because in those days most people wore white shirts. And in the middle is sitting a guy with a black beard, earlocks, a black hat and a black suit.

So I turn to the guy next to me, I said who is that? He says, "He's a rabbi, and he is also an electrical engineer, a graduate of the Sorbonne." I looked over there and I said to myself, boy I've got to give this guy credit. If I were sitting among all 300, I couldn't wear earlocks and a beard and feel comfortable. He sat there serene as if he was sitting amongst his chevra, and that really struck me.

So, I went over and introduced myself. He told me his name is Schneerson. But he didn't tell me he was the son-in-law of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and I didn't ask him. Nobody knew, as far as I knew.

He spoke quietly, he was a gentleman and he had two very smart eyes. He was a very self-contained individual. He wasn't interested in what someone on the left thought of him, or someone on the right thought of him. He was content with himself and he obviously had a lot of inner strength. It was very illuminating to me, to see a person in a hostile milieu to be so serene.

Friday he left early because of the Shabbos. And Saturday he didn't come in, Jewish holidays he didn't come in. He was the only guy that got that accommodation. Nobody else left for Saturdays or Fridays or holidays. Only one man - him.

I came up there a couple of Sundays to see some people there and I'd see him sitting there all by himself in that vast hall. Oh, it was more than a block long, that building. You take a look at it. It was quite a building.

He came in Sunday, I guess because he didn't come in Saturday. And he worked all by himself Sunday. And, I'll tell you one thing, the rabbi had a lot of courage, to be there all alone on Sunday. The rats that ran around there were about that big. And he sat by himself, drawing the wires for the various electrical wiring that goes into a ship. You couldn't give me a million dollars to sit there by myself on Sunday.

I didn't see him very often, because he never came to the cafeteria. He wouldn't go to the cafeteria; it wasn't kosher. So I didn't speak to him that much, only about three times altogether. But as I say, I was very impressed with his serenity. You see, if he'd sat among three hundred guys with beards and he was perfectly at ease that would be one thing. But to sit among three hundred goyim, completely oblivious to everything around him, that was something that struck me.

Later, when I read in the paper that he became Rebbe, I wasn't surprised because I saw that he was a very bright man and he obviously he had a lot of inner strength. He could have continued working as an engineer. He had the capabilities, the math he knew more than most of us there. Sure he was an engineer but that wasn't his life, he didn't make it top priority with him. His life was rabbinical and not engineering. He had hobbies, and engineering was one of them, but he was a rabbi at heart. Sometimes he was an engineer, but the Rebbe was always a Rebbe.

---- ---- ----

(LINK to interview with above person.)

---- ---- ----

Here's a LINK to another person's encounter with the Rebbe -- this time when the Rebbe was Rebbe.

And here is part II of what the engineer was saying.

Why "CHABAD"?

(Here's a short extract of a Maamer of the Rebbe, with my own translation & highlighting, where the Rebbe asks a rhetorical question about the Rebbeim of Chabad (נשיאי חב‫"‬ד) )

----------

‫ומה גם שנקראים בשם נשיאי חב"ד דוקא, ולא באפן של חוקה חקקתי גזירה גזרתי

(במדב"ר ריש חוקת. תנחומא שם ג ח. ועוד)

 'ואין לך רשות להרהר אחרי

(רש"י ריש פרשתנו [מיומא סז ב‪[‬)
דהן אמת שקיום הדברים במעשה צריך להיות באופן של חוקה חקקתי

"And why are our Rebbeim particularly called Princes of CHABAD [an acronym for 3 faculties of intellect]; Would it not be more appropriate from a Torah perspective to use a term that suggests 'Do it because I so established it and you have no right to question me'? After all, in truth, the actions of chassidim should spring from an unquestioning mindset;

וגם יודע הוא בוודאות גמורה שהדברים שנאמרו ע"י רבותינו נשיאינו שהם סמוכים איש מפי איש עד משה רבינו הם אמיתיים בתכלית

"And as you know, with complete certainty, the words spoken by our Rebbeim were endorsed from one leader to the next all the way back to Moshe Rabbeinu and prevail as absolute truth;

ואשר רבותינו נשיאינו (בעלי המאמרים) בטח הבינו את הדברים. וגם יודע שצ"ל דיוק בשמירת דברי הרב

 (ראה סה"מ ה'תש"ח ע' 296 ואילך. ובכ"מ)

"And that our Rebbeim certainly understand the content; And they well understand there must be precision when quoting a Rav.

אבל יחד עם זה צ"ל ההשתדלות שהדברים יהיו מושגים ומובנים גם בשכלו

"Nevertheless, there must be the endeavor to grasp and comprehend these words as well.

וכאשר אינו מבין צריך לבקש (קומען און קלאפן אויפן טיר אין מיטן נאכט) שיסברו לו הדברים. וזה גופא היא הסיבה למה שלא הסבירו לו את הדברים, כדי שיבוא ויבקש (קומען און קלאפן אויפן טיר). ובכלל צריך להיות היגיעה בהבנת הדברים. וארז"ל (מגילה ו, ב) יגעת ומצאת תאמין. דמארז"ל זה הוא בנוגע לעניני העולם, ומזה מובן בק"ו שכ"ה גם בנוגע לעניני התורה, שע"י היגיעה באה המציאה

"And if one doesn't get it, he needs to ask (go knock on someone's door at night) for an explanation. In fact, this is why he was not explained the concept to begin with - so he should go ahead and ask (go ahead and knock on a door). Generally, toil must precede comprehension. As our sages tell us, if one toils and says he gets it, believe him. This saying regards worldly affairs, so how much more so in matters of Torah learning - where toil will yield mastery.

היינו שע"י היגיעה באים לענין של מציאה שאינו בערך היגיעה, ואינו צריך אלא לכופף עצמו ולהגבי' את המציאה

 (ער דארף זיך אנבויגן און דאס אויפהויבן)

"That is to say, with toil will come an understanding of a higher magnitude than the effort that was invested for it, and all he need do is bend down and pick it up."

________________________

(Segment from the Rebbe's Ma-amar of ש"פ חוקת, אדר"ח תמוז ה'תשד"מ   

"והי' מדי חדש בחדשו")

Truth as We See It

A popular "Redemption blog" stripped my blog from its blog roll. The claim for this action was that my blog "distances Jews from Judaism" (in saying the Rebbe is Moshiach). The absurdity of that claim I addressed elsewhere.

I want to add another reason for this implausibility. As per the Rambam (Avodah Zarah 2:3), "A man's intellect is diminutive; And not all intellects can grasp the clarity of truth. Were every man to follow his own intellect, the world would be destroyed by his shortness of intellect .... And regarding this issue the Torah warned, where it says, 'And don't stray following your hearts ...', that is to say, each individual should refrain following his short intellect, where he thinks his thoughts concur with the truth!"

Then why, one can ask, would Chassidus demand of us to ponder with our bovine intellect the foundations of our beliefs, if, in fact, we are short on intellect and cannot perceive the truth with our small minds?

The answer is simple. You cannot lay foundation of a belief based on your own personal intellect. You first learn what the Torah regards as the true belief, and what the belief has been of our Rebbeim. Only thereafter must a Chabad chassid contemplate and sweat, with the help of chassidus literature, in order to understand THAT BELIEF, with his entire intellectual capacity.

(Otherwise, you do as the Reformists among us do; Use their own minds as the determinant of truth.)

And if the Rebbe himself asked us - his "soldiers" - to further disseminate his message, (to accept him as Moshiach), it would be foolish of us to second-guess the Rebbe and think that by following through with his request we will thereby distance Jews from Judaism, G-d forbid!

If anything, Jews have never ever been so attuned to the Era of Redemption as they are today. The very fact that you have "Redemption blogs" bristling with hungry readers looking for any sign that points to Moshiach's imminent arrival, no matter what stream of orthodoxy they come from, tells you people are hungry for Redemption, conditioned for Moshiach. Even well-heeled Jews too today realize the superficiality of the Diaspora and yearn for the truth that only the Ultimate Geulah can render.

This is a special period in Jewish history, where Chassidus has awakened Jewry from centuries of deep slumber and now, in the last 7 (or 9) generations, has paved the way for Moshiach's imminent exposure, and to a new way of life, one the world was created for in the first place.