Divine Providence on- Israel's 62nd Independence Day

You tell me if you think this was a "coincidence"? (3 min. clip)

A War of Inclinations

During class the teacher asked, "Anybody have a question?"

A girl raised her hand. She asked, "Why, from the moment we wake up until we go to bed, every moment is filled with obligations, like commandments to obey, Torah to learn, prayers to say, deeds to be done; Is this freedom? Can't we be free of obligations to live as free as animals in a forest? These animals are really free!"

The teacher waited a moment and, noticing a guitar sticking out of the student's bag, walked over to the student, took the guitar out and walked back to her desk. The teacher opened her drawer and pulled out a knife. The students looked on in wonder. The teacher moved the knife slowly and positioned it to cut the strings of the guitar.

The student shouted, "Don't you dare!"

"Why," asked the teacher. "The strings are taut; Under a lot of force. Let's free them from their daily tension."

"But then my guitar won't make music," said the student.

"Aha," said the teacher, "with freedom as you defined it, our souls too could make no music."

The holiday of freedom, Pesach (Passover) not only commemorates our release from bondage under Egyptian rule; It mainly symbolizes our freedom from bondage - to our evil inclination (which Egyptian rule symbolizes)! The evil inclination tells you NOT to do what you're supposed to do, or DO what you musn't do.

Unlike an animal that has no inclination for doing counter to what's right, man does have this inclination. It comes with his spiritual anatomy. He also possesses a good inclination, and how his brain governs his behavior after taking both inclinations into consideration determines his personality.

Man was born into a world that requires obligations of him. He cannot do as he feels without putting his good and bad inclinations on a scale. The animal can, but man cannot. Man's spiritual anatomy, unlike an animal's, is dichotomous.

Man cannot be relieved of his duties to G-d. It's part and parcel with his being. If his evil inclination carries more weight than his good inclination, he makes "bad music". If he follows his good inclination, he makes "good music."

Innate Creativity

In midieval times, a prisoner was sentenced to life in prison. To earn his food, he had to turn a gear's rotating lever, which below the prison floor turned the millstone of a grain mill.

Once, overhearing prison guards, he discovered that in fact there was nothing connected to the lever he used to push round and round every day.

Upon hearing this, the prisoner committed suicide.

But why did he commit suicide? What difference did it make to him if there was a mill attached to his lever or not; It would not have changed anything, as far as he was concerned?

Because even a lowly prisoner wants to believe he does something useful. Take this feeling of usefulness away from him, and he feels empty and worthless.

No doubt, every person has something he has created or wants to create. Even if the person has a job, once the day is done he or she sits down to write a plan, a poem, a book, a business strategy; or builds something, paints, plays (to create a win), sculpts, learns (to create), trains (to become better), … whatever.

The point is that "creation" is an essential part of us. As in the above apocryphal story, removing that ability robs us of our "humanity".

Why would "creation" be a part of humanity? Because it testifies to The Creator that created us. G-d actually leaves His imprint in each of our's essence. He is The Real Creator and engraves into our being the essence that only He really is. The human is branded with creative ability. This is one way of looking at the phrase, "And G-d created man with His image" (Beraishis 1, 27).

One Good Way to Overcome the Depression - Drill!

I got this verifiable email from a friend.

About 6 months ago, the writer was watching a news program on oil and one of the Forbes brothers was the guest. The host said to Forbes, "I am going to ask you a direct question and I would like a direct answer; how much oil does the U.S. have in the ground?" Forbes did not miss a beat, he said, "more than all the Middle East put together." Please read below.

The U. S. Geological Service issued a report in April 2008 that only scientists and oil men knew was coming, but man was it big. It was a revised report (hadn't been updated since 1995) on how much oil was in this area of the western 2/3 of North Dakota, western South Dakota, and extreme eastern Montana. Check THIS out.

The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska 's Prudhoe Bay, and has the potential to eliminate all American dependence on foreign oil. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates it at 503 billion barrels. Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable - at $107 a barrel, we're looking at a resource base worth more than $5.3 trillion.

"When I first briefed legislators on this, you could practically see their jaws hit the floor. They had no idea," says Terry Johnson, the Montana Legislature's financial analyst.

"This sizable find is now the highest-producing onshore oil field found in the past 56 years," reports The Pittsburgh Post Gazette. It's a formation known as the Williston Basin, but is more commonly referred to as the 'Bakken.' It stretches from Northern Montana, through North Dakota and into Canada. For years, U. S. oil exploration has been considered a dead end. Even the 'Big Oil' companies gave up searching for major oil wells decades ago. However, a recent technological breakthrough has opened up the Bakken's massive reserves - and we now have access of up to 500 billion barrels. And because this is light, sweet oil, those billions of barrels will cost Americans just $16 PER BARREL!

That's enough crude to fully fuel the American economy for 2041 years straight. And if THAT didn't throw you on the floor, then this next one should - because it's from 2006!

U. S. Oil Discovery- Largest Reserve in the World

Stansberry Report Online - 4/20/2006

Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies the largest untapped oil reserve in the world. It is more than 2 TRILLION barrels. On August 8, 2005 President Bush mandated its extraction. In three and a half years of high oil prices none has been extracted. With this motherload of oil why are we still fighting over off-shore drilling?

They reported this stunning news: We have more oil inside our borders, than all the other proven reserves on earth. Here are the official estimates:

- 8 times as much oil as Saudi Arabia

- 18 times as much oil as Iraq

- 21 times as much oil as Kuwait

- 22 times as much oil as Iran

- 500 times as much oil as Yemen

- and it's all right here in the Western United States.

HOW can this BE? HOW can we NOT BE extracting this? Because the environmentalists and others have blocked all efforts to help America become independent of foreign oil! Again, we are letting a small group of people dictate our lives and our economy. WHY?

James Bartis, lead researcher with the study says we've got more oil in this very compact area than the entire Middle East - more than 2 TRILLION barrels untapped. That's more than all the proven oil reserves of crude oil in the world today, reports The Denver Post.

Don't think 'OPEC' will drop its price - even with this find? Think again! It's all about the competitive marketplace - it has to. Think OPEC just might be funding the environmentalists?

Got your attention yet? Now, while you're thinking about it, do this:

Pass this along. If you don't take a little time to do this, then you should stifle yourself the next time you complain about gas prices - by doing NOTHING, you forfeit your right to complain.

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Google it, or follow this link. It will blow your mind.

Life in a Pressure Cooker

We read 2 weeks ago in the Torah portion a prophetic reference to the Jewish nation, (Numbers 23, 9): "… And that nation shall dwell by itself …".

No matter how hard Israel tries to appease nations, just so they could leave her alone, just so they remove constant focus from her - it just doesn't help.

Take the Iranian squirt, who boasts he'll wipe Israel off the map. As if there was so much to wipe off in the first place. Then the Muslim-in-Chief at the White House becomes disturbed because Israel allows Jews to build homes in their capital city. As if it's anybody's business how a foreign government handles its construction permits. But the weak-kneed Israeli leftist government capitulates and applies a construction freeze in Jerusalem. They figured they could spare further criticism thereby. So along comes a little flotilla and again the entire world tunes in to watch the fireworks. Here again Netanyahu's knees buckle and he orders a "commission of investigation", as if the IDF may in fact have been guilty of something. Maybe he figured people will now turn the channel. But only for a few days at best, because then the long-standing friendship with Turkey begins to quickly unravel. Then Europe joins the fracas when England begins a new round of censures.

One punch after another, from one continent and then another. A constant pressure cooker. As if that miniscule country, a drop in the bucket, could made so much a difference. Can you doubt the Torah's divine prophecy of this nation - that it's bound to remain solitary?

The Highest Office in the Land

Scratching his head with his middle finger. There will be those who think he's just scratching. What they don't quite get is this guy is a treacherous Muslim - if he breathes, he lies. He's already quite accustomed to the teleprompter, because it's part of the act. He's on stage. He's reading someone else's script. So how does he express his own sentiments? The man child shows us here (at Weasel Zippers).

Age of the Universe

The Torah, the oldest book in the world (although "Sefer Hayetzira" is purportedly authored by Abraham), authored by Moses mostly under dictation by G-d over a 40-year span, if analyzed for chronology, yields the age of the universe to be 5,770 years old.

Scientists cannot agree about the age of the universe by a factor of billions of years, but hardly any of them concur with the Torah view of the world's age to be a "mere" 5,770 years old.

So why has history of man been recorded for only a few millennia, if we've been around for so much longer? Did we suddenly gain wisdom only a few millennia ago? Why does everything before that time draw a blank? Even if evolutionary theory were to be true (but it's not), surely 5,000 years is a mere pittance of time in which nothing significant could have happened to render the wisdom of people prior to this time incompetent of writing, or history-taking.

The leap of faith taken by believers of a billions-year-old universe derives from scientific assessment of rock age, astronomical mathematics, or the like. These findings offer enough comfort for them to stake their ancient primordial claim.

The Talmud, on the other hand, dismisses this billions-year-old claim rather simply. When G-d created the universe, it was created with its embedded particulars already with a given age attributable to them. Every physical element or configuration did not need to undergo an entire ontogenesis when it made its existential debut. For example, as the Torah relates, Adam, the first man, was created as an adult of profound intelligence.

Hide & Seek - Not Just for KidsConcealment for the sake of Revelation

Biblical Hebrew, the language created by G-d, tells us much about its Creator. Most Hebrew words derive from a 3-letter "root". Let's look at a few.

Take the root for "world", עולם. It means "to conceal", as in Melachim B, 4, 27 - " … and G-d concealed it from me and did not tell me". This root, conjugated in another way, means "to disappear", also a concealment.

It doesn't take much reflection to realize that G-d wants for us to search and reveal His Presence in this world - the best we can.

How does G-d hide? He makes it look as if the world runs on its own, as if a flawless, eternal engine runs the world. G-d hides behind the veil of Nature. The root of "Nature", טבע, means "to submerge", as in, Shmot 15, 4: "Pharoah's chariots and … his very best officers were submerged in the Red Sea". The word itself implies Nature is but a facade that covers the hidden, controlling power.

Another conjugation of טבע yields "a ring" (טבעת), as in a wedding ring. Its meaning is similar to submerge, in the following way. Draw a circle on a paper, to form a ring. Imagine how - if you were living as a dot on that paper's two-dimensional surface, and you were "outside" the ring, you'd not be able to see "inside" the ring, because the ring in effect is the defined boundary. Similarly, all dots living outside the circle are kept from seeing inside of the ring.

Let's take the dot parable one step further. To enable the dot living outside the ring to see the goings on inside the ring, we could "create" for the dots an extra dimension to live in; Instead of allowing it only a two-dimensional living space, let's allow it to live in 3-dimensional space. Now the dot can simply be "lifted" a little off the paper, and presto, it will immediately be able to see beyond the boundary of the ring that until now had blocked its "sight".

Similarly it will be for us, humans, living presently within the confines of a 4-dimensional space/time framework. Sometime during the Messianic era we too will be "lifted" out of our present 4-dimensional confines to be able to "see" well beyond what we see today. We'll have more dimensions within which to explore and be enlightened. Just as sure as the dot could see so much more once it was lifted off its 2-dimensional world, we too will see much more when we're lifted beyond the Natural world.

Another telling word is "exile", גולה, the present era devoid of the Temple of G-d situated in Jerusalem, the 2nd of which was destroyed some 2,000 years ago. The 3rd Temple will be built soon during the Messianic era. The root word for exile means "to reveal". That is to say, it's destined to reveal. And what will be revealed? The word for "redemption" is גאולה, the same word as "exile", only with the addition of the letter א inserted into it. For that's when the revelation of G-d will happen, when the uplifting of our senses will enable us to see beyond its present confines. The "supernatural" of today will become the "natural" of tomorrow.

What has been concealed will in the very near future be revealed. But for now, as long as we're under the guidelines and control of Nature, we are still expected to play the game G-d has set up for us in exile, "Hide and Seek" - He hides and we need seek Him out.

Jewish Genetics

Do Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews have similar genetics? Do Jews separated by two millennia, across continents, have similar genetics? Can Jews be uniquely identified based on genetics?

Read about it here.

Jew Haters (cont'd)

A t-shirt recently seen in Budapest, Hungary.

The Psychology of Jewish Love

Man's anatomy comprises a physical body and a spiritual factor.

The Jew's spiritual factor itself is dichotomous; One component is his Animal Soul; The second one is his G-dly Soul. This last component, according to the 1st Lubavitcher Rebbe, "... is an actual, veritable part of G-d" [notwithstanding our inability to comprehend this fact].

Despite the lowly statuses of the Body and Animal Soul, they have, surprisingly, a significant redeeming value. This can manifest by recognizing their inferior attributes. The Body and Animal Soul give rise to the differences between people. These two constituents contribute to the features that distinguish people one from another. The G-dly Soul, in contrast, remains equivalent among Jews.

It follows, therefore, if a Jew can rise above his lowly essence, i.e., above the contributors of his identity, he elevates himself into a realm wherein all G-dly components are hewn from the same Rock. If a Jew can bring himself to reach this perspective and live with it, he will have attained the level of loving his fellow Jew as he loves himself.

This tremendous effort, this immense shift in mindset, by definition, requires rejecting the Body and Animal Soul that keep tugging him to lesser states. These detractors, like gravity, constantly flash before him his uniqueness and individuality to draw his psyche "downward"; Like a woman of ill repute who keeps trying to seduce a noble character to succumb.

But the proud Jew, keenly aware of his noble soul, resists its competitors that seek to lower him, as sure as the brain, perched high above his heart, with applied wisdom can overrule the lust emoting from below, to stay the high ground.

In this transcendant state a Jew can love and appreciate the spiritual stature of his fellow Jew, as well as love his G-d, which really amounts to the same thing.

Where's the Birth Certificate - and, Why Padlock the Other Documents ?

The Only One We Can Rely On

There are leaders and there is a leader.

When Moses and his brother Aaron first went to see Pharoah, they were accompanied by 70 Jewish dignitaries. By the time they got to Pharoah, only Moses and Aaron were left. The elders, out of fear, dropped away one by one until none of them remained.

Then there was the time during the Ten Commandments event. It happened that the Jewish elders took this sacred phenomenon light-heartedly. Later they were punished for their nonchalance.

Remember the 12 leaders of the Jewish tribes that went to spy out The Holy Land? Ten of them were killed for lack of faith and unwillingness to enter Israel.

Then there's the story of Korach and the 250 sages who were heads of Sanhedriot and leaders of Jews. They too died a horrible death for doubting and opposing Moses.

How about the story of the leader of the tribe of Shimon, Zimri, who antagonized Moses and fell prey to Bilaam's wicked plot for Jews to sin. He too suffered a miserable death, at the hands of the righteous Pinchas.

The lesson we simpletons must learn from this is that so-called leaders of the Jews - are one thing. But the "head of all the Jews" (in Hebrew the acronym spells "Rebbe"), the Moses of the generation - why he's a whole other realm of sanctity and leadership. He's the only one we can rely on wholeheartedly.

A Telling Item Goes Missing

Got this email from a friend. See how every president - but this usurper of the White House - has an American flag in the background. This is a deliberate omission. The silence of the mainstream media regarding this snub at America the great - is deafening.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel - As a Wedge is Driven Between Good and Bad

Now that an illegitimate or Muslim candidate has been planted in the White House to commandeer the presidency of the United States; Now that irresponsible dictators have their itchy fingers on a nuclear trigger; Now that most nations on the globe wish evil for the Jewish people and the Holy Land; Now that a farcical nation of "Palestinian people" has been sanctioned to exist by all these nations; That is, now that the world suffers social and economic chaos, and Israel is marginalized and made to appear as a wicked entity, even by some of its own people within and without Israel, it seems we are quickly approaching a watershed era in world history. It is nothing less significant than the pre-Messianic era when two sides of the "Jewish issue" are clearly being delineated, when people clearly must embrace one side or the other.

Never before has the fate of so many lives across continents been made vulnerable to a split-second annihilation; Never before have so many media in so many lands synchronized their propaganda to slander Israel for aggression; Never before have so many nations silently legitimized Islamic terror or succumbed to Islamic infiltration, deflecting the heat on Jews and Israel; And never before has Israel been so overhauled systemically to dismember itself from within.

Please read my previous post regarding the prophecy in the last several verses in the Book of Daniel where it speaks about a collective separation into two distinct camps, one aligned with good, the other with the bad, as the Messianic era dawns.

It is a critical time. The spiritual forces of evil sense the imminent utopia. So they're determined to make their last stand now at all costs. If the world is to be cured of iniquity, then iniquity will put up the fight of its life to resist the makeover. Ideological differences among the wicked will be put aside as long as they find common ground to coalesce in their final do or die struggle against the Jewish cause.

The Jewish camp and their supporters, on the other hand, will react differently. Those aware of the transcendental providence, realizing the supernatural course of events and having faith in G-d, will observe the oncoming confrontation with more vigor in their commitments to G-d. Others, who still see these events dressed over by the veil of Nature, may well fret, unnecessarily upsetting themselves. But for these too, sooner or later, it will become evident they belong in the camp of good, in the camp of G-d, and will therefore come out victorious in this last war against evil.