The Silent Spies of Joshua

Right after Friday night prayers with his chassidim on Nissan 28, 5751, the Rebbe turned around, faced the crowd from his platform and began to speak to the stunned congregation. Not only did the change of venue and the odd hour cause an uproar, but what he said that memorable evening far more bewildered his followers.

"I've done everything I can to bring Moshiach," he said. "I now hand over the task to you. Do everything you can to bring him!"

This unusual communique threw chassidim into a state of frenzy. "What did the Rebbe want us to do, especially if he himself could not bring about Moshiach's arrival?" they said. "What does he expect of us to do now?" many questioned.

Many groups formed, each hastily gathered in ad hoc meetings with friends or associates, to try, calmly and reasonably, decide on an effective course of action. "How did the Rebbe want us to pursue bringing Moshiach," was the main topic. Urgency filled the air. Some were at their wit's end. Everybody hankered to know what his friend thought. None really knew what the Rebbe suggested, but they knew for sure it was an outright call to take action.

Of several initiatives, one in particular bore fruit. A chassid by the name of Nachshon appeared to be its prime architect. Let a rabbinic court convene to formulate and endorse a decree that ratifies the Rebbe as King Moshiach! This was, in fact, soon done and many rabbis of Chabad from the U.S. and around the world signed the decree.

Four days after that talk, on Monday, 2 Iyar, Nachshon handed the rabbinic court's signed decree to the Rebbe. The Rebbe accepted the document with a big smile and said to Nachshon,

"!ישר כח‫!‬ ישר כח"

(translation: "Right on! You did fine!")

One month later, some rabbis suggested the need to read the rabbinic decree at the gravesites of the previous Rebbeim and of the Rebbe's father, in the Soviet Union, to request of these spiritual giants to effectuate the revelation required (i.e., that this decree serve as impetus to launch Moshiach and render the Redemption). They chose Nachshon and his friend Avi to undertake the mission.

The week this pair returned from their trip, the Rebbe spoke on Shabbos (portion of Shelach) of the two spies Joshua silently sent to spy in the Land of Israel (without the fanfare raised as with the spies sent by Moses), and how this mission in particular, as opposed to the spy mission discharged by Moses, succeeded and served its purpose. A casual reader of the long talk that Shabbos might think it was just another talk like many, with a subject chosen from the portion at random. By not knowing the events of the prior 8 weeks, particularly the past two weeks, he would have lost the added significance attributed to "the two silent spies".

[A more recent psak din can be downloaded here.]

A Rebbe Letter on Buying German Products

Date unknown

Greeting and Blessing;

I am in receipt of your letter in which you ask my opinion "as to whether it is a weakness or impropriety" to avoid the purchase of goods made in Germany. You add that you ask this question as a Jew, in light of Jewish law and custom.

Surely this is more a matter of feeling rather than a question of Jewish law and custom. Consequently, as in all matters of sentiment, it is difficult to express an opinion that would have universal application.

At any rate it certainly cannot be categorized as a "weakness". On the contrary, a decision of this kind bespeaks strength of will, all the more so since it entails some inconvenience.

Nor can it be considered an "impropriety", since it is based on a principle which may be considered to come under the category of "Remember what Amalek did unto you". For, as is well known, the inhuman atrocities, etc., against our defenseless and innocent brethren were not perpetrated by a small group, but were carried out with the knowledge, consent and even cooperation of the vast majority of the German nation. Moreover, I do not think than anyone seriously believes that the Germany of today is entirely different from the Germany of two decades ago.

While on this subject a point must be made which, unfortunately, is often overlooked. It is that the so-called "Final Solution", which Hitler wished to bring about, can take various forms. It can take the form of an overt attempt at physical extermination, or it can be an insidious process which is no less destructive and perhaps even more so, namely, through assimilation and intermarriage, a process which began in Germany long before Hitler, when Jews tried to hide their Jewish identity and conduct their daily life like their German neighbors and associates, etc. This process, most unfortunately, is very much in evidence all around us. Whatever explanation may be given, the effect is the same. Hitler, too, had a "philosophy" that "justified" his actions.

It is too painful of a subject to dwell on here, but the conclusion is obvious. Each and every one of us who is aware of the situation must do everything possible to counteract the tide of assimilation by positive and dedicated action, to strengthen the eternal Jewish values and Torah-true institutions in his community and environment.

With blessing,

The Riddle of the Missing Year

I share a story I heard this Shabbos.

Three years ago, my friend (who created a calendar program for Jewish family purity) was in Pennsylvania the night before a special event was to take place in front of "770" in Brooklyn, NY. Once every 28 years, Jews gather there on the boulevard in the thousands to make the "Blessing on the Sun" en masse.

He was bothered by a question; Why, if the sun returns to the very position it first started orbiting in the world, from that very first Wednesday when God created it, why then was the year in which it was now about to be blessed, 5769, not a perfect multiple of 28; Why did the division of 5769 by 28 leave a remainder?

Everyone he asked that night in Pennsylvania could not answer his question. He drove to NY very early the next morning. The very first person he asked in Brooklyn gave him the answer.

The answer is in Rashi, in the Torah portion of Noah (8:14). The punishment meted out to Noah's generation, the Great Flood, occupied a full solar year! During this entire time, astronomic movement had ceased; All orbits remained frozen in time. Which is why, after the flood, God promises that the cycle of "... day and night will never again be breached." (8:22)

There you have it; One year did not count! 5769 - 1 = 5768, a number which does get factored evenly by 28.

From the day of its inception, back to its position where it was first created, was about to occur that morning my friend made it in time to Brooklyn, for exactly the 206th time.

But this story, however, raises a question, a new riddle:

The story of Joshua stopping the celestial orbits countered what God said to Noach (Gen. 8:22, cited above), that He will no more breach the cycle of day and night, as he had done during the Great Flood. How then (or when) were the hours that held back the normal cycle, for the sake of Joshua at Givon, compensated for with an acceleration of time, to return the cycle to its normal periodicity? Anyone?

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UPDATE: In the war with Amalek, in the year 2448, Moses stopped the sun (Rashi - Ex. 17:12). Joshua, in the war against the 5 Emorite armies, circa 2488, stopped the sun (Joshua 10:12) too. So where do we see where the sun was accelerated (to compensate for the loss of travel time in the above two instances)? This we see happened when the sun accelerated to set for Jacob when he went to pray at Mount Sinai (Gen. 28:11). Rashi says, "the sun suddenly set for Jacob, to persuade him to sleep at the spot", and as the Ba'al Haturim there also says, "The sun set before its normal time." (Second riddle resolved!)

I now simply have trouble understanding exactly what God means by "... day and night will never again be breached".

Iran's Plot will Backfire

This Rabbi (Rebbe of Mishkoltz) presents an interesting proposition why not to attack Iran. He contends unity among Jews, a spiritual dynamic, will perforce lead to a physical consequence - the elimination of the current Haman. The Persian terrorist, like his predecessor, succeeds in uniting Jews because of the evil he wants to perpetrate, and the result will therefore backfire. I enjoy the confidence this Rav projects in God and in Jewry.

But because he made no mention of the explicit law in Shulchan Aruch, Hilchot Shabbat (329), regarding foreigners at the borders who threaten an invasion, in which case the law dictates to rise early and beat the enemy at his game, an obvious issue that must be taken into account, his position is unsettling if not unclear.

The Magic River

Imagine, for a moment, a surging river, loaded with lumber, building materials and hardware, also gushing into its many tributaries - and wherever along the water banks a house needs fixing, renovation or replacement, the waters dam up nearby, flood the homestead, bubble with activity, then, when the commotion dies away and the waters resume their normal flow, the homestead is, miraculously, left looking new. Imagine too, this river mends fences, does gardening and removes garbage along the banks wherever necessary.

Imagine all the free time people gain from all this work the river does without their slightest concern, effort, or even intervention - in fact, even without their knowledge. Moreover, imagine these magical powers spontaneously developed, without a learning process; The system relied on its own initiatives, its own perceptions and assessments, on its own skills, and on its own takes care of supplies, tools, performance - based on its own high standards. And to really be sure people enjoy this service, it's offered free of charge!

Other systems interact with this waterway network. An extensive port facility stands ready to unload all waste matter from the water and to load it with essential supplies. If canisters in the water, which carry materials, erode or need replacement, another system throws newly fabricated canisters into the water where necessary. In case an assault on one or more homesteads is discovered, a team of swimmers emerge from the water to fight off the offending agents, sometimes even at the cost of self-sacrifice. These police swimmers constitute an entire brigade force, with plenty more ready to replace them or even to join the fight to better the odds of victory. A supermarket chain also has its swimmers suited to deliver food to the homesteaders.

Imagine all the peace of mind people gain living next to such a river. Can so magnificent a river, with its adjunct systems, exist? Can so many wonderful advantages accrue to people nearby?

You might think such a marvel of existence is too phenomenal even to dream of. Even were you to let your imagination run wild, you'd be hard-pressed to think of any new way to improve upon its splendid features.

Nevertheless, such a river exists in nature! In fact, unbelievably, it offers many more advantages than has here been described.

In fact, there is not one, but virtually very many billions of such rivers in nature. And, as stated, the magical features mentioned above are understated because these miraculous rivers offer so much more benefits for the homesteads.

And how many such homesteads enjoy these amazing benefits? No less than trillions of trillions of homesteads are constantly monitored for repairs and maintenance!

The magical river exists in every human being and in every animal on the face of this globe. It is the body's circulatory system of blood; And the homestead is the cell of the body.

This magical river surges within us under exquisite control that reflects infinite planned purposefulness and organization. Many systems integrate and communicate with it. For example, the respiratory system supplies the oxygen and removes the carbon-dioxide. The heart keeps the river surging. Muscles in the arteries and arterioles direct the traffic expediently. Bone marrow furnishes new red-blood-cells to replace the dying ones. The immune system furnishes policing white-blood-cells to combat infection or disease. Hemoglobin molecules are fabricated to transport the oxygen. Etc.

This wondrous orchestration of systems keeps us alive and well every second, every day and every year, year after year. Should you not offer God a thank-you right now in gratitude? Thank you God for this wonderful world you placed us in, and may we merit to see more of your wonders soon, when the world will be elevated onto a new, much higher plane of experience - when the Era of Redemption manifests in its full glory very soon in our days, please God!

Bad Israeli Leadership

Of 12 leaders of Israelites who spied the Land of Israel, 10 were severely punished for opining the might of the enemy, effectively disowning the Land of Israel. They forfeited their right to this cherished land, as did all those emotionally aligned with them. In contrast, the 2 leaders with a positive outlook merited entry into the Holy Land. These tried to convince the people to forsake their fear of those who lay claim to the land as theirs and, instead, trust in God.

Their words, spoken 3,324 years ago, provide a lesson for us to heed today. (Num. 14:8-9)

They said:

אם חפץ בנו השם
"If God favors us ..."
(and how would we know this ...)

והביא אתנו אל הארץ הזאת ונתנה לנו ארץ אשר היא זבת חלב ודבש
"... for He brought us to this land that flows with milk and honey and gave it to us"
(that's how we'd know, for He brought us to it and gave it to us - the second and final time in 5708 (1948), this beautiful land that flows with milk and honey - giving us back our Land of Israel, and keeping us victorious in all our wars against the enemy)

אך בה' אל תמרדו
"But then against God do not rebel ..."
(by ungratefully giving away parts of this Holy Land He gave to us as a gift)

ואתם אל תיראו את עם הארץ
"... and you should not fear those in the land ..."
(that claim priority rights to it, or any other "rights" to any part of it)

כי לחמנו הם סר צלם מעליהם וה' אתנו אל תיראם
"... for they are our fodder [we can conquer them], their protectiveness [rights] has lapsed, and God is with us, so fear them not!"
(That God is with us is abundantly clear; Every war was a miraculous victory for the Jewish people. [As if sitting once again upon our sovereign, ancestral land, after two millennia of dispersion, persecution, murder and hatred wherever a Jew rested his tired feet, were not enough proof.])

Why then all this preoccupation with the so-called rights of the enemy, or seeking to soothe far-flung anti-Semites who would love nothing more than Israel's annihilation? And if the Gentiles can manage it bit by bit, then that's how they'll aim to do it.

Especially now we must stand firm against chipping away more of our Holy Land, for now they threaten to raze the Ulpana settlement. Already they yielded the huge Sinai Peninsula, the oilfields, the city of Yamit, the large sector of Gush Katif and many other places. Many settlements have been destroyed. Besides that, numerous cities remain officially Judenrein. Plus they tolerate the terror of Gaza rockets raining down in the South. But the Gentile forces see that pressure works, and that political fools in Israel continue to relent. Where oh where are leaders like Joshua and Kalev? Where is Moshiach?!

Bad Jewish Leaders

Poor Jews. The leaders they have often set them back from readily available gains - by decades.

We note such a setback when 12 leaders of the Jews, on their way in the desert trekking towards the Land of Israel, insisted from Moses to spy out the the land God promised to give to the Jewish people, before setting foot into it. Not only did they ignore God's word, but when they returned from the mission they sought to discourage the Jews from entering the land!

This sin was a grievous blow that forestalled entry into the Holy Land by 40 years!

The Rebbe too stated how the Era of Redemption had been impeded by decades because of the Jewish country's Zionist thrust to forge it into a secular state (see here).

Today too a similar senseless posture undermines and frustrates the Jewish people's yearning for a country of their own. Today's generation of Jews too see how the Rebbe's words of warning fall on deaf ears. Instead of turning Israel in a country for Jews and only for the sake of Jews, the consortium of leaders seeks to appease Gentile populations at the expense of Jewish rights and seeks to cede some of the Holy Land, which God gifted the Jews during the wars, and hand it back to the Gentiles who instigated the wars in the first place. All that can come from such fallacy is renewed warfare, God forbid!

You might think this awful policy comes solely from a secular mindset, but, in fact, an orthodox party, Shas, prevents this government from dissolution, so further destruction can take place, all due to worship of the false idol of money and power this party receives as bribes.

We could be celebrating the Era of Redemption NOW, by acknowledging the Rebbe as leader of the Jewish people - here and now! Instead, we must suffers the woes of misfortune because many Jews and their leaders think they know better than the Rebbe, the Moses of our generation.

Ordinary in Tampa Bay is Extraordinary

Here's a recent email from my rabbi friend, the Rebbe's emissary in Tampa Bay, FL., who takes advantage of every opportunity to take Jews back to the warm Jewish fold, especially those "kidnapped since birth" by a Gentile culture:

Recently, after we purchased our home, I went looking for tiles, since the entire floor needs to be replaced. As such, I shopped around at various stores looking for the best deal.

During this search, as usual, I always take my Tefillin with me, and as usual, I always find Jews wherever I may go, since they are everywhere!

The Tampa Bay area has approx 300.000 Jews, the vast majority have never been to a synagogue in their entire life, and are not involved in the Jewish community in any way. Therefore these random acts of Judaism are the best way to meet Jews and develop a good friendship.

The first shop I went to was "Floor & Décor" on US 19 and Sunset Point Rd. where we all went together as a family, and sure enough, one of the sales people told Raizy "I am Jewish". Going together as a Jewish family, with Raizy and the kids, is the best advertisement possible, people are immediately attracted, and everyone looks, people of all backgrounds. Because in our day and age, it is highly unusual to see an actual family, with married parents and children walking together as one. So this event serves as a great opportunity to show average Americans the beauty of Judaism.

Back to that sales person, his name is David S__, he is a very proud Jew as you can see from all his tattoos, and he got WRAPPED with Tefillin for the very first time in his life. We celebrated his "Spiritual Bar-Mitzvah" right there in the "Floor & Décor". He had many tears in his eyes as emotions took over. The amazing divine providence was that 4 days later he left for another job. So it was all BASHERT – meant to be. Later, we had David and his wife over for Shabbat dinner; One Mitzvah leads to another.

The Redemptive Era - Phase One

The Rebbe told us Moshiach's era has dawned. But many of us detect no change from how it was years ago. So what gives?

The Rebbe told us to "open our eyes", that is, to see that, in fact, we passed the threshold from the old world into the new one. This prefatory scene, however, despite its momentous significanace, appears to have affected the world with no fundamental change. We must conclude, therefore, the process has to incrementally progress to full-fledged completion, at least from the outset. So, despite what the surface reveals, we are nevertheless in the early stages of the Redemptive Era's development.

This is what Maimonides said about the first phase of Moshiach's era;

עולם כמנהגו נוהג

The world will proceed as usual.

This means the current events unfolding before our eyes spell "The Redemptive Era". If you see Israel being surrounded by more and larger threats than before, you hear the dog barking but he doesn't bite. If you fear for Israel's future, realize Arabs may well end up devouring each other instead, just as Egyptian first-borns of yesteryear murdered fellow Egyptians and freed the Jewish nation. If Jews seem threatened for being Jewish around the world, notice also how a protective glass shields them. If Israel seems inundated with foreigners and Gentiles, notice too the Jewish population remains strong and safe, and leave future concerns for God to handle. If some Jews suffer poverty, notice it is merely relative to an imagined wealth that isn't necessary. If you find many Jews remain far beyond the call of Torah duty, notice too a great wave of new oncomers has joined the Torah fold, against all odds - if judging by the strict code they are yielding to. And if most of Israelis remain as yet unorthodox, see nevertheless how the majority now believe in God and in Torah's holiness, despite the incessant bias from the media and government policies, and therefore have but a thin line that separates them from true Torah convictions.

Appearances remain nothing more than appearances. Jewish faith can change appearances and effectively cancel the apparent threats. The Jewish thought process has powerful ramifications; It can now actually nullify threats from transpiring. This is now how the redemption unfolds before our eyes - it looks like it will be bad, but it is, in fact, the concealed way of actually being fantastic.

"Opening your eyes" includes UNDERSTANDING that it is up to you to change the world with YOUR THOUGHTS because YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD. A Gentile cannot. Jews are God's representative people. Jews therefore have the inherent power to change the world faster by GOOD THOUGHTS and GOOD DEEDS. This is the power intrinsic in contemporary Jewry.

Hail the Rebbe King Moshiach who has left us with this legacy of power to bring on the Redemption. Will it and it will come to be - via you! Think good - and it therefore will be good!

Who else can change it? Gentiles? Like those who mouth rap "music" with angry, stupid rhyming? Who can change it, a culture where youngsters walk around with their pants below their waists, exposing their underwear? Can you expect a people that allow abortive killing in the millions to bring goodness to the world? Can a society of loose morals bring about this sublime change? This Gentile generation and its decadent culture is quickly dying, taking America down to a decrepit state. Once God was its central platform, as in "In God we trust" or as in "endowed by the Creator", but that has been gradually chiseled away since the country's inception.

Look at pictures of city dwellers or even Hollywood films of a few decades ago. You immediately detect the change in modesty and nobility. Like Germany of 60 years ago, Americans profess to be on the right track but you can see brutish character wherever you turn; Any polish is only skin deep. The sanctity of family, once the lynchpin of a healthy society, has withered into perverse "relationships" - like "same-sex marriage". The medical institution has become a legitimatized industry of drug-pushers. Racial tensions are rising. Anti-Semitism again simmers. The dollar has been purposely brought to ruin. Fascists have taken control of the White House.

The god worshipped as "Democracy" is dead.

Only the orthodox Jew has the power to think good to make things better. Only the orthodox Jew can enable the Gentile to regain some of his power by teaching him to conform with the 7 Noahide laws as sanctioned by Moses. If he conforms, this remains his only avenue of hope - to align with Jewish interests. America is tailspinning irreversibly into an abyss of misery! Only God's overt lifeline can now be summoned by the Gentile for direct help! Woe to the blind who seek salvation from false gods and plodding the dogma of spurious faiths.

(I say the "orthodox" Jew because only orthodoxy is valid. The likes of "conservative" or "reform" or "reconstructive" or other "plastic surgical" types of reformists have no steel anchor embedded in Torah; All they have is some malleable romanticism with but no committment or proper respect for Torah's dictates or its origin. Reformist Jews more likely act against the better interests of society by seeking to appease or conform with the decadent Gentile element. Reformist Jews are Jewish quacks!

They fear being genuine Jews. They fear to pray as Jews prayed for millennia, as dictated by our sages. They lack faith in God - in His eternal providence. They seek to be "modern", as if contemporary lifestyle holds an advantage over that of previous era, as if our sages had no idea of what the future held. So they improvise their own nonsense and rules of conduct, like forbidding the wearing of kipahs in their "temple", or to have mixed seating, or creating lady rabbis, or calling up couples to the Torah reading, or to replace cantors with tape recorders. They desecrate the Sabbath and desecrate holy tradition. They fear to offend the Gentile, thinking - wrongly - the Gentile prefers a "modern", assimilated Jew over an "ultra" orthodox Jew whose ways could only stultify them with ancient customs. In other words, these reformists are birds of the same feather, no matter to what extent they deviate, because any deviation leads to appalling results - like, for example, the "conservative rabbis'" recent consensus in support of "same-sex marriage" - an outright abomination! These quacks all lack pride in authentic God-given Judaism, or, simply no nothing at all about it.)

The orthodox Jew is the cog of society's wheel. Whereas before the Redemptive Era that fact hadn't been obvious, but now, if we "open our eyes", we can readily sense the divine providence that follows this Jew's every breath, thought and step.

A Brooklyn Lady Tells it Like it is

What Women's Media Need to Know About Chassidic Women

When you slam Orthodox Jews because you think you're defending or somehow liberating the women of our communities, you're actually doing us a huge disservice.

Hi. I'm Chaya, and I am a Chassidic Jewish woman. I am also a media professional with a degree in Women's Studies from a large, very liberal university (magna cum laude, baby!).
In the past few days, I've been reading the backlash against "the asifa," a recent mass meeting of religious Jewish men meant to draw a few boundaries around Internet use in our homes (meaning religious Jewish homes; not your house).
Whenever religious Jews make a stink about some cultural issue, the media moves in on it with a bizarre kind of vengeance. Like yesterday, Katie J.M. Baker published an article on Jezebel about the event, in which she actually compared Jewish men to ants!
See: "While men in traditional Orthodox garb filed into Citi Field as steadily as a never-ending line of ants approaching an anthill…" Um, where have I seen Jews compard to insects before? Oh, wait, WWII.
As a resident of Brooklyn, the epicenter of all things hipster and the home of many, many clad-in-black religious Jews, I'd like to clarify a few things for all of you. Here are a few things you need to know about Chassidic women:
1. We are not imprisoned.
The last time I checked (which was right now), I am free to do whatever I want to do. Nobody is making me do anything. If I want to leave the community I live in, whether to go grocery shopping or to put on a pair of pants and go to a disco and snort coke, I can. Nobody is going to stop me. Would I wear a pair of skinny jeans and snort coke in a disco? No. Why?
2. We like ourselves the way we are. And most of us are happy.
Poor Deborah Feldman got the short end of the stick. She got a dysfunctional family and a crummy school. But listen: That happens everywhere. How many (non-Jewish or secular Jewish) friends of yours come from dysfunctional families and crappy schools and just couldn't wait to leave home? Did they represent your entire hometown?
We call becoming lax in religious observance and adopting a secular lifestyle "frying out." People fry out all the time. Most of us, though, feel like we are leading pretty rewarding lives.
Look at it this way: When your friends go to India to learn how to meditate and come home "leading spiritual lives" and suddenly won't go out for barbecue with you, you think it is cool. Your friend is leading a spiritual life. Spiritual lives involve boundaries and not just doing whatever your body feels like at that second. We lead spiritual lives. Leading a spiritual life is rewarding.
3. We find our husbands attractive.
You know those guys with the long beards and the black coats who are always reading something in Hebrew on the train and you're kind of freaked out by them? So they're our husbands.
My husband has a very impressive beard. He wears a black suit, and a kippah and a black hat. He is also the most handsome, hot, attractive man in the entire world to me. Nobody forced me to marry him. My father did not trade me to him for a flock of sheep.
Fun fact: Jewish law prohibits marrying someone who you're not attracted to. Another fun fact: In the Jewish marriage contract, one of the conditions of marriage is that a husband is obligated to sexually satisfy his wife. If my husband would deny "conjugal rights" to me, that's grounds for divorce. Pretty effing progressive if you ask me.
4. We have been happily shagging for millennia. Jews never had the concept of "original sin."
Judaism is the original sex-positive culture. What? You heard me right. Y'all need "sex-positive Third wave feminism" to help you feel like having sex is OK. Jews bypassed the whole Christian idea that all sex, even in marriage, is a sin. And Protestant asceticism just never happened for us.
G-d likes it when a married Jewish couple has sex. Jews never got a message that sex is dirty. We think sex is good. It is so good that having it is actually a commandment. No, we cannot shag "anything that moves." No, we can't sleep around or have sex outside of marriage. But once you're married, sex is totally cool and awesome and G-d likes it.
I don't know who made up the dumb story about having sex through a sheet, but let's bury that old chestnut now. Having sex through a sheet is actually prohibited by Torah and we are commanded explicitly by G-d to get totally naked to shag. Just in case you're wondering.
5. Mikveh is awesome. We don't go to the mikveh because we're "dirty."
Holy moly! How many times have I heard feminists totally misread the Jewish practice of abstaining from sex during one's period and then immersing in a mikveh (a ritual bath)? It is hard to explain this one to people who grew up in Puritan America.
When you hear the word "impure," it has a totally different meaning than the meaning it has in the context of Torah. In Torah, you're dealing with states of being that are related to the service in the Beis HaMikdash (the Great Temple). It's called "ritual purity" and "ritual impurity." These states of being have nothing to do with being dirty or clean. You could, in fact, not shower for days and roll in the mud and you'd still be "ritually pure."
Are you confused? You should be. We think about these things in a paradigm that is so not the dominant paradigm.
All you need to know is that the practice of not touching your husband when you're on your period and then immersing in a mikveh is awesome. Most women's mikvehs are like spas. Picture the most beautiful spa you've ever been to, in a quiet all-girls safe space, and that's mikveh.
Incidentally, Orthodox Jewish women have one of the lowest rates of cervical and other reproductive cancers because of…wait for it…these customs. We do not have sex at times that our vaginas are vulnerable to infection (such as right after birth). Because we do internal checks for menstrual blood the week after we finish menstruating, the rate of early detection of (G-d forbid) tumors and cysts in the vagina is very high.
You think we are sexually repressed and afraid of our own bodies just because we dress modestly? Every single Chassidic woman you see sticks her own fingers in her own vagina at least twice a day for 7 days of the month. The chicks in my women's studies classes didn't even do that.
In conclusion…
When you slam Orthodox Jews because you think you're defending or somehow liberating the women of our communities, you're actually doing us a huge disservice. When you slam Jewish men, you're slamming us, too. Not in my name, gals.
The next time you see a Jewish lady in a wig pushing a baby carriage through Brooklyn, I hope you won't see an imprisoned waif who is just waiting to be liberated. Cuz we're not like that. We're strong. We're invincible. And we make delicious kugel. L'chaim, chicas!

Original link - here.

The Twilight Before Redemption

Like it or not, Islam is on the rise - radical Islam, of course, because they always predominate. It is now well embedded in the U.S. too, and soon enough that fact will become obvious, as obvious as it is to the Europeans. The fact that after 9/11 we see greater - not less - Muslim penetration, so much so the White House itself shills for the Islamic blueprint, like officially turning NASA into an agency for outreach to Moslem countries, ought to be enough of an indication.

Israel too, after its people have come out scorched from a European inferno, cannot right itself in the eyes of the nations. And as you know, we had leftists run our Jewish nation for most if not all this time, literally bending over backwards to appease the nations and pacify the enemy. And what did it help? What could easily be the best little country in the world to live in, for Jews, is, relatively speaking, still a disaster, where a wrong turn at some traffic signal, if you can't read Arabic, might bring you straight into the throes of hateful rock-throwers eyeing to smash your car and kill you. And the police of Israel, with their tail between their feet, will perhaps write up a report. Where parts of the country must still remain Jew-free. Where, if you happen to live on land where a former administration told you to go live, a current administration may well drag you out of and hand your property over to the enemy. Where many kids growing up know more about Madonna than they do about Queen Esther.

And what about Israel's immediate neighbors. Syria gets help from a wealthy Iran and sinister Russia, who's parked some battleships along Syria's shores. Belligerent Iran is near nuclear-capable. Egypt looks to go berserk radical. Jordan is raising its snout because it thinks America is abandoning Israel (they are right!). Saudi Arabia is still pumping oil and God keeps their spigots wide open. Lebanon and Gaza are hotbeds of hate and lethal threat. Turkey is itching for action. The noose around Israel's neck appears to be tightening again.

Will it get better? For Jews the future picture looks black. The world could care less. Even in the U.S., where Jews flourished for many years, the Islamic serpent is shedding its old skin, soon to rear his ugly head, while the inidigenous Esau-hater of Jews will add fuel to the fire. In Israel, the left, with their money coffers always being filled, and the crooked elements that pander to the enemy, still have their hands on the helm.

All in all, the prospects certainly look awfully bleak for the Jew, wherever he may be. Unless, of course you believe God runs the world and is pushing Jews, nay, nudging them more and more to consider Him, consider His Torah, consider His commandments and consider Jewish pride - because, as is becoming palpable, the future of Moshiach is all but upon us. We stand literally inside of the threshold of the Era of Ultimate Redemption!

When it finally comes down to it and God separates the evil from the cauldron of world events, how many righteous Gentiles do you think will remain steadfast friends of the Jewish people? We'll be able to count them on one hand.

As for my own take on the many menacing countries surrounding Israel, it seems a lot worse than it really is; As bad as it looks for the tiny Jewish country, the Arabs will be kept to just barking, but God will make sure they cannot bite.

"And a redeemer is coming to Zion, and to those who return from iniquity, says God." (Is. 59:20). And, as Rashi often teaches us in Torah, "says God" expresses God's oath to the Jewish people.

It's All in the Mind

People don't quite understand just how powerful the mind can exert its influence on the body and spirit. You can have wealth and health because - it's all in the mind!

(And it always helps to have someone who believes in your potential.)

How to Counter Homosexuality - The Scourge of Society

Someone has to say something against the troubling trend in the U.S., and even in Israel, to "accept" homosexuality, or being politically correct to tolerate it. If conservative circles also won't speak out against this depravity, at least here I can tell the "surfer" Torah's perspective of it.

Torah shows utter contempt for male homosexuality!

"Do not lie with a man as you would a woman; That is a disgusting perversion." (Lev.18:22)

"Were a man to lie with a male as he would a female, both commit a disgusting perversion ...." (Lev.20:13)

Both these times that it makes mention of homosexuality, Torah also mentions bestiality. No wonder homosexuals despise Torah, at least those who know of this prohibition.

Even without knowing Torah's abhorrence of it, the very physiology of the act speaks for itself. First of all, because homosexuality is unproductive, inasmuch as no children can thereby be created, nature itself testifies to this unnatural physical alliance. A society promoting such perverse habits would grind to a halt in a few generations.

Secondly, the involved anatomy speaks for itself. The act of releasing sperm into the path of excrement shows you just how vile it really is. They take the canal of human, contaminated waste as a replacement for the corridor of birth. This behavior renders sperm the equivalent of dung, rather than confer sanctity of life to the seed's potential.

The epitome of decadence: 3rd graders made to 
introduce B.H.O. at a homosexual-"pride" event. 
(6/13/13)  [link]

Human nature forces upon homosexuals a cognitive dissonance, a spiritual discomfort from being in conflict with their physical endowments. Whereas all the world propagates naturally under man-woman alliances, these men acquire beliefs and emotions that conflict with those of normal people. They become promiscuous, arrogant and void of morality. They become averse to holy aspirations. Because they shun procreation, they lack concern for children - and therefore for other people, or for the future of civilization. What's more, they can easily slide into pornography, pedophilia, sadism or bestiality.

Man's natural emotional attachment to a woman homosexuals transfer to males instead. This explains the superficial affectations they display to other males, but there is a deeper consequence. His psychology suffers because man's nature is predominantly to give, whereas a woman's nature is predominantly to receive. Yet here, in a perversion of roles, a giver tries to become a receiver, and whatever giving occurs is effectively nil because the receptivity is artificial.

To relieve mental stress, they seek to coerce people to accept their orientation, for the more people they can convince this perversion is "normal", the more their own deviate course resembles the norm.

Because grown men cannot be convinced to abandon a sane mentality, commonly - the homosexuals' victims are innocent children or unsuspecting youth! Homosexual adults secretly salivate when a youngster innocently walks within their proximity. Homosexuals are, in fact, a peril to society.

As long as they can indulge with selfish glee, they could care less if they tear down society's mores. Now that they have "liberal" politicians to back this perversion with sanctions, their next goal is to institute "same-sex marriage". Little by little they bring chaos to civilization. While they are at it, they also are in the forefront that fights against religious tolerance and for the rights of pornographers.

One good way to hide from people the truth of homosexual perversion is to refrain from the word "homosexual" and replace it with a "better-sounding" label - being "gay". Of course it has nothing to do with gaiety but those pushing the liberal agenda continue to use and thus endorse the euphemism. What better way to whitewash the ugly?

Rationalization is most often the recourse taken by the homosexual to explain his "tendencies". After all, he claims, his homosexual desires are innate. He may as well tell us man-woman attraction is unnatural.

See how arrogant they can be! Never mind that nature disagrees, for, like we said, were it "natural", life would come to a halt, genealogy would serve no purpose, and sperm would hold no advantage over feces. And never mind the marvelous workings built into nature just to ensure reproductive capability.

But they also negate Torah, the word of God, that twice calls their behavior "a disgusting perversion". Would a benevolent God impose upon His creatures an edict to go against their instincts? Why would God compare it to bestiality? Do they claim bestiality as innate too?

We must show homosexuals mercy. Usually they begin their perversion innocently. It could have been in a boys' school, where boys romp free in shower stalls, for example. It could have been a roommate's sideswipe. It could have been virtually any inadvertent behavior that builds on itself. Often these first encounters become quashed in due time. But the most common way is to be duped by an adult pervert. We must show mercy because it might be difficult to unlearn this sordid habit. Only the inveterate, brazen homosexual who upholds respect for this vulgarity should be regarded as evil, those who arrogantly wave their banner of deceitful "pride".

Homosexuality, if sanctioned, promotes child abuse. A homosexual will approach a boy under normal pretenses and then seek to satisfy his lust by tricking the boy to submit. Most children are thus duped their first time. Here, for example, is a case in point, where a gay mayor tried to lure his 5th child victim! Or, how's this for a headline, "At Least 11 Mayors Accused of Child Sex-Related Crimes Since 2016"?

The "liberal" homosexual mindset strives to destroy society's moral fabric. A recent example was New York city's "gay parade". This was a march of adults. But who did they stand in as "the grand marshal" of the parade? A 10-year old boy! The poor kid probably believed he achieved greatness thereby. The adult organizers not only did not care children bystanders would see this parade, they wanted other children to watch and "learn". What could be more loathsome than to see perverts openly dragging civilization into the sewer?

On the day these perverts have their "Gay Pride Parade", normal people also should go out on the streets with their families and make a parade of their own, an "Express Relief Parade" - to express their relief for being normal, happy families, which isn't something we ought to take for granted as long as perversion remains so blatant a stain on society.

One point deserves repetition. Homosexuality takes the sanctity out of marriage. The holy union between man and wife, that which God ordained for the sake of procreation and for the union of two "halves", they find irreverent. The irreverence generalizes across all their behaviors. They prefer a measure of anarchy to destabilize normal society, so you find many of them secretly inviting Islamic terrorism by advocating political correctness. You find many of them in the educational system encouraging false science and integrating this into children's and collegiate textbooks. For example, many subscribe to the global warming hoax and certainly they champion hollow "evolutionism" to deny God and creation. These restless souls often are preoccupied in all matters that negate sanctity of freedom, of worship, of property rights, or the sanctity of anything "endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights" that keep a society from disintegrating.

[Update 12/20/18 - Here's a current example of how young boys are taught to spurn a family lifestyle.]

Israel - Why All the Focus?

The same picture, depending on how you choose to look at it.

- - - - -

Is it not remarkable so many Arab/Muslim countries, comprising much of two continents, with more land mass than Israel one-thousand fold, cannot concentrate on normal living as long as that tiny sliver of land called Israel remains viable? All those people in all those countries just can't gain their composure unless they sweep the few Jews left there into the sea.

Just as amazing is the rest of the world's focus on tiny Israel; Instead of telling Arabs/Muslims to "Shut up!" and "Get on with your lives!", they too, across all the continents, just can't mind their own business; They feel they have the right to meddle in the Arab-Israeli "problem".

So the whole world practically, in one way or another, just can't keep to their own affairs without imposing upon tiny, itsy-bitsy Israel.

To be sure, scattered here and there, proponents and sympathizers of tiny Israel exist, but, on the whole, it's usually a "bullying" affair. What a phenomenon to behold! As if among 10,000 people in a room, one, who's trying to keep a low profile, irks them all.

So - why all the focus? Why are all eyes around the world continually drawn to the Jewish land? Why all this fuss over Jews all the time?

Jews short on historical perspective, those who share horizons with their Gentile counterparts who see what exists today and not what transpired over centuries and millennia, cannot be expected to understand this puzzle. These Jews see only the tip of their own historical iceberg. Therefore they take this bullying from around the world to heart. They therefore cow to liberal elements who attribute legitimacy to Arab claims. They therefore offer up compromises to appease non-Arab countries that exert pressure.

In contrast, Jews who hold Torah and its prophecies close to their bosom, see in panoramic scope what takes account of the traditional Judaic perspective. These therefore take comfort from all this badgering. They see the same bullying, the same pressures, only they see all this as if they were sitting on clouds above the din looking down below seeing history unfold before their eyes just as predicted in the Holy Books.

They know the long history of Jewish travail and its ultimate purpose, to refine the world, much like the refinement of gold from earth's raw ore, to prepare the people of the earth for a loftier experiential purpose. They know and now finally sense the proximity of Moshiach and the Era of Ultimate Redemption soon to burst forth onto the world theater. They saw and felt the birth pangs of this utopia with the passing of the Holocaust; They noted the redemption of the Holy Land, after it purposely laid bare two thousand years waiting for their return; They saw Torah orthodoxy return and strike deep roots, thriving against the strong winds of assimilative forces; They saw how against mighty odds tiny Israel miraculously scored victories in every single war it was forced to fight.

And now they watch these last few moments of exile, as much of the world scrimmages against its people, how this little country remains in the headlines, no matter what week or day of the year it is. Something obviously is coming down the pike, and it can only spell "Era of Final and Ultimate Redemption". For this reason Torah-true Jews take comfort.

They know divine providence is forcing the world's attention on the one people whose fate will touch and involve own lives, for they will encounter cataclysmic changes, be they benign or mortal, as a new world order is ushered in, one with more tangible divine expression - one from which the good will remain standing firm and evil will be obliterated.

The bickering serves a purpose. Sides must be taken. No one can remain apathetic. They will have to align with either the good or the bad. A separation must be operative before extraction of the unwanted element is disposed of. Good and evil sides will become distinct.

This focus serves to generate busy interactions whose ultimate purpose is to separate the impure from the pure. Thereby, when the right moment arises, evil will be vanquished and the Jewish people and her true friends will hail and rejoice in a world liberated from evil once and for all.

The Holocaust in Support of Rebellion

A Jewish Author wrote:

"This idea of God as half-security blanket ... is completely antithetical to the idea of God I was raised with. The God I was brought up to worship was a mercurial force requiring annual appeasement in the form of High Holiday services, when the entire congregation would gather to personally apologize to Him for eating bacon and cheating on our taxes, and beg Him not to kill us this year.

"... I mean, if He couldn't be bothered to intervene in the Holocaust why intervene for me .... There is no plan. I'm one of billions scurrying around a senseless universe. And honestly, the idea couldn't come as more of a relief."

In response:

The single argument that consistently arises among rebellious Jewish disbelievers in God reverts back to the Holocaust. How could a "wise" and "beneficent" God, they ask, have destroyed 6 million people - and of His people no less?

This question takes as its premise that this God must be understandable, as least enough to provide a good answer for so obvious an injustice.

By demanding an answer, this question, in effect, wants to cast God in anthropomorphic guise, as a God that makes "human sense", which really tells you more about the questioner than it does of his object of inquiry. The questioner reckons his mind will grasp the explanation and the scope of that explanation, and if not, this God cannot fit his reasoning. Hereby we sense the mindset of an inflated ego.

As to why the Holocaust occurred, we cannot answer. The Jewish prophets relayed the words of God to the Jewish people, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways." (e.g., Isaiah 55:8)

In fact, says Maimonides, God's thoughts, unlike man's, are not set apart from Him, as thoughts and the thinker can be separated in man; God and His thoughts are - one and the same! How can this be? We cannot even begin to fathom this reality; We'll simply never know.

But our ignorance of God should not surprise us. Can a nest know its bird? Can an explosion understand its etiology? Can milk understand the cow? In other words, can a product know its maker? The idea that man can get to "know" his creator is infinitely more ludicrous.

That's not to say God keeps us completely in the dark. He gave us Torah and prophecies from which we can learn how best to behave and interact with the world at large - to please Him, as well as for our own benefit.

That we have questions about God's leadership is fine; But to take this doubt as justification for abandoning Him - really is more a self-serving convenience than a reasoned response on whether to acknowledge a controlling omnipotent deity. To perceive the world as "senseless" can only come from a simmering, restless mindset oblivious of all the wonderous phenomena and natural aesthetics that surround us. For every process in the universe, from the nanoscopic to the astronomic, reveals beautiful and amazingly intricate organization. Despite the full-scoped continuous blueprint of brilliant planning displayed by nature, the tunnel-vision of this Jewish author sees "no plan", no organization. Were she to walk the desert and find lying in the sand a fine-tuned Swiss watch, her high-strung mind might just conclude that "random events" created that masterpiece, and by mere accidents of nature it ended up by her feet.

No doubt the argument of "no plan and no organization" is a whimsical add-on to the author's main protestation - that which relates to the Holocaust. The anger for the Holocaust effectively renders all thought of universal planning and organization as practically irrelevant. The author's anger gets in the way of reasoning with equanimity, and until that primary emotion cools off, it will block any logic or reasoning from consideration. On the other hand, it may well be she seeks a good reason for rebelling, and by flaunting a "respectable discourse" she can convince herself and justify her break with tradition.

Anger and its associate, the inflated ego, Torah tells us, interfere with persuasion. But once that anger dissipates, space now becomes available for the brain, perched over the heart, to convey to the heart plenty of good reasons to reject anger and, instead, appreciate and trust our benevolent God Almighty.