"Miss Israel" & the Rebbe

Beauty pageant queen of Israel in 1991, Miri Goldfarb, asks the Rebbe for a blessing. The Rebbe then suggests how a woman can truly be praiseworthy, quoting King Solomon (Proverbs 31:30).

Self-Nullification

The one concept Chassidus teaches that intrigued me most, which I had to struggle with most, back when I was turning religious, was the concept of "self-nullification" (ביטול).

Basically that means you must nullify your personal considerations in favor of what G-d would want you to do instead; That you prevent your ego, your pride, or your professed wisdom from interference with G-d's wishes. You first need to override your selfish desires before you can absorb properly the dictates of Hashem.

We can illustrated this concept as follows. If you have a glass that contains a small amount of dirty water, and you want a drink of water, you would first need to empty out the dirty water before you pour clean water into the glass, otherwise all the water becomes dirty.

Similarly, in order to appreciate and eventually understand the benefits of keeping G-d's commandments, you must first empty yourself of your own presumptions and professed wisdom, which will only interfere with the divine knowledge you wish to finally acquire.

Just as the seed placed into the earth cannot develop and blossom into the tree it is meant to become unless - at first - it undergoes a decomposition! The planted seed must first start to rot before it can grow into a big, beautiful fruit tree!

Similarly, the Jew who won't set aside his ego cannot ever get a good perspective of chassidus or divinity and all that these entail. To learn Torah and chassidus with commitment, or to become observant, cannot be accomplished without first negating all prior presumptions you had regarding the subject. On the other hand, if you allow the psychological space required for this study, then you're suited to dive in.

Another way to regard "self-nullification" is "a descent for the sake of an even greater ascent" (ירידה לצורך עלייה). It's analogous to an Olympic high-jumper who wants to achieve a high jump; He must first take a few steps backward, so he can launch forward and achieve greater heights.

(Like in organic chemistry, where you need first arouse a higher, more volatile, energy state, the transition state, in order for an exothermic reaction to settle at a more stable energy state.)

Is this concept not inherent in the saga of the Jewish people's existence? Which people knows better than Jews that they first require the deep descent into the Diaspora (exile) before their ultimate elevation to be acquired in the Era of Final Redemption (soon to be revealed)?

Only with humility can a Jew become righteous and sagacious.

Hippo Compassion

The wonders of Hashem

See how a hippopotamus saved a small antelope from certain death. After being bitten by a huge crocodile, the antelope is seen being dragged slowly under water.

The antelope is exhausted. Lucky for him, in his moment of need, hippopotami came to his rescue, the largest of which stomps the crocodile, chasing it away. This nice big hippo then nudges the antelope out of harm's way. The others protect the periphery from intrusion.

(2 min.)

What "Converted" this Reform Rabbi?

A successful commercial once had as its main line, "Try it, you'll like it!"

This is the precise formula by which to understand Judaism. This formula launched, and therefore characterizes, the Jewish nation. The Jews, emancipated from Egyptian diaspora in 2448, became a nation by defining their existence based on this principle. When asked whether they could commit to G-d's demands, Jews exclaimed (Ex.24:7),
"We will do and we will understand!" "נעשה ונשמע"
The Jews determined steadfastly, first of all, to accept G-d's Torah blindly! They will unquestioningly take it upon themselves to do as it prescribes. Then, and only then, will they also seek to understand. This conditional statement demonstrated their full trust in G-d.

One might argue that the discovery of a hidden benefit can first be investigated before committing oneself to certain conduct. Maybe one can first try to understand Torah, and then, based on a new understanding, commit to it.

Not with Judaism! The life of an observant Jew cannot be appreciated or understood WITHOUT relevant activities to serve as pre-requisites. Behavioral "input" of Mitzvot offers the mind a new dimension by which to appreciate and comprehend Jewish tradition. The key is doing first, and then grasping its value. Not the other way around. There are some things that you can never like unless you first try them!

Need proof of this Jewish phenomenon? Look about you and see how orthodoxy and "ultra" orthodoxy thrives among Jews. What these Jews believe in outsiders may well consider patently absurd - like Jews wearing strings on a 4-cornered cloth, praying with boxes on their arm and forehead, fasting 24 hours twice a year, believing a Messiah will "redeem" them, always covering their heads with caps, eliminating all form of work one day a week, considering some foods or combination of foods forbidden, and many other "weird" behaviors and beliefs.

Yet, many such "lunatics" abound. Even among people who are generally considered by the world to be rather smart!

How could such absurdity prevail when it makes more common sense to throw off all shackles, to abandon what appears to be ancient practices and blend in with "modern" society!

The answer is simple. Torah truth can be appreciated only when actualized in practice!

This reform rabbi's story is a case in point (LINK). Hear him explain his "conversion" to orthodoxy and you will note he cannot really pinpoint what actually changed him or what had been missing in earlier years. I'm pretty certain he himself hasn't yet discovered that what really changed him was his "Let me try it" attitude. And then, of course, after he tried it, he liked it, in characteristic, authentic Jewish fashion.

The Truth about the Present Jewish Disaster

The following article appeared in an early edition of a magazine (June 1941, p.142) published by the Previous Rebbe during 1941-1945 entitled 

‪‬הקריאה והקדושה

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE PRESENT JEWISH DISASTER

The truth must finally be told, openly and without fear, however unpleasant the task!

The leaders of American Jewry, of all groups, are themselves astray, and they are leading their followers astray by uttering false prophecies!

Since last Tishrei, eight months ago, we have been rousing American Jewry to become aware that we are living in the last days before the Redemption. In various ways, earnestly and temperately, we have summoned our fellow Jews to return to our 13 holy Credos, indicating that we are near the end of the diaspora, that we are living through the era of pre-messianic travail, and that certain steps are necessary in order that the Jews in America should be saved from the same catastrophic fate as has overtaken the millions of Jews in Europe.

Every rabbi whose address we could obtain has received this monthly journal regardless of whether he paid for it. Thousands of Jews who attend at synagogues have received free copies. Our cry has been: We Jews are not like all the nations! We have special troubles, and our own special hope! We have our own Prophets of yore to guide us, and no need of the new, modern type who contradict themselves anew each day.

We have shown that it is impossible to say with the mouth "I believe that all the words of the Prophets are true" while at the same resting all Jewish hope on the scale of the coming world-peace, ignoring our Prophets and their promises concerning the coming of the Messiah.

We have advised American Jews to do their duty as loyal citizens, but not to forget the first Credo, that G-d rules the world, that He is the cause of all the events through which the final redemption of the Jewish people is being prepared. We have shown that no matter what the outcome of the present war, the Jewish Messiah is about to arrive - he is already standing within reach of us!

All this is published, black on white, in the eight issues of this journal. It is undeniable. But our spiritual leaders of all kinds have ignored our call. They have preached only the hope of the victory of the democracies, exactly as the non-Jewish world does, having no other hope. As a result, the American Jewish masses, from the frankly irreligious to the pious habitués of the synagogues, think of Jewish deliverance as depending solely on the defeat of Hitler. They have heard not a word from the Jewish spiritual leaders concerning the good news that the Messiah is about to appear. What they have heard, in fact, completely deprecates the genuinely Jewish hope of the coming of the Messiah, concerning which we have been writing!

Unhappily, the universal enemy refuses to do us the kindness to be defeated. He spreads the shadow of death over more countries and more millions of Jews. He lurks ready now even to destroy, Heaven forfend, the Jewish settlement in Palestine. Yet even now, great as the danger is that Britain may be defeated and America also attacked, our spiritual leaders cautiously avoid building our Jewish hope on the coming of the Messiah and the final deliverance!

At the recent convention of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis it was at last conceded that all hope of salvation through the course of world events was extinguished. A call was issued to fast, and recite Psalms, and pray to G-d that He should nullify the evil edicts, save Palestine, and speedily send the righteous Redeemer. But this call, as old as the diaspora, neither proclaims anything new nor can it accomplish any good in the bare state of its issuance; on the contrary, it may effect an injury to our cause!

American Jews, fed daily on a diet of wordly prospects, ignorant of the real cause of the world catastrophe, seeing only that the Jewish people is drowning in its own blood while G-d does not come to their aid, have lost all faith in G-d, in our Prophets, in the rabbis, and in the measures they propose to invoke: Divine help by penitence and prayer. The rabbis speak the same words as the world press, which is so abysmally ignorant that it has thus far been unable to foresee a single truth in the developments of the war. Why, then, should the Jews fast and pray at the call of the same rabbis who are blundering along without knowing the correct explanation of the Jewish disaster?

Without a proclamation by the rabbis that we are living on the eve of the era of redemption their call had to remain a voice crying in the wilderness. And that is what happened. American Jewry did not fast on the appointed day, they did not crowd the synagogues, they did not recite special Psalms. It was done in each synagogue only by the half-score elderly habitués who constitute the steady minyan, and who recite Psalms every day anyhow!

Soon there may be more bad news of the course of the war, and the same Jews who ignored the call of the rabbis will use it to deprecate the whole affair. They will not say that instead of fasting on the appointed day they ate trefah food as usual, and that far from reciting special Psalms they did not even once recite the Shema, nor donned tfillin, nor even thought of the daily prayers. They will say: "There you have the rabbis with their impractical measures -- they made a fast, with a day of Psalm-saying, and it has as much effect as cupping a corpse!"

When it came to answering the rabbinic call, nobody had even heard about it; but when it comes to casting up blame, hardly anybody will fail to remember it!

Imagine what might have happened if the several hundred rabbis at their convention had issued a manifesto announcing the approach of the final deliverance and proclaiming that the present Jewish sufferings are pre-messianic travail. How the various classes of Jews might have been roused! How they would have discussed it in homes, shops, offices! How it would have been publicized by the entire press so that every person would know about it!

The synagogue would have been crowded. Thousands of Jews, even the non-observant, would have fasted and joined in the recitation of Psalms. The call would have been appropriate -- and likewise the Divine response.

The rabbis in convention did not issue the announcement of the impending redemption because they do not know as yet that we are on the verge of this great event! Otherwise they would surely have proclaimed it! Did they not publicly weep because of the universal travail? If they saw in all this suffering the pre-messianic travail they would surely have revealed to the despairing Jewish masses this only consolation!

Therefore the Jewish masses say: "G-d is high up in heaven; the promised deliverance is far off; so we must look for salvation from other sources." Meanwhile they send the Torah back to Sinai ....

On the same day as it carried the rabbinic call to fast and recite Psalms the press published the news that 31 Jews recently were converted to Catholicism in New York. We know from other sources that thousands of Jews have gone over to Christian Science. For the Christian missionaries know how to use the present situation to build up the advent of their own Messiah. It remains for Jewish children to learn from them the "answer" to the question why the Jews are suffering so much. The pious Christian answer is that it is due to failure to accept the Christian Messiah who is about to appear!

Our Jewish spiritual leaders are preoccupied with partisan politics. Each one is busy building his castles on the exile-soil which, meanwhile, is being dug away from underneath their very feet! Our spiritual leaders are practical men who cannot be bothered with the "dream" of deliverance through the coming of the Messiah.

Jewish young people are forced to seek and find a messiah among the Christians, for in their own homes they never hear their parents speak a word about Messiah! Jewish parents must seek and find a Messiah in the newspapers; and they see one in Churchill and other non-Jewish statesmen, for they hear a word about it from the rabbis!

We know now, unhappily, that as late as at the beginning of the month of Iyar, 5701, a convention of hundreds of rabbis was afraid to mention to American Jewry our eight-months-old announcement that we Jews are nearing the final redemption!

We also know now, unhappily, that the American rabbinate, ignoring our call to prepare for the swiftly oncoming redemption, give consent-by-silence to the belief of the Jewish masses that our salvation depends on non-Jewish savior a -- a false, misleading, and dangerous assumption. It is contrary to all that out Prophets and Sages taught. Only fraudulent messianic movements are forbidden -- but not belief in imminent redemption, which we maintain because it is the purest truth. We say it daily in our prayers: "And even though the Messiah delays to come, we expect his arrival every day!" Unfortunately American Jews have no room in their hearts for this Credo because their spiritual leaders tell them about salvation and relief through other means than the Jewish Messiah. Their spiritual leaders preach new credos to them: "I believe in Churchill; I believe in democracy; and I believe in the coming of the world-peace!"

According to the spiritual leaders of American Jewry we are nowhere near the final redemption, for they themselves do not mention the subject to the people, and our call has remained ignored as a dream which holds no interest for such practical leaders as they are!

According to our proclamation we are indeed near to the final redemption; and according to our warning it is rather the practicality of all the practical people which is the product of vain dreams and ineptitude!

According to our call and warning much more is now necessary than to pray to G-d to nullify the evil decrees and send us the righteous redeemer. It is time, indeed, for sincere penitence, for a new and earnest, voluntary and joyous, acceptance of the Torah. For the Messiah is coming soon, even though he is not expected. But the thunders and lightnings preceding his arrival, necessary in order to cause American Jewry to say again "We will do and heed," are a much more dangerous affair than our spiritual leaders imagine. To pray to G-d to recall the evil edicts is now insufficient. These are not ordinary evils intended to punish sinners; they are to force them to repent! The pre-messianic travails can be avoided only through a new, speedy, voluntary re-acceptance of the Torah, together with a new and speedy return to the sacred old Credos!

We have assumed and we accept the full responsibility for our pronouncement. In a very brief time, G-d willing, American Jewry will be convinced that only our call and warning are true and timely. But it may be too late for many who still let themselves be misled by false prophecies!

We announce and we warn that the time is very short, and that the single greatest Jewish trouble is the complete indifference of American Jewry to the true hope of deliverance, and it's total unpreparedness for the swiftly approaching final redemption which out generation is destined to experience!

The truth about the Jewish disaster is that which our Prophets and Sages told us in advance: the pre-messianic travail at the approach of the final redemption!

If the American Jews will refuse to rouse themselves bedtimes from their lethargy, refuse to recognize the truth, and persist in consoling themselves with the patent nostrums of false prophecies of salvation through the coming world-peace, we can only regret the great price they will have to pay for being revived from their torpor by violence. To those, however, who wish to have their eyes open, and who do not wish to have their hearts shut fast against the truth, we bring the good and joyous news that the present world darkness is the ninth plague; but one more after this -- the plague of the first-born -- and then the bright final redemption will come. All these dark powers which now seek to seize the world's birthright and to rule over all mankind by brute force will be wiped off G-d's world; the Jewish people will then by means of great miracles and wonders be freed from its exile status; and the prophecy will be fulfilled: "He will annihilate death forever; and Almighty G-d will wipe the tears off all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; thus hath G-d spoken!" (Isaiah 25:8)

No new disasters should now dismay Jewish hearts! No new upsurge of anti-Semitic waves and evil decrees should cause the Jewish people to despair! Let Jews from now on greet each other with the joyous greeting, "To the nearing redemption!" No matter how bad things may become at the last hour, let every Jewish man and woman remember that the Jewish people is not breathing its last but that the world is in labor giving birth to twins: A new Jewish nation and a new Jewish land!

Concerning our times the Prophet tells us: "A tumult comes out of every city, it sounds from every temple; it is the sound of G-d, avenging Himself upon His enemies: With a fore-pain for the woman in childbirth, with an earlier onset of pains to her that is about to give birth to a male child. But who has heard such a thing, who has ever seen such as these, that a whole land should be racked in one day? that a whole nation should be born at one time? -- This will be heard after Zion shall have labored and brought forth her children!" (Isaiah 66:6-8)

The Redeemer of Zion and Jerusalem, the Almighty, is about to come and deliver His land and cause the rebirth of His people. The labor-pains have begun, but they shall not endure for long!

This and no other is the truth about the present Jewish disaster!

To the nearing redemption!

Bridge Problem - Rebbe Story

I recall many years ago hearing this story in 770 from someone who spoke to many of us at a Shabbos farbrengen. Because the Rebbe served as an electrical engineer in the U. S. Navy during WWII, and happened to know much about bridges, he once was approached for advice by people who had trouble with the structural design of their bridge. This particular bridge had some of its cables continually loosen up because of directional wind gusts. No matter how many times they would tighten the cables, eventually the wind's forces would loosen their grip.

The Rebbe handled the matter quite simply. He told them to reverse-thread the cables. This way, the wind, if anything, tightened them.

The Jewish Singles Event

A good friend of mine, a single man, a businessman from a neighboring state, came to Crown Heights for a visit. They were having a "Shabbaton" for American singles in this community over the weekend.

Because my little daughter had a "coloring class" in the same building as the Shabbaton, I ended up observing the comings and goings of these singles, as I waited to pick her up when she was done with her class.

While waiting I moseyed about the Shabbaton crowd that happened to share the same floor where I waited. There were 3 desks for Shadchanim, and about 30 people were waiting in 3 lines to get a turn to sit and talk to a Shadchan. Others milled about the room eating hor d'oeuvres. Mostly women spoke to women and men to men. The women outnumbered men 4 to 1 in my estimate. Very few man-to-woman conversations occurred.

Because I, personally, married quite late in life, and had attended thousands of "single events", it brought back memories, especially those that occurred in my late twenties, into my thirties and into my forties.

The one sure feeling I used to feel in this atmosphere was a profoundly sad one. I remember each such event took a painful toll on me. There I was wanting to get married, as everyone else, I supposed, and yet such occasions suppressed spontaneity and truthfulness, in the quest to meet the "right one". It was difficult navigating among the contenders and the competitors, like paddling upstream by yourself.

There was a "dressing up" issue; A "polite yet concise" issue if you were speaking to the "wrong" one; An "awkward" issue if communication required dancing or some other excuse; And a host of other issues. And even if you did find an appealing prospect, the effort to speak of personal matters, at the risk of spilling your guts "for nothing", also took an emotional toll. This is the "draining" issue.

Another issue to contend with is "sizing up" someone - in one look - which can work both ways! Like, for example, seeing a heavy-set lady in her 50's dress like an imprudent teenager. Or, a man in his eighties. Or, a lady with a ton of make-up. A black lady was present too, likely Jewish I suppose. Or, the wrong "stream of Judaism". Or, an extremely kind gesture or smile to someone else.

Sometimes the approach of someone you had already "sized-up" brings about an awkward conversation where the minds duel verbally to initiate a polite u-turn.

As I observed, I thanked God I was happily married and well beyond this "scene" already. I felt pain for each of these singles and secretly wished them all well. This crowd averaged about 50 in age!

I also thanked God my children will be looking for spouses as soon as they turn 18 or 20, or so, because of the chassidic culture we adhere to. God forbid these good kids should have to waste precious years, like I did, before the commitment to Hashem's call to marry is made. This is the "commitment" issue. This entails a degree of surrender to God's wish - in that trust in Him will make the partnership work - by committing to leave some room for compromise, as well as, to making God the 3rd partner of this marriage.

If only I could do something to help Jewish singles find each other. The internet may well have added a new vista for their search, although the "issues" I spoke of still remain no matter what the medium. Still, I believe a good shadchan program may well help this needy crowd of good people. By "well-programmed" I mean, where pictures and videos do not at first interfere with questionnaires, to settle the spiritual angle of the coupling before the physical challenge needs to be confronted, so internet-initiated matchmaking can be effective.

After all, God connects man and woman no matter if it's a shadchan, a relative, or a "program" that makes the introduction. The internet, therefore, is a bonus method of finding your "bashert".

That this medium too can present problems of its own can be eliminated, in my estimate, if the "shadchan application" ("shadchan app) is a good one, ie., well-programmed.

My friend who came for the Shabbaton actually found someone he took interest in. They were to meet after some break, but she never showed.

I encouraged him to seek her out again, by locating her phone number from organizers, because she too, he said, expressed interest, and because something else may well have taken her off course unexpectedly.

I invite your comments. If you can suggest a good "program" or "event itinerary in an application", like a storyboard of screens, please comment. Maybe with enough positive input, a new avenue for these good people can become available. It's no good to be alone!

Happiness from Self-Sacrifice

One night Abraham dreamed of a prophetic mission. When he left early next morning with his son and companions to offer God a sacrifice, they did not pack sandwiches. They took the necessary effects and rushed off.

Along the way they hardly spoke. Isaac had a question for his father, but it could wait to when they are alone. They trekked more than two days. Dread rippled through the blood of father and son for they committed the order of the day to God.

These were strong men. They mostly fasted more than 2 days as they advanced Northeast, headed towards what one day will be Jerusalem.

On the 3rd day, Abraham and Isaac saw "the cloud". It hovered over a hill, the hill later to be the place of the "Beit Hamikdash".

Father and son immediately recognized this cloud as their personal sign - because the companions were blind to this apparition.

Abraham told the companions to stay put and wait there with the donkey. Father and son proceeded to their venue.

Now Isaac broke his silence. Until now his question could wait lest in the presence of non-familial company it raise discomfort for his father or extraneous babble. But now Isaac asked, "Abba, where's the lamb to be sacrificed?"

Abraham's answer satisfied Isaac, who was willing in self-sacrifice to die for the cause, if need be.

Now they walked onward in total calm, both happily committed, both together happy to be at one - with God.

Hebrew has ten synonyms for "happy":
ששון ,שמחה, גילה, רינה, דיצה, צהלה, עליזה, חדוה, תפארת, עליצה
but, as the Malbim emphasizes, each synonym carries a different nuance for its meaning. For example, there is a happiness that derives from an immediate, unexpected source, like finding a treasure. Another one refers to a happiness expressed by singing. Whereas חדוה refers to a happiness derived from an otherwise sad event (I do NOT remember my source).

The words in the Akeida's chapter read, "וילכו שניהם יחדו", "and they went along together". The word יחדו shares the same letters with the Hebrew word חדוה, which, I suppose, is one way our sages determined the emotions of our forefathers during this episode.

Apropos, speaking of שמחה, someone once pointed out to me that the inner two letters of this word comprise the Hebrew word for "brain" (מח), whereas the outer letters make the word "lamb" (שה). We know that the Moses of the Generation is referred to as a "Faithful Shepherd". Said my friend, were we to relegate our brains according to the wishes of our Shepherd, we'd experience true happiness.

Ladies and Gentlemen ... Eitan Katz!

A soothing Farbrengen in Yerushalayim.
(under 10 minutes)

White-Coated Drug-Pushers

If you believe fluoride is good for teeth, you have no idea how powerful a poison fluoride really is. (Just look at the handling procedures when it arrives at a laboratory, or somewhere.) If you know it's poisonous and still believe it's good for your teeth, then you have no good research to back up your belief; And the only thing you rely on are people who tell you so in white coats. You take them for their word.

Today's promoters of this poison are the very same lot who told you no more than three decades ago that cigarettes can do you no harm. The same promoters in the same white coats. They are the same ones who sold pregnant women pills (Thalidamide) for "morning sickness"; Or those who pushed free samples upon menopausal women of the "diet pill" Ambrin; These are the same who today persuade to sell you on Ritelin to calm your children down. The same ones who now want to push lifelong "treatment" of hyperactivity in children give this children's "disorder" (they can't come out and say it's a "disease", or even an "illness", can they?) a diagnosis that bears a professional-sounding name, the better to dumb down the public.

And of course if you're depressed, you should take an "anti-depressant" (as in "pro-zombie") drug, like Paxil, which now they find can promote breast cancer.

This same abuse of human intelligence, and particularly human health, occurs, although to a lesser extent, in Israel too. After all, the desire to mimic the United States still has plenty of adherents.

Anyhow, if you continue to believe this fluoride scam, you are quite ignorant, at best, probably just naive of the deep-rooted drug-pushing culture that pervades the money-making medical/pharmaceutical industry, or a fool, at worst! Or  you can't be bothered, or you just don't think a little bit of fluoride every day can hurt you. I hope you're right.

Make at least a small stand against this abuse of knowledge and help break this mafia-controlled pharmaceutical, vertical industry, which starts with the university curriculum, and ends with selling drugs at the pharmacy and "treating" hospital patients. (It's difficult because they have representatives fronting for them as "concerned politicians" in the highest governmental positions, let alone all along the entire income landscape.) Find a toothpaste devoid of harmful products - and, given the market saturation with fluoride-ridden stuff, that's not so easy. Even some brands that used to be fluoride-free buckled to make a buck. The one I found is really fine (Nature's Gate), and I hope they hang on with their wonderful product.  The extra amount you'll then pay for toothpaste chalk up to an extra ounce of prevention.

(I wrote about this danger before, here, here and here.)
(Overview of medical perspective - here, "The Zebra and the Horse".)

Marry Jewish - For an Ultimate Victory

Some people breathe air, others breathe hate. Jew-haters particularly are your best haters. After all, they can hate Jews without even ever having met one. They have all the right reasons, piled one atop the other, which they convey to their friends, layer by layer.

Their friends too have their own assortment of reasons to hate; None of which, of course, is true. The important thing is to stir up a heated conversation, one of urgency, to stoke the flames of hate against the Jews.

The best way to deal with this hatred, be it that of the Amalekite, the Yishmaeli or that of Esav, is to follow Torah's prescription - and that is to ignore the hate by learning Torah or partaking in some other holy endeavor.

Two holocausts swept through the Eurasian continent during and around WWII. Europe suffered from Nazism while to the East they reeled from Stalinism. Both holocausts destroyed many millions of Jewish lives, among others.

During this horrific period, out of the belching inferno that threatened to obliterate the Jewish identity,  came forth the cry of the Previous Rebbe to anticipate the Era of Redemption, for this catastrophe signaled the birth pangs of Moshiach. The Previous Rebbe summoned all Jewish people to "return to God" so Moshiach can redeem them.

The best weapon we have to deal with hate is to pursue Torah, the glue of the Jewish people. The Jews and Torah and God are really One. Torah practice preserves this unity.

Another sure way to prevent attempts to undo the special Jewish bond with their Creator is to marry Jewish, and to scorn intermarriage.

The Reform movement will be the first to protest, but these protests will follow the Reformists into self-extinction, for a Reformist, or an intermarrier, cuts off his genetic Jewish signature, certainly by 2 or 3 generations (see here). Should he persist to retire from Torah, this fringe Jew becomes lost to his Jewish people.

He who cuts off kinship with the Jewish nation continues to sustain - in a silent way - the former agenda of Hitler and Stalin. It is simply not "politically correct" to acknowledge this truth, or impolite to mention it, so it often goes unspoken. Nevertheless, the assimilationist in effect serves as the useful idiot of Jew-haters.

This picture I came across, of a Jewish lady, a holocaust survivor, with her grandchild, shows how the glue can heal long-open wounds that tore at Judaism, a process that will end, pretty soon, in a wonderful panacea for the Jewish people after their long struggle in exile, soon to be recognized as the Era of Redemption.

They tried to stop this grandmother early, but failed. It was she who celebrated victory. Yearning for her own people's freedom was her best knockout blow against former foes who wanted so much to deprive her of this beautiful little soul.

Hollow Political Aspirations

Blogs are all agog over "Bibi"; Will Bibi do this, will Bibi do that, ....

The Rebbe many years ago warned us not to “even speak of” autonomy because such talk, in and of itself, yields hurtful results. Our Erev Rav kept talking nevertheless. (See definition of Erev Rav here, according to the Previous Rebbe.)

Now – they’re even bringing up the division of Jerusalem as an issue, inside of a neighboring state, a “Palestinian” state, one that must remain entirely devoid of Jewish presence - "Judenrein".

Now I ask you – and this after a series of generous offers and miraculous failures (miraculous because THE ENEMY REFUSED), the last of which was the “Gush Katif” calamity –  do you still put faith in political “leaders”? Do you not see the barren hope placed in these “leaders”? When will people finally realize the only solution to our grief during exile is none other than a King Moshiach solution?

How much more must we be pressed into a corner before the obvious will scream at us? We want Moshiach now!

Purim Revisited

All that happens in the world, especially on a high-profile political scale, where many can tune in, projects itself onto life for the sake of the Jewish people. When heads of governments, especially those with immense military might, broadcast their politics across the world, Jews should take notice to the extent they register the incident, and act in Torah ways with complete confidence in Hashem that this way will redeem the Jew and bring the world one step closer to Redemption.

The "King of Aram" (ref. here), a Muslim mole in the White House, characterizes King Achasverosh of ancient Persia. He hated Jews even more than his deputy, Haman,  so he needed no persuasion to kill all Jews of his large Empire that comprised 127 countries.

The current Iranian aristocracy, headed by some "Khameini", characterizes Haman, in that here too they seek a "final solution" to exterminate all Jews. In fact, it is no coincidence, is it, that Khameini (with a guttural pronunciation of Kh) and "Hamani" sound similar, and neither is it coincidence this seed of evil derives in Iran - Persia!

So what we have during these Adar days are inside-closet meetings of two "leaders/governments", one from פרס and the other from "ארם", quietly and in private secrecy plotting to expedite the "Jewish problem".

Much as Haman wanted, and Achashverosh let happen, the Jews, because they streamed back to Hashem in total self-sacrifice and in regret for not having listened to the "Leader of the Generation" 10 years earlier, when Mordechai warned them NOT TO ATTEND the Achashverosh feast at the Shushan Party, now got their salvation from Hashem. Things suddenly took a sharp turnabout and Jews became

"ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששון ויקר"

- as we too will during these great days of Adar -

"כן תהיה לנו"

The Process of Redemption

At the start of a show, once the curtains swing aside, the stage props set the opening scene. But, had you pushed aside the curtain as you entered the Era of Redemption, you'd have seen no differences beyond the curtain; All theatrical properties before and beyond that threshold did not change.

We enter into the Era of Redemption by entering a new ethereal atmosphere. The change beckons for a new spiritual mindset, rather than material change. The Rebbe said we are into the Era of Redemption. Yet we see nothing we might imagine that would characterize that era. We only have the words of the Leader of the Generation to rely on. Instead of radiance, we find ourselves in a thick, dark cloud. It could easily fool anyone that we are, in fact, operating inside of the Era of Redemption.

Only later, as we traverse deeper and deeper, the cloud will dissipate and give way to the brilliance of Moshiach's era. Later, if were we to recall that initial darkness, in hindsight, we'll of course notice there really never was any "dark" element in the first place. That wrong impression duly derived from many years under an exile mentality.

Entering the Era of Redemption is a process! It takes years to watch and learn about. Why learn? Because this opening period insists to fleshy eyes the world remains steeped in evil. Only our faith and trust in the Rebbe strengthens us to think against the grain. He told us to "open our eyes"! He told us darkness only serves as a cover; In and of itself darkness cannot change the underlying good. If we adopt the Rebbe's views, we begin noticing resplendent lights here and there from cracks in the dark facade. We begin to tangibly sense Moshiach's times. We can then appreciate this unique perspective that otherwise would go unnoticed. With a new mind's eye we can make out, by connecting the dots of these sparse radiant points, the entire underlying Messianic mosaic that will soon enough manifest in awesome brilliance.

How do we remove this initial "darkness"? We need understand how the forces of evil, during the Era of Redemption, get their fuel.

Does Torah or Torah-learning fuel these apparent anti-Messianic features? Of course not.

This fuel comes from a holy source - to be sure - but it is the MISUSE of a holy source that provides the fuel to prop up the anti-Messianic dynamic. Jews themselves are the source for this provision of fuel. Jews who waste their time obsessed on politics or agnostic science provide, unwittingly, for this "energy" to channel into the wrong avenues.

A small anecdote will illustrate this. Suppose two Jews meet. One says to the other, "Did you hear; Hezbullah now has in its arsenal over 170,000 rockets?" He wants to discuss its juicy repercussions. Says the other, "Who cares! Let's go learn Torah. I'd rather do that than discuss Hezbullah."

The first guy wanted to discuss "Hezbullah"and thereby would have fed this latter group the powers it needs to continue its unholy agenda. Jews have that power, to divert their energies, that derive from holiness, and route it to source or feed darkness. The 2nd guy, preserved those energies and channeled them appropriately. He prevented evil forces from receiving fuel by Jewish proxy. If all Jews behave like the second guy, Hezbullah would starve into oblivion!

Now that we're in Moshiach's Era, now that all "sparks of holiness" have been liberated, now that all Jews have in effect done tshuvah, it is worth repeating - we Jews energize evil to subsist - with our own energies. We, and only we, have the power to boost the world to its ultimate phase - by eliminating concern for evil. It will go away on its own if we Jews do our part in trusting Hashem and trusting in the Leader of the Generation. Not for naught does Torah tell us,
"ויאמינו  בה‫'‬  ובמשה  עבדו" (Ex. 14:31).

The Rebbe taught that our concern for anti-Torah issues - in and of itself - provides the holy energy these dark forces live on. They have no source of life-energy of their own! They rely for  their existence on wayward Jewish preoccupation with this darkness -  by Jews reading it, discussing it, and Jews giving it the time of day.

The 3 forces of evil, which encompass all "dark" behavior, live off of our own preoccupation with political or economic concerns. Anti-Israel forces have their source in our own behavior. We supply these negative forces with their lifeblood. Were we to IGNORE the threats by, in same measure, preoccupy ourselves with Torah and halachah, these forces would evaporate.

Every Jew can accelerate exposure of the Messianic Era with new commitments to Hashem and learning Torah. We need also muster a new level of trust in Hashem's servant's words, the words of Moshiach, words of the Moses of our Generation!

The Borders of Israel (and Syria)

United Nations' "Isaiah Wall"

Why Mexicans speak Spanish is quite simple; Back when Empires existed, might made right; Spaniards with their weapons sailed abroad to stake out claims on foreign soil, to call it their own. The same goes for all countries of South America, bar some conquered by Portugal or other prevalent forces.

In other words, originally all South American natives never spoke, and probably never heard of, "Spanish".

The world as we know it today has a different mindset. Even huge powers such as Russia and China had inwardly changed or succumbed to the point where suddenly the concept of BORDERS receives instinctive sanction. Something about "might makes right" deteriorated as a justification for intruding upon others.

Borders once were understood to be fluid; They defined provinces subject to or owned by its current ruler. Whereas today, many borders have a life of their own, going from generation to generation instead of being fragmented by warring parties.

That's not to say orgies of horror against neighbors vanished. Far from it. We can watch daily the beastly nature one human being has for his brother of the same lunatic religion, and their delight in the other's torture. Humans, rats and knats - it makes no difference. This spectacle is so vile, the observer can hardly watch a moment before nausea erupts. And all in the name of some god who lusts for human death.

In Syria, for example, its BORDERS now merely satisfy as a conceptual definition, with no civil pragmatism to it, because the powers that invade this land are many, all bad and vicious.

I never really understood why Mexicans or other South Americans take such pride in identifying so closely with "their" language, Spanish. After all, it is a language (and culture) thrust upon them during a conquest, and now, generations later, after all history is forgotten, Spanish still holds a loyal following.

Anyhow, borders today are rather firm in most decent civilizations, and this change - is nothing more than a sign of the times we live in, in preparation for the time when the borders of Eretz Yisrael will be delineated by King Moshiach, whose name is Menachem, as they had been established in Torah over 3 millennia ago.

The United Nations organization, a body whose premise rests on BORDERS, was not built in Washington, D.C.! It was built in New York City where Moshiach made his home. The real reason for this venue escaped the minds of its original federation heads, but, we know their souls were simply knudged in that direction by God. The Rebbe told us so. The U.N.'s "Isaiah Wall" has engraved on it a verse from Isaiah (2:4). That reference relates directly to the Era of Redemption. The building went up about the same time as the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach was taking over the reigns of this generation's Leadership. The Rebbe told us so (Shabbos Mishpatim, 5752).

The United Nations sprung up as a construct during the World War II inferno. It sprouted as a way to prepare the world for a new order, sprouting out during the birth pangs of Moshiach. Back then, the Previous Rebbe already characterized that era as "the birth pangs of Moshiach" and today - that Messianic scenario rushes full-steam forward in unfolding.