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Thursday 3 September 2009
Israel Matzav: 'Pass nisht'
'Pass nisht'
'Pass nisht' is a Yiddish expression that is used when you cannot articulate a legitimate reason not to take a certain action, but you really don't want to do it. It just doesn't look or feel right. The problem is that sometimes even if something is 'pass nisht' it's the right thing to do. That's what came to my mind when I saw that the IDF is not conducting raids to arrest 'Palestinian' terrorists in Judea and Samaria due to the presence of American diplomats touring the area. The Israel Defense Forces has canceled a number of planned arrest operations in the West Bank fearing soldiers will be seen by American diplomats touring the territories.
IDF officers serving with their units in the West Bank said they were instructed by brigade commanders in recent weeks to call off the planned arrests of wanted men inside Palestinian towns, because of these diplomats' presence.
The diplomats, mostly employees of the U.S. consulate in East Jerusalem, have been traveling regularly to the West Bank to gather testimony on settlement construction, to oversee American-funded projects and to meet with Palestinian Authority officials.
"We were told that the situation with the Americans is sensitive, and that it is not desirable that operations are conducted that could lead to violent situations when they [the Americans] are there," one of the officers said.
In other words, the IDF is creating a situation where American diplomats are being used as human shields for 'Palestinian' terrorists.
What could go wrong?
What could go wrong?
Israel Matzav: 'Pass nisht'
Israel Matzav: 'Political realities'?
'Political realities'?
From a story on downplaying expectations for a meeting among Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Obama and Abu Bluff that's expected to take place in New York later this month. Israel Matzav: 'Political realities'?Pushing the peace process towards its conclusion too quickly will result in a major failure, Steinberg warns.
However, political realities leave Obama at least feeling he must deliver, and sooner rather than later.
One of the key problems facing both Obama and Netanyahu is that in the U.S. and Israel politicians come and politicians go. The nature of the American political systems means Obama will be seeking reelection in 2012, while the shaky electoral structure in Israel could see Netanyahu out of office at any point over the next four years.Read All at :
Israel Matzav: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again
Captain Ed links to a Press TV report from Iran that claims that US President Barack Hussein Obama has sent a second letter to Iranian ruler Ayatollah Ali Khameni. Ed surmises that this letter was apparently also rejected. Israel Matzav: If at first you don't succeed, try, try againInterestingly, Obama has once again bypassed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This time that seems almost a requirement, but he did the same with his earlier letter, apparently received in the spring, according to this report. Khamenei makes the big decisions, so it makes sense, and we have the satisfaction of giving Ahmadinejad that diplomatic snub.
The Iranian report also says that Khamenei responded with “argumentation,” which sounds like a diplomatic way of saying rejection. If so, that would explain why the White House didn’t publicize it. What exactly did Obama propose, and what exactly did Khamenei reject? Shouldn’t that be part of the dialogue about what to do with Iran now?Read All at :
Israel Matzav: Honor among thieves: Obama treats Ahmadinejad in spirit of 'mutual respect'
Honor among thieves: Obama treats Ahmadinejad in spirit of 'mutual respect'
On Tuesday, I reported that Iran had prepared a new proposal regarding its nuclear weapons program, in a bid to head off new sanctions from the United States and its European allies. On Wednesday, the Washington Times reports that US and European diplomats say that they have seen 'no such proposal.' But in what can only be described as honor among thieves (Obama also stole an election by collecting millions in campaign contributions in violation of US federal election laws), the Obama administration says that it will treat any proposal received from the even less legitimate Ahmadinejad in a spirit of 'mutual respect.' Read All at :
Israel Matzav: Honor among thieves: Obama treats Ahmadinejad in spirit of 'mutual respect'
Israel Matzav: How's that Syrian 'engagement' working out?
How's that Syrian 'engagement' working out?
Elliott Abrams reports on the results of President Obama's policy of 'engaging' with Syria. Within the past week, Iraq has withdrawn its ambassador from Damascus and accused Syria of involvement in terrorist incidents in Baghdad. Iraqi TV has also aired a confession by an accused al Qaeda terrorist, a Saudi who claimed he had been trained in Syria--by the Asad regime's intelligence services. Nor is this all. Syria continues to support Hezbollah's blocking of the formation of a government in Lebanon, backing Hezbollah in its demand for a "blocking third" that would prevent any decisions Hezbollah opposes in any new Cabinet. The Palestinian terrorist groups remain headquartered in Damascus, and under no visible restraints. And on August 19, President Bashar Asad paid a visit to President Ahmadinejad in Tehran, to showcase his support of the latter during the current Iranian political crisis.
...
Watching the smiling Mitchell shaking hands with Asad, Syrians knew that any hope of American pressure for human rights progress was in vain as well. Neither Mitchell nor Obama has ever mentioned the subject publicly, and if Mitchell has asked Asad to release any particular political prisoners that fact has been kept secret. In fact the president of the Syrian Human Rights Organization, Muhanad Al-Hasani, was imprisoned on July 28, four weeks after Mitchell's last visit.
Israel Matzav: How's that Syrian 'engagement' working out?
Israel Matzav: Obama's elephant in the room
Obama's elephant in the room
Politico reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama are near an 'agreement' that would Israel Matzav: Obama's elephant in the roomOfficials on both sides familiar with the talks said that the American and Israeli sides appear close to compromise on two crucial issues: The U.S. may agree to let Israel complete the construction of buildings that are already under way in the disputed territories; and Israel — which has refused to include disputed Jerusalem neighborhoods in the settlement talks — appears willing to forswear evictions and demolitions in the Palestinian parts of Jerusalem.
Read All at :
Israel Matzav: Ahmadinejad's imam on what's going on in Iranian prisons
Ahmadinejad's imam on what's going on in Iranian prisons
If any of you has any doubt about the veracity of the reports coming out of Iran, please consider this discussion with Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, who is considered Ahmadinejad's Imam, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad himself regarding the issue of rape and torture in Iranian prisons (Hat Tip: Puneet M; more at Memeorandum).WARNING - THIS IS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC
In the wake of a series of publications worldwide regarding the rape and torture of dissident prisoners in Iran's jails, supporters of Ahmadinejad gathered with him in Jamkaran, a popular pilgrimage site for Shi'ite Muslims on the outskirts of Qom, on August 11, 2009. According to Iranian pro-democracy sources, the gathered crowd heard from Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi and Ahmadinejad himself regarding the issue.
Israel Matzav: Ahmadinejad's imam on what's going on in Iranian prisons
Israel Matzav: Good news: Iran to arm Lebanon
Good news: Iran to arm Lebanon
Lebanese media are reporting that Iran may arm Lebanon with a variety of weapons, including advanced anti-aircraft systems. In the past Lebanon was armed by the United States and Europe. Hezbullah favors having Iran and Syria play a role in arming Lebanon, while the parties in the coalition are opposed. In May, Hizbullah chieftain Hassan Nasrallah suggested that the government of Lebanon turn to Iran for aid, which, he said, would “gladly” arm Lebanon. Nasrallah said that if voters chose Hizbullah, the party would work to strengthen the Lebanese army with help from Iran. This promise angered Lebanon's coalition parties, most of which oppose Syrian and Iranian control in Lebanon.
But perhaps the strangest part of this article is the bottom line:
Israel Matzav: Good news: Iran to arm LebanonIsraeli military experts have expressed concern that if the Lebanese army were to receive advanced anti-aircraft systems, the weapons could end up in the hands of Hizbullah and other Lebanese terrorist groups.
Read All at :
RubinReports: Orwell Reminds Us That Intellectual Follies Are Nothing New in Politics
Orwell Reminds Us That Intellectual Follies Are Nothing New in Politics
By Barry Rubin
It is easy to be gloomy at this bizarre era we are stuck in especially when we forget how the intelligentsia in the past was dominated by such bad ideas as it is at present. Is the media biased? Do institutions that should know better say stupid things? Are the intellectuals on the side of "bad guys"?
In this regard, I can’t help but quote a long segment from the writings of George Orwell. He, it should be remembered, once gave the perfect expression of the fact that alleged smartness—like might—does not necessarily make right. That’s an idea that fits with the variety of notions which, as Orwell once explained, is so stupid that only an intellectual could believe it.
So consider the following passage published in Partisan Review in the Summer of 1944 and remember this was written during World War Two, which according to mythology today was such an obviously just cause that everyone in the English-speaking world supported it:
“What one might call the official left-wing view is that war is a meaningless massacre brought about by capitalists, no war can ever lead to any good result, in battle no one has any thought except to run away, and the soldier is a downtrodden slave who hates his officer like poison and looks on the enemy as a comrade.
“But as soon as the [Soviet Union’s] Red Army is involved the whole of this conception s turned upside down. Not only does war become glorious and purposeful, but the soldier becomes a happy warrior who positively enjoys military discipline, loves his officer…hates the enemy…and utters edifying slogans while in the act of slinging a hand grenade.
“There is further schizophrenia on the subject of atrocities: any atrocity story reported by the Russians is true, anything reported by the British or Americans untrue….
“Emotionally, what the Left intelligentsia wish for is that Germany and Japan should be defeated but that Britain and America should not be victorious….
“Russophile feeling is on the surface stronger than ever. It is now next door to impossible to get anything overtly anti-Russian printed….The servility of the so-called intellectuals is astonishing. [The] implied line [of pacifists] is that it is wrong for us to defend ourselves by violence, but it is all right for the Russians. This is sheer cowardice: they dare not flout prevailing left-wing opinion, which , of course, they are more afraid of than public opinion in the wider sense.”
Oh and by the way, in order not to offend Stalin, when the BBC did programs on the history of the Russian revolution, it never mentioned the role of Stalin's hated rival (and victim) Leon Trotsky in the triumph of the Bolsheviks. Guess they were avoiding the sin of Communistophobia.
It is easy to be gloomy at this bizarre era we are stuck in especially when we forget how the intelligentsia in the past was dominated by such bad ideas as it is at present. Is the media biased? Do institutions that should know better say stupid things? Are the intellectuals on the side of "bad guys"?
In this regard, I can’t help but quote a long segment from the writings of George Orwell. He, it should be remembered, once gave the perfect expression of the fact that alleged smartness—like might—does not necessarily make right. That’s an idea that fits with the variety of notions which, as Orwell once explained, is so stupid that only an intellectual could believe it.
So consider the following passage published in Partisan Review in the Summer of 1944 and remember this was written during World War Two, which according to mythology today was such an obviously just cause that everyone in the English-speaking world supported it:
“What one might call the official left-wing view is that war is a meaningless massacre brought about by capitalists, no war can ever lead to any good result, in battle no one has any thought except to run away, and the soldier is a downtrodden slave who hates his officer like poison and looks on the enemy as a comrade.
“But as soon as the [Soviet Union’s] Red Army is involved the whole of this conception s turned upside down. Not only does war become glorious and purposeful, but the soldier becomes a happy warrior who positively enjoys military discipline, loves his officer…hates the enemy…and utters edifying slogans while in the act of slinging a hand grenade.
“There is further schizophrenia on the subject of atrocities: any atrocity story reported by the Russians is true, anything reported by the British or Americans untrue….
“Emotionally, what the Left intelligentsia wish for is that Germany and Japan should be defeated but that Britain and America should not be victorious….
“Russophile feeling is on the surface stronger than ever. It is now next door to impossible to get anything overtly anti-Russian printed….The servility of the so-called intellectuals is astonishing. [The] implied line [of pacifists] is that it is wrong for us to defend ourselves by violence, but it is all right for the Russians. This is sheer cowardice: they dare not flout prevailing left-wing opinion, which , of course, they are more afraid of than public opinion in the wider sense.”
Oh and by the way, in order not to offend Stalin, when the BBC did programs on the history of the Russian revolution, it never mentioned the role of Stalin's hated rival (and victim) Leon Trotsky in the triumph of the Bolsheviks. Guess they were avoiding the sin of Communistophobia.
Read All at :
RubinReports: Orwell Reminds Us That Intellectual Follies Are Nothing New in Politics
RubinReports: Lebanon: A Sinking Ship that the Obama Administration Doesn’t Notice
Lebanon: A Sinking Ship that the Obama Administration Doesn’t Notice
By Barry Rubin
Let’s not forget about Lebanon even though the Obama Administration has done so.
Walid Jumblatt, once the lion of the moderate coalition, has now deserted it, thus weakening the anti-Hizballah, anti-Syrian, Lebanese nationalist forces that want to keep Lebanon independent.
There is still no government, but two principles have been established.
First, Hizballah will have one-third of the cabinet seats and a veto blocking the government from doing anything it doesn’t like. This makes Hizballah a co-ruler of the country able to block any effort to:
Weaken its militia, force it out of control of southern Lebanon, reduce its arms smuggling, increase cooperation with UN forces policing the Israel-Lebanon border, investigate Syrian involvement in past murders of moderate political and journalistic figures, improve relations with the United States, or do pretty much anything that Iran or Syria doesn’t like.
So it is possible for the U.S. and French governments to pretend that Lebanon is still in moderate, pro-Western, independent hands but that just isn’t true.
Second, the Lebanese government will endorse the “Resistance” philosophy produced in Syria with help from Iran. In other words, the platform of the next government will be based on the following ideas:
Israel is an evil force which should be wiped off the map (not negotiated with), Western influence in the region must be expelled, Hamas is the best Palestinian group, Iran having nuclear weapons is a good thing, and armed struggle (read: terrorism) is the most appropriate way of responding to the situation, and the best leadership is in Tehran and Damascus.
This will make it harder to hide what’s really going on in Lebanon but no doubt the media and Western governments will find a way. Here’s how:
Rather than saying that Lebanon is being radicalized, they can say that Hizballah is being moderated.
After all, Hizballah has entered politics and even the government. Isn’t this a sign of moderation?
No, not if Hizballah uses this engagement in politics to push through radical policies and gain permissiveness for itself to wage war whenever it chooses and act as a state-within-a state.
Let’s not forget about Lebanon even though the Obama Administration has done so.
Walid Jumblatt, once the lion of the moderate coalition, has now deserted it, thus weakening the anti-Hizballah, anti-Syrian, Lebanese nationalist forces that want to keep Lebanon independent.
There is still no government, but two principles have been established.
First, Hizballah will have one-third of the cabinet seats and a veto blocking the government from doing anything it doesn’t like. This makes Hizballah a co-ruler of the country able to block any effort to:
Weaken its militia, force it out of control of southern Lebanon, reduce its arms smuggling, increase cooperation with UN forces policing the Israel-Lebanon border, investigate Syrian involvement in past murders of moderate political and journalistic figures, improve relations with the United States, or do pretty much anything that Iran or Syria doesn’t like.
So it is possible for the U.S. and French governments to pretend that Lebanon is still in moderate, pro-Western, independent hands but that just isn’t true.
Second, the Lebanese government will endorse the “Resistance” philosophy produced in Syria with help from Iran. In other words, the platform of the next government will be based on the following ideas:
Israel is an evil force which should be wiped off the map (not negotiated with), Western influence in the region must be expelled, Hamas is the best Palestinian group, Iran having nuclear weapons is a good thing, and armed struggle (read: terrorism) is the most appropriate way of responding to the situation, and the best leadership is in Tehran and Damascus.
This will make it harder to hide what’s really going on in Lebanon but no doubt the media and Western governments will find a way. Here’s how:
Rather than saying that Lebanon is being radicalized, they can say that Hizballah is being moderated.
After all, Hizballah has entered politics and even the government. Isn’t this a sign of moderation?
No, not if Hizballah uses this engagement in politics to push through radical policies and gain permissiveness for itself to wage war whenever it chooses and act as a state-within-a state.
Read All at :
RubinReports: Lebanon: A Sinking Ship that the Obama Administration Doesn’t Notice
RubinReports: The Return of Antisemitism and the False Inevitability of Middle East Moderation
The Return of Antisemitism and the False Inevitability of Middle East Moderation
By Barry Rubin
The awarding of the Legion d'honneur to Charles Enderlin, the journalist who perpetrated the Muhammad al-Dura fraud, is only the latest example of the fact that promoting hatred of Israel or antisemitism pays very well nowadays. Enderlin, who wasn't present at the time, was the French television journalist who claimed Israeli forces deliberately killed a boy named Muhammad al-Dura in the Gaza Strip. This tale has since been discredited, in fact Enderlin admitted to Professor Richard Landes that he himself thought the story wasn't true.
Eventually, a French court determined that the story was probably false and that Enderlin had acted recklessly. This has not prevented much of the French intelligentsia and most of the journalistic community from rallying to his side. His being honored by the French government despite the fact that he demonstrably propagated a false story--which led to rioting, deaths, and acts of terrorism against Israel--is truly shocking.
But it is hardly an isolated incident.
Fresh off receiving Britain’s appeasing release of a terrorist who helped bomb a civilian airliner and killed 270 people at his personal order, Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi told a meeting of 30 African leaders that Israel is responsible for all that continent’s problems.
Every day, of course, people in the Arabic-speaking world are told that the Jews are responsible for all their problems. And increasingly people in Europe--albeit more subtly and quietly--are being told the same thing. If they face terrorism, they are informed, it is not due to the ambitions of radical Islamism but to Israel's actions making people angry who would otherwise presumably be quiet and happy. Or as one enraged Pole told me, "Why should Poles die because of Israel's policies?"
In Iran, the parliament just unanimously endorsed as defense minister (which means that one day he will control Iran's nuclear weapons) a man who is wanted by Interpol for bombing the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with many people there being killed. There has been no call by Western governments or media to boycott dealings with Iran's regime or even him personally.
Imagine that! A man directly involved in the murder of Jews--not even Israelis!--in a bomb attack and nobody proposes that he should be shunned. No articles in Western newspapers speaking about how the Iranian regime is associating itself with crimes against humanity. No protests in the streets of Western capitals in front of Iranian embassies. Even after all we've been through, seen and heard in recent years, this is truly shocking.
Being an open antisemite or even preaching genocide is no longer a barrier—as Ahmadinejad, Qadhafi, and others can attest—to being received in polite society. There are many articles and claims--for example by the Obama administration's own counterterrorism advisor--that Hizballah is now a moderate group despite its shocking promotion of antisemitic hatred.
For the British and French governments, Hizballah and possibly Hamas--whose rhetoric resembles what used to come out of Berlin in the 1930s and 1940s--are moving toward moderation and are worth engaging.
Indeed, as many mainstream newspapers are also showing, it isn’t a barrier to being considered a proper journalist either.
The awarding of the Legion d'honneur to Charles Enderlin, the journalist who perpetrated the Muhammad al-Dura fraud, is only the latest example of the fact that promoting hatred of Israel or antisemitism pays very well nowadays. Enderlin, who wasn't present at the time, was the French television journalist who claimed Israeli forces deliberately killed a boy named Muhammad al-Dura in the Gaza Strip. This tale has since been discredited, in fact Enderlin admitted to Professor Richard Landes that he himself thought the story wasn't true.
Eventually, a French court determined that the story was probably false and that Enderlin had acted recklessly. This has not prevented much of the French intelligentsia and most of the journalistic community from rallying to his side. His being honored by the French government despite the fact that he demonstrably propagated a false story--which led to rioting, deaths, and acts of terrorism against Israel--is truly shocking.
But it is hardly an isolated incident.
Fresh off receiving Britain’s appeasing release of a terrorist who helped bomb a civilian airliner and killed 270 people at his personal order, Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi told a meeting of 30 African leaders that Israel is responsible for all that continent’s problems.
Every day, of course, people in the Arabic-speaking world are told that the Jews are responsible for all their problems. And increasingly people in Europe--albeit more subtly and quietly--are being told the same thing. If they face terrorism, they are informed, it is not due to the ambitions of radical Islamism but to Israel's actions making people angry who would otherwise presumably be quiet and happy. Or as one enraged Pole told me, "Why should Poles die because of Israel's policies?"
In Iran, the parliament just unanimously endorsed as defense minister (which means that one day he will control Iran's nuclear weapons) a man who is wanted by Interpol for bombing the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with many people there being killed. There has been no call by Western governments or media to boycott dealings with Iran's regime or even him personally.
Imagine that! A man directly involved in the murder of Jews--not even Israelis!--in a bomb attack and nobody proposes that he should be shunned. No articles in Western newspapers speaking about how the Iranian regime is associating itself with crimes against humanity. No protests in the streets of Western capitals in front of Iranian embassies. Even after all we've been through, seen and heard in recent years, this is truly shocking.
Being an open antisemite or even preaching genocide is no longer a barrier—as Ahmadinejad, Qadhafi, and others can attest—to being received in polite society. There are many articles and claims--for example by the Obama administration's own counterterrorism advisor--that Hizballah is now a moderate group despite its shocking promotion of antisemitic hatred.
For the British and French governments, Hizballah and possibly Hamas--whose rhetoric resembles what used to come out of Berlin in the 1930s and 1940s--are moving toward moderation and are worth engaging.
Indeed, as many mainstream newspapers are also showing, it isn’t a barrier to being considered a proper journalist either.
Read All at :
RubinReports: The Return of Antisemitism and the False Inevitability of Middle East Moderation
UNIVERSAL TORAH:
UNIVERSAL TORAH:
By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum
Torah Reading: KI TAVO, Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8.
Haftara: Isaiah 60:1-22.
Our parshah, KI TAVO, puts the seal on Moses' detailed exposition of the commandments in the Mishneh Torah (=Deuteronomy) -- the "Second" or repeated Torah -- and recounts the Covenant that G-d struck with Israel in the plains of Moab prior to their entry into the Land. KI TAVO thus brings us into the closing sections of the Five Books of Moses, the very climax of the Torah. This is fitting reading as we approach the coming Day of Judgment -- Rosh Hashanah -- and the Days of Awe.
The commandments contained in our parshah are almost the last commandments written in the Torah -- except for the two commandments contained in next week's reading, the double parshah of NITZAVIM-VAYELECH. (Those relate to the teaching of the Torah -- its public reading at the HAKHEL assembly in the Temple following the Sabbatical year -- and to the accurate transmission of the Torah through writing a Torah scroll).
THE FUTURE MODE -- THANKYOU
The commandments contained in our present parshah, KI TAVO, relate to the longed-for, glorious future: "And it shall be when you come to the Land.". The opening Hebrew word of the parshah is a permutation of the holy Name of HaShem. This seals His eternal promise that the time will indeed arrive when YOU WILL COME TO THE LAND. The time will come when you will be able to present your first fruits with gratitude in the Holy Temple, separate your priestly tithes and other gifts, and eat the fruits of your labor within the walls of the Holy City.
The opening section of KI TAVO gives the commandment to present the first fruits in a basket by the altar in the Temple as a gift for the Cohen-priest, including the declaration of thanks made on presentation of the fruits. The text of this declaration, "The Aramite (=Laban) tried to destroy my father (Jacob)." (Deut. 26:5-9), is so fundamental to the identity of Israel that it forms the basis of the Pesach Haggadah with which we retell our national story every year on the night celebrating the birth of the nation through the Exodus. The main body of the Haggadah consists of a word-by-word homiletic commentary on these verses.
The mitzvah of the first fruits is immediately followed by the commandments relating to tithes, which also involve a declaration. Periodically all accumulated gifts of agricultural produce to the Levite and poor etc. that have not yet been distributed must be cleared out of the house. This is done after the end of the first three years of the Sabbatical cycle, on the eve of Pesach of the fourth year. Following the distribution of the remaining gifts, the householder declares that he has fulfilled each one of the various commandments relating to agricultural produce in their proper order -- therefore, "Look down from the dwelling place of Your holiness from the heavens and bless Your people." (Deut. 26:13-15). This is known as VIDUI MAASROS, the "confession" over the tithes. This declaration is the opposite of a confession of sin. It is an enumeration of the merits gained by faithful adherence to the commandments of the Torah, like a laborer listing what he has done for his master before inviting his blessing.
With the mitzvah of the first fruits and the commandments relating to the tithes, gifts and consumption of the produce of the Land, the Torah has come the full circle. At the beginning of Genesis, we learned of man's basic sin, which was bound up with the eating of fruit: the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Man took without asking -- he stole, with all the consequences. The serpent tricked Adam into taking the fruit, and thereby brought death upon him and robbed him of his blessings. Jacob had to use trickery against Esau and Laban to retrieve the blessings back from the serpent. Jacob's children had to go down into Egypt in order to rectify all that fell through the eating of the forbidden fruit. They had to endure slavery in order to learn the meaning of freedom and its obligations. Only after much toil and tribulation did they come to the Land, wrest it from and cleanse it of the accursed Canaanites, seed of the serpent, till it, plant and tend it until they saw their first-fruits.
A person inspecting the long-awaited luscious fruits gradually ripening on his tree of figs or pomegranates would tie a thread to mark out the choicest first fruits. Instead of marking them out for his own self-gratification, he would set them aside to present as a gift to the priest at the side of the Temple altar. The first fruits -- BIKURIM -- relate to the BECHORA, the birth-right, which alludes to CHOCHMAH, "wisdom". It was wisdom that Adam defiled in taking the forbidden fruit. Esau, embodiment of the serpent, rejected the birth-right of wisdom, but Jacob took it back -- and vowed at the site of Adam's creation to dedicate the choice first tithe to G-d.
The rectification of the trickery of the serpent, which tempts man to make self-gratification his only altar, is through the steady application of the Torah commandments that regulate how and what we take from the world around us, including the very food we put into our mouths. Before we enjoy the fruits of our labors, we must think of the priest, the Levite and the poor, and separate all the obligatory gifts and tithes. The fulfillment of all the relevant commandments elevates and puts blessing into the fruits that remain for our own enjoyment.
In the declarations over the presentation of the first fruits in the Temple and over the separation of gifts and tithes, man uses the unique faculty G-d has given him -- speech -- as a means of deepening his connection with G-d through heightened consciousness of his identity as an Israelite and as G-d's servant fulfilling His commandments. Saying "Thank You" to G-d out loud is very important.
Presentation of the first fruits in the Temple is the very first of the agricultural commandments fulfilled by the farmer: he thinks about it while the fruit is still ripening on the tree, before he even begins harvesting. The declaration about tithes comes after an entire cycle of three years of harvests and steady fulfillment of all the intricate details of the commandments applying to the fruits in different years. First comes Terumah, the gift to the priest, and then the First Tithe (Maaser) for the Levite. In the first and second years, the Second Tithe (Maaser Sheni) is to be eaten in purity in Jerusalem by its owner, but in the third year, the owner cannot eat the Second Tithe himself. He must give it to the poor (Maaser Oni). If a person has fulfilled all these commandments in all their details, he is entitled to stand up after all this work and list what he has accomplished.
There is a practical lesson for us here as we stand now in the middle of the month of Elul, the period of TESHUVAH, repentance, self-examination and inner work. Teshuvah is not only a matter of confessing sins. We have all sinned, but we have all done a lot of good too. In looking at ourselves and weighing our lives and behavior, we must give due consideration to all the good things that we do. When we weigh their true worth and importance as acts of loving obedience to the King, it will inspire us to go forward with greater confidence, in the knowledge that if we strive to do His will, He will surely bless us.
* * *
AND TO GO IN HIS WAYS
The last commandment contained in KI TAVO, based on the words "and to go in His ways" (Deut. 26:17) is to model our personal traits on the traits and attributes of G-d. "Just as He is merciful and gracious, so you should be merciful and gracious..." The refinement of our traits is the inner work in the heart that G-d asks of the Israelites, an essential part of the spiritual work of the month of Elul. The repetition of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy in the Selichos (penitential prayers) recited in this season comes to arouse us to follow these attributes in our daily lives.
It is indeed the traits of kindness and compassion that are the marks of the true Israelite and the distinctive attributes of AM SEGULAH, the "treasured nation" (Deut. 26:18) whom G-d has chosen to observe His Torah and enjoy its blessings. The very exaltedness of this calling gives Israel a weighty responsibility. Thus the Covenant entails not only privileges and blessings but also heavy sanctions for its infringement. Our parshah impresses upon us the seriousness of the Covenant with its account of the solemn ceremony that was to accompany the people's entry into the Land. The Torah was to be written on stone, and the twelve tribes were to stand on two mountains adjacent to Shechem, six on each mountain, while the priests and Levites standing in the middle recited a litany of blessings and curses.
The first reference to this ceremony was made at the beginning of parshas RE'EH, which we read four weeks ago, before Moses entered into the details of the law code of the Covenant in the trilogy of RE'EH, SHOFTIM and KI SEITZEI. Now, in KI TAVO, after completion of the law code, the Torah depicts this striking ceremony to impress upon us that Israel's presence in the Land is not for the sake of having mere territory. The Land is given as the place in which to fulfill the Torah. It is when Israel dwells in the land in order to observe the commandments that they are "for praise and for a name and for glory. a holy nation" (Deut. 26:19).
On entry into the land, they were to set up great stones washed with lime and write the Torah on them "with clear explanation" (Deut. 27:8) -- "in the seventy languages" (Rashi ad loc.). The fact that the Torah had to be written in all the languages of the world shows that the presence of Israel in the land is not merely of particular interest to Israel alone but of universal significance for the whole of mankind.
For this reason, the present series of commentaries is entitled UNIVERSAL TORAH even though many sections of the Torah deal with commandments that apply exclusively to Israel and not to the other Children of Noah. Nevertheless, numerous commandments and teachings in the Torah apply to all humanity. Moreover, Israel's observance of the Torah and their possession of the Land of Israel as the place designed for this are in the interests of the whole of humanity. As expressed in the words of the rabbis, "If the nations understood the value to them of the Holy Temple, they would have surrounded it with armed guards". All those whose actions and policies obstruct the building of the Temple are doing a terrible disservice to the entire world.
Israel and its people and Jews everywhere are the focus of interest for everyone in the world precisely because of our exalted mission as the Treasured Nation. The history of Israel and the Jews, with its great heights and terrible lows and degradation, is a lesson writ large for all humanity on the righteousness of G-d. He gave a Covenant with blessings and curses, and the infringement of the Covenant has brought all the curses listed in the parshah in all their terrible details.
If so, fulfillment of the Covenant will certainly bring all the amazing blessings listed in our parshah. Our obligation in this generation is to return to the Covenant with all our hearts so that we will rapidly witness the complete redemption, peace for Israel and the spread of the light of the Torah from Zion to the whole world.
Shabbat Shalom!
Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum
--
AZAMRA INSTITUTE
PO Box 50037 Jerusalem 91500 Israel
Website: www.azamra.org
Love of the Land: The IAEA's Iran Failure
The IAEA's Iran Failure
The latest IAEA report on Iran has a short summary:
Iran keeps its nuclear material neat and tidy
Iran has not suspended enrichment as required by the UN Security Council
Iran is not cooperating with the IAEA
No surprises, but an oddity. Mention is made in the body of the report of the "alleged green salt project." The IAEA appears to have shown Iran evidence of such a project and suggests a problem with Iranian honesty regarding both the project's existence and Iran's intentions. Noting its own inability to get answers, the report says:
With respect to the letter with handwritten annotations which was part of the documentation related to the alleged green salt project, Iran has confirmed the existence of the underlying letter, has shown the original to the Agency and has provided the Agency with a copy of it. The existence of this original demonstrates a direct link between the relevant documentation and Iran. As already requested of Iran, the Agency needs to see further related correspondence and to have access to the individuals named in the letter.
This is not a small matter. "Green salt" is uranium tetrafluoride, which can be used to make fuel for a nuclear reactor or fissile material for a bomb. According to American sources, in 2004 the CIA came into possession of an Iranian laptop computer with data on tests for high explosives, a design for a missile re-entry vehicle and a diagram of a green-salt production line. Time magazine wrote at the time, "Separately, those areas of research could imply fairly benign intentions. But if an Iranian military agency has been coordinating all the research, the U.S. assessment is 'you're talking about a nuclear-tipped missile,' says a senior official with access to the intelligence reports."
Five long and unsatisfactory years later, during which Iran has presumably been working away on the "alleged" green salt project, the IAEA proposes the following:
The Agency believes that it has provided Iran with sufficient access...to enable Iran to respond substantively to questions...However, the Director General urges Member States which have provided documentation to the Agency to work out new modalities with the Agency so that it could share further documentation with Iran, as appropriate, since the Agency's inability to do so is rendering it difficult for the Agency to progress further in its verification process.
In other words, because the IAEA has failed to get the Iranians to cooperate, or even acknowledge the evidence in front of it, the United States (the "Member State") should share more ("new modalities") of its intelligence information, so the IAEA can share it with Iran.
The IAEA summary includes two final points:
Iran must cooperate
The Director General will continue to report
Love of the Land: The IAEA's Iran Failure
Love of the Land: Civil Fights: Don't Make Me Laugh
Civil Fights: Don't Make Me Laugh
Evelyn Gordon
JPost
02 September 09
There must have been something in the air last month: Two prominent Israeli leftists publicly acknowledged fundamental problems in the "peace process" that will make a deal unachievable if not resolved.
Aluf Benn, Haaretz's diplomatic correspondent, articulated one problem in an August 7 column describing a conversation with a "senior European diplomat." Benn posed one simple question: How would a deal benefit ordinary Israelis? The diplomat was stunned. Wasn't it obvious? It would create a Palestinian state! After Benn pointed out that most Israelis care very little about the Palestinians; they want to know how peace would benefit them, the diplomat tried again: "There would be an end to terror." "Don't make me laugh," Benn replied.
When the IDF withdrew from parts of the West Bank and Gaza under the Oslo Accords, Israelis got suicide bombings in their cities. When it quit Gaza entirely, they got rockets on the Negev. But the bombings stopped after the IDF reoccupied the West Bank, and the rockets stopped after January's Gaza operation. In short, the IDF has done a far better job of securing "peace" as Israelis understand it - i.e., not being killed - than the "peace process" ever has.
NORMALIZATION WITH the Arab world is also scant attraction, Benn noted; most Israelis "have no inherent desire to fly El Al through Saudi Arabian airspace or visit Morocco's 'interests section.'" And the downsides of a deal - financing the evacuation of tens of thousands of settlers and "the frightening prospect of violent internal schisms" - are substantial.
Benn's conclusion from the conversation was shocking: Thus far, the international community has never thought about how a deal might benefit Israelis; that was considered unimportant.
Read All at :
Love of the Land: Civil Fights: Don't Make Me Laugh
Love of the Land: Peace-Process Promises and Preconditions
Peace-Process Promises and Preconditions
Rick Richman
Contentions/Commentary
02 September 09
At Politico, Ben Smith reports that “Obama Ties Netanyahu Support to Talks”:
“Netanyahu’s at a pivotal moment,” said a senior U.S. official. “Depending on what he decides, he could wind up with a very strong relationship with President Obama and potentially become a historic figure in Israel.”
“It could very well hinge on what he decides in the next couple of weeks,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Another senior U.S. official held out a similar carrot for Netanyahu: This moment offers the opportunity to “forge a very important and positive relationship between Netanyahu and the president,” the official said.
Read All at
Love of the Land: Peace-Process Promises and PreconditionsDoubleTapper: IDF Code of Conduct
IDF Code of Conduct
تنسيق-الكليات-لعام سكس نيك كس
All Israelis are drafted into the IDF.
During their IDF Service they are required to live by the IDF Code of Conduct.
It has a profound effect on Israeli Society.
The IDF Code of Conduct that is a combination of international law,
Israeli law, Jewish heritage
and the IDF's own traditional ethical code—the IDF Spirit
(Hebrew: רוח צה"ל, Ru'ah Tzahal).
Israeli law, Jewish heritage
and the IDF's own traditional ethical code—the IDF Spirit
(Hebrew: רוח צה"ל, Ru'ah Tzahal).
Stated values of the IDF
The document defines three core values for all IDF soldiers to follow, as well as ten secondary values (the first being most important, and the others being sorted in Hebrew alphabetical order):n
- Core values
- Defense of the State, its Citizens and its Residents - "The IDF's goal is to defend the existence of the State of Israel, its independence and the security of the citizens and residents of the state."
- Love of the Homeland and Loyalty to the Country - "At the core of service in the IDF stand the love of the homeland and the commitment and devotion to the State of Israel-a democratic state that serves as a national home for the Jewish People-its citizens and residents."
- Human Dignity - "The IDF and its soldiers are obligated to protect human dignity. Every human being is of value regardless of his or her origin, religion, nationality, gender, status or position."
- Other values
- Tenacity of Purpose in Performing Missions and Drive to Victory - "The IDF servicemen and women will fight and conduct themselves with courage in the face of all dangers and obstacles; They will persevere in their missions resolutely and thoughtfully even to the point of endangering their lives."
- Responsibility - "The IDF servicemen or women will see themselves as active participants in the defense of the state, its citizens and residents. They will carry out their duties at all times with initiative, involvement and diligence with common sense and within the framework of their authority, while prepared to bear responsibility for their conduct."
- Credibility - "The IDF servicemen and women shall present things objectively, completely and precisely, in planning, performing and reporting. They will act in such a manner that their peers and commanders can rely upon them in performing their tasks."
- Personal Example - "The IDF servicemen and women will comport themselves as required of them, and will demand of themselves as they demand of others, out of recognition of their ability and responsibility within the military and without to serve as a deserving role model."
- Human Life - "The IDF servicemen and women will act in a judicious and safe manner in all they do, out of recognition of the supreme value of human life. During combat they will endanger themselves and their comrades only to the extent required to carry out their mission."
- Purity of Arms - "The soldier shall make use of his weaponry and power only for the fulfillment of the mission and solely to the extent required; he will maintain his humanity even in combat. The soldier shall not employ his weaponry and power in order to harm non-combatants or prisoners of war, and shall do all he can to avoid harming their lives, body, honor and property."
- Professionalism - "The IDF servicemen and women will acquire the professional knowledge and skills required to perform their tasks, and will implement them while striving continuously to perfect their personal and collective achievements."
- Discipline - "The IDF servicemen and women will strive to the best of their ability to fully and successfully complete all that is required of them according to orders and their spirit. IDF soldiers will be meticulous in giving only lawful orders, and shall refrain from obeying blatantly illegal orders."
- Comradeship - "The IDF servicemen and women will act out of fraternity and devotion to their comrades, and will always go to their assistance when they need their help or depend on them, despite any danger or difficulty, even to the point of risking their lives."
- Sense of Mission - "The IDF soldiers view their service in the IDF as a mission; They will be ready to give their all in order to defend the state, its citizens and residents. This is due to the fact that they are representatives of the IDF who act on the basis and in the framework of the authority given to them in accordance with IDF orders."
DoubleTapper: IDF Code of Conduct
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