Thursday 18 June 2009

DEFIANCE - PORTUGUESE DVD RELEASE


DEFIANCE, suffered here in Portugal the questionable fate of some movies : going directly into sale in DVD edition, without being seen in any movie theater.
Whil piles of junk are kept in exhibition simultaneously in more than one theater in the same city, th e film importers weren't able (or didn't want)to find a place to screen this movie.
They can't use the excuse that the director is unknown, (Edward Zwick is well known here as some of his movies as Blood Diamonds or The Last Samurai), or Daniel Craig (James Bond saga). So why this decision ?
Maybe, in their "wisdom", film importers saw no interest in what DEFIANCE tells.
Is it that the story of the Bialky's is something this guys can't stand ?
Is it that this decision, a camouflaged censorship, due to the obeyance of the "politically correctness" so dear to portuguese government and his EU patrons ?
One thing i'm certain: for these minds it's unbearable the idea of someone fighting back agression, especially when that agression is directed against ... Jews !

UNIVERSAL TORAH: KORACH

UNIVERSAL TORAH: KORACH


By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum

Torah Reading (in Israel): KORACH, Numbers 16:1-18:32;
I Samuel 11:14-12:22

* * *

KORACH'S ENVY

In the account of the sin of the Ten Spies in the previous parshah of SHELACH LECHA, we learned about the painful consequences of distorted vision in man's relation with G-d. The Spies and those who listened to them lacked faith in G-d's promise to take them to the Land of Israel, allowing outward appearances deceive them into thinking they would be unable to conquer it. The sin could be rectified only through a protracted exile that comes to teach us that, in spite of outward appearances, G-d is in fact leading us to ultimate, complete possession of the Land.

The distortion of vision that is the theme of our present parshah of KORACH, a distortion which led to such dire consequences for Korach and those who listened to him, was of a different nature. In Korach's case, the distortion lay in the way man views his fellow man: Korach could not bear to see another more prominent than himself. "Why is Moses the king, Aaron the high priest. and Korach just another Levite?"

The sin of vision of the spies is deeply rooted in the sin of eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Just as the outer appearance of the fruit made Eve lose faith in what G-d said about not eating it, so too the spies wanted to see things for themselves and make their own decisions -- and they lost their faith. Korach's sin of vision, on the other hand, is rooted in Cain's jealousy of Abel, whose offering (the prototype Temple sacrifice of Aaron) found favor in G-d's eyes. "Why is Abel the priest?" Cain wanted the whole world for himself -- so he killed Abel. So too Korach was envious of Aaron's eternal role as the high priest of G-d's Temple, and he tried to destroy him.

According to the Midrash, Korach's "starting point" is to be found at the end of the previous parshah, giving the commandment of Tzitzis, where a single blue thread is tied with seven white threads as fringes on the four corners of our garments. [Issues relating to the use of white linen threads with the blue TECHEILES woolen thread are also bound up with Cain and Abel: the offering of the former was of linen, while the latter offered sheep.] The question that Korach asked was: "If a person is wearing a garment that is entirely TECHEILES, does it also require Tzitzis?" When Moses answered that it does, Korach ridiculed him: "If a single blue thread is enough to fulfill the duty of Tzitzis for a white garment, surely a garment that is entirely TECHEILES doesn't need Tzitzis!"

Korach wanted a garment that was all TECHEILES, all kingship and grandeur. He did not want to be reminded that the only King is G-d, all around us, in all directions. Korach wanted the kingship and grandeur for himself: he was all TECHEILES, all GEVURAH. According to rabbinic tradition, Korach possessed amazing wealth. Everything was for himself, yet in rebelling against Moses and Aaron, Korach played the democrat, the people's champion: "All the community, all of them are holy, and HASHEM is within them, and why do you lord it over the Assembly of HASHEM?"

Korach's rebellion was against the authority of Moses (the rule of law), but he justified it with an appeal to people's highest ideals: "Everyone is holy -- so why do we need priests and rabbis?" Korach used his wealth and prestige to whip everyone up into a frenzy against Moses.

The first word of G-d's command to Moses and Aaron -- "SEPARATE yourselves from this assembly and I will consume them." (Numbers 16:21) gave its name to a doctrine that was espoused by Rabbi Moses, the Chasam Sofer (1762-1839) leader of European Jewry in his time, in response to the proponents of religious and cultural assimilation. The doctrine is that of HISBADLUS, Separation. At a time when assimilationist thinking was spreading rapidly among the Jews of Europe, the Chasam Sofer urged his faithful co-religionists to separate themselves in every possible way from anyone who deviated from the Judaism of the Shulchan Aruch, the Code of Torah law.

Today, assimilation has become so universal that the Torah faithful have little option but to run after the assimilated and try to help them find their way back to G-d. Nevertheless, having an understanding of the origins of HISBADLUS may help us in trying to unravel the knots of MACHLOKET (conflict) in which our communities are so tied up. For HISBADLUS remains the key to the separatist attitudes shown by some in the observant community until today. The essence of HISBADLUS is to try to distance oneself from those who represent a culture and way of life that are in rebellion against G-d's Torah as we have it from Moses.

The assimilation movement made rapid inroads among Jews everywhere from the 1800's onwards because of the strength of its appeal to those who felt caged in by the centuries-old restrictions on Jewish social and economic life. While assimilation had its theorists and exponents (from Moses Mendelson onwards), what gave it such power and influence was the fact that it was sponsored by a clique of extremely wealthy Jewish sponsors (= Korach) who were themselves in flight from the Torah of Moses. They used their influence in the countries in which they lived to establish synagogues, educational and cultural institutions that deviated from the traditional pathway. Indeed, they have been so effective that they have succeeded in making what is essentially a deviation appear mainstream, whereas the authentic Torah of Moses appears purely marginal. What could be more of a distortion of vision?

* * *

HELL

The punishment of Korach and his band was that "they went down alive to SHE-OL" (Numbers 16:30). The bible commentator OR HACHAYIM (Rabbi Chayim ben Attar) explains (ad loc.) the use of the word SHE-OL (which has the connotation of "borrow") as a term for Hell. "The explanation is that the earth did not have power over them to kill them, but they were left alive, and the earth gave them as a deposit to Gehennom".

Many seekers of the truth of the Torah are confused about what place She-ol, Gehennom or Hell really play in the Torah worldview. In the Bible, the word used for hell is, as in our parshah, SHE-OL (see also Genesis 42:38 and Deuteronomy 32:22).

Throughout the Talmud, the standard term referring to hell is Gehennom, but this does not appear in the Bible at all except as the name of a location just outside ancient Jerusalem -- Gey Hennom, the "Valley of Sighs". This was where there was an idolatrous temple to Molech, to whom children were dedicated by being passed over fire (making the children scream or "sigh").

The confusion over what hell really is derives precisely from the fact that all false religions and cults use precisely this idea to strike such fear into the hearts of their led flocks that they will be psychologically locked into the cult all their lives. Going down to hell alive is precisely what is so frightening about the idea, as it means that death is not a refuge of unconsciousness from the threatened pains of hell. On the contrary, "hellfire and brimstone" preachers delight in reminding their audiences how, despite the excruciating pain of the threatened fire and freezing cold, etc., there is no death and no relief in hell, only more and more pain. all this as the punishment of those who dare stray from the cult!

In the Five Books of Moses, the prime sanction that is threatened for disobedience against the Torah is not hell, but rather the tribulations of This World (as in the curses in Leviticus chapter 26 and in Deuteronomy chapter 28). However, Hell is also threatened: "For a fire is kindled through my wrath and it will burn to the depths of SHE'OL." (Deuteronomy 32:22). The Talmud teaches that unconsciousness and insensitivity provide no relieve in hell. "The worms of the grave are as hard to the dead person as a needle in living flesh" (Shabbos 13b). But the Torah also explicitly states that "When the wicked person turns from all his sins that he did and guards all My laws and practices justice and charity, he will surely live. All his sins that he did will not be remembered against him; through the righteousness that he practiced he will live" (Ezekiel 18:21-22).

The psychological power wielded by priests and cult-leaders over their hypnotized flocks lies in their implicit claim that it is they themselves who determine who will suffer in hell and for what crimes (i.e. betrayal of the cult). However, the Torah teaches that G-d alone determines what each one must suffer, and that a person suffers only for those actions for which he bears responsibility, and not for the crimes of others. ("It is the soul that sins that will die. A son will not bear the sin of a father and a father will not bear the sin of the son. The righteousness of the righteousness will be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon him" -- Ezekiel 18:20).

The Torah view is that while hell is certainly painful, it is compassionate in the sense that the sinner pays for his sins in order to be cleansed of them and thus prepared for reconciliation and true communion with G-d. Thus the Torah teaches that there is a time-limit to hell, while the final reward is eternal.

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov commented that while we believe in the eternal reward (Gan Eden), and while it MAY BE that Olam Ha-Zeh, "This world", exists somewhere or other, the place we are in now would for many people appear to be Gehennom, in view of the terrible suffering many people go through here. May all that we may have suffered here be our atonement, and may G-d speedily grant relief from all our troubles and sorrows.

The Talmudic rabbi Rabbah bar bar Hannah relates (Bava Basra 74a) that he was taken by "an itinerant merchant" to a place in the wilderness where Korach and his band were swallowed up. There was a fissure in the crust of the earth from which smoke was rising, and the heat was so intense that some drenched cotton-wool lowered into it on the end of a spear was scorched immediately. The merchant asked him what he could hear. He heard voices crying out: "Moses and his Torah are true, while Korach and his band are deceivers." The merchant told Rabbah that Korach and his band were rotating in the fire of hell like meat on a spit, and that every thirty days they would complete a circuit and could be heard saying the same thing: "Moses and his Torah are true.". This fits in well with another teaching of Rabbi Nachman: that the essential pain of hell is not so much physical as the pain and shame at having been wrong all along. If we have been wrong, let's admit it!

* * *

THE TORAH ECONOMY

The account of Korach's challenge to Moses and Aaron is followed by the laws relating to the sacrificial parts and Terumah (gifts of grain, oil, wine and other produce) given to the priests in return for their service in the Sanctuary, and the tithes which the Levites received in return for theirs.

In Temple times, these gifts made up a substantial part of the livelihood of the priests and Levites, who were thus left free to pursue their work of going out among the people and teaching them the Torah. Since the study and teaching of the Torah are not per se economically productive activities (though they are the source of all blessing, spiritual and material), the only way they can be seriously pursued is when each member of the wider society takes a share in supporting them.

In the words of Rambam (Laws of Shemittah and Jubilee 13:12-13):

"The tribe of Levy did not have a share in the land of Israel or in war booty together with their brothers, because they were separated to serve HaShem and minister to Him and to teach His righteous ways and laws to the multitude. Accordingly they were separated from the ways of the world, they do not fight in war like other Israelites and they do not have a share in the land or attain material power. They are the army of G-d and G-d is their share and inheritance.

"And not only the tribe of Levy, but every single person from all the inhabitants of the world whose spirit encourages him and whose understanding leads him to separate himself to stand before G-d and serve Him, to know G-d and go on the straight path. G-d will remove from his neck the yoke of the "many calculations" that people seek for themselves. For this person has sanctified himself as a holy of holies, and HaShem will be his portion for ever and ever and G-d will provide him in this world with what suffices him, just as G-d provided the priests and the Levites with their livelihood. And thus King David said: HaShem is the portion of my share and my cup: You sustain my lot!"

Shabbat Shalom!!!

Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum

--
AZAMRA INSTITUTE
PO Box 50037 Jerusalem 91500 Israel
Website: www.azamra.org

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ONE IDIOT IS MISSING....


'U.S. told us don't take Netanyahu seriously'

'U.S. told us don't take Netanyahu seriously'

Israel Matzav: Netanyahu reframed the dispute?

Netanyahu reframed the dispute?

Michael Freund puts some thoughts that have been going through my head since Sunday into print, and a lot of what he says makes sense.

ANY FAIR-MINDED OBSERVER who listened to the speech, or merely read it afterward, could not help but come away impressed by two main themes: A sincere desire for peace, alongside the undeniable historical rights which underpin the existence of the Jewish state.

Netanyahu made a compelling case against territorial withdrawals, wryly noting that the assertion they will bring peace "has up till now not stood the test of reality." Moreover, he offered his listeners a concise yet crucial historical survey of modern Arab opposition to the very existence of a Jewish presence in this region.

Read All at :

Israel Matzav: Netanyahu reframed the dispute?

Israel Matzav: Iranian soccer team threatened?

Israel Matzav: Iranian soccer team threatened?

Israel Matzav: Jacoby rips Obama on Iran

Jacoby rips Obama on Iran

In Wednesday's Boston Globe, Jeff Jacoby rips the Obama administration for its 'restraint' on Iran.

But neutrality is not an option. By not supporting the Iranian protesters, Obama is aiding their oppressors. Reporting from Tehran, CNN's Samson Desta noted that Iranian students have repeatedly approached him with an "appeal to President Obama. They say, 'Is he going to accept this result? Because if he does, then we are doomed.'

Read All at :

Israel Matzav: Jacoby rips Obama on Iran

Israel Matzav: Carter calls on Obama to embrace Hamas

Carter calls on Obama to embrace Hamas

America's worst ex-President was in Gaza on Tuesday, where he called on his competitor for the title of America's worst President to engage with the Hamas terror organization.

Former President Jimmy Carter will urge the Obama administration to remove Hamas from the terrorist list, FOX News has learned.

Carter, a chief defender of the U.S.-designated terror group, said Tuesday he will meet with officials in the Obama administration in two days to discuss his latest trip to the Middle East.

Read All at :

Israel Matzav: Carter calls on Obama to embrace Hamas

Israel Matzav: EU drops quartet requirements on Hamas

EU drops quartet requirements on Hamas

Apparently led by France, the European Union has dropped the Quartet's three conditions for discussions with Hamas (recognition of Israel, renunciation of terrorism and adoption of PLO agreements with Israel) in the hope that it will help the terror organization to reach agreement with the 'good terrorists' of Fatah.

Instead, the statement said the foreign ministers expressed "continued encouragement for inter-Palestinian reconciliation behind [Palestinian Authority] President Mahmoud Abbas and support for the mediation efforts by Egypt and the Arab League."

Read All at :

Israel Matzav: EU drops quartet requirements on Hamas

Israel Matzav: Iran using Hamas mercenaries on street protestors

Iran using Hamas mercenaries on street protestors

Several Iranians involved in street protests in their country have told Israel's Jerusalem Post that 'Palestinian' thugs affiliated with Hamas have been helping the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to quash the protests.

Palestinian Hamas members are helping the Iranian authorities crush street protests in support of reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, two protesters told The Jerusalem Post On Tuesday.

Read All at :

Israel Matzav: Iran using Hamas mercenaries on street protestors

Israel Matzav: Out Cartering Carter?

Out Cartering Carter?

From Bret Stephens in the Wall Street Journal:

Rarely in U.S. history has a foreign policy course been as thoroughly repudiated by events as his approach to Iran in his first months in office. Even Jimmy Carter drew roughly appropriate conclusions about the Iranian regime after the hostages were taken in 1979.

Maybe this president will now draw roughly appropriate conclusions, too. Or maybe he'll just turn his gaze from his nonstarting overture to Tehran to the Holy Land, whose pastures look ever-so slightly greener thanks to Mr. Netanyahu's attempt at reasonableness and conciliation. Israelis shouldn't count on Mr. Obama responding in kind.

Read All at :

Israel Matzav: Out Cartering Carter?

Israel Matzav: Batons and fists

Israel Matzav: Batons and fists

Israel Matzav: How Obama convinced the Mullahs to steal the election

How Obama convinced the Mullahs to steal the election

Despite its total lack of support for the Iranian demonstrators, the Obama administration and the doting American mainstream media would like us to believe that the President's pronouncements about 'hope and change' have somehow inspired what's going on in the streets of Tehran and other Iranian cities. In The Corner, Bill Siegel argues that Obama didn't inspire what's going on in the streets of Iran, but he may have inspired the Mullahs to believe that they could steal the election.
Read All at :

Israel Matzav: How Obama convinced the Mullahs to steal the election

Israel Matzav: Charles Krauthammer rips Obama on Iran

Israel Matzav: Charles Krauthammer rips Obama on Iran

Israel Matzav: Obama's excuse for not acting on Iran

Israel Matzav: Obama's excuse for not acting on Iran

Israel Matzav: Still waiting....

Israel Matzav: Still waiting....

For Zion's Sake: One Land for One People

One Land for One People


At Bar-Ilan, Binyamin Netanyahu laid the foundations for a Palestinian state. Along with that, he unwittingly nullified the Jewish State. Netanyahu outlined his vision for the Middle East: "In my vision of peace, there are two free peoples living side by side in this small land, with good neighborly relations and mutual respect, each with its flag, anthem and government, with neither one threatening its neighbor's security and existence."

Netanyahu's speech detailed the deep Jewish connection to the Land of Israel and attempted to correct many of the fallacies and inaccuracies contained in Obama's Cairo address. To thunderous applause, Netanyahu proclaimed that "the connection of the Jewish People to the Land has been in existence for more than 3,500 years. Judea and Samaria, the places where our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob walked, our forefathers David, Solomon, Isaiah and Jeremiah, this is not a foreign land, this is the Land of our Forefathers... The right to establish our sovereign state here, in the Land of Israel, arises from one simple fact: Eretz Israel is the birthplace of the Jewish People." Yet for all the powerful and refreshing Zionist rhetoric, Netanyahu undermined all of this with his call for a Palestinian state east of the Jordan.

Read All at :

For Zion's Sake: One Land for One People

OPINION TRUMPS REALITY

Opinion Trumps Reality

The NYT has a cute article this morning about technology's application to the events in Iran. Nothing profound, mind you, but I recommend, especially if technology and its application to life interests you.

The reason for this post, however, is to have a look at the picture which goes with the story.
Or better, have a look at the caption: A Moussavi supporter flashed a peace sign to marching protesters.
It's not a peace sign, of course. It's a victory sign. The fingers form a V, not a P.
Telling, isn't it. About the New York Times, not Iran.
taken from :Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

Institute for Global Jewish Affairs – Global Antisemitism, Anti-Israelism, Jewish Studies

Institute for Global Jewish Affairs – Global Antisemitism, Anti-Israelism, Jewish Studies

THE DIVORCEE OF PARTIES

The Divorce of Parties

DIVORCE AGREEMENT

American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1950's, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has run its course.

Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement:

Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement.

After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.We don't like redistributive taxes so you can keep them.

You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military.

You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell (You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them).

We'll keep the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street. You can have your beloved homeless, homeboys, hippies and illegal aliens. We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO's and rednecks. We'll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood ...

You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us.. You can have the peaceniks and war protesters.

When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help provide them security.

We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values.. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism and Shirley McClain.

You can also have the U.N.. but we will no longer be paying the bill.

We'll keep the SUVs, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find.

You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors. We'll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right.

We'll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National Anthem. I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute Imagine, I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing, Kum Ba Ya or We Are the World.

We'll practice trickle down economics and you can give trickle up poverty your best shot.

Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name and our flag. Would you agree to this?

If so, please pass it along to other like minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete.

In the spirit of friendly parting, I'll bet you which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.

Sincerely,
John J. Wal
l
Law Student and an American

P.S. Also, please take Ted Turner, Sean Penn, Martin Sheehan, Barbara Streisand, & Jane Fonda with you.

P. S. S. And we won't have to press 1 for English.

taken from : B'NAI ELIM (http://bnaielim.blogspot.com/)


UNIVERSAL TORAH : SHELACH LECHA

UNIVERSAL TORAH: SHELACH LECHA


By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum

Torah Reading: SHELACH LECHA, Numbers 13:1-15:41
Haftara: Joshua 2:1-24

With the arrival of the summer solstice and the longest day of the year, we are now standing on the threshold of TEKUFAT TAMMUZ, "the season of the month of Tammuz", the hottest time of the year. For long hours every day, Eretz Yisrael is bathed in dazzlingly bright light. It is appropriate that kabbalistically, this season is associated with the human faculty of vision. (The tribe associated with the month of Tammuz, which begins in little more than a week's time, is Reuven -- REU-BEN: "SEE! A son!")

The theme of purifying and refining our principle faculties was introduced at the beginning of the previous parshah, BEHA'ALOSCHA. As discussed in our commentary, the seven lamps of the Menorah allude to the seven "lamps" of the head: the two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and the mouth. The highest of all are the eyes, and the visual image of the Menorah with which BEHA'ALOSCHA begins ("according to the VISION that HaShem SHOWED Moses") initiates a series of parshiyot all of which prominently feature the faculty of vision.

As we will discuss presently, this certainly applies to SHELACH LECHAH, with its theme of "spying out the Land". It also applies to the ensuing parshiyot: In KORACH we find that Korach rebelled because he was deceived by his own VISION, while all the children of Israel SAW that the Staff of Aaron sprouted. In CHUKAS we learn that when sprinkling the blood of the Red Heiffer, the priest had to LOOK towards the entrance of the Sanctuary, while the bitten Israelites had to GAZE at the bronze serpent. "And Balak SAW." (Numbers 22:2). "And Bilaam SAW." (24:1). "And Pinchas SAW." (25:7) "And HaShem said to Moses, Go up. and SEE the land that I have given to the Children of Israel" (27:12).

* * *

SPYING OUT THE LAND

The theme of vision is paramount in SHELACH LECHA. The parshah begins with G-d telling Moses to send men who "will SPY OUT the Land of Canaan which I am giving to the Children of Israel". The parshah ends with the passage recited by every Israelite in the SHEMA morning and evening: "They will make for themselves TZITZIS on the fringes of their garments. and you shall LOOK at it and remember all the commandments of HaShem and you shall do them, AND YOU SHALL NOT GO SPYING AFTER YOUR HEARTS AND AFTER YOUR EYES that you went astray after them." (Numbers 15:38-39). The same word for spying occurs in the opening and closing verses of the parshah, highlighting the importance of the theme of vision throughout the parshah. The Tzitzis are the remedy for faulty and sinful vision.

In the words of Rashi's comment on the latter verse (Numbers 15:39): The heart and the eyes are spies for the body, and they act as the body's agents in sinning. The eye sees, the heart desires and the body carries out the sins." The fringes of the Tzitzis surrounding us on all four sides, are a visual reminder of G-d's presence everywhere. The blue TECHEILES thread in the Tzitzis is the color of the sea, which is a reflection of the color of the heavens, the seat of G-d's glory.

Tzitztis is the first mitzvah to which a young boy is introduced (customarily at the age of 3), because this mitzvah comes to remedy the vision of the eyes, which caused Adam's downfall. "And the woman SAW that the tree was good for food and it was desirable to the EYES. and she ate and she gave also to her husband with her" (Genesis 3:6).

Likewise, it was deceptive vision that led to the fall of the Children of Israel forty days after the revelation at Sinai. "And the people SAW that Moses' was delayed in coming down from the mountain." (Exodus 32:1). According to the sages, Satan deceived the people with a "desert mirage" of Moses being carried up dead to heaven. They didn't want an invisible leader. They wanted one they could see with their own eyes. "And the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, Rise, make us gods who will go before us." (Exodus 32:1). They couldn't stand not being able to see G-d. They felt impelled to violate the Second Commandment against making graven images. They wanted a visual representation of the divine -- the demanded to see the unseeable -- but their representation turned into an idol, giving a license to lust.

In the sin of the Golden Calf, the heart went astray after the image before the eyes. The sin took place at the very height of TEKUFAT TAMUZ (season of Vision), on the 17th of the month. The sin of the Golden Calf led to all the subsequent trials and tribulations of the Children of Israel, represented in the Forty Years of Wandering in the Wilderness (for it is only after 40 years that a person attains BINAH, "understanding" -- Avot 5:21). Although the decree of forty years wandering was specifically incurred through the sin of the spies, Rashi (on Numbers 14:33) tells us that "From the moment they made the calf, this decree arose in His Thought. Except that He waited for them until their measure was filled, as it says (Exodus 32:34): 'On the day of my visitation I will visit upon them their sin' ".

The forty-year penalty corresponded to the forty-day journey of the Twelve Spies from the Wilderness around the Land of Israel. This also took place during TEKUFAS TAMUZ, one year after the sin of the golden calf. The spies left at the end of Sivan, they were travelling around Israel during the entire month of Tammuz, and they arrived back at the Israelite camp in the Wilderness only on the 9th day of the month of Av.

On their tour of the land, the spies saw exactly what they wanted to see. With the exception of Joshua and Kalev, they rejected the vision of the forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They did not want to accept the traditional report that their ears alone had heard: that G-d promised to take them to a land "flowing with milk and honey". They could not take it on trust. They wanted to check it out with their own eyes and decide for themselves. And they saw what they wanted to see: a real place, a land governed by natural laws, where people live and die. A beautiful land, but one which it was against all the laws of nature that the puny ex-slave Israelites could conquer in the face of a sea of entrenched Amalekites and Canaanites. "And we were in our own eyes as grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes" (Numbers 13:33).

The sin of the spies was a failure of faith. They allowed themselves to be misled by the external appearance of the natural world into a colossal failure of nerve, despite all the promises given by G-d that He would bring them to the land. The faith of Israel does not depend upon what the eyes see. On the contrary, we declare our faith wrapped in the Tallis, clutching the Tzitzis by our hearts, closing our eyes to the visual world around us and covering them with our hand: "Sh'ma Yisrael, HaShem is our G-d.!" Only Joshua and Kalev closed their eyes to external appearances, knowing that with G-d's help, it is possible to "bend" nature. "We will go up and take possession of it, for He can -- we can -- (conquer) it."

Eretz Yisrael looks like a regular country with houses, roads, fields, forests and mountains, etc. (as Rabbi Nachman put it, "these actual stones and houses"). Yet in reality, the law of the land is totally beyond nature. It is: "A land that HaShem your G-d cares for constantly, the EYES of HaShem your G-d are on it from the beginning of the year and until the end of the year" (Deut. 11:12).

Every Israelite recites the law of the Land of Israel twice daily, morning and evening in the Sh'ma: "And if you will surely listen to My commandments. And I will give the rain of your land in its season.and you will eat and be satisfied. Guard yourself lest your heart seduces you and you go astray. and you will be lost quicfrom the good land which HaShem is giving you" (Deut. 11:13-17).

Perhaps the spies feared the people could not live up to the level of the law of the land, and they preferred an easier, more natural way of life outside of Israel. As leaders of their tribes, the spies conducted an ingenious operation of public opinion manipulation, using skillfully chosen words to implant in the people's minds a vision of the impossibility of achieving their natural destiny that led them all to tears. (This the spies achieved with words alone, even without the use of television, which is the Satan's ultimate deceiver of eyes.) "And all the community cried out, and the people WEPT on that night." Tears come from the eyes, the organs of vision. With our tears we try to wash away the bad that our eyes have seen.

The people should have focussed their vision on that which is beyond nature -- the miracles that had been performed for them. This should have given them the faith that G-d has the power to fulfill His promises. (See Rashi on Numbers 14:11). Those who had seen the miracles and still did not believe in G-d would not see the land. "All the men who see My glory and My signs that I did in Egypt and in the Wilderness yet have tested Me in this ten times, and have not listened to My voice -- They shall not see the land that I have sworn to their fathers, and all who despise Me shall not see it" (Numbers 14:22-3).

Yet immediately after the imposition of the decree, the Torah continues with a series of commandments that can only be fulfilled in the Land of Israel, including the laws of the wheat, oil and wine libations that accompany animal offerings in the Temple, and CHALLAH, the gift of the first portion of one's bread to the priest (Numbers Ch. 15). The positioning of these commandments directly after the narrative of the spies is a reminder that even though the exile ("forty years") may be lengthy, eventually Israel will inherit the entire land and have the merit of offering its choicest produce in the Temple and on the table of the priests. [The Challah, separated by the woman and given to the priest, rectifies Eve's sin of giving the forbidden fruit to Adam.]

Shabbat Shalom!!!

Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum

--
AZAMRA INSTITUTE
PO Box 50037 Jerusalem 91500 Israel
Website: www.azamra.org

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Chesler Chronicles » End The Illegal Occupation of Jerusalem

End The Illegal Occupation of Jerusalem




Aaron Klein Exposes the Truth About Illegal Settlement Activity

I recently met my friend, Helen Freedman, at the U Café. This café on the upper east side is my local watering hole, an oasis, a village well, where I meet people for coffee. Sometimes, when it’s quiet, I just sit there and read, as if I lived in Paris, Rome, Warsaw, Vienna, Tel Aviv, or on the lower east side of NYC–but long ago, when a writer had a favorite cafe where he (or she) read their newspapers, pen articles and books, meet other writers to argue, plan revolutions, initiate love affairs, and to dream.

Freedman had just returned from one of her frequent trips to Israel. This time, what amazed her most were “all the illegal Arab settlements” which had grown exponentially “all over Jerusalem.”

Illegal Arab settlements?

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Chesler Chronicles » End The Illegal Occupation of Jerusalem
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