KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE PRIZE

Timing is everything. Prime Minister Olmert’s potential legal problems must be fairly serious. After all what better way to distract the public then to announce a diplomatic breakthrough [translation: I agreed without asking anyone to give away peoples’ homes, fields, orchards and businesses so that the folks who are pledged to your annihilation can be all that much closer so you can be more clearly in their crosshairs].

What is astonishing is how the nation’s representatives are more committed to remaining in office than acting in the national interest. Especially those MKs who profess their commitment to G-D, Torah, and Jewry are willing to allow a repeat of the Gush Katif disgrace. The continued dilution of the State’s commitment to Jewish education by the current Education Minister has the effect of estranging the State’s youth from their heritage, a legacy intimately connected to the Land of Israel.

Now as the time approaches to receive the Torah, it is time to call out the emperor class’ destructive and delusional behavior and put the brakes on the national slide in to the abyss.

HAPPY 3,280 Israel !!!!!

Birthdays are a time to celebrate one's life, no doubt one should find joy in experiencing the privilege of life. There is a further dimension, birthdays are in the Jewish tradition a time to reflect, assess what can be done better in the future, how can growth be facilitated, how can one be better person within the family, community, country, world and most importantly, before G-D.

Over time circumstances, choices coupled with habits and aspiration may lead one to place never imagined or intended when setting out on life's journey. A Birthday is the day to ask "How did I get here? Is this where I am supposed to be? "

At 60 the State of Israel should collectively ask itself is it comfortable where it is?

Today the debate is over the public sale of Chametz on Pesach or apostate Jews participating in the Bible contest. These are not political /security / issues like aid to Yeshivoth, or the dismantling of settlements or checkpoints etc. Sec. Rice does not care about the Bible Contest or Bread on Pesach. Yet given the opportunity to make a Jewish choice or a democratic one, which one does the government make even when unfettered by foreign influence?

As the birthday of the modern state of Israel approaches maybe the country needs to take a collective look in the mirror. Maybe the first step is to disavow the notion of this being a 60th anniversary. This is the 60 anniversary of the reassertion of Jewish sovereignty over the land of Israel. Jews are in the land , not by the leave of the United Nations but as successors of Ezra and Nechemiah's commonwealth.

f the Zionist vision for a state is for the Jewish People to have a seat at the the international table then sit there, true to our identity, as Jews.

Witha prayer that at the end of this year's S'fira and even before then the nation stands together again united to hear Torah from Mashiach

FROM PIONEER TO PRIAH

A recent article in the Detroit Jewish News spoke about the Land of Israel Faithful whose teenage foot soldiers spearhead the establishment of new Jewish settlement within Yehudah and Shomron, Judea and Samaria The article takes a one sided approach asserting that these settlers act with virtual impunity, the actions taken by the police against these settlements is no more than street theatre.

The author while noting growth of Jewish settlements, statistics provided by Yesh Din and Peace Now ignores the tens of thousands of Arab construction projects virtually all without government building permits and some built unchallenged upon land purchased by the Jewish National Fund/Keren Kaiyemet L’Yisrael. Think of it, land purchased through early 20th century and depression era donations of pennies, nickels and dimes to the JNF Blue Box to redeem the Land of Israel for the Jewish people, was appropriated through adverse possession by Arabs, with no protest. This is without mentioning the encroachment by Arabs against the Jewish populations of Yafo, Lod , Acre and in the Negev.

The article neglects that while Jewish settlements are being disarmed the PA is being armed with no real assurance these weapons would not find their way in to terrorist hands.

The Israeli government tolerates Knesset Members who actively act against the existence of the State and meet with belligerent entities. Segments of the Israeli Left have gone beyond advocacy to the destruction of property , uprooting crops, and other acts that drift across the line from sympathy to giving aid and comfort to an enemy.

However what stands out as the most disturbing is that had this article been written about pre state settlement activity the young lady interviewed would be celebrated as a Chaluza, pioneer defying the British to reclaim the ancestral Jewish Homeland. Israel as a Jewish State is not and cannot be an arbitrary or artificial concept . The most tragic and similarly most crucial lesson is without a sense of history and heritage to instill pride and purpose in a nation the resulting spiritual void is filled by self-loathing.

FREEDOM FIGHT

The injustice experienced by the Halamish brothers should diquiet anyone who cheirshes personal liberity and freedom.

TO MOURN , TO HEAL, TO GO FOWARD

Please Pray for the following Persons wounded in the Attack

Nadav Eliyahu ben Hadassah,

Naftali ben Gila Rachel,

Shimon Yechiel ben Tirza, bsoch sh’ar cholei Yisrael.




MAY THEY BE HEALED IN BODY AND KLAL YISRAEL IN SPIRIT BY THE SOURCE OF ALL HEALING AND BLESSING
MAY THE WORDS OF THE MEGILA BE REALIZED ONCE AGAIN THAT THE JEWS SHALL RULE OVER THEIR ENEMIES

A DEMAND FOR POSSESSION

Just before Shabbat an Earthquake struck Eretz Yisrael. Evidently there were no injuries. However, there was property damage in Two places. A rather large hole opened up on top of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Also there was damage in Shechem known as Nablus where the grave of Yossef which had been badly damaged just this past week is located.

Jewish tradition asserts that the Temple Mount is mostly situated within the tribal boundaries of Benjamin; The Burial Place of Joseph obviously is connected to its namesake. Joseph and his younger brother Benjamin were the sons of Rachel

When Essav encountered Yaakov upon his return form Lavan's house it was Joseph who put himself in front of his mother to protect her from his uncle. Benjamin was not yet born and therefore of the tribes was the one who relative to Essav remains unbowed.

Jewish tradition further teaches that the Messianic redemption will begin with the children of Rachel.

While all the foregoing are facts that fit current events to say this is definitely one way or the other would be arrogant and irresponsible, however it cannot be ignored either.

Indeed in a few very few days comes the little Purim. Today the ownership of Eretz Yisrael especially the Holy sites is under attack it would appear that the ultimate Landlord has weighed in.

Events of such importance if ignored represent an opportunity lost. The future, and apparently the End of Days is near let it be humanity’s prayer that the signs not be misread.

PULLING THE RUG OUT FROM UNDER ONESELF

The announcement of the Government’s intention to evacuate Migron community within Six Months is disturbing.

Migron, from the news reports, is not a few tents and crude structures like Homesh or other recently established communities, but a functioning community.

Labeling Migron as an Illegal outpost based on Peace Now's claims alone is suspect. After Peace Now’s cover as a surrogate for Foreign powers was exposed what credibility do their claims hold? That the professed humanitarian concerns of Peace Now were antithetical to Judaism’s beliefs, aspirations and values regarding the national affinity and claim to all Eretz Yisrael which includes the principles of return and settlement of Diaspora Jewry within Eretz Yisrael. However, when Peace Now’s activities include aerial reconnaissance and other acts that approach espionage seriously call in to question whether the foreign contributors are more than mere expressions of support.

It sounds reasonable that a litigant’s motivation be called in to question Especially when the Plaintiff’s intentions appear to serve an agenda hostile to the very system within which claim is being pursued. Multiply, the erosion of credibility factor when the Plaintiff organization is serving an agenda bought and paid for by hostile foreign governments. After all, could one imagine France suing the US over the status of the Lakota or Cherokee nations? Or if the Japanese funded the tribes in their legal battles for independence as a means of advancing an element of foreign policy?


How could Peace Now enjoy any credibility in the circles of government or in the courts cast doubt on these sectors very commitment to the existence of the State. Especially when the Judges could have a way out by finding that Migron was founded before MARCH 21, 2001 thereby rendering the question moot

By deciding against Migron and in effect ruling against the Zionist and Jewish heritage the Court and government are doing the unthinkable, delegitimizing the ideological, moral and legal basis the State’s existence

IF YOU CAN'T SAY SOMETHING NICE

A few days’ distance gives perspective. President Bush’s recent visit to Jerusalem deserves comment. The streets were empty, certainly in a post 9/11 world security demands departures from what was the norm on 9/10. Yet was security the only concern in emptying Jerusalem’s streets?

After all the government could have assigned civil servants, soldiers in civilian clothes to line the streets waving Israeli and American flags, that did not happen. Maybe Mr. Bush was being insulated from what people really think and little support Olmert really has.

The control of information went further when persons were situated near the foreign press’ lodgings to distribute Fatah as “Moderate”, A Hard Look Post-Annapolis by Arlene Kushner published by THE CENTER FOR NEAR EAST POLICY RESEARCH were taken in custody for a couple of hours and their copies of the report were seized as seditious.

As disturbing as this sounds Olmert’s apparent need to suppress alternative points of view or the depth of popular dissent against the ruling regime’s actions is amazingly positive. If Olmert fears the nationalist voice that means he knows its depth within the collective national consciousness. Olmert realizes the nation knows that any agreement will be solely between himself and Abu Mazen, each leader being detached from the citizenry they officially lead. Olmert realizes the nation knows land concessions means Gush Katif 2, 3, 4 etc. . . . with the accompanying social displacement and with withdrawal comes the announcement ZEVA ADOM, ZEVA ADOM. Olmert knows the dividing of Jerusalem is beyond a painfull concession but strikes at the focal point of Jewish consciousness spanning generations Olmert knows the people know and he is running scared.

That Bush is endorsing the 23 Arab state is inexcusable as it represents the rewarding of Terrorists. As to the rest of the President’s remarks can any American President be more a Zionist than Israel’s Prime Minister?

The eternal nature of the Jewish People cannot be denyed Netzach Yisrael Lo Yishaker

WE WILL SURVIVE . . .EVEN THIS

A student's paper critical of the lack of Military rapes by IDF personal won a Hebrew University Teachers' Committee prize. The author asserts the lack of military rape is politically motivated. The lack of such behavior is not rooted in the soliders' sense of morality, humanity or decency, rather to reinforce a dehumanized image of Arabs. True media has a way of distorting a story but academics granting a prize for a paper that takes the ostensible position sexual violence is a good thing? The student may have come to certain conclusions based on raw data and the like but the implication of self loathing overrides the outrage a crime of gender based violence should kindle. Now it is unclear whether the faculty who granted the prize are of high enough rank to be on strike of not either way if this is what passes as serious scholarship maybe the professors should all stay out on strike.

Further this week it was reported that a job applicant was turned down because the prospective hire was Shabbat observant. A shameful episode of discrimination no doubt, but that is only half the story. The job is located in Eretz Yisrael and the position was with the Jewish National Fund. Which Jewish person of a certain age cannot recall the JNF blue box charity box being every Jewish except Shabbat services.To think that not only did the JNF turn down an observant person the hiring executive could not understand what all the fuss was about.

The insensitivity to Jewish values is so profound one almost gets the sense that values and sensibilities have been replaced an absense of common sense and moral vision.

The comfort to take is even if there are real deep divisions within Jewry the nation survives inspite of itself, AMYISRAEL CHAI

History Lesson

Hoping you and your family are having a most enlighting Hanukah

Prime Minister Olmert recently declared that Ben Gurion was correct to accept partition. But the question is was the acceptance of partition done as an affirmative act acquiescing to and acknowledging an Arab right within Eretz Yirael. Or was the acceptance of partiton the best deal available at the time but without relinquishing the vision of a whole Eretz Yisrael.

This most amazing story about the beginings of the post 67' return to Hevron may shed some light on Ben Gurion’s thinking. Rav Levinger Shlita, may he be returned to full health soon wrote in honor of Kiryat Arba's 10TH anniversary. (this was a commererative book published for the celebration during Chol Hamoed Pesach 5738)

Eliyakim Haezni told Rav Levinger that during Succot 5728 Rav Yechezkel Sarna ZT'L was asked whether he was willing to return his Yeshiva-the Hevron Yeshiva back to Hevron after having to leave in the wake of the 1929/5689 riots. Rav Sarna said he had this conversation with Ben Gurion just before the holiday Ben Gurion was surprised nothing had been done to date to renew the Jewish presence in Hevron.

Ben Gurion who accepted the partition in 1947-49 wanted Jews back in Hevron-that would lead one to believe Ben Gurioon's acceptance of the partition was a default and not an affirmative endorsement of a two state configuration.

Does Mr. Olmert know this story? Or did he forget while losing any shard of dignity while going through side entrances, staying outdoors in the rain and otherwise having himself and the Israeli delegation being treated like sug bet by the other participants at Annapolis?

Wasn't establishing a state supposed to create a Jew the world would respect as a peer?

Chag Sameach