The essence of Passover is the commandment of the Hagadda, of telling and retelling, of passing on to our children, the story of Passover, its concepts and lessons and commandments. Passover is the beginning of Judaism, its very birth, hence its direction and directive to pass on to our sons and daughters, its fundamentals and teachings. However, the problem with a commandment to parents to pass on lessons to their children is that so few know what to pass on. Indeed, through honest ignorance or honest receipt of confusion from those who passed that down to them, Jews of befogged confusion do not pass on but rather pass over the basic truths, and the irony of the holiday name is glaring.
The object of Jews to understand the real and so-very-clear lessons of the holiday of Freedom, is the tragic reality of a 20-centuries-old Exile that not only brutally deformed Jews, but far worse, perverted the Torah concepts that are so basic to knowing not only who we really are and from whence we came, but what we should be doing and telling ourselves and our children, so that we may know how to reach the final redemption that is based - as our rabbis tell us - on the first one, the Exodus from the Land of Egypt on that first Passover so long ago.
We are the victims of an agonizingly long exile that saw us change from the authentic religious nation to a religion alone; that saw us learn to accept our crippling deformity, a religious nation with a state of its own turned into a religion with no national or land roots. It is an exile that effectively perverted, warped and twisted Torah truth and we are the victims. That is why it is so essential to resurrect Passover and its lessons; to learn and understand them as they really are. For Passover is a
festival of national faith, of a free people leaving an Exile for a home of their own. Jews of the ghetto and the Exile cannot understand Passover as it really is. They can only pass over it, never pass it on. And so, let us see the lessons of Passover, learn them, and throw off the leaven of the Exile, and hallow ourselves with the simple sanctity of the matzoh of freedom.
1) Passover is the holiday of negating of the Exile, of the throwing off of the slavery of Galut and going up to the freedom and spirituality of Eretz Yisrael.
The freedom given to the Jews by the All Mighty was more than just escape from bondage, from Egyptian slavery. The Ramban (Shmot 3:9) puts it best: For the All Mighty said two things to Moses: To go down and save the People from the hands of Egypt, and this might have been accomplished in the Land of Goshen (Egypt) itself or nearby - but G-d promised another thing: To take them out of the country entirely to the place of the Canaanites.
And the Ibn Ezra (Dvarim 4:10): For the L-rd knew that Israel could not observe His commandments properly if they remained in the lands that ruled over them. And the Sforno (Dvarim 6:21): And since in our slavery we could not acquire the completeness that was directed from Him, He did wondrously to take us out and bring us to a land where we could acquire that completeness.
The so-obvious and basic Divine law: No people can live as a minority, a stranger in another's land, and not be influenced by the majority's foreign culture so that it infiltrates his mind, his views, his thought processes and makes him a different person than if he were isolated from that foreign invasion of his environment. We, the greatest of scholars - are all products of our environment, and the insidious foreign influences - newspapers, radio, streets - must influence and change us and shape us in a way that is different from an isolated, insulated Jewish state.
And so G-d did two things. He freed us from slavery, but only for the purpose of creating a holy, special, different people that would create a total Torah society in the only way possible: By leaving the influence of the foreign exile and living in cultural isolation in its own land. Lo, it is a people that dwells alone...
2) Passover tells us that the Jew who can go up to the Land and does not, will not be allowed by the All Mighty to survive in his Exile Paradise.
And these are the words of the rabbis (Shmot Raba 14; Tanhuma, Vaera 14): Why did G-d bring the plague of darkness? Because there were, among the Jews, sinners who had patrons among the Egyptians, and they had honor and wealth and did not wish to leave Egypt. Said the All Mighty: If I bring a blow on them openly and they die, the Egyptians will say: Just as he struck us down so did He do to them. Therefore He brought darkness on Egypt for three days so that they could die and be buried with no one knowing.
And indeed, that is the reason for the rabbis telling us that only one-fifth of the Jews left Egypt, all the rest dying in the plague of darkness because they refused to leave Egypt to go up to the Land of Canaan (Tanhuma, Bshalach, 1)
And the message echoes through the ages to each and every one who remains in the Exile where he enjoys honor and wealth. It cannot and will not be. A plague of darkness cometh and there will be no survival for those who despised the Holy Land and who chose their gentile patrons.
3) Faith, total faith in a G-d who is stronger than Pharaoh or even Ronald Reagan.
The All Mighty comes to the Children of Israel and tells them to do nothing less than take the god of their Egyptian masters, the lamb, tie it for four days and inform anyone who asks, that on the fourth day they will slaughter the animal-god, and then do it.
Mind-boggling! Consider what the reaction of Jews would be today to a command to degrade and to flaunt victory over a sacred religious symbol of Christians or Moslems. Say, to remove the mosque from the Temple Mount... One need not have much imagination to know what the reaction of Jews from left to right, from Reform to Moderdox, would be. Terror, outrage, indignation. But Passover teaches us differently.
In order to sanctify the name of the L-rd, G-d of Israel, as against the nations who mocked Him and knew Him not, the Jew is ordered not only to take, degrade, and manifest his mastery over the religious symbol of the Egyptian - he is told to do it in the most public way possible!
And they shall eat the flesh that night, roasted. eat not of it raw, nor boiled in water, but roast with fire; its head, with its legs and its inward parts (complete). (Shmot 12:8-9) Why? Because you are sacrificing the god of Egypt, you might say: Let us not roast it completely lest the Egyptians see us; therefore the verse says: eat not of it raw. And if you say (for the same reason) let us boil it and put it into a pot, the verse says: not boiled in water. And if you say let us cut it up so they will not recognize it, the verse says: its head with its legs...
No nonsense about fear of agitating the gentiles, a concept of the Exile where it had its place, but utterly humiliating and a Chillul Hashem in a state where the All Mighty demands of the Jew a proclamation and demonstration of the utmost of faith, a faith in the face of apparent danger, a faith that manifests the essence of Kiddush Hashem, a sanctification of G-d, that is total and undiluted.
4) In the totality of faith and sanctification of G-d, there is no compromise - it must be complete and absolute.
Pharaoh has just refused the Israelites permission to take their children with them. Now, with the plague of darkness, he breaks and agrees. He surrenders almost totally. Go, worship the L-rd, only your sheep and cattle will remain, your children will also go with you. (Shmot 10).
Consider, dear Jew. The Israelites have been slaves for decades upon decades. They have suffered and cried out unto G-d to free them. And now, finally, Pharaoh agrees to allow them to leave. Freedom now! And he only raises one minor condition - leave your cattle and sheep. Picture the scene: the joyful Jews, rejoicing in their soon-to-be-gotten freedom, embrace Moses and thank him. And then, to their horror, to their consternation, Moses shakes his head and tells Pharaoh, NO! You too, will give us sacrifices and offerings and our flocks will go with us. There shall not remain a hoof.
Dear moderate, non-fanatical, normal Jew. Was there ever a more fanatical, extremist, dangerous man that this Moses who refuses to compromise and insists on a stubborn policy of not one inch! Give them the sheep, Moses, give them the flocks! For freedom and peace one must compromise. Freedom now, shout the Jews, give him the sheep! But no. Moses knows what Judaism is, what Kiddush Hashem is: total surrender and capitulation before the L-rd - for only thus does the gentile admit his acceptance of the L-rd as the one and only G-d.
5) Sanctification must be open, unafraid, proud and tall.
The tenth plague strikes Egypt. Panic, terror. In every home there is death. Pharaoh surrenders totally. There is no thought of anything except total surrender. Go, go but above all, leave now, immediately. At midnight he races to Moses and cries out: Get up, get out of my people! You and the Children of Israel... take your sheep and cattle, too. Finally. Surely now, Moses is satisfied. Even the worst of extremists and fanatics must surely now accept this capitulation. Hardly. Thus says Moses: Are we then thieves that we go out at night? We shall only leave with a mighty arm, before the eyes of all Egypt (Tanhuma, Bo 7). And: G-d said unto them:
You take my children out in the middle of the night? You will not take them out at night but rather openly in the middle of the day! (Shmot Raba 18). And: Moses said to Pharaoh: We have been warned to leave only openly.
The lesson is so clear, even to all the gentilized and Moderdox. Sanctification of G-d's name, by its very essence, is a declaration that He is supreme, that no power on earth can touch Him or those who trust in Him. That the slightest thought of hidden or quiet, non-provocative sanctification is a contradiction in terms. That an admonition to do things quietly carries within it the seed of fear of gentile reaction and that, by its essence, is the very antithesis of Kiddush Hashem.
How many lessons there are in Passover! How many lessons that we pass over. Let us instead learn and pass them on.
Showing posts with label Rabbi Meir Kahane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rabbi Meir Kahane. Show all posts
April 18, 2008
And Thou Shalt Tell Thy Son
Chag Sameach Pesach. Have a Good Shabbos and a Happy Passover! A favorite of mine by Rabbi Meir Kahane ZT"L HY"D, written May 9, 1986:
December 28, 2007
Who is Wadih El-Hage?
He supplied the gun to El-Sayyid Nosair, an Egyptian and member of an Arab terrorist cell operating in New York in 1990, that was used to kill Rabbi Kahane of Blessed Memory.
July 12, 2007
Women in Green: Outlaw "Peace Now"
Via INN:
Motorists driving along the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway Tuesday morning were surprised and dismayed to see Syrian flags flying alongside Israeli flags as they made the ascent to the capital.
The red, white and black Syrian flag was placed on poles between the Shaar HaGai intersection and the government complex by left-wing Peace Now members. By hanging the colors of the enemy state, Peace Now wished to draw attention to its desire for government talks with Syria.
Nadia Matar, co-founder of the grassroots Women in Green organization, said that Peace Now has thus shown its true face. "I call upon the authorities to gather the Peace Now leadership," Matar said, "put them on buses, and send them to Syria, where they belong and where they will be welcomed happily."
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke with an Arabic newspaper on Monday and made a direct plea to Syrian President Bashar Assad to agree to direct, unmediated peace talks with Israel. "I turn to you, Mr. Assad, and call upon you to engage in direct peace negotiations - but you prefer American mediation," Olmert said. Menachem Begin tendered a similar invitation to Anwar Sadat - who wound up receiving the entire Sinai desert in less than five years.
In 1977, then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin tendered a similar, though less biting, invitation to then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat - who took up the gauntlet and wound up receiving the entire Sinai desert within less than five years.
Hevron activists Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben-Gvir filed a complaint with the police against Peace Now. They similarly claimed that as Syria is an enemy state, it is illegal to unfurl the country's flag in public.
Nadia Matar said that Peace Now is actually calling not for peace talks but for a surrender to Syrian demands to immediately give up the Golan Heights. "I call upon the Attorney General to view this as an act of treachery and betrayal," she said. "Those who act to give up Israeli territory to the enemy is, by law, a traitor."
Israel took control of the Golan Heights in the Six Day War of 1967, after the Syrians used the area for years to shell Israeli kibbutzim below. Since then, the Syrian border has always been Israel's quietest. In 1981, Israel annexed the Golan.
In early 1999, the Knesset voted that no part of the Golan or Jerusalem may be transferred to a foreign power without an absolute majority of 61 Knesset Members and a popular referendum in accordance with a to-be-legislated Referendum Law. In May of this year, the Knesset voted, in a preliminary reading, to require the referendum even before such a Referendum Law is legislated.
"Israelis must realize that Peace Now is collaborating with the enemy," Matar said "and this organization must be outlawed. It is ridiculous that the Kach movement [originally founded by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane - ed.], which calls for love of Israel, is outlawed, while those who collaborate with the Palestinians and inform on Jews are legal."
Peace Now is dedicated to destroying the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria [Yesha], and often seeks out Arabs who will claim that Jewish towns are built on their land. The PA news agency Ma'an recently thanked Peace Now for publishing a report alleging that 40% of Yesha communities are built on private Arab land. The Yesha Council published a factual rebuttal of the report, but this did not stop Ma'an from writing, "This is now a 'ready-to-go' case for the International Court... Now that Peace Now has given this gift to the land-owners, we must thank this organization..."
April 01, 2007
And Thou Shall Tell Thy Son by Rabbi Meir Kahane ZT"L HY"D
The essence of Passover is the commandment of the Hagadda, of telling and retelling, of passing on to our children, the story of Passover, its concepts and lessons and commandments. Passover is the beginning of Judaism, its very birth, hence its direction and directive to pass on to our sons and daughters, its fundamentals and teachings. However, the problem with a commandment to parents to pass on lessons to their children is that so few know what to pass on. Indeed, through honest ignorance or honest receipt of confusion from those who passed that down to them, Jews of befogged confusion do not pass on but rather pass over the basic truths, and the irony of the holiday name is glaring.
The object of Jews to understand the real and so-very-clear lessons of the holiday of Freedom, is the tragic reality of a 20-centuries-old Exile that not only brutally deformed Jews, but far worse, perverted the Torah concepts that are so basic to knowing not only who we really are and from whence we came, but what we should be doing and telling ourselves and our children, so that we may know how to reach the final redemption that is based - as our rabbis tell us - on the first one, the Exodus from the Land of Egypt on that first Passover so long ago.
We are the victims of an agonizingly long exile that saw us change from the authentic religious nation to a religion alone; that saw us learn to accept our crippling deformity, a religious nation with a state of its own turned into a religion with no national or land roots. It is an exile that effectively perverted, warped and twisted Torah truth and we are the victims. That is why it is so essential to resurrect Passover and its lessons; to learn and understand them as they really are. For Passover is a festival of national faith, of a free people leaving an Exile for a home of their own. Jews of the ghetto and the Exile cannot understand Passover as it really is. They can only pass over it, never pass it on. And so, let us see the lessons of Passover, learn them, and throw off the leaven of the Exile, and hallow ourselves with the simple sanctity of the matzoh of freedom.
1) Passover is the holiday of negating of the Exile, of the throwing off of the slavery of Galut and going up to the freedom and spirituality of Eretz Yisrael.
The freedom given to the Jews by the All Mighty was more than just escape from bondage, from Egyptian slavery. The Ramban (Shmot 3:9) puts it best: For the All Mighty said two things to Moses: To go down and save the People from the hands of Egypt, and this might have been accomplished in the Land of Goshen (Egypt) itself or nearby - but G-d promised another thing: To take them out of the country entirely to the place of the Canaanites.
And the Ibn Ezra (Dvarim 4:10): For the L-rd knew that Israel could not observe His commandments properly if they remained in the lands that ruled over them. And the Sforno (Dvarim 6:21): And since in our slavery we could not acquire the completeness that was directed from Him, He did wondrously to take us out and bring us to a land where we could acquire that completeness.
The so-obvious and basic Divine law: No people can live as a minority, a stranger in another's land, and not be influenced by the majority's foreign culture so that it infiltrates his mind, his views, his thought processes and makes him a different person than if he were isolated from that foreign invasion of his environment. We, the greatest of scholars - are all products of our environment, and the insidious foreign influences - newspapers, radio, streets - must influence and change us and shape us in a way that is different from an isolated, insulated Jewish state.
And so G-d did two things. He freed us from slavery, but only for the purpose of creating a holy, special, different people that would create a total Torah society in the only way possible: By leaving the influence of the foreign exile and living in cultural isolation in its own land. Lo, it is a people that dwells alone...
2) Passover tells us that the Jew who can go up to the Land and does not, will not be allowed by the All Mighty to survive in his Exile Paradise.
And these are the words of the rabbis (Shmot Raba 14; Tanhuma, Vaera 14): Why did G-d bring the plague of darkness? Because there were, among the Jews, sinners who had patrons among the Egyptians, and they had honor and wealth and did not wish to leave Egypt. Said the All Mighty: If I bring a blow on them openly and they die, the Egyptians will say: Just as he struck us down so did He do to them. Therefore He brought darkness on Egypt for three days so that they could die and be buried with no one knowing.
And indeed, that is the reason for the rabbis telling us that only one-fifth of the Jews left Egypt, all the rest dying in the plague of darkness because they refused to leave Egypt to go up to the Land of Canaan (Tanhuma, Bshalach, 1)
And the message echoes through the ages to each and every one who remains in the Exile where he enjoys honor and wealth. It cannot and will not be. A plague of darkness cometh and there will be no survival for those who despised the Holy Land and who chose their gentile patrons.
3) Faith, total faith in a G-d who is stronger than Pharaoh or even Ronald Reagan.
The All Mighty comes to the Children of Israel and tells them to do nothing less than take the god of their Egyptian masters, the lamb, tie it for four days and inform anyone who asks, that on the fourth day they will slaughter the animal-god, and then do it.
Mind-boggling! Consider what the reaction of Jews would be today to a command to degrade and to flaunt victory over a sacred religious symbol of Christians or Moslems. Say, to remove the mosque from the Temple Mount... One need not have much imagination to know what the reaction of Jews from left to right, from Reform to Moderdox, would be. Terror, outrage, indignation. But Passover teaches us differently.
In order to sanctify the name of the L-rd, G-d of Israel, as against the nations who mocked Him and knew Him not, the Jew is ordered not only to take, degrade, and manifest his mastery over the religious symbol of the Egyptian - he is told to do it in the most public way possible!
And they shall eat the flesh that night, roasted. eat not of it raw, nor boiled in water, but roast with fire; its head, with its legs and its inward parts (complete). (Shmot 12:8-9) Why? Because you are sacrificing the god of Egypt, you might say: Let us not roast it completely lest the Egyptians see us; therefore the verse says: eat not of it raw. And if you say (for the same reason) let us boil it and put it into a pot, the verse says: not boiled in water. And if you say let us cut it up so they will not recognize it, the verse says: its head with its legs...
No nonsense about fear of agitating the gentiles, a concept of the Exile where it had its place, but utterly humiliating and a Chillul Hashem in a state where the All Mighty demands of the Jew a proclamation and demonstration of the utmost of faith, a faith in the face of apparent danger, a faith that manifests the essence of Kiddush Hashem, a sanctification of G-d, that is total and undiluted.
4) In the totality of faith and sanctification of G-d, there is no compromise - it must be complete and absolute.
Pharaoh has just refused the Israelites permission to take their children with them. Now, with the plague of darkness, he breaks and agrees. He surrenders almost totally. Go, worship the L-rd, only your sheep and cattle will remain, your children will also go with you. (Shmot 10).
Consider, dear Jew. The Israelites have been slaves for decades upon decades. They have suffered and cried out unto G-d to free them. And now, finally, Pharaoh agrees to allow them to leave. Freedom now! And he only raises one minor condition - leave your cattle and sheep. Picture the scene: the joyful Jews, rejoicing in their soon-to-be-gotten freedom, embrace Moses and thank him. And then, to their horror, to their consternation, Moses shakes his head and tells Pharaoh, NO! You too, will give us sacrifices and offerings and our flocks will go with us. There shall not remain a hoof.
Dear moderate, non-fanatical, normal Jew. Was there ever a more fanatical, extremist, dangerous man that this Moses who refuses to compromise and insists on a stubborn policy of not one inch! Give them the sheep, Moses, give them the flocks! For freedom and peace one must compromise. Freedom now, shout the Jews, give him the sheep! But no. Moses knows what Judaism is, what Kiddush Hashem is: total surrender and capitulation before the L-rd - for only thus does the gentile admit his acceptance of the L-rd as the one and only G-d.
5) Sanctification must be open, unafraid, proud and tall.
The tenth plague strikes Egypt. Panic, terror. In every home there is death. Pharaoh surrenders totally. There is no thought of anything except total surrender. Go, go but above all, leave now, immediately. At midnight he races to Moses and cries out: Get up, get out of my people! You and the Children of Israel... take your sheep and cattle, too. Finally. Surely now, Moses is satisfied. Even the worst of extremists and fanatics must surely now accept this capitulation. Hardly. Thus says Moses: Are we then thieves that we go out at night? We shall only leave with a mighty arm, before the eyes of all Egypt (Tanhuma, Bo 7). And: G-d said unto them:
You take my children out in the middle of the night? You will not take them out at night but rather openly in the middle of the day! (Shmot Raba 18). And: Moses said to Pharaoh: We have been warned to leave only openly.
The lesson is so clear, even to all the gentilized and Moderdox. Sanctification of G-d's name, by its very essence, is a declaration that He is supreme, that no power on earth can touch Him or those who trust in Him. That the slightest thought of hidden or quiet, non-provocative sanctification is a contradiction in terms. That an admonition to do things quietly carries within it the seed of fear of gentile reaction and that, by its essence, is the very antithesis of Kiddush Hashem.
How many lessons there are in Passover! How many lessons that we pass over. Let us instead learn and pass them on.
The object of Jews to understand the real and so-very-clear lessons of the holiday of Freedom, is the tragic reality of a 20-centuries-old Exile that not only brutally deformed Jews, but far worse, perverted the Torah concepts that are so basic to knowing not only who we really are and from whence we came, but what we should be doing and telling ourselves and our children, so that we may know how to reach the final redemption that is based - as our rabbis tell us - on the first one, the Exodus from the Land of Egypt on that first Passover so long ago.
We are the victims of an agonizingly long exile that saw us change from the authentic religious nation to a religion alone; that saw us learn to accept our crippling deformity, a religious nation with a state of its own turned into a religion with no national or land roots. It is an exile that effectively perverted, warped and twisted Torah truth and we are the victims. That is why it is so essential to resurrect Passover and its lessons; to learn and understand them as they really are. For Passover is a festival of national faith, of a free people leaving an Exile for a home of their own. Jews of the ghetto and the Exile cannot understand Passover as it really is. They can only pass over it, never pass it on. And so, let us see the lessons of Passover, learn them, and throw off the leaven of the Exile, and hallow ourselves with the simple sanctity of the matzoh of freedom.
1) Passover is the holiday of negating of the Exile, of the throwing off of the slavery of Galut and going up to the freedom and spirituality of Eretz Yisrael.
The freedom given to the Jews by the All Mighty was more than just escape from bondage, from Egyptian slavery. The Ramban (Shmot 3:9) puts it best: For the All Mighty said two things to Moses: To go down and save the People from the hands of Egypt, and this might have been accomplished in the Land of Goshen (Egypt) itself or nearby - but G-d promised another thing: To take them out of the country entirely to the place of the Canaanites.
And the Ibn Ezra (Dvarim 4:10): For the L-rd knew that Israel could not observe His commandments properly if they remained in the lands that ruled over them. And the Sforno (Dvarim 6:21): And since in our slavery we could not acquire the completeness that was directed from Him, He did wondrously to take us out and bring us to a land where we could acquire that completeness.
The so-obvious and basic Divine law: No people can live as a minority, a stranger in another's land, and not be influenced by the majority's foreign culture so that it infiltrates his mind, his views, his thought processes and makes him a different person than if he were isolated from that foreign invasion of his environment. We, the greatest of scholars - are all products of our environment, and the insidious foreign influences - newspapers, radio, streets - must influence and change us and shape us in a way that is different from an isolated, insulated Jewish state.
And so G-d did two things. He freed us from slavery, but only for the purpose of creating a holy, special, different people that would create a total Torah society in the only way possible: By leaving the influence of the foreign exile and living in cultural isolation in its own land. Lo, it is a people that dwells alone...
2) Passover tells us that the Jew who can go up to the Land and does not, will not be allowed by the All Mighty to survive in his Exile Paradise.
And these are the words of the rabbis (Shmot Raba 14; Tanhuma, Vaera 14): Why did G-d bring the plague of darkness? Because there were, among the Jews, sinners who had patrons among the Egyptians, and they had honor and wealth and did not wish to leave Egypt. Said the All Mighty: If I bring a blow on them openly and they die, the Egyptians will say: Just as he struck us down so did He do to them. Therefore He brought darkness on Egypt for three days so that they could die and be buried with no one knowing.
And indeed, that is the reason for the rabbis telling us that only one-fifth of the Jews left Egypt, all the rest dying in the plague of darkness because they refused to leave Egypt to go up to the Land of Canaan (Tanhuma, Bshalach, 1)
And the message echoes through the ages to each and every one who remains in the Exile where he enjoys honor and wealth. It cannot and will not be. A plague of darkness cometh and there will be no survival for those who despised the Holy Land and who chose their gentile patrons.
3) Faith, total faith in a G-d who is stronger than Pharaoh or even Ronald Reagan.
The All Mighty comes to the Children of Israel and tells them to do nothing less than take the god of their Egyptian masters, the lamb, tie it for four days and inform anyone who asks, that on the fourth day they will slaughter the animal-god, and then do it.
Mind-boggling! Consider what the reaction of Jews would be today to a command to degrade and to flaunt victory over a sacred religious symbol of Christians or Moslems. Say, to remove the mosque from the Temple Mount... One need not have much imagination to know what the reaction of Jews from left to right, from Reform to Moderdox, would be. Terror, outrage, indignation. But Passover teaches us differently.
In order to sanctify the name of the L-rd, G-d of Israel, as against the nations who mocked Him and knew Him not, the Jew is ordered not only to take, degrade, and manifest his mastery over the religious symbol of the Egyptian - he is told to do it in the most public way possible!
And they shall eat the flesh that night, roasted. eat not of it raw, nor boiled in water, but roast with fire; its head, with its legs and its inward parts (complete). (Shmot 12:8-9) Why? Because you are sacrificing the god of Egypt, you might say: Let us not roast it completely lest the Egyptians see us; therefore the verse says: eat not of it raw. And if you say (for the same reason) let us boil it and put it into a pot, the verse says: not boiled in water. And if you say let us cut it up so they will not recognize it, the verse says: its head with its legs...
No nonsense about fear of agitating the gentiles, a concept of the Exile where it had its place, but utterly humiliating and a Chillul Hashem in a state where the All Mighty demands of the Jew a proclamation and demonstration of the utmost of faith, a faith in the face of apparent danger, a faith that manifests the essence of Kiddush Hashem, a sanctification of G-d, that is total and undiluted.
4) In the totality of faith and sanctification of G-d, there is no compromise - it must be complete and absolute.
Pharaoh has just refused the Israelites permission to take their children with them. Now, with the plague of darkness, he breaks and agrees. He surrenders almost totally. Go, worship the L-rd, only your sheep and cattle will remain, your children will also go with you. (Shmot 10).
Consider, dear Jew. The Israelites have been slaves for decades upon decades. They have suffered and cried out unto G-d to free them. And now, finally, Pharaoh agrees to allow them to leave. Freedom now! And he only raises one minor condition - leave your cattle and sheep. Picture the scene: the joyful Jews, rejoicing in their soon-to-be-gotten freedom, embrace Moses and thank him. And then, to their horror, to their consternation, Moses shakes his head and tells Pharaoh, NO! You too, will give us sacrifices and offerings and our flocks will go with us. There shall not remain a hoof.
Dear moderate, non-fanatical, normal Jew. Was there ever a more fanatical, extremist, dangerous man that this Moses who refuses to compromise and insists on a stubborn policy of not one inch! Give them the sheep, Moses, give them the flocks! For freedom and peace one must compromise. Freedom now, shout the Jews, give him the sheep! But no. Moses knows what Judaism is, what Kiddush Hashem is: total surrender and capitulation before the L-rd - for only thus does the gentile admit his acceptance of the L-rd as the one and only G-d.
5) Sanctification must be open, unafraid, proud and tall.
The tenth plague strikes Egypt. Panic, terror. In every home there is death. Pharaoh surrenders totally. There is no thought of anything except total surrender. Go, go but above all, leave now, immediately. At midnight he races to Moses and cries out: Get up, get out of my people! You and the Children of Israel... take your sheep and cattle, too. Finally. Surely now, Moses is satisfied. Even the worst of extremists and fanatics must surely now accept this capitulation. Hardly. Thus says Moses: Are we then thieves that we go out at night? We shall only leave with a mighty arm, before the eyes of all Egypt (Tanhuma, Bo 7). And: G-d said unto them:
You take my children out in the middle of the night? You will not take them out at night but rather openly in the middle of the day! (Shmot Raba 18). And: Moses said to Pharaoh: We have been warned to leave only openly.
The lesson is so clear, even to all the gentilized and Moderdox. Sanctification of G-d's name, by its very essence, is a declaration that He is supreme, that no power on earth can touch Him or those who trust in Him. That the slightest thought of hidden or quiet, non-provocative sanctification is a contradiction in terms. That an admonition to do things quietly carries within it the seed of fear of gentile reaction and that, by its essence, is the very antithesis of Kiddush Hashem.
How many lessons there are in Passover! How many lessons that we pass over. Let us instead learn and pass them on.
November 06, 2006
Important updates from Israel and video of Jerusalem Conference
Received by email:
-----
1- Sacrificing Israel to appease Arabs
http://www.voiceofjudea.com/eng/featured.asp?featured=111
2- Arab terrorists endorse democrats
http://www.voiceofjudea.com/eng/news.asp?news=154
3- Kahane and Rabin Commemorated
This week is recognized as a week of mourning by both leftwing and rightist Jews in Israel. It was on this week 11 years ago when PM Rabin was assassinated. On this very same week 16 years ago, Rabbi Meir Kahane was murdererd.
-TO SEE FOOTAGE FROM THE MEMORIAL TRIBUTE TO RABBI MEIR KAHANE
view http://www.voiceofjudea.com/eng/tv.asp
4- NY Kahane Memorial this coming Sunday, Nov. 12 at 1:00 PM
Ocean Avenue Jewish center, Brooklyn NY
(located between Avenue U and Avenue V)
-----
1- Sacrificing Israel to appease Arabs
http://www.voiceofjudea.com/eng/featured.asp?featured=111
2- Arab terrorists endorse democrats
http://www.voiceofjudea.com/eng/news.asp?news=154
3- Kahane and Rabin Commemorated
This week is recognized as a week of mourning by both leftwing and rightist Jews in Israel. It was on this week 11 years ago when PM Rabin was assassinated. On this very same week 16 years ago, Rabbi Meir Kahane was murdererd.
-TO SEE FOOTAGE FROM THE MEMORIAL TRIBUTE TO RABBI MEIR KAHANE
view http://www.voiceofjudea.com/eng/tv.asp
4- NY Kahane Memorial this coming Sunday, Nov. 12 at 1:00 PM
Ocean Avenue Jewish center, Brooklyn NY
(located between Avenue U and Avenue V)
September 19, 2006
See New documentary on the Murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane and 9-11
http://www.guba.com/watch/3000017204
November 5, 1990: First bin Laden-Related Terror Attack on US; Evidence of Larger Conspiracy Is Found and Ignored
Egyptian-American El Sayyid Nosair assassinates controversial right-wing Zionist leader Rabbi Meir Kahane. Kahane's organization, the Jewish Defense League, was linked to dozens of bombings and is ranked by the FBI as the most lethal domestic militant group in the US at the time. Nosair is captured after a police shoot-out. An FBI informant says he saw Nosair meeting with Muslim leader Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman a few days before the attack, and evidence indicating a wider plot with additional targets is found. [Village Voice, 3/30/1993]
Later that night, police arrive at Nosair's house and find a pair of Middle Eastern men named Mahmud Abouhalima and Mohammed Salameh there. They are taken in for questioning. Additionally, police collect a total of 47 boxes of evidence from Nosair's house, including: [Lance, 2003, pp. 34-35]
*Thousands of rounds of ammunition.
* Maps and drawings of New York City landmarks, including the World Trade Center.
* Documents in Arabic containing bomb making formulas, details of an Islamic militant cell, and mentions of the term "al-Qaeda."
*Recorded sermons by Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman in which he encourages his followers to "destroy the edifices of capitalism" and destroy "the enemies of Allah" by "destroying their ... high world buildings."
*Tape-recorded phone conversations of Nosair reporting to Abdul-Rahman about paramilitary training, and even discussing bomb-making manuals.
* Videotaped talks that Ali Mohamed delivered at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
* Top secret manuals also from Fort Bragg. There are even classified documents belonging to the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Commander in Chief of the Army's Central Command.
These manuals and documents had clearly come from Mohamed, who completed military service at Fort Bragg the year before and frequently stayed in Nosair's house.
* A detailed and top secret plan for Operation Bright Star, a special operations training exercise simulating an attack on Baluchistan, a part of Pakistan between Afghanistan and the Arabian Sea. [Lance, 2003, pp. 34-35; ABC News, 8/16/2002; Wall Street Journal, 11/26/2001; Raleigh News and Observer, 10/21/2001; Raleigh News and Observer, 11/13/2001]
Also within hours, two investigators will connect Nosair with surveillance photographs of Mohamed giving weapons training to Nosair, Abouhalima, Salameh, and others at a shooting range the year before (see July 1989). [Lance, 2003, pp. 34-35]
But, ignoring all of this evidence, still later that evening, Joseph Borelli, the New York police department's chief detective, will publicly declare the assassination the work of a "lone deranged gunman." He will further state, "I'm strongly convinced that he acted alone. ... He didn't seem to be part of a conspiracy or any terrorist organization."
The 9/11 Congressional Inquiry will later conclude, "The [New York Police Department] and the District Attorney's office ... reportedly wanted the appearance of speedy justice and a quick resolution to a volatile situation. By arresting Nosair, they felt they had accomplished both." [Village Voice, 3/30/1993; Lance, 2003, pp. 34-36]
Abouhalima and Salameh are released, only to be later convicted for participating in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
As one FBI agent will later put it, "The fact is that in 1990, myself and my detectives, we had in our office in handcuffs, the people who blew up the World Trade Center in '93. We were told to release them."
The 47 boxes of evidence collected at Nosair's house that evening are stored away, inaccessible to prosecutors and investigators. The documents found will not be translated until after the World Trade Center bombing.
Nosair will later be acquitted of Kahane's murder (though he will be convicted of lesser charges), as investigators will continue to ignore all evidence that could suggest Nosair did not act alone (see December 7, 1991). [ABC News, 8/16/2002; Lance, 2003, pp. 34-37]
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline
November 5, 1990: First bin Laden-Related Terror Attack on US; Evidence of Larger Conspiracy Is Found and Ignored
Egyptian-American El Sayyid Nosair assassinates controversial right-wing Zionist leader Rabbi Meir Kahane. Kahane's organization, the Jewish Defense League, was linked to dozens of bombings and is ranked by the FBI as the most lethal domestic militant group in the US at the time. Nosair is captured after a police shoot-out. An FBI informant says he saw Nosair meeting with Muslim leader Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman a few days before the attack, and evidence indicating a wider plot with additional targets is found. [Village Voice, 3/30/1993]
Later that night, police arrive at Nosair's house and find a pair of Middle Eastern men named Mahmud Abouhalima and Mohammed Salameh there. They are taken in for questioning. Additionally, police collect a total of 47 boxes of evidence from Nosair's house, including: [Lance, 2003, pp. 34-35]
*Thousands of rounds of ammunition.
* Maps and drawings of New York City landmarks, including the World Trade Center.
* Documents in Arabic containing bomb making formulas, details of an Islamic militant cell, and mentions of the term "al-Qaeda."
*Recorded sermons by Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman in which he encourages his followers to "destroy the edifices of capitalism" and destroy "the enemies of Allah" by "destroying their ... high world buildings."
*Tape-recorded phone conversations of Nosair reporting to Abdul-Rahman about paramilitary training, and even discussing bomb-making manuals.
* Videotaped talks that Ali Mohamed delivered at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
* Top secret manuals also from Fort Bragg. There are even classified documents belonging to the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Commander in Chief of the Army's Central Command.
These manuals and documents had clearly come from Mohamed, who completed military service at Fort Bragg the year before and frequently stayed in Nosair's house.
* A detailed and top secret plan for Operation Bright Star, a special operations training exercise simulating an attack on Baluchistan, a part of Pakistan between Afghanistan and the Arabian Sea. [Lance, 2003, pp. 34-35; ABC News, 8/16/2002; Wall Street Journal, 11/26/2001; Raleigh News and Observer, 10/21/2001; Raleigh News and Observer, 11/13/2001]
Also within hours, two investigators will connect Nosair with surveillance photographs of Mohamed giving weapons training to Nosair, Abouhalima, Salameh, and others at a shooting range the year before (see July 1989). [Lance, 2003, pp. 34-35]
But, ignoring all of this evidence, still later that evening, Joseph Borelli, the New York police department's chief detective, will publicly declare the assassination the work of a "lone deranged gunman." He will further state, "I'm strongly convinced that he acted alone. ... He didn't seem to be part of a conspiracy or any terrorist organization."
The 9/11 Congressional Inquiry will later conclude, "The [New York Police Department] and the District Attorney's office ... reportedly wanted the appearance of speedy justice and a quick resolution to a volatile situation. By arresting Nosair, they felt they had accomplished both." [Village Voice, 3/30/1993; Lance, 2003, pp. 34-36]
Abouhalima and Salameh are released, only to be later convicted for participating in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
As one FBI agent will later put it, "The fact is that in 1990, myself and my detectives, we had in our office in handcuffs, the people who blew up the World Trade Center in '93. We were told to release them."
The 47 boxes of evidence collected at Nosair's house that evening are stored away, inaccessible to prosecutors and investigators. The documents found will not be translated until after the World Trade Center bombing.
Nosair will later be acquitted of Kahane's murder (though he will be convicted of lesser charges), as investigators will continue to ignore all evidence that could suggest Nosair did not act alone (see December 7, 1991). [ABC News, 8/16/2002; Lance, 2003, pp. 34-37]
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline
September 14, 2006
See New documentary on the Murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane and 9-11
click here to view
http://www.revava.org/forum/index.php/topic,2484.0.html
November 5, 1990: First bin Laden-Related Terror Attack on US;
Evidence of Larger Conspiracy Is Found and Ignored
Egyptian-American El Sayyid Nosair assassinates controversial right-wing Zionist leader Rabbi Meir Kahane. Kahane's organization, the Jewish Defense League, was linked to dozens of bombings and is ranked by the FBI as the most lethal domestic militant group in the US at the time. Nosair is captured after a police shoot-out. An FBI informant says he saw Nosair meeting with Muslim leader Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman a few days before the attack, and evidence indicating a
wider plot with additional targets is found. [Village Voice, 3/30/1993] Later that night, police arrive at Nosair's house and find a pair of Middle Eastern men named Mahmud Abouhalima and Mohammed Salameh there. They are taken in for questioning. Additionally, police collect a total of 47 boxes of evidence from Nosair's house, including: [Lance, 2003, pp. 34-35]
--> Thousands of rounds of ammunition.
--> Maps and drawings of New York City landmarks, including the World Trade Center.
--> Documents in Arabic containing bomb making formulas, details of an Islamic militant cell, and mentions of the term "al-Qaeda."
--> Recorded sermons by Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman in which he encourages his followers to "destroy the edifices of capitalism" and destroy "the enemies of Allah" by "destroying their ... high world buildings."
--> Tape-recorded phone conversations of Nosair reporting to Abdul-Rahman about paramilitary training, and even discussing bomb-making manuals.
--> Videotaped talks that Ali Mohamed delivered at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
--> Top secret manuals also from Fort Bragg. There are even classified documents belonging to the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Commander in Chief of the Army's Central Command. These manuals and documents had clearly come from Mohamed, who completed military service at Fort Bragg the year before and frequently stayed in Nosair's house.
--> A detailed and top secret plan for Operation Bright Star, a special operations training exercise simulating an attack on Baluchistan, a part of Pakistan between Afghanistan and the Arabian Sea. [Lance, 2003, pp. 34-35; ABC News, 8/16/2002; Wall Street Journal, 11/26/2001; Raleigh News and Observer, 10/21/2001; Raleigh News and Observer, 11/13/2001]
Also within hours, two investigators will connect Nosair with surveillance photographs of Mohamed giving weapons training to Nosair, Abouhalima, Salameh, and others at a shooting range the year before (see July 1989). [Lance, 2003, pp. 34-35]
But, ignoring all of this evidence, still later that evening, Joseph Borelli, the New York police department's chief detective, will publicly declare the assassination the work of a "lone deranged gunman." He will further state, "I'm strongly convinced that he acted alone. ... He didn't seem to be part of a conspiracy or any terrorist organization." The 9/11 Congressional Inquiry will later conclude, "The [New York Police Department] and the District Attorney's office
... reportedly wanted the appearance of speedy justice and a quick resolution to a volatile situation. By arresting Nosair, they felt they had accomplished both." [Village Voice, 3/30/1993; Lance, 2003, pp. 34-36]
Abouhalima and Salameh are released, only to be later convicted for participating in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. As one FBI agent will later put it, "The fact is that in 1990, myself and my detectives, we had in our office in handcuffs, the people who blew up the World Trade Center in '93. We were told to release them." The 47 boxes of evidence collected at Nosair's house that evening are stored away, inaccessible to prosecutors and investigators. The documents found will not be translated until after the World Trade Center bombing. Nosair will later be acquitted of Kahane's murder (though he will be convicted of lesser charges), as investigators will continue to ignore all evidence that could suggest Nosair did not act alone (see December 7, 1991). [ABC News, 8/16/2002; Lance, 2003, pp. 34-37]
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline
--
David Ha'Ivri
www.revava.org
Reclaiming the Temple Mount
www.hameir.org/temple
http://www.revava.org/forum/index.php/topic,2484.0.html
November 5, 1990: First bin Laden-Related Terror Attack on US;
Evidence of Larger Conspiracy Is Found and Ignored
Egyptian-American El Sayyid Nosair assassinates controversial right-wing Zionist leader Rabbi Meir Kahane. Kahane's organization, the Jewish Defense League, was linked to dozens of bombings and is ranked by the FBI as the most lethal domestic militant group in the US at the time. Nosair is captured after a police shoot-out. An FBI informant says he saw Nosair meeting with Muslim leader Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman a few days before the attack, and evidence indicating a
wider plot with additional targets is found. [Village Voice, 3/30/1993] Later that night, police arrive at Nosair's house and find a pair of Middle Eastern men named Mahmud Abouhalima and Mohammed Salameh there. They are taken in for questioning. Additionally, police collect a total of 47 boxes of evidence from Nosair's house, including: [Lance, 2003, pp. 34-35]
--> Thousands of rounds of ammunition.
--> Maps and drawings of New York City landmarks, including the World Trade Center.
--> Documents in Arabic containing bomb making formulas, details of an Islamic militant cell, and mentions of the term "al-Qaeda."
--> Recorded sermons by Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman in which he encourages his followers to "destroy the edifices of capitalism" and destroy "the enemies of Allah" by "destroying their ... high world buildings."
--> Tape-recorded phone conversations of Nosair reporting to Abdul-Rahman about paramilitary training, and even discussing bomb-making manuals.
--> Videotaped talks that Ali Mohamed delivered at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
--> Top secret manuals also from Fort Bragg. There are even classified documents belonging to the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Commander in Chief of the Army's Central Command. These manuals and documents had clearly come from Mohamed, who completed military service at Fort Bragg the year before and frequently stayed in Nosair's house.
--> A detailed and top secret plan for Operation Bright Star, a special operations training exercise simulating an attack on Baluchistan, a part of Pakistan between Afghanistan and the Arabian Sea. [Lance, 2003, pp. 34-35; ABC News, 8/16/2002; Wall Street Journal, 11/26/2001; Raleigh News and Observer, 10/21/2001; Raleigh News and Observer, 11/13/2001]
Also within hours, two investigators will connect Nosair with surveillance photographs of Mohamed giving weapons training to Nosair, Abouhalima, Salameh, and others at a shooting range the year before (see July 1989). [Lance, 2003, pp. 34-35]
But, ignoring all of this evidence, still later that evening, Joseph Borelli, the New York police department's chief detective, will publicly declare the assassination the work of a "lone deranged gunman." He will further state, "I'm strongly convinced that he acted alone. ... He didn't seem to be part of a conspiracy or any terrorist organization." The 9/11 Congressional Inquiry will later conclude, "The [New York Police Department] and the District Attorney's office
... reportedly wanted the appearance of speedy justice and a quick resolution to a volatile situation. By arresting Nosair, they felt they had accomplished both." [Village Voice, 3/30/1993; Lance, 2003, pp. 34-36]
Abouhalima and Salameh are released, only to be later convicted for participating in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. As one FBI agent will later put it, "The fact is that in 1990, myself and my detectives, we had in our office in handcuffs, the people who blew up the World Trade Center in '93. We were told to release them." The 47 boxes of evidence collected at Nosair's house that evening are stored away, inaccessible to prosecutors and investigators. The documents found will not be translated until after the World Trade Center bombing. Nosair will later be acquitted of Kahane's murder (though he will be convicted of lesser charges), as investigators will continue to ignore all evidence that could suggest Nosair did not act alone (see December 7, 1991). [ABC News, 8/16/2002; Lance, 2003, pp. 34-37]
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline
--
David Ha'Ivri
www.revava.org
Reclaiming the Temple Mount
www.hameir.org/temple
July 25, 2006
An open letter to the world
Dear World, I understand that you are upset by us, here in Israel.
Indeed, it appears that you are quite upset, even angry. (Outraged?)
Indeed, every few years you seem to become upset by us. Today, it is the "brutal repression of the Palestinians"; yesterday it was Lebanon; before that it was the bombing of the nuclear reactor in Baghdad and the Yom Kippur War and the Sinai campaign. It appears that Jews who triumph and who, therefore, live, upset you most extraordinarily.
Of course, dear world, long before there was an Israel, we - the Jewish people - upset you.
We upset a German people who elected Hitler and upset an Austrian people who cheered his entry into Vienna and we upset a whole slew of Slavic nations - Poles, Slovaks, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Russians, Hungarians and Romanians. And we go back a long, long way in the history of world upset.
We upset the Cossacks of Chmielnicki who massacred tens of thousands of us in 1648-49; we upset the Crusaders who, on their way to liberate the Holy Land, were so upset at Jews that they slaughtered untold numbers of us.
For centuries, we upset a Roman Catholic Church that did its best to define our relationship through inquisitions, and we upset the arch-enemy of the church, Martin Luther, who, in his call to burn the synagogues and the Jews within them, showed an admirable Christian ecumenical spirit.
And it is because we became so upset over upsetting you, dear world, that we decided to leave you - in a manner of speaking - and establish a Jewish state. The reasoning was that living in close contact with you, as resident-strangers in the various countries that
comprise you, we upset you, irritate you and disturb you. What better notion, then, than to leave you (and thus love you)- and have you love us and so, we decided to come home - home to the same land we were driven out 1,900 years earlier by a Roman world that, apparently, we also upset.
Alas, dear world, it appears that you are hard to please.
Having left you and your pogroms and inquisitions and crusades and holocausts, having taken our leave of the general world to live alone in our own little state, we continue to upset you. You are upset that we repress the poor Palestinians. You are deeply angered over the
fact that we do not give up the lands of 1967, which are clearly the obstacle to peace in the Middle East.
Moscow is upset and Washington is upset. The "radical" Arabs are upset and the gentle Egyptian moderates are upset.
In 1920 and 1921 and 1929, there were no territories of 1967 to impede peace between Jews and Arabs. Indeed, there was no Jewish State to upset anybody. Nevertheless, the same oppressed and repressed Palestinians slaughtered tens of Jews in Jerusalem, Jaffa, Safed and Hebron. .Indeed, 67 Jews were slaughtered one day in Hebron in 1929.
Dear world, why did the Arabs - the Palestinians - massacre 67 Jews in one day in 1929? Could it have been their anger over Israeli aggression in 1967? And why were 510 Jewish men, women and children slaughtered in Arab riots between 1936-39? Was it because Arabs were upset over 1967?
And when you, dear world, proposed a UN Partition Plan in 1947 that would have created a "Palestinian State" alongside a tiny Israel and the Arabs cried "no" and went to war and killed 6,000 Jews - was that "upset" caused by the aggression of 1967? And, by the way, dear world, why did we not hear your cry of "upset" then?
The poor Palestinians who today kill Jews with explosives and firebombs and stones are part of the same people who, when they had all the territories they now demand be given to them for their state - attempted to drive the Jewish state into the sea. The same twisted
faces, the same hate, the same cry of "itbach-al-yahud" (Massacre the Jew!) that we hear and see today, were seen and heard then. The same people, the same dream - destroy Israel. What they failed to do yesterday, they dream of today, but we should not "repress" them.
Dear world, you stood by during the holocaust and you stood by in 1948 as seven states launched a war that the Arab League proudly compared to the Mongol massacres.
You stood by in 1967 as Nasser, wildly cheered by wild mobs in every Arab capital in the world, vowed to drive the Jews into the sea. And you would stand by tomorrow if Israel were facing extinction.
And since we know that the Arabs-Palestinians dream daily of that extinction, we will do everything possible to remain alive in our own land. If that bothers you, dear world, well, think of how many times in the past you bothered us.
In any event, dear world, if you are bothered by us, here is one Jew in Israel who could not care less and, frankly doesn't give a damn....
Written by Rabbi Meir Kahane z'l
Indeed, it appears that you are quite upset, even angry. (Outraged?)
Indeed, every few years you seem to become upset by us. Today, it is the "brutal repression of the Palestinians"; yesterday it was Lebanon; before that it was the bombing of the nuclear reactor in Baghdad and the Yom Kippur War and the Sinai campaign. It appears that Jews who triumph and who, therefore, live, upset you most extraordinarily.
Of course, dear world, long before there was an Israel, we - the Jewish people - upset you.
We upset a German people who elected Hitler and upset an Austrian people who cheered his entry into Vienna and we upset a whole slew of Slavic nations - Poles, Slovaks, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Russians, Hungarians and Romanians. And we go back a long, long way in the history of world upset.
We upset the Cossacks of Chmielnicki who massacred tens of thousands of us in 1648-49; we upset the Crusaders who, on their way to liberate the Holy Land, were so upset at Jews that they slaughtered untold numbers of us.
For centuries, we upset a Roman Catholic Church that did its best to define our relationship through inquisitions, and we upset the arch-enemy of the church, Martin Luther, who, in his call to burn the synagogues and the Jews within them, showed an admirable Christian ecumenical spirit.
And it is because we became so upset over upsetting you, dear world, that we decided to leave you - in a manner of speaking - and establish a Jewish state. The reasoning was that living in close contact with you, as resident-strangers in the various countries that
comprise you, we upset you, irritate you and disturb you. What better notion, then, than to leave you (and thus love you)- and have you love us and so, we decided to come home - home to the same land we were driven out 1,900 years earlier by a Roman world that, apparently, we also upset.
Alas, dear world, it appears that you are hard to please.
Having left you and your pogroms and inquisitions and crusades and holocausts, having taken our leave of the general world to live alone in our own little state, we continue to upset you. You are upset that we repress the poor Palestinians. You are deeply angered over the
fact that we do not give up the lands of 1967, which are clearly the obstacle to peace in the Middle East.
Moscow is upset and Washington is upset. The "radical" Arabs are upset and the gentle Egyptian moderates are upset.
In 1920 and 1921 and 1929, there were no territories of 1967 to impede peace between Jews and Arabs. Indeed, there was no Jewish State to upset anybody. Nevertheless, the same oppressed and repressed Palestinians slaughtered tens of Jews in Jerusalem, Jaffa, Safed and Hebron. .Indeed, 67 Jews were slaughtered one day in Hebron in 1929.
Dear world, why did the Arabs - the Palestinians - massacre 67 Jews in one day in 1929? Could it have been their anger over Israeli aggression in 1967? And why were 510 Jewish men, women and children slaughtered in Arab riots between 1936-39? Was it because Arabs were upset over 1967?
And when you, dear world, proposed a UN Partition Plan in 1947 that would have created a "Palestinian State" alongside a tiny Israel and the Arabs cried "no" and went to war and killed 6,000 Jews - was that "upset" caused by the aggression of 1967? And, by the way, dear world, why did we not hear your cry of "upset" then?
The poor Palestinians who today kill Jews with explosives and firebombs and stones are part of the same people who, when they had all the territories they now demand be given to them for their state - attempted to drive the Jewish state into the sea. The same twisted
faces, the same hate, the same cry of "itbach-al-yahud" (Massacre the Jew!) that we hear and see today, were seen and heard then. The same people, the same dream - destroy Israel. What they failed to do yesterday, they dream of today, but we should not "repress" them.
Dear world, you stood by during the holocaust and you stood by in 1948 as seven states launched a war that the Arab League proudly compared to the Mongol massacres.
You stood by in 1967 as Nasser, wildly cheered by wild mobs in every Arab capital in the world, vowed to drive the Jews into the sea. And you would stand by tomorrow if Israel were facing extinction.
And since we know that the Arabs-Palestinians dream daily of that extinction, we will do everything possible to remain alive in our own land. If that bothers you, dear world, well, think of how many times in the past you bothered us.
In any event, dear world, if you are bothered by us, here is one Jew in Israel who could not care less and, frankly doesn't give a damn....
Written by Rabbi Meir Kahane z'l
December 31, 2005
Rav Kahane and his son, Binyamin - of blessed memory
Folks, this Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2006 will be the fifth Yahrzeit for Rav Binyamin and Talyia Kahane. Rav Binyamin Zev Kahane continued the work of his father for ten years, until he himself was murdered by Muslims in a drive-by shooting near Ofrah in an attack that also wounded five of their children. Rav Binyamin Zev Kahane dedicated his life and his tremendous talents to disseminating the Jewish Idea.
His father, Rabbi Kahane, born in Brooklyn in 1932, was an author, political activist and a member of the Israeli Knesset. When concluding a speech in Manhattan, Rabbi Kahane was assassinated by El-Sayyid Nosair, an Egyptian and member of an Arab terrorist cell operating in New York in 1990. Nosair was one of Sheikh Omar Abd El-Rahman's men, who would later be convicted for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; today, he is serving life in prison. The gun that was used to kill Rabbi Kahane was supplied to Nosair by Wadih El-Hage, who is a member of Al-Qaeda convicted of conspiracy to kill American citizens in the 1998 US embassy bombings.
In memory of Rav Binyamin Zev Kahane, I am reprinting a message from his beloved father, Rabbi Meir Kahane, which he wrote to the Arabs of Eretz Yisrael, over 25 years ago (14 Iyar, 5739/11 May, 1979).
I reprint it here as it appears in the book, ON JEWS AND JUDAISM (SELECTED ARTICLES 1961-1990), pp. 77-82. Folks, read it to understand what the true and only Jewish response is to Arab terror and uprisings of all kinds. This article will reinforce your conclusion that the Rabbi was indeed 100% correct, both in his ideas about the Arabs, and in his predictions of everything that is happening today:
His father, Rabbi Kahane, born in Brooklyn in 1932, was an author, political activist and a member of the Israeli Knesset. When concluding a speech in Manhattan, Rabbi Kahane was assassinated by El-Sayyid Nosair, an Egyptian and member of an Arab terrorist cell operating in New York in 1990. Nosair was one of Sheikh Omar Abd El-Rahman's men, who would later be convicted for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; today, he is serving life in prison. The gun that was used to kill Rabbi Kahane was supplied to Nosair by Wadih El-Hage, who is a member of Al-Qaeda convicted of conspiracy to kill American citizens in the 1998 US embassy bombings.
In memory of Rav Binyamin Zev Kahane, I am reprinting a message from his beloved father, Rabbi Meir Kahane, which he wrote to the Arabs of Eretz Yisrael, over 25 years ago (14 Iyar, 5739/11 May, 1979).
I reprint it here as it appears in the book, ON JEWS AND JUDAISM (SELECTED ARTICLES 1961-1990), pp. 77-82. Folks, read it to understand what the true and only Jewish response is to Arab terror and uprisings of all kinds. This article will reinforce your conclusion that the Rabbi was indeed 100% correct, both in his ideas about the Arabs, and in his predictions of everything that is happening today:
The Almighty, G-d of Israel, who created Heaven and Earth and all that is in them; who guides history and in whose hands are the souls and destiny of all men; who chose the People of Israel to be His unique and special people; who created all lands and chose as His most desired one, the Land of Israel - gave the land, Eretz Yisrael, unto His people, in order to build there a Chosen state and society that would be a light unto the nations.Smooth Stone agrees affirmatively - without hesitation - with Rav Kahane.
Arabs of Eretz Yisrael! We live today in a time of destiny. Through the mercy of the Almighty, the Jewish people have returned home and we live today in the beginning of the Final Redemption, may it come swiftly. And at the same time, there has begun a struggle. It is a struggle between the people of Israel on the one hand, and the Arab people, Ishmael, on the other. Both claim the Land.
We wish to speak to you about this struggle, because we know that so many others speak to you nonsense. We want you to know for yourselves what Jews of real faith and real Judaism believe, intend to do and why. Above all, we want the Jewish-Arab struggle placed within its true perspective. Let the world understand the religious nature of this struggle.
The pity is that most Jews do not understand you or your true feelings. People really believe that you can be bought with economic or social "progress." What contempt for you lies in a person who expects you to give up your national and religious demands in return for electricity and television! Not by bread alone does the Arab live. You are a proud people that truly believes that we have stolen the land from you. The fact that this is not true and that the land is Jewish does not change the fact that you truly believe otherwise. You will never give up that claim in return for being bought with materialism.
We know that the issue is not Hebron, or Sh'chem, or Judea or Samaria. We know that it is JERUSALEM, east and west. We know that it is Tel Aviv and Haifa. We know that it is, ultimately, the very existence of the Jewish state you see as a foreign body in the so-called Arab homeland. We know that only a fool or a knave expects you to agree to take half of what you believe to be your entire land. Above all, we know that the struggle for the land, Eretz Yisrael, is a struggle between the truth of Judaism or Islam.
It is not we who "incite" you. It is not "extremist" Jewish groups who cause you to hate Israel, as foolish politicians and writers say. We know that it was Herzl who incited you and Ben Gurion. And Golda, and Begin. And the Kibbutzirn of Hashomer Hatzair. And Zionism itself. It is the Israeli soldier and flag and very state that infuriates you and moves you to vengeance.
We know, despite all the self-delusion, that no Arab feels equal in a state whose national anthem speaks of the "soul of a Jew" yearning, and of Hatikva, the Jewish hope of return that was, for you, a nightmare. We know that a state in which the Law of Return applies to Jews and not to you is, for you, an alien land. We know that Israel, which was quite rightly and properly formed as a Jewish state so that we might have what you have in 20 of your own can never be home for you.
And we remember how you tried to strangle this state at birth. We remember your refusal to even accept the U.N. Partition Plan of 1947 that would have created a tiny, grotesque state with a population already one-third Arab. We remember the 6,000 Jews who fell in that war you began, and we remember the 600 Jews who died in your riots of 1936-38 when there was no Jewish state.
And we remember the Mufti, of cursed memory, and al-Kaukji. And we remember the Hebron pogrom of 1929 and the massacres of Jews in Jerusalem, Jaffa, Safed and all the others in 1920 and 1921. And we remember Trumpeldor and Tel Hai. And we have not the slightest doubt that you would do it again if we were ever so foolish to allow you. AND WE UNDERSTAND. AND WE UNDERSTAND YOU.
And because we are the few who are willing to see and understand, we know, above all, that there can never be real peace. Unlike those who think they can deceive you and who succeed only in deluding themselves, we know that no concessions short of the elimination of Israel will suffice for you. For you, there cannot be peace as long as there is a Jewish state, for the main issue in your minds is NOT peace but what you consider to be your rights, your entire land, your national destiny, your religious victory.
All this we understand and we understand you and how you think and why, and because we do, we will not move to commit national suicide in the manner of so many others. We know that every concession and every failure to assert our Jewish rights and obligations is seen by you as weakness and this only emboldens you. We know that our failure all these years to transfer Arabs from Eretz Yisrael has left in our midst a proud and hating people that is a time bomb waiting to explode. We know that as long as you are here there will be many more bombs in our streets. We know that the Arab birthrate guarantees the creation of yet another Cyprus or Northern Ireland here, as well as threatening the Jewish majority of Eretz Yisrael. We know that education makes you more dangerous, not less, and that the PLO leaders of the future will come from the universities we allow you to attend. We know that our liberal weakness leads to bolder attacks on Jewish women and men, assaults on Jews in Jerusalem. We know that the insane "autonomy" plan must lead to a "Palestine" entity that will be a magnet for the Israeli Arab and his radicalization.
And so, understanding your national and religious pride; knowing that you believe us to be thieves and the land to be yours; certain that there can never be any real peace between us - we hereby proclaim to you our words of halacha and true Judaism. Listen to the beliefs of Jews of true and deep faith:
1) Eretz Yisrael, in its entirety was given by G-d, the creator of all lands, unto His Chosen people, Israel.
2) There is no "Palestine" or "Palestinian people." We recognize you to be part of the Arab nation who settled illegally in our land when, against our will, we were forced into an Exile of 2,000 years, during which not a day went by without the Jew praying for the Great Return.
3) Jews have an OBLIGATION to reclaim all the Land of G-d and to declare Jewish sovereignty over any part that has been reclaimed. We have an obligation to settle everywhere in the Land, including the cities of the Bible. We have an obligation to reclaim Jewish property seized by the murderers of Jews in the days of Jewish weakness.
4) Failure to assert Jewish rights and obligations, especially through fear of the gentile, is a Hillul Hashem, desecration of the Name of the L-rd.
5) By Torah law, we offer you the status of Ger Toshav (resident stranger) in the Land, if you wish to remain. If you accept upon yourself the sovereignty of the Jewish people and G-d over the land of Israel in its entirety, you are welcome to remain with religious, cultural, social and economic rights but no political ones. If you are unwilling to accept this, we will do our utmost to complete the transfer of population begun in 1948 when hundreds of thousands of Jews fled Arab lands. We will move to transfer you to your own countries so that both peoples can live separately in peace.
6) We will seek to have Arab students unwilling to accept Jewish sovereignty removed from universities and ask that a fixed number of Arabs be expelled after every terrorist bomb outrage.
7) We call upon you to help end attacks on Jewish women and men in Jerusalem and elsewhere, for we will put an end to them. We will also act to end the relationships between Arab men and Jewish women that is now growing and that so desecrates the Name of G-d.
8) We will seek to remove all strangers from the Temple Mount until the time that the Holy Temple is rebuilt.
Again, we repeat our understanding of your views and beliefs. It is not in order to incite that we write these words. It is rather that we agree with you that a great religious struggle is being fought here and the proof of the L-rd, G-d of Israel, will be seen in total victory of the Jewish people in their entire land.
WE OFFER YOU THE HAND OF PEACE IF YOU SEEK TO REMAIN IN OUR LAND AS RESIDENT STRANGERS. IF NOT, WE OFFER TO AID EVERY ARAB WHO COMES TO US, TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY AND SETTLE ELSEWHERE. MAY THE ALMIGHTY OPEN ALL EYES TO THE TRUTH.
"And we allow them to remain in the land! And we allow them to lift up the head! And we allow them to raise the hand against a Jew and his G-D! And we do not remove the head and remove the hand and remove the abomination from the land!
Is there a greater desecration than this? And so the jackals continue to walk on the Temple Mount, the Mountain of G-D where it was decreed, "and the stranger who shall come near shall die". And we, in fear of the jackals and their protectors, allow the desecration --- not only barring Jews, but creating from the mountain on which stood the Temple and the Divine Presence, a place of Moslem arrogance and triumph of Allah, G-D forbid, over the G-D of Israel" -- Rabbi Meir Kahane, HY'D (1932-1990)
April 22, 2005
AND THOU SHALT TELL THY SON by Rabbi Meir Kahane ZT"L HY"D (May 9, 1986)
The essence of Passover is the commandment of the Hagadda, of telling and retelling, of passing on to our children, the story of Passover, its concepts and lessons and commandments. Passover is the beginning of Judaism, its very birth, hence its direction and directive to pass on to our sons and daughters, its fundamentals and teachings. However, the problem with a commandment to parents to pass on lessons to their children is that so few know what to pass on. Indeed, through honest ignorance or honest receipt of confusion from those who passed that down to them, Jews of befogged confusion do not pass on but rather pass over the basic truths, and the irony of the holiday name is glaring.
The object of Jews to understand the real and so-very-clear lessons of the holiday of Freedom, is the tragic reality of a 20-centuries-old Exile that not only brutally deformed Jews, but far worse, perverted the Torah concepts that are so basic to knowing not only who we really are and from whence we came, but what we should be doing and telling ourselves and our children, so that we may know how to reach the final redemption that is based - as our rabbis tell us - on the first one, the Exodus from the Land of Egypt on that first Passover so long ago.
We are the victims of an agonizingly long exile that saw us change from the authentic religious nation to a religion alone; that saw us learn to accept our crippling deformity, a religious nation with a state of its own turned into a religion with no national or land roots. It is an exile that effectively perverted, warped and twisted Torah truth and we are the victims. That is why it is so essential to resurrect Passover and its lessons; to learn and understand them as they really are. For Passover is a
festival of national faith, of a free people leaving an Exile for a home of their own. Jews of the ghetto and the Exile cannot understand Passover as it really is. They can only pass over it, never pass it on. And so, let us see the lessons of Passover, learn them, and throw off the leaven of the Exile, and hallow ourselves with the simple sanctity of the matzoh of freedom.
1) Passover is the holiday of negating of the Exile, of the throwing off of the slavery of Galut and going up to the freedom and spirituality of Eretz Yisrael.
The freedom given to the Jews by the All Mighty was more than just escape from bondage, from Egyptian slavery. The Ramban (Shmot 3:9) puts it best: For the All Mighty said two things to Moses: To go down and save the People from the hands of Egypt, and this might have been accomplished in the Land of Goshen (Egypt) itself or nearby - but G-d promised another thing: To take them out of the country entirely to the place of the Canaanites.
And the Ibn Ezra (Dvarim 4:10): For the L-rd knew that Israel could not observe His commandments properly if they remained in the lands that ruled over them. And the Sforno (Dvarim 6:21): And since in our slavery we could not acquire the completeness that was directed from Him, He did wondrously to take us out and bring us to a land where we could acquire that completeness.
The so-obvious and basic Divine law: No people can live as a minority, a stranger in another's land, and not be influenced by the majority's foreign culture so that it infiltrates his mind, his views, his thought processes and makes him a different person than if he were isolated from that foreign invasion of his environment. We, the greatest of scholars - are all products of our environment, and the insidious foreign influences - newspapers, radio, streets - must influence and change us and shape us in a way that is different from an isolated, insulated Jewish state.
And so G-d did two things. He freed us from slavery, but only for the purpose of creating a holy, special, different people that would create a total Torah society in the only way possible: By leaving the influence of the foreign exile and living in cultural isolation in its own land. Lo, it is a people that dwells alone...
2) Passover tells us that the Jew who can go up to the Land and does not, will not be allowed by the All Mighty to survive in his Exile Paradise.
And these are the words of the rabbis (Shmot Raba 14; Tanhuma, Vaera 14): Why did G-d bring the plague of darkness? Because there were, among the Jews, sinners who had patrons among the Egyptians, and they had honor and wealth and did not wish to leave Egypt. Said the All Mighty: If I bring a blow on them openly and they die, the Egyptians will say: Just as he struck us down so did He do to them. Therefore He brought darkness on Egypt for three days so that they could die and be buried with no one knowing.
And indeed, that is the reason for the rabbis telling us that only one-fifth of the Jews left Egypt, all the rest dying in the plague of darkness because they refused to leave Egypt to go up to the Land of Canaan (Tanhuma, Bshalach, 1)
And the message echoes through the ages to each and every one who remains in the Exile where he enjoys honor and wealth. It cannot and will not be. A plague of darkness cometh and there will be no survival for those who despised the Holy Land and who chose their gentile patrons.
3) Faith, total faith in a G-d who is stronger than Pharaoh or even Ronald Reagan.
The All Mighty comes to the Children of Israel and tells them to do nothing less than take the god of their Egyptian masters, the lamb, tie it for four days and inform anyone who asks, that on the fourth day they will slaughter the animal-god, and then do it.
Mind-boggling! Consider what the reaction of Jews would be today to a command to degrade and to flaunt victory over a sacred religious symbol of Christians or Moslems. Say, to remove the mosque from the Temple Mount... One need not have much imagination to know what the reaction of Jews from left to right, from Reform to Moderdox, would be. Terror, outrage, indignation. But Passover teaches us differently.
In order to sanctify the name of the L-rd, G-d of Israel, as against the nations who mocked Him and knew Him not, the Jew is ordered not only to take, degrade, and manifest his mastery over the religious symbol of the Egyptian - he is told to do it in the most public way possible!
And they shall eat the flesh that night, roasted. eat not of it raw, nor boiled in water, but roast with fire; its head, with its legs and its inward parts (complete). (Shmot 12:8-9) Why? Because you are sacrificing the god of Egypt, you might say: Let us not roast it completely lest the Egyptians see us; therefore the verse says: eat not of it raw. And if you say (for the same reason) let us boil it and put it into a pot, the verse says: not boiled in water. And if you say let us cut it up so they will not recognize it, the verse says: its head with its legs...
No nonsense about fear of agitating the gentiles, a concept of the Exile where it had its place, but utterly humiliating and a Chillul Hashem in a state where the All Mighty demands of the Jew a proclamation and demonstration of the utmost of faith, a faith in the face of apparent danger, a faith that manifests the essence of Kiddush Hashem, a sanctification of G-d, that is total and undiluted.
4) In the totality of faith and sanctification of G-d, there is no compromise - it must be complete and absolute.
Pharaoh has just refused the Israelites permission to take their children with them. Now, with the plague of darkness, he breaks and agrees. He surrenders almost totally. Go, worship the L-rd, only your sheep and cattle will remain, your children will also go with you. (Shmot 10).
Consider, dear Jew. The Israelites have been slaves for decades upon decades. They have suffered and cried out unto G-d to free them. And now, finally, Pharaoh agrees to allow them to leave. Freedom now! And he only raises one minor condition - leave your cattle and sheep. Picture the scene: the joyful Jews, rejoicing in their soon-to-be-gotten freedom, embrace Moses and thank him. And then, to their horror, to their consternation, Moses shakes his head and tells Pharaoh, NO! You too, will give us sacrifices and offerings and our flocks will go with us. There shall not remain a hoof.
Dear moderate, non-fanatical, normal Jew. Was there ever a more fanatical, extremist, dangerous man that this Moses who refuses to compromise and insists on a stubborn policy of not one inch! Give them the sheep, Moses, give them the flocks! For freedom and peace one must compromise. Freedom now, shout the Jews, give him the sheep! But no. Moses knows what Judaism is, what Kiddush Hashem is: total surrender and capitulation before the L-rd - for only thus does the gentile admit his acceptance of the L-rd as the one and only G-d.
5) Sanctification must be open, unafraid, proud and tall.
The tenth plague strikes Egypt. Panic, terror. In every home there is death. Pharaoh surrenders totally. There is no thought of anything except total surrender. Go, go but above all, leave now, immediately. At midnight he races to Moses and cries out: Get up, get out of my people! You and the Children of Israel... take your sheep and cattle, too. Finally. Surely now, Moses is satisfied. Even the worst of extremists and fanatics must surely now accept this capitulation. Hardly. Thus says Moses: Are we then thieves that we go out at night? We shall only leave with a mighty arm, before the eyes of all Egypt (Tanhuma, Bo 7). And: G-d said unto them:
You take my children out in the middle of the night? You will not take them out at night but rather openly in the middle of the day! (Shmot Raba 18). And: Moses said to Pharaoh: We have been warned to leave only openly.
The lesson is so clear, even to all the gentilized and Moderdox. Sanctification of G-d's name, by its very essence, is a declaration that He is supreme, that no power on earth can touch Him or those who trust in Him. That the slightest thought of hidden or quiet, non-provocative sanctification is a contradiction in terms. That an admonition to do things quietly carries within it the seed of fear of gentile reaction and that, by its essence, is the very antithesis of Kiddush Hashem.
How many lessons there are in Passover! How many lessons that we pass over. Let us instead learn and pass them on.
The object of Jews to understand the real and so-very-clear lessons of the holiday of Freedom, is the tragic reality of a 20-centuries-old Exile that not only brutally deformed Jews, but far worse, perverted the Torah concepts that are so basic to knowing not only who we really are and from whence we came, but what we should be doing and telling ourselves and our children, so that we may know how to reach the final redemption that is based - as our rabbis tell us - on the first one, the Exodus from the Land of Egypt on that first Passover so long ago.
We are the victims of an agonizingly long exile that saw us change from the authentic religious nation to a religion alone; that saw us learn to accept our crippling deformity, a religious nation with a state of its own turned into a religion with no national or land roots. It is an exile that effectively perverted, warped and twisted Torah truth and we are the victims. That is why it is so essential to resurrect Passover and its lessons; to learn and understand them as they really are. For Passover is a
festival of national faith, of a free people leaving an Exile for a home of their own. Jews of the ghetto and the Exile cannot understand Passover as it really is. They can only pass over it, never pass it on. And so, let us see the lessons of Passover, learn them, and throw off the leaven of the Exile, and hallow ourselves with the simple sanctity of the matzoh of freedom.
1) Passover is the holiday of negating of the Exile, of the throwing off of the slavery of Galut and going up to the freedom and spirituality of Eretz Yisrael.
The freedom given to the Jews by the All Mighty was more than just escape from bondage, from Egyptian slavery. The Ramban (Shmot 3:9) puts it best: For the All Mighty said two things to Moses: To go down and save the People from the hands of Egypt, and this might have been accomplished in the Land of Goshen (Egypt) itself or nearby - but G-d promised another thing: To take them out of the country entirely to the place of the Canaanites.
And the Ibn Ezra (Dvarim 4:10): For the L-rd knew that Israel could not observe His commandments properly if they remained in the lands that ruled over them. And the Sforno (Dvarim 6:21): And since in our slavery we could not acquire the completeness that was directed from Him, He did wondrously to take us out and bring us to a land where we could acquire that completeness.
The so-obvious and basic Divine law: No people can live as a minority, a stranger in another's land, and not be influenced by the majority's foreign culture so that it infiltrates his mind, his views, his thought processes and makes him a different person than if he were isolated from that foreign invasion of his environment. We, the greatest of scholars - are all products of our environment, and the insidious foreign influences - newspapers, radio, streets - must influence and change us and shape us in a way that is different from an isolated, insulated Jewish state.
And so G-d did two things. He freed us from slavery, but only for the purpose of creating a holy, special, different people that would create a total Torah society in the only way possible: By leaving the influence of the foreign exile and living in cultural isolation in its own land. Lo, it is a people that dwells alone...
2) Passover tells us that the Jew who can go up to the Land and does not, will not be allowed by the All Mighty to survive in his Exile Paradise.
And these are the words of the rabbis (Shmot Raba 14; Tanhuma, Vaera 14): Why did G-d bring the plague of darkness? Because there were, among the Jews, sinners who had patrons among the Egyptians, and they had honor and wealth and did not wish to leave Egypt. Said the All Mighty: If I bring a blow on them openly and they die, the Egyptians will say: Just as he struck us down so did He do to them. Therefore He brought darkness on Egypt for three days so that they could die and be buried with no one knowing.
And indeed, that is the reason for the rabbis telling us that only one-fifth of the Jews left Egypt, all the rest dying in the plague of darkness because they refused to leave Egypt to go up to the Land of Canaan (Tanhuma, Bshalach, 1)
And the message echoes through the ages to each and every one who remains in the Exile where he enjoys honor and wealth. It cannot and will not be. A plague of darkness cometh and there will be no survival for those who despised the Holy Land and who chose their gentile patrons.
3) Faith, total faith in a G-d who is stronger than Pharaoh or even Ronald Reagan.
The All Mighty comes to the Children of Israel and tells them to do nothing less than take the god of their Egyptian masters, the lamb, tie it for four days and inform anyone who asks, that on the fourth day they will slaughter the animal-god, and then do it.
Mind-boggling! Consider what the reaction of Jews would be today to a command to degrade and to flaunt victory over a sacred religious symbol of Christians or Moslems. Say, to remove the mosque from the Temple Mount... One need not have much imagination to know what the reaction of Jews from left to right, from Reform to Moderdox, would be. Terror, outrage, indignation. But Passover teaches us differently.
In order to sanctify the name of the L-rd, G-d of Israel, as against the nations who mocked Him and knew Him not, the Jew is ordered not only to take, degrade, and manifest his mastery over the religious symbol of the Egyptian - he is told to do it in the most public way possible!
And they shall eat the flesh that night, roasted. eat not of it raw, nor boiled in water, but roast with fire; its head, with its legs and its inward parts (complete). (Shmot 12:8-9) Why? Because you are sacrificing the god of Egypt, you might say: Let us not roast it completely lest the Egyptians see us; therefore the verse says: eat not of it raw. And if you say (for the same reason) let us boil it and put it into a pot, the verse says: not boiled in water. And if you say let us cut it up so they will not recognize it, the verse says: its head with its legs...
No nonsense about fear of agitating the gentiles, a concept of the Exile where it had its place, but utterly humiliating and a Chillul Hashem in a state where the All Mighty demands of the Jew a proclamation and demonstration of the utmost of faith, a faith in the face of apparent danger, a faith that manifests the essence of Kiddush Hashem, a sanctification of G-d, that is total and undiluted.
4) In the totality of faith and sanctification of G-d, there is no compromise - it must be complete and absolute.
Pharaoh has just refused the Israelites permission to take their children with them. Now, with the plague of darkness, he breaks and agrees. He surrenders almost totally. Go, worship the L-rd, only your sheep and cattle will remain, your children will also go with you. (Shmot 10).
Consider, dear Jew. The Israelites have been slaves for decades upon decades. They have suffered and cried out unto G-d to free them. And now, finally, Pharaoh agrees to allow them to leave. Freedom now! And he only raises one minor condition - leave your cattle and sheep. Picture the scene: the joyful Jews, rejoicing in their soon-to-be-gotten freedom, embrace Moses and thank him. And then, to their horror, to their consternation, Moses shakes his head and tells Pharaoh, NO! You too, will give us sacrifices and offerings and our flocks will go with us. There shall not remain a hoof.
Dear moderate, non-fanatical, normal Jew. Was there ever a more fanatical, extremist, dangerous man that this Moses who refuses to compromise and insists on a stubborn policy of not one inch! Give them the sheep, Moses, give them the flocks! For freedom and peace one must compromise. Freedom now, shout the Jews, give him the sheep! But no. Moses knows what Judaism is, what Kiddush Hashem is: total surrender and capitulation before the L-rd - for only thus does the gentile admit his acceptance of the L-rd as the one and only G-d.
5) Sanctification must be open, unafraid, proud and tall.
The tenth plague strikes Egypt. Panic, terror. In every home there is death. Pharaoh surrenders totally. There is no thought of anything except total surrender. Go, go but above all, leave now, immediately. At midnight he races to Moses and cries out: Get up, get out of my people! You and the Children of Israel... take your sheep and cattle, too. Finally. Surely now, Moses is satisfied. Even the worst of extremists and fanatics must surely now accept this capitulation. Hardly. Thus says Moses: Are we then thieves that we go out at night? We shall only leave with a mighty arm, before the eyes of all Egypt (Tanhuma, Bo 7). And: G-d said unto them:
You take my children out in the middle of the night? You will not take them out at night but rather openly in the middle of the day! (Shmot Raba 18). And: Moses said to Pharaoh: We have been warned to leave only openly.
The lesson is so clear, even to all the gentilized and Moderdox. Sanctification of G-d's name, by its very essence, is a declaration that He is supreme, that no power on earth can touch Him or those who trust in Him. That the slightest thought of hidden or quiet, non-provocative sanctification is a contradiction in terms. That an admonition to do things quietly carries within it the seed of fear of gentile reaction and that, by its essence, is the very antithesis of Kiddush Hashem.
How many lessons there are in Passover! How many lessons that we pass over. Let us instead learn and pass them on.
February 08, 2005
When the Authorities Deny Terrorism Exists by Daniel Pipes
Anyone following the investigation into the mid-January slaughter of the Armanious family (husband, wife, two young daughters), Copts living in Jersey City, N.J., knows who the presumptive suspects are: Islamists furious at a Christian Egyptian immigrant who dares engage in Internet polemics against Islam and who attempts to convert Muslims to Christianity. [Related: "Coptic Christians See Warning in N.J. Murders"]
The authorities, however, have blinded themselves to the extensive circumstantial evidence, insisting that "no facts at this point" substantiate a religious motive for the murders.
Somehow, the prosecutor missed that all four members of this quiet family were savagely executed in the ritualistic Islamist way (multiple knife attacks and near-beheading); that Jersey City has a record of Islamist activism and jihadi violence; and that an Islamist website (www.barsomyat.com), carried multiple threats against Hossam Armanious ("we are going to track you down like a chicken and kill you").
Law enforcement seems more concerned to avoid an anti-Muslim backlash than to find the culprits.
This attitude of denial fits an all-too-common pattern. I have previously documented a reluctance in nearby New York City to see as terrorism the 1994 Brooklyn Bridge ("road rage" was the FBI's preferred description) and the 1997 Empire State Building shootings ("many, many enemies in his mind," said Rudolph Giuliani). Likewise, the July 2002 LAX murders were initially dismissed as "a work dispute" and the October 2002 rampage of the Beltway snipers went unexplained, leaving the media to ascribe it to such factors as a "stormy [family] relationship."
These instances are part of a yet-larger pattern.
* The 1990 murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane by the Islamist El Sayyid A. Nosair was initially ascribed by the police to "a prescription drug for or consistent with depression."
* The 1999 crash of EgyptAir 990, killing 217 - by a co-pilot not supposed to be near the aircraft's controls at that time who eleven times repeated "I rely on God" as he wrenched the plane down - went conspicuously unexplained by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
* The 2002 purposeful crash of a small plane into a Tampa high-rise by bin Laden-sympathizer Charles Bishara Bishop went unexplained; the family chimed in by blaming the acne drug Accutane.
* The 2003 murder and near-decapitation in Houston of an Israeli by a former Saudi friend who had newly become an Islamist found the police unable to discern "any evidence" that the crime had anything to do with religion.
Nor is this a problem unique to American authorities. Other examples include:
* The 1993 attack on foreign guests dining at the Semiramis Hotel in Cairo, killing five, accompanied by the Islamist cry "Allahu Akbar," inspired the Egyptian government to dismiss the killer as insane.
* The 2000 attack on a bus of visibly Jewish schoolchildren near Paris by a hammer-wielding North African yelling "You're not in Tel-Aviv!" prompted police to describe the assault resulting from a traffic incident.
* The 2003 fire that gutted the Merkaz HaTorah Jewish secondary school in a Paris suburb, requiring 100 firefighters to douse the flames, was described by the French minister of interior as being merely of "criminal origin."
* The 2004 murder of a Hasidic Jew with no criminal record as he walked an Antwerp street near a predominantly Muslim area left the Belgian authorities stumped: "There are no signs that racism was involved."
I have cited thirteen cases here and provide information on further incidents on my weblog. Why this repeated unease acknowledging Islamist terrorism by the authorities, why the shameful denial?
And for that matter, why a similar unwillingness to face facts about right-wing extremists, as in the 2002 murder by a cursing skinhead of a Hasidic Jew outside a kosher pizzeria in Toronto, which the police did not find to rate as a hate crime?
Because terrorism has much greater implications than prescription drugs going awry, road rage, lunatics acting berserk, or freak industrial accidents. Those can be shrugged off. Islamist terrorism, in contrast, requires an analysis of jihadi motives and a focus on Muslims, steps highly unwelcome to authorities.
And so, police, prosecutors, and politicians shy away from stark realities in favor of soothing and inaccurate bromides.
This ostrich-like behavior carries heavy costs; those who refuse to recognize the enemy cannot defeat him. To pretend terrorism is not occurring nearly guarantees that it will recur.
When the Authorities Deny Terrorism Exists by Daniel Pipes
The authorities, however, have blinded themselves to the extensive circumstantial evidence, insisting that "no facts at this point" substantiate a religious motive for the murders.
Somehow, the prosecutor missed that all four members of this quiet family were savagely executed in the ritualistic Islamist way (multiple knife attacks and near-beheading); that Jersey City has a record of Islamist activism and jihadi violence; and that an Islamist website (www.barsomyat.com), carried multiple threats against Hossam Armanious ("we are going to track you down like a chicken and kill you").
Law enforcement seems more concerned to avoid an anti-Muslim backlash than to find the culprits.
This attitude of denial fits an all-too-common pattern. I have previously documented a reluctance in nearby New York City to see as terrorism the 1994 Brooklyn Bridge ("road rage" was the FBI's preferred description) and the 1997 Empire State Building shootings ("many, many enemies in his mind," said Rudolph Giuliani). Likewise, the July 2002 LAX murders were initially dismissed as "a work dispute" and the October 2002 rampage of the Beltway snipers went unexplained, leaving the media to ascribe it to such factors as a "stormy [family] relationship."
These instances are part of a yet-larger pattern.
* The 1990 murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane by the Islamist El Sayyid A. Nosair was initially ascribed by the police to "a prescription drug for or consistent with depression."
* The 1999 crash of EgyptAir 990, killing 217 - by a co-pilot not supposed to be near the aircraft's controls at that time who eleven times repeated "I rely on God" as he wrenched the plane down - went conspicuously unexplained by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
* The 2002 purposeful crash of a small plane into a Tampa high-rise by bin Laden-sympathizer Charles Bishara Bishop went unexplained; the family chimed in by blaming the acne drug Accutane.
* The 2003 murder and near-decapitation in Houston of an Israeli by a former Saudi friend who had newly become an Islamist found the police unable to discern "any evidence" that the crime had anything to do with religion.
Nor is this a problem unique to American authorities. Other examples include:
* The 1993 attack on foreign guests dining at the Semiramis Hotel in Cairo, killing five, accompanied by the Islamist cry "Allahu Akbar," inspired the Egyptian government to dismiss the killer as insane.
* The 2000 attack on a bus of visibly Jewish schoolchildren near Paris by a hammer-wielding North African yelling "You're not in Tel-Aviv!" prompted police to describe the assault resulting from a traffic incident.
* The 2003 fire that gutted the Merkaz HaTorah Jewish secondary school in a Paris suburb, requiring 100 firefighters to douse the flames, was described by the French minister of interior as being merely of "criminal origin."
* The 2004 murder of a Hasidic Jew with no criminal record as he walked an Antwerp street near a predominantly Muslim area left the Belgian authorities stumped: "There are no signs that racism was involved."
I have cited thirteen cases here and provide information on further incidents on my weblog. Why this repeated unease acknowledging Islamist terrorism by the authorities, why the shameful denial?
And for that matter, why a similar unwillingness to face facts about right-wing extremists, as in the 2002 murder by a cursing skinhead of a Hasidic Jew outside a kosher pizzeria in Toronto, which the police did not find to rate as a hate crime?
Because terrorism has much greater implications than prescription drugs going awry, road rage, lunatics acting berserk, or freak industrial accidents. Those can be shrugged off. Islamist terrorism, in contrast, requires an analysis of jihadi motives and a focus on Muslims, steps highly unwelcome to authorities.
And so, police, prosecutors, and politicians shy away from stark realities in favor of soothing and inaccurate bromides.
This ostrich-like behavior carries heavy costs; those who refuse to recognize the enemy cannot defeat him. To pretend terrorism is not occurring nearly guarantees that it will recur.
When the Authorities Deny Terrorism Exists by Daniel Pipes
January 21, 2004
Spreading Torah Truth to Hasten the Redemption
HaMeir L'David
HaMeir L'David is a non-profit organization headed by David Ha'ivri and dedicated to raising awareness of national and Jewish issues in Israel and the Diaspora to hasten the Redemption.
Ha'Meir L'David undertakings include printing books by Rabbi Meir David Kahane and his son, Binyamin Ze'ev; printing booklets on various Halachic subjects; raising awareness of Zionist history such as the actions of the Irgun and Lechi and printing T-shirts and bumper stickers to publicise its message.
HaMeir L'David is a non-profit organization headed by David Ha'ivri and dedicated to raising awareness of national and Jewish issues in Israel and the Diaspora to hasten the Redemption.
Ha'Meir L'David undertakings include printing books by Rabbi Meir David Kahane and his son, Binyamin Ze'ev; printing booklets on various Halachic subjects; raising awareness of Zionist history such as the actions of the Irgun and Lechi and printing T-shirts and bumper stickers to publicise its message.
August 22, 2003
And we allow them to remain in the land
"And we allow them to remain in the land! And we allow them to lift up the head! And we allow them to raise the hand against a Jew and his G-D! And we do not remove the head and remove the hand and remove the abomination from the land!
Is there a greater desecration than this? And so the jackals continue to walk on the Temple Mount, the Mountain of G-D where it was decreed, "and the stranger who shall come near shall die". And we, in fear of the jackals and their protectors, allow the desecration --- not only barring Jews, but creating from the mountain on which stood the Temple and the Divine Presence, a place of Moslem arrogance and triumph of Allah, G-D forbid, over the G-D of Israel"
...Rabbi Meir Kahane, HY'D (1932-1990)
Is there a greater desecration than this? And so the jackals continue to walk on the Temple Mount, the Mountain of G-D where it was decreed, "and the stranger who shall come near shall die". And we, in fear of the jackals and their protectors, allow the desecration --- not only barring Jews, but creating from the mountain on which stood the Temple and the Divine Presence, a place of Moslem arrogance and triumph of Allah, G-D forbid, over the G-D of Israel"
...Rabbi Meir Kahane, HY'D (1932-1990)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
-
"Hinei ma tov uma na'im shevet achim gam yachad." "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is to be united like brothers and...
-
Below are some photos, originally printed on celluloid, of the Temple Mount and the mosques on top of it just before the birth of modern Zio...
