May Hashem avenge his soul

Eliyahu Asheri, 18 years old, was killed by the enemies of the Jewish people on Sunday.

Every politician, every Jew who supports the restraining of the hands of the Army in the name of a false western morality which has no basis in the Torah can not say "our hands did not spill this blood"

May Hashem comfort his family and all of klal Israel and may we all merit to bear witness to the complete restoration of Zion with the coming of mashiach tzidkeinu, quickly in our days.

What do you know?

[Click here for source material]

So another macho Israeli general (General Yoav Galant), faced with questions regarding the lack of efficacy of the army, tells us that we the people "don't know everything that the army is doing in Aza" and promises us that the army is not constrained in their actions by humanitarian considerations (that might put our own soldiers' lives at risk).

Now this is not new and the Israeli elite has long thought that the average Israeli is stupid (and maybe they are right considering that Olmert was elected PM), but what really struck me was the following "warning" to the Arabs: "An attack [by the Arabs] will be met with a counter-attack of seven-fold severity." Now, I have no idea why any Arab would take any warning by an Israeli government seriously anymore. After all, he has no credibility and among other things he says a verifiably false statement: "There will not be a situation where one side fires rockets and harms citizens and we do not do anything [in return]". Hello??? 5000 rockets on Gush Katif (I guess they didn't count as citizens). Dozens more on Sderot and the surrounding yeshuvim and what has the army done??? NOTHING!

But the real cherry on top of the ice cream sundae is the following. After the general finished speaking, a kassam rocket landed at the very place where the news-conference was being given.

So General Galant, I expect you to fire 7 rockets into Aza (and 5000*7 = 35,000 more rocket after that) - I think that will take care of several of our problems.

[Well at least some bloggers now realize the error of their past ways. See the first comment on this thread on Jameel's site. Now all I need is for Nephtuli to wake up and smell the kassam rockets...]

Well, at least we have a security fence V

Continued from here.

Well, after spending $1,000,000,000 on a security fence and destroying the lives of 10,000 precious Jews, the Hamas (Yimach Shmam UZichronam) has dug under the fence in Aza, killed two soldiers, kidnapped one, and injured several others.

The Israel government has once again responded with big scary threats which they don't have the courage or conviction to follow through on (unless by doing so they will preserve their political position a month longer).

Now, will any of the people who thought pulling out of Aza and building ourselves into a ghetto would work please admit they were wrong? Somehow I doubt it.

(and for Nephtuli, who believes that morality is a function of the number of people killed, at what point will you admit this was all a bad idea? What is the magic number of dead Jews??)

What Zionism SHOULD be.

Rav Kook wrote to the mizrachi delegation to one of the world Zionist congresses (Iggrot 571):

"מקור הציונות הוא המקור הקדוש העליון, התנ"ך. לא הד קול, שעם שנאוי בעולם הולך לבקש לו מקלט בטוח מרודפיו, אלא שגוי קדוש, סגולת העמים, גור אריה יהודה, נעור מתרדמתו הארוכה, והנה הוא הולך ושב אל נחלתו, אל גאון יעקב אשר אהב סלה".

"The source of Zionism is the Holy High source, the Tanach. Not an [mere] echo, that a hated nation in the world is seeking a safe refuge from its enemies, but rather that a holy people, special among the nations, the lion-cub of Judah, is awakening from its long slumber, and is going and returning to its inheritance, to the pride of Jacob which he loved, Selah!"

May all realize that without understanding the spiritual roots of our mission, without connecting our mission to that which is eternal and holy, there will never be a chance at long-term success.

The insanity!

3 more Jews are injured in S’derot by a rocket attack! Keep this in mind next time the "enlightened" Jews tell you that rocket don't really hurt anyone and don't pose a real danger. Don't expect a real response either ... the Arabs sure don't.

The insanity is mind-boggling!

Rav Moholiver Zt"l was once asked why we need two messiahs, Mashiach ben David and Mashiach ben Yosef. He replied that the second would take the Jews out of Galut but the first has a much harder job ... he must take the Galut out of the Jews. May we merit speedily in our days leaders who are not chained by the false western morality which values enemy civilian lives more than its own citizens.

Well, at least we have a security fence IV

Continued from here.

Well, after spending $1,000,000,000 on a security fence and destroying the lives of 10,000 precious Jews, we have more great news (from jpost via JoeSettler):

The amount of weapons and explosives smuggled into the Gaza Strip since disengagement was bigger than the total amount smuggled into the strip since the Six Day War, Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin said Tuesday in a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

According to Diskin, since the IDF left Gaza, in September 2005, there were 11 tons of TNT, three million bullets, 19,600 rifles, 1,600 pistols, 65 RPG launchers, 430 RPGs and some 10 shoulder rocket launchers smuggled into Israel.

"Iran is putting pressure on Hizbullah to carry out attacks on Israeli targets," he said, adding that more than 20 million dollars had been smuggled in suitcases to the Hamas movement."

I know, they are bringing in that weaponry to use as children's toys, and besides even on the far off chance that they plan to use it against Jews, at least we will all be safe behind the fence.

So, how was your shavuot night?

Seforim posts a very interesting story about an experience Rav Yosef Karo, author of the Shulchan Aruch, had while staying up all night on Shavuot:

R. Karo stayed up all night and was studying with his student R. Shlomo Alkabtz (author of Lecha Dodi) and the following occurred:

Rav Yosef Karo and I agreed to stay up all night on Shavuot... we did not sleep for one minute... and when we began to study the Mishna.. we heard the voice of the Divine Presence, [with a feeble voice] speaking through Yosef Karo: 'May you be blessed; return to your studies, do not stop for one minute, and go to Eretz Yisrael... Do not have pity on your vessels [material goods], because you will be sustained by "the upper realms"... so hurry to Eretz Yisrael, because I will be your sustainer, and I will provide for you and the peace of your house.' And we all raised up a great cry of joy, when we heard the Divine Presence, her voice pleading with us...

Thus, feel the Divine and give Him honor... and God will cause your hearts to merit becoming one with the Holy Land, to work it together, Amen.

Well, I must admit my experience was not QUITE like that. Still, I second the motion regarding moving to EY!

Erev Shavout Vort

I recieved the follwing D'var Torah from a reader of the blog. I thought it was very appropriate to post on the eve of this year's kabbalat haTorah:

The Tosefta in Tractate Shabbos (1:4) indicates that just as we stop learning Torah in order to recite the Shema, we should also stop learning Torah in order to perform the Mitzvot of reading the Megilla, saying Hallel, blowing the Shofar, waving the Lulav and all other Mitzvot set forth in the Torah.

Rabbi Yechezkel Abramsky zt"l, in his work Chazon Yechezkel on the Tosefta, quoting the Meiri, asks why the concept of “one who is performing a Mitzvah is exempt from performing another Mitzvah (at that point)” does not apply in this case. He suggests that this concept applies only either

• (a) where one is involved in a Mitzvah that represents a tangible (or physical) activity ... OR
  
• (b) where one is already involved in a Mitzvah that requires physical preparation.

In this case, although learning Torah is tangible in one sense, it is not the same as, for example, building a Sukka, nor does it necessarily require the same physical preparation.

However, Rav Abramsky raises a point regarding the unique nature of learning Torah at the end of his discussion of this issue – that whenever one learns Torah – every single moment that one does so is a Mitzvah, and that every second one learns Torah one is beginning the task (a reason why we can stop learning to perform a physical Mitzva). It is a constant renewal of one of the principal components of our lives as Jews, to be involved in Torah growth, realizing that the Torah is a living, breathing part of our existence. Each time we learn we are engaged in an activity that has no end, as Torah provides us with an infinite capacity and potential to grow.

Shavuos is the holiday that celebrates this fact – as it has no real physical component that is identifiable, unlike that of other holidays throughout the year – simply the realization of the beauty that is Torah and the privilege we have of being “osek” – of learning it.

We should merit this holiday to raise ourselves to Rav Abramsky’s point of constantly beginning the task that is learning Torah and use that as a catalyst for growth this summer.