In Rav Ofer Erez’s book, Ahavat Kedumim, he offers a commentary on the profound meanings contained within Rebbe Nachman’s story, The Lost Princess.

In the original language (Yiddish) of the story, Rebbe Nachman uses the term “Bas Melech” (a classic Hebrew term), which is usually translated into English as “princess.”

But literally, “bas Melech” (or “bat Melech,” if you’re using Sefardi pronunciation) means “daughter of the King” and refers to every Jewish female of any age and background as a daughter of Hashem the One True King. (The masculine term is “ben Melech.”)

As explained in a previous post**, the viceroy (sheni l’Malchut) represents a root of the Jewish soul collective—i.e., YOU, the individual Jew.

The Bat Melech (princess) represents the Shechinah, the powerfully intimate emuna-connection between a Jew and his or her Creator.

This might start to sound confusing because a bat Melech technically refers to a female Jew, but here it allegorically refers to the Shechinah (the intimate connection between each individual Jew and God).

So what gives?

Basically, The Lost Princess is the story of a Jew in search of self…your REAL AUTHENTIC self at the neshamah [soul] level.

As far as I can understand it (and it is very deep and complex, so  my understanding doesn’t go so far), the Shechinah is part of you and also separate from you. (Paradoxical, I know.)

It primarily depends on how much you want to access this connection.

The Lost Princess is the story of your personal soul history from beginning to end, but it’s also instructive. It actually tells you how to go about accessing that connection to Hashem and bringing about the Final Redemption (including dealing with the inevitable pitfalls along the way).

Each Jewish soul is part of a Yisrael collective, which is why the Gemara compares the Jewish people to a human body. But each soul also possesses its own unique mission—which is another good reason why the human-body allegory is so apt.

Perhaps one Jew represents a lung of the Jewish people, while another represents the right thumb. The “lung” might take pride in its powerful role of orchestrating the very breathing of the collective body; it might be proud of its relative size compared to, say, the thumb.

But does that render the thumb inconsequential? Absolutely not!

What if people had lungs where their thumbs should be?
How horribly inconvenient and useless!

Furthermore, you can’t have a viable body made completely of lungs.

At the same time, just because a thumb performs valuable tasks that a lung never could certainly doesn’t make the thumb more important than the lung.

Can you imagine if you had a thumb in place of a lung?

And as above, a body made completely of thumbs is not at all viable for even a millisecond.

This allegory shows why it is so vitally important to allow fellow Jews their soul expression and their personal journey.

And you must also be careful not to allow others (no matter how sincere and well-meaning) to draw you off your soul-path in order to drag you down their own.

Note: A Jewish soul is expressed and illuminated through halacha (Jewish Law). “Soul expression” is not permission to violate the Torah; it is rather the most beautiful way to uphold the Torah in all its halachic glory.

Regarding authentic soul expression, Rav Ofer Erez explains*:

So how do you discover your individual soul’s path?
How do you start searching for your personal princess?

Rav Ofer Erez offers the following:

Rav Erez advises choosing one particular mitzvah to invest in until you experience all the pleasure of that mitzvah.

He promises that in doing so, all the “not good” places that originally received vitality and “candy” will be exchanged with “candy” of the soul—meaning that if, for example, you were addicted to meaningless chatter and gossip with people, this “not good” aspect will find a positive outlet, such a talking a lot to Hashem or giving people words of chizuk and Torah rather than words of emptiness and slander.

May we all experience success and joy in our individual quests for our personal Bat Melech.

A generous friend gifted me with Rabbi Ofer Erez's book Ahavat Kedumim (Love from Ancient Times, or maybe Ancient Love?).

The book basically delves into the deeper meaning of Rebbe Nachman's most famous story, The Lost Princess.

A compelling story that has the power to awaken thoughts of teshuvah within anyone who reads it, The Lost Princess is an allegorical history of the world, history of the Jewish people, and your own personal history...all in one short tale.

Yet this incredible story holds even deeper secrets and meanings.

The story starts off with a king and his 6 sons and 1 cherished beloved daughter.

Almost immediately, the king becomes angry at his beloved daughter and blurts out, "May the Not Good take you!"

The princess goes to her room, then disappears.

Seeing the king's great anguish at her disappearance, an unnamed viceroy (hasheini l'malchut: the next in line to the throne) volunteers to embark on a quest to find her.

Basic symbolism:

• The King symbolizes Hashem.
• The viceroy represents shoresh neshamot Yisrael, i.e. the root of Jewish souls, i.e. each individual Jew...that means you (if you're Jewish). You're the viceroy.
• The princess represents kedusha (holiness) and the Shechinah, i.e. "the emuna and connection with the Holy One Blessed Be He" in the words of Rabbi Erez.

Rabbi Erez points out that the princess never did anything wrong.

She is suddenly decreed to go into exile and she disappears.

He emphasizes something I hadn't considered before.

No matter how good you are, no matter how high a place your soul is drawn down from, no matter how good you were in former gilgulim, you can still find yourself exiled to the place of "The Not Good."

Until this book, I considered a lot of suffering to be rectification of bad decisions made and wrong paths taken in former lives. And I derived a lot of comfort and encouragement from this idea.

And of course, there's also punishment. Not the punitive vengeance we often associate with punishment, but corrective and cleansing measures Hashem takes for our own benefit.

Yet this story indicates that being cast into a Not Good place is something that needs to happen, no matter how good you've been and no matter how pure your soul is.

Being in a dark place doesn't reflect on you. It reflects on your soul's mission.

(We see this with very great people in Tanach, who came from great people and possessed particularly lofty and holy souls, yet found themselves in seemingly unjust and devastating circumstances.)

Why?

There are sparks that need to be released and rectified.
​
(This is my very, very oversimplified explanation of a profound and powerful process that I don't completely understand.)

There are beautiful and precious sparks of light encased with thick klippot (outer-shell coverings). These klippot need to be cracked and stripped off in order to release the beautiful sparks of light trapped within.

Think of a nut whose shell needs to be pried open in order to get to the actual almond or walnut within.

And we have been sent down here by Hashem on a mission to wrestle with these klippot and release these sparks.

Some of these klippot and the sparks trapped within are located in very dark places.

And these klippot are very tough and thick.

And you and me -- the little, helpless, flawed, ordinary people that we are (well, speaking for myself anyway) are supposed to be the ones to take on this seemingly impossible job.

You're basically the hero of your own story, whether you realize it or not and whether you want it or not.

And things aren't equal. Some people need to do only a little work on anger, but a truckload of work on laziness. Some people are plagued with envy but are doing well in the area of zerizut.

Some people have a lot to work on with all the cards stacked against them.

Others have less to work on while receiving genuinely useful guidance and support in the form of financial, social, and familial resources.

I found this very encouraging and inspiring.

Why?

I think it's natural to want to escape pain and to look for a solution to problems with the idea, of course, that the problems can be solved.

And sometimes that happens. The problem goes away or transforms into something wonderful.

But sometimes it doesn't.

Sometimes it gets worse.

Or sometimes another even bigger problem follows on its heels.

And since its inception, psychology likes to blame people for their life issues.

Doesn't matter what branch of psychology or what era in history.

There are theories that you're attracting negative energies/people/situations, that you're a masochist, that you're "asking" for it, that you project the wrong impression (i.e. not enough self-confidence), that you need to love yourself more, that you're not "mindful" enough, that your background and upbringing are blocking you from true happiness and success, and that you aren't doing [fill-in-the-blank] exactly right.

Or maybe your energy field is off-balance or you're not eating organic broccoli...

(In the interest of full disclosure: I'm actually very into energy treatment and herbs. But I also recognize that they don't always work.)

The frum world unfortunately has adopted a lot of this (even though its proponents are very well-meaning), and there can even be frum versions of this.

And sure, there is even a grain of truth to the above theories. (That's why they gain so much popularity.)

But people can be left feeling like they can never be good enough.

No matter how hard they try, they're just going to fail because that's what's been happening:
They try and they try and they try...and they fail and fail and fail.

This is soul-destroying.

I don't mean to project my own stuff onto you.

Maybe you're not going through this kind of thing.

But sometimes I'll find myself in a situation (AGAIN!) that I don't understand why Hashem put me there. Not because it's painful or seemingly unfair, but because I KNOW I'm going to fail!

Everything is stacked against me with no chance to succeed. I say to Hashem, "I don't get it. Why am I here yet again? You know that there is nothing in my personality or background or environment to give me the resources to deal with this. It's a total set-up for personal failure...AGAIN!"

The thing is, I'm wrong when I think like this.
​
(Although I still say it anyway because that's what Hashem is here for. I can tell Him that I am wrestling with stuff and that I desperately need both help & mercy. That's part of the whole point of turning to Hashem.)

Why is it wrong to think like this?

Well, unless we are tzaddikim who are very in touch with Hashem, our ideas of success and failure are often very different than how these concepts are defined in Shamayim.

So the question is WHY do you, for example, attract narcissists or suffer low self-esteem or anything else?

Your background, your parents, your spouse, your finances, your disabilities, your personality, your ADHD or your "highly sensitive" nature...

Okay. But WHY were you given all those stumbling blocks?

It's basically because you are the one who needs to wrestle with that particular klippah and release those specific sparks of light associated with your specific issues and deficiencies.

God doesn't hate you.

And He's not even (necessarily) punishing you or even rectifying stuff you messed up in a previous incarnation. (Maybe.)

It's mostly that holy precious you have been chosen to go down into some muck and fight some monsters.

And it's a job that only you can do against those particular "monsters" and that particular klippah in that particular place of darkness.

There's something unique about your neshama and another soul simply cannot accomplish whatever it is that you were meant to accomplish, no matter how small or how tremendous.

And you can't accomplish what someone else's soul is meant to do.

(Which is part of the reason why it is so important to back off of other people and let them complete their unique soul's journey AND why others' advice, no matter how well-intentioned, can sometimes backfire so badly.)

The only real way to accomplish what you need is to turn to Hashem and beg Him for help. Pour out your pain and your gratitude as if He is your Most Caring and Loving Friend (because He is).

Even doing this just a little bit can reap huge results.

Well, I hope you found Rabbi Erez's ideas comforting and encouraging too.

(There is a lot more and I'm still only at the beginning of the book, but I thought I'd share what I got out of it so far.)

Notes:

• While it's the princess who is originally exiled without provocation, the viceroy still needs to tangle with the same Not Good in order to rescue her.

​

• The Shechinah & the Jewish people aren't the same, but they are very connected.

​​

• The viceroy's (the Jew's) quest for the princess (the Shechinah) isn't a punishment, but a mission he needs to fulfill regardless of any other aspects of self he needs to rectify.

It seems like wholesale rejection by both your society and family is an aspect of Mashiach.

​Problems with children and potholes within marriage also seem to be part of the Messianic process.

Reading through the latest Hebrew edition of Garden of Emuna got me thinking about this because Rav Shalom Arush emphasizes the nisayonot of both David Hamelech and Yosef Hatzaddik as aspects of Mashiach.

And while we know that the ultimate Mashiach descends from the line of David Hamelech (who originates from Yehudah and before that, Leah Imeinu and Yaakov Avinu), Mashiach ben Yosef precedes Mashiach ben David.

Yosef Hatzaddik was nearly killed, then sold into slavery by his brothers—very great people in their own right.

​It was all based on a misunderstanding, but very disturbing nonetheless.

Yosef ended up in Mitzrayim surrounded by a society that stood for everything he despised, then was accused of a particularly heinous crime after withstanding an unparalleled and grueling nisayon, which led him to be unjustly thrown into prison.

Then he spent years in an underground prison surrounded by the worst of what was already a dark and depraved society.

(You can imagine someone in his situation thinking, "What, thrown in a pit AGAIN? How much of my life do I have to spend underground with either scorpions and snakes or human beings who act like scorpions and snakes?")

His mother was dead, his father and stepmothers/aunts thought he was dead, his brothers had rejected him, and Egyptian society either didn’t know about him or had also rejected him.

He was truly alone in a way that’s hard for even the loneliest of us to really comprehend.

Yet the Gemara states that while in the depths of this seemingly hopeless and endless situation, Yosef danced.

Year after year, Yosef Hatzaddik danced and bonded with Hashem.

Then in the blink of an eye, he was released and raised to the heights of society, then reunited with his family, who realized their mistake and embraced him.

Mistaken about his status (everyone thought he was the product of an adulterous union), David was sent on the dangerous and lonely task of shepherding his father’s flock in the wilderness.

When your own father and brothers are willing to abandon you to being torn apart by hungry lions in the wilderness, then that is pretty serious rejection.

Later, the king himself ended up pursuing David with the intent to kill.

His wife Michal, though a very special person in her own right, laughed at him for dancing l’Shem Shamayim.

His own child turned against him in addition to behaving in a humiliating and abominable manner.

Throughout David's life, there were always people plotting against him unjustly or disparaging him and defaming him. Very humiliating, lonely, and painful.

Not to mention the physical attacks on him by both the surrounding non-Jewish warriors and the lions in the desert. So sometimes life was heart-stoppingly frightening too.

Yet David Hamelech persevered and bequeathed us with the amazing and powerful book of Tehillim as a result.

​In there, you can see all his pain and emuna poured out on the page. And by reciting his words, we also derive comfort and encouragement regarding our own pain.

And the ultimate Melech Hamashiach will come from him.

Leah grew up in an awful home.

Her father was the terrible occultist Lavan; just think of how scary it must have been to have those grotesque teraphim (shrunken human heads that talk via occult ritual) around.

We don’t know much about their mother, but at least Leah and Rachel had each other.

Furthermore, Leah and Rachel grew up knowing who they were destined to marry. Lucky Rachel Imeinu was destined for Yaakov Avinu. But Leah was meant to marry the evil depraved Esav. Years of prayers and weeping to the point that her eyes grew “soft” changed that destiny. Ultimately, she was given to Yaakov Avinu in marriage with self-sacrificing help from her sister Rachel.

This was a big relief to be sure, but what could Yaakov Avinu do that his very feelings were preordained from Heaven to love his true zivug: Rachel Imeinu? She was the other half of his soul.

The Torah states plainly that Leah felt “hated” by Yaakov Avinu. But of course he didn’t hate her! As a very holy and spiritual person, Yaakov loved her very much. But compared to his profound love for Rachel, his feelings toward Leah felt like “hate.”

Yaakov Avinu only ever meant to have one wife—Rachel Imeinu—but due to Leah’s prayers, Lavan’s trickery, and the later insistence of Leah and Rachel on taking in Bilha and Zilpah, Yaakov Avinu ended up with four wives.

There is no question that he treated every one of these women with love and respect. But Rachel Imeinu was his original zivug and the love of his life.

It was no one’s fault, but still a very painful reality for Leah.

Think about Leah growing up surrounded by all the dark occultism and depravity common and even venerated in Canaanite society, with her own father being the darkest and strongest of them all. And then seeing the man she was destined to marry: a depraved and violent hypocrite.

That’s pretty depressing, isn’t it?

But even as her prayers saved her from marrying Esav, her marital situation remained far from ideal. Again, it was no one’s fault and she knew that. But it was what it was.

Interestingly, Mashiach ben David comes from the union of Yaakov and Leah, and not the Divinely ordained union between Yaakov and Rachel.

This is also despite the fact that Rachel sacrificed so much for others (she saved Leah from disgrace on her wedding night by passing on the secret signs she’d originally worked out with Yaakov and then later died giving birth to Binyamin). It’s Rachel’s voice that is listened to in Shamayim when even the pleas of Moshe Rabbeinu and Avraham Avinu can no longer effect Heavenly mercy on the Jewish people.

But the man destined to redeem the entire world ultimately descends from Leah Imeinu.

A lot of people feel lonely or rejected today. Not everyone, but a lot of people do.

Even if they have friends and family members whom they love very much and who love them, a lot of people still feel that there is a part of them that just isn’t being seen or validated.

Maybe you feel this way even though the people around you are good (like with Leah Imeinu after her marriage; her husband and co-wives/sisters were very good people), but they just can’t completely relate to you - or you to them - or see you for who you really are.

Or maybe the people around you really aren’t good, like in Leah’s case before her marriage (except for her sister).

Remember: There were people who literally wanted to kill David Hamelech and Yosef Hatzaddik.

There might be people in your life whom you feel want to totally annihilate you too, may Hashem have mercy.

Innocent people can and do suffer slander, abuse, and rejection.

Or maybe people reject you because you aren’t so good.
​
Maybe you've hurt people so much that people who want to love you can no longer tolerate you.

(One defining characteristic of a personality disorder is that one always sees oneself as the victim, which in the personality disordered mind gives one the “right” to victimize others while always playing the innocent.)

Or maybe you're experiencing some combination of the above.

Or maybe you feel perfectly loved and cherished; your challenge of growth is not in the area of loneliness or rejection.

But if you’re feeling lonely or rejected for whatever the reason, I hope you’ll take comfort in the fact that it’s an aspect of Mashiach and that one can’t really achieve spiritual greatness and release certain brilliant sparks of holiness without going through this kind of nisayon.

You’ve obviously been chosen for a very special role even if it feels like you’re just a loser in a dark lonely endless pit with no hope in sight.

But whatever you can do (no matter how small or lackluster) to sing, dance, rejoice, and make Hashem your Best Friend...that's the surest way to ultimately achieve the kinds of things only you can achieve.

For a related post on this topic, please see:
The Ultimate Meaning behind Pain & Frustration

My then 18.5-year-old decided to go camping with his friends in the Dead Sea area. The yeshivahs are still on break and this son loves to rough it in nature.

He also loves to hitchhike.

After he and his friends arrived in the Dead Sea vicinity, they wanted to go to another part of it. So they waited by the side of the road for a hospitable driver.

A middle-aged secular man stopped for them. After they piled into his car, he said, "Why are you staying at the Dead Sea? Have you ever been to Eilat?"

(At the southernmost tip of Israel, Eilat is a 3-hour drive from the Dead Sea and not a place either my son or his friends had ever considered visiting. Also, it's not an acceptable destination for chareidi yeshivah boys.)

After the boys said they'd never been to Eilat, the man said, "So why don't you go now? I can take you straight there!"

My son and his friends responded, "Why? What's in Eilat? What do we need to go there for?"

The man, an Eilat resident himself, enthused about the gorgeous beaches and snorkeling available in Eilat.

Then he stopped on the side of the road to take out his smartphone to show them photos of Eilat scenes.

After reassuring them that they needn't worry about guarding their eyes if they got to the beach super early in the morning, the boys were convinced. Yallah! To Eilat!

They passed the 3 hours listening to stories of their benefactor's life in the Israeli navy as a high-ranking officer and trying to argue him out of his heresy. (He didn't even keep Shabbat and didn't see why he should. My son had actually been hoping to run into this type of educated, intelligent, worldly secular Jew on which to test his arguments, and my son was very happy that Hashem gave him exactly what he'd wished for.)

Once in Eilat, the boys helped the man lug all his stuff from the trunk of his car to his apartment, and then the boys were on their way to the beach.

At that point, they were stopped by a frum Yemenite who said, "You guys need Shacharit, right?"

Right!

So they ended up in Eilat's Yemenite minyan that morning.

It's a good thing there are always Teimanim around when you need them.

Anyway, they got to the beach and had an amazing time. My son was enchanted by the clear azure waters and the gorgeous sea life underneath with large colorful fish he could reach out and touch, and all the coral.

Then he stepped on a black sea urchin.

Coming out of the water, he found a couple of Eilat natives who reassured him that these sea urchins aren't poisonous and the sting is expelled in 3 days. They even looked it up on their phones and even called the hospital just to make sure and put my son at ease. Then they tossed him and his friends a large bag of kosher snacks, saying that they weren't going to eat the snacks anyway and they'd just go to waste if the boys didn't eat them.

Finally, it was time to leave Eilat and go do a barbecue in the middle of nowhere.

The boys waited at a place for people looking for rides. There, they met an elderly female cab driver, but she was on her way home and looking to take a paying passenger going in her direction. So the boys settled down to eat some cantaloupe and offered her some.

Touched, she praised them as "tzaddikim," but explained that her diabetes doesn't allow her to take them up on their kind offer.

Eventually, they found a ride, got dropped off in the middle of nowhere and barbecued to their hearts' content, napped, then started out on the journey back home.

At one point, they found themselves in the part of the Negev which has a particularly clear sky without electric lights to ruin the gloriously starry view.

My son had never seen anything like it and just gazed up in a happy state of "Wow!"

And then he arrived home, at which point I inundated him with propolis, echinacea, vitamin C, and a clove of garlic. (I'm pretty sure that sea urchins are germy.)

But he came down with the snuffles anyway.

The End!

I wanted to share this story because it's so typical of what happens in Eretz Yisrael. Underneath all the stress and crotchetiness, most Jews sense the familial connection with each other. That kind of familiarity with perfect strangers and give-and-take is blessedly common here.

Also, regular Jews do tend to get along despite superficial differences. If they can disconnect from the media-hype and agenda-driven leaders (whether "religious" or political), there's a lot of natural friendliness that pours forth.

My son and his friends were treated well by Jews who look and live differently than yeshivah bochurs (i.e. no one treated them like "parasites"). And my son and his friends didn't treat anyone like a "pritzah" or a "shaigetz," nor did they think of them that way.  Even the religious debate in the car was welcome and enjoyed by both sides.

At heart, we're all family and Eretz Yisrael is our home.

One of Rebbe Nachman's most action-packed stories is The Prayer Leader.

Also one of the longest and most intricate (perhaps rivaled by his The Seven Beggars), this story's most intriguing culture is the one found in the Land of Riches. Using sharp metaphors, it perfectly describes Western society today.

Among other bizarre customs, the Land of Riches regards those with the highest financial standing as gods while middle class and poor people are categorized as different kinds of animals according to their financial status.

Chillingly, these "animals" can be sacrificed to the "gods."

But because wealth tends to cycle, this means that a "god" can turn into an "animal," and vice-versa. Bizarrely, even those considered animals refuse to rebel against the status quo...they even support it!

The land is rife with robbery and murder as "animals" struggle to become "gods" at any price.

Those victimized so horribly by the human-sacrificing elite still slobber over and hug the portraits of their deadly persecutors.

Only a handful of citizens from the lower classes are willing to consider the morals and beautiful truths suggested to them by the Prayer Leader.

And Hollywood culture perfectly represents this brutally materialistic land.

Okay, before my next point, I must stress that I do NOT think it is okay to violate women (even morally degenerate women) or to abuse or torture people (even morally degenerate people) and so on.

No, no, no, no.

Instead, people should be inspired to do teshuvah and to express the Divine image in which we were all created. In addition, Jews should be inspired to express their uniquely Jewish souls to their full brilliance.

However...

The very people claiming to be victimized in Hollywood are mostly not such good people.

The only truly innocent ones are the ones who were brought into Hollywood culture as powerless children. Forced to grow up in such a putrid and traumatic environment, I don't blame them for how they turned out.

But all these actors, producers, scriptwriters, etc, whether male or female, chose to be part of a propaganda machine that has been the most powerful transformer of Western society from a Bible-based relatively moral and productive society to the increasingly vapid, confused, violent cesspool we're seeing today.

The values consistently expressed for decades in most movies and TV shows attack traditional values and morals while objectifying women and even girls in the worst way. All the participants in this industry have been mosser nefesh in voluntarily sacrificing themselves for terrible things.

Hollywood participants themselves (most of them, anyway) personally hold morally reprehensible views, such as:

• Pro-abortion rights
• same-gender free-for-all
• trans free-for-all
• fake (and therefore harmful) science
• irrational environmentalism
• bobble-headed social activism
• premarital & extramarital hanky-panky
• atheism & agnosticism
• Israel-hatred
• and more.

And yes, their support of these views does kill people:

• AIDS, mostly spread by men (as opposed to blood transfusions), has killed a lot of people.
• Abortion certainly kills people.
• Head-in-the-clouds environmental policies have harmed people as have bobble-headed social activism, such as the anti-DDT movement which allowed malaria to rise up and kill untold numbers of children in Third World countries.
• If you support Muslim Philistinians against Jews in Israel, you automatically end up supporting FGM, domestic violence, terrorism, slavery, suicide-bombing, child-marriage, discrimination against women, and the slaughter of Jews.

(Why? Because that is what many Philistinians either support or actively engage in when possible.)

• Giving money and support to terror organizations also kills people.

(That's what terrorists do.)

BTW, so-called "conservative" actors and screenwriters aren't much better.
You can be pro-life while being pro-nontraditional marriage.
You can believe in God and hate Jews.
I can't imagine a "conservative" actor or screenwriter who is genuinely conservative on ALL major issues.

Case in point: Hurricane Harvey was considered pro-Israel.

Yuck.

One of the more reprehensible aspects of Hollywood people is the insistence on ignoring the other open secret:
the widespread abuse and assault of children.

(They're STILL ignoring it, even as they're tromping on this guy for his behavior toward women.)

Child assault has been well-known for decades within Hollywood, while Corey Feldman brought it to general public attention years ago.

Did these same Harvey-bashers support Feldman back then? No.

Did they decide to get out of an industry that is so bestial and repulsive? No.

All these celebrities care about is their own fame and wealth.

They only care if they were harassed or assaulted in some way.

There is a term for people who think that pain is only bad when it happens to them personally, but are okay with it happening to others.

It's called sociopathy. (Or psychopathy.)

I want to ask you something.

We all know that Communism and Nazism saturated their respective entertainment medias with stories promoting their world views, right?

So how would you feel about a Nazi actress who claimed to have been violated 20 years ago by a pock-marked vat of blubber (whom we'll call Warvey Heinstein), but resented how she couldn't prosecute him for it for fear of being blacklisted by all the Nazi-sympathizing filmmakers?

"Had I blown the whistle back then," our hypothetical victim complains. "I never would've been able to star in films like Eugenics Girl or Aryan Beauties. I might still be dating my Nazi musician boyfriend who snorts cocaine and worships Satan rather than promoting my National-Socialist values via TV interviews and acting roles."

Or what about a hypothetical Communist actress who felt pressured into relations with Warvey Heinstein in order to star in her county's pro-Communist classic: Straight to Siberia, You Traitors!...?

"Everyone knew what he was like and what he was doing," she says. "But you just didn't have any choice. I mean, what else could I have done? Yes, I'm aware of the Plot against Jewish Doctors, the innocent people sent to Siberia, and yeah, that's kind of sad. But it's also kind of okay because why should poor people be punished by the existence of richer and more successful people? Except for me, of course. It's okay that I'm rich and successful because I have caring feelings toward poor people that other rich and successful people don't have. For example, I used my wealth and success to open up my own Lysenkoism research foundation. No offense to all those citizens suffering from Lysenkoism-induced famine. Love ya all sooo much, poor people!"

The Prayer Leader story ends up with mass spiritual awakening which leads to teshuvah.

Gradually, the people (including the horrid "gods") follow the Prayer Leader, realize that money smells like excrement, and undergo spiritual cleansing and rectification until they all become squeaky clean.
(This is a vastly oversimplified summary of what happens, BTW.)

Then it ends with:
"...and they were all involved only in prayer, repentance, and good deeds."

I think we're seeing this process now.
_________________
For a previous post addressing this issue from another angle:
Part II: What's Behind the Big Push for Adam & Steve?

One of my favorite stories from Rebbe Nachman of Breslov is known as the The Prince Made Entirely of Precious Gems.

What follows is a very literal translation from the Hebrew translation because Rebbe Nachman produced his precious stories with the intention that every word is rife with meaning and a less literal translation loses some of those meanings.

(Even though any translation at all, by its very nature, loses some of the original Hebrew or Yiddish or Aramaic meaning, although when translating between these languages, very little is lost due to their similarities in linguistics and spirit.)
You can find smoother translations online and in books.

The words in curved parentheses () are also found in the original transcription of the story. The words in square parentheses [] are my own additions: translations or the Hebrew original for clarification, or the Malbim's definition of that original Hebrew word.

(For example, the Malbim defines bakasha/mevakesh as "requesting one's heart's desire.")
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Then follows a few commentaries on this story by Breslov Sages from past generations.
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Then a list of gemstones and their segulot [virtues/qualities] follows, in case you were wondering what were some of these segulot that the king and queen imbibed with the wine.
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It's a long post, and you may only be interested in parts of it, so I tried to label things clearly so that you can skip around and read only what's useful to you.

There is a story about one king, who didn’t have children. And he went and busied himself with doctors in order that his kingdom would not be turned over to strangers. And they were not useful to him.

And he decreed upon the Jews that they shall pray from him that he shall have children. And the Jews were requesting [their heart’s desire] and seeking a tzaddik in order that he shall pray and [actively] facilitate that he shall have children, and they requested [their heart’s desire] and found a hidden tzaddik and they said to him that he should pray that the king shall have children; and he answered that he doesn’t know anything.

And they made this known to the king, and the king sent his imperial decree after him and they brought him to the king.

And the king began to speak with him with goodness: “Do you not know that the Jews they are in my hand to do with them according to my desire, therefore I request from you in goodness that you will pray that there will be children for me.”

And he promised him that there shall be for him in the same year a child [vlad], and he went to his place.

And the queen bore a daughter, and this same daughter of the queen was of very beautiful form [yafat to'ar me'od - specifically the shape of the face] and when she was 4-year-old, she was skilled in all the wisdoms and to play singing instruments, and she knew all the languages, and kings from all the countries would journey to see her, and a great [perpetual state of spiritual] joy was upon the king.

Later, the king yearned greatly that he shall have a son in order that his kingdom shall not be turned over to a foreign man, and he decreed again upon the Jews that they shall pray that he shall have a son. And they were requesting [their heart’s desire] and seeking after for the tzaddik mentioned above, and they didn’t find him, because he already passed away.

And they requested [their heart’s desire] more, and found another hidden tzaddik and they said to him that he shall give to the king a son, and he said that he doesn’t know anything.

And they made known to the king, and the king said to him also as mentioned above: “Do you not know the Jews are in my hand, etc., as mentioned above.

The wise man (meaning, the tzaddik mentioned above) said to him: “Are you able to do what I shall command?”

The king said, “Yes.”

The wise man said to him: “I need that you shall bring all the types of good gemstones because every good gemstone, it has another segulah [virtue/quality]” -- because there is by the kings a book in which is written all types of the good gemstones.

The king said: “I will take out half my kingdom in order that a son will be for me.”

And he went and brought for him all types of the good gemstones.

And the wise man  took them and ground them, and took a cup of wine and passed them to within it, and gave half the cup to the king to drink and half of it to the queen; and he said to them that there shall be for them a son that all of him shall be from good gemstones, and all the segulot of all the good gemstones, and he went to his place.

And she bore a son, and a great [perpetual state of spiritual] joy was made upon the king. And the son born was not from good gemstones. When the son was four years old, he was of very beautiful form [yafeh toar – specifically the shape of the face] and a great wise one in all the wisdoms, and he was knowing all the languages, and they would travel to the king to see him.

And the daughter of the queen saw that she isn’t so important, and became envious [believed he will diminish or take some benefit or purpose that she believes she deserves] of him; only this was her consolation: in that which the same tzaddik said that all of him will be from good gemstones—good that he is not from good gemstones.

One time, the son of the king was carving up [m’chatech] trees and he was wounded in his finger, and the daughter of the queen wanted to swathe/wrap/bandage his finger, and she saw there a good gemstone, and she became very envious [believed he will diminish or take some benefit or purpose that she believes she deserves] of him. And she made herself sick, and some doctors came, and they were not able to make for her a healing.

And they called for the sorcerers, and there was a sorcerer, and she revealed to him the truth, that she made herself sick as mentioned above. And she asked him if he would be able to perform sorcery to a person that he shall be leprous [metzora].

He said: “Yes.”

She said to him, “Perhaps a sorcerer will request [his heart’s desire] that the spell will be cancelled, and he will be healed.”

The sorceror said: “If they will cast the spell to the water—they will not be able to cancel it anymore."

And she did so, and she cast the spell to the water, and the son of the king was made very leprous [metzora me'od], (and he had) on his nose [chotmo] leprosy [tzaraat] and upon his face and upon the rest of his body, and the king busied with doctors and with sorcerers—and they weren’t useful.

And he decreed on the Jews that they shall pray, and they requested [their heart’s desire] the tzaddik mentioned above and they brought him to the king and the tzaddik mentioned above was praying always to Hashem Yitbarach in that that he was promising that the son of the king will be all of him from good gemstones—and it was not so.

And he was contending to Hashem Yitbarach: “Did I do this for my kavod [inherent beauty—i.e. to make me look good]? I did not do it but for Your Kavod [inherent beauty]; and now it did not come into existence/to fruition like I said.”

And the tzaddik came to the king, and he was praying—and it wasn’t effective, and they made known to him that it was a spell; and the tzaddik mentioned above was higher above all the sorcerers.

And the tzaddik came to the king and made known to the king that it is a spell; and that they cast the spell to the water, and there is no remedy for the son of the king—except that they shall cast the sorcerer who made the spell to the water.

The king said: “I give to you all the sorcerers to cast them to the water in order that my son will be healed.”

And the daughter of the queen became afraid [fear of a known thing], and she ran to the water to take out the spell from the water, because she had known where the spell lay; and she fell to the water, and a great commotion was made because the daughter of the king fell to the water.

And the same tzaddik mentioned above came and said to them that the son of the king shall be healed and he became healed. And the leprosy became dry and fell, and all the skin became peeled from him, and he was made of good gemstones all of him, and he had all the segulot of all the good gemstones (meaning, that after the skin peeled, then it became revealed that the son of the king, he consists entirely of good gemstones, as the tzaddik mentioned above said).

The End!

Remzei Hamaasiot [Secrets of the Stories] by the Tcheriner Rav (b.?-d.1894)
It is evident to every one who probes it that this story is awesome and wondrous – and by the way hints: "Hashem is with me, I won't fear; what can Man do to me?...Many plans are in the heart of Man, but only Hashem's counsel will come to fruition" because davka via what the princess did to him with occult powers he was made leprous and through that, he was healed and afterwards made completely of precious gems, etc.

And it is also wonderful encouragement that sometimes a descent is the reason for an ascent. Aside from the many secrets woven in this story, and that contained within is the whole Holy Name of 42 letters, and I heard this story is also about why the known thing fell sometimes in the water and almost drowned, etc.
 
Zimrat HaAretz [Song of the Land] by the Tcheriner Rav
There are those who say this story's meaning was heard from Rabbeinu [Rebbe Nachman] that contained within is the secret 42-letter name, etc., as is explained in another place [Zohar Chadash, the end of Parshat Ki Tavo]....Also what's explained here that the prince became leprous and afterwards, he was healed and the scabs dried up and all the skin peeled off and then it was revealed and seen that he was comprised entirely of precious gems and he had the special properties of each gem.

We find in this an inyan of inheriting Eretz Yisrael. Like the Sages said regarding the verse: "When you will come to the Land of Canaan and I will give you a blemish of tzaraat [leprosy] in the house of the Land of your inheritance," like Rashi explains there that through those means, they found in Israel hidden treasures of gold that the Emorites hid in the walls of their homes.

And in Midrash Rabbah, our Sages explained this verse to refer to the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash. And it concludes there that they took other stones as it says, "Behold I am established in Tzion stone by stone, I scrutinize the corner of that which is precious, etc." And there lay the foundation stone that comprised all the 12 gems of Yaakov Avinu, which symbolize the 12 Tribes who contained within them the special properties of each precious gem. And that means the 12 gems of the Choshen as our Sages expounded in Bresheit Rabbah 17, regarding the bedolach, the shoham regarding Eretz Yisrael.
 
Sichot HaRan [Conversations of Rebbe Nachman] by Rebbe Nosson Sternhartz (1780-1844)
I heard from one of our men who said that before Rabbeinu told this story, he said, "I know a story which contains the entire 42-letter name." And then he told this story.

Nonetheless, we don't know if this is the story containing the 42-letter name. Furthermore, I heard from his holy mouth a few years ago that he said that the Besht knew a story which contained the 42-letter name and spoke with me then of the 42-letter name. And he asked me to find an explanation in non-Hebrew regarding 2 letters – Vav and Tzadi – which are found in the above-mentioned name, and I couldn't find them. Since it was evident that he already knew the secret of the whole name, only those 2 letters, he still couldn't incorporate them into the matter when he wanted to clothe it in that name. 

The Truth Reveals Itself in a Time of Trouble
Once upon a time, there was a king who had no children...and decreed that the Jews should pray for him – The nations know well that the Jews have the power to pray and bring healing and salvation through the power of their prayer. But because of the bad traits found in each of the 70 nations, they always want to uproot Yisrael from its roots. Yet when they undergo trials and tribulations, the come to the Jews so that the Jews will pray for them because in a time of trouble, the truth reveals itself in all its glory.
 
A Tzaddik is One Whose Prayer is Set in His Mouth
And the Jews were seeking and searching a Tzaddik who would pray and set things in motion for the king to have children – In Likutei Moharan, Rabbeinu writes that Hashem loves and strongly desires the prayers of tzaddikim and habituates continual (set, fixed) prayer in their mouth. Therefore, they sought out a tzaddik whose prayer is routine (continuous) and set in his mouth so that when he prays, he is answered, and that's how it was.
 
When You Search, You Find
And they sought and found a hidden Tzaddik – One who seeks will find. As it says: "You strove and you found – believe..."
 
Through Self-Nullification, Prayer is Accepted
And he answered that he doesn't know at all – That is the way of a Tzaddik. He upholds perfect humility, meaning, "What" – as if he doesn't know anything and he completely nullifies himself to Hashem, then he can set things in motion through his prayer.
 
The Tzaddik's Entire Being is Via Dignified Reclusion – and When He becomes Renowned, He Disappears
And they sought and found a hidden Tzaddik...and the king began to speak with him about good things...and he promised him that he would have a child that same year...and the queen birthed a daughter...Afterwards, the king yearned for a son...and they were seeking and searching for the same tzaddik, but they didn't find him because he had already passed away. And they found another hidden tzaddik...and he told them that they'll have a son who will be made entirely of precious gems – Breslevers used to say here that there are tzaddikim that their entire reason for existence is only in hiding and dignified reclusion, and immediately – when they are revealed in This World – they are forced to die and disappear from This World. And therefore, when his promise was fulfilled and a daughter was born, he passed away. The second Tzaddik promised the king a son made of precious gems, but when the son was born, the precious gems couldn't be seen, therefore, he could continue living because his promise wasn't completely fulfilled.
 
The Extent of Envy and Resentment
The Daughter of the Queen saw that she was no longer so esteemed and she became envious of him – Take note of the extent of the Yetzer's power over jealousy and resentment. Solely because of her envy, she went to dabble in occultism in order to harm her brother [but the Guardian of Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers]. And the strongest envy is by the greatest ones, like the daughter of the queen, who as the only princess was highly esteemed and educated, and kings and emperors came to see her, and now – because of envy – she fell and did what she did until in the end, she fell in the water, may G-d have mercy.
 
The Precious Gem is Revealed After the Foul Blood Drains Out
And he was struck on his finger, and the queen's daughter wanted to bandage his finger when she saw there a precious gem – The Breslevers used to point out here that usually, when a finger is struck, it bleeds; that is to say that beforehand, there was foul blood that covered the precious gems. And therefore, later, when his scabs dried off, it was revealed that his entire being was made of precious gems. Rebbe Shmuel Eizik was one of the Gedolim who served Hashem of the talmidim of Rabbeinu. Once, Rabbeinu grabbed close to his heart and said, "For a quarter-cup of blood that lies in the chamber of the heart, you could lose two world at the same time – increase upon it groans and sighs and tame it. And you will merit the status: "And my heart is a hollow chamber within me."
 
A Little Bit of Sacrifice and One Already Sees the Precious Gem
And he was struck on his finger...when she saw there a precious gem – The draining of the blood via the blow to the finger indicates self-sacrifice. And even through a little bit of self-sacrifice, one already sees the precious gem. For every Jew contains within a precious gem, only that gem is covered and invisible. And through a little bit of self-sacrifice – sleep a little less, eat with a bit less taavah and the rest of the matters of kedushah – that precious gem is revealed.

This list is from Rabbeinu Bachaya's commentary on Parshat Titzaveh, Shemot 28:15.

He wrote it out according to the gemstones representing each Tribe on the Choshen, so that's how it appears here too:

Reuven – Ruby (Arabic: “Rubin” and is from the same family as the blashu stone, but is of better quality in color) – Every woman who holds this stone will not ever miscarry; and it’s good for a woman with difficult labors; and if it’s finely ground and added to food or drink, it enhances fertility like dudaim.
 
Shimon – [Emerald-smaragd?] Markadi, common to East Africa – a higher quality gem in radiance and sparkle and color than the “prashma,” although both are the same and the markadi is cut from the prashma/beryl) – It cools one’s taavah.
 
Levi – Chalcedony (“Carbuncle,” “Firestone”-- a kind of opal) – Grants wisdom to the simple and enlightens one’s eyes. Ground finely and added to food, drink, or drug, it grants wisdom and opens one’s heart.
 
Yehudah – [Higher-quality emerald?] Zamura – When one carries it, all one’s enemies flee.
 
Yissachar – Light Sapphire – It’s good for the light of one’s eyes when one passes it over one’s eyes; it relieves every pain and swelling in every place.
 
Zevulun – Pearl – It brings sleep upon a person
 
Dan – Topaz, Ashtapsis
 
Naftali – Turquoise – Horseriders make sure to keep one when they journey. It pulls a man along in his vehicle and makes his “riding all his days” successful.
 
Gad – Crystal, a common stone owned by many and known by many; it strengthens one’s heart when one goes to war.
"When worn on one’s finger, it enables one to see dreams." [Ibn Ezra, Shemot 28:9]
 
Asher – [Chrysolite\Peridot?] (kriulika) – It’s the color of oil although some say it’s light blue; it assists with digestion and when you ground it finely and mix it with food, it thickens and enriches the food.
 
Yosef – Onyx, Unikli – It grants a man chen [favor] in the eyes of all, and whoever carries it in a royal house will be greatly benefited and succeed and all his words will be obeyed.
 
Binyamin – Jasper, Yashfiz, red-black-green – This stone has the power to stop bleeding\hemorrhage.

Until last week, I thought of myself as someone for whom an intentional targeted insult when I was already vulnerable (i.e. being intentionally kicked when I was already down) was not realistically forgivable...even with an apology.

But before Yom Kippur, I decided to write my own apology to such a person. There were things I’d done wrong too, albeit unintentionally. One example is the words and ideas that I and others find positive and supportive. Yet due to her personal traumas, she experiences them as painful.

So even though she’d done something I found unforgivable, something that made me feel I could never trust that her again, I knew that it didn’t absolve me of where I went wrong, even though I wasn't nearly as wrong as she was.

She called me the day after she'd received the letter in the mail to assure me she hadn’t been offended by the things apologized for in the letter. Then she asked if there was something she’d done.

“There is, isn’t there,” she prodded gently.

I tried to brush her off. I felt like I needed to deal with it on my own, that it was my own lack of emuna that caused me to feel hurt in the first place and then made it so hard to let go of the hurt.

After all, Hashem wanted me to undergo the experience and she was just a shaliach for the experience.

But to her credit, she didn’t give up.

Then she told me about something hurtful she’d been told by a person who was trying to help, but hurt her instead. She said it took her years to let go of it. She tried giving the benefit of the doubt (the offender clearly meant no offense) and to brush it off…nothing helped. And she never told the person; she didn’t feel she could. But she said that if the person had asked her about it, she would’ve been able to tell them.

It was her way of telling me that she really understood me and wasn’t judging me as petty or weak because I couldn’t let go.

Then I started crying and explained that most of the times I let someone know they’d hurt me, whether I told them in a brief, straightforward manner or whether I told them very gently and letting them know how favorably I still viewed them, the response was usually bad.

There were denials, attacks, mocking…it didn’t happen often because I don’t do it unless the negative behavior is frequent or extreme. And how often does such behavior occur among friends?

She listened, then kept gently insisting that she really wanted to know what she’d done.

I almost refused, but then I suddenly decided to just say it.

And I said it gently too, without going into the details of how she’d behaved because the other person can feel a lot of shame when their problematic behavior is called out. So (especially when you’re dealing with an otherwise very decent person) it’s important to be tactful and considerate of the other’s feelings when letting that person know.

She couldn’t remember, but she reassured me that she believe my description of what had happened. Then she profusely apologized in a very sincere manner. She admitted she was indeed capable of such behavior, even if she didn’t specifically remember.

Certain personalities disassociate either during or right after an episode of inappropriate behavior. They truly don’t remember because in a sense, they weren’t really there when it happened.

And it meant so much to me that she was sincerely taking responsibility for her actions despite her inability to remember.

I also asked her if her behavior was triggered by my unintentionally hurting her. She had quite a traumatic upbringing and words that others find supportive and reassuring can have the opposite effect on her due to the warped and manipulative upbringing she endured.

She insisted that I’d never done anything to hurt her in any way, and stating that her treatment of me was completely unwarranted.

I didn’t and still don’t completely believe her about that because like I said, her reactions in normal conversation sometimes indicate hurt or shock. But at the same time, I knew she wasn’t lying; she believed what she was saying.

Again, this personality type disassociates easily both when the person herself behaves inappropriately and also when others behave in ways she finds uncomfortable or painful. This personality often finds it difficult to remember behavior they found discomfiting, whether it was their own or somebody else’s.

Anyway, it was very healing for me and her sincerity and willingness to be uncomfortable for the sake of doing teshuvah really touched me. And I was able to let go without any further effort.

And then I found myself thanking her. I felt profound gratitude for her willingness to care about my feelings to the extent that she was willing to pull it out of me. After all, we are talking about her wrongful behavior. Hearing how you’ve been wrong is excruciating uncomfortable.

So because of her sincerity, caring, and humility, I became a different person.

Before, I was the kind of person who could not imagine forgiving someone who knowingly and purposefully kicked me when I was already down—even if that person apologized. For me on my emuna-lacking level, this was an unforgivable act.

But now, it’s suddenly something that is forgivable (if the person is truly sorry; I’m still not on the level to forgive such behavior on my own).

She thought she needed my forgiveness.
But really, I was the one who needed the act of forgiving.

One of the most significant changes in society today is the phenomenon of people standing for nothing.

On the other side of the Atlantic, you have a new book out called iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood--and What That Means for the Rest of Us. 

I haven’t read it, but there are some intriguing articles about it.

There is a lot of food for thought in this meticulous research, but one thing that stood out was the lament of both the researchers and readers:

• Teens are becoming intimate later; they’re waiting all the way until 11th grade!
• They don’t hang out at malls so much anymore!
• They party less and drink less!
• Teen homicide is down! (Okay, that wasn't said lamentingly, but it is true, baruch Hashem.)

And then there are the inevitable comparisons to teens of previous generations who hung out smoking and drinking at skating rinks in the Seventies and got their drivers license in the Eighties as soon as possible to go cruising and escape parental supervision in order to indulge their taavos.

(Interestingly, they don't yearn for the days when young adults married earlier and with better results, started families earlier, volunteered for military service in greater numbers, or went to work earlier, and so on.)

To be fair, the point of the research is to show that kids aren’t avoiding these indulgences out of rising morals but because of their attachment to their phones and social media.

And yes, I get the disturbing point that smartphones are so compelling, they even override the most compelling millennia-old taavos.

That’s pretty disturbing. So I definitely understand this point made by the researchers.

Furthermore, because teens are socializing less face-to-face, plus suffering from social media-induced depression and loneliness, author Jean Twenge observes:

That's downright chilling.

Jean Twenge and her assistants are doing society a big service by getting this information out to everyone.

But you should see the people lamenting how “kids don’t hang out at the malls anymore,” and so on.

Again, this lamenting about the good ol’ days when teens immediately got a drivers license for the freedom it offered (mostly to engage in unsavory or meaningless behavior), when teens hung out at skating rinks, and engaged in meaningless physical relationships earlier, and so on…

What are they saying?

Put down your smartphones, kids, and then...do what, exactly?

You can’t revolutionize society based on these values.

Like I said, it’s not just the superficial stuff. I know that all these well-meaning people and groups are not that superficial.

But my point is that they’re proclaiming these meaningless things alongside the more serious and meaningful issues.

Why should someone get off her suicide-inducing social media in order to go to a party where she can drink until she vomits and get exploited by equally drunk boys?

Or to wander the mall in search of the latest meaningless trendy trinket or outfit?

American youth with Western values have nothing to stand for and nothing to live for.
(Actually, they DO, but many just don't realize it within their cultural value system.)

So what's going to happen?
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The really eye-opening article mentioned above:
Has the Smartphone Destroyed a Generation?

Another post on this subject:
How Would You like to Take Your Poison: Scrambled or Sunnyside Up?
Standing for Nothing: UK

One of the most significant changes in society today is the phenomenon of people standing for nothing.

When British right-wingers complain about creeping Islamofacism in England, they’re right to be concerned.

But one of the things they always complain about is how Muslims harass them because they’re stumbling drunk back home from the bars at night.

Obviously, drunk people are a public menace. They tend to be loud and vulgar, even if they’re harmless. (IF they’re indeed harmless…)

But if one of your heartfelt values is the right to stumble drunk through the streets at night, then you just can’t win against jihad and Third World desperation. 

Yes, I realize these people are concerned about other aspects of Islamofacism, such as the grooming gangs and terrorism. And they do mention that more than they mention their concern regarding the freedom to wander the streets snockered.

But they always mention their outrage at Muslims who harass them for public drunkenness in addition to Islamic terrorism and the assaults on young girls.

These things don’t go together. They're not the same.

And when terrorists hit London Bridge, the big hero of the night (and he did save lives, BTW) was a tipsy soccer fan who in response to knife-wielding terrorists screaming about Allah and Islam, shouted back, “I’m Millwall!”—his prized soccer team.

Okay, now. Let's put this into perspective:

You have murderous savages screaming about God and religious submission.

And on the opposing side, you don’t have someone also shouting about God, or liberty, or human rights, or even peaceful co-existence.

You have someone fighting back in the name of his favorite soccer team.

Soccer.

Have you even seen a soccer game? It’s so weird and boring. Hardly anyone makes a goal, which is the most exciting part of the game (and sometimes nobody makes a goal, so there's no excitement at all) and a bunch of guys in knee socks just run back and forth across a looooong stretch of fake grass.

One Israeli-born teenager admitted to me that the game itself is really boring, but the Beitar Yerushalayim soccer fans were what made attending the games so fun.

So it’s not even the sport, but the people watching the sport that produce soccer’s charm.

So tell me, what inspires bravery and passion more?:

“Submit to Allah!” OR “Submit to Millwall!”

Gosh, who’s going to win this culture war?

(Now don't get me wrong. I prefer a Millwall fan over a Leftist, hands down. But football clubs are not going to save you from ISIS.)

You can’t revolutionize society based on these values and calls to action.

Like I said, it’s not just the superficial stuff. I know that all these well-meaning people and groups are not that superficial.

But my point is that they’re proclaiming these meaningless things alongside the more serious and meaningful issues.

Can you really complain about Pakistani grooming gangs depriving teenage and pre-teen girls of their freedom, security, and sometimes even their lives in the same breath you complain about not being able to wander inebriated in the streets of England?

When it’s Allah vs a group of guys in shorts and knee socks who run around on fake grass, who do you think is going to win?
Who is more inspiring?
Who is scarier?

You can’t successfully battle savagery and sadism with the name of your favorite sports team on your lips.

(Although you CAN battle evil with the name of Hashem on your lips.)

Baruch Hashem, this isn’t a problem in Eretz Yisrael. Maybe because by the time you’d finish declaring the whole mouthful of “I’m Beitar Yerushalayim!” or “I’m Maccabi Petach Tikvah!”, it would be too late.

I'm kidding. Even the most fanatic Beitar Yerushalayim enthusiast would shout out something about Hashem or "Shema Yisrael," rather than sports teams.

Yes, even the heavily criticized mouthy and rowdy Beitar fans insert Torah concepts and God into their fan chants (whether it makes you cringe or not), a far cry from "No one likes us, we don't care. We are Millwall, super Millwall from The Den!" ("The Den" is a sports stadium in southeast London, which is not exactly like being a heavily armed and fiercely trained ISIS faction from Iraq.)

Anglos with Western values have nothing to stand for and nothing to fight for.

So who's going to win?
__________________
Other posts on this subject:
How Would You like to Take Your Poison: Scrambled or Sunnyside Up?
Standing for Nothing: USA

Have you ever heard someone boast of a major flaw they possess followed by a declaration of: "But that's just how I am!" Sometimes the declaration is followed by family attribution, i.e. their mother and grandmother were that way too or they've got several cousins and siblings with this same type of flaw.

(And yes, sometimes this declaration is made softly with an apologetic smile.)

Either way, it's a way of permitting oneself to indulge one's lesser character traits. In other words, despite the cheerfully complacent presentation, this attitude is actually a form of despair.

On its uglier side, this type of declaration leaves one's victims with no recourse. How can you respond to someone who after hurting you, slaps you with that kind of declaration?

Yet Judaism encourages us to be happy and hopeful at all times, even though we may be far from tzidkut.

Breslov philosophy in particular emphasizes the importance of living in a state of joy, regardless of how many times you plunge into yet another character failure.

You're supposed to realize that your flaws are from God, whether you were born with them or whether you developed them due to a combination of nature and environment.

Furthermore, Rebbe Nachman introduced the story of The Clever Man and the Simple Man, with the Simple Man displaying contentment with his inability to produce a wearable shoe. Wasted leather, nails, and time went into 3-sided shoes that no one could use.

The analogy of the 3-sided shoe is our service of Hashem and our work on rectifying ourselves and polishing up our middot. Even as we stumble and crash on our face, we should still maintain an attitude of emuna and march on cheerfully.

How is that different than the Declarations of Despair uttered above?

The Simpleton knows the 3-sided shoe is unacceptable!

And he doesn't go around forcing people to wear his unwearable creations, nor does he demand anywhere near a normal price from those who do deign to wear his 3-sided shoes.

His main belief is that one day, he'll be able to make a proper shoe.

He wants to make a proper shoe.

But for some reason, no matter how hard he tries, it just doesn't go.

But he is trying!

And eventually, he succeeds beyond shoes and beyond anyone's wildest expectation.

So let's pare this down:
Boastful/Complacent "That's just how I am/we are in my family!" Self-Acceptance:

• Sees no hope for any improvement.
• Sees no need for any improvement
• Shows no desire for improvement
• Doesn't make any attempt at improvement
• Shows pleasure about their lack of effort
• Forces the burden of their faulty actions onto others

Emuna-Based "This is just how I am right now, despite my best efforts" Contentment

• Knows one can be much better!
• Very aware of the need for improvement
• Very desirous of improving
• Continuously tries to improve
• Takes pleasure in the emuna that Hashem is right there and that things will improve eventually
• Takes responsibility for how actions affect others while recognizing that Hashem is orchestrating things

Complacency and contentment are often confused, but really they're two different species.

Despair brings complacency
 
Emuna brings contentment.

May we always act with emuna.