Category: Eretz Yisrael

The Teetering Seesaw of Esav and Yaakov

26/12/2016

I was talking to someone who was visiting Eretz Yisrael from one of the most materialistic and flashiest areas of America.

It is also a place of tremendous corruption and immorality just beneath the bright shiny surface.

She became frum a few years ago and has needed to go in for all the “frumified” luxuries and lots of loopholes in order to feel comfortable enough to maintain a frum lifestyle.

It’s hard to understand her compulsion for this, yet at the same time, it’s hard to judge her for this.

Why?

Because if you’re really honest with yourself, at some point you realize that all your positive attributes (like, for example, an innate attraction toward more spiritual matters and a kind of “nice, but is it really worth it?” attitude when faced with luxury) are simply gifts from Hashem that you were either born with or imbued with via your family and/or your school—or, if you’re REALLY lucky—both.

And how can you honestly take credit for that OR disdain others for not having been presented with either of those advantages?

If someone neither received an innate "spirituality magnet" nor received a spirituality-focused upbringing, then how much is she really responsible for her tendencies?

Yet when she told me about her shopping plans in Israel, I said, “I’m really happy for you. I think you’ll have a good time and you’ll also be able to pick up some stuff that you wouldn’t necessarily be able to get in the US.”

(Note: This is a very common theme of conversation. A lot of religious Judaica is more easily obtainable and cheaper than in the USA, depending on where you live.)

But she got defensive and huffed, “Oh, you guys have Golf (the clothing line), but you don’t have [the name of some product chain that I didn’t recognize and can’t remember], so it all balances out. Okay?”

I felt like someone just sideswiped my brain. Golf? Bed 'n' bath linens? What in the world was she talking about?

The Tug of War between Esav and Yaakov

It never occurred to me to compare Israel to the USA in terms of material goods and their availability. That’s not what Eretz Yisrael is about or for. Just the fact that, materially speaking, it has been increasingly easier and more comfortable to live in Eretz Yisrael is good enough for me and for most people I know.

But what really got me was that “so it all balances out” comment.

No. It doesn’t.

Accessibility to the most luxurious and exclusive item in no way compensates for living in Eretz Yisrael. Even frum people who live in staffed mansions in the USA understand that living in Eretz Yisrael is still more desirable in Hashem’s Eyes (which is why many of them send their children to live in Eretz Yisrael).

Her parting remark was along the lines of: “Oh, the 5-star luxury hotel in Israel was nice, but if you could experience hotel hospitality where I come from, you would wish that every place would be like that. SOOOO excited to be going back home!”

Yes. Where she lives, I’m sure the hotel staff is fabulously accommodating and friendly. There is fierce competition among hotels in that area and a tremendous amount of money at stake.

The hotel staff, concerned about their reputations and career advancement and bonuses (and fearful of what will happen if they DON’T dance to the tune), will certainly make every effort to make you feel like a valued customer.

The emphasis on just making you FEEL like you have value—not that they actually value your worth, just your money and your recommendations to your friends.

Where is this addiction to "feeling good" coming from?

The Pull of Esav

With the increasingly pervasive strain of narcissism weaving through society, people need to feel important and have their egos coddled.

The 5-star hotel staff in Israel varies; some are personable and friendly while others do their job efficiently and courteously without extra ego-stroking.

Is that enough of a reason to feel SOOOOO excited to be going back “home” to your shiny fake lifestyle?

(Especially since, if you're a Jew, America is not your true home.)

Now, it goes without saying that she doesn’t represent a lot of frum Jews stuck outside of Eretz Yisrael. There are many frum Jews living decidedly NON-luxurious lives:

Jews who would love to make aliyah, but feel limited by family obligations (like elderly parents or shared child custody with an ex or older children who may or may not weather the transition)
Jews who fear the differences in economic opportunity and culture
And so on.

But there is also this other type, the type that cannot see beyond the fact that good-quality clothes, appliances, and housing cost more, and that you can’t get certain brands of whatever has become your favorite item. They can’t see that Israelis, who will often not only treat you courteously, but even exceed expectations to help you out if they see you really need it—but will NOT kiss your feet, no matter how important you think you are or how wealthy you seem (or how much you threaten them).

When I first came to Eretz Yisrael, Israelis were shocked to hear that in self-defense classes, people were taught to yell, "FIRE!!!" when under assault because otherwise, no one would even attempt to come to their rescue. Israelis couldn't imagine ignoring a cry for help and not even calling the police, let alone running there in person to intervene.

With the exception of gun-toting Southerners and Jews in frum neighborhoods, Americans hesitate to help, even in a way non-dangerous way, like calling the police.

But Yaakov Wins, Hands Down

Tiveria's Tomb of the Matriarchs (photo @ Almog)

When my family and I pile into a relative’s apartment in Tiveria (with a dozen kids between the two of us), we are a 2-block walk from the Tomb of Avigail (David Hamelech's wife), Yocheved, Bilha, Zilpah, Elisheva (Aharon Hacohen’s wife) and Tzipporah (Moshe Rabbeinu's wife) and a very pleasant place to pray.

Depending on where you are in Eretz Yisrael, Kever Rachel or the Kotel is just a bus ride away.

Getting thirsty or hungry is no problem because there is likely a kosher café or grocery right there, and the same can be said in many places about catching a minyan.

But most of all, every step you take is a huge mitzvah. Running to catch the bus in the rain or trudging out in humid heat to pick up diapers at the local makolet automatically grants you Eternal points without you even meaning to.

And nothing else can ever compensate for that.
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To be fair, some people are so addicted to their materialism that they genuinely can't imagine compromising on it one iota. Deep down, they know they're wrong, which is why they get defensive when faced with life in Eretz Yisrael. But their psyche feels torn because on one hand, they see that it is possible to live happily without such exclusive luxuries. But on the other hand, they truly feel that it's not within their personal ability to do so.

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Part 12-America's Scary New Direction: Final Thoughts

7/12/2016

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The last part of this looong series—finally!

(I didn't realize it would end up being so long.)

Main Points

So...what are the take-aways?

Evil people and societies don’t sit around rubbing their hands together while cackling gleefully, “I’m soooo evil—and I love it!” Nor do they realize they are crazy. They ALWAYS think they are the victimized class and see the real victims as oppressors - which gives them the feeling that they can do ANYTHING they want.

“Nice” people are perfectly capable of going along with and even actively maintaining very evil policies and values. (And I don’t mean pretenders, but people who genuinely value “nice” behavior). As counterintuitive as it sounds, being “nice” doesn’t mean you can’t also be a bad person. Of course, truly good people also behave nicely, but people must be judged on the actual values they uphold AND display, and not on how “nice” they are.

Love of animals, veganism/vegetarianism, appreciation of nature, and a calm and healthy lifestyle cannot make you into a good person and by themselves are not even signs of goodness.

Historically, when society demands a savior and then willfully ignores the blatant flaws in their designated savior, this is a precursor to tough times and bloodthirsty movements.

Historically, movements that focused primarily on income equality or general economic prosperity (i.e. materialism) and “sticking it to the other side” led to bloody outcomes. Movements that focused on God and core values and morality (i.e. the Ten Commandments, the Noachide Laws, etc.) have done much better. A society that values morality will also have more freedom and economic prosperity.

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Predictions?

And based on historical events and what I see unfolding now, here is what I think could happen:

Anti-Israel sentiment will continue to rise. With the exception of the alt-Right (alternative and extreme Right), people cannot allow themselves to target Jews directly (especially seeing as the Left itself is comprised of many secular Jews) and still FEEL like a good person (because feeling good has trumped actually being good in most of society today). But like that former Hitler Youth member mentioned in Part 4, they feel it’s okay to yell “Death to…!” a country.

President Trump will want to go down in history as the leader who made peace in the Middle East (which for some reason, always means "in Israel" and ignores all the wars between countries and clans in every other country in the Middle East). He has already made statements alluding to this. And seeing as the Israeli government is easier to push around than any other government in the Middle East, he will press on Israel to make suicidal and halachically forbidden concessions.

Furthermore, Trump has already chosen as his chief strategist Steve Bannon who, while never personally heard spewing Jew-hatred, has shown himself perfectly willing to cater to the alt-Right Jew-haters. Trump has also chosen General James Mattis as Secretary of Defense. Mattis is sympathetic to the Arab side regarding Israel, even though he is not sympathetic to the Arab side in general, especially when it's Arab vs American. (See HERE.)

The American Left will up its battle against religion because it is religious people who are standing in the way of abortion-on-demand, same-gender marriage, and all the trans hype. (Although they are not standing in the way ENOUGH. Yet to Leftists, any limits are bad.) But again, because attacking Jews would harm their self-image as good people, Leftists will attack the Jewish religion (along with other religions, except for Islam) along with whatever they consider “Orthodox interpretation” while saying that the Reform movement and secular Jews are okay. (Sort of like in Rav Schach’s story in Part 2.)

Following these points, Jew-hatred will be increasingly expressed as Israel-hatred.

But maybe I’m wrong. Hopefully, I’m wrong.

Regardless, the main thing is to cultivate a close and personal relationship with Hashem, invest in deep self-introspection to scrub out bad traits and polish up good traits, and keep on doing mitzvot.

As is a well-known Jewish truth, bad omens and bad prophecies need never come true.

Teshuvah has the power to change everything.

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Song of the Wind

25/11/2016

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Over the past week in Eretz Yisrael, powerful winds have been gusting all day and all night, with no respite.

Our haters have taken advantage of this to set fires that rage out of control in the dry and blustery weather.

Our Sages tell us to look into Torah wisdom for guidance.

Perek Shira contains the song of the wind (Yeshayahu 43:6):

אֹמַר לַצָּפוֹן תֵּנִי וּלְתֵימָן אַל תִּכְלָאִי הָבִיאִי בָנַי מֵרָחוֹק וּבְנוֹתַי מִקְצֵה הָאָרֶץ

"I will say to the North, 'Give,' and to the South, 'Do not restrain;' bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the end of the Earth."

This verse appears amid a sea of comforting verses in Chapter 43.

The commentators all interpret it to mean an active gathering of the Jews exiled outside of Eretz Yisrael. One explains that "teiman" is a particularly strong wind from the South, necessary to "blow" the exiles into their Homeland.

Another explains that some exiles are actively restrained from leaving their country of exile, while for others, the topography (mountains, etc.) stand as an obstacle. These reasons are why the verse also declares: "Do not restrain!" - Let them go free!

Radak says that it mentions daughters and sons separately to indicate that the ingathering of women and children will be "conducted slowly" - i.e. gently, in consideration of their greater difficulty when traveling?

Anyway, the wind is a comforting sign, a reassurance of Hashem's Promise to gather everyone Home.

Yet could it also be a call to action? A call to come Home?

But the winds are blustering in Eretz Yisrael.

So what's the message to we who are already here?

Another way to "come Home" is to do teshuvah.

And it seems to me that the powerful winds combined with the out-of-control fires are a call to do just that.

P.S. A segulah to protect against one's house from fire is to read Birkat Hamazon from a bentscher/birkon (as opposed to reciting it by heart).
Presumably, you can also read it with the intention of protecting all of your brothers' and sisters' houses from burning.
(I can't remember the source for this - sorry!)

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Sinking in a Deluge of Quicksand while Dancing the Hora and Proclaiming Unrivaled Success: The Legacy of Conservative "Judaism"

28/8/2016

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Lollipops

Growing up, my family religiously attended a Conservative synagogue. While Conservative Jews living near large frum communities (like New York) may seem indistinguishable from some Modern Orthodox Jews, those living far away from major frum communities range from the totally assimilated to the traditional, with the only Sabbath-observant members being the rabbi and cantor—maybe.

I always really liked our synagogue’s cantor and his wife. I remember him passing out lollipops to all the kids each week. When my youngest sister felt too shy to accept the lollipop from the open flap of the cantor’s pocket, I remember him getting down on one knee so that the lollipop would be within arm’s reach of the little girl. Then he inched it out so it would easier for her to take. His gentle, thoughtful approach was so much more appealing than that of most adults I knew, who would make fun of a child’s shyness and play stupid little verbal games before finally giving the child the proffered candy.

The cantor’s wife, the child of Holocaust survivors, was a successful business woman with a natural warmth and candidness, who always related to me with the chumminess of a friend, even though I was just a child/teenager. After I started keeping Shabbat, they once hosted me with great warmth so that I could attend a family simcha at the synagogue over Shabbat. He kept Shabbat and she kept everything except the prohibition of turning on and off lights. Coming of age when she did, the lures of feminism spoke to her and she allowed that to warp her Judaism, although she never saw it that way.
Both maintained a fondness for Medinat Yisrael and she always yearned to make aliyah.
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Recently, they came to visit me in my home in Eretz Yisrael.

It was great to see them after all these years. They expressed genuine interest in my family and my life, and showed so much pleasure that I was frum, even though my brand of frumkeit is extreme in their eyes. She labeled herself as frum too, and this made her feel an extra bond between us.

She told me of their visit to relatives in the Golan who sneered at them for being “so religious.” Her Israeli cousin’s disdain of Torah traditions dismayed and bewildered her.
She also expressed a lot of confusion and disapproval about their Conservative congregation’s rate of intermarriage back in America. “Nearly all the weddings have been with people who aren’t Jewish,” she said. “Even worse, none of our youth want to marry a Jew. They want to marry non-Jews—especially the Jewish boys; they want to marry non-Jewish girls.” She made a face.

While she was happy for how my children were turning out, the contrast between their lives and hers saddened her.

“We should have thought through things more,” she said. “Our kids were the only ones keeping Shabbat in the whole city. We thought we could just pass on our love of Judaism to them, but I guess that wasn’t realistic….”

Their 27-year-old son was living somewhere in the boondocks with a 41-year-old non-Jewish woman and couldn't be bothered attend his parents' Pesach Seder that year —or any Pesach Seder, for that matter. On a trip to Israel, their son refused to wear a kippah or keep Shabbat, which his mother found particularly distressing because Israel is one of the most comfortable places in the world to wear a kippah and keep Shabbat. And when his parents came to visit him at his far-off college, he barely gave them the time of day.

“I really wish we’d made aliyah,” she said, looking around my little Israeli living room longingly. “We kept meaning to, but….”

But it was never the right time. Yes, they meant to take that well-paying cantorial job that included a nice home in an exclusive neighborhood only until they’d saved up enough to make aliyah.

Having read tons about emuna and Hashem’s Omnipotence, combined with my innate desire to give chizuk to anyone I see suffering and relieve their anguish, I popped out with, “Don’t be too hard on yourself about it. It’s from Hashem. If Hashem wanted you to make aliyah, you would have. Somehow, where you are now is the best place for you to be. Everything Hashem does is for our best good.”

She looked at me skeptically and said, “Hashem wanted us to stay in a predominately non-Jewish materialistic neighborhood in America rather than coming to Eretz Yisrael?”

I blinked. Good point! Maybe I just took this whole emuna thing too far?
Why did I say a wacky thing like that?

“Sure,” I heard myself saying. “Because if Hashem wanted you to make aliyah, He would’ve found a way for you to do it. You could’ve lost the job that kept you in America, you could’ve just felt an irresistible compulsion to go...I mean, anything could've propelled you to go rather than staying.”

Now I sounded even wackier.

The cantor nodded with a knowing smile at my words, but she still looked doubtful.

My heart went out to her. Growing up in the shadow of the Holocaust compelled her to fan her Jewish flame.

But it wasn’t working.

Everything she invested in, whether the community or her children, was sinking into the swamp of assimilation.

Her whole life, she meant to fight back at the Nazi Holocaust. But the West’s spiritual onslaught overwhelmed her.

After they left, I indulged in a bit of forehead-smacking self-reproach. Why do I get so wacky sometimes? Why didn’t I think before I spoke?

Yet I really do believe that everything is from Hashem—and that means that all the wacky things I said to her were also ordained by Hashem.

And the truth is, perhaps Hashem really didn’t want them to make aliyah at that point.
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In the frum world, the Reform movement and Christian proselytism receive the most criticism and censure.

But in my eyes, the Conservative movement caused the most destruction.

Maybe I am wrong.

But the Reform movement is all about shiny American liberal values. It makes no secret of its desire to encapsulate non-Jewish ideals. Growing up, I remember my Reform peers making fun of their own temple for having an organ and such a tepid English service, calling their temple by derisive nicknames. They were all assimilated, but their Jewish souls rebelled at the obvious forgery.

And while every Jew is precious, missionaries entrap very few, relatively speaking. (Although they are starting to become as insidious as the Conservative movement by twisting Torah concepts to grant themselves legitimacy.)

But the Conservative movement slithered into the Jewish people like a parasitical worm. It came under the guise of being a legitimate Torah alternative, rationalizing itself as taking the path of Hillel as opposed to the Orthodox (who they claim took the path of Shammai). Many of its rabbis, cantors, and youth leaders feel genuine passion about Judaism and are proud of their heritage. They bring a freshness and enthusiasm to their congregations.
They’re also completely brainwashed by the Conservative movement’s propaganda.

For example, Conservative leaders acknowledge that there is a Torah prohibition to drive on Shabbat. At the same time, they acknowledge that there is a mitzvah to daven in a minyan and a prohibition against separating from the community.

So guess which takes precedence?

This is why most Conservative Jews feel perfectly comfortable driving on Shabbat. Never mind that many of them could care less about attending a regular minyan...

For Shabbos Koidesh, they are mesirus nefesh to drive to daven in a minyan for Shabbos Shacharis(!)

By twisting things around and omitting certain information, you can even legitimize eating poultry with dairy as "kosher." This type of thing is what Christianity did with the Torah, too.

The Less You Know, The Better!
The Conservative movement survives by exploiting the ignorance of its adherents.

When I was a kid, some of the adults had received a Jewish day school education up until eighth grade and taught by Orthodox teachers (and how that was defined, I'm not sure). But back in the Fifties, the education and methodology were often tepid, depending. Yet my parents’ entire generation of non-Orthodox Jews were left with the impression that’s all there was to Torah-observance and, with a few exceptions, refuse to delve any deeper until this very day. Some of the elderly men had attended cheder in Europe until the age of 12-14, spoke Yiddish, and had grown up going through the motions of Torah observance. I didn't get their humor or their Yiddishisms, yet I liked them very much. But again, their impression of Torah Judaism was superficial. For them, Conservative Judaism offered them the best of both worlds—or so they thought. They were a warm and rollicking little group, but as they aged even more and their children assimilated, they grew embittered and haggard. When I first started coming closer to Judaism, one elderly man used to approach me every time he saw me and beg me to marry his son.

“I’ll buy you a house—a nice one!” he said. “A nice house in a good neighborhood!”

I laughingly rejected his offer.

Each time, he grew increasingly agitated and upped his offer. “I’ll leave you a million dollars. A million dollars! I promise—I’ll write it in my will with lawyers and everything! I’ll prove it to you. I promise. And with me, a promise is a promise!”

I remember the last time he approached me. When I turned down his offer for the final time, he shot me a look of disgust and flapped his hand at me. “You kids today,” he said. “You have no appreciation for the value of money and property! Look at what I’m offering you. How can you say no?”

Strangely, I wasn’t offended. I think because underneath his disgust lay some very legitimate Jewish grief and frustration. He wasn’t disgusted by my priorities; he was disgusted by his own that led him into the desperate situation he now found himself.

But to my teenage self, it seemed like a scene out of Fiddler on the Roof that should be acted out by people with funny names I’d never heard anywhere else, like Tzeitel and Mottel. I deeply regret that I was insensitive enough to laugh when the man was clearly in pain. But the whole idea of matchmaking and promising material rewards—buying your child a spouse, in a sense—seemed outlandish and comedic to me. And I also couldn’t imagine that his son would want me under such conditions—not to mention that his son was around thirty, which seemed middle-aged and gross to my teenage mind.

Anyway, the whole idea seemed embarrassing.

So despite the anguish etched in his wrinkled face, I was convinced he was joking. In a world of breezy intermarriages, drive-thru “conversions,” and people who only kept the mitzvot they found personally meaningful (and even then, not the whole mitzvah; only the parts of it they found meaningful and convenient). It never occurred to me that a Jew could care that deeply about preserving his Jewish continuity.
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A Portrait of the Conservative Movement

The Conservative movement's patriots live in this bizarre bubble of fire, enthusiasm, and innovative kiruv ideas for their brand of Judaism, while waxing with perky lyricism about the firm ground they’re standing on and weaving wild fantasies of how successful they are.

But the whole time, they’re sinking lower and lower into the quicksand of anti-Torah ideas—and they drag a lot of innocent people down with them.

The Conservative movement is also the most responsible for the phenomenon of non-Jews who, sincerely thinking they’re Jewish, declare themselves Jewish and even insist on marrying Jews and participating in minyanim and Jewish activities, with real Jews none the wiser.

And while the Reform movement offers "conversions," it’s the Conservative movement that insists on illegitimate conversions, considering all the offspring of marriage with such a female "convert" as Jewish, when basic halachah proves they are not.

I remember one such family. When the Jewish patriarch died, his not-Jewish-but-thinks-she’s-Jewish wife still held a yearly Seder with all their children and grandchildren—not one of whom is Jewish. You also get these bizarre scenarios in which the not-Jewish-but-thinks-they-are parent or fiancée try to convince the non-Jewish love interest to "convert" to Judaism.

I dread the phone calls or emails I get from or about the not-Jewish-but-think-they-are in which they obviously feel the need to “break the news” to me (the fanatical Orthodox Jew) that they/their child is marrying a non-Jew and hope that’s okay with me. Or sometimes they don’t hope, but assert: “I know that this may offend you, however….”

I always tell them it is more than okay with me, and even preferred. Depending on who they are and how they feel about their pseudo-Jewish identity, I may even tell them why. The reaction is always surprised and sometimes even disappointed. (Disappointed because they were hoping for a religious attack so they could go back to their family and friends and talk about how persecuted they were by me, the religious zealot. And then everyone could feel victimized and commiserate. But alas….)

What I really hate, though, are the phone calls and emails that chirp things like: "Your cousin's wife attended the Purim Megillah reading! I think she's really starting to come around! Maybe a conversion is in the works???" My cousin isn't Jewish, but thinks he is. His wife isn't Jewish and knows she's not. Everything is fine. But people who don't know any better tell me this because they think it'll make me happy.
It doesn't.

It makes very, very sad to see non-Jews-who-think-they're-Jewish and Conservative Jews running around trying to convert people's non-Jewish spouses with the freneticness of a freshly caught fish flapping out its last moments on the dock in the open air.

I also find it bizarre that they are blind to how obnoxious and hypocritical they are. I mean, Conservative Jews HATE it when Christians proselytize them and when frum Jews try to impose "their" values and beliefs on them. Conservative Jews also battle at the forefront to stop public expressions of Christian holidays and a moment of silence in schools. But then they insist that their child's intended spouse bow to their ways and switch religions. They can be very friendly about it, but they are still persistent.

It’s a point of humbling gratitude to Hashem that He pulled any of us out of this quicksand and scoured that duplicitous gunk from our minds. This is when “Dayenu” really speaks to me. I’m not different or better than the people I grew up with. So why was I rescued and not them? It’s such a huge unearned kindness that I can’t wrap my mind around it.
Technically, I have no right to ask Hashem for anything more. (But I still do.)
Dayeni!

A parable of the Conservative agenda

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With kiruv websites available for almost 20 years now and kiruv organizations alive and kicking since the Seventies and all that frum kiruv only growing in popularity and prominence, Conservative adherents have very little excuse for their continued brainwashing.

And getting back to the lovely couple with which this post started off:
There are already a lot of well-meaning and not-so-well-meaning destroyers in Eretz Yisrael. And while I tend to believe that coming to Eretz Yisrael inspires a return to Torah (hey, it worked for me!), it clearly doesn’t for many people (although for many people, it does). And maybe it wouldn’t have either for the cantor and his wife.
Maybe they would have become part of the problem here instead of part of the solution. So Hashem saved both them and us from that.

It hurts because I like the cantor and his wife so much. And I see them as victims of the greater Conservative movement, even though as enthusiastic participants, they became an active part of its destructive force.
There is still always the opportunity for them to do teshuvah.
And we can pray for their children along with all the other lost Jewish children.

But in the end, maybe what I said wasn’t so wacky after all. They made their decisions.

And maybe because of that, Hashem truly didn’t want them here.

(But real teshuvah can still change all that!)

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Eretz Yisrael in Its Entirety: A Photo Documentary

7/8/2016

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With all the politics and just the current state of things, it's easy to forget that Eretz Yisrael is actually much bigger than Medinat Yisrael.

We don't need to give up Land for 2 reasons:

1) This is the MAIN and MOST IMPORTANT reason:
We are halachically forbidden from giving Land to those to whom it doesn't belong, particularly to people who despise us and want us dead. Therefore, giving away Land brings harm, not blessing. And needless to say, any reasons stated by Chazal permitting us to give up Land do not in any way apply to the situation we've been in for decades now.

If anything, the whole episode with Bnot Tzelafchad, as mentioned in the recent parshas, bring this point home.

2) We've already given up too much. Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and teeny bit of Turkey (just to name a few) are all squatting on Land that Hashem designated for Jews and command us to settle.
So which nation(s) REALLY need to compromise?
That's right! NOT us.

(Okay, and yes I know that exact boundaries are disputed by Chazal, and that Reuven, Gad, and Menashe II are outside of Eretz Yisrael proper, etc.)

Below are photos of our Tribal Lands. Keep scrolling and enjoy the view!

Territory of Reuven - Today known as Madaba, Jordan

Territory of Shimon: Beersheva

The Tribe of Levi's main service: Yerushalayim (here, you can see the place of the Beit Hamikdash, Kodesh Kadoshim, and also Har Hazeitim (Mount of Olives)

Territory of Yehudah: Chevron including Maarat Hamachpelah (Cave of the Patriarchs) - A 1839 painting by David Roberts and Louis Haghe

More of Yehudah's Territory: Kever Rachel (Rachel's Tomb) in Beit Lechem (Bethlehem) - Photo by Irit Levy @ Pikiwiki

Territory of Yissachar: Yizrael (Jezreel) Valley

Territory of Zevulun: Gat Chefer and birthplace of Yonah Hanavi (Today an Arab village called Mashad) Photo: Ali abu Ismail @ Pikiwiki

Territory of Binyamin: Jericho

Territory of Dan: Yaffo

Territory of Dan II: Tel Dan in the far northern Galilee (Photo: Adrian)

Territory of Naftali: Lake Kinneret

More territory of Naftali - Today known as Quneitra, Syria (Photo: Dr. Avishai Teicher @ Pikiwiki)

Territory of Gad - today known as Balqa, Jordan (Photo: Samer425)

Territory of Asher in the Biblical city of Tzidon - Today known as Saida, Lebanon

More of Asher's Territory - Today known as Hatay, Turkey

Territory of Efraim: Shilo

Territory of Menashe I: Shechem

Territory of Menashe II: Today known as Ajloun, Jordan (Photo: Smart Viral)

So please remember the actual boundaries of Eretz Yisrael and the inheritance given to the Jewish people the next time you hear talk of Land for "peace" or covetous people who have no portion in Eretz Yisrael complaining about "their" territorial rights.

May all of Bnei Yisrael be gathered into Eretz Yisrael very soon!

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The Kli Yakar - Parshat Balak (Or, How History is Still Repeating Itself)

14/7/2016

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Why did Moav fear the Erev Rav, yet was disgusted with Bnei Yisrael?
And how does Moav's response reflect the world response today? (Hint: Nothing's changed)

ב וַיַּרְא בָּלָק בֶּן צִפּוֹר אֵת כָּל אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יִשְׂרָאֵל לָאֱמֹרִי
ג וַיָּגָר מוֹאָב מִפְּנֵי הָעָם מְאֹד כִּי רַב הוּא וַיָּקָץ מוֹאָב מִפְּנֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל

Balak the son of Tzipor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. Moav became terrified of the people [Am] for it was massive, and Moav became disgusted because of Bnei Yisrael. (22:2-3)

The Kli Yakar notes that the Moavites differentiated between the Erev Rav [the Am] and Bnei Yisrael. Apparently at that time, the Erev Rav had not assimilated enough into the Jewish people, so clear physical differences still existed between the two groups (i.e. the Erev Rav must have still looked obviously Egyptian, but likely dressed as Jews).

Why the Moavites Feared the Erev Rav
The Moavites feared the Erev Rav because of their sheer size. Quoting from the Mechilta, the Kli Yakar numbers the Erev Rav population at 1,200,000.

We see this kind of fear today in Western countries, who fear the massive influx of people from cultures very different than theirs who won't respect their values.

And to digress a bit, it seems both are justified.
While the Erev Rav damages the Jewish people more than any other, they certainly also do great harm to non-Jews--including to themselves, both practically and spiritually. And just like the Moavites, the Western solution focuses on externals rather than internals, which ultimately will not help them.

Why the Moavites Feared Bnei Yisrael

The Moavite fear of Bnei Yisrael was Hashem's backing of Bnei Yisrael. The Hebrew word [v'yakatz] translated as "disgusted" comes from the word kotz [thorn]. The Kli Yakar notes how Bnei Yisrael is likened to the gefen, the grapevine in Tehillim 80:9:
You uprooted a vine from Egypt; You drove out nations and planted it.

The Moavites feared Bnei Yisrael's God-given ability to uproot themselves from Mitzrayim and come to their Homeland and drive out the nations there, casting them (including the Moavites) out by the root.

As the Kli Yakar describes:

As is customary throughout the world, when the owner of the field wants to plant a vineyard in a field full of thorns, he then uproots the thorns by the root and casts them aside in order to plant in their place the grapevine.

A vineyard. Don't mess with the Owner.

Exactly.

And who is "the Owner of the field"? And why are they messing with Him, especially in Moav's case, when they saw what He did with the Jews and Mitzrayim?

This is the mistake that foreign nations make repeatedly throughout history.

They see that the Jews have a special koach. And there are many of them who realize that this koach comes from Hashem. So why do they fight it?

How the World is Repeating Moav's Mistake
The following point has been hammered so many times already, but it bears repeating:

How was a decimated nation fresh from years in death camps--or weakened by years of poverty, disease, and persecution in their own Land--able to drive out the British Empire?
How was such a people able to revive their ancient language (and even their original currency?!) and bring forth the agricultural potential of a Land that had lain desolate for millennia under every kind of occupation?
How was it that within fifty years, this nation was able to make itself the hub of the world in the spiritual, medical, technological, and environmental arenas?

Throughout history, many of our enemies have believed in God and even held at least partly with the Torah.

Both the Christian bible and the Koran acknowledge the Jewish ownership of Eretz Yisrael and especially of Yerushalayim. And even secular non-Jews often proclaim the Torah as "a great history book!"

Yet the Christians and Muslims continue to make their assault on Yerushalayim.

And those same "great history book!" chanters choose to ignore the basic text that clearly shows the Land as belonging to us.

The secular world and the Muslims fight us literally.

The Christian world tries to undermine us at the spiritual level via missionizing and replacement theology--though both warped ideologies end up uprooting the very attribute which provides us with our blessing and our right to be in this Land in the first place.

What the Moavites should have done and what the other groups should do now is:

Step aside.

Or support us--according to the Torah definition of support.

That way, nobody gets hurt--not them and not us.
On the contrary, such yielding and support brings blessing all around.

But it's not going down that way.

Yet the Kli Yakar reassures with the idea that Torah sources have always reassured us:

This field has an Owner.

Eventually, the grapevine will be planted in its Land.

And the thorns will be uprooted and cast away.

May we all make choices that cast our lot with the grapevine and not with the thorns.

Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Luntschitz (1550-1619) lived in Bohemia (which is today Poland and Czechoslovakia).
He served as rabbi and dayan and wrote several books, the most well-known being his commentary on the Chumash known as the Kli Yakar.
This is my own translation and any errors are also mine.

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The Kli Yakar - Parshat Shelach

23/6/2016

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In this week's parsha:

Why Moshe Rabbeinu should have sent female spies
How Hashem wants us to be in a state of love and joy all the time
The life-transforming power of tzitzit

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שלח לך אנשים

"Send out for yourself men...." (13:2)

Eretz Yisrael according to Sefer Yehoshua Courtesy of "Janz" @ Wikipedia

The Kli Yakar has several interesting insights into this verse.
We'll just look at two of them.

He notes that it specifies anashim—"men."
(And yes, anashim can also mean "people." But technically, anashim is the plural of ish—man. "People" can be referred to as bnei Adam.)

Furthermore, the sending of the Spies is written immediately after Miriam was struck with tzarat from her well-intentioned albeit wrong lashon hara.

The Kli Yakar starts off by saying:

....the text is telling you that lashon hara is more common among women than among men because "ten parts of speech descended into the world; women took nine" (Kiddushin 49b). And because women engage in copious idle conversation [stam nashim patpaniot dabraniot], therefore the speech depended on Miriam because she started this [spiritual] breakdown and Aharon was superfluous to her [in his participation with Miriam's sin].

Therefore, He said, "Send out for yourself men" who don't possess the way of women and won't be like Miriam who spoke lashon hara, but actual men who aren't habituated to speaking lashon hara.

And there you have some flaming mussar for women.

(As it says in Pirkei Avot 2 that the words of the wise men can be like burning coals, the sting of a scorpion, and the bite of a fox, etc.)

But then the Kli Yakar "flames" men:

Another reason why He specified men is because Chazal said ( ילקוט רמז תשעג):
The men hated the Land and said, "We’ll appoint a leader and return to Egypt"
(Bamidbar 14:4).

But the women cherished the Land and said, "Give us a possession!" (Bamidbar 27:4).

And therefore, the Holy One Blessed Be He said, "In My Opinion, being that I see the future, it would have been better to send women who cherish the Land because they won't speak in condemnation of it.

"But to you, in your opinion, being that you held that they [the men] were kosher and you held that the Land was beloved to them, you sent men.

"And that's it: 'Send out for yourself'—for in your opinion—men [שלח לך לדעתך אנשים].
But according to My Opinion, it would have been better to send women...."

This issue of Jewish men—including very elevated men—"hating" Eretz Yisrael is a concept that seems, quite frankly, hard to see and hard to understand.

(Also, "hate" is such a strong word. But that is the word used by the Yalkut and the Kli Yakar: שונאים.)

Especially today, we see Jewish males sacrificing, undergoing imprisonment and torture, and even dying in order to hold on to Eretz Yisrael.

Yet the Kli Yakar brings it up again in Parshat Pinchas and apparently it is in the Yalkut (which I don't have access to). Those are pretty solid sources.

Is Hashem giving today's men a second chance to rectify their original "hatred" in much the same way He gives women the chance to rectify Chava's sin by candle-lighting?

Of course, I don't know. But how else to explain the dichotomy between what the sources said about Jewish men then and the tremendous self-sacrifice on behalf of Jewish men today for Eretz Yisrael?

This is just an assumption and I'm definitely open to being corrected. So feel free....
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ועשו להם ציצית

And they shall make for themselves tzitzit.... (15:38)

Tzitzit with the thread of techeilet, courtesy of Tomer (also known as "TShilo12")

The powerful spiritual beauty of the mitzvah of tzitzit is something that the Kli Yakar emphasizes again and again.

This verse is famous for appearing in the third paragraph of the Kriyat Shema, a prayer said several times a day.

Minimally, Kriyat Shema should be said twice:

once in the morning
once right before going to sleep, as part of the Bedtime Prayer

Here, the Kli Yakar discusses how doing a mitzvah with technical perfection isn't the end of it:

....because one who acts out of love and serves Hashem in a state of joy is greater than he who fears God because he enjoys from the toil of his hands in Torah as Chazal said (Brachot 8a): "For he who acts with joy out of love enjoys from the actual toil."

Yet again, this is proof that Hashem wants us to enjoy every moment of life.

The Kli Yakar repeats a lot of what he already said about tzitzit in Parshat Titzaveh and adds even more beautiful thoughts:

....from amidst the love, one will come to profound intimacy [deveikut] with the Shechinah, the place of the sculpting of the soul, because each person who fears [automatically] distances from that which he fears.

But one who loves always strives to become intimate [l'dabek] with that which is beloved to him because in that way, he will come to his reward. It is apparent that this love is the purpose of success because through that, one merits intimacy with the Throne of Glory [Kisei Hakavod]. By peering and gazing at the sky, he will recall the Kisei Hakavod via the similarity in colors [i.e., the thread of techeilet].

Nice!

And what is the significance regarding the number of knots and strings in tzitzit?

And that is the reason for 8 strings and 5 knots; it all adds up to 13 which is the gematria of LOVE - אהבה.

(And yes, my edition does bold-face this word.)

And to continue on this theme of love, the Kli Yakar explains:

And there is one more mitzvah that recalls all the mitzvot.

And that is: "You shall love to your neighbor as yourself" (Vayikra 19:18).

And if so, one thread can bring a person to his ultimate purpose, as is instructed by the term "techeilet."

And this is a secret from the secrets of the Torah.

It's amazing what this routine and almost unnoticed mitzvah can do.

Tzitzit can seem like just part of "the uniform."

But really, it has an incredible power all its own.

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Where, O Where Have My Zealots Gone? Where, O Where Can They Be?

30/5/2016

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This isn't my son. But it's a nice picture of someone else's son.

Now is an odd time to enlist (or for your son to enlist) in the Israeli army if you live in a charedi neighborhood.
While charedim have always been against army service for several valid reasons (preferring instead to rely solely on prayer and mitzvot to protect our Land and our people), the recent upsurge of anti-enlistment sentiment accompanied by inflammatory (and sort of amusing, if you have the sense of humor of a 5-year-old) posters, pamphlets, fliers, along with a slur specifically created to describe charedi boys who join the IDF: chardak.

Walking around our neighborhood, you can see stickers slapped onto street sign poles and guard rails with charming slogans like: "Chardak hu chaidak!—A chardak is a germ!" Or possibly, "a cootie."

A couple of boys' schools were even handing out such stickers to their students.

Well, I've always known that my son would join the army. He used to sit in his high chair and bite his slice of whole wheat bread into the shape of a gun and then proudly show it off. For Purim, he has dressed in every type of soldier costume available, plus a police costume a couple of times. Since he was little, he has been obsessed with guns and artillery and soldiers and so on. He has always talked about becoming a soldier.

And now he is. And yes, I'm very proud of him.

So I told him that he is not really a chardak because the char stands for "charedi," which he is not, by his own definition. (But yes, he is religious. Just not charedi. Which is fine.)

He smiled.

But really, he doesn't care. He has never been afraid of confrontation (or afraid of anything, as far as I can tell) and said that when he would finally be in uniform, he intended to get off the bus at the first stop in our neighborhood and then walk home like that in the hope that doing so would provide ample opportunity for someone to yell chardak at him, and then he would jump them.

Except he wouldn't because at this age, he prefers verbal confrontation to physical confrontation.

Anyway, it didn't work.

Despite his hakpadah to put on his uniform every single time he needs to leave the house for any reason, no one has attacked him in any way. He wore his uniform to go check his motorcycle outside. He wore it to go out and help his father with the Erev Shabbat shopping. He wore it to get his post-Lag B'Omer haircut, and so on.

But it has all been one big disappointment.

So, what have the reactions been?

Well, a group of children gathered round him and held a whispered diyun about whether he was a real soldier or just dressing like one. The main machloket was centered on my son's lack of weaponry.
How can he be a soldier without a gun?
The inquisitive kinderlach struggled to come up with a satisfying teirutz.

Another time, a chassid approached him and asked if he was in Nachal Charedi.
"No," said my son.
"Huh," said the chassid.

At the barber shop, another chassid jokingly asked if my son planned to go to India after his stint in the army.
My son didn't answer.
No one else said anything.
The barber wished my son mazal tov on his enlistment.

His younger brothers accompanied him on some of his uniformed forays around the neighborhood, hoping to witness some action.

But, alas. Nothing.

Anyway, because every community has its hyped-up knuckleheads, I'm sure that at some point, someone will say or do something obnoxious.

But until then....
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Note: Just for knowing: Charedim are not innately against a Jewish army. (They even put together a fighting force during the Turkish occupation to ward off Bedouin marauders plaguing the fledgling Jewish settlement outside the Old City of Yerushalayim, learning Torah when they weren't engaged in active battle.) And while many Israeli soldiers are idealistic, sincere, and courageous, the elites running the IDF are not decent people; they weaken our fighting force and actively seek to cause unbearable problems. Furthermore, they have no respect or appreciation for the soldiers under their command, nor even for the very lives of the soldiers.
This is the source of the divide.

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The Kli Yakar - Parshat Beshalach

21/1/2016

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This week's Kli Yakar expounds on:

the Erev Rav
the role of Jewish women at the Sea and with the manna
the woman’s role in the future

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The Essential Link between Desire and Emuna

“And it was one Pharoah sent out the nation….” (13:17)

“And Hashem took the nation around through the Wilderness, the Reed Sea, and Bnei Yisrael went up armed from the land of Egypt.” (13:18)
___________________________
The Kli Yakar does not interpret “armed” as bearing physical weapons.

He notes that Jewish wars are not dependent on the strength and quantity of weapons. After all, he says, it doesn’t exactly demonstrate Hashem’s Glory if they march out armed to the teeth (as the word chamush [armed] implies five weapons per man), as opposed to marching out courageously unarmed and relying solely on Hashem.

Furthermore, he notes that at that point, the Jews could not have been skilled at using weapons because they’d been overwhelmed with performing slave labor.

So the Kli Yakar concludes that chamushim [armed] alludes to the Torah, which is called the Chumash because it contains 5 books. (In Hebrew, the number five is chamesh.) And because chamushim is synonymous with mezuyanim (armed), the number seven also means something (due to its root, zayin, the 7th letter of the Alef-Bet). And because Tehillim 119:164 states: "Seven times each day have I praised You," the Kli Yakar concludes that the Jewish nation’s true weapons are Torah and prayer.

Thus, the Kli Yakar states:

Immediately upon wanting to go to the Midbar (Wilderness/Desert)—and they didn’t say, "How can we go to the Midbar, an unsown land?"—they acquired emuna. And with this first acquisition, they were considered as if they were rooted in it [emuna]. Therefore, it says, "And they went up armed (chamushim)"—meaning that at that time, when they went up from the land of Egypt to the Midbar. And their process of acquiring emuna was finalized at the Reed Sea."

Why was this act of desire, this act of "wanting" so powerful?

Well, in the above verses, the Torah uses the word Am, generally translated as "nation." But Am is also a metaphor for different groups of people and therefore contains different meanings. This post will discuss only two of those.

Meaning #1 (which explains why the very act of wanting and then actually going meant so much for their acquirement of emuna): The Jewish people were not yet any different than the other nations. Practically speaking, they did not even have their own weapons or any way to defend themselves as normal nations do.
Spiritually speaking, they had not yet officially received the Torah and they did not have their unique status as God’s Chosen People, accompanied by their distinctive potential for the perfection unique to those who uphold the Torah’s commandments.

So on all levels, they were totally defenseless.

Yet they still followed Hashem out of Egypt.

The Sinai Desert

Meaning #2: The Erev Rav.
While the regular Jews would not return to Egypt under any circumstances, Hashem knew that the Erev Rav would run back the moment they faced battle. The circuitous route to the Promised Land was necessary solely because of them.

.…for Bnei Yisrael, this whole circuitous route was not necessary because Bnei Yisrael went up armed with weapons because they are believing sons, the sons of believers and people who trust in Hashem’s Salvation—and that is their weapon. And they would be trustworthy in war. But any decrease of trust (bitachon) comes from the Erev Rav….

The Erev Rav

“And the king of Egypt was told that the people (the Am) had escaped….” (14:5)
Here, Pharaoh’s use of Am refers to the Erev Rav again.

Now, contrary to popular belief, Pharaoh did not chase down the nascent Jewish nation with a huge army. According to the Kli Yakar, he didn’t have time to get all the equipment together from all over Egypt. Furthermore, after the 10 Plagues, there were hardly any animals left with which to equip an army. So he just took what there was from his nation’s capital and set out after the Jewish people.

Why was Pharaoh so confident about recapturing millions of people with such a small army?

Because he relied on the innate faithlessness and cowardice of the Erev Rav.

He was sure that the Erev Rav, upon realizing they were trapped between a wasteland, a sea, and the Egyptian army, would say, "Hashem has turned away from Yisrael" and want to come back to Egypt.
The Kli Yakar quotes Pharaoh as saying,

"….it is certainly the will of the Erev Rav to return Egyptward, except that Yisrael doesn’t allow them to do so. And when they’ll see that we are coming to their aid (l’ezratam), they will rebel against Yisrael and will return to us…." ….And now, the heart of Pharaoh and his servants turned toward the Am [the Erev Rav] and his heart turned from hatred to love, as he said, "Now I need them because without a doubt, they will be a help for me when they see that Hashem has turned away from Yisrael."

(More about the origins of the hatred of the Egyptians for the Erev Rav can be found in Who were The Original Erev Rav?)

Of course, this holds several parallels with the Jewish situation today:

The fact that Pharaoh was so certain in his belief that Hashem had abandoned the Jewish people and that the Erev Rav would interpret the situation in that way, too.
The fact that Pharaoh saw his pursuit, accompanied by the intent to re-enslave them, as "coming to their aid"—or, in the words of Ronald Reagan: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I’m from the government and I’m here to help!' "
And see how Pharaoh hated the Erev Rav, but in their moment of seeming helplessness, he suddenly loved them.

"Aw, look at that," you can imagine the Erev Rav saying. "Pharaoh loves us!"

How touching.

And don’t we see those in our nation today who hanker after the "love" of our enemies?

Today, our enemies rely on the disloyalty of the Erev Rav—and with good reason.

Despite claims to the contrary, Israel does not actually need the world’s approval as much as everyone claims. Israel is a nuclear power and one of the prime innovators in a variety of necessary fields: the USB flash drive, micro-irrigation, e-reader technology, weapons technology, intelligence, Intel technology, medical clowns, surgical techniques, and much, much more. While some wring their hands about the Swedes (or anyone else) boycotting our products, it would be so easy—and much more distressing—for Israel to boycott them or anyone else in the world.
(Or at least sell to them at wildly inflated prices.)

And we have seen many times how alleged Jews—even externally frum ones—are willing to not only abandon the Jewish people, but in the words of the Kli Yakar, actually rebel against them—just as Pharaoh expected the Erev Rav to do against Bnei Yisrael. Heartbreakingly, there are many present-day examples of this.

At the time of this writing, the assault on Amona is the only the most recent example.
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The Jewish Women at the Crossing of the Sea

“Then Moshe and Bnei Yisrael sang this song (shira) to Hashem….” (15:1)
This blog already discussed the Kli Yakar’s differentiation between the masculine shir (song) and the feminine shira (song) in relation to the suffering inherent in childbirth in Parshat V’zoht Habracha.

Basically, all the songs of This World are called shira because suffering continues even after people are done singing a joyous song.

But in our glorious future, we will all sing shir—because there will be no more suffering after the song is over.

Here, the Kli Yakar explains that not only do women suffer a lot from childbirth—while men don’t—but that a woman only inherits a tenth of her father’s estate "in This World"—while a man inherits it all.
In parallel, he writes, Yisrael currently "inherits" from Hashem the territory of only 10% of the nations in This World (7 out of a total of 70 nations).

Yet regarding our glorious future, Tehillim 33:3 says, “Sing to Him a new shir.”

Furthermore, the term used in this verse--yashir—actually means "will sing"—a hint at the Resurrection of the Dead, according to the Kli Yakar.

And then Yisrael will inherit everything, like men do now.

Because in the World to Come, everyone will be shed from the physical, and then males and females will be equal.

The Kli Yakar sees yet another hint of this future in the Mechilta’s well-known statement: "A maidservant saw at the Sea what Yechezekel never saw" and Yirmeyahu 31:21: "A female tisovev a man."

This word lisovev (its infinitive form) seems open to different interpretations.

Literally, it clearly means "to encircle" or "to go around."

Rashi interprets it as "will go after," as in "to return after the male to request of him that he’ll marry her" (and most of the commentators follow this interpretation), while at the same time acknowledging that Rebbi Yehudah Hadarshan interpreted it as "a woman will go around to become a man."

Rabbi Elihu Levine (who produced the fabulous English rendering of the Kli Yakar) translates it as "should surpass" while acknowledging Rashi's interpretation as "will court" (as in courting someone for marriage).

Yet when our Sages speak of how Hashem is misavev something, it generally means "orchestrates" or "arranges."

The commentaries interpret this verse in a wholly metaphorical manner, while the Kli Yakar (apparently following Rebbi Yehudah Hadarshan) takes it literally.

So I’m not going to translate because I’m not sure how.

(But I’m open to suggestions.)

Furthermore, the Kli Yakar notes that in another 20 verses, it says, "And Miriam replied to them/lahem," which is the masculine form, as opposed to lahen, the feminine form of "to them."

So let’s go there now.

“And Miriam the Prophetess, the sister of Aharon, took the drum in her hand and all the women went out after her with drums and dancing. And Miriam replied to them (lahem), ‘Sing to Hashem for He is the Most Exalted'….” (15:20-21)

….because the prophecy started within Miriam and all the women went out following in her footsteps here because they all merited prophecy. And because the Divine Presence cannot rest on anyone unless they are in a state of joy, and because women experience the suffering of childbirth, so she [Miriam] took the drum in her hand and all the women went out after her with drums and dancing so that the holy spirit (ruach hakodesh) would come upon them amidst joy.

The Reed Sea at the coast of the Sinai Desert

The Kli Yakar notes that Miriam Haneviah addressed the women in masculine form because at the Sea, they merited the same level of prophecy as the men.

Reading his entire commentary on this event, the Kli Yakar automatically assumes the men’s attainment of this high level of prophecy, while he considers the fact that the women received the same level to be a wondrous thing.

And no, I don’t know why he differentiates in this way when he clearly acknowledges a woman’s ability to attain prophecy on her own, as is seen in his commentary regarding other prophetesses like Sara Imeinu, Rivka Imeinu, Miriam Haneviah, etc.

Later, the Kli Yakar explains that macholot (dancing) is related to the word for forgiveness (mechilah). He says that we also learn from Miriam’s dancing that anyone who "utters a song" after a miracle was done for him, "it is known that he [or she!] is forgiven for all their sins."

(This is great advice, by the way.)
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Jewish Women and the Manna from Heaven

“And each man said to his brother, ‘What is it?’…..”(16:15)

The Kli Yakar notes that in verse 16:31, it says, "the house of Yisrael (beit Yisrael) called it manna."
Why doesn’t it say "Bnei Yisrael [children of Israel]"?

….Because “beit Yisrael” means “the women”….the women were the most fond of the manna, so they named it….they wanted its existence because it made the righteousness of the women known….it told who sinned against whom—the husband against his wife or his wife against him.
If the manna was found by her father’s house then certainly, her husband sinned against her and vice versa, etc. Therefore, the women were fond of it because it made their righteousness known because the majority of women are wronged (menutzachim) by the men….

(Linguistic note: The word menutzachim comes from the word l'natzeach, which means to conquer or be victorious over. I'm not sure whether "wronged" is the best translation here, but I'm open to suggestions.)

Well, that’s all I can fit in this week. There is a lot more to the Kli Yakar’s commentary on this week’s parsha (regarding physical and spiritual healing, etc.), but this will have to do for now.

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The Breslover on a Bicycle: A Love Story

19/1/2016

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One summer evening, my teenage son and his friends saw a Yerushalmi man in his thirties trying to ride a bicycle. The bike kept wobbling and falling, but the man seemed cheerfully determined to ride it. He noticed the boys watching him and said, "It must seem pretty odd to see a guy learning how to ride a bicycle at my age, eh?"
The boys smiled bashfully and nodded.
The chassid spoke the kind of Hebrew that, while clearly fluent, still indicated that he was more used to speaking Yiddish.
"Well," he said, "I grew up in the Geula-Meah Shearim area of Jerusalem and we weren’t allowed to ride bikes."
He didn’t seem at all resentful about it and added that he really liked how he grew up—"but bicycles just weren’t an acceptable activity in my circles, that's all."
My son nodded. He learns in a Geula yeshiva and is familiar with the different customs of different groups in that area.

"But now," the chassid continued, "I live in Bnei Brak and in order to go to hasadeh (the field) to do hitbodedut (personal prayer), I need a bicycle. It’s too far to walk and the buses don’t really go there."
The boys stared at him without replying.
Hitbodedut? Hasadeh? He could only be Breslov.
But in those boys' world, all Breslovers were Sefardi Israeli baalei teshuvah.

So it was easy for them to forget that Breslov—like every other Chassidus—started out in Eastern Europe among Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews whose descendents ended up in Jerusalem and who wore black pants tucked into white socks just below the knee.
My son also enjoyed how this seemingly typical chalmer (a Chassid born and raised in the Geula-Meah Shearim area) still used Breslov terms like hitbodedut and hasadeh (literally "the field," but Breslovers use it colloquially to indicate a place in nature in which to do hitbodedut). The boys asked him if he knew Rav Shalom Arush and he said that he had run into Rav Arush b’sadeh ("in the field") a couple of times and had liked him very much, and felt a lot of respect and admiration for all the work Rav Arush was doing. Then he asked the boys for bicycle-riding tips and they told him he needed to pedal faster to maintain balance, even giving him a personal demonstration. After watching them do it, he got back on his bicycle and tried pedaling faster. Sure enough, the riding went a lot smoother. He thanked the boys and, with a cheerful wave, he rode away to keep on practicing.
It was the kind of encounter that only Hashem can orchestrate, the kind that no matter good a parent you try to be, you really need an interaction like this to inculcate certain principles into your child:

The most mundane objects can be used for kedushah and to increase ahavat Yisrael—even a bicycle.
Intimate connection with Hashem via personal prayer is normal enough to mention in casual conversation (as opposed to being something that only tzaddikim or fervent eccentrics do).
Hitbodedut is so personally desirable and pleasurable that it compels one to learn a new skill and go out of one’s way to pursue it.
Childhood "deprivations" don’t need to be experienced as "deprivation" and can be made up for and even enhanced in adulthood.
Jews of different—even wildly different—ethnicities and backgrounds can still really like and appreciate each other.

And there you have it.

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The Breslover on a Bicycle: A Love Story

Myrtle Rising

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