Friday, September 5, 2014

Parsha Ki Seitzei Part 1, Elul, Stories and News for Armeggeon



This is my buddy from the Astronomy Club at my University. He married his College sweetheart and they have been together for 44 years a few months before I made Aliyah to Yisrael. DANIEL BEN RIVKA is on my prayer list. Here is his story in an appeal from his wife. https://jewishmiddlesex.org/federation-news-stream/a-member-of-our-community-is-in-urgent-need-of-a-kidney-transplant-du-bois

Chaim S. sent me this below from Phil Robertson the Hamas and the Jihadists love death note the second word is Hamas in Hebrew Mishlei 8:36 “But one who sins against me despoils his soul; all who hate me love death.”
 וְחֹטְאִי, חֹמֵס נַפְשׁוֹ;    כָּל-מְשַׂנְאַי, אָהֲבוּ מָוֶת.

Parsha Ki Seitzei Part 1

We sometimes make little errors and sometimes larger errors that is why it is important to repent especially in the month of Elul. I made, in my opinion, a large blooper last week. I wrote that Parsha Shoftim was with more Mitzvos. Actually it is in 6th place with 41 Mitzvos. This week’s Parsha starts off with Mitzva 532 and ends with the Mitzva 605 or a total of 74 Mitzvos and is the largest.
In fact almost everywhere we turn there is another Mitzva in this Parsha. We start out with going to war with our enemies and we end with the command to remember what Amalek did unto us. Due to my wanting to cover as many Mitzvos as possible, I broke this up into two parts as the next weeks until the end of the Torah we only have 8 Mitzvos left.

21:10 When thou go forth to battle against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God delivers them into thy hands, and thou carry them away captive,

If you go out to war: The verse here is referring to an optional war [i.e., non-obligatory] (Sifrei 21:1), since in reference to the [obligatory] war [to conquer] the land of Israel, it would be inappropriate to say “and you take his captives” because it has already been stated [regarding the seven nations of Canaan],“[from these peoples’ cities…] you shall not allow any soul to live.” (Deut. 20: 16). And you take his captives: Heb. וְשָׁבִיתָ שִׁבְיוֹ. [The double language here comes] to include Canaanites in their midst, even though they are from the seven nations. — [Sifrei 21:2; Sotah 35b]


This is allegorically a war with the Yetzer HaRa. The beautiful captive is the Yetzer inside of you that makes things beautiful to you.

11 and see among the captives a woman of goodly form, and thou hast a desire unto her, and would take her to thee to wife;

A…woman: Heb. אֵשֶׁת, even a married woman (אֵשֶׁת אִישׁ). - [Kid. 21b] [and you desire her,] you may take [her] for yourself as a wife: [Not that you are commanded to take this woman as a wife,] but Scripture [in permitting this marriage] is speaking only against the evil inclination [, which drives him to desire her]. For if the Holy One, blessed is He, would not permit her to him, he would take her illicitly. [The Torah teaches us, however, that] if he marries her, he will ultimately come to despise her, as it says after this, “If a man has [two wives-one beloved and the other despised]” (verse 15); [moreover] he will ultimately father through her a wayward and rebellious son (see verse 18). For this reason, these passages are juxtaposed. — [Tanchuma 1]


This is similar to the conversion of a slave where all the woman has to do is go to Mikvah and she becomes a bas Yisrael and her children are considered part of the Nation. This Mitzva and that of the non-Jewish slave and Yebum does not exist today. The Pilegesh or concubine/mistress was not a Mitzva from the Torah but an excepted convention in ancient times. Theoretically like Yebum can exist but we do not hear of these things nowadays although sometimes when a wife refuses a GET or complicates matters this happens. The 849 cases of two wives with the agreement of the Rabbis is probably more common than the Pilegesh which usually is a civil divorce and marriage while the woman refusing the GET gets her act together.  

12 then thou shalt bring her home to thy house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails; 13 and she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thy house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month; and after that thou may go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. 14 And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not deal with her as a slave, because thou hast humbled her.

This was the convention of war in those days and the man was given a cooling off period from the woman for a month to calm down his Yetzer. The problem with taking by force a woman is the possibility of hatred and the production of a rebellious son such as Abshalom. 

15 If a man have two wives, the one beloved, and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the first-born son be hers that was hated;

I do not think that this is real hatred for if it were so unless the Ketubah was so high, he would give her a GET. Rather the word hate is used as he is not madly in love with her. Today if a man wanted to take a second wife, the first one would have to agree to that. The exception being a woman who refuses to accept a Get from her husband and therefore the Rabbis allow him a second wife.

16 then it shall be, in the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved the first-born before the son of the hated, who is the first-born;

This first born son gets the double portion. There are tricks via the Beis Din to let the children inherit equal or the daughter to inherit too.

17 but he shall acknowledge the first-born, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath; for he is the first-fruits of his strength, the right of the first-born is his.

Since he is truly the first born son, he shall get the double portion.

18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, that will not hearken to the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten him, will not hearken unto them;

The Talmud uses the example of Avshalom ben Chaggit to show that Chaggit was a captive woman and the off-spring was Avshalom who rebelled against David. 

19 then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; 20 and they shall say unto the elders of his city: 'This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he doth not hearken to our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.' 21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die; so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

The rebellious son can be only between the age of 13 to 13.5 years old and the voices of the mother and father must be similar according to the Rabbis. At the age of 13 he only was a glutton but it is because of the future. He will steal to support his gluttony and let him be killed young rather that a full adult stealing and pillaging in her rampage.

22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree;

If a man commits a sin for which he is sentenced to death: The juxtaposition of these passages [i.e., this one and that of the wayward and rebellious son] teaches [us] that if his father and mother spare him, he will eventually lead an evil life style and commit [grave] sins for which he will be sentenced to death by the court. — [Tanchuma 1] You shall [then] hang him on a pole: Our Rabbis said: All who are stoned [by the court] must [afterwards] be hanged, for the verse (23) says, “a hanging [human corpse] is a blasphemy of God.” [Thus, we find that the sin of blasphemy is connected with hanging,] and a blasphemer is punished by stoning. [Consequently, our Rabbis taught that all those stoned must be hanged.]- [San. 45b]


You should not insult the image of G-D therefore he is hung for a very short time and hung only after he is declared dead.

23 his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt surely bury him the same day; for he that is hanged is a reproach unto God; that thou defile not thy land which the LORD thy God give thee for an inheritance.

G-D gave you the land keep in pure, clean physically and holy.

22:1 Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep driven away, and hide thyself from them; thou shalt surely bring them back unto thy brother. 2 And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, and thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it home to thy house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother require it, and thou shalt restore it to him.

A story is told of a man who forgot some chickens on a path in the days of Rabbi Yochanan of the Talmud Yerushalmi and I believe it was Rabbi Channina who found them and feed them and afterwards bought a milk goat in their place and from the cheese and milk bought more and more until he had a herd. Sometime later the man came an enquired if somebody had seen the chickens and taken them in. Instead he was brought a small herd of goats and blessed HASHEM.

3 And so shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his garment; and so shalt thou do with every lost thing of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found; thou may not hide thyself. 4 Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide thyself from them; thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.

Helping your neighbor and his valuables will bring peace among the nation besides the Mitzvah.

5 A woman shall not wear that which pertains unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment; for whosoever doeth these things is an abomination unto the LORD thy God.

This refers to cross dressing and transvestite behavior. It does not apply to a Purim Spiel but one should avoid even this if possible and pin up a picture of the clothing of the other sex. It is more common to put on a wig from the wife and play hippie or non-religious and not a dress or blouse.

6 If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young; 7 thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, but the young thou may take unto thyself; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.

Prolong your days refers to the next day.

In order that it should be good for you, [and you should lengthen your days]: If in the case of a commandment easy [to fulfill, like this one] for which there is no monetary expense, Scripture says,“[Do this] in order that it should be good for you, and that you should lengthen your days,” then how much greater is the reward for [the fulfillment of] commandments that are more difficult to observe [or for which there is a monetary expense]. — [Sifrei 22:64, Chul. 142a]

There are two commandments that state lengthening ones days that of honoring the parents and the bird’s nest. It once happen that a father told his son to climb a palm tree to take the young from the bird’s nest on top. He did but fell down and died from a massive head injury. “Acher” saw it and did not know about the commentary on the next world. He became a rebellious elder and left the Torah observance. He knew the Kabbala and was one of the 4 who went into Pardes and only Rabbi Akiva who learned for the sake of heaven came out without being injured by learning Kabbala.

8 When thou build a new house, then thou shalt make a parapet for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thy house, if any man fall from thence.

This is a positive command. The elderly tend to fall from stairs without railings. I had ordered railings but my step-father arrived before them and he fell. He must have been about 90 at the time. Fortunately nothing happened to him. All the more so a roof. For if one doesn’t do so, he is likened to a murderer.

9 Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with two kinds of seed; lest the fullness of the seed which thou hast sown be forfeited together with the increase of the vineyard.

This Mitzva is similar to those in Lev. 19 regarding grain and animal mixtures or garments which we had a few weeks ago. However, we have a Chiddush here because it is a vineyard.

10 Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.           

This was covered in Lev. 19.

11 Thou shalt not wear a mingled stuff, wool and linen together. 12 Thou shalt make thee twisted cords upon the four corners of thy covering, wherewith thou cover thyself. 13 If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,

We are talking about the wedding night. Either he was brutal and she shy or she showed her worse half at him or she was not a virgin when she was supposed to be. The Talmud Bavli states that when a woman becomes older the hymen becomes broken and one cannot tell if she was or wasn’t a virgin. The signs of virginity is only necessary for an engaged woman but not for non-engaged woman.

14 and lay wanton charges against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say: 'I took this woman, and when I came nigh to her, I found not in her the tokens of virginity'; 15 then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate. 16 And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders: 'I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hates her; 17 and, lo, he hath laid wanton charges, saying: I found not in thy daughter the tokens of virginity; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity.' And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city. 18 And the elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him. 19 And they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel; and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.

We could not do this today for there is too much ability to draw blood from a vein and put on an act that she was a virgin. The punishment of not being able to divorce her after this encounter will make his days miserable all his life. It is far better to be quiet and divorce after a month or two and that is the best thing.

20 But if this thing be true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the damsel; 21 then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die; because she hath wrought a wanton deed in Israel, to play the harlot in her father's house; so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee.

This assumes that she did Erusim which is an engagement by money or contract because the third possibility would make her a non-virgin as he would go into her. At that time the Chupa was up to close to a year after the engagement. Now everything is done under the Chupa the ring is money, the Ketubah is the contract and the private room is as if he went into her. The Chupa and the blessings constitute the marriage.  

22 If a man be found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both of them die, the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so shalt thou put away the evil from Israel.

If there is no sign of forced entry into a house or ripped clothing and black and blue marks on the woman.

23 If there be a damsel that is a virgin betrothed unto a man, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; 24 then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die: the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbor's wife; so thou shalt put away the evil from the midst of thee.

Again one has to check if there was hanky-panky involved or a use of force and a gag, drug or something else. Today with the noises in a modern city or screams from TV programs the screams could be mistaken by others to be a loud play or movie.

25 But if the man find the damsel that is betrothed in the field, and the man take hold of her, and lie with her; then the man only that lay with her shall die. 26 But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death; for as when a man rises against his neighbor, and slays him, even so is this matter. 27 For he found her in the field; the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.

In this case the man is guilty and worthy of death. However, he will get off in each case if there were not two witnesses who warned him.

28 If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, that is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; 29 then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he hath humbled her; he may not put her away all his days.

If it was rape he is going to have a living hell all his life but if mutual consent they better still be lovers until 120 years.

23:1 A man shall not take his father's wife, and shall not uncover his father's skirt.

This is the Pshat of the story of Reuven but the Medrash says that he only took his father’s bed out of her tent and put it in his mother’s tent and it is as if he slept with her.

2 He that is crushed or maimed in his privy parts shall not enter into the assembly of the LORD.

This is a blemish that we cannot see except by signs of a lack of a beard and a higher pitch voice.

3 A bastard shall not enter into the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation shall none of his enter into the assembly of the LORD.

The Maumzer cannot marry a Jew or participate in activities in the Temple. A male Maumzer can marry a non-Jew and then she can convert and his children too and they are considered Gerim. As for the females she marries a non-Jew who can convert after her death or a divorce and then if she has males the process can end otherwise it is a cycle that continues non-stop.

4 An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation shall none of them enter into the assembly of the LORD forever; 5 because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Aram-naharaim, to curse thee. 6 Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee. 7 Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days forever.

Sancheriv mixed up the nations but those who act this way shall not be accepted as converts.

8 Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he is thy brother; thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou was a stranger in his land. 9 The children of the third generation that are born unto them may enter into the assembly of the LORD.

The grandchild of a couple of Egyptians can enter the assembly as a full Jew. However, we do not know whom they are as the original Egyptians are long gone and mixed among dozens of nations. Nowadays we can observe neither regarding the Moab Nation or original Egyptians and we accept all Gerim into the Congregation.   

10 When thou go forth in camp against thine enemies, then thou shalt keep thee from every evil thing. 11 If there be among you any man, that is not clean by reason of that which chances him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp.

This is called Kerry in Hebrew and the man is repugnant to others until he washes he garments and goes to the Mikvah. Ezra made a Gezaira of 9 Kavim of water used to wash his body this is about 36 liters.

12 But it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall bathe himself in water; and when the sun is down, he may come within the camp. 13 Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad. 14 And thou shalt have a paddle among thy weapons; and it shall be, when thou sit down abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee. 15 For the LORD thy God walks in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy; that He see no unseemly thing in thee, and turn away from thee.

The holy camp of Yisrael must be ritually pure so that all latrine going shall be covered up and adsorbed in the earth and that is what a paddle or shovel is for.

16 Thou shalt not deliver unto his master a bondman that is escaped from his master unto thee; 17 he shall dwell with thee, in the midst of thee, in the place which he shall choose within one of thy gates, where it likes him best; thou shalt not wrong him.

It was assumed that if the slave was given food and clothing and treated properly, he would never run from his food, clothing and shelter of the master.

Rashi writes the following: You shall not deliver a slave: As the Targum [Onkelos] renders it [עֲבַד עַמְמִין, a Jewish servant who had been sold to a gentile] (Gittin 45a). Another explanation: even a Canaanite servant of an Israelite who fled from outside the land to the Land of Israel. — [Gittin 45a]

18 There shall be no harlot of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a sodomite of the sons of Israel. 19 Thou shalt not bring the hire of a harlot, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow; for even both these are an abomination unto the LORD thy God.

This is a horrid act for any woman and all the more so for a bas Yisrael from Sara, Rivka, Rachel and Leah.

20 Thou shalt not lend upon interest to thy brother: interest of money, interest of victuals, and interest of anything that is lent upon interest. 21 Unto a foreigner thou may lend upon interest; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon interest; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou put thy hand unto, in the land whither thou go in to possess it.

However, a business loan is a form of partnership and one can charge if he has a Heter Iskar for the same man could have lent out to other places with much less a payment for partnership.  

22 When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not be slack to pay it; for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it will be sin in thee. 23 But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee. 24 That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt observe and do; according as thou hast vowed freely unto the LORD thy God, even that which thou hast promised with thy mouth.

Chachamim of blessed memory ordained that one should not make a vow. This is why we say Kol Nidre to annul our vows, oaths etc. except when required by Beis Din.

25 When thou come into thy neighbor's vineyard, then thou may eat grapes until thou have enough at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel.

When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard: Scripture is speaking of a worker [who enters his employer’s vineyard to work there]. — [B.M. 87b] As you desire: As many as you wish. Until you are sated: But not excessive eating. — [B.M. 87b] You shall not place [any] into your vessel: From here [we learn that] Scripture is referring only to the period of the vintage, when you place [grapes] into the owner’s vessel (B.M. 87b). However, if the worker is entering [the vineyard] in order to hoe or or cover the exposed roots [with earth], he may not eat [any of the grapes]. — [B.M. 89b]


26 When thou come into thy neighbor's standing corn, then thou may pluck ears with thy hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbor's standing corn.

When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain: This [verse] too, is speaking of a worker [who enters his employer’s grain field, to work there]. — [B.M. 87b]


24:1 When a man takes a wife, and marries her, then it cometh to pass, if she find no favor in his eyes, because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he writes her a bill of divorcement, and gives it in her hand, and sends her out of his house,

This is the Get written on twelve lines of parchment. With that certificate she is free to marry anybody but a Cohain and for that reason a Cohain should be very sure of his partner before marriage and try to repair an on-going marriage.

2 and she departs out of his house, and goes and becomes another man's wife, 3 and the latter husband hates her, and writes her a bill of divorcement, and gives it in her hand, and sendsh her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, who took her to be his wife; 4 her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD; and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God gives thee for an inheritance.

This prevents a conspiracy that the man divorces the wife so that she can marry a very rich man and they plan to get together later.

5 When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out in the host, neither shall he be charged with any business; he shall be free for his house one year, and shall cheer his wife whom he hath taken.

This is only in a war for conquest but a defensive war a man is dragged into it from even from the Chupa to defend the land. I heard a firsthand horror story from the Shoah of a man who was under the Chupa and fled leaving behind his dead bride and both families. He was so traumatized and having lost his love he never married. We had stories now of engaged couples and newlyweds in this past war.
Next week, we shall start off with why one cannot take a mill stone or in modern terms a laptop for a pledge on a loan.  

Forwarded to me by Sheldon: A Hate Incident in LA by Elon Gold http://www.aish.com/print/?contentID=272873801&section=/jw/s


An Arab yelled at me, my wife and our four kids: “I hope your children die! Just like you’re killing children in Gaza!”
Last Friday night, instead of having my usual guests for a festive Friday night dinner in my home, I had three compassionate Los Angeles Police Department officers standing in my kitchen explaining the difference between a “hate crime” and a “hate incident.” My family was the victim of the latter.
We were walking home in Los Angeles after a Friday night dinner at a friend’s house, dressed nicely for Shabbat, easily identifiable as a Jewish family. We waited for a light to change on a corner of a major intersection when a black Mercedes SUV pulled up alongside us. Four Middle-Eastern men in their 20s were in the car. The one in the back rolled down his window and yelled, “Free Palestine!”
I immediately turned to face them, knowing I was in danger, remembering the rabbi who was gunned down in Miami on his way to synagogue. This was the beginning of either a hate crime or a hate incident, but either way, hate was coming our way. We all know too well that “Free Palestine” means free Palestine from every Jew. As they chant “Free Palestine, from the river to the sea,” that doesn’t mean they want a two-state solution — they want Hitler’s Final Solution and a Jew-free Middle East.
Then this Arab young man opened the car door, stepped onto the street and yelled at me, my wife and four young children: “I hope your children die! Just like you are killing children in Gaza!”
We all stood silently in utter horror and fear.
Then he got back in the Mercedes and they drove off. We were in a state of complete shock. My 10-year-old daughter immediately started crying and couldn’t stop. She kept yelling, “I’m scared.” My 5-year-old daughter asked me why they want her to die. My other kids were too rattled to say anything.
I was stunned that I can no longer feel safe walking on Shabbat with my family in my city. I kept reading about all the anti-Semitism all over Europe, but here in these United States? That my innocent children had to be exposed to this level of anti-Semitism has shaken me to my core. These people weren’t just yelling “Jew bastard” as I’d experienced growing up in the Bronx; they were wishing my children dead, right to their angelic faces. This was beyond appalling.
I couldn’t believe that they were filled with such hatred and ignorance, and that someone could go as far as wishing my children dead and blaming me for the death of children in Gaza. Me?! I’ve been killing children in Gaza? I’m a comedian. The only killing I’m personally responsible for is the killing of the audiences I’ve performed for. And the only “bombing” I’m guilty of are those rare sets where I don’t quite connect with the crowd.
Like any good, moral person, I hate to see death and destruction anywhere. As we are taught in Proverbs, “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles.” I would have loved to have shared with them that I’m against war and the loss of innocent life. But they didn’t want to hear it. They wanted to spew hatred. I would’ve gladly had an intellectual discussion with them about the fact that all of humanity should join together against terrorists like Hamas and ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria), who are slaughtering innocents, but they didn’t want to listen.
I would’ve been happy to debate them on the fact that Israel has a right to defend itself against a terrorist group who is firing a barrage of rockets at every citizen. Or that had Hamas accepted the first cease-fire, no children in Gaza would’ve been killed. Or about their firing from hospitals and schools and other densely populated areas in order to get the civilian casualty numbers higher, gaining Israel worldwide condemnation. That the leaders of Israel have called every innocent civilian death “a great tragedy,” while the leaders of Hamas consider every innocent civilian death “a great victory.”
Or that Gaza is no longer “occupied.” Or the fact that the definition of the word “occupation” doesn’t apply to a country that won land in defensive wars. Wars that were attempts at the total annihilation of Israel. Wars that were thrust upon them before any “blockades” or “settlements” or “occupation” or any of the other made-up words that are now used to justify killing Jews. Or that much of the suffering of the Palestinian people is a direct result of their elected leadership, just as the suffering of Arabs in most Middle-Eastern countries is at the hands of their oppressive regimes. That the Arabs who enjoy real freedom, including freedom to worship any sect of any religion, freedom to speak their minds, freedom to be gay, are the Israeli-Arabs living in Israel. Or simply educate them on the 3,000-year history of our people in our tiny homeland and our willingness and desire to live in peace with our Arab neighbors.
But they didn’t want a debate. They just wanted to hate. They wanted to terrorize my family and they did. But as I explained to my crying and visibly shaken kids as we walked home, “They said they wanted us dead — now imagine living in Israel where every day they don’t just say it, they actually attempt to kill all of the Israeli children, and tragically just today they murdered a 4-year-old Israeli boy with a Hamas rocket.” Not the most comforting words to young, rattled children, but now that their innocence was shattered, I felt that it was important for them to understand the reality of the world they are living in.
The LAPD officers who were dispatched to my house were extremely kind and compassionate. In fact, the first officer who showed up was Jewish and very comforting to my children. I, too, was comforted by him and by the knowledge that there were Jewish men and women protecting the citizens of Los Angeles. (At least more than the one Jewish officer I heard about in Malibu, at whom Mel Gibson directed his anti-Semitic tirade.) This officer really put my kids at ease and told them not to be scared. It also didn’t hurt that he told us that he and his wife enjoyed my work, especially when I’ve hosted the Chabad Telethon.
Then two more officers showed up to take the report. It was explained to us that it would’ve been a hate crime if they had said they were going to kill us, instead of merely hoping we got killed, which makes it a hate incident. Try explaining that differentiation to a 10-year-old girl who was just told to die.
I feel so sad that my children’s innocence was lost at that very moment. That they were unwillingly and instantaneously initiated into the “We Hate You Because of WHAT You Are” club. That they now know the harsh reality that just because they were born into a Jewish family they are targets and subject to death threats. That they can be blamed and scapegoated for things they have nothing to do with. That they are hated.
I can write a 50-page piece about where all the hatred comes from. There are too many reasons to point fingers at. The media, (I’m talking to you CNN, The New York Times, etc.), who instead of reporting on every single rocket fired into Israel, chooses to focus on every civilian casualty of this war, instigated and perpetuated by Hamas. Constantly providing the numbers of the dead, instead of the number, 11, which is the number of cease-fires Hamas has broken, thereby causing all of this death and destruction. Repeatedly displaying images of dead civilians without any of the context that many of the dead are terrorists and that any real civilian casualties were victims of Hamas’ double war crimes of firing rockets at innocent civilians while using their innocent civilians as human shields. Or that a number of casualties include civilians who were killed by errant Hamas rockets.
This is what fuels the fire and allows people to think they now have the right to wish death upon my children.
I can blame my fellow “comedian” Russell Brand who has the audacity to say that Hamas is firing “harmless’ rockets. Harmless?! Tell that to the family of the 4-year-old Israeli boy who was murdered by a “harmless” Hamas rocket.
The world is buying into this propaganda. They’re allowing the terrorists to win this media intifada. They are actually listening to celebrities like Javier Bardem and Roger Waters using the word “genocide” to describe Israel’s actions toward the Palestinian people, when the only genocide occurring in the Middle East is by folks in the Bashar Assad regime, which murdered 170,000 innocents, or in ISIS, which is murdering innocent Christians and others who are not of their beliefs. Oh yeah, and the attempted genocide of every Jew in Israel, a genocide that is codified in Hamas’ very own charter, one that has been stopped thanks to the Iron Dome and the destruction of the terror tunnels, which were built for an actual genocide.
I can go on and on about how all of the pro-Palestinian rallies have signs that say “Death to Jews” and praise Hitler, and why Jews everywhere are now targets of hate crimes, hate incidents, vandalism and murder. I could … but I have jokes to write. Because I’m trying to make the world a better place with laughter. Sadly, we now live in a world full of people who love to hate, more than they love to laugh.
This article originally appeared in the Jewish Journal

From Sheldon: Re head covering of married women article by Liba Pearson: http://www.aish.com/sp/so/High-Priestess.html

High Priestess by Liba Pearson The shmata on my head is a statement as bold as my red curls: I am proud to be a Jew.
I grew up in a home that was deeply Jewishly identified – active in our synagogue and community – though we didn’t keep a traditionally observant household. Becoming a rabbi was one of professional options in the back of my head; after all, Jewishness was the most significant part of my identity and self-understanding. (Except maybe being a redhead.)
Sometime around the end of college, I started reading more about Jewish thought and practice. Over a period of several years, I added more traditional observance to my life, weighing carefully what rituals appealed to me and which didn’t. Eventually, much to my surprise, I fell completely off the deep end and embraced a lifestyle guided fully by Jewish law. There were plenty of aspects that didn’t appeal to me, but I had made a decision that one cannot embrace the system piecemeal or the system falls apart. And then, there was that aspect of Law: It doesn’t get applied based on what you like or don’t.
One of the aspects I most struggled with was the requirement that women cover their hair after marriage. (See above: Redhead.) I didn’t care whether I had to wear a full-on hijab (we don’t do that) or one of those little lace beanies some women wore to temple when I was growing up, I like my hair and I don’t like covering it.
It’s now been quite a few years since my hair has seen the sky, and, until recently, I still disliked covering it about as much as the very first day I had to do it.
My relatives and close friends all reacted differently as I became more observant. Some of them were more accepting of it than others (and some thought my heretofore-considered-impressive brain had fallen out of my head completely). I didn’t blame them: The reality is that someone close to you becoming observant does affect you. No longer could I easily eat in their homes, or go to the restaurant of their choice. No longer could I participate in family events on a Friday night or Saturday without an army of logistics. Working out weekend visits got complicated, and I now celebrated holidays some had never heard of. To this day, one relative insists that I made up Shemini Atzeret. There was no mixed dancing at my wedding, and I don’t think anyone fully expected that so many dudes with big beards would be around.
And then the next morning, a hat. And one every day since.
The thing I got more comments and compliments on than anything else—my wild, crazy, gorgeous red curls—was now stuffed under a hat. A lot of Jewish women cover their hair with wigs just as beautiful as their own hair, but I associate that with a community that is not mine, and it just never made sense to me to cover my hair with hair.
So I’ve tried about four million ways of covering it. Hats big and small, berets of every size and shape, scarves, snoods (which mortified my teenaged kids, even though I thought they were cute and sassy in an Andrews Sisters kind of way), and even—on rare occasion—a wig.
I wore a wig to my first job interviews in the U.S. because I didn’t want Being A Jew to be the first thing potential employers and colleagues noticed about me. In Israel, it wasn’t as big of a deal because there are lots of people—Jews of all flavors, Muslims, even some monks—running around Jerusalem with one sort of a head covering or another.
At my first job, the wig lasted two days. Though I felt conspicuous walking around in a hat, I decided I didn’t care. So people might think I was “artistic,” a die-hard “Blossom” devotee, or maybe even undergoing chemo. What did I care?
Since then, the wigs get pulled out only for Purim costumes.

Looking Different

I have friends of mine who really love this particular mitzvah (I am talking about you, Andrea), and plenty of friends who love their fancy wigs or fun hats. Not me.
I like the idea that my hat is a tangible symbol of being the female head of my household, and I really like that I don’t have to try to tame the mass of curls on Shabbat morning. (Curly haired folks who need to wet their hair completely understand what I mean…) This particular mitzvah. though, is not my thing. I do get the pleasure or knowing that I get plenty of cosmic merit for doing a mitzvah that’s hard for me, unlike, say, refraining from eating clams or scallops, which I always thought were gross anyway.
So I disliked it. Until recently.
One of the myriad ways I cover is with a big headwrap most often associated with a segment of Israel’s national religious world (see the beautiful and holy mothers of the three teenaged boys whose kidnappings and murders touched off this latest Gaza war). Of late, I’ve been choosing this, even though it takes much longer than throwing on a beret. And requires skills and dexterity I don’t really possess. And sometimes I end up looking like some sort of wacked out High Priestess.
But I know why I like it.
It makes me feel more Israeli, and more than that, it makes me feel Jewish.
With the shmata on my head, I’m clearly not emulating Bella Abzug. I’m not Bohemian or quirkily stylish. I’m not eccentric.
I’m a Jew.
My husband is an Ivy League-educated academic with a professorial beard. He dresses and looks like the average dad who shops at Lands’ End. And yet, several times a month, strangers come up to him, say, “Shalom” and tell him that their grandfather walked to synagogue every week. Other observant Jews ask him where to get a kosher sandwich at a conference or what time afternoon prayers are. And whenever he drives poorly, I remind him (lovingly, gently, ever-so-patiently) that his kippa identifies him as a Jew and he better not do anything that makes the rest of us look bad.
I have a relative who winces every time she sees me in one of my head wraps. She doesn’t love the whole hair-covering thing period, but in a beret she can at least restrain herself from wincing. And I get it: I look different.
If I wore a wig like my neighbors, I’d look like any other soccer mom (except that I am wearing slightly longer clothes than average). I’d blend in. When I walked down the street, no one would take a second glance at me – the whole reason I wanted to wear a wig when I worked downtown.
But as the world has once again begun—angrily and openly—belching out anti-Semitism, it’s comforting to me to Look Like a Jew.

Making a Statement

Lots of that anti-Semitism is called criticism of Israel’s policies. Uh-huh. And that’s why Jewish communities all across Europe are encouraging their members to not dress in a way that is identifiably Jewish. Individual Jews have been attacked, and Jewish owned businesses have been torched. One French synagogue was very nearly the site of a pogrom by a mob of “anti-Israel protesters.” German “protesters” yell “Death to the Jews” and the hashtag “Hitlerwasright” trends on twitter, presumably by other “protesters.” A kid on the Temple University campus — my grandfather’s and father’s alma mater — was sucker-punched for having the temerity to approach a “Students for Justice in Palestine” table.
What are these “protesters” protesting? The fact that my father-in-law escaped Hitler’s clutches and now has a bunch of delicious grandchildren? Apparently.
As of yet, boys walking down the street in yarmulkes aren’t being punched in the face by folks “protesting” the continued existence of the Jewish people. Not in my neighborhood at least.
But those punches are aimed just as much at me as they are at Jews in Europe, the same way that the rockets in Gaza are aimed at my children as much as they’re aimed at Jews in Israel. (We’re all Israeli citizens – just not living there at the moment.)
Maybe someday I’ll have to worry about whether sending my son out with a Kipa on is too “provocative” for this neighborhood. Maybe someday I’ll worry if the American police and military can—will—protect me from hordes of rampaging “protesters.”
Hopefully, we’ll move home to Israel soon. And hopefully it won’t come to being a move of necessity.
Until then, the shmata on my head is a statement, as bold and big as my red curls still are: I am a Jew. I am proud to be a Jew. I live my life on Jewish terms, and I am way more concerned with looking and dressing the way I believe God wants me to look than I am with your opinions. Friend or foe.
“God is with me. I will not fear. What can man do?” the Psalmist asks.
Indeed. And in the meantime, I will look like a High Priestess. Deal with it.

Last week’s Chabad’s Editorial “Elul is our Shelter”

I decided to take some of the ideas from the editorial and arrange them in my words. We just finished a physical war with rockets fired from Gaza all the way towards Haifa and the range of cities, towns and villages in that radius plus a few Katyushas in the north of Israel. The real shelter for we Jews is Torah and Elul allows us a grand month to review our deeds and repent from sin. We add the prayer Le David HASHEM which helps and many of us add Torah and deeds each week. 
In the month of Elul according to Chabad Chassidus it is as if the DIVINE KING leaves HIS palace and is in the field for the common folk to approach and petition and HE is receptive to their requests and supplications. That is the parable and the rest is up to us to give charity, repent and pray for Am Yisrael.
It is the repentance, prayer and charity that remove the evil decree and it is best to blot out the stain before the judgement of Rosh Hashanah, the writing of Yom Kippur and the sealing on Hashana Rabbah.  
The daughters of Zelophad state that their father died in his sin. Why die in a sin when one can live by returning to HASHEM Yisborach. I B”H don’t know your sins and you B”H don’t know mine so if we repent we erase the sins and the best time to do so is Elul. So use your shelter well to protect your soul and your physical well being for the next year.

Question:
I’m a secular Jew, and I’m afraid of going to hell. What does the Torah say about hell, and will I go there simply because I don’t observe the Shabbat, Jewish holidays or the laws of kosher? All in all, I think I’m a very decent human being—but of course nobody is perfect.
Answer:
I hope you don’t mind if I take issue with your first few words. You write that you are a “secular Jew.” I don’t believe there is such a thing. You see, the word secular means “mundane” or “un-sacred.” A Jew, by definition, is holy. And you are just as Jewish as me, your great-grandfather and Moses. Perhaps not as observant—but just as Jewish. I truly mean that. . .
I’m sure you’re a great person. You probably live an ethical life and do many acts of kindness. You have done much to express your innate holiness. And that’s exactly why you can grow so much through taking on a few new mitzvot. You can take your being a decent human being infinitely higher. Your goodness will be instilled with a G‑dly touch.
You write that you are not perfect. But then again—as you yourself say—no one is. And that’s exactly why Judaism is not an all-or-nothing religion. It treasures the power of a single act. So I challenge you to take on one new mitzvah. It’s a mitzvah that happens only once a week, and takes only a minute. But it is powerful. And you will find that its effect is profound.
Jewish women have the special commandment to light the Shabbat candles each Friday afternoon. It brings light, holiness, peace and tranquility into the home. Give it a try. Check out our Shabbat Candle-Lighting Wizard for more information about this special mitzvah.
Now, to address your question about hell:
You’re probably expecting me to depict a haunting scene of ghosts and goblins. But the Jewish concept of “heaven” and “hell” cannot be more different than the description found in medieval Christian texts or cartoons.
Yes, Judaism believes in punishment and reward in the afterlife. But in Judaism:
Hell is temporary—not permanent.
Hell is a therapy—not an imprisonment.
Hell is a consequence—not a punishment.
Hell is a washing machine—not a furnace.
Sounds interesting? Click here to read all about this topic. (http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/282508/jewish/What-Happens-After-We-Die.htm)
Let me know if this helps. I await your reply.
Yours truly,
Rabbi Yisroel Cotlar



Like I wrote, I am trying to avoid Gluten in my diet and am looking to buy the book “Brain Grain” by Dr. Pearlmutter. However, a little Yetzer for a birthday or Yahrzeit Kiddush has thrilled Jews for years with this supplier. It is not going out of business just out of NY http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/183173/entenmanns-factory-shuttering-on-long-island?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Post&utm_content=Entenmann%E2%80%99s+Factory+Shuttering+on+Long+Island&utm_campaign=August2014

Cleaner Energy grants issues for converting to natural gas which burns cleaner and cheaper: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/New-Tech/Energy-Economy-ministries-issue-grants-to-convert-16-factories-to-gas-374165

Ed-Op: Your left-your-left-your-left etc. that is how the Israeli lawyers and Supreme Court marches: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4564301,00.html

Two sins. A childless woman was not given a Halitza by the brother of first husband. The family of the late husband tried to wring 200,000 NIS or $50,000 out of the woman at the time. After 3 years at the age of 32 she had a civil marriage for she was not religious.  After another 10 years finally a compromise was reached and they accepted about $6,000 and preformed the ceremony. However, she lived with a man for years and produced 4 children. The Beit Din could not marry her now for she was forbidden according to the Torah to do that. The children were not declared Maumzerim. I would have done the same had I been a judge. This is a case of the family being wrong and the widow being wrong. http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Jerusalem-rabbinical-court-refuses-to-let-widow-of-13-years-remarry-374371

From Aish HaTorah via Sheldon: September 1, 2014 Exactly 75 years ago today, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, which valiantly sought to resist the onslaught, but was overwhelmed by the numerically and technologically superior invading army. Two days later, on September 3, 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany. The history of the ensuing years, until the day of Germany's surrender on May 8, 1945, has been extraordinarily well documented. IN MEMORIUM 6,000,000 PLUS JEWS.


I personally prefer to be very observant on Shmita but one thing does scare me is the propensity of the Arabs to cheat and the Kibbutzim play into their hands while the Charedim rake in money for Mashgichim on my Shekelim. Last Shmita and the one before that, there was an epidemic of hepatitis in the haredi community, caused by the contamination contained in vegetables grown by Arabs in untreated sewage water. At one point, the Health Ministry barred the import of cucumbers and beans from Palestinian areas because of high levels of pathogens.   Last Shmita, Haredi kashrut organizations were forced to admit that much of the “Arabgrown” produce they purchased for their public turned out to be Jewish-grown produce, sold secretly by the kibbutzim to the Arabs for resale to the Jews. If larger than ever parts of the public are now to be coerced into buying from the “Arabs,” the fraud can only be expected to increase http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Know-Comment-The-politics-of-shmita-374512


Inyanay Diyoma

This is bad when Dr. Harry in FL sends out English news on Child Prostitution in one city in the UK: http://www.bbc.com/news/28939475



Terrorist put on line how to make bombs so watch out world: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4565565,00.html







Two part Ed-Op from Nahum Barnea of the failure of Politicians in Protective Edge: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4564941,00.html and http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4565825,00.html

How to stop an Intifada = arrest 600 top rioters: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/184575#.VAKLi8YcTIU

Sent on Sunday aka Day 54 from Gail Winston: Dear Family & Friends,
I must amend my summary of August 28th of what Melanie Phillips presented on August 27th.   I added my interpretations based upon what I heard, what I believe & what I could read in my notes (scrawled in the dark auditorium).  She advised me that I made 3 key errors & any others that I missed.  For these I apologize.  I am especially concerned because I view Ms. Phillips work & presentation as the best defense I’ve seen – ever - for Israel’s defense & for the defense of the coming battle in especially the European countries & Britain against the incoming Muslim influx.  This will surely spread to America, my old home country.  
I hope to send you a transcript of her presentation as soon as it’s available – as well as a YouTube when HonestReporting.com puts it up.
Melanie called me on these 3 errors:  “I made no reference to being given the land of Israel by G-d, nor to 1.5 Billion Muslims ‘evil intent’, nor the UNHRC sharing the Iron Dome.”  She’s correct.  Please note my repetition of my summary of her speech which does include my interpretations.  I tried to insert my corrections in red. 
Thursday night under the offices & auspices of HonestResporting.com at the Hechal Shlomo Auditorium,, Melanie Phillips spoke to a knowledgeable audience of at least 400.  She is brilliant, courageous, far-sighted into the futures we all face now, solution-oriented to encourage our fighting back – not hiding under the covers.  I hope her stellar performance is also up on YouTube very soon for you to see.  I’ll try to summarize. [The mistakes are mine based upon my interpretation of her very precise language & my notes which were inadequate having been scrawled in the dark]
1.“This Cease-Fire” is actually a “Hudna”, [a temporary ‘agreement’ between enemies to stop shooting.  It can be broken by whosoever wishes to do bad.]   We view it as a Life-Affirming peace of hope but, those we are [still] fighting will inevitably take advantage of our gullibility because they are fighting a “Religious War” – & their religion of Islam, means Submission, by the “Other” [Us Jews.]  No Rules of Engagement for them.  No UN Geneva Conventions.
2. We need strategy to combat the Psychological Warfare – to educate the uneducated; delegitimize the delegitimizers; Teach Jewish history – to lead the world to justice & truth.
We haven’t taught our children what Jewish history is -  so it, the public, the world leading public hasn’t got a clue that it is Israel, the Jewish people, who have the rights here... Israel has justice & truth on its side. Telling the world ….The Jews are the only people who have any entitlements to this land based on it was the national kingdom for hundreds of years, centuries before Islam was invented & the Arabs invaded the Land.  In the 1920s [San Remo Treaty of 1920 League of Nations, ratified by the U.N., the U.S. Congress – never abrogated.] the international community acknowledged the fact!!The Palestinian identity construct was invented solely in order to exterminate the legitimate, historic legal claim of the Jews to the Land of Israel.   Israel wasn’t formed as a response to the Shoah & European guilt so European Jews were plopped in the middle of Palestine to drive out indigenous Palestinians…& that’s what the even well-thinking people in Britain think.
We have to show the reality of Muslim anti-Semitism…see the Palestinian Media Watch website to see how so-called moderate PA present Jews heinous crimes…claim all sort of vicious …… incl. medieval blood libel & that’s the moderates.
3. We have 3 things, The Land of Israel; the People of Israel & the Book of Israel [the Torah.]
[4. We have religious rights to the Land:  G-d gave it to us. [My interpretation. GW]
!!!  Melanie’s statement:  More controversial & better than mine: “Judaism is like 3 legged stool.  Consists of the People, the Book, the Land.  Those 3 legs are fundamental to Judaism.  Take one away, the thing collapses.  Certainly true. Some say:  But, some Jews aren’t Zionists.  So What!  Some Jews don’t keep Shabbat, that doesn’t mean that Shabbat isn’t intrinsic to Judaism.  To be hostile to Israel or to Zionism is to be hostile to Judaism & that’s what has to wrapped around people’s throats.”  [Melanie’s was much stronger than mine.] 
5. Israel should be reclaiming the word “Zionist” the moral high ground to Zion, our natural, national heritage. Zionism has been called Fascism, Nazis or apartheid.  People need to be taught that Zionism is self-determination for the Jewish people.
6. Delegitimize the delegitimizers. First, who has to be delegitimized is The UN…..[Lost my Voice Recorder transcription – relied on notes scrawled in the dark.]
We & the world need to investigate UNRWA (United Nations Relief Works Agency), its corruption, it promotion of the violence of Islam in their partnership with Hamas & the other Islamic Jihad organizations in Gaza (& Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem) as well as the UNRWA camps in other Arab countries.
7. Why are the US, UK, EU governments using the Arab/Muslim incitement & aggression against Israel & the Jewish people?  Why is the West offering ‘pieces’ of our Land to them as rewards for the Terrorism of Islamic Jihad?
8. We are the only defense, morally, militarily, strategically for Western Civilizations against the intended Muslim Global Caliphate to rule the world under Sharia Law with no rights for anyone but them. 
9. Islam is (or has become) raging Religious Fascism, using Ethnic Cleansing against all minorities in their paths.
10. Despite appearances, all Islam (Sunni & Shia, etc.) is united against Israel.  That includes Saudi Arabia & Iran with its burgeoning Nuke capabilities.
11. Today Hamas is using Terror Tunnels to “INFILTRATE” the free world:  Israel.  Beware of the Islamic Cultural Infiltration of Western Civilization’s so-far Free countries.
12. We are all in this together!  Israel is the strongest country in Western values – with the most experience; best Defense mechanism; weapons’ technology to share; strategy to share; strongest economy; high ‘happiness’ ratio; longevity; excellent medical & technical expertise to share…  USE OUR SKILLS. 
13. [Don’t let the 1.5 Billion Muslims exert their evil intent to defeat the Free West. GW version]  Muslim culture embodies a “Disappoint Psychology” for living; a “Global Derangement”; a “Metaphysical Psychosis”; “Displacement Guilt for the Shoah”; and, worst of all, a “Hatred for Israel & the Jewish people”.
14. University campuses have ingested a growing cancer of Muslim students who will be seduced into the “Dark Side” of Islam – to be used against those who would be free.
15. Can we allow the UN to Referee the Muslim-Jewish; Arab/Israeli conflict?  That impartial Referee of international law is totally & utterly bent & corrupted. A nightmarish situation because Israel has no recourse to any fair tribunal.
[Their UNHRC (UN Human Relations Council head) believes we should ‘share’ our Kipah Barzel (Iron Dome) defense against Hamas’s Rockets with Hamas. TRUE.  NAVI PILLAY REALLY SAID THIS.!  Are they deluded or just dim-witted or perhaps anti-Semitic?  How can we or the West trust them to deal with Human Relations? GW interpretation.] 
The upcoming ‘trial’ before world opinion puts Israel in submission to a “Hanging Tribunal”.
Israel needs to make herself ‘fireproof’, to protect herself against so-called International Law.  I’ve heard people say:  Really quite immoral for Israel to have behaved with such restraint, giving warnings to the Terrorists as well as civilians. How on earth can you possibly fight a war like that?   Israel is not like the US or UK who would cheerfully bomb the Hell out of Hamas in Gaza within 5 seconds & flatten them if she were rocketing their countries.   It (Israel) does actually care about other people.  We should be proud we’re so humane.  That’s why we’re Jews.  I really wouldn’t have it any other way.
Prepares itself for the Hanging Tribunal…..Having armed itself as best as it can with extensive legal weaponry should make better use of it with a little more common sense.  Understand that the Battleground it’s on is a battle for public opinion.  See this Hanging Tribunal as a platform where she can make her own case.  Makes it a lot harder to hang it.  Israel can prove itself more intelligent than its Hanging Tribunal.
We should brag, stand up for ourselves, give the world’s journalists good stories of decent people & their decent, brave actions.  We have many fine, brilliant speakers who could defend Israel’s Right to Life.  A few are working as hard & fast as they can.  But, the Israeli government needs to give them more support, more tools, more respect, more confidence so they can use their abilities to the fullest.  (Melanie mentioned specifically:  Ron Prosor, UN Ambassador; Ron Dermer, Michael Oren & others.)  [Find them & our other un-sung heroes, like Melanie & the writers in the articles below!]
Israel has been forced into this Ludicrous Ceasefire.  Israel has been forced to surrender.  How do we circumnavigate the world’s injustice to OUR RIGHTS?!
Those who oppose us now would listen to us IF the Government of Israel stood up for us, for itself, for the Jewish people & the Jewish Land.
Mahmoud Abbas didn’t wait a minute. Even since 1988, he’s demanded Israel surrender ALL the Land we liberated in 1967:  Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the Jordan Valley.  Our defenses better be up & thriving.  Our pioneering settlers are our buffer against losing pieces of our Land – which are pieces of our Souls.  Israel is a tiny free nation in the midst of 1.5 Million Muslims.  We cannot afford to abandon any of our Land & should take back some we’ve already given up – like Gush Katif in Gaza.  Look what happened!  Gaza is now a Terror State.
 ISRAEL MUST SECURE HER SOVEREIGNTY FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA (AT LEAST) IF WE ARE TO HAVE SECURITY, FREEDOM, OUR RELIGIOUS RIGHTS & A JEWISH, DEMOCRATIC STATE. GW
 I hope you can see Melanie Phillips deliver her stalwart defense of Israel & the Jewish people as we did on Wednesday, August 27th ASAP on YouTube.
Enjoy the quiet.  I hope & pray it really lasts.  Meantime have a peaceful, beautiful night & a Shavua Tov.
All the very best, Gail/Geula/Savta/Mom


Baruch Dayan Emmes the 72nd victim of Protective Edge Succumbs: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/184597#.VAMkjsYcTIU


Israel is slowly waking up out of a 20 plus year stupor: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4565930,00.html

The Golan Heights sees action and also extreme Sunnis on the Syrian –Lebanese Border: http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Fighting-erupts-between-Syrian-army-rebels-on-Golan-Heights-373062


Look who was killed in Gaza surprise-surprise somebody from Al Qaeda/ISIS http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/184634#.VAQwFsYcTIU

240 anti-Semitic Incidents in the UK since July a rally for Am Yisrael: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4566299,00.html

ISIS - How to spread Bubonic Plague to the USA: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4566367,00.html


Turkey’s new Prime Minister negates relations with Israel: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/184663#.VAU2XsYcTIU


Dolphin Submarine number 4 on its way to Israel: Article thanks to Sheldon - http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/israeli-nuclear-sub-on-the-way-for-idf-navy-video/2014/09/03/

IDF soldier wounded and human smuggler injured badly: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/184682




Attack tunnel in Gaza blows up 11 Egyptians: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/184714#.VAcaUsYcTIU


I have no way to verify this but everything is possible he was for the poor Arabs and took a left of center stand all the time but for converting to Islam that is a different story: http://www.debbieschlussel.com/74484/steven-sotloff-isis-beheaded-anti-israel-jew-converted-to-islam-years-ago-hated-israel/

Netanyahu Freezes New Jewish Housing but more for the Arabs!!! http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/184723#.VAdXcsYcTIU


From Gail Winston: The unfinished war by Caroline Glick - Sept. 1st the Jerusalem Post


               The war with Hamas is not over. What we are experiencing today is a temporary cease-fire. The most basic reason the war is not over is because Hamas has no existence outside its war against the Jewish state. Hamas exists to obliterate Israel. The goal of each round of fighting is to soften Israel up for the next round.  Hamas will only stop fighting when it is defeated. And Israel did not defeat Hamas.  Not only did Israel not defeat Hamas, according to Ha’aretz, senior IDF commanders are now lobbying the government to enable Hamas to credibly claim victory.
               According to Amos Harel, senior IDF commanders want Israel to bow to Hamas’s demands for open borders with Israel & for the steady transfer of funds to Hamas’s treasury.  Harel quoted a senior IDF source who said that if Israel doesn’t give in to Hamas’s demands for open borders, Hamas will renew its attacks at the end of September. In the senior commander’s words, “If we can assist [Hamas] by expanding fishing grounds & easing restrictions on border crossings of people & goods into & from Israel, this will help maintain the quiet.”
               So to delay the next Hamas onslaught against us, the IDF is lobbying the government to surrender to Hamas. This behavior demonstrates two basic truths about Hamas’s war against Israel.
               First, it is impossible for Israel to deter Hamas, but Hamas has apparently deterred the IDF General Staff. During Operation Protective Edge Hamas absorbed massive blows to its war machine. The IDF destroyed Hamas’s offensive tunnels that penetrated into Israel. It destroyed thousands of Hamas’s rockets, missiles & launchers. It killed hundreds of Hamas fighters, including some top commanders. And yet, less than a week into the cease-fire, the IDF prefers to capitulate to Hamas’s demands, & so allow Hamas to recoup its losses, rather than face its depleted forces on the ground in four weeks.
               In other words, despite the blows it suffered, it is Hamas that has deterred the IDF. Harel’s report is just the most recent indication that the IDF senior command echelon is Hamas’s ace in the hole. Throughout the war, news reports revealed that under Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz, the General Staff refused to present the security cabinet with any viable plan to defeat Hamas. & now, having failed to defeat Hamas, they insist that it is Israel that should surrender. Hamas went to war with Israel because its back was up against the wall. Due to Egypt’s decision a year ago to seal its borders with Gaza, Hamas lost the ability to expand its arsenal, fuel Gaza’s smuggling-based economy & pay its terrorists their salaries.
               Its leadership figured that the best way to reopen its supply lines was by going to war against Israel. The risk-averse behavior of the General Staff both during the war & today tell Hamas’s leadership that they were right. The General Staff’s behavior isn’t the only reason that Hamas thinks aggression is the way to go. The US & Europe have gone out of their way, both during the fighting & today, to show Hamas that they are right to attack Israel. US President Barack Obama adopted Hamas’s demand for open borders as the official position of the US government almost at the outset of the conflict.  He sought to replace Hamas foe Egypt as mediator with Hamas’s principal state sponsors Qatar & Turkey. Under Obama the Federal Aviation Administration instituted a discriminatory & unwarranted flight ban on Israel. The repercussions of that move continue to harm Israel’s economy.
               Today, the US & the EU are working together at the UN Security Council to draft a resolution that would see the deployment of international military forces to Gaza. The defined role of the force would be to oversee Gaza’s demilitarization, seemingly in line with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s demand. But the notion that UN forces would take any steps to disarm Hamas is absurd. The minute such forces arrive in Gaza they will become human shields preventing Israel from defending itself against Hamas aggression. If they are deployed to Gaza, then in the next round of Hamas’s war against the Jews, IDF troops will have to constrain their offensive operations still further to avoid killing Western forces.  In other words, the deployment of such a force in Gaza will make it all but impossible for Israel to fight Hamas in the future.
               The current discussions at the Security Council tell Hamas it is winning. By attacking Israel, the genocidal jihadist group won the support of the West. At the UN today the US & the EU are crafting a resolution that will allow it to attack Israel from behind Western human shields. So between the IDF General Staff & the West, Hamas now knows that all they have to do to survive, thrive & expand their war on Israel, is shake the tree. Something will fall out that will reward their aggression.
               If they pay any price at all, it will involve nothing more than the death of the civilians of Gaza. & Hamas leaders couldn’t care less. For them, the death of civilians is yet another means of attacking Israel. Facing this dire state of affairs, our leadership must dedicate itself today to preparing for the next round of war. To this end, Israel must begin acting in three areas, now.
               First, Israel must use whatever means it has at its disposal to scuttle the US’s attempts to pass any resolution related to Gaza at the UN Security Council.
               Second, the government must clean the stables in the IDF General Staff.  Gantz is due to complete his tour of duty in February. Prime Minister Netanyahu & Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon need to use his departure as an opportunity to replace not only Gantz but several other senior generals. Their replacements must be commanders who understand that the role of the IDF is to win wars, not lose them. To date, Netanyahu & Ya’alon have given no indication of their intentions. Senior ministers & the public should use both the General Staff’s support for surrender & its lack of strategic ambition & tactical imagination during the war as a means of pressuring Netanyahu & Ya’alon to conduct a major shakeup of the General Staff.
               Finally, the time has come for Israel to expand its military industries.  During the war both the US & European governments placed obstructions in the path of IDF resupply.  Israel cannot remain dependent on undependable foreign military suppliers. Israel needs to develop its own production lines, starting immediately.  We have the technology. We have the economic wherewithal. & we have the external markets to cover the costs of development.  True, this is a long-term undertaking.  But it has to begin now.
               Residents of the south are livid at the government for opting for a ceasefire rather than mounting a full invasion of Gaza & dismantling Hamas piece by piece, terrorist by terrorist. As they see it, Operation Protective Edge failed to bring them the security they deserve & require to lead normal lives. There is much validity to their claims. Hamas’s declarations of victory would sound far more disingenuous if the IDF’s leadership wasn’t intent on proving them right. Their celebrations would ring hollow & even pathetic if the Americans & Europeans weren’t laboring to set up a mechanism to prevent Israel from fighting in the future.
               As it stands, the only way for our leaders to prove their credibility now is by rejecting Hamas’s demand for open borders, even if doing so will require us to go back into battle in a month. After we have seen what Hamas is capable of, the notion that we should allow them to resupply & so rebuild & expand their military capabilities is simply outrageous. Every general even obliquely tied to this initiative should be given his walking papers.
               So too, our leaders need to demonstrate that they understand the nature of the diplomatic battlefield whose contours are being designed in Washington as well as Europe. To meet this threat, we must devise a clear plan to scuttle the cease-fire initiative at the Security Council, & we must diminish our dependence on our unreliable defense partners by building our own production lines. Absent these responses, it is difficult to see how we will weather the next rapidly approaching storm. Absent these responses the conclusion is that the time has come for new elections.

DEFENSIVE CONQUEST (THEY ATTACKED; WE ADVANCED) It was good then and Gail made it better now.
By Emanuel A. Winston, Middle East Commentator & Analyst February 2004 [Update Sep. 2 by Gail in brackets]
Israel has nothing to explain to the International Court of Justice at the Hague regarding the Defensive Wall being built in Israel [the Gaza War & everything else].
In 1948 the Arabs in each country announced that they would attack Israel, kill all the Jews and, as they proclaimed: "We will dance in their blood" and"Push them into the sea". As they proclaimed, so did they attack. They refused the partition voted by the United Nations in November 1947 & thus gave up any claim to land they would lose in their unprovoked aggressive war against the new born Jewish State of Israel.
Israel as the intended victim State, won that war, resulting in what can only be defined as Defensive Conquest. Israel had to pay dearly in lives lost & in what lost monies they had to raise to buy junk weapons from the scrap yards of Europe at usurious prices. These same European nations now dare to judge Israel for creating a barrier to Arab Terrorists. These were the same nations who refused to sell Israel weapons to defend herself & her people, many just liberated from the Nazi death camps.
The Arabs attacked & the Jews advanced.
In each of the 7 wars launched by the Arabs against the Jewish State (including the 1991 Gulf War when Saddam hit Israel with 39 SCUDs), the Arabs always attacked with the same intention of committing a blood Genocide & overcoming their humiliation & shame from always being beaten by the Jews they hated & despised - Jews whom they thought were weak.
Their own religious legends of fiction assured them that each defeat was an anomaly & that the Jews were the weak, cowardly people who could not, would not fight.
They attacked & we advanced.
Each time, the price for the Jewish State to stay alive was paid in Jewish blood & great debt. Each war came at a greater cost in both lives & treasure on more weapons. After each war that the Arabs instigated & lost, they retired to spend their treasure on re-arming (which should have gone to educate their primitive backward communities). But, the Arab Terrorist Losers diverted all the loot to war that they got from donor countries & the black gold that is, the oil the Western countries extracted. The Arab Terrorist nations & organizations used these Billions to buy tanks, guns, missiles, aircraft, explosives and, for many, attempted to build WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction).
Israel is still fighting a war against the unremitting Terror by Arab/Muslim Terrorists, who have proclaimed in their manifesto, their Muslim "Mein Kampf" that, they shall continue killing Jews even if it takes them 100 or 1000 years.
Israel has started to build a "Wall of Life" which fits their slogan of "Ein Breira" (No Choice). I do not agree with this Wall, not because of its existence & purpose but where it is placed. It walls off too many Jews who live in the villages, towns & cities called 'settlements'.
I believe there already exist two natural barriers against attacks by any coalition of Arab armies from the East. A first line of defense is the Judean & Samarian Mountains & the second is the Jordan River. They are effective & they are much cheaper than the "Wall of Life" now being built for Israel's protection of her peoples' lives. The Golan Heights is the first line of defense from the Northeast protecting Israel from attack by Syria.
Israel paid for that land with tens of thousands of lives & hundreds of thousands of injured. Israel earned that land over & over again because the Arab/Muslims attacked again & again in war & with Terrorism between the wars. Israel owns that land because G-d promised it to the Jewish people. You can read that repeatedly in the Bible.
As a relevant aside, it is interesting to watch the Left Liberal Media give honor to the pagan Koran which follows the moon god of the Arab desert tribes but the Media scorns the Jewish Bible from which the Christian Bible is written.
Arab/Muslims knowingly gambled away the land they controlled by attacking Israel in 7 wars & now demand that they deserve the Land they lost be given back - as if they deserved it. They made bad judgments in their investments in war & death. They killed Jews & they got their own people killed. There is a price that unrepentant serial aggressors must pay.
Each time they attacked, their purpose was to occupy the Land of Israel, take as their plunder what the Jews had built & enjoy the "dancing in the blood of their Jewish victims". Israel paid with rivers of blood & hundreds of Billions of dollars which the Arab aggressors still owe by way of compensation for the 7 wars & for the Jewish lives & property they confiscated in the home countries from which the Arab countries ejected them.
The Land of Israel owes no explanation to the world's nations, to the Court in the Hague or to their American friends. I offer the same advice to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon now that I gave to Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir before the Madrid Conference in October 1991. Don't go! It's another ambush for the Israeli nation & the Jewish people. Whatever you say will be irrelevant. Whatever proof you submit will be considered trivial & ignored. All your planning & discussion on the merits of your case are wasted effort. This will be another International circus where Israel will be put in the dock & pilloried. Regrettably, I do not expect you to take any sensible advise. [Red for emphasis – applies today.GW]
As for the "Wall of Life", it is only a temporary barrier, much the same as one would find in Separation Walls, moats & bars in a zoo. Israel's wall is 3% high concrete (but this is all that you see in the news) & 97% chain link fencing. Such walls exist in every civilized country, including America, to keep out illegal aliens. But, Israel has always been judged under different rules, customs & laws - only because they are Jews & anti-Jewish bias still exists.
People who take joy in blowing themselves up to kill an enemy who is not of their primitive pagan religion are dangerous animals. Perhaps one day they will evolve into civilized human beings. But, until that time, the Wall of Life must be erected to separate the killers from our people whom they have declared are their prey. [And it has.  Before the Security Wall was finished our Israeli casualties were       . After it was completed, the casualties reduced to  ].
They attack! We advance! G-d promised.
Emanuel A. Winston is a member of the Board of Directors & a research associate of the Freeman Center For Strategic Studies. 
PS from Gail:  The world & the UN & even the Israeli Left will put Israel into the Kangaroo Court of the ICC & the UNHRC for so-called “War Crimes” from Gaza; ‘settlements’; using our own Land; using the Iron Dome to protect our civilians & not sharing with Hamas; you name a few plus: living, loving, having babies; building homes; beneficial inventions for humanity…


                                                                                                                                                                                
Two wrong behaviors don’t make a right: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4567397,00.html

If he leaves the government and new elections occur then he is out of luck. If the Charedim go in his reforms go to pot. In any way new elections show Bennett getting 19 or more which could make him an alternative Prime Minister to Netanyahu. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/184733#.VAfizsYcTIU

This time the IAF = Indian Air Force is ready for Al Qaeda: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4567405,00.html

The fight against Jihad means limiting display of hatred: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/184739#.VAgWBcYcTIU

The cost of preparing for the kidnapping of the three boys: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4567528,00.html

 From Eliyokum Cohen


From Lori: If I told you that Har Ha Beis (The Temple Mount) is run by Jihadists or  ISIS thanks to Mr. Netanyahu would you believe me? But on video well that is a different story: https://go.madmimi.com/redirects/1409855737-ed584c6fa0083e251033b1f603564a3f-7ec9547?pa=24871385535

Can you give me a good reason for Jews from Eretz Yisrael to visit the Ukraine to go to Omen for Rosh Hashanah when one side is Cossacks and the other Nazi and Jews are being murdered? http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/184756#.VAlm-sYcTIU

Syria, we warned you fire that we will give you a direct hit as done: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4567643,00.html

How Abbas pulls the wool over the eyes of the west and pays terrorists $100 Million: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/184775#.VAl4VcYcTIU


Latest Public Opinion Polls give the Likud about 27 or 28 Mandates, Bennett aka Ha Beit Ha Yehudi 15 to 19+ Mandates, Libermann Yisrael Beitaynu 15, Labor 10 to 15 depending if Moshe Kachlon Runs, Shass 9 or 10 if Ben Yeshai does not break away and use Rav Amar as his spiritual leader, Lapid 8 to 12 depending on Kahalon, Aguda 5 to 7, Arabs 9, Meretz 5, Ha Tenuah (Livni)  4-6 depends on Kahalon. Kedema does not make the minimum needed to be elected. All in all the right gets about 73 mandates at least and a stable government.

IDF Defense Budget Strategy an Ed-Op: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4567489,00.html

We lost the non-politically correct Joan Rivers Zal but we have others who speak out: From Jerome: A politically incorrect, uncensored, video concerning Israel, Jews, the US and the World featuring the brilliant political analyst, Melanie Phillips. http://youtu.be/cKosCIScvO4

From Judy Shapiro: MISSING LIBYAN JETLINERS WILL BE USED AGAINST US ON 9/11?
MY DEAR FRIENDS:
QUESTION
Do you remember several months ago when SON-OF-ISLAM Obama in his usual 'SPIN and LIE' fashion told the world that the US was 'enjoying peace and prosperity?

A highly respected lawyer friend of mine who was a life long Democrat (until Obama) reminded me that whenever his mouth moves he is lying.

Last week Islamists stole a dozen jetliners in Libya where Obama also lied when he said it was 'a peaceful country.'

He conveniently and purposely forgot about BENGHAZIGATE and the 4 brutally murdered and sodomized American innocents when the American military were told to 'stand down' by Obama and Hillary. Islamists used planes as homicide tools, and September 11 is one short week away.

I HOPE WE ARE ALL WRONG! I TOLD YOU!!
AM YISROEL CHAI ISRAEL=JEWISH NO MORE CARVING ISRAEL UP OR PRISONER RELEASES SILENCE=COMPLICITY STAY INFORMED STAY VIGILANT

THE TINY YET POWERFUL ISRAEL WILL AND MUST ALWAYS PREVAIL JERUSALEM IS THE UNDIVIDED ETERNAL CAPITAL OF ISRAEL AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE

KING SOLOMON 'IF YOU SAVE ONE, IT IS LIKE SAVING
THE WORLD'

Their state=Transjordan NO MOSQUE AT GROUND ZERO WHAT ABOUT BENGHAZIGATE? WHAT ABOUT DANIEL PEARL'S Muslim MURDERERS?

FREE JONATHAN POLLARD NEVER AGAIN NEVER FORGET

----------------------
“There are a number of commercial airliners in Libya that are missing. We found out on September 11 what can happen with hijacked planes.” Here is yet another achievement of Obama’s fantasy-based foreign policy: he warmly endorsed the uprising against Gaddafi, and supplied the “rebels” with weapons. Now these jihadist have jetliners.
“Missing Libyan Jetliners Raise Fears of Suicide Airliner Attacks on 9/11,” By Bill Gertz Washington Free Beacon September 2, 2014:

Islamist militias in Libya took control of nearly a dozen commercial jetliners last month, and western intelligence agencies recently issued a warning that the jets could be used in terrorist attacks across North Africa. Intelligence reports of the stolen jetliners were distributed within the U.S. government over the past two weeks and included a warning that one or more of the aircraft could be used in an attack later this month on the date marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against New York and Washington, said U.S. officials familiar with the reports.

“There are a number of commercial airliners in Libya that are missing,” said one official. “We found out on September 11 what can happen with hijacked planes.”

The official said the aircraft are a serious counterterrorism concern because reports of terrorist control over the Libyan airliners come three weeks before the 13th anniversary of 9/11 attacks and the second anniversary of the Libyan terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi. Four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed in the Benghazi attack, which the Obama administration initially said was the result of a spontaneous demonstration against an anti-Muslim video. A senior State Department counterterrorism official declined to comment on reports of the stolen jetliners. A second State department official sought to downplay the reports. “We can’t confirm that,” he said….



Netanyahu’s continued use of organic fertilizers from bulls angers the world and does nothing:
        http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/184779


Man escapes ISIS and I did not watch the video just read the horrible story he simply pretended to have been shot in the head and left to die: http://www.aol.com/article/2014/09/04/escaping-death-in-northern-iraq-surviving-an-isis-massacre/20957217/?icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl12%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D524702

I have not yet received the Good Shabbos Story so everybody have a good and peaceful Shabbos and get plenty of Torah and rest.
Rachamim Pauli