Rabbi Rachamim Pauli Drasha

Bullying Torah off the internet, Parsha Mishpatim, Halacha and Stories

2012-02-16T21:35:00.000+02:00

Left over from last week regarding the US internment of prisoners Dennis wanted me to especially pay attention to the following: When I sent you this I wanted you to pay close attention to what was disturbing. We know German and other Axis nationals were interned. Also US citizens descended from Axis nations. What was not very known that South American citizens of German background were also interred. ALSO JEWS who had German citizenship automatically became enemy aliens. WHAT WAS EYE OPENING AND HORRIBLE WAS THAT FDR allowed FOR those Jews to be sent to Germany IN EXCHANGE FOR Americans held there.

Due to the removal of names that I cannot keep up with or the fact that some people have recovered; I have revised my prayer list again.

MEN: Eliezer David HaCohain ben Naomi, Asher ben Malka, Avraham ben Devorah, Zvi Yechezkel ben Leah, Aharon ben Rishol, Chaim Zev ben Faige Tova, Naphtali Moshe ben Tziporah, Shalom Charles ben Gracia, Yoel ben Esther, Zev ben Rachel, Binum Benyamin Tuvia ben Chana Friedel, Yacov David ben Chaya Gittle, Mordechai Menachem ben Mindel. Shalom Yosef ben Chaya Moosha also the three other Rabbis: Yitzchok Tuvia ben Rickel (Rachel?), Aharon Yehudah Leib ben Gittel Faiga, Yisroel ben Chana Tzirel

Women: Karen Neshama bas Esther Ruth, Chaya Melacha Rachel bas Baila Alta, Zvia Simcha bas Devora Yached, Bryna bas Gina Sara, Rachel bas Chana, Feige Rachel bas Taube, Hodaya Nirit bas Mazel, Leah Nikia bas Bertha Sarah, Rivka bas Idit, Kayla Rus bas Chaya Rachel, Dora bas Dorit,

Chaya Esther bas Feige Yenta just this week only

Editorial

Recently in an Editorial I mentioned that many of our Torah Leaders are being taken from us for possibly atonement and possibly to make way for a new generation of leaders who will serve under the Moshiach. I mentioned about two being ill but the number is growing: I saw this post by Avraham Nissan: http://matzav.com/four-gedolim-now-hospitalized

Sometimes I’m wrong when I look at charity only from the donor’s standpoint instead of that of the recipients. On the other hand the establishment of the Charedi Communities are propagandizing them through methods of bullying stopping short from terror. Poor Rabbi Mimran, we used to learn Shulchan Aruch Eben HaEzer on-line. He would speak to his aged parents on-line and show them in real time his children via Skype. His wife got about ten fliers in the mailbox of the dangers of internet and the same Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef who has a whole group of followers on the net bans it. Then this Rabbi and that Rabbi ban it. I am not saying that bad and wasteful things do not happen on line but one cannot fight technology. Those who will use the TV or internet for bad will continue to use the TV or internet for bad purposes but many use it for good.

I do not know how many people that I have brought to Torah Judaism via the internet but I know that I have helped many. This is the main reason why I spend a lot of time on the internet. I do not know if I can make my internet pal Yoel ben Esther into an Orthodox Jew but I can influence people to pray for his health so that his disease does not progress – in my mind that too is a success. I have been working hard within my internet sphere of friends to educate them about life in Eretz Yisrael and the dangers that we face – not to mention the greater dangers in the future of all the terrorists who have infiltrated the US and Europe through porous borders and European Immigration policies.

As I always say, I am Charedi in my observance and practice most of time but I will not be bullied by them into fighting technology. I have learned 20 Dafim of Gemara via listening to the e-Daf while I exercised in the gym (which I need for my health) instead of doing nothing only because I got the forbidden Samsung Galaxy II. Maybe it is time for the Charedi world to wake up. Yes there is no guardian for promiscuity and some people will fall victim but long before the internet there was horrible things going on between certain people in Borough Park Brooklyn and horror stories from Bnei Berak (not upon us) which I don’t think even my atheistic friends would do. So it is not the technology that is bad it is the people.

Warning the use of the internet for private things at work is forbidden except during coffee or lunch break so that you are not robbing your employee! – Shulchan Aruch & R’P.

Secondly, I want to mention with almost no exceptions male contraception is forbidden in Judaism (not female). The forcing of institutions to cover the cost of contraception against their religious beliefs is unconstitutional. I must speak up about the freedoms of other religious groups as Jews will find a way around this rule but not the other religions and I speak out for them lest they not speak out for me when my hour comes. Remember the silence in the world helped bring about the death of 6,000,000 innocent people. From Shuli http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/national/orthodox_groups_protest_federal_decision_contraception WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Two Orthodox groups protested the Obama administration’s decision to require some religiously affiliated institutions to cover contraception as part of their employee health plans.

The Orthodox Union on Tuesday and Agudath Israel of America on Wednesday released statements criticizing the Jan. 20 announcement by the secretary of health and human services, Kathleen Sebelius. Under the Affordable Care Act, employer-provided health insurance plans are required to include contraception and related “preventive” services for employees. Catholic Church leaders had urged that an exemption for religious institutions include a broad range of religiously affiliated institutions. But the Department of Health and Human Services defined the religious exemption more narrowly, excluding religiously affiliated institutions that serve wider constituencies such as hospitals, social service agencies and colleges. Catholic religious leaders sharply criticized the department's decision, and the two Orthodox Jewish groups warned that the move harms religious freedom.

Rabbi Abba Cohen, Agudath Israel’s vice president for federal government affairs and Washington director, said that the decision “only muddied the waters and took a step backwards by imposing religiously objectionable mandates on religious entities and by devising an astoundingly counterproductive limitation on what 'religious groups' are and what their public mission in society should be.” Nathan Diament, executive director of public policy for the Orthodox Union, said in a statement that the “most troubling” aspect of the decision was the Obama administration’s “underlying rationale for its decision, which appears to be a view that if a religious entity is not insular, but engaged with broader society, it loses its 'religious' character and liberties.”

Parsha Mishpatim

Last week Am Yisrael received the Decalogue and with that the first laws five commandments between man and G-D and five between man and man. One man or woman has a lousy spouse and the neighbor a great spouse. It might be what the beliefs of the east call Karma. It could be a case of Gilgul Neshamos whatever neither the man nor the woman should covet the spouse or physical possessions of the neighbor. From that ending last week we continue with various laws of damages between man and his neighbor. There are four major categories of damages mentioned in the Talmud. The Ox, the pit, the teeth and the fire and everything damaged falls under these categories. The Ox does not have to be an Ox it could be a cat or dog which one owns getting in between the legs of a person causing them to fall or a playful dog jumping on a child causing the child to drop the groceries. The pit could be some stationary object such as a tool, broom, rake or snow shovel left on a public pathway causing a person to fall and be injured. The teeth are generally animals that eat up the garden or animals that trample the garden but it could be a child running after a ball or a baseball or a stone through a window or tasting samples in the store without permission like children and the candy, fruit, etc. Lastly, the fire whether set deliberately or not or a car parked without a handbrake and causing damage. Each of the primary forms of damages can be similar to each other but are different also from each other. Over 400 Talmudic Folio Pages are written on this and 410 Simanim of the Shulchan Aruch are covered in the Choshen Mishpat so the laws are first mentioned here and continue throughout the Chumash. It should be noted that in Baba Basra and Choshen Mishpat there are damages based on looking at a neighbor’s possessions and spouse for the coveting.

Regarding the ending of our Parsha but taking place in the background of the laws: Heavenly nourishment was given to Moshe during his 40 days and 40 nights. Just like in HaOlam Haba there is not eating, sleeping, standing or sitting for a few weeks, Moshe became a flesh and blood person in the spiritual being sense. It is hard to imagine and despite the age of 80, Moshe absorbs every word and can play it back better than any computer or recorder.

21:1 These are the ordinances which thou shall set before them.

Egypt (Mitzrayim) had their laws as a Nation. Am Yisrael would have to have their laws. However, these laws were not man-made such as 80 kilometers or 50 miles an hour speed limit as we have today rather these laws were DIVINELY given in the Torah and for all generations. I do not have an Ox that can do damage today but I have a car. If my Ox hits a person he is entitled for compensation the same if an automobile hits somebody. Everything in Torah should be able to cope with any technology that comes along not put primitive bans on new things that are not fads. A real Ruv like Rabbi Moshe Feinstein dealt with everything and found a solution to the problems within the Torah and set boundaries. No Rabbi can shy away from every new thing. There have to be limits placed on technology within the bounds of the Torah. But I cannot see how a Rabbi will ban the internet from his followers and then broadcast Shuirim to others on the internet to give them Torah. Either the internet is forbidden completely or permissible to all with limitations!!! There is a gray area in Halacha which must be met and dealt with.

And these are the ordinances: Wherever it says, “these” [in the Torah,] it [(this word) is used to] separate from what has been stated previously. [Where it says,] “And these,” [it means that] it is adding to what has been previously stated (Tanchuma Mishpatim 3). [Thus] just as what has been previously stated [namely the Ten Commandments,] were from Sinai, these too were from Sinai. Now why was the section dealing with laws juxtaposed to the section dealing with the altar? To tell you that you shall place the Sanhedrin adjacent to the Beth HaMikdash (other editions: the altar). — [From Mechilta] that you shall set before them: The Holy One, blessed is He, said to Moses: Do not think of saying, “I will teach them the chapter or the law [both terms seemingly refer to the Oral Torah] two or three times until they know it well, as it was taught, but I will not trouble myself to enable them to understand the reasons for the matter and its explanation.” Therefore, it is said: “you shall set before them,” like a table, set [with food] and prepared to eat from, [placed] before someone. — [From Mechilta, Eruvin 54b] before them: But not before gentiles. Even if you know that they [gentiles] judge a certain law similarly to the laws of Israel, do not bring it to their courts, for one who brings Jewish lawsuits before gentiles profanes the [Divine] Name and honors the name of idols to praise them (other editions: to give them importance), as it is said: “For not like our Rock [God] is their rock, but [yet] our enemies judge [us]” (Deut. 32:31). When [we let] our enemies judge [us], this is testimony to [our] esteem of their deity. — [From Tanchuma 3]

2 If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve; and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

It was customary to give him some sort of workers compensation as in many cases the reason a Hebrew person became a slave was because he stole or in some cases needed food and board because he had become so poor. Instead of working his own field or dying in a famine, he sold himself as a slave. After six years, the Torah did not want somebody to return to stealing or begging. The Torah viewed it as a great Mitzvah to bring the person back on his feet even to a point of marrying off the rich man’s son with the Hebrew maid servant or the Hebrew Slave with the rich daughter.

3 If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he be married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master give him a wife, and she bear him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. 5 But if the servant shall plainly say: I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free; 6 then his master shall bring him unto God, and shall bring him to the door, or unto the door-post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him forever. (Until the Yovel aka Jubilee Year)

I was in the center of Modiin this week. I looked around and there were two teen boys on the street with earrings through their ear lobes. I said to myself poor slaves to a fad!

The Jew is commanded to ascend via humility and lowliness and to break down his own egotism. He is obligated to liberate himself from his enslavement to himself and to be a free man vis-a-vis everyone but G-d. To be a slave to mortal man or to oneself is a profound sin. If the slave of a Jew does not wish to go free [after six years], his ear is pierced with an awl, and our sages explain (Kiddushin 22b):

How is the ear different from all other parts of the body? G-d said, “If one's ear heard Me say on Mount Sinai (Lev. 25:55), 'The Children of Israel are slaves to Me', slaves to Me, not slaves to slaves, and he still went and acquired a master for himself, that ear must be pierced.”

R. Shimon ben Rebbe's exposition on this verse was like a gem: How are the door and the doorpost different from all other parts of the house? G-d said, “They were witnesses in Egypt when I passed over the lintel and the two doorposts, saying, 'The children of Israel are my slaves', and not slaves to slaves, and I took them out of bondage. And this person went and acquired a master for himself? Let his ear be pierced in their presence.

A man of flesh and blood should not take another human being as his master; neither should he be a slave to himself. He is G-d's slave.

The Torah commanded us to keep laws and statutes which conceptually serve as a constant reminder of how abominable is conceit and how essential humility. In actual fact, the first commandment given to Israel when they ceased their bondage to mortal man was one intended to imbue them with humility; namely, the commandment to burn one's Chametz [bread and other forms of leaven] before Pesach (Ex. 12:19; 13:7). Chametz, with its yeast which causes dough to expand, is a symbol of conceit which inflates a person's ego, enslaving and destroying him. The person enslaved by his pride and lust, the arrogant man who rebels against his task here on earth, rebels against the purpose of his and the world's having been created. He rebels against his Creator. (Condensed from Rabbi Meir Kahane by Tzipora Liron-Pinner

7 And if a man sells his daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do.

she shall not go free as the slaves go free: [I.e.,]-like the emancipation of Canaanite slaves, who go free because of [the loss of] a tooth or an eye. [See below, verses 26, 27.] This one [a Hebrew maidservant], however, will not go free because of [the loss of] a tooth or an eye, but she will work for [her complete] six years or until the Jubilee year or until she develops signs [of initial puberty]. Whichever comes first will be the first [event] to effect her emancipation, and [her master] will reimburse her for the value of her eye or the value of her tooth. Or perhaps this is not so [i.e., the intention of the verse], but “she shall not go free as the [male] slaves go free” [meaning] after six years or in the Jubilee year? Therefore, the Torah states: “Should your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, be sold to you…” (Deut. 15:12). This compares the Hebrew woman to the Hebrew man in regard to all the ways he can be emancipated: just as a Hebrew man goes free following six years [of service] or in the Jubilee year, so too does a Hebrew woman go free following six years [of service] or in the Jubilee year. What then is the meaning of “she shall not go free as the slaves go free” ? [This means] she shall not go free with [the loss of] the tips of her limbs, as do the Canaanite slaves. I might think [then] that [only a Hebrew maidservant does not go free due to the loss of the tips of her limbs, but] a Hebrew man does go free with [the loss of] the tips of his limbs. [Therefore, the Torah] compares the Hebrew man to the Hebrew woman: just as the Hebrew woman does not go free with [the loss of] the tips of her limbs, neither does the Hebrew man go free with [the loss of] the tips of his limbs. — [From Mechilta]

8 If she please not her master, who hath espoused her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed; to sell her unto a foreign people he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.

If she is displeasing to her master: [Meaning] that she does not please him to the extent that he would [want to] marry her. — [From Mechilta] who did not designate her: For he should have designated her and married her, and the money paid for her purchase is the money of her betrothal. Here Scripture hints that it is a mitzvah [for the master] to perform יִעוּד, designation for marriage, [with the maidservant] and it hints that she would not require any other betrothal. [I.e., neither money nor articles of value would have to be given to the girl’s father in order to marry her. The money the father originally received for selling his daughter now would become the money of betrothal from her master.]-[From Kid. 19b]

9 And if he espouse her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. 10 If he take him another wife, her food, her raiment, and her conjugal rights, shall he not diminish.

This is one time that I repeat myself in explaining that slavery in Israel was not like that of Egypt or the Deep South in the USA. The man takes a girl from a very poor half starving family ‘buys’ her from her parents with perhaps payments of food and clothing. Raises the girl as a daughter with the exception that she has a lot of household chores and if his wife likes her, he takes her as a wife to his son to produce his grand heirs. The little Jewish Cinderella goes from rags to riches – not such a horrible slavery I would say.

So now you know a little bit about the truth of the Torah and how slaves were treated in Judaism. It was more an act of mercy than what we think of as slavery.

11 And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out for nothing, without money.

She shall not be returned to being a slave or freed with money but the mature girl of 12 years old shall be free.

12 He that smites a man, so that he dies, shall surely be put to death.

Here we are dealing with a gray area for one must have two witnesses was it in a “fair” fight and self-defense or was he lying in wait or in modern terms placing explosives in the man’s car?

… 18. And if men quarrel, and one strikes the other with a stone or with a fist, and he does not die but is confined to [his] bed, 19. if he gets up and walks about outside on his support, the assailant shall be cleared; he shall give only [payment] for his [enforced] idleness, and he shall provide for his cure. וְרַפֹּא יְרַפֵּא:

The ending in Hebrew can also be read “The doctor will cure” meaning that HASHEM has made medical doctors messengers to cure the ill. Since some are excellent and others are good and some well could be better leaves us with checking who is the best doctor for one's disease. The one causing the damages has to pay for pain, embarrassment, medical costs and missing income.

… 28 And if an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die, the ox shall be surely stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit.

This is assuming that the owner took proper precautions to prevent the Ox from escaping and goring or the horns were chemically cut off.

29 But if the ox was wont to gore in time past, and warning hath been given to its owner, and he hath not kept it in, but it hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.

After the first time the owner is warned. If the Ox repeats the offense one more time, the owner should consider slaughter for the animal for the third time he, himself will be put to death as after the first and second time he was warned by the authorities.

30 If there be laid on him a ransom, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatsoever is laid upon him. 31 Whether it have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him. 32 If the ox gore a bondman or a bondwoman, he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. 33 And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein,

The Ox is alive and moving, the pit is inanimate and stationary.

34 the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money unto the owner of them, and the dead beast shall be his. 35 And if one man's ox hurt another's, so that it dies; then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the price of it; and the dead also they shall divide. 36 Or if it be known that the ox was wont to gore in time past, and its owner hath not kept it in; he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his own. 37 If a man steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it, he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.

22:1 If, while breaking in, the thief is discovered, and he is struck and dies, [it is as if] he has no blood.

he has no blood: [This signifies that] this is not [considered] murder. It is as though he [the thief] was [considered] dead from the start. Here the Torah teaches you [the lesson]: If someone comes to kill you, kill him first. And this one [the thief] has come to kill you, because he knows that no one [can] hold himself back and remain silent when he sees people taking his money. Therefore, he [the thief] has come with the acknowledgement that if the owner of the property were to stand up against him, he [the owner] would kill him [the thief]. -[From Sanh. 72a]

It is not even manslaughter if a thief that entered the house without permission or perhaps threatened or scared the household into knocking him out if too much force was used, the Burglar might be killed in the process. Therefore the house owner if confronted might over react and apply through the adrenalin more than necessary defense.

2 If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood guiltiness for him--he shall make restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. 3 If the theft be found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep, he shall pay double. 4 If a man cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall let his beast loose, and it feed in another man's field; of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution.

The Ox in the other field is either trampling down the flowers and fruit or his teeth are grinding them for his daily food consumption.

…

13 And if a man borrow aught of his neighbor, and it be hurt, or die, the owner thereof not being with it, he shall surely make restitution. 14 If the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good; if it be a hireling, he loses his hire. 15 And if a man entice a virgin that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely pay a dowry for her to be his wife. 16 If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.

Why would a father want a rogue as a son-in-law unless they were both over excited in love and in the heat of passion succumbed to their Yetzer as sometimes happens with youths marrying.

17 Thou shalt not suffer a sorceress to live.

Either the person is using the power of the Sidra Acher or implying that there is competition to HASHEM.

18 Whosoever lies with a beast shall surely be put to death. 19 He that sacrifices unto the gods, save unto the LORD only, shall be utterly destroyed. 20 And a stranger shalt thou not wrong, neither shalt thou oppress him; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. 21 Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. 22 If thou afflict them in any wise--for if they cry at all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry-- 23 My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

The laws are simple and logical to follow. However, the oppression of the widow or orphan is so heinous a crime (even more so that bestiality behavior) that the punishment is mentioned here. Bestiality is covered in Vayikra (Lev.) 18 with the punishment.

24 If thou lend money to any of My people, even to the poor with thee, thou shalt not be to him as a creditor; neither shall ye lay upon him interest. 25 If thou at all take thy neighbor's garment to pledge, thou shalt restore it unto him by that the sun goes down;

The man is so poor that the only thing he has to pledge is the shirt off his back. One does not leave a person with just a loincloth for warmth at night.

26 for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin; wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he cries unto Me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.

Those who understand will understand what will happen to them as fortune is in the hand of HASHEM.

27 Thou shalt not revile God, nor curse a ruler of thy people.

Leader is a Torah Leader of statute not a politician. However, one should have respect for the government as stated in Perkei Avos.

28 Thou shalt not delay to offer of the fullness of thy harvest, and of the outflow of thy presses. The first-born of thy sons shalt thou give unto Me. 29 Likewise shalt thou do with your oxen, and with thy sheep; seven days it shall be with its dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it Me.

The offering of the Teruma and Maaser plus the first fruits, first born belongs to HASHEM. It was only after the golden calf that the work of the first-born was transferred to the Leviim.

30 And ye shall be holy men unto Me; therefore ye shall not eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs.

We are given ritual slaughter and what is forbidden to us is given to dogs who did not bark when we left Egypt. This is the first mention of Kashrus and hence the starting Simanim of Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah start off with the laws of slaughter.

23:1 Thou shalt not utter a false report; put not thy hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. 2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou bear witness in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to pervert justice; 3 neither shalt thou favor a poor man in his cause.

The Judge is only as good as the evidence and the witnesses and a lying tongue can win a case in this world but wait there is another JUDGE after life and there the truth will come out. As we go further on we see another way justice can be perverted by humans.

… 6 Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause. 7 Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not; for I will not justify the wicked. 8 And thou shalt take no gift; for a gift blinds them that have sight, and perverts the words of the righteous.

Bribes and Judges or Politicians is very old if this law was established 3300 years ago it must have been rampant.

9 And a stranger shalt thou not oppress; for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

As much animosity that exists between the Arabs and the Jews in Eretz Yisrael, there was on Thursday morning this week a crash between a school bus carrying very young Arab children and a large truck that skidded head on into the bus. The bus caught fire. Israeli firemen, medics and ambulances were on the scene. In a joint effort with the Red Crescent many children were saved and some evacuated to the best Israeli hospitals. At first the Arab pride wanted all to be treated in their hospitals but after hours they blamed the Israelis for not taking care which is as usual a big lie. The Israelis gathered the children and brought them to the best hospitals. Strangers are treated well by us.

10 And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and gather in the increase thereof; 11 but the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of thy people may eat; and what they leave the beast of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy olive yard.

The number seven and rest appears before us again. This time with the Shmita year is mentioned.

12 Six days thou shalt do thy work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest; that your ox and your ass may have rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.

The Torah places again an emphasis on Shabbos as the Yetzer to violate the Shabbos is great.

… 16 and the feast of harvest, the first-fruits of thy labors, which thou sow in the field; and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year, when thou gather in thy labors out of the field.

Unlike the first born males, beasts and animals; the first fruits although not designated by the womb are designated by the farm and given to the Cohain starting with Chag Ha Shavuos.

… Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk.

Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah continues after the laws of slaughter and a small section on blood to the laws of milk & meat, koshering and avoiding mixtures that are forbidden.

20 Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee by the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. 21 Take heed of him, and hearken unto his voice; be not rebellious against him; for he will not pardon your transgression; for My name is in him. 22 But if thou shalt indeed hearken unto his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto your enemies, and an adversary unto your adversaries.

The wars of Yisrael are not normal military wars. They have a guiding hand and miracles occur. So many occurred during the Gaza campaign a few years ago that even the main stream non-religious leftists press even called them miracles. My favorite caught with a TV Camera was the houses in Ashdod - to the right damage, to the left damage and the middle house unscathed had a sign in Hebrew: Whoever guards the Shabbos, the Shabbos will guard him.

… 24:12 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Come up to Me into the mount and be there; and I will give thee the tables of stone, and the law and the commandment, which I have written, that thou mayest teach them.' 13 And Moses rose up, and Joshua his minister; and Moses went up into the mount of God. 14 And unto the elders he said: 'Tarry ye here for us, until we come back unto you; and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you; whosoever hath a cause, let him come near unto them.' 15 And Moses went up into the mount, and the cloud covered the mount. 16 And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and the seventh day He called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 And the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. 18 And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud, and went up into the mount; and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.

Halachos from Danny Schoemann

Everybody has to honor the following people: - One's father's wife and one's mother's husband. - One's father-in-law and one's mother-in-law. - One's grandparents, though one's parents' honor has priority. - One's older brother; even if he's a half-brother. Source: Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 143:19-20

סעיף יט - חייב אדם לכבד אשת אביו אף על פי שאינה אמו כל זמן שאביו קיים. וכן חייב לכבד בעל אמו כל זמן שאמו קיימת, ודבר הגון הוא לכבדם גם לאחר מיתת אביו ואמו. סעיף כ - חייב אדם בכבוד אחיו הגדול ממנו בין שהוא אחיו מן האב בין מן האם, וחייב אדם בכבוד חמיו וחמותו (כדמצינו בדוד המלך עליו השלום שחלק כבוד לשאול המלך שהיה חמיו קראו אבי, שאמר לו אבי ראה גם ראה) וחייב בכבוד אבי אביו, אלא שכבוד אביו גדול מכבוד אבי אביו

Section 19- one is obligated to honor his father's wife, though not his mother while his father was there. And must respect his mother with his mother all the time there, and decent thing is to respect them even after the death of his father and mother. Article about a man must honor his older brother whether he is brother of the father of the mother, and one should honor father-and-in-law (As we saw with King David peace be upon him some dignity to ask the king was His in-laws called my father, who told him my father See also) and must honor his father's father, but great respect for his father’s- father.

A Talmid Chacham (Torah scholar) has preference over a Cohen. Everybody else needs to give preference to the Cohen; he gets called first to the Torah, gets to speak first at functions, at meals gets served first and leads the Zimun. In a business partnership a Cohen does not get preferential treatment. One may not use a Cohen to run ones errands or do other mundane tasks, unless the Cohen has agreed to relinquish his Cohen status for this purpose. Source: Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 144:8-9
To clarify: A Cohen always gets called to the Torah first, so as to prevent the unpleasantness of people arguing as to whether a specific person is a Talmid Chacham worthy of displacing the Cohen or not. The Mishnah says Maumzer Talmud Chacham is better than Cohain Gadol Am HaAretz (Boorish).

This week I got an unsolicited e-mail from a ‘Rabbi’ Arthur Segal it seemed nice but since I never heard of him, I decided to check him out. He performs interfaith marriage and his writings must be the same so forewarned is forearmed. I broke up the link my daughter-in-law sent. /12/02/rabbi-arthur-segal-jewish-interfaith.html

The Identifying Fruit http://livingjewish.net/category/beshalach-333/

A wealthy man by the name of Elimelech received many honors in the Schul of the Rebbe, Rabbi Chaim of Antonia. He had one of the important seats in the front, facing the congregation, near to the Rebbe’s own chair. At the tisch, he also sat at the table near the Rebbe, who would show him various signs of favor. For his part, Elimelech had great respect for the Rebbe. He would always bow his head before him, and contribute generously to the spectrum of charitable causes that the Rebbe maintained. The Chassidim, however, mostly did not think so highly of Elimelech, despite the affection the Rebbe openly displayed towards him. They suspected that his generous good deeds indicated only a superficial piety, and that at home he was not so religious as he appeared in public. Sharper tongues said that he was influenced by the so-called Enlightenment movement and its innovations and that this had already weakened his Fear of Heaven.

Okay, nobody’s perfect. And the rich man had a lot of redeeming qualities. As long as any failings remained between him and his Creator, it was easy enough to turn a blind eye. But now, an uncrossable line had been crossed: his son had enrolled in their high school, something no youth from any religious family had yet dared to do, never mind one from a Chassidic home and associated with the Rebbe, no less.

“What kind of example is this for our children?” complained the delegation of Chassidim to the Rebbe. “Can a person send his son to an anti-religious school and still have an honored place near the Rebbe?”

The Tzaddik was shaken by the report. He summoned his wealthy follower. At first he spoke to him amicably, attempting to get him to see his mistake. The rich man, who was nearly always submissive to the Rebbe’s opinions, this time kept firm. “My son wants a broad education, to be able to make his way in the world-at-large.”

When the Tzaddik saw he was getting nowhere, he changed his approach. “A pure Jewish education in a G-d-fearing spirit is integral to Chassidus,” he roared. “Until you take your son out of that school, I have no desire to see you among my Chassidim.”

Elimelech stumbled out, dismayed. How could he live without being near the Rebbe? For several days he remained in a state of confusion. It almost seemed that the Rebbe’s harsh words had slowly made their way into his heart. In the end, though, he decided that he was right; there is nothing wrong if his son wants to acquire a broad education. The problem was only that the Rebbe was too extreme. From that analysis came an obvious solution. “I’ll just have to find a different Rebbe,” he said to himself.

This proved to be easy enough, and he soon found himself in the doorway of Rabbi Yisrael of Vizhnitz…none other the brother of the Tzaddik of Antonia, the Rebbe he had just abandoned. Known for the great love he had for every Jew, the Vizhnitzer Rebbe was friendly and welcoming to all. He gave Reb Elimelech a big smile, invited him to sit near him at the Shabbos tisch, and exchanged friendly words with him each time they met.

Elimelech was ecstatic with his ‘find.’ He felt so good with his new Rebbe. Not only that, he felt reinforced that he had been right all along, and that his former Rebbe’s criticism was unjustified.

One day shortly thereafter, the Vizhnitzer invited Elimelech to accompany him on his evening stroll to the park. What an honor! And a pleasure too—the air was so pleasant, and the gentle breeze rustled the leaves and thin branches of the trees that lined the path.

The Rebbe turned to his companion. “These trees evoke in me the distant sweet memories of childhood. I remember how once, in the days before Passover, the teacher’s wife chased us outside so she could clean the house. We had to set up in the front yard in order to learn. We were small children, and although the teacher tried his best to get us to learn, we were too distracted–birds were chirping, a horse-drawn wagon rolled by, clouds on high floated over our heads–who could concentrate to study? When our teacher saw it was hopeless, he decided to try to give us a nature lesson instead. He pointed to the garden next door. ‘Do you boys see that tree over there,’ he asked, to draw our attention. ‘That’s a walnut tree. And next to it is a pear tree. And behind that is an apple tree.’ He continued on to identity all the different fruit trees for us.

“’How do you know?’ we asked, puzzled. Winter had just ended, the trees were bare of fruit and leaves. The teacher began to list different signs for us–the relative smoothness or bumpiness of the trunk, the quantity and thickness of the branches, the height of the tree, and so forth. We, though, small children that we were, were not able to absorb his erudite explanation.”

The Tzaddik clasped the wealthy man’s arm and continued his story. “So how were we able to distinguish which tree was which? Simple. Or so it became after a few months when the trees began to bear fruit. Then we know longer needed lessons or signs. Which was the pear tree? The one with the pears on it. The one full of plums? Obviously, a plum tree. Each tree was easily identified by its fruit. From this I learned an important principle,” said the Rebbe in conclusion. “When you don’t know for sure the nature and stature of a person, look at his fruit–his descendants. From them you can know who the person really is.”

Elimelech got the message. His true identity would be revealed through his children. That same week Elimelech the rich man withdrew his son from the non-religious school. [Translated and adapted by Yerachmiel Tilles from Sichat HaShavuah #547. First published in Kfar Chabad Magazine English] – [Yerachmiel Tilles is the director of the AscentOfSafed.com

Only for the Good http://livingjewish.net/category/vaera-331/

A man, a follower of the great tzadik (righteous person) , the Shpoler Zeide, came to him weeping bitterly. “Rebbe,” he cried, “what am I to do? Stolen property was found in my courtyard, and I am being accused of being a thief. My lawyer tells me that I will not escape with less than three months in prison.”

The Shpoler Zeide listened and replied, “I will be a better lawyer for you, and you will receive only one month in prison.”

“But, Rebbe,” the man continued, plaintively, “I am an innocent man. Why must I be punished for a month?”

“I will tell you a tale of a similar incident which occurred to me, and you will understand. Once I was staying at the home of a very hospitable Jewish customs officer. I became friendly with another guest there, and when the Shabbat ended, we made plans to continue our journey together. Unbeknownst to me, the other man had stolen some valuable pieces of silver from the house.

“As we proceeded down the road, we heard the sounds of a carriage approaching very fast. The man asked me to watch his pack for a moment and he disappeared in the mass of trees. The carriage stopped in front of me and I recognized the customs officer and a gentile officer.

“‘Seize him,’” the Jew cried. “‘He is the thief!’

“And before I knew what was happening they threw me into the back of the carriage and we drove away. When I recovered from the initial shock, I tried to explain that it was not I, but the other man who had stolen the silver, but they scorned my words. It was obviously nothing would avail, and I accepted it as the will of Heaven.

“I was thrown into a cell full of frightening criminals who found my appearance an occasion for great mirth. They pulled at my sidelocks and beard, and I could only entreat the One Above to rescue me from their evil clutches. They tried to extort money from me, but when they saw I had none, they set out to beat me. The first one laid into me as two others held me down. As soon as his hand touched me, he cried out in pain. His hand swelled and gushed with blood. The thieves and murderers who surrounded me took conference with one another. One said I was a sorcerer, another claimed I was a saint; regardless of their opinion, they all agreed to leave me alone.

“When the immediate danger had passed, I looked around at the other prisoners. One, called “Gypsy” turned out to be, instead, a Polish Jew who had been imprisoned for horse-stealing. I realized that I had been incarcerated precisely in order to help this pathetic man repent. Little by little we spoke and I gained his trust. He related a sad tale of being orphaned and then falling in with a band of Gypsies, whose ways he adopted.

“One morning the man came to me in a state of terror. He had dreamed of his dead parents who told him to do whatever I would instruct him. They said if he refused, he would die in his sleep. From that moment on he was the most willing penitent. Slowly, I instructed him in the Jewish religion. He stopped eating forbidden food, began to recite prayers, and begged the Al-mighty to forgive his errant ways. After several weeks passed, he even began sleeping near me and became completely attached to me in word and deed.

“A few days later I dreamed that Eliyahu told me to flee from that place and go to the town of Zlotopoli where I would be offered the position of beadle of the town. But then I remembered the “Gypsy,” and my promise not to abandon him. But, I reasoned, if a miracle could come about for me, it could come about for him, too. I told the repentant man to follow me. When we came to the first door, we saw it was open. He held my belt and we passed through the door together, and continued into the black night, with no thought as to where we were going. Many hours later, we stopped at the house of a Jew who told us that we had found the path to Zlotopoli.

“Three days later, we arrived in the town, and I was appointed to the position of beadle. So you see, don’t complain about the judgements of G-d, for they are very deep and beyond the understanding of men. Just be strong in your faith, for I can assure you that everything that happens, no matter how it appears, is only for the good. And, as I promised, you will sit in prison no more than one month.” (Reprinted from www.LchaimWeekly.org – LYO / NYC)

From Last week’s Parsha: "And you will be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." (From this week's Torah portion, Nitro, Exodus 19:6)

Before the giving of the Torah, before the Ten Commandments, before the most momentous and splendorous ceremony in history, the Creator explains why. Before "Honor your parents", before "Guard the Sabbath day to sanctify it", before all the 'how', G-d explains why He gave us the Torah; why this trek from the House of Bondage to the Land of Israel. What is the destiny? What is the purpose?

"And you will be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."

Without a nation, a king is not a king. To rule over His world and to lavish His goodness on every corner of creation, the Creator created a treasured nation, bringing it to a special Land so that it can live its life in a special way. In the holy city – the place chosen by G-d, this nation will build the Creator's royal palace. From there His Divine Presence will emanate to the entire world.

But who wants to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation? Let us just make ends meet! It is not in our hands. G-d's covenant with our Forefathers and the exodus from Egypt locked us into a national commitment from which we cannot flee.

Kaiser Frederick the Great used to debate theology with the French prince, Jean Batisse de Voyeaur: "Please give me a clear proof of the existence of G-d," the Kaiser demanded. The prince answered: "I have an exact and irrefutable proof for his majesty. A proof in one word: The Jews." (from the Hidabroot Hebrew website)

The supernatural, meta-historical existence of the Jewish nation is intrinsically bound in humanity's consciousness with the existence of G-d. Like it or not, we are the nation of the Creator and we cannot escape the responsibility that the position entails. All of humanity longingly desires the message of liberty pronounced by the Jewish Nation when it left the House of Bondage. It craves the message of liberty that descended from Mount Sinai. We have no choice other than to be ourselves: To choose destiny over mere existence, to choose to actualize our status as a treasured nation and not to deny it, to choose liberty over slavery. Shabbat Shalom, Moshe Feiglin

Some of the 200,000,000 lost to Judaism over the centuries can return. (Not the 6,000,000 lost in World War II) http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yquS2XDsfVY#! The above thanks to Brielle:

Posted by Tovia: Reincarnation story on film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=SF3KqGpxXvo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_T5vNgusEw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooRnQT4agXY&feature=related

MIRACLE in Kosovo: http://www.aol.com/video/girl-rescued-after-avalanche-buries-village-in-kosovo/517269147/?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl12%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D135251

More on Treblinka comes to light: http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=254189

An interesting article posted and copied from Avraham Nissan: http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1748866/jewish/The-Kabbalah-of-Making-Money.htm

A story from Laser Brody: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=A2qvmLDuhF4#!

We should think of boycotting products from Nations that buy Iran’s oil. http://www.debka.com/article/21740/

I do what I do because...I love Israel with all my heart♥ by Deborah Lurya

Some may think I am a bit nervy or over confident, after all I am not a Israeli citizen and i seem to have an opinion on everything...... However, I am a rock solid Jew to the core, and very proud of my history and people. I do have faith, in the Infinite plan and Hashem. But real action needs to be taken- The reason I have no trepidation or reservation to say what I mean is because Israel is my home too, I have rights to live there as a Jewess. Today, We are up against a wall with global threats and challenged. I say what I say and do what I do because I love Israel. It is that simple. I only want what is best for her. She is like my 6th child (I have five). I worry about her constantly. But I realize that worry is not productive. So I write and share ideas hoping that they will be shared out there in the Jewish universe. Please if you are Israeli dont be offended, I speak from my heart, out of love. Shalom

The Mikvah Revolution

Today we do not think of the importance of the Mikvah and public baths associated with it other than ritual purity. Imagine some Chassidim went everyday others once every Shabbos and women a minimum of once a month. What was the custom of the non-Jews? Well the French developed perfume for the ladies for those cold European Winters.

I received this from Barbara for facts for my humor and trivia list but this. So if somebody ever calls you a filthy dirty Jew tell him to check his family tree first.

HISTORICAL TRIVIA As incredible as it sounds, men and women took baths only twice a year (May and October) Women kept their hair covered, while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs made from wool. They couldn't wash the wigs, so to clean them they would carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell, and bake it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term 'big wig... ' Today we often use the term 'here comes the Big Wig' because someone appears to be or is powerful and wealthy. The ancestors of those calling you a dirty Jew took a bath twice a year! At least most of our ancestors went to the Mikvah at worst weekly in honor of the Shabbos. Macbeth Act IV Scene 1 "All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand."

Inyanay Diyoma

We are getting better and improving all the time http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=257305

Wiping out Israel in 9 minutes is not a pleasant idea: http://www.debka.com/article/21720/

This is what Obama thinks in private: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DYAbn0AkDOI

Just before Shabbos this hit the news: http://www.debka.com/article/21727/

The tip of the iceberg: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4188148,00.html

The peace process is dead and buried by Caroline Glick: http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=257237

And I thought the yanks were crazy with welfare payments. http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-fayetteville/confessed-terrorist-to-fund-training-with-british-welfare-payments

Like with Libya the US is backing the wrong side or should keep their noses out like Israel is doing: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4188375,00.html

What is a Reagan type of Foreign Policy: http://www.therightscoop.com/full-speech-john-bolton-at-cpac-2012/

Ever wonder why Fox News dumped Glenn Beck and now Judge Napolitano: http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/02/george-soros-secretly-controlling-fox-news

Obama cuts aid to Israel’s missile defense program: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4189301,00.html update: http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=257980

The State Dept. wants $79,000,000 for UNESCO despite the ban: http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/02/13/5_coming_battles_over_the_2013_international_affairs_budget

Wake up Israel: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4187971,00.html

Iran and Hezballah playing with fire: http://www.debka.com/article/21735/

After the endorsement by the KKK and Nazi David Duke this is the crème de la crème: http://www.libertarianrepublican.net/2012/02/good-news-ron-paul-wins-coveted-youseff.html

Some of the dangers of Facebook: Kids on Facebook this is scary: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/15/17-high-school-students-facebook-photos-used-on-porn-site_n_1279523.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl7%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D136099

Americans be wary: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4190554,00.html

US is sacrificing Israel for Obama's re-election campaign at present. http://www.debka.com/article/21742/

I have not gotten sudden prophecy over the following but I also know that the LRD hates licentiousness: Sodom in our days – Washington State and New Jersey legalize same sex marriage. Watch out for Arab dirty bombs! When this happens one must pray that the righteous are not swallowed up with the wicked.

Forwarded by Gail Winston, Middle East Analyst & Commentator Fool me twice By CAROLINE B. GLICK Jewish World Review Feb 3, 2012 / 10 Shevat, 5772

The useful idiot who pre-election promised American Jewish leaders that Obama was Israel's best friend and only hope, was back in the Holy Land shilling. This time, though, he was pushing more territorial compromises in the name of peace.

A reminder of the damage Former US Congressman Robert Wexler has done --- and a warning of what he intends to do http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Former US Congressman Robert Wexler is a man worth listening to. Wexler served as then-senator Barack Obama's chief booster in the American Jewish community during the 2008 presidential campaign. He appeared everywhere and said anything to convince the American Jewish community that the same man who sat in the church pews listening to Rev. Jeremiah Wright's anti-Semitic vitriol for two decades, and listed among his closest friends and associates a whole host of Israel haters as well as former terrorists, was the greatest friend Israel could ever have.

Once Obama was elected, Wexler continued to serve as his Jewish shill. Wexler traveled to Israel multiple times in the early months of Obama's presidency to pressure Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to submit to Obama's demand and embrace the cause of Palestinian statehood. After Netanyahu finally announced his support for Palestinian
statehood at his speech at Bar Ilan University outside Tel Aviv in September 2009, Wexler returned with a new demand - that Netanyahu enact a moratorium on Jewish property rights in Judea and Samaria.

In an interview with the Jerusalem Post at the time, Wexler promised that Israel would be richly rewarded if it took the unprecedented step of denying Jews the right to their
property in Judea and Samaria simply because they were Jewish. Even if the moratorium were temporary, Obama would view the discriminatory measure as proof of Israel's good intentions. Moreover, he would expect the Palestinians and the wider Arab world to respond to Israel's move by taking steps to normalize their relations with Israel.

For instance, Wexler claimed that Obama had demanded that the Arabs respond to an Israeli moratorium on Jewish property rights by among other things opening trade offices and direct economic ties; conducting cultural and economic exchanges and permitting Israeli airplanes to overfly their territory. And in the event that the Arabs refused to rise to the occasion, Wexler proclaimed, "You can rightly say that all bets are off."

Wexler continued, "I want to call their bluff. I want to see, if Israel makes substantial movement toward a credible peace process, whether they are willing to do it. And if they
are not, better that we should find out five or six months into the process, before Israel is actually asked to compromise any significant position."

In the event, Netanyahu bowed to Obama's demand and enacted a temporary ban on the exercise of Jewish property rights in Judea and Samaria. And in the aftermath of his
stunning move, the Arab world did nothing.

Amazingly, far from calling their bluff, Obama doubled down on his pressure on Israel. Among other things, since squeezing the first temporary ban on Jewish property rights out of Netanyahu, Obama has demanded that the moratorium be made permanent and extended to Jerusalem.

As for his vision of the "peace process," Obama has demanded that Israel accept the 1949 armistice lines as the basis for future negotiations. He has used the US veto at the UN Security Council as a means of pressuring Israel to make further unreciprocated concessions to the Palestinians. And the pro-Israel US president has demanded no similar
concessions from the Palestinians.

This week Wexler, now the head of the far-left S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace was back in town. Speaking at the Herzliya Conference, Wexler said that Israel
should consider extending the ban on Jewish property rights to within the 1949 armistice lines. Wexler based his claim on then prime minister Ehud Olmert's 2008 peace offer to Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas.

Olmert's offer, which Abbas rejected, involved a "land swap," in which in the framework of a comprehensive peace deal, Israel would give the Palestinians land from within its
1949 boundaries in exchange for land in Judea and Samaria that Israel would permanently retain. According to media reports, Olmert offered Abbas 4.5 percent of Israeli territory in exchange for a similar amount of land in Judea and Samaria.

While Wexler appeared at the Herzliya Conference as the president of a non-partisan non-profit organization, his continued intimate relationship with Obama is well known.
Last fall Commentary's Omri Ceren documented that Zvika Krieger, Wexler's vice president at the Daniel Abraham Center authored documents for Obama's reelection campaign. Among other things, those documents cited articles authored by Krieger and Wexler in which they championed Obama's record on Israel from their nonpartisan perch at the Daniel Abraham Center.

Given Wexler's close ties to Obama, it is reasonable to assume that his suggestion that Israel cease exerting its national sovereignty over its sovereign territory in the
interests of the peace process is not simply his personal view.

There is much to criticize about Wexler's suggestion. But more important than its arrogant, insulting absurdity, and more disconcerting than Wexler's own hypocrisy, is
what his suggestion tells us about the dangers inherent in Netanyahu's current negotiations with the Palestinians. To understand the connection we need to recall the
nature of Olmert's offer to Abbas.

Olmert's negotiations with Abbas were based upon the proposition - repeated ad nauseum to the Israeli public -- that "nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to." The idea was clear. True, on the one hand, the prime minister was conducting negotiations far from the spotlight, and refusing to tell the public what was on offer. But on the other hand, we could rest assured that that nothing he offered would have any significance whatsoever unless the Palestinians agreed to a final peace deal with Israel. If they rejected peace, then everything Olmert said would become null and void, and tossed down the memory hole.

In accordance with this basic proposition, when Abbas rejected Olmert's offer, and made no counteroffer, it was naturally assumed that Olmert's proposal was rendered null and void. Yet four years later, here is Wexler, Obama's surrogate, advocating a policy of unilateral abrogation of Israeli sovereignty over 4.5percent of its national territory in
order to enable the eventual implementation of an offer that was predicated on the notion that "nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to."

And this brings us to the current negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. For the past month, under the aegis of the Middle East Quartet, Netanyahu's representative
Attorney Yitzhak Molcho has been conducting negotiations with Abbas's representatives in Amman, Jordan. Last week Molcho reportedly outlined the government's general positions on lands it is willing to cede to the Palestinians.

Without presenting any maps, Molcho reportedly said that a permanent agreement would involve most of the Israelis living in Judea and Samaria remaining in Israeli territory.
The media interpreted this to mean that like Olmert, Netanyahu expects for Israel to retain perpetual control over large blocks of Israeli communities that take up less than
ten percent of the overall landmass in Judea and Samaria.

For his part, Netanyahu this week reiterated his position that Israel must maintain a long-term military presence in the Jordan Valley. This has been interpreted to mean that
Netanyahu is willing to cede sovereign rights to the area to the Palestinians.

Taken together, what Molcho's statement and Netanyahu's statement indicate is that at a minimum, in exchange for peace, the Netanyahu government is willing to expel some portion of the 350,000 Jews living in Judea and Samaria from their homes and to transfer sovereignty over a significant portion of the territory to a Palestinian state.

From the vagueness of what has been reported, it is apparent that to date, Netanyahu has been far less specific about the scope of the territorial concessions he is willing to
undertake than his predecessor was. But then again, Olmert made his offer after conducting negotiations with Abbas for over a year. Netanyahu only entered these talks a
month ago.

And while no one in or out of government believes that these negotiations have any chance of leading to a peace deal, the fact is that Netanyahu is feverishly working to ensure
that the talks continue. Netanyahu spent a good part of his day on Wednesday speaking on the phone to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and meeting with Quartet envoy Tony Blair and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon begging the foreign leaders to convince the Palestinians not to abandon the negotiations.

As he put it in his joint press conference with Ban, "You cannot complete the peace process unless you begin it. If you begin it, you have to be consistent and stick to it." For his part, Abbas is doing everything in his power to make clear that he does not wish to negotiate, and that even if negotiations continue, that he will never cut a deal with
Israel. To underscore his bad faith, next week Abbas will travel to Egypt to meet with Hamas terror chief Khaled Mashaal. The two are set to discuss the means of implementing
the unity government deal they signed last May. Netanyahu is obviously under great pressure to continue on with these talks. A day doesn't go by without some US official or
European leader talking about the need for talks, or a leftist politician or political activist at home blaming Netanyahu for the absence of peace. But none of this pressure can justify the damage that is done to Israel's position by continuing to engage in these negotiations.

As Netanyahu's own experience with Obama (and Wexler) shows, concessions never bring a respite from the US leader's pressure. They only form the baseline for demands for further concessions.

Beyond the narrow confines of Obama's personal hostility towards Israel, Netanyahu's current engagement in negotiations with the Palestinians is devastating to Israel's
position in two ways. First, it makes it impossible for Israel to extricate itself from the lie of PLO moderation and to start telling the truth about its Palestinian "partner."

Quite simply, as Abbas's continued courtship of Hamas and his open embrace and glorification of mass murderers such as the murderers of the Fogel family make clear, the
PLO has returned to its roots as a terrorist organization. It is no longer credible to claim that the PLO has abandoned terror in favor of peace.

By engaging in peace talks with the PLO, Netanyahu renders it impossible to make this critical claim. Consequently, he damns Israel to a situation in which we continue to
empower and politically legitimize a terrorist organization committed to our destruction.

The second way continued negotiations devastates Israel's position is by eroding our ability to claim our rights to Judea and Samaria and so extricate ourselves from this
fake peace process with terrorists. As Wexler made clear, from the international community's perspective, everything that Israel offers at the negotiating table is
catalogued. Regardless of Palestinian bad faith, irrespective of actual prospects for peace, every theoretical Israeli concession becomes the new baseline for further
negotiations.

American "friends" like Wexler and Obama play Israel for a fool again and again. In truth, we should thank Wexler for coming here this week and reminding us of his bad
faith, and the bad faith of the President he serves. But it is up to Netanyahu to draw

THERE WAS NEVER A COUNTRY CALLED 'PALESTINE'!! by Jerrold L. Sobel forwarded by Gail Winston, Middle East Analyst & Commentator

THIS IS A GOOD, GREAT HISTORICAL DOCUMENT. Use Jerrold Sobel's verbal ammunition to defend Israel, Eretz Yisrael in her entirety whenever you hear or see her threatened. COMMENT BY GAIL WINSTON

THERE WAS NEVER A COUNTRY CALLED 'PALESTINE'!! by Jerrold L. Sobel Feb. 6, 2012
Please, forget one of the great misnomers of our time; Israel did not steal Palestinian land. It's not their land; it's never been their land; it will never be their land. This land was given to the Jewish people, as stated in the Bible, by the Creator, and will remain the homeland of the Jewish people in perpetuity. Despite 27 invasions of Judea and Samaria; erroneously called the West Bank, conquests by many, forced conversions, exiles, massive oppressions, generations of Diaspora and cowardly acquiescence by a cadre of 5th column Jews themselves, Jews have not only survived in what's known in Hebrew as, Eretz Yisrael (Israel), they've taken a desert wasteland and turned it into a powerful little democracy, the envy of the world; particularly their neighbors many of which despise themselves as much or more than the Jewish State (See Syria or Egypt). To her detractors which there are many worldwide, the mantra remains the same, ad nauseam. "Israel is complicit in doing this...." "She omitted doing that...." "We respect Judaism but are against Zionism".... Attempting to mask their anti-Semitism as anti-Zionism, her enemies propagandize the most vile accusations against Israel in such numbers that much of it sticks. To cite just a couple: Myth: "Israel discriminates against its Arab Citizens." The facts show otherwise. Israel is one of the most open societies in the world. Out of
a population of 6.7 million, 1.1 million are Muslims, 130,000 are Christians, and 100,000 are Druze. All have equal voting rights; it's one of a very few place where Arab women
have the right to vote; Arabs currently hold 14 seats in the Knesset. …

Now for M. Wolfberg’s “Shabbos Heals”

Good Shabbos Everyone. Let us begin this week with a short piece from the Kabbalah. The holy Zohar teaches us, that "Anyone who keeps the Shabbos, it is as if he has fulfilled the entire Torah." (Zohar, Part 2, 92a) The only way truly to understand this piece of Kabbalah is for one to keep Shabbos. Because, keeping Shabbos empowers a Jew to reach the highest spiritual heights. A Jew can only reach his potential with Shabbos.
We read about Shabbos this week in the 10 Commandments. As the Holy Torah commands us in the fourth commandment: "Six days you shall work… but the seventh day is Shabbos to Hashem, your G-d, you shall not do any work…" (Shemos 20:9-10) The Sages have taught us that more than the Jewish people have kept the Shabbos, Shabbos has kept the Jewish people. The following amazing true story, told by Rabbi Shlomo Chaim Gruskin, Rav of Congregation Bnai Zion in Detroit, Michigan, illustrates the power of Shabbos.
Rabbi Shlomo Chaim Gruskin, of blessed memory, was a chaplain of the State of Michigan. Part of his duties involve making rounds in hospitals for the mentally ill. Every year before Pesach, a secular Jewish man named Milton helped Rabbi Gruskin in the distribution of Pesach boxes to the mentally ill. One Sunday morning, Rabbi Gruskin received an unexpected phone call.
"Hello, Rabbi. This is Milton." "Milton! How are you?" There was a short silence. Then, "I'm calling from Sinai Hospital, Rabbi." Milton's voice broke. "Rabbi, please pray for me. I'm very ill." "I'm so sorry to hear that, Milton. Not only will I pray for you, but I'll also come down to see you as soon as I can."
Rabbi Gruskin went to see Milton the very next day. He had lost weight, his cheeks looked sunken, and his complexion appeared jaundiced. "Rabbi, please pray for me," Milton begged. The doctors say that I have a tumor in my pancreas." "Milton," Rabbi Gruskin began, "You're a kindhearted person, and you've helped me a lot during the past few years. I am certainly going to pray for you. But I have to tell you that there is someone else you should consider asking to pray for you-someone whose prayers will be answered faster than mine will."
"Who is it, Rabbi?" Milton asked anxiously. "I must call him immediately!" Shabbos, Milton. The Shabbos can pray for you." "What do you mean?" Milton asked. "Milton, start keeping the Shabbos," Rabbi Gruskin said. "In that merit, she [Shabbos] will pray to the Almighty to heal you."
Milton thought for a moment. "But I don't know anything about keeping Shabbos!" "Don't worry ," Rabbi Gruskin told him. "I will send you books that will introduce you to Shabbos, and describe every thing that you have to do." Several days after Rabbi Gruskin brought the books, Rabbi Gruskin dropped in for another visit. Milton was in a somber mood. "They think the tumor is malignant," Milton told him "and they want to operate." He paused for a moment. "I thought about our conversation, and I decided that I will keep Shabbos."
Milton pressed the call button for the nurse, and sat silently until she arrived. When the nurse came in, he said to her, "Tomorrow is the Sabbath. I don't want the television on, and I won't be taking any phone calls. I am going to observe the Sabbath from now on." Rabbi Gruskin turned to Milton and said "Let's shake on it." Milton took his hand and shook it vigorously.
Rabbi Gruskin came to visit Milton on the day of the operation. It was after 4 p.m. by the time he arrived at the hospital and he was sure that the operation would have long since finished, with Milton already out of the recovery room. But Milton's bed was empty. He must still be in the recovery room, Rabbi Gruskin thought. But he wasn't there either.
Nervously, he went downstairs to the surgical lounge, where he found Milton's family waiting on tenterhooks for news of the patient's condition. Just as he arrived, a doctor entered the corridor to meet the family and report on Milton's progress. The expression on his face already told them that the news was not good.
"The tumor was malignant. As we had suspected," the doctor said. "But that's not our problem now. We're having difficulty closing the incision, and he's hemorrhaging badly." He paused. "We don't expect him to make it through the night." Milton's wife broke down crying.
Rabbi Gruskin calmed her down the best he could. After she was somewhat calmed, Rabbi Gruskin said, " As long as Milton is with us, we must do everything we can. I'm going to shul now for the afternoon prayers, and afterwards I'll add the name Rafael to his name. We are in Hashem's Hands now." After davening (praying) Minchah (the afternoon prayers), the men recited Tehillim - psalms for Milton, and the name Rafael was added to his Hebrew name. (Rafael means "Heal him, G-d. " It is commonly added to the name of a seriously ill person as a prayer and plea to Hashem)
Rabbi Gruskin went back to the hospital at eleven-thirty that night. He found the family still sitting in the waiting room, hoping to hear good news from the doctors. Rabbi Gruskin stayed for several hours, giving them some badly needed emotional support. When he finally left, he reassured them that he would return immediately after davening Shacharis the following morning.
As soon as Rabbi Gruskin walked in the door of his home, the phone rang. "This is Bill, Milton's brother," a tired voice said. "The doctor just told us that he doesn't think Milton will live another hour. Do you think you could come back to stay with us during Milton's last moments?" "I'll be right over." Said Rabbi Gruskin
Rabbi Gruskin returned to the hospital, and he went to where the family was waiting. He asked the doctors for permission to see Milton. The doctors gave their consent, and Rabbi Gruskin quietly entered the room, with the family filing in behind him.
Milton lay quietly in bed, with tubes in his nose and mouth helping to keep him alive. As Rabbi Gruskin came closer, Milton suddenly opened his eyes. He looked at Rabbi Gruskin, looked at his family, and then raised his hand. He tapped his fingers against his thumb and pointed toward heaven. "Do you want us to pray for you?" Rabbi Gruskin asked. Milton shook his head, no. Rabbi Gruskin was puzzled; he could not figure out what Milton was trying to tell him.
Rabbi Gruskin went over to the doctor. "Is it possible to remove those tubes?" he asked. "It might be important to know what he is trying to tell us." The doctor thought for a moment. "I suppose it's all right," he said finally. Rabbi Gruskin turned to Milton. "Do you want the doctor to take the tubes out of your mouth, so you can speak?" he asked. Milton nodded vigorously. So the doctor removed the tubes and stepped back.
To everyone's surprise, Milton sat up in bed and began speaking. His voice was hoarse, and they had to strain to hear him. "All of you can go home, I am going to be all right," he whispered. "Rabbi please stay here." Milton's wife was in shock. The doctor was staring open-mouthed at his patient. They filed out slowly, turning their heads for one final look at Milton as they left the room. After they had gone, Milton said, "I had to ask them to leave, because they wouldn't understand what I'm about to tell you. The truth is that since the operation began, I have not been on this world-I have been in heaven."
Rabbi Gruskin looked at Milton a bit dubiously. It sounded like the effects of anesthesia to him. But Milton shook his head emphatically. "I know what it sounds like, Rabbi, but it's the truth. They told me up there that if the Rabbi will be at your bedside when you first open your eyes, you'll know that you'll live. But if he's not there, you will die." Milton stopped to catch his breath. "When I opened my eyes and saw you, I knew I was going to make it."
From that point on, Milton began the long slow road to recovery. Shortly after the operation, Milton told Rabbi Gruskin, "Thank you for praying for me. It saved my life." Rabbi Gruskin took hold of Milton's hands. "No, Milton, it wasn't me. It was Shabbos."
Milton stayed in the hospital for seven months, running up a medical bill that exceeded $260,000. When he was finally able to go home, he weighed a mere eighty-three pounds-and he is six feet tall! The horrible disease in the pancreas kills quickly-usually two or three months after diagnosis-but more than thirteen years have passed since Milton's operation. His oncologist says that Milton is a medical miracle. Today, Milton fully observes Torah and mitzvos. Every weekday he drives twenty-five miles to daven in shul. And for many years before Pesach, he continued to help Rabbi Gruskin deliver packages to the inner city. (from Visions of Greatness, p.26, Rabbi Yosef Weiss)
More than the Jewish people has kept the Shabbos, Shabbos has kept the Jewish People. If you are keeping Shabbos, let this encourage you to be more dedicated to keeping Shabbos properly. If you are not keeping Shabbos, let this encourage you to find out what you are missing. Good Shabbos Everyone Matis Wolfberg’s stories are sponsored by Refuah Shleima to Reb Mordechai Menachem Mendel ben Tziporah Yitta Refuah Shleima to Tsviah bas Bracha Leah

Again I delay the printing of more of the laws of Kings and Wars due to the large amount of material within. Good Shabbos to all and a pleasant one at that,

Rachamim Pauli

Parsha Yisro, stories and updates on the Middle-East

2012-02-09T21:16:00.000+02:00

Chaya Esther bas Feiga Yenta needs extra prayers a young mother of 4 who developed staph infection and is in terrible danger.

Menachem Yehoshua Chai Shalom Leah Reizl...has been ill for a while but since I have no of keeping track I will not ask for a longer time. For the same reason I have removed Yehonatan ben Malka from my list and David Zvi ben Sara Leah and Rabbi Adin Even Yisrael Shlita as his type of cancer appears to be under control and nobody can update me.

Dr. Rabbi Rosansky Shlita: Regarding my post on Germans not knowing about Auschwitz but they view Dachau see photos: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/107863331755433154882/albums/5431454670442053393

From Zvi A: Please turn on captions (cc on the bottom) this is a message about the war of Gog and Magog http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CmXVsxpUnhc#!

Israel has a religious tradition majority not somebody in Chassidic Garb from Bnei Berak http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4184853,00.html

Parsha Yisro

This week’s Parsha is one of the most outstanding Parshiyos in the whole Torah. Three major themes are in the Parsha: 1) The establishment of a Torah leader hierarchy a leader of ten, fifty, hundred, etc. 2) The concept of holiness and profane with the distancing of oneself from the mountain and the holiness there upon. 3) The giving and receiving of the Decalogue.

I have taken some outstanding ideas by other Rabbis on the subject and have made an anthology of the Parsha this week. I have condensed many things and one can click or copy and paste to read the entire source.

18:1 Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel His people, how that the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt. 2 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Tziporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her away, 3 and her two sons; of whom the name of the one was Gershom; for he said: 'I have been a stranger in a strange land'; 4 and the name of the other was Eliezer: 'for the God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.' 5 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness where he was encamped, at the mount of God; 6 and he said unto Moses: 'I thy father-in-law Jethro am coming unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.' 7 And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and bowed down and kissed him;

I learn from this two things. One is required to honor his wife’s parents and one is required to honor an older person. According to the Medrash, Yisro was an advisor to Pharaoh when Moshe was Born. Allowing for Yisro to obtain such a status; he had to have been most likely over 30 and perhaps over 40 add on now 80 years of Moshe we have a very old man. So even though Moshe was virtually the king of Yisrael and a great Prophet, he honors Yisro.

and they asked each other of their welfare; and they came into the tent.

It is proper etiquette to inquire about your friend or relative’s health.

8 And Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the LORD delivered them. 9 And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel, in that He had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. 10 And Jethro said: 'Blessed be the LORD, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh; who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods; yea, for that they dealt proudly against them.'

To say that G-d is greater than all the other gods is heresy because it implies that other gods have some substance. Why would Yitro say such a thing? This statement is not one of relative comparison, but of total rejection. Yitro was the High Priest of Midian and a very prominent theologian. He was familiar with all of the gods the pagan world worshipped. After learning of the miracles that G-d performed he was convinced of the worthlessness of all the other deities and of G-d’s identity as the one and only G-d of the world. Hence he proudly proclaimed, “Now I know that G-d is great, and I have reached this conclusion through realizing the falsehood of all the other gods.” (Alshich)

There is a Medrash that says that Yisro studied and tried out all gods in his religious quest. He had settled on the G-D of Avraham but did not have any proofs or miracles as everything which was claimed (Avraham vs. the 4 kings) happened 400 plus years ago and the Akeda of Yitzchak on the Mizbayach around 350 years ago etc. The 10 Makkos and the splitting of the sea, Mann, quail and water in the desert were convincing since the witnesses were before him.

12 And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt-offering and sacrifices for God; and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God. 13 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood about Moses from the morning unto the evening.

It came about on the next day: This was the day after Yom Kippur. This is what we learned in Sifrei [actually in the Mechilta]. Now what is meant by "on the next day"? On the day after his [Moses’] descent from the mountain [which took place on Yom Kippur]. You must admit that it is impossible to say [that the next day means] anything but that [Moses sat down to judge the people] on the day after Yom Kippur. Before the giving of the Torah it was impossible to say (verse 15), “and I make known the statutes, etc.,” [since the statutes had not yet been given]. And from the time that the Torah was given, until Yom Kippur, Moses did not [have the chance to] sit down to judge the people, for on the seventeenth of Tammuz he descended [Mount Sinai] and broke the tablets. On the next day he ascended early in the morning and stayed for eighty days and descended on Yom Kippur. Hence, this section is not written in [chronological] order, for “It came about on the next day,” was not said until the second year. Even according to the one [Tanna] who says that Jethro arrived before the giving of the Torah, he was not sent away to his land until the second year, for it says here (verse 27), “Moses saw his father-in-law off,” and we find in the journey of the divisions [of the tribes, which took place in the second year,] that Moses said to him [Jethro], “We are journeying to the place…Please, do not leave us” (Num. 10:29-31). Now if this [incident] had taken place before the giving of the Torah, where do we find [i.e., where is it mentioned] that he returned? If you say that there [Num. 10:29] Jethro is not mentioned, but Hobab [is mentioned], and he was Jethro’s son, [that is not so since] Hobab is identical with Jethro, for so it is written: “of the children of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law” (Jud. 4:11). -[based on Mechilta]

This Rashi contradicts the Medrash that it was around Rosh Chodesh Sivan that Moshe came to Sinai and met with Yisro and that Yisro left just before Matan Torah. For the Medrash states that Yisro met Moshe before Matan Torah and then went away. Rashi is implying a different time which although could be is not consistent with other sources from earlier works. (See Also Shabbos 86B – 88 starting with: Our Rabbis taught: On the sixth day of the month [Sivan] were the Ten Commandments given to Israel. R. Jose maintained: On the seventh thereof. Said Raba: All agree that they arrived in the Wilderness of Sinai on the first of the month. [For] here it is written, on this day they came into the wilderness of Sinai;¹⁵ whilst elsewhere it is written, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months:¹⁶ just as there the first of the month,¹⁷ so here [too] the first of the month [is meant]. Again, all agree that the Torah was given to Israel on the Sabbath. … http://www.come-and-hear.com/shabbath/shabbath_86.html#chapter_ix

14 And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said: 'What is this thing that thou do to the people? why do you sit alone, and all the people stand about thee from morning unto even?' 15 And Moses said unto his father-in-law: 'Because the people come unto me to inquire of God; 16 when they have a matter, it cometh unto me; and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God, and His laws.' 17 And Moses' father-in-law said unto him: 'The thing that thou do is not good. 18 Thou wilt surely wear away, both you, and this people that is with thee; for the thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.

You will surely wear yourself out: Heb. נָבֹל ךְתִּבָֹּל. As the Targum renders: [You will surely wear yourself out,] but the expression is an expression of withering, fleistre in Old French, like [these examples:] “even the leaves will be withered (נָבֵל)” (Jer. 8:13); “as a leaf withers (כִּנְבֵל עָלֶה) from a vine, etc.” (Isa. 34:4), which withers both from the heat and from the cold, and its strength weakens, and it is worn out.

19 Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God be with thee: be thou for the people before God, and bring thou the causes unto God. 20 And thou shalt teach them the statutes and the laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. 21 Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 22 And let them judge the people at all seasons; and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge themselves; so shall they make it easier for thee and bear the burden with thee.

Now the first few levels would be younger Rabbis and leaders while the rulers of hundreds and thousands would be already judges. The lower level could issue a simple Psak and the higher levels a ruling. They were delegated by Moshe so as not to violate the rule that one should not Poskin when his Rabbi or the Rabbinical Authority of the City is in town. Clearly that was what was going on before Yisro advised Moshe.

23 If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people also shall go to their place in peace.' 24 So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. 25 And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 26 And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. 27 And Moses let his father-in-law depart; and he went his way into his own land.

19:1 In the third month after the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 And when they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mount. 3 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying: 'Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself. 5 Now therefore, if ye will hearken unto My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own treasure from among all peoples; for all the earth is Mine; 6 and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.' 7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD commanded him. 8 And all the people answered together, and said: 'All that the LORD hath spoken we will do.'

Since the Jewish people had already said this, why does oral tradition say that G·d had to impose the Torah on the Jewish people by holding Mount Sinai over their heads and threatening to bury them underneath it if they didn't accept it? The answer is that this comes to teach us that even when one has no desire to learn Torah and serve G·d, nevertheless, one is not absolved from doing so, and one must force oneself by visualizing that
[G-d] is [now holding Mount Sinai over his head and] forcing him. [This is not meant merely as a theoretical thought, but as a meditative visualization that can re-ignite the enthusiasm of, "We will do and obey," that naturally wanes and waxes throughout the day.] [Baal Shem Tov - translation from Keter Shem Tov posted on //baalshemtov.com]

And Moses reported the words of the people unto the LORD. 9 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and may also believe thee forever.' And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD. 10 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Go unto the people, and sanctify them to-day and to-morrow, and let them wash their garments, 11 and be ready against the third day; for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai. 12 And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying: Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it; whosoever touches the mount shall be surely put to death; 13 no hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live; when the ram's horn sounds long, they shall come up to the mount.' 14 And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their garments. 15 And he said unto the people: 'Be ready against the third day; come not near a woman.'

Do not go near a woman: [to have intimacy with her] for all these three days [of preparation], in order that the women may immerse themselves on the third day and be pure to receive the Torah. If they have intercourse within the three days, the woman could [involuntarily] emit semen after her immersion and become unclean again. After three days have elapsed [since intercourse], however, the semen has already become putrid and is no longer capable of fertilization, so it is pure from contaminating the [woman] who emits it. — [from Shab. 86a]

16 And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of a horn exceeding loud; and all the people that were in the camp trembled.

From Rabbi Pinchas Winston Shlita: http://www.torah.org/learning/perceptions/5772/yisro.html

“What is more logical,” I asked them, “that a person check out the validity of the Bible, or ignore its claims?”

A hand immediately went up, and after acknowledging it, the person answered, “It’s more logical not to check it out.”

“Really?” I asked, baiting the person a little.

“Really,” he answered. “Otherwise more people would being doing it.”

Looking around the class, I asked the others, “Does everyone agree, or does someone disagree?” and was pleasantly surprised by the reaction and the amount of participation. All of a sudden, the class seemed to have a life of its own, and I knew that I was going to enjoy myself, and that they might too.

Most people agreed with the first opinion, as was to be expected. So I asked them, “Are you sure? The Torah makes some pretty powerful claims ...”

Of course, no one changed his mind, though I did read some growing doubt in the eyes of some of the people who had volunteered an answer, a look that I thought said, “What claims?” So, we spent the rest of the class speaking out some of those claims, and an hour later, many in the group somewhat uncomfortably, agreed that, based upon the claims, it was more logical to check out the Bible than not check it out.

I don’t know if anyone actually ever did, but that’s cognitive dissonance for you. However, who knows? Maybe one of them, down the road, did go to a Torah class somewhere else because of the revelation. It wouldn’t be the first time a person has had a delayed reaction to what he or she has learned.

The point is that there are billions of people walking around out there who couldn’t care less about Torah and the people who observe it, assuming that is an irrelevant relic from the past. Logic dictates, at least to them, that they have no need to waste their time checking it out, even if they were born Jewish.

Even more amazing is how many people refute those claims without ever having really investigated them, and proven them false. People will claim that they are false, but no one has ever proven them to be false. Granted, there are some important questions to be answered regarding the giving of Torah at Mt. Sinai, but they are answerable, if a person is prepared to give Torah the time of day, and check out what it says and why.

For example, there is the claim that God dictated every word of the Torah to Moshe Rabbeinu, letter-by-letter. Other religions have claimed that their codes of ethics were Divinely-inspired, but no book or document, except for the Torah, has ever claimed that it was given entirely directly by God to man, certainly not word-by-word.

My Rosh Kollel from the after work Kollel at the Aircraft Industry, Rabbi Yerachmiel Boyer Shlita taught that Tumay makes one Mitumtam (stupid) for one who eats non-kosher food his logic, brain and spirit are hurt. Rabbi Winston on Tu B’Shevat wrote: http://www.torah.org/learning/perceptions/5772/tubshvat.html which is perhaps one of the reasons that people like myself fail to convince with all logic and proof certain people to think about Torah Judaism. The following is from a Kabbalist Spiritual approach regarding the 3 days of separation and not eating meat which helped cleans the mind, body and spirit of Tuma. I have condensed his Drasha just to make the point of you are what you eat and eating in holiness with blessing before and after changes the food from profane to holy. Rabbi Winston goes further and if you have time click the above site from the Torah.org this week and read it.

According to tradition, something called holy sparks. Holy sparks are individually packaged portions of Divine light that act like some kind of spiritual glue to hold the body and soul together. We’re born with holy sparks, but they have to be constantly replenished throughout life for a person to survive, and not just survive, but to be healthy.

The health of the body depends upon its connection to the soul. The closer the body is to the soul, the more light the soul can give to the body, keeping it alive. Likewise, the weaker the connection is between the body and the soul, the less light the body can receive and the more it will deteriorate. We call that illness.

Hence, the light of the soul is the life force for the body, and therefore, the more soul light the body receives, the healthier it is and remains. The question is, how does one replenish or add to his amount of holy sparks?

There are a few ways that we do this, but one of the main ways is by eating. Food also contains holy sparks, and the more holy sparks food contains, the healthier it will be. In fact, to be really accurate, the nutritional facts that we find on the side of products should really report how many holy sparks the food contains. In essence this is what they are doing by reporting the healthy ingredients, since what makes something healthy is the amount of holy sparks it contains.

So, when a person eats food and their bodily systems break the food down, sending the nutrients to different parts of the body to do whatever they must to keep the body working, it is really the holy sparks inside the nutrients that are doing the trick, or rather, the miracle of keeping a person alive and healthy by allowing the soul to remain attached to the body, and perhaps coming ever closer to it than it was before.

But clearly food is not enough of a source of holy sparks, because there is only so much food a person can eat, and therefore, only so many holy sparks he can derive from his food. Health can fluctuate even with healthy eating, so it would seem that we need more sparks than food can give to us. So, from where else can we get holy sparks?

The clue to the answer is actually in the Torah itself, just after the sea crossing and the miracle of the water in a place called Marah. …What do learning Torah and performing commandments have to do with health? Obviously, if God wants to punish a person for disobedience, taking away his health could be such a way. But, the Torah seems to imply a direct correlation between the performance of commandments and health, and there is a good reason why: Learning Torah and performing commandments are extremely effective ways to receive additional holy sparks.

Hence, elsewhere in the Torah it says this regarding the manna the Jewish people ate in the desert for 40 years:

“He afflicted you, and caused you to go hungry, and gave you manna to eat which you did not recognize, nor did your ancestors experience it—so that He could teach you that man does not live by bread alone, but by whatever comes out of the mouth of God does man live.” (Devarim 8:2-3)

What comes out of the mouth of God? Bread? Meat? Soft ice cream? None of the above. Rather, it is holy sparks that come out of the mouth of God, so-to-speak, and learning Torah and performing commandments puts us in a direct line to receive them. In fact, so effective is Torah a means for acquiring holy sparks that Moshe was able to remain on top of Mt. Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights without eating or drinking, and didn’t look any worse for wear once he came back down again.

… Tu B’Shevat is a celebration of the fruits of Eretz Yisroel, and the cut-off point for the rainy season in the Holy Land, but that is only Pshat. On a deeper level, as the Pri Tzaddik explains, it is really the Rosh Hashanah of one particular tree, the Aitz HaDa’as Tov v’Rah, giving us a chance to rectify it on some level.

Ironically, the first test of man was also an eating issue. Adam HaRishon was told that he could eat from all the trees in the garden, except for the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which Kabbalah explains would have become permissible on Shabbos, after it transformed into the Aitz HaChaim. However, the First Man didn’t wait, committing what the Pri Tzaddik calls an achilah sh’lo b’kedushah — an unholy eating. Eating from the tree on Shabbos would have had just the opposite effect.

Thus, this has been the ongoing challenge of mankind throughout history, not just to eat, not just to eat healthy, but to eat holy as well. Hence, the emphasis on fruits of Eretz Yisroel on Tu B’Shevat: fruits grown from holy land are intrinsically holy, as it says:

The fruits of the Land of Israel stem from holiness. Therefore, the very same spirituality that was enveloped by the manna is enclothed by the fruits of Israel. That is why no manna fell in the Land of Israel. That is also why the after-blessing for fruits of the seven species in the Land of Israel concludes, “upon her fruits,” as opposed to “upon the fruits.” This indicates that the holiness of the land resides in her fruits alone and not the fruits that grow outside the Land of Israel. (Tuv HaAretz)

Fascinating that the fruits of Eretz Yisrael should be connected to the manna, which was given to the Jewish people to remind them that man does not survive by bread alone, but by what comes out of the mouth of God. More importantly, the manna was given to the Jewish people to make the point that their existence is supernatural, which is important, because it is the only way to really survive in Eretz Yisrael — especially today, when surrounded by over 360 million enemies. Apparently, the fruits of Eretz Yisroel make the same point.

17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. 18 Now mount Sinai was altogether on smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. 19 And when the voice of the horn waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice. 20 And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, to the top of the mount; and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. 21 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish. 22 And let the priests also, that come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.' 23 And Moses said unto the LORD: 'The people cannot come up to mount Sinai; for thou didst charge us, saying: Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.' 24 And the LORD said unto him: 'Go, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee; but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest He break forth upon them.' 25 So Moses went down unto the people, and told them.

A nation of Priests from Rabbi B. Wein Shlita: http://www.torah.org/learning/rabbiwein/5772/yisro.html

At the revelation at Sinai the Lord set the goal for the Jewish people – “to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” These noble goals, like all great ideas and lofty ideals, require definition. What is meant by a kingdom of priests? In Jewish life the priests, the descendants of Aharon, were people who were freed from the daily mundane chores of life and were supported by the masses of Israel who sustained them physically and financially.

Now if the entire nation was to be a kingdom of priests, in those terms of support and life, it obviously was an impossibility to maintain such a kingdom. Therefore the idea of the kingdom of priests must mean a broader reality. It is the challenge of being a kingdom of teachers of others – “for the lips of the priest shall guard knowledge and Torah will be asked to be taught from his mouth.”

We are all teachers by example if not by profession. How we act influences our children, our neighbors, our customers and our coworkers. And a priest in the service of the Jewish people was someone who served the public and private needs of Jews. He was someone who was on call to answer the needs of the community, whether in the required Temple service or in the private endeavors meant to enhance the status of the community or of help to other individuals. The priest was the social worker, the peace maker, the cement that binds a community together and gives it its necessary sense of unity and cohesion. Every Jew is obligated to attempt to be such a priest.

20:1 And God spoke all these words, saying: 2 I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall not have the gods of others in MY presence.

I do not have a partner in the creation. It is I alone only ME. The Medrash may mention stories about HASHEM talking within HIMSELF of his Attributes of Mercy and Justice and Justice being thrown down to create mankind. Sometimes we see G-D talking to the Angels but they are servants to the KING. There is no room for a partner, daughter or son in creation only ONE.

3 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;

When I was between the age of 10 and 12, I asked my neighbor Diane to show me her Catholic Bible and how they translated this seeing that they had an image in their church and kneeled down to it. This was in the 50’s and the wording had been changed around (not in the King James Version of the Protestants). After Pope John Paul II the wording was corrected but the images which were left over from old pagan beliefs incorporated into Christianity remained.

4 thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them; for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; 5 and showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments. 6 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain.

7 Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it.

We set the day aside with special prayers, candles, food and song and make Kiddush to sanctify it.

8 Six days may you work and perform all your labor,

Our life should not revolve around work and making money. That is good perhaps for Japanese or Chinese people who are brought up to value work. However, we as the children of HASHEM and Priests unto the Nations are exempt for on Shabbos our only labor is activities that strengthen the spirit.

9 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord, your God; you shall perform no labor, neither you, your son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, your beast, nor your stranger who is in your cities.

Neither you, your son, your daughter: These are young children. Or perhaps it refers to adult children? You must admit that they have already been warned [to observe the Sabbath]. Rather, [this word] comes only to warn adults concerning young children resting [from work] (Mechilta). This is the meaning of what we learned [in the Mishnah]: If a young child comes to extinguish [a fire on the Sabbath], you may not allow him [to do so] since you are responsible for his resting [from work] (Shab. 121a).

Educating the children on the Kedushah and the greatness of resting on Shabbos is of prime importance. They should view the day as a day of stories, songs and games at home and to walk to the kids park on clear days for fun. Shabbos is a joyous day but to a person who is ignorant it is don’t internet, don’t write term papers, don’t work in the garden, don’t ride about. The children growing up with a special positive day with lots to do and family together will carry over the Shabbos for generation after generation. Ah to tell the Parsha at the table before the family from the Kindergarten level upwards and to sing with all the songs is something that sticks with the child.

Labor is not work but acting in processing or creating something. We therefore call them Melacha and it is stated here, “All Melacha word do not preform.” 39 categories are Av Melacha and then many subdivisions of work. http://www.ou.org/chagim/shabbat/thirtynine.htm

10 For [in] six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it. 11 Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God gives thee. 12 Thou shalt not murder.

Murder is the correct word. A person can kill an armed intruder who threatens him or a soldier an enemy in battle. When this Mitzva of the Ten Commandments is read in private, it is read “lo tirtzach.” When the Torah is read in public, the Ashkenazic pronunciation of these words are “lo tirtzawch” (with the Hebrew vowel Camatz instead of Patach). These two variant pronunciations teach us that there are two types of murder which are forbidden. The first is the actual shedding of blood. The second is shaming a person in public, which the Talmud equates to murder. (HaRav Tzirilson M’Kishinev)

Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal.

There are three types of actions mentioned in the Torah this case is not to steal a man or woman for the purpose of selling them to be slaves. The other two cases which are forbidden are dangerous Robbery from a highway man to a bank heist and the last case is a sneak thief who enters homes or picks pockets. All are forbidden but stealing for enslaving or white slavery deserves the death penalty.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. 13 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's. We are supposed to rejoice with our neighbors and if he is fortunate enough to have the prettiest wife on the block, a Ferrari, Jaguar, Mercedes, Lincoln and Cadillac we should not desire or be jealous but think that perhaps he is so righteous that he merits this or that he is so bad that he is getting his portion in this world and nothing for the next.

14 And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the horn, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood afar off. 15 And they said unto Moses: 'Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.' 16 And Moses said unto the people: 'Fear not; for God is come to prove you, and that His fear may be before you, that ye sin not.' 17 And the people stood afar off; but Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. 18 And the LORD said unto Moses: Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel: Ye yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 19 Ye shall not make with Me--gods of silver, or gods of gold, ye shall not make unto you. 20 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto Me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt-offerings, and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen; in every place where I cause My name to be mentioned I will come unto thee and bless thee. 21 And if thou make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast profaned it. 22 Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto Mine altar, that thy nakedness be not uncovered thereon.

From Last week but excellent: Soul Transportation by Rabbi Simon Jacobson Shlita http://meaningfullife.com/oped/2007/02.02.07$BeshalachCOLON_Song.php

This weekend has a special name: “Shabbat Shira” – the Shabbat of Song, so called because this week’s Torah portion contains the song sung by Israel after the parting of the Red Sea. Accordingly, this week’s essay addresses the soul of song – the power it has to transform our lives.

What gives music its power? How does it have the ability to transport us to another time and place? To lift a broken spirit? To bring a tear to a happy soul? Why does a song have the capacity to reach the depths of our heart, bring old memories alive, awaken our deepest aspirations and naturally cause us to dance to its beat? What type of language is this language of song, and where did it originate? We learn the spoken language at home and at school. But who taught us how to sing?

What is the soul of song? The mystics explain it this way: How do souls travel? Bodies move about on legs or in vehicles. But what moves a soul? A soul doesn’t have legs and cannot be contained in an automobile or other vehicle. What carries our souls from one place to another?

The Kabbalah offers a fascinating answer: The only way a soul can move about is through a song. Without song the soul remains stuck in one place. In the Holy Temple in Jerusalem there were fifteen steps corresponding to the fifteen Shir HaMaalos (song of ascents) in the book of Psalms (120-135), which the Levites would sing as they stood on the steps. In order to climb from one step to the next a song had to be sung.

In our material world we can convince ourselves that we are mobile – movers and shakers – even if our souls never budge an inch. There are people who chalk up millions of frequent flyer miles, others who move around in all the high circles, and yet others who are climbing the corporate ladder. But are they truly moving? Their bodies may be traveling places, but are their souls in flight? Then there are people who perhaps sit in the same place, praying or meditating, but spiritually they are moving millions of miles.

But in the spiritually intact Holy Temple, where spirit met matter and the physical was seamlessly aligned with its inner purpose, you simply could not move from one step to the next unless your soul was lifted through song.

Why do songs have this power? Because they are the language of the Divine.

A parable:

When G-d created the universe, He consulted the angels: “Should I bestow upon the human race the gift of music?” The elitist angels unanimously replied with a resounding “no.” “The human race will not appreciate the sublime power of melody. They will abuse and commercialize it. They won’t know how to appreciate angelic, divine nature of song.

“Give us your gift of music,” the angels said, “and we will sing Your praises, we will sing Your songs. We will know how to use the power of melody to reach great spiritual heights.”

G-d considered their opinion, but then overruled them. “No. I will give the gift of music to humans. Because I want them to have something to remember Me with.

“Sometimes life will be difficult. In such times the pressures can be overbearing. Man can feel depressed and hopeless. I therefore want them to have song to remind them, that even you’re stuck in the dire straits of material existence, even when you are experiencing existential loneliness and “quiet desperation,” you can break out in song, which will lift your spirits.

“Sometimes life will be comfortable, too comfortable. Let man then sing to remember that there is more to life than instant gratification.

“Yes indeed,” G-d concluded, “I will give the human being My unique tongue – the language of music and song, so that he can use it to discover transcendence.”

The reason song has the ability to transport the soul is because its true nature and the source of its power is its Divine language: Song is a dialect from another plane. If the conventional word is the language of man, music is the language of the Divine.

Songs, therefore, are the wings of the soul. They have the ability to lift our spirits to unprecedented heights. They allow us to fly; to soar away to far-away places – places that are beyond pedestrian life and mundane monotony.

Song is spiritual transportation. As one Rebbe put it: The spoken and written word is the “quill of the mind;” Music is the “quill of the heart.” If a soul looks like a flame, it sounds like a song.

Ahh, who hasn’t been drawn by the wish to just go out and sing, unfettered, unbound, to the open heavens. To get away from it all and sing away, with your hands waving free, like there is no tomorrow. To close your eyes, and allow the music to take you to unknown places beyond the anguish and pain of life’s tribulations?

This may explain the compelling power of music in the last 50 years. Why youth today are drawn to music – in ways that are unprecedented in history. Being a language of the soul, music fills the deep spiritual void left by corrupt or irrelevant religion and other belief systems. For good or for bad, music has become the “hymns” of today’s souls and concerts their cathedrals. Starting back in the 50’s music represented the voice of rebellion, the expression of individuality, the challenge to the status-quo of the conformist “man in the grey flannel suit.” The soul found its expression in song – to free itself from the materialistic bondage of the body; a way for us to dialogue with G-d (whether we know it or not).

Unfortunately, like any powerful force, music too, untamed and unfocused, can be hijacked and turned into another hedonistic vehicle of indulgence rather than transcendence, narcissism rather than selflessness, entertainment instead of inspiration. But at its heart song has a hold on our souls because it is ultimately Divine language – the natural language of the soul. (No accident that music is called "soul”).

Our challenge is to recognize the true nature of song’s power and the reason this gift was given to us: To allow us to touch the Divine and integrate it into our lives. Now just to listen to the pleasant harmonies and dance to its beat, but to allow the soulful language of music to refine our personalities, strengthen our commitments, connect with our higher calling, help us build healthy homes and families and illuminate each of our respective corners of the world with our unique light.

We live in a dichotomous, fragmented world. Matter and spirit compartmentalized make it terribly difficult to hear the music of our souls. Instead, we fabricate a superficial language to maneuver in our mundane lives. Music then becomes an exotic escape to an island. In search of some relief from the quotidian, you plug in your headphones, and block out the world around you – and you soar on music’s wings. But then you have to return, and then the music dies…

In truth, however, an inner hum fills all of existence. Every creature, every molecule, every atom emits its own unique sound. Every soul pulsates and purrs. Even when the “rush hour” of our lives with all its extraneous noise drowns out the “gentle, subtle voice” within, the music continues to play (even if you’re not plugged in). In a seamless world all our experiences would sound like a song, all our movements would look like a dance. If our insides and outsides would be aligned, we would be singing all the time, and we wouldn’t be able to move unless we had a song to sing us along (as it was in the Temple). Imagine: What would it be like to hear the music of the cosmos? How would it feel the song of your soul? Of other souls? How would life be different if you could generate a song at will? Every time you experience a moment of truth – an experience that resonates – we are hearing the inner music of existence.

How do we access the music within at all times? By getting in touch with your life’s purpose, and recognizing that every moment of your day, every activity, every interaction is a spiritual opportunity. You are charged with the mission to realize each of these opportunities by ensuring that all the material gain is simply a means to express higher spiritual truths and bring more virtue into this world.

This attitude taps into the very fabric of the harmonic chords of existence, which allow us to hear the music within. In every life experience you have two options to choose from: To serve your own needs, or to serve a higher cause. When you touch the surface of the experience it usually will result in narcissistic results. But when you tap into the inner meaning of the experience, its music will play. In every experience we can either just ride through the experience, or we can learn to play the inner chords that release a song.

There are people in this world that turn every thing they touch into music, every thing they come into contact with into a dance. They are alive, brimming with energy. They are electric, and everything that they touch becomes electrified. Some people deaden every thing they touch. Some people bring every thing alive. Imagine a world in which music is playing all the time. Imagine hearing a song in every breath you take, in every step you make. Imagine a life in which every move you feel the inner rhythm.

As we enter the “Shabbat of song” we are imbued with the power to turn our lives into one extended symphony. High time to start singing. Will you electrify your corner of the world or will you dampen it?

Halachos by Danny Schoemann

One may not wake up one's parents even if it is going to cause one a major monetary loss. However if one's parents are going to suffer a monetary loss and they will be distressed over the loss then one must wake them. So too one should wake them for in time for prayers or for any other Mitzvah. Source: Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 143:4

Danny discussed the laws of Tu B’Shevat Source: Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 22:8, 55:1 – 3, 139:26. That is wise to review them but for this publication is out of date. Our Sages have designated the 15th of Shevat - Tu B'Shevat- as the boundary between one year and another, since (in most years) most of the rain of the winter has already fallen by then.
Any new growth of fruit after this day, is the result of the blessing of the new year. It is customary to pray for a beautiful Kosher Esrog on Tu B'Shevat. Source: The Book of our Heritage, Vol I, page 346-349

It's a Mitzvah to bathe on Friday with warm water; or at least to wash one's face, hands and feet. It's also a Mitzvah to shampoo one's hair, cut one's nails and have a haircut if needed. One should not cut finger and toe nails on the same day. One doesn’t cut [finger] nails on Thursday sibce they would then begin growing (and looking unkempt) on Shabbat. Source: Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 72:12, 14 Shabbat Shalom, - Danny

Mussar Parable from Rabbi A. L. - A Conversation With Hashem...

Me (in a tizzy) : Hashem, can I ask you something?

HASHEM: Sure.

Me: Promise you won't get mad?

HASHEM: I promise.

Me (frustrated): Why did you let so much stuff happen to me today?

HASHEM: What do you mean?

Me: Well I woke up late,

HASHEM: Yes

Me: My car took forever to start,

HASHEM: Okay....

Me (growling): At lunch, they made my sandwich wrong and I had to wait

HASHEM: Hmmmm..

Me: On the way home, my phone went dead, just as I picked up a call

HASHEM: All right

Me (loudly): And to top it all off, when I got home, I just wanted to soak my feet in my foot massager and relax, but it wouldn't work. Nothing went right today! Why did you do that?

HASHEM: Well let me see..... the death angel was at your bed this morning and I had to send one of the other angels to battle him for your life. I let you sleep through that.

Me (humbled): Oh...

HASHEM: I didn't let your car start because there was a drunk driver on your route that might have hit you if you were on the road

Me (ashamed): ............

HASHEM: The first person who made your sandwich today was sick and I didn't want you to catch what they have, I knew you couldn't afford to miss work

Me (embarrassed): Oh.....

HASHEM: Your phone went dead because the person that was calling was going to give a false witness about what you said on that call, I didn't even let you talk to them so you would be covered

Me (softly): I see Hashem

HASHEM: Oh and that foot massager, it had a short that was going to throw out all of the power in your house tonight. I didn't think you wanted to be in the dark.

Me: I'm sorry Hashem.

HASHEM: Don't be sorry, just learn to trust me.........in all things, the good and the bad

Me: I WILL trust you Hashem

HASHEM: And don't doubt that my plan for your day is always better than your plan

Me: I won't Hashem. And let me just tell you Hashem, thank you for everything today.

HASHEM: You're welcome child. It was just another day being your Hashem and I love looking after my children.

Mussar from Me

Am Yisrael and THE WHOLE WORLD is in TROUBLE. It is perhaps because a lot of Tzaddikim are dying or ill. Rabbi Eliyashiv Shlita at the time of this writing is in critical condition. Rabbi Chaim Kaneivsky Shlita is quite ill along with Rav Steinerman Shlita and Rabbi Foreman Shlita. A Rebbe at a Talmud Torah got cancer of the brain (not upon us). Why are these people in trouble so heaven forbid might be taken away from us? It is because of our sins. Maybe my lack of intent in prayers another’s lack of taking Teruma and Maaser in Eretz Yisrael, another in lack of real Shabbos observance and still another in immodest or immoral behavior. Some married men or bachelor rouges preying on divorcees and women looking for a Shidduch and some unmarried women with no pride advertising their bodies like steak on a grill.

Sometimes we must re-examine ourselves and our behaviors. The financial crisis has woken up many people to stop being wasteful or living over their heads on credit and debit. That was on the Gashmiyus level but since HASHEM controls our finance it is also good advice to change our spiritual behavior. Everybody from a naughty child to the greatest Tzaddik can improve. I write this for myself and most likely a few of my close friends will take heed but my readers don’t say ho hum as the world is on the verge of losing 4,000,000,000 people and many could be saved with Teshuva (Repentance), Tephilla (Prayer) and Tzeduka (Charity). Remember if your good deeds improve you may save not only yourself but a loved one. One who saves a life is like one saved a world for Adam was created single.

Sophia wrote me this on praying: The Rema (98,1) cites Rabbaynu Yonah, “Intention means that a person’s heart is completely engrossed in Divine service. In order to achieve this one must first remove from his heart any trace of worldly pleasure, for once a person purifies his heart of any vanity and focuses on Hashem’s exaltedness, his prayers will be desirable and accepted by Hashem” (Berachos 30b).

One Hundred Plus The Roman Emperor Hadrian was not without a sense of humor, albeit a malicious one. http://ascentofsafed.com/cgi-bin/ascent.cgi?Name=741-20

The Roman Emperor Hadrian was a cruel and wicked man. It was under his oppressive regime that the Bar Kochba revolt broke out, which ultimately led to destruction of the city of Betar. However, Hadrian was not without a sense of humor, albeit a malicious one.

Once, during one of the Emperor's periodic visits to the Holy Land, he was strolling through an orchard in Tiberias when he came across an old man. The elderly Jew with the long white beard was obviously well on in years, yet he was busily planting saplings in the ground. "Ancient one!" the Roman Emperor called out to him sarcastically. "You must have slacked off in your youth, and thus you need to work so hard in your old age!"

"No, your Majesty," the Jew replied. "I worked plenty hard when I was younger, and I see no reason to stop now. G-d willing, I will continue as long as G-d will give me strength." "Please tell me, grandfather," Hadrian urged, "how old are you?" "Today is my one hundredth birthday."

"Then surely," Hadrian persisted in taunting him, "you can't expect to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Will you not be in your grave by the time these trees bear fruit?" "Everything is in G-d's hands," the Jew answered. "If G-d wants it to happen, it will happen. But even if it doesn't, my work is not in vain. In the same way my fathers toiled on my behalf, my labor will benefit future generations."

"Then here's to your good health," the Emperor said in parting, "And if you're still alive when these fruits ripen, let me know." "I will be happy to fulfill the Emperor's command, G-d willing," the old Jew replied. Years passed, and the young saplings grew into sturdy fig trees. Indeed, the old man lived to eat juicy and delicious fruit, and continued to enjoy vigorous health. The time had come to fulfill his promise to the Emperor. He filled a basket with figs and traveled to the emperor's palace. After some initial difficulties getting past the royal guard the old man was granted an audience, but the Emperor did not recognize him. “What do you want old man and what is in your basket?” he asked impatiently.

The old Jew reminded him of their previous encounter, and the promise the Emperor had extracted from him. The basket, he explained, was full of succulent figs for his Majesty's pleasure. The Emperor was shocked. After all, the elderly Jew had already been ancient at the time of their last meeting….The Emperor ordered a golden chair to be brought for the old man to sit on. He instructed that the basket be filled with gold in exchange for the figs. He instructed that the basket be filled with gold in exchange for the figs. The Emperor's attendants were very surprised at the honor being paid the old Jew, until he related the story. "If the Creator saw fit to grant him such a long life," Hadrian admitted, "it must mean that he was worthy. Is it then not proper that I too should accord him honor?" The old man returned home with much pomp and circumstance, and all his neighbors came out to greet him.

So far, the story teaches us that it is beneficial for a person to be active in old age, too. The aftermath of these happenings in the continuation of the Midrash reveals to us what can happen because of jealousy. We shall see that the advice of a wife of bad character causes her husband only trouble. When the old man returned with a basketful of gold, his neighbor's wife shouted at her husband, saying, "Look at your neighbor! All he brought the emperor was a couple of figs, and he became rich from it! And you - you still sit home earning next to nothing! Why can't you make a fortune from our fruit trees too?" Goaded by his wife's prompting, the neighbor filled a big sack with figs, loaded it onto his donkey, and rode to the palace. "I heard that the emperor is fond of figs and exchanges them for gold dinars," he told the palace guards. When Hadrian was told about the man's words, he ordered, "Let him be made to stand at the palace gate. I command that everybody who enters or leaves shall throw the figs that he brought in his face. The emperor's order was meticulously observed by a sneering and amusement-hungry populace.

At night, the man was finally permitted to leave. He rode home bruised, shamed, and fuming with rage. Upon seeing his wife, he threatened her, "You will yet suffer for having caused my degradation with your bad advice!" He told her what he had endured, and she responded in bitter humor, "Why should that annoy you? Go, boast before your mother that today you had a stroke of good luck. You were fortunate to have presented the emperor with figs rather than etrogim. Moreover, the figs were soft rather than hard and green - or else I would never have seen you back alive!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sources: Supplemented by Yerachmiel Tilles from the rendition in "Living Jewish" (as first posted on lchaimweekly.org). Adapted by Yerachmiel Tilles from the rendition in "The Midrash Says" by Rabbi Moshe Weissman; (Bnei Yaakov Publications). Both are freely translated from an episode recorded in Midrash Tanchuma, Kedoshim 7. Connection: Seasonal - Tu B'Shvat, the "Rosh Hashana for Fruit Trees in Israel" that falls this week.

On the 23^rd of Shevat is my father’s 43^rd Yahrzeit there is a Yahrzeit of a more familiar person this week.

The Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka http://livingjewish.net/category/Yitro-334/

Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka led a life which was remarkable in many ways, not the least in its utter selflessness and extreme privacy.

She was born in 1901, the daughter of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak. Her remarkable abilities and keen intellect brought her father to entrust her with great responsibilities. In fact, she was actively involved in many of his activities to keep Judaism alive during the explosive years following the Russian Revolution and establishment of the Soviet state.

In 1927, when her father, the Previous Rebbe was arrested, it was Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka who made sure that all possibly incriminating documents were destroyed. Indeed, during his imprisonment, she was in the forefront of those seeking to commute the death sentence to one of exile, and then, finally to release.

A unique relationship existed between Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka and her father, and he wrote many deep, philosophical letters to her, in which he expounded his concepts of Chassidic thought and Divine service. Those who were privileged to know the Rebbetzin described her as a refined, erudite woman of very extensive knowledge and great intelligence and wit.

On the 14th of Kislev, 1929, Warsaw was at the peak of its glory, the “Jerusalem of Poland.” On that day, Rebbes of numerous Chasidic dynasties, world-renowned rabbis and heads of yeshivas, illustrious Jews of many walks of life gathered to celebrate the wedding of the daughter of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and the son of the brilliant scholar and kabbalist, Harav Levi Yitzchak Schneerson. The marriage of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka to Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson opened a new chapter in her life. Twenty-five years later, the Rebbe described the union as a marriage which bound him to the Chasidim.

The early days of their marriage were ones of onerous hardship and great personal danger. First settling in Berlin, they were forced to flee to Paris after the Nazis came to power. They fled Paris in 1940 and through the strenuous efforts of the Previous Rebbe they succeeded in boarding the last ship to leave Europe. From the day they arrived in the United States, for the next 47 years, the Rebbetzin’s life was dedicated to only one thing – the wellbeing of her husband and the success of his mission in life.

It was Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka who urged her husband to assume the leadership of Chabad after the passing of her illustrious father in 1950. From that moment on, the Rebbetzin embarked on perhaps the most difficult mission of her life, for she spent the next four decades supporting every action and move the Rebbe took on behalf of the Jewish people.

Although she was entirely absent from the public eye, she took an avid interest in the work of the many thousands of emissaries, keeping abreast of their activities. The Rebbetzin took deep personal satisfaction in their accomplishments, and commiserated in their hardships.

For the Rebbetzin, her husband’s will became her own. She was his greatest Chasid. And yet, she had the wifely wisdom to look out for his health. Knowing that the Rebbe usually refused to see a doctor, she would make her own medical treatment contingent on his agreeing to a check-up. In order to assure her well-being, he would, of course, comply.

In her last years, when the Rebbetzin was ill, she suffered in silence, and to her last day, no complaint escaped her lips. Even to her husband she did not reveal all her suffering, in order to spare him distress. On the unanimous advice of several doctors the Rebbetzin was hospitalized. Soon after she arrived at the hospital she suddenly requested a glass of water. Shortly after midnight of Wednesday, the 22nd day of Shevat, the pure neshama of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka left this world. The Rebbetzin’s forebearers, Rebbetzin Rivka and Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah, her great-grandmother and grandmother, had asked for a glass of water minutes before their passing. It is recorded in many holy books that tzadikim often ask for water before their passing. One explanation that is given is that their souls thereby leave this world after reciting the proper blessing before drinking water, “…and everything is created through His word” and the blessing afterward “…He who creates many souls.” This same blessing will be said at the time of the resurrection of the dead in the Messianic Era.

In the merit of the Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, may we follow the Rebbe’s injunction to take her life’s accomplishments to heart, and with our many deeds of goodness and kindness, may we see the coming of Moshiach now.

The Rebbe from Lubavitch as described by Adin Even Yisrael: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSbDYw7uTts&feature=related

A bit of history worth knowing. I am not bothered by prisoners of war being interned but Japanese American Citizens one at least won the Congressional Medal of Honor post humus. http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north71.html I make a distinction between the between the American Japanese Citizens and the behavior of the Japanese Soldiers. I heard a firsthand account of a Burmese Jew who was looking native when Japan captured Burma they shot dead the British Mr. Goldberg, the Goldberg girls grabbed on two the man and another and claimed to be their wives. This saved the Goldberg girls from what Japanese soldiers did to women.

Not so humble like my teachers, self-proclaimed Rabbi of America is running for Congress. His latest book has been banned and condemned by Rabbi after Rabbi - The book “Kosher Jesus” recently was denounced as “heretical” by prominent Canadian Rabbi Emanuel Schochet, who ruled that “it is forbidden for anyone to buy or read this book,” which he charged it encourages a missionary message. Just the name sends shivers up my spine! http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/152494#.TzGBjfkk1mI

Sodom is alive and well in the USA warning to Tzaddikim we have been betrayed by crazed judges and liberal press. http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/lesbian-parents-betrayed-by-gay-dad/

Inyanay Diyoma

I guess I must be too dumb to figure this one out: http://drybonesblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/thou-shalt-not-1992.html

Ken asked me: Can anyone explain to me why there were 132,900,000 Americans working in December 2011, 130,400,000 Americans were working in January 2012, 1,200,000 of the 2,500,000 lost jobs were considered permanently lost, yet unemployment numbers improved from December to January? I can only think of manipulation of statistics with people who have given up looking for a job.

Iran is making more naval drills and threatening Jewish interests in the USA: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4184997,00.html

Iran’s missiles can now hit the USA: http://www.debka.com/article/21700/

Syrian Murders and Iran in the Straits of Hormuz: http://www.debka.com/article/21708/

Can somebody write a poem about a president with no guts? http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/02/how_israel_keeps_us_safe.html

Part of Gog and Magog is that Russia sends troops and boats to the Mediterranean Sea: http://debka.com/article/21710/

Could the axis of evil break up? http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=256520

A blast but not from the past: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4185205,00.html

An interesting film and it does have some merit DNA anybody: Maybe he really is an American??? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryOrwBifXLU&feature=related

From Brenda in Londonstan: I say old chap: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/11230#.Ty6avPkk1mI

The gathering of the Nations get ready for Yechezkel 37,38: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4185684,00.html

I clicked to post the headlines of 15 killed and it already rose to 50: http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=256657

It is wise to check me out too when I write about politics but often a fool can be manipulated thanks to Joe: http://newsblaze.com/story/20120206054136vike.nb/topstory.html

The danger of a Nuclear Iran: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4186698,00.html

20,000 Marines ready for Iran: http://www.debka.com/article/21716/

US does not help build Schuls and Churches but: http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/u-s-taxpayers-subsidize-more-overseas-mosques-video/

Oh rats: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4187263,00.html

Iranian suicide gangs have come in via Chaves and porous borders into the USA and Europe: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4187215,00.html

Syria and the UN http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/152565#.TzLcF_kk1mI

Brits help the Syrian rebels: http://www.debka.com/article/21718/

Help a wounded Marine get this guy out of the White House: http://www.worldnewstribune.com/2012/01/31/obama-taking-irans-side-on-damages-from-83-bombing-that-killed-241-marines/

Giving up the protective shield for USAF planes: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08/air-force-removes-god-randy-forbes_n_1263665.html?ref=religion&icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl3%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D134053

After a great anti-Semitic to do the innocent Israeli is released: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4187562,00.html

From Gail Winston: Fool me twice By CAROLINE B. GLICK Jewish World Review Feb 3, 2012 / 10 Shevat, 5772

The useful idiot who pre-election promised American Jewish leaders that Obama was Israel's best friend and only hope, was back in the Holy Land shilling. This time, though, he was pushing more territorial compromises in the name of peace. A reminder of the damage Former US Congressman Robert Wexler has done --- and a warning of what he intends to do http://www.JewishWorldReview.com

Former US Congressman Robert Wexler is a man worth listening to. Wexler served as then-senator Barack Obama's chief booster in the American Jewish community during the 2008 presidential campaign. He appeared everywhere and said anything to convince the American Jewish community that the same man who sat in the church pews listening to Rev. Jeremiah Wright's anti-Semitic vitriol for two decades, and listed among his closest friends and associates a whole host of Israel haters as well as former terrorists, was the greatest friend Israel could ever have.

Once Obama was elected, Wexler continued to serve as his Jewish shill. Wexler traveled to Israel multiple times in the early months of Obama's presidency to pressure Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to submit to Obama's demand and embrace the cause of Palestinian statehood. After Netanyahu finally announced his support for Palestinian
statehood at his speech at Bar Ilan University outside Tel Aviv in September 2009, Wexler returned with a new demand - that Netanyahu enact a moratorium on Jewish property rights in Judea and Samaria.

In an interview with the Jerusalem Post at the time, Wexler promised that Israel would be richly rewarded if it took the unprecedented step of denying Jews the right to their
property in Judea and Samaria simply because they were Jewish. Even if the moratorium were temporary, Obama would view the discriminatory measure as proof of Israel's good intentions. Moreover, he would expect the Palestinians and the wider Arab world to respond to Israel's move by taking steps to normalize their relations with Israel.

For instance, Wexler claimed that Obama had demanded that the Arabs respond to an Israeli moratorium on Jewish property rights by among other things opening trade offices and direct economic ties; conducting cultural and economic exchanges and permitting Israeli airplanes to overfly their territory. And in the event that the Arabs refused to rise to the occasion, Wexler proclaimed, "You can rightly say that all bets are off."

Wexler continued, "I want to call their bluff. I want to see, if Israel makes substantial movement toward a credible peace process, whether they are willing to do it. And if they
are not, better that we should find out five or six months into the process, before Israel is actually asked to compromise any significant position."

In the event, Netanyahu bowed to Obama's demand and enacted a temporary ban on the exercise of Jewish property rights in Judea and Samaria. And in the aftermath of his
stunning move, the Arab world did nothing.

Amazingly, far from calling their bluff, Obama doubled down on his pressure on Israel. Among other things, since squeezing the first temporary ban on Jewish property rights out of Netanyahu, Obama has demanded that the moratorium be made permanent and extended to Jerusalem.

As for his vision of the "peace process," Obama has demanded that Israel accept the 1949 armistice lines as the basis for future negotiations. He has used the US veto at the UN Security Council as a means of pressuring Israel to make further unreciprocated concessions to the Palestinians. And the pro-Israel US president has demanded no similar
concessions from the Palestinians.

This week Wexler, now the head of the far-left S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace was back in town. Speaking at the Herzliya Conference, Wexler said that Israel
should consider extending the ban on Jewish property rights to within the 1949 armistice lines. Wexler based his claim on then prime minister Ehud Olmert's 2008 peace offer to Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas.

Olmert's offer, which Abbas rejected, involved a "land swap," in which in the framework of a comprehensive peace deal, Israel would give the Palestinians land from within its
1949 boundaries in exchange for land in Judea and Samaria that Israel would permanently retain. According to media reports, Olmert offered Abbas 4.5 percent of Israeli territory in exchange for a similar amount of land in Judea and Samaria.

While Wexler appeared at the Herzliya Conference as the president of a non-partisan non-profit organization, his continued intimate relationship with Obama is well known.
Last fall Commentary's Omri Ceren documented that Zvika Krieger, Wexler's vice president at the Daniel Abraham Center authored documents for Obama's reelection campaign. Among other things, those documents cited articles authored by Krieger and Wexler in which they championed Obama's record on Israel from their nonpartisan perch at the Daniel Abraham Center.

Given Wexler's close ties to Obama, it is reasonable to assume that his suggestion that Israel cease exerting its national sovereignty over its sovereign territory in the
interests of the peace process is not simply his personal view.

There is much to criticize about Wexler's suggestion. But more important than its arrogant, insulting absurdity, and more disconcerting than Wexler's own hypocrisy, is
what his suggestion tells us about the dangers inherent in Netanyahu's current negotiations with the Palestinians. To understand the connection we need to recall the
nature of Olmert's offer to Abbas.

Olmert's negotiations with Abbas were based upon the proposition - repeated ad nauseum to the Israeli public -- that "nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to." The idea was clear. True, on the one hand, the prime minister was conducting negotiations far from the spotlight, and refusing to tell the public what was on offer. But on the other hand, we could rest assured that that nothing he offered would have any significance whatsoever unless the Palestinians agreed to a final peace deal with Israel. If they rejected peace, then everything Olmert said would become null and void, and tossed down the memory hole.

In accordance with this basic proposition, when Abbas rejected Olmert's offer, and made no counteroffer, it was naturally assumed that Olmert's proposal was rendered null and void. Yet four years later, here is Wexler, Obama's surrogate, advocating a policy of unilateral abrogation of Israeli sovereignty over 4.5percent of its national territory in
order to enable the eventual implementation of an offer that was predicated on the notion that "nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to."

And this brings us to the current negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. For the past month, under the aegis of the Middle East Quartet, Netanyahu's representative
Attorney Yitzhak Molcho has been conducting negotiations with Abbas's representatives in Amman, Jordan. Last week Molcho reportedly outlined the government's general positions on lands it is willing to cede to the Palestinians.

Without presenting any maps, Molcho reportedly said that a permanent agreement would involve most of the Israelis living in Judea and Samaria remaining in Israeli territory.
The media interpreted this to mean that like Olmert, Netanyahu expects for Israel to retain perpetual control over large blocks of Israeli communities that take up less than
ten percent of the overall landmass in Judea and Samaria.

For his part, Netanyahu this week reiterated his position that Israel must maintain a long-term military presence in the Jordan Valley. This has been interpreted to mean that
Netanyahu is willing to cede sovereign rights to the area to the Palestinians.

Taken together, what Molcho's statement and Netanyahu's statement indicate is that at a minimum, in exchange for peace, the Netanyahu government is willing to expel some portion of the 350,000 Jews living in Judea and Samaria from their homes and to transfer sovereignty over a significant portion of the territory to a Palestinian state.

From the vagueness of what has been reported, it is apparent that to date, Netanyahu has been far less specific about the scope of the territorial concessions he is willing to
undertake than his predecessor was. But then again, Olmert made his offer after conducting negotiations with Abbas for over a year. Netanyahu only entered these talks a
month ago.

And while no one in or out of government believes that these negotiations have any chance of leading to a peace deal, the fact is that Netanyahu is feverishly working to ensure
that the talks continue. Netanyahu spent a good part of his day on Wednesday speaking on the phone to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and meeting with Quartet envoy Tony Blair and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon begging the foreign leaders to convince the Palestinians not to abandon the negotiations.

As he put it in his joint press conference with Ban, "You cannot complete the peace process unless you begin it. If you begin it, you have to be consistent and stick to it."

For his part, Abbas is doing everything in his power to make clear that he does not wish to negotiate, and that even if negotiations continue, that he will never cut a deal with
Israel. To underscore his bad faith, next week Abbas will travel to Egypt to meet with Hamas terror chief Khaled Mashaal. The two are set to discuss the means of implementing
the unity government deal they signed last May. Netanyahu is obviously under great pressure to continue on with these talks. A day doesn't go by without some US official or
European leader talking about the need for talks, or a leftist politician or political activist at home blaming Netanyahu for the absence of peace. But none of this pressure
can justify the damage that is done to Israel's position by continuing to engage in these negotiations.

As Netanyahu's own experience with Obama (and Wexler) shows, concessions never bring a respite from the US leader's pressure. They only form the baseline for demands for further concessions.

Beyond the narrow confines of Obama's personal hostility towards Israel, Netanyahu's current engagement in negotiations with the Palestinians is devastating to Israel's
position in two ways. First, it makes it impossible for Israel to extricate itself from the lie of PLO moderation and to start telling the truth about its Palestinian "partner."

Quite simply, as Abbas's continued courtship of Hamas and his open embrace and glorification of mass murderers such as the murderers of the Fogel family make clear, the
PLO has returned to its roots as a terrorist organization. It is no longer credible to claim that the PLO has abandoned terror in favor of peace.

By engaging in peace talks with the PLO, Netanyahu renders it impossible to make this critical claim. Consequently, he damns Israel to a situation in which we continue to
empower and politically legitimize a terrorist organization committed to our destruction.

The second way continued negotiations devastates Israel's position is by eroding our ability to claim our rights to Judea and Samaria and so extricate ourselves from this
fake peace process with terrorists. As Wexler made clear, from the international community's perspective, everything that Israel offers at the negotiating table is catalogued. Regardless of Palestinian bad faith, irrespective of actual prospects for peace, every theoretical Israeli concession becomes the new baseline for further negotiations.

American "friends" like Wexler and Obama play Israel for a fool again and again.

In truth, we should thank Wexler for coming here this week and reminding us of his bad faith, and the bad faith of the President he serves. But it is up to Netanyahu to draw
the appropriate lessons.

THERE WAS NEVER A COUNTRY CALLED 'PALESTINE'!! by Jerrold L. Sobel forwarded by Gail Winston, Middle East Analyst & Commentator

THIS IS A GOOD, GREAT HISTORICAL DOCUMENT. Use Jerrold Sobel's verbal ammunition to defend Israel, Eretz Yisrael in her entirety whenever you hear or see her threatened. COMMENT BY GAIL WINSTON

THERE WAS NEVER A COUNTRY CALLED 'PALESTINE'!! by Jerrold L. Sobel Feb. 6, 2012
Please, forget one of the great misnomers of our time; Israel did not steal Palestinian land. It's not their land; it's never been their land; it will never be their land. This land was given to the Jewish people, as stated in the Bible, by the Creator, and will remain the homeland of the Jewish people in perpetuity. Despite 27 invasions of Judea and Samaria;
erroneously called the West Bank, conquests by many, forced conversions, exiles, massive oppressions, generations of Diaspora and cowardly acquiescence by a cadre of 5th column Jews themselves, Jews have not only survived in what's known in Hebrew as, Eretz Yisrael (Israel), they've taken a desert wasteland and turned it into a powerful little democracy, the envy of the world; particularly their neighbors many of which despise themselves as much or more than the Jewish State (See Syria or Egypt). To her detractors which there are many worldwide, the mantra remains the same, ad nauseam. "Israel is complicit in doing this...." "She omitted doing that...." "We respect Judaism but are against Zionism".... Attempting to mask their anti-Semitism as anti-Zionism, her enemies propagandize the most vile accusations against Israel in such numbers that much of it sticks. To cite just a couple: Myth: "Israel discriminates against its Arab Citizens."

The facts show otherwise. Israel is one of the most open societies in the world. Out of a population of 6.7 million, 1.1 million are Muslims, 130,000 are Christians, and 100,000 are Druze. All have equal voting rights; it's one of a very few place where Arab women have the right to vote; Arabs currently hold 14 seats in the Knesset. Human Rights in Israel and the Territories http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths/mf18.html

Following a 5 year trial, in a landmark decision for women's rights, an Arab judge, Salim Joubran, sentenced the former President of Israel, Moshe Katsav to seven years in prison for rape. In what Muslim country do Jews have such rights? How many seats do Jews hold in the Saudi government or Jordan? Can anyone recall a Jewish judge sentencing a prominent Arab in Egypt? More to the point, has anyone even heard of a Jewish judge in Egypt? Women's rights in an Arab country; if ever there was an oxymoron.Israel: Moshe Katsav Rape Conviction Upheld http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/10/israel-moshe-katsav-rape-_n_1085533.html

Myth: "The Palestinian Authority protects Jewish holy sites." If only that were true, one important element blocking a sincere peace would be eliminated, but the facts speak otherwise. Just in the years between 1996-2000: In Septemer 1996, Palestinian rioters destroyed a synagogue at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus. Rachel's Tomb near Bethlehem has been repeatedly attacked since 1996. In October 2000, Joseph's Tomb was torched after the Israeli garrison guarding it was temporarily withdrawn. It was subsequently rebuilt as a mosque. In October 2000, the ancient synagogue in Jericho was destroyed by arson and a second historic synagogue was damaged.

Forget about protecting these sites, in textbooks, speech, and daily life, the Palestinians and their supporters absurdly deny any Jewish connection to these ancient landmarks at all. This all occurs under nominal Israeli control of these areas, one can only imagine the fate of Jewish Holy sites left to Palestinian stewardship. Stop the Islamization and Desecration of Jewish Holy Sites http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/11/stop-the-islamization-of-jewish-holy-sites.html

This brings us to the greatest canard of them all; the foundation on which every pro-Palestinian lie is based upon: "The Jews are building settlements on Palestinian land."
This granddaddy of all fabrications makes great copy for the media and is excellent for denigrators of Israel but lacks historical fact. There is no Palestinian land plain and simple. If there was: When was it founded and by whom? What were its borders and the name of its capital? What were its major cities? What constituted the basis of its economy? What form of government did it live under? Was Palestine ever recognized as an entity by another country? By whom? What was the language of the country called Palestine? What was Palestine's religion? What was the name of its currency? Since there is no country today, what caused her demise? These questions were posed by a Japanese writer, Yashiko Sagamori. Only the most revisionist adherent of the Palestinian narrative could even attempt to answer her queries. Pose these same questions regarding Israel and Jewish connection to this land, and except for the willfully blind and delusional, which admittedly there are many, each can be factually answered. A Japanese View of the Palestinians http://www.al-rassooli.com/tiny-israel.html

To an inherent anti-Semite all this is meaningless. But for the uninitiated seeking scholarship, many of which are impressionable, young students they should be made aware of actual facts. At no time in history has there ever been a nation called Palestine. During the Ottoman Empire which lasted from 1299-1922 CE, the land dubbed by the Romans as Palestine was controlled by the Turks; there was never an outcry for a Palestinian State then. During the illegal annexation of Judea and Samaria by the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan subsequent to the 1949 Armistice and prior to 1967, there was never talk of "occupied territory" or a Palestinian State; why did the dynamic change subsequent to Israel's glorious Six Day War victory, a war which she did not provoke. Search as you will, throughout the annals of history, Israel is the only nation victorious in war on successive occasions and then expected by the vanquished and the world at large to sue for peace; to cede land she reclaimed, historically hers to begin with. It brings into question, which of the "Quartet" cajoling her to acquiesce to Palestinian demands should be allowed land they've won in conflict? The Russians? It's beyond the scope of this essay to delve into their inglorious, extensive imperialist history and their oppression of native peoples, but for examples sake. Isn't it time they relinquish the Kuril Islands and return them to their rightful owners, the Japanese? the Second World War has been over for 67 years. The same holds true for my favorite imperialists, the British, which never
miss an opportunity to castigate the Jewish State but somehow fail to look at their own sordid history. Just this past week they proudly announced sending a sophisticated warship 7,700 miles into the South Atlantic to dissuade Argentina from re-establishing sovereignty over the Falkland Islands which lay just 250 miles off her coast. Why are the Falkland Islands controlled by the British to begin with? Historically, doesn't Argentina which controlled these islands until 1830 have a greater claim to them? For that matter, When will the British finally relinquish Gibraltar to its "rightful owner," Spain? Likewise, If not for hundreds of years of British tyranny, and greater military strength wouldn't Northern Island be part of the Republic of Island?
What about the United States? We don't have to look further than ourselves. Let's face it, if they had more sticks and stones than us, wouldn't Mexico wrest back the American Southwest and all its resources if it could? Basically wasn't all this land stolen by the harsh dictates of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo? Why is there such uproar over illegal
immigration in the United States? After all, when Mexicans sneak across the border, in effect aren't they just practicing "the right of return?" Unquestionably, with the exception of the United States, it was from countries like these that Jews in Diaspora were forced to escape repression and rejoin their coreligionists that maintained a three thousand year continuous existence in Judea, Samaria, and the outlying areas. It also begs the question, does might make right? With the exception of Israel, It seems to. The Jewish people were driven out of Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria by the Babylonians. They returned to their homeland and rebuilt the Second Temple only to have it burned again, this time by Romans and once again were exiled from their land. Despite 27 invasions and conquests subsequent the Grand Monarchy of Kings David and Solomon, Jews have always had a contiguous connection to this land. Only in the minds of the disparaging and the un-initiated did she ever relinquish it. If not the land of Israel, where are Jews from; Poland? The Ukraine? Russia? Only hateful revisionists such as Helen Thomas, Mel Gibson, Oliver Stone, and some sanctimonious loonies with Ph'Ds inculcating our kids with venom believe that. As to the other detractors of Israel in the E.U. and the U.N. I ask the following questions: Who legitimately owns Alsace-Lorraine, the Germans or
the French? It's changed hands so many times over the past five hundred years, no one has a clue. What's Turkey doing in Northern Cypress? Where is the world uproar over China's occupation of Tibet, East Turkistan, Inner Mongolia, and Manchuria? List of territorial disputes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_territorial_disputes

We can go on and on and on with this. Given that any or all of this is correct, certainly the Jewish people have at least as great a legitimate claim to their historic homeland than any of these other nations and certainly more so than the so called Palestinian Arabs do. Why are the rules of International Relations being changed for Israel? Is it because after thousands of years, the world at large can't bear to see the Jewish people once again in charge of their own land and their own destiny?

Again I delay the printing of more of the laws of Kings and Wars due to the large amount of material within. Good Shabbos to all and a pleasant one at that,