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2 Torah Portions Are Very Embarrassing for Diaspora Jews…
Israel? No Thanks
By Tzvi Fishman – 26 Sivan 5776 – July 1, 2016
Two Torah portions are very embarrassing for Jews in the Diaspora. The first is the Torah portion of “Lech Lecha” where G-d tells Abraham that He is giving him and his descendants the Land of Israel as their eternal Homeland. While everyone in shuls from New York to LA, Melbourne, and Antwerp, manage to keep a Shabbos smile on their faces while the Torah portion is read, droplets of sweat start to form under the knots of their ties. After all, G-d obviously wants His children living in the Promised Land, so what are they doing in New York, LA, Melbourne, and Antwerp?
The other embarrassing portion is this week’s reading, “Shelach.” The Torah relates how the leaders of the nation, the leading rabbis and the directors of the major Jewish organizations (which were called Tribes in those days and not Federations, Unions, or Congregations) rebelled against G-d’s commandment to live in the Land of Israel, preferring to remain in the wilderness of Sinai, where they enjoyed the good life, like Jewish life in America and Australia today. They claimed that while the Land of Israel was certainly beautiful, it was dangerous to live there. Knowing the Torah better than Hashem, they argued that saving Jewish life was the most supreme mitzvah, freeing them of the obligation to obey Hashem’s oft-repeated command to journey on into the Holy Land. They said, no, “We will keep all of the commandments except the one about living in Israel – that isn’t for us.” Calling them rebels and non-believers, Hashem killed them all. It is all written very clearly in the Torah. I’m not making things up.
Only two of the leaders, Yehoshua and Calev, agreed to follow Hashem. Their efforts to rally the others proved fruitless. All of the other 10 leaders, the top rabbis and the directors of the major Jewish organizations, along with all those who followed their rebellious advice, perished in the wilderness in shame.
The book “Mesillat Yesharim” or “The Path of the Just” is a universally recognized classic Jewish text, found in every yeshiva, and in every Orthodox home. In Chapter 19, in his study of saintliness, the book’s universally respected author, Rabbi Haim Luzzato, explains that the reason the Spies, who were the leaders of the Tribes, the leading rabbis and heads of the Sanhedrin, didn’t want to make Aliyah to the Land of Israel was because they feared it would lessen their honor. Yes, their honor. They realized that in Israel, it wasn’t enough for a leader to be expert in learning Gemara and Halacha in the Beit Midrash, while the Clouds of Glory took care of all the physical needs of the people. In the Land of Israel, a new type of leadership was needed, leaders with a multitude of talents, including military talents, agricultural talents, economic talents, political talents, building talents, national figures who could inspire the Jewish People to build their own independent Statehood, without being dependent on the Clouds of Glory – or whatever foreign, gentile country that took care of national needs.
The Spies realized that in Israel they wouldn’t continue to be big rabbis and directors of Diaspora organizations for which there was no longer a need. So instead of urging the Jewish People to continue on to the Land of Israel, they told them that it was best to stay put where they were, in the wilderness, as strangers in strange gentile lands. That’s what it says in the book “Mesillat Yesharim.” I am not making things up.
Once again today, Diasporas leaders are not leading the Jewish People to Israel. Instead, they are holding on to their positions of honor. And the Jews in the Diaspora are ‘diasporing’ away.
Tzvi Fishman is a recipient of the Israel Ministry of Education Award for Creativity and Jewish Culture. His many novels and books on a variety of Jewish themes are available at Amazon Books, including four commentaries on the teachings of Rabbi Kook. Recently, he has published “Arise and Shine!” and “The Lion’s Roar” – 2 sequels to his popular novel, “Tevye in the Promised Land.” In Israel, the Tevye trilogy is distributed by Sifriyat Bet-El Publishing. He is also the director and producer of the feature film, “Stories of Rebbe Nachman,” starring Israel’s popular actor, Yehuda Barkan.
He can be contacted via his website: www.tzvifishmanbooks.
com
Reprinted from The Jewish Press, here.
The Answer to Soaring Jew-Hatred in Europe: Spread the Word About Camozuzah!
This just in.
Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt (a Putin exile!) was interviewed by “The Guardian”:
Jewish communities across Europe have been grappling with an increase in hate speech, vandalism, harassment and threats since Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.
“The statistics speak of a rise of hundreds of percentages all over Europe,” said Pinchas Goldschmidt, the president of the Conference of European Rabbis, an Orthodox rabbinical alliance.
No, it’s not “an” alliance. The CER calls itself: “the primary Orthodox rabbinical alliance in Europe”. Wikipedia (who?) calls it: “the voice of Judaism for the European continent”.
Is he really their president? Yes. Read more about the rabbi here…
The Guardian agrees on the facts:
Watchdogs have pointed to a dramatic increase in incidents since October. Rias, which monitors antisemitism in Germany, documented a 320% increase in incidents in the month after 7 October.
Germany, too? Well, I never. Of all places!
French Jews, the earliest in Europe to assimilate (as I recall), also seem unhappy:
The Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF) has said that in the three months following Hamas attacks, antisemitic incidents were equivalent in number to those in the previous three years combined.
Of course, just like the Netanyahoo family doctrine, Rabbi Goldschmidt tries (and fails) to get Goyim to sit up and take notice by telling them the rise in antisemitism could “destabilize” European societies. A notion so stupid in both conception and application it defies all discussion. The very fact he needs to resort to persuasion using supposed non-Jewish self-interest speaks volumes.
But actually, the Mezuzah is the real enemy of staying in Galus! Who has an eraser? Again quoting the insightful rabbi:
“One of the most asked questions to the rabbis since October 7 is if you can take off the mezuzah [a religious parchment in a case] off your door,” he said, adding: “This says a lot.”
Other precautions some people were taking included wearing hats instead of the traditional kippah in the street and “when they go into Ubers not speaking Hebrew”, the rabbi said.
But before considering Aliyah (shivers), wait. Wait! Haven’t you all heard of Camozuzah?!
Quoting Hyehudi’s intrepid copy-pasting from a year back:
In Europe, soaring antisemitism popularizes a new invention by Irish Rabbi Zalman Lent: The camouflaged mezuzah, disguised to resemble an alarm sensor!
That’s my Modest Proposal, anyway…
“There used to be a red line between anti-Zionism and antisemitism,” Goldschmidt said. “We have seen this red line disappear.”
Ya think?
Continue reading the weirdo in the Guardian here…
‘I Will Not Speak Much, Otherwise I Will Say Something Again’
Top popular posts:
- September 16 Rabbi Lazer Brody shlita Abandoned Berland-Supporting Shalom Arush LONG AGO! (העורך Editor)
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