SATURDAY, 20 AUGUST 2016 21:05
Should the prayer for Israeli soldiers be amended? Hear Machon Shilo’s Rabbi David Bar-Hayim explain in the following video interview:
In English:
:בעברית
From Machon Shilo, here.
The best scenario for libertarians would of course be the best scenario for everyone in general, though most people don’t realize this because most people receive tax funds and would rather not have their milk supply cut off from the State’s nipple.
Here’s the best possible scenario as I see it. Hillary Clinton is sick as a dog, but she is still the best possible president, partly because of this. Julian Assange שליט”א is breathing down her neck and and about to make her life even more miserable than it already is, and forgive me for hoping that whatever remains of her sad life is spent doing nothing but staging personal battles against her accusers so she doesn’t have any time to kill anyone else in some foreign country or come up with bigger and more evil taxing schemes.
I don’t want her to suffer as much as I just want her to be totally preoccupied with defending (however poorly) her own sick (physical and spiritual) reputation just so she has no time to do anything else at all.
So the best scenario is as follows, as I see it. Hillary hobbles through to November while being beaten over the head by Assange and by the public for her health problems. By hook or by crook, she wins the election, and spends the her entire term fighting back scandal after scandal as her health continues to deteriorate. She is unable to pass a single piece of legislation, start a single war, or pass any executive order because she is too busy fending off attacks by a united Republican congress who do everything they can to stifle her just to spite her. She’ll be the greatest president since Nixon in terms of sullying the office, which is a very positive thing.
From The Jewish Libertarian, here.
וכוף את יצרני להשתעבד לך
ודבקיני ביצר טוב ובמעשים טובים
אבינו מלכינו
A famous philanthropist once traveled to Bnei Brak to visit the headquarters of the organization Ezra Lemarpeh, the organization which aids countless Jews in need of medical help, advice and referrals. The philanthropist met with Rav Elimelech Firer, the renowned director of Ezra Lemarpeh. After their meeting, the two of them decided to travel to Yerushalayim to daven by the Kosel.
They arrived after midnight. As they approached the Kosel, they heard the sound of sobbing coming from the plaza in front of the Kosel. As they got closer, they saw a middle-aged Jew standing and leaning his head on the stones, crying unceasingly.
When Rav Firer heard the sound of crying, he was unable to return to his routine, even while he was in the company of one of the greatest philanthropists. He turned to the philanthropist and said, “Hashem didn’t arrange that we would be here at this time for no reason, but in order to hear the tears of this Jew, and help him out. Let’s make a deal; I’ll approach him and introduce myself and if he needs medical advice, I will aid him to the best of my ability. However, if he tells me that he is not in need of medical advice, but in need of financial help, you will enter the picture, and offer your financial help.” The philanthropist agreed to the “deal”.
Rav Firer approached the man, tapped lightly on his shoulder, and introduced himself and inquired whether he was in need of medical advice. The man replied, “No, no, I have no need for such help. Everything is fine, Boruch Hashem.”
Rav Firer walked away and told the philanthropist that it was now time for him to enter the picture. The philanthropist approached the man and gently inquired whether he needed financial help. This time the answer was also negative. “Hakodash Boruch Hu has given me everything I need, and I’m not in need of anything,” he answered.
The philanthropist reported back to Rav Firer and Rav Firer was confused. If everything was fine, why was he crying so loudly, affecting everyone around him? He decided to approach the man once again and clarify the matter.
“I’ll tell you in one sentence why I’m crying,” said the man. “Last night, I married off my youngest son, the last of the twelve children Hashem has given me. I came tonight to thank Him, the Creator of the world, on the great kindness He has shown me for so many years until I was zocheh to bring my last child under the chuppah.”
The man explained that just as he had come to the Kosel over the years to plead to Hashem to help him marry off his children, now that all his tefillos had been answered, he had come especially to the Kosel to thank Him. The man concluded his thoughts by saying, “And is it possible to thank Hashem and praise Him for such great kindness without bursting into tears?!”
(Barchi Nafshi)
From Revach.net, here. [Site deleted.]
Former Head of Central Command General Gadi Shamni said last week that Israel is the most occupying force in the world and is on its way to becoming a pariah state. “Israel must achieve separation from the Palestinians,” Shamni added.
We can assume that Shamni’s words reflect his worldview. In the IDF 2016, it is impossible to be a General or even a Lieutenant Colonel if you believe in a diplomatic solution to Israel’s conflict with the Arabs other than what is dictated by the Left. The Oslo Peace Industry cloned the entire Israeli elite – built from all those who toed the Oslo line and who run the State today – in its own image.
First and foremost, it cloned the military elite. Every officer from Major and up must undergo a (re)education series, taught by the left-leaning Harman and Binah institutes. (Both are supported by the New Israel Fund). The only commanding officer who testified in favor of Elor Azariah, the soldier accused of killing a terrorist, was a low-ranking officer who left the army after the Azariah incident. The rest of the IDF command does not want to be accused of Nazism, as Deputy Chief of Staff General Golan intimated. So all of them think the same way and talk the same way. And in any future war, they will all be defeated in the same way, just as they were defeated in all the recent rounds of fighting. (That is fine, though. The media will praise them as great victors and only the bereaved families will bear their grief in silence.)
Back to General Shamni. Regardless of the worldview from which his words emanated, Shamni is simply right. The ‘Occupation’ in Judea and Samaria cannot go on forever and it must be ended.
Our Zehut party printed t-shirts that say, ‘End the Occupation’. Of course, this is where any agreement with General Shamni ends. While he advocates another glorious Israel retreat that will bring not only missiles to Tel Aviv, but mortar fire to Kfar Saba, as well, Zehut advocates the end of the Occupation by the declaration of Israeli sovereignty on every grain of sand under the control of the IDF. In other words, the entire area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Zehut also has a detailed plan to achieve this goal. The plan also provides a solution for the Arabs living in Israel, for dealing with international pressure, the implications of the move in terms of international law, safeguarding human rights and more.
The idea of ending the Occupation by running away (Oslo/Disengagement) has already exploded in our faces. Even the Left has despaired of it.
The time has come to declare Israeli sovereignty over all the Land of Israel.
Who knows? Maybe General Shamni will join Zehut?