‘Avodah’ Means Animal Sacrifice, NOT Mere Prayer

Says Rabbi Avigdor Miller.

Here’s an excerpt:

… And that’s why the avodas hakorbanos is one of the pillars that support the world:על שלשה דברים העולם עומד – “On three things the world stands” (Avos 1:2), and one of them is the avodah. You know, some people say that avodah means korbanos also; yes, of course, that too. They won’t deny that. But the true avodah, they’ll tell you, is tefillah. But that is wrong. The avodah that is meant here, the pillar of the world – is korbanos, animal sacrifice; only that today, because we have no choice, so tefillah stands in place of korbanos (Berachos 26b).
And that’s why we’re not satisfied today with what we have because we want the real thing. We say ברוך אתה השם שומע תפלה – “Yes, Hashem, You listen to our tefillos; I know that you’re listening when I speak to You.” And that avodah she’bileiv is so important. And yet, what’s the next thing we say right away? רצה השם אלוקינו בעמך ישראל והשב את העבודה – “Please return to us the avodah of korbanos.” We’re not satisfied with tefillah, with the avodah of the heart. We want the real thing; we’re asking for the avodas hakorbanos, for the opportunity to bring up animals onto the fire of the mizbei’ach. And therefore when you finish shemonah esrei, you feel like a person who ate a meal without anything solid, you’re not full yet. And so you say יהי רצון מלפניך השם אלוקינו שיבנה בית המקדש – Hashem, give us back the avodah once more. Then we’ll be serving You for real! …

Sanctions: War Against Civilians

Trump Tells the Truth: Sanctions Cause People to Suffer

This week President Trump admitted what the Washington policy establishment of both parties would rather be kept quiet. Asked why he intervened to block a new round of sanctions on North Korea, he told the media that he believes the people of North Korea have suffered enough. “They are suffering greatly in North Korea…And I just didn’t think additional sanctions at this time were necessary,” he said.

The foreign policy establishment in Washington, whether they are neocons, “humanitarian interventionists,” so-called “realists,” or even progressives have long embraced sanctions as a way to pressure governments into doing what Washington wants without having to resort to war.

During my time in Congress I saw many of my antiwar colleagues on the Left vote for sanctions because they believed sanctions are more “humane” than war. Neocons and other interventionists endorse sanctions because they know that sooner or later they will lead to war, their preferred foreign policy.

With his characteristic bluntness, President Trump has exposed this big lie. Sanctions are not a more humane alternative to war. They are just another form of war. In fact they are perhaps the cruelest form of war because they do not target the military of an adversary, but rather the innocent civilian population. As President Trump said, they make people suffer.

Sanctions are meant to make life so miserable for the civilian population that it rises up and overthrows a leader out of favor in Washington. In Iraq in the 1990s, those sanctions cost the lives of a half a million children, but then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright infamously said she thought the price was worth it. But still the people didn’t rise up and overthrow Saddam even as their lives became more and more miserable. So the neocons had to concoct some lies about WMDs and Iraq was invaded anyway. An estimated million more people were killed in that war. So much for the “humanitarianism” of sanctions.

Sanctions often target water supplies, sewage treatment, medicine, food supply and other essentials for civilian life. After the people suffer under the “soft” war of sanctions, though, they most often are forced to suffer again as the US attacks anyway. That was the case in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and elsewhere. And it may soon be the case for Venezuela and perhaps even North Korea.

In Yemen, sanctions have contributed to the death of some 80,000 children from starvation. Millions more are facing starvation, yet they continue to resist Saudi and US demands that they overthrow their government.

Sanctions do not inspire people to rise up and overthrow their governments. Most civilians suffering under sanctions couldn’t throw out their rulers even if they wanted to – after being impoverished and malnourished for years they are really expected to take on their own government’s military?

I am glad to hear President Trump tell the truth about sanctions. They hurt the powerless in the false hope that the powerful will change their behavior. No new sanctions on North Korea is a good start. Now how about dismantling the inhumane and counterproductive sanctions from Caracas to Damascus and from Moscow to Beirut. Let’s return to a foreign policy of peace and engagement, backed by a strong military for our defense alone.

From LewRockwell.com, here.

Rabbi Avi Grossman: Learn Torah on Election Day!

I recommend reading the whole article over here.

An excerpt:

… Therefore, election day is basically a national emergency day, and we should pray that somehow God grants us the wisdom to choose what is right.

The Knesset elections are to be held on Tuesday, the fourth of Nisan (April 9), and because it is inappropriate to hold a public fast day during Nisan, I propose that the previous day, Monday, the third of Nisan, be declared a day of extra prayer, while on election day laymen should be encouraged to spend a significant part of their work holiday in the study halls.

Again, see the rest here.

Is Next Year Going to Be ‘תש”פ’ or ‘תש”ף’?

Apparently, the “Academy for the Hebrew Language” (the governmental language standards organization) has decided next year will be noted in all government documents as תש”ף (instead of תש”פ, like a normal person!).

I believe that distorts the Gematria. The regular פ is 80, while the ending form of ף is sometimes 800! See this essay by Rabbi Yitzchak Ginzburg, and the chart at the end.

And see the following screenshot of the pesukim counts in the ArtScroll Chumash:

At least their decisions aren’t binding on civilians yet…

אסור לחשוב כי בית שמש היא ירושלים

מחאה לכבודה של ירושלים

יהודה סגל – כ”ו תשרי ה’תשע”ח 16/10/17
נעלוז להיטפל, בין שאר ערי ישראל, להרי ירושלים, אך לא נסכים ליטול את כתרה לעצמנו!

זה חייב להיפסק.

בכל מקום שיהודים יראי שמים עושים או אומרים איזה דבר שאינו לרוחם, החילונים (והמתחנפים) קוראים בקול “ערד\טבריא\בנימינה\עמנואל לא תהיה בית שמש!”

בעבר הלא-רחוק היו מתלוננים דווקא על ירושלים עיר הקודש, תכון ותבנה.

ירושלים הייתה נחשבת המעוז והמבצר לשומרי חקות התורה, משוש כל הארץ, ואילו עבורם מרכז ה”קיצוניות”. ובבקשם להבדיל את עצמם מעל בני ישראל הישרים והתמימים, דורשי עיר המלוכה, ציינו ה”חפשים” שאין להם חלק בעיר הקודש והמקדש. הם אינם “קיצוניים”, ואיש לאהליו ישראל. מאז שמה של ירושלים “נטהרה” ע”י מצעדי קלון, ומכיון שראש העיר ישראלי חילוני. ובית שמש הפכה לשק אגרוף, כיון שיהודי חרדי בראש העירייה.

החתם סופר זצ”ל ייחס את הרעש בצפת בשנת תקצ”ז לכך ש”ירושלים תבעה את כבודה”. שם זה היה, אמנם, בהקשר של אכלוס, אבל הרעיון דומה.

ווילנא, נהרדעא, בני ברק, ליקווד, ועוד נקראו ברבות השנים “ירושלים קטנה”. נשמח מאוד בעיר מקלט זו לקבל תשבחות כאלו. נעלוז להיטפל, בין שאר ערי ישראל, להרי ירושלים, אך לא נסכים ליטול את כתרה לעצמנו! “כי מציון תצא תורה ודבר השם מירושלים”.

ירושלים קרויה בית אל (רש”י בראשית כ”ח י”ז), לא בית “שמש”! אסור לחשוב כי ברלין היא ירושלים, ואסור לחשוב כי בית שמש היא ירושלים. חובת מחאה זו מוטלת ביותר על בני ירושלים שבאו לכאן כיון שצר להם המקום.

כמובן, אין בדברים הללו הסכמה לכל מעשיהם של בני ירושלים היקרים.

שאלו בשלום ירושלים, ישליו אוהבייך.

בס”ד, יהודה סגל

YSMehadrinews@Gmail.com

מאתר מהדריניוז, כאן.