The Smiles of Wolves

Hundreds of thousands of Jews flocked to tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai in Meron last night to celebrate Lag B’Omer by paying tribute to the author of the Zohar on his Yahrtzeit. Hundreds of thousands more, men, women, teenagers and children, religious and non-religious alike, sang songs about Rabbi Shimon, danced, and learned Torah all night around bonfires all over the country.

Rabbi Shimon lived during the Roman occupation of Israel. The Talmud describes the event that forced him to flee from the Romans and hide out in a cave with his son for 12 years, during which time the secrets of Torah were revealed to him by celestial visitors - Eliahu HaNavi and Moshe Rabainu. In a discussion about the Roman occupiers, he refused to praise their doings, saying, “All that they have done here, they have done for themselves. They built marketplaces to set their harlots in them; they built bathhouses to sport in them; they built bridges to collect tolls.” When the Romans were informed of his remarks, they issued a death sentence on him, which led to his fleeing (Shabbat 33, the gematria of Lag).

We can’t say coincidently, because we understand that there is no coincidence.  But isn’t it interesting that the head of Rome today is visiting in Israel at this very time when the nation is celebrated our great hero, Rabbi Shimon?  Today, just as in the time of Rabbi Shimon, everything that the goyim do for Israel they do for themselves, out of their own self-interest. There gestures of peace come to steal our land; their financial and military aid come to fortify Israel in order to protect their own grip on the Middle East; their bear hugs set the stage for the knife in our back; their missions of love come to tear us away from our heritage and from being the true chosen nation of G-d.

I had the privilege of celebrating Lag B’Omer with the revered Tzaddik, Rabbi Eliahu Leon Levi and students. May we all merit to cling to our holy Torah, increase our learning and prayers, and thus erect an impenetrable shield to protect us from all of the deceivers, whether from the Vatican or Washington D.C. whose smiles, Rabbi Shimon taught us, are the smiles of wolves.

HaRav Leon at the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai

In the tomb of Rabbi Meir Baal HaNess

HaRav Leon prepares a meal for his students.

Toob bad DACON couldn't make it.

On the shores of the Kinneret

"Walk on the water - that's easy!"

Setting the night on fire.

We'll Teach the Pope a Thing or Two

Yes, it’s true that the Catholic and Christian world is responsible for the murder of millions of Jews.

Yes, it is true that the Vatican stood by and did nothing to prevent the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust.

Yes, it is true that the belief in Yeshu is idol worship with all of its statues and  polytheistic trinities.

Yes, it is true that Christianity and is offshoots have led the world astray from G-d and His commandments, to follow after a false religion.

Yes, it is true that the empty and misleading doctrines of Christianity are the source of the moral decay of Western culture and its incessant world wars.

Yes, it is true that no representative of the Vatican or the Catholic Church should be allowed to step foot in the Holy Land until they beg the Jewish People’s forgiveness and renounce all of their errant and evil ways.

Yes, all of these things are true.

Nonetheless, allow me to shed a glimmer of light on the present pompous and pontifical visit, seeing it as the forerunner of a prophecy that is sure to come to pass.

Isaiah Wall

Inscribed on the famous Isaiah Wall outside of the United Nations is the prophecy:

“THEY SHALL BEAT THEIR SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES, AND THEIR SPEARS INTO PRUNING HOOKS; NATION SHALL NOT LIFT UP SWORD AGAINST NATION. NEITHER SHALL THEY LEARN WAR ANY MORE” (Isaiah, 2:4).

Of course, the anti-Semites at the UN left out the preceding verses of Isaiah’s prophecy which explain how this ideal situation will come to pass:

“And it shall come to pass in the end of days, that  the mountain of the L-rd’s House shall be established on the foremost of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and all the nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come and let us go up unto the mountain of the L-rd, to the House of the G-d of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth Torah, and the word of the Law from Jerusalem” (Ibid, 2:2-3).

In simple words, the goyim will come to Jerusalem and learn from the Jews how to serve G-d.

Only then will nations no longer lift up sword against fellow nations.

The current visit is a preview of what will be in the near future as all of the repenting imposters crawl on their hands and knees up the road to the House of G-d in Jerusalem to learn from the Jews the true way of serving Hashem.

May it come soon!

Internet Flu!

This morning, as I was filling up my car with gas, a beautiful woman got of her car, causing me to take a second look. Now, most of the time when this happens, when an attractive woman enters my line of vision, I am pretty good about looking away. I work hard on this, because it is an important ingredient in maintaining one’s holiness as a Jew. But this morning, the yetzer hara got the best of me, and I did a double take. Immediately, a downpour of bird doo spattered over my head. It must have been a big bird because I got drenched, including my beard. I tried to get a glimpse of the bird, but the sky was empty, as if the bird doo was a sign straight out of Heaven.

"Oh, man, will you look at that!"

When I got home, my wife took one look at me covered with bird doo and angrily yelled, “Have you been looking at women again?!”

Grabbing a hold of an umbrella that we had neglected to put away for next winter, she smashed me over the head with a couple of scolding blows. Deserving the punishment, I didn’t try to defend myself.

“You beast!” she accused. “You dog! You total phony!”

What could I do? She was right. A Jew who looks at women to enjoy their beauty is no better than a dog. He’s worse. A dog isn’t commanded not to look at women. But when a Jew sees a woman, and continues to gaze lustfully at her, rather than averting his gaze, he is violating a commandment of the Torah, “You shall not stray after your heart and your eyes that lead you astray” (Bamidbar, 15:39).

If he fantasizes about her, he is violated another commandment, “You shall guard yourself from every evil thing,” as the Talmud teaches: “This means a man should not gaze on an attractive woman, even an unmarried one, nor upon a married woman, even if she is ugly” (Avodah Zara 20A). This is because “a man shouldn’t have sexual thoughts in the day and come to impurity at night” (Ibid 20B).

Needless to say, these prohibitions apply to internet viewing as well. When a person looks at an erotic photo, he cuts himself off from G-d. Holiness and impurity cannot exist in the same place. He darkens his soul and all of the exalted spiritual worlds to which he is connected.

Viewing porn on the Internet ruins people’s lives. Running a site on the theme, I get emails that are heartbreaking and shocking. Men start out thinking they can control their flirtation with cyberspace lovers, but get hooked beyond their worst dreams. It is a plague that ruins more people than all of the swine and cattle flu’s combined.

Searching for an Internet Flu Vaccine

While I am getting hit on the head with bird doo and umbrellas, I want to thank DACON9 for the dose he gave me in his last talkback. I don’t mean to get down on the Jews who choose to liiiiiinger in the Diaspora instead of hopping on a plane to live in Israel, but rather to criticize the philosophy that maintains that living in the exile is 100% kosher.

One thing should be clear. ALL RABBIS agree that living in Israel is a mitzvah. If he doesn’t, he is not a rabbi. The debate is whether coming on aliyah is a Torah mitzvah at this time, before the Mashiach’s arrival – may he come soon! Beyond this question, a basic tenet of Judaism is that all Jews should WANT to live in Israel. The yearning to live in Israel should pump strongly in every Jewish heart. “Next year in Jerusalem!” has been our national dream and longing for the last 2000 years.

Even the Jews in the Diaspora who find it impossible to move to Israel because of legitimate health, family, or financial problems, each and everyone should WANT to live in Israel and experience daily heartfelt regret that he or she can’t. Certainly all young people should be encouraged by parents and Jewish educators to make aliyah as soon as they can, and they should be taught from the earliest age that the true goal of Judaism is to rebuild our Torah nation in the Land of Israel – not in the exile. It is the “let’s make the exile a better, stronger place” philosophy that must be wiped out, in order to restore G-d’s fallen honor to where it belongs – something that can only be achieved through the establishment of Jewish sovereignty over the Land of Israel, as we will, G-d willing, endeavor to explain in an upcoming blog.