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.      

The King and I - Peres Meets Obama

"In Israel, we open watermelons with a karate chop down the center."

People often ask me why I don’t write about the political situation? The answer is that most of my readers live in the Diaspora. Outside of those generous souls who donate money to worthwhile Israeli organizations and projects, most Diaspora Jews have absolutely no influence on things in Israel, so what would be the purpose of my writing about politics? As far as my Arutz-7 Israeli readers are concerned, they are wise enough to figure out what’s going on without me telling them. So I try to write about things that can have an influence – like waking Diaspora Jews up to the vapidity of Jewish life in the exile, and to the dangers of imitating the ways of the gentiles, especially in sexual matters.

Today was the 27th day of the Omer. I know there are readers who like to believe that Judaism is merely the rote practicing of commandments which lack any inner depth, but the truth is that, just like a Jew has a soul, the Torah has a soul too, and this is its inner dimension, known as the secrets of Torah, or the Kabbalah. In Israel, when you open a prayer book to the pages of Sefirat HaOmer, next to each day of the counting are the names of two Kabbalistic Sefirot, or channels of spiritual expression that bring Hashem’s multi-faceted blessings to the world. Because these heavenly Sefirot parallel our character traits, our Sages teach us that during the 49 days of the counting from Pesach to Shavuot, we are to work on improving and sanctifying each of these traits so that we will be prepared to receive the Torah on the holiday which marks our acceptance of the Torah. Today the Sefirot we are to work on are “Yesod” of “Nezach.” Without going in to detail, “Yesod” is associated with sexual holiness, and “Nezach” is associated with overcoming the evil inclination. So today, we are to concentrate on strengthening ourselves in the battle that has been raging ever since the Snake first tempted Adam and Eve. When they failed the test, the task was given to the Nation of Israel, symbolized by the covenant of circumcision, to teach the world the importance of sexual purity.

At the end of last week’s Torah reading, Achre Mot, the many prohibitions concerning forbidden sexual relationships are enumerated. These include sexual relations with non-Jews and intermarriage, the different incestuous family relations, the prohibition of being with a woman who has not purified herself from the impurity of menstruation (known as “niddah”), adultery, the abomination of homosexuality, and sexual relations with animals. The Torah portion concludes: “Do not make yourselves impure through them; I am Hashem, you G-d” (Vayikra, 18:30). Rashi explains this to mean: “But if you make yourselves impure, then I am not your G-d, and you become unfit to be My followers, for what benefit do I have from you when you deserve annihilation?”

Thus, the Torah and our Sages stress the upmost importance in guarding the laws of sexual purity. The Torah warns that for violating these laws, the Jewish People will be vomited out of the Land of Israel, for the Land of Israel is a Holy Land that will not tolerate transgressors against the Covenant.

The next Torah portion, Kedoshim, commences with this same holy call to the Jews: “The L-rd spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the entire assembly of the Children of Israel and say to them, YOU SHALL BE HOLY, for I, the L-rd your G-d am holy” (Vayikra, 19:1). Rashi explains that the command to be holy means to be removed from sexual sin. The Ramban adds that a Jew should not only guard himself against forbidden sexual relations, he should even sanctify himself in all matters that are permitted to him:

“The Torah has admonished us against immorality and eating forbidden foods, but permitted sexual relations between man and wife, and the eating of kosher meat and wine. If so, a man of desire could consider this to be a permission to be passionately addicted to sexual intercourse with his wife, and be a drunk and gluttonous eater, and thus he will become a sordid individual with the permission of the Torah! Therefore, after having listed the matters which G-d prohibited altogether, the Torah followed them up with the general command (to be holy) that we practice moderation even in matters which are permitted: (for instance) one should minimize sexual relations with one’s wife, as the Rabbis have stated, ‘So that Torah scholars should not be found with their wives like roosters,’ and he should not engage in it except as required in fulfillment of the commandment….” (Ramban, Commentary on the Torah, verse cited.)

This is not Kabbalah. This is straight and simple Torah and the explanation of our Sages. Just like a Jew is different from a gentile in that he has his own Land to live in, apart from the gentiles and their impure, gentile lands – he is to act differently than the gentiles, and not imitate their unholy ways, as it says, “Like the practice of the land of Egypt where you dwelled, do not do; and do not perform the practices of the Canaanites in the land to which I bring you” (Vayikra, 18:3).

We are to be distinguished from the gentiles by where we live, by what we do, by what we eat, by how we dress, by our holidays, by our language, and by our beliefs.

That’s what being a Jew is all about.