Greatest Threat to the Jews

The Number 1 threat to the Jewish People isn’t the missile arsenal of Iran, the Hizballah, and Hamas; or the increasing assimilation in the Diaspora; or the unwillingness of Western Jews to make aliyah.  The Number 1 threat to the Jewish People is the Internet.

That’s right – the Internet. Sure there are lots of good things on the Internet like IsraelNationalNews.com, and Torah lessons, but there is a lot more poisonous trash. Every day, thousands, tens of thousands, maybe even a few hundred thousand Jews fall prey to pornography on the Internet.

When a person watches pornography, he severs his connection to G-d. Figuratively speaking, he pulls out the plug.

Unplugged Jew

He pollutes his holy being and the Divine Presence leaves him. He looks the same as before, but he has short-circuited his Jewish spirituality. In effect he has turned himself into a zombie. If a person is a regular porn watcher (studies suggest that 60% of regular Internet users click on to porn), it won’t be long before his feeling for Judaism is dulled, and problems begin to arise with his health, his children, his marriage, his job.

Zombied out on porn

The G-d of the Jewish People is a zealous G-d, and He hates promiscuity and whoredom. It doesn’t matter if a surfer is only flirting with “cybersex,” our Sages have told us that when it comes to sexual matters, forbidden thoughts and fantasies are worse than performing the forbidden deed (Yoma 29A).

The Jews knew it was a lot of bull

Let me give you an example. Recently, we read in the Torah about the sin of the Golden Calf. Outside of the sin of refusing to come on aliyah, this was the greatest sin of the Jews in the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt. Our Sages tell us that we are punished for the sin of the Golden Calf in every generation. But it was only the “Eruv Rav” (the non-Jews who left Egypt with the Israelites) who worshipped the Calf. The Jews didn’t believe that the silly statue was Divine. So what was their terrible sin? 

The Torah says that “the people sat down to eat and to drink, and they rose up to make merry” (Shemot, 32:6). Rashi explains that “make merry”  ìöç÷ implies sexual transgression, and he cites the use of the same word by Potifar’s wife when she falsely accuses Yosef of sexually molesting her (Bereshit, 39:17).

This is further suggested by the verse stating, “thy people have dealt corruptly” where the same word for “dealing corruptly” ùçú  is used elsewhere in the Torah to describe the sexual sins in the time of Noach (Bereshit, 6:12), and the sexual infractions of Onan and Er (Bershit, 38:9).

We learn from this that the Jewish People participated vicariously in the sexual orgies of the Eruv Rav by watching and applauding from the sidelines. This “virtual sin” was the forerunner of the “virtual sex” of Internet pornography today, whether it be watching hard porn sites, or googling Google girls, or yahooing Yahoo yoo-hoos.

Bowing down to today's Golden Calf

The moral of the lesson? Install an anti-porn filter today. Make sure only the mother knows the code so Dad won’t be tempted. And if the yoo-hoos get the better of you, Rebbe Nachman’s famous “Tikun HaKlali” is now up on the web to help you do t’shuva, along with an explanatory Preface. If you’ve never said it, here’s your chance – without having to buy a ticket to Uman.

The Prayer of Prayers

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov emphasizes the importance of pouring out one’s heart before G-d in words of heartfelt, personal prayer, for all of our problems and needs. Here’s a sample prayer you can say for coming to the Land of Israel. Say it every day, or something similar in your own words, and with G-d's help, you will be one of the lucky ones to make it:

The greatest joy and blessing - coming home to the Land of Israel

My G-d and G-d of my Fathers, teach me how to pray in a way to draw down Your compassion, put words of fire in my mouth that will pierce through the darkness of my exile and shatter all of the barriers that stand between us, for I feel so far away from You. Fill my heart with a burning desire to come to Your Holy Land, where I can become the Jew that I was destined to be, to play my share in the great Redemption of Your people. For I know in my heart of hearts that only in the Land of Israel can I be who I really am, by retuning to my roots, to the homeland of the Jewish people, to the Land of my Forefathers, the Land of the Torah, where the Torah is meant to be kept, to the place that the Patriarchs longed to live, even when there were savages, and dangers, and idol worship throughout the Land.

Please, dear Father and King, fasten the call of the Psalmist firmly in my heart, that I set “Jerusalem above my highest joy,” and may my longing to be in the pleasant Land increase each day, so that wherever I travel, I will always be longing to come to the Land of Israel, as opposed to remaining here in the exile, in a foreign land, amongst foreign peoples, where we have been scattered in punishment for our sins, and the sins of our forefathers.

Help me, my Father in Heaven, to overcome all of the obstacles, all of the fears, all of the excuses, all of the voices within and without which talk against Your Holy Land, in an effort from discourage me from reaching my goal, which is the true purpose of the life of a Jew, to live a life of Torah in Your Holy Land. Grant me the privilege to achieve the great tikun and rectification that I came into the world to accomplish - by returning my Jewish body and soul to the Land of G-d, the Land of Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaacov, the Land of our Matriarchs, the Land that the eyes of Hashem watch over from the beginning of the year to the end. Deafen my ears to the complaints and criticisms of all the modern day Spies who speak badly against Your chosen Land. Let me run away from them and their evil advice. Give me the strength to cling to what I know is the truth in my heart of hearts, to love the Land of Israel with all of my heart, and to set my path in a straight course for Zion, the dream of our people for three thousand years, looking neither to the left nor the right, in order to reach the golden shores of the Land of Israel and to roll in its dust, just like our Sages of old.

Please G-d, give me the exalted honor of coming to Israel, even though I be small in merit and filled with fears and worries about the unknown. But I know that you are Master of the World, Creator of the universe, and that You surely can provide for me and for my family, especially for someone who longs to please You by giving up everything he has known, in order to perform Your will by coming to the Land of Israel.

Open my eyes to see all of the miracles of the past hundred years, how You have brought Your people home from the four corners of the world, granted us triumph over our enemies, rebuilt the barren wasteland, and raised the Nation of Israel from out of the ashes of the Holocaust to become a marvel in the eyes of the nations, thus restoring honor to Your Name. Let me always remember that it is You who has done all this incredible rebuilding, that this is the realization of the words of our Prophets of old, who all promised that G-d would bring us back to our eternal homeland.

Save me, Hashem, from the bondage of my exile in a foreign land, and rescue me. Grant me the fortitude and the inner will and conviction to come to Eretz Yisrael, knowing that You are with me, to help me in everything I need, and to give me the strength and blessing to overcome all challenges, that are really designed to elevate me in Your service and make me a better, more complete person and Jew.       

Thank You, Hashem, for making me realize and understand the vital importance of coming to Israel. It has lit up my life like a bolt of lightning in the depth of the night of my exile. Please, my G-d, strengthen my desire each day, and in Your infinite kindness, bring me home soon to the Land of Life, to the Land of Israel. Amen.

Rabbi Meir Kahane Tells It Like It Is

The exile is the pinnacle and essence of Chilul Hashem. Indeed, the liquidation of the exile is a Kiddush Hashem, and regarding this mitzvah all of Israel are commanded.
There are those who accuse me of distorting the interpretation of Ezekiel’s prophecy in yesterday’s blog. So let’s see what the saintly Rabbi Meir Kahane, of blessed memory, wrote about the very same prophecy regarding the salvation of Israel from the Chilul Hashem of galut, and about the exaltedness of the State of Israel – even with all of its shortcomings.

New Biography of the Great Lover of Israel

What it comes down to is – either you are a part of the solution, by being in Israel and working to rebuild it along Torah ideals; or you are a part of the problem, by remaining in the exile and thereby prolonging its existence.

or you are a part of the problem

(The following is a condensed excerpt from his book, “The Jewish Idea,” Vol. 2:)

WE HAVE no clearer picture of the degradation and abhorrence which Israel face in the exile and which result in Chilul Hashem (desecration of G-d). In response to this Chilul Hashem, G-d comes in anger and wrath to take revenge against the nations and sanctify His name which was profaned through Israel’s abject state.

It, therefore, says, “I had pity for My holy name which the house of Israel profaned among the nations, whither they came” (Ezek. 36:21). When the time for redemption arrives, G-d has pity on His holy people, profaned among the nations by Israel’s very presence in exile among them, living under them, subject to and dependent upon them. Even when the nations allow Israel to live in peace among them, Israel still depend on their goodness and tolerance, and that, too, is a Chilul Hashem. The fact that Israel live as a minority constantly dependent on the kindness of the nations, itself diminishes the glory of Israel, and of G-d, so to speak.

Beholden to the Goy

This is the intent of Targum’s rendering of the verse, “There [in the exile] you will serve other gods” (Deut. 28:36,64): “There you will serve nations that worship idols.” Israel, by being subject to these nations, even if this just means living under their sovereignty as a minority in the territory of the alien majority, magnify and exalt the gods and culture of the nations, and belittle G-d’s omnipotence, not to mention where the nations humiliate, murder and exterminate them.

NY Stock Exchange - Worshipping their gods

G-d, thus, intends to blot out the Chilul Hashem among the nations, occurring through Israel, in the only way that the nations will understand, namely, Israel’s redemption and their victory over the nations who blasphemed G-d.

Therefore, although Israel are unworthy of redemption in terms of their deeds, which are insufficient, still, a certain “time” arrives in G-d’s calculations when He has compassion for His holy name, profaned among the nations.

“And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in the midst of them. The nations shall know that I am the L-rd, says the L-rd G-d, when I am sanctified through you before their eyes” (Ibid., v. 23).

Kiddush Hashem

Rashi comments, “What does this sanctification involve? ‘I will take you from among the nations.’” This is from verse 24 which follows: “I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and bring you into your own land.”

Chilul and Kiddush Hashem are opposites, and the ways that each is expressed are opposites as well. The non-Jew understands Israel’s exile and abject state as G-d’s inability to help His people, or, Heaven forbid, as G-d’s nonexistence. This is the greatest Chilul Hashem there is. It follows that only through Israel’s return to Eretz Yisrael and their being exalted and gaining power over the nations will those nations understand that, indeed, the L-rd is G-d, Supreme, Omnipotent King of Kings, and accept His sovereignty.

The exile, itself, in the eyes of the nations is the pinnacle of Chilul Hashem, whereas Israel’s return to Eretz Yisrael, the land from which they were exiled, and the establishment of a sovereign state triumphantly, against the will of the nations, is the pinnacle of Kiddush Hashem; the proof to the nations that, indeed, a G-d exists in Israel, and He is the Supreme Master and King of Kings. Thus, His might, valor and victory are revealed through the might, valor and victory of Israel.

The exile is the pinnacle and essence of Chilul Hashem. Indeed, the liquidation of the exile is a Kiddush Hashem, and regarding this mitzvah all of Israel are commanded.

Now, we finally understand the true meaning of the exile and its Chilul Hashem of national dimensions, and most of all, the reason for the rebirth of the Jewish state in our day. “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations” (Ezek. 36:22). Not because the Jewish People were worthy of it did the State of Israel rise up and come into being. Spiritually, the vast majority of Jews remained as before or were even worse off. The leaders of the people and the State did not even contemplate repentance, remaining confirmed heretics and rebels against G-d. Yet, this alters nothing, for the State was not established as a reward for Israel’s righteousness or good deeds.

The exile and everything bound up with it — Israel’s abject state, their defeats and persecutions, the gathering of crumbs from the table of others, and the incalculable bloodshed suffered by our fellow Jews — constitute a Chilul Hashem, a blasphemous mockery of Hashem, the G-d of Israel, for His “weakness and inability” to aid His people. Therefore, the Jewish state — the result of the return to Zion and the ingathering of the exiles, which affords the Jew a home, a majority in his land, sovereignty, an army, retribution to Israel’s enemies, and the exalting of His glory on the battlefield — constitutes the exact opposite, Kiddush Hashem! This is the proof, the renewed confirmation of G-d’s existence and of His dominion, of Divine Providence over the universe and over all His creations: “For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all the countries, and bring you into your own land” (Ezek. 36:24).

“Where is their G-d?” Here He is, in all His splendor and majesty! In the return of a wandering people from the four corners of the earth to their land, in the revival of Israel’s military might, so shocking to all the nations of the world, in their valor and in their might.

“I shall be sanctified through you” (Ezek. 36:23). Through the sanctification of the Jew, G-d’s name is sanctified as well, and through the exaltation of the Jewish People, G-d’s name is exalted. This is the meaning of the creation and rising up of the Jewish state. This is Kiddush Hashem. This is the beginning of the complete redemption. This State of Israel is the beginning of G-d’s wrath against the nations who do not know Him and who have profaned His name with scorn and derision. It is time for your redemption. Sanctify My name!

However, there will be no “hasty” redemption (Isaiah 60:22), glorious and majestic, devoid of dreadful suffering, unless the Jewish People return to their Father in Heaven, accept His yoke, and chiefly, unless they trust in Him completely and are ready to sanctify His name through self-sacrifice.

The redemption which began despite our sins in order to sanctify G-d’s name before the nations in might and splendor, has, in the hands of an “ungrateful, unwise nation” (Deut. 32:6), turned into a profanation and a blasphemy carried out precisely by  those  whom G-d thought to redeem. If the beginning of the redemption and the state served to sanctify G-d’s name, then the only way to move on to “hasty” redemption is to continue reinforcing the Kiddush Hashem which the state’s very establishment constituted.

The Divine imperative is continued Kiddush Hashem through trusting in G-d, and liquidating the Chilul Hashem without fear of the non-Jew, without fear of flesh and blood. Every retreat, every submission, every concession to the non-Jew, every hand raised against the Jew, every attack, let alone murder, of a Jew in the Land, every taunt and curse by a non-Jew in the Land, is a Chilul Hashem. If such Chilul Hashem exists, it is many times more severe than any other type, for it occurs within the state which arose exclusively to eradicate Chilul Hashem. Now, instead of continuing to reinforce the Kiddush Hashem process, the Jewish People retreat and profane G-d’s name.

Evacuation at Amona

Whoever allows the non-Jew in Eretz Yisrael to rise up, profanes G-d’s name with terrible contempt. If G-d gave us large portions of Eretz Yisrael as part of the start of redemption, in order to sanctify His name through the most remarkable, mighty victories, and someone is later ready to concede parts of the Holy Land and hand them over to the nations, he profanes G-d’s name with disgraceful blasphemy. Whoever does not allow Jews to live everywhere in the Land, whoever ties their hands and prevents their taking the revenge of G-d and Israel against the nations who curse and revile G-d and His Messiah, profanes G-d’s name and profanes the great miracle and the powerful dream realized by G-d at the start of the redemption.

Whoever sees the rebirth of Eretz Yisrael and a Jewish state and understands that he can easily flee the defilement of the nations and the exile and move to the Holy Land; whoever knows that G-d has opened the last chapter of the existence of the world, which is approaching the end of the sixth thousand, and that G-d is beginning to sanctify His name, profaned among the nations, by returning Israel to their land, thereby preparing to blot out the exile, symbol of Chilul Hashem — whoever knows all this, yet remains among the nations and their defilements, loathing the delightful Land, profanes G-d’s name and His beloved land.

Take a look at yourself in the mirror!

And whoever remains there out of fear and dread of the nations, or out of doubts and uncertainties regarding his livelihood or the dangers of the Land, thereby demonstrates total lack of faith in Hashem as the G-d of Israel, Supreme, Omnipotent King of Kings; and there is no Chilul Hashem more degrading, for it borders on atheism. Yet, all attempts to flee the challenge and mission which G-d placed on our necks as a dear and gladdening yoke will be to no avail.

(Condensed from the book, “The Jewish Idea” Vol.2; Ch 27, “The Final Redemption.”)