DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR CHILDREN ARE WATCHING?

DO YOU KNOW
WHAT YOUR CHILDREN ARE WATCHING?

parents who have Internet in the house without a site-screening service, are transgressing against their children.
As we mentioned, from time to time, we will be turning this blog over to people who have important things to say. Rabbi Elisha Aviner is considered one of the top educators in the religious Zionist movement in Israel, specializing in the complex world of teenagers and their parents. We have translated portions of an article he wrote for the weekly Hebrew journal, “B’Ahavh V’B’Emunah,” published by the Machon Meir Yeshiva. Basing the article on research statistics, he warns the parents of religious teenagers, and the heads of their schools, to wake up to the very real dangers of pornography on the Internet. As we approach Shabbat Zachor, when we are obligated to remember what Amalek did to us, our fight against pornography in our homes takes on added importance:
                                                                                                                 
“A research study conducted at the University of Haifa, regarding the teenage viewing of Internet pornography revealed a wide difference between what young people admitted watching and what their parents thought they were watching. 60% of the young people admitted they regularly visited porn sites, while only 16% of their parents believed that their children would do such a thing. 60% of young people are watching pornography and smut!!!! This is a staggering percentage! It has to set of a red light for everyone who is concerned with their children’s future. There was no specific survey for the religious
public. However, other less professional surveys amongst religious teenagers have indicated that while the percentage of porn site surfers is less, it is not less by any dramatic degree. This is a blow that we can not run away from. The illusions of parents are also a source for concern. An intense campaign of education is needed to counteract this. Since there is a simple and inexpensive solution – the installation of a censorship filter that prevents entry into immoral websites – one must ask the question, why don’t religious parents equip their computers with this readily available service? Perhaps this stems from a lack of awareness. Perhaps from a too naïve attitude, as if to say, “This could never happen in our home.” Perhaps it is laziness or parental carelessness. The fact is - parents who have Internet in the house without a site-screening service, are transgressing against their children.

“While a school’s responsibility is toward the children and not the parents, sometimes positive educational goals cannot be reached without also educating the parents. It is impossible to educate a young person toward the values of holiness and the reverence of G-d while the Internet drags him down and down into an abyss of pollution.”

Therefore, Rabbi Elisha Aviner concludes, schools must undertake an urgent campaign to educate parents, even to the point of refusing to register children who have uncensored Internet at home. The Torah prohibition against viewing pornography, he notes, applies to both adults and children alike. Thus parents cannot evade their responsibility by hiding behind the flag of freedom of expression and their right to view what they please.

Let’s face it. Any society that allows the evils of pornography to flourish under the banner of free expression is an evil society. We don’t have to feel embarrassed in demanding the obliteration of this evil from the world. That is one of our missions as G-d’s holy nation on earth. This is one of the ways that we can fulfill the commandment to blot out the memory of Amalek, whose strategy has always been to sever the connection between the Jewish People and G-d by luring us into sexual transgression. And if it is not yet in our power to rid the world of its cyberspace garbage, at least we can be sure to do so in our homes - for the sake of our children.

THE COSMIC CONNECTION - Torah Portion "Terumah"

we became loyal Americans, Frenchmen, and Englishmen, lovers of baseball, connoisseurs of cognac, admirers of the Queen
THE COSMIC CONNECTION
Torah Portion “Terumah”

One of the tragedies of our long exile away from our Jewish homeland, scattered amongst the nations of the world, was that we gradually forgot who we were. While the ultra-Orthodox Jew managed to preserve a Jewish identity of sorts (the downtrodden Jew) by secluding himself in the ghetto, the modern Jew, including the modern Orthodox, came to identify himself with the gentiles and foreign culture around him, until we became loyal Americans, Frenchmen, and Englishmen, lovers of baseball, connoisseurs of cognac, admirers of the Queen. Outwardly, the only difference between a Jew and a gentile was that a Jew kept some different holidays, ate gefilta fish, and munched on bagels and lox. We forgot that we are the pinnacle of G-d’s Creation (Kuzari, 1:39-43), with a unique Divine soul, “a holy nation and a kingdom of priests” (Shemot, 19:6). We forgot that planted in each and every one of us, as an inheritance from our forefathers, is the blueprint of the universe, a miniature Mishkan, connecting us to all of the secrets of the cosmos, including the ability to overturn the forces of nature, make seas and rivers part, cause the sun to stand still, and draw the Presence of G-d back down to the world.

Sometimes, people say that the great miracles of our history were something from the past which don’t occur today. The truth is that they still occur, but that G-d camouflages them in the seemingly natural events of nature and history, very much as in the Purim story, where G-d is not mentioned even once in the Megilla, but it is obviously He who is pulling all the strings behind the curtain. Likewise, the establishment of the State of Israel and the incredible revival of the Jewish Nation in our time is a great miracle hidden in the historic occurrences like the Balfour Proclamation, the courage of the early pioneers, the Six Day War, and the ingathering of the exiles in fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. True, G-d’s Name doesn’t appear in any newspaper accounts of these events, but obviously, He is the mastermind behind everything.

Little miracles happen too. For instance, one Shabbat, my wife felt pains in her leg throughout the day. Come Motzei Shabbat, I suggested calling the saintly Kabbalist, Rabbi Eliahu Leon Levi, to ask for a blessing. I knew the Rabbi would be on his way to the Kotel, so I telephoned the driver of his car. Without specifying the problem, I told the Rabbi that my wife wasn’t feeling well. He told me to give her the phone. First, he told her to stand up (she was lying down.) Then he told her that her right leg was hurting. “That’s right,” she said. He told her to place her hand on her knee, and that he would concentrate on a blessing. My wife says she felt a wave of heat warm her whole leg. “It’s gone,” the Rabbi told her. “Your leg is fine. You can walk around the block and clean the whole house.” Sure enough, the pain had vanished. Spending time with the Rabbi, I have witnessed small miracles like that on dozens of occasions. The point is that a Jew who has fully developed his inner potential, and who has learned how to connect with the spiritual Internet, can bring about miracles, just by closing his eys and thinking. All of the great Tzaddikim were known for that.

Based on the holy Zohar, the “Nefesh HaChaim” explains how the Jew, the Mishkan, and the world are intrinsically one:

“The Mishkan, and the Mikdash, encompassed all of the powers of existence, and all of the worlds. The construction of the Mishkan was equaled to the Creation of the world, and all of the order of Creation was contained in it. Thus, a member of the holy Jewish nation, who also contains within him the blueprint of Creation, and the workings of the Divine Chariot, and all the secrets of the universe, he is also structured in the model and pattern of the Mishkan, the Mikdash, and all of its vessels. For his bodily anatomy, his organs, joints, and sinews, and all of his powers, all parallel the construction and vessels of the Tabernacle. This is implied in the verse, ‘And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them’ (Shemot, 25:8), implying that they themselves were to be, ‘according to the pattern of the Tabernacle and according to all its vessels.’ The command to do so was made in the future tense, meaning also for all Jews for all generations to come (Sanhedrin 16b). Thus, we can postulate that this was coming to say, ‘Don’t think that the ultimate goal of My intention is to have you construct an external Tabernacle, but rather to hint that you should see it and pattern yourselves after it, that you yourselves should be, by your doing the proper deeds, like the pattern of the Mishkan and its vessels, all of them holy, fitting, and prepared for the actual dwelling of My Shechinah (Divine Presence) within you’" (Nefesh HaChaim, Gate One, Ch. 4, Addendum).

Thus, each and every one of us is a potential Tabernacle, capable of drawing the exiled Shechinah back into the world. This is our real identity. But, for it to work, we have to remember it, believe in it, and develop our special Divine talents. For those of us who have been blessed with coming home to Israel, each of us has already returned a portion of the exiled Shechinah to the world just by coming back to Eretz Yisrael (See Rashi on Devarim, 30:3). But, we can’t rest on our laurels and trust that the nation will continue forward on its own. King David taught that there are two stages to aliyah and spiritual progress: “Who will ascend the mountain of the L-rd, and who will stand in his holy place” (Tehillim, 24:3). It is not enough to make aliyah and live in the Land of Israel. We have to stand strong in the raging winds of Redemption and live here in a holy fashion. We have to keep working in order to keep G-d’s Presence upon us, as Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai explains on the opening verse of our Torah portion:

“Speak to the Children of Israel that they bring Me an offering; of every man whose heart prompts him to give, you shall take My offering.”

“This signifies that a person who exerts himself in the performance of a mitzvah, and in rectifying the Shechinah, must not be lax and wanting in his efforts, but rather, he must exert himself with all of his resources and strength” (Zohar, Terumah, 128a).

Rabbi Shimon teaches that the work of rectification (tikun), effected through our good deeds, cannot be accomplished in a lackadaisical fashion, but must be paid for in full price, in a spirit of self-sacrifice, like an offering from the heart. “Otherwise, the doer will not succeed in drawing upon himself a spirit of holiness from Above. For the spirit of impurity constantly tempts the heart of man with many easy allurements, in order to dwell in him. But the spirit of holiness is not so – its attainment demands sacrifice and a strenuous effort, in both small and great matters, including purification of one’s self and one’s dwelling, and devotion of the heart and soul. Therefore, a person must walk in a straight path, straying neither to the right nor the left; for otherwise, the Shechinah will immediately depart from him, and it will be most difficult to restore it to its place” (Ibid).

In other words, we have to keep on our toes and strive to maintain a high level of holiness, as befits our identities of miniature Sanctuaries. We have to live with the moment by moment recognition that all of our thoughts, and words, and doings have profound cosmic influence, for good, and also for evil, as the “Nefesh HaChaim” (source cited) makes clear:

“A man of Israel must understand, know, and establish in his mind and heart that every detail of his deeds, speech, and thoughts, at every second and time, all rise up according to their root source to influence the most exalted worlds. When a wise person recognizes this truth, his heart will greatly tremble in the face of his wrongdoings, realizing the awesome and devastating damage that even a small transgression can cause, even more than the destruction wrought by Nebuchadnezzar and Titus. For their deeds had no damaging effect on the upper worlds, for they have no portion or root source in those worlds that would enable them to cause damage there. Rather, it was our sins that polluted the celestial Temple, so to speak, and that gave Nebuchadnezzar and Titus the power to destroy the Sanctuary below….Therefore, when a man entertains an impure, licentious thought in his heart, G-d forbid, he in effect brings a prostitute into the most exalted, celestial Holy of Holies, giving strength to the forces of impurity and evil in this transcendently holy place, to a much greater extent than the impurity caused by Nebuchadnezzar and Titus when they brought a prostitute into the Holy of Holies in the Temple Sanctuary on earth. And this is also true regarding every transgression a Jew commits in his heart, whether the thought of idol worship, anger, or any other evil lust, these are the fires which destroys our Temple.”

It isn’t the Mashiach who is holding up the works. It’s us! Every time we get angry, or watch some smut on the Internet, we pollute not only ourselves, but also the planet, and all of Creation! Studying the Torah portions which deal with the Mishkan is not ancient history. It is a profound personal overhaul and a cosmic tikun, rectifying all of the worlds.

A Chinaman, A Hassidic Wedding, and Our Missile Defense

It is not enough for a non-Jewish person to feel Jewish, or to love Israel, in order to be Jewish.
The Chinese Man In America
Perhaps you have heard the story about the Chinese man who came to America. Arriving at Kennedy Airport in New York, he entered the U.S. Customs line for citizens of the United States. When the Customs official asked to see the Chinese man’s passport, he showed him his passport from China.

• “I’m sorry,” the official said. “You are in the wrong line. This line is for Americans.”
• “I am an American,” the Chinese man answered.
• “Then show me your American passport.”
• “I don’t have an American passport, but I’m an American. I have always felt like an American. I love America,” the Chinese man said.
• “It isn’t enough to love America,” the official answered. “You have to be an official citizen to enter through this line. The line for visitors with visas is over there.”
• “I don’t have a visa,” the Chinese man answered. “Why should I? Americans don’t need a visa to enter into America.”
• “You don’t seem to understand,” the official answered patiently. “You are not an American.”
• “But I feel like an American. Isn’t that enough?”
• “I’m sorry. There are laws. That’s the way it is,” the official said with a shrug. “Next please,” he concluded, turning to the next passenger in line.

The moral of the story is that it is not enough for a non-Jewish person to feel Jewish, or to love Israel, in order to be Jewish. Just as there are laws for foreigners who want to become American, there are laws for people who want to become Jewish. Since this subject is a “bombshell” as one reader said, and since several people sent in very emotional comments, we will try to deal with it in greater depth after the Purim holiday.

A Match Made In Heaven
Last night I went to the wonderful wedding of my wife’s cousin from the Hasidic side of her family. All of the men wore furry Streimmel hats. Many of the young boys wore those cute, box-like caps from the old country. Yiddish was the main language. Of course, the men and women guests were separated, seated in different rooms of the wedding hall. The happy, bashful, nineteen-year-old Hatan (groom) looked like he was still in grade school. He had met the Kallah, my wife’s eighteen-year-old cousin, only one time before, on their one and only shidduch (date). Until meeting once again under the chuppah (wedding canopy), they had not exchanged a look, and certainly not a kiss for months. What purity! What holiness! What faith and trust in G-d!

Oscar Who?

OSCAR WHO?

It is a holiday for me today. I heard on the radio this morning that the Oscars will be awarded tonight in L.A., and my heart did not jump even one bit. Nothing. Not even a small palpitation or a droplet of sweat on my palm. I couldn’t care in the least. I have no idea what movies have been nominated, or what actors, and I couldn’t care less. That’s the incredible power of t’shuva, of repentance, of giving up the lie that we are Americans, and Frenchmen, and Italians, and returning to our roots. I feel like I have exchanged every cell in my body. A spiritual overhaul of prayer, and Torah study, and tears of atonement, and thousands of dunks in the mikvah, has transformed me into a different person, with totally different thoughts, dreams, and aspirations than I had when I was trying to be an American success in L.A., trying to be as rich, and handsome, and famous, and gentile as all of the Hollywood stars who will flock to the Oscars tonight.

Thank G-d, thank G-d, thank G-d. Halleluyah. “He has raised me out of the dunghill to sit me with the princes of His people.”

In honor of the occasion, I am posting an article that I wrote for IsraelNN a few months ago regarding the evils of movies. If you want to save your souls, don’t watch the Oscars tonight. If you want to be a holy Jew, you have to work on it. You can’t have the best of both worlds, as the Modern Orthodox like to believe. Holiness and impurity don’t go together. All of those actresses may look lovely in their sparkling, low-cut gowns, but is it worth it to frizzle your brain? When you pollute your eyes with things you shouldn’t see, the soul which sits in your brain is polluted as well. When that happens, your spiritual radar is smashed, and for example, the Land of Israel, becomes just a nice place to visit, like a Disneyland for Jews, and you think you can be just as serious a Jew in Beverly Hills, or Monsey.

So take it from someone who’s been there. Don’t watch the Oscars. Don’t watch movies at all. Do your brain a favor and study Torah instead.

Fishman Goes to the Movies

The truth is I haven't seen a movie in the last five years, and that was for only a minute. Even though I graduated from film school and wrote screenplays in Hollywood, and still make short videos from time to time on subjects like Gush Katif and Amona, after becoming a ba'al t'shuvah, I gradually lost all desire for the make-believe world of the movies.

But five years ago, my wife had an urge to see a movie, and she insisted that I take her.

"Go with a friend," I suggested.

"I don't want to go with a friend," she answered. "I want to go see a film with my husband."

I offered to rent a video that she could watch on the computer. But she was adamant. Either we go to a movie together or we get a divorce. Of course, I am exaggerating, but she made me understand that if I didn't give in, I was going to be in for a lot of trouble.

So, I went downstairs in our building to my parents' apartment to take a look at the Jerusalem Post movie guide. Finally, I found a movie that seemed alright. The blurb said that it was based on a true story about an aging British novelist, Iris Murdoch, who had Alzheimer's disease. How sexy could that be, I thought? Since my mother suffered from Alzheimer's, I figured maybe I could learn something about the disease and, at the same time, make my wife happy.

At the ticket window, I asked if there were commercials before the film, since commercials in Israel are usually filled with models who are not exactly dressed according to the standards of Jewish Law. After being assured that there were no commercials at this theater, we bought tickets and made our way inside. Indeed, there were no commercials, but there were previews of upcoming attractions. The first was a new Italian release featuring a half-naked actress.

"Gevalt!" I yelled out.

Heads turned our way in the darkened theater. My wife tugged at my arm. "Don't you dare!" she whispered.

The next preview was even worse.

"Gevalt!" I screamed out again.

My wife sunk down in her chair as if she wanted to disappear. I heard a scattering of chuckles and someone shouted for me to shut up.

"I told you we should have stayed at home," I said to my wife.

Finally, the movie started. Up on the screen, in poetic slow motion, a pretty young woman walks through the woods, down to the bank of a pond, obviously a flashback to the old woman's youth. In one deft motion, she takes off her dress and dives naked into the water.

Cut to underwater. Still in slow motion, the naked actress swims through the crystal clear depths....

"Fire! Fire!" I screamed out in Hebrew. Continuing to scream, I jumped out of my seat and made my way to the corridor. "Fire! Fire!" I yelled as I hurried out of the theater, leaving my poor wife to watch the movie alone.

Needless to say, my wife doesn't ask me to take her to films anymore. I waited for her in the car.

"You were right," she said, when she rejoined me after the movie. "Every ten minutes of the film, they returned to the flashback of the old lady as a young woman swimming naked underwater."

What else is new? After spending several years in Hollywood, you learn that in movie-making, the bottom line is the box-office gross. You can't expect your average moviegoer to sit two hours through a movie about an old lady with Alzheimer's disease without throwing in a little nudity every ten minutes to keep them munching away on their popcorn.

For the same reason, I couldn't watch Schindler's List. Every ten minutes, some Nazi butcher was jumping into bed with a naked Jewish girl. Spielberg could have gotten the point across without the nudity, but that's what sells tickets.

Think I am exaggerating? Let me give you another example. Several years ago, I was asked to lecture to a group of yeshiva students from South Africa. When they showed up late, I asked what happened. They explained that they had a few free hours, so they went to see a movie, Titanic.

"The Titanic!" I exclaimed. "Seeing a movie like that is worse than eating pork!"

All the guys booed. "The cinematography was great," they proclaimed.

"Since when does great cinematography override the Torah prohibitions of, 'You shall not turn after your hearts and after your eyes to lead you astray,' and 'You shall guard yourself from every evil thing,' meaning you should not look at prohibited matters by day and come to impure emissions at night?" (Avodah Zara 20B; Niddah 13A)

"It's a completely clean movie," one of the students insisted.

"Look, guys," I told them. "I haven't seen the movie, but you don't have to have ruach hakodesh (Divine inspiration) to know that there is bound to be a pretty girl and a good-looking guy on board. Once the ship hits the iceberg, they have to find some way to consummate their passion before the ship sinks into the cold, unloving ocean. Am I right?"

They answered with grumbles.

"Whether you guys like it or not, watching an attractive actress on a movie screen for two hours, and exposing yourselves to that kind of ongoing visual stimulation, is a no-no for a Jew."

A year later, I drove one of my sons to an out-of-town yeshiva for an interview. Finishing late, we decided to spend the night at a hotel, rather than starting out on the long trip back to Jerusalem. "The movie Titanic is playing on cable," my boy informed me. "Can we watch?"

"What the heck?" I figured. Many people had advised me to see the movie, to see all of the wondrous cinematography and special effects, so I agreed to watch a few minutes.

How does the great award-winner start? We are back once again underwater. This time, we are following the point of view of the camera as it is moves toward the sunken ship and enters into a porthole. After a few mysterious turns down empty corridors, we enter an eerily undisturbed cabin. We pass by a large canopy bed and move toward a dresser, zooming in to a screen-filling close-up of a framed photograph of - you guessed it - a beautiful naked girl. And this is the movie that almost every Jewish boy in the world, from the age of eight to eighty, has seen who knows how many times.

The point is that the eyes are the windows to the soul, and forbidden images, whether we want to face it or not, pollute a Jew's soul with a terrible impurity.

In his book Kuntres HaAvodah, Rebbe Sholom Dov Ber of Lubavitch, one of the early great rabbis of the Chabad Hassidic movement, writes the following:
Everyone who is concerned about his soul, not to pollute it, G-d forbid, should guard over his eyes. And if this is difficult for him, he should endeavor to restrain himself with all of his strength and might. He must take to heart that this matter is instrumental to the well-being of his soul. If he does not guard himself in this matter, then all of his Divine service is accounted as nothing, and all of his achievements are as naught, and his service of G-d will fall lower and lower....

Behold, there are people who are far from actually committing evil deeds, G-d forbid, but their hearts pull them to look and stare [at women]. They gaze with a seemingly cold detachment, and they do not feel any immediate excitement when they look, but the reason for their being attracted is because they experience an inner pleasure.... This gazing, even with seeming detachment, creates an impression and a great stain on the soul, which will not go away without arousing some actual evil in its wake, G-d forbid....

Thus, it is every man's duty to control himself and to guard over the things he sees. In so doing, he will save himself from evil, and his service of G-d will find favor. He will bring salvation to his soul, and he will rise higher and higher. (Kuntres HaAvodah, ch. 2. For an English translation and commentary, see the book Love Like Fire and Water, Moznaim Publishing Corp)
The nation of Israel is called upon to be a holy nation. Just as we have to be careful what we eat, we have to be careful what we see. When a man feasts his eyes on the beauty of another woman, even if just her face, these images poison the purity of the Jewish soul.

As Hanukah approaches, we recall in our prayers how the Greeks polluted all of the oils in the Temple. It was not only the lights of the Menorah; the hedonist Hellenistic culture caused us to stray, polluting the lights of our Jewish eyes, our Jewish minds and our holy Jewish souls. The movies of today, with all of their nudity and sensual imagery, serve the same function as the erotic Greek sculpture and nude Olympics of old.

A Jew who strives to enjoy the best of both worlds is fooling himself. He may have a good time at the movies, but in doing so, he is darkening the light of his soul and severing his connection to Torah.

The Great Call

by Tzvi Fishman

My dear and beloved brothers, in all lands of our dispersion and wandering, in order to dispel the feelings of some readers who worry lest this interchange kindles a hatred between brothers, G-d forbid, let me assure you that it is out of love and concern for the well-being of our nation that we write, hoping to bring light to the darkness of exile, just as one calls out to a friend whom he sees falling off a cliff.

If our language lacks the softness and outpouring of love that this holy mission requires, then hear the words of Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook, whose heart was filled with love for every Jew and for all of G-d’s Creation.

Rabbi Kook emphasized that the true revival and repentance of the Jewish people is in our return to a life of Torah in Eretz Yisrael. Again and again, in his letters and speeches, he called the Jewish people to return home to Zion. One public proclamation, sent out all over the Diaspora, years before the Holocaust, was entitled, “The Great Call.”
“To the Land of Israel, Gentlemen, To the Land of Israel! Let us utter this appeal in one voice, in a great and never-ending cry.

“Come to the Land of Israel, dear brothers, come to the Land of Israel. Save your souls, the soul of your generation, the soul of the entire nation; save her from desolation and destruction, save her from decay and degradation, save her from defilement and all evil, from all of the suffering and oppression that threatens to come upon her in all the lands of the world without exception or distinction....

“Escape with your lives and come to Israel; G-d’s voice beckons us; His hand is outstretched to us; His spirit within our hearts unites us, encourages us and obliges us all to cry in a great, powerful and awesome voice: Brothers! Children of Israel, beloved and dear brethren, come to the Land of Israel, do not tarry with arrangements and official matters; rescue yourselves, gather, come to the Land of Israel...

“From the time we were exiled from our Land, the Torah has accompanied Israel into exile, wandering from Babylon to France, Spain, Germany, Eastern and Central Europe, Poland, Russia, and elsewhere. And now, how happy we would be if we were able to say that she has returned to her first place, to the Land of Israel, together with the people of Israel, which continues to multiply in the Holy Land.

“And now, who is so blind that he does not see the L-rd’s hand guiding us in this, and does not feel obligated to work along with G-d? A heavenly voice in the future will cry aloud on top of the mountains and say, ‘Whoever has wrought with G-d, let him come and receive his reward’ (Vayikra Rabbah, 27:2). Who can exempt himself from doing his part in bringing additional blessing and swifter salvation; from awakening many hearts to return to the Holy Land, to the L-rd’s legacy, that they may become a part of it, to settle it with enterprises and buildings, to purchase property, to plant and sow, to do everything necessary for the foundation of life of a stable and organized settlement....”

“Great is our obligation to awaken the venerable love of Zion, the eternal love which now, as in ancient times, burns in a holy flame of fire in the hearts of our people wherever they are. It is upon us to fight with all of our strength against hatred of the Holy Land, which has begun to insinuate itself into a few among us. We are duty bound to destroy with a mighty spiritual hand, and with the eternal holiness of ‘a desirable Land,’ the filth of the Spies, which ironically, at the time of salvation, has begun to awaken. This sin of the Spies is struggling with its remaining strength, but we can assuredly say, by the power of the Name of the eternal L-rd, who chose this desirable Land, that its struggle is like the last effort of a flame that shoots upward before it goes out entirely. The power of the love for the Holy Land, the love for Zion and Jerusalem, will advance on its path, and will illuminate ‘as the sun in its might,” all of the dwellings of Jacob. With bonds of love, it will draw everyone, all of her children, to the desirable Land, to the wellspring of their lives. The word of G-d stands forever....

“Woe, oppressed and unfortunate brothers, my heart, my heart is with you, my entire being is with you, attend carefully to what I say, give ear and your souls will live – under the garb of sorrow, the apparent and the concealed, in the face of ruin and desolation, of the upheaval and the trampling and destruction of all that is holy (in the Zionist movement), underneath this majestic agony is a brilliant illuminating light, a light that revitalizes and comforts the soul, a light that gives strength and hope, ‘As a mother comforts her son, so I will comfort you; and you shall find comfort in Jerusalem’ (Isaiah, 66:13). Alas, blind men, who will give you eyes to see deep within your hearts?”

(For the full text, see the book, “Selected Letters,” translated by Tzvi Feldman).

Another public proclamation written by Rabbi Kook was addressed to Orthodox communities in the Diaspora to urge their Aliyah to Israel. In establishing a movement called “The Banner of Jerusalem,” Rabbi Kook called upon all religious Jews to come to Israel to rebuild the nation’s spiritual life, just as the secular Zionists were rebuilding the physical, in the joint cause of national Redemption. (Abridged from “Selected Letters”)

BANNER OF JERUSALEM

“To our honored Jewish Religious Public. Orthodox Jews! We call you to the sacred task of building our Jewish nation in our Holy Land, in Eretz Yisrael. Come to us, rally together under the “Banner of Jerusalem” which we now raise aloft before the whole Jewish religious public.

“We all know the ‘Banner of Zion’ which unites a certain portion of our brethren on the basis of our Jewish secular interests in the Land of Israel. But there are many who have not joined the union of those who bear the Zionist flag, and a great many who feel it impossible to do so. We simply record the plain fact that this is so, without questioning its veracity.

“Yet it cannot be that the largest, most natural, and earnest portion of Jewry, the majority of the Jewish religious public, should remain indifferent to the wonderful events of the present, and not lend a hand in the holy task of building our nation on our sacred soil because of so called objections....

“Zion and Jerusalem go hand in hand. From the early beginning of our history, the term Zion has always expressed our kingdom, our material power, which is certainly holy in itself, and serves the realization of the spiritual aims of the nation, which was, is, and ever will be the kingdom of priests and the holy nation of the world.

“The term “Jerusalem,” however, expresses the goal of attaining holiness in itself as the highest idealistic tenet of our Jewish existence, both for us and for all humanity. The place of our Holy Temple – the future place of prayer for all peoples – the city where our Great Sanhedrin sat, from whence has gone forth and will go forth the Law for all of Israel – this is what Jerusalem signifies....

“We call to all religious Jews: come to us, unite with us, strengthen our power in the pursuit of our religious Jewish interests... Orthodox Jews, all the loyal believers in the Jewish faith, there can be no doubt that the Divine power is now manifesting itself in us amidst the great world events. We are certainly called to return to our ancient home in the Land of Israel, there to renew our ancient holy life....

“We religious Jews must all profoundly know and believe that the Divine hand is now leading us openly to our high, ideal destiny. We must make known to the whole world, the true meaning of the present wondrous happenings, whose purpose is so clearly the hastening of our redemption and salvation, from which alone will also spring forth the redemption and salvation of all mankind.

“With the flaming, illuminating, Divine faith, with all the luster of our holy Torah, with the vitality of all of the most refined and devout Jews, we shall carry our flag, the ‘Banner of Jerusalem’ by which alone the ‘Banner of Zion’ will also be properly hoisted. For the value of Jewish secular power will be elucidated to the world only in the light of our holy Jewish spiritual power, emphasized by the uplifted voices of the whole religious Jewish world community, setting with holy enthusiasm to the task of our national construction, of our return to the Land of Israel, by the grace of the Divine and illuminating light, O House of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of the L-rd.”

“With the deepest and most holy inspiration we call on all of you pious Jews, delay not. Do not let the time pass, which is striding along with such giant steps. Speedily come to our holy flag for the return to Zion, for the revival of our people, for the redemption of the Holy Land and its restoration....

“Strengthen yourselves, Jewish brethren. In your masses, rally around our holy, Divine, Jewish national flag, the Banner of Jerusalem. To all Jews, in all lands, in all of the Diaspora, let us without end repeat our motto: ‘You who have escaped from the sword, which is driving you in all ages through the lands of your exile, go, do not stand still, remember the L-rd from afar, and let the memory of Jerusalem arise in your hearts’ (Jeremiah, 51:50). Come brethren. Come in holy masses. ‘The things once predicted to Zion – behold, they are here! Again, I send a herald to Jerusalem’ (Isaiah, 41:27).

“Amen, Selah.”