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Nissan 2, 5768, 4/7/2008
Draft Dodgers
A draft dodger can be a supposed Ultra-Orthodox Jew who refuses to serve in the army. A draft dodger can also be a Jew in the Diaspora who doesn't come to Israel to join in the fight. But for those of you who are tired of hearing the truth from me, here's an excerpt from another razor-sharp essay of Rav Nachman Kahana on the Torah portion: IN OUR GENERATION a major source of disunity within the Jewish nation is the uneven distribution of historic responsibility, where so much is carried upon the shoulders of so few, while the many escape their religious and national responsibilities under the aegis of unfounded religious self-justification. The life force of the Jewish nation today is Eretz Yisrael. Within the destiny of our land and people lies the destiny of Jews the world over. World Jewry’s honor, security, creative genius, and religious Torah level are all dictated by what transpires here in the Holy Land. When we are strong and victorious, a Jew in Paris can walk the streets in safety; but when we are perceived to be weak and faltering the Jew in Belgium fears to tread in the main square, and the Jews in the USA will awaken to see the hate written on the walls of their shuls. And the worst is yet to come! Escapism is the nature of the Jew in chutz la’aretz. Some escape from the yoke of being God’s chosen people through intermarriage; some escape the demands of HaShem as expressed by the mitzvot by joining Conservative or Reform replacements for authentic Judaism; some escape into the tunnel vision of the kollel, some find refuge under the cape of deceased rabbis who if they would be alive would scorn their followers’ ignorance; but all escape the compelling call of Torah and history to return home. But not all is well in Eretz Yisrael. We, dati people, too, are to blame for social ills caused by the escapism of many of our brothers. And indeed, the addressees of this lesson are not the Jews of the galut who are in free fall, but many of our brothers here in the Land who shirk their halachic responsibilities to defend the land and the Jewish nation. It would be more than naive to believe that when the Jews of Persia fought on the 13th and 14th of Adar, in order to bring about the miraculous salvation that we call Purim, the talmidei chachamim (Torah scholars) were learning in the yeshivot. The entire nation took part, because then, as today, it was a question of "to be or not to be." To send men who are far from Torah and mitzvot to war is to put them in dire jeopardy, but to send Bnei Torah to defend the land is to insure victory. The Torah (Devarim 23,15) has demanding parameters with regard to the sanctity of a military base: “For the Lord your God is present within your camp to save you and defeat your enemies. And your camp shall be holy and no illicit matter shall be seen there so that He shall not draw away from you.” To have women soldiers and men who do not adhere to the strict requirements of the Torah in military service, while talmidei chachamim and potential talmedei chachamim sit in comfort far from danger is, to my mind, a distortion of the Torah - an ugly hunchback we brought with us from the galut. Those Roshei Yeshiva who feel the greatness of the moment should demand of the Army Chief of Staff to raise his demands. He should send home all the women in uniform to prepare themselves to be good wives and mothers, and recruit every able bodied Ben Torah, for periods of time suitable for service and continued learning. How the army goes so goes the nation. In the future, students of history when researching our generation will find it incredulous that so many who loved HaShem and His Torah were not here in Eretz Yisrael, and more incredulous that those who were here were not in the vanguard of the defenders of Eretz Yisrael. Nachman Kahana 
If you haven't yet bought this inspiring book, what are you waiting for?
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Nissan 1, 5768, 4/6/2008
A Day in the Life of a Jew
Chodesh tov! The Midrash teaches that the first day of Nissan, when the Mishkan was erected in the wilderness, was the happiest day in Heaven since the Creation of the world. In Jerusalem, you certainly feel a heightened joy, as the holiday of Pesach draws near. Last night the Kotel was crowded with people, including a large group of Breslov Hasidim who came to recite the Tikun Clalli, to dance, and to sing songs in honor of the new month and the birthday of Rebbe Nachman. Like every Motzei Shabbat, I joined the group that came to recite Tehillim and special Rosh Chodesh prayers with the holy Kabbalist, Rabbi Eliahu Leon Levi. What an incredible high! Crowd in the Kotel Chamber
Then, first thing this morning, after the mikvah and davening, I took my young sons to a garden down the street to recite the blessing over newly budding trees, with the former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Mordechai Eliahu. The blessing, said once a year in the month of Nissan, thanks G-d for creating a world in which nothing is lacking for our enjoyment. Then we went off to bake matzahs with Rabbis from the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva. Just a page turn of history backwards, Jews in Russia weren’t allowed to make matzot. Today, these same Jews, now Israeli immigrants, have replaced the Arab worker in the matzah factory in Jerusalem. What a joy it is to see this clear sign of the Geulah in front of your eyes! Checking the machine for chametz
Later in the day, we hope to join a joyous procession that will bring a new Torah scroll to the Mercaz HaRav High School Yeshiva in honor of the eight boys that were murdered, symbolizing that their love of Torah and the Land of Israel will go forth with an even greater flame. From there, we have to hurry to a wedding of family friends. It’s a lot of events and happiness to squeeze into one day, but that typifies life in Israel. The Holy Land is the center of the world, and Jerusalem is its vortex. Here, everything spins so fast that it is impossible to keep up with the dizzying pace. This is life in the fast lane. As the complete Redemption draws closer, the spinner gets faster and faster. I am sure that my fellow Israeli readers will agree that here in Israel, ten, twenty, a hundred lifetimes are compressed into one. Things happen so quickly, we undergo daily life changes at a centrifugal pace. It is a totally different experience than Jewish life in Diaspora, on the circumference of the circle, where things moves so very slowly. In the Diaspora, people don’t seem to change at all. You can go back for a visit after ten years and the people seem exactly the same, like figures in a wax museum. In simple terms, this is where it is happening, brother. Chodesh tov!
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Adar Bet 28, 5768, 4/4/2008
Special Guest For Shabbat
One of our revered teachers and sources of inspiration is Rabbi David Samson, one of Israel’s foremost educators. A long time teacher of Talmud in the Mercaz HaRav High School Yeshiva, he has founded several innovative programs for high school dropouts, including the “Lech Lecha” Yeshiva, where the classroom is a fleet of jeeps that bring students out into the Land of Israel to learn Torah where it originated with our Forefathers. Rabbi David Samson's Lech Lecha Yeshiva
Here is a short dvar Torah from Rabbi Samson in the honor of Shabbat: IN THIS WEEK’S Torah portion, we meet a unique form of Mega-Tumah (impurity) known as Tzaraat (Vayikra, 13:20). Compared to other forms of impurity, this form of defilement is the severest. The first Mishnas in Seder Taharot delineate Ten Levels of Tumah (Kelim, 1:1-5). According to this list, a person who is a metzorah is at the highest level of defilement that a person can contract, exceeded only by the tumah of a decaying cadaver. The Mishna then goes on to delineate 10 levels of Kedusha (holiest) in Israel. The holiest is the Holy of Holies upon the Temple Mount, where only The High Priest can enter once a year on the holiest day of Yom Kippur. The Mishna then categorizes the various types of defiled people and lists those who are forbidden to enter the Temple, the Temple Mount, Jerusalem, and finally any walled city in Israel. As would be expected, the person with the greatest level of defilement – the metzorah is exiled to the most remote part of Israel and prohibited from living within the confines of any walled city in the country. The Talmud (Erchin16a) teaches us that tzaraat is caused by evil speech, called lashon harah. One who speaks lashon harah about a fellow Jew is ostracized from the community, but may still dwell within the confines of Israel. There is, however, one person whose defilement is so great that he is banished totally from the land – a person who speaks lashon harah about Eretz Yisrael. The Torah prescribed a punishment for the Spies and their followers of being banished not only from the community, but from all of Israel: "All who detest me shall not see her (Israel)". (Bamidbar, 14:23). "In this wilderness will your cadavers decay" (Bamidbar, 14:29). From this we can see the extreme severity of speaking negatively about Eretz Yisrael. It is the epitome of defilement.
May we merit to cherish the Land in our hearts, deeds, and speech. As the Kuzari concludes, "For Yerushalayim will verily be reconstructed only once the Jews yearn for it with all of their hearts."
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Hollywood to the Holy Land
by Tzvi Fishman
Tzvi Fishman was awarded the Israel Ministry of Education Prize for Jewish Creativity and Culture
Before making Aliyah to Israel in 1984, Tzvi Fishman was a successful Hollywood screenwriter. He has co-authored 4 books with Rabbi David Samson, based on the teachings of Rabbis A. Y. Kook and T. Y. Kook.
His other books include: The Kuzari For Young Readers and Tuvia in the Promised Land. His most recent book, Secret of the Brit, can be found at JewishSexuality.com, along with an abbreviated online version. |
