Tzvi Fishman

Internet Jihad

The hatred of Jews fills up and dominates the social media. Opinion.

Interview:

The struggle for European Jewry

Tzvi Fishman speaks with Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich, pulling no punches about Diaspora Jewry's current situation and what the future holds in store.

Anglo Jewry, Wake Up!!

Tzvi Fishman argues that instead of appealing to the British government for protection, Anglo-Jewish leadership should encourage immigration to Israel and abandon reliance on the future of the Diaspora, 'the time has come to heed the call.'

Behar-Bechukotai:

You are a Jew! A crucial and timely lesson

Many great Rabbis have revealed that the murderous antagonism of the gentiles surfaces when the Jews fall in love with galut.

Golders Green Blues

Why not to expect the UK gov't to protect Jews

Appealing to the British Government to safeguard the country’s Jews against the increasing anti-Semitic violence is like a mother rabbit imploring a fox to guard her baby bunnies. Opinion.

Parashat Acharei-Mot/Kedoshim:

Medinat Yisrael is a Torah Commandment!

So why do so many religious Jews live in the Diaspora? One explanation is that after being expelled from Eretz Yisrael, during our long and oppressive years of wandering, our clear understanding of our original national mission became foggy and lost.

On the meaning of Israel's wars

These wars themselves are stages of the Redemption. Our wars are not like all the other wars in the world. We are engaged in a long and difficult war against war itself, against the impurity and evil which degrades mankind into wielding the sword and shedding blood.

Parenting on Passover:

Teach your children the truth

This is what every parent should teach his children this year during Pesach. This is what every Rabbi should teach his congregation. This is what every head of every Jewish organization should make his number one priority.

A call to Diaspora spiritual leadership:

Where have all the Rabbis gone?

Borrowing the title of Pete Seeger's song to hammer home a message to Diaspora Jewish leaders.

Yearning for salvation

Ask yourself sincerely - how much do you want to make aliyah?

A post-Purim-pre-Pesach musar shmooze

At my Kiryat Moshe home, on Purim, students wondered why they will say 'next year in Jerusalem' in the Haggadah when they are already there...

Thanks to our pilots!

“When there is a great war in the world, the power of Mashiach awakens."

The greatest joy

Our Sages teach us that as the month of Adar advances simcha (joy) increases.

Confession:

I am one of the 'idiots' who say Hallel on Yom Ha'atzmaut

To recite the Hallel prayer of thanksgiving or not to recite it, that is NOT the question.

Book Review:

Rabbi Kook’s “Shemonah Kevatzim" - now in English

In the book “Eight Journals" Yaacov David Shulman has succeeded in remaining faithful to the Hebrew text while capturing the poetic style of Rabbi Kook’s often intricate prose.

The one-eyed Rabbi in Auschwitz

Excerpt from the book "I will hide My Face from them."

Why don't they come?

What keeps Diaspora Jewry from getting on that aliya plane?

Saying Kaddish for Holocaust victims

The first day at the Auchwittz death camp.

Questions and Answers:

Aspects of Hanukkah - interview with Rabbi Shlomo Aviner

From the Yeshiva's Beit Midrash in the Arab Quarter (actually the Old Jewish Quarter) of the Old City, Rabbi Aviner talks about miracles, why we don't say Hallel on Purim, and more.

Nun, gimmel, hei, ____?

The dreidel's message

The four letters on the dreidel are not the same in Israel and the Diaspora. They tell us something we should pay attention to.

Better earlier than later:

Israel needs to build cities for Olim

Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration and the National Emergency Authority recently ran a full-scale drill in Ramla simulating a sudden influx of tens of thousands of Jews fleeing exploding antisemitism and security crises abroad. But where would they go? Opinion.

Travel inward to yourself!

In their very first encounter, Hashem’s initial words to Avraham were “Lech lecha!” If you want to come close to Me and discover your mission in life then go to the Land I will show you.

Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich:

Who were the Cantonists?

A scholarly new book on a fascinating yet little known subject in the chronicles of Jewish History tells the story of the young Russian Jewish boys forcibly drafted into the Tsar's army for up to 25 years.

Whose homeland?

The wording of a resolution to be presented at the WZO conference this week on relations with Christian Zionist allies, makes it sound as though Israel is the homeland of Christians as well as Jews. Clear boundaries are needed. Opinion.

Did the mask slip?

Netanyahu, beware. The heads of Yesha, beware. The friends of Christian “lovers of Israel” - beware. Their embrace is the embrace of wolves. Opinion.

“We have won!”

National heroism has returned to us with phenomenal force: heroic fighters and heroic families. Opinion.

Tzvi Fishman:

An Etrog Tree doesn’t grow in Brooklyn

The four species which we are commanded to take for ourselves on the Festival of Sukkot are indigenous to Eretz Yisrael, just as the Torah is indigenous to Eretz Yisrael, and the Jewish People are indigenous to Eretz Yisrael.

A call to come home:

The tragedy of Diaspora Jewry

Thrust aside all accountings and return in haste to the Land of Hashem, the Land of Israel, our one and only home.

An in depth look at Aliya

The place of the challenges Olim face based on the thoughts of Rabbi Tzvi Yisrael Tau.

Why live in Israel?

Fifty reasons to move to the Holy Land - and there are many more. Opinion.

Getting Aliyah out of the mud

Hashem has set the earth boiling under the feet of Diaspora Jewry but they need an extra push (known as “hishtadlut”) from us. Come to the Aliyah conference to learn how.

Diasporism 2025

You don’t have to listen to me. Listen to Moshe. Listen to the roaring echo of his words, resounding out today over the anti-Semitic prairies and cities of America. Come home and keep the Torah as it should be kept!

Remembering the struggle for Gush Katif

Moetzet Yesha and the Gush Katif Community Council adopted a non-belligerent protest campaign marked by the slogan, “With Love We Will Win.” The campaign was highlighted by human chains of passive protest. Op-ed.

Rashi was an ardent Zionist

Rashi wants to teach us that without Eretz Yisrael there is no Torah, no Am Yisrael, nor Sanctification of Hashem in the world.

A new forest:

The struggle For Soviet Jewry today and yesterday

Yosef Mendelevich: “The freedom fighters in Soviet Russia were like trees, standing tall and not bowing down. That’s how the idea came to me to create a forest for the Prisoners of Zion." It was dedicated last week.

The Three Weeks:

Yearning for Redemption

When a Jew in the Diaspora feels an inner alienation from his Gentile surroundings in a Gentile land, this inner awareness sets off a spiritual explosion which affects all of the Jewish People.

Who is a Jew?

The joy over the star of the movie Superman being Jewish is misplaced. Halakhically, he really isn't Jewish, unless he converts.

For his yahrzeit:

Dad

Today marks my father’s yahrtzeit. Later in the day we will visit his resting place on the Mount of Olives The view there is spectacular and you don’t have to worry about alligators devouring the body the way you do in Boca Raton where my parents lived before I brought them on Aliyah.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe's Yahrzeit:

The Rebbe and Eretz Yisrael

The Rebbe spoke out against proposed agreements to surrender pieces of the Land of Israel to foreign sovereignty.

Where was American Jewry?

Iran launched lethal missiles and threatened nuclear war against Israel. While the IDF accomplished miracles, Israelis ran to shelters and over twenty were killed. Where were US Jewry's demonstrations? their organizations' protests against attempted genocide? Opinion.

The era of Mashiach is now!

Whether you are following the war on Fox News or on INN, you are watching the “salvation of Hashem!”

The Great Call:

Hashem hates the Exile

Read Rabbi Kook's proclamation to Diaspora Jewry.

The pathway to Hashem and the chain of transmission

A talk with Rabbi David Samson about his new English series of commentaries on the meditative path of the Kabbalist Rabbi Avraham Abulafia. "It’s as if Rav Kook bequeathed to us the map of the territory, and Rabbi Abulafia handed me the compass and walking stick."

Parashat Behar-Bechukotai:

Bigger bombs aren’t the answer

The full solution is in the parsha this week.

For Lag Ba'Omer:

Eretz Yisrael and the Secrets of Torah: Introduction to the Zohar

The Talmud teaches that it is impossible to come to the Land of Israel without difficulties and suffering. Learning the secrets of Torah is the remedy. Read

One Homeland, not two

We are talking about the situation of entire Jewish communities ensconced in the darkness of exile, believing that it is perfectly OK to live in Gentile countries. But it is not OK.

Joy and sorrow in war

The joy doesn’t come from the war itself, which is an evil matter, abounding in personal suffering and pain. The joy comes from the great Kiddush Hashem which fills our emotions and longings,

Memorial and Independence Day in Israel:

Thank you, Hashem!

Memorial Day and Independence Day are the times I thank God that instead of growing up being American kids who are Jewish, my offspring are Children of Israel, just as we are called in the Bible.

Not everyone loves a parade

The Palestinian Arabs are, as usual, fighting the upcoming Jerusalem Day parade. Op-ed.

The secret of Sefirat HaOmer

The revealed side of the Torah is the foundation for this deeper learning, but the revealed side is not the Torah’s end.

For the holiday of freedom:

Interview with former Prisoner of Zion, Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich

‘We didn’t know you people have such unbreakable spirit and resolve,’ the KGB commander said.

True Jewish freedom

Rabbi Kook teaches that we are called upon to remove the “chametz” of foreign cultures and foreign idolatries from our hearts and be free of their influence.

In light of revealed ISA prejudice:

It is time for a review of the Duma arson trial

It is entirely possible that an objective review of the case would free Amiram Ben Uliel from a life in prison. That makes such a review imperative and now is the time. Opinion.

Pekudei:

The Temple codes

The Kohanim possessed the codes which bring the light and blessing of Hashem to all humanity and to every created thing on Earth. Without the Beit HaMikdash, however, all of humanity is like an orphan.

A Purim spiel

With all the serious analyses of President Trump's pro-Israel attitude, and the Houthis sharpening their spears, perhaps it is time for a little old-fashioned fun. A former Hollywood screenwriter has done this for us. Better late than never, no?

Yahrzeit on Adar 14:

Who was Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook-Father of the "Settlement Movement"?

Interview with a rabbi who studied with him for twelve years: "HaRav Tzvi Yehuda vehemently maintained that no handful of Israeli soil, however small, is allowed to be transferred to foreign control."

No, Netanyahu is not the villain

Wherever Netanyahu turns, his hands are tied. Whatever he wants to do, he is stifled. Our Sages teach us not to judge our fellow man until we have stood in his place, so let us try to do that before we pass judgment. Opinion.

Aging parents and aliyah

Snce this week marks my mother’s yahrtzeit, may her memory be a blessing, I will use my personal experience to demonstrate that bringing one’s aging parents to Israel is the very best thing a child could do for them.

If Moses came to Diaspora Jewry,...

“What is he screaming about?” they would ask hearing Moses call out “Let My people go!”

The Burning Brush

As we read about the burning bush in this coming Shabbat's Torah reading, perhaps we should look for a message in the tragic devastation in Los Angeles.