Ukranian Soldiers Continue Wearing Nazi Symbols

Ukrainian citizens welcoming the invading German Wehrmacht, June 1941

by David Israel

David writes news at JewishPress.com.

Remember when Vladimir Putin suggested he was justified in attacking Ukraine because it was home to neo-Nazis?

 Did you consider back then that maybe the Russian president was at least partially correct?

Almost a year to the day after I said as much on July 3, 2022 (Was Putin Wrong? Ukrainian Ambassador in Hot Water for Praising Nazi Collaborator), the New York Times revealed on Monday that since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, NATO and Ukraine have been busy deleting images of Ukrainian soldiers wearing Nazi symbols, like this one:

t

Belz Rebbe Dances Mitzva Tanz

Dancing with the Chassan 

Belzer Rebbetzin Gives a Bracha to Beit Shemesh Mayor Aliza BLock at the Ger/Belz Wedding

 

Today is 40 Years Since Satmar Terrorists Cut Off Like Nazis the Beard of a Chabad Guy

 

What was his crime?

Sit down for this! 

He was teaching Tanye in a private home with neighbors who were a mixture of  Satmar Chassidim and some non-Satmar guys! 

Yes! His crime was teaching Tanye, a sefer written by the first Chabad Rabbi, the Baal Ha"Tanye. 

Until this incident, the only time someone else cut off someone's beard was in Nazi Germany.

So why bring this up again? 40 Years later?

The "beard cutter" himself subsequently went thru personal tragedies himself, and Chabad and Satmar now get along. They get along not because of ideology in which they have a lot in common, they get along because many Satmar guys became very successful businessmen and travel a lot and need a place to eat and daven. Chabad has centers all over the world and these centers is an oasis for these frum business people. 

Also, the young Satmar business people became "oif'geklared" meaning being outside the confines of Williamsburg and Monroe they saw that the world does not revolve around them and this opened their eyes to a totally different world.

For example, just last week I met a bunch of Satmar businessmen from Monroe that came to Israel for a StartUp Convention. They davened in a nearby shul and schmoozing with them I found that many of them were here for the very first time. I asked them for their impressions, and ALL OF THEM, said that they were floored by what they saw here in Israel. They thought that Israel was a third world country, and they couldn't believe the number of Jews living here in Israel.  They were literarily in shock to see a Jewish country for the very first time surrounded by love, even, they said, from the "meeinim un apikorsim." I asked if they were living in a cave all these years and they all laughed and said "we are kept in the dark and our leaders make Israel look like an evil bad place to be." 

As I see it, there is hope, that this new generation of Satmar Chassidim will not buy the garbage taught by their elders and embrace others, not only by bringing them cookies in hospitals and waiting for a Jew that doesn't believe in their ideology to become sick, but embrace them when they are healthy.  

השבוע בט"ו סיון תשפ"ג לפ"ק מלאו ארבעים שנה לתקיפת הרה"ח פיניע ע"ה קארף ובהמשך את הרה"ח מענדל שיחי' וועכטר

הסאטמארים גזרו את זקנו בגלל שהוא למד תניא עם אנשים בשכונה כולל מי שאינם סאטמארים בבית פרטי

Meraglim ... Then and Now!

 

At the center of this week’s Torah portion read in Israel is the tragic episode of the Spies in the Wilderness.

 Rashi informs us that they were important men, Torah scholars, the leaders of the tribes, yet they discouraged the Children of Israel from journeying on into the Promised Land. 

In punishment, Hashem slew the entire male generation, some 600,000 men, making the sin of the Spies perhaps the greatest national transgression in our history. In comparison, in the wake of the sin of the Golden Calf only a few thousand people were slain. 

In Chapter 19 of the universally revered book, “Mesillat Yesharim,” the Ramchal explains that the Spies (excluding Joshua and Caleb ben Nun) feared that they would lose their authority and honor upon entering the Promised Land since a new type of leadership was needed in conquering and settling the Land.

Israeli Traveler Changes HisMind about Chareidim in Mid Flight

 

Chadashot HaSkopim reported on an Israeli social media post that went viral about the experience of an Israeli traveler that changed his mind about Chareidim.

“Yesterday, I returned from Hungary,” the Israeli wrote on Sunday. “And during the flight, I saw a group of religious bochurim beginning to distribute cakes and snacks to all the passengers.”

“I first thought they were crazy but they said that they were doing it for the zechus of a Rebbe whose kever they had just visited who would regularly distribute food.”

“Less than five minutes later, they approached the flight attendants and requested to buy all the drinks and began giving out cups and drinks. That’s what they did the whole flight.”

“I was so moved by the sight that I offered to pay for all their expenses until the last shekel. But they refused to take even a prutah from me.”

“I swear to you that until the day before yesterday, I would have thrown them out the window of the plane – that’s how much I disliked them. Yesterday, I got to know a new sector well and I realized that the reality is completely different. It’s important to me to publicize this to other people like me.”

Gershon Kranczer Faces Brooklyn Judge After Being Extradited From Israel to Face Sexual Abuse Charges

 

A Brooklyn rabbi and former Yeshiva school principal appeared in a New York court on Monday on charges of sexually assaulting his minor female relatives - after spending a decade on the run in Israel.

Gershon Kranczer, 67, appeared before Judge Jill Konviser in Brooklyn Supreme Court in handcuffs belted to his waist. He did not speak during the brief hearing [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9353843/Rabbi-fled-Israel-2010-accused-molesting-children-extradited-New-York.html].

A father of 14 who is married to his first cousin, he is accused of molesting one of the girls from when she was eight in August 1996 to February 2003.

A second girl was allegedly sexually abused from March 2001 to September 2002, when she was 11, Reuters reported [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-rabbi-abuse/brooklyn-rabbi-sons-charged-with-sexual-abuse-idUKTRE6B26T820101203].

He was accused of sexual abuse along with three of his sons, including one aged 15. The boys are accused of having abused other female relatives.

Kranczer was founder and principal of the Yeshiva Tehila L'Dovid in Brooklyn - but resigned when the allegations emerged in 2010. 

He then fled to Israel with one of his sons, Asher, who is legally blind.

Kranczer changed his name and went on the run, evading capture until January 2020, when Israeli authorities located and arrested him.

He was extradited and appeared in Brooklyn Supreme Court in March 2021, charged with sexual conduct against a child, criminal sexual act and sexual abuse.

He has been held in jail since then.

Jewish Community Watch, a watchdog organization that works to combat child sexual abuse within the Orthodox Jewish community, told Forward at the time of his arrest that the group was dismayed at how long it has taken to get justice.

Angel’s Boycott Ends

 

For nearly an entire month, the chareidi community in Israel has unanimously avoided consuming items from Angel’s bakery, the famous and most prominent bakery providing bread for the community. After Angel’s director Omer Bar-Lev chose to demonstrate opposite the home of Rabbi Gershon Edelstein during a protest against the yeshiva students [called ‘parasites’ by some demonstrators], chareidim on social media initiated a boycott of Angel’s products, causing a sharp reaction from the public.

Neither Bar Lev nor Angel’s saw fit to apologize for the demonstration, instead claiming that the boycott was ineffective and that they did not intend to apologize for Bar-Lev’s actions as that would be “surrendering to the boycotters.” Despite Angel’s claims, there was a significant drop in orders from the company and many stores with Angel franchises elected to leave the franchise rather than lose customers.

In the wake of Rabbi Edelstein’s passing, Bar Lev and Yaron Angel, the owner of the Angel bakery’s enterprises, decided to pay a condolence call on his family as well as offering a written apology, ending the boycott with an apparent victory for the chareidim.

Target backs Closing Mt. Rushmore for being a 'symbol of White supremacy' & Destruction of the Jewish State

 

Since the George Floyd protests and riots of 2020, Target Corporation said it ramped up its diversity, equity and inclusion work. This agenda extended far beyond enhancing representation and support of historically marginalized groups externally and in its stores, and dipped into funding organizations with far-left and blatantly political agendas.

Fox News Digital found that Target, via its nonprofit foundation, which has been directed by the retail giant's senior corporate treasurers, funded a grantee pushing to shut down and give away U.S. sovereign land such as Mount Rushmore – believing it to be an "international symbol of White supremacy" and to demilitarize the "violent" U.S. military. The same grantee also supports the destruction of Israel's Jewish character through what is called the Palestinian "Law of Return" and implementing economic warfare tactics against the Jewish State, such as boycotts and sanctions, to "Free Palestine." 

The organization's campaign "LANDBACK" called for America to give up its public land.

"The closure of Mount Rushmore, return of that land and all public lands in the Black Hills, South Dakota is our cornerstone battle," NDN said. "Not only does Mount Rushmore sit in the heart of the sacred Black Hills, but it is an international symbol of White supremacy and colonization. To truly dismantle white supremacy and systems of oppression, we have to go back to the roots. Which, for us, is putting Indigenous Lands back in Indigenous hands."

LANDBACK also supports Israel giving up its Jewish character by opening the floodgates to those who identify as Palestinian refugees. After Israel gave up the Gaza Strip for peace in 2005 under pressure from the Bush administration, the former Israeli territory became what some analysts call a "missile launch pad" that is operated and controlled by the Hamas terror group. 

On that note, LANDBACK also uses a phrase which has long been interpreted by some as a genocide call for the elimination of the Jewish state.

NDN said, "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free." This rallying cry has long been used by "terrorist organizations such as Hamas, which seek Israel’s destruction through violent means," according to the Anti-Defamation League. 

The organization also maintains hostile views on the military, and seeks the U.S. to be "demilitarized." 

Omer Bar Lev and Angel’s Bakery Owner go to Rabbi Edelstein’s Shiva to Apologize

 

Former Public Security Minister Omer Barlev, chairman of the board of Angel Bakeries, at a "Brothers in Arms" protest outside the home of venerated Rabbi Gershon Edelstein in Bnei Brak, May 4, 2023

Omer Bar Lev, the current head of the board of Angel’s Bakery, and Yaron Angel, one of the owners of Angel’s Bakery went to the Shiva home of Rabbi Gershon Edelstein to apologize, on Sunday, according to a report by Ishay Cohen.

After failing to make the cut as a leftwing politician and minister in the Labor party, Bar Lev was appointed to head the board of Angel’s Bakery. But that didn’t stop him from getting involved in radical leftwing hate politics. 

In the beginning of May, Bar Lev was at an anti-Haredi protest held outside the home of Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, who was the Rosh Yeshiva of the Ponevezh Yeshiva and spiritual leader of the Degel Hatorah faction in the UTJ party.

The disrespect shown to the centenarian rabbi launched a spontaneous boycott of Angel’s Bakery by nearly the entire Haredi community. The Haredim demanded that Angel’s Bakery fire him or he apologize. Neither happened.

Rabbi Edelstein was someone known for not getting involved in fights and even called on the Haredi community to not respond to protests, but Bar Lev already did his damage, and it was too late.

At the time Angel’s claimed the boycott actually helped their business as they no longer had to sell subsidized bread at a loss, but as the boycott continued and time passed, that claim has become much less credible. Currently their stock is at trading at NIS 3.624 a share, below the NIS 3.798 price it was at when they claimed the boycott helped them.

Now, in an unexpected move, the two visited the family of Rabbi Edelstein, who passed away last week, to offer their condolences and apologize. They pair left letters of apology to the family saying it was not their intent to dishonor the rabbi or the Torah. Rabbi Edelstein would probably have accepted it. But still, perhaps their next stop should be to Rabbi Edelstein’s grave to ask forgiveness directly.

Both Shas’s Aryeh Deri and UTJ Degel Hatorah’s Moshe Gafni said “מודה ועוזב ירוחם” (He who confess and forsakes (sins) will find mercy). The phrase is from the Mishle 28:13 “מְכַסֶּה פְשָׁעָיו לֹא יַצְלִיחַ וּמוֹדֶה וְעֹזֵב יְרֻחָם” (He who conceals his sins will not succeed, but he who confesses and abandons [them] will obtain mercy.) In short, the two Haredi political leaders called to end the Haredi boycott against Angel’s Bakery.