Amir PeleegJewish Man Killed in Florida two kids fighting for the lives UPDATED!!!!!!!!!!!

One person was killed when the driver of a car lost control on Collins Avenue and slammed into a bus stop bench Sunday night in Sunny Isles Beach, police said.

The 911 calls started pouring in just after 8 p.m.

Officials said a van was headed north on Collins Avenue when it veered onto the sidewalk and struck two adults and two children standing near the bus stop.

"I went southbound and I saw a body laying here, covered in the yellow tarp, and I saw a baby stroller here," witness Michael Schnitzler said. "It made me cry. It's -- it's a tragedy."

Police said one of the adults was pronounced dead at the scene. The rest of the victims were airlifted to area hospitals.

Schnitzler, who lives nearby, said a valet attendant told him he heard the children crying out for help after the crash.

"He told me that right after the accident, he heard people screaming, and a baby crying, 'Mommy, Mommy,'" Schnitzler said.

Though it's unclear what caused the driver of the vehicle to lose control, that person remained at the scene and is cooperating, investigators said.

The northbound lanes of Collins Avenue were closed from 163rd Street to 178th Street for hours after the crash.

UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!

Amir Pelleg, his wife Zulma, and their young daughters Aviva and Ariella had gone to the Gilbert Samson Oceanfront Park across from their Sunny Isles Beach home on Sunday evening and were waiting at a bus stop to cross Collins Avenue at 174th at approximately 8 PM when they were hit by a driver in his mid twenties.

Pelleg, a 33 year old associate legal counsel for Kayne Anderson Real Estate, died of his injuries.  Zulma Pelleg and her two daughters were airlifted to local hospitals with serious injuries but are expected to recover.

The driver of the late model Honda Odyssey was identified as 26-year-old Joseph Franco, according to ABC News (http://bit.ly/2z6obri).  Franco remained on scene and tested negative for alcohol.  The Sunny Isles Beach Police Department is continuing its investigation of the crash, including whether the driver may have been distracted when the accident occurred.

Fast of Tammuz: Area Set Aside for Reform Jews At The Kotel ..... empty

Amid attempts to approve a plan that would see the expansion of the mixed Western Wall prayer section at Robinson’s Arch, pictures from Fast of Tammuz prayers are being published this morning at the Western Wall, showing the plaza empty.

The pictures, published by Hadashot Kotel Ha’maravi, point to the futile debate between the Reform community in Israel and the United States against the traditional position that prayers should not be allowed at the Western Wall without separation of men and women.

"It's strange that the Reform is fighting for mixed prayer at the Western Wall even as, on one of the days most identified with the destruction of the Temple they are not there, not one of them. That needs to be looked into,” a source from the haredi parties said this morning.

A special ministerial committee will soon convene to approve the expansion of the “Israel Plaza” located on the southern side of the Western Wall.

The meeting of the committee will be possible after the authority of the chair of the committee is transferred from Minister Regev to the Prime Minister. Later, the Knesset will be required to vote on the matter.

The Left needs to face reality: Trump is winning

To understand the madness gripping American leftists, try to see the world through their eyes. Presto, you’re now part of the raging resistance.

Like the Palestinians who mark Israel’s birth as their nakba, or tragedy, you regard Donald Trump’s 2016 victory as a catastrophe. It’s the last thing you think of most nights, and the first thing most mornings.

You can’t shake it or escape it. Whatever you watch, listen to or read, there are reminders — Donald Trump really is president.

You actually believe The New York Times is too nice to him, so you understand why a Manhattan woman urged a reporter there to stop covering Trump to protest his presidency.

And where the hell is Robert Mueller? He was supposed to save us from this nightmare — that’s what Chuck Schumer banked on. Well?

You spend your tax cut even as you rail against the man who made it happen. And you are pleased that cousin Jimmy finally got a job, though you repeat the daily devotional that Barack Obama deserves credit for the roaring economy.

And now this — Justice Anthony Kennedy is retiring, and Trump gets another Supreme Court pick. The court might tilt right for the rest of your life. He’s winning.

NOOOOOOOOO!!!

In a nutshell, our visit to the tortured mind of a Trump hater explains everything from Saturday’s mass marches to why a Virginia restaurant owner declared No Soup for Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Their loathing for Trump is bone-deep and all consuming. This is war and they take no prisoners.

For most marchers, border policies offer a chance to vent. They didn’t make a peep when Obama did the same thing.

If children are their main concern, they could help the 23,000 New York City kids living in shelters. Or they could have attended the funeral of Lesandro Guzman-Feliz, the innocent Bronx teen hacked to death by a Dominican gang.

Jewish Identity ... Can it be saved in America ...? Parshat Balak

by Rabbi Shmuel Knopfler

Fearing an Israelite takeover of Moabite territory should the People of Israel pass through his realm, King Balak of Moab summons the prophet Bil'am and asks him to curse the Jewish people. Try as he
might, Bil'am proves unable to do the king’s bidding, and the Parsha draws to a close with a host of marvelous blessings, perhaps the most beautiful things ever said about the Jewish People.

Bil'am also plays a crucial role in why this Parsha concludes on such a dramatically dismal note. “Israel settled in Shittim, and the people began to commit harlotry with Moabite women”. Nothing in this verse
could prepare us for the depravity that resulted in the terrible plague that cost the lives of twenty-four thousand Israelites.

The juxtaposition is striking. We have just finished reading about Bil'am’s wonderful blessings, only to discover that the people bfaltered on an epic scale, publicly fornicating with gentile women.
And a short while later, they worship idols of Baal Peor, committing some of the basest forms of idolatry in the ancient world. How did this happen?

5 Back-Stabbing Jewish girls ditch Birthright trip, join far-left group

Birthright group arrives in Israel

A bunch of naive misguided young Jewish girls . 

Who gave them such a rotten, dreadful , dishonest education?

 These useless idiots recite the Kaddish for terrorists.

A group of five American Jewish women who flew to Israel on a Birthright trip for a tour of the Jewish state earlier this month left the group on Thursday to join a far-left organization critical of the IDF.

Since 1999, Taglit-Birthright Israel has brought more than 650,000 young Jews from across the Diaspora to Israel, in an effort to deepen the connections between Diaspora Jews and Israel, and to strengthen Jewish identity.

Funded in part by the State of Israel and partially by private donors, Birthright Israel’s primary program offers young Jewish adults aged 18-32 free ten-day trips to Israel.

While the program touts its apolitical message and offers a wide variety of tours catering to different Jewish communities – with separate tour groups aimed at Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox youths – some far-left Jewish groups have attacked Birthright over its pro-Zionist message accusing it of avoiding difficult political issues stemming from Israel’s defensive actions.

The Jewish Voice for Peace, for instance, promoted a campaign against Birthright Israel, dubbed “Return the Birthright”, calling on Diaspora Jews to boycott the program.

Last week, far-left anti-Israel activists from the IfNotNow organization attempted to recruit Birthright participants departing from New York’s Kennedy Airport.

"They set up a table with a sign and snacks and when the groups arrived they turned to them as they waited in line," said one of the group members, Miss Ariel Tidhar. "They told them they had to learn the truth about the State, and claimed that Birthright was working against Jewish morality." Operatives demanded "to stop American-Jewish support for the occupation."

"This was an ambush, although there's no doubt they're allowed to be at the airport," Tidhar said. According to Miss Tidhar, they tried to engage the students "using snacks".

On Thursday, it appeared that the group’s efforts to recruit Birthright participants had paid off.

A group of five American Jewish naive women in their 20s made a very public exit from a Birthright tour, publicly protesting Birthright with text and video messages released via social media.

The group blasted Israel’s use of force to defend its border with Gaza from terrorists and rioters attempting to breach the security fence, and condemned Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria as an unjust “occupation”.

The five young women, all of whom are between the ages of 22 to 25, also hit Birthright for not sharing their political views regarding Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria.

"Over the past ten days,” the five wrote in a statement spread on social media by Danielle Raskin, “we have engaged deeply and honestly with our Birthright tour guide and the other participants, who we feel are members of our community.”

“We built strong relationships with them and feel sad to leave them without saying a proper goodbye, but we could no longer go on with this trip that was so deliberately hiding the truth from all of us. For us, grappling with this important place in our tradition means grappling with it in all of its complexity."

"We each came on this trip separately with hope that - especially in light of the recent killings of more than 100 protesters in Gaza and Trump moving the US embassy to Jerusalem - Birthright would trust its participants enough to give us an honest education. We came with questions about what's happening in the occupied territories and wanted to engage with new perspectives, but what became clear over the course of ten days was that Birthright did not want to truthfully engage with our questions. It's clear that young Jews who have critical questions about Israel are not welcome on Birthright. It's shocking that given all the recent violence, Birthright would continue to act as if we can't handle the truth."

At the end of the message, the five traitors announced their plans to join a tour of the city of Hevron hosted by the radical left-wing “Breaking the Silence” organization.

"Our message to the American Jewish community - young Jews who have not yet gone on Birthright and their parents who want to send their children on this trip - is to now that Birthright is not providing the education our generation deserves. It is morally irresponsible to participate in an institution that is not willing to grapple with reality on the other side of the wall. That's why we're on our way to Hebron now."

“Birthright wouldn’t show us the occupation so we are going to see it for ourselves,” Katie Anne wrote on Facebook.

In April, members of IfNotNow were arrested in Los Angeles after they entered a Jewish Federation office and began reciting the traditional Jewish “Kaddish” prayer to mourn the deaths of Arab rioters killed while attempting to infiltrate into Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Gowdy to Rosenstein on Russia probe: 'Finish it the hell up'

Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy tore into Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Thursday over the long-running Russia collusion probe — telling the Justice Department at a public hearing to “finish it the hell up because this country is being torn apart.”

Gowdy’s excoriation came amid a string of tense moments at the House Judiciary Committee hearing, where a months-long battle between Republicans and the DOJ over its handling of the Russia probe and Hillary Clinton email investigation flared before the cameras.

Underscoring those tensions, as Rosenstein testified, the House approved a resolution insisting the DOJ comply with congressional subpoenas for documents related to the Russia case.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, cited that looming vote as he personally challenged Rosenstein at the hearing over his compliance.

“Why are you keeping information from Congress?” Jordan asked.

“It is not accurate, sir,” Rosenstein said.

“We have caught you hiding information,” Jordan countered.

Rosenstein insisted his team was responding to their requests.

Earlier in the hearing, Gowdy, R-S.C., spoke to frustration over the protracted Russia investigation that Rosenstein oversees, suggesting that despite a host of charges against Trump-tied figures, the investigation has not found evidence of presidential wrongdoing.

“We’ve seen the bias, we need to see the evidence,” Gowdy said. “If you have evidence of wrongdoing by any member of the Trump campaign, present it to the damn grand jury. If you have evidence that this president acted inappropriately, present it to the American people.”

“Whatever you got, finish it the hell up, because this country is being torn apart,” he said.

“The best thing we can do is finish it appropriately, and reach a conclusion,” Rosenstein assured, adding that nobody should “draw any conclusions” beyond the charges filed.

Eliyahu Adler Yeshivah Student Missing in Herzliyah After Kayaking

Yeshiva students, volunteers and police forces are searching for a Charedi yeshiva student from Jerusalem who has been missing since Wednesday night at the Herzliya beach, where he did some kayaking before he disappeared 

Liberals Meltdown Over Justice Retirement...

Liberal activists and journalists are melting down over Justice Anthony Kennedy announcing his retirement from the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Kennedy, who has served as the court’s swing vote for decades, has now opened the door for President Donald Trump to finally give conservatives their long-desired court majority. 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Insurgent Who Toppled Joe Crowley, Is A Strong Critic Of Israel

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the insurgent firebrand who Tuesday toppled the No. 4 Democrat in the House of Representatives, is a strong critic of Israel who denounced the killings of Palestinian protesters as a “massacre.”

Ocasio-Cortez, 28, stunned the political world by decisively beating Joe Crowley, a Queens powerbroker who had been mentioned as a possible future candidate for Speaker of the House.

With about 90% of precincts reporting, Ocasio-Cortez was ahead by 58%-to-42%, making Crowley the first incumbent Democrat to lose his seat this year.

Ocasio-Cortez said she feels as strongly about the killings in Gaza as she would if the slain protesters were in Ferguson, Missouri or in Puerto Rico, where her family has roots.

“Especially in New York people say this is political suicide,” Ocasio-Cortez told Glenn Greenwald of the Intercept, referring to her criticism of Israel. “But I had a lot of my constituents thanking me for taking that position. I had a lot of Jewish Americans who thanked me.”

Israel to bar entry to divorce-refusers

Meir "bugeye" Kin, Get "refuser"

A new law has been passed in Israel barring entry to men who refuse to grant their wives a Get, or traditional Jewish divorce document.

Over the last few months, the bill was drafted and has since been passed through various Committee stages. Now, the Knesset has passed the bill, which will be enshrined in Israeli law.

The legislation was passed on the recommendation of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER).

The CER had previously urged the Knesset to pass an amendment to Israel’s divorce law, with the hope of alleviating the plight of Agunot, or “bound women” who are unable to remarry until they receive the necessary divorce document (the “get”) from their husbands.

Under the new law, a man who has been identified by a Diaspora Rabbinical court as a recalcitrant husband may be detained upon arrival in Israel. The amendment strengthens the power of Israeli law to force recalcitrant husbands to comply with the decisions of Diaspora Rabbinical courts and attend divorce proceedings. Detainment upon entrance to Israel acts as a deterrent to these men and will help to prevent divorce-refusal.

Reflecting on the new law, Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, President of the Conference of European Rabbis, said: “This is a huge step and we are incredibly proud that this idea has now been enshrined in law.”

“It is my fervent prayer that the new law will pave the way to hope for women who seek to live their life free of the shackles of an unwanted and dysfunctional marriage. 

Get -refusal is a form of domestic violence and the global Jewish community must act to protect its women. Israel is the only country whose Rabbinical courts have the power to pressure recalcitrant husbands and the new law will ensure that all men, regardless of their citizenship, feel the force of disgust from the global Jewish community.”

EL AL: Don't want to sit next to women? Don't fly

El Al, Israel’s national airline, has adopted a new policy regarding the handling of male passengers who refuse to sit next to women, following criticism of a series of incidents on a recent flight.

Last Thursday night, four male passengers, all members of the haredi community, refused to take seats assigned to them after they discovered that they had been seated next to female passengers.

Mazal Tov Schumer announces his daughter is marrying another woman

Sen. Chuck Schumer used the occasion of Sunday’s NYC Pride March to announce that his daughter, Alison, will be marrying her fiancée, Elizabeth Weiland. The women plan to walk down the aisle on Nov. 18.

“Marching in the #NYCPride Parade has special meaning this year as I am marching with my daughter Alison and her wonderful fiancée Biz! #HappyPride,” tweeted the politician, who wore a lavender shirt to the pride parade.

Alison, 29, is an executive at Facebook, while Weiland’s LinkedIn page says she is in her second year of an MBA program at Columbia University.

Wonder who will be the Mesader Kiddushin!

One tablespoon of olive oil a day is all you need to slash stroke and cancer risk

Eating one tablespoon of olive oil a day could help you live longer, according to experts.

Olive oil, a key component of the health-giving Mediterranean diet, has long been said to be beneficial to health.

Now, medical consultant Dr Sarah Brewer and dietitian Juliette Kellow claim in their new book 'Eat Better Live Longer' that the oil could add years to your life.

A VOICE FROM THE WARSAW GHETTO: THE LIFE OF CANTOR GERSHON SIROTA

In the summer of 1939, on the eve of World War II, the world-famous cantor Gershon Sirota could look back on a glittering career spanning nearly four decades. He had sung before audiences of thousands all over the world, earning huge fees for his concert appearances and even for his synagogue services. But in December 1942, a few months before he perished during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the Ringelblum ghetto archives tell us that he had to turn to a self-help committee for a hand-out, and was given 200 zlotys to buy food for his family.

Costco is selling an avocado that won't spoil before you make guac

Avocados are notorious for spoiling almost immediately after you buy them, and there's nothing more disappointing than cutting into one just to find a shell full of mush. Thankfully it's 2018 and, while we still don't have flying cars, scientists in California have gifted us with avocados that stay ripe for twice as long - and shoppers can find them right at Costco.

Prior to hitting store shelves, each avocado — sold by the Del Rey Avocado Company and treated by Apeel Sciences — is sprayed with a special solution made from fats found in the skins and peels of fruits and vegetables, such as apples and raspberries. This natural substance helps trap moisture inside the fruit and keep it from oxidizing until you cut into it.

Regular avocados stay fresh for three to four days on the shelf and seven to 10 days in the fridge. This new variety reportedly lasts twice as long. Most importantly, they don't come with a hefty price tag. One five-count bag only costs $5 at Costco! Guacamole for days!

Apeel has tested its product on tons of different fruits and vegetables, but decided to roll out avocados first, because, "People have a more visceral reaction to throwing away an avocado than lettuce," CEO James Rogers told BuzzFeed News. The company is hoping their invention will promote more sustainable growing practices, better quality of food, and less food waste.

Reb Reuven Chaim Biller, Z”l, Niftar in Tragic Car Crash

Reb Reuven Chaim was born and raised in Boro Park. His father, ybl”c, Reb Dovid, was one of the original members of Hatzolah.

Sadly, this is not the first time that tragedy has struck the Biller family, as Reb Reuven’s sister, then a young mother, passed away 12 years ago from an illness. During this difficult period, he focused great attention on his grieving parents, helping them to cope with the loss. Those that knew Reb Reuven praised his tremendous kibbud av va’eim.

As a bachur, he studied in the Slonimer Yeshivah in Bnei Brak and formed a close bond to the Slonimer Rebbe and his Chassidus.

He married Shiffy (nee Mayer) tbl”c, and began a career in chinuch. He taught fourth grade for 14 years before becoming a principal in Mosdos Kehilas Yaakov, Pupa in Boro Park.

For the past eight years, Reb Reuven Chaim served as head counselor at Pupa’s summer camp in Swan Lake. Prior to that, he has been a beloved member of the staff of Skverer-Boro Park’s camp. Reb Reuven Chaim was especially well liked by his talmidim and campers who enjoyed his palpable sense of simchas hachaim. To his own children as well, he was remembered as an especially dedicated father who invested great effort in their chinuch.    

Reb Reuven Chaim leaves, ybl”c, his wife and eight children, six of whom are yet unmarried, and the youngest of whom is 4 years old.

Yehi zichro baruch.

Influential Jewish-Conservative Columnist Charles Krauthammer Dead at 68

Parshat Chukat - Shake Yourself Free ... Rise from the Dust ...

by Rabbi Shmuel Knopfler

One of the most profound mysteries of the Bible is the rite of the red heifer, called a Chok (statute) because it belongs to the group of divine decrees which human logic cannot penetrate.

We must be mindful of the fact that all other impurities other than a death impurity find their purification by the defiled individual’s immersing himself or herself in a mikveh, a gathering of freshly running spring water or specially collected life-giving rainwater; in
effect, in all these instances, the defiled individual actually purifies him- or herself!

Only in this rite of the red heifer does the Kohen, representing Hashem Himself, effectuate the purification. It is as though the Torah is teaching that we can save ourselves from many of our weaknesses, we can rise above many of our temptations, but only Hashem can ultimately redeem us from death.

And from this perspective, the symbolism of the red heifer ritual begins to make sense. A heifer is the consummate symbol of life, the cow’s mother-milk serving as the universal expression of maternal nurturing of her young; red is likewise the color of blood, and blood
is the life-force, the very nefesh of the living organism.

However, although human beings come in various shapes, sizes, personalities, and powers – they can be as tall and proud as the cedar tree and as mean and humble as the hyssop plant – the angel of death ultimately conquers them all, because the scarlet thread of human sin condemns each of us to the common destiny of mortality.

Following the sacrifice, the personage of purity gathers the ashes of the remains, mixes them with the life-giving waters of the divine and, born-again, purified life emerges even from the surrealistic specter of death itself. Inherent in this symbolism is that historic Israel –
mother nurturer of the continuity of humanity by means of the Abrahamic “compassionate rightness and moral justice” which Israel taught and must continue to teach – is destined to be slaughtered, but will always rise again to life and to the fulfillment of her mission and destiny.

During the Holocaust, Hitler succeeded in destroying six million of us, but as he records in Mein Kampf, he wasn’t waging a war just against six million Jews. He was waging a war against the last Jew, against Judaism itself, against what he called a slave morality of compassionate righteousness and moral justice, of sensitive concern for the weaker vessels, of an Almighty of ultimate power who insists  upon human protection of the powerless. And in that war, Hitler failed!

Yes, we won that war. Alas, the brilliantly alive “red heifer,” a metaphor for the Jewish people, a people who nurture the world with the milk of morality of the Ten Commandments and the milk of human kindness of “You shall love the stranger” and “You shall love your
neighbor like yourself” was, to a large extent, tragically and  inexplicably slaughtered beyond the “human encampment” in Auschwitz and Treblinka.

But Hashem, the “Personage of Purity” Himself, gathered the ashes, Himself mixed them with living waters of rebirth, and Himself transformed those ashes into the fertile soil of the recreated sovereign State of Israel - "Medinat Yisrael."

And the “Personage of Purity” Himself mixed the ashes with the life-giving wellsprings of Torah, our tree of eternal life, and in addition to our national physical being, likewise revived our spiritual being, and Torah centers to an unprecedented and unparalleled degree all over the world!

B'Ahavat HaTorah V'Haaretz

Shabbat Shalom

Shmuel Knopfler

Parshat Korach - The Need for Leadership

by Rabbi Shmuel Knopfler

The thrust of Korach-and-his-men’s dispute with Moshe and Aaron was a challenge for the leadership of the fledgling Jewish nation. While Moshe’s position itself was perhaps beyond debate – the entire nation having witnessed his unique relationship with Hashem during the Revelation at Sinai – his choice of his brother Aaron as Kohen Gadol was, it seems, open to dispute. Was the selection of Aaron truly the will of G-d, or was it a case of proteksia and brotherly-bias?

A test was devised: Korach and his 250 confederates would each bring a pan-full of Ketores as would Aaron. To bring Ketores unbidden, Moshe explained, is punishable by death. Only the true “chosen one” would survive the test. Yet, and Rashi raises this question, weren’t the Korach group inexcusably foolish to accept such a test? After all, even if they were right, only one of them would survive! Why agree to a test which was sure to bring calamity to the vast majority of their assembly?

Parshas Yisro begins (Shemot 18:1), “And Yisro heard…” Rashi asks: What exactly did Yisro, father-in-law of Moshe, hear that caused him to decide to leave the comforts of home and come to join the Jews in the desert? He heard, says Rashi, about the splitting of the Red Sea, and about the war the Jews had fought with Amalek in the desert. The victory over Amalek, while amazing and perhaps even miraculous, was nonetheless a military accomplishment, dwarfed in comparison to the many miracles the Jews experienced during the Exodus and in the desert. What was it about the war with Amalek that ultimately
stimulated Yisro to journey into the desert?

Commentators explain that in fact, Yisro had already come to his own understanding and recognition of Hashem before he came to join Moshe. He had experimented with other forms of religion and pagan worship, and found them empty. Indeed, Yisro was so convinced of his belief in the concept of one G-d that he felt his faith was unshakable. Hearing of the great miracles of the Exodus, especially the splitting of the sea, during which our Sages say “all the waters of the world also split” only served to further strengthen and reinforce his faith. He felt no need for the formality of religion – he would serve G-d on his own.

After hearing, however, of Amalek’s attack on Israel, Yisro’s was shaken. How is it possible, he asked himself, that Amalek could be so foolish as to start up with a nation that had witnessed such miracles?
That he did so forced Yisro to realize and acknowledge that even the most self-evident truths can be disputed and discarded. Perhaps, he wondered, my belief too will one day begin to waver. Whereas he had once been convinced that his faith was immune to corruption, Yisro now concluded that in order to remain strong in one’s convictions one must have a leader – someone who could guide him to the path of truth, and alert him if he began to stray. This prompted Yisro’s journey into the desert to join Moshe.

Upon closer examination, it seems that perhaps Korach’s challenge was not simply a lobby for leadership – it was a challenge of the very concept of authority. “For this entire assembly – all of them are holy – so why do you presume to elevate yourselves above the congregation of Hashem?!” We, the Children of Israel, are not an unsophisticated bunch of simpletons, who will blindly follow your dictatorial leadership like sheep to the slaughter. Each of us is more than capable of making our own decisions, and forging our own paths, thank-you very much. To them, Moshe’s contention that only one of
their offerings would be accepted was just further proof of his short-sighted authoritarian viewpoint. Who’s to say that only one person could offer Ketores before G-d? Why couldn’t everyone offer his very own, personalized Ketores? Needless to say, they were wrong, and suffered the consequences.

The unwillingness to accept leadership and authority is a major reason for the state of decay in which we find ourselves today. The open-minded hyper-cynical value system that permeates democratic society has presented us with a generation that no longer respects its elders, teachers, or parents. Little wonder. While it would be nice to delude ourselves into believing that the pinnacle of moral decency and enlightenment will be reached when each person is free to make his own choices and formulate his own value system, the state of chaos and corruption in which we find ourselves today belies such a notion. While in our schools and yeshivot students do not yet come equipped with the latest weaponry, and in our homes children do not yet threaten to turn their parents over to the police for a well deserved spanking, the lack of acceptance of authority and leadership is nonetheless pronounced and undebatable. May the Almighty protect us.

The Talmud says (Avot 1:6), “Make for yourselves a teacher.” The attack of Amalek and the uprising of Korach are proof enough that a generation without accepted leadership is destined to turn into a de-generation.

Shabbat Shalom

Dus Iz Nies On Vacation Until Further Notice

The DIN blogger has decided to take a break ....
it's all good.....
May the Ribono Shel Olam protect us all and bring peace in Israel and amongst us all

Gang Of 5 Blacks Arrested At Evergreen Supermarket In Monsey – 1 Armed With Knife

Parshat Shelach ... Chet HaMeraglim ... Sin of the Spies

Rabbi Shmuel Knopfler

The main theme of our Parsha is obviously the sin of the Meraglim (spies).

To understand this, we must understand the puzzling sin of the Meraglim. The Meraglim were surely “The heads of Bnei Yisra’el”, as the Torah says. The people listed here are those distinguished from the rest of the nation, because of their special status and standing in Torah – two of the most famous among them serving as examples for
this fact: 
Kalev ben Y’funeh, and Yehoshua bin Nun.

It is a collection of great individuals, who we would describe as “G’dolei ha’Dor – The Giants of the Generation.”

How did it happen that those Gedolim made this huge error? Why didn’t those spiritual leaders want to enter Eretz Yisrael? After witnessing all of the miraculous redemption from Egypt, after Pharaoh, “the king of the world”, was defeated, the least that one would expect of those leaders
would be for them to believe in the power of Hashem and to trust Him to fulfill His promise of Eretz Yisrael!?

The spies were indeed Gedolim. They had very good intentions. They were very comfortable with the spiritual life in the desert. Having heavenly bread – manna, each and every day, revealing the Shechina clearly, following the fire and the cloud pillars, those are benefits, which are not easy to give up. The spies were sure that for Am Yisrael, which was totally immersed in a spiritual environment at the
time, entering Eretz Yisrael would be a disaster.

Surely, they believed that they would defeat the enemies in Eretz Yisrael with the help of Hashem, but for that there is a need to establish an army. Also, there is a necessity to establish political and economical systems, as well as expectations to settle Eretz Yisrael – the land that is flowing milk and honey. If Am Yisrael will have to deal with all those tasks- who will sit and study Torah? We will lose our spiritual level!!! 
Therefore, the spies decided to do Hashem a “favor” – let’s stay here in the Galut where we can serve you much better than from Eretz Yisrael – it is for the sake of the Torah!!!

The root of this sin was the lack of ability to integrate heaven and earth. The Torah of Eretz Yisrael is the Torah that provides us with the skills to spiritually uplift matters which are mundane. 

In Eretz Yisrael the Avoda (labor) is integral part of Torah fulfillment. The letter and the spirit of the Torah cannot be achieved at its optimal level without the Avoda component. Hashem prefers for us to elevate the bread that comes from the ground – המוציא לחם מן הארץ – to our eating heavenly bread – the manna.

Thus it was so important to receive the new Mitzvot right after the sin. Hashem wanted to comfort Bnei Yisrael for losing the heavenly virtues, and therefore provided them with substitutes. The Hafrashat Chalah enables as to take earthly bread and transform it into a heavenly one. The Nesachim are the substitute for the heavenly well, and the Tzitzit is the compensation for the heavenly clouds of glory (ענני הכבוד). The ultimate way of Avodat Hashem is indeed to live in a
heavenly manner but while been grounded and attached to earth – by thevirtue of Eretz Yisrael, the land of Torah V’Avodah.

As it says in the Torah ...וְכִי-תָבֹאוּ אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, וּנְטַעְתֶּם ...
when you enter Eretz Yisrael you should immediately plant for a full synergy between Gashmiyut & Ruchaniyut.
That is the quintessence of our mission.

B'Ahavat HaTorah V'Haaretz

Shabbat Shalom

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