New Feature by DIN .... Learning the Writings of Harav Kook on Eretz Yisrael Part 1

Many readers have e-mailed me showing an interest in learning Harav Kook's Toras...

Rav Kook's writings are not easy reading for many reasons. 

First, the Hebrew that Harav Kook's uses is very poetic and the words are not commonly used. Secondly, he writes assuming you are fluent in the entire Tanach.. and finally his concepts are very deep ....

I have decided to focus on his essays vis a vis Eretz Yisrael... and have gleaned from his writings his thoughts on the connection of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel...

 I will periodically post Rav Kook's thoughts on this topic ...

I have decided to begin with his essay from Orot, 

"Eretz Yisrael" chapter 1.

 I supplied footnotes wherever I found it necessary.

Please send me feedback .. if you want me to continue, because it's not an easy task.

Israel & the Jewish People 

 Gleaned from the writings of Harav Avraham Yitzchok Kook z”l

Part One

ארץ- ישראל איננה דבר חיצוני, קנין חיצוני לאמה, אמצעי למטרה של ההתאגדות הכללית, והתחזקת קיומה החמרי 1, או אפילו הרוחני 2.

ארץ-ישראל היא חטיבה 3 עצמותית 4, קשורה בקשר-חיים עם האומה, חבוקה בסגלות פנימיות עם מציאותה 5. 

ומתוך כך אי-אפשר לעמוד על התוכן של סגולת קדושת ארץ-ישראל,ולהוציא לפועל מאת עומק חבתה, בשום השכלה רציונלית אנושית, כי-אם ברוח ה‘ אשר על האומה בכללה, 

1. ראה לנתיבות- ישראל חלק א‘ מאמר ב‘ ” על הפרק“

2. עיין עוד עין-איה ברכות חלק ב’ פרק ו’ אות מ.

3. ראה לשון אונקלוס דברים כו, יח, בהשוואה לדברי רש“י 

4. עיין אורות-הקודש חלק ג’, מוסר-הקודש פרק עט [עמוד קיז]

5. עיין כוזרי ב, ט-טז, רמב“ן ויקרא יח, כה ” בתיתו לנו את הארץ“ ובספר ברית-הלוי לרבי שלמה אלקבץ 

דף מא. מי-מרום חלק יא פרשת שלח- לך, עמ’ עג-עד 

English loose Translation

The land of Israel is not something external, it’s not an external national asset, a means to an end of collective solidarity 1 and the strengthening of the nation’s existence, physical or even spiritual.

The Land of Israel is an essential unit bound by the bond-of-life with the Nation, united by inner characteristics with its existence. 

Therefore, it is impossible to appreciate the content of the sanctity of the Land of Israel and to actualize the depth of love for her by some rational human understanding…. One understands this only by the spirit of Hashem that is in the soul of Israel. 

Explanation: 

The Land of Israel is not a means to an end of collective solidarity1 but rather an end in itself. 

It defies rationalism; it is a mystical dimension, just like the concept of "Kedusha" which by definition cannot be understood rationally.

We see that the hope of the Land of Israel is what gives the Diaspora the strength to continue to exist.

The essential difference between the Judaism of the Diaspora and that of the Land of Israel.

1.In halacha we do find the concept that the Land of Israel, bonds individual Jews into a collective, something that cannot occur outside the land… Rav Kook, of course, subscribes to this halachic notion… his objection is leveled at who say that the Land is merely a cohesive factor to bond Jews together… Rav Kook is emphatic that the Land of Israel must not be viewed as a means to an end but rather as an end in itself..

( See Berachos 58a, Rambam Hilchot Berachot 10:11 Avnei Nezer, Orach Chayim, Teshuva 314, citing Maharal, Netivot Olam, Netiv ha’Tzadaka, chap 6) 

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Two Different Poems Written by Survivors of the Nazi Atrocities

The first poem that I decided to post was written by Ya'akov Silberberg, and it criticizes Hungarian patriotism even while working as slaves for the cursed Nazis.....

 Reading it I found similarities in the mindset of today's Jews in Chutz Le'aartz.

Ya'akov Silberberg, was one of the Sonderkommandos prisoners forced by the Nazis to aid with the disposal of Jews killed in the gas chambers in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp......


Things are good for us among the gentiles, in their land, in their company.
Their culture serves as our eyes.
And if at times they persecute us in the wickedness,
Is that a reason for us not to seek their welfare?
We will wait until their hostility is spent
and they will appreciate and respect us doubly.
Then life with them will be pleasant again;
We will befriend them
And even gain their affection.
we will stay in the beautiful exile.
Where we have honey, filth, and dung.
It is good for us to serve Egypt.

The second poem that I decided to post was written in January 1944, by Jerachmiel Schwarcz, on a train carrying him and his fellow slave laborers to Szombathely.

This poem longs for Eretz Yisrael while he was in hell!

Oh, to finally return home / to my beloved country, ancient landscape ... / where the sea glistens blue / and the daughter of Zion sings;

Where the star of freedom shines / and an aroma fill the air, / the moon's halo is blue / and atop Mount Hermon frosty dew gleams;

Where the fields, blessed by God / still yield abundant produce, / and in a spacious garden / are reddening fruit and good wine.

Every vineyard is productive, morning winds / blow through greenish foliage, / and the leaves of grass tremble / like a golden gem.

The eternal city of Jerusalem is borne heavenward / on the mountaintops. / Oh, if only I could go home again / to the blue sea and shining light,

To my ancestral land, the land of freedom / where my people's heart sings and makes music.

Reading them back to back, gives one a perspective how frum Jews think...
On one hand, they hope that their  goyishe neighbors  will get over their anger and be nice to them again ..
and on the other hand they yearn to see Eretz Yisrael...
In their eyes it's not a contradiction.. 

You don't have to "yearn" anymore ....it's here ... 
And the goyim will no longer give you respite.... 
there aren't any more countries to flee to..

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Qatari academic blames Lebanese girls, gays, plastic surgery for Beirut blast

Sounds familiar... where oh where did I hear this before?

I think that Abd al-Zaziz al-Khazraj al-Ansari, reads yiddish and he read the "kol koras" in the Williamsburg Shteeblich! 

That's where he must have gotten these ideas...

I hope he picked up some Shmaltz Herring from Flaums while he stopped by ..

Qatari sociologist Abd al-Zaziz al-Khazraj al-Ansari blamed last week’s Beirut Port explosion on Lebanese girls, homosexuals and plastic surgery in the Eastern Mediterranean country.

In a video that Ansari uploaded on August 6, he cites as one of the causes for the blast that killed at least 220 people and injured 7,000 that "85% of Lebanese girls are not married. What do you think they are doing? Making original models with the boys? Collecting stamps? Most of them are involved in forbidden relationships.”

He continued his diatribe against the Lebanese people, stating that "Lebanon is famous for changing Allah's creation. You want to puff your lips? Augment your breasts? Change your face? Go to Lebanon.”

Ansari then launched an anti-gay rant about the cause of the explosion. "In addition, Lebanon is famous for the prevalence of sodomy and the abundance of homosexuals in it.”

Qatar is considered one of the most dangerous countries for gays because the Islamic regime imposes the death penalty on same-sex relations.

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"Bein Hazmanim" Death Trap for Yeshivah Students

This past week, Shmuel Aron Glick got killed riding his bicycle and Akiva Krauss a married kollel guy drowned in the Kinneret.

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Israel "Yeted" Doesn't Mention Sadugere Rebbe's Death

They left out the death of Rav Steinsaltz z"l death too... 

but the Sadugere Rebbe learned in the Litvisher Yeshiva Ponovitz...

so why ignore this story, widely reported even in the secular press?

Was he a conservative or reform rabbi?

Did he secretly learn "likkutei sichos"?
Oh .. I know .. he took a dollar from the Rebbe of Chabad... That must be it ..

Sadugere Rebbe Getting a Dollar From the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Answer:

He was a member of the Moetzes Gedoilie Hatorah of Agudas Yisrael ... 

that's a "crime" not easily forgiven ...as the "Yeted" is now against the "Agudah" of Israel...

Guys...

I love these inspirational speakers that constantly tell us sheep about "ahavas chinom" .....

tell us that Covid-19 came because of "sinas chinom" etc etc...

You know what? 

First clean your own house .... 

For heaven's sake... he is no longer alive ... they couldn't give him some space in the newspaper? 

They don't let you live and won't let you die!

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Hungary’s Largest Jewish Group Expels Rabbi Who Said "Zionism Is Causing Another Holocaust"

 Who would think that a leftist conservative rabbi is a follower of  the Satmar SHIT"ah.......

When I was a kid the old heimishe poilishe yiddelich would call Hungarians a "ungarisher naar" "Hungarian Fool" ...
Well not so fast .... The "ungarishers" threw this sickie under the bus..
"Eegan"

Hungary’s largest Jewish group expelled a rabbi who has accused Israel of appropriating the money of Holocaust victims and putting Diaspora Jews in danger.

The rabbinical council of the Mazsihisz umbrella announced in a letter to Israeli Ambassador Yacov Hadas-Handelsman that it was “terminating its relationship” with Rabbi Gabor Finali. The letter said it was “an indefinite suspension” of Finali, 43, who since 2017 has served as the resident rabbi of a Mazsihisz-affiliated congregation, the Ohel Avraham Synagogue in Budapest.

It’s an unusual development for Eastern and Central Europe, where leaders of Jewish communities are rarely expelled and seldom express acrimonious public criticism of Israel.

The most controversial remarks by Finali, who supports multiple left-wing causes, came in July on his Facebook page.

“Israel took all the benefits and most of the compensation from Germany for the death and suffering of our relatives,” he wrote. “The chaos that Israel has been causing since 1948 is the reason for most, if not all, attacks on Jews in the Diaspora. The money spent on security until recently (2018) was because we suffer the consequences, we’re the soft targets … Herzl’s mission failed because it didn’t stop the Holocaust, but soon it will lead to a new one.”

Finali apologized for and retracted the post, but Mazsihisz in its letter to the ambassador last week said it was cutting its ties with the rabbi because he “is more loyal in his writings to the enemies of Israel than to Israel.”

Finali belongs to the Neolog denomination of Judaism, a stream that evolved in Central Europe in the 19th century and is similar to Masorti, or Conservative, Judaism.

In a 2018 interview with the Szombat Jewish magazine, Finali said: “The state of Israel lives and thrives thanks to God, I wholeheartedly support its existence,” but added he doesn’t consider it to be “a pure virgin.”

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Slow Joe & Phony Kamala

Considering Joe Biden’s age — and endless fumbling — the selection of a vice president has never been more important. Heck, even many Democrats aren’t so sure Biden is going to finish his first term. So the question now is: Do you want a President Harris?

On Tuesday, Biden tapped Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) as his running mate. He’d locked himself in when he vowed, during the primaries, to put a woman on the ticket, and with the left focused heavily on race — and after Biden’s own slurs of African Americans — he likely felt obliged to choose a black woman.

Harris, the daughter of an Indian mother and Jamaican father, identifies as black; she’s now the first black woman on a major party’s presidential ticket.

Voters have been waiting eagerly to hear Biden’s announcement, given that many think she’d wind up as president even before Biden finished a first term.

A Rasmussen Reports poll this week found that 59 percent of likely voters see it as “likely” that his veep will take over before his first term ends — and 39 percent say “very likely.”

Even among Democrats, nearly half — 49 percent — think it likely Biden won’t last a full four years. (And he’s already indicated that he won’t run for a second term even if he does make it.)

Bottom line: When Americans pull the lever in November, their choice will be, in effect, between President Trump and Kamala Harris.

The nation will learn more about Harris in the coming days, weeks and months — though her performance as a presidential candidate during this year’s primaries already makes it fairly clear that she stands far to the left.

Americans need to know as much about what she believes as what Joe Biden does. If voters want someone less extreme for president, they’ll need to keep Harris’ positions in mind when they make their choice.

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Trump Arrives in Deal New Jersey Gets A "Mi Shebeirach"

מי שברך לטראמפ שיזכה לנצח בבחירות

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New York Already Has 1,000 Shootings and It's Only 8 Months Into the Year

The Big Apple is set to hit more grim milestones, with the number of shootings and gun victims so far this year set to match figures for same period the past two years — combined.

There have been 821 shootings and 1,000 gun victims as of Saturday.

Last year for same time frame, there were 466 shootings and 551 victims, while in 2018, there were 449 incidents and 548 victims.

That means combined, there were 905 shooting incidents and 1,099 victims for time period in 2018 and 2019 — close to the totals for this year alone, according to statistics released by the NYPD on Sunday.

This past week, there were more than twice as many shootings over the same time span last year, with 38 in the week ending early Sunday compared to just 16 over the same week in 2019, police said.

Police reported a dozen shootings late Saturday into early Sunday with three people killed — including a man who inadvertently flicked a cigarette at a group of men in the Bronx and was shot dead in front of his wife.

The new stats come just one week after police reported that the city had already surpassed the total number of shootings for all of last year, hitting the 777 three mark Aug. 1, topping the 2019 total of 776 for the entire year.

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Israeli Supreme Court Rejects Satmar Petition For Blanket IDF Exemption On Conscience Grounds

The Israeli Supreme Court rejected a petition submitted by the Old Yishuv Children’s Committee (Neturei Karta) and members of the Satmar community in Israel requesting a blanket exemption from serving in the IDF on grounds of conscience and religion.

The petitioners claimed that they anyway did not intend to enlist in the IDF and would not cooperate in any form with the registration procedures even to obtain an official exemption. Moreover they claimed that as opposed to the mainstream Chareidi public which does not enlist for religious reasons, their community does not enlist on conscience grounds and therefore they should be viewed as conscientious objectors who are automatically exempted from military service.

Judge David Mintz ruled that the petitioners and their communities did not have an advantage over other communities which are required to register individually for a formal exemption and prove that they are studying in a yeshiva and therefore they cannot demand a blanket exemption. 

Regarding the issue of conscientious rejection, the judge claimed that it would require an individual investigation of each and every youth’s beliefs and therefore there was no possibility of granting a blanket exemption to the communities.

The petition was rejected and the petitioners required to pay 5000 NIS in legal fees.

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Lauren Sobel 25 From Brooklyn Falls to Her Death in Mohonk Mountains

A 25-year-old Brooklyn woman fell to her death while rock climbing near New Paltz, police said Monday.

Lauren Sobel was leading two other climbers at the Mohonk Mountain Preserve around 3:30 p.m. Sunday when she lost her grip while trying to set protective gear about 70 feet up the rock face, according to New York State Police.

Sobel fell 50 feet and died at the scene, cops said.

Her dad, David Sobel, told The Post of the accident, “She was the lead, which means she’s on top.”

“She was three feet above her hook and she was going to put another one in and that’s when she fell and apparently there were three different safety measures taken and all three failed,” David explained, adding that Lauren was certified and trained to lead this type of climb.

She was on vacation climbing with two friends at the time, the dad said.

Lauren, a municipal bond analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, “donated her time to helping military veterans who had amputated limbs learn to rock climb and she did that before she even knew how to rock climb because she believed in the cause,” David said while choking back tears.

“And from that, her interest developed and she became an avid rock climber,” he said.

David said Lauren climbed frequently whenever she had free time.

“She had a job but she would try to find the opportunity to rock climb when she could,” he said.

Lauren wasn’t married or in a relationship, David said. She had an older sister and loved her sister’s 5-year-old son “a whole lot,” David said.

David said Lauren was “extremely energetic. She was always doing something.”

“She was fluent in multiple languages. Pretty much all self-taught. She just had an aptitude for it,” David said.

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Sadigura Rebbe Dies Suddenly Was 65

Petira of the Sadigura Rebbe, HaRav Yisroel Moshe Friedman ZATZAL. The Rebbe was a member of the Moetzas Gedolei HaTorah of Agudas Yisrael in Eretz Yisroel.
The Rebbe had been sick for some time, and spent nearly a year in Los Angeles for various treatments. He returned to Eretz Yisroel a few months ago.

The Rebbe suddenly collapsed at his home on Monday night, and was rushed to Tel Hashomer Hospital. He was Niftar a short while later.

The Rebbe Just a Week Ago at a Funeral 

Kikar HaShabbat (https://bit.ly/3gMtXjd) reported that Rabbi Friedman grew up in Tel Aviv and studied first in the Kaminetz yeshiva in Jerusalem and then in the Ponovezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak. He moved to London after his marriage where he built the Sadigura beis medrash in Golders Green, serving as head of both the congregation and the local beis din. Rabbi Friedman moved to Bnei Brak after the passing of his father in 2013, succeeding him as the Sadigura Rebbe.

Rabbi Friedman took ill in recent years, spending several months this past year undergoing treatment in Los Angeles. 

According to B’Chadrei Charedim (https://bit.ly/3kxNFBG), he returned home to Bnei Brak just weeks ago and served as a sandak at a bris on Tisha B’Av. Rabbi Friedman was last seen in public last week at the funeral of Rabbi Tzvi Deutsch who fell victim to the coronavirus outbreak and was expected to return to Los Angeles after Succos for further medical care. He reportedly collapsed suddenly in his home and was rushed to the hospital, with frantic calls for prayer issued worldwide to his followers.

Rabbi Friedman’s funeral will take place on Tuesday afternoon at the Sadigura beis medrash on Rechov Gutmacher in Bnei Brak. The procession is expected to pass by the Ruzhyn yeshiva on its way to the Nachlas Yitzchak cemetery in Givatayim where Rabbi Friedman will be laid to rest near his father, Rabbi Avrohom Yaakov Friedman, and his grandfather, Rabbi Mordechai Shalom Yosef Friedman, both previous rebbes of Sadigura.

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A manuscript sheds light on a 16th-century tale of Jewish love and betrothal

by ANN BRENER

There has been no shortage, over the centuries, of rabbinic literature grappling with questions of Jewish law on marriage and divorce, but the 16th century has been especially generous in this respect. 

The spectacular story of Tamar bat Joseph Tamari, a Jewish heiress in 16th-century Venice, and the feckless adventurer who betrothed her, captivated the Jewish world in its own day and is still eagerly discussed by historians in our own time. 

That controversy produced no less than four collections of documents published at the height of the scandal in 1566, one on each side of the issue and two by the fiancé errant himself.

Now a manuscript housed in the Hebraic Section of the Library of Congress offers us another case of a 16th-century betrothal gone wrong, this time from the island of Crete. 

This is a manuscript of 72 leaves, written in several different hands on thick, high-quality paper and bearing the signatures of several well-known rabbis from the 16th century, among them Moses ibn Alashkar and Elijah ben Elkanah Capsali, the latter also the author of important Hebrew chronicles on Venice and the Ottoman Empire.

LC Hebr. MS 18 [collection of responsa from circa 1538-1545]. The letter shown here was sent by Moses Alashkar of Jerusalem to Elijah Capsali of Crete [Candia], who had copied it ‘word for word’ on the first page of the manuscript. Note Capsali’s stylized signature at the very bottom of the page. (Hebraic Section, Library of Congress.)

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What’s So Great About the New Israeli Thriller ‘Tehran’?

The opening scenes of Tehran, the new thriller from the Israeli public broadcast corporation Kan 11, tell the story of two Israeli backpackers who decide to take a cheap flight from Jordan on their way to India, and find themselves in trouble when their plane must make an emergency stop in Iran. 

It is a tight and tense opening, yet it also carries a somewhat unintentional hilarious subtext. An Israeli viewer is likely to giggle at the throwback to the good old days, less than a year ago, when Israelis could actually board an airplane and travel around the world, convinced that the Iranian nuclear program was the biggest threat to their safety. In fact, during the show’s run on Kan 11, reality met fiction when a mysterious explosion occurred in an Iranian facility, attributed to Israel’s secret war against the country’s nuclear program. 

But few Israelis cared: With no end in sight to the COVID-19 crisis, most of them were worried about other, more immediate problems.

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Rare Wedding Video of Rabbi Steinsaltz

Rare footage of the wedding of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz z"l with with his wife Chaya Sarah...

Also seen is Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin.

Video was taken on a 8mm film camera by the Kallah's cousin, R' Zusha Rivkin

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Vatican Marks Life of Jewish-Born Saint, Theresa Benedicta of the Cross, Who Was Murdered at Auschwitz

The Vatican on Sunday marked the life of a Jewish-born saint who was murdered during the Holocaust.

Highlighted as a “Saint of the Day” on the Vatican News website, St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross was born Edith Stein into a Jewish family in 1891, but became an atheist at the age of 14.

Despite being a woman and a Jew in Germany, Stein extensively studied philosophy and hoped to become an academic. After meeting a friend whose husband had recently died, however, she had a mystical experience in which her “unbelief collapsed.”

After reading St. Teresa of Avila’s autobiography, Stein converted to Catholicism in 1922 and eventually became a Carmelite nun, but remained involved in Jewish issues. As the Nazis rose to power in Germany, she wrote, “I had heard of severe measures against Jews before. But now it dawned on me that … the destiny of these people would also be mine.”

Realizing that because Nazi antisemitism was racial and not religious, she would be a target of it, Stein decided to present herself as a sacrifice, saying, “Every time I feel my powerlessness … to influence people directly, I become more keenly aware of the necessity of my own holocaust.”

As persecution intensified, she fled to Holland, once writing, “I never knew people could be like this, neither did I know that my brothers and sisters would have to suffer like this.” When the Nazis came for her, Stein told her sister, “Come, we are going for our people.” She was murdered at Auschwitz in 1942.

When she was beatified as St. Theresa in 1987, Pope John Paul II said, “We bow down before the testimony of the life and death of Edith Stein … a personality who united within her rich life a dramatic synthesis of our century. It was the synthesis of a history full of deep wounds … and also the synthesis of the full truth about man.”

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