The Chofetz Chaim to Rav Moshe Londinski on Eretz Yisroel

 

by Rabbi Yair Hoffman

On January 30th, 1933, seven and a half months before the Chofetz Chaim passed away (September 15th, 1933), Hitler yimach shmo was appointed the Chancellor of Germany. 

At that time, Rav Moshe Londinski zt”l (1862-1938), one of the three Roshei Yeshiva of the Chofetz Chaim’s Yeshiva in Radin, inquired of the Chofetz Chaim, “What will be the fate of our brethren in Germany and in Poland?”  Rav Londinski pointed out that Hitler y”s had been talking about destroying the entirety of Klal Yisroel for years.

The Chofetz Chaim responded that it is impossible for someone to succeed in wiping out Klal Yisroel in all the lands of the exile and he cited the pasuk (Bereishis 32:4-9) “’If Esav comes to the one camp and attacks it, the other camp will escape.”

At that point, Rav Moshe Londinski zt”l realized that the danger was quite grave.  He asked further, “If Heaven forbid, he succeeds in wiping out European Jewry, who and where is the other camp that will survive?”

The Chofetz Chaim answered, “This too is a pasuk, it is in the beginning of the Navi Ovadiah (1:17), “And on Mount Zion there shall be a remnant, and it shall be holy..”

Rav Londinski left the Chofetz Chaim’s presence with his hands shaking on the future destruction of European Jewry, but he was assured that the Holy Land will be spared and no sword of the Nazi menace would pass before it.

Indeed, the beginning of the end for the Nazis y”s was when they set their eyes on Eretz Yisroel in 1942 and planned to conquer it and murder the half million Jews living there at the time (including the author’s mother). 

They even brought a German SS officer, Walther Rauff, to Libya, who would do advance work for the Einsatzkommando unit which expected to join him and help murder the Jews of the Middle East once it was under full Nazi German control..  He was the one who had pioneered the using mobile killing vans in Nazi-occupied Soviet Union. Rauff had reached Tobruk on July 20th  of  1942.

Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein shlita uses this statement of the Chofetz Chaim to encourage Yeshiva bochurim to remain in Eretz Yisroel during this rough period.

IDF Releases Footage of Hamas Hiding Hostages at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital

 

 Hamas held at least three of the estimated 240 hostages kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists on Oct. 7 at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, the Israel Defense Forces revealed on Sunday night.

The military presented CCTV footage of the hostages being brought into the hospital, under which Hamas has built terror infrastructure.

IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said intelligence confirmed that Hamas terrorists “quickly” murdered Cpl. Noa Marciano at Shifa, after she was taken there with non-life-threatening injuries sustained during her captivity.

In addition to Marciano, two hostages from Nepal and Thailand were hidden at Shifa Hospital in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 massacre, said Hagari.

Is Hamas going after Satmar now? Grenade Found Near Satmar Shul in Lakewood

UPDATE ON GRENADE IN LAKEWOOD:

- Police were notified shortly before 8:00 AM about a grenade strapped to a utility pole across the street from a synagogue in Lakewood

- Upon arrival, police determined the grenade appeared real, and called for bomb squad

- The NJSP removed the… pic.twitter.com/r2fw7UxUub

— The Lakewood Scoop (@LakewoodScoop) November 19, 2023

 

Developing: Israel Confirms that Houthi Rebels in Yemen took over an Israeli Ship ...

 

The source says that there were no Israelis on board

Updated: The boat is not Israeli . It is a British Ship that was carrying cargo from Turkey with its destination ..India!

Listen to this Neturei Hamas Guy Speak every single word is right out of the Vayoel Moshe

 

Rep Dan Goldman the Squad Tuchislekker Who Condemns ‘Settler Violence’ but Pro-Palestinians deface his office anyway

 

Congressman Dan Goldman (D-NY), representing Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn Heights, on Thursday joined Senator Cory Booker (D- NJ) in a letter the two sent to President Joe Biden about the urgent need “to address Israeli settler violence in the West Bank.”

Which is so sick and perverted!

On Friday, Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and several other Democrats sent out a press release saying, “We stand together to condemn the vandalism discovered this morning targeting Representative Dan Goldman’s district office. While everyone has a First Amendment right to peacefully protest and make their voice heard, that must not extend to intimidating staff or outright criminal behavior. This is a deeply personal and emotional issue for all who care about a future of peace for both the Israeli and Palestinian people, but we cannot let our disagreements turn us against each other and inflame violence here at home.”

The vandals graffitied in red and white paint: “Blood on your hands,” “Free Palestine,” and “Let Gaza live” on the front of the office and the sidewalk on 9th Street in Park Slope.

Who says there’s no poetic justice in God’s great universe?

Watch Red Cross Employees Tear off Hostage Posters in France

 

Watch tearful reunions when Soldiers Return to their homes from Gaza

 

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Must Listen: Rabbi Wein On DC Rally "Frum Jews are Gutless, I don't care who they Had for speakers" I don't care if she was a Lesbian, a Reform Rabbi"

 

There is more to the audio below , trying to download so check back later 

Here is the transcript 

Talmud: So a lot of the guys are talking about , I guess, about the Kol Korah that went out, from Lakewood about attending the rally , that said, I think (that people shouldn't go to the rally) because of the agenda of the people involved (in the rally) and not being fully aware of what the agenda is and recommending that Bnei Torah of Lakewood at least that no one go

Rabbi Wein: They don't learn lessons.....there were rallies for Soviet Jewry and then they also said "Don't go". The only reason that the Soviet Jews got out was because there were rallies 

I don't understand it, I just don't understand it , it's beyond me 

The Jewish people are on the line , They (Hamas) mean Lakewood too 

So what in the world is wrong with you?

You don't know what the agenda is?

The agenda is that Jewish people in America are being persecuted

So because you are living in a bubble so you think "nafshe he'zalti?" 

I don't know, I don't know who put it out, I don't know who signed it . A lot of is Fake news

You know how many Kol Koras are signed by people who never saw it?

Talmud:Yes, in America, I know that there was a debate to go or not to go. I know that in my shul, the Rav said that if (going to the rally) is going to affect your sedarim you have to think 

about going.

Rabbi Wein: The gemaarah says that when it is a milchemes mitzva even a Chassan at his Chuppah has to go, everybody goes ....you know if we don't win this there won't be any "sedarim" 

Talmud: So I was thinking that now there is no "pirud" in Eretz Yisrael and they are pretty much unified. Whatever division there was everyone is for the common goal . We don't have that in America yet. And I was thinking that this would have been an amazing opportunity.

Rabbi Wein: Absolutely! 

Talmud: Despite the fact there was a Reform Rabbi getting up (speaking) or ....

Rabbi Wein: That battle is not with reform anymore, that battle is not with reform anymore, that battle is over ...your fighting the 18th century all over again.... it is obvious that reform is gone!

What difference does it make? American Jewry is gone and now "omdim aleinu" you won't be able to walk the streets in Chicago and New York. You will have to have your sedorim in private. 

A lot of is because the Orthodox community has no guts! They know it's wrong but they have no guts because they won't stand up to it. Because of our cancel culture, we are the ones that invented it.

I'm sorry that you told me about it.

Talmud: I'm sorry that I pained the rebbe , I'm  sorry that I pained you. Some shuls in Passaic, Rabbi Sacks said that everyone should go, I'm bringing Landers I'm bringing my Kollel, I'm bringing the boys.  and it was a little bit of wishy-washy in other areas 

I think they said that there were about 300,000 but I suppose it obviously could have been a lot more than that 

Rabbi Wein: It should have been more. A Mazel it was 300,000. You have 5 million Jews in America and you only had 300,000? That shows how weak we are! If 50,000 or 70,000 orthodox Jews would have went and Lakewood would have gone then that would be a statement 

Part of it is that they (the orthodox) are convinced that the goyim don't mean them, and they will manage to ride it out., They are going to have cholent forever, that is very shortsighted. The lack of perspective of the past and of the future 

and all those guys weren't alive at the Holocaust, I was and they don't remember what it looked like in 1946 after the war when a Jew in America couldn't raise his head 

They don't remember What Eretz Yisrael did for us! 

B"h I'm not "daas Torah" 

Talmud: If you don't learn history you are bound to repeat it?

Rabbi wein" You don't have to repeat it, You just don't have a perspective of what is going on 

You do things that are counter productive to you and that's how we got into this mess today because Israel didn't ......... they knew there is no hope, they knew Oslo was wrong, but they like to kick the can down then road until you can't anymore ... The middas hadin was pogeiah.

But that sounds silly that a reform rabbi would speak .... I don't know if a reform rabbi spoke or he didnt spewak

Talmud Or She (the rabbi)

Wein: or a Lesbian...I don't care what? That has nothing to do with anything. We are always worried that we have to "recognize them " we don't have to recognize them anymore its been 200 year gone already... What are you talking about?

Reb Yisrael Salanter said when reform started, he said that the Chasam Sofer put them all in Chierim he said that if it was up to me I would have put a Bais Medrash in every reform temple

You are not allowed to talk to them.... so if you are not allowed to talk to then what do you expect from them? The only one who had anything to do with them was the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Talmud: In what way?

Rabbi Wein: Chabad will go into a reform temple. If Lakewood would go into a reform temple they would also have an influence.

This war in Israel has made more Jews.... traditional.. I cannot measure tzidkis but the country became traditional ...there is Shabbos and Yom Tov and Kosher... What do you want?

80% of Americans are eating Neiveilis and treifis and here everything is kosher and here is where its no good (sarcastically) because it's not MY kosher.?..I don't get it I just don't get it 

My rabbaim were not like that. I remember my rebbe Rav Mendel Kaplan z"l who certainly was no Zionist so when Ben Gurion came to Chicago in the Stevens Hotel selling Israel Bonds, he went down there to see it and the next day in the shiur he said "you know what I saw? I saw the Bnei Avraham give money " So I come from a different cheder. I cant relate to it.

Talmud: And I come from your cheder so we are in the same boat

Rabbi wein: I'm afraid for my grandchildren and my great grandchildren they will have no awreness. In the 1930's there was no awareness

You ask "How could it happen?"

Everything can happen that is what this war taught us, that everything can happen, they can burn your baby in front of your eyes, everything that is written in Parshas Nitzavim Happened 

We learn Chumash but we don't believe in it we don't think that the chumash actually meant it 

"veyisam meshugah me'mareh amecha" we don't believe it. ok 

The Arab Street has come to America

 

The old conventional wisdom was that the United States couldn’t be too pro-Israel for fear of inflaming “the Arab street.”

The new conventional wisdom will have to be that we can’t be too pro-Israel for fear of inflaming “the Western street.”

The Arab street, a hoary cliché of commentary on the Middle East for decades, was a reference to public opinion in the Arab countries, with the strong implication that if we offended it, the result would be massive anti-Western demonstrations and perhaps violence. 

Well, here we are, with this dynamic playing out throughout the United States and other Western countries.

We have offended the new Arab street within our own societies.

Actress Susan Sarandon Joins Pro-Palestinian Rally That Shouted ‘Long live the Intifada!’ and passed out maps of pro-Israel locations to target in NYC

 

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered at Union Square Friday – before joining another massive rally near Bryant Park and marching to locations listed on a troubling map that called for “direct action” to “globalize intifada.”

By early Friday evening, the crowd made at least five stops in Manhattan that the Palestinian-led community organization Within Our Lifetime called for followers to target in a since-deleted social media post Thursday.

Outside The New York Times building, one enraged protester holding a Palestinian flag appeared to say “Bomb the New York Times. Bomb the New York Times!”

In front of Penn Station and Moynihan Train Hall protesters chanted “If Palestine don’t get it, shut it down! Shut it down!” as scores of NYPD officers blocked them from pushing through the doors. 

The Long Island Rail Road issued an advisory warning commuters to “build in added travel time” as an estimated 750 protesters flooded the area. 

Before the two protests converged in front of New York Public Library’s main branch – the original group of roughly 300 met in Union Square around 3 p.m. 

“From New York to Gaza, globalize the intifada!” was one of the many slogans the crowd chanted, while many waved Palestinian flags.

“Intifada intifada. Long live the intifada!” was another cheer, as well as a chorus of “We don’t want no two-state, we want 48!”

The latter cheer refers to the 1948 United Nations Partition Plan, which created the modern State of Israel. 

‘Doxxing Truck’ creator says he will tail antisemitic students for years even after they graduate "there is no statute of limitations for antisemitism"

The creator of the so-called “doxxing truck” chasing allegedly antisemitic students from Harvard to Hunter College says his effort will continue indefinitely.

“We don’t think that your antisemitic record should die when you graduate,” said Adam Guillette, president of Accuracy in Media, a nonprofit that has been sponsoring the effort. “I think it’s incredibly important to make an example of these people.”

Guillette has become a bête noire of campus bigots after plastering the names and faces of roughly 150 students who have engaged in college antisemitism on video screens attached to large trucks parked outside their campuses.

Despite its popular moniker, the trucks are not actually doxxing anyone.

Guillette notes he’s not putting out sensitive personal information such as addresses or phone numbers on the targeted students.

Guillette said a “possibility we’re considering” is sending trucks to the employers who hire the students in the years to come.

“There’s no statute of limitations on racism and antisemitism,” he said dryly.

Guillette attributed rising antisemitism among young people to Diversity Equity and Inclusion bureaucracies which have permeated education and cultural institutions in the last decade.

“It’s directly related to the massive increase in the emphasis of DEI in K-through-12 education,” he said.

Guillette, 42, a longtime conservative activist in Florida said the trucks didn’t start with college activists — they were first deployed in 2021 with messages protesting former Gov. Cuomo’s Emmy award, which he was later stripped of.

“Cuomo lied, thousands died, revoke his Emmy now,” the truck blared.

The pushback, however, has been fierce. During a ride along with a doxxing truck outside Hunter College — which staged an anti-Israel rally on Tuesday — The Post saw students hurling insults and flipping off the vehicle.

Others took photographs of the truck’s license plate.

Most wore masks in an effort to shield their identity.

Guillette is also being sued by a Columbia student who says his appearance on the “doxxing truck” has caused “pain and suffering, emotional distress and mental anguish.”

“We never defame anybody, we always act entirely within the law and always will,” Guillette said.

Sometimes the response is physical.

“I got spray painted at Harvard,” he recalled. One agitator threw a brick at a truck.

He and the trucks now have their own security detail.

In less than a month, Guillette said pranksters had called his local police eight times to post false tips triggering a SWAT team response.

The practice, known as swatting, is illegal.

“They sent a half a dozen heavily armed officers to my home who then storm inside. And if you’re home at the time, and if you’re not expecting such a thing, and if you leave your property, you might get shot and killed. It’s attempted murder,” Guillette said.

The right-wing provocateur said he’s now on joking terms with his local police dispatcher.

“They claimed that there was a hostage situation at our home. And I immediately told the dispatcher, ‘Don’t pay the ransom,’ and she laughed.”

There are now more Israeli Flags Displayed in Gaza than in the Entire Israel

 

Watch IDF Soldier Shoot a Terrorist during Routine Check outside Jerusalem on his bodycam

 

Chabad Now Printing the Tanye in Gaza

 

Watch Terrorists attempt to escape by ambulance into Jenin hospital, are arrested by IDF forces.

 

The Kfir Brigade, as well as undercover units and Border Police officers, on Thursday night carried out counterterror operations in Jenin.

During the operation, five terrorists were eliminated and eight wanted suspects were arrested.

The forces also discovered explosives placed in the ground by terrorists, including beneath roads.

No IDF forces were injured.

Arab reports say that one of the eliminated terrorists is Baha al-Lahlouh, one of the leaders of the Islamic Jihad terror group's Jenin branch.

During the operation, some of the suspects attempted to escape into Jenin's hospital by ambulance. The forces surrounded the hospital and conducted searches, during which the terrorists were arrested.

Since the start of the war in Gaza, the IDF has conducted six widescale operations in Jenin to thwart terror activities. During the previous operation, 12 terrorists were eliminated, 20 were arrested, and an underground tunnel shaft containing ready-to-use explosives was destroyed.

With Jews Like Rep. Becca Balint in Congress Who Needs Enemies ..Calls for a Ceasefire

 

Democratic Rep. Becca Balint of Vermont on Thursday became the first Jewish member of Congress to call for a ceasefire in Israel's war against Hamas.

What is needed right now is an immediate break in violence to allow for a true negotiated cease-fire," Balint wrote in an op-ed for VTDigger, a local news site in her home state.

It's a shift from her previous position, when she said in a statement that she supported Israel's "right to defend itself after the unprecedented surprise attack against them" while urging the country to avoid "collective punishment" against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

But in the op-ed, Balint indicated that she had changed her mind in part due to the suffering of Palestinians in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack.

"I do not claim to know how to solve every aspect of this decades-long conflict," wrote Balint. "But what I do know is that killing civilians, and killing children, is an abomination and categorically unacceptable — no matter who the civilians are, and no matter who the children are."

Balint, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, had faced pressure from progressives to urge for a ceasefire. And the topic remains controversial within the Democratic Party.

On Wednesday, two dozen progressive lawmakers led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York urged President Joe Biden to support a ceasefire.

Opponents of a ceasefire, including many Jewish Democrats, have argued that doing so would only allow Hamas to regain strength and attack Israel again in the future.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, another progressive Jewish lawmaker from Vermont, has resisted calling for a ceasefire, though he has argued that Israel is violating international law.

In her op-ed, Balint acknowledged those critics' concerns about a ceasefire, writing that a "lasting" ceasefire "can only work if Hamas does not continue to rule in Gaza."

But she also said that the continued existence of Hamas does not justify current Israeli actions, which have led to the deaths of thousands of Palestinians in the last several weeks.

"Even with Hamas operations intentionally embedded among civilians, Israel cannot bomb targets in densely populated areas," wrote Balint. "The United States must demand it."

Video shows the moment Antony Blinken winces after Biden calls China's Xi a dictator, upending months of careful diplomacy

 

REPORTER: "Would you still refer to President Xi as a dictator?"

BIDEN: "Look, he is. He's a dictator in the sense that he's a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that's based on a form of government totally different than ours," pic.twitter.com/XSaoyUwMW5

— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) November 16, 2023

A video has captured the moment US Secretary of State Antony Blinken winces after President Biden calls Chinese leader Xi Jinping a "dictator".

During a press conference in the wake of a meeting designed to smooth frayed US-China relations, Biden was asked whether he stood by remarks in June in which he described Xi as a "dictator."

"Look, he is. He's a dictator in the sense that he's a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that's based on a form of government totally different than ours," Biden said.

Zera Shimshon Parshas Toldos

 

How the Agudah & the Moetzes Have Lost Touch With Their Followers

 

The following anonymous letter has been circulating: Dear Agudas Yisroel of America.

I write to you as someone who considers himself an “Agudah Yid” even if I may be a few years behind in my membership dues! I grew up in a household where the Agudah and the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah reigned supreme. But it seems to be that we have reached a crossroads and that Agudah needs to make a decision. Fast. It is no secret that Ultra Orthodoxy today is divided into several groups. There are the Chassidim. Many major groups of Chassidim were anti Agudah from the start and the ones who weren’t don’t seem to be too eager to join right now. They are largely insular and prefer the leadership of their own rebbes. No rebbe of a major chassidus is part of Agudah. And so Agudah does not represent them nor should they attempt to. There is “Lakewood” and the people under their influence. (Full disclosure, I live in Lakewood) The Lakewood yeshiva community is a right-leaning community. This means practically that the Lakewood Roshei Yeshiva and Rabbanim will sign bans against 24/6 (and Megillas Lester), will take strong positions against all new technology, always rule stringently in areas of women’s modesty, and – well, you get my point. Similar to the Chassidim, they are insular and do not have much interest in the outside world. To date, there is no major support, respect, or interest in Agudah from the Lakewood yeshiva community.  Then there are the others. These are the Ultra-Orthodox Jews from Brooklyn to Passaic to Monsey and from the tens of smaller communities across the country. They have a bona-fide yeshiva education but also look outward. They may have gone to college, or they may not have, but they certainly see value in a broader education and worldview. They also see themselves as part of a larger Jewish world, at home and abroad. They do not “support” the non-religious, but they are pained by the fact that so many Jews do not live a life of Torah. It seems to me that this is Agudas Yisroel’s constituency. To be fair, I think this was the dominant (non-Chassidic) view of Ultra Orthodoxy in American since World War 2, and it is the Lakewood Yeshiva crowd that has slowly moved in a new direction.  You may not want that or like that, but those are the facts. The core followers of the Agudah are the non-Chassidish, non-Lakewood communities.