Lazer Beams

Are We Really Independent?

See Lazer on Israel National TV speaking about the true meaning of Israel Independence, right here.

Emuna News prediction: Expect another civil war in Lebanon. Thanks to Nasrulla and the Hizbolla, with Assad and Achmedinejad's sooty fingers in the stew too, the anarchy of the late 1970's is returning, and it doesn't look like the weakling pro-Western regime in Beirut will be able to hold on. The CIA is no match against Syrian and Iranian intel on the latter's home turf. If the CIA had any brains, it would be fanning the fires of Sunni and Shiite hatred within Syria, to give Syria a taste of her own nasty medicine that she concocts in Lebanon. But, if the CIA had any brains it wouldn't be the CIA.

Hashem is doing everything for our ultimate welfare, so don't worry folks. The more we strengthen ourselves in prayer, in emuna, and in Torah, the more Hashem will fight our battles for us. An hour of hitbodedut (personal prayer) will save ten hours in the bomb shelters. So, let's all talk to Hashem for an hour a day.

This week's Torah portion is Emor. We hope you have a lovely Shabbat and weekend.

Doron: Story of a True Tzaddik

Doron Mahareta (left) of blessed and saintly memory HY"D was one of the eight Yeshiva students that were massacred last week in Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav in Jerusalem.

Last night, I paid a shiva (condolence) call to Doron's family. Every single type of Jew was sitting together, from Ethiopians to Polish Chassidim, from knit kippot to Yerushalmi white kippot, from jeans and sandals to long black frocks. Too bad that it takes a martyr of Doron's magnitude to unite everyone.

One of the rabbis from Mercaz HaRav told me the most amazing story you'll ever hear about Doron's dedication to learning Torah, a story that competes with the Gemara's account of Hillel's near freezing on the roof of Shmaya and Avtalion's Yeshiva (see tractate Yoma, 35b).

Doron wanted to learn Torah in Mercaz HaRav, one of the best of Israel's yeshivas. But, since his early schooling was in Ethiopia, he lacked a strong background in Gemara. The Yeshiva rejected him. He wasn't discouraged. He asked, "If you won't let me learn Torah, will you let me wash the dishes in the mess hall?" For a year and a half, Doron washed dishes. But, he spent every spare minute in the study hall. He inquired what the yeshiva boys were learning, and spent most of the nights and all of his Shabbatot with his head in the Gemara learning what they learned. One day, the "dish washer" asked the Rosh Yeshiva to test him. The Rosh Yeshiva politely smiled and tried to gently dismiss Doron, but Doron wouldn't budge. He forced the Rosh Yeshiva into a Torah discussion; the next day, he was no longer a dish washer but a full-fledged "yeshiva bachur".

On weekends, when Doron would come home to visit his family in Ashdod, he'd spend the entire Shabbat either in the Melitzer Shul or the neighboring Gerrer shtiebel learning Shulchan Aruch and its commentaries. Three weeks ago, he finished the entire Shulchan Aruch and principle commentaries. Doron achieved in his tender 26 years what others don't attain in 88 years. He truly was an unblemished sacrifice, who gave his life for all of us.

The next time you want to close the Gemara to watch TV, think of Doron. The next time your son doesn't want to do his Torah homework, tell him about the price that tzaddikim like Hillel the Elder and Doron Mahareta paid to learn Torah. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Doron wasn't a reincarnation of Hillel. May his holy soul beg mercy for the grieving nation he left behind, amen.

Moral Commando

Dear Rabbi Brody,

I am non-jew aka a Ben Noach and do my best to live according to the sheva mitzvosBnei Noach. Regardless, I will say that it is my fervent hope to convert one day, though I am fully aware that there is no obligation to do so. After graduating college I joined the US Army and I am currently part of a special operations unit in Iraq. This brings me to my question about war. What is the proper mindset according to Torah that one should have during war? Being in a special operations unit we do some sensitive operations, as I sure you have an idea, and on one hand I don't want to lose my aggressive edge that I am known for when I kick down a door, but I don't want to become a calloused individual who loses that ability to feel compassion and warmth. I am sure that you are familiar with the rough exterior that often comes with special operations unit guys and I a don't know exactly how to balance it. Do you have any insight on the matter? With appreciation, B

Dear B,

Thanks for your letter. Feel free to stay in contact with me. G-d willing, we'll be happy to send you spiritual care packages of books and CDs to Iraq. The Torah teaches us not to rejoice in the fall of our enemies, even though we have to do our job to subdue them. The Torah also teaches us to avoid being kind to the cruel or you'll end up being cruel to the kind. Focus on Hashem, ask Him to protect you and give you strength, then implement your training to the best of your ability. Yes, kick downthe door wherever there's a suspected terrorist behind it; don't give candies to the little kids in the street because they might have bomb-belts strapped to them. Be decent, but be aware. Don't forget that the enemy is cruel and fierce, with no sentiments for human life. Blessings and in your corner always, LB

* * * * *

After writing the above answer, we heard the bitter news of the Baghdad bombing. Emuna Outreach and Lazer Beams wishto convey our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and to all who mourn the fallen heroes that gave their lives to uproot terror and evil in the world.

The Price of a Miracle

We often take for granted the fact that we, the Jewish people, live on miracles. The Jewish people in Israel especially exist on a higher-than-nature plateau that defies any natural course of events. Only an idiot would attribute Israel's existence to military might and so forth. On a military level, Israel has no answer to missile warfare, as so painfully demonstrated in the last Lebanon War and today in the south of Israel, from Ashkelon to Sderot and all points in between.
People have the mistaken impression that we can sit back and do nothing while Hashem gives us miracles. That's wrong. The miracle of Purim was only after Esther said to Mordechai (Esther 4:16), "Go gather all the Jews... fast for me, don't eat or drink for 3 days and 3 nights; I and my handmaidens shall fast likewise." In other words, the entire Jewish people made complete teshuva and returned to Hashem.
The existential threat of this generation is just as bad as it was in the time of Haman. Achmedinejad and Nasralla's designs as well as global Islamofascist objectives are no different than Haman's platform. Every Adar, we therefore need a renewal of the miracle. But, when there's no teshuva to pay for it, Hashem must take a public sacrifice from the greatest and purest tzaddikim of our generation. That explains the brutal murder of Erez Levanon during his personal prayer to Hashem exactly a year ago in Adar, and the barbaric massacre of the 8 Mercaz HaRav boys during their Torah study this past Thursday, on Rosh Chodesh Adar.
Who needs more martyrs? Let's gather all the Jews and commit to genuine teshuva.

The Root of our Ills

A Ukranian peasant felt pain in his left arm. He went to his local village doctor, and the doctor gave him an ointment to rub on his arm. The peasant felt better for a day or two, but soon the pain returned even stronger than before. The peasant returned to the local village doctor, who referred him to a big specialist in Kiev. The peasant made the long journey to Kiev, and after much searching, finally located the specialist's address.

The peasant complained to the specialist about the fierce pain in his arm. The doctor took one look at the arm and told the peasant to take off his shirt. The bewildered peasant asked, "Doctor, why must I remove my shirt if my arm hurts?"

The doctor placed his stethascope on the peasant's chest, smiled patiently, and answered, "I must examine your heart. What you feel in your arm is only radiated pain. The root of the pain is in your heart."

* * * * * * *

There isn't a single one of us who doesn't have a problem that hurts - some have health problems, others have financial difficulties, many have marital issues, quite a few have grief from their children. Some couples don't have children at all, and still others long to find their soulmate and are lonely in the meanwhile. If I have alluded to your particular problem, simply fill in the blank. We all have our ills, whether physical, emotional, spiritual, or interpersonal. Most of us think that an "ointment" of a raise in salary or relief of our localized problem will end our ills. Wrong.

The root of our ills is Jerusalem - the lack of our Holy Temple and the Divine Presence withing our midst. Rather than crying out to Hashem, we are tacitly agreeing to the dissection and ultimate surrender of Jerusalem, the heart of the Jewish people.

My dear friends in London, Melborne, Toronto, Miami Beach, Los Angeles, and elsewhere - don't think that Jerusalem is the Israel's problem alone; it's just as much your problem too. You are limbs that extend from the same heart that is known as Yerushalayim and Bet HaMikdash. When we here at the Beams are crying out for Jerusalem and Moshiach, it's because our national cure depends on a healthy heart - Jerusalem and the full redemption of our people. With the Divine Presence within our midst, there is a limitless blessing of abundance for health, happiness, and everything we need.

Here is a moving film clip that shows pictures of the Westen Wall and the Temple Mount, with the beautiful background music of an Oriental Jewish rendition of Psalm 147, verses 12 and 13, where Jerusalem and Zion praise Hashem. Enjoy it. Please, do yourself a favor and pray for Yerushalayim.

Like the Trees in Winter

This acacia from the dunes in the south of Israel is remindful of the letter "shin" in Hebrew, the first letter of Hashem's Holy Name Sh-add-ai, to whom the trees sing constantly. These were the trees that were used to build the Holy Tabernacle in the desert. Like everything else that grows here, they have a special holiness.

Many of you probably ask why Judaism needs a separate New Year for trees. The answer according to nigla (revealed Torah) is that numerous Torah commandments deal with trees and the fruit of trees in the holy Land of Israel. For example, one must not eat orla, which is fruit from the first three years of the tree's life. Neta reva'i, or 4th-year fruit, must be eaten in Jerusalem. Other mitzvot include trumot, maaserot, maaser rishon, leket, shichacha, peah. The tree's age plays a role in the fulfillment of these mitzvot, and the trees age is calculated from the new arbor year that begins today, the 15th of Shvat commonly known as Tu B'Shvat.

The Torah says (Dvorim 20:19), “For man is a tree in the field.” This is one of the greatest secrets of Torah. It's also the story of our life here in the Land of Israel, as follows:

Tu B'Shvat always lands in the middle of winter. The trees have lost their leaves. They look brittle, weak, and unsightly. They're subjected to strong winds and storms that threaten to uproot them. An unsuspecting onlooker wouldn't believe that these bare and dry branches will ever sprout green again, much less give fruit. The cold and the frosts look like they'll finish the poor trees off...

Today, the Jewish people in the Land of Israel are just like the trees in winter. They too look weak and unsightly, as enemies from without and within slash them with the strong winds of territorial surrender and disdain for the holiness of our land. It doesn't look like our beautiful settlements will continue to exist, G-d forbid, much less expand. The cold and frosts of heresy, licentiousness, corruption, and self-hatred threaten to finish off the world of Torah and the holy settlements completely.

Wait a second, there's no reason to despair.

In a few short weeks, the weather will turn warm and The Land of Israel will blossom in all of its arbor glory. The entire country will be intoxicatingly aromatic from dunam upon dunam of flowering citrus groves and deciduous orchards. Do you know what that signifies?

As mentioned earlier, man is a tree in the field, especially in Israel. We may look ugly in the midst of this spiritual winter, but soon - very soon - Moshiach will come and the Land of Israel, her pioneer sons and her scholars of Torah shall flourish and blossom in all their glory, from Mount Hermon to the Red Sea and from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, amen.

Happy Tu B'Shvat!

For more on Tu B'Shvat, check out Lazer's editorial over at BreslovWorld.

A Message to Mr. Bush: Don't Touch My Anointed

Mr. Bush is on his way from the White House to the Holy Land of Israel this week. We here at the Beams have a 2-minute highly educational message for him. I hope he sees it, for the future of his nation depends on it. See for yourself:

A Great Jew at Heart...

Dear Rabbi Lazer,

Why do I have to keep all kinds of commandments I don't relate to? I am a great Jew at heart (no brag, just fact - I'm kind to everyone irregardless of background). Yet, I often see healthy eighteen year-old religious boys that won't relinquish a bus seat to an eighty-year old; it disgusts me. How can they be better than me? Thank you. Al from Sheepshead Bay

Dear Al,

You and I have a lot in common; when I see a healthy young man ignore the elderly on a crowded bus, I get nauseated too. Just because a person wears a yarmulka and payis, that doesn't necessarily mean that he's religious - it means that he was born into a religious family and is flowing with the tide. But, let's not point a finger at others - let's examine ourselves.

The reason you don't relate to Hashem's commandments is simply because you don't learn and practice them. Your failure to eat kosher food, observe the Sabbath, and practice family purity causes "timtum halev", or a spiritual barrier between you and The Almighty's Divine light, which hampers your ability to understand and appreciate Jewish spirituality.

You sound like a person with a high social and moral conscience. Nevertheless, a moral conscience without the Torah's guidance is tantamount to a ship without rudder - it easily loses direction. The Nazis for example had the stiffest penalties for cruelty to animals. Yet for them, a Jew was lower than an animal. If everyone acted according to their own set of standards, the world would be chaotic (and unfortunately it is, because so many people are far away from Hashem).

Mitvas are the nourishment of the soul. By not keeping them, one suffers from spiritual malnutrition. Since emotions come from the soul, an unhealthy soul leads to numerous emotional problems, neuroses, fear, anxiety, anger, etc. Therefore, mental, emotional, and spiritual health depends on the observance of the Torah's commandments. Once again, just because a person looks religious, than doesn't mean he's necessarily observant.

Al, there are 613 commandments - one commandment for each of the 613 parts of the body. That way, the weight of Torah responsibility is evenly distributed. It's not enough to be a good Jew at heart - you need to be a good Jew with all your body. Man, I wouldn't want to load all 613 commandments on my heart. That might cause heart trouble, G-d forbid! I want you to have a healthy heart until age 120. Blessings always, LB

The Power of Dedication

King Solomon in Ecclesiastes teaches us a vital spiritual axiom, namely, that The Almighty created equal forces of good and evil in the world. The Ramcha"l explains in Derech Hashem that this perfect balance of good and equal enables us the free choice to do good or evil - no one can therefore claim that he or she is coerced to do good or evil. A system of reward and punishment for our behavior is meaningless outside the context of free choice.

Since Hashem maintains a balanced world, and he put Hizbulla, Jihadis, and Hamasniks in this world, then we must draw two necessary conclusions: First, each of us has the potential to do as much good in the world as they do to do evil. Two, only total dedication to holiness and saving lives can offset their proven dedication to death, destruction, and defiling the world.

Convenience and compromise spirituality just don't have the clout to make this world a better place. Total dedication to holiness is the only way to combat evil.

Total Dedication: One slip of the foot and it's all over... This is a helicopter rescue team of the Aiut Alpin Dolomites rescue squad in the Italian Alps. We have to be every bit as dedicated as they are. Photo by Mateo Taibon.

Dedicated skipper: This is a chopper pilot of the Aiut Alpin Dolomites rescue squad in the Italian Alps. He's about to fly into that narrow gorge up ahead on a training exercise. One tiny mistake and he and his helicopter become rubble. Photo by Mateo Taibon.

Ancient Laws - are they relevant?

Dear Rabbi Lazer,

How do you respond to someone who questions the relevancy of ancient Torah laws to modern day living, i.e. Laws of Kosher, The Sabbath, etc. All the best, You are doing great work, SL from Rockville, MD.

Dear SL,

Nobody doubts that the head engineer of Harley-Davidson knows what's better for a motorcycle engine than anyone else does. If you own a Harley, you're ridiculous not to heed every single clause of the owner's manual. Why? The head engineer wrote that manual; he designed the bike, and knows what's best for it. So if he says, change oil and spark plugs every so-many miles, you'd better listen, or else you won't get maximum performance from your machine.

The same goes for the soul...

Hashem - The Almighty - designed the human soul. If you want maximum performance, you have to fulfill the recommendations of the owner's manual - that's the Torah. Since we are incapable of understanding the spiritual fiber of our own souls, we are also incapable of knowing what's good for the soul. Only the manufacturer - Hashem - knows what's good for the soul, and that's none other than the 613 ancient commandments mentioned in the Torah and elaborated upon in the Talmud and Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law).

Jews have a unique spiritual makeup - the neshama kedusha - that requires observance of 613 commandments. Otherwise, certain damages will be done to that highly delicate and ever so intricate soul. When a person fails to keep kosher for example, his or her soul acquires a coating of impurity that blocks out Divine light. A person who doesn't see or feel Divine light can forget about emuna and spirituality. Lack of spirituality manifests itself in bodily sicknesses, anger, anxiety, stress, and depression, just to name a few.

Yes, the laws are ancient, but so are our souls. The body lasts for 80 or 90 years if you're lucky, but the soul is eternal. We observe the ancient laws for the benefit of our souls, so that we can always be close to Hashem.

With blesings always, Lazer