Lazer Beams

What if She Extends a Hand?

Israeli deputy Minister of Health Yaacov Litchman wouldn't shake the hand of his Belgian counterpart, causing a mini-dipomatic tempest in a teapot.

So what does an observant Jew do when a women extends her hand? 

Observe the Torah by all means, but let's do our best to avoid embarrassing others.

I try to keep a few hard candies in my pocket when on tour. If a woman extends a hand, I drop a hard candy in her palm. The potentially embarrassing situation turns into smiles.

Mordechai's Game-Plan

Back in the time of Mordechai and Esther, the Jewish people faced an accute threat of annihilation. The ax had fallen, King Achashverosh's decree - initiated by his wicked vizier Haman, the great grandson of Amalek - had been signed, sealed and delivered to the four corners of the kingdom. The Jewish people were petrified with fear. Did Mordechai and Esther embark on a diplomatic mission to convince the heads of state? No. Did Mordechai stockpile arms and maybe plan a preemptive strike? No. The entire Jewish nation fasted for three days and made teshuva.

Where are we burying our heads as Israel is looking down the barrel of an imminently nuclear Iran? In Facebook? In our new IPhone? It's really scary.

How can any Israeli complain about apathy amongst our brethren overseas when here in Israel, the army is making life miserable for religious soldiers, Tel Aviv wants to uproot the Shabbat and official Israeli government ministries actively promote gay tourism? Will this invoke Divine compassion? Rather than building Hashem's Holy Land, every week, more homes in Judea and Samaria are destroyed. So many tragically misguided voices are clamoring in revolt against Hashem, when we should be doing the exact opposite, making Teshuva big-time!

Hashem has put the Israeli military establishment in check - logically, there is no chance for an Israel go-it-alone effort against Iran to succeed.

Oh yes, Mordechai and the Jews did pick up their swords in the end, but only after they made teshuva and reconfirmed their emuna and commitment to Torah. The subsequently wiped their enemies off the face of the earth.

I wish that our Prime Minister would realize that Jewish history always repeats itself. This is the week of Purim. If the Jewish People make teshuva, Hashem will arrange that even paper airplanes become bunker busters. Our national security depends on emuna and teshuva - that's all. With emuna and teshuva, David's pebble fells any mighy Goliath, any day of the week.

Delegitimization of Religious Soldiers

For a long time now, Israeli leaders have been bemoaning their utter failure in the war for public opinion. They don't understand one simple fact - Hashem controls public opinion. King Solomon, the wisest of all men, said (Proverbs 16:7): "When Hashem is pleased with a person's ways, even his adversaries reconcile with him." In other words, if Hashem were pleased with our conduct, our public image would be favorable even with no PR effort on our part.

Yesterday, the spokesman of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) also complained of the "delegitimization ambushes" against the IDF by our enemies - from within and without - to embarrass it and make it look bad in the eyes of the world. For that reason, the IDF head spokesman wants to station cameramen in every unit.

Funny, but Hashem runs the world according to the ATFAT principle - a turn for a turn.

The IDF - influenced by the same anti-emuna elements that dictate the government's agenda of progressive destruction of Torah values - has been systematically delegitimizing its religious soldiers, the cream of its crop and the elite of the IDF's elite today.

Recently, four religious soldiers were shamefully expelled from officers' school because they refused - as Jewish Law dictates - to listen to female soldiers sing in an assembly. If that's not bad enough, religious soldiers are now forced to face the ridiculous new policy of placing women in field combat units, in violation of every conceivable concept of modesty according to Judaism.

I don't know how the IDF expects to win wars by delegitiming Judaism and its faithful soldiers. Hashem responds by sending enemies to delegitime the IDF. General Spokesman, your cameras won't help you until you stop fighting Hashem.

The Torah is our only deed to the Land of Israel. Those who are wringing their hands and wondering why the Pallies are applying for statehood must understand that if we observe the laws of Torah in every corner of our Holy Land, the Palestinian problem would evaporate. And if we don't, G-d forbid, the Torah in Haazinu promises that we will suffer at the hands of a non-nation nation; what a perfect description of the Pallies.

It's time - with the threat of war more imminent every day - that the government and the IDF do some serious soul-searching. To stop the delegitimization of the IDF, they should stop delegitimizing our most loyal soldiers and most dedicated citizens. 

Not the Time for Silence

This evening, we usher in the new month of Elul, the month of teshuva and the last month of the Jewish New Year. This was the day that Moses began his 40-day prayer stint atop Mount Sinai, begging Hashem to forgive the Children of Israel for the golden calf fiasco. The forty days ended on Yom Kippur, when Hashem told Moses, salachti kidvarecha - "I have forgiven as you have requested."

Today, I met with one of Israel's leading rabbis. I asked him, "Honorable Rabbi, why are all our spiritual leaders silent in the face of everything our people are facing now? Why don't they get up and speak? Why are you silent?"

The Rabbi answered me, "Our people are broken. They can't stomach any chastising now. We shouldn't speak if they won't listen. Besides, it will only make things worse."

I humbly disagreed. I told the Rabbi that in the army, the only way to bring a shell-shocked soldier out of his stupor is to slap him in the face. I also told him that in my humble opinion, all our troubles are the result of continued intramural hatred. Sure, there are so many wonderful things about our people - their Torah, the thousands of new BTs, mutual aid societies of every shape and form. But, the petty jealousies and the stupid infighting are still there - both of which are manifestations of lack of emuna. The Rabbi shrugged, indicating that the discussion was over.

Business as usual? Yesterday, we lost another magnificent tzaddik, Rabbi Moshe Yosef Reichenberg of Monsey, of blessed memory. Rabbi Reichenberg gave his life trying to save a child who in all likelihood he didn't even know. This was an act of the greatest form of ahavat Yisrael that can be. I have no doubt that Rabbi Reichenberg has already been ushered in the highest portals of Gan Eden.

Leiby Kletzky, Baba Elazar, and now Rabbi Moshe Yosef Reichenberg, all of saintly and blessed memory. Who needs more martyrs? Sorry Rabbi, I'm tired of funerals and Katyusha rockets. And what about Syria's doomsday arsenal of the most unthinkable deadly chemical warheads, all aimed at us? And what about a whole new stream of weapons pouring into Gaza from Libya? And what about the new wave of terror from Egypt and from the so-called Palestinian Authority? And what about the continued bombing of Israel's south? And what about Egypt's new regime that also wants to destroy us, starting with Eilat? And what about the back-to-back earthquake and hurricane in the USA? Is Hashem not raising the volume to make us listen? In 3 short weeks, the nations of the world will try to delegitimize our country by recognizing our enemy's so-called right to a homeland on our tiny piece of G-d given real estate. Do you know what that means? How can you be quiet?

Honorable Rabbi, with such a stormy start of Elul, you - who so many people look up to - can no longer be quiet. As a leader of our people, it's your task to raise your voice even if it's not the most popular thing to do right now. Now is a time for action. Being frum doesn't help much if you turn your nose up at a dark-skinned Jew. When Rabbi Moshe Yosef Reichenberg jumped out of his car in the middle of a hurricane to save a little boy, he didn't ask the injured lad what shtiebel his father davened in. Rabbi Moshe Yosef acted like Hashem's bravest commando. That's how we all must act - with dedication and willingness to risk everything for a fellow Jew, no matter who he or she is. 

I'm sorry, Rabbi. You have forgotten more Torah than I have learned. I am dust at your shoes. But I'm sick of the sacrifices and sick of seeing my neighbors wince every time they hear a siren. Hashem expects us to cry out in behalf of our people and to repair what we need to repair. That's exactly what Moshe Rabbenu did for the 40 days that begin today. Please forgive my insolence, Honorable Rabbi, but this is not the time for silence.  

A Time to Give

Thursday evening: Lazer giving blood at Ashdod's MDA station for wounded soldiers and civilians in today's terrorist attacks

The closer we get to Moshiach, the more we are behooved to give of ourselves. The Zohar teaches that giving is holiness, while taking is the dark side.

The feeling now in the South of Israel is that things are liable to blow up into a full-scale conflict. Not a single Jew in the world has the right to relax, now. Learn, pray, do a mitzva or whatever you can in behalf of your people in the south of Israel, who are now licking painful wounds.

Just because the Three Weeks are over, that doesn't mean that it's business as usual. The untimely death of the prodigious tzaddik Baba Elazar from Beer Sheva has left the south of Israel very vulnerable, as we've seen by Thursday's terrorist attacks. We can't go back to the intramural hatred mode, where I'll only donate to my own cronies and I won't speak to anyone that is associated with a different group. That "golut" garbage has to go - now.

There was a long line of people waiting to give blood in Ashdod this evening; only two had kipas on their head. So who can possibly so a word against a seemingly non-observant Jew?

Being 'religious" doesn't cut the mustard any more. We must be givers. We must see every wounded soldier as a wounded son or brother. If we want to see Moshiach without the Katyushas screeching above our heads (which at the time of this writing, they are; everyone in the South of Israel has been instructed to stay close to home), then we had better begin to give to each other - with all our hearts and with all our souls.

Few people will listen to me. But the few who do will turn the scales in our favor, hopefully, G-d willing. Have a wonderful and peaceful Shabbat! 

Update: We've just been informed that Chief Warrant Officer Paskal Avrahami, 49 and a father of three, of the Israel Police's Special Ops Unit, has been killed in a skirmish with terrorists. He is the eight Israeli martyr of the day, HY"D.

A Home for Hashem

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 haven’t 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, a new toy, a night on the town or relief of our localized problem will end our ills. Wrong. The root of all our ills is Jerusalem - the lack of our Holy Temple and the Divine Presence within our midst.

We sorely need the tamidim, the daily sacrifices on the altar, and especially the monthly se’ir chata’at, the sin offering that atones for all of Israel. We don’t realize how badly are souls have withered, for we’ve never heard the sublime melodies (in this reincarnation) of 24-part Levite harmony or the magical strains of a Levite’s flute and harp – one song or prayer in the Beit HaMikdash would be enough to send our souls in orbit, leaving the disgust of the gross material world that so many of are attached to.

Like those born in caves that have never seen the light, we don’t know what we’re missing.

Since Jerusalem is the heart of the Jewish people, we have an acute national cardiac ailment. The root of the all our pain is in the heart of Judaism – Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash, the Holy Temple. Hashem wants us to wake up before 9th of Av – this Monday night and Tuesday - to ponder the meaning of the Holy Temple’s destruction, not merely from a historical perspective, but from a very pragmatic contemporary perspective as well.

When we think about all that’s lacking in our lives a Torah-observant people - High Priest, the sacrifices, the Levites, mitzvoth that can only be performed in the context of the Holy Temple, the Sanhedrin, true spiritual purity and true spirituality – only then do we begin to lament the Temple’s destruction with any semblance of sincerity.  But rather than crying out to Hashem, we are tacitly agreeing to the dissection and ultimate surrender of Jerusalem, the heart of the Jewish people. Have we asked Hashem even once to prevent the dissection of Jerusalem? Or are we more concerned about our new ceramic floor in the bathroom? We want new furniture and a remodeled kitchen, but are we aware that Hashem's Divine Presence is homeless? Isn't it time we built a home for Hashem?

With the Divine Presence within our midst, there is a limitless blessing of abundance for health, happiness, and everything we need. Our sages say that if we don’t rebuild Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash in our generation, it’s as if we destroyed it, Heaven forbid. Raise your voice now – skyward. Hashem is listening. Redemption could be no more than a heartbeat away. Your prayers could tip the scales for Moshiach and the full redemption of our people, and maybe we won't have to fast this week, amen.

New week, New start

Sunday is here it's a new week. In fact, tonight is a new month too, the month of Av. We now start the 9-day countdown to Tisha B'Av, the worst day of our national calendar - the day our Holy Temple was destroyed and our 2000-year long exile and Diaspora began.

Baba Elazar was brutally murdered right before Shabbat (see Friday's post). Yet, the sun rose today as usual. That doesn't mean we're back to business as usual...

How many wake-up calls do we need to get our act together? Outside of a few alligator tears, have the brutal murders of the Fogel family, Leiby Kletzky, and Baba Elazar - all of sacred memory - moved us in the slightest to better ourselves?

The first Intifada began with rock-throwing. The rocks became knives, but nobody woke up. The knives became pistols, and everybody's still deep in spiritual slumber. The pistols became bombs, the bombs became shahidim, the shahidim became Kassam rockets and the Kassam rockets became Katyusha Grad missiles. Now the tzaddikim are getting murdered. Anybody waking up? What does Hashem need to do for us to get our act together?

Meanwhile, Achmedinejad is building his A-bomb and Hizbulla is itching for a missile war...

Rav Shalom Arush, my beloved teacher and spiritual guide, said right before Shabbat the what we thought was serving Hashem with dedication is not enough any more in light of the severe judgments facing our people. We all must make a new and much more dedicated start by rethinking our priorities in life and taking stock of ourselves - how can each of us improve? Every person knows in his or her heart what he or she needs to do. There's no need for preaching - let's just get to work.