Lazer Beams

The Emuna Army

There's a lot that the media doesn't tell you. Emuna is spreading like wildfire in the IDF. The combat units are full of religious soldiers who believe in our Torah and in our Holy Land. The number of religious junior officers is two and a half times greater than the percentage of the religious population. Soldiers in combat units are coming close to Hashem big time. This is all despite the fact that the top brass doesn't make life easy for religious soldiers.

Here's a 3-minute clip of our recent visit with an IDF infantry unit on the Gaza border. Have a great Shabbat Emor and G-d bless.

I left my heart in Meron

I don't remember if it was Tony Bennett or Frank Sinatra (maybe both?) that sang, "I left my heart in San Francisco". I can safely say that I left mine in Meron.

Meron on Lag B'Omer defies description. This year, I won't be able to be in Meron for Lag B'Omer, because I'll be on a plane to Singapore; my first task is to spread emuna around the globe. But, if you can imagine a Woodstock of complete holiness, with the spirit of one of our people's greatest tzaddikim of all time - Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai - walking around in your midst, where the tears of elation mix with the tears of a broken heart, dancing on air in perfect unity with people you might not speak to all year long, while on-the-house food and drink flow out of trees and stones, that's Meron - a little place of heaven on earth. Here's a small taste from a few years ago (takes a few seconds to load). We look forward to seeing all of our friends in Singapore, mainland China, Hong Kong and the UK between May 10-23, 2012.

The Gift of Israel

Thank You, Hashem, for the gift of our beloved homeland Israel. 

Thank You, Hashem, for the tremendous miracles You've been performing in the past 64 years that enable us to live and thrive despite the fact that we're surrounded by hundreds of millions of enemies.

Thank You, Hashem, for giving us a land so sweet that even the soil tastes like carobs.

Thank You, Hashem, for a country so attractive that looking at her makes one's heart skip a beat hike a young man looking at his fiancé.

Thank You, Hashem, for the atmosphere of holiness all week long, and especially on an Eretz-Yisrael Friday evening sundown, when the kedusha is so tangible you can almost cut it with a knife.

Thank You, Hashem, for bringing us here from the four corners of the earth, for we have so much to learn from one another.

Thank You, Hashem, for the sweet fruits of our holy soul, which nothing anywhere can compare to.

Thank You, Hashem, for all the holy places where it's especially conducive to call Your Name.

Sure, our country is not yet what we'd like it to be; that's no problem though, because we can pray for Moshiach, the Geula, our rebuilt Holy Temple and everything else we lack. But, that's no excuse for not thanking Hashem for giving us our own homeland after 2,000 years of being wanderers and unwelcome guests barely tolerated by our host nations.

Rav Kook once paraphrased Kaddish - yitgadal, the country will grow and thrive; veyitkadash, and then it will be sanctified. The revolution of spiritual awakening in Israel gets stronger by the day. Thanks once again, Hashem, that our growing country - despite its problems - is slowly and surely become sanctified with more and more people calling Your Name. True Israel Independence means gaining our independence from the influences of evil.

Rosh Chodesh Iyar

Today and tomorrow mark the beginning of the new Hebrew-calendar month of Iyar. This time of the year is gorgeous in Israel, and particularly in my beloved hometown of Ashdod on Israel's southern Mediterranean coast. The air here is perfumed with the fragrance of citrus blossoms. The sky is a clear deep blue. The wheat is ripening. The sea is calm. Let me share a few photos with you, to start off a lovely week and a beautiful new month: 

Image #1: Wildflowers east of Ashdod

Image #2: The late afternoon sun seen through river canes on Lachish River Wadi

Image #3: Wheat ripening in the field, to be harvested shortly before Shavuot

Image #4: Ashdod Marina

Image #5: Wall of Ancient Ashdod

Image #6: Citrus blossoms

Blessings for a wonderful need week and month!

Spiritual Cause and Effect

I'm privileged to bear the name of the holy Mishnaic sage (Tanna, in Aramaic) Rebbe Eliezer ben Yaakov. His gravesite is 2 kilometers east of the Hananya crossroads, about 10 kilometers south of Meron.

Rebbe Eliezer ben Yaakov was nicknamed kav veNaki (Gemara tractate Eruvin 62b, Yevamot 49b, and other places), which literally means "grain with no chaff". The connotation is that he didn't say much, but almost everything he did say was codified into law. One of Rebbe Eliezer ben Yaakov's most well known sayings appears in the Mishna, tractate Avot, chapter 4, mishna 11. He says, "One who performs a mitzva earns a defense counsel, and one who transgresses earns a prosecutor; teshuva and good deeds are a shield against calamity."

The defense counsel that Rebbe Eliezer ben Yaakov was talking about is a defending angel, and the prosecutor is a dark-side force of evil. This mishna is the key to spiritual cause and effect, a notion that permeates all of Torah.

In light of Rebbe Eliezer ben Yaakov's teachings, we can say our enemies are born from our own misdeeds. This is the key to understanding what's going on in the world. The ATFAT law is at work here: every breach in personal holiness - especially here in our beloved homeland - brings with a breach in national security. 

We all must stand strong against the spiritual defilement of the Land of Israel if we expect to maintain true sovereignty on this tiny strip of holy real estate that the entire world is trying to take away from us. Debauchery is our worst enemy; the Hamas and Hizbulla were only created from our lack of holiness. You know what that means? Lack of modesty and lewdness ultimately manifest themselves as Kassam and Katyusha rockets. 

Personal holiness and modesty are the best defense against all of our enemies. We strengthen our holiness by guarding our speech, guarding our eyes, dressing more modestly, avoiding lewd sites and literature, and by strengthening our emuna. Emuna and prayer are our two strongest weapons. Let's pick them up right now. The more we fight for an Eretz Yisrael of kedusha (holiness), the faster the forces of impurity within our midst will crumble. Don't think for a minute that if you're outside the physical borders of Israel, you're exempt from doing your part.

For the defense of our Holy Land, let us become more holy. Holiness is our deed to this cherished piece of real estate that Hashem has entrusted to our safekeeping.

 

Life's Thorns

This time of the year is magnificent in Ashdod - the air smells like perfume and everything is blossoming. The citrus flowers make the atmosphere smell like Gan Eden here. Even the weeds and the thorns are in bloom.

Why did Hashem make the thorns so beautiful? Pictured below is thistle flowering in a meadow east of Ashdod - it's purple color, argaman in Hebrew - is one of the main colors used in the Holy Temple. Yet intrinsically, the thorns are beautiful, like all of Hashem's creations. They symbolize our challenges and "prickly" times in life. These are our growth opportunities, not the easy-street jolly hours. Life's thorns - like everything else Hashem does - are for our ultimate benefit. More than anything, they bring us closer to Hashem.

 

Land of Milk and Honey: Dates and the Secret of Fertility

Rebbe Nachman of Breslev says that The Land of Israel is conducive to fertility.

The Torah calls the holy Land of Israel the "Land of milk and honey;" Rashi elaborates that the "honey" refers to dates from the date palm.

Dates, especially those grown here in Israel, have magical qualities. If you know anyone with a fertility issue - man or woman - the following simple Land-of-Israel fertility enhancer is bound to help them:

Get a liter of fresh goat's milk. Take 8 big dates or 12 medium-size dates and soak them in the milk overnight. In the morning, use a blender to grind the dates in the same milk. Add a half teaspoon of cardamon powder (hel in Hebrew) and a tablespoon of bee honey (natural, with no additives) and 10 dried untoasted almonds. Blend it all together and drink at least 250 cc's of the mixture (about 9 ounces). The effects are remarkable.

The above "Date Shake" not only does wonders for fertility, but it enhances stamina as well.

Don't forget to send me an invitation to the Bris.