Rerun Post on Parshat Vayechi - Yair (ben Menashe) ben Yosef

I originally wrote this charged post in 5775 (2014) and I reprinted it again in 5779 (2018). That should be sufficient but, somehow (and sadly), it still hasn't become obsolete.

So, here it is again for new readers.



Yair (ben Menashe) ben Yosef 

The gemara in Baba Basra 121b discusses that there is a chain of seven people whose lifespans overlapped to collectively cover the entirety of world history:

1. Adam Harishon lived 930 years
2. Mesushelach was alive to see Adam Harishon
3. Shem ben Noach was alive to see Mesushelach
4. Yaakov was alive to see Shem
5. Amram was alive to see Yaakov
6. Achiya Hashiloni was alive to see Amram
7. Eliyahu Hanavi was alive to see Achiya Hashiloni

And our tradition is that Eliyahu Hanavi is still alive.

 

In some cases the overlap is explicitly stated in the pasukim but in other cases it is attributed to "gemara" which means oral tradition (Rashbam ibid).

 

Further on, the gemara notes that Yair ben Menashe, the grandson of Yosef, was alive to see Yaakov Avinu. Here, as well there is no conclusive proof from the Torah itself and, as such, Rashbam explains that this is likewise "gemara" – a tradition.

 

Comes Rabbi Mordechai Aronovsky in his work Niflaos M'Torasecha and he points out that although there is no explicit source for this assertion about Yair ben Menashe, there is a fascinating remez (hint) to this claim.

 

He says that in all of the five books of Torah there is only one sequence of words where the Roshei Teivos spell out the word "Yair" and it is in this pasuk (Breishis 48:11):

ויאמר ישראל אל יוסף ראה פניך לא פללתי והנה הראה אותי אלקים גם את זרעך.

  
Yaakov says to Yosef in jubilation: I did not aspire to see your face (again) and behold, G-d has shown me even your offspring.  Meshech Chochma points out that the added word גם (even) is intended to extend this phenomenon to include "even" the next generation – i.e. Yair ben Menashe. And, sure enough, we see the name "Yair" encoded in this very pasuk, the only such Roshei Teivos in all of the five books!

One minor question may cross our minds. If Yaakov is applauding his good fortune and the graciousness of HKBH for allowing him this unforeseen delight, why does he allude to G-d with the term "Elokim" which typically implies harshness and midas hadin? He should have used the four letter name that implies benevolence, kindness, and midas harachamim?

Well, my 23 year old Eli is very tuned to current events. And he is suggesting that there may be a dark side to this remez as it can be applied to our generation as well.

You see, Tommy Lapid, who was no friend to the chareidim l’dvar Hashem, was really Yosef Lapid. Last decade, he had a brief, yet turbulent, stint as a policy maker in the Israeli political arena. He came in with a platform of "saving" the nation from the "parasitic" chareidim and at the same time he didn’t even claim to have anything to offer or contribute to society in general. Since he had no success in his exclusive anti-chareidi agenda, he petered out accomplishing absolutely nothing.

Now, just when we thought we could say Baruch She’p’tarani on his anti-chareidi-and-nothing-else agenda, we get his offspring Yair to come in on an identical platform. Yair ben Yosef may have been slightly more effective in making life more challenging for the chareidi tzibur, but in the larger picture, he has produced nothing positive for any member of Israeli society.

And thus there may be a second, more contemporary, application of the remez of this pasuk:

ויאמר ישראל אל יוסף >  and the nation of Israel says to Yosef (Tommy) Lapid

ראה פניך לא פללתי> to see your face in the Knesset is something we would never aspire to

והנה הראה אותי אלקים גם את זרעך > and, behold, to our great consternation, Elokim (midas hadin) has decreed upon us to see your offspring as well.

Woe is to us!

וליכא מידי דלא רמיזי באורייתא

The Eldest Oyster Speaks

 

FDA panel recommends Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for 5-to-11-year-olds - Israel National News

 

The eldest Oyster looked at him,

      But never a word he said:

The eldest Oyster winked his eye,

      And shook his heavy head —

Meaning to say he did not choose

      To leave the oyster-bed.

 

Remember the eldest Oyster? Well, he’s all alone now. I went to visit him to see if maybe now he has something to say. He parted his lips and out flowed pearls of wisdom. This is what he told me:

 

First, they came for the flat-earthers.

But I didn’t speak out because I was not a flat-earther.

 

Then they came for the 9/11-truthers.

But I didn’t speak out because I was not a 9/11- truther.

Then they came for the Trumpeteers.

But I didn’t speak out because I voted for Hillary.

 

Then they came for the anti-vaxxers.

But I didn’t speak out because I was not an anti-vaxxer.

 

Then they came for…our children…

But, by that time…

 

The embedded video below shows an eight year old girl who is being held against her will at a Mamlachti school in Maalot after an unannounced person posing as a dentist came into the school to treat the students. Her father rushed over personally to pick her up but the principal refused to release her to her father. 

At the end, she needed to climb over the fence to get out.

(Note - The embedded videos do not display in the email version. If this is the case, click on the link in the above paragraph for the source or HERE to view it the actual blog.)

 

Disclaimer - Evidently, since the Covid vaccine has yet to be approved and "mandated" for that age range here in Israel, the visit from this unauthorized and unannounced doctor did not involve Covid vaccinations. It is claimed that he came to do dental checks, but the daughter and her father did not hang around long enough to find out. 

Regardless, it is clear that the child is being held against her will and that of her parents and was meant to be subjected to unauthorized medical treatment. For all we know this may have been a dry run to see if they succeed to administer health care without parental knowledge and/or authorization.

Here is the mother's account of the event. (If you got the email, click on the link in the lead text for the source, or HERE to see this in the blog.)

 

 

It’s time to wake up, chevrah! Tomorrow is already too late.

For more information:

https://www.rodefshalom613.org/

Dr. Fauci explaining how the vaccine program is to be engineered pre-Corona

Covid-19 Vaccination Effects Watchdog - United States

Testimonies by 37 Israelis on adverse affects in 7 categories including death

And there is plenty more where all this came from, R"L.

Upheaval in the Land Down Under

 

Australia is a very strange place. 

Aesthetically it is known to be a very beautiful place. Breathtaking scenery, lots of sunshine and greenery and nice urban areas, as well. The folks there are very friendly to each other and even address their fellows as "mates".

כולה משקה כגן השם כארץ מצרים באכה מלבורנה.

Kind of like Sodom.

But, to us, it is strange. It is totally on the other side of the world, beneath the equator and many time zones away. Their winter is our summer and their summer our winter. Despite the British influence from the colonial era and our "common language", it is a foreign land with a foreign culture. Strange plants and stranger beasts.  To me, it comes across as a very inhospitable place that has always been dominated by the law of the jungle – might makes right.

Kind of like Sodom.

We know that parts of it used to be a British penal colony. All the rough and tumble riffraff was sent there to fend for themselves. These were the original “white men” of Australia. These were the ones that subdued the natives and industrialized the continent. They “civilized” it to be just like Europe. Just like the noble Spanish conquistadors who wiped out built up Latin America and just like the puritan Dutch who adored abhorred apartheid in Africa. These are the good white folks who run the place today. And they haven’t changed much.

Many people assume that Australia is a liberal western democracy like all others. This is not entirely true. It is indeed very liberal – anything goes. It can also be called “western” as in the “wild west”. (I think they call it “outback” there.) And I guess it can be called a “democracy”. They vote for their tyrannical rulers – just like we Americans do. But even if it may be the home of the brave, it is not the land of the free.

It is known as the only western land with a constitution that does not have a Bill of Rights. As such, there is no basic right to free speech, no basic right to privacy, to remain silent or to bear arms. Many of these things are protected by what is called “common law” or by separate state laws but they are not fundamental rights.

It is almost the same thing, so what is the difference?

The difference is as follows. If something is a fundamental right, the burden of proof is on the aggressor that he did not infringe upon the rights of the victim. If it is only a common law, such as a law that forbids “invasion of privacy” even though there is no basic right to privacy, then the burden of proof is on the victim to prove that the law protecting his privacy was violated.

Kind of like Sodom.

Of course, our State of Israel is a very close rival. I am not sure why the sources that stated that Australia is "the only” western liberal democracy that does not have a bill of rights overlooked our tiny enclave. It may be because we are considered a middle eastern “oriental” country and not “western” (even though they are way more “east” than we are). Or it may be because, not only do we lack a bill of rights, but we don’t even have a constitution! Hence, Australia is the only western liberal democracy with a constitution that has no Bill of Rights.

As such, I am told that there is a lot of unrest going on down [under] there of late. This is largely due to very draconian Covid and vaccination mandates for which there is no legal recourse to oppose. To begin with, Victoria and NSW have just undergone a four-month total lockdown – the longest in the world! They have even closed borders between their own neighboring states.

Kind of like Sodom.

I am told that people – adults and minors - have been physically forced to be vaccinated against their will (this is not verified). People who don’t want to vax are losing their jobs and livelihood and peaceful, protesters are getting arrested, fined and beaten up. Oh, and qualified doctors are losing their licenses. 

Kind of like Sodom.

This is really something for the nation that ranks 103 in total cases (Israel is 31) and 164 in cases per million (Israel is 14 and ahead of the US); 111 in total deaths (Israel is 61) and 170 in deaths per million (Israel is 81). They sure have one deadly plague raging there! 

To be fair, there are indeed strict Covid mandates here in Israel and in the US and other “democratic” countries. Nevertheless, Australia stands out as the most unforgiving and heavy handed and causing the most economic and social damage for a very trivial amount of actual damage from the “pandemic”. (Don't more people die from snake bites and croc attacks there every year?)

Sure enough, the ground is shaking in Australia. On Sept. 21 (the first day of Sukkos), there was a 5.9 magnitude earthquake in the vicinity of Melbourne. Earthquakes over there are very rare, and some reports said that it was the most powerful on record. It caused a good deal of moderate damage and, B”H, no serious casualties. According to the NY Times, “the quake…collapsed the walls of buildings in Melbourne... It forced residents to flee apartments, shattered windows, left cracks in roads and led to power outages.”

I wonder if anyone’s sukka collapsed!

In any case, we Torah Jews are taught to look at this sort of event as a very significant message from the “Boss”. He is not happy with what is going on in Australia and Melbourne in particular.

וישקפו על פני סדום.

Later, on October 1, Gladys Berejiklian, the premier of New South Wales in Sydney, resigned her post. The official story line is an investigation into some personal hanky-panky and a related funding grant in Wagga Wagga (that's an aboriginal term for "hanky-panky"). The rumor mill claims that she and her colleagues were on the take for a 65m (Australian?) dollar payoff from Pfizer to impose these lockdowns and vaccination mandates.

We may never know the truth (though we can probably all believe the hanky-panky Wagga Wagga part), but the rule of thumb is never to believe anything until the fact checkers officially deny them.

Regardless, it is clear that politically, socially, economically and even geographically, Australia is not very stable right now. 

Let’s bring this a bit closer to home.

I noted that, for all its deficiencies, Australia is not very different than our own State of Israel. Both of us are not very democratic and do not profess guaranteed rights and liberties. I believe that both of us preserved many antiquated tyrannical British laws, except that the ones that we preserved are from the Mandate and not from the Kingdom. As such, one constitutional “right” that they do have there that we don’t have here is a right to trial by jury (Section 80), at least for criminal offenses.

On the other hand, just like in the US, in our wonderful State of Israel, and in most other progressive “western” countries, in Australia as well, one does not need any objective evidence or testimony to convict an accused person. The testimony of the accuser alone with nothing more can suffice to convict. As I have written incessantly in the past, I find this very distressing. One need look no further than the National Registry of Exonerations (US) to determine how corrupt and unjust such a system truly is.

It's kind of like Sodom.

I’m sure my loyal readers (both of them) know where this is going.

As I was saying, Australia is becoming a very rough place. It is getting rough on its non-Jewish citizens so there is no room to imagine it is any better for the Jews. Of course, there are some fine Jewish communities in Australia and some fine Jewish people, but living Jewish in Australia is more in spite of its environs than because of them. My personal opinion is that things will get worse for the Australian Jews before they get better and they should think about leaving.

But I say that about everyone in chutz l'aretz.

I have mentioned many times that for any Jew to leave Eretz Yisrael for anywhere in the diaspora, especially nowadays, is a tragedy. This applies to the US and Canada (don’t get me started), South Africa and, of course, Europe. But Australia looks to be especially worrisome. It is a volcano that is pre-erupting. No telling if and when it will “upheave”.

Just - don't look back behind you.

I think it’s a tragedy as well as halachically questionable for any Israeli Jew to choose to settle there. But to kidnap somebody from Eretz Yisrael and send them to the thugs in Australia for any reason whatsoever is a grievous crime both morally and Halachically and a tremendous chillul Hashem.

And when some of the main players and supporters of this chillul Hashem claim to be religious, mitzva observant Jews and are doing it for some unwarranted, un-Jewish perverted concept of “justice” unsupported by our Torah (or Rabbanim or any Beis Din), it is a chillul Hashem to the n^th power.

And so, I was deeply distressed last January when the forces of the erev rav prevailed to allow the secular post-Zionist government, with the aid of religious Jews, to extradite a Jewish person from the land established to protect all Jews, to the treifene medina of Australia to “face justice” in the courts that need no evidence.

I believe it is the most blatant act of mesira l’mehadrin that I have ever witnessed in my lifetime. Perpetrated and supported by “religious” Jews as well as the non-religious ones.

שמעו דבר השם קציני סדום!

So, what has happened in Australia since January?

There hasn’t been much news until very recently, but over the last month there have been a few developments - some grim and some slightly optimistic.

Firstly, for some reason, the authorities needed to drop 4 of the 74 charges and this left her defense team with a mere 70 charges to fight against. What a break!

Alas, to compensate, the justice loving Australians managed to come up with another 20 charges to tack on to the list! This was due to “new information of two of the three complainants who described additional, severe sexual incidents”.

Problem is, she was only extradited on the basis of the initial 74 charges and that is all they are allowed to adjudicate without additional extradition hearings about the new charges. However, if they get “permission” from the Israeli government to add on the extra 20 charges, they are allowed to do so (clause 17).

So, the Australians requested the Israeli Minister of “Justice” to approve the addition of another 20 charges. The current Minister of Justice is Gideon Saar – leader of the “New Hope” party. He was only too happy to comply. No worries, mate!

What a guy! We religious Israeli citizens can feel safe with our Shofet Gideon. He is definitely our New Hope. השם עמך גיבור החיל!

On the other side of the coin, there was a “committal hearing” (I suppose this is like a grand jury) which was held precisely during aseret yemei teshuva and across Yom Kippur. (They adjourned the hearing for Yom Kippur itself but I don’t think on erev Yom Kippur or the day after which was erev Shabbos.) The media is saying that they cannot disclose much because most of the testimony was done behind closed doors and a lot of it was deemed inadmissible. Nevertheless, there were four very interesting “witnesses” that we know at least part of what they said and it does not really help the prosecution’s case.

The first is a Spanish speaking "cleaner" at the school who said that he witnessed Mrs. Leifer bringing girls into her office on Sundays but he has no idea what she discussed with them. Incidentally, this fellow does not seem to know English very well (and surely not Hebrew or Yiddish). The article says he required an interpreter.

This testimony seems to be rather neutral. I assume that nobody is denying that Mrs. Leifer had private discussions with her students, so it doesn’t support anybody’s case. But the fact that he could not see any indication of “foul play” and the fact that, technically, burden of proof of wrongdoing is upon the accusers and prosecution, I think it helps the defense.

The second was a co-worker at the school who was present at a board meeting where it was decided to terminate Mrs. Leifer’s position. She was not told why. Also, Mrs. Leifer was not at the meeting.

She said that when she went to say goodbye to Mrs. Leifer: "She was very upset with what they were doing to her … she definitely said, 'I did nothing wrong,' and pretty much, she felt very unfair with what was happening."

Again, this does not make anybody’s case, but it does confirm that Mrs. Leifer maintained her innocence from the very start. This adds to the prosecution’s burden of proof.

The last two were much more interesting.

One was the Australian/Israeli counselor, Mrs. Chana Rabinowitz, who was counselling Dassi Erlich and was the first to convey the allegations to Australia. Apparently, when the accusers filed their complaints in the year 2011, the Victorian police contacted her and asked her for an official statement. She refused and explained her reasons in an email. A part of this email was made public and she stated as follows:

“I’m not sure I want to go on record testifying. I have been warned it is totally possible she can one day turn to me and decide to sue me too for speaking to the police. I guess I’m a bit suspect that when someone is in something for the possible payoff then perhaps in the future they will think to get money from me as well if they could.”

The article continues:

In court on Thursday, Ms Rabinowitz said she could not remember who had told her the complainants were trying to access a victims-of-crime grant, but she confirmed she had been warned by her legal counsel not to go on the record because she could be pursued by the complainants for money in the future.

In other words, she is saying that she had grounds to suspect that the accusers are in this for ulterior motive$. She had reason to fear that she may also become one of their victims.

Interesting.

But the last and, I think, most revealing was Dassi Erlich’s ex-husband, Joshua Erlich.

He claimed that after they married and first moved to Israel, the couple actually stayed in Mrs. Leifer’s vacant house (she was still in Australia). He said that throughout their relationship, his ex-wife would speak highly of the woman she is now accusing of abuse. He said:

"All the time that she had spoken about her, she had spoken about her being in place of her mother and being a supportive figure."

He said that during their first year of marriage, Mrs. Leifer visited Israel on a number of occasions and they would meet up. When he spoke with her about the meetings, "She would speak very positively of them."

Then he said that in January 2008, he overheard a conversation between his ex-wife and one of her sisters, Mrs. Meyer, about a session she had with a social worker in Israel. His wife sounded panicked and had "mentioned something about her relationship with Mrs Leifer" to the social worker, Chana Rabinowitz.

"Dassi was very worried about how it had been taken, and that Mrs Rabinowitz was going to contact other people in Melbourne to speak about it," he said. "She was very concerned about what was going to happen next, and she was not sure why it was being taken in such a serious way."

When asked by Mrs Leifer's lawyer whether the social worker had taken things "out of all proportion", Mr Erlich agreed.

"That was my sense from the conversation, yes," he said.

Mr Erlich also recalled another conversation in 2011 between his ex-wife and one of her sisters, Ms Meyer, about the former principal.

"I heard them saying they wanted to call her up and to cause her problems. They were laughing about it. It seemed to me that they just wanted to harass her," he said.

"When you say they were laughing about it, do you mean that literally … as though it was a fun and exciting thing to do," Mr Hill asked.

"That was my sense," Mr Erlich said.

Taken things "out of all proportion", huh?

Clearly, these last two testimonies do not help the prosecution’s case. I am fully aware that there were the testimonies of the accusers which probably portray a different picture, but the impression I get is that they do not have much in the way of outside evidence or outside testimony to back them up. And, if that is so, then it ought to be a hard case to prove.

If I was the judge and I got this impression at this stage, I would probably rule that there is not enough evidence to pursue the case and dismiss it. But this is because I am a Torah student and think like a Jew. I think using Talmudic logic and Talmudic principles. 

Alas, the western system of justice and the western non-Jewish mentality is that the “eye-witness” testimony of an accuser is first-class testimony. The testimony of anyone who is willing to swear on a Bible and claims to be telling the truth is as good as gold no matter how biased, untrustworthy, implausible or unsubstantiated he or she may be.

This is Midas Sodom.

And so, the accused was indicted and ordered to stand trial.

The “western” world is a world of keri. It is not a world of justice. Certainly not our definition of "justice". It is the justice of Sodom.

For us Jews, the West is a very inhospitable, hostile, and scary place. This applies to North America, Europe, even to liberal secular Israel and certainly to Australia. All of it is Sodom.

Let’s get away from there and - don't look back!

לולי ה' צב-אות הותיר לנו שריד כמעט, כסדם היינו, לעמרה דמינו.

Al Mah Avdah HaAretz? - Tisha B'Av 5781

 

Every year we observe the three weeks and the fast of Tisha B’Av and every year we vow that this year will be the last. And here it is again. It just doesn’t seem to want to go away!

We would at least like to think that even if we could not dispense of this calamity once and for all, at least we are getting closer. Every year there are vigils and gatherings where we hear great “inspirational” speakers talk about sinas chinam and Lashon Hara and we say to ourselves, “I’ve gotten the message. I’ve rid myself of sinas chinam and do my best to avoid Lashon Hara and certainly do not engage in malicious LH or motzi shem rah. I do not stab my fellow Jew in the back. The geulah must be waiting for the other slackers to fall into line.”

But the yetzer hara is like a fly. You chase it from your lips it lands on your ears, you chase it from your ear it lands on your neck, you chase it from your neck, it goes crawling on the food in your plate. Then you lift up your fork to eat and it’s back at your lips.

This past year has been a year of all types of churbans. The devastation of Covid-19, the Meron disaster, the Karlin tragedy, the Surfside collapse, and not the least of which (possibly even the worst of which), the hijacking of all of Eretz Yisrael into the hands of the erev rav. For the moment, the land is lost.

מִי הָאִישׁ הֶחָכָם וְיָבֵן אֶת זֹאת וַאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר פִּי ה' אֵלָיו וְיַגִּדָהּ עַל מָה אָבְדָה הָאָרֶץ נִצְּתָה כַמִּדְבָּר מִבְּלִי עֹבֵר: וַיֹּאמֶר ה' עַל עָזְבָם אֶת תּוֹרָתִי אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לִפְנֵיהֶם וְלֹא שָׁמְעוּ בְקוֹלִי וְלֹא הָלְכוּ בָהּ: (ירמיהו ט יא-יב).

Who is the man who is wise and to whom Hashem has spoken and was told [the reason] Why was the land lost, made barren like a desert with no passer-by? And Hashem said, “For they have abandoned My Torah that I put before them. And they did not listen to My voice and they did not go in it[s ways].”

They abandoned My Torah.

What does this mean?

So, all of us look at the gemara in Bava Metziah 85a - Rav Yehudah says in the name of Rav: They did not say the bracha of Torah first.

And we hear many stirring insights on the meaning of these esoteric words. So much so that we lose sight of the complete pasuk. Evidently, Rav Yehuda amar Rav is bothered that the pasuk actually says three sins:

•    We abandoned His Torah
  
  
•    We did not listen to His voice
  
  
•    We did not go in its ways.

Aren’t these all the same? Why did the prophet (or HKBH) use three expressions to say the same thing?

So, Rav Yehuda amar Rav tells us about the first expression, that it does not mean that we sinned. It means that we did not say the bracha of Torah beforehand. I will leave it to the famous inspirational speakers to expound on this. But this is only expression number one. The other two expressions are not expounded on so they need to be taken at face value.

We didn’t listen to Hashem’s voice and we didn’t go in the ways of the Torah. Plain and simple.

But, we can still ask the same question. We now have two remaining expressions which essentially say the same thing. Why both expressions?

Well, let’s go back to expression one and ask – when it says we abandoned His Torah, what part of the Torah does it have in mind? All of it? Some of it? Most of it? How much? Did we stop keeping Shabbos and Kashrus and Milah and Tefillin? These are the exact things we fought and sacrificed for during the second Temple during the Greek oppression.

I want to suggest that the main part of the Torah is the Ten Commandments. As we know, the Ten Commandments were given to us on two tablets. Five and five. We are taught that the first five are primarily between man and G-d. Even the part about kibud av v’em. The amazing thing about the first five commandments is that the first two of which, Anochi Hashem and Lo Yihiyeh Lecha, we heard directly from HKBH. We heard His voice!

These two mitzvos are the mitzvos of Emunah. Anochi – believe in Me. Lo Yihiyeh Lecha – believe in no one else. אין עוד מלבדו. The next three are ways to show it. We fear uttering His name. We display our belief that He created the world in six days by observing Shabbos and we emulate our relationship to Him through honoring our parents. These mitzvos are what we heard ourselves. We heard His voice.

But now, says the prophet, we are not listening to his voice. We are not keeping the first five commandments of Emunah – even if we are keeping Shabbos.

The second five mitzvos are between man and man and it is how we are to behave toward each other. It is the “ways of the Torah”. No murdering, adultering, robbing, railroading or even lusting. This was the part that the other nations turned down. These “ways” are not for them. But they are supposed to be for us. They are the Torah’s ways in which we are “to go”.

But, says the prophet, we did not go in the Torah’s ways.  

So:

• We did not make a bracha on studying the Torah – Abandoned My Torah.
  
  
• We did not observe the first five commandments which is the voice of G-d – They did not listen to My voice.
  
  
• We did not observe the second five commandments which is the way we must go – They did not go in it[s ways].

And, so, the land was lost.

And it is still lost. And if it wasn’t completely lost two months ago, it is now. It is in the hands of the non-believers and even the non-Jewish.

We lost it. We who are the “believers”. We who observe the mitzvos. We lost it. So let’s ask ourselves - why?

Do we make a bracha on Torah study first? I think that nowadays, most of us who study, do.

Do we listen to His voice? I can’t answer that but in our defense I would say that it’s been so long since we’ve heard it. We certainly do not utter His name in vain, we keep Shabbos and at least try to honor our parents. And we do it because we “believe” in Him (although I have a real hard time understanding how so many pious people who “believe” in him need financial guarantees from their future mechutanim that the new couple will be able to live in relative comfort) .

Do we go in the Torah’s way? Of course we do. Well, I don’t murder, do I? I don’t adulterize – I even use a kosher phone and have a filter on my computer which I almost never turn off…um, well, I don’t steal, I think. I never said false things and got anybody else into troub…oh, never mind. I mean, we may not be perfect but who do you think we are, the Corleones?

Okay, let’s say I got a bit carried away. But, even the best and most pious among us, are we really keeping the second five commandments properly? Are we really going in the Torah’s way? (You can probably sense what’s coming…)

Let’s have a look at how Targum Yonasan (Targum Yerushalmi) describes the last five commandments which are all squeezed into two pasukim, Shemos 20:13-14. For our purposes it is sufficient just to study the first one. Here it is:

עַמִּי בְּנֵי יִשְרָאֵל לָא תֶהֱווּן קְטוֹלִין לָא חַבְרִין וְלָא שׁוּתְּפִין עִם קְטוֹלִין וְלָא יִתְחָמֵי בִּכְנִשְׁתְּהוֹן דְּיִשְרָאֵל עִם קְטוֹלִין וְלָא יְקוּמוּן בְּנֵיכוֹן מִן בַּתְרֵיכוֹן וְיִלְפוּן לְחוֹד הִינוּן לְמֶהֱוֵי עִם קְטוֹלִין אֲרוּם בְּחוֹבֵי קְטוֹלַיָא חַרְבָּא נָפִיק עַל עַלְמָא:

לא תנאף עַמִּי בְּנֵי יִשְרָאֵל לָא תֶהֱווּן גִּיּוּרִין לָא חַבְרִין וְלָא שׁוּתָּפִין עִם גִּיּוּרִין וְלָא יִתְחָמֵי בִּכְנִשְׁתְּהוֹן דְּיִשְרָאֵל עִם גִּיּוּרִין דְּלָא יְקוּמוּן בְּנֵיכוֹן מִן בַּתְרֵיכוֹן וְיִלְפוּן לְחוֹד הִינוּן לְמֶהֱוֵי עִם גִּיּוּרִין אֲרוּם בְּחוֹבֵי גִיּוּרָא מוֹתָא נָפִיק עַל עַלְמָא:

לא תגנוב עַמִּי בְּנֵי יִשְרָאֵל לָא תֶהֱווּן גַּנָּבִין לָא חַבְרִין וְלָא שׁוּתָּפִין עִם גַּנָּבִין וְלָא יִתְחָמֵי בִּכְנִשְׁתְּהוֹן דְּיִשְרָאֵל עִם גַּנָּבִין דְּלָא יְקוּמוּן בְּנֵיכוֹן מִן בַּתְרֵיכוֹן וְיִלְפוּן לְחוֹד הִינוּן לְמֶהֱוֵי עִם גַּנָּבִין אֲרוּם בְּחוֹבֵי גַנָבַיָא כַּפְנָא נָפִיק עַל עַלְמָא:

לא תענה עַמִּי בְּנֵי יִשְרָאֵל לָא תֶהֱווּן מְסַהֲדִין בְּחַבְרֵיכוֹן סַהֲדֵי שִׁיקְרָא לָא חַבְרִין וְלָא שׁוּתָּפִין עִם מְסַהְדִין סַהֲדֵי שִׁקְרָא וְלָא יִתְחָמֵי בִּכְנִשְׁתְּהוֹן דְּיִשְרָאֵל עִם מְסַהֲדִין סַהֲדֵי שִׁיקְרָא דְלָא יְקוּמוּן בְּנֵיכוֹן בַּתְרֵיכוֹן וְיִלְפוּן לְחוֹד הִינוּן לְמֶהֱוֵי עִם מְסַהֲדִין סַהֲדֵי שִׁיקְרָא אֲרוּם בְּחוֹבֵי סַהֲדֵי שִׁיקְרָא עֲנָנָן סַלְקִין וּמִטְרָא לָא נָחִית וּבְצוֹרָתָא אַתְיָא עַל עַלְמָא

 

My people, the sons of Israel, You shall not be murderers; you shall not be companions of or partakers with murderers: in the congregations of Israel there shall not be included murderous people; so that your sons shall not rise up after you and teach one another to take part with murderers: for on account of the guilt of murder the sword cometh forth upon the world:

My people of the house of Israel, Be ye not adulterers, nor companions nor partakers with adulterers: nor in the congregations of Israel shall there be seen adulterous people, that your sons may not arise after you to teach one another to have part with adulterers: for through the guilt of adultery death cometh forth upon the world:

My people, the sons of Israel, Ye shall not be thieves, nor companions nor partakers with thieves: there shall not be seen in the congregations of Israel thievish people; so that your sons may not arise after you to teach one another to have part with thieves: for on account of the guilt of theft famine cometh forth upon the world:

My people, the sons of Israel, Ye shall not testify against your neighbours a testimony of falsehood, nor be companions or partakers with those who bear false witness nor shall there be seen in the congregations of Israel people who testify a testimony of falsehood; so that your sons shall not rise up after you to teach one another to have part with those who testify falsehood: for because of the guilt of false testimony the clouds go up and the rain cometh not down, and dryness cometh upon the world.

What does this teach us?

It seems to be teaching us that "going in the way of the Torah" is not adequately accomplished by any individual refraining from these fiendish acts. This isn’t enough. Going in the way of Torah means that one must likewise disassociate himself (or herself) from anyone else who establishes themselves as a murderer, adulterer, thief, or liar with no remorse. (We must accept baalei teshuva). We cannot be a friend to them or a partner with them or permit them to associate with us.

So, even if we – me and you and he and she – adhere meticulously to all the laws of the Torah, but we allow the Torah to be trampled by others and to accept “societal norms” that are against the ways of the Torah, then we, yes we, have not gone in the way of the Torah.

And the land will be lost to the erev rav.

We have to protest and oppose those who publicly call for actions that are against the Torah. It is our responsibility. And if we shirk it, we are to blame.

So says the gemara in Shabbos 54b:

Anyone who has the ability to protest against the misdeeds of his household [and does not], is caught up with the misdeeds of his household. Anyone who has the ability to protest against the misdeeds of his town [and does not], is caught up with the misdeeds of his town. Anyone who has the ability to protest against the misdeeds of the entire world [and does not], is caught up with the misdeeds of the entire world.

This is encoded as Halacha in Rambam Hilchos Deos 6:7.

Many of my loyal readers know that over the past few years, I have written about a horrible debacle in Klal Yisrael. It centers around an observant Israeli Jewish woman who was accused of some indecent activities while she was working overseas. These alleged activities are not as serious as the sins in the Ten Commandments. The allegations may have some basis to them but they have not been established nor is there any sign that the accused is beyond remorse. The allegations facilitated her return to Eretz Yisrael and abruptly put an end to all the alleged activities overseas, even if they transpired.

Still and all, three years after the activities were definitely stopped and the accused was back in Israel, some alleged Jewish “victims” approached the local overseas police to file a criminal complaint and petition for her extradition.

Whether the alleged crimes overseas are real or not has no bearing on what the Torah says is, or is not, appropriate to do three years later. The Torah clearly says that a Jew cannot be extradited outside of Eretz Yisrael – period. This is Lo Tasgir. It says that a Jew cannot be handed over to non-Jews for the sake of punishment alone (as opposed to protection from harm). This is mesira and it is meant to apply even (or especially) to people who are miscreant and worthy of being handed over! It says that a Jew cannot be kidnapped from their home. This is Gonev Nefesh m’Yisrael and is actually the Lo Tignov of the Ten Commandments.

And to allow all this to happen without protest is a chillul Hashem.

This is not the way of the Torah and when the community allows this, they are not going in the way of the Torah. And even if we are the most pious of people, if we are friends with them, if we are partners with them, if we make them a part of our congregations, then, according to Targum Yonasan, we have violated the five commandments.

Almost exactly two years ago, in this time of year, before this debacle reached its climax, I wrote this post:

Revisiting Kamtza and Bar Kamtza--- or Kamtza and (Bar)Bat Kamtza Revisiting Us

 

I tried very hard to protest in the hopes that enough people will stand up for the honor of the Torah and the honor of Eretz Yisrael and halt this sacrifice to “foreign deities”.

In that post, I wrote as follows:

How and when is all this going to end? This remains to be seen, but I can promise this. It won’t end nicely for the Jews in general, not those in Israel and not those in Victoria… It will only be a Churban!

But my hopes didn’t come to fruition.

That was two years ago. Two Tisha B’Avs ago. And last Tisha B’Av we all sat at home watching all the “inspirational speakers” on Zoom.

And in January of this past year it finally happened. The nation that calls itself the “homeland of the Jews”, the land of refuge for Jews persecuted all over the world, extradited a born-in-Israel religious Jew to the non-Jews overseas for the sake of punishment. Not only was the Jewish community silent, so many of us were cheering and jubilating that “justice has prevailed”.

Only, it’s not the Torah’s justice. It’s not the way of the Torah. It is the way of the nations of the world.

For they have abandoned My Torah that I put before them.

And they did not listen to My voice

and they did not go in it[s ways].

Two years later.  

And we have lost so many precious souls to “senseless” tragedies.

And we have lost the land.

Two years later. Have we come closer or fallen even further behind?

Please see:

Revisiting Kamtza and Bar Kamtza--- or Kamtza and (Bar)Bat Kamtza Revisiting Us