Z-CoronA Mülek Airlines, RIP (Rust in Pieces)

 

This year, giving Mishloach Manos was easy. We are quite strapped for cash due to the lockdowns and economic turmoil but every cloud has a silver lining. We knew that with the airport closed and the planes grounded, there must be tons of surplus airline means that we can get dirt cheap and use them for this great mitzvah.

We contacted one supplier and he told me lots of the surplus was bought out and a lot is in the deep freeze waiting for the airlines to go back into business. However, there is one airline that seems to be totally defunct and the meals are already near the expiration date, so he can let me have those for bubkes.

I asked him which airline this is and he said it’s a lesser known European airline called Z-CoronA Mülek Airlines. Not flying anymore due to the shutdowns.

I asked if he has any Mehadrin meals available and he said he has about 40 left. So we took them off his hands, stuck our own name on them and gave them to our nearest and dearest. (We couldn’t get any further than that). Here is what they looked like:

 

When we opened them up we found the Kashrut certificate plus a short overview on the history of Z-CoronA Mülek Airlines.

This is what it said: 

About us –

Z-CoronA Mülek Airlines started out as a private family-owned airline founded by the brilliant entrepreneur and pioneer inventor Wilbur (Eliphaz) Radical-Wright and his half-brother – and son – Orville (Reuel). This was a transportation upgrade from the family mule business.

Our main competitor was Ananei HaCovid Airlines. All the Hebrews liked to fly Ananei HaCovid. Of course, we wanted the Hebrew business(es), but it was hard to reach out to their clientele. Our big break came when a large group of Hebrews were traveling back to Israel from Cairo. Ananei HaCovid announced that they would only accept passengers who were vaccinated. Those who refused to vaccinate, were rejected by Ananei HaCovid.

Z-CoronA Mülek Airlines jumped right into the pot to pick up the slack[ers]. We were there and waiting and picked up all the stranded passengers. No vaccinations required, although we had our own alternative treatment. It was sad that so many did not make it through the trip, but we tried our best.

Many generations later, a family grandson and aviation enthusiast Howard (Haman) Hughes-Less, rose to leadership at Z-CoronA Mülek Airlines. He bought out other struggling airlines such as Air Shushan and Madi-Air. He appointed his own sons as corporate executives and thus formed an Ag[r]agate.

Z-CoronA Mülek Airlines served as the national airline of the Persian Empire up until 516 BC. We flew to 127 countries and were renowned for accommodating the desires of each and every man. We used only the newest state-of-the-art aircraft and achieved a then unheard-of flying altitude of 50 cubits. CEO Haman Hughes-Less also built some magnificent wooden hangars for his plan[e]s at Koresh International Airport.

Unfortunately, in 516 BC we encountered unexpected turbulence. The Emperor’s first wife was flying back home from a celebration and got caught in heavy tail winds. What's worse, we lost her luggage and she had absolutely nothing to wear. She filed a complaint with customer service. The CEO, unaware of her exalted status, unwisely suggested that she never fly our airline again. Around the same time, a disgruntled customer who only flew Ananei HaCovid Airlines convinced the Emperor not to trust us. As a result, we were slapped with an anti-trust suit.

This occurred during a horrible plandemic when many countries declared a moratorium on air travel. The travel restrictions, the anti-trust suit, and the fake news forced us into bankruptcy. The airline was liquidated, the planes were sold for scrap and the CEO and the other company executives lost their homes and took up permanent residence in the wooden hangars.

Sadly, Z-CoronA Mülek Airlines isn’t flying right now. It’s just a memory.  And we’re stuck with a lot of unused Kosher meals that we can’t get rid of. Enjoy!

Z-CoronA Mülek Airlines – The Best in Aviation from Z to A

Next time you are banned from the Ananei HaCovid, don’t get wiped out! – Remember us!

Have a great after-Purim and a Chag Kasher V’Sameach

Parshat Zachor: No Boundaries – The Amalek within Us

אשר קרך בדרך... ולא ירא אלקים

Once upon a time I was in Meah Shearim sitting in the waiting room of an askan from the Chareidi community. There so happened to be a young irreligious couple also sitting in the waiting room. The female of the species was wearing a short sleeve top and pants and her head wasn’t covered. Coincidentally, so was the male.

There was a little bit of small talk and the woman said to me (in Hebrew), “You probably think by the way we look that we are not maaminim (believers). This isn’t true. We are maaminim just like you.”

I responded to her as follows: “You seem to think that ‘belief’ is a monolithic phenomenon with a single definition where a person is either a ‘believer’ or not and all ‘believers’ can be put on one shelf. You are sorely mistaken. Our belief system is comprised of 13 articles of faith which are not all or nothing. There are several parts such as – there is a G-d, there is no other god, this G-d created the world, He dictated the Torah and gave it to us through His prophets, He knows all of what we do, He gave us laws to follow and He will reward those who follow His laws and punish those who violate them.

“It is possible for one to believe in some of them but not in others. I happen to believe in all of them. By virtue of your demeanor, it is hard for me to believe that you also believe in all of them. As long as this is the case, even though you may truly be a ‘believer’, I do not think you can claim to be a believer ‘just like me’.”

We have two primary terms to address G-d. One is the holy four-letter Name – YKVK or “Hashem”. The other would be Elokim or Elokeinu. We know that each of these terms has a distinct meaning and we consistently analyze when the Torah (or Tanach) chooses to use term A or chooses term B or both. Why this term and not the other? The basic distinction is that the four-letter Name indicates midas harachamim, mercy, our Father in Heaven, and the term Elokim (G-d or our G-d) indicates midas hadin, judgement, our King. 

We have also heard terms like Yiras Hashem and Yarei Elokim but we don’t always scrutinize so much why one term is the appropriate one and not the other. So what do they each mean?

Let’s take another look at the 13 principles of faith and briefly review the entire list:

1.   G-d created all that exists

2.   G-d is unique, always existed and always will exist

3.   G-d has no physical appearance

4.   G-d predates all and outdates all

5.   It is only possible to pray to this G-d

6.   All words of His prophets are true

7.   Moshe was the father of all prophets and his prophesy is true

8.   The Torah that we have was given to us through Moshe

9.   There is not and will not be any other Torah

10.        G-d is aware of everything we do and think about

11.        G-d rewards those who follow his commandments and punishes those who violate them

12.        The Moshiach will come

13.        The dead will be resurrected

We can divide these principles into two groups:

Category 1 – YKVK

Principles 1-4 define the essence of HKBH, primarily that He is unique and eternal. Haya, Hova, v’Yihiya – always was, is, and always will be. This is exactly what the term comprised of the four-letter Name – YKVK – means.

But this has nothing to do directly with us Jews.

Principles 5 and 6 are also attributes of G-d and are not necessarily specifically aimed at us Jews. They apply to any Human being. So, these two are somewhat in-between and I would put them in the first category.

Category 2 – Elokim

Principles 7-13 deal specifically with how G-d relates to us as His nation. That He speaks to us through His prophets and, in a much more limited way, through our sages. That he knows what we do and think. That he will reward and punish us and send us the Moshiach and revive our dead.

In short – He is our Lord and Master and King and Judge. He is Elokim.

To summarize: 1 through 6 – YKVK (Hashem). 7 through 13 – Elokim (or Elokeinu).

It is not too difficult for any Human being to believe in the YKVK category of principles 1-6. For one thing, I think it is easier to believe in a Creator than in evolution and that this world created itself. For another thing, principles 1-6 do not impose any obligations or restrictiona on anyone. There is no price to pay to believe in 1-6. As long as we stop here, anybody can believe that there is a disconnected G-d. You don’t have to be Jewish.

Even Amalek can believe that a G-d exists. This does not negate their belief in “keri” – happenstance. There are no rules. Even Amalek can have some Yiras Hashem – a fear of “Nature”, a fear of the forces of the world. This does not cost them anything.

Everything changes in the “Elokim” category. These principles tell us that G-d is not disconnected. He sees all and knows all and has rules and obligations for us to live by. This imposes upon our personal freedom.

And, of these 7 principles, the two primary ones are principles 10 and 11. Number 10 says that G-d knows all that we do and what we think about – i.e., why we do it. Number 11 says that G-d rewards those who follow his mitzvos and punishes those who violate them. In other words, there is Heavenly retribution!

Obviously, anyone who understands these two principles and truly believes in them takes them very seriously and will do his or her best to observe the mitzvos. They want to be rewarded. They don’t want to be punished. They greatly fear Heavenly retribution.

They are Yarei Elokim!

Conversely, one who does not observe mitzvos quite obviously does not really believe in Heavenly retribution. It doesn’t matter how Jewish he or she is. Certainly, they are good moral people and won’t kill, steal, or rape or even cheat on their spouses…if all this serves their interests. But their “goodness” is there because “society” imposes a penalty on criminal behavior. Or, their consciences will not give them peace. But it is not because they fear Heavenly retribution.

There is no Yiras Elokim.

No Yiras Elokim does not mean there are no rules. It means there are no rules attributable to G-d. The rules are my rules. I decide which rules to live by and I decide when the rules must be kept and when they can be broken. I have rules but I have no boundaries.

This is Amalek.   ולא ירא אלוקיםThey have no fear of punishment. They don’t believe in it. And so, they have no boundaries.

When there is no Yiras Elokim, the rules can change at whim. There are no boundaries.

And so, Avraham Avinu explains to Avimelech:

כי אמרתי רק אין יראת אלקים במקום הזה והרגוני על דבר אשתי.

“For I told myself, for there is no fear of retribution in this place, and they will kill me for my wife…”

Avimelech’s kingdom certainly had laws and rules and punishments. But they were man-made laws. One could always make “exceptions”. Especially people in high places. In high places, the rules change. There may be plenty of contribution but not much retribution. And if there is no fear of retribution anything can happen.

There is no Yiras Elokim. There are no boundaries.

This is the essence of Amalek – ולא ירא אלקים. It is the essence of the Eirev Rav. And, sadly, it affects many Jews who are רפו ידיהם מן התורה. Rafu yedeihem min haTorah means that they stopped believing in principles 6-9. The prophets don’t “speak to me”. There is no “word of G-d”. The Torah doesn’t “speak to me”. I have no Torah to follow. And, if so, there is no reward for keeping it nor punishment for violating it.

There is no Heavenly retribution. And there are no boundaries.

When a Jewish person who was brought up Orthodox and educated Orthodox and was taught Torah and mitzvos stops observing Torah and mitzvos for whatever reason, he or she is saying that they don’t believe in principles 10 and 11. They won’t be rewarded and they certainly won’t be punished. Most likely, they do not believe in principles 6-9, either. They can claim that they believe in G-d and even in “justice”, but it is their definition of justice, not G-d’s. They may be “good” people with social morals, but they are not Yarei Elokim and they have no boundaries.

And there are even Jews who can be called “Orthodox”. They keep Shabbos because they believe in principles 1-4 that G-d created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. But they have no Ameilus b’Torah so they cannot hear the word of G-d (Vayikra 26:14). They may even believe in principles 5-8. But somehow things change in principle 9 – there will be no other Torah. Suddenly, the Torah becomes flexible.

When G-d says a man should not lie with another man, He doesn’t really mean it. When He says Jews should not be imprisoned, He doesn’t really mean it. When he says, Jews cannot be sent out of the Land of Israel, He doesn’t really mean it. When he says that Jews are not to be handed over to non-Jews for punishment, He doesn’t really mean it. When He says not to shame people in public for things they have done in the past but are no longer doing, He doesn’t really mean it. When He says to love Him and do His mitzvos even when He takes your life or your money or gives you a rough time in life, He doesn’t really mean it.

This is because we have to be “just” and “moral” people and, regardless of what G-d says, this isn’t my idea of justice and morality. So I can embrace homosexual behavior (not just tolerate it) and I can denounce Jews to non-Jewish police for past sins (not just for current ones) and I can see to it that they are extradited and imprisoned and shamed and destroy their families and prevent them from repairing their lives because this is “justice”.

There is another “Torah”. So we can no longer believe in principles 10 and 11. There will be no Heavenly retribution for this. There is no need to fear Elokim. There are no longer any boundaries.

Yiras Elokim is in short supply these days. Amalek is with us.

וקוץ ודרדר תצמיח לך... מלחמה לה' בעמלק מדר דר!

ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששון ויקר

פורים שמח

Related posts:

Mishenichnas ADAR Marbim b’… Rechilus?

We will not Kneel and we will not Bow

The Forbidden Speech of Chodesh Addar

(Credit Niflaos M’Torasecha)

The hallmark of Amalek is the concept of “keri” – happenstance or occurrence. The notion that everything happens by chance – there is no Conductor to the orchestra. All is coincidence.

So the Torah says about Amalek: אשר קרך בדרך

They occurred upon you when you were traveling. A coincidence.

Of course we don’t believe in coincidence. As such, the first occurrence of the word keri - קרי - encoded in the Torah as a Sofei Teivos is (Shmos 17:9):

בחר לך אנשים וצא הלחם בעמלק מחר אנכי נצב...

(Note – there are only three occurrences of this word as a Sofei Teivos in the entire Torah and not a single occurrence as a Roshei Teivos)

Coincidence?

Amalek may think so, but we think not!

Hence, Haman was very happy when his lots just happened to fall out on the month of Adar. It was not our best month. Moshe Rabenu died in this month. This is what we all learn in cheder.

But there may have been another reason why Haman was so thrilled that his lots fell out on Adar. Something that we don’t learn in cheder. Haman may have known something else about the month of Adar.

Adar is the month of malshinus, rechilus and loshon hara!

Haman may have known another “coincidence”. There are only two “occurrences” in the Torah where the word Adar (אדר) is encoded as a Roshei Teivos. And one of them is this pasuk (Breishis 37:3):

ויבא יוסף את דבתם רעה אל אביהם

And Yosef brought their evil reports to their father. 

Ther first thing we note is the association of Yosef to this encoded word.

The Arizal writes that each month corresponds to one of the Shevatim. The month of Adar corresponds to Yosef. Yosef was granted two tribal portions and was immune to the ayin hara. As such, the mazal for Adar is Dagim, fish, which multiply freely and are not subject to an ayin hara. And this is why the month Adar gets two appearances on leap years.

But what is the significance of the reference to malshinus?

The commentaries (See Kli Yakar – Breishis 37:26) explain that the brothers conspired to kill Yosef because he was a הולך רכיל. He was a rodef and a moser.

Although their assessment may have ultimately been erroneous, it was not totally baseless. The Torah indeed testifies in our pasuk that Yosef brought the “evil report” to their father. And it had all the divisiveness and ugliness of rechilus. Even though most of the brothers participated in the mechira, they were not of one mind. Shimon and Levy wanted blood. Yehudah wanted cash. The younger ones went along for the ride. Reuven abstained.

The brothers were divided. Each had a different motive.  מפוזר ומפורד. And all this, as we know, brought about the first of a series of bitter exiles.

Such is the price of malshinus. And the hidden word in the pasuk seems to relate it to the month of Adar.

Coincidence?

[Incidentally, the other pasuk where Adar occurs in Roshei Teivos is Breishis 24:30 which states:

ויהי כראת את הנזם ואת הצמדים על ידי אחתו וכשמעו את דברי רבקה אחתו לאמר כה דבר אלי האיש

Here we see Rivka relaying to Lavan what was told to her by Eliezer. Although there does not seem to be anything derogatory or sinful about this exchange, it was nevertheless an act of one person telling over what they heard from another. Technically rechilus. And perhaps it was not so benign as the Midrash indeed tells us that Besuel subsequently attempted to poison Eliezer.

Lots of דיבור in this pasuk. Coincidence?]

Perhaps, Haman, who loved “coincidences”, was aware of this connection. Adar is a month where Loshon Hara does its damage. Adar is a great month to destroy Klal Yisrael

The gemara in Megillah 13b tells us:

אמר רבא ליכא דידע לישנא בישא כהמן 

Rava says, “There was none who could speak Loshon Hara as smoothly as Haman”. And the gemara goes on to relate a lengthy dialog of just that.

Haman was the king of rechilus. The gemara says (Chullin 139b):

המן מן התורה מנין ? המן העץ... (בראשית ג' יא)

Where is a reference to Haman in the Torah? Hamin ha-etz… (Breishis 3:11).

What is this pasuk? Let’s see the whole thing:

ויאמר מי הגיד לך כי עירם אתה המן העץ אשר צויתיך לבלתי אכל ממנו אכלת  

HKBH asks Adam HaRishon: Have you eaten from the forbidden tree? The Tree of Knowledge? Knowledge of what’s good and knowledge of what’s evil? Knowledge of what’s good about you and what’s evil about “him”?

Have you conspired with the snake? The same snake that Shlomo Hamelech is referring to when he will write:

    אם ישך הנחש בלוא לחש ואין יתרון לבעל הלשון  ?

The snake that bites and kills for no purpose?

And who is hiding in this pasuk - in plain sight?

המן העץ אשר צויתיך לבלתי אכל ממנו אכלת…

Yep, this is Haman’s “reference” in the Torah. His Hollywood “credit”.

And what else is hiding in this pasuk? Very well concealed, I might add. You see it? Look. Still not? Look closer:

המן העץ אשר צויתיכ לבלתי אכל ממנו אכלת…

Rechilus (only such occurrence in the Torah). Haman’s master craft!

כי משרש נחש יצא צפע

From the root of the snake emerged the viper… (Yeshaya 14:29)

עמלק = 240 = צפע  as if to say:  כי משרש נחש יצא עמלק

וירא בלעם כי טוב בעיני ה' לברך את ישראל ולא הלך כפעם בפעמ לקראת נחשים 

Coincidence?

Haman, the star disciple of the snake, understood better than anyone what rechilus can do. And so, he was thrilled that he could ply his trade in the most auspicious month – Adar.

ישנו עם אחד מפוזר ומפורד

There is a nation that is scattered and disconnected. They are scattered in cliques that denigrate one another…they are guilty of rechilus…

Adar is the month of Yosef who brought evil reports to his father. את דבתם רעה … and caused his brothers to shun and hate him.

Thus, Haman’s plan could only be nullified by a descendent of Binyamin. Binyamin heard the bad reports that Yosef brought and he also knew what his brothers did as a result. This would have been a juicier report to bring to their father. But he was silent. He told nobody.

Binyamin’s stone in the choshen is Jasper – ישפה. Yesh peh v’shosek. He has a mouth and is able to speak, but he is silent. And so his descendant Esther saves Klal Yisroel by: אין אסתר מגדת

Coincidence?

We have learned that the month of Adar is the month of malshinus. We will live or die at the mercy of our tongues. So it was in the days of Yosef and so it was in the days of Haman and Esther and so it is today.

Malshinus, Rechilus, Lashon Hara and Mesira!

The saga and Chillul Hashem of the Malka Leifer episode continues –and grows.

I have summarized the episode numerous times. See HERE for the original post. But, in this post, I want to reframe the episode this way:

Three Jewish women, all sisters, two of whom are non-observant, are spearheading a campaign to extradite to Australia another Jewish woman, who is observant, on the pretense that she molested them ten years earlier. Their intention is to have her judged and punished by the non-Jewish Australian authorities for the crimes that they claim she committed.

To accomplish this, one of the sisters, Dassi Erlich has opened up a Facebook page devoted exclusively for her campaign to moser this Israeli woman to the goyim in Australia. They have also instigated at least two petitions to that were delivered to the powers-that-be in Eretz Yisroel to cooperate in this mesira. In both cases the aim is to enlist the aid and support of ingenuous well-meaning Jews.

The petitions garnered between 16,000-17,000 signatures total; although there were surely numerous duplicates and double-dippers. The Facebook page dedicated to mesira is now holding at 1557 “Likes” – up from 1316 a mere two months ago.

1557 people “Liking” a campaign to moser an Israeli Jew and citizen to Australia for no toelles except to satisfy these sisters’ quest for personal “justice”. It is certainly not to protect anybody in Australia, and if anybody thinks people are in danger here in Eretz Yisroel, we have a fine, quite aggressive, local police force that serves and protects.

These Jews have absolutely no way of knowing if any of the accusations are true and, even if they are, to what degree. There is absolutely nothing of substance supporting the claims of these three sisters.

Yet it seems that all they need to do is call out “Rape!” and “Pedophile!” and point to the villain and, without offering a shred of evidence, they will have hundreds, if not thousands, of do-gooders screaming for the blood of another Jew! Ready, not only to cheer them on, but to actively participate in this bloodletting and to pray for their success.

Just because these three sisters said so!

If this is all it takes to get thousands of Jews, some very observant ones, to ignore all of the Halachos of Mesira, Gonev ish u’mecharo, Lo tasgir eved, and more, then we have a much bigger problem than “child” abuse on our hands. (I am in no way undermining the problem of child abuse.)

Anybody who follows my blog knows that I have been writing about this debacle for close to two years. My main thrust is that the issue of whether the accusations are indeed true is irrelevant. There is no reason or justification to involve Australian authorities in this matter regardless. And it is only because of the impetus of Jews that it is taking place.

In my previous post on this subject I noted a few facts. One is that the accused Mrs. Leifer had left Australia in 2008 with no intention to ever return. Subsequently, it was only in 2011 – three years after Malka Leifer left Australia and after three years that nobody in Australia was molested or hurt in any way that these saintly Jewish sisters first approached the Australian police and opened up the case. Not the Israeli police, but the Australian police!

These actions instigated the senseless, Halachically forbidden, and arguably illegal (for lack of Prima Facie evidence) extradition request that has generated so much publicity and Chillul Hashem.

And, at least 1557 people are so very proud of them!

Now, here is the latest.

Up to very recently, the extradition campaign has hit a few snags. The main one is that for a while, Mrs. Leifer was able to avoid the hearings by claiming mental incapacity. To most of us (including myself), it seems like a ruse. But I was happy for it because I strongly maintain that this extradition should not be on the table under any circumstances.

At or around February 12, Mrs. Leifer was rearrested for “obstruction of justice” in the wake of her heretofore successful evasion of the extradition hearings (that should not be held in the first place).

Now, technically, the charges may be legitimate. However, the Israelis are very choosey about when they apply these obscure technical “offenses” and when they don’t. When they want to, they let these things slide. This time they didn’t.

Why?

Because so many Jews put pressure on the government to see to it that a Jewish Israeli citizen is extradited to Australia for crimes for which, aside from the word of the accusers, there is no proof that they ever took place!

February 12 was the 27 of Shvat. A mere three days before Rosh Chodesh Adar.

Coincidence?

MiShenichnas Adar Marbim B’Simcha!

And all the Jews on Dassi Erlich’s Facebook page are so-o-o happy! Just look at all of the comments. So happy that “finally” a Jew can get extradited to Australia! So happy that the long-standing mesira may actually bear fruit!

It’s a Purim miracle!

MiShenichnas Adar  - את דבתם רעה - Marbim B’Mesira!

והעיר מלבורן צהלה ושמחה!

The Jews in Australia and in 126 other lands are rejoicing.

And so is the serpent  -  and so is Amalek!

Coincidence? I am afraid not.

And, as for me…

ידנו לא שפכו את הדם הזה...כפר לעמכ ישראל אשר פדית...

Mishenichnas ADAR Marbim b’… Rechilus?

Contents of this post have been removed as part of a legal settlement.

For more details about this, please see this post:

The Segulah of Rabi Matya ben Charash - A Testimonial

For the most current updates on the story:

Four Horsemen of the Kol Koreh 3 - The Malka Leifer Debacle

The Malka Leifer Verdict - Guilty! ...or Not?

Related post:

Arrur Makkah Re'eihu B'Seter