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"Mandate for Palestine"
July 24, 2008 | Eli E. Hertz
86 years ago - on July 24, 1922, the League of Nations (equivalent to today's UN) published the historical document "Mandate for Palestine" that laid down the Jewish legal right to settle anywhere in western Palestine - the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, an entitlement unaltered in international law.
The "Mandate for Palestine" was not a naive vision briefly embraced by the international community. Fifty-one member countries - the entire League of Nations - unanimously declared on July 24, 1922:
"Whereas recognition has been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country."
It is important to note that political rights to self-determination as a polity for Arabs were guaranteed by the same League of Nations in four other mandates - in Lebanon and Syria [The French Mandate], Iraq, and later Trans-Jordan [The British Mandate].
Any attempt to negate the Jewish people's right to Palestine - Eretz-Israel, and to deny them access and control in the area designated as the Jewish National Home by the League of Nations is a serious infringement of international law.
Those claiming that Jewish settlements in the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea are illegally occupied, should answer just one simple question: In 1922 Jewish settlements were perfectly legal - What has changed?
For the entire commentary please click The Mandate for Palestine.
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BS"D Parashat Matot 5768
Yesterday, on the way to my bet knesset in the northern section of the Old City, I was approached by one of the local Arabs, who does not know that I know that his mother was Jewish, and with a deep look of concern on his face asked me, "Harav, Ma Yehiyeh?" (what will be?)
I sat on a chair next to him, and in my mind quickly went over the things which I was not going to tell him. So I innocently replied that life is like a train ride: one has the ability to decide in which car he wishes to sit, if he wants to nap or read a paper etc., but has no control over the direction or the speed of the train.
So too, with us mortal beings, we have freedom of choice in the limited environment which HaShem permits us, but the big picture is in His Hands.
This Arab (Jew) than proceeded to tell me what a huge mistake the Prime Minister made when he freed live murderers in return for dead bodies. To which I did not reply, in keeping with my principle of not criticizing our government in front of our enemies or in front of people who do not live in Eretz Yisrael.
But what, indeed, does HaShem have in store for His people, and what does this have to do with the parasha?
The first thing one has to be aware of is that the Creator is not timid or shy. As the ultimate being, He does not have to answer to anyone.
When Adam and Chava sinned in Gan Eden,HaShem declared that from that time on all humanity would ultimately die, without thought that because just one man and woman sinned, billions to come would have to die.
When the generation of Noach crossed the red line of misconduct, HaShem did not hesitate to destroy all the flora, fauna and Mankind (saving but a minute remnant for future sinning.)
HaShem did not hesitate to destroy the flourishing societies of Sodom and Amora and their three sister cities, after examining their perverted legal systems.
HaShem did not waver before the millions of Egyptian first born and heads of families, when He sent the Angel of death to their homes; nor did He hesitate to crash down the thrashing waters of the Red Sea on the army of Paro.
HaShem showed no favoritism to the sinner when He destroyed the generation of Jews who did not want to enter the holy land of Eretz Yisrael.
After stretching the midat harachamim (the quality of mercy) to its elastic limits, HaShem destroyed the two Ba'tay Mikdash (Temples) and exiled His sons and daughters to the four corners of the planet.
HaShem is righteous and merciful in all He does, but history has proven that there are limits even to His infinite goodness.
With our ability to review Jewish history, with all its convolutions and contradictions, one can say in hindsight that a process of winnowing was put into effect and executed in the various lands of our galut experiences.
The object of this filtering is that at a precise time known only to HaShem, He will have before Him a generation of the 'spiritually fittest', which will be capable of fulfilling the purpose for which He created the world.
The Shoah was a stage in this process of screening, as is assimilation and intermarriage today.
A major stage of this pruning process of the spiritually fittest is the decision to leave the galut of one's birth and return home to our land, albeit beset with difficulties and threatened by enemies.
But the process does not stop at the doorstep of Eretz Yisrael, it continuous even here.
The Hebrew word for one who leaves the land is Yored (one who has gone down), when in reality the word is Murad (one who was taken down), for as stated above HaShem's process of screening continues - even here.
Events of the near future will create an environment of apprehension bordering on trepidation. All those who do not possess an irrational love for Eretz Yisrael will find reason to leave. The three hundred and fifty thousands of non-Jews who entered the country under the absurd Law of Return, will indeed return to Russia and its elsewhere.
Arabs who value their lives will run away, as they did in 1948.
Many bnei Torah will leave because the tension will interfere with their learning. I was witness to this during the three week period prior to the Six Day War while living in Kiryat Sanz, in Netanya, when taxi after taxi would drive up to whisk away the future scholars to the safety of the land of the upheld torch beckoning to all who are tired and "yearning to be free."
Those who will merit to remain and be partners in HaShem's greatest miracles are those who have within them the gift of courage and idealism forged through 3500 years of Jewish experience.
This is what incited Moshe Rabbeinu's wrath at the tribes of Reuven and Gad when they requested that their homestead be in the eastern side of the Jordan River. The eastern side is as much a part of Eretz Yisrael as is the western side. Indeed had they requested their homestead in any area of what is today Lebanon, Syria, most of Iraq or the Sinai Peninsula they would have been in Eretz Yisrael. Moshe's anger was directed at what he understood to be the tribe's reluctance to participate in the military effort to liberate the western side of the land, as he requested from them:
(Bamidbar 32:6)
åéàîø îùä ìáðé âã åìáðé øàåáï äàçéëí éáàå ìîìçîä åàúí úùáå ôä:
And Moshe said to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuven shall your brothers go out to war and you will stay here?!
Moshe then made the fulfillment of their request dependent on the condition that they serve as the first line of fighters in the battles to liberate the western side.
This is the criterion for the future. Those who endanger themselves for the good of the nation will merit to inherit the land. Those who circumvent and elude their responsibilities will be expelled and not permitted to share in the future.
We human beings, whose life is as long as a fleeting bird or the wisp of a cloud, say to ourselves, "Yesterday was a bad day, tomorrow will be better." We can even say, "Last week was not so good, next week will be better." No rational person would say seriously, "The past 10 years were not so good, the next 10 years will be better."
However, HaShem, whose patience is eternal, says, according to the Zohar, that HaShem creates and destroys worlds, "This world is unsatisfactory, the next one will be better."
So HaShem certainly says, "This generation is not up to par, the next one will be better."
This is the reality we see in our lives. A winnowing of people and generations, until the appropriate one is born.
The right generation is the one which is comprised of lovers of God, His Torah, and mitzvot. People dedicated to settling the land, people of integrity and righteousness whose love of fellow Jew is unquestionable. People who are willing to give their lives for the integrity of HaShem's promise that this land belongs to the sons and daughters of Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya'akov. People who stand up at the sound of the siren on our holy soldiers' Memorial day, and visit the military cemeteries to say kaddish and reunite with the memories of fathers, brothers, sons, uncles and brothers in arms.
Look around. You will see them with their knitted kipot, with M16s over their shoulders, returning at night from a shiur by the rosh yeshiva, who also happens to be a senior officer in Tzahal.
Rarely, if ever, has the Jewish nation brought forth a quality generation like this. Sons and daughters who, after 2000 years of galut and the unspeakable Shoah, declare in word and deed, that whatever Ha'Shem, in His unbounded wisdom brings upon us, their faith in the avowed destiny of our nation, as expressed by the holy prophets, will never be in doubt.
Shabbat Shalom Nachman Kahane
4. SHDEMA has been in Jewish hands for a week!!
Development in Shdema:
We feel that the pressure is starting to work. There are developments that we hope, please G-d, will turn out to be positive ones .We believe that thosedevelopments are a direct result of the increased activity in Shdema organized by the Committee for a Jewish Shdema and many friends who have joined the struggle.
Over the past week, members of the Committee for a Jewish Shdema have arrived daily to Shdema to show a Jewish presence. Every day we encountered the same, new phenomena: the IDF was there with a military order declaring the area a closed military zone. Every day they updated the order. Thanks to this, Arabs and anarchists have not been allowed up to Shdema for a week already. The paintings and graffiti that we put up last week are still there, Baruch Hashem. We can thus say that over the past week, Shdema has been in Jewish hands!
Now it is of utmost importance to increase even more the trips to Shdema, to keep arriving with different groups and have a massive show of Jewish presence.
WE CALL UPON ALL TO JOIN US TOMORROW FRIDAY JULY 25th FOR A BREAKFAST IN SHDEMA.
Please bring water and comfortable walking shoes.
9:30 am we leave from Kiryat Arba
10:00 am we leave from the southern Efrat gate
10:30 we leave from Har Choma
please order your seats by calling 0505-500834 or 0505777254 or 02-9961292
The Committee for a Jewish Shdema
5. Tisha Baav Flier
bs"d
9 Av 5768
This Tisha Baav - 3 years since the destruction of Gush Katif
Do you share in their ongoing pain????
Do you share in the pain of the people of Sderot????
Will we allow the same thing to happen to Yehudah and Shomron the home of over 200,000 Jews?
Will we allow the entire Israel to suffer the fate of Sderot?
How dare we remain silent???
If you ask "But what can we do other that Daven and say Tehillim? Aren't we powerless especially living here in America?"
Our answer is No!. We are not grasshoppers. Each and every Jew, man women and child CAN DO something to end the silence.
In 1942 the Jewish Establishment knew of the Holocaust and remained Silent.
Will our generation follow in their footsteps and the footsteps of the Miraglim????
Agudath Yisroel of America, the OU, the Young Israel, and Lubavitch Headquarters need to hear our voices cry out for Eretz Yisroel!
Will our inaction and indifference for the precious gift of Eretz Yisroel be the CAUSE of the pain and suffering of our brothers in Yehuda and the Shomron.
Contact these organizations and their Rabbinical advisors! They give the directives to their people in Washington DC. (See back of this page)
As a member of the Jewish community insist that their Washington offices proclaim publicly and with strength, the first Rashi of Breishit:
The entire Land belongs to G-d and G-d chooses to whom to give the Land.
Say NO to Land for Peace initiatives! Say No to a 2 State Solution!
Say NO to terror and releasing of terrorists!
The Promised Land and its delineated borders in the Torah belongs with the Jews and we must observe the Torah. This and only this will bring peace and prosperity to mankind.
Aloh Naaleh Veyarashnu Osah Ki Yachol Nuchal La! Bamidbar 13:30
The cry of Calev ben Yefuneh and Yehoshua Ben Nun must be heard louder and clearer. Contact information for these organizations on back side.
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Bs"d
Contact information for Orthodox Jewish Organizations and the White House:
* Agudath Yisroel of America
42 Broadway Suite 1400 New York, NY 10004
Tel 212-797-9000 Fax: (212) 254-1600
* The Council of Young Israel Rabbis USA: - CYIR,
111 John Street, Suite 450, New York, New York 10038
Tel: 212-929-1525 Fax: 212-727-9526
* The Orthodox Union
11 Broadway,
New York, NY 10004
Tel:: (212) 563-4000 ♦ Fax: (212) 564-9058
* Chabad Headquarters
770 Eastern Parkway
Brooklyn, NY 11213
Tel: 718 774.4000 / fax 718 774.2718
-MAIL President USA
president@whitehouse.gov
first.lady@whitehouse.gov
FAX: (202) 456-2461
PHONE: (leave a message for the President) (202) 456-1414
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