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In my last Blog I touched upon the Jubilee year. It is noteworthy that the President of the United States focused on the Jubilee as well in his Inaugural speech 2005.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/01/20050120-1.html
Below please find a letter I wrote to President Bush following his speech. I don't know who his speechwriter was but there are many references to the Bible either directly or indirectly.
Subj:
President Bush's Inaugural Speech 2005
Date:
1/21/05 2:23:50 AM Eastern Standard Time
From:
FaigeRayzel
To:
President@WhiteHouse.Gov, Vice.President@Whitehouse.gov
CC:
hineni@hineni.org
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President's Inaugural Speech 2005
President Bush's Inaugural Speech 2005 talks about freedom, liberty and democracy.
May I preface my remarks by praying that G-d Bless America and May G-d Bless the President of the United States of America and May the President continue to lead the Nation so that they continue to put their Trust in G-d the Master of the Universe and do His will.
This essay will bring down references in the Bible as well as commentary to President Bush's speech.
President Bush uses the word Sabbatical."After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of repose, years of sabbatical - and then there came a day of fire." This isn't exactly the same context as the Jewish Sabbatical year (aka Shmita), but there are similarities in the sense that a Sabbatical is a time of relative quiet and repose. President Bush says"From the day of our Founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they bear the image of the Maker of Heaven and earth."This comes from the Bible the Book of Breishis/Genesis Chapter 1 verse 27. "So G-d created man in His image, in the image of G-d He created him, male and female He created them."
President Bush says:"We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right. America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies."
Examples of Freedom Fighters*
*******Yifat Alkobi, Miriam Fleishman and Elisheva Federman*******
I do not think President Bush knew of the following heroes in an article by David Wilder of Hebron, but if he understood the situation correctly he would most definitely put them in the category of freedom.
News from Hebron The Hebron Press Office
Sunday January 09, 20051.
Three women sentenced today
Yifat Alkobi, Miriam Fleishman and Elisheva Federman were today sentenced to three to five month conditional prison terms, having been convicted of 'child neglect' and 'causing a police officer to fail in performing his duty." The conditional sentence will be in effect for three years. This means that if any of the women are convicted of a similar 'crime,' i.e., 'child neglect' or 'causing a police officer to fail in performing his duty', they will be subject to an additional three to five month jail sentence. However, according to Israeli law, sentences of up to a half a year are converted to community service. Therefore, there is no immediate danger of actual imprisonment. A Hebron spokesman issued the following statement:It is quite ironic that on the same day that our Arab neighbors are electing a veteran terrorist, Abu Mazen, to head the largest Arab terror organization in the world, three Hebron women were sentenced by an Israeli judge to conditional jail terms, because they dared protest eviction of a widow and her five children from their home in the middle of the night, followed by the brutal destruction of their house. It was not enough that the Uzeri family lost its father to Arab terror, in their home, in front of their eyes. They also had to witness the bulldozing of their home and all their property into the ground.Yifat, Miriam and Elisheva had the gall to protest this horror and for that they are being punished. The Hebron Jewish Community extends gratitude and blessings to these three heroes, who could not sit quietly and watch others suffer such Israeli terror. All must learn from their bravery, and should the need arise, be willing to make the same sacrifices as these Hebron women.
******Freedom Fighter Pinchus Wallerstein*******
I don't know if President knew specifically about the Wallerstein Proclamation but if he doesn't I hope this will enlighten him as to another force for freedom.The Wallerstein Proclamation"I want a large part of the public that I believe are willing to go to prison to say so today so the decision-makers will understand where we are going," "If someone were to try to pass a law for a transfer like this of some Arab village... all the knights of justice and civil rights would immediately protest and scream their hearts out to the heavens. But when it concerns Yesha residents, there is no justice and there are no rights,?""The evacuation/compensation law which has already passed its first reading, and with the new government has nothing standing in its way, is an immoral law. This is not only because of the Stalinist way in which it was formed, and not only because of its inhumane clauses such as those that negate compensation from whoever objects to being thrown out of his home, but primarily because it legalizes an unspeakable crime: the forcible uprooting of Jews from their homes." "Only if there will be a large population already today that is committed to be in Gush Katif and northern Samaria (if and when there is forced evacuation) and bodily resist transfer, only then is there a chance that this government will understand the gravity of its steps. I'm not scared of going to prison, and I hope that many people will understand, like me, that this is the price we must pay in order to object in a non-violent manner to this unethical crime." "There won't be enough prisons in the country to hold them all, and something will have to give."Pinchas Wallerstein – Mayor, Benyamin Regional Council, Former chairman of the Yesha Council
*******Freedom Fighter Yosef Pilent*******
Does President Bush know the story of Yosef Pilent? Read the Story in Arutz7.Soldier’s ‘Fictitious’ Trial To High Court 22:07 Jan 09, '05 / 28 Tevet 5765 As the government continued to probe those who have called on soldiers to refuse orders to evict Jews from their homes, a soldier who was sentenced to jail said he is appealing to the High Court. Sgt. Yosef Pilent, who faces one month imprisonment for protesting the IDF’s removal of two trailers near Yitzhar, said his trial was “completely fictitious.” Pilent, an immigrant from the United States who has lived most of his life in Israel in Yitzhar, claimed in his appeal that he was not given an opportunity to consult with his lawyer before he was sentenced and that the army did not allow him to bring proof that the order to destroy the two empty trailers was illegal.“The whole process took no more than five minutes when the adjudging officer ruled according to what he saw on television without checking the facts,” said Pilent’s lawyer Shai Galilee.Pilent was on furlough last week when he saw his own unit destroying the homes at Givat Lehavah, a community near Yitzhar. His brother and fiancee were considering moving to one of the destroyed homes after their wedding this spring.Pilent was charged with “unbefitting behavior” after he explained he could not be charged with refusing orders that he had not received. “Their main goal is to use me as a scapegoat and put me in jail,” he added.The government continued its campaign against others who have claimed that it is illegal for army to issue orders to remove Jews from their homes, as the government proposes in its goal to dismantle 25 Jewish communities.Police interrogated Kedumim mayor Daniella Weiss Sunday on suspicion that she violated the law by her call last week that soldiers refuse to carry out eviction orders.The army is expected to decide Sunday night or Monday on the fate of 34 IDF officers who wrote a letter last week concerning the illegality of eviction orders. Their commander had demanded they retract the letter or face expulsion from the army. The officers, reservists in the Binyamin Brigade in Samaria, wrote a second letter to their commander in which they declared they had not proposed that they or other soldiers should refuse orders.But the officers did not retract their claim that “every order to execute the disengagement is a blatantly illegal order” and that “soldiers are forbidden to carry out such orders.”They are to meet Major General Moshe Kaplinski, commanding officer of the Central Command, Sunday night when he may decide whether they remain in the armed forces. At an earlier meeting Sunday, the officers rejected a modified letter presented to them by their brigade commander Col. Miki Edelstein. “We had a thorough debate that was very difficult. Edelstein presented a modification of our modified letter and asked that we sign it. However, we could not accept,” said Lt. Col. Yitzhak Shadmi.************************************************
President Bush says.
"We do not accept the existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility of permanent slavery."
The root of this statement comes from the Bible the Book of Vayikra/Leviticus chapter 25 verse 10 whereby all slaves are freed in the Jubilee year. "You shall return each man to his ancestral heritage and you shall return each man to his family".
President Bush says: "The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as Abraham Lincoln did: "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it".
Let this be a warning to the Sharon Gov't as the examples above are proof of a gov't denying freedom to its citizens.
President Bush Says:
"America has need of idealism and courage, because we have essential work at home - the unfinished work of American freedom. In a world moving toward liberty, we are determined to show the meaning and promise of liberty.
In America's ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and security of economic independence, instead of laboring on the edge of subsistence. This is the broader definition of liberty that motivated the Homestead Act, the Social Security Act, and the G.I. Bill of Rights. And now we will extend this vision by reforming great institutions to serve the needs of our time. To give every American a stake in the promise and future of our country, we will bring the highest standards to our schools, and build an ownership society. We will widen the ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings and health insurance - preparing our people for the challenges of life in a free society. By making every citizen an agent of his or her own destiny, we will give our fellow Americans greater freedom from want and fear, and make our society more prosperous and just and equal."
President Bush has a clear agenda for America. It is good and just and very worthy. The Nation of Israel and the Land of Israel has a different agenda. They are chosen by G-d to be a "Kingdom of Priests". They find their potential by the commandments of the Torah which differs from the Constitution. If they recognize their unique role, and act upon it, other freedom loving nations such as the United States will in turn be able to achieve their lofty ideals and aspirations.
"In America's ideal of freedom, the public interest depends on private character - on integrity, and tolerance toward others, and the rule of conscience in our own lives. Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the self. That edifice of character is built in families, supported by communities with standards, and sustained in our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our people. Americans move forward in every generation by reaffirming all that is good and true that came before - ideals of justice and conduct that are the same yesterday, today, and forever."
As the President points out we move forward by reaffirming all that is good and true that came before. The character of the Nation of Israel is defined by their ability to adhere to the "Truths of Sinai". When the Nation of Israel adheres to their Bible their character is strong. When they stray from the commandments in the Bible their character is weak.
President Bush says:
Not because we consider ourselves a chosen nation; God moves and chooses as He wills.
When the President says "not because we consider ourselves a chosen nation; God moves and chooses as He wills", the President accepts the reality that it is G-d that chooses.
The Bible in the Book of Shemos/Exodus spells it out very clearly in Chapter 19 verse 5. The following verses precede the revelation at Sinai when G-d gives the Nation of Israel the Ten Commandments.
"And now, if you hearken well to Me and observe My covenant, you shall be to Me the most beloved treasure of all peoples, for Mine is the entire world. "You shall be to Me a Kingdom of ministers and a holy nation.
Being the beloved treasure of all peoples is contingent on observing the covenant. Being a Kingdom of ministers (Priests) is contingent on listening to G-d and observing His covenant. The language in Hebrew "Ki Li Kol Haaretz" can be also translated because the entire Land belongs to Me.. This concept is the underlying premise of the commandment of the Sabbatical year (Shmita) where the Land of Israel lies fallow thereby demonstrating that we, the Nation of Israel is giving back the Land to her rightful owner which is the Creator of the World.
President Bush says:
When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, "It rang as if it meant something." In our time it means something still. America, in this young century, proclaims liberty throughout all the world, and to all the inhabitants thereof. Renewed in our strength - tested, but not weary - we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom.
President Bush mentions the Liberty Bell. Engraved on the Liberty Bell is the quote from the Bible "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof"
In the Book of Vayikra/Leviticus Chapter 25 verse 10 it says
"You shall sanctify the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom throughout the land for all it inhabitants; it shall be the Jubilee Year for you, you shall return each man to his ancestral heritage and you shall return each man to his family. It shall be a Jubilee Year for you. In verse 17 it states "Each of you shall not aggrieve his fellow, and you shall fear your G-d; for I am Hashem your G-d. You shall perform My decrees, and observe My ordinances and perform them, then you shall dwell securely on the land. "
President Bush says:
And when the soul of a nation finally speaks, the institutions that arise may reflect customs and traditions very different from our own. America will not impose our own style of government on the unwilling. Our goal instead is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way.
This thought has a common denominator with the concept in the verse "and you shalll return each man to his family". President Bush talks about the "soul of a nation" that results in customs and traditions different to each other. So too, the individual tribes of the Nation of Israel each represented a different soul. In the Jubilee year, the land was returned to the original tribe and each enslaved family member was returned to his family. The proper ownership of the Land was determined via lottery during the conquest of the Land of Israel in the time of Joshua. Each one of the tribes of Israel have a unique character and unique soul. The unique character and purpose was defined by the blessings of their forefather Jacob in the Book Of Breishis/Genesis Chapter 49. In addition, each tribe was assigned a specific parcel of Land which would enable them to actualize their unique role. Together, the tribes together form one complete unit.
This is a model for the world. To recognize the unique soul of each individual nation that is a composite of the uniqueness of each individual family member. The Jewish people have always known "Ein Lecho Ben CHorin Ela Me Sheosek Batorah". True Freedom of the world will come only when the Jewish people will occupy themselves with adhering to the H-ly Torah. The time has come for the Nation of Israel to focus very seriously on the commandments in the Torah such as the Sabbatical year (aka Shmita). This will lead us, with G-ds help to the ultimate redemption and the precious freedom we so desperately love and yearn for.
NOTE:. All Biblical Translations are from the Stone Edition. Publisher Artscroll/Mesorah
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