We are familiar with the call of our Rabbanim to say Kapitlech of Tehillim for our Jewish Brethren who find themselves under attack from our enemies. Hashem wants our tefilla but does not need empty words. If one allows a murderer to enter his home with the knowledge that this is indeed a murderer and then prays to Hashem to protect the inhabitants of his home, then his prayer is thrown back in his face.
I was listening to Radio10 in Boro Park and the Rav on the radio told the following story.
A King passed a field and saw an old man planting a fig tree. He asked the old man "Why do you bother if you will most probably not reap the benefits". The old man replied, just like my parents planted for me, I will plant for my children and if by the grace of G-d I will enjoy from its fruits then I will bring you some of the produce.
Years passed and G-d gave him years and he was able to pick a bushels of sweet luscious fruit to bring to the King. He arrives at the King's court and the guards asks him the purpose of his visit. He explained that he had promised the King to return with these fruits. They allowed him to enter. The King rewarded him with an exchange of Gold for the figs. The Kings servants asked him, why do you honor this old man so? The king replied, of G-d has honored him so, then I will not honor him?
One of the women residents nearby saw that the old man brought in bushes of figs and returned with bushels of gold. She told her husband, "The king must love figs! Let's also bring the King some delicious figs and we will be rewarded in kind with gold". So the dutiful husband listened to his wife. He came to court and the guards asked him the purpose of his visit. He explained that he has a special gift for the king. The allowed him to enter and presented his gift to the King. The king asked him why he brought him the figs. The man answered that they noticed that the King must truly love the figs since he repaid the old man with gold. The King's anger flared at this man. And do you think that the king does not have enough figs and that he needs your present. He commanded his soldiers to stone the man with the juicy figs that he brought.
The analogy is as follows. There are activists that have been working days and nights to proclaim our entitlement to the Land of Israel and settle the Land. Yet they have not been successful to stop the rockets from flying and from being attacked because the Majority of the Jewish People do not have the same love of the Land and desire to keep her. The majority is willing to negotiate the Land away to our enemies and join in coalitions with others parties that are willing to give away our precious Land to our enemies.
To this relatively small group of activists who are Moser Nefesh, Hashem desires their prayers. However, the prayers of those that sit by and do nothing while the Land is being negotiated away and 10,000 Jews of Gush Katif were thrown out of their homes and these religious parties actually partnered with the gov't that voted and implemented this decree shame on them. Why is it barely reported in newspapers like Hamodia and Yated, when their fellow Jew like the Federman Family and the Tor family in Kiryat Arba were mercilessly literally ejected in the middle of the night with their bli ayin hara 11 children and thrown out of their homes and their home totally destroyed? There is a point when prayer actually is used against you and is judged as an abomination.
Today Rabbi Yudin spoke on JMINTHEAM. He spoke of the purpose of Korban which is to bring us close to Hashem. It shows that we are subservient to G-d's will. Rabbi Yudin gave the example of Shaul. Hashem commanded Shaul to destroy Amalek including the sheep. Shaul used his own logic to do otherwise. Shmuel saw Shaul and asked him, what is the sound of the sheep. Shaul replied, these sheep which were fat and of extremely high caliber were to be used as sacrifices to G-d. Shaul disobeyed G-d's command and chose rather go listen to his own logic and his own conclusion of what is best to do for G-d. Shmuel Hanavi chastised Shaul and the Kingdom was torn from his family.
Rabbi Yudin gave the following story to illustrate.
A king sent his trusted servent to a fellow neighboring country and told him "do not enter into any wager with the neighboring king". The Trusted servant did as he was told. When he was ready to leave, the king told him, I'll give you a million dollars to prove to you that you are a hunchback. The servant thought to himself. The king ordered me not to engage in a wager with this neighboring king. However, I know that I am not a hunchback and I will be able to bring to my king a million dollars. He agreed. The neighboring king asked him to take off his shirt. They examined him back and agreed that the servant won the wager. He received the million dollars and happily returned to his king with the money. When he got to the king, he told him what transpired and presented the king with the million dollars. The King was angry. He told his servant. Didn't I order you not to engage in any wager. I myself made a wager with the neighboring king that if you would disrobe in front of him than I will give him 10,000,000 dollars.
The analogy is as follows: UTJ, SHAS , Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah have their deliberations and have come to logical conclusions. Learning Torah and Educational subsidies and money for sustaining large families with many children is beloved in G-d's eyes. For this we can sacrifice negotiating parts of Eretz Yisroel.
To this Hashem becomes angry and rejects their sacrifices to him because it is not subservient to G-d's will but rather a result of their own conclusions and deliberations that they convinced themselves will be pleasing in the final analysis to G-d.
The entitlement of the Land of Israel for the Nation of Israel is a given. It can not be disputed. IT is NOT negotiable. We may not be Silent when others claim the Land. Settling the Land is the one and only way to show and prove our conviction of the basic fundamental Torah truth. All other considerations such as money for Torah institutions is a reflection of our will and not Hashem's.
Rabbi Yudin used this story to tell his listeners that April 15th, tax season is coming up. One is not allowed to cheat on their taxes and give large amounts to tzedaka. One can not make such cheshbonos to himself because by doing so he is not being subservient to G-ds will. The purpose of Karbonos is to show subservience to G-d's will. Such Tzedaka is rejected by G-d.
1. Start-Up Neighborhood Destroyed
by Hillel Fendel
As if to signal the possible intentions of the new government, army forces under the command of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, together with Israel Police, made their way to Kokhav HaShachar in eastern Binyamin late Thursday morning, and destroyed four buildings in the start-up outpost neighborhood of Meoz Esther. They then redeployed further to the south, and destroyed another house in Maaleh Shlomo.
Authorities have stated that the outposts, encompassed by barren hills to the east and west, and illegal Bedouin squatter encampments encroaching to the north, is "illegal."
Among the four destroyed structures in Meoz Esther was a Torah study hall/synagogue dedicated in memory of Yonadav Chaim Hirschfeld, 19, of Kokhav HaShachar, who was murdered in the Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav massacre just over a year ago.
In addition, the homes of two families were razed to the ground, together with whatever property the soldiers did not have time to throw outside before the bulldozers began working.
A National Battle
"Yes, we lost our home," said Dafna Ronen, who lived in one of the structures with her husband and six children, "but that is really not the main thing. The issue here is that we have lost a battle – temporarily – in our national struggle for our holy land. It simply cannot be that there are Jews who will not allow other Jews to settle in our land, the inheritance of our forefathers, that we have already conquered."
"Believe me," she insisted, "the loss of our private property is the least of the issues. We can always sue them for what they damaged; they may be within their rights to destroy the dwelling, but not our private possessions. And in terms of the neighborhood itself, we will start building anew as early as this evening, with a team of youth and others who love the land and will not let it be abandoned."
Mother Rachel Wants Full Return
"The main question is how we make sure that we show G-d that we are not giving in and are doing everything we can to keep this great gift that He gave us. Everything is from G-d, and He wishes to see if we are unyielding, or if we'll take the easy way and say, 'It looks unrealistic, let's just wait for a more favorable government' and the like. Our Matriarch Rachel is still sitting and weeping, because even though we have begun to return to our Land, we are sitting pretty with big homes and cars in the cities, and not going all out to return to our full Biblical borders; the verse says that she is waiting for her children to return to their borders."
Gift from Barak
The Binyamin Residents Committee said in response to the destruction, "This is apparently the gift that Barak wishes to give on the eve of his entry into the government, in an attempt to justify the move. This is his usual modus operandi: Every time the left attacks him, he gives them a consolation prize in the form of evicting Jews."
Rabbi Dov Wolpe and Baruch Marzel, of the Our Land of Israel movement – a part of the National Union party – said the destruction of Meoz Esther is the "beginning of trouble." They called on Shas and the Jewish Home to vote against the government they have just joined.
Proper Zionist Response
The second family living in Meoz Esther is a young couple and their toddler. The young wife/mother is one of seven children of Esther (Ettie) G'alyah, a Kokhav HaShachar resident who was murdered by terrorists in late 2002 - and for whom the outpost is named. "There was a time when building a new Jewish locale in the Land of Israel was widely considered the proper Zionist response to terrorism," one observer said, "but at least in this case, the opposite appears to be true: Zionists take down a site that was built for that purpose."
The synagogue was the most permanent and expensive structure on the site, and was recently dedicated in a gala celebration by Rabbi Dov Lior of Hevron and others.
The Raze-and-Rebuild Cycle
This was the fourth time that Meoz Esther has been violently taken down since it was first built 16 months ago – "and each time, until today, it was on a sad day for the Jewish People," said Mrs. Ronen. "It was first taken down on the Tenth of Tevet over a year ago, shortly after it was first built – and then we rebuilt it right away. All was quiet for a few months, but on Holocaust Day, in the spring, it was again razed, and we again built it. Then came the 17th of Tammuz in the summer, when it was again destroyed, and right away again rebuilt. And now, on Rosh Chodesh Nissan [the first of the month of Nissan, a minor festive day – ed – maybe they got confused – they razed it again. But our team is already preparing the rebuilding."
The 17-year-old daughter of the Ronen family was arrested during the destruction. Police said she was suspected of having attacked them. "This is an outright lie," said her mother. "It is not surprising that people who destroy Jewish life in the Land of Israel tell lies as well. The fact is – and many people saw it – she was standing atop our house, and soldiers or police came and shoved her into the waiting bulldozer bucket below, and that's how they took her away. Then they arrested her, claiming she attacked them."
When Digging for Fresh Water - Don't Give Up
Mrs. Ronen said the fight for the Land of Israel is a "long, hard one; we are not expecting immediate results. I think we must renew our commitment to the Land within our own circles, and wage a face-to-face campaign in the wider public specifically regarding the importance of the Land of Israel for our nation... Rabbi Avraham Kook wrote that there will come a time when Jews will seek water in our 'national well,' but will come up with only muddy water and will begin to despair and give up. Rabbi Kook calls upon them to be strong and to continue digging further down, and that the fresh water will yet be found – and that those who did not give up, will reap the reward. We must not lose heart, but rather continue to fight for our national heritage, G-d's heritage."
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