Article on the Seventh Year

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To Dvora Waysman and the Jewish Press.  Re: article about the Seventh Year http://www.jewishpress.com/page.do/23642/The_Seventh_Year.html

 

Thank you on your post about Shemittah. 

 

These are my comments.

I would like to see shemittah observed in the Spirit of Shabbat as suggested in the Torah.  Please visit http://shemittahrediscovered.blogspot.com/2007/08/in-response-to-shemittah-sale.html
and read any of the posts of http://shemittahrediscovered.blogspot.com.  Here you will find a novel approach that is venturing into unknown territory similar to how the Jews traveled in the desert.  They lived day to day depending on Hashem for their food.  They could not hoard their food.  The food had extra sanctity since it was manna from heaven. In fact the prayer for sustenance, Parnassa is the Parsha of the Manna.  Shemittah is Shabbat Haaretz and if kept properly will bring Am Yisroel blessings in Parnassa where we will  be the head and not the tail.  We will loan and not have to loan.   If Shemittah was observed properly we would be living in peace and security.  There must be something amiss since  Eretz Yisroel is surrounded by our enemies, Hamas, Hizbollah, El Queida, Fatah etc and the world is a dangerous place today.  Doesn't Hashem promise peace and security if we keep shemittah properly.  Hashem is true to keep His promises. Somehow the suggested ways of keeping Shemittah in our times don't have the spirit of Shabbat, of Meiyn Olam Haba, having a taste of the world to come. Keeping Shemittah as suggested in http://shemittahrediscovered, the blog, sounds like fun and in the spirit of Shabbos but is venturing in unknown economic and political territory. Living a kibbutz Lifestyle in a capitalist society is indeed scary.   What do you mean I will loan money and not be repaid!?!?  What's the point of working hard and then giving out loans and not getting my hard earned money back?!? That's why Hillel instituted Pruzbul you may add. 

 

In the Shemittah year we remember that it is not my strength or power that provides me with sustenance but G-d's.  Today, chemical, biological and nuclear threats abound not to mention hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes and earthquakes.  These threats are far scarier than the Shemittah scenario.  Let's at least brainstorm of how an Israeli economy or the government of Israel could run when debts are released and everyone is busy going to farms and picking food for themselves and partying.  A year of eating  for free is how the Torah describes it, not a year of not having anything decent to eat unless it's imported or cost a fortune or from produce that was grown on the Land (that was sold) during Shemittah.  The thought of buying produce from our most bitter enemies in Gaza  who would love nothing better than to see Eretz Yisroel obliterated and become Hamasland is quite sickening.  We really have no other option but to try to live Shemittah as the Torah truly intended, by partying and sharing rather than with a disaster like 911, the War in Lebanon, Hurricane Katrina etc.  where ultimately we were forced to share our resources.   Incidentally, 911 happened immediately following a Shemittah year.  So did the stock market crash in 1988.  The decision to destroy Gush Katif came after Pesach in the 4th year of the Shemittah cycle.  I wonder if the farmers said vidui maaser a Mtzvah that we read in Ki Savo when the farmers confess that they gave maaser as best as we could.  We have the unfortunate reality that we do not have a Beit Hamikdash and do not know who all the Kohanim or Leviim are. Hashem is aware of that. Hashem knows our limitations.  Even if you say nowadays, it is all Derabbanan is there a strong possibility that Hashem is finding  fault with us for not keeping these Mitzvoth properly given our circumstances!?

 

This is food for thought and should not be ignored.  May Hashem bless any person/media that has the courage to print/pass on this letter.

 

Sincerely,

 

Robin Ticker

faigerayzel@gmail.com

http://shemittahrediscovered.blogspot.com

 

 

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What l00 Prophets could not accomplish...was accomplished by the ring of Achash

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What l00 Prophets could not accomplish...was accomplished by the ring of Achashveirosh...

This was sent to me by Shifra Hoffman. She sent me to http://shuva.net/ which is a website that contains Nazi propaganda in America today. I personally saw original Nazi literature that was recently distributed on Capital Hill. It was picked up by my friend who simply picked up the literature that was being distributed. Amazing that no one on Capital Hill was stopping them from their "freedom of expression". Bayamim Hahem Bizman Hazeh. In those days in our times....

Let us not forget that Jewry, in Europe and in America were silent in pre Nazi Germany. Rabbinic Jewry in Eastern Europe discouraged Aliya because they strongly opposed the secular Zionist Movement. The majority of religious Jews went to the death camps rather than on Aliya. My husband is the son of a Holocaust survivor. (his mother ob"m was from Poland, miraculously survived the h-ll in the Warsaw Ghetto and the different concentration camps over the span of 5 or so years). My parents were from Czechoslovakia, also Holocaust Survivors. My Father ob"m lost his first family, his wife and daughter ob"m and my mother had it relatively "easy" with just one year or so in Auschwitz Labor camp. Many of her family members perished, like one sister who like too many were unfortunate to have been married with a baby. Mother and baby never had a chance....

My husband has a strong interest in history. Today, on Shabbos, he gave us a history lesson of the World Leaders in the time of WWII. He mentioned Chamberlain the appeaser and Churchill and Roosevelt who finally stood up to Hitler. I mentioned that Roosevelt did not do much to stop the flow of Jews to the Concentration camps. My husband added that in his defense, that American Jewry were Silent even after being approached by Hillel Kook a.k.a. Peter Bergson. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/HKook.html.

The Bergson Group tried their hardest to publicize the atrocities of Nazi Germany. There was much opposition to the Bergson Group.

The following was taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_Kook

Kook and his followers were widely opposed by large sections of the American public, particularly by many prominent American Zionist organizations. In December 1943, the American Jewish Conference launched a public attack against the Bergsonites in an attempt to derail support for the resolution. (Wyman 1984:202)

The British embassy and several American Zionist groups, including the American Jewish Committee and other political opponents sought to have Kook deported or drafted. (Wyman 184:346) They encouraged the IRS to investigate the Bergson groups finances in an attempt to discredit them, hoping to find misapropriation, or at least careless bookkeeping, of the large amount of funds the groups handled. The IRS found no financial irregularities. (Wyman 1984:346) Included in those trying to stop the Bergson Group's rescue activities were Steven Wise and Nachum Goldman (see the Wyman-Medoff book in References). A State Department protocol shows Nachum Goldman telling the State Department that Hillel Kook doesn't represent organized Jewry, and suggested either deporting him or drafting him for the war effort (See documents at end of the Wyman-Medoff book).

Did you know however that many Rabbanim including Rav Moshe Feinstein did actually protest. (It's something but one protest is nothing compared to the enormity of the atrocities).

The following too was taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_Kook

The Day the Rabbis Marched

One of the Committee's more memorable activities was a protest Kook organized known as the Rabbis' March. The protest took place in Washington, D.C. on October 6, 1943, three days before Yom Kippur. While the Bergson Group was largely secular, Kook successfully used his family's rabbinic heritage to convince between 400 and 500 Orthodox rabbis to attend. Among the participants were Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, Rabbi Eliezer Silver, president of the Va'ad Ha-Hatzala and co-president of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States, Rabbi Mordechai Shlomo (sometimes recorded as Solomon Mordechai) Friedman, the Boyaner Rebbe of New York and president of the Union of Grand Rabbis of the United States, Rabbi Avraham Kalmanowitz, rabbinical dean of the Mir Yeshiva, Rabbi Naftali Carlebach, father of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, and Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg and his father, Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Hertzberg. The Lubavitcher dynasty was conspicuously absent as was Conservative and Reform Jewry.

Joined by Bergson Group activists, the Jewish War Veterans of America, and a number of prominent members of Congress including William Warren Barbour, the protesters marched on the United States Capitol, Lincoln Memorial, and White House, pleading for U.S. intervention on behalf of the Jews in Europe. Though the delegation was reluctantly received by Vice-President Henry Wallace, Franklin Roosevelt avoided them entirely, both out of concerns regarding diplomatic neutrality, but also influenced by the advice of some of his Jewish aides and several prominent American Jewish spokespeople (including Dr. Stephen Wise), who thought the protest would stir up anti-Semitism and claimed that the marchers, many whom were both Orthodox as well as recent immigrants (or first-generation Americans) were not representative of American Jewry. Shortly before the protest reached the White House, FDR left the building through a rear exit to attend an Army ceremony, and then left for a weekend in the country. Disappointed and angered by the President's failure to meet with them, the rabbis stood in front of the White House where they were met by Barbour and others, and refused to read their petition aloud, instead handing it off to the Presidential secretary, Marvin McIntyre. The march garnered much media attention, much of it focused on what was seen as the cold and insulting dismissal of many important community leaders, as well as the people in Europe they were fighting for. One Jewish newspaper commented, "Would a similar delegation of 500 Catholic priests have been thus treated?" [1]

For your own viewing of Nazi Propaganda happening today please view

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4452153918748081072&q=Zionism+and+Christianity%3A+Unholy+Alliance

This will be posted on my blog Shemittah Rediscovered

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As per recent coversation with Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky of Chofetz Chaim Heritage

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Ach Tov Vechesed Yirdifuni (Only Good and Kindness will chase after me...)... Perhaps the fact that we are pursuing Rav Kamenetsky shlita spiritual mentor of the Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation is a good thing.

I recently spoke to Rav Kamenetsky on the telephone. Shmuel Koenig is working with me to reach out to Rabbanim and Gedoilei Hador, to lobby and influence them to make a public statement that Eretz Yisroel is our Biblical Inheritance. Although Rav Kamenetsky was extremely patient and understanding and kind with Shmuel, we did not achieve our desired goal. It seemed that Rav Kamenetsky was not willing to take the necessary action that we feel is crucial for the survival of Am Yisroel in Eretz Yisroel, especially now in the month of Elul, the month of Teshuva. This action was to admit publicly that the Gedoilim have made a mistake for not speaking out for Eretz Yisroel and stating that Eretz Yisroel is our Biblical Inheritance. When I understood that Shmuel did not achieve the desired result, I myself then called Rav Kamenetsky. My understanding from our conversation was that the Gedoilim fault the Religious Zionists (Mizrahi) for making Eretz Yisroel the entire Torah and are now learning their lesson by being expelled from the settlements etc.

I can not understand this conclusion.

The entire Sefer Devarim is Moshe's final speech to Am Yisroel. Moshe knows he is unable to enter Eretz Yisroel. So he provides Am Yisroel and their future generations with the tools necessary to survive w/o him in Eretz Yisroel and not in the Midbar. These tools are the Mitvoth that are mentioned in Sefer Devarim and are dependant on the Land. All of Sefer Devarim which is also called Mishneh Torah is instruction on how to keep the Mitzvoth in Eretz Yisroel. But not only Sefer Devarim is focused on Eretz Yisroel. Almost every Parsha has some reference to Eretz Yisroel as being Eretz Shehinchalta Laavoseinu Lates Lanu LeAchuzas Olam (The Land of Israel is the Promised Land given to our forefathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob and is given to us, their seed, as an EVERLASTING Inheritance) The first Rashi in Breishis tells us that the nations of the world will tell us, Listim Atem, you are occupiers, and our answer is that the entire universe was created by the Ribbono Shel Olam, the Creator of the World, who decides who is the rightful inheritors and occupiers of the Land. Hashem has chosen the Land of Israel to be the Chosen Land for the people of Israel as is repeated countless times in Sefer Breishis (please refer to the Covenant with Abraham, the Covenant with Isaac and the Covenant with Jacob) and in subsequent Parshios in Chumash. In fact the Canaanite Nations were descendants of Cham who was cursed to be the slaves of Shem. We know that the property of the slave belongs to the owner. So even when the Canaanite Nations lived on the Land legitimately, it still was the rightful inheritance of the People of Israel.

What was the purpose of Yetzias Mitzraim (Being redeemed from Egypt)? It was not simply a physical redemption. It was for the ultimate purpose of receiving the Torah to be observed in ERETZ YISROEL. In fact Yaakov Avinu was allowed to have 2 wives in Chuz Laaretz but in Eretz Yisroel it was not allowed. We learn that observance of Mitzvoth in Chuz Laaretz is practice for the real thing.

My question to Rav Kamenetsky and the Gedoilim is not how come the Religious Zionists make Eretz Yisroel such an integral part of keeping Torah and Mitzvoth but rather how can the Gedoilim disengage themselves from Eretz Yisroel and thereby act as if the Torah can be complete WITHOUT Eretz Yisroel. How can the Gedoilim truly observe Torah w/o Eretz Yisroel?????? Two Thousand Years of Galus is exactly that! GALUS. It is not what we yearn for. Yet we pray each and every day for the real thing and when we finally get it we don't realize that we actually do have it. We are not connecting the dots. We are passive when President Bush speaks of the Roadmap.

How can the Gedoilim not recognize the unbelievable miracle of the 6 day war and the continuous miracles that are happening each day in Sederot and that happened each day in Gush Katif? Yet they seem to delude themselves that because the State of Israel was successful to expel the religious zionists from Gush Katif that is proof that Hashem was unhappy with the settlers' choice of settling that part of Eretz Yisroel. My answer is exactly the opposite. Hashem performed miracles for us. Yet too large of a cross section of Am Yisroel, in Eretz Yisroel and in the Diaspora, the secular and yes even the chareidim choose to ignore the miracles. The majority of Am Yisroel showed in their own way that they did not want Eretz Yisroel. They reject Eretz Yisroel. They decide that it is not necessary L'avda u'Leshamra. It is not necessary to plant and to harvest in the Land of Israel in order to keep Torah. It is better perhaps to learn in Lakewood. A small section of righteous Jews albeit imperfect Jews, show their love for Eretz Yisroel. They plant and they harvest. Yet there is a concept of Areivus, the Bris Chadash (New Covenanat) that was added to the former Covenant of Sinai to Am Yisroel before they entered Eretz Yisroel. That is the concept of Areivus (mutual responsibility). If one member of Am Yisroel is guilty then we as a Nation is guilty and is accountable. My conclusion is as follows: Because the majority of Am Yisroel rejected Eretz Yisroel, we as a Nation were unworthy of Eretz Yisroel. Gush Katif is by no means dead. How do we know? Because the grief and pain is the same as it was the day it was destroyed 2 years ago. When someone dies, the grief and pain minimizes over time. This has not been the case. Gush Katif still must be very alive. However, when we unite as a Nation and show a desire and longing to keep the precious gift Hashem miraculously returned to us after 2000 years of exile, than once again, Hashem will bestow blessings of peace and security. Gush Katif and the other settlements will once again bloom.

The evil actions of the gov't of Israel would have never succeeded in the disengagement if the majority of Am Yisroel would have protested and joined the people of Gush Katif in mind and spirit and in public declarations of support. It was the failure of the Nation, in Eretz Yisroel and in the Diaspora, to speak out for Eretz Yisroel that caused the expulsion. I would not put the blame of the righteous people of Gush Katif. No one is perfect. They are the creme de la creme. I put the failure of Gush Katif on all of us that were unsuccessful to reach out and influence and be Mashpia on those that were Silent and stood by passively not claiming our joint precious gift of Eretz Yisroel. It is a mistake to think that we do not need each and every Jew wherever we may be. When will we as a Nation prove worthy of Eretz Yisroel? When each and every member of Am Yisroel truly desires Eretz Yisroel and expresses love for Eretz Yisroel and CLAIMS the precious gift Hashem is holding so patiently for us and then takes that precious gift and elevates it as his/her own object of holiness thereby elevating this very special Land to it's ultimate purpose of being Eretz Hakodesh and we Am Yisroel will be the Mamlechet Kohanim VeGoy Kadosh ( A Kingdom of Priests and A Holy Nation).

The very first step is not to be afraid or ashamed to state publicly to one another "THIS LAND IS MADE FOR YOU AND ME".

Please read Rabbi Nachman's Kahana's post that addresses these very points in Manhigut Yehudit's blog.

http://jewishleadership.blogspot.com/2007/08/eradicating-god-hidden-spaces-and.html

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Fwd: The psychic of betrayal--toward our brother Jonathan Pollard...

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And if Israel would have had intelligence of an impending attack on the World Trade Center and chose not to share the information wouldn't they have been held accountable for the tragedy of 911. Why are we being apologists for Jonathan Pollard emphasizing his guilt or error in judgement and his subsequent expression of remorse asking for mercy, rather than focusing on the true guilty party, the United States of America. for not sharing such crucial intelligence vital for the Security of their ally, the State of Israel thereby placing Jonathan Pollard in a moral dilemma. Now is the time to approach President Bush, and asking him to grant clemency to Jonathan Pollard on moral grounds (along with an apology and a recommendation of re compensation for Jonathan Pollard's pain and suffering and an unjustified incarceration). Shame also on the leaders of the State of Israel for their betrayal!

Thank you Israel Kaplan for forwarding and translating this important Post of Tsafrir Ronen. If you are wondering how this relates to Shemittah, I will tell suggest some connections. Shemittah is a year of freedom. A Sabbatical year of freedom from the drudgery of being a slave to one's job and from responsibilities of paying for food on the table. After all, theoretically, one can get it for free from the neighbors' farms. It is a year similar to Shabbat, and where one is actually free from the performance of Mitzvoth such as Maaser (tithe to Levi), Teruma(gift to Priest), Leqet (not gathering in the gleanings, Shikcha(not going back for the forgotten sheaves and Peah(leaving the corners of the field for the poor) and repaying debts (Shemitas Kesafim). It will hopefully, B'ezrat Hashem, be the beginning of physical freedom for Jonathan Pollard.

Shemittah and Chicken Soup

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There was a call by Kosher Carnival for Shemittah related recipes.  Here it goes.

 

In the Shemittah years, agricultural farmers don't get an income from their fields since they are let to lie fallow.  So if they are not chicken producers how will they have enough money to buy chicken for chicken soup.  The answer is that G-d provides it for them.  How does this happen.  It can happen in countless ways.  Perhaps a chicken producer, goes to the farmer''s fields and picks fruits for free and in turn recognizes that the farmer may need chickens for free and donates one of his chickens to him....  Or, a layperson goes to the farmers field and picks fruit and then puts money into the farmers Makolet account thereby paying off his Makolet debt . The possibilities are endless. 

 

 I have a serious problem about the Sefichim prohibition (One is not allowed to pick vegetables that grew on their own in the Shemittah year.  The reason is because vegetables are annuals, planted every year.  The rabbis are afraid that a farmer may cheat and plant vegetables and say it grew on its own).  Did Hashem really not want us to have carrots in our chicken soup?  I can't believe that.  There must be some answer.   

 

Why is Chicken Soup related to Shemittah.  Shemittah is Shabbat Haaretz and this recipe is a traditional food eaten on Shabbat.

 

Bs"d

 

Ticker's Friday Night Shabbat Chicken Soup Recipe

 

Remove skin and fat from 1  chicken.

 

Put chicken quarters into 9-10 cups of cold water with medium onion, 2 cloves of  garlic, 2 teaspoon salt or salt to taste. Place on medium flame.  While chicken is cooking clean vegetables.   4-5 carrots, 1 parsnip, 1 turnip, 2 celery stalks 1 leak (cut leek down side and wash the individual leaves from dirt).   When the soup minus the vegetables just starts to boil, skim off grease and scum Don't boil hard. When the broth is as clear as you can get it, add clean and cut vegetables to boiling soup.   Cook the soup that now contains the vegetables on a low flame partially covered for one additional  hour. Turn off flame.  Let the soup cool. Take out the chicken pieces from the soup and put it in a separate container..  I throw out the onion, garlic and turnip.  If the soup is to be eaten on a different day take out all the vegetables and put them in a separate container. Put the broth in separate storage containers.   I get around 2 quarts of broth. Sometimes more and sometimes less.

 

I bone the chicken since my family likes the soup with the cooked chicken inside.  I usually reheat the soup with the vegetables and add  chicken pieces to dished out steaming soup. When the soup is being served each person can specify how they wish the soup.  Some like just the plain broth. Some like the broth with pieces of cooked white chicken only. Others like it  with pieces of dark chicken.  Each person chooses which vegetables they want in their soup if any.  Bon Apetite and Good Shabbos!

 

 

 

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