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I saw this post in Breakingisraelnews from JNS. I would like to add to the Rabbi's comments and thoughts with my personal take if I may, on what we can learn from and how to respond to the current Terror Wave.. (read till end...
Palestinian Terror Wave Has Israel's Rabbis Searching for Spiritual Solutions
By JNS October 16, 2015
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Rabbi Riskin: Chief Rabbi of Efrat
...I see these as the best of times and the worst of times—the best because for the first time in 2,000 years, we can carve out our own destiny and future in our land, as we witness an ingathering of our exiles from all over the world. The worst because the Palestinians have started a mountain of lies that we are encroaching on the Al-Aqsa mosque
Rabbi Berel Wein:historian, author, and rabbi of the Bet Knesset Hanasi in Jerusalem
"The violence against Jews has been going on for 100 years here, so the uptick is because of the news coverage—the terrorists win by publicity," he says. "Television made ISIS."
What does Wein recommend as a response to terror?
"You can't live a hermetically sealed life, but you also have to try for the best security, at least until they finally make up their minds that Jews have a right to be here," he says.
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Sites of Israel
"It's important to be at the Kotel (Western Wall) now, to pray for an end to the terror and show we aren't intimidated."
Rabbi Zev Shandalov, a popular teacher in Ma'ale Adumim and a former congregational rabbi in Chicago'Look, practically, we don't know any single location the terrorists are coming from so stopping them is next to impossible. So we need to daven (pray) that God gives the police and border patrol the skills and tools necessary to protect all of us, even as we ultimately realize it's God protecting us,'"
Rabbi Jeffrey Cymet, leader of Hakehila HaHadasha, a Masorti (Conservative) congregation
it's part of the reality of living here. And people look to their synagogue for support," At that congregation, though current events mean an uptick in prayers for the state and for peace, the emphasis remains on Torah and mitzvot—which Cymet says "have been the support of the Jewish people for millennia."
Rabbi Yonatan Rosensweig of the Netzach Menashe synagogue in Beit Shemesh
Congregants "are asking good questions but of course there are few good answers,""All I can answer is for us to ask ourselves what we can learn from this. People struck by tragedy often turn it into amazing actions in the world and suffering often triggers emotional and spiritual growth. So it's not always healthy to focus on how we don't know why God does things, but it's healthier to examine what does this teach us."
Rabbi Seth Farber—who heads Itim, an organization that helps individuals negotiate with the religious authorities in Israel, and is also a congregational rabbi in Ra'anana—
tried to deal with tension by creating dialogue. He recently he invited four imams and his congregants to his sukkah, with mixed results.
"The whole thing is very painful," he says. "What we discovered is no one understands the other side. People left with perhaps a little more understanding, but also immense frustration."
Rabbi Elan Adler—a teacher, school administrator, counselor, and former Baltimore pulpit rabbi now living in Ma'ale Adumim—
takes a different approach. He says he was powerfully reminded by the recent prayer for the new Hebrew month of Cheshvan and the beginning of this year's Torah-reading cycle that "we have to take a fresh look at things here and remind ourselves that it's our enemies who are on the attack."
At the same time, the security situation presents a spiritual challenge for Adler.
"I think of myself as a person of faith, but when these things keep happening to guys praying or coming to the aid of another and the families suffer so much, I find my faith unmoored," he says. "I have to remind myself that God runs the world and that the God I pray to is the God of the big picture who is just. And that I for one don't have scintilla of a clue why He does what He does. We need to hold both of these thoughts at the same time and remember that, even though we sometimes pay a huge price to live in God's corner of the world, our job is to hold on tight when He swings the rope wildly. We need to remember that 6.5 million Jews live in this country, go to work, go out to eat, catch a movie at Cinema City and put their kids to bed, doing their best to live their lives.
Rabbi Ervin Birnbaum, a retired Masorti pulpit rabbi,
reports that none of the Russian-born Israelis he works with through his Netanya-based outreach program cancelled on his monthly tour to sites around Israel.
"They're not going to be frightened off….I remind them that the mosque Muslims think Israelis covet was generously given to them by Moshe Dayan after the 1967 war, at a time when the victorious Israeli army could have easily taken back that part of the Old City. And that it's called the Temple Mount because of our Temple," says Birnbaum.
Now, he adds, Jews visiting the Temple Mount are harassed and forbidden to move their lips over fear that they might be praying, a prohibited action for Jews at the holy site.
"And now, for us, as we begin the Torah again, I tell them we need to be confident that we will finish and start it, finish and start it, year after year, right here, with no need to apologize for being in our land," Birnbaum says.
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo of the Jerusalem-based David Cardozo Academy recently blogged in an "open letter" to God about struggling with faith in a time of terror.
"I know that it is more than surprising that we don't experience waves of terrorism on a daily basis….And I suspect that You (God) are behind this….I still realize that we Jews are the greatest miracle of all," he writes. "We have outlived all our enemies—the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and many others….Not even the Holocaust succeeded in wiping us out. The State of Israel is an ongoing miracle in a region that has gone completely mad. How, then, can I deny Your existence?"
Cardozo proceeds to tell JNS.org, "Anti-Semitism, whether it's European or from the Arab world, [occurs] because we as Jews stand for values they have great difficulty accepting. But ironically, what all these anti-Semitic attacks ultimately do is remind us of these values of ours and increase our pride in being Jewish."
My Comments: (Robin Ticker)
I am not a Rabbi. These are my thoughts: The Arabs are putting focus on Har HaBayit. Not the Jews Maybe we should take our cue from the Arabs. Netanyahu and most defenders for Israel against the falsehoods and terror wave emphasize that Israel has maintained the Status Quo on Temple Mount. Many Rabbanim have recently repeatedly expressed the opinion that we are not to ascend Temple Mount as the time is not yet ripe,...
The reasons being that
- Moshiach has yet to come,
- It will incite the Arabs and the Nations of the World against us...
They argue that it might turn into a desecration. They greatly encourage to focus on Prayer, Tefila, Tzedaka, good deeds, improving our dealings with our fellow man, our families, raising the level of personal holiness, modesty, being truthful inside and outside, not being prideful etc. Of course these are wonderful suggestions and surely can only help the situation. Let me however, suggest we go one step further to show Hashem how much we yearn for the Beit Hamikdash and for Malchut Beit David to once again be the Holy Kingdom of the World.
There has been a wave of stabbings and stonings not to mention molotov cocktails (fire). They seem to reflect the barbaric, animalistic practices of ISIS which include beheadings and hangings and stonings and burnings all the forms of capital punishment mentioned in the Yom Kippur litturgy. Sekila, Serefa, Hereg, and Chenek...Stoning, Burning, Decapitation and strangulation.
..A Sanhedrin that puts a man to death once in seven years is called destructive. Rabbi Eliezer ben Azariah says that this extends to a Sanhedrin that puts a man to death even once in seventy years. Rabbi Akiba and Rabbi Tarfon say: Had we been in the Sanhedrin none would ever have been put to death. Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel says: they would have multiplied shedders of blood in Israel.
So what is G-d trying to tell us by literally throwing this wave of terror in our faces!
How does the Jew repent and rectify his sins? When we had the Temple it was the Korbonot that was Mechaper, rectified and cleansed our sins. Nowadays on Yom Kiippur we say Al Chait. We admit all the sins that collectively deserved all kinds of Capital punishment listed above and we regret our Sins and try to do better. We hope and pray that Hashem will accept our Prayers.
Today we don't have the Beit Hamikdash. It seems to me that with this wave of raw terror, G-d is giving us a message, Bedamyich Chayii. You will live with your blood. However, surely our Loving, Kind Father in Heaven does not desire human sacrifices llke the Sassoon family nor the Henkin Family Chas Vesholom! Hashem would much rather prefer the Dam of Brit Mila and Korban Pesach....
We now have a real reason, a true yearning to restore the Avodah, the Sacrificial service of the Beit Hamikdash so that G-d won't have to take more human sacrifices..
Therefore, Let me suggest that each one of us take it upon ourselves to include in our daily prayer the Korbanot section of the liturgy. This includes the Akeida, Ketores, Korbanos which include portions from the Written and Oral Law. We tell Hashem that while we haven't yet merited the building of the Beit Hamikdash, Please Hashem in the Zechut of reciting these passages, may we come closer to Hashem, and be worthy of rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash and return to the time when we will be able to do the Avodah as we did of years gone by, Keymei Olam Uchashanim Kadmaniyot. Shabbat Shalom Umevorach.
Sincerely,
Robin Ticker
Activist emails sent to my list are L'Ilui Nishmat Yisrael ben David Aryeh ob"m (Izzy - Kaplan) and Howard Chaim Grief great activists and lovers of Eretz Yisroel, Am Yisroel and the Torah. Yehi Zichronum Baruch. May their memories serve as a blessing.
