Rabbi Nir ben Artzi Parshat Vayigash 5772

Rabbi Nir ben Artzi   Parshat Vayigash

A message to Am Yisrael, in the Land and throughout the world

The King of Kings, the Holy One blessed be He, guards and protects his entire nation of Israel, with great love and with great mercy! Am Yisrael is a people filled with light, holiness and purity! Am Yisrael in the people chosen by the Holy One – a treasured people! The Holy One protects from all the surrounding nations!

Nasrallah and Lebanon are in fear, and do nothing – they have no backing from Syria because Assad is busy with nice and pleasant work – he is destroying his entire nation! Syria is in unending chaos and Assad is not ready to give up his throne. The armies of the world will not touch Assad because he has chemical warheads. The Holy One is holding Assad with strings as a puppet. The Holy One wants to destroy Syria. He wants to destroy Syria’s plans because they all lead to the destruction of the Holy Eretz Yisrael.

The soldiers of Israel “are resting,” the Holy One is doing the work – for the time of revealing the Mashiach has come! No one can harm Am Yisrael! Lebanon cannot do anything – their swords will enter their hearts. Assad wants to save his skin, he will fight to the finish – as long as he can retain his throne.

Lebanon cannot do anything, not even one step, because they received backing from Syria, and now it has ended!

There is bad blood in Egypt – their swords will enter their hearts! All the Palestinians are collapsing from day to day, they will devour each other, they are fearful for they don’t have Egypt’s backing. When Egyptians fight each other there is no one to support the Palestinians. This is a big advantage to the Holy Eretz Yisrael. In Iran, they will continue to explode among themselves. The Holy One will not give them the pleasure of harming Eretz Yisrael!

The government of Israel and the great leaders of Israel: stop dealing with matters that have no importance. Boys – girls, together or separate! Go with your own feet and see with your own eyes the children of Am Yisrael, ages 3 to 18 and more who are destroying themselves with the drug culture and drink until they are unconscious! An entire generation can be destroyed because of drugs and drinking and crime. In this area the government of Israel must open its eyes wide and be concerned about children in Israel! They need to worry about their education and close all the drug clubs that are destroying them. Drug clubs – this is the quiet way of destroying the children of Israel! We must have massive public efforts to save our children, our boys and our girls! No amount of money can be spared, no strength and resources withheld – to save our children! We should not get involved with other things – boys, girls, for this is simply unnecessary.

Am Yisrael: We must come together and unify as one! We, Am Yisrael, are forbidden to follow the ways of the gentiles. We have the Torah and the Ten Commandments and we have to conduct ourselves according to them. This is what we must teach to all, to all of Am Yisrael!

The Jewish people of Am Yisrael must not assimilate! Am Yisrael are a people of love, and unity and giving! The Holy One wishes all Israel to merit being the first to the revelation of King Mashiach! Therefore the Holy One continues to destroy the evil and hatred in the world in order to bring the world to absolute humility! No one will “chirp”. All will say with one declaration, that Hashem is Elokim, Hashem is One, and He is Everything!”

All forms of natural disasters will continue with force! Boats will sink into the water, planes will fall out of the sky and there will be complications among the nations of the world!

Jews in the diaspora, the Master of the world is warning you: “Don’t tell Me I didn’t tell you!” There will be hatred of Jews everywhere in the world! The place of each Jew is in the Holy Eretz Yisrael! The Master of the world is expelling Jews from the nations of the world in order that they come to the Holy Land!

The European economy will continue to collapse and China is next in line, it’s not too long before it falls too, also England, Russia and North and South America. Where there is money there are Jews and where there are Jews in the diaspora there is money – therefore the Holy One will sink the economies of the world – in order that the Jews will come to Eretz Yisrael!

To wealthy Jews: A tenth of private wages and earnings must be separated (ma’aser). In this way you will be rewarded with double, and you and your livelihood will be protected always! If you don’t give a tenth (ma’aser) – you will suffer the consequences – you will fall and crash! This is a warning from the Master of the world. Don’t take Him to task – He gave you in order that you give to others! To give to the poor and the needy, to build mikvaot and synagogues. All is a preparation and the pattern of the King of Kings, the Holy One blessed be He, as He works with all His might prior to the revelation of the King Mashiach! 

Translation provided by Rabbi Elan Adler.

Gad Asher haLevi A"H

My father died 17 years ago today. In this picture of us together, he was four years younger than I am now. When this picture was taken, we didn't yet know it, but his tragedy had already begun. I have more recent pictures of him, of course, but the later ones are too hard for me to look at. I can see the disease in his eyes. Here, although the symptoms had already begun to surface, he still looked relatively normal.

My entire adult life, until his death 17 years ago, my father suffered from bipolar disorder, more commonly known as manic-depression. Although there is no known cure, some people with this diagnosis can, with long-term treatment, live relatively normal lives.

My father was not one of those people. His mood swings were huge, his depressed periods were prolonged and his manic stages were known to be destructive. When his disease was full-blown, it was not easy to be with him.

This is an understatement.

In the end, he died from pancreatic cancer, just weeks from diagnosis until death.

The last time I saw him, I was 10 weeks postpartum. I flew from Baltimore to Florida with my newborn daughter, today a senior in high school. I laid her down on the bed so my dying father could meet her. She was pink and wriggly; his skin was jaundiced from cancer. The memory of that contrast remains strong. Except for his voice, he was unrecognizable to me. Always a hearty man in life, he lay on what was literally his death bed, his body a fraction of its former self.

Ironically, my father, who was more than once picked up by the police in his manic phases, who spent time in psychiatric wards, heavily medicated and strapped to the bed lest he hurt himself or others, who called me at 3 AM with delusions that he was at the Kotel (which he always called the Wailing Wall) was utterly lucid in the last days of his life. As we sat talking, a Chanukah menorah at the window, I was able to ask him everything I always wanted to know about him and about our family. He sometimes waxed philosophical with me. "Don't be afraid," he advised, "Death is a part of life."

Although his bipolar disorder eclipsed the last decade and more of his life, I always knew, from my earliest childhood, that my father loved me.

Once, long ago, just before a birthday, I spotted an unfamiliar carton in the trunk of our car. My father told me it was a tire. How old was I at the time? Seven, maybe 8 or 9? Knowing my father was in the auto repair business, his answer made perfect sense. But the box actually held a doll house, a fantasy gift for a little girl.

That story is my father to me. He created worlds, for what is a doll house if not another world? Sometimes he did it with words. Sometimes with gifts. He created worlds when he decorated our homes. In the house of my childhood, there was a game room with a built-in wet bar. In our adolescent rec room, we had black-light posters and the special bulbs that made them pop. My sister and I shared a room where everything was matching shades of green and blue. I had already moved to college by then, but I remember a room in another house with an African jungle theme. And I remember the Jewish theme, the symbolism of which I neither understood nor appreciated at the time. My father constantly created other worlds. Perhaps he was always trying to escape the chaos in his mind.

Once, when he visited me in Baltimore after I was already religious, he came to shul on Shabbat morning. Although we sat separately in the small Orthodox shul that was my first spiritual home, I recognized that the men had called him up, as a guest in the congregation, for an aliyah. Gevalt! What did my father know about getting an aliyah? They were going to have to feed him the words of the bracha slowly, one at a time.

I was startled to hear him make the bracha, as loudly, clearly and confidently as if he had just done so the Shabbat before. Walking home later, I asked him how he pulled that off.  "Didn't you know?" he answered with a sly smile, "My bar mitzvah was in an Orthodox shul. It's like riding a bike. You never forget how."

My father was too sick to ever really discuss my return to traditional Judaism, but I have often imagined that, had he been well, he too might have done teshuva and been living as a Torah Jew today. He might even have retired and come to live in Israel near us - me, my husband, children and my brother, his only son.

When I lit the yahrtzeit candle for him last night, I thought of how, when I see him again, he will be well. My father's disease was a force in my life for a very long time. But his love was even stronger.

When I first met my husband, his physical resemblance to my father spooked me. We married in the late afternoon on the 7th day of Chanukah and, though we didn't realize it when we set the date, that night was my father's second yahrtzeit. My brother, sister and I, uncharacteristically together on that date, lit yahrtzeit candles for him in the wedding hall.

Newly divorced with two young children, I met my husband almost 18 months to the day after my father died. Eighteen is a pretty significant number in Judaism. It's the numerical value of the Hebrew word chai, which means life. Once the disease infected his essence, my father could no longer take care of me. But he had a hand in sending me someone else who could. And he sent someone who resembles him, so I wouldn't miss the gift.

Fifteen years later, my husband, who never met my father, and I celebrated our Chanukah wedding anniversary in Jerusalem. I often think that my husband embodies all the best parts of my father, a reflection of what my father might have been, without the calamity that was his disease.

I got the message, Dad. Thanks for looking out for me.

Thank You Hashem

When an awareness dawns, fully formed, we are sometimes blessed enough to perceive it as the Divine gift it is.

When I was a newly-minted religious woman, Hashem sent me an insight about the role of women in Judaism. There is no way this understanding was my own because, at the time, I had precious little Torah knowledge. And, in fact, I came to question it over the years, since I had no source for it.  But I remember exactly where and on what occasion I first said it out loud, in front of some equally recent ba'alot teshuva and a much respected rebbetzin in Baltimore. 

The idea was a simple one: that the way women are treated in normative Orthodox Judaism is not God's original intention. And that someday, things would align again with His original intention.

In 2006, a book came into my field of vision that basically made the same argument, this time deeply sourced in Torah, with 192 endnotes.

The Moon's Lost Light: A Torah Perspective on Women from the Fall of Eve to the Full Redemption by Devorah Heshelis is a book that comforts me every time I feel a twinge arising from being a woman in a traditional Jewish life. I summarized the book and taught its principle points to groups of religious women on two separate occasions over the past year.

The first time was my very first teaching experience since making aliyah. And I left that evening thinking that I will never teach in Israel again.

The ideas in the book, which I believe are original and brilliant and astonishingly comforting, were not well-received. I felt emotional walls going up as we discussed the book. I was told, "We've all dealt with the 'women's issues' decades ago. We've moved on and we don't want to hear about that stuff anymore."

I, who had often received encouraging feedback when teaching adult women for over 20 years, walked away from that experience in shock. I knew my presentation was solid - well-organized,clear and interactive. The only thing I could conclude was that I was not meant to teach in Israel. The very thought devastated me.

I was invited to teach an entirely different text a few months later by a different group of women.  With trepidation, I agreed.  That series of talks turned out to be much more typical of my teaching experiences. So, in thanking them for the invitation, I told this group of women the story of how the last talk had gone horribly wrong and they persuaded me to teach the ideas in the book to them.  That was my second presentation of the ideas in The Moon's Lost Light.

I've read the book a few times, and am in the middle of yet another reading.  This time, it was prompted by meeting the author at a shiur.

There is a woman from Brooklyn named Evelyn Haies who, passionate about the message of Rachel Imenu, bought a building near Kever Rachel and started an organization called Rachel's Children Reclamation Foundation (RCRF).  RCRF sponsors Torah talks in a hall very close to the kever.

Every since my husband spoke there about a year ago, I have been on their mailing list.  When I saw the announcement that the author of The Moon's Lost Light was speaking, I committed to attend. In the book, the section called ABOUT THE AUTHOR says:

Devorah Heshelis is the pen name of a Bais Yaakov graduate who presently resides in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Kiryat Tsanz. In addition to being a wife and mother of eleven children, she has been teaching women Torah for over twenty-five years.

I wanted to meet this woman.

Her talk, entitled "The Essence of the Greek Exile", was fascinating. I took copious notes and came home and excitedly told my husband and one of my daughters the highlights.

But she was even more fascinating to me. Here was a woman who, under normal circumstances, I would never have met. We don't exactly live in the same weltanschauung.  But Torah, and the RCRF, brought us together.

As it happened, I went to the shiur with a friend who volunteered to drive the author to her bus stop in another part of Jerusalem.  So we got to talk more during the car ride and now we have begun a personal email correspondence.

I don't know what lies ahead in our correspondence, but I have already benefited. The whole experience, meeting the author of a book that touched me deeply, learning Torah about exile and redemption in very close proximity to Kever Rachel and beginning a correspondence with a chassidish woman whose life experiences are so different from mine have already been spiritually nourishing.

So I was feeling pretty blessed by the opportunities life in Israel provides when we went to a wedding in Jerusalem a few nights ago. Upon walking into the wedding hall, the first thing we heard was the sound of women singing. It caught my attention because it was loud.  But also because it was so novel. Walking toward the joyful sound, I saw a phalanx of young women, arm-in-arm, singing and dancing in front of the seated bride.

It's common to see this among young men who are friends of the groom's, both in the moments before the chuppah when guests approach to bestow good wishes on the bride and groom and later, at the chuppah, especially if the groom is a yeshiva student or in the army and has a lot of young, energetic male friends.  But in my experience, it's rare, and quite delicious, to see young women do this for their friend, the bride.

And when a couple of hundred Jews sing Im Eshkachech Yerushalayim at a chuppah IN Yerushalayim, my eyes well up.

My heart is full. Thank You Hashem for the many spiritual opportunities, large and small, that nurture my soul. Thank you for the blessing of allowing me to live my life in the Land of Israel.

I Hope You Liked My Country

Thursday night, we drove  to Ben Gurion airport with a family member traveling to the US for a few weeks.  While waiting for her to check her bag, I saw a somewhat raucous group of American college students, joking around while waiting for their turn through security.  They were tossing around kitschy souvenirs from Israel and making jokes about what things cost in shekels.

Since Taglit: Birthright Israel season has begun in Israel, it's not unusual for me to see groups of college students clustered together in touristy places in and around Jerusalem as I go about my daily errands. This time, in the airport, I had such a wildly novel thought.

I know these young people came from a US college campus and just spent 10 days exploring Israel. I know many, if not most of them are Jews with Jewish identities that are still in formation. I know that many of them came to Israel, in large measure, because it was a free trip.

I felt a new level of responsibility for representing Israel.  I felt compelled to go over to them, let them know that our family lives here now, that we are normal people, that we are Israelis, and that we hope that they had a positive experience here and, if there is anything we can do for them, please contact us. I so wanted to go over to them and say, in my American English, "I hope you liked my country."

Did I do it?

No.

But I thought about it.  And in that thought, I realized how much I identify as an Israeli now.

Chanukah in the White House

About five years ago, when we still lived in America and my husband was a synagogue rabbi with a prominent community profile, we were invited to attend the annual Chanukah celebration at the Governor's mansion in Annapolis.  I remember it especially because it fell on the night of our wedding anniversary.  We went to Annapolis and hobnobbed with politicians and leaders of the Jewish community and later, we enjoyed a more private celebration back in Baltimore.

At the Governor's mansion, where a large silver chanukiah was placed on a central table amidst Christmas decorations, kosher food was provided, in a separate room in the back, apart from the main celebration.  And I remember thinking that the whole thing was farcical. Although Chanukah was the theme, it was an entirely politically motivated evening and I was not impressed. I felt as if the government appropriated a private family celebration, dressed it in politics and paraded it in front of the Jewish community to show how "tolerant" and "ecumenical" they were.

I hadn't thought of that experience until yesterday, when I read this article about how the White House kitchen was kashered for the White House Chanukah party. 

The article was all about making the case that, "...watching the distinctly non-Jewish White House kitchen turn itself upside down, wrap itself up, and scour, boil and disinfect itself for a one-time event was to witness a hosting effort of astonishing generosity and thoughtfulness." [Emphasis mine.]


Clearly, a lot of people agree with that point of view. What a nice thing for the White House to do to show how religious tolerance reigns in the US!  How thoughtful to have a Chanukah party in the White House!  How they honored their guests by making the food kosher so those Jews who care about kashrut could eat comfortably!

In his radio show on December 9, conservative talk show host Michael Savage did not have anything positive to say about the event.  He accused the Obama White House of insulting Jews by having a Chanukah party two weeks too early, for lighting all candles in the chanukiah together and for the impromptu joke Obama made about being happy to kiss and hug everyone there,"except for the rabbis with the whiskers." Savage took issue with the rabbis who acted like court Jews, falling all over themselves to prepare the kitchen and attend the celebration.

I posted the New York Times article to Facebook along with this comment:  Having the American rabbi supervising the kashering of the White House refer to the White House as,"the most powerful house of our day," is incredibly disheartening.

Indeed, it hurts me to hear an Orthodox Jew make that kind of comment.  It hurts me to see that some Jews think this sort of event is a good thing.

Why are there Chanukah parties at the White House or the Governor's mansion in the first place? Because America is a Christian country and there is a common perception is that Chanukah is the Jewish Christmas. So already, I'm uncomfortable because, as lovely as Chanukah is, it's hardly the most important holiday in the Jewish calendar as we observe it today. So Chanukah gets raised to a level of significance it doesn't truly have, davka because it's being celebrated in exile, surrounded by Christmas. These celebrations have little to do with the meaning of Chanukah and everything to do with politics. 

This event struck me as particularly distasteful, given the hostility of the current administration to Israel. It reminds me of the status of Jews in Iran today. Ahmadinejad wants to wipe Israel off the map, but Iranian Jews are protected under Iran's constitution. Obama is often named the most anti-Israel president in US history, but American Jews can light the chanukiah and eat kosher latkes at his party.

From my perspective, the whole thing was nothing but a hollow PR event, farcical and vacuous. It gives me a stomach ache that so many Jews went along with it. Happily! Proudly! How polite and respectful of us they are! The feeling that some Jews sold out for a kosher latke hurts my soul.


But even more troubling than all this is the hostile feedback I get every time I mention something about the perspective of American Jews. I am often told, in a nutshell, "leave American Jews alone." Write about all the lovely little moments in Israel and stop judging us.

What I cannot seem to put across to some, no matter how often and in how many different ways I try, is how genuinely pessimistic I am about the future of the American Jewish community and the dangers that lurk there. It's a classic case of shooting the messenger.  

Like at a simcha, I miss having the whole family together here in the Holy Land, enjoying who we are meant to be.  I worry over those of my fellow Jews who clearly demonstrate, by their speech and their behavior, over and over again, that they are much, much too comfortable in galut. I fear that the price they will have to pay for that misguided loyalty will be great.

Who am I but a very simple Jew?  If it hurts me so much that so many refuse to see what God has asked of us and repeatedly reject the chance to come Home and build up Am Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael, I dare not imagine how devastated Hashem must feel.

Rabbi Nir ben Artzi Parshat Vayeshev 5772

Rabbi Nir ben Artzi   Parshat Vayeshev

A message to Am Yisrael in the Land and throughout the world

Father in Heaven asks of all Jews to be united and cohesive, for this is their protection, their strength and their success!

When Am Yisrael is united and cohesive, doing kindness, loving each other and helping each other without expectation of return – no nation and no human being can harm them!

The Holy One blessed be He protects and shields the Holy Eretz Yisrael! There are many miracles occurring, and when Am Yisrael is united and cohesive and performing acts of kindness – the Holy One guards and shields Am Yisrael most strongly! We see the miracles, missiles are shot from Lebanon and Gaza, and the Creator of the world protects the Holy Eretz Yisrael – and only the Jews who live in the Holy Land!

There is no fear, not from Iran, not from Syria, not from Lebanon or Gaza. The Creator will turn everything on their faces! The Creator will protect Am Yisrael! All their evil designs towards Am Yisrael will turn on them – their swords will enter their hearts!

Father in Heaven asks of Jews who live in North and South America, in Europe and everywhere in the world, is asking and begging in every language of urgency: make aliyah immediately to the Holy Land, for this is the place of your residence!

The Holy One is showing signs in all parts of the world: earthquakes, volcanoes, floods and hurricanes, and turning nations against each other, one nation after the other. He uses nature’s forces in order to rid the world of evil, and to show Jews living in the diaspora that He can reach every place. He hit Japan – and will continue to do so in order to show Jews from afar what He can do!

Do not mess with the Creator’s signs in the world! If you don’t come to the Holy Eretz Yisrael now, don’t come complaining to Him, as He won’t listen to any complaint of yours!

One should leave the world of money and materialism, and homes , and a defiled land that has no value – and move quickly to Eretz Yisrael! Here you are safe and protected! In the diaspora, protection over the Jews has ceased! Whoever doesn’t believe should look with his own eyes – there is no longer any protection of the Jews in the diaspora! In the days to come, within weeks, Jews in the diaspora will see exactly how unprotected they are, and will understand that the Holy One is extremely serious! They will escape in huge numbers and come to the Holy Eretz Yisrael!

All Jews living in the Holy Eretz Yisrael, with their families, and who want to work in the diaspora, they will leave for short periods of time and return to the Land, and will succeed in their livelihoods! Jews living in the diaspora will see with their own eyes how they are being stolen from!

The entire world is in chaos, members of parliament fight among themselves! What they show on television – is a tiny fraction of what is actually occurring in the world!

All the presidents and heads of governments in the world are concerned with their own tenure and the Holy One steers them in the direction He desires!

Am Yisrael should not be complacent! Although the Creator’s protection is upon Am Yisrael, the Holy One hopes that Am Yisrael will become as one, in love and unity!

The soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces – they are our children! They guard and protect Holy Eretz Yisrael, and assist Medinat Yisrael truthfully and honestly!

I beg of you, speak only good of them, bless them each and every moment, embrace them and love them! When there is protection of the Jews in the Holy Land – here down below – there is protection from above also! We must respect all soldiers of Tzahal – the Holy One considers all Tzahal “Tzaddikim” without exception! And if the Holy One calls them Tzaddikim -  woe to the one who doesn’t!

“Chazak u’Baruch” (kudos) to the large group of Rabbis who got together, unified and worked together to help Am Yisrael! This is the joy of the Master of the world! You have succeeded in gladdening Him! So may this continue, that many more Rabbis and Gedolai Yisrael (revered Sages in Israel) join in unity and harmony, and in this way advance the revelation of King Mashiach, in mercy!

Translation provided by Rabbi Elan Adler.

 

As The Challah Burns

Largely due to the fact that there was amazing and readily available Rosendorf challah for sale in Baltimore, I only occasionally made challah in America. But for years, I dreamed of making challah in my own kitchen in Israel.  It seemed to tie together so many mitzvot.

After making aliyah, I didn't actually rush into it. Up until a few months ago, we were still buying challot every week. Not surprisingly, challot are even more plentiful, accessible, diverse and delicious here than in Baltimore.

Some months ago, I had an astonishing homemade honey-wheat challah at a friend's one Shabbat and decided to try to duplicate it the next week. Since then, almost every Thursday night, there's challah baking in my kitchen.

As every traditional Jews knows, the mitzvah of challah is actually in removing a symbolic piece of dough, making a bracha and, in the absence of the Beit haMikdash, burning it. During the times I made challah in America, I burned it in the oven, double wrapped it and threw it away with the household trash.  Here, I set it on a gas burner on the stove top.  Once it starts to char, its odor and smoke permeate the house.  If my kids are home, they grouse, "Eew, that stinks!"

A few weeks ago, I watched a serious Jew, a religious woman I know, put the piece of dough on which she had made a bracha into a plastic bag, pour dish soap on it, rendering it inedible, put it in a second bag and throw it away.  No mess.  No smell.

I checked with a posek and found that this is a valid halachic option.

But it doesn't sit quite right with me.  Not because it's not halachic. Historically, I tend toward adopting the more lenient halachic option.  But this one seems a bit too easy to me.

While the charring piece of dough does make for an unpleasant olfactory experience, it reminds me that this is what we have to do because we don't have a Beit HaMikdash with attendant kohanim to actually give the challah to.

To douse it with dish soup and throw it away is a perfectly acceptable option in Jewish law.

It just doesn't feel quite right to me.  Can't say exactly why this practice, above others, makes me so desire authenticity, but I'd like to think it has something to do with the fact that, on every bus trip into Jerusalem, I pass Har HaBayit and silently say the "Yehi Ratzon" for the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash.

Rabbi Nir ben Artzi Parshat Vayishlach 5772

Rabbi Nir ben Artzi    Parshat Vayishlach

A message to Am Yisrael in the Land and throughout the world

The King of Kings, the Holy One blessed be He, protects, guards and shields, together with the Shechina, the Holy Land and Am Yisrael in the Holy Land, a people that dwells on pure soil.

Many miracles occur to the Jewish people and more will be coming, especially in this month! There will be great miracles and wonders, and each and every Jew will experience these unique miracles!

All the Arab countries, their swords will enter their own hearts as it was with the tower of Bavel. They fight each other, and all that they scheme against the Holy nation of Israel will eventually come upon them – their swords will enter their own hearts!

They will not succeed in harming Am Yisrael. Israel’s Defense Forces puts its life on the line with great sacrifice and great work, and it is for all of Am Yisrael, without exception, to honor and pray for, bless and strengthen every soldier of Tzahal every day!

The world is going down the drain! The economy in Italy, Greece, Spain and other places in Europe – should all go down the drain! No one can help them. There is no way to help them. They themselves don’t know what will be, and all of them are scared, worried and confused, feeling that one will “consume” the other. This is a fear that grips the world! This includes worry that the American economy will collapse.

Many Jews, affluent and not, “cry” that they lack sufficient money or success in work or livelihood. Listen well, understand well and read this well: The Master of the world will give money to those who give a tenth of their earnings (ma’aser) and those who contribute money to the needy, the poor, synagogues, students of Torah, and the sick!

All rich people acquired their wealth solely for the purpose of giving ma’aser to the Jews of Eretz Yisrael. There is no differentiation between one rich person and another or between rich and poor – all are children of the Holy One!

Just as the Holy One sends a messenger or messengers into the world, so too there are messengers upon whom the Holy One relies to give of their ma’aser to Jews. The reason they fall is because they don’t give donations. The Holy One does not excuse anyone!

Do acts of kindness, give ma’aser, and I will return your gifts ten-fold, and when the Master of the world says “deal with me graciously in this matter”, give a tenth (t’ahser) so that you can become rich (k’dai she’tit’asher) – this is the Creator speaking and not flesh and blood!

Ma’aser and charity must be given from wages and personal monetary gains of each Jew, and in this way the rich of the Land will not fall in their businesses; they will be strong and become wealthier. This applies to employees as well. If they don’t do this, they will fall greatly!

The Creator doesn’t want stinginess, rather He desires wide open hearts – the world is built on Chesed!

It is for every Jew across the world, to leave the diaspora and arrive immediately in Eretz Yisrael. All synagogues, their Torah scrolls and all their contents, should be brought immediately to Eretz Yisrael. Jews have completed their task in the diaspora! The exile and diaspora are ending! There is no success for any Jew in the diaspora, as he lives there with family and children – everything will be lost! When they live as a family in Eretz Yisrael, he can travel to the diaspora for a few days or a week to do business – then there will be success!

We need a leader for Eretz Yisrael and the entire world called Mashiach! He is very close to coming!

Translation provided by Rabbi Elan Adler.

Rabbi Nir ben Artzi Parshat Vayetzei 5772

Rabbi Nir ben Artzi   Parshat Vayetzei

A message to Am Yisrael in the Land and throughout the world

The King of Kings, the Holy One blessed be He, is aiming the entire world in one direction- the removal of evil and materialism from the world. He is aiming towards a new world, of love and peace – let there not be distress in the world! The Holy One is leading the world towards the redemption of the Jewish nation, and the revelation of King Mashiach!

The situation in the world continues to be complicated; each day is more difficult than the day before, and worse than the day before. The world economy continues to fall and crash. In Europe, North and South America, Russia and China and other nations in the world, collapse with continue.

All Jews in the world must come immediately to the Holy Land! World Jews, in America and Europe and in every land: Come to Israel immediately! And until then, buy property and houses in holy Eretz Yisrael! Don’t delay! Don’t miss out on this opportunity! Don’t come afterwards, God forbid, with complaints to the Master of the world – He won’t listen to you! Leave the world of materialism and money! Money comes and goes, goes and comes!

The Holy One is wreaking havoc within and amongst all the Arab nations surrounding Israel, nothing will help them – it won’t stop until they are destroyed at their core! Like it was with the tower of Babel! The Holy One is doing all this, so that they will have arguments with each other and leave Am Yisrael to cleave wholly to the Holy One!

Am Yisrael: Don’t be complacent, take this opportunity to come together and be united and all come back in repentence!

Real estate in Eretz Yisrael will continue to widen. There will be jobs for every Jew who reach Eretz Yisrael. There is no fear in Eretz Yisrael, the Holy One guards and protects Am Yisrael. The explosions in Lebanon and Iran, the hand of Hashem was in it – their swords will enter their hearts! This is only the beginning! There will be much more of “their swords will enter their hearts”! Even all their inner conflicts are part of “their swords will enter their hearts!”

The Israel Defense Forces – the soldiers of Tzahal are doing their job with a full heart! They are protecting Am Yisrael and the Holy One protects them! It is for every Jew, without exception, to honor and bless them and to pray for them to succeed in all their endeavors!

Thank God, Tzahal does its work quietly and efficiently, and they do Holy work. Am Yisrael should go with head held high, and stop locking itself in fear and trepidation – this is forbidden! We need to be confident and loving and unified, and rely and lean on the King of Kings, the Holy One!

The Holy One is begging from the Jews in Am Yisrael, from the youngest to the oldest, to work for unity and baseless love, to forgive one another and to love one another.

All giants of Torah and leaders of Israel: we need to find a new way, of unity and togetherness, to love one another – one Jew should love another and be with one heart – you are the models for all Jews in the Land and throughout the world! And however our elders behave is how our children behave – it’s all in your hands! One and yet another one, and in the end we’ll all be united as one with one heart for all!

We have to encourage Tzahal and its soldiers, to give them our trust – they are our children, they do their best and what is best for the holy Eretz Yisrael!

The entire world’s economy will collapse, and holy Eretz Yisrael will become the richest of all! This is the time! This is the last generation for the redemption of Am Yisrael with mercy! This generation has merited the revelation of King Mashiach!

Translation provided by Rabbi Elan Adler.

Donuts and No Dough

Yesterday, my husband and I spent a rare day-off together in Jerusalem, doing errands, but also absorbing the pre-Chanukah atmosphere.  I took lots of pictures of sufganiot (Israeli donuts for Chanukah)

and other signs of Chanukah's arrival in Jerusalem. I intended to write a light-hearted piece to contrast with the seriousness of some of my more recent posts.  Truly I did.

But then an issue keep nudging me from different directions and I thought that maybe this is what I was meant to write about instead.

I spend a lot of time in the geula world - the largely Internet-based world where people think and dream and learn and write about the Ultimate Redemption of the Jewish people and who search for signs of geula in headline news.

Yesterday, there was a whopper. A "Kristalnacht" in Highland Park where five Jewish-owned businesses in Highland Park, NJ had their shop windows smashed.  This followed a few days after the Hillel at Rutgers had a brick thrown through the window.  Most disheartening to me were the comments on the article urging people to, (I'm paraphrasing here) Stop making this sound like another Holocaust. This is America and nothing bad can happen here because our good non-Jewish neighbors will fight with us against this kind of violence.

There are a handful of rabbis who have been exceedingly influential on my thinking, teaching me to wake up and PAY ATTENTION to what's going on in the world, and especially in America. Rabbi Pinchas Winston was the first to teach me the idea that, in whatever Diaspora community we find ourselves, historically, we Jews miss the signs that it's time to move on.  We always stay too long.

Not only do I spend a lot of time thinking of these things, I also correspond with people around the world who are somewhere in the aliyah process.  And lately, I've noticed a trend, a distressing question, a heart-breaking dilemma coming up with ever-increasing frequency.

In a nutshell, the dilemma is, "Okay, I get it now.  I see where all this is headed and I'm ready to pack my bags and move to Israel.  But, there's a huge glitch.  I have no money.  I live paycheck-to-paycheck and I can't afford a plane ticket to Israel let alone an apartment there. Rabbi X is telling us to leave America and I'm ready, but I don't have any savings/haven't worked in months/can barely buy groceries here, etc.  What am I supposed to do now??"

What a sad question. What a harsh test. At this moment, the Jewish Agency considers aliyah from America to be aliyah-by-choice.  How far are we from the point where the Jewish Agency will revise its perspective and define aliyah from America as rescue aliyah? You may think it's far-fetched, but it's not at all difficult for me to envision the Jewish Agency sending in planes to rescue American Jews, setting up temporary housing here and feeding and clothing them until they can build new lives in Israel.

I asked Rabbi Winston what he thinks about this dilemma of people who finally want to leave but find they cannot.  His answer, "The truth? They're stuck, short of a great miracle, and they must work on creating a mini-Eretz Yisroel where they live to remain protected, b"H. This can open doors to aliyah they don't even know about yet, and bitachon and emunah is a must."

What I think that that means, practically speaking, is that people who are stuck in the US due to financial limitations must talk to Hashem and ask for, beg for, help.  I was listening to a shiur earlier this week by Rabbi Lazer Brody, about talking to Hashem and asking for what we need.  He told a story of a student in their yeshiva who went to his rebbe, Rabbi Shalom Arush, for help because he wasn't making enough money to pay rent.  Rav Arush sent him to the field to do six hours of hitbodedut, private, personal prayer.  He came back to Rav Arush shortly after and said that the situation was worse and now he was being kicked out of his apartment. Rav Arush sent him to do six more hours of hitbodedut. Shortly after, he got an inheritance from an aunt and is now living in a paid-off apartment three blocks from the yeshiva.

Rabbi Brody encourages 30 minutes of talking to Hashem and asking him for what we need for 30 days. This is emunah in action.

Short of a miracle, what else can be said?  If you're here already, praise Hashem for your good fortune and say chapter 122 of Tehillim for those who are not yet Home. If you're not here yet but can still afford to come, come now!  And if you're stuck, if you want to come but find your cupboard is bare, pray for God's help.

Hashem has no shortage of dough.