8 Av 5775
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Jordan launches war on ISIS in Iraq, Turkish warplanes hit ISIS in Syria. US, Israel involved in both ops
24 July 2015
23 July 2015
Parshat Devarim - Shabbat Chazon 5775
8 Av 5775
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Devarim and the 9th of Av: Looking forward with hope
by Daniel Pinner
Ever since the yearly cycle of Torah readings was standardised towards the end of the Second Temple era, and the fixed calendar as calculated by Hillel II (Hillel ben Yehudah, Nasi or head of the Sanhedrin) was adopted in 4119 (359 C.E.), Parashat D’varim is invariably the last Shabbat of the Nine Days of mourning for our lost Land and destroyed Holy Temple.
That is to say, we invariably begin to read the final Book of the Torah, Deuteronomy, on the Shabbat which immediately precedes the fast of the ninth of Av.
This year 5775, the connexion is closer yet: as happens on average about one year in four, this Shabbat is the 9th of Av itself (which is why the fast is postponed by a day to Sunday the 10th of Av).
That is to say, this year we begin to read the Book of Deuteronomy on the 9th of Av, the day that commemorates the worst disasters that ever befell our nation.
Each of the Five Books of the Torah has its special characteristic. “Rabbi Simon said: Five times the Torah uses the word ‘light’ [in the Creation narrative], corresponding to the five Books of the Torah. ‘God said, Let there be light’ (Genesis 1:3), corresponding to Genesis, in which God was involved in creating His world. ‘And there was light’ (ibid.), corresponding to Exodus, in which Israel went out from darkness to light. ‘And God saw the light that it was good’ (v. 4), corresponding to Leviticus, the whole of which is full of many halachot. ‘And God separated between the light and the darkness’ (ibid.), corresponding to Numbers, which separates between those who left Egypt and those who came to the Land. ‘And God called the light day’ (v. 5), corresponding to Deuteronomy, which is full of many halachot” (Bereishit Rabbah 3:5).
However, as the Midrash continues, Rabbi Simon’s colleagues challenged this: “Isn’t the Book of Leviticus also full of many halachot?”
To which Rabbi Simon responded: “Here, too, something has been repeated” (ibid.).
The Matanot Kehunah (commentary to Midrash Rabbah composed by Rabbi Yissachar Ber ha-Kohen Katz, Poland, 16th century) explains that the terms “light” and “day” have the same meaning, so calling the light “God called the light day” constitutes a repetition; thus it corresponds to the Book of Deuteronomy, in which so many previously-stated halachot are repeated.
I suggest an alternative understanding. The Hebrew phrase in the Midrash,אף הוא שנה בו דבר, which we translated as “Here, too, something has been repeated”, could also mean “Nevertheless, something here is different”. Rabbi Simon does not explain what it is that is different; he simply leaves it as an unexplained assertion.
I suggest that what is different about the Book of Deuteronomy is that it is “Torat Eretz Yisrael”, the Torah of the Land of Israel.
The Midrash tells us that “there is no Torah like the Torah of Eretz Yisrael” (Vayikra Rabbah 13:5; Yalkut Shimoni, Bereishit 22), which demands a definition of the concept of “Torat Eretz Yisrael”.
Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Kook z”l (Latvia, England, and Israel, 1865-1935) and his son Rabbi Tzvi Yehudah Kook (Russian Empire and Israel, 1891-1982) were the greatest exponents of Torat Eretz Yisrael, and following their teachings, we can define “Torat Eretz Yisrael” as understanding the Torah as the national charter of the Nation of Israel living on the Land of Israel, rather than as merely a religion of individuals living under foreign governments.
The Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, Spain and Israel, 1195-c.1270), in his Introduction to the Book of Deuteronomy, says: “The subject of this Book is known to be a restatement of the Torah… In the plains of Moab nothing new was given, with the sole exception of the words of the Covenant [Deuteronomy 28:69], as is stated explicitly… These mitzvot had not been recorded in the earlier Books, when He had spoken with those who had left Egypt – maybe because these mitzvot [which were given earlier but recorded in Deuteronomy] apply solely in the Land of Israel”.
And so every year, we enter the week of most intensive mourning for our lost and plundered Land by beginning the reading of the Book which will lead us into our Land.
This perfectly encapsulates the dichotomy of the ninth of Av. It is simultaneously the day of greatest tragedy – and the day which is fore-ordained for redemption.
The Midrash recounts a most peculiar event that occurred on the day the Holy Temple was destroyed: “It happened that a certain man was ploughing, and one of his oxen lowed. An Arab was passing and said to him, What are you? He replied, I am a Jew. [The Arab] said to him: Unharness your ox and untie your plough [as a sign of mourning]. [The Jew] said to him: Why? [The Arab] said to him: Because the Holy Temple of the Jews has been destroyed! He asked him: How do you know? [The Arab] said: I know it from the lowing of your ox. While he was still talking to him, the ox lowed again, and [the Arab] said to [the Jew]: Harness your ox, tie up your plough, because the Jews’ redeemer has been born” (Eichah Rabbah 1:51).
That is to say, in the words of Midrash Abba Gurion, “From the day that the Holy Temple was destroyed, the Mashiach was born”.
This, indeed, has the status of practical halachah: the Chatam Sofer (Rabbi Moshe Schreiber, Germany, Moravia, and Slovakia, 1762-1839) wrote in a halachic responsum: “From the day the Holy Temple was destroyed, immediately one who according to his righteousness could have been the redeemer was born. When the right time comes, God will reveal him and will send him, and then the spirit of the Mashiach, which is concealed and stored away on high until he comes, will be aroused within him” (Halachic Responsa of the Chatam Sofer, Part 6, Section 98, s.v. hareini nazir).
The origins of this dual nature of the 9th of Av go right back to the first disaster that happened on that day – the day 3,326 years ago that God decreed upon our ancestors in the Sinai Desert that they would not enter the Land of Israel (Numbers 13-14).
Though the Torah does not explicitly state the date that this happened, the Talmud (Ta’anit 29a) calculates the Torah’s chronology: on the 20th of Iyar we left Mount Sinai (Numbers 10:11); this was followed by a three-day journey (v.33) concluding on the 23rd of Iyar; a 30-day sojourn in Kibroth-Hata’avah (ibid. 11:20, 34) concluding on the 22nd of Sivan; and finally seven days in Hazeroth (11:35, 12:15-16) before reaching the Paran Desert (ibid. 12:16) on the 29th of Sivan.
Hence, Moshe sent out the twelve spies on the 29th of Sivan (compare Targum Yonatan to Numbers 13:20) on their 40-day mission.
The plan was for them to return forty days later on the 8th of Av and deliver their report of how to conquer the Land, and the next day, the 9th of Av, we would enter the Land and take possession of it.
The 9th of Av would then have been our national Independence Day, a day of celebration and laughter.
But instead, when the spies returned on the 8th of Av they delivered their evil report of the Land; and when night fell and the nation cried, it was the evening of the 9th of Av. Instead of the 9th of Av being the day of the redemption, it became a day of tragedy.
But its potential as the day of redemption is innate, and so remains even despite our sins which delay its potential from being actualised.
Let us return to Rabbi Simon’s midrashic exposition, according to which “…God called the light day” corresponds to Deuteronomy.
It is standard Talmudic and Midrashic imagery that “night” represents exile and “day” represents redemption. It is no idle happenstance that when the spies delivered their evil report slandering the Land of Israel, “the nation wept on that night” (Numbers 14:1) – at night, preparing the way into hundreds of generations of exile.
And following the same imagery, “…God called the light day” corresponds to Deuteronomy precisely because “day” represents redemption, return to the Land of Israel, the extirpation of the sin of the spies and of their generation. The Book of Deuteronomy is the Book of redemption, the Book that leads us into the Land of Israel, the Book that leads us out of the night of exile into the day of redemption.
It is singularly appropriate that on the Shabbat that seals this most tragic of weeks, we begin by looking forward to the redemption that the 9th of Av inherently contains.
The Haftarah (the reading from the Prophets) conveys the same message of consolation. The Haftarah usually echoes or reflects or continues one of the major themes of the week’s Torah-reading; but for the final ten Shabbatot of the year, this changes.
Starting with the first Shabbat of the Three Weeks (usually, as this year, Parashat Pinchas, sometimes Parashat Mattot) and until the final Shabbat of the year, Parashat Nitzavim (or Nitzvim-Vayeilech), the theme of the Haftarot is castigation and comfort.
The three Haftarot of the Three Weeks (of which this is the third and last) are the three Haftarot of Castigation, the prophetic warnings from Jeremiah and Isaiah of the punishments that God will inflict if the Jewish nation rebels against His decrees. The first two are from Jeremiah (1:1-2:3 and 2:4-28), the third, this week, from Isaiah (1:1-27).
And the next seven are the Haftarot of Consolation, prophecies of the wonderful and beautiful future that awaits us in the time when we will return to our Land.
All seven of the Haftarot of Consolation are taken from Isaiah, as though our Sages who instituted these Haftarot wanted to infuse the idea yet again that the 9th of Av is the pivot between disaster and redemption. Yes, the Haftarah for the Shabbat of the Nine Days is depressing and gloomy; yes, it castigates the nation of Israel for their backsliding; yes, it depicts a desolate Israel and destroyed cities and a plundered Jerusalem.
It is the climax of the Three Weeks of mourning.
Yet it is also the beginning of the readings from Isaiah – the same prophet whose Book will comfort and encourage us for the next seven weeks, until the year ends and we will start out anew, cleansed by Rosh Hashanah.
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Devarim and the 9th of Av: Looking forward with hope
by Daniel Pinner
Ever since the yearly cycle of Torah readings was standardised towards the end of the Second Temple era, and the fixed calendar as calculated by Hillel II (Hillel ben Yehudah, Nasi or head of the Sanhedrin) was adopted in 4119 (359 C.E.), Parashat D’varim is invariably the last Shabbat of the Nine Days of mourning for our lost Land and destroyed Holy Temple.
That is to say, we invariably begin to read the final Book of the Torah, Deuteronomy, on the Shabbat which immediately precedes the fast of the ninth of Av.
This year 5775, the connexion is closer yet: as happens on average about one year in four, this Shabbat is the 9th of Av itself (which is why the fast is postponed by a day to Sunday the 10th of Av).
That is to say, this year we begin to read the Book of Deuteronomy on the 9th of Av, the day that commemorates the worst disasters that ever befell our nation.
Each of the Five Books of the Torah has its special characteristic. “Rabbi Simon said: Five times the Torah uses the word ‘light’ [in the Creation narrative], corresponding to the five Books of the Torah. ‘God said, Let there be light’ (Genesis 1:3), corresponding to Genesis, in which God was involved in creating His world. ‘And there was light’ (ibid.), corresponding to Exodus, in which Israel went out from darkness to light. ‘And God saw the light that it was good’ (v. 4), corresponding to Leviticus, the whole of which is full of many halachot. ‘And God separated between the light and the darkness’ (ibid.), corresponding to Numbers, which separates between those who left Egypt and those who came to the Land. ‘And God called the light day’ (v. 5), corresponding to Deuteronomy, which is full of many halachot” (Bereishit Rabbah 3:5).
However, as the Midrash continues, Rabbi Simon’s colleagues challenged this: “Isn’t the Book of Leviticus also full of many halachot?”
To which Rabbi Simon responded: “Here, too, something has been repeated” (ibid.).
The Matanot Kehunah (commentary to Midrash Rabbah composed by Rabbi Yissachar Ber ha-Kohen Katz, Poland, 16th century) explains that the terms “light” and “day” have the same meaning, so calling the light “God called the light day” constitutes a repetition; thus it corresponds to the Book of Deuteronomy, in which so many previously-stated halachot are repeated.
I suggest an alternative understanding. The Hebrew phrase in the Midrash,אף הוא שנה בו דבר, which we translated as “Here, too, something has been repeated”, could also mean “Nevertheless, something here is different”. Rabbi Simon does not explain what it is that is different; he simply leaves it as an unexplained assertion.
I suggest that what is different about the Book of Deuteronomy is that it is “Torat Eretz Yisrael”, the Torah of the Land of Israel.
The Midrash tells us that “there is no Torah like the Torah of Eretz Yisrael” (Vayikra Rabbah 13:5; Yalkut Shimoni, Bereishit 22), which demands a definition of the concept of “Torat Eretz Yisrael”.
Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Kook z”l (Latvia, England, and Israel, 1865-1935) and his son Rabbi Tzvi Yehudah Kook (Russian Empire and Israel, 1891-1982) were the greatest exponents of Torat Eretz Yisrael, and following their teachings, we can define “Torat Eretz Yisrael” as understanding the Torah as the national charter of the Nation of Israel living on the Land of Israel, rather than as merely a religion of individuals living under foreign governments.
The Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, Spain and Israel, 1195-c.1270), in his Introduction to the Book of Deuteronomy, says: “The subject of this Book is known to be a restatement of the Torah… In the plains of Moab nothing new was given, with the sole exception of the words of the Covenant [Deuteronomy 28:69], as is stated explicitly… These mitzvot had not been recorded in the earlier Books, when He had spoken with those who had left Egypt – maybe because these mitzvot [which were given earlier but recorded in Deuteronomy] apply solely in the Land of Israel”.
And so every year, we enter the week of most intensive mourning for our lost and plundered Land by beginning the reading of the Book which will lead us into our Land.
This perfectly encapsulates the dichotomy of the ninth of Av. It is simultaneously the day of greatest tragedy – and the day which is fore-ordained for redemption.
The Midrash recounts a most peculiar event that occurred on the day the Holy Temple was destroyed: “It happened that a certain man was ploughing, and one of his oxen lowed. An Arab was passing and said to him, What are you? He replied, I am a Jew. [The Arab] said to him: Unharness your ox and untie your plough [as a sign of mourning]. [The Jew] said to him: Why? [The Arab] said to him: Because the Holy Temple of the Jews has been destroyed! He asked him: How do you know? [The Arab] said: I know it from the lowing of your ox. While he was still talking to him, the ox lowed again, and [the Arab] said to [the Jew]: Harness your ox, tie up your plough, because the Jews’ redeemer has been born” (Eichah Rabbah 1:51).
That is to say, in the words of Midrash Abba Gurion, “From the day that the Holy Temple was destroyed, the Mashiach was born”.
This, indeed, has the status of practical halachah: the Chatam Sofer (Rabbi Moshe Schreiber, Germany, Moravia, and Slovakia, 1762-1839) wrote in a halachic responsum: “From the day the Holy Temple was destroyed, immediately one who according to his righteousness could have been the redeemer was born. When the right time comes, God will reveal him and will send him, and then the spirit of the Mashiach, which is concealed and stored away on high until he comes, will be aroused within him” (Halachic Responsa of the Chatam Sofer, Part 6, Section 98, s.v. hareini nazir).
The origins of this dual nature of the 9th of Av go right back to the first disaster that happened on that day – the day 3,326 years ago that God decreed upon our ancestors in the Sinai Desert that they would not enter the Land of Israel (Numbers 13-14).
Though the Torah does not explicitly state the date that this happened, the Talmud (Ta’anit 29a) calculates the Torah’s chronology: on the 20th of Iyar we left Mount Sinai (Numbers 10:11); this was followed by a three-day journey (v.33) concluding on the 23rd of Iyar; a 30-day sojourn in Kibroth-Hata’avah (ibid. 11:20, 34) concluding on the 22nd of Sivan; and finally seven days in Hazeroth (11:35, 12:15-16) before reaching the Paran Desert (ibid. 12:16) on the 29th of Sivan.
Hence, Moshe sent out the twelve spies on the 29th of Sivan (compare Targum Yonatan to Numbers 13:20) on their 40-day mission.
The plan was for them to return forty days later on the 8th of Av and deliver their report of how to conquer the Land, and the next day, the 9th of Av, we would enter the Land and take possession of it.
The 9th of Av would then have been our national Independence Day, a day of celebration and laughter.
But instead, when the spies returned on the 8th of Av they delivered their evil report of the Land; and when night fell and the nation cried, it was the evening of the 9th of Av. Instead of the 9th of Av being the day of the redemption, it became a day of tragedy.
But its potential as the day of redemption is innate, and so remains even despite our sins which delay its potential from being actualised.
Let us return to Rabbi Simon’s midrashic exposition, according to which “…God called the light day” corresponds to Deuteronomy.
It is standard Talmudic and Midrashic imagery that “night” represents exile and “day” represents redemption. It is no idle happenstance that when the spies delivered their evil report slandering the Land of Israel, “the nation wept on that night” (Numbers 14:1) – at night, preparing the way into hundreds of generations of exile.
And following the same imagery, “…God called the light day” corresponds to Deuteronomy precisely because “day” represents redemption, return to the Land of Israel, the extirpation of the sin of the spies and of their generation. The Book of Deuteronomy is the Book of redemption, the Book that leads us into the Land of Israel, the Book that leads us out of the night of exile into the day of redemption.
It is singularly appropriate that on the Shabbat that seals this most tragic of weeks, we begin by looking forward to the redemption that the 9th of Av inherently contains.
The Haftarah (the reading from the Prophets) conveys the same message of consolation. The Haftarah usually echoes or reflects or continues one of the major themes of the week’s Torah-reading; but for the final ten Shabbatot of the year, this changes.
Starting with the first Shabbat of the Three Weeks (usually, as this year, Parashat Pinchas, sometimes Parashat Mattot) and until the final Shabbat of the year, Parashat Nitzavim (or Nitzvim-Vayeilech), the theme of the Haftarot is castigation and comfort.
The three Haftarot of the Three Weeks (of which this is the third and last) are the three Haftarot of Castigation, the prophetic warnings from Jeremiah and Isaiah of the punishments that God will inflict if the Jewish nation rebels against His decrees. The first two are from Jeremiah (1:1-2:3 and 2:4-28), the third, this week, from Isaiah (1:1-27).
And the next seven are the Haftarot of Consolation, prophecies of the wonderful and beautiful future that awaits us in the time when we will return to our Land.
All seven of the Haftarot of Consolation are taken from Isaiah, as though our Sages who instituted these Haftarot wanted to infuse the idea yet again that the 9th of Av is the pivot between disaster and redemption. Yes, the Haftarah for the Shabbat of the Nine Days is depressing and gloomy; yes, it castigates the nation of Israel for their backsliding; yes, it depicts a desolate Israel and destroyed cities and a plundered Jerusalem.
It is the climax of the Three Weeks of mourning.
Yet it is also the beginning of the readings from Isaiah – the same prophet whose Book will comfort and encourage us for the next seven weeks, until the year ends and we will start out anew, cleansed by Rosh Hashanah.
22 July 2015
20 July 2015
Pray, Pray, Pray for Jonathan Pollard!
4 Av 5775
Some have sent me emails about the recent reports in the media regarding a possible November release of Jonathan Pollard from prison. Following seems to be the most accurate account available at this time...
Still No Official Word on Pollard Release
By Avraham Weissman
Sunday, July 19, 2015 | ג' אב תשע"ה
NEW YORK - Despite a recent flurry of news reports based on an unnamed “senate source” announcing the release of Jonathan Pollard on parole this coming November, federal authorities have yet to issue a decision on the matter.
Pollard has now served nearly 30 years of an unprecedented life sentence for passing classified information to an ally, Israel. The median sentence for this offense is two to four years.
According to Eliot Lauer — who, along with Jacques Semmelman, has served as Pollard’s pro-bono attorney since 2000 — the Parole Commission must issue a “Notice of Action” officially stating its decision to either release Pollard or to deny him parole and continue his sentence to 45 years or more.
The legal team and Pollard would be the first to be notified of such a decision — and no one has received any such official notice to date.
It is not known when the Parole Commission will hand down their decision, but Lauer said the authorities could issue such a notice at any time, even just shortly before Pollard’s projected release date.
As previously reported in Hamodia, the Bureau of Prisons website has, for years, shown a “projected release” date for Pollard of November 21, 2015 — which is precisely 30 years since he was first arrested.
Pollard was arrested in 1985 and sentenced in 1987. At that time a “life” sentence in the United States was defined as 45 years or more; therefore, the 30 years that Pollard has served is two-thirds of the life sentence he received. His life sentence — unprecedented for the offense he committed in passing classified information to an ally — has been widely decried by knowledgeable U.S. officials as a travesty of justice. Nevertheless, the Parole Commission recently informed Pollard in writing that this projected release date is “not automatic,” and may be continued to 45 years or more. The Parole Commission is purportedly an independent arm of the Department of Justice.
During Friday’s daily briefing, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was pressed by reporters as to whether Pollard would be released as a way to assuage Israeli concerns over the Iran deal.
“I’m certainly not aware of any sort of renewed discussion about what had been previously discussed about releasing him outside of the normal Department of Justice procedures that are in place,” Earnest said.
The decades-long ordeal of Pollard has included numerous occasions of broken promises, false hopes and shattered expectations.
Rabbi Pesach Lerner, who has been at the forefront of efforts to gain Pollard’s release for more than two decades, urged tefillah.
“This is a sensitive time. This is a time for tefillah to beseech Heaven to open the hearts and minds of the authorities to do what is right and good in the eyes of G-d and man and release Yehonoson ben Malka without any further delay,” Rabbi Lerner said.
Some have sent me emails about the recent reports in the media regarding a possible November release of Jonathan Pollard from prison. Following seems to be the most accurate account available at this time...
Still No Official Word on Pollard Release
By Avraham Weissman
Sunday, July 19, 2015 | ג' אב תשע"ה
NEW YORK - Despite a recent flurry of news reports based on an unnamed “senate source” announcing the release of Jonathan Pollard on parole this coming November, federal authorities have yet to issue a decision on the matter.
Pollard has now served nearly 30 years of an unprecedented life sentence for passing classified information to an ally, Israel. The median sentence for this offense is two to four years.
According to Eliot Lauer — who, along with Jacques Semmelman, has served as Pollard’s pro-bono attorney since 2000 — the Parole Commission must issue a “Notice of Action” officially stating its decision to either release Pollard or to deny him parole and continue his sentence to 45 years or more.
The legal team and Pollard would be the first to be notified of such a decision — and no one has received any such official notice to date.
It is not known when the Parole Commission will hand down their decision, but Lauer said the authorities could issue such a notice at any time, even just shortly before Pollard’s projected release date.
As previously reported in Hamodia, the Bureau of Prisons website has, for years, shown a “projected release” date for Pollard of November 21, 2015 — which is precisely 30 years since he was first arrested.
Pollard was arrested in 1985 and sentenced in 1987. At that time a “life” sentence in the United States was defined as 45 years or more; therefore, the 30 years that Pollard has served is two-thirds of the life sentence he received. His life sentence — unprecedented for the offense he committed in passing classified information to an ally — has been widely decried by knowledgeable U.S. officials as a travesty of justice. Nevertheless, the Parole Commission recently informed Pollard in writing that this projected release date is “not automatic,” and may be continued to 45 years or more. The Parole Commission is purportedly an independent arm of the Department of Justice.
During Friday’s daily briefing, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was pressed by reporters as to whether Pollard would be released as a way to assuage Israeli concerns over the Iran deal.
“I’m certainly not aware of any sort of renewed discussion about what had been previously discussed about releasing him outside of the normal Department of Justice procedures that are in place,” Earnest said.
The decades-long ordeal of Pollard has included numerous occasions of broken promises, false hopes and shattered expectations.
Rabbi Pesach Lerner, who has been at the forefront of efforts to gain Pollard’s release for more than two decades, urged tefillah.
“This is a sensitive time. This is a time for tefillah to beseech Heaven to open the hearts and minds of the authorities to do what is right and good in the eyes of G-d and man and release Yehonoson ben Malka without any further delay,” Rabbi Lerner said.
The Torah on Iran
4 Av 5775
Here are two highly recommended articles by Rav Yitzchok Fingerer:
(h/t Hava haAharona)
A Torah Perspective on Iran and Achris Hayomim
Torah’s View On Iran, Eretz Yisroel, America and Moshiach
Here are two highly recommended articles by Rav Yitzchok Fingerer:
(h/t Hava haAharona)
A Torah Perspective on Iran and Achris Hayomim
Torah’s View On Iran, Eretz Yisroel, America and Moshiach
17 July 2015
Picking Up Speed Now
1 Av 5775
Rosh Chodesh
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
We should have expected it. It's Rosh Chodesh Av after all and if things are going to wind up in the next two and a half months...
Someone even used the word "blitzkreig" to describe the lightning-fast speed with which the UN scheduled a vote to take place on Monday, approving the Iran nuclear deal signed this week. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is accusing Obama of using this vote as a way of circumventing Congressional oversight.
Once the entire world has endorsed this agreement through its proxy body - the UN - Israel will no longer have any say in the matter whatsoever. And if the Israeli government continues to complain after this time, it will just find itself even more and more isolated.
Of course, this is good news. :-)
“...Do not fear for everything that I have done is for your benefit, to destroy the evil kingdom of Edom and eradicate evil from this world so that the Messiah can come, your time of redemption is now.” (Source)
Rosh Chodesh
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
We should have expected it. It's Rosh Chodesh Av after all and if things are going to wind up in the next two and a half months...
Someone even used the word "blitzkreig" to describe the lightning-fast speed with which the UN scheduled a vote to take place on Monday, approving the Iran nuclear deal signed this week. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is accusing Obama of using this vote as a way of circumventing Congressional oversight.
Sen. Ted Cruz accuses the White House of trying to skirt around a congressional review of the newly inked Iran nuclear pact — and threatens to cut off State Department funding and block nominees unless lawmakers get a first look before a final United Nations vote.
In a letter to President Barack Obama, the Texas Republican charges the White House has found a way to "circumvent" congressional review by going straight to the United Nations, where a vote could lift sanctions before Congress completes its oversight.According to The Times Of Israel...
...The resolution should pass with little difficulty, diplomats said Thursday, since the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — were among those countries that negotiated the accord.
The resolution was circulated to all council members Wednesday by the United States.
...Monday’s vote will come despite calls from some US lawmakers to delay Security Council approval until Congress reviews the deal.
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Corker, on Thursday wrote a letter to President Barack Obama saying, “We urge you to postpone the vote at the United Nations until after Congress considers this agreement.”
But the chief US negotiator in the Iran talks, Wendy Sherman, rejected that idea Thursday.Those who were still holding out some hope that Congress would yet save us will have to realize "ayn od milevado".
Once the entire world has endorsed this agreement through its proxy body - the UN - Israel will no longer have any say in the matter whatsoever. And if the Israeli government continues to complain after this time, it will just find itself even more and more isolated.
Of course, this is good news. :-)
“...Do not fear for everything that I have done is for your benefit, to destroy the evil kingdom of Edom and eradicate evil from this world so that the Messiah can come, your time of redemption is now.” (Source)
Rosh Chodesh Av 5775
1 Av 5775
Rosh Chodesh Av
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Rosh Chodesh Av: What Do We Do?
OU Staff
Do we say Hallel on Rosh Chodesh Av?
Yes, we do. But the question is not a silly one. The festive flavor usually associated with Rosh Chodesh is hardly in evidence.
The mishna says: “As Av enters, we diminish joy”. Rosh Chodesh Av is the beginning of the stricter mourning period for the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash – First and Second. The restrictions of the Nine Days generally apply to Rosh Chodesh Av. (This is the Ashkenazi practice. S’faradim begin the restrictions on the second of the month.) It is one of two months on whose Rosh Chodesh fasting is not forbidden.
Rosh Chodesh Av is the Yahrzeit of Aharon HaKohen. It is the only Yahrzeit mentioned in the Torah. It is recorded, not in Parshat Chukat where we read of Aharon’s passing, but in Mas’ei – which we read on the Shabbat closest to Rosh Chodesh Av.
Rosh Chodesh is Rosh Chodesh. It is a joyous and hopeful commemoration of the Beit HaMikdash, not only its destruction. Notwithstanding the mournful nature of the first third of Av, we must keep in mind that after the 10th of the month, the consolation and promise for a brighter future takes over.
Rosh Chodesh Av conjures up a mixture of conflicting moods. That’s okay. Is it contradictory to say Hallel on the day that ushers in a sad period? No. Being Jewish often means being able to see the bright side of sad times, and not forget the sad note at happy times.
May we soon merit the coming of Moshiach and the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash – and everything that goes with it – and may our joy then become untarnished and complete.
Let us each put into action the qualities of Aharon HaKohen – love peace and pursue it, love people and bring them closer to Torah – so that the times we yearn for will become a reality, speedily in our time, Amen.
Our Thanks to Phil Chernofsky of the OU/NCSY Israel Center for Including This Material in His Remarkable Torah Tidbits
Rosh Chodesh Av
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Rosh Chodesh Av: What Do We Do?
OU Staff
Do we say Hallel on Rosh Chodesh Av?
Yes, we do. But the question is not a silly one. The festive flavor usually associated with Rosh Chodesh is hardly in evidence.
The mishna says: “As Av enters, we diminish joy”. Rosh Chodesh Av is the beginning of the stricter mourning period for the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash – First and Second. The restrictions of the Nine Days generally apply to Rosh Chodesh Av. (This is the Ashkenazi practice. S’faradim begin the restrictions on the second of the month.) It is one of two months on whose Rosh Chodesh fasting is not forbidden.
Rosh Chodesh Av is the Yahrzeit of Aharon HaKohen. It is the only Yahrzeit mentioned in the Torah. It is recorded, not in Parshat Chukat where we read of Aharon’s passing, but in Mas’ei – which we read on the Shabbat closest to Rosh Chodesh Av.
Rosh Chodesh is Rosh Chodesh. It is a joyous and hopeful commemoration of the Beit HaMikdash, not only its destruction. Notwithstanding the mournful nature of the first third of Av, we must keep in mind that after the 10th of the month, the consolation and promise for a brighter future takes over.
Rosh Chodesh Av conjures up a mixture of conflicting moods. That’s okay. Is it contradictory to say Hallel on the day that ushers in a sad period? No. Being Jewish often means being able to see the bright side of sad times, and not forget the sad note at happy times.
May we soon merit the coming of Moshiach and the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash – and everything that goes with it – and may our joy then become untarnished and complete.
Let us each put into action the qualities of Aharon HaKohen – love peace and pursue it, love people and bring them closer to Torah – so that the times we yearn for will become a reality, speedily in our time, Amen.
Our Thanks to Phil Chernofsky of the OU/NCSY Israel Center for Including This Material in His Remarkable Torah Tidbits
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