TORAH AND "POLITICS"

Kahane on the Parsha Rabbi Meir Kahane- Parshat Va'Yelech TORAH AND "POLITICS" The Talmud (Shabbat 138b-139a) states, "In the future the Torah will be forgotten by Israel." The prophet Amos proclaims, "They will run to seek the word of the L-rd but won't find it" (Amos 8:12). How do we reconcile these statements with the verse in our parsha that declares the Torah "will NOT be forgotten by their descendants" (Deuteronomy 31:21)? Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in the Talmud (op. cit.) explains: The meaning of Amos's dire prophecy is that "a clear halacha and a clear teaching will not be found in the same place." The Torah itself, however, will never, G-d forbid, be forgotten by Israel. The era preceding the redemption will be a tragic one. G-d will "send a famine upon the land...a famine for hearing the word of G-d" (Amos 8:11). People will seek the truth, they will want to know what to do- but no one will be able to tell them. Truth will have no address. The Talmud (Sotah 49a) states that before the Messiah's arrival, matters will deteriorate to such a degree that people will despair and proclaim, "Upon whom, then, can we rely?" And they will answer, "Upon our Father in Heaven." On these words, the Chofetz Chaim comments: This is a terrible curse. Since there will be no great men to lead us, everyone will be forced to rely solely on G-d. In other words, fate. Of course there will be great men of Torah in the era preceding the redemption- men proficient in Talmud and pilpul. But, "a clear halacha and a clear teaching will not be found in the same place." No "clear halacha"- no practical plan of action- will emerge from these great men who know the Torah's "clear teachings." In other words, no one will take the Torah concepts of faith and trust and apply them to real life. No one will demand, for example, that we rely on G-d and not pay attention to what the non-Jewish nations have to say about our future in Eretz Yisrael. "Teachings" and "halacha" will operate in separate spheres. Faith and trust in G-d will remain theoretical concepts while security and sovereignty over the Land of Israel will be considered "politics." Shabbat Shalom! Barbara Written in "Peirush HaMaccabee" Kahane on the Parsha can be purchased at: http://www.amazon.com/Kahane-Parsha-Meir/dp/098867680X Anyone reading this Rabbi Meir Kahane or Rabbi Binyamin Kahane article and is not on my personal list to receive the weekly articles and would like to be, please contact me at: barbaraandchaim@gmail.com To view articles written by Rabbi Meir Kahane and Rabbi Binyamin Kahane go to blog: www.barbaraginsberg-kahane.blogspot.com Facebook Links: Barbara Sandra Ginsberg Rav Kahane Divrei Torah Pictures Viewpoints Youtubes, Videos First join Telegram and then hit link and you will see all. Telegram link: https://t.me/RKDTVP

Is The Holocaust Really Inexplicable? 1985

Kahane on the Parsha Parshat Nitzavim IS THE HOLOCAUST REALLY INEXPLICABLE? "But if you heart turns away so that you will not hear, but will be drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you this day that you will surely perish..." (Deuteronomy 30:17-18). Whenever anyone asks how G-d could have allowed the Holocaust to take place, it is fashionable to reply, "There is no answer to this question." But our failure to grapple with this issue has caused us to be silent accomplices in the worst of all Jewish sins and crimes: chiruf v'giduf, blasphemy against the L-rd, open insult and attack on His Name, Chillul Hashem. We sit by quietly while Jewish ignoramuses and blasphemers speak of the "death of G-d." And our children turn down the path of apostasy and atheism because our only reply to the attacks of the blasphemers is: "No one can answer the question." But the Holocaust- like the slaughter during the destruction of the First and Second Temples, the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the Chmelnitzki Massacres- has an answer. It is one that we read twice yearly: "If you don't listen to the voice of the L-rd...then all these curses will come upon you" (ibid. 28:15). What is the origin of our dumbness and failure to understand? From where cometh this sudden stupor: "It is a question no one can answer..."? Of course we can answer it, but the irreligious Jew, the one who does not accept the divinity of the Torah, refuses to accept an answer which lays the blame upon HIM, upon the Jew who- knowing of the warning- ignored and disdained it. No, since it is impossible to accept the relationship between Jewish suffering and failure to obey the Law, one must blame G-d. One must ask how the modern G-d, a beaming Santa Claus who would never take seriously our desecration of mitzvot, could do such a thing. In truth, the Orthodox Jew is also to blame. He has created a picture of a saintly European Jewry that leads people to wonder how G-d could have punished such righteous people. This picture, though, is false. It is an image the yeshiva world gave us in its desire to negate the present materialistic, Western one. But by falsely idealizing Man, they have laid the groundwork for the desecration of G-d. By painting the East European Jew as a saint, they designed a G-d of cruelty and irrationality. That most terrible of sins must be ended. We must save G-d and sanctify His Name by telling the truth about European Jewry in the years preceding the Holocaust. Yes, as the nineteenth century passed into its third quarter, the Jew of Russia and Poland was, indeed, observant. But what else could he be? The overwhelming number of Jews lived in a Pale of Settlement where they were isolated from the gentile world and barred from participating in anything else except the society of the shtetl. And that society was religious, in toto...What Jew, even if he wanted to, was prepared to rebel against the society that laid down the religious rules of life? Who was prepared to accept the ostracism that would be his inevitable punishment if he dared throw off the halacha? And so, of course, the Jew was "religious." He had no other choice. But once that choice arrived, look at what happened!!!! The Enlightenment that began to arrive in Eastern Europe in the last third of the nineteenth century quickly swept away a society and structure that had been built up for centuries. Vilna- which had become a byword for piety and Torah learning- gave birth to the Bund, a bitterly anti-religious, anti-nationalist group that saw Jews, who just yesterday were "religious," flocking to its ranks to spout atheistic socialism. Poland and Russia and Lithuania and Galicia- the places that gave us the Rema and the Shach and Chassidim and the great yeshivas- OVERNIGHT gave birth to Jewish communism and socialism and secular Zionism and assimilation. The moment the barriers dropped, the Jew rebelled. This was the reality, and the fault, dear Jews, lies not in G-d but IN OURSELVES!!! And there was, of course, more. There was the terrible oppression of Jewish workers and proletariat by the wealthy Jews, the PARNASIM. Not for nothing did the Bund and communism succeed so easily in attracting poor Jewish workers to their ranks. The low wages and horrible working conditions in the factories owned by Jews are epitomized in the classic story told about the saintly Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev who once visited a matzah bakery on the eve of Passover. There, he saw women and little children working under terrible conditions from dawn to dusk. "Dear G-d," he said, lifting his eyes unto heaven, "what liars are the gentiles! They accuse us of using Christian blood in our matzah. It is not true. We use Jewish blood." And too few know the black chapter of the kidnapped Jewish children of Czarist Russia. When the czar decreed that Jewish children be drafted as "Cantonists" in the army for 25 years, the rabbis declared that the quota imposed on each community be filled by casting lots to see which child would be drafted. Tragically, the wealthy communal leaders would hire gentiles to kidnap the poor Jewish children, lock them up in the synagogue, and keep them to be turned over to the Czarists. The lack of ahavat Yisrael cried out to the heavens!!! Was this "RELIGION"??? Was this a saintly Jewish community that was cruelly and unjustly slaughtered by G-d? The lack of unity and love was epitomized, too, in the incredible number of bitter arguments and splits within the Jewish community. My father, of blessed memory, told me as a child about the split between the chassidim of Sanz and Rizhin, a hatred that reached its climax with chassidim going to the Western Wall to put the Sanzer Rebbe, the great Divrei Chaim, into CHEREM! And at a Shabbat Seuda Shlishit, a chasid attempted to stab the Divrei Chaim... Sinat Chiman ran through East European Jewry as a thread, and the classic example was the Munkatcher Rebbe declaring, concerning the Pressburg Yeshiva founded by the Chasam Sofer, "v'hivdilanu min hato'im- and He has separated us from those who err," even as the Pressburg Yeshiva refused entry to any student who was a member of Mizrachi... And this terrible hatred was, long ago, described by the Rabbis as an unpardonable sin with a terrible, and terribly clear and precise, warning: "How severe is machloket! The Court of Heaven does not punish until one is over the age of 20, and the court on earth does so from the age of 31, but in the dispute of Korach, children of one day old were burned and swallowed up by the earth..." (Tanchuma, Korach 3). And the Rabbis in Shabbat 33b: "When there are righteous in the generation, the righteous are caught for the sins of the generation. When there are no righteous, then little children are caught for the sins of the generation." Let each of us think long and carefully about this. Let us search our souls. And let us remember, on top of all the above-mentioned sins, the refusal to grasp the Land of Israel to our bosom. "And they despised the desirable land" (Psalms 106:24) is the Biblical condemnation of the generation of the desert and its great scholars and leaders who preferred to return to Egypt rather than go to the Land of Israel. Their actions led to the night of "weeping for generations," Tisha B'Av. What shall we say, then, about the rejection of Eretz Yisrael in the decades preceding the Holocaust by so many great religious leaders in Europe? It is time to put an end to the nonsense of "we cannot know the reasons." That answer guarantees the turning away of Jewish youth. It is time to bury the myth of an East European Jewry that was pious and saintly. That insures the creation of a Jewish G-d who is senselessly cruel. It is time to put an end to the indictment of G-d, to blasphemy against the L-rd. The Jewish press, 1985 Shabbat Shalom! May this New Year be a Sweet one with Happiness, Prosperity, Health, Safety and the destruction of our enemies. If you are interested in reading more divrei Torah from Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Binyamin Kahane you can purchase Kahane on the Parsha at Amazon.com Anyone reading this Rabbi Meir Kahane or Rabbi Binyamin Kahane article and is not on my list to receive the weekly articles and would like to be, please contact me at: barbaraandchaim@gmail.com To view articles written by Rabbi Meir Kahane and Rabbi Binyamin Kahane go to blog: www.barbaraginsberg-kahane.blogspot.com Facebook” Barbara Sandra Ginsberg Rav Kahane Divrei Torah Pictures Viewpoints Youtubes, Videos First join Telegram and then hit link and you will see all. Telegram link: https://t.me/RKDTVP

COWERING BEFORE FLESH AND BLOOD 1981

Kahane on the Parsha Parshat Ki Tavo Rabbi Meir Kahane COWERING BEFORE FLESH AND BLOOD In the awesome Torah portion of admonition of the Jew (the tochacha)- regarding both the blessing and the curse- the Almighty declares: "And it shall overtake thee" (Deuteronomy 28:15). My father, of blessed memory, asked the obvious: One can understand the Jew fleeing from the curse so that it must pursue and overtake him. But why in the world does he flee the blessing so that it must chase and catch him? The answer, he said, is that the Jew does not understand what G-d's blessing is. He sees a blessing, thinks it is a curse, and flees from it... For the Jew, the worst of curses is to be isolated, without allies, alone in a hostile world. He flees from that as from the blackest of plagues. He sees in that, tragedy and destruction, and so he does all in order to hold fast to an ally- as some desperate unmarried single on a Saturday night rushing out to find some kind of companionship, ANY kind, willing to endure any humiliation, but above all: NOT TO BE ALONE. How sad that the Jew cannot comprehend that it is precisely his isolation from the gentiles, exactly his being cut off from their alliances and support, that is the greatest of all blessings. How sad that he cannot understand that the Jew may be isolated from Man, but he is never alone. What a sad commentary on the corruption and decline of Judaism in all its aspects that the Jew does not realize that it is precisely when he is cut off from the nations, isolated and alone from the gentiles, that the redemption will come. Weep at the Jew fleeing in panic and terror from the very blessing that will bring him the Messiah! The heart of Judaism is the deep and total faith of the Jew in the omnipotence of the L-rd. It is this which proves his real faith and belief in the L-rd. The feeling of need for human, gentile assistance in time of national crisis is the antithesis of faith in an omnipotent G-d. A G-d who cannot help His people without the assistance of a gentile power is NOT A GOD!! And a "chosen" people that proclaims G-d's omnipotence thrice daily and then collapses before Washington's humiliating demands lest the gentile cut its assistance is a theological fraud. Rabbeinu Bechaya, one of the giants of Spanish Torah scholars, put down the simple-complex, towering concept of faith in G-d in his masterpiece Kad HaKemach: "And the essence of faith and trust is that one should place his trust in the Almighty alone and remember Him in each particular action...for there are many people who trust in the Almighty in general but do not consider Him when it comes to the particular [acts]...And the essence of faith is not to trust in man at all...And there is doubt that one who fears the arm of flesh and blood is low of soul and he who fears man forgets the Almighty." Thus, Rabbeinu Bechaya... And how sublimely true are his words! The fear of man is indeed a stumbling block to the Jew, bringing nearer and guaranteeing his defeat. For the fear of man that causes the Jew to abandon his total trust in the Almighty is a humiliating slap in the divine face. The great Biblical commentator, the Radak, stated it simply: "For it is a mighty rebellion on the part of a servant against his master to hang his hopes on another master" (commentary to Isaiah 30:1) It is the height of rebellion and humiliation and the Almighty will not allow it. He repays the fearful Jew measure for measure. We saw it so clearly in the humiliating Begin collapse before Washington that led him to agree to a cease-fire with the PLO. The PLO- the very ESSENCE OF CHILLUL HASHEM because of its arrogant refusal to recognize the sovereignty of the people of the L-rd over His land- shells and murders Jews. The clear response is to strike and cut their heads off; to enter Lebanon and destroy the PLO root and branch; to declare the land liberated, part of Eretz Yisrael, as shown by the Biblical boundaries. Such an act is Kiddush Hashem; such an act is military logic; such an act saves present and future lives; such an act shows the gentile that this is a people of G-d that trembles before no mortal human. Begin, so blustering and thundering at election rallies, did nothing of the sort. As the loud and angry shouts of the gentile in Washington (abetted by the frightened timidities that pass for Jewish leaders in the United States) reached Jerusalem, the hawk turned into a cooing dove. Not only was the PLO- on the verge of military collapse, according to the Chief of Staff Raful- allowed to survive, but Begin became the first prime minister to make an agreement to which the PLO was a partner. It was precisely the Jewish fear of man that turned the PLO into an international partner for peace in the Mideast (as Secretary of State Haig so blithely said). It was precisely the Jewish terror of the gentile flesh and blood that convinced Reagan that pressure on the Jews does indeed succeed and which invited all the pressure of tomorrow. The collapse of Begin guarantees further collapse. Fear begets fear, retreat guarantees retreat. He who places his trust in man and humiliates his G-d is ensured that his ally will, in the end, destroy him. The Jewish Press, 1981 Shabbat Shalom Barbara Kahane on the Parsha can be purchased at Amazon.com Anyone reading this Rabbi Meir Kahane or Rabbi Binyamin Kahane article and is not on my list to receive the weekly articles and would like to be, please contact me at: barbaraandchaim@gmail.com To view articles written by Rabbi Meir Kahane and Rabbi Binyamin Kahane go to blog: www.barbaraginsberg-kahane.blogspot.com Facebook” Barbara Sandra Ginsberg Rav Kahane Divrei Torah Pictures Viewpoints Youtubes, Videos First join Telegram and then hit link and you will see all. Telegram link: https://t.me/RKDTVP

Kahane on the Parsha Rav Binyamin Kahane Parshat Ki Teitzei WORSE THAN DYING In this week's parsha, we learn that the offspring of converts from the nations of Edom and Egypt may marry into the Jewish people after three generations, but the offspring of Moabite and Ammonite (male) converts may never marry into the Jewish people. That's right. the Egyptians who enslaved us for 210 years and the Edomites who refused to let us pass through their land are ultimately allowed to marry into the nation of Israel. However, the Ammonites and Moabites whose sin was passive--they did not offer us bread and water- are never allowed to marry into our people. A topsy-turvy world, indeed! The Midrash (Sifri, Ki Tetze 252), however, clarifies the matter: "Since the Ammonites and Moabites looked for ways to cause Israel to sin, they were banished by the Torah forever. This teaches us that causing someone to sin is worse than killing him- since killing someone only removes him from this world while causing someone to sin removes him from both this world and the next." The Kli Yakar explains that Bilaam told the Ammonites and Moabites not to offer bread and water to the Jews as part of his plan to corrupt them. Due to their hunger, the Children of Israel would eat from the altars of Moab's idols. And due to their thirst, the daughters of Moab would be able to ensnare them by giving them wine and then offering themselves on condition that they worship their idols first. Bilaam understood that causing Israel to sin would be more fatal than physical death. A striking example of this axiom is the unprecedented case of the "rebellious son" in our parsha- the young man who has stolen relatively little from his father but must nevertheless be stoned. The Rabbis explain that the rebellious son is punished for what he is going to become. "The Torah knows where he is leading. He will eventually wipe out his father's property and then, seeking to maintain his accustomed habits, will go to the crossroads and rob people. The Torah therefore states: Let him die innocent and not guilty" (Sanhedrin 72a). According to one opinion in the Talmud, an instance of the Torah's rebellious son "never occurred and never will occur." Why, then, does the Torah discuss the topic? So that we "study it and receive reward." In other words, even if all the conditions of the rebellious son never occur, one can still learn an essential lesson from this mitzvah. And what is the lesson? That death is better than a life without direction and laden with sin. In Judaism, life is a means and not an end in itself. Without an aim, without a real purpose, there is no reason to live. For modern-day Hellenists who embrace Western culture, the "sanctity of life" trumps everything. For this reason we find individuals opposed to the death penalty for even the most heinous of criminals (such as Adolf Eichmann, whose execution was protested by some Jews.) But Judaism regards the content of one's life more important than life itself. That is why converts from Egypt and Edom- nations that harmed us physically- may ultimately marry into the Jewish people while converts from Ammon and Moab- nations that harmed us spiritually- may not Darka Shel Torah, 1999 Shabbat Shalom Barbara To purchase Kahane on the Parsha go to the following 2 links: http://brennbooks.com/ http://www.amazon.com/Kahane-Parsha-Meir/dp/098867680X Anyone reading this Rabbi Meir Kahane or Rabbi Binyamin Kahane article and is not on my personal list to receive their weekly articles and would like to be, please contact me at barbaraandchaim@gmail.com To view articles written by Rabbi Meir Kahane and Rabbi Binyamin Kahane go to blog: www.barbaraginsberg-kahane.blogspot.com Facebook: Barbara Sandra Ginsberg Rav Kahane Divrei Torah Pictures Viewpoints Youtubes, Videos First join Telegram and then hit link and you will see all. Telegram link: https://t.me/RKDTVP

Kahane on the Parsha Rabbi Meir Kahane Parshat Ki Teitze FORGIVING GERMANY "Remember what Amalek did to you...do not forget."--Deuteronomy 25:17-19 "Remember." "Do not forget." Strange. If we are commanded to remember what Amalek did unto us, why the added admonition- "do not forget"? Let me explain by way of a parable, but a parable that really happened. The place was the Jerusalem Press club, Beit Agron. Kach had called a press conference for the foreign news media to present to them some of the main candidates for the Knesset on its list. With the polls showing a sharp upsurge in support for Kach, curiosity and interest in the candidates were high. As usual, the correspondents were asked their names and affiliations, and one replied: "Unger, from Europa." Europa? Unfamiliar but perhaps a small freelancer. The press conference began and sailed along with nary a hitch. The candidates spoke briefly, politely, impressively. And then it was time for questions and answers. The first to raise his hand was the gentleman from Europa. A yarmulka-wearing man, I must add. This time, however, he said: "My name is Unger and I represent the German and Austrian press." Hearing this, I said to him: "Had I known that, I would not have allowed you in. We have a firm policy of not allowing representatives of the German and Austrian news media interviews, or to attend our press conferences. Please leave." At that point, there arose one of Israel's resident anti-Jewish foreign correspondents, Dan Fisher of the Los Angeles Times, who piously proclaimed: "He is a colleague." And he, too, left. He was followed by a number of others, including a clearly religious woman from Efrat, named Leslie Gottesman. End of "parable" and beginning of understanding. That, dear Jew, is the reason why G-d wrote, "Remember," and knew that it was necessary to add: "Do not forget." Every Jew remembers what the Germans did unto us. Indeed, sad to say, the Holocaust has become, for huge numbers of Jews, a major reason for being Jewish. Perhaps THE major reason. There are men and institutions who make their living and their fame from the Holocaust, and what would Eli Wiesel be without it and where would Wiesenthal and those who run his center in Los Angeles be without it? And there are annual Holocaust Day memorials in both Israel and the Exile. And there are university courses given on the Holocaust. And everyone remembers. And, of course, everyone forgets. For one can remember and, at the same time, forget. What do we remember? That the "Nazis" (not the Germans) did horrible things to our people and we must always remember the events of the past. But what of the present? What do the sins and crimes of the German past mean for the present? Are the German sins limited to the genreation that lived at that time? Is Germany today not the Germany of yesterday, so that we are allowed to visit Germany, vacation in Germany, send Israeli children on cultural trips to Germany, to sporting events in Germany (even as we welcome German cultural and sports groups to Israel), greet the German president in israel as the Israeli army band plays the German national anthem, allow the Germans to open an embassy and consulate in Israel, and have the Germany flag fly over the Holy Land? Is this what we mean by the commandment to "remember"? And if so, what in the world is this eternal guilt that the Torah places on an Amalek? Are the sins of the generation that attacked the Children of Israel so brutally, and with intent to wipe them out, to be eternalized forever more, unto generation after generation that did not participate in it? Was there an Amalekite embassy in the land and a president to visit us while the Children of Israel's army band played "Amalek Uber Alles"? And was there an exchange of cultural and sports groups with Amalek and did Amalekhantsa Airlines advertise its flights to their cities in the Canaanite Post of Eretz Yisrael? And did Israelites vacation and gamble and gambol in the Amalekite cities? To remember IS NEVER ENOUGH. To remember is the GENERAL ADMONITION: Remember what they did to you, things so terrible and horrible. And consequently, do not forget. Do not forget that these are unforgivable sins and that they forever stain and tar and mark the nation itself and all who represent it. Remember the horrors and never forget that they are unforgivable. That is the lesson for us as we contemplate Germany and its sister harlot, Austria. Remember what the German people did to us and never forget that it is a horror and crime that is permanent and unforgivable. It may be true that a particular or individual German who was not born at the time, or who was too young to have participated in the horrors, is not to be banned and barred on a personal basis. But, certainly, if he represents, in any capacity, Germany or anything German, he is to be barred and there can be no ties with him in that capacity. That is why a person who may not even be German himself, but who represents that accursed land, is forbidden to be seen in our midst. Because one must always remember and, in addition, never forget. The Jewish Press, 1988 Shabbat Shalom Barbara Kahane on the Parsha can be purchased at Amazon.com Anyone reading this Rabbi Meir Kahane or Rabbi Binyamin Kahane article and is not on my list to receive the weekly articles and would like to be, please contact me at: barbaraandchaim@gmail.com To view articles written by Rabbi Meir Kahane and Rabbi Binyamin Kahane go to blog: www.barbaraginsberg-kahane.blogspot.com Facebook: Barbara Sandra Ginsberg Rav Kahane Divrei Torah Pictures Viewpoints Youtubes, Videos First join Telegram and then hit link and you will see all. Telegram link: https://t.me/RKDTVP