A Beacon of Truth

Kahane on the Parsha Rabbi Binyamin Kahane- Parshat Noach A BEACON OF TRUTH For 120 years, Noah fulfilled G-d's directive to build an ark, all the while warning people about the impending flood. The Midrash relates that when people would pass by and ask Noah what he was doing, he would reply, "The Almighty is bringing a flood upon the world." But the people disregarded Noah's warning and reacted with vicious mockery (Bereishit Rabba 30:7).This Midrash seems to contain an implicit criticism of Noah. After all, for 120 years Noah warned that G-d would destroy the world if the people continued in their evil ways. But no one listened. In the end, the flood wiped out the entire world, except for Noah and his family. Not a single person was convinced to do teshuva by Noah's warnings. Not one! Noah's life endeavor of 120 years was essentially a failure. Or was it?The story of Noah provides us with a concrete illustration of the true role of a Jewish prophet. Certainly, the primary purpose of his warnings and rebukes is to inspire his audience to do teshuva. But unlike what one might think, if the prophet does not succeed in convincing people to do teshuva, he did not necessarily fail. Deeper reflection will reveal that the rebuke in and of itself has value. If we look at the prophets of Israel, we will notice an amazing fact: Generally speaking, they were dismal failures. It seems as if they influenced no one. The people were not interested in listening to them and did not cease their evil ways. But does that mean their warnings had no value? Of course not. After all, the words of the prophets are inscribed forever in our holy bible.When G-d appoints Ezekiel to be a prophet, He says, "I am sending you to the Children of Israel...they have rebelled against Me...you shall say to them, 'Thus says the L-rd G-d.' And they--whether they hear or refuse to hear...--will know a prophet has been amongst them" (Ezekiel 2:3-5). Immediately afterwards, G-d states, "But the house of Israel will not hearken to you..." (ibid. 3:7). Can this be? If G-d knows they won't listen, why send Ezekiel and expose him to so much humiliation and abuse?He does so because the proclamation of truth has value even if it has no apparent influence at the moment it is proclaimed. What is its value? As G-d says: The people "will know that a prophet has been amongst them." Even if there are no immediate results, the warnings have value in that they bring G-d's word into the world. The prophet who expresses divine truth is giving expression to G-d's presence in this world, showing us that the world is not a free-for-all - that there is right and wrong, reward and punishment. By proclaiming the truth, the prophet, in essence, sanctifies G-d's Name.Furthermore, while G-d knows for certain that the nation won't listen to a particular rebuke, the righteous, who are obligated to rebuke, do not know that (Shabbat 55a). In other words, we can never be sure that our words won't influence people, and therefore we must say them. Even more, we must realize that our words can have an impact tens, or even hundreds, of years down the road, as the Talmud states about prophets whose influence was not apparent during their lifetime: "Prophecy which is needed for future generations is written down" (Megillah 14a).My father, HY"D, saw his major role as one of a "prophet" who must warn and rebuke the people. That is, to say the truth of G-d- the same truth which no one else dares express thanks to 101 different excuses ("it's not practical", "it's not realistic," etc.). And while it may appear sometimes that all efforts are in vain, such is not the case in the long run. In the long run, it is sticking with the truth that makes a real impact on the nation and the course of history. Darka Shel Torah, 1997 S

No Rest in the Exile 1989

KAHANE ON THE PARSHA Parshat Noach NO REST IN THE EXILE "'And [Noah] sent forth a dove...but the dove found no rest for the sole of its foot, and it returned to him into the ark' (Genesis 8:8-9). Rabbi Shimon said: Had it found a resting place it would not have returned. And similarly does it say: '[Israel] sat among the nations and found no resting place' (Lamentations 1:3). Had they found a resting place they would not have returned to Eretz Yisrael. And similarly: 'And among those nations you shall find no peace, neither shall the sole of your foot have rest' (Deuteronomy 28:65). Had they found a resting place they would have never returned" (Bereishit Rabba 33:6). The divine proclamation is clear: There will be no rest for the Jew in the Exile because if there would be rest and tranquility and comfort and ease, the Jew would NEVER return to Eretz Yisrael. How well the Rabbis knew the Jews!!! No amount of Halacha, no amount of admonition, no amount of religious observance would ever convince the overwhelming majority to leave an Exile in which they find ease and rest for the soles of their feet. And that is why there is an iron law of Judaism that decrees that the Exile shall never be anything but a place of terror and fear and tragedy. I wonder if the average Jew knows how much he is hated in America. I wonder if the average Jew has the slightest knowledge of the immense, deep, poisonous venom that is Jew-hatred in the United States. I doubt it. We live in our ghettos, our increasingly golden ghettos, and see and hear nothing, and we sit satisfied in our glatt isolation that so enables us to escape from the reality of the vicious bile and venom. We live in our worlds of dreams and illusions and know nothing. Can we imagine what will be if, G-d forbid, there is an economic collapse of massive proportions? Can we imagine what will be if the American economy bursts- an economy that is one huge balloon filled with the gas of huge debt, unbridled spending and borrowing, trade deficit, a banking and savings and loan system that sits on the thin ice of loans that can never be repaid, an economy that is one huge fraud as jobs and products slip away into the Japanese-Asian orbit? Can we imagine what will be when the violent American who has been hopelessly spoiled by 40 years of unprecedented prosperity and wallowing in the mud of materialism suddenly faces economic ruin? Can we imagine what will happen when the life of three automobiles to a family, VCRs, a TV in each room, vacations, fun, fun, fun - suddenly comes to a screeching stop? Such a person will become a wild animal, literally incapable of accepting a life of sharp economic displacement. He will follow anyone who promises to restore him to the days of beer and daisies. And the scapegoat will be - the Jew. And so, I do not even bother any longer to persuade Jews of the halachic obligation to live in Eretz Yisrael, of the positive reason for going there. They will not go. Together they sit in the fleshpots, in a sensational display of Jewish unity against leaving the golden land. Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, ultra-Orthodox, all bound in a pledge of allegiance to the good life and all that for which it stands. I can only warn them about the ultimate halachic scholar for the Jew in the Exile. Who is that? Why, surely, the gentile. The Jewish Press, 1989 Shabbat Shalom Barbara If you are interested in reading more Divrei Torah from Rabbi Meir Kahane HY”D and Rabbi Binyamin Kahane HY"D, you can purchase the book at both of the following two 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 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

Think Jewish

Kahane on the Parsha Rabbi Binyamin Kahane- Parshat Bereishit THINK JEWISH! The Midrash declares that the Torah preceded the creation of the world by 2,000 years (Bereishit Rabba 8:2). This same Midrash also compares the world's creation to the building of a palace and states: Just as a king of flesh and blood consults with an architect before constructing a palace, G-d looked at the Torah and created the world (ibid. 1:1). What is the Midrash trying to teach us? What does it mean by its strange statement that the Torah existed before Creation? To answer these questions, we must remember a fundamental principle of Judaism- one which we are liable to forget immersed as we are in the mundane physical matters of this world. This principle asserts that all the ritual mitzvot were given to us by G-d as symbolic expressions of particular ideas. If we distort the ideas, the mizvot lose their significance since they no longer symbolize their essence. Many of us have lost sight of this principle. Two thousand years of exile amongst the gentiles have transformed us from a nation into a "religion." We have become practitioners of Jewish ritual without grasping the inner concepts. We perform rituals by rote, paying little attention to the meaning of our actions and words. We have become the type of people who declareG-d's omnipotence in synagogue and immediately afterward ask, "How can we survive if America won't give us money?" The religious world has come to believe in mitzvot rather than G-d!!! The Rabbis in the Midrash, therefore, emphasize that the "ideas"- that is, the Torah- preceded the existence of the material world. The ideas are crucial. Without understanding the mitzvot's inner significance, they are sterile - like a body without a soul. And a Jew fulfilling the mitzvot without reflection is nothing more than a robot, a practitioner of ritual. This message is also evident in G-d's instructions a millennia later in regards to building the Tabernacle, which is compared to a "small world." G-d first commands Bezalel to build the ark - symbol of the Torah - and only afterward does He command him to build the altar - the symbol of deed, or the mitzvot. If one does not start from the basics, from the Torah in the ark, one's sacrifices on the altar are of no significance. It was with this premise in mind that my father, HY"D, called the school he founded "The Yeshiva of the Jewish Idea." He wanted a yeshiva devoted not only to studying "religion," so to speak - Talmud and halacha - but one that also connected the rituals to the concepts they symbolize. Thus, in addition to "regular" subjects, this yeshiva also stresses Tanach and Midrash, the sources of authentic Jewish ideas and concepts. Not for nothing did the Rabbis set down the rule that five-year-olds should study Tanach. Before a Jew learns the rituals, he must learn to THINK LIKE A JEW. Only in that manner will the Torah he observes be authentic. Darka Shel Torah, 1992 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, VideosFirst join Telegram and then hit link and you will see all. Telegram link: https://t.me/RKDTVP 

Stop Being Defensive

Kahane on the Parsha Parshat Bereishit STOP BEING DEFENSIVE!!! The most famous of all the commentaries of the great Rashi is, undoubtedly, the very first one. Concerning the verse, "In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth..." (Genesis 1:1), Rashi quotes the Midrash that asks: Why did the Almighty begin the Torah with the story of creation? After all, the Torah is essentially a book of laws and statutes. Surely, it should have begun with the first mitzvah the Jews were commanded to keep. The well-known answer is, of course, that the Almighty wished to underline the fact that "He told His people the strength of His deeds in order to give them the inheritance of the nations" (Psalms 111:6). Meaning: Should the nations come to the people of Israel and complain, "You are THIEVES! You have STOLEN the land of the seven Canaanite nations!" the Jews can reply, "The land belongs to the Almighty who created it. By His will He originally gave it to the Canaanites, and by His will He took it from them and gave it to us." Thus the words of Rashi. Nevertheless, a look at the verse from Psalms that is cited gives rise to a question. If the verse is to be an answer to the nations, it should have read, "He told the nations the strength of His deeds," not "He told HIS PEOPLE the strength of His deeds." The answer is, however, that the most serious problem when it comes to the Jewish claim to Eretz Yisrael is not the fact that the nations do not recognize it. The nations are no problem for a Jewish people with faith in G-d. The real tragedy is the fact that so many of the Jewish people THEMSELVES do not believe or have grave doubts about the legitimacy of the Jewish claim to the land. In order to make the nations believe, it is the Jews themselves who must first be convinced! And that is why the verse emphasizes, "He told His people the strength of His deeds." If the Jews believe it, they will have the strength and self-confidence to tell the nations. Yet another question is raised by the Siftei Chachamim. In Parshat Lech Lecha (Genesis 12:6), Rashi writes, "[The Canaanites] were capturing the land from the descendants of Shem since Noah had given it to Shem when he divided the land." If that is true, what claim do the nations have on Eretz Yisrael? How can they accuse the Jews of stealing the land? After all, if Noah originally gave the land to Shem and the Jews are his descendants, it is only right for them to retake the land from the Canaanites who stole it in the first place. It appears to me that the answer to this question contains an important lesson for today. Yes, the Jew ONCE lived in Eretz Yisrael and the land ONCE, originally, belonged to Shem, but the nations of the world can always say, "What does it matter what happened centuries ago? People come and people go. What matters is that now, TODAY, the Canaanites live here, and you cannot come after so many years claiming it's yours." Indeed, this is exactly what the Arabs say to the Jewish people today! How do we reply to this claim? The lesson of the first Rashi in the Torah is that, in the end, there are no "logical" or "political" answers to the world. The ultimate answer is only the one: The Almighty created the land. He is the owner and in Him vests all titles. He decreed the Jewish people to be His inheritance, and the land to be theirs. Let us believe it and shout it forth joyously. The Jewish Press, 1979 Shabbat Shalom Barbara “Kahane on the Parsha” can be bought at the following links on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Kahane-Parsha-Meir/dp/098867680X , it's also available on website, www.BrennBooks.com 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

Parshat V'zot HaBrachaA SPECIAL DESTINY CALLS Moses begins his last speech- delivered right before his death- with comments meant for the entire Jewish people. As the Ibn Ezra writes, "This parsha begins with a general blessing for all of Israel, followed by specific comments addressed to each tribe, followed by general comments once more."Essentially, Moses tells them: Israel, remember who you are! Remember how you became a nation. Remember your purpose, your task as G-d's chosen people. He reminds them of Mt. Sinai and the "fiery law" they received there, "an inheritance for the congregation of Jacob" (Deuteronomy 33:2-5).All this recalls Exodus 19:6 and the strange comment of Rashi on that verse. The verse reads: "You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation; these are the words that you should speak to the Children of Israel." Rashi writes: "No more and no less." An enigmatic statement, indeed.A thought by Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook, however, makes the matter clear. The Rabbis inform us that the Second Temple was destroyed because the Jews "neglected to say the proper blessing before studying Torah" (Bava Metzia 85b). Rav Kook explains that they forgot the blessing's core- the words "who chose us from among the nations." They forgot that the Jewish people's raison d'etre is to serve as a holy nation, a beacon of truth for the rest of humanity. They forgot that there is no point in their existence- and certainly no point in their having a state and a Temple- if they ignore their G-d given task.Before giving the Jews the Torah, G-d wished to make this principle crystal clear. He wished them to understand a single point- their mission as a holy people and a kingdom of priests. "No more and no less." Only after Moses underscored this foundation to them and attained their consent did G-d give them the Torah.This is the essence of Judaism- holiness, chosenness, life as a nation with a unique destiny defined by G-d. It is with this essential idea that Moses begins his very last speech to the Jewish people in Parshat Zot HaBracha. Peirush HaMaccabee Shabbat Shalom and Chag SameachBarbara 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: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

Parshat V'zot HaBracha WANT PEACE? EXPEL THE ENEMY!!! "He will drive the enemy before you and He will proclaim, 'Destroy!' Israel will then dwell securely alone" (Deuteronomy 33: 27-28). On these verses, the Ohr HaChaim comments: " 'Israel will then dwell securely': When? When they are alone. The words 'Israel will then dwell' are a continuation of what precedes them, 'He will proclaim, "Destroy!" ' for G-d commanded Israel to annihilate every single one of the inhabitants in the Land of Canaan. By doing so 'Israel will then dwell securely alone.'" The plain truth lies here before us. The Torah commands us not to hesitate about annihilating the nations in the land lest they hate and seek revenge against us for taking land they view as their own. Not in vain are the words yerushah (inheritance) and horashah (driving out) so similar in Hebrew. G-d is telling us that unless we drive out the nations of the land, we will not inherit it. As the Sforno writes, "When you shall eliminate the inhabitants of the land, then you shall be privileged to inherit the land and pass it down to your children. But if you do not eliminate them, even though you will conquer the land, you will not be privileged to hand it down to you children." The Jewish Idea Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach Barbara 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: 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