A wordless prayer at the Kotel
Tishrei 12, 5770, 30 September 09 11:15
by Moshe Kempinski

The Saturday night before Yom Kippur was also the last night of Selichot (penitential prayers) before the start of "the Awesome Day". As I drove to the Kotel (the Western Wall) I found that all the roads in Jerusalem heading towards the Old City were unusually clogged. I later found out that Highway No. 1, the main artery from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, was also backed up heavily. Approaching the Old City close to midnight, I found my way blocked by police roadblocks, until I was finally allowed through only due to the Old City sticker on my car windshield.

Through the Jaffa Gate, I was engulfed by a river of people rushing towards the Western Wall. The striking difference from other such experiences was that almost all the people around me scurrying on the road looked as if they were so called "secular Israelis". Yet it became clear that they seemed to be driven towards the Western Wall adjacent to the "heart of the world" by some inner passion.

The so-called "secular majority" of this country had recaptured the Kotel on this night.

When I finally made it down the steps, the sight took my breath away as I watched the multitudes fill the Western Wall Plaza. It is true that I have seen this plaza filled many times before, but there was something very different about this night. The sight seemed so incongruent and yet so natural at the same time.

On the Shabbat prior to this evening, I had been reading of the great Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (1740-1810).The Berditchever, as he was known, was one of the main disciples of the Maggid of Mezeritch and he passed away almost exactly 200 years ago. He was known as the "defense attorney" for the Jewish people, because he would consistently intercede on their behalf before G-d .With his intense and passionate love for every one of his people, he would always search for the positive essence in each of his brothers and sisters as he stood in prayer before his Creator.

I though about Rebbe Levi Yitzchak again as I saw the crowds gathering at the Kotel. What would he have said? I also contemplated how such a sight would have empowered him to shake the very heavens and demand redemption.

I watched as Israelis who were not so familiar with the decorum and customs of the Western Wall gathered chairs. Some sat waiting and talking, while some even lit up cigarettes. They were waiting for the start of the Selichot prayers at 12:30 AM. My initial frustration with what on the surface seemed a brazen irreverence melted away as I saw individual after individual reading psalms or prayer books. Others were furiously writing notes to put in the Wall and others just sat with their eyes closed.

I again thought of the Berditchever and how he would turn to G-d and say something like, "HaShem, you know that your children have wandered in the wrong pastures. You know that they have felt unworthy to come before You. You know that they have perhaps even forgotten the words, the passion and the reverence. But look, sweet Father, how your children are yearning to be in your presence. Let their presence here before you be like a mighty prayer."

But I was wrong. That is not what he would have said.

At half past midnight the Selichot prayers began and continued for an hour and a half. I stood back in awe and wonderment. These so-called "lost children" roared their prayers like true lions of Judah. As they held on to their makeshift or well-folded kippot, they sang and prayed with a passion that came from some inner secret space. They prayed with a smoldering intensity I had not expected because of my arrogance. They cried out "Amen, may Your name be magnified for ever and ever" with a bellow that seemed to shake the Western Wall. A people that had been touched by G-d can never truly lose that inner spark and dim their burning heart.

Rebbe Levi Yitzchak would not have said anything on this night. He would probably have looked at his brothers and sisters with tear-filled eyes and then raised his face to the heavens with outstretched arms.

His eyes, beseeching the heavens, would have said it all: Ad matai, HaShem, ad matai? - "Until when, HaShem, until when?"

I am My Beloved's and my Beloved is Mine

by Moshe Kempinski
Elul 4, 5769,



The old city of Jerusalem during these evenings is awash with people. They arrive in large groups. They arrive with their families. They arrive alone. They do not come as tourists. They are not here to tour any location. They are not here to see anything.

They are here to feel and listen.

During the days of Elul and Tishrei each individual soul undergoes a spiritual voyage that is unparalleled in its intensity and awesome in its implications. It is in the month of Elul that we begin again the courtship with the Beloved. The Hebrew letters that make up the name Elul are also the first letters of the verse, Ani Ledodi VeDodi Lee - "I Am My Beloved's and my Beloved is Mine."

This powerful verse comes from the ultimate love poem written by King Solomon as beautiful allegory of a love story between the infinite and the finite. The great sage Rabbi Akiba declared, "Heaven forbid that any man in Israel ever disputed that the Song of Songs is holy. For the whole world is not worth the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel, for all the Writings are holy and the Song of Songs is holy of holies." (Mishnah Yadayim 3:5) It is clearly an allegory, as the young maiden and her beloved keep changing roles. At times, he is a shepherd, at times a king; and the young maiden keeps changing as well just as the people of Israel do.

During the month of Elul, then, thousands of Israelis of all walks of life find their way into the Old City of Jerusalem. Especially in the late evening or early morning, the people make their way towards the Old City like love-stricken lovers. The late hours at the Western Wall sound and look like midday hustle and bustle. Everywhere you turn, you see people in prayer or simply standing in awe. A people living out the verse Ani Ledodi VeDodi Lee - "I Am My Beloved's and my Beloved is Mine" - sometimes without even being aware of it.

Yet, that verse from that sanctified poem of love and relationship, when literally translated, becomes somewhat confusing. Ani Ledodi Vedodi Lee really translates as, "I am entering into the month of betrothal to their ultimate, Divine Beloved. As a result, one individual after another continued to volunteer to help carry that part of the broken wagon through the long trek around the Temple Mount walls. They were individuals in love, and love means constantly moving forward, towards the beloved. They, the sons and daughters of Abraham, were driven forward just as their ancestor was bidden to go forth.

That is the deeper meaning of the verse Ani Ledodi VeDodi Lee - "I Am My Beloved's and my Beloved is Mine." The relationship is defined by the constant move towards - "I am to my Beloved and my Beloved is to me".

When we returned after the long walk, we saw a Western Wall plaza awash with streams of Jews of all sorts, filling its every available space.

The Jewish people, whether they are consciously aware of their relationship with G-d or not, are driven by an inner call to "come towards". That is their eternal strength; and with that we enter the betrothal month of Elul.

Words Are That Powerful

Moshe Kempinski
Torah Portion ; Matot (Numbers 30:2-32:42)


The Torah portion of Matot begins with the admonitions regarding vows, oaths and obligations. The old adage" sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never harm me" is simply false in Judaism. Words are not harmless nor are they harmful. Yet words have power. The world was created with words. Relationships are built up with words. Our children discover themeselves through words...theirs and ours. Words thrown about carelessly can foster hatred and can lead to the destruction of the temple, both spiritual and physical.. Yet on the other hand words can create songs and words become the vessels of prayer.


Yet we are so careless with them! King Solomon wrote "Better that you not vow, than that you should vow and not fulfill.( KOHELLET/ Ecclesiastes 5:4)


Words have an innate power. In Hebrew the name for a “word” is DAVAR and the name for a "thing" is a davar. We learn that words create new reality and at the same time that reality speaks words. That is the basis of our relationship with the Infinite One .We use words to bridge the seemingly impossibly wide chasm between we the finite and He the infinite. At the same time the Creator speaks with us through his creation, things speak. That is the secret of the bridge between us that was taught to Moshe ( Moses) in the cleft in the rock when he asked G-d to show him His Glory.



Our torah portion then warns us of the power, potential and dangers of words and vows. It sets up the danger signals we are to be watchful for upon encountering individuals who throw words aimlessly or who use words as weapons. It also helps mankind be wary of the individual who has so mastered the power of words that he begins to believe that words are more important than truth and more critical than action. We need to be especially aware and wary of individuals like that when they enter positions of power and greatness like the Presidency of the most powerful nation in our physical reality. Such a mixture can be very heady and is extremely dangerous for the world in general and for that individual as well. That is so because words don’t only endanger and harm, they also entice and entrap the speaker.


As in all cases related to the words of the Torah portions , they do not only hearken from the past, they speak to the very present. As our ancient sages have taught us the words of the weekly Torah portion will also speak into the very reality of the week wherein the portion is read.


Listen to the words in the national arena and hear the subtext and be prepared and at the same time be careful with your choice of words in your own very personal relationships.

Words are that powerful

The New Imposters; the J Street PAC

Moshe Kempinski


Throughout Jewish history the embittered people of Israel have developed conditions and neuroses very similar to victims of abuse. At times, they have begun to blame themselves for the hatred that they have experienced hurled against them. At other times they have begun to assume that if they would adopt more universal ideals and become more connected to the greater whole, they would cease to be persecuted. As a result of such a desire they have eschewed uniqueness and national identity for the safe anonymity of “sameness”. There is nothing inherently wrong for looking for commonality and initiating bridge building. In fact the building of bridges of understanding between peoples is one of the critical goals of mankind's destiny and purpose. Yet the collapse of identity and the slipping into the morass of blandness and anonymity has become a disaster and ever present danger for the Jewish people.


Yet there is an even darker side to the phenomenon. Throughout history, some of the greatest enemies of the Jewish people have been Jews who so wanted to identify with the world that the result was a deep hatred within themselves of Judaism and Jewish destiny. Some of the greatest persecutors of the Jewish people have been people of Jewish descent. We must be wary that Jewish people like Rahm Emanuel, and David Axelrod, Obama's advisers, don't fall into that trap .



The road into such lethal and dangerous thinking can even begin with well meaning and pure thinking. It usually begins with the desire to ensure that the Jewish people remain within the constraints of safe political correctness. Such groups in the past have taken it upon themselves in the name of the Jewish people to represent views and opinions that were in line with the interests of the ruling monarchy, even if they were antithetical to the needs of their people. These Jewish individuals called Shtadlanim or Court Jews as a general rule acted seemingly on behalf of the Jewish people but were truly more interested in enhancing their positions of power and wealth within the political rulership of their day.



It is usually easy to spot them. They use Jewish concepts and ideals liberally while show no connection to any of these ideals in their private lives. The will usually speak on behalf of the Jewish people as a group and yet as individuals have very little to do with their local Jewish community. They will declare ideas and beliefs that will endear them to their politically correct environment but will deny the unique character and survival needs of their own people. In our days they will demand full rights for all Arabs living inside Israel while denying them for Jews living in areas of biblical and historic import. .They exhibit great concern for Arab pain and suffering while barely offering lip service for Jewish pain . They will advocate Israeli territorial concessions regardless of the danger to security needs such withdrawals have produced in the past. They will argue that any serious criticism of the preaching and teaching of hatred towards the Jews of Israel and the world by Arab preachers and teachers in Arab schools and mosques is somehow disloyal to American interests. Support for Israel 's security needs is viewed as tantamount to a betrayal of American concerns.


According to many , J Street Political Action Committee lobby founded in 2008 seems to be walking this very dangerous and self destructive path.



During the Gaza strip war the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz wrote that while "The left-wing Meretz party on Thursday issued a rare call for military action against Hamas in order to bring an end to cross-border attacks on Israel by Gaza militants” , the J Street on the other hand called for superpower intervention to restrain Israel.


Reform Rabbi Eric Yoffie ,the president of the URJ , whose own views mirror the views of the left in the Israeli political spectrum, complained that " the group ( J Street lobby) could find no moral difference between the actions of Hamas and other Palestinian militants, …., and the long-delayed response of Israel, which finally lost patience and responded to the pleas of its battered citizens in the south.


J Street hit again this week. President Barak Obama who truly believes that the magic of the spoken word can assuage any wound and cross over any chasm of disagreement invited Jewish leaders for a talk .The President invited over 16 leaders but excluded the strongly pro Israel National Council of Young Israel (YI) and Zionist Organization of America (ZOA).

After the meeting Obama's greatest admirers, the J Street lobby, declared;

" J Street commends President Barack Obama on restating today his commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and his serious intent to pursue a viable and sustainable resolution to the broader Arab-Israeli conflict..........President Obama should know that the majority of American Jews support the direction he outlined and his commitment to actively pursue peace and security. “


Is J Street truly speaking for the majority of American Jewry?!?


In a Newsweek article (may 27th 2008) highlighting the newly formed group, columnist Dan Ephron asked the lobby the following question.


Ephron; You're suggesting actually withholding aid?

J Street ; No, I'm not saying that. I want to be really clear. I'm saying that when the U.S. president closes the door with the Israeli prime minister, the U.S. president has a lot more chips to play than any other person who closes that door. …..And it's time for the president to know that there's a group of people here who recognize that that is not only in Israel's best interests, it's in the U.S.'s best interests. We've got to step up and start to make this a more serious, meaningful policy.


Ephron; But my question is might J Street find itself in a situation where it would be lobbying on an issue that would be counter to what the Israeli government is doing?

J. Street: Oh, absolutely. We have absolutely no problem taking a position that says the actions and policies of the Israeli government are counterproductive and not in the best interests in our opinion of either Israel or the United States . …



Ephron ; You'll have to face, I imagine, Israelis who will say, 'wait a second, you don't live here, you don't send your children to the military here, you don't pay taxes. What right do you have to dictate or even to influence the debate?'

J Street I think that's extremely fair [to argue]. But I think as long as the situation in Israel and Palestine is directly related to recruitment by extremist forces, by Al Qaeda, of the terrorists who then come here, I think it is an issue that has ramifications here.


Is J Street speaking out of concern for the destiny and security of the Jewish people or they suffering from the the pain and wounds of exile. Are they concerned for the constituency that they claim to represent or are they more interested to be accepted by the rulers of our time.


Either way they can quickly become a very dangerous pawn in the war against the people of Israel .

Torah Thought: Nature- listening and speaking

....Moshe Kempinski..( parshat Chukat)..

We are faced with a very unusual commandment of G-d when He declares to Moses the following;

And HaShem spoke unto Moshe , saying: 'Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its water; and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock; so thou shalt give the congregation and their cattle drink.'(Exodus/Shmot 20:7-8)

What does it mean that Moses was to "speak" to the rock? Do rocks have the ability to hear?

Maran HaRav Kook teaches that the answer is in the affirmative.All of nature is waiting to hear the song of redemption. The whole world is waiting to listen to the melody that was stilled upon the exodus from the garden of Eden.

Istead it felt the brunt of a staff raised in anger. Our sages tell us that the reason that Moshe did not speak to the stone was not out of disobedience but rather that he lost the ability to speak.He lost the prophetic ability to truly "speak" when he became angry.

10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said unto them: 'Hear now, ye rebels; are we to bring you forth water out of this rock?'(Exodus/Shmot 20:10) . In that anger lay the problem .

When Moses became angry he temporarily lost the ability to recieve and " hear" prophecy" and thereby lost the ability to speak propheticly.

It is this concept that is described by our sages; " anyone who is angry , if he is a wise man his wisdom will leave him. If he is a prophet , his prophecy will leave him" ( Masechet Pesachim 66b) .

We see a similar phenomenon in Parshat Vayigash when Jacob is informed that his beloved son was in fact, still alive.


And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them; and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived. 28 And Israel said: 'It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die.'
(Genesis/ Breishit 45:27-28 27 )

Our sages describe that the Divine Presence which had left Jacob during his twenty two years of sadness had returned .Ruach HaKodesh, Divine Inspiration, cannot reside in the midst of sadness.The surprising but wonderful news that Joseph was in fact still alive allowed for Jacob to be filled with Divine Inspiration once again. It is no wonder that Jacob is again called Israel in the next verse. Israel is the name of this patriarch that relates to his and his children's Prophetic Destiny .It is the name given him by the angel and then confirmed by G-d Himself further on. It is the the name that predicts and confirms the destiny of his progeny, the people of Israel.

As a result nature and the stones were not given the oppurtunity to hear and respond and by so doing bring about a grerat sanctification of G-d's name.

Yet it is important to remember that Nature also speaks. The word for "Thing" iin hebrew is Davar. The word for speech is hebrew is rooted in the same hebrew "Davar". Everything in the world is speaking. G-d is using the reality to speak to us. Yet man hasn't yet learnt how to hear with his eyes.

We in this world need to learn to hear the song of G-d in the world around us and just as importantly the world around us is waiting to hear that same song from us.

The Courage For Real Change

Moshe Kempinski

In his powerful election night acceptance speech, President Barack Obama announced, “It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.” No one asked the candidate what that change entailed. No one dared to demand that the fawning press do their job ,and ask the questions that needed to be asked .

America wanted instant change with the same passion that they demanded “ instant fame” , “instant wealth” and “ instant power”. Just as those" instant" dreams have fizzled or collapsed completely , we are beginning to see that so has Obama's promise of "change".

Change involves work and struggle. Change involves sacrifice and reality based "vision". Real " change " is what the Iranian protesters ( as opposed to Moussavi) were trying to implement.

That type of change , though, also involves sacrifice. Before Neda Agha-Soltan was gunned down in the streets of Teheran , she displayed her resolve and lack of fear with words she shared with a friend "Don't worry, it's just one bullet and it's over, “she reportedly said .The 26-year-old philosophy student whose murder has made her a martyr to the Iranian opposition, was determined to support the protesters. The rest of the world shed a tear with her murder but is still unwilling to rock the boat.

The Jewish people were taught the lesson of hard earned change and growth many centuries ago.
" And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that G-d led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, because it was near; for G-d said: 'Lest peradventure the people lose faith when they see war, and they return to Egypt.' ( exodus 13 :17).
Which land was near, the land of Egypt or the Promised Land? The verse could not be speaking about the land of Egypt because as we see in a following verse the Israelites actually cut back towards the land of Egypt.
" And HaShem spoke unto Moses, saying: 'Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal-zephon, over against it shall ye encamp by the sea." ( Exodus 14: 1-2).

It was the land of Israel that was too close. In order for these slaves and sons of slaves to become the free people they needed to become, the journey and the process had to become more extended. It was in the wilderness that courage was discovered. It was in the journey that faith was kindled.

The world is entering into its own wilderness .The instant solutions and remedies being offered by the world’s leadership are not only futile, they are actually very dangerous. The focus on predetermined results rather than on resolute determination will only lead to calamity and confusion. Unless the lessons of journey and process become absorbed by the leadership of the world in general and by the American and Israeli leadership in particular , great dangers await the world at every turn.

Yet instead of bravery and courage the American Administration is showing hesitancy and shaky resolve. US President Barack Obama supposedly stepped up criticism of Iran's regime, saying he "strongly condemned" its crackdown. That was sure to frighten the Ayatollah’s?!?

At the same time he made sure to deny that he was interfering in the deepening crisis. Obama’s meager contribution was to articulate a State Department-esque fear that if America was to be seen as “meddling” in the internal affairs of Iran, Ahmadinejad would use that fact against America and set back Obama’s high hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the Iranian nuclear weapons advance. That, of course, does not prevent Obama and his people from increasingly meddling in the affairs of the State of Israel , as Israel in their eyes is simply a vassal state. Obama's hesitation, as was his latest decision to reconnect with the regime in Syria ,was meant to ensure that nothing would interfere with his “new world vision” embracing a sanitized Islam and a welcoming west.

As a result just as we have seen that Obama is ready to sacrifice the security concerns of Israel on the altar of his great vision, he seems to be doing the same thing as regards to the plight of the courageous young people on the streets of Teheran. This can prove to be very dangerous to this world.

The Mysteries Of The Olive Tree

Moshe Kempinski

Israel is being challenged by an American President that believes so deeply
in the power of words that he has forgotten the “power of truth”.

Israel is facing a European continent that is slowly sinking under the
tsunami of radical Islam and has lost the “power of discernment”.

We are also dealing with Israeli leadership that attempts to combat the
pressure but lacking the spiritual eyes of faith makes compromise with
reality.

The storm is brewing and the pressure is growing. The missing light that
would help us navigate through this darkness is the light of the Temple
menorah .Its flickering flame still burns in the hearts of those who have
not lost their connection to their Divine destiny. Yet there are many that
are trying to extinguish those flickering embers as well. It is not
happenstance that the temple menorah was chosen to be the official symbol
of the state of Israel. There were few amongst those that chose it in the
1940’s that knew that the emblem was actually linked to a prophecy of a
menorah in the book of Zecharayah, . In that prophecy we are told of a
vision of a menorah with an olive tree on either side of it and the the
menorah is being fed with olive oil from these branches

And he said unto me: "What do you see ?" And I said: "I have seen, and
behold a menorah all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, with its
seven lamps....and two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side of the
bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof." .( Zecharayah 4:1-6 )

There is a mysterious strength and lesson being revealed in the olive tree
and its oil in these verses.

Every morning as I trudge up the little hill from my synagogue to the
entrance into my building, I always feel a sense of exhilaration that I
tried to understand. Just before I enter the building, I walk under a wide,
expansive olive tree. As I stop under it and look to the west, I have an
uninterrupted view of the Jerusalem forest hills for as far as my eyes can
see. I usually take a deep breath and somehow feel filled and whole, even
for only a minute. At first, this began to happen without my being overtly
conscious of it, but after repeatedly sensing that feeling, I began to
ponder its meaning.

I thought of the midrash brought down in Tractate Menachot 51b: "Rabbi
Yehoshuah Ben Levi said: Why is Israel compared to an olive tree? Because
just as the leaves of an olive tree do not fall off either in summer or
winter. So, too, the Jewish people shall not be cast off, neither in this
world nor in the World to Come."


The olive tree also appears in the Midrash Shmot Rabbah (Tetzaveh 36)
discussing the verse in the book of Jeremiah (11:16) comparing the Jewish
people to an olive tree: "God called your name a green olive tree, fair
(zayit ra'anan) with goodly fruit." The midrash expounds offers insights
gleaned from this verse. Just as the olive oil does not get mixed together
with other fluids, so too the Jewish people will never disappear fully into
the cauldron of assimilation. In fact, in a miraculous fashion, despite
being agitated, persecuted and oppressed, the Jewish people, like the oil,
always rise to the top. They rise above those nations oppressing them and
retain their distinct and unique character.


Finally, our sages continue with another thought based on the same verse,
(Tractate Menachot 53bJ "Just as the purpose of the olive is the oil which
is extracted from it, says Rabbi Yitzchak, so too is the purpose of the
exile and all its events realized only after it reaches the end of its
processing." The classic commentator, the Maharsha, explains that only
after the olive has been crushed and pressed to extract its essence can the
fruit's potential truly be revealed.

So it seems that this is the process we are now witnessing

President Obama , Jimmy Carter, Iran's Ahmanidjad and the European union
are simply the olive press.The Olive tree is being crushed and pressed and
the groundwork is being laid for the next chapter of Jewish history

Giants Of The West

Moshe Kempinski

The world is seemingly looming over the small and fragile state of Israel. It is raising its fists in frustration and filling its chest with indignant airs over the incalcitrant Jews of Israel. On the other hand this same world is much more insecure and bruised than it was before the financial crisis.

It is a world which is much more frightened and fragile than it was in before the events of 9/11. Mankind feels a lot more unstable and uneasy in our time as bastion after bastion of security has fallen and anchor after anchor of permanence has been uprooted.



As a result the world is a lot more dangerous to itself in general and to Israel in particular.



Mankind yearns for simple solutions and quick conflict resolution in the best of times. Yet in times of insecurity and confusion it is more easily drawn down that futile path of simplified solutions. It is especially in such times that individuals and leaders arise and speak in comforting sound bites and with packaged metaphors. Such leaders, in such times, can become formidable foes of complicated and layer-deep truths, even if their intentions are well meaning. President Obama has become such a leader.



His administration's proposed peace plan with its two year deadline is an example of the dangers that Israel is confronted with. The new American president has adopted the classic colonialist attitude of coming in to a situation and imposing a solution on the "unruly children" in the third world .In the words of Samantha Powers considered one of president Obama's closest adviser (the Washington Post identified her and retired Maj. Gen. Scott Garion as “closest to Obama, part of a group-within-the-group that he regularly turns to for advice. ;



"What we need is a willingness to put something on the line in helping the situation. Putting something on the line might mean alienating a domestic constituency of tremendous political and financial import;.....also, to support what will have to be a mammoth protection force, not of the old Rwanda kind, but a meaningful military presence. ....Unfortunately, imposition of a solution on unwilling parties is dreadful. It’s a terrible thing to do, it’s fundamentally undemocratic. But, sadly, we don’t just have a democracy here either, we have a liberal democracy. There are certain sets of principles that guide our policy or that are meant to, anyway. It’s essential that some set of principles becomes the benchmark, rather than a deference to [leaders] who are fundamentally politically destined to destroy the lives of their own people.( in an interview in Berkeley in 2002)"



What Israel may be facing then is an administration that toys with the idea of military intervention in Israel on behalf of a Palestinian state.



President Obama's two state solution is in reality, in Benny Begin's words ,a two stage solution for Israel's destruction..Yet there are few in this floundering world that have the nerve and stamina needed to stand up to this man being termed as "the coolest President America has known" . There are few capable of helping President Obama confront reality rather than to be dazzled by his own rhetoric. This administration needs to be reminded that the Middle East is not a third grade class and those are not spitballs that are being thrown around in this region.



Yet at this point the plans and machinations of the west are looming over this country like giants of great powers. It is, as always no coincidence that this week’s Torah portion relates similar fears by the people of Israel as they were about to enter into the "land of Promise".





And they spread an evil report of the land which they had spied out to the children of Israel, saying: 'The land, through which we have passed to spy it out, is a land that eats up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.'( Numbers 13:32-33)

They too , saw the obstacles before them as Giants. They too fell into that faulty vision because they lost sense of their own self worth and lost the understanding of the Divine source of their power. They too could not hear the pure faith filled voices of Yehoshua and Calev;

And Yehoshua the son of Nun and Calev the son of Yefunneh, who were of them that spied out the land, rent their clothes. And they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: 'The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land. If HaShem delights in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it to us--a land which flows with milk and honey. Only rebel not against the LORD, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us; their defence is removed from over them, and HaShem is with us; fear them not.'( Numbers 14:6-9)



Prime Minister Netanyahu will be answering the American demands on Sunday. It would do him well to read the Torah portion on Shabbat and avoid the cries of those who see themselves as grasshoppers. Rather he should heed the supporting calls of those who have not lost faith and have not abandoned vision. He should fine-tune his soul so that it too could hear the call declared by Calev so very long ago. A call that continues to resonate throughout Jewish history.



“ Ki Yachol Nuchal La; for we are well able to overcome it.(Numbers 13:30)

Bibi, Obama and Yom Yerushalayim

Moshe Kempinski


Nothing in this world happens by happenstance or coincidence. The lines of human history intersect the lines of destiny and purpose all the time. This occurs regardless if those witnessing these encounters between” time and purpose” are aware of it or not. Such is the nature of our existence. The world we live in is called Olam in hebrew, and that very word is a whisper of its root denoting hiddenness.

It is not happenstance that the Pope representing Rome arrives in Israel on the week we honor Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai the great spiritual and physical opponent of Ancient Rome. Ancient Rome has disappeared and the teachings and spirit of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai continue to live on. There is an important lesson there.



It is also not happenstance that the leader of the State of Israel is meeting with one of the most powerful leaders of the world to discuss Israel's retreat from the biblical heartland on the week we celebrate the miracle that brought about its liberation. President Obama will discuss the fragile situation in the Middle East as if he would discuss a chess match . Obama true to everything we have seen thus far will make decisions that are politically correct and noble sounding but without being connected to the reality on the ground. Yet the simple Divine reality and the miracles of the Six day war will prove to be much more powerful than the notions of one man, even a very popular man.



Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama both need to be reminded of a hot and humid June in 1967.For the months prior to those fateful days, the radio waves were filled with hatred and threats against the small sliver of a country called Israel. Gamal Abdel Nasser, the president of Egypt declared on radio" We intend on beginning an all out campaign, it will be a total war and our basic purpose is the eradication of the Israeli state" (27.5.67). Ahmed Shukeiri the head of the Palestinian resistance movement also delivered the following statement" Israelis who were born in Palestine that will still be alive after the war will be allowed to live in Palestine. But based on my best estimation not a single one of them will still be found alive." (26.5.67)" Similar threats were being aired every day by leaders of Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Even the darling of North American media, King Hussein of Jordan joined the war that began in June of 1967 with the following words," Kill the Jews with everything that comes to your hands. Kill them with your arms, with your hands, with your nails and with your teeth."


All this hatred and rhetoric before a "west bank" ever existed as a concept and prior to any delusions of "two states living side by side in peace"

The residents within the pre-1967 borders - which Israel's famed orator and foreign minister, Abba Eban, called the "Auschwitz borders" - were busy digging mass graves in Tel Aviv and Netanya. All this in preparation for the onslaught that was coming their way. The World powers, as is their custom even to this day, continued their endless babble and diplomatic game-playing as the noose around Israel was continuing to tighten. Not that many years had passed since the disaster of the holocaust and the fear and anxiety was palpable.


Reuven was a seventy-year-old survivor of Auschwitz who had migrated to America after the Second World War and subsequently made Aliyah to Israel. He told his children that he was determined to live out the dreams of his ancestors in the land of G-d and spend his last years in Israel. As the reports from the Middle East became more frantic and threatening, Reuven’s children desperately tried to get him to return to the safety of America. He described to a friend of ours the daily arguments, pleading and tearful requests he had to endure from his family. He explained that he understood his children, but that he was tired of running and that this was his home and final place of refuge.

Meanwhile, all around him, the hatred kept growing. Around the land, a thick pall of foreboding lay heavily over the population.

Yet, in the midst of those fear-filled and hot days in June, G-d produced a miracle, and the mighty armies of all the Arab countries that had amassed around Israel were vanquished. All this was done in an astonishing six days. A small but determined army attacked and beat back the Russian-equipped hordes of the Arab world.

Just as the eight days of the Hanukkah miracle of oil was a Divine signature on the even greater miracle of the victory of the small band of Maccabees against their oppressors, so did these six days dispel the notion that anything in this country came into being by happenstance. In those heady days of victory and celebration, most of Israel's population rejoiced at the notion that they had been a witness to a modern-day miracle.

Mr Reuven of Netanya had no doubts regarding the Divine nature of this experience. This seventy-year-old man got on the first bus that was traveling to Jerusalem after the ceasefire. As the bus drove along Jaffa Road, it broke down and all the occupants began to walk, almost mesmerized, towards the liberated Old City of Jerusalem. As they were nearing the walls, a group of Israeli paratroopers were passing by marching towards the Jaffa Gate. The soldiers then broke ranks and began dancing through the gates. Reuven, the seventy year old survivor from Europe, joined them and danced all the way to the Western Wall. His age was forgotten, his past became a whisp of smoke and his heart was rejuvenated as he danced and sang with these young soldiers.

Later, he was to remark to his friends in Netanya, "I don't know how but I found the courage to stay in my new home despite the treats and the dangers. As a result, I Reuven who came out of the graveyard of Poland was given the zechut, the merit, to be able to join the soldiers of Zion in their joyous dance towards our holy mountain."

May that type of spirit and resolve fill the hearts of our Prime Minister and his government as the struggle against the steadily mounting pressure from President Obama and the world. If any of them feel ill equipped to face that challenge they would do well to come to Jerusalem during Yom Yerushalayim .They could join the tens of thousands of Jews young and old who will be dancing through the streets of Jerusalem towards the holy mountain..If they then develop the courage to look to the heavens , they may merit to see that generations who have come before us , for they too will be dancing in the heavens on this day.

The Reed Sea and Yom HaAtzmaut

Moshe Kempinski

The holiday of Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel's Independence Day) - the day of Israel's rebirth as an independent country - occurs in a season of blossoming and promise. Passover, too - the holiday of Israel's birth as a people - has classically and Biblically been connected to the season of springtime and rebirth. Passover's message of liberation from spiritual and physical enslavement remains an eternal message. Can the same be said of Yom HaAtzmaut?

The impact of Yom HaAtzmaut and of the State of Israel continues to be complicated and confused. On the one hand, after two thousand years of exile and persecution the scattered remains of a battered people have found refuge on ancient shores. On the other hand, it continues to be a country where much of its leadership has forgotten the dreams and yearnings of thousands of years.

It is a country of conflicting images. On the one hand, we see a hedonistic "wannabe" society festering in the nightclubs of Tel Aviv; on the other hand, earnest and faith-driven young people risking all to continue the vision of their people. On one side, we see young people reveling in the fact that they have succeeded in eluding army service; while on the other, young men and women voluntarily put their lives at risk, and at times sacrifice them, to protect their nation. One snapshot is of young soldiers fighting long battles with terrorists, while the other snapshot shows black-vested soldiers ripping their fellow Jews away from their homes. One image has Yitzchak Rabin walking into the liberated Old City of Jerusalem, and the other has him shaking hands with arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat and heralding the disaster called the "Oslo peace process". We see an image of Ariel Sharon planning homes in the Biblical heartland of Israel, and then we see one of Sharon planning the destruction of the same Jewish homes.

Can an eternal message of hope and redemption come out of such confusion? Is the message of Yom HaAtzmaut a harbinger of an eternal truth, or is it just a secular plastic replica of a two-thousand-year-old spiritual vision?

Yom HaAtzmaut is integrally related to the holiday of Passover. More important, it is connected to the seventh day of Passover, when the Israelites crossed the Reed Sea. Rabbi Shlomo Goren (z.ts.l.), the former chief rabbi of Israel's defense forces, revealed an interesting fact. There is an ancient mystical cipher called At-Bash. The system involves taking the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and switching with the last letter, and then the second letter with the second to last letter, and so forth. Based on this At-Bash system it was found that whichever day of the week the first (or aleph) day of Passover lands that will be the day that that the holiday starting with the last letter of the alphabet (tav) will land. For generations, this system worked for every day of Passover except for the seventh. The seventh letter in the Hebrew alphabet, zayin, corresponds to the letter ayin. Rabbi Goren showed how the word atzmaut or "independence", which begins with letter ayin, solved the dilemma. Whichever day of the week is the seventh day of Passover is also the day of the week on which Yom HaAtzmaut falls.

This could have remained as quaint symbolic exercise if there was not a deeper message and connection involved.

On the seventh day of Passover the Israelites stood at the edge of the Reed Sea. When the Egyptians were coming from the back and the desert was closing in on the sides, they cried out in fear. The Mechilta says that as they stood at the shore of the sea, the people of Israel split into four factions. One faction said: "Let us cast ourselves into the sea." A second faction said, "Let us return to Egypt." A third said, "Let us wage war against the Egyptians." A fourth said, "Let us cry out to G-d."

"And Moshe said unto the people: Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of HaShem, which He will work for you today; for whereas ye have seen the Egyptians today, ye shall see them again no more forever. HaShem will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." (Exodus14:13-14)

Those were powerful words for every one of the factions; and those words continue to stir the hearts of many even unto these days.

Yet, it is the following verse that carries the ultimate power, for it seems HaShem wants and expects more from them: "And HaShem said unto Moshe: Why are you crying out to Me? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward." (Exodus14:15) The spiritual ingredient which heralded the miracle and tore the sea apart was the fact that the people simply "went forward".

When the tattered remains of the Jewish people returned to their ancient homeland and fulfilled the first part of a clear prophecy in Ezekiel, there was cause for great rejoicing. "Therefore prophesy, and say unto them: Thus said HaShem G-d: Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel." (Ezekiel 37)

Yet, it was not long before many Arab nations gathered to attack them; they miraculously survived. There would be many more such threats and dangers heaped on this small land, and the people began to become more and more fretful. Just like at the shores of the Reed Sea.

Some fell into depression and faithless sadness ("Let us cast ourselves into the sea"). A second faction lost the courage to remain steadfast in this land of trials and began to leave the country ("Let us return to Egypt"). A third began to believe that their salvation would simply be a function of their own strength and power ("Let us wage war against the Egyptians"). The fourth said there is nothing we can or must do except to depend on the mercy and redemption of HaShem ("Let us cry out to G-d").

To all those people, HaShem's message is clear: "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward." In order to break out of the constraints that bind, the message was to "move forward" to our destiny.

We are seeing clear signs of this "going forward". The country will be defended. Its houses will be built and the land will be settled. The study of Torah will increase. The numbers of people searching for more meaning and a deeper commitment to G-d and His people's destiny will continue to grow.

On Yom HaAtzmaut we celebrate what HaShem has done for us until this time. We will also celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut and go forward with joyful praise and loud singing of the Hallel for what is yet to be. That rejoicing and celebrating of a redemption that has only just begun to blossom is the ultimate "stepping forward" in faith. That rejoicing is integral in making the sea of confusion part. That acknowledgement of the miraculous mercies of the past and the Divine intervention of the future is a key component of moving out of the confusion that envelops this new and developing land.

That is the spirit that was missing in the governments of the last two decades. That is the spirit that will be sorely tested by American President Barack Obama's dangerously naive view of the world. It will be brought under attack by the already defeated regimes of Europe. It is a spirit that will be ridiculed by the faint-hearted and impatient segment of our people.

Yet, we will continue to be thankful for the miracles G-d has shown us, and not fall into the trap of assuming it was solely our might and strength. In spite the self-defeating words, and the brutal and cruel actions, of some of those claiming to be our leadership, we will continue to declare faith in the still small voice of redemption. The naysayers and the critics who will scorn our faithfulness to this piece of G-d's destiny as a way to cover their inaction or lack of courage to live and struggle alongside us will not deter us either.

Only in this way will the next part of Ezekiel's prophecy come into being as well: "And you shall know that I am HaShem, when I have opened your graves, and caused you to come up out of your graves, O My people. And I will put My spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land; and you shall know that I, HaShem, have spoken and performed it, says HaShem." (Ezekiel 37:13-14)

The Cry of Redemption

Moshe Kempinski

The story of redemption always begins with disappointment. The morning seems to always begin in the night, "and it was evening and it was morning, one day." (Genesis 1:5) The greatest blessing seems to always be preceded by wilderness. Why is that so?

After hundreds of years of slavery, the children of Israel in Egypt had lost the courage to dream of freedom. A young Moshe (Moses) ventures out of Pharaoh's palace to explore the state of his people. He sees a Hebrew slave being beaten almost to death. After looking around and seeing that "there was no man around" (Exodus 2:12), he intervenes and kills the assailant. Later, he encounters two Hebrew slaves fighting each other. When he tries again to intervene, he is chastised by one of them and reference is made to the killing of the Egyptian slave-master. Moshe escapes to Midian when he realizes that "the thing is known." (ibid 2:14)

Our sages explain that "the thing" that became known was not just the fact of the dead Egyptian, but also an answer to a question that was perplexing Moshe for a very long time. The "thing" that became clear to him was how low his people had sunk. Were they incapable of raising themselves to achieve liberation? After seeing that there was no man who would be "man enough" to stop the murderous beating of a fellow Hebrew, and that two Hebrew men would refuse to be reconciled, he began to believe that this people were beyond salvage.

So Moses escapes to Midian and he is not heard from for over sixty years. In his despondency, he escapes into anonymity. We read of him again in the Biblical text after he has turned eighty. It is only then - after sixty years of silence - that he is confronted with the mystery of the burning bush on Horev, the mountain of G-d.

Moshe then makes a determined decision to investigate this unexplained phenomenon, a bush burning in a fire and yet not becoming consumed. Moshe thought, "I will turn aside now and book at this great sight, why will the bush not be burned." (Exodus 3:3)

That "turning aside" seemed to be a critical step. We sense its importance in the wording of the next verse: "HaShem saw that Moshe turned from his path to see the sight and He called out to him from amidst the bush." (ibid 3:4) The fact that Moshe turned from his path seems to be significant in G-d's subsequent revelation to Moshe. The Midrash Tanchuma describes G-d as saying, "You made the effort to investigate and see; I declare you are worthy of my revealing Myself to you."

Yet, liberation and redemption awaited a small but powerful "turning" on the part of the people: "...and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried out, and their cry came up unto G-d by reason of the bondage. And G-d heard their groaning...." (Exodus 2:23-25)

They had been beaten down until they thought that they were beyond redemption. Yet the oppression around them brought out from the depths of their soul one clear and plaintive cry. "And their cry came up unto G-d."

And we then hear: "And G-d heard their groaning."

A cry that burst forth from a deep part of their soul that they are capable of being much more than they are and yearning for much more than they have. That was what G-d was waiting for, a stirring from the people (itrauta delitata).

Throughout the generations, the Jewish people have been enjoined to see themselves as if they themselves are re-experiencing the Exodus. Our sages tell us in the Mishnah (Tractate Pesachim), "In every generation one is required to view oneself as if one personally left Egypt." We need to experience the cry of the oppression around us as much as the joy of liberation. If we are not sensitive enough to feel the need to cry out, events will bring it about.

This month, that cry is being heard again. A young boy, Shlomo Nativ (H.y.d.), was butchered by an axe-wielding Palestinian near his home in Bat Ayin. The cry rises in our midst like bile, "How much longer?"

The newspapers of the world do not feel that it is an important event, but prod Israel to offer more concessions - so that more such events can occur. The enemy surrounds us and has poisoned our friends, and even our Jewish family in the Diaspora; so we cry out again.

Yet, after crying out we must act. If we do not, then our "crying out" is for naught. It then becomes a cry that comes out of pain and not out of yearning. It then becomes the "cry of exile" and not the "cry of redemption". It is only yearning that will put the building blocks of redemption into place.

The greatest blessing seems to always be preceded by wilderness. Why is that so? The night identifies the need and establishes the yearning. It is the yearning that brings the morning. That is the purpose of the cry of redemption. Licking our wounds will do nothing. We must act, and act swiftly and strongly. We must act without regard to the whining of the world around us, which in general has no sympathy for the cry of a butchered Jewish child.

We must act because we have reached the final dayenu - enough!

The Twilight Hours

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Moshe Kempinski

We are in the midst of the time of "not knowing", the eerie period between darkness and light. The world is awash with a pale and grey pall of uncertainty and a sense of foreboding and concern seems to weigh heavily over every nation and over every people. This is a very dangerous time for the world. It is a dangerous time because in the twilight hours , uncertainty leads to indecision and creates stagnation. This could be fine if time was not moving forward. It would be acceptable if there were not forces in the world that pounce on these twilight times in order to push forward their self serving agenda with great ruthlessness.

This is not new to the Jewish people;

"Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, 18 how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your stragglers, those who were lagging behind you, and did not fear G-d. Deuteronomy 25:17

As I drive to work every day, I come up Ramban street, past the Prime Minister's residence and then move on to the Old City of Jerusalem. Every day involves my passing a little plaque on a small wall in memory of the terrorist destruction of a bus that killed many, including my friend Chezi Goldberg ( hy"d). I then drive past the Moment cafe, another scene of carnage and terrorism. These weeks it also involved passing two demonstrations opposite each other , adjacent to the Prime Minister's home. One is the protest tent of the Shalit family, demanding that the Israeli government do everything possible, including the mass release of jailed terrorists, in order to bring kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit back home. Gilad has been held in difficult conditions by the Hamas terrorists for over 1000 days and all efforts have not succeeded in even ascertaining if he is alive or dead and what his state of health is. On the other side of the street was a protest tent manned by the families of terror victims .They were crying out that Gilad should be brought home but not at the expense of releasing murders back into the highways and cities of Israel.

As I drove past these two "opposing camps" my heart was wrenched to both sides of the street. The twilight zone of not knowing what should be done.



My wife and I escaped for a pre-Shabbat afternoon stroll along the beaches of Tel Aviv. We parked under the Savoy hotel, site of one of the early terrorist attacks, and then walked past Mike's place, site of another murderous attack . We ended our "stroll" at the Dolphinarium where so many other young people lost their lives to terrorism.



It was only the bright healing sun and the never-ending tug of the waves that gave us back the strength to replenish our souls in preparation for Shabbat. Every where one walks in Israel ,one stands on the edge of the night of tragedy and evil and attempt to reach towards the daybreak of hope and destiny.



We are in the midst of a time wherein we elected a Prime Minister who cannot muster the courage to lead the nation with vision. He would prefer a fractured and weak Labor party on his side rather than a clear voiced and committed National Union party . We are at a time when the army relaxes its "security hold" around the city of Shchem/Nablus because of the reduction of terror emanating from that city. This is being done, without taking into account that the reduction only came about because of that increased "security hold". We are living in a world that has watched all the secure fortress walls that protected them begin to crumble and fall. Heavily fortified steel and concrete proved useless in 9-11. Brilliant financial planning and insight proved to be as solid as wisps of smoke. Political leadership around the world has become ratings directed and popularity seeking at the best and has lost the understanding of true leadership.



This is a time of danger when impassioned and fiercely zealous forces will pounce on a shaken world. We see that happening in a secular confused Europe falling deeper and deeper under the influence of radical Islam. We see it in an America that is clinging to wonderful concepts of dialogue and discourse even with evil without understanding that the evil sees those things as weakness and failure.



In times of darkness even a little light would be revelatory. In times of hushed confused silence even a still small voice would be inspirational. In times of twilight even a softly spoken word of faith would be redemptive. We each have the ability to find the little candle, hear the still small voice and speak a soft word of encouragement of faith to those around us. Those are the tools critical to gather the strength to then boldly and directly confront evil.

Therefore when HaShem your G-d has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that HaShem your G-d is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget. ( Lo Tish Kach )" Deuteronomy 25:19

Our sages ask if we are told to blot out the memory then why are we told "not to forget"? The answers are varied and abound in wisdom. The Oztrovcer Rebbe suggested the following. The words you shall not forget are lo tishkach. Tish kach is made up of two words Tash( give up ) and Koach( strength). The meaning is better understood , he suggested , as not to lose strength in the battle with the doubt sewn by the spirit of Amalek . This is especially true as the battle with that doubt and twilight fear is to be a long and arduous battle.

15 And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, HaShem is my banner, 16 saying, "A hand upon the throne of HaShem! HaShem will have war with Amalek from generation to generation." (Exodus 17:15)

To day I walked out of synagogue and a heavy scent surrounded the neighborhood. It was not yet the scent of spring time and yet it was. My neighborhood is in the area of the Yehuda Matza factory. The smell of freshly baked Pesach matza filled the air.

That too is the smell of springtime.

That too is the smell of redemption.

Eight Souls, Eight Scrolls

by Moshe Kempinski

Eight Torah scrolls for eight souls. Eight Torah scrolls were completed one year to the day after eight young Jewish boys were gunned down by a Palestinian murderer. Eight Torah scrolls were brought together with singing and dancing through the streets of Jerusalem back into the yeshiva where the flame of those eight young souls was extinguished.

I struggled during the day as to whether I wanted to join the ceremony in memory of those boys, a ceremony that would be so interlaced with sadness and loss. The evening was called "Remembering and Continuing" and I finally decided that, in fact, I could not detach myself from that sadness and loss.

As I approached the area of the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva I found myself joining a steady stream of young people, families with little children, and older Jews walking on canes. Every face set with determination and every set of eyes glistening with a tear. Yet, as we got closer the stream became a river and the mood seemed to change. Soon, I was engulfed by a sea of people singing and dancing as they approached the gates of the yeshiva.

The numbers of people were so great it became almost impossible to enter the narrow entryway. There was a little pushing and pressure at the front, but each push was accompanied with an apology and a sheepish grin. Everyone, it seems, knew that every other person there had as much an obligation, right and privilege to be there. We were all there to honor the souls of eight young people who had still so much to achieve in their young lives. We were there to offer strength and comfort to eight families who had lost the most precious of gifts that G-d and life have to offer. At the deepest level, we were also there to be comforted and strengthened ourselves.

As I entered the yeshiva study hall, I was again engulfed in a sea of pain and joy, hope and loss. The new Torah scrolls were held aloft amidst the dancing, each scroll with the name of one of the eight young boys embroidered on the Torah cover. The Torah scrolls of Avraham David Moses, Ro'i Aharon Roth, and of Neria Cohen were dancing with the scrolls of Yonatan Yitzchak Eldar., Doron Maharete, Yochai Lifshitz, Segev Peniel Avichail and Yonadav Chaim Hirschfeld.

It was probably because I wanted it to be so, but as I closed my eyes I imagined eight souls dancing in a circle above us and above the circling Torah scrolls. Then the Torah scrolls mixed in and joined the other Torah scrolls of the yeshiva.

The thunderous singing shook the large windows of the building with the words of psalm 24:

O you gates, lift up your heads and lift up the everlasting doors so that the King of Glory will enter. Who then is this King of Glory? HaShem Tzvakot, He is the King of Glory forever.

It was impossible to do anything else but jump up and down; and that very action added to the intensity of the moment. Thousands of people trying to reach to the very heavens with leaps and bounds. The song then changed to "Open up the gates of Prayer, HaShem, and listen to our prayers" - and the prayers kept pouring out and up.

The evening was also an opportunity to bring to a culmination a study cycle of the Talmud that was begun in the memory of the eight boys. Over the course of the year, those who wished to study a section of the Talmud in memory of the slain students had signed up via an Internet site designated for the purpose, specifying the pages they planned to study. The entire Talmud was completed more than three times in this manner.

As Rabbi Shapira began the siyum ("conclusion") ceremony, each bereaved father sat with his son's Torah scroll. It was clear that they were not holding up the Torah scroll at all, but rather the scroll was holding them up and strengthening their broken souls.

I remembered a story that I had heard a very long time ago.

After the end of the madness of the Holocaust, a small community tried to regather in one of the small towns of Poland. It was the eve of Simchat Torah, the holiday celebrating the study and reading of the Torah. When the congregants opened the ark to dance with the scrolls, they were shocked to find it empty. The scrolls had been stolen. At that point, the children began to cry uncontrollably. Several men simply picked up the children, some of whom were orphaned in the camps, and began to dance with the children.

The Torah scrolls became children.

In Jerusalem, over sixty years later, the children became Torah scrolls.

Circles within Circles

Moshe Kempinski

On Monday (15 February 2009) a special ceremony took place in Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav in the Kiryat Moshe section of Jerusalem The Brit or circumcision ceremony was being held a week before the tragic one year anniversary of the slaughter of eight young Yeshiva students in the same school. On that night, on the first day of the Hebrew month of Adar , an Israeli-Arab walked into the Mercaz Harav yeshiva armed with a Kalashnikoff and ammunition belts.. He opened fire on a group of teenage boys and young men immersed in their studies, firing an estimated 500-600 bullets in the span of 10 minutes and butchering eight young students. The gunman didn’t konow these young boys personally ,he simply hated what they represented. The rampage on that night was stopped by two young men . One was torah scholar , author and off-duty IDF officer Yitzchak Dadon and the other was Captain David Shapiro, an IDF officer who was nearby at home who responded after hearing the gunfire.



Eight young souls were extinguished in the midst of studying G-d's Torah in the Yeshiva library. The gunman didn’t hate these specific young boys, he hated what they represented.



On Monday , a year later, Yitzchak Dadon brought his newborn son back into that same Yeshiva library so that his son could be initiated into the Jewish people. The man who saved so many other lives re-entered the room where eight young lives were curtailed holding in his arms precious new life.

Rabbi Tzemach Hirschfeld, whose son, 18-year-old Yonatan Chaim was murdered in the attack, was the mohel who carried out the ritual. Rabbi Hirschfeld, said "this is a very special occasion for me – to circumcise the son of the man who shot the terrorist who murdered my son, and all this just a week before the first anniversary of the attack."



A true understanding of the spiritual undercurrents that flow through life is to understand the concept of circles flowing through circles.


A man who was responsible for stopping the carnage brings his newborn son into the peoplehood of the Jewish people amidst singing and dancing. On the following week, eight new torah scrolls will be delivered to the Yeshiva amidst singing and dancing.In addition the event will also be marked by the worldwide conclusion of the study of the 2,700-page Babylonian Talmud, . Over the course of this past year, those who wished to study a daf of gemara, or several of them, in memory of the slain students, signed up via an internet site designated for the purpose, specifying the pages they planned to study. The entire Talmud was completed more than three times in this manner, and the festive conclusion ceremony will be featured at next Tuesday's memorial.All this again with singing and dancing.

When Jews dance they dance in a circle ..circles within circles.

Rabbi Hirschfeld , the father of murdered Yonatan Chaim ( hy'd) appeared happy after what must have been a very heart wrencing and dramatic occasion, He spoke to several media outfits and a couple of newspapers and the following is a compilation of some of his words."Yes, this is definitely the closing of a circle. But it's not the first time; I also circumcised the son of Dudi Shapira, who also took part in killing the terrorist. But here, of course, it is even more poignant, given the timing and the location...As we say at the brit and also at the Passover seder, 'With your blood you shall live' - the blood that was spilled here is not the end of the story; there is life after death. Life goes on, babies are born, and thank G-d I deal with this, I am always involved with people who have just had babies, and life continues....It's true that our grandparents said that every baby born is a revenge against Hitler, but I don't live with that sensation. I could say it is a victory of sorts. We're not giving up, we have babies; I too had grandchildren this year..."

The prayers recited over the baby declared;

Our G-d and G-d of our fathers, preserve this child for his father and mother, and his name in Israel shall be called Elkanah ben (son of) Rabbi Yitzchak .May the father rejoice in his offspring, and his mother be glad with the fruit of her womb, as it is written: May your father and mother rejoice, and she who bore you be glad. As it is said: I passed by and saw you weltering in your blood, and I said to you: You shall live through your blood; and I said to you: You shall live through your blood. ..........May this little infant Elkanah ben Rabbi Yitzchak become great. Just as he has entered the Covenant, so may he enter into Torah, into marriage, and into good deeds.

The child was named after the late head of the Yeshiva Rabbi Avraham Elkana Shapiro, Yitzchak Dadon's rabbi. Yet the name Elkana means G-d will enact revenge. This revenge is personified by a young baby entering the nation of Israel, eight Torah scrolls entering the sanctuary and thousands of hours of Torah study culminating at this day.

Circles within circles threading through every moment in this land of unfolding destiny.

In blessed memory of Avraham David Moses, Ro’i Aharon Roth, Neria Cohen, Yonatan Yitzchak Eldar. Yochai Lifshitz, Segev Peniel Avichail, Yonadav Chaim Hirschfeld, Doron Meherete, May HaShem Avenge their blood..

A HUMBLED LEADERSHIP

Moshe Kempinski

True leadership of the people of Israel must always be a humble leadership. That was true of Moshe as the left Egypt and was true of King David after his difficult and event filled rise to leadership. G-d did not take the Israelites on a shorter route into the land of Israel because it “was too close”. Not that it was too close to Egypt because they in fact went even closer. It was too close to their destination. The journey was to be long and arduous so that the destination would be arrived at with the correct spirit and understanding.


The announcement regarding the projected results of the elections hit Israel like a dull thud. Those in the “land of Israel movements” had been working long and hard and were hoping for a clear and decisive victory. The media and the left, on the other hand, were hoping for a miracle that would ensure the continuation of what was. When the results were announced my son and I were sitting with the activists of the National Union party in the hotel hall. The three large television screens presented their polls with colorful graphics exactly at 10:00 p.m. and showed the column of the Kadima party rising dramatically and towering over the column of the Likud. The resulting frivolity and joyful dancing filled the television screens .The activists in the room watched quietly feeling great disappointment.


All the leaders of the National Union got up to speak to encourage and strengthen the activists .One after the other they were trying to lift the spirits of those who were still sitting in a quiet stupor. Yet it took great effort to escape the hypnotic messages and subtext being offered by the media. At a certain point a young woman walked to the podium and went right up to the microphone. She spoke forcefully and clearly.


." What is going on here? Why do you all look stunned and sad? For a month we have been using our slogan “not to be afraid at all". Now is the time to live out our slogan. We are beginning our journey and we will not be afraid at all".


As she shyly walked off the stage people began to smile. After the smiles the true assessment of what had actually transpired began to seep past the subtext and confusion presented by the three television stations.


Even if Kadima did receive one more seat than the Likud (and that may change after the soldier’s votes come in) it was far from being the dominant party. It barely received 25% of the mandated seats in the Knesset. Israeli law does not give the leadership of the country to the largest party but rather to the party that can create the largest coalition.


It soon began to seep into our consciousness that we were not witnessing a disappointment but rather a great victory.” The Land of Israel “faithful now make up at least 65 seats of the Knesset mandates. Yet all that evening, Tzippy Livni tried to dance sing and smile and project herself as the victor . In actual fact the only place where she was victorious was in decimating and weakening all her natural allies of the left. The Meretz party dwindled to 3 to 4 seats. Labour was whittled down to 13 seats. Livni did not succeed in drawing out one mandate from the other side of the political spectrum, she simply drained her own side.



The people of Israel chose the land of Israel. The people of Israel chose strength and courage when facing murderous enemies .The people of Israel chose to face a world that has become less and less friendly with a clear vision .The world would say that the solution to the diminishing friendliness would be for Israel to be more flexible. They demand that Israel must continue to compromise on Israel's security issues and must bend over backwards even more than it has until now. Israel it seems has bent over as back as it can without completely breaking. The people of Israel have decided to stand straight and upright.


The only difficulty is that the leadership of Israel has not yet absorbed the passion and understanding that has permeated the people.Binyamin Netanyahu is an intelligent man with a good core understanding of the direction this people need to follow. The difficulty is that as in the past, Netanyahu's greatest enemy is his own ego. Netanyahu becomes so filled with Netanyahu that it obscures his judgment and blinds his vision. Feeding or threatening that ego becomes the tool used by our enemies to break or compromise Netanyahu's resolve.


That is the reason these election results may turn out to be even more positive than it may seem today .Had Netanyahu won a resounding success, it would have fed his own weakness, his own ego. Instead, Netanyahu is being forced to listen to the passion of the majority of the people of Israel. The numbers will do much to humble Binyamin Netanyahu and a humbler Netanyahu is a better candidate to lead the people of Israel.

Tu B’shvat and the Israeli Elections

Moshe Kempinski....

The celebration of Tu B'Shvat--the 15th of the month of Shevat on the Hebrew calendar is described in the Talmud, where Tu B'Shvat is called "the new year of the trees." The determination of the date is connected to the fact that four months have passed since the commencement of the rain season on the Feast of Tabernacles. From that point on the roots of the tree have been saturated and the life giving fluids are filling the tree and beginning the energy and revitalizing power of blossoming.





The ancient books describe the traditional eating of the fruits of Israel on this day as a means of Tikkun or correcting the sin of Adam and Eve.



Adam and Eve were put into the garden to protect and care for the garden. They were given one restriction, one prohibition, and that was to avoid eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Every fruit they ate from the garden was a source of blessing because it was received as a gift from the Almighty. Yet that was not enough and they earned to reach out and eat from the one tree that was forbidden to them. That act had nothing to do with the Divine Giver but was an act done in spite of Him. It was an act that fulfilled their passion to take for their own selfish desire.



Yet there was something deeper that was missed by Adam and Eve that led to their act of defiance, and it is something that continues to be missed by mankind until this very day.



Rabbi Kook, of blessed memory, revealed that deep insight regarding two verses in Genesis. God commanded the earth to give forth fruit trees producing fruit: "And God said: 'Let the earth put forth grass, herb yielding seed, and fruit-tree bearing fruit after its kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth.' And it was so" (Gen. 1:11).



The earth fulfilled G-d's command but with one modification: "And the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after its kind; and God saw that it was good" (Gen 1: 12).



The earth produced "trees producing fruit." Our sages in the Midrash teach homiletically that the original and ideal creation was that the trees themselves (their bark and trunk) would taste like the fruit that it produced, fruit-trees bearing fruit.



Instead, the earth fashioned trees that only produced fruit. The deep meaning and instruction in such a seeming difference between the ideal and the created reality points to the flaw in the reality we all experience in life. Yet G-d "saw that it was good." G-d purposely created a reality at odds with its ideal, a tension filled imperfect world.



Rav Kook explained that one of the basic failings of our limited perception of reality is that we generally aspire to the goal and ignore the process of attaining that goal. Man often focuses on the fruit of the tree and ignores the sweetness of the tree that bore the fruit. We place emphasis on the destination and as a result are unable to appreciate the means by which we attain our goals. We focus on some goal we have determined is important and ignore the journey and as a result we often stumble and fall. Focus on the voyage and the journey is the only way to ensure that we reach the right point in our destiny. That focus is also the only way to ensure that we arrive with our souls and hearts intact.





Such a decision stands before the people of Israel again . The choice in the coming election must be made with a clear determination of the purity of heart. We are choosing a voice to speak and stand for the people of Israel and it must be a voice that is clear pure and vision based. The voice of the National Union/ Ichud Haleumi is such a clear voice. Much will be done in these final days before Election Day to deter those who are committed to electing such a voice.



There will be many that will declare that such a decision to vote for a small party is weakening the Likud and enlarging the threat of a Kadima government. That in fact does not seem to be the case based on the latest polls. The Land Of Israel bloc seems to be growing rather than weakening. It may in fact force the Likud to rely more heavily on parties such as the Jewish Home and the National Union.



But yet despite those threats, the decision about how to vote this coming Tuesday must be one filled with the surety of commitment . It must be based on the sweet truth of the journey without rushing towards a destination we assume will be the only correct one. It must be based on a commitment to the truth of the land of Israel, the people of Israel and foremost to the G-d of Israel. That has been and continues to be the secret of this people’s survival.

Choice, the Privilege and the Responsibility ,

Moshe Kempinski



Traditional Jewish theology has declared that one of the greatest gifts G-d has given mankind is the power to choose.



" And now, Israel, what does HaShem your G-d ask of you, but to fear the HaShem your G-d, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the HaShem your G-d, with all your heart and with all your soul; (Deuteronomy 10:12)



The verb to "ask” pre-supposes the possibility of choice.



The people of Israel in the State of Israel are again standing before a choice. A new leadership for this beleaguered nation will be chosen within a very short time. Yet choices are not as easily free as we might assume. There are situations where there is no option of choice, a situation where all the alternatives are equally negative. There are times when the effort to investigate and explore the options is so cumbersome and overwhelming, that the choice is dictated by the winds of public opinion and preconceived notions. There are also times when choice is viewed and acted upon as randomly as the throw of a die and those types of choices are not truly free.



Yet choice and discernment is not only a responsibility but it clearly is a privilege. That is true even if the effect of your choice is seemingly negligible. Every individual must remember that the little picture is in fact "the Big Picture" in the development of history. Regrettably there are those that because of negative past experiences with the electoral process have decided that "what is the point, I cannot make a difference." In the short term they may be correct. They voted in Ariel Sharon and they got the disengagement. They voted in Netanyahu and the received the Wye and the Hebron agreement.



Yet choices cannot only be assessed by their short term successes and failures. They must be assessed by three critical parameters. Those parameters are, moral conscience and values, history and destiny, and ultimately one’s soul and its Creator.

Man and woman must make decisions which are true to one's conscious and are a function of his or her intrinsic value system. They must further make choices that are a function of what has been learnt in history and are that are directed by a clear vision of destiny and hope.



Yet most importantly and most liberating is the deep understanding that in the Heavens every act of choice, those that seem large and those that seem insignificant, are recorded and are treasured. It is this parameter that needs to be considered in the choices we make regarding the raising of our children, the choice of our spouse and even the choice of where to build our homes. It is no less true regarding the choosing of Israel’s leadership.



Pharaoh, in the days of Exodus ,made choices and was punished for those choices . Yet as generations of sages have asked ,why should he have been punished when in fact we read that;

' And I ( G-d) will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.( Exodus 7:3).

Maimonides explains that the example of Pharaoh teaches us there may be indeed a point beyond return over which a man forfeits his free choice and empowerment to repent. The Midrash on the book of Exodus declares “The wicked are under the control of their heart, as opposed to their heart being under their control,”. Evil is best defined by the decisions and actions that take into account only selfish desires and egocentric concerns .The Midrash is saying that each such choice inevitably leads to a frame of mind that continues those same decisions. Pharaoh took away his own free will by beginning with his policy of refusal, and the events took control of Pharaoh and forced him to follow its path to the inevitable and bitter end. G-d allowed Pharaoh to make those choices and live with its implications.
The Ramban and the Sforno offer another fascinating thought. Every single plague and national calamity ate away at Pharaoh’s resolve. Every supernatural event chipped away at any free will that Pharaoh may have originally had. G-d had to harden Pharaoh’s heart in order to bring his heart and awareness back to equilibrium of free choice. G-d did not take free choice away. He actually re-instated it.

This country has been inflicted by one plague after another. It began with the hatred of our neighbors followed by the indifference of the world. That was soon followed by the weakening of Israel's leadership and resolve which came along with the intensifying of the animosity of most of the world. The plagues of terrorism, corruption and selfish hedonism soon followed. It is becoming very difficult to live in this country and have the courage and the resolve to make real and honest choices. We will have to dig deeply into our reservoirs of faith and vision in order to choose with intelligence and truth. We will need G-d’s help to return us into the equilibrium and balance of true free choice.

Now that it seems clear that Netanyahu will be the next Prime Minister , it has become increasingly important to ensure that a clear, courageous voice of the land of Israel, its torah and its vision ,is strengthened. Especially if such a voice becomes lost within Binyamin Netanyahu’s attempts to be politically correct.

For me, that meant to do all that I can to influence those that love this land and people to vote for the National Union/ Ichud Leumi party. The land of Israel movement represented by the National Union, has brought together people of all types. It seems that the love for the land of Israel is the vessel G-d has used to imbue all of them with an undying sense of purpose and direction. It is a voice that must not be silenced. It is a voice that must be heard above the din of small politicians and raucous media .It is a voice that will strengthen the elected leadership to avoid the pitfalls of misguided policies. .

Yet most important of all , is that though a small party, its voice of faith and resolve is the strong voice that will empower the people of this country to become all that they need to be.

Leadership Of A Higher Calling

Moshe Kempinski

For years the people of Israel have been fed a low level of journalism and concocted media events. For years we have had to endure reading on the front pages of Israel’s newspapers about who hates who, in the corridors of power. We have been inundated for a very long time with reports of corruption, thievery and immoral conduct. The television is replete with Reality television glorifying the most basal and self serving qualities of the people of Israel. It is no wonder that the Israeli people have become demoralized to such an extent that they do not expect any better from their leadership and no revelation of criminal activity or immoral behavior is received with surprise.

Yet suddenly the leaders of Israel are making the right decisions and saying the right things. Their motivation remains suspect and the new approach is probably temporary. This is so since even in the midst of warfare the bickering of these self serving leaders has simply become embarrassing. Senior sources in Jerusalem,( read the Prime Minister Office) slam defense minister Barak over his support of Egyptian ceasefire initiative which they claim Hamas interprets as weakness. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert very un-diplomatically claims that his intervention with President Bush made the US abstain from last Thursday's UN Security Council resolution vote on a Gaza cease-fire. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Olmert's story of what happened in his conversation with Bush was "just 100 percent, totally, completely not true "Whether the story was exaggeration, falsehood, or the whole truth, it reeks of self serving interests. Meanwhile Foreign Minister Livni is being maligned by all sides for her handling of the crisis.

This is the elected leadership of Israel and one wonders if there is any hope for a people who elected and have supported such a leadership.

We read in the beginning of the book of Shmot that Moshe left the palace to walk amongst his people in order to both understand their plight and show his support. Upon seeing an Egyptian beating the Hebrew slave and no one standing forth to protect him, he began to realize the full impact of the oppression. The Israelites had lost the will or courage to stand up and fight back. Yet when confronted with the brazen response of this evil Hebrew slave beating another, Moshe began to comprehend the full impact of this slavery. This Hebrew slave considered Moshe’s act of justice and compassion to be inherently evil.

This was what is meant when Moshe declares "Indeed the matter is known" (Shmot/Exodus 2:14).These oppressed slaves had lost the understanding of justice, righteousness, and compassion. If Moshe wondered ,as Rashi implies, what is it that kept this people in bondage for so long, "Indeed the matter (was now) known.” Moshe escapes from Egypt when Pharaoh hears of the event. Moshe escapes from the persecution of the Egyptian authorities. He escapes as well from his disappointment in the people that he sought to reach out to. The pain of looking to and fro and seeing that there was no man that had the courage to stand up for his freedom was too great to bear. as it says in the verse ;

" And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, ( ibid 2:12) "

Moshe seemed to have lost his belief in the ability of this people to soar above their slave mentality. Perhaps there was no hope for such a people. We then hear nothing regarding Moshe for over fifty years.

Yet when the people cry out to G-d with the classical Jewish sigh, the events take a dramatic turn.

” and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto G-d ( ibid 2:23) .

That Jewish sigh was the classical cry of sadness mixed with an undertone of hope and faith . It was what Jews called a Krechtz a sigh that intimated that things could and should be better. It is after that “sigh” that G-d meets Moshe at the burning bush. The small little bush which so clearly became a metaphor of the Israelite nation under oppression became a message that Moshe clearly understood .This little bush blazing with fire was not to be consumed and Moshe was to understand that the same was true of this his people.

Such is the case of the beleaguered people in the small nation of Israel. The power of this people is not to be found in its faulty leadership. The power of this people is found in the midst of the people themselves. Suddenly the pages of those same newspapers are filled with stories of faith passion and courage. Stories that keep unfolding hour after hour and day after day.

The parents of St.-Sgt. Nitai Stern and Capt. Yoni Netanel sent messages to the soldiers whose “friendly fire “accidentally killed their sons. Rabbi Amos Netanael and his wife Malki wrote the following" It is important for us to tell you that we love you with all the warmth of our hearts, you are like our own children Please, we ask you, keep up the same great spirit that beat in Yoni¹s heart ¬ the spirit of faith, of strength, daring and love, and we will then know that Yoni continues to live forever within you."

Thousands of reservists answered the nation’s call and entered Gaza this week. These groups of soldiers were made up of working people, professionals and students. Many left young children at home and one of those declared on the radio ,that as he entered Gaza , he said Shma Yisrael and prayed that he would see his children again . Yet in spite of those concerns he said that he was filled with a determination to do what needed to be done to protect his fellow countrymen. Another soldier declared”We came here with a lot of will. We are taking upon ourselves this mission with all the courage necessary, and we will do whatever we need to do and return home victorious, healthy and whole, amen," .

IDF officer Aharon Karov was critically wounded Monday night in the Gaza strip. Aharon had only been married a week and a half before his injury. .He had studied in a yeshiva in Netzarim, one of the Jewish communities destroyed in the 2005 Israeli Disengagement from Gaza. Yet neither the wedding nor the fact that he was one of the victims of this same government's Expulsion/Disengagement kept Aharon from doing what he felt he was religiously driven to do. Prayers are being said throughout the world for his recovery.

Homes across Israel have opened to residents of the south who needed a place of refuge for themselves and their children, even if only for a Shabbat. Prayer gatherings were being held across the country in homes, synagogues and Yeshivot. Many individuals took upon themselves to pray for an individual soldier, many times not knowing who those soldiers were. A woman in the old city of Jerusalem has been busy knitting scores of socks and warm hats while another in the north is baking cookies nightly to deliver to the boys on the front. People are donating games clothes and baked goods for the residents in the south that have been ordered to stay within 15 seconds of the shelters.

The leadership of this country has failed its people. Yet the people are showing greatness, compassion and vision. The leadership of this country is focused on election day while its people are focused on destiny. The Israeli nation is a people without true leadership and it is therefore a great relief that they are a people that are being led by a Higher calling.