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.