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