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.