Category — Current events

People make money. Not the other way around.

Excuse me sir.
Yes, how can I help you?
Um, I know I’m being a bit nosy; but don’t you have a wife and children?
Yes, blessed G-d. Why do you ask?
Um, every day I see you here sitting and learning, or just talking with your buddies, why? Don’t you need to work and support your family?
Well…Oh, I was so out of place, just forget about it. Oh, I don’t know where to bury myself.
No, it’s okay. I work as a farmer, and I work very hard. I barely have time to relax…
(Sure looks that way! – I thought to myself) so… why aren’t you in the field. Did you retire?
I wish I had enough money to retire… Let me explain, it a sabbatical year and I am not allowed to work in the field.
Aren’t sabbaticals patented exclusively for university professors?
Actually it started with the farmers. G-d commanded that once every seven years we farmers take a break; this is called the ‘Shemita’ year, when all farmers in the land of Israel take a break and live a Shabbat-like life style.
Huh? Just like that? You just close up shop? How are you supposed to support your family?
G-d told us that He will take care of us!
What does that mean? Will he send manna from heaven? Or maybe Elijah shows up at your door with blank checks to pay up your credit card bills…
You’re not too far off… G-d promises that He will take care of us during and after this year. And I’m telling you, it is absolutely miraculous just how we always have food and everything we need.
Sounds too good to be true…
You don’t have to take my word for it. Ask all my buddies who will tell you the same story. Why, just a few weeks ago when there was a cold weekend, and all the farmers in the area lost thousands of dollars worth of bananas, but in my “Shemita Kosher” field nothing was lost!
I’m telling you my friend, just put your trust in the Creator and He will take care of you. I’m talking from experience. Just Trust!
Just Trust!
Just Trust!
Just Trust!

I was schmoozing with an acquaintance the other day, and the conversation’s topic was educating the youth. In the heat of the conversation I presented what I considered the principals of education, and they are; infusing the youth with passion, vision, self esteem and hope.

At the last word, my conversationalist interrupted me, and said: “Relax with your words, you’re starting to sound like Obama”.

It wasn’t the first time I heard of the term “Obama talk” i.e. a whole bunch of charismatic-flowery-feel-good words, that get you all excited and hyped up for the moment, but without solid ideas behind them. You know what I mean.

Oh yes, it’s nice to bring change and to have hope, but first and foremost a leader must have a vision, built on step-by-step methods, through which to achieve this “change”.

Take Moses for example. He had gathered the Jews “Vayakhel”, after they have gone through the “eight terrible Bush years” – the sin of the golden calf. G-d had just forgiven them, and it was time to bring the “glory” back to the nation (the nation he was once proud of).

It’s now time to present the speech, in which he will lay out his plan for rebuilding the ‘once glorious nation to which the whole world trembled’. Tell me if you were the speech writer, what would you come up with?

Most probably something like this: “Ladies and gentleman, the time has come for change. We must stop the war with the Amaleikites, instead we should sit down at the UN and work out a deal. I will end racism amongst the people, there will be the rights to those whose ancestors were Jewish, and those terrorists who wish to destroy us: all are equal!

“What we need more than ever is change! We must reverse back to our beautiful past… and to do that we need hope…”

Ok, I’ll stop the tape here, I’m sure these speeches are coming out of your ears.

Typical for leadership babble?

Not by Moses! His first talk is all but flowery; it is short sweet and straight to the point: “Six days a week you work and on the seventh you rest! Don’t light a fire on Shabbat!”

You want change? Do a Mitzva.

Lectures on hope should be kept to the clergy. A politician should put forth ideas. Maybe then there is hope for change.

During the first days of creation, G-d turned to the angels and said: “I am now going to create a land called Israel. It will be a land of mountains full of snow, sparkling lakes, forests full of all kind of trees, high cliffs overlooking sandy beaches with an abundance of sea life.”

G-d continued, “I shall make the soil fertile so that the inhabitants will prosper. I shall call these inhabitants Israelis, and they shall be known to the most people on earth.”

“But L-rd,” asked the angels, “don’t You think You are being too generous to these Israelis?”

“Not really,” God replied, “wait and see the neighbors I am going to give them.”

***

Did you hear the news? The Israelis and Arabs are finally going to make peace! I know that you never dreamt it could happen, however the time has arrived! In just a few days in Annapolis, a quiet town in the state of Maryland, the unbelievable will occur, as the eternal rivals will shake hands and promise peace.

From then on, Jews and Moslems will live in harmony; Arab and Jew will fall on each other’s shoulders begging for forgiveness for all the pain brought on by the conflict.

This year on Hanukah, the Moslems will join us at our Menorah lightings, singing and dancing with us and handing out tea herbs. And during Ramadan, the Israelis will deliver food and drink for the break-fast.

The flags of both the Israeli and Palestinian states will wave in the wind together, and we shall never know bloodshed anymore.

Sounds surreal and impossible? Nah, you’re just acting naïve. Don’t you see the peace and harmony thanks to Camp David and Oslo? Are you blind to the safety that the Disengagement brought upon the land? We trusted the Arabs and we were right! They are such peace loving and warm people, so moderate and accepting, so open to western culture and values – and of course, they are sooooo democratic!

Did you ever meet a Palestinian? Did you see the love in his eyes, as he blessed you and wished all Jews well? Did you feel how he shared the anger at the terrorists who wish to destroy the world? If not you must be blind; why, even our president sees it!

So dear friend, please don’t believe those radical rightists who scream that you can’t make peace with murderers. Close your ears to the tears of the residents of the missile-pounded Sderot, as they tell you that since the Disengagement, life has become hell on earth. They are just extremists and unrealistic dreamers.

Trust Mr. Olmert and his buddy Abu-Mazen: they are honest men, and if they promise peace, they will bring it, along with a Nobel Peace prize. They will not let us down!

So get ready, the greatest miracle in history is on the threshold – it will be even greater than Hanukah!

Oy vey Z’mir!

A new Rabbi was elected for the grand synagogue in town. In his first lecture, the rabbi discussed the importance of keeping kosher. After descending from the podium, he was approached by the president of the synagogue who voiced his disapproval for talking about such a touchy subject.
So the next week, he spoke about Shabbat observance, and the president nearly blew up on him in rage: “How do you have the chutzpah to speak about Shabbat in this community where no one keeps Shabbat?!”
When, after speaking about tefilin the next week, the president warns him that he’ll be fired, the Rabbi turns to him in frustration and asks, “So what do you want me to speak about?”
The president responds, “Just speak about Judaism!”

***
When writing a thought about the torah portion and its message of love, you can’t go wrong. But sometimes we have to discuss the issues at hand in the Jewish world today, and look for the Torah view on pressing matters. That said; let’s look at the situation in Israel.
The present situation in Israel is scary, to say the least. War, missiles falling in playgrounds and homes, and our soldiers fighting hard in the unknown terrain of guerrillas and suicide bombers whose own lives mean nothing to them; who, in the name of religion, have terrorized millions of people for decades.
Has something gone wrong in our vision of eternal peace with our Arab cousins? Hadn’t we saved ourselves the scare of another confrontation with our lovely neighbours? Hey! About a year ago we evacuated eight thousand Jews from their homes in a one-sided attempt for peace! Since the sighing of the Oslo accords, we have given “back” to the Palestinians a large percentage of the so-called “occupied territories.” Where is their appreciation for our dire attempts at long-lasting peace and brotherhood?
Ah, I get it! The problem is that we still have some occupied territories in our hands! If we would give them all back, then would be able to live within our pre-1967 borders in peace and harmony with our beloved neighbours.

Well, let’s put things right down on the table: If our claim to the land of Israel is the U.N. resolution of 58 years ago that gave the unfortunate Jews who had just lost six million of their brothers (due to the lack of self-defence) the right for a country; and just by luck the country happens to be in the same area which, thousands of years ago, was ruled by the kings of Judea, and for all we care the state of the Jews could have been in Uganda (an early option for a Jewish state offered to the Zionists,) then we have no choice but to listen to the “Palestinian” cry for freedom and a “Palestinian” state, and, for us, the Oslo accords would be the most righteous thing the Jewish people have done since the time Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac to G-d!
However, if our claim to the land of Israel is that it’s our promised land, given by G-d 4,000 years ago to our forefather Abraham, then this “political view” (was does safety have to do with politics?) would change. We would keep every piece of land that was returned to us (not occupied!) and we wouldn’t even dream of talking about the exchange of this divine present for a lip-service to peace. For after all, who, but G-d, can grant us peace?
If we believe that the land is ours because G-d said so, then we will fight the terrorists until the end, not retreating before we are done (as we did in the Lebanon war in 1982), understanding that they are not “insurgents” or “militants” as implied by the media; they are simply blood thirsty anti-Semites who want us all thrown into the Mediterranean Sea, cruel terrorists who will use any means to take our whole land (pre 1948 borders…) for themselves.
Osama bin laden, Nasralla, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Yasser Arafat, Holocaust denier Abu-Mazen and their like are not freedom fighters for oppressed people; they are radical Islamists with a deep hatred for the free, civilized world. Through misinterpretation of the Koran, they have declared war on all those who oppose their radical ideology. (Or have we forgotten the dancing in the streets of Gaza on 9/11?) They are all terrorists. And with terrorists there is no chance of peace.
May G-d bless the people in the Land of Israel, our Holy Land, with true and eternal peace with the coming of Moshiach at this very moment. Until then, let us at least hold on to the land of G-d; it’s ours for guarding.

Adapted from the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe