Friday night shabbos parsahs veyeira I was studying the parsha with a friend we read the Pasuk - with elimelech - plishta. She expressed pain at seeing this word int he chumash becasue that is the word our enemies use to erase our claim to this land.
Romans renamed countries all over the world and for Israel renamed the county palestine. Whatever you call this geographical territory, it will forever be the God given homeland for the Jewish people. so many times we have been exiled and if it were to come to pass that we were exiled again we will always maintain eternal connection to israel and we will keep coming back
anti-israel politicians and activists iacross the west say - i am not antisemitic. i will support jews they just hve to abandon their support for israel. well we cannot do that. that is asking us to abandon a core characteristic of whatdefines us as jewish people. this controversy was most starkly in focus with the mamdani campaign and the incident when the president of the heritage foundation pledged unconditional support for tucker carlson after he conducted a softball interview of the most prominent anti-semite in america.
this incident did not happen in a vaccuum - a huge debate has been bubbling up in the political right most specifically amongst christians in america - a debate centered on the topic of continued support for Israel. in a Heritage Foundation townhall/staff meeting a Jewish staff member bravely shared with his colleagues the definition of zionism: the belief in the right to jewish self-determination in our ancient homeland. Though there does exist a wide diversity of opinions in orthodox Judiasm of how and when we will see that happen, a full return of the jewish people to eretz yisroel All orthodox Jewish men pray 3 times a day asking for the full return of the jewish people to Israel and pray in the direction of har habayis and Jerusalem.
- the vision of zionism that we all agree on is that our ultimate dream is that the entire world should recognize and serve the god of avrohom, yitzchak and yaakov and that we will live to see all jews return to Israel, and to take part in rebuilding the third temple. I was trying to explain the unity of klal yisroael to an aqcuaintence of mine who is an atheist. he argued with me that it is not possible forr all these disparate groups to be a part of the same religion, the same nation - that we are all one people. finally i came up with the perfect example: chayalim datiim who fight in the IDF, the chareidim who rallied against the draft, Satmar Chasidim who will not even go to the kosel or vote in elections...stuck in an airport at sunset they will join together for a minyan. we all say shema yisroel, we all keep taharas hamishpacha, we all perform a bris mila and we all break a glass under the chuppah keeping alive the hope to bring korbanot and bikurim in the bais hamikdash.
So how will we bring about the ultimate redemption? and until then - Where will we find refuge during our tumultuous exile? where will we turn to for protection against our enemies who want to slaughter us here in Israel? How can we find solace and hope in the face of increased Jewish persecution abroad?
the pasuk says - bezechus nashim tzidkaniyos nigalu avoseinu mmitzrayim. What are the special mitzvos that women have that guarantee protection for klal yisrael? The torah (*need source) teaches us that when yitzchack came to rivkas tent he saw the ananei hakavod that had left after his mothers passing now had returned, this reassured him that his marriage with rivka would be blessed and preserve his mothers legacy. What lecagy was this? in what zechus did the anan return?
Challa, neir shabbos and nidda.
the pasuk *(source) says that hashem promises the jewish people "אם אתן משמרים נרות של שבת אני אראה לכם נרות של ציון"
The week of Parshas Vayeira תשפו was very sad for klal yisroel, not only was an open anti zionist, hamas apologist voted into office, but a huge voting block were jewish voters. What is especially painful is many of them did not just vote for him due to his radical socialist policies and promises of free stuff. They did not vote for him despite his anti-israel sentiment - they voted for him because they supported his beliefs. So far they have fallen from their jewish roots that they have abandoned zionism. Seeing apikorsim such as Dave Smith foment Jew hatred on whatever podcast he can access is like a knife in the back - however, For faithful jews who have a personal connection with a mamdani voter this would be especially painful. This is where I find so much chizuk that in the very same week Yidden worldwide participated in the shabbos project, where unaffiliated jews were supported and encouraged to keep just one shabbos. Frum yidden made an extra effort to invite the unaffiliated to their home to experience a shabbos seudah and to hand out candles and invite every jewish woman to join the movement - even if just for just one friday night. Imagine if all the "female Rabbis for mamdani" would light candles one shabbos - this could bring moshiach and then it would be irrelevant who is the mayor of NY.
(*write more about the shabbos project)
hand in hand with the shabbos project, synogogues all over the world organized a challa bake. I joined the one near my home in our humble little shul on rechov azza. This shul is called "minyan hachatufim" because it was started to show solidarity with the left-wing secular protests demanding a peace deal to bring the hostages home. The vision was that protesters could be offered a warm smile and a drink of water and then perhaps be persuaded to join a minyan brought into the fold of yiddishkeit. What blossomed was a warm community where even frum jews who never felt they had a shul of their own finally found a place where they belong.
Challa bake:
Tziporah organized. french immigrant, brilliant speaks 3 languages, organized. each person their own huge bowls, ingredients pre-measured. all neat and inviting. women found out various ways. some their husbands daven in the shul, me through social media, one woman saw a poster at the bus stop. israeli women, american women, single, divorced, married. one pregant woman cried during her tefila. everyone prayed for her to have a healthy baby and a safe and easy birth. she in turn prayed for her friends who are waiting for a child of their own. it was an evening of anguish and of hope, having in mind people we know who are battling cancer, domestic strife, infertility, seeking a spouse, financial struggles and the ongoing war. We prayed for peace, for deliverance and success in our endevours - hand in hand help9ng each other with the dough and to raise the prayers to heaven.
As we put in each ingredient another woman said the kavanah and when we took hafrashas hcalla we said a brocho recognizing that as we help up the dough it was equivalent to standing before a kohen. a woman doing hafrashas challa is the closest we have in our days to bringing a korbon in the bais hamikdash and in the zechus of hafrashas challa the bais hamikdash will be rebuilt.
*(include here the kavanot and a picture of the tefila)
the third mitzva is niddah. i was a kalla 18 years ago and a naive bais yaakov student a few years before that. i want to keep this article uplifting and so i will just say that it is wonderful how far our community has come since then. I want to highlight some resources and programs that should be more widely circulated and replicated. dr shloime zimmerman wrote a book on puberty and sexuality for teenage boys and young men. the book i was given as a teenager is inaccurate and woefully inadequate. i strongly encourage psychologists and kalla teachers to come together and fill this void. in toronto there is a school that organizes mandatory lectures for the mothers on how to talk to their daughters about puberty, sexuality and intimacy. this is critical - it is not the schools job to take over this task to paretns but it is a communal responsibility to ensure that paretns are properly equiped for this sacred task. meira sversky wrote a book about taharas hamishpacha - it is thoroughly sourced and not only double checked by gedolim for halachic and hashkafic accuracy but it is also self-published to ensure no error would be forced into the final product during the publishing process. she also devoted many pages to the torah perspective on intimacy and other marital concerns such as birth control. I met this author in person and heard from her directly about her passion for female scholarship in general and for accuracy on this topic in particular. my other concern is a lack of hierarchy and oversight in the kallah teacher system. a 2 day or even 2 week course is insufficient to prepare someone to be the sole educator for a young bride on this crucial topic foundational to her life and to building a torah home. i was so excited to learn about the eden center. this organization speaks for itself and i encourage you to explore their website and see how you can avail yourself and your community of the resources that they offer. I write more about this topic and include these and other resources in my article ohel sarah.
with the election of mamdani and all the other conservative losses, and the very sad state of affairs of a media personality with such prominence (Tucker Carlson) giving the stage to a avowed nazi, racist, mysogonist and stalinist (Nick Feuentes) - we yidden can the outcome of any given election. the same week that an avowed socialist and jihad apologist was elected mayor of ny is the week that jews across the world recommited themselves to keeping shabbos with the shabbos project and jewish women on azza street gathered together to bake challa and bring a korbon to hashem. we have not abandoned hashem, hashem will not abandon us. The shabbos project and the challa bake that took place in the first shul to ever be built on rechov azza proves that there is great hope for the future of the jewish people.
Additional notes:
1. Mamdani is a communist - religious jews do not align with communism but we do not identify as anti-communists either. Rabbi Breitowitz recently said that the Torah does not prescribe a specific governmental structure; only outline principles and we have to use human reason and discernment to advocate for a political system that best aligns with out values. There is a lot of controversy on whether the modern state of Israel should maintian a connection to its communist roots or push towards a capitolim. Israel is undeniably a success story but I would argue that cannot fully be explained by studying our relatively free markets or our socialist healthcare, social welfare programs and other communist relics - what is the secret to Israel's sucess? we see the answer hidden in recent parsha stories - it is the chesed of rivka offering eliezer to give him and his camels water that let him know that she was the fitting bride for yitzchak and the future matriarch of klal yisroel. The attributes that define the jewish people are רחמנים, ביישנים וגומלי חסדים. In a recent parsah we learn about Sedom, where radical capitalism, materialism and a society based on pure self interest implodes in on itself. the secret to our success can be seen in the ג pages of our phonebook, endless listings of gemach after gemach - non-profit grassroot organizations that offer myriad of assistance to strangers such as yad sarah, ezrah lamarpeh and ezer mitzion *(include contact info).
2. the haftara of parshas veyaira also shows us the crucial role women play in judaaism - ovadiahs widow and the isha hashunamis and elisha resurecting her son,
3. a defense of satmar who did support mamdani - i wrote an article against mamdani so clearly i disagree with them. and this is not a defesne of netura kartei who should be put in cherem. satmar followed ancient jewish practice of not looking to politicans for leadership on morality or ethical civic practice. we jews should be proud of our willingness to bribe politicains with vote or money or whatever. we will give our treasures to defend our lives and to defend our ability to keep mitzvos. if flattering mamdani will keep him from persecuting us over shabbos, kashrus, bris milah - that in my mind is a gamble, but totally in line with the torah's appraoch. in politics we yidden need to remember what is our ultimate goal. people critcized satmar for the choice they made in this election cycle and i have had critiques for them as well over theyears, important to point out the tremendous chesed satmar does not just within their own community but for all of yidden, especially with kavod hameis and bikur cholim, when i was in cornell psychiatric hospital groups of satmar chasidim would be bussed over to just come and sit and talk with the mentally ill.
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