Wednesday, February 22, 2012
בית המקדש בווארזאזט שבמרוקו - In the Moroccan city of Oarzazat, a full-scale Third Temple has been built based on Jewish sources for the purpose of a movie that will be filmed there.
בעיר בווארזאזאט שבמרוקו , במרחק 10 דקות מקברו של רבי יחיא בן ברוך - בנו המרוקאים בית מקדש ממש ענק גדול על פי הדימוי היהודי לצורכי הפקת סרטים (ווארזזאזאט היא עיר הסרטים של מרוקו) . הבית מקדש ממוקם באמצע המדבר (סיהרא)
צולם במצלמה לא הכי איכותית ...
The Alter of Slabodka, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel zt”l, On His Yahrtzeit, Today
| The Alter of Slabodka, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel - Restoring The Greatness of Torah |
| In the late 1800's Torah in Lithonia was suffering an awful fate. The once great yeshiva of Volozhin founded a century earlier closed due to Russian religious oppression and there wasn't a single well established yeshiva to provide a breeding ground for the next generation's torah leaders and Talmidei Chachomim. Yeshiva students were ridiculed and disgraced by their more "enlightened" counterparts who were taken in by the various ideological movements of the day. The yeshiva student was on the verge of extinction. Enter Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel. Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel was born in 5609/1849 in Lithuania. After being orphaned at a very young age from both his parents he was raised by cousins in Vilna. He became well known as an "Illuy and a Gadol BaTorah already at age 15. When he reached marriageable age the Av Bais Din of Kelm took him for a husband for his granddaughter. After his wedding he wouldtravel from city to city giving his incredibly inspiring "Drashos". After returning to Kelm his grandfather in law who had occasion to hear him speak wrote a letter to Rav Simcha Zisel (The Alter) of Kelm describing Rav Nosson Tzvi with awe. In 5631/1871 Rav Nosson Tzvi was introduced to the Alter of Kelm who embraced this budding star and shared with him all his torah. After a short while the Alter of Kelm made Rav Nosson Tzvi in charge of a Talmud Torah that he started. A number of years later Rav Nosson Tzvi left for Lithuania where he was to make his everlasting contribution to the continuation of the Lithuanian Yeshiva world. His first venture was to help start Yeshivas Telz and then afterwards the famous Kovno Kollel which consisted of a Minyan of great Talmidei Chachomim who went on to become famous in their own merit. This small venture became the future Slabodka yeshiva. In 5649/1899 Rav Itzele Ponevezher was appointed Rosh Yeshiva. Five years later the two brothers in law Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein and Rav Issur Zalman Meltzer joined the Yeshiva staff. In 5657/1897 the yeshiva split into two in a dispute over the emphasis of learning Mussar. Rav Nosson Tzvi had a special talent for understanding the inner working of each Talmid's individual mind and bringing out the best in him. He was an expert psycho analyst. He demanded that each individual challenge himself with any question that may stir inside him. No topic was taboo. Each doubt and question had to be dealt with and put to rest in an honest manner. He was not scared to have his talmidim question their aspirations against those of the secular world. He also believed that a Yeshiva student needed to carry the physical appearance of a King by the way he dressed and groomed himself and be proud of who he was and what he stood for. After wandering dangerously around Russia during the First World War the Yeshiva finally regrouped back in Slabodka in 1920. During the subsequent years Rav Nosson Tzvi set into motion the move of part of the Yeshiva to Chevron in Eretz Yisroel. This group was head by the Rosh Yeshiva Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein and Rav Nosson Tzvi himself. Rav Isaac Sher remained behind to lead the Yeshiva in Slabodka. In 5685/1925 Rav Nosson Tzvi made Eretz Yisroel his permanent home. He was niftar two years later on 29 Adar 5587/1927. Yehi Zicro Baruch. (Based on Gedolei HaDoros from Rav YM Stern) |
Hareidi Women Chefs Break Gefilte Fish Stigma
Three haredi women served up a veritable feast of culinary delights Monday afternoon, in a competition to find the most delectable dish in Israel for today’s large ultra-Orthodox families and bustling homes.
Readers of the “At Home” supplement of the haredi newspaper Mevaser were invited to submit recipes for the competition, held at the newspaper’s annual consumer fair for ultra-Orthodox women.
More than 1,500 applicants for the grand cook-off sent in their signature dishes, three of whom were selected to battle it out in Monday’s competition at the Jerusalem International Convention Center.
Ella Greenberg, Miriam Eichler and Hani Gelbstein all stepped into the large studio kitchen before a packed audience of keen haredi cooks to fry, bake and sauté their gastronomic creations.
Greenberg offered up panfried chicken livers in an apple and red wine reduction, served on toasted bread with baby salad leaves.
Eichler presented a variation on the classic schnitzel dish: fried chicken breasts filled with a green-bean and walnut stuffing, accompanied by a piquant tomato sauce.
And Gelbstein created a wholesome chicken pie, with alternate layers of ground meat and sweet potato puree, topped with sesame and caraway.
Although expert sampling was not possible, it seems certain that the sharp fruity notes of Greenberg’s apple and wine reduction complemented the rich gaminess of the livers perfectly; the spicy undertones of Eichler’s tomato sauce brought out the full flavors of the succulent fried chicken breast; and Gelbstein’s alluring use of herbs produced a rambunctious riot of flavor in her chicken and sweet potato delight.
Ella Greenberg won the competition, receiving the prize of a new kitchen.
But in addition to being generally scrumptious, competition entries were also required to fit in with the challenges the contemporary religious woman faces in her household.
Haredi families are often much larger than the average Israeli family, so recipes must be quick, employ reasonably priced ingredients, be simple to put together and use as few utensils as possible, to ensure that the kitchen is not overwhelmed with dirty pots and pans, chopping boards, sieves and all other manner of cooking devices.
Leah Myzel, a columnist and editor of the “At Home” supplement and the competition host, talked about the importance of food in the ultra-Orthodox household and how the contemporary haredi woman copes with the daily nutritional requirements of her family.
“The world today is more open for religious women,” Myzel told The Jerusalem Post.
“Many women go to work now and also want to develop themselves personally.”
“On the other hand a haredi woman wants to raise a family, usually a large one, and wishes to remain faithful to the traditions and practices of the community, including cooking and caring for her children,” she said.
Myzel reasoned that preparing meals therefore remains an important aspect of a woman’s role at home.
“There’s a sensitivity that you’re not as good a mother as you can be if you don’t make proper, healthy, nutritious meals for your family.”
But, continued Myzel, modern conveniences such as supermarket deliveries, washing machines, dryers and similar household aids, mean that a haredi woman no longer must remain at home.
“Why should a woman not do something for herself?” she asked. Often the men are learning in kollel so his wife needs to bring in income for the family, she said. Even if that’s not the case, many haredi women are beginning to embrace a more open society with broader horizons.
“They go to all the mainstream ‘high street’ clothing stores because they want to dress fashionably and be well turned out, while of course only purchasing outfits which conform to their level of modesty,” said Myzel. “Religious women also want to have a wider range of experiences, socialize and everything that goes with that, so there is a lot of change in the haredi world at the moment.”
Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post
Hundreds Of Thousands Of Jews Flock To Israel To Sages' Tombs Seeking Miracles
Jerusalem - One man prays to heal the legs he broke in a car accident. An older woman pleads for grandchildren. Another visitor has come to see "God's secretary."
These believers are part of a growing phenomenon in Israel, where hundreds of thousands of people from starkly different backgrounds flock to the tombs of ancient Biblical figures or modern-day rabbis, seeking blessings and claiming they've witnessed miracles.
At many of these sites there is scant proof that any sage is actually buried there. Some are even believed to be co-opted Ottoman or Muslim burial places. But to the faithful, the lack of hard evidence is irrelevant. It's the deep spiritual experience or, for some, the desperate desire to be blessed, that matters.
"Coming here is being able to speak to God's secretary. It's the closest you can get," said Suzy Shaked, a 55-year-old teacher from central Israel who visited the tomb of Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira, one of the most popular pilgrimage sites.
Shaked said she sees Abuhatzeira, better known as the Baba Sali, as God's envoy. A visit to his tomb puts her requests in God's earshot. She was praying at the Baba Sali's tomb for her son to marry.
While there are no firm statistics on how many Israelis visit sites like the Baba Sali's tomb, researchers say the number is growing.
They cite the rising power of religious political parties, the influence of Israelis of north African descent who traditionally practiced these kinds of pilgrimages, and a growing desire by even secular Jews to find meaning in their lives through a spiritual act. Prominent businessmen and politicians are known to make appearances at the sites.
"It's hard for (people) to be satisfied with prayer in a synagogue to a God who is very abstract, who is unclear, who is not accessible," said Doron Bar, a historical geographer who studies the sites. "I think visiting a grave like this gives believers a line through which demands can be made."
Bar believes that the number of pilgrimage sites has grown into the hundreds.
The phenomenon has spawned a tourist trade, where busloads of faithful are ferried from one burial site to another to make a variety of wishes.
"People see results," said Benny Barzilai, who runs monthly trips to tombs. "That's why this tour succeeds."
Morroccan-born Abuhatzeira was revered even in life as a mystic and performer of miracles. After he died in January 1984, he gained rock star-like fandom.
Today, his tomb in the blue-collar town of Netivot in southern Israel draws an estimated hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. The anniversary of his death is especially popular, a time that is believed to grant the worshipper a heightened closeness to God.
It's the second-most visited tomb in Israel, after that of Yonatan ben Uziel in northern Israel. That site, which reportedly draws half a million people a year, is believed to answer prayers for marriage.
At the Baba Sali compound, believers of all stripes could be seen during the recent anniversary commemorations— mildly religious young women in tight jeans and red nails, pious elderly women in long floral skirts and head coverings, silver-haired politicians in pinstriped suits. The tomb was packed with a mass of wailing worshippers, which swelled gradually into the evening.
The day was joyful and festive, with barbecues, picnics and vendors selling candles and clocks bearing the Baba Sali's image. The faithful hurled candles into a large furnace, a ritual with pagan tinges meant to immortalize the sage's soul.
"I take advantage of any opportunity to go see a sage," said Shimon Kaslessi, a truck driver, who walks with crutches but was told he likely wouldn't walk at all after a car crash two years ago.
"When you've seen miracles, when the sage makes a handicapped person walk, you believe," he added, a tear streaming down his face.
Although the burial place of modern rabbis like Abuhatzeira are not questioned, those of more ancient sages are not always investigated or recognized by any official body, meaning anyone can theoretically designate a place as holy and spark a following.
A site near the central town of Modiin is believed by some to be the tomb of the Jewish priest Matityahu ben Yohanan, one of the heroes of the Hasmonean Revolt against the Greeks more than 2,000 years ago. While not officially recognized, the site draws hundreds of pilgrims a year.
Similarly, a tomb in a Jerusalem mosque is sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians, yet each claims a different holy woman is buried there.
Researchers believe the grave of the prophet Havakuk in northern Israel was possibly deemed to be there because the prophet's name rhymed with a nearby village, Yakuk.
It's unclear how the phenomenon took root. Traditionally in Judaism, prostrating oneself at graves was forbidden, as it was likened to the prohibited custom of idol worship.
Some studies believe that after Israel gained independence in 1948, many important Jewish sites beyond Israel's boundaries were out of reach. Jews in turn assigned greater importance to less significant sites inside Israel or co-opted what was known to be, until then, an Ottoman or Muslim tomb.
Over time, myths surrounding the different graves emerged, and Jews began making pilgrimages to these sites. The custom is practiced at tombs of Jewish sages around the world as well, including a massive yearly pilgrimage to Ukraine.
Many are nondescript tombstones while some are grand domed mausoleums. Each sage is typically associated with different requests, whether for health, wealth, love or fertility.
More than 100 such sites are considered official holy places by Israel's Tourism Ministry, meaning they are maintained with government funds. New sites are rarely added to the ministry's list because they "lack proof" that anyone of importance is interred there, said Mina Genem, a ministry official.
Nonetheless, these tombs attract Jews from all backgrounds who return year after year because they say their prayers have been answered.
Sarah Cohen, 69, said her daughter became pregnant after she prayed for her at the Baba Sali's tomb.
"I've been coming here for 20 years," she said, after flinging a candle into the red furnace. "My daughter came too because she saw that my prayers were answered."
Billionaire Sheldon Adelson Says He Might Give $100M To Newt Gingrich Or Other Republican
This story is part of a larger profileappearing in the March 12th, 2012 issue of FORBES magazine. The complete cover story will appear onlinebeginning Wednesday, February 22nd.
Sheldon Adelson plays as stubbornly in politics as he does in business. So the criticisms that he’s trying to personally buy the presidential election for NewtGingrich are met with a roll of the eyes. “Those people are either jealous or professional critics,” Adelson tells me during his first interview since he andhis wife began funneling $11 million, with another $10 million injection widely expected, into the former speaker’s super PAC, Winning Our Future. “They like to trash other people. It’s unfair that I’ve been treated unfair—but it doesn’t stop me. I might give $10 million or $100 million to Gingrich.”
Adelson, the 78-year-old CEO of casino giant Las Vegas Sands, certainly can afford to: With a net worth of roughly $25 billion, that $11 million, which jolted Gingrich’s flatlining presidential bid back to life, equates to 0.044% of his fortune. For someone with a $1 million net worth, the equivalent would be $440, or a two-night stay at Adelson’s Venetian casino. Adelson could personally fund an entire presidential campaign—say, $1 billion or so—andnot even notice.
Is that fair? “I’m against very wealthy people attempting to or influencing elections,” he shrugs. “But as long as it’s doable I’m going to do it. Because I know that guys like Soros have been doing it for years, if not decades. Andthey stay below the radar by creating a network of corporations to funnel their money. I have my own philosophy and I’m not ashamed of it. I gave the money because there is no other legal way to do it. I don’t want to go through ten different corporations to hide my name. I’m proud of what I do and I’m not looking to escape recognition.”
He’s also proud of his hawkish defense of Israel—his wife is Israeli and his young sons carry Israeli passports. Yet those who have categorized his patronage of Gingrich and other Republicans as a one-issue investment have it wrong. The man whose net worth, by Forbes’ calculations, has jumped more ($21.6 billion) during the Obama administration than any other American —Mark Zuckerberg included — wants to take the president out for economic reasons.“What scares me is the continuation of the socialist-style economywe’ve been experiencing for almost four years. That scares me because the redistribution of wealth is the path to more socialism, and to more of the government controlling people’s lives. What scares me is the lack of accountability that people would prefer to experience, just let the government take care of everything and I’ll go fish or I won’t work, etc.”
“U.S. domestic politics is very important to me because I see that the things that made this country great are now being relegated into duplicating that which is making other countries less great. … I’m afraid of the trend where more and more people have the tendency to want to be given instead of wanting to give. People are less willing to share. There are fewer philanthropists being grown and there are greater expectations of the government. I believe that people will come to their senses and not extend the current Administration’s quest to socialize this country. It won’t be a socialist democracy because it won’t be a democracy.”
So with Gingrich looking increasingly unviable, does that mean he’ll throw his largess behind another candidate? “If Ron Paul is chosen I certainly wouldn’tdo that.” What about front-runner Mitt Romney? “I don’t want to say. Newspapers said I had two meetings with Romney and Gingrich [on Feb. 3], which is untrue. Most of what is being said about me in this current brouhaha is just not true. I know Romney; I like him. I know Santorum; I like him. … The likelihood is that I’m going to be supportive of whoever the candidate is. I just haven’t decided that yet and will wait to see what happens.”
Whomever he supports, Adelson claims he won’t pay for mudslinging. “I don’t believe in negative campaigning. I believe in saying that my opponents are very good people and I’m confident a lot of them would do a good job, but I would do a better job, and here’s why,” says Adelson. “Money is fungible, but you can’t take my money out of the total money you have and use it for negative campaigning.” Of course, that stance ignores the fact that an avalanche of negative ads against Romney won Gingrich South Carolina, andthat Adelson’s $5 million injection was the dominant source of his funding. “That’s what everybody says, but that doesn’t mean it’s true,” the billionaire says, waving his hands dismissively. “Most of what’s been written about me in this is untrue.”
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
The idiot’s guide to bombing Iran
Since making aliyah in 2006, Benji Lovitt has spent roughly every waking moment doing one of the following: trying to make people laugh, eating chumus, or writing about chumus to make people laugh… [More]. In addition to working with Jewish organizations to promote Israel, Benji has performed stand-up comedy for groups including Hillels, Masa Israel Journey, Birthright Israel, the Jewish Federations of North America, and more. His perspectives on aliyah and life in Israel have been featured on Israeli television and radio and in publications such as the Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, and the Jewish Daily Forward. [Less]
We’re only one month into 2012, and if recent media attention is any indication, it appears that we already know what the biggest story of the year will be in Israel. Time Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times have all run stories speculating on whether or not Israel will attack Iran in 2012. If you’re late to the party, can’t tell Iran from Iraq, or are simply tired of reading about the Kardashian sisters, here’s an idiot’s guide to bombing Iran.
The players
Iran:In 1979, after the overthrowing of the Shah’s regime, the modern Islamic Republic of Iran was born. The nascent regime spent its formative years doing what most young children do: fighting with others. For much of the 1980s, while the rest of the world was applying enough hair spray to shave off a sizable section of the ozone layer, Iran spent their decade playing a geopolitical game of “I Know You Are But What am I?” with its neighbor Iraq. When Iraqi President Saddam Hussein attacked Kuwait, attracting the attention of the Western world, Iran got to fly under the radar until the first decade of the 21st century.
In 2005, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected on the platform of not being a complete and total nutjob, later revealed to be an empty political promise. Since winning the presidency, Ahmadinejad has threatened Israel, calling for it to be “wiped off the map.” His defenders have claimed that he only wanted to replace the current regime, which puts his beliefs in line with the majority of the Israeli population as well.
While Ahmadinejad has garnered attention for his statements, the man with the greatest power and influence in Iran is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader and holder of what is possibly the strangest job title in world politics (having defeated the Brazilian Ultimate Secretary of State and the Swedish Kick-Ass Minister of Defense).
In the early 2000s, Israeli intelligence discovered that Iran had begun to enrich uranium, presumably with the intention of developing nuclear weapons, which brings us to today.
Israel:
Israel declared independence in 1948 and was immediately attacked by Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Beth Torah sisterhood, Utopia, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and the Others from “Lost.” Sixty three years later, it is said that Israel is still fighting for her independence with enemies on nearly every side. Efforts to make peace are complicated by neighboring terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah, which is kind of like saying that efforts to stay dry are complicated by being thrown into a pool. Hezbollah and Hamas are funded by Iran, and it is believed that the 2006 war with Lebanon was shrewdly planned by Iran as a distraction from its nuclear ambitions.
United States:
In the interest of saving time, we’ll assume a certain level of readers’ knowledge.
The recap
Since the early 2000s, Israel has been trying to direct the world’s attention away from Facebook and towards the looming threat of Iran. With China and Russia slow to agree to economic sanctions, the most notable responses to Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been covert operations, believed to have been carried out by Israel. In 2010, the computer worm Stuxnet knocked out roughly 20% of Iranian centrifuges, delaying their enrichment activities. The Iranian gay community was eliminated as a possible suspect when Ahmadinejad remembered that his country had none. The Iranians refused to give the Israelis credit for penetrating their security system, instead acknowledging that their network would have been secure had they simply upgraded from Windows 95.
There have also been several incidences of Iranian nuclear scientists suddenly and unexpectedly dying, presumably at the hands of Israeli or Western agents. Just recently, a chemistry expert and director of the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz died after two motorcycle riders attached a bomb to his car. The lesson, as always: it’s always safer to walk.
Despite Israel’s efforts to awaken the world to the danger of a nuclear Iran, so far, the international community has been slow to react with not enough action and too much lip service, making it unclear whether or not the world truly understands the threat. In the words of one senior French official, ”We must do everything possible to avoid an Israeli attack on Iran.” Considering he’s located approximately 6,000 kilometers away, it seems like it would be fairly easy for him to avoid. Fortunately (or unfortunately), few things unite the world like Israel. Perhaps Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going about this the wrong way. If Bibi announced that Israel was committed to Iranian nuclear aspirations, the UN would pass a resolution against it in five minutes.
Nonetheless, in a textbook example of “better late than never,” the United States has led the way in first imposing and then toughening economic sanctions on Iran in the hopes of gaining their cooperation, including sanctions on Iran Air, whose slogan is “We love to fly and it shows…. and if you disagree, we’ll murder you.”
Other countries to impose sanctions include Canada, Australia, South Korea, Japan, India, and Switzerland. Seriously, Iran? You even managed to piss off the Swiss? Nicely done.
So far, the sanctions have reduced the country’s access to resources for their energy sectors, doing great damage to Iran’s economy at a cost of tens of billions of dollars; and the plummet of the local currency has caused widespread panic, which begs the question: “Shouldn’t the populace have panicked the moment they realized they live in Iran?”
The options
The opinion expressed by the Israeli leadership is perhaps more nuanced than that of the world, which isn’t surprising considering the fact that the rest of the world isn’t faced with the threat of a nuclear attack. Netanyahu isn’t prepared to leave the fate of the world’s one Jewish state (and over 50% of the world’s Jewish population) in the hands of another country, bringing to mind one of the reasons for the creation of Israel in the first place.US President Barack Obama has opposed an attack on Iran as long as economic sanctions remain an option to slow down its progress. Furthermore, the United States is about as eager to initiate another war as Lady Gaga is eager to be normal, especially in an election year. Whether or not the United States approves of an Israeli strike, Iran would surely try to drag America into a conflict by attacking its ships and closing the Strait of Hormuz, driving up oil prices around the world (and making Better Placefounder Shai Agassi do a back flip and triple axel in his living room.)
Some key questions:
- Could an Israeli attack do significant damage with facilities buried so far underground?
In a recent Time Magazine article, an Israeli senior security official was quoted as saying, “I informed the cabinet we have no ability to hit the Iranian nuclear program in a meaningful way.” This official quoted a senior commander: “If I get the order I will do it, but we don’t have the ability to hit in a meaningful way.” What’s meaningful? Holding hands while watching “The Notebook”?
- Would Iran retaliate by launching missiles on the Israeli home front?
- And finally, is Israel bluffing in order to pressure the world into increasing sanctions?
Until then, we can only sit back and hope that the elected leaders of Israel and the West have the wisdom, judgment, and stomach to make perhaps the toughest decision of their lives
Rav Wolfson: Why Are We Silent?
“Why are we quiet? Where is the awakening? Why is everyone so apathetic?” asked Rav Wolfson, who is also mashgiach of Yeshivah Torah Vodaath. “Everyone is busy with narishkeiten, we don’t hear the alarm? We don’t know that we have to pierce the heavens for rachamim from the Ribbono Shel Olam?”
Rav Wolfson told the packed beis medrash of nearly 1,000 people that the potential for a war encompassing Iran, Israel, Europe and the United States over the next few weeks is a real one, and Klal Yisrael must prepare itself spiritually.
“Everyone knows that there is currently a growing danger from Iran - and it is a great error for whoever does not know this,” Rav Wolfson said. “Why should a Yid not know what is happening to [other] Yidden? Everyone must know what is happening in regard to other Yidden. Everyone must know what is happening in Eretz Yisrael.”
Rav Wolfson began talking this past Shabbos about the dangers from the Iran crisis, when he stopped and said that it was not a subject to discuss on Shabbos. He said he would continue the topic during the week. The last time he called for a special asifah during the week to discuss current events was in 1991, prior to the Gulf War.
Rav Wolfson started his address, which was carried live by Kol Halashon, with the famous Rambam, who writes that it is a mitzvah to daven during troubled times. “If you don’t daven,” the Rambam says, “then it is a cruelty, since it will get worse.”
“The leader in Iran says clearly - he repeated it this week - that he wants to kill, Rachmana litzlan, every Yid in the world, just like Haman,” Rav Wolfson said. “If he will be successful, chas v’shalom, in getting the nuclear bomb - and experts says he will have it by the summer - it will be a great danger for Klal Yisrael.”
“A good part of the world’s Jews live in Israel, and the government there says that they will attack Iran first, before they could get the nuclear bomb. If that happens, everyone knows that that will cause a world war.”
Rav Wolfson said that he heard that Harav Yosef Rosenblum, Rosh Yeshivah of Yeshivah Shaarei Yosher, spoke recently about the crisis with Iran - he said that during this eis tzarah, “Hashem is judging us on every klal and on every prat.”
Rav Wolfson quoted the Pesikta, who says that the year when Moshiach will come all nations will battle each other. The spark that will set it off, according to the Medrash, will be when the king of Paras - which is modern-day Iran - will threaten “Arabia,” presumably Saudi Arabia, such as is happening today.
Arabia will go for an alliance with Edom - the culture of Edom is today’s Western world, Europe and United States. Paras will then destroy the world and the Yidden will be thrown into turmoil. Hashem will then say: “Do not fear, the time for your Geulah has come.”
Rav Wolfson noted how eerily similar this Medrash is to what is occurring today.
“We don’t have to be in a panic,” Rav Wolfson said, “Hashem will perform miracles for us. But efsher takeh. Maybe the time for the Geulah has arrived. We must prepare for the Geulah.”
Rav Wolfson said that since the Holocaust, Hashem has performed great miracles for the Yidden. Eretz Yisrael, which today hosts most of the world’s Yidden and most of the Torah world, merited supernatural siyatta diShmaya during its wars. When the Palestinians shoot missiles from Gaza, they land mostly in empty areas and cause little damage.
When then-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein shot 39 Scud missiles during the Gulf War, only one Yid was killed - that man had previously received a klalah from the Chazon Ish.
“This a hashgachah niflaah that is reserved only for Yidden who learn Torah, who keep the mitzvos and who will ultimately do teshuvah,” Rav Wolfson said. “Hashem wants to do nissim for us. Israel is surrounded by 300 million Arabs and we are still there; that means Hashem wants to do yeshuos. We must prepare for yeshuos.”
But just like Eliyahu had to daven on Har Hacarmel even though Hashem had already promised to bring rain, Hashem still wants the tefillos of Klal Yisrael today, even though He had promised to bring yeshuos.
In order to qualify for these miracles, Rav Wolfson said, we must strengthen in Torah, tefillah and chessed.
He specifically suggested saying Tehillim 46 every day, adding that he is asking his own kehillah to have the kapitel printed out and stuck to the back of every siddur. During the Suez campaign in 1956, the Belzer Rebbe asked that people say that particular kapitel, since it is a segulah to prevent warfare.
“Everyone has to be mispallel that Klal Yisrael should be saved from chevlei Moshiach, that he and his family should be saved,” he said.
Rav Wolfson also spoke about kevias ittim for Torah, not interrupting even “if the cell phone rings.”
“I heard from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, zt”l, that when a Yid sits down to learn it should be like Shabbos,” Rav Wolfson said. “That is the only time that one is pattur from work.”
“In a beis medrash it is Shabbos. … If someone interrupts his learning and he picks up the phone, he brings the marketplace, he brings the office into Shabbos. He is mechallel the Shabbos.”
But above all, Rav Wolfson said, Yidden should keep in mind that we live in momentous times, and we should prepare for the upcoming era with emunah and bitachon.
“In the next couple of weeks there will be news,” Rav Wolfson said, “and with the help of Hashem, it will be good news for Yidden.”
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