SCALING THE SUMMIT

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

Who has not felt the magnetic pull of the siyum hashas? Held in scores of locations around the world, wherever there are Jews who treasure Torah and Torah study, the event is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people.

What is the nature of that powerful attraction? Is it the speakers or the ancillary activities surrounding the event? Not likely. The speakers’ names are not revealed beforehand. That indefinable attraction comes instead from the neshama of the Jew, pulling him to the Torah and drawing him into an historic celebration of Torah study.

People from smaller cities who are hosting their own celebration will be flying in to New York. They want to be part of the big event. Whether or not they know it, they want to be mekayeim the berov am hadras Melech.

I was told of an individual who plans to fly in from Paris to attend the siyum in New York. He just feels that he must be there—or he’ll be missing something irreplaceable.

Like a moth flutters to the light bulb, we flock to Torah. Whether they learned the daf or not, people want to be there; they want to be part of this uplifting, one-of-a-kind event that celebrates Torah study for its own sake.

Torah people want to demonstrate by their physical presence that the legions of G-d fearing people continue to grow year after year. Seventy years after the Nazis tried to wipe us out, we are still here. Despite centuries of crusades, inquisitions and pogroms, we are still here. Haskalah and Reform tried to destroy our soul and separate us from Torah, but we are still here.

Jews were burned at the stake for the study of Torah, yet we persevered, never giving up. The church burned wagonloads of Gemorahs, thinking they had rid the world of them for all time, but they were wrong.

Yisroel v’Oraisah v’Kudsha Brich Hu Chad Hu.

The Talmud preserves the Jew and the Jew preserves the Talmud.

So this week we are publishing a list of names of people whose tremendous self-sacrifice merited them to attain an enviable spiritual milestone—completing the study of Shas. We want to pay them tribute, not for commercial purposes but solely to acknowledge their achievements that enhance all of Klal Yisroel.

New York City holds an annual marathon every November and 26,000 or more people run around the city. The day after the race, the New York Times publishes a list of all the entrants. It stretches over pages in tiny print.

What a mark of pride for those who ran in the marathon! “Did you see my name in the paper?” they all ask their friends the next day. The city is proud of its runners and the newspaper of record is proud to list them.

Shouldn’t we be proud of all those who learned a blatt of Gemorah day after day after day in the pursuit of the lofty goal of completing Shas? In the quest to squeeze in another hour or more for Torah study each day, they accomplished much more than they had ever thought possible.

Who knows how many days these daf yomi learners awoke long before dawn for no other purpose than to learn? Who knows how many nights these people fought off sleep so that they could finish the blatt of the day? Nobody will ever know how often and at what cost pleasures and other activities were deferred in favor of the daf.

On buses, in cars, waiting on line, at simchos, on airplanes and at every opportunity they could squeeze in a few minutes of Torah, out came the Gemorah as they chapped arein a few lines.

They recognized that every minute is an opportunity for ma’mad har Sinai and they took advantage of it. There is no other way they could have reached this milestone.

Shouldn’t we hold these individuals up on a pedestal? Their accomplishments speak so eloquently for themselves. “Look at what they did,” those accomplishments silently acclaim, “Look at how much they were able to learn. If they could do it why can’t you and I!”

Torah is our lifeblood. Torah is what defines us as a people. The People of the Daf truly exemplify the devotion to Torah which is necessary to preserve it and hand it down from generation to generation.

People who work at full time jobs and have undertaken the study of daf yomi tell you that the daf has transformed their lives. If you could somehow peek in on their schedule—you’d have to rise at five in the morning to do that–you couldn’t help but be humbled.

You’d see them rising at the crack of dawn or long before… shlepping through the snow or through unbearable heat… plugging away even when dead tired, until they finish the daf. You will see how they miss meetings at work, you will glimpse them on Shabbos afternoons in the winter giving up their coveted Shabbos nap in order to learn; you’ll spy them in a corner with a Gemorah catching up on a big sugya while everyone is catching up on the latest gossip and news.

Most of them don’t like to talk about themselves and are embarrassed when you ask them about what it takes to keep their commitment to the daf yomi going. To this natural modesty is added the anivus that becomes part of one’s personality from learning Torah with pure intentions.

But that is not the only reward they receive.

Ask these individuals about the inner satisfaction. Ask them about the long-range impact on one’s life of always looking to chap arein a few minutes here and a few minutes there to learn another couple of lines of Gemorah.

Ask them whether there has been a change in the way they look at the world. Ask them whether there has been a change in the way they perceive rabbonim, Roshei Yeshiva and bnei Torah.

Ask them whether they have seen any improvement in their dikduk hamitzvos since they started doing the daf. Ask them how it has impacted their emunah and bitachon.

Ask them and listen to their answers.

Because it is the people like they who have quietly, each in his own way, accepted upon themselves the yoke of Torah, who can teach us a thing or two. Every day when they sit down wearily at the Gemorah, they are demonstrating that their ozen heard at Har Sinai Avodai Heim Velo Avodim L’Avodim. They are avodim to the daf and not to other avodim.

It is commitment of this magnitude that has kept the Gemorah alive through the ages, from the days it was orally transmitted as Torah Sheb’al Peh, through the time it was first written, then copiously copied and only many years later, printed in many different lands. Through all types of torture and madness perpetrated on our people, it was the lomdei Torah, the avodim with the determination of the modern-day mesaymim who kept the Gemorah alive.

What has kept Gemorah study alive was not speeches and articles extolling its virtues; it was the gift of Providence coupled with single-minded determination of exemplary Jews who relentlessly clung to their Gemorah and shtender.

One by one, singly or together with a chavrusa or at a shiur, these loyal soldiers who sit hunched over the Gemorah, rocking back and forth, racking their brains to figure out the p’shat in a Tosefos or a Rambam while no one is looking, are the ones who constitute the strength and backbone of our people.

That avdus, that determination is what keeps us going until this very day despite all the nisyonos that surround us. That avdus is what keeps the love of Torah aflame in our hearts and souls. That avdus is what draws tens of thousands to the Siyumim being held across the world.

That same avdus is what fills Batei Midrashim with precious kollel yungaleit who forsake many earthly pleasures for the spiritual contentment of sitting by a blatt Gemorah.

Long after the spotlight has been turned off and the arenas emptied out; long after the siyum hoopla has passed, these people will go back to waking up early and going to sleep late so that they can learn a little more. They will go back to their habit of squeezing out of the day another bit of eternal life. They will go back to climbing rungs in ahavas haTorah and yiras shomayim.

They will go back to being shining examples of how one scales mountains inch by inch, step by step, until one reaches the summit, inspiring their families and all of Klal Yisroel.

Avodia heim velo avodim l’avodim.

May we all merit that great day when we will be freed from the yoke of Golus and be reunited under the banner of Torah in Zion, bimheirah b’yomeinu, amen.

FREEDOM TO PRACTICE

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

In stark contrast to the despotic governments over the centuries under which the Jewish people lived, the United States affords our people and members of all religions, freedom to practice the precepts of their faith as they choose.

Throughout the Diaspora, when tyrants would legislate how the Halacha was to be followed, Jews who fought the falsification of the Torah did so at the risk of their lives.

By the grace of G-d, we live in a country where freedom of religion is one of the nation’s most cherished virtues. President Bush never tires of mentioning it, most recently in his state of the union address. There, he once again proclaimed the rights of all men to be free from unwarranted governmental intrusion into the private lives of its citizens.

Not everyone agrees. It seems as if a certain rabbi felt it was appropriate to bring the New York City Health Department into the delicate arena of religious practice.

The aforementioned rabbi has a problem with the practice of metzitzah b’peh as practiced by certain mohelim at the bris milah. Whether the act is an integral part of the bris is a centuries-old machlokes. Many authorities believe it is, while some are of the opinion that the extraction of the circumcision blood can be done in a different way.

Customs have evolved throughout the ages. In certain communities the mohel uses a tube and in others he uses his mouth to extract the blood.

That’s the way it has been for centuries. No authority of any stature has ever cast aspersions on either method. Even if there are differing halachic opinions, minhagim are sacred, and the custom of following a particular minhag has always been revered.

Either way a person wishes to perform the metzitzah, as long as he is following the minhag of either his rabbi or the custom in his family or community, it is fine.

But the rabbi in question isn’t happy with this time-honored approach. He wants everyone to follow his own interpretation of what is proper. He is deeply annoyed that others differ with his conclusion. “I am very disturbed that… the Mohelim don’t do what they’re told,” he complained to the JTA.

He has launched a campaign of vilification against mohelim employing metzitzah b’peh. He wrote an article together with scientists and doctors in the August issue of Pediatrics, claiming the reason seven infant boys in Eretz Yisroel and one in Toronto contracted the herpes virus was due to their being infected by mohalim who practiced metzizah b’peh.

There are killer mohalim on the loose and they are killing Jewish babies and must be stopped.

‘JUNK SCIENCE’

The article was characterized by people knowledgeable in medicine and Jewish law as “junk science” and “unimpressive.”

An indication of the shabby scholarship in the article is its unproven assertion that “the great majority of ritual circumcisions” are not performed with metzizah b’peh. The author goes on to wrongly assert that the only reason certain poskim condone this practice is because they “have felt threatened by criticism of the old religious customs and strongly resist any change in the traditional custom of oral metzitzah.”

The authors expose their bias by stating that the reason more cases of circumcised children are not known is because “We suspect, therefore, this entity is underreported for cultural reasons and that the studies described here are only the ‘tip of the iceberg’ of true incidence of the disease.”

They insinuate with absolutely no scientific proof that the incidence of children falling ill with the disease is much more prevalent but due to the backward insular behavior of religious Jews, they fail to report the illness or seek out for medical assistance. Of course no studies or proofs are cited to support this suspicion, which is patently false.

They further state that “The cultural process of replacing ancient customs by modern wound care has to be encouraged by a heightened awareness of this potentially life-threatening medical complication.”

The article concludes that, “Ritual Jewish circumcision that includes metzitzah [b’peh] carries a serious risk for transmission of HSV from mohels to neonates, which can be complicated by protracted or severe infection. Oral metzitzah after ritual circumcision may be hazardous to the neonate.”

The article’s conclusions collapse upon analysis. The fact that they came up with eight babies who contracted the herpes disease following circumcision over a six year period is strange. If the mohalim are so dangerous why are there so few cases?

The article states that the mothers of these eight babies all tested HSV negative, and therefore postulates that the mohalim were at fault. If the vast majority of adults carry antibodies to the disease, it seems as if the authors went cherry picking to find cases where the mothers tested negative so that they could arrive at their conclusion. Were a random selection made, it would seem apparent that at least some of the mothers of neonates with the herpes disease would test positive.

The numbers clearly discredit allegations that mohalim performing metzitzah were to blame.

Let’s look further at the rabbi’s assumptions. He theorizes that since a majority of adults possess antibodies to the virus, in certain cases it is possible for adults to contaminate children. Though the virus affects adults in no way, it is fatal to infants whose immune systems are not yet fully developed. Mohalim who practice metzizah b’peh when performing a bris can thus infect infants, the rabbi-on-a-crusade maintains. Blame it on the mohalim.

There are several problems with this position, the most serious of which is that it is pure speculation. Not all the family members of the children were tested for herpes and neither were half of the mohalim. It is scientifically outrageous to suggest that the mohalim were the carriers of the disease until everyone else who came in contact with the babies is ruled out as a carrier. It could just have well have been transmitted by the mother, father, nurse or little brother. Additionally the authors admit in the study that “only four mohels were tested… the mouth cultures obtained from [the] mohels all were negative for HSV.”
To indict the mohalim is libelous and unfounded.
The article’s attempt at scientific analysis was so flawed as to be unworthy of being presented as serious research. In a truly scientific survey, the researcher would have used a control group and would have made comparative studies with other groups. He would have studied not only infants who had metzitzah, but would have examined an equal number of infants who did not, in order to isolate metzitzah as a disease-causing factor. Only then could his conclusions about the role of metzitzah in causing disease carry any weight.

No studies of this sort were cited by the rabbi or any of the other experts who signed their name to the article.

Interestingly, in Kiryas Joel, NY, a self-contained community where every male child undergoes metzitzah b’peh, there should be a rash of cases if to the rabbi’s theory is correct.

Yet, people there recall no cases of any infants carrying the disease after circumcision.
The facts themselves expose the fallaciousness of the charges of mohelim infecting infants. This is what is called “junk science;” it is generated by someone who will stoop to vilification and vindictive behavior in order to impose his viewpoint and to curtail the rights of others to do things differently.

MAKING GOOD ON HIS THREAT

Since writing the article in Pediatric, the rabbi publicly threatened a respected Monsey Mohel, Rav Yitzchok Fischer, that he would report him to the authorities if he did not halt his practice of metzitzah b’peh.

Rav Fischer, who is accredited by the Milah Initiation Society of England, has been practicing milah for 35 years. He is well known as a responsible, conscientious individual, who makes a point of staying abreast of the latest medical studies concerning Milah. He is acclaimed as an expert in his field and is regularly called upon when abnormalities are present in a circumcision case.

Rav Fischer has preformed thousands of brisos on infants, boys and men of all ages, in this country, as well as in Russia and Israel. It goes without saying that he has also been tested and found to be free of herpes or any other infectious disease.

The man is a renowned baal chesed, with a steady hand and smile, about whom there has never before been even a breath of impropriety. But the yeitzer horah works insidiously. He tries to get us to be mevazeh mitzvos and anashim chashuvim. Too often he is successful and we fall into his trap.

The crusading rabbi erred by picking on him. And the community erred by not rising to Rabbi Fischer’s defense.

I hear people whispering and saying they heard Rabbi Fischer didn’t check out and really is a carrier of the disease. Is there anything more revolting? Is there anything more disheartening than to see the koach of sheker overcome people’s better judgment? A prominent, highly esteemed mohel who has dedicated his life to ushering Jewish children into their covenant with G-d is now accused by someone on a wicked mission and people begin to vacillate. Suddenly, they aren’t sure. Could it be the rabbi is right and the Mohel is really at fault after all?

When the yeitzer hora saw he could not force a principled mohel to buckle, he sought out other pressure tactics. Articles were inserted into the general media, holding up the most esteemed members of Klal Yisroel and our most hallowed rituals to public mockery. When the laughter dies down, the public is left with the impression of Torah Jews as a backward people engaging in Neanderthal practices. They always knew those Orthodox Jews were a bit weird, but who thought they took it to such extremes?

The yeitzer hora is not satisfied with creating a Chilul Hashem only among the masses; he must also poison our own ranks. He must infect us with the asher korcha of Amalek—the weakening of conviction. Only then is he satisfied.

LET’S CALL A BLOOD LIBEL BY ITS NAME

Why was there only one newspaper defending Rabbi Fischer? Why was there no organization standing up and calling a blood libel by its name?

The rabbi apparently followed through on his threat to Rabbi Fischer and massered on Rabbi Fischer to the NYC Health Dept, charging him with spreading disease. He cast the mohel as a menace to society who must be stopped before he kills more children.

Read the following reaction to the rabble-rousing news reports generated by the rabbi’s massering on the mohel, yes it is extreme, but it points to what the reports caused:

“San Diego, CA (PRWEB) February 9, 2005 — The recent death of a baby boy in New York City has prompted some Jewish groups to call for an end to the practice of male circumcision. City investigators believe the boy died after contracting herpes from an infected mohel who sucked the blood from the baby’s circumcision wound. Two other boys circumcised by the mohel have also contracted herpes, including the dead boy’s twin brother.

“What happened to this innocent Jewish baby in New York is especially tragic,” said Gillian Flato, Director of Jews Against Circumcision, an international organization of Jews who have re-examined the practice and have found it to be immoral. “I think this is a wake up call for the Jewish community. Are they willing to blindly follow tradition and jeopardize their sons’ lives?’”

The article goes on to report that “Attempts to protect boys from circumcision have now crossed into the legal realm as well. A federal bill proposal written by a San Diego group called MGMbill.org would protect boys from circumcision. Matthew Hess, the group’s president, said that Jewish support for the proposed bill will be critical to its success.”

REVISITING THE BITTER DEEDS OF THE MASKILIM

In the 1800’s our great-grandparents suffered greatly at the hands of Maskilim, who viewed themselves as the enlightened ones entrusted with the mission of ushering religious Jewry out of the caveman period and bringing them into the 19th century.

In their misguided zeal, they caused untold suffering and misery for religious Jews and caused many thousands to abandon their heritage for the lures of the secular world. Their primary tools in advancing their agenda were the press and the government.

They agitated relentlessly in the media and in government circles against rabbis, yeshivos, religious Jews and their practices. They had laws enacted that persecuted rabbonim and mechanchim who were not deemed sufficiently educated and acclimated into 19th century Russian society.

Those laws allowed the rabidly anti-semitic governments to intrude even further into the Jewish ghettos, all under the banner of “helping” the poor backward religious Jews leave the caves and join “civilized” society.

The havoc they wreaked drained the energies of the rabbonim, roshei yeshivos and askonim of the time who sought valiantly to stay one step ahead of the maskilim and their Czarist allies. It took world wars to finally put the masklilm out of business.

We ought to have absorbed the bitter lesson about the dangers to which unwarranted government intervention leads. We ought to have learned where mockery of religious practices in the public media will get us. Just weeks after a media frenzy over shechita, it is now milah that has been placed in the crosshairs.

Misunderstood mefarcheses became the battle cry for anti-shechita activists and animal rights crusaders. They manipulated the masses by stoking fear and outrage, and peddled their lies via the internet and the national print media.

There is nothing more precious than a Yiddishe neshama. There is nothing more shattering than the death of an infant. But the exploitation of tragedy in order to frighten G-d fearing people into re-thinking values that have been sacred to them for ages is more alarming than the danger of herpes infection.

Because the virus of slander is more deadly than the virus of disease.

Following the slandering of the time-honored ritual of metzitzah in the media, the Orange County Health department asked for a meeting with Kiryas Joel officials to discuss with them prevailing bris practices.

According to Gedalye Szegedin, administrator of the village of Kiryas Joel, “Kiryas Joel leaders made it clear to the Orange County Health Department that changing bris practice is non-negotiable and brisin will continue to be performed according to the mesorah handed down to us by our grandparents and great sages.”

Will we become like our Russian brethren in the past century who were forced under the communists to conduct the sacred bris in underground bunkers with sentries standing guard? In those dark days, Jews had to hide this holy ritual from government apparatchiks seeking to protect them from the “primitive” practices of Jewish clergy.

Are we about to revisit those day in our own country? Such a scenario may not be that far-fetched if we don’t raise our collective voices and set the record straight.

It will be a bechiya ledoros if local health departments become the arbiters of halachic practice. It will be a bechiya ledoros if the NY Daily News and Don Imus are permitted to become the forums of halachic debate. It will be a bechiya ledoros if mesirah is tolerated as the method of arbiting Halacha.

It will be a bechiya ledoros if a person like Rabbi Fischer can be harassed and scapegoated and we don’t all rise as one to his defense.

A HEALTHY HEART

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

Parshas Terumah marks the transition from parshiyos dealing with the creation of Am Yisroel and its development as a people, to the parshiyos which deal with the Mishkon and the bringing of Korbonos.

The parsha begins with Hakadosh Boruch Hu instructing Moshe on how to collect the gold, silver, copper and other materials vital to the construction of the Mishkon as a home for the Shechinah in the desert.

The Posuk states “Viyikchu Li Terumah M’eis Kol Ish Asher Yidvenu Libo Tikchu Es Terumasi. Accept donations from all those whose hearts motivate them; you shall take the collection from them.”

Moshe Rabbeinu was commanded to accept contributions only from people who possessed a “nedivus halev.”

What is “nedivus halev” and why could Moshe take contributions of material required for the construction of the Mishkon only from people who possessed this attribute?

In Parshas Shemos [4: 13, 14] Moshe tried to convince Hashem to appoint his brother Aharon instead of himself, for the privileged role of speaking to the Bnei Yisroel. The posuk recounts that Hashem grew angry with Moshe and informed him that his brother Aharon would travel to greet him and would be happy that Moshe was selected. The lashon of the Posuk is “Vero’achah Vesomach Beliboh.”

Rashi explains that Hashem was telling Moshe that he was incorrect in assuming that Aharon would feel upstaged by Moshe’s appointment as the leader of the Jewish people.

Moshe was told that on the contrary, Aharon would be truly happy for him. It is interesting that the Posuk states “Vesomach Belibo - in his heart he will rejoice for you.”

Rashi states that as reward for his genuine, heartfelt happiness over the promotion of his younger brother, Aharon was zoche to wear the Choshen –which was worn over the heart—and to serve as the Kohen Gadol in the Mishkon. What proved his worthiness to serve lifnai ulifnim was the fact that he experienced true, selfless joy over his brother’s spiritual attainments.

Aharon Hakohein, the same person who was able to be happy for his brother Moshe, was the one who is described by Chazal as an “Oheiv Shalom Verodeph Shalom.” Because he was blessed with a good heart, he was able to pursue peace between his fellow Jews. He was able to relate to other people and their problems, to bring people together and to minimize the elements that separated them.

Aharon was able to bring peace between warring partners and incompatible spouses; he was able to bring people closer to Torah; he was able to wear the Choshen and perform Hashem’s service in the Mishkon because he possessed the midah of “vero’achah vesomach beliboh.”

A selfless giant, he was unencumbered by jealousy.

That may be a hint to the explanation behind the requirement that the Mishkon be built by donations of people “asher yidvenu libo.” Rashi explains that it is a depiction of good intentions, “preshnit belaz,” which my Chumash translates as “A Reinhartizgeh present,” which means a present given with a clean heart.

A Mishkon has to be built with the help of people who possess pure and clean hearts and thus are able to donate their goods with the fullest measure of good intentions.

In order to get a Mishkon built; in order to bring holiness to this world; in order to effect major accomplishments, you must only deal with people who possess good hearts, who give without conditions and who genuinely are interested in contributing to the public welfare.

If you want to accomplish things in life, stay away from those who aren’t able to rejoice in another’s happiness; stay away from those who donate with the intention of promoting their own divergent agenda. If you want to be able to build, you have to be able to distinguish between those who are giving because they truly want to give and those who give because there is something in it for themselves.

Those who are blessed with good hearts and donate to the cause because they are Nedivei Leiv are people with whom you can realize great achievements. Seek them out and accept their partnership in your endeavor.

If you want to be a person whose life is full and marked by accomplishment, you have to follow the same prescription. You must seek to mold your heart in the pattern of Aharon Hakohein. You have to work on your middos so that you will be selfless, non-judgmental and not consumed by jealousy of others.

People who are Nedivei Leiv are positive people who look to do good without criticizing others gratuitously. People who are Nedivei Leiv seek to help others, to spread brotherhood, G-dliness and goodness in this world.

People such as these merit to improve themselves to the degree that their hearts become pure and holy and they become incapable of engaging in wrongdoing or harming others in any way. Their entire lives become a chain of goodness, happiness and greatness. They exist to help and support others and thus merit positions of leadership in the Mishkon Hashem.

They are not only an inspiration to others, but their entire life becomes a string of positive reinforcement directed at their fellow man, and thus the ripple effect of their contribution continues to grow.

There is no better time than now to start educating ourselves to be forces for good. Adar is the month of happiness, Mishenichnas Adar Marbim BeSimcha.

The last halacha in Orach Chaim indicates how this can be done. The Mechaber rules that in a year in which there are two months of Adar, such as this year, there is no obligation to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month with a festive meal or with increased joy.

The Ramah concurs and says even though some Poskim argue with the Mechaber’s ruling and state that there is an obligation for Mishteh and Simcha, our custom does not follow that ruling. Nevertheless, says the Ramah, in deference to the ruling of those who are more stringent, it is proper to add something special to our meals on the fourteenth day of Adar Aleph.

To complete this thought as well as to round off his discussion of the halacha and the entire Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim, the Ramah brings a posuk which seems to sum it all up: “Vetov Lev Mishteh Samid, one who possesses a good heart constantly feasts.” In other words, one who is a Lev Tov, a good-hearted person, is always happy.

Who is a Lev Tov? He is someone who delights in the happiness of his fellow Jews; a Nediv Lev. We are speaking of someone who looks with an approving eye at others and what they are seeking to build. A Lev Tov doesn’t sit on the sidelines carping and taking pot shots; a Lev Tov takes the lead in volunteering his assistance. A Lev Tov seeks to use his life to increase G-dliness and happiness in this world.

Significantly, the Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim opens with the verse “Shivisi Hashem Lenegdi Samid” and ends with “Vetov Lev Mishteh Samid.” The connection between the two statements is obvious: a person who always sees Hashem before his eyes is the person who can be in a perpetual state of happiness. He who realizes that all that transpires in this world is G-d’s will is one who can be constantly at peace and in harmony with others.

One who refuses to recognize that G-d runs the world tends to fall prey to negativity and to be jealous of those around him. Why does my neighbor have a Lexus while I have a Ford? How come she has a designer pocketbook while I have to make do with last year’s style that I bought in Marshals? How come he has more money than me and a better job?

One who observes the Posuk of “Shivisi Hashem Lenegdi Samid” is a person who is happy with their lot because they realize such is the will of Hashem. Such a person is a “Tov Lev” and is “Mishteh Samid.”

The fact that the Ramah brings the Posuk in Hilchos Megillah in reference to a year with an Adar Alef and Adar Beis, indicates that Adar is a propitious time to begin working on utilizing that lesson to increase the measure of happiness in our lives.

In Adar the weather starts turning warmer…the snow melts away; trees and flowers prepare to begin sprouting. Let us thaw out our souls and hearts and seek good causes in which to involve ourselves. In the spirit of Adar, let us rid our hearts of disease and ill will, evil thoughts and malice towards others; it will make us all happier and healthier.

May we all merit healthy and pure good hearts, bursting with happiness and joy in Adar and all year round.

COMMEMORATION AND BETRAYAL

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

The Holocaust. The word itself has the power to conjure up a sense of horror and unspeakable pain. Has anything more horrendous than the evil Nazi reign confronted us and the entire world in the past century?

As the years pass, it becomes easier for some to break their silence about a tragedy that no words in any language can adequately describe. World leaders feel a need to talk about it, too, perhaps to ease feelings of guilt.

Last week, an impressive array of world leaders gathered to solemnly commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz. A world which turned its back on the victims in their hour of desperation seeks to reverse that record of inhumanity today with eloquent words of compassion.

Even the United Nations, not exactly regarded as a friend of our people, held a special session last week in honor of this event. Over 40 politicians traveled to the desolate Polish town, trailed by photographers who recorded every step.

The well-written speeches of world leaders are meant to offer solace and encouragement to Holocaust survivors and victims. But do they? Does hearing platitudes from Kofi Annan—mired in all sorts of corruption scandals, with his less-than-honorable record on Israel— touch our hearts?

Where were the world leaders 61 years ago? Where were the photographers? Where were the speechwriters? Where were the media reporters?

We all know the answer. They closed their eyes, ears and mouths. They couldn’t be bothered. We look at the pictures of the dignitaries marching about Auschwitz wearing pained expressions with heads bowed, and we wonder: are they honoring the memory of the dead or are they trampling on it?

Shouldn’t standing at the spot where over one million people were gassed and cremated rob one of words? Send a shiver down the spine of even the most spineless? In the shadow of the greatest human slaughter the world has ever seen, how is it possible to pontificate? Is life to be reduced to a game of posing and positioning and photo-ops?

Where is the humility one would expect in the face of the realization that “Afar Atah V’el Afar Toshuv?”

The posing and posturing of esteemed world leaders appears so cynical against the backdrop of the U.N.’s demonizing campaign against Israel. A majority of the UN’s members have accepted the big lie, and equate Israel with the Nazis who perpetrated the atrocities at Auschwitz in an attempt to wipe out the Jewish people.

Is the world about to accord Israel the same treatment accorded other states, or will the hypocritical double-standard still remain standard operating procedure?

Along with the world’s pious pledges to guard against another Holocaust, Israel’s own leaders are busy propagating an equally hollow claim: a Holocaust will never again be possible, they say, because now “we have our own state.”

If in today’s enlightened times, Israel’s position is as endangered as a lone sheep among seventy wolves all seeking to devour it, why should anyone assume that a state of Israel fifty-five years ago could have thwarted the Nazis juggernaut?

Far be it from us to attempt to comprehend the Divine decree behind the Holocaust. But it should be self-evident that the state of Israel, unable to protect its own citizens adequately, could never save world Jewry in the event of another holocaust, chas v’sholom.

Anti-Semitism has only increased since the founding of the state, the Am Kechol HaAmim theory has not panned out. European sympathy for the Palestinians runs high, while hostility toward Israel is intensifying across the globe.

Delusions Of Grandeur

Meanwhile, Ariel Sharon and his vaunted army cannot even protect the citizens of S’derot from primitive Kasam rockets fired in from Gaza. Gaza is a mess which Israel has chosen to abandon. World opinion is forcing Israel to recognize the rights of the fictitious Palestinian people to a homeland on its border. The world is deaf to Israel’s concerns and the small country so dependent on U.S. aid cannot afford to thumb its nose at England’s Blair and France’s Chirac.

Isn’t it rather incongruous for the prime minister to guarantee the safety of Jews worldwide as he turns over more and more towns to Abbas’s terrorists-cum-security forces? Sharon speaks of a historical turning point right around the corner, but who with any knowledge of contemporary Middle East history and of Sharon’s about-face on his core principles can put stock in his grandiose predictions?

The leaders who deliver speeches every Yom Hashoa and Yom Ha’atzmaut promising “Never Again,” are implementing high-risk policies with little regard to the far-reaching consequences. Every Israeli prime minister has fought his way to office by campaigning on a platform that pledges not to surrender to terrorists or compromise on the State’s security. As soon as he is in office, however, the politician’s s campaign promises are forgotten and a new plan of capitulation to the Arabs is devised.

For decades it was sacrilegious to suggest that settlements would have to be sacrificed to achieve a lasting peace. Today, people who don’t agree that settlements must be evacuated are viewed as jeopardizing the nation’s security.

Meanwhile, Palestinian elections earlier this month, putting Mahmoud Abbbas, Yaser Arafat’s deputy for 30 years, in office, have not changed the equation. Abbas wears a suit instead of army fatigues and he photographs better then his old boss, but he has refused to take action against Palestinian terrorists and in fact, has pledged to continue Arafat’s policies.

Abbas called for a cease fire of Arab attacks on Israel, and since it has been largely upheld for all of two weeks, Ariel Sharon seized the opportunity to proclaim a major historical “breakthrough.”

A phone survey published in Jerusalem Post showed that fully 70% of Israelis believed that the Palestinians intend to use the cease fire to organize and arm themselves against Israel. But ignoring what is obvious to the rest of the world, Sharon is not to be deterred.

Betrayal

He has allowed Abbas’s men to be placed in charge of security in Gaza and is about to empower them to take charge of the same in seven West Bank cities. Sharon is pressing ahead with his unilateral plan to expel all Jews from the Gaza strip and transfer the territory to Abbas and his Palestinian Authority.

Sharon’s betrayal of his most cherished principles is as unfathomable as it is shameful. Here is a man who made a career out of fighting terror; the man who spent his professional life beating back Arab attacks on Israel. This self-described father of the settlements is engaged in a desperate battle to demonize those very people who gave him his rise to power.

Following his lead and trusting his word, thousands of settlers moved with their families to the outposts of civilization, building up the land that they vowed would never again be controlled by non-Jews. The thousands of families who attached messianic significance and fervor to living in trailers in areas surrounded on all sides by Arabs bent on their destruction, are now the bitter adversaries of Ariel Sharon, the man they had looked up to as their savior.

Many of the trailer parks grew into genuine cities bursting with men, women and children who had built local infrastructures of schools, businesses, yeshivos and shuls. With promises of governmental support, they were made to feel as if they were a crucial bulwark protecting Israel from enemies looking for any opportunity to overrun it.

Now they are painted as violence-prone fanatics obstructing peace.

Does Sharon’s plan hold the keys to peace or will it reward Hamas for their ongoing terror war of attrition? Will the Arabs perceive the unilateral withdrawal as a victory as they did when Israel unilaterally withdrew from Lebanon? Is this plan safer than the foolish and destructive ideas concocted in Oslo, which a decade ago brought Arafat back to the region and handed him the gift of the Palestinian Authority?

Nobody knows. All one can do is speculate, and try to connect the dots.

The country founded with so much hope is filled with thousands of worried citizens, fearful and pessimistic about the future. Apprehensive they should well be. The leaders they invested with the power to protect them from their enemies and to guide the country through dangerous waters appear unable to put the national security ahead of personal ambition.

In His Own Words

Ariel Sharon wrote in his autobiography “Warrior,” “Withdrawal from the territories is, unfortunately, an easy answer that may satisfy a certain number of people initially but which will inevitably create more violence and a greater threat to our survival than we have faced since the first part of the War of Independence.

”Gaza at this point is our southern security belt. What will we do once we withdraw from Gaza and find that squads of terrorists are again operating from there into Israel, murdering and destroying?

“What will we do when the Katyusha fire starts hitting Sderot, four miles from the Gaza district, and then Ashkelon, nine miles from Gaza, and Kiryat Gat, fourteen miles from Gaza.

“A Katyusha is nothing more than a metal tube seven feet long, easily transportable, virtually undetectable. The simplest of them has a fifteen-mile range; the more sophisticated can reach twenty-five miles.

“What shall we do if U.N. or multinational forces are positioned around Gaza and there is still terrorism? Shall we hit the Italians, or the British, or the Americans? What will we do when there are raids from Samaria and Judea into Kfar Saba and Petach Tikva and the suburbs of Tel Aviv?”

The same person, whose autobiography is replete with tales of how he himself built up the settlements and the cogent arguments justifying them, is today dismantling them one at a time as he negotiates with the enemy.

With the same fervor and stubborn determination he used to build and maintain the settlements, Sharon is now ready to demolish anyone who stands in the way of his attempt to uproot them.

Those who envisioned an Israel that would never bow to world threats or retreat in the face of terror should by now grasp the foolishness of depending on any politician to guarantee their safety. By this time it ought to be obvious that there is no one leader, from the Left or the Right, and no government that can stop the Hand that controls our destiny in the Diaspora.

Let us pray that the eternal Shomer Yisroel deliver us from the evil designs of all our enemies and bring a lasting peace to the land of Israel and to all of humanity, Bimheira Byomeinu.

An Everlasting Hate

Chazal Teach “Lomoh Nikra Sh’mah Sinai…” why is the mountain upon which the Torah was given called Sinai? Because from there ‘Sinah’ came down to the world.” When the Jews received the Torah and became the Chosen People, a virulent, relentless hatred for the Jewish people spread around the world that will persist until Moshiach redeems us.

Anti-Semitism will not bury its ugly head no matter how many Auschwitz commemorations are held, no matter how many settlements are built or destroyed. The existence of a vibrant and healthy Jewish state also will not rid us of that scourge.

It is only though our actions and deeds in following the Torah and its commandments that we will be a light unto the nations, “Ki Hi Chochmaschem U’Binaschem L’einey Ho’amim….”

It does offer up a measure of comfort when men of good will gather and express their determination never to allow another Holocaust but such acts should not lull us into thinking that genocide against our people can never happen again. Our fate as a people is bound up in the way we conduct our lives; our safety and security is tied to our devotion to observing Torah and Mitzvos in whatever circumstances and whatever region of the world we find ourselves.

Human Beings, Not Statistics

People can gather and speak at Auschwitz because they don’t look beyond the ceremonial fanfare. They think in terms of numbers and statistics. They don’t visualize individuals. One person and another person and another and another.

(That same tendency to depersonalize the victims explains why it is so easy for people to talk about uprooting thousands of people from their homes in Gaza. For them, Gaza is nothing more than a tiny piece of geography on the map. It matters not that its Jewish residents are families with parents and children. To the world, they are mere numbers and dry statistics.)

Think about all the people affected by the tragic and untimely death of just one person. Think about the parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and cousins of that person and the pain they feel. Think about that person’s loved ones and close friends. Think about the neighbors, the workmates, the people that person came in contact with and touched in a myriad of ways during that person’s sojourn on this earth. Think about how they are affected for the rest of their lives. And then think of Auschwitz.

Multiply the tragedy of one death by two, by three, by a hundred, by a thousand, tens of thousands, a million. Multiply the cruelty, the brutality, the sadism. Multiply the suffering and anguish. And then think of Auschwitz.

Think about the tsunami that killed upwards of 250,000 people and how the world shook in horror, and then think of Auschwitz.

Think of a thousand years of history wiped out. Think of generations of Jews slaughtered. Think of a golden chain of generations interrupted. Think of all the Torah knowledge deleted from this world. Think of town after town emptied of its Jewish population. Think of one Jew and another and another and another. And then think of Auschwitz.

If we truly want to commemorate Auschwitz and strengthen Israel we should be nice to one Jew. And then to another. And then to another.

If we truly want to commemorate Auschwitz and strengthen Israel we should give one dollar to support Torah. And then another. And then another.

If we truly want to commemorate Auschwitz and strengthen Israel we should give one dollar to support poor people. And then another. And then another.

If we truly want to commemorate Auschwitz and strengthen Israel we should learn one daf of Gemorah. And then another. And then another.

If we truly want to honor the kedoshim massacred Auschwitz and strengthen Israel we would pay no attention to what Kofi Anan said or what Vladimir Putin said or didn’t say. We would study the words of G-d and revel in the words of the Chumash and Tanach. We would study and be touched by the immortal words of the prophets Yeshayahu and Yirmiyohu.

We would improve ourselves daily as we await the fulfillment of the prophecy, “Ve’alu Moshi’m Behar Tziyon Lishpot Es Har Eisav.”

COMMEMORATION AND BETRAYAL

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

The Holocaust. The word itself has the power to conjure up a sense of horror and unspeakable pain. Has anything more horrendous than the evil Nazi reign confronted us and the entire world in the past century?

As the years pass, it becomes easier for some to break their silence about a tragedy that no words in any language can adequately describe. World leaders feel a need to talk about it, too, perhaps to ease feelings of guilt.

Last week, an impressive array of world leaders gathered to solemnly commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz. A world which turned its back on the victims in their hour of desperation seeks to reverse that record of inhumanity today with eloquent words of compassion.

Even the United Nations, not exactly regarded as a friend of our people, held a special session last week in honor of this event. Over 40 politicians traveled to the desolate Polish town, trailed by photographers who recorded every step.

The well-written speeches of world leaders are meant to offer solace and encouragement to Holocaust survivors and victims. But do they? Does hearing platitudes from Kofi Annan—mired in all sorts of corruption scandals, with his less-than-honorable record on Israel— touch our hearts?

Where were the world leaders 61 years ago? Where were the photographers? Where were the speechwriters? Where were the media reporters?

We all know the answer. They closed their eyes, ears and mouths. They couldn’t be bothered. We look at the pictures of the dignitaries marching about Auschwitz wearing pained expressions with heads bowed, and we wonder: are they honoring the memory of the dead or are they trampling on it?

Shouldn’t standing at the spot where over one million people were gassed and cremated rob one of words? Send a shiver down the spine of even the most spineless? In the shadow of the greatest human slaughter the world has ever seen, how is it possible to pontificate? Is life to be reduced to a game of posing and positioning and photo-ops?

Where is the humility one would expect in the face of the realization that “Afar Atah V’el Afar Toshuv?”

The posing and posturing of esteemed world leaders appears so cynical against the backdrop of the U.N.’s demonizing campaign against Israel. A majority of the UN’s members have accepted the big lie, and equate Israel with the Nazis who perpetrated the atrocities at Auschwitz in an attempt to wipe out the Jewish people.

Is the world about to accord Israel the same treatment accorded other states, or will the hypocritical double-standard still remain standard operating procedure?

Along with the world’s pious pledges to guard against another Holocaust, Israel’s own leaders are busy propagating an equally hollow claim: a Holocaust will never again be possible, they say, because now “we have our own state.”

If in today’s enlightened times, Israel’s position is as endangered as a lone sheep among seventy wolves all seeking to devour it, why should anyone assume that a state of Israel fifty-five years ago could have thwarted the Nazis juggernaut?

Far be it from us to attempt to comprehend the Divine decree behind the Holocaust. But it should be self-evident that the state of Israel, unable to protect its own citizens adequately, could never save world Jewry in the event of another holocaust, chas v’sholom.

Anti-Semitism has only increased since the founding of the state, the Am Kechol HaAmim theory has not panned out. European sympathy for the Palestinians runs high, while hostility toward Israel is intensifying across the globe.

Delusions Of Grandeur

Meanwhile, Ariel Sharon and his vaunted army cannot even protect the citizens of S’derot from primitive Kasam rockets fired in from Gaza. Gaza is a mess which Israel has chosen to abandon. World opinion is forcing Israel to recognize the rights of the fictitious Palestinian people to a homeland on its border. The world is deaf to Israel’s concerns and the small country so dependent on U.S. aid cannot afford to thumb its nose at England’s Blair and France’s Chirac.

Isn’t it rather incongruous for the prime minister to guarantee the safety of Jews worldwide as he turns over more and more towns to Abbas’s terrorists-cum-security forces? Sharon speaks of a historical turning point right around the corner, but who with any knowledge of contemporary Middle East history and of Sharon’s about-face on his core principles can put stock in his grandiose predictions?

The leaders who deliver speeches every Yom Hashoa and Yom Ha’atzmaut promising “Never Again,” are implementing high-risk policies with little regard to the far-reaching consequences. Every Israeli prime minister has fought his way to office by campaigning on a platform that pledges not to surrender to terrorists or compromise on the State’s security. As soon as he is in office, however, the politician’s s campaign promises are forgotten and a new plan of capitulation to the Arabs is devised.

For decades it was sacrilegious to suggest that settlements would have to be sacrificed to achieve a lasting peace. Today, people who don’t agree that settlements must be evacuated are viewed as jeopardizing the nation’s security.

Meanwhile, Palestinian elections earlier this month, putting Mahmoud Abbbas, Yaser Arafat’s deputy for 30 years, in office, have not changed the equation. Abbas wears a suit instead of army fatigues and he photographs better then his old boss, but he has refused to take action against Palestinian terrorists and in fact, has pledged to continue Arafat’s policies.

Abbas called for a cease fire of Arab attacks on Israel, and since it has been largely upheld for all of two weeks, Ariel Sharon seized the opportunity to proclaim a major historical “breakthrough.”

A phone survey published in Jerusalem Post showed that fully 70% of Israelis believed that the Palestinians intend to use the cease fire to organize and arm themselves against Israel. But ignoring what is obvious to the rest of the world, Sharon is not to be deterred.

Betrayal

He has allowed Abbas’s men to be placed in charge of security in Gaza and is about to empower them to take charge of the same in seven West Bank cities. Sharon is pressing ahead with his unilateral plan to expel all Jews from the Gaza strip and transfer the territory to Abbas and his Palestinian Authority.

Sharon’s betrayal of his most cherished principles is as unfathomable as it is shameful. Here is a man who made a career out of fighting terror; the man who spent his professional life beating back Arab attacks on Israel. This self-described father of the settlements is engaged in a desperate battle to demonize those very people who gave him his rise to power.

Following his lead and trusting his word, thousands of settlers moved with their families to the outposts of civilization, building up the land that they vowed would never again be controlled by non-Jews. The thousands of families who attached messianic significance and fervor to living in trailers in areas surrounded on all sides by Arabs bent on their destruction, are now the bitter adversaries of Ariel Sharon, the man they had looked up to as their savior.

Many of the trailer parks grew into genuine cities bursting with men, women and children who had built local infrastructures of schools, businesses, yeshivos and shuls. With promises of governmental support, they were made to feel as if they were a crucial bulwark protecting Israel from enemies looking for any opportunity to overrun it.

Now they are painted as violence-prone fanatics obstructing peace.

Does Sharon’s plan hold the keys to peace or will it reward Hamas for their ongoing terror war of attrition? Will the Arabs perceive the unilateral withdrawal as a victory as they did when Israel unilaterally withdrew from Lebanon? Is this plan safer than the foolish and destructive ideas concocted in Oslo, which a decade ago brought Arafat back to the region and handed him the gift of the Palestinian Authority?

Nobody knows. All one can do is speculate, and try to connect the dots.

The country founded with so much hope is filled with thousands of worried citizens, fearful and pessimistic about the future. Apprehensive they should well be. The leaders they invested with the power to protect them from their enemies and to guide the country through dangerous waters appear unable to put the national security ahead of personal ambition.

In His Own Words

Ariel Sharon wrote in his autobiography “Warrior,” “Withdrawal from the territories is, unfortunately, an easy answer that may satisfy a certain number of people initially but which will inevitably create more violence and a greater threat to our survival than we have faced since the first part of the War of Independence.

”Gaza at this point is our southern security belt. What will we do once we withdraw from Gaza and find that squads of terrorists are again operating from there into Israel, murdering and destroying?

“What will we do when the Katyusha fire starts hitting Sderot, four miles from the Gaza district, and then Ashkelon, nine miles from Gaza, and Kiryat Gat, fourteen miles from Gaza.

“A Katyusha is nothing more than a metal tube seven feet long, easily transportable, virtually undetectable. The simplest of them has a fifteen-mile range; the more sophisticated can reach twenty-five miles.

“What shall we do if U.N. or multinational forces are positioned around Gaza and there is still terrorism? Shall we hit the Italians, or the British, or the Americans? What will we do when there are raids from Samaria and Judea into Kfar Saba and Petach Tikva and the suburbs of Tel Aviv?”

The same person, whose autobiography is replete with tales of how he himself built up the settlements and the cogent arguments justifying them, is today dismantling them one at a time as he negotiates with the enemy.

With the same fervor and stubborn determination he used to build and maintain the settlements, Sharon is now ready to demolish anyone who stands in the way of his attempt to uproot them.

Those who envisioned an Israel that would never bow to world threats or retreat in the face of terror should by now grasp the foolishness of depending on any politician to guarantee their safety. By this time it ought to be obvious that there is no one leader, from the Left or the Right, and no government that can stop the Hand that controls our destiny in the Diaspora.

Let us pray that the eternal Shomer Yisroel deliver us from the evil designs of all our enemies and bring a lasting peace to the land of Israel and to all of humanity, Bimheira Byomeinu.

An Everlasting Hate

Chazal Teach “Lomoh Nikra Sh’mah Sinai…” why is the mountain upon which the Torah was given called Sinai? Because from there ‘Sinah’ came down to the world.” When the Jews received the Torah and became the Chosen People, a virulent, relentless hatred for the Jewish people spread around the world that will persist until Moshiach redeems us.

Anti-Semitism will not bury its ugly head no matter how many Auschwitz commemorations are held, no matter how many settlements are built or destroyed. The existence of a vibrant and healthy Jewish state also will not rid us of that scourge.

It is only though our actions and deeds in following the Torah and its commandments that we will be a light unto the nations, “Ki Hi Chochmaschem U’Binaschem L’einey Ho’amim….”

It does offer up a measure of comfort when men of good will gather and express their determination never to allow another Holocaust but such acts should not lull us into thinking that genocide against our people can never happen again. Our fate as a people is bound up in the way we conduct our lives; our safety and security is tied to our devotion to observing Torah and Mitzvos in whatever circumstances and whatever region of the world we find ourselves.

Human Beings, Not Statistics

People can gather and speak at Auschwitz because they don’t look beyond the ceremonial fanfare. They think in terms of numbers and statistics. They don’t visualize individuals. One person and another person and another and another.

(That same tendency to depersonalize the victims explains why it is so easy for people to talk about uprooting thousands of people from their homes in Gaza. For them, Gaza is nothing more than a tiny piece of geography on the map. It matters not that its Jewish residents are families with parents and children. To the world, they are mere numbers and dry statistics.)

Think about all the people affected by the tragic and untimely death of just one person. Think about the parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and cousins of that person and the pain they feel. Think about that person’s loved ones and close friends. Think about the neighbors, the workmates, the people that person came in contact with and touched in a myriad of ways during that person’s sojourn on this earth. Think about how they are affected for the rest of their lives. And then think of Auschwitz.

Multiply the tragedy of one death by two, by three, by a hundred, by a thousand, tens of thousands, a million. Multiply the cruelty, the brutality, the sadism. Multiply the suffering and anguish. And then think of Auschwitz.

Think about the tsunami that killed upwards of 250,000 people and how the world shook in horror, and then think of Auschwitz.

Think of a thousand years of history wiped out. Think of generations of Jews slaughtered. Think of a golden chain of generations interrupted. Think of all the Torah knowledge deleted from this world. Think of town after town emptied of its Jewish population. Think of one Jew and another and another and another. And then think of Auschwitz.

If we truly want to commemorate Auschwitz and strengthen Israel we should be nice to one Jew. And then to another. And then to another.

If we truly want to commemorate Auschwitz and strengthen Israel we should give one dollar to support Torah. And then another. And then another.

If we truly want to commemorate Auschwitz and strengthen Israel we should give one dollar to support poor people. And then another. And then another.

If we truly want to commemorate Auschwitz and strengthen Israel we should learn one daf of Gemorah. And then another. And then another.

If we truly want to honor the kedoshim massacred Auschwitz and strengthen Israel we would pay no attention to what Kofi Anan said or what Vladimir Putin said or didn’t say. We would study the words of G-d and revel in the words of the Chumash and Tanach. We would study and be touched by the immortal words of the prophets Yeshayahu and Yirmiyohu.

We would improve ourselves daily as we await the fulfillment of the prophecy, “Ve’alu Moshi’m Behar Tziyon Lishpot Es Har Eisav.”