A New Year, A New Beginning

by Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

At the time of the technological revolution, during the beginning of the twentieth century, when the world suddenly began exploding with innovative inventions, the Chofetz Chaim wrote in his sefer Shem Olam that the inventions serve to strengthen our emunah. Pertaining to the camera he wrote, it serves to demonstrate that the Mishnah’s admonition of “ayin ro’eh” is not just an allegory, but is real, much the same as the telephone hammers home the fact that there is an “ozen shoma’as” that hears at all times.

If there is a technical gizmo that symbolizes our present situation this week, perhaps it is the reset button, allowing us the ability to shut the system down and begin again. We can extricate ourselves from the mire we’re in by taking advantage of this Divine gift. “Zeh hayom techilas ma’asecha.” Rosh Hashanah is not just the commemoration of the first day of creation, but an opportunity to experience creation anew, and in the process renew our own personal circumstances.

Rav Yisroel Salanter famously questioned why Rosh Hashanah precedes Yom Kippur. It would make more sense, he said, to first cleanse ourselves through teshuvah and then be able to more properly celebrate Hashem’s dominion over the universe. It would seem that there would be greater glory for our King if His subjects, who join in His coronation, are already pure of sin and fully devoted to His will.

Perhaps the answer lies in the essence of Rosh Hashanah. This day proclaims that there is no status quo. Nothing can be counted on to continue during the coming year just because it was so during the previous year. There are no chazakos. Thus, we pour out our hearts in prayer, davening for a good new year, fully trusting that there are no chazakos in the negative areas of our lives. We seek to merit a year full of positive developments for ourselves and our families.

Just as we look forward to the New Year to break any negatives in our lives, we are fearful because we realize that we have no lease on good health, parnassah or the other blessings in our lives.

Hayom haras olam. Today is the day of creation. Not just back when the world was created 5,772 years ago, but also today and now. Hayom yaamid bamishpot kol yetzurei olamim. Today, the forces of creation are strongly present, as Hashem judges all His creatures and decides what type of year they will be having. The day of Rosh Hashanah marks a new beginning for everyone.

This new beginning can actually be a source of comfort, for it indicates that we aren’t locked in to our sorry spiritual states. Thus, the teshuvah process begins with the days of Rosh Hashanah, reminding us that we aren’t stuck in our ways. We can walk a new path, if we press the reset button. Therefore, Rosh Hashanah precedes Yom Kippur, because it is the day when we begin anew. That new beginning is what gives us the confidence to undertake teshuvah and make ourselves whole once again.

Rosh Hashanah is the gift that launches us onto the path culminating with Ne’ilah on Yom Kippur. It is this awareness that allows us to believe that we can change. Everything can change.

In the shofar’s plaintive wail, we hear echoes of the blasts that were sounded at Har Sinai, when Klal Yisroel was formed into the nation of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The shofar then proclaimed a new beginning. The world had reached its destiny. There was only hope and promise.

The shofar was also blown at Yovel. When we blow it on Rosh Hashanah, it hints at the independence of the Yovel year, the collective song of freedom chanted by so many released slaves going home to begin life anew. The very earth also joins in the process, as land returns to its original owners in Yovel. We, too, can all start again. We can get a fresh start, a new lease on life.

Many speak about the fusion of joy and awe on Rosh Hashanah. The mandate to celebrate the Yom Tov is laced with the severity of the Day of Judgment. In light of the above, we can well understand the simcha. It is joy over the fact that as far removed from Hashem as we may feel, as dark as things might seem, we have a chance to press reset and begin anew.

Teshuvah is the way to climb back to where we belong. It is a veritable life-vest being extended in a stormy sea to save us.

The Brisker Rov once remarked that some problems have no eitzah. The only solution is to have avoided the mess in the first place. He shared a pithy story to illustrate the point. There was a baal agalah whose wagon got stuck in a ditch, and although he pushed and pulled, he was unable to get it out of the mud. He beat the horse and rocked the wagon, but to no avail.

Eventually, he left the wagon there and walked to the nearest town, frustration and bitterness accompanying him on the exhausting walk. He reached the town and searched for a veteran wagon-driver. He found one and described his situation.

The old-timer shrugged. “There is nothing to do.”

“So what’s the solution?” asked the desperate baal agalah.

“You make sure not to get into a rut like that to begin with!”

The Rov’s story is all too true in some areas.

But thankfully not all.

We slip. We make mistakes. We commit sins. We don’t do mitzvos properly.

But one of the greatest chassodim that Hakadosh Boruch Hu does for us is that he gives us a way to climb out of the rut.

He gives us Rosh Hashanah, when everything starts over. We are given the ability to make a new beginning and to start from scratch.

To be happy, even if we were sad.

To be upbeat, even if we were depressed.

To learn well, even if we didn’t last year.

To scrub ourselves clean from sin and muck, from the dirt and silliness we got involved in.

The ability to press reset on all the components that make up our lives, so that we can begin anew.

When we were children, we would look for the colon, or “two-dots,” in a Gemara. Sometimes, we found the sugya we were learning to be too difficult and complex for us to comprehend, so we looked ahead to see where a new sugya would begin. There we would get a new start and hopefully gain a proper understanding of the Gemara. Even if we had missed the opportunity to follow along and were hopelessly lost in our feeble attempts to comprehend the deliberations of the sugya, we knew that the future would be better. We would have a fresh start.

Rosh Hashanah is the two dots in the shvere sugya of life. We pick ourselves up and start again.

We are arriving at the finish line of 5771, staggering. By all accounts, it was a rough year. When we express the annual hope of “Tichleh shanah vikileloseha,” there is no shortage of difficulties to which we refer.

The Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 16) teaches that a year that is “rosh,” meaning impoverished, at its start, will be rich at its close. Rashi explains this to mean that we recognize that the Yidden come to shul like poor people, hands outstretched, destitute and desperate, and offer tefillos which in essence are akin to a beggar pleading for a donation, tachanunim yidaber rosh.

This is the yesod of Rosh Hashanah, said Rav Yitzchok Blazer in the same of his rebbi, Rav Yisroel Salanter. To recognize that we have no guarantees, no chazakos, but also that we are facing the Source of all blessing. Like a poor man who has a meeting with the most generous donor, anything is possible.

Rav Eizik Sher expands this idea a little further. On Rosh Hashanah, everything in creation and every creature is judged individually. As the Mishnah [Rosh Hashanah 1, 2] teaches, “Vechol bo’ei olam ovrin lefanav k’vnei maron.”

There is so much being judged. In the human race itself, there is a world with billions of people. There are many nations and countries. Each of them is judged - who to hunger, who to war, who to peace...

Only one nation knows the secret. Only a minute percentage of the people lining up before G-d is aware of what it takes to be zocheh bedin. Only Am Yisroel knows the secret. We know that standing like a “rosh,” an impoverished beggar, is a means to be granted a sweet year on Rosh Hashanah.

The sense of our own frailty itself is a catalyst for our triumph. We are nothing. We have nothing. All we have is Hashem’s great mercy. Rav Nachman of Breslov points out that the roshei teivos of the words recited prior to tekias shofar, “Beshimcha yegilun kol hayom,” form the word bechiyah, meaning to cry. The posuk which outwardly refers to Klal Yisroel’s joy in Hashem’s Name contains a hint of the tears it generates. We are awed. We feel small and humbled in His presence. This itself serves to protect us, much the same as a powerful father draws his helpless, weak child close.

Rav Moshe Shmuel Shapiro once explained why the teshuva process begins with Rosh Hashana, rather than Yom Kippur. He said that Yom Kippur is when we do teshuva for the aveiros we’ve done, on pettiness and selfishness and so many other vices. On Rosh Hashanah, however, the teshuva is on how we think, not necessarily developing yet a new course of action, but rather beginning the teshuva process with a new attitude.

The day is meant to reshape our perspectives, and make us realize that we need a special teshuva for our previous mindset. What is the Rosh Hashana mindset?

Rav Shimshon Pincus sheds light on what the day teaches us, and his insight can virtually change the way we daven.

If someone approaches a wealthy man for a donation, the donor might be helpful, but he will assume that there are others who will help as well. But if the collector asks for money saying “I have gone to everyone in this town, and I am still very far from my goal. You are the only one who can help me,” he will likely get a more generous donation.

Another mashal from Rav Pincus. A fund-raiser might approach nine wealthy men for donations, and each will help him. The tenth donor, however, is his uncle, here, he is assured of a large donation, since it’s being given out of love.

The two prime components in achieving a request are complete dependence on the giver, and an awareness of his love.

Hakadosh Boruch Hu, said Rav Pincus, has both, only He can help, and He loves us boundlessly.

Let’s approach him that way.

Confident in His kindness. Im k’vanim. He’s our father.

Trusting in His limitless abilities. Im k’avadim. He’s our master.

And against that backdrop of hope, let’s wish each other - and all of Klal Yisroel a Shanah Tova Umesukah.

We March On

by Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

Friday morning of Parshas Ki Savo.

Women added potatoes to their cholent. Men lingered a few moments after Shacharis and looked at the weekly parsha. Some headed to work, others to yeshiva. All looked forward to sunset, and with it, some blessed peace.

Mrs. Leah Rubashkin turned the keys in her car and set out on her familiar trip to Otisville, New York, where her husband, Reb Sholom Mordechai, is incarcerated. Unlike so many previous trips when she arrived bearing hopeful news or an encouraging development, this Friday she came with a report that a federal court had resoundingly rejected the Rubashkin appeal. Not a very pleasant gut Shabbos visit to have to make.

The Sefas Emes, the Gerrer Rebbe, suffered throughout his life. One day, a young granddaughter came into his room to bring her zaide his meal and she saw his eyes shining with simcha. His face was suffused with joy. She asked him the reason for his ecstasy."Gesheinishten, happenings and circumstances, come from the Ribbono Shel Olam," he remarked to her, "but agmas nefesh, men tit zich uhn alein, the anguish those occurrences cause us, is like a cloak we choose to put on and take off."

Many years later, when the granddaughter was an elderly women living in Yerushalayim as the wife of Reb Itche Meir Levin, Gerrer chassidim would come up to visit, simply to hear her repeat that lesson she had heard from the Sefas Emes: Reactions are up to us.

I don’t know if Reb Sholom Mordechai has ever heard the story, but it makes no difference, because he’s living its lesson.

This past Friday, Erev Shabbos, he reacted as one would expect from a man who, at his own sentencing, made a bracha of Shehecheyanu on the mitzvah of emunah that his uniquely difficult situation afforded him. He reacted with chizuk and optimism, with the resilience that has been a Yiddishe trademark throughout centuries of oppression and struggle.

And we looked on astonished.

Because even as we think we know this man, and even as we assume we are acquainted with his simcha, his faith, and the bond of steel he’s forged with the pages of Chovos Halevavos Shaar Habitachon, nevertheless, with each hurdle and each bump in the road, he displays ever-more understanding that Hashem’s ways are not ours and that our role isn’t to understand but to accept.

And the cloak he chooses to put on, time and again, is that of simcha and emunah. It is nothing less than staggering.

So we sit here, somewhat numb, reeling from the severity of the decision, surrounded by a pile of dashed hopes, contemplating a journey that started a few years back and is not yet over, it seems.

It’s a path paved with legal might. Sholom Mordechai was defended by Nat Lewin, one of the most brilliant lawyers in the country. That not one of the arguments he set forth found any merit in the eyes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit is hard to fathom.

Former attorneys general, prosecutors, professors and legal experts of every stripe weighed in on this case in Sholom Mordechai’s favor, and with a brush of the pen, their arguments were discarded.

Amicus briefs written by such disparate groups as the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the Washington Legal Foundation, were shunted aside.

The road we’ve traveled is decorated with Jewish heroism. The heroes are the people like you who came out in winter’s cold and summer’s heat to donate money for the cause of someone you probably will never know. The heroes are the people who daven with all their hearts for him each and every day, not forgetting his plight, even when the case receives less exposure in the newspapers.

The heroes are bar mitzvah boys who have given from their bar mitzvah money to pay for his lawyers. The heroes include the yungerman at the Lakewood asifa who approached the dedicated askanim with a well-worn envelope stuffed with small bills totaling a thousand dollars - money he had saved up a whole year to go away for bein hazemanim with his family.

The heroes are the rabbonim, roshei yeshiva and activists who marched together, inspiring and guiding us every step of the way.

And on Friday, we learned that this road hasn’t ended yet.

We march on.

The posuk in Tehillim says, "Kavei el Hashem chazak veyameitz libecha vekavei el Hashem." Why the seeming redundancy? Why does the posuk repeat itself, stating "kavei el Hashem" twice? Rashi explains, "Ve’im lo tiskabeil tefillascha, chazor vekavei." If you believe in Hashem and turn to Him in your time of need, if you don’t see an answer to your prayers, don’t despair. Have faith again and again.

Nothing has changed. We hoped yesterday and we hope today. The apparent failures and setbacks seem devastating and demoralizing to us. In the real world, though, it’s chazor vekavei.On Motzoei Shabbos, as Yidden around the world sat by the flickering candles and sang the melava malka zemer of "Al Tirah Avdi Yaakov," one of those avadim sent a message, via email, to his family.Dear Family Sheyichyu,

Gam zu letovah, gam zu letovah. When we see from Hashem what is doing for us, we know that gam zu letovah. Boruch Hashem, thank you Hashem. Baruch hatov vehameitiv.

Picture Nochum Ish Gam Zu when he realized that the box that had been filled with valuable contents was instead filled with simple dirt. He said, "Gam zu letovah - Also this is for good." He said that because he knew that Hashem is good and all that comes from Hashem is good.

Seeing the replacement to the contents in the box he was carrying for Klal Yisroel, he did not let the worldly measurement of value interfere with the eternal truth of the Torah as he was mekabel it from Moishe Rabbeinu at Har Sinai. He was not going to let himself be deluded by the value that people put on things. He knew one thing steadfast and ironclad - that Hashem is good and what Hashem does is good. When he saw a change to what he had planned, he knew that the change is for the good.

It’s important to know that all Yidden of all times have said, "Gam zu letovah," which means that we see good in the very thing that happened, even when it appears to be dirt.In the same letter, Sholom Mordechai quotes a vort from the Ruzhiner Rebbe, Rav Yisroel.

In kappitel 13 in Tehillim, Dovid Hamelech bemoans the situation of hester ponim he finds himself in, asking three times, "Ad ana - Until when?"

"Ad ana Hashem tishkacheini netzach? Ad ana tastir es Ponecha mimeni? Ad ana ashis eitzos benafshi?"

The Ruzhiner taught that the first two are questions: "Until when, Hashem, will You forget me? Until when, Hashem, will You hide Your face from me?" The third one, however, is the answer: Ad ana? Until ashis eitzos benafshi. Hashem will hide as long as we seek comfort and reassurances from "solutions," believing that this idea will save us, that a certain person will help us, or that this argument will convince them.

We will be helped when we are all out of eitzos, when we realize that atzas Hashem hi sokum.We tried the other way, protesting the fact that a nationwide media storm convicted Sholom Mordechai of crimes against humanity and cruelty to animals long before he even went to trial. In fact, those charges were never heard in a court of law. They didn’t have to be. He was convicted in the court of public opinion.

Charges unrelated to what had caused his downfall were brought, and he was convicted in a case that will be pointed to for years to come as a travesty. Deemed a flight risk, because he would flee to that far off country of the Jews which embraces all Jewish crooks and swindlers, he was denied bail and has been incarcerated ever since.

Elected and appointed officials in this great country, the United States, worked with us, adding their letters and opinions to the voice of a unified Jewish community. And guess what? The Court of Appeals, in brazen fashion, ignored it all.

But Hashem heard us, and now, with Sholom Mordechai as our example, we lift our eyes Heavenward and say with complete conviction, "Ein lanu al mi lehisha’ein. There is no one else."

It’s hard to imagine a more appropriate time of year for us to be studying this lesson.Rosh Hashanah is called "bakeseh" in the Torah, a reference to the fact that the moon is virtually unseen, or "covered over," when the Yom Tov arrives at the start of a new month. While it is an interesting feature of the day, is the moon’s visibility really central enough to what Rosh Hashanah represents that the Torah hakedoshah defined the Yom Tov by it?

Rav Yaakov Meir Schechter explains that it is not only significant, it is the very essence of the day. Kabbolas ol Malchus Shomayim doesn’t mean accepting His will when we understand it, when we’re in the mood, or when we feel inspired and awake. It means that at a time when everything is bakeseh, when everything is hidden, dark and cloudy, we cry out, "Hashem Hu Ha’Elokim!"

We are getting ready to stand around the bimah, the baal tokeia dressed in white, shofar in hand. We will cry out together as one, "Min hameitzar karasi Kah, anani." When we feel like we are in a narrow, constricted place, we will beg Hashem, "answer us."

When we feel like we are in a cold, lonely jail, far from our loved ones, struggling to find the peace of mind to say a posuk of Tehillim, "answer us."

It’s a time when everything starts anew, when the Divine reset button is pressed and creation begins once again. A new world awaits.

We approach the upcoming Yom Hadin, when we face the only true Judge, with confidence and optimism, reassured that the Tov Umeitiv will give us reason for joy.

Rav Yaakov Galinsky tells a story of a man with whom he survived the Second World War. They were together in Siberia and then in a refugee camp. The man lost everything he had in the Holocaust. All his relatives were killed, and following the war, he was inconsolable, in a deep depression, unable to go on.

Rav Galinsky suggested that he go to the Chazon Ish for support. The fellow refused, saying that he couldn’t bring his family back to life, so seeing the gadol served no purpose. Rav Galinsky insisted and literally dragged his friend to the Chazon Ish.

Dear friends, listen to what the Chazon Ish said.

He related the story of a woman who supported her family. She would travel to the big city with loads of cash and buy desirable merchandise at wholesale prices before returning home to sell it at a profit.

On one of her trips, she lost her bag of money. She searched for it, to no avail, and she was heartbroken, having lost all the money she’d saved up with such sacrifice. In desperation, before heading home to inform her husband of their loss, she went to the city’s rov and asked him to announce that if anyone found her bag of cash, they should turn it in to him.

A poor man found the bag. He responded to the rov’s call and went to his home. There, he explained that since he is learned, he knows that the Mishnah states in Maseches Bava Metzia that if one finds a lost object in a city with a non-Jewish majority, he is permitted to keep it. He told the rov that the find represented an answer to his prayers. He saw it as a gift from Heaven to enable him to marry off his daughter.

The rov was inclined to side with the poor man, but since it was obvious that he had found the money that the woman had lost, he told the man that he had to submit the question to Rav Yitzchok Elchonon Spector, the rabbon shel kol bnei hagolah, for a ruling.

Rav Yitzchok Elchonon responded that the money belonged to the woman. His reasoning was sheer brilliance. He said that the reason a person can keep an object found in a city with a non-Jewish majority is because we say that the owner surely gave up any hope of having it returned and was thus meya’eish. In this case, however, the money belonged to a woman, and the Gemara in Maseches Gittin (77a) states that a husband takes ownership of all his wife’s possessions, and the husband was not aware that she had lost the money and thus could not have been meya’eish. Therefore, ruled, Rav Yitzchok Elchonon, the money must be returned to the woman.

The Chazon Ish finished relating the story and looked the depressed man in the eye. "That same ruling applies to you," said the Chazon Ish. "Who gave you permission to be meya’eish? Chazal teach that ‘afilu cherev chada munachas al tzavaro shel adam,’ even if the executioner’s sharp blade is on a Jew’s neck ready to decapitate him, he must not be meya’eish, he may not despair, for Hashem can still save him.

"Are you the boss over what transpired?" asked the Chazon Ish. "Are you the owner over yourself? We are but shluchim of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It is He Who determines the field that we operate on. He decides what happens to us. We have to do our jobs and pray that we succeed. Who gave you permission to give up and be meya’eish?"

And so it is in this case. We dealt with the situation that Hakadosh Boruch Hu handed us. We worked as hard as we could. We wrote letters. We davened. We gave money. We hired the best lawyers. We made every possible hishtadlus to overturn this terrible gezeirah. We still haven’t seen the end of it. We cannot be meya’eish. We cannot think that our work was for naught.

We cannot fathom the ways of Hashem. We do ours and we wait patiently to see the blessing and the light at the end of the nisayon we are experiencing.

We will continue davening for Sholom Mordechai ben Rivkah. We will continue donating to the Klal Yisroel Fund so that he can take his case to the US Supreme Court and hope for a measure of justice. We will continue davening for other Jews being held in bondage. We will not give up.

We will never give up on the chance of Sholom Mordechai tasting freedom again.

And in our own personal lives as well, when experiencing tribulations and difficulties, we will endeavor never to give up on receiving the yeshuas Hashem. Chazak ve’ameitz libecha. And then, once again, vekavey el Hashem.

There Is Still Time

Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

The nation grieved this week for the losses of 9/11. Everyone was solemn, tuned in to remembrances that took place at the three terror-pocked sites where, all together, almost 3,000 people lost their lives to the cause of Islamic radicalism on that fateful day ten years ago.

It was a sunny day on September 11 ten years ago when airplanes were turned into missiles and innocent people were killed. It was said then that the world had been changed forever. Americans, we were told, were altered for eternity, having been confronted with the reality of evil and what it can cause.

Until that day, people here were naïve and thought that it couldn’t happen to them, but happen it did. We found out that we were and are not in control. We discovered what happens when you ignore evil and rationalize its underpinnings and ramifications. Americans believed that tragedy of such magnitude only transpires in the Middle East. They thought that it was an Israeli thing, and perhaps Israelis deserve it because their country dominates the poor Palestinians. They didn’t realize the barbarism of Israel’s - and now America’s - enemies.

9/11 was a colossal wake-up call. It was an alarm ringing to awaken us to realize the power of ra, evil, in the briyah. It showed us the importance of identifying the ra and seeking to overcome it with tov, as well as with conventional measures.

For us, the implosion of the towers on the 23^rd day of Elul was also a reminder of our need to do teshuvah before the impending Yom Hadin one week later. It reminded us of how fragile life is, and that chayim and movess, life and death, are in the Hands of Hashem, Who determines our collective and individual fates on Rosh Hashanah. It showed us the importance of living each day as if it were our last, as Chazal teach, endeavoring to make every day our best.

That last week of Elul was like none other in recent memory, and on Rosh Hashanah, we all davened like we never did before. The wound was so raw, the seriousness of that day so poignant. But since then, it has worn off. Life returned to normal - keminhago noheig - and we returned to our regular selves, perhaps becoming apathetic and lackadaisical in our avodah.

The commemoration this week should have taken us back to that period and shaken us once again to the realities of life. For those not old enough to remember the horror and mussar awakening of that time, the country’s reminiscence should have served as an indicator of the resolute somberness of the period of the calendar in which we currently find ourselves. It should be uncomfortable, yes, but we dare not close our eyes to it and ignore it because the horror is too much for us to swallow and bear. We must face up to it, recognizing the power of the Soton and his shluchim, and deriving lessons from it to improve our character, our actions, and the world.

How do we accomplish that?

As the days of reciting Selichos are upon us, we are cognizant of the fact that the primary and most potent portion of the ancient prayers for forgiveness of the Yomim Noraim is the recitation of the Yud Gimmel Middos, which we cry out between the chapters.

This is based upon the Gemara in Maseches Rosh Hashanah (17b), which quotes Rav Yehuda that there is a bris kerusah, a covenant and assurance from Hashem, declaring that the recital of the Yud Gimmel Middos Shel Rachamim will never be in vain. The recitation of the Thirteen Divine Attributes of Mercy, in effect, evokes their use by Hashem in His relationship with us.

Thus, the Yud Gimmel Middos become a constant refrain, a major portion of the daily avodah during the Yomim Noraim and the days leading up to them.

But, as with most things in life, it is not that simple. The famed Yerushalmi dayan, Rav Yisroel Yaakov Fisher, taught that it is entirely possible for the effectiveness of the Yud Gimmel Middos to be blocked. He says that there can be an obstruction to the salvation they are able to effect, and that impediment is within us.

Dayan Fisher explained that when the Gemara extols the power of the Yud Gimmel Middos, it is not referring to chanting them as a mere mantra. The words achieve their power when they cause us to emulate the Divine attributes and relate to the people we come in contact with the same way Hashem relates to us.

In the Yud Gimmel Middos, we refer to "Nosei avon, ve’oveir al pesha," Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s middah of "forgiving inequity and removing willful sin." The Gemara understands these words to mean, "Lemi nosei avon? Le’oveir al pesha. What sort of person does Hashem forgive? One who forgives the slights of others."

The Thirteen Middos are a path we need to follow. We arouse the Divine middos through our actions, when we emulate what they represent and act accordingly.

Dayan Fisher concludes by analyzing the language of Chazal in the Gemara. A careful reading of the Gemara shows that Rav Yochanon says that Hakadosh Boruch Hu told Moshe that when Klal Yisroel sins and seeks to repent, "Kol zeman sheyisroel chotin ya’asu lefonai keseder hazeh va’ani mochel lahem," they should perform the Thirteen Middos to attain forgiveness. The Gemara uses the term "asiyah," action, rather than "amirah," recitation, because the Thirteen Middos of Rachamim need to be adopted and lived by the supplicants, not merely recited.

I heard it related that a chavrusah of the Lakewood mashgiach, Rav Nosson Wachtfogel, recalls learning with him the classic sefer Tomer Devorah, written by Rav Moshe Cordovero. While most of his seforim are Kabbalistic in nature, Tomer Devorah was written for study by laymen. The sefer is based on the Thirteen Middos and instructs one regarding the implementation of each middah in one’s life in order to effectuate their power. When Rav Wachtfogel would complete each middah, he would close his eyes and remain quiet for a while, seemingly dozing.

The chavrusah initially thought that the mashgiach, quite elderly at the time, was giving in to his exhaustion. However, eventually, he realized that upon completing the study of each middah, the mashgiach was contemplating his own relationship with the middah, examining whether he had successfully mastered that particular trait. Only when Rav Wachtfogel was satisfied that he embodied the middah of rachamim was he able to proceed with the study of the next middah in the sefer.

Ya’asu lefonai keseder hazeh.

The connection between conducting a life of rachmanus and meriting rachmanus can be understood with a lesson retold by the renowned maggid Rav Sholom Schwadron, who quoted a lesson that the Chazon Ish told his brother-in-law, Rav Dovid Auerbach.

"People make the mistake," said the Chazon Ish, "of believing that there are two chalakim in the Torah, two parallel sets of mitzvos, those which are defined as being bein adam lachaveiro, between man and his fellow man, and those which are termed as bein adam laMakom, commandments that affect the relationship between man and his Creator. In truth," said the Chazon Ish, "there is only one Torah, and all the mitzvos are ways to become closer to the Ribbono Shel Olam.

"If someone offends or hurts his fellow man, and he creates a barrier between them, he has, in effect, created a barrier between himself and Hakadosh Boruch Hu."

The Chazon Ish explained: "The posuk says that man is created ‘betzelem Elokim,’ in the image of Hashem. By offending his fellow man, a person is essentially separating himself from the Divine image inherent in every single human being."

Rav Schwadron used this lesson to understand the drasha of Rabi Elazar ben Azarya in Maseches Yoma (85b) that Yom Kippur doesn’t absolve one from aveiros that are bein adam lachaveiro, as the posuk says, "Lifnei Hashem tit’haru." Rav Schwadron explained that by hurting another person, one has sinned "lifnei Hashem," upsetting the spark of the Divine that rests in man, and he must remove that aveirah to achieve true kapparah.

The Ramban, in last week’s parsha of Ki Seitzei, in a discussion of the pesukim dealing with the mitzvah of shiluach hakein, studies the halachic minutiae of the mitzvah of shechitah, including the specifications of where on the neck an animal should be cut. He writes that these commandments have a goal: "lehadricheinu benesivos harachamim gam ba’eis hashechitah." They are to guide us to be merciful even when engaged in the act of killing an animal, which is the purpose for which it was created.

In last week’s parsha as well, we read that Hakadosh Boruch Hu forbids plowing with an ox and a donkey together. Like every word in the Torah, there are many layers of meaning to this mitzvah. The Daas Zekeinim makes a fascinating observation, stating that oxen chew their cud, while donkeys do not. If they are yoked together and the donkey observes the ox chewing, the donkey will be jealous, thinking that the ox was fed and it wasn’t, even though the ox is merely re-chewing the same food. Thus, the Torah forbids placing these two beasts together as they trudge through a field, lest the donkey feel slighted.

This Shabbos, we read the curses that befall people who don’t follow the word of Hashem, as recounted in the Torah. Chazal (Megillah 31b) teach that "Ezra instituted that…the klalos in Mishnah Torah should be read before Rosh Hashanah."

The Gemara explains that this is "kedei shetichleh shanah vekeleloseha," so that the previous year with its curses should be completed and done with before the Yom Hadin.

The Rishonim point out that although the idea is to be done with the year and its curses, the klalos are read two weeks before the Yom Hadin, rather than on the final Shabbos of the year, immediately prior to Rosh Hashanah. Thus, this week, we read the klalos in Parshas Ki Savo, and then have a week’s break before Rosh Hashanah.

The question begs to be asked: If Ezra instituted the reading of the klalos of Parshas Ki Savo at the end of the year right before Rosh Hashanah, why are they not read on the Shabbos prior to Rosh Hashanah? Why are they read two weeks before?

Looking at our parsha, we see another preface to the season that lies just ahead: the mitzvah of "Vehalachta bidrachav," to walk in the path of Hashem. This is a mandate to emulate Hashem’s ways. Just as He clothes the unclothed, comforts the grieving and visits the sick, we need to incorporate His kindness and mercy into our lives. Mah Hu rachum, Mah Hu chanun, and so on, af atah tehei, so must you seek to emulate His ways.

As we discussed, this is a prerequisite for experiencing the power of the Thirteen Middos, the "yaasu lefonai," the implementing of each one so that we may merit His rachamim.

So why the break?

I have a young friend, Nochum Levitan, who recounted to me a conversation he had, which not only displays wisdom and depth uncommon among boys ten years old, but also sheds light on our quandary. He told me that he was visiting Beis Medrash Govoah in Lakewood, NJ, with his father. His father was talking to someone, and Nochum spotted Rav Yeruchom Olshin, so he wandered off and asked the rosh yeshiva for a bracha.

Reb Yeruchom gave him the standard bracha one gives a young boy and blessed him that he should grow up to be a talmid chochom and tzaddik.

Nochum thanked Rav Olshin for the bracha, but he wasn’t done. With childhood innocence, but with a serious drive to grow and excel, the boy then said to the rosh yeshiva, "That’s in a long time, but what about for now? That’s a bracha for down the road, when I get older, but I need a bracha for now." The rosh yeshiva smiled at the precocious young boy, perhaps sensing in him a mark of greatness.

Unknowingly, Nochum was echoing the traditional adage of chassidim who traveled on the icy roads of Poland and Ukraine to their rebbes: Biz tzu der kretchmeh darf men oich ah trink. What will keep us warm until we reach the inn?

Perhaps the answer to young Nochum’s question is hinted at in the question of the Rishonim, who ask why there is a break between the laining of the klalos and the Yom Hadin.

The break may be provided to give us the opportunity to implement the positive preface in this parsha, the "Vehalachta bidrachav," before Rosh Hashanah. The break symbolizes the fact that we are internalizing the lesson and making it part of our lives before we face the Judge. We hear the klalos and we are determined to earn brachos and merit rachamim. We work on ourselves and perfect our actions so that they parallel those of Hakadosh Boruch Hu.

The time between reading the klalos and "Vehalachta bidrachav" and the tefillos of Rosh Hashanah is a gift, a period of "yaasu lefonai."

The answer to Nochum’s question is the same. Becoming a talmid chochom and a tzaddik is a process. It’s a way of life, a path that one starts walking on as a child. It’s not as simple as pressing a button or receiving a bracha and presto, a well-versed talmid chochom and tzaddik emerges. The rosh yeshiva was giving the boy a bracha to begin a journey, with "becoming a talmid chochom" as the end goal. Indeed, it was a most immediate bracha.

The Selichos period isn’t just about setting the alarm clock to ring a little earlier and shouting out the Yud Gimmel Middos. It’s about living with each one of them and making a conscious decision to relate to people as the Aibishter relates to them - with rachamim, patience and tolerance.

There was a time in the not-too-distant past when the sight of every single individual Yid was a reason to rejoice. A few decades back, so many had been lost that each live Jew was viewed as a triumph over evil. Boruch Hashem, our numbers are growing, shuls are crowded, and schools have no more space. With our exponential growth, perhaps we have lost our appreciation of each individual Jew. We seem to take our fellow Jews for granted, barely giving them a glance. As our numbers have increased, our compassion and our awareness of the special nature of every human being around us seem to have diminished. At times it appears that we view others as if they are extra.

In today’s generation, we are blessed with a plethora of kiruv organizations sensitizing us to the mandate of a frum Yid to behave with dignity in public and teaching us to speak with graciousness to our irreligious brethren. Perhaps it’s time to begin a slightly different awareness campaign to sensitize frum people in dealing with other frum people. We need to study and adopt the idea of treating other frum people the way we want to be treated - with kindness, graciousness, love and acceptance - if for no other reason than to benefit from those middos ourselves on the Yom Hadin.

As we study the parshiyos that we lain during these weeks of Ki Seitzei and Ki Savo, and while we prepare for the Yom Hadin and relive the horrors of 9/11, the mitzvos of the Torah connect us with the Ultimate Source of rachamim, an all-encompassing mercy and sensitivity that can remake us in time to recite the Yud Gimmel Middos. As we study the parshiyos of the week, we need to understand that we have to begin the process of fashioning ourselves into better people.

It’s a process. And it’s never too late to start.

Obama Is Not Working

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

There is a similarity in the diaries of Jewish immigrants to America during the first part of the twentieth century. They contain parallel emotions; feelings of overwhelming gratitude as the overcrowded ship they were on approached the Statue of Liberty, her arm held high welcoming them to the shores of America.

Despite the challenges of acclimating, finding work, maintaining spiritual standards, that first generation confronted America and its inherent difficulties, yet never lost their inherent respect for the American system. They tasted democracy, a new fruit not available back in Europe, and they delighted in its sweetness. America, as expressed in the writings of so many gedolim, became the malchus shel chessed, a government founded on kindness.

The term has virtually become synonymous with the United States of America. When US Ambassador Richard Jones was taken to visit Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv two years ago, the revered posek hador immediately remarked that the United States is the malchus shel chessed. He asked the ambassador to convey his thanks to the American president.

I recently read a memoir of a rabbi in which he described the deep feelings of hakoras hatov that his grandparents, who lived with fresh memories of pogroms and beatings, felt towards this country. His reminiscence is just one of many thousands. He describes how each year, when they paid their taxes, they would add a few extra dollars "just to say thank you."

Couple that gratitude with something else, a mandate, a sacred charge as a mamleches kohanim vegoy kadosh, a people expected to shine light onto the nations, and you see the duality of our role as American citizens - grateful but also responsible.

A rov recounted that he visited Rav Shimon Schwab during the 1992 election season. The candidates for the presidency were the incumbent, George H. W. Bush, and Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. The visitor suggested that since the senior Bush had taken a very severe approach toward Israel by refusing to approve loan guarantees and Clinton seemed to be a loyal and unabashed friend of Israel, the Jewish community would support Clinton.

Rav Schwab’s response is timeless, and it is as instructive now as it was then.

"Our responsibility is not to take care of Eretz Yisroel, or any Jewish cause, since the Ribbono Shel Olam decides what route a ruler will take. As the posuk says, ‘Lev melachim vesarim beYad Hashem.’ He alone controls their thoughts and reactions, and as history has shown us again and again, rulers often surprise those closest to them with the decisions they make. Their hearts are in Hashem’s Hands.

"Our immediate responsibility as Torah Jews is to see to it that the world’s moral climate isn’t further weakened, that we are helping protect kedushah."

On a practical level, explained Rav Schwab, it meant voting for the incumbent, Bush, since Clinton had a reputation for dubious morality. In time, the prescience of Rav Schwab’s words would be proven. Not only did President Clinton personally engage in immoral conduct, but he ushered an unprecedented trend of immorality into the American consciousness and daily headlines.

A vote, taught Rav Schwab, is an opportunity to cleanse the world and purify our society, and the calculation of who to vote for should be made with that mandate - mamleches kohanim vegoy kadosh - in mind.

As the inhabitants of this great country grow increasingly self-centered, voter turnout keeps dropping. People are too focused on their own little worlds to see beyond and to realize their responsibility to society at large.

We Yidden cannot be apathetic, content with standing on the sidelines and welcoming whichever candidate comes forward smiling brightest, slapping our backs with the most enthusiasm.

In a famous Purim maamar, Rav Yitzchok Hutner, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin, declared, "In neshamah, iz nit duh kein Switzerland!" Neutrality is not a Jewish middah. There are no gray areas that are neither tov nor ra. Every decision has a consequence, every idea represents something.

We stand at a crossroads now, and rather than viewing the imminent election as an inconvenience, we should see it as an opportunity.

We have the tools in our hands to make a difference, to improve the moral and economic climate of this country.

The media is twisting itself into knots to defend its one-time hero, our president, but it’s time to face up to the truth: It’s not working, plain and simple. There are no two ways about it. There is no way to explain it away. The country is fed up with him. His approval numbers in the latest non-biased Gallup poll are at 38%.

Republicans have only been in charge of one house of Congress for seven months out of the two and a half years of Obama’s presidency, yet they are being blamed for the economic malaise of the country.

The administration and its lackeys have been churning out lie after lie in a failing bid to prop up their disproven policies and theories. Consider Mr. Obama’s amateur attempt to show up the Republicans on the night of their presidential debate, delivering his own campaign speech from the well of Congress, a talk billed as a "Joint Session to Congress on Jobs."

Obama will obviously not do anything to create jobs, because he does not believe in the ability of the private sector to drive the economic engine of this country. He believes in the expansion of government. He came in selling hope and change and promised to be a post-partisan president, yet he has governed from the extreme left since day one. He sets up straw men and knocks them down, but accomplishes nothing. His is basically a wounded presidency constantly seeking to press the reset button, but never hitting any winners. The crisis continues to grow and the hole we are in deepens and widens. There are no signs of improvement on the horizon.

He is almost an accidental president. Nobody really knows where he came from, what he believes in, what he accomplished prior to his election, and why he should be reelected. He is almost a reincarnation of Jimmy Carter. Unemployment is endemic, economic growth is nonexistent, and class warfare is not working. The tried-and-tested blame Bush approach has been fruitless; massive government spending hasn’t accomplished a thing, and running up the deficit has had no positive impact. None of the liberal truths is being borne out now that they are finally being put into practice.

And it’s worse than that. The same folks who brought you Obamacare and deficits and try to continuously raise your taxes to pay for their follies are the people who are in a bitter battle against religion and moral values. These same people seek to embarrass Israel at every opportunity. They promote a radical agenda at every turn, publicly and privately.

The president doesn’t believe in American superiority. He doesn’t believe that America is the beacon of freedom and justice for the world. He travels across the globe apologizing for America’s greatness. He seeks to remold this country in the image of failing European socialism, even as those countries try to escape from those mistakes and adopt American capitalism. He seeks an equation of casualty, comparing Palestinian freedom fighters to Israelis who just want to live in peace in the Biblical home of their forefathers and mothers. As the Palestinians press forward with their statehood bid, the fallout is sure to be catastrophic, pushing Israel further into a steadily shrinking diplomatic corner.

And what can we do about it?

For those who reside in New York’s 9^th congressional district, there is a chance on September 13^th to protest what Obama has done on a national scale and what the party of David Weprin has done on a local scale. There is an opportunity to proclaim that we want to maintain traditional values, we want jobs back, we want responsible tax policy, and we want less governmental intrusion. We want less power for the unions which have caused millions of jobs and industries to flee this country, once the manufacturing capital of the world. It is those very unions which strangle industry and contribute to government’s inefficiency, who are committed to working slavishly to turn out the vote on Election Day for the man they know will do their bidding.

We have to show that we are not apathetic, we are not pawns, and we are not drones. We have to demonstrate that we are not corrupt, we do have principles, and we are not all about pragmatism. Yes, we also have to demonstrate to the people from our community who seek to make money off of these wayward deviants that we have had enough of them and will not countenance them either.

We don’t need another two-faced politician addressing us at our dinners for our shuls, mosdos and yeshivos. We have had enough of those. We don’t need another guy coming around mouthing some nice words about Yiddishkeit and how he will always stand by Israel and then go run off and wave lavender flags at the parades of those who seek to destroy the Judeo-Christian principles of morality upon which this great nation has been built. We don’t need another politician who troops down our streets trolling for dollars and then goes to those who seek to destroy the moral fiber of our community with his hand out, telling them how, when elected, he will promote their agenda.

We don’t need another person to supposedly represent us, but continuously voting against the best interests of our community. No, we are not from the generation of Jews who incorrectly felt indebted to FDR. We have no allegiance to the party of Carter, Schumer, and Obama. We judge each man and woman based on their positions and votes, and if they are out of line, we do not support them. We are principled and strong, and we exercise our democratic right to speak up and say the truth. We don’t just cower in our corners pontificating and then staying home on Election Day when we can make our voices heard.

It seems that we have an obligation to select the candidate who will not be an automatic vote for the Pelosi agenda. He will not be an advocate for deviants. He will not seek to destroy this country. He will not be a rubber stamp for a socialist, leftist, anti-religious, anti-moral agenda. And by voting for Turner, you will be proclaiming loud and clear that you have had it with the lies, you have had it with the leftists, you don’t want marriage redefined, and you have had it with embarrassing Israel and attempting to force it into suicidal pacts. You will be able to hold your head high, no matter who wins, and say, "We are different, we stand for something, and we are not for sale."

This election is about something larger than the people running to fill a seat which will likely be redistricted out of existence in 2012. It is about making a statement. It is not about polls and testing who will win. It is not about trying to line up with the projected winner in a bid to obtain future imagined benefits.

We are an am kadosh. We stand for something. And what we stand for is not corruption, dereliction of duty, winning at all costs, or the cynical alignment for temporary financial gain with those who lower the declining moral level of the country even further. There is a culture war being fought in this country. We have to decide which side we are on. Are we with the crowd endeavoring to accomplish an earthquake when it comes to the moral climate, or are we with those who believe in individual responsibility and the free man’s capacity for greatness and good?

"Halanu atah, im letzareinu?" [Yehoshua 5, 13]

We can’t afford to cozy-up in our personal "Switzerlands," covering ourselves with the cloak of indifference. We are charged to make the world holy, as Rav Schwab said.

So let’s walk the path to the voting booth with gratitude, thankful to the medinah shel chessed that allows us to live in freedom and peace, but never forget that, concurrently, it is our achrayus to make the world a better, purer, more holy place. We must do that in all that we do in our lives every day, including when we decide which politicians to support.

There is a similarity in the diaries of Jewish immigrants to America during the first part of the twentieth century. They contain parallel emotions; feelings of overwhelming gratitude as the overcrowded ship they were on approached the Statue of Liberty, her arm held high welcoming them to the shores of America.

Despite the challenges of acclimating, finding work, maintaining spiritual standards, that first generation confronted America and its inherent difficulties, yet never lost their inherent respect for the American system. They tasted democracy, a new fruit not available back in Europe, and they delighted in its sweetness. America, as expressed in the writings of so many gedolim, became the malchus shel chessed, a government founded on kindness.

The term has virtually become synonymous with the United States of America. When US Ambassador Richard Jones was taken to visit Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv two years ago, the revered posek hador immediately remarked that the United States is the malchus shel chessed. He asked the ambassador to convey his thanks to the American president.

I recently read a memoir of a rabbi in which he described the deep feelings of hakoras hatov that his grandparents, who lived with fresh memories of pogroms and beatings, felt towards this country. His reminiscence is just one of many thousands. He describes how each year, when they paid their taxes, they would add a few extra dollars "just to say thank you."

Couple that gratitude with something else, a mandate, a sacred charge as a mamleches kohanim vegoy kadosh, a people expected to shine light onto the nations, and you see the duality of our role as American citizens - grateful but also responsible.

A rov recounted that he visited Rav Shimon Schwab during the 1992 election season. The candidates for the presidency were the incumbent, George H. W. Bush, and Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. The visitor suggested that since the senior Bush had taken a very severe approach toward Israel by refusing to approve loan guarantees and Clinton seemed to be a loyal and unabashed friend of Israel, the Jewish community would support Clinton.

Rav Schwab’s response is timeless, and it is as instructive now as it was then.

"Our responsibility is not to take care of Eretz Yisroel, or any Jewish cause, since the Ribbono Shel Olam decides what route a ruler will take. As the posuk says, ‘Lev melachim vesarim beYad Hashem.’ He alone controls their thoughts and reactions, and as history has shown us again and again, rulers often surprise those closest to them with the decisions they make. Their hearts are in Hashem’s Hands.

"Our immediate responsibility as Torah Jews is to see to it that the world’s moral climate isn’t further weakened, that we are helping protect kedushah."

On a practical level, explained Rav Schwab, it meant voting for the incumbent, Bush, since Clinton had a reputation for dubious morality. In time, the prescience of Rav Schwab’s words would be proven. Not only did President Clinton personally engage in immoral conduct, but he ushered an unprecedented trend of immorality into the American consciousness and daily headlines.

A vote, taught Rav Schwab, is an opportunity to cleanse the world and purify our society, and the calculation of who to vote for should be made with that mandate - mamleches kohanim vegoy kadosh - in mind.

As the inhabitants of this great country grow increasingly self-centered, voter turnout keeps dropping. People are too focused on their own little worlds to see beyond and to realize their responsibility to society at large.

We Yidden cannot be apathetic, content with standing on the sidelines and welcoming whichever candidate comes forward smiling brightest, slapping our backs with the most enthusiasm.

In a famous Purim maamar, Rav Yitzchok Hutner, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin, declared, "In neshamah, iz nit duh kein Switzerland!" Neutrality is not a Jewish middah. There are no gray areas that are neither tov nor ra. Every decision has a consequence, every idea represents something.

We stand at a crossroads now, and rather than viewing the imminent election as an inconvenience, we should see it as an opportunity.

We have the tools in our hands to make a difference, to improve the moral and economic climate of this country.

The media is twisting itself into knots to defend its one-time hero, our president, but it’s time to face up to the truth: It’s not working, plain and simple. There are no two ways about it. There is no way to explain it away. The country is fed up with him. His approval numbers in the latest non-biased Gallup poll are at 38%.

Republicans have only been in charge of one house of Congress for seven months out of the two and a half years of Obama’s presidency, yet they are being blamed for the economic malaise of the country.

The administration and its lackeys have been churning out lie after lie in a failing bid to prop up their disproven policies and theories. Consider Mr. Obama’s amateur attempt to show up the Republicans on the night of their presidential debate, delivering his own campaign speech from the well of Congress, a talk billed as a "Joint Session to Congress on Jobs."

Obama will obviously not do anything to create jobs, because he does not believe in the ability of the private sector to drive the economic engine of this country. He believes in the expansion of government. He came in selling hope and change and promised to be a post-partisan president, yet he has governed from the extreme left since day one. He sets up straw men and knocks them down, but accomplishes nothing. His is basically a wounded presidency constantly seeking to press the reset button, but never hitting any winners. The crisis continues to grow and the hole we are in deepens and widens. There are no signs of improvement on the horizon.

He is almost an accidental president. Nobody really knows where he came from, what he believes in, what he accomplished prior to his election, and why he should be reelected. He is almost a reincarnation of Jimmy Carter. Unemployment is endemic, economic growth is nonexistent, and class warfare is not working. The tried-and-tested blame Bush approach has been fruitless; massive government spending hasn’t accomplished a thing, and running up the deficit has had no positive impact. None of the liberal truths is being borne out now that they are finally being put into practice.

And it’s worse than that. The same folks who brought you Obamacare and deficits and try to continuously raise your taxes to pay for their follies are the people who are in a bitter battle against religion and moral values. These same people seek to embarrass Israel at every opportunity. They promote a radical agenda at every turn, publicly and privately.

The president doesn’t believe in American superiority. He doesn’t believe that America is the beacon of freedom and justice for the world. He travels across the globe apologizing for America’s greatness. He seeks to remold this country in the image of failing European socialism, even as those countries try to escape from those mistakes and adopt American capitalism. He seeks an equation of casualty, comparing Palestinian freedom fighters to Israelis who just want to live in peace in the Biblical home of their forefathers and mothers. As the Palestinians press forward with their statehood bid, the fallout is sure to be catastrophic, pushing Israel further into a steadily shrinking diplomatic corner.

And what can we do about it?

For those who reside in New York’s 9^th congressional district, there is a chance on September 13^th to protest what Obama has done on a national scale and what the party of David Weprin has done on a local scale. There is an opportunity to proclaim that we want to maintain traditional values, we want jobs back, we want responsible tax policy, and we want less governmental intrusion. We want less power for the unions which have caused millions of jobs and industries to flee this country, once the manufacturing capital of the world. It is those very unions which strangle industry and contribute to government’s inefficiency, who are committed to working slavishly to turn out the vote on Election Day for the man they know will do their bidding.

We have to show that we are not apathetic, we are not pawns, and we are not drones. We have to demonstrate that we are not corrupt, we do have principles, and we are not all about pragmatism. Yes, we also have to demonstrate to the people from our community who seek to make money off of these wayward deviants that we have had enough of them and will not countenance them either.

We don’t need another two-faced politician addressing us at our dinners for our shuls, mosdos and yeshivos. We have had enough of those. We don’t need another guy coming around mouthing some nice words about Yiddishkeit and how he will always stand by Israel and then go run off and wave lavender flags at the parades of those who seek to destroy the Judeo-Christian principles of morality upon which this great nation has been built. We don’t need another politician who troops down our streets trolling for dollars and then goes to those who seek to destroy the moral fiber of our community with his hand out, telling them how, when elected, he will promote their agenda.

We don’t need another person to supposedly represent us, but continuously voting against the best interests of our community. No, we are not from the generation of Jews who incorrectly felt indebted to FDR. We have no allegiance to the party of Carter, Schumer, and Obama. We judge each man and woman based on their positions and votes, and if they are out of line, we do not support them. We are principled and strong, and we exercise our democratic right to speak up and say the truth. We don’t just cower in our corners pontificating and then staying home on Election Day when we can make our voices heard.

It seems that we have an obligation to select the candidate who will not be an automatic vote for the Pelosi agenda. He will not be an advocate for deviants. He will not seek to destroy this country. He will not be a rubber stamp for a socialist, leftist, anti-religious, anti-moral agenda. And by voting for Turner, you will be proclaiming loud and clear that you have had it with the lies, you have had it with the leftists, you don’t want marriage redefined, and you have had it with embarrassing Israel and attempting to force it into suicidal pacts. You will be able to hold your head high, no matter who wins, and say, "We are different, we stand for something, and we are not for sale."

This election is about something larger than the people running to fill a seat which will likely be redistricted out of existence in 2012. It is about making a statement. It is not about polls and testing who will win. It is not about trying to line up with the projected winner in a bid to obtain future imagined benefits.

We are an am kadosh. We stand for something. And what we stand for is not corruption, dereliction of duty, winning at all costs, or the cynical alignment for temporary financial gain with those who lower the declining moral level of the country even further. There is a culture war being fought in this country. We have to decide which side we are on. Are we with the crowd endeavoring to accomplish an earthquake when it comes to the moral climate, or are we with those who believe in individual responsibility and the free man’s capacity for greatness and good?

"Halanu atah, im letzareinu?" [Yehoshua 5, 13]

We can’t afford to cozy-up in our personal "Switzerlands," covering ourselves with the cloak of indifference. We are charged to make the world holy, as Rav Schwab said.

So let’s walk the path to the voting booth with gratitude, thankful to the medinah shel chessed that allows us to live in freedom and peace, but never forget that, concurrently, it is our achrayus to make the world a better, purer, more holy place. We must do that in all that we do in our lives every day, including when we decide which politicians to support.

There is a similarity in the diaries of Jewish immigrants to America during the first part of the twentieth century. They contain parallel emotions; feelings of overwhelming gratitude as the overcrowded ship they were on approached the Statue of Liberty, her arm held high welcoming them to the shores of America.

Despite the challenges of acclimating, finding work, maintaining spiritual standards, that first generation confronted America and its inherent difficulties, yet never lost their inherent respect for the American system. They tasted democracy, a new fruit not available back in Europe, and they delighted in its sweetness. America, as expressed in the writings of so many gedolim, became the malchus shel chessed, a government founded on kindness.

The term has virtually become synonymous with the United States of America. When US Ambassador Richard Jones was taken to visit Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv two years ago, the revered posek hador immediately remarked that the United States is the malchus shel chessed. He asked the ambassador to convey his thanks to the American president.

I recently read a memoir of a rabbi in which he described the deep feelings of hakoras hatov that his grandparents, who lived with fresh memories of pogroms and beatings, felt towards this country. His reminiscence is just one of many thousands. He describes how each year, when they paid their taxes, they would add a few extra dollars "just to say thank you."

Couple that gratitude with something else, a mandate, a sacred charge as a mamleches kohanim vegoy kadosh, a people expected to shine light onto the nations, and you see the duality of our role as American citizens - grateful but also responsible.

A rov recounted that he visited Rav Shimon Schwab during the 1992 election season. The candidates for the presidency were the incumbent, George H. W. Bush, and Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. The visitor suggested that since the senior Bush had taken a very severe approach toward Israel by refusing to approve loan guarantees and Clinton seemed to be a loyal and unabashed friend of Israel, the Jewish community would support Clinton.

Rav Schwab’s response is timeless, and it is as instructive now as it was then.

"Our responsibility is not to take care of Eretz Yisroel, or any Jewish cause, since the Ribbono Shel Olam decides what route a ruler will take. As the posuk says, ‘Lev melachim vesarim beYad Hashem.’ He alone controls their thoughts and reactions, and as history has shown us again and again, rulers often surprise those closest to them with the decisions they make. Their hearts are in Hashem’s Hands.

"Our immediate responsibility as Torah Jews is to see to it that the world’s moral climate isn’t further weakened, that we are helping protect kedushah."

On a practical level, explained Rav Schwab, it meant voting for the incumbent, Bush, since Clinton had a reputation for dubious morality. In time, the prescience of Rav Schwab’s words would be proven. Not only did President Clinton personally engage in immoral conduct, but he ushered an unprecedented trend of immorality into the American consciousness and daily headlines.

A vote, taught Rav Schwab, is an opportunity to cleanse the world and purify our society, and the calculation of who to vote for should be made with that mandate - mamleches kohanim vegoy kadosh - in mind.

As the inhabitants of this great country grow increasingly self-centered, voter turnout keeps dropping. People are too focused on their own little worlds to see beyond and to realize their responsibility to society at large.

We Yidden cannot be apathetic, content with standing on the sidelines and welcoming whichever candidate comes forward smiling brightest, slapping our backs with the most enthusiasm.

In a famous Purim maamar, Rav Yitzchok Hutner, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin, declared, "In neshamah, iz nit duh kein Switzerland!" Neutrality is not a Jewish middah. There are no gray areas that are neither tov nor ra. Every decision has a consequence, every idea represents something.

We stand at a crossroads now, and rather than viewing the imminent election as an inconvenience, we should see it as an opportunity.

We have the tools in our hands to make a difference, to improve the moral and economic climate of this country.

The media is twisting itself into knots to defend its one-time hero, our president, but it’s time to face up to the truth: It’s not working, plain and simple. There are no two ways about it. There is no way to explain it away. The country is fed up with him. His approval numbers in the latest non-biased Gallup poll are at 38%.

Republicans have only been in charge of one house of Congress for seven months out of the two and a half years of Obama’s presidency, yet they are being blamed for the economic malaise of the country.

The administration and its lackeys have been churning out lie after lie in a failing bid to prop up their disproven policies and theories. Consider Mr. Obama’s amateur attempt to show up the Republicans on the night of their presidential debate, delivering his own campaign speech from the well of Congress, a talk billed as a "Joint Session to Congress on Jobs."

Obama will obviously not do anything to create jobs, because he does not believe in the ability of the private sector to drive the economic engine of this country. He believes in the expansion of government. He came in selling hope and change and promised to be a post-partisan president, yet he has governed from the extreme left since day one. He sets up straw men and knocks them down, but accomplishes nothing. His is basically a wounded presidency constantly seeking to press the reset button, but never hitting any winners. The crisis continues to grow and the hole we are in deepens and widens. There are no signs of improvement on the horizon.

He is almost an accidental president. Nobody really knows where he came from, what he believes in, what he accomplished prior to his election, and why he should be reelected. He is almost a reincarnation of Jimmy Carter. Unemployment is endemic, economic growth is nonexistent, and class warfare is not working. The tried-and-tested blame Bush approach has been fruitless; massive government spending hasn’t accomplished a thing, and running up the deficit has had no positive impact. None of the liberal truths is being borne out now that they are finally being put into practice.

And it’s worse than that. The same folks who brought you Obamacare and deficits and try to continuously raise your taxes to pay for their follies are the people who are in a bitter battle against religion and moral values. These same people seek to embarrass Israel at every opportunity. They promote a radical agenda at every turn, publicly and privately.

The president doesn’t believe in American superiority. He doesn’t believe that America is the beacon of freedom and justice for the world. He travels across the globe apologizing for America’s greatness. He seeks to remold this country in the image of failing European socialism, even as those countries try to escape from those mistakes and adopt American capitalism. He seeks an equation of casualty, comparing Palestinian freedom fighters to Israelis who just want to live in peace in the Biblical home of their forefathers and mothers. As the Palestinians press forward with their statehood bid, the fallout is sure to be catastrophic, pushing Israel further into a steadily shrinking diplomatic corner.

And what can we do about it?

For those who reside in New York’s 9^th congressional district, there is a chance on September 13^th to protest what Obama has done on a national scale and what the party of David Weprin has done on a local scale. There is an opportunity to proclaim that we want to maintain traditional values, we want jobs back, we want responsible tax policy, and we want less governmental intrusion. We want less power for the unions which have caused millions of jobs and industries to flee this country, once the manufacturing capital of the world. It is those very unions which strangle industry and contribute to government’s inefficiency, who are committed to working slavishly to turn out the vote on Election Day for the man they know will do their bidding.

We have to show that we are not apathetic, we are not pawns, and we are not drones. We have to demonstrate that we are not corrupt, we do have principles, and we are not all about pragmatism. Yes, we also have to demonstrate to the people from our community who seek to make money off of these wayward deviants that we have had enough of them and will not countenance them either.

We don’t need another two-faced politician addressing us at our dinners for our shuls, mosdos and yeshivos. We have had enough of those. We don’t need another guy coming around mouthing some nice words about Yiddishkeit and how he will always stand by Israel and then go run off and wave lavender flags at the parades of those who seek to destroy the Judeo-Christian principles of morality upon which this great nation has been built. We don’t need another politician who troops down our streets trolling for dollars and then goes to those who seek to destroy the moral fiber of our community with his hand out, telling them how, when elected, he will promote their agenda.

We don’t need another person to supposedly represent us, but continuously voting against the best interests of our community. No, we are not from the generation of Jews who incorrectly felt indebted to FDR. We have no allegiance to the party of Carter, Schumer, and Obama. We judge each man and woman based on their positions and votes, and if they are out of line, we do not support them. We are principled and strong, and we exercise our democratic right to speak up and say the truth. We don’t just cower in our corners pontificating and then staying home on Election Day when we can make our voices heard.

It seems that we have an obligation to select the candidate who will not be an automatic vote for the Pelosi agenda. He will not be an advocate for deviants. He will not seek to destroy this country. He will not be a rubber stamp for a socialist, leftist, anti-religious, anti-moral agenda. And by voting for Turner, you will be proclaiming loud and clear that you have had it with the lies, you have had it with the leftists, you don’t want marriage redefined, and you have had it with embarrassing Israel and attempting to force it into suicidal pacts. You will be able to hold your head high, no matter who wins, and say, "We are different, we stand for something, and we are not for sale."

This election is about something larger than the people running to fill a seat which will likely be redistricted out of existence in 2012. It is about making a statement. It is not about polls and testing who will win. It is not about trying to line up with the projected winner in a bid to obtain future imagined benefits.

We are an am kadosh. We stand for something. And what we stand for is not corruption, dereliction of duty, winning at all costs, or the cynical alignment for temporary financial gain with those who lower the declining moral level of the country even further. There is a culture war being fought in this country. We have to decide which side we are on. Are we with the crowd endeavoring to accomplish an earthquake when it comes to the moral climate, or are we with those who believe in individual responsibility and the free man’s capacity for greatness and good?

"Halanu atah, im letzareinu?" [Yehoshua 5, 13]

We can’t afford to cozy-up in our personal "Switzerlands," covering ourselves with the cloak of indifference. We are charged to make the world holy, as Rav Schwab said.

So let’s walk the path to the voting booth with gratitude, thankful to the medinah shel chessed that allows us to live in freedom and peace, but never forget that, concurrently, it is our achrayus to make the world a better, purer, more holy place. We must do that in all that we do in our lives every day, including when we decide which politicians to support.

There is a similarity in the diaries of Jewish immigrants to America during the first part of the twentieth century. They contain parallel emotions; feelings of overwhelming gratitude as the overcrowded ship they were on approached the Statue of Liberty, her arm held high welcoming them to the shores of America.

Despite the challenges of acclimating, finding work, maintaining spiritual standards, that first generation confronted America and its inherent difficulties, yet never lost their inherent respect for the American system. They tasted democracy, a new fruit not available back in Europe, and they delighted in its sweetness. America, as expressed in the writings of so many gedolim, became the malchus shel chessed, a government founded on kindness.

The term has virtually become synonymous with the United States of America. When US Ambassador Richard Jones was taken to visit Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv two years ago, the revered posek hador immediately remarked that the United States is the malchus shel chessed. He asked the ambassador to convey his thanks to the American president.

I recently read a memoir of a rabbi in which he described the deep feelings of hakoras hatov that his grandparents, who lived with fresh memories of pogroms and beatings, felt towards this country. His reminiscence is just one of many thousands. He describes how each year, when they paid their taxes, they would add a few extra dollars "just to say thank you."

Couple that gratitude with something else, a mandate, a sacred charge as a mamleches kohanim vegoy kadosh, a people expected to shine light onto the nations, and you see the duality of our role as American citizens - grateful but also responsible.

A rov recounted that he visited Rav Shimon Schwab during the 1992 election season. The candidates for the presidency were the incumbent, George H. W. Bush, and Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. The visitor suggested that since the senior Bush had taken a very severe approach toward Israel by refusing to approve loan guarantees and Clinton seemed to be a loyal and unabashed friend of Israel, the Jewish community would support Clinton.

Rav Schwab’s response is timeless, and it is as instructive now as it was then.

"Our responsibility is not to take care of Eretz Yisroel, or any Jewish cause, since the Ribbono Shel Olam decides what route a ruler will take. As the posuk says, ‘Lev melachim vesarim beYad Hashem.’ He alone controls their thoughts and reactions, and as history has shown us again and again, rulers often surprise those closest to them with the decisions they make. Their hearts are in Hashem’s Hands.

"Our immediate responsibility as Torah Jews is to see to it that the world’s moral climate isn’t further weakened, that we are helping protect kedushah."

On a practical level, explained Rav Schwab, it meant voting for the incumbent, Bush, since Clinton had a reputation for dubious morality. In time, the prescience of Rav Schwab’s words would be proven. Not only did President Clinton personally engage in immoral conduct, but he ushered an unprecedented trend of immorality into the American consciousness and daily headlines.

A vote, taught Rav Schwab, is an opportunity to cleanse the world and purify our society, and the calculation of who to vote for should be made with that mandate - mamleches kohanim vegoy kadosh - in mind.

As the inhabitants of this great country grow increasingly self-centered, voter turnout keeps dropping. People are too focused on their own little worlds to see beyond and to realize their responsibility to society at large.

We Yidden cannot be apathetic, content with standing on the sidelines and welcoming whichever candidate comes forward smiling brightest, slapping our backs with the most enthusiasm.

In a famous Purim maamar, Rav Yitzchok Hutner, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin, declared, "In neshamah, iz nit duh kein Switzerland!" Neutrality is not a Jewish middah. There are no gray areas that are neither tov nor ra. Every decision has a consequence, every idea represents something.

We stand at a crossroads now, and rather than viewing the imminent election as an inconvenience, we should see it as an opportunity.

We have the tools in our hands to make a difference, to improve the moral and economic climate of this country.

The media is twisting itself into knots to defend its one-time hero, our president, but it’s time to face up to the truth: It’s not working, plain and simple. There are no two ways about it. There is no way to explain it away. The country is fed up with him. His approval numbers in the latest non-biased Gallup poll are at 38%.

Republicans have only been in charge of one house of Congress for seven months out of the two and a half years of Obama’s presidency, yet they are being blamed for the economic malaise of the country.

The administration and its lackeys have been churning out lie after lie in a failing bid to prop up their disproven policies and theories. Consider Mr. Obama’s amateur attempt to show up the Republicans on the night of their presidential debate, delivering his own campaign speech from the well of Congress, a talk billed as a "Joint Session to Congress on Jobs."

Obama will obviously not do anything to create jobs, because he does not believe in the ability of the private sector to drive the economic engine of this country. He believes in the expansion of government. He came in selling hope and change and promised to be a post-partisan president, yet he has governed from the extreme left since day one. He sets up straw men and knocks them down, but accomplishes nothing. His is basically a wounded presidency constantly seeking to press the reset button, but never hitting any winners. The crisis continues to grow and the hole we are in deepens and widens. There are no signs of improvement on the horizon.

He is almost an accidental president. Nobody really knows where he came from, what he believes in, what he accomplished prior to his election, and why he should be reelected. He is almost a reincarnation of Jimmy Carter. Unemployment is endemic, economic growth is nonexistent, and class warfare is not working. The tried-and-tested blame Bush approach has been fruitless; massive government spending hasn’t accomplished a thing, and running up the deficit has had no positive impact. None of the liberal truths is being borne out now that they are finally being put into practice.

And it’s worse than that. The same folks who brought you Obamacare and deficits and try to continuously raise your taxes to pay for their follies are the people who are in a bitter battle against religion and moral values. These same people seek to embarrass Israel at every opportunity. They promote a radical agenda at every turn, publicly and privately.

The president doesn’t believe in American superiority. He doesn’t believe that America is the beacon of freedom and justice for the world. He travels across the globe apologizing for America’s greatness. He seeks to remold this country in the image of failing European socialism, even as those countries try to escape from those mistakes and adopt American capitalism. He seeks an equation of casualty, comparing Palestinian freedom fighters to Israelis who just want to live in peace in the Biblical home of their forefathers and mothers. As the Palestinians press forward with their statehood bid, the fallout is sure to be catastrophic, pushing Israel further into a steadily shrinking diplomatic corner.

And what can we do about it?

For those who reside in New York’s 9^th congressional district, there is a chance on September 13^th to protest what Obama has done on a national scale and what the party of David Weprin has done on a local scale. There is an opportunity to proclaim that we want to maintain traditional values, we want jobs back, we want responsible tax policy, and we want less governmental intrusion. We want less power for the unions which have caused millions of jobs and industries to flee this country, once the manufacturing capital of the world. It is those very unions which strangle industry and contribute to government’s inefficiency, who are committed to working slavishly to turn out the vote on Election Day for the man they know will do their bidding.

We have to show that we are not apathetic, we are not pawns, and we are not drones. We have to demonstrate that we are not corrupt, we do have principles, and we are not all about pragmatism. Yes, we also have to demonstrate to the people from our community who seek to make money off of these wayward deviants that we have had enough of them and will not countenance them either.

We don’t need another two-faced politician addressing us at our dinners for our shuls, mosdos and yeshivos. We have had enough of those. We don’t need another guy coming around mouthing some nice words about Yiddishkeit and how he will always stand by Israel and then go run off and wave lavender flags at the parades of those who seek to destroy the Judeo-Christian principles of morality upon which this great nation has been built. We don’t need another politician who troops down our streets trolling for dollars and then goes to those who seek to destroy the moral fiber of our community with his hand out, telling them how, when elected, he will promote their agenda.

We don’t need another person to supposedly represent us, but continuously voting against the best interests of our community. No, we are not from the generation of Jews who incorrectly felt indebted to FDR. We have no allegiance to the party of Carter, Schumer, and Obama. We judge each man and woman based on their positions and votes, and if they are out of line, we do not support them. We are principled and strong, and we exercise our democratic right to speak up and say the truth. We don’t just cower in our corners pontificating and then staying home on Election Day when we can make our voices heard.

It seems that we have an obligation to select the candidate who will not be an automatic vote for the Pelosi agenda. He will not be an advocate for deviants. He will not seek to destroy this country. He will not be a rubber stamp for a socialist, leftist, anti-religious, anti-moral agenda. And by voting for Turner, you will be proclaiming loud and clear that you have had it with the lies, you have had it with the leftists, you don’t want marriage redefined, and you have had it with embarrassing Israel and attempting to force it into suicidal pacts. You will be able to hold your head high, no matter who wins, and say, "We are different, we stand for something, and we are not for sale."

This election is about something larger than the people running to fill a seat which will likely be redistricted out of existence in 2012. It is about making a statement. It is not about polls and testing who will win. It is not about trying to line up with the projected winner in a bid to obtain future imagined benefits.

We are an am kadosh. We stand for something. And what we stand for is not corruption, dereliction of duty, winning at all costs, or the cynical alignment for temporary financial gain with those who lower the declining moral level of the country even further. There is a culture war being fought in this country. We have to decide which side we are on. Are we with the crowd endeavoring to accomplish an earthquake when it comes to the moral climate, or are we with those who believe in individual responsibility and the free man’s capacity for greatness and good?

"Halanu atah, im letzareinu?" [Yehoshua 5, 13]

We can’t afford to cozy-up in our personal "Switzerlands," covering ourselves with the cloak of indifference. We are charged to make the world holy, as Rav Schwab said.

So let’s walk the path to the voting booth with gratitude, thankful to the medinah shel chessed that allows us to live in freedom and peace, but never forget that, concurrently, it is our achrayus to make the world a better, purer, more holy place. We must do that in all that we do in our lives every day, including when we decide which politicians to support.