Likud Primaries Tomorrow, Not Good

Generally before Likud primaries, my phone doesn't stop ringing, and the messages come in like a tsunami flooding the shores. This time, until today/tonight, nothing.

A few hours ago, I even started reading the SMSs I had been ignoring, because I wanted to check if I was really a member of the party. I couldn't find anything from Bibi or Saar. Then I got two phone calls, one a recording of Bibi and the other a Gidon Sa'ar activist who hung up when I refused to commit to supporting him.

In the February Likud Primaries, less than a year ago, I voted in Jerusalem. Tomorrow I plan on voting here in Shiloh. I hope I don't have a problem. If so, they'll have to transport me to and from Jerusalem. In this weather I have no plans, nor desire to travel.

You may be curious about my choice. Who should get my vote tomorrow?

I'm very upset with Gidon Sa'ar for trying to replace Bibi Netanyahu at this crucial time in history.

Maybe Gidon Sa'ar is a good, honest man with the capabilities to be Israel's Prime Minister as leader of the Likud Party. I seriously don't like his timing.

I think Gidon Sa'ar would have done better to support Netanyahu against the Blue & White Party, which was patched together to demolish the Likud, not just be anti-Bibi. The instigators/backers/conspirators who are behind the establishment of Blue & White have changed the face of Israeli politics and government. They've headed their party with a man who has no political Knesset experience, wasn't a Knesset Member, wasn't a Government Minister. Especially since the Prime Minister needs to form and control a coalition of MKs of various parties, the "American style" of voting for the "head executive" is a recipe for disaster.

With all of my complaints about Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu, and I do have many, I think that this is the time to support him. Sa'ar should have shown party loyalty, rather than supporting the basic Blue & White campaign platform that "Bibi has to go."

If Sa'ar had made a point of saying that he came out of his temporary "retirement" to support the party leader, he would have shown more leadership and sense of responsibility. Don't forget that in Israel we don't vote for a Prime Minister. We vote for a political party, and the party that gets the most Knesset seats gets first crack in trying to form a ruling coalition.

IMHO and a half a century carefully following Israeli politics, I think that Gidon Sa'ar made a mistake. Win or lose, he didn't do the right thing, and win or lose it will come back to haunt him.

Let's just pray for the State of Israel. Gd willing, we'll survive this electoral mess.

The Prayer for the State of Israel

Blessing the Government, Ethics of the Fathers, Pirkei Avot, Chapter 3:2

This was first posted on Israel Bloggers.

Pirkei Avot, Kehati Mishnah

Chapter 3:2. Rabbi Chanina, deputy to the kohanim, would say: Pray for the integrity of the government; for were it not for the fear of its authority, a man would swallow his neighbor alive. Pirkei Avot, Chabad.org

This Shabbat, as we were learning the that mishna,  I began to think of those who in anger or disappointment at various politicians and/or policies, even including the very legitimacy of the State of Israel, refuse in principle to say the Prayer for the State of Israel.

Prayer for Shlom Hamedina, Welfare of the State of Israel, Jewish Virtual Library

Our Father in Heaven, Rock and Redeemer of Israel, bless the State of Israel, the first manifestation of the approach of our redemption. Shield it with Your lovingkindness, envelop it in Your peace, and bestow Your light and truth upon its leaders, ministers, and advisors, and grace them with Your good counsel. Strengthen the hands of those who defend our holy land, grant them deliverance, and adorn them in a mantle of victory. Ordain peace in the land and grant its inhabitants eternal happiness.

Lead them, swiftly and upright, to Your city Zion and to Jerusalem, the abode of Your Name, as is written in the Torah of Your servant Moses: “Even if your outcasts are at the ends of the world, from there the Lord your God will gather you, from there He will fetch you. And the Lord your God will bring you to the land that your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your fathers.” Draw our hearts together to revere and venerate Your name and to observe all the precepts of Your Torah, and send us quickly the Messiah son of David, agent of Your vindication, to redeem those who await Your deliverance.

Manifest yourself in the splendor of Your boldness before the eyes of all inhabitants of Your world, and may everyone endowed with a soul affirm that the Lord, God of Israel, is king and his dominion is absolute. Amen forevermore.

I think not saying it is a big mistake. Just look at what it really says, especially the section I emphasized. The prayer was very carefully worded. It does not endorse the policies of the politicians leading the State of Israel. It has us asking Gd to bless those people with wisdom and the ability to follow Gd’s instructions. Yes, it asks Gd to take away Free Will from our leaders so they won’t make dangerous mistakes. And isn’t that what we really want?

Directing The Rain Prayers

It's another horrid, repulsive dangerous day today.  There's barely a cloud in the sky.  It's too warm to wear winter clothes.  Yes, we're suffering bad, awfully bad weather.

No, it isn't a nice day when the sun shines day after day after day after day before Chanukah.  The only beautiful thing about this picture is the building of Jewish homes in the Land of Israel.

The Israeli Rabbinate has declared that we say special prayers for rain and that today be a fast day and more special prayers.  The standard Jewish rain prayers ask G-d for mercy, but as Sharon Katz's young neighbor alludes to ignores why we're being punished by G-d for not observing the Mitzvot, G-d given commandments.  Yes, please don't forget that drought is a This World punishment.

Our problem isn't with G-d, it's with our government leaders, which makes the Prayer for the Welfare of the State of Israel just perfect:

Our Father in Heaven, Rock and Redeemer of Israel, bless the State of Israel, the first manifestation of the approach of our redemption. Shield it with Your lovingkindness, envelop it in Your peace, and bestow Your light and truth upon its leaders, ministers, and advisors, and grace them with Your good counsel. Strengthen the hands of those who defend our holy land, grant them deliverance, and adorn them in a mantle of victory. Ordain peace in the land and grant its inhabitants eternal happiness. Lead them, swiftly and upright, to Your city Zion and to Jerusalem, the abode of Your Name, as is written in the Torah of Your servant Moses: “Even if your outcasts are at the ends of the world, from there the Lord your God will gather you, from there He will fetch you. And the Lord your God will bring you to the land that your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your fathers.” Draw our hearts together to revere and venerate Your name and to observe all the precepts of Your Torah, and send us quickly the Messiah son of David, agent of Your vindication, to redeem those who await Your deliverance.

Manifest yourself in the splendor of Your boldness before the eyes of all inhabitants of Your world, and may everyone endowed with a soul affirm that the Lord, God of Israel, is king and his dominion is absolute. Amen forevermore.

I'll repeat what I consider the most imporant part:

"...bestow Your light and truth upon its leaders, ministers, and advisors, and grace them with Your good counsel. Strengthen the hands of those who defend our holy land, grant them deliverance, and adorn them in a mantle of victory."

We, the State of Israel,  are being ruled by "confused" people, politicians blinded by foreign lights and twisted perverse moralities and value systems.

Those who refuse to say that prayer because they don't approve of the State of Israel are totally in the wrong.  The prayer doesn't praise the state.  It is a prayer that begs G-d to control the state's leaders and focus them in the right direction, towards HaShem and Mitzvot. The State of Israel can and should be the tool to our גאולה Geula Redemption, finally and speedily in Our Days!

Stopping Jewish Building Stops the Rain

There's No Water, Bibi, You're Guilty

עצירת בניה יהודית עוצרת גשמים

אין מים, ביבי, אתה אשם