The Tower of Babel and "The Twilight Zone." Parshat Noah

This past Shabbat's Torah Portion of the Week was Noach, or Noah. There are lots of topics in this Parsha, the flood, rainbow, Tower of Babel, antecedents of Abraham and Sarah and more. At our "Parshat Shavua Group," led by a neighbor, we discussed the sin that angered Gd in the "Tower of Babel" story.

In all honesty, I can't quite remember all the details, since my mind kept exploding with inspiration and ideas as she and others spoke. She read from an article that the late Rav Neria had written about it in which he mentioned the difference between  אחדות ואחידות, achdut viachidut, unity and uniformity. Unity is good, but uniformity אחידות achidut isn't. In both Hebrew and English both words seem almost the same. They are from the same linguistic roots meaning "one."

I was warned not to get into politics. You must know that a mantra of mine in recent years is:

Liberals aren't liberal.

We see this all over the world. Those who ascribe to the Liberal philosophies are horrendously intolerant. Socialism evolved into Communism which ran countries with very tight fists and forbade religions. And today Leftist leaning universities, politicians etc call those who disagree with their philosophies and leaders "wrong" rather than respecting the rights of others to other opinions.

When I was still a rather impressionable youngster, I'd watch the iconic and legendary television show The Twilight Zone. One episode has stayed strongly rooted in my mind for over half a century. It was set in the "future." This was a very regimented time, when even home libraries were limited to "approved books only." And not only were books censured, but people had to dress and look in the required way. At a certain age everyone was to choose a certain face from a catalog and submit to surgery. The episode told of a family of rebels which had forbidden books, and their daughter refused to submit to the surgery. They refused to conform to the uniformity of society. Finally the authorities seized the daughter, brought her to the hospital and operated. As I remember it we were shown her reactions as the bandages are being removed. She looks in the mirror for the first time at her new face:

"Oh, how pretty I look." She said sounding amazed and pleased. Then she looked at the woman who was holding the mirror for her and continued. "And best of all, I look just like you."

Light faded; the show ended. I'll never forget it. When they gave her the uniform catalog face, they also changed her brain, her independent mind implanting something to make her a complete law-abiding conformist.

Gd created us humans with Free Will, even though it meant that not all humans would follow Gd's laws. We're challenged by Gd to overcome our Evil Inclinations, which tempt us to conform to human philosophies and ideologies, rather than Gd's laws.

We're supposed to be united under Gd, for Gd and help others. The Sin of the Tower of Babel was that they made their own language, laws and morality. By creating a new language and building a tower they considered godly, they rejected Gd as Supreme Being and Commander.

We must unite under Gd not unify to defy Gd.

In Matan we learn as one, unified, united but not in a uniform. No uniformity

Power of Gd

Jewish Theology integrales two rather contradictory concepts, The Power of Gd and the Gift He gave us, Free Will. I don't have time to delve into this complicated relationship now, but today I witnessed some of Gd's Powers.

As I was doing some things in the living area of my house, which faces east, south and west, I noticed that the sky to the west was getting dark. That could mean rain. And then suddenly I saw a strange flash to the east. I began to wonder if that had been lightning, when suddenly I heard a boom, thunder. So retroactively I knew that it had been lightning.

A few seconds later I had already taken out a siddur, Jewish Prayer Book, and said the appropriate blessings:

We humans like to think that we're clever, but we can't fully control the weather. Here in the Land of Israel, Gd uses the weather as a barometer to show approval or disapproval of our behavior. Some years we have perfect quantities of rain at the best times, accompanied by the right heat and cold facilitate miraculously blessed harvests. There are other years when lack of rain, too much or badly timed rain, along with damaging temperatures turn our Land into a barren wilderness. This doesn't happen by chance.

May we succeed in following Gd's Commandments correctly and deserve the best weather for the fertility of The Land of Israel.

I Voted in Municipal Elections

photo by one of the election staff

I went down to the polling station which is in the Ohel Shiloh Banim, local boys school very early to get "training," since I had volunteered to be an "observer." Well, there was no training, so I just voted early. And I highly doubt that I'll return to "observe." There will be enough "observers" without me, Gd willing.

Even though I have written/blogged quite a bit about my choices, I know from long experience that once people are in office, they tend to "surprise" us. Sometimes it's for good, but more frequently for bad.

Between Free Will, that major responsibility that Gd gifted us, and siyate d'Shmaya, when Gd overrules, it's not a good idea to think that we can predict much. The only thing we can really predict is that things won't go exactly as expected, and that officeholders rarely do what they promised when campaigning. 

When confronting choices, like I had in the "booth" behind the screen, sometimes we change our mind. You may have noticed that I only blogged about two of the choices we had to make, two of the issues. I wrote about head of the region, sort of the governor. And I wrote about the local council list. I wrote nothing about who should represent us in the regional "parliament." That's because I couldn't choose. One campaigned that he'd work as part of the coalition no matter who's in it, which turned me off. I'm too much an idealist. I like policies and plans. The other one just wrote all sorts of ordinary platitudes, to make everything "better." That didn't enthuse me at all. I had been thinking of an empty envelope, or two ripped half ballots. I even thought of playing a "switching game" with my eyes closed and the ballots upside down, so I wouldn't know for whom I voted. At the last second I made a choice, but since it wasn't with my full heart, I won't say who got my vote.

Gd willing, I put the best choice of ballot in each envelope.  

I consider it very important to vote, even in the case when you're not impressed by the candidates.

An important thing I want to show and tell you is that our voting station is handicapped accessible! Take a look at the picture below. Thank Gd the location is perfect. It's also near bus stops.

Gd willing, the results will be the best possible. That we will only discover in the months and years to come.

ברוך דיין האמת Baruch Dayan Haemett

Who's responsible?

ברוך דיין האמת Baruch Dayan Haemett

BLESSED IS THE TRUE JUDGE

Yesterday not everyone checked weather forecasts. Is that the reason so many people died in flash floods here in Israel?

10 students killed after being swept away in flash flood

Death is a very difficult theological subject in all religions, especially Judaism. On one had we recognize that Gd creates life and its limits/conditions or end. But on the other hand we have responsibilities. We're not puppets controlled by Gd. We have Free Will. That is why Gd can reward and punish us, and we pay our final "price" after death in Olam Haba, the World to Come.

Friends who know the curriculum of the official Israeli Tour Guide Course confirmed that paying attention to weather forecasts, especially rain in the south and resulting flash floods, say its a requirement.  The group, which had been caught in that flash flood, should have cancelled their plans, or totally changed its itinerary.

If the administration and tour guide who approved and led the fatal trip are held criminally negligent, it won't bring the dead back to life. But they still must be held legally accountable. In Judaism it's not acceptable to just say, "it's the will of Gd." These kids didn't just die in their sleep from unpreventable causes. We don't know Gd's will, and it's not for us to decide on such things.

Remember that the searching endangered innocent lives, too. 

Refuah shleimah, complete healing to all the injured.

for illustrative purposes

for illustrative purposes

Please DON'T BLAME G-D!!!

One of my pet peeves, long-time gripes is that people blame G-d for the faults, mistakes, sins of man.

Yes, this is a theological, philosophical rant of mine. I really hate when people start off by saying:

• "Why did G-d allow...?"
• "Why did G-d do...?"
• "How did G-d...?"
• "G-d shouldn't have..."
• "I'm angry with G-d, because..."

I'm sure you can give more examples, when so many times the reason people are blaming G-d is for things done by other people, not by G-d Almighty. 

Yes, G-d is almighty and can change nature easily, bring people back from the dead, heal the sick and control timing and more. But G-d gave us a very special gift, and that is the difference between us human beings, Jews and non-Jews alike, for good and for evil, and angels. Angels are more like robots programmed by G-d to do specific tasks. Chazal, our Sages, tell us that each mal'ach angel has one responsibility it is supposed to do for G-d. It doesn't have Free Will; it isn't capable of rebellion or refusal. 

The gift G-d gave just to us humans is the responsibility of Free Will. And yes, it's a responsibility. And that is why we can be punished, whether in This World, עולם הזה Olam HaZeh, or עולם הבא Olam HaBa, The Next World. That's also why G-d is always testing us and challenging us.

There are also many, many things totally out of our control which can sadden and anger us. And our greatest challenge is to keep our faith in G-d no matter how much we may be upset and angry about things in This World.

Are the Islamist Extremists Winning? What Would Rav Kook and Jabotinsky Say?

Dry Bones pulled out another classic.

Originally published October 27, 2003

One of the main reasons I'm not so impressed and enamored by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's latest speech at the United Nations General Assembly is that all his fine words and great performance have no real effect on any country's policies, nor on the United Nations.  Bibi is a wonderfully  skilled performer and presenter.  Probably the best since the world (and the United States especially) had Ronald Regan to admire.  The biggest difference is that Netanyahu is a writer and can produce his own material.  But, call me a jaded cynic, none of his skills and talents will really change the world.

Elder of Ziyon has summarized some of the world's reactions to Netanyahu's speech. Excerpt:

Iran Learns the Language of the West

To be sure, Rouhani’s performance at the United Nations was stellar, although he did not have much to live up to. Former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stood on the podium at the General Assembly denying the Holocaust and promoting 9/11 conspiracy theories before claiming that he’d felt “bathed in light” during his speech. Certainly not conducive to winning any PR points.
Rouhani’s UN appearance reminds me of one of the UN’s more infamous moments (of which there are too many) when, in 1974, PLO leader Yasser Arafat addressed the General Assembly stating: “Today I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter’s gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.”
Rouhani entered the UN with the equivalent of an atomic bomb poking out of his clothing. Yet, like Arafat before him, the crowd focused on the “olive branch” while ignoring the gun. In the subsequent years, Arafat’s gun was responsible for murdering and wounding thousands of innocents. Will Rouhani also follow suit albeit with more horrific weapons?

White House 'Understand's Israeli Skepticism on Iran'

Following the speech made by Binyamin Netanyahu to the United Nations General Assembly, White House Spokesman Jay Carney has said in a press briefing, that the US administration understands Israeli fears as it attempts a rapprochement with the Islamic regime.
“We’ve said all along, as the president has said, we understand, and it is entirely justifiable, that Israel is skeptical about Iran and Iran’s intentions,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said, "after all, this is a country whose leadership, until recently[?], was pledging to annihilate Israel.”

But the most important fact to remember is that Iran is still appointed to crucial and powerful positions in the United Nations.

Jewish Groups Express Outrage at Iran’s Appointment to Head Key UN Committee
Iran was elected Tuesday by United Nations member states to serve as the rapporteur of the UN First Committee on Disarmament and International Security. Iran, which had lobbied for the position for months, also serves as chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, the largest bloc of nations at the UN.

We must not trust or support foreign nations nor international organizations. The proof's in the pudding as the saying goes.

Honestly, besides the existence of the State of Israel, little has changed since the 1930's when Hitler came to power.  The world, the Vatican, the League of Nations, the United States and most Jewish leaders refused to recognize the dangers, either due to Pollyanna syndrome or anti-Semitism, latent or unabashed.

Recently a friend brought up the topic of Rav Abraham Yitzchak Kook, 1865-1935, and his inherent optimism which bothers her about his philosophy.  Suddenly it hit me that Rabbi Kook and Ze'ev Jabotinsky, 1880-1940, were contemporaries.  There was nothing very optimistic in Jabotinsky's view of the world, if I'm not mistaken.  Jabotinsky, who was from a secular background saw the world in black and white, while Rabbi Kook's vision was enhanced by a spiritual "light."

PM Netanyahu was greatly influenced by his father, the late Professor Benzion Netanyahu a disciple of  Jabotinsky.  Neither of the Netanyahu's have/had a comprehension of the "spiritual light" that imbued Rabbi Kook and his followers with the confidence that we will survive and flourish without the world's backing.  Our G-d is more powerful.  That is Bibi's tragic flaw and the key to the reason he has accepted the "two state solution."

At present, the Rav Kook followers and the Jabotinsky followers are together in the Israeli Government, but they haven't taken the best from either philosophy/ideology.  Today's Rav Kook followers are mamlachti'im, worshipping the State of Israel, and the Jabotinsky followers are following the Left and foreign values. They are more like the ten out of twelve tribal leaders in the time of Moses, who voted to delay entrance to the Land of Israel, because they were afraid of the physical size of those living there, the "sin of the spies."

Herein is the danger of democracy, the rule of fools.  Calev and Joshua were correct, only two out of twelve tribal elders who had been assigned the task to stake out the Land, not to decide whether or not it was feasible to enter it at the time.

G-d is in control but demands that we use our Free Will correctly. On occasion, G-d will override our mistakes and save us, but His goal is for us Jews to make the right decisions.

Shimon The Dangerous Peres, Wrong Again

Hat tip: Rafi, Life in Israel

President Shimon Peres,
2012 President Conference
Photo Batya Medad

40 years have passed. Most of Israel's citizens did not personally experience the shock of the fearful siren, wailing up and down, that at 2 PM ripped through the silence of the holiness of Yom Kippur. The nation was wrapped then in its fast, gathered in the synagogues, or in the privacy of their homes. The gates of heaven were not open that day, the prayers were not answered, the war broke out. The fire was on two fronts, the north and the south, by the time the siren sounded, the first soldiers had already fallen. Israel had made a mistake and was surprised, and her children gave their lives with amazing heroism and saved it from the valley of tears.  -- President Shimon Peres, at memorial ceremony on Har Herzl for the fallen soldiers of the Yom Kippur War

Israelis, like many other people tend to credit themselves and other humans for good things and blame G-d for the bad.  I see like in the complete opposite direction. We humans tend to misuse our gift of Free Will and make the wrong decisions.  I'm not talking about buying the wrong color dress,  a boring book or even a lemon  of a car.  I'm talking about dangerous things, like the Israeli Government decisions that caused the horrendous death toll in the first days of the 1973 Yom Kippur War and almost caused the destruction of the State of Israel.

Immediately after the 1967 Six Days War, the country was filled with signs thanking the IDF for the victory, even though the great victory bore no relation to the battle plans.  In simple terms, G-d took over steering the ship.  While the Israeli Labor-ked Government had always made it clear that it was perfectly satisfied with the Land under Israeli control since the 1949 ceasefire, G-d decided otherwise.  And instead of recognizing that G-d knows more than man, successive Israeli governments for the past forty-six 46 years have been begging the Arabs to take back the Land we won in a fighting for our lives and existence defensive war in exchange for a "peace treaty."

Shimon Peres personifies that faulty reasoning.  For whatever reason, G-d has made him one of the last, if not the very last of that generation that refuses to accept G-d's will.  And Peres, instead of recognizing and admitting his mistakes has continued for almost half a century taking credit for our survival and promoting his faux peace.

I'm not as optimistic as MK Elkin who thinks that Israelis have "sobered up" and recognize the futility of their quest for peace.

I think a serious step would be when we hear Israeli and Jewish leaders thank G-d for stopping the Holocaust and blaming human free will for causing the death of millions.  All of this philosophy and history are related.  That's the key.  We're still stuck in the syndrome of the "Sin of the Spies," when ten out of the twelve tribal leaders feared the challenges of liberating aka conquering the Promised Land, and they sold their faulty opinion to the masses of recently enslaved Jews.  It seems we're still sentenced to wander the desert and await a Joshua to lead us into Jewish Sovereignty in the Holy Land.

Tisha B'Av and The Battling Forces

I must admit that while reading the Tisha B'Av Kinot at home I dozed off.  I felt the good and evil battling away.  The proscribed readings, Eicha and Kinot, for this day of national mourning for the end of our ancient Jewish Kingdoms in the Land of Israel are very depressing and much too close to home.

Lamentations Chapter 2 אֵיכָה

ז  זָנַח אֲדֹנָי מִזְבְּחוֹ, נִאֵר מִקְדָּשׁוֹ--הִסְגִּיר בְּיַד-אוֹיֵב, חוֹמֹת אַרְמְנוֹתֶיהָ; קוֹל נָתְנוּ בְּבֵית-יְהוָה, כְּיוֹם מוֹעֵד.  {ס}	7 The Lord hath cast off His altar, He hath abhorred His sanctuary, He hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn assembly. {S}
ח  חָשַׁב יְהוָה לְהַשְׁחִית, חוֹמַת בַּת-צִיּוֹן--נָטָה קָו, לֹא-הֵשִׁיב יָדוֹ מִבַּלֵּעַ; וַיַּאֲבֶל-חֵל וְחוֹמָה, יַחְדָּו אֻמְלָלוּ.  {ס}	8 The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; He hath stretched out the line, He hath not withdrawn His hand from destroying; but He hath made the rampart and wall to mourn, they languish together. {S}
ט  טָבְעוּ בָאָרֶץ שְׁעָרֶיהָ, אִבַּד וְשִׁבַּר בְּרִיחֶיהָ; מַלְכָּהּ וְשָׂרֶיהָ בַגּוֹיִם, אֵין תּוֹרָה--גַּם-נְבִיאֶיהָ, לֹא-מָצְאוּ חָזוֹן מֵיְהוָה.  {ס}	9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; He hath destroyed and broken her bars; her king and her princes are among the nations, instruction is no more; yea, her prophets find no vision from the LORD. {S}
י  יֵשְׁבוּ לָאָרֶץ יִדְּמוּ, זִקְנֵי בַת-צִיּוֹן--הֶעֱלוּ עָפָר עַל-רֹאשָׁם, חָגְרוּ שַׂקִּים; הוֹרִידוּ לָאָרֶץ רֹאשָׁן, בְּתוּלֹת יְרוּשָׁלִָם.  {ס}	10 They sit upon the ground, and keep silence, the elders of the daughter of Zion; they have cast up dust upon their heads, they have girded themselves with sackcloth; the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground. {S}
יא  כָּלוּ בַדְּמָעוֹת עֵינַי, חֳמַרְמְרוּ מֵעַי--נִשְׁפַּךְ לָאָרֶץ כְּבֵדִי, עַל-שֶׁבֶר בַּת-עַמִּי:  בֵּעָטֵף עוֹלֵל וְיוֹנֵק, בִּרְחֹבוֹת קִרְיָה.  {ס}	11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, mine inwards burn, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the breach of the daughter of my people; because the young children and the sucklings swoon in the broad places of the city. {S}

I suggest listening to Shani Taragin's shiur Eicha, Sounds of Music.

The Jewish People, the same one that exists today, is a very ancient people. None of our long-ago national or cultural peers still exist.  Historians and theologians have written our obituary many times.  At least two other religions were invented to replace us, Christianity and Islam, and they are fighting us for our Land.  The Arabs, their international backers and even some Israelis are pushing for a so-called Palestinian State, G-d forbid, and the Vatican is making deals with the Israeli Government to take over our holy sites, like Mount Zion.

YERUSHALAYIM - Israel has secretly informed the pope and senior Vatican officials that it is ready to reach a deal according to which it will transfer sovereignty of Kever David on Har Tzion to the Vatican, along with six Christian sites around the country. In exchange, Israel will receive permission to nationalize land that is under Christian control on the shores of the Kinneret.
After heavy Christian pressure, which has been applied for the past 60 years, the government is caving in now, specifically under Prime Minister Netanyahu, and is deciding to approve agreements drafted by former deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon. He conducted ongoing secret negotiations with  the church, along with Bahij Mansour, the head of religion in the Diaspora division of the Foreign Ministry.

The forces of good and evil, Jewish rights/religion versus western secular are fighting.  In some ways it's subtle and in other ways it gets physically nasty. The Arabs generally are up front and honest about it.  They go for the physical kill, with rocks, rifles, bombs and rocket attacks.

Some of the victims of Arab terrorism: Top Left to Right: Koby Mandell, Yehuda Haim Shoham, Esther Ohana  Center: Yosef Ishran  Bottom Left to Right: Bachor Jean, Asher Palmer and his infant son Jonathan, Stf. Sgt. Benny Meisner

It's easy to read their lips. Other enemies are more subtle. Many claim friendship and love for us, but their advice will only cause our destruction. There are also our internal enemies, Jews, Israelis who frequently speak in the terminology of our sages, but with the wrong agenda.  They are like the false prophets of Biblical times. 

I've been studying the Bible for the past few years in Matan.  I'm in the six year program Al HaPerek, in which Na"Ch, Prophets and Writings have been divided up.  We study two chapters a week, and we are now studying Yechezkel, having already finished Joshua, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah and Jeremiah.

Today's politics in the State of Israel and modern Jewish History seems so similar to Biblical Times and I find that frightening.   We Jewish People are again battling.  Will G-d decide that we must be dispersed again, or will we progress to the building of the Third Holy Temple?  I'd like to say that it's all up to G-d, but I understand that it is really up to us.  G-d created us with free will, and we therefore have the power to bring the Moshiach, Redemption. 

We are not G-d's puppets; we are free-thinking people who must make the right decisions the right moves. G-d will help us if we do so. That's how we were victorious in our early wars against the Arab attackers, the 1948 War for Israeli Independence, the 1967 Six Days War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War.  Our Salvation and our victories all come from G-d.  The message of Tisha B'Av is that if we pray to false G-ds, if we make deals with foreign leaders, if we give away our precious Land, G-d may very well decide that we're not the right generation for Redemption.  He may let us be destroyed the way He did in the past.

waiting

G-d willing we will be strong and do the right things, and G-d will forgive us for our sins. And G-d willing we will defeat those endangering us.  May G-d be merciful.  May we merit the building of the בית המקדשת Beit Hamikdash, the Holy Temple!

הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ יְהוָה אֵלֶיךָ ונשוב [וְנָשׁוּבָה] חַדֵּשׁ יָמֵינוּ כְּקֶדֶם.

Hashiveinu Hashem vinashu chadesh yameinu kikedem.

Bring us back to You, G-d, and we will return, renew our days as days of old.