In Beit El they dream not only of ladders but also about growing and expanding, but in the meantime, the Israeli government is choking the yishuv with the construction freeze. * The Rebbe’s shliach in the yishuv, R’ Dovid Bakush, along with his wife and family, reach out to the local residents as well as to IDF soldiers working in the area.
With the atmosphere of incredible tension during recent weeks and in light of the four terrible murders, there’s also something that we can do. As we demand the nation’s security forces to answer with all their strength against the terrorist menace, we in turn must respond by adding more light. This is the only retaliation we can bring against the forces of evil and darkness working against us. They cut life short while we kindle light and ignite new life.
Just as you can’t put a square peg into a round hole, you can’t tell someone who isn’t Jewish that he really is a Jew. There is no room here for “compromise” or “consensus” because we’re not conducting negotiations between two sides. There’s only one side authorized to determine according to Judaism who is part of it and who isn’t – and that’s the Holy Torah, as expressed in the Shulchan Aruch, not some decision by this or any other government of Israel.
Dozens of times a day, you can see Hashem directing the potentially deadly missiles and making them land in open areas or in places where there were people just minutes before. * Between tall buildings, near gas balloons, near a preschool, in the doorway of a shul. These are only some of the places where rockets have landed and, thank G-d, caused no harm to man.
The former head of the General Security Services (Shin Bet), Avi Dichter, doesn’t see any other solution except re-conquering the Gaza Strip. “In recent years, residents in the south wake up each day to an uncertain reality. Will missiles fall today or not? Will there be an air-raid siren or not?” he says. “If that isn’t playing roulette, I don’t know what is…”
A small terrorist organization sitting in Gaza has managed to paralyze an entire country, something that all the Arab armies haven’t been able to do for over sixty years. When these armies attacked us, we exercised our right of self-defense with uncompromising determination. However, when confronted by the terrorist organizations, the government of Israel has been afraid to achieve victory. How many military operations have we conducted in Eretz Yisroel over the past several years? Israeli policymakers called each operation a “round” – until the next round…
It’s no coincidence that the kidnapping of three Jewish high school boys took place near Chevron and all rescue efforts are presently focused on this area. The one who handed Chevron to the terrorist organizations was the incumbent prime minister who ran into their waiting arms during his first term in office and presented them with the Holy City of our Forefathers in the ‘Chevron-Wye Plantation’ agreements. Now he has the opportunity to rectify his blunder. The IDF operation underway in Chevron must become the trigger for reconquering the city and reinstituting military control over its entire territory.
How have we become so apathetic to the current situation, in which the murder of Jews is considered a routine occurrence? How is it possible that after a whole year of negotiations, with rumors that the Israelis were ready to concede everything, there are still those who call this a right-wing government?
Why is it that when a young Jewish woman is murdered in the heart of Eretz HaKodesh simply because she is Jewish, no one seems to care? Maybe we’ve just gotten used to it. Maybe we simply don’t have the strength to cry out anymore. One thing is certain: This situation cannot continue. Wake up, Yidden!
With a little mutual respect and true Ahavas Yisroel, the national-religious community would be more connected to us. Rather than cursing one another, there could be more outreach activities with this sector, many of whom identify with the ultra-Orthodox in a joint effort to neutralize destructive political forces. However, none of this was done. They chose instead to focus their energies on a religious civil war. Anyone who didn’t conform to the messages conveyed by Torah Judaism party leaders became an enemy of the Torah and Judaism.
Despite the tragedy of freeing terrorists with Jewish blood on their hands, this isn’t the real story. These terrorists are only a cover for the real issue: the developing treaty between the government of Israel and the PLO. While the latter supports terrorist violence to this very day, the former continues to grant it nominal status as a peace-loving human rights organization.
Interpretation of this classified information shows that it was at a security level far greater than the data Jonathan Pollard gave to the Israelis, when he was employed by U.S. naval intelligence. However, this is not just a case of “passing classified information to an ally” – the crime Pollard was convicted of violating; this is a flagrant case of espionage in its purest form – at a cost of millions of dollars.
Sergeant Shimon Cohen, who fought in the mortar unit along the Suez Canal, saw horrific scenes which still replay in his head. * After four decades in which he kept his experiences to himself, he shared with Beis Moshiach the instructions, letters and encouragement from the Rebbe that saved his life and gave him the strength to vanquish the enemy and establish a Chassidic family. * An exclusive interview marking forty years since the Yom Kippur War.
September 9, 2015