Lazer Brody's Blog, page 335

Round 3: Windbreaker vs. Kornet

There's a iron-clad law in spirituality: If someone thinks he can manage without Hashem's help, Hashem says, "go ahead and try." That's bad news.

The greatest benefit of emuna is that the more you truly believe in Hashem, the more you benefit from Divine assistance and blessings.

How did Abraham and a mere 318 soldiers defeat Nimrod and the Superpower Alliance of Evil?

All through Torah, The People of Israel fight their battles as underdogs. That's exactly the way Hashem wanted things. In the war against the five Midianite kings under the spiritual guidance of Bilaam - who was just as wicked as Moses was holy - Moses mobilized a mere 12,000 troops - no more. He wanted the army to realize that Hashem gives victories, not military might (see Numbers, chapter 32). In other words, Moses put the army in a position where they'd have to turn to Hashem to win. He knew that dependence on Hashem guarantees victories.

A main theme of Passover is, "Hashem shall fight in your behalf, and you shall remain silent" (Exodus 14:14). We certainly can't take credit for defeating Pharaoh and the Egyptians, the superpower of 3323 years ago when our people left Egypt.

Goliath was a mighty giant; little pre-Bar-Mitzva boy David slew him with a slingshot.

Only a fool can say that Israel's military might won wars. In 1948, we didn't defeat the formidable Arab armies with sophisticated weaponry; Hashem delivered our enemies into the hands of holocaust survivors from Europe, gentle merchants from Morocco, and Torah scholars from Yemen, with a few kibbutzniks in khaki shorts and sandals commanding.

At the other end of the scale, in the first Lebanon War in 1982, an entire Israeli armored column that was heading north in Eastern Lebanon was thwarted by terrorist teenagers with RPGs (shouldered Russian rocket-propelled antitank grenade launchers). The column retreated south, and 2 Israeli warplanes thought that the column was a Syrian tank regiment, strafing them and leaving 46 dead from friendly fire. 

This morning, the Prime Minister of Israel was quoted as saying that Israel's existence depends on the IDF's defensive power. We here at the Beams pray that he was misquoted. At any rate, on the spot, we asked Hashem's forgiveness. We believe the words of our sages (Gemara, tractate Sota 49b), "There is no one to depend on other than our Father in Heaven." This is the eternal truth; sure, we make our best efforts, but we depend on Hashem. The Torah (see Deuteronomy, Chapter 8) warns sternly against forgetting Hashem and thinking that you live by "the might of my hand."

Every time a politician in Israel declares that our military might is what sustains us, he forces Hashem to prove how sorely mistaken he is, and all of Israel pays the price.

Before the Second Lebanon War in 2006, the Israeli Defense Minister and Chief of Staff both exuded enough hot air to send a Zeppelin in orbit when they declared how fast they'd finish off the Hizbulla. Nasrulla laughed in their faces every time another missile landed in Israel's northern population centers. Note that a mere 2,000 Hizbulla guerillas wreaked havoc on Israel's entire north. After the conflict, the Winograd commission showed how miserably we perform without Hashem's help.

Back then in 2006, Israel trusted its Merkava IV state-of-the-art tanks. Israeli intelligence was totally unaware of the Russian-made and laser-guided Kornet antitank missiles that made their way into Hizbulla's hands having quietly been smuggled to Lebanon from Syria and Iran. These Kornets totally demolished 6 Merkava tanks and neutralized another 30! With a maximum range of 3.4 miles, they are deadly accurate within 2 miles and are capable of penetrating concrete walls a foot thick within a range of 1.3 miles. This is the missile that hit the school bus last week near Kibbutz Saad from over 2 miles away in Gaza and left 16-year Daniel Viflic from Beit Shemesh fighting for his life, may Hashem heal him, amen.

Israel now boasts the Windbreaker vehicle-defense system which is capable of destroying incoming Kornet missiles. The problem is that only IDF tanks are being outfitted with the $1Million/each system, and not school busses.

One can neither outsmart Hashem nor run away from Him.

Weapons development is no substitute for emuna and teshuva. The enemy always comes along and builds a stronger weapon. One who relies on strength always ultimately encounters a stronger opponent. Ask veteran world-champion boxers; few - if any - retire as winners.

Declaring our dependance on military might only hastens another round of hostilities. Let's set the record straight - we have no one to depend on other than Hashem. Take your choice - read and internalize The Garden of Emuna, or prepare for Round 4 in Gaza and/or Lebanon and maybe another Intifada to boot. Shabbat Shalom.

 

V'hi She'amda: The Eternal Promise

The Gemara (tractate Sanhedrin 97b) says that the Nation of Israel (aka the Jewish People) will be redeemed as soon as they make teshuva, in other words, return to Hashem and the ways of His Torah. The Gemara then asks, what happens if the Nation of Israel doesn't make teshuva? Rebbe Yehoshua answers that if Israel doesn't make teshuva, then Hashem places them under the influence of a wicked king whose evil decrees are as severe as Haman's, and then they make teshuva.

We cannot fathom The Almighty's love for us and His infinite mercy. Despite the fact that we haven't made Teshuva from Love, which is what we need to do in order to be redeemed, and despite the fact that our own misdeeds put us under the boot of each generation's wicked kings, Hashem has made an eternal promise to deliver us from their hands. That's the V'hi She'amda prayer that we recite each year in the Haggada.

Let me share with you something additional about Hashem's love for His people: The Heavenly Altar and Throne is known as Upper Jerusalem; it is situated directly above Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which is known in the Zohar, Midrash, and Gemara as Lower Jerusalem. Hashem refuses to dwell in Upper Jerusalem until His permanent dwelling on earth - the Holy Temple - will be rebuilt in Lower Jerusalem (see Gemara tractate Taanit 5a, Midrash Tehillim 122, Vilna Gaon's elaboration of Zohar, Safra DeTzniuta, ist Chapter). The entire world and certain evil leaders are denying our right to the area of our own Holy Temple. Once again, we have no cause to be angry at them, for as soon as we make real teshuva, they will crumble. But, until we make teshuva, those evil leaders should be forewarned that by disenfranchising Israel from what they call East Jerusalem, they are in effect trying to disenfranchise The Almighty. Cherished brothers and sisters, that won't happen, period.

Hashem has no gratification by forcing us to make teshuva. When we strengthen our emuna and seek Hashem on our own accord, we sanctify His Holy Name. Let's wake up, beloved brothers and sisters. It's either nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles or emuna books and CDs; the choice is ours.

V'hi She'amda is a Passover song whose words come from the Haggada. It conveys a very timely message for the Jewish people: He who stood by our forefathers stands by us to deliver us from the hands of our enemies in every generation.

One of Jewish music's favorite sons, Yonatan Razael, wrote a beautiful melody for this song, which he sings here with the king of Jewish singers, my very special friend Yaacov Shweikey. You'll get shivers up your spine and tears in your eyes listening to them. We're sure you'll enjoy this musical treat as much as we do. G-d willing, we'll be singing this same melody on the Brody seder table this coming Monday night. Meanwhile, have a wonderful Shabbat HaGadol!

Matzo Man

Important Pesach preparation notice: Sadness and depression are the two worst forms of spiritual chometz. Get them out of your house and out of your system fast! If you're feeling low, G-d forbid, go have a look at Matzo Man.

Makin' Matzas

Baruch Hashem, the Brody family now has our hand-baked matzas from the Komemyut Moshav bakery in the south of Israel. They're super expensive, but worth every cent. Besides, the Gemara tells us that Hashem grants us our Shabbat and festivals expenditures above and beyond our standard annual allotment.

Matzas must be baked within 18 minutes from the time water is added to the flour until the matzas are totally baked. The Melitzer Rebbe and his staff are some of the world's fastest bakers; their shmura matzas are kneaded and baked from start to finish in less than six minutes. Have a look here, and enjoy (filmed in Moshav Komemyut, in the south of Israel):

Spiritual Cause and Effect

I'm privileged to bear the name of the holy Mishnaic sage (Tanna, in Aramaic) Rebbe Eliezer ben Yaakov. His gravesite is 2 kilometers east of the Hananya crossroads, about 10 kilometers south of Meron.

Rebbe Eliezer ben Yaakov was nicknamed kav veNaki (Gemara tractate Eruvin 62b, Yevamot 49b, and other places), which literally means "grain with no chaff". The connotation is that he didn't say much, but almost everything he did say was codified into law. One of Rebbe Eliezer ben Yaakov's most well known sayings appears in the Mishna, tractate Avot, chapter 4, mishna 11. He says, "One who performs a mitzva earns a defense counsel, and one who transgresses earns a prosecutor; teshuva and good deeds are a shield against calamity."

The defense counsel that Rebbe Eliezer ben Yaakov was talking about is a defending angel, and the prosecutor is a dark-side force of evil. This mishna is the key to spiritual cause and effect, a notion that permeates all of Torah.

In light of Rebbe Eliezer ben Yaakov's teachings, we can say our enemies are born from our own misdeeds. This is the key to understanding what's going on in the world. The ATFAT law is at work here: every breach in personal holiness - especially here in our beloved homeland - brings with a breach in national security. 

We all must stand strong against the spiritual defilement of the Land of Israel if we expect to maintain true sovereignty on this tiny strip of holy real estate that the entire world is trying to take away from us. Debauchery is our worst enemy; the Hamas and Hizbulla were only created from our lack of holiness. You know what that means? Lack of modesty and lewdness ultimately manifest themselves as Kassam and Katyusha rockets. 

Personal holiness and modesty are the best defense against all of our enemies. We strengthen our holiness by guarding our speech, guarding our eyes, dressing more modestly, avoiding lewd sites and literature, and by strengthening our emuna. Emuna and prayer are our two strongest weapons. Let's pick them up right now. The more we fight for an Eretz Yisrael of kedusha (holiness), the faster the forces of impurity within our midst will crumble. Don't think for a minute that if you're outside the physical borders of Israel, you're exempt from doing your part.

For the defense of our Holy Land, let us become more holy. Holiness is our deed to this cherished piece of real estate that Hashem has entrusted to our safekeeping.

 

No More Chains

A precondition of freedom is to break the chains that enslave us. Oftentimes, the ideological and mythical chains that bind our minds subdue a person much more than the heaviest iron chains can. Why? Iron chains can restrict a body but ideological and mythical chains restrict the mind. 

The worst form of slavery is slavery of the mind, when a person's mind is subjugated and he loses his G-d given freedom of choice.

Shabbat HaGadol, the Great Sabbath, is the Sabbath that precedes Passover. Shabbat HaGadol symbolizes the breaking of slavery's chains that enables us to walk forth in complete freedom on Passover.

The Baalei Tosephot explain that Shabbat HaGadol - the Great Sabbath– is called so thanks to the great miracle that Hashem did for Israel on the Sabbath that preceded the Exodus, as follows:

Hashem wanted the Children of Israel to perfom a meritous deed that would entitle them the reward of freedom from Egyptian bondage. As such, He ordered each family to obtain a blemish-free lamb and designate it for Pascal sacrifice. Courageously, the Israelites fulfilled Hashem's commandment on the 10th of Nissan, which during the year of the Exodus came out on Shabbat, as the Exodus itself was Thursday, 15 Nissan, 2448 on the Jewish calendar.

Each Israelite family took a lamb and tied it to the foot of one of their beds. In doing so, they had to overcome a tremendous fear of Egyptian retribution and to trust completely in Hashem. Why? The lamb was the deity of Egypt. So, when the Egyptians saw lambs tied up in Israelite homes, they grit their teeth with anger but they could do nothing because they were paralyzed and couldn't prevent the slaughter of their lamb-deities. Even more symbolically, all this was happening in the month of Nissan – the month when the stellar constellation of Aries dominates; the Egyptians worshipped Aries, the ram lamb. Just when their deity was at its annual strength, it was being slaughtered by the Israelites under Hashem's protection.

Continue reading No More Chains in this week's stimulating issue of Breslev Israel web magazine. Here are some more superb features this week:

Rabbi Shalom Arush: The Lesson of Yehoyachin

Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach: Holy Sweetness

Rabbi Chaim Feld: Pesach and Financial Freedom

Rivka Levy: Off the Couch

Racheli Reckles: The Eating Escalator

Natalie Kovan: Teenagers 

Dovber Halevi: Pesach and Shovevim

Rabbi Erez Moshe Doron: The Transparent Ground, from Warriors of Transcendence

This week's Torah portion is Achrei Mot, and it's Shabbat HaGadol.

InnUman is the place to be for Rosh Hashana 5772. Now is definitely the time to reserve your place.

Have a wonderful week! Remember, proper Pesach preparations are done with a smile...

 

See Terrorist Squad in Action

We just now received this clip from The IDF - you'll see Gaza terrorists firing rockets at the south of Israel from a cemetary.

Two Swords

Our recent emuna lesson explains the current Middle East conflict from a spiritual standpoint.

If you have troubled seeing the above video player, click here. Have a wonderful week!

Join us in Uman, Rosh Hashana 5772

 
No, it's not too early to sign up for Rosh Hashana, 5772 - our group at InnUman is limited to 180 people - first come, first served.

The Big Boulders

Our arch-enemy, The Yetzer Hara (evil inclination), does his very best to throw us into a state of despair. He makes our problems look like 10-ton boulders on our shoulders, with no hope of lightening the load. This video mini-clip, filmed in the lovely Judean Hills near Gush Etzion, teaches how to deal with the Yetzer's big boulders.