the shofar and the wall... redux...

[nikmatdam]

now... let's take this from the top once again... shall we...? first off... i would really appreciate not being edited... secondly if i post pure torah for limud hatorah purposes alone i will post it on the torah site... but if i bring a davar torah in order to make a political point even if i can't get around to doing so until a later time... please don't move it... and third... this wasn't torah... this was and still is a maesa about resistence against the slime and i am about to teach you all how it speaks to us as well in our day and age... so please... tell me if you are going to continue to impede me at every turn like they did over at revava and i will simply just get out of the way and head for the hills... i'll write my comment to this story and post it back here and then you decide what to do with it and with me... ta... nik.

(commentary to follow as a reply further down this thread)...

the shofar and the wall...
« on: September 07, 2007, 04:03:57 PM » Quote Modify Remove 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
article from the  chabad israel center of l.a. magazine sept. 2007...

editors note: the holy temple in jerusalem was twice destroyed ~ by the romans in the year 69 ce and previously by the babylonians on the same date (tisha b'av) in 423 bce... one wall remains standing as a living symbol of the jewish people's ownership over the land of israel and the city of jerusalem ~ the kotel hamaaravi or "western wall"...

what follows is an excerpt (translated from the hebrew) from the memoir of rabbi moshe segal (1904-1985)... a lubavitcher chassid who was active in the struggle to free the holy land from british rule...

article: in those years, the area in front of the kotel did not look as it does today. only a narrow alley separated the kotel and the arab houses on its other side. the british government forbade us to place an ark, tables or benches in the alley; even a small stool could not be brought to the kotel. the british also instituted the following ordinances, designed to humble the jews at the holiest place of their faith; it is forbidden to pray out loud, lest one upset the arab residents; it is forbidden to read from the torah (those praying at the kotel had to go to one of the synagogues in the jewish quarter to conduct the torah reading); it is forbidden to sound the shofar on rosh hashana and yom kippur. the british government placed policemen at the kotel to enforce these rules.

on yom kippur of that year (1930) i was praying at the kotel. during the brief intermission between the musaf and mincha prayers, i overheard people whispering to each other: "where will we go to hear the shofar? it'll be impossible to blow here. there are as many policemen as people praying..." the police commander himself was there, to make sure that the jews will not, G-d forbid, sound the single blast that closes the fast.

i listened to these whisperings, and thought to myself: can we possibly forgo the sounding of the shofar that accompanies our proclamation of the sovereignty of G-d? can we possibly forgo the the sounding of the shofar, which symbolizes the redemption of israel? true, the sounding of the shofar at the close of yom kippur is only a custom, but "a jewish custom is torah!" i approached rabbi yitzchak horenstein, who served as the rabbi of our "congregation", and said to him:

"give me a shofar."

"what for?"

"i'll blow."

"what are you talking about? don't you see the police?"

"i'll blow."

the rabbi abruptly turned away from me, but not before he cast a glance at the prayer stand at the left end of the alley. i understood: the shofar was in the stand. when the hour of the blowing approached, i walked over to the stand and leaned against it.

i opened the drawer and slipped the shofar into my shirt. i had the shofar, but what if they saw me before i had a chance to blow it? i was still unmarried at the time, and following the ashkenazic custom, did not wear a talit. my request must have been strange to him, but the jews are a kind people, especially at the holiest moments of the holiest day, and he handed me his talit without a word.

i wrapped myself in the talit. at that moment, i felt that i had created my own private domain. all around me, a foreign government prevails, ruling over the people of israel even on their holiest day and at their holiest place, and we are not free to serve our G-d; but under this talit is another domain. here i am under no dominion save that of my Father in heaven; here i shall do as He commands me, and no force on earth will stop me.

when the closing verses of the neilah prayer ~ "hear o' israel", "blessed be the Name" and the L-rd is G-d" ~ were proclaimed, i took the shofar and blew a long, resounding blast. everything happened very quickly. many hands grabbed me. i removed the talit from over my head, and before me stood the police commander, who ordered my arrest.

i was taken to the kishla, the prison in the old city, and an arab policeman was appointed to watch over me. many hours passed; i was given no food or water to break my fast. at midnight, the policeman received an order to release me, and he let me out without a word.

i then learned that when the chief rabbi of the holy land, rabbi avraham yitzchak kook, heard of my arrest, he immediately contacted the secretary of the high commissioner of Eretz Yisrael (the commissioner was sir john chancellor... nik.ed) and asked that i be released. when his request was refused, he stated that he would not break his (own) fast until i was freed. the high commissioner resisted for many hours, but finally, out of respect for the rabbi, he had no choice but to set me free.

for the next 18 years, until the arab conquest of the old city in 1948, the shofar was sounded at the kotel every yom kippur. the british well understood the significance of this blast; they knew that it will (would) ultimately demolish their rule over our land as the walls of jericho crumbled before the shofar of joshua, and they did everything in their power to prevent it. but every yom kippur, the shofar was sounded by men who know (knew) they would be arrested for their part in staking our claim on the holiest of our possessions.

(my commentary to follow)... shabat shalom... nik. out...   

     
 
« Last Edit: September 07, 2007, 05:04:34 PM by nikmatdam »  Report to moderator    208.127.60.167 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"i am nikmatdam humble and imperfect servant of Hashem... and i yearn for redemption but i absolutely ache for Divine justice and vengeance..."
 
 
nikmatdam
Full JTFer

Gender:
Posts: 170


one of my earliest rebbeim/rav nachman bulman zt"l


     Re: the shofar and the wall...
« Reply #1 on: Today at 12:21:58 AM » Quote Modify Remove 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i will post my comments to this story soon and if it still illicits no response from any of you i will stop bothering to post here and move on... sorry that nothing i have to say interests any of you... nik. out... 
 
 Report to moderator    208.127.60.167 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"i am nikmatdam humble and imperfect servant of Hashem... and i yearn for redemption but i absolutely ache for Divine justice and vengeance..."
 
 
Ultra Requete
Full JTFer

Gender:
Posts: 164


The sole solution.


    Re: the shofar and the wall...
« Reply #2 on: Today at 03:00:04 AM » Quote 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That was interesting story, but do you belive that sound of shofar was more important to creation of Israel than armed strugle of Lehi or Irgun or the work done by Jewish Agency? British already showed (like in Ireland) that they are more easily swayed by use of force than preyers and reason. It's the same story with current Israeli goverment who give up the land to terrorist A-rabs but plans to kick out the non resiting settlers from their homes in Yesha.
 
 Report to moderator    Logged 
 
 
 
nikmatdam
Full JTFer

Gender:
Posts: 170


one of my earliest rebbeim/rav nachman bulman zt"l


     Re: the shofar and the wall...
« Reply #3 on: Today at 01:11:55 PM » Quote Modify Remove 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
yes i do... spiritual struggle against repression especially for torah is a powerful weapon and it definitely has its plusses... it garners Hashem's sympathy and support and it has the koach to inspire jews to revolt for THE cause of our existence thruout history... (torah, Hashem, fellow jews and eretz yisroel)...

as for the lechi and irgun they were great and made a tremendous impact and made an enormous contribution toward our freedom but the jewish agency are the same slime as today ruling israel by fiat and with an unjewish agenda... they are all pigs... nik. out... 
 
« Last Edit: Today at 01:14:41 PM by nikmatdam »  Report to moderator    208.127.60.167 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"i am nikmatdam humble and imperfect servant of Hashem... and i yearn for redemption but i absolutely ache for Divine justice and vengeance..."
 
 
kahaneloyalist
Master JTFer

Posts: 1246


     Re: the shofar and the wall...
« Reply #4 on: Today at 08:57:46 PM » Quote 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That is a beautiful story, what else did Rabbi Segal do to free Israel from British occupation?
 
 Report to moderator    Logged 
 
 
 

[nikmatdam]

don't know... the first i've heard of rabbi segal or of this maesa... nik.

[nikmatdam]

and this is where my shpiel on this matter is going to be penned right after i daven mincha... ta... nik.

and we're back...

so as i was saying i have a few comments or observations to make on this story...

the first thing i noticed was the obvious similarity of the old british jew-hating, evil mandate-slime laws for jewish access to the wall during the 1930's to the current israeli torah-hating, evil erav rav-slime laws of today on har habayit... they are exact...

and thus there is the same urgency for k'lal yisroel to defy these diseased G-d-hating laws enmasse and immediately... i advocate and am willing to do so myself as soon as i can possibly get to eretz yisroel... for jews who hold it is halachically permited to ascend har habayit and walk around in certain areas... to do so and if they can find a patch of ground that is earthen and not cement to do hashtachavot... to face the kodesh hakedoshim and bow down flat on one's face, fully stretched out like on yom kippur in shul... we must risk arrest and even beatings to defy these illegal and immoral "laws" denying us our inalienable torah right to serve Hashem in the one place on earth which He has designated for us and desires us to serve Him from...

the next significant point i noticed in this maesa was the mesirat nefesh this rav had for a mere minhag... and his feelings of defiance and righteous indignation at the goyim who were preventing jews from fulfilling the ratzon Hashem... he could have kept still and saved himself in the face of what seemed overwhelming odds and a futile cause... but he didn't allow any of these "realities" to get in his way and stop him from standing up for Hashem, eretz yisroel and am yisroel...

another tremendous insight from this story was the mesirat nefesh of rav kook... not a young man anymore... he died in 1937... who took it upon himself to got to bat for this courageous bachur who had just put it all on the line to be mikadesh shaim shamayim... one jew's mesirat nefesh for his fellow jew is what torah and our avodah is all about... this level of committment to each other is what we sorely need more of now if we are to prevail in our struggle to save eretz yisroel...

and lastly taken together... these two great pious acts of mesirat nefesh totally l'shaim shemayim brings us to... perhaps the most crucial lesson of all to be gleaned from this maesa shehaya... and that was the response illicited from fellow jews inspired by the lofty deeds of kedusha and tahara that both of them in tandem teamed up to perform...

as rav meir instructed us often... the best way to get Hashem to step-in and rescue us is via great acts of mesirat nefesh which we can aspire to and carry out... this has been true all along our path thru history but especially in our days which the navi said would have but one mitzvah to keep to earn redemption... meaning not that all the other mitzvot would be batul but that we would need this one mitzvah above all others to save ourselves from destruction and churban...

and that one mitzvah is... "a tzadik b'emunatcho yichyeh"... explained and interpreted to mean that in the end of days courage will fail and fear of the malchut will be so pervasive and seemingly invincible that many will cave to it and renege on their faith in G-d... especially when they see moshiach ben yosef slain (rav meir)... and they will lose their trust and faith in G-d and just give up... but the righteous will gut it out and hang on... as the mashal of chazal... we will be as if suspended from a wire... holding on for dear life not to lose hold and fall into the abyss below... and Hashem will come just before the end and shake the wire violently and see who really believes and who has the spiritual koach to still hold out hope and emunah b'Hashem... and taka... "they will live by their emunah" (their faith)... they will find a way to hang on and not lose their grip even in the face of such overshelming odds... may we all be zoche to this holy madrega of faith... shana tova... ketiva v'chatima tova... nik. out...     

[mord]

It's very interesting

[nikmatdam]

no takers...? i guess i'm out of here... see ya... nik. out a' here...

[RationalThought110]

no takers...? i guess i'm out of here... see ya... nik. out a' here...

Stop by another day.  People need time to absorb what you've said.

[nikmatdam]

o.k. y'all have until monday after rosh hashana and tzom gedaliah... hang 'em high... ta... nik.

[nikmatdam]

this is too important an item to garner no response... especially given the announcement last week erev rosh hashana that olmert "in principle is willing to cede jewish control over har habayit..." so come on... this is the only issue of any real importance to us right now... anyone...? o.k. lehitraot...  nik.

[RationalThought110]

Nik,


Check out this thread also:  http://jtf.org/forum_english/index.php?topic=8854.0

[nikmatdam]

o.k. but things are not clear from there...

in fact, i have read the rebbe say that for pikuach nefashot you could return a piece of the land of israel... but only if peace was an assured outcome... but he wrote that we know that just the opposite is the case... that with every piece of eretz yisroel that we ceed we put ourselves in greater and greater peril...

second unclear point here is that when he mentions about "border towns"... this comes from the gemora sanhedrin 15 or 16b which is speaking of ir hanidachot... and whether we are obligated to destroy this idolatrous city which borders goyish lands... first the gemora thinks it means because they are mushpa from the avodah zara of their neighbors and are somehow patur from the din and punishment of an ir hanidachat... and that when it says over there in the pasuk... "when one of your cities turns toward idolatry..." meaning that only if they were among or in the midst of the jewish cities of eretz yisroel proper and yet they still turned to idolatry... the gemora answers no... that even a city on the edges or borders of eretz yisroel would still be chayiv to be destroyed... but... because it is a border town and eventhough it is filled with jews who are all rashayim... we do not destroy it or them because it is too close in proximity to our goyish neighbors and enemies and that if we take this city out they will see and be encouraged to overrun the entire place... so we let even rashayim skate on a serious cardinal sin in order to defend our land from assault... how much more so when we dismantle G-d-fearing towns and disengage righteous jews (it is immaterial here that the slime only evicted them and did not kill them) from our land on the borders like in gaza or on the west bank...? how much more does this give aid and comfort to our bitter enemies that they are winning and that they will eventually conquer it and us all...?

third factor in error from that piece was... that when we deal with pikuach nefashot by milchama (war)... and that war is a milchemet chovah or mitzvah (an involuntary or obligatory war... such as against the 7 canaanite nations or amalek or when we are attacked... a war of self-defense) and not a milchemet reshut (a voluntary or permitted war... for conquest)... in which category falls the case in the gemora that even if a nation just seeks tribute and taxes from us for them to leave us alone... and even if this tribute is but kash v'teven (straw and hay)... this is sufficient to make our need for war a duty encumbent upon all jewish men and women... and all of the deferments of parshat kitzetze in sefer devarim only apply to a milchemet reshut...

but the ikar rav meir says here... is that all wars are a danger and a threat to human life... and that while we do not have to fight a suicidal war (sometimes we may even be obligated in this as well)... but in a normal war of equal risks with an even chance at victory... we have to fight and pikuach nefesh is not an option of avoidance... because otherwise rav meir says... when would we ever fight a milchemet mitzvah...? in other words excuses of pikuach nefesh which release us from mitzvah performance only apply to the other mitzvot in the torah... as they do not usually involve danger to our lives and as such when a particular mitzvah presents itself once in a great while to be a danger to us we are allowed and indeed commanded to let it go and save our lives so that when the danger passes we can keep this and all the other mitzvot many more times during the rest of our lives... the operating principle here is... "v'chaii behem..." "and you shall live by them... " ("and not die by them..." save for when confronted with transgressing the 3 cardinal sins or any mitzvah... even only an hanhaga during a general time of shmad)...   

however a war by definition and by its very nature is always a threat to life but it is a risk which we must assume upon ourselves without excuse if the war we are faced with is an obligatory war... or else we will be removing a positive mitzvah from the torah on a permanent basis...

finally... defensive wars and when faced with threats and demands... are torah obligatory wars (mitzvot) and for another reason rav meir held they are not negotiable... and that is for chillul Hashem...

now this means two things to his mind...

1) when the nations are trying to break us of one of the mitzvot in the torah... like surrendering part of our land which in our day and age is tantamount to our declaring that eretz yisroel is not really our land... that it was not given to us now nor historically by G-d... thus engendering within us the removal of the mitzvah to conquer and hold and preserve eretz yisroel which G-d gave us and commanded us to liberate and hold (even during this golut... rambam)... and thus in doing so... we would let go by the boards one of the taryag mitzvot if we ceded any part of it for "peace"... and this would constitute a grave denial of G-d and an emense desecration of His holy name...  rav meir brings proof for this shita from yiftach in sefer shoftim... read it over there...

2) the second chillul Hashem which we would be committing if we gave "back" yehudah and shomron and yerushalayim... is that we would be taking sacred land which Hashem Himself liberated in our lifetimes and now by giving it back we would be throwing it away as if we did not value it... this would be the height of ingratitude... (the rebbe says this point as well)... and as such we would be spitting in Hashem's face... a terrible chillul Hashem...

if anything comes out of this confrence in november and we do any of its proposed tenets... we will be in grave danger as a people of being viewed as not appreciating and valuing the tremendous gift Hashem has bestowed upon us since the holocaust... we are already chayiv for this by our not having returned home in droves by now from western countries... this is the single most crucial issue of our time right now... in these days of judgement we are being evaluated for our love of Hashem's land as well as all of the other torah values we are bidden to avow in our lives... g'mar tov... nik. out...        

[nikmatdam]

anybody...? nobody...? n.

[Sarah]

I'm sorry, I tried reading it but didn't understand much at all. What is "the shofar"?

[nikmatdam]

sarah... in short... (well maybe not so short... but short by my standards of writing anyway)... the shofar is a ram's horn that we blow on rosh hashana as part of the prayer service to G-d for Him to forgive our sins and bless us with life and a good or happy new year...

the horn symbolizes the great devotion of abraham (genesis ~ chapter: 22) to be willing to sacrifice his own son isaac on G-d's command eventhough it went against everything he had previously learned about G-d and His ways over a lifetime... (that human sacrifice was an idolatrous practice and a huge sin)... G-d stopped him at the last moment and arranged for a ram to be stuck in the brush by his horns to take isaac's place on the altar... one horn was later used by G-d at mt. sinai when the torah (beginning with the 10 commandments) was given to the israelites 50 days after they made their exodus from 210 years of servitude in egypt...

the other larger of the two horns was preserved by G-d to be blown for all of us to hear and rejoice at the coming of the messiah the distant son of king david who will appear to usher in our final redemption and the return of all jews to the land of israel with the re-building of the third and final temple... it will also mean the end of bloodshed and warfare in the annals of human history... peace and brotherhood will reign eternally for all those deemed worthy by G-d to live on earth in that new age...

so the story is quite poignant... as it depicts the british attempt to stifle our yearning and our aspirations for all of the above to be realized and for our fervent hope to gain G-d's favor on the new year service or at the end of yom kippur (the day of atonement) which falls out for us this year this coming friday night and saturday...

i am using this touching story to try and illicit a response from my fellow jews on this site that they should realize that we are suffering under the same evil regime as we were back in 1930 under the blasted, bloody brits... and just like those laws and policies forbade us to express our religious faith and tenets back then at the wailing wall... so too the current despicable regime of evil (anti-torah) jews who are usurpers of the throne of david over the land of israel forbid us to ascend the temple mount to even just pray up there... let alone to reinstitute and perform the temple sacrifice system of worship to and of G-d... and for this it is as if nothing has really changed and we are still suffering under the yoke of the foreign oppressor... though this time our taskmasters are jewish (but in name only... just by some accidents of birth)... they really are no different than the british or any of our other many, many tormentors we have had throughout the long night of our history of agony and the shadow of death which have stalked us continually by and at the hands of a world who has hated us with a fury and a passion (like no one else has ever known) and still does 'till this very day... 

be well and G-d bless... nik.

[nikmatdam]

i guess this isn't a serious site afterall... if i can't get you guys to think through what we can do to stop the suicide process i guess i'll have to go somewhere else to try and generate debate... ta... nik. off the wall and over it and out...

[Ultra Requete]

It's only half Jewish site and mayority of people here are not familiar with hebrew religius terminology; please try to use english terms; and check this:
http://jtf.org/forum_english/index.php?topic=9213.0

[nikmatdam]

well that's just too bad... i'm gone... nik.

[Sarah]

No, nik its a very interesting story just a bit heavy going.

Why are you saying the British are being oppressive? Are you referring to the time of the British Empire, or Israel under British control before it was an official state?

[nikmatdam]

both... from the time britain became corrupted back to catholicism though pretending always to be a good protestant nation they have been oppressing jews and genociding the planet as an arm of rome ever since then... nik. out...

[Sarah]

both... from the time britain became corrupted back to catholicism though pretending always to be a good protestant nation they have been oppressing jews and genociding the planet as an arm of rome ever since then... nik. out...

But I thought Henry the 8th turned Britain away from catholicism and established the Church of England. How have they oppressed Jews?

[nikmatdam]

true but after king james I the vatican/jesuits pushed very hard and subverted protestant england under king george III which today remains protestant in name only... it's a long, convoluted story but suffice it to say... rome rules in britain as it does all over the world... especially here in the u.s.

nik. out...