Yom Yerushalayim 2007

Chag Sameach!

Today is Yom Yerushalayim, A Day to Commemorate the Reunification of The Jewish People with their Holy City for the First Time in Nearly 2000 Years! This summer marks the 40th Anniversary of the Jewish People’s Return to Yerushalayim—the source of all Holiness in the world—the City from where “All the blessings and consolations, all of the good which the Holy One, Blessed Be He, brings to the Jewish people comes from” (Midrash Tehillim).

It was 40 years ago that a vastly outnumbered and outgunned Israeli Defense Force fought off the armies of six invading Arab Countries bent on the destruction of the Jewish People—as Syrian Broadcasting Reported, “Let us pave the road to Tel Aviv with Jewish Skulls.” And let us never forget that this victory, like a modern-day Chanukah, was won not by superior firepower, but by the same determination and enormous faith that has sustained us for 100 generations and will continue to sustain us for 100 more.

As we celebrate the victory of The Six Day War in 1967, it would be shortsighted to ignore the fact that Israel remains in a life-or-death struggle for its existence. In addition to the threats of a nuclear holocaust at the hands of Iran and of war with the Terrorist states of Syria and Lebanon, Israel is faced with the same existential problems that have plagued her since her conception—whether to be a State of Jews or whether to be a Jewish State; whether to be another Westernized Country waiting to join NATO or whether to be a “Light Unto The Nations.” Even with the horrendous failure of the Retreat from Southern Lebanon and the Disengagement from Gaza, the current Israeli government seeks to hand over even more territory to the Terrorist Groups of Hamas and Hezbollah. This craziness extends to the point where the notion of separating Yerushalayim—Heaven Forbid—has been suggested by various parties. Therefore as we celebrate Yom Yerushalayim, let us remember that to disengage from our Land and our Tradition is to receive Rocket-Attacks, War, and Suicide Bombings; but to live in Israel—and to Settle what the Zohar calls “The Heart of All Lands”—is to Merit Redemption.

Am Yisrael Chai!


For More on the Miracles of The Six Day War: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/More/ActivePage.aspx/JerDay
For More on Maintaining a United Jerusalem: http://www.onejerusalem.org/blog/index.asp

A Local Call

Howdy Everyone…

We here at Doctor Hazak Incorporated would like to express our most sincere apologies for having neglected our extraordinary fan base during the past few weeks. Following Passover, a number of happenings kept our staff from producing any Blog-Worthy Material (other than our lead writer's unprecedented 13-Round Knockout Victory over Former Heavyweight Champion Lennox Lewis) and due to resource-allocation difficulties and management-miscommunications the Blog was left without its normal driving force at the helm.

Anyways, in response to the overwhelming need for further Hazak in this world, we present you with these few words of wisdom from this week’s Torah Portion: Behar-Behukotai. Leviticus 25:38 reads, “I am Hashem your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, to be a God unto you." In his commentary on the Torah, the great medieval scholar Rashi explains that God gave the land of Canaan to the Israelite nation as his part in the covenant at Mount Sinai; the same covenant in which Am Yisrael agreed to keep the 613 Commandments. Rashi then expounds the last part of the line, “To be a God unto you,” to mean, ‘anyone living in the land of Israel has Hashem as their God where as anyone living outside of Eretz Yisrael is comparable to an idolater.”

The obvious question of course, is how can Rashi say this? What about all of the great Jewish leaders who lived outside of Israel during the various Exiles? What about Rashi himself who lived in France (Clearly the Worst of the Nations)? The answer (with a dash of Kabalah to spice it up) is that amongst the nations of exile, God hides his face and it is necessary to go through various spiritual messengers (Malachim/Angels) for one’s prayers to reach Him. In Eretz Yisrael, God’s Splendor is tangible—If You Don’t Believe in Miracles Just Open Your Eyes (Rav Shimon Hurwitz Shlita)—and your can reach him directly. Forgive the overused metaphor but in Israel speaking with God is a Local Call.

So B’Kitzur—“to sum it up quickly”—The Jewish People’s Presence in The Land of Israel is contingent upon our following the laws of the Torah as given to Moshe Rabenu at Mt. Sinai; and get to Israel and make Aliyah before the Jerks at Verizon figure out at way to charge you seventy-five cents per minute for calling your Maker.

Link Time:
If you Missed out on Lag Ba’Omer and want to see what Hasidic Woodstock looks like: http://www.rashbimeron.org/
If you think that Arab Terrorism was at its lowest when they started sending suicide bombers to blow up Israeli night clubs then you haven’t met Hamas’ Mickey Mouse: http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD157707