Moshe Kempinski

Matisyahu’s 8 Chanukah Insights

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by Matisyahu  and Ephraim Rosenstein

Light up and be a hero.

1. The real weapon is not ammunition but ideas. Ideas win wars.

The Chanukah uprising was brought about because the Seleucid Hellenist empire (an offshoot of an empire left behind by Alexander of Macedonia) was imposing its civilization of Hellenism on a nation that believed in one God. Hellenists offered pleasures and a good life — a sensual, body-oriented civilization inhabited with many gods and deities. It sounds quite tempting. But with all its temptation, it negates the deepest recesses of the human search. Human beings search for ideas, for inspiration, for one great redeeming hope that will make us one. This is represented by the belief in one God, as opposed to the many infighting, quarreling deities of the Greek Olympus. True, many gods, with their politics and failings, reflect pretty well human society.

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one candle

Beginning With One Candle

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one candleFor the first time in history a people rose up in rebellion as a result of their spiritual life being threatened rather than their physical survival. In the 2nd century BCE, the Syrian- Greek regime of Antiochus sought to pull Jews away from Judaism, with the hopes of assimilating them into the darkness of man centered Hellenism. The Syrian Greek warlord Antiochus outlawed aspects of Jewish observance such as circumcision, celebrating the new month and torah study. In response, a small band of courageous Jews took to the hills of Judea in open revolt against this threat. Antiochus sent thousands of well-armed troops to crush the rebellion but in the end he was himself defeated.

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jacob wrestling with angel

Jacob Arrived Whole

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by Rabbi Chanan Morrison

Having survived the trickery of uncle Laban and the enmity of his brother Esau, Jacob finally returned to his homeland.

“Jacob arrived whole (shalem) to the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan” (Gen. 33:18).

In what way was Jacob shalem? The Talmud explains that he was “whole in body, whole in money, whole in his Torah knowledge”  (Shabbat 33b).

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Esav and Jacob

The Two Sides of Esav ( Esau)

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Esav and Jacob

The government of Israel is again being pressured and attacked. It is again being forced to compromise and retreat without any similar request being transmitted to the other side , that is the Palestinian side. All this without any tangible guarantees or assurances.

Instead of the Palestinians offering concrete proposals to enhance the possibility of peace we are receiving vague promises from this American Administration. The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton has offered Netanyahu some “gifts” in exchange for the building freeze in the Biblical heartland, among them 20 F-35 jets worth $3 billion, a veto on a unilateral declaration of statehood by the Palestinians, and a vow that the freeze would not include Jerusalem.

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We are not for sale

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If Netanyahu wishes to be remembered as something more than another hack, he should end these destructive talks and tell the Obama administration the truth. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is playing with fire. And Israel is getting burned.

Learning from Abraham and Jacob

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We read an unusual verse in Isaiah that says;

Therefore thus saith HaShem, who redeemed Abraham, because of the house of Yaacov: Yaacov shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale;( Isaiah 29:22)

Avraham was redeemed for the sake of Yaacov. What can that mean? Avraham who was called the friend of G-d needed the merits of Yaacov to be redeemed
We read the following in Divrei Hayamim/, Chronicles:

“Didst You not O our G-d, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your  people Israel, and gave it to the seed of Avraham Your friend for ever? ( 2 Chronicles 20:7)

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Kever Rochel Painting

The Matriarch Rachel’s Gravesite

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Kever Rochel Paintingby Shira Smiles

(Israelnationalnews.com) There is a certain mysterious aura about Kever Rachel. What is the magnetic pull that draws so many Jews to pray there? Why was Rachel not interred in Me’arat Hamachpeila, the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron? According to Rashi, she was buried on the roadside so that the Jews being led to exile could pray at her grave.

In Parshat Vayeitzei, two midrashim further explore Rachel’s burial. When Yaakov met Rachel at the well in Charan, he wept because he foresaw that she would not be buried with him. The midrash again mentions Rachel’s burial in the story of the dudadim, mandrake root, when she made light of Yaakov and was punished by losing her place in Me’arat Hamachpeila.

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pomegranate

The Seeds of the Pomegranate

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pomegranate

Before the recent days of Rosh Hashana  I was standing in prayer at the Kotel .A man from the new community of Yevul that I had known from the days of the expulsion from Gush Katif ,tapped my shoulder. After warm greetings he said that he had a gift for my family in the car

The people of Yevul were all former residents of the Netzarim community that had been situated perilously close to the city of Gaza. They were a community that painfully suffered many losses to terrorism but nevertheless steadfastly held on to their belief felt that holding unto their land was critical for Israel’s security.

Yitzchak Rabin once said of this community, ” If Netzarim did not exist I would have to create it. Netzarim is the greatest reason for our military presence to be in an area so close to the city Gaza and its port .The Gaza port   has been the main funnel for destructive weapons and due to the courage of these people we are right there, watching”

What terrorism could not do,though, the government of Ariel Sharon did.

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