Category: Frontlines

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Israel, Let Me In!

“And I implored HaShem at that time, saying, ‘My L-rd, HaShem, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand, for what power is there in the heaven or on the earth that can perform according to Your mighty acts? Let me now cross and see the good land that is on the other side of the Jordan, this good mountain and the Lebanon.’ But HaShem became angry with me because of you, and he did not listen to me; HaShem said to me, ‘It is too much for you! Do not continue to speak to Me further about this matter. Ascend to the top of the cliff and raise your eyes westward, northward, southward, and eastward, and see with your eyes, for you shall not cross the Jordan. But you shall command Yehoshua, and strengthen him and give him resolve, for he shall cross before this people and he shall cause them to inherit the land that you will see.’” (DEVARIM 3:25-28)

The numerical value of the word VA’ET’ḤANAN (and I implored) is five hundred and fifteen. The Midrash Rabbah teaches that Moshe implored the Kadosh Barukh Hu five hundred and fifteen times that he be permitted to enter Eretz Yisrael. HaShem commanded him to stop at this point because had Moshe implored a five hundred and sixteenth time, he would have elevated himself to a new spiritual height that would have permitted him to enter into the Land of Israel.

To fully understand this teaching, it is necessary to free our thinking from the erroneous Western concept of prayer. The English word “prayer” is actually derived from the Latin word precari, meaning “to beg” – precisely what many of us are mistakenly led to believe tefillah is. This misunderstanding, which often leads people to imagine the Kadosh Barukh Hu as some giant invisible king taking pleasure in the begging of his subjects, actually prevents us from not only attaining a more mature understanding of HaShem but also from advancing to higher levels of self-awareness.

HaShem is not some giant invisible tyrant but rather the timeless ultimate Reality without end that creates all, sustains all, empowers all and loves all. Everything in existence exists within Him and He transcends far beyond all that exists.

We – like everything else in Creation – are unique expressions of HaShem placed into this world in order to fully participate in history. Human beings are essentially characters in a story being played by actors generally known as souls, which are each distinctive pieces of the infinite Whole we call HaShem. The function of tefillah is to help us each identify and perform our respective roles in the story.

Tefillah is not about begging a giant king to change his mind but rather about connecting to our inner Divine Source. L’hitpallel – generally translated into English as “to pray” – is a reflexive verb that actually suggests transforming ourselves (otherwise we would just say l’pallel). It is an activity we engage in for the purpose of internalizing the goals of life so we may be empowered to actualize our full potential as characters in history.

Commenting on Yaakov’s words to Yosef, “R’oe fanekha lo pillalti – I did not pallel that I would see your face” (BEREISHIT 48:11), Rashi explains the verse to mean that Yaakov never would have filled his heart to think that he would ever see Yosef again.

L’hitpallel means to actively fill our hearts with our deepest dreams and aspirations. This activity then transforms us into people able to actively work with the Kadosh Barukh Hu to actualize these aspirations. Tefillah is not about “changing G-D’s mind” but actually about transforming ourselves. And each time we effectively participate in this activity, we succeed in strengthening our will power, achieving greater self-awareness and consciously discovering the ideals for which our souls incessantly strive.

All of the requests in the Amidah are directed toward superior objectives that our souls already crave. They are our healthiest desires and the deepest yearnings of our true inner selves. Because we are all unique expressions of HaShem, the more we get in touch with our authentic inner selves, the more we actually connect back to our Divine Source and allow ourselves the ability to receive the Kadosh Barukh Hu’s perpetual blessing. Tefillah is the vehicle that enables us to achieve this connection. As it would be ridiculous to assume that HaShem actually needs our tefillot, the obligation to engage in the activity thrice daily is clearly for the sake of something beneficial to us – helping us to manifest and express our inner kedusha through attaining a higher awareness of our relationship to the Divine.

The Amidah experience essentially serves to educate us to that which our souls genuinely desire – the aspirations we were placed into this world to achieve. While whispering the words of the tefillah to ourselves, we are meant to internalize how much we actually yearn for the realization of these goals so that we can then dedicate our actions towards practically attaining them. As most people generally work through concrete human endeavors in order to achieve that which they truly desire, the requests of the Amidah should naturally guide our actions as the blueprint for how we direct our energies and resources. The Hebrew Nation works in partnership with HaShem and any tefillah not complemented by human effort could justifiably be viewed as lacking sincerity.

It is difficult to know how many tefillot are necessary to sufficiently elevate ourselves to merit receiving that which we desire. Had Moshe entreated five hundred and sixteen times, he would have been transformed to the point of being able to cross the Jordan. HaShem commanded His prophet to stop at five hundred and fifteen because it had been decreed and was necessary according to the Divine plan that Moshe would not bring the Hebrews into Eretz Canaan.

Tefillot are not always answered according to expectations. While at first glance G-D’s words to Moshe appear harsh, HaShem is actually consoling His prophet by hinting that although he will not be crossing west of the Jordan, he is already standing well within the Land of Israel.

“‘Ascend to the top of the cliff and raise your eyes westward, northward, southward, and eastward, and see with your eyes, for you shall not cross the Jordan.’” (DEVARIM 3:27)

HaShem tells Moshe to look not only westward but also northward, southward and eastward at the Land of Israel, implying that Eretz Yisrael already surrounds him. The borders of the Promised Land are not merely west of the Jordan River but actually stretch from the Nile to the Euphrates.

“On that day HaShem made a covenant with Avram, saying, ‘To your descendants have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River.’” (BEREISHIT 15:18)

There are levels to the Land of Israel’s kedusha. And although Moshe would not be permitted to enter the loftiest regions of Israel Proper, he was already standing on the east bank of the Jordan. Despite Moshe not being granted his wish as he consciously understood it, he received the consolation of knowing that he was already in the homeland and that his beloved student Yehoshua would lead the Hebrew tribes in liberating the territory west of the Jordan.

“‘But you shall command Yehoshua, and strengthen him and give him resolve, for he shall cross before this people and he shall cause them to inherit the land that you will see.’” (DEVARIM 3:28)

As characters participating in one of history’s most incredible chapters, we must focus our efforts and tefillot on the challenges specifically facing our unique generation. In addition to practical earthly endeavors, we must l’hitpallel for the complete salvation of humankind, beginning with the ingathering of Israel’s exiles from the Diaspora, the defeat of those scheming to uproot us from our land, the attainment of true justice in Israeli society and the building of G-D’s Temple in its proper location. The more we internalize the words we whisper three times a day, the more we will actually thirst for that which our souls yearn. And the more we begin to truly desire and struggle for these goals, the more we will recognize HaShem bringing them to fruition before our eyes.

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REDEMPTION WATCH: Nnamdi Kanu, the Slave Trade, and Why Israel Still Mourns for the Temple

Every year we we find ourselves at this time again.  The darkest moments in Jewish history and really the collective Israelite history can be boiled down to the 9th of Av, the day of mourning of the destruction of the two temples that stood at the exact location of today’s Dome of the Rock.

Exile cannot be quantified and there is no other people in the world who have been exiled, enslaved, and brutally oppressed as much as Israel.  We have been scattered to the four corners of the world and only because the Almighty deemed it time to come home, did Jews begin to stream back to the Land of the Israel.  Liberation was achieved against the British and subsequent wars of defense and liberation of our homeland were also fought and won.  All of these events occurred against impossible odds.

Yet, despite Israel’s standing there is a vacancy in our nation and our hearts. The location of the Temple is the point where the world was created from.  It is the point where Abraham our Father binded Isaac.  Kabbalah teaches the temple mount is point that connects this world to the upper worlds.  The Almighty entrusted his Children with this spot.  We built two temples there and both times they were destroyed and we were exiled.  The first exile brought us to Babylon, Egypt, and Syria.  Some Israelites returned 70 years later to rebuild the Temple and establish sovereignty, but many stayed in exile and built communities across the Middle East and Africa.

When the Romans destroyed the second Temple, forcing us into exile again, many fled or were sold into slavery into Africa and many of us were brought to Rome and other parts of the Roman Empire in Europe.  

Our sages teach us the second Temple was destroyed due to intramural hate and only tremendous unity can rebuild it.

The prophet Ovadia clearly states that although the people of Israel were scattered they will return at the end of the days and mentions both the house of Yosef returning from France and the house of David from Spain.

We are clearly in the middle of this as we speak.  But there are other locations.  The prophet Isaiah mentions Cush. We have already witnessed our brothers and sisters return from Ethiopia, but what of the other Israelites found there? Millions fled or were sold into slavery to Africa after the destruction of both Temples. These Jews are only supposed to resurface at the end of days, after we the ones exiled into Rome trigger the awakening by returning first.

The Almighty has hidden from us our brothers’ location, but now it is clear at the end where they have been. The Jews who went into Egypt with Jeremiah and the Jews who were sold into slavery into Africa eventually found their way to the Gulf of Guinea mainly in Biafra. They eventually became known as the Igbo.  There they kept circumcision and the dietary laws as espoused in the Torah, but something happened.  First Islam came and began to forcibly convert the non-Jewish tribes to the North.  These tribes fought against the Jewish tribes living in Mali.  Many of these Jews fled south merging with the Igbo and other Israelite tribes already there and still others were lost and blended into non-Jewish African tribes. Yet, many stayed true to the Torah as much as possible.

When the Europeans arrived to missionize and enslave the inhabitants living on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea they found that the Igbo of Biafra and many other tribes in the coastal region kept certain laws from the Torah.  In their minds this would not do.  The solution was to enslave and deport, decimating what was there and nearly erasing the memory of what once was.

The Igbo and their related brethren were brought to America. So many Igbo were brought there that it is said that up to 60% of African Americans can trace at least one side of their family to being Igbo. This explains the affinity both  Jews of European descent African Americans had with one another during the Civil Rights era.  

What happened to the Igbo is not dissimilar to the Spanish and Portuguese Jewry who were either forcibly converted or chased into the New World where they started to forget who they were.

Now there is a great awakening and the movement to reverse the enslavement of our past is happening.  In Biafra, where the Igbo still reside, synagogues are being built, prayers are being said, and Torah is being learned.  There is a struggle to free the Igbo from the mental slavery of the past.  This struggle has taken many forms.  Politically it has inspired the free Biafra movement whose leader Nnamdi Kanu, rots in jail for no apparent reason than he acknowledged his Hebraic origin and sought to activate it in order to free his people.  

Unity will bring the Temple.  Understanding that we Israelites were exiled and enslaved and brought to far flung places. Exile has been brutal to us yet we are awakening and realizing all of us together can unify and return the Holy Temple to the Mount Moriah. All of us black, white, yellow, brown can one way or the other trace ourselves back to the Land from which we were taken.

The nations of the world have confused us and turned one side on the other, but we can if we want end the exile once and for all by creating a unity that will reverse our collective exile once and for all.

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PEAK AMERICA: Hacking the DNC is Just the Beginning

Whether it was Russia or a dead DNC staffer that leaked or better said hacked the DNC email system, the damage has been done.  To most people in the USA, it was a passing story, but the truth is that one has to be naive to think America’s most important data is safe.  While other countries are learning to build better and safer systems to protect sensitive data, America lags behind.

In fact, back in April NBC ran a story about an Iranian hacking into a control center of a NY dam.  It was the first time such a hack occurred using simple Google searches.

“While foreign nation-state hacking into U.S. infrastructure is common and growing in scope and sophistication, the dam hack is significant because prosecutors say it’s the first time a simple, search engine-driven hack of a piece of U.S. infrastructure has surfaced as the tool of choice. It’s also the first time federal indictment tied a foreign state to the hacking of critical U.S. assets, ” the NBC report said.

Essentially, the USA is far behind most of its enemies.  This has implications for security, but it also has an implication on how Americans can be influenced by bad actors wanting to shape and shift public opinion.  We see this clearly in this year’s election, where WikiLeaks holds the cards to the outcome in November.

If America, wants to protect itself and society it needs to learn how to better deal with information protection in both the public and private sectors.

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President of Togo in Israel to Improve Ties

President of Togo Faure Gnassingbe met with Prime Minister Netanyahu in Jerusalem as more and more African countries are opening up to Israel.  Togo may be one of the poorest countries in West Africa, but it offers Israel a lot of potential in it’s positioning on the Gold Coast next to Ghana.

Very little people know of Israel’s success story in Ghana through companies like STL who are heavily involved in building Ghana’s infrastructure.  With Israel’s potential partnership brewing just east of Ghana, Israel is set to do in West Africa, what it did in the East.

Togo is essentially an open slate, ripe for a country like Israel to step in and help propel it forward. With Ghana and Togo, and Benin itching to hop on the wagon, Israel is quickly building up a buffer zone in order to protect sub-Sahara Africa from Jihadists.

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Israel, Trump, and the End of the Neoconservative Agenda

Whether Trump wins or loses, his focus on neutering what has become a foreign policy dedicated to interventionism and regime change maybe the Donald’s lasting accomplishment. No where else has Trump succeeded in proving to various constituents that interventionism is a failed policy of the neo-conservative elite from both parties.

Many Israel observers are wrong when they suggest that an American policy shift away from actively intervening in foreign conflicts will ultimately be bad for Israel.  The assumption is that a non-engaged America leaves Israel without protection.

The truth is quite the opposite. neoconservative is about projecting American power in ways that ensures a lopsided relationship with allies. In 2005, the Bush administration, with neoconservative principles forced Israel to give up the Gaza strip and was intent on using a weak Olmert to pull Jews out of their historic heartland in Judea and Samaria. For the neocons that ran Bush’s adminstration, it was far better a small Israel dependent on the USA than a larger and stronger Israel that could stand on its own two feet.

Although one can blame Obama for much of the chaos in the Middle East, neocons in both parties pushed an agenda of destabilization in order to assert control.  This has backfired and so has interventionism in general.  One, because it does not work and two, because of the steep price tag attached.

Trump may not grasp the finer points of foreign policy.  He doesn’t have to.  Foreign policy is often times just good common sense.  Perhaps the most intelligent thing America can do is stay out of their allies’ business.