As is evident to anyone paying attention, the IDF operations in Lebanon are expanding on a daily basis. There are now over 10,000 troops on the other side of the border, and more and more villages are being cleared of Hizbollah. 36 IDF soldiers have now lost their lives battling the enemies of the Jewish State, z"l, but great progress has been made. A daring special forces raid deep into Northeastern Lebanon yielded 10 dead and 5 captured Hizbollah operatives. Hopefully, the information gleaned from these prisoners can be useful in battling our wily enemy. So far, the IDF estimates 300-400 Hizbollah fighters have been killed. This is a good start, but much more needs to be done.
I am currently on a visit to the US and I find it extremely lonely and depressing to be here. There are many people whom I love, but the place itself, and virtually everyone in it, lives on what might as well be a different planet. Israel is a world that is completely misunderstood by people who get their information from TV and news sties. Israel is a complex, rich life with infinite aspects that no one outside of the Land is privy to. The possibilities for Jewish spiritual growth dwarf every other place on Earth, and the ability to put one's Judaism into action is truly powerful.
The American Jewish community is a spiritually weak, slowly deteriorating population that cannot help but be influenced by the non-Jewish forces that dominate all aspects of American life. Judaism in America is a feel-good hobby that can be practiced to different degrees based on an individual's preferences. That makes Judaism hardly more meaningful that long-term hiking trips and Buddhist meditation. Secular American Jews don't know Torah, so I can only have limited ill-will towards them. But Orthodox American Jews, who learn Torah, who pray regularly, who know what Judaism says about Israel, are consciously avoiding the basic essentials of Jewish belief by continuing to live in New York and Chicago and other places. They hold to the idea that Torah is great no matter where you are and you can lead a Jewish life anywhere. They continue to live under the same philosophy that sustained the Jews BEFORE the reality of Israel's existence. But now, with G-d clearly setting up what He outlines in the Torah as the crucial stage in Jewish life, with the clearly outlined "ingathering of the exiles" taking place before our very eyes, with Israeli Jewry growing by leaps and bounds while Jewry elsewhere is stagnating and decreasing, with physical and spiritual advances happening in Israel that cannot occur in the Diaspora, how can believing Jews still assert that being dispersed is a legitimate way to be Jewish?
Read the Torah, read any commentator who has withstood the test of time, and you will see that Zionism is the essence of Judaism and Judaism is an empty shell without it. Before Israel was a possibility, Zionist thought existed only in prayers and Torah and Talmud classes. Today, Zionism is being realized in both the physical and spiritual reality. The sooner Diaspora Jews wake up and smell the coffee, the quicker will Israel's growth and development be. Israeli Jewry is growing, already at 5.35 million and going strong with high birthrates and a net positive immigration balance. 51% of first and second graders are in religious schools, and soon, Torah-true Jewish life will be the reality for the majority of adult Israelis as well. Secular Zionism is slowly coming together with religious Zionism and Am Israel is only strengthened by the ongoing military situations. You have to be there to believe it. The Israeli economy is growing despite the war, investments are strong, and the stock market is solid. Our enemies cannot destroy Israel in any way.
What about demography? Read www.pademographics.com for how the Arabs have been fooling us with their clever mathematics and to learn about the true demographic picture.
Am Israel is moving forward, and the obstacles do not impede the grand strategic progress. American Jews must wake up and join in, or else they will be relegated to the dustbin of Jewish history.
I am currently on a visit to the US and I find it extremely lonely and depressing to be here. There are many people whom I love, but the place itself, and virtually everyone in it, lives on what might as well be a different planet. Israel is a world that is completely misunderstood by people who get their information from TV and news sties. Israel is a complex, rich life with infinite aspects that no one outside of the Land is privy to. The possibilities for Jewish spiritual growth dwarf every other place on Earth, and the ability to put one's Judaism into action is truly powerful.
The American Jewish community is a spiritually weak, slowly deteriorating population that cannot help but be influenced by the non-Jewish forces that dominate all aspects of American life. Judaism in America is a feel-good hobby that can be practiced to different degrees based on an individual's preferences. That makes Judaism hardly more meaningful that long-term hiking trips and Buddhist meditation. Secular American Jews don't know Torah, so I can only have limited ill-will towards them. But Orthodox American Jews, who learn Torah, who pray regularly, who know what Judaism says about Israel, are consciously avoiding the basic essentials of Jewish belief by continuing to live in New York and Chicago and other places. They hold to the idea that Torah is great no matter where you are and you can lead a Jewish life anywhere. They continue to live under the same philosophy that sustained the Jews BEFORE the reality of Israel's existence. But now, with G-d clearly setting up what He outlines in the Torah as the crucial stage in Jewish life, with the clearly outlined "ingathering of the exiles" taking place before our very eyes, with Israeli Jewry growing by leaps and bounds while Jewry elsewhere is stagnating and decreasing, with physical and spiritual advances happening in Israel that cannot occur in the Diaspora, how can believing Jews still assert that being dispersed is a legitimate way to be Jewish?
Read the Torah, read any commentator who has withstood the test of time, and you will see that Zionism is the essence of Judaism and Judaism is an empty shell without it. Before Israel was a possibility, Zionist thought existed only in prayers and Torah and Talmud classes. Today, Zionism is being realized in both the physical and spiritual reality. The sooner Diaspora Jews wake up and smell the coffee, the quicker will Israel's growth and development be. Israeli Jewry is growing, already at 5.35 million and going strong with high birthrates and a net positive immigration balance. 51% of first and second graders are in religious schools, and soon, Torah-true Jewish life will be the reality for the majority of adult Israelis as well. Secular Zionism is slowly coming together with religious Zionism and Am Israel is only strengthened by the ongoing military situations. You have to be there to believe it. The Israeli economy is growing despite the war, investments are strong, and the stock market is solid. Our enemies cannot destroy Israel in any way.
What about demography? Read www.pademographics.com for how the Arabs have been fooling us with their clever mathematics and to learn about the true demographic picture.
Am Israel is moving forward, and the obstacles do not impede the grand strategic progress. American Jews must wake up and join in, or else they will be relegated to the dustbin of Jewish history.
posted by Felix at
10:51 AM
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