But, being connected to the Moshiach blogosphere . . . I do.

Last week, the very morning after viewing the very disturbing Channel 2 piece featuring the Beit Shemesh lady and her daughter,  I went to Holy Bagel and ran smack into the lady who was in the video! She’s totally frum! I was able  to give her words of hizuk, and empathized with her plight.

Frankly, this whole fiasco makes me sick. There is no question we are dealing with Erev Zeir here.

And, also frankly, I just do not understand why “my” Ashekenazi charedi gedolim leaders aren’t physically and verbally taking real stands – its hard not to feel our leadership is tacitly complicit or just plan enfeebled.  I mean, we’re talking about assault on 8 year olds in the name of halacha!

The “excuse” I hear is that these people wouldn’t listen anyway, and this is just another page in longstanding issues with the zealots. But so what?! What about the Jews who are suffering? There’s no question if Gadol X or Y was to call for a rally in support of these assaulted Jews, thousands would respond and it would be a great kiddush HaShem.

Perhaps these Gedolim know the emperor wears no clothes – and that if they rallied, the majority of Hareidim would fail to respond, or worse, mock and scorn – but so what!! That’s a political, not a moral consideration.

I hope I’m missing something here – if I am, please, readers, let me know!!  I really want to dan l’caf scut!

My only prayer is . . . “HaShem, please take tongs and remove the snake, without smashing the honey-pot‘.

My other prayer is, “Please HaShem, please put it into the hearts and minds of our leaders that the most important mitzvah of all in these dangerous times is ACHDUT! “

The land is very, very good.

Yesterday, my wife and I were finally able to head to Yerushalyim. Door to Kotel in 45 minutes – Hayinu k’cholmim – We were like dreamers.

BH, RBS A is very nice. Lots of very cool, aspirational people willing and wanting to help – and a person needs lots of that. Good places to pray and learn. And finding the cheap places to shop (key here – things are, in general, more expensive than the states).

BH, all the kids are in school, and really enjoying it. A tremendous chesed. I am really proud of each of them.

BH, we’ve already experienced a bit of “holeh hadash” – and made it through – so far, chick-chock. Likely a function of being in RBS A where the merchants have discovered that good customer service does, in fact, increase the bottom line (as does honesty).

And in terms of End of Days. . . tensions between Russia and America increase. Given the parsha last week, it makes sense.

B’emet, once a person is here in Israel one loses the desire to catch up on news – after all, those who desire the land no longer have to be satisfied with phone calls to their few friends here and the “media lens”. But rather, ones entire life and being is connected to the land.

I pray every day that my family should have the continued ability to stay in the land. I deeply appreciate all of this blog’s readers’ prayers and blessings, and pray that all of you should have the ability to come to the land standing straight.

We landed almost two weeks ago, and all is well.

I cannot overstate all the kindnesses HaShem has shown to us in every way – great dira, great friends, good new neighbors, great places to learn and pray, lots of good food, business going well in US and my new business in Israel (big investor meeting on Thursday!), and, most importantly, we are all healthy and happy, and three out of four have started school and number four will likely begin tomorrow.

We are in RBS A, and its very beautiful here. A perfect fit for me. There is a ton of diversity and lots of very cool, aspirational people.

All in all, I am so happy to be home. E”Y is just the place to be for me. I walk to shul and see the Jerusalem mountains and just cannot believe we actually live in E”Y!!

G-d willing, all yissurim should be kal, and we should merit making a kinyan of the land.

The land is very, very good!!

Predicting the Weather

Edom vs. Paras – “I don’t know, just be a good boy!”

A New Take On Paras/Iran

Whose Your Daddy, BO?

Why Edom vs. Paras?

As my Rebbe, Reb Yisrael Simcha Schorr recently told me, “Things are happening!“

And his response to my question of whether it is irresponsible to move my family to E”Y at this time, “It is not irresponsible. You will be there to greet p’ne Moshiach.“

It is well known that Yishma’el means “G-d will listen”.

If we delve deeper into the name, we see that the name of G-d in Yishma’el’s name is “El”. Kabbalistically, this name is associated with the attribute of chesed – pure, unrestrained kindness. (“Chesed El kol ha’yom”). Chesed is kindness even for those completely undeserving.

There is no more completely undeserving actor on the world stage today than Yishmael – this nation is absolutely wicked – but, because the source of their blessing is chesed, they receive tremendous blessing even though they are completely unworthy of it.

Thus, we should rejoice when we see Yishmael receive his blessings – the greater the blessing, the greater the unworthiness, and the greater the ultimate and fierce divine judgment.

Aliya

G-d willing, my family and I are moving to E”Y next week. It took about three years of planning, but we’re finally moving!

Please, dear readers (if you are still around), please pray for our family’s success!!

After all, it is Esau who funds the entire Palestinian mission to destroy Jewish sovereignty in Israel.  When the Arabs fail to pay pledges, the EU and America fill the gap.

Why? What on the Earth for? Is it really about oil?

I think not.

For Yishmael to fall, Edom must fall. Without a handle, the spearhead loses its power and falls down.

In this regard, this year’s nine days were very strange:

1. Stock Markets crash

2. London burns

3. Gold booms

And, not to mention, the recent earthquake that cracked the Washington monument, and the recent hurricane that left millions without power or water for weeks (my sister in Pound Ridge, NY is one of them).

Edom is cracking.  Caesaria is falling. Yerushalyim is rising. 

Anyway, for all of you who might have been wondering where I’ve been for the past few months, been real busy working on moving family to Israel. Traveled to EY in July for my final pilot trip – amazing!! – and made the decision to live with the other Mexicans from my town of Enchilada who live in RBS-A. Wife and I packed our first boxes today! G-d willing, we leave parshat Lech Lecha (might as well be epic about it).

I am mammash going to be an immigrant in my own homeland! Not speaking hebrew well is tough. Ger anochi b’aretz. But I know enough so that in business meetings with my Israeli partners, other people start spewing in Hebrew and I just smile and stay silent – they think I understand! Another dimension of the Pirkei Avot’s maxim that silence leads to wisdom.

Also had my first meetings for a green food production business I hope to get started in E”Y.  I really like working with Israelis – the air has made them wise, and when they act with integrity in business, there are none better. I pray to Hashem that someday I, too, might merit to successfully do business in E”Y.

Anyway, time for dinner.

You should all be blessed and protected.

Today, for the first time, I saw “ISAF” pop up on the Drudge Report with this article, where, for the first time, NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan were initially identified as “ISAF service members” rather than troops of NATO or their country of origin.

Likely, ISAF will be the “name” of Gog’s force.

Makes sense – ISAF = ESAV.

For obvious reasons, the tsunami warning can be scary, especially for a family with young children preparing to make aliyah at precisely the time the tsunami is supposed to hit land.

Two weeks ago, Thursday night, I had a dream.  In my dream my family and I were swimming in rough seas, next to steep bluffs, a few hundred meters off shore.

Looking out towards the ocean I saw massive waves heading for shore.  We were “outside” the waves and sort of blocked by the cliffs, so the big waves sort of passed us by on their way to shore.

But still, we were in a dangerous spot and had to swim to the shore. We started in, and watched a few more monster waves swell up and by.  In a flash, a small path along the cliffside appeared, and we were able to quickly scoot to shore on it, to a hotel on the beach.

The big waves were coming in, so we ran into the hotel for cover. Inside the hotel we could see out the beachfront windows, and look at the massive waves coming in. Just as they were about to hit, we all ducked and covered behind some built-in counters in the hotel lobby.

I prepared to die. There was no way we could survive a direct hit by these giant waves.

“Boom!”, the waves hit. I crunched into a ball and held my breath and. . .

We made it, we were alive and OK. I looked around. The hotel window was smashed out and there was debris strewn around, but we had made it and the damage could be fixed. Importantly, the tsunami which promised fearsome destruction hit and dissipated – we were safe on dry land.

This is not the first time I have had tsunami dreams when facing a very scary time period (the last time is when I was two weeks away from taking the bar exam – which I passed, thank G-d).

G-d willing, the meaning of the dream is clear and simple: (1) here in America we are not on dry land but rather treading water in a troubled sea; (2) E”Y is the dry land, but one must brave the waves to get there; (3) If one tries to swim ashore, HasShem will provide a sudden and unexpected narrow path to get safely out of the water onto dry land; and (4) those taking refuge on dry land will endure the predicted tsunami despite our fears otherwise.

And, after all, if Ehud Barak is scared of the diplomatic tsunami, then we have nothing to fear.

In addition to the genocidal aspirations, note the concept of how Palestianians will be allowed to live in any Arab country after Israel is destroyed.

The Nations are really messing with HaShem.

The song of the day for Shabbos reads:

A boor does not know, and a fool does not understand this. As the evildoers bloom like grass, and the sinners blossom – to destroy them forever. (Psalms, 92)

On this verse, R. Chaim Volozin brings the idea that evil is “hidden” and “mixed” within the world.  When one looks at a barren, sun-baked, dusty field, it is impossible to know what is really there.

With rain and sun, bad weeds and poisonous plants reveal themselves from their dark hiding places.

Today, the Nations’ wickedness blossoms in the Arab Spring.

Only to be cut down forever.

G-d willing, the Jewish People will never be forced to wield fearsome violence to defend ourselves, and that the Nations’ own wicked designs will consume them.