Archive for month: September, 2023

News Update

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Thursday that Israel intends to take appropriate steps to ensure its security amid expectations of a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia. “Peace with Saudi Arabia is a blessing for Israel, but alongside that, we are making every effort to assess the risks and ensure that we are moving in the right and responsible direction.”

Defense Minister Gallant and his German counterpart Boris Pistorius signed a document to initiate the sale of Israel Aerospace Industries Arrow 3 missile defense system to Germany. The $3.5 billion deal will be the biggest in the history of Israel’s defense industries.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has approved a request from Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai to use Pegasus, a surveillance spyware developed by the Israeli company NSO Group, designed to infiltrate smartphones running iOS and Android operating systems and which can turn them into 24-hour surveillance devices, in the investigation of the murder of five family members in the Bedouin town of Basmat Tab’un.

Israel has been admitted into the United States Visa Waiver Program (VWP), allowing visa-free entry by Israeli citizens from Nov. 30. Israelis must have a biometric passport to obtain the waiver.

The holiday of Sukkot begins tonight, last for 7 days and is followed by the holiday of Shmini Atzeret – Simchat Torah (which share one day in Israel and are 2 days everywhere else). During Sukkot Jews live (eat and sleep) in a hut-like structure called a Sukkah.

The Talmud states two reasons for the mitzvah of living in the Sukkah for seven days.

The first is to commemorate that our ancestors dwelled in Sukkahs in the wilderness. The second is to remember the “clouds of glory” that surrounded and protected the Jews in the desert. The Talmud seems to lean towards the second explanation. If this is the case, then why do we use a hut to represent the clouds? Wouldn’t it make more sense for us to live out in the open air, under the clouds? Wouldn’t that give us more of a feeling of complete dependence on the protection given us by God?

Although, in truth, living out “under the clouds” does starkly represent total dependence on God, real life isn’t as clear cut. We all try to build structures to provide us with security and protection. We live in these structures and feel safe and in control. We view these structures as permanent and without them we could not function. The reality, however, is that our structures are really just flimsy huts that create for us the illusion of permanence and security. They fall apart when we least expect them too.

The Sukkah that we live in for seven days reminds us that our own structures of security – our houses, careers, social status – are just temporary. They last for a week, a month, a year, several years, but are then taken down. The Sukkah reminds us that our real security and protection comes not from the walls that we build but from the graces of God.

May we all be blessed with the wisdom to differentiate between the security that is true and comes only from God and the false security of the hut that just looks real, but is only an illusion.

Taken from Deep Waters.

BOOKS
On Simchat Torah, in a little over a week, we will complete the reading of the Torah and begin again from Genesis. Then we’ll read one parsha (Torah portion) each week. In a book called Deep Waters: Insights into the Torah and the Jewish Holidays, I’ve included original insights and lessons on each of the 52 Torah portions and on all of the Jewish holidays. Each lesson is usually no longer than a page or two, so you can absorb it minutes. The book is for people of all levels of Jewish knowledge, from beginner to advanced. And the book is available on Amazon Prime, so you can get it quickly and return it if you don’t like it (but you will like it).

To get your copy of Deep Waters click here.

Because of the holiday, unless some BIG news breaks, we will not be publishing next week. 

News Update

Prime Minister Netanyahu will address the UN General Assembly today. On Wednesday Netanyahu met with US President Biden at a hotel in NY, while hundreds of demonstrators protested outside against Netanyahu’s judicial reform initiative. Biden stressed his efforts to achieve normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Netanyahu stressed that Israel’s “Israel’s commitment to democracy”.  Palestinian Authority President Abbas address the UN General Assembly on Thursday and said that there can be no peace deals made if Palestinian rights are ignored.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said, in an interview on Fox, that an agreement with Israel was close, but it must include Israeli action to ease the lives of Palestinians. He called the deal the most major event since the end of the Cold War.

Yesterday, Israeli tanks fired at 2 Syrian military positions located in the demilitarized zone of the Golan Heights yesterday. The positions were in clear violation of the 1974 disengagement agreement. According to the IDF, the Syrian military began storing weapons in them on Wednesday. The structures were believed to be empty of soldiers when they were shelled. Earlier on Thursday, two motorcyclists were reportedly killed in an Israeli drone strike in the town of Beit Jinn west of Damascus. Israel did not comment on the drone strike.

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins Sunday at sunset and lasts until nightfall on Monday. It is the only time that the Torah mandates that we “afflict” ourselves. We accomplish that by refraining from eating, drinking, wearing leather shoes (they didn’t have Crocs back then), bathing for pleasure or engaging in marital relations. We spend our day asking God for forgiveness, but not nearly enough time asking the same from our fellow man. Perhaps this year we should make an effort to focus more on how we treat each other and create an environment in which we can live together in unity and peace? As the saying goes, “united we stand, divided we fall.”

May we all be granted forgiveness and be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life.

Wishing you all an easy fast and a Gmar Chatima Tova.

News Update

Prime Minister Netanyahu will be in the US this week. He’ll meet President Biden in NY on Wednesday and address the UN General Assembly on Friday. He will also meet with Ukrainian President Zelensky, Turkish President Erdogan, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and South Korean President Yoo Suk Yeol. Today Netanyahu will tour Silicon Valley, where he will meet with Elon Musk. The Prime Minister was not invited to meet with the president at the White House. For more, click here. 

Earlier today, terrorists opened fire on an IDF patrol car near Kibbutz Meirav, which is not far from Beit Shean. the car was hit but no injuries were reported. Troops are pursuing the terrorists. Also today, terrorists fired at a military post located on the outskirts of the town of Dayr Sharaf in Samaria. No injuries were reported. Earlier today, Border Police at the Mizmoria checkpoint near the Har Homa neighborhood in Jerusalem shot a terrorist who attacked them with a knife.

According to the latest report by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, Israel’s population grew by 2%, or 194,000, over the past (Jewish) year to 9.795 million. 7.181 million (73%) of Israel’s citizens are Jewish, 2.065 million (21%) Arabs and 549,000 (6%) others including Russian-speaking immigrants who are not Jewish. There were 70,000 new immigrants this past year.

More than 45,000 Jews visited Uman, Ukrainian over the Rosh Hashana holiday weekend, to pray near the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.

News Update

Mossad Chief David Barnea revealed that the Mossad had disrupted 27 attempted terror strikes by Iran against Israelis and Jews around the world this year. He pointed out that the embargo on missiles and components for missiles imposed by the UN will expire next month and said Iran will use it to quickly purchase whatever they need in order to produce missiles and UAVs. He also said there was growing concern among Israeli officials that Russia might supply Iran with advanced weapons.

Terrorists are continuing attempts to fire homemade rockets at Israeli communities from Jenin. For more, click here.

Prime Minister Netanyahu urged Jews not to travel to Uman, Ukraine for Rosh Hashana, because of the dangers associated with the ongoing war. He said, “It’s exceedingly dangerous. People need to realize that they are endangering themselves. Too much Jewish blood has been shed in Europe. How can we take such a risk?” The Israeli government has allotted four million shekel (around a million dollars) to provide assistance to those who decide to make the journey and to improve conditions at the site of the grave of the Hassidic master Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.

A delegation from the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Antiquities Authority arrived in Saudi Arabia on Sunday to participate in the meeting of the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO).

Israel has officially submitted a request to purchase a third squadron of 25 F-35 stealth fighters from the US. The $3 billion price tag will come out of US military aid to Israel.

At the G20 summit in New Delhi, the US, India, EU and Saudi Arabia announced the promotion of a major railway and sea transport corridor between India and Europe via the Middle East. The project includes a rail link between Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. For more, click here.

Ahead of Rosh Hashana, Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority has published its annual list of Israel’s most popular names for this year’s newborns. Topping the list for Jewish boys is David and for girls, Abigail. For more, click here.

News Update

Security forces arrested 2 wanted terrorists in an operation in Jenin this morning. Forces were fired upon and returned fire, reportedly hitting one attacker. On Monday a large IDF force entered Jenin and arrested 3 wanted Hamas terrorists. No Israeli casualties were reported in either operation.

Last night, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu and also with Palestinian Authority President Abbas, reportedly about normalization talks with Saudi Arabia. Yesterday, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid met with senior White House officials and advisers to US President Biden. During the meetings, Lapid expressed his opposition to the possibility of the US agreeing to a Saudi nuclear program as part of a normalization agreement with Israel.

Israeli officials are holding confidential talks with Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim nation. Israel does not currently have formal diplomatic relations with Indonesia, but the countries to engage in trade, tourism and security collaborations. the US is reportedly quietly advocating for Indonesia to normalize its relationship with Israel.

President Biden has nominated former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew as his nominee for ambassador to Israel. Lew is an Orthodox Jew, speaks Hebrew and has family in Israel.

Barcelona’s new mayor has restored the city’s sister relationship with Tel Aviv, after it was severed by the previous mayor, who accused Israel of “apartheid” practices.

Archaeologists have discovered four 1,900-year-old Roman swords in a cave in the Judean Desert, which experts believe were captured by the Judean rebels during the Bar Kochba revolt and placed in a narrow crevice in the rock. For more, click here.