חנניה ווייסמאן Chananya Weissman

Torah or Tyranny

The history of the human race can mostly be summed up as follows: God creates the world and tells Man the rules. Man breaks the rules, then makes different rules that he thinks will work better or that otherwise suit his desires. Man fails every time.

We live in a generation that considers itself the most enlightened in history. This assertion goes largely unchallenged not because it is true, but because those who are most slighted by this sanctimonious claim – all previous generations – are no longer here to protest it.

While technology has advanced exponentially, it is difficult to argue that the moral state of the human race has advanced in kind, let alone reached historic heights. Consider the state of the world today:

South America is controlled by authoritarian governments and drug cartels. Those who oppose the ruling class tend to be assassinated.

North America is controlled by increasingly draconian governments who serve the interests of large corporations and foreign entities. Censorship and bullying is the norm. The fundamental freedoms citizens used to take for granted have been eroding for many years, and currently hang by a thread. Those who oppose the current ruling class are being branded “domestic terrorists” by the establishment, to justify war against them.

Western Europe is also controlled by increasingly draconian governments, though their citizens had fewer freedoms to begin with. When citizens make large protests, the government considers them the enemy, not a voice to be heard and respected. Those who oppose the ruling class are persecuted.

Eastern Europe is controlled by authoritarian governments and oligarchs. Those who oppose the ruling class tend to wind up in prison or suffer tragic accidents.

The Middle East is controlled by totalitarian governments and dictators.

Israel, which proclaims itself the only democracy in the Middle East, has followed the Western World as it generally does. Hence, its vague allegiance to “democracy” has also been replaced with a draconian government that serves the interests of large corporations and foreign entities. Citizens are pawns with the illusion of rights. More on this later.

Africa is controlled by dictators and powerful tribes.

Asia is controlled by authoritarian governments, totalitarian governments, and dictators. The Chinese totalitarian system seems to be the role model of Western governments.

The overwhelming majority of the human race lives in abject poverty, regular poverty, or is dangerously close. The governments of the world view their citizens as subjects to be exploited, pawns to be manipulated, threats to be eliminated, or nuisances to be controlled. World leaders view laws that restrict their authority not as sacred guideposts, but as obstacles to be wiggled around or removed.

This is the most enlightened generation? This is the result of thousands of years of “progress”?

Capitalism, socialism, communism, democracy, autocracy, and the rest seem very different on the surface, but they all have one thing in common: sooner or later the money and power will be in the hands of a privileged few. Everyone else will struggle to get by, and will live in fear of the establishment.

Even democracy – that great achievement of recent generations – is easy to subvert and corrupt, or simply to vote out of existence. Tyranny is inevitable in democracies as well; it merely takes longer to develop.

This week’s parsha contains a high percentage of the laws God gave the Jewish regarding the societal structure. It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss them in depth, but even a cursory reading of the parsha shows the great emphasis on protecting the weak from the strong, integrity of the justice system, and safeguards against corruption.

According to the Torah, leaders are not only equally accountable to the law, they are held to a higher standard than ordinary citizens. With greater power comes not just greater responsibility, but greater accountability. Only God created and – just as critically – enforces such truly just laws. Man-made systems pay lip service to this idea, even as those in power constantly remind us that they play by different rules, if any rules at all. Even in democracies, the ability of citizens to hold their leaders accountable for gross misdeeds is extremely limited at best.

According to the Torah, there is no such thing as the rich having any privileges over the poor. Wealth is a God-given blessing, and a responsibility to help those less fortunate in order to secure continued blessing. Wealth does not confer on people greater status, presumptions of wisdom, or power according the Torah. A wealthy businessman with a multi-million dollar court case must wait his turn if the pauper is there first. Judges are obligated by the Torah to fear no one, favor no one, and to adjudicate as if their own money and lives depend on getting it right, for in fact they do. While they are judging the people, God is judging the judges.

Indeed, fear of Heaven and dependence on God to be actively supervising society are built into our judicial system. A capital case can only be reopened to acquit one found guilty, but never the reverse. This is not because the Torah is against harsh punishment of criminals – just the opposite – but because we recognize that our powers to mete out punishment must be limited in certain ways, and that God is actively involved in the judicial process. We are constantly reminded that we are only servants of God, and our leaders are only custodians of the Torah, to safeguard us from tyranny.

It is no coincidence that man-made systems remove God for the purpose of engaging in tyranny, or co-opt a religious system to terrorize people in God’s name. No man-made system limits the power of its leaders specifically in the name of God, relying on God to pick up where our ability to mete out justice must be constrained. Only in the Torah do we find that the sections describing positions of authority, such as kings, judges, and prophets, are devoted almost entirely to limiting the power of those in these positions.

Couldn’t all of mankind use more of that right now? Why did we ever think we could do better?

Another unique feature of the Torah is that the laws are finite and inviolable. In fact, the prohibition of adding or removing a single commandment is one of the 613 commandments, and a supposed prophet who seeks to add or take away from the Torah is executed as an obvious fraud. Only God could create a system that would be suitable for all times, places, and circumstances. Only divine wisdom could create laws that are permanent and unalterable.

Many people wrongly believe that rabbis have the power to change the Torah, when in fact their role is to teach it, instruct us on how to behave in cases of doubt, and properly apply its inviolable laws to different situations. Our sages have the authority to enact laws only for the sake of safeguarding the Torah; they cannot change a single letter.

Man-made systems are malleable by definition. Whoever created the system has no innate superiority over those who come after him, who will be sure to add new laws and discard old laws as they see fit.

Those who enjoy power in these systems have little better to do with themselves than constantly create new laws, issue new decrees, create a jungle of laws that no one can keep up with, then selectively enforce them against those they wish to suppress. Whatever is a basic right today may very well be criminalized tomorrow. This happens in every man-made system, and it is reaching extremel levels all over the world in our time.

Moreover, man-made systems specialize in vague laws that can be broadly interpreted and selectively enforced for political reasons. Take, for example, laws against “incitement”. What is incitement exactly? Whatever the people in charge want it to mean. The same is true for “endangering national security”, “enemy of the people”, “hate speech”, “causing a public disturbance”, “endangering public health”, “spreading misinformation”, and so much more.

Laws such as these are intentionally obscure to enable those in power to interpret them and apply them as they see fit. Corruption and double standards are inevitable. Anyone can be criminalized at any time.

God’s system stands in direct opposition to this. The laws are not only finite, they are clearly and fully defined through tradition and the interpretive process that were given along with the Torah. While details of commandments are under dispute, there is a clear process for determining a prevailing opinion as well, and there are no vague laws for leaders to interpret to give advantages to some and persecute others. Even a king who wishes to punish someone for treason must submit to a rabbinical court.

In a Torah system, authorities must outright violate the Torah to engage in tyranny; there’s no subterfuge. In man-made systems, they simply call it something else and make it legal.

As we near the end of days, God is making it clear for all to see that there are only two choices: Torah or tyranny. Every world power, representing every system of government, has normalized tyranny all together. There can no longer be any illusions that one system or another will give mankind the freedom it wants and deserves. They can only turn to God.

Many people wrongly believe that the Torah constrains a person, and they prefer to be “free”. We are learning how right Chazal were when they taught that the only truly free person is one who lives according to the Torah. The only truly free system is one that is based on the Torah. Those who try to create a more “open” and free system inevitably descend into tyranny, and it doesn’t take long.

Back to Israel. The great hope of the Jewish people after thousands of years of exile and persecution, the great modern Jewish experiment, has unequivocally failed. Far too many Jews foolishly believed that simply returning to our land was good enough. Israel would be a refuge from the ravages of exile, a guarantee that it would never happen again. Yet now it is happening in Israel itself. The government has turned against its own people and normalized tyranny. The masks are off, and there is nowhere left for them to run.

Even religious Jews believed that settling the land and building Torah-observant communities was good enough. As long as the government basically left them alone, they didn’t need to concern themselves with the overall spiritual character of the country. Now they are learning that Torah needs to be the law of land, and they need to take responsibility to make Israel a truly Jewish state. They can’t just be concerned about themselves and their own four cubits.

Israel’s dysfunctional government, with its eclectic mix of right wing, left wing, religious, non-religious, anti-religious, and many additional factions has historically never agreed on anything. They hate each other. But right now, for the first time in history, they have all united around a single idea: medical tyranny is normal and moral.

People who do not constantly prove that they do not have the flu-like strain of the day should not be allowed in public. People who refuse to be injected with an experimental drug should be demonized and discriminated against. They should not be forced, of course; that’s illegal. But “force” is another one of those words that can be defined and redefined to suit the whims of those in power. The definition is changing on a daily basis. Those clever, man-made laws to prevent tyranny ultimately enable it.

All incumbent political parties openly support this; there is not a single voice of outrage. They differ only in the degree of terror they wish to inflict on non-compliant citizens – all for the greater good, of course. It’s always for the greater good.

This brings us to the final lesson from the Torah system. Only God can decide what is for the greater good. Only God can play God. The tyrants wish to own everything, know everything, control everything, decide who is essential, whose life has value, who should be allowed to participate in society, and to what extent, and turn every God-given human right into a privilege that must be constantly earned by conformity to their edicts.

They want to own the world and take God’s place. But God owns the world, He controls everything, and He doesn’t want to give up His business. The final war is between those who turn to God, and those who want to take God’s place.

All the man-made systems have reached their natural end. All man-made roads lead to tyranny. All of humanity now faces a straightforward choice, regardless of where they live.

It is Torah, or it is tyranny.

Whose side are you on?

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31 Reasons Why I Won’t Take the Vaccine

1. It’s not a vaccine. A vaccine by definition provides immunity to a disease. This does not provide immunity to anything. In a best-case scenario, it merely reduces the chance of getting a severe case of a virus if one catches it. Hence, it is a medical treatment, not a vaccine. I do not want to take a medical treatment for an illness I do not have.

2. The drug companies, politicians, medical establishment, and media have joined forces to universally refer to this as a vaccine when it is not one, with the intention of manipulating people into feeling safer about undergoing a medical treatment. Because they are being deceitful, I do not trust them, and want nothing to do with their medical treatment.

3. The presumed benefits of this medical treatment are minimal and would not last long in any case. The establishment acknowledges this, and is already talking about additional shots and ever-increasing numbers of new “vaccines” that would be required on a regular basis. I refuse to turn myself into a chronic patient who receives injections of new pharmaceutical products on a regular basis simply to reduce my chances of getting a severe case of a virus that these injections do not even prevent.

4. I can reduce my chances of getting a severe case of a virus by strengthening my immune system naturally. In the event I catch a virus, there are vitamins and well-established drugs that have had wonderful results in warding off the illness, without the risks and unknowns of this medical treatment.

5. The establishment insists that this medical treatment is safe. They cannot possibly know this because the long-term effects are entirely unknown, and will not be known for many years. They may speculate that it is safe, but it is disingenuous for them to make such a claim that cannot possibly be known. Because they are being disingenuous, I do not trust them, and I want no part of their treatment.

6. The drug companies have zero liability if anything goes wrong, and cannot be sued. Same for the politicians who are pushing this treatment. I will not inject myself with a new, experimental medical device when the people behind it accept no liability or responsibility if something goes wrong. I will not risk my health and my life when they refuse to risk anything.

7. Israel’s Prime Minister has openly admitted that the Israeli people are the world’s laboratory for this experimental treatment. I am not interested in being a guinea pig or donating my body to science.

8. Israel agreed to share medical data of its citizens with a foreign drug company as a fundamental part of their agreement to receive this treatment. I never consented for my personal medical data to be shared with any such entity, nor was I even asked. I will not contribute to this sleazy enterprise.

9. The executives and board members at Pfizer are on record that they have not taken their own treatment, despite all the fanfare and assurances. They are claiming that they would consider it unfair to “cut the line”. This is a preposterous excuse, and it takes an unbelievable amount of chutzpah to even say such a thing. Such a “line” is a figment of their own imagination; if they hogged a couple of injections for themselves no one would cry foul. In addition, billionaires with private jets and private islands are not known for waiting in line until hundreds of millions of peasants all over the world go first to receive anything these billionaires want for themselves.

10. The establishment media has accepted this preposterous excuse without question or concern. Moreover, they laud Pfizer’s executives for their supposed self-sacrifice in not taking their own experimental treatment until we go first. Since they consider us such fools, I do not trust them, and do not want their new treatment. They can have my place in line. I’ll go to the very back of the line.

11. Three facts that must be put together:

• Bill Gates is touting these vaccines as essential to the survival of the human race.

• Bill Gates believes the world has too many people and needs to be “depopulated”.

• Bill Gates, perhaps the richest man in the world, has also not been injected. No rush.

          Uh, no. I’ll pass on any medical treatments he wants me to take.

12. The establishment has been entirely one-sided in celebrating this treatment. The politicians and media are urging people to take it as both a moral and civic duty. The benefits of the treatment are being greatly exaggerated, the risks are being ignored, and the unknowns are being brushed aside. Because they are being deceitful and manipulative, I will not gamble my personal wellbeing on their integrity.

13. There is an intense propaganda campaign for people to take this treatment. Politicians and celebrities are taking selfies of themselves getting injected (perhaps in some cases pretending to get injected), the media is hyping this as the coolest, smartest, most happy and fun thing to do. It is the most widespread marketing campaign in history. This is not at all appropriate for any medical treatment, let alone a brand new one, and it makes me recoil.

14. The masses are following in tow, posting pictures of themselves getting injected with a drug, feeding the mass peer pressure to do the same. There is something very alarming and sick about this, and I want no part of it. I never took drugs just because “everyone’s doing it” and it’s cool. I’m certainly not going to start now.

15. Those who raise concerns about this medical treatment are being bullied, slandered, mocked, censored, ostracized, threatened, and fired from their jobs. This includes medical professionals who have science-based concerns about the drug and caregivers who have witnessed people under their charge suffering horrible reactions and death shortly after being injected. When the establishment is purging good people who risk everything simply to raise concerns about a new medical treatment – even if they don’t outright oppose it – I will trust these brave people over the establishment every time. I cannot think of a single similar case in history when truth and morality turned out to be on the side of the establishment.

16. This is the greatest medical experiment in the history of the human race.

17. It is purposely not being portrayed as the greatest medical experiment in the history of the human race, and the fact that it is a medical experiment at all is being severely downplayed.

18. Were they up front with the masses, very few would agree to participate in such an experiment. Manipulating the masses to participate in a medical experiment under false pretenses violates the foundations of medical ethics and democratic law. I will not allow unethical people who engage in such conduct to inject me with anything.

19. The medical establishment is not informing people about any of this. They have become marketing agents for an experimental drug, serving huge companies and politicians who have made deals with them. This is a direct conflict with their mandate to concern themselves exclusively with the wellbeing of the people under their care. Since the medical establishment has become corrupted, and has become nothing more than a corporate and political tool, I do not trust the experimental drug they want so badly to inject me with.

20. We are being pressured in various ways to get injected, which violates medical ethics and the foundations of democratic society. The best way to get me not to do something is to pressure me to do it.

21. The government has sealed their protocol related to the virus and treatments for THIRTY YEARS. This is information that the public has a right to know, and the government has a responsibility to share. What are they covering up? Do they really expect me to believe that everything is kosher about all this, and that they are concerned first and foremost with my health? The last time they did this was with the Yemenite Children Affair. If you’re not familiar with it, look it up. Now they’re pulling the same shtick. They didn’t fool me the first time, and they’re definitely not fooling me now.

22. The government can share our personal medical data with foreign corporations, but they won’t share their own protocol on the matter with us? I’m out.

23. The establishment has recruited doctors, rabbis, the media, and the masses to harangue people who don’t want to get injected with a new drug. We are being called the worst sort of names. We are being told that we believe in crazy conspiracies, that we are against science, that we are selfish, that we are murderers, that we don’t care about the elderly, that it’s our fault that the government continues to impose draconian restrictions on the public. It’s all because we don’t want to get injected with an experimental treatment, no questions asked. We are even being told that we have a religious obligation to do this, and that we are grave sinners if we do not. They say that if we do not agree to get injected, we should be forced to stay inside our homes forever and be ostracized from public life.

    This is horrific, disgusting, a perversion of common sense, morality, and the Torah. It makes me recoil, and only further cements my distrust of these people and my opposition to taking their experimental drug. How dare they?

24. I know of many people who got injected, but none of them studied the science in depth, carefully weighed the potential benefits against the risks, compared this option to other alternatives, was truly informed, and decided this medical treatment was the best option for them. On the contrary, they got injected because of the hype, the propaganda, the pressure, the fear, blind trust in what “the majority of experts” supposedly believed (assuming THEY all studied everything in depth and were completely objective, which is highly dubious), blind trust in what certain influential rabbis urged them to do (ditto the above), or hysterical fear that the only option was getting injected or getting seriously ill from the virus. When I see mass hysteria and cult-like behavior surrounding a medical treatment, I will be extremely suspicious and avoid it.

25. The drug companies have a long and glorious history of causing mass carnage with wonder drugs they thrust on unsuspecting populations, even after serious problems had already become known. Instead of pressing the pause button and halting the marketing of these drugs until these issues could be properly investigated, the drug companies did everything in their power to suppress the information and keep pushing their products. When companies and people have demonstrated such gross lack of concern for human life, I will not trust them when they hype a new wonder drug. This isn’t our first rodeo.

26. Indeed, the horror stories are already coming in at warp speed, but the politicians are not the least bit concerned, the medical establishment is brushing them aside as unrelated or negligible, the media is ignoring it, the drug companies are steaming ahead at full speed, and those who raise a red flag continue to be bullied, censored, and punished. Clearly my life and my wellbeing are not their primary concern. I will not be their next guinea pig in their laboratory. I will not risk being the next “coincidence”.

27. Although many people have died shortly after getting injected – including perfectly healthy young people – we are not allowed to imply that the injection had anything to do with it. Somehow this is anti-science and will cause more people to die. I believe that denying any possible link, abusing people who speculate that there might be a link, and demonstrating not the slightest curiosity to even explore if there might be a link is what is anti-science and could very well cause more people to die. These same people believe I am obligated to get injected as well. No thanks.

28. I am repulsed by the religious, cult-like worship of a pharmaceutical product, and will not participate in this ritual.

29. My “healthcare” provider keeps badgering me to get injected, yet they have provided me no information on this treatment or any possible alternatives. Everything I know I learned from others outside the establishment. Informed consent has become conformed consent. I decline.

30. I see all the lies, corruption, propaganda, manipulation, censorship, bullying, violation of medical ethics, lack of integrity in the scientific process, suppression of inconvenient adverse reactions, dismissal of legitimate concerns, hysteria, cult-like behavior, ignorance, closed-mindedness, fear, medical and political tyranny, concealment of protocols, lack of true concern for human life, lack of respect for basic human rights and freedoms, perversion of the Torah and common sense, demonization of good people, the greatest medical experiment of all time being conducted by greedy, untrustworthy, godless people, the lack of liability for those who demand I risk everything…I see all this and I have decided they can all have my place in line. I will put my trust in God. I will use the mind He blessed me with and trust my natural instincts. Which leads to the final reason which sums up why I will not get “vaccinated.”

31. The whole thing stinks.

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See www.chananyaweissman.com for much more.

I was given permission to share this.  Hopefully it will help pull some people off the train.

Chananya

The Best Galus Ever

I like to keep things simple. The arguments in favor of residing in galus over Israel inevitably boil down to two tracks:

1) Life in galus is better.

2) Life in Israel is worse.

The rest is commentary. People will only move to Israel, or choose to stay there, if they crunch all the objective and subjective variables, and determine that life in Israel is a better deal. There is no need to catalog all the variables; we know them.

Instead, I would like to present the greatest sales pitch for galus in history. Imagine a scenario in which life in galus could not be any better, while life in Israel could not be any worse. It would look something like this:

Economic: Getting by in Israel is virtually impossible. The economy is completely in the tank, extreme poverty is widespread, and there are severe food shortages. Survival is only possible due to an influx of foreign aid, which of course comes with strings attached.

In galus, however, the Jews live with great prosperity and don’t even need to work. Their standard of living could not be better. They are free to live in the most upscale neighborhoods, tax-free, without even having to worry about zoning laws.

Political: Israel is completely ruled by gentiles. In fact, it wouldn’t even be known as Israel. Not only are Jews an extreme minority with little political influence, there are no Jews there at all! Although Jews are allowed to live in Israel, they have no say in how the country will be run. Furthermore, the gentiles who rule the land are diametrically opposed to Jewish values, and any Jew who does live there would need to keep an extremely low profile. He would be grudgingly tolerated at best, and would need to be perpetually wary of his neighbors.

In galus the Jews enjoy political power at the highest echelons and can be openly Jewish with impunity. Although there are some resentments, in general the Jews are respected, admired, and feared by the gentiles. No one would dare lay a finger on them.

Spiritual: Life in Israel is a spiritual wasteland. There are no rabbis, no shuls, no yeshivas, no Jewish education, no communal infrastructure of any kind. How could there be? There are no Jews! But to make matters worse, the spiritual environment could hardly be worse. The gentiles who rule the land are morally bankrupt, far worse than the gentiles in other lands. Raising a proper Jewish child would require separating from society as much as possible, with no support group.

In galus the Jews would still be vastly outnumbered, of course, but they would be able to live in their own spiritual cocoons. They would be guided by tremendous tzaddikim and Torah scholars, among the greatest who ever lived. Jewish education would also be completely free. Their religious rights would be fully protected; in fact, Jewish leaders would be recognized as holy by the gentiles and held in the highest esteem. Naturally, Jewish communal and family life would be ideal.

If a Jew could choose between living in the Israel or the galus described above, the correct choice would be obvious.

Israel.

This is not a theroetical question. This actually happened. When the Jews first came to Egypt, and for many years before things turned bad, this was the situation. Yosef was the ruler. Yaacov was the spiritual leader. The Jews enjoyed freedom and prosperity without a care in the world.

At the same time, Israel was known as Canaan, ruled by the most wicked idolaters in the world. They were so spiritually bankrupt and morally corrupt that they deserved to be utterly destroyed. There was famine in the land, and everyone was beholden to Egypt for their food. The inhabitants were also well aware of Jewish ambitions to ultimately kick them out and take over the land. Conditions for a Jew could hardly be less favorable.

Nevertheless, Yaacov would not have left Israel were he not compelled by divine decree and heavenly machinations. Same for his family, which comprised the entirety of the Jewish people. Yosef would not have left Israel or remained in Egypt if not for circumstances beyond his control. They were expected to live in galus at all times with one foot out the door, ready to return to Israel at the earliest opportunity. They were expected to give up the best life in galus for the most difficult life in Israel, and to view that as the greatest priority, the greatest blessing.

Home is home, and if it isn’t everything you want it to be, you need to be there to really change that.

Despite all the complaints, many of which are justified, life in Israel has a lot going for it. Despite the deep attachment many Jews have to galus, despite the yetzer hara to remain there no matter what, life in galus is no paradise for an authentic Jew. It never can be. It’s an exile, an unnatural habitat, a temporary dwelling where the Jew may be tolerated and exploited for some time, but where he is never meant to feel at home. He doesn’t belong there.

When a Jew remembers this, keeps one foot out the door, and desires to return home at the first opportunity, there is no need for the galus to be rough. However, when he mistakenly interprets God’s kindness in softening the exile as a sign that he should plant both feet there, the kindness needs to be removed.

One final time, as has happened so many times in history, the Jews have planted both feet in their temporary dwellings, mistaking a comfortable life in galus as preferable to an uncomfortable life in Israel. The kindness is being removed and once again things in galus are turning very bad very fast.

It shouldn’t have to be this way, and it still doesn’t need to be this way. We can learn the lesson without having to learn it the hard way. We can turn things around and finally get it right.

Tell shmutz la’aretz that you appreciate the hospitality and will remember the good times, but it’s time to just go home.

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www.chananyaweissman.com

Copies of Go Up Like a Wall are available from me at no cost upon request, and on Amazon for the minimum price they allowed.