העורך Editor

To my recollection, most mainstream Jewish editorials assume so.

An example: Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein wondering why anti-annexationists when it comes to Israel ignore Hong Kong sovereignty’s Chinese encroachment.

He starts off with a bang:

Annexation is about to wreak havoc with the lives of millions of people. It will deprive them of personal liberties, and subject them to arbitrary prosecution at the whim of a powerful oppressor. It will end rightful dreams of autonomy and self-determination. World pressure could make a difference, but it is not happening. Boycotts of the perpetrators should be widespread.

Have I gone mad? Sorry. I should have been more clear. I am not, G-d forbid, speaking about Israel’s possible moves in the next days or weeks to extend Israeli civil law to 30% of Yehuda and Shomron. We’re seeing lots of global rage about that! We don’t have to get into whether that annexation is welcome or not. Arguably, it is tepid in scope and in depth relative to the ongoing annexation of Hong Kong by China.

Given the guarantees that China gave to the former British colony which are now being unilaterally broken, it is nothing less than an annexation. It will bring far greater hardship and sorrow than the one in the Middle East, to a population three times the size of the West Bank. We’re not talking checkpoints and denied access to olive trees here. We are talking about the overnight end to effective civil liberties for everyone in Hong Kong, and the real prospect of prosecution and incarceration by a government that has shown itself willing and able to keep hundreds of millions under its thumb.

So, why no outcry?

Rabbi Adlerstein offers two reasons:

1. “[T]he morality of these churches and of the university campus ends when it butts heads with providers of cheap tchotchkes. Hard to beat that for hypocrisy.
2. The Chinese aren’t Jewish. Israelis are. It is as simple as that. The double-standard is not always – not even usually! – conscious. But it is there. Jews have always been treated more harshly and severely, and that is not going to change until the arrival of mashiach.

I see things otherwise from most all Jewish editorials.

As I wrote once before, we ought to be held to a higher standard than non-Jews. We are capable of more and are therefore to be held culpable for slighter infractions (not that this has discernible salutary effects on us!).

Also, what is antisemitism exactly? Can’t be pinned down. That’s why academics move from “classical” Jew-hatred to New antisemitism to the 3D test of antisemitism to the Working Definition of Antisemitism to…  Antisemitism is a (limited) counterfactual taught by Chazal. You know Goyim hate Jews. I know Goyim hate Jews. Even Goyim know Goyim hate Jews. But one can almost never manage to point to a specific person or action and apply the antisemitism label.

And can’t people specialize in criticizing one country or state? Israel is not always guiltless.

See the rest of Rabbi Adlerstein’s piece here…

Excerpt from a master shiur on Aliyah by Rabbi Zev Leff:

We must refrain from feeling settled and fulfilled as long as we are outside the Land. This attitude need not lead to melancholy but should instead actually enhance one’s spiritual life. It affords direction in aspiring towards the proper values and lifestyle. Interestingly, it may also provide physical protection for the community in which one resides now, as illustrated by the following account from the Shearis Yisroel, in the name of Rav Yehoshua Falk, the author of the SMA.

The city of Worms was devastated twice during the Crusades. Why did a city blessed with pious Torah scholars merit such a fate? When Ezra hasofer returned to Eretz Yisroel to begin his work on the second Beis HaMikdash, he sent letters to all the major kehillos of the time inviting them to return with him. The kehilla of Worms, which had been established since the destruction of the first Temple, responded: “Peace unto you, Ezra hasofer! May you be successful in establishing the grand Beis HaMikdash in the grand Yerushalayim. We, however, will remain here in our `small Yerushalayim’ and with our mikdash meat, our small Temple.” This attitude, tragically common even in our own day, spiritually blemished the city to such an extent that it was especially vulnerable to the attacks of the Crusaders many years later.

And if in fact your personal circumstances do not exempt you from fulfilling this magnificent mitzva, then do not delay. If you keep in mind the benefits which will accrue to you personally, as well as the tremendous advantage to the klal, you will surely act with alacrity. Preparations need not be elaborate. The most important preparation that one can make is learning and teaching his family the importance of Eretz Yisroel in the total picture of avodas HaShem – for each Jew, and for the Jewish nation.

Here is the abovementioned story in Seder Hadoros:

ר’ יוזפ שמש בבחרותו למד בישיבת הגאון מורינו פנחס סג”ל כשהיה אב”ד בק”ק פולדא, והיה זה שנת ש”פ, ואמר בשם רבו הג”מ ואלק בעל מחבר סמ”ע, מה ששכיחין גזרות בק”ק ווירמשא יותר משאר קהלות ומדינות כי בחורבן בית ראשון באו ונתישבו בק”ק ווירמז ואחר כלות שבעים שנים גלות בבל חזרו הגולים לירושלים ולארץ ישראל ואלו אשר היו בווירמז לא חזרו לארץ ישראל, וכתבו יושבי ירושלים לאנשי ק”ק ווירמז שיבאו גם הם לישב בארץ ישראל כדי שיהיו יכולין לעלות בשלש רגלים לירושלים שהוא רחוק מאד מהם, ולא השגיחו על זה וכתבו תשובה שבו אתם בירושלים הגדולה ואנחנו נדור פה ירושלים קטנה, כי באותו הפעם היו חשובים מאד בעיני השר והנכרים והיו עשירים גדולים, ובענין זה נתחדש עליהם גזירות יותר משאר קהלות ומדינות, והג”מ פנחס הנ”ל סוף ימיו חזר לפראג והיה אפלנט וגאון גדול, היה בקי בכל הש”ס ואשר”י בעל פה, לא נשמע כמוהו. ומנוחתו כבוד בק”ק פראג, וספדו אותו שלשים יום כמו על משה רבינו. ספר מעשה נסים בלשון אשכנז דף נ”ז א’ סימן א’.

Read the rest of Rabbi Leff here…

Jews who came here to escape Hitler were called “Hitler Zionists“.

We asked our dear readers what the Johnny-Come-Lately Olim, those who only come to escape the downfall of the American Empire, should be called.

Here were some of the responses received:

• Antifa Zionists
• Clinton Zionists
• Democrat Zionists
• Biden Zionists
• BLM Zionists
• White nationalist uprising Zionists
• (For the UK:) Labour party Zionists
• Coronavirus Zionists
• Cuomo Zionists

P.S.,

Avigdor Peretz comments: Back then they were escaping for their lives; today’s Jews may also be leaving because of an assault on their values (the liberal leftist “Jews” have the same “values” being imposed now).

האם היהודים מקריבים קורבנות?

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Reprinted with permission.

“הַעֵ֤ת לָכֶם֙ אַתֶּ֔ם לָשֶׁ֖בֶת בְּבָתֵּיכֶ֣ם סְפוּנִ֑ים וְהַבַּ֥יִת הַזֶּ֖ה חָרֵֽב׃” (חגי א ד)

“עֲל֥וּ הָהָ֛ר וַהֲבֵאתֶ֥ם עֵ֖ץ וּבְנ֣וּ הַבָּ֑יִת וְאֶרְצֶה־בּ֥וֹ ואכבד [וְאֶכָּבְדָ֖ה] אָמַ֥ר יְהוָֽה׃” (חגי א ח)