Shana Tova from Avira D’Eretz Yisroel

Shana Tova,

Kesiva vachasima tovah to all.
אֶרֶץ אֲשֶׁר־ה’ אֱ-לֹהֶיךָ דֹּרֵשׁ אֹתָהּ תָּמִיד עֵינֵי ה’ אֱ-לֹהֶיךָ בָּהּ מֵרֵשִׁית הַשָּׁנָה וְעַד אַחֲרִית שָׁנָה:
So much has been happening in the realm of Anglo-Chareidi aliyah and community development, and we are looking forward to so much more, BE”H.
Here are just some of these developments:
1) The establishment of a ‘Chareidi Desk’ at Nefesh B’Nefesh, manned by one of our own Anglo-Chareidi activists.
2) The establishment of OHA (Operation Home Again), to encourage and assist with community-based aliyah.
3) The establishment of Kehillah – to develop and support infrastructures catering specifically for the Anglo-Charedi community in Israel.
4) A lot of networking and collaboration between relevant groups, organizations, activists, etc.
5) New Anglo kehilla of olim established in Afula this past summer – K’hal Chazon Elimelech.
6) Serious development of the Maale Amos – Lakewood project.
7) Seemingly increased interest on the part of Chareidim from the U.S. to explore the possibility of living in Eretz Yisroel.
(I’ve gotten some calls and emails myself, including through the ADY advertisement in the Newcomers Guide, thanks to the sponsors!)
8) Much progress on my book, to inform and inspire Anglo-Chareidi aliyah –
(Dedication opportunities still exist*, take advantage of this Erev Rosh HaShanah to add
at least one or more copies of the book @ $18 a copy to this year’s mitzvah side of the scale…  here!)
9) And of course, a lot of useful information and constructive discussion on the Avira D’Eretz Yisroel forum.
Wish list:
1) An expanded and updated, publicly available, community-edited and dynamic information database for everything to do with Anglo Chareidi life in Eretz Yisroel and aliyah, including entries on all relevant communities in Eretz Yisroel.
For now we have this – lifeintheland.com – but we need to create a community of dedicated volunteers to continuously update the site with relevant information.
Feel free to add to the wish list. Who knows, maybe someone will make it happen?
Or maybe He will? There seems to be a lot that He’s been doing in recent years to have more Jews come home…
The only question is who He will partner with to make this happen… maybe with you and me?
Shana Tova to all,
Yoel Berman
*All your previous sponsorships of the book count towards dedication opportunities.

5782: Record Number of Jews Ascending the Temple Mount – 51,254

Summing up a Year on the Temple Mount: 51,254 Ascenders to the Mount

By Jewish Press Staff – 
Photo Credit: The Temple Institute
Look at all the beautiful ‘settlers storming the Temple Mount,’ July 21, 2022.

Beyadenu reports that an all-time record number of Jews ascended to the Temple Mount in 5782. A total of 51,254 Jews ascended the Temple Mount this year. For the sake of comparison, in 5779, a total of 29,420 Jews ascended the Temple Mount. In 5780 (corona year), there were 22,367, and in 5781, a total of 25,582 Jews ascended the Temple Mount.

Beyadenu also reports that this year the record number of ascenders to the Temple Mount was broken in one day, on Jerusalem Day 5782. 2,626 Jews ascended the Temple Mount, on a day when hundreds more remained outside the Temple Mount due to the authorities’ lack of preparation to receive the many ascenders to the Mount, and the failure to extend the hours of the pilgrimage and the gates of the pilgrimage to the Mount.

During the year 5782, about 30 pre-military preparatory schools went up to the Temple Mount, of which about 20 went up under the guidance and direction of Beyadenu. Over 1,000 ascenders to the Temple Mount received guidance from Beyadenu guides during the year.

The month in which the most Jews ascended the mountain in the past year was the month of Tishrei, in which a total of 6,102 Jews ascended the mountain, followed by the month of Av with 5,833 ascenders, followed by Iyar with 5,766 ascenders to the Mount in one month.

The Temple Mount is the Jewish people’s holiest site, it was the site of the first two Temples, and will be the site of the Third Temple.

From Jewish Press, here.

SNOWDEN: Down with the Evil CIA!

One excerpt:

Our glittering nation of laws observes this year two birthdays: the 70th anniversary of the National Security Agency, on which my thoughts have been recorded, and the 75th anniversary of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The CIA was founded in the wake of the 1947 National Security Act. The Act foresaw no need for the Courts and Congress to oversee a simple information-aggregation facility, and therefore subordinated it exclusively to the President, through the National Security Council he controls.

Within a year, the young agency had already slipped the leash of its intended role of intelligence collection and analysis to establish a covert operations division. Within a decade, the CIA was directing the coverage of American news organizations, overthrowing democratically elected governments (at times merely to benefit a favored corporation), establishing propaganda outfits to manipulate public sentiment, launching a long-running series of mind-control experiments on unwitting human subjects (purportedly contributing to the creation of the Unabomber), and—gasp—interfering with foreign elections. From there, it was a short hop to wiretapping journalists and compiling files on Americans who opposed its wars.

In 1963, no less than former President Harry Truman confessed that the very agency he personally signed into law had transformed into something altogether different than he intended, writing:

“For some time I have been disturbed by the way CIA has been diverted from its original assignment. It has become an operational and at times a policy-making arm of the Government. This has led to trouble…”

Read the rest here…

The Elliot Resnick Show: Can Charedim Be Zionists?

SEPTEMBER 21, 2022 – ELLIOT RESNICK – EPISODE 14

Show Notes

Black-hat Jews founding an illegal settlement in the West Bank?  Gathering to thank Hashem on Yom Yerushalayim?  Both have occured thanks to a relatively new organization – Kedushat Tziyon – headed by Rabbi Yehuda Epstein who argues that charedim in the past gave their lives for Eretz Yisrael and should strive today to create a true Torah state in the Holy Land.  In this interview, Rabbi Epstein also discusses two charedi visionaries: Isaac Breuer and Rabbi Akiva Yosef Schlesinger.

Listen to the interview over here…