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Commentary;
Its Yud Tess Kislev today, Tuesday, the Chabad Chassidic “Rosh Hashana.” Chabad-Lubavitch throughout the world celebrate the day when their first Rebbe, Shneur Zalman of Liadi gained his freedom from prison.
On Monday, President Bush held his final annual pre-Chanukah White House reception. In attendance, having Kashered the White House kitchen, were Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbanim.
Israel National News writer Nissan Ratzlav-Katz reports;
Three Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis, Rabbi Mendel Minkowitz, Rabbi Binyomin Steinmetz and Rabbi Levi Shemtov, oversaw the process.
If there was ever a prime opportunity to bring a plea for clemency for Jonathan Pollard before the President, this was it. And not a word, not a syllable regarding Jonathan. Can it be that the same Chassidim whose product, Rabbi Holtzberg, the father of the Shaliach slain in Mumbai, and who took time amidst his own mourning to plead on behalf of Hevron’s Beit HaShalom — that Chabad-Lubavitch Chassidim are capable of turning a blind-eye and deaf-ear to Pidyan Sh’vu’im, to liberation and freedom for Jonathan Pollard whose actions were guided by the safety and welfare of Israel and the Jewish people?
Every day, every moment that we are without the Beit HaMikdash is a boosha on the Jewish people, testimony to our lacking of sufficient merit, our lacking in Mitzvot.
As Chabadnikim in Israel, the USA and around the world get down, get Leibidik and invoke repetitively the phrase of the page of tehillim that the Alter Rebbe, Shneur Zalman of Liadi was repeating at the moment that he was freed;
“Va’Ani Evtach Bach” “…and I will trust you”
(Last 3 words of Perek 55 — Nun Hei)
there is one point which seems worthy of contemplating on this Yud Tess Kislev — the Chabad Chassidic “Rosh Hashana.”
That point is this — it seems abundantly clear to this author that one of the main obstacles to the Coming of Moshiach and the Ge’ula Shlaima is massive apathy of B’nai Yisrael — with regard to Jonathan Pollard, as well as to Halacha — to the Divine connection between Jews and Eretz Yisrael.
It seems clear that the day when Jonathan Pollard is a free man, back in Eretz Yisrael with his wife, relatives, friends and supporters — we will have blasted, toppled perhaps the largest obstacle in the way of the coming of Moshiach, bim hay v’yameinu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
Anshei Chabad, please beseech your leaders at the highest levels to speak out and to reach out to President Bush, in the name of Pidyan Sh’vu’um, on behalf of freedom, clemency for Jonathan Pollard. MB
And please, everyone, break out of the box of massive apathy and start making YOUR daily calls to the White House on behalf of Jonathan;
In Israel ;
Local call; 077-566-4305
President Bush’s Last Chanukah Reception in the White House, by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz (Israel National News)
Excerpts;
Speaking in the Grand Foyer of the White House, President Bush began by quipping that he had “a pretty eventful weekend,” in reference to his unannounced trip to Baghdad and Kabul. “It was an unbelievable experience, it really was, to stand next to the president of a democracy and hold my hand over my heart as they played the national anthem in front of one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces,” he said. Bush added, to the amusement of those in attendance at the reception, that he told Afghani President Hamid Karzai, “I need to get back to the White House for an important event.”
The holiday of Chanukah, Bush continued, “recalls the miraculous victory of a small band of patriots against tyranny, and the oil that burned for eight nights. Through centuries of exile and persecution, Jews have lit the menorah. Each year, they behold its glow with faith in the power of G-d, and love for His greatest gift – freedom.”
The U.S. leader continued: “This Chanukah, we celebrate another miraculous victory, the 60th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel. When President Harry Truman led the world in recognizing Israel in May of 1948, many wondered whether the small nation could possibly survive.
In honor of the occasion, the Truman Library provided the White House with the menorah President Truman received from Prime Minister Ben Gurion in 1951. “I’m deeply moved,” President Bush said, “to welcome the grandsons of these two great men – Clifton Truman Daniel and Yariv Ben Eliezer – to light the Truman menorah together.”
Bush related a story told of Ben Gurion and Truman meeting again some time afterwards, when Ben Gurion told Truman that “as a foreigner he could not judge President Truman’s place in American history, but the President’s courageous decision to recognize the new state of Israel gave him an immortal place in Jewish history. Those words filled the President’s eyes with uncharacteristic tears. And later, Ben Gurion would say he rarely had seen somebody so moved,” Bush concluded.
Earlier, the White House kitchen was made kosher to accommodate the Jewish holiday reception. Three Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis, Rabbi Mendel Minkowitz, Rabbi Binyomin Steinmetz and Rabbi Levi Shemtov, oversaw the process. It was the fourth time in American history that the White House kitchen was made kosher.
For more about Jonathan Pollard, click on this blog’s previous posts as well as the Official Jonathan Pollard website;
http://www.jonathanpollard.org/