Aish HaTorah Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Noah Weinberg Passes Away

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Commentary:

Rabbi Noah Weinberg, the founder and Rosh Yeshiva of the internationally known Aish HaTorah Yeshiva was niftar Thursday morning in his Jerusalem home at age 79.

The Aish.com website reports that R’ Weinberg z”l was recently diagnosed with a serious illness:

Update: December 24, 2008

After undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments in Israel earlier this year, Rabbi Weinberg has been recuperating but is still very weak. In the midst of all this, Rabbi Weinberg never stopped moving forward in his lofty goals. He came to Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem almost every day – teaching and strategizing ways to help the Jewish people. read more

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Likud Paying Huge Price in Lost Votes for Bibi’s Demotion of Feiglin

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Commentary:

The Jerusalem Post’s Gil Hoffman reports Binyamin Netanyahu has apparently engaged Avigdor Lieberman and Yisrael Beiteinu in a battle to regain votes for his Likud party as polls indicate that the gap between Likud and Kadima is narrowing while Yisrael Beiteinu’s popularity is mounting. Hoffman notes that;

According to a Ma’agar Mohot poll broadcast on Channel 2 last night, the Likud has lost six seats, including three to Israel Beiteinu… The poll showed Israel Beiteinu receiving 19 seats. read more

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Comments On the 4 Major Party Leaders

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Commentary:

We’ll begin with the totally absurd first.

It appears as if the election position of Ehud Barak and his Labor party has become sooo dire that he has completely given up on wooing centerist voters in favor of bringing Meretz voters back. Otherwise, why else would he offer such an outrageously absurd idea as a 48-kilometer tunnel connecting Gaza with Judea “…under Israeli sovereignty with Palestinian control of the traffic”?

According to Israel National News reports on Barak’s Gaza-Judea tunnel scheme: read more

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Out-of-Court Settlement Turns Tables on IDF Manpower Chief General Elazar Stern

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Commentary:

In May, 2008, IDF Sgt. Hananel Dayan found himself expelled from the IDF for his failure to shake the hand of then Chief of Staff Dan Halutz during a ceremony honoring 120 outstanding IDF soldiers, of which Dayan was one. Dayan opted-out of shaking Halutz’s hand as his (Dayan’s) family was among the Jews expelled from Gush Katif in August, 2005. Immediately after the incident, Dayan was verbally dressed-down by IDF Manpower Chief General Elazar Stern. Two links, here and here, recall the incident. read more

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Wednesday War News: Another Day, Another Attack on South, Terrorists Get New Rocket; Five Katyusha Rockets Found on Israel, Lebanon Border; Rocks, Molotovs Thrown at Soldiers, Border Guard Unit, 6 Terrorists Nabbed

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Hamas Terrorists in Gaza Fire Mortar Shell at West Negev [Eshkol Region]; No Casualties

[Any Surprise??] UN: Hamas Raided Warehouse in Gaza, Seized Blankets, Food [Meant for Gaza Civilians]

Gaza Terrorists Get New Rocket [Sijil Model Not Previously Used in Gaza]

Five Katyusha Rockets [and Launch Pad] Found [by UN Peace-Keeping Forces] on Border Between Israel, Lebanon, by Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post)

Molotov Cocktails Hurled at Border Guard Unit Near Bethlehem

IDF Arrests 6 Terror Suspects [in Bilin, Kalandia Both Near Ramallah] read more

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Tuesday War News: Ceasefire Violation Grad Attack on Ashkelon and Israel’s Response… and More

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Mortar Shell Fired at Israel [Tuesday Evening at Around 7:15 PM]

Commentary On Grad Attack:

At just past 7 AM on Tuesday, Gaza terrorists launched a Grad rocket which landed between buildings in a residential neighborhood in central Ashkelon smashing into the rear of a vacated bus. It was the first Rocket to hit Ashkelon since the ceasefire.

Ynet’s Shmulik Hadad reports on the Grad which hit central Ashkelon :

An air raid siren sounded in the city of Ashkelon shortly after 7 am Tuesday, followed by an explosion. read more

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Sunday War News: Hamas Fires 4 Kassams in Latest Ceasefire Violation

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Kassam Lands Between Two Kindergartens in Eshkol Region [1 of 4 Hitting South Sunday AM, 4th Cease-fire Violation]

Excerpts;

Gaza terrorists breached the cease-fire once again early Sunday morning, firing four Kassam rockets, one of which landed between two kindergartens in the Eshkol region.

Another two rockets hit open areas nearby and a fourth hit the Sdot Negev region.

No one was wounded and no damage was reported in the barrage, and the warning siren was sounded before the rockets landed.

Following the attack, Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer called for an immediate IDF response. “We need to respond severely and immediately… Hamas must pay for this,” he told Army Radio, adding that no one should give the excuse that a smaller faction was responsible for the attack. read more

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Parsha Beshalach 5769: Moshe’s Paradigm for Being As One With Our Brother’s Suffering

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by Moshe Burt

Near the end of our Parsha, we read “And the hands of Moshe were heavy and they took a rock and placed it under him and he sat on it.” (Sefer Sh’mos, Perek 17, posuk 12)

Rabbi Pliskin in Growth Through Torah cites a Rashi which states;

That Moshe did not sit on a comfortable pillow, but a rock. There was a battle going on with Amalek and Moshe wanted to feel the suffering of the people. This, said Rabbi Yeruchem Levovitz, is a lesson in feeling for another person’s suffering. Not only should we mentally feel their pain, but it is proper to do some action in order to feel some of the discomfort yourself when someone else experiences pain. This way [through empathy] you actually feel his pain. (Growth Through Torah, Rabbi Zelig Pliskin, page 177, citing from Daas Torah, page 152) read more

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Parsha Bo 5769: Tangible Darkness, Supernal Light and Jonathan Pollard

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By Moshe Burt

Before taking off on this train of thought, here’s follow up on this week’s earlier post about the Thursday night Mishmar L’Zechut Jonathan Pollard which took place last evening;

In addition to our Mishmar at Kehillat Beit Tefillah Yona Avraham, which was well attended, a few other Shuls in Ramat Beit Shemesh signed on to dedicate their learning, either last night or next week, l’Zechut Jonathan.

In addition, a news release was emailed to several email lists and Yahoo e-groups both in Israel and in Chutz L’Aretz regarding last night’s Mishmar and as to plans to continue a once-a-month Mishmar dedicated to Jonathan and encouraging the Shuls to sign on to this Mitzvah of Pidyan Shevu’im. read more

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