The Kitniyot Liberation Front

A Special Place No doubt about it, Har HaBayit is a special place. Up there you can feel His presence. Prayers are answered. For health, for parnassa, even for stopping Ehud Barak from giving away the Land of Israel to the murderer Yasir Arafat (really). But going up to Har HaBayit isn’t for our personal prayers. It’s for the glory of HaShem. So that Jews will ascend the mount in ritual purity each day. In an age when so many forget—or deny—that Har HaBayit is a Jewish place, an ascent to Har HaBayit is a testimony that I have not forgotten. I have not forgotten that the akeida took place on the Temple Mount. I have not forgotten the holiest ceremony of the year, on Yom Kippur, took place on Har HaBayit. I have not forgotten that all of our pilgrimage festivals culminated with a visit to Har HaBayit, not to Uman. I have not forgotten that the Shechina didn’t depart from the Kotel HaMaaravi—of the Heichal on Har HaBayit (not the exterior retaining wall). Nor have I forgotten tha...

There is so much shtuth that I've been at a loss for words. Where does one start? How can one even finish? Until now, I've been quiet because I informally promised myself to try and stick to shtuth in Torah Judaism. It's so obvious that politics is full of shtuth. But I just can't keep my fingers idle any longer. This whole Barak business, not Ehud Barak (or "Barach"), but the Barak Osama, the current President of the USA. What were they thinking when they actually voted for him? I guess Austrian Jews also voted "for" the Anschluss. It's not much different. I think that his presidency will mark the setting of the sun on US Jewry. While Osama incorrectly referred to the USA as "one of the world's largest countries", I do think that Muslim power is on the rise, aided and abbetted by the current president. Within our lifetime, the history of US Jews will be no different than any other Jewish community in the galuth. No different than t...

Ben Horin is an erudite fellow with a blog worth following. My only complaint is that he doesn't posted enough. As he recently wrote: And yet. As Palin spoke, I realized that I now identify with those Americans who live in small towns, who love their country and feel deeply rooted in it, who carry guns for defense, who have large families, whose children fight its wars. That's my life now. Well put... even if my family ain't as large as it could be. Though still a registered Dem, I can't believe how the Democratic party has been taken over by the radical left. (And unfortunately this is a familiar story in Eretz HaKodesh. I remember when even the Labor party believed in settling the land of Israel). I've always been a southern conservative who couldn't stand Carter yet helped the Young Dems send Mondale to victory over President Reagan in a 1984 mock election at a major southern university. Now seeking the quiet life in the land of my forefathers, I really admi...

The court's most recent attempt to promote chametz occurred when it overturned the Knesset law forbidding the sale of chametz in public places. The court claimed that a shop was not a public place and could sell chametz if it was not visible from the street. In reaction, a supposedly haredi Jew stripped naked at the bread counter of a store selling chametz during Pesah. He claimed that he was not violating the law against public indecency since the store was not a public place and that he was not visible from the street. Read more at the Jerusalem Post. Unfortunately Ynet seems to have buried their article which provided a fuller account. It is refreshing to see that even haredim can uncover shtuth as well! Chag Sameach.

Just yesterday I was talking to a cab driver about Sderot and how traumatic it must have been for parents and children when the siren went off indicating a kassam attack. We agreed that the people of Sdereot are true tzaddikim and then he added: It's incredible what they've endured for the last seven years. "Kassams haven't rained on Sderot for seven years", I replied. "That's the big lie of the media and Ehud Olmert. Kassamim have raining down on Sderot for two years since the Destruction of Gush Katif. When the tzaddikim of Gush Katif were still living in their homes, the terrorists were shooting at them daily--not at Sderot. Once the Jews were expelled from Gush Katif, then the terrorists started shooting at Sderot." It's not just a big lie. It's sthuth. As is our government's negligence in defending these citizens. And the media and Left "yefeh b'nefesh" who tell us that we can't attack the Arabs; that it's not ...

The Kitniyot Liberation Front (KLF) would like to announce that honorary membership in the Kitniyot Liberation Front has been awarded to the 30 soldiers of the Duchifat and Netzach Yehuda battalions who refused to expel their Jewish brothers from their homes in the holy city of Hevron. Whether or not these soldiers eat kitniyot during Pesach, their heroic stance has demonstrated that they are firmly committed to "fighting for truth and abandoning shtuth" . Speaking of shtuth, the Likud court has decided that Moshe Feiglin can run in the elections for the head of the party--but they haven't decided whether to expel him from membership. Bibi should stop worry about Feiglin and tell the electorate exactly why he's a better choice than loser # 1 (Smolmert) or loser #2 (Ehud Barach). If he's not--or he's the same--then he should simply stand aside for Feiglin who can at least offer a different vision to the electorate, one that synchs with the Likud's tradition...

Machon Shilo has published a (“kinna”) about the destroyed communities of Gush Katif and northern Samaria. Only until I read the press release on their site did the asimon drop and it dawned on me that this modern-day churban occurred on the very same day that the greater part of the Temple was destroyed. The press release politely notes that the motivation of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for destroying these communities has been the subject of considerable speculation. IMHO it was 100% shtuth caused by an early neural event that was hidden from the public-with two dashes of evil from Haim Ramon and Shimon Heres. In any case, the computer program that generated the name for the army "mission" to kick the Jews out of their homes came up with "El Malei Rahamim", the prayer for the departed. Little did anyone realize that the silicon was warning everyone about Sharon's fate. On a directly related note, the kinna is aptly called “How the Rose of Sharon S...

Zvulun Orlev of the National Religious Party , a.k.a. the “Mafdal”, has proposed a law that will make Sunday a day-off. Commercial activity currently taking place on Shabbat will be transferred to Sunday. [Note: I firmly believe that we should not have any “religious parties” in Israel... but we won't get into that.] Transportation and recreational activities will also be permitted, although anyone who has ever been on a bus knows that Meretz voters—who so desperately want Shabbat transportation—feel that riding buses is beneath them. IMHO, except for a few routes to the beach, Dan, Egged and anyone else will offer only the most minimal of services since it won’t be economically viable. The good news is that according to a poll , Israelis support this initiative 56% to 30%. The shuth news is that the black-clad guardians of the Torah are against it: Do you support a proposed law according to which Sunday will also be a day off and commercial activities now being carried out on the ...

As I once wrote, the retreat from Gush Katif was institutionalized stuth... with a heavy dose of malice. It is amazing that every TV idiot talks about the missiles hitting Sderot, but they still deny or neglect the obvious: that this is the clear and direct result of the Destruction of Gush Katif and the expulsion of its Jewish residents. They talk as if it's always been this way; that somehow it's a natural phenomenon. But it's not; it is the handiwork of Ariel Zadon, may his soul not rest in peace. Collective amnesia also affects people's memory that the Palestinian Terrorist Authority is also the handiwork of Shimon Heres. May we indeed merit to return to the Good Old Days. Korbanot, mizbeach, and eventually a Temple. And when the first bikkurim are brought, I am sure that the first of first fruits to be offered will be from the Holy Jews of Gush Katif. As we pray in the Nusach Erets Yisrael: Keheref ayin yeshua lanu tatsmeeach. In the blink of an eye will redemption...

“There are those who forbid eating rice and all sort of kitniyot ; this is a superfluous stringency. Also Rabbenu Yeruham wrote that those that practice not to eat rice and all sorts of cooked kitniyot on Pesah—it is a silly custom (“minhag shuth”) and if they do it to be stringent [regarding the issur of eating chametz], I don’t know why.