By Raanan Isseroff
Sunday night May 28th, Crown Heights women met In the LYO Levi Yitzchok Library, to celebrate and remember the great victory of May 25, 1967.
May 25? Wait-a-minute!
I took history classes and I remember that Israel fought June 1st to June 7. Well, let’s just say there’s history, and there’s history. There’s secular history how people would like us to look at things after the fact. Then there’s real history- Lubavitch history!
On May 25th, the Lubavitcher Rebbe essentially won the war for Israel. This prediction of victory which he spoke of at the Lag BeOmer Parade a few days earlier appeared in Israeli newspapers thanks to a reel to reel tape sent by the Rebbe to Israel.
In that talk, the Rebbe promises: “Yeshua Karova LaVo!” – “Victory is close at hand!”
Speaking Monday night was Rabbi Kalman Weinfeld of the OK Labs who spoke of the halachas of not giving land (no- not a new section of Shulchan Oruch). He discussed what the Rebbe said is the main issue, that giving land creates a security problem. “Each time Shin-Peh (how the Rebbe would refer to former Prime Minister Shimon Perez) would even talk about giving land, there were terror attacks”.
Basically, the halacha is an obscure one in Shulchan Oruch in the section of “Who are We Obligated To Break Shabbos For”. This fascinating section has its source in gemora Eruvin, where it says that when non-Jews attack a Jewish town, in a non-Jewish country, the inhabitants are obligated to pick up weapons and go out to fight. Even if they are just coming for something so small and so insignificant such as straw.
What this has to do with making peace is simple. At first it looks confusing for aren’t the Arabs and Jews making peace agreements?
The two main points are:
The Halacha states that in the case of a non-Jewish country, if the Jewish town / city falls it makes vulnerable the middle of the country, making it easy to conquer. If there’s a doubt about why they are coming, you go out to fight.
The Rebbe using these principles now applies them to the Peace Process and the Land of Israel.
First of all, the Rebbe says. The Halacha states: “A Jewish town on the border of a non-Jewish country”.
In the Land of Israel that is so small? How much more so is giving even one-inch making the rest of the country easy to conquer. Since the land is about 35 miles wide and only 250 miles long, giving the smallest town, the smallest bit of land, moves enemy guns that much closer to the heartland of Israel’s major population centers. Which has been precisely the case with each gift of land to the new peaceful neighbor. They have simply moved their missile launchers closer and closer to Tel Aviv.
Which reminds me of a text I got from my cousin in Tel Aviv one Friday morning.
“Hi, I’m sitting in a bomb shelter. They’re shooting missiles at Tel Aviv”.
I text him back: “Impossible!”
I get an angry text back: “What do you mean “Impossible”?? There’s a war going on here!!”
I text back: “We made peace! How could there possibly be a war going on? They must be Love-missiles…”
The next text I got is unprintable, but you get the idea.
The second idea – Halacha 329 brings out is that of a “Doubt” about the attackers’ intention. “If in doubt, go out to attack. Don’t even wait! If you know they are coming? Go out and pre-empt an attack!”
Doubt? Attack? Who’s attacking? They come with olive branches and cups of Arak.
While Israel has solid trust in the Arabs making peace, the Rebbe points out they have a long history of murder under their belts. The rule in Jewish Law is that we don’t look into the hidden parts of a person’s heart, we look at what they did yesterday. What the Lubavitcher Rebbe does say that really clinches the argument is an odd statement: “They are making peace with Hitler and his professors”.
Didn’t Hitler die in 1945? Aren’t we getting a bit over-frantic? Calm-down!
“No!” The Rebbe says. Hitler is Hitler and his professors are just what he said.
I was curious, for it’s a curious thing. I’ve found since I came to Lubavitch, that not once has the Lubavitcher Rebbe ever been wrong. Knowing this I went looking up this bit of history which the Rebbe seems very familiar with. I found a curious document from the United States National Archives and other material, in fact a flood of material of pictures and other information that paints a different picture than that the peacemakers portray.
I won’t go into the gory details, but the National Archives are war records of the OSS, America’s war time security service during World War II. Included are other records such as Army and Nuremberg investigator’s records. These records were classified information until just recently in 2006, fifty years after the war when they were made public information.
Look for yourself: https://www.archives.gov/files/iwg/reports/hitlers-shadow.pdf
Apparently, there seems to be some confusion about Hitler dying. I mean, I thought he died didn’t he? That’s what I learned in school. Well, that’s not clear in these archives. It seems the USA and Britain and the USSR kept trying to confirm he was dead years after the war, which is kind of strange as his body was found. A body was found, but the dental areas were damaged beyond identification.
But the records tell another story. About Hitler’s inroads during the war into Arab countries. About how present day Arab leaders were on the Reich’s payroll. How they were preparing for Nazi Germany to conquer the Middle East, even after the beginning of 1945! Even when the Germans knew they were losing the war, they were preparing for a German takeover of the Middle East. A point that puzzled some of the post war investigators. When Germany was getting pounded, contracts were made with leaders of today’s Arab terror movements. (the polite term is: Arab Nationalist movements)
It documents how the CIA followed German officers who just keep popping up in Arab countries (and in cahoots with terrorists) many years after the war. There’s “The Egyptian Nazi’s” a group of former Nazi officers who met in the early 1960’s, Eichmann included, to discuss blackmailing Israeli leaders who had helped them during the war.
How the post war Arab terror groups were interlaced with Germans. Not just one, but many!
They were in every government in the Middle East, many changing names and even religion to become Muslims. Assisting Arab governments to model their rulership after the fascist model. Fancy that!
So now what Rabbi Weinfeld was saying made perfect sense! Being Israeli, he spoke about the everyday mistrust Arabs instill in Israel’s Jews. Yet, the Rebbe points out- “Now things are different?”
The second speaker was educator Mrs. Miriam Swerdlov. She spoke about the late Rabbi Yekusiel Rapp, a fervent advocate for the people of the Land of Israel. Rabbi Rapp worked for SOS Israel, raising money for their many projects advocating an end to the peace agreements. Signs on Israel busses, money for soldiers to refuse orders. Money for advocates arrested. Money for events.
Mrs. Swerdlov told a story about one Sunday morning receiving a phone call from Kuti. “Hello Mrs. Swerdlov! Good morning! Could you host a wedding today in your house?”
She agreed and a little bit later a not-so religious Israeli couple arrives with Rabbi Rapp and between preparing the house, she gave the kallah a crash course in marriage. Shortly after there was a fire and in the flames, one of the Swerdlov boys was found missing. The firemen went back in and rescued him.
Mrs. Swerdlov attributes the wedding to her families rescue and of course since the house was a total disaster, so the insurance company gave them money to rebuild, making it an even bigger and more modern house than before!
The event was presented by Crown Heights Women for the Safety and Integrity of The Land of Israel.
There you are. Always a pleasure to see you and not only at R.Levy’s Shule !!! 🙂
A big yasher koach to our speakers Rabbi Weinfeld and Miriam Swerdlov whose presentations were both interesting and entertaining. And, many thanks to the lovely crowd of ladies who attended. For the benefit of COL readers I’d like to repeat an important conversation Miriam shared with us from one of her tours to Israel. Looking over the valley beneath the Golan Heights at Tel Pachad, Miriam explained the strategic vantage the spot holds in protecting Israel from Syrian aggression. A couple standing nearby listening to her approached and the man began to ask Miriam if she had fought there in… Read more »
Video?
The Rebbe didn’t send the recordings to Israel. Reb Yossel Wineberg Z”l took the initiative & brought a recording to jfk where he met Rav soloveitchik’s son who was flying to israel. The rest is history…
A big thank you Rabbi Kalman Weinfeld