May we merit to turn sadness into happiness

I know that everyone says this, but I feel that I have been so busy for the past few weeks, that I haven't had time for anything extra. I keep meaning to blog, composing blogs in my head, but never committing them to cyberspace.

I have learned a lot of new skills. I have had to typeset and publish the journal for my afternoon kollel (The Hashkafa Circle). It is available through Lulu (in case you were wondering).

I have created (or am in the process of creating) a website for the aforementioned kollel, which will primarily host video shiurim from Rabbi Meir Triebitz. You can see what I've done so far (but there is a lot more coming, both in terms of design and content-wise) at www.hashkafacircle.com. And it is amazing how much time I have spend doing the little that you see there now (including videoing, transfering, converting, uploading etc. etc. etc.)

I have been working with Rabbi Haber on a book about Sefiras HaOmer (and the spiritual journey of Midas HaYom) which obviously has to be in the stores before Pesach. We are at the final stages now, but things keep getting more and more pressured. The good news is that I think it is an excellent book! Hopefully you will all enjoy it to (and buy lots of copies).

But I had to take time today to blog - even though I don't think the house will be cleaned for Shabbos as a result - because of two things: the tragedy of the shooting last night in Merkaz HaRav, and because today is R' Yaakov Kaminetzky's yarzheit.

I still don't know how to cope with the news about last night. It is closish to where we live, and a place that I go to frequently. I also just looked at the list of names and realised that one of those killed was the son of friends of ours from Efrat!

Last week Professor Yisrael Auman spoke at the Shapell's Maleva Malka. He didn't tell this story, but a friend of mind confirmed the details with him.

Professor Auman had a son, Shlomo, who was killed in battle during the Lebanon war in 1982. Rabbi Gustman came to pay a Shiva call (Professor Auman was a talmid of Rav Gustman).

Rav Gustman entered and asked to sit next to Professor Auman, who said, "Rabbi, I so appreciate your coming to the cemetery, but now is time for you to return to your Yeshiva."

Rav Gustman spoke, first in Yiddish and then in Hebrew, so that all those assembled would understand:

"I am sure that you don't know this, but I had a son named Meir. He was a beautiful child. He was taken from my arms and executed. I escaped. I later bartered my child's shoes so that we would have food, but I was never able to eat the food -- I gave it away to others. My Meir is a kadosh -- he is holy -- he and all the six million who perished are holy."

Rav Gustman then added: "I will tell you what is transpiring now in the World of Truth in Gan Eden -- in Heaven. My Meir is welcoming your Shlomo into the minyan and is saying to him 'I died because I am a Jew -- but I wasn't able to save anyone else. But you -- Shlomo, you died defending the Jewish People and the Land of Israel.' My Meir is a kadosh, he is holy -- but your Shlomo is a Shaliach Zibbur -- a Cantor in that holy, heavenly minyan."

Rav Gustman continued: "I never had the opportunity to sit shiva for my Meir; let me sit here with you just a little longer."

Professor Aumann replied, "I thought I could never be comforted, but Rebbi, you have comforted me."

(I took the story from Aish.com, but it is exactly as Professor Auman related it).

These eight boys, who all died al kiddush Hashem, while learning Torah, are surely in a special place in Heaven right now.

But we have to try our best to ensure this doesn't ever happen again. We have to feel the pain of the parents and relatives, chevrusas and Rabbeim. We have ignored the suffering of the people in Sdereot and other parts of the country. Now the message is coming closer to home. We have to wake up, examine our actions and do teshuva.

May all their souls be bound in the bonds of eternal life, and may G-d comfort all the mourners among the other mourners for Zion and Yerushalayim.

Today is also the Yarzheit of R' Yaakov. Even though I never had the privelege of meeting him, I have merited to learn from many of his grandchildren, and feel a very close connection to his Torah and midos through them. There is so much that could be said, but I have run out of words.

May his soul be bound in the bonds of eternal life, and may he be a meilitz yosher for all of klal yisrael.

This is the month of ve-nahafoch hu. May the sadness be transformed into simcha. Like the Jews in Shushan and around the world, may we see the downfall of all modern day Hamans and may we merit to see the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash very soon.

To those who repent and those who don't

We are about to begin the month of Elul, a time of introspection, repentance and regret. It seems that not only has the government begun the process a wee bit early, but that they are also playing G-d!

Just as we ask G-d to forgive those who repent and those who don't, Ehud Olmert and co. have decided that the amnesty they gave to the terrorists is valid, even if they don't actually renounce violence and terrorism.

Or to put it another way - the terrorists are caught in the act. The govt. checks the lists of names, and sees they have made it to the book of life. So they are off the hook. Terribly sorry old thing for the inconvenience of arresting you. We didn't realise that you have amnesty. Please, have your guns and bullets back, and don't let us stop you in your 'terrorist activities'!!

What!!! Just when things seem as though they can't get any madder, we wake up somewhere over the rainbow to find that there's bats in the bellfry!

THE GOVERNMENT OF ISRAEL INSTRUCTED THE ARMY TO RELEASE TERRORISTS WHO WERE CAUGHT IN THE ACT, WITHOUT CHARGE, BECAUSE THEY HAD SIGNED A FORM RENOUNCING TERRORIST ACTIVITY!

(No, even in capital letters it makes no sense).

I'll leave you to read the article for yourselves. Let me know what you think.

(And let's all hope and pray that G-d is this lenient with us on judgement day)

Israel yesterday captured an Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades member while he was engaging in terror-supporting activity but let him go after it was determined he was on a list of wanted gunmen granted amnesty by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, WND has learned.

Part of the amnesty deal required the 178 terrorists – all of whom are members of the Brigades, the declared military wing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah's organization - to sign a document stating they will not engage in terrorist activity and that they would restrict their movements to the city in which they reside for three months.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades took responsibility along with Islamic Jihad for every suicide bombing in Israel the past three years. The amnesty agreement was made as an Israeli gesture to Abbas and to bolster Fatah against Hamas in the West Bank.

The incident in question occurred on Wednesday at 8:30 pm when the IDF stopped what security sources said were four suspicious Palestinians entering the al-Badin checkpoint outside the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

Two Palestinians were immediately let go when it was determined they were civilians, but the two others - known Brigades members - were detained after they were found to be carrying large quantities of bullets security sources said were being smuggled from Jenin to Nablus.

According to security sources, the Brigades members normally reside in Nablus and had left the city and purchased the bullets in Jenin. They were captured upon trying to reenter Nablus. In line with the amnesty agreement, the one military on the list had pledged to restrict his movements and remain in Nablus. The sources said the listed militant told the IDF repeatedly he was on Israel's amnesty list and that arresting him would "blow up" relations with the PA.

After consulting with superiors, the IDF released the Brigades member on the amnesty list but arrested the other gunman.

Asked to comment, the IDF did not deny the incident:"We make our arrests in accordance with the directives of the political echelon and the different agreements with the PA," said an IDF spokesperson.

An Israeli security official told WND this was not the first time Brigades members granted amnesty violated their agreement to refrain from terrorism. He said the military was aware of one incident last month in which a Brigades gunman on the list shot at Israeli forces.

"We now have a situation in which a terrorist organization has been given a get-out-of-jail-free card - literally," the official fumed.

According to statements by Palestinian officials and reports by the media, most terrorists turned in their weapons in line with the deal.

A widely circulated AP article this past weekend quoted a senior Palestinian security official stating "all but three Al Aqsa members have surrendered their weapons and sworn off violence, as part of the arrangement."

But calls Monday to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades members who received amnesty yielded a much different story.

Abu Yousuf, a senior leader of the Brigades in Ramallah, told WND most Brigades members turned in one of several pieces of weaponry they possess.

He said most Brigades members have two to three guns, including one to two personal weapons and one assault rifle issued by the PA, since the majority of Brigades members are also members of Fatah's security forces.

"It's true Brigades members turned in one of their weapons as a symbolic act, but they kept the others," he said.

Reprinted with permission of WorldNetDaily