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Leah”s Blog Ekev – 2025

Ekev – August 2025

My fondest childhood memories are of the challah, the wine, the Shabbat lights- our Shabbat table. Challah- representing the grain of Israel, wine representing the sanctification of the libation, Shabbat lights- the early olive oil lamps in the Temple. The land of Israel has been symbolically represented as the Shabbat table all through our exile, preserved from generation to generation.

If someone from ancient times had landed on these mountains not ten years ago they would have encountered thousands of grey boulders and stones, a sea of thorn bushes and a few unlikely fig and olive trees scattered across the wasteland. They would have been witnessing a devastation. But see- Lo and behold- NOW- only a few years later the landscape proclaims a soft curtain of green evoking a strong sense of déjà vu- perhaps it looked this way, the way it was THEN. The cycle of life returns after the terrifying abandonment and the long wait. You feel present in this scene as the ever growing hillsides are shaved tan and then hundreds of metal poles protrude from the ground. Soon trellises of grapevines adorn the mountainside. Faster now, not in years- or months – in days, popping up on every mountainside. This is the homecoming.

Sprawled close to this scene is the hilltop youth in their muddy boots and distinct side locks. Thrown together, they have one goal in mind: Guard this land. Driven by intent zealous for Zion love and obedience- they will ensure prophesy yes does happen here. Brown and roughened by the sun yet glorious smiles crinkle their faces, innocent to the hullabaloo said about them. They are changing reality, toiling the soil in humility. In their casual yet steadfast grip on the land, their energy and defiance will seal this time of history. The saga of the vineyards of Israel is age old. Wine is mentioned 141 times in the Torah. Archeologists found exclusively in just the area of Megiddo alone 117 wine presses from the Bronze Age. There were two methods – foot pressed or wood and stone. The evidence of stone paved cellars, pits, operational facilities of agricultural industry are revealed on every hill and dale here. They don’t just have local significance but national historic and global significance. This is where the kingdom of Israel stood!

Parshat Ekev- putting your heels into this earth.

“For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of streams, of springs, and underground waters flowing out in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey. And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord for the good land he has given you.”

The seasons here always unfold into another in different types of bounty. At the cusp of spring, the green wheat fields turn golden – harvest is gathered, then it becomes hot (like today) strong chamsin winds blow and you wonder at the bounty u experience at the market- the mangos, corn, nuts, dazzling food and tasty in a way that only here you can ever know. The end of summer has the olive trees full and ready for picking just as soon as sukkot ends. The dates hang in clusters just waiting for your pleasure, dripping with honey. The glamourous high tech towers that glisten in the setting sun off the coast of Israel set a backdrop for a more rural and rustic drive east. Up to the mountains of the heartland, the Promised Land is acquired through obligation in still tilling its soil. The spiritually uplifting landscape here reminds us that working the land serves G-d faithfully through effort and persistence. Pay attention- the world is obsessed with it. Why? A land flowing with milk and honey does not mean it is meant for every man to sit under his fig and grapevine passively. Aside from cultivating, pruning, and sweating we in essence labor in our proclamation of being wedded to it, guarding it and keeping it.

This is where the kingdom of Israel stands!

Shabbat shalom dearest friends xoxoxoxo Leah

Enjoy the pictures of the Pinini farm planting new vines and picking grapes!

 

 

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Leah’s Blog parashat Devarim 2025

Devarim – Leah’s blog – July 2025

Events seem to always coalesce in the Torah, even right down to time of year. Different scenes from historical layers of time, one flake of ancient sand pressed into one of clay; forged together what we now hold in our hands- our Torah, our rock. This parsha, Devarim is always read on the Shabbat preceding Tisha B’Av – the day of our national mourning. It is not by chance that what we read in this portion touches upon the message we need to hear right now.

Starting at the beginning, the doomed ninth of Av was that burning hot day that Yosef was sent from Chevron to Shechem to seek his brothers. An image of intense heat almost had Yosef seeing a mirage, stumbling as he asked “Have you seen them?”- Yosef, who was able to “see” everything, tripped his way through Shechem – there is potential devastation foreshadowed here. Indeed, his brothers saw him from afar and plotted to kill him. He was not valued for his dreams and visions, the man known for his natural magnetism, morality, goodness of character. In fact, they hated him for that. He was sold as a slave on this day- a day of eternal shame and disgrace that broke the unity of the family of Yisrael, a day of baseless hatred.

Parshat Devarim recalls another tragedy that happened on this day- the sin of the spies. Evoking a similar event to the Yosef story line- Eretz Yisrael is viewed by most of the spies who are representing the tribes (descendants of the original brothers of Yosef) in a cynical, defeatist, pessimistic and hopeless stance to the Promised Land. The place that was intended to be the protective energy field of blessing was described as desperate and unlikely. Instead of conveying the fortunate luck of entering this Divine place on earth, a bad report had the children of Israel crying and dying in the desert- the only two to make it into the Land of milk and honey were the spies Joshua and Caleb who said “The Land is good- VERY good!”

Taking the story line of Kamtzah Bar Kamtzah- a person thrown out of the party which led to the eventual destruction of our Temple(s). Baseless hatred that had us sold as slaves and banished from our Land. There are also painful reminders of this day in our modern history- the day thousands of Jewish people were banished from their homes in Gaza and the northern Shomron. Viewing through the lens of the expulsion- the painful knowledge that any five year old knew more about the devastating affect it will have- above those politicians and generals who were driven by baseless hatred. No less than an atrocity, this story only augments what we know in the Yosef story- contrasting righteousness and evil. Until we return to Yosef’s territory- to the rock holding down this land, this country- the rock of our eternal covenant and implement full control of the place where Yosef was laid to rest- right in the exact heart of Israel, we will continue to mourn on this day. Brothers do not sell brothers. October 7 2023 was the result of this crime. How can we expect to win this war when Yosef is surrounded by monsters.

Known as the Yesod- “the foundational rock” which everything is built upon, this ancient story of Yosef is a precursor for all to come. When Yosef watched his brothers later squirm and sweat in their seats in complete humiliation at what they had done – it was for their own good. This rectified them selling their brother out. Then and ONLY when they reached the level of understanding of what they had done, he felt compelled to reveal himself.

YOSEF REPRESENTS TURNING BAD SITUATIONS AROUND! AND HE BELIEVES IN OUR DESTINY!

Our destiny is our tikkun- its about being together- all of us.

Shabbat shalom dear friends- MAY THIS BE THE LAST YEAR WE HAVE TO FAST-

Blessings always! Leah

 

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Mattot – Masei – Leah’s blog July 2025

Mattot – Masei – Leah’s blog July 2025

The story of Israel is an ever evolving one. The building up to its place of preeminence is the paradigm. The ideas and happenings that occurred at the beginning come back in a full circle now at this time. The story of Abraham is one of movement, of leaving your comfort zone and into a journey saying “hinieni- I am here” all the way. G-d could have chosen him in the place he was, given him an epiphany, having the story line begin and end in the same place, however that is not the course of the story of Israel. Abraham has to leave, travel, escape and reconquer the place that was planned from the day the world was created- the very center of the earth, connecting all countries and all nations, Eretz Yisrael.

 

The book of Berieshit is all about a pre-national state in which we see individuals dealing with danger, famine, thirst, and human flaws such as betrayal-(specifically focused in the Yosef story) which is a lead in into the next chapter of the story of our first exile in Egypt. We also meet angels and people who are so secure in their faith that what others see for bad they view as for good because it is all under the guiding hand of Providence. We learn about obedience in the face of trial. Those that challenge it fall away and dissipate, not part of the story anymore. The mantra of the story repeats itself, first through the stepping stones of our forefathers, their stamp and seal is imprinted on every place they walked and lived here. The implications of the origins echo memories as we later return as a nation.

Our story defies logic- no nation has lived so long and survived. Eretz Yisrael is a place we GO TO in order to plug in. It requires pro action.

There is “back to the start” programmed into the story, all nuances and lessons of deep esoteric meaning for us – how it originated and how it applies to this very day.

In these portions we learn in detail about Israel returning to and eventually entering the Promised Land. There are many theories that allude to the fact that parts of Transjordan which had been incorporated into the Greater Kingdom of Egypt during the rule of Yosef. (During the great famine) These conquests had been legally part and parceled to Menasseh and Efrayim by Yosef during that time, a time BEFORE “A new king took over Egypt who did not know Yosef.” In fact, later part of the territory on both sides of the holy Jordan River are bequeathed to the tribes of Yosef. The strong leadership of these tribes was able to overcome the fortified walled and gated cities of Sichon and Ogg easily perhaps because at an earlier time during the dominance of Yosef they had already been claimed; they knew the layout of the territory. This is why Moshe R’ perhaps declares zero issues with Menasseh settling half of their tribe here. They were simply reclaiming their heritage.

Yet another fascinating part of the parcel Efrayim and Menasseh come to inherit, is the area of Shechem and Dotan – there are two distinct stories that happened in these places. The original territory that Yosef had to pass when he was sold down to Egypt by his brothers. On a deeper look into this area, we also know that Yosef’s wife, Asnat was the daughter conceived by Dina, Yosef’s sister after having been raped by Shechem. Thus, the primordial hard stories of coping in the face of baseless hatred, as in the sale of Yosef, or as in Shechem Ben Hamor -a foreign beastly population that comes to kidnap and rape, prompting Efrayim and Menasseh to leave before the official time of the exodus taking a call to action in rectifying these evils by returning to those very same places. These places happen to be their inheritance that eventually become the territory generations later of an everlasting Land Covenant with Joshuah on Mount Grizim and Eval.

Every circle closes at its original point.

Now too we are struggling with similar issues as we come close to the time of the expulsion of Jews from Gaza and the northern Shomron at the hands of other Jews, when we have hostages STILL languishing in terror tunnels with hard evidence of rape and other atrocities happening to them -in our time – EXACTLY THE SAME THEME OF STORIES-  but there is always tikkun, managing and overcoming these extremely hard things- the prototypes are all read and re read every Shabbat for us to learn and live the ideal archetypical responses like those displayed by Efrayim and Menasseh.

The state of Israel is nothing less than a miracle. There were Jews that came prior to the time it legally became a country of its own. They helped in forming the foundational level of what it is today, draining out the swamps, providing the first desperate attempts at infrastructure, they are the first part of the story of Zionism because they felt the urgency to return.

With 71 Knesset members approving the resolution affirming Israel’s right to sovereignty in Judea and Samaria as part of our people’s historic spiritual homeland and everlasting Land Covenant we are on the way to the next phase of the final redemption. Looking back over our long history and reading these Torah portions only reminds us of the self -sacrifice and dedication it takes to be a part of it.

Shabbat shalom dear friends!

Blessings, Leah

 

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Leah’s Blog Parshat Pinchas 2025

Pinchas – A TIME TO FIX – July 2025 – Leah’s Blog

We are in the three weeks now- a time I far from relish. Our car broke down on a teeming Jerusalem highway without any forewarning and now our oven door just fell off the hinges to the ground. Rachel  told me the heavy  lumber they just bought fell off their truck into the road, logs rolling in all directions. Make no mistake – this is all typical for this time of year- for these three weeks. Now, you know I’m not a downer but sharp, hard memories of the expulsion from Gush Katif and the northern Shomron, a self imposed exile happened in this time frame making me recollect, forcing me to feel broken. You can’t avoid the vibe. In an act that empowered beasts, twisted reality, made swaths of land and settlements alongside them void of security, forfeiting rule, and castrating the strong Jewish presence that made sand into thriving life- nothing after this atrocity grew from it but terror tunnels and destruction. This dispossession was not the Romans who banished us, but our own leaders who ordered it – the recipe for disaster, which fast forward led to the fatal carnage of October 7 2023. Like King Saul who let Agag live, Amalek took the lead.

These three weeks are the saddest time of the year, a time full of tribulation. Put aside Gush Katif for a later blog,  four beautiful communities in northern Samaria were destroyed- they overlook  the Israel electric company in Hadera. A simple anti-tank missile and we’ll all be sitting in the dark. How can my second grader grandson know more than Ariel Sharon? How could they have turned these places into closed military zones with NO-ONE living there? How could the beautiful fields of tobacco now be a garbage dumping ground? Where are the rows of almond trees? The flowing water has become a filthy trickle in the Tirtzah stream now. Yes, again it was a fall of dominion, of the kingdom and the enemy sensed weakness as the very foundations cracked beneath us. Here in the Middle East you cannot be vulnerable, even when you feel exhausted. The minute you retreat, it collapses.

The land we so willingly turned over is by no coincidence what we read about in this parsha- Pinchas, about the very inheritance of the daughters of Tzlofchad. If you stand on the high point of Har Kabir of the northern slopes of Elon Moreh, you can look down into the green beautiful territory of Tirtzah. Drawing a line west, all towns are named after the Tzlofchahd daughters. This is their inheritance. In the hot summer of 1910 archeologists found in the treasury of the palace of the Kings in ancient Samaria (Sebastia) Samarian ostraca- pot shards with dozens of inscriptions written in ink. These were actually shipping and tax records with dates that go way back to when ancient Israel lived on these lands. The products that were transported were jugs of fine oil, jars of wine, balm etc. The territories mentioned on these ostraca are specifically named after major households from the tribe of Menasseh – their legacy- northern Samaria. Some of the names: Shechem, Hoglah, Noa, Tirtzah… about the many districts of northern Samaria after the Tzlofchad sisters. The Mishnah, Tosefta, and Yerushalmi all written in a later period speak about a place- Bedan- the stream of Tirtzah- a place famous for its fertile soil, with running streams from the springs of Mount Gerizzim flowing east into the Jordan River, a place of high quality pomegranates and nut trees.

The Tzlofchad women are personal examples of Zeal for Zion, receiving fertile beautiful lands in the heart of Israel.

At a time that we learn about the trials, mistakes, chasms both in the earth and in the very fabric of life in forty years of wanderings, of the  downfalls of Israel like we know in Zimri, a prince of the tribe of Shimone that falls, towards the end of the desert journey, we learn too about a wonderful family of women, the Tzlofchad women of influence and great courage and strength that couldn’t have come at a better time. We learn in this portion of the broken and the fixing.  Something uplifting and remarkable- as the nation witnessed the zeal of these women marching to the future -to possess Eretz Yisrael, yearning  for it, and laboring  for it, this readied all the tribes for their time of entry into their respective tribal territories.

October 7 2023- through  now (2025) has seen an incredible “fixing” of the crimes of the expulsion. The self- sacrifice demonstrated by the willingness of so many people, soldiers, recue workers, teachers, doctors, donors, and volunteers who want to remedy the pain and unjust mistake of the expulsion of the summer of 2005. Zealous for Zion, we all want to do the right thing. Israel has been viewed as an individualist, liberal, modern sushi eating western cultured country that was unraveling over political differences prior to the Nazi attack on the music festival and communities bordering Gaza on that fatal day of October 7. We have since risen above division into an exceptional collective people blended together –all different tribes of the same nation. This is for Israel’s survival and future. People of all views on politics poured into the Gaza belt for the klal (the collective), soldiers doing miluim for hundreds of consecutive days- all in a readiness that reminds us of the Tzlofchad daughters. It was not expected for women to conquer, settle and establish within the constraints of their time- We know their internal lives and relationships led to the awesome experience of settling the territory of Mennaseh on this side of the Jordan. Now too soldiers and civilians of polar opposite sides of the spectrum of society share a tank, rebuild a bombed out home and cross sectorial views are shared. We solace together- as we fix. The three weeks will pass and we will move into Elul and then the High holy days of celebration.

One thing that is clear and clarified – we must be a complete nation in a complete land.

From here we go uphill. Back up to the highest point on Mount Eval looking into Efrayim on Har Gerizzim- these parts and parcels all coming together now- Shabbat shalom and blessings to all of our dear friends xoxoxoxo Leah

PS for those who want to read my blog of Pinchas 2008- it’s worth the reading

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Leah’s Blog Parashat Balak 2025

Leah’s Blog – Parshat Balak –  BIBI AND TRUMP- DECLARE SOVERIENGTY ! July 2025

We are coming near the end of the book of Bamidbar, soon also completing the forty years journey through the wilderness. What happens in the final chapters now before entering through the keyhole of Jericho are important lessons we repeat and repeat, year after year- every portion teaches something relevant- even to right now. NATIONS BEHOLD! WHEN YOU COME TO CURSE- YOU WILL BLESS! The cyclical events of the world- and they always come back to this core- to the center portal to heaven. The main ideas always fall back to Israel- you can love her or you can try to defy her- You can walk up the stairway to heaven from here, or fall into the lowest place on earth. The theme however follows a journey, an arduous walk to obtain the promise- a living Land.

In these portions, instead of walking an easier path, we had to walk around, a walk through the wilderness, facing dangers in unhospitable lands, frightening desolation. The barren terrain wanting water for thirst and sustenance had us crying out, vulnerable. Through the paved red cities of Petra and Sela in Edom in a forward march  northward into Moav and Ammon- forced into the dessert plains of no human presence. Is anyone here? Will anyone sell us water please? Only the wasteland “the wilderness bordering on Moav to the east.”(21:11) The King of Moav refused. Walking along the edge of the border, they meet a river, the Arnon , flowing east to west into the Dead Sea. This is the scene. The lowest place on earth- and like the story of Sdome- there is bad karmah in the air with wicked intentions. When magicians are summoned from afar to come and curse as we stumble through the pass; the drama only continues. Time ticks. Never resting, millions of people make their way through the ravine and they are being watched. A man on a she donkey has been sent to curse them. Viewing them from every angle, the “dignitary” fights with his donkey – the two animals argue, the whole landscape hears it, words bouncing off of rocks and echoing into the camp. Hashem is watching all this time. Shadows form on the cliffs as the sun sets- Israel is saved.

Israel has wandered from afar. Bilaam has travelled from a far land through the trajectory, the winding road fails him. Israel is on a track to the route Abraham Isaac and Jacob walked and lived and had a covenant with G-d about.

Fast forward and all eyes n Israel. The Road Map Plan that was first outlined by President Bush called for an independent Palestinian state living side with Israel “in peace”- and halleluyah- a plan that was never implemented. PRESIDENT TRUMP_ THIS IS YOUR CALL- Let us now return to our holy cities in complete rule and ownership- flush out all of those who curse Israel! We have crossed this Jordan. From the river to the sea seems to be on the lips of most people- to bless? To curse? This wilderness has been plowed. The worn path- paved and now been widened for more and more of us to travel and live in this heartland. The land fills up now. The emptiness now is only one of a twisted ideology that if we give this precious land away it will bring peace to the Middle East. We say to those donkey riding dignitaries- the senselessness of this has reached the psyche of almost every recipient of a ballistic missile from beyond the Euphrates and from the ports of Yemen. The heartland of Israel has sprung to life.

Apply sovereignty now ! I PERSONALLY INVITE YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP TO MY HOME HERE IN ITAMAR!

HOW GOODLY ARE YOUR TENTS!

Shabbat Shalom dear friends xoxoxoxox Blessings, Leah

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Leah’s Blog Parashat Korach

Leah’s Blog – THE BLOSSOM -June 2025 – Parshat Korach
As the trillion dollar killing machine of Iran was finally obliterated, the magnitude of the hour, or rather of the last twelve days, had me running to our garden. This war had ballistic missile exploding in urban centers, in hospitals, with moms running down flights of stairs with their little ones to the safe rooms, dads bearing arms in uniforms on duty, first responders at disaster scenes, doctors, nurses, emergency teams, what not- KUDOS to Israel, her people are the true heroes and not a word of complaint. The nights were riddled with high pitch alarms, scenes out of star wars in the sky with the hit to kill interceptions overhead. Rockets and drones are nothing new but these shattered the soundwaves. For now it is quiet. Our hostages are still suffering at the hands of barbaric savages in Gaza. Our soldiers continue to give their lives there.
Here, in my garden, I contemplate on nature and above nature. We are living miracles, you can feel them as the sunlight streams through the branches of the maple and mulberry trees. A singsong chirping of birds comes to greet you, then swooshes away in a moving cloud. Embedded into this vibrancy, the fuchsia peonies love the feel of the soft earth that surrounds them, like I feel Him in Divine protection. This is my intimate time. Making this garden grow, I feel an inner voice. In this space, time and site are comfortably grounding, completely tranquil. This is my pleasure. It’s not the regular beauty of nature -but it goes and grows much deeper. If I dig enough, I come up with relics of the ecological relationship we had here in this spot in ancient days, an iron peg, a ceramic tool, pottery pieces and many. The slope of rocky ground that embraces my garden once had a botanical surrounding with commerce- a coin of Jewish history falls from the earth. This historical setting was agricultural. It was of fields and vineyards, olive orchards.
The Temple Mount was a threshing floor.
Here and there, there are trees on the Tel above our house that survived the times of devastation, times Eretz Yisrael lay desolate. Against the backdrop of its nature and landscape, our prophets walked. This is not JUST a garden.
This is the center of the earth. We too have survived.
Autumn comes early on the first day of summer here in my garden. Lemons plunk to the floor in this heat. Rustling amber leaves underfoot, they crunch in my hands. Clearing away the duff, the earth underneath feels moist and ready for a new planting. It is a slower pace here in the garden. A lone songbird calls its young ones back to the nest before dark. Now, in the silence of the night, the stars twinkle in the promise, a wind blows like the breath of apples. This place is not a myth.
We are entering a new season. The days begin to shorten. The garden awaits the new delights of cucumbers and changing slant of light. The dust has not settled yet though. The war continues to attack Israel, but our return to this earth is not rational. It is not natural. It is above nature. Our garden unlocks now – the message of life, in the hope of what will grow.
It was promised.
Shabbat shalom and Blessings to all of our dear friends! Leah
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Leah’s Blog Parashat Shelach – 2025

Shlach – Leah’s blog – June 2025

Before Moshe and I got together and made Aliyah nearly forty years ago, (!) we had both been in Israel individually. I was a sophomore in college and did the unthinkable- I took a hiatus and the earliest plane I could to Israel because it was my desire to see the land I dreamt about. On arriving, I was thrown into a series of heart flutters and stomach turns along with the usual jet lag, as I spent the first week in Tel Aviv before moving on as planned to a kibbutz in the Galilee. Not new to the club scene, as I was thrust in my teen years into the music culture and embedded in it, the nightlife discos felt peculiar and abnormal here. The cocktail waitresses were hardly dressed- right here in the holy land. I tightened my jeans jacket over me, feeling lost. The smoke rose from the streets and the graffiti looked and felt like Hell’s Kitchen. In this carnal atmosphere I asked myself not once- am I really in eretz yisrael!? Hoping as I hopped on the bus going north that scenes of nature and Zionist spirit would have me feeling better, reclaiming my inner GPS. What I didn’t know at the time was that the pit of my stomach told me I would have to look deeper or admit that it was a bad report. One day on break at the avocado orchard, I climbed to the highest point and looked south. Pointing to the very distant mountains I asked the driver of the harvesting machine what and where that was. He just shrugged and had a vague look in his eyes as he seemed to not know or care. Just years later I would be living in that place.

Later events repair earlier events.

There is a mantra running through our story and we are blowing shofars now. The walls of Jericho fell – the walls of Tehran, the heart of hearts of JIHAD- as the DOOMSDAY CLOCK HALTS IN POWER CUTS- fall- as miracles occur- the miracle that our overview has been fixed.

This parsha- Shelach, has the princes of the tribes being sent on a mission they fail in. Only forty years later as stated in this Haftarah two un named spies (Pinchas and Calev) reveal the nakedness of the land in Rachav the harlot, lodged in the walls of Jericho. Their report is the fixing of the first impressions of the first twelve spies as they proclaim- ” Truly the Lord has delivered into our hands all the land and moreover all the inhabitants of the Land as they do melt away before us!” Rachav recognized Hashem and the miracles performed for His people, Israel. Her testimony proves that every person of every nation is bound with Israel and they too have to choose. The humble un named spies of Joshua knew deep down that “Which I gave to the children of Israel” not for NOW as they climbed down the scarlet chords smiling, but a long time ago in a clanging memory, Hashem entered a covenant with our Patriarchs and Matriarchs and gave it THEN as an everlasting covenant to the descendants and their descendants – to us! Hashem keeps His word! No matter how it might look- the approach is one of complete faith in a good eye.

The shofars blow!

The evil report of the spies was told on the ninth of Av- the same day as the destruction of both of our Holy Temples in Jerusalem as well as the primordial selling of Yosef by his brothers. What comes out of this lesson is that UNITY comes first – as Yosef later collects his brothers- and national identity within each of us – Yosef’s dreams come true -about our heritage, what that involves and where it is meant to happen. Our story is full of pain and crisis, and also one of growth and setting it right. The last forty years has seen a steady decline in the eyes of the media and in the mouths of the media (aside from channel 14 here in Israel)- the culture of PROGRESS and radical self- hating belittlement of national pride scarily resembles the generations of the spies. They carried out horrific damage. AMALEK truly does exist as much as we don’t want to face up to evil. That’s why we are reminded to remember it and if we don’t it will come to bite us. They dragged us into the abyss. What WE KNEW in 1995 – they only know today.

Now a new generation of brave Jewish warriors has arisen, changing the over view completely. And now we rise like the lion. This process is amazing- it is speeding up now into a new political and spiritual formation rising from the unknown humble people that are giving their lives to fight this war. This is the generation of Victory.

The shofars blow!

Israel is in a state of emergency. It is crunch time. At this juncture when the media will never be the same and we won’t be saying “I told you so”- the task of the nations comes into play now. This is the theme of Rachav and the fixing of the sin of the spies- this is about choices we make in our overview of Israel, about growing with us in this time of mission.

Blessings to all our dearest friends! We love you! Leah

 

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Leah’s Blog – Parashat Bamidbar 2025

Bamidbar – May 2025 – Leah’s Blog

Over the hill and not so far away there is a place, one of a kind, that on a clear day you are sure to see the three seas of Israel. Remember the scene in the Lion King when Simba is placed on the ledge? That describes it. At first, the Ministry of Tourism put a misspelling on the sign. It said “Three sees”. You know what? I’m thinking there is more to that than meets the eye now. So, Rico and Yolanda our incredible friends had 26 people with them here with us on the three seas lookout. The change in the topography is striking as everything east of the three seas is a stark tan, the Sfahr haShomron- a small desert decline into the Jordan Valley. The look on Rico’s face said it all. An emerald green now creeps down the mountainside, the grapevines of Jeremiah into the sandy landscape. Exuberance is an understatement of what you feel here, vibrancy in the electric pulse of this place. A guy with a winning smile turns to me and says, ” The grapes are huge but we are not afraid of the giants!”. I, in turn answered him with “This is why I live here.”

FRIENDS WE ARE LIVING MIRACLES!

PARSHAT BAMIDBAR is all about the journey of setting up the Tabernacle and taking it apart. The odyssey of Am Yisrael building and dismantling 42 times in the dessert, wandering through exile, waiting to get to the other side. Through the years of our exile we camped in a place, sometimes longer periods of time, sometimes shorter- Now, after two thousand years- too- we are home. As we read the bible we learn it took many years until we built a permanent home for Hashem even in this Land. Copy paste- this is the pattern- we have been on this journey as were broken and then rebuilt-ISRAEL IS COMING OUT OF THE GREATEST TRAVESTY INFLICTED ON IT- At times, even collaborating with it!   Now comes the time to salute every man woman and child that braved a fiercely trying time when the enemy came to stone our cars, shoot at us and Israel capitulated in the greatest injustice of throwing us under the bus even the deep state here in Israel targeted us, framing us, in acts of baseless hatred pointed at us for just wanting to settle our ancestral heartland. Faith has answered us – now a shift in time, the vibrancy of truth and prophecy being fulfilled happens! “You will rise. You will have mercy on Zion for there is a time to favor it, for the appointed season has arrived.” אתה תקום תרחם ציון כי עת לחננה כי בה מועד

IT IS COMING BACK TO LIFE!

Can these bones live?

A historic decision was made yesterday by our government in which 22 new communities will be set up along this very view- in the Jordan Valley on our eastern border and throughout Judea Samaria, including a return to some of the places we evicted in the atrocity of the Oslo accords. Soon the view will be peppered with greenhouses and more farms, more houses- signaling an incredible boost for restoration.

It all boils down to how you see it.

This is the time before Shavuot- the time King David reigns. Malchut is at the doorstep.

Shabbat Shalom to all of our dear friends and Chag Sameyach xoxoxooxox BLESSINGS! Leah

 

 

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Leah's Blog

Leah’s Blog – The Blessing AND The Curse May 2025

THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE – May 2025    Leah’s blog

The Blessing and the Curse- a new movie filmed right here in Itamar some years ago has finally been released. Yours truly is in it. I recommend you getting it- you can do so on Apple TV, Amazon Prime or Chai flicks. The movie was filmed BEFORE October 7 2023 but deals with comparable topics- terror inflicted upon innocent Jews. It dredges up a discussion and a long addendum should be and must be added to it in the wake of the atrocity of October 7. The voice in my head can’t quiet down as I think about an entire Land, our biblical legacy that has been hidden from you intentionally but in this film you are able to get a sneak at it from a fresh new perspective. You will meet people that live here- people like me. Close to one million Jews live in Judea Samaria today. You would think that after the barbaric event of October 7, people of the world would be softer and more supportive of Israel. But no, now it comes to bite us in massive violent demonstrations of solidarity with the flag of rabid antisemitism- no one is even differentiating between Judea Samaria and the rest of Israel. Even if you wanted to remain apathetic to it- it takes form on every campus, in every city street- Manhattan, Amsterdam, Melbourne- the list is long.  The tentacles reach out now and you have no choice but to face your conscience. Where do you stand? Far from being the fashion of showering praise upon this good good land – have you ever wondered why such a negative narrative has been placed upon it- the heart of the world, the pupil of G-d’s eye?-

I won’t brag, but I am a person of insight.

I stick to my guns. The major media you have been consuming for the last three decades has been telling you that I am wrong.

I am telling you now that there is no such thing as multiple realities- there is wrong and there is right- there is the curse and there is the blessing. Choose.

I was born subsequently fifteen years and two days after the State of Israel. Thereafter, my identity was defined by the Israeli flag up on the podium at school, in synagogue, books and music in our home. The sense that I was bound it to, albeit living many miles away from it had me knowing my fate would be intertwined with it deep in my heart. I don’t know when it became my intention to pro- actively bond with it, but I’m sure the picture book bible tales seared into my desire for it at a very young age. Around the time of our marriage and ensuing Aliyah in 1985, the vision of “peace” took form in Israel simultaneously, with the illusional idea that made Israel morph from a state of MIGHT and indestructible ability into a weakened notion of ideas and concepts that would weaken her integrity that left us here on the ground in our new home in the mountains of the Shomron powerless and vulnerable. Violence struck before trees we planted in the then wilderness gave fruit. We were targets-  in our homes and on our roads. By reviving arch terrorists (Yaasar Arafat), bringing them from Tunisia into the heart of Israel and providing them with guns, forfeiting the very historical and religious sacred sites, endangering the people that live in the heart of Israel, let’s face it- endangering Tel Aviv and the Ben Gurion airport as well. Terror refuge cities mushroomed overnight yet Shimon Peres and the like continued to have a sparkle bounce off their eye tooth as they praised the peace that all Arabs knew was a Hudnah (from the Arabic meaning “truce” or “cease fire with the sole objective of reorganizing for the resumption of fighting). The western “progress” and its institutions such as The New Israel Fund, The Wexner Foundation to name a few, all fueled monetarily the passion of obstinate, headstrong opposition to Jews in Judea, remaining steadfast in this “conceptzia” for many years not realizing the Trojan horse that had been imported straight into the heart and lungs of the country. We became the thorn in the eye of peace, we became the reason for the conflict. We were thrown in the pit but luckily knew the end of the story of what had happened to Joseph after his brothers had so to him.

Moshe and I have lived here for almost forty years. Chagrined majorly by the masses- a thin margin of people from all around the world came to stand with us- people of insight. From this stage I say TODAH RABAH! We became a club of sorts- people from all walks of life connected to me and held me up, giving me the strength and fortitude to continue with our mission here in building it up and keeping it safe. Friends of Itamar, our 501c3 has been able to build it brick by brick and help the needy.

No-one wants peace more than the Jewish people. Will we live on the sword forever? Shalom. Peace. We cannot let our desire for it put us into a stupor, drug us, disregarding the facts that surround us. We need a complete victory- eradicating all evil- and there is plenty of it. That means that we don’t have the luxury to sit back- each one of us in his or her capacity must be proactive. We have to return to the original MIGHT this country was built upon without apologizing. The new Jew is a warrior- not schlepping on a stick through the world. We must gather ourselves, become sturdy and purge illusions. Return to the original stones, to the stories and role models our forefathers portrayed for us here in this land, deepening our hold on the territory before we are choked off from it. Israel and Zionism cannot live in dissonance with its mission, especially when the safety of all of its citizens have been so compromised. A new message has to sprout out of this pain, out of these mistakes.

I’m sure you will have a lot of comments when you see the movie- feel free to leave them with me for reviewing.

Shabbat Shalom! Leah

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Leah’s Blog – Holocaust Memorial Day

Holocaust Memorial Day – April 2025    Leah’s blog

We will be commemorating Holocaust Day officially here in Israel this Thursday. I, for one, do not need to be reminded. Reliving it in different ways as a second generation survivor– my perspective is shaped by events that have personally touched me then and now. The greatest lesson in how we view ethics and musar is happening right now as the war that was forced upon us sees two distinct converse approaches to survival, morality, values and honor that we grant this earth of Israel and her people.

We have survived thousands of years.

If there is someone out there that remains sensitive to the needs of the murderers, and that he/she remains apathetic to the poor innocent victims that were burnt alive in the liberal kibbutzim, who were raped brutally in the music festival, who were dismembered just because they were Jews- I question where your moral compass is. Chanting genocide as still our hostages, for no fault of their own, not committing any crime- wither away in the terror tunnels built specifically for that purpose from the start. The greater part of the victims (1,800 murdered, 143,000 displaced, 20,000 injured) had willingness to serve the enemy before this slaughter event. Yes, the kibbutznikim would take them into our hospitals for treatment, love on them.

When they came to kill us here the world said “You are settlers- you reap what you sow.”

Let’s go back to 2005 when Jews who were living normative productive lives in Gush Katif were forcibly dragged out of their homes “for peace”. No one occupied Gaza. It was Judenrein. Those greenhouses became the terror centers that planned the killing and devastation of Jews regardless of their political or religious affiliation. Muslims and Bedouins, and foreign workers were all murdered as well. So, in 2005 when we said “there’s no such thing as quiet, Hamas had patience and dug in -waiting for the kill. Throwing babies into ovens IS the holocaust. Mein Kampf, a standard part of the home of the Gazan. Nazi emblems everywhere.

For those of us who know me, you know my story and where I came from. In the merit of the righteous gentile my father was saved. That is how I am alive today.

There are no righteous gentiles in Gaza. Not one offered to deliver a hostage.

In fact, the mob that joined the marauding barbarians were encompassed of a wide range of Nazis, from the very young to the elder haters of Zion limping on crutches to pillage. This reminds me of King Saul, the first foundational level King of Israel. He kept Agag the King of Amalek alive, having mercy on him. It was a dismal time of cancel culture then too when it felt ethical to keep your enemy alive. Some things never change. The eventual fall of King Saul happened as his enemies did not appreciate that aspect of “good will.” Then, like now- a new understanding of who we are and what we need to do- a complete victory and total eradication of Hamas and their accomplices – only that will fix this atrocity.

We need King David.

With all of this said, obviously there is a reason for optimism even on this difficult day. People are identifying more with their Judaism. Israel stands strong, being realized despite the rhetoric and baseless hatred to it. The new Jews are warriors. There will be those that identify with this new phase of repair (hopefully) and those that do not want to see the Kingdom of Israel rise. It is a great pleasure to witness the perseverance of our nation and Hashem revealing what He promised. Turn the pages into prophecy restored.

BLESSINGS TO ALL MY DEAR FRIENDS!

I want to share good news- a movie has been released about Itamar enduring through thick and thin- it can be viewed on Amazon Prime and Apple TV- it is called ” The Blessing and the Curse”. Please let the word get around