Category: Leah’s Blog

I’ve never been good at math. As a matter of fact, once algebra and trig came on to the scene I was blank and still am. But Hashem compensates. I guess I have always felt a sharpness, call it a keen perception of the sixth sense. It is not by chance (as nothing is) that I am where I am now– and can feel things- Divine Providence in my life. Like, the other day when I went to our local beauty parlor nearby. Right outside the building there is a barbed wire fence and right beyond that -a barrier, a checkpoint of soldiers that monitor the passing of people through the area. So as you sit to get your nails done or have a facial in that calm pink ambience, on an average of twice a week there is a terrorist just meters away that comes to strike with a knife or Molotov cocktail or gun .(You will not read of this in the New York Times) At the large red sign that demands no entry of an Israeli citizen due to a life threat, I had an epiphany . Driving out of this sphere, you pass a plethora of butchers in the village and various shapes and sizes of bloody meat and mean looks indoctrinated by their drip system of hate. Now don’t get me wrong- if you want to live a full life you learn to sift these images out- they aren’t even in your field of vision – but as redemption comes closer and our return becomes more real you can’t help but notice the vibe of darkness surrounding the potential light. And there you are- trailblazing the way for the flow of a Jewish presence to run up and down the narrow strip of the bible belt of Israel. Inside of that.

It got me thinking to Shechem Ben Chamor and how he took Dina. Not far from here actually. About the Romans and the Greeks (in different times) that took our Temple and Amalek who followed and attacked Israel all through their journey in the desert. So- the “goyim” feel the paranormal too. Subconciously. Aha! (So THAT’S WHY the Temple Mount is such a sore subject with Unesco and that’s why the U.N. are obsessed with Israel- the only democracy in the Middle East.) This is why the heart and soul of Israel- Shechem- Jerusalem-Chevron were all stolen from the Jewish State in the Oslo Accords. For every physical place there is a realm of metaphysical. This is not just a war for Land. It goes way beyond to the unearthly. The paradox reaches so deep into the psyche that what is most exposed (as described) is only a flipside of what is hidden: The deepest secrets of the Land, the primordial stations of our Patriarchs.

This is a time of counting the Omer. We are soon reaching the time that connects Passover to Shavuot- the special day of Lag BaOmer- the birthday of Jewish Mysticism. Most of the year we busy with the practical aspects of Shabbat festivals and mitzvoth we do and perform to the most minute detail through defined and apparent actions- the Do’s and Don’t’s of the Torah. There is one day though set aside for the fire of the greater dimension, the secrets, for shining the great light. Way before Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai- the master of Kabbalah was born and passed, the foreshadowing of the seeds of the unseen and deeper meaning of the Torah were planted 3,300 years ago as passed to Moshe Rabbeinu and on to Joshua and on and on developing ever since and taking on new dimensions that fit into this very day -today. Everybody knows about the great bonfires we light on Lag BaOmer. On the other hand, we also shoot bows and arrows on this day as tradition holds. Why? It is a custom for Jewish children to go out to the fields and forests far away from urban centers to celebrate in shooting the bow and arrows- the symbol of the power of the inwardness unleashed by the mystic soul of the Torah. In the teachings of this minhag, we learn out that the more the bow is drawn towards oneself, towards ones heart -the more distant an adversary it can reach slashing through barriers. Going out to shoot required leaving the known places of the neighborhood to where you have not gone before- into the unknown- a place you can perceive on a new level. So when the Romans would watch the Jewish children shooting bows and arrows they could not distinguish the hidden intention behind every child’s heart to propel and pound the redeeming influence of the fire of the Torah against the forsaken idolatrous ways of Rome. We also remember the Great revolt and the brave Jews who actually fought our enemies with the sword and bow, Jewish warriors.

On a Cupid level – the arrow of love propelled from the dispatcher to the heart of your beloved….. The harder you pull the bow closer to your heart, the more the arrow will penetrate the twin heart of the one you love. In a way you are pulling back- almost a small retreat- but boom- conquers with a force of the deepest expression of the fire of love and charges the electricity you can’t see but can feel. This is the real weapon – the Torah’s insights we are so thirsty for in these days of redemption. We are thirsty today for flashes of lightening and knowing our beloved- Hashem! There are many “goyim” who in fact share the zeal and cleave to the purest truth of the Torah and the Land. The righteous gentiles of the world in droves come to pledge loyalty and great love for Israel now more than any other time in history.

In these “paranormal ” days of the end of the time as we know it, there is now more urgency to pierce hearts in other dimensions with knowing and sharing the magic of our times . We are a people of chesed, mussar, law and are even called the people of the book. Moreover though, we are a people above nature. Take one day to look beyond what you see.

Shabbat Shalom! Lag BaOmer Sameyach!

This Blog has been written in the memory of my father-in-law, Levi Ben Efrayim zt”l

Leah’s Blog March 17 2017   Parshat Ki Tissa

I am leaning into Spring impatiently. Bending down to look at the new flowers blanketing our Land, I feel the need to do it more. Somewhere not too far away someone is cutting grass. I breathe in the sweetness.The sky is lightening up .It’s the time to stretch, to move, to rediscover the joys of the outdoors. It is a time for recovery. To be lifted. At least I need it. I need to stretch – in all realms. I need to stretch time, to stretch every limb in a relaxing way getting me ready for the movement that will soon come with Pesach. Then it’s soon about hard work; in overdoing it as every year in the enthusiasm for wiping clean, throwing out, fixing broken stuff, scrubbing till knees and feet throb reminding how once life had even much more vigorous tasks like chopping wood, hauling water and carrying it…. I long to till the earth at this time, to plant a new garden…. Maybe stretching will enable me to. The climate is a time for healing and for rising above.

The term most used for describing leaving Egypt is “with an outstretched arm”. Depending on if we start from when the daughter of Pharoh, Bitya, found baby Moshe in the little ark floating on the Nile and rescued him – the famous picture I have imbedded is one of her bending over with her arm miraculously stretching. Then there is Hashem Himself stretching His arm to accommodate us, the mood is one of bending and stretching – as Am Yisrael (the Torah describes) were bent over in oppression and hard slavery. With this outstretched arm Hashem raised us from the depths of an immoral culture and a degrading stature in society to the awesome spiritual heights and new identity of a healthy lifted nation.

Bending is important, as opposed to breaking.

In this parsha Moshe Rabbeinu goes up to Har Sinai only to come down and break the tablets when he saw what he saw there with the golden calf. His patience stretched many times, he saves the broken pieces and I suddenly understand why he stutters… He goes up again and comes down on Yom Kippur, this time – a time of appeasement – he returns with the Ten Commandments- with more the words inscribed and the meaning of their values, not so much the tablets. This time around they have learned not to worship a carnal icon. Now they do not bend under the yoke of Egyptian slave masters but stretch into a freedom dedicated to Torah. Now they can move on. Am Yisrael continue to journey through the midbar with the broken pieces and the perfectly whole tablets. Wherever they went they carried their mistakes and their tikkun, the out of order and the restored. This imagery is the lesson we take for life, maybe the greatest lesson of the entire Torah.

We are all different in our strength, in our endurance, in our being able to be flexible to bend and to stretch, to accommodate . But we all need to be lifted. Hashem designed such a thing for now-with an outstretched arm- the most breathtaking part of the year as all of nature is about to open up. It is almost Pesach – In Tneenah קיב- – Rabbi Nachman says :” If you believe you have damaged- believe – you can fix it!”

Shabbat Shalom! Leah

In a few weeks we will be reading the Torah portion about Yaakov Avinu being presented to Pharoh. Taking one look at Yaakov, Pharoh blinks a few times because he thinks he is seeing Avraham Avinu; so much was the likeness as well as the fact that a very very old and weathered looking man stood before him. Pharoh asks Yaakov, “How many are the days of your life!?” and Yaakov answers, “The days of the years of my sojourn are 130 years. Few and hard have been the days of the years of my life.”

This parsha has us viewing Yaakov Avinu in his prime years, but even then he is featured as one lame and limping -but persevering. Yaakov dreams about a ladder, about scaling the rungs on his path through the Land, in it and out of it and returning to it. He reaches the place of Shechem, the literal place of scales and he must hold on tight not to tip the scale. The whole scope of his journey is one of his being whole as he escalates- He comes to Shalem and our esoteric teachings bring out that he is the one that is actually shalem- whole in his body, soul and Torah wisdom. He is rebranded into a new identity- Yisrael. The Bnei Yisrael- all twelve tribes of Israel come from him. Yaakov’s integrity in staying the course is owed to his blessing Hashem and thanking him- “קטונתי מכל החסדים ומכל האמת” –After enduring one test after the next, he doesn’t falter –he just keeps climbing. The ladder can be seen as life itself- the tests put before us, the material world and the beauty, love, goodness and sometimes the crazy hard stuff placed before you, the nisayone- the tests and trials that come sometimes from home, from family, from your neighborhood, from your country, from your government,or from another country, another realm. In Yaakov’s case, as we review, this began with his brother Esav, continued on to his father-in-law, another winner- his daughter taken, his son- sold by his own brothers and lots in between.- Nevertheless Yaakov does not quit. He keeps going and becomes completely liberated. He soon overcomes the emotional and technical obstacles with his brother, releases himself completely from bondage to Lavan and picks up his brood to move to Egypt where the son he thought was gone unifies and provides for them all. He is eventually layed to rest with his fathers in the Land promised-as it says in the passuk- “:I am G-d Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and community of nations shall come out of you. Kings will be born from your loins. I will grant you this Land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac. I will also give the Land to your descendants who will follow you.” Yaakov is a story of complete faith. But he asks Hashem for help – as it says in the Passuk “הציליני נא!” – Save me Hashem! This is where the ladder reaches heaven. The dwelling place below connects to the dwelling place above. The spirit world is the force pulling us up.

Am Yisrael is an old old nation. Maybe even the oldest. Clearly the Jewish people have experienced more upheavals than any other nation on earth. The destruction of the First and Second temples had not been the only traumatic events, but there were wide scale reasons to think maybe Hashem waivered on his promise in woebegone happenings like the Holocaust and the Spanish inquisition as well as many other pogroms which led to mass murder of millions of Jews, of migrations and loss of home and property, and in basic dignity- BUT our survival has been unprecedented among the nations. Like Yaakov, we were and are able to confront adversity with positivism and of course for asking always for Hashem’s help and somehow pulling through. We have been in the Land and out of it and have returned to it. We have reached the very places of Avraham Yitzchak and Yaakov and now too, even after all of that- we still have to stand firm because at every turn we are told to give up. Our trials we feel on a daily basis. But we have reached the mount. There may be disorder all around, it may be hard and we may limp a bit- but we stand tall in the place it all began.

Dear Friends-Please please pray for Amona! Pray for a miracle to happen!

Shabbat Shalom, Leah

As a lot of you may know, I was born and raised in Brooklyn. Strangely, the memory that stands out the most of it is being woken up by my mother Sunday mornings, the only day I could luxuriate in bed. It could be raining out, windy, any season really and she would exclaim, “Leah- rise and shine! It’s a beautiful day! Go ride your bike!” Groggily I would ponder on how she could do this to me. I craved sleep but didn’t have a choice.

Brooklyn in those days for a first generation American Jew like me was a great place to grow up. We had it all, great friends, great new beginnings for the wandering Jew that could have it all -a new start, a chance to initiate. And my mom was actually saying, “Take the first step! And don’t say- “When I get around to it.” But the cocktail of multiple identities had me confused because on one hand we were proud Zionists and Israel began to really bud at the Spring of my adolescence. There wasn’t a shule or a Rabbi that wasn’t speaking passionately about it. Israeli flags hung alongside American flags on many homes and often was the topic for the Rabbi’s speech and our youth activities. On the other hand we were encouraged to assimilate into our new culture, which inevitably did happen – and it didn’t matter if you were secular or orthodox. Something happened as year after year we were told to say, “There is always next year…. And if not next year (in Jerusalem), then the next…..” In my teens I would venture out Friday nights, like everyone -and mom always just said with a calm smile – “Remember it’s Shabbos”.

Fast forward thirty plus years and I am living a different life in a different place- on a hilltop surrounded by glorious primordial mountains in the heart of Israel. The shock each time of going back to visit there (to Brooklyn), knowing how deep seated the Rabbis are in their shules with not a word about Israel, how the communities are nested in not waiting for anything-or at best waiting for when Mashiach brings them. But another phenomenon has creeped into it. It is their abhorrence of Zionism. Puzzled? Me too.

The following is a letter written to a prominent Jewish advertising newspaper, “The Vues” issued last week. The editor of the paper, a close friend and a huge supporter of Judea and Samaria put in the yartzeits (days to remember the passings) of two very prominent Rabbis who passed away in the month of November. These were Rabbis that honored and loved Israel with all of their hearts souls and beings, Rabbi Meir Kahane HY”D Z” L and Reb Shlomo Carlebach Z”L, who were very influential in the shaping of our values and identities while we were growing up . The letter was a response to remembering them.

– “Dear Editor- Was it some kind of joke remembering Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach and Meir Kahane who were Zionists WHICH IS AGAINST THE TORAH. According to our gedolim (great sages) from the Chofetz Chayim to Rav Shach and everyone in between – Does being a Zionist make you a Jewish leader? Being a leader means not to twist or swerve the agenda into Zionism! I think you owe your readers an apology for this lack of kavod (honor) leTorah.”

No- This is not a one -time strange occurrence that is getting under your skin- but a plague, readers. It is washing into the shores of many communities and is a reason for REAL CONCERN – no less so than assimilation itself. My response to that letter-

A RESPONSE TO MICHAEL- November 22^nd – The Vues-

As far as Zionism being “against the Torah according to our Gedolim”- G-d works in strange ways and it’s funny how the answer to your complaints are found right in this week’s Parsha, Toldot. Chazal teach us that when it says “אברהם הוליד את יצחק’- (Avraham had a son- Yitzchak)- the cynical leytzanim (fools) of that Dor (generation) said that Yitzchak really is not the son of Avraham, but of someone else. Hashem had to intervene directly in this to convince the sneering skeptics that they were completely wrong. The face of Yitzchak came out identical to the face of his father, Avraham, therefore shedding any shadow of a doubt of who the real father was. HaRav Yerucham Liebowitz, the reknown mashgiach of Yeshivat Mir in a famous drash taught that the Torah is as straight as a person perceives it but there will always be those who choose to interpret it and the lessons from it in a way of la-ag and pessimism. The Torah and Hashem’s ratzon (will) for His people is as clear as day- Can there be a clearer partzuf (face) than the place- Eretz Yisrael-Israel- Hashem’s heart and home filling up with the remnants that were scattered all over the world and cast into diaspora AS A PUNISHMENT for thousands of years, to the place of grapevines shooting out of rocks, of dry dirt – a wasteland turned green, of His language- the language of the living Torah- revived, of an elite army standing and protecting Klal Yisrael where ever they may be (!)- as all of it is said and promised by Hashem Himself in the neviim (prophesies) about acharit HaYamim (the end of days). Not recognizing something so chashoove, so important is not new to us though… In a few weeks we will be reviewing the Torah portions about Yosef HaTzaddik who not only was not recognized but was actually thrown into the pit and cast out by his own brothers.  Those that throw Israel into the pit will in the end come to beg for their bread from Israel. They will come to beg Israel for protection. Yosef collects them and sustains them- the torah doesn’t waste a word but wants to TEACH A LESSON. Israel is as holy a dwelling place below as it is above and LO BASHAMAYIM HEE! It is the collection of Jews into the largest minyan on the planet. Please let us rectify the sin of the spies who said “The Land is too overwhelming! It is too gashmee, too physical! “We can’t go up to it ” Ten gedolay hador said at that time. But there were two who said, כי הארץ טובה מאד מאד,!’. The Land of Israel is GOOD, VERY GOOD!

It is time to wake up.

“Procrastination is the thief of time”- but G-d has a timetable. Who is ready for candle lighting?

This blog) is lezecher (in memory of) my beloved mom Cherna Chana Bat Yechiel HaLevi who passed away on Rosh Chodesh Kislev-Z”L- a passionate lover of Israel, spirited Zionist and kindhearted friend to all she knew.

Shabbat Shalom- Leah Goldsmith

As the sun is about to sink into a mid- November apricot sky, the landscape and the beautiful air I would love to describe will have to wait because there are more important things to do in this precious time before Shabbat. I want to bless President  elect Trump with a mazal tov and share this with him and with you. I have never asked you to share a blog before but this blog I really am asking – as much as you can and to as many people it can reach. Hopefully it will reach him.

Dear President – elect – Donald Trump,

Shalom and mazal tov on your winning the election! We are all very happy and excited!

Living in this generation, in the now- as someone American who chose to re-root to Israel thirty plus years ago to the place stretching back to the beginning of Jewish identity, and as an American patriot who loves America, I write these words.

The powers of your Presidency will be vast and broad and seem unlimited. I pray for you to maintain a humble heart and not to be afraid to know truth and to speak it. Use wisdom and be willing to learn new things, some of which will seem to be perplexing and at times a paradox. The link our two democracies share is rooted in much progress and benefit both of our countries. The bond forged between our two nations will be G-d willing more secured in honoring our own distinct indentities while working together. As a Jewish person living now back in the ancient place of our ancient beliefs (that apply more than ever now as we have returned and are fulfilling prophecy) please know- this has an enduring significance and will be of use to you.  As Israel surges forward into modern times and brings progress and blessing to the world, its source is from building on the firm foundation of what has been. Our values for the current world scenario shine out from the core backbone of the old original heartland of Israel to what will be: for you and for America and the world.

This place, the heartland of Israel, has been rebranded though, not only by the European Union, Unesco, and many Arab countries but most importantly -by that wonderful and dear democracy of America – into another word with a different meaning, as if it has no connection to Jewish people and that it must be cleared of them, to be made Judenrein. Natural growth of Jews here is highly condemned by the State Department while U.S. AID is buffing up Jihadist villages right here in the heart of Israel with U.S. taxpayers money. The challenges the Jewish people face in this place on a daily basis are hard to fathom (we have lost over twenty of our residents – some of them small children-to Jihadi murderers),as even our own Rabbis for the most part in America have turned their backs on us too as well as most major Jewish Organizations (JNF, Haddash, UJA and the list goes on) preferring to be politically correct. Liberals in America are very happy to stand up for rights of all citizens yet rabidly come against anything authentically Jewish in Israel’s heartland. Luckily we are resilient and stick to crystal clear ideals and values. Nothing is going to make us budge even if the whole world came against us entirely.

Now can be a time to rectify , at the fresh start of the morning of this new era. We are excited by your new role in being President of the United States and want to share with you the beauty and special charm of our historical, archeological, religious and strategic assets. It is interesting, beautiful, stimulating and amazing to see a grey dead piece of land come to life and watch it flourish – against the odds. You will notice how soothing it is here as you take a moment to feel the heart and core of the cornerstone of restoration. You too are a part of this. We hope to leave no stone unturned as world events unravel and our job to sustain and nourish both physically and spiritually are intensifying as the seconds pass by…..We are living in truly miraculous times.

This is a time of great clarification. May you be blessed with much success, good health and happiness and much KOACH- strength -in the days weeks and months ahead. I am Looking forward to seeing you here in Itamar.

All the best, Leah Goldsmith

Anti-Semitism is a real phenomenon. What gives it power is the failure of people to identify it. Balak is a powerful leader that seeks to bring Am Yisrael down to it’s knees. Balak knows about Segulat Yisrael yet thinks that if he uses an evil magician to undermine the Jewish people, he can over-ride Hashem. This parsha deals specifically with the forces of evil in their fight against righteousness. When it becomes hard to identify what an enemy is really doing, the victim usually gives in to the side of powerlessness. This method of camouflaged anti-Semitism has been used countless times throughout history, including the not so distant past of the 1930’s when the administration leaders, non-Jews and Jews as well in the U.S denied the facts of what Nazi Germany was planning for the Jews of Europe. The world powers of that time, including the “allied countries” too had trouble assessing the situation. People could not fathom that in the boom of industrial revolution and the modernization of the world, an evil so sadistic would eventually succeed. This is how the Germans rose to power. In a war like this, the fine line between reality and illusion is manipulated by the enemy. No-one identified the monster.

The truth to winning such a war is recognizing that there is in fact a war.

Harav Arielle Bar Tzadok wrote in his” war against evil”-”Illusions, fear, and lies severely limit the soldier on the battlefield and could seriously contribute to his defeat, more than his being out-gunned by the other side. There are far too many people, not just soldiers, who do not know how to think properly, to diagnose, to analyze situations within appropriate depth and insight. These people are subjected to one of the many forms of psychic attack. The attack could have either slowly or quickly broken down the rational mind, leaving him/her open to the influence and subject of submission. Independent rational thinking, coupled with one’s own ability to experience spiritual reality personally, makes a person become spiritually and psychically strong. One also must stand on the foundations of faith.”

This is when we begin to identify. Why is it that people closer to Torah values are more aware of what is happening today with modern day “Balaks”? Why are the court Jews and all the Jews that voted for a President that has the audacity to think he can govern and decide where Jews will live in Israel ( and according to him- not live)- not blinking? When a person believes in Hashem and the light He wishes to bring into the world through the Jewish people living in their Land, the example of living prophecy coming true, he will certainly see a red light screaming -when he hears a world leader calling for the restraint on natural growth in ancient Jewish places like Itamar, Shilo, Chevron and yes, even Jerusalem. It is easy for a person with a real identity, based on faith to see the psychic attack on the horizon. Removing Jews from their rightful place, is the most concentrated form of evil you will ever see. It is hard to discern this behind modern day, sweet talking, mesmerizing, white toothed and smiling good talk.

Don’t be fooled.

Hashem is all good. This we know in complete faith. These enemies of ours, they keep coming at us but we have resilience in knowing the secrets of the Torah. Doing good is one thing. It is done through acts of kindness, learning, praying, etc…. But there is something else that is revealed to us in this Parsha. It is turning something bad into something good. This is the highest level of worship. Fire and water really can never connect through the normal form of nature. A person in a body, using his senses of seeing, smelling, hearing, touching and tasting and viewing the world through those abilities, swims through life perceiving things. When in tune with the fine perceptions that being connected with Hashem allows, a constant flame burns on the altar of a person’s soul, the place presumably hidden, like most of reality. The miracle of being able to see the unseen is the gift given to the believer.

I saw a great saying that just about sums it up- this connects to this torah, and recent events: F.E.A.R – has two meanings- Forget Everything and Run – or   – Face Everything and Rise. The choice is yours. In the end, the only place to run will be here where we stand like watchmen on the walls of the blessing and the curse- and the curses turn only into blessings!- Right here we are preparing them for you.

Shabbat Shalom, Leah