Adirei Torah YU Style.....

 

While Iran bleeds the region, China watches – The American President Shanda

The Chinese Proxy, Iran, Keep Americans Bogged Down In The Middle East While China Plans To Move On Taiwan Before Trump Leaves Office....

The great trick of modern geopolitics is that the most dangerous wars are often not the ones that begin with armies crossing borders, but the ones that drain a nation’s attention, patience, and will. America, once a civilization capable of seeing the whole board, now seems condemned to stare at the Middle East like a man hypnotized by a fire in one room while someone quietly breaks into the house through the back door. Iran understands this. China understands it even better. And together they exploit an American political class that confuses motion with strategy and noise with strength.

Iran is not merely a regional nuisance. It has become the perfect proxy instrument: cheap, fanatical, deniable, and endlessly expandable. Through militias, missiles, drones, terror networks, and constant provocation, Tehran keeps the United States and its allies stuck in a cycle of reaction. Every day spent managing Iran’s chaos is a day America is not spending on the larger civilizational challenge. That is the genius of the arrangement, if one is cynical enough to call it genius: keep Washington exhausted, morally tangled, and strategically distracted.

While Iran bleeds the region, China watches. Beijing does not need to fire a shot to benefit from American overcommitment. It simply needs America to remain busy in the wrong theater. A superpower that is dragged into a permanent crouch in the Middle East is a superpower less able to deter in the Pacific. Taiwan, after all, is not an abstract question. It is a test of whether the United States still means what it says when the stakes are higher than campaign rhetoric and lower than apocalypse. China knows that the window for bold moves opens when Washington is overstretched, internally divided, and strategically tired.

And that is the deeper scandal: not merely that enemies are scheming, but that America keeps handing them opportunities. The same establishment that warns of “escalation” at every turn has spent years manufacturing paralysis. It wants no decisive victory, no clear doctrine, no serious burden-bearing. It prefers managed decline with good press coverage. So Iran is tolerated, China is “engaged,” and the American people are told that prudence means drifting while adversaries prepare.

This is how empires get embarrassed. Not always by defeat, but by distraction. The nation that cannot decide where its real front line is will eventually discover that the enemy has chosen it for him. The Middle East may still be a graveyard of illusions, but Taiwan is where illusions meet steel. And if America remains trapped in one swamp while China studies the next battlefield, the bill will not come due in theory. It will come due in history. 

 

REPUBLISHED

 

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/while-iran-bleeds-the-region-china-watches-the-american-president-shanda/

Abuse, Abandonment, and Autonomy

Be'halot'cha (Numbers 8-12)     

Beha’alosecha 5786: Abuse, Abandonment, and Autonomy

Series: Shabbat Shalom Weekly

 

When children curse their parents for forcing independence, the proper response is silence – not retaliation. This counterintuitive approach, and acceptance of abuse from one’s two-year-old, proves to the child that the parent’s actions are truly for the child’s benefit, not the parent’s ego. Taking abuse without responding demonstrates genuine love because there’s no personal benefit to the parent in accepting such treatment. 

As a senior staff member of a college and rabbinical school, students often come to me for advice on choosing a life path and career. In the last six months, I had two students who decided to end their status as full-time students and – based on their personalities (and for completely different reasons) – I recommended that each of them consider a career in plumbing.

Both took my advice and found themselves plumbing apprenticeships. One lasted exactly half a day; his team was called out to a Taco Bell to clear out a sewage blockage (one can only imagine what that must have been like). After a couple of hours this former student was 100% convinced that plumbing was not for him.

By contrast, the second student found his apprenticeship both fulfilling and rewarding. I asked him if he minded some of the more unpleasant aspects and he said to me, “Rabbi, I am low man on the totem pole and there are some days that I come home in clothes that stink to high heaven, but I just LOVE my job. I work extremely hard and come home exhausted and often smelly, but I would not have it any other way.”

Upon reflecting on their sharply differing attitudes, I realized that the main difference between them was that the first student was just looking for a way to earn money and make a life for himself. He quickly concluded that plumbing was not for him and that there must be a better way to earn money. The second student, however, immediately saw himself as a plumber and thus he quickly found the job itself fulfilling – despite its less pleasant moments. In fact, even coming home smelly just concretized in his mind that he was a plumber.

This week’s Torah portion has a relevant message about self-definition. In fact, it has a rather astonishing statement from Moses regarding the issues of leadership and how he characterizes motherhood.

After yet another litany of complaints from the Israelites about the lack of food variety and their continual pining for the “good ol’ days” of living in Egypt, Moses gets pretty fed up with them and his responsibilities as their leader and he says to God:

Why are you treating your servant so badly? Don’t you like me anymore? Why do you place such a burden on me? Am I their mother who was pregnant with them and carried them in my belly? Did I give birth to them? Why have You told me that I must carry them in my bosom and act as a nursemaid would treat an infant until they get to the land You swore to give to their ancestors? Now they are whining to me to give them meat. Where can I get enough meat to give all these people?
I cannot be responsible for this entire nation! It is too hard for me! If You are going to do this to me, just do me a favor and kill me! Don’t let me stay in this terrible predicament! (Numbers 11:10-15)

The great medieval Biblical commentator known as Rashi explains (ibid 11:12) that when the Almighty told Moses and Aaron to lead the Jewish people and carry them in their “bosom” that He meant they must lead even if/when the Israelites hurl curses, insults, or even stones at them.

This reveals a fundamental truth about parenting: it inherently involves some abuse by one’s children. What is going on here? What kind of definition is this about the responsibilities of parenthood? We must examine the source for the potential antipathy a child might have toward his parents.

Every child experiences trauma at birth – being expelled from the perfect temperature-controlled security of having every need met in the mother’s womb into a cold, demanding world of (albeit, minimal) independence. As parents go on to wean, toilet train, and gradually withdraw support, children naturally feel betrayed and angry. They rage against parents who are pushing them into independence, perhaps even without guaranteeing that they have the tools to succeed. This contentious beginning is one of the sources of the universal parent-child tension that fills psychology offices worldwide.

The modern solution of extended financial dependence only serves to exacerbate this problem. It creates entitled adults who, not having to face life on their own, fail to develop proper coping skills. This lack of personal development and resilience upon failure leads to a much more debilitating issue; the absence of confidence to succeed on their own. As their personal obligations increase, they become ever more reluctant to release their financial dependence on others because they don’t have any proof that they can thrive alone.

Thus, today we have another cultural phenomenon: whole swaths of modern society – yes, mainly wealthy families – support their married children’s lifestyles and life choices, never requiring their children to take responsibility for their own families or financial obligations. Sadly, this has begun to create a welfare mentality even among the affluent.

The true goal of parenting, like leadership, is not to provide perpetual care but to develop independence. Every step in parenting leads to this; birth and forcing a child to breathe on his own, weaning and forcing the child to feed himself, potty-training and forcing the child to take care of his bodily functions and personal cleanliness, etc. Our goal is to push our children – whether they like it or not – to their own personal success as independent beings, one step at a time.

When children curse their parents for forcing independence, the proper response is silence – not retaliation. This counterintuitive approach, and acceptance of abuse from one’s two-year-old, proves to the child that the parent’s actions are truly for the child’s benefit, not the parent’s ego. Taking abuse without responding demonstrates genuine love because there’s no personal benefit to the parent in accepting such treatment.

We find this concept elsewhere in the Torah. In Hebrew the word azov paradoxically means both ‘abandon’ and ‘help.’ True help enables eventual abandonment. Meaning, the only way you know that you have truly helped someone is when they reach the point when they don’t need you anymore. This is like teaching a child to ride a bicycle; in the beginning you hold on to him and the bike, but eventually you have to make a conscious decision to let go. If you continue holding on then he won’t learn to ride a bike. The goal is always to reach the point where support can be withdrawn (i.e. “abandonment”) so that independence can be achieved.

But the only way parents can properly do this is if they define themselves as parents, first and foremost. We have to constantly remember that parenting is hard and yes, it can be a lifelong commitment to helping your children become independent. It certainly comes with challenges, and we must adapt and make adjustments as our children grow.

Parenting can be innately contradicting, like when we spend the first three years of our children’s lives teaching them to walk and talk, and the next fifteen years telling them to sit down and be quiet. It can also feel like running a customer service department for customers who have no interest in following directions or using the product properly. We continuously get performance reviews from customers who can’t find their shoes, insist they put them on themselves, and then get angry when they hurt after putting them on the wrong feet. But we weather it all.

That is, unless we do not define ourselves as parents and resent the responsibilities of parenting. This is when we plug our children into devices so that they won’t bother us and insulate ourselves from taking care of them by hiring nannies and drivers to take them to soccer practice and play dates. We actively ignore every opportunity to spend alone time with them – particularly when their lives are hard and demanding. We prioritize our careers and delude ourselves into believing that providing financial security is more important than being present to support our children.

However, endless financial support does not teach independence. Defining ourselves as their parents and building our children’s self-esteem through unconditional love allows our children to grow confident enough to make own choices. Parental support is not about guaranteeing that our children make the choices we would make; it’s about creating an environment in which children know they are safe to make their own life choices and we will be there regardless of success or failure. We must provide the tools to give them the confidence to make their own choices regarding career, spouse, religiosity, etc.

Most importantly, we must be prepared to let go and – at every juncture – accept the resistance that comes with pushing our children toward independence. This the only way to develop our children into genuine responsible adults rather than perpetual dependents. It is also the only way to be a true leader; like Moses and Aaron.

https://aish.com/behaalosecha-5786-abuse-abandonment-and-autonomy/

Yahrzeit of Moreinu Horav Moshe Wolfson zt"l - 17 Sivan

 

Yahrzeit of

Moreinu Horav

Moshe Wolfson zt"l

17 Sivan

    

R' Moshe ben R' Shmuel Yehuda zt"l

Today, 17 Sivan marks the Yahrzeit of our revered Mashgiach, Moreinu Horav Moshe Wolfson zt"l. The Mashgiach was unique – he was with Yeshiva Torah Vodaath for 93 years! First as a young talmid, then a Rebbe and eventually the Mashgiach of the Bais Medrash.

The Mashgiach told his family that though he imbibed from the kedushah and avodah of many rebbes, the one who shaped him and who was his Rebbe muvhak was Rav Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, pioneer of Torah in America, founder and Menahel of our Mesivta and founder of Torah Umesorah.

In 1947, as a bachur all of 22 years of age, the Mashgiach was chosen to teach a group of teenage boys who had come to the Yeshivah from different countries in South America. With a combination of love and wisdom, he was remarkably successful with these boys. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed to teach young talmidim in the Yeshiva Ketana, where the Mashgiach was very successful and very beloved.

Eventually, Rav Wolfson was appointed by Rav Nesanel Quinn as assistant menahel. Rav Wolfson occasionally delivered a shmuess to the bachurim, who loved the shmuessen and wanted more. The Rosh Yeshivah, Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, took note. When the position of Mashgiach became available in the Beis Medrash, it was offered to Rav Wolfson.    

He became Mashgiach and was outstanding in dealing with bachurim and in delivering uplifting shmuessen on emunah, tefillah, the yamim tovim and other important topics. With his clear daas Torah and strict adherence to emes, he guided scores of talmidim, many of whom remained attached to him until his passing.

In 1969, the Mashgiach was offered the position of Mara d’Asra of Camp Torah Vodaath and also served as head of the camp’s Masmidim program. He conducted a tish every Friday night on the front lawn, replete with zemiros, sippurei tzaddikim, and divrei Torah. At some point, the Mashgiach decided to change the Masmidim’s way of davening. The Mashgiach spoke about connecting to the Ribono shel Olam through slow, loud, heartfelt tefillos. The roots of Emunas Yisroel had been planted.

The Mashgiach once said that he felt he was sent down to this world to be machazek the avodah of tefillah. It began in Camp Torah Vodaath and was greatly expanded with the founding of Emunas Yisroel, as the Mashgiach taught generations to daven slowly, loudly, and most importantly, with true feeling and kavanah. What began with a small group of Torah Vodaath talmidim became a worldwide movement of sorts. Rav Shimson Pincus zt”l, who was the Mashgiach’s talmid in first grade, said that Emunas Yisroel’s davening influenced all of Boro Park. Today, with branches in Boro Park, Lakewood, Monsey, Yerushalayim, and Beitar, its influence has spread much further.

The Mashgiach also became renowned for his shmuessen, in which he demonstrated a unique capability of chiddush and incredible power of gematria. His shmuessen were first published in Lashon HaKodesh under the title Emunas Itecha, which today is among the most often-quoted chassidishe sefarim. Recordings of his shmuessen both in Yiddish and English are listened to by frum Jews of all shades and stripes. To date, ten sefarim in English, based on his shmuessen, have been published.

The Mashgiach's desire was to serve the Ribono shel Olam, nothing else mattered. Despite his fame, the Mashgiach remained the same humble tzaddik. Every moment of his life was devoted to avodas Hashem and that included not only tefillah, but also limud haTorah, tzedakah and chesed. Every moment was lived with purpose, with a focus. And yet, along with his great madreigos of avodah, kedushah, and taharah, the Mashgiach was so accessible, so down to earth, so easy to speak with. His words, though measured, conveyed so much love for every Yid but especially for his talmidim.

Yehi Zichro Baruch!

 

For the publication released at the Yeshiva's Legacy Dinner

"HAMASHGIACH​"

TALMIDIM REMEMBER

click here

​​​​​​

For a short biography with pictures that appears in

"AMERICA'S YESHIVA"

click here

Enjoy This Wonderful Composition From Ben-Zion Shenker OBM

 

Golden Oldie :-)

 

Watching Humanity's Descent Into Chaos

 

For the last twenty years, I have had the peculiar sensation that I am living inside a psychiatric experiment designed by people who failed psychiatry. Every year brings another revelation, another movement, another self-appointed redeemer promising to heal humanity while simultaneously making it impossible for neighbors to speak to one another. The modern world suffers from a surplus of prophets and a shortage of adults.

The messianic crazies are everywhere. Some predict the end of capitalism, others the end of democracy, others the end of Western civilization, and still others the end of the world itself. Every one of them claims to possess secret knowledge unavailable to ordinary mortals. They speak with absolute certainty because certainty is the only asset they possess. Facts can be challenged. Evidence can be questioned. Certainty, delivered with sufficient arrogance, can attract millions.

The ancient rabbis understood something that modern society has forgotten: anyone who claims to know everything is usually advertising his ignorance. Yet ours is an age in which humility has become a disqualification. The man who says, "I might be wrong," is ignored. The man who declares, "I alone understand reality," gets a podcast, a book deal, and twenty million followers. Confidence has replaced competence. Volume has replaced wisdom.

Never in human history have so many people known so little while speaking so much. The internet promised the democratization of knowledge. Instead, it often democratized nonsense. Every uninformed opinion now arrives dressed as expertise. Every rumor is presented as investigative journalism. Every conspiracy theory comes wrapped in the language of courage and independent thinking. Millions spend hours consuming content hosted by people whose primary qualification is possession of a microphone and an inflated opinion of themselves.

A civilization that once produced engineers, scientists, philosophers, and statesmen now seems increasingly fascinated by influencers explaining geopolitics between advertisements for dietary supplements and sports betting apps. The old village idiot at least had the courtesy to remain in his village. The new village idiot enjoys global distribution, sponsorship deals, and a devoted audience.

Meanwhile, hatred has become society's most successful growth industry. The political Left manufactures it. The political Right manufactures it. Activists manufacture it. Media personalities manufacture it. Social media platforms distribute it with industrial efficiency. Entire careers are built upon convincing one group of people that another group represents an existential threat. Fear sells. Anger sells. Humiliation sells. Revenge sells. Truth struggles to find investors.

The result is a society increasingly incapable of distinguishing between disagreement and evil. Every argument becomes a crusade. Every election becomes "the most important election in history." Every policy dispute becomes a cosmic struggle between absolute good and absolute evil. Such thinking may be emotionally satisfying, but it is intellectually infantile. A civilization cannot function when every debate is transformed into Armageddon.

The Jewish people have seen this movie before. We have watched societies lose their minds. We have witnessed mass hysteria dressed up as moral virtue. We have observed educated people repeat obvious falsehoods because those falsehoods were fashionable. We have seen crowds intoxicated by slogans, leaders elevated into messianic figures, and institutions surrender their judgment to collective madness. History's most dangerous moments rarely begin with tanks. They begin with lies.

Small lies become acceptable. Large lies become profitable. Eventually, truth itself becomes negotiable. Once that happens, everything becomes possible. The most remarkable feature of modern civilization is not its technological brilliance but its intellectual recklessness. Humanity has invented machines capable of connecting billions of people instantly across continents. We then used those machines to amplify every prejudice, every delusion, every narcissist, every charlatan, and every fanatic we could find.

The result resembles less a global community than a global food fight. Everyone is screaming. Nobody is listening. Everybody belongs to a tribe. Nobody belongs to the truth. The tragedy is not merely that so many people have become dishonest. The tragedy is that honesty itself has become unfashionable. Admitting uncertainty is viewed as weakness. Intellectual caution is viewed as cowardice. Reflection is viewed as hesitation. The loudest voice wins, not because it is correct, but because it is loud.

And so humanity marches forward, armed with supercomputers, artificial intelligence, instant communication, and the emotional maturity of a middle-school cafeteria. The rabbis taught that wisdom begins with recognizing one's limitations. Modern civilization teaches the opposite. It teaches that ignorance accompanied by confidence is a substitute for wisdom.

That lesson may prove to be the most expensive one humanity has ever learned. A society can survive disagreement. It can survive hardship. It can survive political conflict. What it cannot survive indefinitely is the systematic destruction of the distinction between truth and falsehood. That, more than any election, ideology, political party, or public figure, is the real crisis of our age. Not that people disagree about reality, but that increasing numbers of people no longer believe reality has any authority over them at all. The road from civilization to chaos is shorter than most people imagine.

 The first step is not violence. The first step is convincing ourselves that truth no longer matters.

REPUBLISHED

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/watching-humanitys-descent-into-chaos/