This piece is educational, inspirational and for me, emotional. And this Polynesian stands with Israel and the Jewish people all the way. Nothing can convince me otherwise.
The opposite of sinat chinam is not sameness—it is the ability to embrace our differences while standing together as one nation before Hashem.
The period leading to Tisha B’Av is intended to awaken precisely this sensitivity. We mourn the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, but mourning is not merely an exercise in remembering history. It is an opportunity to examine whether the spiritual conditions that led to that destruction still exist within us. If the Temple fell because Jews became disconnected from one another, then its rebuilding begins when we reconnect.
Our soldiers should never feel forgotten. Our bereaved families should never feel abandoned after the headlines fade. Our wounded veterans should never have to fight their battles alone. Every widow, every orphan, and every displaced family should know that the entire Jewish nation carries their burden together.
Perhaps the greatest antidote to sinat chinam is not simply avoiding hatred. It is cultivating genuine responsibility for one another. It is opening our eyes to the struggles unfolding around us instead of allowing ourselves to become desensitized. It is refusing to accept that another Jew’s suffering is someone else’s problem.
If we can become more attentive to the pain of our brothers and sisters, more responsive to their needs, and more united in sharing one another’s burdens, perhaps we will spare ourselves additional suffering. Perhaps the unity that our Sages identified as the key to rebuilding what was lost can once again become the force that transforms mourning into redemption.
As the Talmud teaches, כל המתאבל על ירושלים זוכה ורואה בשמחתה—“Whoever mourns for Jerusalem will merit to witness her joy.” Genuine mourning is not merely sitting on the floor on Tisha B’Av or reciting Kinot. It is opening our hearts to the suffering of our people, allowing their pain to become our own, and responding with compassion, prayer, and action.
"Every generation produced someone convinced Jewish history was finally over."
In our generation it is the insurgent Judean and Samarian Arabs aided and abetted by the West and complicit B'nei Korach leftist Jews like Ehud Olmert, Ilan Pape et. al. who would see Israel wiped off the face of the earth and Jews scattered, if not outright done away with once and for all.
" 'Har HaBayit BeYadeinu' (May it ever be so!)
And with those words, the heart of Jerusalem began beating in Jewish hands once more."
Sadly, tragically, in keeping with Jewish tradition of winning the war but losing the peace, the Jewish general who liberated the Temple Mount, Moshe Dayan, turned it over to the Jordanian Waqf.
Should anyone be surprised that the very enemies Israel had just fought turned around and weaponized the Temple Mount to undermine Israel's claim of sovereignty over its own homeland? To add insult to injury the Israeli Supreme Court confirmed that surrender.
When The Temple Mount is restored to Israel, which Muslims have occupied and desecrated since 638 CE, we will know finally that the Muslim war against the Jewish people, waged since Mohammad fled to Medina in 622 CE, has ended.
Like Entebbe only nine years later , these are the new markers and milestones of Israeli and Jewish history in the present.
After the October 7th evil that a disunited , God - tepid ,secular nation was severely punished for, by real evil? I think I'd add September 2024 and those blessed pagers for Hezbollah ,as another landmark that shows God is still with Israel and the Jews..Repent, get your Tanakh out and live like God is with you !
This piece is educational, inspirational and for me, emotional. And this Polynesian stands with Israel and the Jewish people all the way. Nothing can convince me otherwise.
Alil our lands in JEWISH hands.
1 STATE 🇮🇱.
No more ' paddycake ' playing
with JEW haters and kapo,
they are not to EVER
be trusted.
I came. I touched the stone. Though I am two weeks back home I can still feel the stone, and always will!
Geula—Rabbi Josh Wander wrote—
The opposite of sinat chinam is not sameness—it is the ability to embrace our differences while standing together as one nation before Hashem.
The period leading to Tisha B’Av is intended to awaken precisely this sensitivity. We mourn the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, but mourning is not merely an exercise in remembering history. It is an opportunity to examine whether the spiritual conditions that led to that destruction still exist within us. If the Temple fell because Jews became disconnected from one another, then its rebuilding begins when we reconnect.
Our soldiers should never feel forgotten. Our bereaved families should never feel abandoned after the headlines fade. Our wounded veterans should never have to fight their battles alone. Every widow, every orphan, and every displaced family should know that the entire Jewish nation carries their burden together.
Perhaps the greatest antidote to sinat chinam is not simply avoiding hatred. It is cultivating genuine responsibility for one another. It is opening our eyes to the struggles unfolding around us instead of allowing ourselves to become desensitized. It is refusing to accept that another Jew’s suffering is someone else’s problem.
If we can become more attentive to the pain of our brothers and sisters, more responsive to their needs, and more united in sharing one another’s burdens, perhaps we will spare ourselves additional suffering. Perhaps the unity that our Sages identified as the key to rebuilding what was lost can once again become the force that transforms mourning into redemption.
As the Talmud teaches, כל המתאבל על ירושלים זוכה ורואה בשמחתה—“Whoever mourns for Jerusalem will merit to witness her joy.” Genuine mourning is not merely sitting on the floor on Tisha B’Av or reciting Kinot. It is opening our hearts to the suffering of our people, allowing their pain to become our own, and responding with compassion, prayer, and action.
By Geula , Rabbi Josh Wander
"Every generation produced someone convinced Jewish history was finally over."
In our generation it is the insurgent Judean and Samarian Arabs aided and abetted by the West and complicit B'nei Korach leftist Jews like Ehud Olmert, Ilan Pape et. al. who would see Israel wiped off the face of the earth and Jews scattered, if not outright done away with once and for all.
" 'Har HaBayit BeYadeinu' (May it ever be so!)
And with those words, the heart of Jerusalem began beating in Jewish hands once more."
Sadly, tragically, in keeping with Jewish tradition of winning the war but losing the peace, the Jewish general who liberated the Temple Mount, Moshe Dayan, turned it over to the Jordanian Waqf.
Should anyone be surprised that the very enemies Israel had just fought turned around and weaponized the Temple Mount to undermine Israel's claim of sovereignty over its own homeland? To add insult to injury the Israeli Supreme Court confirmed that surrender.
Thank you for sharing this. It gladdens my heart
When The Temple Mount is restored to Israel, which Muslims have occupied and desecrated since 638 CE, we will know finally that the Muslim war against the Jewish people, waged since Mohammad fled to Medina in 622 CE, has ended.
Magnificent.
Yashar Koach.
Yeah
You have a gift for words. Thank you
Great article.
Like Entebbe only nine years later , these are the new markers and milestones of Israeli and Jewish history in the present.
After the October 7th evil that a disunited , God - tepid ,secular nation was severely punished for, by real evil? I think I'd add September 2024 and those blessed pagers for Hezbollah ,as another landmark that shows God is still with Israel and the Jews..Repent, get your Tanakh out and live like God is with you !
By G-d's grace, the most sacred of Jewish places shall eternally remain in our hands.