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If you don't get the reference, check out HonestReporting. Also see the ADL's collection of anti-Israel/Jewish cartoons put out by the Arab world, and read more at Jewschool.
posted by G-D SQUAD at 2:30 PM
Monday, February 06, 2006
If you don't get the reference, check out HonestReporting. Also see the ADL's collection of anti-Israel/Jewish cartoons put out by the Arab world, and read more at Jewschool.
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3 Comments:
Obviously this topic was covered ad nauseam in the Jewish blog-world, but here's one more: Lazer Beams, which includes a very poignant cartoon depicting the hypocrisy.
A Truly Conscientious Zionist Thinker:
Rabbi Kook on Tu BiShevat: Emulating the Divine
by Chanan Morrison
Feb 13, '06 / 15 Shevat 5766
When the settlement of Magdiel celebrated its establishment, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook participated in the festivities. The ceremony included the planting of trees and Rabbi Kook was given the honor of placing the first sapling in the ground. The organizers handed the rabbi a hoe with which to dig the hole, but he threw it aside and began digging with his bare hands.
Rabbi Ze'ev Gold, who was also in attendance, noticed that Rabbi Kook suddenly became impassioned. His entire body seemed to quiver and shake, and his face looked like a burning flame, as he placed the sapling in the ground with awe and trepidation.
Rabbi Gold was quite baffled by Rabbi Kook's behavior and asked him: "What is all the excitement about? Thank God, people plant hundreds of trees every day in Eretz Yisrael!"
The rabbi replied: "When I held that tender sapling in my hand, I remembered the Midrash's interpretation of the verse, "You shall follow the Lord your God... and cling to Him" (Deuteronomy 13:5):
Is it possible for flesh and blood to ascend to the heavens and cling to the Shechinah, about Whom it is written, "For the Lord your God is a consuming fire" (Deut. 4:24)? ...Rather [the explanation is as follows]: At the beginning of creation, the Holy One Blessed be He engaged in planting, as it says, "The Lord God planted a garden in Eden." (Genesis 2:8) Similarly, when you enter the Land, engage in planting first, as it is written, "When you shall come into the Land, and you shall plant all types of fruit trees." (Leviticus 19:23) (Vayikra Rabbah 25:3)
"When I was about to put the sapling in the ground," Rabbi Kook explained, "I remembered these words and felt as if I was clinging to the Shechinah. Thus, I was overcome by fear and trembling."
[From An Angel Among Men by R. Simcha Raz, translated by R. Moshe Lichtman, pp. 273-274]
by the way this last comment was from me, Zev. I thought you might want to post this on the actual site.
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