Are We at the Beginning Stages of a 1960s-1970s-Style Teshuva Movement?
Lots of nice Teshuva taking place in the Israeli government and beyond!
Arutz Sheva:
Interior Minister Gideon Saar has begun to observe the Sabbath and attend Torah lessons, reports the news website Mako after speaking to sources close to Saar.
According to the report, Minister Saar cannot be said to be “making tshuva” – becoming religiously observant or adopting a religious lifestyle – at this point, but he does observe the Sabbath, at least in the sense that he does not drive on Sabbath and does not answer telephone calls except after the stars come out on motzei Shabbat, marking the end of the sacred day.
He has also begun to attend Torah lessons “occasionally.”
Sources close to the minister and his wife, star news presenter Geula Even, said that the change in the couple's life took place on the day in which they held the brit ceremony for their first son, David. The event, in which Saar served as sandak (“godfather”) appears to have brought about a dramatic spiritual change in Saar that led him to change his lifestyle.
Arutz Sheva:
Journalist Emily Amrousi wrote in Yisrael Hayom on Friday details of Finance Minister Yair Lapid's visit to the home of kidnapped Gilad Sha'ar (16) in Talmon, revealing the impact the abduction appears to be having on Israeli society.Add that to the Tehilim gathering in the Knesset and the ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE uptick in Ahdut and we may have the beginning stages of a new Teshuva Movement. May it be so.
Bat-Galim, Gilad's mother, told Lapid on Friday about the groom who arrived at their home on the morning of his wedding as a sign of support to strengthen them, and about the prayers being held worldwide for the safe return of their son and the IDF soldiers searching for him, Naftali Frenkel (16), and Eyal Yifrah (19).
"I too won't be able to look in the mirror knowing that I didn't do the maximum" to free the teens, Lapid told Gilad's mother.
"I haven't prayed for six years. Since the bar mitzvah of my son I haven't been in a synagogue. When the story of your sons broke, I looked through the entire house searching for my grandfather's siddur (prayerbook). I sat and prayed," acknowledged Lapid.
Hundreds gathered in Talmon on Friday for a prayer rally attended by both Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi David Lau and Chief Sepharadic Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, along with Rabbi Yitzhak David Grossman.
Lapid's prayers come as reports Wednesday revealed Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar (Likud) has begun to observe Shabbat and attend Torah lessons, in an apparent process of “making tshuva” – becoming religiously observant or adopting a religious lifestyle.
Sa'ar's Shabbat observance includes not answering telephone calls except after the stars come out on motzei Shabbat, marking the end of the sacred day.
Outgoing President Shimon Peres met with the parents of the abducted teens on Thursday at his Presidential Residence.
"Three families like this can lift up a nation to heights previously unknown, and I'm not exaggerating. It's been several days that Israel is different, unified, joined, praying, fighting," Peres told them, remarking on the change in Israeli society since the kidnapping.
For all those naysayers who say that Teshuva in Israeli society will never happen, I say, "Yair Lapid just picked up a Siddur. Enough said." We see that ישועת ה' כהרף עין - Hashem's salvation comes in the blink of an eye.
As we know, Teshuva is a prerequisite for Geula. Ribbi Yehoshua and Ribbi Eliezer only argue about how we get to that stage of Teshuva, but all agree it's necessary. Is the kidnapping of the 3 boys equivalent to Haman-like decrees? I don't know, but I hope the decrees don't get any worse. May all Jews throughout the world see the importance of Teshuva and may that Teshuva be the catalyst that brings Mashiah Tzidkenu Bimheira Veyameinu, Amen.
posted by yaak @ 6/20/2014 01:50:00 PM
15 comments
15 Comments:
Baruch HaShem!!!
Watch out world...
Why "Watch out world"?
The world will be happy and know the truth when Mashiach comes, and judgement will come upon Jew and goyim, alike.
May Mashiach come, and may the Boys return now already. Amen.
You make me sick , there were ss guards who gave jews breaks in the death camps as is known . The mixed multitude is made up of magicians who lie via sorcerty as they did at the egel zahav as "WE WATCHED ". How dare you equate the state of Israel with tshuvah . He murmicks a prayer yet votes for every immorality and missionary activities throughout the land . How dare you call this repentance .. Yes im surprised by the good deeds of these 3 ~ who knows The Talmud asks can a leopard change its spots ? The gaon warns the mixed multitude is a harder test then edom and Ishmael because they work via " deception " kol hator . Missionaries doing work with the poor throughout Israel , homosexual openness rare in most other countries ,, this is where these men need to repent >
annon no 3. who are you upset with:
the article or annon no.2.
Anon 4 Upset with the article I reread my comment it was overly harsh . But since oslo peres rabin arafat clinton theres been so much inner rot and ineptitude ,,,,, I love Yaaks work in general just giving them the benefit of the doubt stung the wrong way .
Anonymous 7:44 and 11:31,
When a Jew who is known to do terrible things does a good thing, what should our reaction be:
He's just like a nazi guard and an Erev Rav magician!!!!
Or...
Kol Hakavod for this act!!!
I choose the latter.
Of course, it is nowhere near the complete Teshuva necessary, but a step in the right direction, it is. And I will continue to give credit where credit is due.
I'm no fan of President Obama, but I gave him credit for something he did on behalf of Israel (unfortunately, an all-too-rare occurrence).
I'm no fan of Sean Penn's personal life or his political views, but I have given him credit when he very much deserved it.
I will do the same with Lapid. He deserves the credit to find his grandfather's Siddur, pray with it, and admit that he did so to the media. Maybe it was a ploy for attention - I don't know - but he deserves credit for it. Believe me, no one is going to start supporting Yesh Atid because of this act any time soon. May he continue on this path of seeking Hashem and maybe one day, he'll realize the error of his past ways.
We spoke about this on Shabbat. My husband told me Lapid's grandfather was a tzadik, and that a group of Rabbis went to his lever in Europe (?) to daven, when Yair was enacting his drastic cuts to the Haredi lifestyle.
So, he does recognize the kedusha of his grandfather. I also heard him in an interview speak about his grandfather. But when you are raised by a loving father who just happens to be a 'religion hater' it makes for soulful confusion within a child's psyche.
I would give up on him just yet.
Oops, " I would NOT give up on him just yet."
I believe that Gid'on Sa'ar sends his son to a cheder in Chevron. It was one of the reasons that when he was Education Minister he made visits to Chevron and Ma'arat Machpela mandatory for all Israeli students. So there is nothing new here with him at least. Lapid is an Am HaAretz, like his forebear Lapidot from Sheivet Ephraim. He simply needs someone to show him how to thicken the wicks.... He is the son of a Shoah survivor who rejected G-d. So whoever shows him has to be patient. The klipah of the Reform movement will die when the US Dollar takes a nosedive into the abyss. Then others like him here will be reachable.
Sorry folks, you got it wrong. Lapid and his ilk are like magicians (the Erev Rav were are also magicians and out of the ten measures of black magic that H' gave, nine were taken by Egypt). All this 'compassion', etc. are all an act. We read now that he is working on undoing Halachic brit milah. Do not give one iota of admiration to those who have a history of hating you. BTW, Neshama which grandfather was a tzadik? His father's mother was a non Jew (read where they're not sure if she was converted halachically). We are not speaking of personal issues here; this is about leadership of the Jewish people in the Jewish Homeland which is presently being ripped away from the Jews. We are in the process of redemption and only H' will win this ultimate war that is being perpetrated against Him and His children. In a blink of an eye, is all it will take for HIM to vanquish our enemies.
Anonymous 2:46,
Neshama was referring to his great-great-great-grandfather.
See here.
Facinating 10 measures of black magic 9 taken by egypt . I read that jc went to egypt to learn as well .
Facinating 10 measures of black magic 9 taken by egypt . I read that jc went to egypt to learn as well .
Rav Ya'akov Adas shlit"a says that Peres the Vulture by his own choice of last names, the leading black magician, caused the kidnapping of the three teens because of his prayerfest with Abbas and the Pope in the Vatican Rose Garden on the Xtian/ Tziduki Pentecost. Oh, and Peres knew exactly what he was doing. His motto: Carrion eaters unite!!
Thank you Yaakov, for the clarification. That must be what my husband ad in mind (re Rabbi Klein).
Dov, I don't believe that. I agree with Rav Eliyahu Shlit"a.
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