Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor

Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher, and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money,  and spiritual engagement. Now also a Blogger on the Times of Israel. Look for my column

Love Yehuda Lave

Tisha B’Av 2020 In 2020, Tisha B'Av begins at sunset on Wednesday, July 29

Ascent to the Temple Mount on Tish A'bov

Since this is the date set by our Rabbis for the mourning of the Temple, many Temple Mount Advocates, including myself, will be going up to the Temple Mount to help us feel the loss of the Temple. Please contact me if you want to join me.

I will be joining Yehuda Glick, a well known former Member of Knesset. Rabbi Yehuda Glick, is the founder of the Shalom Jerusalem Foundation, dedicated to opening Har HaBayit (The Temple Mount) as a house of prayer for all nations. The Shalom Jerusalem Foundation is the only non-profit in the world actively engaged in cross-party advocacy for increased access to Har HaBayit in the halls of Israel’s Knesset for the Jewish people.

There are certain rules and restrictions when you are Jewish to go up to the Temple Mount. One must wear non-leather shoes, and immerse in a mikvah before ascending the Temple Mount.  Because of the situation of the Muslim police on the temple mount that religious objects (including prayer books) are not permitted on the Temple Mount. It is best to leave your wallet and personal items behind, but you are allowed to bring your cell phone, and of course, many people have prayers on their cell phone, but you must not pray obviously, or you risk the chance of being arrested.

I already said three weeks ago that people over 60 or with preconditions should not fast--here is some more proof of my postion from someone else who sumerizes the Rabbis

Fasting on the 9th of Av in the Age of Corona (COVID, sick, pregnancy, eating disorders):

There are many positions going around with regard to fasting this year. For what it’s worth, these are my feelings, based on both written and oral instructions I’ve received from senior poskim whose judgment on this issue I believe is spot-on:

1. If you have currently tested positive for COVID-19, or have tested negative but are still recovering from it in any manner whatsoever (even if from a few months ago) – do not fast. If you feel totally great b”h but are still within the initial 2 week period: do not fast.

(If you feel totally great and have passed this 2-week period: please contact your health care professional for guidance and then consult with your rabbi).

You do not need to fast with shiurim (Explanation: most poskim rule that the concept of shiurim only applies to Yom Kippur, not 9th of Av)

2. If you are *symptomatic* and are waiting to be tested or waiting for results – do not fast at all.

3. If you have a fever above 38c / 100.5f (even if you have tested negative) – do not fast at all.

The following should not fast regularly but should eat and drink in shiurim:

1. If you are high-risk if you get COVID-19 (because of age or a pre-existing health condition), even if you do not have symptoms: do not fast normally.-This means over 60

2. If you are in precautionary quarantine (bidud), even if you do not have symptoms: do not fast normally.

Explanation: 9th of Av is a very important fast, but at the end of the day, it is a derabanan law and the mesorah is that we change the rules of fasting in a time of a pandemic. We are in the midst of a massive worldwide health care crisis with hospitals at risk of getting overloaded. We cannot mess around with this. This falls into the category of “Hilkhot Tzibbur” (based on mesorah from Bi’ur Halakha 554:6). I am aware that some people are in bidud because we are being extremely precautious. If we are going to lock you up for 2 weeks on the slight chance that you have COVID, so too we are going to make sure that your body and immune system are in good shape.

What's UP

What's UP!?

No wonder foreigners have a hard time learning our language!!  Scroll down and get a true kick out of this one ..

 jj

UP    
      Read until  the end ...  you'll laugh.         
 
          
      This two-letter word  in English has more meanings than any other  two-letter word, and that word is 'UP.'  It is listed in  the dictionary as an [adv.], [prep.], [adj.], [n]  or [v].         
 
 
It's easy to  understand UP, meaning toward the sky  or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in  the morning, why do we wake UP?         
 
At a meeting, why  does a topic come UP?  Why do we speak  UP, and why are the  officers UP for election and why is  it UP to  the secretary to write UP a  report?  We call UP our friends, brighten  UP a room, polish  UP  the silver, warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen.  We  lock UP the house and fix  UP the old  car.         
         
 
At other times, this  little word has real special meaning.   People stir UPtrouble, line  UP for tickets, work  UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.         
           
 
To be dressed is one  thing but to be dressed UP  is special.         
           
 
And this  UP is confusing:  A  drain must be opened UP because it is stopped  UP.
 
We open  UP a store in the morning  but we close it UPat night.  We seem  to be pretty mixed UP about UP!         
 
 
To be knowledgeable  about the proper uses of  UP, look UP the word UP in the dictionary.   In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost  1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty  definitions.         
          
 
If you are  UP to it,  you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is  used.  It will take UP a lot of your time, but  if you don't give UP, you may wind  UP with a hundred or  more.         
        
 
When it threatens to  rain, we say it is clouding UP.  When the sun  comes out, we say it is clearing UP.  When it rains,  the earth soaks it UP.  When it  does not rain for awhile, things dry  UP.  One could go on  and on, but I'll wrap itUP, for now . . . my time  is UP!        
 
            
Oh . . . one more thing:  What are the first thing you do in  the morning and the last thing you do at  night?         
 
 
U         
          
      P          !         
 
 
Did that one crack you UP?         
 
Don't screw  UP.  Send this on to everyone you look UP in your address book .  . . or not . . . it's UP to you.        
 
Now I'll shut  UP!

Ideas, that help explain how the world works

Turning 70

Forty is the old age of youth; fifty the youth of old age. Victor Hugo, poet, novelist, and dramatist
Remember how excited you are when you turn 5 years old. You should be 14 times that excited. Happy 70th birthday! unknown
Turning .70.. is like flying: hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. Erica Jong, novelist, satirist, and poet

70 is an excellent age... if you’re a bottle of wine. unknown
There are plenty of good things about being 70. Just ask any 80 year old. unknown
A Man who views the world the same at 70 has he did at twenty has wasted 50 years of his life.      Muhammad Ali professional boxer, activist, and philanthropist
You’re not 70 – you’re 7 perfect 10s! unknown
When you’re 70, every time you look in the mirror you think it must be April Fools Day. Melanie White, designer

Maybe it's true that life begins at 70. But everything else starts to wear out, fall out, or spread out.      Phyllis Diller, comedienne
There’s nothing stressful about turning 70 – except people reminding you about it.      Melanie White
By the time we hit 70, we have learned our hardest lessons. We have found out that only a few things are really important. We have learned to take life seriously, but never ourselves.      Marie Dressler, actress
At 70, everyone has the face he deserves. George Orwell, author
The years between fifty and seventy are the hardest. You are always being asked to do things, and yet you are not decrepit enough to turn them down.      T S Eliot, poet
70 is the age when you look back and smile at what you have achieved, frown at those missed opportunities, and release a slight chuckle at those moments.      unknown
If you haven’t grown up by age 70, you don’t have to.      unknown
Being 70 takes stamina and endurance that even youth doesn’t offer. unknown
The heyday of a woman's life is the shady side of 70.     Elizabeth Cady Stanton, women's movement leader
Turning 70 gives me more yesterdays than tomorrows.      Bill Clinton, The Prez
After a man is 70, you can fool him by saying he is smart, but you can’t fool him by saying he’s pretty. E.W. Hous

The man responsible for Jews being allowed to pray on the Temple Mount

The quiet revolution on the Temple Mount casts a spotlight on Rabbi Shimshon Elboim, one of the leading Jewish Temple Mount activists.

Over the past few years, Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount have noted a gradual but nevertheless dramatic change in the attitude of police securing the holy site.

Part of a larger effort by the Matte Irguni HaMikdash, an umbrella group uniting various Temple Mount activist groups, Israeli authorities now meet regularly with activists to coordinate policy, as the number of Jews visiting the Temple Mount every year increases.

Restrictions on visitors have gradually been eased, including an unofficial end to the prohibition on Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.

One of the key figures responsible for these changes is Rabbi Shimshon Elboim, a long-time activist and son of Rabbi Yosef Elboim, one of the first Jews to visit the Temple Mount after Israel liberated the Old City of Jerusalem in June 1967.

According to his close friends, Rabbi Shimson Elboim first visited the Temple Mount when he was a baby, brought there by his father. Today, he is one of the main activists working to make the holy site more accessible to Jewish visitors, and sits at the helm of the Matte Irguni HaMikdash.

The Matte carries out extensive public relations work to increase public awareness of the history and Jewish law relating to the Temple Mount, organizes group visits, and coordinates policy with Israeli authorities.

Among its other activities, the Matte Irguni HaMikdash operates a joint steering committee with Israeli police. Established under the leadership of Rabbi Shimshon Elboim, the steering committee keeps a line open for dialogue between authorities and activists, allowing them to resolve issues as they arise, and enables activists to coordinate their activities with the police.

The establishment of the steering committee has led to significant changes in police policy regarding Jewish visitation to the Temple Mount, ending what had been a tense relationship between the police department and Temple Mount activists. Muslims who harass Jewish visitors to the Mount are now detained by police and often are barred from the Temple Mount for months at a time.

In addition, police now, unofficially, permit quiet Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, something previously prohibited.

Rabbi Elboim credited the growing numbers of Jewish visitors to the Mount for the changes.

“The credit goes to the tens of thousands of visitors to the Temple Mount, to the police commanders, to the recent Public Security Ministers, and to the members of the steering committee. Everyone together are responsible for the changes on the Temple Mount, which make it possible for anyone to visit, to experience the holiness and to bring Israel closer to the site of the Temple, which was neglected by the government for 48 years after its liberation.”

Berale Crombie, a strategic adviser and advertiser who has been visiting the Temple Mount regularly for the past few years, told Arutz Sheva that “Every time I visited the Temple Mount, I met Rabbi Elboim at the entrance. He’s always there, in any weather, with a smile on his face, and makes sure everything goes as it should, and courteously goes with visitors to guide them.”

“If someone deserves an award for their work on behalf of Israeli sovereignty on the Temple Mount, it is Rabbi Elboim, who has helped to significantly increase the number of visitors to the Temple Mount, and is responsible for the fact that Jews can now have more pleasant visits to the Mount. He is the man responsible for Jews being able to pray on the Temple Mount. This is the life’s work of a modest man who is totally dedicated to the cause of the Temple Mount.”

Matte Irguni HaMikdash spokesman Assaf Fried said: “In all the years that I’ve been visiting the Temple Mount, I’ve seen many things happen and dramatic changes, but what the Matte Irguni HaMikdash is doing, especially in the last few years, is invaluable. The Matte has both changed the way people view the Temple Mount, as well as made a positive impact on police policy. I urge everyone who visits the Temple Mount and everyone who has yet to do so to donate to the activities of the Matte Irguni HaMikdash, led by Rabbi Elboim – and the situation on the Temple Mount will continue to improve.”

VENGEANCE

Kahane on the Parsha

Parsha Pinchas

VENGEANCE

The desecration of the name of the L-rd is the very cardinal of sins. It strikes at the very existence and reality of the G-d of Israel. It is intolerable that it be allowed, and impossible that it not be erased.

When Pinchas beheld the open Chillul Hashem that took place at Shittim, he burned with zealousness over the desecration of G-d’s Name. And he looked about to see who, burning with similar indignation, would leap to put a stop to it. At that moment, Pinchas said: “Is there no man here who will kill Zimri?...When he saw that all were silent, he arose himself from the Sanhedrin and killed Zimri” (Sifri, Balak 131).

Note: Pinchas was in the midst of Moses and all the elders of Israel. He waited for them to act, and they did not. And so he, not one of the elders, leaped to end the desecration and put a stop to the plague that was raging in the camp through G-d’s wrath. And so, “Pinchas the son of Elazar saw…” (Numbers 25:7). The Tanna Shmuel said, “He saw [and remembered] the verse in Proverbs (21:30): “There is neither wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the L-rd.’ Any time that there exists Chillul Hashem, we do not give respect to the scholar” (Sanhedrin 82a). And Rashi explains, “Therefore, Pinchas did not wait to receive permission from Moses [who hesitated and was subsequently punished as a result, as stated in the Tanchuma] but acted on his own lest the elders, out of fear, not act according to the Law.” And he killed the head of a tribe.

And when the angels sought to punish him for acting as he did, and without permission, the Almighty said, “Leave him alone. He is a zealot, the son of zealots; he turned away My wrath and is the son of those who turned away My wrath” [i.e., he comes from the tribe of Levi who turned away G-d’s wrath from Israel by killing those who had bowed down to the Golden Calf] (Ibid. 82b).

This was the response that the Almighty demanded from the people of Israel, from the leaders of Israel, from SOMEONE in Israel. And because Pinchas acted, of him is it said, “Who caused the Holy One Blessed Be He to turn away His wrath and not destroy all Israel? Pinchas” (Tanchuma, Balak 21).
And thus speaks the Law: “Pinchas, the son of Elazar, the son of Aaron the Priest, turned away My wrath from the Children of Israel when he was zealous for My zealousness in their midst, so I did not consume Israel in My zealousness” (Numbers 25:11).

And thus says the Ibn Ezra: “For he was zealous just as his Maker, of whom it is said: ‘A G-d of jealousy’ (Exodus 20:5). And had he not acted with zealousness, I, G-d, would have destroyed all of Israel.”

And the Sforno: “He took My revenge before the eyes of all Israel, so that they were forgiven for not acting to protest the sinners.”

And the Ramban: “He was worthy of great honor, for he killed a chief of Israel and the daughter of a gentile king and feared not, because he was zealous for his G-d.”

And Rashi: “’When he was zealous for My zealousness.’ Meaning: when he avenged My vengeance, when he was angry for the wrath that I would have shown. Every expression ‘zealous’ means one who is anxious to avenge something.”

Vengeance is the inability to abide the act of abomination and injustice. It is the need to erase from the land the free perpetration of an act of evil, done without punishment. It is the need to show that in the world of the Almighty one who pollutes and defiles the world by an act contrary to its precepts will be punished.

Shabbat Shalom

Meet CityHawk: Hydrogen Powered, Door-to-Door Aerial Mobility. Fly Anywhere, Land Anywhere

This 'Made in Israel' flying car aims to be Uber in the sky

• The six-seater CityHawk is wingless and the size of a large SUV so that it can land on a sidewalk near homes and offices.

Once a part of comic book and movie folklore, flying cars are now not merely fictional characters. Though they have not really taken off in the real world, some companies are not giving up on the hope yet.

Israel-based Urban Aeronautics company is developing its CityHawk flying cars, powered by hydrogen fuel cells. The company aims to deploy these flying cars like Uber in the sky. The company has recently signed an agreement with HyPoint to advance the incorporation of hydrogen fuel cell power in its CityHawk eVTOL design.

CityHawk is a six-seater vehicle, with a uniquely compact footprint and no external wings or rotors. Its small footprint/high payload configuration is optimised for urban transportation and emergency response. The rotorless, wingless design offers enhanced safety and unrestricted mobility with unique “fly anywhere, land anywhere" door-to-door transportation capability. It features Urban Aeronautics’ groundbreaking internal rotor Fancraft technology, which utilises powerful ducted fans in combination with innovative aerodynamic technologies that result in superior control, stability, speed, safety, noise reduction and sustainability.

“We look forward to collaborating with HyPoint on the integration of the next generation of hydrogen fuel cell systems for eVTOL transportation and the urban air mobility market," said Rafi Yoeli, CEO of Urban Aeronautics. “As a high-power, 100 percent environmentally friendly fuel, hydrogen is key to the future of eVTOL aircraft." 

(Also read: Flying taxis are real but not quite ready for take-off yet)

Urban Aeronautics has spent the last decade and a half perfecting the internal propeller system called Fancraft that is safer for pedestrians and takes up much less space. The flying car is the size of a large SUV so that it can land on a sidewalk near homes and offices. Alternatively, up to four CityHawks could land on the roof of an office building compared with just a single traditionally sized helicopter.

Up to four CityHawks could land on the roof of an office building compared with just a single traditionally sized helicopter.

HyPoint’s hydrogen fuel cell design features zero carbon emissions and superior energy performance through higher specific power and practical output power capacity. The company’s new turbo-air cooled fuel cells increase the lifespan of hydrogen powertrains from 5,000 to 20,000 hours and only take a few minutes to refuel, representing a significant improvement over existing systems. 

“We were very impressed with the next generation of flying vehicles being developed by Urban Aeronautics, as well as its commitment to hydrogen power, and we look forward to working with them on this exciting project," said Alex Ivanenko, Founder and CEO of HyPoint. 

Here is the Youtube to the article.--copy and past it please

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=ur1jAp_Pnws&feature=emb_logo

After the damage is done Jerusalem Police Arrest 38 Arabs for Massive Fireworks Launch

Jerusalem’s police over the weekend arrested 38 Arabs who were caught while illegally launching fireworks throughout the capital.

Israelis in Jerusalem and throughout Judea and Samaria on Saturday were subjected to an incessant cacophony as Arabs celebrated the end of the school year by launching fireworks, shooting in the air and setting off other explosive charges.

While such events occur on an annual basis, this year’s celebrations were extremely prolonged and violent.

The police stated that it arrested the 38 in the capital and confiscated over 185 fireworks charges.

The Israel Police stated it “will use all the means and tools at its disposal to exhaust justice with those suspects who have chosen to celebrate while risking their lives and risking lives and public property.”

At least 15 Arabs were injured from fireworks and gunfire on Saturday.

My article Jerusalem Post about the loss of Shabbat

Teen Shot with Bullet Near Kotel

Teen Shot with Bullet Near KotelBy Jewish Press News Desk - 5 Av 5780 – July 26, 20200

An 18-year-old Jewish man was shot on Saturday evening in the Old City of Jerusalem, near the Kotel, according to Yossi Eli of Channel 13. The young man stepped out onto a roof-porch after hearing fireworks and gunfire, which has been very common occurence as of late. He then felt something hit him and he began to bleed.

He did not lose consciousness, and was taken to the hospital.

Police are investigating, including searching in Silwan (Shiloach), below the Old City, for the possible source of the gunfire.

Hebrew Lesson for today

• Tribe/Rod/Staff/Headquarters - מטה - 'MATEH'  
   
• Party headquarters - מטה המפלגה - 'MATEH HAMIFLAGAH'  
   
• General staff - מטכ"ל -  'MATKAL' 
  (It's an acronym derived from - מטה כללי) 
  
   
• Chief of Staff - רמטכ"ל -  'RAMATKAL' 
  (It's an acronym derived from - ראש המטה הכללי) 
• 
   
• "General Staff " elite forces - סיירת מטכ"ל -  'SAYERET MATKAL'  
•  
• "Golani" elite forces - סיירת גולני -  'SAYERET GOLANI'  
   

See you tomorrow bli neder Fast depending on your medical condition--If you are over 60 don't fast at all--We need Mosiach now, in that case Tish A'bov is cancelled

Love Yehuda Lave