Tuesday, May 14, 2019

THE TORAH AND THE RUSSIAN COLLUSION HOAX - ARE THEY RELATED?



This sums up the Russian Collusion Hoax against Trump.  Now the tables have turned on the haters. 

Spygate evidence is overwhelming and damming.  But it has taken years to expose because the conspirators held top positions in the highest powers of our Land - the DOJ, FBI, CIA, IRS, and Executive Office.  

To begin with, culprits destroyed huge volumes of evidence with bleach bit and hammers AFTER IT WAS SUBPOENAED.  Then they purposely botched investigations into their candidates illegal acts.  Plus, it has taken years and dozens of court orders to get thousands of the critical documents released.

When AG Barr obtains indictments they won't be based on rumors and lies.  They won't be on unrelated crimes in order to get insiders to perjure themselves.  They will be based on the highest crimes against America ever committed!

Democratic and Deep State haters violated the central tenet of the Torah from Leviticus.  They "hated in their heart" and protected their hate by holding a grudge.  AND then they brought a sin upon themselves!  

The Commandments in Kesdoshim, last weeks Torah portion (parsha) is the first time in the Torah that G-d formally addresses the entire Nation of Hebrews.  YOU KNOW IT as the Golden Rule.  "LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF, I AM YOUR G-D."

There is much more to Pasha Kedoshim and the "Golden Rule."  I wrote about this passage from Leviticus last week. 

D'var for Parsha Kedoshim 
By Jonah Ritter 5/8/19

With all the talk of hate and stopping hate that we hear these days, I'm pleased to have this opportunity to do the D'Var because true to form, the Parsha and the Torah has relevance to our lives.  

This week's Parshat, Parsha Kedoshim, contains one of the most famous verses in the entire Torah: ve'ahavta lere'acha kamocha, "love your neighbor as yourself." According to Rabbi Akiva. "this is the great principle of the Torah."  

According to the Sages, Kedoshim is the first time in a formal gathering that the entire nation (hak’hel) as a whole is commanded to “be holy,” The whole society is to be governed by love, without resentments or revenge.  “Judaism is fundamentally an equality of dignity. We are all equal citizens in the nation whose sovereign is God.”  Such an important message for today, where allegiances are to Political parties, and there is so much hate.  
  
In my D'var rather than focusing on the commandments in Leviticus 19:1 - 20:27, regarding holiness, ethical behavior, and sexual transgression, I'd like to focus on the actual versus in Leviticus chapter 19. 

I'm going to start from verse 17. Lo-tisna et-achicha bilvavecha, "do not hate your brother in your heart." Hoche'ach tochiach et-amitecha, "reprove your fellow." You see somebody doing something wrong, tell them about it. Hoche'ach comes from the word 'to show, to point out.' Velo-tisa alav chet, "and do not carry upon yourself a sin." Lo-tikom velo-titor et-benei amecha, "do not take revenge, do not nurse a grudge against your people." Ve'ahavta lere'acha kamocha ani HASHEM, "and love your neighbor as yourself, for I am God." 
When you look at how the phrase "AND love your neighbor as yourself" follows the other points, it can almost be viewed as a "therefore" or "so you can" 

Let's break this down.  
Part #1: Lo-tisna et-achicha bilvavecha, "do not hate your fellow in your heart."  -  Does the Torah consider it okay to hate someone?  The Torah doesn't forbid us to hate. It doesn't say "don't hate your fellow," it says "don't hate your fellow in your heart." What does "in your heart" add?
According to Moses ben Nahman, commonly known as Nachmanides, and also referred to by the acronym Ramban: Things go wrong between people. Things make you annoyed, it is okay to feel hatred. What's not okay is to smile when we feel hatred is to: 
  • Keep it in your heart. 
  • To bury it deep inside
  • To pretend that everything is fine. 
  • To deny our feelings.  
  • To rationalize bearing the hatred.  

The Ramban says that Hatred likes to be secretive, to bury itself.  But Ramban tells us not to give in to that impulse.  We must resist the inclination to nurse a grudge. The Hebrew lo-titor means "to protect, to nurture."  

What's the alternative?  That's revealed in the next phrase - Hoche'ach tochiach et-amitecha, "reprove your fellow."  

If someone is doing something wrong we need to be upfront. Find a way to tell them about it. 
One way or another it will come out.  It will either come out overtly in the form of revenge, or it will come out covertly in the form of a grudge that lurks behind your smile.  

Which is why in Kedoshim we are told, Velo-tisa alav chet, "and do not bear a sin upon yourself." 
We are also told, Lo-tikom velo-titor et-benei amecha -- "do not take revenge, do not bear a grudge."

As we all can appreciate, telling someone you hate them can be risky, to say the least.  Rashi provides us guidance.  

Rashi says we must be careful in how we show our feelings of hate.  For one thing, we must not do it in a way that causes us to transgress. Don't cause sin upon yourself by how you handle the hate. So even if someone has sinned against that is a way to handle it - there are rules to follow. Don't embarrass them in public. Don't express your hate in way that's meant to be hurtful. We need to be constructive - to figure out a way that they can hear what it is that you want to tell them. 

So, if you want to hate, fine! But don't hate them in your heart. You can hate, no problem, hate away!  You just have to lay out carefully and constructively, in the best way you can, what it is that's bothering you. 

But whatever you do, don't bury your hatred and hate your fellow in your heart while you smile on the outside. If you do that, your hatred is doomed to come out as revenge or as a grudge.  Put your cards on the table; that's the way hatred gets dissipated.
The section concludes, ve'ahavta lere'acha kamocha, "love your neighbor as yourself." The Torah is giving you a path to love your neighbor as yourself.

Sometimes bad stuff happens with people you like. The Torah is giving you a recipe for love in the face of bad stuff.

That's how you get to love, love that works through the problem and takes the misunderstandings of the little slights and all of the little things that can destroy love, and instead turns them into building blocks for a true love that's not built on a smile pasted upon resentment but that is true affection, through and through.

"Real friends will tell you the ugly truth, not pretty lies."
"A true friend will say good things behind your back and bad things to your face."