R' ...,
A gutt yohr. Nice (stories about Kiddush HaShem).
I'm wondering how such inspiring stories can be utilized to evoke acts of public Kiddush HaShem that require Yidden to extend themselves beyond their comfort levels.
Feel-good mitzvos are nice, and often very important. However, they are by no means nearly sufficient.
This is especially true given the overabundance of public Chillul HaShem that frum communities are routinely supplying, particularly around election seasons, unknowingly or otherwise.
It's no secret that most of those who tend to speak most noticeably in the name of Torah and Orthodox communities make it very clear what their priorities are, and what they are not.
From most of them, we hear not a word about LGBTQ, kefirah and Z'nus indoctrination in the government (aka "public") school system; Physician-Enabled-Homicide (euphemized "Assisted Suicide")/ Stealth Euthanasia; abortion-at-whim; or child-/youth-trafficking; for prominent, relevant examples.
It's not just about talking the talk, it's also about how they walk the walk.
Frum media venues routinely promote the Askun Class hawking the very politicians promoting aforementioned depravity. This is ostensibly because "the community" (or the askunim themselves) has something to "gain" (funding, access to funding, even more funding... or yet more lip service being dispensed in the direction of ever-proliferating anti-Zionists and anti-semites, who crave free attention).
Now, I sincerely hope that you can grasp how just much that warped priority-snapshot stands in stark contrast to the advocacy of a multitude of Christian organizations, who emphasize at least some of the foundational moral issues, and prioritize confronting some of the morality-related existential threats facing society.
Again, I'm referring to:
1. the movement pushing the virulently anti-Torah LGBTQ agenda, including the Marriage-DeDefinition movement, including legalized "Gay Adoption" and the attendant trafficking of innocent children into the hands of dangerous, same-sex "couples" (doubles), some clearly pederastic.*
~~~
* sidenote: The barbarian policy of adoption of innocent children - Jewish children as well - by sodomists is ignored and/or censored by much of the frum media (partly out of ignorance or inattentiveness, partly out of an agenda). This itself is arguably a Chillul HaShem - and in any case requires special emphasis. So pardon me for diverging.
The "Gay" Adoption policy would never pass in Sodom, which would never have accepted the very notion of Mabul Marriage (see Akeidas Yitzchak, Parshas VaYaira 20). Yet, Trump felt comfortable in appointing Scott Bessent to Treasury, despite - or because of - being married to a male - with two "adopted" children.
This pederastic policy has arguably left its' indelible imprint on international relations. "Gay"-Adoption was the point of contention that prompted Russian President Putin to correctly ban Russian babies from being adopted by Americans, about 15 years ago.
As if we're to hearken to a Heavenly warning, that international friction apparently contributed to the escalating tensions between Russia and the decadent nations of the west. President Putin has been the most prominent world leader unrelenting critical of the LGBTQ Mafia agenda pervading the western world. And leaders of western nations, whose primary export has been LGBTQ indoctrination, have been responding in kind.
~~~
2. The Planned-Parenthood-centered movement pushing abortion-at-whim; free access to homicidal abortion poison pills; transgender-medical abuse of confused youth; promotion of Znus and kefirah in schools and beyond (thereby providing a lucrative market for the allied human-trafficking movement collaborative with abortion- perpetrators to cover up crimes against under-age girls); and
3. The Steath Euthanasia movement aforementioned, for ever-relevant example.
Needed: Mesiras Nefesh for Kovod Shomayim
Rashi (מס' קידושין ס"ט: ד"ה ואבינה בעם) relates how those Leviyim who returned to E"Y with Ezra were those who had previously employed the strength of character to amputate their own thumbs when ordered to sing שיר ה' in Bavel (תהילים קל"ז: ד), to preclude their ability to play the requisite instruments (ע' ילקוט תהילים, שם ).
I recall seeing in a peice on Chanukah from Rav Moshe Shapiro ZT"L asking why the Gemara Brachos 20a - as an exemplification of the level of mesiras nefesh of the previous generations - who merited tremendous Heavenly assistance - quotes an incident of Rav Adda Bar Ahava - which turned out to be based on an erroneous perception, one which resulted in a huge financial penalty meted out against him to recompensate the party who was mistakenly identified. He asks:
Q) Of all the possible acts, why was this particular one, based on an error, chosen to exemplify mesiras nefesh?
A) Because, he explains, the essence of Kiddush HaShem is not the accomplishment achieved - but rather the degree to which a Jew is willing to sacrifice for Kovod Shomayim.
We need to speak uncomfortable truths to (1) defend Kovod Shomayim and to (2) save those Jews who would be open to be saved from supporting these terrible candidates.
Then, where are we?
Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter,
Executive Director,
Help Rescue Our Children
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