August 12, 2019 – Three Stories; Crown Heights – RE-LIT=H : A Personal Note

BS”D

If you have been following my Blogs, you will know the significance of August 12. So it is interesting that three stories which I will comment on all appeared on that date. And in addition, I would like to finish this blog with a personal note.

Story One- NFL Sportswriter Peter King travels to the Flight 93 memorial

I was in contact with Peter and he gave me permission to use portions of his story which appeared on August 12^th, in his weekly column – Football Morning In America under the subtitle – King Of The Road-

Here is a section which I thought was most interesting and fits perfectly together with Story Two-

Peter King is describing what he sees at the memorial and then says the following-

But a legacy of courage, a legacy to remind future generations what heroism is about, is what’s left on this beautiful, placid reclaimed strip mine, where the sound of birds is all you can hear, unless you listen to the superintendent of one of our newest national parks, Steve Clark, give his emotional tour.

On this peaceful, chilly morning, Clark said to me: “When they realized that third plane [hit the Pentagon], the passengers realized they’re not going back to an airport. It was a suicide mission. Common, everyday people devised a plan. They came together. They literally said, We have to do something.

A former rugby player named Todd Beamer gets much of the credit for devising the plan to storm the cockpit—and deservedly so. And it was his voice heard on one of those air phones saying, “Let’s roll!” that has been remembered by so many from that day.

“Ultimately,” Clark said, looking out at the bucolic meadow below, “at 9:57, Todd Beamer says, ‘Let’s roll!’ But it wasn’t just Todd Beamer. It was all of them—the young, the old, male, female, who came together to say, Not here, not now. We’re gonna try to do something to take back the airplane.

“So 2,977 people lost their life [in three sites] that day. That is tragic. No question. Think how many more lives would have been lost …”

If the passengers sat in their seats and accepted their fate and did nothing, would that plane have slammed into the Capitol? Or the Mall? Or someplace teeming with people that day?

If you’re going to die, and you know it, what would you have done? I’d like to think I’d pull a Todd Beamer, but who knows? Who knows how any of us would react in that moment.

“They definitely saved countless lives,” Clark said. “In today’s world, Flight 93 is a reminder that in the face of absolute abject fear, do the right thing. Step up to do the right thing.”

Story Two- Another attempt by Minn. Rep Steve Drazkowski to launch second investigation Against Rep. Omar

This story appeared on the Alpha News site on August 12. This time we again have the familiar face of Minn. Rep. Steve Drazkowski  joining Republican colleagues to demand a second investigation into Rep. Omar. He had requested in June his Congresswoman Angie Craig to launch an investigation, and her response to Rep. Drazkowski was “Do It Yourself” .

So that is exactly what Rep. Drazkowski has decided to do with the help of some of his fellow Minnesota Republican lawmakers.  Drazkowski also said that he has had a number of Democrats encouraging him regarding his efforts.

There is no need for me to dwell on this any longer as I have done so many times in Past Blogs.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          But for me to actually see that the Republican party in Minnesota now has to come to the aid of the Democrats in Minnesota is quite shocking.

The DFL Party in Minnesota has always been the more popular among Minnesotans. That is until Rep. Omar came along.

So it seems  Rep. Drazkowski can in reality be called the Todd Beamer of this whole Omar investigation taking place in Minnesota. Drazkowski along with his colleagues continue to fight for justice in the ongoing battle to get to the truth behind Omar’s marriage and family history and if there were tax law violations on the State and National level  which is subject of this investigation.

The following link should take you to Alpha’s site and the abovementioned Story.

Video: Rep. Steve Drazkowski and Republican Colleagues Demand An Investigation Into Ilhan Omar

Story Three – Another Hate Threat in Crown Heights

As reported on COL Live- August 12, 2019-

A 39-year-old named Kenya Dean was charged with a hate crime for hitting a Jewish man with a stick and yelling anti-Semitic comments before Shabbos.

A man is accused of attacking two people in Crown Heights and is now facing hate crime charges, News 12 Brooklyn reports.

Police say 39-year-old Kenya Dean yelled anti-Semitic slurs to a Jewish young man walking near him on Carroll Street around 7 p.m. on Friday, saying “you — Jews, Hitler should have finished you off.”

The victim, a 27-year-old Jewish man, says Dean started an argument with him before breaking a glass bottle and rushing at him. Dean is also accused of spraying the victim in the face with an unknown substance.

A 62-year-old neighbor walked over to see what was going on. That’s when Dean allegedly attacked him, hitting him in the head with a stick

Please remember this incident comes a few months after a sign appeared outside the Children’s Museum saying “Hitler Is Coming”.

RE-LIT=H

The above abbreviation is something I tried to unscramble for many weeks and is the end result of my efforts. Any of you who read the last Blog and are familiar with the Nazi story may know that the 6 children I referred to all had names beginning with H which may have referred to the Nazi leader, but in this case the above formula means something totally different.

Its Source

The above letters if unscrambled have a very negative meaning. Because if you reverse these letters and switch the places of just two letters next to each other, we arrive at the Nazi leader’s name.

Its Meaning

But in this form, we see a formula which describes the Baal Teshuva movement in a unique way. Because Jews raised in non-orthodox homes such as myself were clue less about practicing our religion. Therefore groups such as Chabad, Aish and Ohr Sameach, became driving forces in making it easy for everyone wanting to look into being Shomer Shabbat to experience it for themselves.

But the key here is that we are dealing with the Nefesh or soul of each and every person. As it says in Genesis when G-d creates man, he breathed into his nostrils the soul of life. Animals also have souls, but man is on a higher level because of speech and intelligence.

The interesting thing about the Baal Teshuva movement is that both Aish and Ohr Sameach have the word light or fire in their names. And along with Chabad, that is exactly what takes place when a person who is not Shomer Shabbat suddenly is attracted to Judaism. His soul is RE-LIT and then that person becomes closer to his or her creator. In other words, it does not matter who you are or where you come from, if you have a Jewish soul, you can find your Jewish roots with the help of these organizations. There is no need to bring your passport or ID, if you walk into any one of these institutions and declare your desire to become more closer to Judaism, you instantly become a member of the club, no questions asked as they will take your word for it.

Now Contrast That With The Nazis, PLO, etc.

In order to determine who was a Jew, the Nazis and PLO would demand to see everyone’s ID to check who was a Jew. They would not take anyone’s word for it. Once it was determined you were a Jew, there was only one thing they had in mind for you, which was your total destruction.

In other words, it was the exact opposite of what the Baal Teshuva movement was doing. The Nazis and PLO wanted to destroy us. Period.

My Personal Story

According to my count, this will be my 36^th Blog written for Times of Israel. Two times Chai again a reference to the double emphasis of a key word in the Haftorah of Shoftim.

I also had a special reason to think that the Tower of Babel existing in Congress will begin to fall on August 9 of this year which is explained in the following picture of my birth certificate-

Yes, August 9 marked my 70^th Birthday, but that number is special because in the Parsha of Noah, the story of the Tower of Babel is recorded. Many people became unruly and their language was one and they all spoke the same language. So to punish them, G-d mixed up their languages which resulted in 70 different languages.

The generations of people before the Flood had been interested only in themselves; they thought of themselves as supermen and lived each one for himself alone; they used violence and force against their weaker neighbors, paying no attention to laws and rules.

The new generation of mankind was different. They stressed the opposite code of living. The individual did not count for himself; he counted only as part of the community, and he had to subject his own interests to those of the group. Had they confined themselves to this kind of social life, all might have been well. But they overdid it. The tremendous strength that grew out of their organization and goodwill made them proud, and their pride made them turn against G‑d.

They decided to build a tower which was to reach to heaven, to make them equal to G‑d, and at the same time, to make it possible for them to stay together. This symbol of their divine strength, as they thought, was to be built in the valley of the Land of Shinear or most probably where Iraq is today.

Because that is what is happening in Congress today, it is my wish that those influences to Congress are disbanded and a new session of Congress begin with everyone speaking the same language as if there is one party named the Democratic Republican Party.

In case you think that is impossible, please think again.

Thomas Jefferson became the United States Minister to France in May 1785, and subsequently the nation’s first secretary of state under President George Washington from 1790 to 1793. Jefferson and James Madison organized the Democratic-Republican Party to oppose the Federalist Party during the formation of the First Party System.