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This Google Custom Search looks only in this website. Israel's Economy is Very Strong - Minimal Damage from all the Protests
The Treasury Minister presented a report to the Finance Committee regarding the fiscal and economic trends predicted for 2024. This was required by law in the framework of implementing the budget of the upcoming year which was already approved alongside that of 2023.
A document was appended to it with an economic analysis made by the Department of the Chief Economist and also the Budgetary Department in which facets of the national growth are shown. This includes income, expenses and deficits, inflation, credit rise and data about the employment market as compared to international statistics and in comparison with forecasts which served to adopt the budget to reality in the first half of 2023 and with the forecasts being made for 2024.
This report shows that the Israel economic picture is better that most countries in the world. Several factors are at play: prolonging the period of restraining inflation, high credit allowance and the weakening of the shekel. Some changes are liable to influence government expenses in 2024.
All of us experience spiritual elevation during these days but the evil inclination deceives us with the thought that "last year I also wanted to improve, but I didn't change. Why should this year be different?"
One should know that this argument is false, says HaRav Zev Kahan. Without Rosh Hashonoh and Yom Kippur, we wouldn't be part of what we are today!
"And You gave us, with love, the Yom Hazikoron." The Yomim Noraim are a gift from Hashem to all of Jewry, with love. There can be many levels but the attempt of the yetzer to convince us that no impact has been made, is a total lie. But neither does this absolve us from making an effort in the wake of the arousing which we feel and seeking what we can do to strengthen ourselves in Elul.
From his personal diary of the Yomim Noraim in 5697 in Beis Yosef of Pinsk. This article was published in the print edition in 1996 it is now published online for the first time.
Part 1
Beginning with Shabbos mevorchim Elul, a tremor passes over the body and soul of every Jew. All a Jew needs to hear is the announcement: "Rosh Chodesh Elul yihiyeh beyom..." and he is overcome by awe and by fear of the forthcoming judgment. Rising above his mundane affairs, he is propelled into a world saturated with longing for unlimited spiritual attainment.
The Entire Year Should be Like Elul — and Elul is Elul
In Novardoker yeshivas, the spirit of Elul prevails all year long. Every day, every hour, every moment, students of these yeshivas are immersed in thoughts of Yom Hadin, and every tefillah is like ne'ilah of Yom Kippur.
Reality sometimes beggars the imagination.
The responsibility of the office of the government legal advisor (yo'eitz hamishpati lamemshalah) is what it states. It is a person appointed by the government to advise it and represent it before the judicial authorities. If said advisor believes that he is unable to represent the government, he is expected to deposit the keys and announce that he cannot fulfill his office. There is no proper possibility — and probably never was — where the judicial advisor stands before the judicial system in order to represent the very side which is prosecuting the government.
Imagine a situation where a man hires a lawyer to defend him in a lawsuit, for example, suing someone for money, and when he arrives in court, he discovers that the his lawyer is explaining to the judge why the defendant is right and does not need to pay his client!
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Outstanding Articles From Our Archives
Opinion & Comment
An essay taken from a manuscript of HaGaon Hatzaddik R' Shlomo Wolbe zt'l
Erev Rosh Hashonoh 5738
"For this thing is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart to do it" (Devorim 30:14).
The Torah penetrates deep into the physical body and into the material world - and sanctifies it. The Torah reveals here that even body and world are actually not very removed from the Creator, for they can be sanctified and uplifted.
From hereon in, it remains dependent: "If one [a man-and- wife unit] is meritorious, the Shechinah abides. If one is not meritorious - fire consumes them."
This is an essential rule in all mundane matters. Those very things which fire consumes are latent within you. This refers to the fire of desire and craving. But this selfsame fire can also be used as a utensil for the dwelling of the Shechinah in your midst.
What shall a person do if, alas, he has not merited this? He was overpowered by his evil drives and he cannot wrench himself away from their power. This comes from the supremacy of the powers of evil, and wherever they rule they are so potent that they cannot be moved, even by a hairsbreadth. They are ironclad. What strategy can one use against evil?
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Opinion & Comment
by Mordecai Plaut
One of our main tasks on Rosh Hashonoh is, "Say before Me [pesukim of] Malchuyos, . . . in order to accept Me as your King."
One of the main issues of Rosh Hashonoh is thus Hashem's malchus, His rule as King over the world. Hashem's malchus in the world at large is incomplete until it extends to all of Creation. Thus, more than any other period, we pray for the ultimate Redemption in great detail as applied to the entire universe: "Put Your fear . . . upon all your creations . . . may all created things bow down before You . . . and all the evil dissipate like smoke . . . "
Though we cannot directly make Hashem the King of Creation as He will ultimately be, we can work at making Him King of ourselves.
Of course we have a lot of work to do on ourselves - throughout the year and especially during Elul and the Yomim Noraim. In this small space we cannot cover it all, but each year we try to highlight a little niche that is often overlooked.
In order to fulfill our obligations relating to the Malchus of Hashem, it is clearly important to have a clear conception of just what the rule of Hashem implies, so that we will know what we are praying for and so we will have a vision to guide us in working towards it.
IN-DEPTH FEATURES
by Rabbi Dov Eliach
Ever since I met him, I had been urging HaRav Shechter to find the time for us to have a full discussion of the prewar Torah centers that he encountered and of which he was a part. Yet several years passed before the day finally arrived - in Av 5755 - five years before his petiroh, on the first day of Rosh Hashonoh 5760.
I first heard about Reb Shmuel from his fellow Mirrer, HaRav Menachem Manes Moore zt'l of Gateshead, who warmly recommended that I meet him while there was still time. They had escaped from Lithuania together, traveling through Russia and on to Australia, and they later took part in the establishment of the first kollel in America. Another member of their circle was HaRav Shechter's closest friend throughout his life, the gaon and tzaddik HaRav Nosson Wachtfogel zt'l Mashgiach of Lakewood Yeshiva.
I asked Reb Shmuel to tell me about his own "exile" from his home in Montreal, Canada, to the mekomos haTorah in Eastern Europe - in particular Mir and Kelm - which etched themselves so deeply into his soul. Their standards of Torah and mussar, their greatness and elevation of spirit, were discernible in him until the very end of his life. He was a talmid, in every sense, of both Mir and Kelm - and remained so all his life. He was a great man who succeeded in capturing the essence of both places and holding onto it.
Reb Shmuel saved me a lot of work. I didn't have to probe him or prod him to speak. A veteran educator, with a wealth of experience in expressing his ideas to Bais Yaakov students in New York, to young people in Eretz Yisroel and to his followers among the bnei yeshiva of Yerushalayim, he was well-prepared for our meeting. He began it with a fascinating and flowing account that was like one of his master lessons, relevant, orderly and well designed.
In the course of his talk, something of his extraordinary personality was revealed. It was clear that he stood on a higher level than others and was an exceptional yireh Shomayim. His ideas were crystal clear and his views firm, befitting a thinker endowed with a highly developed intuition. Reb Shmuel used to say of himself that he was "a gutteh shmecker (a good sniffer)."
Who could be more reliable and capable of faithfully conveying the ideas of Kelm and the atmosphere of the Torah empire of Mir? I have therefore tried to minimize my editing, to preserve the authentic flavor of Reb Shmuel's account, as far as possible.
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