Israel Uncensored: Politics and Passover

[Music] Josh hastened here Israel uncensored and the Land of Israel network at the Land of Israel calm it is Monday 15th of April 2019 the 10th of Nisan five seven seven nine getting ready for the holiday of Passover Jews all over the world we start this Friday night Passover Seder is this Friday night then to discuss some of the inner deeper meanings of Passover a rabbi guy avi hood will be my guest in the second part of the show looking forward to that but first a lot has happened since we've spoken since last week Israel went to the polls and it looks like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will continue to lead the country of Israel after his Likud Party secured a victory I mean it's not done yet meaning it's right as I am speaking here into this microphone right now all the different parties here in Israel are currently talking to President Ruby Rivlin recommending who they should be the next prime minister of the state of Israel but unless there's some kind of crazy major surprises the majority of MKS in the Knesset through their party heads will nominate Prime Minister Netanyahu to be Israel's next prime minister so that is all going on literally today all the parties are meeting with President Ruby Rivlin The Jerusalem Post yesterday reported that the blue and white party leaders Bennigan's and Yair Lapid will not be joining a unity government with Lee could remember both parties said throughout the election that there would not be a unity government despite regardless rather of who would win the election but blue and white is sticking to it for now something I don't like was a statement made by year Lapine and remember going if you followed the election when the exit polls were released blue and white looked like they were going to win but in the end Netanyahu went ahead but Lapidus said the following facing injustice corruption and the abandonment of the week we will make them miserable them referring to Likud and those who joined the government because that is exactly the opposite the opposition's job and I'm not taking even one letter back so yeah here l'épée it's saying that he's gonna spend the next four years if he's not in fact as this report indicates and not part of the coalition his the blue and white party that he's got to spend four years making the the jobs difficult the lives the lives miserable of those in the coalition but I would think that even from the opposition you would rather say something like even though I'm in the opposition might go over the next four years is to better the lives of the people of the state of Israel so there's there's definitely some some ill-will there on the part of of lipid but I think it's a mistake to lash out in defeat instead of accepting the reality and maybe saying I'm from the opposition from those benches we're gonna do what we can to improve lives for Israelis because that the blue and white party they did get a million votes a million Israelis did vote for the blue and white party and not enough to form a coalition based on the right versus left realities here in Israel but I think that's a mistake to use that platform instead of saying that he's gonna do good for the people here in Israel as you may or may not know the Prime Minister Netanyahu just days before the election talked about the fact that well the fact hopefully the fact that Israel will look to annex the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria which is a long time coming hopefully that will be the case nevertheless Israel's friends in the Democratic Party warned against the annexation this also reported by The Jerusalem Post four of the strongest supporters of Israel among House Democrats issued a rare public statement Friday warning against a possible move by Israel to annex what they call the West Bank in Samaria and it lists those four here but I the one thing I don't understand is you know we've gone down that road for 25 years and the voters have certainly spoken here in Israel that they favor annexation we paid the price reaching out for peace back in Oslo and through the pullout of Gaza and what do we get we got terror and war and dead Israelis dead Jews so why would anybody question a change in strategy it hasn't worked Oslo failed the plot from Gaza failed let's do something different let's annex Judea and Samaria not even thinking for the consideration that this is our ancestral heartland at the same time nine Jewish groups have called on u.s. President Trump to stop Prime Minister Netanyahu from carrying out his campaign promise to annex parts of Judea and Samaria that's reported by J&S we believe they say will lead to greater conflict between Israelis and Palestinians severely undermine if not entirely eradicate successful security coordination on and on and on galvanized BDS all this other stuff again these nine Jewish groups in the u.s. some of them here a conservative central Kentucky offense of American rabbis union or Reform Judaism I'm not going to list them all but basically what they are doing is they're saying that they don't respect the Israeli democracy because the people of Israel so they're not respecting the results of that vote okay the Israeli voters clearly stated they want a right-wing government and they are Pro annexing Judea and Samaria again just like those Democrats in Congress I'd say the same thing to them we tried going down the path for peace giving up land we got 1600 dead Israelis why are you calling on Israel to continue going down that path I don't get it nevertheless people upset about the Netanyahu victory and upset that Israel hopefully if he upholds his campaign promise the Prime Minister will seek to annex Judea and Samaria another historic event happened Thursday night the beret sheet Israeli spacecraft headed for the moon unfortunately crashed on its descent towards the moon surface nevertheless a milestone only the seventh country to orbit the moon Israel our tiny country and the fourth if you can there's there's there are Israeli parts on the moon okay it wasn't what they wanted it wasn't a complete success but there are parts made in Israel now up on the moon Morris Khan the main benefactor of the project announced in a press gathering the other day that there will be in fact a second launch to the moon calling these the spacecraft the project beret sheet 2 so he is determined is this Morris Khan to continue on Israel's journey towards the moon and this guy is determined he's an unbelievable person and it was an unbelievable attempt that came up just short of the results desired nevertheless the second brace sheet will be launched I don't know may take a couple years but Israel will you know the Soviet Union by the way they failed I looked it up they fail their first time also headed towards the moon so it's nothing to be ashamed of we will get there before we get to Rabbi guy via hood just one other story showing once again that Israel is truly a light unto the nations Israel on Saturday dispatched a team of firefighters to help squelch a blaze raging in Ethiopia's Simeon mountain range reported by Times of Israel delegation which landed now to sob up a Sunday morning consists of 11 firefighters rescue officials including an expert in aerial firefighting it's being led the delegations being led by seon shankar who was actually born in Ethiopia was the Israel Defense Forces first-ever battalion commander from the you Theo bian community one small little country our small little country helping others all over the world that is the State of Israel we're gonna take a short break come back with rabbi guy avi hood from ha boy team in Jerusalem talking about Passover you're listening to Israel censored on the Land of Israel network at the Land of Israel calm my name is Josh hastin and hope you're enjoying the show shout out to Binyamin Brisky our engineer and Tabitha Epstein who works behind the scenes to make these shows a reality it is Monday the 15th of April 2019 the 10th of Nisan five seven seven nine we'll take a short break come right back with rabbi guy avi hood remember always said President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that you and I especially are descended from immigrants and revolutionists we look for a younger generation that is going to be more American than we are now I don't know that I could say I'm more American than FDR but I can say that I'm a descendant of immigrants and I've got more than a little bit of the revolutionist in me Sam Roth Mike Feuer and this is the Jewish story join Roth Mike foyer for the best Jewish history podcast the Jewish story on the Land of Israel network at the Land of Israel dot-com and we are back Josh hastened here Israel uncensored on the Land of Israel Network at the land of Israel that comet is Monday the 15th of April 2019 the 10th of Nisan five seven seven nine and Jews around the world are getting prepared to celebrate the holiday of Passover starting this Friday night and it is a wonderful time to be here in Israel I am here in Jerusalem and just driving through the streets of Jerusalem the streets are packed the parking lots and the malls are packed people are getting ready for the holiday celebration you know it is the most kept holiday the Passover Seder night actually where I believe about 90% of Israelis have a seder a Passover Seder in one form or another whether you are Orthodox or traditional or religious or secular but anyway you want to define yourself it is the most celebrated evening on the Jewish calendar so it's a beautiful time to be in Israel by the way and I know thousands of tourists do in fact come and join us here in Israel for Passover it's been a while since we've had him on the program our scholar residence rabbi guy avi hood who has two stores in Jerusalem called huh boy team they are secondhand clothing stores one in top yacht in the top neighborhood and one in the center of town and what these stores do not only do they sell beautiful wonderful second-hand clothes for great prices but they give opportunities for people with different mental disabilities give them opportunities towards employment so it's an unbelievable test said act of kindness which rabbi guy has undertaken and it's wonderful to have him back on the show our skon residence rabbi guy how you doing Josh haven't seen you a long time it's been a long time since we had our scholar residence on the program I'm glad he's back especially here for this wonderful holiday of Passover rabbi what are your plans for this wonderful it's usually a seven day festival but because Shabbat is the last day it's actually an eight day holiday break basically this year what are your plans for Passover well I spending time with family and my my brother actually is coming from America so we're gonna see him again this is this is what it's all about it's time for family it's time for passing down the all the joy and the holiday traditions from one generation to another so I'm really looking forward to that and for those who are maybe not aware of you know the deeper meaning of Passover the holiday all the symbolism involved the unleavened bread the matzah is and the bitter herbs I mean I'm just describing some of the things at the Seder give us a little insight as to what at all what it all boils down to for those who maybe have not had the experience of the privilege of of celebrating as I mentioned before about and I think it's 90% at least of this country people have a Seder at least on the first night but what does it all boil down to well it's all a celebration of our people leaving Egypt and becoming a free nation and I think it's something that we all strive for and it's based on a story but it's a nice story it's not a story of how people of Israel well after they were in Egypt for hundreds of years then they were the ten plagues and the Egyptians were forced to let them go and then when the Jewish people us when we were let go from slavery from enslavement what we did is we went out to the into the desert and received the Torah the holy Torah from God at Sinai and then we made the journey we came to LT soil we came to the Land of Israel and I think that it's a journey that each one of us does on many different levels we're always enslaved to things if we're worried about you know about our what's what's our next sorry I lost my train of voice my train of thought but because I'm flying I'm thinking so many things like when we're when we're thinking about our money and we're we're thinking about our happiness and we're thinking this we're enslaved to things were enslaved sometimes it's more physical like we're enslaved to artwork or enslaved to our drinking habits smoking you know there's many things that we're enslaved for and the question is how can we make a journey out of this enslavement I don't I don't make a journey that takes us out from being under somebody or some things power and be our own people so let me ask you this you know one of the the most known customs of the Passover Seder that on that first night is the cups of wine you drink four cups of wine symbolizing the different words or symbols of freedom out of Egypt towards Redemption now there is a fifth cup which there is actually a dispute whether you drink a fifth cup it symbolizes coming to the Land of Israel and not everyone is here we have the Jewish state but not all Jews are back here in Israel many of the listeners who of the program are Jews who live outside of the United States are not back here and on top of that we don't have the Temple of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem which is ultimately the purpose of coming back to Israel and being United with that Holy Temple in Jerusalem so are we truly free when we celebrate to speak of freedom at the Passover Seder yes we have our own country yes we are people we survived the Holocaust and now we're you know in a few in a few years if we are not already there the majority of Jews will be here in the land Israel but we still have something missing something lacking the temple full unity amongst the people even though it's not as bad I would say is is you know you might hear in the media at least in this country or whatnot but my question is after all that long-winded background is are we truly free that's really what I want to know well I'll take you back over 20 years when I was in the Army and there was the only say there that I actually did in the army and I spent Saturday in the army and it was quite an experience for me because I figured it's Israel and everybody celebrates Pesa and whatever to one extent or another they'll celebrate the Seder and it separates Pesach like me how shocked almost nobody nobody really kept the all the obligations of Passover almost like people were eating in the room hummus which is not allowed which is leavened bread and all kinds of things and I was shocked but the night of the say there I saw that everybody was sitting around the Seder table and everybody had a connection and I think that connection it comes in different levels we're talking about 18 19 and 20 year olds so 18 19 and 20 year olds whenever they have some sort of connection then it could grow into something more meaningful and everybody finds their meaning in these things sometimes only when you have children or grandchildren you find the real connection that you were missing when when you were going through it yourself so I don't I don't think that we can think of freedom in a snapshot of what life looks like right now at this point in this year or in this decade but we have to look at a much bigger picture and in that respect we really are free there has never been a time where the Jewish people had so much power we touched the moon last week the Jewish people this small Israeli nation was one of four nations to send a satellite to the moon okay it crashed but we touched it we didn't we didn't crash we just landed very hard and this is something amazing there's something that's not and it's not judged in terms of of a day or a month or a year or a decade even this is a generation and generations you spoke about most of the Jewish people being in the Land of Israel and unfortunately it's not because people in Israel and having so many babies but also because of a simulation simulation in in countries outside of Israel which is hard because if you have even the smallest connection that can grow into something when you have no connection then that's the missing cup that's the missing Sun at the set of table at the Sarah table will have famously four sons we have the wise son we have the evil son we have the the one who does not know how to how to ask and we have the simple son but today more and more we speak of who of the fifth son that doesn't even come to the Seder and that's where we need to go I think to find our Jewish brothers and sisters and bring them back closer yeah that's certainly a big problem I mean that fifth son who's not even president that Seder and my answer to it is the land of Israel because here as I said before I think already two or three times in this conversation you very rarely have that fifth son as secular or non observant as a person might be Passover is still Passover and all four of those sons are at the Seder and that fifth one is such a rarity and and I believe that that this is the answer coming home to Israel that is the answer I think that I think you're right but when you're in Israel you can't see it because you're too close and some of my friends when I speak to them but what's the most memorable Seder that you ever had so they say to me you know what when I was in India when I was in Thailand when I was here and there and in all kinds of places how bad I want talk about for Seder yeah we partied the night before part of the night after but weren't you say during Shabbat and there were hundreds of people there and hundreds of Israelis and when we were far all the sudden we wanted to be closer when were far we wanted to find that connection and I think that we and that's exactly what I was talking about before when there's the Bay and you get that bass here in the land of Israel from the air from the ground from the people around you from from the kids in kindergarten from everybody speaks about you hear the commercials about it everything surrounds it surrounds the Jewish people and the happiness of this and you're happy even if you don't know why like you're in the celebration of Passover even if you don't know why and then when you discover why for yourself then it's real and you have to have a base that's really meant speaking of most memorable Passover's mine wouldn't have to be 2002 was just after I made alia immigrated to Israel and unfortunately on Seder night a terrorist went into a hotel and murdered thirty mainly Holocaust survivors in Netanya and subsequently the rest of the week I literally sat on the porch near Shem Nablus in the northern shore on watching the tanks going into scam to take care of the terrorists weeding them out after in a major military operation which thank God they did because until this day Israel and the IDF essentially have full control militarily in areas what is known as area a and we don't even hear about this in the may in the media but Israel on a nightly basis keeps us safe the idea of keeps us safe safe on a nightly basis going into these population centers and arresting terrorists and that's why thank God and you know on the show off and I talk unfortunately I have to talk about terror and we start the show about you know with different attacks that take place but to keep it positive 95% of the terror attacks attempts are thwarted as a result of that unfortunately that Passover Seder where 30 people were murdered but subsequently the IDF went in took care of business and now has complete access basically to those cities under the PA and protect us and keep us safe every single night so a lot of mixed emotions but that is the Passover I will never forget 2002 I don't know do you have one that sticks out in your mind you mentioned maybe Passover's all over the world and anyone in particular rabbi that you you can reference here on the spot well I there's one time we spent Passover in the Dead Sea and there is one opinion that the Messiah the final redemption will take place on the seventh day of Passover and in that month that year I forgot what year it was but it was around the time they were speaking about and there was so much terrorism and so much angst and things were just up and you felt there was something else going on and I remember standing there in the seventh day of past Pesa and it was windy and it was it was cloudy and you couldn't see the the you couldn't see the mountains of Jordan from across the Red Sea from that across the Dead Sea and I thought to myself wow that's it our enemies are gone you can't see them anymore maybe this is when Messiah is coming maybe this is the final Redemption I was waiting waited I have to tell you that it wasn't then it didn't happen but I really remembered getting into it and and I was very disappointed it didn't happen because we felt like that's it this is the time and it leads me to thinking about about perspective again and one of the things about perspective is that if you look at one of the foods that we eat during Passover is the horse it every family does it different you know do you do you have a hard horse or a soft one how do you do in your house that's too complicated for me I just eat it I don't know how hard so it's not it's not the Sephardic the traditional uh I guess hard one no it's more I think it's more of the soft one with the nuts and yeah so so there's different recipes and many of them take wine and and some have fruit nuts and you have all these kind of things all these goodies and it's supposed to sweeten up the the bitter herbs now why do we eat this whole I said because it reminds us of the mortar that we used when we built the the cities for the Egyptians now with all due respect that is that is very weird how do we take something that was so bad and we turn into something sweet and the truth is it's a matter of perspective when you have perspective even things it seemed very very bad and like you couldn't see how you couldn't see the end after after years and after after time then you see that it it turns into sweetness you can see the good things in it and I think that's what we need to learn from us and perhaps you mentioned that there was a commentary that says that your final Redemption will come on the seventh day of Passover maybe it'll happen this year so let's hope and pray for that rabbi guy have you hood from how boy damn go check him out on social media on Facebook come visit one of his two convenient locations in Tapia and Jerusalem also in the center of town key card see on where it's just an unbelievable project you know watching people right now coming in into the store here doing some Passover shopping secondhand clothing at a reasonable price and also at the same time giving people with mental disability the opportunity to go back to work and it's a real great project thank you so much for coming back on the show and when there are more holidays just around the corner shovel what and all sorts of holidays so please God will help you back on the program Thank You Josh I'm here waiting for you love being here just one other news item here I'm just singing now on my phone here on Monday afternoon you know you talk about Israel startup nation and everything Israel contributes to the world The Jerusalem Post reports that Israeli scientists have printed the first ever 3d heart this is an Israeli invention a 3d heart just unbelievable how Israel is contributing to the world despite all the haters out there and the BDS errs and everybody else out there unbelievable just 70 years young sending a spaceship to the moon but they're gonna send one that's gonna that'll make it I'm confident about that that won't crash but still an unbelievable accomplishment so with that wishing all the listeners here in llantas will network a wonderful Passover for those who celebrate happy holidays to all my name is Josh hastin for Monday the 15th of April of 2019 10th and Isan 5 7 7 9 no show next week homo ed hopefully please God I'll be exploring the land of Israel out and about in nature that's what I love to do during Passover forget you can get in touch with you during the week Josh Atlanta visible calm on Facebook it's Joshua hastin or check out my new page Josh Hastings Israel advocacy journalism on Twitter at Josh hastin and now on Instagram as well wishing everyone a wonderful holiday Shalom from Jerusalem the eternal capital of the Jewish people most importantly between now and when we speak again next in two weeks from now everyone out there and the wonderful wonderful world of ours be safe [Music] you [Music]