Member of Knesset MOSHE FEIGLIN

Feb 25 – Shushan Purim

6:00 PM

Chateau Steakhouse
185-01 Union Turnpike, Fresh Meadows (Queens) NY

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Service of G-d or Bondage to Man

"I am Hashem your G-d Who took you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage."
(From this week's Torah portion, Yitro, Exodus 20:2)

Values always come on a ladder. They have no significance if they are not set out in the proper order of preference; what is more important, what comes first and what is the foundation for all the rest.

The first commandment of the Ten Commandments in this week's Torah portion is the starting point and the foundation for the entire structure of values that follows. There is a G-d Who redeemed us from slavery to humans. We serve Him and Him only. Throughout history, despots who desired to rule the entire world have found themselves in serious conflict with the Nation of Israel. From Pharaoh to Ahashverosh, from Hitler to Stalin – these despots concluded that they must destroy the Jews, simply because the Jews cannot be enslaved: They already have a King, "I am Hashem, your G-d."

Many values are held aloft in our world: Equality, liberty, liberalism and more. They are all fine and good. But usually, they are not founded on the first of the Ten Commandments. "My (Nile) River is mine and I created myself," said Pharaoh, just one example of a king who thought he was a god. The more that a leader puts himself at the focal point, the more he diminishes G-d and attempts to "replace" Him, the more that slavery takes root until the entire state becomes one large concentration camp: a "house of bondage".

The danger of enslavement has greatly increased in modern times. The state's ability to control and revoke its citizen's liberty is very enticing to a regime that has no G-d. The excuse will always – always- be security. "We must revoke your liberty so that we can protect you."

Do we really need to be biometrically marked like animals just to counter the plague of forged identity cards? Is there no technological solution better than a simple photograph that can easily be removed and replaced? Of course there is. (Smart chips are already in place in all sorts of identity cards, and they are extremely difficult to forge.) But the prime motivation for the Orwellian biometric law is the abrogation of liberty; to entice us all into a house of bondage – in the name of security, of course.

Wherever G-d has been completely removed from the picture – in atheist or communist regimes – human life and honor have no value at all. In China they raise people in locked farms so that they can sell their organs for transplants or horror shows, like the one that recently featured in Israel.
So when you hear someone talking about lofty values, be sure to check his entire message. Who is his G-d? Who works for whom? Does he work for G-d, or vice versa?

Shabbat Shalom,

Moshe Feiglin
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Who Can Heal the Middle East? By Moshe Feiglin

Two rulers have set their sights on the political vacuum that has been created in the Middle East: Ahmadinijad and Erdogan. Both seek to become the modern-day Salah-A-Din, who united the Arab nation under his rule. Both attempt to achieve their goal by beating the war drums against the Jews.

There is a third element in the Middle East – the only entity that can really make the region thrive and herald world peace: Israel.

Since Oslo, however, since the Prime Minister of Israel shook the hand of the head of the Organization to Liberate Israel from the Jews, confirming the justice of his claim of Arab ownership of the Land of Israel – an entire generation has grown up in Israel believing it is a guest in its own land and that the Arabs are its rightful owners.

No peace or prosperity can be heralded from this apologetic stance.

Israel's statesmen are now secretly attempting to convince the Turks to take responsibility for the region. But Erdogan will not do the job for us. He will not fight every terrorist who shoots at us from Syria, just like he did not fight the Lebanese or Gazan gangs. He will allow them to crush us into powder, while we, with our apologetic demeanor, will be incapable of reacting. After all, the missiles shot at us don't all come with a return address.

We will be defeated, just as we were defeated in Lebanon and in Gaza.
G-d works in wondrous way. Ultimately, we will be forced to connect to our identity and destiny. We will simply have no choice.

A Nation's Search for Meaning: By Moshe Feiglin

18 Shvat, 5773
Jan. 29, '13

Translated from the NRG website

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.
Friedrich Nietzsche

In his book, "Man's Search for Meaning", renowned psychologist Victor Frankel attributed his survival in the death camps to his feeling that his life had meaning. Those who lost that feeling of significance died shortly.

It is not only people who need a sense of meaning; nations need it, as well. Particularly, the Nation of Israel. The search for meaning was the undercurrent that inspired last week's elections. It wasn't the economy or security. It certainly wasn't the universal draft issue.

"Zionism has nothing to do with religion," declared the First Zionist Congress - and in a way, they were right. Religion suits the community or family structure; a type of mobile Judaism that can be packed into one's knapsack after the inevitable pogrom. Return to sovereign statehood requires much more than religion: It requires a return to an all-inclusive Jewish culture.

What content has filled the renewal of Zion in our days? We all know that without some common vision, society disintegrates. What meaning will there be to our national renaissance without the foundations of our shared faith?

All the debates at the start of Zionism revolved around that question. The Socialists won in a knock-out. It was the Labor party that presided over the establishment of the State of Israel and led it until the mid 70's. The Right never put forth an alternative vision. It adhered to the practical aspects of Zionism – settlement and security – without ever attempting to infuse meaning into its actions. Socialism collapsed along with the Soviet Union in the eighties, and when the Left was elected to lead Israel in the nineties, it rode the wave of "international brotherhood" alone. The socialist vision was replaced with the peace vision.

Twenty years later, we are at the end of the Oslo era. Israeli society has suffered a bloody awakening from the peace illusion, the public arena is void of any vision and our national soul thirsts for meaning. It turns out that our national existence has no meaning if it is detached from its foundations in Jewish identity and faith - interwoven with modernity.

The Likud – the nationalist party with the glorious history, Jabotinsky's teachings and the popular connection to Jewish tradition – has all that it needs to infuse our society with meaning. But all of those important components were tucked out of sight in the past elections. The fact that the Likud did not even publicize its platform was no mistake: "We're going to win anyway, so why get into arguments?" was the dubious logic behind that decision. And the nationalist ruling party turned itself into a party of suit-wearers with a negative campaign and no message or meaning.

On both sides of the Likud, parties that proposed a new agenda flourished. They have not yet infused their messages with real meaning, but at least one of them, The Jewish Home party, provided the scent of Jewish content as it quickly climbed to 18 mandates in the polls – almost half of those voters non-observant.

Initially, the public was surprised when polls showed that a large number of voters were debating between Bennet and Lapid. The Finkelsteins expected the base attack on the Jewish Home to bring six secular mandates back to the Likud, but that is not how it worked out. The Likud, which had fled its own message and did not provide society with any type of meaning – was not the landing pad for those votes. If the Jewish agenda was suddenly unacceptable, those voters could easily vote for lack of meaning in more attractive packaging. No need to go back to voting for the lack of meaning offered by the old suits.

That is how Lapid's party became the second largest party in Israel, while the Likud found itself shrunk and hunkering down between two fresh-faced parties advocating a new national agenda: One a civil agenda, and the other a Jewish-oriented agenda. Neither party provides meaning at this point. They are both too preoccupied with the "how" and not the "why" or "to where".

If we in the Likud will understand the deep reason for our party's decline; if we will refresh our ranks and provide the public with a new vision and a national answer to the "why" and "to where" – we will retrieve the votes that went to our younger sisters, and continue to securely lead Israel with our national vision.

If we will not have the wisdom to take the above steps, our demise will be similar to the demise of the Labor party.

This Week in the News

Ynet:
Feiglin: I Hope to Lead Likud One Day
Leader of party's fringe hardline faction says party lost 'at least' 10 seats over decision to exclude him from campaign

"My vision is to have a modern Jewish country, one that is led by a man who is in-tune with a Jewish vision dated back 3,000 years," Moshe Feiglin said Friday in his first radio interview since being elected to the Knesset.

Feiglin was slated at number 22 on the joint Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu list, which won the election with 31 seats. Read more

Israel National News:
MK Elect Feiglin: Begin's Bedouin Ploy "Low"

MK-elect Moshe Feiglin (Likud) has come out against the attempt by Minister Benny Begin (Likud) to pass a highly contested pro-Bedouin decision in the cabinet session Sunday.

"Former Minister Benny Begin does not respect the democratic decision that he will not be a minister," accused Feiglin, "and in a desperate last-minute move he is trying to carry out a grab, and get the cabinet to adopt a decision in the serious matter of Bedouin settlement in the Negev." Read more

Israel National News:
Feiglin Ascends Temple Mount, With No Fear of Arrest

Moshe Feiglin, newly elected as an MK with the Likud party, ascended the Temple Mount on Wednesday. Feiglin visits the holy site on the nineteenth of every Hebrew month.

For the first time, he did so without fear of arrest. Feiglin has formerly been detained at the site for allegedly praying or bowing, but he now enjoys parliamentary immunity. Read more

Times of Israel:
The right way to legalize cannabis
A newly elected politician better known for his hawkish outlook on national issues and settlements, has set his goals high with a plan to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

In an interview with Maariv Wednesday, controversial Likud party member Moshe Feiglin, who will soon take a seat in the Knesset for the first time, said he intends to push for new legislation that will bring medical and even private use of cannabis onto the right side of the law. Read more

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