HaYom Kulam Yod'im She'Kahane Tzadak!
Rabbi Meir David Kahane, ZT"L, HY"D
Born August 1, 1932 - 29 Tammuz, 5692 in Brooklyn, New York.
Assassinated November 5, 1990 - 18 Heshvan, 5751 in Manhattan, New York.
As a youth, Rabbi Meir Kahane was active in Betar. Vladimir Jabotinsky, Z"L, was a close friend of his father, Rabbi Charles Kahane. Meir met Jabotinsky when he was a guest at his parents home.
Rabbi Kahane received his rabbinical ordination from the world famous Mirrer Yeshiva in Brooklyn. He earned an International Law degree from New York University.
Rabbi Kahane served as a pulpit Rabbi and teacher in New York in The Early and Mid 1960's. During that time he also was one of the editors of The Jewish Press, which was the biggest English speaking Jewish newspaper in The World. He continued to work for the newspaper as a correspondent until his assassination.
Rabbi Kahane was the author of many books on Judaism, Israel, Torah and politics. He wrote classic books in English and in Hebrew such as The Jewish Idea, They Must Go, and Never Again!.
Rabbi Kahane was well known for his electrifying speeches in Israel, on American campuses, and in synagogues throughout The World. He was viewed as an eloquent, dynamic spokesman, and orator, appearing frequently on radio and TV talk shows.
Rabbi Kahane founded The Jewish Defense League in The United States in 1968 to combat the rampant growth of Anti-Semitism in the inner cities. At that time, the poor and elderly Jews were easy targets for Jew hating, mostly black thugs. Rabbi Kahane rescued these abandoned Jews and changed the image of the weak and vulnerable Jew to one of a mighty fighter who strikes back fiercely against tyrants. Jew-haters around the world soon began to respect and fear the wrath and retribution of Kahane's Chaya Squad, a group within the JDL, which succeeded in instilling fear in the hearts of the would-be criminals against Jews.
The JDL went on to conquer other local issues and problems as well as global Jewish problems. The JDL was the first group to really bring world attention to the plight of Soviet Jewry. They did so by engaging in unconventional and often violent tactics which succeeded in highlighting the plight of millions of oppressed Jews, suffering behind The Iron Curtain. The JDL succeeded in moving the issue off of the back pages and on to the front pages, where it belonged. Kahane was the "Moses" for Russian Jewry. It wasn't long before the major Jewish Establishment organizations were embarrassed and forced into action, after so many years of apathy and indifference.
Russian Jews started to make aliyah by the hundreds of thousands, thanks to Rabbi Kahane's dedication and vision. But as Rabbi Kahane said, "More than what we did for Russian Jewry was what they did for the young and lost American Jewish youth who finally had a Jewish cause to fight for, and boy did they fight, without sleep and at a risk to their freedom they did that which their parents never did for their Jewish brothers and sisters who perished during the Holocaust.".
Rabbi Kahane coined the phrase "Never Again" which did not mean that a Holocaust could never happen. It meant that never again would Jews stand idly by while their brothers cry out for their help.
Rabbi Kahane was jailed many times and was sentenced to prison terms for his actions related to the campaign on behalf of Soviet Jews.
Other famous causes which Rabbi Kahane fought for included Jewish identity and continuity. Far before The Jewish Establishment realized that there was a problem, Rabbi Kahane was demanding that Jewish funds go for Jewish causes, primarily for Jewish education. He spoke out against intermarriage and assimilation among Jewish youth. He saved thousands of lost Jewish souls from spiritual destruction.
Aliyah to Israel was another key campaign launched by Rabbi Kahane. In fact, he was assassinated lecturing at an emergency Z.E.E.R.O. conference calling for the mass Aliyah of American Jewry. He directly convinced hundreds of Jewish families to make Aliyah.
Rabbi Kahane and his wife Libby, made aliyah in 1971 with their 4 children. Rabbi Kahane resided with his wife in Jerusalem from when they made aliyah until his assassination.
After Rabbi Kahane made aliyah, he formed The Kach Movement. Kach was most famous for its platform calling for the removal of the hostile Arab population from Israel, the annexation of all of the territories liberated in 1967, and to have the right of unlimited Jewish settlement there. He believed that settling the land without removing the hostile Arab enemies would be counter productive. He predicted autonomy and retreat far before Likud ever signed The Camp David Accords and before The Oslo Declaration of Principles were ever even dreamed up. He even predicted that Likud would give in to the PLO Arab Muslim Nazi terrorists.
Rabbi Kahane was despised by many for quoting Jewish sources about Jews being a chosen nation and the exclusive owners of Eretz Yisrael. Many hated him for pointing out the contradiction between authentic Judaism and Western style democracy. "Judaism is not Thomas Jefferson and The Middle East is not The Mid West.", Kahane would say. Kahane made "comfortable" Jews feel uncomfortable for forcing them to deal with the painful truth and painful answers to problems they refused to think about. He even wrote a book called Uncomfortable Questions For Comfortable Jews.
Rabbi Kahane was jailed and imprisoned many times in Israel by both Labor and Likud governments. Rabbi Kahane was the first Jew to be held under administrative detention without charges or due process. He was also the first Jew charged with "sedition" for his population exchange proposal.
Rabbi Kahane also pioneered the campaign to save Syrian and Ethiopian Jewry as well as the battle against cults and missionaries in Israel. Rabbi Kahane dreamed of creating an independent Israel which would no longer fear the goyim. He dreamed of a State of Israel that would sanctify God's name through Jewish power and faith in God.
Rabbi Kahane was elected to Knesset in 1984. He headed the quickest growing party in Israel's history. Polls predicted him receiving as many as 12 seats in The 1988 Elections. But the Bolshevik authorities in Likud and Labor joined together and illegaly banned Kahane from The 1988 Elections. If he would not have been banned from participating in the elections, Kach would have turned in to the third largest party in Israel, and he would be on the way to becoming the next Prime Minister.
He was assassinated on November 5, 1990, in New York by the same Arab Muslim Nazi terrorists that were responsible for the first World Trade Center bombing in the first act of the Islamic terrorist war on The United States on American soil. Never in Israel's History was there a bigger funeral. Never before did so many different types of Jews stand side by side together. All of the enemies of Israel celebrated his death. Many of the Leftists in Israel happily predicted the death of Rabbi Kahane's yeshiva and programs in editorials published in the Bolshevik Israeli press, shortly after his death. Much to their amazement and disappointment, Rabbi Kahane's yeshiva and programs lived on. Some have even grown and expanded despite the Bolshevik government's continued harassment and the illegal outlawing of the Kahanist movements.
Following Rabbi Kahane's assassination, the movement in Israel split. The Yeshiva of The Jewish Idea, which The Rav and his youngest son, Binyamin Ze'ev, founded in 1987, was also split. All of his children became active in preparing and publishing his books, writings, and manuscripts along with his wife Libby. Rabbi Kreuzer in Jerusalem, while changing the focus of the yeshiva and The Rav's program retained some sort of yeshiva, part time, with a handful of students who remained in the building. Some of the students moved to Kfar Tapuach with Binyamin Ze'ev.
The political movement in Israel split into two factions. The Kach Party continued under the leadership of Baruch Marzel while Binyamin Ze'ev started the new Kahane Chai Movement together with Yekutiel Ben Ya'akov. The two of them were both on the Kach board and in the 6 man governing committee of Kach. The split came about when various Kach representatives who made up a majority of the board asked Binyamin and Yekutiel to leave Kach if they wished to continue working on Rav Kahane's State of Judea and Referendum idea, emergency aliya, and on behalf of the prisoners. These were the three issues which created anger and frustration on the Kach board who said, "Go make your own groups with that focus.". That is how the protocol - transcripts read in December, 1990 to January, 1991. Yekutiel says that that is what they did to compliment the more political direction Kach wanted to pursue. Yekutiel's people did not want to endanger their plans and he thought both sides could use each other as other militant and political groups often do, such as in Ireland and elsewhere.
After the Bolshevik Establishment outlawed Kach and Kahane Chai, Kahanists had to start new groups. Former Kach leaders in Hebron today run the Hebron-based faction of The Hilltop Youth, particularly Noam Federman, who serves as Spiritual Leader. Noam Federman favors a seperatist approach leading to The State of Judea. On the other hand, Baruch Marzel, another former Hebron Kach member, ran for Knesset as the number 2 on Michael Kleiner's Herut Party ticket in 2003. Today he is the head of of The Chayil Party. Itamar Ben-Gvir is the spokesman for The Chayil Party.
After Kahane Chai was banned, Yekutiel Ben Ya'akov founded The Kahane Movement. He led The Hatikvah Jewish Identity Center in Brooklyn, New York and ran Kahane.org. After the Bolshevik FBI closed down the center, Yekutiel moved back to Israel where he continues to operate Kahane.org. Kahane Net was later formed out of the remnants of The Kahane Movement. It is important to note that Yekutiel continued to organize international events for Rav Binyamin Ze'ev up until the end, raising funds for the yeshiva when it existed and later just for The Darka Shel Torah Newsletter.
Former Kahane Chai leaders in Kfar Tapuach are today split between the factions of Yekutiel Ben Ya'akov and David HaIvri. Following Rabbi Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane's assassination, David HaIvri tried to to take over the organization. He started new groups such as the Kahanist publishing house, HaMeir L'David, and Revava. He later changed the name of HaMeir L'David to HaMeir - A Light Unto The Nations. When Yekutiel moved back to Israel, he started The Jewish Legion, The Voice of Judea, and Referendums For Israel.
Aside from KahaneNet and the American address of HaIvri's organization, the only other Kahanist organiztion in The United States is The Jewish Task Force (JTF). Based out of Queens, New York, JTF was founded by Chaim Ben Pesach. JTF used to be the only true remnant of JDL. Chaim was born on Tuesday, 21 Tevet, 5717, (December 25, 1956). He joined JDL in 1971, at the age of 14. The same year, Rabbi Kahane made aliyah. JDL was then hijacked by evil people. Chaim eventually took back JDL and became National Chairman in September, 1978. He had to step down in December, 1978 after he went to jail for bombing Egyptian targets in an effort to stop the Israeli retreat from The Sinai Peninsula. After his release and upon the completion of his probation in July, 1983, he rejoined JDL, which had once again been taken over by evil people. In 1984, he once again took back JDL after being appointed National Chairman by Rabbi Kahane, who was International Chairman. For the first time since 1971 when Rabbi Kahane made aliyah, JDL was a serious organization again. Just as Rabbi Kahane had earlier led an effort to free Soviet Jewry, Chaim set out to finish the job. Between 1984 and 1987, Chaim led the successful JDL campaign to free Soviet Jewry by bombing Soviet diplomatic targets and tear gassing the Soviet ballet performance at Lincoln Center. He continued as JDL Chairman until his arrest in 1987. He pleaded guilty in connection with six bombings and was sentenced to 10 years but only served until March 29, 1991, when he was released on probation. Counting previous prison time, he served a total of 5 and a half years. While he was in prison, he became very thin because they wouldn't give him any kosher food until Republican Senator Jesse Helms intervened on his behalf. Upon his release in 1991, he started JTF. His actions on behalf of Soviet Jewry have caused Israel's Bolshevik authorities to illegally ban him from entering Israel. When he tried to make aliyah in 1996, he was put in administrative detention, and then sent back to The United States.
In the meantime, following Chaim's imprisonment and Rabbi Kahane's assassination, the evil Irv Rubin, who called for the assassination of Jonathan Pollard in front of 30 million people on national television, took control of JDL, after having declared himself Chairman in 1985, despite not having the support of any JDL chapters outside of Los Angeles. Following Rubin's apparent suicide death in prison in 2002, his "JDL" split into rival factions. His evil wife, Shelley Rubin, once again claimed to be the head of "JDL" despite not having support outside of Los Angeles. The rest of "JDL" was led by Bill Maniaci, Matt Finberg, and Company. They later changed the name to Bnei Elim and made a court settlement with Shelley Rubin and allowed her to claim to run "JDL", which she runs as her personal club. Even Bnei Elim has differences within it and Finberg, who runs the Boulder, Colorado based Kol HaMacabee, left the organization.
In 2006, JTF greatly expanded upon the creation of The JTF Forum by Yacov Menashe Ben Rachamim. Yacov started it on ProBoards and it was later moved to the JTF.ORG server after being officially linked with JTF. Yacov built the forum from scratch and spent the majority of his free time building it up and running it as Chief Admnistrator for two whole years. Yacov appointed Yehudit~For~Kahane to be Chief Global Moderator of The JTF Forum in The Fall of 2007. But Chaim was not grateful for all the great work Yacov and Yehudit did on behalf of JTF. Due to several differences, Yacov and Yehudit left JTF on June 29, 2008 and replaced it with Religious Zionists United For Israel. Religious Zionists United For Israel is the true successor organization to JTF and The Religious Zionists United For Israel Forum is the true successor to The JTF Forum. Yacov serves as National Chairman of Religious Zionists United For Israel and Yehudit serves as Vice-Chairwoman. Yacov is Chief Administrator of The Religious Zionists United For Israel Forum and Yehudit is Senior Administrator.
These are pictures of the grave of Rabbi Meir Kahane, ZT"L, HY"D, at Har HaMenuchot Cemetary in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, ZT"L, HY"D
Born October 3, 1966 - 19 Tishrei, 5727 in New York.
Assassinated December 31, 2000 - 5 Tevet, 5761 in Samaria.
During that time, Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane also began the Darka Shel Torah newsletter, a weekly commentary on the weekly Torah portion and current events in the spirit of his father's ideology. He directed this project for over fourteen years, until his death. In these commentaries, his writing skills and clarity in expressing The Jewish Idea began to be apparent. He also edited other publications and journals. He authored several books on the Halachic status of goyim in Israel and on other topics of Jewish Law, including The Haggadah of The Jewish Idea, a commentary on The Passover Haggadah based on his father's teachings.
On 18 Sivan, 5749 (1989), he married Talia Herzlich. They lived in Kfar Tapuach, Samaria, where they had six children.
Following the assassination of his father, November 5, 1990, the yoke of leadership fell upon Binyamin's shoulders. He established and headed The Kahane Chai Movement which was illegally banned from running in the 1992 Knesset Elections by the Bolshevik authorities, and eventually illegally outlawed in 1994. He was also Rosh Yeshiva of The Yeshiva of The Jewish Idea in Kfar Tapuach. Like his late father, Binyamin was continuously harassed by the Israeli authorities for expressing his ideas. He was arrested dozens of times, interrogated constantly for his activities, and on several occasions was sentenced to imprisonment. At the time of his death, he was standing trial on "sedition" charges and for "disturbing the peace" during protests against Oslo. He was the recognized leader The Kahanist Movement.
Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane and his wife Talia Kahane were assassinated on Sunday, December 31, 2000, by Arab Muslim Nazi terrorists on the roads of Samaria near Ofra. They were returning home to Kfar Tapuach with their family from Jerusalem where they had spent Shabbat. They left behind 6 children. Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, a gentle scholar, who fought like a lion when necessary, embodied the Torah concept of the scholar-warrior.
These are pictures of the graves of Rabbi Binyamin Ze'ev and Talia Kahane, ZT"L, HY"D, at Har HaMenuchot.
Here are some assorted pictures of The Kahanes.
This is a picture of Rabbi Meir Kahane with Rabbi Binyamin Ze'ev and Talia Kahane at their wedding.
This is a picture of Rabbi Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane officiating at the wedding of a supporter in New York, drawing up the ketubah, a couple of weeks before his assassination.
Dr. Baruch Kappel Goldstein, ZT"L, HY"D
Born December 9 or 12, 1956 - 5 or 8 Tevet, 5717 in Brooklyn, New York.
Murdered February 25, 1994 - 14 Adar, 5754 in Hebron.
This is Baruch Goldstein's grave in Kiriat Arba. It reads: "Here lies the saint, Dr. Baruch Kappel Goldstein, blessed be the memory of the righteous and holy man, may The Lord avenge his blood, who devoted his soul to The Jews, Jewish religion and Jewish land. His hands are innocent and his heart is pure. He was killed as a martyr of God on the 14th of Adar, Purim, in the year 5754.".
© 2008 jonathanshabbat@yahoo.com
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