V'Lamalshinim

The bracha of v'lamalshinim was only added later on during the time of Rabban Gamliel and is commonly thought of as a tefillah for Hashem to protect us against our enemies. Iif you look at the text and the history of the bracha though you will notice it is not really a bracha mainly aimed at foreign enemies but those from within- the heretics, those Jews who unfortunately deny Hashem and deserted our faith. These people are the real threat because it is much easier to fight against a force that is easily distinguishable, when it is them vs. us. The problem arises when the "them" are in truth part of the "us." This concept can be applied to many aspects of our lives today, and often it is not as simple as spotting the Jews for Yeshu or the self-hating Jews. It is a bracha then when your vision is clear and you are able to see through the sheker these lost neshamas are spewing.

Today I was watching a news video on youtube about the recent activity in Israel. The news station was not what I would call pro-Israel but then again many are not. I saw another video on the situation titled "Israel is the Lunatic State" and out of curiosity to see how they would yet again skew the facts to make Israel look like the murderer I clicked on it. Sheer curiosity is not the only reason I clicked to watch, the second half of the title was "Finkelstein on Gaza Flotilla Attack."

Finkelstein is a jewish last name there must be some mistake.

There was no mistake- Norman Finkelstein the son of Zecharias and Maryla Finkelstein, and is a well-known politcal scientist who speaks out against Israel ALL THE TIME! His parents were both holocaust survivors and he is famous for his claims that Jews use the Holocaust for our benefit in what he calls the "Holocaust Industry."

Today when davening we should have extra kavannah during v'lamalshinim and think about this Jew who is speaking against his own people on international tv. We should also daven for the return of his neshama that he is brought to do teshuva.