What were the teachings of Rabbi Benjamin Kahane and wife, Talia, that Palestinians ambushed them for, 15-years ago this month?

Martyred Talia, Binyamin, and Meir Kahane  

Fifteen years after their tragic death by Arab terrorists, a memorial was held in Los Angeles on Thursday for Rabbi Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane and his wife Talia. The couple was killed in December of 2000 when Arab terrorists fired at their vehicle south of the Samarian community of Ofra, as they were driving from Jerusalem to their home in Kfar Tapuach. Just minutes before the attack the couple dropped off their 9-year-old son in Beit El where he attended school. 

Benjamin & Talia Kahane left 6 orphans

Rabbi Kahane was fatally shot and lost control of the car which overturned. Talya was critically wounded and died in the ambulance en route to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. The couple's five daughters, who were also in the car, were wounded by the terrorists.

One of the murderers was Khaled Shawish, a senior commander in the Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades terrorist organization, sponsored by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction. He was caught more than 8 years ago by Israeli forces in Ramallah. 

Rabbi Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane was born in New York and immigrated to Israel with his family in 1971. He was the son of Rabbi Meir Kahane, who founded the Kach movement and who was himself murdered by an Arab gunman in New York in November 1990. After his father’s death, Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane headed the “Kahane Chai” (Kahane Lives) movement which he established to continue his father's legacy. 

Binyamin and Talia Kahane were buried in Jerusalem. Their six children are being raised by Talia's younger sister and her husband in Kfar Tapuach.  (Israel National News) You can see the young, Nachum Shifren in this AP News video. He spoke at the Los Angeles event. 

Avraham Herzlich, Talia's father, a former New Yorker, turned Torah-observant shepherd- opens-up about his views since Palestinians murdered his daughter, Talia Kahane and son-in-law, Benjamin Kahane, which created 6 orphans his family has had to care for. Every day, he and a Belgian Shepherd dog lead their flock of 250 goats to graze across Jewish pastures on the West Bank - incurring the ire of Palestinian olive farmers.

What perspectives can we learn about who they were, what they taught, and why they were killed? What lessons do they have for our times? For the 15th year since the assassination of Rabbi Benjamin and Talia Kahane, Jonathan Stern organized a teaching in their honor. 



Event-speakers in this playlist: Rabbi Zvi Block of Toras Emes in Valley Village, Rabbi Nachum Shifren, Aryeh Rifkin of Jewish Activity Center of L.A., and Rabbi Moshe Parry.

Israel Day rally in Central Park shows support for keeping Israel strong and safe

The 16th annual Israel Day Concert was held alongside the 2009 Salute to Israel Parade at Central Park.

We filmed at the Concert last year - when Queens Rabbi David Algazi explained that an Israeli government doesn't have the authority to give away its guardianship of the ancestral Jewish holy land - for religious and for practical reasons.


Israeli nationalist radio personality, Rabbi Tovia Singer, discussed the West's responsibility in the battle between good and evil. He warns that Israel is all that stands in between apocalyptic Iran's mission - conquest of the West, including America, to Islam.

The "Israel Day Concert" organizers, Dr. Joe Frager and Dr. Paul Brody, discussed the message they hope that their concert (and rally) conveys to the public and politicians concerning keeping Israel safe and secure.

As the soul of Zionist activist Tsafrir Ronen enters shomayim, Israel is moved into action against antagonistic, Islamic jihadist Hamas

Just days after Israeli nationalist leader, Tsafrir Ronen, entered shomayim, Israel finally took defensive actions against Hamas' terrorism.  May his memory be an inspiration. Israel National News reports:

"Zafrir Ronen z"l, long associated with the establishment of new yishuvim throughout Israel, passed away over Shabbat (due to heart failure). Among Mr. Ronen's many accomplishments was the establishment of the "Nahalal Forum," which encompassed right wing, secular Zionist Jews. He also helped establish Kibbutz Gilgal in the Jordan Valley in 1973, and in more recent years was associated with efforts to help Jews settle in Judea and Samaria.

Tributes poured in mourning Ronen's loss. The "Homesh First" group said that "Zafrir Ronen was a true partner in the efforts to return to Homesh." Women in Green called him "a proud Jew who fought for the Land of Israel with his whole heart and soul." MK Aryeh Eldad said that "Zafrir was a tireless fighter for the Land of Israel and the right of Jews to settle in all its parts." His funeral will take place on Sunday at 2PM in the moshav Moledet in northern Israel."

Tsafrir Ronen's writings expose Jihadist Muslims' self-confessed, manufacturing fabricating a "Palestinian national" identity as a political device to de-legitimize a Jewish sovereignty amidst a Muslim region. Mr. Ronen references this in his article, Hadrian's Curse: The Invention of Palestine as a Psychological Weapon for Conquering Eretz Yisrael which was recently announced is being developed as a documentary for Israel Broadcasting. Mr. Ronen wrote:

At the Annapolis Conference, George Bush spoke about his vision regarding the virtues of two nations for two peoples.

One of those peoples has a clear identity – the Jewish People. Yet it would be interesting to know the identity of that second people: Already in 1977, one of the central spokesman of that "second people", a member of P.L.O. leadership, Zahir Muhsein, the leader of the al-Sa'iqa Organization, revealed the truth in an interview to the Dutch newspaper, Trouw:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people' to oppose Zionism for tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa. While as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

Mr. Ronen's (pictured left with Boaz Ha'Etzni, son of Hebron pioneer Elyakim Ha'Etzni) fighting spirit can be heard in this Yishai Fleischer, radio interview on Pres. Bush's last political visit to the Middle East.

Bradley Burston writes of Israel's justification of today's defensive actions against Hamas in Ha'aretz:
It is both unrealistic and dangerous to believe that Hamas has abandoned its clearly stated and often reiterated goal of establishing an Islamic Palestinian state in all of the Holy Land, including all land claimed, annexed by, or in any way occupied by Israel.

Israeli restraint, when practiced, has been met with contempt and additional Hamas and Hamas-tolerated strikes against civilian populations.

In an era of global revulsion against radical Islamic terror, Hamas' protracted program of suicide bombings, drive-by murders and shelling of civilian populations, coupled with its refusal to renounce violence, recognize Israel, or accept past peace agreements, coupled with its ideology of militant jihad, have drained the Palestinians of international sympathy and have, in fact, legitimized Israeli arguments of military self-defense.

Nothing has been more instrumental in harming the cause of Palestinian independence than Hamas, with its brutal take-over of Gaza in a war with brother Palestinians, and its frank efforts to build a large-scale regular army force in the Strip.