I thought that I could get away without any new names for prayer this week. I am removing the following names for I have no reply regarding them. Yisrael Sidel ben Esther, Leah bas Rivka, Devorah Yached bas Chaya, Charna Tziporah bas Miriam Shoshana.
I am adding the following names: Yacov David ben Gittel and Moshe Yosef ben Chaya
Gog and Magog prophecy revised by Rabbanim and Autistic Children
A little bit of background behind the souls of these children. I believe it was the Stipler Rebbe who was one of the Gedolei HaDor used to stand up before these children and Down Syndrome’s children as he claimed that they were the lofty souls of very righteous people who were not completed Tzaddikim and wanted that Beis Din Shel Maalah send them down to earth in this form so that they would not sin and all their Mitzvos would bring them directly into a high place in the next world.
One little boy is in my daughter’s Kindergarten class. She came in especially during her maternity leave to recommend and explain why she thinks that next year he should be in a regular first grade with a volunteer girl to accompany him. She asked the girl what is her name and the boy popped up in Hebrew upon hearing the name in Hebrew “What a propitious name.” Now I don’t know about other six year olds but my own older grandchildren would not use “propitious” as a vocabulary word.
Around the Hebrew Month of Shevat this year, the children came out with various statements about Moshiach soon and that if the religious people don’t have enough faith and some are only religious on the surface. On the 5th of Adar I was published more on the various situations (Feb. 9th) and the question was will an atomic bomb fall on Eretz Yisrael. The children answered as follows (remember the date of publication was a few days before the end of the main Egyptian opposition and before the start of the domino effect). The children all agreed that the governments of the Arab Counties are going to collapse and a stronger fanatically Muslim Religion will dominate them. Esav (Europe and America will be attacked and no city safe from them).They will cause ruination and havoc upon Esav. Only 1/3rd will survive {Nothing new here except that it is going to happen very soon – but on a 5771 year scale a few years is a small percentage.}
They will gather to come against Israel and lob Atomic weapons which will be destroyed before they get here. This last sentence was not on prophecy but on a gut feeling that HASHEM would not let another holocaust here. There will be battles around a thousand may fall on one side and tens of thousands on the other but upon the Jews of Eretz Yisrael will be mostly spared. They have the battles and war the Jews outside of Israel that the safest place is Eretz Yisrael. They suggested that American Jewry leave and come to Israel.
The financial systems as we know them today are going to change. The mass destruction and rebuilding will be beyond all what mankind has witnessed since the deluge of Noach. It literally will be a whole new world. The days of the Moshiach and the Judean Shalom in the world I can sort of imagine but it probably will be better than my most rosy dreams. The children did not mention any thing about the Temple will be rebuilt and Sacrifices returning but that might be beyond their own life time and scope of their own information as prophecy comes as a solid delivered message. Each message can advance further along but each message is limited so as not to over whelm the receiver with too much knowledge at one stroke.
Parshiyos Pekudei & Shekalim
This week a shorter commentary due to the stories and other things I wrote above and below.
38:21 These are the accounts of the tabernacle, even the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were rendered according to the commandment of Moses, through the service of the Levites, by the hand of Itamar, the son of Aaron the priest.-- 22 And Betzalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the LORD commanded Moses.
The upper spiritual region of the Mishkan is now dealt with in the Zohar as the Tent of Meeting nears completion. This week the Zohar explains that Betzalel gathered his power from the right side of HASHEM. (Also Uri but perhaps because he fought the left side Hur had his power from the good left side).
23 And with him was Oholiav, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, a craftsman, and a skillful workman, and a weaver in colors, in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen.
The Zohar explains how he gathered his powers from the left side. But it was necessary in the Mishkan to have the mystical left and right joined together. When a Cohain blesses his right hand is supposed to be slightly above his left hand for the blessing so that the blessing will come from the right side. (Outside of the building of the Mishkan in Kabbala the left side represents the Sidra Acher or other side, falseness, darkness and evil with the right side the path of truth, light and good.) The Mishkan to complete the world had to have both the right side and the left side incorporated within.
24 All the gold that was used for the work in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary. 25 And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was a hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and three-score and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary: 26 a beka a head, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that passed over to them that are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men. 27 And the hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the veil: a hundred sockets for the hundred talents, a talent for a socket. 28 And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their capitals, and made fillets for them. 29 And the brass of the offering was seventy talents and two thousand and four hundred shekels. 30 And therewith he made the sockets to the door of the tent of meeting, and the brazen altar, and the brazen grating for it, and all the vessels of the altar, 31 and the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the gate of the court, and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about.
The accounting was made and the Shechina certified it. What was the Satan doing at this time? He was looking for grams and grains of gold that might have fallen by the way and slipped through so that the accounting would not be accurate so that he could accuse Am Yisrael and thus ruin the Mishkan. Already with the Golden Calf and his tricks he had gotten a mod of 3,000 men to worship the calf and do immoral acts. [Some more examples of the working of the Satan within our Holy Congregation are listed here. Part of the cult of the Frankists was immoral dancing and lewd acts where the Rabbis put a Cherem (a form of excommunication) on him and ended his Messianic Cult for the Jews. For there is nothing more than Am Yisrael wants Moshiach but one has to either earn it or prove it that he is the Moshiach. Shabbtai Zvi was caught sleeping on his back or stomach instead of his side and anybody who knows rudimentary Halacha knows that a religious man sleeps on his side – he was not banned until he turned to Islam but he lost the Rabbis and Talmidei Chachamim as followers. All this was caused by the Satan working on Am Yisrael. The late Lubavitcher Rebbe never claimed to be Moshiach and waited daily for the Moshiach but his followers in a foolish manner claimed that he could be within the realm of Moshiach. When he passed away most of the followers backed off but there is a cult still active that considers him Moshiach. Almost 2000 years ago the same type of Am HaAretzim (pronounced ha-ratz-eem) went off to claim that another person was the Moshiach even though he did not meet the requirements during his life time. ]
This is an accounting for each and every item used by the public. The inventory of items is to keep the leaders above suspicion as in Bamidbar (Num.) 31:25 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 26 'Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers' houses of the congregation; 27 and divide the prey into two parts: between the men skilled in war, that went out to battle, and all the congregation; 28 and levy a tribute unto the LORD of the men of war that went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the flocks; 29 take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, as a portion set apart for the LORD. 30 And of the children of Israel's half, thou shalt take one drawn out of every fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, even of all the cattle, and give them unto the Levites, that keep the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD.' 31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses. 32 Now the prey, over and above the booty which the men of war took, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep, 33 and threescore and twelve thousand beeves, 34 and threescore and one thousand asses, 35 and thirty and two thousand persons in all, of the women that had not known man by lying with him. 36 And the half, which was the portion of them that went out to war, was in number three hundred thousand and thirty thousand and seven thousand and five hundred sheep. 37 And the LORD'S tribute of the sheep was six hundred and threescore and fifteen. 38 And the beeves were thirty and six thousand, of which the LORD'S tribute was threescore and twelve. 39 And the asses were thirty thousand and five hundred, of which the LORD'S tribute was threescore and one. 40 And the persons were sixteen thousand, of whom the LORD'S tribute was thirty and two persons. 41 And Moses gave the tribute, which was set apart for the LORD, unto Eleazar the priest, as the LORD commanded Moses. 42 And of the children of Israel's half, which Moses divided off from the men that warred-- 43 now the congregation's half was three hundred thousand and thirty thousand and seven thousand and five hundred sheep, 44 and thirty and six thousand beeves, 45 and thirty thousand and five hundred asses, 46 and sixteen thousand persons-- 47 even of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them unto the Levites, that kept the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses. 48 And the officers that were over the thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses; 49 and they said unto Moses: 'Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war that are under our charge, and there lacks not one man of us. 50 And we have brought the LORD'S offering, what every man hath gotten, of jewels of gold, armlets, and bracelets, signet-rings, ear-rings, and girdles, to make atonement for our souls before the LORD.' 51 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even all wrought jewels. 52 And all the gold of the gift that they set apart for the LORD, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels.-- 53 For the men of war had taken booty, every man for himself.-- 54 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, for a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD.
I know that this is important that leaders make an accounting before the people. There is plenty of corruption in modern government with checks, balances and comptrollers but bribes in cash or stashed away under an assumed identity still exists in modern times. However, simple people living in tents in the wilderness could only do so much. We see that Achan in Yehoshua 7:16 So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel near by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken. 17 And he brought near the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zerahites. And he brought near the family of the Zerahites man by man; and Zabdi was taken. 18 And he brought near his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. 19 And Joshua said unto Achan: 'My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and make confession unto Him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide nothing from me.' 20 And Achan answered Joshua, and said: 'Of a truth I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. 21 When I saw among the spoil a goodly Shinar mantle, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.' 22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. 23 And they took them from the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel; and they laid them down before the LORD. For more information on the story read the end of chapter 6 as to the forbidding of taking spoils and then all of chapter 7.
39:1 … 40:1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 2 'On the first day of the first month shalt thou rear up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. Again the materials and garments are mentioned in the missing sections and the dressing of Aaron and his sons. Now on Rosh Chodesh Nissan Moshe is going to raise the Mishkan and the courtyard. Betzalel and Oholiav did the design and competition and now Moshe put on the finishing touches.
18 And Moses reared up the tabernacle, and laid its sockets, and set up the boards thereof, and put in the bars thereof, and reared up its pillars. 19 And he spread the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent above upon it; as the LORD commanded Moses. 20 And he took and put the testimony into the ark, and set the staves on the ark, and put the ark-cover above upon the ark. 21 And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the testimony; as the LORD commanded Moses.
Moshe had everything repaired
22 And he put the table in the tent of meeting, upon the side of the tabernacle northward, without the veil. 23 And he set a row of bread in order upon it before the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses. 24 And he put the candlestick in the tent of meeting, over against the table, on the side of the tabernacle southward. 25 And he lighted the lamps before the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses. 26 And he put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil; 27 and he burnt thereon incense of sweet spices; as the LORD commanded Moses. 28 And he put the screen of the door to the tabernacle. 29 And the altar of burnt-offering he set at the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered upon it the burnt-offering and the meal-offering; as the LORD commanded Moses. 30 And he set the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water therein, wherewith to wash; 31 that Moses and Aaron and his sons might wash their hands and their feet thereat; 32 when they went into the tent of meeting, and when they came near unto the altar, they should wash; as the LORD commanded Moses. 33 And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work.
All this section explains above and what happed to all the necessities of the Mishkan and Moshe receiving the honor of putting up the Mishkan. No man could lift alone the tremendous planks. Either he would have had to use the 42 letter or 72 letter NAME for the pieces to come together and rise or which is more likely is that, he found himself in as being with the Leviim and laying the corner support and the locking the last piece together. We see this in 18 and other things that he did.
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of meeting, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.—
It is hard to imagine all that is described here and the daily dosage of radiation of Torah that the Nation received.
36 And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys. 37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. 38 For the cloud of the LORD was upon the tabernacle by day, and there was fire therein by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
Chazak – Chazak v’NitChazak! We have finished the book of Shemos and next week we start Vayikra (Leviticus)
A few words on Shekalim: Moshe Rabbaynu was shown a burning spiritual Shekel that when donated with the whole heart enlightens the world. However a census of heads instead of Shekels brings the evil eye and a plague on Yisrael as happened in Shmuel Bet with Melech David.
Rosh Chodesh Adar Bet will be Yom Rishon and Yom Sheni Haba that comes to us and all Yisrael for goodness
Published last week but good this week too: One day, a rabbi came to the classroom with an impressive photo album. The album contained beautiful pictures of the reproductions of the Temple vessels and the priestly garments. The Temple Institute had not yet been established, Yamit was still a vibrant town in the Sinai and Rabbi Ariel was its Chief Rabbi. But that was the first time that I had ever encountered a modern reproduction of the Table, the Altar, the Menorah and the other vessels and priestly garments.
I remember the excitement in the classroom. The Rabbi did not allow the students to pass the album from one to the other so that it would not become worn out. Instead, he held it in his own hands and showed it to each student. The same sense of awe and excitement still fills me every time I read the Torah description of the Tabernacle and its vessels.
When the Jews would ascend to the Holy Temple on the three annual festivals of pilgrimage, the priests would exhibit the Temple vessels for all to see. If a photo of a reproduction can elicit such excitement, I can only begin to imagine what an impression the genuine articles made on the celebrating Jews.
That's how the Jewish people are. They get involved with all their hearts. When, in last week's Torah portion, they were asked to give to the Golden Calf, they (tragically) gave. And when they were asked to give to the Tabernacle, they gave wholeheartedly. It's the genetics of bringing the world a new message. Jews are always the first in whatever revolution takes the world's fancy; Communism, liberalism, you name it. From the socialist kibbutz movement to unrestrained capitalism - we are always at the forefront.
Ultimately, we will stop our flight from our genuine identity, build the Holy Temple and bring the world the message that truly is embedded in our DNA: The perfection of the world in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Shabbat Shalom,
Moshe Feiglin
Halacha not taught last week
If you recall I mentioned in my story about Rabbi London that the Russian Immigrants came to Synagogue with umbrellas and pencils while the Rabbis said nothing but educate you children with a Jewish Education. Opening up an Umbrella is equivalent to making or putting up a tent on Shabbos. Carrying anything from a private domain into a public domain and vice versa on Shabbos is also a Melacha and forbidden. There is only one of the 39 Av Melachos written in the Torah. We would mislabel them with the English translation as work categories. But as I wrote many times Melacha is more changing the status of something then work and moving the Umbrella from the private domain to the public domain is not changing the status like winnowing, plowing or sowing but doing something that was called Melacha of the Leviim in the desert.
In the Torah there is only one Melacha specifically mentioned on Shabbos but it basically teaches all of them on deeper analysis. Last week I did not comment on it but now I bring back the Pasuk defining the Melacha: 35:1…'These are the words which the LORD hath commanded, that ye should do them. 2 Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a Sabbath of solemn rest to the LORD; whosoever doeth any work therein shall be put to death. 3 Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day.' Rashi: You shall not kindle fire. Some of our Rabbis say that [the prohibition of] kindling was singled out for a [mere] negative commandment, while others say that it was singled out to separate [all types of labor]. -[from Shab. 70a]
The 39 categories of Melacha are: ploughing earth, sowing, reaping, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, selecting, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing wool, washing wool, beating wool, dyeing wool, spinning, weaving, making two loops, weaving two threads, separating two threads, tying, untying, sewing stitches, tearing, trapping, slaughtering, flaying, tanning, scraping hide, marking hides, cutting hide to shape, writing two or more letters, erasing two or more letters, building, demolishing, extinguishing a fire, kindling a fire, putting the finishing touch on an object and transporting an object between the private domain and the public domain, or for a distance of 4 cubits within the public domain.
Each Melacha has derived prohibitions of various kinds. There are, therefore, many more forbidden activities on the Shabbat; all are traced back to one of the 39 above principal Melachos.
Given the above, the 39 Melachos are not so much activities as "categories of activity." For example, while "winnowing" usually refers exclusively to the separation of chaff from grain, and "selecting" refers exclusively to the separation of debris from grain, they refer in the Talmudic sense to any separation of intermixed materials which renders edible that which was inedible. Thus, filtering undrinkable water to make it drinkable falls under this category, as does picking small bones from fish. (Gefilte fish is one solution to this problem.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbat Picking out your favorite nuts from a mixture of nuts is not considered separating as it is edible food from edible food. So if you picked out walnuts and hazelnuts from a mixture including pistachios and cashews or vice versa it is only separating good from good. Just a mother can separate the carrots from the peas or string beans if a child is fussy.
While checking out Facebook “friends” I came across a fellow named Branden who wrote:
From James to Yacov
James was a really religious Preacher. He investigated the sources of the Bible and preached to his congregation the ways of G-D. Over the course of time he began to contact via the internet and people about Judaism. One day he could not accept the conflict between Christianity and Judaism. (I have written many times that under a Heter from Rabban Gamliel, Paul brought in Sunday, Pork and removed the laws of Family Purity to drive the Jewish Christians back to Judaism or completely alienate the Jewish Sect from Judaism.) Some Christians did find the true meaning of Shabbos: Why do Christians worship on Sunday? Learn the history of what happened to the Sabbath Have you ever wondered why one of the Ten Commandments seems null and void – notably the one calling on believers to observe the Sabbath? Ask your pastor or priest and you will probably hear it's because Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday – which is not even a certainty if you read the Bible carefully. And then there's the little problem of this switch of worship days not being mentioned in the Bible – and the historical fact that most Christians continued observing the Sabbath for hundreds of years after Jesus rose from the dead.
So what happened? What caused the switch? The WND Superstore has compiled treasure trove of literature and video documentaries that trace the history. Some of what you will find is nothing short of shocking for Christians who take Sunday worship for granted. First there is the classic, scholarly work of the late Samuele Bacchiocchi in "From Sabbath to Sunday. Bacchiocchi earned his doctorate in church history at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and was awarded a gold medal by Pope Paul VI for his summa cum laude class work and dissertation, "From Sabbath to Sunday: A Historical Investigation of the Rise of Sunday Observance in Early Christianity."
His studies gave him unique access to Roman Catholic historical archives that shed much light on the transition from Sabbath to Sunday. The Church of the capital of the empire, whose authority was already felt far and wide in the second century, appears to be the most likely birthplace of Sunday observance," he concluded. In one of his last interviews before his death, he told WND: "Anti-Judaism caused the abandonment of the Sabbath, and pagan sun worship influenced the adoption of Sunday."
He says evidence of anti-Judaism is found in the writings of Christian leaders such as Ignatius, Barnabus and Justin in the second century. He notes these three "witnessed and participated in the process of separation from Judaism which led the majority of the Christians to abandon the Sabbath and adopt Sunday as the new day of worship."
Bacchiocchi also explains the influence of pagan sun worship provides a "plausible explanation for the Christian choice of Sunday" over the day of Saturn. Its effect wasn't just limited to Sunday. It apparently led to the placement of Jesus' birth in late December.
"The adoption of the 25th of December for the celebration of Christmas is perhaps the most explicit example of sun worship's influence on the Christian liturgical calendar," Bacchiocchi writes. "It is a known fact that the pagan feast of the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti – the birthday of the Invincible Sun, was held on that date."
One of the Roman names for this "Invincible Sun" god in the days of the apostles was Mithra. There are striking similarities between the ancient worship of Mithra and today's Christianity, leading some to think early Christians adopted Sunday worship from heathen customs.
Another extraordinary resource for study of the issue is a 5-part DVD documentary narrated by the late actor Hal Holbrook called "The Seventh Day: Revelations from the Lost Pages of History." The made-for-TV miniseries traces the history of the Sabbath through the ages and around the world. The meticulously documented series features interviews with over 50 experts, classical art, animations, and dramatic re-enactments. Richard Rives offers a book and DVD teaching series called "Time Is the Ally of Deceit" that also focuses on the history of the lost Sabbath.In addition, his book "Too Long in the Sun" reveals the way pagan practices influenced church practices beginning in the second century. http://superstore.wnd.com/books/From-Sabbath-to-Sunday-book one can view part of the DVD on http://superstore.wnd.com/VIDEO/Religion_2/The-Seventh-Day-Complete-Set-5-DVDs
James became more and more convinced that when it came to conflicts between Christianity and Judaism that the Old Testament was correct and the basis for everything. He resigned from being a Preacher. Since James did not have a Television Show or a large following the only thing he had was $2000. With that he moved into a Jewish area and began the conversion process. He converted and for a time lived in Eretz Yisrael before returning to the States. He is now a Chabad Chassid and completely blended in with the community.
NOTE A NON-JEW IS FORBIDDEN TO OBSERVE FULLY THE SHABBOS AS IT IS OUR CONVENENT. THEREFORE WE TELL PEOPLE STUDYING FOR CONVERSION TO PERFORM ONE SMALL TASK OF MELACHA SUCH AS LIGHTING OR EXTINGUISHING A MATCH ON SHABBOS UNTIL THE CONVERSION PROCESS IS COMPLETE.
The Preacher who became a Ben Noach and the real Indiana Jones but from Texas
Jack Saunders, the 58 year old with a flowing white beard, is a former Minister. In his life, he was totally devoted unto G-D. He slowly game to the conclusion that Noach was given specific Mitzvos. He contacted Chabad about this. He saw the Noachide Principles as the truth and went with is intellectual and emotional principles.
The break was past coming when he began during a church service on Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (No virgin mentioned in the neither in original wording nor Immaculate Conception.) Without planning to do so he told his congregation that he did not hold by the Christian Translation and interpretation but by the original. Half his congregation walked out. Those that stayed were opened minded enough to follow the 7 Mitzvos given to Noach.
Although many of the people in the world believe that the Noachide Movement is new, this is not so. It was given to Adam after he was expelled from Gan Eden in the course of his life time. {As noted before brother and sister had to marry until there was a third generation with cousins.} The real Indian Jones was a Noachide named Vendyl Jones http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendyl_Jones from Texas. Taken from the site: In 1964, the Journal of Near Eastern Studies reported the 1952 discovery of the Marble Tablets in Beirut, Lebanon. That same year the Copper Scroll was found in Cave #3 at Qumran, Israel, which listed the hiding places of 64 sacred articles which included the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant. … A VJRI excavation team claimed to have found the Shemen Afarshimon, the Holy Anointing Oil, from the Holy Temple, in April 1988. In the 1992 excavation, the VJRI team announced the discovery of a hidden silo in the bed rock that contained a reddish snuff-looking material that appeared to be organic in nature. When it was analyzed by the Weizmann Institute of Science and two departments at Bar-Ilan University, the tests allegedly indicated that the reddish material was a compound of eleven ingredients in the Holy Incense, although critics claim this was in fact just dirt. Over 900 pounds of the "spices" were removed that year. This Holy Incense, with the Anointing Oil, are two items listed in the Copper Scroll. They were supposedly found in the precise order that they occur written in the Torah.
Jones believes his archaeology to have eschatological significance, and that when he finds the ancient religious items he is looking for, God will be revealed to the world, all Jews will return to Israel, and there will be peace in the Middle East. Also, Israeli democracy will be replaced by a Sanhedrin, not unlike the group that was formed by various Israeli rabbis in 2004, and with which Jones is closely associated. Also see: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/141371
Both stories are condensed and appeared in the Chabad of the Old City of Yerushalayim Publication “Living Jewish” written by Miriam Metzinger.
Angelic Pleasure by Yerachmiel Tilles http://www.ascentofsafed.com/Stories/Stories/5771/691-25.html
The saintly Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk once recovered from a life-threatening illness. When his recovery was complete, his closest disciples mustered their courage to ask him what he had seen while hovering between life and death.
The Rebbe said that he would tell one thing he learned:
As I walked in the Garden of Eden, I saw among the most honored souls a familiar face. He looked very much like Mottel the Bookbinder. To be sure, Mottel was a G-d-fearing Jew, an honest, hard-working bookbinder, but he was otherwise an undistinguished ordinary Jew, not even much of a Torah scholar.
"Is it truly you, Reb Mottel?" I asked the soul as I approached him.
"Yes, it is I," called out Reb Mottel happily.
"But how did you get to this exalted place?" I asked Reb Mottel quite innocently.
"When I was brought before the Heavenly Court, I was asked the usual questions. I had to admit that, regrettably, I had studied very little Torah. I didn't have much of a head for it. Besides, we were very poor, so I had to find a way of earning money to help my parents support the family. I was apprenticed, at an early age, to a bookbinder, I explained to the Court...
"They began the weighing of my mitzvot (commandments) and sins. On the right side of the scale, angels began putting all my good deeds. Then they pushed the scale down to make it weightier, saying this was for the joy and sincerity with which I performed the mitzvot. "But then other angels came forward and began to load my sins and misdeeds on the left scale. I watched with horror as my sins were added up. Most of the sins were truly not serious, and they happened because of my ignorance. But, though they were small, they were adding up dangerously, till they tipped the scale.
"As I stood there before the Heavenly Court, trembling and ashamed, an angel suddenly appeared with a worn-out siddur (prayer book) in his hand. Behind him was a line of wagons loaded with sacks.
"'I am the angel in charge of stray pages from holy books. I go to every Jewish home, every shul and every Jewish school. I look to see the condition of the holy books. Whenever I see a worn out book, with crumpled pages and loose covers it gives me tremendous pleasure, for this is a sign that the books are in constant use. But when I see that some of these books are tattered beyond repair, I am troubled, for every holy book has a holy soul, and every page has a soul, which must be treated with care and respect.
"'In the course of my travels I met this man here on trial. Ever since he was a child, Mottel loved his little siddur and would often caress and kiss it before closing it.
"'When it came time for Mottel to be apprenticed, he told his father that there was nothing he would like more than to be a bookbinder.
"'I have never seen a book-binder like Mottel,' continued the angel in my defense. 'He never got any pages mixed up, never missed a stitch, and always used the best materials. From time to time, he would go to the shuls in his town and collect holy books that cried out for attention. He took them home and worked late into the night to restore them, bind them and give them new life. He never charged for this and never even told anyone about it.
"'I respectfully request that the Heavenly Court permit me to unload all the sacks of worn-out holy books to which Mottel the Bookbinder has given a second life, and put them on the scale with all his other mitzvot and good deeds.
"The Heavenly Court agreed. Long before the wagons were half unloaded, the scale with the mitzvot clearly outweighed the other side.
"Believe me, dear Rebbe," Mottel concluded, "I was as astonished as you were at what happened before my eyes at seeing me in this place of honor."
"I wanted to ask Mottel a few more questions," explained Rebbe Elimelech, "but at just that moment I began to recover. Reb Mottel's story speaks for itself. But let us also remember," Reb Elimelech enjoined his disciples, "that G-d never fails to give credit and reward for any good deed, even for such a seemingly trivial act as smoothing out a crumpled corner of a well worn page in a holy book.
Quote of the week from Tzipora from Rabbi Meir Kahane HY”D: This, then, is the rule: A coalition of the wicked is no coalition, and there is no force to any law or decision or decree of a wicked government which opposes the Torah. It is a mitzvah to resist them, and it is absolutely prohibited to accept the evil majority's decision. No kingdom or government, Jewish or non-Jewish, has any right to nullify a mitzvah or pass a law opposed to our holy Torah, and if they do so, their edict has no force. (Source: The Jewish Idea, p. 674)
From R' A. L. http://kosherhaircut.com/fullsize.html
Pollard Plea reaches the desk of the President: http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=210524
2,000 years late don’t you think: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142660
Oy Vey Ugh Dept.: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4027846,00.html
Inyanay Diyoma
Oil http://www.debka.com/article/20710/
Presidential Advisor calls for the invasion of Israel:
A realistic approach to the Middle-east: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4034057,00.html
Don’t think that these jailed opposition leaders are super friendly they are extreme Shiites too: http://www.debka.com/article/20714/
State Terrorism of Jews thanks to Ehud Barak and Barak Hussein: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4035338,00.html
That was Israeli Democracy now for Egyptian Democracy in true form as Christians attacked: http://globetribune.info/2011/02/27/egyptian-armed-forces-attack-coptic-monasteries-video/
After two murder-suicides this week the police receive orders to get off their seats and be pro-active. http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=210291
New Defense system: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4036240,00.html
Mischief of the Sidra Acher: http://www.debka.com/article/20718/
On the eastern side of where my daughter lives American Flags are roasted by Arabs “The religion of Peace”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5N_IHMlfTY&feature=player_embedded
I like a good workout but not on the dime of the Taxpayers. http://www.politicsdaily.com/2011/02/28/obamas-workout-white-house-democrats-as-fitness-fanatics/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl5%7Csec1_lnk3%7C204168
G-D help the USA: http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2011/02/july-4th-million-man-muslim-march-on-dc-to-unite-the-ummah.html
Gaza front heats up: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4034712,00.html
Mussar – we have the tendency of forgetting the suffering of others and think that our suffering is the worst: http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=210037
Religious Homosexuals have organized therapy: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4031094,00.html
The decline of the west part 1: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4036418,00.html part 2: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4036476,00.html
Kondos or not to Bill Clinton who bombed the Christians in the Serbian side who fought the Islamic terrorist from Bosnia and Kosovo http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4037040,00.html The State Department are idiots and Arabists. Funny how in the Sudan countless people died but a little oil makes a big difference in Libya.
Caliphate News: http://www.debka.com/article/20721/
The right man for training for a higher job: http://www.alandcalledamerica.com/allen-west-becomes-a-star-the-vice-presidency-washpo-and-more
Major Hasan, 'Star Officer'
Every branch of the military issued a final report on the Fort Hood massacre. Not a single one mentioned radical Islam.
By DOROTHY RABINOWITZ
In a month of momentous change, it was easy to overlook the significance of another revolutionary event. Who would have believed that in the space of a few weeks the leaders of the three major European powers would publicly denounce multiculturalism and declare, in so many words, that it was a proven disaster and a threat to society?
One after another they announced their findings—Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, Great Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy. Multicultural values had not only led to segregated communities: They had, Mr. Cameron noted, imposed policies of blind toleration that had helped nurture radical Islam's terrorist cells.
There can be no underestimating the in-so-many-words aspect of these renunciations. This was multiculturalism they were talking about—the unofficial established religion of the universities, the faith whose requirements have shaped every aspect of cultural, economic and political life in Western democracies for the last 50 years. Still, they were out there—words coolly specific, their target clear.
They came at a fitting moment, just as Americans had been handed a report providing the fullest disclosures so far about the multiculturalist zeal that had driven Army and medical school superiors to smooth Nidal Malik Hasan's rocky way through training, promote him, and, despite blatant evidence of his unfitness, raise not a single concern. Maj. Hasan, U.S. Army psychiatrist, would be assigned to Fort Hood where, in November 2009, he opened fire, killing 12 fellow soldiers and a civilian employee, and wounding 32 others.
Associated Press - Maj. Hasan at the Bell County Jail after his shooting spree at Fort Hood.
In this report, titled "A Ticking Time Bomb" and put out by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, there is a detail as dazzling in its bleak way as all the glowing misrepresentations of Dr. Hasan's skills and character, which his superiors poured into their evaluations of him. It concerns the Department of Defense's official report on the Fort Hood killings—a study whose recital of fact made no mention of Hasan's well-documented jihadist sympathies. Subsequent DoD memoranda portray the bloodbath—which began with Hasan shouting "Allahu Akbar!"—as a kind of undefined extremism, something on the order, perhaps, of work-place violence.
[Editor’s note: this is precisely what Rep. Allen West said when he was our guest on a recent episode of the ACT! for America television program.]
This avoidance of specifics was apparently contagious—or, more precisely, policy. In November 2010, each branch of the military issued a final report on the Fort Hood shooting. Not one mentioned the perpetrator's ties to radical Islam. Even today, "A Ticking Time Bomb," co-authored by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I., Conn.) and Susan Collins (R., Maine), reminds us that DoD still hasn't specifically named the threat represented by the Fort Hood attack—a signal to the entire Defense bureaucracy that the subject is taboo.
For the superiors in charge of Hasan's training at Walter Reed and his two years at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, the taboo was of a more complicated order—one that required elaborately inventive analyses through which Hasan's stated beliefs, ominous pronouncements, and evident unconcern with standards of behavior required of an officer could all be represented as singular virtues, proof of his exceptional value to the Army. It could not have been easy. Still, they managed.
They did so despite Hasan's astounding trail of performances, each more telling than the next. To fulfill Walter Reed's academic requirement for a presentation on a psychiatric theme, Hasan proffered a draft consisting almost entirely of wisdom from the Quran arguing for the painful punishment and liquidation of non-Muslims. Hasan evidently viewed the Qur’anic verses as a sufficient presentation—a view his superior didn't share, given its lack of any mention of a psychiatric theme. When that guide warned him the presentation was "not scholarly" and might prevent his graduation, Hasan revised. The finished product was not much different. Still, Hasan was allowed to graduate.
He went on to his medical fellowship, where he soon delivered another class lecture, this one on the Islamist theme that the West, in particular the U.S. military, had mounted a war on Islam. The presentation brimmed with views sympathetic to Osama bin Laden, the motives of the 9/11 perpetrators, and suicide bombers. It so infuriated his classmates that their outraged eruptions caused the instructor to end the presentation.
There would be more of the same to come. One classmate witness told investigators that Hasan sought every possible opportunity to share his radical Islamist sympathies. His highest obligation, he told classmates, wasn't to the Constitution, which he had sworn to protect and defend, but to his religion.
His Islamist sympathies would attract the interest of the FBI, which soon picked up on this U.S. Army major's contacts with a terrorist suspect, unnamed in the Senate report. The agency would, however, have no continuing great interest in Hasan. Among other reasons, its agents had seen the impressive evaluation reports characterizing Hasan as an authority on Islam—one whose work even had "extraordinary potential to inform national policy and military strategy," as one of his superiors put it in his officer evaluation report.
The same Hasan who set off silent alarms in his supervisors—the Psychiatric Residency Program Director at Walter Reed was one of them—would garner only plaudits in the official written evaluations at the time. He was commended in these as a "star officer," one focused on "illuminating the role of culture and Islamic faith within the Global War on Terrorism.” One supervisor testified, "His unique interests have captured the interest and attention of peers and mentors alike.” No single word of criticism or doubt about Hasan ever made its way into any of his evaluations.
Some of those enthusiastic testaments strongly suggested that the writers were themselves at least partly persuaded of their reasoning. In magical thinking, safety and good come to those who obey taboos, and in the multiculturalist world, there is no taboo more powerful than the one that forbids acknowledgment of realities not in keeping with the progressive vision. In the world of the politically correct—which can apparently include places where psychiatrists are taught—magical thinking reigns.
A resident who didn't represent the diversity value that Hasan did as a Muslim would have faced serious consequences had he behaved half as disturbingly. Here was a world in which Hasan was untouchable, in which all that was grim and disturbing in him was transformed. He was a consistently mediocre performer, ranking in the lowest 25% of his class, but to his evaluators, he was an officer of unique talents.
He was a star not simply because he was a Muslim, but because he was a special kind—the sort who posed, in his flaunting of jihadist sympathies, the most extreme test of liberal toleration. Exactly the kind the progressive heart finds irresistible.
A decision as to whether Maj. Hasan will go to trial—it would be before a military court-martial —should be forthcoming next month. He stands charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder, committed when he turned his laser-equipped semi-automatic on members of the military at the Soldier Readiness Center. The likelihood is that the trial will go forward. If it does, the forces of multiculturalist piety, which played so central a role in advancing this Army major and concealing the menace he posed, will be the invisible presence on trial with him.
Ms. Rabinowitz, a member of the Journal's editorial board, is the author of "No Crueler Tyrannies: Accusations, False Witness And Other Terrors Our Times" (Free Press, 2003).
From Grandmother White Eagle: I am disgusted at the turn of events to soft-peddle this trail. All people who have any sense of justice should want this man hung until he is dead, dead, dead and then his body tossed in an undisclosed burial ground. I cannot even fathom why family members are not rising up to protest this raping of the people. I live outside of Ft. Hood and would be in their face (the powers that be) in an 'up close and personal way' every day of their miserable lives.
It was George Bush who had his Saudi friends over for 'barbecues' and said that Islam was a 'religion of peace'. I for one want to leave this country if our military doesn't get their backbone and, post haste, barbecue Hasan in the Electric Chair or hang him...it makes no difference. He has no right to 'breathe' any longer. I have heard that on March 3 Muslims will be asking for Sharia Law in Washington. I don't even want to see 'that man's face'. It irritates me just thinking about him sitting their in the white house. And in the old movies the Indians were called savages. I am wondering who is running our In Justice Dept. with our Tax Payer dollars – don’t you?
The following person with a Jewish sounding name is a danger to Israel ALAN SABROSKY - the one who claims that he was a director of the Army War College. He has put out a film claiming that Israel pulled of 9/11.
Another danger to Israel is George Soros’ J. Street
JStreet should be sued for fraud by claiming that it is “pro-Israel and pro-peace”
by Emanuel A. Winston, Mid East Analyst & Commentator
I just received some sort of invitation to a conference February 26 to March 1 from the organization that is fraudulently claiming that “J Street is the political home of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement” but, at the least – "JStreet" is the most Leftist organization currently hiding in plain view behind those claims.
No doubt, they intended this slur as a personal insult but, I took it to be a mark of congratulations for my frequent articles criticizing the Leftists’ views (especially against Israel and the Jewish people). JStreet is now perhaps the worst of the bad when it comes to bashing Israel and supporting a Muslim/Arab take-over of Israel’s heartland.
JStreet should be sued for fraud by the real AIPAC for claiming that it is “pro-Israel and pro-peace”.
Rachel Lerner was ‘kind’ enough to provide a partial enclosed listing of their speakers. It was like reading a who’s who of Leftists, anti-Semites, and radical Muslim Islamists – or, at least, many well-identified as exceedingly hostile to Israel. J Street’s list includes the usual Arabists as speakers.
I did not see the name of George Soros, known as one of the significant financial backers of “JStreet” but, I would assume he would one of the prominent guests.
I noted a few very familiar names, such as Dennis Ross (known as part of James Baker’s troika of Ross, Aaron David Miller and Daniel Kurtzer – pejoratively called Baker’s “Jew-Boys”). Ross and group are representing President Barak Hussein Obama, well-known as no friend of Israel.
Another name which should not have surprised me was Tom Dine, the former Director of AIPAC (American Israel Political Action Committee). Frankly, as I was once a member of AIPAC’s National Executive Board, I felt that Dine was weak at defending Israel and I never respected him as a representative of AIPAC grass-roots members.
I have enclosed the letter sent to me by “JStreet”, along with the list of speakers they provided – some of whom you may recognize by name or by their organizations.
J STREET EXPOSES ITSELF by ISI LIEBLER Forwarded without commentary by Emanuel A. Winston, Mid East Analyst & Commentator
· Posted by Israel Insider on February 25, 2011
The scandals and controversies wracking J Street over the past year are reflected in the notable absence this year of any high-profile Democratic Congressman at their annual conference, a marked contrast from the preceding year.
Obviously the political mainstream now has a better understanding of the organization. Claiming to be a "pro-Israel, pro-peace" organization, J Street vigorously set itself up as a body with the principal objective being to canvass the US government to exert pressure on Israel to make further unilateral concessions. It had the chutzpa to compare itself with parents obliged to impose "tough love" on drug addicted children.
J Street condemned Israel for "its disproportionate response" in the Gaza offensive against Hamas - highlighting that "we recognize that neither Israelis nor Palestinians have a monopoly of right or wrong."
It refused to condemn the Goldstone report and, to make matters worse senior officers of the organization actually facilitated meetings between Judge Goldstone and members of Congress.
J Street was challenged for having obtained donations from Arab and pro-Arab individuals and organizations. Over $800,000 came from an anonymous donor in Hong Kong, whose identity the J Street founder, Jeremy Ben Ami, refuses to disclose.
Until recently, Ben Ami had vigorously denied that his organization was receiving funds from George Soros, who is renowned for having proudly proclaimed "I am not a Zionist, nor am I a practicing Jew."
Yet, last September, the same Ben Ami was obliged to abjectly apologize to the public for having repeatedly lied, after it was disclosed that at least one third of their US budget had been donated by Soros. It was also subsequently disclosed that "The Middle East Lobby of J Street", a tax-exempt 501(c) 4 organization, had paid tens of thousands of dollars to a consulting firm co-owned by Jeremy Ben Ami, its founder and president. Ben Ami had initially claimed that he did not benefit financially, but had merely chosen the most qualified company.
There were other scandals throughout the year. J Street co-founder Daniel Levy wrote an article describing Israel's creation as, "an act that went wrong."
Barry Rubin disclosed that the head of J Street's office in Israel, Drew Cohen, was on record describing Operation Cast Lead as being an "unjust and even criminal act." He dismissed Gaza as a "mythic threat" to Israel and referred to the Gaza Flotilla confrontation as "a heinous brutality."
But what tipped the edge and made an absolute mockery of J Street's pretension to be "pro-Israel," was when it openly began urging its members to lobby the White House not to veto the most recent one-sided UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel.
This led Jewish lawmaker Gary Ackerman, a leading New York Democrat Congressman and former supporter of J Street, to express outrage that J Street's "decision to endorse the Palestinian and Arab effort to condemn Israel at the United Nations Security Council is not the choice of a friend trying to help. It is rather the befuddled choice of an organization so open-minded about what contributes support for Israel that its brains have fallen out.... I have come to the conclusion that J Street is not an organization with which I wish to be associated."
Thus, despite retaining its position as the darling of the left liberal and anti-Israeli media and continuing to receive funding from somewhat questionable sources, J Street has become marginalized.
Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to Washington, who had tentatively opened up a dialogue with the organization said, "J Street claim they're pro-Israel. They are calling for Israel to be condemned in the Security Council for the settlements and they are condemning some of our best friends on the Hill. So they can call themselves what they like." He refused to participate in the conference and instructed members of his Embassy to do likewise. Even Birthright canceled jointly sponsored visits to Israel with the organization.
Needless to say, with the organization quoting Ben Ami "doing whatever we can in Congress to act as [Barack Obama's] blocking back," the administration stood by the organization and Dennis Ross, the senior advisor to President Obama on Middle East issues, was directed to address the conference.
But this year's J Street conference will primarily be catering for far left activists, including some notoriously well-known anti-Israeli personalities.
This is exemplified by the award J Street will be giving to Sarah Beninga of the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement, whose manifesto calls for "liquidation or fundamental change of organizations that contribute to the dispossession of Arabs, including the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Fund and the Israeli Land Authority."
The only disquieting note is that four Kadima and two Labor MKs decided to participate. It is a somewhat bizarre reflection on our political system, when a number of our mainstream MKs decide to participate in the conference of a group, which only a few days ago had been lobbying President Obama not to veto the UN Security Council resolution and which was boycotted by the Israeli embassy and even US Congressman who had participated in previous conferences.
Whereas Tzipi Livni, the leader of the opposition, who had on previous occasions criticized those condemning J Street, remained silent, to their credit several Kadima MKs condemned the participation of their colleagues. The former chairman of the Jewish Agency, Kadima MK Zeev Bielsky, aptly commented that "it is too bad that some of my colleagues do not understand the danger of supporting an organization that is working against Israel."
The most disappointing participant is Nachman Shai, traditionally regarded as a mature and responsible opposition MK. He defended his involvement by stating that he disagreed with J Street policy. But he decided to participate because he felt there was a need to speak to young people with doubts about Israel rather than losing them and that the bulk of his address would concentrate on defending construction in Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem and settlement blocs outside the capital.
Shai is presumably well-intentioned, but he does not appreciate that he will be speaking primarily to hard liners with closed minds and that his very presence at such a conference provides it with an imprimatur and gives this group, consistently hostile to Israel, the respectability it desperately seeks but does not deserve.
AS THE LIES COME CRASHING DOWN by CAROLINE GLICK Jerusalem Post Forwarded with commentary by Emanuel A. Winston, Mid East Analyst & Commentator
As President Barack Hussein Obama continues to insist he is not a Muslim in fact or in practice, you may wish to question his support of Muslim Pakistan as it doubles its nuclear arsenal.
Then the question arises as to why Obama has done virtually nothing of consequence to force Iran to stand down perfecting its nuclear arsenal?
We watch in astonishment as America’s 16 Intel Agencies, sworn to protect the nation acts only to protect Obama from exposure.
No point in commenting on the Democrats in Congress as they line up obediently behind Obama, Pelosi and Reid, accepting the weakening of America.
The world is crumbling and we have a President fiddling while America is about to go up in flames.
COMMENTARY BY EMANUEL A. WINSTON
In the midst of the political turmoil engulfing Egypt and much of the Arab world, last month's revelation that Pakistan has doubled the size of its nuclear arsenal over the past four years has been largely ignored.
Nuclear proliferation analysts from the Federation of American Scientists and the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) assess that since 2006, Pakistan has increased the size of its nuclear arsenal from 30-60 atomic bombs to approximately 110. That makes Pakistan the world's fifth largest nuclear power ahead of Britain and France.
As for delivery systems, according to The Washington Post, Pakistan has developed nuclear-capable land- and air-launched cruise missiles. Its Shaheen II missile, with a range of 2,400 kilometers, is about to go into operational deployment.
On Wednesday, Pakistan test-fired its new Hatf- VII nuclear-capable cruise missile with a 600-kilometer range.
The Obama administration has been silent on Pakistan's nuclear proliferation activities. As ISIS President David Albright said to the Washington Post, "The administration is always trying to keep people from talking about this knowledgeably. They're always trying to downplay the numbers [of Pakistan's nuclear warheads] and insisting that 'it's smaller than you think.' "
Pakistan's nuclear growth goes on as its economy is in shambles, its government is falling apart and a large portion of the country's territory is controlled by the Taliban. Pakistan is the largest recipient of US foreign aid. In 2009 Congress approved a five-year $7.5 billion civilian aid package. Last October, the Obama administration proposed supplementing the aid with $2b. for Pakistan's military.
The administration requested the supplemental aid despite criticism that economic assistance to Pakistan indirectly funds its nuclear project, since Pakistan is in an effective state of bankruptcy. Moreover, a US Inspector-General's Report published this week concluded that the $7.5b. in assistance has achieved little.
For their part, the Pakistani government and military adhere to a radically anti-American line, and Pakistan's powerful ISI intelligence service and large sections of its military continue to maintain intimate ties with al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Last month, Pakistani police arrested US diplomat Raymond Davis in Lahore after he killed two gunmen who were reportedly about to rob him at gunpoint. Pakistani law enforcement officials have charged Davis with murder and refuse to release him to US custody, despite the fact that he should enjoy the protection of diplomatic immunity. Rather than attempt to quiet passions, the Pakistani government is fanning anti-American sentiments by among other things, releasing a videotape of Davis's police interrogation.
To date, while members of Congress are beginning to threaten to curtail aid to Pakistan pending Davis's release, the administration has limited its response to this de facto act of hostage-taking by Pakistan to refusing to hold high-level exchanges with Pakistani leaders. And even this limited response has been inconsistently implemented.
For instance, while US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton refused to meet with her Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, at the Munich security conference last weekend, she did agree to meet with Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, the commander of the Pakistani military. So, too, the US ambassador in Pakistan met on Monday with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.
Pakistan is a textbook example of a disaster of biblical proportions in the making. Its hyperactive nuclear expansion, weak central government, impoverished, radicalized population, and pro- Islamist military and intelligence arms are sources for major concern. That concern becomes all-out alarm in light of the Taliban/al-Qaida's control over anywhere from a quarter to a third of Pakistani territory and the widespread public support for them throughout the country.
Since taking office, the Obama administration has failed to conceive of a strategy for contending with the situation. One of the main obstacles to the formation of a coherent US strategy is the Obama administration's move to outlaw any discussion of the basic threats to US interests. Shortly after entering office, President Barack Obama banned the use of the term "War against terror," substituting it with the opaque term "overseas contingency operation."
Last April, Obama banned use of the terms "jihad," "Islamic terrorism" and "radical Islam" in US government documents. Given that US officials are barred from using all the terms that are relevant for describing reality in places like Pakistan, it is obvious why the US cannot put together a strategy for contending with the challenges it faces there.
Imagine an intelligence officer in Peshawar trying to report on what he sees. Imagine a defense attaché in Lahore trying to explain the problems with the jihad-infested Pakistani military to his superiors in Washington. Imagine a USAID officer trying to explain why the jihadist-mosque attending public refuses to work at US-funded highway programs.
The Obama administration's decision to ban relevant language from the official US policy discourse was ideologically motivated. And in choosing ideology over reality, the Obama administration has induced a situation where rather than construct policies to deal with reality, at all levels, US officials have been charged with constructing policies to deny and ignore reality.
AGAINST THIS backdrop it becomes fairly clear why the Obama administration's handling of the political turmoil in Egypt has been so incompetent. Upon entering office, Obama made a determined effort to ignore the political instability percolating under the surface throughout the authoritarian Arab world. US government officials were instructed to curtail programs aimed at developing liberal alternatives to authoritarianism and the Muslim Brotherhood. The justification for this behavior was again ideological.
As the world's biggest bully, the US had no moral right to judge the behavior of tyrants like Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.Once the dutifully ignored long-repressed popular discontent boiled over into the popular revolts we have seen over the past month in Tunisia and Egypt as well as Yemen, Jordan, Algeria and beyond, the Obama administration rushed to get on the "right side" of the issue. To avoid criticism for refusing to contend with the problems bred by Arab authoritarianism, Obama went to the other extreme. He became the most outspoken champion of unfettered popular democracy in Egypt.
Of course, to occupy this other side of the spectrum, Obama has had to ignore the danger constituted by the most powerful opposition movement in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood's hostility towards the US's most fundamental strategic interests in the Middle East has been swept under the rug by the Obama administration and its supporters in the US media.
But then, in light of the prohibition of all discussion of the reasons the Muslim Brotherhood constitutes a threat to the US - its jihadist ideology of Islamic conquest, its genocidal Islamic-based Jew-hatred and hatred of America, its support for Islamic terrorism against non-jihadist regimes throughout the Muslim world and against the West - it is not surprising that the Obama administration is embracing the inclusion of the movement in a post-Mubarak Egyptian regime.
How could the administration object to something it has chosen to ignore? The Obama administration's ideologically driven strategic ineptitude is evident everywhere. From its slavish devotion to appeasing Iran, its single-minded insistence on withdrawing from Iraq, its announced commitment to withdrawing from Afghanistan, to its tolerance of Hugo Chavez, and its infantile reset button diplomacy towards Russia, the Obama administration's foreign policy is on a collision course with reality. But nowhere is its premeditated incompetence more evident than in its obsession with the establishment of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River.
So it was that during his visit in Israel this week, Obama's recently retired national security adviser Gen. James Jones claimed that it is God's will that Israel withdraw to indefensible borders, and effectively blamed the political turmoil in Egypt on the absence of a Palestinian state.
As Jones put it, "I'm of the belief that had God appeared in front of President Obama in 2009 and said if he could do one thing on the face of the planet, and one thing only, to make the world a better place and give people more hope and opportunity for the future, I would venture that it would have something to do with finding the two-state solution to the Middle East."Jones then argued, "Time is not on our side, and a failure to act [in establishing a Palestinian state] may trigger other Egypt-like demonstrations in other countries in the region."
The Obama administration is not alone in this completely irrational view. As the Arab world undergoes massive convulsions born of the legacy of authoritarianism and nourished by the pull of “Jihadism”, all of Europe's major statesmen are lining up behind Washington in pushing Israel to agree to surrender still more land to the PLO in order to establish yet another authoritarian, jihad-infested Arab state.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, British Foreign Minister William Hague, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and other senior officials all parroted Jones's view this week.
CONFRONTING THE Obama administration's assault on reason in the interest of ideological faithfulness, Israel is faced with very few good options. The threats Israel faces stem largely from the rising forces of jihad, Islamic terrorism and religiously justified nuclear adventurism embraced by Islamist politicians and religious leaders. That is, the threats facing Israel stem largely from the forces the Obama administration has elected to ignore and deny.
Moreover, the Obama administration's singular obsession with coercing Israel to surrender still more land to the Palestinian Authority means that America's central Middle East policy involves demanding that Israel further strengthen the unmentionable forces of jihad at its own expense. This fact was underlined this week with The Jerusalem Post's Khaled Abu Toameh's revelation that most senior PA leaders have recently applied for Jordanian citizenship. Clearly the likes of Mahmoud Abbas believe they will not be the winners if their repressive regime in Judea and Samaria is seriously challenged by their popular jihadist rivals in Hamas.
Our leaders are doubtlessly tempted to simply take the path of least resistance and join Obama and his merry band of blind men as they move from lie to lie to defend their ideology from reality. But doing so will not protect us when the dangers sown by the US's strategic dementia provoke the next conflagration.
Israel's best option is to simply tell the truth as loudly and forcefully as it can and base our policies on it. While doing so will win Israel no friends in the Obama administration or in Europe, it will prepare us for the day when the wall of lies they are building from Islamabad to Cairo to Ramallah come crashing down.
Originally published in The Jerusalem Post. © 2011 CarolineGlick.com
Teaching of Islam in our classrooms February 28, 2011 By Diva Ellen
It has been brought to my attention by Alison Rampersaud that textbooks chosen for our public schools include teachings of Islam! As the parent of an elementary school child I am OUTRAGED!
The email I received from Alison says the following:
Hi, All:
In the Florida Department of Education approved Social Studies textbooks, over 200 excerpts with pro-Islam, anti-Judeo/Christian bias were identified by the Citizens for National Security. Some of you have been asking about the textbook issues that have prompted the upcoming scheduled protest. So, I’ve attached a list of some ‘questionable’ items.
I met with the Palm Beach School Board Social Studies group this morning. They danced around the issue and tried to get me to go in another direction, ie…the FDOE at the state level, as they’re the ones who actually recommend the books. I stayed the course, however, and told them that all we expect of them is to educate the classroom teachers by giving them the same handout I’m sending you so they can explain to students what the problems are and why they’re erroneous. They said they’ll run the list of textbooks/errors through their legal department and comply, pending Legal’s reply. They also invited me to a June meeting where they will be reviewing various classroom materials prior to purchasing.
Email attachment reads:
Islam-bias Tactics
The following tactics for tailoring the content in favor of Islam were typical in the Florida K-12 history and geography textbooks reviewed.
· Significant omissions, e.g. avoiding any discussion of “jihad” and “Shariah law.”
Example:
“As early as 2002 another high-profile textbook, World History: Patterns of Interaction, a high school world history textbook published by Houghton Mifflin under the McDougal Littell imprint, did not mention jihad. Houghton Mifflin’s multigrade series then dropped jihad from textbooks; by 2005 Houghton Mifflin had apparently removed jihad from its entire series of social studies textbooks.
Now for M. Wolfberg’s “Day of Siesta” Or as Rabbi Yacov London would say, “You never can tell!”
Good Shabbos Everyone. The negotiations were taking much longer than expected. Two representatives of a real estate conglomerate were trying to complete the purchase of an office building in downtown Mexico City, but the lawyers were discussing the details slowly and meticulously. Every office had to be inspected, the insurance policies verified, and the terms of payment specified to the last penny.
Jacobo Sherem, the managing partner of the owners' group, was desperate to complete the transaction. With every passing moment, he was becoming more impatient and exasperated.
An architect by profession, Jacobo had been trying to sell this particular office building for months, so that he could finally turn a profit on his investment. He had designed, bought and sold buildings in the past, but this building on Calle Presa Salinillas had been his biggest investment, and so far it had been a losing proposition for his group. Due to the depressed financial climate in Mexico, most of the office space was unoccupied.
As the hours passed, Jacobo became increasingly nervous. The buyers had told him unequivocally that they were leaving Mexico on the first plane out the next morning, which was Saturday. They would not delay their trip. If they could complete the purchase that day, that would be wonderful; otherwise they would cancel the negotiations and move on to prospective deals in other countries.
It was the late hour of the day, Friday, that was putting pressure on Jacobo. For the last year he had been attending evening study classes in the Aram Tzovah Kollel in the Polanco section of Mexico City. He studied Torah a few nights a week, but he was not as yet Shomer Shabbos (Sabbath observant). After many discussions and much introspection and inspiration from avreichim (kollel members) at Aram Tzovah, Jacobo and his wife Sophia were inching closer to total commitment to Shabbos observance. Jacobo had already started going to shul every Friday night and his office was closed on Shabbos, but he and Sophia were not yet complete Sabbath observers.
Frustrated at being so close to, yet so far from, fulfilling his dream of selling the building, Jacobo looked at his watch and saw that there was less than an hour and a half to Shabbos. Reluctantly he told the prospective buyers that the negotiations would have to continue Sunday or Monday - he had to leave and close his office. The buyers threatened that it was now or never, for they were flying out of the country the next day. But Jacobo would not budge. Shabbos was coming. He hadn't missed a Friday night in shul in weeks and he wasn't going to miss tonight. The buyers were incredulous that Jacobo would scuttle a deal that would lift him out of the financial doldrums, but he would not be moved. The parties to the negotiations bid each other a final farewell, and Jacobo went home to prepare for Shabbos.
He couldn't help but second guess himself. Had he acted correctly? There would be other Shabbosos when he would be in the synagogue, but now he might never be able to sell this building that was becoming an albatross around his financial holdings. He tried to enjoy the Shabbos, but it was difficult. An internal debate raged in his mind. He was proud of his commitment but he wondered if it was worth the price.
Two weeks later, early Thursday morning, September 19, 1985, (during the Selichos of Aseres Yemei Teshuvah) Mexico was struck by the greatest tragedy in its history. In a matter of seconds, a monstrous, rumbling earthquake gashed and shook Mexico City, toppling buildings, swallowing homes, wreaking havoc and bringing instantaneous death to thousands of people! Within 24 hours, as the country staggered to adjust to the shock and magnitude of the Thursday tragedy, an aftershock staggered the city. The number of people killed in these earthquakes reached a shocking 4,541. Another 14,236 were injured and 2,637 required hospitalization. In the downtown district there was utter devastation. People searched in vain for relatives and friends, but it was mostly for naught. The destruction, mayhem and sorrow was beyond imagination.
Yet, amidst all the devastation, one building remained standing - the one Jacobo couldn't sell. Its windows were blown out and some of the facade of the building had peeled off, but remarkably it was structurally sound. The Mexican government had to regroup. Aid and rescue efforts had to be directed and coordinated. People needed the assurance that the government was functioning and accessible. Thus within days of the earthquakes, Jacobo's building, conveniently located downtown, was checked for its strength and stability.
When it passed inspection, the government bought most of the offices in the building and the remaining space was sold to large corporations who had lost their offices when other buildings collapsed or were deemed unsafe. Jacobo's extraordinary profit was far beyond what he would have made had he sold the building weeks before. The deals for his building propelled Jacobo into a category of wealth he never imagined.
The Hashgachah Pratis (Divine Providence) of the Shabbos not allowing him to sell the building propelled him into being a total Shabbos observer. Jacobo and Sophia never told the story to anyone. Word got out that their building was sold to the government, but no one in the community knew about the frantic Friday negotiations two weeks before the earthquakes, and Jacobo's decision to close his office for Shabbos.
Years later, in the palatial lobby of his new magnificent office building, Jacobo and Sophia tendered a grand party in honor of his first completion of a Talmudic tractate, which he had studied for several years with Rabbi Shea Deutsch (now teaching in Lakewood, N.J.) at the Aram Tzovah Kollel. There, in the presence of rabbis, community leaders and friends, Jacobo told the story that changed his life. (Reflections of the Maggid, Rabbi P. Krohn p. 193)
We read about the holiness of Shabbos in this week's parsha Vayakhel. As it states in the verse "On six days, work may be done, but the seventh day shall be holy for you, a day of complete rest for Hashem; whoever does work on it shall be put to death." (Shemos 35:2)
Shabbos is the paradigm of Judaism. Why is that so? Because on Shabbos, we must control our actions, speech, and thought, the three realms of behavior. We may not do certain actions on Shabbos, such as driving, which involves lighting fires. We may not speak about certain topics on Shabbos such as business dealings. And it is preferable not even to think about weekday activities on Shabbos. Thus, Shabbos trains us to control our behavior in life. Therefore, Shabbos is the paradigm of Judaism. Because the essence of Judaism is modifying our behavior to live according to Hashem's rules, not our own rules. Good Shabbos Everyone.
M. Wolfberg’s stories are sponsored by: Refuah Shleima to Mordechai Menachem Mendel ben Tziporah Yitta Refuah Shleima to Tsviah bas Bracha Leah Refuah Shleimah to Chana Ashayra bas Dodi.
Next week there will be next to no Inyanay Diyoma as my wife and I are on a long needed vacation. I will try to get the Drasha out. Have a wonderful Shabbos and pray hard for rain in Israel,
Rachamim Pauli
