29 January 2009

Focus on Jerusalem

It's a key indicator of where we are, not in the "peace/piece" process, but in the geulah process.

Zechariah 12.2-3, "Behold! I am making Jerusalem a cup of weakness for all the peoples around, and also on Judah, [that he] shall be in the siege against Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass on that day that I will make Jerusalem a stone of burden for all peoples; all who bear it shall be gashed, and all the nations of the earth shall gather about it."

The public has a right to know
By Nadav Shragai

...Operation Cast Lead completely transformed the public agenda, but the absence of Jerusalem from the public discourse just before the election is very disturbing. After all, no one really has any illusions: The day after a new government is formed in Israel, the issue of Jerusalem will come up again. The Palestinians, assisted by U.S. President Barack Obama, who has already pledged to be aggressive on the Middle East, will pressure Israel to make Olmert's legacy and his pledges a reality, and the public has a right to know now how its elected officials will behave.

Will they go the route of former prime minister Menachem Begin, who more than 25 years ago lashed out at the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Samuel Lewis, telling him Israel was not a banana republic and that Israel would make do with bread and margarine if necessary, but would not accept dictates? Or will they act like Livni, who warned the public this week against Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, arguing that his positions would lead to a clash with the United States?

There were many who were unenthusiastic about Begin's rigid stance, but many more appreciated it. The concern Livni raises over Netanyahu may show that the times and public tastes have changed, but it also shows a transformation in the backbone of the country's leadership.

During the era of Ariel Sharon, Olmert and Livni, coordination with the United States became sanctified to absurd levels; sometimes it was not clear whether it was a means or an end. But today as well, even though the approaches of our political leaders are so different from that of Begin, it seems that the Israeli public, with its healthy instinct, understands that coordination and consensus with the United States are not the be-all and end-all. The issue of Jerusalem, it is to be hoped, will illustrate this. But first, the public must know how its leaders intend to act when it comes to this issue.

Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman, the rising star of recent opinion polls, stood only a few months ago in the City of David area of Jerusalem and explained that his idea of exchanges of territory and populations also applies to Jerusalem, and that Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem like Jabal Mukkaber should be among those exchanged. Lieberman does not reveal to the wider public what Jerusalemites already know: Every neighborhood on the seam line has an adjacent or nearly adjacent Arab "outlying neighborhood." Jabal Mukkaber, for example, is a stone's throw and a gunshot away from the homes of Armon Hanatziv. The Qassam rockets fired on Sderot and Ashkelon would seem like child's play compared to what would happen here if such outlying neighborhoods are given up. It is enough to recall the firing from the Arab neighborhood of Beit Jala on the neighboring southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo - which went on for years, multiplying the point of friction and distributing it to hundreds of points along a dividing line dozens of kilometers long - to understand what a bizarre reality, one our politicians tend not to talk about, would be our lot.

But Lieberman is not alone among the dividers. Defense Minister Ehud Barak already gave up half of Jerusalem at Camp David in 2000, and was willing to share sovereignty on the Temple Mount as well. Livni's and Olmert's teams are ready for something similar. Even Netanyahu is not exempt from questions: What, for example, does he plan to do with the legacy left to him by Olmert, Livni and Barak, who have already agreed to divide the city? Does he intend to do what he did in 1996, when he divided Hebron, or is he prepared to pledge now unequivocably that this legacy - agreement in advance to divide Jerusalem, of which Olmert has informed the Obama administration - does not obligate him, and that talks on dividing the city are unacceptable?



US Envoy: Lieberman Met with Arafat Aide, Backed Full Withdrawal by Baruch Gordon

(IsraelNN.com) In a new book, former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk has dropped a potential political bombshell, revealing that Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beitenu party, once held secret talks on territorial concessions to the Palestinian Authority (PA) with one of Yasser Arafat's key advisers.

In addition, Indyk asserts that Lieberman told his PA interlocutor, Muhammad Rachid, that he was prepared to accept the wide-ranging concessions which then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak had offered to Arafat at the 2000 Camp David Summit.

These included the division of Jerusalem, an Israeli withdrawal from over 95 percent of Judea and Samaria, and a dilution of Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site....


Jerusalem: Why Not to Divide

Netanyahu: Obama Will Try to Internationalize Jerusalem Sites

Please note! I do not endorse any candidate in these elections.

26 January 2009

500 Years Jerusalem Census

Courtesy TorahOhr.org

"Year of the Ox"

It's Rosh Chodesh Shevat and that means the New Year for the Trees is only two weeks away. Let's hope it does also turn out to be the Year of the Ox for real---the year of Mashiach ben Yosef!! (Yosef is represented by an ox.)

Chodesh tov! Shana tova!!

25 January 2009

24 January 2009

Can't even wait 2 weeks!

Word was that the new US envoy for peace in the Middle East was not likely to pay us a visit until after the elections scheduled for Feb 10th. Apparently, they can't wait that long...

Diplomats: US Mideast envoy expected next week

...Referring to Mitchell's appointment as special Mideast envoy, US President Barack Obama said "We have no time to lose."

21 January 2009

Sarkozy Very Dangerous to Israel

French President Nicolas Sarkozy speaking of Obama: "We are eager for him to get to work so that with him we can change the world."

Don't forget that it was Nicolas Sarkozy who rushed over here to force a ceasefire with Hamas.

President Sarkozy proposes: “Arabic Is the Language of the Future”

...In his message to the participants at the French National Assembly earlier this month, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Arabic the “language of the future, of science and of modernity,” and expressed the hope that “more French people share in the language that expresses great civilizational and spiritual values.”

“We must invest in the Arabic language (because) to teach it symbolizes a moment of exchange, of openness and of tolerance, (and it) brings with it one of the oldest and most prestigious civilizations of the world. It is in France that we have the greatest number of persons of Arabic and Muslim origin. Islam is the second religion of France,” Sarkozy reminded his listeners.

Sarkozy proceeded to list the various “advances in terms of diversity,” the increase in Muslim sections of cemeteries, the training of imams and chaplains and the appointments of ministers of diverse backgrounds.

“France is a friend of Arabic countries. We are not seeking a clash between the East and West,” he affirmed, emphasizing the strong presence of Arab leaders at the founding summit of the Union for the Mediterranean, last July 13. “The Mediterranean is where our common hopes were founded. Our common sea is where the principal challenges come together: durable development, security, education and peace.”

"First" Presidential Phone Call

According to the following news item, Abbas was Obama's "first" phone call to a foreign head of state.

Obama Vows "Durable" Mideast Peace In Abbas Phone Call

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP)--U.S. President Barack Obama promised to work toward a "durable peace" in the Middle East during a phone call to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday, Palestinian officials said.

Obama called the Palestinian leader a day after taking the oath of office and assured him that he intended "to work with him as partners to establish a durable peace in the region," Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.

Obama told Abbas that the president was the first foreign leader he called since taking office, Rudeina said.


Hey! Wasn't Abbas' term supposed to end on January 9th? What's with that?

R Nachmani: Seoul = She'ol

"Only those who made up their minds to start a war can say this nonsense ... This is hysterical madness and the situation is grave,"....

North Korea steps up warnings against South

North Korea ... Threatens to "Wipe Out" Seoul

20 January 2009

"A New King"


A new king arose over Egypt, who did not know about Joseph. He said to his people, "Behold, the people of the children of Israel... Get ready, let us deal shrewdly with them,....

Obama 'biggest-ever assassination target' in US history

19 January 2009

URGENT - One Day Left


"Just Be Prudent"

Quake update: Geologists of Jackson Hole: 'Just be prudent'
PRESS RELEASE
JACKSON, WYOMING JANUARY 16TH, 2009

An earthquake was felt at 9:15 pm on Thursday, January 15th in Jackson, Alpine, Etna and Thayne, Wyoming, and Idaho Falls, Idaho. According to the US Geological Survey, it was a magnitude 4.0 event located just north of Alpine Junction at a depth of 3 miles.

This earthquake occurred at the south end of the extended Teton Fault zone along the eastern base of the Teton Mountain Range. Geologists call this area the “Seismic Gap” because of the lack of recorded earthquakes—a linear area along the large Teton Fault, which is unusually seismically quiet. The recent swarm of hundreds of earthquakes in Yellowstone National Park lie near the northern end of this “seismic gap”.

This seemingly quiet seismic zone centered along the Teton Fault has been the site of magnitude 7. plus earthquakes in pre-historic times. The Faults have created the Grand Teton Mountains and shaped western Wyoming. Another magnitude 7. plus earthquake will fill this gap sometime within the next several hundred years. Some earthquakes are preceded by a perceptible increase in seismicity at one or both ends of the “seismic gap”. There is currently no reliable way to know in advance which small earthquakes are foreshocks to large earthquakes. There is no scientific basis to predict that a large earthquake is imminent.

...There is no reason to be overly concerned at this time. Just be prudent.

18 January 2009

'Eisav' en Route

Road to J'lem closed prior to visit by European leadersPublished: 01.18.09, 15:30 / Israel News
Route 1, the primary road between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, will be closed Sunday evening, from 4:50 p.m. to 7:30, in preparation for the visit of several European leaders to the capital to meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Traffic will be rerouted through routes 443, 44 and 38. (Efrat Weiss)

14 January 2009

What Really Happened?

False Alarm in Jerusalem

At 1:00 p.m. a rocket alert siren sounded in Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh and Maaleh Adumim. The siren caused mild panic, and hundreds of residents called MDA paramedics for instructions.

Home Front Command officials said the alarm was caused by a technical malfunction. No actual attack took place, and no trial of the system had been scheduled.

Some residents of Beit Shemesh reported hearing an explosion following the alarm. Defense officials conducted a brief investigation and determined that the noise did not result from an attack, but rather was related to ongoing work in the area.


Maale Adumim, Jerusalem, impact near Beit Shemesh? A trajectory coming from the East? Did anyone see anything airborne? How 'coincidental' that an explosion "related to ongoing work" just happened to be heard when an air raid siren was in progress.

Maybe we're not really hearing about what's really going on.

ALERT!

Air raid siren sounding in Jerusalem.

Update: Air raid siren mistakenly sounded in Jerusalem
Published: 01.14.09, 13:00 / Israel News


An air raid siren was sounded a few minutes ago in Jerusalem. The Home Front Command has reported that the siren was activated as a result of a false alarm. (Efrat Weiss)

Air-raid sirens go off in Jerusalem, apparently due to malfunctionJPost.com Staff

A siren went off in Jerusalem on Wednesday just before 1 p.m. and was heard throughout the city.

Initial reports indicated the siren went off because of a malfunction in the capital's siren system.

"US Special Mid-East Envoy"?

IF George W Bush does actually leave the 'Bayit Lavan', might he take up residence in Jerusalem alongside his partner in international crimes, long-time buddy Tony Blair, as the US's dedicated Special Envoy to the Middle East?

Tony Blair Discusses

Clinton expresses determination to resolve Israeli-Palestinian conflict

12 January 2009

Passing the Scepter



The US State Department's foreign policy rules the Middle East and all of us suffer for it. See this "must-read" article: Ex-US Foreign Service Officer Fries Rice, Blames Her for Hamas

11 January 2009

It Fits

"According to this scenario there will be fifteen days of darkness; the sun simply will not shine. A frightening, powerful cold will grip the entire earth. Hunger and thirst will fall upon everyone. No one will be able to find food; it will not help to store food, for (because of the darkness) no one will be able to find it. All electric generators will fail to work. Many people will die."

If you had a chance to view the BBC video ("This is a true story...it just hasn't happened yet.") on the Yellowstone Supervolcano, then you understand how this description fits the aftereffects.

Read A Warning To The American-Jewish Community
[NOTE: This is NOT an endorsement of "KosherTorah!"]

10 January 2009

Yellowstone in the news again

Quakes shake loose fears about Yellowstone volcano
Sat. Jan 10, 2009
"Some observers are ... warning of imminent catastrophe."

Understanding Why Yellowstone’s Supervolcano Is So Dangerous
"...Scientists say the string of 500-plus tremors that have been felt there in the past week is certainly atypical, according to the Times of London. Furthermore, the floor of Yellowtone’s caldera—a volcanolike formation usually formed by collapsed rock after an eruption—has risen about three inches a year for the past three years, “a rate more than three times greater than ever observed since such measurements began in 1923.”

Time magazine quotes a passage from Bill Bryson’s “A Short History of Nearly Everything,” in which Yellowstone geologist Paul Doss indicates to Bryson that an eruption could very well happen now, for the simple fact that “Nobody was around the last time it blew, so nobody knows what the warning signs are.” There may be sporadic earthquakes, strange geyser patters or a lifting of the surface, but “nobody really knows.”

Is Yellowstone's 'super volcano' about to blow up?
...
On New Year's Day, the situation was so alarming that geologists called for an immediate evacuation of an area within a radius of 325 kilometres around the national park. ... Christopher Sanders, the US geologist who wanted to evacuate the area on New Year's Day, did not exactly mince his words:
"We have all of the early warning signs of a major eruption from a super volcano. - I want everyone to leave Yellowstone National Park and for 200 miles around the volcano's caldera."
Yellowstone Volcano Observatory
Released: December 29, 2008 05:00 PM MST
The University of Utah Seismograph Stations reports that a notable swarm of earthquakes has been underway since December 26 beneath Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park, three to six miles south-southeast of Fishing Bridge, Wyoming. This energetic sequence of events was most intense on December 27, when the largest number of events of magnitude 3 and larger occurred.

Need I remind anyone that the Gaza War got underway on Dec. 27th? and the final clearance from Washington must have come on Dec. 26th.

I believe this war is being fought at Washington's behest and according to their dictates and that it is a setup to provide them with an excuse to become an occupying force in Israel. At the very least they mean it to be a means of forcing a "Palestinian State" upon us and that is bad enough!

They got hit with Katrina for ordering the Gaza expulsion of Jews and handover to our Arab enemies. They can't seem to keep their hands off of Gaza and now look what's brewing.

Yeshayahu 34.6-10:
"...for the Lord has ... a great slaughter in the land of Edom. ...For it is a day of vengeance for the Lord, a year of retribution for the plea of Zion. And its streams shall turn into pitch and its dust into sulfur, and its land shall become burning pitch. By night and by day, it shall not be extinguished; its smoke shall ascend forever and ever; from generation to generation it shall be waste, to eternity, no one passing through it."
"Scientists have very few answers, but they do know that the impact of a Yellowstone eruption is terrifying to comprehend. Huge areas of the USA would be destroyed, the US economy would probably collapse, and thousands might die.

And it would devastate the planet. Climatologists now know that Toba blasted so much ash and sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere that it blocked out the sun, causing the Earth's temperature to plummet. Some geneticists now believe that this had a catastrophic effect on human life, possibly reducing the population on Earth to just a few thousand people. Mankind was pushed to the edge of extinction... and it could happen again.
The Zohar predicts a period of darkness lasting for fifteen days corresponding to the plague of darkness which occurred in Egypt.

Just imagine what will be when they attempt to lay hands on Jerusalem.

Monitor Earthquake Swarms
See the BBC Scenario



08 January 2009

Thank you, Aish!

Antisemites on the web are all saying that the stuff Hamas has been sending our way is nothing more than "bottle-rockets"...homemade fireworks...like you see on the 4th of July. I really wish I could send one of these Hamas "bottlerockets" onto the roofs of their houses!

Follow-up to "Don't be fooled"

On 30 December, a bit over a week ago, I posted my ideas about where I thought this war in Gaza would go. Some thought I was implying that I had received a nevua. Hardly! It doesn't take nevua to see where this is all heading. All it takes is the ability to connect the dots and hey! I've been doing that since kindergarten.

Following are some of my key points and items connected to them from the past few days.

The first thing I said was: "Clearly, the order to take out Hamas has come from Washington."

Debkafile reported: "...Bush clears way for Israeli ground operation..."

I said: "Look for the riots to spread and to become more violent, especially in Jerusalem." (G-d forbid!)

JPost did a story on it two days later called "Shattered calm." Ynet reported it, too, " Firebombs hurled in Jerusalem ."

I said: "Look for Hezbollah to join the fray."

AFP reported today "All 'possibilities open' against Israel: Hezbollah chief" and so did JPost: "Nasrallah warns Israel, Arab mediators"

I also said to "Then look for foreign forces,...."

This morning I heard on American radio via the internet that US troops were already stationed at Rafah. It was confirmed a few hours later by Ynet: "Report: US officers deployed along Egypt-Rafah border" and Gordon Brown said today: "It is not possible to see a solution to this without some kind of international engagement that will protect the security of the Israeli people and will create the viability for open borders to be given to the Palestinian area in Gaza."

I said " the world will rise up with a great unified cry."

Well, see the previous post.

Then I said: "This is all about taking out the impediments to George Bush's vision of a PLO-run Palestine in the middle of Eretz Yisrael."

In an interview with NBC yesterday, Tony Blair said that Hamas' continuing rocket fire on Israel is the "single biggest obstacle to a Palestinian State" at this time.

Our sages said that when the End of Days arrive, even a child will understand--- especially those who've learned to connect the dots.

Our prophets tell us that these wars will ultimately be about Jerusalem. Besides our teshuva, tefillah and tzedaka, we will just have to watch and wait to see how it all plays out.

I can say with complete confidence that it will all be good for the Jewish people.

*************************
On a related subject:

Considering our current situation and the possibility of further escalation; and considering that the longer-range rockets which can reach the center of the country are coming out of Iran; and considering that the full moon will be in evidence over Shabbat, Sunday and Monday, I'd like to refer you once again to an earlier post.

07 January 2009

Up to no good, no doubt

Presidents Meeting in White House
Reported: 13:45 PM - Jan/07/09

(IsraelNN.com) All living Presidents of the U.S. will meet Wednesday night in the White House. Present will be Barak Obama, George Bush, the current President, BIll Clinton, George Bush, father of the current President, and Jimmy Carter.

The last time such a meeting took place was in 1981 when Richard Nizon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan met. They traveled together to Egypt for Anwar Sadat's funeral, the President of Egypt who was assassinated for making peace with Israel.


More here: A rare gathering: Bush, Obama and 3 ex-presidents

It will get worse...

Genocidal Chants at Anti-Israel Rallies Worldwide

Report from Hamas Rally in MIAMI

Gaza conflict spreads to Europe with Jews attacked

PARIS (AP) - Signs are mounting that the conflict in Gaza is starting to spill over into violence in Europe's towns and cities, with assaults against Jews and arson attacks on Jewish congregations in France, Sweden and Britain.
Assailants rammed a burning car into the gates of a synagogue in Toulouse, in southwest France, on Monday night. A Jewish congregation in Helsingborg, in southern Sweden, also was attacked Monday night by someone who "broke a window and threw in something that was burning," said police spokesman Leif Nilsson. Neighbors alerted rescue services before the fire took hold.

Someone also started a blaze outside the premises last week. And on Sunday slogans including "murderers ... You broke the cease-fire" and "don't subject Palestine to ethnic cleansing" were daubed on Israel's embassy in Stockholm.

In Denmark, a 27-year-old Dane born in Lebanon of Palestinian parents is alleged to have injured two young Israelis last week, opening fire with a handgun in a shooting that police suspect could be linked to the Gaza crisis.

France has Western Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim communities and a history of anti-Semitic violence flaring when tensions in the Middle East are high. In 2002, some 2,300 Jews left France for Israel because they felt unsafe.

President Nicolas Sarkozy warned in a statement Tuesday that France would not tolerate violence linked to the Gaza crisis. A day earlier, his interior minister said she was concerned about the prospect of contagion and met with the heads of the two main Muslim and Jewish groups and police officials to stress the need to "preserve national unity."

Damage to the synagogue in Toulouse was limited to a blackened gate, and there were no injuries even though a rabbi was giving a course to adults inside, authorities said. They said unlighted gasoline bombs were also found in a car nearby and in the synagogue's yard. A local Jewish leader, Armand Partouche, said he believed the assailants had planned to torch the synagogue, but fled when the building's alarm went off.

"It could have been very, very serious," Partouche said in a telephone interview. "There were people inside; there could have been deaths."

He said Jewish leaders are asking Toulouse authorities for reinforced security for the city's synagogues.

"We really fear that anti-Semitism will spring up again and that the current conflict will be transposed to our beautiful French republic," he said.

In Britain, the Community Security Trust, a Jewish defense group, said it had seen a rise in anti-Semitic incidents since the start of Israel's offensive against Gaza. The group said it had recorded 20-25 incidents across the country in the past week that it believed were connected with Gaza, including an arson attempt on a synagogue in north London on Sunday.

London police are investigating the attack, in which suspects splashed flammable liquid on the door and set it on fire.

Community Security Trust spokesman Mark Gardner said that in another incident last week a gang of 15-20 youths walked along the main street in Golders Green, a largely Jewish neighborhood in north London, shouting "Jew" and "Free Palestine" at passers-by.

"It could get worse," Gardner said. "We tend to see these things happen in waves."

The government in Belgium on Tuesday ordered police in Antwerp and Brussels to be on increased alert after recent pro-Palestinian protests ended in violence and dozens of arrests. Police said burning rags were shoved through the mailbox of a Jewish home in Antwerp last weekend. Damage was limited and no arrests were made.

In the Danish shooting, one Israeli man was shot in the arm and another in the leg as they were selling hair care products in a shopping mall. Eli Ruvio, who owns the company that operated the stands, said his employees have been harassed by Muslim youths since they set up three kiosks in the shopping center in August.

"They kept cursing and shouting at us," Ruvio told The Associated Press. He added that the Muslim youths also threw mud and firecrackers at the employees and spat at them.

Ruvio recalled an episode Dec. 27 when some of the youths shouted "slaughter all the Jews."

"I told my employees not to speak in Hebrew and lie about where they come from, they should say there were from Spain or somewhere else. If people ask you where you are from, never say you're from Israel," he said.

06 January 2009

Asara b'Tevet

Our Heritage by Eliyahu Kitov---

Rambam writes the following in Hilchot Ta'anit 5: The fast of the tenth of Tevet is like the other fasts which were established as means of mourning the destruction of the Beit ha-Mikdash and Israel's exile. However, the primary purpose of fasting is not grief and mourning, for the distress felt at the time when these events transpired is sufficient. Rather, the primary purpose of the fasts is to inspire people to repent, to bring us to recall the evil deeds of our ancestors as well as our own---deeds which brought them and bring us great travail. By remembering these events we will repent and act properly, as the verse (Vayikra 26:40) states: "And they shall confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors for the evil that they have done to me."

Our Sages (Talmud Yerushalmi, Yoma 1) taught: "Any generation in which the Beit ha-Mikdash is not rebuilt, is considered as if they had destroyed it." Every generation has the ability to awaken Divine mercy, to bring Israel salvation from her enemies, to gather her exiles from the places of their dispersion, and to rebuild the Beit ha-Mikdash. How can this be accomplished? By complete repentance and by rectifying the sins of the previous generations. As long as salvation fails to arrive, it is a sign that we have not as yet repented for our sins and that we are therefore suffering because of our own transgressions as well as those of our ancestors. It is therefore as if we were delaying the final redemption, and as if we ourselves had caused the destruction.

Even when the Beit ha-Mikdash is in a state of destruction, and Israel is in exile and our land lays desolate in the hands of foreigners, these cannot be seen as signs that God has divorced Himself from His people, Heaven forbid. He did not decree eternal ruin for His sanctuary. Exile, destruction, and anguish are all temporary, and may, at any hour of Divine mercy, be transformed into rejoicing. Israel's dwelling in her Land and the building of the Sanctuary are alone eternal.

...Israel was not spewed out from her land; she was expelled from it because of her sins, but she will also return to it and possess it as an eternal inheritance. Her return is dependent only upon her repentance, and the Divine mercy which will hasten the time of the final redemption.

The aim of fasting, therefore, is to subjugate our evil inclination by restriction of pleasure; to open our hearts and to stir us to repentance and good deeds, through which the gates of Divine mercy might be opened for us.
It is therefore incumbent upon every person to take it to heart to examine his deeds and to repent during these days (of fasting), for this is the primary purpose of the fasts....

05 January 2009

Passing It Along...

January 4, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Aaron Troodler
(888) 897-7450


WORLDWIDE EFFORT TO SUPPORT ISRAELI SOLDIERS IS LAUNCHED

"Operation Tefillah, Torah & Troops" Gets Underway

As the members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) battle Hamas terrorists and Palestinian militants in Gaza , leading international Torah scholars have launched a worldwide effort aimed at providing them with spiritual support.

"Operation Tefillah, Torah & Troops," which was launched by Rabbi Simcha HaCohen Kook, the Chief Rabbi of Rehovot , Israel , and the Bostoner Rebbe (Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Horowitz) of Har Nof , Israel , partners people from around the world with soldiers in the IDF. Each person who takes part in "Operation Tefillah, Torah & Troops" is paired with an Israeli soldier, and is responsible to say tefillot (prayers), learn Torah, and do special acts of chesed (kindness) on behalf of that solider.

Rabbi Kook and the Bostoner Rebbe noted that this concept is one that has been a part of the Jewish people for thousands of years. When Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses) led the Jewish people to war with the nation of Midyon, for every person who went to battle, there was a designated person who was responsible for praying and learning for him. Throughout his reign, David HaMelech (King David) utilized this practice as well. During the war in Lebanon in the summer of 2006, more than 50,000 people worldwide participated in this initiative spearheaded by Rabbi Kook and the Bostoner Rebbe, and facilitated in North America by the National Council of Young Israel .

To participate in "Operation Tefillah, Torah & Troops" and receive the name of an Israeli soldier who needs your prayers, send an e-mail to the office of Rabbi Kook at maortlmo@gmail.com. To request the name of a soldier by phone or fax, call the National Council of Young Israel at 212-929-1525 x100, or send a fax to 212-727-9526. Members of the IDF who wish to have a partner" praying for them are urged to e-mail the office of Rabbi Kook as well.

Rabbi Pesach Lerner, the Executive Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel, noted that every tefillah that is said on behalf of a soldier will make a difference, regardless of where a person may be in religious observance.

"Each soldier that is putting his or her life on the line to defend the land of Israel and safeguard the Jewish nation deserves to have someone praying for their well being and safe return," said Rabbi Lerner, "During my conversations with Rabbi Kook, he emphasized that every Jew is encouraged to participate in this critical endeavor and to pray for a soldier in a manner in which they feel comfortable, irrespective of their religious background."

04 January 2009

Volcano Checkup

YELLOWSTONE still shaking one week after first tremor. The small earthquakes that began in the park a week ago continue. They include three more earthquakes Friday that measured stronger than magnitude 3.0. A quake of magnitude 3.5 happened at 11:30 a.m., followed by quakes measuring 3.2 and 3.1 at 12:40 p.m. and 1:15 p.m. Several hundred quakes centered under the north end of Yellowstone Lake have now occurred since last Friday. The strongest so far was a magnitude 3.9 quake last Saturday.

The USGS discounted chances for cataclysmic eruption of the caldera, noting that the hot, active magma chamber below Yellowstone has turned into "largely crystallized mush." But the same study also said: "Depending on the nature and magnitude of a particular hazardous event and the particular time and season when it might occur, 70,000 to more than 100,000 persons could be affected; the most violent events could affect a broader region or even continent-wide areas." A supervolcano event does not appear to be imminent. "We don't think the amount of magma exists that would create one of these large eruptions of the past...we would expect to see more and larger quakes, deformation and precursory explosions out of the lake. We don't believe that anything strange is happening right now."
Yellowstone Earthquakes Raise Fears

02 January 2009

Please Include in Your Amida

It can be recited at any time, but is being recommended specifically for times in public prayer when brief personal prayers are offered, and whenever a rocket launch is reported.

Prayer for the South in Wartime
The text of the prayer, in Hebrew, is as follows:
יהי רצון מלפניך ה' אלוקינו ואלוקי אבותינו שתרחם עלינו ועם כל תושבי הדרום.
הגן עלינו ברוב חסדך ופרוס עלינו סוכת שלומך.
חזק את ידי הלוחמים המגינים עלינו ומוסרים את נפשם למעננו.
שמור עליהם והגן עליהם מכל רע.
הפר עצת אויבינו ושונאינו "חרבם תבוא בליבם וקשתותם תשברנה".
ריבונו של עולם, תן בלב מנהיגנו חוכמה ועוז ותעצומות נפש להכרית את כל אויבינו, ותקויים בהם תפילת דוד המלך עליו השלום: "ארדוף אויבי ואשיגם ולא אשוב עד כלותם".
אמן. כן יהי רצון.


English Translation
"May it be Your Will, L-rd our G-d and G-d of our forefathers, that You will have mercy on us and on all the residents of the south.

Protect us in the bounty of your kindness and spread out over us the shelter of Your peace.
Strengthen the arms of the fighting soldiers who protect us and give their souls for us.

Protect them and guard them from all misfortune.

Foil the plans of our haters and enemies; "Their swords shall plunge into their hearts and their bows shall break."

Sovereign of the Universe, give our leaders wisdom and courage and strength of heart to annihilate all of our enemies, and let the prayer of King David, may he rest in peace, come true regarding them: "I shall chase after my enemies and I shall catch up to them and I will not return until they are destroyed." Amen

01 January 2009

HAMAS

Another interesting point made by Rabbi Sitorsky in his commentary on Vayigash concerned the unity of the Jewish people. He said that the letters that spell out Hamas (in Hebrew) allude to Chassidim, Mitnagdim, Ashkenazim, Sephardim. He said that when we divide ourselves up arbitrariy instead of simply thinking of ourselves as just plain Jews, that's when our enemies come and pounce upon us.

Amazing connection.

R. Sitorsky on Vayigash

"The goal is that Asara b'Tevet is turned into a yom tov and Tevet becomes a month in which the geulah should start. Until now, it was the month that the golus began; therefore, Tevet is the month in which the geulah should begin."

Kabbalist Elder: Gaza War Is Serious Threat

From Lazer Beams:

"...Now is the test of emuna. The Gemara tells us that anyone who isn't willing to sacrifice for the Holy Land of Israel doesn't deserve it."

Prepare. Do not give way to fear. Know that certain scary things have to happen, but Hashem holds each of us securely in His hands. And if we do complete teshuva, everything can turn around in an instant!